Political commentary and awareness
Right! Sure. Billy you just keep fooling yourself.
"These are great jobs with bright, creative people who have created something that’s special here," Haslam said. "When you talk about the media production business, now you talk about Knoxville in the same league as New York and Chicago and L.A. And maybe this is an even better place." [Source]
Why?
Statement of Purpose: To restore habeas corpus for those detained by the United States.
Tennessee: Alexander (R-TN), Nay Corker (R-TN), Nay
[Source]
See also and also. On the positive side, at least http://www.senate.gov/ is using ColdFusion.
Do you have your chalk ready for tomorrow? Writing on the sidewalks is not vandalism or graffiti, it’s art! And it washes away.
Campaign to shift the paradigm from conflict to UNITY. From a double negative "No to War" To a double positive "Yes to Peace" [Source]
“Chalk4Peace” is a very simple, fun and inexpensive peace action
that you can implement in your local community [Source]
Get out tomorrow and draw a peace sign or a heart on the sidewalk!
Don’t take hand lotion to the airports! Hand lotion is the next terror substance! Because..well..uh, terrorists have smooth hands? No, that can’t be it. Um… No..can’t publish that thougth.. that would take away the G rating of this blog? What’s that? I lost my G rating? Oh I never had one! So, Knoxville wants to be Boston?
A white substance left in a hospital emergency room, prompting a quarantine of the area may have been a hand lotion. [Source]
Oh NO! Potentially deadly substance found in hospital! What do we do?!
"It smelled good, so we’re thinking it was a hand lotion," [Source]
That’s right! Stick yer nose in that thar anthax and tell me ifn its dangerous. After the spokeswoman for the Knox County Health Department, whose job is apparently to go to crime scenes and shove her nose into unknown substances, you know, like medieval food tasters!, after she lived, it was determined that something had to be done with the substance.
A private contractor that handles the hospital’s wastes will incinerate the bottle and contents, Dougherty said. [Source]
You got that right! We determined the substance to be inert and harmless so instead of having a hospital employee, or the high paid (she does get paid well for shoving her nose into stuff right?) health department employee, or for that matter one of the sick people at the hospital, or a child, to simply throw the container into the trashcan, we are going to pay a "private contractor" (read that as expensive) to dispose of the substance. I had the personal privilege of working with one of the fine companies in Oak Ridge who get paid to move hazardous waste around. You know those spray cans of paint, compressed air, and so forth that you so casually chunk into the trash can? Those are considered hazardous materials and government agencies have to pay to have them "properly disposed of" which means that they are dumped into 50 gallon drums, sealed, and shipped to a landfill at $10,000 per drum. Not tightly packed mind you. Sure, they could fit a lot more cans in a drum if the spray cans were put in an orderly fashion but if you just throw them in the drum you have to create more $10,000 invoices (and it takes less time). So you can bet the private contractor is going to take a vacation on that container of hand lotion.
Does anyone think before they jump anymore? Or has the government just got you that scared! Is this over? No way! For your enjoyment, the News Sentinel promises to spend more money on this horrific event!
More details as they develop online and in Friday’s News Sentinel. [Source]
Anyone know what teenage boys do with hand lotion? That’s what’s happening with your tax dollars right here!
First, that title says "George Carlin" so if you think you can click play on the video below and not hear a word that starts with F and rhymes with duck then you’re delusional. Second, I don’t think you’ll laugh, but you might cheer George on. Third, well, just watch the video.
Warning! Some adult language in the video. Also if you believe the 9/11 attacks were because of "your freedoms" you might have a hard time listening to this.
See also. Oh man! I just watched that whole thing. You really should see the last 2 minutes!
This just in!
KNOXVILLE (Rooters) The Department of Homeland Insecurity (DHI) has re-enacted the Local Militia Act of 1775 to close all bridges across the country. Head of DHI’s Transportation Division, Mr. Jack A Sinine, explains, "we have over extended our National Guard so calling upon local militia to barricade our bridges and protect the public’s safety is cost effective and a boon to the local economy. Instead of having starving farmers on their porches with shotguns they will sit in front of the bridges acting as transportation routes officials limiting logistical security. After collecting a toll which helps pay for their services, these TROLLS will steer people to the nearest airport preventing them from crossing the dangerous bridge and allowing us to take the traveler’s fingerprints, naked pictures with our x-ray scanners, and document their every move around the country for their own safety. They are still free to travel anywhere in the country as long as they do not cross a bridge. For their own safety!"[Source]
My wife should feel much better now!
The squirrels have been sent in!
A few weeks ago, 14 squirrels equipped with espionage systems of foreign intelligence services were captured by [Iranian] intelligence forces along the country’s borders. These trained squirrels, each of which weighed just over 700 grams, were released on the borders of the country for intelligence and espionage purposes. [Source]
I can’t get the squirrels out of my attic. How do you capture trained spying squirrels?! Perhaps Boris and Natasha were on contract! "We’v ‘ave Moose on our side now as doolble agent."
Thank you Ray Kurzweil!
Democratic lawmakers in Washington say they’re drafting a health care reform bill that would expand coverage for low-income kids. President Bush says he’ll veto any such legislation, warning that it would lead the nation "down the path to government-run health care for every American."
…
What’s particularly galling about Bush’s position is that it’s coming from a man who just underwent a colonoscopy performed at the taxpayer-funded, state-of-the-art medical facility at Camp David by an elite team of doctors from the taxpayer-funded National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.
[Source]
So, on July 4th, on your birthday, this is my wish for America and for Americans – that you remember that the right thing to do morally is almost always the right thing to do pragmatically. There is no choice between "freedom and safety"; there is no choice between prosperity and massive inequality; there is no choice between generosity and fiscal prudence and there is no such thing as "managed free speech".
Be the America the world loved. Be the America you can be proudest of – the one that does not torture, that treats all men as equal and with unalienable rights. Be the America that rebuilt Europe and that lends a helping hand to countries like Afghanistan. Be the America that would never invade a country that had not attacked you first. Be the America that is about lifting all boats and not just a few.
Be that America, and we will all be Americans.
[Source]
When Tommy declared, "There should be a law that you have to speak English in America."
I ranted at him for half an hour. I didn’t force my view upon him rather made an effort to open his mind to another perspective. I used examples such as "if you went to Spain, you should have to speak Spanish"
and he’d retort "but I am not living there"
so we went through what-if scenario after scenario and using examples such as the nice people who work at CiCi’s pizza and do not speak a word of English yet they communicate with the patrons just fine. Eventually Tommy was begging to end the conversation and I released him content that maybe he’d heard something; more than likely, he will simply think twice before raising such issues in front of me again (which would be a shame).
Since Tommy will vote for our next President, and since he gets plenty of far right opinion for other relatives, I felt it prudent that he and Sarah begin their political education. How fortunate that R. Neal of Knoxviews.com offered up some tickets to Michael Moore’s Sicko! I’m sure their grandfather will deprogram them afterwards. It is not the point-of-view that I want to impress upon the children as much as I want them to appreciate that there are multiple ways to see a subject, multiple solutions to a problem, and that they should try to see everything as if they were in that other person’s shoes. See you at the movie tonight!
Michael Silence is requesting some input. He asks, "Which 4 or 5 blogs do you recommend for following politics and issues in TN" and "What are the active blogs in West TN." Please follow each link and give him some feedbacks in his comment section under each post. Thanks!
You might want to read this essay derived from the official Libertarian platform adopted July 2, 2006.
The majority of you Libertarian converts have no freaking clue what Libertarians actually believe. All you know is that they aren’t Democrats, they aren’t Republicans, and they seem to have this thing against taxes. A lot of new Libertarians were recently Republicans, until the Republican Party got hijacked by a bunch of crazy Bible thumpers. Before that, I daresay a lot of you were Democrats, before the Democrats became a bunch of spineless wimps scared of their own shadows. [Source]
The parts that disturbed me the most were "Libertarians also believe in “full market ownership†of the airwaves and abolishing the FCC."
and the property rights stance. I could see full market ownership of the airwaves leading to a single company or entity owning everything broadcast. It would be lousy to get only one style, viewpoint, or genre over the airwaves. HAM radio would be destroyed. Under Libertarian property rights, only the wealthy could enjoy our natural resources (if any remained). Most likely, we would see our national parks developed into exclusive resorts and gated communities.