We have added a bit of new information about your government to knoxcounty.org Link.... On the right hand side of the home page, you will now see a section titled "County Snapshot." Under it is a row of buttons linking to information about the business of Knox County. While a number of these have been in place for some time, we added an additional one today, "Position Summary." This links to a chart listing all of the positions currently in Knox County's Human Resources system, along with related salary information.

Other buttons link to current p-card statements, fleet records and to purchasing information. The "Recent Awards" button lists all of the bids recently awarded to companies doing business with the County. If you have an interest in seeing how your tax dollars are spent, you really should take a look.

Dwight Van de Vate
Chief Administrative Officer
Knox County Mayor's Office

Wall Street likes it?

It's an interesting pick and sets Larry Summers up to replace Ben Bernanke, who will most certainly NOT re-up to the Chair of the Federal Reserve Board. Geithner is a Johns Hopkins grad. Summers, of course, is past president of Harvard and took his PhD there. This may be the breaking of the Chicago stranglehold on top economic positions in this country. They were and are wrong. QED.

The Shelton Group, a local energy-related PR firm, has a series of interesting survey reports regarding consumer attitudes about energy.

• Energy Pulse Survey Reflects Consumer Energy-Use Denial: Despite government reports to the contrary, consumers say they aren't using any more energy than before, and do not believe increasing demand contributes to higher costs. Saving money was cited as the number one reason to conserve, up from number three last year.

• Energy Pulse Survey Shows Mix of Rising Awareness, Confusion About Energy and Renewables: 81% of people in the South did not know that most electricity is generated by coal-fired power plants. 41% of people surveyed could not name a renewable energy resource. Less than 5% know that coal-fired power plants are the leading source of greenhouse gas emissions, and most think it is transportation related (cars and trucks).

• Obama White House to Face Long-Held Consumer Denial and Awareness Hurdles in Realizing New Energy Solutions: Most consumers blame the government and oil companies for rising fuel and energy costs. 90% believe the government should be taking steps to reduce our dependence of fossil fuels. Only 13% believe we should drill offshore and in the ANWR.

Robins are eating dogwood berries before they drop and the turkeys can get them, though they knock a few off now and then.

Y'all have probably seen this, but I'm posting it for historical purposes. It's bizarre enough to sum up Palin's run for national office.

Gobble Gobble

*For anyone who doesn't know, she made the traditional trip out to a turkey farm to "pardon" a Thanksgiving turkey. Then she gave an interview -- oblivious her turkey's less fortunate mates getting decapitated in the background.

Link...

The Jeff Roth Cycling Foundation is accepting pre-orders for a proposed "Share the Road" specialty license plate that it has under consideration in Tennessee.

Kathy Roth writes:

I am very happy to tell you about our kick off for the "Share the Road" specialty license plate. The Jeff Roth Cycling Foundation needs to receive 1000 pre-orders before the state will start production. Several artists are submitting art for the plate design. Depending on the submissions, we may present the different options for registrants to vote for their favorite. The state has final approval for the design so we may go through various iterations. It is state law that motorists must give cyclists 3 feet of clearance when passing. The Jeff Roth Cycling Foundation is striving to educate motorists, cyclists and police departments of this law statewide. Our website, has an order form and instructions on how to order your plate. A portion of the plate proceeds will benefit the Jeff Roth Cycling Foundation. Show your support for cycling and help further our cause to make Tennessee a safer place for cyclists!

This is a good opportunity to support the Jeff Roth Cycling Foundation and promote awareness of the Jeff Roth and Brian Brown Bicycle Protection Act of 2007. If you bicycle on the road, you know that there are plenty of drivers that need educated on the law.

Pre-order yours today.

It's snowing right? We can't possibly go outside, so...

I have any number of quarrels with this test but it's fun anyway. Some questions are based on arguable premises and some are history rather than civics.

(My score was 96)

Link...

We're getting a (very) few snow flurries over here in Blount Co. The thermometer says 33.3 degrees. Gotta run, need to get over to Kroger for some milk and bread, assuming the roads aren't already too bad.

(P.S. Can someone remind me what it is we are supposed to do with all that milk and bread when it snows?)

As you are probably aware, current TNDP treasurer Chip Forrester is seeking election to Chairman of the Tennessee Democratic Party. In a Nov 5th letter to the Executive Committee, Chip says "While we are celebrating yesterday's 2008 national election victory, the Democratic losses we faced here yesterday in Tennessee require that we begin thinking today about tomorrow's 2010 election challenges. As critical as this past election has been to our nation's future, the next election will be equally critical to Tennessee's future."

In an email to KnoxViews yesterday, Chip forwarded his bio and a statement of his proposed agenda, which includes an "open door" policy to engage all Executive Committee members, involving all state and Congressional Democrats in the Party operations and direction, a "focused commitment" to electing Democrats at all levels of state government, and harnessing the energy and enthusiasm of new Obama voters and volunteers. Read the full text of his statement after the jump.

Regarding outreach to bloggers as part of the TNDP's online communications strategy, Chip said in his email that "If elected chair, I’d like to open a dialogue to discuss how we can all best move the Party forward after the Nov 4th state setback."

In a recent email to KnoxViews, Knox County Democratic Party Chair Sylvia Woods said she is supporting Chip Forrester because she feels he will be responsive to the Executive Committee and that he knows the job.

The Executive Committee will elect the new chair in January. Gray Sasser said he will not seek reelection. In addition to Chip Forrester, TNDP Communications Director Wade Munday told the Tennesseean that others mentioned for the post include "Nashville lawyer Charles Robert Bone and Nashville lawyer Jerry Martin, who headed up the Obama for America campaign in Tennessee (...) State Sen. Andy Berke, D-Chattanooga, State Rep. Mike Stewart, D-Nashville and U.S. Senate candidate Gary G. Davis." We are told that former State Rep. Randy Rinks may also be interested.

SEE ALSO: Sean Braisted

It's not just Tennessee rednecks who voted McCain. It's smart people like this local forensic psychologist. And she wants to make it clear so much that she's following the good advice of Ted Nugent, who supposedly stated regarding Californians:

... You should be pounding the desk with your fist, raising hell, and take this beautiful state back from the pimps, and the whores, and the welfare brats, and the gang-bangers who seems to have all the rights in the world while the good people, the productive, law abiding people don't have jack squat -- and I think I am going to throw up. ...

Yep, that sounds like the kind of secure values that put the "volunteer" into our fiercely independent local citizenry. So she let things fly publicly and is quite proud of herself, apparently.

By way of Tom Tomorrow (in NYC).

TCWN: Rarity Communities Violates Settlement Agreement

This site is a perfect example of blatant disregard for the rules and direct indifference towards causing conditions of pollution in our waters.

Check out the photos and the report. Why is it citizens and non-profits have to do the enforcement work? At least TDEC responds when alerted. Too bad they have to be alerted, instead of having the funding and resources to do their own enforcement.

His evil plan has been hatched, right here in East Tennessee!

We recently corresponded with Knox County Democratic Party Chair Sylvia Woods, who filled us in on what's going on with the local party.

According to the KNS Bottom Line Blog by Carly Harrington, a $44,000 lien has been filed against Cherries internet Cafe and others "for work done on the build-out of the Market Square business."

Apparently notice of the lien was taped to the front door of the business at 17 Market Square earlier in the week.

An earlier Bottom Line report said Ingrid Gee was selling the company to a management group and that Gee would be moving on to other projects. The latest report referenced above says that "contingencies required for completion of the sale" may have put a hitch in the giddy-up.

All of this appears to confirm some background chatter we've been hearing.

It seems like the business couldn't decide whether it was an internet cafe, tea and sandwich shop, radio show, dating club, lifestyle website, or what. Perhaps new management will refocus the business and people will get paid. But it also seems like Ingrid Gee's personality was the flagship product, so it's not clear what direction it would take without her.

RELATED: Happier times, less than two months ago.

Best-selling thriller novelist Cyn Mobley will host her first Internet radio call-in show on what it takes to get published on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2008 at 7 p.m. EST at Talkshoe.com.

The link to the show is here: http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/32978

The show is set up so you can just listen in or you can call via Skype or a special phone number: (724) 444-7444. Those who miss the live show can listen to the archived edition at the TalkShoe link listed above.

"I'll be talking about publishing options, everything from traditional to POD (print on demand) to what's next," Mobley said.

"And you can ask questions or type questions and be as much of a part of it as you want."

Mobley is the author of numerous techno-thrillers such as The Last Casualty and Rites of War. She is also author of the Greyhound Chronicles, which include Greyhound Laughing and Greyhound Singing.

In addition to her own writing, Mobley is president of Bushido Press/Greyhound Books. She has written extensively on novel writing and publishing in the digital age.

The broadcast on Thursday is something new for her. "It's my first time doing it, so we'll see how it goes!"

The Writing Wright

So, I'll be in Knoxville for the holiday next week, Tuesday afternoon through all day Friday, leaving at the crack of early Saturday morning.

Tuesday afternoon and evening, and much of Thursday, will be taken up with family stuff. (I get to see my nieces and nephews -- it will be nice to have a playmate on my level...)

However, that leaves Wednesday and Friday. And I have the attention span of a five year old on amphetamines, so I get bored easily.

What would you locals recommend doing? I'll probably take in a few movies, but what else?

Basically, anything that doesn't involve shopping Friday or sports will be considered. (I do not handle crowds well, so I do not shop on Black Friday. And most sports bore me.)

Tim's all in.

-- Schools. “My degree’s in education (from the University of Tennessee). Both my parents were career educators. The best people to run the schools are teachers and parents. That’s the basics.”

-- Safe streets. “If the sheriff’s department does not have proper funding, crimes will occur.”

-- Low taxes. “We have got to figure out how to do it without (raising) taxes. We can’t tax ourselves into prosperity. If that were so, Russia and Cuba would be a mecca for people.”

If you figure that The Shurf is going to run, this could get interesting.

I was looking at this Metro Pulse article about a house on Sevier Ave. that the City wants to take by eminent domain to build a roundabout for access to new condos on the river. I thought, that house looks familiar. Sure enough, it's the house I grew up in.

My parents bought it around 1956 when I was a little over one year old after renting for a while up the street on Sevier Ave. I think I remember them saying they paid about $5000 for it. It was the first house they ever owned. My Dad added on a space at the back where my Mom operated a neighborhood beauty shop for about 30 years before she retired. It was also convenient for my Dad, who worked at a downtown office which is no longer there of course.

I think the guy who owns it now is someone I knew from South High. He says the city is offering $96,000 and he thinks it's worth $180,000. I don't know about that, but all those houses along there have a lot of potential if the South Waterfront plan ever develops beyond the condos on the river.

It looks like the roundabout could be moved across the street to replace the screwed up intersection they built for the JWP project, or the next block over on Island Home and it would take some empty and/or less desirable properties. But those all happen to be owned by 531 Corp.

Anyway, this is very sad.

P.S. I remember specifically looking up this property on the maps and project diagrams presented at the public workshop wrapup presentation. The house was still there and I don't recall any roundabout.

UPDATE: The Mrs. and Rachel (in comments) both say I am mistaken about the roundabout. But the Mrs. notes that the property (lot 11) was still there as you can clearly see in this map:

(Source: This PDF at the City's project website.)

I just checked, and GM's market cap at the close of business today is $1.7 billion. That's about 1/3 the value of Starbucks!

That means Bill Gates could buy GM on the open market for petty cash. The State of Tennessee could almost buy them out of the state's cash reserves. Forget incentives for foreign auto manufacturers. We could own our own car company!

Better yet, since the federal government is in a nationalizing kind of mood, maybe we should just buy them for a tiny fraction of the $700 billion taxpayers just wrote a check to the Treasury for, probably a few days worth of interest. Then sell half or so to GM employees, who can raise the cash from lunch money and bake sales.

Then fire the GM Board of Directors and appoint GM employees and government representatives and Al Gore to the board, and have a big rally with the new board and shareholders at Ford Field to let GM senior management explain why they should keep their jobs and take an up or down vote. Then tell the new board and new management and new shareholder/employees to get busy turning the company around because their jobs depend on it.

That's my plan. Seems like it would cost a lot less than $25 billion.

But seriously, their calculated "enterprise value" is only $31.14 billion. This is a sad commentary on just how far GM has been run into the ground.

I'd like to share my experience in a customer service hell that I didn't know existed. On Oct. 10 I called to pay part of my phone bill and get an extension until Oct. 21 for the rest. A nice guy said that would be fine. I got up on Oct. 17 to no phone service.

Investors cite numerous concerns amid sell-off: "Where can I hide?"

Link...

The House Financial Services Committee has released details of a proposed bailout bill for U.S. automakers.

It sounds pretty reasonable, and has plenty of conditions attached. I guess I'm still not seeing how this will be enough. Hopefully smarter people have studied the problem and this will prevent rather than just delay what seems inevitable if the situation continues on its present course.

What do you think?

News reports out of Missouri indicate they are still counting provisional ballots past the reporting deadline, but that even if Obama gets all of them it isn't enough to overcome McCain's slim lead so they are calling Missouri for McCain. MSNBC had already previously called it, so all of that is good enough for me.

That puts Obama's (tentative) electoral vote victory at an impressive 365 v. McCain's 173.

Which means that sugarfatpie has won the KnoxViews Electoral Vote Prediction Contest by being the first with his closest to the pin prediction of 364 to 174, which would have been exact if not for a stray electoral vote Obama picked up in Nebraska where they are split. BBeanster and Paul Witt also predicted 364 to 174, but sugarfatpie's was first so Betty and Paul will have to settle for the consolation prize of being smarter than most of the rest of us.

If Missouri had gone to Obama, reader J4 would have won with a prediction of 375 to 163. Should the Missouri Secretary of State certify a different result giving their electoral votes to Obama on Dec. 2nd, KnoxViews management will make good by awarding a second, equal prize.

So the contest is officially over, the prize has finally been awarded, and thanks to everyone for playing!

CNN is reporting that Obama has picked Tom Daschle to head up Health and Human Services.

UPDATE: New York Times

UPDATE: The NYT article mentions that Daschle accepted the nomination only on the condition that he have a major role in shaping health care policy. He published a book earlier this year, "Critical: What we can do about the health-care crisis," with a prescription for the cure. Here's a summary.

I agree with almost all of it, my main objection being that we should completely divorce health insurance from employment. I can see a logistical argument, though, that working through employers around systems already in place is the fastest and easiest way to cover the greatest number of people.

P.S. This seems like a pretty huge message that health care is a top priority and Obama is serious about tackling the problem.

I attended last night's City Council meeting. Doug McDaniel and I spoke about our concerns related to Minvilla and the Ten-Year Plan to end Chronic Homelessness.

City Council passed by a vote of 6-3 a resolution authorizing the mayor to make an agreement with Volunteer Ministry Center to extend the required completion date for Minvilla by two years (until Dec. 31, 2010). The three no votes were Rob Frost, Steve Hall, and Joe Hultquist.

City Council also set a special meeting to vote on adding the Neighborhood Stabilization Plan to our city's HUD plan, and authorizing Mayor Haslam to execute associated documents and certifications. The majority felt uncomfortable voting in the midde of the required public comment period. The special session will be on Tuesday the 25th, tentatively set for 5 pm.

A pdf file of the Neighborhood Stabilization Plan may be found at:
Link...

Comments regarding any aspect of the plan, including Minvilla, may be sent to: bwade@cityofknoxville.org

--Mark Harmon, Knox County Commissioner

From Tom Jester:

We hear the phrase "peace on earth" so much this time of year that it almost doesn't mean anything any more. I did this video to make "peace on earth" mean something other than absence of war. It's what peace on earth really looks like and where you can find it: Cades Cove and the Great Smoky Mountains.

Some Austin East football players have been charged with some pretty serious shoplifting (a heckuva lot more than a pack of gum at Weigels).

They've got the state championship quarter final game Friday.

Should they be allowed to play?

Retired Knoxville News Sentinel reporter/editor/columnist and UT School of Journalism and Electronic Media lecturer Georgiana Vines invited Jack Lail, Bob Benz, Don Ferguson, Mark Harmon, and me to discuss technology and the media with her Media Management class.

My report after the jump...

Ford is introducing a 39MPG hybrid version of its Fusion/Milan sedan. They are also improving mileage on the base model, ramping up production of the Focus, and planning other more efficient models for 2010. A hybrid Fusion would be wildly popular -- if they can make enough of them.