Smell Like Lando, Drink Buffy, and Nations as Dresses

A company will allow you the chance to buy some Star Wars Perfume so you could smell like Princess Leia (slave princess that is) or you could go for the Eau Lando Cologne and smell like Lando - it even has it's own cape.



Or, as offered at the recent San Diego Comic-Con, drink some sodas named for Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters. They really sound awful and even I don't want one.

Apparently, a common thread to the Miss Universe competition is a parade of contestants wearing dresses designed to represent their home nations. Looks like Switzerland is ready to stop being neutral:

And I'll let the ... um ... "fabulous bloggers" at Tom and Lorenzo provide their own caption below for the ... dress?? worn by Miss USA, Rima Fakih:

EAT IT, WORLD! IN AMERICA, OUR STRIPPERS CAN FLY!

Using Fear To Crush America

I do not like having to write some things I've posted here - I spent days trying to put my thoughts together over the madness in America about religious buildings, and I very nearly deleted the whole thing. Why bother? With 145 bajillion blogs to read, it's like scratching at Mt. Everest with a toothpick.

Most people around me seem to be hellbent on vengeance and anger at Others. I don't really want or need any more anger aimed at me. I'm a very creaky construction of ideas, full of doubts, seldom as wise as I wish to be, and like most everyone else I know, it's a real struggle, this journey we all share. I don't want trouble.

But I posted my thoughts anyway. And today I read another bit of writing at Obsidian Wings which I think is worth sharing:

"Whatever some rabble-raising politicians say about one mosque doesn't trump what America really stands for--the values enshrined by our constitution that guarantee equality and freedom for all, whatever your race, religion or creed.

And the Republican Party is almost uniformly against it. And its opposition is manifesting in ways that are as vile as they are counterproductive in terms of keeping us safe.

That's really quite remarkable. The GOP is willing to risk American lives in order to sow hatred and bigotry for a short term boost to electoral prospects."

POSTSCRIPT:
For the next few days, I'm vowing to work harder to write about our world without hand-wringing and worries. Rather than stare right at some horrible thing headed toward my personal vehicle, I'm going to focus on the part of the road I want to be on instead. It can't hurt to try and studies show my vehicle will likely avoid that horrible thing.

The Constant Demonizing

Ir's pretty disgusting to witness the constant demonization of some "Other", which masquerades as social and political debate. The world seldom gets down to the Either/Or state of life, and when a person's world (or a group's) perspective is down to just two options, then one is surely in a battle royale.

The demonizations now seem to be the sole purpose of so-called cable news and talk radio, and yes, giant chunks of the Internet too have been swallowed up on the road to nowhere.

Like you, dear reader, I have been most recently bombarded with righteous and furious anger over the building of a religious center in Manhattan.

Truth is, religious buildings govern much in America -- one can't build an establishment where alcohol is sold unless a certain distance from religious buildings is maintained, a distance which in Tennessee which varies from town to town. 300 feet is too close, 301 feet is fine.

Truth is, some 80 feet away from where a crazed, radical group of terrorists slammed a fully loaded passenger plane into the Pentagon, Islamic services are held daily and have been since just after the horror of the Sept. 11th attacks. And those attacks were made possible by deeply deranged people who demonized all of America for ... well, for everything wrong in the world, I suppose.

And there are two mosques already quite near the site of the fallen twin towers - just blocks away. The one being planned now is meant to house the spillover of members, there isn't enough room for those who wish to attend. More hysteria is taking place here in Tennessee, in Murfreesboro, for a proposed expansion of a mosque and religious center, even though the group has been in Murfreesboro for decades.

Truth is, it is far easier to terrify and frighten people than it is to educate and illuminate them. Mark me down as someone who refuses to give power to those who want to terrify.

Today, I read about many celebrations marking the adoption of the 90th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which allowed women the right to vote. A Tennessee fellow named Harry T. Burn cast the vote leading to victory for the movement, in part because his mother (Mrs. J. L. Burn (Phoebe "Febb" Ensminger) of Niota, Tennessee) admonished him to "be a good boy".

The state's archives notes:

"The nineteenth century witnessed the birth of two monumental movements in American history: abolition of slavery and women’s suffrage. While the two movements appeared to be distinct, both sought to secure the American promise of Liberty and equality for all people. Abolition was the mother of the suffrage movement and growing numbers of people actively supported both reforms.

A large number of women supported abolition and most men believed it was because of women’s high moral standards and their tender hearts. Frederick Douglass himself noted that women were key players in abolition. He believed that the true history of the antislavery cause would one day be written and when it was, women would take up the largest amount of space in that great tome because, “the cause of the slave has been peculiarly woman’s cause.”

During a time when social standing, race, and gender defined a person’s place in society, courageous women were involved in a common cause and dared to take a stand for freedom and equality."

The world is seldom simple. Yes, there are Rights and Wrongs. Knowing which is which, dear reader, demands we all be vigilant and resilient. Constant, bitter, hateful demonization only fuels ignorance and despair.

See Also:
Don't Follow The Terrorists' Script

Indentured Servitude via TDOT Part 2

The Vanderbilt Landscaping company, awarded contracts by the Tennessee Dept of Transportation using money from the federal Stimulus programs and other programs, accused of making legal migrant workers live and work in vile conditions akin to indentured servitude has offered a response to the claims (original post here and on KnoxViews).

Channel 5 News reports:

"Joffery and Larry Vanderbilt said they could not believe the accusations when Hilario Jimenez and a group of protesters from the New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice started protesting outside the company Thursday.

"All the allegations that they were stirring up were just -- it was crazy," said Larry Vanderbilt

They believe Jimenez was trying to retaliate for discipline he received at the end of June.

Vanderbilt Landscaping employs 60 people. The company has several contracts with the Tennessee Department of Transportation to cut grass along highways and interstates.

The H-2B program lets American companies bring people into the country as guest workers if they can't find Americans to fill the jobs.

Jimenez was one of them. Among his accusations -- Vanderbilt Landscaping doesn't pay overtime.

"Hilario made $12.33 an hour. We always pay our guys time and a half, and time and a half equals $18 and something cents an hour," Joffery Vanderbilt said.

The Vanderbilt's showed us Jimenez's last paycheck showing three hours of overtime. They also showed us a payroll journal showing how much he made.

The Vanderbilt's said workers get half hour lunches and two 15 minute breaks in addition to other breaks when they get too hot. As far as the accusation of working at gunpoint, the Vanderbilt's said that too is totally false.

"That is all false. None of us carry guns. That is false," Joffery said.

A Nashville Union leader also brought up the issue of taking jobs from American workers. The Vanderbilt's said they ran ads in newspapers in Nashville and Memphis for three weeks. They said they did 70 interviews, and said most of the applicants decided the work was too hard."

So not one, not one of the applicants accepted the job offered? That seems a real stretch of the imagination, and the firm got numerous contracts from TDOT and more money by claiming no one save migrant workers would take the jobs.

"What you have to understand is that the U.S. guest worker program binds workers to one employer. That means that no matter how badly a company mistreats a guest worker, he or she can't leave to work for anyone else. If they do, they can be arrested and deported back home, where they face crushing debt.

The other thing you have to understand is that Vanderbilt Landscaping got the guest worker visas by claiming to the U.S. Department of Labor that it could not find a single American worker to fill these landscaping jobs. I know a few that would have been interested, but neither Vanderbilt nor the Department of Labor ever gave me a call.

Hiring exploitable guest workers and locking U.S. workers out of jobs let Vanderbilt undercut the competition, and they won $2.48 million in state landscaping contracts paid for with our tax dollars. On top of that, Vanderbilt got $900,000 in guaranteed loans through the federal stimulus program. And instead of putting all that money toward good jobs for struggling Tennesseans, they locked American workers out and locked legal guest workers in.

Why has TDOT not responded to these allegations, or the State of TN? Though complaints have been filed, how long until an actual investigation occurs?

Southern Beale is on the story.

So is Coyote Chronicles.

Indentured Servants via TDOT Contractor

I added the following post at KnoxViews yesterday and am reprinting it here today.

Workers for a Smyrna company TDOT contracted for landscaping say they are being treated to horrible conditions, according to this report from the Daily News Journal. One worker, here on a work visa, was "rescued" this week by a group based in New Orleans. It's a truly grim tale - TDOT is trying to distance itself from the company's actions.

From the report:

A Mexican guest worker says a landscaping company with Tennessee state contracts and a federal stimulus loan guarantee held him and fellow workers like indentured servants, confiscating their passports and subjecting them to constant surveillance by managers who were often armed.
---
At the company housing in Smyrna, 13 or 14 people are lodged in a small house with one bathroom and no beds, Jimenez said. Workers built their own beds, he said. They each pay $100 a month rent, which is deducted from their pay.

They routinely were driven to the office at 6 a.m. and sometimes did not return until 8 p.m., but were not paid for any of the time spent waiting for assignments, going between the office and worksites or cleaning and maintaining the equipment, Jimenez said. Paychecks were often for only about 25 hours of work a week.

TDOT spokeswoman Julie Oaks said in an e-mail that most of the claims made about Vanderbilt Landscaping were outside the purview of the Transportation Department, but it was preparing to review the company’s payroll records

Full story here.

Abbey Faces Criminal Charges For Making Wooden Coffins

Even though St. Joseph's Abbey in Louisiana has been making and selling wooden caskets, by hand, for over 100 years to earn income, the state of Louisiana (at the urging a state board) says they are criminals and are demanding the group must now:

" ... apprentice at a licensed funeral home, learn unnecessary skills and take a funeral industry test. They would also have to convert their monastery into a "funeral establishment" by, among other things, installing equipment for embalming human remains."



Keep in mind, all these monks do is make the caskets and sell them to individuals.

And this LA claim seems to fly against Federal Law:

Before making a trip to a funeral home or casket showroom, you should be aware of the Federal Trade Commissions Funeral Rule. Central to the Funeral Rule is the General Price List (GPL). Directors of funeral homes are required - by this law - to provide a copy of the GPL to anyone who makes a request in person for information about goods and/or services of the establishment. This information is not merely shown to the individual in a bound folder in the office of the funeral home but a GPL copy must be given to the consumer to take home.

Additionally, the funeral home may not refuse to use a casket purchased elsewhere. Nor are they allowed to add a “handling fee” if you order a casket on your own. By Federal Law, you have the right to purchase your casket anywhere you choose. However, it is possible that you will meet with resentment at the funeral home since they will be losing a large percentage of profit on this transaction.

More background here at Institute for Justice.

Tennessee Republicans Vote No on Funding for Teachers, Police, Jobs

All of Tennessee's congressmen and senators voted NO for receiving millions of dollars in funding for Tennessee teachers.

This despite the fact the monies would be taken from a program which eliminates a loophole which allows for U.S. multinational firms to receive foreign tax credits. Some Congressional members called this a 'bailout for special interests'.

Tom Humphrey writes:

"Under a $26 billion "state aid" package given final approval by the U.S. House on Tuesday, Tennessee's share of K-through-12 assistance funding is shown as $195.8 million.

A second part of the package provide money to states based on Medicaid spending. Tennessee's share of that portion is pegged at $240 million and the state budget for the current fiscal year, as enacted, included a "contingent" plan for spending that money. In fact the final figure is less than the $341 million in "contingent" spending envisioned in the Tennessee budget as possible in new federal aid.

The education aid portion was added - and the Medicaid-based portion reduced - after earlier attempts at passage in Congress failed. The final version was opposed by both of Tennessee's Republican U.S. senators and all Republican members of the House who voted. Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Nashville, joined the Republicans in voting no.

---

"If $240 million is received, it would apparently cover $100 million for new and improved buildings at community colleges and state technical schools, $9.6 million toward preparation of a West Tennessee industrial megasite, $10 million for "critical access" hospitals, $10 million for a "jobs opportunity fund" and $90 million for a new Highway Patrol radio communications system.

Steve Benen writes:

"In a statement, DNC Chairman Tim Kaine raises a noteworthy point: "There could not be a better example of the differences in priorities between Republicans and Democrats than this legislation. While Democrats are working to help preserve the jobs of hundreds of thousands of teachers, firefighters, police officers and others, Republicans continue to obstruct legislation while supporting tax cuts that would only benefit Wall Street CEOs and other wealthy Americans. Even after Democrats made every effort to reach out to GOP lawmakers, Republicans fought tooth-and-nail against this critical legislation -- refusing to help those who continue to struggle because of the failed Republican economic policies of the past. This stark difference in priorities could not be more clear to the American people, who now have yet another reminder of which party is on their side."

WVLT has more, including some spread sheets on the program.

UPDATE: My Congressman, Phil Roe, defends his No vote, saying more jobs for teachers and police is an example of wasting money.

Pop-Tart Sushi?

I did not ask for it. Did anyone ask for Pop Tart sushi?

Why not just grab a 5-pound bag o' sugar and chomp into it?

Next Wasilla Mayor - Levi Johnston??

Ah, the Palin Tragi-Comedy Entertainment Machine just never, ever stops.

So what's next for the PTCEM??

Spin-off celebrity Levi Johnston says he wants to run for Mayor of Wasilla, yes, the same town where Sarah herself gained the ability to become a half-term governor and failed V.P. nominee, and it will be a TV show too!!

"Stone and Co., which describes Loving Levi as a "real inside look into who he is as a father, a skilled hunter, an avid dirt biker, and his journey down the road of small-town politics... right after he gets his high school diploma," has already started shooting the pilot, according to Variety.

And though Johnston didn't look as if he was kicking off a political campaign last night at the 2010 Teen Choice Awards, he says that he will fulfill his duties as mayor if elected.

"It's hard to figure me out," he said. "You've got to follow me around. I'm very different. I lead a crazy life. But it will basically be both worlds, my life in Hollywood and back home, the real country boy that I am."

Well, you don't have to follow him around, but apparently somebody's going to.

The 22-year-old father of one ... said that he and Bristol were indeed looking for the right reality-show opportunity during the brief time they were back together, but that they "weren't thrilled with any of the ideas. We got a lot of offers. But the fact is we didn't want to do it."

Too bad "Love Boat" and "Fantasy Island" are off the air ... but I'm kinda thinking none of the PTCEM crew knows that. Or maybe they just think they are all on both shows now.

High School Grad Shreds Public Education System

A valedictorian speech at a New York high school is gaining national attention:

"And now here I am in a world guided by fear, a world suppressing the uniqueness that lies inside each of us, a world where we can either acquiesce to the inhuman nonsense of corporatism and materialism or insist on change. We are not enlivened by an educational system that clandestinely sets us up for jobs that could be automated, for work that need not be done, for enslavement without fervency for meaningful achievement. We have no choices in life when money is our motivational force. Our motivational force ought to be passion, but this is lost from the moment we step into a system that trains us, rather than inspires us".

Tea Party 'Refudiated' In TN Elections

Despite hosting 'national tea party conventions' over the last few months in Tennessee, the so-called 'Tea Party' earned blistering losses in the elections and primaries on Thursday.

Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey, proud Tea Party candidate, landed a distant 3rd place in the Republican primary, just ahead of Basil Marceaux. Other candidates in the mostly mythical 'tea party' got support from media celebs like Sarah Palin and New Gingrich were also ignored by voters.

"Perhaps also the Tennessee race can put to rest the piece of media conventional wisdom that the Tea Party is a significant political movement. They're going to need to start winning some actual elections for that to be true."

NOTE: "Refudiate" is Palin-speak.

NOTE 2: Tennessee Democrats still could not gain ground among voters despite the splintering of the Republican party.

Rep. Roe's Health Care Plan: 'Heal Yourself'

Busy seeking re-election to Congress, 1st District Republican Phil Roe offers his Health Care Plan to the Johnson City Press -- if you're sick, it's your fault and you should heal yourself.

"He said instead, to lower health care costs, Americans should take more responsibility for their own health by using a health savings account, which would provide care up to a set amount using an individual’s personal savings toward their health care."

Forget health insurance. Just save some money up and spend it yourself. And stay away from a doctor and just don't make the mistake of being sick.

TN Urged To Vote Basil Marceaux Thursday!!

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Republican Gubernatorial Primary Battle Watch '010 - Basil Marceaux.com
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election Fox News

Starting Year 6 of Your Cup of Joe Powell

Five years ago today I started this humble but lovable blog, posting three times that day, which I seldom do these days. My final post that day noted that studies at that time indicated 15,000 web logs were being launched daily. That number has likely fallen too. (Though one poorly designed page I found claims some 35,000 blogs are created each hour as of 2009 but I doubt that.)

The goals from day one remain as the Cup of Joe Powell Guidelines -- writing about news, writing about politics, writing about writing and all of the arts, exploring the Internet, and one more goal: push Joe Powell's views and ideas into the global marketplace. The Internet has allowed me to move far beyond annoying people in my community, and I annoy globally today.

I take much pleasure in the fact that as the years have rolled past, many of the most popular posts I've created have been about movies and entertainment and music. I have a deep passion for movies which has now been shared with almost every nation on the planet. Thanks for visiting and come back often!

I've also been greatly supported by many news outlets, other bloggers and writers, and others who quite often share what I write here and I thank them too. And thanks to each and every reader!!

And I'm pretty confident that today, if you click on any random collection in my Archive list, you'll find a heap of stories worth reading and re-reading, tales which will inform and amuse and capture your imagination.

On to Year 6 and Beyond. And Happy Birthday to Cup of Joe Powell!!

BONUS GIFT: While I remain mostly opposed to offering current images of myself, here's one someone posted to Facebook from sometime in the early 1990s, taken backstage at the Morristown Theatre Guild as I was about to play the role of a 1960s hippie director named Ralph in the play "Butterflies Are Free." I look nothing like this person at all. Nice mustache, too. Enjoy!!

UT Project Turns TN Newspapers Digital

Expected to take 2 years to bring the newspapers online, the project will transfer state archived microfilm to digital files, focusing first on the years 1836-1922.

The Tennessean incorrectly notes that Knoxville was home to the 'first newspaper' in TN, The Knoxville Gazette founded in 1791 (though really it began in Rogersville and did not arrive in Knox-vegas until 1792). (And come on, Tennessean - I found that info in 0.32 seconds via Google.)

On the state's huge library of holdings statewide I discovered there have been at least 19 newspapers in Morristown I had not known about, including The Daily Pilot, also known as The Tennessee Pilot, which described itself as "The Republican Organ of the First Congressional District". Later years brought out The Christian Democrat. Good to know there was never ANY media bias until now.

UT's press release on the project.

National list of newspaper holdings on microfilm.

In Which We Say Goodbye To Pooh and Friends

It's always a bit sad to say farewell to friends -- and the cast for "Winnie The Pooh" has but one more performance -- at 2pm today at Rose Center. But don't tell Eeyore it's almost over. He can be slightly gloomy, you know.

And three giant cheers for a cast of young actors who made my summer so much fun!! Thank you all very, very much!!

Only Two Shows Left for Winnie The Pooh

Kanga gives Piglet a Bath

Eeyore, Piglet, Rabbit and family join Pooh

Winnie The Pooh is Thinking

Thanks to my friend Roger Fleenor, an terrific photographer, I can provide a few photos from opening night for Winnie The Pooh. Only two shows left! Saturday night at 8 pm, and Sunday at 2 pm at Rose Center in Morristown. Tickets will be available at the door for only 5 dollars!!

This is the 19th year for the Rose Center Summer Players program, and is the best possible way to spend your summer vacation. My thanks to Rose Center and to the entire cast and crew for their hard work and many talents.

'Winnie The Pooh' Arrives In Morristown

For one weekend only -- join us at the Rose Center in Morristown for the annual Rose Center Summer Players program, as we present "Winnie The Pooh".

The cast are all kids from here in East TN, showtimes are Friday and Saturday at 8 pm, 2 pm on Sunday. We've had a great time working on this show and the cast and I have been laughing and laughing for weeks at our combined silliness. Tickets are only $5. Call 423-581-4330 for reservations.

Does The Internet Never Forget?

A giant slab of self-aggrandizing pride tends to surround the Internet and those who use it.

One thing is for sure - some, like the writer of this NYTimes article, think the Internet is already an Eternal Keeper of All Things Which Will Last Forever.

Yeah, and they told me in grade school that everything I did would go on my "permanent record." Which never existed.

The NYTimes article's headline is utterly wrong: "The Web Means The End Of Forgetting".

But such an 'eternal memory' will work only if you can always access the Web, search it, find information, retrieve it and re-present it to the world. Otherwise, all that info exists in a place none can touch.

Here's the finale to the NYTimes story:

"In the meantime, as all of us stumble over the challenges of living in a world without forgetting, we need to learn new forms of empathy, new ways of defining ourselves without reference to what others say about us and new ways of forgiving one another for the digital trails that will follow us forever."

I suppose not even NYTimes reporters can remember the past ....

"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away".

How Hot Is It?

Looks like a horrible summer all around the globe:

- 71 drown in a single day in Russia: "71 people drowned in Russia in a single day, officials said on Tuesday, as many sought relief from a prolonged heatwave by jumping into lakes and rivers. ... Russia has seen a prolonged heatwave with temperatures reaching 35 degrees Celsius in Moscow on Saturday. Almost 2,500 people have drowned already this year, 1,244 of them in June alone. So far in July, the toll stands at 689. The Interfax news agency said that in recent weeks Mondays had proved by far the most lethal day of the week for swimming in Russia this summer, with 52 also killed on Monday, July 12."

- Sizzling summer shrinks spuds in Germany

- Global rise in heatwaves: "According to the study, the frequency of "heatwave days" will jump from an average of two days per summer during 1961-1990 to around 13 days for 2021-2050 and 40 days for 2071-2100.

- Baltic Sea turns into tropical stew: "A blue-green algae bloom the size of Germany has formed in the Baltic Sea, threatening marine life and even posing a danger to humans, authorities warned this week.