Fingerprints For Traffic Tickets?

Are we a nation of criminals, guilty until proven innocent?

The trends nationwide - and here in Tennessee - are more and more often pointing to "Yes".

For now, a new proposal which would allow for Tennesseans who get traffic citations to be fingerprinted is on hold until it comes up for a vote again next Thursday. This news means Sen. Joe Haynes knew there would not be enough votes to pass this bill ... today.

But police seem to want this law passed. They want new electronic ticketing equipment, they say, and hey, only someone guilty of something could be opposed to such a procedure, right?

" ... the ones who were most worried about it were likely the ones who were doing something wrong ... " (link)

Some communities already require this - and there are host of state-required licenses which demand fingerprints, such as optometrists in Texas and dentists in Tennessee. A new law in Chicago requires a fingerprint from someone who wants to sell their home, another law will require fingerprints in San Diego for those who skateboard. (In Tennessee, a law requiring a fingerprint to purchase a gun, however, has been eliminated.)

Arguments are constantly offered that such requirements prevent crimes, catch criminals, offer security, affect only those guilty, etc etc.

If fingerprints are the best way to catch a criminal or prevent a crime, then let's use technology and jump ahead a few years -- let's just require a DNA identification be created at your birth, an ID which will be kept in databases (never to be abused or misused, noooo). And if anyone ever gets a ticket or is arrested (not convicted, just arrested) or wants a job in real estate or dentistry or teaching or buying a car or using a parking garage, then they must be implanted with a tracking chip so we can keep tabs on them. Just in case.

Since our nation requires fingerprints now for so many jobs and transactions, why, we should already be safe as safe can be. And if these programs have not made everything perfectly safe, then more security, more demands must be placed on you, all of you, since none of you are to be trusted.

Legislature OKs Bill To Limit Rights in Tennessee

Sad to see the state pushing forward with plans to amend the state constitution and limit the rights of women. Worse, to see my own representative, John Litz of Morristown, vote for this needless amendment. (SJR127).

If it is approved in the next legislative session, it will be a weird item on the ballot in 2014 for state voters - how will the proposal be presented to voters? Most likely, given the recent sweeping changes to county election commissions turning them into Republican-led offices, it will be presented incorrectly and will continue to politicize legal abortions as heinous crimes. And aiming cultural fire at a woman's right to chose and the state's duty to protect those rights - that was surely the goal here.

Using this bill to howl and proclaim a moral high ground is a sham.

There's this bit from SJR127 I find quite interesting: "the people retain the right through their elected state representatives and state senators to enact, amend, or repeal statutes ..."

That seems in conflict with the first sentence of our state constitution, which gives rights to "people" first and no mention of elected officials:

"Sec. 1. That all power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on their authority, and instituted for their peace, safety, and happiness; for the advancement of those ends they have at all times, an unalienable and indefeasible right to alter, reform, or abolish the government in such manner as they may think proper."

Camera Obscura: Star Trek Redux; 'The Road' Trailer; Hollywood at the KMA

Way back in the long-ago times known as my childhood, if you were to visit my home and enter the rooms of either my sister or myself, you'd likely think we were pop culture junkies. Both of us, even back in those long-ago times of television-by-antenna-only and three networks only, dug as deep as we could.

While I had Aurora models of Frankenstein and Creature From the Black Lagoon, my sis had a wall of glossy black and white photos from a wide range of television shows - but the ones I recall most were from a show then being broadcast regularly on NBC called "Star Trek". (I kinda think she had a crush on Chekov.) My somewhat scattered memories of those times include images of a copy of the script for an episode from the second season titled "Assignment: Earth" which she had as well -- I think she had gotten that via the TV studio as well, but my memory may be weak and it may have been sometime later she had that script. Still, she was the first "trekkie" I knew.

(I also have vague memories of a few posters in my room, giant black and white posters of Raquel Welch in that fur bikini from "1 Million Years B.C." and of Steve McQueen astride a motorcycle from "The Great Escape".)

And though I have been way to busy the last week to see the newest "Star Trek" movie/franchise reboot, I know that many friends have seen it and liked it and some have taken their kids to see the movie, which is a pleasant notion, sort of passing the fandom down a generation. But I ran across some behind-the-scenes photos of the original show via MetaFilter which I really like --

Spock and 1965 Buick Riviera

Kirk and a what the heck car is that??

Kirk, Spock and some Space Babes

While many decades and many shows and movies have followed the original show, it's good to know my sis and I were hip long before anyone new Star Trek was hip.

OTHER MOVIE NEWS:

At long last, a trailer for the new movie "The Road", based on Cormac McCarthy's novel. (As noted on Cinematical - "According to Esquire, John Hillcoat's film is (and other reviews have borne this out) as quiet, harrowing, and bleak as the novel is, and may just be "the most important film of the year". Unfortunately, the Weinsteins feel no one will see it unless there's an "explanation" and a hook of kick ass action, even if the film itself lacks the things the trailer sells. But at least you get a glimpse of the real film underneath, which is enough to cause you to choke up.")

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Tonight on TCM, one of the very first ever Summer Blockbuster movies airs - "You Only Live Twice". This was the first James Bond movie to open in summer, back in 1967 and earned over $100 million at the box office. It's got spaceships, ninjas, a killer soundtrack and score, and it is also the only Bond scripted by creator Ian Fleming's longtime friend and fellow writer, Roald Dahl. There would never have been an Austin Powers or The Incredibles without this movie.

And stick around after the second Bond feature, "Diamonds Are Forever", to see the pairing of Sean Connery and a very young Christopher Walken in the very under-rated crime thriller "The Anderson Tapes". The story, told from a perspective of a society under surveillance long before such concepts were considered a daily reality. It's from director Sidney Lumet, with music by Quincy Jones and the film holds up very well today. (Trailer for the movie here.)

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A touring exhibit of classic Hollywood photos is on display now at the Knoxville Museum of Art. Drawn from the archives of the John Kobal Collection, it includes works by George Hurrell, Sincalir Bull, William Mortensen and many many more. The KMA has the exhibit until October, more on the photos is here via John Kobal's site. Some samples?

The Week In Review: Semi-Snarky Edition

There are numerous stories I've been pondering on this week and I am reluctant to just post a sentence or two so instead this is sort of a grab-bag of ideas and thoughts on items making news.

-- Here in East Tennessee, the EPA is now officially overseeing the cleanup of TVA's ash spill disaster in Roane County, using authority given the EPA via the Superfund Act. So, let me get this right: hazardous waste cleanup is needed, but all that coal ash isn't really hazardous waste in a legal sense. The dumping by TVA and the EPA on Roane County is blindingly awful and no end to it is in sight. TVA, and the federal and state officials of Tennessee, all earn a massive FAIL on this disaster response.

-- Also in Tennessee, it's about to get easier to take more guns into more places. Yeah, what a wonderful easing of a troublesome burden. Not enough folks toting guns wherever they go. Whew. (Used right, even a bowl of chili can protect your home and property.)

-- I posted a story this week about the astronaut Michael Massimino making use of the Twitter platform to publish short sentences while on the current NASA shuttle mission for repairs on the Hubble telescope. So far, it's just rather lame and pointless and for me further reduces any importance or value to our space program - a program which has been struggling to find funding and support by the nation and our government.

The shuttle has been mostly a mindless truck-for-hire for the military and the CIA, focused on minor tasks at huge operating costs, which allowed for endless delays in more useful projects in space and with greater scientific value. The Hubble has really been valuable for it's work, true. But the U.S. has really lost the initiative it once had in space exploration. This week, NOVA on PBS aired a special on the shuttle program and the Columbia disaster. I urge you to watch it rather than just read a few words typed onto Twitter.

-- Like a modern-day P.T. Barnum, Donald Trump has been able to make rather minor beauty pageants into a hot topic, thanks to the dim-witted comments of a Miss California winner. Also, I would imagine any career ideas she might have about being a model or actress will bring her into constant contact with gay people, the group of people she spoke so harshly about, so I doubt she'll receive much help from them to look and dress well. And really, this interest on a contest based on superficial looks -- useless.

Back in 1987 while working as a reporter for a local paper, I spent the day with that year's Miss America contest winner, Kellye Cash. I was more impressed she was a distant relative of Johnny Cash than with a Miss America title. But she was pretty and she certainly was a marked departure from the previous scandalized winner Vanessa Williams. But you know, Williams is the one working today as an actress and singer and in the spotlight. Kellye has been in regional theatre and has released a few CDs, but in terms of talent, Williams wins. I liked Kellye (but what is up with that extra E in her name?) and she seemed to be a nice person. But Trump knows, as did Barnum, that it is publicity and a whiff of danger that sells tickets and earns headlines.

As for what Miss California said and it being simply her usage of Freedom of Speech - well, yes, an American can speak their mind on any topic. But the speaker will still be held accountable for what they say.

-- In far more serious matters, the potential for a real U.S. disaster is growing thanks to ever-growing revelations about how torture was used to lead the nation into war in Iraq and how high up in the White House the orders originated, and an ever-growing reality that many in Congress knew what was happening. As I have written here many times before, this aspect of U.S. policy is doing and has done untold damage to the credibility of our country and beliefs. As of yet, we still lack the will and courage to face this horrible issue fully and punish those who made it happen.

Tennessee Picked For Solar Deployment Study

Tennessee is one of six states picked to be in a national Solar Energy Analysis project, in conjunction with The Tennessee Regulatory Agency, the Dept. of Energy and the Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.

The Tennessee Regulatory Agency says the project will:

"bring together states that are at the beginning stages of establishing renewable energy policies and standards. State utility commissioners and staff will work with National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) analysts to identify and study technological, economic, and regulatory barriers facing solar energy.

"We are extremely happy to be one of the states selected for this very important research project on solar energy," said TRA Chairman Eddie Roberson. "Just as Tennessee was a leader in the development of hydro and nuclear power, our state can play an equally important role in the application of solar energy technologies."

The solar energy resource assessment project will include Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Missouri and Colorado and will be funded by the DOE. Tennessee was one of sixteen states to submit an application which was reviewed by a team of utility and renewable energy experts from around the country."

Kudos to the state for paying attention and applying for a fundamental energy program. Our selection is also likely due to the decision by Hemlock Semiconductor Corp. to invest $1.2 billion in Clarksville,TN building solar panel components. Also, given other recent efforts from the Bredesen administration, it seems one thing his legacy could include would be getting Tennessee heavily invested in alternative energy programs for the nation.

SEE ALSO: An editorial by Brandon Blevins who works in the wind energy programs for SACE; and his recent report on the potential for wind energy development in Tennessee.

Twitter In Space with Astro Mike

Astronaut and Mission Specialist Michael Massimino - aka Astro_Mike - is making Twitter updates as a part of the current shuttle mission (which you can read about right here via NASA).

I wonder how he can type messages out with those gloves on? Is it LOL to be without gravity?

I wonder too if he can resist the temptation to make tweets about Ground Control and Major Tom.

Situation Normal

I had a really fine weekend camp-out with friends, an annual event we all share which has always been one of the finer things in life each time we gather. Threats of severe storms all passed north of us and the weather was bright, the sun warm, and I talked and laughed with friends old and new who were all equally amazed to see me outside, in the daytime even.

As often as I read and learn about the American world today via giant corporate media outlets and spiky independent media outlets and wade into the cultural waters of meta-critics, it's likely far more valuable to me and to others to simply talk with people and spend time with them. Honest people who work hard, who raise their children well, who care about the world, who provide immense amounts of positive energy and support for each other -- all that makes me fortunate indeed to call such people friends.

The lives of folks from all walks of life who do the daily chores, who provide leadership and ideas all stand in stark contrast to the empty preening and pouting of elected officials and media products.

And as sure as the sun rises, when I return again this morning to the media-saturated worlds I again find there's a lot of whining and petty, meaningless howls of derision, apocalyptic moanings, idiocy ad infinitum. Situation normal.

In the real world we all know, for example, that some stunningly large groups of ultra-greedy people tanked our economy and the effects have hurt just about everyone and slurried the paths of working people with serious obstacles. We hope some will be punished, realize that most won't and we struggle to improve our own lives as best we can and hope such greed is gone for a while.

In the real world we all know the sore loser crowd in politics, the same crowd which loudly prophesize evils aplenty if they don't have political control, continue to dwindle away into the usual background hum of negative nonsense, the hateful and the vengeful who would smash all the world in order to make their piece of the world simply look shinier.

In the real world we all know that even on a Mother's Day, mom might have to change some pretty nasty diapers. And she does. And life goes on.

Wombat Spaceships and Michael Savage

Just as with many other online writers, I've often noticed that some readers land on this humble and lovable page by entering some utterly curious and odd phrases and questions into the ol' Google Machine.

For instance, there seem to be a notable collection of people in East Tennessee who are seeking naked images of Knoxville TV news anchor Robin Wilhoit (shame, shame on you), there are searches for Cats that look like Hitler or Stalin (and one for Cats that look like Jimmy Carter), and far more odd thoughts than you can imagine.

Today however a search question grabbed my attention: it read "Are Wombats Spaceships?"

Such a question conjured images of some dude somewhere whose jar of home-made brain debilitation had hit a low point as he gazed into they sky one starry evening while slumped on his porch and pondered to himself -- "maybe .. could it be ... that wombats are really spaceships?"

And oddly enough, such a question did indeed lead him directly to my post dated Aug. 1, 2007 entitled "Wombats Fly Spaceships".

Said post was actually addressing the incessant lunacy of radio talk show goon Michael Savage, and a theory he offered that nefarious Democrats had somehow made Supreme Court Justice John Roberts have a seizure which required some medical attention. So I offered this prediction for Savage's upcoming talking point:

"I am going to predict the next Big Scandal from Savage -- he will claim that Wombats Fly Spaceships. And not just yer ordinary everyday Wombat, either. These will be Liberal Democrat Wombats who seek to become the Dark Overlords of Time and Space."

Note that I wrote that he might claim that wombats fly spaceships, not that wombats are spaceships.

Savage, just by coincidence (or is it??), has been raising a stink because the government of Great Britain has banned Savage from entering their country:

" ... who was described by the Home Office as “seeking to provoke others to serious criminal acts and fostering hatred which might lead to inter-community violence.”

Also banned was the rage-inducing prophet of madness known as Fred Phelps. Phelps stand on wombats is not on record that I am aware of.

Maybe the Spaceships helmed by and/or constructed solely by wombats are smarter than we ever dared imagine. Though really, truth is that even a wombat would eye the rantings of Savage as potentially dangerous. Or maybe, just maybe, wombats are indeed galactic overlords cruising he galaxies with unimagined technology. Let's ask the ol' Google Machine if they have any images of these murky aliens whose wisdom is beyond the ken of mortal man -- here's the top results:

1 . A crime novel called The Wombat Strategy by Claire McNab, which Amazon describes as "Don't miss this intro to the most unconventional, laugh-out-loud private eye in lesbian crime fiction."

2. And for some years a videogame called Space Wombat has also been for sale for some time, wherein the adventures begin when "Space Wombat is heading home to planet Ucliptus with a valuable shipment of Power Gumnuts when he receives a distress call from a nearby planet".

Maybe the real question to ask -- is Michael Savage a Wombat Who Flies Spaceships???

Southall Wins World's Best Job Contest

A 34-year old Briton named Ben Southall has won The Contest of All Contests -- he's going to live in a three-bedroom villa on a tropical island in the barrier reef, get paid over $100,000 and blog about his daily chores of snorkeling, swimming, hiking, tanning, boating and other such tiresome efforts.

I mentioned this contest previously, and the winner, who is a charity fundraiser and already something of an adventure traveler is, of course, delighted to be the winner:

"It’s amazing,” an ecstatic Mr Southall told The Times today, while already dressed in his regulatory island wear of boardshorts and flip flops. “You think of a three of four bedroom house in England and it has nice red bricks and is quite small but this house is a dream, it’s enormous and looks out over the Coral Sea and at least 4 or 5 people can stay at any one time.

“I stayed in a tent on top of my Landrover while I travelled through Africa last year, so this is going to be a very welcome difference.”

Tourism Queensland, which came up with the novel marketing approach, predicts the interest in the competition has generated $AU110 million in international publicity.

Mr Southall spent time in Africa working as a tour guide and driver after leaving university and cites riding an ostrich, bungee jumping, scuba diving and finding new adventures as his favoured achievements.

He was selected from a final group of 16 applicants, who came from 15 different countries, and were flown to Hamilton Island last week for a final series of tests, including demonstrating their swimming abilities, snorkeling and being pampered at a luxurious island resort.

Queensland Tourism Minister Peter Lawlor said he believed Mr Southall, who had described himself in his initial application as the "adventurous, crazy energetic one" in his application, would build up a loyal online following after taking up the position on July 1.

"His ideas for how he will make the role his own, plus his initiative and ability to rise to a challenge, impressed the selection panel and secured his place in the top job," Mr Lawlor said

Mr Southall, whose parents celebrated his win this morning over a champagne breakfast at home in Hampshire, plans to bring his Canadian girlfriend with him for his six-month sojourn on the island."

Southall may just have found the best way to ride out the current economic nightmare.

TVA Says Ash Spill Disaster Not Their Fault

I noticed via KnoxViews and Roane Views some pretty outrageous claims which accompany any buyouts of property owners suffering after that disastrous ash spill.

"It is also important to The TVA is making people sign away any future medical clams and the claims of any of their decedents. And there is also a clause in there that states you agree the TVA was not at fault in anything that happened on Dec. 22nd

Yes they do need to stick together. I also think it is important to remember Mr. Kilgore’s statement of we want to make people whole again and work with them. Well a offer take it or leave it is not working with no one."

More here at KV about how reports on the health risks from ash ponds have been kept secret, and at RV. Roane Views has been hard at work reporting on the aftermath of this disaster, such as posts here, here, and, here.

TVA Ash Spill Seeks Dump Into Smith Mountain, Costs Near $1 Billion

The catastrophic ash spill from TVA's coal ash containment site in East Tennessee continues to see costs rise - estimates for the December 2008 disaster cleanup are topping 1 billion dollars and will take years to resolve. Sadly, Tennessee's federal representatives appear to be content to let the mess and it's cleanup all land on someone else's desk.

As for that cleanup, plans are underway to haul away tons and tons of the debris (180 dump trucks per day) and stash it in a quarry on Smith Mountain in a Cumberland County mining site. But not so fast, says Cumberland County Commissioner Robert Safdie, who penned an editorial in the Crossville Chronicle:

"It has been brought to my attention that Crossville Mining Company has asked the Cumberland County Commission to review a proposal to build a hazardous waste dump on Smith Mountain. This proposal will be reviewed by the county commission's environmental committee on Wednesday, May 5, at 4:30 in the small courtroom.

Crossville Mining Company has proposed that they be permitted to dump ash from the Kingston disaster into a quarry in their Cumberland County mining site. Although not made public, my sources have revealed that the county will be paid at least $2 million in "load" fees if the commission approves this. In addition the coal company has promised to improve the road system leading to the quarry. About 180 dump trucks of ash a day will make its way from Kingston to Cumberland County. My sources also tell me that the trucking firm involved in the potential contract is owned by former state Senator Tommy Kilby of Morgan County."
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"These questions include, "What else do you plan to put at the site? What levels of radiation are emitted by the ash? What risk is posed by the dust particulates to the residents in the area? How much mercury and arsenic are contained in the waste materials? What is your safety plan for dealing with problems that might occur such as the leaching of contaminants into the county's aquifer? What is the environmental impact on the area? How will road accident and spills be handled?" If approved without the appropriate information, under state law, the county has no repeal options.

Here is my opinion. 1.) We are entitled to a public hearing with ample notification before the county considers this. Announcing that a "land fill" project is up for discussion at Wednesday's environmental committee meeting is an inadequate notification to the community that a hazardous waste dump is being considered and does not constitute a public forum on the issue.

2.) Turning even a part of Cumberland County into a hazardous waste dump defies every action that the county and city have taken to make this community appealing to the tourist industry and retirement community.

3.) The county and city have been striving to bring clean industry into our community to preserve the natural beauty in our area and maintain a clean environment.

4.) I find that this type of development does not provide an economic solution to business and industry growth in Cumberland County; however, it does provide a short term business opportunity for some, but also poses a long term threat to the community.

5.) Our county is quarry rich and if the county approves this proposal, it will not only open the door for TVA, but every federal agency (DOD, DOE, etc.) to solicit quarry owners and the county
commission for the right to use our home as a dumping ground for toxic chemicals and other waste."

Answers to these very pertinent questions need to be answered now, not some years down the line after the dumping has taken place.

Will the office of Mining of Mining Safety be given charge of regulating safety issues here rather than the EPA? The United Mountain Defense Fund has grave concerns there too:

"The Office of Surface Mining does not have the requisite expertise to develop regulations permitting the disposal of dangerous waste in mines. This expertise lies specifically with the Environmental Protection Agency. Congress enacted the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) for this purpose and gave EPA the authority to safeguard human health and the environment from the disposal of solid waste.10 Coal ash is considered a hazardous substance under the Comprehensive Emergency Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), which is also administered by the EPA.

EPA has made no attempt to assess the threat posed by disposal of coal ash in mines, but instead passed the responsibility for regulation to OSM. But EPA cannot under RCRA ignore the disposal of millions of tons of toxic waste in mines. Congress required EPA to prohibit open dumping of solid waste. If OSM permits the dumping of coal ash in mines, it will allow the creation of illegal open dumps. For example, heavy metal pollution at mines in Pennsylvania , West Virginia , and Maryland constitutes illegal open dumping.

Stop OSM from approving disposal of toxic waste in mines before considering the risks to human health and the environment

If OSM insists on proposing a rule on coal combustion waste, it must fully consider the threat posed by disposing of millions of tons of coal ash in mines. EPA’s recent risk assessment on the disposal of coal ash has great bearing on the threat to human health and the environment from the disposal of ash in mines. OSM must consider EPA’s risk assessment, the NAS report, and assess their full implications before proceeding. It is necessary for EPA and OSM to work together to ensure that the disposal of toxic coal ash in mines does not pollute the air and water of coalfield communities with the hazardous chemicals found in the ash." (Full Report here.)

And sometime next month, Federal inspectors will finally start examining the 400 sites nationwide which store coal ash -- as one committee member, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, says:

"The Kingston spill was caused by regulatory neglect, a lack of government oversight and "irresponsible coal ash practices," said U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, the subcommittee's chairwoman. The EPA could show some leadership on the issue by regulating coal ash, she said."

SEE ALSO: These two posts via Enclave, 1 and 2.

Music For A Saturday In May - Jazzy Version

Over the past few years I've added several collections of music which you can listen to on many of the posts I've made, mostly through a service called Seeqpod. Sadly, they have been sued by a couple of record lables - Warner and EMI to name a few. The result is the Seeqpod folks have had to file bankruptcy and suspend operations while they sort out this mess.

That also means all those posts which did have music you could listen to are all empty as the embeded music is just no longer there.

So I was working on adding some music for this fine day in May and have decided to try a new one service, called Imeem instead. Let's see if it works (and the return of Seeqpod will arrive soon, I hope). The music I picked for today is a sampling of some jazz tunes I really enjoy and hope you will too. I do listen to all types of music, new and old, I just liked the way all these sounded for this particular day in May.

One song I encountered recently is the first one, by a singer famous for her humor, her high girlish voice and her unique jazzy sound named Blossom Dearie. As a longtime fan of jazz singers and jazz music, I was a bit embarrased to discover I had never heard of her before. She passed away back in February and if you have never heard her before, I hope you like it enough to go in search of more from her, as I did. I found out while listening to the song I included that the modern singer Feist covered this tune too, but rather than repeat her version, I found another by Feist tune which I liked too. The others are just a taste of some other jazzy tunes, including one of my favorites from Louis Armstrong. Enjoy!

some jazz

Camera Obscura: Top 100 Movie Soundtracks; 'Straw Dogs' Remake

After the popularity of the recent post Top Ten Movie Characters, I was working on a Top Ten Movie Composers/Soundtracks idea and this week the Hollywood Reporter offered a list of the Top 100 film scores in honor of the fact that 2009 marks the 100th anniversary of music in the movies.

Soundtracks can make a mediocre movie so much better or a really good movie can be destroyed by bad music. And I've got more on this just below, but first a few quick takes on some movie news you should know.

Thanks to Newscoma, I learned about the upcoming release of the sci-fi movie "Moon", directed by singer David Bowie's son, Duncan Jones (formerly known as Zowie Bowie), which stars Sam Rockwell and is being featured in numerous film festivals at the moment. It looks great -- please check out the preview for it here at Newscoma's page.

Fox has been pumping out lots of promos for "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" into my email, and I have to say how much I don't like that the movie has lots of focus on the character of Sabertooth, but he is part of the origin story, even though the comics canon says he is not his brother and I just never liked that character. I was glad to hear they are using the very, very funny character of Deadpool, though again Hollywood is mangling that one too. At the least, you might enjoy the Wolverine mini-game you can play here at the official website and you can download it into your iPod too.

Worst Remake Idea of the Year: Plans are underway for an August start date for a remake of the still-controversial 1971 Sam Peckinpah movie "Straw Dogs". Woe unto anyone who tries to remake one of Peckinpah's near-perfect movies. It's a movie that can really annoy and disturb viewers, and there is immense ambiguity in the movie as it examines the themes of violence and revenge through the experiences of self-professed pacifist, played by Dustin Hoffman. Add in the sub-texts of the Vietnam War and a rape scene which seems more erotic than violent, and you have a movie which raised ruckus back in the day.

Plus, this remake changes a very key element to the original novel and movie -- the tale revolves around what happens when an American relocates to rural England with his new wife, but the remake instead moves the story to the South, and this entire project is a bad, bad idea.

Now let's talk about music in the movies.

To get an idea of how strange a young boy I was, the first soundtrack I bought when I was a kid was from "2001: A Space Odyssey". And I actually listened to it. A lot. It still stands as a very unique blend of classical music and modern filmmaking and the scenes of a space ship docking with a space station while the Blue Danube Waltz plays behind it all is still quite dazzling.

So - a question for you --- who are the best film composers of all time? Which soundtracks have become part of our own lives, which music lives far beyond the running time of the movie?

As I mentioned, the Hollywood Reporter has a list of the Top 100 Soundtracks right here, and their top pick is for Nina Rota's score for "The Godfather".

Choosing my favorite composer is a tough call, and I end up picking two - Bernard Hermann and Ennio Morricone. Hermann is the creator of those incredible stabbing strings during the shower scene of "Psycho", and he made all of director Alfred Hitchcock's best movies so much better, like "North By Northwest", "Vertigo", "The Birds" and "The Man Who Knew Too Much". He also made the music for "Citizen Kane", "The Day The Earth Stood Still", "Cape Fear", and "Taxi Driver". His music is often re-worked today, and was featured in "Kill Bill" and "The Sporanos".

Ennio Morricone is also a favorite, even if only for one soundtrack, for "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly". In addition to all the Leone/Eastwood westerns he scored, he worked with Italy's horror masters Dario Argento and Mario Bava, and picked up his most recent Grammy Award in 2008. Often using unusual instruments (like Hermann), his music is always adds to the movie you're watching. And like Hermann, his scores often get re-worked into new movies and soundtracks all the time. He's scored 500 film and TV soundtracks - so far.

Mention too must be made of the one man who has won more Oscars for Best Original Score than anyone else - 45 nominations, 5 wins and 21 Grammy awards. Can you name him?

Shame on you if you claim to be a movie fan and cannot name this prolific musician. Some hints? Think "Star Wars", "Jaws", "Raiders of the Lost Ark" or the Harry Potter movies. It's John Williams. Just about everyone can do that ominous shark music from "Jaws" and his Star Wars themes likewise are very familiar. I've always been impressed with his work for Lucas and Spielberg, and the operatic music titled "Duel of the Fates" which Williams created for the three prequel movies in the Star Wars series is my favorite of all of his works. It soars and thrills and echoes with the great battles ever put onto film. Here's a clip of the final light saber battle between Anakin and Obi-Wan with the "Duel of the Fates" composition that's just about perfect:



Lucas also helped to establish the most current trend in movie soundtracks, using pop songs behind the action of the film, starting with the huge popularity of "American Graffiti", and the best-selling soundtrack album. Today, the King of that method is director Quentin Tarantino who selects pitch-perfect songs for his films. Here is a fan-made mashup of video from his movies and the music from the movies too. (CAUTION: adult language and lots of violence. what? it's Tarantino!):

Eclectic Method - The Tarantino Mixtape from Eclectic Method on Vimeo.

Will We Need License Plates In Heaven?

Specialty license plates used to be an annoying indicator of the hubris and pride of a car owner. Now, like so much else today, these plates are yet another annoying indicator of how narrow-minded and useless some elected officials have become.

In Tennessee, politicos are mingling license plates with religion and politics and social issues into another weapon of mass distraction in the pointless game of posturing and posing in a culture war, foisted onto a culture which needs less war and could really use some peace.

Kleinheider notes the commotion in his post:

"Praise the Lord!” exclaimed Rep. Karen Camper, D-Memphis, when the House Public Safety Subcommittee gave its approval to HB2196 late Tuesday.

The bill would create a special license plate for the Church of God in Christ, which Camper said has a 102-year history and a national headquarters in Memphis where Martin Luther King gave his famous “I have been to the mountaintop” speech."

I suppose it could be worse. Like in Florida, where elected officials are pushing for a Jesus license plate.

"Since everybody these days claims to know What Jesus Would Do, let me ask a question. Do you think he would want to be mass-produced by Caesar's state, sold for money and displayed on the public streets to gratify an act of pandering political piety?"


Why are politicians intent on making religious beliefs a way to divide us?

State Workers Using Tobacco Must Pay More or Quit Smoking

(image source)

Huron Indian myth has it that in ancient times, when the land was barren and the people were starving, the Great Spirit sent forth a woman to save humanity. As she traveled over the world, everywhere her right hand touched the soil, there grew potatoes. And everywhere her left hand touched the soil, there grew corn. And when the world was rich and fertile, she sat down and rested. When she arose, there grew tobacco...

The love-hate relationship with tobacco, the Bright Leaf, the Sot-Weed, endures.

State workers - and their spouses - in Tennessee will see a $50 a month increase in health insurance if they smoke, according to new regulations set to go into effect at year's end.

A report in today's Tennessean notes the intention is better health and saving money, but the costs of state-sponsored programs to help workers quit are also quite high:

"To help smokers quit before the deadline, the state will offer sharp discounts on prescriptions and over-the-counter products like nicotine gum and patches starting May 1.

Employees will be allowed to take part in six-week smoking cessation seminars on state time. The state held its first stop-smoking seminar Monday — a 6:30 a.m. gathering at one of Nashville's correctional facilities. Similar seminars will be held in every county and at every agency, with online stop-smoking "webinars"

It's not yet known how much it will cost the state to help its workers and retirees kick the habit, but Haile estimated it could cost several hundred thousand dollars.

These workers - one of the few groups in Tennessee allowed to operate under a union - will also be subject to random testing to check on whether or not they are smoking.

Meanwhile, a report earlier this month quotes Vanderbilt economist Kip Viscusi, who has worked as a "litigation expert" for the tobacco industry, and he says the costs of smoking actually saves the nation money and that those who don't smoke impact insurance rates because they live longer:

"However, smokers die some 10 years earlier than nonsmokers, according to the CDC, and those premature deaths provide a savings to Medicare, Social Security, private pensions and other programs.

Vanderbilt University economist Kip Viscusi studied the net costs of smoking-related spending and savings and found that for every pack of cigarettes smoked, the country reaps a net cost savings of 32 cents.

"It looks unpleasant or ghoulish to look at the cost savings as well as the cost increases and it's not a good thing that smoking kills people," Viscusi said in an interview. "But if you're going to follow this health-cost train all the way, you have to take into account all the effects, not just the ones you like in terms of getting your bill passed."

Viscusi worked as a litigation expert for the tobacco industry in lawsuits by states but said that his research, which has been published in peer-reviewed journals, has never been funded by industry.

Other researchers have reached similar conclusions.

A Dutch study published last year in the Public Library of Science Medicine journal said that health care costs for smokers were about $326,000 from age 20 on, compared to about $417,000 for thin and healthy people.

The reason: The thin, healthy people lived much longer."

Ah, tobacco, what are we to do with you?

--DISCLAIMER - The writer of the above was using tobacco during the writing of this article, but might alter that habit were he to be fortunate enough to become a unionized state worker.

Rep. Litz Offers Standards For Red Light Cameras

Appearing on Legislative Chat on public television, state representative John Litz of Morristown talked about his bill to establish statewide guides in how red light traffic camera intersections operate:

"We are going to amend my bill that after the (caution) light, there is going to be a three-second all-red (signal) at that intersection,” Litz said of the legislation’s pending amendment. “After that three-second all-red, if you are still in that intersection, then you are going to be tagged with a citation. The reasoning behind this ... we wanted it to be uniform across the entire state. This gives us a chance to do that.”

To give an example of what impact the bill might have, Litz used this scenario: “If you’re coming up on an intersection, and you’re in a tractor-trailer, and you’re driving the speed limit if it is 45 miles per hour, there’s a point of no return whenever you get past the point where you can’t safely stop. What we want to do is give that vehicle a chance to get through there if they are at that point of no return without getting a $50 citation.”

Litz admitted one thing traffic light cameras have done for local governments is make money.

“There is a lot of argument and dissension in our area in Morristown. ... The agreement that (city officials) have made with the red light camera people is they get half the money,” Litz explained."

While it is notable that Rep. Litz is attempting to establish a state standard for these cameras, most people remain opposed to them. Rather than legislate a bad idea, it would serve the state better to outlaw the devices and put more emphasis on how we design intersections and roads in general.

The report also notes Rep. Litz's response to a plan to eliminate the stand-alone Ethics Commission and fold it into the Election Finance office. He also spoke about the current status of the state's Democratic Party, saying:

"I would consider myself a moderate conservative. ... I don’t think the Tennessee Democratic Party that I’m a part of is like a California Democrat. We’re not baby-killing, gun-stealing tree huggers."

I hope he isn't saying that such wingnuttery actually applies to some Democrats. Is he? The topic gets some debate in the comments at PostPolitics.

Rep. Litz serves as Assistant Democratic Leader for the House, as well as a member of the House Rules Committee, House Agriculture Committee, House State and Local Government Committee, and the Joint Veterans' Affairs Committee. John also serves on the House State Subcommittee and is Vice Chairman of the House General Subcommittee on Agriculture. His website is here and it tracks the current legislation he is sponsoring.

Camera Obscura: Farragut High Zombies Unleashed

Randall Brown at the Knoxville News Sentinel wisely provides the information about a group of East Tennessee high school students who have written, produced and filmed their very own zombie movie. Students at Farragut High, I salute you.

If you'd like to see the movie (I would!!), "Lock(ed) In" will play at 7:30 p.m. today in the Ferguson Theater at Farragut High School. Admission is$5 for students and seniors, $8 in general.

Check out the website and trailer for the movie right here.

I'm hoping they release a DVD version too!

Dangerous Times For Pizza, Less Dangerous For Torture

Judicial guidelines, 2009 version:

Farting on a sandwich and making cheese boogers, that is a felony.

Torture, not a punishable crime.

More Tortured Logic Endorsing Torture Itself

"The first rule of Fight Club is you don't talk about Fight Club."

Conservative leaders like Karl Rove claim talking about whether or not the government sanctions torture is the worst thing ever. Yeah, Mr. Rove, talking about the evil one does in life sure brings about trouble, huh?

For me, when anyone has to educate an adult in this nation who is a political leader or advisor about why torture is bad, that is a sure sign that adult just does not need to be a leader or advisor to anyone. I've written before about the problems and inherent conflicts between use of torture and the basics of American democracy.

Now we get this defense of the indefensible:

"You see, where other human beings might just tell us anything under being tortured, the exotic Muslim requires torture for disclosure. Our legal obligations are nullified by the biological imperatives of "those people." First we had "torture works." Then we had "they deserve it." Now we have "they need us to do it."

Zubayda, of course, gave up all the useful intelligence he ever would before he was tortured. Which sort of puts a crimp in this whole theory.

The torture apologist thrives on secrets, on playing on your fear of the unknown. You don't know that waterboarding Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) 183 times actually didn't prevent "a hole in the ground in Los Angeles." So Thiessen explains today that the redacted parts of the memos -- you know, the ones that were edited to protect the identity of CIA interrogators -- actually contain all the information that proves torture worked, which is why they were redacted.

The justifications for torture provided in the memos themselves are not a good faith evaluation of the torture program's effectiveness, since the writers of the memos are self-evidently trying to justify the use of torture. In other words, the memo writers have a reason to overplay the program's effectiveness, because they are conscious that what they are doing is illegal. There's only one way to know what happened, and that's through the release of the rest of the torture works memos. So let's do it.

But let's take a step back a moment. The Right has focused the torture debate on KSM because they are banking on the idea that KSM is so terrible that no one could possibly sympathize with him. As long as the torture debate is centered around whether or not we should torture one particular, terribly evil person, the right remains the sentimental favorite. But let's take a moment to consider what Thiessen and others are arguing in the long term: that we must torture and that for our own security, we must keep it secret. We currently live in a country where the president can detain anyone indefinitely without trial on suspicion of terrorism. Torture apologists want to add to that authority the ability to torture people that they detain without trial, without anyone actually knowing about it.

In order to try someone you've tortured, you'd have to make coerced confessions admissible in court. But of course, the reason we don't do that is because there's no way to know if a coerced confession is real, or if it's the result of being waterboarded or stuffed in a small box. So anyone you've tortured, you have to keep locked up forever, because if you release them, you risk that these methods -- which torture apologists explain must remain secret -- will get out.

You see where this is going. There's absolutely no way to reconcile the use of torture with a functioning, democratic society."

Attack of the Zombie Economy

Cartoon via This Is Historic Times