Showing posts with label Bill Haslam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bill Haslam. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Just Remember, Our Tax Dollars Rescued These Union Members. Violent Mob Outside The Capitol In Lansing Michigan
And Duh' Left characterizes people who attend Tea Party rallies as goons, people who attend church as intolerant morons, people who vote GOP as racist know-nothings.
And these are The Heroes of Duh' Left, doing what they do best.
Expecting to hear a peep of protest from the White House? Don't hold your breath.
Three cheers for the Michigan legislature and governor. Here's hoping and praying that more legislatures gain inspiration from their example. State by state, county by county, village by village, the Obama agenda can be disassembled, one little Leggo block at a time.
By the way, the governor of Tennessee announced today that his state won't bend its citizenry over the table by establishing one of Obama's 'Health Care Exchanges'.
He concluded that HHS is run by a clown circus, and he wants no part of it. And, he realized that the Tennessee legislature would never cooperate in the scheme.
If Himself wants to run the health care system, he can certainly try. He'll be finding fewer and fewer people willing to cooperate, especially as this video of his most loyal supporters circulates.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
In Contrast To Wisconsin, Ohio, illinois, California: Tennessee Legislature Passes The Budget Unanimously (with 3.9% spending cuts), And Goes Home
Really, ya'll. It can happen.
The November 2010 election mattered in Tennessee. The teacher's union had its wings clipped. The legislature cut spending, still leaving in some favored programs, and extra money for disaster relief.
Then they adjourned, and went home. Refreshing, is it not?
The Senate passed a $30.8 billion budget on Saturday, making it a clean sweep in the Tennessee General Assembly, with both chambers unanimously approving a budget that could have easily been a contentious battle given the state’s economic constraints.
The House approved the budget 96-0 on Friday.
Republican Gov. Bill Haslam and lawmakers benefited from recent revenue increases that allowed Haslam to restore many cuts that mattered most to Democrats, and in the end the bill was still roughly 3.9 percent less than the previous year’s budget. The state is constitutionally obligated to pass a balanced budget.
Haslam, in his first year as governor, had stated relentlessly during his campaign that the state was going to suffer massive losses of federal economic stimulus money, and his estimates on that count proved fairly accurate. All told, the state will have about $1.8 billion less in federal funds than a year ago, and of that total about $1.4 billion was attributed to the loss of stimulus funds.
Haslam, like his predecessor, Bredesen, comes from a business background, and understands math. He is a conservative, but not an ideologue.
In many previous years, with many more Democrats in the legislature demanding more spending on every pet project, or split control amongst the parties, budget battles would last until midnight July 3. The reviled Don Sundquist lied in 2000 about proposing an income tax, demanded it in 2001, and Legislative Plaza filled with thousands of truly pissed-off voters. Sundquist sent in the troopers on horseback to break them up, to no avail. Bredesen didn't even bring the subject up during his tenure.
All those folks, and many more, showed up to vote in 2004, 2006 and 2010. Especially 2010, after a two-year dose of LifeUnderObama.
Tennessee runs balanced budgets. Tennessee has noooooo income tax.
Tennessee has myriad problems, to be sure, but OS would not trade problems with Illinois for anything.
The November 2010 election mattered in Tennessee. The teacher's union had its wings clipped. The legislature cut spending, still leaving in some favored programs, and extra money for disaster relief.
Then they adjourned, and went home. Refreshing, is it not?
The Senate passed a $30.8 billion budget on Saturday, making it a clean sweep in the Tennessee General Assembly, with both chambers unanimously approving a budget that could have easily been a contentious battle given the state’s economic constraints.
The House approved the budget 96-0 on Friday.
Republican Gov. Bill Haslam and lawmakers benefited from recent revenue increases that allowed Haslam to restore many cuts that mattered most to Democrats, and in the end the bill was still roughly 3.9 percent less than the previous year’s budget. The state is constitutionally obligated to pass a balanced budget.
Haslam, in his first year as governor, had stated relentlessly during his campaign that the state was going to suffer massive losses of federal economic stimulus money, and his estimates on that count proved fairly accurate. All told, the state will have about $1.8 billion less in federal funds than a year ago, and of that total about $1.4 billion was attributed to the loss of stimulus funds.
Haslam, like his predecessor, Bredesen, comes from a business background, and understands math. He is a conservative, but not an ideologue.
In many previous years, with many more Democrats in the legislature demanding more spending on every pet project, or split control amongst the parties, budget battles would last until midnight July 3. The reviled Don Sundquist lied in 2000 about proposing an income tax, demanded it in 2001, and Legislative Plaza filled with thousands of truly pissed-off voters. Sundquist sent in the troopers on horseback to break them up, to no avail. Bredesen didn't even bring the subject up during his tenure.
All those folks, and many more, showed up to vote in 2004, 2006 and 2010. Especially 2010, after a two-year dose of LifeUnderObama.
Tennessee runs balanced budgets. Tennessee has noooooo income tax.
Tennessee has myriad problems, to be sure, but OS would not trade problems with Illinois for anything.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
The Amazon.com Deal With State Of Tennessee: Confusion Now, Hurt Feelings Later
Tennessee weathered (and is weathering) The Great Downturn in much finer form than many states. One reason is that recently departed governor Phil Bredesen, although a loyal Democrat, was no fire-breathing leftist ideologue. Budgets balanced, cash reserves were maintained, and he aggressively recruited businesses to the state, such as Nissan and Volkswagen. Much credit is due him for this.
However, there is some confusion about what exactly was promised to Amazon as inducement to locate warehouse distribution centers in Tennessee.
It's a lot of of jobs to be created, and real wealth can be built from these facility locations. However, Amazon claims they were promised exemption from collecting Tennessee sales tax on sales to Tennessee customers, and claim the transactions actually occur in Washington State. Present Governor Haslam feels honor-bound to abide by the word of his predecessor, to preserve the reputation of the state. The legislature is, on the one hand eager to see the jobs move in, and other other catching real flak from small businesses who compete with Amazon, and are obliged to charge and collect tax. That gives Amazon a 9.5% price advantage at full retail price.
They have a point. The local MainStreet bookstore here is keeping the doors open, but as a small operation, they have no leverage to compete on price with Amazon. OS understands how they would be highly unhappy with the state government just now.
It is a tough call, and someone will end up very unhappy after the smoke clears.
However, there is some confusion about what exactly was promised to Amazon as inducement to locate warehouse distribution centers in Tennessee.
It's a lot of of jobs to be created, and real wealth can be built from these facility locations. However, Amazon claims they were promised exemption from collecting Tennessee sales tax on sales to Tennessee customers, and claim the transactions actually occur in Washington State. Present Governor Haslam feels honor-bound to abide by the word of his predecessor, to preserve the reputation of the state. The legislature is, on the one hand eager to see the jobs move in, and other other catching real flak from small businesses who compete with Amazon, and are obliged to charge and collect tax. That gives Amazon a 9.5% price advantage at full retail price.
They have a point. The local MainStreet bookstore here is keeping the doors open, but as a small operation, they have no leverage to compete on price with Amazon. OS understands how they would be highly unhappy with the state government just now.
It is a tough call, and someone will end up very unhappy after the smoke clears.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Governor Haslam Of Tennessee Wins The Shortest Memory Award: He Just Can't Seem To Remember Who His Constituents Are
Eventually, it seems they all forget. Elected officials, that it is. If we were to chart the phenomenon, we'd see a ramp-up of attention (or at least the appearance thereof) toward the voters about 90 days pre-election, followed by a drop, more or less precipitous, toward completely oblivious tone-deafness.
OS thinks of George W Bush (or actually, both George Bushes) at times like this. In 1988 Bush Sr. declared 'Read my lips--no new taxes!', until he decided it was better to have Teddy Kennedy like him than keep his word to his constituents. He really seemed stunned that his 1988 voters thought that raising taxes destroyed his credibility, and didn't vote for him in 1992.
In 2004, GW Bush promised his voter base that he'd be even more conservative, appoint the right kinds of judges, restrain that spending, defend the border, etc. etc. By May of 2005, it was clear he didn't mean a word of it. He put up a few judge nominations, and didn't advocate for them. He nominated a crony to the Supreme Court, for a few days, until the laughter got too loud. He let Bill-The-RINO Frist cut deals to allow the Dems to retain control of the Senate, even though they were in the minority. He opened the spending floodgates, and for his real coupie-day-gracie, he cooked up one real stinker of an immigration bill with Teddy Kennedy (him again!) and the RINO's like Lindsay Graham, and tried to ram it through in the dark of night just before Memorial Day of 2007. The whole thing blew up in his face, and he seemed stunned at the reaction.
That went over well! The donations to Republican National Committee ceased almost immediately. The RNC is still 20 million in debt from those days. Then, the banking system and economy melted down, and Hank Paulson attempted his coup in Fall of 2008. George Junior wondered why no one believed him, why he had no credibility with his constituents, or why people are mad at him for making Obama's election such a walkover.
Both forgot who the constituency was, whose interests should be served first. It ain't Teddy Kennedy and clan, it ain't the banksters, and it sure as hell ain't the Mexican gubbmint, or the Chamber of Commerce (who love that cheap illegal labor, while letting the states handle the insurance costs), or the Chinese.
So, here we go again, in the State of Tennessee, to borrow a phrase from The Gipper, who never forgot who he worked for.
A bill has been introduced with a modest goal: Require that all drivers taking the drivers license test actually take the test in (GASP!!! OMG!!!) English!
And, here comes Guh'vner Haslam, freshly elected, saying 'No-No-No-No', we can't do that! We might ruffle the feathers of the Germans and the Japanese who are locating their plants here. Huh? Those automotive engineers who work in English everyday need license exams in German and Japanese?
Really?
Lesee--all those negotiations with those firms took place in English, all the tax abatements for those firms were drafted and approved in English, and we can be damn sure that each and every employee brought here from Osaka and Heidelburg is bilingual. Hells-bells, ya'll! They probably speak better English than most of the natives here!
And to quote the bill's sponsor: There's not a road sign from Mountain City to Memphis printed in any other language other than English. What are we doing, administering drivers license tests in five different languages? It's insane. It's dangerous. It's detrimental to the citizens of the state, who overwhelming operate in....English!
Da Guh'vner sez he don't wanna send TheWrongMessage to anybody who might wanna locate their plant here. Fair enough. There's ways to do that. This is a state matter, to be decided by the state legislature, elected by (remember us, Guh'vner?) the citizens of the State of Tennessee. Not the execs of Volkswagen or Nissan, or any other firm from any other part of the world.
Who you workin' for, Mr. Haslam? Who elected you, Mr. Haslam? Who elected an overwhelmingly conservative GOP majority into both houses (the first time since Reconstruction), Mr. Haslam? The voters of Kyoto? The voters of Bavaria?
At the very least, you act like somebody who has already forgotten who his constituents are, and for whom he works. This approach always ends badly...just ask George and George.
OS thinks of George W Bush (or actually, both George Bushes) at times like this. In 1988 Bush Sr. declared 'Read my lips--no new taxes!', until he decided it was better to have Teddy Kennedy like him than keep his word to his constituents. He really seemed stunned that his 1988 voters thought that raising taxes destroyed his credibility, and didn't vote for him in 1992.
In 2004, GW Bush promised his voter base that he'd be even more conservative, appoint the right kinds of judges, restrain that spending, defend the border, etc. etc. By May of 2005, it was clear he didn't mean a word of it. He put up a few judge nominations, and didn't advocate for them. He nominated a crony to the Supreme Court, for a few days, until the laughter got too loud. He let Bill-The-RINO Frist cut deals to allow the Dems to retain control of the Senate, even though they were in the minority. He opened the spending floodgates, and for his real coupie-day-gracie, he cooked up one real stinker of an immigration bill with Teddy Kennedy (him again!) and the RINO's like Lindsay Graham, and tried to ram it through in the dark of night just before Memorial Day of 2007. The whole thing blew up in his face, and he seemed stunned at the reaction.
That went over well! The donations to Republican National Committee ceased almost immediately. The RNC is still 20 million in debt from those days. Then, the banking system and economy melted down, and Hank Paulson attempted his coup in Fall of 2008. George Junior wondered why no one believed him, why he had no credibility with his constituents, or why people are mad at him for making Obama's election such a walkover.
Both forgot who the constituency was, whose interests should be served first. It ain't Teddy Kennedy and clan, it ain't the banksters, and it sure as hell ain't the Mexican gubbmint, or the Chamber of Commerce (who love that cheap illegal labor, while letting the states handle the insurance costs), or the Chinese.
So, here we go again, in the State of Tennessee, to borrow a phrase from The Gipper, who never forgot who he worked for.
A bill has been introduced with a modest goal: Require that all drivers taking the drivers license test actually take the test in (GASP!!! OMG!!!) English!
And, here comes Guh'vner Haslam, freshly elected, saying 'No-No-No-No', we can't do that! We might ruffle the feathers of the Germans and the Japanese who are locating their plants here. Huh? Those automotive engineers who work in English everyday need license exams in German and Japanese?
Really?
Lesee--all those negotiations with those firms took place in English, all the tax abatements for those firms were drafted and approved in English, and we can be damn sure that each and every employee brought here from Osaka and Heidelburg is bilingual. Hells-bells, ya'll! They probably speak better English than most of the natives here!
And to quote the bill's sponsor: There's not a road sign from Mountain City to Memphis printed in any other language other than English. What are we doing, administering drivers license tests in five different languages? It's insane. It's dangerous. It's detrimental to the citizens of the state, who overwhelming operate in....English!
Da Guh'vner sez he don't wanna send TheWrongMessage to anybody who might wanna locate their plant here. Fair enough. There's ways to do that. This is a state matter, to be decided by the state legislature, elected by (remember us, Guh'vner?) the citizens of the State of Tennessee. Not the execs of Volkswagen or Nissan, or any other firm from any other part of the world.
Who you workin' for, Mr. Haslam? Who elected you, Mr. Haslam? Who elected an overwhelmingly conservative GOP majority into both houses (the first time since Reconstruction), Mr. Haslam? The voters of Kyoto? The voters of Bavaria?
At the very least, you act like somebody who has already forgotten who his constituents are, and for whom he works. This approach always ends badly...just ask George and George.
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