The Never-Ending Kent Williams Saga, or, Here's An Editorial That Won't Go Away

I know blogging about politics tends to be the sport o' the moment for some while also being as dull as three-day-old dirt to many others. But I keep at it because the political back and forth is more than the sum of its parts. Political wrangling and fights have formed the backdrop for much of human history, though sometimes the stage can be either quite small or quite large.

I had been reading and enjoying the teacup tempest between members of the Tennessee House of Representatives as the GOP seemed poised to take the Speaker of the House position for the first time in a very, very long time in 2009. Then Carter County Republican Kent Williams went rogue and ditched the plans of party leaders like Robin Smith and got himself named to the position. Much wailing and gnashing of teeth ensued. Security guards were actually called in to shield him from the angry House members.

Biblical damnations were issued on the floor of the House, Democrats snickered or laughed loudly, and the press and the blogging world hummed with the Sturm und Drang of events. I really tried to stay out of that, but, just like Michael Corleone, I got pulled back in.

This morning I read an editorial from the Elizabethton Star about Rep. Williams with a most stern talking-to aimed at Robin Smith for ejecting Williams as a member of the Republican party. I made a reference to it and quoted from it in a comment I made for Michael Silence's blog at the Knoxville News Sentinel. But when he asked for a link to that editorial, it was gone. Vanished into some digital wasteland.

Well, foo. I know I did not imagine it. So I called the Star's offices and was transferred to their IT department. I was told that was the editorial for Sunday the 8th and they don't keep archives online. I asked if he could email me a copy of the editorial and he did so, quite promptly in fact. I thank them for that.

I thought the piece was a pretty strong taste of 'Don't-Tread-On-Me' Americana, and so, that a copy of said editorial can be found online here at your humble-but-lovable-Cup Of Joe Powell, I am reprinting it in full:

"Republican Party Is Bigger Than One Person

"Robin Smith, Chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party, has called a press conference Monday to announce her decision regarding House Speaker Kent Williams's membership in the Republican Party. The decision rests solely with Smith, and perhaps nothing would delight her more than to kick the Carter County lawmaker out of the party.

Williams' re-election last November helped give the Republicans a majority in the state House. Williams, who claims to be a Republican, who was elected as a Republican, and we do believe has Republican values, was elected Speaker with his vote and that of the 49 Democrats in the House. He defeated the GOP's hand-picked candidate for Speaker, Jason Mumpower, who, too, voted for himself. He received all the Republican votes in the House except for Williams'.

Should the chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party have that much power? Power to decide who has membership in the party, who can be a Republican and who can not? Rep. Williams has said that he will leave the party voluntarily, Ms. Smith only has to ask.

This decision will be made by one person, who has never run for political office -- someone who has a lot of experience campaigning for Republicans. Her goal in life is to elect Republicans at all levels of government to every office.

The Republican Party is bigger than any one person. It is bigger than Robin Smith and it is bigger than Kent Williams. No one person should ever have the say of who can and cannot be a member of any political party - be it Republican or Democrat.

The two-party system has served this country well. There is never going to be a time when everyone agrees on the same candidate. We all have different values, different views and different opinions on how government can best serve the people, and how people can best serve their government. To disagree is not wrong. Not every Republican agrees on every matter nor does every Democrat. Heaven help us if they do.

Furthermore, we do not think that Republicans in Memphis and Chattanooga, where Ms. Smith is from, should be meddling in Carter County politics. We may live in the mountains, but we aren't ignorant. We are learned enough in politics to vote. We don't need the bright out-spoken lawyer from Memphis nor the "blonde" saleswoman from Chattanooga to tell us how to vote, nor do we need them to select our candidates. My gosh, our ancestors were the first to settle in Tennessee. They formed the first independent government west of the Alleghenies. Long before there was a Tennessee or a Chattanooga or a Memphis, our folks were living here in the Watauga Settlement. They were busy building a community and forming a government. I don't know if they were Republicans or Democrats, but it really doesn't matter. They were daring, brave and they sure didn't let the British tell them what to do.

Perhaps, Ms. Smith should know that when she kicks our representative out of the Republican Party, she has dealt a blow to every Williams voter in Carter County.

And, what's more, the members of the Republican Party will have shot themselves in the foot -- they no longer will have the majority in the Tennessee House. It keeps getting worse for Rep. Jason Mumpower. First, he was shot out of the saddle as House Speaker. Now, if Williams is kicked out of the Republican Party, he will become chairman of the minority party rather than the majority.

You know, the Baptist Church is more democratic than the Republicans. They do allow the membership to vote on who to let in the church and to dismiss from their ranks."

NOTE: The editorial today in the Star, taken from the Jackson Sun, was a kinder-gentler shift in opinion. I suppose I should give kudos to the Star for offering very different views on one topic. This editorial is titled "Williams Was Foolish" and included these paragraphs:

"Tennessee Republicans had every right to banish House Speaker Kent Williams from their party. But the political get-back seems counter productive for a party with a one-vote, now no-vote, majority. At a time when Tennesseans are worried about their jobs and suffering along with the ailing economy, political bipartisanship is what people want to see. Instead, the state GOP chose to put hard-line conservative ideology first, and to its own detriment.
---
"Hard line, ideologically driven partisan politics can become destructive and self-defeating, regardless of which party is involved. Americans want more from their elected officials than mere party loyalty. They want to see things getting done. They want to see politicians coming together to put citizens ahead of partisanship. The state GOP didn't help itself or Tennesseans by punishing the House speaker."

There.

Now the commedia dell'arte of our political world can continue. And I know it will. I think I'll write up a post next time about kitties or something.

Economic Realities vs. Republican Nonsense

Josh at TPM points to recent polls which show Americans have enormous confidence in the economic plans projected by President Obama, and very few who think Republicans have a clue as to how to proceed. Josh features the video below --



Now compare those comments to the outrageous nonsense put forth by Senate Republican Jim DeMint that this stimulus package is all about banning the Bible:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Or how about Tennessee's own Senator Bob Corker, who wants to wait and see just how lousy and disastrous the national economy can become before taking action to change directions:

"I know there are many people in this country that believe we have trillions of dollars of losses still left in our financial system before we hit bottom, and I think that everybody realizes that as housing continues to drop, it is not just hurting our economy directly, it is also dragging our financial systems down.

Again, I appreciate those folks who are trying to work together to make this bill, which is a disaster in my opinion, slightly better. But, I wonder if it wouldn't make more sense for us as a country to just wait for a week or two to hear the rest of the administration's plans as it relates to solving this problem."

"Let's ask the administration to come forth and talk to us about the price tag of dealing appropriately with the credit markets, with housing, and with maybe some directed spending on infrastructure or something that is not programmatic and doesn't disrupt the way that state government is run."

Since Sen. Corker already has earned his millions, his advice to the rest of us is to just try and hang on until he thinks the president asks him in a nice way if he has any ideas of use to America.

Then there is the hypocrisy of Senator Lamar Alexander. His 'press release' page at his website hails federal dollars being spent on a grant for a Storytelling Center in Jonesborough, Grant Funding for Tennessee Firemen, Requesting Emergency Aid for Disaster Declarations in seven TN counties, a million dollars for Memphis Fire Department Services --- however, the stimulus package which would bring billions to Tennessee for school construction and repairs, science research and development, and much, much more are all part of a Giant Job Killer.

Apparently, he needs some kind of assurance he'll get a good photo of himself in the local media before he'll actually consider taking action on the economy when it is most needed.

Young Girl Finally Cleared In Texas Police Chaos

For reasons I cannot fathom - other than reasons originating from the most vile places of the human heart - it has taken two trials and three years for officials in Galveston, Texas to realize the near-lethal mistake made when un-uniformed police beat up a 12 year old girl in her front yard.

She had gone into her yard around 8 pm at her mother's request. A breaker had tripped and the breaker box was outside, so the daughter was sent out to reset it. Four police officers in an unmarked van had been told that reports had been made that three white female prostitutes were working in the area and selling drugs. Though the officers were several blocks away from where the incident was reported, they sighted young Dymond Milburn, who is black, in her yard and immediately swarmed out of the van and rushed at the child.

Terrified, she ran to hide under a bush outside her home, screaming for help from her father. Police beat the child severely, blacking both eyes, choking her and beating on her ears, using a flashlight and also allegedly threatening to shoot (or "arrest") her puppy if she did not come with them. Her father ran out to the scene, seeing grown men assaulting his daughter -- men not in anyway dressed as police or identifying themselves as such. (Prosecutors refuted those claims.) He fought these strangers on his lawn allowing his daughter to flee as best she could. Ultimately, Milburn was hospitalized for her injuries.

Three weeks later, police arrived at her school, where she was an honor student, and arrested her for assaulting a police officer.

On the first day of the trial against her in 2007, the judge declared a mistrial and reset the case.

Yesterday, after some eight hours of deliberation, the jury reported they were hopelessly deadlocked. The judge declared a mistrial as five jurors were adamant the child was not guilty of any crime. Prosecutors now say they will not attempt to try the case again.

Background on the case here and here, from the first trial, where an officer lied on the stand to implicate Mr. Milburn was a drug dealer.

A civil lawsuit filed against the officers in the case. (See also BoingBoing)

Applebee's And Many Other Companies Have Removed Employee Rights

The story of what happened between one employee at Applebee's exhibits just one way modern companies have dispensed with employee rights and any citizen's rights to address wrongs through the judicial system. Currently, a conservative estimate of 30 million American workers have lost their rights to a trial by jury in a public forum. So the trend in coming years means millions more will soon lose their rights too. The companies which invoke these conditions are at every level of commerce in the country - the following is but one example.

A post at the blog Overruled lays out the details about how the use of "arbitration" circumvents rights to due process and has made it all legal:

"One day, when Dantz arrived at work a paper was shoved into her hands and she was ordered to sign it. The paper contained something called a “binding mandatory arbitration agreement” which said that, if Applebees broke the law, Dantz no longer had the right to hold it accountable in court and instead would be shunted into a privatized, biased justice system. Dantz refused to sign, and was told that until she did, she would be paid nothing but tips—a violation of federal minimum wage laws. Nevertheless, Dantz needed her job, so she didn’t quit.

After nearly three years of harassment, abuse and long hours for little or no pay, Dantz finally decided that she’d had enough. She filed suit against her employer—and the court kicked her to the curb. Even though Dantz refused to sign the binding arbitration agreement, the court said that merely by continuing to work for Applebees, she was bound by its terms. Debbie Dantz’ employer illegally abused her for almost three years, and Dantz was powerless to hold it accountable.[NOTE: She did not receive a paycheck and her only earnings were from tips.However, the wisdom of her decision, or lack of it, is not the point here.]

Lest there be any doubt, when Dantz was thrown out of court and relegated to privatized arbitration, her opportunity for justice ended right there. Let’s explore a few ways that arbitration differs from real courts:

• Most importantly arbitration is biased in favor of corporate interests. According to a study by Public Citizen which examined almost 20,000 arbitration decisions, the corporate party won a massive 94% of the time. In one case, an arbitrator awarded $11,000 to a debt collector against a woman who owed no money whatsoever, but who had the same name as a woman who did.
• Arbitration is often pay to play. If you bring a suit in federal court, you pay a $350 filing fee, and that’s it. Arbitrators, on the other hand, frequently offer an a la carte menu. If you want to file a motion, that’s $500. If you want a live hearing, $1500. If you want a written explanation of the arbitrator’s ruling, $1500 more. In some cases, consumers have been charged $10,000 or more for the privilege of losing their case before a biased arbitrator.
• Arbitration is secret. Except in California, arbitrators are not required to publicly disclose their decisions. Because they can keep their past history from the public, many arbitration companies market their services to corporations by highlighting their pro-business bias, even as they lobby Congress with claims that they are just as fair and balanced as real live judges.

So in summary, arbitration is expensive; it is secretive, and it is fundamentally unfair. Even worse, it is almost always forced on ordinary Americans. If you have a credit card. Or if you have a job. Or if you have a cell phone. Or if you have a loved one in a nursing home. You have probably been forced to sign an arbitration agreement. Virtually all banks, many employers and some nursing homes will even refuse to do business with you unless you sign away your power to hold them accountable for their actions. If you refuse to sign an arbitration agreement you can lose your credit card, lose your phone service, or even be fired.

The reason why these binding mandatory arbitration agreements are legal is a series of wrongly decided Supreme Court decisions that began in the 1980s. Needless to say, business groups like the Chamber of Commerce are very interested in blocking any legislation which might overturn these wrongful decisions, and they have hired a veritable army of lobbyists to block a bill called the Arbitration Fairness Act, which would prevent companies from coercing their customers and employees into signing away their rights."

Sen. Russ Feingold sponsored a bill, the Arbitration Fairness Act, which died in committee last year. Perhaps now with the passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, it's time to bring up that bill again.

In 2007, the National Employment Lawyers Association offered the following testimony before Congress -- their testimony includes documentation on just how many U.S. companies offering just about any type of service have warped the rights of employees nationwide:

"As NELA members can attest from the cases they see in their practices, the use of MA programs as a tool for companies to “stack the deck” in their favor in disputes with their employees has grown exponentially over the last 15 years. Today, 15% to 25% of United States employers use MA programs – covering a conservatively estimated 30 million workers, a greater number than union contracts cover. The attached NELA fact sheet, “Data Points: Increasing Prevalence of Mandatory Arbitration Programs Imposed on Employees,” reviews available statistics showing the dramatic growth of these programs.

"Thousands of American companies use or have used mandatory arbitration, including such household names as Circuit City, Hooter’s, Dillard’s Department Stores, Cisco Systems, Anheuser-Busch, and Halliburton. These companies are in virtually every industry – retail, food services, manufacturing, and financial services, to name a few. The attached list of companies for which the American Arbitration Association (AAA) held at least five employment arbitrations between January 1, 2003, and March 31, 2007, is, of course, just the tip of the iceberg, but it again shows that the use of mandatory arbitration is alive and well in the United States in the 21st Century."

The Republican Stimulus Package Clown Car Keeps Unloading Clowns

That "liberal media' who is in love with all things related to President Obama? They do not want to actually provide airtime on their networks for him to talk about the status of our economic problems and his ideas on how to improve the current fiasco.

Why?

"Do people really want to come home after looking for a job, or after being at a job they hate, sit down to veg out in front of their favorite show -- and he's on again?" said one TV suit, who suspects/hopes the Average Joe's reaction to too much Obamavision might be "nothing he's going to say is going to help me get a job, or put food on the table."

Eric Bohlert responds:

"Combined, the networks control more than one hundred hours of primetime programming each week. Obviously, they can make-up a handful of lost ad slots because of Obama's primetime address, just as networks have done for decades. And then there are the bitter, nameless TV execs quoted in the article. (Ungrateful suits whose networks have made billions using the public airwaves free of charge.) The unvarnished disdain for Obama and the contempt for public discourse expressed is just astounding."

Yeah, God forbid your sit-com might get a delay in order to get information about how to plan to improve an economy which is tanking faster than a cement-shoed average Joe.

The Republican idea of reducing or eliminating assistance to states (most of which are in economic freefall as tax revenues fall and fall) is nonsense worthy of Alice in Wonderland and is soundly rejected here:

"The idea that it would be good for states to cut back in the midst of the recession is stupid. The idea that the recession won’t, absent federal aid, lead to layoffs of state employees such as teachers and firefighters is also stupid. But the idea that it’s simultaneously true that the reason we should eschew aid is that states need to cut back and also true that it’s fearmongering to warn of layoffs is doubleplus stupid. What does Ensign think cutbacks consist of? States will be reducing vital services. The cutbacks will have the immediate impact of reducing the incomes of laid-off families and beneficiaries of state programs. That will have an additional impact on businesses where the newly laid-off teachers and cops used to work.

And the reduced level of service will have its own bad economic impacts. Cutting back public safety budgets will mean fewer cops on the beat. That means more crime which will further reduce economic activity. State cutbacks to child care subsidies will make it harder for people who lose jobs to find and accept new ones. The cutbacks to mass transit services that are happening across the country will introduce additional rigidity into the labor market and reduce patronage of businesses that people are accustomed to reaching via transit. And in the most severe cases, cutbacks in assistant to the severely impoverished will have a decades-long impact on the well-being of their children."

Already cut from the stimulus projects:

• $10 million state and local law enforcement

• $50 million for NASA

• $122 million for Coast Guard polar icebreaker/cutters

• $100 million for Farm Service Agency modernization

• $50 million for aeronautics

• $50 million for exploration

• $50 million for Cross Agency Support

• $200 million for National Science Foundation

• $100 million for science

• $1 billion for Energy Loan Guarantees

• $1 billion for Head Start/Early Start

• $5.8 billion for Health Prevention Activity

• $2 billion for Health Information Technology Grants

• $600 million for Title I (No Child Left Behind)

• $16 billion for school construction

• $40 billion for state fiscal stabilization (includes $7.5 billion of state incentive grants)

•$3.5 billion for higher education construction

Failed nominee for president Mitt Romney says to heck with spending on programs which will better educate, inspire scientific and economic development, improve energy efficiency -- he says the must would be best if it went to:

"And what better place to begin than repairing and replacing military equipment that was damaged or destroyed in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan?"

Gosh, how did this guy lose? He's an economic soooper-genius!

Here's a reality check - if your state and city and county cannot afford the necessities of public education or public safety or funds to insure the safety of bridges and roads, guess whose tax rates will go thru the roof?

The Center on Budget and Policy Issues writes:

"The Stabilization Fund would provide funds to partially close state and local budget shortfalls and allow states to avoid some of the most harmful actions they otherwise would have to take to meet their balanced budget requirements. In particular, it would help avert damaging cuts in state aid to education at a time when school districts are reeling from declines in property taxes caused by sinking property values. The economic recovery bill that the House passed includes a similar provision.

The Fiscal Stabilization Fund and the Medicaid assistance also provided in the bill together would fill less than half of projected state deficits for the next 2½ years. Diminution of the proposed funding would increase the extent to which states must take budgetary actions that are likely to undercut efforts to stimulate the economy."

---

"States are facing their worst fiscal crisis since the Second World War. The recession has reduced state revenues, while increasing the need for state services such as Medicaid. Forty-six states face budget deficits in the 2009 and/or 2010 state fiscal year, and state deficits are expected to total $350 billion through state fiscal year 2011.[1]

The state fiscal crisis is a direct result of the economic downturn. Before the downturn, states had amassed reserves totaling 11.5 percent of state spending. Moreover, total state spending, which fell sharply relative to the economy during the 2001 recession, remains below its fiscal year 2001 level as a share of the economy.

Because most states are required to balance their operating budgets, states with deficits are forced to cut spending and/or increase taxes. At least 39 states have enacted or proposed spending reductions.[2]

Among the budget cuts, 34 states have cut funding for elementary, secondary, and/or higher education or have proposed such cuts.

• At least 20 states have implements cuts to K-12 and early education, and other five have proposed such cuts.

• At least 27 states have implemented cuts in funding for public colleges and universities, and another three have proposed such cuts. The result is reductions in faculty and staff and tuition increases of 4 percent to 15 percent.[3] Tuition increases and cutbacks in faculty and enrollment reduce access to higher education for many low- and middle-income students.

When states cut spending, they lay off employees, cancel contracts with vendors, reduce payments to businesses and nonprofits that provide services, and cut benefit payments to individuals. All of these steps remove demand from the economy and compound the economic slowdown, counteracting the effects of the recovery bill. If states raise taxes to balance their budgets, the effects on demand are similar. The Stabilization Fund would help prevent further cuts to K-12 and higher education, as well as other critical state and local services.

How the Stabilization Fund Would Work. The State Fiscal Stabilization Fund creates two block grants. The larger block grant would provide $38.8 billion, be earmarked for education, and be allocated by each state’s population of individuals between the ages of 5 and 24. A portion of the funds would be dedicated to helping states maintain their education funding commitments; the remainder would flow directly to local school districts. The smaller block grant would provide $24.8 billion, allocated based on each state’s total population, to support other basic state services, such as public safety and law enforcement, services for the elderly and people with serious disabilities, child care, and the like.

The $39-billion block grant would provide vital protection for education funding. To receive either block grant, states would be required to fund both K-12 and higher education at no less than their fiscal year 2006 level. States could use the funds to help fulfill their commitments under their regular school funding formulas, which in most states would include increases in state funding to compensate for declining property values and property taxes on which most local school districts rely for funding.[4] In combination, these provisions would help to protect school districts and public colleges against the steep budgets cuts they otherwise would face.

The $25-billion block grant provides vital protection for other key services. Most of the assistance for states in the recovery bill is dedicated to either Medicaid or education. The sole piece not so dedicated is the smaller, $25-billion Stabilization block grant. States provide a wide range of other vital services that also are threatened by budget deficits, including public safety, corrections, and services for the elderly and disabled. State budget cuts in these areas, as well, reduce demand and increase unemployment, thereby deepening the recession.

• At least 22 states plus the District of Columbia are cutting, or proposing cuts to, medical, rehabilitative, home care, or other services needed by low-income people who are elderly or have disabilities, or significantly increasing the cost of these services.[5]

• Cuts in other states are reducing funding for law enforcement, programs to prevent child abuse, funding for homeless shelters, and the like.

• Many states are cutting state aid to localities, which will reduce funding for local programs including police and fire protection, meals for the elderly, hospice care, and seniors’ services.

• At least 36 states and the District of Columbia have made, or have proposed making, cuts affecting their state workforces, including layoffs.

The $25-billion grant can help to reduce the depth of the cuts states and localities will otherwise have to make, preserving essential services and jobs and sustaining economic demand.

Total fiscal assistance for states in the recovery bill will cover less than half of state deficits. The direct budget assistance to states in the recovery bill will cover less than half of the $350 billion in combined deficits that states are likely to face over the next two and a half years.[6] Besides the two Stabilization Fund grants totaling $64 billion, the bill includes an estimated $87 billion in Medicaid funding, which would help pay for Medicaid costs and avert Medicaid cuts. Together, these pieces add up to about $151 billion, or about 43 percent of expected state deficits. (States will also receive funding for infrastructure, but that is not fiscal relief that helps close holes in state operating budgets, which are the budgets that states must balance each year. States fund most infrastructure projects out of their capital budgets, which are separate.)

States would be required to spend the funds quickly. The Senate bill includes a provision requiring states that fail to spend any portion of a Stabilization grant within one year to return the unspent portion, which would then be redistributed to the other states. And while the bill allows grants to be made through September 30, 2010, states are likely to request their grants much earlier than that in order to address immediate budget needs. Some 43 states face mid-year deficits in the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2009 in most states, and a comparable number of states face deficits for the next fiscal year, which generally runs from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010. As a result, a large portion of the grants is likely to be spent within a year and a half of the bill's passage."

Fellow Tennessee blogger Southern Beale tries mightily to remind folks that the same plans being pushed now by Washington Republicans were pushed in 2001 and 2008 helped create the financial mess we are in now -- read her post here. As she notes:

"How is this not a repeat of the exact same failed policies of the past eight years?

Who are these Republican “moderates” and spineless Democrats and why have they not learned a thing from the past administration? Who are these people who insist on doing the same thing but expecting different results?

Jon at C&L reminds us of the Republican Party’s own $1.4 trillion economic stimulus of 2001. On Friday I reminded everyone of the Republican’s last great economic stimulus idea of 2008.

It didn’t work. We’re worse off now than we were then. Every person got a check for $600 and we’re still in the toilet.

Look, people can’t eat tax cuts. They can’t pay their rent with them. People don’t need just one check in their bank account: they need a regular paycheck, every two weeks, month after month, year after year.

UPDATE:

The rather empty-headed arguments from Senate Republicans gets called out quite well courtesy of Rachel Maddow:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

UPDATE II:
How much are Senators, such as failed presidential candidate John McCain, and Mitch McConnel willing to distort and warp facts - and just lie - in hopes of stirring up anti-Obama sentiment when it comes to aiding our economy? Let's call it the "Bee Insurance Lie".

"It turns out that the Senate minority leader took his cue from Neil Cavuto of Fox News, who has been carrying on about the topic for more than a week. Their campaign was joined Tuesday by Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), who stood on the floor of the chamber challenging "any member to come and explain what that provision was."

I'm no senator, but I'm pleased to inform Vitter that it is, in fact, a disaster insurance program for all livestock producers. Beekeepers obviously would be minor beneficiaries next to, say, cattle ranchers, so it's a tad bit dishonest to label the whole program "honeybee insurance."

The provision simply continues a program enacted by Congress last year, overriding a veto by President Bush. In other words, the Senate voted on it twice in 2008 -- once to enact and once to override. Connoisseurs of political comedy will see the punch line coming: McConnell and Vitter voted yea both times.

So it turns out that McConnell isn't really against honeybees. He's only using them to pretend that he's got a principled objection to a stimulus plan aimed at pulling the country out of the most severe recession in decades.

The honeybees, and the rest of us, are merely collateral damage.

TVA's Coal Ash In Food, Water and The Air

TVA spokesman Gil Francis says he does not think the massive mounds of toxic coal ash spilled into Roane County back in December which are now swirling into the air really exists - he told WATE-TV reporters is was probably just some fog.

The WATE report has video of plumes of ash rising 30 or 40 feet into the air.

Just the sludge alone is highly toxic according to researchers from Duke - though ORNL officials say it is not. Would you want to live in the midst of this disaster? Are folks flocking to the area to snap up real estate on the cheap?

More studies show that toxic materials far exceed what is deemed safe by federal standards. Items of concern include:

* Samples from six locations near or downstream from the ash spill showed levels of arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead and selenium exceeding Water Quality Criteria established by the Clean Water Act to protect aquatic life and human activity in rivers from dangerous pollution. Only one upriver sample showed high levels of any of these metals; it exceeded the lower, chronic criteria for lead.

* Samples from seven locations downstream of the spill showed levels of one or more heavy metals including antimony, arsenic, beryllium and lead exceeding Primary Drinking Water Standards, with arsenic more than double and copper five times acute toxicity levels. None of the three samples taken upstream exceeded the criteria.

* TVA denied the groups access to wells in the impacted area, so they tested wells east of the site. None of the samples had levels exceeding Primary Drinking Water Standards for heavy metals, but all of the wells had one or more pollutants known to leach from ash including aluminum, iron and manganese at levels exceeding Secondary Drinking Water Standards. The tests also turned up four wells with levels of manganese or sodium -- contaminants found in coal ash -- exceeding the Environmental Protection Agency's health-based advisories.

* The tests also found widely fluctuating arsenic levels in the Emory and Clinch rivers -- some as many as 37 times the Primary Drinking Water Standard. The groups say this could threaten the use of the rivers for drinking water and shows the need for more testing.

Add to this info that more than likely, the stuff you grow to eat is contaminated as well - especially in the South.

"Since the federal government does not classify coal ash as hazardous waste, it doesn't oversee the material's use in agriculture. Jeffrey Stant of the Environmental Integrity Project's Coal Combustion Waste Initiative told EHN that some states have regulations but often do not require monitoring.

He and other environmental health advocates have long called for federal oversight of coal waste. Knowing that this toxic stuff could end up in the vegetables we're eating only adds to the regulatory urgency."

Remember the Senate hearings on this disaster back in January? Remember the promises of more investigation to come? I suppose that was the real fog.

As for TVA -- they do not want to talk about how deadly and toxic that spill really was -- "we just want to clean it up" says TVA.

And in today's Knoxville News Sentinel, one resident continues to see problems with little sign of real progress:

"[Resident Larry] Richards said he's worried about TVA's plan to dredge the Emory and dump sludge next to the channel where ash previously was moved from the steam plant to the holding pond. "They're taking bad material from one side of the river and putting it on the other side of the river," he said. "They're creating the same problem all over again."

Camera Obscura; New Futurama; Johnny Depp in The Three Stooges; Wrath of Kahn - The Opera

Some fine DVD news arrives this week -- the fourth (but hopefully not final) installment of the Futurama DVDs is about to arrive, titled "Into The Wild Green Yonder", set to debut on Feb. 24th.

As with three previous features, events continue to expand on the time-traveling mess created in the first feature, "Bender's Big Score." As the review at DVD Talks says:

"Our story revolves around Leo Wong (Amy's rich dad, who owns Mars) and his eco-unfriendly developmental habits. Not content with the size of his miniature golf course, Leo plans to destroy a large arm of the Milky Way for expansion purposes. A curious incident at Wong's construction facility injures Fry (and several members of a group of female protesters, who we'll hear from again), which gives the lovable goofbag mind-reading abilities. Deciding to use his powers to win at poker---and with the help of a tin-foil hat, to block out the voices when needed---Fry competes against Bender and a gaggle of greedy gamblers. Meanwhile, Leela departs to join the feminist protesters, we're introduced to "The League of Mad Fellows" and the story of a mysterious dark enemy unfolds. Long story short: the fate of the universe depends on Fry and company, even if they aren't completely aware of it.

For the record, I do not want simple narrative to drive the stories here - I want lunacy, hewn from the history of sci-fi books, television and movies. Lunacy, I say, wild and unfettered by logic and driven by humor which makes fanboys like myself giggle like a schoolgirl about to take her first ride on a pony.


Second good news for DVD - an all-animated tie-in to the massively popular movie of this summer, "The Watchmen". This effort follows the comic book within The Watchmen called "Tales of the Black Freighter", which is a wretched and gory tale of a a sailor who is marooned and must tackle efforts at rescue which would (and will) stun audiences. The comic is being read by one of the characters in "The Watchmen" and seems to mirror the impending doom headed to New York City and the world. Actor Gerald Butler ("300") plays the lead character. Filmmakers knew it would make the feature film far too long, but the story is too good to just ignore.

It's set for release at the end of March and includes another element from the original Watchmen comic, "Tales From Under The Hood" which gives some backstory to how the events in the main story originated.

Also, a new webisode about the making of The Watchmen is now online, detailing just how the filmmakers brought the character Rorshach to life onscreen. I live that the character is being played by the too-easily forgotten actor Jackie Earle Hailey, who earned fame as the bad boy baseball player on a motorcycle in the original "Bad News Bears".



High hopes continue to rise for this epic tale of superheroes who don't embody the typical trappings of comic book characters.

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Johnny Depp is in talks to play in a new movie version of "The Three Stooges"?? The Farralley Brothers are heading the movie which may also include ... Sean Penn? That's the rumor.

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Why not end today with a new operatic version (with toys) of "Star Trek: Wrath of Khan" via Robot Chicken??

Note To The Senate: Stimulus Is Spending; Plus Cheney's Delusions

Rachel Maddow outlines the road blocks a minority of Senators want to keep in place in order to ... what? Keep the economy in a downward spiral?

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

And comments for former V.P. Dick Cheney somehow twists the failures of his leadership and his ideas into some bizarre fantasy where the Obama administration is at fault for Cheney's failed efforts. Keith Olbermann reports:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

GOP Sticking To Failures On Economics

I am not convinced a legislative process in Washington can help repair the nation's economic woes - but I do know the whining and moaning from the leaders of the Republicans - Rush Limbaugh and his ilk - are based in (at best) half truths and mindless fear that any stimulus package might actually work.

Getting factual information on the elements of the plan (which are under constant improvement) are lost in the mindless, pointless babble of anti-Obama screeds of "Disaster!!"

Via Washington Monthly, a couple of posts of note:

"Watching the reaction from Republicans and most news outlets, I keep thinking of an analogy. There's a nine-alarm fire, and Obama's the fire chief. He wants to send the cavalry, hoping to save lives and contain the fire from spreading out of control, while simultaneously taking fire-prevention steps for the future. Soon, Republicans start wondering if 2% of the tools on the fire-engines are entirely necessary for fighting the fire. Democrats think nine trucks is an excessive number, and maybe if Obama sent seven, it'll make Republicans happier. (Said Sen. Ben Nelson, "I don't know, hundreds of gallons of water sounds like an awful lot.")

Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs, and Joe Scarborough try to convince the community that Obama is making a big mistake trying to put out a fire with water, which is just socialism in disguise.

Conservatives want to know why Obama won't just give people a tax cut, so the public can buy fire-extinguishers, axes, and Dalmatians of their own. The Washington Post runs four op-eds from Amity Shlaes, arguing that Fire Chief Roosevelt overreacted during the last nine-alarm fire, and it would have gone out on its own if he'd just left it alone.

And while the fire keeps burning, the Senate wants to figure out how to address the fire in a way that costs less and satisfies the concerns of "centrists."

And President Obama has an uphill battle against .... well, simply against the constant PR machine which can not accept the fact that voters rejected the GOP leadership and their failures. Responding to questions from Charlie Gibson via ABC:

"Well, Charlie, if you take a look at the bill, the fact is, there are no earmarks in this bill, which, by the way, some of the critics can't claim for legislation they've voted for over the last eight years. There's no earmarks in it. We've made sure that there aren't individual pork projects in there.

"The criticisms have generally been around some policy initiatives that were placed in the bill that I think are actually good policy, but some people may say is not going to actually stimulate jobs quickly enough. I think that there's legitimate room for working through those issues over the next several weeks to make sure that we get the best possible bill. But here's the thing that I think we have to understand. The economy is in desperate straits. What I won't do is adopt the same economic theories that helped land us in the worst economy since the Great Depression. What I will do is work with anybody of good faith to make sure that we can come up with the best possible package to not only create jobs and provide support to families, but also to lay the groundwork for long-term economic growth."

(Gibson then misquoted the Congressional Budget Office, before asking if Obama would accept more infrastructure investment, and more concessions to make Republicans happy.)

"Well, keep in mind, for example, some want to put more infrastructure in the bill, and they're also complaining that it doesn't spin out fast enough. In some cases, there are contradictions there. I mean, we may want to spend on a whole bunch of great infrastructure, but it may take seven or eight years to do it, in which case we're vulnerable for the criticism that it's not spinning out fast enough. I think that in a package of this sort, that has to go to Congress with 535 opinions, at least, then there's going to be some give and take.

"What I've said is that any good idea thrown out there to improve this legislation I'm for. But I want to be absolutely clear here that the overwhelming bulk of the package is sound, is designed to put people back to work, help states that are in desperate straits, help families who are losing jobs and health care, and it's designed to make sure that we've got green energy jobs for the future. In fact, most of the programs that have been criticized as part of this package amount to less than one percent of the overall package. And it makes for good copy, but here's the thing -- we can't afford to play the usual politics at a time when the economy continues to worsen."

As I said, I am not sure there is a strong legislative ability to correct the economy. But rather than actual, open-minded debate, we get crap like this from Republican Phil Roe of Tennessee's 1st District:

"$50 million on the National Endowment of the Arts. Whatever one believes about spending taxpayer money on the arts, shouldn’t we all be able to agree that it shouldn’t be done when our country is facing trillion dollar deficits and that it’s not an economic stimulus."

Roe is plain wrong and deeply unaware that arts programs create and expand jobs. Good Lord, even if he refuses to support the cultural arts programs and centers which exist throughout East Tennessee -- then does he think that spending by audiences attending cultural programs somehow evaporates from the economy? Maybe he thinks that some artist buying brushes or canvases or paint or expanding arts programs in public schools mysteriously vanishes from the economy and are sucked up by nefarious black market businesses which operate through the Russian mafia?

The more this type of dreck is slapped around as if it had merit, the more damage their efforts create.

Tennessee Democrats Put Republicans On Notice

I'm joining with a host of other Tennessee bloggers today to encourage you to help create a statewide effort to support the Democrats in Tennessee. While I have seldom been a party promoter - the recent rise of GOP numbers at the state and federal levels has brought nothing of value to residents of the state.

Constant bickering, hateful comments, and obstruction for it's own sake serves none but the GOP power structure. We face grave issues regarding a wide range of real-life problems for residents. So far the state GOP officials have offered deeply divisive legislative ideas with few useful programs useful to Tennessee residents - instead we see plans where such needs are outweighed by the political games of their thirst for power for its own sake.

Recently elected TNDP Chair Chip Forrester hopes to change that by reaching out across all levels of the spectrum to emphasize creating a better and more responsive state government. Two recent emails from Chip lay out the hopes and plans:

I want to continue the effort of bringing everyone into the Party and ask those of you who have not participated in the past to join me now. It is easy. Just go to www.tndp.org and contribute, $5, $10, $15, $20, $25 or whatever is most comfortable for you. Just make the commitment to participate

I’ll keep you apprised of how this effort continues with reports from time to time.

Chip Forrester
Chairman
Tennessee Democratic Party

As he said in comments just after he was elected as Chair of the state Democratic Party:

"First and foremost, I want to renew my pledge to you that we are going to open up this party to everyone who believes in the ideals of the Democratic Party, the party of hope and change. We are going to make this the most inclusive political party in the state of Tennessee, which will enable us to build the grassroots organization necessary to elect a new Democratic governor and regain the majority in the House of Representatives and add Democratic seats to the state Senate in 2010. Beginning Monday I will start by setting up meetings with every stakeholder in our party to begin gathering your thoughts, your ideas, and your suggestions on how we need to move forward to unify and expand our Democratic party.

I want to learn from the Governor, our Democratic congressional delegation members, the members of the House and Senate Democratic caucuses, members of Democratic organizations like the Federation of Democratic Women, labor leaders, teachers, professionals, community organizers, local officials, political activists, campaign workers from the Obama campaign and other campaigns, county chairs, the members of this state Executive Committee, and anyone else who wants to help us build a more effective Democratic party here in Tennessee.

Early this year, I want to convene a Campaign Summit to examine the results of the 2008 elections. We need to look at what we did right and what we did wrong, and begin incorporating what we learn into a comprehensive strategy for 2009 and for 2010. Clearly we cannot continue to do things as we have in the past. Everyone and every group I mentioned earlier will be invited to participate in this Summit.

From this Summit, we will emerge with a program of fundraising, new technologies, and grassroots organizing to truly build this party from the precinct level up. We need to quit talking about organizing and actually begin doing it; the successes and failures of 2008 have clearly demonstrated that fact. And we will organize in all 95 counties. We are going to run a 95 county campaign for Governor in 2010 with rejuvenated, rebuilt and re-energized county parties that will serve as the foundation upon which we build that victory.

From this Summit, we will develop a clear message for what this party stands for here in Tennessee and better ways to communicate it. President Obama has demonstrated the power of message. We need to clearly express our values and ideals as a party if we hope to attract others to support those values and ideals. And from this Summit, we will develop a unity of purpose and a unity of vision which will guide us for the next two years and hopefully in the years to follow.

Finally, I want to put the Republican Party on notice. The Democratic Party will no longer sit quietly by while the Republican Party runs racist, demagogic falsehoods against our values, our principles, and our candidates as they did this year against President Barack Obama, Nathan Vaughn, and other legislative candidates. When you lie about our candidates, our office holders, we are going to call you out as liars. There is no place in politics for such conduct. Robin Smith, Jason Mumpower, Bill Hobbs, and Chip Saltsman I tell you now: You are put on notice. As Chair of the Tennessee Democratic Party I will not stand by and see this happen without a full frontal attack on the racist, smear tactics that you have used in these past campaign. Decent men and women in Tennessee are demeaned by your racist bigoted attacks and I will not stand for it and neither will the Tennessee Democratic Party. Be ready --I am putting you on notice now--Republicans in Tennessee who support these tactics!!

The Democratic Party has always stood for the average man and woman against the forces of power, privilege, and elitism. We have stood for fairness and safety in the marketplace and in the workplace, we have stood for individual rights and freedoms, we have stood for equal opportunities for all Americans, we have stood for equality and justice for all."

So I, along with many others in the state, are asking you to help build a better state of affairs in Tennessee.

As R. Neal wrote in his post today:

"To support that effort, progressive bloggers across the state of Tennessee are this morning launching the "Chip in!" online fundraising blogathon to support the Tennessee Democratic Party during this critical rebuilding phase.

We have set up an ActBlue fundraising page where you can "chip in" a little or as much as you can to support this netroots effort and help the Tennessee Democratic Party hit the ground running for the critical 2010 elections for Governor and House of Representatives. Your secure online contribution goes directly to the Tennessee Democratic Party's FEC regulated committee fund.

"Please note that the "Chip in!" blogathon is an independent effort by Tennessee progressive bloggers and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Tennessee Democratic Party. Online processing, disbursement and regulatory compliance are handled by ActBlue, which has facilitated raising more than $87 million online for progressive candidates and committees across America."

So just click on the banner above, or the one on the right side of this page, and you can and will make a difference to clearly establish leadership which halts the often mean-spirited tactics of the current state Republican party.

SEE ALSO: (more will be posted later)
KnoxViews
Silence Isn't Golden
Newscoma
LeftWingCracker
RoaneViews
Russ McBee
Vibinc
Progressive Nashville
Sean Braisted
Sharon Cobb

UPDATE: KnoxViews reports the goal of raising at least $1,000 was reached in a matter of hours. Thanks to all who helped!!

UPDATE II: Donations have approaching $3000 thanks to the efforts of bloggers and donors statewide - more than triple the goal set today.

Wallace Coleman Brings The Blues To East Tennessee

Wallace Coleman plays the blues like a legend. I'm very happy to see that he's got two more shows here in East Tennessee - on Friday Feb. 6th at the Rose Center in Morristown and on Friday Feb. 20th at the Laurel Theater in Knoxville.

He makes that harmonica talk, sing, cry, laugh and is just one of the best blues performers you can see today. I've talked and written about his great music before and urge you to make time to see him.

Here's a recent video of him and his band from January of 2009 doing a tune called "After Midnight":

Bonnaroo 2009 Lineup

With a lineup that includes Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, The Beastie Boys, Elvis Costello, Nine Inch Nails, Merle Haggard, Del McCoury, Wilco and David Byrne it looks like I may need to make the trip to Manchester, TN this summer for Bonnaroo 2009 this June.

The full list (which is still growing!) can be found at the Bonnaroo website.

Pajamas Media Confusion, Frank Zappa and Billy Pilgrim

I never thought the concept of a 'pajamas media' sounded very smart. There's some concern and some confusion among conservative bloggers over the announcement last week that the Pajamas Media site is shutting down it's shared advertising program which was supposed to pay out to blogging participants. While the ads are ending, the site apparently is not, but now instead the founders of the media blog say they will focus all efforts now on their Pajamas TV project.

The same project which hired Joe Wurzelbacher, aka Joe The Plumber, to be a 'war reporter' in Gaza for 10 days. That program really tanked. (Though R. Neal pointed out today that you can order an '"authentic Mexican black velvet painting of Joe as part of the Modern American Media Martyrs series" ... yeah, nice work there. Maybe we could get some black velvet paintings of a screen capture of Pajamas Media??)

Anyway, some questions raised about the rise and fall and the paid blogging via the Pajama People is offered here.

Maybe one reason I had serious doubts about all the Pajama Games originates with the lyrics of Frank Zappa's "Po-jama People":

"Some people's hot
Some people's cold
Some people's not very
Swift to behold
Some people do it
Some see right through it
Some wear pyjamas
If only they knew it

The pyjama people are boring me to pieces
Feel like I am wasting my time
They all got flannel up 'n down 'em
A little trap-door back aroun' 'em
An' some cozy little footies on their mind"

Blogging (and bloggers such as my humble self) in general often remind me of the character of Billy Pilgrim in Kurt Vonnegut's novel "Slaughterhouse Five". As Billy got older, he would often lock himself into his basement wearing his pajamas and furiously but earnestly type letters to the editor at his local newspaper, all explaining and expounding on how he had become "unstuck in time" when he was abducted by aliens and taken to their home planet of Tralfamadore. It drove his children crazy that he just would not shut up about it, that he kept pushing the idea out into the community.

So it goes.

Cats Invented The Internet

After years of studying the Internet, I have decided the only reason humans invented it was because the cats made us. Cat videos and cat pictures dominate the world wide web. I do not have a problem with that.

Camera Obscura: Star Trek Perfume; Jane Austen vs Zombies; The Fabulous Stains

A new year brings new joys in the explorations of the obscure, the forgotten and the just plain weird cinema. Massive amounts of new cinematic oddities are as much a part of the new year as income tax forms just way more pleasurable. Makes my old heart thump with youthful vigor.

One new blog from 2008 continues to impress me with a vast amount of pop cultural debris and effluvium, Topless Robot. (yes, it is now on the blogroll here at yer Cup of Joe) Here are some choice samples of what you can read there:

-- 'Who Wants To Smell Like A Rutting Vulcan?' features a report on the Star Trek-based perfume lines being pushed in marketing for the new movie out this year. There's "Tiberius" if you want to smell like Kirk, "Pon Far" if you want to smell like a Vulcan in heat, and my favorite, "Red Shirt", if you want to smell like the most-likely-to-die crew member out on a mission.

-- 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies' is a new book which commingles the witty romantic writings of Jane Austen with, yes, zombies. "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies features the original text of Jane Austen's beloved novel with all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie action. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton--and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she's soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers--and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead." Use this version for that dull book report and it will be dull no more!!

-- Or maybe you'll enjoy the new sequel to French filmmaker Luc Besson's "District B13", which is a sort of sci-fi tale from the future but is really about the growing popularity of 'parkour', a sort of urban sport where folks run and jump onto and off of all kinds of things. The new trailer shows that the jumping continues with mad glee in the next movie. And don't worry about the dialog in French. You are here for the jumping, people!!

Banlieu 13: Ultimatum trailer


Here in East TN, by the way, you can join up with the Knoxville branch of parkour enthusiasts via this website.

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Back in 1982 a hilarious TV comedy hit the airwaves and sadly ran for only six episodes. Yet, fortune smiled on the show and it eventually spawned three feature films and set the mark for movie parodies ever since. The show was the brilliant satire "Police Squad" (In Color!!) and you can watch three of the episodes here online, though the DVD set is available pretty cheap. But the half-hour episodes are sheer genius as is the star, Leslie Nielsen as Lt. Frank Drebin, moves thru a universe of visual jokes and TV madness. One of the best shows ever on the tube.



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And for tonight -- well, actually around 2:30 a.m. - Turner Classic Movies will feature a cult classic from the early 1980s, "Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains". The movie follows an all girl punk rock band led by then 15-year-old actress Diane Lane and an even younger Laura Dern playing the bass for the band. Here's the trailer:

The Secret Sorrow of the ShamWow Salesman

You may well like the product itself but as for me, I just love the word ShamWow.

Pitched endlessly in TV spots as the most amazing clean-up towel ever, I simply take great delight in saying "ShamWow" at any opportunity. I'm sure it may annoy some people. Ah well, ShamWow, say I.

It's a little like "Shazam", or maybe a "Kapow" (another comic book word). It's the "um" sound with a "wow" on it and that makes me smile for reasons far beyond the ken of mortal men.

Of course, the product is heralded by Vince Offer as he wears his headset microphone and works the magic which is the ShamWow towel.

Turns out poor Vince got blistered by the Church of Scientology because of a cheap movie he made called "Underground Comedy Movie" which the CoS just did not like (and to be honest not many others like the movie either). So they charged him with some 23 "crimes against the Church of Scientology" and pretty much ruined his fledgling movie career. The sordid and shocking details about the incident are all here at a blog called Skepchick:

"He appealed his conviction, and CoS overturned it. They admitted that the entire case against him was nothing more than a smear campaign and that it was unfair he was never informed of the charges against him. But it was too late. The damage was done, and while the conviction was overturned, he never received an apology or reparations. In other words, they said, “Oh that conviction shouldn’t have happened. We totally lied about everything, used fake evidence against you and generally ran the proceedings in a manner that was the complete opposite of ethical. But we didn’t do anything wrong. We’re not sorry. And it’s not up to us to make amends to you."

I had no idea. But now I like the word ShamWow a little more.

And if you'd like to help out Vince, check out his movie and order his stuff.

ShamWow!

Rep. Roe Fails On Economic Issues, Votes No For Stimulus

It is rather sad but not very surprising that 1st District Congressman Phil Roe is relying on hardline Republican opposition to plans for an economic stimulus rather than any of his own fact-finding or decision making.

He voiced his decision to oppose the proposal being voted on today and cited some false but headline-grabbing details to bolster his views.

He cited a Congressional Budget Office Report which really did not exist and has ignored the full report from the CBO which supports the stimulus released on Monday. Yes, even though I am not in Washington or have a full-time congressional staff working for me, I was able to discover critical differences between the two reports while Congressman Roe just repeated what he was told to say.

The actual report on the full proposal found that it would have a noticeable impact on economic growth and that:

"Specifically, they estimate that in the spending portion of the bill, $477 billion out of $604 billion would be disbursed either this fiscal year or in the next two fiscal years. That's 79% of the total.

I guess opinions can vary on this, but that strikes me as pretty good. What's more, most of the spending that comes in FY2012 or later is either for projects that simply take more than two years to complete (highways, school repairs) or infrastructure improvements that have long-term paybacks (renewable energy programs). There are a few other items in the out years that are more arguable, but they add up to a pretty small portion of the bill.

Overall, then, it looks like the spending part of the bill is maybe 90% clean as short-term stimulus. And on the supply side, nearly 100% of the tax cuts are allocated during the next 18 months. Given the realities of the appropriations process, I'm not sure the White House could have done much better than this. Looks like pretty good work from the economics team."

For a nifty and catch-phrase worthy speech, Rep. Roe also shot a derisive blast at the National Endowment for the Arts and a proposal (now removed from the bill) which would have supplied funds for birth control. He hit all the hot-button talking points and ignored any actual work he might have to perform to examine the spending plan.

Look, I have serious concerns about the way the federal government has been shelling out hundreds of billions of dollars to address our failing economy. That's why I think it's so important for my elected representative to actually do some work to examine and measure carefully how to proceed, to be vigilant but not just obstinate. Relying on partisan attacks serves no one but party bosses.

Rep. Roe might have bothered to check with - for instance - the local Hamblen County government, which has already created a special committee to determine what projects the county needs to have funded from a stimulus package, such as a building program for our schools and road and infrastructure projects which the county has had to place on hold.

Instead, he relies on a memo of talking points and ignores the needs of his own district.

Or he might even want to consider what the CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf actually told Congress about the proposal:

"The bill, Elmendorf said, "would provide a substantial boost to economic activity over the next several years relative to what would occur without any legislation."

With the bill, CBO figured economic output would be between 1.3 percent and 3.6 percent higher at the end of this year, higher by a similar amount at the end of 2010 and even higher in 2011.

The help is needed to reverse a downturn that CBO estimates will easily surpass the 1981-82 and 1973-75 recessions, each of which last 16 months, by mid-year.

"It could also be the deepest recession during the postwar period in terms of the difference between actual and potential output," Elmendorf said. By his estimates, output over the next two years will average 6.8 percent below normal."

The Fear-Obama Machine Marches On

Despite a massive public approval of President Obama - from before election day and into tomorrow as well - the right-wing 'fear-of-everything-Obama' marches on, as noted in two recent articles.

One from the CJP says:


"In the weeks following the election, the debate over the issue of media bias, and of whether the press was overly kind to Barack Obama, has continued to swirl. Much less attention has been paid to another, more troubling aspect of the coverage, and that’s the relentless and malevolent campaign that the right-wing media waged against the Democratic candidate. Few people who did not regularly tune in to the vast, churning combine of bellowing radio hosts, yapping bloggers, obnoxious Web sites, malicious columnists, and the slashingly partisan Fox News have any idea of just how vile and venomous were the attacks leveled at Obama. Day after day, week after week, these outlets worked determinedly to discredit and degrade Obama, accusing him of being a Muslim, a Marxist, a radical, a revolutionary, a socialist, a communist, a thug, a mobster, a racist, an agent of voter fraud, a black-power advocate, a madrasah graduate, an anti-Semite, an enemy of Israel, an associate of terrorists—even the Antichrist. Supplemented by a flood of viral e-mails, slanderous robocalls, and Internet-based smear campaigns, these media outlets worked to stoke firestorms of manufactured rage against Obama and the Democrats in what was perhaps the most concerted campaign of vilification ever directed at an American politician.

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"In the end, no institution devoted more energy to assailing Barack Obama than Fox News. Any pretense that the network is anything other than an arm of the most rigid reaches of the Republican Party was dispelled by its relentless campaign against the Democrats. ... Appearing regularly on the network were a series of professional Democrat detractors, including architect-of-the-most-unpopular-presidency-in-American-history Karl Rove, onetime-Bill-Clinton-adviser-disgraced-after-having-been-found-consorting-with-a-prostitute Dick Morris, and the always-welcome-on-Fox-no-matter-how-foul-her-views Ann Coulter. “I feel,” she said on one show, “like we are talking to the Germans after Hitler comes to power, saying, ‘Oh, well, I didn’t know. I had no idea he was going to be like this.’ ”

Limbaugh and others of his kind know they are in an ever-decreasing spiral of defeat, yet their voices still make headlines and hurl horror stories about imagined armageddons. Like the recent FOX News bombast about the closing of Gitmo:

"Despite Fox’s suggestion that detainees could be pitching a tent in your backyard, Guantanamo detainees transferred to the U.S. for trials would be housed in federal prisons — where dozens of dangerous terrorists are already held. In fact, the United States has already successfully prosecuted 145 terrorism cases in federal court, a sharp contrast to the series of debacles in Guantanamo prosecutions.

Later in the segment, the Fox hosts repeated some of the right wing’s favorite myths about Guantanamo. They endorsed the “great idea” conservatives have been pushing of sending detainees to Alcatraz or a “haunted” prison in West Virginia:

CLAYTON MORRIS: We’ve got Alcatraz that exists. We give tours out there. Put them out on an island on Alcatraz, which is under our jurisdiction. What about Moundsville State Penitentiary? Someone from West Virginia wrote me and said it’s a haunted prison. It’s vacant.

In other words, Fox News and the right wing would prefer to send Guantanamo detainees to theme parks rather than to maximum-security federal prisons."

So far, the majority of Americans have rejected all these hysterical claims. But as they continue to lose influence, Conservative hysteria continues to rise. Their worst nightmare would be an America which thrives and achieves much during the next four years. They hope not only that Obama fails - they want you to fail too.

Violent Attack Over Pizza

While it might be tempting to blame a horrible economy for the robbery of a pizza deliveryman in upper East Tennessee, the incident seems more spurred on by stupidity. But it is still frightening to think that the whole deal turned so violent over so little.

The Kingsport Times News reports that the poor deliveryman was beaten with a stick of firewood which broke three times as the assault continued, and the suspect eventually was cornered in his kitchen and attempted "suicide by cop" as described in the account here.

"The husband allegedly fled the scene with pizza, hot wings and cheese bread but no cash."
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"MCPD Assistant Chief Mike Campbell said Mr. Bond apparently attempted “suicide by cop” as he reached into a cutlery drawer to grab a knife in the presence of officers with their guns drawn. Mr. Bond was unable to find a knife, however, and was tackled and taken into custody, Campbell said.

Police later learned that Mr. Bond was wanted in Carter County and Virginia, although the specific charges weren’t available.

Mr. Bond reportedly told police he hatched the robbery scheme to raise enough money to get away to New Jersey to avoid the arrest warrants. Mr. Bond also reportedly told police he was willing to die because he “was tired of running.”