Lunacy Over Health Care and Insurance Reforms

It's getting ugly out there -- rabid, illogical and often just plain old-fashioned lying -- as efforts are made to change the way insurance and health care work.

Really ugly -- but not really surprising, given that the voices from the Right are led by the small-minded self-aggrandizers like Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin.

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

Late Summer Night Music

When it is a hot summer August night, like this one, and tomorrow looks to be even hotter, I often spend far too many hours searching for music to enjoy and to post here on this humble but lovable blog.

In the past few days, I've been listening a lot to Donald Fagen's "Morph The Cat", which is rich and thick with some seriously irresistible grooves and laid back funkiness. So I picked out two of my favorites from the album -- and a couple of other older favorites which somehow all melt together in this summer heat around the midnight hour.

Camera Obscura: John Hughes, King of Comedy; 'Perfect Getaway'; 'Lovely Bones'; Vampire's Assistant

I was talking just this week with a friend about writer/director John Hughes, who died suddenly on Thursday at age 59. Hughes made some of the most-loved movies through the 1980s, capturing the lives and loves and comic errors of American teens (and the idiocy of adults). He didn't write schlock or pander to fearful parents. His characters became companions and icons to millions of movie fans.

In the 1990s, he walked away from Hollywood and film-making and returned to Chicago, content to avoid the press and the ever-growing cult of fans who praised his movies. At the time, he had the power to make any film he wanted, and he, apparently, decided to just take a break. I cannot blame him - by 1989 he had cranked out a massive amount of work in a single decade.

He was still working as a writer through the last few years, using the name Edmond Dantes as screenwriter on movies like "Flubber" and "Maid In Manhattan".

I first heard of Hughes through his writing for National Lampoon, where he and writer P.J. O'Rourke created the brilliant parody of a Sunday newspaper in the fictional town of Dacron, Ohio. You can still buy copies of the "Ohio Republican-Democrat", first published in 1978. His writing and skill soon led him to be the editor of National Lampoon in 1979 - they have posted a short remembrance of Hughes and promise to reprint online some of his best tales. The story he wrote in for them in 1982, called "Vacation '58" was soon turned into a hit movie, "National Lampoon's Vacation". And even back then, he had an eye and an ear for life in America which was somehow both hilarious satirical and still fond and gentle.

Hughes had a great skill for writing about American teens, and how there were some adults who had retained a vivid ability to be young in heart and mind. He knew the ways teens moved into groups of the popular and the unpopular, and through most of his movies, he urged them to forget about conformity and instead to be true to self. And he did that with such comic ease. He celebrated life, embraced it, and made all of us laugh at ourselves and each other.

Hughes had another skill which makes his movies so memorable - his use of music. The music he used covered rock and roll from the 50s through the 90s, and it always worked to build a scene or a laugh or capture a more solemn moment. He never talked down to the audience, he talked with us and sang with us, and made movies that were just fun and we have watched them over and over.

That kind of legacy has worth beyond measure.

And a clip from one of my favorite Hughes' movies - 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off" - complete with the most famous high school home room roll call ever made:



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Writer/Director David Twohy has a new movie in theaters today, "Perfect Getaway", a thriller starring Steve Zahn, Milla Jovovich, and Timothy Olyphant about a vacation trip to Hawaii which goes from fun to fear in pure pulp style.

Twohy has been steadily making some excellent genre films for years, all of them great Grade-B suspense tales. Other movies from Twohy include "Pitch Black," "Warlock", the vastly underrated alien invasion movie "The Arrival", a haunted submarine movie called "Below" and a real gem of a time travel movie which has had several titles - "Disaster In Time" or "Timescape". It is a sci-fi film that casually draws you in to a very strange and terrifying series of events whose meaning is a real jaw-dropper.

Although he is no A-lister, I've always been greatly entertained by Twohy's movies - summer popcorn fare with plenty of adventure and plot twists.

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A new preview trailer hit the web this week from the new movie by director Peter Jackson, "The Lovely Bones", based on the novel by Anne Sebold and featuring a soundtrack by Brian Eno. Check it out here at the official website. The movie is set for a December release.

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The really weird this week is for a movie called "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant". It features actor John C. Reilly as a vampire in a traveling circus of the bizarre who decides to take on a young teenage vampire apprentice. I think the trailer sort of says it all --

How To Improve Television - Drop Glenn Beck

MediaMatters reports today that the jabbering madness of Glenn Beck is losing major advertisers.

"Three companies who run ads during Glenn Beck -- NexisLexis-owned Lawyers.com, Proctor & Gamble and Progressive Insurance -- today distanced themselves from Beck. LexisNexis has pulled its advertising from Beck and says it has no plans to advertise on the program in the future. Both Proctor & Gamble and Progressive Insurance called the Beck advertising placements an error that they would correct.

The decision by the three companies comes as over 45,000 ColorofChange.org members call on advertisers to pull their ads from Glenn Beck after the controversial news host called President Obama a "racist" who "has a deep-seated hatred for white people" on "Fox & Friends" last week.

"Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention," said John Michaels, Senior Communications Manager at LexisNexis in an email to ColorOfChange.org. "We have suspended further advertising during Mr. Beck's program."

Yes, Glenn, in America, we all have the right to free speech - however, each of us will still be held accountable for what we choose to say. Your account is way overdue, so even though I'm sure you'll drama-queen this loss as proof of the downfall of America, instead it is proof that most of us do not want to hear anything you say and that free speech does not mean free from responsibility for what is said.

(HT to KnoxViews)

Secret Deals Between Jefferson County Government and The Railroad

Several citizens groups have formed to halt the plan to construct a Norfolk-Southern rail and truck facility, though the reporting via today's Knoxville News Sentinel pretty much implies the residents are out of luck and their county's landscape will be forever changed.

So far, the Powers That Be have excluded local residents from having any voice in this project, a tactic which serves only to alienate and anger residents -- isn't it time these kind of secret government-business deals end once and for all??

The KNS report by Ed Marcum says:

"Upset that local officials have signed confidentiality agreements with the railroad company and that the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce has excluded them from a meeting with Norfolk Southern, about 10-12 people have formed Jefferson County Tomorrow to take action.

They have set up a Web site, are arranging to get help from the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, are talking with the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, distributing letters to property owners, collecting names on a petition and looking into legal options - all toward stopping a Norfolk Southern facility they say would take out a three-mile swath of farmland along Highway 11E in New Market.

"The point is this thing is growing," Alex Miller, a Jefferson County Tomorrow organizer, said of the group. "It is not going away, we are going to fight this to the very last minute. We will take this all the way, and Norfolk Southern and the county and the state need to understand that this is our homes we are protecting."

Summing up the group's concerns, Miller said it made no sense to put a huge industrial facility in the middle of prime farmland adjacent to an elementary school and next to railroad tracks but about 10 miles from Interstate 40 and in a county that already is in air pollution non-attainment from vehicle emissions.

Norfolk Southern proposes to build a $60 million intermodal facility on 280 acres along Highway 11E next to New Market Elementary School. Such a facility would allow trucks to bring in trailers or cargo containers that could be loaded onto flatbed railroad cars for shipment across great distances. The proposed facility would handle about 180 trailers or containers a day, plus about 67 additional trucks without separate trailers. Studies have projected it could be an economic engine for Jefferson County and East Tennessee, generating 1,801 jobs in New Market by 2020 and 2,600 to 2,700 jobs in Jefferson County by 2025.

But the way officials have handled the issue rankles many people, members of the group say.

Harvey Young said about a week ago Jefferson County's Chamber of Commerce held an informational meeting with Norfolk Southern officials. About seven members of Jefferson County Tomorrow tried to attend but were turned away by a law enforcement officer, Young said.

"They told us this meeting was by invitation only," he said.

Another issue is the confidentiality agreements some officials signed with Norfolk Southern, stirring concern about government secrecy. One of the public officials who signed a confidentiality agreement was Phil Kindred, Jefferson County Commission chairman and a commissioner in the district where the proposed facility would be built.

In a July newsletter to constituents, Kindred said that in October 2007, Norfolk Southern asked him and others on a county task force to sign a "confidentiality letter" about the project. Other officials included Jefferson County Mayor Alan Palmieri, Appalachian Electric Cooperative representatives Bill Underwood and Greg Williams, Industrial Development Board representative Ed Stiner, Chamber of Commerce President Eli Matijevich and Chamber Executive Director Don Cason.

Kindred said other residents also have signed agreements, bringing the total number to about 17.

The letter prohibited signers from sharing information until a decision was made to release a public announcement, Kindred said. Initially he was reluctant to sign, but he felt he would be able to learn more about a project that could have a huge impact on the county, he said.

Task force members believed a public statement would be forthcoming, releasing them from their pledge of silence, but the slowing economy caused the process to drag on, Kindred said.

"Although the local task force members felt an urgent need to inform the community and our Industrial Board, the process never seemed to reach that point and ultimately some of the information was 'leaked' to New Market residents," he wrote.

Leaked information prompted a July 2 public meeting at Jefferson Middle School. There, Palmieri confirmed he had signed the agreement and said he had also signed agreements for a NASCAR speed park complex, an amusement park and other proposals that never became public issues because they fell through. To jeers from the crowd at the public meeting, Palmieri said he has not withheld any information from the public.

Jefferson County Tomorrow members John Kramer and Jennifer Nicely wrote the mayor for copies of the confidentiality agreement, but received letters from Jefferson County's attorney, S. Douglas Drinnon, saying they were not available.

"I understand that the document you requested is not in the possession or custody of the Jefferson County mayor or any governmental agency of Jefferson County," Drinnon wrote. He did not return a call Tuesday for comment.

Miller said the group has been told that Norfolk Southern has all copies of the agreement. The group contacted Norfolk Southern but the company would not release any of those copies, he said."

You can contact the Jefferson County government offices via their web page.
You can contact the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce via their web page.

Post-Peach; Or The Other News in the News

After many Summer months working with some fantastic actors, this weekend saw the first and last appearance of "James and the Giant Peach" - a live stage show for Rose Center's Summer Players. I confess some sadness to see The Peach fade into memory - but what fine memories for the actors, their hard-working parents, the staff at Rose Center, the sponsors and the audiences, who all cheered the good work of the cast.

Those memories are beyond price and my complete joy in working with such talented folk are likewise priceless.

The rest of the world, of course, slowly turned and turned, so I thought it best to ease back into the regular blogging world with a few items which show, if nothing else, that being a part of the family of our Giant Peach could have improved more lives than one might imagine. Long live The Peach!!

In politico news:

Morristown City Government gave the heave-ho to their City Administrator, Jim Crumley (heck of a Golden Parachute for him!!)

State election commissions across the state of Tennessee have filed a class action suit over the apparent political hijinks of naming new bosses.

In other news:

Law enforcement officers in Chattanooga stopped a man threatening suicide by firing some 59 shots at him, striking him 43 times "The autopsy report, which is not yet final, details gunshot wounds on nearly every part of Mr. Heyward's 5-foot-9-inch, 180-pound body. Bullet holes were present from his chin to his ankle, but Lt. Noorbergen said it's not clear which of those were entry or exit wounds.". This story is almost too tragic and awful to be believed.

The constant mis-information about a plan to revamp the nation's health care system has been so steady and constant that the malformed remnants of the legislation also falls into the realm of tragedy.

In other News o' The Web:

I've been catching up on the year-long interview project from producer/director David Lynch. A recent sample is below -- for so many of these interviews done with people from across the country, people who seldom make the news or even creep into our daily awareness - I learn something most memorable about the lives us of us all: we struggle through good times and hard times and if we are fortunate, we learn to embrace the good times and simply learn to accept the bad.

InterviewProject.com
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Last Chance Today to See James and The Giant Peach

The final performance of "James and the Giant Peach" at Rose Center in Morristown is today with curtain time at 2 pm -- come early, tickets are going fast and will be available at the door!!

Directing this show for the Rose Center Summer Players has been one of the best events I have ever had the pleasure of working on - and the cast of actors are absolutely top-notch. Here's a preview from rehearsals:

'James and The Giant Peach' Opens Friday at Rose Center in Morristown

This weekend is the ONLY chance to see the 18th annual theatrical production from the Rose Center Summer Players program, with "James and the Giant Peach" at Rose Center in Morristown starting Friday. The cast of young actors and their parents and the RC staff and even humble me, as director, are eager for you to come see the show. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8 pm at Rose Center and a Sunday matinee at 2 pm. Tickets are only Five Dollars (What A Bargain!!) and you can make reservations now by calling Rose Center at 423-581-4330. Seating is limited so reservations are very much suggested.

MJPhotography Online has three pages of photos of the cast and the show, like the one at the top of the page and one more for you below. You can look through all of them by clicking here. She sure does excellent work!!



Also, the Citizen Tribune of Morristown has a short video promoting the show, with some cast interviews, which you can see by clicking here. (I hope to have a video here on the blog very soon, so check back later today.

The story of the play is based on Roald Dahl's classic children's story, "James and The Giant Peach" and has many funny scenes, and some staging wonders including the Giant Peach itself and a host of giant insects who all become the new best friends of young James. His parents sadly are taken from him in a bizarre fatal accident involving a large rhinoceros which has escaped from the zoo. His two mean and very selfish Aunts - Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker - take young James into their home, but a chance magical encounter with a mysterious stranger allows for James to help create a Giant Peach, which he uses to escape from his evil Aunts and travel across the ocean and into America. The insects and the peach and James have to battle sharks and even a large and deadly giant octopus on their way to safety.

The young actors have worked very hard to create the costumes and help make the sets and even selling ads for the show's program, all a part of Rose Center's annual educational program. And it has been a real honor for me to help stage this production and a whole lot of fun putting this show together for all those who attend and we hope you can make time to see it. I know that the cast and myself have had a fantastic summer putting this show together.

We'll even make sure to have some fresh, hot and tasty peach cobbler and ice cream and other suitable snacks on sale at the concession stand for all who attend.

Hope to see you there this weekend!!

"Heads Will Roll" In TVA Toxic Spill?

From the very creation of the coal ash containment site in Kingston through decades of warnings about increasing risks of catastrophic failure and even through the days following the massive toxic flood of coal ash into the rivers and land in Kingston, TVA failed and support those failures with more flawed policy -- all this according to TVA's own inspector general's report on the disastrous spill in December of 2008. The Knoxville News Sentinel reports:

"The Tennessee Valley Authority ignored warnings for more than two decades about the safety of the fly ash pond at its Kingston Fossil Plant and could have prevented its catastrophic collapse by addressing them, the TVA inspector general wrote in a scathing report issued Tuesday.

The utility's independent watchdog found TVA management has not accepted responsibility for decisions leading to the catastrophe. Instead, the report found, officials limited the scope of an investigation into the cause of the disaster in an apparent effort to shore up its legal defense in lawsuits.

The utility's actions, the report concluded, were fueled by a cultural resistance to change that looked at ash as insignificant.

And, he warned, a similar spill could occur at other power plants if TVA doesn't take action.

The report, issued by Inspector General Richard W. Moore, is the most comprehensive review to date of the spill, which dumped 5.4 million cubic yards of fly ash sludge into the Emory River and surrounding countryside on Dec. 22. No one died, but 26 houses were destroyed or damaged, and the tab for the cleanup could approach $1 billion.

"Any restoration for individual victims or the community of necessity involves an acknowledgement of TVA's role in what happened in the early morning hours of December 22, 2008," Moore wrote.

Moore and TVA President and Chief Executive Officer Tom Kilgore testified on the report and the environmental cleanup before the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment on Tuesday morning. Kilgore told members of the subcommittee, which oversees TVA, that the utility might have to clean house in light of the spill and its aftermath.

"We have to change," Kilgore said. "If that means heads have to roll, if people have to leave, so be it."

Moore hired the engineering firm Marshall Miller and Associates of Bluefield, Va., to assist in the investigation, and his conclusions are based on their review of documents and facilities, plus his office's interviews with key TVA personnel.

Moore found TVA could have prevented the spill if the utility had corrected problems raised by internal engineers and consultants beginning as early as 1985. That year, TVA's director of engineering projects noted in a memorandum that an earthen dike that held back the sludge wasn't built to design specifications and had a calculated safety factor below acceptable levels. The dike's rupture 23 years later released the flood of toxin-laden sludge.

A pair of contractors' reports, issued in 2004 after TVA temporarily closed the facility because of a blowout in one of the dredge cells, also should have raised red flags, Moore wrote. One, by Geosyntec Consultants, "should have served as a clear warning to TVA regarding the stability of the Kingston ash storage facilities," Moore wrote.

TVA didn't follow Geosyntec's recommendations to conduct more studies on the stability of the pond and install monitoring and drainage systems at the facility. Moore wrote that Kilgore "was unable to ascertain why" TVA didn't make the improvements.

"Had corrective measures been taken in a timely fashion, it is possible that TVA could have potentially prevented the occurrence of the failure," the report stated.

One TVA engineer told investigators that "TVA had a cheap solution to ash storage by stacking higher, so that is what they did."

A video of the hearing is here at the subcomittee's web site.

Previous posts from this blog - many tracking the constantly changing "facts" provided by TVA - are here.

Blogger R. Neal points out testimony in the hearing mentioned above where Congressman John Duncan ridiculed those investigating and demanding corrective action:

"It's interesting that U.S. Representatives from Texas and Minnesota are strong advocates for the residents of Roane County and other areas affected by TVA coal-fired power plants, while Tennessee's Rep. Jimmy Duncan (R-TN2) refers to disaster victims and cleanup advocates as "extremists" and "kooks."

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Rep. Lincoln Davis (D-TN4) take a different view. Sen. Alexander says the IG report "raises major concerns which must be taken seriously." Rep. Davis says that TVA "has a long road ahead to regain the trust of Tennessee families."

Rep. Duncan's remarks are disgraceful and an insult to the residents of Roane County."


RoaneViews has local reactions from residents to this report and many more stories on the ongoing problems with TVA.

"Heads will roll" says Kilgore -- really? When? Who? The future safety of so many, and the future operations of TVA demand a heavy price today and will for many years to come.

Morristown Near 20% Unemployment

The figures for months have shown a steady march upward on unemployment here in East Tennessee, and June's report shows Morristown near 20% and Hamblen County above 13%.

The numbers:

The state's four most populous combined statistical areas (CSAs) in May reported:

* Chattanooga, 10.3 percent, up from from 9.7 percent in May;

* Knoxville, 10.1 percent, up from 9.6 percent in May;

* Nashville, 10.3 percent, up from 9.4 percent in May;

* Memphis, 10.3 percent, up from 9.6 percent in May.

NEARBY CITIES

The May unemployment rates in nearby smaller cities were:

* Bristol, 11.6 percent, up from 10.6 percent in May;

* Johnson City, 9.1 percent, up from 8.4 percent in May;

* Kingsport, 12.7 percent, up from 12.6 percent in May;

* Morristown, 19.4 percent, up from 18.5 percent in May;

* Oak Ridge, 8.9 percent, up from 8.4 percent in May.

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* Cocke County, 13.2 percent;

* Hamblen, 13.3 percent;

* Hawkins, 12.9 percent;

* Sullivan, 9.6 percent;

* Unicoi, 12.6 percent;

* Washington, 9.2 percent.

Source

If, as usual, the end of summer brings an end to some temporary and part time employment, this Fall's unemployment rate might be even higher.

Camera Obscura: Comic-Con News; Miyazaki's 'Ponyo'; Scorsese's 'Shutter Island'

Filmmakers and fans and media reps from all corners have been busy at the Annual San Diego Comic-Con this week. When first held in 1970, a few hundred fans and comic creators attended and the event was barely noticed - except among fans and creators. And it grew quickly.

In the last few years, all major movie studios, every news agency, agents, actors, writers, artists, fans and fans and more fans swirl about the convention center in the must-see and must-be-seen event.

From Time magazine, writer Lev Grossman spoke with legendary animators Hayao Miyazaki and John Lassiter - though the newsman can barely contain his fan-boy appreciation for Miyazaki, whose newest animated feature (as always a hand-drawn movie) "Ponyo" is set to hit American theaters in a few weeks, boasting a cast of top name Hollywood talent:



Grossman writes:

"I find it doesn't help to get fanboyish in situations like this -- it just freaks famous people out -- so I keep it together, helped by Miyazaki's translator -- she's a calming presence. I'm not going to run through the whole interview, which I have to save for the print magazine for now. But we talked about where Ponyo came from -- she was a frog before she was a goldfish, and her story to some extent parallels that of the Little Mermaid, a story Miyazaki loved as a child, though he didn't like the ending. ... We talked about the cartoons Miyazaki loved as a little kid.

At the very end I broke character and thanked him for everything he's done, and how Totoro is the first movie my daughter and I really loved together. I am not a stone."

Fans get more than a chance to learn the latest news about projects they like, such as the long anticipated "Avatar" from director James Cameron, another long-in-planning production for a sequel to "Tron", the new movie "District 9" from producer Peter Jackson and they can get into a Q and A with some very famous directors (Sam Raimi, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez) on breaking into the business:



Cinematical and IGN have very complete coverage on just about all topics, panels and news from the Comic-Con.

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Director Martin Scorsese works once again with his favorite actor in recent years, Leonardo DiCaprio for "Shutter Island", based on a novel by Dennis Lehane and set in a grim (what else for Scorsese??) asylum for the criminally insane located on a island. The preview for the movie follows:

Seduction and Scandal In The Tennessee Legislature

State Senator Paul Stanley and one of his interns, McKensie Morrison, are at the center of a sex scandal and an alleged blackmail plot, a story burning up the state blogging world. Kleinheider at PostPolitics has been reporting quite a bit on the sordid tale and has a blistering accusation from an intern about what women who work in the legislature face when they work with elected officials:

"What I can also tell you is that almost every man up there feels entitled to look, touch, and flirt with any female in that place, regardless of whether she is an intern, lobbyist, guest, etc.

"I was shocked when I heard about this, but not really. The ego that exists in most men up there is enough to make me sick.

"Just to let you know, I think its the men up there who have the potential to ruin the internship program. If it goes because one or two Senators or Representatives couldn’t keep their married johnsons in their pants, I will be utterly devastated."

Knoxville's state representative Stacey Campfield has this to say about the skanky environment in Nashville:

"Well, I guess this is just more proof, Republicans are clearly irresistible to females."
Name withheld to protect the legislator. "

Channel 5 has a video of Morrison's boyfriend which makes all involved look bad in a situation where everyone already looks pretty terrible -

Way to stay classy, Tennessee.

Newspapers: 180 Years of Not Charging For Content

The newspaper business has - since it's earliest days - used a business model where readers are never really charged for the content the newspaper provides.

That's the argument presented at NewsFuturist.com:

"Newspapers haven't actually charged for news content since the 1830s.

Up until then, most newspapers were subscription-only and cost about 6 cents a day (or about $1.20 in today's dollars, adjusted for inflation).

By asking subscribers to bear the full cost of production, newspapers limited their audience to the few who could afford the luxury. That was actually OK for the time, because literacy rates were quite low anyway.

But compulsory education raised literacy rates as the 19th century progressed, and in the 1830s publishers realized a new model to reach the growing market -- the penny press.

Newspapers cut their price from 6 cents to just 1 cent (about 20-25 cents today), thus reaching a much broader circulation and finding advertisers would pay to reach that market. The first popular penny paper, the New York Sun, printed this motto at the top of every front page: "The object of this paper is to lay before the public, at a price within the means of every one, all the news of the day, and at the same time offer an advantageous medium for advertisements."

As news now moves online, the same rule of economics apply: The price of a product in a competitive market falls to the marginal cost of creating and delivering one more unit."

A very small portion of the folks who create that content earn a large salary. Most do it for very small pay. And what I write on this blog and on most others, I do for virtually nothing. Don't get me wrong, I am always seeking ways to make my writing pay - advertising still offers the best model for that. Still, I am reluctant to clutter the page with ads, though in truth, since ads are the best source for funding, then ads may soon appear here.

Fatal Flaws in TVA

A very critical report on TVA's operations at their coal-fired plants, prompted by the disastrous spill of coal ash in December of last year, says TVA failed in key areas:

"The consultants said the "necessary systems, controls and culture were not in place" to properly manage the coal ash sites at TVA's 11 coal-fired power plants.

The report found TVA had no standard operating or maintenance procedures and failed to conduct annual training for engineers doing inspections. It said there was little or no internal communication between the four TVA divisions responsible for ash retention." (link)

The Knoxville News Sentinel reports:

"TVA's board of directors adopted a resolution Tuesday calling for a host of measures to restructure the public utility's procedures and culture companywide.

The resolution calls for development of a remediation plan at all TVA coal ash ponds and hiring an outside firm to help the utility create a plan to fix problems in systems, standards, controls and its culture of accountability. Plans for achieving these goals are to be ready for board review at TVA's Aug. 20 meeting.

"Also Tuesday, board members approved the hiring of David Mould, former NASA assistant administrator of public affairs, as senior vice president of communications."

Outside consultants were needed to reveal these fatal flaws and more consultants are to be hired to ensure TVA does the job right?

Are there fatal flaws throughout TVA? When will they be addressed?

Better Living Thru Swearing and Bras?

Science!! is always striving to improve our lives and last week two new developments pushed forward some ideas which science and business are beginning to embrace.

A study from Britain's Keele University provides information that swearing when injured or being hurt alleviates pain.

"Swearing has been around for centuries and is an almost universal human linguistic phenomenon. It taps into emotional brain centers and appears to arise in the right brain, whereas most language production occurs in the left cerebral hemisphere of the brain. Our research shows one potential reason why swearing developed and why it persists."

Perhaps this explains why I often swear when watching the news or reading some blog posts.

Meanwhile a company in Japan, Wishroom, is promoting their bras for men, saying their product alleviates stress:

"Japanese salary men have a lot of stress, and the bras seem to relieve that."

Yeah, I'll just keep my stress, thanks - or just swear at it.

Apollo 11-- 40 Years Later

Despite what I and many others thought on July 20, 1969, so far only 12 people have walked on the surface of the moon. The first two - Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin - literally flew in on sheer will-power and some dicey technology.

Some sharp color images from all the Apollo moon landings are here in full panorama views.

NASA is holding several key celebrations of the 40th anniversary.

But as much tremendous respect as I have for NASA and their achievements, I wonder if it is time to create a new agency, supported by our government and our nation, which is focused more on the future than the past, an agency which makes plans for tomorrow's children.

It's a bit sad to think of the achievements as part of America's history and not it's future. Combined with the recent death of you-are-there news anchor Walter Cronkite , it seems too many in our nation are content to let our dreams of moving past life on Earth be a memory rather than a goal.

Camera Obscura: Harry Potter Returns; Comic-Con News; 'Futurama' Fail; 'District 9'

The newest Harry Potter movie opened this week with midnight shows and Cathy at Domestic Psychology has the skinny on what that event was like --

Midnight movies are fun, but I fall two days behind every time I do an all-nighter anything.

HBP doesn’t suffer from the “trying too hard” to be dark, funny or normal that previous installments had.

This movie has an inevitable destiny feel that makes each of the characters more interesting and more forgivable.

Calvinists will like this movie.

Be sure and read the full report. HP6, as my niece calls it, is breaking records already for box office earnings and is on track to earn even more (and there are still two movies left in the series).

Warner Brothers is looking to fill the soon-to-be Potter gap with a new series of movies based on another popular book series, this time it's writer Angie Sage's Septimus Heap series:

"Sage's seven-volume series shares a lot of similarities with young Potter. Septimus Heap is the seventh son of a seventh son, who possesses magical powers, and is apprenticed to ExtraOrdinary wizard, Marcia Overstrand. Naturally he must overcome many trials and tribulations in his magical training, and his life is a sharp contrast to that of his adoptive sister, Jenna, who gets to live in the comfort and security of the Heap household after a Skywalker sort of switcharoo. While she lacks magic powers, Jenna makes up for it by being a princess, and heir to the throne of Castle. The overarching villain of the story is necromancer DomDaniel, who is power hungry and up to no good, as all necromancers are. Unlike the Potter movies, Magick will be animated. Not only is that bound to be disappointing to fans, it's a pretty big departure for Frankel, who is best known for live-action flicks like Marley and Me and The Devil Wears Prada. "

Warners is also planning a big push for their TV schedule at next week's frenzied Comic-Con in San Diego. From "Smallville" to "Fringe" and "Vampire Dairies" a re-boot of the alien-filled "V" series and much more, all can be yours to review and inspect at their official web site.

Online sites are humming about the news too - which may be either confirmed or dispelled as wanton publicity hunting - that the return of the cult favorite animated "Futurama" series has hit a negotiations snag prompting the studio to promise to get rid of the entire cast of voice actors for the show and go for all new ones:

"We love the Futurama voice performers and absolutely wanted to use them, but unfortunately, we could not meet their salary demands. While replacing these talented actors will be difficult, the show must go on."

Bad move - though bloody typical for the idiots at Fox - if it is true, and perhaps it is just a stunt to gain some talk for the show.

Cinematical also has some preview pics of movies sure to be hot at Comic-Con - a new Iron Man, the next Twilight movie and Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. Check it out here.

Speaking of aliens, this trailer for the new movie "District 9", produced by Peter Jackson, looks just fantastic, It's set for an August release:



Speaking of alien movies, this week I saw one of my favorites from years past - itself a remake of a 1950s classic. "John Carpenter's The Thing" was one of several first class genre movies which came out in the summer of 1982. My brother and I saw this one summer day while in Erwin, TN in an older downtown theater which had just converted their balcony as a single screen. It was a jaw-dropping experience to watch the horror roll out on a gigantic screen in room with just a few dozen seats for the audience.

It's by far Carpenter's best movie and has a great soundtrack, and a great cast, featuring Kurt Russell trapped in the frozen Antarctic along with a bizarre alien who had been trapped for perhaps as long as 100,000 years before breaking loose. The creature is not cute or even remotely human, until of course, it begins to imitate humans. The alien is more like some weird Lovecraftian silly-putty with endless power and energy. And the cast of victims quickly discover how vile and ruthless this creature can be. Rob Bottin's special effects are likewise first-class.

If you've never seen it, it will curl up your hair and if you have seen it, it's worth seeing again.

Congressman Zach Wamp's House of Secrets

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Shoot-Out Or Opt Out?

Thanks to the short-sighted, political goofballery of the Tennessee State Legislature, any community in the state which has a public park has been forced to formulate a policy on whether or not folks can tote their guns with them when they head out to the park. It's the great Opt-Out Debate of '09.

Thanks, state legislature, really. THANKS.

Meanwhile, some good writing and thinking on this issue for the city of Rogersville comes from DeMarCaTionVille:

"Folks, I’m a gun owner. Hell, I’m a gun lover. I am also a strong defender of Second Amendment rights – yep, another one of those “pry it out of my cold, dead hands” types. But before all else, I am a mother, a volunteer and an advocate for the children of this community.

While I’d like to believe that only the most responsible gun owners would be packing heat at the T-ball games – you know to pick off the zombies, I sincerely doubt it would happen this way.

My husband and I are very involved with the local AYSO region. We have also participated or volunteered in most programs offered by the city. Over the years, we’ve dealt with our share of negative sideline behaviors, angry spectators, verbal disputes that have escalated to shoving matches or fist fights, and the occasional group teen vandals. We know firsthand that even the most responsible, level-headed person can become completely irrational if they feel their child has been attacked or treated unfairly by another adult.

I can also tell you that approaching these people to discuss a behavior they need to curtail, particularly when they’re already angry, is scary enough without adding firearms to the mix.

Therefore, I fully support the proposal to opt out. I’d also remind Pop and his cronies that their grandchildren play baseball, softball, soccer, tag and pin the tail on the donkey in that park. So, for me, this isn’t a battle against the conservatives and the others or government versus the common man.

It’s about common sense, the safety and welfare of children and making sure that my ass doesn’t take a bullet when I have to calmly approach the Dad, who just threw his chair across the field and threatened to assault the opposing coach, or the opposing coach, who yelled back: “Yeah, Bring It Fatass!”… right before she flipped him the middle finger.

Since the logic seems to be that if more folks have guns to protect themselves, why not just require every resident in the state to tote a gun with them wherever they go - that way, we will all be equal ... except of course for the ones who have the best quick draw and dead aim.

Yeehaw.

UPDATE:

"JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - Patrons headed to a Johnson City sports bar will be handed water pistols on the first day when state law allows guns in bars.

Dan Numan said the gimmick is a facetious protest of the new statute, which he called "ignorant."

The first 100 people who visit Numan's Cafe and Sports Bar today will be offered the water pistols. A massive water gun fight was anticipated.

Numan said he and several other restaurant owners in the city intend to post signs, as allowed by the legislation, that lets them opt out of permitting real handguns in their establishments."

Via the Knoxville News Sentinel

Toxic Tennessee Valley

The aftermath and current struggle of residents living in the midst of a full-blow disaster, the giant 1.1 billion gallon coal ash spill from TVA's coal plant in Kingston, gets a medical report from CNN.

"People think they're going to die before they'll see results."

Mixed into this daily nightmare is the sludge of economic debate about what to do about it, whether or not it is a health hazard, what category of "waste" this ash spill is labeled, and how does TVA handle coal now and in the future.