edited by: Kate,
Tennessee Editor
The Humble Libertarian thinks GOP money-man Lee Beaman may have something to do with the move to oust Matt Collins from Davidson County GOP:
I’m especially interested to know because part of the controversy over Matt Collins is his public refusal to shake hands with bailout voter, Zach Wamp. [...]
Those hoping to sue guns and bars out of existence may have merely spurred the legislature to go write a stricter version:
“Looks like those restaurant owners in the suit just lawsuited themselves to stricter regulations coming next legislative session.” Could be, you know. Restaurant owners could opt out [...]
Yet many don’t seem to get that:
In an era of judicial legislating and the “imperial presidency,” it would be tempting to assume more power to the people would be the solution. Speaking from a conservative point of view, democracy sometimes furthers our ends (i.e. the passage of Prop 8 [...]
Gubernatorial candidate Jim Kyle responds to guns and bars unconstitutionality:
“I am happy that common sense as well as the rule of law has won the day. I have always believed in the second amendment and will continue to fight to protect it but I fought against allowing guns in bars [...]
In a recent development regarding the attempted ousting of Constitutional Conservative, Matt Collins from the Davidson County Republican Party (more on this story here and here), it turns out that an e-mail of Mr. Collins' was leaked to a local online newspaper.Joey Garrison puts a rumor to rest:
Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation Commissioner Jim Fyke says he is not interested in becoming the next Metro Parks director when the position opens Dec. 31.
[...]The USPS pared its list to 241, 35 percent fewer than the last potential closure list which included 371 offices. The three Nashville locations — Donelson, Northeast and Glenview — were not among the 130 saved.
[...]That’s what Matt Hurtt says the Left is:
The left is terrified of Sarah Palin, because she redefines what it means to be a modern woman. While I’m certainly not her biggest fan, Palin manages a household and managed the state of Alaska. She’s dealt with the struggle of teen [...]
Students at Tennessee’s public colleges and universities could be facing a 5 percent tuition increase.
Tennessee Higher Education Commission executive director Richard Rhoda told Gov. Phil Bredesen at budget hearings Thursday that the tuition recommendation has been passed along to the administrators of the University of Tennessee system [...]
From APB reports. KNOXVILLE - After an incident in which a man claimed he needed a gun for protection against the radical ideas inside the books at its Fountain City branch, the Knox County Public Library system has posted signs proclaiming, "Books Won't Hurt You." -- More from the' [...]
As the nation’s military academies try to recruit more minorities, they aren’t getting much help from members of Congress from big-city districts with large numbers of blacks, Hispanics and Asians.
From New York to Chicago to Los Angeles, lawmakers from heavily minority areas rank at or [...]
The Senate Health Bill: Budget Gimmicks Galore
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid unveiled his 2,074 page health care bill with claims that the massive measure falls under the $900 billion cost threshold promised by the President.
To put it charitably, the truth is more complicated. The bill depends on budget gimmicks [...]
From the Commercial Appeal:
The Memphis Area Women’s Council and others are hosting a conversation with the candidates session on Saturday from 5 to 6 p.m.
Democrat Adrienne Pakis-Gillon, who is running for the State Senate District 31 seat formerly held by Paul Stanley, will be there to answer questions, but [...]
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Nashville judge finds new state law allowing guns in bars unconstitutional due to vagueness. -- More.
SayUncle: I don't see how this ruling will stand. Seems that they presumed the onus of knowing restaurant laws was on permit holders. Bonnyman's ruling is pretty asinine. [...]
Chancellor Claudia Bonnyman ruled this afternoon that the state’s guns-in-bars legislation unconstitutional on the basis that it is too vague.
The state’s regulatory framework has different classifications for restaurants and bars. It would be too difficult for the public and handgun carry permit holders to recognize the difference [...]
Geithner feels pressure from left, right to resign
Geithner was forced to defend himself Thursday at a public hearing on Capitol Hill during which he was pointedly asked by Brady to resign.
DeFazio emphasized that there are growing concerns about Geithner among “populist” House Democrats, who have always been cautious about [...]
A Utah State Senator on discrimination against gays:
I meet with the gays here and there. They were in my house two weeks ago. I don’t mind gays. But I don’t want ‘em stuffing it down my throat all the time. Certainly not in my kid’s face.
TN 39-17-1305(c) is unconstitutional because it violates the due process clause
Basically, Bonnyman ruled that its unreasonable to assume that the restaurant you're in serves meals 5 days a week, and its unreasonable to require you to ask if they do.
More later from other sources.
' [...]
John Duncan, one of Jimmy Duncan’s four children, woke up early and made his intentions clear.
Friday was the first day for candidates in Knox County to pick up petitions to run.
John Duncan picked up his petition at 8 a.m. and filed it a short time later.
And the Israeli says to Campfield:
“Bush may not have been perfect but at least he took a stand for us. He knew the difference between good and evil. Obama wants everyone to be his friend. With some people and groups that does not work. Obama could be the worst [...]
From Ken Whitehouse:
General Sessions Judge Aaron Holt has dismissed the harassment charge filed against country singer John Rich.
Former Nashville Star contestant Jared Ashley had claimed that Sebastian Bach and John Rich left a harassing voice mail on Ashley’s phone.
[...]Via CNN (who misspells Chip’s name about eighteen times):
Former Huckabee presidential campaign manager Chip Saltzman, whose candidate won the Iowa caucuses in 2008, defended the role of the traditional early states.
“I think it’s very important and crucial to have Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina early on in the [...]
I got Internet, and there's other people with laptops here, so here we go. Refresh for updates.
1004 - Nikki Goeser and Mary Purcell are here in the gallery with me. We're waiting on the judge to come back in. Adam Dread notes "He's not here. I guess the NRA check'" [...]
From the AP:
Law enforcement officers in Tennessee are targeting rural areas for motorists and passengers not wearing seat belts.
Of the 776 people killed in Tennessee car crashes in 2008, 62 percent were in rural areas. More than half of all traffic fatalities were people not wearing seat belts.
I have listened to Jim Cooper talk about the health care plans the past several weeks. He claims to be a “Blue Dog” Democrat, based on principal and fiscal conservatism, but in the end whether it is the stimulus plan, the budget or healthcare he falls right into line and [...]
From a presser:
Tennessee’s Division of Elections has identified at least 9,800 deceased voters who should be removed from voter registration rolls across the state.
Tennessee drew unwanted national publicity in 2005 when it was discovered someone had illegally voted in a state Senate race by using names of the deceased.
"New Moon" Sells-out Screens Across Tennessee Valley
Here's the Knoxville premire.
Local 'Twilight' Fans Turn Out For 'New Moon'
New Moon Mania Reaches the Ozarks
Video of the Day: "New Moon" review
Spain's audience stays home for premiere of 'New Moon'
Big business for a 'New Moon' [...]
Jeff Woods thinks if the governor doesn’t like having to cut state services maybe he should reform the Tennessee tax code:
Families earning less than $17,000 a year are paying 12 percent of it in state and local taxes, compared with a paltry 3 percent paid by families earning $400,000 [...]
Zach Wamp was just wondering:
We must control spending and quit this reckless borrowing. President Obama had to reassure our largest foreign lender, the Chinese government, on his administration’s plans for the deficit and how health care spending will impact it. China wants evidence that we have a plan to [...]
“It really doesn’t matter how President Obama divides the Afghan baby, how he splits the difference between McChrystal and Biden. Because the war has been lost,” Thompson said on his radio show today. “I say this because of one sad and simple fact. The president does not [...]
The backlog in Memphis to get a hearing for Social Security disability benefits increased by three months last year, to 538 days, and is worsening, a lawyer who practices in Memphis told a House Ways and Means subcommittee Thursday.
[...]
Like its namesake, Patten Towers invokes a lot of local flavor, and part of its success stems from the Chattanooga references scattered throughout the album’s 11 tracks.
Rock bands have a penchant for redundancy. They often recycle the jargon of their peers, [...]
Mike Byrd on the sudden improvements in quality of life for the residents of Council District 5.
[...]I don’t mean to suggest that Democrats are any better when it comes to the deficit, although they have a better case for saying so based on the contrasting fiscal records of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. The national debt belongs to both parties. But at [...]
knoxvotes Jeff Ownby has picked up a nominating petition for County Commission,
knoxvotes Tammy Sommers has picked up a nominating petition for School Board, District 9
knoxvotes Rex Stooksbury has picked up a nominating petition for School Board, District 7
knoxvotes Foster Arnett has picked up a nominating petition for [...]
From NewsChannel5.com:
“I think most of the legislature and most people would sit still for the notion of doing it to keep troopers patrolling counties and those kinds of things,” said Bredesen.
The THP also runs the drivers license stations in the state. They are thinking about closing six drivers [...]
In about 90 minutes the hearing on Restaurant Carry starts in Chancellor Bonnyman's courtroom. I'll be there, hopefully with the technical ability to provide updates. My netbook is kind of a lemon, and I don't even know if the Chancellor will allow such things in her courtroom.
At the very least, [...]
More and more soldiers returning from war are finding themselves in a battle for civilian jobs.
New numbers from the Tennessee Department of Labor show unemployment stayed at a consistent 10.5% from September to October, though it continues to exceed the national average of 10.2%.
More than 100,000 [...]
The tea party working on slowly destroying itself:
Disagreements over those issues have spawned personal and institutional rivalries, at least one highly contentious lawsuit and — perhaps most significantly — resulted in the splintering of local, regional and national groups into a patchwork of hundreds of smaller groups that occasionally [...]
In what could be considered the biggest recruiting pickup in the history of Tennessee Basketball, 6'8" power forward Tobias Harris - Rivals' #1 power forward and #5 overall player in the 2010 class - has signed with Bruce Pearl and the Vols. Harris revealed his choice tonight on ESPNU." [...]
Zach Wamp on getting kids excited about learning:
Improving education, Wamp said, is not as difficult a problem as some would have the public believe, Wamp said. “It’s not all about money. Early childhood reading is the key,” he said.
Wamp said students need to be plugging into classes they’ll need [...]
An announcement on the fate of an estimated $300 million hotel viewed crucial to the future of the proposed Music City Center will come next month, according to Mayor Karl Dean.
“There will certainly be a hotel,” Dean said. “The issue will be size, how it’s financed. As [...]
Police in Herscher, Ill., are looking for someone who entered a home and left behind Christmas decorations. Police Chief Rick Gilbert says a woman and her kids left for a weekend trip Saturday afternoon. When they returned Monday morning, they found their place decked out for the holidays with ornaments [...]
Haley Barbour won’t say for sure:
Asked by Matthews whether Palin was qualified — in the wake of a Washington Post/ABC poll that showed more than six in ten Americans didn’t believe she was — Barbour responded: “Well, constitutionally, she sure is.” Despite repeated proddings from Matthews, Barbour would go [...]
Turns out that I didn't realise that every move I made on Goodreads was now posting to Twitter. -- More.
AR Sen Poll: Lincoln Barely Ahead, HC Vote Pivotal
A [...]
The effects of climate change have driven women in communities in coastal areas in poor countries like the Philippines into dangerous work, and sometimes even the flesh trade, a United Nations official said.
Suneeta Mukherjee, country representative of the United Nations Food Population Fund (UNFPA), said women in the Philippines [...]
Middle Tennessee State University has done a great job analyzing the housing market in Tennessee for the 3th quarter, 2009. In the link below they give data on employment, permits, repeat sales, mortgage tax collections, transfer tax collections, foreclosures, and inventory.
Economic activity contracted again for Tennessee’s economy in [...]
This is an older article on the size of the House health care legislation that I shared on the radio, but it’s worth sharing with readers too. From the Wall Street Journal:
By JANET ADAMY
The 1,990-page health-care bill in the House is one of the weightiest pieces of legislation [...]
Just to reiterate from post below, we’re alerted to this information from Roll Call: (via Red State)
A new study of Senate voting patterns shows the chamber has approved more than 97 percent of all bills subject to a cloture motion to begin debate — a finding that could undercut [...]
We keep hearing about statesmanship and nobility in our United States Senate. But how statesmanlike is it to vote on a Saturday when we the people can’t contact their offices?
Are you sick and tired of the games? The deceit? I understand that Senator Tom Coburn might be retreating on his [...]
A fantastic letter from a listener:
Lee and Terry,
The issue is judicial nominees; the subject is David Hamilton. My concern: Senator Alexander’s rigidly philosophical vote. For what it is worth, it is my opinion that there are times—the fewer the better—when philosophical stance should be trumped by circumstance.
It should be well known by [...]
Knox Biz has interesting public info that has emerged out of the Recovery Act. Head over and read it all:
Based on a preliminary review of information contained on Recovery.gov, it appears that Joe Nemec — the president of Bechtel Jacobs Co., DOE’s cleanup manager — leads the pack. Nemec’s [...]
I was wondering why Larry Porter was the only name I was hearing in the hunt for a replacement for Coach Tommy West. Then I saw his picture and it started to make sense.I think he is the only black in the running. I hope [...]
Gov. Phil Bredesen from the budget hearings:
“I wish every member of Congress would have to come sit in this room and listen to the real world of what’s going on in Medicaid today. I mean how could you listen to this stuff, the stuff you are talking about eliminating [...]
Gov. Phil Bredesen says another tax hike to shore up Tennessee’s unemployment trust fund appears unavoidable.
Asked after budget hearings with the state Labor and Workforce Development Department on Wednesday whether the increase will be necessary, the governor said: “I don’t think there’s any question.”
….I wanted to know how many times certain words were used in the Senate’s non-health care bill. Yes, I have been reading it, which is what got me to thinking, I’d like to know how many times certain words came up in the bill. It seemed, while reading through [...]
The chairman of that party makes it clear that the first vice chair of the Davidson County GOP is a small “L” not a big “L” libertarian. A letter addressed to the chairman of the Davidson County GOP Kathleen Starnes:
Matt Collins is not nor has he [...]
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