Tea Parties & Challengers

There is a movement afoot: Tea Parties of "The Patriotic Resistance" of Grassfire.org.

It is calling for "Idea based resistance" to the drastic changes occuring in the new federal government. On April 15th, they will hold events in Nashville, Knoxville, and Cookeville as well as many other locations across the Nation.

A challenger to Bart Gordon for the Representative of the 6th District seat has joined the Tennessee chapter of the organization, as of last night. David L. Evans is a Citizen-Soldier from Wartrace, TN and has declared his 2010 campaign for Congress.

We welcome Mr Evans to the debate and look forward to exploring the positions with him.

We hope that the organization will not be mischaracterized but recognize the name alone is sufficient for the media to do so. The following statement is important and is found below the profiles of the leadership of the organization:

"I affirm that ResistNet is for principled, patriotic resistance to Barack
Obama's ideology and agenda and is not a forum for personal attacks, lewd or
profane language, or militancy against Barack Obama or others. " TN Resistnet Phil Dedrick

Welcome to the debate Mr. Evans.

2010 Obama Budget

The 2010 Budget Request is out and we'll again have a chance to see if our Representative is a Blue Dog or Whipped Dog. Over the last few months, even before the election, our politicians have been throwing around the term "trillion" more than most Americans drop dimes. More rational members of the debate have attempted to provide an idea of what a trillion is.

The accumulated National Debt through 2008 was $10.2 Trillion, reflecting more than 200 years of deficit spending. The original 2009 budget called for a record deficit of $407 Billion deficit. Obama is pushing it another $1.75 Trillion higher in 2009 and that's based on tax revenues expected from pre-recession 2008. Before he begins passing supplemental spending bills and with the expectation of 2008 tax revenues (which are shrinking with our paychecks), he has asked for another $1.25 Trillion of deficit in 2010.

In just his first 3 months, Obama will have increased our national debt by 30% of what it took us 200+ years to accumulate.

The Whipped Blue Dogs continue to rubberstamp every whim of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Obama. The Whipped Blue Dogs continue to obey their masters from California, Washington, and New York. The Whipped Blue Dogs continue to ignore their electorate in favor of their CEO Constituents.

The Budget Request must be voted down. We simply cannot afford it. We must set priorities. And the priorities of this budget are simply backwards.

As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton goes to the Middle East to announce a $900 Million giveaway to Gaza, i.e. Hamas, Obama was announcing that Our Troops will not get the pay raise they are scheduled to get. Why are we giving money to terrorists while cutting the pay raises of our Troops? Why is our Representative on board with that?

But the Budget Obama has proposed does not simply increase the deficit in 2010, it adds more deficit to this years. Obama has complained that he inherited the deficit, but the fact is he voted for it. He threw his weight behind the $700 Billion CEO Bailout, which was 100% deficit spending. He threw his weight behind the $17 Billion UAW Bailout which resulted in the Big 3 not purchasing parts from Tennessee suppliers. He forced down our throats the $800+ Billion Debt Stimulus Package. He did this with the full support of our Congressman.

As a result, he is now asking for more deficit spending. He has asked for a deficit of $1.75 Trillion in 2009. He didn't inherit it. He voted for it. He forced it on us. And Representative Gordon has voted for every thing he was told to vote for by Corrupt Chicago Politicians and the Far Left California Speaker of the House. My "hope" that Rep Gordon would lead against the radical left wing of his party has been dashed.

The "change" is that the Blue Dogs have been whipped into line.

We are at War, whether Americans feel it or not, whether Obama and Congress acknowledge it or not. This is not the time to be cutting the defense budget. This is not the time to be giving money to Hamas while cutting the raises of Our Troops.

We are in an economic downturn and every American feels it. This is not the time to be frivolously spending money we don't have. This is not the time to be increasing taxes on employers and decreasing the incentive for the rich to give to charities. This is not the time to be cutting Medicare benefits, earned by our retirees to fund Nationalized Health Insurance. And these are the things that Obama has proposed and Congressman Gordon is on board with.

Obama has claimed he will cut the deficit in half. The 2008 budget deficit was the previous record of $455 Billion. Obama predicts (based on 3.2% growth next year and 4% growth thereafter which we have no indication will come) a $581 Billion dollar deficit in 2012. That would be a record deficit, if it weren't for the fact that he and Congressman Gordon were implementing quarterly deficits in 2009 and 2010 that supercede the record annual deficits of all years prior.

In fact, if Obama's rosy outlook of growth occurs, despite no indications it will, he will have increased the National Debt by more than 50% in just his first term, with the Blue Dog's Support.

Meanwhile, he has also laid out his plan for Iraq, a 36 month withdrawal. See War On Terror News for the details. Troop Levels in Iraq will remain pretty steady into 2010 with 35,000 to 50,000 Troops, falsely labeled "non-combat" into 2011, but his budget calls for only $50 Billion to support those Troops in 2011 compared to $130 Billion in 2010. And that money is for both Iraq and Afghanistan Operations. Surely, Our Congressman, with his two years of Reserve Service understands that Our Troops deserve more support while they defend Our Nation against Terrorists.


Tennessee Taylor©2009, TNT, all rights reserved

I Volunteer, Sir

As we closed into the final weeks of the campaign season 2008, an economic "crisis" was suddenly thrust upon us. Our politicians told us that "something must be done" and that that was the reason they drafted and enacted the CEO/corporate bailout bill, though they gave it a different name and marketed it as 'our salvation.'

Bart Gordon voted twice for the bill that was used to force the US Taxpayer to buy into our banks, whether or not they wanted it. Eighty percent of the electorate was against this measure. It was a wakeup call for me. I began searching for alternatives in the 6th District and found two opponents to the entrenched and powerful Washington Insider.

Chris Baker was on the ballot but that was about it. He had no money, no website and a websearch of him produced footnotes that he was running in a few scattered articles. His positions could not even be identified.

Steve Edmonson was waging a write-in campaign. He had come to the same realization as had I, a few months earlier. He has ran twice before against Bart, once on the Republican ticket and once as an Independent. Write-in campaigns are difficult to win and this one demonstrated less success than some others.

With this in mind, I rode through much of the District, from Cookeville to Woodbury. I noted the patriotism demonstrated by multiple flagpoles. I remembered conversations with so many citizens of our districts, conversations that demonstrated we have a bit more common sense here in Middle Tennessee and the Upper Cumberland, conversations that demonstrated our desire to self-determination and against government interference.

On November 5th, I looked at the results for the 6th and noted that Baker, who had not campaigned, who had no money, no website, and no publicity had garnered 25% of the vote. I asked a few people what they thought about it.

"Bart's been good to Murfreesboro." "Bart's been good to Cookeville." "Bart's been good to Woodbury." "Some people will always vote the party line." But when I asked if they had ever heard of Chris Baker, the answer was "no."

Do we know Bart? He gets a lot of positive press in Middle Tennessee. I'd like to hire his publicist. But who does he represent?

When I was researching the choices for the 6th in 2008, I found he had the 3rd largest campaign war chest of any Tennessee politician of the election year. Lamar Alexander and Fred Thompson had more. Rep. Gordon had gathered:
$1,264,951 in campaign dollars. http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/campaigns/barton_jennings_gordon.asp?cycle=08 But where did this money come from?
$791,551 From Political Action Committees! That's 62.6% of his donations.
$ 65,761 From 131 Tennessee Individuals. That's 5.4% from his "constituents!" But, that is not the whole story. Many of those individuals are from Nashville, Knoxville, Memphis or otherwise outside the district.
In fact of the few individuals contributing to his campaign, the second largest majority were from the District of Columbia.

With that in mind, I ask you: Who is his real constituency? How is it that Chris Baker who did nothing more (that I can determine) than put his name on the ballot, get 25% of the voted from the best financed Representative of Tennessee?

I am exploring the possibility of running against Representative Bart Gordon FOR the 6th District in 2010. I am not asking for your hard earned money. I will not pledge to avoid the money of the rich, the corporations, nor the PACs. I will pledge that I will represent OUR district, regardless of who pays for the campaign.

I have jokingly stated that I can win this district if only my distant relatives, most of whom have never met me and some of whom cannot remember my face will vote for me. I am unknown to them, because we are a prolific family who settled Middle Tennesse in the 1800's and much of my life I've served in the Military in distant lands, hunting down the enemies that would do us harm. We live in hollers, cities, and some of our ancestral land lies at the bottom of lakes created by the TVA. We believe in personal responsibility and self-determination. Our Family has served in every conflict this Nation has fought.

Representative Gordon, Candidates Edmonson & Baker: I ask for your endorsement.

I am a Veteran of Afghanistan and of Desert Storm. I will bring (Un)Common Sense from Middle Tennessee to Washington. I have devoted most of my adult life to serving this Nation. My campaign would be grass roots and internet based. I will gladly speak to the good citizens of Middle Tennessee, explain why my positions are what they are and who I am. I will gladly sit down with the local journalists of Our District.

And you can contact me TNTaylorFor-TN6th2010 @ yahoo.com

Let me know your thoughts. Are we ready to send Common Sense to Washington? Are we ready to ask Rep Gordon to enjoy retirement? What are the issues you want addressed?

TNTaylor©2008, all rights reserved.