Indecent Exposure in Tyson Park

So they are arresting people for this?

Luckily for many readers of this blog, they have never been nude in the vicinity of Tyson Park. Furthermore, I do not have first hand knowledge or photographic evidence of this behavior that didn’t occur. Even if I did, I’d never hold it over their heads in order to get free meals or enlarge the photographs in order to embarrass them in a bar full of people.

Seriously, there is a little more to this story than WBIR is reporting. I’d wager that the young man in question was not skinny-wading in the polluted waters of Third Creek.

He was probably minding his own business in his vehicle, which was backed into a parking spot.

Lobster for Lunch in Knox County

KNS has the story about our mayor’s executive administrative assistant, a commissioner, and an unknown third party feasting on $37.98 each lobster tails, then grabbing a couple more to go, for pre-tip bill of $198.56, Luckily for the taxpayers (I guess), they basically stiffed the waiter, only tipping him $29 (14.6%).

Frugality and class! So the total bill was $227.56–FOR LUNCH.

Good thing we had a 100% increase in our wheel tax a couple of years ago (hope you are enjoying the new library).

“Clearly, while we consider business meals legitimate expenses, we certainly feel that expense was excessive,” Norwood said.

See, that’s the problem. County government is not a business. Businesses sell products and services to customers on the free market. In business, customers have a choice to buy from someone else or not to buy at all. The business then has a choice on how it spends this money and is accountable to shareholders.

“While we can’t tell our guests what to order,” Norwood said, “we discourage people from ordering unusually expensive meals.”

Obviously.

Happy Cost of Government Day!

Doug Mataconis points us to the report by Americans for Tax Reform that declares today the day of economic liberty in the United States. That’s right–beginning today, and every day for the rest of this year, every dollar you make actually belongs to you! This is very exciting. It’s a Festivus miracle!!!

It now only takes a little over half a year’s worth of work to pay your share of the bountiful gifts of government. Here are just a few examples of the wonderful things you have earned from your toils this year alone:

Failing education for all the kids in your neighborhood, whether you have any or not

A nation building project, err “war” that you probably don’t support

Housing for homeless alcoholics (offer good for Seattle residents only)

A fat pension for your former sheriff (Knox County residents only)

Substandard healthcare for wounded servicemen

A bankrupt government pension retirement fund–a.k.a. socialist security

Countless government subsidies for private industries–a.k.a. corporate welfare

Good job! I think you deserve a raise!!!

Mataconis:

The idea that Americans should have to work more than half the year to pay for the state should be offensive to anyone. Instead we all just seem to blindly accept it.

So It’s the Oil Companies That Are Price Gouging?

I’ve had more arguments than I can count with people about this. They always claim that the oil companies (and Bush) are fixing the prices, there is nothing the common man can do about it, blah blah blah, waa waa waa.

Today in the KNS, Glen Eastes made a point that I think is utterly brilliant about the cost of education. The University of Tennessee is trying to justify another tuition increase, and I hope people will remember this the next time they feel like they’re getting gouged at the pump:

I attended a Big 10 university in 1948. The tuition was $75 a semester. Gasoline was about 25 cents a gallon. Today the tuition at UT will be about $3,000 a semester. Today, gas is $3 a gallon. So, if the oil companies are taking advantage of the public, I don’t know the word to describe the tuition cost.

Beautiful. I could write pages and pages on yet another gouging by the gov’ment, but you get the idea.

Barbie Cummings Misses Court

All she had to do was show up and her ticket would have been dismissed. Now she’ll have to pay it. 🙁

Since her old site has been taken down, she has a temporary blog. According to that, she’s been pretty busy lately, traveling to the West Coast for some business engagements and even getting married in Las Vegas.

It states there that she’s moving from Knoxville to L.A. soon, so I guess the court date completely slipped her mind.

***UPDATED 7.25.07
You COULD read about it in her own words, but Blogger deleted her site…probably because there was extremely explicit material on there. You can always depend on me to stay well informed on this story. 😛

What a truly strange story to be cumming (sorry, had to) out of sleepy old Knoxville!

Wal-Mart Walk In Clinics Opposed By…Doctors?

According to this article, doctors in Illinois are directly opposed to Wal-Mart, Walgreens, CVS , and Rite Aid. And why would doctors oppose a service in the marketplace that provides affordable, convenient, and fast health care to patients? Well, mainly because affordable, convenient, and fast health care are bad for their businesses. Oh you didn’t realize that your doctor’s office is a business?

Every day we hear about the rising cost of healthcare, but…

Walk-in clinics represent one of the most advanced and aggressive attempts by US business and entrepreneurs to drive reform of the healthcare system.

Sounds good to me. Of course, doctors are not readily admitting that they Continue reading “Wal-Mart Walk In Clinics Opposed By…Doctors?”

Knoxville Eyesores

I actually got up yesterday to check the KNS online to see their article on Knoxville Eyesores.  I have to say that I’m a little disappointed, but I guess you get what you pay for.  It seems like they were addressing issues that occur everywhere else in Generica–urban sprawl, litter, strip malls, abanadoned warehouses, etc.

While all of these are definitely eyesores, they aren’t specific to Knoxville.  I decided I’d come up with my own incomplete list of eyesores that are specific to K-Town.  Of course, these are my personal opinions. Continue reading “Knoxville Eyesores”

Helping People Avoid Foreclosures the Right Way

Brad Warbiany has it right when he talks about the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America:

…these guys (a private group) are helping people, so I’m not going to criticize them in any way.

This is how people are helped in a free market.  Those with a vested interest in the success of the individuals who borrowed money from them try to make the best of a bad situation. 

Unforunately, there are plenty of other people, Charles Schumer for instance, who want the federal government to bail out people who borrowed money they can’t pay back, which is basically helping the companies who shouldn’t have loaned them in the first place.  Never mind the fact that the federal government itself already runs at a deficit.

I’ll spell it out for you on simpler terms, with the middle man removed.  You and I will be forced to provide someone else with housing by paying back a loan they took out with a bank who shouldn’t have loaned them the money in the first place.

Surely the banks will expect this money back with no interest.  Right.  Here’s an article that tells the whole story without the common sense slant I just provided.

Free Market at Work in the Blogosphere

There is quite a soap opera going on at Just Another Pretty Farce regarding Mrs. Coble’s issues with JL Kirk & Associates.

Here’s a quick synopsis:

  • Mr. and Mrs. Coble felt ripped off by an employment agency, and she blogged about it.
  • JL Kirk & Associates got mad about that, and one of their employees posted some comments on to her post on Mrs. Coble’s site (that was stupid). These comments were rather nasty, especially coming from a company trying to defend itself publicly.
  • Mrs. C. has now received a letter threatening a lawsuit if she does not remove her post(s) about JL Kirk & Associates as well as all associated comments. I suspect this has little to do with their desire to eliminate her original post, and more to do with the venemous comment one of their own employees left there.
  • Countless people will now read the account of what happened, most of whom probably would not have read the account had she not been sent a threatening letter and had it picked up by the blogosphere.
  • Many more people will view JL Kirk & Associates as scam artist jerks than ever would have before. Whether they are scam artists and/or jerks is beside the point. They’ve gone a long way through their comments on Mrs. C.’s blog and by sending a letter to give that impression.

Their own actions will hurt them significantly more than Mrs. Coble’s ever could have. You have to love the free market.

Here are some highlights of the comments left by a JL Kirk & Associates employee in her original post:

And by the way, in Mrs. Cobles’ [sic] case, we would recommend (free of charge) to further her writing “career” she learn to spell “wizardry” and polish her grammar and punctuation skills.

Well, couldn’t we all use a little help there now and then? But free of charge? That’s going above and beyond helpful!

…Mr. Coble has had difficulty with sustained upward mobility.

Is the writer trying to stoke some sort of class warfare fire?

That comment is simply stupid.

This could be broadly applied to most comments on most blogs, but usually isn’t what one says when trying to win over an audience. I seriously doubt you’ll hear that in a presidential debate, although it wouldn’t be untrue.

Mrs. Coble’s spiteful meanness precluded her from asking me about it.

Mean and spiteful? I like Mrs. Coble!

Do a Google search on Katherine Coble! She is an angry, opinionated basher of many things

I don’t need to do a Google search. This statement sold me. From this day forward, I vow to be a reader of Katherine Coble’s blog and to never do business with JL Kirk & Associates out of fear that they will send certified junk mail to my house and an unprecedented amount of traffic to my blog.

On second thought…