Perspective

Here are some thoughts and insights worth your time:

From Aunt B. --

"One black man attaining the presidency when half of the prisoners in the U.S. prison system are black men, when one in ten black men between the ages of 20 and 35 are in prison, and when one in three black men in their thirties has a prison record (which means that one in three black men of prime voting age cannot vote) is not going to fix the problems in the black community. But it does suggest possibilities.

One white woman attaining the presidency when thirty percent of female murder victims are killed by a husband or boyfriend, when one in four hundred of us is a victim of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault every year, and when almost thirty percent of single moms live in poverty is not going to fix the problems of women. But it does suggest possibilities.

Patriarchy as usual is never about suggesting possibilities to people who don’t have power."

From White's Creek --

"The danger from Terrorism is essentially a myth. I have heard it described as being somewhere between the danger from Killer Bees, which everyone seems to be afraid of but have actually killed no one in the USA, and Drunk Drivers, which few folks react in fear regarding but which kill about 17,000 people a year in the USA."

From Cory Doctorow --

"[During World War 2, England's] message to the people wasn't "Take your shoes off" or "place your liquids in this bag". Instead, King George's printer stuck up millions of royal red posters bearing the legend "KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON."

The approaches are markedly different - eternal (even fearful) vigilance, versus a reassured, Zen-like calm. Which one makes us more secure?"

From Russ McBee --

"Half the world -- nearly three billion people -- live on less than two dollars a day."

The Mediocre Is The Message

Heck of a week, America.

The endless news cycle offered via television can't be a good thing to consume in any quantity. I do limit myself for sake of my own dubious sanity. Perhaps the burnout factor was linked to my viewing for the first time some (I could not stomach all) of the 30-minute gossip-fest called TMZ. Some clueless chuckleheads standing in a faux newsroom talking about which celebrity was seen doing something mundane in their private life. Fame and information all tumble together into a rather nasty slurry and pointless non-event.

But I did sense some ugly parallels to the TV news biz, where the screeching, endless hours of pundits-in-the-pulpits define themselves by defaming and defending personalities whose names and minute activities make up the "news". If you don't notice such common themes, then my explanations of them will not offer you illumination.

For me, what I sense most is this lack of depth, a lack of useful investigative coverage. We are proffered slabs of scandal instead, with just enough time for a breakaway report to a separate potential scandal, then back to a panel discussion of chattering nonsense about the scandal of the moment.

This week has been a feeding frenzy about former Governor Spitzer and former congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro. Hookers and racism make for hefty ratings. I do feel for the folks in the TV news biz - their income depends on being ratings winners not on in-depth reporting. So much advertising revenue from drug companies, insurance companies, banking and finance companies, car makers, and a host of others who these days are in dismal shape in a blooper-reel of failures and corruption, so I'm sure they prefer the focus be on anything except them.

Fame and the deconstruction of Fame is so much more camera-cuddly.

If the old adage "The medium is the message" remains valid, then the message isn't a good one. It's a continued state of self-absorption which may well cause many folks to actually disappear into an individual gravitational collapse leaving only a black hole where once a person existed and now only a dark place which sucks in any flickering light remains.

A Clean, Well-Written Argument

Simplicity is praised and inner thoughts revealed by the nation's Supreme Court Justices in a series of video interviews which have been made available on the internet.

The growing popularity of those videos and the comments made on them were featured in a recent article from Law.com (click here for their story). Some samples:

"Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., for example, thinks lengthy citations to Web sites that are now common in briefs are an "obscene" distraction "with all those letters strung together," though he does not offer an alternative. Another bias: Roberts thinks the word "which" should be avoided almost every time. "It slows me down; it starts to sound like one of those old 19th century contracts -- ‘which' and ‘wherefore.'"

Justice Stephen Breyer seconds that emotion. "If I see [a brief that is] 50 pages, it can be 50 pages, but I'm already going to groan." On the other hand, he says, "If I see 30, I think, well, he thinks he has really got the law on his side because he only took up 30."

Justice Anthony Kennedy, it turns out, hates when lawyers turn nouns into verbs by tacking on "-ize" at the end, as in "incentivize." Such showy, made-up words, he sniffs, are "like wearing a very ugly cravat."

And Justice Antonin Scalia can't stand it when briefs refer to a precedent "and its progeny." He growls, "I think it was wonderful the first time it was used. It is trite now. Terribly trite. Get some other expression."

Typographical errors are a credibility killer, Scalia adds. "My goodness, if you can't even proofread your brief, how careful can I assume you are" in citing relevant cases?

Scalia also thinks that lawyers are wasting their time when they write a summary of their argument at the beginning of a brief. "I mean, why would I read the summary if I'm going to read the brief? Can you tell me why I should read it?"

But if you skip the summary to please Scalia, you risk annoying Justice Clarence Thomas. He tells Garner the summary section is the most important part, acting as a preview "like giving you, you know, what's going to be on TV next week."

Rep. Davis Feeds Fear, Tells A Whopper

"There are more illegals in Hamblen County than anywhere else in the world, not just Tennessee or America.”

That's what Congressman David Davis told local, state and federal officials who met in Morristown's City Hall on Friday. But does anyone other than Rep. Davis really believe what he says?

I'm not sure what point Rep. Davis was trying to make, but the truth is, his statement is totally false.

The population of Hamblen County is about 61,000. Statewide, statistics show that the illegal immigrant population is less than 50,000. The number one state for illegal immigrants is California, with an estimated 2.6 million illegal immigrants. Here's a reality check for the congressman: even if every illegal immigrant in Tennessee lived in Hamblen County, it would not make what Rep. Davis said true.

Camera Obscura: War as Comedy in "Thunder Tropic'; Buffy Crosses Over

A new comedy from Ben Stiller aims satire at actors and warfare in "Tropic Thunder", out in late summer, but the photo out this week got all the buzz as it showed Robert Downey Jr playing a 'committed actor' who decides to dye his skin to play a black character.

The photo is here at EW.com and the movie set-up sounds very funny:

"Downey plays one of a team of self-indulgent stars cast in the modern equivalent of Apocalypse Now. Stiller plays an action hero who has just adopted a baby from Asia but worries that ''all the good ones are gone.'' Black portrays a comedian known for performing multiple roles in a single film — his latest is called The Fatties: Fart 2. But when the film's director (Steve Coogan) and writer (Nick Nolte) get fed up with their prima donna cast, they drop them into the jungle to fend for themselves. The actors think they're doing some sort of full-immersion filmmaking, but the danger they're in is very real."

Also leaked from early screenings - Tom Cruise dons a fat suit to play a studio boss in the movie. And has it really taken some 29 years to lampoon "Apocalypse Now"??

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In the ongoing 8th Season (in comic book form) of the TV show "Buffy The Vampire Slayer", the plucky vamp killer wakes up naked in bed next to a new girlfriend. Dating a Slayer has always been problematic and so when this issue of the comic "Wolves At The Gate" hit stores this week, even the NYTimes covered the story. Writer Drew Goddard says:

"I guess the stakes are different in that we have more freedom in comics," said "Wolves" scribe Drew Goddard, who was a writer for "Buffy" on TV and more recently penned the movie "Cloverfield." "Even though we’ve still got a ways to go, we’ve made tremendous progress with regard to portrayals of human sexuality in pop culture over the last 10 years or so. So the stage just feels different now. I’m sure people can argue that Willow/Tara broke a lot of ground in that regard, but it’s not like we go into these things saying, ’How can we make a grand political statement here?’ We just try to do what feels right for the characters. The rest takes care of itself."

A new comic is also set to take up the TV series Angel where it left off, too, but I doubt we'll see him in a same sex romp. All the Whedon-Buffy-Angel news you can handle is here.

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From iconic images to words now. The University Press of Kentucky has just released a new book of film history and the historical films of the 1930s called "Reconstructing American Historical Cinema" by J.E. Smyth. In the past, Hollywood's writers were seldom recognized as prime movers in cinema, that esteem being given to directors or producers instead. And over-arching film theory classes often invoke odd correlations between politics and filmmakers.

Smyth's book instead makes compelling arguments that it was the writers who retold American stories to American audiences in ways that forever shaped how we see ourselves and our myths. An excerpt from the book is here.

More Details on Statewide Cable Franchise Plan

A new plan and a new agency to create rules and regulations for a proposed change in the laws regarding cable franchises has something of a compromise to it. The full bill can be read here.

The one large problem I have with this legislation is that it alters the existing laws so that AT&T would not have to participate in the current system of making agreements at the local level for franchise agreements. The fact remains that they could make such agreements now to start providing service, and creating a new agency and new laws still smack of fixing something that is not broken.

There are pluses to the proposed change in law - it does preserve the current Public, Education and Government (PEG) or at least states that new franchise agreements include provisions for PEG channels.

It also irks me that while every resident of the state could be impacted by the proposed changes to the state law, the state's media has devoted more coverage of useless, grandstanding legislation which had no chance of passage. With so much info available to news agencies and anyone else with access to the internet why is it that more info is typically available from bloggers?

No doubt the technology in telecommunications has been and is rapidly changing and perhaps changes to how such agencies are governed is needed. So shouldn't that be the priority for our elected officials?

The Best Of Your Cup of Joe

A random tag from Russ McBee asks for you humble host (me) to point out five posts here which I like best. However, I am going to monkey with the tag meme and include some samples from the posts which I think are some of the best so far.

Oh and these are the "rules":

** Post about the meme and link back to the person that tagged you.

** Go back to your archives and link to your five favorite posts.

Link One: must be about family
Link Two: must be about friends
Link Three: must be about yourself
Link Four: must be about something you love
Link Five: can be anything you choose

** Tag five other people (at least two must be new acquaintances so that you can get to know them better).

First, this post comes from my first month of blogging and is an essay by my sister-in-law as she urged college students to create really good stories - but there is much more here. Her example focused on her cousin Gisele, who disappeared into the horrifying world of concentration camps during World War 2. By sheer chance, a commenter on that post prompted another search for information about Gisele and something astonishing happened. Please read the post here and be sure to read the comments to learn what happened. Here's a sample from that post:

" In fact, I’ve since learned, no one knows how or where or even if she died. The last thing we know about Gisele is that she resided for a while at Theresienstadt, a concentration camp in Czechoslovakia that was for most of the people who passed through there, the last stop before the Auschwitz.

I said the best stories are complex, but it’s not always easy to live with complexity. A cautionary tale about a girl who got bitten by a monkey is a lot easier to live with than a complicated narrative about a girl who disappeared in the crucible of World War II and whose fate will probably never be known. But just because you carry a story around in your head for years and years, doesn’t mean it’s right. And I’d rather have the complex story because even with its incomplete ending, it tells the truth. We like simple stories because they are easy to understand and their lessons are clear and easy to follow. Complex stories make us work to discover their meanings, if there are any, and their implications for our own lives can make us uncomfortable."

After this turn of events, any doubts I had back in 2005 about what good might possibly come from blogging immediately vanished and I have never had second thoughts again.

Second choice - a post about friends. For a few days last summer, I was in a panic when the sweet and lovable Sophie, The Editor's dog, somehow escaped the house and was missing for several days. What I learned from that experience was large - both Sophie, The Editor and I learned how fantastic our friends could be and dozens of other bloggers across Tennessee became new friends to us all. The full post in which I express both my sadness and joy is here and much happiness about her return and my thanks to many folks here. It was a drama and half, folks, maybe even two.

Third choice - a post about myself. There is no doubt my most revealing post (in many ways) was presented here. How revealing? Here's a sample:

"Have I ever told you about the time I went fishing and lost my pants and had to run naked to my truck? It is a true story.

Oddly, that post has been kinda popular. You'd be amazed at the number of folks who Google the phrase "naked fishing."

Fourth choice - a post about something I love. Well, dang. I post often on the topic of movies, and I loves both watching them and writing about them. But love for living things, that's what this next post is about. It's about an absent friend and my celebration of her life. WARNING: The post may elicit some tears. A sample:

"When I got to the animal hospital with her this afternoon, she waited in the truck while I spoke to the vet. An assistant asked me what color of fur she had (I have no idea why that was important) Before I could even think to answer, the words "She's golden" came out of my mouth. She is and always will be.

I have one more post to offer, just my own choice of a post I like. I am not sure which if any you dear reader might like. So I pick this one here, called Martian. One reader thought I must have been stoned-to-the-bejesus to write that. No, just me pondering the galaxy and the past and the future. Plus, the little NASA movie link in the post is still active. And I remain impressed with what I see.

"Maybe the best way to think of it is as development property -- a slow development, true. But I can almost see it all as part of the view of Our backyard. I have to use my imagination, to consider time and distance and what Life requires or how Life must adapt. I have to be willing to consider so many theories, and if I dismiss the possibilities, then I limit my view and I might as well stay in the caves."

OK, that's some of the ones I have liked best. I hope you have enjoyed these pages one-tenth as much as I enjoy making them.

Here's my choices for other bloggers to try out this meme -- the always thoughtful Alice, along with Valley Grrrl, The Editor, Tennessee Jed and Cathy at Domestic Psychology.

AT&T Cable Franchise Bill Advances in House

Last year when Rep. Charles Curtiss proposed changes to the law to allow AT&T to by-pass locally controlled franchises for cable service, the giant telecom decided to abandon efforts to change the law. This year, they may not be happy with the bill, which passed a committee vote yesterday, but they may take what they can get.

A key element to Curtiss' bill - HB3959, which you can read here - is the creation of a new state agency made up of local state officials to oversee any new agreements. Though the agency would only exist until 2011 unless the state legislature renews it.

Since the state and AT&T have begun doing more business together, will this guarantee the bill's passage?

Far more background here.

Puppy Killing and Imminent Doom

Is it optimistic to say that pessimism always springs anew?

Wait, let me back up and explain a little here. On Monday, as I did some of the reading of news and such which had stacked up over the weekend, I ran across a couple of stories which seemed about as dark and gloomy as could be. A grim start to the week, thought I.

One story currently raging on websites doesn't seem to have anything good about it. It's a dark deed, done cheerfully in a dire time and all on video. Some debate remains as to whether it is a real event or some viral prank. I'm not posting this video but you can link to it via this Digg site and the name of the video is US Soldier Throws Puppy Off Cliff.

Grim stuff from some soldiers deployed in the Middle East. Online rabid response is large -- reports claim a Marine from Hawaii is the culprit and that the events are under investigation.

As a person who holds animals and dogs in high esteem, I can't imagine what might make some people think killing a wee puppy is funny or anything short of sociopathic. But let's be honest - we've been at war in the Middle East for years now - children, women, men and soldiers from around the world have died. Were we to see individual video accounts of each and every death, hosted on some online video service then I'd think the grim nastiness of death would choke us all.

For some time the nation has conditionally accepted the idea of a clean and concise war with concepts like "surgical strikes" and precise attacks -- but the bottom line is very clear - people die in and around war zones in ways which overwhelm the senses. Currently we don't even see images of flag-draped coffins of soldiers, so a video of killing a puppy seems enormously heinous. As much as the idea of that video bothers me - what we don't see and don't know about is far more troubling. There's no way a video like this can somehow reverse or revise our nation's military action.

Stumbling across that video sure made Monday a grim day. And it just kept getting worse.

A scientist in England was featured in a report on climactic upheaval and apocalypse in which he cheerily and ominously advised: "Enjoy life while you can."

The report on the views of James Lovelock declares any and all attempts to halt a climactic doomsday are all useless.

"There have been seven disasters since humans came on the earth, very similar to the one that's just about to happen. I think these events keep separating the wheat from the chaff. And eventually we'll have a human on the planet that really does understand it and can live with it properly. That's the source of my optimism."

Finding an expert to predict imminent doom and human helplessness is not that tough.

- Unreturned books and fines at the library prompt arrest and jail-time.

-- Your coffee thermos could explode at any time.

Having a positive outlook after a Monday with these reports, that is far more difficult.

Congressman Davis Says Gasoline Price High Due To Democrats

1st District Congressman David Davis provides his views on the causes of the skyrocketing cost of gasoline and oil - he blames Nancy Pelosi and them mean ol' Democrats. Yessir, that's all there is to it. If only blame could be converted to energy .....

"Davis said he voted against the latest energy proposal to come before the House because it contained billions of dollars in tax increases on American oil companies.

“I’ve never known a business to actually pay a tax. Businesses take taxes and fees and pass them on to their customer. ... The same thing is going to happen to energy,” he said.

Davis reiterated his contention that America needs energy legislation to reward those who partake in alternative energy practices and allows the United States to drill for oil on American soil.

“(Pelosi) has blocked energy drilling in (the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge), basically doing away with clean coal technology and basically doing away with the advance of nuclear energy,” he said. “Those are the things that make us competitive globally. ... Heritage (Foundation) said the current energy bill would move gas from $3 a gallon to $5 a gallon. ... (Democrats) believe you can tax and spend yourself into prosperity, and it can’t be done. ... China is going from bicycles to cars, and America is going from cars to bicycles if you follow the logic that is coming out of the leadership in Washington, and that’s not where we need to go.”

When asked how he has worked with House Democrats on a bipartisan basis, Davis cited the recently passed economic stimulus package as an example.

“That had some good leadership in it from Speaker Pelosi and President Bush,” he said of the package. “When people get those (tax rebates from the package), I hope they go out and buy some American products.”

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"Davis also pledged to compete hard for his re-election against his primary opponent, Johnson City Mayor Phil Roe.

“I won Washington County last time (in 2006),” Davis said. “My opponent is from Washington County, and I think I will win Washington County again. ... I think I will win the election again. I will do the things it takes to win.”

Even if whatever it takes is blaming others.

Now go buy something American, you slackers!!

Weekly Best of Tennessee Blogs

Time for the first ever Leap Year edition of your weekly roundup of Tennessee bloggers via TennViews.

• 55-40 Memphis: Second biggest fear, plus: Beale Street tribute hits a sour note.

• Andy Axel (at KnoxViews): TNGOP playing politics with the State Constitution,

• Aunt B.: On the TNGOP attempt to establish guilt by association, plus leave Bill Hobbs alone!

• BlountViews: How embarrassing would it be to be a member of the TNGOP right now?

• Carole Borges: Obama's formula for success: radical centrism.

• The Crone Speaks: On the failure of the abortion amendment, plus the TNGOP apparently never got the Karl Rove memo, and, notes to Clinton and Obama from candidates who dropped out.

• Cup of Joe Powell: On the Bill Hobbs implosion, plus cheers for the TNGOP, bonus: Vampires!

• Don Williams: Help fight mountaintop removal.

• The Donkey's Mouth: TNGOP: Gutter politics, McCain denounces, scolded by RNC.

• Enclave: Gathering the NAFTA pitchforks, plus TNGOP: Leave Obama's momma out of it, part 1 and part 2.

• Fletch: Cute by any other name, what do you see, and barking at the moon is a full time job.

• KnoxViews: Where in the world is Smokey? Plus: respect for Hillary, and who will answer the call?

• Lean Left: KTK: Obama comes out for gay rights and a weight is lifted

• Left of the Dial: Money fuels the debate over XM/SIRIUS merger

• Left Wing Cracker: RIP Rep. Gary Rowe, plus Hobbs has outdone himself.

• Liberadio: 2008 election results leaked, plus a little desensitizing.

• Loose TN Canon: Hobbs deleted my comments!

• NewsComa: Hobbs wins the Tennessee Wanker award and it's only February!

• Pesky Fly: Obama brings out the knives.

• Progressive Nashville: Something in the Arizona water? Plus: TNGOP thinks cheap stunts are acceptable behavior.

• Resonance: Superdelegates jumping between bandwagons, plus slacker Silent Clarence.

• RoaneViews: Chris Lugo: Nuclear free Tennessee, plus: When a potential business recruit comes to Roane County, does Leslie show them the new Jail?

• Russ McBee: Bernake predicts bank failures, plus a note to Bill Hobbs.

• Sean Braisted: Celebrity endorsements. Plus: Save Bill Hobbs!

• Sharon Cobb: Tennessee medical hero Stan Brock on 60 Minutes tonight, here's a backgrounder. Plus: Elect Hussein Obama!

• Silence Isn't Golden: Bigots for McCain, Republicans should show the same support for Tennessee that they do for Israel, natural allies in the fight against discrimination and justice. Bonus: Fulmer for Sheriff!

• Southern Beale: Prison Nation, fun with FISA.

• Tennessee Guerilla Women: Hillary tag teamed on SNL, plus some interesting quotes from Obama re. the Iraq war vote.

• TennViews: TNGOP playing politics with long-term care for seniors , plus TNGOP: There is such a thing as bad publicity, Gutterball, as it unfolded.

• Vibinc: Motivational waterboarding? Seriously, he's not making this up!

• Whites Creek Journal: Surviving Leap Day, plus: Obama fathered TWO black babies!

• Women's Health News: Workplace lactation, plus the Nipple Project.

TN GOP Excited By Publicity Smear

Tennessee Republicans cheered and gave a standing ovation to the leadership of Robin Smith, and to her Communications Director Bill Hobbs and passed a resolution of solid support for their work this week to smear the Barack Obama campagin.

Funny - I wonder do they know Obama was not the victor in the Tennessee Democrat Primary?

And no wonder they don't promote their own national party line for their own candidate John McCain. The TN GOP solidly back the far-distant second place vote-getter, Mike Huckabee.

So, what was the standing ovation for? Perhaps for making the TN GOP feel important for a moment?

Smith says:

"The issue is over. There are no consequences. … There was no hammer that fell. Bill Hobbs’ job, my job, no one’s job has ever been in jeopardy.

"I don’t know who is churning the story. But what I can tell you is that it has energized our party.”

Camera Obscura: 30 Days of Night and Other Vampire Classics

It's seldom that I have high expectations for a movie which actually meet or surpass the final product. Especially a horror movie these days. Expectations are pretty low, really, for that genre after the gushing spurt of recent movie franchises like "Saw", "Hostel", etc.

But having read the original source material of the graphic novel for "30 Days of Night" and seeing that actor Danny Huston was playing the leader of a group of some brutal, nosferatu-style vampires who invade an Alaska town just about to endure 30 days without any sunshine -- well, I was hopeful. I finally saw the film this week and hope was fulfilled.

There are no joking characters, no re-invention of the vampire myths, just a relentless and bloody apocalypse where horrible nightmares have taken the form of flesh. This is no movie for the timid or squeamish, it is a visceral attack on the senses. Once the basic location and characters are provided, the town is devoured and survival is doubtful.

The vamps don't speak English, but there are subtitles for their toothy talk. The absence of recognizable language makes the non-human nature stand out even more. There's a scene where Huston dips his dagger-like fingers into a pool of blood and primps his hair with it which was understated but blood-curdling. If such ancient, powerful and deadly creatures existed and they decided to plot against us ... then yes, human survival is unlikely. One plot-line from the comic book which was dropped was a debate among the vamps about the wisdom of taking out an entire town, but towards the end of the film that idea emerges as an important aspect of what has been happening and how it will all end.

The music here is terrific - ambient tones which seem like the sounds of something freezing, slowly. And mention too should be made of actor Ben Foster's role as The Stranger who enters the town just ahead of the monsters. He's got a knack for creating deeply disturbing characters onscreen, as he did in "3:10 to Yuma" and "Alpha Dog." Not a guy I want to get to know.

For some time now, I have wondered if vampire tales would survive the bad movie, all-emo creations of Anne Rice, or the black leather emo version of "Underworld, or the god-awful and nearly musical comedy version of them in "Van Helsing". Thankfully, they have not died out - yet.

In the past, even the classic Count Dracula had to survive feasting on hippies and surrounded by blaxpoitation funk music, as in "Dracula A.D. 1972". The movie is like a time-capsule of silly post-60s trends, has it's own Wikipedia page, and even features a character called Johnny Alucard ... aka Johnny Dracula. Now there's a film title for you.

Sam Raimi's company Ghost House produced "30 Days" but they also made another vamp film which they decided not to release to theaters last year. Look for it on DVD - it's called "Rise: Blood Hunter" and does at least provide both Lucy Liu and Carla Gugino as battling/loving vampire chicks. Sounds like all they missed was having Johnny Dracula around. And maybe a scene in a go-go club.

Made in 2005 and still getting an unusual snub from Raimi's company and distributors, it may be one of the new so-bad-it-might-be-good movies. Background on the making and the snubbing are offered here.

Famous children of famous folks are at work on what appears to be another comedy vampire story called "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead". Jake Hoffman (son of Dustin) plays an out-of-work actor who is cast in a version of Hamlet being directed by a vampire. Sean Lennon (son of John) is working on the music and the movie also features Devon Aoki, Ralph Macchio, Lindsay Lohan, Asia Argento and Marilyn Manson. (No word on who is playing Johnny Dracula.)

Getting Polled

(cartoon via) (oh and click to embiggen!)

TN GOP Spokesman Bill Hobbs Implodes

Bill Hobbs, spokesman for the TN GOP, showed how he uses smear tactics on Monday, but smear tactics are the easy spots, the Free Spots on the Bingo Card of politics. The 'writing' isn't so much of a 'hit piece' as it is a job of a hack, and a lazy one at that. Rather than campaign for his party, he campaigns against something ... anything, really, which might be perceived by some potential voter, as a negative.

He wrote a compilation of semi-factual hooey about Senator Obama, included a picture of him next to the words "muslim garb" (with funny little asterik mark which noted at the bottom of the web page reads "Clarification: The garb Sen. Obama is wearing is not 'muslim' but Somali-tribal garb." (NOTE: Before I could finish posting this this evening, the Press Release in question took the photo out and added the following to their clarification: " ..we have deleted the photo. Also, in order to diffuse attempts by Democrats and the Left to divert attention from the main point of this release - that Sen. Obama has surrounded himself with advisers and recieved endorsements from people who are anti-Semitic and anti-Israel - we have deleted the use of Barack Obama’s middle name."

The Hobbs piece for the state GOP is headlined "Anti-Semites For Obama." I'll link to it here, but who knows how long it will actually stand as is before being revised. (NOTE 2: Apparently TN Republican Senator Lamar Alexander told the state GOP to take down the photo and the press release. The internets is a fast thing, huh?) Wonder how fast Hobbs will be booted/demoted/transfered/ or tries to save his bacon and apologizes??

(And gosh, if I had only known I could tell just by someone's name they were EEEEVIL, why I'd never have to fear for my safety! Thanks, Bill! Thanks TN Republicans!!)

Round-ups aplenty of Bill Hobbs Foot-In-Mouth disease are offered here at No Silence Here, Volunteer Voters (even the McCain campaign disses Hobb's tactics.)

I Am Legume

Heh, the post title today is a pun ... see, my brother sent me this link to a news story on the ribbon-cutting yesterday of the giant seed vault up in Norway (some call it a Noah's Ark, some call it a Doomsday Vault, so ... see the title is an ... oh never mind.)

Maybe I should have gone with the joke made by the Canadian plant gene curator, who said "You can't start a new world without beer."

This massive project to store and protect food plant seeds is on Svalbard Island in Norway is so remote that:

"... with as many polar bears as human beings estimated to live there. The local tourist guide advises visitors not just to always carry a gun when outside the village, but to know how to use it as well."

See, that I Am Legume joke really works here ... oh, never mind.

Weekly Best of TN Blogs (Late Edition!)

Here's the (late) edition of the weekly best of Tennessee blogs via TennViews. I was especially honored to have my weekly movie feature Camera Obscura honored with some linkage. And a big woot! for Cormac McCarthy and the Coens.

• 10,000 Monkeys and a Camera: McCain: the Aftermath: The straight talk express hits a speed bump. Plus, the buzz on the Wisconsin and Hawaii primaries.

• 55-40 Memphis: Clinton supporters are "the Rottweilers of politics." Plus: MO-bama!

• Ablogination: Hang it up, Hillary: Why Clinton should exit gracefully.

• Andy Axel (at KnoxViews): Home-Grown Terrorists Face Federal Charges: Charges pending in mosque firebombing, and how you donate to help rebuild it. Plus: McCain feels for the family.

• Aunt B.: Is helping take care of her dad and reminiscing.

• BlountViews: Liveblogging the TDOT Pellissippi Parkway Extension hearing, and commentary. Also, The Blount County Children's Home is at risk because of politics and development, and new immigration laws are working to create an invisible fence.

• Carole Borges (a new addition to the blogroll and roundup): According to the League of Conservation Voters John McCain has earned himself a big fat zero. Also, the "poverty draft."

• The Crone Speaks: Slave Labor: Moving Down the Economic Ladder: Growing poverty is creating a "slave labor" class. Plus: Some compelling reasons to vote for Hillary, and Bush's support of Musharraf.

• Cup of Joe Powell: Are Connected Tennessee backers a front for AT&T? Plus, the immigration situation in Hamblen County prompts Rep. David Davis (R, TN-1) to call for Homeland Security intervention. Also, check out this week's Oscar edition of Joe Powell's weekly Camera Obscura series on films and film making.

• Don Williams: An open letter to Hillary’s most ardent Obama bashers: Obama supporters have the high moral ground.

• The Donkey's Mouth: Conservation Voters give high marks to Tennessee Congressional Dems, plus TNGOP's Bill Hobbs says one thing on blogs and another in official press releases. Plus: The nominee must answer to TNGOP Chairwoman Robin Smith.

• Enclave: Questioning Bill O'Reilly's lynching remarks, the Darwinian tone of reporting on Nashville's homeless, and an unnoticed story about the Texas debate.

• Fletch: Gullscapes, Storms on the Horizon, A Dream and the Wind.

• KnoxViews: Campfield reports House wasting valuable time!, lively Texas debate discussion, and a convenience voting project in East Tennessee.

• Lean Left: Kevin: Mixing the Races is a Communist Plot!, KTK: Feeling Michele Obama's frustration, and Tgirsch: Chris Matthew's job is not journalism, it's to stir up...

• Left of the Dial: "I’m glad Bruce Pearl isn’t a cult leader because otherwise I might be selling all my worldly possessions right now."

• Left Wing Cracker: LWC goes to 11 in naming his ten favorite blogs and why.

• Liberadio: Bold general election predictions, Obama robbed in New York, and the year of the underdog in which Democrats growl.

• Loose TN Canon: Wisconsin primary says GAME OVER for Republicans.

• NewsComa: It's not about the sex, it's about the political favors. Plus, blogs are changing the rules.

• Pesky Fly: Nikki Tinker surrogate attacks against Cohen are the moral equivalent of receiving stolen goods, and more on the "are bloggers journalists" question. Plus: How to protest.

• Progressive Nashville: Life after Castro won't begin just yet, psychology of the candidates, and NYT dropped the ball.

• Resonance: Revealing campaign website traffic. Plus, an Obama/Bloomberg insurgency?

• RoaneViews: Thoughts on The Game. Plus: Eclipse of Sanity?

• Russ McBee: Serbian punk nationalists on the rampage, plus some interesting numbers.

• Sean Braisted: It doesn't look like Clinton intends to salvage her dignity. Plus: [R.] Neal over at Knox Views seems perplexed as to why Hillary couldn't "bring on the wonk to expose Obama's lack of depth on policy." This is a fascinating quote to me, because I think it sums up the arrogance of the Clinton camp really well. [..] Hillary is banking on the uneducated white vote to boost her campaign.

• Sharon Cobb: Karl Rove trolling in Alabama, Obama wins the debate, and Clinton and McCain are trying to "boil the hope" out of you.

• Silence Isn't Golden: Some working people are more important to Clinton than others, memo to Hobbs: Better Uses For $8 Million , on O'Reilly's racist remarks silence is complicity, plus Act Now To Save RIF!. Oh, I almost forgot. GoldnI exclusive: Tuke in!

• Southern Beale: It seems John McCain’s "straight talk" is as crooked as a dog’s hind leg. Plus, a bright future for solar energy.

• Tennessee Guerilla Women: Clinton: Shame on you Barack Obama, Hillary's accomplishments, and Women Have Seen this Movie, We Know the Drill

• TennViews: Pam Strickland is looking for leads for a project on how "health care and legal issues contribute to the cumulative problems of poor children, particularly children of color." Plus: Student voter registration: Yes you can, and, Clinton at the State of the Black Union, and Brian's Memphis showdown preview, with a rundown of what Tennessee had to do, which they did.

• Vibinc: Crunches the delegate numbers and comes to some interesting conclusions.

• Whites Creek Journal: Whites Creek Steve's impressive Great Backyard Bird Count list, plus more commentary on the bill to require DNA testing of fathers listed on Tennessee birth certificates.

• Women's Health News: Rachel critiques CNN's Tips for Savvy Medical Web Surfing with some valuable tips of her own, plus more on DNA testing for birth certificates.

Connected TN Backers A Front for AT&T? (Part 2)

I have a couple of updates to add on my post from last week regarding the creation of state and national programs focusing on expanding internet access which also seems to work not only as a PR machine for AT&T but as a lobbying agency as well. A flurry of activity has been taking place and rapid changes are ahead.

Here is my original post, and I did share some of these concerns via email with Michael Ramage, a former BellSouth employee, who now heads Connected Tennessee. I truly appreciate his willingness to correspond with me about these issues.

My email to Mr. Ramage:

Michael -

Thanks very much for your email. My previous email apparently had the wrong address! So a few questions:

First, in Kentucky, your company backed House Bill 337 allowed the Bell companies to get into the pay television marketplace in Kentucky without having to obtain franchises from municipalities across the state.

Similar legislation is being promoted in TN as well. It seems curious to me the legislation is preceded by the creation of the Connected organization.

The usual build-out requirements which cities/counties require of current cable and cable internet providers is excluded from such legislation. I think the term usually used is “cherry-picking” customers, which means more poor and rural areas will receive service last, if at all.

By receiving government funds to operate, it’s as if some of those funds are being used to lobby for changes favoring AT&T expansion into the internet/cable markets.

Also, Connect Kentucky CEO Brian Mefford, before the Senate Commerce Committee on April 24, 2007, reported that Kentucky is on track “to be the first state with 100 percent broadband coverage,” with Leichtman Research Group data showing that, at the beginning of 2007, Kentucky was 46th of the 51 states and Washington, D.C., in residential broadband penetration.

The mapping project being public is important, certainly, and making it available to the public is also vital. But how often is such mapping used to encourage legislation which would provide tax breaks?

Mostly my concerns are that former BellSouth employees are leading the Connect efforts - in Kentucky, in Tennessee and at the national level too - and that encouraging support for legislation creating a national program are simply part of the lobbying efforts to change laws regarding existing franchise agreements.

If the TN legislature seeks info today regarding broadband availability and reach, a report from a government-funded organization such as yours would support AT&T's efforts would they not?

Are any current cable-internet representatives on the boards of the Connect organizations? Or representatives from municipal-owned franchises?

Thanks for your time and I appreciate very much your responses.
Joe Powell

Mr. Ramage's response:

Joe,

I appreciate the email. I am glad to have the opportunity to help clarify Connected Tennessee's purpose and role.

Connected Tennessee received a grant to implement Governor Bredesen's Trail to Innovation based on the recommendations of the State Broadband Taskforce. The Taskforce had representation from state government, telephone, wireless, cable, municipals, cellular, CLEC and more. The pending bills were not issues that weighed on the taskforce during their recommendations that led to the creation of Tennessee. Later, the taskforce determined they would not get involved with the video franchise issue.

Connected Tennessee has not and will not take a side on the issues you mentioned in Tennessee. It is important for us to work with all providers. Our goal is to expand the presence of broadband. That service may come from a telephone company, a cable company, a wireless ISP, a CLEC or a
municipal provider. We are technology and vendor agnostic. Our only goals are for the expansion of broadband services into unserved areas and the increased adoption of those services everywhere. In order for us to be successful, we will need the help of all providers.

Connected Tennessee has worked with all types of providers and will continue to do so. The purpose of our mapping efforts is to show where coverage is, but more importantly to show where gaps are. While the mapping is on-going, we are also leading grassroots demand creating and aggregating efforts in every county. We are already at work in more than a third of Tennessee counties. Based on our local findings, we can promote measures to encourage build out into rural areas. Our legislative recommendations would naturally be focused on helping extend broadband into unserved areas. We are not promoting any bills during this year's session. We will examine all available data and determine if anything should be promoted in next year's session.

Connected Nation and Connected Tennessee have partnered with a number of organizations. Among them are Comcast, National Cable Telecommunications Association, Communications Workers of America, AT&T, and the CTIA. Our partners, both at the state level and national level, cross various platforms and technologies. For us to be successful, it is important for us to remain neutral to any provider or platform.

I hope that this helps to address some of your concern. I do appreciate your interest and would encourage you to let me know if you have any questions regarding our efforts.

Regards,
Michael Ramage, Executive Director
Connected Tennessee

I can't say he answers eliminated my concerns and doubts. For instance, I asked about representatives on the existing Connected boards from other internet providers, and Mr. Ramage replies that Connected has "partnered" with other communications companies, but the response is really "No - they are not our boards".

Info on board members for national program here, the TN program here, and KY is here. Other than BellSouth and officials from the policy and government offices in KY, no other communications corporation appears to be placed in any position on the company's boards.

I admit I am hardly an expert in the fields of IT or ISP - I simply noticed some curious correlations. And yes, I was not happy to appear to be hostile to the spread of access to the internet, because I am not. And I am not the only one who sees problems with Connected.

Broadband Reports wrote last week:

"If Connected Nation is a for-profit incumbent lobbying and sales vehicle dressed up as a national broadband policy, it would be one of the most ingenious business ploys in the history of telecom. It would kill multiple birds with with stone by preventing more progressive and substantive policy changes from taking root, funneling state funds away from local providers and into the hands of incumbents, and allowing the nation's largest carriers to game penetration statistics to mask half-hearted rural broadband deployment.

All on the taxpayer's dime."

And a press release yesterday regarding the state of TN and AT&T about medical records got some attention - but as the Nashville Post noted, what was truly being reported was an ever-closer relationship between AT&T and Tennessee government. And recall what Ramage wrote in my email regarding legislation? "Not this year ..." which leaves plenty of room for the years after.

R. Neal wrote at KnoxViews yesterday on the announcement:

"So it is good to see Tennessee taking the initiative. But this deal looks more like a way to funnel federal grant money to AT&T than any kind of breakthrough statewide electronic medical records system. It also takes more money out of our health care system in the form of profits for AT&T. But, the state can't operate it's own internet, so it makes sense to outsource that and to negotiate the best deal. Were other backbone providers invited to bid?"

I too applaud and encourage efforts to expand access. It is vital for economic and cultural development, for tech and industry, for education, for medical care -- billions of dollars are at stake and so are millions of jobs. With so much at at stake, then even greater care must be taken as the state and the nation write laws and create programs. The decisions and consideration being made today will affect the state and the nation for decades to come.

The rapid rise of internet usage has been made thanks to many innovators from all types of creators and owners - corporate, government and also from those outside such ranks too. The internet is a challenge to traditional forms of media power. Including voices in these decisions from all of these levels of development - from ordinary and talented American minds - isn't just a nice gesture.

3 Reasons

Briefly, here are three reasons the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan matter and why the support for such efforts overseas and the Bush presidency continues to disappear.

-- Inside the world of war profiteers:
"Inside the stout federal courthouse of this Mississippi River town, the dirty secrets of Iraq war profiteering keep pouring out.

Hundreds of pages of recently unsealed court records detail how kickbacks shaped the war's largest troop support contract months before the first wave of U.S. soldiers plunged their boots into Iraqi sand.

The graft continued well beyond the 2004 congressional hearings that first called attention to it. And the massive fraud endangered the health of American soldiers even as it lined contractors' pockets, records show."

Taxi To The Dark Side:



No End In Sight:

Camera Obscura - Oscar Weekend; Return of Akira and Repo Man

I read an article recently where some film critic was bemoaning the hideous-ugly depressing nature of movies nominated this year for an Oscar award. As if, for instance, last year's winner "The Departed" was a slapstick comedy of errors. Which, okay, it sort of was.

Best-picture Oscars seldom if ever go to light-hearted fare. Praise for Art from a Business point of view is going to take itself Seriously. So it goes. I usually find the show itself interesting from various technical perspectives - the staging, the lighting, the attempt to make a somewhat dull awards ceremony into a visual event.

I do hope to see the Coen brothers take home many prizes for "No Country For Old Men". Since their first film, "Blood Simple" and onward they have created an impressive body of work as director and writers. Their scripts are truly astonishing prose on their own and their visual style seldom over-indulges so the viewer says "ahhhh, nice" - instead there is a tremendous subtle and understated brilliance. It's part of the reason their films are so easy to watch again and again.

Plus, the source for their film is Cormac McCarthy's novel, and McCarthy is far overdue for recognition as one of the best living American authors.

There is a madness to movie-making. You have to be a little crazy to leap into the ill-suited collision of Art and Business. And yet anyone armed with a camera and some creativity can make a movie. That's pretty much the storyline in the new movie opening this weekend from Michel Gondry, "Be Kind, Rewind". After accidentally destroying their stock of movies for rent, the guys who run the store start remaking every movie they can and offer those for rent instead.

Gondry's odd visual and verbal style, such as "The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", is deeply self-referential. He makes movies about how we as individuals create a narrative, a movie, of our own lives.

That's why it doesn't matter what film wins an award - we have our own favorites, movies we made into Best Pictures, because for some reason we connect to them and they become expressions of ourselves.

OTHER MOVIE NEWS

First, a big shout out and thanks to Newscoma who pointed out a great movie blog, Cinebeats. It is ultra-groovy as it digs thru stacks and stacks of seldom-seen classic movies from the '60s and '70s. Their 4-part list of the Best DVD releases of 2007 is an excellent guide to must-have movies.

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After 20 years of cult fame, the Japanese anime classic "Akira" will turn into a live-action film, produced by and starring Leonardo DiCaprio. He'll play the role of Kaneda and actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt gets the juicy role of Tetsuo. The sci-fi storyline has elements ranging from "Rebel Without A Cause" to "Carrie" and much more.

The anime movie is forever entrenched as a groundbreaking and jaw-dropping animated film, which has had a huge influence on American films since it's release. If you have never seen it, you have missed one of the most impressive pictures of the last 40 years. So see it.

Now I don't think making it live-action will improve it one bit. Some stronger acting, yes, but there is no way the original could ever be topped.

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"World War Z", an "oral history of the zombie war" is getting a script from J. Michael Straczynski and is being produced by Brad Pitt's film company. The Max Brooks novel of a zombie apocalypse (noting worse than that!) is sort of like what would happen if Ken Burns did a documentary take on a George Romero-style war. Wonder if the movie will have that sad fiddle music?

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More proof of my geeky, nerdy love of odd films - I was happy to read that the great '80s punkish sic-fi movie "Repo Man" is getting a sequel. Director/writer Alex Cox, however, has made the sequel as a graphic novel (that's fancy talk for big ol' comic book).

Our hero Otto, who disappeared with the aliens at the end of the movie, now uses the name of Waldo and returns to Earth after spending some ten years on Mars.

The title to look for: "Waldo's Hawaiian Holiday".

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Good-bye and fond farewell to the Gill-Man.

Ben Chapman, who was the man in the monster suit in "The Creature From The Black Lagoon" died yesterday. I'll never forget when my family went to Florida one summer and we stopped at a place called Silver Springs. Once our guide told us this was the location for the Black Lagoon movie I was totally terrified and happy all at once. I could see and understand just how a camera angle and a good location can make movie magic.

Godspeed to the Gill-Man.