Congress DEMANDS action from big oil

Government Employment is booming-USAToday

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Government hiring began to boom last year around July 1, when most state and local governments started new fiscal years. Those budgets were based on forecasts established in a strong economy. In each quarter since, the total government workforce has been the most in at least six years.

State and local governments have run deficits for the last nine months, the Commerce Department reports. Tax collections went flat in the middle of 2007, but spending has continued to rise.

The USA has nearly 88,000 units of government, mostly local, that employ 22 million. Hiring has been strong at every level, from new CIA spies to preschool teachers.

Univ of Ala Yearbook, 1893-96

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College students protest 1,500% CA Beer Tax Hike

Gift idea for your fav Politician

Link HT: Club for Growth

Few states allow overseas troops to vote by e-mail

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Pentagon officials have been urging more states to move into the electronic age before November, a move that could help reverse recent trends in which thousands of military members asked for ballots but either didn't vote or had their ballots rejected for flaws.

The push comes more than seven years after problems with overseas military voting set off an uproar in President Bush's narrow 2000 victory. In Florida, where Bush squeaked out a 537-vote victory that gave him the presidency, questions were raised about several thousand overseas military votes that came in after deadlines and were counted in some districts but not counted in others.

This year, when war is a key campaign issue, the election results in any state - particularly one with heavy military voting - could turn on the votes of thousands of troops on the front lines.

"The personnel that fight our wars, the people who are most affected by the decisions on the use of the military, are being systematically denied the right to vote," said Bob Carey, a board member of the Overseas Vote Foundation, a voting rights group. "I find that pretty tough to swallow. If a president decides to deploy military troops somewhere, it's these troops that are going to go."

Does this talking Goat remind you of politicians?

Taxpayers will continue to pay for Healthcare

for lawmakers who have abused their power and committed a felony related to their office. This ought to make taxpayers very "happy."

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NASHVILLE - A proposal to deny convicted lawmakers of health insurance benefits has likely been killed for the year by a Democratic-controlled House committee.

The House Calendar Committee on Tuesday sent the measure sponsored by Rep. Charles Curtiss, a Sparta Democrat, back to the Judiciary Committee - a panel that has closed for the year.

The bill sought to apply to lawmakers or governors convicted of felonies related to their official duties.

The Senate passed the bill unanimously last month.

Sen. Jim Tracy, a Shelbyville Republican and main sponsor of the Senate version, said the measure was designed as a companion to an existing law that strips convicted lawmakers of their pensions.

Expect New wave of violence at TN Convenience Mkts

The first 40-45 year old ladies who are NOT asked for ID will start a new wave of violence that will make the OK Corral look like child's play.

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A bill making mandatory carding to buy beer permanent law is headed to Gov. Phil Bredesen today after the Senate approved the measure.

The bill does have one major change, however, that could be a delight for older Tennesseans.

The legislation would not punish beer sellers who sell suds to those customers who “reasonably appears to be over the age of 50″ and don’t present identification.

In 2007, Tennessee became the first state to card everyone purchasing beer regardless of age. That law was set to expire July 1 of this year, but the bill headed to the governor would permanently remove the sunset provision.

State takes custody of child...for drinking lemonade

Government is the bull in the china shop of our freedoms.

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At a hearing later that day, Jones recommended that Leo remain in foster care until she had completed her investigation, a process she estimated would take several days. It was only after the assistant attorney general who represented CPS admitted that the state was not interested in pursuing the case aggressively that juvenile referee Leslie Graves agreed to release Leo to his mother -- on the condition that Ratte himself relocate to a hotel.

Finally, at a second hearing three days later, Graves dismissed the complaint and permitted Ratte to move home.

Don Duquette, a U-M law professor who directs the university's Child Advocacy Law Clinic, represented Ratte and his wife. He notes sardonically that the most remarkable thing about the couple's case may be the relative speed with which they were reunited with Leo.

Duquette says the emergency removal powers of CPS, though "well-intentioned" are "out of control and partly responsible for the large numbers of kids in the foster care system," which is almost universally acknowledged to be badly overburdened.

School Choice choices for Congress

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Can't get those temps to budge

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...the tropical troposphere should be the most sensitive indicator of global warming. It just isn't happening

Hillary Clinton requested $2.3 billion in Earmarks

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Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) has requested nearly $2.3 billion in federal earmarks for 2009, almost three times the largest amount received by a single senator this year.

The Democratic presidential candidate’s staggering request comes at a time when Congress remains engaged in a heated debate over spending federal dollars on parochial projects.

Chattanooga Corporate welfare goes to the next level

This is almost unbelievable but not so much anymore I guess. Our elected officials are quite happy to represent themselves as solving "problems" created for the benefit of real estate developers. I guess that is what a few good lobbyists get you....plus the inevitable campaign contributions.

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Earlier this month, CBL hired a five-member platoon of lobbyists from Miller & Martin law firm to push the bill, according to Tennessee Ethics Commission records. The lobbyists are Mark Smith, Dan Elrod, Holly McDaniel, Mandy Young and Dale Allen.

CBL’s tax proposal has received favorable support from some local politicians.

“The city has no reason to delay it,” said Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield. “We want the mall to be updated as soon as possible.”

In addition to the new fee, CBL has considered borrowing funds through the Chattanooga Industrial Development Board, Mr. Littlefield said.

Chattanooga City Council Member Jack Benson, who represents the Hamilton Place mall area, praised CBL’s plans and predicted the new development should help raise property values and generate more tax revenue for the city.

No More Tax Holiday for YOU!!

Ok people, LISTEN UP...your Governor and your General Assembly decided to give you a holiday from paying some of the taxes which you so rightfully owe and Revenue Commissioner Reagan Farr tries so hard to pull from your stingy little hands.

We allowed you to have a small amount of the State's money to pay for your children's clothes and school supplies and even a computer for goodness sake...and what did you do with our benevolence??

You abused it!

Your Governor and your general Assembly tried to be nice but NOOOOOOO, you got GREEDY and bought too much stuff for your family.

No Spring Tax Holiday for YOU next year. I hope you are proud of yourselves!!!

Iran doesn't like Barbie, Spiderman, Harry Potter

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In the latest salvo in a more than decade-old government campaign against Barbie, Prosecutor General Ghorban Ali Dori Najafabadi said in an official letter to Vice President Parviz Davoudi that the doll and other Western toys are a "danger" that need to be stopped.

"The irregular importation of such toys, which unfortunately arrive through unofficial sources and smuggling, is destructive culturally and a social danger," said the letter, a copy of which was made available to The Associated Press.

Iranian markets have been inundated with smuggled Western toys in recent years partly due to a dramatic rise in purchasing power as a result of increased oil revenues.

While importing the toys is not necessarily illegal, it is discouraged by a government that seeks to protect Iranians from what it calls the negative effects of Western culture.

Najafabadi said the increasing visibility of Western dolls has alarmed authorities and they are considering intervening.

"The displays of personalities such as Barbie, Batman, Spiderman and Harry Potter ... as well as the irregular importation of unsanctioned computer games and movies are all warning bells to the officials in the cultural arena," his letter said.

Need something designed? 99designs.com

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Need something designed? Crowdsource it to our community of thousands of designers. Choose a winning design from hundreds of concepts created for you in under a week.

Pics from Whitehouse Correspondents Dinner

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Obama Basketball Highlights

Full List of TN Prop Tax Rates sorted highest-lowest

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No Govt oversight healthcare? YES, and they are thriving!!

Christian healthcare sharing organizations like Medi-share are voluntary, religious based organizations which allow people to share medical costs. They have grown spectacularly and provide many hundreds of thousands of people a low cost alternative to health insurance. Several States have specifically exempted them from regulation and oversight by state insurance bureaucrats and Florida is now considering such an exemption.

What!!! This is unheard of!! Allowing citizens to enter into voluntary contracts to share healthcare costs without some bureaucrat or self-righteous legislator saving them from their own ignorance?? How can this be??

The bureaucrats and politicians can't allow citizens this kind of freedom....why, if the citizens get a taste of making decisions about their own lives they may believe they know more than the bureaucrats, it would be disastrous for big government.

Commissioner Farr to Taxpayers: You people

are REALLY something. The Tennessee Commissioner of Revenue is "amazed" that Tennesseans try to minimize their taxes. This is an absolutely outrageous statement by a public servant.

Whats wrong with you people!! You should be able to read the commissioner's mind and send in the right amount without him having to spell it out!! Geez

In Reagan Farr's mind we are all a bunch of tax cheats who will never pay as much in taxes as he thinks we should. I think they call this "guilty until proven innocent."

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"It never ceases to amaze me the hoops people will go through to try to avoid taxes," said Farr.

Torrcelli puts campaign funds into a private charity...

his own private charity.

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LAMBERTVILLE, N.J. — Former Sen. Robert G. Torricelli, a top fundraiser for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, is sending hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from his 2002 Senate campaign to a private foundation registered in his name and based out of his New Jersey lobbying office — an arrangement that troubles campaign-finance and tax experts.

Federal election rules allow former elected officials to use surplus campaign money on charitable causes, though Mr. Torricelli's Rosemont Foundation, which received $1.5 million in campaign cash last year, has not yet been granted tax-exempt status.

The Lottery is ripping off poor people...buying a

lottery ticket is a voluntarily made, really bad, decision but let's stop pretending that government is moral or benevolent. Just as surely as "welfare" programs rob able people of their dignity, independence, and self-confidence, the lottery spends millions of our money every year encouraging Tennesseans to destroy their financial future.


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Charles Spaulding Jr. spends about $90 of his monthly $1,300 income on the Ohio Lottery.

The 68-year-old retired truck driver says his favorite game is Mega Millions, which has odds of 1-in-176 million for its top prize.

"I've just about lost hope on it," the East Side resident said recently after buying a ticket at the Yearling Market & Carryout in Whitehall. "I'm not going to spend every penny on it. If I see I'm getting low on money, I pass it up."

The Ohio Lottery collects more than $2 billion a year from people willing to take their chances on long odds, and the state hopes to make millions more this year with the addition of a Keno game.

Many lottery players, like Spaulding, have low incomes. Any adult can play the lottery, but a Dispatch analysis found that the state makes most of its money in lower-income neighborhoods.

Calif City Employees make huge salaries as cities

(aka taxpayers) face financial ruin.

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A Chronicle examination of top salaries in the Bay Area's three biggest cities last year indicates that employee compensation and perks in those cities are similar to - and in some cases more lucrative than - those blamed for pushing Vallejo to the edge of financial doom.

In Vallejo, a midsize city of 121,000, there were 292 municipal employees who earned more than $100,000 last year. But in Oakland, with roughly three times more residents, 1,333 city workers were paid six figures in the same period. San Jose, a city of almost a million people, had 2,312. And San Francisco, which serves as a city and county government for its 809,000 residents, had more than 8,000.

None of the region's largest cities faces the imminent threat of bankruptcy, but all are weathering their own financial crises - even as firefighters and police officers often earn more than City Hall department heads.

TVA raised our rates to spend $2,138 on cigars?

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A recently released audit by TVA’s inspector general found that during 2005 and 2006 the federal utility spent $106,384 on food and tickets to sporting and theatrical events; $3,055 on a wine-tasting reception in Traverse City, Mich.; and $16,321 on a party at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta.

During a legislative session on government ethics reform two years ago, TVA bought $2,138 worth of cigars in Nashville to hand out as gifts to legislators and their administrative staffs, records show.

Swiss dog owners must now pass exam

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The move is part of a wider law on the protection of animals. Among the more unusual provisions is a requirement that guinea pigs and budgies be bought in groups of two or more, because they cannot bear solitude.

The law also requires farmers who keep more than three pigs, five horses, 10 sheep, 150 egg-laying hens and 200 chicks to take a course.

Agricultural groups say this will add more costs to their industry.

Private dog-training companies and vets, who have welcomed this measure since it was mooted in 2005, will be authorised to provide the exams.

But Germaine Disières, a Yorkshire Terrier breeder, said: "To have to hold a permit to keep a very small dog, that is going too far. Education is necessary but to completely regulate is not the solution."

Access Denied: Global Map of Internet Censorship

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$50 per hour panhandling? Yikes

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65% oppose hike in Cap Gains Tax

From Rasmussen Reports: HT Club for Growth

A proposal has been made to increase the capital gains tax from 15% to 28%. Do you favor or oppose increasing the capital gains tax to 28%?

16% Favor
65% Oppose
20% Not sure

If the capital gains tax is increased to 28%, will that help the economy or hurt the economy?

17% Help
52% Hurt
18% Neither
14% Not sure

Panexa: ask your doctor for a reason to take it

Funny parody of drug ads.

PANEXA is a prescription drug that should only be taken by patients experiencing one of the following disorders: metabolism, binocular vision, digestion (solid and liquid), circulation, menstruation, cognition, osculation, extremes of emotion. For patients with coronary heart condition (CHC) or two separate feet (2SF), the dosage of PANEXA should be doubled to ensure that twice the number of pills are being consumed. PANEXA can also be utilized to decrease the risk of death caused by not taking PANEXA, being beaten to death by oscelots, or death relating from complications arising from seeing too much of the color lavender. Epileptic patients should take care to ensure tight, careful grips on containers of PANEXA, in order to secure their contents in the event of a seizure, caused by PANEXA or otherwise.

Top 20 Highest Property Tax Rates in TN

Don't tell the pols: Tornado causes Tax Surge

in Jackson. Look for the General Assembly to invest in weather altering technology before the end of the session.

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Because sales tax collections are reported two months after actual collection, April's report actually reflects sales taxes collected in February, showing the increase in consumer demand for roofing and other disaster supplies after the Feb. 5 tornado.
"The tornado is the only thing I can attribute the increase in tax collections to," said City recorder Al Laffoon.

Local sales taxes for the city only were running $129,500 under last year until April's collections. Collection are now $98,830 over last year. That figure, however, is about 1 percent below fiscal year budgeted amounts.

First Tax Rebate checks will show up on Monday

Your Uncle Sam and his cousins in Congress want to stimulate you to vote for them so they are returning some money to you which they took away from you several months ago.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The federal government, eager to boost the flagging economy, will start distributing special tax rebates on Monday - five days earlier than expected, the Treasury Department said Thursday.

The department had said last month that it would begin giving rebates on May 2.

Instead, 800,000 tax filers daily will get rebates on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. No rebates will be distributed on Thursday, and 5 million payments will be made on Friday.

The payments will go out ahead of schedule because of a new computer program that updates records daily - faster than an older program that updates weekly, according to Andrew DeSouza, a Treasury spokesman.

Cloned Sniffer Dogs-The Genetic Revolution?

What will they look like after 4 years in the Whitehouse

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Congressional Bad Boys web site

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Over 11,700 Members of Congress have served this great Nation. Overwhelmingly, they have been hard working, dedicated, intelligent, and deserving of the courtesy title "The Honorable." But then there are the Congressional BadBoys, the one-half of one percent, or so, of rotten apples, done in by their all too human frailties. It's the same old story: power, money, booze, drugs, and sex.

What's Congress doing about these scandals?
Meet your House Ethics Committee and Senate Ethics Committee

Ok, I didn't start this but I can't resist adding to it

after seeing this post on Popular Science.

Newscoma noted problems in Africa via Michael Silence.

Perhaps a little foreign aid could be used to buy some Nutty Buddies:

Lottery causing grade inflation in Georgia?

Sure looks like it:

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Despite earning B averages in high school, at least one in 10 HOPE Scholarship recipients receives some type of remedial help during the first year of college.

Put simply, some college freshmen who seemed to excel in high school still need help in basic math and English.

Twelve percent of college freshmen who have the HOPE Scholarship, awarded to Georgia students who graduate from high school with at least a B average, received learning support in fall 2006, according to the University System of Georgia.

Woody and Denzel appeal to Judge for Wesley

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OCALA - Defense lawyers for actor Wesley Snipes called upon his Hollywood friends Wednesday as they lobbied a judge to put Snipes on probation for tax crimes, suggesting that imprisoning the film star would be a "travesty."

In a memorandum filed in advance of Thursday's sentencing in federal court in Ocala, the defense team attached character-building testimonials for Snipes from fellow actors Denzel Washington and Woody Harrelson.

The documents also include a letter of support from TV's "Judge Joe Brown."

Washington compared Snipes to a "mighty oak" while Harrelson, who co-starred with Snipes in "Wildcats," "White Men Can't Jump," and "Money Train," praised the Orlando-born actor as his friend of more than 20 years.

"He strives for rightness in all his relations and I realized early on what a true citizen of the world Wes is," Harrelson wrote in a letter, dated March 24. "He respects a healthy debate, as do I, and we've had some memorable ones over the years which have influenced my thoughts and emotions. Wes seeks solutions and resolutions rather than sitting back and watching the horrors and injustices that plague our world."

Federal prosecutors previously filed a memorandum asking Senior U.S. District Court Judge William Terrell Hodges to impose a three-year prison sentence and levy a minimum fine of $5 million on Snipes, who was found guilty of three misdemeanor counts of willfully failing to file a tax return.

Faulty virtual fence to be replaced with....virtual fence

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The government will replace its highly touted "virtual fence" on the Arizona-Mexico border with new towers, radars, cameras and computer software, scrapping the brand-new $20 million system because it doesn't work sufficiently, officials said.

The move comes just two months after Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff officially accepted the completed fence from the Boeing Co.

With the decision, Customs and Border Protection officials are acknowledging that the so-called Project 28 pilot program to detect illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border does not work well enough to keep or to continue tweaking.

Chertoff accepted the program Feb. 22 after Boeing apparently resolved software glitches. But less than a week later, GAO told Congress it "did not fully meet user needs and the project's design will not be used as the basis for future" developments.

TN Dept of Rev "Technical Corrections"=Tax Hikes

It's that time if year that the TN Department of Revenue tries to convince us that they are no longer simply in charge of implementing tax law, they are actually also in charge of making tax law.

Insty has the story.

Below are a few more nuggets from the WallerLaw.com email:

Digital Products/iPOD Tax. The Bill contains sweeping legislation that would subject downloaded sales of digital media, including music videos, motion pictures, news and entertainment programs, music, ringtones, electronic books, etc. to the retail sales tax. Under current law digitally delivered goods are not taxable unless delivered in a tangible form.

Sales Taxes Paid by Lodging Industry. Under this provision of the Bill, "hotels, motels, inns, and other dealers that offer lodging accommodations" would have to pay sales taxes on items they provide to guests that currently are folded into room rates (linens, bathroom supplies, breakfast bar items, manager's receptions' drinks, in-room coffee, etc.). Under the Bill, lodging providers with restaurants could avoid paying sales tax on food purchases by offering guests coupons to restaurants that sell and serve the same food to non-guests. This portion of the Bill would reverse a 2000 decision by the Tennessee Court of Appeals exempting hotels from paying sales tax on such items.

Honda's assisted walking device

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TN Higher Ed wants you to play lottery, buy Beer

If I didn't know better I would think that Higher Ed officials in TN will do just about anything for a buck. Millions of dollars in advertising every week convince the poorest Tennesseans to throw away their financial futures by betting on the lottery....and higher ed officials are ecstatic about this. Now they want UT fans to buy beer, lots of beer. Yeah Rocky Top!!

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To help counter the increase in budget needs, department officials presented to university President John Petersen and Knoxville campus interim Chancellor Jan Simek a list of ways to raise additional revenue.

‘‘Basically they picked four things: an increase in season ticket price, charging students for tickets, reduce faculty and staff ticket discounts and beer sales,’’ athletic department spokeswoman Tiffany Carpenter said.

Plans are in the works to implement all four changes, but Tennessee’s Faculty Senate is asking school officials to reconsider the beer sales.

Poll: "Economic Growth" gaining on "Environment"

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Senator Haynes is a Saint!! He just wants the best

for his constituents. Click HERE to see his mailer, sent at taxpayer expense, to inform us that he supports the Sales Tax Holiday.

"take a holiday on the State"??

I must have missed the mailer that surely was sent last year when taxes were hiked? He just wants to keeps us informed...right?

TN Govt to citizens: we want more info on YOU!!

The deliberations over the Tennessee open records improvement bill just get weirder and weirder....now, two Senators want more information on groups that are pushing for improvements in open records law. WHAT??? This is beyond bizarre. These are gestapo tactics.

OK, OK....so you don't want citizens to easily accessing public records. Fine, but lets drop the childish bullying. This reminds me of the threat, made several years ago by a legislator, to do away with the Registry of Election Finance because too many people were requesting his campaign finance records.

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Democratic Sens. Douglas Henry, of Nashville, and Jim Kyle, of Memphis, argued that groups like the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government and Common Cause of Tennessee should be required to give more comprehensive information about their memberships if they are to be added to an advisory panel on open government.

Frank Gibson, who heads the coalition, says he’s willing to give more details about his group’s members. The Associated Press is a member.

The Senate Finance Committee decided to put off a vote on the measure sponsored by Sen. Randy McNally, an Oak Ridge Republican, until Wednesday.

THIS is depressing, US Constitutuion provides less

protection against unreasonable search and seizure than the NJ Constitution.

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[JURIST] The New Jersey Supreme Court [official website] Monday ruled [PDF text] that Internet service providers may not turn over users' personal information to police or other agencies unless they obtain a valid grand jury subpoena when the information sought relates to an indictable offense. The court held that the New Jersey constitution [text] affords greater protections than the US Constitution against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Video Warfare-Russian mig downs Georgian UAV

Just as YouTube is changing politics, it is changing war.

John McCain helped developer buy Public Land

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When Mr. Diamond wanted to buy land at the base, Fort Ord, Mr. McCain assigned an aide who set up a meeting at the Pentagon and later stepped in again to help speed up the sale, according to people involved and a deposition Mr. Diamond gave for a related lawsuit. When he appealed to a nearby city for the right to develop other property at the former base, Mr. Diamond submitted Mr. McCain’s endorsement as “a close personal friend.”

Writing to officials in the city, Seaside, Calif., the senator said, “You will find him as honorable and committed as I have.”

Courting local officials and potential partners, Mr. Diamond’s team promised that he could “help get through some of the red tape in dealing with the Department of the Army” because Mr. Diamond “has been very active with Senator McCain,” a partner said in a deposition.

Nashville's "Landport" cost taxpayers $4.5 mil 10 yrs

ago but is still padlocked. Why? Because the only access was the deteriorating Demonbreun Street Bridge and officials knew the bridge was a problem BEFORE the landport was built!!

Thank you Nancy Amons and WSMV for informing the taxpayers.

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The landport, which is located just off Demonbreun Street, is not used for much, but it was once envisioned as a transportation hub.

Former U.S. Rep. Bob Clement earmarked federal funds to have it built. And at the groundbreaking 13 years ago, its future was bright with the hopes of passenger trains, a bus transfer station and more. At present, the landport, in which $4.5 million was invested, is padlocked.

"We think it's a great location for the future," said Metro Transit Authority representative Paul Ballard.

The MTA owns the landport, which was begun under a former CEO. Currently, MTA uses what was going to be a ticket office as office space for four workers. There is a bus stop there, but on four out of five days, no one gets on or off.

So what went wrong with the Clement Landport?

Oh NO, Mass voters might, gulp, vote for lower taxes

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BOSTON — In November, Massachusetts taxpayers will be asked if they want to vote themselves a tax cut of more than $3,000.

State lawmakers are worried the answer will be "Yes."

A ballot question would let voters abolish the state income tax. While the proposal has largely flown under the radar, Beacon Hill lawmakers and budget watchdogs are concerned the climate is right for it to pass — with disastrous consequences, in their view.

The Coalition for Small Government, which is behind the ballot question, says ending the state's 5.3 percent income tax would be anything but bad. About 3 million taxpayers would save on average $3,600 a year, according to the ballot question's sponsors. The state Department of Revenue uses a slightly lower figure — $3,180 — based on the "typical" taxpaying family of three that owns a home.

Carla Howell, the leader of the Coalition for Small Government, and a one-time Libertarian candidate for governor, said the question isn't just about voting for a tax cut. It's about a fundamental overhaul of state government.

"It will take $11 billion out of the hands of Massachusetts big government and put it into the hands of men and women who earned it," Howell said.

Fla Anti-drug Earmark used for TN Rafting Trips

You can't make this stuff up.

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Last year, Miami Beach's Gang and Drug Prevention Program, known as the Teen Club, used part of a $50,000 federal grant to take members of the club white water rafting in Tennessee.

This year, the group will receive $651,500 from the Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. ''That's a lot of white water rafting trips,'' joked U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who, along with Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Shultz, supported the earmark that made the grant possible.

The "why bother" economy

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A "why bother?" economy has been created in Britain which has left thousands with no motivation to work, a report published today concludes.

Successive governments have encouraged a welfare culture that has left every family facing a £1,300 bill because the poor stay poor, it claims.

The findings by the public services think tank Reform suggest that increased welfare dependency has made it more difficult for those on the lowest incomes to do better.

An education system with a "dismal record" of educating the poorest, and a complex welfare system, have together created a far more divided society than other European countries, it finds.

Means-tested benefits and higher taxes have reduced the incentives available to those on low incomes to better themselves, Reform says.

It concludes: "The unintended consequence has been a 'why bother?' economy in which a significant minority do not have the capability or motivation to succeed."

Ga. Rep."Mitchell insists he's not a lobbyist."

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State Rep. Billy Mitchell (D-Stone Mountain) visited the Louisiana Legislature last week on behalf of a lending company trying to kill a bill to cap interest rates on payday loans.

That's Mitchell's other job. He's vice president of government relations for Community Loans of America Inc., one of the largest car title and payday lending companies in the nation.

Payday lenders provide short-term, high-interest loans for people with poor credit.

The practice is illegal in Georgia.

Mitchell insists he's not a lobbyist. Nor, Mitchell said, did he go to Louisiana to urge lawmakers to stop the anti-payday industry bill.

"That's not what I do," Mitchell said. "My role is closer to community relations and creating goodwill."

However, the author of the legislation, Louisiana state Rep. Rickey Hardy (D-Lafayette), said Mitchell told him that the bill, if enacted into law, "would hurt the little man."

Mitchell adamantly denies saying that.

Georgia law does not prohibit legislators from lobbying other state legislatures on bills that might affect the companies they work for.

But some ethics-in-government advocates say they shouldn't do it.

Recycling police 'freaking out' residents

In Australia.

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City of Monash spokeswoman Jodie Harrison confirmed a "rubbish auditor" had been warned to switch to more reasonable hours after "freaking out" residents.

Disturbed householders have discovered bin police kitted out with miners' hats and and inspecting garbage bins that are left by footpaths for collection.

Dozens of recycling and green waste bins are checked three times a week.

Residents flouting the rules have warning stickers placed on their bins and risk being slapped with a garbage collection ban.

Open Records bill killed by "Memphis"

Ok, its not dead yet but so many "poison pills" have been attached, it might as well be dead.

The City of Memphis appears to be in direct violation of the TN open records Law. Soooo...do they change their policies to conform to the State Law? NOOOO, you change State law to conform to Memphis.

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Jefferson told the committee of Memphis city government policies that differ from most local governments.

First, all requests for public records other than police reports must be made in writing to his city attorney's office. And second, his office routinely blocks what it says is "personal" e-mail from public access, despite their production and storage in city-owned computers.

More proof that Govt Econ Development=Corruption

Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield's administration gave a former campaign manager an interest free loan for downtown development and an option to purchase more land that wasn't even asked for.

When government at any level gets in the business of "economic development", a sure bet is that corruption will follow.

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During their 2005 campaigns for mayor, Ron Littlefield and Dan Johnson questioned the way some of Chattanooga's premiere waterfront property was sold by the city for projects associated with former City Hall and River-City Co. officials.

Now some are questioning the way Mr. Littlefield, who was elected mayor, and Mr. Johnson, who became the mayor's chief of staff, handled the city's sale of a downtown block to a development group that includes one of the mayor's former campaign managers.

Last year, Mr. Johnson negotiated and the mayor ultimately approved a sales contract to former Littlefield campaign manager Dale Mabee and others that turned out to be more favorable for the developers than what was initially advertised.

Unlike previous property sales offered by RiverCity for the city's Chattanooga Downtown Redevelopment Corp., Mr. Mabee's real estate group is getting an interest-free loan from the city to finance much of its $1.07 million land purchase for 22 luxury condominiums being built on the block bounded by Cherry, Walnut, Second and Third streets.

According to the sales contract signed by Mr. Mabee, the city also gave the developers an option to buy more land in the block even though such property wasn't included in the original sale offer and wasn't initially sought by the developers. Although not included in the original request for proposal, or RFP, the city also is providing an alley for access to the luxury condominiums at no initial cost to the developer even though the property is valued at $96,000.

Memphis Tax Revolt Resource Center

Question: Which TN City already has the highest combined city/county property tax rate in the entire State and is considering even Higher taxes?

Answer: Memphis

Memphis and Shelby County Citizens. Act NOW before it is too late. Print and Fax a STOP the Tax Fax and call the Mayor.

MemphisTaxRevolt.com

Great news! Most people don't trust Govt to

"save" the economy. Citizens are much more perceptive than our pompous, pandering, peacock politicians would have us believe. Individual citizens are quite able to take care of their own personal economies if government will just leave us alone. Whether they are misdirected "good intentions" or simply the corruption of special interests, government has a much greater capability for screwing up the economy.

Link

Polling Data

How confident are you in your government’s ability to deal with the recent economic difficulties?

	BRI	FRA	ITA	ESP	GER	USA
Very confident	2%	3%	3%	5%	--	1%
Rather confident	3%	10%	13%	20%	7%	6%
Somewhat confident	27%	37%	41%	40%	41%	42%
Not confident at all	68%	50%	43%	36%	52%	51%

Source: Harris Interactive / Financial Times
Methodology: Online interviews with 6,434 adults in the United States, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Britain, conducted from Mar. 27 to Apr. 8, 2008. No margin of error was provided.

No Gas Tax Holiday for YOU, Tennessee

HT : Danny Newton

The TN General Assembly and TDOT would like you to know that if John McCain gets his gas tax holiday passed, you won't be joining the party after July 1. They have decreed that any reduction in the federal gas tax will trigger an equal hike in the TN gas tax. So you will have to drive to another State to get your holiday...unless the Department of Revenue sets up roadblocks at the State line. Here is TCA 67-3-206:

67-3-206. Maintenance of funding under highway trust fund. — [Effectiveness suspended until July 1, 2008. See subsection (b).]

(a) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, if the federal government reduces or eliminates any or all taxes imposed by title 26 of the United States Code and allocated by chapter 98 of that title of the federal highway trust fund, the existing state tax imposed on the sale and/or use of such products shall be adjusted so as to maintain the amount of funding for the Tennessee department of transportation generated by the federal tax. The adjustment in the state tax shall become effective simultaneously with the reduction in the federal tax. The department of revenue is directed to collect such taxes and allocate such taxes in their entirety, less the appropriate cost of administration, to the state highway trust fund for use by the department of transportation. If the federal goverment elects to increase any or all taxes imposed by title 26 of the United States Code and allocated by chapter 98 of that title to the federal highway trust fund after it has reduced or eliminated such taxes, the state tax on the sale and/or use of such products is reduced equal to the amount of the increase by the federal government. No amounts of revenue received pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be pledged specifically to the payment of debt service on any state bond or note.

(b) The provisions of this section shall cease to be effective until July 1, 2008, at which time this section shall have full effect of law.

Gun Owners are miserable, paranoid nuts...NOT

Link

According to the 2006 General Social Survey, which has tracked gun ownership since 1973, 34% of American homes have guns in them. This statistic is sure to surprise many people in cities like San Francisco – as it did me when I first encountered it. (Growing up in Seattle, I knew nobody who owned a gun.)

Who are all these gun owners? Are they the uneducated poor, left behind? It turns out they have the same level of formal education as nongun owners, on average. Furthermore, they earn 32% more per year than nonowners. Americans with guns are neither a small nor downtrodden group.

Nor are they "bitter." In 2006, 36% of gun owners said they were "very happy," while 9% were "not too happy." Meanwhile, only 30% of people without guns were very happy, and 16% were not too happy.

In 1996, gun owners spent about 15% less of their time than nonowners feeling "outraged at something somebody had done." It's easy enough in certain precincts to caricature armed Americans as an angry and miserable fringe group. But it just isn't true. The data say that the people in the approximately 40 million American households with guns are generally happier than those people in households that don't have guns.

The gun-owning happiness gap exists on both sides of the political aisle. Gun-owning Republicans are more likely than nonowning Republicans to be very happy (46% to 37%). Democrats with guns are slightly likelier than Democrats without guns to be very happy as well (32% to 29%). Similarly, holding income constant, one still finds that gun owners are happiest.

Young ME, Now ME photo collection, an internet phenom

One of those internet phenomena that is unpredictable and takes off like a rocket. People upload a picture of themselves as children and then duplicate that picture with the same pose and setting, as closely as possible, as adults.

The site is so overloaded that it doesn't work sometimes.

Link

Health care spending has no correlation to quality

of care but it does correlate with the supply of available beds and equipment, for chronically ill patients.

Link

The biennial Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care is out and the findings are as eye-popping this year as they have been in the past. Among chronically ill patients in the last two years of life:

• New Jersey patients spent almost three times as many days in the hospital as patients in Utah.
• Patients in Manhattan had 3½ times as many hospital days as patients in Bend, Oregon.
• Among teaching hospitals, the variation in the amount spent was more than four to one.

So what impact did this wide variation in care have on the health of patients? Not a whit.

• There is no evidence that extra care and extra spending produce better outcomes, and some evidence that they produce worse outcomes.
• Further, variations in care correlate with variations in supply: the more hospital beds, the more bed days; the more CT scanners, the more scans; the more cardiologists, the more cardiac care, etc. [See Associated Press article]

Ala Rep votes for absent members.

"Hinshaw declined to say how many machines he voted or which members he voted for."

Link HT: Turnbow

MONTGOMERY - A Huntsville lawmaker admitted Wednesday he voted for absent House members to give a bill to remove the state sales tax on food the margin it needed to pass Tuesday.

But Rep. Randy Hinshaw, D-Meridianville, said he was doing only what was best for his House district.

"I'm here to represent my district, and cutting sales taxes on groceries is in the interest of my district," he said.

Hinshaw declined to say how many machines he voted or which members he voted for.

"I voted some members' machines around me," he said. "It's commonplace when Rule 32 is not in place. We vote other people's machines."

House Rule 32 requires that a member vote only his or her electronic voting machine.

The rule was invoked at the start of debate Tuesday by Rep. Jack Williams, R-Birmingham, but surprisingly, shortly before the final vote was taken, Williams asked that it be lifted.

The House then voted 63-38 for the proposed constitutional amendment, which also would eliminate Alabama taxpayers' federal income tax deduction to make up for the lost sales tax revenue.

[...]

"When Rule 32 came off ... then you had all these (absent) people voting (for the bill)," said Hubbard. "You've had Thad McClammy (D-Montgomery), who was having surgery, voted. Duwayne Bridges (R-Valley), who was on a trade mission in Korea. Democrat Randy Hinshaw gets up and goes over and votes his (Bridges') machine."

Healthcare without health insurance

This doc has decided to deal directly with patients and has stopped filing claims through insurance companies.

Link

For more than a year, I haven't received a single dollar from any insurance company. I work for my patients. A few hundred doctors across the country are working the same way, some in blue-collar towns. Routine care should be affordable to the middle class, and as more doctors and more patients form relationships that exclude insurance companies, prices will drop. Insurance doesn't make routine care affordable; it makes it more expensive by adding a middleman. I know that some patients can afford nothing, so two afternoons a month I volunteer at a clinic that cares for indigent patients, which I could not have done with the huge patient volume I was seeing a few years ago.

When doctors break free from the shackles of insurance companies, they can practice medicine the way they always hoped they could. And they can get back to the customer service model in which the paramount incentive is providing the best care. Only then can doctors reclaim the simple dignity of any businessman: These are my doughnuts; only I and my customers can determine their worth. (At the end of each week, I will donate some to the needy, but I will not let a third party set the price.)

Mayor Bragg: Elected officials are irrelevant

Mayor Tommy Bragg of Murfreesboro, when asked why so few people are voting in city elections says elected officials are increasingly irrelevant...What!!!

Link

Bragg said one of the reasons fewer people are going to the polls is that elected officials don't provide most government services any more; they are provided by professional city staffers.

"Because the arbitrary nature of elected officials has been replaced by professional staff, so you get much more consistency in constituent service," he said.

Bragg said that means the city elections are less relevant and that citizens have other ways to deal with their government than voting out politicians they don't agree with.

"Municipal elections, unless there are grievous irregularities, have lost a certain amount of relevance," he said.

Celebs credible? Dems: Yes, Repubs: No

Link HT: Don Fenly

"Many times celebrities get involved in various causes, including domestic and foreign policies, as well as the prevention and treatment of diseases. How much positive difference do you believe these celebrities can make to the issue they are promoting?"

	Total	Generation				Political Party
		Echo Boomers (18-31)	Gen X (32-43)	Baby Boomers (44-62)	Matures (63+)	Rep.	Dem.	Ind.
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
LARGE/SOME DIFFERENCE (NET)	45	50	48	43	38	36	55	42
A large difference	11	13	15	10	7	8	17	8
Some difference	33	37	33	33	31	28	37	34
LITTLE/NO DIFFERENCE (NET)	51	42	47	55	59	59	42	57
A little difference	27	28	26	27	27	26	26	32
No difference at all	24	14	21	28	33	33	16	25
Not sure	4	8	5	2	2	5	3	1

Unions must prevent any effort to compensate

their members based on productivity. The union must convince members that the union is the only path to increased pay. If members can increase their pay simply by working harder and doing a better job then there is no reason to join a union.

Link

Foster says it will be hard to get the administration and the Metro Nashville Education Association to ever agree on a “performance-based” incentive plan. The two sides have trouble finding a fair way to judge teacher performance in the classroom.

Labor unions are about POWER, not Labor

Two examples from Today's news:

SEIU union crashes Nurse union event

LA teachers union war against charter schools

Greed is good at Google but not Exxon?

Link

Google reported revenues of $5.19 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2008, an increase of 42% compared to the first quarter of 2007 and an increase of 7% compared to the fourth quarter of 2007. Google reports its revenues, consistent with GAAP, on a gross basis without deducting traffic acquisition costs, or TAC. In the first quarter of 2008, TAC totaled $1.49 billion, or 29% of advertising revenues.

Boston Firefighter's fake disability claims

Link

Federal authorities issued a flurry of subpoenas across the city yesterday as they launched a grand jury investigation of disability abuse in the Boston Fire Department, including whether dozens of firefighters faked on-the-job injuries to significantly enhance their pensions, according to several officials briefed on the probe.

FBI agents served the subpoenas to more than a dozen current and former firefighters, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because grand jury proceedings are secret. Agents also delivered a grand jury subpoena yesterday to City Hall demanding what is likely to be tens of thousands of pages of disability records dating back to 2000.

[...]

The Globe reported in January that 102 Boston firefighters claimed career-ending injuries while they were filling in for superiors at higher pay grades, enhancing their tax-free disability pensions by an average of $10,300 a year. The rash of injuries involved personnel at every level, including 67 firefighters, 16 lieutenants, and 11 captains, all of them filling in at the next-highest rank while their superiors were on vacation or out sick, sometimes for a single day.

In addition, eight district chiefs said they were seriously hurt while performing desk jobs as deputy chiefs - among them, one who said he permanently injured his back while moving a file cabinet. Fire Commissioner Roderick Fraser said at the time that he considered some of those claims suspicious.

Congressmen call for BIG FOOTBALL investigation

You can't make this stuff up.

Link

Reps. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.) and Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) will announce Thursday a house resolution asking the Justice Department to investigate the college football Bowl Championship Series (BCS) for possible restraint of trade violations.

The BCS awards automatic bids to the six biggest college football conferences, along with an occasional at large bid from a smaller conference, in order to determine the national championship.

Along with time in the spotlight, schools that make BCS games get a share of the revenue generated by the games.

Abercrombie says the BCS, “restricts not just the opportunity to compete for the title, but access to the more than $185-million in post-season revenue to 66 teams in the six largest athletic conferences and Notre Dame, and denies the opportunity to 53 other Division I-A colleges and universities.”

Abercrombie is graduate of Union College, Simpson is a Utah State alum and Westmorland never finished college though took classes at Georgia State. None of those are BCS schools, though one has to wonder if Abercrombie would feel the same way if his home state University of Hawaii had not gotten crushed by BCS power Georgia.

Those damned, pesky rich people, they just won't

stay put.

Link

And while income, capital gains, and estate taxes are key concerns, watch out for state taxes. New York State is considering a millionaire's tax—something tried in New Jersey with mixed results.

"People picked up and moved," Jack Meola, a tax attorney and partner at Amper Politziner & Mattia says of the New Jersey experience. "The rich are the most mobile people in the world. I have clients with no state domicile. They're doing business all over the world. They've put their homes in trusts, so they personally have no jurisdiction. One client lives on a boat. Most move to nontaxing jurisdictions, like Las Vegas and Florida."

These mobile individuals set up trusts so that when their businesses are sold, they don't feel a tax pinch.

For the state, the effort backfires, he notes. Diminishing populations of wealthy individuals result in a trickle-down effect that builds pressure on low-income people to carry the tax impact.

Tree reveals warmer climate 8,500 yrs ago

Link

The world's oldest tree has been found in Sweden, a tenacious spruce that first took root just after the end of the last ice age, more than 9,500 years ago.

The tree has rewritten the history of the climate in the region, revealing that it was much warmer at that time and the ice had disappeared earlier than thought.

Previously, pine trees in North America were thought to be the oldest, at around 5,000 years old.

But Swedish scientists report that in the mountains, from Lapland in the north to Dalarna in central Sweden, there are much more ancient spruce trees (Picea abies).

Bridge-to-Nowhere sponsor maybe subject of criminal

probe. Don Young (R-Alaska) is continuing his tradition of corrupt porker.

Link

In what may become the first formal request from Congress for a criminal inquiry into one of its own special projects, top Senate Democrats and Republicans have endorsed taking action in connection with the earmark that Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), former chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, inserted into the legislation.

[...]

Young's staff acknowledged yesterday that aides "corrected" the earmark just before it went to the White House for President Bush's signature, specifying that the money would go to a proposed highway interchange project on Interstate 75 near Naples, Fla. Young says the project was entirely worthy of an earmark and he welcomes any inquiry, a spokeswoman said.

"Congressman Young has always supported and welcomed an open earmark process. If Congress decides to take up the matter of this particular project, there will be no objection from Mr. Young," said Meredith Kenny, his spokeswoman. Young also sponsored a $223 million measure to build the fabled "Bridge to Nowhere" in Alaska, a project that was killed in 2005 after it sparked widespread outrage.

More Nashville Taxpayer money for Rich guys

Link HT: S-Town Mike

But as our own Bruce Barry ably pointed out last fall, city leaders lose all perspective when it comes to professional sports. (We should add that Bruce Barry's far better half, at-large Metro Council member Megan Barry voted “no” and was one of the deal's most eloquent critics.) If any other business had the Predator's financials, no one would care if they took a trip up 65. Somehow, though, even a second-tier professional sports team like the Predators has no problem convincing a city to write an annual check. And when time comes for the team's owners to sell to the next gaggle of vanity buyers, they'll make a tidy profit. Remember we helped Craig Leipold reap a $68 million capital gain from his sale of the team, and now we're doing the same for David Freeman and his buddies.

Kroger wants your tax stimulus check

Link

The grocer said Wednesday that it will offer customers an incentive to exchange their economic stimulus checks from the Internal Revenue Service for a Kroger gift card. A customer with a $300 check will get a gift card for $330, two $330 gift cards for $600; and four $330 gift cards for $1,200.

"Grocery bills represent a significant expenditure for the average American family," says David Dillon, chairman and CEO, in a news release.

Customers can exchange their checks for gift cards in the customer service center of any of the chain's stores between May 2 and July 31, Kroger said. A Kroger "customer loyalty card" is also required. The program is limited to one per household, with a limit of $1,200.

Production to begin on Robotic Power Suits

Link

The suits, known as HAL for Hybrid Assistive Limb, are designed to help people with disabilities including patients with muscular dystrophy.

They work by detecting electrical signals in the skin and boosting limb strength through the attached power units. The battery charge lasts about two hours and forty minutes.

And here is a US version:

IRS disciplined 1 of every 44 employees

Link

Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Charles Grassley yesterday issued a press release "urging detractors of the private debt collection program to consider facts, including disciplinary action against IRS employees and the IRS’ own poor track record of collecting the $345 billion of owed taxes known as the tax gap":

Give parents the power of choice and THIS happens

Milwaukee parents are increasingly choosing options OTHER than conventional public education.

Link

Enrollment in the schools you first think of when you think of Milwaukee Public Schools is expected to shrink another 4.7% by September, Superintendent William Andrekopoulos said Monday as he released a $1.2 billion budget proposal for the coming school year.

That means the number of students in the main roster of MPS schools - elementary, middle and high schools staffed by teachers employed by MPS - will be 20% smaller than it was 10 years earlier and will be below 80,000 for the first time in decades. Half of that decline of more than 19,000 students will have come between fall 2005 and fall 2008, if the forecast is correct.

At the same time, participation in the private school voucher program may exceed 20,000 next year, MPS officials projected. That compares to about 6,000 students 10 years ago.

Still pushing Payroll (aka income) Tax in Memphis

This tax is unconstitutional of course but that doesn't stop them from launching trial balloons every few months.

Link

The idea of a payroll tax is back just two and a half months after it was declared dead by Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton Jr.

The Shelby County Board of Commissioners this week approved a resolution backing legislation in Nashville that would permit a tax on income earned within Shelby County by residents and nonresidents.

Such a tax, if approved by the Legislature and again by the commission, would apply to people earning $28,000 a year or more. It also would be accompanied by a reduction in the county property tax rate.

But it would not be revenue neutral. Thirty-percent of the revenue from a payroll tax would go to reduce the property tax rate.

Sad history of US 20th Century Taxation

We started the Century with total taxes as a % of GDP at 8%. We ended the Century at 35%.

Also, two very useful sites cited in this post:

US Government Spending

US Government Revenue

Link HT: Mark Rose

Congressman admits ethanol was a BIG mistake

Ok, this is progress...now if they can admit THAT mistake maybe they can move forward to admit about 10 million other mistakes. Congress is a complete disaster when they try to make fine grained decisions of any type. We would all be much better off if Congress would meet for no more than 10 days max and then GO HOME!

Link

Representative Jim McGovern, Democrat of Massachusetts, said he had come to realize that Congress made a mistake in backing biofuels, not anticipating the impact on food costs. He said Congress needed to reconsider its policy, though he acknowledged that would be difficult.

“If there was a secret vote, there is a pretty large number of people who would like to reassess what we are doing,” he said.

Now for a little Tax Day Hypocrisy

Just another day at the Loophole factory known as

Congress.

Link

Senators Clinton and Barack Obama are racing across the country promising Americans that they will clean up a process that "favors Wall Street over Main Street." Fat chance. Their party and most Republicans just voted for a housing bill that is the biggest victory for corporate special interests in years – and there's much more to follow. Happy Tax Day.

Two Words for Memphis Taxpayers:

TAX REVOLT

Before it's too Late!!

Red ALERT for Spring Hill - STOP the Property Tax

Ray Williams was one of the most taxpayer friendly Mayors in TN. He worked very hard to reduce the Spring Hill city property tax to ZERO in 2003. He then created and passed a resolution promising the people that a property tax would NEVER be reinstituted without the consent of taxpayers.

Flash forward to 2008 and many aldermen are quietly trying to build support for a property tax. Taxpayers in Spring Hill MUST contact their aldermen. Click HERE to find the name of your alderman. If you don't know who your alderman is then call Mayor Leverette.

Dave Barry on Tax Day

Link

But it's also time to file your federal tax return. Yes, this is a pesky chore, but remember that paying taxes is not a ''one-way street.'' When you send your money to the government, the government, in return, provides you with vital services, such as not putting you in prison. The government also uses your money to pay for programs that benefit all Americans, such as the Catfish Genome Project.

Good News and Better News

Tax Boarding

NVTA says: Use YouTube to Hike your taxes

The Northern Virgina Transportation Authority tried to levy new transportation taxes but the Va Supreme Court said no-no-no, can't do it.

So they are trying to get citizens to create YouTube videos of their commute in order to convince the Va legislature to increase taxes.

Don't tell TDOT about this!!

Oops....we have already spent that tax increase

Hey...you know those tax hikes that Metro Nashville passed last year that were for the new Convention Center. Yes, the convention center that isn't even built yet? Heck, they haven't even completed designing it or choosing a location...but they have already begun collecting the taxes that were supposed to pay for it. Guess what? They are already spending those taxes on LOTS of other stuff!! Big Surprise? Not really.

Now what do you think will happen if they actually have to pay for the convention center?? Yep, even more taxes.

Link

If Metro officials plan to build a new convention center anytime soon, they’ll first have to shift at least 11-million dollars of expenses back to the city’s general fund.

The two-cent hotel/motel tax dedicated to operations of a new convention center is now going largely to the city’s subsidy for the Sommet Center. Other agencies receiving part of that 11-million dollar pot are Municipal Auditorium, Opryland, the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Metro Transit Authority.

Metro Finance Director Rich Riebling says it makes sense to use that money instead of setting it aside since operations of any new convention center would be several years off.

More TIF Taxpayer Ripoffs in Knoxville

How would you like to build a House and then, instead of having to pay property taxes, you take that money and use it to pay off your mortgage? Pretty sweet deal...eh? Thats the deal that many commercial real estate developers are getting in Knox County.

And to add insult to injury the geniuses that are handing out these special favors admit they don't even understand the process.

Link

"We were not really prepared in our full understanding," said the county's IDB chairwoman, Suzanne Schriver, referring to the previous two TIF requests the board approved prior to adopting a formal set of policies and procedures in June. "All these questions started coming up, and we really needed to go to school on TIFs."

A very Scary level of Arrogance from Barack

The role of government, according to Barack, is to assure citizens that government does have a solution to all the problems in their lives. Its just that pols, according to Barack, must deliver that message is in way that is not condescending.

Minnesotans raise a little hell over taxes

Link

The Minnesota Tax Cut Coalition held its annual rally at the State Capitol on Saturday, drawing a crowd of about 1,000 people demanding that legislators stop "wasteful'' spending and allow Minnesotans to keep more of their paychecks.

Government funding to support light rail transit, the social safety net and the Twins ballpark were among the targets of complaints among the crowd, which spilled across the Capitol lawn.

"Why should I pay for something I'm not going to use?" asked Ed Hanson, of Mendota Heights, referring to the light-rail line. "I want the government out of my life.''

The Federal Income Tax is an abomination in so

many ways.

Today's example: A proposal before the Ways and Means Committee to require paper receipts before withdrawing from an HSA or Health Savings Account.

HSAs, however well intended, are simply another tax code complexity that allow the geniuses in Congress to micro manage our lives. Putting money away so you have more control over your healthcare is a good idea. Putting more money into saving is a good idea. But accomplishing all of this through the coercion of the federal income tax is an extraordinarily bad idea.

Should we? Can we? Reduce the size of the Fed Govt

YES!! We must if we are to preserve the sovereignty and dignity of citizens. The federal government is too big, too intrusive, too arrogant, and too dismissive of the rights of citizens. New Zealand offers some lessons.

Link

What we’re seeing around the world at the moment is what I would call a silent revolution, reflected in a change in how people view government accountability. The old idea of accountability simply held that government should spend money in accordance with appropriations. The new accountability is based on asking, “What did we get in public benefits as a result of the expenditure of money?” This is a question that has always been asked in business, but has not been the norm for governments. And those governments today that are struggling valiantly with this question are showing quite extraordinary results. This was certainly the basis of the successful reforms in my own country of New Zealand.

Entrepreneurship rescues girls education in Africa

A very inspiring story.

Link

To keep their "10,000 Girls" education program going, the girls asked Vaughn to teach them to bake. They began selling cookies and juice and were able to buy books and supplies.

Soon after, they got their older sisters, aunts and cousins -- who had already failed out of the school system -- involved in baking and selling goods. The entrepreneurial element of the program was born.

"They were supporting their cause," says Vaughn. "It was something remarkable."

Today, in addition to a pastry shop and catering business, "10,000 Girls" runs a sewing workshop and the girls export their handmade dolls and household linens overseas.

Half of the funds from these projects go back to the girls; the remainder supports the education program, no longer in Vaughn's house.

More than 1,500 girls are involved in Vaughn's program in six locations; about 1,000 are waiting to join.

"We have girls who were told they'd never get through high school who are at university now," beams Vaughn. "We hope that if we get 10,000 girls out there, 1,000 girls will come back to Kaolack and work. It would revolutionize the whole region.

"Here I am, retired, and this is the best job I have ever had in my life."

Lamar Alexander's "Irrational Arrogance"

Investors sometimes have "irrational exuberance." Politicians almost always have "irrational arrogance"

Congress has shown time and again that they have a much greater capacity to screw up our lives than they do to "help." And yet they continue to display unbounded arrogance about their ability to make better decisions about our welfare than we can make.

To Lamar and others like him who would like to "help": The LAST thing we need is your "help."

Your "help" will NOT help. Congress has bankrupted Social Security and Medicare. Congress has screwed up our "energy policy" beyond repair. Congress has made scores of lobbyists (many of whom were former members) and special interests rich while taking more and more of our GDP for government. etc etc etc. PLEASE!! NO MORE "HELP."

Link

Lamar Alexander's statement

“This housing bill is yet another example of what the Senate can accomplish when we work together. It’s a good first step toward helping the 82,700 Tennesseans who had delinquent mortgages as of late last year and will assist struggling businesses across our state.

This housing bill will help jump-start our economy, protect homeowners, and provide incentives for new home buyers. I am pleased that a version of the Isakson-Alexander tax credit proposal was included in the final bill. This provision will help families looking to purchase a home while preserving property values for families who already own one.”

And you thought Gas was High!!

Link

I will leave it to you, Dear Reader, to ask

the obvious question.

Link

Public Works has 437 employees. Lynch said he didn't think losing 7 to 9 percent of his work force would affect the services the department provides.

"I do not think people will be able to visually see the reduction because of the way we're going to organize our trucks and equipment. Our main focus is customer service."

Term limits for Jackson? Probably not unless

the people are allowed to vote. Term limits are normally overwhelmingly approved by voters. That is the reason many long term incumbents oppose putting them to a vote. Frank Neudecker is trying to give Jackson citizens the opportunity to vote on term limits.

Link

"As many people as possible should serve in this position with the city," said Neudecker, who said he plans to retire after his second full term if re-elected in 2011. "It's not that the nine here aren't very good leaders, but there are others."

Mayor Jerry Gist could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon. Charles Farmer, his predecessor, spent nearly two decades in office.

Councilman Maurice Hays, though, said the limits are not needed.

"All the voters got to do is vote somebody else in," said Hays, who has served since the city began using a mayor-council government in 1989.

"If they're doing a good job, there's nothing wrong with tradition," he said.

Councilman Johnny Dodd, who is in his third term, said he thinks Neudecker's proposal would stifle his and other leaders' attempts to counter long-term problems such as crime.

"Let's do a trial on his district and see how it works out," Dodd said. "I would like to continue to serve the people as long as I can."

But Neudecker said he thinks results suggest long years of service aren't needed.

200-300 layoffs?....probably more like 0

Shelby County Mayor Wharton is talking "last ditch" layoffs of 200-300 to close the budget gap. These types of estimates are ALWAYS high. They are leaked to the media to build support for tax hikes. Typically they include many unfilled positions that were budgeted but never filled. Normal attrition and retirements are always much higher than projected layoffs. But many reporters, including this reporter report them breathlessly as if they are gospel.

Reporters also always fail to report on the lost income and lost jobs that result from tax hikes.

Link

At first, it seemed as though a property tax hike of about 18 cents was almost certainly on the horizon. Now it appears the Shelby County administration is leaning instead toward giving hundreds of county employees their walking papers.

Between 200 and 300 employee layoffs are under serious consideration in a last-ditch bid to wipe away the red ink in the budget, county officials acknowledged this week. A more specific number of proposed layoffs could emerge this weekend, once Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton Jr. makes a Saturday morning budget pitch to a committee of the Shelby County Board of Commissioners.

Wharton's presentation starts at 10 a.m. Saturday in the commission's committee room and is a precursor to budget hearings the commission will convene in the near future.

Congress at work (just the first few minutes)

Republicans to force vote on Tax Hikes

Link

ATR (Americans for Tax Reform) has learned that House Republicans next week will be forcing a vote on the Democrats' planned tax hikes in 2011. At the stroke of midnight on January 1, 2011, the Democrats have the following tax increases planned:

• The top rate will climb from 35% to 39.6%
• The capital gains rate will rise from 15% to 20%
• The dividends rate will soar from 15% to 39.6%
• The child tax credit will be cut in half, from $1000 to $500 per child
• The death tax will go from dead to 55%, overnight
• The marriage penalty will return for even the poorest taxpayers
• The lowest tax bracket will spike by 50%, from 10% to 15%

Another record Yr for Fed Lobbying- $2.8 billion

Link

Corporations, industries,labor unions, governments and other interests spent a record $2.79 billion in 2007 to lobby for favorable policies in Washington, the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics has calculated. This represents an increase of 7.7 percent, or $200 million, over spending in 2006. And for every day Congress was in session, industries and interests spent an average of $17 million to lobby lawmakers and the federal government at large.

“At a time when our economy is contracting, Washington’s lobbying industry has been expanding,” said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the 25-year-old watchdog group. “Lobbying seems to be a recession-proof industry. In some respects, interests seek even more from our government when the economy slows.”

Tom Coburn for REAL CHANGE-Powerful Video

Tom Coburn is one of the mavericks that many in Congress, Republican and Democrat, would like to see disappear. He is a true taxpayer's friend who gets REALLY angry as Congress bankrupts the country. He wants REAL change, the change that would have Congress balance the budget and stop the run away spending. He doesn't get really worked up until the end but its worth the watch.

Sounds just like P-card abuse in Knox Cnty

There seems to be a pattern here whether its in DC or Knox County. ITS OUR MONEY and they treat us and our money with NO RESPECT.

Link

Federal employees used government credit cards to pay for lingerie, gambling, iPods, Internet dating services, and a $13,000 steak-and-liquor dinner, according to a new audit from the Government Accountability Office, which found widespread abuses in a purchasing program meant to improve bureaucratic efficiency.

The study, released by Senate lawmakers yesterday, found that nearly half the "purchase card" transactions it examined were improper, either because they were not authorized correctly or because they did not meet requirements for the cards' use. The overall rate of problems "is unacceptably high," the audit found.

The GAO also found that agencies could not account for nearly $2 million worth of items identified in the audit -- including laptop computers, digital cameras and, at the Army, more than a dozen computer servers worth $100,000 each.

[...]

In the fraudulent category, a longtime employee of the U.S. Forest Service in Oregon, Debra K. Durfey, wrote convenience checks worth more than $640,000 from 2000 to 2006 to a live-in boyfriend, who used the money for gambling, car expenses and mortgage payments, according to the GAO and the Justice Department.

The fraud went undetected until a whistle-blower forwarded a tip to the Agriculture Department's inspector general. Durfey, who headed her unit's purchasing office, pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced to 21 months in prison and restitution.

Another fraud case involved the U.S. Postal Service, where an unidentified postmaster used his card to charge $1,100 over a 15-month period for "various online dating services" while he was under investigation for viewing pornography on a government computer. The employee worked out an agreement to remain on sick leave until he retired in 2007 and paid back the money spent on the dating services, according to the GAO report and a Postal Service spokesman.

In a case the GAO deemed "abusive," the Postal Service spent $13,500 in 2006 on a dinner at a Ruth's Chris Steak House in Orlando, including "over 200 appetizers and over $3,000 of alcohol, including more than 40 bottles of wine costing more than $50 each and brand-name liquor such as Courvoisier, Belvedere and Johnny Walker Gold." The tab came to more than $160 a head for the 81 guests, the report said.

Mass transit video, a great metaphor for how

individual citizens are treated by big government.

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More Reporters being subpoenaed

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Federal subpoenas demanding confidential information from journalists are more widespread than they were five years ago and aren't limited to cases involving national security, according to the author of a soon-to-be-released survey of major television stations and daily newspapers.

The study offers the first independent tally of media subpoenas, a figure that proponents and opponents of a federal shield law for journalists have argued about for years. Although a peer-reviewed academic summary of the study probably won't be released until next fall, its author, University of Arizona law professor RonNell Andersen Jones, says now is the time to talk about it.

Should taxpayers subsidize Philosophy majors?

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How many Governors have to go to Jail?

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SPRINGFIELD -- In a blunt show of disgust with Gov. Blagojevich, the Illinois House moved Tuesday to give voters the right to recall state officeholders who are either incompetent or unethical.

"This is about cronyism and corruption and stopping it," said Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock), who spearheaded the plan.

"How many of our governors have to go to jail before we wake up?" he said.

The 75-33 House vote for the proposed constitutional amendment sends the recall issue to the Senate, where its prospects are iffy given that Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago) is the governor's chief legislative ally.

Jones essentially gave a non-answer when asked his personal views on the recall amendment or whether he'd allow the issue to be voted on in his chamber.

"I haven't read the bill," Jones said.

Ulysses Jones continues his war on open govt

True to form, Rep. Ulysses Jones continues his war on open, ethical government and unfortunately his Democratic colleagues are offering no protest. Rep. Jones has waged an unending war against ethics reform and open government.

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Larger cities would get more time to respond to public records requests and people would have to pay for any search that takes longer than an hour under changes made to an open records bill in a House subcommittee on Wednesday.

The House State Government Subcommittee agreed on voice votes to the changes, most of which were suggested by Rep. Ulysses Jones, a Memphis Democrat, and advanced the measure to the full House State and Local Government Committee.

Fido: I'll meet you in the truck

Gov wants YOU to pay more for electricity

Terry Frank says it very well:

Increasing the price of energy, that’s electricity in this case, has a domino effect. It affects the decision of a major plant or industry contemplating locating here, or expanding. It affects those on fixed incomes who need to heat or cool their homes. It affects the price of goods relative to the cost of production.

While saying that they’re going to do some good enviro-deeds with all this cash might make a nice photo-op or headline, it doesn’t help Tennesseans get the bills paid.

If they want to eliminate or discourage the use or mining of coal, then so be it. I would like to see as much effort put into pushing for nuclear energy as we see beating up on fossil fuels. But crushing consumers with such ill-conceived ideas without the benefit of a consumer option is really not a productive direction for our legislature.

Samsung Dubai HQ Building to be world's highest

Link

Predators lease and Metro Council Paper Tigers

Michael Cass reports that members of the Metro Council are asking "tough" questions about the Predators lease....bull feathers!!

Here is my prediction...after all the "tough" questions have been asked, not ONE word of the lease will be changed and the taxpayers will be on the hook once again. The pressure in the Metro Council to get along and go along is just too great...they are paper tigers.

Link

Council members asked how they could sell multimillion-dollar annual subsidies of the pro hockey team to middle-class and poor constituents; why the cap on arena operating losses that the city would pay is set at the 2006 level, which is more than $2 million higher than this year's projections; and whether other cities are on the hook for such losses when a sports franchise also serves as the facility manager. (A 2003 audit by KPMG LLC said Metro's arrangement is unusual.)

TN GenAssem Says No Sunshine for TN Judge Selections

THIS is completely outrageous. We, the people, will be unable to have the background of State Judges discussed in a public forum. These are the same people who sit in judgment of us.

Link

A House subcommittee on Tuesday killed Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen's proposal to bar the Judicial Selection Commission from meeting in private.

The measure carried by House Judiciary Chairman Kent Coleman, a Murfreesboro Democrat, failed to advance on a voice vote in the Democrat-controlled House Civil Practice Subcommittee.

Vandy Prof: Why TN Needs an Income Tax

and also Florida and Texas. Good luck with that.

Abstract (Scroll down for link to PDF)

This paper examines the general relationship between state tax policy and state spending policy and concludes that states that rely solely (or even primarily) on either an income tax or a retail sales tax (but not both) to finance state spending are pursuing an ultimately unstable course. This group of states includes, for example, my home state of Tennessee, but also includes such states as Florida and Texas.

SD City Officials Charged with Bond Fraud

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Five former San Diego city officials were charged with fraud yesterday in a federal complaint that says they misled bond investors and Wall Street analysts in borrowing $262 million in 2002 and 2003.

The Securities and Exchange Commission accused a group that included former City Manager Michael Uberuaga of recklessly omitting details of ballooning pension and retiree health obligations in five bond offerings.

The SEC probe, first reported by the The San Diego Union-Tribune in February 2004, has ruined San Diego's financial standing and wrecked its ability to borrow money at historically low rates for badly needed projects.

Climate Security Act is a disaster in the making

Here is hoping Senator Corker will move from neutral to vigorous opposition. The ethanol debacle implemented by Congress has driven up the cost of food and made pollution worse. The Climate Security Act would continue the long tradition of Congressionally created "energy solution" boondoggles.

Link

Sen. Corker said the United States should learn from the carbon trade experience in Europe, where emission allowances largely were given away freely, and emissions were not reduced.

“Cap and trade in some ways has caused Europe to be less energy secure,” he added, noting the continent moved from coal as its energy source to natural gas that must be piped in from Russia.

The National Association of Manufacturers has said the Lieberman-Warner bill has “enormous costs” in view of “any expected environmental benefits,” including up to 4 million lost jobs by 2030 and a projected Gross Domestic Product loss of as much as $669 billion.

CONGRESS wants to bail them out with my money?

Lenders could have verified income and borrowers could have told the truth but in many cases lenders didn't verify income and borrowers lied about their income. And Congress wants to use our tax dollars to bail them out?? No bloody way!

Link

People who make these claims, with a straight face no less, overlook a crucial fact. Almost all mortgage applicants had to sign a document allowing lenders to verify their incomes with the Internal Revenue Service. At least 90 percent of borrowers had to sign, seal and deliver this form, known as a 4506T, industry experts say. This includes the so-called stated income mortgages, affectionately known as “liar loans.”

So while borrowers may have misrepresented their incomes, either on their own or at the urging of their mortgage brokers, lenders had the tools to identify these fibs before making the loans. All they had to do was ask the I.R.S. The fact that in most cases they apparently didn’t do so puts the lie to the idea that cagey borrowers duped unsuspecting lenders to secure on loans that are now — surprise! — failing.

Instead, lenders appear to be complicit in the rampant fibbery that is one of the root causes of our continuing mortgage nightmare.

Mike Summers, vice president for sales and marketing at Veri-tax Inc., in Tustin, Calif., knows plenty about this. His company handles the filing of these verification forms with the I.R.S. on behalf of lenders and loan originators. He began selling the service to lenders in 1999 and said he was surprised at the reaction he received — like that of a skunk at a garden party.

Paris Finger Statue

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National Taxpayers Union rates TN delegation

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The 2007 Taxpayer Score measures the strength of support for reducing spending and regulation and opposing higher taxes. In general, a higher score is better because it means a Member of Congress voted to lessen or limit the burden on taxpayers.

Blackburn...............A ............90%
Cohen.....................F...............3%
Cooper....................D ............21%
Davis, D .................B+ ..........84%
Davis, L..................F...............9%
Duncan...................A ............86%
Gordon ...................F...............7%
Tanner ....................F.............12%
Wamp.....................B+ ..........75%
State Average .......................43%

Alexander ...............C+ .........58%
Corker .....................B- ..........63%
State Average .......................60%

Venezuelan Healthcare system near collapse

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He and others say the problems at Concepcion Palacios are symptoms of a variety of ills that have beset the public healthcare system under leftist firebrand President Hugo Chavez. Cases of malaria nearly doubled between 1998, the year before Chavez took office, and 2007. Incidents of dengue fever more than doubled over the same period.

Poorly paid doctors regularly demonstrate at hospitals from Puerto La Cruz in the northeast to Maracay in the industrial heartland, demanding back pay and protesting the lack of equipment and supplies. Others are leaving in droves for Spain, Australia or the Middle East, where they make 10 times the $600 monthly average salary they earn in public hospitals.

Venezuela's healthcare system was facing problems even before Chavez took office. The system has been riven with corruption, mismanagement and disorganization for decades. In addition, tropical conditions have made the country ripe for epidemics difficult for any government to control. An encephalitis outbreak in 1996 sickened 20,000 people.

But the system's current crisis comes as the country is awash in oil wealth, a windfall that critics say could be used to ease the problem. Instead, Chavez is building a parallel health program called Barrio Adentro, which features 11,000 neighborhood clinics staffed mainly by Cuban doctors.

Be BAD for a week-Inkjet Tattoos

Link

Tattoo yourself - or the kids - with no pain and the added bonus of being able to scrub it off with hot soapy water. These decal papers enable you to use your inkjet printer to print 'tattoos' that look just like the real thing - from your own customised designs. They take minutes to do and, if left unscrubbed, will last up to a week. Why not ring the changes and create different tattoos for different occasions?

SF Security Cameras not reducing crime, just moving it

Link

The only positive deterrent effect was the reduction of larcenies within 100 feet of the cameras. No other crimes were affected - except for homicides, which had an interesting pattern.

Murders went down within 250 feet of the cameras, but the reduction was completely offset by an increase 250 to 500 feet away, suggesting people moved down the block before killing each other.

Maryland Computer Industry learns to lobby

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When Annapolis politicians decided to single out the computer services industry for a 6 percent sales tax last November, the move horrified the professional geek community but didn't elicit a murmur of protest from its lobbyists.

That's because there were no computer services industry lobbyists.

"They never had a chance," said lobbyist Laurence Levitan, a former chairman of the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee. "Everybody else was organized, but nobody was organized for this particular tax."

But in just four months, the "tech tax" went from a detail tossed in a last-minute budget compromise to the cause celebre of Annapolis. Gov. Martin O'Malley, House Speaker Michael E. Busch and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller made its repeal their top priority, and the legislature finally voted it out of existence Saturday night.

Get the Status of your Federal Tax Refund

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Reduce healthcare cost: Psychoanalyst Puppets

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100 words every HS Graduate should know

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abjure
abrogate
abstemious
acumen
antebellum
auspicious
belie
bellicose
bowdlerize
chicanery
chromosome
churlish
circumlocution
circumnavigate
deciduous
deleterious
diffident
enervate
enfranchise
epiphany
equinox
euro
evanescent
expurgate
facetious
fatuous
feckless
fiduciary
filibuster
gamete
gauche
gerrymander
hegemony
hemoglobin
homogeneous
hubris
hypotenuse
impeach
incognito
incontrovertible
inculcate
infrastructure
interpolate
irony
jejune
kinetic
kowtow
laissez faire
lexicon
loquacious

lugubrious
metamorphosis
mitosis
moiety
nanotechnology
nihilism
nomenclature
nonsectarian
notarize
obsequious
oligarchy
omnipotent
orthography
oxidize
parabola
paradigm
parameter
pecuniary
photosynthesis
plagiarize
plasma
polymer
precipitous
quasar
quotidian
recapitulate
reciprocal
reparation
respiration
sanguine
soliloquy
subjugate
suffragist
supercilious
tautology
taxonomy
tectonic
tempestuous
thermodynamics
totalitarian
unctuous
usurp
vacuous
vehement
vortex
winnow
wrought
xenophobe
yeoman
ziggurat

Public School Spending Insanity in DC

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We're often told that public schools are underfunded. In the District, the spending figure cited most commonly is $8,322 per child, but total spending is close to $25,000 per child -- on par with tuition at Sidwell Friends, the private school Chelsea Clinton attended in the 1990s.

What accounts for the nearly threefold difference in these numbers? The commonly cited figure counts only part of the local operating budget. To calculate total spending, we have to add up all sources of funding for education from kindergarten through 12th grade, excluding spending on charter schools and higher education. For the current school year, the local operating budget is $831 million, including relevant expenses such as the teacher retirement fund. The capital budget is $218 million. The District receives about $85.5 million in federal funding. And the D.C. Council contributes an extra $81 million. Divide all that by the 49,422 students enrolled (for the 2007-08 year) and you end up with about $24,600 per child.

For comparison, total per pupil spending at D.C. area private schools -- among the most upscale in the nation -- averages about $10,000 less. For most private schools, the difference is even greater.

So why force most D.C. children into often dilapidated and underperforming public schools when we could easily offer them a choice of private schools? Some would argue that private schools couldn't or wouldn't serve the District's special education students, at least not affordably. Not so.

Thompson Campaign Gotchas-Interesting Interview

Charlie O'Brien: Ultimate Anti-Tax Candidate

New definition of Greed and Need

Link HT: Mankiw

Need" now means wanting someone else's money. "Greed" means wanting to keep your own. "Compassion" is when a politician arranges the transfer.

Joseph Sobran

NYT: Bloggers work 24/7

Link

Bloggers at some of the bigger sites say most writers earn about $30,000 a year starting out, and some can make as much as $70,000. A tireless few bloggers reach six figures, and some entrepreneurs in the field have built mini-empires on the Web that are generating hundreds of thousands of dollars a month. Others who are trying to turn blogging into a career say they can end up with just $1,000 a month.

Speed can be of the essence. If a blogger is beaten by a millisecond, someone else’s post on the subject will bring in the audience, the links and the bigger share of the ad revenue.

“There’s no time ever — including when you’re sleeping — when you’re not worried about missing a story,” Mr. Arrington said.

“Wouldn’t it be great if we said no blogger or journalist could write a story between 8 p.m. Pacific time and dawn? Then we could all take a break,” he added. “But that’s never going to happen.”

Path out of Poverty and Unemployment is clear

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U-Haul Growth Study: TN is 9th, Nash is 9th

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U-Haul Top 10 U.S. Growth States*
January - December 2007
With More Than 20,000 Families Moving

RANK STATE %GROWTH
1. COLORADO 7.01%
2. OREGON 3.67%
3. KENTUCKY 3.28%
4. VIRGINIA 2.92%
5. FLORIDA 2.73%
6. WASHINGTON 2.37%
7. NORTH CAROLINA 1.84%
8. SOUTH CAROLINA 1.66%
9. TENNESSEE 1.50%
10. LOUISIANA 1.24%

Link

Nashville is Number 9

RANK CITY %GROWTH
1. SAN FRANCISCO, Ca. 11.10%
2. NEW ORLEANS, La. 9.26%
3. SACRAMENTO, Ca. 9.10%
4. FREDERICKSBURG, Va. 8.80%
5. MIAMI, Fla. 7.93%
6. RALEIGH, N.C. 7.43%
7. INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. 5.73%
8. DENVER, Co. 5.59%
9. NASHVILLE, Tenn. 4.90%
10. BROOKLYN, N.Y. 4.55%
11. AUSTIN, Texas 4.37%
12. SALT LAKE CITY, Utah 4.30%
13. COLUMBUS, Ohio 3.96%
14. TUCSON, Ariz. 3.81%
15. TAMPA, Fla. 3.26%

Hillbillies in the White House

A light moment between Rep. Pinion and Senator Jackson about Rep. Pinion's trip to the White House during the toll roads bill discussion.

Very Strange end to Gun Bills committee video

This is the last few moments of the video from the controversial Committee meeting where Speaker Naifeh voted to defeat several gun bills. The video ends abruptly before before the committee meeting ended, not sure how much of the meeting time is omitted from the video.

Google Office design in Switzerland...very cool

Link

Link to PDF with all pics

Coffee Kiss Sculpture

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Speed Trap Warnings on your Cell

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Fights disrupt School Anti-violence Rally

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An anti-violence rally at George Washington High School turned ugly Thursday when a series of fights broke out in a crowd of students being dismissed for the day.

Parents and students had gathered at 3 p.m. to protest what they said has been escalating violence between black and Latino students at the school, at 3535 E. 114th St. on the Far Southeast Side.

Tensions between the groups have persisted for years, parents and students said. But this week has been particularly violent, with several flare-ups that caused some parents to pull children out of school for their safety. Several parents said they would not allow their children to return to school until the violence was addressed.

Boost cell signal in your home-Sprint

Link

A growing number of mobile phone users have the option of installing small base stations, called femtocells, in their homes to boost coverage indoors. Several carriers around the world are testing the femtocells, which also have the benefit of reducing traffic on regular cell towers. Sprint Nextel sells the devices in Denver, Indianapolis and Nashville and says it plans to offer femtocells nationwide this year. It charges $50 for each device, meaning it is subsidizing the roughly $200 cost of each unit.

Media: All Government E-Mails Public Records

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Raleigh, N.C. — The state should archive all e-mails to and from government offices as public records that could be examined later, media representatives told a state panel Thursday.

Gov. Mike Easley appointed the committee to review policies on handling e-mails and text messages after a fired Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman said last month that the Governor's Office had an unwritten policy to delete e-mails every day.

TN sells golf course: loses $2.6 mil of taxpayer bucks

Link

The state ended up putting much less — $5 million — into the project, by then just the golf course, in 2003. Half went into an escrow account to cover the lease payments in the event the foundation faltered, which it did.

Not enough golfers came to play the course, which is on a rural stretch of the Tennessee River. The facility had been hoped to be a drawing card for the town of fewer than 3,000 people — more than half in a prison there.

Feds push back compliance date for Real ID

Link

The extension pushes back the deadline for states to begin implementing new, more secure drivers' licenses to Dec. 31, 2009; in the meantime, citizens can continue using their current licenses as valid identification.

Horrors!! State Govts hoodwink the Feds? YUP

Link HT: CATO

GAO has reported for more than a decade on varied financing arrangements that inappropriately increase federal Medicaid matching payments. In reports issued from 1994 through 2005, GAO found that some states had received federal matching funds by paying certain government providers, such as county-operated nursing homes, amounts that greatly exceeded established Medicaid rates. States would then bill CMS for the federal share of the payment. However, these large payments were often temporary, since some states required the providers to return most or all of the amount. States used the federal matching funds obtained in making these payments as they wished. Such financing arrangements had significant fiscal implications for the federal government and states. The exact amount of additional federal Medicaid funds generated through these arrangements is unknown, but was in the billions of dollars. Because such financing arrangements effectively increase the federal Medicaid share above what is established by law, they threaten the fiscal integrity of Medicaid’s federal and state partnership. They shift costs inappropriately from the states to the federal government, and take funding intended for covered Medicaid costs from providers, who do not under these arrangements retain the full payments.

In 2003, CMS began an oversight initiative that by August 2006 resulted in 29 states ending one or more inappropriate financing arrangements. Under the initiative, CMS sought satisfactory assurances that a state was ending financing arrangements that the agency found to be inappropriate. According to CMS, the arrangements had to be ended because the providers did not retain all payments made to them but returned all or a portion to the states. GAO reported in 2007 that although CMS’s initiative was consistent with Medicaid payment principles, it was not transparent in implementation. CMS had not used any of the means by which it normally provides states with information about Medicaid program requirements, such as the published state Medicaid manual, standard letters issued to all state Medicaid directors, or technical guidance manuals. Such guidance could be helpful by informing states about the specific standards used for reviewing and approving states’ financing arrangements. In May 2007, CMS issued a final rule that, if implemented, would, among other things, limit Medicaid payments to government providers’ costs. We have not reviewed the substance of the May 2007 rule. The extent to which the May 2007 rule would respond to GAO’s concerns about the transparency of CMS’s initiative and review standards will depend on how CMS implements it.

Great Profile of Frank Buck in Metropulse

Frank Buck's departure will be a great loss to the General Assembly...very few Democrats or Republicans are willing to say that bullsh*t stinks so readily and well as Frank.

Link

“Horsefeathers! What she’s saying is that under the current state of the law, if I pay my grandson to spray Roundup on my wife’s rock garden, that’s illegal. This is nothing but catering to a special interest—a bunch of lawn-care people out of Memphis wanting to protect their business—and the Department of Agriculture is complicit. Not one word did she ever say to me about the need to define the difference between a commercial applicator and an amateur. She came into my office and misrepresented their position to me, told me they were neutral. That was a lie.”

Dental Exam now required for KY students

Link

Youngsters enrolling in public school or preschool would have to first get a dental checkup under legislation that has cleared the Kentucky General Assembly.

The bill sailed through the Senate and the House without any opposition on Wednesday and now goes to Gov. Steve Beshear.

If it becomes law, it would take effect in 2010.

Democratic state Rep. Tom Burch of Louisville said the bill is aimed at improving dental health among children by exposing them to dentists early in life.

Children already are required to have seven immunizations, a physical exam and an eye test before entering public schools in Kentucky.

UK Online Journalism Blog

Very Interesting UK blog about Online Journalism

Some entries of note:

UK Government signs up to Twitter

Conference for internet freelancers: Going Solo

Daily caffeine protects your brain

Link

Coffee may cut the risk of dementia by blocking the damage cholesterol can inflict on the body, research suggests.

The drink has already been linked to a lower risk of Alzheimer's Disease, and a study by a US team for the Journal of Neuroinflammation may explain why.

A vital barrier between the brain and the main blood supply of rabbits fed a fat-rich diet was protected in those given a caffeine supplement.

UK experts said it was the "best evidence yet" of coffee's benefits.

Med Embezzler Gets 5 yrs..."knows right from wrong"

Where were the financial controls that should have protected taxpayers from this kind of huge loss?

Link

Before she got caught, she had used her institutional knowledge to embezzle more than $2 million from the financially strapped public hospital that provides services to the poor.

"This is the type of offense that destroys public confidence in public institutions," said U.S. Dist. Court Judge Jon McCalla, who sentenced Stanfield to five years in prison Wednesday and ordered restitution. "This was money needed for medical services for those in the community who most need it. This is a very serious offense."

Stanfield, 45, who pleaded guilty in September to embezzlement and evading taxes, tearfully apologized to her family and employers at The Med where she had worked 16 years.

"I know better and I know right from wrong, and my mama didn't teach me like that," said Stanfield, who is being treated for depression and anxiety. "I bought things. Anything. I can't understand any of this."

The Free Market is still Free...great success story

Link

When Liz Logan saw a copy of the best-selling novel The Shack lying on a table at the Starbucks in Franklin she couldn't help but gush.

"Have you started it yet?" she asked William Paul Young, who was sitting with the book at his elbow. "I love it. Everyone at my church is reading it."

Young paused, took a sip of his Chai tea, and then smiled before replying, "I wrote it.''

With a scream, the woman bounded from her chair and gave Young a hug. "I can't believe it," she said. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

Logan was hugging a publishing phenomenon.

He self-published The Shack after no publisher would touch it, and it held Amazon.com's No. 1 spot in fiction for weeks. The book he wrote for his children has now sold close to 400,000 copies. Churches buy his book by the box load and fans flock to hear him speak.

Winner of this Year's Oddest Book Title

Link

LONDON (Reuters) - Self-help manual "If You Want Closure in Your Relationship, Start With Your Legs" won this year's oddest book title competition, The Bookseller trade magazine said on Friday.

The book took an impressive one-third of the 8,500 votes cast online in The Bookseller's 30th annual competition.

Runner up "I was Tortured By the Pygmy Love Queen", the story of a fictitious World War Two pilot forced to bale out over the jungle, polled a distant 20 percent.

"'If You Want Closure', makes redundant an entire genre of self-help tomes. So effective is the title that you don't even need to read the book itself," said the magazine's deputy editor Joel Rickett.

The winner beat stiff competition from other shortlisted titles including the somewhat niche "Cheese Problems Solved" and "How to Write a How to Write Book" and the rather provocative "Are Women Human? And Other International Dialogues".

The annual competition was launched in 1978 at the Frankfurt Book Fair when it was won by the memorably titled "Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice".

Since then, with the exceptions of 1987 and 1991 when no award was granted due, according to Rickett, to a lack of oddness, the weird and wonderful titles have flowed thick and fast with some eyebrow raising winners.

"Joy of Chickens" took the 1980 title, with "The Theory of Lengthwise Rolling" in 1983, "Lesbian Sadomasochism Safety Manual" in 1990, "Living with Crazy Buttocks" in 2002 and "Bombproof Your Horse" in 2004 are but a sample.

Creepy goes Hi-Tech

Japanese funeral industry lets you to learn more about the deceased via cell.

Dead wife contacts husband via SMS.

Russian Tennis Player gets really mad...with himself

http://view.break.com/480623 - Watch more free videos

Emma: Municipal Bond Info Disclosure Web Portal

Link

The Electronic Municipal Market Access system, or EMMA, is a comprehensive, centralized on-line source for free access to official statements, advance refunding documents and real-time trade price information on municipal securities.

William Jefferson's Brother indicted for bribery

Link

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The eldest brother and political strategist of indicted U.S. Rep. William Jefferson has been charged with giving payoffs to a school-board president - a bribery case apparently unrelated to the one against the congressman.

In a federal indictment handed up Wednesday, Mose Jefferson is accused of giving $140,000 to help secure about $14 million in contracts to bring a computer-based teaching system to Orleans Parish schools. He is charged with bribery, money laundering and obstruction of justice.

The indictment opens a new chapter in the precipitous fall of the Jefferson Democratic machine, a former juggernaut in New Orleans' ward-based politics. William Jefferson is accused of using his congressional office to leverage bribes and lucrative business deals from companies seeking to do business in Africa.

U.S. Attorney Jim Letten said the indictment of Mose Jefferson strikes "at the heart of the corruption which has plagued and sometimes severely impaired our democratic and educational institutions."

It's all about me: Why e-mails are misunderstood

Link

Morris and Lowenstein are among the scholars studying the benefits and dangers of e-mail and other computer-based interactions. In a world where businesses and friends often depend upon e-mail to communicate, scholars want to know if electronic communications convey ideas clearly.

The answer, the professors conclude, is sometimes "no." Though e-mail is a powerful and convenient medium, researchers have identified three major problems. First and foremost, e-mail lacks cues like facial expression and tone of voice. That makes it difficult for recipients to decode meaning well. Second, the prospect of instantaneous communication creates an urgency that pressures e-mailers to think and write quickly, which can lead to carelessness. Finally, the inability to develop personal rapport over e-mail makes relationships fragile in the face of conflict.

An appeal to fellow bloggers and reporters

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE link directly to Tennessee General Assembly bills when discussing them. Its very easy, just use the URL below with the bill number, like this:

http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/bills/currentga/asp/webbillinfo/BillCompanionInfo.aspx?BillNumber=HB3687

For example, HERE is a direct link to the bill.

Many news articles and blog posts mention bills in the General Assembly but never include a direct link to the bill summary page. Even worse, some just mention the bill title or info about the bill but never give the number. The easier we make it for citizens to find the information the more likely they are to participate.

Texas Strip Club "pole" tax ruled unconstitutional

Link

Jenkins ruled the law unconstitutional, writing that erotic dancing is a form of expression protected by the First Amendment. Laws regulating expression must pass strict constitutional tests.

Jenkins focused on the dedication of the fee revenues to the uninsured, writing that he saw no evidence linking the activity of nude, erotic dancing to a lack of health insurance among the dancers.

Cohen said she would explore other legislative options, such as rewriting the law so all the money goes to rape prevention programs, or redirecting the health-care portion to uninsured sexual assault victims, instead of all uninsured patients.

DA: Spitzer lied about dirty tricks

Link

ALBANY, N.Y.—A prosecutor said Friday that former Gov. Eliot Spitzer may have lied when he told investigators he wasn't deeply involved in a plot that used a Republican rival's travel records in an effort to embarrass him. He added that Spitzer could have been indicted had he not resigned in disgrace in a prostitution scandal.

Albany County District Attorney P. David Soares said in a report that Spitzer's former communications director, Darren Dopp, recounted conversations and e-mails that indicated Spitzer directly ordered him in a profanity-laced exchange to give a reporter records regarding Senate Republican leader Joseph Bruno's use of state aircraft on days he attended Republican fundraisers.

Elite Colleges Reject record number of applicants

Link

Harvard College, for example, offered admission to only 7.1 percent of the 27,462 high school seniors who applied — or, put another way, it rejected 93 of every 100 applicants, many with extraordinary achievements, like a perfect score on one of the SAT exams. Yale College accepted 8.3 percent of its 22,813 applicants. Both rates were records.

Columbia College admitted 8.7 percent of its applicants, Brown University and Dartmouth College 13 percent, and Bowdoin College and Georgetown University 18 percent — also records.

Damn the people's will, full speed..er tax ahead

Fortunately, the people of Blount County can petition for the vote that Mayor Cunningham seeks to deny them. This is politician arrogance beyond any reason.

Link

Following the work session, (Blount County Mayor Jerry) Cunningham said he hopes the commission will propose the tax and "do what they're supposed to do" and vote it in, rather than sending it to a referendum as they did in the past.

"You'll never get it passed on a referendum," he said.

Cunningham called the tax an "investment."

Face recognition software now 90% accurate

even with a mask or some other cover.

Wired Mag Link

You can take off that ninja mask now. A new facial-recognition algorithm created by researchers at the University of California at Berkeley and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is able to recognize faces with 90-95 percent accuracy, even if the eyes, nose and mouth are obscured.

"Most algorithms use what's known as meaningful facial features to recognize people -- things like the eyes, nose and mouth," says Allen Yang, a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley's College of Engineering who developed the new algorithm. "But that's incredibly limiting because you're only looking at pixels from a designated portion of the face and those pixels end up being much smaller than the whole image. Our algorithm shows that you only need to randomly select pixels from anywhere on the face. If you select enough of them, you can produce extremely high accuracy."

Shelby County, with no voter referendum required

to approve a property tax hike, could see a big increase this year.

Link

"We're going to work with the commission on coming up with a solution and it will range anywhere from no tax increase on the low end to a higher tax increase on the upper end," Huntzicker said. "There's been no request for a tax increase at this point."

THIS is just Terrible...wait, no its NOT

More people are using food stamps than ever before!!

The world is coming to hell!! The end is near!!

Well, maybe not.

Link

CBS Evening News: More Americans Turning To Food Stamps: Amid Economic Slowdown, Record 28 Million In U.S. Expected To Use Program In Coming Year

NY Times: As Jobs Vanish and Prices Rise, Food Stamp Use Nears Record

The Independent: USA 2008, The Great Depression. Food stamps are the symbol of poverty in the US. Dismal projections by the CBO suggest that by fiscal year 2008, 28 million people in the US will be using government food stamps to buy essential groceries, the highest level since the food assistance program was introduced in the 1960s - and a sure sign the world's richest country faces economic crisis.

Comment: There's one big, fundamental problem for these "food stamp hysteria" stories about record food stamp use of 28 million by 2009 (fiscal year 2008): The U.S. population will be a record level of 306.272 million in 2009, and food stamp use by 28 million Americans will be about 9.14% of the population, just slightly higher than the 2005-2007 average of 8.78% (see chart above using data from USDA and the Census Bureau). And the 9.14% projected food stamp usage as a percent of population in 2008-2009, will be lower than food stamp usage in 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983; and 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996.

Bottom Line: We're nowhere near a record for food stamp use, and we're nowhere the Great Depression!

BBC discovers Flying Penguins (hint: it's April 1)

BBC discovers flying Penguins.

No Profit? No problem, NY will tax you anyway

New York legislators are under tremendous pressure to hike taxes. So much pressure in fact that they are proposing tax increases for businesses that made NO profit. This is like taxing individuals who don't have any income. This is absolute insanity and will drive more businesses out of New York State.

Link

Under a tentative agreement, New York would increase the potential liability of corporations that fail to show a profit during a taxable year by raising the maximum amount the state can tax their assets to $10 million from $1 million.

"Everything is still under consideration," a spokesman for the Senate Republicans, John McArdle, said.