TaxingTennessee

Please Join me at Facebook.com/NashvilleTeaParty

2012-01-19T17:34:00.002-06:00

I am spending most of my time lately on the Facebook page for Nashville Tea Party: http://facebook.com/NashvilleTeaParty Come on over and LIKE us or you can subscribe to an RSS feed of the posts HERE.

Hope you will join me at the TN Capital at noon on Tues Jan 10

2012-01-03T11:09:00.001-06:00

for the vote on the Constitutional Amendment to permanently prohibit an income tax in Tennessee. The amendment will among the first votes taken in the 2012 session of the Tennessee General Assembly. This is only the first step. The amendment will have to pass by a 2/3 vote in the next session and then it will go on the ballot for the people of Tennessee to make the final decision. A BIG Thank you to all the House and Senate sponsors and co-sponsors who made this happen.

The amendment has already passed the Senate so this vote will be in the House chamber.

Nashville Tea Party: LIKE us on Facebook

2011-12-28T11:18:00.000-06:00

www.facebook.com/NashvilleTeaParty

Cartoon: Did anyone water the Christmas Tree?

2011-12-25T11:19:00.001-06:00

John Tanner was Heath Schuler's mentor??

2011-12-24T09:15:00.001-06:00

Link

Those election losses enabled Shuler to rise in the group’s leadership and gain visibility on key fiscal issues.

“I think he’ll be a real player,” said John Tanner, a former Blue Dog congressman from Tennessee who is now vice chairman of Prime Policy Group, a Washington lobbying firm. “As the middle gets hollowed out in Congress, the ones who are left who are truly in the middle will be more sought-after, not less.”

Tanner, whom Shuler considers a mentor, said the ex-football player showed his fiscally conservative streak before he came to Congress. When Shuler signed with the Washington Redskins in 1994, he saved his bonus and lived on his salary alone — “not the modus operandi of most professional athletes,” Tanner noted.

“Plus, he was a quarterback,” Tanner added, “and they’re just natural leaders.”

Shuler is well-liked by members of both parties, according to Tanner and Allen Boyd, another former Blue Dog congressman and mentor.

Merry Christmas to all Natural Gas and Energy Consumers!!

2011-12-24T08:12:00.002-06:00

Professor Perry lists just a few of the natural gas price reduction notices that have resulted from the gas fracking technology revolution. Natural gas prices are plummeting and the substitution effect is lowering prices for ALL energy consumers, i.e., many oil and coal powered plants are being converted to much cheaper natural gas.

What will all the all the enviro-wackos do with all that extra money?

Link

Here's a ~~Christmas~~ Christmakwanzakuh present for consumers around the country: Natural gas prices for residential customers are falling this winter, thanks to the fracking revolution and America's new abundant supply of shale gas:

1. "Idaho's Intermountain Gas Company filed a request Thursday with the Idaho Public Utilities Commission to lower natural gas rates for its customers. The company says it is filing the interim purchased gas adjustment because the price of natural gas continues to decrease."

2. "After years of increases, some of them in double digits, Pacific Northern Gas (PNG) is reducing its rates. In filings made to the BC Utilities Commission, PNG wants to drop its overall residential rate by 1.1 per cent next year."

3. "Residential customers of Tennessee's Piedmont Natural Gas should get a break in their bills starting Feb. 1 as natural gas costs continue to fall. That is expected to be followed the next month by an increase in service charges, if it’s approved by the Tennessee Regulatory Authority. Still, payments over a year should be about 7 percent less after both changes. The typical residential customer who spent $739 for natural gas this year would pay $685 after the adjustments, according to Piedmont."

4. "If you're a Connecticut Light & Power customer you got a little something extra in your stocking this holiday season, as the state's largest electrical company announced Thursday that most residential customers will see a 7.5 percent rate decease on their bills starting in January."

"The lower rates are primarily due to falling natural gas prices, which affects how much we pay for power," said Jim Muntz, CL&P's acting president. "This is very positive news not only for our residential customers, but for all of our Standard Service customers, who will see reductions in their rates."

5. "New Jersey's PSE&G has announced that it is lowering residential gas bills by an additional 4.6 percent, or nearly $8.53 per winter month for the typical residential customer.
The utility said the action represents the eighth decrease in a row for residential customers, for a total of more than $614, or 35 percent, in savings since January 2009. The price reduction takes effect Dec. 1.

PSE&G attributed the cost savings and rate reductions to lower market prices for natural gas, which are partially due to the availability of abundant and lower cost shale gas."

A Christmas Present for the Tea Party, a Politician with spine

2011-12-23T19:49:00.000-06:00

Thank YOU Janice Daniels...here is what she said when asked why should would turn down "free" money:

“There’s nothing free about government money,” Mayor Janice Daniels said in an interview. “It’s never free, and it’s crippling our way of life.”

WOW!!! I feel better already....the dolts in DC don't understand 15 trillion of debt but Janice Daniels does...thank YOU Mayor Daniels.

Link

The Troy transit center’s construction, by comparison, required no local contribution, and its predicted annual maintenance cost of $31,000 was, in the context of the city’s $50 million budget, “de minimis,” said Mark Miller, the assistant city manager.

The federal government’s largess is no reason to build the transit center when the national debt stands at $15 trillion, Mayor Daniels said.

Lets brew some tea in Music City

2011-12-23T16:40:00.002-06:00

Forbes says don't die in TN

2011-12-23T07:18:00.000-06:00

Link

The District of Columbia and 22 states impose estate and/or inheritance taxes. States with estate taxes typically exempt $1 million or less per estate from their tax and impose a top rate of 16%. Six states levy only an inheritance tax, with the rate depending on the relationship of the heir to the deceased and the taxes kicking in, in some cases, on the first dollar of bequest. Two states, Maryland and New Jersey, impose both. Maryland, for example, imposes an estate tax of up to 16% above a $1 million exemption, and a 10% inheritance tax on every dollar left to a niece, nephew, friend or partner, but no inheritance tax on money left to children, grandchildren, parents or siblings. (Any estate tax owed is reduced by the inheritance tax paid.) As in the federal system, bequests to a spouse are tax-free.

When will young people start raising hell about Social Security?

2011-12-23T06:57:00.001-06:00

How NOT to throw a Grenade

2011-12-23T06:53:00.001-06:00

Dancin the Boogie....and I mean REALLY dancin

2011-12-22T08:14:00.001-06:00

Good analysis of the appeal of Ron Paul

2011-12-21T07:23:00.001-06:00

Link

At a time when our country is drowning in debt, the other GOP candidates seem unwilling to venture much beyond the idea of cutting “fraud, waste, and abuse.” Paul, on the other hand, has a specific plan to cut $1 trillion from the federal budget next year, including abolishing five cabinet agencies. That may or may not be practical, but it speaks to those seeking a smaller, less costly, less intrusive government, in a way that other candidates, with their 59-point plans for carefully trimming this agency or that, do not.

Even on foreign policy, an area where Paul diverges most from the GOP mainstream, voters seem sympathetic to Paul, particularly when it comes to the idea that not every world hot spot represents an existential threat to America. There is good reason to wonder what victory in Afghanistan would really look like. They ask if war with Iran is the only solution. And, when we are committing more troops and treasure to countries as unrelated to national security as Uganda, they ask whether there is any limit to U.S. commitments. They may not answer these questions by proposing the same degree of non-involvement as Representative Paul, but neither are they excited by other candidates’ bellicosity.

Concrete finishing machine gone wild...funny

2011-12-21T06:55:00.001-06:00

South Koreans and South Florida Cuban Ex-pats...what UP?

2011-12-20T21:17:00.001-06:00

Kim Jong Il was a murderous, monstrous killer. He was a depraved socipath who was just as deeply evil as Pol Pot and Hitler ever dared to be. He and his father before him stayed in power for decades killing countless people and destroying the hope and dignity of all the citizens of North Korea.

I just don't understand why the South Koreans (not the government, the people of South Korea) are not more organized and dedicated to bringing this nightmare to an end.

And the same with Cuban ex-pats. Castro is just as megalomaniacly evil and monstrous as Kim. Why are they not organizing all sorts of revolutionary actions with all the tools available today?

I am not being critical so much as I am just mystified? What gives?

Video: Lost film footage of 1904 London

2011-12-18T08:40:00.002-06:00

Obama: the 4th most egomaniacal President?

2011-12-17T07:02:00.001-06:00

I disagree, I think he is numero uno when it comes to self-agrandisement. He is the big kahuna of self-delusion.

Tax Free Roll Your Own Cigarettes Popular in TN

2011-12-15T20:44:00.001-06:00

Link

Nationally, there has been some controversy over the roll-your-own-smokes machines, because customers don't have to pay a cigarette tax. The state of Tennessee however, does not appear to be kicking up a fuss over it.

Smokes 4 Less on Western Avenue advertises up to 50% off a carton of cigarettes. Customer Erica Smith was making a carton. She says she's never going back to traditional cigarettes. "Because they burn longer, slower and they are cheaper," Smith said.

Essentially a customer is buying the loose tobacco and the empty cigarette tubes. Then they pay to use the machine that puts the two together.

Special Report: Tea Party grassroots army readies for battle

2011-12-15T08:09:00.000-06:00

Link

"The Tea Party movement is more organized, more focused and more potent," said Rep. Scott, who talks regularly to Dugan. "What happened in 2010 was not the end. It was just the beginning."

Tea Party supporters now hold fewer sign-waving rallies, a hallmark of their early opposition to bank bailouts and President Barack Obama's healthcare reform in 2009. But the movement isn't losing steam.

Interviews with activists across 20 U.S. states indicate that Tea Party groups, far from fading, have evolved into an increasingly sophisticated and effective network of activists. They are working to unseat establishment Republicans who they believe have betrayed the principles of lower taxes, limited government, and free markets.

CA Chuck E. Cheese's fined for child-labor violations

2011-12-15T06:56:00.000-06:00

Link

Restaurants in Cupertino, Redwood City, Brentwood, Newark, San Bruno,
Fairfield and two in San Jose allowed teenagers to load and operate
trash compactors, while the Chuck E. Cheese's in Rohnert Park allowed
minors to operate a dough mixer, according to the U.S. Department of
Labor's wage and hour division. Minors are not allowed to operate the
equipment.

"We all want young workers to develop the skills and experience
necessary to compete in the marketplace, but safety must never be
sacrificed in the process," said Ruben Rosalez, acting administrator
in the Western region for the Labor Department's wage and hour
division. "Employers have an obligation to ensure minors are not
performing tasks that could be harmful, which is why these child labor
rules were established."

Dennis Hopper recites Kipling's IF on 1970 Johnny Cash TV Show

2011-12-15T06:36:00.002-06:00

Complete text of the Poem

Yummy: Santa Hat Brownies

2011-12-15T06:29:00.000-06:00

Link

Man charged with sales tax evasion for boat purchase

2011-12-14T16:54:00.000-06:00

Link

CLINTON (WATE) - A Knoxville man turned himself in Monday on charges of sales tax evasion in Anderson County.

Jerry Lee Hatmaker, 64, was indicted by an Anderson County Grand Jury on four counts of sales tax evasion.

He was also indicted on one count of filing a false report, one count of perjury and one count of forgery.

The indictment charges that Hatmaker faked records when he bought a boat and underreported sales tax of $2,050.50.

Hatmaker's bond was set at $25,000.

Obama's Kansas Speech: "No Citizen Left Alone"

2011-12-14T10:57:00.000-06:00

I have never heard a mainstream politician, let alone a President, make such a speech. Obama has dropped all pretense of believing that US Citizens are capable of living their lives in freedom.

His speech was in fact a repudiation of the very basic notion that the individual citizen is the foundation of a moral and just society. This speech put forth a vision of an authoritarian government constantly monitoring and mediating every aspect of our existence.

Carlson School of Management Flash Mob, Deck the Halls

2011-12-14T10:37:00.001-06:00