Cup Of Joe Powell

• Camera Obscura: Best Food Shows On TV

  I've been watching hours and hours of the Food Network, which has to be something only an American would do. We have such abundance and crave more than the old-fashioned 'some-dude-in-an-apron-makes-some-casserole' segments which used to air on local noon news programs. So there are a few shows on the network' [...]
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  Posted: December 12, 2009, 11:08am EST
  

• Theremin Christmas Music 2009

  While it certainly appears too, too easy to find some politico in today's America to ridicule (see previous post) it is absolutely not easy to play Christmas music on a theremin.
  
  And I cannot tell you exactly why I like Christmas music on a theremin. I just do.
  [...]
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  Posted: December 10, 2009, 12:08am EST
  

• A Decade With A Heavy Toll

  The names and faces of some folks with astonishing influence which tumble past this Decade In Memoriam piece made me pretty sad.
  
  Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Kurt Vonnegut, Johnny Carson, Cap'n Kangaroo, Mr. Rogers, George Harrison, Gregory Peck, Paul Newman, Barry White, Ray Charles, Marlon Brando, James Brown,' [...]
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  Posted: December 08, 2009, 1:44pm EST
  

• Mayor Russell Wiseman Is Sorry We Found Out How Idiotic He Is

  Arlington, TN Mayor Russell Wiseman issued a non-apology apology for his idiotic and strange comments about President Obama on Monday, comments which nabbed national attention for Wiseman and for the town of Arlington. My original post on Mayor Wiseman's clueless rant is here.
  
  The town, by the [...]
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  Posted: December 08, 2009, 10:22am EST
  

• Comcast Mergeapocalypse Now

  Alarms and worries are rising over the proposed takeover of NBC Universal by cable giant Comcast, a deal which Comcast promises will be pro-consumer and which most industry insiders view as the beginning of a "mergeapocalypse".
  
  From the Consumerist:
  
  "Blocked content, rising rates, forced bundling, and" [...]
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  Posted: December 07, 2009, 3:16pm EST
  

• GOP: No Lie Is Too Big To Fail

  "The combined crazy quotient was enough to nearly cause a rift in the space-time continuum."
  
  It's easy to dip into a set of projected statistics in Washington DC and emerge with some kind of shocking OMG!! slab of information, coat it with tongues of lies and sell it as [...]
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  Posted: December 06, 2009, 2:25pm EST
  

• Another Idiot Politician In Tennessee - Meet Mayor Russell Wiseman

  
  I know every state in the nation has some lackluster, bone-dumb and ignorant clucks who somehow skeez the public into accepting the idea the person is some kind of politician, and soon become an elected official of varying offices whose skills are chiefly being perhaps [...]
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  Posted: December 04, 2009, 4:35pm EST
  

• Media Moguls Call Online Writers 'Parasites' and 'Vampires'

  The FTC invited speakers to talk about journalism in the online age and got an earful. One of the speakers was Arianna Huffington, creator of the online Huffington Post, and she tore into old media kingpins like Rupert Murdoch and others who squall about the evil of online writing [...]
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  Posted: December 03, 2009, 12:32pm EST
  

• The Way to Defeat Terrorism - Send In The Gossip Hounds

  Pretty sickening the way the media has salivated all over Tiger Woods and an apparent affair he had. I've always noticed how the media sneered and despised at his image of success and work - pretty much biz as usual for Fame - they hoist you up so you make' [...]
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  Posted: December 02, 2009, 1:15pm EST
  

• Cormac's Knoxville Typewiter Being Auctioned

  
  Christie's will auction an Olivetti Lettera 32 portable typewriter on Friday - the very typewriter which writer Cormac McCarthy bought in Knoxville at a pawn shop in the early 1960s, the one McCarthy has used ever since, pouring his thoughts and words through the device' [...]
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  Posted: December 01, 2009, 10:32am EST
  

• Happiness Without Twitter

  I gave up the Twitter account I had started a few years back. If I am pondering on some words to stab into place on the Internet, the place for them is here, and I prefer a bit of narrative rather than 140 characters to convey a thought. For a [...]
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  Posted: November 29, 2009, 1:30pm EST
  

• Outrageous

  [...]
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  Posted: November 29, 2009, 11:10am EST
  

• Happy Thanskgiv -- Oh Never Mind

  A Thanksgiving re-enactment and mini-history from some kids, via Landline TV.
  
  
  [...]
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  Posted: November 23, 2009, 1:35pm EST
  

• Bob Dylan Does Christmas?

  And I sure do like it.
  
  Polka. Party. Christmas. Fighting ....
  
  What's not to like? Watch the full video right here.
  ' [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 9:57pm EST
  

• Religion In America 2009

  
  
  NOTE: Cathy notes in the comments that Aunt B.'s post today on America and religion is decidedly more crazy-dangerous than weird.' [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 6:22pm EST
  

• Morristown Bankruptcy Looms Large

  City officials have been trying hard to duck and cover from massive waste and abuse in taxing and spending and there seems to be no end in sight - taxpayers will likely be slammed again with ever higher taxes during a crushing recession and double-digit unemployment. Worse, elected officials [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 2:24pm EST
  

• Morristown Bankruptcy Looms Large

  City officials have been trying hard to duck and cover from massive waste and abuse in taxing and spending and there seems to be no end in sight - taxpayers will likely be slammed again with ever higher taxes during a crushing recession and double-digit unemployment. Worse, elected officials [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 2:24pm EST
  

• Sarah Palin and The 'Twilight' Cult

  I think there's a strong link between the popularity of the "Twilight" vampire novels and movies and Alaska's Sarah Palin.
  
  I can't completely nail it down for you - it's this weird mixture of fantasy, immortality, sexuality, power and powerlessness. And heaps of plain old-fashioned shlock. It's about not' [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 1:28pm EST
  

• Congress Dances To Billionaire Fiddlers

  Congressional debate on most legislation is often mingled with information provided by lobbyists - hardly a news flash to folks who follow politics. Still, a few recent examples show the members of Congress from both parties make sure that the info they include in the record of their debate shine [...]
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  Posted: November 16, 2009, 3:17pm EST
  

• When The Legend Becomes Fact, Print The Legend

  A comedy show is often the thorn which punctures the party balloons which masquerade as "news". Jon Stewart this week popped the delusional -- scratch that - the lies - dumped onto the airwaves via Sean Hannity's show on FoxNews for faking it when describing the rally -- scratch' [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 11:55am EST
  

• UT Football Salaries Vs. Academic Cuts

  A report in the USA Today - which is often to newspapers what Highlights magazine is to homework - has a story tracking the ever expanding salaries for athletic programs at the expense of academics. One of the schools mentioned is the University of Tennessee --
  
  "USA TODAY's'" [...]
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  Posted: November 10, 2009, 1:14pm EST
  

• Tea Party Protesters Depend on Government-Run Healthcare

  As a few thousand folks lined up to hear the Republican congressmen (most of whom were absent from actual committee votes on public policy) last week, some of those anti-healthcare bill protesters needed some emergency medical help from - gasp!! - government operated medicine providers.
  
  One person suffered a [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 11:13am EST
  

• Meet Michael Alvis and Buy His Book

  I've been most fortunate living here in East TN to have made so many good friends with folks who are also talented artists. It might seem odd to some, but there has always been this very strong and powerful community of artists in our area and it's my pleasure to [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 9:08am EST
  

• Camera Obscura: 'War, Inc." Rips Outsourced Warfare; Sundance Festival In Tennessee

  Creating a satire on your own culture is a doubled-bladed dagger. Satirists seldom become lionized or praised for their efforts as pointing out failures and dangers and the ridiculous presence of deluded emperors wearing invisible clothes tends to invoke more embarrassment than wisdom or appreciation.
  
  Sometimes greatness is achieved [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 12:06pm EST
  

• The Dick Armey Model - Corruption for Cash

  Former congressional leaders who turn into lobbyists and organizers for "grassroots" organizations usually become lackluster seekers for untold riches and to hell with the policies being debated.
  
  The model for this tacky and dubious enterprise is former House Leader Dick Armey of Texas and the Dallas News published [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 12:08pm EST
  

• Compassion for Celebrity Tea Party Loss

  A quick politics check after yesterday's Mediocre Tuesday elections:
  
  Republicans elected two governors, Democrats elected two Congressmen. Steve Benen breaks it down pretty well:
  
  "Going into yesterday, it'd been a good year for Democrats in special elections, winning three races -- New York's 20th, Illinois's 5th," [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 10:50am EST
  

• The Myth of The Celebrity Tea Party Race In New York's 23rd District

  The Celebrity Tea Party wing of the GOP is trying hard to make one congressional race in New York mean something, anything and as always the CTP whirls a wildly distorted spin as they yearn for a single victory in the political landscape. They hope a single election victory will [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 10:12am EST
  

• Camera Obscura: Halloween Top Five; Monster Catfish; Hammer Films Is Back, Baby!

  The British film company Hammer Films, which gave us the timeless performances of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing as well as a vast army of horror films is back in business.
  
  The company is back with several new projects, and late in September of this year their huge archive [...]
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  Posted: October 30, 2009, 11:47am EDT
  

• A Halloween Meat Hand

  The folks at Not Martha have provided you with a step-by-step recipe to create a memorable Halloween menu item - the Meat Hand. As the blogger there says, "Since August, I've had a post-it over my desk that simply said 'meat hand'." I'm sure co-workers were a bit concerned [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 11:50am EDT
  

• Col. Sanders Dupes U.N. Into Playing Chicken

  
  A publicity stunt last Thursday by Kentucky Fried Chicken worked a little too well as a United Nations security guard allowed an actor dressed as Col. Sanders into some "secure" areas of the U.N. The fellow got so far as approaching a host of U.N. [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 1:31pm EDT
  

• My Feeble Computer Code Skills

  I noticed this weekend that for readers who use Internet Explorer, this page is not loading correctly and all the sidebar items -- the right-hand side of the layout -- don't work and end up sliding down to the bottom of the page.
  
  For other web browsers, the page' [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 10:31am EDT
  

• Just Going to See Grandma in Knoxville for the Holidays is Going to Be a Problem

  That's the quote from a Charlotte Observer story on a massive rock slide which is so big, it will take about 3 months or more to clear both lanes of I-40 for safe traveling.
  
  The Asheville Citizen-Times has lots of pictures of the huge slide, and here' [...]
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  Posted: October 26, 2009, 1:44pm EDT
  

• Frightmare Manor - Can You Take The Challenge?

  The way it's being going this year, I'd expect the Haunted House attractions for Halloween 2009 would be a place populated with doctors and health insurance companies. Oh and of course the Super Spooky Liberal Democrat. Or are the Right Wing fringe-folk more fear-inducing this year?
  
  Anyway, a new [...]
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  Posted: October 22, 2009, 12:16pm EDT
  

• An All GOP Tennessee Government Fails To Serve Residents

  The state's government - according to an opinion piece by ACK at Post Politics - is poised for a complete Republican domination:
  
  
  "The question is not whether there will be Republican rule, but rather what kind. One-party leadership doesn't mean there aren't any bold and important fights'" [...]
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  Posted: October 19, 2009, 1:33pm EDT
  

• The Psyience Detectives and The Mysterious Balloon Adventure

  
  
  
  The endless hours of television and internet coverage of young Falcon Heene who was not inside a big helium balloon flying over Colorado yesterday is surely one of the oddest things of 2009. His father, Richard, is also a co-host on a video [...]
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  Posted: October 16, 2009, 2:09pm EDT
  

• A Machine's Warning From The Future: Don't Build It

  "For those of us who believe in physics,” Einstein once wrote to a friend, “this separation between past, present and future is only an illusion.”
  
  What might happen if a few billion dollars were spent to make a gigantic Supercollider machine, meant to create a particle called a [...]
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  Posted: October 15, 2009, 1:12pm EDT
  

• Alexander, Corker Protect KBR, Ignore Rape

  It is very good news that the U.S. Senate voted to end forced arbitration of Defense contract employees who are raped by their co-workers. (as I noted earlier this week). But the bad news is how the Tennessee media has ignored the votes cast by Senators Lamar Alexander and [...]
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  Posted: October 15, 2009, 10:26am EDT
  

• MTSU State Survey: Most Oppose Gun Law Changes; Unsure On Other Topics

  The annual survey among Tennesseans from MTSU reveals strong opposition to allowing guns in parks, eateries and especially bars -- but much ambivalence remains on many other topics. Some highlights from their survey:
  
  

  State: Most disapprove of handguns in public places

  Most disapprove of carrying handguns [...]
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  Posted: October 14, 2009, 11:51am EDT
  

• Alexander, Corker Vote No On Punishing Rapists

  Tennessee Senators Alexander and Corker decided to vote against a proposal to allow victims of rape to have a day in court - along with 28 other Republican senators this week. I'd bet that vote will not be mentioned in their campaign fliers and stump speeches for re-election. Tennessee voters' [...]
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  Posted: October 10, 2009, 3:19pm EDT
  

• Giants Mark 20th Anniversary of the Fall of Berlin Wall

  The Boston Globe has some amazing pictures of part of the ongoing celebration of the fall of the Berlin Wall, part of a massive photo essay. The story being enacted is performed by the French street theater company, Royal de Luxe. It tells a story of a young girl and [...]
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  Posted: October 08, 2009, 12:41pm EDT
  

• Glenn Beck Sees No Humor In Joke Website

  A website which parodies the witless and base tactics employed by radio and TV talker Glenn Beck does not seem amuse Beck, so he's trying to shut it down. The satiric website has the grim name of Did Glenn Beck Rape and Murder A Young Girl In 1990?
  
  Very' [...]
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  Posted: October 08, 2009, 11:13am EDT
  

• Still Some Fun Left In American Politics

  Here's a political announcement that's one-of-a-kind. (thanks to Brittney for pointing this one out, and like she says, just watch it through to the end, it is worth it):
  
  [...]
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  Posted: October 06, 2009, 11:00am EDT
  

• Working On "Golden Pond"

  Yes, I'm working as a Director again and also I'm in this play in a small role as a dentist who is afraid of bears and afraid of his fiancee's father, Norman. You can get your tickets to the show online right now at LakewayTickets.com. More information available at' [...]
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  Posted: October 01, 2009, 1:28pm EDT
  

• Gorilla Tweets and Space Clowns

  It might be called the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and National Park, but the digital world has penetrated it as part of an effort to raise awareness for the fading population of mountain gorillas in Uganda.
  
  Launched Saturday, the "Friend A Gorilla" campaign is using Twitter and Facebook and [...]
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  Posted: September 29, 2009, 11:11am EDT
  

• Limited Online Access to Local Government

  Sunshine Review is a website tracking transparency in government and it also compiles state by state reviews on how much information is available to the public via local and state government websites. Tennessee has a token presence online but more than one-third of the counties don't even have a' [...]
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  Posted: September 29, 2009, 10:40am EDT
  

• Southern 'Birther" Infomercial Scam

  The bizarre anti-Obama madness about his birth certificate took a new twist this week as a 28-minute infomercial hit the airwaves in seven Southern states, including Chattanooga, TN. The pitch for this slab of strangeness comes from one Gary Kreep .... yes, Kreep is his name. He claims for a [...]
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  Posted: September 27, 2009, 11:26am EDT
  

• A Thursday Web-Walk

  I'm still a bit down and out from the Ham flu or the nasty cold or whatever illness has my head in the swamp. Here's a taste of the web-walking I've been doing of late and I hope to be back to a more fortified writing very soon.
  
  [...]
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  Posted: September 24, 2009, 1:38pm EDT
  

• My Turn At Sickness, No Options Available

  It was inevitable, I suppose, given the time of year and the large number of un-well folks I have been around lately that I would contract my own version of a cold or flu or something. Seems like everyone has been exposed to colds and wheezing and breathing woes.
  
  [...]
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  Posted: September 22, 2009, 2:38pm EDT
  

• Blackburn and Alexander Can't Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way

  Congressional Republicans - like Tennessee's Marsha Blackburn and Lamar Alexander - are working very hard to halt any useful duties their jobs require and instead they hold press conferences to promote the witless rantings of talk radio hosts like Limbaugh and Malkin.
  
  Rachel Maddow again points out the lunacy [...]
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  Posted: September 17, 2009, 11:54am EDT
  

• Sen. Alexander Agrees - Domestic Violence is Pre-Existing Condition, Not Suitable For Health Insurance

  I noticed this story yesterday via Enclave and again today at Silence Isn't Golden -- insurance companies in 8 states refuse to provide health insurance to victims of Domestic Violence, regarding such victims of spousal abuse as suffering from a pre-existing condition.
  
  Back in 2006, a congressional' [...]
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  Posted: September 16, 2009, 12:49pm EDT
  

• Sen. Alexander Writes Fairy Tales Heard From FOX and Glenn Beck

  Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander has - as a friend of mine says, "Had the cheese fall off his cracker".
  
  Sen. Alexander and a handful of other senators who seems to take all their marching orders from FOX news (see video below) sent a letter to President Obama wailing that [...]
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  Posted: September 15, 2009, 4:25pm EDT
  

• South Carolina - State of Denial

  "For two centuries, the South has feared a takeover by blacks or the feds. In Obama, they have both.
  
  The state that fired the first shot of the Civil War has now given us this: Senator Jim DeMint exhorted conservatives to “break” the president by upending his health" [...]
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  Posted: September 14, 2009, 4:49pm EDT
  

• Lies Make For Constant Media Attention

  
  
  --- Anti-Obama folks, like Michelle Malkin - depend on making you feel angry and weak if you agree with her. One way she does that is by plain-old South Carolina style lying:
  
  "I suppose it's one of the benefits of occupying a parallel universe like the'" [...]
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  Posted: September 14, 2009, 1:26pm EDT
  

• Is This The Cure For Health Care in America?

  Oh Health Care Debate, is there anything you can't do? You stir up patriotic and religious fervor, you help the public and the elected communicate and/or curse each other face to face, you show off how brilliant and how dim we can be, you shape the nation's economic and physical' [...]
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  Posted: September 10, 2009, 11:39am EDT
  

• Beatles For Sale and I'm A Loser

  Plenty of publicity surrounds the release today of a new music-based video game and a new digital remastering of all the Beatles albums, and publicity (and lots of it) has been a constant for the Band Heard 'Round the World since they launched their careers.
  
  I don't know if [...]
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  Posted: September 09, 2009, 10:32am EDT
  

• You're Making the Mothers In America Angry

  I noticed another truck here in East Tennessee this past weekend with the bumper sticker which reads "TN is for Jesus Not Obama". Funny thing though - that's never been a choice anyone I know (or don't know) has ever been given. Ever.
  
  The rising (and highly publicized) anger' [...]
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  Posted: September 08, 2009, 12:40pm EDT
  

• The Medical Industrial Complex

  Journalist and Health Care Advocate Maggie Mahar has a new book and documentary out titled "Money-Driven Medicine: The Real Reason Health Care Costs So Much" and the documentary is starting to shake up some of the current debate about Health Care in America.
  
  Here's some excerpts from the movie, [...]
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  Posted: September 03, 2009, 10:29am EDT
  

• And The Winners Are ....

  As I posted previously, I've been running a contest in honor of this humble but lovable blog's birthday, and now I am happy to announce that two readers have each won a set of six movie posters from Turner Classic Movies -- I'm contacting them both and the [...]
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  Posted: September 01, 2009, 8:02pm EDT
  

• Local Blogger Says Health Care Is No Debate - It's A Matter of Life or Death

  For a woman named Beth, a single mother of two, the so-called Health Care debate is not about politics of the Right or the Left, or the endless chatter on talk radio and television. For her, it is a matter of life and death.
  
  Beth penned an letter to [...]
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  Posted: August 31, 2009, 1:26pm EDT
  

• Morristown City Admin Forgives and Other Stories Hiding Out

  Here's a brief round-up of new and blog reports which stand out to me - some are stories which should get more attention, and perhaps some should grab your attention with some intensity:
  
  MORRISTOWN FIRES CITY ADMINISTRATOR WHO OFFERS FORGIVENESS FOR BEING FIRED:
  
  
  "City Administrator Jim'" [...]
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  Posted: August 30, 2009, 6:42pm EDT
  

• The Black Hole of Health Care Fakery Sucks All Debate Into A Giant Anguished Cry

  Separating fact from fiction when it comes to political debate is far more of a massive dredging operation than, say, merely sifting one from the other.
  
  Enormous planet-sized heaps of information and dis-information blend so seamlessly together - and all is repeated and repeated via hard-core entertainer/rodeo clowns on [...]
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  Posted: August 26, 2009, 10:51pm EDT
  

• What's The Real Cost of a 'Shadow Army'?

  While it might seem odd to some to follow-up this weekend's movie post about revisionist history with a story about our real political world -- they share a startling amount of fantasy and danger, but which is which and just what do these policies really cost our country?
  
  For [...]
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  Posted: August 25, 2009, 11:12am EDT
  

• Camera Obscura: (Part 2) "Inglourious Basterds" and "District 9" Reviews

  
  As Lt. Aldo Raine, Brad Pitt southern-drawls his commands, telling his squad he ain't very happy he had to leave his home in the Smoky Mountains to fight these dirty Nazis - and when directly questioned about where his home is , he proudly declares' [...]
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  Posted: August 22, 2009, 1:08pm EDT
  

• Camera Obscura: (Part One) Still Time To Win Free Movie Posters

  
  
  You still have time to enter to win a set of six great new movie posters from classic Hollywood courtesy of Turner Classic Movies -- I have two sets of the six posters to give away, and to win all you have to do is enter your name [...]
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  Posted: August 21, 2009, 1:01pm EDT
  

• Ridiculous Health Reform Fear Number 10,432

  Just when I thought I had all I could stomach from the deeply ill-informed lunacy from folks who think changing the way health insurance operates is Eeeeeevil Incarnate --- I finally found something that made me laugh out loud.
  
  [...]
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  Posted: August 18, 2009, 11:51pm EDT
  

• Ridiculous Health Reform Fear Number 10,432

  Just when I thought I had all I could stomach from the deeply ill-informed lunacy from folks who think changing the way health insurance operates is Eeeeeevil Incarnate --- I finally found something that made me laugh out loud.
  
  [...]
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  Posted: August 18, 2009, 11:51pm EDT
  

• More Conservative Lies about Health Care In The U.K.

  Via The Week magazine, this article by Robert Shrum:
  
  "Opening an Atlantic front in their summer campaign of lies, conservative opponents of health-care reform have targeted the British National Health Service as a care-denying, euthanizing, broken-down caricature of "socialized medicine"—a portrait that bears no resemblance to reality or" [...]
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  Posted: August 18, 2009, 7:39pm EDT
  

• Thought For The Day

  “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did.”
  
  Mark Twain [...]
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  Posted: August 18, 2009, 3:22pm EDT
  

• Health Care In America - A Reality Check

  Please read through the two following blog posts on the debate (or lack of it via Our Modern Media, which instead aims their cameras at train wrecks rather than dig into the facts and figures of a handful of proposed bills -- and recall that None Yet Have Been Voted [...]
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  Posted: August 17, 2009, 2:17pm EDT
  

• A Month of Free Gifts For You - Win New Designs of Classic Movie Posters

  Elvis Presley, John Wayne, Gene Hackman, Sidney Poitier, Peter Sellers, Frank Sinatra, Bette Davis, Audrey Hepburn are all working together for the first time to thank you, dear readers, for having that Cup of Joe here on the internet.
  
  As a part of the celebration of this blog's 4th [...]
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  Posted: August 13, 2009, 10:33am EDT
  

• I'm Giving Away Presents For My Blog Birthday

  Since this tasty, fresh, piping-hot and aromatically stimulating Cup of Joe just had it's Blog Birthday, turning into a humble-but-lovable 4-year-old -- I am giving presents to YOU this year.
  
  Tune in tomorrow to find out how you can get this special present.
  
  What is it?
  
  It's' [...]
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  Posted: August 12, 2009, 11:03pm EDT
  

• "Death Panels" Are Real - They Come From Your Insurance Policy

  I was glad to see that former Gov. Sarah Palin was forced to choke on her own words thanks to a major blast of reality from folks like my blogging friend Southern Beale.
  
  Palin's idiotic "government death panels" are fantasy, but the reality is insurance companies DO have [...]
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  Posted: August 11, 2009, 8:55am EDT
  

• Lunacy Over Health Care and Insurance Reforms

  It's getting ugly out there -- rabid, illogical and often just plain old-fashioned lying -- as efforts are made to change the way insurance and health care work.
  
  Really ugly -- but not really surprising, given that the voices from the Right are led by the small-minded self-aggrandizers like [...]
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  Posted: August 09, 2009, 6:43pm EDT
  

• Late Summer Night Music

  When it is a hot summer August night, like this one, and tomorrow looks to be even hotter, I often spend far too many hours searching for music to enjoy and to post here on this humble but lovable blog.
  
  In the past few days, I've been listening a' [...]
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  Posted: August 08, 2009, 1:00am EDT
  

• Camera Obscura: John Hughes, King of Comedy; 'Perfect Getaway'; 'Lovely Bones'; Vampire's Assistant

  
  I was talking just this week with a friend about writer/director John Hughes, who died suddenly on Thursday at age 59. Hughes made some of the most-loved movies through the 1980s, capturing the lives and loves and comic errors of American teens (and the idiocy [...]
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  Posted: August 07, 2009, 11:40am EDT
  

• How To Improve Television - Drop Glenn Beck

  MediaMatters reports today that the jabbering madness of Glenn Beck is losing major advertisers.
  
  "Three companies who run ads during Glenn Beck -- NexisLexis-owned Lawyers.com, Proctor & Gamble and Progressive Insurance -- today distanced themselves from Beck. LexisNexis has pulled its advertising from Beck and says it has" [...]
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  Posted: August 06, 2009, 2:46pm EDT
  

• Secret Deals Between Jefferson County Government and The Railroad

  Several citizens groups have formed to halt the plan to construct a Norfolk-Southern rail and truck facility, though the reporting via today's Knoxville News Sentinel pretty much implies the residents are out of luck and their county's landscape will be forever changed.
  
  So far, the Powers That Be have [...]
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  Posted: August 05, 2009, 4:06pm EDT
  

• Post-Peach; Or The Other News in the News

  After many Summer months working with some fantastic actors, this weekend saw the first and last appearance of "James and the Giant Peach" - a live stage show for Rose Center's Summer Players. I confess some sadness to see The Peach fade into memory - but what fine memories for [...]
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  Posted: August 04, 2009, 1:57pm EDT
  

• Post-Peach; Or The Other News in the News

  After many Summer months working with some fantastic actors, this weekend saw the first and last appearance of "James and the Giant Peach" - a live stage show for Rose Center's Summer Players. I confess some sadness to see The Peach fade into memory - but what fine memories for [...]
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  Posted: August 04, 2009, 1:57pm EDT
  

• Last Chance Today to See James and The Giant Peach

  The final performance of "James and the Giant Peach" at Rose Center in Morristown is today with curtain time at 2 pm -- come early, tickets are going fast and will be available at the door!!
  
  Directing this show for the Rose Center Summer Players has been one of [...]
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  Posted: August 02, 2009, 10:40am EDT
  

• 'James and The Giant Peach' Opens Friday at Rose Center in Morristown

  
  This weekend is the ONLY chance to see the 18th annual theatrical production from the Rose Center Summer Players program, with "James and the Giant Peach" at Rose Center in Morristown starting Friday. The cast of young actors and their parents and the RC [...]
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  Posted: July 30, 2009, 3:44pm EDT
  

• "Heads Will Roll" In TVA Toxic Spill?

  From the very creation of the coal ash containment site in Kingston through decades of warnings about increasing risks of catastrophic failure and even through the days following the massive toxic flood of coal ash into the rivers and land in Kingston, TVA failed and support those failures with more [...]
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  Posted: July 29, 2009, 9:46am EDT
  

• Morristown Near 20% Unemployment

  The figures for months have shown a steady march upward on unemployment here in East Tennessee, and June's report shows Morristown near 20% and Hamblen County above 13%.
  
  The numbers:
  
  

  The state's four most populous combined statistical areas (CSAs) in May reported:

  * Chattanooga, 10.3 percent, up [...]

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  Posted: July 28, 2009, 8:49am EDT
  

• Camera Obscura: Comic-Con News; Miyazaki's 'Ponyo'; Scorsese's 'Shutter Island'

  
  Filmmakers and fans and media reps from all corners have been busy at the Annual San Diego Comic-Con this week. When first held in 1970, a few hundred fans and comic creators attended and the event was barely noticed - except among fans and [...]
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  Posted: July 26, 2009, 10:43am EDT
  

• Seduction and Scandal In The Tennessee Legislatue

  State Senator Paul Stanley and one of his interns, McKensie Morrison, are at the center of a sex scandal and an alleged blackmail plot, a story burning up the state blogging world. Kleinheider at PostPolitics has been reporting quite a bit on the sordid tale and has a [...]
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  Posted: July 24, 2009, 10:29am EDT
  

• Newspapers: 180 Years of Not Charging For Content

  The newspaper business has - since it's earliest days - used a business model where readers are never really charged for the content the newspaper provides.
  
  That's the argument presented at NewsFuturist.com:
  
  "Newspapers haven't actually charged for news content since the 1830s.
  
  Up until then, most'" [...]
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  Posted: July 24, 2009, 9:32am EDT
  

• Fatal Flaws in TVA

  A very critical report on TVA's operations at their coal-fired plants, prompted by the disastrous spill of coal ash in December of last year, says TVA failed in key areas:
  
  "The consultants said the "necessary systems, controls and culture were not in place" to properly manage the coal ash" [...]
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  Posted: July 22, 2009, 8:05am EDT
  

• Better Living Thru Swearing and Bras?

  Science!! is always striving to improve our lives and last week two new developments pushed forward some ideas which science and business are beginning to embrace.
  
  A study from Britain's Keele University provides information that swearing when injured or being hurt alleviates pain.
  
  "Swearing has been around" [...]
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  Posted: July 21, 2009, 1:02pm EDT
  

• Apollo 11-- 40 Years Later

  Despite what I and many others thought on July 20, 1969, so far only 12 people have walked on the surface of the moon. The first two - Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin - literally flew in on sheer will-power and some dicey technology.
  
  Some sharp color images [...]
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  Posted: July 20, 2009, 7:55am EDT
  

• Camera Obscura: Harry Potter Returns; Comic-Con News; 'Futurama' Fail; 'District 9'

  
  The newest Harry Potter movie opened this week with midnight shows and Cathy at Domestic Psychology has the skinny on what that event was like --
  
  Midnight movies are fun, but I fall two days behind every time I do an all-nighter anything.HBP [...]
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  Posted: July 18, 2009, 11:44am EDT
  

• Congressman Zach Wamp's House of Secrets

  

  Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

  [...]
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  Posted: July 16, 2009, 7:14am EDT
  

• Congressman Zach Wamp's House of Secrets

  

  Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

  [...]
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  Posted: July 16, 2009, 7:14am EDT
  

• Shoot-Out Or Opt Out?

  Thanks to the short-sighted, political goofballery of the Tennessee State Legislature, any community in the state which has a public park has been forced to formulate a policy on whether or not folks can tote their guns with them when they head out to the park. It's the great Opt-Out [...]
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  Posted: July 14, 2009, 11:27pm EDT
  

• Toxic Tennessee Valley

  The aftermath and current struggle of residents living in the midst of a full-blow disaster, the giant 1.1 billion gallon coal ash spill from TVA's coal plant in Kingston, gets a medical report from CNN.
  
  "People think they're going to die before they'll see results."
  
  Mixed into [...]
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  Posted: July 14, 2009, 7:45am EDT
  

• Best Blog In Tennessee - A Summer Full of Fun

  
  I'm not sure what the best blog in Tennessee might be, but it seemed a catchy headline to note that yes I have been most active in the non-online world this week so please pardon my absence and let me get you all caught up.' [...]
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  Posted: July 10, 2009, 4:27pm EDT
  

• Sen. Ramsey Fails At Tea Party Math

  Cultivating his supporters for a run for Governor of Tennessee, Sen. Ron Ramsey spoke with a passion at a "tea party" rally in the Tri-Cities this weekend, but he (or the Johnson City Press typesetters and/or their reporter) failed to realize just when the Declaration of Independence was created.
  [...]
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  Posted: July 07, 2009, 8:10am EDT
  

• Rep. Phil Roe's Odd Tea Party

  According to the OpenPen blog, 1st District Congressman Dr. Phil Roe (aka Dr No) had some fiery words to stir the crowd -- but just what was he calling on the crowd to do?
  
  (Rep. Roe also made time to attend a few other "tea party" events, along with [...]
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  Posted: July 06, 2009, 4:22pm EDT
  

• Tennessee, Others Say Goodbye to Rest Stops

  Via the Wall Street Journal:
  
  "Later this month, cash-strapped Virginia plans to barricade entrances and switch off the plumbing and electricity at nearly half its highway rest areas. Other states also are lowering budgetary axes on the public pit stops that have lined the interstate highway system since" [...]
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  Posted: July 06, 2009, 8:19am EDT
  

• Bela Fleck's Star Spangled Banner

  Happy Independence Day!
  
  [...]
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  Posted: July 04, 2009, 12:09pm EDT
  

• Sarah Palin - Train Wrecks Get Top Ratings

  
  Details about the Big Run Away From Blogging Bullies and Evil Media, aka Gov. Palin resigns, are mighty strange given the rambling speech the broadcast by soon-to-exit governor. (Full rambling text here.)
  
  The Mudflats blog has some info that real troubles are [...]
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  Posted: July 04, 2009, 8:21am EDT