Daily Archives: January 9, 2009

Jan 9

Um, Pie in the Sky Pizza? No

We had to work through lunch today so I ordered in from Pie in the Sky Pizza which is two blocks from here.

And hour and a half later my food shows up and my delivery guy is so stoned that, when I held out my hand for the check, he shook it.

I am both mortified and tickled.

Jan 9

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Oh, dear readers, do you remember the good ole days back in October when, on the heels of a large rate hike, the TVA gave its CEO a half a million dollar pay raise?

Congressman Jimmy Duncan sent a letter to TVA Board Chairman Bill Sansom, saying he feels, “The raise is excessive and very unnecessary.”

Duncan goes on to say, “The timing of this raise could not be worse when people are already struggling to make ends meet.”

Poor Jimmy Duncan.  Little did he know that the timing could be worse.

Not only could the TVA Board voted to give Bill Sansom a half a million dollar pay raise right after raising electric rates during such tough economic times, they could have voted to give Bill Sansom a pay raise two months before it became obvious that something incredibly wrong was going on with the TVA.  First they pollute our state on a scale never before seen in the history of the country.  And then on the heels of that, they on purpose pollute the Ocoee.

And today there’s a leak at a gypsum pond at the Widow Creek plant in northeastern Alabama, which went into Widows Creek.

Maybe I’m naive, but aren’t you under the impression that if someone gets a half a million dollar pay raise, they must just be doing one firecracker of a job?  I mean, seriously, is this all the better business we purchased with that rate hike?

(h/t Nashvillest)

Edited to add: Christian has more.

Jan 9

Just When You Think that the Tennessee Republicans Can’t Be Any Worse than the Democrats…

I admit, when I saw Terry Frank pissing and moaning about Justin Wilson, who is the only person up for the position of State Comptroller, I thought, “Well, if she doesn’t like him, he must be all right.”

Allow me to publicly apologize, in all seriousness, to Terry Frank.

I know! But folks, Justin Wilson is even worse than Terry Frank says.

May I point you to this post over at Mr. Tiny Pasture’s?  It turns out that Wilson has been a major part of a scheme to lobby the state to buy life insurance on its employees with the state as the beneficiary.  Without the employees’ permission.

In other words, Wilson saw nothing wrong with encouraging the State to bet on and benefit from the deaths of the people working for Tennessee.

So, hell may be freezing over as I type this, but I have to concur with Frank

One of the reasons Republicans won in this state this election cycle was because the state Democrats had a corruption problem at the state level.  Putting Wilson in as our “money cop” as he calls the job, would surely assist the state Dems in leveling the playing field in that regard.

Republicans ought to say “thanks, but no thanks” to Justin Wilson and immediately begin a search process for a financial officer who is beyond reproach.

I mean, please.  This is appalling.

(Though also kind of funny, if you think about it in terms of ‘pro-life.’  “Um, yes, we’re pro-life as a party, but the State is in dire financial straights, so we could really use you to have a heart attack or a fatal accident right about now.”  Shoot, you thought this Governor’s budget cutting was harsh!)