I am endorsing Diane Black for Congress in the 6th Congressional District.

I am endorsing Diane Black for Congress in the 6th Congressional District. I just made my online campaign contribution. I am endorsing Diane Black because she is not Lou Ann Zelenik. I oppose Lou Ann Zelenik because she is the leader of the peasants with pitchfork brigade that wants to deny first amendment rights to people of the Muslims faith.

I have been focusing on our own 5th district race and have not followed events in the 6th District that carefully. It appears that both Jim Tracy and Dianne Black are solid conservatives and good people and either one would make a fine Congressman. Diane Black has represented Tennessee’s 18th State Senate District since 2004 and she has a good record of accomplishments. The reason I am supporting her over Tracy is because in my view she is the front runner and if the vote is split three ways, Zelenik may win the primary and that would be a tragedy. I urge those who oppose Zelenik's election to rally around Black.

In covering the Murfreesboro mosque controversy WKRN reported the position of both Tracy and Black. As opposed to the position of Lou Ann Zelenik, both Tracy and Black respect the constitution. Below are the statements of both as reported by WKRN.

"The First Amendment is freedom of religion, and that is very clear, but if there is any kind of terrorism, any kind of training, any kind of thing that has to do with terrorism in that facility, I will fight to oust it," declared Tracy.

"I think this is an issue we are all concerned about when we see there is radical Islamic fundamentalist activity not just across the U-S, but across the world, however brilliant men… wrote our constitution, and it provided for freedom of worship," said Black, echoing previous statements.

Both Tracy and Black are to be commended for resisting the temptation to pander to ignorant bigotry and for standing firm in support of the Constitution. Please vote for Diane Black and defeat Lou Ann Zelenik.

Top Stories

Steve Gill Interviews Jeff Hartline

In this interview Steve Gill is pretty hard on Jeff Hartline. He describs Jeff taking a salary from his campaign as "slimy." Jeff tries to explain that the payment is for a period of time greater than just the reporting period and so is considerable less than $8000 a month. Unfortunately for Jeff, I don't think he makes his point very well. And, Steve Gill pretends he doesn't understand.

Top Stories

Lou Ann Zelenik stands firm against the First Amendment

2010-06-24 by VoteLouAnn.com

Let there be no mistake, Lou Ann stands with everyone who is opposed to the idea of an Islamic training center being built in our community. This "Islamic Center" is not part of a religious movement; it is a political movement designed to fracture the moral and political foundation of Middle Tennessee.

We Americans pride ourselves on being a tolerant people, but tolerance does not require naivete. Our nation is at war with Islamic extremists. Radical Muslims are killing our servicemen and servicewomen every day. They say they want to kill us, and time and again they have backed up their words with action.

Yes, we are tolerant, but our nation was founded on the tenets of the Judeo-Christian tradition; we have a right to defend that tradition. Until the American Muslim community find it in their hearts to separate themselves from their evil, radical counterparts, to condemn those who want to destroy our civilization and will fight against them, we are not obligated to open our society to any of them

There are those in our society who bow before the throne of political correctness, as if it itself were the god that would save our country. Those people live in a fantasy world that never was and never will be. Those who cower in silence are equally wrong. The People of Rutherford County all need to stand together and say, "enough is enough."

As Martin Luther King said, "in the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends," so let us not be silent. Stand strong for our God, our families, and our country. God bless you all.

Comment:

What convoluted logic! What bigotry. What ignorance. I do not live in Lou Ann Zelenik's district and cannot vote for her. If I did, I would not. Anyone who says Islam is not a religion should not be taken seriously. Maybe it is not your religion, but it is a religion. She is an embarrassment.

I guess Lou Ann Zelenik takes the view that the only good Muslim is a dead Muslim. Is that about right Lou Ann?

She says "radical Muslims are killing our servicemen and servicewomen every day." While that is true, it is also true that our servicemen and women are dying on behalf of Muslim every day.

Lou Ann Zelenik says she is a conservative and no doubt she is, but she is not a constitutional conservative. Her brand of conservatism could more accurately be called nationalistic populism. If supporting the first amendment to the constitution makes me one of those "who bow before the throne of political correctness" then I am bowing.

Top Stories

Straw poll and Pop quiz results from the Apollo School 5th District debate

Congratulation Lonnie Spivak.

The results are in for the straw poll and the pop quiz from last Thursday's Apollo School 5th District candidates debate.

STRAW POLL RESULTS:

CeCe Heil 31 – 32.9%
Jeff Hartline 24 – 25.5%
Lonnie Spivak 17 – 18.1%
Bob Schwartz 12 – 12.8%

Pop quiz on the enumerated powers listed in the constitution:

Lonnie Spivak – 14 right / 0 wrong
Bob Ries – 7 right / 2 wrong
Jeff Hartline – 6 right / 0 wrong
Bob Schwartz – 5 right / 2 wrong
Tracy Tarum – 5 right / 0 wrong
CeCe Heil – 2 right / 1 wrong
Patrick Miranda – 2 right / 2 wrong

I am surprised that in the straw poll that Bob Schwartz did not score higher. I expected that either Jeff or Cece would be number one, but I thought Bob might come in at number two or a close number three. Congratulations to Lonnie Spivak for taking the third slot.

I am really surprised that Cece did not do better in the pop quiz. Cece always speaks with such authority and confidence about the constitution. She is a lawyer and she has described herself as a 'constitutional scholar' . As I stated in my original post on this debate, I was embarrassed by my own poor performance. I was glad I was not on that stage; however, I scored a 4 which is not too bad. I beat a constitutional scholar!

Actually, I am also surprised at Jeff Hartline. He carries a copy of the constitution with him and also speaks with authority. We all need to bone up on the constitution if we are going to claim we love it so much. I am impressed by Lonnie Spivak. He got twice as many right answers as his closest competitor. Congratulation Lonnie Spivak for knowing the Constitution.

For a complete run down of the debate results and insight from the debate moderator and organizer visit Blue Collar Muse.

Top Stories

Early voting reports heavy volume, Republicans vote in record number

Friday and Saturday were the first two days of early voting in Davidson County and voter turnout exceeded expectation. In the first two days of early voting, 716 people cast their ballot. Of that number, 298 or 42% voted in the Republican primary. This is a much greater turn out for a Republican State primary than normal and has surprised election officials. Also, Howard School is generally a box that favors Democrats by a much wider margin. This is good news for Republicans.

In addition to the state primary for both the Democrat and Republican Party, this is the County General Election. Please don't overlook the general election! When one goes to vote it does not matter which primary one votes in, one may still vote for whomever they want in the general election. On the same ballot, the general election portion of the ballot follows the primary election portion.

Please Vote for Eric Crafton for Juvenile Court Clerk in the general election.

Below is the early voting schedule.

EARLY VOTING SCHEDULE

JULY 16, 2010 THROUGH JULY 31, 2010
DAVIDSON COUNTY ELECTION COMMISSION
OFFICE--METRO OFFICE BUILDING
800 2ND AVENUE SOUTH, FIRST FLOOR
(Next to the Howard Building)

FRIDAY, JULY 16, 2010 - 8:00 A.M. TO 5:30 P.M.
SATURDAY, JULY 17, 2010 - 9:00 A.M. TO 12:00 P.M.
MONDAY, JULY 19, 2010 - 8:00 A.M. TO 5:30 P.M.
TUESDAY, JULY 20, 2010 - 8:00 A.M. TO 5:30 P.M.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 21, 2010 - 8:00 A.M. TO 5:30 P.M
THURSDAY, JULY 22, 2010 - 8:00 A.M. TO 7:00 P.M.
FRIDAY, JULY 23, 2010 - 8:00 A.M. TO 5:30 P.M.
SATURDAY, JULY 24, 2010 - 9:00 A.M. TO 12:00 P.M.
MONDAY, JULY 26, 2010 - 8:00 A.M. TO 5:30 P.M.
TUESDAY, JULY 27, 2010 - 8:00 A.M. TO 7:00 P.M.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 2010 - 8:00 A.M. TO 5:30 P.M.
THURSDAY, JULY 29, 2010 - 8:00 A.M. TO 7:00 P.M.
FRIDAY, JULY 30, 2010 - 8:00 A.M. TO 5:30 P.M.
SATURDAY, JULY 31, 2010 - 8:00 A.M. TO 4:00 P.M.

EARLY VOTING SCHEDULE FOR ADDITIONAL SITES THAT WILL BE OPEN THE FOLLOWING DATES OF
JULY 26, 2010 THROUGH JULY 31, 2010 ONLY

• BELLE MEADE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH, 121 DAVIDSON ROAD
• BELLEVUE COMMUNITY CENTER, 656 COLICE JEANNE ROAD
• BORDEAUX LIBRARY, 4000 CLARKSVILLE PIKE
• EDMONDSON PIKE LIBRARY, 5501 EDMONDSON PIKE
• GREEN HILLS LIBRARY, 3701 BENHAM AVEUNE
• HERMITAGE LIBRARY, 3700 JAMES KAY LANE
• LIVING WORD CHURCH, 5380 HICKORY HOLLOW PARKWAY
• MADISON LIBRARY, 610 GALLATIN PIKE, S.

Hours for these sites:

• MONDAY, JULY 26, 2010 8:00 A.M. TO 5:30 P.M.
• TUESDAY, JULY 27, 2010 8:00 A.M. TO 7:00 P.M.
• WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 2010 8:00 A.M. TO 5:30 P.M.
• THURSDAY, JULY 29, 2010 8:00 A.M. TO 7:00 P.M.
• FRIDAY, JULY 30, 2010 8:00 A.M. TO 5:30 P.M.
• SATURDAY, JULY 31, 2010 8:00 A.M. TO 4:00 P.M.

STATE PRIMARY AND COUNTY GENERAL ELECTION

AUGUST 5, 2010

For general information please visit www.nashville.gov/vote. Also, to obtain your Election Day Polling Location you may “click” on “MY POLLING LOCATION” icon.

Top Stories

The First Amendment also applies to Muslims

Hundreds of people marched in neighboring Murfreesboro last week to protest the building of a mosque in Rutherford County. The protesters delivered a petition bearing 20,000 signatures to the county mayor. (link) I was not among the marchers and my name was not on the petition. I support the First Amendment.

There are those who will argue that a mosque is really a terrorist training compound and the Muslim faith is not really a religion and that Muslim should not be afforded the same freedom of religion as other groups. They think Rutherford County should listen to the will of the people and stop the building of the mosque.

Thank God we do not live in a nation where the will of the people trumps our constitutional protections. It is not the majority who need to have their rights protected. The same people who think that a duly elected governing body should not have the right to take away their second amendment rights, think officials in Rutherford County should follow the will of the majority (assuming it is the will of the majority) and take away the first amendment rights of others. It seems some conservatives love that second amendment but are not too keen on the first and not so sure about some of the others. Their love of the constitution is very selective.

I am not naive and I am not uninformed. I realize that there have been mosque associated with terrorist activity and I realize that there are terrible things done in the name of the Muslim faith. I know that they stone adulterers in Saudi Arabia. I know that women are not well treated by the Muslim religion. No, I do not want to live under Sharia law. I have read the barbaric excerpts from the Qur'an. You do not need to educate me. I have attended more than one meeting of ACT for America. Just last week I attended the ACT-sponsored presentation by Americans for Peace and Tolerance. There is no need to send me experts from the Qur'an or links to websites or YouTube video. I have already seen it.

I support legal scrutiny of suspected enemies. If an undesirable visitor is in this county it is our right to expel him. If Americans are plotting terrorist activity I want them to be apprehended and prosecuted. If a Muslim congregation has ties to individuals or groups that advocate extremism then they should be exposed. People should be educated to the threat of radical Islam. It does follow that acknowledging the threat of radical Islam should leads to violating our believe in freedom of religion.

If we abandon our concept of property rights, innocent until proven guilty, and freedom of religion then the enemies of freedom have won a battle. My distaste for fundamentalist Islam and my concern for security does not trump my support for the constitution and basic American values.

Top Stories

Jeff Hartline and Bob Schwartz to debate July 17th

Jeff Hartline

Two of whom many consider to be among the top three candidates for the Republican nomination for the 5th congressional seat will be going toe-to-toe in a one-on-one debate this Saturday. Jeff Hartline will be debating Bob Schwartz.

This debate should be interesting as the two candidates have differences on issues such as the future of Medicare, immigration and energy policy. In style and substance these candidates present a choice.

While you may have seen the candidates "debate" in a crowded field of ten, one-on-one there is a greater opportunity to evacuate the candidates. The debate will be moderated by Councilman Duane Dominy. Audience members will be given the opportunity to ask questions of the two candidates. Come and ask the hard questions.
Bob Schwartz

The debate is sponsored by the Priest Lake Republican Club. The meeting takes place at the Sprit of Life Church, 3646 Murfreesboro Pike. Breakfast sandwiches and coffee will be available for purchase at a modest price. The group will meet Saturday July 17th at 8:30 AM for coffee and eating and socializing and the program will start at 9AM and the program will conclude at 10:15AM.

Top Stories

The Apollo School Republican 5th Congressional District Debate

Last night, seven of the 10 active candidates for the Republican nomination for the 5th Congressional District engaged in a debate at Apollo Middle School in Antioch. The debate was co-sponsored by Conservatives on the Move, The Tennessee ConserVOLiance, Tennessee Tax Revolt, the 9-12 Project Tennessee, the National Fiscal Conservative PAC, and the Davidson County Republican Party. Ken Marrero who blogs at Blue Collar Muse and is a conservative leader in Tennessee was the debate moderator. About 175 people attended the event.

Patrick Miranda and Tracy Tarum who had both missed the Davidson County Picnic were participants in this debate. Absent without an explanation was David Hall, who is running a campaign that must have as its campaign strategy avoiding places where active Republicans will hear your message. Hall missed this event and he also missed the picnic on Saturday. Also absent were Jarod Scott and Vijay Kumar.

The program moderator announced that Vijay had been in an auto accident and was in recovery and could not attend. Following my blog post on Saturday that mentioned Vijay’s absence from the July 10th DCRP picnic, Vijay called me and explained the same thing to me as his reason for missing that event. He said he had been rear-ended in an auto accident about two weeks before and had been in traction and would be out of commission for maybe two more weeks. Surprisingly, I saw Vijay at a meeting Monday night July 12 where there was presentation by a group called Americans for Peace & Tolerance. The meeting concerned the threat of radical Islam and was at the Hampton Inn on Crestmore Dr. I arrived late and left as soon as the event was over, and did not get a chance to speak to Vijay at that meeting. I am going to give Vijay the benefit of the doubt and assume he was too ill to attend the DCRP picnic, but recovered enough to attend the Monday event, but then had a relapse and was too ill to participate in the debate. I wish him a speedy recovery.

The debate was fast paced and enjoyable. A twist to this debate was that each candidate had a certain number of red flags they could throw to have the right of rebuttal of another speaker. Another twist was a Jeopardy-inspired use of white boards where all candidates answered the same question, writing their answer on the board and then revealing the answers at the same time. Ken did a great job moderating the debate.

Despite the enjoyable format and fast pace of the debate, it is still difficult to know who said what when seven people are debating. I recorded the event and took good notes, and may go back and quote some of the debate highlights. From memory however, here are debate highlights and observations.

Bob Ries spoke very loud into the microphone and was deafening. Bob also has a hearing impairment that kept him from adequately hearing the other contestants or the moderator.

Cece Heil and others, said they did not think it was an appropriate government function for FEMA to provide assistance during the recent Nashville flood. Bob Schwartz thought that was appropriate citing the Welfare clause of the constitution. Cece said Bob did not understand the welfare clause.

Bob Schwartz hammered Jeff Hartline on Jeff’s advocacy of an energy tax. Jeff explained that he was not advocating any additional amount of tax but that any additional tax revenue realized from any new additional sources of energy production be taxed at the same rate as current energy production and the revenue be used to reduce the deficit.

Lonnie Spivac advocated a procedural rule change in how congress conducts its business so that earmarks could not be tacked on to unrelated legislation. He credited Bob Ries for also advancing this idea.

Cece Heil said she opposed the Patriot Act but did support the use of harsh interrogation techniques.

Tracy Tarum was selected as the favorite of the candidates when asked who they would like to see win if they did not win the nomination.

If this debate was videocast and I find the link, I will update and post it. Also, there was an audience poll of which I anticipate learning the results. One feature of the debate was a pop quiz where the candidates were asked to list as many of the 18 enumerated powers of the federal government as they could. I admit I did not do well in trying to answer that question. I am curious how the candidates did. The answers are to be posted on the website Blue Collar Muse. When that is posted I will post the link.

Top Stories

An update: Bob Schwartz reports dismal fund raising.

Bob Schwartz, who many see as among the top three contenders for the Republican nomination to take on Jim Cooper in the 5th Congressional district, had his second quarter campaign financial report released today. It does not look good for Bob. He reports receipts of only $10,710. Ten thousand dollars is how much one needs to run a campaign for Metro Council. Can Bob compete?

I asked Bob how he expected the win the primary with such little funding and Bob said his message would win the election. "My straight, clear, conservative, pro-business message that includes a program to get people back to work by slashing taxes and my program to destroy Obamacare and save Medicare will resonate with people," said Bob.

Asked how he could get his message out so people would hear it, Bob said he wished he had more funding and that his campaign was definitely an underdog effort but he had "enough" funding to compete in the process. He said he would be “all over the radio” the four days prior to heavy early voting and prior to primary day. He also said he had a massive email list that he was using to reach people and that his blog, video and website were going “wild” on the web. He sounded upbeat and positive.

Reports for Jeff Hartline and Cece Heil are not yet posted. David Hall reports receipts of $275,968, however most of that is a loan to his campaign. The second quarter report is cumulative through June 30, 2010.

Top Stories

Obama, Hitler and Stalin

This is over the top. This is in poor taste and it represents a poor strategy. It does not help our cause. Things like this are going to drive moderates away from us and back into the Obama camp and it will energize the Obamanistas. This billboard by the North Iowa Tea Party will be a recruiting and fundraising tool for MoveOn, Organizing for America, and the Democratic Party. This will help Obama more than it will hurt him. This is extreme and makes our side look like idiots and radicals.

Please do not get me wrong. My position is clear. I do like President Obama. He is taking us in the wrong direction. He is eroding our freedoms and changing America for the worst and I want to see him defeated in 2012 and I want to see a Republican congressional majority elected in 2010 so his agenda can be defeated now. However, President Obama is not Hitler or Stalin. He is more like those nameless, unremarkable leaders that rule much of Europe.

Despite believing Obama is taking us in the wrong direction, I do not think he is taking us to the Gulag or the gas chamber. He is taking us down the path of Democratic Socialism and there is a difference. There is a big difference between those welfare states of Europe with a national health care, a stifling bureaucracy, low growth rates, and little opportunity for economic advancement, and a totalitarian state like Communist Russia or Nazi Germany. We do not need to exaggerate by comparing Obama to Hitler or Stalin in order to make our case.

America is that 'shining city on a hill'. America is unique. We are an exceptional country in the world. We are the nation that people want to emigrate to. We are the land that has been the engine driving the economy of the world and creating wealth and a better standard of living for mankind. We have been the nation that has inspired the people of other nations to seek to become free. Obama does not want to turn us into a police state; he wants to destroy our uniqueness and make us ordinary.

Our concept of man and his relationship to the state is different than that of most of the world. Many citizens of other nations do not mind beings subject of their sovereign; in America the individual is sovereign. In many countries of the world people look to government as granting them their rights; in America we know that our rights are God-given and we demand government respect our rights. In most of the world if a citizen is accused of a crime they must prove their innocents; in America the government must prove the citizen guilty. These things that make us different are the things we are fighting to preserve.

In America our fight is not between those who want to turn us into a totalitarian police state versus those who want us to remain free; rather, it is between those who want to turn us into a welfare nanny state and those who want us to remain free. We should not have to exaggerate to make our point. Obama wants to turn us into a typical European welfare state; we want to keep America as that unique beacon of hope and freedom.

Top Stories

The New Black Pampers

Top Stories

We are not entitled

by guest blogger Jeff Sullivan

The U.S. government is running a budget deficit. That should not be news to anyone reading this column, nor should it be news to anyone not living in a cave. Politicians in both major parties give speeches lamenting the problem, but with little hard evidence of what they intend to do to correct it. Some want to increase taxes, some want to reduce taxes. But one thing is certain. Government spending must decrease, both over the short and long term.

The question you may be asking, is how? Where do we cut and who will be hurt? The answer is in our entitlement programs, specifically, Social Security, Medicare and our yet to be implemented but already law, Obama-care.

To keep spending from spiraling out of control, these entitlement programs must be pared back or eliminated. The recent healthcare reform, commonly referred to as Obama-care, should be repealed before it can add to the current budget deficits. Assuming this occurs, the next steps must be to reform Social Security and Medicare.

Full Social Security benefits are currently available to retirees 66 or older, gradually increasing to 67 for individuals born on 1960 or afterwards. Medicare benefits are currently available to all individuals 65 or older. These arbitrary ages were set at a time when the average life span was much lower than it is today. As such, an increase in the age at which individuals can receive benefits appears to be reasonable and sound.

The age at which individuals can receive Medicare and Social Security benefits should be gradually increased, at a set rate of 4 months for every year beginning immediately. This would mean that in 2011, individuals would be eligible to receive Medicare benefits at 65 years and four months of age and eligible to receive Social Security benefits at 66 years and four months. Each year would add another four months to the age at which individuals could receive benefits. This would continue in perpetuity. The result would be a continual reduction in the population served by Medicare and Social Security, and a likewise reduction in payouts by the respective programs.

Making these changes would not reduce benefits for current recipients of Social Security or Medicare, but would ease the financial burden these two programs face. Those of us under the ages would have to work longer to be eligible for benefits, but the increase in ages would be gradual enough not to be an excessive burden closer to retirement age. For myself, at age 40, it would mean that I would be eligible to receive Medicare benefits at the age of 77 years and four months and Social Security benefits at 78 years and eight months. Given the projected life span of individuals like myself who were born in 1969, it is possible that I will never receive benefits from either program.

And that is how it should be. Even in America, we are granted by our Constitution only the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Nowhere is the promise of a monthly check or free medical care should I happen to need either. While well meaning, these two entitlement programs have enabled generations of Americans to buy into the fallacious idea that government can and should solve our problems. As a result, government spending has run amuck and Americans have abandoned the ideals upon which this country was founded.

Our God given talents and the decisions we make throughout their lifetime should decide each individual’s fate. Those of us that work hard, invest wisely and refrain from self-destructive choices should reap the benefits of our labors. Those of us that choose a different path should reap the benefits of their choices as well. This is precisely what the framers of our Constitution intended and it is to what each free-thinking individual should aspire.

Jeff Sullivan is an electrical engineer residing in Nashville. He is married with two young children and he is working to see the American experiment in Socialism reversed come November.

Top Stories