Well, it looks like the Koch Brothers' agenda

….. is proceeding right along as scheduled here in Tennessee:

UPDATE: Moving right along in North Carolina, too. 
"As more major counties and cities trend Democratic, expect to see Republicans meddling more in local affairs and making a mockery of the concept of self government. Just imagine if congressional Republicans had the ability to gerrymander the state legislatures of California, New York, and Illinois as they have done with the three largest and Democratic-leaning county governments in North Carolina." http://tinyurl.com/qalw7yx

"There is some talk among Republicans of changing state law to allow partisan competition for municipal offices and for local school board seats, now also officially nonpartisan under a current state statute. Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, R-Blountville, supports such a move……..

“The role of the state party is to get Republicans elected on all levels,” Smith (Gov. Haslam's spokesman) wrote."
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/politiknox/tenn-gop-aims-to-paint-state-redder-than-ever-by-2016_49398253

'Red to the Roots"

All of this is by design….and it is heavily financed, NOT a "grassroots" effort.

"Now the council (ALEC) is looking to take its blueprint for influence over statewide lawmaking and drill it down to the local level. It has already quietly set up, and is making plans for the public launch of, an offshoot called the American City County Exchange (ACCE) that will target policymakers from “villages, towns, cities and counties”.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/06/conservative-group-alec-city-local-government

Don't forget that that these two guys have had their hand in the "war against women" in all states as well as their group Americans for Prosperity making sure that Insure Tennessee (using the ACA) is not going forward.
http://tinyurl.com/k9oytnq

How long before Tennessee looks and operates just like Kansas, South Carolina, Michigan or Wisconsin? And by latching on to the extreme fundamentalists and NRA to blindly move this effort along…..……how long before the US looks just like the theocracies that we go all over the world to "preach the ways of democracy?"

Out Of State Interests Pushing TN Policy

It's probably just an exercise in futility….but four major Tennessee newspapers are trying to make people of my state aware of what is actually going on here. It is going to be a four part-part series. 

  

      

"…. the outside interests are trying, engaged on such controversial issues as Gov. Bill Haslam’s Insure Tennessee proposal and gun laws, all the way down to less-noticed matters such as experimental drugs and state subsidies to parents of children with specified disabilities…...

"The Koch-founded AFP made defeat of Insure Tennessee its top priority this year…..""Other interest groups engaged in Tennessee range from the National Rifle Association, which has had considerable success in enacting gun rights legislation, to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has taken to introducing a package of bills drafted at the national level each year that are distinct from the agenda of its state affiliate, the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and hiring its own lobbyists…."

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/state/outofstate-interests-shape-public-policy_81752026

And in case you missed it : http://www.tennessean.com/story/opinion/editorials/2014/04/01/tennessee-political-test-tube-koch-brothers/7132745/

Also, another read on this: https://southernbeale.wordpress.com/2015/05/03/tennessee-where-conservatism-has-come-to-die/

Unfortunately, the GOP base in this state…..the gun loving, gay hating, Bible carrying, racist, antiabortion, "Obama is going to put us in camps" thinking, hate the poor…….will just say it's all liberal propaganda. Tennessee is just like Texas…only with different letters. 

Random Acts of Religious Freedom?

UPDATE: What do You think?

"One such ALEC conference was held in North Carolina. “While nobody can say for sure where the next religious freedom law bill will pop up, it’s probably a safe bet to look at where their most recent national conferences were held and where the next one will be,” says Meyer." http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2015/0330/Who-s-pushing-the-religious-freedom-legislation-in-states 

If you are as fed up, disgusted, and ready to SCREAM about all those poor persecuted conservative (white) Christians as I am…take heart. This country is being run like one big giant school yard and the Bullies with the Bibles (they've never read….) are beating us over the head and getting away with it. Or at least they have a bigger voice. (Have you ever been to a Southern Baptist Revival? I have. Left the SBC when I was in my teens…their hypocrisy was evident even then….)

Grab a cup of coffee, or glass of sweet tea (I live in the south…) are read this. SPREAD IT AROUND, too. 

"Christian fundamentalists in this country are practiced at claiming marginalization and oppression. “They’re always saying they’re kept out of the public square, and that’s baloney,” said Marci Hamilton, a constitutional law expert and the author of “God vs. the Gavel.” “They’re all over the public square."……from a NY Times article by Frank Bruni.

http://tinyurl.com/ntue3or

And besides, are we not supposed to "do unto others as you would have them do unto you?"

"A Little Child Shall Lead Them.."

or at least that's what ALEC, the Koch Brothers and the Tea Party hope you will believe.

We all know how these cretins are buying our corporations, our legislators, and ultimately our entire government. We know they have no use for the EPA, unions, nonwhites, immigrants, women's health choices, and are using Conservative Christians to accomplish a lot of their dirty work for them….but the poor folks haven't caught on yet. And they certainly have no use for the education system here in this country: an educated populace able to think critically and research the facts instead of falling for MSM misinformation (propaganda) is a hinderance to them and their ideals. Besides: "free market."

In our daily paper, The Knoxville New Sentinel, was a letter submitted by a student waxing poetic about her "choice of a better school."

"Like me, many students across Tennessee struggle at their current school, and they simply need an opportunity to choose a better place to learn…..

Unfortunately, the high school I am zoned to attend is not the best fit for me, but that is about to change. I just received an opportunity scholarship from the Beacon Center of Tennessee to attend a private school……"

and of course, the kicker:

"We are already spending this money to educate each child. It makes sense that the money would follow the child rather than just fund the school system."

http://www.knoxnews.com/opinion/columnists/madison-ott-school-choice-lets-students-find-best-fit_91726990

The Beacon Center is part of the State Policy Network, a major player in the Koch Brother's ALEC, pushing their right wing, free market, no taxes agenda. It's president is Justin Owen, a Tea Party member as well.

http://www.beacontn.org/tag/knoxville/

"As the publisher of TennesseeWatchdog.org, The Beacon Center of Tennessee has hosted writers from the ALEC-connected Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, which screens potential reporters on their “free market” views as part of the job application process.^["

If you want to get the parents on board, have a essay contest, award a "scholarship", and begin your lobbying on the local level. People LOVE a heartwarming story about a hardworking, good student. Put her "essay" in the paper……that will get the attention they are seeking. 

My state is so proud of itself: it fought off OBAMACARE

Tennessee's Governor Haslam, not a Dem by any means, stalled for months like a good conservative and did nothing for the working poor in his state. In the meantime he haggled with the administration to "expand Medicaid his way"….and it "was not Obamacare." That was his story and he was sticking to it.

"The governor told a Nashville meeting of the Tennessee Press Association on Thursday that the agreement he hammered out with federal officials over 21 months was the market-oriented approach he thought the Republican-dominated Legislature wanted."

There was a reason for that:

"... Haslam's allies circulated a polling memo to GOP state legislators this week, written by the firm of longtime national GOP pollster Whit Ayres, showing that 85 percent of Republican voters in Tennessee oppose "Obamacare," but just 16 percent oppose "Insure Tennessee."

http://tinyurl.com/pqyfq4l

Haslam was really naive….
The Koch Brothers should really be proud of themselves:

Andrew Ogles, head of Americans for Prosperity in Tennessee, via Chattanooga TFP): “We couldn’t have done this without our grassroots activists showing up to hold their legislators accountable.. Thank you for listening to your constituents and voting to stop Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion in Tennessee.”

Grass roots my butt:The sea of red crowded out representatives of the Tennessee Hospital Association, one of the big advocates of the Medicaid expansion, who were left to stand in the back or unable to get into the room at all. (Tee shirts provided by AFP and KOCH money….)

The Koch Brothers learned early on that "all politics is local" and it is to their benefit to start their influence there.

"It is a smart strategy. The national president of Americans for Prosperity explains, “We fight local issue battles…because they result in good policy outcomes, generally promoting economic freedom via less taxes, less government spending.” He might have also said that this is a good strategy for identifying and cultivating budding politicians who, after taking on local, small-town issues, could move up to state politics and eventually to national levels carrying AFP’s pro-business, free market, anti-regulation message. A Democratic state representative from Coralville got the message about the AFP strategy: “I think right now, too, that they’re doing whatever groundwork they can for the 2014 elections—so any inroads they can make anywhere,” David Jacoby said."

Said Republican Speaker Ron Ramsey:…."Tennessee has always been a well-run, fiscally-responsible state. We could not in good conscience put our stamp of approval on a mere verbal agreement with the Obama administration."  (For the record Tennessee receives 41.27per cent of it's annual budget from the government, getting $1.64 back for every dollar it gives the government in taxes…..)

Then there is the GOP Alternative to Obamacare that they hope to implement after gutting the ACA…if they can do it.
The Patient Choice, Affordability, Responsibility, and Empowerment (CARE) Act 
In this little gem:
 "Republicans want to make it harder for women to prevent themselves from getting pregnant, and then they want to deny women the maternity care they need when they do become pregnant while at the same time making healthcare more expensive for them."

Keep voting for these people, thank them for picking your pockets and making themselves rich, and then wonder why you are the one left holding the bag….

Bob Corker, where's that big announcement???

 "Expansion talks at Volkswagen's lone U.S. plant have ground to a halt amid disagreements about the role of organized labor at the factory in Tennessee.

(snip)

…...comments came in the aftermath of revelations that the state's $300 million incentive package offered to Volkswagen in August contained the caveat that the money was subject to labor talks "being concluded to the satisfaction" of the state.
.. Monday raised concerns that Volkswagen could move to recognize the UAW even without revote. The Center for Worker Freedom said in a release that that would be a "betrayal" of the workers at the plant who voted 712-626 against the union in February." http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2014/apr/08/volkswagen-expansion-talks-at-standstill-in-tenn/

So much for "no government interference" in the running of a private corporation. The Repubs are ALL in favor of a Free Market…when it is to their advantage. "The government should stay out and let us run our business as we see fit."

Enter the lobbyists and "grassroots" organizations, and see how that song changes. A little bit of KOCH money can go a long way……ALEC and Americans for Prosperity.

The Center for Worker Freedom is a Grover Norquist ("anti tax") group. They are also part of the anti-union, right-to-work pushes, with groups like Americans For Prosperity, being made in Missouri just like they did in Michigan and Wisconsin.
http://www.prwatch.org/news/2014/04/12443/national-right-wing-special-interests-groups-lean-missouri-legislators-push-alec

So…let the Koch Brothers, those examples of American expansiveness and hard work, have their editorials printed the the WSJ, quoted on FOX and have emails sent to their employees to "share with like minded people." If people are THAT gullible, easily duped, bigoted, uninformed to the point of ignorance or just too darn lazy to not dig a little deeper, we are in a world of trouble. 

Raise Up A Child In The Way He Should Go....Right Wing Version

In an attempt to manipulate the thinking of 'future voters" ....they already have the attention of corporatists and religious fundamentalists.....those on the right are going full speed ahead to demolish the public school system. And make money doing it.

"We need to be cautious about talking too much about these activities," Dick DeVos warned in a December 2002 speech at the Heritage Foundation. legislatures...Pro-privatization think tanks had concluded that vouchers were the most politically viable way to "dismantle" public schools...Dick DeVos introduced his 2002 Heritage Foundation audience to a covert strategy to provide "rewards or consequences" to state legislators, ... Vouchers should be promoted by local "grass roots" entities and could not be "viewed as only a conservative idea."  DeVos added, "This has got to be the battle.  It will not be as visible."http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/05/04/972949/-Blackwater-In-Law-DeVos-outlines-stealth-plot-against-Public-Education

The whole idea of "parent trigger laws", such as the one Bobby Jindall introduced in his state, is to help parents in failing schools, usually in the inner city, to have a say in their children's learning process, to restructure them, and save their children's future. But some parents have been misled by these organizations, and there is doubt about their effectiveness.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/01/parent-trigger-laws_n_3528346.html?ref=topbar

But like everything else, the Republicans and other Right wing groups have found a way to hijack the process, funnel taxpayer money to pay for it, dumb down the student body, insert their revised educational cirriculum, and make a buck or two. People are beginning to catch on:

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2011/4/20/232844/831

And in order to to muddy the waters a bit, they have given these groups innocent, patriotic names: Parent Revolution is one. Don't be fooled....ALEC, the name the Koch Brothers hide behind is the one sending model legislation to the state for their implementation.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/01/parent-trigger-laws_n_3528346.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

  

The Bradley Foundation, headed by Governor Scott Walker's campaign co-chair Michael Grebe, has underwritten a massive, pro-privatization propaganda campaign, including "a systematic and relentless campaign to turn public opinion against the public school system. http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/04/12067/new-report-exposes-bradley-foundation-funding-behind-“massive”-campaign-promote-s

So....the "outrage" over the public education system country wide begins. All by design just like all the others we've heard over the last years: abortion, voter fraud, freedom of religion, taxes, immigration.......mock it, defund it, criticize it's effectiveness, replace it, privatize it.

The American People Have Spoken......But We Didn't Hear them

The past election was going to be a referendum against the Left, the "socialists," the "moochers," the "un-American Kenyan communist fascist illegal ruler-in-chief' and his "rabid followers"...... anybody who could see through the extreme Right's Tea Party incarnation and who dared to get the truth out  against it. The result was in the bag...the Koch Brothers and Karl Rove guaranteed it. But....it didn't quite happen that way. Not everyone was totally was one hundred per cent in the Obama camp, but deep down inside they felt that something wasn't quite kosher in GOP land.

That is....except in the Republican political world. Hence we have a repeat of:

"Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday he has no regrets about saying the GOP’s top priority over the next two years will be to make Barack Obama a one-term president, calling Democratic attacks over the line “laughable.”........ They almost have nothing to say to the American people.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/44491.html#ixzz2EaA0yNqX

Also, quoting Trent Lott Senate Minority Leader in 2007: “The strategy of being obstructionist can work or fail… So far it’s working for us.”

They are still trying to act as if nothing has changed:

Republicans "know they have the debt ceiling" as leverage, Corker continued. "Hopefully, we'll do the same thing we did last time. And that is if the president wants to raise the debt limit..... (we cut)......hopefully this time, it is mostly oriented towards entitlement and with no process."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/09/bob-corker-debt-ceiling_n_2267211.html?ref=topbar

What is totally incomprehensible is everything they are NOW against, they were perfectly happy with decades ago.

 Republicans Voted Seven Times to Raise Debt Ceiling for President Bush

http://crooksandliars.com/jon-perr/10-inconvenient-truths-about-debt-ceiling

We won, thank you. The people won. They lost, electorally and popularly. But we know what it's all really about.

It's all about control...or keeping "what's theirs."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYfOik4IQYY


Well now..there's been a slight change of tone this afternoon:
"... Mr. Corker is part of a group of Republicans who say that the party ultimately will have to yield to the Obama demand of higher tax rates for top earners, potentially back to the levels that prevailed under President Bill Clinton.That group of Republicans, he said on Fox, was beginning to realize “that we don’t have a lot of cards as it relates to the tax issue before year end” – but that a tax-rate concession could be converted, jiu-jitsu style, into a tactical advantage."
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/officials-foresee-progress-on-fiscal-talks/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Oh, That Crazy Ohio !

Things seem to be moving right along in that republican state of Kasichstan, where the governor and his buddies, the Brothers Koch, have surreptitiously inserted their Right Wing agenda into the workings of government. The governor got a pushback on his union busting but things are still a bit rough in the "public worker" section. Take firefighters, for instance: nobody wants to be one because the majority are "volunteers."

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/volunteer-firefighters-difficult-to-attract-1392603.html

“We try to find ways to first bring them in and then keep them,” Smith said of the volunteers, who he said are hard to recruit because some “people don’t won’t to work for pennies on the dollar.”

Convincing everybody that the last part of the statement is a GOOD thing now seems to be a sticking point for the Repubs.
Then I noticed there may be small problem with that "separation of church and state" thing. Reminds me of the government funds being used for Liberty University....your tax payer money spreading the conservative view of higher education to college students whether you 
wanted it or not. 
http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/xenia-receives-grant-to-renovate-legacy-center-1392581.htm

The City of Xenia recently was awarded a $2.7 million grant from the Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund to further revamp what is now the sprawling 253-acre Legacy Center campus.

Partly as a result, a $6 million nursing facility and a Christian radio network will be added to the campus, developers said.

“This property belongs to God,” said Claude “Bud” E. Schindler Jr., president emeritus of Dayton Christian School System. “He is doing his work.”

Excuse me...but why is the state of Ohio paying for "God's work?" I've no qualms with such endeavors...but I'm sure there are LOTS of other Ohio revitalizations that need to me done (have you been to West Dayton, Youngstown, or Akron???)...and this is the best they can come up with? What about the old GOP bromide about the sick, the poor, or the unemployed "going to the church or charities for help. That's what they're there for." The church-sponsored entities apparently have the OK to go to the government.
Oh, there's this, too:

“We strongly believe in Clean Ohio and total revitalization (efforts),” said Kvamme, who serves as JobsOhio’s president and chief investment officer.
&
Kasich already has named Mark Kvamme, a wealthy Silicon Valley venture capitalist working on a $1 salary, as his director of development who will help shape JobsOhio. (2010)


Update: //freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2012/06/19/what-religious-tax-exemptions-cost-us/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter