State Rep. Brian Kelsey

Nashville – Representative Brian Kelsey announced yesterday that he will introduce the “Health Care Choice Act” in an effort to lower health insurance costs and provide choice to Tennesseans. The legislation would allow Tennesseans to purchase health insurance plans from companies in other states, a practice that is currently prohibited.

“Americans want and deserve health care reform but not the government-run health care that is being discussed in Washington. This legislation is health care reform at the state level that will lower heath insurance costs and provide more choices to Tennesseans,” said Representative Kelsey.

The Health Care Choice Act will expand the number of health care plans available for purchase from 127 in Tennessee to potentially more than 5,000 plans nationwide¹.

“The goal is to lower costs by offering more choices,” continued Kelsey. “With this legislation, Tennesseans will have more access to affordable health care insurance.”

Co-sponsor Representative Joey Hensley, MD, the only physician in the General Assembly, stated, “It’s important that people have the option to be able to purchase affordable insurance plans without the limitations of individual state mandates. As a physician I have seen first hand the problems people have obtaining reasonably priced insurance and this would expand the pool from which people have to choose insurance plans. Competition in the market place will lower prices and increase the quality of their choices.”

At least 5 other states have introduced similar legislation, including New Jersey, Colorado, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Washington. A bill introduced on the federal level aims to allow states to enter into an interstate compact to sell health insurance over state lines. The Washington Post recently reported that Tennessee’s own Senator Bob Corker is pursuing legislation on the federal level to allow a new insurance exchange, allowing companies to compete across state lines nationwide.

Co-sponsor Representative Bob Ramsey, a dentist, added, “My constituents are disappointed and frustrated with Washington’s current discussions on healthcare reform. I feel compelled to examine and offer a more efficient and rational solution. I am proud to join my House colleagues in this alternativeBo endeavor.”

“It’s time for state legislatures to weigh in on this national debate and take a stand against government-run health care,” said Kelsey. “I look forward to having this discussion with my colleagues, so that we can work together to make health insurance more affordable for more Tennesseans,” he concluded.

1According to eHealthInsurance.com

Republican candidate for US Congress Donn Janes (left) discusses the direction of the country and the need for change with another fellow veteran during the Veterans Campaign seminar at Princeton University.

Donn Janes, a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in Tennessee’s 8^th Congressional District, recently returned from a two-day candidate seminar at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public Affairs. The seminar was hosted by Veterans Campaign, a non-partisan, non-ideological training program aimed at preparing veterans to run for public office.

“The candidate training conference covered topics ranging from public speaking to grass roots organization,” said Janes, a first-time candidate for political office. “Those of us who attended are not career politicians. The attendees and presenters were veterans who are trying to make a difference and looking for ways to continue our tradition of service to this great country by running for public office.”

The Veterans Campaign is dedicated to assisting veterans in their run for public office because they believe veterans possess many qualities necessary to serve our country well in public office. According to Veterans Campaign, because of their military experience, veterans have outstanding leadership experience, are capable of succeeding in the face of adversity, intimately understand the human consequences of foreign policy decisions, and, most importantly, they have demonstrated their willingness to put America and its citizens before their own well-being.

About Donn Janes

Donn Janes

Donn Janes, is a Navy veteran and businessman from Brighton, who served as an Electronic Warfare Technician while in the Navy until his honorable discharge in 1989. Janes is an outspoken critic of how Republicans and Democrats have both continued to ignore any calls for fiscal responsibility and continue to plunge the United States deeper into debt.

• Sanctuary cities
• Recognizing home school & church diplomas
• Guns in restaurants
• Unemployment trust fund
• Tennessee statehood day

Sanctuary Cities immigration measure approved by House of Representatives

House Republicans successfully passed an immigration measure in the House Thursday morning that the caucus has been working on for several years. House Bill 1354 aims to curb illegal immigration by prohibiting local governments from enacting “sanctuary” policies, or policies that make it difficult for law enforcement and other local government employees to comply with federal immigration law.

A map of Sanctuary cites in the United States from the English Language Wikipedia

After the legislation passed with an overwhelming 80-8 vote, House leaders announced that they were pleased with the passage of the bill, which they said was a pre-emptive strike to guard against the adoption of sanctuary policies by cities in the state, and curb policies that protect illegal immigrants.

A “sanctuary city” is a term given to a city in the United States that follows certain practices to protect illegal aliens. Thirty-eight cities in the U.S. have been recognized as sanctuary cities, but many sources have identified over 200 city or county governments nationwide as having practiced such policies.

Home school diplomas to be recognized by state

Republican-sponsored legislation that aims to give home schoolers equal footing with public school students was signed into law by the Governor late last week. Senate Bill 433 requires the state, along with local governments, to recognize home school and church-related diplomas, giving them the same rights and privileges extended to those who earn public school diplomas.

Diploma's like this one are available for $5 online at freeprintablecertificates.net

Having long been advocates for home schoolers, House Republicans felt the move was needed to put home schoolers on equal footing with public school students. The sponsor of the legislation argued throughout the process that earning a home school diploma should not be diminished simply because the mode of teaching is different than that of a traditional public school.

Tennessee General Assembly votes overwhelmingly to override Governor’s veto of restaurant carry bill

Lawmakers were notified late last week that the Governor was planning to veto House Bill 962, which would allow legal carry permit holders to carry firearms into restaurants, provided they did not drink alcohol. The bill had originally passed by over two-thirds in both chambers of the legislature.

The Governor stated in his veto message that “guns and alcohol do not mix.” The House Republican sponsor fired back, responding that the bill prohibited carry permit holders from drinking alcohol and carrying a firearm, much as it was illegal to drink and drive. The sponsor said the legal carry permit holders of this state had proven themselves to be responsible individuals, and the bill was simply an attempt to expand their Second Amendment rights.

Thirty-six states have some form of restaurant carry, including seven of the eight states that border Tennessee. The General Assembly exhaustively debated the subject, with a supermajority determining that legal carry permit holders were responsible individuals who should be able to protect themselves. With both chambers having overridden the Governor’s veto, the bill will now become law on July 14, 2009.

Legislature votes to save unemployment trust fund from federal intervention

The House voted this week to save Tennessee’s unemployment trust fund from federal intervention, saying that the move was necessary to keep the federal government from completely taking over the nearly insolvent fund. The fund was approaching insolvency this year after the state unemployment rate approached 9.9 percent. With the highest unemployment in decades, the fund began to be drained of its resources.

The legislation that eventually passed the House will ensure that the unemployment trust fund remains solvent, and creates a series of automatic “triggers” that allow unemployment taxes to decrease if the fund’s balance reaches a certain threshold.

The trust fund dropped to about $120 million after the number of unemployed receiving benefits continued to grow. Without action by the legislature, the federal government would step in to shore up the fund, but with significant strings attached, and wrest away control from the state. This week’s move by the legislature will prevent that from happening.

Tennessee celebrated “Statehood Day” June 1st

Tennessee celebrated “Statehood Day” this week, a holiday that marks the anniversary of the state’s official admission into the Union. On June 1, 1796, Tennessee was the 16th state admitted after ratifying the Constitution. In honor of Statehood Day, some Tennessee trivia facts are listed below.

• When Tennessee became a state in 1796, the total population was 77,000.
• Andrew Johnson, who hailed from Greeneville, held every elective office at the local, state, and federal level, including President of the United States. He was elected alderman, mayor, state representative, and state senator in Greeneville. He served as Governor of Tennessee, Military Governor of Tennessee, and was elected to Congress and then to the U.S. Senate. He served as Vice-President of the United States until the assassination of President Lincoln, which elevated him to the Presidency.
• Hattie Caraway (1878-1950) was born in Bakersville, Tennessee (Humphreys County) and became the first woman United States Senator when her husband died and the seat was passed to her. She won re-election several times, before losing a primary and being appointed to the Employees’ Compensation Commission by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
• Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry is the longest continuously running live radio program in the world. It has broadcast every Friday and Saturday night since 1925.
• Coca-Cola was first bottled in 1899 at a plant on Patten Parkway in downtown Chattanooga after two locals purchased the bottling rights to the drink for $1.00.
• Cumberland University, located in Lebanon, lost a football game to Georgia Tech on October 7, 1916, by a score of 222-0. The Georgia Tech coach was George Heisman—the man for whom the Heisman Trophy is named.

The Week Ahead…

**TIMES AND ROOMS SUBJECT TO CHANGE**
*All meetings will be held in Legislative Plaza Room 16 unless otherwise noted*
*Study Sub will meet, TBA*

Monday, June 8, 2009:

• Budget Subcommittee, 3:30 p.m.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

• Budget Subcommittee, 10:00 a.m.
• Finance, Ways and Means Committee, 11:00 a.m.
• Calendar and Rules, 12:30 p.m.
• Session, House Chambers, 4:00 p.m.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

• Joint Convention, House Chambers, 9:00 a.m.
• Further schedules TBA

Thursday, June 11, 2009

• TBA

BRIGHTON, TN – The following statement was issued by Tipton County resident, Donn Janes:

“Today I am announcing that I am a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in Tennessee’s 8th Congressional District and will seek the Republican nomination in the August 2010 primary.

Janes continued, saying, “I am running for Congress because the people of Tennessee and the 8th District need a representative who will work to solve the problems that Congress has failed to solve. These aren’t new challenges or new problems as they have been languishing for many years. They include social security, prescription drug prices, Medicare, health care costs, insurance, immigration, dependency on foreign oil and education.”

“I am not a lawyer or politician going to Washington to serve my own self interests, goals or ambitions I am your neighbor, your fellow citizen who can no longer stand by and do nothing. We can no longer put the spending of today on our future generations. I am running for this office so that I may help each of you, your children, my children our grand children and first and foremost, the stability and viability of this great country.”

Thank you.

Janes will be challenging incumbent Rep. John Tanner, (D), for the Congressional 8th District seat. More information can be found at Donn Janes’ campaign website http://www.donnjanesforcongress.org/.

From the Elizabethton Star:

“Republican Party Is Bigger Than One Person“

“Robin Smith, Chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party, has called a press conference Monday to announce her decision regarding House Speaker Kent Williams’s membership in the Republican Party. The decision rests solely with Smith, and perhaps nothing would delight her more than to kick the Carter County lawmaker out of the party.

Williams’ re-election last November helped give the Republicans a majority in the state House. Williams, who claims to be a Republican, who was elected as a Republican, and we do believe has Republican values, was elected Speaker with his vote and that of the 49 Democrats in the House. He defeated the GOP’s hand-picked candidate for Speaker, Jason Mumpower, who, too, voted for himself. He received all the Republican votes in the House except for Williams’.

Should the chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party have that much power? Power to decide who has membership in the party, who can be a Republican and who can not? Rep. Williams has said that he will leave the party voluntarily, Ms. Smith only has to ask.

This decision will be made by one person, who has never run for political office — someone who has a lot of experience campaigning for Republicans. Her goal in life is to elect Republicans at all levels of government to every office.

The Republican Party is bigger than any one person. It is bigger than Robin Smith and it is bigger than Kent Williams. No one person should ever have the say of who can and cannot be a member of any political party – be it Republican or Democrat.

The two-party system has served this country well. There is never going to be a time when everyone agrees on the same candidate. We all have different values, different views and different opinions on how government can best serve the people, and how people can best serve their government. To disagree is not wrong. Not every Republican agrees on every matter nor does every Democrat. Heaven help us if they do.

Furthermore, we do not think that Republicans in Memphis and Chattanooga, where Ms. Smith is from, should be meddling in Carter County politics. We may live in the mountains, but we aren’t ignorant. We are learned enough in politics to vote. We don’t need the bright out-spoken lawyer from Memphis nor the “blonde” saleswoman from Chattanooga to tell us how to vote, nor do we need them to select our candidates. My gosh, our ancestors were the first to settle in Tennessee. They formed the first independent government west of the Alleghenies. Long before there was a Tennessee or a Chattanooga or a Memphis, our folks were living here in the Watauga Settlement. They were busy building a community and forming a government. I don’t know if they were Republicans or Democrats, but it really doesn’t matter. They were daring, brave and they sure didn’t let the British tell them what to do.

Perhaps, Ms. Smith should know that when she kicks our representative out of the Republican Party, she has dealt a blow to every Williams voter in Carter County.

And, what’s more, the members of the Republican Party will have shot themselves in the foot — they no longer will have the majority in the Tennessee House. It keeps getting worse for Rep. Jason Mumpower. First, he was shot out of the saddle as House Speaker. Now, if Williams is kicked out of the Republican Party, he will become chairman of the minority party rather than the majority.

You know, the Baptist Church is more democratic than the Republicans. They do allow the membership to vote on who to let in the church and to dismiss from their ranks.”

An additional voice on the matter was found in the Jackson Sun, excerpted below:

NOTE: The editorial today in the Star, taken from the Jackson Sun, was a kinder-gentler shift in opinion. I suppose I should give kudos to the Star for offering very different views on one topic. This editorial is titled “Williams Was Foolish” and included these paragraphs:

“Tennessee Republicans had every right to banish House Speaker Kent Williams from their party. But the political get-back seems counter productive for a party with a one-vote, now no-vote, majority. At a time when Tennesseans are worried about their jobs and suffering along with the ailing economy, political bipartisanship is what people want to see. Instead, the state GOP chose to put hard-line conservative ideology first, and to its own detriment.
—
“Hard line, ideologically driven partisan politics can become destructive and self-defeating, regardless of which party is involved. Americans want more from their elected officials than mere party loyalty. They want to see things getting done. They want to see politicians coming together to put citizens ahead of partisanship. The state GOP didn’t help itself or Tennesseans by punishing the House speaker.”

The Republicans have gained control of the state house and senate, and  have the numbers to replace the three current constitutional officer: Secretary of State, State Treasurer, and State Comptroller.  On Monday, December 15th, Republicans held interviews of potential candidates for these offices.

Per a recent article in the Tennessean,  “Senate Republican Leader Mark Norris of Collierville, said it will create a “level playing field” and transparency for what has long been a closed-door system of selecting political insiders.”

I have been listening/watching the interviews of the Republican candidates for the Constitutional Officers (link provided at end of article).  After reading their resumes, listening to the  interviews, I thought it would be nice to share what I have learned in an effort to promote the transparency of the process.

My goal is to do an unbiased article on each position, and the prospective candidates.  First up, Comptroller of the Treasury. For those that want to see Mr. Wilson’s interview, he is the first candidate in Part 1 of the video.

Duties of the Comptroller

Per the Comptroller’s website:

“Statutes prescribe the comptroller’s duties, the most important of which relate to audit the state and local government entities and participation in the general financial and administrative management of the state.  In addition to the Department of Audit, the Office of the Comptroller includes the divisions of Management Services, Bond Finance, Local Finance, Local Government, Property Assessments, State Board of Equalization, Offices of Research and Education Accountability and State Assessed Property. The Comptroller of the Treasury is also a member of over 35 committees, boards and commissions.“

Basically, the Comptroller is charged as the state watchdog and financial adviser, selling bonds, auditing state and local government, and advising the legislature on financial issues.  Mr. Wilson, the  only Republican applying for the position, described the position as the state’s  “money cop” when he was interviewed this week by a panel of Republicans.

It is my understanding that the current Comptroller, John Morgan, does not need to formally apply, but will be considered in the General Assembly’s election.  But with the Republicans in the State Legislature acting on a perceived mandate having taken control of both the state house and senate for the first time in 140 years, his chances appear slim.

The Candidates:

Justin Wilson

Mr. Wilson is a well known environmental lawyer.  In September 2002, the Cumberland Trail State Park was renamed to “The Justin P. Wilson  Cumberland State Park” in recognition of Mr. Wilson’s “dedication and leadership in catalyzing the efforts to rebuild the trail.”  Gov. Sundquist wrote an Executive Order (#33)  naming him “Conservationist of the Year” in 1996.  He was also a Deputy Governor under Sundquist.

In 1996, he served as Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.  As Commissioner he was responsible for 3,500 employees, 53 state parks, and the state’s regulation of its air, water and other natural resources.

Mr. Wilson has been a past treasurer for the Tennessee Republican Party.  In 2001, he was an alternate delegate for the Republican National Convention.  Mr. Wilson’s was also  a part of the Bush-Cheney transition team in 2000-2001, for environmental issues.  Bush ‘41 nominated him to a seat on U.S.  Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Court.  Democrats never voted on his nominations, and his nomination expired with the election of President Clinton. He teaches adjunct at Vanderbilt University (and was a past president of the Vanderbilt Blair School of Music).

According to an article by Knoxnews.com on State Majority Leader Mark Norris’ website, Mr. Wilson has given over $127,ooo to Republican causes.  Senator Norris doesn’t think that is a problem, “I don’t think anybody is trying to buy those positions,” he said, though adding there could be concerns about public perception to the contrary.”

Mr. Wilson also has a LLM, which is a Master’s Degree in Taxation, and is the Chairman of the Nashville Electric Service.  NES sells bonds on the open market, which should be helpful because selling state bonds is main duty of the Comptroller.  Also at NES, Mr. Wilson is the co-trustee of the NES pension plan, consisting of $210 million dollars of assets.

Current Comptroller: John Morgan

Here are a few details on the current Comptroller, John Morgan, straight from the comptroller website:

“Morgan graduated from Austin Peay State University in 1974. He did graduate work at Louisiana State University from 1974 to 1976.  He entered state government as a research assistant for the Legislative Fiscal Review Committee in 1976. From 1978 to 1980 he was a research assistant in the Department of Finance and Administration, and from 1980 to 1982 was an administrative assistant to the State Treasurer. In 1982 he began working in the Office of the Comptroller of the Treasury as assistant director of Bond Finance, and in 1983, as director of Bond Finance. In 1987 he also became assistant to the Comptroller, as well as Director of Bond Finance. In October of 1987 Morgan left state government and was vice president, director of Public Finance of Third National Bank in Nashville. In February of 1989 Morgan returned to state government as executive assistant to the Comptroller of the Treasury, and in January 1999 was first elected Comptroller of the Treasury by the Tennessee General Assembly. He was reelected to this position in 2001, 2003, 2005, and 2007.  Morgan is a member of the Association of Government Accountants and the American Society of Public Administration. “

Side Note:

Republicans make clear in their questions to the candidates that they think that the current Treasurer and Comptroller have used their positions as a “bully pulpit” (their words not mine) to advance an state income tax during tough times.  The tone and wording of these questions indicate they feel that the current officers pro-income tax position hinders them from providing the Legislature with independent, quality council on fiduciary matters.

Conclusion:

I commend the Republicans for attempting to make the process “transparent”; however, it is only transparent to those that are looking at it.  I encourage you to take some time to read up on this issue, the candidates and the process.  Contact your Representative and Senator and express your opinion, and follow up on how they vote in January.

Sources:

Link to interviews and resumes – http://taxingtennessee.blogspot.com/2008/12/constitutional-officers-candidate.html

http://www.comptroller.state.tn.us/

http://www.tennessee.gov/environment/parks/CumberlandTrail/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Wilson_(lawyer)

http://tennessee.gov/sos/pub/execorders/sundquist%20executive%20order%20no.%2033.pdf

http://www.zoominfo.com/people/Wilson_Justin_14051440.aspx

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20081116/NEWS02/811160410

http://www.norrisnow.com/media2008/11-24-08a.htm

http://www.theleafchronicle.com/article/20081102/NEWS01/81102007/-1/newsfront2

http://www.wallerlaw.com/attorneys?alpha_start=w&id=47144

http://politics.nashvillepost.com/2008/12/05/the-constitutionals-list-former-sundquist-deputy-guv-sole-comptroller-candidate/

Obama, with a background of service to community and country, has proven to be an inspiration to millions of people across all demographics. He has conducted himself with ability, honor, and dignity, but most of all has offered clearly workable plans to rebuild America’s economy and military. He has shown qualities of leadership that can mend global fences and re-instill America’s honor around the world. His plans and programs are rooted in realistic assessments and objectives, and he has presented them with cautionary words that “restoring America” will take time, money, and will not happen overnight.

Obama has inspired millions of young people to register and vote, energizing the political playing field across America in a way that has not been seen since the Kennedy era and the time of Martin Luther King Jr. And like the late Martin Luther King, Obama has a dream for America.

Obama is reaching across traditional party lines and into the best of business and industry to accrue the best possible resources for the presidency, and has demonstrated the ability and willingness to work with those “bests” regardless of party affiliation.

Unfortunately, John McCain, despite his stellar service to country and his political experience, despite his self-prescribed “maverick” label, has proven to be too closely aligned to the “status quo” and Bush policies, a more compelling reason to oppose him than age and health issues.

His choice of vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin remains questionable at best: Palin’s “pitt bull” lowest common denominator attitude, “joe-sixpack” mentality and fundamentalist views are offensive to millions of voters and to women in particular, and her ability to conduct coherent political discussions and interviews is at best appalling for any candidate seeking one of the most powerful positions in America. Her apparent willingness to take on anybody at any time for any reason is frightening at best, since she completely bypasses diplomacy and negotiation and has implied she would go straight to war. Given McCain’s age, health and the potential stress impact of the presidency, the possibility of a Palin presidency does exist, and that is too frightening to contemplate.

The 2008 presidential election is being watched worldwide; this Guardian statement sums up the world view:

Not since the Kennedy era has such a contest resonated so potently with so many people in America and beyond, including in this country. But the circumstances of this year’s contest, the character of the protagonists and the immediacy of the internet age combine to mean that the 2008 election is likely to make a defining statement about America for this global generation that may eclipse even the impact of the contest of 1960. ~~ The Guardian UK

Here are some of the Obama endorsements from across America

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch called Obama’s opponent, John McCain, “the incredible shrinking man” who had made a horrific pick for his running mate.

Mr. Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, has emerged as the only truly transformative candidate in the race. In the crucible that is a presidential campaign, his intellect, his temperament and equanimity under pressure consistently have been impressive. He has surrounded himself with smart, capable advisers who have helped him refine thorough, nuanced policy positions … In a word, Mr. Obama has been presidential … .Meanwhile, Mr. McCain, the senior senator from Arizona, became the incredible shrinking man. He shrank from his principled stands in favor of a humane immigration policy. He shrank from his universal condemnation of torture and his condemnation of the politics of smear.

The Tennessean

Though Tennessee projected vote remains red, The Tennessean has endorsed Obama.

Obama, in the newspaper’s view, would bring a refreshing vitality to the White House. He has articulated an approach that would give the nation its best chance for change after the poor policies of the Bush administration for the last eight years. America needs new leadership, and Obama, the Democratic nominee, stands out as the best choice to be that leader … Obama represents a rare quality of hope in a time when hope seems to be in short supply among many Americans.

Dayton Daily News

Sen. McCain’s campaign has been as disappointing as his move toward party orthodoxy. More than his opponent, he has run a relentless stream of commercials that have been discredited by nonpartisan fact-checkers … His selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate was stunning. She is shockingly lacking in presidential qualifications.

Sacramento Bee

In this election, Americans are picking a future, not a past. That makes Barack Obama the better choice for president of the United States … By electing Obama, voters will make a clear break from the policies of the past eight years.

Wisconsin State Journal

America is at a pivotal point in its history — a difficult time that demands talented leadership to renew our nation’s spirit and pull us together to meet the incredible challenges ahead. The right leader for the time is Barack Obama … Far more than his opponent, Obama represents a new direction. He has shown he can inspire and lead people to action. And his relatively short time in corrupt, self-absorbed, terribly-failed Washington, D.C., may actually be a key strength. Obama is not stuck in the status quo of the Capitol crowd or its long-failed Congress. .. Obama doesn’t just give pretty speeches. He speaks to people’s best instincts, encouraging them to shine.

The Blade (Toledo)

As the nation wavers precariously at the precipice of economic ruin, American voters must decide who has the knowledge, steadiness, judgment, and inspirational qualities to lead us effectively out of that morass, for the next four years and beyond … without exaggeration, the country faces a transformational election on Nov. 4, not unlike that of 1932, which prefaced Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal and a long slog out of the Great Depresssion … We believe the person best equipped by temperament and intellect to firmly grasp the reins of government and guide it safely forward in these uncertain times is Barack Obama … Like another member of Congress from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, Senator Obama initially rose to prominence on the strength of soaring oratory. Over the past 18 months of the grueling campaign, his background has been thoroughly inspected and dissected by the press and a political opposition dedicated to keeping him from the White House.

Colin Powell

In what is the most eloquent endorsement of Obama whom he says has “met the standard of being president”, Colin Powell gives the reasons behind his endorsement:

Click here to view the embedded video.

In this momumental election the time has come to indeed choose hope over fear. We suggest that means casting your vote for Barack Obama.

Incumbent Sen. Rosalind Kurita explains the write-in process to early voter Tom Altman

As I was campaigning for Senator Kurita to educate people about how to vote for a write-in candidate yesterday, it was clear to me that the Democratic party is wasting a lot of time, money, and energy of some of their very best people.  All those loyal Tim Barnes supporters (including many good friends of mine) and all those loyal Rosalind Kurita supporters (including myself) would probably be out campaigning for Barack Obama if this controversial Democrat AGAINST Democrat race had not been instigated by the leadership of the Tennessee Democratic Party.

I believe the PRIMARY job of the Tennessee Democratic Party Leadership is to win seats against REPUBLICANS, not their own party.  They are the ones that need to be scrutinized here.  Who exactly hatched the plot to run a Democrat against another sure-fire winning Democratic incumbent in Senate District 22?  I know about the Wilder vote; this has to run much deeper than that.

I’m working to elect Senator Kurita based on her voting record.  She’s endorsed by the Sierra Club and other green organizations. She’s rated the highest Tennessee senator for supporting green legislation by the TN Conservation Voters.  She was instrumental in passing the legislation to ban smoking in restaurants in the state and to increase the cigarette tax.  She supported verifiable elections in Tennessee.

I feel so disenfranchised by the Democratic Party action in throwing out the Kurita election that I don’t want to go to the Montgomery County Democratic headquarters.  I guess some Republicans are rightfully laughing at us all the way to the polls/bank.

1. Put soldiers in schools as teachers without requiring certification and Desert Storm was about protecting the oil.
2. Americans are innocent victims of greed and excess on Wall Street and as well as Washington, D.C.
3. Palin is a role model to women.
4. McCain rallies harbor few fringe peoples.

Here are McCain’s statements:

1. McCain’s solutions to education and why we had Desert Storm.

During the third debate, when asked about the state of education in the US, McCain had this, among other things, to say:

McCain: “We need to encourage programs such as Teach for America and Troops to Teachers where people, after having served in the military, can go right to teaching and not have to take these examinations or have the certification that  are are required in many states.”

My Reaction (Incredulous) : Returning soldiers should go straight into teaching?

Soldiers coming back from the war are all, every one of them, suffering from PTSD, according to local psychologists in Montgomery County.  Here, at the home of Fort Campbell army base, agencies that deal with child abuse issues are spending a lot, if not most, of their time with military families.  Soldiers are gone so long from their growing families that they come back out of touch with their children and how to react and interact with them.

Many soldiers came back from the first deployment with sex addictions that befuddled local psychologist, Mary Coe.  News of rape within the armed forces continues to escalate at an alarming rate.  Now McCain suggests that we should put these soldiers in a room with our young, attractive, hormonal young women and men? Or the youngest of our children?

No certification required of soldiers to teach our children?  Well then, what are they going to teach, and how?  Am I jumping off a limb to say that soldiers know how to be good soldiers, how to obey orders without question?  Will classrooms be organized in a military atmosphere, where you listen when told to do so and speak only when spoken to?  Where the teacher’s job is to break down the students and rebuild them as one unit?  People I know, with kids and without, will tell me this is a great idea.  Teach kids how to respect, obey, and have discipline.  To force feed information without question? Without critical thinking and questioning? That works fine if you’re not trying to work with kids who love to learn, who are creative and who can find and express their own personalities.  And the kids who don’t fit in?  How does the military deal with that?  A group is only as strong as its weakest person.

Meticulously programmed Robby the Robot (Forbidden Planet/1956)

Personally, I can’t imagine that making kids into bigger better robots than they are now is the best thing for them or our future.  Or that making them hate school more than many do now is a solution.

No Child Left Behind is teaching kids to memorize data for tests, but we can and should do so much better than that, move beyond that.  We can make kids really hate learning and resist school, essentially pulling them to a place where their choice for the future is narrowed down to the military.

Or, worse yet, it will produce kids who love the discipline so much that they’ll be ready to choose the military as their future.  These kids will be so dedicated that they would turn in even their parents as traitors. Ok, let’s just say there’s something to that idea.  Why does McCain want or need to make larger armies?

McCain: (from the 3rd debate script)

Kuwait

“He (Obama) voted against the first Gulf War. He voted against it and, obviously, we had to take Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait or it would’ve threatened the Middle Eastern world supply.

He said (the war) threatened world supply, not oppressed people.  Kuwait sits on 10 percent of the world oil reserves, so fighting the terrorist Saddam was about protecting our source of oil and now our largest trading partner. This fact has been confirmed to me by a Vet of that and two other wars.

McCain needs armies to conquer oil-rich countries.  Let the Christian extremists believe that Muslims are evil and tell the rest of us that we are defending ourselves against terror.  What happened to the “spreading Democracy” thing?  We bought that for awhile.  Election time arrives: bring terror back into the picture.

If we keep using oil, we burn up the planet, even if we could justify our barbaric invasion into Iraq and Iran for oil.

2.  The Maverick has experience in an economic collapse.

McCain: “Americans are hurting right now, and they’re angry. They’re hurting, and they’re angry. They’re innocent victims of greed and excess on Wall Street and as well as Washington, D.C. And they’re angry, and they have every reason to be angry.”

My Reaction: Both Democrats and Republicans can be blamed for the current economic crisis.  But we should consider who has more “experience” in the world of high finance fraud.  When McCain says American’s are angry, does he know what it is like to lose your life’s savings and your future well-being?

From Wikipedia

“Lincoln Savings and Loan collapsed in 1989, at a cost of over $3 billion to the federal government. Some 23,000 Lincoln bondholders were defrauded and many elderly investors lost their life savings. The accompanying slowdown in the finance industry and the real estate market may have been a contributing cause of the 1990-1991 economic recession.

“Charles H. Keating, Jr., chairman of the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association made substantial political contributions to 5 senators, Alan Cranston (D-CA), Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ), John Glenn (D-OH),John McCain (R-AZ), and Donald W. Riegle (D-MI), totalling $1.3 million. Keating said, “One question …had to do with whether my financial support in any way influenced several political figures to take up my cause. I want to say in the most forceful way I can: I certainly hope so.”

“After a lengthy investigation, the Senate Ethics Committee determined in 1991 that Alan Cranston, Dennis DeConcini, and Donald Riegle had substantially and improperly interfered with the FHLBB in its investigation of Lincoln Savings, with Cranston receiving a formal reprimand. Senators John Glenn and John McCain were cleared of having acted improperly but were criticized for having exercised “poor judgment.”

McCain admitted that was the worst mistake in his life. Thank goodness that hand slap worked; now the Maverick is running for president and I can’t image him being bought out by private interests. (sarcasm, Miss Betty, sarcasm)

So far I see a man with big bucks in his pocket and his hands in the poop when the last recession (so similar to this one!) hit.

3. Palin is a role model to women (in men’s fantasies).

McCain (From the third debate): “Well, Americans have gotten to know Sarah Palin. They know that she’s a role model to women and others — and reformers all over America. She’s a reformer”.

My Reaction: She’s a role model alright. We don’t want a Hillary running things because she stands on her own integrity. Hillary doesn’t support a man because he’s a man. We want a woman who agrees with and defends the man. Palin can take it and turn around and defend it. That’s a role model in the man’s sexual fantasy.

Palin’s a reformer alright. In a YouTube video she greets the Alaskan Independence Party, a group that wants Alaska to secede from the Union.

From their website:

Q: What is the Alaskan Independence Party?

A: An Alaskan political party whose members advocate a range of solutions to the conflicts between federal and local authority; from advocacy for state’s rights, through a return to territorial status, all the way to complete independence and nationhood status for Alaska.

4. Why the negative campaigning, McCain?

So far, I see a man with big bucks in his pocket and his hands in the poop when the last recession (so similar to this one!) hit. And a woman who holds down the victim while developers rape the land; later she and Joe Six Pack threw around their power by shooting down protected wolves from a helicopter. Oh, she’s a role model alright. She can take it and turn around and defend it. A man’s fantasy role model. She even charges rape victims for their medical examination (that is a fact).

How are you going to keep us from knowing about this stuff, McCain?

The best thing for you to do, McCain, is keep us from looking at you, any way that you can. You better find things wrong with your opponent and pounce on it. Even if it’s a complete lie, just say it over and over until people believe it. Keep your opponent busy clearing himself of all the crap you are saying. Remember, it doesn’t have to be true, you just need to say it a lot, and get people scared.

Say something like 9/11 and get people scared about that again. Then make-up doubts about Obama. People will make the connection. Terror = scared = Obama.

The first lie I saw was “the no hand over the heart” affair, in which Obama was accused of not crossing his heart while saying the Pledge of Allegiance.The truth to that image is that he was listening to the National Anthem. That picture of Obama not crossing his heart hangs at our local Republican headquarters today; they’re not keeping up with the rest of the world and perpetuating a blatant lie.

Then there was the no-pin problem, when Obama did not wear an American flag lapel pin. Obama rhymes with Osama. What more proof do we need that he himself is a terrorist? Obama is a Muslim. A co-worker said that to me recently. Or suggested he has a Muslim background. Geez, girl. That was so last spring. Catch up. That’s been disproved and the party has moved on to bigger, better things. Recently I saw a short movie with out-of-context slides of Muslim terrorists. Lots of blood and guts too. IS THAT WHAT WE WANT? (vote McCain)

I’ve been doing a little study of the Neo-Conservative party and their efforts to control the population. They seek to convince people that we are in terrible trouble from terrorists. (The Power of Nightmares). They use control by fear of terror.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Edvard Munch - "The Scream" (1893)

I’ve been to England when people were afraid of bombs in fast food restaurants and airport lockers. But these people did not walk around in fear every minute; they would not buy into fear.

In the last debate, McCain put himself on the line as supporting accusations that Obama is connected to terrorists. Although his campaign had been pushing that subject for weeks, McCain said “I don’t care about an old washed-up terrorist. We need to know the full extent of Senator Obama’s relationship with ACORN, who is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy.” As Saturday Night Live puts it, he also believes there is a unicorn under his bed.

It’s desperate, McCain, but you know you have to get people scared because when they get scared they get mad and fired up enough to get out there and vote. And anyone who opposes you, well, you have to discredit them, as quick as you can. Liberal, hippie, washed up: use those words.

McCain’s supporters have been recorded calling Obama a traitor and saying things like “kill him.”

McCain (from third debate):

“Let me just say categorically I’m proud of the people that come to our rallies. Whenever you get a large rally of 10,000, 15,000, 20,000 people, you’re going to have some fringe peoples. You know that. And I’ve — and we’ve always said that that’s not appropriate. I’m not going to stand for people saying that the people that come to my rallies are anything but the most dedicated, patriotic men and women that are in this nation and they’re great citizens.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Colin Powell is upset enough with McCain’s campaign to reprimand him in a press release.

The next thing McCain will do is insist on election fraud by ACORN. McCain will tell his lies and then it becomes our job to disprove it. Visit the ACORN website. Might as well get versed up in it ahead of time.

To my fellow people on this Earth who believe in McCain:

Our founding fathers gave us a Bill of Rights that has undermined our freedom

You refuse to watch the films, you refuse to question the stuff that is thrown at you.  We knew that Bush would not kill Osama, he is best friends with the Bin Laden family (see Farenheit 9/11).  He flew the Bin Laden family out of the U.S. directly after 9/11.  We, liberals, freethinkers, decent and creative people, were right. We were right about a lot of stuff: the war, Bush, torture, oil, violations to the constitution, our rights to free speech, and our rights to privacy. When we told you about it, you bullied us to get us to shut up. You are a long way from admitting that you were being bullies, just as you are a long way from admitting that fear lay beneath that. But know that it was all cleverly controlled. Being a bully is a way you were shown (by Fox News icon Bill O’Reilly and others) that gives you a sense of power when in reality you felt powerless. Now you need to WAKE UP. See the beautiful things around you that you have the power to destroy as you sleep.

You have been controlled through images of fear and terror. You react to it by hating and bullying and believing bullshit. Having to be “right” is a very low form of emotion for Democrats and Republicans alike. It’s barely above apathy. This is not the future we want for our United States. We are all in this together. Come back to us in this uphill battle to regain our freedoms and our prosperity and our health.

We miss you and miss America. We miss decency and fun. This is our most important choice.

Click here for a CNN transcript of the third debate.

The following video is the full 90-minute 3rd presidential debate.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Okay, when McCain first popped on the Election 2008 radar back in that early New Hampshire primary, I was next door in Vermont, wondering with a bit of perverse pleasure how McCain managed to dislodge the likes of Romney, Giuliani, and others in a presidential nomination bid. It just got interesting, I thought. Little did I know…

I know now, though, that his nomination has been a boon to the Democratic Party, a boon magnified orders of magnitude by his choice of Palin as VP. Thank you, John for handing over so many states to the Dems. Three times in a row, I watched the debates, and watched the post debate charts fade from red to pink to yellow to light blue…you get the idea.

Senator John McCain

I am dumbfounded that in three debates, McCain never found his footing, never managed to get the knock-out punch in, not one, not on any subject. All Obama had to do was break even to win. The first debate was not the showstopper it should have been; the subsequent and much heralded town meeting was a colossal bore with more action on the streets of Nashville than the under the lights at Belmont University. In both cases, Obama came out ahead, though not with the power of his early campaign speeches and interviews. One more shot, I thought. They have one more chance to get it right.

Wednesday’s final debate in New York, which was deftly moderated by Bob Schieffer of CBS, was the right format with the right moderator. It was the right fit for Obama, who both looked and sounded presidential, who exuded the right levels of charm and intelligence (not hard considering the competition), who had the answers to the questions, even when the answers were tough for some viewers to swallow. McCain entwined himself in the life of “Joe the plumber” (perhaps not the same Joe six-pack of Palin fame) and hammer that poor man to the ground. Once, twice a mention, maybe. But for heaven’s sake, John, give it a rest.

Senator Barack Obama

What America saw Wednesday night was an articulate educated black man who was at ease with himself, his opinions, his ideas, a man who looks at America with a reality check, not a blank check, and looks and sounds presidential while doing it.

What America saw Wednesday night was a war hero who despite his honorable service to his country was now incapable of staying the subject, unable to pronounce or string words and sentences together without rambling off the issue and changing the subject, a man who resurrected old themes and could not give any genuine assurance that he was not still a participant on the GOP/Bush playing field.

What distressed me the most?

McCain’s opinion that we “need to reward these good teachers.” Hey, nothing wrong with that. Oh wait, here’s the rest of that story:

• “We need to encourage programs such as Teach for America and Troops to Teachers where people, after having served in the military, can go right to teaching and not have to take these examinations which — or have the certification that some are required in some states.” ~~ John McCain
  

And then there was:

• A little detail of McCain’s not knowing the difference between Down’s Syndrome that affects Palin’s youngest son, interchanging that diagnosis for autism, which is an entirely different issue. If he does know the difference, he failed to articulate that.

And then there was:

• That detail of the $5,000 taxable tax credit for health care. Oh, yes, somewhere there is a plan available for $5,800 a year. How many families will actually find a $5,800 plan that covers all their needs? I certainly haven’t found one yet. And probably don’t have the difference to fund a realistic plan that would run me, at my present age/health, somewhere in the vicinity of $10,000-12,000 a year. McCain has also said nothing about pre-existing conditions.Is that $5,000 tax credit something you have to spend before you can claim it and then have it taxed? Or am I missing something here?

And was anyone else bothered by the fact that McCain simply could not stay on point? That he stumbled through words and phrases in a way that rivals George Bush? That he meandered across his own view of the political landscape, which holds a wide disconnect from middle America reality? That he fumbled and stumbled through a number of questions just as Palin did in several of her interviews? McCain simply did not look or sound presidential and that’s a trickle down effect on Palin. Or did it surge up from her?

My belief is that college needs to be made affordable, that the bar in educational standards must be raised significantly higher, that everyone has a right to health care and prescription medications, that we need to build a new economic structure for America that will include green jobs and a return to industry that has for some time been shifted offshore. My belief is that women need to have a right to choose, not have reproductive choices made for them by people who do not have to deal with the realities or circumstances behind these choices.

My belief is that no candidate is going to fix America’s problem in four years of a first term presidency. The only thing a new president can do is start working on the problems we face as a nation, and as individuals. The only thing a new president can do is have a plan rooted in reality that can be implemented in a progressive series of laws and actions for the long term. Investments in education, energy, industry, small business, take time to mature: we have lapsed in many areas, and there is no quick fix, no painless recovery.

What I saw Wednesday night was a candidate, Senator Obama, who had a reality check and a plan to fix what ails America. I’m not exactly sure what McCain was offering that would be of any use to middle America.

The Austin Peay State University Library will be the scene the College Republicans and the College Democrats on Thursday, October 16 at 7 p.m. The topic will be the Presidential Election.

A debate between the Chairmen of the Republican Party and the  Democratic Party will take place in the ballroom at the Morgan Center at Austin Peay State University on Wednesday, October 29 at 2PM.

The Republican Party will meet at the GOP Headquarters, 1820 Madison (next to TCBY) at 7PM on Tuesday, October 28.  The public is welcome.  Phone 648-0174 for information.

The public is welcome to attend all of these events.

BBC radio's Rowan Bridge interviews Clarksville for Obama chairman Terry McMoore at MCDP headquarters

When the BBC Election Bus pulled into Clarksville, its first news stop was the Montgomery County Democratic Party headquarters on Madison Street, where a steady stream of area resident surged in and out, registering to vote and picking up Obama/Biden signs from a rapidly depleting stockpile (more signs due in Tuesday, October 7).

The BBC Election bus originated its trip in Los Angeles, and is working its way across middle America, talking to everyday Americans and catching the Presidential and Vice-presidential debates along the way. The bus trips end on Long Island, but the teams will continue to feed political news through the election on November 4.

MCDP Chairman Gene Lewis, State Senate Candidate Tim Barnes and Clarksville for Obama Chairman Terry McMoore welcomed the BBC team to Clarksville.

BBC newsman Allan Little poses a question to military wife Lisa Jackson

BBC television crews took the time to speak with several residents, including Lisa Jackson, whose husband is about to deploy to the Afghanistan war zone. Lisa, a first time campaign volunteer who renounced her Republican ties, explained to BBC broadcaster Allan Little why she is so sure Senator Barack Obama “needs” to be the next president.

“The Republicans are out of touch, they have a selfish approach to government. I did my homework, and in my opinion, Obama is brilliant, prepared and capable, he’s the type of leader we need. I am talking aboutt he state of the country, not my own needs. Obama just has the better plan.” ~~ Lisa Jackson

Retired Army Chaplain Rev. Charles Moreland speaks to BBC newsman Allan Little

Vietnam veteran and retired chaplain Rev. Charles Moreland spoke of his two tours as an Army chaplain in Vietnam, from 1966-68. “I trust Obama to the right thing,” Moreland said, indicating that war is not the answer. Moreland, who is quietly active on many fronts in Clarksville, had high praise for the Obama/Biden ticket, and said of Republican vice-presidential pick Sarah Palin, “I’m glad she’s on McCain’s ticket.”

BBC Radio Reporter Rowan Bridge spoke with a number of Democratic volunteers before heading to Republican Party headquarters at 1820 Madison Street, where a similar bustle of voters seeking yard signs, bumper stickers and T-Shirts were politicking through the day. Beside the McCain/Palin promotional materials were write-in vote materials for Senator Rosalind Kurita.

[Show as slideshow]

Senator Rosalind Kurita

Recent reports from Democratic Party officials describing the vote at the Democratic Party Executive Committee Hearing that overturned the election of Rosalind Kurita in the Democratic primary vote have been rife with “spin,” omissions, and outright lies.  Party officials claim they voted to overturn the election because it was “Incurably Uncertain.”  This means, in their opinion, too many Republicans crossed party lines to vote for Senator Kurita.  They assert there was a grand Republican Party conspiracy to reelect Senator Kurita.  Presumably this was a secret conspiracy, which is convenient, since one can hardly be expected to produce actual evidence if it is “secret.”

What angers democratic voters such as myself, is not that Republicans would choose to vote for a Democrat, but that leaders of my own party would overturn an election on the basis of such flimsy evidence because they did not agree with the results.  However, if the public examines the record of the proceedings recorded by the court recorder at the hearing, they will see for themselves how weak and inconsistent the evidence for such a conclusion is.  Given how incredibly weak the evidence presented to justify overturning the election is, the only other rational conclusion is that the executive committee was not interested in the evidence and had other motives.  This is why I am pleased that Senator Kurita has chosen to sue the Democratic Party Executive Committee’s action as unconstitutional.  If the court agrees to hear the case, the Democratic Party Executive Committee’s evidence will have to meet the standards of a fair and impartial court, not one which clearly was not interested in the facts.

Almost all political analysts believe that the Democratic Party Executive Committee’s real motive for overturning the primary election result is revenge for Senator Kurita’s vote to elect Republican Ron Ramsey Lieutenant governor.  This conclusion was reinforced at the hearing by the fact that almost no discussion of the evidence and its merits, or lack thereof, occurred after the evidence was presented.  Instead, a motion was immediately made to send the decision to a convention of the District 22 party officials.  While this may have given the Executive Committee a little political cover, and the appearance of fairness, they well knew that most of the members of that small group were Barnes supporters that could be counted upon to name Barnes as the Democratic Candidate.  Perhaps this would not have angered me so much if it didn’t remind me so well of the 2000 presidential election.

However, the official mandate of the Democratic Party Executive Committee meeting was to evaluate evidence for election irregularities.  Had the Executive party fairly and objectively considered the evidence presented it could not have reasonable over turned the election.  I am confident the federal trial will reveal this to be the case.  If the motive was in fact revenge, as many democrat commentators in the letters to the editor have freely acknowledged, I would remind them that in a democracy, revenge is taken against elected officials by not reelecting them.  Senator Kurita was reelected in a free and fair election that was certified by the election commission.

Some of these commentators have accused Senator Kurita of not being a “true” Democrat.  Senator Kurita’s voting record clearly refutes this contention.  Senator Kurita has the highest environmental voting rating in the Senate from Tennessee Conservation Voters for the past two years and was awarded the conservation legislator of the year award this year.  Senator Kurita has the highest voting ratings on women’s issues and education issues.  These are core Democratic party policy issues and Senator Kurita’s voting record is rock solid on them.  If however, the issue is strict adherence to party position, regardless of the implications for her constituents in District 22, senator Kurita is willing to seek compromise solutions with Republicans.

Let’s examine the so-called evidence for the “Incurably uncertain” primary election.  First, even though Democratic Party officials claimed to know about this “secret” Republican conspiracy in advance, they took no action to prevent it from happening.  Under state election laws, the Barnes’ campaign was entitled to place election observers in the polling places to challenge any and all of the Republican conspirators they did not want to vote for Kurita, but they did not do so.  What evidence did they provide to support this conspiracy theory? The fact that one poll worker accidentally misspoke and told a prospective voter that Barnes was a Republican.  Contrary to the claims of David Luciano that Senator Kurita’s counsel “had ample opportunity to put on a defense, and yet offered not a single witness or affidavit to dispute the evidence offered by Barnes’s attorneys.”  The record clearly shows that every allegation of voters being misdirected or told to vote in the Republican primary was refuted in affidavits obtained in interviews with multiple election workers who were present at the polling places.  Attorneys for both candidates were present at these interviews.  One of the things that most disturbed me about the testimony presented by Mr. Barrett was his willingness to denigrate the integrity of our poll workers.  These poll workers are our friends and neighbors.  They are people who are providing their community a valued service.   Attorney Barrett portrayed them as members of some grand Republican conspiracy.

What about all of these voters that were misdirected by these conspiratorial poll workers?  Two ended up not voting for Barnes because they did not check the sample ballot posted at the polling place to see which party primary they must vote in to cast a vote for Barnes.  Poll workers testified they informed these voters to do this.  In fact, these voters testified they were Independent voters and did not want to declare party affiliation.  Another voter, a Mr. Nepolitano, claimed that did not want to declare a party affiliation because he was an Independent, but was able to vote in the Democratic Party once he finally acquiesced to the process that required him to declare Democratic Party affiliation to vote in the Democratic Party primary.  Another voter claimed she was unable to vote in the Democratic Party primary because the poll worker could not operate the voting machine properly, but voting records show she did vote in the Democratic Primary.  That was the extent of the voting irregularities.  At most 4 votes were at issue.  Three by self avowed Independents, i.e. non-Democrats, that had no more or less a right to vote in the Democratic Party primary than the alleged dreaded hordes of Republican conspirators, provided they were willing to claim Democratic Party affiliation to vote in the Democratic Party Primary.  Two of those voted in the Democratic primary and may very well have voted for Barnes (in any case, they had every opportunity to do so).   The other two could have voted for Barnes if they had only been willing to follow the voting procedures I am sure all of us would insist our poll workers enforce.    In other words, as far as the Democratic Executive Committee was concerned, it was perfectly alright for a non-Democrat to vote in the primary, as long as they were voting for Barnes!

Let’s summarize.  A prospective voter enters the poll, says he/she is not a Democrat and does not want to declare Democratic Party affiliation, but wants to vote for a Tim Barnes, a Democratic Party candidate.  When it is explained to him/her the rules require he/she claim Democratic Party affiliation to vote in the Democratic Party primary.  At this point, he/she relents (or insists on going ahead and voting in the Republican primary even though the candidate for whom he/she wishes to vote is not on that ballot), declares Democratic Party affiliation, and then votes in the Democratic Primary.  This is then put forward as evidence by Mr. Barrett of a grand Republican Conspiracy?  Who would not laugh at such “laughable evidence?”

Several people and reporters have commented on my behavior at the Executive Committee Hearing.  First, I would like to apologize for getting angry.  I do want to clarify some of the descriptions of my behavior.  First, while I do support Senator Kurita, I was not, as reported, an angry Kurita supporter; I was an angry Democrat.  I believe this action by Democratic Party officials is unfair, unwarranted, and bad for the party.  I also feel it disenfranchises me.  Second, I want to correct David Luciano’s account of my behavior.  He accurately recounted that when one of the few Democratic Executive Committee members pointed out they had been instructed to vote based on the evidence and facts, not on retribution and revenge, I said “here! here!”  I did not shout that.  Then I was challenged by party officials and told I had no right to voice my opinion of the proceedings.  That is when I started to get angry and responded  ”but, I am a voter!“  It was clear that the party officials were very concerned that an insurgency might erupt and began hurrying toward me telling me to leave. That is when I went on to shout as I was voluntarily leaving “the Executive Committee should do its job and vote on the basis of the facts and the evidence, not vengeance.”  I did not need to be escorted out, but I am certain that I would have been escorted out had I stayed any longer.  At that point I retired to the restaurant and drank a cold Budweiser to wash down all the bull I had witnessed that day.

About the Author: Dr. Joe Schiller is an Associate Professor of Biology at APSU and a lifelong Democrat.

“Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is Enemy Action.” — Auric Goldfinger, Ian Fleming’s James Bond

In 1982, the same year John McCain entered the Senate, a bill was put forward that would substantially deregulate the Savings and Loan industry. The Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act was an initiative of the Reagan administration, and was largely authored by lobbyists for the S&L industry — including John McCain’s warm-up speaker at the convention, Fred Thompson. The official description of the bill was “An act to revitalize the housing industry by strengthening the financial stability of home mortgage lending institutions and ensuring the availability of home mortgage loans.” Considering where things stand in 2008, that may sound dubious. It should.

Seven years later, the S&L industry was collapsing. What was the cause? Garn-St. Germain handed the S&Ls a greatly expanded range of capabilities, allowing them to go head to head with full service banks, but it didn’t give them the bank’s regulations. Left to operate in an anarchistic gray area, S&Ls chased profits, indulged in amazing extravagances, and cranked out enough cheap mortgages to fuel a real estate boom. They also experimented with lots of complex, creative — and risky — investments, even though they didn’t have the economic models to really determine the worth of the things they were buying. The result was a mountain of bad debts and worthless “assets.”  Does any of that sound eerily (or nauseatingly) familiar?

It wasn’t a foregone conclusion. In 1985, three years after the deregulation of the S&Ls, the chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board saw that the situation was already looking shaky, with the potential to become much worse. He instituted a rule to limit the amounts and types of investments S&Ls could carry on their books in an effort to head off disaster. However, many savings and loans — among them Lincoln Savings & Loan Association of Irvine, CA, which was headed by a fellow named Charles Keating — promptly ignored these rules.

Alan Greenspan

Now enters a familiar cast of characters. First to pop up was the universally beloved Fed-chief-to-be, Alan Greenspan. Greenspan argued against the loan board’s new rules, and persuaded Reagan to appoint one of Keating’s pals to the board to blunt the requirements. A quintet of senators, among them John McCain, began having meetings with both the management at Lincoln and the regulators at the loan board.  Alan Greenspan also helped out with a letter to the regulators, asking that Lincoln be exempt from the new rules. With their help of Greenspan and their pet senators, Lincoln was able to stay in business an additional two years, at the end of which they failed — taking the life savings of 21,000, mostly elderly, investors with them.

How involved was John McCain? McCain and Keating had known each other since 1981 and had become fast friends. Of all the “Keating Five,” it was McCain who moved into the life of the Lincoln S&L chief. The two men vacationed together multiple times, with the whole McCain clan (babysitter included) heading out for Keating’s private Caribbean property on Keating’s private jet. McCain didn’t think to actually report these trips, or pay for them, until the investigators were breathing down his neck. And McCain took his payment in the form of more than just vacations. Keating and other members of Lincoln’s parent company padded McCain’s pockets with $112,000 in campaign contributions.

In John McCain’s biography, he called his meetings with Keating and regulators “the worst mistake of my life,” though from the text you’d think this was a spur of the moment decision, not something that McCain did repeatedly over a space of years. Still, you might think that a “worst mistake” would stay fresh in his memory.

It certainly didn’t fade quickly for the country. Following the S&L crisis, the Resolution Trust Company was formed to swallow up the debt of Lincoln and 746 other S&Ls gone wild, and taxpayers were left with the $125 billion bill. The resulting budget deficit forced cutbacks in other programs. The artificial real estate boom collapsed and housing starts fell to their lowest levels in decades. Finally, the whole nation settled in for a period nasty enough that three years later someone could still campaign around the idea “It’s the economy, stupid.”

Phil Granmm, John McCain

Even so, by 1999 Phil Gramm — who had entered the Senate two years after McCain and quickly become the economic guru of the Keating Five maverick — put forward the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. This Act passed out of the Senate on a party line vote with 100% Republican support, including that of John McCain. (To be fair, the bill eventually passed again with a wide margin following revisions in the House.)

This act repealed part of the Glass-Steagall Act. This may sound like a bunch of Congressperson soup, but the gist of it is that Glass-Steagall was put in place in 1933 to control the rampant speculation that had helped cause the collapse of banking at the outset of the depression, and to prevent such consolidation of the banks that the nation had all its eggs in one fiscal basket.

Gramm-Leach-Bliley reversed those rules, allowing not only more bank mergers, but for banks to become directly involved in the stock market, bonds, and insurance. Remember the bit about how S&Ls failed because they didn’t have the regulations that protected banks? After Gramm-Leach-Bliley, banks didn’t have that protection either.

Gramm wasn’t done. The next year he was back with the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which was slipped into a “must pass” spending bill on the last day of the 106th Congress. This Act greatly expanded the scope of futures trading, created new vehicles for speculation, and sheltered several investments from regulation.

As with both Gramm-Leach-Bliley and Garn-St. Germain, large parts of this bill were written by industry lobbyists. This famously included the “Enron Loophole” that exempted energy trading from regulation and was written by (big suprise) Enron Lobbyists working with Gramm. Not coincidentally, Senator Gramm, the second largest recipient of campaign contributions from Enron, was also key to legislating the deregulation of California’s energy commodity trading.

Thanks to this fortunate trifecta of Gramm-crafted legislation, Enron was able to create “EnronOnline” and trade electricity in California with absolutely no oversight or transparency. They quickly worked out how to game the system. Previously, there had been only one Stage 3 rolling blackout in the history of California. Within months, the system had been manipulated by traders to generate 38 such blackouts and wholesale electrical prices had gone up more than 3000%. Despite production capacity equal to four times the demand during winter, energy traders even engineered a blackout in mid-January.

During the confusion of these deliberate “shortages” and “price spikes,” the California administration of Gray Davis — blind to speculator manipulations because of the walls erected by Gramm’s legislation — was forced to sign energy contracts at enormous rates. There was little choice, because most of California’s public utilities were on the brink of bankruptcy from the rising wholesale prices.

In a single year, Gramm’s legislation allowed speculators to bring the state to its knees. Enron alone looted California of $11 billion. The manipulations of the energy market were also a major factor in Davis getting the hook, helped usher the governator into power, and they still have repercussions in California’s budget battles today. By the end of that year, the depth of Enron’s deception could no longer be hidden, and the whole company came crashing down in the largest bankruptcy in history — at the time. This brought more billions lost in mutual funds and pension funds across the country, and played a major role in the economic downturn of 2001.

But that was only the second act. The combination of Gramm-Leach-Bliley and the Commodity Futures Modernization Act was a toxic cocktail whose total damage was greater than the sum of its parts.

The first Act promoted bank buyouts and mergers that reached such an insane pitch that the average consumer could only keep up by tracking the changing names on their checks and credit cards. Mercantile buys Ameribanc and Mark Twain. Firstar buys Federated and First Colonial. US Bancorp buys Mercantile and Firstar. And, because it allowed brokerages and insurance companies to mingle with banks, the Act cemented a trend that was already (and illegally) underway in which all those terms had become rather quaint. Is Wachovia a savings bank, an investment bank, a brokerage, or an insurance provider? The answer is “yes.”

In allowing financial institutions to grow to Godzilla-sized proportions, Gramm-Leach-Bliley helped ensure that we would have financial entities that were “too big to fail.” Rather than choosing to enforce rules that kept these institutions apart, the deregulators chose to create monster bankeragasurances whose downfall (and existence) was enough to threaten the whole system.

But if Gramm-Leach-Bliley removed the limits on size and scope, these new institutions still needed fuel. With many financial transactions operating on razor thin margins, and increasing automation sapping the profits from trading of all sorts, they needed a new way to generate the funds required to swallow their brethren in the merged fiscal corporation pond.  For that, the Commodity Futures Modernization Act was a godsend.

Among those instruments which the CFMA sheltered from regulatory scrutiny was something called the “credit default swap.” A kind of insurance one bank could exchange with another, credit default swaps supposedly made it safe for banks to take on ever riskier forms of debt. The Act didn’t invent these swaps, though they were relatively new. Instead, by placing them in a state where they were not only unregulated but almost perfectly opaque, credit default swaps were turned into the perfect vehicle to fuel a Wall Street revolution. No one had any idea what these things were actually worth, they were traded “over the counter” without being administered by any exchange, and even the SEC could monitor their existence only indirectly.

Who would cheer for a new kind of financial instrument that was difficult to understand, invisible to regulators, and impossible for even the whizziest of Wall Street whiz kids to value? Guess.

More recently, instruments that are more complex and less transparent–such as credit default swaps, collateralized debt obligations, and credit-linked notes–have been developed and their use has grown very rapidly in recent years. The result? Improved credit-risk management together with more and better risk-management tools appear to have significantly reduced loan concentrations in telecommunications and, indeed, other areas and the associated stress on banks and other financial institutions. — Alan Greenspan, 2002

Get that? Greenspan loved credit default swaps. He opined again and again that such instruments would be the salvation of the industry by spreading around risks. To the mighty Greenspan, both their complexity and their lack of transparency were good things, since swaps would only be handled by the big boys who knew how to play with fire.

When questioned about his support of Gramm’s legislation, John McCain called his friend (and by then, campaign co-chair) Gramm “one of the smartest people in the world on the economy” and pointed out that Greenspan also favored the acts Gramm and his coalition of lobbyists had authored. If both Gramm and Greenspan were on his side, McCain couldn’t possibly be in the wrong.

Except, of course, that he could.

From the beginning, there were plenty of people in the financial community whose opinion of these unregulated credit swaps was not as rosy as that of Gramm, Greenspan, and McCain. Chief among those speaking in opposition was SEC Chairman, Arthur Levitt. Levitt argued that what the industry needed was more transparency, especially when it came to complex instruments like default swaps, and he testified to this before Gramm’s Senate Banking Committee.

“In my judgment, the risk of this regulatory approach is simply unacceptable for America’s investors.” –Arthur Levitt, 1999

Gramm paid no attention.

Credit default swaps did allow the banks to share risks. So much so, that banks raced each other in an effort to find more risks. They made it possible for the down payment on homes to become 3%, 1%, 0%. Skip the credit check, avoid the employment requirements, damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead! We’ve got a credit default swap, we can do anything!

The encouragement and “safety” that credit default swaps provided made the sub-prime mortgage market possible. Just as with the deregulation of S&Ls in the 1980s, the market was suddenly flooded with easy credit. The result was a real estate boom, soaring home prices, and a plague of “Flip that House!” shows on cable.

As the banks piled up crappy mortgages, they heaped on ever more of the credit default swaps — and they still had no idea how to value the things. Worse, they began to trade the swaps themselves as if they were an investment, treating them like something worth holding instead of a big bundle of cartoon bombs whose fuses were already lit. Since very few loans were falling into default at the time, owning a default swap seemed like a way to collect fees without ever paying out. Banks wanted more, and more, and more.

A secondary market for trading swaps exploded into existence, and swaps were traded with absolutely no consideration for the nature or quality of the underlying investment. Swaps changed hands a dozen or more times, growing in “value” as they went. Worse still, no one regulated who could buy a swap, so it was (and is) perfectly possible for a company to acquire swaps that theoretically cover billions of dollars in loans, even if that company doesn’t have a red cent on hand to cover those swaps should the loans default.

How big did this market become? Here’s business correspondent Bob Moon and host Kai Ryssdal on American Public Media’s Marketplace from back in the spring.

BOB MOON: OK, I’m about to unload some numbers on you here, so I’ll speak slowly so you can follow this.

The value of the entire U.S. Treasuries market: $4.5 trillion.

The value of the entire mortgage market: $7 trillion.

The size of the U.S. stock market: $22 trillion.

OK, you ready?

The size of the credit default swap market last year: $45 trillion.

KAI RYSSDAL: That’s a lot of money, Bob.

As in three times the whole US gross domestic product, Bob. And the truth is that Moon probably underestimated. The unregulated and poorly reported credit default swaps may have actually passed $70 trillion last year, or about $5 trillion more than the GDP of the entire world.

So, are you starting to get an idea of just how big a genie Phil Gramm and his pals unleashed?

With some regularity over the last eight years, fiscal whistle blowers have tried to raise their hands and register a protest. Um, sirs? Is it altogether a good idea to run up debts exceeding all the assets it’s even possible to hold? But so long as no one actually had to pay off on the swaps, the party went on.  Even usually conservative (in the fiscal sense) companies like AIG started to worry that they were being left behind and leapt headlong into the swap pool.

Federal Reserve

Shortly after Greenspan’s departure in 2006, the Federal Reserve took the unusual step of issued a joint statement along with the SEC to warn about the risks associated with credit default swaps. But by that point, the damage was already severe. If swaps lost their value, most of those who had played the game would find their giant firms abruptly valued in pocket change. The only solution was to cover the problem with still more swaps and keep moving.

Then a funny thing happened. After years in which banks had handed out loans willy-nilly, guarded by the indestructible swap, people and companies started to really default on those loans. Credit slowed, home prices fell, and the whole snake started to eat itself tail first. Suddenly, credit default swaps were not sources of limitless cash. It turns out that an insurance policy — even a secret, unregulated policy — is occasionally expected to pay. Speculators started to look at the paper they were holding and for the first time realized it could all be worthless. Worse, it could (and did) represent a massive debt; one that no one had the funds to cover.

When Bear Stearns fell apart last March, it was only suspected that a big part of the effort in saving the giant investment bank was keeping their holdings in credit default swaps from unraveling and spreading to other institutions. Naturally, part of solving this problem involved creating a new credit default swap to cover Bear Stearn’s potential debt. But the all-purpose swap was starting to lose its power. Shortly after Bear Stearns went belly up, AIG reported the largest quarterly loss in the company’s history, taking a $11 billion hit on revaluing its holdings of swaps. The party was definitely coming to a close.

When AIG finally collapsed this week, there was no doubt about the primary cause of its failure. The previously well grounded company had “gotten itself involved with something called credit default swaps.” Point of irony alert: Arthur Levitt now serves on the AIG board… or at least he did until the government had to take over most of AIG to salvage the company from the very idiocy Levitt had warned of in 1999.

This week, the Bush administration announced the beginnings of a plan to salvage what remains of the financial markets. At first glance, it appears that the plan will consist mainly of creating a kind of “garbage pit,” a fund or group of funds — cousins of the Resolution Trust that was created during the S&L crisis — into which those people who have dabbled in bad debts can toss their problems. Only this time the cost to the taxpayers is at least $700 billion… and a big bite out of representative democracy.

The expansion of unregulated Savings and Loans in the 1980s brought on the collapse of that industry, a crippling of the economy, and left taxpayers holding the bag. Maybe that was only happenstance. Those pushing for the Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act may not have known what they were doing.

The deregulation of the California electricity market, along with the protections provided to Enron through Phil Gramm’s lobbyist-written legislation brought blackouts, fiscal and political chaos, and left taxpayers holding the bag. But the people who engineered that event — people like Gramm and Greenspan — had already seen what happened with the S&Ls. They should have known better. Still, perhaps that was only coincidence.

The sub-prime mortgage crisis that has not only come so close to utterly destroying the markets, but has ruined the value of many people’s homes and left millions with mortgages they can’t pay, was also the outcome of the deregulation created by these men. The very predictable outcome.  When taxpayers are left holding the bag for $1 trillion this time around, it’s hard to believe it’s any sort of accident.

This is enemy action. This is a bullet deliberately fired into the economy by men willing to exercise their ideology regardless of the cost to taxpayers. Men who have every expectation that they can plunder the system again and again, while the public picks up the tab. John McCain may not have had his finger directly on the trigger, but he was there. He assisted. These were his personal friends and philosophical comrades. He may not be the high priest, but he has been a loyal acolyte in the cult of deregulation.

It may come as a surprise to the champions of deregulation, but nobody likes regulation. The restrictions that were placed on banks, S&Ls, and other institutions in the 1930s weren’t put there because someone thought it would be fun. They were put in place because they addressed problems that had just been clearly and painfully revealed. They were put in place because they were necessary.

It’s bad enough if John McCain didn’t know that. It’s far worse if he did.

About Mark Summer

Mark Summer is a Contributing Editor on the Daily Kos website, and one of the founders of the Political Cortex.  He is also commonly known as Devilstower. You can email him directly at .

I amuse easily. Which is why I tried hard to hold back a smile, a chuckle (at the irony), when I read of GOP Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s hacked e-mail.

The intrusiveness of that act, the back-door sneak attack on personal privacy is exactly what this Republican administration is doing to the American people every day: screening e-mails for “trigger”words, tracking travel of ordinary citizens, tapping phone lines,  seeking access to library records … the list of civil liberties and privacy issues invaded and run through the shredder by our government (which is supposed to be of the people, by the people, for the people) is endless. “Government hacking” is the crude term for citizen surveillance in the guise of homeland security.

Because we are “just ordinary people” that’s supposed to make it okay? I don’t think so. As we learned this week, when it comes to internet and computer hacking, rank doesn’t have its privileges, nor does legislative rank and file offer immunity from such attacks.

Perhaps if Palin or John McCain get back a bit of what their party and their President has been dishing out, they may think twice (I doubt it, but there’s always hope) about the ramifications of the laws and the bill of rights that the government and their President are systematically shredding, the undermining of civil liberties and free speech they increasingly enable, propose, and support. That persistent undermining of our basic rights erodes our faith in government, and most certainly in their party in power.

The hacker in question rooting through Palin’s e-mail is not of the government, he’s just a guy. With a business. With a certain set of skills, which he puts to questionable use.  And he hacked Sarah’s e-mail (and face it, hacking isn’t nice, it’s downright nasty), an account that she promptly closed. She’s ticked. Justifiably so. But I do wonder what he found (I haven’t looked), given that she has refused, among other things, to respond to a subpeona for records related to her political/ethical problems in Alaska. Given that she has put herself in the public eye, available for ethical, political and moral dissection under the public microscope, she has opened herself up to scrutiny.

Now granted, I shudder to think that my e-mail could be hacked, that my personal writings could be read by others. Like Sarah, I’d be really ticked. But there’s nothing there that I wouldn’t, or haven’t already said, out loud, in public, often in print.  It’s just how I am. I would, however, be infuriated by the audacity of a stranger peering into my personal business and figuring out that I want another shot at visiting The Three Windows and honoring the grounds of the Goddess (does that make me Wiccan, Pagan maybe?) at Machu Picchu (Sarah’s Wasilla church won’t like me).

Okay, Sarah. Time to look through that Republican lens and know firsthand a bit of what it feels like when our government hacks us.