"Dissent is Patriotic"

So we were told for much of the previous eight years. Dissent for the sake of dissent is not "patriotic." Dissent based on reasons and rationale is a responsibility. Our Government is out of control, but we have elected it.

No, the people of the 6th District did not vote for Obama, nor Pelosi, nor Murtha, nor Reid, but we did vote for Bart Gordon who is supporting their every whim, like a whipped dog. When I first considered running for his seat, I expected there would be little to differentiate my positions, our positions from his.

I had hope that the Blue Dog Democrats would provide the rational resistance to many of the things promised on the campaign trail last year. Instead, I have found nothing but disappointment in his voting record. I'm sure if I searched thoroughly enough, I could find something, and I should. I'm told he's a nice guy and he certainly seems to be.

I've been quiet lately, mainly because there is little positive to say. I'm truly concerned for the direction this government is headed. Our Congress, at the behest of the President has quadrupled the deficit, with the full support of Our Elected Congressman.

They are cutting the Defense Budget at the same time that we're paying $328,000 for an Air Force photo op that struck fear in the people of New York. And the President laughed about it.

While more is being asked of Our Troops, their numbers and pay raises and bonuses are being cut with the backing of Our Elected Politician, at the behest of Obama, Pelosi, Frank, and Murtha. In the upcoming year, more of our Troops will be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan than at any time in the last 8 years. Troops are being deployed straight to Afghanistan from Baghdad.

Within hours of North Korean Missile tests, Weapon Systems were cut from the Army, Air Force and Navy, including the Marines. North Korea even now threatens war if even the weak measures suggested are taken against them. 28,500 US Troops in South Korea are now potentially in harm's way against a Million Man Nuclear armed Army of North Korea.

General McKiernan's career has been ended with an excuse of "we needed a new face." It appears to be a purely political decision.

Partisan slogans are resulting in stubbornly shutting down a piece of ground that has done nothing wrong. The Terrorists detained at Guantanamo are the worst of the worst. No torture ever occurred there. It is and has been run in accordance with the Geneva Conventions. The terrorists are not Americans. They have no Constitutional Rights.

The terrorists at Gitmo are combatants, not just common criminals. They are war criminals, but the Geneva Conventions allows them to be held until the end of hostilities, without trial. They may be tried for war crimes and if found guilty held beyond the end of hostilities. But if found "not guilty," they can be returned to Gitmo, as per the Geneva Conventions.

Moreover, in this time of economic hardship, in these times of record deficits, it is fiscally irresponsible to close Gitmo and build a new one somewhere else, costing billions of dollars more, when it done for nothing more than political sloganeering.

Tennessee Taylor©2009, TNT, all rights reserved

A Simple Man

"I've come to two decisions in life that I've carved in stone. One is that
the lowest form on animal on this planet is a child molester. The
other is that the only good terrorist is a dead terrorist."

-Charlie Daniels

I have to work like a dog to make ends meet.

And there's crooked politicians and crime in the street.

And I'm madder in hell and I ain't gonna take no more.

-I'm a Simple Man, Charlie Daniels

There seems to be something in the Middle Tennessee that allows us to see things more clearly than those of New York and Chicago. Perhaps it is that we're closer to nature. Perhaps it is that we live in harmony with trees and wildlife and they've taken up a life surrounded by concrete.

Perhaps, it is that we know our neighbors and help each other in times of adversity.

I've lived in the big city and I've lived in small towns, but it doesn't take much analysis to know that the politics of the big city are much different than the common sense of the small town.

It's not simply a difference between manufacturing and farming. It's a difference between self-reliance and dependence and a difference between responsibility and lack thereof. It's a difference between government interference and government dependency.

The Chicago Politicians have promised to close Guantanamo Bay, as if that piece of Caribbean beach could have committed crimes. The California Idealists have called for the move for years though they know that the allegations were proven false. The New York Elitists realize that the only cases of "waterboarding" occurred elsewhere against three of the most dangerous terrorists we captured, three terrorists directly involved with the 9/11 attacks.

I wonder if Guantanamo will be Obama's Panama Canal. Will he give away more of what we earned with the blood and sweat of our Troops? Will he give away what was given us for helping to give freedom to the Cubans in 1898?

Did you know that following the Spanish-American War, the Spanish asked us to annex Cuba? That the Cubans stipulated in their Constitution and in their treaty with us that we would rescue them from poor leaders?

In the last few weeks, the efforts of The Party of the last few years, has come to fruition. They have secured the release of Osama Bin Ladin's bodyguard and driver. They gave an enemy combatant the rights of American citizen even while they attempt to erode our own rights. They forced the courts to try a terrorist as they would a criminal. And though war criminals may be tried and held longer, combatants may be held until the cessation of hostilities, as per the Geneva Conventions.

Our Troops have risked life and limb to take terrorists off the streets. Our Troops have upheld the Laws of Land Warfare and the Geneva Conventions, despite fighting an enemy that tortures and beheads civilians. When the enemy has surrendered, their lives were spared. And now Congress and Chicago Politicians, using the Courts, have released these terrorists to kill again.

The Party of New York, Chicago and California is not the party of our fathers. It is not the party of Andrew Jackson. The man our forefathers volunteered to fight under, against the British, would not recognize the DNC of today. Old Hickory would not allow the likes of Pelosi, Reid, and Frank to claim his party.

But there is little chance that the rational members of The Party can reclaim it anytime soon. And until they do, we need to remove the rubber stamp members of our own State Delegation from Congress. For too long, our politicians have realistically believed that the letter behind their name guaranteed them their seat of power. They've taken our vote for granted.

Our politician has become a follower of Pelosi, not a leader reclaiming the honor of his party. If he won't stand up and tell the far left of New York, Chicago, and California "Enough" then we need to stand up and tell him "Enough!" We're sending a Common Sense Citizen to Washington.

TNTaylor©2008, Tennessee Taylor, all rights reserved.

The 5th Amendment

It is important that we know the bounds placed on our Federal Government and local governments to ensure the freedoms and liberty of Our Citizens.

Amendment V
No person shall be held to answer for a
capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of
law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

It is the 5th Amendment that seems to be misused today by the ACLU and far left to free those that would harm Our Citizens, those that make no distinction between attacks on Our Troops and the murder of Our Citizens. It protects us from Government Land Grabs.

The 5th Amendment protects Our Citizens from baseless accusations. It protects us from "double jeopardy," from prosecutors that might otherwise try us over and over for an allegation we've been proven innocent of. It does not afford protection to enemy combatants sworn to the murder of Our Citizens. It does not afford protection to enemy combatants captured on the field of battle.

Enemy Prisoners of War are afforded protections under the Geneva Conventions. They may be held until the cessation of hostilities, longer if they are convicted of War Crimes. Our Troops zealously uphold the Geneva Convention.

But our current class of politicians and the media which support them have led us to believe that a place can take on the character of a criminal, that somehow Guantanamo Bay is in itself denying the "Constitutional Rights" of an enemy unprotected by the Constitution and sworn to destroy it.

Our Enemies know they cannot defeat our Military on the battlefield but realize they can use our freedoms and rights against us. The enemy we fight on the battlefield is not our only enemy. They have found allies with other enemies. They have found allies in tyrants abroad and idealists in America.

The politicians of NY, CA, & Chicago have risen to power on an endorsement of defeatism, on the embracement of the idealism that war can be banished despite the realities of evil in this world. They have capitalized on the hope of the youth that violence can be banished.

And here in Tennessee, we must brace ourselves for the absolute power provided The Party led astray by Hillary, Pelosi, Reid, & Obama. We recognize that politicians of our own state empower and follow the far left leadership of New York elitists and California Radicals that hi-jacked a party which once represented the people.

We have only hope that our entire delegation to Congress will join the minority in opposing the wave of imposition of government into our lives. But hope alone is not enough. We will have to be vigilant not only to what Congress attempts to impose at the behest of a Chicago politician, but also if our own politicians rubber stamp those impositions on us.

Our Constitution guarantees the Rights and Freedoms of Our Citizens, not the enemies of Our Freedoms. Our Representatives need to display the Common Sense to realize they represent the American People, not the enemy.

Our Forefathers wrote in plain English. Our Congressmen should return to it.

TNTaylor©2008, Tennessee Taylor, all rights reserved.