Censorship

This is censorship by the government through intimidation, plain and simple.

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UT president search already tainted

State Sen. Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) has blown the whistle on two candidates who made the short list in the UT president search. According to McNally, one lied on her resume, and one was involved in a discrimination lawsuit and has a pattern of lavish spending.

My question is, if McNally knew about this why did he wait until after the short list was announced and then go to the press with it instead of discussing it with the search committee before?

It probably doesn't have anything to do with the fact that Bill Madia, who was the former director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory in McNally's home district (and the person I thought was preordained for the job by the local powers that be), was cut from the list. And I'm sure McNally would not try to politicize the process for his own benefit.

Regardless, now the process is already tainted (and so is the eventual nominee) before they can even pick somebody. With the politics surrounding this deal, it is beyond me why anybody would want the job or why they think they could be effective operating in this environment.

OK, then.

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No free ice cream

Here's a perfect example of industry influence in government and how so many stupid laws get on the books and how our state legislators end up spending their time rearranging the deck chairs on our Titanic ship of state. Sheesh.

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Arkansas politics

By way of reader Joel, here's an interesting blog about Arkansas politics. Be sure to scroll down to the post entitled "CANDIDACY PROBLEMATIC AT BEST" for a story about another fortunate son entering politics.

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Border follies

Reader News Junkie writes:

Was talking to my brother (who lives in Niota, not too far from you) last night and he mentioned some nuclear scientists working for the feds at Oak Ridge who had gone to Canada to attend a conference and now weren't being allowed back into the country.

Nobody that I know here (the left coast) has heard of this and we're very curious - especially since we know how porous our US/Mexico border really is. So I'm curious why, for example, Arabs (3, armed, carrying Mexican drivers licenses and x-marked maps indicating strategic spots like freeway overpasses, Sea World and the one nuclear power plant between the border and LA) can cross, and illegals of all kinds can come over and work and live, etc. and these scientists can't get back in. Can you point me to that story anywhere? Or what have you heard about it?

Any info would be most appreciated given that illegals and terrorists can apparently travel unimpeded from coast to coast but news can't always.

This was indeed reported here in the local media a couple of weeks ago. There were a couple of follow-up articles in the Canadian media here and here.

And it would be an interesting contrast to three armed Arab men with maps of sensitive facilities sneaking across the border from Mexico. Except the only source I can find for this story is a post on Free Republic by a guy who heard some guy named "Sean" call a right-wing radio talk show in San Diego claiming to be a firefighter who got an "e-mail alert" about the infiltrators. So it is either a) a massive cover-up, or b) urban myth, which seems more likely considering the source. (I'd be interested if anyone knows more about this).

Regardless, News Junkie is correct that it has to make you wonder about Bush's policy of opening our borders to illegal immigrants from Mexico as a cheap political ploy to appeal to Hispanic voters. Do you think terrorist organizations have maybe noticed this and updated their list of easy ways to gain entry to the US? But reelection is more important than actual counter-terrorism, I suppose.

I am glad that the Department of Homeland Security is monitoring suspicious individuals at our Canadian borders. But as with the Patriot Act and the no-fly list, casting such wide, indiscriminate nets probably does more to restrict the freedoms of law-abiding people than it does to catch terrorists who operate under the radar.

And here's a scary thought. After the billions we've spent on a thirty-year "war on drugs", if you can still buy a bag of Columbian pot it would seem there is no 100% effective way to secure our borders. And who do you think might be more motivated, pot smugglers or terrorists?

Sure, in 20/20 hindsight the 9/11 hijackers had legal visas but there were also plenty of other activities that should have aroused suspicion. And don't get me wrong, I think tightening border security (and cracking down on illegal immigration) is a good idea. But it occurs to me that we are applying pre-9/11 thinking to the problem while the terrorists know they won't get away with those tricks again.

As just some guy with a keyboard and an opinion, I have no idea what the solution should be. I just hope there are smarter people than me working on it.

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Shorter Condi Rice

The sinking of the Lusitania was Clinton's fault, and so was 9/11.

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Bush/Cheney testimony preview

Q: Mr. President, can you explain your administration's national security policy as it related to terrorism prior to 9/11?

Bush: Yeah, well, see, we...

Cheney: What the President is saying is that he had been examining our armed forces with an eye towards modernizing our capabilities to enable us to respond swiftly and forcefully to terrorist threats anywhere in the world, including any nations who harbored terrorists or armed them with weapons of mass destruction. At the same time he was pursuing a multi-faceted strategy, reevaluating our border security, our intelligence gathering capabilities, assessing known threats and planning our response. He was intent on developing a cohesive, comprehensive strategy very similar to Truman's response to the Soviet nuclear threat at the start of the cold war, a strategy I might add that led to the Soviet's eventual defeat, understanding of course that a strategy of deterrence and containment would not be appropriate in the context of global international terrorism.

Q: Thank you, Mr. Cheney, but we would like to hear the President answer in his own words...

Bush: That's exactly right. I had a comprehension of a strategery that I was just about to put in place when those planes hit. As the Vice President just said, it had multi-faucets, so we could turn it off and on and run it hot or cold, or in between. It was full of cohesionisms. Uncontained cohesions and no deterrences. I was just like Truman. You remember Truman, don't you? He was a president, just like me. I learned about him in college. Maybe you did too. And like all great presidents he had a strategery. Just like me.

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Happy 40th birthday IBM 360

All you old codger computer geeks with plastic pocket protectors and TI hex calculator/decoder rings and green (or the newer yellow 370) instruction set cards will appreciate this.

The IBM 360 mainframe computer was first announced 40 years ago today.

I sure miss the days of multi-million dollar computers (and employers willing to pay their wizardly tenders commensurately) and guys in white shirts and wingtip shoes parachuting out of the sky any time day or night 7 X 24 to fix them for you.

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Making money around the edges

Thomas at Newsrack has an interesting report on employee time shaving, the practice of altering an employees time and attendance records to short change their paychecks. Thomas notes that this is made easier in this age of electronic record keeping, similar to how election fraud is going to be easier with electronic voting.

One of the companies caught doing this was Walmart. They were also caught last week overcharging customers. It was probably just an honest mistake, but it sure seems like Walmart has figured out how to make money coming and going off everybody, especially those not paying attention.

It's been a bad week for Walmart, though. Their attempts to bypass zoning and municipal planning to put one of their super centers in Inglewood, CA was rejected by voters yesterday.

Companies like Walmart and Microsoft and Citicorp et. al. are the natural result of competition and free markets. I'd like to think, though, that someday we might value something other than just monetary profits in business and commerce. You know, things like honesty and integrity, respect for workers and suppliers and customers and the community at large -- in other words, holding them accountable for being responsible citizens like individuals are supposed to be.

It seems to me that we could measure these kinds of "profits" and "losses" somehow, like the prosperity of their employees, and their impact on communities where they do business and the industries in which they operate. We need to figure out how to get this on the balance sheet somewhere.

OK, then.

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Talk amongst yourselves...

Busy busy, nothing much to say. I believe it is customary in these situations to provide an "open thread" for you to rage against the machine or something.

Maybe you can talk about how the wingnuts keep insisting that escalating violence and civil conflict in Iraq aren't really that bad and in fact are an opportunity, and besides those guys are just a bunch of punks and nothing to be worried about because our war president Bush has everything under control.

Or you could talk about this guy reader Jeanne mentioned in comments yesterday who has been there, done that, and got the t-shirt (free registration required). He doesn't seem so confident in our war president's abilities.

Or maybe you can talk about how this guy thinks unceremoniously maintaining one's blogroll is the prelude to civil war and the end of civilization as we know it. He's puzzled why I don't want to read his bombastic tripe any more after calling me a liar on more than one occasion and fighting to destroy everything I believe in. But of course, partisan political hacks on the right are merely being objective and factual. And I am apparently under some obligation to promote their wingnuttery and engage them in "reasoned" debate, and even be their pals. Right. Since when? Since December 19, 1998? November 7, 2000? November 5, 2002? March 19, 2003? Allrighty, then.

Or you can talk about how the Lady Vols have limped their way into the finals on a controversial foul call and one of the lowest scoring games in NCAA tournament history. But hey, what the hell. By any means necessary...

UPDATE: CNN is reporting that the city of Najaf has fallen to Shiite cleric al-Sadr's militia. Fox is not reporting it at the moment. Neither is MSNBC. Are they waiting for more facts, or for the White House to tell them how to spin it?

They are all reporting, however, on the escalating violence and more American soldiers killed today.

Bremer said on CNN this morning, "there is no question we have control over the country. I know if you just report on those few places, it does look chaotic. But if you travel around the country, what you find is a bustling economy, people opening businesses right and left, unemployment has dropped."

How much longer do they think people will keep buying this stuff? We need to quit screwing around with incompetence and either get our guys some help over there or bring them home.

Maybe we should just let Iraq figure it out for themselves or kill each other in the process if that's what they want. They can't be any stupider than the guys who started this war.

But what the hell do I know. All I see is dead people.

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. Mission Accomplished. Major combat operations are over. I wonder what those Marines think this shit is, a minor bar scuffle?

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The Thunder Road Mystery

Over at Metro Pulse, Jack Neely delves into the mythology, uh, folklore, er, history of Robert Mitchum's Ballad of Thunder Road.

Oh, while you're over there, check out the proposal for the new West Knoxingtonville development. The restaurants sound particularly appealing, from Yosemiti Samuri to Beau Thai, to my personal favorite, Rabbi Ribeye’s Kosher Shack, where you can "enjoy a Lender’s bagel and the rabbi’s own Cuban Reuben."

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Sheriff Tim v. Sentinel, Round 2

Looks like the News Sentinel is on to something new with Sheriff Tim and he's not happy:

Whether it is printing a tasteless picture of the body of an abused U.S. citizen in Iraq, or printing a full color front page map of how to get to a public official’s home, or tying up numerous public employees with reams of paperwork, the Sheriff’s Office believes the News Sentinel continues to demonstrate a flagrant disregard for the public good.

By way of Sandra Clark at the Halls Shopper. (Also, be sure to scroll down to the very end of Sandra's column for a great tourism idea).

UPDATE: Shurf Tim asked for comments on his website. Reader "Blackfork" obliged, and copied us with his comment:

So here it is, Hutchinson.

I'm a private citizen with his own business. Frankly, you can just cry me a river and sing a sad song about records being required to be available at the drop of a hat. You looked at a tax code lately? Done a state sales tax report? Put in handicapped parking or disabled access? Had to make sure you were in compliance with environmental regulations? OSHA? FEMA? IRS?

Or just get this: to legally DRIVE the four blocks from my paid-for house (that four or five taxing authorities have first claim on) In my paid-for car, (that four or five taxing authorities have first claim on), paying gas tax out the tailpipe, TO my business to help drive THIS economy.......I need a drivers licensee, plates for front and rear, an inspection sticker, a registration sticker, insurance card PLUS I have to clickit-or-ticket, (my choice, you guys say), and wear glasses. And they want to install traffic light cameras. You know....send me a ticket in the mail.

(Insert your stump speech about what a great and free country we are right here. *)

In short, nobody at any level of govt. hesitates to require ME to conform to any request they can dream up. All at the point of a gun, by the way. If I refuse, then resist, I can be legally killed by any LEO who will then be promoted for doing his duty.

I'm twisted into a pretzel. I'm loaded up like a mule. I'm steppin and fetchin. They got me coming and going and paying for the privilege of doing it.

Flown lately? I can't WAIT until they do this no-fly list thing. Hell, I'll be FREE-ER than EVER!!!!

Deer or duck hunting? The State owns them. Carry or own a firearm? VERRRRRRY risky. You can be killed out of hand. Then slandered.

Here in Texas, where we live wild and free, its now ILLEGAL for me to SHOOT a copperhead snake on my own property unless I have a valid hunting licensee IN my possession. Oh, and I have to have a drivers license, (don't ask me why), too.

I've got this about right haven't I?

So dude, you got a LOT of nerve whining about opening some records that you OUGHT to have sitting in a computer at some administrators fingertips.

(That administrator would be paid about 65K a year by the taxpayers, of course, and have two assistants, great benefits, retirement, and a blonde receptionist with a pair of crime-fighting 36Cs. For the CHILDREN, remember? And he would gripe all the time about his job.)

In Smith County, Texas we just have been through this exact same situation with our sheriffs Department- no inventories, no accounting, no records of who works for the dept. and when, secret discretionary funds, no list of arrests, a million dollars of govt. surplus equipment unaccounted for, hundreds of firearms bought and sold without any record keeping....you know. Things YOU would arrest any citizen for doing and then hold a press conference to brag about.

But you ought to see HIS receptionist!!!!

But don't worry- our sheriff got reelected by a landslide. You can personally whack the pope on the head with a phone book on daytime TV and you'll still get the vote- after all, you're the incumbent. You fight that dadgum crime ALL the TIME!!!

Keep going. You look young and got good hair. Run for congress! Hell, be the Governor!!

Any "professional" small business would have this information on a desktop and furnish it without cost to any govt. agency who demanded it. If your records are NOT in readily accessible and updated format, I suggest you immediately remedy that situation. You're bragged in the last three election cycles about being "professionals, didn't you?

In the meantime, quit complaining and follow the law.

My ADVICE is to QUIT stealing folks cars and property, lay off the drug idiots, in short, QUIT enforcing every idiotic law that some grandstanding legislator managed to pass and protect the constitutional freedoms we are SUPPOSED to have, PLUS a few more.

Oh no, you CAN'T do that....you SWORE to uphold the LAW...um...so...WHAT were we complaining about....a law you didn't want to immediately submit to?

Umhum....keep crying that river. Keep singing that sad song.

READ the Bill of Rights? Lately? Evidently they have changed a lot of stuff.

By the way, what is your FAVORITE of the Bill of Rights? The one you regard as sacrosanct? You know, the ONE you would um....stand up for......ah.......FIGHT for........er,ah.......NEVER see violated.

None of them, right? Lets just make WAR on them drugs and get reelected!!!

Well, take heart. There is a whole raft of folks, just like you, running this system. You can't swing a cat these days without smacking about ten or twelve folks in agencies just like you.

You are the future! Stand tall!

A friend of mine who is a govt. employee says the only way to get BACK at govt. these days...is to WORK for them.

You know, you could have one of your undercover guys sting a couple of those reporters. Drugs or child porn. It wouldn't matter if they weren't convicted. Just stick them and let them bankrupt themselves getting loose, I F they can. Reporters will back off. Heck, you KNOW folks who have done this. Sure you do.

Or do what you are doing. Delay. Whine that any requests takes time away from you stealing drug-czars cars and property so that you can save the children and protect freedom. You got the guns, you got the men, you got the jail, you got the prosecutors and the courts and the judges and a lot of nitwit laws. USE them.

They are guilty of SOMETHING.

WHO the heck do these folks THINK they are? I bet that newsroom is full of dope-smoking, liberal, satchel-assed idiots. Bust 'em.

And meanwhile, if you want to reply to this e-mail, (which will be posted, by the way, everywhere I can post it), I'd like an answer to a question: When you watch Saving Private Ryan, or Braveheart, or The Patriot, or even an old Robin Hood....WHICH side do you identify with? Civil authority or the peasants, slaves and citizenry fighting to be free?

And please remember, you ASKED for this comment. Otherwise, I never would have bothered with this sorry business. Please don't have me killed. I'm not worth shooting. I'm a humble, groveling dog. I have taxes I have to go earn and pay. Everything I have already belongs to the Govt. or makes a buttload of money for them.

Your obedient and compliant tax slave and servant, in fact, the obedient and compliant tax slave and servant of ANY govt. agency, state, local or federal, (plus all the regulatory agencies) everywhere! Let Freedom, (OK, regulated, limited and taxed freedom, um...and just my FAIR SHARE), ring!!

Blackfork

OK, then.

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Why I like Bredesen: Reason #247

'Right-wing' agenda provokes Bredesen

Gov. Phil Bredesen has joined Democratic senators in accusing Republicans of pursuing a radical right wing agenda in an election year by pushing legislation such as the constitutional amendment on abortion and the civil unions bill.

“It bothers me a little bit that at a time when we have so many [serious] issues that these kind of wedge divisive issues are getting the kind of attention and play in the Senate that they have,” Bredesen said. “I particularly don’t like the idea of messing around with the constitution in a political year.

“… There are some 20 bills up there at the moment that seek constitutional amendments and when the constitution is changed I think it ought to be something that’s done with great consideration over a period of time, definitely not to be part of electioneering in an election year, and I’m concerned about the increasing level to which that’s happening,” Bredesen said.

Good for Bredesen. I wish we had this kind of leadership in the White House.

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GOP insurgents in Baghdad

GOP Operatives Lead at Iraq Press Office

Inside the marble-floored palace hall that serves as the press office of the U.S.-led coalition, Republican Party operatives lead a team of Americans who promote mostly good news about Iraq.

...[Dan] Senor was with the Carlyle Group, an investment firm with Bush family ties and big defense industry holdings.

...Rich Galen, 57, a well-known Republican strategist, oversees the daily news releases sent directly to media outlets in the United States. Before joining the CPA press operation late last year, Galen wrote a GOP insider column and appeared on Fox News to harpoon liberal critics of Bush.

..."Iraq is in danger of costing George W. Bush his presidency and the CPA's media staff are determined to see that does not happen," Robison said. "I had the impression in dealing with the civilians in the Green Room that they viewed their job as essentially political, promoting what the Coalition Provisional Authority is doing in Iraq as a political arm of the Bush administration," he added.

...One CPA staffer who spoke on condition of anonymity said the press office had sent targeted "good news" releases to American television, radio and newspaper outlets that were timed to deflect criticism of Bush during the Democratic primaries.

Stratcom's schedule of news releases shows that stories were sent to media outlets in Florida, Ohio, Illinois, Tennessee and Virginia and other states in the days before their Democratic primaries. But the schedule also shows releases sent to Virginia, Ohio and Florida after the primaries were over. Senor said any correlation to the vote was a coincidence.

Here is one of Stratcom's feel good pieces about Iraq. The press release does not mention the 19 American soldiers killed that week. Or the rocket attack on the hotel housing western journalists. Or the Iraqi police killed during riots.

This is why you can't believe anything that comes out of the Bush administration. Not a single word. It's all made up data, manufactured news, and propaganda -- right down the line on every single issue from the economy to health care to the environment to national security. All of it.

UPDATE: Digby noticed this yesterday.

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DJ Mass D

DJ Mass D is in the house. Here's a rough demo mix (MP3) of the latest from SKB laboratories.

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2004 Foothills Fall Festival needs your help

The Maryville Foothills Fall Festival committee has put out a call for small businesses and community groups to sponsor kid's activities at this year's event:

``Our goal is to have three or four tents where face painting will be done,'' said Patti Clevenger, chair of the children's area. ``I will provide the tent, chairs and face paint. All the business or group would have to do would be man the tent.''

Clevenger ``has pictures that are easy to paint on children's faces and that are so simplistic that anybody could do it.''

What's the deal with this obsession for face painting? Do kids really enjoy that? Seems weird to me, but then I'm not a kid. When I was, I would have probably liked a Popeye tattoo or something, but damned if I would have wanted anybody painting crap on my face.

But face painting isn't all they have in store for the kids:

Anderson Lumber Co. Employees again are saving wood scraps for use during the festival, and Staples provides Sharpies so kids can draw on the wood. Glue will be available for children who prefer to assemble sculptures in this Tiny Tot Land activity.

A cellular phone company is collecting old cell phones for kids to decorate with beads, ribbons and feathers. The children will be able to take the phones home with them as toys.

An idea for other sponsors: businesses could collect recyclable items for children to use in an art activity.

What the...? Kids sitting around playing with scraps and junk and trash? Damn that sounds like a lot of fun. For some reason this evokes images of a bunch of poor little malnourished kids sitting around in the dirt poking dog crap with a stick to entertain themselves.

Fortunately they have some other actually fun sounding stuff lined up, like mascot characters from the police and fire and other city departments, magic shows, baby bumper cars, karaoke, a hay maze, climbing toys, Nickelodeon, and a kazoo band with free kazoos for the kids. The article has contact info for anyone with other suggestions or who might want to sponsor kid's activities to get in touch with them.

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John Ashcroft would be proud

Nude women off the menu at one Nashville bar

Nude women have been on the menu at The Sutler for years, but the Nashville pub covered up the 19th-century Victorian photos after being warned they might be too racy for state law.

The Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission decided Wednesday that only one photo showing a woman's genital area was off-limits, but by then every nipple on the menus had been covered in black marker.

The pub has displayed the artistic antique photos for many years and had never attracted notice of state regulators until recently.

Commission agents had told the pub owner that some of the photos, thought to be from the mid-1800s, might run afoul of state laws that limit sexually explicit material or performances where alcohol is served.

Hey, I just live here. Make up your own jokes.

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Tennessee Roundup

Our brilliant state legislature has been hard at work this week:

Despite withdrawing his proposal earlier, Sen. David Fowler (R-Of Course) brought his abortion amendment to a vote in the Senate. It passed 23-6. Basically it guarantees that abortion will never be legal in Tennessee if Roe v. Wade is ever overturned. As written it doesn't even allow abortion in cases of rape, incest, or to protect the life of the mother. If the House approves the proposed constitutional amendment, it could be put to the voters of Tennessee in 2006.

By a vote of 27 to 2, the Senate also declared gays double-plus bad by approving legislation that prohibits recognizing civil unions, even if they're issued by another state. See, Tennessee already outlaws same-sex marriage and same-sex civil unions. Legislators were worried, however, that throngs of married or civil-unioned gays from other states might come here and want, like, civil rights or something.

In related news, legislators had to delay a vote on another state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. It's already illegal, but legislators are worried that the State Legislature might be overrun by out of control gays at some point in the future so they want a double-plus-guarantee in the Constitution. I think it says something like "Ain't gonna be no gay marriage in Tennessee. Nuh uh. No way. Ain't gonna happen. We really mean it this time." Oh, why did they delay the vote on this important constitutional amendment? They had to go work on some nonsense about a budget or something.

Apparently the citizens of Tennessee are so afraid for their own personal safety when visiting the local pub that they feel the need to pack heat. Maybe they're worried about terrorists attacking and trying to impurify their precious bodily fluids or something, I don't know. At any rate, it might guarantee an honest pour. But sadly, the House was not able to pass a law guaranteeing the right to bear arms in establishments that serve alcohol. Why don't they care about public safety?

The legislature is considering a license plate bill that would take "the legislature and politics out of the process" of issuing specialty plates. The bill would authorize the Department of Safety "to issue a specialty plate for any organization that meets minimal requirements", opening the way for "Sons of Confederate Veterans" and "Tennessee for the Ten Commandments" specialty plates. No, seriously.

OK, then.

[Link] Fri Apr 02 06:48 by SK Bubba

Comments: 15 (Last: 04/05/04 13:50 by Eldo)

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