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In the KNS Today…

There is some pretty good stuff.

More of the same from Knox County Government with dissolved entities being funded by the County.

The state’s Charitable Solicitations Act mandates that all nonprofit organizations register — or file for a state-approved exemption — before seeking donations or grants, including government grants.

According to state records, there is no history of Knoxville Neighborhood Housing and Commercial Services Inc. registering or seeking an exemption to solicit donations or grants in the state of Tennessee, said Todd Kelley, director of the Division of Charitable Solicitations and Gaming.

Did the KNS have to dig through records to find this story, or do they have a source? Interesting. Like sands in an hour glass…

Illegal Immigrants are being unlawfully evicted from an apartment complex in Blount County.

Ramirez is pastor of the Church of God, Mountain Assembly in Maryville and a member of an ecumenical group of clergymen who minister to Blount County’s growing Latino community.

Hmm. Word on the street is that this may be only a partial job description. I’ll leave that up to the investigative reporters.

Someone is lobbying the federal government to save the penny for all of us who love it so.

Weller also said past polls have shown a majority of Americans favor the coin, which was first produced in the United States in the 1790s.

And just who does he happen to work for? A company with merely a passing interest…

The nation’s sole supplier of zinc “penny blanks,” Greeneville, Tenn.-based Jarden Zinc Products, is lobbying the federal government to protect its interests.

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Fox News — Sensationalist?

I just went to our cafeteria here at work to get some coffee and saw this “headline” on Fox News…”Bloggers a Threat?”

To be fair, I (thankfully) couldn’t hear what they were saying, only see the alert they had scrolling across the bottom of the screen. But are these guys serious? I used to think that the whole blogosphere vs. mainstream media thing was sort of a ploy by bloggers to make themselves seem a little more important than they are. Now I’m not so sure.

Even locally and regionally, there have been incidents like this, that show the divide is very real, and the tension is building on both sides.

In general, I think local news outlets do a decent job at reporting. But there really isn’t much analysis of local news except in the blogosphere. True, there are editorials in the newspaper, but without competition from the blogosphere there would be no balance of opinions. In this sense, there is a real market (need?) for local blogging, and I think that may scare local media.

On the other end of the spectrum, there is national coverage, with several 24 hour stations and analysis of the news–infotainment. Large media outlets have a lot ($$$) on the line, and cannot afford to only report the news. They have to entertain their viewers to keep them glued and keep the ad dollars rolling in. It seems to me that they are afraid of the blogosphere because they are actually getting scooped on stories that matter and are losing journalistic credibility. Others **cough O’Reilly cough** just can’t seem to take the heat of competition.

But I could be wrong.

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Blogger’s Union

As nuts as it may sound, some are trying to do it. Michael Silence has this to say:

In a move that might make some people scratch their heads, a loosely formed coalition of left-leaning bloggers are trying to band together to form a labor union they hope will help them receive health insurance, conduct collective bargaining or even set professional standards.

This is actually the first union I’ve ever heard of that I think is a good idea. Maybe by forming and joining this inevitable disaster, these left-leaning bloggers will realize what a ridiculous idea it is. It may be the only way they ever get it through their thick skulls.

Then again, that didn’t really work with liberal talk radio did it? Instead of realizing that their product didn’t appeal to the market, they instead tried to blame the market for not desiring their product.

**UPDATE**
I thought of other benefits…

Based on the tendency of unions to discourage actual work, the end result will be that they will blog less. Everybody wins!

Think about it, no blogging on weekends, holidays, or after hours. Not to mention the frequent and extended breaks they will take while actually “working”. This idea sounds better and better the more I think about it.

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Turning Into a Housewife

So I’m sitting here surfing/writing/reading/napping and there are all of these crazy shows about having babies on TLC that document parents’ first few days at home with their babies.

Either our kid is really easy, we are really laid back and easy going, or both. These people stress over the slightest little things, get rattled by everything else, and are constantly whining about their precious sleep. Haha! You crybabies don’t deserve to sleep from what I can tell!

Anyway, while I’m having fun not being at work, I don’t see how some people (I assume mostly women based on the commercials) could stand to sit and watch stuff like that day in and day out. Luckily I have plenty of other things to keep me busy.

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Latest from the Tour de Dope

For the second straight day the stage winner has been booted from the race, this time by his own team. Michael Rasmussen was sent home by Rabobank for violating team rules.

I know most people in the U.S. don’t care about the Tour now that Lance Armstrong has retired, but I can’t help it. I love to sit on the couch and watch these ‘roided out oxygen-doped-blood junkies pedal up the mountain as drunk Europeans run naked in front of them, basking in the glory of socialized health care and 35 hour work weeks.

This new twist puts American Levi Leipheimer only 2:49 seconds behind the new race leader, Alberto Contador. But time is not what matters the most here.

With four stages left, that means that four more leaders are likely to get hit with doping charges. If Leipheimer can position himself into 5th place at the end of tomorrow’s stage, he has a good chance of the winner of tomorrow’s stage being disqualified along with the three winners of the next three stages, and he will sneak away with a Tour victory.

Then we can get another year of European complaints about how the Tour is rigged for Americans to win.

Let’s just hope the rest of the world doesn’t catch up to us in our ability to beat drug tests by next July.

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Half Full in Knoxville, Half Empty in Nashville

A report called Kids Count was released today that ranks states on child welfare, infant mortality, etc. There were headlines about the report in both the Knoxville News Sentinel and The Tennessean, but they put opposing spins on the story.

According to the KNS:
Report shows state improving on health of children, teenagers

But The Tennessean says:
Tennessee ranks low in well-being of kids

Oddly enough, these stories seem to be working towards the same end, glorifying the use of state funds to improve the well being of our children. It’s always about the children, isn’t it?

Minnesota ranked at the top. It will be interesting to see how the papers there spin this, won’t it?

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Turned Away at the Hospital

🙁

Today was supposed to be the birthday, but our doctor was ill (translation: extremely tired from being on call and working all weekend), so we had to reschedule for tomorrow. I’m sure she would have gone ahead with today, but the hospital was expecting us at noon, not 8 am, and I’m sure shed didn’t want to wait around.

Getting turned away at the hospital wasn’t all that bad, but being turned away at 5:50 am was worse. Tomorrow we’re scheduled for the afternoon, so at least we get to sleep in.

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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.

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This Freaks Me Out

I’ve been a little worried about this whole Ron Paul thing for a couple of days, and today it only got worse. It started with the realization that one of my biggest fears has started to come true lately–this is starting to look like a Ron Paul blog. I haven’t been posting much stuff recently about rasslin’, getting held up at gunpoint by the gov’ment, or local porn stars. I remember how annoyed I got earlier this year with the “Run Fred Run” hype that was going on in the Tennessee blogosphere, and I don’t want to be doing the same thing with regards to Ron Paul, even if it is relevant.

Then my world really came crashing down. I had a conversation today with a friend of mine that has made me question everything in life I know to be true. To give those of you who know him a frame of reference, it’s that guy you’d least like to face in the front row. So I’m sure you can actually hear him saying, “I been readin’ yer website. You like that Ron Paul fella don’t cha?”

For those of you who don’t know him, he’s among the most reliable, solid, stand up guys you could ever know. He’s also very set in his ways. I wouldn’t go so far as to call him close-minded, but that is mostly due to the fact that doing so may put me in danger of having him choke me with my own small intestine. Let’s just say that he defends his own views strongly and leave it at that. Imagine what Fred Thompson would be like if he ate nothing but raw meat laced with gunpowder for a few months, and you’ll be close to understanding this guy.

Anyway, I was extremely shocked when he said, “I like that guy the best out of all of ’em. It kinda scares me that you like him too, ’cause you got some fv(ked up politics.” Believe me, it is just as scary to me as it is to him that we actually agree on who we’d like to see as the Republican nominee.

This Ron Paul thing may just work out after all. Hopefully I was wrong!

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Fairness on Talk Radio

Diane Feinstein is “looking at” pushing the fairness doctrine for talk radio broad casters in the United States. The conversation was brought about mostly by the public outcry over the proposed immigration bill that has been getting slammed on talk radio, which is by and large right leaning.

For the record, I’m hardly a fan of Limbaugh, and Sean Hannity is an even bigger self-promoting jackass that Rush is in my opinion. Savage is a nut, but entertaining. Neil Boortz is the only one of these guys I can listen to for more than an hour or so. Nevertheless, what isn’t fair about the current state of talk radio? These guys put out a product, people listen, advertisers buy ads to reach these people.

In contrast, the left started a radio station, no one listened, no one bought ads, they embezzled money from at least one charity to keep it going, still no one listened, they didn’t pay their “talent”, their talent quit, and they folded.

By the way, isn’t it funny that “spreading the message” isn’t so important when you aren’t getting a paycheck? I’m a little disappointed that Al Franken wasn’t willing to stay on the air for what he believed is right, not just for the money. Hell, even Coolio said that if hip hop didn’t pay he’d rap for free–that’s real commitment to your cause.

It seems pretty cut and dry. If someone wants to make things “fair”, they can sink millions more dollars into a leftist radio station that folks who drive to work and back and are out all day on sales calls–the people they propose stealing from–will continue not to listen.

That sounds fair to me.