Running Scared
Posted on October 31, 2009 at 6:30 pmThat’s what the Republican Establishment is doing in the wake of developments in NY-23:
Businessman Doug Hoffman, running on the Conservative Party line, has seen his support surge in recent weeks. On Saturday, Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, the Republican nominee in the district, said she is suspending her campaign, and national party leaders rushed to back Hoffman.
Strategists said the new developments are a shot in the arm for the conservative wing of the GOP, which may be emboldened to launch primary challenges to anointed favorites and even members of Congress who do not conform sufficiently to the Republican platform.
“Conservatives will be energized to take back the Republican Party and moderates will be looking over their shoulders for the next year,” said Brian Darling, director of Senate relations at the Heritage Foundation. “Moderate incumbents worried about the next election may have to tack to the right to avoid a primary battle.”
Tennessee Universities Still Expanding Despite Recession
Posted on at 4:27 pmFrom the AP:
Despite the recession, college campuses across Middle Tennessee are adding new buildings, but the construction boom would be even bigger if the economy hadn’t hit the skids.
According to The Tennessean, at Middle Tennessee State University, crews are breaking ground on a $77 million student center and a $29.8 million college of education building. And Vanderbilt, which just completed the first phase of a new health center, is now building a $41 million parking garage.
But Vanderbilt canceled all its planned new construction this year and MTSU has postponed the construction of a new science building.
The Wilson Doctrine
Posted on at 4:22 pmBrad Schrade on the new rules for municipal finance in Tennessee:
The way local governments in Tennessee finance new schools, roads and other public projects would require more disclosure and fewer risky transactions under draft rules expected to be rolled out next week.
The plan by State Comptroller Justin Wilson marks the most aggressive approach to date by the state to regulate the murky world of municipal finance. It comes after a year of turmoil in the markets and an investigation by The Tennessean that highlighted many problems taken on by the state’s cities and counties in such financial deals, such as hidden fees and riskier terms.
The comptroller said the 19-page policy has two broad goals. One is to ensure that local governments make informed decisions about financing projects and the public has access to information to assess their actions. And the other is that cities and counties avoid the types of risky transactions with taxpayer dollars — some totaling hundreds of millions of dollars — that have caused problems across the country and bring more scrutiny to these transactions.
Mitt Romney Says Country Is Run By Neo-Monarchists
Posted on at 4:18 pmMore extremism than usual from the former presidential candidate:
Former Gov. Mitt Romney Friday declared that Washington is being run by “neo-monarchists” and the country needs a second revolution to restore power to the people.
…. The Republican and former presidential candidate compared the current political situation to the conditions that existed in 1776.
Back then, he said, monarchists believed in a “strong central leader” while revolutionaries wanted to hand government over to the people.
Would Gore Have Been Better Than Bush In The War On Terror?
Posted on at 4:15 pmOne conservative blogger thinks so — but not in a complementary way:
At this point, I am starting to believe Gore would have been better than Bush in fighting the War on Terrorism. Why? The dude is so stone cold wackadoodle that he probably would have just dropped some nukes on Afghanistan, Iraq, Lybia, Syria, and Iran, among others. Besides, the nukes would certainly have mitigated the supposed global warming through nuclear winter.
Are Catholic Republicans More Liberal Than Protestant Republicans?
Posted on at 4:13 pmThe main point that seems obvious is that Roman Catholics who voted for John McCain are simply less conservative than Protestants who voted for John McCain. They do not seem to exhibit a “Catholic” profile, whereby they are more conservative on social issues than their fiscal moderation may have predicted. Rather, they’re more liberal about abortion and gay marriage than Protestants.
Step Down Before We Oust You
Posted on at 12:12 pmA member of the Davidson County GOP on the move to oust their Ron Paul-supporting vice chair Matt Collins:
What I wish would happen at this point is that Matt would agree to quietly resign without putting the Party in the embarrassing position of ousting him. Alternatively, I wish he would be contrite and agree to be more circumspect and cooperative in the future and the party would accept that and simply issue a statement that an internal dispute had been resolved in an amicable manner. I don’t excuse Matt’s conduct, but I was once young and somewhat dogmatic myself. I would like to give him one more chance.
Is Al Gore A James Bond Villian?
Posted on at 12:06 pmA team leader at a Knoxville Target wonders if he is.
States’ Rights And Smart Grids
Posted on at 12:01 pmMark Brown wonders whether Rep. Zach Wamp and Robin Smith are supportive of new initiatives in Chattanooga funded through stimulus dollars:
In fact, the United States Department of Energy announced this week that it will give Chattanooga’s EPB “$111 million in federal stimulus funds to help pay for part of nearly $300 million that the company is investing in fiber-optic lines, new electric-grid technologies and ’smart meters.’”
This, No Chaser believes, exemplifies everything that Smith and Wamp claim they hate: that damn socialistic federal government is stomping all over the 10th Amendment by marching into Chattanooga — probably came through Chickamauga, no less — and throwing around their damn ol’ stimulus money. That’s taxpayer money, don’t you know, and that damn Obama is spending it on some greenie bullshit.
What’s a good, God-fearing Tennessean supposed to think about that, huh? Are we meeting at the state line, Zach and Robin, to tell those stinkin’ feds to take that grant and shove it? How ’bout it?
permalink | Comment on this post
Chattanoogans Protest Mountaintop Mining
Posted on at 11:54 amFrom Chattarati:
Late Friday afternoon, a small group of environmental activists and citizens—numbering less than two dozen shortly after 5:00 p.m.—gathered outside the Chattanooga offices of the Tennessee Valley Authority to protest mountaintop mining.
The protest was organized by United Mountain Defense, a Knoxville-based group, and was attended by several Chattanooga residents. One of the organizers, who identified herself only as Lilly, said they were protesting here because of the damage this type of mining causes and because they say TVA operates power plants which use MTR-derived coal.
Republican Drops Out In New York Congressional Race
Posted on at 11:49 amScore on for the tea party crowd:
Just four days before the election, Republican nominee DeDe Scozzafava abandoned her campaign for the congressional seat in New York’s 23rd Congressional district. Why? “It was time to do the right thing, which is to release the Republican County chairs, they’ve stood by me this entire time, and let them do what’s best for the Republican Party,” she told a local TV station. A series of polls showed Scozzafava in third place, well behind Democrat Bill Owens and, suddenly, Conservative Doug Hoffman, who had stolen about half of Scozzafava’s base. Where do the rest of her votes go? CW says that most go to Hoffman, but I’m with Jonathan Martin: I think half go to Democrat Bill Owens or they stay home. GOP registration exceeds Democratic registration by nearly 50,000. This is a Republican district that is likely to remain Republican, — only significantly more conservative than it’s been.
permalink | Comment on this post
Chill Out! Not The Same Guy
Posted on October 30, 2009 at 6:15 pmThe Obama administration releases its visitor logs:
The White House warned prominently of false hits among the names. Names like Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayres are on the list, but are not the same people who caused problems for Obama in the campaign. Michael Jordan is also on the list, but is not the one who is the former basketball star, the White House said.
permalink | Comment on this post
Law Enforcement May Soon Have To Pay TBI To Process Evidence
Posted on at 6:13 pmFrom WSMV:
In a time when budgets are tight, layoffs are necessary and positions are being left unfilled, sources told Channel 4 the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is looking at a proposal to charge police and sheriff’s office for all the evidence they have tested at the state crime lab.
permalink | Comment on this post
Who You Talking About There, Zach?
Posted on at 5:00 pmPat Nolan asks a good question:
Congressman Wamp, from East Tennessee says he plans to spend at least two days every month visiting and campaigning in the Memphis/Shelby County area, but as for Haslam’s recent door-to-door campaigning in the Bartlett area of West Tennessee, the article described Wamp as “scornful”, adding this from the Congressman: “That’s a Tom Ingram stunt. It’s trying to make a rich guy look like a regular person.”
“An empty suit”, “a stunt”, “a rich guy trying to look like a regular person.”See what we have to look forward to next summer? And Wamp wasn’t just taking shots at Haslam. According to the MEMPHIS FLYER article:”Wamp also indulged in some speculation about future tense dropouts from the Republican gubernatorial field by Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey or District Attorney General Bill Gibbons of Memphis.”
Finally, according to the article, Wamp “cited his recent endorsement by the conservative Red State group (which he quoted as saying, “the last thing we need is any more squishy moderates in the State of Tennessee).”
“Squishy moderates?” Is that the Democrats or other Republicans like Senators Lamar Alexander or Bob Corker?
Your Meetings Are A Waste Of Time
Posted on at 4:28 pmA word on the timewaster of all timewasters:
The real reason leaders end up in too many meetings? Because it’s flattering: having your presence “required” at many meetings makes you feel important — it’s tangible proof of how much your people and your organization need you. But being in too many meetings every day wreaks havoc on your schedule and your ability to focus on bigger goals. I’ve seen too many corporate leaders sacrifice their own strategic vision — and ultimately, their own performance — because they’ve let themselves become hostage to Conference Room B.
permalink | Comment on this post
Diane Neighbors Says Pre-K Report Is Rubbish
Posted on at 4:19 pmA statement from the vice-mayor on the report released yesterday:
“The Strategic Research Group (SRG) report released yesterday does not contain new data or draw any new conclusions about the state’s voluntary pre-K program. The fact remains that the pre-K program is doing exactly what it was intended to do – prepare at-risk 4-year-olds for kindergarten and put them on par with their peers. We look forward to seeing additional studies, not a rehashing of old data.
Tennessee’s most vulnerable children need the state’s high-quality pre-K program now more than ever. It would be premature to make decisions about the future of the program based on the findings of an incomplete report.”
Federal Media Shield Law Folds In Bloggers
Posted on at 4:00 pmFrom the NY Times:
Under the proposed agreement, a so-called “media shield law” would allow federal judges to quash subpoenas against reporters if they determine that the public interest in the news outweighed the government’s need to uncover the leaker – including, in some circumstances, disclosures of classified national security information.
The proposal would also extend coverage to unpaid bloggers engaged in gathering and disseminating news information. The coverage of bloggers had been a flashpoint for executive branch officials, (and for those bloggers), but some officials wanted to limit any protections to professional mainstream journalists.
permalink | Comment on this post
Sarah Palin’s Almost Son-In-Law Says She’s Not Racist
Posted on at 3:59 pmFrom GOP 12:
PILKINGTON: Have you ever heard her talk about black people in Alaska?
JOHNSTON: No, not her. She never said anything like that, no. She’s not the racist type.
Knox County Jury Says Rape-Torture-Murder Perp Deserves The Hot Shot
Posted on at 3:23 pmLemaricus Davidson was sentenced to death today for the January 2007 murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom.
Happy Halloween, I’m A Gubernatorial Candidate, Now Gimme Some Money
Posted on at 3:02 pmAnother Halloween themed email blast — this time from Kim McMillan:
Last weekend Kim’s staff visited the haunted Bell Witch Cave in Adams, TN. While we can all enjoy a good-natured scare on Halloween, the prospect of a Republican occupying the Governor’s mansion in Tennessee is enough to keep hard-working Tennesseans up at night.
We’ve seen what happens when Republicans control the General Assembly: they bicker and fight over whether people should be able to carry guns into bars and playgrounds.
They DON’T focus on issues that really matter to Tennesseans.
We’re fortunate to have an ally in Kim McMillan. Kim will bring jobs to Tennessee, strengthen our schools, expand access to affordable health care and invest in our state’s infrastructure. Her goal is to keep Tennessee the best place to live, work, and raise a family.
Kim’s goals are OUR goals.
We hope you’ll decide to stand with Kim today and show the Republicans in Nashville they can’t scare us! Please make a safe and secure online donation of $100, $50, $20, $10 or whatever you can afford today.
We need to stand together to make sure the Republicans don’t spend another legislative session bickering. There is too much at stake. Please Stand with Kim and donate to her campaign today.
Sincerely,
Kim McMillan’s Campaign Team
Recent Comments
Sherri GoForth (Senator...
Liberal Lip-Service to Freedom of Speech The...
ACK, Someone is impersonating Mickey here. While the arguments...
“Mr. Baker, there’s no excuse...
Ask Stewart if he supports Kim McMillan and...
If you want to meet someone of the...
Just what we need….another trial lawyer picking...
If someone like Stewart Clifton is...
I certainly agree that without question Mr....
This is such a non-issue. Irion is not...