Racism in Knoxville, who’d’ve thunk it!

Update: I’m not speechless any more. This really pisses me off to no end.

Update2:

Representatives from the Knoxville branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Knoxville Area Urban League and the Knoxville Region of the National Conference for Community and Justice were expected to attend the press conference, along with some public officials.

Source: KNS

Of course, they should hold the press conference in the street in front of the neighbor’s house.

Whiteside (the victim): This guy has left a cloud over the community forever. And he has the audacity to fly the American flag on his house

Update3: Neglected to mention that the source I’m getting this stuff from is the local altweekly message board. Funny how something this important is on one news channel and a message board. Then the KNS picks it up. Maybe I should start my own newspaper, anyone got $10M I can borrow?

Update4: SKB says:

The news story didn’t mention what neighborhood this occurred in. Based on the names of the parties involved, and a little poking around in the KnoxGIS database, it appears that it is in Stonebrook Subdivision. And, an interesting note. It appears that the black family has occupied their property since June of 2001, and flag waving Mr. Bigot moved next door in May of 2002. Now, go take a look at the pictures of the parties involved in the dispute, and recall Mr. Bigot’s remarks that the black family is bringing down property values in the neighborhood. Seems to me like it’s the other way around.

I wish the KNS reporters would maybe have done some research and told us this info. Guess they got other stuff to do.

A local message board had a thread about General Pershing, so I Googled it up. Apparently, he was combating Muslim terrorists (called the Moros) in the Philippines in 1911. The account states:

Forced to dig their own graves, the terrorists were all tied to posts, execution style. The US soldiers then brought in pigs and slaughtered them, rubbing their bullets in the blood and fat. Thus, the terrorists were terrorized; they saw that they would be contaminated with hogs’ blood. This would mean that they could not enter Heaven, even if they died as terrorist martyrs.

All but one was shot, their bodies dumped into the grave, and the hog guts dumped atop the bodies. The lone survivor was allowed to escape back to the terrorist camp and tell his brethren what happened to the others. This brought a stop to terrorism in the Philippines for the next 50 years.

Of course the reference was from an Urban Legends page. It hasn’t been confirmed or denied and is classified as a rumor. Regardless, it’s pretty gruesome!

Rich Little is at it again.

PETA sent a letter to Yasser Arafat after a donkey was blown up in a bomb attack in the West Bank.

No humans were killed when the donkey was strapped with explosives and detonated, but the attack narrowly missed an Israeli bus carrying soldiers.

OK, what about the Israelis and Palestinians that could have died? Of course, the donkey is a victim. But PETA should maybe oppose all the violence and not just the violence against the animals. The good news is that the donkey wasn’t very accurate. I’m sure I could throw in some sort of joke about Democrats but I’ll leave that up to you, dear reader.

Update: I could have come up with a better name for the post, such as: Blowing it out your ass. Kiss your ass goodbye. What an Ass Hole.

Bubba’s rant created quite the stir. In it’s coverage by bloggers who disagree with it, they each say (yours truly excepted of course):

Bill Quick: You really don’t need to read any further to dismiss the entire screed as worthless.

Alex Knapp: There’s more to the post than I quoted, and you’re welcome to read the whole thing, because it’s indictitive of how far our country has fallen

Bill Hobbs: if you take the time to read South Knox Bubba’s bloviatorical bleat.

Did you catch that? Of course, you did. You’re bright. Each attempted to minimize the rant by a reference to reading the whole thing and that there was more to it while implying it wasn’t worth it. If it’s not worth it to read the whole thing, why, then, did you fine fellows bother to comment on said item?

Of Blogoticking. I posted some stuff in comments over at the Daily Rant and performed a slight zero calorie fiskette of SKB. 200 hits for the day. Much better than the 80 I usually get. Oh, and that blogrolling thing helped some too. All you folks were right in suggesting I be more proactive. And yes Andrew, I’m listening!

After all, he is one of those Democrats. Bubba and I rarely disagree but one instance has popped up recently. His moving post here about the corruption of the Bush administration and the impending (yes, it’s coming and you can’t stop it) war with Iraq. If an essay was going to convince me to change my mind about the war, this would be it. But no such essay exists. The war will happen and it’s the right thing to do.

The Economy

The Bush administration is not responsible for the economic decline. The economic decline is a result of an overvalued stock market that occurred in the 90s because of the newness of the Dot Com craze and people subsequently realizing that companies were not really producing anything. Then the economy fell down and went boom. We’re, of course, finding out now that such results were also (even during the 90s) fraudulent. Do you think Enron, WorldCom and the others were honestly accounting for transactions in the 90s and changed that when Dubya took over? If you do, you’re delusional. So, the fraud was not new to the Bush administration, they were just around when someone found it. But here’s where I stray from the typical right winger response: It wasn’t Clinton’s fault either. The economy was good and why mess with a good thing? And it wasn’t to the credit of Clinton and its subsequent tank is not his fault either. It’s not Bush’s fault either. It’s a function of the market.

The government cannot control the economy. If it could, there would be no recessions and no depressions. The government’s very limited form of control comes only from taxes, penalties, and subsidies. They can tax or give tax breaks to discourage or encourage market behavior. That’s really it. If the government could control the economy, we’d be Chinese.

Bush inherited an overvalued economy on the downward spiral (again, I’m not blaming Clinton. To Clinton’s credit, he did have a knack for knowing when to keep the government out of stuff it shouldn’t be messing with anyway, like the economy and the internet) and had to so something about it. What better way than to put money into the economy? That’s why he’s pushing tax cuts. And whenever lefties say Power to the people, it should also include Money to the people. Actually, I like that. Money to the people. Seems to be a good slogan.

The left and right are both wrong about taxes. But the Democrats and the Republicans have to create a divide. This divide gets them elected. It’s very rare that you’ll hear a politician tell you how good their party’s plan is in specific detail. They will, however, go into elaborate detail to tell you what’s wrong with the other party’s plans. As a function of the party system, the Democrats and Republicans must keep us segregated as Rich v. Poor, Black v. White, Coke v. Pepsi, whatever. It’s how they get in power.

Traitors?

Bubba is right. The antiwar folks are not traitors. They are exercising their rights to voice their opinions as is their patriotic duty; and more power to them. However, the protestors, in my opinion, are definitely idealists who fail to grasp the current situation. Right wingers who refer to people who take issue with the war as unpatriotic are just as guilty of clinging to ideologies as they allege the antiwar folks are.

Election 2000

Bubba refers to the 2000 election as a sham. A definite way to get Democrats’ attention and support. The election was definitely an embarrassment. But the fact is Bush was elected legitimately by the electoral system. It happens sometimes (and will happen again) that someone will win an election with less of the popular vote. It’s inherent in the system. Attack the system if you don’t like it, not the guy who benefited from it because he did what anyone else (including Gore) would have done. No amount of rhetoric about Selected not Elected or the Extreme Court matters. America, change the system if you oppose it.

Forget all the other nonsense for a moment. Forget the Supreme Court decision. Forget the allegations of wrongdoing (since they’ve not been proven yet) and focus on one thing. The battle was entirely about Florida. That was Gore’s plan of attack. Bush won Florida. Period. In fact, a count after the fact conducted by the University of Chicago still states that Bush wins.

Final Note

Most Americans support the war with Iraq. So, Bubba, you’ll have a tough time getting the people to take America back over this issue. I really hope by take it back, you mean to the people. Because if we’re just taking it back to give it to some Democrats, we’re no better off than we are now. Partisan politics will damn us all.

Note to Bubba: Nothing personal. You’re still a helluva guy!

I’ve gotten a few emails from people who’ve found the gun stuff on my site and think I’m a right wing whacko. Apparently, I’m some sort of inbred, uneducated hillbilly who just likes to blow shit up, drink Budweiser and amass an arsenal. All because I know citizens in this country have a right to keep and bear arms. I expect this type of response from people who can’t successfully argue their opinion though.

I am not a right wing whacko. I’m not an inbred redneck with an arsenal. Who am I? Here goes:

I have a master’s degree in Accounting Information Systems. I am a CPA. My wife has a master’s degree. So, the household is not lacking education. Heck, one of us knows how to program the VCR. Not many families can make that claim (hint, it’s not me). Most people I associate with are college educated and the majority has graduate degrees. I am a professional. I earn a decent living.

I don’t have an arsenal. I have a 9MM pistol (his) and a 45-caliber pistol (hers). I do not have a stockpile of weapons in my house. I don’t hoard gas masks, canned goods and bottled water. I don’t think that black NATO helicopters are invading my subdivision as the New World Order approaches. I’m not preparing for a reenactment of Ruby Ridge in my house. However, I do plan on buying a Bushmaster rifle soon to show support for a company that is the victim of a frivolous lawsuit.

I do not oppose all gun laws. Just the ones that are unconstitutional and the ones that are really stupid. I don’t oppose, for example, registration. I do oppose registration that serves to infringe rights by delaying (or forbidding) purchasing of firearms (such as they have in New York and New Jersey, those laws obviously work since NJ & NY have such low crime rates). Such registration is gun control. The original intent of registration was, after all, for citizens to prove they owned guns, as was required by law at the time. I oppose ballistic fingerprinting because 1) it’s too expensive and 2) it won’t work. I oppose the assault weapons ban. I don’t think people should have howitzers.

I think the result of gun control laws in the last 70 years has resulted in class separatism. Because, if you’re willing to pay, you can legally obtain almost any machinegun that you want. If you’re willing to pay, you can get a carry permit anywhere in the country. If you’re willing to pay, you can still get the assault weapons that were banned in 1994. If you’re willing to pay, you can still get magazines that hold more than ten rounds. It’s about have and have-nots.

I don’t think people should have nukular™ weapons, which is apparently the best argument anti-gun folks can come up with these days. That and What about the children? But as I’ve said before, more children drown every year in 5 gallon buckets than are killed by firearms. But if they could do better, they’d realize they were wrong about the gun thing.

So, thanks for your insightful commentary about who you think I am.

Mrs. Uncle just discovered this site. Apparently, in addition to the No Doctor Phil Rule, there will soon be a No Sex Rule, which will be much easier to enforce (damnit!!!!!). Also, the Friends thing wasn’t real popular either. Hope she doesn’t find the Light Nazi thing!

Update: Really glad I already told her that hooker story.

I remember a few years back when Ruger (a gun manufacturer) was accused by several pro-gun type folks of trying to appease the gun control lobby. Apparently, if I recall correctly, Ruger’s president stated that all manufacturers should try to comply with what was then The Brady Bill and agreed to various proposed prohibitions.

Today’s players: The LAPD, who purchased some Barrett rifles. Barrett Firearms, who manufactures .50 caliber rifles that are popular among police departments and civilians. And the Violence Policy Center (VPC).

The scene: At a city council meeting, the VPC presents its case that Barrett rifles are too powerful for citizens to own. Some LAPD personnel are there with the LAPD’s Barrett rifles for display and implied that they were available in Kalifornia, which they’re not since rifles in Kalifornia can’t have detachable magazines. The LAPD was supporting the proposed ban.

The result: Mr. Barrett sends this letter to the LA police chief. In the letter, he tells the LAPD that, since the LAPD is active in infringing on the rights of citizens to keep and bear arms, Barrett will no longer sell rifles to the LAPD. Nor will it service rifles returned to the factory for repair.

Good to see a gun manufacturer with some balls instead of trying to appease the gun control nuts.

Link by way of Kim du Toit. Thanks!

I think I may have just coined a new phrase, but I doubt it. I’m never that original. We know the Blogosphere is rampant with folks who talk about politics but that’s not what I mean. I mean as a definition:

Blogotics: n. The activities or affairs engaged in by bloggers in an effort to draw traffic to their site.

Each blogger dreams of fame by unearthing a big story, getting linked by one of the big boys of the Blogosphere, or (the pinnacle) getting quoted in mainstream media (which will never happen to yours truly since no one wants to quote people who choose to remain anonymous). My reason for blogging was because I thought I had a lot to say and I wanted a record of it. Sure, getting a good audience would be great but it’s not my reason for this site.

I started thinking about this in an email in which a fellow blogger told me that:

One of the things I’ve noticed about blogging is that the only way to get noticed is shameless self promotion. That’s probably, hell, the thirtieth item I’ve sent to [Instapundit].

I won’t reveal this blogger unless he asks me to. And he will, he wants traffic. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

The problem with blogoticking is a matter of sheer size. There are a million bloggers on Blogger alone. Establishing an audience is difficult due to the fact that there are so many of us and no one has time to read all of us. I pick my favorites and read them daily. But there’s too many to keep up with.

I am in no way condemning these activities because I’ve engaged in them myself. But I’m not condoning them either. You be the judge!

So, what does the Blogotician do?

* Well, obviously they send emails to the big boys with links to the witty and insightful commentary they provided. Such as my fellow blogger did above. Until today, I never really did this. Before, I sent one email to SKB telling him I had a blog. Today, I sent an email to Instapundit that read the following:

Subject: A meteor may have hit the shuttle

No really. http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_747632.html

Thought you’d like to know.

He blogged the story. I got no mention. Maybe someone else told him too. I wasn’t in it for the mention really since I blogged it on my site already. Still, I’m not so self-righteous as to say that the thought of getting a link back hadn’t crossed my mind (after all, my URL is in the signature I use in email). But it wasn’t my primary intent. So, I’m guilty of blogoticking too. The one time Instapundit linked me, the post wasn’t brought to his attention by me, but it was awesome to get 4,000 hits in two days. Now, I’m getting a regular 80 or so hits per day. Before it was about 50ish. And I’ll take that any day. Thanks, Glenn! What I find interesting is that a post I made obviously in humor got me a link. Sure, it was amusing but it wasn’t one of my best, I don’t think. Yet, when I provide something that I feel is particularly insightful, only my fellow RTB members take note. Oh well.

I wonder how many emails Glenn gets in a day? Hundreds? Thousands? He can’t read them all thoroughly and he can’t link to everyone. If you wanna go this route, you better stick out! I’m a poet and didn’t think I was, wait, that’s not right.

* Also, bloggers visit other prominent sites and leave comments with links to their stuff. This gets you some notice. Invariably, someone will accuse these folks of trolling. But, hey, why do you have comments on your site if you don’t want people telling you what they think of your stuff? Another commentator at LeanLeft accused me of trolling once, even though I don’t know that I linked to anything on my site. Oh well.

* We also have the Carnival of the Vanities. The epitome of shameless self-promotion. Basically, people submit things that others (or themselves) have said that they thought was insightful, witty, or breaking news. And it’s hosted at a different blog each time. So, it’s guaranteed traffic if you can get the gig.

* And the Bloggies. Our own awards show. Of course, since there are so many of us, it’s likely hard to really choose the best. I mean, there’s some person out there that you’ve never heard of that has some really insightful things to say. Of course, I’m just bitter because I wasn’t nominated, at least that’s what folks will say. Naturally, that’s assuming I get some traffic for this post (hey, are you listening? Link me please, nyuk nyuk!).

* Affiliation with groups. People affiliate themselves based on location, ideology, and a slew of other things. Heck, I’m a member of The Rocky Top Brigade. Which is the greatest Blog Affiliate ever, I mean, heck, we’ve got him.

* Bloggers also align themselves politically. There are Republican, Democrat, Libertarian and many other varieties of political affiliation that bloggers associate themselves with. And they cling together and link back and forth.

* Finally, and this is the hard one, say interesting things. Write them well. Have some substance. Don’t just say: Yeah, what he said. If you are a good writer with great things to say, people will find you. And people will like reading your stuff. If you have good insight into things, people will notice.

I’m not a particularly good writer but I’m not the worst. I put thought into my posts, try to write coherently, and give credit where it’s due. Of course, I do all my posts rather expeditiously when I get free time at the office and need that quick break from work. But I’m not that particularly insightful.

I am not in anyway discrediting blogoticking or saying it’s bad. Just some observations. After all, getting traffic is what most of us got into this blogging thing for!

Of course, you realize that this entire post was me blogoticking? Of course you do. Now link back. dammit!

Update: Blogger links are goofy, you’re on your own to find archived items.

Update2: Yeah, I forgot blogrolling. Mostly because I don’t know what it is.

Update3: I’m a blogfisher and didn’t know it. Thanks to Silflay Hraka for the heads up.

Or maybe some debris. I wonder if NASA is just listing all the possibilities at this point.

Oh sure, I probably wasn’t the first to say it. But the big boys have picked up on it now.

Update: Goddamn blogger links! Scroll down to January 31 and the heading is The Future of the UN

Fellow Rocky Top Brigade Members, tonight I tried Bowmore’s Legend on the advice of Andrew at Pathetic Earthlings. It’s a very dark, peaty blend. And it gets the SayUncle seal of approval.

At the liquor store here in Maryville by the Food Lion, it cost $19.99. In fact, the clerk told me I had good taste for picking it but I’m sure he says that to everyone, even folks that purchase Mad Dog. Per our standards, I need two volunteers to verify that it is in fact a good single malt scotch whiskey. We may soon need something else to fight for, like taking over Alabama!

Thanks to Andrew!

Powell spoke. Offered more evidence, again appeasing the prove it more crowd. Sounds like a done deal to me.

I’ve seen the first two episodes of Kingpin. The first episode was a little boring but they had to devote considerable time to introducing the story and characters. The second was a bit better, I thought. Unlike The Sopranos, there can’t be gratuitous nudity, violence, and foul language. Oh, and that commercial interruption thing is annoying.

Of course, it devotes time to Miguel’s family (meaning his wife and kids). Which I didn’t like in The Sopranos. The Sopranos, I thought particularly after last season, devotes too much time to Tony’s family life. Screw that! I like seeing how the mafia works. Who’d have thought it was a pyramid scheme rivaling Amway?

Kingpin is about some Mexican drug dealers, their familial relationships, their conflicts with the DEA, and their conflicts with the Mexican army.

Some observations: Miguel’s brother went to the David Caruso school of acting. The dude into voodoo is annoying. The whole back and forth from Spanish to English is trying, without subtitles. But it lets them bypass the foul language thing since I’ve heard plenty of curse words in Spanish. I like the fact Miguel’s wife is involved with the business, quite the departure from The Sopranos.

I’ll have to watch a few more episodes to decide if it’ll really be something!

In Hell err New Jersey, they passed a law requiring smart gun technology to be used on guns sold in the state. The smart gun will utilize some fancy new technology to prevent anyone except the gun’s owner from firing it. The problem is that this technology is so fancy and so new, that it doesn’t exist.

So, Congress just needs to pass a law mandating that spacecraft utilize technology that prevent them from blowing up. Heck, while we’re at it, let’s just pass laws saying that pharmaceutical companies must develop vaccines and cures for every known illness. Heck, I like this idea!

With the tax cuts in the Bush proposal, a lot of talk is going on about the state of taxes. The left is spewing class warfare rhetoric and the right is saying that the tax cuts should benefit the rich since they pay more than their fair share. Both sides are right and both sides are wrong.

What the Left gets right:

There is a huge disparity in the effective tax rates between the rich and the poor. The primary reasons are due to sales taxes, employment taxes and other flat percentage taxes. If you make $10K per year, 6.5% in payroll taxes is significant. It’s less significant to someone who makes $1M. Of course, the federal government can’t control sales taxes, which are a function of the state. Also, assigning sales tax rates to individuals based on income is damn near impossible.

What the Left gets wrong:

They think we should be happy to pay taxes. They even suggest that the government allows us to invest, which they don’t as that is a function of the free market and capitalism. The left also thinks that tax avoidance is wrong. Tax avoidance is legal and tax evasion is illegal. Participating in certain activities to reduce tax liability is what everyone should do. They also fail to get that tax breaks from the federal government to the poor are irrelevant because the poor pay no federal income taxes. Maybe they should propose giving the poor tax credits based on the aforementioned flat percentage taxes. Also, the left fails to realize that tax cuts are good for everyone. Sure, I may only get a $1,083 benefit under the new Bush plan, but it’s $1,083 more than I had access to before. It also is coincidentally pretty close to the purchase price of this item I mentioned here.

What the Right gets right:

That Americans pay too much in taxes. That, as a dollar value, the rich get shafted. The top 1% pays a ridiculous dollar amount compare to the rest of us. I did enjoy Locke admitting that the top 1% included those making over $300K. If you make $300K per year, you are not filthy rich. You’re pretty well-off but you’re not retiring right off the bat.

What the Right gets wrong:

They see the disparity only in terms of dollar amounts. The percentage points seem irrelevant to them. The also seem to discuss taxes only in terms of federal income taxes and discount that the poor tend to get shafted by local sales taxes and employment taxes.

What everybody gets wrong:

The argument is always over Who Pays. The rich pay too much(little) and the poor pay too little(much). The argument needs to shift from Who Pays to What the Hell are we paying for? Congressmen try to get as much pork funneled to their districts as possible. Like these gems:

$40,000,000 for the National Animal Disease Center in Ames; $632,000 for Midwest agricultural products; $400,000 for manure management research at the National Swine Research Center; $280,000 for the Iowa Vitality Center; $200,000 for hoop barns; and $100,000 for the Trees Forever Program

Go to CAGW and click on the Pig Book to find out some of the crap that you’re paying for! Get ready to be amazed and disappointed.

But when congressmen funnel this pork to their districts, it gets them elected. Because the people in Ames now have an extra $40M brought to them courtesy of their representatives and it’s free. I’ll spell it out for those who are just now joining us: Pork is vote-buying paid for by taxpayers! Holy shades of campaign finance reform Batman!

What we should do:

If the people of this country would rally and tell the government to cut out the pork, the impact on the budget would be significant. As long as the government has to pay for pork, there will be no equity in taxation. The government has to fund these things and it costs you and me significantly. Also, some efficiency audits (as I mentioned here) would help get spending under control.

So, before we continue with the class warfare of Who Pays let’s try to figure out what we’re paying for and what we really need to be paying for. Equitable taxation will follow once we regain control of the government’s pocketbook.

I was just offered an individually wrapped tic-tac. Why do they make individually wrapped tic-tacs?

The Brady Center is initiating a lawsuit against Bushmaster. Bushmaster’s crime is, of course, manufacturing guns. The Brady Bunch alleges that somehow, through some twisted manipulation of logic, that Bushmaster is responsible for the DC sniper attacks. Of course, any intelligent person knows that the actual snipers are responsible but that is irrelevant in gun control fantasyland.

Bushmaster responds here.

I will do my part by purchasing this Bushmaster rifle. And I encourage others to do the same.

The shuttle is gone. No one could have survived. The talking heads used the word terror a couple of times. Canadian news is reporting the cause could have been American Arrogance. Apparently, not enough humility was loaded in the cargo hold.

People are blaming Bush. Awful. And more talking heads are using this as an opportunity to bring NASA funding (or lack thereof) up as an issue while holding out there hands for some more Free Federal Funds™ (yup, using a Bubbaism). The space shuttle isn’t even cool yet.

Hell in a hand basket, I tell you.

The space shuttle is lost. The outlook is grim and I hope I am wrong. Some talking heads on the tube have already went on about terror. It would not surprise me if some whacko tried to claim responsibility. However, it is unlikely. NASA has gone on a contingency plan and is not releasing anymore info. Could be days before the public knows what happened.