A Taste of the Second District - Amy Broyles

Friday, November 30 6 - 9 PM at 1202 & 1204 North Central

This should be an interesting event led by Amy Broyles. Lets face it, the growth and uniqueness of Knoxville is present in the second district. The area is really exploding, have you driven around there lately?

Taste of the Second District is being held in the buildings on Central Avenue recently renovated by Daniel Schuh of Knoxville Preservation and Development, and the day before the Old Knoxville Holiday Home Tour. A large crowd is expected with lots of fun, food, drinks, and media coverage.

Open house for all neighbors, businesses, restaurants, organizations, artists,
bloggers, musicians in the Old North Knoxville, Fourth & Gill, North Hills, Beaumont, Edgewood Park, Whittle Spring, Fairmont-Emoriland, Oakwood-Lincoln Park, Inskip, and Fountain City areas.

Lead Based Toy Testing Not a Priority for CPSC Chairwoman

With an abundance of toy recalls striking the nation due to lead paint, the Consumer Product Safety Commission's chairwoman asked Congress not to increase her agency's budget. Such a bold move considering the data The Board posted today regarding the commission's staffing levels. I guess they expect the 1 full time employee to test the million's of toys that come into this country each year. I hope that 1 person is geared up for some overtime.

Value of all consumer product imports under agency’s supervision: $614 billion

Number of inspectors assigned to police those imports: 15

Number of full time employees to test toys: 1

Photo by mikaplexus

The Styrofeen Voting Booth

Courtesy of Newsvine.com, I have added the Styrofeen Voting Booth to the right side of this great blog. Take 2 seconds and cast your vote.

What Do You Stand for Chattanooga?

Yet another example of not standing for a damn thing has surfaced in Chattanooga. The Chattanooga Downtown Partnership has reported that they will 86 the annual live Nativity scene all because "several people complained". Obviously, Chattanooga needs to grow some balls and stand for something. A few always ruin the party for many.

Newt Gingrich Predicts Win By Hillary Clinton

Unless I'm missing something I'd say that New Gingrich, in an interview with a New York Times blog, is predicting a presidential win by Hillary Clinton. It doesn't look good when a Republican predicts a Democratic win.

Al Gore Good on Theory, Bad on Solution

I can't help but agree with The American on their latest piece regarding Al Gore's solution to global warming. We can all agree it is hotter than ever but what do we do about it? Read Nobel in Alarm, Ignoble in Solution for a different perspective.

And here is more on the global warming solution debate from The New Republic.

Could Fred Thompson's Blue Eyes Be the Difference?

According to Mijka Samora contributor Noele Kensut, Fred Thompson stands a good chance of winning based solely on his blue eyes. Every president since the Richard Nixon era has had blue eyes.

Stephen J. Dubner of the Freakonomics blog who wrote about this today as well, pointed out that blonde women have advantages over non-blondes. Although those blonde advantages were in regards to on-line dating sites, does Hillary stand a chance after all?

Photo by ikoon

Sex Slaves on the Loose

A colleague of mine recently showed a presentation on the alarming rate at which sex-trafficking is growing and the financial forecasts for revenue were disturbing. What I didn't know was just how big of a problem this really is. The Numbers Guy at the Wall Street Journal Online stated that some 10,000 sex slaves could be coming into the U.S. each year. The problem is so bad the CIA and other government agencies are getting involved.

Stay Gay San Francisco

San Francisco blocked the Marine's from shooting a new commercial today. And I thought banning Segways was nuts. At least they can say they're still the gayest city in the country.

'Virtual Border' Headed In Wrong Direction

We can track a package any time of the day in any country in the world yet after 3 months we still can't get our 28 miles of virtual fence to work. Sorry for the immigration rants today.

Quoteworthy: Immigration

An oldy but a goody landed in my inbox this morning.

The American Indians found out what happens when you don't control immigration.

Knox County Government, Let's Get a Do Over

No matter where you turn these days the Knox County government is making headlines. This morning I stumbled upon the Metro Pulse's Ear to the Ground story on Tyler Harbor, former aide to Mayor Ragsdale.

Harber, who often claimed ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu as his inspiration, ran local political campaigns and has said he didn’t do any work in his county job. He left town after a Sheriff’s Department investigation into stolen emails that appeared in Ragsdale’s office.