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By Patrick Thrush, October 8, 2009

So there I was, enjoying my afternoon on the front porch. The sounds of a crew tearing the shingles off a roof next door greeted my ears all afternoon. Having done this occupation for over 10 years in Florida, I wandered next door to see what they were doing, and what progress greeted my vision.

The first thing I noted was that the three men doing the job spoke Spanish to each other. Not an unusual thing, but as I wandered around the perimeter of the job—a peculiar thing struck my attention. I saw no permit for this work posted anywhere, and an attempt at conversation reverted to community college Spanish. It was quickly revealed that the crew was comprised of Mexicans who were here illegally, and that they did not have a permit to do the work—along with doing shoddy workmanship such as applying shingles two staples to the shingle and no eave metal on the finish.

I asked them who their Padron (employer) was in halting Spanish, and whether any of them were here in the United States legally. After an evasive conversation, they revealed that they were here illegally—and knew nothing about a permit. Having worked as a roofer for many years, and recognizing this as shoddy workmanship—I called the cops—Knoxville Police Department.  In the midst of this appeared a Spanish speaking pastor–who refused to ask them if they were here legally–and defended them even when it was apparent that they were here unlawfully.

Here is the final story I got from them. Even when confronted with illegal aliens, they are not empowered to detain or arrest them. I was referred to ICE in Washington, D.C. After half an hour wait, I determined that no one was going to answer my call. I then learned from KPD as the workers continued to dry in the house, that no permit was required to do roofing work—in essence they were going to ignore what was going on.

Here is a news flash. The roof of a house is essential to the integrity of the building below it. The fact that a permit and inspection is not required is ludicrous. Knoxville can determine how many cats I can have via code, but elude proper installation of a roof? That is ridiculous.

The officers later informed me that ICE (Immigrations and Customs Enforcement would be contacted later, and intervention scheduled for the following day. Good luck with that—as the illegal workers will be long gone and untraceable by that point. Before they were done, they had skip nailed the roof, failed to apply drip edge, and forgotten to apply roofing cement to the work they had already done. As a lawful citizen of the United States, I was advised to go back home and forget about it.

Well, here is the real deal. A lot of money is made employing illegal aliens to do jobs that are at or below minimum wage. There seems no realistic mechanism to stop them—as local law enforcement across the country is unwilling to act upon incidents—and pass the buck up to federal authorities. Such a sad state of affair—because as an American citizen if suspected of an infraction against against the law would have been incarcerated. KPD looked for an excuse to do that to this writer, while allowing the illegal complete finishing up a stage of the project.

Sorry, but anywhere else this would have been shoddy and inferior work. Knoxville in its infinite wisdom had exempted the most basic and important facet of structural design to go unpermitted. Shame on you. And equal shame on KPD for failure to deal with illegal aliens that fill the work space—knowing that they are violating the law.

Sorry, but this writer has had enough of illegal’s taking jobs from normalized citizens—and then having law enforcement and county administrations turn a blind eye. Is it not enough that too many of our jobs have moved to Mexico? Why in the hell do we not sanction employers who employ illegal labor that take jobs away from citizens—especially in this current economic time of need?

Everyone who might make this an issue—television, newspaper—failed to respond to what was going on with this incident. See Mexicans cleaning up or trimming the side of the road? Bet your ass that the majority of them are here illegally. But non of the powers that be seem to care…

When are we finally going to have enough?

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By Patrick Thrush, September 21, 2009

People with extravagant sums of money are a strange sort—detached from the regular grind of the majority of citizens, and insulated in their wealth—yet often interested in helping further civic causes. One can find dozens of local institutions that would not exist, or would exist in lesser form if it were not for their beneficence. This concern can also result in strange behaviors—and even stranger bequests. Philanthropy is a force to be reckoned with, appreciated, and sometimes grumbled over. Such a case in Knoxville surrounds the “gift” of Eugenia Williams to the University of Tennessee.

Ms. Williams, as a spinster daughter of Dr. David Williams, a mover and shaker of early 20^th Century Knoxville, decided in her infinite eccentric wisdom to leave her home and 24 acres of prime riverfront property to the University of Tennessee—under the condition that it could never be sold—and gave not a dime to making sure that it was maintained or improved in the future. Williams fell into bad health in the 1980s, and was institutionalized until her death at age 98 in 1998. So we have here a person that was not in full possession of their mind giving a property to UT, without any sort of endowment, and that had been closed up and not maintained for at least 15 years. What a gift. Continue reading 'Crazy Gifts, Derelict Stewardship'»

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By Patrick Thrush, September 21, 2009

Once upon a time, in a land far away—I bought my first computer. In 1985, I spent every dime of money that I had to purchase a Compaq Portable Plus, the very first IBM PC compatible computer. This tasty box was all I could think about.  It was a little over $3600, and had an incredible 128K of memory, and two 5 ¼” floppy drives that one was consumed by the operating system—DOS 3.2—in a case that resembled a sewing machine. It was wonderful! In those days, the race was not to upgrade your software, but to build the hardware system. By 1993, this 30 pound behemoth had a 1.44Mb floppy disk, a 20Mb hard disk, 640K of memory—a new Panasonic processor–with a 1Mb extension card. Good God, and a 9600 Bps modem!

There was no public internet, so this marvel let me get into several dial-up bulletin boards that operated out of people’s homes! Unfortunately, in those days as this–a lot of what was found was cheap porn.  As to graphics on the green monocolor screen, a draw was like this—I would issue the command to open the file, got up and go pour a cup of coffee. Step out on the back porch, and have a smoke. Return to the computer 8-10 minutes later, and watch as the draw—usually a vector graphic—complete its task.

Now later in the Windows age (beginning with Windows v3.0 on a 386 processor computer) I began to cut my teeth on helping others set up, and maintain small business networks. Novell was king of this heap at the time. It is interesting to observe that anti-virus, adware, and spam filtering was not necessary—nor was it a regular thing to have to update software or anything else except to load a new application on the computer. This was a good time—and everything that could possibly go on a computer was less than 15Mb. Amazing, isn’t it? I still have that old Compaq, and incredibly enough, it still runs and does everything that it is capable of doing… Continue reading 'I Hate Computers'»

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By Patrick Thrush, September 17, 2009

It’s 1971, and the South has not quite dealt with Brown v. Board of Education. Nor Green v. County School Board of New Kent County. And is having a really hard time with Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenberg Board of Education in regards to busing. The South is a little slow, and those in South Carolina will tell you that they have not quite resolved the “recent unpleasantness” of over 140 years ago. Those darkies are still a thorn in everyone’s side.

The Supreme Court forced busing to “desegregate” and equalize education—the success of that is still up for debate. Various civil rights acts, in combination with affirmative action attempted to equalize the workplace. Yet, in 2009, we have a much more insidious form of racism than ever before—because it is unspoken. Anyone who truly believes that the color or ethnic lines have been broken is either ignorant or lying to themselves—it is still there, and takes forms unthought-of of a generation before.

Now we seem to have a black in the White House. Nothing the man does is acceptable to the right wing establishment—and we have to ask ourselves why. Joe Wilson, a U.S. Representative from South Carolina, represents just the tip of the iceberg that seeks to undermine the president—diluting the authority of the presidency—and denigrating the holder of that office. The only thing that was missing from his vocal attack was the word “boy” after “you lie”.  This is just another rotten page in the book of lies that already contain such choice labels as Kenyan, foreigner, Muslim, socialist, Nazi, communist, America Hater, so on and so forth.  Where do they come up with all of this rubbish?

It’s tragic that we are still fighting the same battle of putting blacks on the bus as putting one in the White House. One would assume as America has grown older, it has grown wiser and resistant to fear of the “other”The far right of the Republican Party is by far the most vocal—and has not had a single good thing to say about anything the man has done. Nor have they offered a single, workable alternative to any change or reform being offered. One has to wonder—and their own words explain themselves. They want him to fail at any possible cost. There is a nigger on the bus, and by God—we are going to teach him a lesson.

What is happening is far beyond any partisan posturing. Although a sufficient number of Americans voted a black into office—there is beyond initial conscience a certain sense of “buyers remorse”. No where is the resentment more apparent than in Republican attacks.   Being modernly politically correct, these various loumouthed representatives of an America we need to move beyond–but dare not say what they are really thinking–are using other tools to marginalize and denigrate the president and his office.  It’s high time that the Limbaughs, Hannitys, Malkins, and others of their ilk are put into their place.  Well political fans, Barry is not going to the back of the bus, and it is time to work for the progress of the county—not narrow minded bigotry and party agendas.

Nuff said….

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By Patrick Thrush, September 4, 2009

The end is near—all of those people we thought were crazy, toting about signs claiming the fall of mankind are close to being right. At least as far as rationality goes in the greater American political discourse. The latest straw to be added to the pile of extremist fear mongering is that next week, President Obama is going to indoctrinate our children into a socialist Brownshirt brigade—to serve his evil ends. My information told me that the President was speaking to encourage students to remain in school and excel. That appears to be scary stuff the ultra right conservatives, affiliated whackos, and gullible members of the American public who keep buying into such right wing fear mongering. A story in today’s New York Times illustrates the stupidity:  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/us/04school.html?_r=1&hpw

For the past several days, I have been engaged in a forum conversation about just this thing. It has been an opportunity to read just how screwed up average Americans have become—and how much they are buying into the hateful, deceit filled propaganda being shoveled out by the more vocal members of the Republican Party. Along with the expected paranoid delusional and conspiracy fanatics, village idiots, and those who are simply unable to resolve the fact that a negro couple now sleeps in the big bed at the White House—are those who are buying into every bit of rabble rousing fallacy being churned out by the Republican machine and their illustrious spokespeople. What they are writing is frightening, and the general attitude is one that threatens the premise that America has been built upon.

Over the past 50 years, we have seen a transition away from the once collegial Congress that shaped national ends, toward an extremely polarized and adversarial collection of powerhouses of polemic. Beginning with Barry Goldwater in the early 1960s, the Republican party has become increasingly bellicose, distanced from the interests of the ordinary citizen, and enamored in playing a game of fear and distrust in furthering its agendas—usually those of the elite rich and large corporations. This crew has progressively more seen government as akin to a sandlot football game—in that a particular team must win at any cost. This is in direct disregard for the fact that the majority of the history of Congress has led to a series of middle of the road comprises that have generally done well to serve the needs of the American people. Continue reading 'Fear Thy Neighbor'»

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By Patrick Thrush, August 31, 2009

Articles about education—or the current sorry status of it in many public and private schools—always draws my attention.  It is education and the ability to think and put that thought into reality that defines a nation and a culture—something that is critical to its stability and future.  The quality of what passes for learning and knowledge and how it affects a people is best summed up by Thomas Jefferson in this quote:

If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”

So when this morning an opinion piece in the Washington Post caught my eye, I had to see what the story was about.  In essence, students are arriving at the start of the school year, already academically tired.  From what, one might ask—as summer vacation is a time of rest and recreation.  But alas, the shortsighted “professionals” that have ruined the teaching sector have added a new dimension to a student’s life—summer homework.

It should not be a surprise—students have been falling behind on every measure of education with the exception of taking a standardized achievement test—and the competence in that is given by an entire year of a subject squandered in teaching the test.  Now there are those who worry that children will become amnesiac dullards if they are not put to the task throughout the summer.  Consider this one more effort to regiment and control the lives of the ordinary citizen-consumer. The article itself is here:

This trend and my tendency to think about the past in my old age—got me to pondering the status of education and the experience of students between my generation and the current crop of unfortunates that are subjected to this travesty we call the American educational system. Continue reading 'Grade School Sweatshop'»

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By Patrick Thrush, August 2, 2009

In a surprise pre-dawn attack, Special Forces infiltrate an area and prepare to secure the perimeter.  They hope to seal the enemy inside the cordon they have created, and to capture those targeted by intelligence agents without bloodshed or casualties to innocents and children.  The risk of causing an explosion due to hidden stockpiles is very real, as is the problem of chemical contamination of the skirmish line during the raid.  It is known that the enemy is well armed.  If all goes well, another dangerous anarchist cell will have been eliminated in this very lengthy war.

If one thinks that this is just one more tale from Iraq, Afghanistan, or another part of the Middle East, then they are wrong.  This is a story that unfolds around us every day in this country when law enforcement authorities confront an illegal drug lab and its operators.  Here in Appalachia, methamphetamine production can be found in every county, produced and supported by users from all economic and social walks of life.  And there are other kinds of drugs manufactured as well; Ecstacy, PCP, crack cocaine, designer amphetamines, hallucinogens, the list goes on.  And then there is Tennessee’s number one cash crop, marijuana.

There are two realities here.  The first and most important is that throughout the entire discernable history of all cultures of humanity, man has sought and found ways to change his perception of reality through plants, chemicals, and alcohol.  No society has ever been free of this, and many encourage the behavior as it is built around significant cultural and spiritual rituals.

In the modern Western “civilized” world, it is estimated that approximately 25% of the population uses some sort of illegal or legal prescription drug (in a manner not intended) on a regular basis to feel different about themselves and the world they interact with.  Perhaps another 10% are very occasional recreational users. Continue reading 'The War We Lost'»

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By Patrick Thrush, July 26, 2009

In the economic and community development world, something known as Microenterprise has become all the rage.  There are an estimated ten million microentrepreneurs in the United States today, and the number is growing along with lenders and assistance programs to help them.  Microentrepreneurs come from all walks of life—people seeking to start businesses or to use existing skills toward supplementing their incomes.  These business people offer services ranging from car repair to day care programs, and products ranging from specialty foods to clothing.

In many successful microenterprise programs it all begins with business training and investment in ordinary people in a place called a “business incubator.”   While this may conjure up some wild images, a business incubator is simply a place where microentrepreneurs go to grow their business.  Incubators provide space to work, and supply services such as technical support, telephone, office equipment such as computers and copiers, and most important, an environment that is conducive to success.

While microenterprise is a common outlet for progressive or displaced workers, development really shines for those who are disadvantaged—and located in minority communities that are seeking to renew themselves.  Self employment is one way to earn extra income to supplement low wages typical for those lacking a college degree.  Women with families choose self employment for the flexibility they need to balance home and work responsibilities.  Individuals with disabilities find economic independence through business ownership.  And most importantly, for many low income people, microenterprise offers the chance to use talents, realize suppressed dreams and find fulfillment that is rarely possible with their options in the current labor market. Continue reading 'Small Investment Yields Big Returns'»

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By Patrick Thrush, December 8, 2008

[Editorial Note:  Six months before this rescue, a similar one was conducted in Lyle, Tennessee.  650 dogs were placed in a very short time.  Meanwhile,  the state reports nearly 2100 children remain languishing in foster care awaiting adoption .]

Big News!!! A redneck in Virginia has been arrested for breeding dogs in unsanitary and “inhumane” conditions. Hundreds of “concerned” citizens have been calling and traveling to Virginia to help out and adopt these poor animals. The Humane Society of the United States [HSUS] claims a victory for animal rights. All is well in fantasy land.

I find this rather confusing, and deeply disturbing. This writer has been following the reprehensible conduct of our President and Congress in enacting a decent bill to protect children’s health. Oil prices spiral up, Detroit is collapsing, and Wall Street imploding. The Chinese vomit cheap garbage upon us, and every day American troops are maimed or killed supporting a war of lies. Where is the outrage here? Yet the well intentioned whacko’s line up to help out a passel of dogs and protect their rights.

This writer spent over an hour reading word for word the American Constitution and the subsequent Bill of Rights. No where–not in a single line–were animals or any rights given to them by God or Government mentioned. Yet I am informed by my legal counsel, Cheatham Steele & Tortwheazel that there are literally thousands of laws on the books protecting CERTAIN kinds of animals from mistreatment. A little research revealed that only the cuddly and amusing kind are protected. Continue reading 'Whacko’s and Puppy Mills'»

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By Patrick Thrush, May 6, 2008

A fellow by the name of Will Okun wants to rap and hip-hop his way into the minds of school kids. You see, Okun is a former English teacher who taught at an alternative school in Chicago—and he believes that one method of overcoming cultural barriers in learning is by entertaining the students in a way they can relate.

One has to wonder what has become of our educational system when teachers become entertainers in an attempt to surmount the apathy students can express for learning. A look backward might give a few clues. In the 1970s, psychologist Ken Gergen created quite a stir for espousing a “relational” view of the world. In this, he posits that

Traditional emphasis on the individual mind is replaced by a concern with the relational processes from which rationality and morality emerge.”

This new “constructionism” boils down to the idea of moving away from a common, imposed set of social beliefs to letting the individual come to their own frame of understanding based upon the dynamics of the time. Educators have embraced this rationale in full. Today, educational institutions try not to force history, humanities, and other academic subjects in the traditional “here is how it is” format—instead encouraging students to “come to their own frame of understanding.”

All of this has come to a rotten fruition in an age of multiculturalism, pluralism, and political correctness. God forbid that an institution impose its world view on someone else. Blacks will be marginalized by white history. Women will be disenfranchised by the great patriarchy. The truth is though, that these dynamics are part and parcel of American history, however diverse we wish to repaint our past. Continue reading 'Educate dat'»

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By Patrick Thrush, April 10, 2008

[Editorial Note—This article was pulled from my old Blogmudgeon.com site.  It is reposted here because I really liked it....]

The trouble with reaching 50 is that it enables one to have a personal view of the paradigm shift that has overwhelmed America and its economics. It was not that long ago in the scheme of things that “imported” usually held the connotation that the item was a special, to be coveted item. The phrase “made in” was universally seen as cheap junk and trinkets from Hong Kong or India.

Today it is estimated that over 60% of our consumer goods are manufactured abroad. I doubt that this figure includes the American produced goods that are assembled from materials and components made elsewhere. The rationale given by producers is that these sort of production systems make items more affordable for the consumer, and meet demand for the product.

The reality is that much of the demand is artificial due to marketing and an artificially suppressed price tag due to cheap foreign labor. We as citizens are convinced to buy cheaply made disposable goods—all in the name of profit for the corporations that funnel them to the retail market. So, let’s all roundly boo the big bad corporation.

Incredibly enough this control is largely financed by debt—borrowing against other debt financed ventures to keep it afloat. This economic house of cards bears a remarkable resemblance to a legal Ponzi scheme.”

Bashing the company is a pastime that has its roots in the 20^th century labor movement, but now is little more than a shadow of the meaning behind the original stereotype. Consumers conveniently forget that old John D. and his ilk are long gone and the real control of a corporation and its course are now completely held hostage by the power of its stockholders. Incredibly enough this control is largely financed by debt—borrowing against other debt financed ventures to keep it afloat. This economic house of cards bears a remarkable resemblance to a legal Ponzi scheme. Continue reading 'America For Sale'»

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By Patrick Thrush, March 2, 2008

[Editorial Note—This article was pulled from my old Blogmudgeon.com site.  It is reposted here as déjà vu all over again…]

The rules do not apply to everyone. We all know that it is too easy to get into serious trouble with credit debt. Taking on too much credit, risky loans, high interest rates, it all adds up to financial chaos. And thanks to our concerned congressional representatives, it is extremely difficult to avoid bad debt through bankruptcy, or get good loans to bail out bad financial decisions. Unless of course you are a bank, an automaker, or an investment broker.

A case in point is the current fallout of the mortgage market, Ponzi Scheme investment by brokerages, and the impending demise of several American automakers. For years, lending institutions have made riskier and riskier loans with “flexible” interest terms–under the great presumption that default rates would not seriously encroach on profits. They sold these mortgages to investors–you know, the folks that buy them to prop up your retirement fund and bolster companies that need to show ever increasing profits while they make nothing really tangible…

A recent NY Times story says it all, “Wall Street analysts say they are increasingly concerned that consumer spending will weaken as more people in housing and related sectors lose their jobs. They also worry that many homeowners will cut back as they find it harder to refinance or borrow against the value of their homes.” Continue reading 'Dumb Credit Moves Choke Economy'»

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By Patrick Thrush, October 22, 2006

[Editorial Note—This article was pulled from my old weekly column "Just a Thought" in the McCreary Voice.  It is a humorous precautionary tale about the difficulties of living in an Appalachian county that is predominantly owned by the government, and is plagued with tree hugger's from cities everywhere who have never set foot there....]

Wiley Coyote is always buying something from the Acme Company to catch the Road Runner. A casual look at his critter habits suggests that he has spent several hundred thousand dollars on mail order equipment for one purpose or another. This indicates that Mr. Coyote is well paid and has a large discretionary income. McCreary County has hundreds of square miles of Federal land filled with critters. Armed with these two bits of information, I set out to determine just how much critters spend within our local economy, and where they are employed.

Signs were set out within the forest asking for critters to participate in a survey. The only call received was from an environmental group based in Knoxville claiming that the signs ruined the pristine nature of the forest and threatened that they would sue if the signs were not removed immediately. Like most McCreary citizens, this writer does not make a lot of money that can buy lawyers and moved to get the signs down quickly. I thought about using an ATV, but was told that I could not ride it on most of the roads in the forest and park. Continue reading 'Critters Don’t Pay Taxes'»