Tennessee Makes High-Tech Leap

Some fascinating and welcome news arrived via the Atomic Tumor page where it's revealed that Tennessee is front and center in developing the technologies and programs for an American mission to the Moon.

As the post reveals, the project is termed "Constellation" and reports note:

"The eventual goal is to land on Mars. But for the near term, the Tennessee Valley complex that developed the Saturn V rocket two generations ago is again shooting for the moon.

Marshall Director David King said getting back to the moon will be even tougher than reaching it the first time since plans now call for an extended stay rather than just a brief visit.

"We're going to have to plan this in a much more precise way," said King. "It is larger in scope than what we did the first time by a long shot."

For those skeptics who feel such extensive technological programs are a waste of money, you should know the average computer in home use today is hundreds of times more powerful than the ones used during the Apollo days. It is inherent in the nature of man to learn by exploration, and the rewards are likely to affect many generations to come.

By pushing forward science and technology, the state stands to take greater strides in innovation and employment, which will serve the state far, far better than as a piece-maker of car parts.

In other words, there is no such thing as a missed opportunity - it's just that someone else will take that opportunity while negativity leaves so many others grounded.

Best of luck to all involved in the project!

Camera Obscura - The Smith Marriage, More Chainsaws and A Concert At The Ryman

If someone had told me I would actually spend time reviewing a movie starring the two most overexposed actors working today, I would have denied any such effort. Then I watched the movie and it simply impressed me on so many levels that I find myself doing the impossible -- devoting blogspace to "Mr & Mrs Smith" starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

But bear with me - this movie is far more than meets the tabloid eye. There is sub-text for days here, and it also holds some other credentials worth noting. The script is by Simon Kinberg, who penned the script as part of his Masters Thesis and his most recent effort is the new "X-Men" movie. The director, Doug Liman, is a talent just beginning to emerge, with the breathless "Bourne Identity" and as producer of "Bourne Supremacy," plus the very-underrated "Go" set in the world of ravers, and the hilarious "Swingers."

At one point, director John Woo was set to direct, and his style is surely evident here in several action sequences.

Now, I'm not here to sing praises of the publicity overdose of Pitt and Jolie. In fact, more than once you catch a gleam in their eyes that all the automatic weapons fire on-screen fulfills their deepest desires toward a relentless press bent on chronicling the couple's every footstep.

Instead, why not examine the movie for what it truly is - a metaphor for marriage and relationships.

Given the insane reality that domestic violence is far too common today, that the 'sanctity' of marriage is as likely to lead to divorce as to an anniversary, the movie here holds a rich exploration on the state of romance and marriage American style.

The movie opens on the Smiths in couples therapy. They are unable to communicate not only their problems, but their successes. Through a series of following scenes, we discover the why - each partner holds secrets they feel too personal or too dangerous to actually share with each other. The conceit is that they are both spies - Spies in the House of Love.

With much humor, the audience sees that Mr Smith keeps his deadly arsenal of weapons in a secret passage in his workshed while Mrs Smith keeps her arsenal in a secret compartment of the stove. One-liners of empty conversations reinforce the blank emptiness of marriage and secrets too great to reveal. Each line has double meanings. Fear and doubt rule their marriage.

The script doesn't dwell on who each agent is working for - that's not the point. It's that the couple feel compelled to fill their lives and dreams in fantasies that would terrify Walter Mitty. The driving demands of work leave little for the home life, though business success makes for an astonishingly well-appointed home. But they can barely have a conversation about the drapes or even if a conversation about such accessories even occurred.

Once each competing spy agency realizes the couple is, well, a couple, they plot to have them kill each other. (That could be a writing weakness, but I see it as more that the demands of business outweigh any needs of a stable home.)

However, by bringing them face-to-face in combat to kill each other, the couple sees that the only allies for their lives and their hopes reside in each other. After some intense attacks on each other, there is a near-wordless realization that resolution lies within themselves and all the unspoken moments past can't overwhelm their depth of feeling for each other.

No, this isn't the height of meta-philosophy, but it does paint a picture of an American couple constantly warring to balance work and love. The secrets that might undo them unite them instead.

Writer and director make marvelous set-pieces of danger built on the world of the typical American couple - such as a car chase scene where the SUV with its double doors spells doom for assassins. Sometimes it's best to let the wife do the driving.

Real-life tabloidism is certainly here in the movie too with Vince Vaughn in a barely defined role. And as cute and likeable an actress Jennifer Anniston may be, the kind of knock-down-the-house love-making Mr and Mrs Smith enjoy makes other romance movies miss the passion and the danger of an intense relationship by miles.

The violence is there in the film, but it emerges far ahead of other "doomed romance" Hollywood efforts like the brutal end of "Bonnie and Clyde" or "War of the Roses." The Smiths revel in the irony and humor and will fight far more aggressively to find a solution to their marriage woes. (No Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan tearjerker approaches the artistic artistry of the Smiths.)

At one point, Mrs Smith says "Happy endings are stories that just aren't finished yet," which to me indicates they feel more than capable of crafting their own story and their own ending. Near the end, they square off against a literal army of attackers and they join in a ballet of cooperation which I found to be a forceful refusal to accept the roles society has heaped upon the Smiths.

As a side note, please fire the next witless reporter whose best prose is to make a single catchy name of two people.

Scoff at these comments about Mr and Mrs Smith as you wish, but until you watch it with your tabloid mentality shut down, I think you'll find some provocative entertainment.

OTHER MOVIE NEWS

A fine concert movie filmed at the famed Ryman Auditorium hits DVD this week, and judging by the clips I've seen, it looks to be one of the best concert films since "The Last Waltz". The movie, "Neil Young: Heart of Gold" also features Emmylou Harris. Young plays new and older songs, expertly filmed by Jonathon Demme, who made the equally entertaining Talking Heads concert movie "Stop Making Sense."

At several points, the aging rocker talks about his music and his musings to the crowd, noting that the guitar he played was once owned by Hank Williams. But the music is the focus here, presented in a stripped down acoustic form that highlights both the lyrics and the tunes.
-------
From the Did We Need This Dept.?

A prequel to "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre"??? One good point is the script by award-winning horror writer David Schow. And the trailer at the official site says it's so scary, you can only watch it after 10 p.m. (Or it may be the whole idea is so bad, only late-nite Web Walkers will watch it.)
------

REMAKE HELL

Rumors are flying that New Line Cinema hopes to make an American version of one of the great classics in recent Japanese cinema, "Battle Royale." Banned here and abroad, please, please do NOT watch the movie unless you see the original. And if you prefer, the novel the movie is based on is even more astonishing.

Also, for those who might be interested, the "new" "The Omen" movie is a pure shot-for-shot remake of the original. And the original is better.

Congress Calls For End to Indecent PBS/NPR

I often wonder how it is the heads don't implode from the hypocrisy. Just after approving a massive increase in fines for broadcasting that is termed "indecent," a subcommittee in the House wants to slash funds for Public Broadcasting and then eliminate funding for it all together.

Programs like the literacy program, "Ready To Learn," the online teachers resource program "Ready To Teach," would be eliminated. Subsidies for educational programs and government-mandated tech changes for DTV also gutted. Cuts are likewise ahead for news, science, and community programming for over 1000 stations nationwide.

This same educational removal program was put forth last year - and defeated only because citizens and voters spoke out. After all, stations at best receive about 15% or less funding from tax dollars, roughly one dollar per person. A good overview of the CPB is here.

If you want public broadcasting to survive, you'll have to speak out again. This is one of many online petitions opposing this move - and why not go ahead and contact your Tennessee congressman, since this idiocy is being promoted by a House subcommittee. The list of contact information is here.

If you do not act, they will work to end public broadcasting. (Thanks to juliepatchouli for bringing this to my attention)

Congress Avoids Decency - Blames Media

Currently my rage is tethered by titanium chains in order to offer some coherent arguments about the sheer idiocy and hypocrisy of a Congress and Administration that sneers at lawful behavior and ethics and instead increases ten-fold the fines and threats against the public airwaves.

I have honestly lost track of the number of scandals that permeate our national leadership. For some 16 months, Congressional leaders did nothing to correct the constant influence-for-sale worldview, often because those charged with drafting any rules are themselves part and parcel of the problem.

A short examination reveals:

"Public Citizen says that if lawmakers are sincere about cutting off the corporate money trail, they should close travel loopholes, which currently enable industry and other interest groups to lavish lawmakers with luxury travel junkets financed through "nonprofit" shell organizations.

The group has also called on lawmakers to enact broader anti-corruption measures, like an independent oversight mechanism to monitor ethical transgressions, and strict caps on federal campaign contributions from lobbyists to political action committees.

The problem, reformers say, is that the people writing the rules are the ones charged with enforcing them, and as a result, are often the ones violating them.

In its ongoing investigation of Abramoff, the "super-lobbyist" recently convicted on corruption-related charges, CREW revealed that some of Abramoff’s closest cronies on Capitol Hill are also champions of the House lobbying reform legislation.

Between 2001 and 2004, Abramoff’s extensive lobbying network, tied to the Native-American casino industry, doled out tens of thousands of dollars in political contributions to two co-sponsors of the bill, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Illinois) and Representative Eric Cantor (R-Virginia). The two worked with other House Republicans in 2003 to pressure the Interior Department to block the casino-development plans of a tribe in competition with one of Abramoff’s clients.

Reflecting on what she sees as a long pattern of impunity in Congress, Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) remarked, "The fact of the matter is, a lot of the stuff that happened was already against the rules…. So new rules have no more use than old rules, if you don’t enforce the rules."

Some of the dust on those old rules has been kicked up by a report on lobbying disclosure by the Center for Public Integrity (CPI), a public-interest research organization.

The 1995 Lobbying Disclosure Act requires lobbyists to report their activities and expenditures every six months, and violations carry a fine of up to $50,000, which would rise to $100,000 under the current reform bills. But in its survey of over 180,000 lobbying disclosure forms filed with the Senate Office of Public Records since 1998, the CPI found that 14,000 documents were missing, and nearly 20 percent of forms were filed late.

Researchers also found that among the 250 top lobbying firms, 210 had not fulfilled all reporting requirements. Alex Knott, the project manager for CPI’s LobbyWatch program, said that typically the disclosure forms are of little public value, "sloppily" filled out and not linked to specific legislation.

Records of penalties for non-compliance are similarly obscure: in CPI’s investigation last year, the House, Senate and the US Attorney’s office in DC, which is tasked with handling disclosure-related indictments, all provided no data on how the rules were being enforced.

"Basically, lobbyists know they can break the rules and get away with it," said Knott, noting that fewer than a dozen staffers in the Senate Office of Public Records oversee the backdoor deals of thousands of lobbyists."

Now, instead, the Senate has decided that "indecency" is a problem created by television and radio programming and has voted to increase fines against stations ten times the current levels.

I suggest the same ten-fold increase in fines and jail time for Indecent behavior for elected officials.

"But Joe," cry the Parents Television Council and Donald Wildmon, "a chi-yuld could see something on the TeeVee that could rot their minds, turn 'em into liberals, and make them attend a non-protestant church service! We must protect the chi-yulds from the satanic teachings of public school and Pokemon reruns!"

High heaping piles of horseshit, say I. If you chi-yuld is so endangered, get that TV behind them, Satan! Don't own one. Or better yet, use your pea-brained half-witted dried-up brains and learn how to use the myriad of channel blocking options via most any cable or satellite box or (as forced by Congressional rule) learn to use that V-chip. If you have not the wisdom to or the depth of concern to educate yourself on how to use such technology, then get rid of it.

Don't make the entire nation pick up your slack, in whining disguised as legislation.

The fact is, the thousands of complaints of "indecency" on television were constant petitions provided by the Parents Television Council and Donald Wildmon's American Family Association (remember when Wildmon used to videotape sit-coms claiming he saw some woman's breast for an 1/18th of a second?)

Americans already have all the control they need over content on TV and radio. It's called the On and Off switch. Worried your chi-yuld might see something horriffic on the TeeVee at some sinner's house? Then why not take the opportunity to TALK to your chi-yuld about the world we all live in and that not all people hold the same beliefs as you?

As for the Senator who put forth this legislation, one Sam Brownback, Republican of Kansas, who wants the science of Intelligent Design mandatory in schools is himself a part of the Jack Abramoff gravy train.

He accepted $40,000 from Abramoff to stop the construction of an Indian casino in Kansas.

His other main concern of late was to submit no less than 17 bills to suspend temporarily the duties on footwear:

"Among the offerings: S. 2847, to “reduce temporarily the duty on certain footwear with open toes or heels,” and the more catchall S. 2845, affecting “certain women’s footwear.” S. 2837, for the leather lover, would reduce the duty on “certain leather and textile footwear,” while S. 2838, affecting “certain rubber or plastic footwear,” keeps the pleather lover pleased.

Stay-at-home moms aren’t left out either: S. 2850 would “reduce temporarily the duty on certain house slippers.”

And on it goes, to cover certain footwear for men, certain other work footwear, certain athletic shoes and certain athletic footwear for men and boys.

We only got confused when it came to S. 2835, which would suspend the duty on “certain leather footwear for persons other than men or women.” Which leaves what, exactly? Humanoids? Extraterrestrials?"

Looks like I've gnawed through my chain. Best to shut up now before I say anything else .... today.

I leave you with this thought - If ya don't like what you watch on TV, why are you watching it??

Ann Coulter Gets Wish: She's A Victim!

The unabashed enthusiasm that the possibility of huge book sales and money, money, money which envelopes ersatz writer Ann Coulter is palpable and real - like stepping in steaming dog vomit.

She embodies the heart and soul Christian values - Jesus says (in her parlance) to battle the liberal, yea, verily. (as spoken on Tucker Carlson's show.) She added this thought - "Do I have to kill my mother so I can be a victim too?"

No, Ann, you have found out a quicker way to being a victim - Just speaking stupid, half-thought, nonsensical gibberish, you have become a Victim of Stupidity. Job done.

Then there's her assertion that Jews are Christians too, but not Episcopalians. (Um, isn't President Bush a member of the Episcopalian church, or does he just attend to keep a watchful eye on liberals?) I guess the same goes for other members of that religion, James Madison and George Washington. Perhaps you to follow that twisted bastion of Satan.

However, don't doubt her marketing savvy - I'm sure Jesus would have appreciated her evangelistic fervor to spread the Gospel. By not actually discussing the info in her book, she has instead focused the spotlight on her.

And, she becomes a victim again! A victim of the It's All About Me Generation.

I also appreciated her thoughts that the President can use the tragic events of death and destruction of the terrorist attack on NYC and the Pentagon, 'cause he's the president. He has "Executive power". Yeah, if Jesus had only had some kind of Constitutional authority, then maybe he could have placed 135,000 troops into battle against the liberals.

Yet, as Michelle Malkin notes, the Crime, the Evil cited by Coulter is that a group of widows took political action, called for a federal commission into the events of 9-11, appeared on television and are active in supporting candidates and policies they feel represent their views.

Coulter and Malkin agree - that kind of political expression is the work of Satan. Being critical of them is not enough. Perhaps tarring and feathering them for having a political view out of touch with the heights of moral Republican beliefs is treason.

Bredesen Campaign Kick-Off

There's a hefty group of photos and reporting on the election kick-off campaign for Gov. Bredesen in Knoxville on Tuesday via R. Neal at Knox Views. Worth a look and there's also quite a bit of comment regarding what Bredesen said.

Worth noting is the 500-plus business leaders who back his re-election, along with the state's teachers, and veterans. (Oh, and the Republican leaders who also support him.)

As always, opinions vary on the efficacy of his tenure, but there are several efforts Gov. Bredesen has brought to life. One program which I think will do far more than any test or school program is the free books offered monthly to parents with kids up to age five. Providing books, at a minimal state cost, to encourage reading and more time spent by parents to read to kids will doubtless provide a much more education/information hungry population. The program was begun by Dolly Parton in Sevier County, but the effects are spreading statewide.

Also of note is the first ever statewide TennCare Fraud unit - created after years of failure of oversight by the General Assembly. Over 257 people have been charged since 2005 and it remains the first-of-its-kind in the nation.

Real challenges remain in state government, and another massive change in the ethics (or lack of them) needs to take root among state legislators and lobbyists.

Kudos to R. Neal for his coverage of the event.

Ann Coulter Hates Widows of 9-11

Who knew the "Today Show" would actually grow some teeth and tackle news now that Clueless Hairstyle Katie was gone?

Did Matt Lauer secretly yell "Finally!"

Judging by the comments he made today in an interview with the vile, money-grubbing, hate-filled myopic Ann Coulter, the answer is "YES!"

The following video shows how Matt poses a simple question of Ann Hater - er Coulter's - newest Hate-Filled Manifesto of No-GOP-No-Right-To-An-Opinon.

Coulter writes that the widows of those who died in 9-11 are a bunch of "broads" who whine and moan for the Evil Leftists by daring to speak dissent against the Bush and Clinton administrations. "Shut up," she tells them. "it was the nation that was attacked, who cares if yer spouse died! How dare you support a non-Republican!"

Two points for Matt for calling out her hate-filled hypocrisy.

Fact Finding UPDATE

As noted yesterday, billions of dollars were handed out to Senate and Congress members/staff/family all in the name of "fact-finding". Here's my favorite, as noted in today's Tennessean newspaper:

"No Tennessee representative was among the 11 legislators to accept more than $350,000 in trips. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist came the closest with about $257,800 in travel, personally taking 19 of the 147 trips his office listed in congressional disclosure forms.

Frist's trips included 15 speaking engagements and a 2004 trip to Africa paid for by Samaritan's Purse, an international Christian relief organization.

The European Institute, a Washington-based public policy institution focused on trans-Atlantic affairs, paid for a Frist staffer, as well as an aide to Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Chattanooga, to travel on a fact-finding mission to Paris totaling more than $22,000, according to the report.

Matt Lehigh, Frist's press secretary, said he had not seen the report but said that Frist's fact-finding trips are educationally based and meant to help the Senate majority leader better represent his constituents.

Sen. Frist has "constituents" in FRANCE??

Well, TN does export some $221 million in products to France,

Also worth noting, perhaps explaining all those "fact-finding" or dollar-centered trips is to be found in the following documentation:

"Foreigners already own half of the U.S. government's publicly traded debt. As of January, some $2.19 trillion in Treasury securities were in the hands of central banks, including China and Japan, and private investors abroad.

At the end of 2004, the total foreign direct investment in this country — actual factories, office buildings and other tangible assets as opposed to stocks and bonds — came to $1.53 trillion, 8.2 percent more than in 2003.

That investment shows up in all of the 50 states."

Fact-Finding Trips More Fun At Luxury Sites

Congress and their families and staffers know that "fact-finding trips" are more fun if they stay at resorts, playing golf, swimming and boating and side-stepping the laws regarding gifts from lobbyists. In a five year period, elected officials of both parties traveled to Paris, Hawaii, Italy or Colorado ski resorts.

A new study via the Center for Public Integrity notes officials and their families just seem to find more info regarding legislation as long as they stay far, far away from any actual constituents. Over 23,000 trips valued at over $50 million shows Congress has learned to sidestep the DeLay scandals just by claiming the trips were just for some seminar - as long as their families and aides get a long vacation retreat:

"I think [legislators and staffers] are gaming the system," said James Thurber, director of American University's Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies in Washington. "Education through travel is important, but it's just totally being abused. They give a one-hour speech and spend three days playing golf or tennis with their families."

Abandoning too much paperwork and required disclosure, the gravy train is full of hungry, greedy legislators at the trough. On example:

"At least 150 forms list no sponsor. In one such instance in 2003, Rep. Katherine Harris, R-Fla., was a guest at The Breakers resort in Palm Beach, Fla., site of the Restoration Weekend event Nov. 14-16. Harris's form shows that her hotel room cost $1,032 and her meals $259.56. But it fails to reveal the trip's sponsor, itinerary or purpose, instead referring the reader to an attached three-page agenda.

The agenda designates 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Nov. 14 and 15 as "Free time for swimming, golf, tennis, shopping, etc." It also notes that DeLay was a scheduled keynote speaker on the 15th, and was to be introduced by National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre. But it doesn't list the trip sponsor."

The article further states:

"It's clearly beneficial for these interest groups to make these expenditures," said Bob Stern, president of the Los Angeles-based Center for Governmental Studies. "They're not just doing this without a purpose."

Stern said he is all for outside-the-Beltway education, and sees nothing nefarious in trips sponsored by universities and most nonprofits. "But if the trip is truly educational," he asked, "why do they have to go to exotic places?"

He thinks he knows why.

"The problem is human nature," Stern said. "We don't like to be educated in non-interesting surroundings."

Hey, I'd do great at a fact finding mission if I could only stay at Disneyworld and Hilton Head to determine the appropriate size of greens, clubs and caddies.

GOP Leaders Too Litle Too Late

The silliness and somewhat pointless push by Bush and Frist reveals how badly their priorities have become. Forget the on-again-off-again quandry of exodous about FEMA or the hacking away of DHS funds for major cities, forget the corruption and cronynism, they have focused on non-vital issues meant to pander to their Fear-filled base of ... um, who are the base players anyway?

The new two-pronged faux agenda is is them durned gay folk and them durned flag burners. Since Constitutional ammendments rarely succeed - then that is their focus. Witness the national and state campaigns showing candidates rebuking the already-passed legislation of fences and (Which follows on them danged illegals live TV speech, which had all the earmarks of desperation of looking like they're doing something.)

As Reason magazine said:

"Neither of these really evokes the ploy President Bush Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) are trying out today and tomorrow. For the first time since 2004, Frist and the Republican majority will bring the Federal Marriage Amendment to a vote. In a few weeks, Frist will bring another constitutional amendment to the floor: the much-delayed, much-debated, much-distracting permanent ban on burning the American flag. The GOP is struggling, but not like a prizefighter or a football player. It's struggling like a man who cheats on his wife and buys her $1,000 worth of flowers to cushion the blow. Too little, too late, and actually kind of an insult.

"Sure, much of the GOP's social conservative base is rooting for the party to pass a gay marriage amendment. (There's less enthusiasm for the flag desecration ban.) The mighty Family Research Council has been lobbying senators and marshalling conservative support at a fever pitch, scheduling events over the weekend, melting Senate phones with grassroots phone calls. According to Tom McClusky, the FRC's vice president of government affairs and the point man on the marriage amendment effort, the marriage debate has as much pull among social conservatives as the abortion debate. "It's an extremely important issue, if not the most important issue."

After all, Frist doesn't want to talk about the fines he must pay for failing to document the millions-plus loans he forgot to report to the Federal Elections Commission, and Bush doesn't want to talk about how many officials are warning of the endless failure in Iraq -- apparently that Blame The Media ploy failed with the constant deaths and wounding of and kidpapping of those durned liberal media types.

Just look at the Center Ring, America, can ya believe the death-fefying feats of non-important hijinks?

Ignore the skyrocketing deficits, the failure of fiscal conservatives, the endless indictments of lobbyists and congress.

The Show must go on!

Christian Gaming

A new "Christian" video game touts a mission not of mercy but warfare. Kinda scary to see what the kiddies are supposed to do when they jam a "Left Behind" videogame into their consoles:

"You are issued high-tech military weaponry, and instructed to engage the infidel on the streets of New York City. You are on a mission - both a religious mission and a military mission -- to convert or kill Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, gays, and anyone who advocates the separation of church and state - especially moderate, mainstream Christians. Your mission is "to conduct physical and spiritual warfare"; all who resist must be taken out with extreme prejudice."

More on the game here, via Bong Boing.

(Should they call this game Right Behind? or just Kiss My Christian Behind?)

Bryant: Top Issue In TN is Illegal Immigrants

Senate candidate Ed Bryant wants the press and the public to know he knows more about the issue of illegal immigrants because he was right there, just a few feet away from the border. In a conference call to the press, Bryant said the 3 things most on the mind of the Tennessee voter was "illegal immigration, three times."

He also claimed illegals were all carrying kilos of cocaine, but the sheriff of Cochise County, standing at his side, disputed that saying instead that more people were engaging in "people smuggling" since it paid more and had fewer risks.

Also at the candidate's side was the VP of the Minutemen group, who he claimed were not vigilantes, but "patriots," because they are not the ones crossing the border.

It's a fascinating interview with the man who wants the one Senate seat up for grabs, viat The Greeneville Sun.

Oh and he was also making a commercial while he was there too, a busy man hoping to push to the front of the GOP PAC ... I mean pack.

Smell Those Trees or A "Twin Peaks" Guide

It was a marvelous moment, a rare event embedded in memory. I had received a review copy of the pilot episode of "Twin Peaks" in early 1990. Already a fan of filmmaker David Lynch, I was greatly skeptical he would make anyting worthwhile just for television How very wrong I was.

Within minutes of starting the tape, I was ushered into a neo-gothic surreal television mystery, with ghostly music and bizarre language. It was the start of a cultural milestone. As many reviewers later said, the character of Laura Palmer was an instant American icon because she arrived dead to TV screens, and the mythmaking of why and how and who was a central focus of the show.

I was in a rather feverish state of mind as I carefully took that videotape to a friend's house to make sure this program was as exceptional as I thought. We watched, called over more friends, and watched it again. Like millions of other TV watchers, we gathered in groups to watch every episode and debate every oddity of language and image. And the women, too, we talked a lot about them. Shelly and Audrey and Donna.

I still have that screener video. Wouldn't part with it for anything.

Today, via MetaFilter, I found a website that offers an episode guide that so far, seems very well researched and has fascinating commentary. Here's a sample:

"But the legacy remains, more striking with each year that passes. The immediate effect was very noticeable—for a brief period, surrealism and experimentalism were suddenly acceptable on American television. Shows like Eerie, Indiana and Wild Palms (both overseen by film directors, Joe Dante and Oliver Stone respectively) attempted to cash in on the craze for all things weird, with varying degrees of success. The show that scooped up most of Twin Peaks’ hungry fans must have been The X-Files, shoehorning familiar Peaks-inspired weirdo FBI agent antics into a more straightforward Sci-Fi serial format to enormous popular acclaim. In recent years the genre-blending aspect of Twin Peaks has been felt time and again, in shows such as Chicago Hope (hospital drama/soap/comedy), Firefly (western/Sci-Fi) and perhaps most notably Lost (mystery/thriller/Sci-Fi/etc.)."

Link to it here. (Note: It is worth remarking that David Duchovny, star of X-Files, was first featured as a cross-dressing FBI agent in Peaks.)

Smell those trees. Have some coffee and a slice of cherry pie. Don't go into the woods. Leo needs new shoes. Break the code, solve the crime. "Laura ... Laura!"

Camera Obscura - District B-13, Aeon Flux and More

Yay Friday! Time for movie news, reviews, DVDs, some hot summer movies just ahead and a few thoughts on the week's entertainment news. This includes a new summer action film based on "Escape From New York" and a kind of street-gymnastic-fu craze that boasts worldwide membership, even here in Tennessee, but more on that in a moment. Let's start with the story of li'l Katie Couric and her jump to the Big Show.

Katie Couric says she's the best, mostest hard-nosed journalist going, and is vowing to end what she called the "pretentious era" in TV news. I have no idea what that comment - or several of the other comments she made to CBS execs, really means. One function she has filled for years is to talk extensively without really saying anything.

She's no Edward R. Murrow and she's no journalist - for instance, the late, great Peter Jennings worked his way from field reporter to bureau chief to anchor, not from Morning Face to Evening Face. We are all better off searching for news on our own. And she might consider the words Mr. Murrow offered to news directors in 1958:

"It is not necessary to remind you that the fact that your voice is amplified to the degree where it reaches from one end of the country to the other does not confer upon you greater wisdom or understanding than you possessed when your voice reached only from one end of the bar to the other."

Last week, I mentioned that there wasn't much success at the screening for "Southland Tales," and new reports indicate a major re-edit for the movie is on the way so it can find a U.S. distributor. Which also means you'll have to wait for the DVD to see the original cut.

For summer viewing fun, a reader notes his most-anticipated movie is the "Pirates of the Caribbean" sequel. Enjoy a lengthy preview here. Personally, I am looking forward to the 3rd movie, which was shot simultaneously with part 2, which will feature Chow Yun Fat. Fat is my hero.

Opening today (though not anywhere locally I could find) is the movie "District B-13," which has captured outstanding reviews. It's a sort-of "Escape From New York" story. Set in the near future, Paris has become so ridden with riots and crime (as it actually has been) that the government was walled in several communities and ghettos, including B-13. A cop and a criminal join forces in typical buddy movie fashion and the action in this Luc Besson-produced adventure takes the action of "Transporter" and endless king-fu features and ramps up the intensity several notches, thanks to a recent urban sport called Parkour. Oh, and the presence of nuclear weapons in the ghetto.

The website for the movie has tons of previews and explanations. Parkour-participant David Belle stars in the movie. Parkour is a sport of sorts, where people sort of jump, dance, bounce, fly, leap, in a freestyle extreme sport kind of way. Tennesseans from Bristol to Knoxville to Monterey to Memphis have joined in the action, according to this website.

I also finally watched the movie "Aeon Flux", based on the cartoon series created by Peter Chung and aired on MTV. An attempt to film this bizarre bio-nano-weirdo hi-tech future is an enormous chore and the results are only average. Charlize Theron stars as the semi-naked assassin and she does well as semi-naked assassins go. The movie's design work and effects are excellent, the writing is not so excellent. But it does compete well in the semi-naked babe sci-fi movie genre (see also "Barbarella" or "Fifth Element" or "Terminator:3" or "Danger: Diabolik")

Afraid of catching a true turkey of a movie this summer? Check out The Movie Binge, where a group of bloggers has vowed to watch and review 85 major releases over the summer. Might save some time and dollars for you.

I also found a good collection of movie scripts online, including David Lynch movies, Kubrick, Raimi, Tarantino, teen comedies and modern classics and many more. C'mon, aren't you tired of always quoting "Caddyshack"? There's a world of movie quotes ready for you!

On Haditha

Not wanting to marginalize or sensationalize the reports from the press concerning the actions of the military in November of last year in Haditha, Iraq, there are a few thoughts I'll offer about the reality of warfare.

The operations in Iraq are not typical military confrontations. It's military versus guerilla or insurgents or militias. The battlefields are streets and houses and neighborhoods. The sad truth of a house to house battle means non-combatants are likely to be killed.

There are ridiculous assertions that the insurgency is in it's last throes, that the media only reports negative stories, and even that this is anything except a continuation of military actions begun in the 1990s.

Good or bad, our troops are engaged in deadly missions each hour. The political strife increases and decreases one day to the next. Recently appointed Iraqi Ambassador Samir Sumaydi knows too well the situation is chaotic at best:

"The way it was reported to me, by word of mouth, seemed incredible," he said at the U.S. Institute of Peace in his first public appearance after being sworn in as ambassador. At the time, he did not have any other evidence and decided that the rumors might have been an exaggeration.

Haditha, he knew, was a chaotic town, virtually run by bands of insurgents. "There were no police," he said, "and, effectively, no Iraqi government." Sunni insurgents were terrorizing the population, even staging public executions of people suspected of opposing them. Residents, he said, were being "squeezed" between the insurgents on one side and, on the other, U.S. soldiers, who were caught up in frequent clashes with the heavily armed rebels. Sometimes, civilians would get caught up in these skirmishes.

Then came a report in Time magazine that as many as 24 civilians may have been deliberately gunned down by U.S. marines during an operation in November. The key piece of evidence was a videotape made by an Iraqi journalism student that shows the apparent civilian victims riddled with gunshot wounds, which contradicts the early accounts by marines stationed in Haditha that the residents were killed by a bomb. U.S. military officials have now launched an investigation into the alleged Haditha massacre, and Bush publicly vowed to punish anybody found to be responsible for killing civilians. Sumaydi says he will await the findings of the U.S. investigation. He has also requested a second inquiry by the U.S. military on the death of his cousin.

At the same time, Sumaydi has a hard-earned appreciation of the difficult challenges faced by the U.S. military. As a former interior minister, he tried to battle both Sunni insurgents as well as shady Shiite militias, who operated both inside and outside the Interior Ministry. He also knows that the militia problem has not gone away.

Just two days ago, another cousin of his was kidnapped in Baghdad from the small supermarket that he owns."

"Core values" training for US troops may help provide some measure of understanding as to how to cope with a house-to-house insurgency battle, but the simple fact remains that Iraq, all of it, is a battlefield and there is no safety for residents or troops.

If the deaths in the Haditha community were unprovoked, it will encourage those opposed to US involvement and erode political support around the world and around our own nation.

A License To Have Kids?

A reader for yesterday's post offered these thoughts for consideration:

"Maybe couples shouldn't start a family until they have the resources (however they want to define that)to care for that family themselves. If that means somebody has to stay home, so be it. I'm all for requiring a license to breed. Too many people are having too many kids without a thought of the consequences."

I have multiple responses and perhaps you do too, feel free to add them.

First, if prospective parents had to wait for the Most Perfect Time to have kids, there would certainly be fewer - however how often in the course of living do any of us have the luxury of realizing Most Perfect Moments? Living is an imperfect thing, and often we don't realize our best moments until they have passed. In short, living is all about chances and risk. We are all faced with the unknown from birth til death, and I generally think we cannot ever hope to alter that.

Second, I dread the idea of having to have a license for having children. Are their couples and/or singles who should not have children? Most likely. Yet, a far worse notion is some government or quasi-government agency determining the requirements needed to have children. Go ahead and call me a Darwinian, but sometimes our sheer numbers, increased wisely or unwisely, often offer our best chances for continuation. While any of us can question the wisdom of some who decide to have or not have children, I put far more faith in the individual decision than those made by some appointed committee on procreation.

I do understand a desire to provide some kind of "quality control" over emerging li'l humans - but again, I have far more trust in Nature than in government or rule-by-committee. Imagine the horrors of those who live in China, where both the number and the sex of a child has been given a pre-determined government status.

On a side note, the longer we follow a national ignorance regarding sexuality, pregnancy, STDs, and a foolish concept of "abstinence", the longer we endanger our current and future generations. It's as if we fear the result of an informed and educated population, while I can only see the many benefits of a less repressed and more informed and personally responsible attitude.

It's something I've mentioned before - we are Free to choose are actions, but that does not mean we are free from consequences.

The agenda of the group mentioned yesterday includes some insidious claims - significantly, that most often parents "choose" to both work. In the reality of our economic systems, it is nearly impossible for a single income to provide all the needs of a three or more member family. If a couple has that ability - marvelous! As a rule, however, most couples and individuals struggle mightily to make enough to provide for themselves.

Also, I firmly believe that parents and educators, not administrators, need to be far more involved in creating educational systems in their communities. Endless testing is not a solution - the realization that education is a process and not a means to a career is far more vital.

For all the yearnings of various lobbying cultural warriors, abandoning our own abilities to reach a positive, self-actualized community of individuals is a prescription for tyranny and horror.

Is it hard to live with the bad decisions others might make? Yes. Are parents sometimes the worst enemy of the child? Yes. But attempting to control or constrain nature is a path to far worse outcomes.

That's my two cents. How about yours?

Preschool Liberation Army?

Stop the War on Toddlers is a cry from kids to voters, demanding an end to Weapons of Mass Instruction, citing studies that show enforced governmental preschool programs do far more harm to kids than good.

Yes, in the state that takes any and all issues to the ballot box via referendum, that wacky California, a call for a preschool boycott and a no vote on Proposition 92 - Preschool For All Act has been proclaimed.

A group called Tykes on Trikes has issued a Manifesto and is urging the boycott. I might be more convinced if I could find a preschooler who could spell "manifesto" or if teen students were better able to find Louisiana or Iraq on a map.

The Manifesto says:

"Government propaganda, disseminated through the media, insists that society commit to developing future workforces for the global economy as well as thwart crime and social deviance by confining young children in preschools. We have been brainwashed to believe that in order to protect adult interests, we must deny children their right to childhood.

In the name of education and social reform, young children are now detained in weapons of mass instruction called preschools."

Further, the group makes these demands:

" -- Immediate withdrawal of children ages 0-5 from government daycare and preschool facilities and closure of all government preschool and daycare detention centers.

-- The repeal of all preschool legislation currently enacted or in committee in federal and state governments

-- Disarmament and destruction of all weapons of mass instruction known as government preschools and discontinuing government subsidies of private preschool facilities that are required to brainwash children via state sanctioned curriculum standards and testing delivered by state-credentialed agents (i.e., teachers).

-- Abolishing Head Start and other government universal preschool programs. Forty years ago Head Start was instituted to assist disadvantaged children. It has yet to be shown that it helped the 40 million children it claims to have helped at a cost of 50 billion dollars. Instead, Head Start incorrectly led to the cultural misconception that "institutional programs" were the key to early childhood education. As a result, thousands of preschoolers have spent the most formative years of their lives confined in institutions; scores of innocent children ages 0-5 spent years imprisoned on false assumptions about how children learn; childhoods were smashed to pieces; parental rights usurped; entitlement thinking was reinforced; and families torn apart. This infliction of misery has not improved society. It has caused irreparable damage."

You can learn more via the many links offered on this press release page.

Or you may just want to celebrate the fact you and your kids don't live in California. Or you may want to join the movement. Or maybe this movement will help you get started on a science fiction story or the next Fox/MTV/WB pre-teen soap opera.

Supreme Court Backs Crooked Officials

The new Bush appointees to the Supreme Court reversed the stand previously upheld by the majority including Justice O'Connor when it comes to government employees reporting fraud, waste, abuse or other violations and removes protections offered the rest of the nation via the First Ammendment.

The 5-4 opinion issued Monday is clear notice to those who might have reported problems - if you do, you have no rights to protection by law. This decision protects crooked officials and their behavior and endangers the public good and the public trust.

In dissenting statements, Justice Stevens wrote:

"The proper answer to the question `whether the First Amendment protects a government employee from discipline based on speech made pursuant to the employee's official duties,' is `Sometimes,' not `Never.' Of course a supervisor may take corrective action when such speech is `inflammatory or misguided.' But what if it is just unwelcome speech because it reveals facts that the supervisor would rather not have anyone else discover?"

Also, Justice Souter wrote:

"This significant, albeit qualified, protection of public employees who irritate the government is understood to flow from the First Amendment, in part, because a government paycheck does nothing to eliminate the value to an individual of speaking on public matters, and there is no good reason for categorically discounting a speaker's interest in commenting on a matter of public concern just because the government employs him. Still, the First Amendment safeguard rests on something more, being the value to the public of receiving the opinions and information that a public employee may disclose."

From Justice Breyer's dissent:

"The speech of vast numbers of public employees deals with wrongdoing, health, safety, and honesty; for example, police officers, firefighters, environmental protection agents, building inspectors, hospital workers, bank regulators, and so on. Indeed, this categorization could encompass speech by an employee performing almost any public function, except perhaps setting electricity rates."

A Web Walkabout

So many oddities and curiosities abound across the internet, many of which defy explanation, such as the first entry -- using the crucifixtion to encourage voters in a bid to combat a proposal to allow for sales of alcohol. (via Joshua Blankenship)

The next entry takes us to Japan to view a new craze, hikaru dorodango I really do not understand how it can be possible to make a shiny mud ball. Then again, it was mostly pity that prompted my geology professor to give me a passing grade.

Some sad news - last Saturday one of the great artists and animators of the last 50 years passed away, Alex Toth. Toth created Space Ghost, Josie and the Pussycats, took the TV show Zorro to the comics and helped create characters for shows like Jonny Quest and many other Hannah-Barbera cartoons in the 1960s. He worked in just about every genre - westerns, romance, adaptions, superheroes, mystery and horror, and much more.

Samples of his style are featured on his web site.

I've noticed some discussions of late about the federal government's Video News Releases programs, often showing up on a local newscast unidentified as a government-created news release. Despite the FCC's memo from April of this year, incidents continue to occur.

Between 2003 and 2005 the Bush administration has spent $1.3 billion on "pre-packaged news."
And, uh ... hint for the DC cabal ... it's not working.

Million Dollar Budget Errors, Growing Deficits

A very real concern for local taxpayers is being mostly ignored and rising costs of operations at almost every level of Hamblen County government indicates a major tax increase is on the way.

One county commissioner has been actively trying to correct the problems in accounting and budget records, literally catching million dollar mistakes, though Commissioner Linda Noe is often dismissed by others on the commission and on county government as some sort of loose cannon. It's obvious however that her efforts continue uncover serious problems.

Commissioner Noe's blog has been focused of late on what she calls a "perfect tax storm" and here are some excerpts:

"Our first budget meeting on May 16 got us off to an odd start as we looked at the county debt budget for next year. About midway through the discussion, I pointed out that there was a $1,000,000 error (yes, that's one million dollars) in the debt payment budget we had just been given for the 06-07 budget year.

The budget we had been given showed that our debt payments would be a little over $1,300,000 in 06-07. I asked Finance Director Nicole Epps to check her figures and see if debt payments would actually be closer to $2,300,000.

Nicole looked back through debt information, did some calculations, and then told us that, yes, one debt payment (line-item) was "off" by $130,000 and, yes, another debt payment (line-item) was "off" by $870,000, and, yes, the total general debt payments would be $2,300,000 (instead of the $1,300,000 we had been given).

We got the corrected debt payment budget at our May 23 meeting. What a rude awakening there would have been down the road if we had approved the debt budget with the $1,000,000 error!

We also discussed the overall county debt. The total debt is about $46 million in principal alone (not including yearly interest charges that have to be paid). And that $46 million county debt figure does not include any of the huge M-H hospital debt that is kept in a separate debt fund.

In discussing the county debt, I asked whether the county had just been paying interest only on the four big $10 million dollar bond issues. Joe Ayers of Cumberland Securities answered "yes."

What this means is that over the past 6-7 years, we have added $40 million worth of debt but we have yet to pay a dime toward the principal of that debt. We are currently scheduled to start paying down this $40 million bond debt in 2009."

Here's another entry:

"If the revenue and expenditure figures do not change a lot in the next few weeks and if we keep approving all the spending that is in front of us, then we will be looking at a deficit general fund budget for 06-07. We will have slowly approved spending more than we expect to take in.

And that would be a deficit budget before there is any talk at all about pay raises or the school budget!

It's full steam ahead to approve all the spending increases and then saddle the taxpayers with higher tax rates this year on top of last year's higher property appraisals--the old double whammy right in the pocketbook."

And again, it's noted that budget figures presented to the full commission are based on one set of estimates via the county mayor's office versus basing them on the correct audited figures available.

"Using the computer records means that we are using unaudited and uncorrected numbers even though Commission adopted audited-based budgeting years ago for the purpose of having the most accurate available record of county spending in front of us during each budget cycle.

All the historical spending (02-03, 03-04, 04-05) that commission has been given comes from unaudited/uncorrected computer records even though audits for all three of those years were available on March 31.

This commission wanted and voted for more accuracy in the budgeting process by adopting audited-based budgeting, but we didn't get it.

It is unfortunate that the County Mayor and his Finance Department have snubbed the entire Commission.

Actually, it is more than unfortunate and it is more than a snub.

Taxpayers, too, deserve to know that the most accurate records available --audited records--are given to their commissioners and are used by the County Mayor and the Finance Department in the budget cycle.

This is just one of the reasons I spoke yesterday of the mess we are in after just three budget meetings."

As I have mentioned before - ignoring these critical funding discrepancies is perilous for taxpayers.