The passing of Devereaux Cannon

Very sad news indeed. Devereaux was a friend and the creator of the TaxFreeTennessee web site that was so helpful during the State Income Tax protests.

He was an extraordinary father to Devereaux III and Katherine, grandfather to Devereaux IV, political activist, historian, prominent Nashville Attorney, and husband to Nora.

The picture is Devereaux teaching people about the history of flags. He wrote several books on the subject.

Here is more info from Tom Lawless:

It is with great sadness that I must let you know that Devereaux Cannon passed away very suddenly on December 29, 2007. Devereaux was a very dear and close friend not only to me but so very many people both in an out of politics. A devoted husband and father, he will leave a great void with his passing. The family will be receiving friends on Tuesday January 1 from 5:00 to 7:30 pm at St. John Vianney Catholic Church, 449 North Water Street, Gallatin, TN and the funeral service will be held on Wednesday, January 2, 2008 at 9:30 a.m., also at the Church. If you would please pass this information along to all those folks you might believe would like to know of this tragic passing.

Here is a picture I took on June 19, 2002 at the Capitol during the tax protests. Devereaux on the left and Tom Lawless on the right:

Spring Hill: NO property tax but lots of fees

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A water and sewer rate increase may also come following a Municipal Technical Advisory Service study of the city's rates, expected to be complete sometime in 2008.

Though new fee structures are looming, Leverette said he did not expect to have to reinstate a property tax in 2008. The tax was reduced from 19 cents per hundred dollars of assessed value to zero in 2005 after several years of budget surpluses. Leverette said the reduction was a way of giving back to residents, in accordance with the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, which was passed by the city in 2005.

He said the board would exhaust several avenues of generating new revenue before resorting to reinstating the property tax.

"In talking to several aldermen, that's not an option we're considering," he said.

Govt funded science justifies Govt food fascism

The CDC scientists are saying that despite all their best efforts and good intentions, US citizens are still eating too much.

So, their only conclusion is that Government must "focus...less on nutrition education and more on shaping the food environment." Interpretation: Citizens can not be trusted to make correct decisions about their own welfare so government must make the decisions for them.

Link

A revised view of eating as an automatic behavior, as opposed to one that humans can self-regulate, has profound implications for our response to the obesity epidemic, suggesting that the focus should be less on nutrition education and more on shaping the food environment.

Amazing Bird Video-Can mimic any sound

Extraordinary video of a bird that perfectly mimics car alarms, camera shutters (two kinds), and a chain saw. All just to pick up hot chickees.

UK Healthcare Bureaucrats' 18 page dress code

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And just in case staff - everyone from doctors and nurses to porters - should totally lose their fashion sense, the report reminds them to make sure they are wearing socks at all times.

The document also contains lengthy instructions on appropriate hairstyles, including a ruling that hair can only be dyed in its natural colour.

Headscarves are acceptable but once again there are strict guidelines on how they should be worn - "at shoulder length, well secured and unadorned."

Maine taxes out of State Plane

Don't tell TN Dept of Revenue Commissioner Reagan Farr about this. He will install anti-aircraft guns at the borders and start shooting them out of the air.

Link

PORTLAND, Maine - When Steve Kahn got a $26,000 tax bill on his airplane, he thought Maine Revenue Services had made a mistake. Kahn lives, works, and keeps his plane in Massachusetts.

But the bill was no error. It was part of the agency's efforts to collect taxes on aircraft owned by out-of-state residents, even though they bought their planes elsewhere and brought them to Maine only to visit.

A number of other states, from Florida to Washington, are doing the same as they grapple with budget shortfalls and as the Internet makes it easier to track the comings and goings of aircraft.

Big bucks from lobbyists to Pres Candidates

Article from Real Time Investigations


Mitt Romney Goldman Sachs $181,425

Hillary  DLA Piper $356,100

Barack  Goldman Sachs $369,078

Fred Thompson Morgan Stanley $34,200

John Edwards ActBlue $1,965,274

Bill Richardson State of New Mexico $319,330


ALL candidates HERE Click on candidate name and then click on Top Contributor.

Your brain on alcohol

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Booze law madness

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Some states mandate sitting, while others require standing at the bar to drink. Texans may take up to but not more than three sips of beer while standing. Some jurisdictions require the interior of public drinking establishments to be visible from the street; others specifically prohibit that.

In Iowa it's illegal to run a tab. And don't even think of having a drop after closing hours there - not even if you own the bar. It's hard to imagine the incident that led to Iowa's law stating that if an employee pours water down the drain while a police officer is drinking at the bar, the water is considered an alcoholic beverage intended for unlawful purposes.

Bars and restaurants in North Dakota are forbidden to serve beer and pretzels at the same time. Nebraska bars may not sell beer except when simultaneously brewing a kettle of soup.

If you skip the bar and head to a liquor store in Indiana, you won't find any soda or milk in the cooler. They may, however, sell warm soft drinks. In California, no alcoholic beverages may be displayed within 5 feet of a cash register if the store sells both alcohol and motor fuel. Presumably so you don't confuse your Colt 45 with your 10W40.

Philosophical drinkers in Houston might ponder the fact that it's illegal to buy beer after midnight Sunday but perfectly all right any time Monday, which starts - that's right - right after midnight Sunday.

An airline pilot: Airport Security Follies

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To understand what makes these measures so absurd, we first need to revisit the morning of September 11th, and grasp exactly what it was the 19 hijackers so easily took advantage of. Conventional wisdom says the terrorists exploited a weakness in airport security by smuggling aboard box-cutters. What they actually exploited was a weakness in our mindset — a set of presumptions based on the decades-long track record of hijackings.

In years past, a takeover meant hostage negotiations and standoffs; crews were trained in the concept of "passive resistance." All of that changed forever the instant American Airlines Flight 11 collided with the north tower. What weapons the 19 men possessed mattered little; the success of their plan relied fundamentally on the element of surprise. And in this respect, their scheme was all but guaranteed not to fail.

For several reasons — particularly the awareness of passengers and crew — just the opposite is true today. Any hijacker would face a planeload of angry and frightened people ready to fight back. Say what you want of terrorists, they cannot afford to waste time and resources on schemes with a high probability of failure. And thus the September 11th template is all but useless to potential hijackers.

[...]

How we got to this point is an interesting study in reactionary politics, fear-mongering and a disconcerting willingness of the American public to accept almost anything in the name of "security." Conned and frightened, our nation demands not actual security, but security spectacle. And although a reasonable percentage of passengers, along with most security experts, would concur such theater serves no useful purpose, there has been surprisingly little outrage. In that regard, maybe we've gotten exactly the system we deserve.

Government licensing was NEVER about quality

Jessica Fender's article about home contractors failing test after test and yet continuing to work is prima facia evidence that State Government licensing is NOT about quality, it is about restricting competition. State licensing is NOT quality assurance for fixing hair or fixing plumbing.

Government licensing does NOT keep the bad guys out, it simply requires them to get a license.

Labor unions are one of the major supporters of licensing laws and for one simple reason: It is another tool they use to keep a monopoly on the supply of labor services. Many large companies support licensing laws for the same reason.

Government licensing raises prices, lowers quality and restricts the supply of services. But politicians just want to help us...don't they?

Licensing laws should be repealed but until then, at the very least, every citizen should be able to sign a waiver that allows them to opt out of licensing laws and use whomever they wish to use to perform a service.

New SEC Executive Compensation Database

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Just in time paper ballots in Fla

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By requiring all counties to use optical scanners, Florida is banking on a vote-counting method that has been around for decades in order to satisfy demands for a paper trail.

But many Florida counties will be relying on comparatively new technology to carry them through early voting. And with that comes the potential for snags.

As many as 27 counties, including Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough, plan on using ballot-on-demand machines to print ballots during early voting. Pinellas is using the system now to print absentee ballots.

TN Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for 2007

is now online HERE. This is the official audit of Tennessee State Finances for fiscal year July 1, 2006 - June 30, 2007. It usually appears in Dec or January.

HERE is the Statistics section with most of the good stuff.

Oh come on!! You know you want to badger us

The UK's Czarina of recycling doesn't want to treat "lazy consumers and greedy producers" like...er, uh..."lazy consumers and greedy producers."

The Sweet tyranny of good intentions.

Link

Can the decent, gentle approach work on lazy consumers and greedy producers? It is her objective to find out and, with our landfill sites groaning, she does not have long.

"If we start beating people up and saying you must do that, you must do this, you lose all that goodwill, and then you're having to badger them all the time. I would just prefer to keep it on positive footing," she says.

Watchmakers need to hire a big, bad lobbyist

A poll at the Gizmodo blog indicates that about 2/3 of people now get the time from their cell phone. This has caused watch sales to be flat and they will probably start to decline.

If the watch makers had any sense they would call some of the lobbyists that obtain corporate welfare for farmers, exporters, etc etc etc and get a little of that taxpayer lucre for themselves. They could testify to Congress about how they have been victimized by unfair consumer choices.

Heck, all they need is a few unscrupulous Congresspersons and a little cash to wave around and the earmarks would start rolling in.

New web site for Shelby Cnty Ethics form

The Shelby County Register of Deeds (these guys never miss an opportunity to put a big campaign picture of themselves on taxpayer funded web sites) has established a site for ethics forms to be filed and searched HERE.

Good article HERE in Memphis Daily News about the controversy over free Univ of Memphis football tickets and the new site.

They just want the best for us..hold on to your wallet

Please excuse me while I wipe the tear drops from my keyboard....they just want what is best for...US?

This unholy alliance of State and Local TN Government Highway Officials and the vendors that make money from them says they will NOT push for an increase in the gas tax...and they also have a very attractive bridge in Brooklyn for sale.

Here are the groups involved:

* Tennessee County Highway Officials

* Road Builders Association

* Municipal League

* Trucking Association

* Public Transportation Association

* Infrastructure Alliance

Link

Concerns about money for Tennessee roads have led to an alliance among six prominent state lobbying groups seeking public support for revamping transportation funding.

J. Rodney Carmical, executive director of Tennessee County Highway Officials, said a steering committee formed six months ago for the Tennessee Transportation Coalition.

He said the spark came when members from the highway officials group and the Tennessee Road Builders Association attended joint meetings of the House and Senate transportation committees.

The groups realized the public was not getting all the information concerning the plight of Tennessee's roads, he said.

"We're blessed with good roads," Mr. Carmical said. "We're blessed with good bridges. We don't want to lose that."

Knox Cnty scandals just keep on keepin on

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Cynthia Finch is the Mayor's Director of Community Services. Her office monitors county, state, and federal grant money distributed to dozens of organizations, including one run by her sister, Jacqueline Collins.

Tax documents recently filed by Collins for TennCorp Community Services show Finch's former assistant Requitta Bone is listed as an unpaid member of Tenn Corp's Board of Directors for 2006.

Bone worked for Knox County under Finch, but resigned earlier this year. She'd charged plane tickets and meals for her family on her county credit card.

10 News is also learning more about another group getting grant money through Finch's office, Family Security, Inc.

The federal government's Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) now says there was a conflict of interest surrounding federal money awarded to that organization because of a Finch connection.

Oklahoma's Open Govt Spending database is live

Hopefully Tennessee will soon have a similar site so citizens can see where their money is being spent. This is an extraordinary resource.

Congrats to the Oklahoma Legislature.

Here is the Oklahoma site: Link

Fascinating look at Ron Paul Grassroots in NH

Link

Boyapati, 29, is the man behind Operation Live Free or Die, an effort to bring 1,000 people to New Hampshire before the primary, to campaign for Ron Paul, an anti-war conservative running for president who mourns the end of the gold standard, interprets the Constitution literally and wants to put the federal government on a diet. Boyapati discovered the Republican congressman while watching the party's first primary debate last May. Seven months later, he has quit a lucrative job at Google to focus his efforts on the race, renting homes to house volunteers from across the country.

"I want to go all the way to November," he said. "I think we've got a pretty good chance to change things."

Boyapati started a website this fall, at operationlivefreeordie.com, where 370 people have pledged to come to the state. They indicate particular dates and jobs they can do, as well as money they can pay. Another 120 committed to come before Boyaparti launched the site. The site has already raised $50,000 for the project, and Boyapati has spent $10,000 of his own money. He hopes to attract hundreds more people, all from his laptop in the three-bedroom home.

Ana Vidovic, Cavatina by Stanley Myers

HT: Classical Virtuoso

$20 million taxpayer money for junk mail

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U.S. House members spent $20.3 million in tax money last year to send constituents what's often the government equivalent of junk mail — meeting announcements, tips on car care and job interviews, surveys on public policy and just plain bragging.

They sent nearly 116 million pieces of mail in all, many of them glossy productions filled with flattering photos and lists of the latest roads and bridges the lawmaker has brought home to the district, an Associated Press review of public records shows.

Two very important open Govt Laws passed

Two MAJOR Open Government Victories.

1 - All taxpayer funded medical research must now be made available online.

Link

Washington, D.C. – December 26, 2007 – President Bush has signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2007 (H.R. 2764), which includes a provision directing the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to provide the public with open online access to findings from its funded research. This is the first time the U.S. government has mandated public access to research funded by a major agency.

The provision directs the NIH to change its existing Public Access Policy, implemented as a voluntary measure in 2005, so that participation is required for agency-funded investigators. Researchers will now be required to deposit electronic copies of their peer-reviewed manuscripts into the National Library of Medicine's online archive, PubMed Central. Full texts of the articles will be publicly available and searchable online in PubMed Central no later than 12 months after publication in a journal.

"Facilitated access to new knowledge is key to the rapid advancement of science," said Harold Varmus, president of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Nobel Prize Winner. "The tremendous benefits of broad, unfettered access to information are already clear from the Human Genome Project, which has made its DNA sequences immediately and freely available to all via the Internet. Providing widespread access, even with a one-year delay, to the full text of research articles supported by funds from all institutes at the NIH will increase those benefits dramatically."

2- The FOIA or Freedom of Information Act has been improved.

Link

Overwhelming bipartisan support in Congress is just one reason President Bush should sign the 2007 Open Government Act. The first major reform of the 40-year-old Freedom of Information Act removes bureaucratic obstacles and streamlines access to the information the American public needs to hold their government accountable.

A key provision in the legislation restores the presumption-of-disclosure standard, committing agencies to release requested information unless there is a finding that such disclosure could do harm. The legislation further protects the public's right to know by restoring meaningful deadlines for agencies to respond, with real consequences for stone-walling. It clarifies that the FOIA applies to government records held by outside private contractors. It establishes a FOIA hotline for all federal agencies, and a FOIA ombudsman to provide a meaningful alternative to costly litigation.

Govt treating citizens like customers?

This could be a dangerous trend. If governments actually recognize that citizens are independent agents who have freedom of movement and freedom of choice....wow, this could be big.

Link

In an increasingly globalized economy, where businesses as well as workers have more say in where they locate, winter cities can no longer afford to appear lifeless for a quarter of the year. Many people now choose places to live on the basis of vital local culture, and civic leaders increasingly understand that making public places that are inviting all year, not just when it is warm and sunny, is essential for a dynamic, prosperous community.

OH, and it sounded like such a "GREAT" idea

WHAT A STUPID, WORTHLESS, and very probably, expensive IDEA!!

This idea had NOTHING to do with helping the (insert name of victim group here...in this case the "homeless".)

It had everything to do with people who wanted to show how GREAT they were because they "cared."

Link

CHATTANOOGA - Chattanooga's merchants say old parking meters meant to collect donations for the city's homeless have not done much to discourage panhandling.

Program coordinator Karen McMahon says people aren't using the recently installed meters very much because they don't know about them.

She expects that to change when the city launches an educational campaign about the meters next year.

The 2007 award for Most Shameless Politician

drum roll

the envelope please..........the recipient of this year's award is Philadelphia Mayor (Easy) Street, who has now decided to retroactively "accept" $111,000 of "deferred" raises which he, himself, had earlier vetoed.

Link HT: Governing

Mayor Street, who vetoed City Council's pay-raise legislation in the midst of an election in 2003, will retroactively claim more than $111,000 in cost-of-living increases over the last four years, boosting his walk-away gross pay to more than $560,000.

Street rejected a raise in 2004, from $146,000 to $165,000, even after Council overrode him, but now he has decided to collect, retroactively, the money he had "deferred" until now.

"He deferred it and held back on it, and so this was not a reversal of any of his positions," said City Finance Director Vincent Jannetti, to whom Street referred questions.

The $111,000 is the difference between the $146,000 salary he has received for the last four years and the salary he would have received with cost-of-living increases approved by Council. His salary in 2007 would have been $186,000.

KnoxExpenses.com - Documenting Knox County P-card

This site was created by Lewis Cosby. He has done a great job of documenting the problems with Knox County expense cards used by many officials. Great piece of citizen investigation. Here is a TV report on his investigation.

KnoxExpenses.com

What I Did

I have reviewed certain accounting records of Knox County related to the P-card program. The P-card program is a credit card account established in late 2003 by County Mayor Mike Ragsdale. Untill recently, 350 credit cards were being used by Knox County Employees.

Would she be popular today?

This 1956 picture of Marilyn Monroe comes from a blog that has lots of great vintage pics.

SanFran employers can't be forced to provide insurance

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San Francisco's mandated levy on employers to fund a universal healthcare scheme has been struck down by federal district judge Jeffrey White. Such a fee upon employers violates the 1974 ERISA law which ensures employer choice as to whether and how to provide healthcare benefits.

New Korean President to Slash Taxes

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Lee has pledged 12.6 trillion won in tax cuts, lowering the maximum corporate tax rate by stages to 20% from the current 25% and lowering oil-related taxes by 10%, paying for it by reducing government expenditures by as much as 20 trillion won. He also promises reductions in real-estate taxes.

Elected officials MAY talk to press says AZ AG

without violating the open meetings law. Yes, Virginia, a lawyer actually advised public officials in Arizona that talking to the press might violate open meetings laws. Thankfully, the State AG did not go along with this insanity.

Link

In January, Kim Clark, attorney for the Scottsdale Unified School District, wrote a column in The Scottsdale Republic arguing why elected officials should not discuss in the media any issues they expect to go to a vote.

She stated that doing so possibly could discourage public discussion at subsequent public meetings, closing constituents out of the process.

Clark could not be reached for comment after Monday's issued opinion.

HT: FOI FYI

SanFran company helps local Govts open up

Granicus is helping local governments to be more open, accessible and web friendly to citizens.

Link to Seattle Times article

"We're joining the 21st century," said Peter Camp, an executive director to County Executive Aaron Reardon. "The burden is on us to make it easy for the citizens. You shouldn't have to burrow through 16 Web pages to figure something out."

Voters in November 2006 approved an amendment to the county charter regarding "transparency in government," including provisions for providing timely County Council information to the public, varying public meeting times and clearly recording the votes cast by individual council members.

DHS is a fertile field for union organizers

This means huge infusions of campaign cash for any candidate who wants to expand the Dept of Homeland Security and LOTS of job security for present and future lobbyists.

Link

The National Treasury Employees Union isn't the only labor organization that has been busy signing up Transportation Security Administration employees lately. In the wake of NTEU's announcement that it had chartered a second TSA chapter, at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the American Federation of Government Employees has issued a statement noting that it has recently launched four new TSA locals, in Atlanta, Houston, Florida and Puerto Rico. AFGE, which says it will stand up many more TSA locals in the months ahead, also takes pains to note that it is "the only union to represent and stand behind transportation security officers since the agency's inception."

The mother of all Govt cost overruns

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BOSTON (AP) -- When the clock runs out on 2007, Boston will quietly mark the end of one of the most tumultuous eras in the city's history: The Big Dig, the nation's most complex and costliest highway project, will officially come to an end.

Don't expect any champagne toasts.

After a history marked by engineering triumphs, tunnels leaks, epic traffic jams, last year's death of a motorist crushed by falling concrete panels and a price tag that soared from $2.6 billion to a staggering $14.8 billion, there's little appetite for celebration.

Civil and criminal cases stemming from the July 2006 tunnel ceiling collapse continue, though on Monday the family of Milena Del Valle announced a $6 million settlement with Powers Fasteners, the company that manufactured the epoxy blamed by investigators for the accident. Lawsuits are pending against other Big Dig contractors, and Powers Fasteners still faces a manslaughter indictment.

Joe Saino is a Taxpayer's Saint

Memphis' Joe Saino is the very definition of a watchdog and he is doing it thru hard work, open records requests and an absolute unwillingness to be intimidated or thrown off the trail of corruption.

Much of the wrong doing in government is never prosecuted as "corruption." It simply involves changing the rules that would have made it corruption.

Joe broke the pension corruption story in Memphis several years ago and continues to follow up.

Link

I have been investigating for some time the whole question of City of Memphis appointed positions. This has been a huge issue since the January 2001 pension resolution that allowed elected and appointed people to retire after 12 years regardless of age. This has cost millions of dollars to date and will go on costing taxpayers well into the future.

In September of this year I asked, through an open records request, for information about the number of appointed positions over and above those allowed in the Memphis City Charter and other information about the cost to date of the January 2001 pension resolution and what will happen after the end of this year. To date, after three months, I have only gotten one piece of information and that is the copies of the two 2004 resolution addressing this issue. While I wait for the other information that I have been promised, I want the public to look at these two resolutions which I find interesting. These confirm and approve the situation that has been going on for 20 years and confirms that the council has been doing nothing until Carol Chumney and John Lunt brought this forward in 2004 and tried to change the situation. The City Council did do away with the January 2001 pension resolution, BUT ONLY FOR FUTURE PEOPLE, NOT FOR THEMSELVES, and apparently they are adding the positions shown below and making the rest of them into civil service positions.

"God made me blind and unable to walk...Big Deal"

Windex or Formula 409? Makes no difference

as long as the slate is clean.

Link HT: Kleinheider

Relying on 200,000-plus mostly small donors, Paul has brought in more than $18 million this quarter and may lead the Republican field in fourth-quarter fundraising.

In return for their generosity, Paul is offering his enthusiastic backers ... absolutely nothing.

At least that's how it would seem according to the conventional "pay to play" logic of big-time campaign fundraising.

The maverick libertarian Republican isn't promising ethanol subsidies to Iowans or free health care to New Hampshirites.

Paul opposes all kinds of corporate welfare and voted against the Medicare prescription drug benefit.

Nor is Paul championing a federal bailout of cash-strapped home buyers or mortgage lenders. His solution for what ails the country is minimal taxes and hard money, not federal guarantees or easy credit.
Where other presidential candidates claim their policies will simultaneously create prosperity and financial security for millions, Paul actually says on the stump, "I don't want to run the economy. I don't know how."

Ok, this is just freaky..editorializing for less spending?

A Tennessee newspaper actually editorializing for less spending? Has heck frozen over? The Murfreesboro Daily News Journal says the State of TN should "Cut spending instead of raiding reserve." Be still my heart.

Link

One thing is certain. Tennessee doesn't need to dip into its reserves to bail out any projects. Five years ago, Bredesen entered office facing budget shortfalls that had threatened to destroy state government. Now, the state has $600 million in TennCare reserves and $750 million in the rainy day fund, some of which Bredesen wrangled out of the Legislature last session instead of using it to pay for his education initiatives.

That money shouldn't be touched unless it is absolutely necessary to avoid sending Tennessee into a crisis situation.

The state can always tighten its belt at times like this and delay one-time projects without destroying the delivery of vital services to Tennesseans.

The Liquor lobby ain't going to like this

A bill to "allow" producers and consumers of wine to ship wine directly to consumers will again be introduced in the General Assembly. I wish Senator Stanley well. He will be fighting an uphill battle against a very powerful liquor lobby.

In most cases like this, where government is used by one business group to prevent competition from another business group, government becomes little more than institutionalized corruption.

Link

A growing number of wine makers and consumers in Georgia and Tennessee are waiting and hoping their state direct shipping laws, which prohibit the shipping of wine and the violation of which is a felony, will change in the next legislative session, wine makers say.

Middlemen fight change

In both states, direct-to-consumer shipping measures proposed this year were successfully opposed by distributors and wholesalers who don't want to be cut out as middlemen for the wine and liquor industries, said Tennessee State Sen. Paul Stanley, R-Germantown.

Other contentions against changing the law, he said, are that a lack of oversight would open the way to underage drinking and the loss of tax dollars.

Still, Sen. Stanley said he plans to propose a direct-shipping bill in the next session.

Patty Prouty, owner of Georgia Winery in Ringgold, Ga., said she hopes that legislators eventually will get together and say direct shipping is the will of the people.

Taxpayers become Indentured Servants to Govt?

Hey, this sounds like a GREAT idea. High property taxes shouldn't force people out of their homes says a NY village. However, their concern is not great enough to reduce taxes....no, their plan is to allow 76 year old Audrey Davis to  become an indentured servant to the city government.

Everything old is new again. Leave it to government to bring slavery back into vogue.

Link

GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- Audrey Davison lives alone, gets a $620 Social Security check each month and worries about the sharply rising taxes on her four-bedroom house. Davison, 76, raised her family there and after 43 years, she really doesn't want to leave Greenburgh.

Greenburgh doesn't want her to leave, either.

The town is pushing a program that would let seniors work part-time, for $7 an hour, to help pay off some of their property taxes.

"People shouldn't have to sell their house, move away to a place with less taxes, leave behind their family and friends," said Town Supervisor Paul Feiner.

How do you "cure" income disparities?

Phillip Chesser has it right. Using Government to "punish" the rich will not help the poor. 40 years of the "war on poverty" and trillions of "aid" have not helped anyone except the bureaucrats who staff these poverty agencies.

Silly concepts like "raising awareness" of poverty simply allow those who do the raising to feel important and self-righteous for a short time. Fixing poverty must start with those who are poor and concentrate on how they, as sovereign, independent individuals, can improve their lot. It is not a collective enterprise.

Link

What, if anything, should be done about income disparity? Nothing. Income disparity is neither evil nor a sign of injustice; it causes neither unemployment nor poverty in the United States. Bad habits and poor life choices cause poverty, not rich people with expensive houses, luxury cars, and country club memberships.

If one examines disaggregated poverty figures carefully, several things jump out. First, most of the poor are unmarried women with children. Second, many are poorly educated, having left school without graduating. Again, poverty in the United States, like poor health, is most often a result of bad habits and poor choices.

Good health and economic success require discipline, hard work, and wise choices. People who exercise and eat sensibly enjoy better health than those who don't. People who enjoy economic success finish school, get married, and then have children.

The United States is a country of limitless economic opportunity. That's why people from all over the world want to come here. When did anyone ever hear an immigrant, legal or illegal, complain about income disparity?

Is the Lottery scholarship a "right" or "privilege"?

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Rep. Mike Bell, R-Riceville, said the lottery scholarship was sold to Tennesseans as a merit scholarship that would keep the brightest students from going out of state to attend college.

"It was not sold as a need-based scholarship," he said. "Right now I would be very much against making this another entitlement program or a need-based scholarship."

[...]

"These are not tax dollars. These are the dollars that men and women, who were not merit scholars, (spend when they) go to the lottery places and buy tickets," Rep. Brown said. "And we need to make those dollars accessible."

Gov. Phil Bredesen at the November budget hearing called the lottery scholarship an "elitist" program that primarily benefited students who would have been able to afford college without it.

He said this was not a firm proposal, but he could envision a two-tiered approach in which scholarships would be given to students who have an exceptionally high grade-point average, such as a 3.5 or above, but students with a 2.5 GPA could receive awards based on financial need.

Hugo Chavez spreads corruption with his petro dollars

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Another scandal has erupted over Venezuelans allegedly carrying large amounts of money around Latin America -- this time a man identified as an armed forces intelligence captain found with some $800,000 in Bolivia.

A Bolivian police commander said the man was carrying a contract worth $870,000, not cash. But opposition Sen. Walter Guiteras and a community activist said he had $827,000 in cash.

Luís Michel Klein Ferrer was found Dec. 6 in the Bolivian provincial town of Riberalta after a Venezuelan air force C-130 cargo plane took off without him when residents opposed to Venezuela's influence in Bolivia began throwing rocks at the aircraft.

America's premier soprano sings O Holy Night

Renee Fleming shakes the rafters.

Litigation as a big business opportunity

Much of this money will probably go towards lobbyists to fight tort reform. This should be a boon to corrupt politicians.

Link

But some wealthy investors are starting to dabble in lawsuit investment, bankrolling some or all of the heavy upfront costs in return for a share of the damages in the event of a win.

The London-managed hedge fund MKM Longboat last month revealed plans to invest $100million (£50.5million) to finance European lawsuits. Today a new company, Juridica, floats on AIM, having raised £80million to make litigation bets.

Juridica will make investments in ongoing legal claims, mostly in the US, and loans to law firms to finance their costs in pursuing claims.

HT: Marginal Revolution

88 of 95 TN cnties have NOT implemented tax freeze

Link

Low-income seniors in 88 of Tennessee's 95 counties won't get their property taxes frozen this year because most city and county governments have yet to approve a freeze.

Only seven counties — two in Middle Tennessee — have approved the tax help for their senior homeowners.

A constitutional amendment that voters approved more than a year ago allowed counties and cities to vote to freeze property taxes for homeowners 65 and older with lower incomes. The state legislature this year approved the general guidelines that must be followed.

But most counties and municipalities are waiting, either because officials want to have all the details worked out first or because of concerns over future tax losses.

NO Audio from the Bredesen bunker meeting?

The video for the State Building Commission from Dec 13 is linked below but its impossible to tell what was discussed because there is no audio except for very brief periods when Jimmy Naifeh can be heard and a speaker from the podium. All other discussion is out of range of any microphone. Plus all the exhibits are turned away from the camera so citizens can't see what is being talked about.

This is NOT the path to open government.

You can slide the progress button around to listen to any portion of the video.

Link

Rep Overby asking Farr to rescind kerosene tax

The Department of Revenue, in their relentless pursuit of more revenue, has told kerosene sellers they must prove the kerosene they sell is being used for residential purposes. Sellers contend this is impractical.

Link

"They sent me an e-mail Nov. 16 saying we need to be charging sales tax on kerosene. Home heating fuel has never been taxable," Hunt said.
Carruthers also said he was not told that the state was going to start charging sales tax on kerosene. "The state should have notified their tax collecting agents, which is us."

To assure that the kerosene was intended for heating purposes, the state contends people should give pertinent information — name, what the kerosene will be used for, date, address and phone number. This would not be practical for a convenience store clerk, who is often busy with other customers, Carruthers said.

A letter from the Department of Revenue to Hunt states that since he has no records to show which kerosene sales were for residential use and which for commercial use, then his company owes taxes on 100 percent of its kerosene sales.

While some roofers use kerosene to heat tar pots and/or contractors use kerosene heaters to dry a building, the vast majority of the sales are for residential use, Hunt said. Most of the sales occur in the colder months.

[...]

Blount County Rep. Doug Overbey is not happy with the Department of Revenue's interpretation of the bill.

Overbey said the legislature was told the section of the bill in question regarded "taxable sales applied only to those sales or propane not used for home-heating purposes. But now the interpretation by the department is that kerosene used for home heating is taxable and I believe they need to end it, consistent with the department's explanation of this provision provided to the legislature."

Overbey added that the legislature was not told that sales tax would be placed on kerosene sold for home heating and the bill does not state that. Had that been the case, Overbey said he would not have approved that particular section of the bill.

"I'm asking respectfully that the department rescind its current interpretation and not tax kerosene used as home heating fuel. It boils down to this: a large amount of the kerosene sold in my district during the winter months is for home-heating purposes. It is neither fair nor right to hit our citizens' wallets this hard this time of year," Overbey concluded.

Senator Kyle on Boss Crump-"Half Pint of Whiskey

and a ticket to the barbecue" for a vote.

Senator Kyle explains how Boss Crump used paper ballots in Shelby County. A colorful bit of TN history. From the TACIR election reform committee hearing on 12-12-07.

Peta where are you? Promoting animal on animal violence

Link

RESEARCHERS in southwestern China's Sichuan Province plan to use a police dog to help captive-bred giant pandas survive in the wild.

The first panda returned to the wild died after getting involved in a fight.

Experts are now to release the police dog and some other herbivorous animals into the living area of four giant pandas to teach them how to fight, Chengdu Daily quoted the Wolong Nature Reserve for Giant Pandas in Sichuan as saying.

TN Lobbyists and Employers of Lobbyist SEARCH

Link

Santa doesn't go for Paygo

HT: Tax Guru

The Media is DEAD, Long LIVE the Media

Queen of England has her own YouTube Channel

HERE is HER channel

Link

The Queen has launched her own channel on the video-sharing website YouTube.

The Royal Channel will feature her Christmas Day message as well as recent and historical footage of the monarch and other members of the Royal Family.

The launch marks the 50th anniversary of the Queen's first televised festive address in 1957.

The palace said it hoped the site would make the 81-year-old monarch's annual speech "more accessible to younger people and those in other countries".

NLRB says Unions can't use company email

Link

In a 3-to-2 ruling on Friday, the labor board held that it was legal for employers to bar union-related e-mail so long as employers had a policy barring employees from sending e-mail for "non-job-related solicitations" for any outside organization.

The ruling is a significant setback to the nation's labor unions, which argued that e-mail systems have become a modern-day gathering place where employees should be able to communicate freely with co-workers to discuss work-related matters of mutual concern.

The ruling involved The Register-Guard, a newspaper in Eugene, Ore., and e-mail messages sent in 2000 by Susi Prozanski, a newspaper employee who was president of the Newspaper Guild's unit there. She sent an e-mail message about a union rally and two others urging employees to wear green to show support for the union's position in contract negotiations.

101 ways to monetize your blog

Link

Blogging is big business these days, with some bloggers reporting six-figure or even million-dollar incomes. There are a number of ways that these bloggers earn such large paychecks, and the best know how to do it in a way that won't scare off readers. Check out 101 ways that you can earn money from your blog and learn strategies for using these tools and methods in a way that's reader-friendly.

Christmas Gifts - 1944

Link and more pics

The only Presidential Christmas Card not sent

Link

John F. Kennedy is seen with his family in an archive photo from the National Archives. One of the stops on this year's popular White House tour of holiday decorations is the collection of Christmas cards from previous presidents and first ladies. But noticeably missing is the card from 1963. It is the rarest and most tragic of the presidential cards because it was not sent out after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas that November 22.

Great Profile of Cuban Blogger in WSJ

Link

To get around Cuba's restrictions on Web access, the waif-like 32-year-old posed as a tourist to slip into an Internet cafe in one of the city's luxury hotels, which normally bar Cubans. Dressed in gray surf shorts, T-shirt and lime-green espadrilles, she strode toward a guard at the hotel's threshold and flashed a wide smile. The guard, a towering man with a shaved head, stepped aside.

"I think I'm able to do this because I look so harmless," says Ms. Sánchez, who says she is sometimes mistaken for a teenager. Once inside the cafe, she attached a flash memory drive to the hotel computer and, in quick, intense movements, uploaded her material. Time matters: The $3 she paid for a half-hour is nearly a week's wage for many Cubans.

Ms. Sánchez has done this cloak-and-dagger routine since April, publishing essays that capture the privation, irony and even humor of Cuba's tropical Communism -- "Stalinism with conga drums," as she and her husband jokingly call it. From writing about the book fair that blacklisted her favorite authors to the schoolyard where parents smuggle food to their hungry children, Ms. Sánchez paints an unflinching, and deeply personal, portrait of the Cuban experience.

Congress kisses behind of lobbyists again

This is sickening and depressing etc etc etc.

Link

The House Ethics Committee has quietly issued a new interpretation of the house gift "ban" which allows lobbyists to throw lavish parties for Members of Congress at national party conventions:

[...]

The reform coalition identifies the problem with this interpretation in their letter here . Specifically:

• The rule prohibits parties that honor a specific member, but allow tributes to a delegation or caucus. Thus, a party in honor of John Dingell is prohibited, but a party honoring members of the Energy and Commerce Committee is A-OK. The same is true of a party for the House Blue Dogs or Hispanic Caucus.

• The new ethics guidance allows lobbyists to circumvent even this mild restriction by setting up a shell entity that they fund, strictly for the purpose of throwing an otherwise prohibited tribute bash.

• A Member of the House can be listed as a host of the party, as long as there is at least on other host who is not a Member of Congress. So lobbyists can pay for a party hosted by Chairman Conyers (for example), as long one other person (probably the lobbyist who donates the most) is listed as a host as well.

• The House Ethics Committee -- which has advised members that the gift ban is written 'broadly' adopted a narrow interpretation that differs from the one adopted by both the Senate and the clerk of the House of Representatives.

The cumulative effect is that there's essentially no restriction of lobbyist-funded parties at the Democratic and Republican conventions.

Is this how Congress drains the swamp?

Pilot teaming up to create clinics for truckers

Another promising development in opening the health care market to more competition and better service.

If the (mostly Democrat) opposition to allowing a national market for health insurance can be overcome we will be well on our way to reducing health care costs.

Link

DC Family wins suit over Govt raid

Link

A Capitol Hill family won a lawsuit against the D.C. government after their row house was raided in a search for evidence that their renovation plans violated the city's historic preservation laws.

About a dozen police officers and D.C. Consumer and Regulatory Affairs inspectors searched the home of Laura Elkins and John Robbins four years ago, entering the bedrooms of their teenage children who were home sick from school, and searching through drawers, behind furniture and under carpets.

The parents were raising and repairing the roof of their home. A neighbor's complaint that the renovation was out of character with the rest of the neighborhood led to the raid.

Last week, Judge Rosemary M. Collyer, of the U.S. District for the District of Columbia, ruled that the raid was an "unreasonable search and seizure" that violated the family's constitutional rights to privacy.

Men are naturally more humorous?

Link

Research suggests men are more likely to use humour aggressively by making others the butt of the joke.

And aggression - generally considered to be a more masculine trait - has been linked by some to testosterone exposure in the womb.

Professor Shuster believes humour develops from aggression caused by male hormones.

He documented the reaction of over 400 individuals to his unicycling antics through the streets of Newcastle upon Tyne.

Almost half of people responded verbally - more being men. Very few of the women made comic or snide remarks, while 75% of the men attempted comedy - mostly shouting out "Lost your wheel?", for example.

Immigration employee sentenced

Link

BROOKLYN (AP) — A former federal immigration employee was sentenced Thursday to two and a half years in prison for his part in a Brooklyn-linked phony green card scam that charged immigrants up to $16,000 each for marriages that would let them stay in the United States.

Philip Browne, a former district adjudication officer with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services department, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Lawrence M. McKenna in Manhattan.

Prosecutors said the conspiracy made more than $1 million for the scam's organizers.

The sentence followed guilty pleas in September by Browne and his sister, Beverly Mozer-Browne. The sister is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 3.

The brother and sister were among 28 people charged in the fraud. Of those, 26 pleaded guilty, one was convicted by a jury and charges are pending against one.

In a statement, U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia said Browne, 41, "sold his government office for personal gain," betraying the trust of the public, honest fellow employees and immigrants who followed the rules.

Clinton, Obama rake in Govt Contractor Money

Big corporate government contractors are betting their money on those most likely to expand government.

Link

Despite an audacious vow last spring to cut 500,000 federal contractors if elected the next president of the United States, Sen. Hillary Clinton has emerged as the top choice for the White House in 2008 by the leading companies that do business with the government.

According to an analysis by Government Executive, the former first lady has outpaced all candidates -- both Democrats and Republicans -- racking up more than $243,000 in direct campaign contributions from employees of the 50 biggest federal contractors. Clinton, D-N.Y., also added another $9,600 in contributions from the political action committees controlled by the contracting firms.

The frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, Clinton is trailed closely in the money race by her nearest political rival, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., whose campaign coffers have been boosted by more than $232,000 in direct contributions from the largest contractors.

These 50 firms, including the likes of Booz Allen Hamilton, Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp., earned just under $200 billion in federal contracts in fiscal 2006 -- nearly half of all contracts issued by government agencies.

Rutherford Cnty Schools Open Records rules ILLEGAL?

Probably....Jaime Sarrio at the Tennessean says they are requiring a specific format. Among other problems with the policy, the law specifically allows requests to be in several different forms. Jaime says the Tennessean is challenging the policy. Thank YOU Tennessean!! Notwithstanding their editorial leanings,Tennessee newspapers have been champs at fighting against ridiculous policies like this, no doubt written by some well meaning but arrogant official who values their convenience much more than the sacred right of Tennesseans to have public business conducted in public.

Link

Rutherford County sent out the following guidelines for media requests for next semester and on. Basically, this limits how and when the media (A.K.A. The Public) can get information from the district and establishes a "don't call us, we'll call you" policy in case of emergency.

The Tennessean is challenging portions of this policy to ensure it is in compliance with the state's open records law, which is set up to give all citizens access to the government. We'll keep you posted on the outcome. In the meantime, here's a look at the memo.

Death sentence for TN Waltz-like crimes in China

Link

A Chinese court has sentenced former prosecutor Li Baojin to death after convicting him Wednesday of accepting bribes and embezzling money. Li was found guilty of accepting $760,000 in bribes over a 10-year period while he worked as chief prosecutor and deputy police chief in Tianjin, as well as embezzling $1.9 million from the prosecutor's office. A court official, speaking anonymously, said that the death sentence will be suspended for two years, after which the sentence could be commuted to life in prison if Li demonstrates good behavior.

Where are they NOW? Lobbying maybe?

The Sunlight Foundation's new website: WhereAreTheyNow is a tool to research staffers of former members of Congress and see if they ended up in the lobbying racket. The project has just started with only 12 of 268 having been researched.

Here are the results so far for two Tennessee ex's:

Bill Frist
Harold Ford, Jr.

Using the tool is simple. Pick a lawmaker you want to research from the project's home page, choose one their former aides from the the list taken from the September 2006 edition of the Congressional Directory , and look for any matches in the Senate Office of Public Records online database of lobbyist disclosures. If you do find a match, enter the firm's name and contact info from the SOPR database, and you're done with step one. If you want to verify the data, use the tool to keep track of your phone calls to the lobbying firm. And that's it. A fun little diversion for the holiday season. (P.S. -- For those curious, our friends at the Center for Responsive Politics maintain a pretty good list of former members of Congress who've gone through the revolving door--including those who left during the 109th Congress.)

Lakota Indians secede from US

Link

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The Lakota Indians, who gave the world legendary warriors Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, have withdrawn from treaties with the United States, leaders said Wednesday.

"We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us," long-time Indian rights activist Russell Means told a handful of reporters and a delegation from the Bolivian embassy, gathered in a church in a run-down neighborhood of Washington for a news conference.

A delegation of Lakota leaders delivered a message to the State Department on Monday, announcing they were unilaterally withdrawing from treaties they signed with the federal government of the United States, some of them more than 150 years old.

They also visited the Bolivian, Chilean, South African and Venezuelan embassies, and will continue on their diplomatic mission and take it overseas in the coming weeks and months, they told the news conference.

Lynn Spears parenting book delayed indefinitely

by Nashville publisher Thomas Nelson.

Link

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Christian publisher said on Wednesday it has called off a parenting book written by Lynne Spears -- the mother of troubled pop star Britney Spears and her pregnant 16-year-old sister, Jamie Lynn.

We have postponed the book indefinitely," said Lindsey Nobles, spokeswoman for Tennessee-based Thomas Nelson.

Nobles did not give a reason for the decision, which followed news on Tuesday that Jamie Lynn Spears was three months pregnant.

SC Gov proposes a Lower Flat income tax

Link

The budget Gov. Mark Sanford will propose for next year would lower the state's income tax by allowing residents to choose a flat tax.

Sanford would raise the state's lowest-in-the-nation cigarette tax to 37 cents a pack — from 7 cents — to offset the $107 million income tax cut.

Sanford said Wednesday his plan would make the state more business-friendly — and healthier.

"... Rates matter in terms of bringing jobs and investment to our state," Sanford said in a statement. "This plan has a host of benefits when it comes to improving the quality of life for thousands of South Carolinians by impacting the cost of smoking, and therefore the rate of smoking."

Under the plan, residents could choose to pay a flat 3.4 percent income tax rate. In exchange, they could claim no tax deductions or credits.

The state's top income tax rate is 7 percent. However, S.C. taxpayers can reduce their tax bill by claiming deductions or credits.

Beating the indoor smoking ban in Germany

Link

Updated Campaign spending for 3rd Qtr

Lots of info here.

For example, for Fred Thompson:

Campaign spending by Vendor
Campaign spending by Category

Contributions by State
Contributions by ZIP Code

Link

FEC Campaign Finance Maps: Campaign finance information is now available via easy to use maps of the USA for both Presidential and House and Senate Elections through September 30, 2007. Search Donor's name, contributions and size of donations.

All Candidates Current Presidential Filings

Receipts of 2008 Presidential Campaigns

Presidential Campaign Finance Summaries: Current and Historical

IRS employees continue to snoop into private info

Link

Despite repeated warnings by IRS officials over many years, IRS employees still are getting nabbed for snooping through confidential taxpayer records without authorization. In some cases, IRS workers were curious about an ex-spouse or neighbor, but in at least one case, an employee was paid by an outsider for information that was used by identity thieves. According to interviews with Treasury officials and a new report, hundreds of IRS workers were disciplined in the year ended Sept. 30 for breaking the rules, and some have even faced prosecution.

Illegal browsing has long been a problem at the IRS, even after Congress enacted tough taxpayer-privacy legislation in the late 1990s. Government officials and lawmakers take the issue seriously since the confidentiality of taxpayer records is considered a bedrock principle of the U.S. tax system. Snooping has persisted even though IRS officials frequently warn workers in strong terms not to tap into the agency's computers to look at confidential taxpayer information without an official tax-administration purpose.

Formal Apology Form

Link

Memphis gets Recall, Knox County Next

Hopefully, Knox County will soon join the City of Memphis in authorizing citizens to recall corrupt officials.

Link

But a new ethics ordinance passed Tuesday night gives (Memphis) citizens the authority to recall any council member they feel has betrayed the public's trust.

"It does give the voters the ability to recall any member of council member which the voters simply before did not have," Myron Lowery said.  

Here's how it'll work.

If you want to recall a council member you need signatures. The amount of signatures? 10% of all the people who voted in the last general election.

So if there were 60 thousand total votes in the last election, then you would need six thousand signatures.

Also, the recall petition cannot begin until one year after the last general election.Once you get enough signatures then voters will have the final say.

Interesting new Game for Google Android Platform

Link

Rich guys, get in line for handouts from Metro taxpayers

Bud Adams will have LOTS of company soon if our Mayor and Metro Council open a pandora's box by giving away our tax money to Bellevue Mall developers. If this deal is approved we will have to beat the rich guys off with a stick. They will be lined up around the block to get a piece of Metro taxpayers.

Ok, one more time, lets splain how this works:

1- Rich guys come to town and see a real estate investment opportunity.

2- BUT, they really don't want to pay property taxes (like any normal homeowner) so they whine and moan and groan and say, "we are poor little rich guys who need corporate welfare because we can't possibly pay your high property taxes."

3- So our elected representatives have a good cry with the rich guys and say, "you shouldn't have to pay for fire and police protection and education and all the other stuff that normal taxpayers pay for so we are going to make Metro homeowners pay for all that stuff and you can use the money, which you would have used to pay property taxes, to pay off your mortgage loan."

THIS IS INSANE. The Mayor and Metro Council represent US, the taxpayers of Metro, not a bunch of whiny rich guys.

"This earmarking thing is crooked"

Yes it is but that does not matter to Congress. The article below details yet another of the many cases where a contribution to a Congressional candidate was precisely the same as a bribe. Earmarks are, in many cases, payoffs for these contributions. THIS IS CORRUPTION, plain and simple....no less a crime than any of those committed in the Tennessee Waltz investigation.

How else can we say it over and over and over again, OUR CONGRESS, which makes laws every day that profoundly affect our lives, is corrupt and rotten to the core.

Link

But Hoschek was stunned to learn recently that another company, InSport International, snagged the T-shirt contracts without having to compete.

InSport had lobbied members of Congress for an "earmark" — federal dollars lawmakers direct to favor seekers, often campaign donors.

Company executives also donated nearly $9,000 to the re-election effort of Rep. David Wu, D-Ore., who sponsored three earmarks for InSport.

The lobbying worked, despite a flaw with InSport's synthetic T-shirt. It melts to the skin under intense heat, causing serious burns. As a result, Marines are forbidden from wearing the shirts in combat.

"This earmarking thing is crooked," Hoschek said.

Army knew of cheating on tests for eight years

Link

FORT EUSTIS, Va. - For eight years, the Army has known that its largest online testing program - which verifies that soldiers have learned certain military skills and helps them amass promotion points - has been the subject of widespread cheating.

In 1999, testing officials first noticed that soldiers were turning in many tests over a short period, something that would have been almost impossible without having obtained the answers ahead of time. A survey by the testing office showed that 5 percent of the exams were probably the subject of cheating. At the time, soldiers were filing roughly 200,000 exams per year.

But it wasn't until June of this year, when an Army computer contractor complained about a website providing free copies of completed exams, that the Army acknowledged that it had a problem.

A five-month Globe investigation has since found that by then, hundreds of thousands of packages of completed exams had been downloaded by soldiers over many years.

Some Congressperson fights to spend this money

even though investigations like the one linked below by the Washington Post find waste and outright fraud time after time after time after time.

The most difficult task in the world is to cut spending on an existing federal program even when many of them are complete disasters. The lobbyists and the bureaucrats have far more influence than taxpayers. Our Senators and Representatives will NOT fight for us, even though they are spending OUR money and using the authority which WE have delegated to them.

Link

More than three decades after the loan program was created, USDA officials still don't know whether it works. Funds have gone to firms that have hired foreign workers instead of Americans. Millions more have gone to failing and bankrupt businesses. Most of the jobs are not new. Many are low-tech and low-wage.

In addition to the loan program, the USDA has handed out almost half a billion dollars in rural development grants to businesses and nonprofits since 2001.

Loan guarantees or grants have gone to a car wash in Milford, Del.; a country club in Great Falls, Mont.; a movie theater in Smithfield, N.C.; a water park in Myrtle Beach, S.C.; an alligator hunter in Dade City, Fla.; snowmobile clubs in Maine; and dozens of gas stations and convenience stores in Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Arkansas.

[...]

In congressional testimony and news releases, USDA officials stress that the loan and grant programs have helped revitalize rural America by creating or saving 1.5 million jobs since 2001. But in some cases, creating a single job costs hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Meanwhile, the USDA's losses continue to climb. More than one in five loans -- nearly 2,700 -- result in a loss in the Business and Industry Guaranteed Loan Program, the agency's largest rural lending effort. Yet the USDA has asked for its money back from just 19 banks for fraud or mismanagement since 1974.

Yikes!! TaxingTennessee Won a Sammy!!

Wow, we won a Sammy. Thanks to the Sam Adams Alliance for awarding a Sammy to TaxingTennessee. Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it to Chicago Thursday night for the awards dinner but I am very grateful for the award and I will continue to use TaxingTennessee to hold Tennessee Governments accountable to those citizens who delegate their authority and money to State and Local Government to be used on their behalf.

We have granted an extraordinary amount of power over our lives, to government, and it is the responsibility of each citizen to hold government accountable for how that power is used.

Thanks to Bob Costello and all the staff at the Sam Adams Alliance. The cash award will go to Tennessee Tax Revolt and I will get a Sammy which is a Sam Adams bobble head doll!!

KY Congressman gets a haul of earmarks

for a company that knows how to play the game according to the Real Time Investigations by the Sunlight Foundation.

Link

After it hired a lobbyist and its employees' contributed to a member of Congress' leadership political action committee, a Kentucky company saw its defense business quadruple thanks to earmarks.

Over the last three years, Rep. Harold Rogers, R-Ky., says he has earmarked at least $10.4 million in defense funds for Phoenix Products, Inc., a small company in McKee, Ky., that makes aircraft accessories, including custom V.I.P. interiors for Black Hawk helicopters that "offer the finest leather," fabric, naugahyde and carpet, according to the firm's Web site.

In the 2008 Defense Appropriations Act that was signed into law on Nov. 13, the company received two earmarks for a total of $3.6 million to deliver 500 "leak proof" transmission drip pans for Black Hawks used by the U.S. Army and the National Guard. "The funding would be used to address U.S. Army drip pan needs," Rogers explained in one of the two request letters he sent to the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. In a press release, Rogers was somewhat more effusive about the drip pans, saying that they "k eep troops and patients safer during complicated rescue missions."

But Army officials say that they have yet to decide if the transmission drip pans should be purchased from Phoenix Products at all.

Call an entire Congressional Committee

Link

Select a committee, enter in your phone number and click "Put me in touch with democracy!" and you'll be called by our system and sequentially patched through to the front office of each member on that committee. You can even rate how each call went -- information that will enable us to rank representatives on how accountable and responsive they are to their constituents.

YOU choose how much tax to pay in Sullivan Cnty

Seems reasonable after Sullivan County Commissioners adopted a "subjective" ethics policy on gifts. If you want to give a Commissioner a gift, the Commissioner gets to decide if it is too big or too small. Yes, dear taxpayers you read that correctly.

Using that logic it is quite appropriate to allow taxpayers to decide if their taxes are too high or too low.

UNbleepin'-believable!!

Link

County commissioners, including several who helped draft the proposed amendments, said they think an official or employee can judge whether or not a gift giver expects something in return.

As long as a gift doesn't influence their actions or behavior, it shouldn't be a conflict, they said.

One commissioner offered the following description of the new policy's approach to gifts, and no one said he was wrong: "An individual still makes the decision based on their own standards."

Street said the policy would be hard to enforce with such a subjective measure.

"You could have someone receive a $10,000 car and stand right in front of you and say it didn't influence them," Street said.

The commission, largely, voted in favor of the amended ethics policy. Only Commissioner John McKamey voted "no," while Commissioners Clyde Groseclose and Wayne McConnell passed on the vote.

Competition from for-profit colleges

causing public colleges to change their ways? YUP.

Link

David Wright, associate executive director of policy, planning and research for THEC, said this sector has found a niche catering to students who want a degree in the shortest time possible. For-profits often offer online classes and more flexible class times, he said.

"The growth's been rapid, and they're a large player in terms of presence in Tennessee," he said. "If traditional higher education wants to make inroads into that market, they're going to have to do some of those things."

35 lbs of Omnibus Bill PORK

The Omnibus Appropriations Bill approved by the House yesterday is a pork filled, unreadable abomination. NOT ONE member of the House had the time, and quite probably the inclination, to read this unreadable mass that weighed 35 lbs. It is an embarrassment we can all share.

Link

Regardless of what happens to the Omnibudgetbusterblusterbus bill -- sorry, my fingers slipped -- the Omnibus spending bill (made searchable by our friends at the Heritage Foundation), it's fair to say that citizen oversight of Congress (and congressional oversight of Congress, for whatever that's worth) took a shot to the chin today. The Hill's Alex Bolton reports that the bill's 3,565 pages contain somewhere between 8,983 earmarks (according to Taxpayers for Common Sense), 9,200 earmarks (according to a Senate staffer) and 11,402 earmarks (according to Heritage's excellent Ominibuster blog). There are hundreds of new earmarks previously undisclosed--115 worth $117 million in the previously "earmark free" Homeland Security bill--that have been "airdropped" in at the last minute.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn just noted on C-Span (I'm watching as I type) that the bill weighs in at a hefty 35 pounds when printed. Members have only a few hours to digest all that paper before voting. The bill will appropriate something like hundreds of billions of dollars in funds. In what other arena of life do you make such momentous decisions with so little time to think? "Rush into that subprime mortgage," "buy that stock of a company you'd never heard of before," "a week is plenty of time to find out if someone is worth marrying," -- thus does our Congress decide how to spend our money. This is primarily a failure of the majority (regardless of which party is in the majority--the Republicans were equally opaque) and of leadership, which prefers to dump a monstrosity of a bill--stitched together behind closed doors--on their colleagues with no time for debate, and no time for their constituents to make their opinions known.

Indian docs abandon UK Govt Healthcare

Indian Docs leaving UK Govt NHS for "cleaner" private hospitals in India.

Link

THE influx of thousands of Indian doctors into the National Health Service is going into reverse. Hospitals in India are now said to be cleaner and better equipped than many in Britain and doctors are quitting the NHS to work there instead.

The director of one of India's biggest private hospital chains said he was receiving five job applications a week from NHS doctors and that half his 3,000 consultants were from Britain.

"There's a feeling that India's time has come and there's a huge need for these people to come back," Anupam Sibal, director of the Apollo hospital in Delhi, said yesterday.

Doctors say they are moving to India because of its economy, state of the art equipment, higher standards than the NHS and a better quality of life. In particular, they say hospitals in India, which many Britons still imagine to be impoverished and dirty, suffer less from hospital-acquired infections such as MRSA.

Cell phone bills will surpass land lines in 2007

Link

WASHINGTON - With Americans cutting the cord to their land lines, 2007 is likely to be the first calendar year in which U.S. households spend more on cell phone services, industry and government officials say.

The most recent government data show that households spent $524, on average, on cell phone bills in 2006, compared with $542 for residential and pay-phone services. By now, though, consumers almost certainly spend more on their cell phone bills, several telecom industry analysts and officials said.

Make your own color coded US and State Maps

Link

HERE is the map maker for TN

White House visitor logs are ruled public records

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[JURIST] A federal judge ruled [order, PDF; CREW press release] Monday that White House visitor logs are public documents, rejecting a Bush administration bid to have the logs treated as confidential presidential records. Visitor logs are compiled by the Secret Service, and thus subject to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) [text] requests; the Bush administration had ordered that the logs be submitted to the White House, so that they would fall outside the domain of FOIA. Watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) [advocacy website] brought the lawsuit, seeking logs regarding the White House visits of prominent conservative religious figures, including James Dobson and Jerry Falwell. AP has more.

Alexander, Corker joined the solid South against

farm subsidy REFORM. Why?

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Southern senators formed a nearly monolithic block against the amendment, with the exception of Florida (Nelson) and Virginia (Warner and Webb). This provided 22 of the 41 votes needed to sustain the filibuster. The remainder of the filibuster squad came from the far west, far north, and center of the country.

What is it about the South that created a bipartisan voting block against reform?

Four forces: cotton, peanuts, rice — and subsidies. The bulk of these crops are grown in the states represented by senators who voted No on the reform amendment. They had much more to lose financially from payment limits than even corn- and soy-growing states in the Midwest.

Web Transfers power from vendor to consumer?

Doc Searls says yes and makes some compelling points.

LInk

Here are the 11 points from his talk, titled "Turning the Tables: What happens when users are really in charge". 

1. Bullshit will lose leverage. To explore, look at the meme called Web 2.0. We use the word because Tim O'Reilly did a really nice job writing it up in 2005. Ten years ago, portals were all the rage and advertising was going to pay for everything; today social networks are all the rage and advertising is going to pay for everything.  Doc closes with a reference to the Web 2.0 B-S Generator.
2. Advertising as we know it will die. Google AdSense has made great advances by making ads accountable so you just pay for what gets clicked. 
3. Herding people into walled gardens and guessing about what makes them "social" will seem as absurd as it actually is.
4. We will realize that the most important producers are what we used to call consumers .
5. The value chain will be replaced by the value constellation (concept from Norman and Ramirez in the 80s).
6. What's your business model will no longer be asked of everything. VCs taught us to ask that in the 90s. Now use and usefulness come first.  And money is an effect of those things. (He echoes here a point in yesterday's speech by Nelson Mattos).
7. We will make money by maximizing "because effects".  That is what happens when you make money because of something rather than with it.   
8. Markets are all three things – transaction, conversations, and relationships (illustrated with a great Hugh MacLeod cartoon)
9. The Live Web is more important then Web-dot-anything. The Live Web is branching off the Static web.
10. We will marry the Live Web to the value constellation . In essence, "I want to notify the whole market that I want to rent a car, in effect a personal RFP that goes out when I arrive at the airport to Hertz and Avis and all the others.  I would like to be the bridge. I would like to handle my own health care data. I should be able to inquire and relate to whole markets, on the fly." The users need to be the platform of the future. 
11. We will be able to manage vendors at least as well as they manage us. We are calling this VRM, Vendor Relationship Management. The project is being launched within the Harvard's Berkman Center. The core concept is that the individual should be able to manage their relationships with their vendors and suppliers, based on the idea that they actually know more about specific preferences, updated data, etc. And, further, that most CRM systems oversimplify customer data in order to segment, and to effectively manage the info; ultimately they are just a sales system, not a relationship system.

Tax share of rich continues to grow

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• For 2005, the richest 1% paid about 39% of all income taxes that year.
  
• The richest 5% paid a little less than 60%, and the richest 10% paid 70%.
  
• The richest 1.3 million tax-filers -- those Americans with adjusted gross incomes of more than $365,000 in 2005 -- paid more income tax than all of the 66 million American tax filers below the median in income; ten times more.
  

For the political left and most of the media, this means only that the rich are getting richer. However:

• The rich showed more rapid gains in reported income shares in the 1990s than in the first half of this decade.
• The share of the richest 1 percent jumped to 20.8% of total income in 2000, from 14% in 1990, but increased only slightly to 21.2% in 2005.
• Notably, however, the share of taxes paid by the top 1% has kept climbing this decade -- to 39.4% in 2005, from 37.4% in 2000.
• The share paid by the top 5% has increased even more rapidly.

Jott.com, very interesting FREE productivity Tool

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Prediction markets better than polls?

Is the collective wisdom of people risking their own money, motivated to gather and analyze as much information as possible, a better way to assess the future than conventional polls? This professor says yes.

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The betting markets saw their best triumph of 2004 in Florida. Even though a number of polls put Kerry ahead in that state, or said the race was too close to call, the betting markets consistently showed Bush would win Florida comfortably.

Indeed, if the Democrats had paid as much attention to the markets as the polls, I am convinced that the election result would have been different. They could have downsized their effort in Florida and focused their efforts more on other swing states where betting sites showed the race was much closer. Intrade followed up in 2006 when the market favorite won each and every Senate seat up for election. Moreover, in large part the stronger the favorite, the bigger was the margin of victory.

Is Chicago City Govt bankrupt? Probably

When the solution to every problem is "raise taxes" and citizens have the freedom move to another, lower taxed, city then its just a matter of time.

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After reviewing Cook County's proposed 2008 budget in detail at the newspaper's request, several of these experienced corporate managers agreed that the basic problem is in the approach.

No way would a responsible enterprise merely pick up last year's budget and expand on it, as they perceive the county doing. A sound budget review involves justifying every expenditure every year, they said. That requires detailed financial information and a more accurate projection of long-term trends than the county generates, they said. Only then is it possible to cut low-priority personnel and programs while expanding the most vital services.

Regulating away healthcare

A doc talks about bureaucrats and politicians with good intentions. They are putting greater and greater distance between medicine and common sense.

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It's become a sisyphean nightmare.

Endless reguirements for documentation to get paid, defending one's actions so the patient will get paid, justifying one's actions so the hospital will get paid, while covering your ass so you won't get sued. All while trying to take care of patients.

We are left to wonder, where has healthcare gone?

The answer is simple: it's gone the way of the bureaucrats.

Men who look like Kenny Rogers

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Hey, its only 20 grand, get over it!

Listen up you taxpayers, stop your whining and complaining. We are the legislature and we deserve the best.

(Seriously folks, Kudos to Jessica Fender and the Tennessean for uncovering this item. Multiply by several hundred incidents and your talking REAL money....like $3 million)

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The state paid prominent contractor Ray Bell $20,000 more to install a wheelchair lift at Legislative Plaza than the cost Bell said he'd charge for the project, records show.

The cost overrun — one of many during the nearly $3 million 2004-05 plaza renovation — occurred because of state elevator regulations, plaza project manager Nick DePalma said.

Do bureaucrats want to micro manage our lives?

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Sir David, who is due to retire as the UK's Chief Scientific Adviser at the end of the year, said individuals needed to change their behaviour.

"I was asked at a lecture by a young woman about what she could do and I told her to stop admiring young men in Ferraris," he said.

"What I was saying is that you have got to admire people who are conserving energy and not those wilfully using it."

Sir David, who persuaded the Government to start using the Toyota Prius, a hybrid car that claims to have lower emissions than most conventional cars, added: "Government has so many levers that it can pull - when it comes to the business sector it is quite effective.

"As soon as you come to the individual, however, they will buy a Ferrari, not because it is cheap to run or has low carbon dioxide emissions, but because young women think it is sexy to see men driving Ferraris. That is the area where a culture change is needed."

Breast Cancer patient can't hope for better

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A WOMAN will be denied free National Health Service treatment for breast cancer if she seeks to improve her chances by paying privately for an additional drug.

Colette Mills, a former nurse, has been told that if she attempts to top up her treatment privately, she will have to foot the entire £10,000 bill for her drugs and care. The bizarre threat stems from the refusal by the government to let patients pay for additional drugs that are not prescribed on the NHS.

Ministers say it is unfair on patients who cannot afford such top-up drugs and that it will create a two-tier NHS. It is thought thousands of patients suffer as a result of the policy.

TN State Employee Salary Database

The Tennessean has updated their Tennessee State Employee database for 2007. More information is included this time around including years of service and overtime pay. Kudos to the Tennessean for providing this very valuable information.

HERE is the database.

For example, the salary info for House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh and Lt Gov Ron Ramsey.

Their article about the data indicates:

Many other state employees were able to supplement their base pay by working copious overtime hours, data obtained by The Tennessean show.

More than 700 of the 50,246 government employees on the list made more than $10,000 in overtime in the 2006-07 fiscal year. Fifty of them doubled their pay with overtime.

"We are always looking at holding overtime down, but paramount is the health and safety of our residents at the developmental centers,'' said Tony Troiano, spokesman for the Mental Retardation Division.

Did Mao have good intentions?

What about Stalin and Pol Pot and Kim Jung-il...did they believe their well intentioned ends justified the means? Of course they did.  Many of their supporters held them in the highest esteem. Many philosophers filled books extolling the good intentions of a collectivist nirvana where "the people" would be led to a greater good by these "leaders."

Unfortunately they all ended in mass death.

The captain tots up the toll.

5 tips for dealing with Guilt

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Bird's Eye View of Governor's Mansion

Satellite View of TN Governor's Mansion - Google Maps

The Mindset List for the Class of 2011

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BELOIT COLLEGE'S MINDSET LIST®
FOR THE CLASS OF 2011

Most of the students entering College this fall, members of the Class of 2011, were born in 1989. For them, Alvin Ailey, Andrei Sakharov, Huey Newton, Emperor Hirohito, Ted Bundy, Abbie Hoffman, and Don the Beachcomber have always been dead. 

1. What Berlin wall?
2. Humvees, minus the artillery, have always been available to the public.
3. Rush Limbaugh and the "Dittoheads" have always been lambasting liberals.
4. They never "rolled down" a car window.
5. Michael Moore has always been angry and funny.
6. They may confuse the Keating Five with a rock group.
7. They have grown up with bottled water.
8. General Motors has always been working on an electric car.
9. Nelson Mandela has always been free and a force in South Africa.
10. Pete Rose has never played baseball.
11. Rap music has always been mainstream.
12. Religious leaders have always been telling politicians what to do, or else!
13. "Off the hook" has never had anything to do with a telephone.
14. Music has always been "unplugged."
15. Russia has always had a multi-party political system.
16. Women have always been police chiefs in major cities.
17. They were born the year Harvard Law Review Editor Barack Obama announced he might run for office some day.
18. The NBA season has always gone on and on and on and on.
19. Classmates could include Michelle Wie, Jordin Sparks, and Bart Simpson.
20. Half of them may have been members of the Baby-sitters Club.
21. Eastern Airlines has never "earned their wings" in their lifetime.

Etc.

howjsay.com - Standard British English

Listen to correct pronunciations. However, where there is a CONTROVERSY, both pronunciations are offered.

Taxpayers rise up!! and STOP this craziness

Our elected officials want us to think they THEY are responsible for economic development...what a crock!! STOP giving away our money OR start offering tax breaks to anybody that builds a new home. Building a new home is just as important as new commercial development....so, whats good for the goose is good for the gander, lets allow the politicians to "take credit" for new home construction by giving every buyer of a new home the same tax break they give to big commercial developers.

Seriously, lets keep taxes low for EVERYONE and stop the pols from giving out tax favors. This is beyond ridiculous.

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Knoxville developer Tim Graham, whose South Grove development reignited annexation acrimony between the city of Knoxville and Knox County a year ago, will ask the County Commission on Monday to take the first step toward approving $6 million in tax subsidies for a $45 million retail project in Halls.

The public money, in the form of tax increment financing, would go toward infrastructure improvements - including roads, traffic lights and a greenway - in and around Graham's proposed Willow Creek shopping center on Maynardville Highway.

Graham wants commissioners to order up a review of his proposal by the Industrial Development Board.

The IDB's staff already is asking hard questions about the project, but Graham has the support of Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale and Halls' two commissioners - Chairman Scott Moore and R. Larry Smith. Graham contributed to all three officials' 2006 campaigns.

Oh the SHAME!! Bill Moyers harboring a capitalist

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Background: In 2003, Field, a director and producer for veteran journalist Bill Moyers, left TV to turn his pickle-making hobby into a full-time business he named Rick's Picks

The Company: Inspired by the ethnic food fusion trend, Field began concocting nontraditional pickles using such flavors as coconut and dried cherries in his brine as well as devising innovative varieties of pickled cauliflower and string beans. Initially, Field gained a local following selling his wares at the Union Square Greenmarket in Manhattan and on his Web site. Culinary nods from New York magazine and Food & Wine soon followed. Now Rick's Picks sells a line of 11 different varieties of pickled foods to a number of stores across the country including Whole Foods and Dean & DeLuca.

Sales: In 2004, Rick's Picks earned $39,000, and the company estimates it will bring in $500,000 in 2007.

Gucci for me but not for thee

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CARACAS (Reuters) - A video of a Gucci- and Louis-clad politician attacking capitalism then struggling to explain how his luxurious clothes square with his socialist beliefs has become an instant YouTube hit in Venezuela.

Venezuelan Interior Minister Pedro Carreno was momentarily at a loss for words when a journalist interrupted his speech and asked if it was not contradictory to criticize capitalism while wearing Gucci shoes and a tie made by Parisian luxury goods maker Louis Vuitton.

"I don't, uh ... I ... of course," stammered Carreno on Tuesday before regaining his composure. "It's not contradictory because I would like Venezuela to produce all this so I could buy stuff produced here instead of 95 percent of what we consume being imported."

UK Couple can't take pics of own child

Unbelievable.

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A COUPLE were banned from taking photographs of their baby daughter on a swing by a park warden who declared it `inappropriate.'

Steve Brook and partner Mandy Smith were having a family day out with 11-month-old Rebecca when the council worker swooped.

"It beggars belief," said Steve, 35. "The fact that a mummy and daddy can't take a picture of their own daughter is ridiculous. I could understand if it was in a swimming pool, but she was well wrapped-up and as far as I could see we were the only people in the park."

Town hall officials said the warden had misinterpreted council policy when he confronted the family at Alexandra Park in Oldham.

Wet Pork

Christmas Catalogs 1944-85

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Cops subpoena TV reporters cell records

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Lyden requested a copy of a 7-year-old traffic arrest report for the woman, but was denied by St. Paul police spokesman Tom Walsh, the station said.

"I thought it was public and I thought they were stonewalling me and not giving me a public document," Lyden said in an interview with another KMSP reporter.

Lyden later got the document from a county official who agreed the report was public, the station said. Lyden reported his story without naming the woman, who was considered a witness in the police shooting.

The police department then obtained an administrative subpoena for Lyden's cell phone records to try to identify Lyden's source, the station said. Only a county prosecutor, not a judge, needs to sign such a subpoena, the report said.

New marketing model for newspapers?

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STOCKHOLM (AFP) - Sweden's Dagens Nyheter said Wednesday it had launched the world's first "newspaper" telephone: a mobile phone offering the daily's subscribers direct and free access to its website.

"We want our readers to be able to follow the news even when they're in places where they cannot lay their hands on a paper or (access the Internet on) a computer," Thorbjoern Larsson, Dagens Nyheter (DN) editor-in-chief and publisher, told AFP.

"This is yet another way of distributing the news," he added.

Ok, I guess we can't blame the Govt

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NanoScan Online Virus Scan

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Reading, writing, and organized labor

Oh, THIS sounds like a good idea.

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The three Rs would be joined by mandatory instruction on collective bargaining and the history of unions in America under a proposal being considered in the Wisconsin Legislature.

Labor unions are all for it. School groups aren't.

The bill, by Sen. Dave Hansen, D-Green Bay, would require every school board to incorporate the history of organized labor and the collective bargaining process into its curriculum.

It's appalling how little high school graduates know about unions and labor history, said David Nack with the Wisconsin Labor History Society. A law is needed because current teaching on the subject isn't sufficient, he said.

"When we're talking about the history of working people, we're talking about the history of the United States," Nack said. "I think there are people out there who do not think that the history of organized labor is that important."

Effective Tax Rates for ALL Federal Taxes

Unlike other quintile analysis, this shows the combined effective rate for all of the major federal taxes: individual income taxes, corporate income taxes, payroll taxes, and excise taxes

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Background checks for thee but not for me

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COLUMBUS - Republican state senators yesterday shut down debate on a proposed Democratic amendment that would have subjected lawmakers to the same criminal background checks they were about to impose on a menu of other professionals.

The move was in response to a House bill authorizing criminal background checks for license applicants for accountants, dentists, funeral directors, optometrists, pharmacists, doctors, chiropractors, massage therapists, veterinarians, and numerous other professions.
"We ought to hold ourselves to the same standard that we're holding them," Sen. John Boccieri (D., New Middletown) said.

The GOP majority balked, voting 19-13 to block Democrats from offering the amendment. The bill passed 30-2 with the bulk of Democrats joining in to support the final version.

Afterward, Senate President Bill Harris (R., Ashland) said the chamber voted to block the amendment because it hadn't been vetted through the usual committee process.

Lincoln Davis: Stop making $ from Soldier Gambling

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They can do that thanks to recreation programs funded in part by money service members and their families lost on the military's own slot machines and bingo games.

While the military argues it is in dire need of the approximately $130 million generated each year from gambling to keep its troops happy and enlisted, critics charge that it is preying on its own and fostering an addiction it does little to prevent or treat.

To Rep. Lincoln Davis (D-Tenn.), the repercussions of raising such revenue from members of the military themselves come at a high cost.

"It is wrong for the U.S. government to use gambling to pay for what we [in Congress] should be supplying for our troops to begin with," Davis said. "That's a disgrace and a shame."

Davis, a Southern Baptist who says he opposes gambling for moral reasons, is poised to introduce a bill that would prohibit the use of gambling devices with the exception of charitable events and state lotteries.

Gambling in the military amounts to a large business, generating revenues of more than $130 million a year — similar to a medium-sized Las Vegas casino. That money gets pumped into recreational programs for the military.

Amazing collection: 19th Century School Books

This is an extraordinary and fascinating collection of School Text Books. How do they compare with current textbooks?

Home Page

Browse the collection

A Few Random Examples:

How does a lady respond to a gentleman requesting a meeting?

Primary School Speller

Arithmetic - Square Roots

Yea!! New ways to spend our tax dollars...

on social networks and Second Life:

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The Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also sees value in joining the virtual world.

In the popular virtual world called Second Life (secondlife.com), which boasts more than 11 million residents, the agency has created a virtual island where people — as avatars — can fly into a hurricane on a P-3 Orion, explore underwater caves in a virtual aquarium, and see a glacier melt from global warming.

The island attracts weather enthusiasts, university students and curious gamers, many of whom had never heard of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration before their visit, said Eric Hackathorn, who joined NOAA in 1994 as a Webmaster. He started the Second Life project in April 2006 on his own time.

"It's an interesting environment," Hackathorn said. "It gives people an opportunity to interact with each other. More than passively reading a Web page, your spaces are used in ways you never really imagined."

NOAA's not the only federal presence in Second Life. NASA has a virtual space lab that, in the Second Life universe, is to the south of NOAA's island. Also on the same virtual continent is a health science agency from the United Kingdom and a virtual version of San Francisco's Exploratorium science museum. The continent is called Scilands, which is short for Science Islands.

Alexander, Corker vote against farm subsidy reform

Both of our Senators voted AGAINST a major reform of farm subsidies. This is a damn shame. They had a chance to reduce big agricultural corporate welfare farm subsidies. This SF Chronicle article says reforms may still be possible when the overall bill is considered in conference.

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The amendment by Sens. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., known as the FRESH Act, would have replaced crop subsidies for corn, cotton, rice, wheat and soybeans, along with a handful of other crops such as sugar and dairy, with free insurance for all farmers. The $6 billion savings would have been diverted to nutrition, conservation and environmental programs, and $4 billion still would have been trimmed from overall spending.

"I think it's a shot across the bow that the status quo on farm subsidies is nearing its end," said Scott Faber, a former environmental lobbyist now with the Grocery Manufacturers Association. "By voting for reform, Sens. Boxer and Feinstein have signaled that farm subsidies need to be dramatically overhauled."

Even though the amendment failed, it drew surprising support from an influential and unusual group of liberals and conservatives. That could spell trouble for the overall farm bill when it reaches negotiations with the House next month.

Two mom entrepreneurs solve plumbers crack

Even a miracle can't stop the dole

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She says medics were amazed by her recovery, which she puts down to the power of prayer and patience.

When Mrs Clarke realised she was completely healed she contacted the government Industrial Injury Department to put a stop to the benefits she had been receiving, but the payments continued.

Mr and Mrs Clarke sent letters and made phone calls, but officials told them the system was unable to recognise an apparently miraculous recovery.

Mrs Clarke had been awarded an allowance for life and the computer was not programmed to allow that payment to end while she was still alive.

Damn the law, full spending ahead

Ok, so the city auditor of Clarksville finds this "old" (1983) Tennessee law which says a City may not spend more than $30,000 "for the purpose of advertising the commercial, social, agricultural, industrial, scenic, historical, educational and other advantages, the points of interest and attractions therein for tourist promotion." AND the city has already set aside $92,000 for this purpose.

What is the response? WHY, of course, the city will follow the law, right?

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City Auditor Lynn Stokes ran across a state law — which has not been amended since it was put on the books in 1983 — limiting municipal governments to spending $30,000 a year "for the purpose of advertising the commercial, social, agricultural, industrial, scenic, historical, educational and other advantages, the points of interest and attractions therein for tourist promotion."

"This law was written in 1983, and $30,000 would've been a lot of money back then," Graham said.

"That doesn't prohibit us from moving forward with what we want to do," said Graham, suggesting using groups like the Downtown District Partnership or the Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"We can kind of route it through those organizations," Graham said.

 The law does not define what qualifies as advertising, a fact not lost on Graham.

"It's all in how you interpret it," Graham said, saying that while paying for more than $30,000 of television air time would be a clear violation, "it might not necessarily include the creation of the commercials."

Now its not about new jobs..

Corporate welfare is NOW about simply keeping old jobs....these companies are getting much more sophisticated in their taxpayer extortion. Pretty soon they will want property tax breaks for breathing the air.

 

THIS IS RIDICULOUS!!! ARHGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!! Do the politicians actually understand how stupid they look???? And the Council is studying COC "rules" on tax breaks?? Since when did the Chamber of Commerce start telling the taxpayers what the rules are?? It has been a really long day, I can't take this anymore.

 

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City Council members are questioning a property tax break for Chattanooga Coca-Cola Bottling on a project that is substantially complete and will yield no new jobs.

Council Chairman Dan Page said, "If we approve this with no new jobs, what's to keep other companies who make investments to begin lining up?"

Councilman Jack Benson said, "I really am worried about setting a precedent."

The council delayed action on the request for a week to study Chamber of Commerce rules on such tax breaks.

Politicians with good intentions + Dolly's bro

What could possibly go wrong?

I am quite sure that some Roanoke Rapids politician thought this was just a grand idea and something government should definitely get involved in. The politicians felt that they were "responsible for the economic development of the area"...they tried to be Santa Claus and Mr Scrooge (after he stopped being mean to Bob Cratchit)...they were just trying to be, well, all he things that government should NOT be.

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Parton said her brother's act at The Randy Parton Theater was "top of the line" even though city officials, who borrowed $21.5 million to build the facility, indefinitely banned him from performing. They also cut his salary and removed him from production duties amid slow ticket sales and questions about how he spent public money.

"I know in my heart that Randy gave it his best effort," Parton said in a written statement released by her public relations staff. "Unfortunately, now that things aren't working as well as everyone had hoped, everyone is pointing fingers and naturally no one wants to take the blame.

"It is not fair making Randy the scapegoat for a project where so much and so many were involved."

Private Firefighting business now worth billions

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Private firefighting has mushroomed over the past 15 years as well, a period that also saw extended drought over much of the West.

Miley said her industry began in the 1970s by managing controlled burns and other projects for big timber companies. A private firefighting company signed its first federal contract in 1987, she said.

Today, her group has 125 member companies and many other companies operate independently.

"There has been a large amount of growth," she said.

As in other industries, profits are hard to predict, mostly because nobody knows what type of fire season the weather will bring.

"We work strictly on an as-needed basis," she said. "You're not guaranteed anything."

1783 Map of US showing State of Franklin

1783 Map of US showing State of Franklin.

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If the terrorists ever get to Greeneville, TN

they will be ready:

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He said plans are to use the armored vehicle to provide cover for Special Response Team (SRO) members during hostage situations or armed stand-off situations.

"It's armor will stop anything up to .50-caliber machine gun rounds," Assistant Chief Cannon said.

He said the vehicle carries a crew of two plus up to 11 passengers and could be driven "right up" to a house or building where armed suspects were believed to be hiding without fear of injury to the occupants.

Specially trained Special Response Team officers, he said, could stay behind the vehicle and use its aluminum-armored body for cover while approaching buildings in which armed suspects are hiding.

Cannon noted that the vehicle features an armored ramp at its rear that can be lowered to allow officers to enter and exit quickly.

A coinkidink? Blake doubts it

Blake Fontenay over at the Commercial Appeal says he's not paranoid but.......why all the fuss over the open meeting law after everybody has been quiet for 33 years?? Good question.

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Then I read today's story about an orientation session for our new Memphis City Council members. Apparently, the new council members spent a lot of time fretting about how the law would limit them and expressing confusion about what they could or could not do.

They make it sound like the law is as complicated as the average MLGW bill, which it isn't. The law just says elected officials aren't allowed to deliberate toward public decisions in private. Nothing more, nothing less.

Again, call me paranoid, but does anybody else think citizens have been missing out on some clandestine meetings where elected officials have been plotting to undercut this law? Or maybe we're just witnessing an incredible string of coincidences.

SC Poll: Obama moves ahead of Hillary

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A new InsiderAdvantage statewide survey of 480 likely Democratic primary voters in South Carolina (conducted 12/8 through 12/9) finds Sen. Barack Obama leading Sen. Hillary Clinton (28% to 22%) in a statewide primary; former Sen. John Edwards trails at 14%, Sen. Joe Biden at 10%. All other candidates receive less than five percent each.

Taxpayer bucks for more secrets

The fact that more taxpayer money will be required for the Governor's entertainment bunker than first promised is certainly cause for alarm. We already have plenty of existing State venues where these events could be held...WE DON"T NEED this monstrosity.

Even more objectionable, however, is the location in a private neighborhood where it will be VERY difficult for public and press to attend. We don't need more secretive events, we need less. Hold these events, if politicians feel like they must "entertain", in an existing building like War Memorial where it is easy for me and every other Tennessee Citizen to show up if we choose......we ARE paying for it.

More pork or lower taxes for Republicans?

The answer is depressingly consistent...PORK. State Rep. Kevin Brooks is happy that he got to hand out $10,000 of taxpayer money to United Way .

Sooo...Rep Brooks believes that giving to private charities is a proper role of government? and it is better for him to take money from taxpayers so HE can decide which charities should receive the money INSTEAD of leaving the money in taxpayer's hands and letting them decide which private charities they support.

This is the sort of happy betrayal of Republican principals that has Republican voters so completely and utterly disillusioned.

Nev Teacher's union against Casinos

The teacher's union in Nevada knows the casinos have a big wad of cash. They also know that going after casinos is a lot easier than going after taxpayers....so, the teachers are pushing a ballot initiative to raise taxes on casinos and set a minimum level of spending.

This has nothing whatsoever to do with improving education or empowering parents.  This is using government to enrich the teachers and the teacher's union. The teacher's unions, local and national, have done a magnificent job of co-opting OUR government to enrich themselves.

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Poll: Parents can spank, teachers should not

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Should parents have the right to spank their own children?

Yes	85%
No	5%

Should teachers have the right to spank children in their class?

Yes	30%
No	61%

Source: Rasmussen Reports
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,000 American adults, conducted on Dec. 1 and Dec. 2, 2007. Margin of error is 3 per cent.

Dave Goetz on possible revenue shortfall

from Pat Nolan's "Inside Politics" program from Friday, Dec 7.

Bookswim.com: The Netflix of Books

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Nashville is 38th most dangerously drunk city

or is it the 62nd? This ranking is very confusing.

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LESS Govt attracts, MORE Govt repels

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Arthur Laffer of Laffer Associates and Stephen Moore of the Wall Street Journal recently released a study they did for the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The study was reported in the Opinion section of the Wall Street Journal on Monday, December 10, 2007. Their study looked at the migration patters of Americans across the United States and what factors motivated human capital to move into a state. (In 2006, an estimated 8 million Americans moved from one state to another.) The study found that:

• The winning states for having human capital moving into them were characterized by having the lowest taxes, lowest spending, and lowest regulatory burden.
  
• The biggest losers were mostly located in the Northeast and Midwest.
  
• States with the highest income tax rates (NY and CA) were significantly outperformed by the 9 states with no income tax (AK, FL, NV, NH, SD, TN, TX, WA, and WY).
  
• States with "Right to Work" laws that prevent workers from being compelled to or required to join unions have higher rates of employment growth then states that do not.
  
• Five of the states near the bottom of the competitiveness ratings (IL, MD, MI, NJ, and WI) have enacted major tax increases in the last 2 years.
  
• Anti-growth taxes and spending policies not only lose human capital, but their governments also lose tax revenues when house values fall (causing a property tax decrease), tax base decreases (fewer taxpayers), and business leaving the state (fewer corporate tax payers). The result is increased unemployment, less investment in the state, and less money for schools, roads, and infrastructure, which hurts every resident of the state, including the poor.

Who will protect us from the protectors?

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Radical healthcare idea: patients make more decisions

The bureaucrats and legions of non-profit health care "advocates" giving up money and power? This won't last long.

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The new personal care budgets will give millions of pensioners and younger disabled people the power to decide what kind of care they want and where they buy it.

[...]

Mr Johnson will announce that councils in England and Wales will be given £520?million over the next three years to fund the new system.

"Our commitment that the majority of social care funding will be controlled by individuals through personal budgets represents a radical transfer or power from the state to the public," he will say.

"Everyone, irrespective of their illness or disability has the right to self-developments and maximum control over their own lives."

Congress drives food prices even higher

Professor Perry graphically demonstrates the increase in food prices vs oil. The geniuses in Congress continue to push ethanol because they are being pushed by the ag lobby. When a politician says, "I want to help you"...well, you know.

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First Press pass issued to cell camera journalist

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Open Govt in Nashville takes another hit

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Last week the Metro Council repealed a relatively new city ordinance that was meant to hold non-profit organizations accountable for how they use city money. Groups that received city funding had to hold open board meetings or issue a quarterly financial statement.

Metro Arts Commission director Norree Boyd recommended the Metro Council go back to the way things were. She says when the ordinance passed, most council members didn't realize the Arts Commission already combed a group's financial information before making a grant.

"The thing is that we probably grant to more non-profits than anyone else and we already require that. It was redundant."

But the Arts Commission doesn't make all the Metro grants. The city gives money to organizations ranging from the Nashville Zoo to the Chamber of Commerce.

No school choice for YOU!

I say we put these parents in JAIL!! The nerve of some people!! Trying to get their children into a better school? We can't tolerate behavior like that!! Lets rob them of every last bit of dignity by making an example of them in front of their children...THAT will show them.

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The Memphis City Schools district already fines violators between $5,000 and $6,000 but is considering raising the fine to its per-pupil expenditure of $9,000.

Administrators at Shelby County and Memphis schools say parents often create fake documents to get their children into schools they think have better academic or sports programs or are closer to where they live.

Arlington High School Principal Jeff Cozzens said he has seen numerous examples of this in his 13 years as a school administrator.

"I've seen some very good (utility) bills that you would never think were forged," he said.

"Every day we deal with questionable proofs of residency," said William White, executive director of school choice and student accounting for city schools.

Metro has less control over education

because of failure to meet NCLB goals says Tennessean. AGAIN, for the gazillionth time....PHIL BREDESEN should not be in control of Metro schools, PEDRO GARCIA should not be in control of Metro schools.

PARENTS should be in control by giving them the ultimate choice of which schools their children attend. ONLY THEN will we get consistent improvement.

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State takes a hand

Still, documents obtained by The Tennessean show the state's presence is being felt in some troubled schools and at the district office.

State officials removed Maplewood High's principal and installed Julie Williams, a veteran educator with a reputation for helping troubled schools.

They also asked Glencliff High to create a child-care center for teenage parents and Brick Church Middle to buy 20 new computers so an entire class could use the lab at once.

Earlier this year, at Garcia's urging, the board voted in restrictions on school clothing and a new "big picture high school" that emphasizes learning through jobs. But last month, members quashed Garcia's district-wide rezoning plan and his idea to create single-gender, flexible-schedule and back-to-basics schools called "fundamental academies."

Hugo Chavez acts just like Congress

and declares new time zone. Hey, if Congress can pretend to change time then so can Hugo.

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"I don't care if they call me crazy, the new time will go ahead," he said.

But critics say the move is unnecessary and the president simply wants to be in a different time zone from his arch-rival, the United States.

The new time puts Venezuela four-and-a-half hours behind Greenwich Mean Time, and out of step with all its neighbours.

Text to Speech to MP3 file

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Attitudes about women as political leaders:

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The countries of Western Europe, North America and Latin America generally include the highest proportions of respondents who rate men and women as equally good political leaders. Roughly two-thirds in Kirchner's country (68%) express that view, while 17% say men are better leaders and 9% prefer women. In the United States, fully three-quarters say men and women make equally good political leaders, and that opinion is even more widespread in Western Europe.

By contrast, majorities in Mali (65%), the Palestinian territories (64%), Kuwait (62%), Pakistan (54%), Bangladesh (52%) and Ethiopia (51%) say men make better political leaders than women, as do nearly half of Jordanians (49%) and Nigerians (48%). Russians are also divided: 44% say men and women make equally good leaders while 40% say men are better. Only in Brazil do more people say women make better political leaders than say men do: 15% of Brazilians say women make better political leaders and 10% say men are better leaders.

2,700 International TV Stations streaming on the web

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Over weight white women face lower wages

than normal weight women and the disparity with their slimmer sisters is increasing according to this BLS research. Notably, the disparity doesn't appear in women of other racial groups.

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Previous studies have shown that white women are the only race-gender group for which weight has a statistically significant effect on wages. This paper finds a statistically significant continual increase in the wage penalty for overweight and obese white women followed throughout two decades. A supporting analysis from a cross-sectional dataset, comprised of the 1987 National Medical Expenditure Survey and the 2000 and 2004 waves of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, also shows an increasing wage penalty. The bias against weight has increased, despite drastic increases in the rate of obesity in the United States. Alternatively, the increasing rarity of thinness has led to its rising premium.

Can Govts protect us from terrorists? NO

That is about the only conclusion you can draw after seeing reports like THIS and many others in the US. Now here comes a report from Europe that is even more depressing:

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One woman had a knife concealed in her bra, another mock passenger testing the system had a bullet hidden in a hair barrette and others sent three bags carrying bombs through the airport's X-ray system. Only one of the bombs was discovered.

Super Donor Lobbyists

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In the most recent election, lobbyist Larry O'Brien and his wife, Helen, personally donated more than $150,000 to the Democratic Party and its candidates. By contrast, the median household income in the United States in 2006 was $48,201, according to the Census Bureau.

The O'Briens have long been passionate and loyal Democrats, and their name is a fixture in the nation's capital. Still, it's pretty extraordinary, even by Washington standards, when your campaign donations amount to more than three times the earnings of the average American family.

O'Brien is candid about the questions that arise, even within his immediate family, about such large-scale political giving. At check-writing time, he says, his wife has been known to ask: "Are you out of your mind? You're completely insane. How long is this going to go on?" Helen is "a true Democrat," O'Brien assures, but is "a little disconcerted by the whole process."

No wonder he belongs to a small but influential breed. O'Brien and other K Street contributors like him -- we'll call them "super-donors" for the huge personal sums they contribute -- account for a disproportionate share of the total political donations from the Washington lobbying community.

NYT: Cell-only households may skew polls

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"If the percentage of adults living in cell-only households continues to grow at the rate it has been growing for the past four years, I have projected that it will exceed 25 percent by the end of 2008," Stephen J. Blumberg, a senior scientist at the National Center for Health Statistics, wrote in an e-mail message.

The American Association for Public Opinion Research has been examining the question and formed a group to study it. The association says it will issue its report early next year.

Paul J. Lavrakas, a survey methodologist and a former professor at Northwestern and Ohio State, has been a driving force behind the research at the association. Mr. Lavrakas said that he could not "imagine how anyone can feel safe in planning their election coverage without including cellphone sampling for the 2008 election."

Milton Friedman takes on college students

Two short clips from a lecture series. Friedman was clearly comfortable around college kids whose zealotry about the supposed horrors of free markets gave them, at least temporarily, a feeling of great moral authority.

John Kerry wants to "help" small business...RUN!!

LEAVE US ALONE!!! For the love of all that is good and healthy.....why do politicians actually believe they can "help" us...the LAST thing in the entire universe that small business needs is the idiots in Congress "helping" them.

Thank goodness for Tom Coburn...he is all that is standing between us and the tyranny of the good intentions of our government.

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Concerned about the growing federal role in the small business economy, Sen. Coburn blocked the passage by unanimous consent of two bills introduced by Sen. John Kerry, Chairman of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee. The bills in question were S. 1662, the "Small Business Venture Capital Act of 2007," and S. 1784, the "Military Reservist and Veteran Small Business Reauthorization and Opportunity Act of 2007."

Women voters continue to exceed men

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Census data here and here [2006 data found with this program] show that women have been turning out at higher rates than men in every Presidential election since 1980, and in every mid-term election since 1986. Not just raw numbers (there are more women than men, so even a lower turnout rate among women could still mean more women voters), but the percentage of adults who report voting. The graph below shows the difference between women and men's turnout rates (abbreviated as "women - men"). Note that the gap is more dramatic in Presidential years.

Senate Dems cave on paygo to give AMT relief

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Eleven months after adopting stringent new rules aimed at reining in the federal deficit, the Senate last night shrugged off its pledge of fiscal rectitude and overwhelmingly approved a measure to spare millions of families from the growing reach of the alternative minimum tax without providing an offsetting tax increase.

The Senate's 88 to 5 vote blew a $50 billion hole in the Democrats' promise not to pass any spending or tax measure that would add to the deficit. The outcome brought a furious response from conservative "Blue Dog" Democrats in the House, who assailed the Senate and vowed to block passage of any tax measure that would add a cent to the federal debt.

[...]

"The House has been much firmer on this all year than the Senate, and it may still insist on offsets. But the end-of-the-session pressure is to going to be there to say Merry Christmas and get out of town without paying for anything," lamented Robert L. Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition, a budget deficit watchdog. "It's very disappointing."

3,000+ TV Themesongs

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Seinfeld

Play name that theme Game

Can't keep'em down on the Danish farm

after they have tasted of the forbidden fruit of lower taxes.

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Young Danes, often schooled abroad and inevitably fluent in English, are primed to quit Denmark for greener pastures. One reason is the income tax rate, which can reach 63 percent.

"Our young people are by nature international," said Poul Arne Jensen, chief executive of Dantherm, a maker of climate-control technology. "They are used to traveling and have studied abroad."

"They are no longer 'Danes' in that sense - they are global people who have possibilities around the world," he said.

Senator Henry defines "tax loophole"

"I'm never going to raise taxes again."

says Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm after she raised taxes by $1.4 billion. A little too late for that lesson. The Governor has destroyed Michigan's future economic growth and has very probably caused the recall of several legislators who voted for the tax hike.

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Asked the biggest lesson she learned in 2007, the governor told AP: "The most important thing I learned is I'm never going to raise taxes again. It's too hard. It's too impossible. Especially in light of our economy and what we've been through. I just don't think there's anybody who's interested in proceeding down that path again. And I'm the first at the head of that line."

Suit seeks home computer records

of State officials related to TennCare.

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Child advocates are trying to get records from the state — including information on home computers of top state officials — to back up their argument that the state is failing to provide adequate health care for thousands of poor children.

They say the state has wrongly allowed records and computer files to be thrown away or otherwise discarded — records that might show evidence of the state's failures.

It's the latest development in the nearly 10-year-old "John B." lawsuit filed by the Tennessee Justice Center, a nonprofit group that has long battled the state over TennCare.

Sincerity is overrated ?

Interesting observations by libertarian author, Bryan Caplan,

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Since the publication of my book, I've been meeting a much wider range of people. I've talked to an elite Republican book club, a room full of vaguely Marxist academics at the New School, retirees, Cato, Heritage, a conference of largely leftist philosophers, the State Department (!), the Yale law school, DC economists, and UVA social scientists. I've also spoken on a wide range of radio shows and podcasts, left and right.

What have I learned? Primarily, I'm more convinced than ever that virtually everyone is sincere. The legions of people who imagine that their opponents secretly agree with them are utterly deluded. Even when you've got undeniable facts on your side, your opponents probably think that those facts don't matter; you're missing the deeper picture.

The lesson I draw: Sincerity is greatly overrated. It's an easy and widely distributed virtue. So what is in short supply? Common-sense. Literalism. Staying calm. Listening. Sticking to the point. Accepting and working through hypotheticals.

Why can't they ALL be like Sen. Coburn??

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Senator Tom Coburn (OK) has informed his colleagues in a letter that:

In the remaining hours of this session of Congress, therefore, I will not agree to any unanimous consent requests to authorize or appropriate increased spending or expand the size and cost of the federal government.

If you intend to seek unanimous consent for any legislation in the next three weeks, I would encourage you to contact me as soon as possible so I have sufficient time to read and review your bill or bills and we can work out any differences, avoiding the frustration of last minute, late night negotiations.

Perhaps Senator Coburn's example will inspire other elected officials, not only in Washington, but all across the country to stand up for taxpayers.

Foreclosures helping Memphis Tax Collections

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WHBQ FOX13 myfoxmemphis.com)  -- 

Sub-prime mortgage foreclosures are destroying the financial health of thousands of families, and hitting Memphis especially hard. According to a study, Memphis ranks ninth in the U.S. for the number of foreclosures. However, the pain of losing a home has meant a tax gain for the city budget.

The city projects it will collect roughly seven million more dollars in property taxes than expected. Financial officers said it's largely because of the high rate of foreclosures in Memphis. While the windfall is great in the short term, some said that it doesn't bode well for the long term economic environment in Memphis.

She without arm, he without leg - ballet

State Campaign and Candidate Disclosure Info

From the Tennessee Tax Revolt Taxpayer Information Center


State Campaign and Candidate Disclosure Info
Tennessee Online Campaign Contribution Database - Started in 2004
PAC contributions to state candidates
2004 Lobbyists contributions to state candidates
State Candidate Summaries for 2006 Contributions and Expenditures
Conflict of Interest Statements by Members of Tennessee General Assembly
TN Lobbyists
TN Registry of Election Finance
TN Governor's Cabinet Travel Expenses
TN Senate Per Diem and Travel Reimbursement 1st Qtr
TN Senate Per Diem and Travel Reimbursement 2nd Qtr
TN Senate Per Diem and Travel Reimbursement 3rd Qtr
TN Senate Per Diem and Travel Reimbursement 4th Qtr
TN House Per Diem and Travel Reimbursement 1st Qtr
TN House Per Diem and Travel Reimbursement 2nd Qtr
TN House Per Diem and Travel Reimbursement 3rd Qtr
TN House Per Diem and Travel Reimbursement 4th Qtr
TN Ethics Commission
Lobbyist In-State Entertainment Events
TN State Election Commission
State Election Results
TN Dem and Repub Party Spending and Contribution Analysis
TN 527 Committees Spending and Contribution Analysis
CPI Study of State Lobbying
National Institute on Money in State Politics
National Non-profit Organizations Database
Tennessee Charitable Organizations Financial Reports
Labor Union Financial Reports
Union Membership Stats
TN Business and Corporation Search
Edgar-Corporate Informational Filings
Tennessee Charitable Organizations Financial Reports

To hell with accountability..give me my pork

Washington Post: US Dept of Agriculture Loan Program is a study in mismanagement and pork and a taxpayer ripoff.

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More than three decades after the loan program was created, USDA officials still don't know whether it works. Funds have gone to firms that have hired foreign workers instead of Americans. Millions more have gone to failing and bankrupt businesses. Most of the jobs are not new. Many are low-tech and low-wage.

In addition to the loan program, the USDA has handed out almost half a billion dollars in rural development grants to businesses and nonprofits since 2001.

Loan guarantees or grants have gone to a car wash in Milford, Del.; a country club in Great Falls, Mont.; a movie theater in Smithfield, N.C.; a water park in Myrtle Beach, S.C.; an alligator hunter in Dade City, Fla.; snowmobile clubs in Maine; and dozens of gas stations and convenience stores in Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Arkansas.

[...]

Meanwhile, the USDA's losses continue to climb. More than one in five loans -- nearly 2,700 -- result in a loss in the Business and Industry Guaranteed Loan Program, the agency's largest rural lending effort. Yet the USDA has asked for its money back from just 19 banks for fraud or mismanagement since 1974.

Congressional committees charged with overseeing USDA business programs rarely question the agency's claims or probe deeply into the programs. Instead, some lawmakers have aggressively lobbied the USDA to approve costly projects in their districts.

Hockey fans are tourists? wink..wink

It all makes sense now....Richard Lawson is reporting in the City paper that the deal with the new Predators owners will involve giving them more of the hotel/motel tax. Since most of the hockey fans don't live in Davidson County this makes a LOT of sense (sarcasm alert). This tax dollar shell game can not end well.

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Technically, it qualifies as valid tourism use of the dollars. The Predators draw people from outside the county as do concerts… wink, wink. Some of the money went other tourist attractions as well such as the Adventure Science Center.

A revenue stream of several million dollars opened up when the bonds were paid off for the current convention center. Left untapped for several years, the fund would have built a hefty reserve on top of the 1 percent increase that is in place for the new convention center. Plans call for all of that money along with other sources covering the note for a $455-million center. That's an old number and probably will go higher but that's the gist and sharing the revenue stream may still be kind of a problem.

The mother of all taxpayer ripoffs?

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The government's newest estimate of improper aid represents $494 million FEMA paid to 134,000 people who were ineligible for the aid they received. More than half the money went to people who couldn't prove residency, according to FEMA figures. Overpayments and duplicate payments account for most of the remainder.

The amount had exceeded $500 million, but the agency wrote off nearly $27 million because of appeals or hardship waivers. The $500 million figure would represent nearly $1 of every $10 in government aid intended to help storm victims.

Congressional investigators determined people provided false addresses, other people's social security numbers and Gulf Coast addresses that did not exist. Because of the chaotic situation and loose controls, nearly half the 11,000 people who received emergency debit cards also received FEMA checks, investigators said.

Paperless Cell Phone Boarding Passes

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"Passengers will now be allowed to receive boarding passes electronically on their cell phones or PDAs.

Continental becomes the first U.S. carrier to test paperless boarding passes.

Domestic travelers in Germany and Spain have been using the paperless boarding passes and Japan Airlines has been checking in and boarding passengers by scanning their mobile phones for nearly three years. Airlines in Canada began using paperless boarding passes over the summer. "

The US Forest Service needs 700 Tasers?

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GO Whoopi!! She is against the death Tax!!

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BEHAR: Only people with a lot of money say that, but that's okay.

GOLDBERG: No! I don't think so. Anyone who wants to leave something to their kid, whatever you paid for it, they have to pay.

BEHAR: I know.

GOLDBERG: It's horrible. It doesn't matter if you have or you don't have money. Once you paid your taxes, it should be a done deal. You shouldn't have to pay twice. No taxation without representation! Sorry.

[applause]

Not enough Parking for Private Jets at Climate Conference

Damn these small airports...not enough room to park all the private jets arriving for a conference on Global Warming!!

Raising Charlie the Orphan Coyote

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Day Care Price fixing by State

Oh what a tangled web the bureaucrats weave:

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KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- A state policy change aimed at helping welfare recipients may put day cares out of business or force them to turn away children on welfare, also known as certificate children.

The state gives a stipend to day care centers for every child whose family is on assistance.

Until now, day cares have been able to charge these families the difference between the cost of the day care and the stipend.

But now, the state says day cares must absorb the cost or make up the difference elsewhere.

Tased while naked and deaf

The police have absolutely NO authority unless it is first granted to them by the citizens. If we grant them authority then it is OUR responsibility to hold them accountable for the way they use the authority delegated to them to be used on our behalf.

There are FAR too many reports of people being tasered by police.

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Deputy Chief Robert Lee says, "This one occurred on the worst of calls, that being a shooting. The first few minutes getting control of the scene are very, very important."

Once the facts were all sorted out, officers repeatedly apologized to Williams. Police wish it never happened, but with the information they had at the time, their choices were limited.

"Do I wish there would have been some way they were notified in advance this gentleman was hearing impaired? I certainly do. No one is happy with the way it worked out," says Lee.

Reducing poverty, one entrepreneur at a time

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Farogat Holmuradova sells women's clothing in a bazaar in Tajikistan. Hoping to improve sales by adding new styles to her selection, she's turned to Kiva.org for a small loan. In southern Azerbaijan, Aliyev Ilham and his family have lived for years off a small herd of sheep. Now, he's looking to expand his business with a temporary infusion of cash.