Ten Commandments Not Listed Within "Primary Documents in American Hsitory"

An online search of the Library of Congress Virtual Programs & Services Collection Guides and Bibliographies for "Ten Commandments", yields no search results --- and proving Rep. Hill wrong on yet another of his legislative issues.

The Library of Congress >> Especially for Researchers >> Virtual Programs & Services Collection Guides and Bibliographies (Virtual Services, Digital Reference Team)

Primary Documents in American History

The Library of Congress is home to many of the most important documents in American history. This Web site provides links to materials digitized from the collections of the Library of Congress that supplement and enhance the study of these crucial documents.

The links at right highlight eras of American History. Each of these sections link to a list of important documents from that era. For each item on these lists there is a page with background information about the document, a list of links to digital materials concerning that document from the Library's site and elsewhere, and bibliographies both for general readers and for younger readers.

The initial release of this Web site contains documents from the years 1763 to 1877. Updates will be made on a regular basis, including the addition of documents from the 20th Century.

Rep. Matthew Hill's Freshman Classy (2005) Picture

"Them Bones", Rep. Matthew Hill: ETSU Gray Fossil Museum To Open 2007

The Jonesborough Herald-Tribune is reporting that the ETSU fossil museum in Gray, Tennessee is on schedule to be opened to the public in 2007 --- talk about possibly causing Rep. Matthew Hill some major discomfort (i.e.: if Rep. Hill manages to get re-elected in 2006) as the former WPWT 870 AM "Good Morning Tri-Cities" talk show host was once a strict creationist (well, at least prior to his 2004 election bid for the 7th District House seat) who had, in late 2003, conducted a lengthly, on-air WPWT interview with Kent Hovind (d.b.a. "Dr. Dino" of the Creation Science Evangelism (CSE) organization.

Fossil museum on schedule for 2007 opening
[...]

Construction began in October 2005 on the 33,000-square-foot visitor's center, which will be located on State Route 75 in an area that does not interfere with the dig site. In September 2002, ETSU received an $8 million federal grant for a visitor's center at the site. The fossil site was discovered in 2000 by highway contractors who were working on State Route 75 in Gray.

According to fossil site website information, the recovery of the rhino Teleoceras and the short-faced bear Plionarctos dates the time of deposition to between 4.5 and 7 million years ago which is Miocene or early Pliocene. Current interpretations suggest that the site formed as a result of a cave collapsing, which formed a sinkhole into which the plants and animals fell and eventually became fossilized.

Dr. Wallace says he sees great things ahead for the Fossil Site. "It will have a pretty nice impact on the area," he said. "People who are traveling will stop by because of curiosity and people from the area will visit often. It will bring a lot of traffic into the area."

He also sees the educational benefits of the museum. "I see [the site] as a nice hub for educational programs. It will serve as a springboard to other things. There will be a lot of classes and demonstrations. I’d like it to be it a hub where people discuss geology, paleontology and natural history in general."

4.5 to 7 million years ago? This measurement of scientific dating will certainly pose a tough sell for the future curators at the ETSU fossil center to somehow convince the home-schooled scientist and chronologically-challenged Rep. Matthew Hill (who places the age of these fossils as being somewhat less tham 6,000 years old) of the science involved with dating these Gray fossils...I am just wondering if Rep. Hill will attempt to pass commerative license plate legislation for the ETSU Gray Fossil Museum (with plate numbering starting after 6,000)?

Hovind and his Creation Science Evangelism money mill fell out of favor with the Southern Poverty Law Center following the discovery that Hovind's CSE was selling (among many other items) anti-Semitic books.


Southern Poverty Law Center (Kent Hovind)
Summer 2001 Intelligence Report
Radical Religion - Creationism gets a dash of anti-Semitism

Dr. Dino (Kent Hovind) - Creation Science Evangelism

Talk.Origins Archie -Kent Hovind FAQs Examining "Dr. Dino"

Analysis of Kent Hovind

"Mr. Assessible" (Rep. Matthew Hill flashback yawn)

A 2004 campaign (flashback yawn) excerpt from the Jonesborough Herald-Courier:

...Accessibility is a major priority in his campaign, according to Hill. Determined to change the current administration practices, Hill foresees various improvements if he is elected.

“I would work to do something that I don’t think is done well right now by the incumbent - and that is accessibility. E-mails are not returned, phone calls are not returned. He doesn’t come to events, he’s not in the community. And that’s unconscionable - we live here, we work here...we’re a part of the community. It should not be that hard to get a hold of your state representative,” Hill said.

As a result, Hill decided to publish his home phone number and cell phone number on his website, matthewlistens.com and on various bulletins and pamphlets for the public to access.

“I had a politician tell me that I was completely insane for putting my cell phone number there because he said, ‘oh you’ll have people calling you all the time!’ That’s the point. That’s the idea. We’re running for state representative, we’re not running for president. We want people in the community to know that people can get a hold of me,” he said.
[...]

To his credit, Rep. Hill reportedly does sleep in Jonesborough while the Tennessee General Assembly is not in session...

Apparently Not, Rep. Matthew Hill...

This quote was published in the Johnson City Press on July 26, 2004 during candidate Hill's first jab at the &th House District seat:

"...Everything I [Rep. Matthew Hill] have done in my [2004] campaign has focused on Mr. Patton's public record. Not once have I resorted to attacking him on a personal level, but his attack on my personal livelihood has brought him to a new low."

Hill said he worked his way through college to become qualified to hold his position. He also said he is a small business owner (Hill of Beans, a coffeehouse in Jonesborough) [started up on or about the date of March 25, 2004 during the 7th House District primary campaign].

"I am an entrepreneur in my own right, giving me a unique understanding of the challenges small businesses face. I know what it takes to meet a weekly payroll."
[...]

Apparently not...candidate Hill folded his tent only six months after opening his now defunct ‘Hill of Beans Coffee Shop” (and before the November general elections).

Tennessee Conservation Voters 2005 Scorecard: Rep. Matthew Hill Earns a Big, Fat Zero

Enough said...back news for Washington County residents who enjoy hiking, fishing, camping, hunting, kayaking, and other outdoor activities.

Wikipedia: Rep. Matthew Hill

The Johnson City Press this mornning (April 25, 2006) featured an entertaining and somewhat critical editorial regarding the massive Wikipedia open-editing reference web site. One part in the Press editorial mentions how some elected officials are attempting to enshrine their own favorable political histories within the free, online encyclopedia:

Most recentlty, Wikipedia has uncovered efforts by some politicans to amend and sanitize their personal histories.

Talk about "the pot calling the kettle black" --- the Johnson City Press has a decades long history of sanitizing the history pertaining to the late 1st District U.S. Representative James H. "Jimmy" Quillen (R, Kingsport) with regard to Quillen's 1940-late 1942 draft deferment --- even while Rep. Quillen criticized 1992 presidential candidate Bill Clinton as being a "draft dodger" --- and grossly "overstating" the official U.S. Navy combat record of the U.S.S. Antietam during World War II.

You might want to view the Wikipedia information pertaining to Rep. Matthew Hill and other Northeast Tennessee members of the Tennessee General Assembly.

Capitol Hill Hoses Hoosier Hill Over Hosting Holy "Historical" Documents Bill

Members of the Tennessee House of Representatives Constitutional Protections Subcommittee earned their pay earlier this week by protecting the Tennessee State Constitution --- and by extension, all Tennessee citizens --- from the foul scheming of the Indiana-born and 7th House District demagogue Rep. Matthew Hill:

Kingsport Times-News
Date Published: April 5, 2006
Ten Commandments bill dies in House subcommittee
Author: HANK HAYES

[excerpt]
Legislation to authorize public building displays of "historically significant documents" - including the Ten Commandments - failed in a Tennessee House subcommittee Wednesday.

The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Matthew Hill, R-Jonesborough, and state Sen. Rusty Crowe, R-Johnson City, did not make it to a vote. There are four Democrats and one Republican on the Constitutional Protections subcommittee.

"The Democrats just [protected the Tennessee State Constitution] killed it," Hill said of the bill. "I was more than disappointed about what happened. It was a permissive piece of legislation that lets local governments choose whether or not they want to display historical documents. ... If the good folks of the 7th (House) District send me back here, I'm filing the bill again."

...and if Rep. Hill should be re-elected to the Tennessee General Assembly and then not appointed to the Constitutional Protections Subcommittee, will the 7th House District carpetbagger expect any different results?

AECC "Fund-a-Methodist" History: $50k CPB Start-Up Money

If you have ever listened to any of the self-described "conservative" members of the Hill tribe blathering on-the-air for any length of time, you would have probably never imagined the role that federal grant money may have played in the creation of the 501(c)(3) tax-exempt Appalachian Educational Communications Corporation. According to the original 1981 AECC Form 1023 (Application for Recognition of Exemption Under Sction 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code) submitted to the IRS by AECC President (and current State of Franklin PAC President) Kenneth C. Hill, the 1982 proposed AECC budget anticipated a $50,000 grant --- courtesy of U.S. taxpayers --- from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting!:

PART. V - Financial Data (continued) page 6
1982 Proposed Budget (ending December 31, 1982)
Income
Donations from General Public $22,000.00
Grants (Corporation for Public Broadcasting) 50,000.00
total income $72,000.00

Expenses
Office Expenses $4,500.00
Personnel 11,000.00
Engineering 5,000.00
Consultants (including legal) 5,000.00
Station construction 40,000.00
Rent 2,500.00
Utilities 2,000.00
Phone 1,000.00
Postage/printing 1,000.00
total expenses $72,000.00

This record from the AECC Form 1023 does not include any information as to whether or not AECC actually received the $50,000 grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting during the 1982 or following years.

I do not know all that much about CPR grant funding, but I suspect that very little (or any at all) winds up in the hands of FCC licensed religious broadcasters...

AECC - WHCB FM 91.5 FM:"Fostering The Mountain Culture"???

Another information section (Part III) of the 1981 AECC Form 1023 --- Activities and Operational Information --- submitted to the Internal Revenue Service requires "...a narrative description of the activities presently carried on by the organization, and those that will be carried on", and also that the "...narrative should specifically identify the services performed or to be performed by the organization. Consider the follwing excerpt from the AECC 1023:

The Corporation's prime reason for existing is to operate a non-commercial, educational broadcast facility in Southern Appalchia to foster the mountain culture as well as further educate those native to the area. Funds will be solicited to build, staff, and operate a radio facility in the mountain regions of Northeastern Tennessee.

From the start of fund-raising until the station could be approved by the Federal Communications Commission will be from 12-to-18 months. An additional six months will be required to build the station after FCC approval is granted. Anticipated programming to be aired by the station will include, but not limited to:

1) local culture
2) the arts
3) local music
4) news
5) weather
6) community interest items
7) instruction
8) general education
9) consumer education
10) women's issues

However, the Charter of Appalchian Educational Comunication Corporation (Section 2) of Tennessee more narrowly defines the "Operation of Educational Broadcast Facilities" as:

Said Corporation is organized for the further education of the Southern Appalchian populations by means of ownership and operational of educational, non-commercial broadcasting facilities. Such facilities will operate within the Laws of the United States of America and the Rules and Regulations of the Federal Communications Commission.

I suppose it is the not limited to phrase that gives the 501(c)(3)tax exempt AECC a little wiggle room in participating in other activites such as the November 2, 2004 screening of the partisan, anti-John Kerry film "Stolen Honor" at the AECC-owned Cameo Theater located in Bristol, Virginia.

The AECC Form 1023 Part III.-Activities and Operations question number 1 asked "What are or will be the organization's sources of financial support? List in oredr of magnitude... with the following response:

1) donations from the general public

2) Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other government grants

No solicitation for support have been prepared.

Part 111. subpart 4 (continued Page 2) also listed the names of the original AECC governing body as: President Kenneth C. Hill (Fort Wayne, IN), Vice-President Brenda J. Miller (Powell, Tennessee) , and Secretary/Treasurer Janet R. Hill (Fort Wayne, IN).

$15 Million+ Hill-Finney "Child Rape" Bill Sure To Further Endanger Child Victims

It appears that TNGA "pro-lifers" Rep. Hill and Senator Finney are pushing a 2006 election year bill (if enacted) that will in the future further endanger --- if not end --- the young lives of child rape victims in Tennessee:

HB2924 by *Hill. (*SB2490 by *Finney.)
Sentencing - Elevates Class A felony offense of rape of a child to capital offense punishable by death, life without parole or life imprisonment and provides that sentencing be conducted using same procedure provided for offense of murder in the first degree. - Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 13, Part 5.

Perhaps Hill and Finney could better serve the citizens of Tennessee by seeking much longer prison sentences for child rapists as it is more costly to pursue conviction for capital punishment cases, particularly given the fact the U.S. Supreme Court has not yet given any decision toward effecting capital punishment in child rape cases:

South Carolina Bill To Expand Death Penalty Draws Criticism

A bill to expand South Carolina's capital punishment statute so that those who are convicted a second time of raping children under 11 are eligible for the death penalty has drawn criticism from those who worry the bill may result in unintended consequences. Fears that the legislation will lead to family members refusing to come forward regarding intra-family offenses and that it may also result in more rape victims being killed are among the chief concerns regarding the proposed legislation.
[...]

DPIC Executive Director Richard Dieter agreed, adding, "It may actually create more death because the person facing the death penalty for this kind of offense might be inclined to say, 'No greater punishment incurred if I kill the victim'."
[...]

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled the death penalty can't be used in cases involving adult rapes, but it has not weighed in the issue of imposing the death penalty on those who commit child rapes. South Carolina Representative Fletcher Smith said that he believes the proposed [South Carolina] bill won't meet constitutional standards regarding the death penalty because a death is not involved.
(Associated Press, April 4, 2006)

Additionally, it currently cost taxpayers about $2 million in legal fees to try a death penalty case, nearly 4 times higher than comparable murder trials, the automatic appeal process costs up to $700,000 in legal fees, and further burdens state taxpayers with approximately $1.2 million in execution costs. Furthermore, the State of Tennessee has only executed one capital case convicted murder since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty for capital cases in 1976.

While not necessarily slaking the politically-driven bloodlust of their revenge-seeking "conservative" GOP supporters, Hill and Finney would better serve the citizens of Tennessee by amending their current bill by instead seeking lifetime prison sentences for those convicted of child rape in Tennessee.

Limitations on Capital Punishment - Proportionality

Tennessee v. Godsey, 2001 Tenn. LEXIS 809 (11/29/2001) the Tennessee Supreme Court has found that capital punishment is disproportionate in a murder case despite conviction for child murder and child rape.

Tennessee Capital Case Information

Rep. Cochran Talks Smack Toward Phillips

Read how Rep. Jerome Cochran (another Gregory/HOE "indirect" campaign money receipient) regards the entry of Fred Philips into the 7th House District race with Rep. Matthew Hill:

Saturday, April 01, 2006
Story published: 4/1/2006

Phillips’ candidacy among topics at Chamber breakfast

By John Thompson
Elizabethton Bureau Chief
jthompson@johnsoncitypress.com

ELIZABETHTON — Several long-stalled highway projects were once again a major item of discussion at the annual Elizabethton/Carter County Chamber of Commerce legislative breakfast held at the Truman Clark Annex on Friday morning.

Sen. Rusty Crowe, R-Johnson City, and Rep. Jerome Cochran, R-Elizabethton, also discussed such wide-ranging issues as TennCare, the federal sales of national forest land, and the new challenge of Rep. Matthew Hill, R-Johnson City, from former commissioner of safety Fred Phillips.

[...]

Cochran said the race between incumbent Hill and Democrat Phillips in the 7th House District will attract statewide attention. He said the race could decide whether the Republicans can gain the majority in the House. He said a lot of Republican leaders will be “camping out” in Jonesborough.

“Phillips resigned as commissioner of Safety after the Tennessee Highway Patrol went through the worst scandal in its history,” Cochran said.

[...more at link]

I would attempt to contact Rep. Cochran about this matter by telephone, but apparently Rep. Cochran does not either give out his home telephone number to the public or take telephone calls from constituents in Tennessee while he is at his Carter County residence: you can either choose to contact Rep. Cochran by telephone at his Tennessee General Assembly office in Nashville or by telephoning Cochran (i.e.: if he is not working at the courthouse) at the law offices of David Crockett in Elizabethton.

So how many THP "pre-scandal" reform bills was Rep. Cochran introduced while serving within the Tennessee General Assembly?