The New Tennessee-Style Ethics

A new Ethics Reform law now required by county governments in Tennessee seems to offer little to deter elected officials or employees from worrying too much about conflicts of interest and ethical standards in general.

Case in point - a report in the March 24, 2006 Greeneville Sun about a county commissioner, Hilton Seay, who is also chairman of their newly created Ethics Committee. When a vote concerning an attorney Seay does business with was presented, Seay never mentioned his business relationship, claiming he simply forgot.

Now there are a few prominent failures, in my opinion, of this Ethics Reform Act, chiefly, that if an official does in fact announce he/she may or has a "conflict of interest" in a pending vote, the act approved by the state does not actually require the official to recuse themselves from the vote. Seems a rather toothless law. But more on that in a moment.

Take a read of the story and the players according the the Sun's report:

"County Commissioner Hilton Seay, chairman of the Greene County Commission’s Ethics Committee, said Monday that he did not think of mentioning his personal attorney-client relationship with Greeneville lawyer Robert Foster when a vote about Foster came before the Ethics Committee in January.

According to records filed in Claiborne County Chancery Court, Foster has represented Seay in a probate matter in Claiborne County since March 2006. That case is continuing. The probate matter was brought to the newspaper’s attention by an anonymous letter that was apparently also sent to several Greene County commissioners a few days ago.

“I never even thought about it,” Seay told The Greeneville Sun when asked Monday about his Ethics Committee vote and his failure to mention that Foster was representing him in a matter of personal business.

On Jan. 10, the Ethics Committee narrowly defeated two measures concerning Foster, each time by 4-to-3 votes. Seay voted on the side most favorable to Foster in each instance.

[snip]

County Commissioner Tim White had asked the committee to reprimand County Mayor Alan Broyles for hiring Foster part-time to handle duties in the county’s Building and Zoning Office without consulting the County Commission.

White also asked the committee to recommend that the County Commission terminate Foster’s employment.

In each instance, Seay, who is the committee chairman and also the chairman of the commission’s Republican caucus, voted against the proposed action.

White and others said then that they believe Foster was hired as a reward for work he did in Broyles’ election campaign last summer.

Foster was vice chairman of the Greene County Republican Party at that time, and is now county chairman of the party.

Asked Monday about his votes and his client-attorney relationship with Foster, Commissioner Seay said that, in hindsight, he wishes that he had remembered that Foster was working for him in the probate matter.

Had he remembered, Seay said, he would have told the committee before the vote that he had retained Foster almost a year earlier, and that Foster was still representing him.

However, Seay said, although he would have made the disclosure if it had occurred to him, “It wouldn’t have changed the way I voted.”

CTAS, an advisory service for county government, offered this comment to the newspaper:

"Rick Hall, a CTAS county government consultant based in Johnson City, said he talked with David Conner, a CTAS legal consultant, after being asked about Commissioner Seay’s Ethics Committee votes at a time when Seay was using Foster’s services in a probate case unrelated to the county.

According to Hall, Conner “does not see any conflict-of-interest here whatsoever".

The entire article is worth a read, if only to reveal how Ethics Committees in the state's counties operate.

Also of note is the suggested Ethics Policy Resolution via CTAS offered to counties, available online here.

It should be noted that the state law which requires all counties to create a "local ethics policy" by June 30th 2007. If a county creates such a policy on it's own, it must send a copy to the state's Ethics Commission. However, if a county simply adopts the Resolution offered by CTAS, all that is needed is a letter of notification that a county has voted to adopt a policy.

From what I've been reading, most counties are adopting the CTAS model, which requires simply a statement from an official or employee that a conflict may or does exist, but that the individual is free to vote on that very issue.

The state's Ethics Reform Act, according to CTAS, also offers this nugget of information on just how toothless or meaningless this Act :

"The Ethics Reform Act does not contain any provisions regarding enforcement of the ethical standards or specific penalties, but instead provides that violations of ethical standards are to be enforced under existing law. While it is not required under the Ethics Reform Act, the model policy creates a local ethics committee as a mechanism for filing complaints of violations of the policy and maintenance of records. Although the CTAS model policy provides for the creation of a local ethics committee, the Ethics Reform Act does not mandate the creation of an ethics committee or the designation of any other local office to receive complaints."

I'm not claiming that Commissioner Seay is guilty of some wrong-doing. But for a chair of an Ethics Committee to forget to follow the tenets of his own commission is a dubious beginning for affirmative change. And the overall impact of this "reform act" will be minimal at best and likely require a citizen take action, such as a lawsuit, to investigate any potential problems.

The End of Internet Radio?

Thanks to a new ruling from The Copyright Board at the Library of Congress, which was made public on March 6, a new tenfold increase in royalties must now be paid for streaming songs on the internet. And the payments are the same, whether the web site is commercial or non-commercial and is retroactive to 2006 as well.

A filing was made March 19 to make the Library of Congress review the ruling, but if unchanged, it will likely be the end of internet radio for both small and large web sites. In one article via the L.A. City Beat, the new costs are beyond astronomical:

"Up until March 6, webcasters figured their royalty payments as an affordable percentage of total revenues. In the case of KCRW, that was a negligible number for [general manager Ruth] Seymour, since the entire NPR network had negotiated a flat fee and it was paid by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Maybe not anymore. Under the new system, which requires that Internet broadcasters pay per performance – meaning each time one person listens to one song – her new bill for 2006 went from essentially zero to about $350,000. And it’s going up. For each of the next four years, the rate goes up at least 30 percent every year."

An additional report was made on the change and the challenge to it via WKRN recently as well.

A company backing the plan, SoundExchange, claims that revenues for internet radio exploded to a level of $500 million dollars last year. Paul Maloney of RAIN - Radio and Internet Newsletter - says that claim is just false and is seeking support to battle the change:

"Now, what you hear the SoundExchange people saying is, ‘Oh, studies show that the Internet radio industry made $500 million last year in advertising.’ And I’m here to guarantee you that that’s absolutely not true. It’s not even close to being true,” says Maloney. He also points out there’s no hidden money anywhere, as stations they have to submit their financials to SoundExchange."

I wonder if the merger-masters for the combining of XM and Sirius Satellite radio are endorsing this plan?

Certainly the RIAA, which has been forcing colleges to hand over student email and internet accounts so they can threaten lawsuits to collect a few hundred or perhaps thousand of dollars for trading digital sound files, likes the new law.

The claim is that royalty fees alone from internet radio would hit nearly $3 billion in 2008, more than four times the royalties that would be paid by non-web radio.

And despite claims that all the "royalties" will go to artists are smokescreens to the real issue - performers get pennies to the dollars that record company owners receive.

The fight for the existing and potential audiences is fierce, and this ruling will only insure that fewer and fewer web-casters are allowed to participate.

Camera Obscura - 'The Massacre' Massacre; Beatles v. Zombies

I'm pretty sure I haven't ranted much of late about a really crappy movie. Today will change that. Also ahead today, what happens when the Beatles battle Zombies?

But first, a rant.

Even a most casual reader here will know (and close friends will also vow) that I am a bona-fide fan of horror movies. One movie in particular has always been a favorite, even one or two of the sequels were watchable. The original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" earned it's status on many levels - first on sheer suspense. Made on an ultra-low budget and containing a pure sonic attack on the senses with the blood-curdling sound of a raggedy chainsaw, too many myths of the movie claim how bloody and gory it is. But the fact is - the only time the saw cuts the flesh is when the grim character of Leatherface accidentally touches his thigh with the blade. It's always been the viewer's imagination that filled in the rest. Just watch it and see.

More on the sequels that followed in a moment, but first I have to dismember the worthless and tepid remake recently added to the endless volumes of weekly (weakly?) DVD releases, this one titled "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning."

I was reluctant to even watch it, after the likewise tepid and boring "remake" of the original with Jessica Biel from a few years back. Even that movie, as rancid as rotting flesh, stands as a genius-effort compared to the pure awful crap of "The Beginning."

How about some basics - this "beginning" is set in the year 1969, and yet every character, from vile Saw-family folk to the witless victims to even the sets in the movie are all clothed in the trappings of 2007. I halfway expected someone to dig out a cell phone during the movie.

Also, just who the heck are these Saw-family folk in this movie? Grandpa, from the original, is nowhere to be seen. Likewise Leatherface's brother is absent and his uncle too. Actor R. Lee Ermey, who can scare just about anyone and has one or two mildly funny lines, often looks at the camera as if he is considering taking a chainsaw to the filmmakers. I wish he had and stopped the whole deal.

There's not one moment of suspense in the movie - though the makers hurl tubs of blood and body parts across the characters and sets with the talentless glee of those who have never made or even watched a horror movie. And let me be clear - Main Problem Numero Uno is producer Michael Bay. Unless someone has a smoke-spewing, roaring ten-foot chainsaw at my neck, I will never, ever watch another of his movies.

One 1969-era sub-plot offered up is that two of the victims-to-be are arguing over the Vietnam War (at least for perhaps a half-a-dozen lines). One brother is jonesing to go back and the other is about to dodge the draft and burns his draft card. Here, I thought, is a chance to exploit and/or test his war views. Nope. Nothing is made of it. So it isn't really a sub-plot. It's just more sub-par writing.

The original has a mega-creepy and suspenseful scene of madness with a victim sitting at the "dinner table" with the Saw-crazy kin. This "prequel" does have a scene with a victim at the table and NOTHING happens. And of course, she escapes and runs in the dark to flee the scene (or perhaps hopes to flee the movie) and ol' Leatherface goes in chase. In the original, this was a harrowing chase - here, it amounts to nothing, zip, nada, zilch.

Early in the movie, the victims-to-be, get road-riled by a gang of bikers. Later on, the fleeing character contacts one of the bikers, and for a minute, I thought "here's a great chance for a scene!!" Tougher-than-leather bikers riding en masse to challenge the Saw-folk. Could have been the defining moment of the movie. What happens instead? One lone idiot biker guy walks into the Saw-folk house and basically says, "Hey! Anybody home?" and gets chopped up and, in short, NOTHING happens.

This idiotic mess of a movie is, at best, yet more evidence that filmmakers are replacing suspense, terror, and horror with endless scenes of gory torture whose outcome is as predictable as the eventual Beaver-Gets-A-Lecture-And-Learns-A-Lesson from 1950s tv and is ultimately as boring as that show. The episode of "The Andy Griffith Show" where Howard Sprague gets his own apartment has more terror and suspense than this dreck.


If you wish to see a sequel to the excellent original, the check out "TCM Part 2", which is a very underrated bit of madness, a Saw massacre imagined as a Looney Tunes cartoon. It is both suspenseful and very funny, and that opening scene on the bridge where the tune "No One Lives Forever" by Oingo Boingo is featured will (literally) take off the top of your head. Avoid all other TCM-titled movies.
------

OK, some movie goodness.

First I loved "300" though I find it endlessly amusing that some critics consider all the he-men dudes in the movie walking around in "man-thongs and red cloaks" is homo-erotic. People - the images were all taken from the drawings of Lynn Varley --- and she's female! So maybe she likes looking at he-men in man-thongs and cloaks.

-----

The not-such-a-secret news was made much of this week that Stephen King's son is Joe Hill, an award-winning writer. His recently published novel, "Heart Shaped Box" is now on sale and film rights have already been purchased. The story concerns a fellow who discovers a ghost is for sale on the internets and he wants to buy it. A link to the novel's website is here. And you can read Joe Hill's bio here. (Great picture, by the way!)

------

Speaking of biographies, a new look at the life of Bela Lugosi is on sale, which includes information from the files compiled on the actor by the OSS and J.Edgar Hoover and his G-Men. More details here.

------

Wonder Triplet and fellow blogger Newscoma has a post worth noting, Proof That Vampires Don't Exist. She reports that some scientists use some rather dubious math to prove that if Vamps did exist, they would have long-ago depopulated the planet. All I can say to that notion is - human body farms. But, she also writes that some folks of the vampiric type can sure suck all the fun out of a room and that is indeed one sure way to depopulate a party!

------

And, as promised at the beginning ... what happens when you mix together The Beatles and Zombies? You get "Hard Day's Night of the Living Dead":

Staking Out My Domain (Name)

Expanding my influence even further into the Interweb Tubes, a new domain has been claimed. Let the whole world know it -- all one needs do is type CupOfJoePowell.com into yer search bar and you will be brought to this humble and loveable page.

Much thanks are due again, to The Editor, who likewise made the header image now visible atop this page. The Editor whips thru the tech world in ways which I cannot. (Rumor says she has an entire world of tech-created people and neighborhoods who must follow her every whim, though she just calls them Sims.)

Now I do not know if the various aggregators which many readers use to find the latest posts here are yet in fact able to catch the newest posts or not. But if not, that too, dear reader, will be fixed ASAP.

Still, the important news here is that I am continuing, leisurely, to gain a massive media mogul empire. This blog does actually Go Into Space, too, ya know.

Blog 'Rasslin

For the last 24 hours or so I have been locked in mortal combat with Blogger Beta, mainly with the site feed info and the RSS. For some reason, this new version isn't cooperating with various aggregators and so posts aren't showing up.

A shame really, cause the last month has been chock full of darned timely and expertly rendered opinions, stories and must-read links and other vital bits of interweb ephemera.

However today, at least, thanks to the tireless efforts of The Editor, I did get a new masthead installed for the page here, which I think is darn fine new look. And not only is your Cup of Joe "Open All Night", it's a location offering 24-hour respite from the world. And everyone gets a "bottomless cup of joe" for free, no cash transactions needed. It's always fresh and always hot.

And if you too are one of the bloggers who has been forced into the Beta mode, do you have any suggestions on why the site feeds and aggregators are getting fried or how to repair it? All useful info appreciated.

I know many bloggers are migrating to other services and I too am considering it. Thoughts on such migrations are appreciated too.

In the meantime, bask in the glow of the new neon sign, enjoy your free coffee and there's always a booth or a seat at the counter available here for anyone, anytime.

UPDATE: I have tinkered some more with the page and hopefully resolved the problem ... thanks for any and all information and suggestions though!!! Keep 'em coming!

Tigger, The ACLU and Ken Starr

With endless accounts that students in America's schools just can't make the cut when it comes to excellence in studies of math or science or reading and writing, the following report indicates our schools are mastering absurdity.

Seems a young student went to school and mocked all authority by wearing a pair of socks that showed the character Tigger from Winnie-The-Pooh. Yes, Tigger. Maybe it's all the bouncing he does or that he likes to have fun, fun, fun. Reports say she was then forced to an in-school suspension program called "Students With Attitude Problems."

Well, to be honest, it wasn't only the socks. She also wore a brown shirt with a pink border and a denim skirt. The school does have a 'dress code' which says the "policy requires students to wear clothes with solid colors in blue, white, green, yellow, khaki, gray, brown and black. Permitted fabrics are cotton twill, corduroy and chino. No denim is allowed."

Thos darn anti-authoritarian colors are ruining Amurica!!

The Florida school is now being sued by the seventh-grader on the basis that the policy is unconstitutionally vague and restrictive. I suppose suing on the grounds that a policy is silly won't hold much weight in court. And yes, a school certainly has the right to create and enforce a dress code. I just can't imagine denim being banned.

Which reveals, of course, that my mind was rotted with filth, degradation and snarky attitude problems as I attended school wearing denim jeans. No cartoon socks, no. But I did have a couple of Mickey Mouse shirts.

I would call this event "Goofy" but that could be misconstrued as a cartoon reference.

Is it any wonder that the United States Supreme Court this week heard a case involving the suspension of a student who carried a silly sign outside school property and was suspended by a principal who saw the sign as a flagrant assault on the "mission of the school"?

Even stranger, groups ranging from Pat Robertson's Law Center and the ACLU are supporting the student's case and the U.S. attorney arguing the case for the government is ... wait for it .. Kenneth Starr.

Money Trumps Traffic Camera Changes

Despite evidence that lengthening the time a traffic light is yellow reduces accidents, the TN legislature has decided to support the tactic of using automatic cameras. So more tickets and more revenue win the day.

The bill from Rep. Joe McCord essentially died in committee Tuesday. Also in the KNS report was this oddity - efforts to exempt some cities from the changes if it were adopted:

"The subcommittee session also included moves by several legislators to exempt their home counties from coverage by McCord's bill. Rep. Ben West, D-Nashville, proposed first that Davidson County be exempt.

After the Nashville amendment was adopted, West then proposed to exempt Knox County from coverage by the bill - over objections from McCord that the law needs to be consistent statewide."

And, as mentioned in yesterday's post, the proposed bill would forbid local governments from contracting with private companies to operate the red light camera systems. As I understand it, those companies get the bulk of the revenue and send a portion back to the city. But the entire bill is pretty much dead in the water.

Other cities are debating this use (or abuse) of raising revenues based on tickets issued with no chance for the accused to confront their accuser. In Georgia, the legislature has passed a law demanding the monies raised would go (for the most part) ito the state and not to cities:

"Under House Bill 77, which passed 110-60, 75 percent of the profits cities and counties would otherwise make off the cameras would go to the state. The money would go to the general fund "with the intent" that it be used to improve trauma care in the state, the bill states.

"There's no guarantee that it will go to the trauma network," state Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield, D-Atlanta, said in arguing against the bill.

But state legislators, and even the governor, have been looking for new funding sources for trauma care - the catch-all name for emergency room care for the most serious injuries. State officials say the trauma system needs major upgrades.

The red light bill also contains other provisions. It states that local governments can't tinker with the timing of a red light to decrease the yellow time before installing a camera. It requires a traffic engineering study before a camera is installed. It states that a motorist can't get a ticket from a police officer, then get another one because of the camera.

House Bill 77's initial intent was to outlaw red light cameras. Some legislators believe the rewritten bill will accomplish a similar goal, since cities and counties will be less likely to install them if they can't keep most of the profits."

I would imagine future changes (if any) will depend on the outcomes of Supreme Court cases in other states. But again, for now, the claim that cameras are all about saving lives pales when the discussion turns so quickly on who gets the money from these tickets, which cannot be appealed short of lawsuits.

The Redflex company, which pockets a percentage of all fines issued, says this is just all part of the modern world, where we are watched in ubiquitous fashion. In a USA Today story from 2006, the company explains they plan to expand their surveillance to roads as well as intersections. There are some key detractors to these camera programs according to the USA Today story:

"Perhaps the toughest critic of the cameras is the National Motorists Association. It's a driver advocacy group bent on keeping traffic flowing. It says that re-timing yellow lights — for one extra second — is more effective than installing traffic cameras.

"Putting up a camera only rewards a city for poor engineering," spokesman Eric Skrum says.

[Redflex CEO Karen] Finley is unmoved. "People who obey the law never have to deal with us," she says.

Soon, Redflex may seek more serious lawbreakers than those who run red lights. The company has just begun to look into potential for growth in the homeland security business, Finley says.

Redflex and its competitors are frequently criticized as invading personal privacy. Such criticism may get more vocal as the industry looks to expand the uses of its technology.

"If you take it to its logical extreme," says Beth Givens, director of Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, an advocacy group, "we could become a society where automated systems are enforcing the law — a system of ubiquitous monitoring."

But Finley points out that cameras already "watch" people at ATMs. And at many convenience stores. And in offices all over the country. And in transit stations, airports and many other public spaces.

Security cameras are part of our culture, she says. Besides, she says, "When you use a public roadway, you give up your right to privacy."

The Failure of Traffic Cameras

Driving under watchful camera eyes has provided government with endless supplies of cash and those ticketed have little ability to challenge the charge. And that is bringing lawsuits and challenges that due process is being ignored.

Ohio and Minnesota are just two states whose court's are reviewing the use of such cameras. Claims are often made that the presence of the camera is enough to warrant their use. But what of the right of one accused to face their accuser in court? And once courts hold the tickets issued via camera technology illegal, how will they refund the money seized from fines?

I had read recently of several studies which showed that a much greater effectiveness of reducing accidents at intersections is achieved with two simple acts: clearer markings at intersections and longer times for a yellow light. A Popular Mechanics article by Glenn Reynolds mentions those studies:

"But if the emphasis is on safety--rather than on revenue--there are better ways of dealing with the problem. A recent study done by the University of Central Florida for the Florida Department of Transportation found that improving intersection markings in a driving simulator reduced red-light running by 74 percent without increasing the number of rear-end collisions. Likewise, a Texas Transportation Institute study found that lengthening yellow-light times cut down dramatically on red-light running. It also found that most traffic-camera violations occurred within the first second after the light turned red (the average was just one-half second after the light change), while most T-bone collisions occurred 5 or more seconds after the light change. If there's a problem, cameras aren't really addressing it."

BUt it seems evident that given the option of simple engineering changes or of just taking money, it's all about the money.

UPDATE: There was a massive response to the issue of cameras and traffic lights at KnoxViews which is well worth the read. Just wish I had read if before I posted my views about cameras and traffic lights today.

Camera Obscura - My Cat Does The Reviews Today

I can hear the cat snoring rather loudly as she sleeps away this cool afternoon and I sit here pecking away at the keyboard. The sound is most seductive, though oddly loud for such a wee critter. I have never, ever heard a cat snore prior to this cat. What might a cat dream about? I'm going to guess the dreams are about movies, spy movies in fact. Sneaky-peteing about on soft cat feet, intense focus, and a cold-blooded detachment seem exactly right for cat and spy.

This week the cat and I watched the latest James Bond film, "Casino Royale." We both agreed that it was the best Bond movie since Sean Connery played the British agent and was a fine adaptation of Ian Fleming's book and his dark-hearted hero.

In the books, and in the first few films with Connery, Bond is not a nice person. He's deceptive and cruel, a bit hedonistic and given to petty acts of revenge. And he enjoys that whole "license to kill" aspect of his job. All those elements are expertly played by Daniel Craig, who was born in 1968, long after Connery broke out in a series of hit movies.

One slightly funny thing the cat and I noticed about this new Bond movie -- a lack of high-tech gadgets in this movie (thank god for that) with one exception. There's a scene about two-thirds through the movie where Bond has to dash to his car and hook himself up to a defibrillator. I think that is most appropriate for a character some 50-plus years old.

There was no snoring from the cat during this movie, which we both recommend for viewing. And while I have mentioned it before, I'm going to mention it again. A movie worth seeking out which also stars Craig is "Layer Cake." He plays a criminal who is caught in a maze of low-rent thugs and twisted schemes, and shows off the acting chops he used with great success as Bond.

On the other hand, the cat DID snore through two pitiful movies I watched on cable this week. The horror movie "Stay Alive" and the new Steve Martin version of "The Pink Panther." Both were just awful. However the cat did wake up for one scene in the new Panther movie, where Martin is attempting to take lessons from a dialect coach so he can speak English. The phrase "I would like to buy a hamburger" has never been funnier.

Large amounts of cat-hisses are evident if by some error the Fox network is onscreen when "American Idol" airs. Catty and sneaky behavior, however, are evident at the web site "Vote For The Worst," which has for the last few years urged readers to call in and vote for the worst Idol contestants. This week, they claimed they were responsible for keeping the untalented competitor named Sanjaya on the show.

I will place a phone at the cat's disposal next week when voting is offered should she wish to dial in and vote for the worst contestant. Well, I may help her dial just a little bit.

Bush Veto Ahead for Information Access?

A series of bills aimed at improving access to public records was overwhelmingly approved by representatives in Washington, D.C. yesterday.

However President Bush has vowed to veto the measures. Welcome to Sunshine Week 2007.

The Gonzales Dance

Juggling language and side-stepping reality, the nation's Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is under withering heat for a first-of-its-kind firing of US attorneys.

It's unique since it's the first time the firings and replacements have occurred under the rules of The Patriot Act - which means the Senate does not have to confirm any choices made. Not that any emergency existed to invoke the Patriot Act. It was just handy to avoid Congress.

Also worth noting is how much Gonzales has actively misled the public and congress about the mass firings. It's gone from an episode of "good management" to a mistake-filled process. In January of this year Gonzales said:

"That fact that that happens quite frankly some people should view that as a sign of good management. What we do is make an evaluation about the performance of individuals and I have a responsibiity that we have the best possible people in that position.

"I would never ever make a change in a United States attorney position for political reasons or that in any way would jeopardize an ongoing investigation," Gonzales said. "I just would not do it."

This week he claimed a new stance on the firings:

"Like every CEO of every major organization, I am responsible for what happens at the Department of Justice. I acknowledge that mistakes were made here. I accept that responsibility and my pledge to the American people is to find out what went wrong here, to assess accountability, and to make improvements so that the mistakes in this instance do not occur again in the future."

The President says he was aware of complaints about attorneys, but knew no names or specifics, even though his staff was actively campaigning for firing all the previous attorneys he himself approved in his first term. Bush simply says the explanation was mishandled, but the actions themselves were just fine.

The Vampire Candidate and The Catfish Resolution

Some stories are so bizarre they defy description. Just about every sentence of this story is so weird you'd think it was made up by the staff writers at Weekly World News. But nooooooo. The British paper reports that America's (so far) only vampire candidate, Jonathon "The Impaler" Sharkey for president is being investigated for threatening to impale current President Bush --

"But a legal expert is unsure if a case could be made against The Impaler. 'Under the First Amendment, what it boils down to here is whether or not he's a vampire who wants to impale the president,' law professor Neil Richards of Washington University in St. Louis told the Chronicle.

'I guess the question is, if he's a vampire, why is he the one staking people? Shouldn't he want to bite the president and feed on him?' added Richards, describing these questions as 'perhaps further evidence that this is not a true threat."

The whole story (every sentence will make your jaw drop) is here. The vampire is 42 years old and his wife, Spree, is 19. Just ... wow. All it needs is a reference to Bigfoot and a UFO.

In a related bit of strangeness, another story, this one with a much happier ending. I mentioned a few days back that a woman was being sought for attacking a waitress with a catfish dinner. They found the woman, but the waitress and the restaraunt decided not to file charges against her:

"We've had so much publicity over this stuff, they've called us from everywhere," Jenkins told the Times-News Thursday afternoon. "Louisiana, California, ‘The "Jerry Springer Show' - and Channel 5 sat up here for eight hours the other day. It's all over the Internet everywhere.

"We just told them (the sheriff's office) to tell her she wasn't welcome anymore. It's all you can eat, not all you can carry."

I know it's only Tuesday, but surely there won't be any stranger stories this week .... or at least I hope that's true.

"Morristown" The Movie

“We don’t make anything in this country anymore. If they closed the ports, we’d be naked and barefoot.”
- Shirley Reinhardt, former GE worker, Morristown, TN

The quote comes from a new documentary about Morristown and immigration, currently making the rounds at festivals and is also now available on DVD. Filmmaker Anne Lewis spent years on the project, which examines how immigration has changed the city and the city has changed the immigrants.

Lewis began her career as an associate director on the Oscar-winning "Harlan County U.S.A." and has been actively exploriing the lives and the worlds of working men and women ever since. Some info about her is here and here, where she explains her creative vision as a documentary filmmaker.



The movie, "Morristown" is described as:

"Working-class people in Mexico and eastern Tenessee are caught in the throes of massive economic change, which challenges their assumptions about work, family, nation and community. This film chronicles nearly a decade of change in Morristown, Tennessee through interviews with displaced or low-wage Southern workers, Mexican immigrants, and workers and families impacted by globalization."

A short clip can seen here via the Austin, TX university website.

The movie was made with the assistance from both the Highlander Center (where you can order a DVD copy of "Morristown Video Letters", an early spin off of the project) in New Market, TN and the Appalshop in Kentucky, where you can pre-order copies of the movie and should have them available for sale in the very near future. Thanks to Anne for the details about the availability of her film.

Part of the movie examines the recent efforts of workers at the Koch Foods chicken processing plant to form a union. Workers overwhelming approved the move to unionize and cameras take you into the plant to witness working conditions there.

And while the movie hasn't gotten much attention in Tennesssee, audiences from Albuquerque to Minnesota are watching the story unfold.

(photo taken from the movie, shows Alfredo and Silvia Perez and their children in Juarez, Mexico)

Cup Of Joe Powell 2.0

So I had to switch to the new Blogger. This is the first post with the new Blogger. Not sure if the world will follow along here or not. Dang well better.

I will start using tags for posts as all the hep cats do.

Sure looks all clean and sparkly in the new digs, but I'm sure that won't last. Why not add a picture here just for good measure? (hmmmm ... not sure where I spotted this picture ... don't sue me.)

Halliburton Leaving U.S.?

I cannot say I am surprised to learn yet another giant corporation is leaving the U.S.

It will likely be a major benefit for stockholders, and may allow them to escape from troubling legal investigations into their practices and avoid taxation too. Halliburton is leaving the U.S. and headed into the Middle East.

The Freedonian has more on the story, noting:

"The Halliburton contracts have to end and end immediately. A company that we know we can't trust has relocated to a nation we know we can't trust. If Iraq had a fraction of the connection to the 9/11 attacks that UAE had, attacking them would have been the right thing to do.

I'm not advocating attacking UAE. But they've already proven their willingness to take any investment we make in them and make it pay dividends in blood. Our government has a responsibility to the American people to not help fund the next attack on them."

Designer Genitals

"It's a ripoff," says University of Tennessee at Memphis medical professor Thomas G Stovall, adding, that there is no scientific literature to back up the claims of a controversial surgical technique. The technique heralded by plastic surgeons and Dr. Stovall's warnings about it were featured in Friday's Washington Post.

The medical procedure is referred to as vaginal reconstruction and is based on a technique of firing a laser into a woman's gentials - Designer Vaginal Lasoplasty. Stovall adds that the claims of the process are more than dubious:

"It's really a heresy promoting this. But sex sells."

Stovall, a former president of the Soceity of Gynecological Surgeons, is a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology.

The creator of the technique, Dr. David Matlock, often seen on E! TV on "Dr. 90210" promotes his surgery via the internet and claims he's performed thousands of such procedures and trained about 140 doctors to repeat his success. He says it's what women want, it's safe and it makes him tons of cash. One patient mentioned in the article didn't just have this one surgery - she had a whole series of them, what doctor called a "Wonder Woman Makeover":

"(31-year old single mother Julie Barrigan had) several vaginal procedures, breast implants and a breast lift, abdominal liposuction and a "Brazilian butt augmentation," which involves reshaping the buttocks through a combination of liposuction and fat injections."

The act of intense body re-shaping and sculpting and lasering and injecting is a very personal decision. Maybe it helps and maybe it does not. I do know that surgery to re-shape and re-imagine the body is presented on The Entertainment Channel, which speaks volumes about the processes here. And I'm certain this type of "designer" body enhancements will continue to grow more popular.

Potions and promises to bring a new you into existence have been around as long as there have been people. Give it a science backdrop and a catchy advertisement, and the money follows. Dr. Matlock doesn't just offer a simple surgery - it's an Institute, with a Misson to "empower women with knowledge, choice and alternatives."

Bling Water From Tennessee

The hip-hop culture can now satisfy their thirst with a tasty blast of water from Dandridge, Tennessee. Once the water is placed in a frosted glass bottle and given some other sparkly additions, the Dandridge spring water turns to Bling Water and sells for between 24 and 40 dollars a bottle.

More here and here.

And oh yes, I too wish I'd thought of it first.

Camera Obscura - Miller's '300'; 'Heroes'; 'The Host'

Technical prowess may be the real star in the movie version of Frank Miller and Lynn Varley's "300" opening today in theatres (which I told you in December would be the hot ticket when released). Varley, once wife of Miller, added to Miller's art and design of "300", with great colors and moods.

Imaginative, rough, beautiful - the duo of Miller and Varley jammed together all types of comic art and design in their works and bringing all that to screen takes another type of technical inventiveness, which director Zack Snyder achieved by combining the latest CGI/blue screen effects and good old fashioned 35mm film tech.

"In a dazzling battle sequence, heavily influenced by Snyder and (cinematographer Larry) Fong's work in commercials, the two used a camera technique known as a "lens morph" or a "nested zoom." Basically, three Arriflex cameras were mounted with a wide, a medium and a macro lens that ran at 150 frames per second. When cut together, the action shot moves blazingly fast, in an extreme change of perspective that isn't created purely by either cutting or zooming. "Using two techniques at once is all part of the weirdness," Fong said.

High adrenaline visuals were then underscored by a bold soundtrack.

When you watch this movie, it should be loud. It should hurt your ears, Snyder said."

More on the audio-visual assault is here from the L.A. Times. Fanboys have been awaiting this movie with much glee and anticipation, and the film is getting very high praise from comic afficianados in this spoiler-loaded review:

"The stylized combat of "300" is, as far as I've seen, unparalleled in American filmmaking, and that includes "The Matrix," "The Lord of the Rings," and everything else. In fact, "Rings" devotees may wish to avoid "300," because after seeing Frank Miller's widescreen illustrations come to life and start moving, leaping, hacking, gouging, tearing and bleeding all over their neighborhood IMAX, the Tolkien trilogy will be reduced to little more than the very long story of a schizophrenic Muppet and his curiously affectionate companions. And I love those movies!"

Some fine behind-the-scenes producton blogs about the making of this blood-soaked hyper-epic can be found here.

In the midst of the sculpted abs and ballet of male violence an actress appears as a near-goddess, playing the role of Leonidas' wife Queen Gorgo. Her career has often been lost amid the myths and fantasies of the films she appears in: Lena Headey.


Headey can be seen in another male fantasy, "Twice Upon a Yesterday" (the USA title of the also clumsy title of "The Man With Rain In His Shoes"), which is worth seeking out. A time travel story without gigantic effects or dinosaurs, but relying instead on the ever-changeable human nature for its dramatic core. Other movies with Headey include "The Brothers Grimm," "The Cave", "Ripley's Game," and "Imagine Me & You".

One more thought on "300" -- pre-production plans are underway to bring another of Miller and Varley's cult comics to life, this time "Ronin," which is set in a bizarre nano-bio-tech future which is invaded by a centuries old samaurai battle.
------

In limited release today (and headed to DVD later this month) is the Korean creature-feature "The Host." The movie has been compared to "Jaws" and my advice is, if you get a chance to see it on the big screen - do so. Often comic and absurd, the movie still manages to scare the bejesus out of audiences.

------


The hit NBC show "Heroes", which exists both on-screen and in comic books, has had a nice batch of episodes helmed by director Allan Arkush, who also has earned executive producer status on the show.

Arkush, who took Martin Scorsese's film classes in college went on to work for the Roger Corman machine and gave us cult classics like "Rock and Roll High School" and "Get Crazy!".

Arkush has a great touch for comedy, action and drama mixed with comic book/rock and roll madness and his style melds very well with "Heroes". And the show has been very carefully building great stories and characters into a very tense and exciting adventure. Good to see Arkush working again - I may even forgive him for "Caddyshack 2".

------

While I'm talking comic books, why on earth was there not more of a publicity push for the first-ever onscreen confrontation between Wolverine and Batman?? Huh? Tell me!

Oh sure, they appeared as other people rather than Logan and Bruce Wayne, but it's a terrific match-up between actors Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale in the vastly underrated "The Prestige". Set in the world of magicians at the end of the 19th century, the movie even boasts David Bowie as Nikola Tesla. It's another great film from director Chris Nolan and should be on your list of movies to watch.

Sevierville Paper Drops Coulter

Times are tough for Conservative icon Ann Coulter -- even newspapers in Tennessee are dropping her after her comments from the Conservative Convention:

"However we will not continue to publish the columns of someone who uses people as a punch line to get a cheap laugh and who so freely uses an offensive term to describe another human being.

Other papers nationwide are dropping her. What's unique here is not that these papers are major national outlets, it's that the small town support, from the Conservative base, are dropping her. Mix that with her losses from national sponsors, her tirade continues to make waves. (Thanks to Sande for the tip on the Sevierville news.)

A What Up His Where?

The best news story of the day goes to the man who had a hidden magnet which freaked out the security at LAX. Via Boing Boing.