Alexander on State of the Union: President Should “Liberate the Free Enterprise System” from His Own Regulations

“I would have preferred to hear the president give a real answer to income inequality, and the first real answer is to liberate the free enterprise system from Obama regulations so it can create more good new jobs. The second real answer is to give parents more freedom to choose a better school for their child…” – Lamar Alexander 

WASHINGTON, Jan. 28 – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today said the president failed to “give a real answer to income inequality” in his State of the Union speech.

Alexander cited his Scholarships for Kids Act – which he introduced in the Senate today (VIDEO Below) – as an example of a policy that would address income inequality by giving “parents more freedom to choose a better school for their child.” Alexander introduced his legislation at the American Enterprise Institute alongside Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who has introduced legislation that would create similar scholarships for children with disabilities.

Alexander attended the State of the Union with Tennessee Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey as his guest. The senator’s full remarks on the president’s speech are below:

“I would have preferred to hear the president give a real answer to income inequality, and the first real answer is to liberate the free enterprise system from Obama regulations so it can create more good new jobs,” Alexander said. “The second real answer is to give parents more freedom to choose a better school for their child, and today I introduced legislation to do just that by allowing $2,100 federal scholarships to follow 11 million low-income children to the schools they attend.

“Each state would make the decision about how much school choice to allow, but these scholarships for kids would redirect up to $24 billion in existing federal school funding that right now is often diverted to wealthier schools. 'Scholarships for Kids' would only benefit children from families that fit the federal definition of poverty, which is about one-fifth of all schoolchildren.

“Allowing federal dollars to follow students has been a successful strategy in American higher education for 70 years, and my proposal would allow the same opportunity to attend a better K-12 school that we have allowed in higher education. ‘Scholarships for Kids’ is the most ambitious proposal ever to use federal dollars to expand school choice. If the president wants to address inequality in America, he should do so by helping all children have the same starting line.”

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Wine in Grocery Stoes close to passing but anti-competition price-fixing bills leaves bitter taste.

 Dear Red White and Food Members,

Yesterday was a great day for the wine in retail food stores campaign.

Members of the House Local Government Committee voted to pass the bill. The bill was amended during the committee meeting to be solely about the referendum to give communities that already allow liquor-by-the-drink and/or retail package stores the right to vote on wine sales.

The House State Government Committee also passed a bill, adding amendments during the meeting to include items that have been agreed on by retail food stores and liquor stores, such as liquor stores' ability to sell additional merchandise.

These are huge wins for Tennesseans, and we hope the momentum continues tomorrow as we turn our attention to the Senate.

The wine legislation will be put to a vote on the Senate floor tomorrow, Jan. 30. If you have not already done so, please take the time to email your senator and encourage him or her to vote YES on the wine in retail food stores bill. We cannot emphasize enough how important this is! Click the link below to easily draft and send an email to your senator.

Cheers!
The Red White and Food Team

Click the link below to log in and send your message:
https://www.votervoice.net/link/target/tgcsa/MJWy94Fcb.aspx

My Comment: I am extremely pleased to us get this close to having wine in grocery stores.  While I hope it passes, this is not a perfect bill. In some ways, it is a very distasteful bill. It still bans Sunday wine sales. Why? You can buy beer on Sunday. Why not wine. I know why. It is politics. It is a deal to put together to get enough votes to get the bill passed. 

Another thing wrong with this bill is that it mandates a 20 percent markup over wholesale price.  What?  Yes, a retailer can not set his own price.  I am not sure how this will effect the big-box stores like Costco and Sam's Club that have their own supply chains rather than use local whole sellers.  Will they be required to use whole sellers? I don't know. If so, and they must have a 20% markup, then we will not get the benefit of lower prices.

Mandating a minimum price or a minimum markup is to protect some providers of a product or service from competition. That is wrong. Whether it is requiring Black Sedans to charge a $45 minimum for a fare or requiring a store to mark their wine up by 20% it is price-fixing and it is not to benefit the consumer but it is to screw the consumer to benefit the politically connected. My celebration of wine in groceries will be tempered by the anti-free market component of the bill which leaves a bad taste in my mouth. 

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That pen he bragged about doesn't seem so mighty

President Barack Obama will sign an executive order setting the minimum wage for workers under new federal contracts at $10.10 an hour, the White House said Tuesday. The president will announce the increase during his State of the Union address.

The increase from a national minimum wage of $7.25 an hour will not affect existing federal contracts, only new ones. Moreover, contract renewals will not be affected unless other terms of the agreement change.

The order would be one of the biggest examples in the State of the Union of Obama’s vow to use presidential authority to push for policies by circumventing Congress. (link)

That pen he bragged about doesn't seem so mighty if that is all he is going to do. It looks like I got all worked up over nothing. From his macho bravado about having a pen and not afraid to use it, I was expecting rule by executive fiat. I was expecting a real constitutional crisis and a need for massive resistance.  Based on the way he has already violated the constitution by not following the Affordable Care Act, by failing to not enforce immigration laws, and by making recess appointments when congress was not in recess, I expected escalated constitutional violations.  If this is his first shot at using his mighty pen, then I am pleasantly relieved. 

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A new deal is in the works for wine-in-grocery stores.7-11s and Wallmarts in; Sunday sales out.

A new deal is in the works for wine-in-grocery stores. It is an improvement over the previous version but still disappointing. It would allow convenience stores and big-box stores to sell wine. That is an improvement. Great! However it would prohibit grocery stores from selling wine on Sunday and from selling high gravity beer. What? Why must this be so complicated?  Why not just treat wine like beer? I know that to get enough votes to pass something that the liquor lobby has to be placated. Something is better than nothing however, so maybe this is as good as we can get and it is deal that the pro-wine legislators should take. I am glad that the supporters of wine held out to get convince stores and big-box stores included. I wish wine in grocery stores could be purchased on Sunday, but if giving up Sunday purchase is the compromise we must accept to get wine in stores, then accept it. At this point it is purely a political calculation and I am not the one counting the votes. If they can get wine on Sunday, hold out and keep trying. However 90% of a loaf is better than nothing. I would not let wine in grocery stores get killed for another year holding out for Sunday sales.

Here is the Tennesseean's report on the development: Lawmakers release new wine-in-grocery stores deal.

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Gov. Bill Haslam Named Policy Chairman Of The Republican Governors Public Policy Committee

TNReport Press Release Center, Press Release from the Republican Governors Association, Jan. 27, 2014, WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Republican Governors Public Policy Committee (RGPPC) announced today that Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam will serve as its Policy Chairman for 2014.

“Governor Haslam has emerged as a true pioneer in the public policy sphere over the course of his first term in office,” said RGA Chairman Chris Christie. “Under his leadership, Tennessee is thriving. The state’s economy is strong, job creation is up, taxes are down, the workforce is growing, and more than ever, a great education is within reach for all Tennesseans. The results Governor Haslam has achieved are a striking example of what can be accomplished when states take the lead and his insight will be invaluable to the organization as many of our governors prepare for re-election this year.”

“Just as we’ve done in Tennessee, Republican governors across the country are drawing on conservative principles and applying creative solutions in order to reform government and reinvent their states,” said Governor Haslam. “While the federal government balloons in size, gets in its own way and fails repeatedly to implement its policy priorities, states are flourishing. I am honored to serve as Policy Chairman at a time when Republican governors are widely recognized as standard bearers for truly meaningful reform, and I am eager to encourage and enable the kind of innovation and experimentation that yields state-level success.”

The Republican Governors Public Policy Committee (RGPPC) is the policy arm of the Republican Governors Association (RGA) and the official policy organization of the nation’s Republican governors. With a strong majority of 29 governors, the RGPPC is working to impact public policy on both the state and national levels.

Since taking office in 2011, Governor Haslam has worked diligently to improve education in Tennessee. Accomplishments include eliminating enrollment restrictions for charter schools; overhauling teacher tenure; and implementing a leading edge evaluation system for teachers. These efforts and others resulted in Tennessee becoming the fastest improving state in math and reading in 2013 as measured by National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

Business Facilities magazine recently named Tennessee the State of the Year citing its creation of jobs and success in diversifying sector growth. Additionally, Governor Haslam has improved the overall business climate through significant tort reform and an overhaul of the state’s worker’s compensation system.

Through comprehensive civil service reform, Haslam has created a more efficient and effective state government, and with conservative, business-principled management, has reduced the government footprint in Tennessee.

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Republican Jim Tracy Raises over $1 Million in 2013 to Unseat Embattled Incumbent DesJarlais

Murfreesboro, TN- The Jim Tracy for Congress campaign announced raising more than $150,000 in the 4th fundraising quarter, raising over $1 million in one year. With the primary election a little over 6 months away, Tracy’s war chest shows growing support across the 4th Congressional District.

 

“The 4th quarter fundraising numbers clearly show Jim Tracy’s momentum in the 4th District,” said Tracy for Congress Finance Chairman Shane Reeves. “The Tracy for Congress Campaign is focused on the issues and the people of the 4th District. This is reflected in the large number of individual donors and the amount of support we have received.”

 

Tracy ended the quarter and the year with more than $840,000 cash on hand.

“My wife Trena and I could not be more appreciative of the amount of encouragement we are receiving,” said Tracy. “As I travel throughout the 4th District I have more and more people asking how they can help. I am excited about the opportunity to represent them in Washington.”

 

To learn more about Jim Tracy visit www.tracyfortn.com.

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Man Faces Federal Charges For Foreclosure Fraud. Don't be scammed. Let me help you.

Politics and blogging is my hobby and what I do because I care about about my country and my community. It doesn't pay the bills; it cost me. What I do for a living is work for a HUD-approved, non-profit housing counseling agency as a housing counselor helping people avoid foreclosure and save their home.  I deal with a lot of people in crisis. Many people I can help. There are a variety of options for avoiding foreclosure.

People facing a possible foreclosure should not try to navigate the crisis alone.  Thee are some options people don't even know about and some solutions are more complex than they first appear.
If in default on your mortgage, seek help. Also, start early.  If you wait until you have a foreclosure sale date, it may be too late to help you. Don't be too prideful to seek help.

Please, please do not pay anyone to help you avoid foreclosure. You see these advertisement for help avoiding foreclosure everywhere: on the back of buses, on cable TV, and print media.  Once you become late on your mortgage you will start getting enticements in the mail and by phone to engage the services of people who tell you they can save your home. Many of these are lawyers.  Tennessee is a "non-judicial" foreclosure state, meaning it does not require judicial action to foreclosure.  There is almost nothing an attorney can do for you.  The attorneys are seeking bankruptcy clients.

Other solicitation are from real estate agents seeking to do a preforeclosure are short sale. Sometimes that is an option but should not be your first option. Most of the solicitation are out and out scams.

One of the saddest thing I see is people who could have saved their home if they had not given money that could have went toward saving their home to a scam artist. Not only did they lose money but they also lost precious time thinking someone was doing something for them, when they were not.

If you are facing foreclosure or falling behind on your mortgage, call me for a phone consultation. I am good at what I do and I have helped hundreds of people save their home. There is no charge for my services.  If after talking to you, I think I can possibly help you, I will schedule you an appointment. My work phone number is 615-850-3453. One of the most generous and helpful programs is ending soon, so don't delay.

Below is story of how a local scam artist scammed people out of million of dollars.  It looks like he is being brought to justice. I hope they throw the book at him and he spends a long time in jail.

NewsChannel5.com | Nashville News, Weather
News Channel 5, by Jennifer Kraus, Consumer Investigator
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A former Wilson County man who told struggling homeowners he would help save their homes from foreclosure now faces federal fraud charges.
This comes nearly five years after NewsChannel 5 Investigates first exposed Charles Jones and his company Dont4close.com during the height of the foreclosure crisis.(link)

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An emotional plea for Medical Marijuana from a Grandmother seeking help for baby grandaughter.

The following is reposted from the Tennessee Federation of Republican Women Facebook page.

Mawmaw goes to Nashville!!
I am here today for the Medical Marijuana Lobby.

Date: January 27, 2014

To: Lieutenant Governor Ron Ramsey
Fellow TN Republican Legislators

Re: TN Medical Marijuana Bill HB 1385
Chloe Grauer
Our Family’s Face for Medical Marijuana

I am writing to ask for your support after seeing the touching interview this week about the personal story of Lieutenant Governor Ron Ramsey and his grandson, Briggs. I was so moved by the deep emotion in Ron’s voice about his personal experience as a grandparent in the face of the unthinkable.
I saw Ron’s faith, his hope and his ability to accept God’s will while all the time knowing he would do everything in his power to save his grandson. However, as he admits, the situation was out of his hands. He could not personally fix or negotiate a fix, nor would money make it go away. Thankfully his story had a happy ending because his family was fortunate to have access to medical treatments that could heal his grandson.

I am a grandparent that knows and feels those same deep emotions each and every day since October 2012. Ron and his family have found peace but my family fights everyday to find a medical therapy to keep our Chloe alive and to ease her suffering. Our struggle is not from a lack of faith, but one of politics. There is a therapy that might help Chloe but we cannot have access to it in the State of TN.

Chloe has a rare neurological condition that causes her to have 100-200 seizures a day. When Chloe was born we had eight glorious days of joy but then the seizures began. She has only been alive 461 days and with a conservative estimate has had over 45,300 seizures. There are so few words to adequately express the helplessness we feel after watching her cluster seizures last more than an hour to just start up again as soon as they end. We have tried every medication cocktail available but it is not without a price, the toll of the side affects of these medicines steal almost any hope from us that Chloe will ever have a better quality of life.

Sadly Chloe is not unique in the sense of being a rare medical anomaly, there are thousands of other special needs children that live in TN that are being denied access to the medical oil (Charlottes Web Oil) from the marijuana plant. The medical grade CBD oil is not intoxicating, does not produce a high and therefore has no street value. Unfortunately my grand daughter’s life is caught up in a debate over “pot”.

I understand what a complex issue this is as it regards to medical marijuana but Republican Allen Peake in Macon, GA has written a bill that will focus only on the oil in an attempt to offer compassionate care for children like Chloe. When a parent sees a news story like the one Dr. Sanjay Gupta did on CNN this past August it is hard not to have hope that the Charlotte’s Web oil might help their child. With a 99.9% success rate in reducing or eliminating most seizures in the children featured in the documentary it makes you want to whisper ‘what if’….

Lieutenant Governor Ramsey, won’t you please extend the blessing from the healing of Briggs to consider how your support might help your fellow Tennesseans that find themselves at a very similar cross road as your family? I never imagined that I would be an advocate for medical marijuana but if you spent just one day with our sweet Chloe you would understand why I would move Heaven and Earth to ease her pain and suffering if I could.

Thank you for your consideration, I pray you will support the effort of our family and all those other children desperate for a chance to try this new medical therapy.

Sincerely,
Gail Grauer
Gail Grauer , Memphis, TN
E: gailgrauer@yahoo.com
C: 901-517-4664

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President Obama to speak at McGavock High on Thursday

The Tennessean - President Barack Obama will speak at McGavock High School when he visits Nashville on Thursday, the White House said Sunday night.

The White House didn’t provide any other details about the speech or about the president’s visit to the city, which an Obama adviser announced in an email to supporters Saturday.

McGavock, one of the largest high schools in the state, is among the Metro schools that began using the “career academies” model several years ago, grouping students by their career interests and partnering with private industry for donations of equipment, money and speakers. (link)

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Tennessean reports, Nashville didn't fully explore an Amp route without dedicated bus lanes.

This is an excellent article from the Tennessean. Most cities that developed a Bus Rapid Transit system did not dedicate a lane for a loading platform and a dedicated lane going both direction. Some did that for only part of the way and some not at all.  There are various options for a BRT that would not take two or more lanes of traffic and reduce remaining traffic lanes to a nine foot weight the way the Nashville AMP would do.  Nashville's design is only slightly faster and million and million of dollars more expensive than alternative designs. See this article for an explanation of alternative designs and examples from other cites using other design options. Nashville never did a study comparing other options.

Could there have been middle ground on Amp's center-lane design? 

By Josh Brown, The Tennessean, Jan. 25, 2014-  At the center of the controversy over Nashville’s proposed $174 million bus rapid transit line is the question of whether stretches of a busy road now used for cars should be converted into bus-only lanes.

Opponents of the 7.1-mile line proposed for the West End/Broadway corridor connecting West and East Nashville say taking away space for cars on already congested streets will make traffic worse, not better. Metro officials contend the dedicated lanes let buses avoid traffic and are keyto the Amp’s success.

But unlike other cities with such projects, Nashville never analyzed whether a bus line with the same mass-transit-style features — such as stations with level boarding platforms and pre-purchased tickets — would prove just as effective without the bus-only lanes.

That question lingers as engineers move forward in the coming months on a $7.5 million engineering phase that could largely settle the design of the proposal. (link)

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Pres Obama coming to Nashville on Thursday. Get those signs and flags ready

Pres Obama coming to Nashville on Thursday. Get those signs and flags ready, there WILL be a protest...more details soon. Nashville Tea Party is planning a welcome.

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Obama is the ultimate "imperial president," willfully violating the Constitution to further his goals. It is time for resistance to this abuse.

From The Christian Science Monitor: 

President Obama’s use of executive action to get around congressional gridlock is unparalleled in modern times, some scholars say. But to liberal activists, he’s not going far enough. 

The president (or his administration) has unilaterally changed elements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA); declared an anti-gay-rights law unconstitutional; lifted the threat of deportation for an entire class of undocumented immigrants; bypassed Senate confirmation of controversial nominees; waived compliance requirements in education law; and altered the work requirements under welfare reform.

This month, the Obama administration took the highly unusual step of announcing that it will recognize gay marriages performed in Utah – even though Utah itself says it will not recognize them while the issue is pending in court.

Early in his presidency, Obama also expanded presidential warmaking powers, surveillance of the American public, and extrajudicial drone strikes on alleged terrorists outside the United States, including Americans – going beyond Mr. Bush's own global war on terror following 9/11. But more recently, he has flexed his executive muscle more on domestic policy.

.... Jonathan Turley, a constitutional scholar at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. "In my view, Obama has surpassed George W. Bush in the level of circumvention of Congress and the assertion of excessive presidential power. I don't think it's a close question."

This presidents refusing to enforce the laws and his policymaking by executive fiat is unprecedented.  When George W. Bush issued controversial signing statements or acted by executive order, the main stream press let us know about it and decried the abuse of power.  Now, the main stream press are cheerleaders for the President. The only time we have seen anything close to such power unilaterally exercised by a President, is in war time by Franklin D. Roosevelt. Now, the President has promised we ain't seen noting yet. This is a recent statement from the President:

.....the fact that we are not just going to be waiting for a legislation in order to make sure that we’re providing Americans the kind of help that they need. I’ve got a pen and I’ve got a phone -- and I can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive actions and administrative actions that move the ball forward in helping to make sure our kids are getting the best education possible and making sure that our businesses are getting the kind of support and help they need to grow and advance to make sure that people are getting the skills that they need to get those jobs that our businesses are creating.(link)

The first action we may see where the President doesn't wait for legislative action uses his pen to bypass congress may be by raising the minimum wage by executive order.  Another action may be to ignore the the debt limit cap, if congress fails to raise the debt ceiling. Also more unilateral action on gay rights and immigration may be in the works.

There are three responses I think we should take in response to the Presidents current level of executive abuse and one to hold in reserve if the rule by executive fiat increases as the President implied it would:

1. Impeach the President. I know the Senate would not convict, but the House could impeach.  This would give an airing to the many abuses of power and may cause the President to curtail new abuses.
2. Elect a Republican Senate in 2014.  With the Senate in Republican hands the President would be less likely to continue his abuse of power.
3. Executive action that is suspected of exceeding constitutional authority should be challenged in Court.  Courts can be slow to act however and while waiting on a court decision Congress and the American people should not stand by and do nothing.
4. If the abuse of power continues and worsens then it is time for civil disobedience and an escalation of resistance.  I am not calling for secession or armed rebellion but massive demonstrations, strikes, occupying of federal building, disruption of the function of government, cyber activism by clogging of government websites and hacking, financial assistance to those who defy illegal executive orders and are fined or arrested, financial assistance to those arrested for civil disobedience, withholding of tax payments and other creative means to air grievances and engage in non-violent resistance. 

I am a person of moderate temperament generally but desperate times call for desperate measures. We cannot stand by and tolerate this level of executive abuse and if the anticipated increased level of executive abuse occurs, it is time for serious resistance. If allowed to stand, the next president will have precedent and may push executive abuse of power to an even higher level.

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