http://www.timesnews.net/ This is the www.timesnews.net data feed for Don Fenley Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:26:14 EST en-us http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7586 http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7586 Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:33:44 EST
If you step back and apply a little critical thinking to the prevalent, persistent dooms day myths they shirk into the darkness of the childhood closet terrors. Of course critical thinking and Web's myths and hype are often a contradiction in terms. In computer jargon it's a example of garbage in, garbage out.

Ian O'Neill, a science geek/astrophysicist and writer for Discovery News, has collection of articles that attempt to pop some of the popular end-time myth balloons.

Here's a capsule of his Top 10 reasons why the world won't end in 2012. It covers most the current "the world is ending hysteria" events.

10 - Changes in Sun's magnetic fields will lead to powerful flares - it happens every 11 years and has been for eons.

9 - Earth's magnetic field will reveres - It happened about 800,000 year, but then world didn't end back then either.

8 - Earth's rotation axis will tip - It would take something the size of Mars bumping into the earth to cause this to happen, and while "Girls Gone Wild" is based on some reality the science of the solar system doesn't support a "Planets Gone Wild" reality.

7 - Grand alignment of Jupiter and Saturn will mess with Earth's graviton. - Good scare theater but there's no science here.

6 - The Sun will align with the galactic equator on the winter solstice - So what? There are coordinates in the sky and have no more significant that the fact the I-26 and I-81 intersect near between Gray and Kingsport.

5 - A black hole in the center of the Milky Way will effect the Earth. A black hole in the center of the Milky Way would have no more effect on the trillions of solar masses that exist in the galaxy than a dog wagging its tail.

4 - As asteroid will hit Earth - The odds the most likely event of this happening is 1-in-250,000 when Apophis makes its next close approach. But you'll have to wait until 2029 for that.

3 - The planet Nibiru will swing by Earth - Sorry, there's no such rogue planet.

2 - A supernovae will irradiate Earth. In the real world of science the closest two stars that would be part of this event are so far away they would have little effect. And since neither has a spin axis aimed at Earth, there little to no chance of a gamma ray overload when their core explodes. The odds makers say there a 1 percent chance of something like that happening once ever 10 billion years. That makes the odds of winning the Powerball drawing look good.

1 - A cloud of negative energy will engulf the solar system. O'Neill calls this the "dark cloud with a bad attitude" myth. The reality is there's dark energy all around us now, but it's not packaged as a cloud.

And then there's the 2012 Mayan Calendar myth.

The Mayan Long Count calendar begins in 3,114 B.C., marking time in roughly 394-year periods known as Baktuns. The 13th Baktun ends around Dec. 21, 2012, and the number 13 is a Mayan sacred number. But that doesn't mean the Mayan calendar is predicting the end of times.

That story has the Mayans and experts in the field RME, ROFL and ROFLOLAYing.

Here's how David Stuart, a real-live expert in Mayan epigraphy at the University of Texas at Austin - Hook 'em Horns - explained the calendar thing for NPR on Mayans insist that 2102 isn't the end of the world.
"It's a special anniversary of creation. The Maya never said the world is going to end, they never said anything bad would happen necessarily, they're just recording this future anniversary on Monument Six."

In more precise terms, The Long Count calendar is going from 12 Baktuns to 13 Baktuns, like when our calendar changed from 1999 to 2000. Remember the Y2K stuff?

The Mayan calendar doesn't end on 12-21-2012. When the Long Count calendar rolls over from Baktun 12 to Baktun 13 and starts over on it march toward Baktun 19 at which time it becomes Pictun 1 . When the calendar get up to Picturn 20 they'll start counting the Kinchiltuns and then the Alauturns. One Alautun is roughly 3,154,069 years.

If you're still with the doomsday myth busting, NPR's Scared about Planet Nibiru? Nasa would like to help is a good listen.

The fact of life is if you an average person the most dangerous thing you can do - the thing where you are most likely to get hurt of killed - is to get into your car and drive it. Or, you might die from a fall on the stairs at your home.

But for those who really want to worry about something here's how O'Neill says the end of the world will come, minus the change we'll pollute or war ourselves to death. "In approximately 4 billion years time, when the sun has depleted its supply of hydrogen in its core, our nearest star will swell like a balloon when it starts to burn heavier elements, swallowing the planets of the inner solar system.




]]> http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7584 http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7584 Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:09:46 EST
October's national numbers show unemployment at a 23 year high. And although the September trajectory for local unadjusted unemployment was down, ETSU economist Steb Hipple latest labor market analysis showed no end to the recession on the local scene. That analysis looked at data from the third quarter.

So far the national data points to continued job losses which make it clear the recovery will be sluggish through 2010. That has the conservatives opponents of President Obama trumpeting the fact that unemployment is at its highest rate in 23 years. That's true. The U.S. hasn't seen unemployment numbers like those reported the Reagan administration was clawing its way out of the economic ruins left by the Carter, Ford and Nixon administrations.

And since the Tri-Cities is back into the mode of trailing the national trends most indicators point to more economically bumpy times for the short term. The reason is simple. Jobs are a trailing or lagging indicator. Change is seen in response to other economic events instead of predicting changes the way a leading indicator - like the stock market. In other words, even though the recession is technically over, employers will wait until demand increases sufficiently to require staff additions.

Tennessee's unemployment data will be released Thursday, followed by the city and county data the day before Thanksgiving.

One of the few bright spots on the local employment scene mirrors a similar observation on the national. Hiring of temporary workers is beginning to pick up. That's a good sign because temporary employment is a sign employers are reacting to the demand for more output even if they're not confident enough to make permanent hires.

Janice Wininger at A1 Accuforce in Kingsport says she has seen a "little pick up" in the last couple of weeks in the retail and leisure sectors. She thinks most that is due to the holiday and doesn't reflect much of a trend. She also says there's still some demand in the commercial construction jobs sector.

Wininger said the number of clients she's seeing now has tripled. See doesn't see any indications that there any immediate demand for workers other than temporary.

Several others shared similar observations about the local unemployed labor force, and one person observed that there didn't seem to be a lot of motivation for some of those in the jobless ranks to change their status.

Here's what the Bureau of Labor Statistics snapshot of the Kingsport-Bristol TN-VA employment picture by sector looked like in September. The tracking is the year-to-date data for the past 12 months.

Non farm jobs - down 3.6 percent.

Mining, logging and construction - down 12.2 percent.

Manufacturing - down 9.4 percent.

Trade, transportation and utilities - down 3.5 percent.

Information - down 7.7 percent

Financial activities down 2.3 percent.

Professional and business services - down 4.5 percent.

Education and health services - up 2.7 percent.

Leisure and hospitality - down 0.8 percent

Other services - down 2.5 percent.

Government - no change.





]]> http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7578 http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7578 Sat, 14 Nov 2009 12:45:22 EST
Shortly after the first of the year I happened onto a trend story about a youth fad called sexting and wrote a blog titled Texting trend: Naught flirting, skanky teen sex.

That kept the topic high on my list of news items to watch as I do my daily rounds of reading. Almost a year has past and there have been stories about suspension and expulsions from school. Some young peopole have been charged with sex crimes including kiddie porn charges.

The tends spawned a lot of media coverage and a pretty good Web site for parents who wanted to point their kids to someone who spoke the same language.


The edge may be off some of what the middle and high school and college crowd do, but it shows no sigh of going away. Instead it has migrated to the generation that embraced everything - the Baby Boomers.

According to an AARP News article the senior set has embraced sexting. And, the don't face the same legal issues as young people face.

Here's how the AARP News report launches into the topic, "When Roger gets to an intimate stage with a woman these days, it usually doesn't take long until the sexy photos start. His dating partners either request that he send them a suggestive-or downright explicit-photo from his cell phone to theirs, or they just send one themselves, completely unsolicited."

I guess it makes sense, but the article points out that Roger, 59, has been "enjoying" this form of high-tech flirtation for years now with a bevy of sassy ladies.

"Shocked? Don't be. More and more of the 50+ set, both single and married, are using text messaging to spice up their sex lives. Boomers, often sandwiched between teenagers, aging parents, and busy work schedules, are taking advantage of the new technology because it's fast, easy, and fun."

Relationship coach Suzanne Blake told AARP News she has seen and heard it all when it comes to sexting, including a wife who enjoys sexting her husband while he's traveling on business, telling (and showing) him what he's missing at home. While this may surprise some, Blake's not surprised at all.

So far, I haven't noticed many seniors being outed for their kinky pixs, but there's sort of a unwritten law about nude photos. It goes this something like this, "If you allow a nude picture to be taken of you it will sooner or later end up in the public eye" - it a real case of information wanting to be free.

If you stay with the article and follow the links you'll get a eye-opener about how today's senior culture is and it's not all bridge and shuffle board. It makes you look at those Senior Citizen Center Pot Luck Dinners in a different light, doesn't it?





]]> http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7576 http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7576 Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:38:49 EST
Nationally the number of people on the brink of losing their homes dipped gain in October. The reasons vary. Foreclosure prevention programs are helping more borrowers and for those who still have a job there's some improvement in the economy. The threat is the ranks of those who have lost their jobs and are still struggling to find new work.

The long picture also dulls the three-month improvement trend. Foreclosures are still 19 percent higher than they were a year ago, according to a NPR report on the RealtyTrac October update.

Nationally more than 332,000 households, or 1 in every 385 homes, received a foreclosure-related notice in October, such as a notice of default or trustee's sale. That's down 3 percent from September.

Here's how the drill down to the local level looks.

Tennessee ranks 23 in the nation for foreclosures. There were 4,030 homes under foreclosure stress - that means receiving some type of foreclosure notice - in October, 1 in every 676 housing units in the state. According to Census data there at 2,232,905 housing units in the state.

Sullivan Co. had 32 foreclosures on RealtyTrac's October data sheet. That's 1 in every 2,299 housing units in a county with 73,548 housing units. RealtyTrac did not list the average sales price of a Sullivan Co. foreclosure.

Here's what the October foreclosure picture looked like the Sullivan Co. communities:

Bristol - 12 foreclosures - 1 in every 1,578 housing units.
Bluff City - 2 foreclosures - 1 in 2,761 housing units.
Piney Flats - 1 foreclosure - 1 in every 3,122 housing units.
Blountville - no data.
Kingsport - 17 foreclosures - 1 in every 2,458 housing units.

Washington Co. logged 29 homes under foreclosure stress in October's RealtyTrac data. That's 1 in every 1,823 of the county's 52,741 housing units. RealtyTrac listed the average October sales price of a foreclosure home in Washington Co. as $101,979.

Here's what it looked like in Washington Co. communities for October:

Fall Branch - 3 foreclosures - 1 in every 591 housing units.
Limestone - 2 foreclosures - 1 in every 1,431 housing units.
Telford - 1 foreclosure - 1 in every 1,292 housing units.
Jonesborough - 6 foreclosures - 1 in every 1,730 housing units.
Johnson City - 17 foreclosures - 1 in every 2491 housing units.

A broader look at the foreclosure picture Americans are getting antsy about how Washington is handling it. BusinessWeek in a story headlined Americans more unhappy with Feds' Housing Fix cities a new survey from Move Inc., the parent of Realtor.com, that says Americans are growing increasingly dissatisfied with the results of the trillions spent on propping up banks, buying mortgages, tax credits and new programs designed to lower payments and prevent foreclosures

The October 2009 survey found that the federal government's approval rating by consumers on housing issues has slipped since March 2009. By a six-percent margin, Americans said they don't think the government is doing enough to stabilize the housing market (48.2% compared to 42.2% five months ago). According to the survey, consumers still want low interest rates (31.4%) and action by the government to help homeowners prevent foreclosures (28.5%), the same two top priorities expressed by survey respondents in March.

And here' how the respondents to a Rasmussen survey looked at the extension and expansion of the housing tax credits: Americans favor home buyer tax credit until they hear how much it costs.

According to the report 55 percent of Democrats continue to support it, while 53 percent of Republicans and 56 percent of the unaffiliateds are opposed to the tax credits.

Rasmussen's survey story also points, out, "The majority of all three groups oppose expanding the tax credit plan to those who already own houses and earn more money. Again, unaffiliated adults are more skeptical than Democrats and Republicans.

"The first-time home buyer credit was originally included in the economic stimulus plan passed by Congress in February and was set to expire at the end of this month. Under the newly approved plan, the Associated Press reports, "buyers who have owned their current homes at least five years would be eligible for tax credits of up to $6,500. First-time home buyers - or anyone who hasn't owned a home in the last three years - would still get up to $8,000."

"At least $8.5 billion has already been "spent" on the tax credit program. The extension is expected to cost an additional $10.8 billion in lost tax revenue. Supporters of the plan from both political parties argue that it will boost the troubled U.S. housing market."

]]> http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7574 http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7574 Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:08:36 EST
According to a USA Today analysis salaries for NCAA coaches are up in the down economy.

UT's Lane Kiffin has a base salary of only $350,000 but his other income and maximum bonus boosts his total potential to $2 million.

Frank Beamer at Va Tech doesn't do quite as well with $272,328 salary, but his other income and maximum bonus weighs him in a little better than Kiffin on the top end with a total potential salary package of $2,172,127 million.

Rick Stockstill at Middle Tennessee has to make do with a $195,155 salary, $86,500 in other pay and a maximum bonus of $112,180.

Scrolling through USA Today's database quickly shows neither area coach is a big dog in the NCAA 2009 coaching pay game. That distinction goes to
Pete Carroll at Southern California. He gets a cool $4,386,652 and that's sans the other salary and bonus incentives.

Top-end salary for assistant coaches at Tennessee is $1,200,000. Assistants on the bottom of the pay totem pole get $110,000.

At Va. Tech the best-paid assistant coach gets $402,000. The least well-paid gets $142,285.

Assistant coaches pay tops out at $105,652 at Middle Tennessee. The bottom end is $56,000.



]]> http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7572 http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7572 Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:43:39 EST Cookville Times is citing a Tennessee Manufacturing Register report that says the state has lost 56,647 jobs in the past two years to closures and layoffs. The loss equals 12.6 percent of all the manufacturing jobs in the state.

Bureau of Labor Statistics data show Kingsport-Bristol's share of that loss during the same period was 11.6 percent, or 2,700 manufacturing jobs.

According to the MNI report, Tennessee's 7, 711 manufacturers currently employ 403, 030 workers compared to 547, 494 workers in 2001. There was a 26.4 percent decline amounting to 144, 464 job losses.

The Kingsport-Bristol data mirrors the state data for the same period with a 26.3 percent decline to 21,300 manufacturing jobs in September 2009. If you extend that date to a 1999 to a 2009 year-to-date comparison the Kingsport-Bristol MSA lost 35.5 percent of our manufacturing job base. That's probably more concise picture of the long-term change the region's employment base is undergoing.]]> http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7551 http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7551 Wed, 28 Oct 2009 06:22:48 EDT
There's some truth to parts of that buzz. Employers are not rushing to hire people, and credit is tight. But there's more to the story and it deserves some context.

First let's set the scene:

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics about 15.1 million people in the U.S. are now unemployed. Another 9.2 million are "involuntary part-time worker." These workers exist in the unappreciated shadows of the U-6 category of employment data.

It's also no secret that employment has not fully come back during the past two recessions. Employers have found ways to be more efficient, technology has made workers more productive and the U.S. has been transforming from a manufacturing based economy to a services and information based economy. Some workers retrain and gain. Others are hard luck stories - that's especially true for those in the 50+ ranks.

That's just as evident in Kingsport as it is anywhere else. Back in June when Kingsport employers had shed about 600 jobs I wrote an update titled Scrubs replacing hard hats in Kingsport. The short version of that blog is: Education and heath care is the big growth segment in the Model City's employment picture. Trade, Transportation and Utilities is NO. 1 with 20.8 percent of the jobs, Manufacturing is declining but still has 18 percent of the jobs while Education and Health Services is growing with 15.8 percent of all jobs. Government comes in next with 13.4 percent of all Kingsport jobs.

Fast forward to the most current employment data that shows Kingsport's employers have cut 956 jobs. Still, if you check the help wanted ads there are jobs available, but only for people with specific skill sets. And there's some speculation that high unemployment may be the new norm..

Four points that seem to support that are:

• The auto and construction industries helped lead the nation out of past recessions. But the carnage among automakers, auto parts manufacturers like TRW and the surplus of new and foreclosed homes and empty commercial properties make it unlikely these two industries will be engines of growth anytime soon.

• The job market is caught in a vicious circle: Without more jobs, U.S. consumers will have a hard time increasing their spending; but without that spending, businesses might see little reason to start hiring.

• Many small and mid-size businesses are still struggling to obtain bank loans, impeding their expansion plans and constraining overall economic growth.

• Higher-income households are spending less because of big losses on their homes, retirement plans and other investments. Lower-income households are cutting back because they can't borrow like they once did.

So much for the greedy bosses. How about those stingy bankers? You know the ones I'm talking about. President Obama scolded them to increase their lending to small business in his national radio broadcast Saturday. And bankers are beginning to push back against taking the rap for the economy's ills.

Credit is tight, that's true. But there's more here than a simplistic case of political scapegoating from the White House bully pulpit about bankers with a strangle hold on credit.

I sure don't want to sound like an apologist for bankers but it's reality that there's a pretty big disjunct between political rhetoric about what's good for small business and what the FDIC is enforcing these days. Least we forget, 106 U.S. banks have failed so far this year. And the FDIC has a 416 "problem lenders" on its watch list.

No banker wants to see his institution on the weekly
FDIC's Failed Bank List.

Here's the way is sounds from the other side. There's local money available to borrowers who can show they can service the debt. While politicians say bankers need more skin in the recovery game, the people seeking loans need to get used to the idea that they need more of their own working capital in the game.

Back in days when the economy was strong 100 percent loans to small businesses, developers and builders were no big deal. But that was then and now is now. The current business landscape is littered with the savages of past abuses that created the worst economic upheaval since the Great Depression.

But does that mean there are not some bankers who may be trying to game the "more FED bailout money is coming down the pike" equation? Probably not.

I've heard several local contractors swear that's what some local governments did with projects already planned and funded, but put on hold for stimulus money.






























]]> http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7549 http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7549 Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:20:22 EDT
Snarky sniping between with those with clout and the media - both news and entertainment - is common place and always has been. Hardly a week passes anywhere in the nation when a business person, mayor, school board member or a supervisor of something doesn't pick up the phone, call the newsroom and protest that they haven't been treated fairly.

Sometimes these complaints have merit. Other times, it's little more than someone who has clout and hasn't gotten their way winning about it.

In fact, it's common for a reporter or a news medium is disfavor to be shut out of the access game for a while. It happens on the local level just as much as it does nationally. It's a tactic used day-in and day-out in the push-and-shove between those who cover news and those who are in the news and what it covered their way.

Most of this behind the scenes maneuvering never get public note.

What does make this spat different is: the 24-hour news cycle; Internet mediums that have let the public join in the fray; and the red-hot confrontation between the Obama Administration and what is being dubbed the conservative echo chamber ie Fox News and conservative talk radio.

One of the more interesting local parries and trusts was Tenn. Sen. Lamar Alexander's hand wringing about shades of the Nixon Administration's enemies list. That drew a prompt rebuttal from from Democrats who saw it as Alexander's way of tiptoeing away from his reputation as a moderate Republican - aka RINO - for safer political ground within the aura of Glenn Beck.

Two of the better examinations of all the political theater comes compliments of the USA Today op-ed page column written by Sandy Grady and the Christian Science Monitor's Obama's Fox News offensive: Has it worked?

Grady writes, "our 2009 partisan jostling has a new, maybe dangerous, twist - the Frankenstein technology of cable news, the Internet, Twitter and Facebook that created a deafening 24-hour echo chamber. The rancor isn't worse, but it's far noisier."

It also reminds what is supposed to be a super-media-savvy administration to not underestimate the "Secret of the Echo Chamber: The louder the personal barbs and invective, the higher go ratings. The high-tech, smash-mouth style drifts down to congressional and town-hall copycats. So we get health care blather about death panels, government abortions, free care for illegal aliens."

History should show those who just can't resist jousting with radio talk shows host the folly of such an impossible quest. It's like Forest Gump said, "Stupid is as stupid does"

And least anyone forget the talk radio tactic is not new. Father Charles Coughlin was a Roman Catholic priest who pioneered the use of radio to reach a mass audience. Back in the 1930s he had an audience of more than 40 million for his weekly program, which was getting up to 80,000 fan letters a week. He reached the height of his fame by savaging Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal. He later shifted gears and used his program to rationalize some of the policies of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.

Obviously the Obama v. Fox, Limbaugh, Beck, conservative talks radio et. brouhaha all isn't over yet. Until it is the back and forth provided by tilting at windmills is good media theater for those so inclined to choose the sizzle and dirty laundry over the other current event offerings.

Oh, there's one more local example of the popularity of the "Fair and Balanced" debate. Go no further than Sam Pratt's letter to the editor, Fox News gives viewers the fact" and the comments debate it started.








]]> http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7535 http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7535 Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:22:07 EDT
It's no secret that retailers are looking at flat Christmas sales. At least that's what the retail trade groups are saying. But if you look back and compare what they have predicted in years past to what the sold you'll see they're often conservative with forecasts and happy with sales that beat the estimates. But that's another story.

What does seem certain this year is retailers have pared back their inventories and are kick starting the shopping season early. So early that the first Christmas displays are appearing before the Halloween offerings are off the shelves.

The bottom line for the bargain hunters who play the waiting game for rock-bottom discounts at the end of the season is simply this: You may find slim pickings this year if you wait too long.

Kathy Grannis, of the National Retail Federations, says bargain hunters can expect earlier promotions this year. You don't have to expect that. It's already here.

A quick Web check shows that Blackfricay.info currently has three '09 updates. One touts a $199.99 Nintendo rumor. And Black Friday 2009 is busy gathering e-mail addys for their alerts. They also have links to some coupon codes for pre-holiday sales. Consider it a Black Friday warm up.

Some retailers are also building sales kitties with special layaway plans or Christmas-club cards. Those who buy in by the end of this month get an extra 3% bonus went the sales are rolled out.

The answer to the "what will be the hot bargain" this year is also beginning to emerge.

Shawn DuBravac, director of research for the Consumer Electronics Association told the folks at Kiplinger.com that he expects to see Blu-ray disc players for $99 and a lots of deals on computers and netbooks. He also thinks retailers will offer some good software bundles with computer deals.

If a new computer is one of the items on you list, it might be a good ideal to read Ted Como's blog that went live on timesnews.net Monday. It's all about the ins-and-outs of upgrading to Windows7.

According to Kiplinger, clothing shoppers will find deeper discounts on store bands this year, but not so much elsewhere.

For those who are beginning to make their list and check it twice here's links to some of the sites that will keep you up-to-date on Black Friday happenings and some comparison shopping sites you can use to compare prices and deals.

BlackFriday@gottadeal

Black Friday 2009

ConsumerSearch.com collects product reviews..

RetailMeNot is a mega coupon code site covering 20,000 online stores. Just copy the code of the product you want and enter it when checking out online.

BeatMyPrice.com shops for you .

BlackFriday.info . lists the best sales at major retail stores.

FatWallet.com tracks online deals.

PriceGrabber.com comparison shops for you.

Woot.com consistently delivers remarkable deals on stuff you didn't know you wanted.
]]> http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7528 http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7528 Tue, 6 Oct 2009 08:51:56 EDT
Rules covering testimonials in advertising and product endorsements that have been in place since 1980 will soon be modified to include bloggers and social media.

According to a New York Times report on the change, after Dec. 1, bloggers who review products must disclose any connection with advertisers, including, in most cases, the receipt of free products and whether or not they were paid in any way by advertisers, as occurs frequently. The new rules also take aim at celebrities, who will now need to disclose any ties to companies, should they promote products on a talk show or on Twitter. A second major change, which was not aimed specifically at bloggers or social media, was to eliminate the ability of advertisers to gush about results that differ from what is typical - for instance, from a weight loss supplement.

It's about time.

I have to admit I've had a few offers to guarantee good product plugs on a foodie blog 2cheap2eatout I pay with. I've never been that tempted to respond. But I've read about bloggers who sell good products reviews and need helpers to cart all the goodies they get. They can still do that after next month, but they'll need to disclose it.

Disclosure isn't the biggest underlying issue here. The thing to pay attention to is the trend that government is intent on "bringing to bear on the Internet the same sorts of regulations that have governed other forms of media, like television or print."

Here's how Richard Cleland, assistant director of the division of advertising practices at the FTC, summed it up for the Times: "We were looking and seeing the significance of social media marketing in the 21st century and we thought it was time to explain the principles of transparency and truth in advertising and apply them to social media marketing."

There's no way around the fact that social media as well as blogs, offer companies and individuals new opportunities with a new medium to pitch products. They've taken huge chunks of what used to be print advertising. Some predict they'll take more. There's also much truth in the assumption that those pitches and endorsements come with a veneer of authenticity because on the surface them seem to be coming straight from consumers. Simply put, those who have engaged in that are running a scam and some transparency is needed.

Yes, there are some product review blogs that are transparent about what they do - the best example is Consumer Reports/ But they are up-front about what they do so they're fostered a trusted brand. Unfortunately they're outnumbered by the Wild, Wild West cowboys and cowgirls of Web marketing.

None of this should be a surprise to the players. The FTC telegraphed the move months ago. But step back and take a longer trend look at what's happening on the Web. You'll find a moderating influence at work.

For example, there's a slow, but steady, stream of legal actions that providing a reality bite to the bloggers and story comment mavens who shoot from the lip (keyboard). The trend message that libel laws also pertain to online communications should be getting through.

Wouldn't it be interesting the same transparency were applied to political speech and advertising where candidates have a legal right to lie to voters as much as they want.]]> http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7522 http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7522 Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:42:09 EDT Trends Research Institute Director Gerald Celente is right another volley may have been fired in what he is calling the "Second American Revolution."

In August while most everyone's attention was still focused on the Tea Parties, Celente was already in fast-forward trend identification mode.

Here's part of an e-mail trend alert he sent to clients, "While there are many wild cards that could light the fuse, The Trends Research Institute forecasts that if the threat of government-forced Swine Flu vaccinations is realized, it will be the fourth shot (of the second American Revolution). Tens of millions will fight for their right to remain free and unvaccinated."

News reports about this issue have slowly registering it. The Wall Street Journal cited it Saturday. Headlines in Wednesday's papers stepped up the tempo as they heralded the protests of New York state health care workers who have been told to take the swine flu shot or lose their jobs.

But the issue is already beyond the New York state lines.

According to a UPI report , Hospital Corp. of America, with clinics and hospitals in 20 states including Tennessee and Virginia, is requiring its 120,000 employees to be vaccinated.

It's likely as reporters begin checking with their local health care providers they will find the same thing at other institutions. If so, hundreds of thousands of nurses, doctors and other healthcare workers could be ordered to become vaccinated as the second wave of the H1N1 pandemic spreads this fall. And the mandate trend from health care providers to their workers is fueling concerns and rumors that the H1N1 vaccine may become mandatory for everyone.

Lori Price of Citizens for Legitimate Government, a Connecticut-based group that opposes government expansion. "It's all part of an encroachment on our liberties," Price told The Wall Street Journal in a story published Saturday.

Celente says the Tea Parties and the fiery town hall health care meetings in August were just two of the symptoms of a larger issue. "America is seething. Not since the Civil War has anything like this happened. But the protests are either being intentionally downplayed or ignorantly misinterpreted.

"The White House and the media have labeled protestors "conservative fringe elements," or as players in staged events organized by Republican operatives that have been egged on by Fox news and right-wing radio show hosts.

"Health industry interests opposed to any reform are also being blamed for inciting the public. But organized or spontaneous is not the issue. While most protestors exhibit little grasp of the complex 1000 page health care reform document (that nary a legislator has read either), their emotion is clearly real and un-staged.

"Rightly or wrongly, the legislation is regarded as yet another straw on the already overloaded camel's back. A series of gigantic, unpopular government-imposed (but taxpayer-financed) bailouts, buyouts, rescue and stimulus packages have been stuffed down the gullet of Americans. With no public platform to voice their opposition, options for citizens have been limited to fruitless petitions, e-mails and phone calls to Congress, all fielded by anonymous staff underlings."

It would be a mistake to attribute the anger to Democrats or Republicans or President Obama. It's broader. if the current satisfaction ratings and opinion polls are right much of it is focused on a discontent with Congress and the various levels of government. According to the Harris Poll, Congress 81 percent of poll respondents think Congress is doing a poor job.

The bottom line according to Celente is the legislation is another instance of government taking another piece out of the citizens' lives and making them pay for it; again telling them what they can or cannot do.

He predicts that what he's calling the Second American Revolution "will become the most profound political trend of the century - the trend that will change the world" even if it is still invisible to the same experts, authorities and pundits who didn't see the financial crisis coming until the bottom fell out of the economy.

Clente predicts that with the "ubiquitous camera-equipped cell phone, universal access to YouTube, and millions of twitters and tweets, the uprisings cannot be ignored, contained, managed, spun or edited down in the media or spun to a more favorable viewing from politicians. "A false flag attempt, a genuine crisis, or a declaration of war, may slow the momentum of the "Second American Revolution," but nothing will stop it." he writes.

That was what Celente was telling his clients in August. He bases his trends identification business on the idea that currents events can point to trends that are missed by traditional economic or social science studies. In his book Trend Tracking, Celente says anyone can identify trends by disciplined reading news stories and applying some equally disciplined interpretations. The three things that first qualify a group of news stories on the same topic as an issue to watch is the issue has to have "social, economical and political significance."

While there's no one in the trends business with a 100 percent record, this element of the ongoing swine flu story is something to watch during the coming weeks.







]]> http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7518 http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7518 Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:54:22 EDT
Until recently the Kingsport region was spared the worst of the Great Recession's employment, sales tax and housing market jolts. In fact, at one point the Kingsport-Bristol MSA ranked third best in the nation for home price appreciation. That came at a time when most other areas' prices were in the toilet. But that was then and now is now.

Kingsport is back to a pattern where it mirrors or lags the national economic bad news.

August's unemployment was somewhat of exception. The state jobless rate was 10.8 percent and national unemployment rates were 9.7 percent while it was 9.4 percent in Kingsport.

The same wasn't the case for August's existing home sales. The national numbers backed off a 4-month winning streak to post a loss. Kingsport's sales broke a six-month string of small but steady sales volume increases during August with slight drop in sales. But when looking at the year-to-date sales compared to the same period last year, Kingsport is 25 percent off the sales pace.

Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors President Carla Dunn says she thinks the local market will experience a bumpy period for the next six months or so as it experiences ups and downs while gaining a toehold on a firm recovery.

A bright spot for Kingsport came in the August value index for properties in the 37665 area - it was up 21.2%.

Here's what the Zillow.com Home Value Index for August looked like in Kingsport zip codes.

37660:
Month-to-month, down 2.6%.
Quarter-to-quarter, down 3.37%.
Median listing price $145,000.

37663:
Month-to-month, down 5.6%.
Quarter-to-quarter, no data.
Median listing price $169,900.

37664:
Month-to-month, down 5.6%.
Quarter-to-quarter, down 8.1%.
Median listing price $169,900.

37665:
Month-to-month, up 21.2%.
Quarter-to-quarter, up 21.2%.
Median listing price $109,000.

According to data gleaned from Trilla.com:
- The median sales prince in the 37660 zip code area August was $89,900, down 9.1 percent from last year.
- The median sales price in the 37663 zone was $135,000 down 8.1 percent from last year.
- In 37664 the median sales price was $126,000 up 8.65 percent from last year.
- The 37665 median sales price was $42,000 down 32.2 percent from last year.

]]> http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7511 http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7511 Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:56:53 EDT
Here in Tennessee about 36,000 people had filed claims for the credit by mid-Sept. The National Association of Realtors says about 1.4 million taxpayers had filed (or amended) their 2008 income tax returns claiming the credit so far this year. NAR had projected that about 1.8 million taxpayers would claim the credit.

There's no doubt the incentive has breathed some life into the struggling local, state and national housing market as did the cash for clunkers incentive for the automotive industry. But that doesn't mean it's without critics.

Although virtually every Republican member of Congress voted against the stimulus program that continues the credit, some of the biggest champions of expanding the housing program are in the GOP ranks. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., a former Realtor is the prime example. Sen. Bob Corker has made some political hay with the credit. He told a group of 350 Middle Tennessee real estate agents and closing attorneys, "The fact is that housing led us into this crisis that ended up migrating into the financial system, and if we are going to change what is happening in our economy right now, you cannot do so without focusing on our credit markets and focusing on housing."

"Housing led us into this crisis" was Corker's way of soft shoeing around the reasons behind the economic mess that shocked lawmakers of both parties who were surprised at the impossible mortgages so many homeowners had taken out. An editorial in USA Today is a little more succinct in its explanation: "Through a never-ending series of new tax breaks and subsidies, and the expansion of existing ones, Congress and successive presidents have done everything in their power to get people to take on mortgage debt.

"They have allowed borrowers to deduct interest on mortgages up to a $1 million. They have set the capital gains tax rate at 0% on profits from the sale of a primary residence, up to $500,000. And they have created and nurtured Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-backed companies that dominate the mortgage industry, to expand lending to questionable borrowers, putting taxpayers at risk of multibillion dollar losses."

You guessed it. The USA Today editorial argued that Congress should let the tax credit expire because:

- Housing is recovering.

- The tax credits are a form of government spending, and the government has already run up a $1.5 trillion deficit this year. It's estimated that a one-year extension of the program could cost up to $100 billion.

- Letting it expire should send a signal to other powerful lobbies that Congress is drawing the line on more spending.

USA Today's editors also observed something that tax credit opponents have always argued, "despite all the talk about helping the housing market by making homes more affordable, tax breaks don't really make owning a home more affordable." Why? Because when government subsidizes home buying, it increases the number of people in the market and the amount they can afford to pay, which drives up prices of existing homes.

That's not the way the NAR, mortgage bankers and others advocates see the situation.

David G. Kittle, chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association, wrote an opposing view and said, "allowing the credit to expire would put in jeopardy the recent signs of recovery."

He and other advocates argue that the credit should not only be extended, but expanded to include some of the provisions that were axed when it was approved earlier this year.

They want the credit extended to $15,000 and made available immediately so buyers don't have to wait for the end of the tax season.

He also argues that expanding the tax credit "would accelerate the recovery by stimulating demand among "move up" buyers, existing home buyers who want or need a larger house. This would spur buying and price stability in a new segment of the housing market, further accelerating an economic and housing recovery."

A Deutsche Bank report estimates that the credit has been used in 350,000 home purchases in the last six months - about half of the new homes sold during the same period. The NAR uses the same figure to estimate the number of purchases that would not have been made without the credit.

Economists are divided on the question.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com, agrees with the real-estate lobby's support of an extended-expanded credit program.

But experts at The Tax Policy Center, a function of the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, counter that the $8,000 credit is one of the worst provisions in the stimulus bill.

The arguments are typical of the walk up to Congress' decision.

Until then, first-time buyers have until the end of next month to finalize a purchase that qualified for the credit.

]]> http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7506 http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7506 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:13:07 EDT
You don't have to look any further than the health care reform brouhaha to see why I'm saying that.

Not even the roar of the partisan rhetoric from the left and right can drown out the persistent message that we're spending more money treating the results of lousy life choices than from fighting disease, and patching people up from accidents and wars.

Here's an illustrative info bite on the topic compliments of the U.S. Department of Agriculture: Healthier diets could prevent at least $71 billion per year in medical costs, lost productivity and lost lives.

Here's another one from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention: If all inactive Americans became active, we would save $77 billion in annual medical costs.

And the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development chimes in with this: The U.S. is the most obese nation in the world with more than 30 percent of the population being significantly overweight.

In a way it's shades of the early days of Surgeon General Terry's campaign against smoking. His warning about the health evils of tobacco were denied, laughed at and dumped on by the tobacco lobby, politicians and much of the public for decades. But the truth eventually won out over culture and politics. Thirty or so years later most people don't smoke and those who do are increasingly ostracized for it.

Nowadays smokers are slowly edging toward the ranks of drug abusers as a growing number of employers say "thanks but no thanks" to hiring those who need smoke breaks. And there's signs that the folks with a hefty Body Mass Index number may be headed for the same fate.

Of course, there's a lot of blame fixing, finger pointing and posturing that has to happen before much about of the fast-food culture changes. But, if we use history as an indicator of the future you can look for more than just talk about taxes on soft drinks - remember high fructose corn syrup is from the Devil - and special fees - aka taxes - on the fast foods for health eating education programs.

The media drum beat that precedes such thing is growing louder and louder.

Stories about better health equals better choices are coming at an almost daily rate. Ditto for the fast-food horror stories The Not-So-Happy Mean: What's Really in Fast Food?. That one gives new meaning to the jokes about, "give me a burger, and make it quick. It's for a cop."

Just how long it will take for the fast food culture that has helped super sized America to become road kill on the better health highway is anybody's guess. What doesn't require much guess work is how it will happen.

Buckle you seat belt, and be prepared to cinch it up a few notches. The battle has begun.






]]> http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7501 http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7501 Fri, 11 Sep 2009 08:39:19 EDT
It's an interesting question, but attracting retirees is not exactly what most would call economic development. Still there's some compelling data that seems to support the theory.

Let's look at some numbers.

During the month of July the organization says 363 families from 20 states moved to the Kingsport metropolitan area. During the same period last year the number was 158 families. Doubling the number of new families from the same month last year while the area and nation was in the throes of The Great Recession is impressive - to say the least. It was also during a period when traditional economic development organizations were reporting that they were lagging behind 2009 goals.

OK, a bunch of retirees have moved to Kingsport and the adjacent metro area - so what?

Some real estate sources tell me that newcomers buying or building high-end housing was one of the factors that contributed to keeping the Kingsport region's average home sales prices in the appreciation column during the past year. In fact, the lack of available high-end Kingsport housing is one of the things that hurts relocations here, according to a chamber of commerce survey.

The data from fiscal year 2009 is also supportive. During that period 1,181 families relocated here and moved into existing homes. Another 182 built homes. Much of that movement was in the higher-priced housing. And almost 60 percent of the new construction linked to those relocations was inside the city limits.

It's true that not all of the newcomers chose to live inside the city limits. But more than half - 69.75 percent - did.

And then there's the retail sales angle.

Let's face it. Retail sales is the mother milk that feeds local governments.

The Bureau of Census tags our per capital retail sales at $10,382.

Let's look at that based on Move to Kingsport's numbers for July 1 - 2006 through June 30, 2009. The numbers are based on residential water connections so some of them are technically not in the city limits.

There were 787 new connections during that period. According to the Census data each residence averages 2.3 people. Multiply the number of residences by the average number of people and you come up with 1,180 new residents. Multiply the per capita retails sales by the number of new residents and you're looking at $13,107,015 in retail sales.

Now, multiply the new retail sales number by 2.5 percent - that the local sales tax - and you get $327,675 in new sales tax revenue per year.

And then there's the demographics thing.

Kingsport's demographic isn't exactly the picture of natural growth. Our average age is among the oldest in the state. That's true of much of the region. The hard fact of life is the region has seen a natural population decline between 2000 and 2007. That means more people died that were born. Add that to the normal out migration as some locals decide pack up and seek greener pastures in other areas and the bigger demographic picture is easy to see. All of that means the newcomers are sort of a demographic safety valve mitigating the natural downtrend.

But what about the old saw about newcomers - especially those who are retired. You know the one I'm talking about. It goes something like this: Retires demand too many services and won't support more money for schools and the likes?

So far that old saw has dull teeth because that hasn't been the case.

In fact, some of those newcomers have ended up back in the labor force ie Former Las Vegas police lieutenant named Gate City police chief. That tends to increase the local talent pool, and that's a good thing.

There's also some soft data to suggest that as some of the early retirees relocate, do the retirement thing for a while they get the itch and launch part-time or new small businesses. Guess we'll have to wait and see if that happens here.















]]> http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7492 http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7492 Wed, 2 Sep 2009 20:28:48 EDT
It's an understandable cause - from an economic perspective. And there's ample supporting data to drive home the point. It's true that Kingsport's economy is losing millions that could be kept at home and spent on city streets, schools and services.

But, like all complex stories, there's another side to this economic tale. What's being pushed as good for the city economy seems to fly in the face of what some in the medical community call wasteful procedures that don't produce better outcomes than less expensive, less intrusive treatments. It has even been identified as part of the health care bubble that will go bust just like the dot.com bubble and housing bubble that started the Great Recession.

Here's what Kingsport Asst. City Manager for Development Jeff Fleming blasted out on his blog about the issue:

"Each year, Kingsport loses $23.5 million from open heart surgeries that leave the community. For cardiac stent procedures, the lost revenue is $53.2 million. These numbers don't account for the follow-up visits and unnecessary expenses of driving to another city. Before you are referred to a hospital outside Kingsport, ask your cardiologist specifically "why?" Is the same procedure available in Kingsport? Is there a compelling reason to go elsewhere? Exercise your right to make informed choices and choose Kingsport! There is rarely a clinical reason to go elsewhere."

There was also a link to a presentation made during the Chamber of Commerce Fourth Friday meeting hosted by Cardiovascular Associates.

One observer called the presentation a clear example of why stents, bypasses and other interventions dominate the discussion in the face of the evidence. The real point is most of these procedures are done in stable patients, many of them are unnecessary and patients would be better served by optimal medical therapy as an initial strategy. In the long run, this will be a disaster for Kingsport if we push very expensive treatments that don't improve outcomes.

A little backup data to that observation is provided by a recent item on The Health Care Blog by Dr. George Lundbert. It's headlined: How to rein in medical costs, right now.

The Number 1 and 2 items on his cost saving/medical reform list are:

- "Intensive medical therapy should be substituted for coronary artery bypass grafting (currently around 500,000 procedures annually) for many patients with established coronary artery disease, saving many billions of dollars annually.

- "The same for invasive angioplasty and stenting (currently around 1,000,000 procedures per year) saving tens of billions of dollars annually."

In a second THCB item Beware the bursting of the health care bubble, Dr. Lundbert explains the health care bubble going bust idea:

"Health Care in the USA uses (consumes) some 17 percent of the Domestic National Product, something like $ 2,600,000,000,000 per year. Its growth has been at 2-5 times the rate of inflation almost every year for as long as I have watched it (some 30 years). Many in health care, especially those with high expectations for continued large incomes from this growth, say, "So what"? "We earned it".

"The problem is that much of the $2.6 trillion does not provide the medical value needed by our people. At least $400,000,000,000 annually is spent on unnecessary administration, competitive marketing and advertising, lobbying, large incomes (yes , including bonuses) for CEOs and executive staff who run for-profit organizations (and many not-for-profits ) plus profits for shareholders. And, (conservatively) something like 20 percent of the total US health care expenditures (perhaps $500,000,000,000 annually) is expended for medical practice activities that are not based on scientifically sound evidence and do not improve patient outcomes.

"The habits of those over-spending and under-achieving American medical geographic regions and many medical/surgical specialists could/should be changed drastically to better conform to those right-spending or mini-spending and maxi-achieving geographic regions and medical practice organization patterns. From this change, we can expect NO loss of quality, indeed likely improved outcomes."

Compelling arguments for sure. So stay tuned folks, there's a lot more to be played out before it's clear who will get to put a notch in the politcal win column, or who gets what slice of the health care bubble's pie a little longer is decided. But unless there's a real October surprise out there health care cost reform just might end up being road kill on the highway to the status quo.

Earlier related stories.
Kingsport doctor says health care need to follow science to a new era of medicine.

Is the angioplasty bubble going bust?
Scrubs replacing hard hats in Kingsport.



]]> http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7474 http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7474 Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:01:20 EDT
One blogger, a Twitter user and a handful of people who commented on a Topix forum in Northeast Texas are headed for court over their online trash talk.

The most notorious case involves a former Vogue Australian cover girl Liskula Cohen. She just won a court battle with Google and forced it to give up the blogger who wrote some harsh and trashy things about her on the "Skanks in NYC" blog.

Skanks is no longer part of the blogsphere and it's not clear how the case will return to court, but the biggest part of the battle - the removal of the blogger's anonymous status - is settled.


Judge Joan Madden agreed with Coehn's arguments about the blog and ordered Googel to identify the author after rejecting claims from the blogger's lawyer that the whole thing was mere opinion and "trash talk," and that only factual assertions could be considered libelous.

Anne Salisbury, the blogger's lawyer, warned that the ruling would open the "floodgates" for anyone who has been the subject of a nasty comment online to take legal action.

Such a flood would keep a lot of lawyers busy and swamp the courts.

The next case was filed by a landlord who sued a Chicago woman for writing on Twitter that her apartment was "moldy." The woman only had 20 followers, but the landlord claimed the tweet damaged the company's reputation anyway.

The biggie in this example of legal Web trends is about a Texas couple who filed a lawsuit five months ago against a covey of anonymous posters on Topix.

Mark and Rhonda Lesher of Clarksville, Texas, have confirmed what they suspected since they began their quest to unmask the commenters.

Information disclosed by Topix, led the Leshers to a business owned by the husband of a woman who last year accused the couple of sexual assault and other neighbors. With that information they've amended their suit, named six people and demanded a jury trail.

The amended petition names Shannon Coyel, the couple's accuser, her husband Gerald Coyel and his brother James Coyel.

The story behind the comments is this: Mark Lesher, 63, and his wife, Rhonda, 50, and their ranch hand were accused of sexual assault by a woman in their small northeast Texas community. Before they were indicted a steady stream of attacks on the Web forum Topix.com began flowing. That's not that uncommon on many forums and news sites that allow comments on stories.

But the charges didn't stick. A jury found the couple and their ranch hand not guilty. Than's when the Leshers got the lawyers involved.

Who know how any of thes cases will finally be sorted out, but there's an old saying in the newspaper business that goes something like this, "It costs $50,000 to win a libel suit, more if you lose."

Some Web watchers think that the Wild Wooly Web will sooner or later be reined in closer to the standards for the printed word. For the uninitiated here's some points to remember:

1 - You may have a screen name and several doctored e-mail addresses, but you are not anonymous to someone dedicated to finding you. When served with a subpoena your blog host, Internet service provider or a newspaper that allows comments on stories will give you up.

2 - Writing that exposes a person to hatred, shame, disgrace, contempt or ridicule; injures a person's reputation or causes the person to be shunned or avoided or injures the person in his or her occupation is libelous.

3 - Anything that is provably true cannot be libelous.


]]> http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7468 http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7468 Sat, 15 Aug 2009 13:21:17 EDT
Nation wide foreclosures increased 7 % during July from June and increased 32 % from the same month last year.

RealtyTrac's CEO, James J. Saccacio, said "despite continued efforts by the federal government and state governments to patch together a safety net for distressed homeowners, we're seeing significant growth in both the initial notices of default and in the bank repossessions."

On the local level RelatyTrac's data for July showed 202 bank-owned properties and 18 trustee sales for Sullivan County. And, the real estate Web site Zillow reported a 2.78 percent increase in the number of foreclosures sold during the month of May.

In Washington County there were 184 bank-owned properties and 27 trustee sales.

Hawkins County showed 49 bank-owned properties and seven trustee sale listing.

Here's what the Zillow Home Price and Home Value Index for Kingsport and the Kingsport Metro area community looked like for July: The dollar figure listed is the median listing price.

- Abingdon +11.2 % month-to-month; +11.2 % quarter-to-quarter; $199,000.

- Bloomingdale -1.4 % month-to-month; +8.6 quarter-to-quarter; $108,500.

- Bristol +0.1 % month-to-month; +1.6 quarter-to-quarter; $135,000.

- Church Hill -1.4 % month-to-month; +2.1 % quarter-to-quarter; $137,900.

- Colonial Heights +0.6 month-to-month; +3.2 % quarter-to-quarter; $137,900.

- Gate City +4.7 % month-to-month; -7.6 % quarter-to-quarter; $157,000.

- Kingsport -5.7 % month-to-month; -2.7 quarter-to-quarter; $155,600.

- Mount Carmel - no month-to-month data; +7.2 % quarter-to-quarter; $150,000.

- Rogersville - no month-to-month data; -24 % quarter-to-quarter; $94,900.

- Surgoinsville -8% month-to-month; -36.3% quarter-to-quarter; %$121,000.

- Sullivan County -3.0% month-to-month; -1.5% quarter-to-quarter; $160,000.

- Washington County +2.8% month-to-month; no quarter-to-quarter; $199,900.

- Hawkins County +1% month-to-month; +3.6 quarter-to-quarter; $145,000.

Zillow is also reporting that the sales in Kingsport were discounted 6.9 percent from the listing price in the latest reporting period. The biggest reductions - 7.12% - were being made in the 37660 area. The lowest were in the 37662 zone at 2.97%. The July reduction in the 37664 area was 5.56 percent.

According to RealtyTrac's July report Nevada had the nation's highest state foreclosure rate for the 31st consecutive month. .
States with foreclosure rates above the nation's 10 highest were Florida, Utah, Idaho, Georgia, Illinois, Colorado and Oregon.


]]> http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7461 http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7461 Sun, 9 Aug 2009 15:00:38 EDT
Ms. Miles has been sentenced to three years in prison after a plea bargain that resulted in a lesser charge of statutory rape in connection with some goings on at Sullivan House.

Sullivan House is a Frontier Health-owned group home for teenage boys.

This is the type story that makes some readers shake their heads and wonder why this type thing is suddenly happening more often?

Actually it's not all that new. It hasn't happened suddenly. But it is likely a progression of a sex-centered culture constantly straining to create the next sexy fad, way to sell products or attain celebrity status.

Pop culture used to define a cougar as an attractive woman - usually about 40 or older - who preys on younger men. That "use to be" the definition because the age limit seems to be dropping. And, the primary focus is no longer on the Hollywood or celebrity set.

Given the popularity of film and fiction that plays with the May-September sex taboo it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that more of it is coming out of the closet.

Sometimes Hollywood handles it poignantly. Remember The Summer of 42.

Or sometimes the treatment is more ribald ie the seduction of Stiffers' mom scene in American Pie. By the way pay attention to the background song.

And then there's the classic seduction scene from The Graduate.

At the risk of creating some pop culture psychology consider this: Since the older man-younger woman cliche has such a solid niche in cultural history it isn't surprising that the female obverse is becoming more prominent. When you come right down to it there're not a lot what's the difference between having "boy toys" and flaunting "trophy wives" - other than gender.

Chalk it up to some cultural push back against the double standard women have always had to deal with.

But all of that ends when there's a age of consent issue. Adults who cross that line are criminals, and it sure seems that the number of women - especially women teachers and authority figures - are tripping over that taboo.

CLICK HERE for a list of stories about female teachers and authority figures who been changed with having affairs with underage boys.

]]> http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7459 http://www.timesnews.net/blogger.php?id=4&postid=7459 Wed, 5 Aug 2009 14:14:18 EDT
"Why don't we just consolidate and get it over with."

Despite any good reasons the wags come up with, getting there is definitely not a level playing field.

The two ways to consolidate schools is with special act by the state Legislature and referendum. Each is possible in theory, but reality is another matter.

Several years ago a study was done to spell out the cost of consolidation in Sullivan County. The first big sticking point was Kingsport's teacher salaries.

It's was sticking point because state law requires all the teacher's salary to rise to the highest level with consolidation. That was a big figure several years ago - not stimulus package big, but very property tax increase big.

Today, it's bigger.

According to the state of Tennessee's most recent community profiles the base numbers - aka average classroom teachers' salaries - are :

- Kingsport $50,668.

- Bristol - $48,313.

- Sullivan County $44,820.

You can check those figures out at Sullivan County selected statistical information.

Count the number of classroom teachers in the county and multiply by $5,848. Don't forget to factor in the Bristol teachers.

Get the picture?

Consolidation would make teachers salary happy, but the mandated salary increases it would be a deal breaker for other voters.

But consolidation would make school more efficient and save money, right?

Wrong.

Consolidated schools may be more efficient, but the process doesn't save money in the short term. In fact, it would cost a lot more money in the short term and voters would have to OK that.

Can you say hello to a "vote no on property tax raises" campaign that would send legions of property owners to the sheds to collect the pitchforks and torches?

A special act of the Legislature is possible, but you would have to get all the elected officials on board. That's not likely, because:

- Someone's ox get gored .. ie, you just need one - not three superintendent.

- Three school boards would be replaced with one school board.

- City school districts could lose bragging rights about the best-funded schools in the county. Not only does that bruise civic egos it would probably have an affect on home sales since schools are a factor in who buys what home and where.

Enter political reality.

Legislators are not going to risk something that can get that many voters up in arms without being able to identify and align themselves with the biggest group. Consolidation by special act is a no-win political situation for local lawmakers.

There are myriad other considerations, but these are the biggies that make school consolidation mission impossible.

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