Camp4u

" Tax the employers for the non working"

2009-11-20T11:45:00.014-05:00

More taxes on small employers. Just when you thought it couldn't get worse for people trying to keep jobs. Now Phil wants to increase taxes on the people who actually employ people to prop up people who aren't working.

Backwards logic at its best.

The claim last year was we have to have this new tax increase to get the stimulus money. Now they want another tax increase on employers to prop it up. How bout we stop mandating insurance payments onto employers and instead allow the beneficiary of the insurance to make the payments in advance if they want. You know, sort of like regular insurance works. A minimal amount is required by federal law but it is a fraction of what we are doing now.

As it is now unemployment insurance is a pre-paid vacation for freeloaders. The employee has no "Skin in the game". If the business goes under the employee still gets paid for not working. The only person who looses is the employer and the business community.

Word from Isreal

2009-11-20T11:36:00.001-05:00

I am on vacation in the Amazons of Peru but I thought I would just pass on an interesting story. I was talking with a fellow traveler from Israel. I had not passed on any of my political beliefs and I thought I would ask him what he thought Israel was going to do about Ahmadinejad. He just shook his head "It is terrible" he said. "Our hands are tied. We have lost so much power." I asked why, He said "Obama and the Democrats took over. We have to have support from America to do about anything and Obama is a fence sitter." He went on "Bush may not have been perfect but at least he took a stand for us. He knew the difference between good and evil. Obama wants everyone to be his friend. With some people and groups that does not work. Obama could be the worst president for Israel since Jimmy Carter. "

" How so?" I asked

"Carter did not support the Shaw of Iran. When he fell, the radical extremists took over. They now fund almost all the worlds terrorism. He was a disaster for Israel! Now Obama is sending the same messages"

I mentioned to him that in America most Jewish people are Democrat. He said they must be crazy or have no clue as to what is going on in the world. "The American Democrats will end Israel" "That is if they don't end America first."

That is when I told him I was a proud Republican! To that I received a warm "Thank you!"

This is huge

2009-11-19T11:59:00.004-05:00

Memphis accepts 100 million to improve schools. Why is that a big deal? It is something Republicans have been fighting years to get. Accountability from bad teachers and reward for good ones. For years, any sort of accountability was killed by the TEA/NEA because some of their union members might be exposed as bad teachers.

Now with the Bill Gates $100 million the temptation became too sweet.

This ranks up there with charter schools as far as victories for education and Tennessee school children go. Of course the TEA and NEA are probably fit to be tied.

"Oh lord! Not the golf courses!"

2009-11-17T09:19:00.002-05:00

Lets see, what can we do? Put more felons on the street or cut more of the golf courses and swimming pools

Tough choices in the legislature for some.....

Why an armed populace is necessary

2009-11-17T07:18:00.005-05:00

When the governor wants to release 3,300 to 4,000 felons back on to Tennessee street and parks (as is suggested in this Richard Locker article) you have to wonder if keeping limits on honest legal carry permit holders is such a good idea.

The cuts are coming, Who get the ax?

2009-11-17T06:46:00.005-05:00

The cuts in k-12 education funding look to be coming. Bredesen said he wants to cover the projected $82 million in inflation and growth costs for K-12 education costs, but warned that cuts remain possible even there.

Why we can't at least move the 50 million of additional pre K money added from the regular budget to k-12 BEP is beyond me. Pre K was always supposed to come from lottery surplus money. Not the regular budget.

When the cutting comes people are going to have to decide what is a nice want and what is an absolute need. Pre K at its best is an optional experiment with mixed results. It is a nice want, not a need. K-12 is an absolute need. You can't just end K-12.

Interesting

2009-11-16T21:30:00.001-05:00

10 famous homeschoolers.

I think I have heard that idea before

2009-11-16T08:13:00.007-05:00

Now even regular people are calling out for more parental accountability with their child's education. I love it. I suggested this idea for all the people who want free state daycare or Pre K. Why not. All studies show parental involvement is the top way to gauge the potential outcome for a child's educational success.

From my april 2005 post...

In one case, before the child was admitted to school, the parent had to attend classes where they were instructed how to read to their children (faster, slower, point things out in pictures). In some cases the parents had to sit in a class and pick out a teacher. If the teacher ended up with too few students, then he/she didn't teach that year. Obviously teacher tenure was not in effect in this example.

Also, in some places, PARENTS get a report card on such things as attending meetings, volunteering at school, calling teacher about student progress, sitting in on a class, etc. Do these programs sound good? They usually cost a little more than half of what the Governor is proposing to spend and have proven to have effective results. And regarding vouchers (did I say a bad word?) to be used for these pre-K programs, they are off the table......

.....All of these ideas are low cost and involve changing the way things are currently done. At some point we have to start looking at the process instead of just adding another layer of bureaucracy. But often times the things that are logical aren't listened to by the powers that be. If we must go the state run road why not make the parents come to classes or be forced to pay for the pre K?

A matter of trust

2009-11-16T07:01:00.002-05:00

The home town paper comes out against Kent Williams being reinstated as a Republican.

It should not be forgotten that no one forced Rep. Williams to sign a pledge that he would support his party’s nominee — then widely understood to be Rep. Jason Mumpower of Bristol — for speaker. Williams did that of his own free will. To publicly make that pledge, only to break it for his own personal aggrandizement, was, and remains, a dishonorable act for which Williams has never apologized.

Indeed, it is Williams who unaccountably continues to affect an air of victimhood for being shunned by the colleagues he betrayed.

His conduct reminds of the story about the boy who murdered his parents, then threw himself on the mercy of the court as an orphan.

Rep. Williams has already bartered away the trust once placed in him when he cynically plotted to advance his personal political standing at the expense of his colleagues and the Republican constituents who elected him.

It’s exceedingly clear that the only allegiance Kent Williams has is to himself.

Some Tennessee Republicans may be inclined to forgive or ignore Rep. Williams’ duplicity in the past in exchange for his vote in a closely divided House. But they need to know that by doing so they are not merely excusing bad behavior, but elevating expediency over experience.

Home school hope

2009-11-14T21:20:00.005-05:00

As many of you know I have been working for months (Years?) to set up some sort of program where home school students might get to play in TSSAA sports beyond the limited level they can participate in now. The idea was able to have a victory this last week. Last year I was able to get TSSAA to add these questions to one of their survey of small schools regarding home school and sports.

1. Would you be in favor of allowing students under their
preexisting home school umbrella for at least one year to
be permitted to participate in sports programs at your
school?

2. Would you be in favor of a pilot program of the same?

Two thirds of the schools responding to the questionnaire were in favor of these ideas!

As you may know Tim Teabow was the product of a similar but much larger program in Florida. Seemed to work out OK for them. One step at a time.

In Peru

2009-11-11T22:34:00.002-05:00

Blogging will be limited for the next week or so. I am in Peru and internet is limited (unless I want to pay about a buck a minute).

"The best job stimulator"

2009-11-08T11:25:00.006-05:00

I keep hearing Democrats and even some Republicans fall into the trap saying how road building is the best job stimulus investment we can do.

In the short term that may be true, but in the long term I think a strong economy with many thriving, small and mid sized, free market, private businesses is the best job stimulator there is. Without that, the economy will not turn around, long term, no matter what we do.

Selling that message is one of the great challenges conservatives have under the current administration, but we need to keep reminding people of that as the debate continues.

Strategery

2009-11-08T08:55:00.004-05:00

Tom Humphrey reports on some of the strategery going on behind the scenes of the GOP primary.

In the current Republican gubernatorial campaign, Ron Ramsey said the other day he is positioned to appeal to both wings of the party's Tennessee electorate - the "conservative activists" and the "pro-business Republicans," to use his terms.

In the Ramsey view, Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam is the moderate in the race and thus may have some appeal to the business wing - not to mention a lot of money, including a big chunk donated by business

It is starting to come out now that Haslam skipped the Tennessee Conservative Union dinner to be at a fundraiser hosted by long time Democrat fundraiser David "Ace" Harrington whose next fundraiser is for Democrat Joann Graves. Not what the hard Republican party people or TCU regulars want to hear.

Another step

2009-11-08T08:10:00.008-05:00

Any one wonder why it is difficult to trust some people to be in the party? Here is another reason.

The e mail went out a few days ago inter caucus. It was a trial balloon. These things get put out some times to gauge response of the members before it is put out to the mass media. Sometimes it is a good idea and sometimes it is bad. When it is good, we move forward and we look unified in our response. When it is bad many times the idea just goes away. No harm, no foul.

This one started out strongly worded but was losing steam fast. Several members had voiced displeasure with the idea. Some of the main objections were that by doing this they were going to drive a wedge between the caucus and Tennessee Right to Life. It also brought up stories that made some of our caucus members look anti life. The story just needed to go away.

I had personally spoken with leadership a few days ago and they had said it was probably not going to go out. I spoke with another person who had contacted our caucus leadership after I did and they were told it was definitely not going to go out.

No harm, no foul right?

Wrong.

Someone decided to go ahead and send copies of e mail exchanges to the media. Why would someone who supposedly didn't like the idea or tone of the letter release it to the media when the idea was going away? Simple. To try and climb a micro smidgen higher for themselves, to divide our caucus between those who might have wanted to send the letter and those who might not, to try to make our caucus leadership and some of our members look bad to TRL members and make themselves look good.

Mission accomplished.

Now, there is no reason to not to send the letter. It is already out. The wedge has and will grow between some of our members or between our caucus and TRL but that one person looks a smidgen better at the costs of the team.

The party plan for reform

2009-11-08T07:50:00.003-05:00

According to Phil Valentine its goals should be real simple. Get the old time (political) religion.

Does any of the Republican leadership remember Reagan? Ronald Reagan didn't run as a conservative during the primaries then rush to the middle in the general election like McCain. Reagan staked out his positions and stood fast. The mountain came to Reagan. Many in the Republican Party seem to have lost their ability — or their desire — to sell their ideas and principles to the American people. Backing Scozzafava is clear evidence of that. All they care about is racking up numbers on Election Day. It doesn't mean squat if someone has an "R" after their name and that "R" stands for RINO (Republican In Name Only). There needs to be a double-R after those names, for "Reagan Republican.".....

.....If the Republicans want to regain power in Washington they need to focus on the things that matter to most Americans. Stop spending like drunken sailors. Really start to dismantle that beast in Washington. Get back to the founding principles of limited government and decentralized power. Get yourself a bracelet that says WWRD (What Would Reagan Do).

Concentrate on being conservatives instead of Republicans and, for the love of Peter, Paul and Mary, stop trying to out-liberal the liberals.

Josh Evans nails it

2009-11-07T23:39:00.003-05:00

What would it take for Kent Williams to get back in the party? Real simple answer and Josh Evans nails it.

Cutting down the money tree

2009-11-06T08:20:00.009-05:00

It seems Phil is upset about the responce to the report on the switchgra.....corncobb refinery.

After legislators were made aware of the refineries diminished capacity and potential loss of revenue other then state dollars ( a non surprise to readers of this blog) many legislators were let down at original promises not being followed through on and are questioning continued funding.

A reasonable response.

Phil is upset because he says he may have another similar type project looking to come on line and he might lose them because they fear similar type oversight.

Knock, knock.... Hello? Is anyone out there? We don't have money to keep propping up our current non productive research facilities! Why would we want any more? We are about to be billions in the red!

While I support job recruitment and I understand tax incentives and infrastructure investments, to say we are going to keep a company afloat costing millions a year for a few research jobs, well that is simmilar to federal government logic where the average "stimulus" job costs between $92,000.00 and $160,000.00.

Tennessee can't just go out and pick money off the money tree or print it. We can't deficit spend. We have to balance our budgets year after year. If the companies being recruited are so afraid of oversight that might expose this type of abuse then possibly they aren't the type of company we need to be recruiting.

Money in, Money out.

2009-11-05T07:55:00.005-05:00

As you may know, the fed gave back the state about $5 billion in "stimulus" money. Most of it went as a carrot to start or expand social programs to push their social agenda.

Of the $5 billion only about $500 million actually went into projects that might stimulate the economy by creating shovel ready type jobs. Mostly all road and bridge type projects that we had to mortgage our future to get. Well guess what? While the state got $500 million up front "stimulus" money to create jobs in transportation infrastructure the fed is now cutting Tennessee's federal road funding by $190 million.

The deal is getting less and less sweet all the time. The next "deal" up is the Obama health care plan.

Well no friggin kidding!! / the Maginot line

2009-11-05T04:43:00.009-05:00

One of the states top boondoggles for the last few years has been the switchgrass plant. I knew and reported early on that this was going to be a feel good do nothing project that the taxpayer got stuck on the hook for. Guess what?

It is. I hate how they keep proving me right time after time.

From the latest report....

In 2007, officials said the pilot project would produce 5 million gallons per year using switchgrass. Plans now call for just 250,000 gallons and the initial production of ethanol will use corn cobs.

The 2007 projections were that Tennessee farmers would grow switchgrass — on 6,000 acres — to be used in producing ethanol. Only about 2,700 acres are now under contract for growing switchgrass, with farmers paid $450 per acre per year. Most of the crop will go for research purposes other than ethanol production.

In 2007, officials projected that the pilot plant would become self-sufficient within five years, in part by selling 5 million gallons of ethanol per year, and require no more state funding. White’s report says the project cannot be self-sufficient and “production capacity is not large enough to generate revenue to pay its operating costs.”

The plant has run up costs of $55 million so far for construction and equipment, with $36.7 million coming from the state and the rest from DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol LLC, a private partner in the project, the report says.

The state has covered other costs, including staff salaries and payments to farmers for growing switchgrass, as it moves toward expending the $70 million total. The state pays $5.3 million per year for operating expenses with two more years of those payments scheduled.

Next up? Solar.

In some ways I am glad the state government is in a money crunch. When we are in flush times the state just blows the money on these type projects. We can run the list, switchgrass, party bunker, fixing up the plaza, solar panels, fish ponds, road side flowers, the list goes on and on.

In political arguments the Dems say we call them "Tax and spend liberals" but to them, they are the responsible ones. They add the taxes to pay for the projects they pass. They argue some Republicans will vote to spend the money but not vote for the taxes to pay for the projects.

There is some truth in that. When legislators vote for the budget they are voting for the projects.

But what I am realizing more and more is that these are the kind of projects we are really paying for with the increases in tax dollars. Not the services you always see get touted out in the paper when it is crunch time (Schools, roads, bridges, kids etc.).

The libs refuse to prioritize and they always want another big show project. They have no ability to limit themselves. None. The only hard limit they have is the constitutionally required balanced budget. Stopping tax increases is the only line in the sand we can draw that some will stick to. If we limit the taxes we limit the money going into the budget, stop the boondoggles and force them to prioritize better.

Once the taxes pass, it's over.

In the other national pass time

2009-11-05T04:26:00.003-05:00

The New York Yankees defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in six games to win the World Series. Mark Rose's favorite team may be beaten but he is not discouraged.

Brooks clears the road for Bell

2009-11-04T20:36:00.003-05:00

Kevin Brooks has announced he will not run for the state senate to be vacated by Sen. Dewyne Bunch. While K.B. and Eric Watson would have made a good senators they decided timing wasn't right this time around.

This announcement clearly eases the way for and makes the odds on favorite Rep. Mike Bell to become the next State Senator from the Chattanooga area.

The latest results of pre K

2009-11-04T18:52:00.004-05:00

In Knox county the results are not just unimpressive, the students seem to be regressing. From the Knox News Sentinel....

"The district regressed in the area of elementary and middle school, missing federal benchmarks in math for black students, poor students and students with disabilities, and not making enough progress in reading for black students, Hispanic students, poor students and students with disabilities.

Knox County met all those benchmarks last year."

Up to 9% cuts to state government

2009-11-04T10:02:00.002-05:00

Phil is bracing for the worst. While I agree with him that the cuts will probably be necessary and deeper cuts will probably be coming. I question why we did not start doing the dirty necessary work of cutting costs last year. It would have saved us having to go as deep this year and by his own admission it could have been done relatively easy.

From Phil's own mouth in the Tennessean article....

"The political problem is that last February, I probably could have passed any known cut because everybody knew we were in the middle of a major crisis," Bredesen said. "The stimulus has kind of concealed what's been going on."....

And by not passing a slimmed down budget things are now having to be and will be cut worse.

"....There's no alternative to it," Bredesen said. "Hopefully, the economy is coming back. … But we're a long way under water."

As the state starts its budget-writing process, Bredesen says Tennessee's fiscal situation is worsening. Tax receipts are not expected to rebound to pre-recession levels until 2014, and the last of the federal government's nearly $5 billion in stimulus spending is set to come by the end of 2010.....

Just as was predicted by many legislators in a call to pass what Phil called the "Stupid budget". I hate to say it but the lack of "stupid" is now forcing "Painful" on the "short sighted".

Go vote!

2009-11-03T17:40:00.000-05:00

If you haven't then today's the day for a lot of local elections.

For the wonks

2009-11-03T10:57:00.004-05:00

I have amended the last paragraph of the questions I sent to the AG. Here they are....

If a full term was served by a judge by what constitutional authority does the legislature have the power to call off a scheduled election? If a full term was served by a judge by what constitutional authority does the legislature have the power to call off a scheduled election, and to give the governor the power to fill the vacancy created by the retirement (as the Tennessee plan provides), If a full term was served by a judge by what constitutional authority does the legislature have the power to create a partial term and fill a partial term instead of holding a scheduled election as is required by the constitution for the full term? By what constitutional authority can the legislature set additional qualifications in a statute (other then the ones already set out in article 1 sec 3 and 4) for judicial offices? What provision of the constitution gives the legislature the power to deprive constitutionally qualified judicial candidates the right of running for public office at a scheduled election?