Thursday, March 19, 2009

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.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

The 7th Amendment - Trial By Jury

Because Our Forefathers recognized that absolute power bred elitism and elitism bred arrogance, and arrogance bred contempt for the common man:

Amendment VII
"In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law. "

But not only does this provide for the right of the accused to be tried by a jury, it also sets "common law" as the precedence. And that is the reason why lawyers argue about cases of old, where a ruling was made in the favor of their argument.

"Common Law" simply means that if a court has previously found that owning a firearm is your right, then your judge must find the same in your case.

Stealing Veteran Benefits

The Obama Administration is stubbornly pressing forward with a call to force Veterans to pay for their earned and promised VA Health benefits. General Shinseki is backing him in this theft. This was announced at the same time that the Secretary of State traveled to the Middle East to give $900 Million to Hamas, a terrorist surrogate of Iran.

Will the Blue Dog Democrats finally bite the hand that whips them? Will Representative Gordon finally demonstrate some backbone against the Chicago Political Machine?

Outright Lies

Larry Summers:
"There are no tax increases this year." Obama Adminstration, Larry Summers, CNBC 3/17/2009

I guess he thinks people won't notice that the Government increased the Cigarette Tax by $8.00 a carton.

I guess he wasn't listening when Charles Schumer threatened to take by force the Bonuses of AIG, if they didn't give it back willingly, due to threat of force. Frankly, it sounds the same as a common thug, mugging someone downtown Washington DC. "Give it to me, or I'll take it."

Clarity again: It's morally wrong for those executives to take the bonuses. It's contractually obligated they be given those bonuses. It's not in the least bit illegal for them to keep them.

It's not constitutional for Congress to have forced the Taxpayer to buy AIG. It is reprehensible that they did not read their own legalese before they forced us into that $700 Billion in debt (+interest).

Schumer, Obama, Gordon, Cooper, Cohen all voted for the $700 Billion CEO Bailout bill, the same one they're now complaining about.

Tennessee Taylor©2009, TNT, all rights reserved

Monday, March 16, 2009

Is It Malfeasance or Ignorance?

Our Congressmen seem outraged that the Executives of AIG and others are receiving bonuses while presiding over losses. Our Congress has resided over 200 years of losses, 200 years of debt. Why do they continue to get pay raises?

Our Congressman, along with every other member of his party from this state, short of Lincoln Davis, plus the Representative from Chattanooga voted for the CEO Bailout Bill. Marsha Blackburn led the minority party of our state, minus Zach Wamp in opposition to the CEO Bailout Bill, championed by then Senator Obama and supported by his opposition to the Presidency.

They tried to sell it to us as an "emergency" requiring "immediate action." They didn't have time to read the 700+/- pages of legalese and we have to wonder who had time to write it. But why now are they surprised that so much is being spent in Executive Bonuses? Perhaps because they didn't read what they voted for? Or perhaps because they knew it benefitted their campaign paying constiuencies?

We had little choice in the election of 2008. The press didn't cover the positions of Chris Baker. There is unlikely to be much coverage of the 2010 nominees for a while.

It didn't take long for the Common Sense Citizens of Tennessee to voice opposition to the CEO Bailout Bill. I withheld opinion until I could see the bill, but it didn't take but a few sections to realize we were being sold down the river. So why, did OUR Representative vote for it? Why was it that he bucked the views of the people of our district and why did he not realize it did not stop the largesse of CEO's and Executives?

Does he believe we have such short memories? Does he believe he can gloss over his support of the CEO Bailout Bill, the UAW Bailout Bill, and the Debt Stimulus Bill? Does he think that we will forget that he has voted FOR quadrupling the deficit in less than 12 months?

But let's be clear: It's not illegal for the executives to take the bonuses promised them. It is immoral for them to take the bonuses. It is not illegal for them to enjoy lavish retreats while contributing to the political campaigns of those voting for their bailouts. It is immoral.

It is not illegal to vote for earmarks, all 9,000 of them but it is irresponsible to do so. It is time to send a Common Sense Citizen to Congress. It is time to send a nice guy to pasture. It is time for Our Representative to Endorse a true representative of the People of Middle Tennessee. It is time for the follower of Gore to be replaced with a follower of Andrew Jackson. It is time for us to realize that the whipped Blue Dogs are not the Democrats of our forefathers.

Tennessee Taylor©2009, TNT, all rights reserved

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Who Should We Trust With OUR Money & OUR Future?

Politicians continue to tell us that those "evil CEO's" have bankrupted their companies and sent the economy off the cliff. To a certain extent, they have a point. Simple greed has led to poor decision making by people as diverse as individuals to corporations. But the economic downturn is global, not local.

Some things are within the scope of an individual's responsibility and other things are not. A person who takes out a 105% loan (as Obama proposes to offer through the US Government) should be astute enough to know that they can't sell that house for the amount they owe on it.

A person with an income of $36,000/year should know that they cannot pay back a loan with a monthly payment of $3,000/month.

A CEO has the job of ensuring a corporation does what it can to make money. Sometimes, conditions outside his control, like an economic downturn or Congressional interference in those policies, will negatively impact his ability to do so. Other times, it is purely on his head that the corporation does not make money for its investors.

But, when one has failed to live up to their financial obligations and responsibilities, the last place that they should go to for advice is someone with a worse record on financial responsibility. When Citibank (and others) lost money in the short term, Congress's record of 200 years of financial irresponsibility at the very time they are accelerating gross irresponsibility is the wrong place to look for advice.

Sure, it sounds nice to hear that we will soon get "free health care" but nothing is free. The Government is one of the least efficient organizations in the Nation. Congress mismanages nearly everything they touch.

CEO's should not be getting multi-million dollar bonuses for loosing money, but Congress should not be the one to change that: Shareholders should be. When Congress becomes the board of Corporations, we will see greater mismanagement, not less.

And we already see the first nationalization of a bank, in earnest: Citibank is now up to 36% government owned. In fact, just two years ago, it would have taken half of the CEO Bailout bill to buy Citibank alone, but now, the $700 Billion CEO Bailout Bill could purchase more than 75 CitiBanks, outright.

We must send a Common Sense Citizen to Congress.

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