Like last year there will be:
Vendors (Clothing, candles, wreaths, jewelry, and Obama theme stuff)
A variety of food
Entertainment (Liturgical dancers)

Date: Today, Feb 28, 2009!
Time 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Location: The MLK Center
209 East Franklin Street
Alcoa TN 37707
Phone 983-1954

I saw some samples of some book marks which I liked. The best one was a photo of Inauguration Day 2009 looking out from the capitol towards the Washington monument. There was the “sea” of well wisher there to see Barack Obama assume the presidency.

Forrest Erickson

The Daily Times had this yesterday: http://www.thedailytimes.com/article/20090226/NEWS/302269983

At the end of the day, this will all be for a jury. Taking the position of a jury member, I think the planning before would be the area of which I would be most concerned. Points 26 through 31 in “Factual Assertions” could prove problematic. They can be found on page 5 and 6 of the complaint and are as follows:

26. John Doe I was in charge of supervising the activities of deputies Moore, Craig, Berkley and Gilmore on February 24, 2008, and knew that those officers were selecting from all the outstanding warrants to affect the arrest of Plaintiff’s decedent. John Doe I knew that there was no urgency with apprehending Mr. Hickman inasmuch as he was home alone and posed no threat to anyone, and knew that deputies had devised a special tactics plan which involved deceit, surprise, night-time tactics, and at least the threat of deadly force on a citizen who might be lawfully armed. John Doe I knew that no one had actually asked Mr. Hickman to submit to an arrest and that other means of apprehension were available and had not been tried and that the proposed plan of apprehension involved the threat of deadly force as a first rather than a last resort in clear violation of the Sheriff’s Department’s excessive force policy and the citizens’ constitutional rights.

27. Prior to execution of the fateful plan to arrest LeeRoy Hickman, Jr. at night by a team not wearing uniforms and employing deadly force, no direct contact had been made by any officer with Mr. Hickman by telephone or in person to inform him of the warrant and gain his cooperation therein.

28. During the night of February 24, 2008, Defendants Moore, Craig, Berkley and Gilmore came to Mr. Hickman’s home and entered onto his premises and its curtelage in darkness dressed in dark clothing and concealing their identity as agents of law enforcement.

29. Defendant Craig, wearing civilian clothing, knocked on Plaintiff’s decedent’s door pretending to have trouble with a vehicle parked in the street in front of Mr. Hickman’s yard and asked for Mr. Hickman’s assistance.

30. Plaintiff’s decedent left the relative safety of his home in the dark to assist Defendant Craig with her vehicle while unbeknownst to him Defendants Moore, Berkley and Gilmore were hiding in and around his home prepared to surprise him.

31. Once Mr. Hickman was lured away from his home to the street, one or more of the officers who had been hiding appeared from the darkness and began shouting commands to Mr. Hickman followed quickly by another officer chambering a shell in a pump shotgun, followed quickly by an officer beginning to shout “gun, gun, gun” and immediately followed by one or more of the officers opening fire.

One other thing I suppose we’ll have to wait for the trial to get clarity on, is the statement from the family. Robert Wilson summarizes a daughters statement here; http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/feb/26/man-fatally-shot-by-blount-deputies/

The filed complaint allows this in points 35 thru 37 in “Factual Assertions” ;

35. Following Mr. Hickman’s death, officers detained and questioned decedent’s wife and daughter for nearly two hours pretending to be conducting a continuing investigation of decedent’s alleged wrongdoing and demanding signed accounts of such wrongs, all the while failing to reveal that there was no ongoing case and that the sole purpose of their being asked to give statements was to justify the killing of their husband and father.

36. Following two hours of detention and interrogation Sheriff James Lee Berrong informed Mrs. Janice Hickman and her daughter of the death and demanded that his officers be given permission to search their home, again invading their privacy, solely for the purpose of justifying Mr. Hickman’s killing.

37. Following Plaintiff’s decedent’s death Sheriff Berrong took possession of Plaintiff’s residence and ordered his officers or agents to collect all evidence from the scene and subsequently for a Hazmat team to wash away the evidence of Plaintiff’s decedent’s location when shot. Sheriff Berrong publicly approved the officers planned tactics to affect the arrest of LeeRoy Hickman, Jr..

If the statements came before the family was told of the death, that could be problematic. But again, this will all be for a jury.

For more information; see the Berrong press conference here; http://www.asterpix.com/v/147778521/tn-ex-officer-hickman-killed-when-served-dv-warrant

This from WATE: http://www.wate.com/global/story.asp?s=7920555&ClientType=Printable

More from Wilson and the KNS: http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/feb/25/bcso-man-pointed-gun-officers-who-shot-killed-him/

Original article from the Daily Times; http://www.thedailytimes.com/article/20080225/NEWS/421951601

The site had a fatal crash. Restoration has left off some embeds and photos. Feel free to replace anything you find lost. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Glenwood Springs Post Independent Newspaper Monday Feb 23, 2009

“DA begins investigation of sheriff” is what the headline reads.

The article states “District Attorney Martin Benson said Friday that his office is investigating allegations of misconduct by Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario.

The article later states that “an anonymous e-mail sparked the investigation". The wrongdoing was an alleged affair with on of the sheriff’s employees.

The article went on to state “IT IS MY JURISDICTION AND MY JOB (Benson said) I will seek outside review on a voluntary basis". This was in response to being questioned about a possible conflict of interest. Really? The philosophy is much different in BC, TN.

If this Benson is an Attorney General, does the concept of corruption only change in the state of TN? Or just Blount County? Obviously this is the same “close working relationship"; only in Blount County, TN, our DA won’t investigate any of his own party members. Come to think of it, neither will the sheriff. I’m just curious what the difference is between CO and Blount County, TN.

Too bad we don’t have a DA like that in BC. Just think about all the SUBSTANTIATED allegations that have been against our local officials and sheriff only to have a bogus court system and third-rate ethics committee in place to keep their buddies out of trouble.

I hope that this post meets all the rules, but I wanted to give you all a good website

blountcountylp.org

This is the Blount County Libertarian Party’s website, but it also has Jay Polk and Derrick Harmon’s monthly talk show, Political Watch: Month in Reveiw.

There is a link on the above website that you can click and post articles/notes/whatever about the articles that we talk about on the show.

Enjoy!

Derrick

Link: http://www.motherjones.com/print/19945

When our deficits go sky high, let’s remember what was done BEFORE Obama and this Stimulus Plan. These numbers are without the war(s)being included, just the Feds handouts - from 8/9/07 through 11/10/08 (just 15 months) the Feds added a measely $3.4 TRILLION to the deficits.

http://www.motherjones.com/print/19945

I get REAL angry when I think of all the times during those 15 months we were being told that our economy was sound - not to worry.

(This link sends you to the article, which doesn’t quite give you all the information. Near the bottom of the article click on “print” and it will bring all the info into place.)

While we can spend hours upon hours debating the necessity, merits, and effectiveness of President Obama’s stimulus bill, one thing that I think many of us would agree on is the importance of community efforts in helping people hit hardest by the current economic climate. For those of us willing to donate time and/or resources, which charities are active right now in Blount County, what are they doing, and in what areas/activities do they need the most help?

.., as a foregone conclusion. Watch here; http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=6932460

So that’s that?

Paul Krugman, Nouriel Roubini, George Will and Suzy Welch seem like it’s simply time to roll over - and let an entity, our government, fix the mess they help make and promote in the first place. It’s like these conversations keep getting had like the “elephant in the room” is not really in the room. In this case, the collective “we” are the elephant.

At any rate, one thread recently has haunted my memory the past couple months. On Dec 23rd, poster Mr. Money Bags warned of “Zombie Banks"(read post here).

Roubini, nicknamed “Dr. Doom” because of accurate forecast of the current mess, also warned of “zombie banks” several times on This Week. I was hoping Mr. Money Bags (or anyone else), might be able to tell us banks to look out for or at least what to look for.

Since we’ve been looking back in tyme with admiration here, I am reminded of how the National Freaks affectd our lives here locally.

For those here, too young to remember, when folks were waving their flags, and shouting down anti-war protestors in the ’03’s, there was one Radio Station in Vestal that dared to speak out against the Exxon War. Their Call-In shows became extremely popular, as folks called in from miles around to express their distaste and disgust for the Bush Regime. This was too much for the local Politicians and Neo-Cons, so they had the Federalis step in to stamp out the only local voice of Freedom and Opposition.

In Novembre 2005, one Howard Baker of Scott County, decided to do a promotional stunt where he would publicly shoot himself in the foot on UT Campus. What was heralded as a Gala Event, International War Criminal Richard Bruce Cheney came to UT to give a speech, the media from it to be used for Tennessee Republicans’ Mid-Term election campaigns. Howard Baker cuddled up to the War Criminal as the event began.

However, no one can find an Audio Tape at all, of the event as it unfolded that Day. The cursing and screaming from the public was so loud that it couldn’t even be edited from Cheney’s platform microphone. The GOP campaign photographs as well were thrown in the garbage, because as far as the eye could see, in every direction there were protestors with signs screaming at the top of their lungs. I’m certain that poor old Baker wishes he’d stayed home that Day, instead of sitting next to an International War Criminal on a stage in front of jeering protestors. Definately not a high point in one’s career.

This table charts the key U.S. financial indices by their last reported value and change since the most recent trading day opened. Index Last Change
Dow 7,365.66 -100.28 (-1.34%)
NASDAQ 1,441.22 -1.59 (-0.11%)
S&P 770.04 -8.89 (-1.14%)

When will these numbers improve? Like it or not, crooks or not Wall Street controls a lot of wealth in this country. If investors are not making money from investments how will the economy turn around and start growing again?

In the latter post of another thread the issue of Puelo’s opening was discussed as were the restaurants that were there before it in that location. There have been a lot of great places to eat around here that have shut down. Can you all remember Opossum Hollar that was located where Little River is now? That place rocked!!! They had a great buffet from what I can remember albeit I was young and liked everything. I also loved Alexandro’s. They have had several incarnations in town but they were at their best when they were in the Mall. The pizza was incredible. They were OK in Midland, but the last time they opened on W. Broadway the food just tasted different. Anybody else? Mom and pop or chain store that you loved…

Link: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090220/OPINION01/902200349/1001/RSS01

I dilly dally into talk radio from time to time and a hot subject of late is the “Fairness Doctrine.” Of course, the Conservative Talk Show hosts believe this will be reinstituted by Obama to muzzle their superior exposure of the many government conspiracies that Obama’s administration has evidently accomplished in the last 30 days.

I have also received a plethora of those emails from well-meaning, sincerely terrified friends pleading for help by contacting so-and-so organization, signing this petition, sending money to that group, or praying for deliverance from Satan’s current spawn of liberals.

This Tennessean editorial provides a little background:

From 1949 to 1987, the rule was imposed on radio broadcasters to ensure that coverage of controversial issues was balanced and fair. In the 1940s, there were a limited number of stations, on a limited bandwidth, and as such, the agency argued that stations were “public trustees'’ with an obligation to allow a variety of viewpoints. Later, that concept was expanded to compel stations to seek out issues of importance to their respective communities and provide programming on those issues.

By the 1980s, opponents argued that the vastly expanded bandwidth and number of stations made the need for the Fairness Doctrine obsolete, and after a broadcaster won a legal case against the rule, the FCC dissolved it.

It also seems to be confirmation that this is a tempest in a teapot:

Last June, the organization Broadcasting & Cable was informed by then-candidate Sen. Barack Obama that he “does not support reimposing the Fairness Doctrine on broadcasters.” Obama did go on to say, through his press secretary, that the Fairness Doctrine debate is a “distraction from the conversation we should be having about opening up the airwaves and modern communications to as many diverse viewpoints as possible.”

The president-to-be’s statement concisely captured a truism, that “modern communications” have rendered the Fairness Doctrine irrelevant.

What do YOU think of the Fairness Doctrine, the odds of its reinstitution, and the effect on Limbaugh, Hannity, and the like?

For more, you can read this Time article: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1880786,00.html

A new 3 point Economic Stimulus Plan was announced Today, that most Americans agree would put an immediate end to our economic melt-down. The plan laid out in simple terms would be:

This is so deep, I had to wipe off my boots … thank you genetically-engineered newspaper editor … Please tell me he doesn’t get paid for this stuff.

Learning involves our past, present, future outlook

Learning is a constant thing. Some of it is from the past, some from the present, and some from the future.

Paleontologist Paul Sereno, University of Chicago researcher, found a very unusual piece of history about which he is preparing a formal scientific paper.

He found the skull of an ancient crocodile with huge tusks, like those of a wild boar, in the Sahara Desert in Africa. Many thousands of years ago the Sahara Desert was moist and supported all sorts of animals, crocodiles and even in the distant past dinosaurs.

While it has not yet been given a scientific name, Sereno refers to it as a boar-croc. It does not fit in any known order. It has a crocodile-like snout, but adds horns and three sets of canine teeth like those of a wild pig adapted for eating meat.

And perhaps in the present and the future, a genetically engineered goat was found to produce an anti-clotting drug in its milk.

To read the entire editorial, click here (and get ready to roll on the floor and laugh).

Link: http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0218/p09s02-coop.html

Congressman Cooper has an opinion column in today’s Christian Monitor titled, “Obama inherited a fiscal disaster. Now what?” that is interesting, telling, and timely. Although I agree with Cooper’s idea of forming a ‘fiscal reform commission’, I wish he would include a commission that is tasked to find out the who, how, when we got to this crisis and recommendations to get out (similiar to the 9/11 commission).

I can hear it already from the right, “Commissions cost money!” Well, it was all right to spend tax payers dollars to during the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal. We can darn well spend it on finding out the “who, how, and when” to our financial woes!

Anyone taking the time to read the opinion piece - I would like to point out THREE key points to the ‘fiscal disaster’ that have occurred BEFORE President Obama.

1. The $180 billion stimulus program in the spring of 2008 failed.

2. The $345 billion housing bailout from the summer of 2008 failed.

3. And the $700 billion Wall Street bailout from the fall of 2008 failed.

Do you feel compassion for your neighbors in need who have lost a job? If you would like to help but your heart is bigger than your pocketbook, one good way is to participate in the programs available thru your utility company that add a dollar or more to your bill each month and they help people who can’t pay their bill to keep their utilities turned on- it’s quick, simple, and convenient. This way you can help others all year long. I believe it is also tax-deductible, just check when you sign up.

Link: http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/americas-emptiest-cities.html

I have heard radio talk show hosts berate Obama for telling businesses who receive tax dollar bailouts not to use the money for junkets to Vegas, so I know some will blame him for the decline there:

Las Vegas edged Detroit for the title of America’s most abandoned city. Atlanta came in third, followed by Greensboro, N.C., and Dayton, Ohio. Our rankings, a combination of rental and homeowner vacancy rates for the 75 largest metropolitan statistical areas in the country, are based on fourth-quarter data released Feb. 3 by the Census Bureau. Each was ranked on rental vacancies and housing vacancies; the final ranking is an average of the two.

Cities like Detroit and Dayton are casualties of America’s lengthy industrial decline. Others, like Las Vegas and Orlando, are mostly victims of the recent housing bust. Boston and New York are among the lone bright spots, while Honolulu is the nation’s best with a vacancy rate of 5.8% for homes and a scant 0.5% for rentals.

What are our local “vacancy rates"?

Having reached that ripe age of retirement I can relate to this song (by Josh Groban) and script.

http://parentswish.com/site01/big.html

It makes me miss being so far from my 93 year old mother. I wish I could tell her just how much I love her - maybe, just maybe, she can feel me typing and sharing with others. Alzheimer’s has made it difficult to know she understands.

The House has passed the stimulus package with no Republican support and 9 Democrats trying to promote bipartisan non-support.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29179041

Nice buzz word…

“This legislation falls woefully short,” said House GOP Leader John Boehner of Ohio. “With a price tag of more than $1 trillion when you factor in interest, it costs every family almost $10,000 in added debt. This is an act of generational theft that our children and grandchildren will be paying for far into the future.”

If you call this “Generational Theft", what should we call the last 8 years of spending out the wazzoo and starting trillion dollar wars?

Oh nevermind, that was more than 25 minutes ago wasn’t it.

At least some of this spending is directed back to the people who fund it.

As usual, in writing about the economic mess, Paul Krugman says it clearly:

One might have expected Republicans to act at least slightly chastened in these early days of the Obama administration, given both their drubbing in the last two elections and the economic debacle of the past eight years.

But it’s now clear that the party’s commitment to deep voodoo — enforced, in part, by pressure groups that stand ready to run primary challengers against heretics — is as strong as ever. In both the House and the Senate, the vast majority of Republicans rallied behind the idea that the appropriate response to the abject failure of the Bush administration’s tax cuts is more Bush-style tax cuts.

And the rhetorical response of conservatives to the stimulus plan — which will, it’s worth bearing in mind, cost substantially less than either the Bush administration’s $2 trillion in tax cuts or the $1 trillion and counting spent in Iraq — has bordered on the deranged.

Here is the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/opinion/13krugman.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

One thing I really enjoy about the Daily Times are the letters to the editor. Does anyone know if they have stopped publishing those? I check it every day on their website and haven’t seen a letter in a long time.

Our local officials are hard at work dealing with the state budget and all the other issues in the new session including this one.

http://www.thedailytimes.com/article/20090213/NEWS/302139978

Samples thanked Ramsey, state Rep. Joe McCord and state Sen. Doug Overbey, who is carrying the Senate version of the bill, for their help in responding to the situation.,

Is it just me or are the other counties in Tennessee just sitting there with that “deer in the headlights” look, waiting on Blount County to save the day?

Shouldn’t they be lining up to thank us as well? I mean county governments all across the state are paralyzed at the moment…aren’t they?

R Neal at Knoxviews has done a write-up on the City of Alcoa’s recycling program and it’s reduction of waste in our landfills.

In October, the City of Alcoa expanded its weekly curbside recycling program by switching to “single-stream” recycling that accepts a wider range of materials.

According to statistics provided by city officials, the amount of recycled waste diverted from the local landfill has increased anywhere from 55% to 67% since implementing the new program.

For the full post, click here.

Both Knox and Blount counties have power outages. KUB’s website is showing what looks like nearly 25% of their customers without power. http://www.kgis.org/website/kub_outage/mainpage.htm The DT is reporting outages scattered around Blount. Be careful out there folks.

It is going to be a long night for utility workers.

Just happened upon this excerpt of the Alex Jones show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWs2XEQMmfg&feature=subscription

Could this be the answer when corrupt leaders poison the municipal water supply with lethal chemicals?

Complicit in Iraqi Murder, these Guys have Grander plans for You

A group of well-known international Terrorists have been meeting in W. Bush’s back door in Houston this week. A Massachussetts Terrorist Sympathizer group by the name of Cambridge Energy Research Associates sponsored the meeting.

Tony Hayward of the British Terrorist Group BP, said that, “We have the know-how and technology to tap these resources safely and with minimal impact to the environment” as he outlined plans for an attack on our environment in coastal waters.

Kingpin Ali al-Naimi called alternative fuels important and said Saudi Arabia would like to be the largest exporter of solar electricity.

At the end of the meeting, every evening, a cup of sweet Iraqi Crude Oil is passed amoungst the participants, and they each drink from it, and vow their loyalty to one another. Tonight’s subject of events surrounds the 2009 strategies of convincing the World that there is no way anyone will ever divorce themselves from fossil fuels, and that the energy industries are the most philanthropic companies in the World.

This group of terrorists vow to keep the fight on, and daily produce television commercials to show that only they are the experts in energy. No one else knows more about energy and our energy needs, than they do.

As you can see to the right, the rules on the side of the blog end with this:

“Trolling and flaming will not be tolerated.”

A troll is defined here and flaming is defined here.

I’ve ignored the abuse of this rule as long as I intend to. This might result in user causalities. To anyone who can’t use the format without trolling or flaming, you can e-mail me directly. I will do my best to walk you through setting up your own personal Google blog for free. That way, as your own admin, you can operate and post as you see fit.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) – The federal government’s bank bailout just got a lot more complicated.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, 143 days after his predecessor unveiled the first financial sector rescue plan, detailed his plan on Tuesday to rescue the financial sector.

In a speech in Washington, Geithner said the government’s previous efforts were “inadequate,” and the government needed to “fundamentally reshap[e] the government’s program to repair the financial system.”

The Treasury Department and Federal Reserve took the bold step of committing more than $1 trillion in financing for loan purchases, and unveiled a sweeping reform to previous programs.

For the full story click here: http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/10/news/economy/bank_bailout_overhaul/

No, this is not a story about two indians.

Apparently ol’ Kent Williams, x-Republican from Elizabethton, is either a man without a country or a man for all seasons after being stripped of his card carrying membership in the TNGOP.

The article also references last years Democratic exorcist of Sen. Rosalind Kurita of Clarksville for doing roughly the same thing in voting for Rep. Ron Ramsey over Dem. John Wilder.

You know either way, if it were me, I would kindly look my old party right in the eye and tell them to go…well read this and you’ll know what I mean.

Not sure if this is the right post,If not im sorry.
Anyway my cousin an his two friends were aressted on felony theft. All three are out on bond waiting to go to court,Court has been post poned going on 7 months now. I assume because of the overload.
Since his two friends have left an went to Florida, One has been aresseted for a DUI in Florida. The Florida police found that he had a warrent for this felony charge in Blount county. They inturn called Blount county and Blount county told them to go ahead an let him go they were not going to pursue this. Seemed odd to me but i have heard of a few like it,Anyway my cousin now wants to go to Florida because he thinks he wont be brought back to Tennessee. I have also talked to a couple PA’s and asked them about it.They in turn said they sure dont recomend it,But have known it to happen and Tennessee usually dont pursue case’s like that due to the time an cost and such. And said that if it was a major deal like murder or armed robbery then they would.I sure would like my cousin to stay but i can not force him. And didnt tell him what the PA told me, has any one ever heard of this happening. Im just lost to the fact that he might get into more trouble,although his friend wasnt brought back. Thanks for any input.

I know the West families and Hodge families have been active in making Blount a better place. Delmar Haynes has been a reliable tax payer to the area for decades.

So why are we going to Sweetwater to purchase BCSO vehicles at Jacky Jones Ford? I know the argument would be we have bought Fords, so it’s easier to stay with them. But as many cars as we have, one would think we should have a cache of surplus parts.

The MPD uses both Ford and Dodge, and I think the city uses some Chevy’s for their utility SUV’s. I think Neil Sandler closing would make the perfect point that the fleet should be diversified.

Regardless, we should be doing business and making our purchases in our own back yard – not in Sweetwater.

See the Goddess of the West! Venus

To the accent Greeks the planet next closest to the Sun from Earth was the goddess of love and beauty, Venus.
When Venus swings around the far side of our Sun and then overtakes us, we call her the Evening Star and we see her in the west at sun set.
Because the diameter of the orbit of Venus is over 2/3 (actually about 0.7) of the earth’s orbit she can swing quite hight in the sky. When this happens, Venus is easy to see.
With just binoculars (or the smallest of telescopes) you can examine Venus and learn the remarkable fact that just like our Moon, Venus has phases.
The phases of Venus were discovered by Galileo not long after he thought to turn a Telescope up to the sky and write about what he saw.

Come to the MLK center before 7:00 this Tuesday, Feb 10, 2009 and, if the forecast remains correct the sky will be clear, and you can get a chance to see Venus.
The sun sets at about 7:10 but we might be able to pick out Venus before the Sun sets.

I plan on bringing a 90 mm telescope and any one with a telescope of their own is invited to bring theirs too.
If you leave a comment here that you are planing to come, or might come, that would be helpful. I can try to answer questions.

The address is:
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. COMMUNITY CENTER
209 E. Franklin Street, Alcoa, TN 37701
Telephone: 865-983-1954

I hope you can come see the goddess with us.

Forrest Erickson

Link: http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/

From Steve Clemons @ The Washington Note

The Two Cows Economic System

SOCIALISM
You have 2 cows.
You give one to your neighbour.

COMMUNISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and gives you some milk.

FASCISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and sells you some milk.

NAZISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and shoots you.

BUREAUCRATISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both, shoots one, milks the other, and then throws the milk away…

AN AMERICAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows.
Later, you hire a consultant to analyse why the cow has dropped dead.

VENTURE CAPITALISM - AN ICELANDIC CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by
your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated
general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows.
The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island
Company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven
cows back to your listed company. The annual report says the company owns eight cows,
with an option on one more. You sell one cow to buy a new president of the United States,
leaving you with nine cows. No balance sheet provided with the release. The public then
buys your bull.

A FRENCH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You go on strike, organise a riot, and block the roads, because you want three cows.

A JAPANESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty
times the milk. You then create a clever cow cartoon image called ‘Cowkimon’ and market it worldwide.

A GERMAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves.

AN ITALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows, but you don’t know where they are.
You decide to have lunch.

A RUSSIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You count them and learn you have five cows.
You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.
You count them again and learn you have 2 cows.
You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.

A CHINESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You have 300 people milking them.
You claim that you have full employment, and high bovine productivity.
You arrest the newsman who reported the real situation.

AN INDIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You worship them.

A BRITISH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
Both are mad.

We as American’s should be ashamed we let this go on in Our once great country!-USA Bankrupt ???????

This is astounding and infuriating. Why isn’t this in the papers? Please read and pass it on.

WHY ARE WE BANKRUPT?

Informative, and mind boggling!
You think the war in Iraq is costing us too much?

Read this:

Boy, was I confused. I have been hammered with the propaganda that it is the Iraq war and the war on terror that is bankrupting us. I now find that to be RIDICULOUS.

I hope the following 14 reasons are forwarded over and over again until they are read so many times that the reader gets sick of reading them. I also have included the URL’s for verification of all the following facts.

1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year by state governments.
Verify at: http://tinyurl.com/zob77

2. $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens.

Verify at: http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html

3. $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens.

Verify at: http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html

4. $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English!
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.0.html

5. $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies.

Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

6. $3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens.

Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens.

Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

8. $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare & social services by the American taxpayers.

Verify at: http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.html

9. $200 Billion dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens.

Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSC RIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that’s two and a half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US

Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/12/ldt.01.html

11. During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our Southern Border also, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from Terrorist Countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroin and marijuana, crossed into the U. S from the Southern border.

Verify at: Homeland Security Report: http://tinyurl.com/t9sht

12. The National policy Institute, estimated that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period.’

Verify at: http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/pdf/deportation.pdf

13. In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances to their countries of origin.

Verify at: ” target=_blankhttp://www.rense.com/general75/niht.htm>

14. ‘The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One million sex crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants In The United States .’

Verify at: http: // www.drdsk.com/articleshtml

The total cost is a whopping $ 338.3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR AND IF YOU’RE LIKE ME HAVING TROUBLE UNDERSTANDING THIS AMOUNT OF MONEY; IT IS $338,300,000,000.00 WHICH WOU LD BE ENOUGH TO STIMULATE THE ECONOMY FOR THE CITIZENS OF THIS COUNTRY.

Are we THAT stupid? YES, FOR LETTING THOSE IN THE U.S. CONGRESS GET AWAY WITH LETTING THIS HAPPEN YEAR AFTER YEAR!!!!!

If this raises the hair on the back of your neck, I hope you forward it to every legal resident in the country including every elected representative in Washington , D.C. - five times a week for as long as it takes to restore some semblance of intelligence in our policies and enforcement thereof.

If yes, then prosecute. If not, then let the company boards and shareholders take the blame for lack of oversight when companies fail.

However, the reason boards don’t control oversight is found here; Link. The majority are remarkably interconnected. None are going to be in the business of the being the check on the others guy’s salary - so there are no checks.

If you’re wondering why the federal government doesn’t close loopholes that are allowing all this, click here. Compare all the names on the corporate connections graph above to the corporate list on the Wiki CFR page. The CFR owns up to being a major influence in foreign affairs.

But isn’t the world flat now? At least that’s what CFR members Thomas Friedman (MSNBC) and Fareed Zakaria (CNN) are always saying. Member Rupert Murdoch head of News Corp (FOX News) thinks this also, but he really likes money. I guess he figures three’s a crowd, and there is good money in appealing to Joe the Plumber.

The reason you haven’t heard about it on your “news"; Link

And yes, as Webster’s defines conspiracy as “the act of conspiring together” - what I have typed is a conspiracy theory. Boo.

To: All American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists, and Obama supporters, et al.

From: John J. Wall - a Conservative American

Dear Liberals, Leftists, and Socialists:

We’ve stuck together since the late 1950’s, but the latest election process and your bailout stimulus plan has made me realize that I want a divorce.

Although we’ve tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, the sad truth is that the relationship between conservatives and liberals has run its course.

Our two ideological sides of America can not and will not ever agree on what is right. Therefore let’s just end it on friendly terms. You go your way, and I’ll go mine.

We can smile, chalk it up to irreconcilable differences, shake hands, and go our own way. But to do that, we’ll need a “Separation Agreement.” I have drawn one up. I hope you agree with it.

SEPARATION AGREEMENT PROPOSAL

I propose that our two groups - Conservatives and Liberals - equitably divide up the country by land-mass, each of us taking approximately 50% of the total square miles. I’ll concede that this is the most difficult part of the separation agreement, but I’m sure our two sides can come to terms.

After that’s done, the rest should be relatively easy! Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets since both sides have such distinct and disparate tastes.

For example, us conservatives don’t like redistributive taxes, so you can keep them! They’re all yours!

You are also welcome to take the liberal judges, the ACLU, the affirmative action crowd, the NAACP, and the National Organization of Women. We don’t want any of them.

We also don’t want Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. You can have them.

Since you hate guns and war, we’ll take the firearms, the cops, the NRA, and the military, that you hate so much.

Along with Pelosi and Reid, you can also have Oprah, Michael Moore, Stone (Oliver and Sharon), and Rosie O’Donnell (You are, however, responsible for finding a bio-diesel vehicle big enough to move all of them).

We’ll take the capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies, Wal-Mart, McDonald’s, and Wall Street.

You can have your beloved homeboys, hippies, and illegal aliens. We’ll take the hot Alaskan hockey moms, greedy CEO’s, and rednecks.

We’ll take the Bibles. You can have all the copies of “Mein Kampf.”

We’ll take Fox News. You can have NBC, CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC and Hollywood. You can also have National Public Television.

We get Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. You get have Al Franken and Keith Oberman.

You can make nice and kiss up with Iran and Palestine. We’ll retain the right to invade and hammer the crap out of any country that threatens us, but not YOU.

You can have the peaceniks, and war protesters. When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we’ll help provide them security.

We’ll keep our Judeo-Christian values. You are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism, and Shirley McClain.

You can also have the U.N. but we will no longer be paying the bill.

We get the Hummers, SUVs, pickup trucks, motorhomes, oversized luxury cars, power boats, Harley Davidsons, and private airplanes.

You can have all of the 4-cylinder and hybrid vehicles. You get the mopeds. You can also have all the kayaks and canoes.

You can give every one of your people healthcare, if you can find any practicing doctors.

We’ll continue to believe healthcare is a luxury and not a right.

We’ll keep “God Bless America” and the National Anthem. You can have “Imagine", “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing", “KumBaYa", and “We Are the World".

We’ll practice trickle down economics, and you can give trickle up poverty your best shot.

And by the way . . . since it often so offends you, we’ll keep our history, our name, and our flag.

Getting a little tense???

Would you agree to this? If so please pass this email along to other like-minded liberal and conservative patriots. If you do not agree, just hit delete.

In the spirit of friendly parting, I’ll bet you ANWAR which one of us will need whose help in 15 years.

Sincerely,

John J. Wall - a Conservative American

P.S. Also, please take Barbara Streisand, Jane Fonda, and Alec Baldwin. We don’t want them either.

Link: http://www.thedailytimes.com/article/20061019/NEWS/610190321

From The Daily Times (Oct. 2006) http://www.thedailytimes.com/article/20061019/NEWS/610190321 :

“The building design should be complete within three months, and drawings and layouts are expected by the second quarter of 2007.

“We should be doing site work at the new location by mid- to late-2007,” Hubbard said.

Hubbard owns the building MPLN currently occupies in downtown Maryville. He said he has not decided what to do with the existing facility, but may continue to use the building for various MPLN departments.”

And from the Knoxville Business Journal (Oct. 2006):

“MPLN plans to begin construction next year on a 65,000- to 75,000-square-foot headquarters in the Pellissippi Research Centre, at Pellissippi Parkway and Old Knoxville Highway in Alcoa. The park is a joint venture of the cities of Alcoa and Maryville and Blount and Knox counties, which each have pledged $5 million toward development of the park.”

From Blount County Industrial Board (Oct. 2006) - http://www.blountindustry.com/news/show/2 -

“Infrastructure construction at the new park is scheduled to be completed in 18 months.”

Thursday I had a pleasant drive to Nashville and was listening to the NPR Morning Edition on WUOT. I heard a report which deeply moved me regarding Lilly Ledbetter.

It seamed that Lilly worked for Goodyear tire in Alabama for many years before learning that she was paid much less than her male coworkers.
She filed a discrimination suit and won but was denied justice by the conservatives on the Supreme Court ruled who ruled that because the discrimination was ongoing for more than 180 days from her complaint she was out of luck.
Yup, those conservative justices think it is the intent of the 1964 legislation to promote civil rights by stopping discrimination, but only if it is found out immediately. In their view of justice, if a perpetrator can get away with this crime for 181 days, then they are beyond the law.
You can read the NRP report here at:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93297331

For more detail on the Supremely Unjust Court decision of Alito, Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy, and Thomas. check out Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ledbetter_v._Goodyear_Tire_%26_Rubber_Co.

As you might guess our only female justice, Grinsburg, had a different view and Wikipedia reports, “…Ginsburg argued that the broad remedial purpose of the statute was incompatible with the Court’s “cramped” interpretation. Her dissent asserted that the employer had been, “Knowingly carrying past pay discrimination forward” during the 180-day charging period, and therefore could be held liable.”

I stopped into the white house web site and left the following message for our president regarding this legislation (the very first of his term):

Congratulations on this improvement.
However, I think they should be no limitation from the day discrimination starts to reporting. Perhaps, a cap on up to two year of lost wages is appropriate but to think that Goodyear underpaid Lilly, and undoubtedly other women, for many years with out consequences is disgraceful.
I will never buy Goodyear tires unless I hear this injustice to Lilly (and any others) is remedied.

Forrest Erickson

I stopped in to the Goodyear web site at :
http://www.goodyear.com/email/faq.html
and am about to leave them some feedback too.

Forrest Erickson

Dean Stone writes in his editorial for The Daily Times today (read it here)that The Daily Times is an “invited guest” in “most” Blount County homes. What Dean is trying to say is “advertise with The Daily Times before we disappear.” The only problem with Stone’s editorial is that The Daily Times audited BPA statement shows they are NOT an invited guest in the “majority” of Blount County homes. As a matter of fact, TODAY they are an invited guest in only 21,000 Blount County homes. In 2005, they were an invited guest in more than 24,000 homes.

Stone maintains that Blount County is growing by “leaps and bounds” in spite of the housing slowdown in the rest of the country - but his own newspaper is shrinking like an ice cream cone on a 100-degree day. Stone is blowing smoke … (yes, that was a drug reference).

From the KNS, it appears Knox County has car inventory issues as well. http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/jan/31/sheriff-to-give-partial-list-of-take-home-fleet/

One thing did strike me from the article. The BCSO has 244 vehicles. The KCSO has 475.

Blount County has a population of 119,855. Knox County has a population of 423,874.

Half the number of cars of a neighboring county - but only a quarter of the population.

More of that Blount math I guess. While I get to cipherin’, watch this impersonation Oprah does of the BCSO role call room.

It looks like we are finally getting some great snow!!! Name the best places in the county or cities to go sledding. I will start with the driving range at Royal Oaks and the hill by the Mall near Sears. Go ahead and list them for those of us that will be dumb enough to brave the weather to go play. Have fun and be safe out there.