The perfect theme song for The Green New Deal

Today I have been reading several things about The Green New Deal.  It is unbelievable that this program of utopian idealism is even being taken seriously. We might as well promise everyone a pet unicorn. It would require repealing the laws of nature and the laws of economics. It is fantasy. Yet, many are endorsing it. Most Democrat presidential candidate have endorsed it. If you notice closely however, many are endorsing a green new deal, rather than the Green New Deal. They are leaving themselves a lot of wiggle room to disavow their support for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's proposal.


Anyway, my reading about the Green New Deal made me think of the perfect theme song for the movement. Remember the movie O' Brother Where Art Thou? It featured an old country music song called Big Rock Candy Mountain. It is a hobo's idea of paradise. It has a line about "the handouts grow on bushes," and another about, "the sun shines everyday." I thought it had a line about, "the cars run on water," but I must have imagined that line, I can't find it. Anyway, this is the perfect themsong for The Green New Deal.

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The Fetal Heartbeat Bill will not withstand a constitutional challenge and does not deserve to pass.

In a yesterday blog post, I gave a "Hallelujah" to news that the Tennessee state House had advanced the Fetal Heartbeat Bill, that would ban abortion after the detection of a heartbeat and make it a crime for a doctor to perform such abortions.  I spoke too soon.

The bill is almost certainly a bad bill that will not withstand a legal challenge. That is the view of David Fowler of The Family Action Council of Tennessee (FACT).  Fact is a social conservative advocacy organization that has been in existence for over twelve years.  David Fowler is an attorney and served 12 years in the State senate and is Executive Director of the organization.  FACT is the organization that is the force behind much of the pro-life, pro-marriage and pro-family legislation that passes in the Tennessee legislature. Fact also fights in court to defend those position and to beat back progressive overreach.  There is no one more pro-life than David Fowler. If David Fowler says the bill is a bad bill, I believe it.

Yesterday in a blog post titled "Is the Fetal Heartbeat Bill Viable?," David explained why the Fetal Heartbeat Bill is a wasted effort and almost certainly likely to be overturned in the Courts. He explains that in the last abortion bill that went before the Supreme Court, the court laid out what the Court would look for in future cases in order to consider a challenge to the precedent of Roe v. Wade. David says this legislation addresses none of those points.  He said if he served in the State legislature he would have been one of those who would have abstained from voting for the bill. I recommend you read his article.

I understand wanting to take a stand for life, but it does no good to pass a bill when you know before it is ever passed that it will be overturned in the Court. David, in his article, does not argue for doing nothing but says the legislature needs to build an arguable rational for any anti-abortion bill they pass that will provide some grounds to defend it in the courts.

I know some pro-life advocates can be very passionate and to save the lives of unborn children is something to be passionate about.  There is however a difference between being passionate and irrational.  On Facebook, I have seen some pro-life advocates denouncing those representatives who abstained on the bill and calling for those people to be primarried. Those who abstained showed courage in resisting popular passion and doing something that would feel good but accomplish nothing.  It is good to be principled and passionate, but if not tempered by a little pragmatism it is wasted energy.

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Blackburn opposes resolution to block Trump border emergency

Blackburn opposes resolution to block Trump border emergency. No surprise.

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Fetal Heartbeat Bill Passes in Tennessee State House

The Tennessean: Tennessee House of Representatives passes controversial fetal heartbeat bill

Tennessee Star: BREAKING: Fetal Heartbeat Bill Passes in Tennessee State House with 65 Ayes, 21 Nays and 7 ‘Present Not Voting’


Glen Casada on Facebook: Proud to announce that we have just passed the heartbeat bill in the House. If destroying an eagle’s egg is a federal crime, then stopping the heartbeat of another human being is certainly, at the very least, a crime against humanity. #TNleg is #ProLife!

Life New.com: Tennessee House Passes Bill to Ban Abortions Once Unborn Baby’s Heartbeat Begins 

To read the bill, see how legislators voted and to track the bill's progress, follow this link:  HB0077.

My Comment:

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Rand Paul Is Right to Reject Trump’s Emergency Declaration and other Republican are hypocrites.

Rand Paul Is Right to Reject Trump’s Emergency Declaration

Republicans must consistently oppose a “pen and phone” approach to governing.

by Katherine Timpf, March 5, 2019, National Review -Senator Rand Paul has announced that, despite supporting improvements in border security, he will vote against President Trump’s emergency declaration on the grounds that it’s an abuse of executive power — and he’s absolutely right.

“Every single Republican I know decried President Obama’s use of executive power to legislate,” Paul wrote in an opinion piece for Fox News. “We were right then.”

“But the only way to be an honest officeholder is to stand up for the same principles no matter who is in power,” he continued." 

by Rod Williams - That is my view exactly. If you have any integrity you can't be for the constitution only when it helps you in attacking the agenda of the other party and not care about the constitution when it would keep you from advancing your own agenda. Democrats didn't care about the constitution when Obama was in office and abused executive power and now with Trump in office, Republicans don't care.

Almost all Republicans have been guilty of being hypocrites. Senator Ted Cruz was one of the most vocal and articulate critics of President Obama's abuse of executive power. He was relentless in calling out President Obama. He now has lost his voice.

In an article, Obama Is Not a Monarch, Cruz decried the President for his executive amnesty for immigrants. He said the Presidents unilateral decree seriously undermined the rule of law. He called the action "lawless" and "unconstitutional."  He quoted the founding fathers and The Federalist Papers in making his case that President Obama had violated the Constitution and said, "A presidential temper tantrum is not an acceptable means of discourse."

Cruz is a smart guy and does not shoot from the hip.  He can articulate his arguments. He was right then, and if he said it today, he would be right today.  Obama still had two years left in office when Cruz issued  a 16-page report that laid out 76 Examples Of Obama's 'Dangerous Lawlessness.'  He listed example after example of how Obama abused executive power and disregarded and violated the law. Suddenly, Ted Cruz sees no evil.

The Democrats are hypocritical in denouncing President Trump for his violating the Constitution when they were silent when President Obama violated the Constitution. The Republican hypocrisy however is much more offensive. The Democrat hypocrisy is akin to someone who stopped doing wrong and started doing right, while the Republican hypocrisy is akin to someone who stopped doing right and started doing wrong.

I have never expected great fidelity to the Constitution from Democrats. Most Democrats believe the constitution is more of an inspirational framework rather than a binding charter. They believe in a 'living Constitution' that has to be interpreted in light of contemporary circumstances and mores.  Just take the way they look at the Second Amendment. They would not let the Second Amendment stop them from imposing "sensible" gun control.  They would argue that the founding father did not know we would have AK47s and so we must apply common sense and do what we think the founding fathers would do if they were hear today.  Or, they reinterpret the Second Amendment to mean that the National Guard has the right to be armed.

Contrast this with the way most Republicans view the constitution.  They would call themselves 'strict constructionist' or maybe 'textualist' or 'originalist'. Republicans believe the Constitution means what it says and means what the founding fathers meant it to mean. They believe it is a fixed charter. They believe it is as close to scared as a secular work can get. While it is amusing to see Democrats suddenly have concern for the Constitution it is heartbreaking to see Republicans no longer have concern.

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Carol Swain closer to becoming a candidate for mayor.

Carol Swain has taken a step closer to becoming a candidate for mayor. She has filed the "appointment of Treasurer" form. Below is her Facebook post announcing this move. I am sending her a donation and encourage readers to also do so. 

As I explained in a previous post, I was hopeful that John Cooper would run for mayor or some other sane Democrat or a closet Republican who was not closely identified as a conservative. I would prefer a candidate of this type simply because I think they would be more electable. Since no such person has emerged, I will be pleased to see Carol Swain run but suspect victory will be a steep uphill climb. To make a contribution, follow this link.

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New evidence suggests $1 million wasted, Dr. Joseph misled the School Board.

Please watch this Channel 5 WTVF news report by Phil Williams.  He reports that 
there's new evidence that Metro Schools may have wasted a million dollars of your money. He uncovers proof that the schools director, Dr. Shawn Joseph, misled the school board about a contract that spend a million dollars on software to track student achievement. This was software that Joseph had helped promote in his previous job.  He also signed a separate contract for another $500,000 just to have the company Certica Solutions write the questions for the software.

This is an outrage! How long will the School Board put up with this incompetent and likely unethical person leading our schools. Under his leadership the number of failing schools is increasing.  Our schools are on a downward spiral plagued by mismanagement, waste,  and incompetence.  It is way past time for him to be fired.
 

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Governor Lee's bold, thoughtful, optimistic agenda for Tennessee.

Today I had the pleasure of listening to Governor Bill Lee address First Tuesday.  He spoke for about 40 minutes followed by about 20 minutes of Q and A. He laid out his agenda for his administration and emphasized the policy proposals he made at last night's State of the State address.

On education, he said there would be a new imitative on vocational programs to provide the training people need to find good jobs. He also pledged to increase STEM education. He proposed $30 million dollars to improve school safety and put school resource officers in those schools without them. I was pleased to hear  him pledge to improve civic and character education in Tennessee. I am not so sure what constitutes "character education" but certainly agree with the need for Civics education. He said there would be an improved civics curriculum and requirements.  With many young people saying they prefer socialism over capitalism, in my view, we have a failure to inculcate proper civic values in young people. There also seems to be a lacking of understanding of American exceptionalism and the basics of how government functions. Civics education is badly needed.

Lee also proposed a new Education Saving Account plan that would allow low-income parents of children in the worst schools to take the funding that would go to educate that child in a public school and allow them to use those funds for tuition at a private school.  If I understand his proposal correctly, an element of the proposal that makes this different from other proposals of this kind is that normally when a child no longer attends the public school he would  otherwise attend, this causes the school they are not attending to lose the state funding that would follow that child.  Under Lee's proposal, the ESA money would be additional money for that purpose and the school would not lose money. This should satisfy one of the primary criticisms of voucher-type proposals.

Lee also spoke about criminal justice reform and the need to emphasis rehabilitation and education and job training for inmates. He said our current criminal justice system is failing and reform would benefit the incarcerated, save money, and make our communities safer. He spoke with real passion on this topic. As a private citizen he has long been involved in the program Men of Valor.

He also emphasized the importance of improving health care for Tennesseans and lowering health care cost. He said with the health care talent in Tennessee that there is no reason Tennessee should not lead the nation in innovation to lower cost and provide better health care. He does not have firm proposals yet but has appointed an advisory board to examine the issue and recommend proposals.

He also spoke about "good government" and said he would keep Tennessee growing and improving without raising taxes or indebtedness. He said he knows boom times come and go and he is committed to  increasing Tennessee's "rainy day fund."

I was really impressed with Governor Lee. He is thoughtful, energetic, and committed to a vision. I think is the right person at the right time to continue the progress Tennessee is making in education and to address other issues facing our state. He is a good man with a strong Christian faith and his enthusiasm and optimism are contagious.

I wish you could have been at First Tuesday today. If you missed his State of the State address, see it below. To skip the ad, click "skip ad."

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Rand Paul: "I can't vote to give the president the power to spend money that hasn't been appropriated..."

"I can't vote to give the president the power to spend money that hasn't been appropriated by
Congress," Paul said at a GOP dinner Saturday night at Western Kentucky University, according to the Bowling Green (Ky.) Daily News.

"We may want more money for border security, but Congress didn't authorize it. If we take away those checks and balances, it's a dangerous thing."  (Senate seems to have votes to reject Trump's wall move)

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Ted Cruz: "An imperial presidency threatens the liberty of every citizen."

"The President’s taste for unilateral action to circumvent Congress should concern every citizen, regardless of party or ideology. " "An imperial presidency threatens the liberty of every citizen." "Because when a president can pick and choose which laws to follow and which to ignore, he is no longer a president." Ted Cruz referring to President Obama's unilateral actions. ( link)

" ____________________________________." Ted Cruz referring to President Trump's unilateral actions.

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