I am in a state of deep confusion and conflict. Now, the confusion part is not new ground for me but this whole thing is interesting and so typical of my (right now) home of Louisiana, I thought I would post this just for ##i## and grins. The Legislature of Louisiana is mad at the newspapers. Not a unique situation, the Lege is usually mad at someone or something but right now it is newspapers in general and the Baton Rouge and Lake Charles papers in particular.

Tennessee is considering supplementing its revenue shortfall with a tax on digital downloads. The state's Digital Products/iPOD Tax, which is part of the "Technical Corrections" bill, is still in preliminary stages and plans to include nearly any type of digital media download.

This, I would think, may cause an uproar.

Oh, by the way, when did Bill Hobbs become the "state communications director"?

"Most states do not tax digitally-deliverd products," said state communications director Bill Hobbs. "

If you're looking to fight higher grocery prices, you could plant a garden. Or you could buy futures in local farm produce according to the Tennessee Department of Agriculture.

Through Sunday, April 27, 2008

This holiday provides statewide tax-free purchases for school supplies, art supplies and clothing priced $100 or less per item and computers priced $1,500 or less. This holiday also includes purchases of qualified items sold via mail, telephone, e-mail or Internet if the customer orders and pays for the item and the retailer accepts the order during the holiday for immediate shipment, even if delivery is made after the exemption period.

More information on the State of Tennessee sales tax holiday.

As reported in The Elizabethton Star,

Consumer Credit Counseling Service (CCCS) of East Tennessee encourages all consumers statewide to begin preparing their shopping lists now to take advantage of the holiday, particularly on higher-ticket retail items that are needed in households this spring or summer.

The CCCS has tips for shopping wisely.

FYI: Over 57% of the State of Tennessee's revenue is derived from the sales and use tax (link is to a 4MB PDF file).

The Tennessean: AT&T, cable rivals agree on rules for TV:

After months of secret negotiations between AT&T and the cable industry, both sides have agreed on many of the ground rules for AT&T's entry into the television service business in Tennessee — including how many customers must get access and how many households must be in low-income neighborhoods.

According to the article, the compromise legislation will require 30% buildout within 3 1/2 years after introducing service. It will also provide for a 5% fee to local governments. There are also incentives in the form of buildout credits for rural broadband development. There's no mention of PEG (public, education, government) access requirements in the article.

UPDATE: Here's the bill with an executive summary. (PEG access is required for existing and new franchises.)

NashvillePost.com hires Volunteer Voters veteran:

Adam "A.C." Kleinheider, who until recently ran the respected VolunteerVoters.com site for WKRN-TV News 2, will on Monday join NashvillePost.com to augment the site’s breaking news coverage with a political blog.

That didn't take long. Does print media "get" online/electronic journalism and blogging better than broadcast media? Seems ironic.

Wow! I'm not sure I can stand much more excitement.

JP Morgan is buying Bear Stearns for $2 a share. Bear Stearns was selling for $169 a year ago, $50 a week ago, and $30 on Friday. The company survived the Great Depression.

Oil trading at a record high $112 today in Asia.

US dollar falls to a record low against the euro.

The Fed cut its discount rate on Sunday by 25 points to 3.25. They are expected to cut the federal funds rate on Tuesday.

For us ordinary people, savings interest rates have dropped 2-3% in the last month and a half to two months. Washington analysts are asking which bank will be next. Will we know if it's our bank before it's to late?

Was just checking in from vacation land and learned the sad news that Volunteer Voters is no more. Today was apparently Kleinheider's last day.

I pretty much disagree with ACK's libertarian leaning right-wing politics, but as a media paid blogger he generally gave all points of view equal time. And if there was something going on in Tennessee politics, Kleinheider was all over it before anyone else. Over a short period of time he developed some pretty good sources, which is why Volunteer Voters was arguably the best political blog in the state of Tennessee.

The mainstream media corner office morons never cease to amaze me. Their business is changing, but some of them are too stupid to figure out how to change with it. Selling internet ads isn't rocket science. Kos gets $15K per week for his premium ad spot, and he doesn't even have a sales staff.

Kleinheider built a valuable brand, and WKRN flushed it down the toilet. The WKRN idiots in suits must have been out getting high and playing video games the day they covered branding in Marketing 101. And it's not the first time this has happened over there. The sad irony is, Hobbs still has a job. Sometimes there is no justice.

Anyway, so long ACK. Nice work, and we hope to see you around the blogosphere.

We has done made the big time here in Tennessee!!!!

Everyone knows they come to Tennessee for jobs," said Sen. Joe Haynes, D-Goodlettsville and bill's main sponsor. "If we remove the payment for the jobs, we remove the incentive for them to come to Tennessee."

If the bill becomes law, illegal immigrants caught working in the state could be required to forfeit any earnings, face up to six months in jail and be fined up to $500, Haynes said.
...
Ann Morse, an analyst at the National Conference of State Legislatures, said she was unaware of lawmakers in any other state taking a similar approach.

They can't or won't go after employers, so they want to try an easier target. I'm sure this law will solve all of the problems in the State of Tennessee. Sure, u-huh, alrighty then.

Nissan and the Nashville area have worked well together for several (many) years. With Nissan's move of their U.S. Headquarters from California to Tennessee, they are trying to show their appreciation of the environment.

• 1,500 employees
• light harvesting system" automatically dims or turns off interior lights in the 460,000 square feet of offices.
• Sun shades outside — sort of like reflective visors — with computer-designed blades direct sunlight to reduce glare and heat in the Southern summer.
• Air conditioning and heat are controlled through outlets at each work station. "You heat the people and not the space,"
• consume about 35 percent less energy than a traditionally designed building
• restoring a 2 1/2-acre wetland. Tens of thousands of native Tennessee plants, including iris, button bush and rushes, are already growing there.

Nissan is slow to change their vehicles to be more efficient. They do emphasize performance and handling, which can be fun. The Sentra has offered pretty good mileage for years. The new Versa is a good addition to their fleet. They need to get the Altimata Hybrid available to all states.

In The New York Times:

The birds’ touchdown in Middle Tennessee was all the more surprising because the area is the 11th fastest-growing region in the United States, according to a study by the Natural Resources Defense Council, with subdivisions sprouting like weeds in every direction.

...

Tennessee is losing 42,000 acres of farmland each year, much of it to development. The United States Forest Service says one quarter of the state’s 14.4 million acres of forests will be gone in 30 years.

...

“We don’t have suburban sprawl here,” said Barry Sulkin, who lives nearby. “Just farms, forest and open space, and I’m hopeful most people would want to keep it that way.”

Good luck to Mr. West, Mr. Sulkin, and all the other individuals owning large amounts of land in Tennessee and elsewhere.

I frequently travel the blue highways of the South and have many times stopped to just ponder the open land, farms, and forests. I can easily remember the first time we pulled off to pick a branch (stem?) off of a cotton plant. Nearly everyone I showed it to was quite fascinated. I can easily remember the first time I saw a field of sugarcane in rural Louisiana. I had to ask what it was. They laughed and said it was money.

There is still a lot of empty land (farms, forests, and open spaces) in this great country, from New Jersey and New York to Arizona and New Mexico to the big sky country of Montana. I hope and wish this to be one cause we can all work on together to preserve.

North Carolina gets go-ahead in its TVA pollution suit

The state of North Carolina can proceed with a lawsuit against the Tennessee Valley Authority that demands the utility clean up its power plants and reduce air pollution, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.

If the EPA won't make TVA clean up its coal plants, maybe North Carolina can. But North Carolina's Duke Energy and the rest of the Southern state utilities that burn coal all need to clean up their act.

Yeah! Altria, the parent company of Philip Morris (as in cigarettes) is being taken off the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Dow Jones said Altria is being shed from the index because the company, which makes Marlboro cigarettes through its Philip Morris Cos. unit, has become a "much smaller and more narrowly focused company." Altria has spun off its Kraft Foods Inc. subsidiary as a separate company, and is currently splitting its international business from its U.S. business.

Altria (Philip Morris) and Honeywell are being replaced by Bank of America and Chevron.

Not that it will help Tennessee tobacco farmers if cigarette companies don't do well.

At 7:43 AM, AP reports:

Indicators showed the Dow Jones industrial average was set to fall by about 500 points when trading begins.

At 9:09 AM, the AP article changed to:

The Federal Reserve, confronted with a global stock sell-off fanned by increased fears of a recession, slashed a key interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point on Tuesday and indicated further rate cuts were likely.
...
The Fed decision was taken during an emergency telephone conference with Fed officials on Monday night.

Yeehaw! What a roller coaster.

John Edwards has done a pretty good job identifying the problems facing the middle class. But what does he propose to do about them? The mainstream media is all over that question, hot damn!

Oh, right. They're saving their precious typing power for haircuts or Hillary sobbing like a toddler (they wish!) or Obama's middle name (or maybe his ears). Yup, they know substance when they see it. Maureen Dowd, now there's substance. Something's gotta make her voice that squeaky.

Or Chris Matthews, there's a guy who's insightful. In sight, full ... of Grey Goose, anyway.

Hey, if all the Heathers want to do is act like they're still trying to crash the cool clique in high school, I can give some sass back to 'em.

The chief executive of UPS Inc. said Wednesday that the country is at increased risk of falling into a recession and it's not clear when the economy will rebound.

top economists from two of the major Wall Street firms - Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs - say recession is likely already here.

Bloomberg reports the WSJ reports:

Bush May Use Tax Breaks to Ward Off U.S. Recession
…
a $500 tax rebate for citizens to encourage consumer spending

Dow Jones over 6 months (click for larger view):

Not a recession? Is it time to buy? Or should we wait to see how low it will go?

Oh, and how much will that $500 tax rebate help? Will it buy gas, groceries, healthcare, or baubles? GWB keeps wanting us to spend and says nothing about our need to save or conserve for the war effort.

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.

You can spend!

Tennessee Commercial Warehouse, Inc. (TCW) has "permanently laid off" (fired) 33 truck drivers at their Kingsport terminal, citing a lack of work.

Coincidentally (or not?) the workers had approached the Teamsters Local 549 in Blountville about organizing. According to Local 549 president Scott Armstrong, "Nearly 80 percent of the drivers had signed authorization cards, so the company permanently laid off the entire unit rather than bargain for fair pay and benefits."

Apparently there's a growing problem with fake grouper in Florida.

They have ordered DNA testing. Sysco has been subpoenaed. Ag. Commissioner Charles Bronson (who is not to be messed with!) has put up a website to help tell the real grouper from the fake.

Watch out for the Asian catfish bait and switch. Demand real grouper!

From the Tennessee Department of Labor:

Tennessee’s unemployment rate for November was 4.9 percent, up 0.3 percentage point from October. In 2006 the November unemployment rate was 5.0 percent. The national unemployment rate for November 2007 was 4.7 percent, the same as October.

Over-the-year increases led with gains of 7,100 jobs in educational and health services. Construction employment increased by 7,000; and leisure and hospitality jobs were up 6,300. Manufacturing jobs were down from a year ago with employment decreasing by 8,900; clothing and accessories stores lost 1,600 jobs; and professional and business services employment declined by 1,600 as well.

The declines in manufacturing, professional, and business services employment are disappointing. The construction gains are a little surprising.

FCC votes to ease media ownership restrictions

The Federal Communications Commission voted on Tuesday to loosen media ownership restrictions in the 20 biggest U.S. cities, despite objections from consumer groups and a threat by some U.S. senators to revoke the action.

The FCC voted 3-2, along party lines, to ease the 32-year-old ban on ownership of a newspaper and broadcast outlet in a single market.

They also grandfathered in 36 newspaper-broadcast operations and exempted six more pending applications.

Waiting for my offer from Rupert Murdoch...

As reported in the NYT Magazine from Dec. 9: Last year, according to Heather Robinson, a U.P.S. spokeswoman, the software helped the company shave 28.5 million miles off its delivery routes, which has resulted in savings of roughly three million gallons of gas and has reduced CO2 emissions by 31,000 metric tons.

I thought about this article the other day after having read it but not putting enough thought into it, I went shopping and made four left turns where if I had started out from a different exit point I would have only made one left turn. Then, when running a few errands yesterday I made all right turns but went an extra half mile or mile to do so. Was the net effect the same or would I have wasted more time and energy waiting to turn left three times or is this just another one of those ridiculous things to not worry about?

TVA met with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation on Wednesday to request a variance that would allow them to discontinue monitoring ambient sulfur dioxide (SO2) levels at six coal-fired power plants in Tennessee. The request was granted, and TVA will no longer monitor ambient SO2 at the facilities, which are:

• Bull Run
• John Sevier
• Johnsonville
• Kingston
• Cumberland
• Gallatin

TVA will still monitor point-source "smokestack" SO2 emissions at these facilities.

SO2 contributes to the formation of acid rain, which damages trees, crops, historic buildings, and monuments, and makes soils, lakes, and streams acidic affecting forests and wildlife. SO2 also contributes to the formation of atmospheric particles that cause visibility impairment, most noticeably in national parks.

The variance is a result of an October 2006 EPA rule change that relaxes standards for SO2 monitoring in areas where it is no longer believed needed.

Three conditions must be met to obtain a variance: (1) The actual sulfur dioxide emissions from a fuel burning installation do not exceed 20,000 tons per year; (2) The source must be located in an attainment area and must not significantly impact a sulfur dioxide nonattainment area; (3) Measurements of air quality in the vicinity of the source demonstrate that ambient sulfur dioxide levels do not exceed 75 percent of the ambient air quality standards for sulfur dioxide.

The good news is that TVA has significantly reduced SO2 emissions over the years and meets two of the three requirements. Ambient SO2 levels at these facilities are less than 25% of the SO2 air quality standards, and TVA has not violated ambient air quality standards at any of these facilities since 1993.

But, TVA does not meet the first requirement. In 2006, SO2 emissions exceeded 20,000 tons at all of these TVA facilities except Cumberland. Johnsonville is the worst offender at 86,800 tons, followed by Kingston at 55,500 tons. Total SO2 emissions for these six facilities were 242,200 tons in 2006.

TVA successfully argued before the EPA and TDEC that the 20,000 ton limit should not apply to them, stating "The reason that this requirement cannot be met is the fact that there are only seven coal fired power plants located within the State of Tennessee (six are listed above and the seventh is located in Shelby County and is unaffected by this variance). Consequently these power plants are very large by national standards. Thus, even burning lower sulfur coals, the actual sulfur dioxide emissions, measured in tons per year, will be very large." TDEC concurred and granted the variance.

While we applaud TVA's ongoing emission control efforts, this exemption does not appear consistent with the letter or the spirit of the weakened regulation. In fact, arguing that their facilities are too large to comply seems to defy logic.

A TDEC spokesperson provided background information on the hearing, which you can read after the jump. TDEC also forwarded a copy of TVA's request for variance, which you can read here.

While AT&T is spending millions lobbying Tennessee legislators for a bill that establishes statewide cable franchises and eliminates local control of cable contracts, they are busy over in Mississippi (which has no such law) negotiating local government franchises.

The latest contracts are in Jackson and Horn Lake.

The lack of a statewide franchise doesn't seem to be holding AT&T back in Mississippi. Several local governments in Tennessee have invited them to submit a proposal. Why haven't they?

Meanwhile, Georgia passed the AT&T sponsored statewide franchise bill this year. Folks in Atlanta are now set to start saving big because of all the competition it brings. Well, at least a few of them:

The telecom giant says about 200 families in the metro Atlanta will get 300-plus channels piped into their homes — depending on the package, which can include up to 30 in high-definition — by the end of this year. Atlanta is the first city in the Southeast to get the service.

The article says the service will be available to more homes in 2008, but AT&T has not provided a rollout schedule or any details on what areas will be served.

(Also see: Andrew Eder and Joe Powell)

New information about the ORNL computer security breach says the attack originated in China:

The United States Computer Emergency Response Team (US-CERT) prepared a memorandum that traced IP addresses involved in the attack to computers in China. The memo was distributed by the Department of Homeland Security to public and private security officials and obtained by the New York Times.

There are also more details about the phishing emails.

Bad breath leads to suspension.

In his defense, one of the residents in the building says, "His job, which he does well, is opening the door — not to be opening his mouth,".

In other words, don't talk to me, just open the d@%# door.

That didn't take long. As predicted, the energy bill passed by the House yesterday stalled in the Senate today.

Both Tennessee Senators Alexander and Corker voted to continue a Republican filibuster the bill.

Curiously, Tennessee Republicans are fighting the bill, which promotes ethanol production that would help Tennessee farmers. They talk a lot about how they support ethanol programs. Apparently it's just talk.

Mortgage rates not a problem. Nothing to see here.

Oops, Bush Administration pushes to "freeze" interest rates.

The proposal, reached in negotiations led by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson with the mortgage industry, would freeze introductory "teaser" rates on subprime mortgages, preventing them from resetting to higher rates for five years. White House deputy press secretary Tony Fratto said it would help "potentially a little more than a million" people who can afford payments with their introductory rates, but not if they jump to higher rates.

He said it was voluntary, and did not represent federal intrusion into the private market.

Voluntary my ass.

According to the latest report by the National Association of Realtors, existing home sales in Tennessee were down 11.3% in the third quarter of 2007 as compared to 2006.

It could have been a lot worse, though. Tennessee ranks almost exactly in the middle (25th place) in terms of sales decline. Nevada (-35%), Florida (-32%), Arizona (-31%), Maryland (-29%), and California (-28%) were hardest hit by ongoing problems in the housing market.

Tennessee was better off as compared to the overall U.S. decline (-13.7%) and the South regional decline (-14.3%).

In terms of median home prices, Knoxville area home prices were up 3.2% in the Knoxville area, down 2.1% in the Chattanooga area, and down 2.8% in the Memphis area. Figures for Nashville were not available.

Condo prices were up 10.1% in the Knoxville area, probably owing to intense condo development taking place downtown. Figures for other areas were not available.

WKRN files this report on an Erin, TN man who has built a gas/electric/human powered (tri-hybrid) bike and he's riding it 1000 miles to Amarillo Texas:

"This is Exertrike Tri-Hybrid and it is not a production model," [Jay] Perdue showed News 2. "This one was set up to run down the interstate down to Amarillo, Texas, 1,000 miles getting over 300 miles per gallon. It is street legal in the state of Tennessee, with lights and running lights, turn signals and mirrors and even has a horn."

According to WKRN, the tri-hybrid tops out at 54 MPH. The Discovery Channel is covering his journey.

The inventor has some journal notes at his Exertrike website. According to his notes, the tri-hybrid used on the 1000 mile run is powered by a 2.5 hp Honda 4 stroke engine and 6 batteries totaling 72 volts.