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A right-leaning disgruntled Republican comments on the news of the day and any other thing he damn-well pleases.
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If I needed one more reason to oppose Mitt Romney's candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination, he gave it to me. "I support the subsidy of ethanol. I believe ethanol is an important part of our energy solution in this country," Romney told a gathering in Iowa. (link)
Romney has no principles. He can not really believe that. Almost everyone agrees that ethanol has been a failure. Corn for ethanol competing with corn for food has led to higher corn prices and this has led to hunger in the third world. The increase in corn production has led to an increase in pollutant run-offs which has created a large dead area in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. It takes almost as much energy to produce a unit of ethanol energy as the energy produced. And, corn-based ethanol may be a greater contributor to global warming than oil. Corn-based ethanol is an inefficient source of fuel and would not exist without government subsidies and protectionism.
Even Al Gore has come out and admitted ethanol was a mistake and he has said the only reason he supported it as a senator and candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination was to gain the support of Tennessee and Iowa farmers.
We should be eliminating all subsidy for agriculture. Most farm subsidies are welfare for rich Hollywood "farmers" and Wall Street "farmers" and large corporate agricultural interest. Subsidies distort the market place and should be ended. With the government borrowing forty cents of every dollar it spends, we must get serious about cutting unnecessary spending. Agricultural subsidies are not only unnecessary, they are counter productive. While all agricultural subsidies are bad, ethanol subsidy is just nuts! If one is not willing to cut ethanol subsidies, what are they willing to cut?
In many ways Republicans or no better than Democrats when it comes to pandering to their welfare constitutincy, they just have a different set of recipients of government handouts. I am looking for a candidate who will take a principled stand for less government and fiscal and economic sanity. Romney is not that candidate.
Not so obscene after all; actually quite modest.
Compared to other American industries, the oil and natural gas industry’s profit margin are mid-range compared to other industries – 5.7 percent for each dollar, according to 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data.
Those industries making much higher net income/sales percentages on the dollar include beverage and tobacco products (21.7 percent), pharmaceuticals (19.4 percent), computer and peripheral equipment (17.3 percent) and chemicals (14.7 percent). (link)
Corporate management owns only 1.5 percent of the U.S. oil and natural gas industry. The rest is owned by tens of millions of Americans through retirement accounts (14 percent) and pension funds (26 percent). Mutual funds or other firms account for 29.5 percent ownership and individual investors own 23 percent of oil stock holdings. (link)
"The Obama loan modification program actually cost taxpayers $200,000 for each of the 375,000 loan modifications that were completed." Read more : no-government-fix-for-housing-woes
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Barry Donegan |
Ken Jakes is the kind of crusader for honest government and justice we need in the Metro Council. Last week he took action on the Fair Board issue and this week, David Torrence. This is not something new for Ken Jakes. He has a track record of fighting corruption, incompetence and abuse of power on the part of Metro Government. He is a thorn in the side of corrupt, incompetent and arrogant bureaucrats and politicians. Too often people get elected to Council and then never speak out on the floor and never raise issues. They get elected and then want to get along with everyone and not make waves. Ken Jakes would not be that kind of councilman.
Below is Ken's latest effort to force ouster proceedings against David Torrence.
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Ken Jakes |
Nashville, Tenn. –According to a news report this morning in The Tennessean, Mayor Karl Dean and Metro Nashville government are proposing major increases in the fee cable television subscribers pay for public, educational and government access channels, known as PEG programming.
Metro Government plans to charge and collect millions of dollars in higher fees from Davidson County television subscribers to make PEG channels available in high-definition quality, put new cameras in the mayor’s media room, purchase a mobile production van and build a new production studio. The media report states that Metro Nashville’s plan is to charge customers of Comcast Cable a 1,200 percent increase in their monthly PEG fee.
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Kathleen Starnes |
At a time when families are watching every dollar, Metro Government is proposing huge fee increases on just about every household that has cable television service, so the government can go on a shopping spree and buy a bunch of toys for the IT department. The Davidson County Republican Party believes this is bad public policy and terrible timing in light of the economic challenges facing families.
Mayor Dean presented his budget and made a big deal about ‘no new taxes,’ but this is a tax increase, plain and simple. Government should be making plans to rein-in spending, not fattening its wallet for a spending binge on fluff, like making programs such as the Bat Poet and Something about Zombies available in high definition. The priorities of this administration appear to be out of step with Davidson County families and their budgets.
Let us be clear – the County GOP considers an open and accessible government an essential ingredient in its relationship with taxpayers. Metro Channel 3 works just fine and serves an important purpose, but it does not require new expensive bells and whistles, or expansion for the purpose of providing homemade TV shows and other non-essential programming. I encourage all residents of Davidson County to voice their opposition to this proposed fee by contacting their local council member and the Mayor’s office. County Republicans plan to make this fee increase a campaign issue and demand opposition to it by the candidates we endorse.
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Ken Jakes |
Rose told Channel 4 that he believed Varney was aware that there were only 100,000 paid admissions last year. He said he presented his numbers to Varney the night before the May 3 meeting during a negotiating session.
"We disclosed how we came up with our numbers and what we felt like was workable for us," Rose said.
Asked again if Varney had heard the 100,000 figure the night before the board meeting, Rose said, "I think she knew. I think she knew that."
Varney said she didn't know.
"I find that very curious," she said. "We did not."
Tennessee's Sunshine Law"The General Assembly hereby declares it to be the policy of this State that the formation of public policy and decisions is public business and shall not be conducted in secret."Title 8, Chapter 44
(T.C.A. 8-44-101-201)
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Dave Patterson |
Tennessee's Chamber Maids
The Wall Street Journal, MAY 13, 2011
Nothing is worse for freedom and opportunity than when big business conspires with big labor. Behold the spectacle in Tennessee, where the Chambers of Commerce in Chattanooga, Knoxville and Nashville have joined with the teachers unions to kill education vouchers.
That proposal, which has already passed the state senate, would give thousands of low- and middle-income parents in failing school districts private school options. The Tennessee Equal Opportunity Scholarship Act would provide vouchers of between $4,000 and $5,000 per child to families with an income up to ...To continue reading the article you must be a subscriber to the WSJ so I have not bothered to link. The above portion is the essence of the story anyway. The article goes on to say that the Chambers trashed vouchers and told absolute lies claiming that "there is no empirical data demonstrating that vouchers improve student achievement," and that private schools lack "accountability" and won't be subject to "high academic standards."
This is a very sad story about a bear.
by Matt Collins
I have been a talk radio producer at 99.7 WTN / Cumulus Media since October 2005 until Thursday May 5th 2011. I was the longest running continually employed part-time producer at the station. Even though I have never worked for Dave Ramsey, he brutally and unfairly got me fired regardless of the fact that I was not his employee and did nothing to damage or harm Dave Ramsey or his product. My transgression? I was politely critical of Dave twice in one day on Twitter from my personal account, using my personal computer, and in no way represented or associated myself with my actual employer in my comments or profile. That’s right, Dave sought out my employer and leaned on them to fire me simply because I was minimally and politely vocal about not agreeing with Dave on a political point.(link)
Some Native Americans and sensitive NPR-listener types and politically correct liberal moralizers and MSNBC fans are appalled at the U.S.military's use of the code name "Geronimo" for Osama bin Laden during the raid that killed the al-Qaida leader. After bin Laden was killed, the military sent a message back to the White House: "Geronimo EKIA." EKIA stand for "enemy killed in action." The use of the code name "Geronimo" may offend some, but I don't care. I am just glad they killed the evil bastard. God bless our military, the CIA, and the United States of America.
Navy Seals and the CIA went into Pakistan, violating that nations sovereignty, and committed an extra-judicial execution of an unarmed man and I don't care. I am just glad they killed the evil bastard. God bless our military, the CIA, and the United States of America.
The Islamic Center of Murfreesboro joins in with all Americans in expressing our thanks to President Obama and the couragous members of our armed forces in this great success in our fight against terrorism. The ICM feels that a great justice has taken place. Both the ICM and the Muslims of Murfreesboro will remain vigilant in our stand against radicals of any kind and any act that results in the death of innocent people here in the US and around the globe.
We pray that God bless this great country of ours and that God ease the pain of those who lost loved ones and have suffered in this fight.(link)
The Islamic Center of Nashville (ICN) congratulates the US government and our neighbors on the death of Osama Bin Ladin, a terrorist who was responsible for the death of several thousand innocent lives. We commend our forces that conducted a successful raid that brought justice to this murderer. We share the joy and sense of relief with the nation that this evil person met his end. We again reiterate that we denounce the act that killed American-Muslims and Non Muslims. We appreciate President Obama that US is not at war with Islam and Osama Bin Ladin did not represent Islam.
We hope the death of terrorist AlQaeda leader Osama Bin Ladin will lead to a decrease in the number of innocent civilian deaths worldwide. The violent actions of Bin Ladin and his followers violated basic Islamic teachings and resulted directly or indirectly in the deaths of many innocent lives.
ICN endorsed the fatwa (religious ruling), against terrorism and religious extremism issued by the Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA) and endorsed by hundreds of U.S. Muslim groups, leaders and institutions. The fatwa stated in part:
“Islam strictly condemns religious extremism and the use of violence against innocent lives. There is no justification in Islam for extremism or terrorism. Targeting civilians’ life and property through suicide bombings or any other method of attack is haram - or forbidden - and those who commit these barbaric acts are criminals, not martyrs.”
Amir Arain, M.D.
Director, Public Relations
Islamic Center of Nashville (link)
Watch the Video.
"We don't celebrate the death of any human being, but in this case, I believe justice has been served," said Saleh Sbenaty of the Islamic Center of Nashville.
"We were hoping he would be captured alive because we need to know more about al-Qaida and his collaborators so we can dismantle this terrorist organization," Sbenaty said.