Republicans Blocking Jobs and Economic Growth

Let's take a break from the Spooky Happenings at Frightmare Manor (search the keyword "halloween" for those tales).

Escpecially since weird and oddly convoluted tactics from Republicans seems to be hellbent on scaring voters, especially when it comes to our economy and on job creation.

"So where are the jobs? Republicans have been working hard to block them."

Why anyone in East TN or beyond would support the Republican candidates who back them is a pure mystery to me ... maybe folks need to stop swilling down Tea Party Koolaid and stop watching Beck, Hannity and that whole deranged crew ... read on:

Conservatives will predictably spin these newest numbers into attacks on Democrats, but in reality, the GOP's policies would be a disaster for the American people.

On September 15th, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) unveiled a two-point plan to maintain George W. Bush's tax rates for two years and return spending to 2008 levels. Despite his claim that returning to Bush's economic policies would "create jobs," analysis finds that it would actually kill over a million of them.

The GOP's "Jobs Plan" Would Kill Over 1 Million Jobs. According to the Economic Policy Institute, "The adverse impact of the spending cuts, meanwhile, would overwhelm the limited growth impact associated with the tax cuts, substantially decreasing output on net. Using a rule of thumb for the impact of government spending on employment, we estimate that this loss of GDP will correspond to a loss of roughly 1.1 million jobs, relative to a fiscal path that maintains spending at the president's proposed 2011 levels and a tax policy that did not extend tax cuts for upper-income taxpayers." [Economic Policy Institute, 9/23/10; emphasis added]

As Boehner's plan touches on and the Pledge to America reiterates, the party's main proposal to boost the economy is to make President George W. Bush's income tax rates permanent. While this is apparently the best the GOP can do, the Congressional Budget Office says it is the worst way to grow the economy.

CBO: Among Eleven Proposals To Spur Economic Growth, Cutting Income Taxes Ranks Last. Below is a chart created by the Congressional Budget Office to show the "cumulative effects of policy options on employment in 2010 and 2011":

[Congressional Budget Office, 9/28/10]

The Pledge to America indicates that Republicans will help small businesses to spark job creation. Unfortunately for the GOP, though, their plan doesn't actually help small businesses.

CAP: The Pledge To America Does Not Help American Small Businesses. According to the Center for American Progress, "The proposal is an 'upside-down' tax break that gives the largest benefits to those who already have the highest incomes. A deduction reduces the taxable income and thus the taxes that somebody has to pay. A business owner with lots of business and other income will thus get a government subsidy of 35 cents for each dollar in deduction, while a small business owner in the 15 percent tax bracket will get 15 cents for each dollar in deductions... Larger businesses already enjoy advantage over smaller businesses in terms of access to credit markets. And smaller businesses have greater needs to invest and to hire than larger, well-established businesses. The GOP proposal, though, shovels the money where it is not needed and thus exacerbates the advantages of large over small." [Center for American Progress, 9/27/10; emphasis added]

When it came time to offer a helping hand to those hit hardest by the recession, Republicans simply said "no." The GOP refused to renew unemployment benefits, allowing them to lapse, which left thousands of America's jobless alone in the dark for six weeks. Republican candidates across the country have declared war on unemployment benefits, saying they are unconstitutional and the jobless are "spoiled."

Not only do unemployment benefits help the very people who need it, but they are also the most effective way to stimulate economic growth.

CBO: Extending Unemployment Benefits Is "Both Timely And Cost-Effective In Spurring Economic Activity And Employment." According to the Congressional Budget Office: "Extending additional unemployment benefits would directly help those who would otherwise exhaust their unemployment benefits between March and December of this year. Households receiving unemployment benefits tend to spend the additional benefits quickly, making this option both timely and cost-effective in spurring economic activity and employment. A variant of this option would extend assistance with paying health insurance premiums, which would allow some recipients to maintain health insurance coverage they would otherwise have dropped." [Congressional Budget Office, 2/23/10]

CBO: Unemployment Benefits Are The Most Effective Way To Boost The Economy. Below is a chart created by the Congressional Budget Office to show the "cumulative effects of policy options on employment in 2010 and 2011":

[Congressional Budget Office, 9/28/10]

And worst of all, Republicans have fallen down on the job when Americans needed them most. During the worst of the recession, as progressives fought to create jobs and help those who were hurting, Republicans failed to act.

Republicans Opposed The Recovery Act, Which Provided Up To 3.3 Million American Jobs. Republicans opposed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. According to the Congressional Budget Office, "CBO estimates that ARRA's policies had the following effects in the second quarter of calendar year 2010... Increased the number of people employed by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million." [HR 1, Vote #46, 1/28/09; Congressional Budget Office, August 2010]

Republicans Fought Increased Investment In Clean Energy Technology, Which Would Create Up To 1.9 Million American Jobs. Republicans fought bills to increase America's investment in clean energy technology and reduce carbon pollution. According to the University of California-Berkeley, "new analysis by the University of California shows conclusively that climate policy will strengthen the U.S. economy as a whole. Full adoption of the ACES package of pollution reduction and energy efficiency measures would create between 918,000 and 1.9 million new jobs." [HR 2454, Vote #477, 6/26/09; UC Berkeley, accessed 1/22/10]

Republicans Opposed Health Care Reform, Which Will Create Up To 4 Million American Jobs In The Next Decade. Republicans voted en masse against the Affordable Care Act, the health care reform bill signed into law. According to the Center for American Progress, "Relative to baseline employment forecasts from the Employment Projections Program at the U.S. Department of Labor, we estimate that moderate medical savings from health care modernization as envisioned under the legislation now before Congress would lead to an average of 250,000 additional jobs created annually. Under the larger assumption about savings due to health care reform, 400,000 new jobs a year would be created on average." [HR 3590, Vote #165, 3/21/10; Center for American Progress, New Jobs Through Better Health Care, January 2010]

Republicans Blocked Program That Supports 250,000 Jobs. Republicans have repeatedly blocked the extension of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, supports "jobs for some 250,000 parents and youth who are otherwise unemployed, many of whom have been without work for some time." [Huffington Post, 9/29/10; CBPP, 9/2/10]

In Memoriam - John Lennon

Some Secrets of Frightmare Manor

This is another in a continuing series of posts this month as I write about being a performer in the immensely popular Frightmare Manor here in East Tennessee and I'm telling some of the secrets and the behind-the-scenes events at the Manor. (UPDATE - go here to learn about Frightmare Manor 2011!)

I've been one of those creepy fans horror movies and books and stories for as long as I can remember. And I've been a part of haunted houses and shows, and even put on a few of those myself, also for as long as I can remember. And I have a few insights which I'm happy to share - but just a few, since some secrets must be kept. But feel free to ask questions in the comments section below.

Here's one thing I do know - once a person or a group go into a haunted attraction, like Frightmare Manor, just walking thru the dark, creaky house sets the heart to pounding and the imagination tells us this darkness is home to an Un-nameable Horror, concealing those things which always are with us, buried just below the senses. But you know it's there. So when something - a shape, a cold hand, a voice - starts moving out of the dark and toward you, the un-named becomes real.

So what scares you most?

It's not to hard to thing of some very real fears humans have - we live in a time of economic uncertainty, a time of terrorist warnings, and being fearful of strangers and worries about 'secure' schools and borders and homes seem to surround the nation.

But that's not the type of fear or scares I mean. And even if you can't identify that thing which frightens you, we at Frightmare know ... and know how to make it come to life.

Here's some background on what it takes to be one of the insiders at Frightmare - I was one of over 300 applicants for acting jobs. And honestly, some of the folks I met during the application process were plenty scary already. And we all love our jobs - which is bad news for you!

Chris and his hard-working crew have taken almost a year to take an old house and the surrounding woods and other locations and transform it all into a nasty stew of scary, creepy, crawly things. Several performers arrived with their own costumes and masks and other ideas too. One of my favorites is this wee lad who haunts a room full of discarded and dirty toys. That boy is mighty freaky.

From my location, I can tell when a new group is moving thru the Manor because I hear the screams. The howls and pure girly screams (from men, women and children) are always louder than anything else, even though there are many strange sounds filling the Manor already. Then there's the trail thru the woods outside. But more on that later.

Frightmare also offers a money-back event - if you can endure the intense and spectral special scares, you'll get your money back. What is the challenge? Well, I'm sworn to secrecy on that, and really only a few people know exactly what happens during the challenge. The best answer I can give you is that you'll have to sign a waiver first, you must endure it all alone and you'll have to eat something, drink something and do something ... none of it simple or easy. On opening night this past Friday, some 40 brave souls signed up for the challenge ... only one succeeded and got their money back.

Heh heh.

We know what scares you, even if you don't.

We're open again this Friday and Saturday night from 7 p.m til midnight - you can get tickets right now at the main website. If you dare.

A Month of Fear at Frightmare Manor

UPDATE: Find out about Frightmare Manor 2011 here!!

Here in East Tennessee, there is already a chill in the air. October always brings a month of madness and mirth and your Cup of Joe Powell is marking Halloween 2010 with a special insiders view of fears and frights and all things creepy and spooky.

I've taken a job for the month to terrify (even more than usual) all souls brave enough to experience Frightmare Manor in Talbott, TN. This haunted attraction opens tonite and should you have the courage to venture into the dark, I'll be there.

This annual event provides several different attractions and offers an experience you won't forget. So I'll be posting often this month on what it's like to work in a place meant to make you scream and shiver. Myself and some 60 other folks from East TN will emerge from of the shadows, shuffling towards you - it might be some undead thing, or some deranged madman, or something even worse.

As we Frightmare Folk say - this is like Christmas for Crazy People. Last year, crowds of people lined up until one or two in the morning to take this freaky ride. This year, I'm onboard - which means just when you think you might make it through ... something wrong is going to happen.

I won't say just where or when you might encounter me - but I can tell you that all your senses will be assaulted, there will be chainsaws, splattered nastiness all over, a graveyard, some undead children, and much more.

Here's a commercial to make you curious:




And here's the main website where you can learn more and get tickets.

And you are invited to join us.

We know what scares you.

I will be happy to answer any questions you might have about this dark and dreadful event ... yes, any question.
Frightmare Manor is open Oct 1, 2, 8, 9, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 and Nov. 5 and 6.

The Perfect Slice

A blogger has taken up the challenge of eating and review-blogging of every slice pizza place in Manhattan called Slice Harvester. He's just passed the year mark.

Me, I am a pizza-holic. If it's near me, I've probably already eaten it. I'm a pizza snob too, real pizza too, not this dessert/haute cuisine stuff either. I completely agree with the blogger, who writes in his first post:

"I am going to eat a slice of pizza at every pizzeria in New York City. I'm going by neighborhood, starting in Manhattan, getting a plain slice at every place. I am fucking sick of the current trend in Pizza Journalism that's all ... artichoke guacamole tahini pizza on rice dough. That shit isn't pizza. Sorry. The only instances where "not pizza" actually is pizza are Zante's in San Francisco on like, 27th and Mission that makes Indian Pizza, and the Turkish Pizza places in Berlin. The rest of it, not pizza. Brie cheese with prosciutto bits and a horseradish mustard, cooked to perfection on flat dough in a hot oven? Sounds delicious, not pizza."

I'm always questing for a good slice, and I loved their gigantic selection and the massive size of some slices. And take a look at this map and see Manhattan is in this incredible pizza joint trifecta of Long Island and New Jersey.

So far he's tracked only two 'perfect slices'

Another recent post features a recounting of a tale from the blogger about touring in Alabama with a rock band and a place called The Hot Spot. His bandmate is stopped by police in 'bama, but walks away with this tale, which prompts a real test of perception too.

"So we were like, "WHAT HAPPENED?!"
And he goes, "Well, he asked for my ID, and I handed it to him and said, 'yessir,' and he goes, 'I didn't know you Maryland boys had an accent?' And I said, 'well I'm a Southern man just like yourself.' And he says, 'Well what're you doin' drivin' around in a New York van?' and I told him I was on tour with a rock'n'roll band and I had moved up to New York cause there ain't much rock'n'roll in Maryland. And he asked what we sing about and I said, 'you know, rock'n'roll things. Fallin' in love... hatin' your boss... America.' And he said I seemed like a nice boy and got the judge on the phone and told him I shouldn't get charged with the full felony hit and run because it was all obviously a big mistake and that I should probably just do something I could settle up over the phone or through the mail because I had a rock'n'roll tour to finish."

So anyway, I have something of an affinity for places called the Hot Spot. I also realize typing it out that more than anything this story just highlights what kind of shit you can get away with if you have white skin privilege in our racist society. I don't think that it cheapens the story or the moment or the cool and clever way my buddy talked his way out of a jam, but I do think it's too glaring not to at least mention. I don't want to be the kind of person that just coasts through the world with no acknowledgment of the privileges I benefit from. Maybe for homework all my readers can think about a way they've benefited from privilege at some point, whether it be class privilege, gender privilege, skin privilege, and just reflect on what that says about the world."

Special Blogging Announcement

On Friday, expect some changes on this blog. It looks like these changes will be a little scary for many readers.

Stink Bug Legislation and Other Oddities

The arrival of a wee insect, the Stink Bug, means ... federal government action?

"15 lawmakers are eyeing a proposal to reclassify the species under federal guidelines to expand regulatory authority over the bugs.

In other words, faced with a environmental problem, the first instinct from conservative Republican politicians is to ask the federal government to do something. Indeed, they're specifically asking for federal bureaucrats to sweep into action and use expanded federal regulations to help people."

But the Republicans do not want to update food safety laws, because that's just more meddling government.

"The legislation, which seeks to update food safety laws nearly a century old, passed the House in July 2009 and will die if it does not clear the Senate by the end of the Congress."

Across the ocean, Great Britain's police are pondering using small unmanned drones to watch over the public. Now, if we could just use such drones to target dubious insects.

Republicans Trash and Cash Strategy

I was speaking briefly yesterday with an elderly fellow about our soured economy and he said "Boy, some change we got", which was meant to be a bite at President Obama. It isn't like he voted for him, or ever liked him at all.

The narrative many follow now is that everything was hunky dory until Jan. 2009 when Obama was sworn into office, neatly avoiding all reality, ignoring the crisis craziness about our tanking economy in 2008 when Republican candidate for prez John McCain held a press conference saying the presidential debate should be canceled so politicos could rally in Washington for an emergency meeting (which never really happened). But now, of course, all changes enacted to stop the battering of our economy are horrible, evil failures from an evil Marxist dictator.

Republicans hunt out cameras like they're supermodels, trash all policy plans from Democrats in Congress and from President Obama's administration, then run home, checks in hand from those same policies, and claim success for saving jobs. And not just a few of them - the list is long and part of the public record.



Rep. Phil Roe here in East Tennessee did it too.

And Senators Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander did the same, as they arrived to cheer the re-opening of a Tennessee auto plant, thanks to a plan they called evil.

The crowd of employees booed them.

"At a ceremony to celebrate the news on Friday, Tennessee politicians flocked to get a piece of the happy action, including Republican Senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, along with Rep. Marsha Blackburn -- all three of whom voted against the auto bailout. The UAW employees in attendance booed lustily, saving their strongest scorn for Corker, who made no friends in union ranks two years ago when he argued that no federal aid should go to American car companies until and unless worker wages and benefits were reduced to levels "competitive" with foreign labor.

GM's employees did end up taking a hit in the managed bankruptcy organized by the Obama administration. But it wasn't as brutal a blow as southern Republicans representing work-for-hire states like Tennessee would have preferred. And since it was a Democratic administration that ultimately came to the rescue of the auto industry, the auto-bailout immediately had to be dubbed "a major power grab." Socialism! Or Fascism! Whatever -- it was bad, bad, bad!"

19th Century Pulp Fiction

Emory University has launched a huge online library of books known as Yellowback Novels, which were marketed mostly at railway travelers in Great Britain in the late 19th century. The books were digitized with a new scanner system, so even the ads for unusual products of the era are included in many of the books.

Emory has placed 1,200 of these novels as PDF files online:

"Yellowbacks were cheap, 19th century British literature sold at railway book stalls, with colorful, sensational covers to attract buyers. While some were well-known books such as “Sense and Sensibility,” many of the yellowbacks were obscure titles by authors unknown nowadays. “They were the equivalent of a popular novel you’d read on a plane today,” says David Faulds, MARBL’s rare book librarian.

"The genres and topics include romance, detective fiction, war, biography, medicine, horse racing, hunting and fishing. “Some of these books are so rare that they’ve been lost to history,” Faulds says. “Scholars and casual readers can now discover these works. There may be aspects of them that are of interest not only to literary researchers but also social historians looking at Britain or America in the 19th century or women’s lives in this period – what they were reading, how they are portrayed or what they wrote.”

You’ll need Adobe Acrobat Reader. To access the yellowbacks:

1. Click here http://bit.ly/bPUGd4 for a preloaded search of "Emory digital library" yellowbacks, or search for a yellowback title or author of your choice.

2. Click on the selection you wish to read, or click on the green "online access" link next to the entry. (Or scroll down under details, and at the second blue arrow, right-click on "PDF version," then click on "open in new window.")

3. The yellowback will load; note the first page is usually blank. You can then save the novel to your desktop or a flash drive and read it at your leisure."

Rebuilding At World Trade Center Site

Some blog writers were moaning and wailing this past weekend that the site of the demolished World Trade Centers remain an empty blighted hole. But that isn't really true at all.

"But nine years after the September 11 attacks, there finally are tangible signs of progress. A memorial and a tree-filled plaza will be completed next year, in time for the 10th anniversary. The museum will open in 2012. And the steel framing of One World Trade Center—now at 36 stories—is clearly visible above the fence."

--

"The officials spoke on the 10th floor of what is perhaps Ground Zero’s biggest success story so far: Seven World Trade, a 52-story Skidmore Owings & Merrill-designed office building that opened in 2006. And while all the speakers praised what construction they could see outside the floor’s tall windows, many also acknowledged the start-stop nature of the process thus far."

A fairly thorough description of all the construction underway can be found at the Architectural Record blog.

And two related stories

-- some of those killed that terrible day were Muslims gathered in the prayer room in the South Tower.

-- former "Nightline" host (a TV show dedicated originally to following every detail of Americans held hostage in Iran in the late 1970s and perpetuated and endlessly imitated as daily and often hourly 'fearcasts') Ted Koppel, thinks the press and the public and the government are playing by bin Laden's rules.

Songs For September Nights

Moronic Inferno

A word of advice for the TN pastor wants some of that book- burning publicity, to go along with the media frenzy for one alleged pastor Terry Jones.

"Those who don't build must burn." -- Ray Bradbury

TVA's Millions for Toxic Ash Spill Finds Odd Uses

The Knoxville News Sentinel details some true oddities as TVA attempts to "repair" the massive damage from their horrific ash spill to local communities. The KNS reports, among other things:

"After months of talks, a deal had been struck for TVA to give Roane County governments $43 million to help offset the effects of the Dec. 22, 2008, ash spill.

But as the anniversary of that pronouncement looms, questions remain.

The special eight-member Roane County Economic Development Foundation created to approve funding requests has met four times since it organized.

That board - four TVA executives and the mayors of Kingston, Rockwood, Harriman and Roane County - has encumbered all but $900,000 of that payoff in those brief sessions.

Some contend the money was allocated for projects that have nothing to do with the ash spill, including $1.7 million for restoration of an old Harriman movie theater.

Others have questioned if funding those projects is a proper use of TVA ratepayer money.

The foundation's charter states the money is for "economic development projects, including infrastructure capital projects such as school, sewer and water projects, which will contribute to the long-term recovery and success of the communities affected by the ash slide…''

A University of Tennessee professor who studies environmental disasters and the responses to them calls the payment the equivalent of "slush funds that just go to these general purpose needs."

---

The Swan Pond community next to the power plant continues to be affected daily by the disaster, Ellis said.

Residents there "received nothing from the $43 million," he said, and there were no community meetings to ask for citizen input.

Button and Ellis note the foundation doesn't include as members any local citizens hard-hit by the spill.

"I think it was the wrong move to put so many politicians on the foundation," Ellis said. "There should have been some regular people from the community."

---

Roane Views has also been on the story, including the cast sums of money to be spent on PR efforts to bolster TVA's disaster.

Sadly, the EPA had bypassed those in East Tennessee as they held hearings on the dangers/risks/effects of such a massive spill. Finally, the EPA has set a date to hear from the victims of that enormous disaster - Roane Views says a hearing is set in Knoxville.

Camera Obscura: Cuban Zombies; Museum of Uncut Funk; Bruce Campbell Uncensored

Film fans of the world - it's going to get grim and a little funky today.

Usually a movie set in Cuba is a spy-filled moral quagmire, but Argentina-born director Alejandro Brugues has another vision. It's a Cuba overrun by flesh 'n brain eating zombies and the one man who wages his own revolution to reclaim the island nation and preserve it.

The movie aims for comedy, not just horror, right off the mark with the title of the movie now in production "Juan of the Dead" (aka "Juan de los Muertos"). Hipsters have been calling the growth of comedy and zombie blends Zomedy or as I prefer, the Zom-com.

24FramesPerSecond has the details and a few teaser trailers focusing on the film's titular hero, a red-converse-sneakered slacker named Juan who decides to make the horror of the relentless walking dead into a new way to earn a living:

"One day Havana begins to fill with zombies. Juan decides that the best way to cope with it is to prosper. "Juan of the dead, kills your loved ones" is his slogan, and its mission is to help people get rid of those infected around them ... for a price. But the situation gets worse, and while everyone is out to sea to get away, John is left with no choice but to become a hero, staying to defend their country and protect their home from turning into a real bloodbath."

One trailer is below and here is the film's website (note: it's not in English).



And if you have a tough time remembering or learning about the zombie movies you want to see, be sure and check out this Zombie Movie Database.

Worth noting too, the AMC channel will start their new zombie mini-series "The Walking Dead" from director Frank Darabont in October. Though their are just six episodes, AMC has already renewed the series for 12 more.

---

A very funky home for all things superbad and superfly has been made by a college professor, but you can call her Sista ToFunky. She's taken her passion for funky films and funky style to the Internet with The Museum of Uncut Funk.

It's a celebration of the Golden Age of Funk - aka, the 1970s - and hosts a stunningly large collection of movie poster art, comics, broadway shows, funky music, funky history, and much, much more.

Ohhhhh, yeah. It's International and Intergalactic, baby.

---

Actor Bruce Campbell never expected his role as the witless and luckless Ash from the "Evil Dead" movies would make him an icon.

Bruce talks with the L.A. Times about his days with Sam Raimi and crew making those movies and all the fame and fortune (or misfortune) which followed.

"I've met a lot of fathers and their sons who bonded through those movies -- they didn't get along but that those movies were they only thing they liked together. I think it's because Ash is just a regular guy. He's not special forces, he's not Clint Eastwood, he's not a squinty CIA, ex-Navy Seal. He's nothing. He's just a guy. He's a garage mechanic. He's not even that. He works in the housewares department. I think the average audience member goes, "Hey, he's me! Look at him make that stupid mistake, what an idiot!" Because an average guy would make horrible mistakes."

Debates Ahead For Hamblen County State Candidates

The Morristown/Hamblen County chapter of Citizens for Accountability is hosting a candidate debate Sept. 30th in Morristown. (via)

"The first debate will be between State Representative candidates Don Miller (R) and Larry Mullins (D). The second debate will feature State Senate candidates Senator Steve Southerland (R) and challenger Jack West (D).

The debates will take place in the Community Room at the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) Post 5266 located at 2503 East Andrew Johnson Highway in Morristown, TN. Attendance is free and open to the public.

The debate for State Representative for Tennessee’s 10th district will begin at 6:00 PM on September 30th. Republican nominee Don Miller and Democrat nominee Larry Mullins will each give an opening statement before fielding questions from the debate moderator. AtCit the conclusion of the debate, each candidate will give a closing statement. Questions will be chosen from those submitted to Citizens for Accountability by the public.

Following a short break, the State Senate candidates will take the stage at approximately 7:15 PM. State Senator Steve Southerland, Republican, is seeking re-election to Tennessee’s 1st district which encompasses Cocke, Greene, Hamblen, and Unicoi Counties. He is being challenged by Jack West, Democrat. The Senate candidates will give an opening statement, field questions from the debate moderator, and give a closing statement.

Residents of Cocke, Greene, Hamblen, and Unicoi Counties may submit debate questions by e-mailing questions to Citizens for Accountability morristownhamblencfa@gmail.com or mailing questions to Debate Questions, P.O. Box 165, Morristown, TN 37815. All submissions are confidential, and selected questions will not be available to the candidates or to the public until the debate."

SHOCKING NEWS UPDATE: Or Not So Shocking -- The state Republican Party puts up a billboard to inform voters that - gasp!! -- Larry Mullins is a Democrat!! A-a-and, on top of that, he's been a Democrat for a long time!! He went to the last Democrat Presidential Convention! So what's next? Maybe the state's Democrats will buy a billboard informing residents that Don Miller works for a church!! OMG!!!

SHOCKING NEWS UPDATE 2: Across Tennessee's political blogosphere, the talk today is Larry Mullins here and here.

This Dog Dances The Merengue

Check out that smile on the dancing dog - the performance is better than 100 seasons of that "Dancing With The Minor Celebrities" show. (Learn more about this dancin' dog here.)

BP Wants You To Forget About Their Disasters

BP wants you to sleep and forget all their disasters.

BP wants you to forget about their plans to finish capping off the massive oil leak in the Gulf.

BP wants to hurl a few engineers into the BlameThrower Machine.

BP does not want to answer questions.

BP did not even tell anyone this Spring about a gas leak at a plant in Texas which lasted for 40 days until after it was over.

"Rather than taking the costly step of shutting down the refinery to make repairs, the engineers at the plant diverted gases to a smokestack and tried to burn them off, but hundreds of thousands of pounds still escaped into the air, according to state environmental officials.

Neither the state nor the oil company informed neighbors or local officials about the pollutants until two weeks after the release ended, and angry residents of Texas City have signed up in droves to join a $10 billion class-action lawsuit against BP. The state attorney general, Greg Abbott, has also sued the company, seeking fines of about $600,000."

My Time As A Hunter; or, The Days I Carried A Gun

Pardon me if I get a bit jumpy reading headlines like "Saturday Is Free Hunting Day" in Tennessee. No permits or such are needed, and it sort of conjures visions of some unwise folks shooting up the countryside. And the headline is not really accurate either.

This day, meant to encourage hunting, coincides with the beginning of squirrel hunting season, so it's okay to shoot (excuse me, 'hunt") squirrels and a few other critters according to the TWRA:

"In addition to squirrels, those species that have a year-round season will be open as well. The year-round species are armadillo, beaver, coyote, English sparrow, groundhog, nutria, pigeon, starling, and striped skunk."

Way back when I was a young teen, I did plenty of fishing and a small amount of hunting with a friend of our family, a fellow who was in his late 20s, and we had such great times and he was a very smart fellow, teaching me much about how to fish and how to hunt. We only hunted squirrels a few times, and we went frog-gigging many times. I remember one of those nights when I was out much of the night with my friend and I was carrying this plastic bag which was soon holding about 10 pounds (or so it seemed) of frog bodies. I was wearing this white t-shirt, and when I came back home my mom nearly fainted at the sight of me. Seems there was a leak in the bag and I was coated and spattered in frog blood. I thought it was pretty funny, but my mom, not so much.

My friend's wife cooked up a fantastically tasty platter of frog legs after our adventures, and I tried not to think about the frog carnage we created.

Our adventures hunting were a bit ... different. He taught me about how to always be safe while hunting, how to carry and shoot a shotgun (I got the smallish .410, but I have never thought of any shotgun as a "small" weapon.) I recall a few days of practice and such prior to going out, again, proof that my friend was a most wise and conscientious person.

Anyway, my friend said he knew some prime places to hunt and soon we were in some gorgeous woods nearby on a mild and sunny day in early Fall in middle Tennessee. It was so quiet, other than various woodland kinds of sounds, and such a beautiful spot he had found. We separated, maybe 30 yards apart, and he advised to just sit quiet for a bit and the squirrels would soon be all around us. ("Good thing I'm armed" I thought and laughed to myself, "because, you know ... squirrels ...")

I heard my friend firing his shotgun a few times, but I still saw no critters at all. I did as instructed though, simply sitting and waiting. Pretty soon, I noticed a squirrel, maybe 20 feet or so away on the side of a large tree trunk. My heart began to race and I closed the breech quickly and quietly and took a careful aim ... and that wee critter did this crazy squirrely twist and hanging off the side of the trunk turned it's head right toward me. It did a full-on, warm-hearted, Disney-cute pose and looked me dead in the eye as I sighted him with the gun.

But that pose it took stopped me cold. It was too dang cute. Blink, blink went the eyes, the tail swished a little wave at me and I could not have shot that critter no matter what. Would have been like shooting some kid's teddy bear.

It was not like I had (or have) some rare fondness for squirrels. It's just that it was watching me in this weird friendly way.

Ah well, I lowered the gun, the squirrel vanished, and I went back to watching the woods, hoping no one had seen me blow my chance to be a hunter.

Maybe half an hour or so later, my friend walked up and asked how it was going and I totally lied and said I had not seen any. He said the spot seemed to be kind of vacant and we would go to another. Soon, we were strolling back to his truck, both of us had the breeches open, though we still had ammo in the guns.

Suddenly this squirrel was racing over some branches above our heads and the noise made us both jump a bit, and in a nanosecond the breeches were closed and I fired. Sadly I had not calculated the distance between my gun and the critter -- a distance I realized afterward was pretty short -- maybe two feet between the squirrel and the end of my barrel. Yes, I pretty much atomized that squirrel. There were no parts or pieces, it was just ... gone.

"I think you got him," my friend said in that ultra-dry way of talking I love in Tennessee. He finally cracked a smile and I quite shaking and laughed too. He kept up the dry humor all the rest of the way back to the truck. By the day's end, he had bagged the limit and I never fired another shot.

His wife cooked up a mess of squirrel to eat and I remember thinking how nasty it tasted, and I was glad I did not depend on squirrel meat for sustenance. We went hunting a few more times, but as I never shot at anything again, we soon returned to fishing, something I was much better at doing. He and I have remained friends over the years and we always share many laughs and smiles at our adventures.

I did learn so much from him over the years, but one of the things I learned best was that I was a Hiker and not a Hunter.

Cat-Trashing Lady Brings Internet Rage

A woman in England needed police protection once the Internet fired up it's guns over a video purportedly showing the woman placing her neighbor's cat inside a trash bin. The cat's owner had CCTV installed outside his home and took the video footage of the woman hiding the cat and posted it on YouTube. That's when the fur began to fly.



What's truly strange to me is how she pets the cat, looks around and then chunks the kitty into the trash.

A Facebook page calling for her death has been removed, the US press has been following the tale as reported by British tabloids.

Internet watchers via 4chan really are the ones who stoked anger worldwide.

The woman has apologized - but ...

"I cannot explain why I did this, it is completely out of character and I certainly did not intend to cause any distress to Lola or her owners. It was a split second of misjudgment that has got completely out of control.”

Earlier in the day, the British-based Sun newspaper reported that Bale put the cat in the can as “a joke” and didn’t understand what the big deal was. “It’s only a cat,” Bale said, adding that she thought the cat would be able to wiggle its way out.

Too bad the dog killers Newscoma reported about in West TN were not captured on video.

Miss Universe Lands Hard In Tennessee

My attempt to lighten the mood a bit with this most recent post is a big FAIL.

An East TN couple apparently decided watching the Miss Universe Pageant was a doorway to Hell.

Or at least a doorway to jail.

"Shortly after Jimena Navarrete was crowned Miss Universe on Monday night, a Bristol woman was arrested for allegedly assaulting her boyfriend and calling him, "a Mexican lover."