Greg from the Left

Idiot Congresswoman wasting time, money

2011-12-16T10:10:00.002-05:00

From today's Tennessean...

Marsha Blackburn presses fight to save incandescent bulbs

A gem...

“Despite my best efforts, our beloved incandescent light bulbs are still scheduled to go away at the end of the year,” Blackburn said in a statement a staffer provided Tuesday.

“I will fight until the end so that people can keep their light bulbs and we’ll see what happens in the coming days. In the meantime, I am stocking up and filling my family’s Christmas stockings with light bulbs. Hope my friends in Tennessee are too.”

and what she'll never understand...

Replacing a single light bulb in every home in the country with a CFL would save enough energy to light about 3 million homes for a year and keep 9 billion pounds of greenhouse gases out of the air a year, according to the EPA. That’s the same amount that is emitted by about 800,000 cars.

“Sometimes we have to pass a law to make a difference on a mass scale,” said Scott McIntosh, who is working on master’s degrees in both business and sustainability at Lipscomb University.

“People aren’t aware how little changes can make big differences.”

Let the TN Election Season begin!

2011-11-18T09:23:00.003-05:00

State Sen. Eric Stewart declares bid for Congress
1:15 AM, Nov. 18, 2011

State Sen. Eric Stewart announced Thursday that he is running for the 4th Congressional District, taking on first-term incumbent Rep. Scott DesJarlais.

Stewart, a Democrat who has represented the 14th Senate district since 2009, said there is widespread dissatisfaction with DesJarlais, a Republican physician with no prior political experience who pulled off a surprising win last November over Democratic Rep. Lincoln Davis.“I actually think across this district there’s some buyer’s remorse about who they sent up there to serve them,” Stewart said. “They’re pretty disgusted with what’s been going on up in D.C. on both sides of the aisle.”

Stewart, who won’t run again for his Senate seat, is entering the race even though state lawmakers are still redesigning the 4th District. It currently stretches from Lawrence County on the Alabama border to Campbell County on the Kentucky border. Stewart currently represents seven counties within the 4th Congressional District, and his home of Franklin County borders DesJarlais’ home of Marion County.

“I feel pretty confident that Franklin County will remain in the 4th District, as well as most of my state Senate seat,” Stewart said.

DesJarlais has not yet set up a campaign organization, an adviser said. The congressman said in a statement that he is focused on efforts in Congress to reduce the nation’s $15 trillion debt.“My focus is on the upcoming supercommittee recommendation and how to best reduce our national debt,” DesJarlais said in a statement. “There will be a time to focus on the campaign, but it isn’t now.”

Dirty politics

2011-10-31T09:24:00.002-04:00

A very good article in the Memphis Commercial Appeal about the politics of regulation. Of course, it gives credit to our TN-07 congressman.

Make your own poll results!

2011-10-30T22:06:00.002-04:00

Not sure which Tennesseans are saying don't tax the rich, but Marsha seems to think they exist.

Blackburn provides us her overly simplistic thoughts on the economy

2011-10-24T12:56:00.002-04:00

We Can Create More Jobs With Less
Marsha Blackburn

Everyone in Washington is focused on ways to get our economy back on track. Unfortunately, President Obama and the Democrats are focused on all the wrong things. Ask any small business owner what they want the government to do to help them create jobs and they will tell you - we just need them to get out of the way.

That's why I will continue to focus on less - less regulations, less taxes, less litigation. These are the things that will help small business owners. And, after all, they are the ones who create the vast majority of new jobs in America.

President Obama has been in office for nearly three years, yet he still refuses to accept any responsibility for the economic mess we continue to be in. Now he is pushing for a new "jobs" bill. But it is just a rehashed stimulus. The others didn't work and this one won't either. Most of us in Congress recognize that there is no single bill or single stroke of the pen that is going to fix the economy.

It has to be a long-term focused project by everyone working together. Washington must find a way to give hard-working taxpayers a fighting chance. The President keeps saying just do the math, so let me suggest this equation: (-regulation)+(-taxation)+(-litigation)=(+innovation)+(+job creation)

It's time for the President and Democrats to recognize that if we are truly going to get this economy growing again, we have to start by eliminating the excessive regulations that are creating so much uncertainty for businesses. To truly create stability, the President should declare a one year moratorium on the creation of new regulations.

We also cannot raise taxes on anyone in the midst of such a huge economic crisis. Instead, we need a flatter, fairer, simpler tax system that would allow individuals and businesses to keep more of their money.

It's also time for Congress to pass serious tort reform legislation to put an end to all the frivolous lawsuits that place such a burden on our small business owners. And finally, Washington needs to stop the out of control wasteful spending.
---

I'm guessing some people weren't required to take Macroeconomics 101 in college.

Who wants to go?!!

2011-10-19T10:44:00.003-04:00

$250 for a book seems reasonable.

Don't buy at Beaman

2011-09-30T13:59:00.002-04:00

From today's Tennessean...

Presidential hopeful Rick Perry comes to town, raises cash
Posted on September 29, 2011 by Michael Cass

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, one of the front-runners for the Republican presidential nomination, spent time in Tennessee this week, including a fund raiser in Nashville on Wednesday.

Lee Beaman, CEO of Beaman Automotive, hosted the 90-minute fund raiser, which was closed to the press, at his Oak Hill home. Beaman said “probably over 200″ people attended, including Gov. Bill Haslam and House Speaker Beth Harwell, though he said they attended for reasons of political courtesy and not necessarily endorsement.

Beaman said he’s donated to several candidates, but he thinks Perry, who made a 15-to-20-minute speech inside a big tent set up in the yard, is the one to beat.

“I think he can win the Republican nomination and the general election, and I think he has the best chance to do both of those,” he said.

Beaman said he didn’t know how much money the Perry campaign raised at the event. Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, the campaign’s leader in Tennessee, did not immediately respond to a request for comment; a Ramsey spokesman later said he would try to get a number.

Ramsey tweeted from the fund raiser, “Having a great time at Lee Beaman’s listening to Gov. Perry talk about how he’ll bring us out of the Obama Recession.” That remark quickly drew several retorts, like this one from

@Litzz11:

“@RonRamsey Right, you mean the “Obama Recession” that Bush started & the GOP has refused to do anything about until they win in 2012?”

Perry also visited Memphis before he came to Nashville and was in Knoxville, where he did speak to reporters, Thursday morning.

---
I knew Beaman donated to the GOP, but not at this level! I guess this explains why the only magazines they have in their waiting room are Newsmax.

Tard.

2011-09-08T10:38:00.001-04:00

BLACKBURN TO HOST GIBSON GUITAR CEO FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA'S ADDRESS TO CONGRESS
Washington, Sep 7 -

Congressman Marsha Blackburn issued the following statement today announcing that Gibson Guitar CEO, Henry Juszkiewicz, will be her special guest for President Barack Obama’s address to the Joint Session of Congress on Thursday night.

“Gibson Guitar is at the heart of this jobs debate, and is an example of exactly why President Obama has it wrong when it comes to getting our economy back on track. Maybe if the President spent more time finding real solutions to empowering small business owners and less time hindering businesses like Gibson, we'd see more new jobs being created.

“Small businesses under the leadership of executives like Henry are the key to getting our nation’s economic engine running again. While the President is busy delivering speeches, small business leaders like Henry are busy trying to deliver results. The best thing President Obama could do is seek their advice, then get out of the way. Big government doesn’t create jobs, small businesses like Gibson Guitar do.”

---
In case you didn't read about this, Gibson was raided because they're importing illegal rain forest wood for guitars. Once again, Blackburn twists the facts.

Bout right.

2011-09-08T10:36:00.002-04:00

Gasp

2011-08-13T15:21:00.002-04:00

The GOP doesn't value a woman's opinion. Not even is that woman is Marsha Blackburn!

Finally! A vote I can agree with!

2011-07-28T12:07:00.002-04:00

H.AMDT.735 (A012) Amends: H.R.2584
Sponsor: Rep Dicks, Norman D. [WA-6] (offered 7/26/2011)

AMENDMENT PURPOSE: An amendment to strike the proviso relating to funding limitations in the Endangered Species Act.

STATUS:
7/26/2011 8:15pm: Amendment (A012) offered by Mr. Dicks. (consideration: CR H5550-5552, H5553-5561; text: CR H5550)

7/27/2011 1:44pm: On agreeing to the Dicks amendment (A012) Agreed to by recorded vote: 224 - 202 (Roll no. 652). (consideration: CR H5601)

Votes from Tennessee's delegation...

Black - No
Blackburn - Aye
Cohen - Aye
Cooper - Aye
DesJarlais - No
Duncan - No
Fincher - No
Fleischmann - No
Roe - No

Could it be that Congressman Blackburn is OK with protecting endangered species??!!! There might be a soul in there, folks!

It's a swing and a misssssss!

2011-07-26T21:59:00.003-04:00

Crazy Rep. is still crazy

2011-07-24T10:14:00.003-04:00

Still creating conspiracy theories... dumb lady keeps forgetting that Pres. Bush signed the so-called "ban" into law...

Save The Light Bulb - What Next?
Marsha Blackburn

I wanted to personally thank you for signing my Petition "Save the Light Bulb." In the last week, we have lost one battle, but won another in this fight to maintain a basic consumer choice. Although a majority of the House voted to repeal the light bulb ban, we did not get the 2/3 majority needed to pass the bill and later override a certain Obama veto. But your voices were heard through phone calls, e-mails and social media. And, later in the week, we passed an amendment into the Energy & Water Appropriations bill that would prohibit the Department of Energy from using any taxpayer funds to enforce the light bulb ban. The liberals knew we had won that round and did not even call for a recorded vote.

I know that you understand that the issue is far more important than merely saving a specific consumer product. It's about fighting for individual freedom - the freedom to make our own choices in America - whether it is about purchasing consumer goods or our right to bear arms. My point has always been when we permit liberals to chip away at the foundation of our individual freedoms; eventually that very foundation will crumble. I intend to fight every attempt by liberals to limit our individual freedom.

Let’s not stop! Let’s keep this grassroots effort growing!

Thanks for your help.

Marsha Blackburn

---
To clarify, I signed no petition...this is her campaign literature. Nothing like energy efficiency to really bring out the crazy in a right-wing broad.

Dumbash...

2011-07-21T12:02:00.003-04:00

From today's Tennessean...

Coal ash: headed for your landfill?
House undercuts EPA effort to reach answer on waste

After the 2008 Kingston, Tenn., coal ash disaster, there was hope that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would finally address the dangers associated with toxic coal ash waste.

That hope began to fade when EPA published an ambivalent draft rule more than a year ago. Although EPA has engaged in a rigorous process of evaluating the law, science and economics of coal ash regulations while reviewing the substantial public input in response to last spring’s proposal, actual progress toward a final rule of any kind is slow, and some in Congress want progress to stop entirely.

Coal ash, the waste left behind after coal is burned, is laden with heavy metals such as mercury, arsenic, chromium and selenium. For generations, coal ash has been dumped in unlined ponds and landfills where toxic substances enter ground and surface water. In spring 2010, EPA proposed two regulatory options to address this problem: One would treat coal ash as hazardous waste, the other would merely issue voluntary guidelines that utilities could choose to ignore without threat of federal enforcement.

EPA’s final rule is still pending, as they consider thousands of scientific documents and hundreds of thousands of public comments, including many from Tennesseans expressing personal understanding of the need to comprehensively regulate coal ash.

Now, instead of letting EPA finish the process, Congress is engaging in politically motivated attempts to undermine the agency’s work. Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Energy and Commerce Committee passed a bill to prohibit EPA from adequately dealing with coal ash. Committee member Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., is supporting the charge against coal ash regulation, which comes as no surprise given her staunch anti-environmental views, but, given the dozens of risky coal ash sites in this state, is directly opposed to the interests of Tennesseans.

Congress’ unnecessary intrusion not only pre-empts the rulemaking process before completion, it also undermines critical scientific inquiry and transparency inherent in the EPA process. The votes of Rep. Blackburn and others on the committee are an affront to residents of Tennessee who experienced firsthand the disastrous 2008 Tennessee Valley Authority Kingston coal ash spill and still face damage and threats from other coal ash sites across the state.

Citizen groups form

Make no mistake: People in Tennessee have been vocal about their concerns. A group in East Tennessee held a public meeting last fall unanimously calling for strong hazardous-waste regulations; hundreds more attended an EPA-sponsored hearing in Knoxville. In Middle Tennessee, a group has formed in Humphreys County, in part to investigate the impacts of coal ash from TVA’s New Johnsonville plant. A state bill was recently offered in Nashville to improve control of the dozens of risky coal ash sites in the state, but was stymied by interference from the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce.

Some institutions, including the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce, utilities that produce coal ash and anti-environmental crusaders like Rep. Blackburn flatly oppose rules to tightly regulate the waste. Yet, whether or not you support strict coal ash protections, and whether or not you live near one of Tennessee’s many ash ponds, you should reject the idea of congressional action to undermine the rulemaking processes.

It is simply unacceptable for Congress to ignore science and the voices of people from Kingston, New Johnsonville and other communities burdened by coal ash.

Until we see this on Murray Lane...

2011-07-14T09:51:00.003-04:00

...Marsha Blackburn won't give a damn.

From today's Tennessean...

Coal ash could be treated as city trash

WASHINGTON — A House committee approved legislation Wednesday that would bar federal regulation of coal ash as hazardous waste.

The bill, passed 35-12 by the Energy and Commerce Committee, now moves to the House floor, where a Republican majority probably will pass it.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Brentwood, the only Tennessee lawmaker on the committee, voted for the measure.

Six Democrats joined the committee’s Republicans in voting for the bill.

The Environmental Protection Agency began urging regulation after more than 5 million cubic yards of coal ash sludge spilled from TVA’s Kingston power plant onto the banks of the Emory River in December 2008. The ongoing cleanup effort could cost ratepayers more than $1 billion.

TVA's Kingston disaster

While barring the EPA from regulating coal ash, the legislation would allow states to treat the ash as municipal waste, placing it in the same category as household garbage and cleaning chemicals, wastewater and construction debris.

Landfills and ponds holding coal ash generally would be subject to the same rules for design, lining and groundwater testing as landfills containing municipal garbage.

The bill would allow the EPA to step in if it finds a state isn’t properly disposing of coal ash under that state’s municipal waste program.

Democrats on the Energy and Commerce Committee pointed to the Kingston spill as evidence that states’ disposal methods aren’t safe enough, especially in holding ponds where wet ash is stored. Five of TVA’s plants dispose of coal ash in wet impoundments. Six use dry storage.

“I don’t believe anyone really thinks we should be treating wet impoundments of coal ash the same way we treat our municipal garbage,” said Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa. “The Tennessee thing was a wet impoundment, and that’s a real problem.”

Rep. Henry Waxman, the committee’s top Democrat, said the bill wouldn’t protect public health.

“It won’t make high-risk impoundments of coal ash safe,” he said. “It won’t stop contamination of drinking water. It will establish a weak federal program designed to maintain the status quo.”

But Rep. John Shimkus, the Illinois Republican who is chairman of the committee’s environment panel, said the bill would “prevent issues like the one that caused the problems at TVA in Tennessee.”

“State officials affirmed their expertise and desire to regulate this area without federal control,” Shimkus said. “Given the unique challenges of each individual state, I believe this is the best approach.”

If the bill is approved by the entire House, it will move to the Senate.

Health, job factors

Environmentalists argue that chemicals in coal ash cause cancer and other ailments.

Industry representatives and many Republicans say studies of health risks have been inconclusive, and regulating coal ash as toxic waste would raise utility prices and threaten jobs by stigmatizing products made with the substance.

Almost half of the country’s 131 million tons of coal ash are recycled in wall board, concrete, carpeting, kitchen counters and other household products, according to the American Coal Ash Association.

In June last year, the EPA proposed two options for regulating the waste. One would deem it hazardous and require federal oversight. The other, less stringent option would put states in charge.

The Energy and Commerce Committee also voted Tuesday to require an analysis of the overall impact of EPA regulations on jobs, energy prices and the economy. Blackburn also voted for that bill.

House Republicans also are targeting coal ash regulation in a draft spending bill for fiscal 2012, stipulating that the EPA may not use any money in the bill to regulate coal ash as hazardous waste.

Repealing Progress Fail

2011-07-13T11:10:00.002-04:00

From the Memphis Commercial Appeal...

Effort by Rep. Marsha Blackburn to preserve incandescent light bulbs falls short

WASHINGTON – Chris Dempsey, manager of the family-owned Stewart Hardware stores in Midtown and Bartlett, stocks both efficient compact fluorescent and inefficient incandescent light bulbs.

Although sales of the CFLs are increasing, “the majority of customers prefer the incandescent bulbs,” he said. “I don’t think anybody thinks it’s the end-of-the-world type of thing but, given the choice, they prefer the incandescent bulb.”

In Congress, to hear the debate over light bulb efficiency standards this week, you might think it is an end-of-the-world type of thing. U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., has been leading the effort to repeal higher standards signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2007.

The Obama Administration weighed in earlier this week saying the bill she sponsored, the Better Use of Light Bubs (BULB) Act, is “unnecessary” and would have “negative economic consequences.”

“It’s time for us to say it was bad policy. It was a bad idea and we need to get it off the books,” Blackburn said in a floor debate Monday evening. She said the stiffer standards are “a de facto ban on the incandescent light bulb.”

The House voted 233-193 this evening to repeal the higher standards but, under the suspension rules, it needed two-thirds to pass. The failure was a blow to the coal industry, electricity generators and opponents of greater regulation. It’s estimated the higher standards, due to take effect next year, would save the output of 30 large electrical power plants and the tons of air pollution they produce.

U.S. Rep. Stephen Fincher, R-Tenn., was one of 35 co-sponsors and voted for the measure, as did U.S. Rep. Alan Nunnelee, R-Miss. U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., voted against it.

Supporters of the 2007 standards note that the higher-efficiency bulbs mandated by the Energy Independence and Security Act not only would save energy but, despite higher up-front costs, also save consumers money over time because of their longer useful life.

Those who want to repeal the efficiency standards, like Blackburn, say consumers tell them they don’t like the new compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) and particularly don’t like their higher costs. More efficient incandescent bulbs are also available but are also more expensive than their inefficient counterparts.

“Why take the low end of the market off the market?” U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, asked during Monday’s debate. “If you’re Al Gore and you want to pay $10 for a light bulb, more power to you.”

Blackburn and others also note that most CFLs – Blackburn in her House floor speech Monday said “all” – are made in China, and that the last major General Electric plant making ordinary incandescent bulbs, in Winchester, Va., closed last September, taking 200 jobs.

Those bulbs, which the Natural Resources Defense Council, a Washington-based think tank, says waste 90 percent of the electricity they consume as heat, cannot meet the energy standards that go into effect in 2012.

But the NRDC notes that the 2007 increased efficiency standards have been embraced by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, the trade association for domestic light manufacturers, as well as the leading manufacturers themselves.

The NRDC points out that the standards have “jumpstarted domestic industry investment in research and development and production of more efficient lighting products.” It points to a factory in St. Marys, Pa., retooling to make more efficient incandescent bulbs, a new factory for CFLs opening in Ohio this year and “thousands of jobs” being created by companies such as Cree, Lighting Science Group and Phillips Lighting.

The NRDC also released a statement quoting Barry Edison Stone, the great-grandson of the inventor of the incandescent bulb, suggesting proponents of the repeal of the higher standards are “narrow-minded.”

Proponents of the higher efficiency standards say they will spur innovation while reducing electricity usage and the carbon dioxide and other pollutants associated with coal-burning power plants.

But Blackburn, in her speech, said the bulbs “don’t save any energy,” adding, “we also know they’re also dangerous because they’re filled with mercury.”

The NRDC acknowledges the CFLs require between two and five milligrams of mercury, but notes that a single older thermometer contained nearly 500 milligrams of mercury – equivalent to the amount in more than 100 CFL bulbs.

U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who is opposed to repealing the higher standards, noted that not only manufacturers but the Consumers Union, which produces Consumer Reports, as well as Johnson Controls, United Technologies and the Environmental Defense Fund all support retaining them.

Consumers Union also paid for a newspaper ad now circulating saying incandescent bulbs aren’t being banned, just “getting better,” noting than the new bulbs, that look just like the old ones, are between 28 and 33 percent more efficient. Spokesman Michele Schaefer noted that lighting is 10 percent to 15 percent of household electrical use and more efficient upgrades will ultimately save consumer billions of dollars in reduced utility bills.

As with many partisan debates, the light bulb debate is largely ideological, pitting the higher efficiency mandate against the free market and consumer choice. As Waxman put it, the higher standards are already “working as we intended,” moving industry to innovate.

But Barton insisted consumers should have the option to choose the cheaper, less efficient alternative.

“Let the people make their own choices,” he said. “Why in the world does the federal government have to tell people what kinds of lights to use in their home?”

An interesting interview with Gov. Haslam

2011-07-11T13:53:00.002-04:00

From the City Paper...

Bill Haslam: 'Gay rights is a broad topic'

Here's a snippet...

Q: Why do you take these positions? Do you think the gay lifestyle is a choice?
A: Oh, I’m not going to go into all that discussion.

Where is this history coming from?

2011-06-30T19:25:00.001-04:00

Tell me, Representative, at what point in history did government spending cuts lead to economic growth? Your logic doesn't make sense. Period.

Blackburn and gay?

2011-06-29T22:15:00.002-04:00

Congressman Blackburn and her gay sidekick. The Hillary aide is right on target... passing hatred off as patriotism is just plain sad.

Blackburn is not the 7th

2011-06-16T12:34:00.003-04:00

From the Jackson Sun...

Blackburn, Republicans want to destroy Social Security
11:00 PM, Jun. 15, 2011

Rep. Marsha Blackburn is not one of us. She lives in a Brentwood mansion in Williamson County, one of the wealthiest in the country. She paid her children hundreds of thousands to manage an unopposed campaign. She thinks nothing of spending thousands on opera tickets. When she stoops to visit constituents, it's brief, on short notice and when most people can't attend.

Last year while Nashville was under water and tornadoes ripped through her district wreaking havoc and costing lives, she sponsored "spa day" at a posh D.C. hotel rather than checking on us. She doesn't know what it means to work hard for a living only to make ends meet. She draws a salary of $174,000 a year plus expenses. She won't have to depend on Social Security in her old age. Unlike many of our elderly and sick, she will never have to make a choice between eating and buying her medicine.

No wonder Blackburn co-sponsored Paul Ryan's plan to abolish Medicare and replace it with a "shop-your-own-insurance" voucher. No wonder Blackburn, along with six other Republicans, introduced legislation last week that allows workers to opt out of Social Security.

The SAFE (Savings Account for Every American) Act is anything but safe. Workers would be allowed to take the 6.2 percent they currently contribute to Social Security and throw it to the whims of the market in a privatized account. After 15 years, employers could also privatize their 6.2 percent match.

Reforms are needed to sustain this safety net for the aged and disabled, but diverting monies into privatized accounts means death to Social Security. Social Security will be there for us as it has been for the past 75 years, if we continue to contribute to it. If Blackburn and other GOP culprits get their way, they will destroy Social Security and Medicare for those whose very lives depend on it.

Meryl Rice
Whiteville

----

Speaking of... this is where you can find our Rep. Blackburn on June 29...

New York Young Republicans Club 99th Annual Dinner
Wednesday, June 29th, 2011
6:30PM – 10:00PM
Manhattan Penthouse – 80 5th Avenue (at 14th Street)

Includes passed hors d’oeuvres, open bar, and three course dinner.

The NYYRC is celebrating our 100 year anniversary! Last year’s annual dinner was our most successful annual dinner to date with over 180 attendees and this year being our 100th anniversary will be bigger and better than ever.

This event will feature Congressman Marsha Blackburn and Monica Crowley as a guest speakers, and Curtis Sliwa as emcee.

Inspiring, to say the least

2011-06-12T08:53:00.001-04:00

One of the first pictures of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords post-shooting...

TN Legislator wrap-up

2011-06-10T14:00:00.001-04:00

A good wrap-up from MetroPulse out of Knoxville...

Bullshit from Blackburn

2011-06-02T17:29:00.003-04:00

The Nashville Scene calls out Blackburn on her stale ideas, and the Tennessean for praising them...

How Serious Is The GOP About Reforming Health Care?
Posted by Brantley Hargrove on Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 1:41 PM

The answer: Not very serious, if a bill advanced by Rep. Marsha Blackburn is any indication. Read this story to find out why.

But in the meantime, I'll give you the CliffsNotes. Blackburn has proposed a piece of legislation, the Health Care Choice Act, that would mandate that states allow the interstate sale of health insurance — something that's currently illegal. It's the classic GOP free-market argument, the theory being that it would spur competition and drive down prices, thereby decreasing the shamefully massive number of uninsured Americans.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office says that's some seriously wishful thinking — or at least it said so back in 2005. That's when Blackburn's bill was essentially proposed before, word-for-word, by Arizona Republican John Shadegg.

We were motivated to write about this by a story in The Tennessean, which proclaimed the bill as "another advance in Blackburn's profile as a policymaker in Congress." Respectfully, we call bullshit. Read on and you'll see why.

First, we got a response from a Blackburn spokesman that didn't make it into the story. When asked about worries that states with fewer insurance regulations would poach healthier people from states with more protections, consequently depleting the counterbalance that keeps rates relatively stable, he said Blackburn's bill has an answer for that. The bill leaves intact state high-risk pools, he said.

The more Pith thought about it, the less satisfactory we found that answer.

For starters, not every state has a high-risk pool. A 2010 Kaiser Family Foundation estimate puts the number at 34, with a paltry 222,000 enrollees. Why is the number so low, you ask? Because they're a well-intentioned but failed experiment. They're too damned expensive, for obvious reasons. What can you expect from an insurance pool composed of nothing but people in various states of disrepair?

Of course, this is all merely a philosophical exercise. There isn't a snowball's chance in hell the Senate will pass a repeal measure, and it could be sometime yet before the U.S. Supreme Court gets its hands on the various legal challenges wending their way through federal district and appeals courts. And don't get us started on that.

Blackburn says screw everyone!

2011-05-26T12:22:00.002-04:00

Blackburn pushes interstate health insurance bill
Critics say measure would make it hard to regulate insurers

Check out the front page of the Tennessean today... basically more of the same from Marsha: let corporations call the shots because they have everyone's best intentions at heart.

The Williamson County GOP is no longer a political party

2011-05-13T12:56:00.003-04:00

Read and you will see why (from the Tennessean)...

Dutch politician brings anti-Islam views to TN

Dutch politician Geert Wilders sees a kindred spirit in Tennessee — a state where new mosques draw protests and the legislature is considering a bill that once targeted adherents of Islamic law.

On trial for hate speech in his home country, Wilders brought his headline-grabbing views on Islam to Middle Tennessee on Thursday. He came to town as the invited guest of the Tennessee Freedom Coalition, a 2-week-old political coalition founded by Republican former congressional candidate Lou Ann Zelenik.

“I come with a warning for America,” said Wilders, a filmmaker and member of the Dutch parliament, and something of a cult celebrity in some conservative circles.

Close Islamic schools, he warned America. Halt construction of mosques — or “hate palaces,” as he calls them. Cut off immigration from “non-Western and especially Islamic countries,” and expel any immigrants who do not “assimilate.”

“I was happy to visit the state of Tennessee, where I know a lot of people — certainly a lot of Christians — feel the same threat as we do, and know when you talk about values, when you talk about who you are and who you are not, and that Christianity is for certain not the same as Islam,” said Wilders, who is not himself a Christian. “I compare Islam not with Christianity and Judaism. I compare Islam with fascism and communism.”

His first stop of the day was talk show host Steve Gill’s radio show, then a meet-and-greet and news conference at Williamson County Republican Party headquarters in Franklin. The evening ended with a closed-to-the-press speech at Cornerstone Church in Madison about what Wilders sees as the evils of the world’s second-largest religion.

In Franklin, about a dozen protesters stood in the punishing May sunshine across from Republican headquarters, waving signs that said “SHAME” and “Be nice or go away.”

“It’s very inappropriate for an official political party here in Tennessee to bring in someone so notorious,” said Williamson County Democratic Party Chairman Peter Burr. “This guy is sort of the epitome of the outside agitator. That’s not the way we do business here in Tennessee.”

Across the street, about two dozen visitors milled outside Republican Party headquarters, eating lunch or filing inside to shake hands with Wilders. He traveled with a contingent of local and Dutch security, wary of the large number of death threats he has drawn over the years.

Despite the controversy, or perhaps because of it, his visit was a headline-grabbing coup for the fledgling Tennessee Freedom Coalition.

“Not bad for our first event,” said Jeff Hartline, the coalition's director. Wilders’ visit was not an official fundraiser for the coalition or the GOP, although Hartline said he expected to see a spike in donations as a result.

Wilders’ visit comes as the Tennessee legislature moves toward a vote on what was once known as the anti-Shariah law bill. After a storm of protests, lawmakers stripped any reference to Shariah — the religious law of Islam — from the bill. Instead, it now grants the Tennessee governor and the state attorney general the power to declare organizations to be terrorist groups.

It is expected to pass overwhelmingly.

Wilders, meanwhile, squeezed in his Tennessee visit between a speaking tour of Canada and his return home to the Netherlands.

“We have nothing against Muslims, as such,” he said in parting. “We have nothing against people of any kind of origin. We have a problem with the Islamic ideology.”

The Council on American-Islamic Relations issued a statement condemning Wilders’ visit to Tennessee and asking state and local Republican officials to repudiate the decision to “honor one of the world’s leading Islam-haters.”

B.S. from Beth

2011-05-04T09:55:00.003-04:00

It's no secret how nutty the TN legislature has gotten since the November elections. Instead of doing anything meaningful, they've focused on banning Islam, abortion, and homosexuality. Here's Speaker Beth Harwell's response to concerns on the Special Access to Discrimate Act... which would prohibit Metro gov't from including sexual orientation in its discrimination policy...

---
Thank you for contacting me in regard to the Equal Access to Intrastate Commerce Act, House Bill 600. I appreciate hearing your concerns.

The bill passed through the house last night. When local government mandates to private businesses what their policy regarding employment practices should be, it causes undue burden on those businesses. Further, this legislation will ensure that continuity exists across the board with regards to businesses who contract with local governments. This is why business groups like the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business support the legislation.

While much of the public discussion of the bill has been regarding the anti discrimination ordinance in Nashville, the legislation has broader implications. This bill would prevent local governments from going in the opposite direction - passing local laws that are discriminatory in nature. By passing this legislation, all local laws will be uniform across the state. While I understand your concerns about its effect on Nashville, I believe this is a positive step for the state as a whole.

Beth Harwell
Speaker of the House

---
*Cough, cough*... bullshit.

Rep. DesJarlais works to starve his constituents... literally.

2011-03-27T09:15:00.005-04:00

DesJarlais vows cuts despite numbers
By Chris Carroll

More than one-quarter of Tennessee’s 4th Congressional District depends on the government for groceries, but its congressman said he’s likely to slash the federal program that provides them.

“Folks on any entitlement programs, we’re going to have to take a look at it,” said U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais, a Republican physician who lives in South Pittsburg, Tenn. “If it hurts me politically, then I guess it hurts me politically.”

Throughout a 20-minute interview in Tracy City, Tenn., last week, DesJarlais denied having worries about the next election 19 months away, claiming voters sent him to Washington to “get government out of our lives.”

Records show more residents in the 4th District are registered for food stamps than voted for DesJarlais when he ousted four-term Democratic congressman Lincoln Davis in November.

In February, more than 150,000 4th District residents were signed up for food stamps, according to records from the state Department of Human Services. DesJarlais received 103,969 votes in the general election.

DesJarlais’ district is Tennessee’s largest geographically, sweeping across 24 mostly rural counties from Southeast Tennessee to a point south of Nashville. Three of its counties are among the state’s 10 worst for unemployment, including Scott County at 23.2 percent.

Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Chip Forrester said the numbers indicate a “contradiction of who DesJarlais is and the constituency he represents.”

“Republicans talk about government as this monster strangling the American economy,” Forrester said. “Now you have a congressman who’s talking about stripping basic things people in his district need to survive.”

Despite his district’s economic makeup, DesJarlais has identified with a conservative bloc of young, tea party-backed legislators intent on cutting back entitlement programs — Social Security and Medicare among them.

“How much does he really know about his district?” asked Vanderbilt political science professor Bruce Oppenheimer. “You get one group of people who get you elected, but there’s another part of your constituency that maybe didn’t vote for you. And you may have to worry about them in the long run.”

But the congressman said his votes fall in line with a clear message sent by people back home. He acknowledged the poverty in the 4th District, but he’s ready to trim programs that are “very personal to people” for “the good of the whole.”

“Whether the people judge me in a poor light politically because of what I don’t do for the district will be up to them,” he said.

During the campaign season, DesJarlais touted a tea party endorsement and Sarah Palin’s political action committee donated $5,000 to his campaign, finance records show. Last August, he told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that he “won’t be hamstrung by the Democrats or the Republicans.”

Through 193 House floor votes since he arrived in Congress, DesJarlais has voted with Republicans 98 percent of the time, according to records maintained by the Washington Post.

“I don’t feel I’ve compromised my conservative principles at all to this point,” he said.

Perfect Scene

2011-03-18T10:00:00.001-04:00

The Nashville Scene keeps getting better and better!...

Marsha Blackburn May Have Something: Let Taxpayers Fund Only Things They Agree With!
Posted by Betsy Phillips on Fri, Mar 18, 2011 at 5:51 AM

Thursday morning I was listening to WPLN and there was Marsha Blackburn talking about how Congress had to defund NPR because it's not right for taxpayers to have to pay for something they disagree with (I couldn't find Blackburn's exact comment online).

Aside from being antithetical to living in a society, I think this is a great idea. I'd like to be able to direct my taxes towards only things I support. I'd like to say to the IRS, "Give all of my money that would have gone to paying Marsha Blackburn's salary to an investigation of I-35 instead."

See, I-35 annoys me. Odd numbered interstates are supposed to be north-south routes, while even number interstates are east-west. But I-35 runs almost exactly parallel to I-44 for most of its length in Kansas, with nary an acknowledgment that it's impersonating an east/west interstate through a whole state! It's not right.

At the least, I'd rather my tax money went to paying for anything else at all, no matter how stupid, other than to paying Marsha Blackburn's salary. And by her own standards, I should have the right to refuse to give her my tax dollars, since I don't care for most of what she has to say.

I'll be expecting my tiny refund check from you, Congressman Blackburn, whenever you have a chance to send it.

Embarassing on video

2011-03-17T17:25:00.001-04:00

Here is Marsha Blackburn making an ass out of herself by making NPR the enemy of her extreme right-wing bloc.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn: "It is a wealthy, educated listening audience. If people want this programming, they're going to be willing to pay for it but the American taxpayer has said, 'get NPR out of our pocket.' They have some sponsors that land in the $1 million plus category."

Aaaand some of the responses from the more educated side of the aisle...

Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass: "They want to move to radio silence and when the American people find out about that, they're going to be outraged."

Rep. John Dingel, D-Mich., "Public broadcast is a national treasure... It sheds a little bit of culture on our people, something my Republican colleagues find offensive."

Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Oregon: "It's not going to stop NPR, which will go on. What it will cripple is what happens in smaller stations around the country."

Rep. John Larson, D-CT: "Americans are seeing through this... it's an ideological purge under the guise of dealing with the deficit... What they are doing is silencing NPR because it's not on the same ideological frequency as the extreme right."

Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-CA. "I guess they figure if they can't catch Bin Laden, they might as well go after Prairie Home Companion. Public broadcasting is twice as popular as the Afghanistan war.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas: "These Republicans just can't tell the difference between Big Government and Big Bird. All things considered, their attack has nothing to do with balancing the budget.

Rep. Rush Holt, D-NJ: "Saying factual information is somehow a liberal bias... we talk about the need for a well-informed public. Today there was a news report on the slow progress the Army is making on seeing that the wounded soldiers get their Purple Heart. This is good reporting. The other side seems to think this is... wait, wait, don't tell me.... biased reporting. We need NPR."

Rep. Carolyn Mahoney, D-NY: "Those who primarily listen to NPR were considerably less likely to hold demonstrably false beliefs. So now our colleagues across the country want to pull the plug on NPR... our colleagues want to fire the messenger. (It) is not a move to save money; it's a move to save face."

In her own words, Marsha's idiocy

2011-03-16T19:28:00.002-04:00

Mar 16 2011
Fighting to Defund NPR
Marsha Blackburn

Today the House Rules Committee will consider H.R. 1076, the bill introduced by Rep. Doug Lamborn to defund NPR. Tomorrow I will lead the debate on the floor in support of Congressman Lamborn's legislation.

National Public Radio (NPR) has proven in the last few weeks that taxpayer money should not be given to support their extreme left wing views. Just recently an NPR official was captured on video calling Conservatives and Tea Party members "racist." The Washington Post says that NPR receives $2.4 million to spread their liberal message. That must end. Our government must not be involved in supporting an extreme left wing organization.

H.R. 1076 is a standalone bill that will still provide funds to local stations, but will prohibit those stations from spending federal funds on NPR programming or dues. This legislation will not be impacted by pending negotiations between the House and Senate on a continuing resolution. The time has come to stop spending taxpayer money on the NPR, especially during a time of rising deficits and out of control spending. An organization that is so heavily biased should not receive taxpayer monies. I hope you can watch the debate on the floor of the United States House of Representatives as it takes place tomorrow.

---

Just remember, Big Bird is a distant relative of Ho Chi Minh.

Blackburn wants future generations to be embarassed of her

2011-03-16T19:22:00.002-04:00

From the Nashville Scene...

Rep. Blackburn and Every Other Republican On House Energy Committee Denies Climate Change
Posted by Brantley Hargrove on Wed, Mar 16, 2011 at 12:54 PM

Who would have thought that by the year 2011, we'd still have a chamber of Congress where the majority deny the universal conclusion arrived at by the worldwide scientific community pointing to anthropogenic (man-made) causes for climate change?

Even after Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) ordered a full investigation by the U.S. Department of Commerce Office of Inspector General into alleged climate-change collusion and data manipulation between researchers at the University of East Anglia and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — and it turned up no conspiracy whatsoever — the furor refuses to die. Some 82 percent of Earth scientists and nearly 98 percent of climate scientists believe climate change is caused by human activity, according to a survey conducted by the University of Illinois at Chicago. Yet lawmakers such as Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-7th), who is on the the committee, still cast votes denying what is apparent to so many.

Yesterday, Blackburn voted against the EPA's finding that climate change is occurring. She actually didn't vote at all on an amendment that states climate change is caused by man. Finally, she voted against an amendment that states unequivocally that climate change will endanger the health of future generations. Why? Because she probably believes climate change is a hoax perpetrated on us by the entire (credible) scientific community — or, at the very least, she knows she'd never get re-elected in the 7th if she admitted she didn't.

Gotta make that money, too. Koch Industries sends its love, Marsha, to the tune of $32,000 (and mind you, they didn't really start making it rain until 2008).

Marsha Blackburn on the wrong side of reality

2011-03-10T19:21:00.000-05:00

Blackburn for sale, cont'd.

2011-03-10T09:15:00.002-05:00

A nice, sweet article from the Commercial Repeal about Congressman Blackburn's representation of corporate interests over public welfare...

U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn challenges pro-net neutrality group
By Bartholomew Sullivan
Memphis Commercial Appeal

WASHINGTON -- When it comes to Internet neutrality, is corporate financial influence an interest or a bias?

U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said Wednesday that she understood the "interests" represented by AT&T and two Internet start-up companies but needed clarification on the "bias" of the nonprofit media reform group Free Press.

During a House Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology hearing, Blackburn pressed for information about the media reform group's sources of funding.

Free Press champions preserving an open Internet and neutrality rules preventing companies from slowing or blocking traffic for their own competitive advantage. It also opposes media consolidation.

"I think it might be instructive to us, if we read your testimony, and as we try to figure out, you know, the bias that you bring to the argument, if you could detail to us where Free Press gets its funding," Blackburn said.

S. Derek Turner, Free Press' research director, agreed to provide the information but added, "Free Press takes zero corporate money. We're completely supported by our members and by foundation support."

Blackburn has reintroduced a bill that would prevent any entity but Congress itself from regulating the Internet and has become a leading advocates of a hands-off approach to the telecommunications industry.

Free Press' website indicates it is supported by several major foundations, including such well-known philanthropies as John D. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Haas Foundation, The Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation and George Soros' Open Society Institute. Soros is a Hungarian-American financier and supporter of liberal causes.

Free Press spokeswoman Jenn Ettinger said it had more than 500,000 members nationwide.

The Republican-controlled subcommittee later voted 15-8 along party lines to repeal the Federal Communications Commission's new "network neutrality" rules.
---

Check out some of the comments from unhappy folks in the 7th District.

Throwback but had to post

2011-03-05T12:04:00.001-05:00

Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) speaks about Republicans' crusade against womens' rights and Planned Parenthood. She makes me smile.

This is for my people, my party people...

2011-02-27T13:45:00.002-05:00

Pro-teacher rally yesterday at the State Capitol.

The next rally is Saturday, March 5 at Bicentennial Mall from 12-3pm.

Embarassment: Example #2,653,127

2011-02-27T08:43:00.007-05:00

From the Tennessean...

2 Tennessee GOP lawmakers want presidential candidates to prove citizenship

MURFREESBORO — Two Rutherford County legislators are sponsoring a bill that would require U.S. presidential candidates to prove to the state of Tennessee that they were born U.S. citizens to run for the nation's highest office.

State Sen. Bill Ketron said he proposed the bill because he thinks President Barack Obama might be hiding the fact that he was born in another country.

"Why can't he (Obama) come forward and show he is a citizen?" Ketron said Friday, adding that he has read articles stating Obama has spent $2 million from his campaign fund fighting lawsuits to keep from showing his birth certificate.

Ketron and state Rep. Rick Womick, both Murfreesboro Republicans, filed the bill that would attempt to force those running for president to file a sworn affidavit with Tennessee's secretary of state proving they meet "constitutional residency requirements."

Ten other states are considering similar legislation. Ketron said when the bill was brought to him for sponsorship, he decided it would give the state of Tennessee a chance to vet the matter and determine if it needed legislation.

But he added that if Obama has spent $2 million protecting his birth certificate from lawsuits, "I would lean on the side of he's trying to hide something and he's not a citizen."

Ketron's doubts mirror those of "birther" activists who believe Obama has refused to show the long form of his birth certificate because he was born in Kenya, the homeland of his father, and isn't eligible to be presidency.

Critics of the movement say birthers are fanatics whose claims have been repeatedly disproved and who won't accept any evidence that Obama is a U.S. citizen.

Womick said he decided to sponsor the bill in response to some 250 requests. He likened the requirement for seeking the presidency to requiring children to show their birth certificates to participate in youth sports such as football or Little League.

The bill is designed to make sure candidates for the nation's highest office are following constitutional mandates of Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution, Womick said.

"We don't have the federal government enforcing it or the Supreme Court upholding it," Womick said.

Article 2, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution says: "No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President."

Womick said the bill is not targeting any particular candidate.

"I believe President Obama has a birth certificate," Womick said. "He says he does."

An investigation by snopes.com determined claims were false that the Obama campaign provided a forged certification of live birth three years ago.

It notes that the certificate from the state of Hawaii made available on the Internet in 2008 shows his full name as "Barack Hussein Obama II" and lists his father's race as "African" and his mother's race as "Caucasian" while reporting his birthplace as Honolulu.

Womick noted that U.S. Sen. John McCain, Obama's Republican opponent in the 2008 election, was born in Panama.

"Whether it's John McCain or Barack Obama, you have to prove you meet Article 2, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution," Womick said.

Artsy fartsy

2011-02-24T21:34:00.008-05:00

Toe the line

2011-02-22T13:34:00.003-05:00

Can the TN GOP toe the line? Will they really focus on jobs, or on guns and gays?

From State Senator Jim Kyle (D-Memphis):

“I think the social conservatives are going to win out. If they do prevail, it is to the long-term detriment of Tennesseans. Ultimately, Tennesseans will realize that this last election was not about jobs, but it was about directing lifestyle choices from a centralized government, and eventually Tennesseans will rebel and say that the Republicans are not on their side.”

Good article from the usually conservative-leaning Nashville City Paper.

Blackburn for sale!

2011-02-04T09:54:00.003-05:00

Front page on the Tennessean today!

Blackburn's leadership role brings surge in PAC giving

Rep. Marsha Blackburn's donations from special-interest groups skyrocketed during the last election cycle as she assumed a leadership role on a powerful House committee. But her fundraising is standard in several ways for a lawmaker seeking to advance in Congress.

What an inspiring legacy she'll leave...

Smack down

2011-01-28T09:20:00.002-05:00

Congressman Marsha Blackburn's free market mumbo-jumbo regarding tech policy is torn to shreds in this article on the Huffington Post.

I haven't pasted because it's got some neato graphics, but I DEFINITELY recommend you viewing if you wanna see what this Marsha + net neutrality thing is all about.

I found this comment from a HuffPost blogger pretty interesting....

Yes, Blackburn basically runs errands for Verizon, AT&T and Comcast. Even before becoming a member of the House Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet she was known to appear suddenly in chambers whenever a hearing was going bad for the telcos, to muscle her way to the podium and read from a statement apparently just faxed to her offices by industry lobbyists. The Politico puffery missed that little detail.

You misunderstood my partisanship

2011-01-27T11:40:00.003-05:00

From Politico...

Will Marsha Blackburn be GOP’s next tech policy champion?

In the first few weeks of 2011, Rep. Marsha Blackburn didn’t just test the tech policy waters, she dove in head first.

On the opening day of the 112th Congress, the Tennessee Republican reintroduced a bill to bar the Federal Communications Commission from instituting net neutrality rules. Days later, she spoke on an online privacy panel at the geek equivalent of the Oscars: the International Consumer Electronics Show. Last week, she keynoted the State of the Net conference — the biggest tech policy fete in the capital so far this year.

Blackburn’s turf, however, is far from the tech hubs of Silicon Valley, New York’s Silicon Alley or Boston’s Route 128 corridor. She’s from Brentwood, Tenn., a suburb of Nashville, known more for producing country music than silicon chips or Web startups.

The tech community has taken notice.

“She seems to be doing more keynote addresses and taking much more of a visible role,” said Darrell West, founding director of Brookings Institution’s Center for Technology Innovation. “There’s been great public interest in tech, and she’s taken advantage of that to carve out a niche in tech policy.”

Blackburn says she’s been active all along.

“Maybe some people just weren’t paying attention,” Blackburn told POLITICO. “But I’m glad they are now.”

Blackburn’s opposition to net neutrality — she calls it “the Fairness Doctrine for the Internet” — dates back to 2006, when Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) introduced a bill to keep the Internet open. She said the content community in Nashville feared the federal government would control Internet traffic, and it wanted to deal directly with service providers.

Today, Blackburn says the burgeoning health and energy IT sectors in her district are concerned the FCC will use net neutrality to regulate their businesses.

With her district’s country music roots, Blackburn has been involved in intellectual property issues since her election to the seat in 2002, serving on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. She also founded the Congressional Songwriters Caucus — for which she serves as chairwoman — “to shine a light on some of the concerns with intellectual property.”

But her keynote at the State of the Net rubbed some the wrong way because it was partisan; the word “conservatives” popped up nearly a dozen times.

“Beginning with the coming repeal of the FCC overreach, conservatives should apply our philosophy to the broader arena of tech policy,” Blackburn said in her speech. “We must do so in the spirit of our classic defense of free markets and property rights, while guarding against needless regulation and federal intervention.”

Net neutrality aside, the tech sector often boasts bipartisan support. “Nobody wants no regulation, and too much regulation and the wrong kind can be damaging,” said Ed Black, president and CEO of the Computer & Communications Industry Association.

Blackburn, however, says she was misunderstood.

“Defense of free markets is where we need to be when establishing a vision for national technology policy,” she said.

Congressman Blackburn gives me that warm, fuzzy feeling inside

2011-01-21T10:10:00.003-05:00

From the Indiana Daily Student...

Clean Air Act to be reviewed
By Colleen Sikorski

On the 112th Congress’ second day in session, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., introduced a bill that would amend the Clean Air Act in a way that has environmental groups seething.

H.R. 97, the Free Industry Trade Act, amends the Clean Air Act so that nothing in the act regulates global warming or climate change.

H.R. 97 also excludes greenhouse gases from being defined as “air pollutants.”

Indiana Representative Todd Young, R-9th District, has signed on as a co-sponsor of H.R. 97.

Trevor Foughty, communications director for Young, said Young co-sponsored the bill in order to stop future Congresses from enacting cap-and-trade “schemes.”

“That legislation would have been crippling on the economy, especially in southern Indiana which is heavily reliant on the coal industry for jobs and electricity,” Foughty said in an e-mail.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s website, cap and trade sets a mandatory limit on emissions and allows sources to buy and sell amounts of pollutants they can emit.

Foughty said there are other technologies that could reduce emissions without hurting the job market, specifically mentioning carbon sequestration clean coal technology.

According to reports by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, carbon sequestration clean coal technology is the process of removing carbon from the atmosphere to be released in a reservoir. Carbon is released when coal is burned for fuel.

Two other Indiana congressmen, Dan Burton, R-5th District, and Mike Pence, R-6th District, have also signed on as co-sponsors. As of Thursday, H.R. 97 had 100 co-sponsors.

Two days after H.R. 97 was introduced, Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, who is also a co-sponsor, became the chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, the Environment and Related Agencies. The subcommittee oversees funding for the EPA. In a statement, Simpson declared the EPA was “the scariest agency in the federal government” and had “run amok.”

H.R. 97 is currently being reviewed by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Sierra Club is one of the environmental groups opposed to H.R. 97. Officials sent out a press release that said “it took Republicans one day ... to declare an all-out war on the Clean Air Act and the EPA.”

One of the Sierra Club’s main concerns is that H.R. 97 would decrease the EPA’s ability to protect the environment and health of Americans, said David Graham-Caso, an associate press secretary for Sierra Club.

“This is a division of our government that is supposed to protect people from pollution,” Graham-Caso said. “Pollution that harms and pollution that kills. Trying to prevent protecting people from pollution is obviously a bad thing for every single American.”

Sierra Club is also concerned about the technological and economic implications of H.R. 97.

“Any legislation that blocks the EPA’s ability to regulate CO2 keeps our country reliant on old energy technologies and delays technology investments that can create new jobs,” said Lyndsay Moseley, a federal policy representative for Sierra Club.

IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs professor James Barnes said H.R. 97 would hurt the EPA’s ability to enforce fuel economy standards for automobiles that it developed last year with the Department of Transportation.

“They’re designed as fuel economy standards, but the effect of the fuel economy standard was also to lower the greenhouse gas emissions,” Barnes said. “That move was going to give us more fuel efficient cars and was going to be a help to our automobile industry in terms of developing technologies.”

Brutal honesty from West Tennessee

2011-01-19T22:10:00.002-05:00

You repeat the lie, you repeat the lie, you repeat the lie... and you get someone shooting up a public meeting.

How would you cut the debt?

2011-01-16T08:58:00.003-05:00

H.R.68
Latest Title: To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit Federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting after fiscal year 2013.
Sponsor: Rep Lamborn, Doug [CO-5] (introduced 1/5/2011)
Cosponsors (12)
Related Bills: H.R.69
Latest Major Action: 1/5/2011 Referred to House committee.
Status: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
COSPONSORS(12), ALPHABETICAL
Rep Bishop, Rob [UT-1] - 1/12/2011
Rep Blackburn, Marsha [TN-7] - 1/12/2011
Rep Broun, Paul C. [GA-10] - 1/12/2011
Rep Coffman, Mike [CO-6] - 1/12/2011
Rep Duncan, Jeff [SC-3] - 1/12/2011
Rep Foxx, Virginia [NC-5] - 1/12/2011
Rep Garrett, Scott [NJ-5] - 1/12/2011
Rep Gibbs, Bob [OH-18] - 1/12/2011
Rep Hayworth, Nan A. S. [NY-19] - 1/12/2011
Rep Herger, Wally [CA-2] - 1/12/2011
Rep Olson, Pete [TX-22] - 1/12/2011
Rep Ribble, Reid J. [WI-8] - 1/12/2011

H.R.69
Latest Title: To prohibit Federal funding of certain public radio programming, to provide for the transfer of certain public radio funds to reduce the public debt, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Lamborn, Doug [CO-5] (introduced 1/5/2011)
Related Bills: H.R.68
Latest Major Action: 1/5/2011 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
COSPONSORS(18), ALPHABETICAL
Rep Akin, W. Todd [MO-2] - 1/12/2011
Rep Bartlett, Roscoe G. [MD-6] - 1/12/2011
Rep Bishop, Rob [UT-1] - 1/12/2011
Rep Blackburn, Marsha [TN-7] - 1/12/2011
Rep Broun, Paul C. [GA-10] - 1/12/2011
Rep Burton, Dan [IN-5] - 1/12/2011
Rep Chaffetz, Jason [UT-3] - 1/12/2011
Rep Coffman, Mike [CO-6] - 1/12/2011
Rep Duncan, Jeff [SC-3] - 1/12/2011
Rep Foxx, Virginia [NC-5] - 1/12/2011
Rep Franks, Trent [AZ-2] - 1/12/2011
Rep Garrett, Scott [NJ-5] - 1/12/2011
Rep Gibbs, Bob [OH-18] - 1/12/2011
Rep Hayworth, Nan A. S. [NY-19] - 1/12/2011
Rep Herger, Wally [CA-2] - 1/12/2011
Rep King, Steve [IA-5] - 1/12/2011
Rep Ribble, Reid J. [WI-8] - 1/12/2011
Rep Schmidt, Jean [OH-2] - 1/12/2011

The List

2011-01-08T20:31:00.002-05:00

As we learn more about the lunatic who shot up Congresswoman Gifford's constituent meeting, I think it'll become necessary to compile a list of people indirectly responsible who should be tried for treason. For starters...

Sarah Palin
Glenn Beck
Sean Hannity
Bill O'Reilly (how bout we just say everyone at FOX)
Rush Limbaugh
Michele Bachmann
Michelle Malkin
Sharron Angle
Steve King
Steve Gill
Allen West
Phyllis Schlafly
Mark Levin
Those associated with the "Tea Party Movement"

Note that this is a working list. Also, note that I will not include Marsha Blackburn because, as right-wing and hateful as she can be, I have never heard her incite violence like ALL of those listed above.

What is happening???

2011-01-08T16:37:00.002-05:00

Pleeeease don't let this be a politically-motivated shooting...

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) shot at constituent meeting.

Lord, help us...

2011-01-05T13:47:00.003-05:00

WASHINGTON-- At a pre-swearing in reception on Capitol Hill this morning, Reps Marsha Blackburn (TN-7), John Duncan (TN-2), and Phil Roe (TN-1), welcomed the new members of Tennessee's Congressional Delegation.

Pictured from left to right are, Rep. Phil Roe (TN-1), Rep. Elect Chuck Fleischmann (TN-3), Rep. Marsha Blackburn (TN-7), Rep. John Duncan (TN-2), Rep. Elect Diane Black (TN-6), Rep. Elect Stephen Fincher (TN-8), and Rep. Elect Scott DesJarlais (TN-4).

Repeal and replace with nothing!!! Cackle, cackle.

2011-01-04T22:13:00.002-05:00

Congressman Blackburn creates her own mandate to repeal everything and replace it with nothing. The free market will fix everything, right?

So far, Marsha's to-do list includes repealing healthcare, repealing a ban a incandescent lightbulbs, and repealing net neutrality rules. I assume then she'll begin funneling money out of public schools and into the military. Just call me psychic.

How ridiculous can she get?!!!

2010-12-17T10:40:00.002-05:00

I don't know what definition of 'Republican' Marsha Blackburn is reading, but could she be any more wrong with her Christmas mess of a message?

Dec 16 2010
God Bless Us Everyone
Marsha Blackburn

As the Holiday season is upon us, I’m reminded of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” and I have to say that the House is showing a great deal of similarities these days. The chamber is like Ebenezer Scrooge’s counting house on Christmas Eve. Scrooge-like liberals still relish denying coal to the everyday “Bob Cratchit” Americans who just want a little warmth this season. I suspect my liberal colleagues are stretching out the days in Washington because they dread a visit from three Christmas Ghosts once they are alone in the darkened House Chamber.

The Ghost of Christmas Past would take them through their many errors, from Cap and Trade, through Health Care, and on to tax increases. With each move, they’d watch their once jovial colleagues become more insular and out of touch with the American People.

The Ghost of Christmas Present would be no more comforting. They’d watch themselves argue on the Floor endlessly about amnesty for illegals, tax increases for small business, and big government management of everything from the internet to school lunches- all while incoming freshmen like Stephen Fincher, Diane Black, Chuck Fleishman, and Scott DeJarlais deck the halls of their new Congressional Offices and looking forward to a productive new year.

Finally, they must particularly dread the moment when the Ghost of Christmas Future glides into the Chamber to show them what will happen if they don’t change their ways….

For my part, I am looking forward to throwing open the windows on a sunny Christmas Morning. There may be a few more cold and frustrating days between now and Christmas. Too many of them will be spent here in Washington watching Scrooge count his coins and hoard his coal- but Christmas always comes; a new year always follows; and better days are ahead.

God Bless Us Every One

Marsha Blackburn

---
I don't even want to critique this nonsense. She embarasses herself enough just by making it public.

A sad day

2010-12-07T21:41:00.002-05:00

Say what you want about her husband, but today we lost an amazingly strong woman and a committed advocate for those less fortunate.

Thank you, Elizabeth Edwards.

Marsha Blackburn opposes core American values

2010-11-30T21:45:00.003-05:00

Fairness, equality, and neutrality are all concepts that Republicans hate more than Nancy Pelosi. Case and point:

Net Neutrality Rift Erupts Ahead of Historic FCC Open Internet Decision

A blurb for ya...

Many advocates of net neutrality believe that the most effective way to ensure the principles — in the long term — is through new legislation from Congress. But with anti-regulatory Republicans taking over the House of Representatives, there is virtually no chance of that happening for at least two years. So, advocates say, it’s up to Genachowski.

Republicans have been lashing out at possible FCC action since the spring. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, the outspoken Tennessee Republican who sits on the House Energy and Commerce Committee pledged Tuesday to overturn the rules. “This is a hysterical reaction by the FCC to a hypothetical problem,” Blackburn said in a statement. Genachowski “has little if any congressional support for net neutrality.”

Since being elected in 2002, Rep. Blackburn has received $114,000 in total campaign donations from AT&T, Verizon, and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, her second, third, and fifth top career contributors, respectively, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
---
As Congressman Blackburn and right-wing Republicans worship at the altar of capitalism, Americans will lack what it takes to really make the free market work: perfect information.

Hilarious pre-election message to Congressman Blackburn

2010-10-29T19:20:00.002-04:00

I'm sure it's just more liberal bias

2010-10-14T11:39:00.001-04:00

Rep. Marsha Blackburn dismissive of being named to 'most corrupt' list
By Bartholomew Sullivan • THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL • October 14, 2010

WASHINGTON — Less than a month before midterm elections, the Washington-based watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has named U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn to its list of the 26 “most corrupt” members of Congress.

CREW gave the Franklin Republican the designation based on what it calls “her repeated failure to properly report campaign receipts and expenditures, including payments made to a family-owned business.”

Blackburn campaign spokesman Darcy Anderson dismissed the listing as old news wrapped in a fundraising appeal.

“The FEC dismissed this matter two years ago after the congressman discovered and addressed it with her constituents,” Anderson said. “The only new information is that CREW wants more money.”

Blackburn, who is in her fourth term, faces Democrat college professor Greg Rabidoux of Clarksville on Nov. 2.

Besides Blackburn, the list includes U.S. Reps. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., and Maxine Waters, D-Calif., both currently involved with House ethics complaints, and Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the minority leader, and John Ensign, R-Nev., whose parents paid off the cuckolded husband of his mistress.

Are you one of everyone?

2010-10-05T14:18:00.002-04:00

Congressman Blackburn likes to say she listens to her constituents and takes their message to Washington. However, it is abundantly clear that she puts a buffer between herself and any voice that conflicts with her far-right agenda. Here she is on some chick's radio show talkin' up the whole "EVERYONE is telling me that..." b.s.

Talked about your informed citizenry

2010-09-20T20:13:00.003-04:00

From Think Progress...

Corker Booed By Workers At GM Plant Ceremony, Takes Credit For Saving Industry That He Opposed Saving

General Motors recently announced that, thanks to federal efforts to keep the American auto industry from going under, it would be able to rehire 483 workers at its Spring Hill, Tennessee plant to manufacture “three variants of Ecotec four-cylinder engines.” The $438 million arrangement will start producing engines for the Buick, Chevrolet, and GMC models by 2011.

As auto blog Jalopnik reports, the plant recently held a ceremony to welcome back the new workers to begin production of the Ecotec engines. Attending the ceremony were three local Republican legislators, Sens. Bob Corker, Lamar Alexander, and Rep. Marsha Blackburn. Ironically, all three of these lawmakers opposed the plans to save General Motors and other U.S. auto companies. This didn’t stop Corker from taking credit for the federal rescue, anyway. At the event he claimed he “contributed to strengthening the auto industry in this country.” Jalopnik reports that “irony of the Republican lawmakers’ presence wasn’t lost on the workers who attended the ceremony; they booed Tennessee Republican Bob Corker”:

Happy days came back Friday to Spring Hill, Tenn., when General Motors announced it would rehire 483 laid-off workers to build four-cylinder engines. On hand to cheer the news: Three Republican lawmakers who opposed the bailout that saved GM.

As part of its $50 billion bankruptcy arranged by the Obama administration, GM shuttered the Spring Hill plant’s assembly line last year, shedding 2,000 jobs in the process, but kept building four-cylinder engines. The new plan calls for $483 million in spending to upgrade the engine line, pending a deal on state incentives.

The irony of the Republican lawmakers’ presence wasn’t lost on the workers who attended the ceremony; they booed Tennessee Republican Bob Corker, and one UAW official made clear from the stage that the union still remembered which politicians had voted to rescue Wall Street but opposed an auto industry bailout.

Jalopnik goes on to note that when the auto industry rescue was being negotiated, Corker was speaking very differently about federal efforts to revive GM. At the time, Corker said that the Obama administration “has decided they know better than our courts and our free market process how to deal with these companies. … This is a major power grab.”

Premature victory

2010-09-16T19:58:00.002-04:00

The GOP and mainstream media have been falling all over themselves to declare victory for Scott DesJarlais over Rep. Lincoln Davis in TN-04. Obviously, they're dismissing the following as a smear campaign because NO Republican ever goes below the belt...

From the Nashville Scene...

Papers from DesJarlais' Bitter Divorce Pop Up in Media
Posted by Jeff Woods on Thu, Sep 16, 2010 at 11:08 AM

Scott DesJarlais' old divorce papers have turned up in the media, and we think it's fair to say he's no longer looking like such a formidable challenger to Congressman Lincoln Davis. DesJarlais was the new darling of the state Republican Party, endorsed by Sen. Bob Corker and Rep. Marsha Blackburn, and the Cook Political Report just switched this contest from likely Democratic to leaning Democratic. Whoops. From the divorce papers:

In a motion filed in November 2000, Susan DesJarlais sought to obtain sole possession of the couple's home and claimed she was forced to leave the residence when her husband's behavior "became violent and threatening."

In that document, Susan DesJarlais accused her former husband of "dry firing a gun outside the Plaintiff's locked bedroom door, admission of suidical ideation, holding a gun in his mouth for three hours, an incident of physical intimidation at the hospital; and previous threatening behavoir... i.e. shoving, tripping, pushing down, etc."

DesJarlais could spin this story as proving his strong belief in the right to bear arms. OK, maybe that wouldn't work. Instead, he's accusing Davis of running a smear campaign. Apparently, DesJarlais thinks the Davis campaign gave these divorce papers to reporters. Imagine that.

"As rankings and polls continue to show Lincoln Davis' career is nearing its end," DesJarlais campaign says in a comical press release, "the career politician has responded by running a gutter campaign rarely witnessed in Tennessee's Fourth District."

But all is not lost. There's a valuable lesson to be learned here. In the future, Republicans should do a little research into their candidates before they get behind them and make fools of themselves.

Think before you dine

2010-09-13T22:17:00.003-04:00

Here's a good website to check out before you go out to eat in Nashville...

Gun Free Dining Tennessee

Racist Roundup

2010-09-07T19:58:00.003-04:00

Here's a very comprehensive website showing the domestic terrorist threat posed by right-wing Republicans and Tea Party racists.

Selective memory by Marsha Blackburn

2010-09-01T11:26:00.002-04:00

Aug 31 2010
The President's Speech
Marsha Blackburn

President Obama has announced the transition of our military from a combat operation to an “advise and assist” operation. Iraq now will determine its own future, free of a murderous dictator, with all the rights and risks inherent in any nation engaged in changing their form of government. It is now up to the Iraqi people to chart their course.

All Americans are grateful to our magnificent military. Their courage and dedication to duty make all of us proud every minute of every day. We do not forget the sacrifices of so many Tennesseans in service to our nation. We will be forever grateful and remember them with our prayers.

It was the surge strategy developed by General David Petraeus and ordered by President Bush that enabled us to reach the point that we can now relinquish combat operations to the Iraqi armed forces. It was interesting to me to hear Robert Gibbs say that the Obama Administration is not interested in looking back in Iraq, instead they want to look ahead.

I can’t help but wonder if that might be because candidate Obama was opposed to the surge. In fact, he said “I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there. In fact, I think it will do the reverse.”

Tonight it would be nice to hear the President acknowledge the success of President Bush’s surge and thank the military leaders who he and so many liberals have called liars and traitors.
---

Seems to me that the "liars" and "traitors" name-calling was about them starting the war in the first place? So, really, President Obama should've thanked George Bush for beginning a war, then trying a new strategy after a few years of no progress.

And on the top of my reading list...

2010-08-31T21:48:00.002-04:00

Officially out Sept. 1...

I truly admire Markos for the size of his balls.

Ultra-Partisan Blackburn on GOP TV: We are the Part of Nothing.

2010-08-26T16:23:00.003-04:00

Keep tax cuts for the wealthy, give no healthcare to anyone, make sure the middle class stays screwable.

Telling, to say the least

2010-08-20T10:18:00.001-04:00

Blackburn refuses to debate Rabidoux
Clarksville candidate request ignored
BY JAKE LOWARY • THE LEAF-CHRONICLE • August 20, 2010

Greg Rabidoux's request for a debate with his opponent for the 7th District seat in the U.S. House, Republican incumbent Marsha Blackburn, has been rejected.

Rabidoux, an assistant professor of American politics and constitutional law at Austin Peay State University, said he issued the call for a debate following the Aug. 5 primary, in which both candidates ran unopposed.

Rabidoux said the call for a debate came after a "concerned citizen" posted a message on Blackburn's Facebook page.

"Our elected officials are responsible to the people who elected them. A debate is their chance to tell us what they have done for us, and we can decide if we want more of the same," the post said, according to Rabidoux's campaign.

Blackburn's campaign spokeswoman, Darcy Anderson, said the post was from a staunch Rabidoux supporter.

As of Thursday evening, Rabidoux still had gotten no response to the request, which he said was sent in a certified letter that was repeatedly rejected. Anderson said she signed for the letter.

The letter, dated Aug. 6, says it is "both responsible and responsive action" to give voters in the district "an opportunity to evaluate both of us as prospective applicants to the job of representing them."

Rabidoux gave Blackburn an Aug. 16 deadline for a response.

In a prepared statement responding to the request for comments about the debate, Blackburn's campaign said she wouldn't have anything to do with Rabidoux because he might vote for Nancy Pelosi as House speaker.

"Tennesseans know that to stop out of control spending and the exploding debt, we have to fire Nancy Pelosi," the statement reads. "They aren't interested in any candidate who would give her one more vote for the speaker's chair, and neither is Marsha. Instead, Marsha is working as a conservative leader across the state and across the nation to make sure Americans reclaim their government for the next generation."

Rabidoux issued a lengthy counterattack Thursday to Blackburn's response, highlighted by what Rabidoux says is a disregard for voters.

"It seems that again, Blackburn is more concerned with Washington/Beltway politics than with the working people of the 7th District," Rabidoux said in a release from his campaign. "While she is concerned about Nancy Pelosi, I am concerned with creating jobs and connecting educational opportunities with economic growth."

In a later response, Rabidoux added, "Marsha Blackburn is now claiming to know what all Tennesseans want or don't want, there are a whole lot of Tennesseans tonight asking a simple but profound question, 'What is Marsha Blackburn so afraid of?'"

WARNING: Enough to make ya sick

2010-08-19T13:34:00.004-04:00

From the Memphis Commercial Appeal & Daily News...

Blackburn Hears Conservative Concerns at Town Hall

U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn heard a lot this week in Bartlett about conservative hopes for a Republican majority in both houses of Congress with the Nov. 2 congressional midterm elections.

Some in the lunch-hour crowd of more than 100 at the Bartlett Performing Arts & Conference Center expressed concern that if Republicans become the majority in one or both chambers, they will become more moderate.

“Are you going to act like you belong there?” asked Tim Nichols of Bartlett. “If we do take the house back, I don’t want to see civility.”

Another attendee said he feared the coming election is a choice between “socialist party A and socialist party B.”

Blackburn said the key to Republican conduct, should the GOP win a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, is in the Republican conference of House leaders where priorities of a GOP majority would be determined. She said the priority of the conference will be to repeal national health care reform.

Blackburn faces opposition from Democrat Greg Rabidoux of Clarksville in the Nov. 2 general election.

Rabidoux has said Blackburn has “gone out of her way to align herself with the tea party.”

“I think there’s a gap between what the average person wants and needs to hear and the sexy story, so to speak, in the media about the tea party,” Rabidoux told The Daily News before the August primaries.

Blackburn said a constituent recently described her as “being tea party before tea party was cool.”

The Bartlett audience reflected concerns of the tea party movement and other conservative concerns.

Another man at the meeting veered from concerns about illegal immigration.

“I’m not convinced that we don’t have an illegal immigrant in the Oval Office,” he said in a remark that drew applause from most in the room.

Don Waters of Cordova said he didn’t want to see a mosque built near ground zero in Manhattan, or anywhere else for that matter.

“I don’t think we should have one built anywhere because they are all Muslims,” he said.

“Muslims all stand together when they come down to who they are going to fight for. … I don’t think that needs to be built where it’s proposed to be built or built anywhere. We’ve got enough of them already.”

Blackburn didn’t touch the remark about where President Barack Obama was born.

She talked of her proposal to allow local law enforcement officers to “apprehend and hold” and require deportation of illegal aliens arrested for other crimes.

“My legislation is targeted specifically at the criminal alien population that is in this country,” she said.

And Blackburn said Obama’s recent remarks supporting the right to build the mosque, but not necessarily near ground zero, showed the administration is “out of touch” with the American public.

“Placing that mosque at ground zero is basically stepping on the pain of a lot of the 9/11 families,” she said.

Blackburn acknowledged that some of the comments at the meeting reflected a fear and uncertainty that is about a sudden shift in government policies at a time of economic peril.

“It is a very good thing that people are showing up and they are talking. … That uncertainty causes people to be fearful,” she said after the session. “It is about having a path that is going to be a path to productivity for this country that people know is going to be generating economic growth. They know that what is being done now is not generating job growth. It has made the issues worse.”

---
What is wrong with these people?

Where's our Congressman?

2010-08-17T19:31:00.001-04:00

Crazy from Iowa

2010-08-16T19:11:00.001-04:00

Primaries over, it's game time

2010-08-06T15:55:00.000-04:00

Rabidoux challenges Blackburn to debate
By Kevin Walters • The TENNESSEAN • August 6, 2010

FRANKLIN — Democratic congressional candidate Greg Rabidoux says he wants to face Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn in a public debate.

On Friday morning, Rabidoux issued a letter challenging Blackburn to at least one debate, if not more. He’s given Blackburn until Aug. 16 to respond.

“Ultimately, the 7th District voters and the democratic process are all best served by this happening,” Rabidoux said.

Rabidoux initially took the letter to Blackburn’s office at the Cadence Bank Building on Main Street in Franklin though he later took the letter to Blackburn’s campaign headquarters in Brentwood.

Blackburn’s staff could not immediately be reached for comment.

Rabidoux is an assistant professor of American politics and constitutional law at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville.

Rabidoux will oppose incumbent Blackburn for the 7th Congressional District in the general election in November.

The re-education of Marsha

2010-07-16T21:46:00.003-04:00

So most of you know that I use this blog as a means of catharsis. I avoid talking about politics at work, with friends, or with family, mainly because it's depressing. That said, let me indulge myself...

Marsha Blackburn is stupid.

I invite you to watch the following clip, in which Rep. Blackburn flexes her scientific muscle re: global warming.

I know, right!!! What kind of moron is she talking to when she explains that we exhale CO2? If Marsha Blackburn cared at all about science (aka the enemy of the GOP) she could take a short cab ride (or Metro ride... think about the taxpayer!) over to GWU and expand her knowledge on climate change. I still have my course bulletin, and even some folders with old tests I can give her!

It really is pathetic to here these right-wingers talk. I mean, how long do we have to wait for these old farts to die off before we can actually operate like its 2010? According to them, the national debt is armageddon, and climate change is "meh".

PS. It's hot as hell today.

Diss

2010-07-11T09:02:00.002-04:00

From the Memphis Flyer...

Marsha Blackburn: On the Case and On the Road

“I think it’s interesting that to challenge me, they [Democrats] had to go to somebody in Connecticut”: That was 7th District Republican congresswoman Marsha Blackburn’s tack Thursday on her presumptive Democratic opponent, Greg Rabidoux, and that’s seemingly about as far as she wants to go — for public consumption, anyhow —in commenting on her opponent.

The reference to Connecticut is to the home state of Rabidoux, a professor of politics and law at Austin Peay University in Clarksville, and a bona fide Tennessean these days.

Whether he’s a bona fide candidate as well is another matter. The under-funded Rabidoux is still a relative unknown in most of the sprawling 7th District, which spans from the suburbs of Memphis to those of Nashville and takes in 15 counties.

Blackburn, meanwhile, has money, all the advantages of incumbency, and something of a national celebrity. She is an assistant GOP whip in the House of Representatives and a frequent interviewee on national TV talk shows.

For much of Thursday her mission was to use her celebrity on behalf of other Republican candidates for Congress. She introduced Alan Nunnelee, a candidate in Mississippi’s First Congressional district, at a luncheon at the Chickasaw Country Club, then whisked over to Jonesboro to give a helping hand to Rick Crawford, a candidate in Arkansas’s First Congressional District.

All the while, Blackburn says, she stays in touch with her own 7th District — partly through visits and forums and partly through what she calls “freedom networking” via Facebook and her congressional newsletter and other means.

She is absolutely certain that her advocacy of limited government and minimal spending accurately reflects the sentiments of the district.

“In eight years I haven’t had a week off, and very seldom do I take a day off,” said Blackburn, who went on to calculate that she had done something related to her job or to her ideological mission every single day during the previous eight months.

As recently as 2006, Blackburn won a national political website’s online poll and was designated “the Hottest Woman in U.S. Politics.”; For all that, and for all her current activity, she didn’t get a mention in the July 3 issue of Newsweek, which featured South Carolina Republican gubernatorial nominee Nikki Haley and, in a sidebar, cited several other exemplars of the “the supposed hotness of Republican women.”

But friends and foes alike should take note: Marsha Blackburn is still on the case.
---

Ain't she from Mississippi? 'They' had to go to somebody in Mississippi?

Has to be sarcasm

2010-07-08T11:02:00.003-04:00

So I read a letter to the editor in the Jackson Sun the other day about Marsha's big oil tendencies, and today there is a response. I figure it must be a joke...

Unfair to criticize GOP on oil money
July 8, 2010

It seems that Meryl Rice, Rep. Marsha Blackburn's opponent, and other Democrats like to criticize Blackburn for taking money from British Petroleum and other big oil companies. It is rare for anyone in Congress not to take money from the oil industry. In checking Blackburn's donations in 2008 and 2010, you don't find BP in her top 20 donors. You will find that she received a total of $34,500 from the oil industry. Compare this to Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark, who received the largest amount from the oil industry at $329,650, and Senator Harry Reid, D-Nev., who received $40,900. President Obama received $884,000. The largest beneficiary of BP donations is Senator Mary Landrieu D-La, who received $17,000. It is noted that President Obama received $77.051 from BP during last election.

It is disingenuous to single out one member of Congress to criticize because they are Republicans when almost everyone in the Senate and House accepts oil money.

---

Ok, let's take a step back and think about this. Harry Reid is the Senate Majority Leader, Blanche Lincoln tends to be the deciding vote on all energy/environment legislation, Mary Landrieu is the senior senator from an oil state, and President Obama is the president.

Marsha Blackburn is a representative from a suburban Tennessee House district, ranked #243 in seniority.

Umm... what?

Some fine candidates

2010-07-06T12:15:00.002-04:00

So this weekend I went to the Williamson County Democrats' July 4th BBQ. I gotta say I was pretty impressed with the candidates who spoke... enough so that I decided to put their links up on the side. Check them out!!!

WOW re: Rabidoux

2010-06-29T15:58:00.003-04:00

Here's a good article from the Memphis Flyer about our TN-07...

Underdog Rabidoux Stokes the Democratic Base in Challenge to Blackburn
Tue, Jun 29, 2010 at 11:00 AM

His slogan (well, one of them, anyhow) is “Vote Greg, not Marsha, Marsha, Marsha,” and he insists that that he’s got a chance to be elected on the basis of what he sees as “an anti-incumbent fever,” along with what he hopes is revulsion in the 7th congressional district against the positions of the well-entrenched incumbent.

That’s Greg Rabidoux, a professor of politics and law at Clarksville’s Austin Peay University and the latest Democrat to hazard the forbidding task of challenging U.S. Representative Marsha Blackburn.

Rabidoux basically spent the weekend in Shelby County, making the rounds of actual and potential supporters and turning up on Saturday at Sidney Chism’s annual picnic on Horn Lake Road.

Speaking to a group of hard-core Democrats on Friday night at the Germantown home of Adrienne Pakis-Gillon, Rabidoux tried to inspire his listeners with examples ranging from Barack Obama (“He started with just a small core of believers”) to last week’s marathon, record-setting Wimbledon match that took parts of three days to complete (“There’s a first time for everything”).

Allegiance to special interests and indifference to Social Security, Medicare, and other staples of contemporary American life are some of the derelictions Rabidoux charges his Republican opponent with.

However long on enthusiasm, Rabidoux is admittedly short on resources, making it prohibitive just now to get mass-media circulation for a crisply edited video spot linking Blackburn to alleged Big Oil sponsors that’s playing right now on the Internet.

But, like underdog challengers before him, Rabidoux is making virtue of necessity. Not for him the “thousand-dollar-a-plate fundraisers or the $2500 ‘spa day’ at a fancy Washington hotel” that he attributes to Blackburn, an assistant GOP whip in the House of Representatives and a fixture on the TV talk circuit.

“She’s more celebrity than public servant,” argues Rabidoux, the author of a highly readable and comprehensive study, published just last year, entitled Hollywood Politicos, Then and Now.

“There’s a disconnect there that they feel now more than ever before,” Rabidoux says regarding the constituents of the sprawling 15-county 7th congressional district, which stretches, literally, from the suburbs of Memphis to those of Nashville.

Whether that’s wishful thinking or not remains to be seen.

What's Up With Marsha?!

Another claim to fame

2010-06-29T13:25:00.000-04:00

Tennessee is second fattest state in the nation
By Christina E. Sanchez • THE TENNESSEAN • June 29, 2010

Tennessee was named the second fattest state in the nation, tied with Alabama, according to an annual health ranking report.

The state dropped two spots from its previous ranking of fourth fattest. Mississippi was No. 1 for obesity rates for the sixth year in a row.

The seventh annual report from Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation showed that 31.6 percent of Tennessee's adults are obese. Men were more obese than women at 32.2 percent.

Also, for the first time, the report "F as in Fat" ranked minority groups state-by-state. Tennessee had the highest rates of obesity in the country for Latinos, while the state was ranked sixth for obesity among blacks.

Poverty and lack of access to healthy foods and safe neighborhoods were cited in the study as top reasons for high rates of obesity. The recession also could have caused some states to regress.

In a Blackburn world, guns are a gift from God

2010-06-28T15:27:00.003-04:00

Blackburn Hails Supreme's 2nd Amendment Decision

Close Vote Shows Why Kagan Must Be Clear On Gun Rights

WASHINGTON- Congressman Marsha Blackburn made the following statement on the Supreme Court's ruling today that the Second Amendment applies equally to Federal, State, and local governments. "Today the Court maintained what Americans already know; our right to keep and bear arms is absolute. As the founders understood, the individual's right to self protection is endowed by the creator, not by the government," Blackburn said.

"I regret that the ruling on so obvious an issue was a narrow one. This 5-4 ruling highlights how important the confirmation hearings underway in the Senate are. Elena Kagan will do the nation a disservice if she is less than explicit in her views of 2nd Amendment rights. I urge my colleagues in the Senate to examine her position on this issue closely."

---

Granted, this case was originally about gang violence in the streets of Chicago, but having guns in Brentwood is the same thing (obviously!).

Oily congressman

2010-06-26T09:22:00.002-04:00

From the Sunlight Foundation...

Republicans cozy up with BP lobbyist Thursday

On Thursday, June 24, Dan Meyer, a lobbyist for BP, is listed as one of several hosts for a Thursday $1,000-a-plate luncheon at the boutique Hotel George in downtown Washington. Meyer, who’s with the Duberstein Group, was the Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs under George W. Bush in 2007-2008.

The fundraiser will benefit Colorado candidate Cory Gardner, who is in a tight race with incumbent Betsy Markey, D, Colo.

Amidst the biggest oil spill in US history, a series of public relations foibles, and public outrage against BP, the company’s lobbyists are continuing to work the Washington circuit.

The lunch also includes other energy lobbyists and industry players, including representatives from Koch Industries, whose political action committee is also listed as a host. House Energy and Commerce Committee members receive more contributions from Koch Industries than any other committees’ members. One member of this committee is Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., who is listed as a headliner to Thursday’s lunch. Koch donated $7,500 to Blackburn’s campaign this cycle and also donated $2,500 towards Gardner’s campaign, according to Federal Election Commission reports.

Minnesota Rep. Erik Paulsen (Whoops, Gardner’s party planning team misspelled his first name on the invitation) is also scheduled to attend.

Note: Party Time blogged last week about how Gardner canceled a Colorado fundraiser after the event’s main draw, Rep. Steve King, said that president Obama favors blacks over whites.

---
Way to be in touch with Americans, Congressman!

Diplomat Blackburn

2010-06-22T19:52:00.003-04:00

I'm entertained by the discussion of those in the "left end of the environmental community" who want to make certain we move to alternative fuels...

Does favoring a move to alternative fuels put someone on the left? If so, welcome to the millions and millions of Americans who now join me! Partay!

I challenge you...

2010-06-20T17:17:00.001-04:00

to find something in the 2010 Texas Republican Party Platform that you support, then shoot yourself.

Giving credit where credit is due

2010-06-18T16:20:00.002-04:00

After Congressman Joe Barton's horrific apology to BP, I commend Congressman Blackburn for distancing herself from such remarks...

Now, if only she'd support clean energy and give a rat's a** about the environment, we could really start moving forward!

'10 in 07

2010-06-15T22:49:00.002-04:00

With all the media coverage of the crazy right-wing candidates popping up across the country, here's hoping that legit candidates like Greg Rabidoux are given their share of air-time!

Check out his YouTube channel.

TN-08 a microcosm of the '08 elections?

2010-06-06T08:53:00.003-04:00

Sounds like it to me. I found this article from the Jackson Sun pretty interesting...

GOPers in 8th District go right

Only the most bigoted of bigots need apply, thanks.

2010-05-27T23:29:00.003-04:00

From the right-wing Washington Times...

Religious conservatives urge Congress to keep 'don't ask'

More than 30 conservative pastors and other religious leaders joined several Republican congressmen Thursday in criticizing the proposed repeal of the ban on gays serving openly in the military.

"People in the country are angry," said Pastor Luke Robinson, of Quinn Chapel in Frederick, Md. "They are concerned that this administration's radical, socialistic approach to everything from the economy to the military is gong to destroy this nation."

Other religious leaders -- including several retired military men -- voiced concerns over the impact of open homosexuality on the morale, recruitment and functionality of the armed forces.

On Thursday, the House was expected to pass the repeal of the Clinton-era "don't ask, don't tell" policy, a move supported by President Obama. In the Senate, the armed services committee was expected to pass it and send it along for a full vote when Congress returns from its week long Memorial Day vacation. In both cases the initiative to end the ban was attached to a $760 billion defense spending bill.

Rep. Jack Kingston, Georgia Republican, was sharply critical of the impending congressional votes.

"This is a major national policy being changed two floors above us in a 10-minute debate. That's an insult to the American people from a Congress that already has a reputation for not listening to the American people."

Rep. Kingston was joined by several other Republican lawmaker, including Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn, Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert, Iowa Rep. Steve King, Iowa and Missouri Rep. Todd Akin.

As the debate began in the House, Rep. Jared Polis, an openly gay Democrat from Colorado, said most Americans "recognize that on the battlefield, it doesn't matter if a soldier is lesbian, gay or straight. What matters is they get the job done for our country."

"We need to get this done, and we need to get it done now," said Rep. Patrick Murphy, a Pennsylvania Democrat who served in the Iraq war and who is the chief sponsor of the amendment.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said he supports repeal but would prefer that Congress wait to vote until he can talk to the troops and chart a path forward. A study he ordered is due Dec. 1.

The gay rights amendment is the product of a compromise with Pentagon leaders: It will not go into effect until the Pentagon completes a study, expected in December, on the ramifications of the policy change and until the president, the defense secretary and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff certify that it won't hurt the military's ability to fight.

Also on hand was Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council Action, which organized the conference.

"The irony of the moment should not escape us," he said Thursday, "that as we are entering the Memorial Day weekend, that instead of honoring our servicemen and women, this administration is using the military to advance their radical social agenda."

A HUGE shift for Rep. Blackburn

2010-05-25T22:24:00.003-04:00

I happened across this quote from Congressman Blackburn:

Certainly government does good things. I commend them for their reaction to this months flooding in Tennessee. But they waste a lot of your money as well. When they do, the debt that accumulates puts all of the worthwhile programs, from national defense to flood relief, in danger.

Whoa. Whoa. I don't need to remind you of the countless times the Congressman has stated that the government produces nothing but problems and should be slashed at every level (except the military). Admission, or hypocrisy?

Not the slickest, but neither is Bachmann

2010-05-25T22:19:00.001-04:00

The Fed govt and the flood

2010-05-11T20:04:00.002-04:00

Now that recovery is in full swing, let's look at the response from our elected officials...

from the Nashville Scene...

It was "a 1,000-year rainfall event," so we deserve even more federal aid than the law provides for ordinary disasters. That's the message from our congressional delegation in a new letter to President Obama.

"Tennesseans are helping themselves and their neighbors, but Tennessee will require federal assistance beyond what current emergency programs' funding can support," today's letter states.

That's fine. We're not proud. We'll take all the money the feds will give us, right? Still, once again, we can't help but point out the brazen hypocrisy of two members of Congress who signed this letter. Zach Wamp and Marsha Blackburn are champions of states' rights, constantly harping about getting the federal guvmint off our backs. Now here they are in line with everyone else with their hands out, demanding more and more aid.

[Congressman Wamp] was asked to explain how he can demand states' rights while begging for federal aid at the same time.

"They're not mutually exclusive. There's a legitimate role for the federal government, and frankly it involves things like natural disasters that the states cannot deal with."

So Washington should do whatever Wamp wants Washington to do. Get it?

Hypocrisy Task Force

2010-04-27T19:03:00.005-04:00

I'm loving this article from the Times Record News about Congressman Blackburn's new 10th Amendment Task Force... (and holler to my alma mater!)...

Task force pleads Tenth
Lawmakers seek to keep mandates at bay

WASHINGTON — Violation of the Constitution. Massive, hostile takeover. A dangerous situation.

Tenth Amendment enthusiasts are sounding an alarm not as old as “The British are coming!” but one heard many times in America’s history.

These enthusiasts are worried about keeping marauding hordes of federal mandates at bay. San Angelo Congressman Mike Conaway and Abilene Congressman Randy Neugebauer are among 10 conservative House Republicans who recently formed the Tenth Amendment Task Force to do just that.

“We are pretty fierce defenders of the Tenth Amendment,” Conaway said.

In case you’ve forgotten high school government class, the Tenth Amendment basically says, whatever powers the Constitution doesn’t give to the federal government or bar the states from having belong to the states or the people.

This idea — powers divvied up between a central government and states — is also known as “federalism.” The task force’s stance sounds familiar from way back to a pair of experts on federalism and the law.

Politicians have raised those same concerns, when convenient, going back to debates about slavery in the 1800s and civil rights in the 1960s, said the experts from Washington-based George Washington University.

“It’s a rare politician, I find, who has a real commitment to federalism,” Jonathan R. Siegel, a GWU law professor, said.

It’s a great idea to consider how the federal government’s actions affect states, Siegel said.

“I think what’s really happening is when people are against something the federal government wants to do, suddenly they’re all interested in states’ rights,” Siegel said. “When they support what the federal government wants to do, suddenly they don’t care so much.”

Republicans have sought a federal law requiring all states to recognize certain gun permits issued by other states, Siegel said. They also wanted a constitutional amendment defining marriage.

Democrats have historically supported federal action, GWU constitutional law professor Peter J. Smith said in a separate telephone interview. But the left protested the No Child Left Behind Act, saying it shackled states’ educational process.

It’s no secret Republicans hope to gain control of the House through midterm elections. Back in the 1990s, when Republicans retook the House, they ran in part on a platform of giving power back to the states, Smith said.

“Then they proceeded after taking office to propose nationalizing all tort law and regulating abortion from the federal level,” he said.

Conaway doesn’t appear to be a fan of nationalizing anything. The Midland Republican said the task force could make a difference by educating the public about the Tenth Amendment.

“The Tenth Amendment idea is very powerful in and of itself, and so the more people who know it and understand it, then the easier it will be to help avoid violations of it,” Conaway said.

The task force’s concerns should resonate with Tea Party supporters who call for limited government and with others, including the Tenth Amendment Center’s proponents.

The self-styled “national think tank” and activism promoter has a Texas contingent headed by state coordinator Brian Roberts, a 38-year-old Dallas-area entrepreneur who runs a software company.

Roberts is firm about states’ power, but he’s not a secessionist.

“If states individually are able to do what they need to do, there’s absolutely no reason for secession at all,” Roberts said.

For Neugebauer, health care reform mandating Americans must buy insurance or pay a penalty sounded an alarm.

“Many members, including myself, are very concerned about this massive hostile takeover by the government of the liberties and freedoms of the American people,” the Republican from Lubbock said.

McMurry University political science professor Paul Fabrizio said the goal of the task force is admirable. Clearly, the Abilene-based professor said, the balance of federalism has been moving toward the federal government for a long time. “It’s what we call creeping federalism, and some would argue it’s now galloping federalism with more and more power going to the federal government,” Fabrizio said.

The federal government’s power is growing because the American people and the states are willing to accept federal money spent on their behalf, Fabrizio said.

“That’s the part of the equation that I think people aren’t talking about."

People don’t want the federal government in their lives, but they want the federal government’s money, he said.

“I would imagine that most people in Abilene want Dyess Air Force Base here,” Fabrizio said. “They want the spending that comes from that.”

Social Security payments, farm subsidies and federal stimulus funds are all from the federal government.

“The crushing reality that we all face is that the federal government has money, which it basically prints, and so to accomplish things, we need its help,” Fabrizio said.

Marsha Blackburn celebrates Earth Day

2010-04-22T11:16:00.002-04:00

In true Blackburn-fashion, the Congressman celebrates our planet the best way she knows how...

EPA Stands In The Way Of Recovery
Washington, Apr 22 - Reprinted From The Hill

Not far from my district the Spring Hill plant sits idle. GM pulled out of Spring Hill, once the proud home to the Saturn line, in the wake of its bankruptcy last year. At a listening session with constituents who live in the 7th district and used to commute to work in Spring Hill, the message was clear: to get the plant up and running again, Washington is going to have to do ... less.

Washington, or more specifically the Environmental Protection Agency, poses a significant challenge to any new enterprise that hopes to revitalize Spring Hill and Tennessee’s economy. While Tennesseans are looking for a new owner to come in, take over the Spring Hill plant and get it producing again, the EPA has proposed a series of regulations that would require businesses to certify they have limited carbon emissions or pay steep fines. These regulations are a result of their “endangerment finding” under the Clean Air Act that carbon dioxide and other green house gasses pose a threat to human life.

The new greenhouse gas rules will require anyone who buys the Spring Hill plant and performs any modifications on it — which they will likely have to do — to analyze all the greenhouse gas emissions from the plant and from all its potential new processes. Any new owner will have to report these emissions to the EPA. All the while, Tennesseans remain jobless.

Most possible uses for the Spring Hill plant would cause the plant to exceed the 25,000 annual tons of carbon dioxide emissions the EPA proposes to allow, classifying it as a “major emitter.” Major emitters must go through additional review and permitting by the EPA, a process that could take months or years.

To add to the cost, the EPA will require major emitters to purchase and install the “best available control technology” to reduce emissions to an acceptable level. Even when that equipment is installed, the new owner isn’t done with EPA-imposed costs. Because the EPA found that the Clean Air Act applies to carbon dioxide, any new owners of the Spring Hill plant are open to being sued if the carbon capture technology fails or the plant ever exceeds the EPA emission ceiling. Such a specter of unanticipated cost would hang over the plant for its entire operational life. While potential new owners calculate the possible cost, Tennesseans go jobless.

As Washington works to balance economic impact with the need to spur energy independence, the EPA lurks on the Hill with these disastrous carbon restrictions in its briefcase, threatening to detonate them on the economy in the event that the Senate doesn’t meet its minimum standard of economy-killing carbon limits. Its actions are a clear executive overreach.

My bill, H.R. 391, would void the EPA’s endangerment finding and prohibit the agency from regulating carbon under the Clean Air Act. It would clear the way for new owners to move to Tennessee, repurpose the Spring Hill plant, and begin hiring. Without it, the prospect of job-killing bureaucratic regulation will be a persistent specter, haunting the plans of those who can help this economy grow.

I believe that the EPA has seriously overstepped its original mandate. It has done so in pursuit ever more bureaucratic power and at the cost of our national economy. On Earth Day, Congress should take a close look at the EPA, what it has achieved and at what cost. I am taking a stand against its latest overreach with H.R. 391 and I encourage my colleagues to follow suit.

---
This woman is ridiculous. She takes an opportunity like Earth Day, when she could be leading the way in some sort of positive direction, to tell us that the government is doing too much to help our environment. Is she even living on Earth? ON WHAT PLANET IS SHE LIVING?!!! SOMEONE, TELL ME!!!

Another fun way to pass time

2010-04-21T15:39:00.001-04:00

See who's giving what kinda $$$ to political candidates!

On a more substantive level

2010-04-20T19:07:00.001-04:00

Check on the highlights of this past Sunday's Meet the Press...

ain't no dodgeball here.

I'm likin' this

2010-04-18T13:25:00.000-04:00

I'll catch the rewind after work... from The Hill...

Blackburn questions Bachmann's rhetoric, Rendell criticizes Tea Party
By Tony Romm - 04/18/10 11:15 AM ET

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) on Sunday all but criticized her colleage, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), for using the phrase "gangster government" at a Tea Party rally earlier this month.

While Blackburn would not condemn those remarks during a roundtable on NBC's "Meet the Press," she did say "it would not have been a choice in words I made."

"Those are words that she chose, those are statements she made," Blackburn said, later transition into a defense of the Tea Party movement.

"What we have to forcus on is Tea Party individuals," the congresswoman said, noting they were, "very, very, very concerned about what is happening to this country. They're not looking at government today, they're looking at what it will be [years from now]."

However, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) earlier cast the Tea Party movement in a far different light. Also appearing during the roundtable, the former head of the Democratic National Committee said the media are giving "the Tea Party too much credit."

"If I organized a rally for a stronger law to protect puppies, I'd get 100,000 people at that rally," he said. "So I think the media has blown [the Tea Party] out of proportion."
---

On a related note... It was recently pointed out to me that approx 6-10,000 people showed up for Sarah Palin in Boston, while turnout for the pro-marijuana rally is usually around 30,000.

The basics

2010-04-18T11:14:00.001-04:00

So, on TV this evening, I saw this...

2010-04-14T21:56:00.002-04:00

and it made me think of this...

Where my girrrl at?

2010-04-08T11:09:00.003-04:00

From the Nashville Scene....

To Media's Delight, Palin-Bachmann Team Up But Where's Blackburn?

Did you hear about the fabulous Sarah Palin/Michele Bachmann rally in Minneapolis yesterday? Talk about star power! They are right-wing women, hear them roar! God is just an abbreviation for Goddess, you know.

"As absolutely drop-dead gorgeous as this woman is on the outside, I am here to testify she is 20 times more beautiful on the inside," Bachmann said of Palin. And Palin called Bachmann a "fireball."

Palin vowed that this is the year "conservative women get together and take back this country."

As Pith watched, we couldn't help but feel a little sorry for our own Republican feminist champion—Marsha Blackburn. She's every bit as drop-dead gorgeous inside and out as Palin and Bachmann, isn't she? And she's definitely just as wacky, if not more so. She's a fireball too, dammit! Yet no one's talking about her this morning. While clips from the Palin-Bachmann rally play endlessly on the morning talk shows, Blackburn is trudging around her district, talking to little gatherings of cranks and geezer constituents. An article in the Buffalo River Review—that's her big media splash of the week. It's so unfair.

How little progress is too much progress?

2010-04-07T19:00:00.003-04:00

From the Leaf Chronicle...

Blackburn pushes Clean Air Act change

U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn told leaders of Bridgestone Metalpha USA Inc. Wednesday that legislation she has proposed will help major producers avoid language in the Clean Air Act that she says "punishes" factories.

Blackburn, who is in a campaign to retain her 7th Congressional District seat, is the first federal lawmaker to visit Bridgestone in Clarksville, and toured the International Drive plant where steel cords for radial tires are made.

Blackburn told Bridgestone Metalpha President and CEO Ken Yamasaki and plant manager Donna Bright that the current language of the Clean Air Act places an unfair burden — fees for too much carbon production — on manufacturers like Bridgestone.

She said the language was driven largely by environmentalists "who want to punish and send jobs to other parts of the world."

"(Companies) are not going to add jobs when there's that kind of fee," she said.

The proposed bill would amend the act to redefine carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride as not air pollutants. Some, like perfluorocarbons, do not harm the ozone layer, but are known as powerful greenhouse gases that retain heat in the atmosphere.

Yamasaki and Bright both said they were glad to have Blackburn visit but did not have any agenda or requests.

Bachmann: The government shot its wad.

2010-04-05T09:17:00.000-04:00

10 minutes of funnies...

Well said

2010-03-23T10:59:00.001-04:00

From Clarksville Online...

Health Care reform means improved coverage for Tennesseans
March 22, 2010

The debate over healthcare reform started with over-heated town hall meetings, many punctuated with loud, angry outbursts . It ended with an ugly confrontation between Tea Party protesters and several Members of Congress on the west front of the US Capitol. In the middle was an often bitter discussion over the future health of our nation.

Late Sunday (March 21st, 2010), The US House of Representatives by a narrow vote (219-212) passed sweeping healthcare reform legislation. Far from perfect, it is a major step towards fixing our broken healthcare system. The new law will greatly alter our system of care and provide coverage to millions of uninsured Americans. It seems destined to sit alongside the historic 1965 Medicare program in both its meaning and scope.

The debate itself was long (over a year), often fraught with deliberate distortions (“death panels” anyone?) and seemed a lifetime removed from the last time the subject was broached (“Hillarycare” is now Madame Secretary of State!).

But before the pundits and prognosticators start obsessing about who won, who lost and the political price of passage (here in Tennessee, Democratic Representatives Cooper, Gordon and Cohen voted for, their fellow Democrats Tanner and Davis against, and Republicans Wamp, Blackburn, Roe and Duncan against) let’s take a brief look at what this legislation will actually mean.

Nationally, the reform will eliminate pre-existing conditions as a reason for denial of coverage, close the medicare “donut hole” for seniors, make ‘recisions’ or the practice of dropping individuals once they get sick unlawful, create an exchange where individuals can purchase policies, and finally provide coverage to millions of currently uninsured Americans. In Tennessee alone, roughly 900,000 Tennesseans will no longer be without any basic healthcare coverage.

In Tennessee’s Congressional District 7, where I am a candidate for US Congress, reform means improved coverage for over 500,000 residents, tax credits for up to 150,000 families and 13,200 small businesses to help with coverage and nearly 100,000 Medicare beneficiaries will no longer endure the huge gap between drug cost and subsidies. Additionally, about 9,000 residents with pre-existing conditions will no longer be denied care and nearly 50,000 students will now be able to obtain coverage on their parents’ insurance plans. There will also be funding for 12 community health centers in the district and the cost of uncompensated care will be reduced by an estimated $42 million annually.

But perhaps just as importantly, tragedies like the parents of a little boy locally who had to hold a barbecue to try and raise funds to pay off their several hundred thousand dollar debt they had incurred due to his pre-existing illness and denial of coverage, will be a thing of the past.

My opponent, Marsha Blackburn called the passage of the bill in part a “Death to Freedom.” The only thing that died a bit more yesterday was reasoned and informed debate. That seems to happen a lot when Mrs. Blackburn weighs in on important national matters. Ironic really, since this reform will mean a renewed chance at life for so many Americans and Tennesseans.

Dr. Greg Rabidoux

Republicans declare war on disabled Americans

2010-03-18T19:31:00.000-04:00

Sick...

A fun way to waste some time...

2010-03-08T13:47:00.002-05:00

http://www.nationaljournal.com/2009voteratings

Some good TV

2010-03-03T22:02:00.003-05:00

Quite an interesting back-and-forth between Congressman Bill Pascrell (D-dirrty Jerz), and Congressman Marsha Blackburn (R-Where?)...

Three "I likes":

1. "Republicans want a blank sheet of paper and that's what we would end up with... a blank sheet of paper." Touche, Rep. Pascrell.

2. "Well, it's not entirely government healthcare. Insurance companies were rallying today, so there's not a lot of fear there." Touche, red-haired FOX News lady.

3. "The American people are saying 'you're still on the right track.'" Touche, Rep. Blackburn.

Listen to.... us?!!

2010-03-02T20:05:00.002-05:00

The spin starts here

2010-03-01T19:57:00.002-05:00

It took all of one day for Congressman Blackburn to abandon any positive-sounding message in favor of the apocalyptic rhetoric spewed on Hannity.

Expected, of course. However, I'm still puzzled by the calls for bipartisanship and 'more respect' for Republicans. Respect? Umm... when have Republicans ever respected the PRESIDENT? Was Rep. Blackburn not party to the birther movement? What were some of the headlines from CPAC?

Jigga wha?

2010-02-25T11:16:00.001-05:00

Appearing on Fox News's "On the Record with Greta Van Sustren" last night, Pawlenty said the federal law that mandates ER treatment should be repealed.

"Well, for one thing you could do is change the federal law so that not every ER is required to treat everybody who comes in the door, even if they have a minor condition," Pawlenty said. "They should be -- if you have a minor condition, instead of being at the really expensive ER, you should be at the primary care clinic."

---
So much for compassionate conservatism. I guess we can officially put that one in the oxymoron dictionary.