Wow

Link

Can Congress solve the problem it caused?

Thomas Sowell speaks the simple truth.

Link

Nothing could more painfully demonstrate what is wrong with Congress than the current financial crisis.

Among the congressional "leaders" invited to the White House to devise a bailout "solution" are the very people who have for years created the risks that have come home to roost.

Five years ago, Barney Frank vouched for the "soundness" of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and said "I do not see" any "possibility of serious financial losses to the Treasury."

Moreover, he said the federal government has "probably done too little rather than too much to push them to meet the goals of affordable housing."

Earlier this year, Sen. Chris Dodd praised Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for "riding to the rescue" when other financial institutions were cutting back on mortgage loans. He too said they "need to do more" to help subprime borrowers get better loans.

In other words, Rep. Frank and Sen. Dodd wanted government to push financial institutions to lend to people they wouldn't lend to otherwise, because of the risk of default.

The idea that politicians can assess risks better than people who've spent their whole careers doing so is so obviously absurd that no one should take it seriously.

Vulnerable members determined bailout vote

Link

This was predictable, I suppose, but it's remarkable to see how strong a relationship there is between today's failed vote on the bailout and the competitive nature of different House races.

Among 38 incumbent congressmen in races rated as "toss-up" or "lean" by Swing State Project, just 8 voted for the bailout as opposed to 30 against: a batting average of .211.

By comparison, the vote among congressmen who don't have as much to worry about was essentially even: 197 for, 198 against.

The biggest hedge fund: American Taxpayer

Boehner: will vote for "crap sandwich",

The House Republicans leaders urge their members to vote for a "crap sandwich." See FAX below.

Link

In a closed-door session with House Republicans, Minority Leader John A. Boehner just called the financial rescue deal a “crap sandwich” – then said he’ll vote for it when it comes to the floor Monday.

[...]

But like Boehner, Ryan wasn’t exactly happy about how things have unfolded. Referring to the situation facing the country – and not the bill itself – Ryan said, “This sucks.”

STOP the Bailout FAX

If you would like to protest

the Bailout boondoggle,
the Financial FEMA
Welfare for WallStreet
Hank's Big Handout
The New Century Swindle

whatever you call this monster...PLEASE Display, Print, and Sign this StoptheBailoutFax (PDF) and then fax it to your US Representative and two Senators (all fax numbers are already printed on the form itself, no need to look them UP).

PLEASE ACT TODAY!!!

Click HERE to display the form.

Wall Street Execs made $3 billion before crisis

Link

Sept. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Wall Street's five biggest firms paid more than $3 billion in the last five years to their top executives, while they presided over the packaging and sale of loans that helped bring down the investment-banking system.

Merrill Lynch & Co. paid its chief executives the most, with Stanley O'Neal taking in $172 million from 2003 to 2007 and John Thain getting $86 million, including a signing bonus, after beginning work in December. The company agreed to be acquired by Bank of America Corp. for about $50 billion on Sept. 15. Bear Stearns Cos.'s James ``Jimmy'' Cayne made $161 million before the company collapsed and was sold to JPMorgan Chase & Co. in June.

Please Mr Congress...this one time leave us alone

Hey Mr. Congress, your best action is inaction....I know, I know, its so hard for you to believe that somebody as smart and sexy and good looking and well intended as you are, Mr. Congress, may not be needed. Your whole self-image is threatened. Yes, we understand how vulnerable and unsure you must feel.

Look, you will have many opportunities in the future to strut and posture. Just because you pass up this opportunity doesn't mean that we don't think you are wonderful.

Smaller Banks Thrive

The Bailout will make things worse...much worse

Blogging illegal in Italy? Maybe

Link

Italian bloggers are up in arms at a court ruling early this year that suggests almost all Italian blogs are illegal. This month, a senior Italian politician went one step further, warning that most web activity is likely to be against the law.

The story begins back in May, when a judge in Modica (in Sicily) found local historian and author Carlo Ruta guilty of the crime of "stampa clandestina" – or publishing a "clandestine" newspaper – in respect of his blog. The judge ruled that since the blog had a headline, that made it an online newspaper, and brought it within the law’s remit.

The penalties for this crime are not onerous: A fine of 250 Euros or a prison sentence of up to two years. Carlo Ruta was fined and ordered to take down his site, which has now been replaced by a blank page, headed "Site under construction", and a link directing surfers to his new site. Hardly serious stuff – except that he now has a criminal record, and his original site has disappeared.

TN Titans worth almost a Billion big ones

Yes, dear Metro taxpayers, you are subsidizing Kenneth (Bud) Adams, Jr. while he owns a football team worth $994 million. And that is up from $369 million when LP field opened.

Soooooo.....while taxpayers have been subsidizing the Titans, the value to the owners has increased almost threefold from $369 million to almost $1 billion. According to Forbes, Bud Adams paid $25,000 for the team in 1959.

A new taxpayer ripoff: "political discrimination"

This is so head bangingly bizarre that it almost defies description. A Cook County worker said she was stressed because of having to do the work of lazy, do-nothing political appointee hacks...and SHE WON the suit. This is the ultimate case of dealing with symptoms of a problem instead of causes.

Link

Dealing with do-nothing political hacks made Cook County Animal Control worker Margaret Bageanis so sick with stress that her doctor still won’t let her go back to work.

On Thursday, Bageanis said she feels much better after receiving word she’ll get a $130,000 check for being a target of political discrimination.

Bageanis is one of 108 county workers set to split a $3.2 million settlement of a federal political hiring lawsuit.

"Today is a happy day. I feel vindicated," Bageanis said. "For the first day in a long time, I had the weight of [county government] off my back.

Bageanis, a 20-year employee, said she filed a complaint "about eight-inches thick" documenting years of being passed over for promotions and doing the work of lazy "political appointees." At least one patronage worker was installed under current county President Todd Stroger’s administration.

WPLN: Maybe the sky isn't falling

Kudos to WPLN public radio for talking to some actual bankers.

Link

Local banks are saving comments about the Wall Street bailout until details are complete, but they don’t appear to have the same urgency found in Washington.

Memphis Schools and the Washington Monument

One of the most common ploys by any government agency facing budget cuts is to threaten to cut their most popular or valuable service. This is generally referred to as the Washington monument ploy because the National Park Service, when threatened with budget cuts, will always say, "well OK but the first thing we will have to cut is the operating hours of the Washington Monument." Government departments NEVER respond to budget pressures by actually making a bona fide effort to reduce low priority expenses, their response is really always about self-preservation of ALL their spending. That's why an across the board cut of all departments is the only real politically viable option and that is not possible in most years so spending, good and bad, ratchets up year after year.

School systems have mastered the art of the Washington Monument ploy to perfection. They will almost always threaten to cut front line teachers (also, something related to school bus safety is a good one emotional bomb to throw) and then when the budget battle dust clears, somehow the front line teachers survive and in fact grow.

Link

What is it? Here's what I'm left to conclude: the school system is so run amok that no one can give Dr. Cash valid information in order for him to really reform it.

I'm just sayin, are we to believe that MCS didn't know about more than 300 unfilled positions before Cash announced those teacher cuts? That's just like MCS having 115,000 students on its rolls in recent years, right?

Go on, Chicken Little.

At this point, if MCS is on pace to be bankrupt next year, then count me among those who want to see the sky fall just so we can decipher what's really the truth.

Best football catch ever? close

Learning to love gridlock

Perhaps the management of banks and financial institutions can make a few decisions on their own?

Maybe, knowing that Congress will not bail them out, they will turn their attention back to their businesses and actually do some...managing?

Perhaps bank managers don't need the "help" of a bunch of publicity seeking pompous political peacocks whose only real skill is spewing empty, self-aggrandizing rhetoric?

Perhaps Congress could help most by being...irrelevant? We can only hope and learn to love gridlock.

258 fundraising parties for Congress

by financial lobbyists. Sunlight Foundation has the info.

WASHINGTON, DC – Some 258 parties, a number of them hosted by lobbyists for the finance, insurance, and real estate industries, have been thrown for members of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee this year, according to an investigation by the Sunlight Foundation’s Party Time project. Members of the House committee, along with the Senate Banking Committee, are considering the $700 billion bailout legislation for the financial sector proposed by the administration.

The Ban the Bailout Cheer

What do we need from Congress? Irrelevance!!

When do we need it? NOW!!

repeat

Treasury: $700 mil just a "really large number"

Link

In fact, some of the most basic details, including the $700 billion figure Treasury would use to buy up bad debt, are fuzzy.

"It's not based on any particular data point," a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. "We just wanted to choose a really large number."

WAMP only Repub to vote FOR Auto Bailout Bill

Here is the vote. More HERE.

Republican Platform: no bailouts

What is it they say about practicing and preaching? "We do not support government bailouts of private institutions." HT Glen Dean

Investment bankers bearing gifts in Bham

A Republican Jefferson County Commissioner is the first to cop a plea in the sewer financing mess in Bham. She accepted gifts and then lied about it to the grand jury. Many more convictions/admissions to follow...

Link HT: Mr Turnbow

The investment banker firm received millions of dollars in fees from bond and swap transactions involving Jefferson County. On Dec. 11, 2003, Buckelew admired shoes and a purse at an upscale boutique in New York, prosecutors said, and the investment banker bought the items -- valued at about $1,500 -- and mailed them to Buckelew's office at the Jefferson County Courthouse.

On another bond-related trip to New York on Nov. 7, 2004, the investment banker bought about $1,119 worth of items for Buckelew from the same store and mailed them to her office, prosecutors said. Also during that trip, the investment banker paid $1,400 for spa appointment for Buckelew, according to information filed by prosecutors. Buckelew has admitted that she understood the investment banker was attempting to influence her actions as a county commissioner, prosecutors allege.

Prosecutors said Buckelew appeared before a grand jury last month in Birmingham and gave false statements about receiving the gifts.

Aussie Govt Raids home of newspaper journalist

Link

Australian Federal Police have raided the home of a parliamentary press gallery journalist in the wake of a story about Defence intelligence.

Seven AFP officers arrived at the home of Canberra Times journalist Philip Dorling about 8.30am today, AAP reported.

"The AFP confirms that it executed a search warrant at Braddon and on a vehicle," a police spokesman said.

It is understood the raid follows a story Dorling did for the newspaper on June 14 in which he wrote that Australian spies were targeting key nations, including Japan, China and North and South Korea.

Dorling cited his source as "classified briefing papers" prepared for Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon.

The Nashville Convention Center looks cheap

compared to the unfunded pension liability. Brad Schrade, in his article about the cost of providing lifetime healthcare for Council members ($10 million), also talks about the unfunded pension liability for Metro Taxpayers, for ALL Metro employees. Its somewhere between $1.5 billion and $2.5 billion depending on how you compute.

Link

The accounting changes come at a time when some local governments are trying to move to retirement systems similar to the private-sector model, Jones said. Governments face the choice of keeping retiree health benefits where they are or reducing them, but keeping them at current levels will require finding a way to fund them, he said.

The unfunded liability for the state is $3.1 billion, according to its own actuarial study. For Metro, the total unfunded liability of current promised benefits is $1.5 billion over 30 years. The figure grows to $2.5 billion if the city accounts for the present value of benefits to be earned in the future. The council portion of that is about $9.2 million.

Metro would have to come up with about $100 million a year in its $1.6 billion annual budget to fully fund the liability. Metro's actuarial study mentions scenarios of lowering future benefits, and outlines how that would reduce costs.

"No one has yet found a solution to this," Riebeling said. "There are a lot of different options from changing benefits to creating a trust fund for it. All these concepts will be looked at in course. We're funding it as we go. We're meeting all our obligations currently. It's not something that has to be solved overnight. Obviously it can't be solved overnight because of the amount of money involved."

Sounds like the Porkers in Congress

Monster pig traps Aussie woman in home

Link

Hayes said she and her neighbours began feeding the pig, whom they named Bruce, when it showed up at their homes 10 days ago after its owners could not handle it and let it loose in the rainforest.

But it became aggressive, demanding more food and biting her on the leg when she tried to go to the toilet.

"It started getting very pushy, started pushing me around, so I started to get a bit frightened, until the stage that it started knocking on my door at four o'clock in the morning, actually head-butting my door," she said.

"This morning, I wanted to go to my toilet, which is outside. I opened up the door and the pig pushed me that hard, it pushed me back into my room, where I fell over," she said.

Don't like the guy in the next Cubicle?

Link

Finger drums are a tabletop version of an entire drum set, perfect for releasing your inner rhythm. The mini instruments light up and produce sound when struck and include record and playback buttons to capture your best solos.

Of COURSE the bailout is unconstitutional

as detailed by so many HERE but it is so much worse than unconstitutional. It is confirmation of the LIE that has brought us to this point. The LIE is that somehow 535 people in Washington DC can make better decisions about our lives than we can make for ourselves.

What a preposterous notion. Sure there may be a individuals in Congress that share our orthodoxies enough to like them personally but we, the citizens, aren't affected by the decisions of individual Congresspersons. We are affected by their collective decisions and collectively they are:

535 people who REALLY believe they can make better decisions about OUR lives than we can make, REALLY!!

535 people who politicize every decision based on their own political interests, their political party, and major contributors.

535 people who almost never read the full text of the Laws they pass. Laws which profoundly affect every aspect of OUR lives.

535 people who consider it political suicide to admit a mistake.

As citizens, we do not abdicate our power to Congress, we DELEGATE our power. They are not "bailing out", they are misusing OUR power.

Free Stanford Computer/Robotics Online Courses

Link

1. Why has Stanford chosen to make courses available for free? Stanford and the School of Engineering believe that technology transfer is an important part of its mission. This includes research and teaching. SEE is an important step in making important pieces of its curriculum available to a broad audience.

2. How is SEE being funded? SEE’s pilot program was funded by Sequoia Capital, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm that helped launch Nvidia, Yahoo!, Google, and many other successful technology startups.

3. How did you decide which courses to offer? The introductory Computer Science courses provide a powerful platform for a wide variety of students both within and beyond Stanford. Computer Science and Electrical Engineering faculty also raised their hands to offer more advanced courses in Artificial Intelligence, and Linear Systems & Optimization for SEE’s pilot.

Cordless Spyglasses

Link HT: Red Ferrett

This means ultimate discretion as you film your way onto the integral MicroSD card. You’ll get 320×240 video at 30 fps, with is enough to give a good show of your antics later on. $186.00 buys you the fun and frolics.

Charlie Rangel makes downpayment on back tax

Again, let us remind ourselves that Charlie Rangel is the Chairman of the most powerful tax policy committee in Congress.

Link HT: Insty

The veteran Harlem pol on Friday dispatched $10,800 to the IRS and the state tax department, according to his office.

Where is Gridlock when we REALLY need it

If Congress is going to buy the taxpayers some (bleep) then why don't they buy us some good (bleep).

Link

Holy Crap, if we are going to nationalize something, lets at least be as smart as Chavez and Morales and pick stuff that is profitable! Let's nationalize Google and Microsoft!

For what it's worth, I think this plan is a hasty, ill-considered overreaction to recent events. If it's a cure, then the cure is worse than the disease. Once a bailout like this happens it will be (1) very hard to say no to anyone down the line and (2) very hard to deny politicians a much increased voice in the everyday activities of firms if taxpayers are going to be the ultimate owners when things go bad.

Bredesen: “Get Your Damn Hands Off My Team.’’

Phil Bredesen, during a rally to help the Nashville Predators Hockey Team rally support and sell tickets, held up a sign saying “Get Your Damn Hands Off My Team.’’

Here is my sign, "Hey Phil, keep your damn hands off my tax money." If Phil Bredesen and others want to attend a hocky game then they should be willing to buy tickets which reflect the full price of providing that entertainment...ESPECIALLY when you consider that most of the tickets are sold to people who DO NOT live in Davidson County.

Link

Balsillie was considered a threat to buy the Predators from Craig Leipold and eventually move them to Canada. Del Biaggio was also interested, with the likelihood that he would eventually move the team to Kansas City.

Governor Phil Bredesen energized the crowd by holding up a sign that read, “Get Your Damn Hands Off My Team.’’

FBI, Memphis Mayor, Convention Center, etc etc

Commercial Appeal Reporter Marc Perrusquia is an extraordinarily valuable asset for Memphis citizens. He continues his tradition of investigative reports today in the CA. This report concerns the FBI's continuing investigation of Memphis Mayor Herenton and his ties to contractors.

Link

An FBI probe of Mayor Willie Herenton's ties to city contractors has turned its attention to the Greyhound bus station in Downtown Memphis where the city has major redevelopment plans.

Federal agents are examining Herenton's little-known plan to relocate Greyhound to the Memphis International Airport area, a move that has already cost $3 million and could eventually put much larger sums at stake.

A committee appointed by Herenton is considering land next to the bus station as a prime site for a new convention center, a project expected to enrich the city's civic life as well as its economy.

Yet a secret side deal could make redevelopment of the Greyhound site profitable for someone else, too -- the mayor's friend, city contractor Elvin W. Moon.

Economists have doubts? Well, I would hope the hell so!

Politico says some economists have doubts about the bailout plan. "Economists" have doubts? ECONOMISTS HAVE DOUBTS!!....how the hell do you think the rest of us feel!

The one institution that has proven itself singularly incapable of balancing the federal budget. The institution that helplessly watches Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security sink deeper into the mire of insolvency? The institution whose members have the gall to sincerely believe they make better decisions about our lives than we can make....we are going to depend on these clowns to clean up this mess, most of which they created?

ECONOMISTS HAVE DOUBTS?!?!?!?!

MIT Course: How To Stage a Revolution

Link HT: BradSpangler.com

21H.001, a HASS-D, CI course, explores fundamental questions about the causes and nature of revolutions. How do people overthrow their rulers? How do they establish new governments? Do radical upheavals require bloodshed, violence, or even terror? How have revolutionaries attempted to establish their ideals and realize their goals? We will look at a set of major political transformations throughout the world and across centuries to understand the meaning of revolution and evaluate its impact. By the end of the course, students will be able to offer reasons why some revolutions succeed and others fail. Materials for the course include the writings of revolutionaries, declarations and constitutions, music, films, art, memoirs, and newspapers.

50 most mispronounced words

Link

1. Phenomenon (fi-nom-uh-non)
2. Anaesthetist (uh-nes-thi-tist)
3. Remuneration (ri-myoo - nuh-reyshun)
4. Statistics (stuh-tis-tiks)
5. Ethnicity (eth-nis-i-tee)
6. Philosophical (fil-uh-sof-i-kuhl)
7. Provocatively (pruh-vok-uh-tiv)
8. Anonymous (uh-non-uh-muhs)
9. Thesaurus (thi-sawr-uhs)
10. Aluminium (al-yuh-min-ee-uhm)
11. Regularly (reg-yuh-ler-lee)
12. February (feb-roo-er-ee)
13. Particularly (per-tik-yuh-ler-lee)
14. Hereditary (huh-red-i-ter-ee)
15. Prioritising (prah-awr-i-tahyz-ing)
16. Pronunciation (pruh-nuhn-see-ey-shuhn)
17. Prejudice (prej-uh-dis)
18. Facilitate (fuh-sil-i-teyt)
19. Hospitable (hos-pi-tuh-buhl)
20. Onomatopoeia (on-uh-mat-uh-pee-uh)

Turn of Century Gold Rush Alaska Pic Collection

Link

Other Digital Collections at Univ of Washington

Free Online Courses from MIT

Link

Courses by Department

• Aeronautics and Astronautics
• Anthropology
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• Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation
• Biological Engineering
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• Brain and Cognitive Sciences
• Chemical Engineering
• Chemistry
• Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Comparative Media Studies
• Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
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If ever there was any doubt...this should clear it up

"Economic Development" = Buying votes with taxpayer money

Pretty expensive campaigning for the taxpayers...$577 million

Ohio SC: Guns can't be banned from public parks

Link

In a 4-3 decision, the court upheld an appeals court ruling that had struck down the city of Clyde's 2004 ban on guns in its parks because it conflicts with the state's multifaceted con- cealed-carry law. Clyde is southwest of Sandusky.

The ruling not only eliminates gun bans in Independence and Cleveland Heights parks but also threatens several Cleveland gun restrictions and all but kills further efforts by cities to trump or challenge the 4-year-old state law.

"The main impact is that it is going to restrict municipalities, city councils and so forth from restricting the rights of Ohio citizens who carry concealed weapons in public areas," said Patrick Lewis, a Cleveland attorney and member of the conservative Federalist Society, who was not involved in the case.

Chief Justice Thomas Moyer, who voted with the minority, was more direct, saying, "Implementation of the state statute strikes a severe blow to the underlying principles of self-government."

The question for the court was whether the concealed-carry law was meant by state legislators to be applied evenly statewide.

Walter Williams: How to fill the world with fools

Link

Many politicians and pundits claim that the credit crunch and high mortgage foreclosure rate is an example of market failure and want government to step in to bail out creditors and borrowers at the expense of taxpayers who prudently managed their affairs. These financial problems are not market failures but government failure. The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 is a federal law that intimidated lenders into offering credit throughout their entire market and discouraged them from restricting their credit services to low-risk markets, a practice sometimes called redlining. The Federal Reserve Bank, keeping interest rates artificially low, gave buyers and builders incentive to buy and build, thereby producing the housing bubble. Lenders were willing to make creative interest-only loans, often high-risk "no doc" and "liar loans," in order to allow people to buy more housing than they could afford. Of course, with the expectation that housing prices will continue to rise, it was no problem for lenders and borrowers but housing prices began to fall, leaving some people with negative home equity and banks in trouble.

The credit crunch and foreclosure problems are failures of government policy. In fact, what we see now is a market correction to foolhardy government policy. Congress' move to bailout lenders and borrowers who made poor decisions will simply create incentives for people to make unwise decisions in the future. English philosopher Herbert Spencer said, "The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools."

Charlie Rangel calls Sarah Palin "disabled"?

Joe Haynes: why I changed my immigration vote

This is a bit dated interview of Senator Joe Haynes by Mary and Freddie on Liberadio from 3-12-07 but I first came upon it yesterday and it is fascinating. In it, Senator Haynes talks very candidly about why he changed his vote on an immigration bill. He says very frankly that he didn't want it used as a campaign issue against him. I believe he was talking about THIS vote. Clearly many Democrats and Republicans at all levels of government change their votes in this way but its rare they discuss it so openly. Also, a good lesson that vote records don't always tell the whole story.



You can listen to the entire interview HERE. Senator Haynes discusses Senator Kurita and many other issues.

Wow...returning overpaid taxes..what a concept!

Kudos and congrats to Mr. Arnett. He actually believes these overpaid taxes are monies that belong to taxpayers and should be returned without the taxpayer having to ask...nominate this man for Clerk of the Year!!

Link

With the discovery of more than $37,000 in overpaid business taxes, businesses around Knox County will be receiving refunds, ranging from a few dollars to more than $4,000, Foster D. Arnett Jr., Knox County clerk, said Thursday as he announced a new policy his office would implement.

Arnett, who took office as Knox County clerk Sept. 2, said the new policy is part of an effort to restore accountability in government.

“It has been the practice of some clerks in the past to keep that money unless the business owners discovered on their own, that they had overpaid their business taxes, and I am here to tell you that is flat out wrong,” Arnett said at a press conference on the Old Court House lawn Thursday.

Arnett said 779 Knox County businesses have overpaid a total of $37,139.30 in business taxes this year, and the money will be returned. Amounts ranged from just one cent to $4,539.45.

Stop drinking haterade, Start smoking enthusiasm

Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton says taxpayers should be enthusiastic about paying for a new $600 million convention center.

Link

“They want to know what we’re smoking,” he told reporters. “Tell them we’re smoking enthusiasm. We’re smoking a vision. We’re smoking a passion for a great American city that we don’t want to be stagnant. I would hope that some of these Memphians would stop drinking that Haterade and join this bandwagon of progress.”

Fidel loved his work

Link

NEW YORK: Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro has slept with 35,000 women in his 82 years of life, according to an upcoming documentary.

"He slept with at least two women a day for more than four decades - one for lunch and one for supper," the New York Post quoted an ex-Castro official named "Ramon" as telling filmmaker Ian Halperin.

"Sometimes he even ordered one for breakfast," the official said.

Selective bailout:

Thank you Marsha! Taxpayers should NOT be

bailing out these companies.

Link

"These massive federal bailouts have exposed taxpayers to literally tens of billions of dollars of new risk," the members of the Republican Study Committee wrote to Paulson and Bernanke.

Blackburn said the total risk to taxpayers is $323 billion and that she believes private companies would have come to the rescue had they known the federal government would not intervene.

She said constituents wonder "what is the next business, the next entity that is considered too big to fail?"

The lawmakers' letter calls for using free-market principles to deal with the problems, including "re-establishing the market discipline that comes from the potential of failure."

Though as a Democrat he didn't sign on to the letter, Rep. Lincoln Davis of Pall Mall backed its sentiments. "I strongly oppose taxpayers of America bailing out private investment groups who have knowingly made high risk investments," Davis said in a written statement.

FL Judge: Baggy pants are constitutionally protected

Link

A FLORIDA judge has deemed unconstitutional a law banning baggy pants that show off the wearer's underwear.

A 17-year-old spent a night in jail last week after police arrested him for wearing low pants in Riviera Beach, Florida.

The law banning so-called "saggy pants'' was approved by city voters in March after supporters of the bill collected nearly 5,000 signatures to put the measure on the ballot.

The teen would have received a $US150 ($188) fine or community service, but he spent the night in jail due to a history of marijuana use, the Palm Beach Post newspaper said today.

"Somebody help me,'' said Palm Beach Circuit Judge Paul Moyle, before giving his decision.

"We're not talking about exposure of buttocks. No! We're talking about someone who has on pants whose underwear are apparently visible to a police officer who then makes an arrest and the basis is he's then held overnight, no bond."

"Your honour, we now have the fashion police,'' said public defender Carol Bickerstaff, who asked the law be declared "unconstitutional.''

The judge agreed with Bickerstaff immediately, reported the Post.

Walmart lobbies for Ark sales tax holiday along

with Dillards and the Arkansas Grocers and Retail Merchants Association. This is sickening and it is EXACTLY why other types of corporate breaks and welfare spread...politicians in one State play Santa Claus with Tax policy and then politicians in other States want to play Santa Claus and pretty soon they are ALL competing to see who they can pander to for the most campaign contributions.

Taxpayers must be the adults and say ENOUGH!! Keep taxes low for everyone and stop using our government to play Santa Claus.

Walmart should stick to offering products at low prices and stop trying to coop Arkansas government for their benefit.

All Federal Employee Unions endorse Obama

NFFE endorsed Obama today. They join four other Federal Employee Unions:

In the presidential campaign, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., will benefit primarily from those efforts. Obama has received the endorsement of four federal employee unions: the American Federation of Government Employees, the National Treasury Employees Union, National Air Traffic Controllers Association, and the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers.

SEIU has already endorsed Obama.

Bredesen continues to say that downsizing State Govt

is good management at just about every opportunity he gets. Kudos to the Gov for pointing out this dynamic which very few elected officials are willing to acknowledge. Bureaucracies simply will not make hard decisions about staff and efficiency unless they are faced with staff reductions.

Link

“Some of the departments did a great job and really flattened down those middle management structures that had gotten very big and very kind of bad. That’s something I could not have gotten done in a good year, but in a tough year like this is a great time, just as it is in business, to do that.”

Scalia says no TV in "free, open to public" speech

How could he possibly "write into his contracts" that TV cameras were excluded?

Link HT: FOI FYI

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Antonin Scalia was scheduled to give the keynote address at the political science department's much publicized conference. The presentation was also widely advertised as "free and open to the public." "All are invited to attend." With one exception. The broadcast press would be excluded. Only the broadcast press. Members of all other media would be welcome. They could take notes; they could make audio recordings. You see, Justice Scalia has a longstanding personal dislike of people with video cameras. The basis of that bias is not altogether clear -- but he writes into his speaking contracts that all video cameras (except those he specifically approves) will be barred from his venues.

Sports Stadium Taxpayer Ripoffs may be ending

One can only hope. Taxprof has the story:

Link

New York City and the Yankees may have violated federal tax regulations and state laws in using $943 million in tax-exempt bonds to build the baseball team’s new stadium. ...

Mr. Brodsky and other critics have argued that the city violated federal tax regulations by manipulating the assessed value of the land beneath the stadium so that the team’s annual payment in lieu of taxes would effectively equal the annual payments to bondholders, or debt service, of $56.7 million beginning in 2010. ...

The Bloomberg administration successfully lobbied the Internal Revenue Service to approve the use of the tax-exempt bonds for the stadium, which did not initially qualify. But the IRS later issued a proposal that would tighten the rules governing such bonds so it would be nearly impossible for this kind of financing to be used again by a profitable sports franchise.

A New definition of Patriotism from Joe Biden?

More taxes = more patriotism?

Link

WASHINGTON - Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden said Thursday that paying more in taxes is the patriotic thing to do for wealthier Americans. In a new TV ad that repeats widely debunked claims about the Democratic tax plan, the Republican campaign calls Obama's tax increases "painful."

Govt is the Bull in the china shop of our Freedoms

From the War on Photography Blog:

Link

“(Photography) is not against the law or the rules, but we are sensitive to certain types of photos being taken,” she said, “but we can’t say because of homeland security issues exactly what they are.”

So you refuse to tell us what the rules are but expect us to obey the rules that you refuse to publish. This is so unbelievable and incredible that it would be downright laughable if it were a joke. Unfortunately the PATHETIC IDIOTS in government are serious!!!

U.S. Transportation Security Administration spokesman Dwayne Baird said it should be “common sense” that taking photographs of “anything that would be of a sensitive nature” would be off limits.

Common sense?? That is the most outrageous statement that I have ever heard spewing forth from the pathetic mouth of a petty power crazed bureucrat. HOW DARE YOU ask us to obey unwritten laws and threaten us if we don’t know what they are? This is not a police state or a dictatorship - it is a country of laws and only the legislature can pass laws.

Receive calls without giving your phone number

Link

Benefits of LetsCall.me

• Accept calls anonymously without revealing your phone number
  
• No caller id blocking - always know who's calling
• Block unwanted callers
• Easier to remember than a phone number
• Great for Craigslist and other internet sites
• Be safe - don't give out your phone number, use LetsCall.me

How it works

• Pick your own url, such as letscall.me/johndoe
• Instead of giving out your phone number, share your letscall.me page
• People who want to call you input their phone number on your letscall.me page, and then we will call them and connect them with you.
• Your phone will ring with the other person's Caller ID - since the other person needs to receive the call first, they cannot fake their number
• Talk with the other person as often and as long as you want
• If you want to block the person from calling you, just tell us their number

85% of traffic tickets go to non-residents

Link

In the last six months, the Medina Police Department has issued 85 percent of its traffic citations to people who live outside the Medina city limits, police department records show.

Police Chief Jerry Morris said that statistic does not seem out of the ordinary to him.

"I don't see what the big deal is," Morris said. "We stop cars, not people, and we don't choose who we write tickets to."

A suspended Tax protest

Link

A man suspended himself upside down in Trafalgar Square to protest against the rising cost of living today.

Herbert Crossman, 60, from Harrow, hung upside down from a crane for two hours in central London, attached by the ankles with a bungee rope.

He was protesting against what he described as the "take, take, take attitude" of the British Government.

He said he demonstrated how the British public is "haemorrhaging money" by lining up three tubs beneath him to catch money as it fell from his pockets - one tub for the Government, one for utility bills and one in red for his income.

Another reason to be angry with Congress

The Sunlight Foundation blog says that members of Congress had 24 hours to read and understand the hugely complex energy bill that passed the House.

This is an insult to open government. EVERY BILL should be posted in FINAL form on the internet AT LEAST 72 hours before it comes to the floor for a vote.

Link

Unremarkable because it, like too many bills, was nearly impossible to read or study prior to a final vote. The bill, H.R. 6899, clocking in at 290 pages long was introduced at 9:24 pm on September 15, 2008 and was voted out of the House Rules Committee at midnight. The final vote was held at 10:05 on September 16, 2008. That left 24.5 hours for lawmakers, staff, watchdogs, and concerned citizens to read the bill, or if one counts from the time the bill reported out of Rules, 22 hours.

That’s 290 pages of crucially important legislation to read, digest, and understand in one day. If a reader can plow through text at one-page-per-minute the bill would take approximately 4.8 hours to read, which makes it conceivable that someone could have read the bill. (Legislation doesn’t exactly fly by as fast as a novel, like Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, which clocks in at 287 pages.) Parsing and understanding legislation must take a longer amount of time. Additionally, calculations should factor in the basic human need for sleep.

Lawmakers and citizens should not accept that bills will be introduced that no one can or will read. This Comprehensive American Energy Security and Consumer Protection Act goes down in the pantheon of bills released with not enough time to read them. Lawmakers should require that all bills be available online for public consumption for 72 hours prior to a vote.

More voter registration fraud, this time in New Mexico

Link

ALBUQUERQUE — The Bernalillo County clerk has notified prosecutors that some 1,100 possibly fraudulent voter registration cards have been turned in to her office.

Some cards in New Mexico's most populous county have the same name as a voter who's already registered, but carry a different birth date or Social Security number; some list someone else's Social Security number; some have addresses that don't exist, Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver said Wednesday.

In one case, a series of about nine cards appears to have been taken directly from the phone book, she said.

"Those are sort of the big red flags," Toulouse Oliver said.

How sweet: UTK Faculty calls for tutition hike

Link

Faculty Senate President John Nolt tells The Knoxville News Sentinel he knows this would be a burden for students and their families. But he says it could help students graduate sooner if UT can hire more instructors and offer more courses.

Nolt says the earliest it could go into effect is January, but next fall seems more likely. UT-Knoxville raised tuition 6 percent this year while coping with an $11 million cut in state appropriations.

Are Metro politicians different from you and me?

YES, unlike you and me, they believe they are able to determine what the "deserve."

Taxpayers MUST also determine what we deserve and we deserve to be free of politicians who are arrogant enough to believe they "deserve" our money.

Nashville Metro Council makes one difficult decision

but fails to make another.

Kudos to Councilman Michael Craddock for opposing more taxpayer money to charities. If taxpayers want to give their money to charity they are free to do so but Metro Council is NOT free to give away taxpayer money.

Kudos also to Councilman Jim Gotto for trying to hold the Metro Council accountable for decisions to take private property from one citizen and give it to another private citizen, this is NOT the role of Government. Unfortunately, his bill failed.

Link

That brought the Council to debate a bill last night that would have given an extra 60-thousand dollars to the four losing non-profits. Councilman Michael Craddock says the Council shouldn’t be giving any more money to non-profits after having to cut bus service during the budget cycle.

“You know all these people need to stop this whining about taxpayer money. That’s what this is. This is pork. That’s all it is.”

The Mayor’s office has said they’ll have uniform criteria across groups next year.

In other business, a bill failed that would have given Council the final say when the city wanted to use its eminent domain power. The bill arose out of a dispute on Music Row, where landowner Joy Ford is suing the city over its attempt to take her land and use it for a private development. The area in question is in a redevelopment district where the city does have the power to confiscate property.

Bredesen: No state tax increase in 2009

So far, so good.

Link

“I certainly don’t intend, with anything I see now, to ask for a tax increase in anything. We’re going to manage through it,” Bredesen told reporters after a speech at the annual Governor’s Economic Conference.

Barney Frank's statement on Freddie/Fannie in 2003

Unbelievable and Barney Frank has much more power today than he did in 2003.

Link

"The more people, in my judgment, exaggerate a threat of safety and soundness (of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae), the more people conjure up the possibility of serious financial losses to the Treasury, which I do not see. I think we see entities that are fundamentally sound financially and withstand some of the disastrous scenarios. And even if there were a problem, the Federal Government doesn't bail them out. But the more pressure there is there, then the less I think we see in terms of affordable housing."

Search audio of political videos: Google Labs

Link

For example HERE is search for "tax cuts" in a Barack Obama speech

"9% approval rating for Congress is too high"

...from a comment on Hotair.com where Ed explains (and many before and after him have also explained ad nauseum) that CONGRESS used Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as part of a grand social experiment where they tried to prove that people who were not repaying very small loans (they had BAD credt!!) could be trusted to repay very large loans.

Link

”These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of financial crisis,” said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ”The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.”

Dallas Convention Center Hotel Opponents start petition drive

Link

The group, calling itself Citizens Against the Taxpayer-Owned Hotel, argued that the hotel, with a price tag of up to $500 million, is an overly secretive project that would be undertaken at the expense of basic city services, such as road repair and recreational amenities -- an assessment with which top city officials vehemently disagreed.

“This is a wake-up call for City Hall,” said referendum supporter Anne Raymond, managing director of Crow Holdings, a Dallas company that owns one of the city’s largest hotels, the Hilton Anatole.

“The taxpayers of the city of Dallas deserve to learn the risks of making this decision.”

Citizens Against the Taxpayer-Owned Hotel is composed of representatives from four area hotels or hotel companies. Ms. Raymond predicted that individual Dallas residents will quickly join the effort.

The group needs to collect 20,000 signatures from registered Dallas voter within 60 days to force a referendum, Dallas Assistant City Secretary Rosa Rios said.

Women have worse nightmares than men

Link

Recent evidence suggests men and women dream very differently. For instance, women are more likely to have intense nightmares, and more likely to remember their dreams. Now, a new study says it might all boil down to body temperature.

British researchers studied 170 volunteers and found only 19% of men had frequent nightmares, while 30% of women did. Women suffered a greater emotional impact upon awakening. They were more likely to occur near ovulation when a woman's body temperature slightly increases.

"When a woman's hormones are in a different balance, then her mood is going to be different, her physical symptoms will be different," explained psychologist Dr. Judy Kuriansky, adding it's possible women are just better at remembering their nightmares.

starring Reagan Farr as Santa Clause

Revenue Commissioner Reagan Farr, who normally collects taxes is apparently changing roles and will start handing them out, says we are going to hand out even more VW related corporate welfare to the tune of $30,000 for up to 10,000 jobs.....lets see, carry the 000's and multiply by 30...that's $300,000,000. And that is in addition to the $577,000,000 we are already handing over....we are getting very close to $1 billion.

Let us now remember that the Alabama Governor, who knows no shame when handing out taxpayer money, said $234 million was too much.

Link

The state has extended Volkswagon’s landmark tax credits to suppliers who follow the automaker to Tennessee. Any supplier deemed “integral” to VW’s business can get 30-thousand dollars for every job they create.

Revenue Commissioner Raegan Farr says the tax credit was tailored to the planned VW plant in Chattanooga, mostly because suppliers could easily locate in Georgia and Alabama.

Farr says, however, the incentive isn’t isolated to the Chattanooga area. It puts all of Tennessee in play for VW parts suppliers, who are expected to create an additional 10-thousand jobs.

$4 mil Nashville Bus Stop and Weed Garden

HT: Insty

Presidential Campaign TV ads 1952-2008

Great Historical Archive: HT: Club for Growth


Clinton-Gore for a Change:



1980 Democrats for Reagan:

Oops...more "discrepancies" for Charlie Rangel

Link

Among the new discrepancies:

_Rangel's papers over the past 10 years show no reference to the sale of a home he once owned on Colorado Avenue in Washington.

_The details of a property bought in Sunny Isles, Fla., are bewildering at best. The stated value changes significantly from year to year, and even page to page, from $50,000 to $100,000 all the way up to $500,000.

_Some of the entries for investment funds fluctuate strangely, suggesting that the person either didn't have accurate information or didn't fill out the paperwork correctly.

NYTimes: Rangel should go...here is one more reason

The New York Times editorialized today that Charlie Rangel should step down from his Chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee. If the report below is verified, he should resign and be investigated for campaign corruption.

Link

The city and the Yankees secretly crafted a letter Rep. Charles Rangel used to lobby the IRS for tax changes that would save the team $66 million, the Daily News has learned.

PDF: E-MAIL FROM RANDY LEVINE AND MORE ON TAX-EXEMPT BONDS

They did this at the same time Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and the team's law firm, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, raised almost $25,000 for Rangel, records show.

Tempting Fate at railroad crossings

No amount of well intended legislation will save some people from their own bad judgment.

Speaking of the end of privacy: $30 spycam

Link to Intelspy.com

Another security camera vendor...probably the biggest online vendor

Joe Biden's charity vs other taxpayers

Link

The end of secrecy in 15 years

Link

It won't be long before just about everything is out in the open. At least that's the take of Donald Burke, the CIA Directorate of Science and Technology guru who spearheaded development of Intellipedia, the intelligence community's version of the Internet encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

Burke, who has the quite non-bureaucratic title of "Intellipedia Doyen" and serves as the leading proponent on the use of Web 2.0 technologies within the intelligence community, shared a bold prediction with attendees of the Director of National Intelligence Open Source Conference in Washington. The proliferation of new Web tools and technologies will mean the end of secrecy within 15 years, he said, with almost everyone and everything leaving "digital exhaust" that will be as hard to hide as what comes out the tailpipe of a car.

I know I leave some digital exhaust each time I use a credit card or book an airline ticket, but as Burke explained that's just the beginning of what most people will leave in their digital wake in the near future.

He predicted that the incorporation of Global Positioning System technology into cell phones will become near universal, meaning that the digital trail from the phones will make it easy to track the physical location of almost anyone in real time. And, as a NATO intelligence analyst who declined to be identified told me, Google Earth makes it real easy to plot that location on really good satellite-based images.

Security cameras are proliferating everywhere, Burk said, including on top of a growing number of police cruisers, which use the cameras to scan license plates automatically and check them against a database. This all leads to "unintended information aggregation" about people and their movements. This could be a boon to intelligence agents, but it's not good for those of us who value our privacy.

Nashville ranked 22nd in job creation, up from 61

Link

Best Performing Cities 1 - 25
2008 Rank	2007 Rank	Metropolitan Area
1	8	Provo-Orem, UT MSA
2	10	Raleigh-Cary, NC MSA
3	18	Salt Lake City, UT MSA
4	20	Austin-Round Rock, TX MSA
5	16	Huntsville, AL MSA
6	2	Wilmington, NC MSA
7	7	McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX MSA
8	50	Tacoma, WA MD
9	37	Olympia, WA* MSA
10	12	Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville, SC MSA
11	5	Orlando-Kissimmee, FL MSA
12	17	Bakersfield, CA MSA
13	33	Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, TX MSA
14	24	Lafayette, LA MSA
15	43	San Antonio, TX MSA
16	32	Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX MSA
17	77	Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA MD
18	42	Ogden-Clearfield, UT MSA
19	11	Myrtle Beach-North Myrtle Beach-Conway, SC MSA
20	29	Greeley, CO MSA
21	74	Durham, NC MSA
22	61	Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN MSA
23	59	Dallas-Plano-Irving, TX MD
24	34	Savannah, GA MSA
25	58	Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA MSA

ACORN again associated with voter fraud

Link

The majority of the problem applications are coming from the group ACORN, Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, which has a large voter registration program among its many social service programs. ACORN's Michigan branch, based in Detroit, has enrolled 200,000 voters statewide in recent months, mostly with the use of paid, part-time employees.

"There appears to be a sizeable number of duplicate and fraudulent applications," said Kelly Chesney, spokeswoman for the Michigan Secretary of State's Office. "And it appears to be widespread."

Charlie Rangel says he will pay his taxes...how sweet

Being judged the biggest hypocrite in Congress is a VERY high hurdle but Charlie Rangel is way up there. He owns 3 rent controlled apartments in New York. Rent control is a program "designed" to help the poor. It is, in fact, an invitation to corruption and hypocrisy and Charlie has accepted that invitation.

But even higher on the hypocrisy scale is his explanation that he forgot to report income from a foreign condo. Now he says that he will pay his back taxes but says he should be allowed to continue to determine tax policy. Expect the historically low approval rate for Congress to ratchet down a few more points.

Link

Amid growing allegations of unethical conduct, US Representative Charles Rangel has said that he intends to pay any taxes he owes on foreign investment income, although he is refusing to relinquish his chairmanship of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, which writes tax legislation.

In a news conference to explain his position, the flamboyant New York Democrat insisted that he had "done nothing morally wrong," and that any irregularities in his financial affairs were errors of omission rather than deliberate deception. He announced that his tax attorney is looking at his filings going back some twenty years, and that he fully intends to pay back any federal, state or local taxes that he owes, which have been estimated at USD10,000.

"I do hope that my explanation will be sufficient to say that we do make errors, even though we consider ourselves experts in terms of tax policy for the nation," he said by way of an explanation.

A REALLY Bad week for male models

More pics here

Ok to break law/destroy property for global warming

UK jury says not guilty for defacing coal plant.

Link

The threat of global warming is so great that campaigners were justified in causing more than £35,000 worth of damage to a coal-fired power station, a jury decided yesterday. In a verdict that will have shocked ministers and energy companies the jury at Maidstone Crown Court cleared six Greenpeace activists of criminal damage.

Jurors accepted defence arguments that the six had a "lawful excuse" to damage property at Kingsnorth power station in Kent to prevent even greater damage caused by climate change. The defence of "lawful excuse" under the Criminal Damage Act 1971 allows damage to be caused to property to prevent even greater damage – such as breaking down the door of a burning house to tackle a fire.

The not-guilty verdict, delivered after two days and greeted with cheers in the courtroom, raises the stakes for the most pressing issue on Britain's green agenda and could encourage further direct action.

Even more intrusive nanny govt traffic cameras

This from the UK but the principle is the same. OUR elected representatives are selling our freedoms to speed camera vendors in return for a little extra tax revenue. This is despicable.

Link

THE war on drivers is moving up a gear with a high-tech speed camera that tracks cars for up to six miles.

The long-reach traps will enforce limits over large stretches, including motorways, accident blackspots and some residential areas.

But critics last night claimed the equipment was just another cash cow to swell Government coffers.

Captain Gatso, the campaigns director for Motorists Against Detection, said: “This will not reduce deaths on the roads. It’s all about the money.

What happens when all traffic lights are removed

Link

But this summer the town reworked its downtown thoroughfare, not only scrapping the traffic lights but also tearing down the curbs and erasing marked crosswalks. The busiest part of the main street turned into a "naked" square shared equally by bikes, pedestrians, cars, and trucks. Now, there is only one rule: Always give way to the person on the right.

Two months into the experiment, "Instead of thinking, 'It's going to be red, I need to give gas, people have to slow down, to look to the right and the left, to be considerate" says Ms. Rubcic.

Public employee union money drives politics

towards bigger government and higher taxes.

Prison Guard Union spending millions to recall Arnold

But this past week, with no contract in sight, Jimenez and his union upped the ante considerably by threatening to recall California's governor for the second time in five years.

It's too early to determine if the recall drive launched this week will succeed — many experts call the effort a media spectacle that will fizzle, while others dare not rule anything out because of the organization's tremendous campaign account.

But one thing is clear: The association's move has pushed special interest politics to an unprecedented level in Sacramento, part of a continuing saga that shows the tight grip that a handful of labor unions and business groups hold on state government.

"Special interests have either ruled the roost or will continue to try that in the future," said Jaime Regalado, executive director of the Edmund G. "Pat" Brown Institute of Public Affairs at California State University-Los Angeles. "It's just all about what politics — not only in California but politics in state capitols across the country — has been all about, and that is, money and power."

Labor Unions fight Mass Income tax removal

The Coalition for Our Communities has hired two powerful firms as consultants, paying $18,000 to Carpman Communications and $19,500 to the Dewey Square Group. But the group has also raised $1.5 million, with two-thirds coming from national teacher unions. The Boston Teachers Union donated $150,000 and the national Service Employees International Union gave $60,000. Unions would probably have the most to lose if the income tax was repealed, since it would trigger layoffs across state government.

LA Labor unions spend millions on LA County campaign

The effort to change that comes amid a scandal that has forced out the leaders of two of the union locals that have been most active in the campaign, both affiliates of the giant Service Employees International Union. In both cases, the local presidents stepped aside after reports in The Times about possible misuse of union funds.

Labor officials say that the problems in the SEIU will not change their plans for continued spending on Ridley-Thomas' behalf using an independent expenditure committee. Such committees can sidestep contribution limits as long as they do not coordinate activities with the candidate.

Unbelievable: Sofia the beagle escapes from pen

Take a number to fleece the taxpayers

if they have any money left over after paying for Gas.

Gas lines in Jackson

Pics from Jackson Sun

Memphis firing non-resident part time employees

but many high ranking non-resident officials are not being touched.

Link

Residency requirements have been causing turmoil at City Hall for months.

Because of the wording and legal interpretations of a 2004 referendum intended to make new employees live in the city, many high-ranking city officials who were required to live in Memphis under a former residency rule now can live anywhere.

The council also has been debating for months whether to relax residency rules for police in an attempt to put more officers on the street.

There are even questions about city Human Resources Director Lorene Essex's residency.

Essex, who is responsible for overseeing the residency requirement, said she lives in an apartment on Mud Island while her husband, Dr. Nathan Essex, head of Southwest Tennessee Community College, lives in a roughly $400,000 house in Collierville. A gardener at the Collierville house told WREG Channel 3 that Essex returns to the Collierville home almost every night.

Cal Dems may agree to no tax hike budget

Link

In a confidential e-mail obtained by The Times, Senate President Don Perata (D-Oakland) told fellow Democrats on Thursday night that he had informed the governor "we urgently need a budget -- let's see if I can work on a deal with the Reps [Republicans] that is no tax, no borrowing. He agreed."

Perata, who had been leading the crusade for a tax hike in the Legislature, wrote that he anticipated working with Republicans through the weekend in an effort to forge a final deal. His office declined to discuss the e-mail, other than to say talks are ongoing and the Democrats oppose borrowing.

Ipsos: Consumer sentiment improves

Link

Overall consumer confidence climbed 35 points to stand at 69.2, compared to 33.8 in August. This month's RBC CASH Index was buoyed by an 81 point increase in Americans' expectations for the future. Gains also were made in every other facet of consumer sentiment, including assessments of current conditions, investing and job security.

Study: Tennesseans don't have much personality

Honorable mention for being "agreeable" but that is about it.

Link

AGREEABLENESS

Personality traits: Warm, compassionate, co-operative and friendly.

Highest-scoring states: North Dakota, Minnesota, Mississippi, Utah, Wisconsin, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, Oklahoma, Nebraska.

Lowest-scoring states: New York, Nevada, Wyoming, District of Columbia, Alaska, Maine, Rhode Island, Virginia, Connecticut, Montana.

Brit Govt Healthcare: Costs Up. Treatment Down

Link

Official figures compiled by the Office for National Statistics show that the amount of treatment the NHS delivers is lagging behind the pace of increase in the service's budget.

Critics said the statistics showed the NHS had absorbed huge amounts of money with very little to show for it and the Government must reform its management instead of pumping in ever more funding.

NHS productivity fell by 2.0 per cent a year between 2001 and 2005, according to the Centre for the Measurement of Government Activity, the ONS unit that monitors public spending. That was the period of the biggest funding increase in NHS history.

From 2005 to 2006, productivity fell less quickly, by 0.2 per cent.

From 1995 to 2006, the NHS annual budget more than doubled from £39 billion to £89.7 billion.

Duty Calls: Someone is wrong on the Internet

Link

Bureaucratic response to a dead horse

Link

Conventional wisdom, passed on from generation to generation, says that, "When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount."

However, in government, academic and corporate bureaucracies, more advanced strategies are often employed, such as:

1. Buying a stronger whip.

2. Changing riders.

3. Appointing a committee to study the horse.

4. Arranging to visit other countries to see how other cultures ride horses.

5. Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included.

6. Reclassifying the dead horse as living-impaired.

7. Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse.

8. Harnessing several dead horses together to increase speed.

9. Providing additional funding and/or training to increase dead horse's performance.

10. Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse's performance.

11. Declaring that as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overhead and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy than do some other horses.

12. Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses.

And of course bureaucrat’s favorite... ......... .....

13. Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position.

Caaan you zey, "Le taxpayer Ripoff"

Link

PARIS, Tenn. - Henry County officials have authorized a statue of a catfish to be erected on the Paris town square.

The fish will be wearing a beret in honor of the French sister city and its trademark cap.

Kudos to Gov Phil Bredesen and Dave Goetz

Most budget problems at the State and local level can and should be anticipated. Unfortunately. most elected officials refuse to deal with them until a tax hike is the only option to "solve" the crisis.

It appears that Governor Bredesen and Commissioner Goetz are looking ahead and reducing spending. Kudos to them both.

Link

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Administration officials have asked state departments and agencies to draw up plans for a possible 3 percent cut in their operating budgets next year.

The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz told officials in a memo last month that "because of current economic conditions, we must assume that we may undercollect state revenue estimates in the current year, lowering the base for projecting 2009-2010 revenues."

Amazon to sell wine but not to YOU Tennesseans

The Tennessee General Assembly thinks its ok for you to buy books online but don't even think about buying wine when Amazon starts selling.

Link

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Amazon.com, the largest global online retailer, plans to start selling U.S.-produced wine on its website within the United States by early October, wine industry insiders said on Wednesday.

Napa Valley Vintners, a nonprofit group representing 315 vintners in the famous California wine-producing region, has already begun to set up workshops for wineries interested in selling through the retail giant, said Terry Hall, communications director for the group.

"They have been working for a while on this wine project. Now they are signing up the wineries," Hall told Reuters. "They're fast-tracking it right now."

California enters 70th day of budget stalemate

Corporate welfare cheats in Lewisburg? YUP

The City of Lewisburg offered tax breaks in return for "job creation." Turns out the jobs weren't created....imagine that. Here is an idea...let's keep the politicians OUT of the corporate welfare business and keep taxes low for everyone.

Link

There are about a dozen jobs at the two businesses in Lewisburg where it would appear that the PILOT Program contracts have been violated.

"We have identified two businesses in default," Binkley told the board led by Chairman Eddie Wiles.

Crediting city employee Lisa Jackson for helping him gather information, Binkley emphasized his caution in identifying the employers. He "put a question mark" next to the name of three employers on a list he's developed as he and Jackson have pored over documents related to these and other businesses with PILOT contracts.

The reason for the question mark is "because we just don't know" enough about the contracts, Binkley continued.

YEA!! Memphis will burden their taxpayers

with a new "$600 million" convention center. The insanity spreads and we will have yet another convention center to compete with our Nashville convention center.

Link

Less than a decade after costly delays and overruns plagued the expansion of the Memphis Cook Convention Center, the city is moving forward with plans to study whether to build a new convention center.

A group appointed by Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton earlier this year to study how to boost the local convention and tourism industry is planning to hire consultants to help weigh the feasibility of a new convention center, which could cost as much as $600 million to build. The panel will issue requests for proposals to hire the consultants.

New York State Legislator Indicted

Link

"Assemblyman Seminerio put his office up for sale to those willing to pay the right price," Mr. Garcia said. "The absence of genuine transparency in Albany provides cover for officials seeking to enrich themselves at the public expense."

Mr. Seminerio's assembly office declined to comment, and neither he nor his attorney could be reached yesterday.

Mr. Seminerio, a Democrat who served as a corrections officer before joining the Assembly 30 years ago, allegedly connected his "consulting" clients with powerful government officials who could further their interests. The U.S. attorney's office refused to identify the government contacts involved by name, instead describing them as various legislators, including committee chairs, and high-ranking agency officials. There is no indication in the complaint that they knew Mr. Seminerio was illegally profiting from their relationships with him.

Mr. Seminerio's alleged clients — some of whom were undercover or secretly cooperating with prosecutors — included executives involved in health care, corrections, and real estate. For example, prosecutors said, he promised to advocate a hospital's interests by speaking with an Assembly committee chair about the state's health care budget.

"I could talk to anybody in Albany," he said in an excerpt of the conversation, which was recorded by the FBI. "I'll take care of you."

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Invest in Democrats

Link HT: Greg Mankiw

Top Recipients of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Campaign Contributions, 1989-2008

1. Dodd, Christopher J, D-CT
2. Kerry, John, D-MA
3. Obama, Barack, D-IL
4. Clinton, Hillary, D-NY

Hank Paulson's Letter to Taxpayers, what a guy!

Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson wants to congratulate us on our recent purchase, which he negotiated, of $5 trillion in Fannie/Freddie debt....AND he hopes to be able to find even MORE "investment" opportunities for us in the future. With friends like this we sure as hell don't need enemies..

Link HT: Dave Westheimer

Dear US Taxpayer,

I would like to congratulate you on your recent purchase. I am glad I was able to convince you that now is the ideal time to offer an uncapped backstop on a $5.2 trillion book of mortgages. We here at the Treasury Dept (along with our sisters over at the Fed), appreciate your repeat business. I am confident that this acquisition will be a profitable one; perhaps even more profitable than your recent purchase of JPMorgan’s Bear Stearns’ liabilities!

Please know that we are actively seeking more deals on which we can work together. I am confident we will find more interesting opportunities before the end of the year.

Yours Truly,
Hank Paulson

Hey, don't laugh. Its probably better than the VW deal

The geniuses in the Michigan Economic Development Department spent $116 million of the taxpayers money on three "venture" funds and these funds have produced....drum roll!!

40 jobs...that's about $3 million for each job.

The taxpayer's prayer:

May the Good Lord above save us from Politicians with good intentions.

Just when you thought your child rearing days were

over, your uncle creates a few more problems for you to solve.

Gramps wants money back after bad "terminal" diagnosis

Link

Andy Lees, 72, handed out £12,000 of his life savings to family and friends because he believed he was dying.

He also spent a further £6,500 planning his own funeral.

But a year after their initial diagnosis, staff at St John's Hospital in Livingston, West Lothian, have now told the pensioner he does not have terminal cancer and is suffering from a different illness.

Mr Lees, from Blackburn, West Lothian, said: "I nearly fell through the floor when they told me, I couldn't believe it.

"I gave away my life savings because I didn't think I would need them. Now I am broke.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Halleeeeeeluuuuuujaaaaah

Link

Sixty-two percent (62%) of voters say encouraging economic growth in America is more important than closing the gap between the rich and poor, and the best way to do that is for the government to move out of the way.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 32% of voters take the opposite view, and say reducing the gap between the rich and poor is more important. A survey conducted back in January found that 53% of voters said creating economic growth was more important, while 40% said that of reducing the economic class gap.

Dr Housing Bubble: no one "deserves" to own a home

He is right. And I must admit I was wrong about this.....I saw increased home ownership over the last 5-7 years as a good thing. Turns out, all the ridiculous "incentives" put in place by the President Bush and the geniuses in Congress motivated a lot of people to buy homes who simply didn't have the earnings to pay the mortgage.

Link

Somewhere along the line society got this Newtonian idea that giving loans out to anyone to purchase a home with no collateral was somehow a smart financial move. The rosy red idea was that everyone should participate in the American dream of homeownership regardless of whether you actually deserved it. Basically many people arrived at the conclusion that owning a home was the equivalent to a free lunch. At the rates that homes were appreciating, it looked like to the masses that the fountain of free money had been discovered. As it turned out, it is one of the most boneheaded financial moves we have witnessed in the last century.

School Choice at work in Nashville and Memphis

Link

Two Rivers isn't the only school to experience the increase. Usually the district receives fewer than 100 parents applying for a school change, but this year more than 750 applied.

About 450 actually made a switch and about 140 opted for extra tutorial instruction instead of changing schools.

The district reassigns students by looking at the school they want to leave."Then we look at schools that are nearby in good standing," said Olivia Brown with Metro Schools.

Brown said the huge increase may be due to more awareness. When the state took over Metro schools, communication with parents was one area the district was told that needed to improve.

Link

Nearly 4,000 fewer students have enrolled in MCS so far this school year, creating a surplus of teachers relative to the pupil/teacher ratios required by the state.

Metro Codes assesses $1,000 repair...oops

Link

Richard and Barbara Arnold bought their home in Old Hickory in 1985.

Suddenly, after 23 years, the Metro Codes Department issued them a violation saying their front steps are unsafe.

The citation gave the couple only 30 days to erect a railing or face court costs and a fine of $50 a day.

Feeling threatened, the Arnold's hired a company to install a railing.

It was winter and with such short notice, it cost the couple $1,000.

All along the Arnold's wondered why they had to install a railing and not their neighbors, whom many of which have similar homes with similar front steps.

It turns out they didn't.

Link

Another Cnty in Texas puts check register online

This is GREAT news...which County Commission in Tennessee will be the first to follow their lead?

Link

The county joins Collin County as the second governmental body in the state to register individual checks, making them available for viewing by the general public. Smith County auditor Ann Wilson expects checks will be available to the public via the county's website within 30 days.

Fred Thompson on Fannie Fredie Bailouts

Link

You’d think we’d have learned by now: when the backstop of the federal treasury makes it easier for politicians, lenders, borrowers, welfare recipients, government contractors, or anyone else, to serve their own self interest at the expense of the taxpayer, many will do just that.

That is why we continue to see self-dealing, moral lapses, outright fraud and lack of management and oversight in a wide array of programs and government-sponsored entities, from housing to Medicare, education and the Small Business Administration, all costing taxpayers billions, even trillions of dollars.

Our Founding Fathers knew more than a little bit about human nature. It is one reason why in the Constitution, the federal government was given certain delineated powers and no others. I hate to burst another bubble, but our government simply doesn’t have the authority or the capability to be the guarantor or insurer of our every need or desire. Isn’t it time we started sending that message loud and clear to the big enablers in Washington?

NC Supreme Ct to decide if Lottery is a Tax

Link

One of the things the judges are taking into consideration is an amicus curiae brief submitted by the Tax Foundation, arguing that lottery profits are tax revenue. A tax is a charge imposed by the government at least in part to raise revenue, paid by broad swath of the public, and used for a general government function. Because 35% of the revenue generated by North Carolina's lottery is used for education spending, and this is in excess of what is needed to administer and operate the lottery, it is an implicit tax.

Observers agreed that the justices seemed engaged and informed as the argument proceeded, leaving the ultimate outcome in doubt. Former Justice Robert Orr presented the case for the NCICL, noting that the question before the Court is whether the 35% portion is a tax. Responding to a question from Justice Robin E. Hudson, Orr agreed that that the fact that the lottery raises revenue does not by itself resolve the question. Orr argued that for the state to win, it would have to (1) disregard the fact that the 35% portion going to the North Carolina general fund is a separate component from the funds used to operate the lottery and pay prizes, (2) rely solely on a question of "voluntariness," which is dangerous since such a rule would turn virtually any tax into a non-tax, and (3) treat the 35% as profit, and have the state in the profit-making business.

FBI Report: Extremist Symbols and Tatoos

Link

Term Limits Ad from NY-Politicians and Diapers

Brit landlords demolish bldgs to avoid vacancy tax

Link (video)

Buildings are being knocked down as businesses seek to avoid paying tax on empty properties, a government regeneration chief has warned. John Nicholls, chief executive of the Urban Regeneration Companies, said the scrapping of rate relief on empty industrial property was leading to "pre-emptive demolitions". John Moylan reports.

UmbrellaToday.com sends text msg when you need one

Link

Pastors challenge IRS ban on candidate endorsement

Link

The effort by the Arizona-based legal consortium is designed to trigger an IRS investigation that ADF lawyers would then challenge in federal court. The ultimate goal is to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to throw out a 54-year-old ban on political endorsements by tax-exempt houses of worship.

"For so long, there has been this cloud of intimidation over the church," ADF attorney Erik Stanley said. "It is the job of the pastors of America to debate the proper role of church in society. It's not for the government to mandate the role of church in society."

Newspapers should learn Blackmail Game

Great article in the Wall Street Journal...if Volkswagen can extort $600 million from Tennessee Taxpayers and the Big Three Automakers can extort $50 billion from the Federal Government (they are currently lobbying Congress)....why can't newspapers go to taxpayers, hat in hand? They are certainly important...so why haven't they learned the blackmail game?

Link

Philosophically, if the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae debacles teach us any lesson, it is that subsidizing private profits with public risk is a terrible idea. Implicit government backing has led the managements of these two companies to make reckless investments that have backfired badly. Now government backing has become explicit, and under the plan announced by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson yesterday, taxpayers likely will pay billions to keep Fannie and Freddie solvent -- with the exact amount uncertain.

The Detroit Three got into their current quandary by making decades of bad decisions, with some help from the United Auto Workers union. Yet despite the current crisis, General Motors is still paying dividends to shareholders, the car companies are paying bonuses to executives, and the private-equity billionaires at Cerberus who bought Chrysler are trying to reap enormous rewards from their risky investment. Meanwhile the UAW's Jobs Bank -- which pays laid-off workers for doing nothing -- remains in place.

[...]

And what about the precedent the government would set? If we bail out Detroit, where do we stop? The newspaper industry is in financial trouble because more readers and advertisers are turning to the Internet. Newspapers are good for democracy -- Thomas Jefferson said he would choose newspapers over government, after all -- so shouldn't they get low-interest government loans to help them adjust to the Internet? Of course not, and ditto for Detroit.

29%-37% share Prescription Meds family/friends

Link

Borrowing and sharing of prescription drugs among friends and family is common, particularly among younger women, a new report shows.

Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveyed more than 25,000 adults and found that sharing of prescription drugs is common, with 29 percent of women and 27 percent of men engaging in the practice.

But drug-sharing rates were highest among younger women ages 18 to 44, raising special concerns about side effects and health risks of unchecked prescription drug use among women who might become pregnant. Among the 7,500 women of reproductive age in the survey, more than one in three shared prescription drugs with friends or used medication offered by friends, according to the report, published in The Journal of Women’s Health. Among women of reproductive age, about 37 percent shared drugs, compared to 20 percent of women in other age groups.

Government "solving" problems which it created

and if the past is any indication these solutions will create even MORE problems which Government will then have to "solve" etc etc etc:

Government bails out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac which of course were both created by the geniuses in Congress

Government Ethanol mandates likely to force 100 million people back into poverty

HEY!! Here is a revolutionary idea, why don't we assume that individual American citizens can make better decisions about their interests and welfare than the geniuses in Congress? Hmmmmm?

Unscientific poll of UT Students: lower taxes

Link

Overall results

* Of the 25 students who responded, 15 favored lower taxes and fewer government programs, while 10 supported higher taxes and more government support.

* 13 of the students claimed to support Sen. Barack Obama in the upcoming presidential election, while 10 favored Sen. John McCain. Two participants are currently undecided.

* 20 of the 25 students said that a candidate's economic beliefs would be "important" or "very important" when voting this fall. Only one said economic issues are "not important at all."

* Of the 14 females polled, eight supported the McCain-Palin ticket; seven of the 11 males, however, supported the Obama-Biden ticket.

Ax the Food Tax Rally in Elizabethtown Ky

Future of LBS Location based services-GPS etc

Link

Collection of WWII Govt Posters

Link

Other Free Public Domain photo/image collections

Image/Photo Search Engines

Airtreks: around the world ticket for $1,800

Link

Airtreks.com is the worldwide leader in providing affordable, customized and efficient international air tickets through advanced technologies for complex multi-stop international journeys.

Airtreks.com enables travelers and travel agents to create customized itineraries -- with an unlimited number of destinations -- and receive instant online price estimates with one click.

Our distinctive global sourcing strategy and proprietary technology make it possible for AirTreks to offer unique international air tickets at substantial discounts compared to the typical published fares that are offered by airlines, and other travel agencies and airfare Web sites.

AirTreks' staff of personal travel consultants includes leading international travel experts who work to optimize every traveler’s choice for airlines, routes and fares. It is crucial for people to have a say in how they want to travel!

Govt Pension crisis visits Rutherford Cnty

and it will continue to hammer taxpayers because Governments at all levels have agreed to pay ridiculous retirement benefit packages which taxpayers simply can't afford.

Link

County Mayor Ernest Burgess warned the commissioners they must determine how to pay for many more retiree benefits in the future.

"We must get this under some reasonable control," Burgess said.

The proposed changes to the retiree health insurance were only a small step and would not have resolved the county's long-term issue of paying for the promised benefits, county Insurance Director Lois Miller said before the meeting.

"It will take us a few years to work our way through it," said Miller, noting that the county must acknowledge its long-term costs to comply with new Governmental Accounting Standards Board guidelines.

Free Market method of closing a strip club

Club owners originally claimed they were opening a family-friendly restaurant -- "Skeeter's Big Biscuits" -- in order to get the proper permits.

Link

LAVONIA, Ga. (Sept. 5) - The windowless building that once housed the town's only strip club sits empty in the middle of a sprawling gravel parking lot, made all the uglier by the scars from its final party.

This summer, a mob led by the mayor tore down gaudy billboards advertising topless dancers, put plywood over glass doors bearing a nude silhouette and purged the awnings proclaiming the incendiary name of the club — Cafe Risque — in a diesel-fueled bonfire.

Now Mayor Ralph Owens stands at the place where XXX once marked the spot, his grin widening as he takes out a set of jingling keys from his blue jeans.

"You want to take some pictures inside?" he says with a smirk, walking toward the metal building. "We own it."

Seven years after Lavonia was duped into allowing the strip club to open, it got even by secretly buying the club in a backhanded property swap. It cost the town $1 million, or roughly a third of Lavonia's annual budget. The deal could have come cheaper if Lavonia hadn't gone through a middleman.

But Owens says it was worth it, and Lavonia residents still stinging from the deception are eager to back him up.

"We're in the Bible Belt," says Ron Walters, the owner of a downtown flower shop. "You just don't do things like that here."

Judge: City of Vallejo can proceed with Bankruptcy

Link

VALLEJO – A federal judge ruled Friday the city of Vallejo's bankruptcy case can move forward, rejecting a legal challenge by its police and firefighters unions.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael McManus in Sacramento ruled that Vallejo met the legal requirements of Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection. He rejected the unions' arguments that the city's finances weren't as bad as officials claimed.

[...]

Vallejo's case is being watched closely by other cities and counties that are saddled with employment contracts they can't afford.

Online digital intimacy: the implications

Very interesting NYT article on the implication of the Facebook, Twitter culture.

Link

It is easy to become unsettled by privacy-eroding aspects of awareness tools. But there is another — quite different — result of all this incessant updating: a culture of people who know much more about themselves. Many of the avid Twitterers, Flickrers and Facebook users I interviewed described an unexpected side-effect of constant self-disclosure. The act of stopping several times a day to observe what you’re feeling or thinking can become, after weeks and weeks, a sort of philosophical act. It’s like the Greek dictum to “know thyself,” or the therapeutic concept of mindfulness. (Indeed, the question that floats eternally at the top of Twitter’s Web site — “What are you doing?” — can come to seem existentially freighted. What are you doing?) Having an audience can make the self-reflection even more acute, since, as my interviewees noted, they’re trying to describe their activities in a way that is not only accurate but also interesting to others: the status update as a literary form.

Laura Fitton, the social-media consultant, argues that her constant status updating has made her “a happier person, a calmer person” because the process of, say, describing a horrid morning at work forces her to look at it objectively. “It drags you out of your own head,” she added. In an age of awareness, perhaps the person you see most clearly is yourself.

Remember all the taxpayer subsidies for DELL?

Well, reports indicate that ole Dell has decided they don't want to be in the electronics manufacturing business.

Yes, Dear Taxpayer, politicians just loved showing up when DELL came to town and told us how our "investment" would pay off...I wonder how many will show up when DELL closes factories. I can just see them now at the plant closing press conference!! NOT!!

Link

Dell is currently trying to sell all its factories to contract electronics manufacturers - at least that's what the Wall Street Journal reported this morning. Apparently, Dell is keen to dispose of most, if not all, of its factories within one and a half years.

[...]

Folks working in Dell factories throughout Texas, Tennessee, North Carolina, Florida, Ireland, India, China, Brazil, Malaysia and Lodz, Poland ought to take note.

Open Records Hearing: Our Rights in Jeopardy

Just as I feared, the folks who are most active in opposing easy access to open records are OUR OWN GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES who are supposed to serve US, the citizens but who, in fact, consider citizens to be a damn nuisance.

Here is a short clip from this morning's public hearing at the Open Records Advisory Committee. MTAS legal consultant Josh Jones says citizens should be charged for open records requests that take more than ONE hour to complete. He says the 2 and 4 hour allowances are just too much...GOOD GRIEF!! This is depressing....even the 2 and 4 hour limits are FAR too small and he is asking for even less.

Convention Pary Invitations

Democratic Convention Party invites

Republican Convention Party invites

McCain on Education Choice

Link

Equal access to public education has been gained, but what is the value of access to a failing school?

We need to shake up failed school bureaucracies with competition, empower parents with choice.

Let’s remove barriers to qualified instructors, attract and reward good teachers, and help bad teachers find another line of work.

When a public school fails to meet its obligations to students, parent — when it fails to meet its obligations to students, parents deserve a choice in the education of their children. And I intend to give it to them.

Some may choose a better public school. Some may choose a private one. Many will choose a charter school. But they will have the choice, and their children will have that opportunity.

Senator Obama wants our schools to answer to unions and entrenched bureaucrats. I want schools to answer to parents and students.

And when I’m president, they will.

Newspaper revenues continue downward trend

Even free newspapers decline.

Link

Total newspaper advertising revenues fell by $3 billion in the first six months of this year to $18.8 billion, the lowest level in a dozen years, according to data published today by the Newspaper Association of America.

The record 14% sales plunge featured the first-ever drop in online sales. Interactive revenues slipped by 2.3% in the second quarter of this year to $776.6 million. For the entire first half, online sales rose a modest $35 million, or 2.3%, to a bit less than $1.6 billion.

The $3 billion decline in just six months is equal to 6.6% of the industry's total sales of $45.4 billion in 2007.

As you can see in the chart below, print revenues have declined at an almost continuously accelerating rate for nine straight quarters since the second quarter of 2006.

The Wonder of Free Markets-Google at 10 yrs old

Link

Google’s age: 10
Microsoft’s age: 33

Google’s revenue in the last 4 quarters: $19.6 billion
Microsoft’s revenue in the last 4 quarters: $60.4 billion

Microsoft’s revenue at age 10: $140 million
($279 million in today’s dollars)

Google’s revenue per hour in the last 4 quarters: $2.2 million
Microsoft’s revenue per hour in the last 4 quarters: $6.9 million

Google net income in the last 4 quarters: $4.85 billion
Microsoft’s net income in the last 4 quarters: $17.6 billion

Google employees, as of June 30th: 19,604
Microsoft employees, as of May 31st: 89,809

Google’s revenue per employee: $1 million
Microsoft revenue per employee: $672,000

Market value of Google: $142 billion
Market value of Microsoft: $241 billion

Number of tech companies with a market value larger than Google’s: 3 (Microsoft, IBM and Apple, in that order)

Worldwide searches on Google in July: 48.7 billion
Worldwide searches on Microsoft in July: 2.3 billion

Worldwide searches per hour on Google in July: 65 million
Worldwide searches per hour on Microsoft in July: 3.1 million

Tennessee Banks with "weak" rating from theStreet

From theStreet.com (use Internet Explorer.) Here is more info.

American Bank & Trust, Livingston, TN D-
American Patriot Bank, Greeneville, TN D-
American Security Bank & Trust, Hendersonville, TN D+
Avenue Bank, Nashville, TN D+
Bank of Bartlett, Bartlett, TN D+
Bank of Mason, Mason, TN D-
Bank of Tullahoma, Tullahoma, TN D
BankEast, Knoxville, TN D-
CapitalMark Bank & Trust, Chattanooga, TN D
CedarStone Bank, Lebanon, TN D
Citizens Bank & Trust, Atwood, TN D-
Citizens Bank, New Tazewell, TN D
Citizens Bank, Rogersville, TN D+
Civic Bank & Trust, Nashville, TN D
Commerce Union Bank, Springfield, TN D
Community National Bank, Morristown, TN D+
Community South Bank, Parsons, TN D-
First Alliance Bank, Cordova, TN D+
First Freedom Bank, Lebanon, TN D
First Tennessee Bank, Memphis, TN D+
First Vision Bank, Tullahoma, TN D
Foothills Bank & Trust, Maryville, TN D
Heritage Bank & Trust, Columbia, TN D-
Heritage Community Bank, Greeneville, TN D+
Landmark Community Bank, Memphis, TN D
MidSouth Bank, Murfreesboro, TN D-
Mountain Commerce Bank, Erwin, TN D-
Paragon National Bank, Memphis, TN D-
Putnam 1st Mercantile Bank, Cookeville, TN D
Reliant Bank, Brentwood, TN D-
SmartBank, Pigeon Forge, TN D-
State of Franklin Saving Bank, Johnson City, TN D-
Sumner Bank & Trust, Gallatin, TN D
Tri-State Bank, Memphis, TN D+
TriSummit Bank, Kingsport, TN D
Triumph Bank, Memphis, TN D-

Chattanooga Councilman got free Cocaine for 2 yrs

Councilman Franklin was caught earlier this year in a drug sweep. He resigned in June. Court filings now show he says he received free cocaine for more than two years while in office from another drug defendant Michael Kelly.

The State of TN owes ITSELF? money..yup

When you or I owe the State money we MUST pay. When the State owes itself money, well, they will get to it when they have a chance. Kudos to Candidate Ron Hickman and WSMV's Nancy Amons.

Link

The University of Tennessee has 23 different unclaimed accounts and more than $3,600 in unclaimed money."We can find the University of Tennessee, and we will return the property to the University of Tennessee and the other departments," said Assistant Treasury Commissioner Steve Curry.Curry said that returning money to other state departments hasn't been a high priority because it's basically just moving money from the left pocket to the right. He said they'll work on it and start making some transfers.So how does the state let people know it's holding their money?It advertises in the paper, writes to people's last-known addresses and posts the listings on the state Web site.

"Economic Development" = Political Theater of the

absurd.

More specifically, taxpayer funded political theater of the absurd.

An "Orange Carpet" tour of West Tennessee will consist of thinly veiled political rallies where taxpayer funded STATE Economic Development officials will get muscle cramps from patting taxpayer funded LOCAL Economic Development officials on the back for all the "work" they have done. When, in fact, the only "work" they have done is to participate in ceremonies where they get patted on the back. POLITICIANS, or their surrogates, DO NOT CREATE JOBS!!!! They create photo ops!!

Link

Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen said he is determined to keep jobs in small communities.

Wednesday officials with his Orange Carpet tour toured areas of West Tennessee in an effort to help industry leaders determine their strengths and weaknesses.

"Unique quality workforce, great quality of life, and we just want to help these communities present that to prospective industry as it comes into this state," Ian Prunty of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development said.

Consultants said in many ways, West Tennessee is already prepared to attract new industry because of its strong workforce, good utilities, and a solid infrastructure.

"A lot of good potential with neighboring communities, they have a potential mega-site, great bedroom community, good schools. There's a lot of things going for it," consultant Greg Van Kirk said.

Thursday, officials will tour industrial areas in Haywood county. State leaders said the Orange Carpet tour will continue as long as rural communities need guidance in helping attract new industry.

NYT: IRS goes after web based church politic-ing

Link

This month, Maury Davis, the pastor of a megachurch in Nashville, told his congregation that I.R.S. rules prohibited him from saying at the pulpit what he could say as a private citizen: that he supported three parishioners running for school board, whom he then named. His remarks, posted in a video on the church Web site, made it into the local newspaper, and the watchdog group Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed a complaint with the revenue service.

“What we are learning is that you can preach to the choir and say anything you want to people who think just like you do,” said Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, an author and blogger who frequently explores the intersection of religion and new media, “or you can preach to the world and accept certain limits.”

Some church officials are chafing at those limits. “The I.R.S. goes, and it’s scouring the Internet looking for trouble," said Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for a conservative Christian group called the Alliance Defense Fund, which defends clergy members accused of partisan activities. “It is our contention that in church it is the pastor who should determine what is said, not the I.R.S.”

The agency has long had the authority to revoke the tax-exempt status of religious and charitable groups — known as 501(c)(3) organizations under a law passed in 1954 — if they participate in “activities that favor or oppose one or more candidates for public office.”

Nerd tries to get California Govt to Sue him

Kudos to Carl Malamud!! He is trying to force California to sue him because he is distributing government documents which the State of California says are copyrighted...by the Government!!

Link HT: Hit and Run

California's building codes, plumbing standards and criminal laws can be found online.

But if you want to download and save those laws to your computer, forget it.

The state claims copyright to those laws. It dictates how you can access and distribute them -- and therefore how much you'll have to pay for print or digital copies.

It forbids people from storing or distributing its laws without consent.

That doesn't sit well with Carl Malamud, a Sebastopol resident with an impressive track record of pushing for digital access to public information. He wants California -- and every other federal, state and local agency -- to drop their copyright claims on law, contending it will pave the way for innovators to create new ways of searching and presenting laws.

"When it comes to the law, the courts have always said there can be no copyright because people are obligated to know what it says," Malamud said. "Ignorance of the law is no excuse in court."

Malamud is spoiling for a major legal fight.

Grover on McCain's Tax Reform Proposals

Best Lemonade Stand by Two Young Entrepreneurs

Hunter and Gunnar, two boys making a success by serving their customers.

Progressive choice: Union support or good teachers?

Link

What does the public system do for those children losing the Rawls lottery, who find themselves growing up in poor urban school districts? All too often, it assigns them to schools with decades long histories of academic failure. These children will serially suffer ineffective instructors.

Frighteningly high percentages of these students will never learn to read at a developmentally appropriate age. Many will never learn to read. Such students fall further and further behind each year. Unable to read their textbooks, never envisioning themselves advancing on to higher education, they will begin to dropout in large numbers in late middle school.

Fortunately, it is not hard to envision a better system. Public schools today are spending beyond the dreams of avarice for administrators from previous decades. We simply need to get a much better bang for our buck. A captive audience of students sponsors and promotes adult dysfunction in our schools. We should radically expand parental choice options for parents, especially for those for disadvantaged students.

More broadly, our students desperately need a complete overhaul of the entire system of human resource development and compensation for teachers. The system we have today largely reflects the preferences of the education unions. The education unions oppose parental choice, merit pay for teachers, alternative certification or differential pay based on teacher shortages. All of these positions are rational for a union boss, but detrimental to children.Progressives have traditional ties with organized labor, including the education unions. This marriage will not last.

Like virtually every commuter train project in the US

Denver's commuter train costs have ballooned out of control. The original costs estimates were a very bad joke on Denver taxpayers.

Link

Two of FasTracks' 10 transit corridors now exceed $1 billion each in cost and together account for half of the spiraling price increase from $4.7 billion to $7.9 billion over the past four years, according to figures released by RTD on Tuesday.

Cost increases on the 23.6-mile East Corridor commuter train from downtown to Denver International Airport and the 18-mile North Metro Corridor commuter train from downtown to Commerce City and Thornton add up to more than $1.6 billion of the $3.2 billion cost increase.

Government's Tobacco Tax Addiction

Link

But in a tobacco regulation bill adopted overwhelmingly in July, the House of Representatives voted to ban every type of cigarette flavoring but menthol. Now proponents are pushing leaders in the Senate to take up the bill next month before lawmakers leave for the November election or risk ending up back at square one when a new Congress takes over in January.

The decision to exempt menthol from the flavoring ban may appear illogical until you dissect the economics of cigarettes and their impact on government. A growing reliance by the states and federal government on cigarette taxes — as well as a popular proposal to increase federal taxes by 61 cents to an even $1 per pack to finance the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, S-chip — provide a sort of insurance policy for the continued survival of menthol cigarettes.

Tennessee Download Tax already hitting

Link

The state began taxing downloads of music, books and other digital products as “pre-written software” in January. Officials with the Tennessee Department of Revenue said they couldn’t give a figure on how much tax has been collected because sales tax from downloads isn’t broken out as a separate item in their records.

Sara Jo Houghland, a spokeswoman for the Department of Revenue, said companies that have facilities in Tennessee must collect.

“Any seller of digital (downloads) that has a physical presence in Tennessee has been required and will continue to be required to collect Tennessee sales tax on these items,” she said.

Nicole Negrete, 19, a student at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, said adding tax to digital download sales may have a detrimental effect on digital sales.

Kisber giving away more taxpayer money...good grief

How did we get into this surreal situation? Matt Kisber flies around the State sprinkling taxpayer dollars on corporate fat cats in secret deals...what the hell has become of our Democracy???

Link HT: Don Fenley

Harrell said the incentives presented here were outlined according to two scenarios. One is if American Greetings' local operations are merely maintained here, while the other is if the local operations are expanded by moving the company's Kalamazoo operations here.

Without being specific, the Greene County Partnership's president indicated that what mainly is being offered the company are tax-reduction incentives, with the larger amounts being offered by the state rather than locally.

Eyebrow grooming for men? Give me a break!

Link

Some people may be raising their eyebrows at one of the latest trends for men.

Men are putting the razors and trimmers aside and picking up the tweezers and wax to get a more precise look for their brows.

The days of the unibrow are gone as more men try to create a streamlined look for their brows and keep up with the women in the grooming department.

Men's beauty companies, such as national beauty retailer Sephora, offer brow grooming options for men, including the Jean Paul Gaultier brow pencil and brow groomer for $14 and $18 respectively.

More State Income Tax Protest Pics: 2001-2

Kisber flies State plane to/from vacation

So called "Economic development" at the State level is conducted in SECRET by vote seeking politicians. Now we know they are also spending taxpayer money on nearly empty State planes.

Link

In mid-July, when Volkswagen decided it would build a new plant in Chattanooga, state Commissioner of Economic and Community Development Matt Kisber was hundreds of miles away, vacationing with his family in the Gulf Coast resort town of Destin, Fla.

As the deal came together, it didn't take long for him to get to Chattanooga for the July 15 public announcement. Days before, he requested a state plane, a six-seat Beechcraft that costs about $600 an hour, to come pick him up.

After the announcement, he returned to the airport and reboarded the same plane. Soon, Kisber was back on the Gulf Coast with his family, and the plane returned to Nashville empty, records show.

The plane is one of five owned by the state that officials routinely use to jet across Tennessee from the Smoky Mountains to the Mississippi River. The use of the plane to pick up Kisber from vacation is one of hundreds of flights documented in flight records maintained by state agencies, which must keep track of destinations, purposes of plane requests, passenger lists and costs.

Kisber acknowledged that the use of the state plane to pick him up was unusual, but said it was vital that he get to Chattanooga quickly.

Microsoft granted a patent on PgUp/PgDn??

Surely they jest....our copyright and patent laws need major reform if this is not a hoax.....they need major reform anyway. The drug companies have far too much time to milk drug patents.

Link

Free Market finally taking hold in Africa and doing

what decades of foreign aid could not, create a middle class.

Link

Although the continent has always had a modest middle class made up mostly of government workers or others tied to the ruling elite, the middle ranks have begun to expand in recent years with private sector employees. They include secretaries, computer gurus, merchants and others who by virtue of education, geography or luck have benefited from economic growth of around 6 percent annually in such countries as Uganda, Ghana and Kenya, and around 8 percent in Rwanda. Increasingly, they are entrepreneurs such as Ruharo, who represents the wealthier end of the spectrum and whose company is an offshoot of the newly booming cellphone industry.

Though critics say the trickledown effect is meager, others credit leaders of those countries with adopting relatively sound economic policies that have allowed the private sector to expand, driving what analysts say is the highest level of consumer demand the continent has ever seen.

Gustav charity scams ramp-up online

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Nearly 100 domains related to Hurricane Gustav have been registered in the past 48 hours, security experts said Sunday, some of which may be used by bogus charity and relief scams after the storm strikes the U.S. Gulf Coast.

According to television station KTAL in Shreveport, La., the office of Louisiana's Attorney General Buddy Caldwell has warned residents of Gustav phishing attacks already in progress.

On Saturday, Marcus Sachs, the director of the SANS Institute's Internet Storm Center (ISC), noted that numerous domains containing the word "gustav," "charity," "hurricane," and "relief" had been recently registered.