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Well ... Rush isn't the only one pulling a good audience. Roger Hedgecock, here in San Diego (a county of 3 million), pulls an audience of 2 million. And ... he gets things done when no one else can.

He has a program now for military families. He has put together a group of people who can assist families while their spouse is deployed. They change tires, repair cars, babysit children, give moms a special hairdo, buy clothes and toys for children, etc. etc. etc. Great program.

"They are willing to pay for services, but they honestly think we should be cutting back on waste before going to them for more money," he said.

This politico knows "they" are two different sets of people. The "they" enjoying "free" TennCare are probably in favor of increasing taxes on the "they" whose income is taxed.

More proof that Steve Gill and Phil Valentine made the difference - the pro-tax governor Sundquist hates their guts and has insulted them in public. Not that they care. It just increases their popularity since Sundquist is now only liked by bureaucrats and parasites.

"They are willing to pay for services, but they honestly think we should be cutting back on waste before going to them for more money," he said.

This quote receives today's "You Don't Say Award" for uncovering the obvious.

The really bad joke is that Tennessee government has enough money hidden in investments that it could fund itself without taxing anybody!

Listen to what Walter J. Burien has to say in this show I did tonight.

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"They are willing to pay for services, but they honestly think we should be cutting back on waste before going to them for more money," he said.

Government agencies seldom have any incentive to be thrifty. Rather, they tend to misspend as much money as they think they can get away with, blame poor performace on a lack of funding, then mis-spend a large part of any additional funding they get.

While it would be an oversimplification to say that the amount of money actually spent for good and proper purposes is independent of taxes raised, tax increases seldom produce a commensurate increase in proper spending. Rather, tax increases provide the opportunity for government agencies to eke out more money for their own purposes.

Government needs to be kept 'hungry'. A government which is not fiscally constrained will not only abuse its citizens' pocketbooks, but it's likely to use the money to harass citizens in other ways. The only way to keep government 'honest' is to ensure that it can't afford to abuse its citizens.

Deep down inside, I thought we'd have an income tax by now. I used to live in CT and the pro-tax folks just kept at it until the citizens lost interest.

People "want" programs when paid for by other people's money. A politician promises just that.

Upon hearing that, a few protesters became boisterous, and the surging crowd shattered a glass door.

They're lucky we were well behaved and it was only a little glass.

Some documentary photos of the great events, if you're interested.