Grim Realities: The Murder of Dr.George Tiller

Most American see much more to the tragic murder of Dr. Tiller, and how he and his staff had to endure some coordinated attacks for so very long as attacks which certainly appear to be very organized.

Hilzoy's post on Washington Monthly outlines the constant effort to create fear and intimidation:

"Here's an article on the kinds of things other than assassination attempts, vandalism, and break-ins that Dr. Tiller and his staff have had to endure for years. It's about Troy Newman, the head of Operation Rescue (once Operation Rescue West; the group split), who moved to Wichita in order to shut George Tiller's clinic down:

"There's only one problem: Tiller is a hard man to find, let alone intimidate. After more than a decade as one of the anti-abortion movement's favorite targets, he keeps a low profile, drives an armored car and lives in a gated community in a house with a state-of-the-art security system. More pointedly, he has made it clear that he's not susceptible to scare tactics. In 1993, Tiller was shot in both arms by an anti-abortion protester. He returned to work the next day.

Newman is well aware of Tiller's resilience. That's why Operation Rescue is going after clinic workers like Sara Phares. The employees have no guards posted at their homes, no cameras monitoring their yards. If Newman can provoke enough of them to quit, his job will be done. He'll effectively shut Tiller down."

Here's how he tries to get them to quit. Sarah Phares is an administrative assistant at the clinic:

"A week later, hundreds of Phares' neighbors received an anonymous postcard of a mangled fetus. This is abortion! read the big block letters. "Your neighbor Sara Phares participates in killing babies like these." The postcard implored them to call Phares, whose phone number and address were provided, and voice their opposition to her work at the clinic. Another card soon followed. It referred to Phares as "Miss I Help to Kill Little Babies" and suggested, in an erratic typeface that recalled a kidnapper's ransom note, that neighbors "beg her to quit, pretty please." The third postcard dispensed entirely with pleasantries: "Sara Phares is not to be trusted! Tell her to get a life!" (...)

Before long, protesters from Operation Rescue showed up at her house. They parked a tractor-trailer across the street, plastered with twenty-foot-long images of dismembered fetuses. From its speakers came the kind of sweet, tinkling music that lures children from their back yards in pursuit of Dreamsicles. One protester, a somber man in a tan windbreaker with a three-foot crucifix thrust before him, performed an exorcism on Phares' front lawn, sprinkling holy water on the grass to cast demons from the property. Phares, a small-boned woman with an irreverent sense of humor, joked about the exorcism. "Wish he'd held off on that holy water till after we'd put the fertilizer down," she said. But her husband wasn't amused. Since 1994, there have been five assassination attempts on abortion providers at their homes. A few days after the protest, Phares' husband got out his revolver, loaded it and taught Sara how to use it. (...)

After a brief prayer asking that Phares hear their message of "gentle rebuke," everyone caravans over to her neighborhood, five cars plastered with bumper stickers condemning abortion and extolling the Ten Commandments. Bringing up the rear is the Truth Truck. For maximum exposure, they stop on a busy street that funnels traffic toward the cul-de-sac where Phares lives. It's a treeless neighborhood, its fresh brick apartment complexes christened with optimistic names such as Cedar Lakes. The protesters display their signs for passing cars. "Phares' Choice," one proclaims, over a picture of tiny, bloody body parts. Another reads, "Sarah Phares, Abortion Profiteer," misspelling her name and giving her address. The image on Jeff Herzog's sign is particularly disturbing: a fetus being grabbed by forceps, its mouth open in a Munchian scream."

And:

"Newman and his small staff of zealous pro-lifers are buzzing with the news that the clinic's office manager has quit -- a result, they believe, of their name-and-shame campaign. The manager had been accosted by a neighbor in a grocery store who recognized her from an Operation Rescue flier that featured her photo. "You're that baby killer!" the neighbor screamed at her. Then Newman, through investigative methods he'd rather not reveal, discovered where the woman's husband works. "We think that's what clinched it," he says. "He probably realized we were going to picket his workplace. I imagine he's the major breadwinner in the family, and he didn't want to risk his job.""

If you read the whole story, you can find out how Newman threatened the Tillers' dry cleaner and a cab company that sometimes took patients to and from the clinic:

"Newman then tells him, in the most courteous tone imaginable, that he might see a few people outside the company holding signs. Just to let everybody know what he's participating in. "It's not personal," Newman says gently."

They also go through employees' trash, and offer rewards for incriminating information. They stop children on sidewalks and tell them their neighbors kill little babies.

Scott Roeder, who seems to be the suspect in Tiller's murder, posted on Operation Rescue's website. Operation Rescue has denounced the murder. They write:

"We are shocked at this morning's disturbing news that Mr. Tiller was gunned down. Operation Rescue has worked for years through peaceful, legal means, and through the proper channels to see him brought to justice. We denounce vigilantism and the cowardly act that took place this morning. We pray for Mr. Tiller's family that they will find comfort and healing that can only be found in Jesus Christ."

I just thought it would be useful to clarify exactly which "peaceful, legal means" they had used, and what Dr. Tiller and his staff had had to live with.

I am strongly pro-choice, but I think it is perfectly possible to be opposed to abortion on principled grounds, and I think that it would be an enormous mistake to conflate all people who are opposed to abortions with either Dr. Tiller's killer or the likes of Operation Rescue. That said, large elements of the anti-abortion movement have never done nearly enough to distance themselves from the violent and/or crazy parts of their movement. I hope they start to now.

Since Tiller himself was shot in 1994 and his clinic bombed in the 1980s, the hatred and anger they endured was quite constant.

Following the murder, co-founder of the so-called Operation Rescue, Randall Terry offered the following editorial, in which he wrote:

"If abortionists were gunned down every week, it would gather no more attention than crack dealers who are gunned down every week."

What is a 'Pringle'? A Chip or Not A Chip?

The Supreme Court of Judicature in Britain has ruled on the legal question of "Is a Pringle a potato chip?

"With citations ranging from Baroness Hale of Richmond to Oliver Wendell Holmes, Lord Justice Robin Jacob concluded that, legally, it is a potato chip.

The decision is bad news for Procter & Gamble U.K., which now owes $160 million in taxes. It is good news for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs — and for fans of no-nonsense legal opinions. It is also a reminder, as conservatives begin attacking Judge Sonia Sotomayor for not being a “strict constructionist,” of the pointlessness of labels like that.

In Britain, most foods are exempt from the value-added tax, but potato chips — known as crisps — and “similar products made from the potato, or from potato flour,” are taxable. Procter & Gamble, in what could be considered a plea for strict construction, argued that Pringles — which are about 40 percent potato flour, but also contain corn, rice and wheat — should not be considered potato chips or “similar products.” Rather, they are “savory snacks.”

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"The Supreme Court of Judicature had little patience with Procter & Gamble’s lawyerly attempts to break out of the potato chip category. The company argued that to be “made of potato” Pringles would have to be all potato, or nearly so. If so, Lord Justice Jacob noted, “a marmalade made using both oranges and grapefruit would be made of neither — a nonsense conclusion.” He was even more dismissive of Procter & Gamble’s argument that to be taxable a product must contain enough potato to have the quality of “potatoness.” This “Aristotelian question” of whether a product has the “essence of potato,” he insisted, simply cannot be answered."

This is what courts are for, I suppose.

But no Pringle I have ever munched upon ever reached the level of potato chip, according to my taste buds.

SEE ALSO: The patent on Pringles.

The 9/11 Trauma Defense

In recent weeks, former Bush administration officials have trotted out a feeble defense of the actions they took and supported to create national policy -- policy which has brought much failure -- which Richard Clarke calls the 9-11 Trauma defense and he knocks it all down in today's op-ed piece in The Washington Post.

"I have little sympathy for this argument. Yes, we went for days with little sleep, and we all assumed that more attacks were coming. But the decisions that Bush officials made in the following months and years -- on Iraq, on detentions, on interrogations, on wiretapping -- were not appropriate. Careful analysis could have replaced the impulse to break all the rules, even more so because the Sept. 11 attacks, though horrifying, should not have surprised senior officials. Cheney's admission that 9/11 caused him to reassess the threats to the nation only underscores how, for months, top officials had ignored warnings from the CIA and the NSC staff that urgent action was needed to preempt a major al-Qaeda attack.

Thus, when Bush's inner circle first really came to grips with the threat of terrorism, they did so in a state of shock -- a bad state in which to develop a coherent response. Fearful of new attacks, they authorized the most extreme measures available, without assessing whether they were really a good idea."

Read the whole thing here.

Chasing The Cheese - A Legislative Alternative

The decision-making process in Tennessee government is riddled with partisan bickering and it has always been so. Perhaps we can devise a more competitive method, free from political party labels, to decide the outcome of proposed legislation. A cheese race, for instance.

Taking a cue from the annual Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling competition in Gloucestershire, U.K., we poise legislators at the top of an incredibly steep hill, roll off an 8-pound wheel of cheese (Volunteer Jack, maybe?) and whoever gets down the hill first to the cheese will get their legislative bill passed. Such competition would surely decrease the number of bills submitted (usually more than 2,500 bills get filed), rely more on the physical prowess and desire of legislators, and be much more entertaining to watch.

The 2009 Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling event, held this past Monday, offers a preview of what might happen should we adopt this legislative method in Tennessee:

Shooting Blanks at Obama's Court Nominee

So far, the GOP and their cheerleaders have come up with lame arguments opposing Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court (such as "her name sounds funny"). Court watchers have a more tempered look at her qualifications:

"Objectively, her qualifications are overwhelming from the perspective of ordinary Americans. She has been a prosecutor, private litigator, trial judge, and appellate judge. No one currently on the Court has that complete package of experience."

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"The objective evidence is that Sotomayor is in fact extremely intelligent. Graduating at the top of the class at Princeton is a signal accomplishment. Her opinions are thorough, well-reasoned, and clearly written. Nothing suggests she isn’t the match of the other Justices."


More here at the SCOTUS blog.

Turning Interrogation Into Revenge

Despite the cranky defensive opinions of a neutered Vice President, the fact remains crystal clear - waterboarding is torture. One person who scoffed at calling it torture no longer scoffs:

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

And it is far different to undergo this torture while safe in a radio studio surrounded by people who are taking orders from you. To be forced to endure this torture hundreds of times -- such intensive effort can only be called "revenge".

Federal Law Needed to Repair Your Own Car?

Does our nation need a new federal law so individuals can repair their own car?

Yes, say advocates of the Right To Repair Act of 2009 (HR 2057). Increasingly computerized engine components make it almost impossible for a car owner or a non-dealer-controlled repair shop to work on a car. In years past, anyone could purchase a book on almost all models and makes of cars and trucks, use their own tools and make repairs, or mechanics with independent shops could be selected to do the repairs. Not so with late-model cars.

The legislation was first introduced in 2001, but heavy lobbying from auto makers has killed the proposal. Once again, the bill has been filed and supporters are organizing online, via Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to spread their message.

Former congressman Bob Barr, along with Ralph Nader called for support of the bill last week:

"The most important thing the right-to-repair legislation does would be to require that car manufacturers make the tools and diagnostic information needed to repair their vehicles available to independent repair shops, on the same basis as to their dealer-operated shops. (The legislation expressly protects manufacturer trade secrets from public disclosure.) Its enactment would be a win for small business and for consumers at a time when both need a boost.

Why, then, has the bill failed earlier to win enactment, even though a more limited version of the legislation - relating to emissions-related systems - was passed nearly 20 years ago as part of the Clean Air Act amendments? Clearly, it's not because a significant majority of Americans do not prefer the freedom to have their car repaired at a business of their choice, including independent repair shops. More than 80 percent of younger drivers (those ages 18 to 34) favor such legislation, while older drivers favor it by a better than 70 percent margin, according to research by the Tarrance Group and Lake Research Partners."

Another group which first organized in 2000, the National Automotive Service Task Force, has been working with independent repair shops, car owners and some auto manufacturers to collect and share information and tools needed for repairs:

"The National Automotive Service Task Force is a not-for-profit, no-dues task force established to facilitate the identification and correction of gaps in the availability and accessibility of automotive service information, service training, diagnostic tools and equipment, and communications for the benefit of automotive service professionals. NASTF is a voluntary, cooperative effort among the automotive service industry, the equipment and tool industry, and automotive manufacturers."

The NASTF also offers a directory of info on how much information and what tools auto makers are making available and which independent repair shops are likewise supported.

Since auto makers have begged for taxpayer support of their floundering industry, we should also require such aid to ensure a long-held right of vehicle owners: to repair our own cars.

Spy Theme Songs

Wrangling some music onto this page has always been of keen interest, though as I noted earlier, all the posts from the past which included playlists of songs via Seeqpod are all dead links, since Seeqpod has gone into bankruptcy.

So I've been rooting around for other music players I could embed you for your enjoyment and have decided to go with Grooveshark. Their site is pretty comprehensive with a vast library of tunes plus you can upload your own, make playlists and so on.

I had a whole different set of tunes to go for today, then for some reason I got some music from old spy movies and TV shows in my head, so this playlist is all Spy-filled. Jazz bands, stabbing horns, ethereal lyrics and melodies all swirl together in spy music. We'll start with the great guitars of The Hellecasters doing the Inspector Gadget theme (shut up, it's a great tune) and move through a whole range of TV and movie spy songs. (And some private eye tunes too.)

Camera Obscura: Tarantino Tackles WW2; David Lynch's 121-Webisode Project Launches

I sadly found the music service I've used in the past here to embed music on my blog, Seeqpod, has gone dark, due to lawsuits, and it may return as a Microsoft entity, but until then all those musical links I had included are just dead links.

I roamed about some looking for new embeddable music players which would play songs I select and have had hit or miss success. The bottom line is plans this week and today to place music on this page have all met with failure. Or ran smack into my low threshold for frustration, with the result of No Music On The Blog Today. But I'll gather up some fortitude and try again in coming days. Maybe.

On to what matters - Movies.

The 62st Annual Cannes Film Festival is now underway and as always, notable movies are rolling out alongside the pitching and selling of movies of dubious qualities. One movie I'm already drooling to see is Quentin Tarantino's "Inglorius Basterds", a fanciful World War 2 movie with Brad Pitt leading a squad of Jewish American soldiers who alter the very history of today. Cinematical has a great roundup of critical praise (and disappointment) of the movie and a stack of clips from the movie.

The movie includes his eclectic musical cues - David Bowie and Ennio Morricone - as his squad ultimately sabotages the entire Third Reich with a style most critics agree is World War 2 as a Spaghetti Western (and I love the trailer for the movie). The movie opens in the US in August 21.

Another movie generating lots of press, boos, and some praise is the psychosexual madness of Lars Von Trier's "Antichrist". Centered on a couple grieving the death of their son, it includes some fairly outrageous scenes of mutilation and heaps of weirdness. Trier says he was deeply depressed at the time he made the movie, but perhaps his next movie will find him feeling chipper (I doubt it.)


The official Cannes Festival web site includes a top-to-bottom primer on the French New Wave movement of the 50s and beyond and how it has influenced "alternative cinema" ever since. In other words, it is a celebration of how French films are "incroyable" and "au delà de comparez", n'est-ce-pas?

In online movie news, director David Lynch is launching a year-long film project called "Interview Project", a 121-episode of web-only segments. The mini-movies will be released every few days from June to June of next year offering up interviews from people all across the nation.

A very interesting sample these interviews is offered at EW and it is well worth the time to view. Also, sign up for email notices of the project here at the official web site for "Interview Project".

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.