Thu
Dec 3 2009
10:32 am
Ragsdale scores big win in Kosovo
By: Anonymously Nine

Looks like the taxpayers got their moneys worth? How does this help Knox County?

Four months after Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale traveled to Kosovo to boost economic development, a local contractor has announced that it has set up shop in the European country.

Atlas Electric Co. said Wednesday it suspended its operations in the Knoxville market last month and has established an office in Kosovo, where it is hoping to carve out a niche in rebuilding infrastructure such as underground utilities.

In a news release, the company said the local construction business has "lost its vitality" and blamed the tightening of credit and bond markets for its decision to suspend its local presence.

Topics:
Anonymously Nine's picture

It was tempting to snark

Submitted by Anonymously Nine on Thu, 2009/12/03 - 10:42am.

It was tempting to snark this up but I will leave that to the snark master.

Sandra Clark's picture

Merry Christmas!

Submitted by Sandra Clark on Thu, 2009/12/03 - 11:30am.

Michael Roy Ragsdale -- the gift that keeps on giving! -- s.

michael kaplan's picture

fascinating. it's not

Submitted by michael kaplan on Thu, 2009/12/03 - 4:21pm.

fascinating. it's not ragsdale or haslam but Capital that reproduces itself on the global and local levels.

michael
reading istvan meszaros' Beyond Capital (all 1000 pages of it)

Bbeanster's picture

The comments on the NS site

Submitted by Bbeanster on Thu, 2009/12/03 - 9:49pm.

The comments on the NS site are getting interesting.
Harry "It's 5 o-clock somewhere" Sherrod is verrrrry close to Ragsdale. This situation is getting weirder by the minute.

SnM's picture

snark

Submitted by SnM on Sat, 2009/12/05 - 5:26pm.

Ragsdale's 'Kosovo' Jingle Luring Businesses from Knox
"Giant sucking sound" is county mayor siphoning Knox citizens to Balkans

From APB reports. KNOXVILLE - Four months ago, Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale returned from a trip to Eastern Europe humming "Kosovo," a song he claimed he himself wrote (rumors to the contrary notwithstanding). Based on the Beach Boys' 1988 #1 hit, "Kokomo," at the time, the ditty seemed an innocuous paean to a pleasant tour of the Balkan area. However, subsequent events suggest a more subversive purpose: Marketing Kosovo to local businesses to lure them away from Knox County.

When Ragsdale returned from Kosovo, he claimed he was exploring a program of swapping Knox Countians for Kosovars. In August, the mayor explained the proposed exchange program by saying that Kosovars were "warm, good-hearted folk." He contrasted Knox Countians as "ungrateful and always ready to jump on every picayune $39,000 in questionable P-card charges you have, every little hidden hospitality slush fund, every slightly less-than-accurate accounting procedure, every tiny bit of laxness in community grants oversight," and other characterizations.

Now, however, with the relocation of local contractor Atlas Electric Co. to Kosovo, it appears there is no exchange forthcoming, only a one-way funnel to the land of flija, mućkalica and veal kabobs. And Ragsdale's tune appears to be a major reason for the move.

When asked why he was moving his company to Kosovo, Harry Sherrod, president of Atlas, shrugged.

"Mayor Ragsdale's song, 'Kosovo,' just made Eastern Europe sound so mysterious and alluring, all about kielbasas, goulashes and walks by the Danube on moonlit nights," explained Sherrod. "It was simply irresistible."

The song, harmless enough at first blush, runs as follows:

Mamusha, Pristina, ooo, I'm torn between ya,
My babushka, ch-tchotchke, oh, I really gotcha
Kielbasa, goulash-a, baby, I'm-a boss ya

Off the Adriatic Sea
There's a place called Kosovo
That's where you wanna go to get away from it all

Job didn't go as planned
Myopical finks trying to get me canned.
They'll be getting a shove
To the nation of tamboura bands
Down in Kosovo

Croatia, Albania, ooo I wanna take ya
Baklava, kabobas, that's what's waiting on ya
Sarajevo, Montenegro, baby, why don't they go

Ooo I wanna send 'em down to Kosovo
They'll get there fast
And then I'll take it slow
That's where they're gonna go
Way down to Kosovo

In ancient Greek, we'll try to learn to speak

Not near the sea
But we'll perfect our spinistry
By and by we'll defy a little bit of sanity

Taking in the sights
Blue Danube on moonlit nights
That scheming look in their eyes
Gives me an economical contract high
Way down in Kosovo

Mamusha, Pristina, ooo, I'm torn between ya,
My babushka, ch-tchotchke, oh, I really gotcha
Kielbasa, goulash-a, baby, I'm-a boss ya

Ooo I wanna send 'em down to Kosovo
They'll get there fast
And then I'll take it slow
That's where they're gonna go
Way down to Kosovo

Torts in Linz, I wanna make some cents

Everybody knows
A little place like Kosovo
Now if you wanna go
And get away from it all
Go down to Kosovo

Croatia, Albania, ooo I wanna take ya
Baklava, kabobas, that's what's waiting on ya
Sarajevo, Montenegro, baby, why don't they go

Ooo I wanna send 'em down to Kosovo
They'll get there fast
And then I'll take it slow
That's where they're gonna go
Way down to Kosovo

Yet, even a superficial examination of the lyrics reveals...

SnM's picture

More on Atlas...

Submitted by SnM on Wed, 2009/12/09 - 7:29am.

...can't pay former employees, contractors.

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