Flood Damage In Middle TN Offers Grim Picture, Music Stars Rally To Help

A map visualizing the widespread and deadly damage from the flooding in Middle Tennessee was presented via Speak To Power:



Steve Ross notes the damage both physically and economically is mind-boggling:

"The economic impact of this disaster is going to be felt throughout the state for some time. The losses in more rural counties, will likely go unnoticed by the majority of the state for even longer. It’s hard for people, particularly city folk (I know I’m one too) to understand the challenges faced by rural Tennesseans. Most have neither the population density, nor the economic diversity to bounce back quickly. Crops don’t grow faster just because you want them to…neither does livestock. That loss of income is going to take a huge toll on these areas."

Tonight, a host of country music stars and many others will aid in fundraising efforts and in offering support which viewers can take part in and many other music events are planned as well - for a complete rundown of the events, click here. Knoxville's WBIR-TV will also simulcast the event tonite.

Disaster In Middle TN Continues

image via The Tennessean

Floods in Middle TN have been a grim force and the devastation has claimed many lives, and there are fears the death toll will climb as flood waters threaten Nashville and surrounding counties - 52 counties are likely to be labeled disaster areas.

I'm sure many readers in Tennessee and beyond would like to help and there's some info on how to do that just below ...

Friends and family in the area are safe as of now, but the cost has been so high for so many.

The Tennessean has a wide range of reports and images here

KnoxViews has more information,

Southern Beale recounts a loss very close to home

No Silence Here has info on how you can help

More on how you can help from Nashvillest.

image via Nashvillest

No End In Sight For Massive Oil Leak in Gulf

No predictions for the oil well blowout in the Gulf offer much other than disaster. The following points to the situation being far worse than first forecast and the long amount of time before repairs can be effected.

"The Gulf of Mexico oil spill may be growing five times faster than previously estimated and is in danger of accelerating out of control, it was claimed yesterday.

Experts said satellite data indicated the oil was gushing from BP’s sunken Deepwater Horizon rig at 25,000 barrels a day. Previous estimates had put the leak at 5,000 barrels a day.

Professor Ian MacDonald, an ocean specialist at Florida State University, said the new estimate suggested the leak had already spread 9m gallons of heavy crude oil across the Gulf. This compares with 11m that leaked from the Exxon Valdez tanker when it hit a reef off Alaska in 1989.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said deteriorating conditions on the sea bed may result in an even greater flow of 50,000 barrels a day, sufficient to produce one of America’s worst ecological disasters.

Experts and officials said their greatest fear was that a disintegration of pipes close to the rig could produce an “unchecked gusher” that would ravage America’s southern coastline.

As the slick slowly drifted towards fragile shorelines from Louisiana to Florida, there was intensified criticism of BP for apparently underestimating the potential scale of the disaster.

The British oil giant faces questions over how much it knew about previous problems with “blowout preventers”, the giant underwater valves designed to shut down oil flow in the event of accidents.

The valves on the rig failed to work after it exploded on April 20. BP technicians have been unable to activate them even though they appear to be undamaged by the blast.

BP has calculated that it might take up to three months to sink a new well that could cut off the flow of the Deepwater Horizon’s oil.

The worst oil spill affecting US waters was caused by a 1979 blowout aboard the Ixtoc, a Mexican rig that discharged at least 130m gallons, 600 miles south of the Texas coast. It took nine months to plug the leak.

Dem Candidate Clark Calls FAIL On Rep. Roe

After I posted on the fact 1st District Congressman (R) Phil Roe made sure his picture was in the public view for a much needed renovation at East High School in Morristown, using funding Roe voted against, many have taken notice.

Rep. Roe went to his go-to PR machine, the Kingsport Times-News and "reporter" Hank Hayes to defend his shameless publicity grab this week, offering a confusing and somewhat lame defense and here are some excerpts:

"When asked for a response, Roe refused to admit he was wrong and insisted his appearance was not hypocrisy.

“We’re paying it back,” Roe, R-Tenn., said of the funds for the project. “The taxpayers in this district are paying the money back. It’s not hypocrisy. If we had put half of that (stimulus) money into roads, water, sewer, bridges and schools, I would have supported it. Very little of the stimulus package had anything to do with infrastructure.”

---

"It’s not that spending money on infrastructure is a bad idea,” Roe said. “I’m an ex-mayor. I absolutely understand infrastructure better than Mr. Forrester, who’s probably never been mayor of anything. I’ve been involved in instituting policies that have invested over $125 million in infrastructure in Johnson City.

“The question is was (the stimulus) the best way to spend the money?"

Meanwhile, the Democrat candidate Mike Clark who aims to unseat Roe (and yes, I'll be supporting Clark's efforts to change the 120-year-plus choke-hold the Republicans have had on this district) offers a response:

"Perhaps he has a perception problem, or perhaps it’s simply that once again, Republican Congressman Phil Roe doesn't understand the concept of what his constituents need and want.

According to a recent story by Hank Hayes in the Kingsport Times News, Dr. Roe is once again arguing - and defending - his 'No' on the stimulus bill.

Roe’s been caught taking credit and making appearances at projects he voted against - and apparently he doesn't feel the need to apologize to his constituents for his misdirection.

Think again, Mr. Congressman. You voted against job creation, and then took credit for that creation. You take credit for improvements in education, new school projects and other things - and you voted against the bill that made them possible. That's plain wrong. If there's anything the constituents of the 1st Congressional district despise it's a politician who attempts to take credit for other people's work.

Dr. Roe said in the recent Times News article: "The question is, was (the stimulus) the best way to spend the money? Could you have gotten more bang for your buck doing it a different way?”

Besides the obvious answer - that the economy needed to be boosted immediately, not at some point after the GOP had 'whittled on it' awhile, one has to wonder if Dr. Roe and his party bosses actually saw any need at all to fix the economy. Time and time again his party's spokesmen - such as Rush Limbaugh - have openly hoped the Obama Administration would fail at its quest to restore this great nation to its pre-Bush era prosperity. Is Dr. Roe in accord with Mr. Limbaugh's desires?

We do know that the way suggested by the Republican Party, as presented by Dr. Roe, is not the answer.

"What we should have done was go ahead and cut taxes for business, and cut capital gains taxes ... so businesses could create jobs and create wealth," he said. Don't be surprised if that sounds familiar; its the same recipe for disaster that created the massive deficit the Obama Administration was handed in January, 2008, the same Republican litany since the Golden Age of Ronald Reagan.

Most economists felt the stimulus package passed by Congress would work - and it has. The bill's passage created a new opportunity for businesses to create more jobs. In fact, many economists feel even more is necessary to keep the economy growing create more jobs and at the same time address our infrastructure needs. But that stands little chance of happening with the lock step Republican Congress and Senate.

According to the New York Times, some of the best-known economic research firms - IHS Global Insight, Macroeconomic Advisers and Moody’s - all estimate that the stimulus package implemented last year - which Dr. Roe was apparently against until he had to be for it in order to face his constituents - has added 1.6m to 1.8 million jobs so far - and it could ultimately create up to 2.5 million jobs. If that isn't enough, the Times adds that "The Congressional Budget Office, an independent agency, considers these estimates to be conservative."

Ask the folks in Morristown - that city received $11.2 million in bonds for school construction, according to the Kingsport Times-News, or ask the folks in Hawkins County - that county received more than $2.6 million for two middle school projects. Johnson City got $8.1 million for a project at Science Hill High School; Kingsport and Sullivan County received $1.2 million for renovations at Dobyns-Bennett High School and $15.4 million to renovate and expand Ketron Intermediate School.

Overall, 56,000 jobs in Tennessee were created through this year’s first quarter, with nearly $6 billion in stimulus money being committed to the state. In a state the size of Tennessee, that's a lot of jobs.

Dr. Roe, if your polling data tells you 87 percent of your constituents think the stimulus bill was a bad idea, perhaps you need to ask your polling company to change its methodology - because its made a lot of people in your district very happy despite your best efforts to paint it otherwise. Besides that, however - it comes down to leadership. A true leader will see the benefits to his constituents and vote for the people who put him in office, not for the Republican hierarchy who tells him how to vote.

As we've said before, it all comes down to what you value. And once again, Dr. Roe and his Republican bosses value politics over people - even while they try to take credit for others' success."

Vacationing A 'Human Right' Says Europe

Vacationing is a human right according to the European Union and they are launching a program to make sure those in Europe who might not be able to afford one will still get one.

EU member nations already mandate 4 weeks of vacation per year, and some countries mandate more (6 weeks in France). And the plan proposed by EU Commissioner Antonio Tajani calls for folks in southern Europe to travel North and vice-versa, meaning they are not calling for subsidized vacations to Tahiti or Vegas.

Yes, subsidized:

"The plan -- just who gets to enjoy the travel package has yet to be determined -- would see taxpayers footing some of the vacation bill for seniors, youths between the ages of 18 and 25, disabled people, and families facing "difficult social, financial or personal" circumstances. The disabled and elderly can also be accompanied by one other person. The EU and its taxpayers are slated to fund 30% of the cost of these tours, which could range from youth exploring abandoned factories and power plants in Manchester to retirees taking discount trips to Madrid, all in the name of cultural appreciation.

"The commission is literally considering paying people to go on holiday," Mats Persson, of pro-reform think-tank Open Europe, told Britain's News of the World. "In this economic climate, it's astonishing that the EU wants to bribe people with cheap holidays."

Since the nation of Greece is in financial meltdown, it's unclear if the entire EU will go along with this plan.

I am willing to travel (on a paid basis) to explore this topic further.

Arizona Wants To See Your Papers, Citizen!

Ill-conceived, thoughtless and dangerous, Arizona's new law on targeting illegal aliens is prompting much discussion. I doubt any resolution or repeal will occur short of a lengthy court battle. Still, a couple of blog posts from Washington Monthly raise some critical questions.

Here's one post:

"Linda Greenhouse, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Supreme Court correspondent for the New York Times, isn't known for writing provocative opinion pieces. But the new, odious immigration measure in Arizona appears to have genuinely outraged Greenhouse. Good for her.

...I'm not going back to Arizona as long as it remains a police state, which is what the appalling anti-immigrant bill that Gov. Jan Brewer signed into law last week has turned it into.

What would Arizona's revered libertarian icon, Barry Goldwater, say about a law that requires the police to demand proof of legal residency from any person with whom they have made "any lawful contact" and about whom they have "reasonable suspicion" that "the person is an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States?" Wasn't the system of internal passports one of the most distasteful features of life in the Soviet Union and apartheid-era South Africa?

Greenhouse's question about Goldwater's reaction to such madness also reminds me that there's another group of small-government-minded folks who claim to be concerned by authoritarian tactics. Reader B.H. emailed this poignant observation last night:

Just a question I haven't heard anybody ask: Shouldn't the tea party crowd be having a cow over this new immigration bill that Arizona just passed? Doesn't that sound like big government tyranny to them? Giving the police the power to demand "papers" from someone just on their own suspicion?

Any chatter from the tea party folk to this effect? I haven't seen any.

Nor have I. It's almost as if the right-wing crowd is only offended by government abuses when they're imaginary."

And more:

As the former Republican congressman [and talk show host Joe Scarborough] put it, '...It does offend me when one out of every three citizens in the state of Arizona are Hispanics, and you have now put a target on the back of one out of three citizens, who, if they're walking their dog around a neighborhood, if they're walking their child to school, and they're an American citizen, or a legal, legal immigrant -- to now put a target on their back, and make them think that every time they walk out of their door they may have to prove something. I will tell you, that is un-American. It is unacceptable and it is un-American.'

UPDATE: In comments below, Mike Silence points to one "tea party" blogger who speaks out against the Arizona law.

If Chickens Were Money: A GOP Health Care Reform Idea

Sue Lowden, former chair of the Republican Party in Nevada, and seeking to replace Sen. Harry Reid if she wins her primary, has been getting grilled and ridiculed for comments she has made that a barter system is the way to cut down costs for medical care -- notoriously quoted as saying that in "olden times our grandparents, they would bring a chicken to the doctor, they would say I’ll paint your house, they would do... that’s the old days of what people would do to get health care with their doctors. Doctors are very sympathetic people. I’m not backing down from that system."

Wow, our economy must really be tanking beyond the levels of the Depression from the 1930s if trading livestock or labor for medical care is seen as a viable and desirable plan.

The jokes are flying fast and furious, and there's a Facebook page wanting to provide Lowden with "one million virtual chickens". Or I suppose one could donate chickens rather than cash contributions to her campaign and she can convert those cluckers to dollars.

If you want to calculate your chicken-to-dollars abilities, a nifty calculator has been created.

Still, such weighty thinkers as those at the Wall Street Journal thinks she has a great idea which should not be dismissed:

"No less an authority than the American Medical Association’s own newspaper, American Medical News, wrote about it just last year, calling it a “creative way to collect from patients during difficult economic times.”

Kaiser Health News also tipped a hat to bartering last year, reporting that “health care is surpassing auto repair and advertising as the service in most demand, say people who run local barter exchanges.” One doctor in Vermont “swapped Viagra samples for maple syrup.”

Even Lowden’s reference to livestock may not be so far off the mark. As American Medical News reported, an office manager for an orthopedics practice in Wisconsin said one doc bartered surgery for “a full cow’s worth of beef.”

All of which leads me to ask ...
Q: Why did the chicken cross the road?

A: To avoid being used to cover a pre-existing condition.

TN Democrat Party Serves Up A Cup Of Joe

I received an email today from the TN Democrat Party mentioning a story reported on this blog and nowhere else this week (well, KnoxViews did link to my previous post too as did Speak To Power in West TN):

NASHVILLE - Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Chip Forrester pointed out the hypocrisy of U.S. Rep. Phil Roe who appeared recently at a Hamblen County High School groundbreaking ceremony despite the congressman's vote against legislation funding the $11.1 million project.

Morristown-Hamblen High School East is receiving an interest-free loan to build additional classrooms through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which has been credited for generating 2.8 million jobs since its enactment. Roe voted against the Recovery Act.

"It's more than a little disingenuous for Mr. Roe to show up at the high school and try to take credit for a project whose funding he voted against," Forrester said. "The congressman should be embarrassed for voting against a measure that is enabling local communities to stretch their dollars, reduce taxes and improve infrastructure.

"Too many elected officials like Congressman Roe are playing partisan politics instead of doing what is right for communities and the people who live and work there. Instead of grandstanding and trying to score cheap political points in Washington, Mr. Roe should focus on problems in his district."

The President's Council of Economic Advisers estimates that investments made through the Recovery Act have boosted employment in Tennessee by 56,000 jobs through the 1st quarter of 2010. Nearly $6 billion in federal stimulus money has been committed to Tennessee.

"In times like these, we need to put aside our political differences and solve our problems," Forrester said. Let's focus our energy and resources on creating jobs, ensuring our children get top-notch educations and making our communities stronger and safer.

"I hope Congressman Roe will admit he was wrong for voting against the stimulus funding," he added.

Rep. Roe Celebrates Funding He Voted Against

1st District Congressman Phil Roe made sure to attend the groundbreaking ceremony for much-need renovations at East High in Morristown on Monday - even though the 11.1 million dollars in funding came from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which he voted against. As did every Republican in Congress.

Rep. Roe did not want that money to go to schools in Tennessee and continues to oppose the ARRA program. Unless he has a re-election campaign.

UPDATE: The Tennessee Democrat party picks up the story.

Congressional Candidate Challenges the Space-Time Continuum

1st Congressional District candidate Mike Clark of East Tennessee is not just running for office according to writer Hank Hayes at the Kingsport Times-News ... he is challenging the very order of the Universe!

Is that an exaggeration? Take a read of Hank's article: the headline reads "Clark Bucks History In Run For 1st Congressional District"

"ELIZABETHTON — Democrat Mike Clark kicked off his campaign Saturday to run against political history in Northeast Tennessee’s GOP-controlled 1st Congressional District.

At an event held at the Carter County Courthouse in Elizabethton, Clark announced he’ll challenge first-term GOP incumbent U.S. Rep. Phil Roe for a congressional seat Democrats haven’t held since Reconstruction in the 19th century.

I understand the thought pattern here, the "narrative" being spun by the politicos of East Tenn -- "why Joe, honey," they say to me while giving me the benefit of their Timeless Wisdom, "you just have to understand that no Democrat has been elected to hold that seat in Congress since, well, that awful war of secession, and we've always voted Republican since then."

Perhaps the politicos are right - voters today make their decisions based on events from the 19th century. I know a heap of folks who live up in here who never want to waver past the line demarcating the 19th and 20th, much less the 21st century.

But I also know that for this election cycle, Hayes and the KPT have been actually reporting on a Democrat candidate's existence, something they were loathe to do until most recently. (also see this follow-up)

So things can change, especially in the media and especially in our 21st century on that new-fangled YouTube page. And from what I'm reading in the Morristown newspaper, Democrat State House Representative John Litz, now seeking the Hamblen County Mayor seat, is raising more money for his campaign than his Republican opponent, Bill Brittain.

A full draft of Mike Clark's speech follows at this link, and here's a bit of it I thought a lot of residents here in East Tennessee might like to hear about:

"You know, as I'm beginning my travels across the First District of Tennessee, one question - well, besides, "Who the heck are you?" - that I keep getting asked is, "Does a Democrat actually stand a chance this November? After all, this is a red state and East Tennessee hasn't elected a Democrat Congressman since, oh, 500 years, or something like that …"


Actually, the last Democrat to go to Washington from East Tennessee was Robert L. Taylor, and he took office in 1878 and was defeated for reelection in 1880 - leaving office in early 1881. That's 129 years and counting since this district sent a Democrat to Congress.


Well, that's why we are here today. We didn't bring the DeLorean from 'Back to the Future,' we can't hit Mr. Peabody's WayBack Machine. We don't have the ability to go back and change the past - we have to create a new future ourselves. Starting here. Starting now.


Can a Democrat win in November? They say we can't. They say the odds are stacked against us. They say Democrats in East Tennessee are disheartened. There aren't enough Democrats to win, they say.


Well, let's look at a few other things they said:

They said an African-American could never be elected president … but he was. We made history.


They said we'd never get meaningful health care reform - and we did. We made history.


It isn't going to be easy. It's going to take dedication and a lot of hard work. But we know that. We need to build on 2008, return everyone we can to the polls this November and bring in a lot of new voters too. We cannot let our spirit down. We have to keep it in mind that we have the right values, we have the right views on the issues facing America, and the First District, today. And we have an outlook that is positive, not negative. Republican leader Newt Gingrich says that if and when the GOP gains the majority in Congress, they're going to repeal everything we've worked hard to obtain - not just health care, but in education, the economy, banking reform - back, back, back to the failed policies of the past; the nasty politics of the past.


You can't go back to the future, despite catchy movie titles. You have to move forward, dare to try - we have to fight like our future depends on it. There is no other choice than to reject the failed policy of the past and instead keep moving forward to prepare for the needs of the future. Yes to innovation, Yes to common sense solutions, Yes to America's children!


Our opponent is not a Yes person, apparently. He's hard to reach - forget the open door, he has open line Friday over the telephone."

"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'