As
Tennessee House Speaker Pro Tempore Judd Matheny (R-Tullahoma)
continues to make noise about the possibility of challenging House
Speaker Beth Harwell (R-Nashville), the Haslam Administration finds itself wasting time having to explain that it isn't ...
Today the committee passed a Republican platform that supports measures to restore our economy, reduce the debt, defend our country and stand up for our Tennessee values. This is a winning platform and one that moves our country forward.
Devaney served on the Subcommittee for Economy and Jobs. The platform will be presented to the Republican National Convention next week.
I also want to commend Congressman Blackburn. She did an outstanding job helping to lead the Platform Committee. She represented our state well.
Gov. Bill Haslam says the state is still evaluating whether it will expand the TennCare program if Obamacare is fully implemented. But he says he's still leaning toward the state setting up insurance exchanges despite other southern governors saying the will refuse to help the federal government implement that portion of the program. He made the comments at Tennessee Technology Center in Nashville Aug. 14, 2012. For more, go to http://www.tnreport.com.
Davidson Co. sheriff to address immigration detainment programwww.wsmv.com
Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall is holding a news conference Tuesday to announce future plans reg...
More than 10,000 illegal aliens have been processed for removal from Davidson County under the authority of this program, according to Hall.
Since Governor Haslam has been in office the number of state positions has steadily decreased. In fact, there are 5,929 fewer state government positions than there were in 2008.
Today I received the following email notification of a Facebook post:
Matt Collins
They added over 10,000 new government jobs in TN!
|
On the tncampaignforliberty.org website the story linked to this story from the Nashville Business Journal blog which reported:According to an analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, total employment for all federal, state..
Government employment down, but not in Tennessee.I have highlighted an important phrase in the above story. Matt Collins did not bother to report that part of the story and instead he left the impression that Governor Haslam had grown state government.
Across the country, big government has gotten a bit smaller over the past year — but not in Tennessee.
- Eric Snyder Assistant Managing Editor- Nashville Business Journal
According to an analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, total employment for all federal, state and local government jobs dropped by 162,800 positions between the midpoints of 2011 and 2012, a decline of 0.7 percent.
Tennessee, however, added 10,800 government jobs, reaching 428,400 government positions. That growth — in both raw and percent change is the second-highest in the country, according to On Numbers, a Nashville Business Journal affiliate.
From: Beth Harwell beth
.harwell@capitol.tn.gov>
To: Rod Williams
Sent: Monday, August 20, 2012 3:57 PM
Subject: RE: Tennessee ranks second in the Nation in growth of government jobs?
Rod,I have shown your email to the Speaker, and thank you for emailing this information to our office. You are correct--the report includes government jobs on federal, state, and local levels. The number of state positions has steadily decreased, and I've included a chart that shows this decline over the last several years (to be exact, there are 5,929 less state government positions than there were in 2008). Governor Haslam, as well as Republicans in the legislature, promised to limit government. We've followed through on that promise, ensuring state government is as efficient and customer-friendly as possible. Because the Bureau of Labor Statistics does not break out the numbers, I can't be sure if the additions are in federal or local governments, but I know they are not from the state level--that allegation from the email is false. Further, and aside from state government jobs, we actually reduced our overall state budget (which was balanced) by 2 percent this year, while cutting taxes for all Tennesseans.I appreciate your email on this matter, and I hope this information clears this up. If I can ever be of service to you in the future, feel free to contact me!
Kara Owen
Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications and Policy
Office of the Speaker
Tennessee House of Representatives
Office: (615) 741-1975
Cell: (615) 812-5272
Room 19 Legislative Plaza
From: Rod Williams [mailto:rodwilliams47@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, August 20, 2012 10:49 AM
To: Beth Harwell
Subject: Tennessee ranks second in the Nation in growth of government jobs?
Beth, there is a news report circulating that Tennessee ranks second in the Nation in growth of government jobs. The report does not differentiate between Federal, State or local. It has been my understanding that Governor Haslam had reduced the number of State employee's. Could you have someone respond to this inquiry and tell me the number of state employees there were when Governor Haslam took office and the number now. I would like to counter the claim that Haslam and Republicans have grown state government, if it is not true.Thank you.Rod Williams
The new August 23, 2012 Farmers Market Commission meeting agenda is now available. You can find the agenda at the link:
Farmers Market Commission Agenda
A citizen watchdog needs to attend the meetings of the Farmers Market. They have been mismanaged and scandal-ridden for years and got a big increase in funding from the Council this year. We need a taxpayer advocate keeping tabs on this agency.
You can get your own copy of the Metro council meeting agenda at this link:Metro Council Agenda.
From the agenda you can link to the analysis. Council meetings can be really,
really boring if you don't know what the Council is voting on. With an
agenda and analysis, they are just really boring.
I read the analysis and agenda for you so you don't have to. Below are
the things that I think are worth being aware of that are on this
agenda.
RESOLUTION NOS. RS2012-377 and RS2012-378 propose amendments to the Metropolitan Charter. The resolutions must get 27 votes to pass the council. If passed, they will go to the public for a referendum on the November 6th presidential election. Since State law requires charter amendments must be approved between 45 and 60 days prior to the
election in order to be on the ballot these resolutions should be
deferred until the September 18, 2012 council meeting.
I saw this movie a few weeks ago when it was screened in Nashville. It is great! Highly recommended.
Letter from top Haslam aide seeks to clear 'confusion' over Muslim hire ...The Republic, August 19, 2012
"I want to start by clearly expressing there is no effort by the Haslam administration, the State of Tennessee, or any agency or department of the State to promote or advance Shariah law or Shariah complaint finance," he said in the letter. "The ...
"The promotion or advancement of religious ideology is an inappropriate
role of state government that is unacceptable, and will not happen
during this administration."
The Haslam administration's efforts to defuse grumbling among some
fellow Republicans comes as Rep. Judd Matheny, R-Tullahoma, mulls a
challenge to House Speaker Beth Harwell .....
J. Lee Douglas, .....said in a recent email to
fellow members ....."We must have someone leading our legislators who is
less about compromise, less about the next election and someone who
needs media approval less than he needs our approval and God's
approval," he wrote in the email. (read more)
For weeks now, I have been bombarded with emails, post in chat groups, Facebook post, and stories in blogs that report that various government agencies were purchasing massive amounts of ammunition. In a meeting of Liberty on the Rocks the other night people were talking about this development. This massive government purchase of ammo has resulted in speculation that the Obama administration is planning a coup shortly before the November election or immediately afterward should he lose the election.
I have spend hours on line trying to verify the facts of this story. The Internet is a very big echo chamber and there are thousands and thousands of Internet posting on this story. However, most postings link to other postings, none of which contain original research or are authoritative. The best I can determine is that this story originated with Alex Jones.
Alex Jones is a radio talk show host out of Austin Texas whose program is syndicated to 60 stations. We do not have Alex Jones in the Nashville market and I have never heard his show, but I have read his blog Infowars and his blog Prison Planet. He specializes in conspiracy theories and incendiary commentary. He is a 9-11 "truther" and advocates of all kinds of weird theories. When I found Alex Jones was a major source, it not the original source for this story, I was skeptical.
An exhaustive Internet search could not find this story being covered by any responsible conservative commentators nor could I find any reports of this in the mainstream press. If I can't find something reported by a reputable source, I am going to remain skeptical. Nevertheless, such massive purchases of hollow point ammo, did seem unreasonable. Maybe, just maybe, their was reason to be concerned.
Today, I found a report in the National Rifle Association's Institute for Legislative Action that provides some answers. The Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the lobbying arm of the NRA. On August 17th they had a article titled Federal Law Enforcement Agencies Buy Ammunition. Below are some excerpts:
You may recently have seen some in the Internet rumor mill feverishly repeating the obvious truth above, in an effort to stir up fear about recent acquisitions of ammunition by the Department of Homeland Security and a number of smaller agencies. The mildest writers have questioned why seemingly mundane agencies would need ammunition at all; more incendiary authors suggest that these government agencies are preparing for a war with the American people.They go on to report that the amount of ammo purchased by the various agencies was not excessive and they do the math. Much has been made of the fact that agencies which one does not think of as needing weapons and ammo, such as the Social Security Administration, have purchased ammo. As a matter of fact, the SSA does have armed agents who investigate Social Security fraud and issue warrants and make arrest.
Much of the concern stems from a lack of understanding of the law enforcement functions carried about by officers in small federal agencies. These agents have the power to make arrests and execute warrants, just like their better-known counterparts at agencies like the FBI.
Yesterday I attended the Walk to End Alzheimer's kick-off lunch event at the
Wild Horse Saloon. The Walk to End Alzheimer's is an annual event that takes
place in over 600 communities across America and will take place locally in
Centennial Park in early October. It is
the major fund raiser for the Alzheimer's Association, which provides funding
for research and advocates for a cure.
Alzheimer's is the sixth leading cause of death in American and as the baby
boomer generation ages, more and more people can expect to be afflicted with
it. My wife Louella sufferers from Alzheimer's and has been diagnosed for about
seven years but probably has actually had the disease for close to ten years. While
it is too late to help Louella, I have a passion for the fight to find a cure
for this disease.
Yesterday's event was a real downer.
Not because the disease itself is a downer, which it is of course, but
because the theme of the event was hippydom. This is only the second year I have attended
the kick-off event and last year the theme was cowboys. I assume every year they have
different theme. I am sure the organizers of this event did not mean to offend,
but they did. If I had known the kick-off was a hippy theme, I would have
skipped it.
One of the sponsors for the event was radio station called Hippy Radio and a
Hippy Radio DJ was the MC. Many of the
organizers of the event were dressed in tie-dye and they wore hippy era clothes
and love beads and flowers in their hair and some of the guys had on wigs. The speeches were all peppered with use of
words like "groovy" and "right-on." Quite a few of the organizers of the event
wore sunglasses that had a grill over the lens in the shape of a peace sign and
a lot of the women had earrings which were large peace signs. Posters featuring peace signs and other 60's era themes were posted on the walls.
I never was a hippy. I know a lot of
people born after the era was over think that everyone who was a teen or young
adult in the sixties or seventies was a hippy. That is simply not so. A lot of people of that generation were
married and traditional and were raising families and working and lot of them
were honorable serving their country in Vietnam. I am of that era, and quite
frankly I hated hippies. More than anything,
I hated the peace sign.
I know that many think of the peace as just a "cool" emblem. To
many it is just generally associated with the fun of getting stoned and
creative music and 'going to San Francisco and wearing a flower in your hair.'
Flower Power! Groovy! Peace! Far out! Cool!
Many people have no concept of the context of the Peace sign, and they see it is as nothing more than a fashion statement. To some, it has no more meaning than the 60's era smiley
face. To some it is just a nostalgic relic of the past.
To me however, it is a symbol of those who won the Vietnam war on behalf
of the Viet
Cong. It represents those who gave aid and comfort and encouragement to our
enemy. It is the banner that prolonged the war and caused more death and
destruction. When I see the Peace sign I think of those who marched and chanted
"Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh"
and burned American flags and spit on returning vets. It is the symbol of those
who hated America and allied with our enemies. It represents the very worst of
my generation.
The Vietnam war was not won by the Communist in the jungles of Vietnam
but was won by the "Peace" activist on the college campuses and the
streets of America and the peace sign was the banner under which they marched.
Those who marched under that banner can take credit for millions of deaths at
the hands of the Communist, for many millions more who were enslaved and for
prolonging the cold war for an extra thirty years. The Peace sign represents to
me those in the Communist fifth column who stabbed us in the back.
If you want to offend me, the Nazi swastika, the Communist hammer and
sickle, "KKK", and the Peace sign are all symbols that will do the
trick. While we live in an era that is ruled by political correctness which
means, among other things, never offending anyone, it seems the only people it
is safe to offend are Christians, patriots, and conservatives. The peace sign was a divisive symbol at the
time, and I am not over it.
I was deeply offended at the theme of the kick-off event and the use of the peace
sign emblem to kick off the Alzheimer's event. I am sending this essay to the Alzheimer's
Association. I am still going to
participate in the fund raiser, because I care more about the battle to find a
cure for this horrible disease more than I do the offense I felt at the cute
glorification of hippydom and the peace sign.
I will not buy a product that uses the peace sign in its promotion, not will
I shop at a store that uses it in its advertising. When I can do so without causing a scene, I
will let those displaying the emblem, know that I am deeply offended.
Posts
All Comments
