"Beer Is A Popular Product"

"Beer is a popular product". So says Joe Priesmeyer. President of the N. H. Scheppers Distributing Company of Columbia, Missouri, in response to a scandal in Columbia city government.

This scandal has led to one city employee resignation, another facing disciplinary action, and police and prosecutors are attempting to determine what crime - if any - was committed.

The nefarious details are from the Columbia Tribune -- but here's what is known: some 1,500 cases of date-expired beer from Scheppers was sent to the city landfill and upon delivery some 800 cases were immediately destroyed.

The other 700 cases were "intact" and that's when, allegedly, two city employees pulled up in a city vehicle and took an estimated 50 cases of the beer away with the landfill. The whereabouts of the missing beer remain unknown.

"Buckler said the main issue is theft.

“Once it’s in the landfill, it is city property,” she said.

She said because the beer is city property, there could be liability issues should the employees share it with others. That remains a possibility because the city doesn’t know where the missing beer is.

Columbia police spokeswoman Officer Jessie Haden said police are working with city supervisors to determine whether it is criminal activity or just a policy violation.

“If we determine it’s a police matter, we will take some action,” she said.

Priesmeyer said despite the beer being past expiration, it was not in any way unhealthy and at worst “it loses some of its taste profile.”

He said it has been several years since Scheppers has taken beer to the city landfill, but Priesmeyer said there is nothing unusual about disposing of expired beer.

It also isn’t unheard of that people try to steal some of it.

“Every once in a while, we’ll have some beer get stolen by overzealous people off of our trucks,” Priesmeyer said. “Beer is a popular product.”

Be sure to read some of the comments at the end of the CT story.

Why I Don't Watch Local TV News

Here's a simple example of why I seldom watch local TV news broadcasts, other than to check the weather or maybe a sports score --

WBIR broadcast this "report" about the Greeneville Tea Party, as some locals gathered at their county courthouse to complain about taxes. I've no problem with that, it was an event where people attended and is was tax deadline day and all. But why did the reporter decide to hold up one of the signs created by the protesters? Plenty of their signs were visible.

And yes, the report's goal seemed to be to give air to the thoughts and opinions of the TP'ers.

One comment in particular was highlighted by attendee (and apparently a speaker at the event, judging by the video, but here again, the reporter never really identified the individual's role in the event). Anyway, the speaker was one Jeff Cobble - and he said "The majority of our taxes go to supporting the national debt."

Now that comment certainly intrigued me -- so I used this fairly commonplace tool available to most folks called the Internet, and Googled the phrase "majority of federal tax money is spent on" and in .35 seconds, what do ya know - a report dated April 15 2010 titled How Are Our Federal Tax Dollars Spent? is right there for anyone to read.

Sure, I'm wacko idealistic to think a local news report should supply more than just camera footage of unhappy folks and their opinions -- it just seems like a very good opportunity to provide accurate and detailed information on a topic that has many people talking and pondering. One would not have to include all the information - just some basic highlights on the video report, and hey, on WBIR's web site, they could have at least linked to the whole article.

So, as a public service, here's a good chunk of that article I found in .35 seconds of searching (and it's worth noting that approximately ten cents out of each tax dollar collected goes to paying on the national debt) -- the article is from the Live Science web site:

"Three main areas each accounted for approximately one-fifth of the budget, while two sections of spending each made up about one-tenth, and the remaining fifth of the budget was used to finance a variety of programs. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, here are the most expensive programs:

• Defense and international security: In fiscal year 2008, $625 billion, or roughly 21 percent of the government budget was spent on the military and other initiatives to protect the nation. This figure also includes the cost of supporting American operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• Social Security: An additional 21 percent of the budget, equal to about $617 billion, was earmarked for Social Security, one of the largest government programs in the world. Social Security provides retirement benefits, survivors' benefits and disability benefits to millions of retired or disabled workers, or surviving children and spouses of deceased workers.
• Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP: In 2008, $599 billion, or 20 percent of the government budget, was used to finance three health insurance programs – Medicare, Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Approximately $391 billion went to Medicare, which provides health coverage to people who are over the age of 65 or who meet other criteria such as disability. The remaining amount helped to finance Medicaid and CHIP, which provide health care or long-term care to low-income children, parents and seniors and people with disabilities. Both the Medicaid and CHIP programs involve the federal government matching payments made by the state.
• Safety net programs: The federal government supports so-called safety net programs that provide aid (other than, or in addition to health insurance and/or Social Security benefits) to individuals and families in need. Safety net programs accounted for approximately 11 percent of the 2008 federal budget, which equaled $313 billion. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, safety net programs include: the refundable portion of the earned-income and child tax credits; programs that provide cash payments to eligible individuals or households, including Supplemental Security Income; various forms of in-kind assistance for low-income families and individuals, including food stamps, school meals, low-income housing assistance, child-care assistance, and assistance in meeting home energy bills; and various additional programs that assist at-risk individuals and families.
• Interest on the national debt: For every dollar that taxpayers send to the federal government, about a dime goes toward paying interest on the national debt. The federal government is required to make regular interest payments on money it has borrowed to close past budget deficits. This borrowed money makes up the national debt, which currently exceeds $12 trillion. In fiscal year 2008, interest payments accounted for 8 percent of the budget, or roughly $253 billion.

The remaining fifth of federal government spending goes toward financing a variety of other programs and public services, including: providing benefits and health care to veterans and retired federal employees; investing in education, scientific and medical research, and basic city infrastructure such as roads, bridges and airports. A small amount – about 1 percent – went to non-security international programs, including those that provide humanitarian aid.

Every Twitter Ever Made Is Now In The Library of Congress

The Library of Congress has announced that they have acquired every Twitter archive, every single Twitter post anyone has made or will make - an announcement they made via Twitter, naturally.

The NYTimes reports:

"Academic researchers seem pleased as well. For hundreds of years, they say, the historical record has tended to be somewhat elitist because of its selectivity. In books, magazines and newspapers, they say, it is the prominent and the infamous who are written about most frequently."

Take that, you darn elitist books which apparently only some East coast genius can comprehend.

The Library has been actively gathering an immense amount of digital information in recent years, according to their own blog:

"... if you think the Library of Congress is “just books,” think of this: The Library has been collecting materials from the web since it began harvesting congressional and presidential campaign websites in 2000. Today we hold more than 167 terabytes of web-based information, including legal blogs, websites of candidates for national office, and websites of Members of Congress.

We also operate the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program www.digitalpreservation.gov, which is pursuing a national strategy to collect, preserve and make available significant digital content, especially information that is created in digital form only, for current and future generations."

If the idea seems irrational, just consider the most minuscule scraps we already spend countless days and years collecting - time-frozen footprints, shards of pottery, crude marks on cave walls, ancient accounting logs, and practically any bit of human history. Now we're adding a moment-by-moment historical record of just plain folk, along with more notable twitterings such as those which emerged online during the upheaval in Iran during their last so-called "election".

If you're a Tweeter or Twitterer or whatever you chose to identify yourself, and you think "hey, my privacy is being violated", then you're forgetting the basic nature of writing and posting online. You already abdicated your desire for privacy.

Here in the modern age your Tweet of "OMG! I just ate some bacon ice!" will now reside along the writings of Thomas Jefferson or Mark Twain. Forget Andy Warhol's claim that in the future, everyone would be famous for 15 minutes - your fame could last centuries (assuming someone bothers to keep the technological machinery needed to peruse your random commentaries).

All this brings to mind a few lines from the movie "The Incredibles", when the mother tells her son "Everyone is special", and her son replies "Which is another way of saying no one is."

Not much is excluded, really, or ever has been when it comes to historical analysis. Perhaps it's all just taking place faster and faster.

And speaking of that, here's a way for you to view every single painting on display at the Museum of Modern Art ... in two minutes. And it's set to music, and naturally, it's on YouTube.

Spring Is Here and Where Am I?

It's a rather disjointed day, what with the sun blazing like Love itself overhead and every green thing growing so fast you can almost hear it, and every thing that crawls or flies or burrows or sings or runs or talks or barks or purrs or swims or that just moseys from here to there amid all those bright Spring colors. It's all disjointed because here I am basking in all that Life and I am utterly perplexed, bewildered and snarled up from the inside out.

I can give a name to all these joyous and marvelous things so abundant all about me - but in my head and in my thoughts, something else is moseying about, something I can't really name at all. As a constant writer, such a lacking is deeply uncomfortable.

In this wee digital space I've made with this blog, and even in those long-ago times when I scratched across some bit of actual paper with a pen or pencil, I do the one thing I've always done: I write.

I happened across a proverb today which says "Any day you can wake up and put on your pants is a good day." That seems to set a notably low bar for a good day, though if one were unable to a) wake up, b) dress themselves, c) have any clothes or bed or to even experience a period of sleep, then the elements of the proverb might seem rich beyond measure.

I spoke with a friend today and he mentioned I might perhaps have some kind of 'writer's arthritis' or something. Maybe so. Maybe it's a stiffness, a lack of flexibility or something minor.

If -- or perhaps I should say "when" - someone tells me I am a bad writer, I think to myself (with no humility) "oooh, he called me a writer."

Or as Kurt Vonnegut Jr. once wrote: "The primary benefit of practicing any art, whether well or badly, is that it enables one's soul to grow."


So maybe it's just Springtime in my writing mind and who knows what might grow from it?

Policing For Profit - A Practice In Need of Many Changes

In the first-of-a-kind report, law enforcement agencies across the country are raking in hundreds of millions of dollars by seizing property - even though quite often an individual is not even charged with a crime. The report from the Institute For Justice is here. And on a grading scale from A to D, Tennessee gets a D.

From their report:


"And considering law enforcement officials in most states don’t report the value of what they collect or how that bounty is spent, the issue raises serious questions about both government transparency and accountability.

Under state and federal civil asset forfeiture laws, law enforcement agencies can seize and keep property suspected of involvement in criminal activity. Unlike criminal asset forfeiture, however, with civil forfeiture, a property owner need not be found guilty of a crime—or even charged—to permanently lose her cash, car, home or other property."
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"Federal forfeiture law makes the problem worse with so-called “equitable sharing.” Under these arrangements, state and local officials can hand over forfeiture prosecutions to the federal government and then receive up to 80 percent of the proceeds—even when state law bans or limits the profit incentive. Equitable sharing payments to states have nearly doubled from 2000 to 2008, from a little more than $200 million to $400 million."
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"For example, in 2008, for the first time in its history, the Department of Justice’s forfeiture fund topped $1 billion in assets taken from property owners and now available to law enforcement. State data reveal that state and local law enforcement also use forfeiture extensively: From 2001 to 2002, currency forfeitures alone in just nine states totaled more than $70 million. Considering this measure excludes cars and other forfeited property as well as forfeiture estimates from many states for which data were unreliable or that did not make data available for those years, this already-large figure represents just the tip of the forfeiture iceberg.

The report from the Institute offers some common sense guidelines for change:

"The Institute for Justice recommends that, first, law enforcement should be required to convict people before taking their property. Law enforcement agencies could still prosecute criminals and forfeit their ill-gotten possessions—but the rights of innocent property owners would be protected. Second, police and prosecutors shouldn’t be paid on commission. To end the perverse profit incentive, forfeiture revenue must be placed in a neutral fund, like a state’s general fund. It should also be tracked and reported so law enforcement is held publicly accountable. Finally, equitable sharing must be abolished to ensure that when states act to limit forfeiture abuse, law enforcement cannot evade the new rules and continue pocketing forfeiture money."

Music for A Sunday In April

FOX Lies and Is Loved. Part 2

Here's yet another example of how FOX news ignores reality and fabricates more fun-filled falsehoods, all in hopes of stirring up those elements of the population prone to hysteria. (Consider this a follow-up to this previous post.)

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Big Bang Treaty
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Now of course Newt Gingrich is a lion of honesty and purity .... not:

"On the subject of Gingrich, here's one thing I don't understand. John Edwards' philandering has made him a public pariah, understandably so. But Gingrich's marital behavior was probably even more disgusting. He cheated on his first wife and told her he wanted a divorce while she was recovering from surgery for cancer. He subsequently cheated on his second wife with a much younger aide. It's fairly amazing how Gingrich has managed to avoid any stigma from this.

Candidate Mike Clark On Coal And The Recent Coal Mining Disaster

1st District Congressional candidate Mike Clark sent out the following comments via e-mail, focusing on safety and accountability in light of the deadly coal mine disaster in West Virgina.

Clark writes:

"The issues surrounding the extraction and use of coal in this country continues, in a debate that is contentious yet necessary to address the future energy needs of this nation.

But the recent disaster at Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia really has little to do with any discussions of coal mining as part of future energy policy, and everything to do with the willful neglect of a company who's history of infractions grows more legendary by the day.

Upper Big Branch - only one in Massey Energy's large chain of non-union mines - was cited, according to press reports, for 600 violations in just over one year - two delivered to the company the very day of the deadly explosion that killed 25 workers, with four still missing. Many of those previous violations were for inadequate venting of methane - the problem that is widely considered to have contributed to the disaster April 5, the worst in the United States since 1984 and potentially the worst since 1970.

Most coal companies, and especially those represented by union workers, take precautions in the interest of safety. I believe most coal company owners sincerely care about the safety of their employees.

I am not prejudging Massey in this particular case. Perhaps there were system failures of one type or another. But the record is clear. If Massey existed as an individual who had violated law 600 times in one location alone, Massey would be jailed; yet the company is allowed to continue operations seemingly unfazed.

I call on our representatives in Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia, to demand and/or initiate a serious and sweeping Congressional inquiry into Massey Energy and its subsidiaries, focusing on safety issues, environmental issues, and exploring all contracts between the United States government and any division of this company - particularly its contracts with the Tennessee Valley Authority, considered to be the largest user of coal in the country; all contracts with Massey should be immediately suspended pending the outcome of this investigation. Six hundred violations in one location alone simply cannot be ignored or left to the normal processes of appeal and adjudication. Twenty-nine families in West Virginia, countless co-workers and friends - and a grieving nation - demand something more.

If, as a result, Massey is forced to lay off employees, unemployment benefits should be fast-tracked to insure workers aren't left in the lurch due to this government action. Any fines or penalties ultimately levied - if so decided by a court of law - should be paid in a timely manner with interest and should at minimum be pegged to the total amount of unemployment payments issued during the investigation process.

East Tennesseans, like all Americans, pay our tax money faithfully, and with the understanding that government will be good-faith stewards of our dollars. In this time of economic distress, we need to insure that our money is spent wisely; TVA, or any government agency, should not enable this company or subsidiaries to continue business as usual. Our tax money and our energy payments directly enable this company to flagrantly violate laws designed to protect its workers; our money should be spent with companies that play by the rules.

We value rule of law; we value the safety of the miners, who walk with danger to power our necessities and our luxuries, who help improve the quality of our lives. We should demand our government spend our money with companies that treat its employees with all the dignity and respect they deserve. Companies are not individuals - they are businesses, subject to local, state and federal government rules and regulations.

In the end, it comes down to what we as a nation value most - the rights of a single corporate entity, or the rights and safety of individuals. No longer should the taxpayers fund outlaws who scoff at regulations designed to protect the very people who work every day to earn that company its profits."

Can One Sentence Shatter Your Religious Beliefs?

A father wants Knox County to ban a biology book in an advanced biology class because of a sentence, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel -

"On page 319 of the text, the authors describe creationism as “the biblical myth that the universe was created by the Judeo-Christian God in 7 days.”

Zimmermann said the useof the word “myth” could “mislead, belittle and discourage students in believing in creationism and pointedly calls the Bible a myth.”

So am I to believe this father's contention, that one sentence can shatter his religious beliefs, those of students or anyone who reads that sentence in one textbook? Is their 'belief system' so delicate? Do they think Tennessee is a smoldering hotbed of demonic science fictions and not a state where you'll find multitudes of churches in every square mile?

KnoxViews has a news round-up of this oft-repeated fearful debate.

And as the Knox School Board was considering how to respond to the request for banning a book, a board member used a 'personal privilege' to delay consideration of the issues for a month ... just long enough for the May election cycle to pass by.

I rather like Jesse Mayshark's article in MetroPulse, which notes:

" ... with an actual motion to ban a textbook, and the national media's Pavlovian interest in all things Tennessee and creationist, the interest level may well go up over the next few weeks."

Groucho Sings About Political Debate in 2010

Political debate in 2010 seems more like this song from 1930s America -- are today's pundits so far behind or was Groucho thinking far ahead?


ALSO SEE:

-- Doctor Hates Health Care Reforms Which He Doesn't Really Know About

-- Tennessee 'Teapublicans'

FOX Lies and Is Loved

Back in the year 2004, veteran TV news anchor Dan Rather was cut loose from CBS for reporting about series of memos about then-president Bush's days in the National Guard, which many believed to be plain old fakes.

Times have changed. The bulk of the entire line-up of FOX News Channel reports on a series of stories - reports which have been proved false and fake - and their ratings go up. MSNBC's Rachel Maddow calls out the lies and the liars:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Camera Obscura: Nashville Film Festival 2010; Who Is The Girl In Hitchcock's Shower?

Some notable movies will premiere at the upcoming Nashville Film Festival which starts April 15 including the opening film for the 2010 festival called "Nowhere Boy", about the teen years of John Lennon in Liverpool. The movie has been gathering strong reviews from the Sundance festival showing -

"Johnson and the filmmakers have based that characterization largely on Lennon's own reflections, particularly in post-Beatles interviews. More broadly, this Lennon is an almost archetypal angry young man or rebel schoolboy of British Isles fiction and drama, a Liverpool cousin of Stephen Dedalus, dreaming of escape from his strangled, provincial environment."

More from the Salon review here, including the tabloid details of director Sam Taylor-Wood dating her lead actor, Aaron Johnson.

Here's a trailer for the movie -


Other features include "Art House", a story about artists on the verge of being evicted from their college home - and it sort of looks like "Animal House", except with artsy folks instead of frat follies. Here's the trailer:


A full list of the schedule and events is here at the Nashville Film Festival web site.

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A truly bizarre true-crime story arrives with the new book from Robert Graysmith, who penned the book "Zodiac" about the 1960s killer which was made into the impressive David Fincher movie. This new book tells the story of a movie fan, Kenneth Dean Hunt, who was so deeply obsessed with the movie "Psycho" he set out to kill Janet Leigh's body double from the movie, Marli Renfro, but actually killed the wrong woman, Myra Davis, in 1988 -- it seems the two women were used as stand-ins for Leigh, a reality Leigh and Hitchcock himself had denied for many years.

Cinematical has more:

"The crime, committed by Hunt went unsolved until roughly ten years ago, and folks confused the two gals so much to the point that even the Associated Press reported Renfro (not Davis) had been murdered when she was actually alive and completely unaware of her apparent death. There was also a report that claimed the two women were actually one in the same."

April Fool's Day Originated in Iran?

Here in the modern now-a-go-go days of the 21st century, one can easily do some online research to explore the origins of April Fool's Day. Which means I Googled the infamous prank day (do I say "Topeka'ed" instead??)

While I am reluctant to believe anything I read on the Internet - especially today - I did learn something I had never known before.

April Fool's Day originated as long ago as 538 BC, when Iranian's marked the end of their New Year's celebration on April 1st, and designated that day as Sizdah Be-dar, the "Festival of Joy and Solidarity". Not exactly the two words I've used to describe Iran before.

Still, the day of pranks seems to start there ... it seems to involve lentil sprouts known as sabzeh. (I always thought the word "lentil" was rather humorous.)

It's just that no one really called that country "Iran" until the 20th century ... or did they? Does that make it a Persian holiday now celebrated worldwide?

Super Web Hosting Deal From DotEasy

I've been searching for a new web hosting service and a way to claim a domain name when, as luck would have it, the folks from DotEasy.com contacted me. What I found was a way to claim not just one, but up to 10 domains with one simple step. My thanks for their support and consideration, and I'm happy to share the info and share a promo code below in this post which can save you some cash as well.

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I urge you to check out DotEasy today and use the promo code above. Tell them Cup of Joe Powell sent you.

Mike Clark Runs For 1st District Congressional Seat

In the last few weeks I've noticed the growing presence of a Democrat candidate in the 1st District, Mike Clark, and he's been organizing quietly on numerous social media outlets - but starting today, he's making a more formal series of announcements.

Mike contacted me today via email about his campaign and offered the following comments:

Mike Clark, a Johnson City native, has announced his bid for the First Congressional District seat currently being held by Republican Dr. Phil Roe.

Clark is running in the primary campaign as a Democrat. He is the Editor of The Loafer (a weekly entertainment magazine in the Tri-Cities), and is married and the father of three children - Carissa, Jenna Kay, and Joshua.

"I'm running because this area needs to hear another voice and be given the opportunity to vote for a different philosophy than one which never proposes, but only opposes," Clark says.

Mike Clark for Congress officially kicks off Saturday, April 17, 2010 from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. at the Carter County Courthouse in Elizabethton. The site was not chosen at random.

"The last Democrat to represent this part of East Tennessee in Washington was Robert L. Taylor, who left office in 1881. We hope to go back to that county and start something fresh - perhaps we can begin a new tradition of voting in the First District," Clark says.

Clark says his focus in the campaign will be on jobs, education and the environment - three things he considers linked when thinking about the future of this country, and especially about the future of East Tennessee.

"Washington thinks its a bad thing to bring money back to districts anymore, especially when it might actually make a difference in people's lives. We need a representative in Washington who isn't afraid to defend the needs of his constituents to leadership in Washington of either party - and I won't feel the need to carry water for people just because I'm a Democrat.

"We need for jobs to come back home and we need new jobs; we need environmental programs that are sane and sustainable, and we need education to teach children - and adults - how to perform these new jobs for fair wages. We need sensible plans that will lift all segments of society - from large businesses to the smallest child."

Clark is also keen on helping veterans. "I have members of my family serving overseas, and members of my family who served in the past - my father in World War II. It is absolutely appalling that any veteran is hungry and homeless. We have a duty to see that veterans always have a home, and if I'm elected this is a fight I will take on ... to ensure that we once again treat our veterans with the dignity they deserve."

Clark knows the path will be rough, and the odds are long. "We're gonna work hard, work the grassroots and send the message out. The response has been tremendous so far, and we're only getting started."

Mike Clark can be found on the internet at MikeClarkForCongress.com and on Facebook, by typing in Mike Clark for Congress.

I've written before on my deep dissatisfaction with Rep. Roe who holds the seat now - and more importantly, that the 1st District deserves more than they've gotten over the last 130 years with only one party - the Republicans - controlling access to Congress. It's especially true now since Rep.Roe's only strategy for governing is to stall and stonewall in Congress rather than working to move our community and nation forward into the 21st century.

In coming days and weeks, I'll have more on Mike's campaign and perhaps an interview as well. Getting the attention of residents in the 1st District is no simple task - local traditional media like newspapers, radio and television must step in to inform the public that a choice exists, that there are issues to be debated and discussed, and that part of the job of the press is to challenge and question our elected officials and to keep residents informed about elections and candidates.

Camera Obscura: Kurosawa's Dog; McQueen's Unseen Pics; Planet Of "Predators"

This past month marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of iconic director Akira Kurosawa and Turner Classic Movies has been airing some of his very best work. As with all great film directors, repeated viewings of their films brings even more chances to dig deep and explore their creations, a task rich with rewards.

While I'd seen most all of the 26 movies TCM has aired (three more of his movies will air on Tuesday) the one I was most eager to see was "Stray Dog", made in 1949 and set in the modern era and not a samurai-filled feudal past, as in "Yojimbo" or "Seven Samurai". Instead we are led into a very palpable and modern post-World War Japan during a summer heat wave which radiates from every frame of the film.

It's the third time Kurosawa cast actor Toshiro Mifune in the lead role, and his performance as a rookie homicide detective whose handgun is stolen is powerful and fragile and speaks to the incredible skills Mifune had onscreen. "Stray Dog" is a bona fide film noir thriller, but goes beyond to capture an intense cultural struggle of the time - expressing the real challenge Japan faced as they sought to move past the war and into an era of peacetime. The nation faced a crossroad - as does Mifune's character and that of the criminal who has the weapon.

Some beautiful shots from the movie and an exhaustive examination can be found here at one of my favorite movie blogs, Cinebeats, where writer Kimberly Lindbergs writes:

"There’s just no getting around the fact that the aftermath of WW2 and its effect on the people who survived it is what really fuels Kurosawa’s film. Tohsiro Mifune’s detective is an ex-soldier but the criminal he is chasing is also an ex-soldier. Both men survived similar circumstances but afterward they followed very different paths. The detective and the criminal are both “stray dogs” trying to find their way in a new and unfamiliar world that has risen from the ashes of war. As a filmmaker Kurosawa’s sympathies seem to be with no one and everyone. You’ll find very few cookie-cutter bad guys or good guys in the movie. I think that’s a reflection of what postwar Japan was experiencing at a very trying time. The examination of their previous alliances and adversaries is mirrored in Kurosawa’s film. The complexity of the characters that populate Stray Dog is something that you don’t often see in crime movies made during the ’40s and that’s just one of the reasons why it’s so rewarding. Stray Dog is one of the most nuanced film noirs I’ve seen but it’s also one of Kurosawa’s most style-conscious efforts.

Read it all. And take every opportunity to seek out all of Kurosawa's work. Also just release, a new book reviewing the director's vast body of work titled "Akira Kurosawa: Master of Cinema" by Peter Cowie.

Master is indeed the best word to describe the director.

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And since I mention Cinebeats, another post worth the read concerns a collection of never before published photos, taken in early 1963, of actor Steve McQueen, who was just breaking out as a major film star. And of course, one of the movies which made his career was "The Magnificent Seven", an American western based on Kurosawa's epic "Seven Samurai".

In these images though, we see McQueen in his real world, cruising Hollywood in his Jaguar, taking his wife and his guns to do some target shooting, scouring his record collection and kicking back in pure 1960s Hollywood style.


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Jump forward now to some unEarthly adventures for the summer movie season of 2010 -- "Predators", starring Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Laurence Fishburne, Danny Trejo and many others. The characters, all deadly killers on planet Earth wake to find themselves on a different planet, one used by the aliens called "predators" as a sort of game preserve. In other words, the characters are wild game to be hunted down in a sort of practice mode for the aliens.

Top-notch director Robert Rodriguez turns executive producer for this new movie - and here's the new trailer for the movie:



And here's the other Predator video making rounds on the Internet -- a peek at what a Predator musical might look like ...

Modern @rt?

The Museum of Modern Art announced Monday they have acquired the symbol @ for their permanent collection. Yes, it is an image and yes it did not cost the MoMA anything because it's free. Is it art?

Since the symbol was formally included in the museum's Architecture and Design Department, perhaps the important question should be "Is the image an example of design?"

Here's the thinking according to MoMA:

"It relies on the assumption that physical possession of an object as a requirement for an acquisition is no longer necessary, and therefore it sets curators free to tag the world and acknowledge things that “cannot be had”—because they are too big (buildings, Boeing 747’s, satellites), or because they are in the air and belong to everybody and to no one, like the @—as art objects befitting MoMA’s collection. The same criteria of quality, relevance, and overall excellence shared by all objects in MoMA’s collection also apply to these entities.

In order to understand why we have chosen to acquire the @ symbol, and how it will exist in our collection, it is necessary to understand where @ comes from, and why it’s become so ubiquitous in our world.

Read more of this fascinating history of the use of @, which dates back to the 5th or 6th century, according to MoMA, and was included on the Underwood typewriter made in 1885 but it was electrical engineer Ray Tomlinson, working in 1971 with the ARPA project for the US military who decided to use the symbol (which had no clear purpose at the time) since it has a strong sense of location -- x person "at" this location.

The next time you send an email just realize you are making @rt.

Republicans Failed By Design to Challenge Health Care Reforms

Thanks to a year or more of empty theatrics (call it No Theatre) against any health care reforms, the Republicans in the U.S. and their leaders continue to steer into a wilderness of their own making.

And consider too, before you read further, that I have not been a total supporter of the legislation just adopted by Congress and signed today by the President. I've always considered that the underlying problem in the nation is that receiving medical care is operated as a for-profit business, when it should simply be available to those who are in need of it. That puts me somewhere far outside the realms of current political thought -- which does not mean my ideas are wrong, they are just unpopular.

And the real cost to the Republican leadership is they offered nothing - absolute zero - to solving the problems any and all Americans face in accessing good health care. Instead, loud and angry voices simply shouted "NOOOOOOOOO!!", refused to find common ground, refused to create solutions, refused to respect truthfulness and instead embraced Fear of the unknown as policy. Republican leader John Boehner bemoaned in his final speech against the actions taken by the Democrats as proof the U.S. Congress is a "broken and failed system".

Sir, you are one of the ones who broke the system, a reality shown in recent polling numbers about Congress, which reveals Americans hold Republicans in lower regard than Democrats in a historically-low approval rating of Congress in general.

Still in the mode of No Theatre, GOP leader Rush Limbaugh said Monday:

"They won because they held Congress and the presidency, and therein lies the lesson: We need to defeat these bastards. We need to wipe them out. We need to chase them out of town. But we need to do more than that. We need to elect conservatives.

"So, yeah, preexisting conditions are going to be covered, but who's going to pay for this? Insurance premiums are going to skyrocket in the next couple of years until they are out of business and the government steps in to take over with the...public option. Which is just waiting a couple of months, couple of days, couple years down the tracks. It's just waiting to happen, because this bill mandates the destruction of the private health insurance business."


Funny, I thought a business which lost the ability to compete effectively was simply a loss for a business model and not the End of The World.

Conservative writer David Frum has called the Republican policy failure a "Waterloo" moment, inviting comparisons to the failure of would-be emperor Napoleon:

"We would make no deal with the administration. No negotiations, no compromise, nothing... We followed the most radical voices in the party and the movement, and they led us to abject and irreversible defeat." Republican legislators who wanted to cut a deal, he notes, were trapped and pinned down by "conservative talkers on Fox and talk radio."

In an effort to show some sympathy for the failed strategy of denial and exploitation of the Great Fearful Unknown from Republicans, I offer the following song from the 1960s as the new official theme song of the Republican party:

Trouble Starts With A 'T' and Stands For Tennessee

Back in the saddle again, dear readers, after a bit more than a month of fast and furiously funny work directing the play "I Hate Hamlet" for the Morristown Theatre Guild.

And yes, there are items aplenty I have led slide right past - so why not a quick round-up of some of the blog news in Tennessee and beyond?

-- Morristown City Council Hates Being Videotaped
(via) (never mind these meetings have been taped by concerned residents for some time now.)


-- Morristown Must Borrow Millions To Pay Bills(also via):
"What's the problem? Not enough cash to pay the bills---especially with debt payments coming up.

Where's the money from the 2008 sales tax increase? The City told you to VOTE YES for the sales tax increase. How's that sales tax increase working out?

Where's the money from the 2007 property tax increase? The City raised the property tax rate by 40-cents, then lowered it by 15-cents after the 2008 sales tax referendum was approved. That's still a 25-cent property tax increase. How's that property tax increase working out?

In less than three years, the City has raised property taxes, has raised the sales tax, has boosted sewer fees out the roof, and has cut expenses (supposedly). And they are still crying for more as they talk about a higher hotel-motel tax and a garbage fee and maybe another property tax hike.

-- SEE ALSO: Morristown City Cash Running Out

-- Racketeering A Way Of Life In Cocke Co. --- "Stealing cars and heavy-duty equipment. Defrauding insurers. Selling stolen vehicle parts. Dealing drugs. Spreading violence. Corrupting law enforcement.

-- Tennessee Wants Guns In Bars, But No Oversight On 'Gun-Fairs'
"WASHINGTON – Two guns used in high-profile shootings this year at the Pentagon and a Las Vegas courthouse both came from the same unlikely place: the police and court system of Memphis, Tenn.

Law enforcement officials told The Associated Press that both guns were once seized in criminal cases in Memphis. The officials described how the weapons made their separate ways from an evidence vault to gun dealers and to the shooters.

The use of guns that once were in police custody and were later involved in attacks on police officers highlights a little-known divide in gun policy in the United States: Many cities and states destroy guns gathered in criminal probes, but others sell or trade the weapons in order to get other guns or buy equipment such as bulletproof vests.

In fact, on the day of the Pentagon shooting, March 4, the Tennessee governor signed legislation revising state law on confiscated guns. Before, law enforcement agencies in the state had the option of destroying a gun. Under the new version, agencies can only destroy a gun if it's inoperable or unsafe.

AND: "A Tennessee judge ruled last year that a guns-in-bars law was unconstitutionally vague. It made an exception for establishments that serve at least one meal on five days per week and where "the serving of such meals shall be the principal business conducted."Tennessee has no legal definition to distinguish bars from restaurants.

-- FOOD STAMPS - More Americans Using Them Than Ever Before -- "There are many 20-somethings from educated families who go through a period of unemployment and live very frugally, maybe even technically in poverty, who now qualify," said Parke Wilde, a food economist at Tufts University who has written extensively about food stamp usage and policy.

The increase in food stamp use among this demographic is hard to measure, as they represent a cross section of characteristics not specifically tracked by the Agriculture Department, which administers the program.

But general unemployment figures among the group are stark: Between the ends of 2007 and 2009, unemployment among those aged 20 to 34 rose 100 percent, and between 2006 and 2009, unemployment among those with a bachelor's degree or higher was up 179 percent.

AND FINALLY ---

The state wants a law making it legal to have a a fish aquarium in a barber shop.

I Hate Hamlet- Zany Farce Back for One Final Weekend

When your real estate agent, your girlfriend and your talent agent all demand to hold a seance to contact the legendary actor John Barrymore - then a seance will be held. Poor Andrew, the one-time TV star now facing a chance to play Hamlet in Central Park, has little say in the matter in the opening scenes from "I Hate Hamlet" which has only 3 performances left at Rose Center in Morristown this weekend.

While ghosts and glory and all the other challenges of the characters of Shakespeare are a part of this newest production, the first of the the current 76th season of the Morristown Theatre Guild, the show is first and last a comedy of epic proportions.

An expert ensemble cast brings much talent and much laughter to the show -- which pokes fun at live theater itself, at television, at fame, at the 'slings and arrows' of romance, at sword fights, at what happens when male actors have to perform without wearing pants, and so much more. And "I Hate Hamlet" is not just 'in-jokes' for actors - zany farce may be the best description for the show -- a show I have reluctantly dubbed "The Best Show You Never Saw!!"

Only three shows are left - Friday and Saturday at 8 and Sunday at 2pm at Rose Center in Morristown. Tickets are available at the door or you can order them online at LakewayTickets.com

Don't miss your last chance to see the funniest live production of 2010 here in Morristown. Drive any distance, bring many friends, and be prepared to laugh from start to finish -- yes, even the curtain call is a once-in-a-lifetime event you'll never see anywhere else.

As director for the show, I prefer to stay in the background often, but I'm breaking a basic rule for this post -- some images from the show taken by photographer Roger Fleenor include a shot of me (Number 234 in the list), your humble narrator, and so here I am, putting my own image online. (it's a shot of me thinking or something during rehearsal)

I'm proud beyond description of this show. Drama is easy, dear readers, while doing comedy is the toughest work of all and which must never appear for one moment to be like work at all.

Many more photos of the cast and show, all taken by Roger Fleenor, can been seen online http://Luxworkphoto.zenfolio.com/hamlet

So turn off the TV, come to Prater Hall at Rose Center, leave the dull world of reality behind and enjoy a world without bailouts or recessions or scandals (well, there are a few scandalous moments here) and just revel in the comedy and the laughter.

And I must offer my tremendous thanks to the board of the Morristown Theatre Guild, to the tireless work of Rose Center and to all the volunteers both on-stage and off who have worked so hard to make magic happen at "I Hate Hamlet."