Tennessee legislators are trying to decide if the state’s No Call list (to deter telemarketers) should be turned over to the Feds.

“We’re engaged in a classic struggle of federalism,” said some government sycophant who is angered at the fact some power and control over people will be given to the Feds and not remain with the state “We’ve got the FTC stepping in and gobbling up our program and we’re left with table scraps.”

There was some praise a while back about Knoxville’s new budget that allowed raises for city employees without raising taxes. Well, that was bogus.

Of course, registration fees in Tennessee are much lower than in other states.

Like heavy music? Live in Tennessee? Then check out TeamRock. A blog devoted to the local heavy scene.

You should be. Steve is one funny guy. Now he’s set up a page of just his best of. Check it out.

Bredesen decided that his backbone wasn’t needed with this.

The WaPo has a neat little Pit Bull Fact or Fiction.

I would have added an emphasis on It’s not the dog stupid! It’s the owners!

Bigwig and company have moved.

This is absolutely unbeleivable. A couple was detained by armed guards while their child was given a shot. Thanks to Publicola for the link.

A policeman was fired for smoking tobacco. Oh and it was while he was off duty.

I am currently blogging from Toronto. Nice city but has that Great Lakes smell. My Canadian friends here like to discuss politics which has been entertaining. We took a bus tour of the city and a boat tour of the waterfront.

Per my friends, the SARS scare has decimated the local economy. A lot of the theater shows have left and new ones aren’t coming. Tourism is way down. It’s a nice place even though no one has handguns. I haven’t got to use their free healthcare yet and hope I don’t have to.

Bloggage will be intermittent, I’m on vacation.

Tonight is food and drink. Tomorrow is the CN Tower.

Update: Read in the paper that gay marriage is legal here now.

Barry has posted the VTP. It is now also 30% bloggier.

Buck got himself one of them there blog things. Check it, yo.

Point – Counter Point.

So, you think Instapundit will appear on The O’Reilly Factor?

Once upon a time (circa 1997ish), I was deluded into believing that listening to NPR appeared to make people seem intellectual. I listened to All Things Considered regularly for my world news. Then I started thinking: NPR is funded by donations, advertising, and (the big one) government funds. I mean big as in influencing my decision and not relative dollars.

First, some boring financial stuff: In FY2000, NPR reported roughly $144M in revenues and $123M in expenses or a profit of roughly $21M. Why is their last audit for September 2000 anyway? Even though the NPR national organization states in their financial statements: NPR received no direct general operating support from any national or local government source roughly 10 – 25% of any NPR stations revenue is from the government. The national organization does however receive grants for projects and states that this is 13% of revenue (revenue is $144M so it’s almost $19M). Also, their financial statements don’t contain notes and required supplemental disclosures, so much for generally accepted accounting principles.

Now why do I bring this up? One reason is that I figure if an organization such as this can’t survive on its own (without government funds), it should go out of business. Perhaps that’s the evil capitalist in me. But NPR can survive without government support. $21 less $19M leaves a profit of $2M. And I assume that NPR is not in the business to make a profit. Of course, local NPR affiliates couldn’t function without government support. Second, I oppose government funded radio. I don’t listen to NPR or watch PBS because I think that government funding of mass media is a bad idea. What does NPR do if the government decides to assert its influence with respect to the coverage of issues by threatening to pull funding? As Barry pointed out, he has seen no attempt by the government to assert its influence on NPR. NPR is not independent in fact or appearance from the government and the potential for pro-government bias with respect to reporting news exists even if it has not come to fruition. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Of course another reason not to listen is, as Barry points out, NPR’s DJs are monotonous, somnolent drones. It is boring and you’re in danger of falling asleep at the wheel. And some folks say they’re liberally biased.

And that is why I oppose media supported with public funds.

The RTB welcomes the following:

Jeff

Wandering Hillbilly

Mr. Lawson

Big Stupid Tommy

Welcome all!

Update: Bubba lays down the law!

We’ve moved and we don’t know why we refer to ourselves as we. A couple of new features thanks to MT:

Categories
Internal Search Function
Better Reliability
More control
Blogspot Free
Easier to track – for example, this will be my 583 entry and I blog about guns 12.71% of the time.

If you haven’t moved to MT, you should. But be forewarned, categorizing 582 posts took up a big chunk of my weekend.

One note, I couldn’t transfer comments. Sadly, they are lost as of now. If absolutely want to recover an insightful comment you or someone else left, let me know and I will email it to you.

A big thanks to Kathy and Rich. Without them, this would have taken me about three weeks to do (if at all). I thank them both for their patience and for putting up with my constant email and for taking the time to answer my questions. And, in some cases, taking the time to do it for me.

If you see a feature you’d like added, let me know. Also, any template issues you notice, feel free to shoot me a line about.

So welcome, sit back and enjoy. It don’t cost nothing.

This is a test of the SayUncle broadcasting system. Is this thing on?

Say Uncle will be along shortly. 🙂

a dangerous, cult-like event that was unlawfully and deceptively conceived, sponsored, promoted and supervised by Forest Hill Baptist Church, its pastor, its deacons, its youth director and several of its members.

SKBubba has the scoop.

Nashville just got bigger! In an effort to get more Free Federal Funds™

From the horse’s mouth:

In our city as well as many across the country our local officials have adopted a program called Character First. It is a thinly veiled religious program created by a near cultish like evangelist named Bill Gothard.

I along with a small group of multi denominational Christians formed a coalition to put an end to our city’s support of this program. Later a few atheists, who saw what we were trying to accomplish, joined us and that is essentially how the Libert1st group got its start.

The short version of this story is that our government officials tried to use intimidation and indirect threats to keep our opposition muted. It was not until that moment I realized how important the First Amendment was to a (so called) free society. I also realized that in another country or time these people of faith (or not) could have been jailed for speaking out against the government’s brand of faith so openly. And believe me if they thought they could of got away with it they probably would have jailed us. 😉

This one event cemented in my mind how essential it is for the individual to be allowed to dissent from popular opinion. The First Amendment applies to everyone equally and there is no safety valve for those who may be offended by its use. If you allow the state to silence a Christian because you, the minority or the majority of people may be offended by what they have to say you are setting a precedent that may never be able to be undone.

Here is a link Liberty First.

Update: The above mentioned program (Character First) wants kids to chant during class time:

MEEKNESS vs. Anger – Yielding my personal rights and expectations with a desire to serve

OBEDIENCE vs. Willfulness – Quickly and cheerfully carrying out the proper direction of my authorities

FLEXIBILITY vs. Resistance – Being willing to change plans or ideas according to the wishes of my authorities

DEFERENCE vs. Rudeness – Limiting my freedom so I do not offend the tastes of those around me

HOSPITALITY vs. Loneliness – Cheerfully sharing food,shelter, or conversation to benefit others

GENEROSITY vs. Stinginess – Carefully managing my resources so I can freely give to those in need

AVAILABILITY vs. Self-centeredness – Making my own schedule and priorities secondary to the wishes of those I serve

Rap entrepreneur Master P has been busted at Newark Airport with six hollow-point bullets, the deadly and illegal ammo known on the streets as “cop-killers.”

Now the bullets are probably illegal at the airport and maybe even in Hell err New Jersey, but hollow points are not cop killers. Cop killers refer to rounds that have a steel core and are capable of penetrating body armor. To my knowledge, such bullets aren’t illegal under federal law but may be under NJ laws.

Contact JAMIE SCHRAM and inform her of her ignorance. In typical cowardly fashion, the Post doesn’t publish her email address. However, here is the general contact page. But if I had to guess here email address it would be jschram@nypost.com.

Update: That’s not her address. So try Chris Shaw instead, the assistant managing editor at cshaw@nypost.com.

The Tax on Hope was signed into law.

You can help by annoying evil, murderous bastards. Bigwig has the scoop.

A graduate wanted to sing a religious song at the ceremony. The school said to replace the word God. The student sues. They settle and she can sing her song but can’t give her religious sermon. One of my favorite sites reports on the issue. Then the high school student responds to the report. Read the whole thing to understand what’s wrong with education these days.

A few notes (the always engaging HHH were more polite in their response):

The clueless “educators” were violating my free speech.

Or were they not respecting an establishment of religion?

We are living in America, not Iran. America is a nation that presupposes a God who created us and sees us. Maybe you should retake your high school government class and be reminded what the First Amendment really means, and what the founding fathers meant it to be.

Maybe high school government is teaching wrong things. Our founding fathers were mostly deists (I’m certain high school government didn’t teach her that). They did assume God created but they also very specifically left God out of government. When you put God in government, that is equivalent to living in Iran.

Keep your God out of the government and it’ll keep government out of your God. Religious ideals do not belong in secular government. Period.

No citizen in America, no matter the religion, should have to put up with religious descrimination (sic).

Aside from running spell check, another lesson that high school government failed to teach her is that her rights end where others begin. They were preventing themselves (by approving her speech) from infringing on the freedoms of others.

I think she should retake that government class or sign up for SayUncle 101.

A Pulitzer Prize awarded in 1932 to a New York Times correspondent is under review and could be revoked because of complaints that he deliberately ignored the forced famine in the Ukraine that killed millions.

I guess ignoring facts is as bad as making them up.

Even if I didn’t know I was. Apparently without realizing it, I helped another fine blogger win some sort of contest. Congrats.

Never underestimate the power of the oblivious!

Barry has decided to charge admission. Go look, it don’t cost nothing and it’s a good read.

By calculating how long it takes to get from Point A to Point B and using an electronic reciever to monitor how long it takes, you could be issued a ticket. Of course, that’s minor compared to knowing that the local government knows where you travel to and from. Oh and a mylar bag thwarts the technology.