Free Republic

Wondering how TN's US House Dems are breaking on the Health Care Reform vote on Saturday? I'm aggregating their office's responses at the blog. Enjoy!

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Jim Stevens said he's not particularly religious and is clueless about why an image resembling Jesus Christ keeps appearing on his pickup. Stevens, of Jonesborough, said nearly every morning, an image that looks to him like the face of Jesus Christ has appeared in the condensation on the driver's side window of his Isuzu truck. A Johnson City Press photo of the truck showed a facial image. Stevens said when he first saw the image, he figured it would evaporate and not return. But it kept reappearing for two weeks now.

Junk Science: The oracle of climate disaster has a new book out on global warming that should be on the fiction list. He asks us to commit economic suicide while he rakes in millions from his green investments. 'Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis," Al Gore's sequel to his 2006 tome "An Inconvenient Truth," came out Tuesday. Printed on recycled paper using low-VOC (volatile organic compound) ink, it will undoubtedly be a best-seller and on the desk of every attendee at next month's climate change conference in Copenhagen. In a press release announcing the book, the Oscar-...

More bleak data from the manufacturing sector: Tennessee factories has shed more than 56,000 jobs since September of 2007. The automotive sector accounts for more than 9,000 of those losses and has been laying off workers more quickly than the rest of the industry.

KNOXVILLE - A Knox County jury this afternoon sentenced convicted torture-slaying ringleader Lemaricus Davidson to death by lethal injection for the January 2007 murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom. The jury of five women and seven men deliberated about four hours before returning its decision to a packed courtroom. “The punishment is death,” the jury foreman said. The victims' families gasped at the verdict, but Davidson showed no reaction. Criminal Court Judge Richard Baumgartner admonished those in the courtroom to control any outburst. “The murder was especially heinous, atrocious and cruel,” the foreman said, reading from the verdict form....

Tennessee is urging 49 other states to come together and create a "joint working group between the states" to combat unconstitutional federal legislation and assert state rights. Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen signed HJR 108, the State Sovereignty Resolution on June 23. According to the Tenth Amendment Center, the resolution created a committee to form a joint working group between the states to enumerate the abuses of authority by the federal government and seek repeal of imposed mandates. State Rep. Susan Lynn recently wrote a letter to the other 49 state legislatures, inviting them to join the group and warning that...

Hundreds of people have been arrested in Texas and around the country what officials say is the largest single strike at a Mexican drug cartel in the U.S WASHINGTON (October 22, 2009)—U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder calls the arrests of more than 300 people in a series of drug raids in Texas and across the country the largest single strike at a Mexican drug cartel operating here. Holder said at a news conference Thursday that the arrests over the past two days were aimed at the U.S. operations of the La Familia cartel. Click here to find out more! Holder...

TN/OK: Polls Close In Special Elections The polls have closed in Tennessee. The first results are in for early voting and absentee and can be found here. The polls have also closed in Oklahoma. The first results are also in for early voting and absentee and can be found here.

Both President Obama and the Democratic Congress have ignored the mess that three states have made of their economy and tax burden by attempting to create a public option and/or universal healthcare. Tennessee has its TennCare program, Maine has tried a "public option" program, and Massachusetts has its RomenyCare system that promises healthcare for all. Each of them has been a boondoggle for the taxpayers and has failed to deliver promised savings and enhanced coverage. In fact, each of these states have begun to cut services to people because the costs have skyrocketed despite claims that "savings" would occur and...

To purge or not to purge: Controversy brews over voter rolls Controversy brews over process striking registered voters off rollsBy Michael Kelley (Contact), Memphis Commercial Appeal Sunday, September 20, 2009 The Republican-controlled Shelby County Election Commission has been aggressively purging the voter registration roll this year following a registration binge by Democrats last fall. If there is any relationship it's tenuous, though, and the commission has been carefully following federal law as it has pared the list of Shelby County voters to about 600,000.****Snip****Voters who identify themselves as white comprise 53 percent of those purged this year, while they make...

Amber Alert Issued After Mother Stabbed, Baby Taken Mom Says Attacker Claimed To Be With INS NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- An Amber Alert was issued after a mother was stabbed and her newborn was taken. Police spokesman Don Aaron said police are at a home on East Ridge Drive where, they said, 4-day-old Yair Anthony Carillo was taken at 2:40 p.m. Tuesday. The infant is Hispanic with black hair and brown eyes. At the time of the abduction, he was wearing a blue-and-white-striped onesie. The baby's mother, 30-year-old Maria Gurrolla, was hospitalized after suffering non-life-threatening wounds to her neck, head, thigh...

Nation-building in Afghanistan is a tough proposition for the United States since it is a "medieval" country, Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) told a local editorial board on Monday afternoon. The freshman lawmaker said that the a rebuilding project similar to what the U.S. undertook in Iraq would unlikely to achieve success in Afghanistan because the latter is "medieval" and the former is a "20th century country." Roe added that winning "the war" there would take "decades." He emphasized that the government needs to re-evaluate the mission there and define victory in the conflict against Taliban and al-Qaeda insurgents. "I believe...

Comments that included the Muslim slur "ragheaded" have offended some Facebook friends of Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce lobbyist Hayes Ledford, who posted the remarks to the Web site in reference to 9/11. "His statement is an embarrassment to Chattanooga, the city to which he is supposed to recruit jobs and industry," said Chris Anderson, a board member with the Hamilton County Democratic Party. "In this case, Mr. Ledford advocated brutal violence against an entire race of people, most of whom had nothing to do with attacking our great nation." Mr. Ledford made his comments on the social networking Web...

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- A teenager was shot Friday night in South Knoxville after a homeowner says the he pointed a shotgun at him. It happened at 837 Lester Road around 11:00 pm. Jonathan Stevens, 20, and his wife Kara, 29, told deputies they heard their pit bulls barking outside. So, Jonathan took a pistol and flashlight to investigate. The couple says they spotted a 15-year-old boy they knew pointing a shot gun at them. Stevens fired his pistol twice, hitting the boy in the torso. He reportedly then returned fire. The Stevens ran inside and called 911. When investigators...

PETROS, Tenn. - She may be 75, but she's still a mom. Jesse Williams, 28, discovered that truism Thursday night when the mother of a man he allegedly was fighting shot him once in the leg to stop the assault on her son. According to Morgan County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy William Angel, Williams broke into David Brandenburg's residence at 905 Back Petros Road. The 43-year-old Brandenburg was home and began struggling with the intruder. The fighting men spilled out from the house and onto the yard, where Brandenburg's mother, Ruth Robbins, heard the commotion. Robbins lives next door, Angel...

NASHVILLE - The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has told Tennessee gun dealers to disregard a state statute that exempts firearms made and sold inside Tennessee from federal gun laws and registration. The ATF says the federal laws still apply regardless of the state's move. The Tennessee legislature considered and approved several bills this year to reduce restrictions on firearms, including one bill that its sponsors labeled the "Tennessee Firearms Freedom Act." It passed overwhelmingly, the House 87-1 and the Senate 22-7, despite warnings by some lawmakers that it could subject Tennessee citizens to federal prosecution and...

Does anybody know if there is any effort going on to reverse the open primary system that gave us John McCain? According to Wikipedia the following states have open primaries: * Alabama * Arkansas * Georgia * Idaho * Indiana * Michigan * Minnesota * Mississippi * Missouri * North Dakota * South Carolina * Tennessee * Texas * Vermont * Virginia * Wisconsin I've run a google news search and come up with blanks.

Woo hoo!! The Tea Party Express has a busy schedule today: 11:00 AM – Rally in Dallas, TX – Cape Buffalo Grille, 17717 Addison Rd, Dallas, TX 75287 2:45 PM – The Whistle Stop – Mile Marker 143; 1 hour and 45 minutes east of Dallas, TX; 170 miles east on Interstate 30; 4 miles west of Mt. Vernon, Franklin County, TX 6:00 PM – Rally in Little Rock, AR – State Capitol (North Grounds Near Liberty Bell) Woodlane & Capitol Ave, Little Rock, AR 72201 10:00 PM – Rally in Memphis, TN – Draper’s Catering (Parking Lot) 6116 Macon...

Tennessee Jury Lets Torturer-Murderer-Rapist Live, to Prey on Others August 28, 12:24 Some juries are indulgent towards even the most vicious and plainly-guilty criminals. A Nashville jury just let a nightmarishly-evil torturer-murderer-rapist, Letalvis Cobbins, escape the death penalty in the rapes, torture, mutilation, and murders of Christopher Newsom and Channon Christian. Now, he can spend the rest of his life raping and preying on vulnerable prison inmates, like first-time offenders. The jurors who blocked the death penalty may have mistakenly believed that they were sophisticated and progressive by rejecting the death penalty, but in truth, they were being cruel, since,...

"Please Pray for Justice for my baby girl and our angel, Channon" http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/group.php?gid=10952439561&ref=nf

Torture-slayings trial, Day 9: Victim's families: Jury 'let us down' with Letalvis Cobbins verdict KNOXVILLE - The families of a young Knox County couple tortured and killed in January 2007 tonight sharply criticized a jury's decision to spare defendant Letalvis Cobbins the death penalty. "I think the jury has let us down," said Mary Newsom, mother of murder victim Chris Newsom. "I think they've let Channon and Chris down. We were hoping for the death penalty." After deliberating a little more than two hours, the jury delivered its verdict about 6:50 p.m. in Judge Richard Baumgartner's courtroom. The judge polled...

In a case that's been widely ignored by the mainstream media, justice prevailed today as Letalvis Cobbins was found guilty of the vast majority of charges, including that of first-degree murder. Cobbins was one of a group of thugs who carjacked, then raped, tortured and murdered two Knoxville residents. For more on the story, see the Knoxville News-Sentinel. http://digg.com/d311xYc

The first of four alleged members of a black gang scheduled to be tried for murder for the torture-slayings of a young white couple has been found guilty on multiple counts by jurors in Tennessee. WND reported just days ago when the trial was begun for Letalvis Cobbins on counts of first-degree murder and others for the 2007 deaths of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom. Carjacking victims Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom The brutalized bodies of the victims showed evidence that the attackers had tried to destroy DNA evidence by dousing Christian with bleach and Newsom's body was burned beyond...

Jurors in Knoxville, Tenn., have begun hearing arguments in a trial over the grisly deaths of a white couple – allegedly at the hands of a gang of black men and one woman who tried to conceal DNA evidence by dousing one victim with bleach. According to court documents, the two were tied up, blindfolded and taken to one defendant's rental home. Shortly thereafter, Newsom was sexually assaulted, shot in the head, set on fire and his body was left beside railroad tracks. The attackers allegedly took 24 hours to kill Christian, raping her multiple times and spraying bleach in...

Democrats had controlled the Tennessee state legislature since the Civil War. Their attempt at a state run public heath care option would, in the end, cost Democrats control of both houses of the state legislature, and brand a Republican governor a traitor… Democrat Governor Ned McWherter and his Democrat legislature passed the “public option” for Tennessee heath care in 1994, TennCare…

The Truth About The LiesHe says… She says… They say… but what’s the real deal? Lie #1: President Obama says he wants “death panels” to euthanize your grandma!!!The truth: "Death panels" are certainly not mentioned in H.R.3200, the Health Care Reform bill. But Presidential health care adviser Ezekiel Emanuel, brother of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and chairman of the Department of Bioethics at the Clinical Center at the National Institutes of Health, has defended rationing care more strictly for older people because "allocation [of medical care] by age is not invidious discrimination." Lie #2: They’re going...

Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale won't reveal who paid for his recent trip to Kosovo, but when asked about the junket on Monday, he said the company doesn't do business with the county. Before and after a meeting of the Halls Republican Club at the Mandarin House on Maynardville Highway, the mayor briefly addressed a reporter's questions about the trip. He also faced a couple of tough questions from audience members during the meeting itself...... The eight-day trip to several cities in Kosovo was part of sister-city program, according to the mayor's office, paid for by an unnamed business. Ragsdale...

Hundreds of people crowded into the BRIDGES building in Downtown Memphis on Saturday for a congressional town hall meeting that quickly deviated into a raucous shouting free-for-all, requiring extra law enforcement officers to watch over the scene. The meeting, hosted by U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, was scheduled to address constituents' concerns about Social Security and veterans' benefits, but the real topic of the day was health care reform legislation being crafted by Congress. Most people in the crowd of close to 500 were in loud opposition, although Cohen supporters held their own, waving signs that read "Health Care Now."...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - An adult entertainment club will soon open their doors in Nashville. City leaders seem to be giving it a thumbs up, but the nature of what happens inside the club will be a shock to many. Gentlemens' clubs with female exotic dancers are common to Nashville. "This is going to be the first male strip club in Tennessee," said club co-owner Cole Wakefield. "We cater to anybody who wants to come see men dance naked." Wakefield said this was not burlesque or Chippendales. He bought the old Ken's Gold Club on 5th Avenue. Later this month Wakefield...

Remember how The Obamamessiah was going to bring us a gauzy new world of love, respect, harmony and “post” political debate? Well, apparently the Madison, Tennessee Country Chairman for the Democrat Party, Robert Hill, doesn’t much care for an elevated form of debate. He’s more about calling people that oppose him Nazis. The white haired, name calling Demo couldn’t resist going on the local Young Republican’s website and calling anyone that opposes Obama’s socialistic take over of the nation’s healthcare system a bunch of “brown shirts.” Remember this is the YOUNG Republicans we are talking about here. In essence, this...

Mr. Clark was exonerated of charges of felony vandalism and reckless endangerment for allegedly shooting out the lens of a redlight camera. Charges were dismissed because there was no consent, no search warrant, and evidence was not made available to the defense.

Obama health meeting draws Appalachian protesters By DUNCAN MANSFIELD Associated Press Writer July 29, 2009 BRISTOL, Va. - More than 200 protesters from a conservative corner of Appalachia showed up Wednesday in opposition to President Barack Obama's health care reform effort. Some held signs reading, "Obamacare is political malpractice" and "Keep your hands off my health care."... ...The protesters, who came from the tri-state area of Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee, were focused on who will get to make health care decisions. Art teacher Angie Meade, 39, of Bristol said she worries that government control of health care will mean...

The price of coal and efforts to control its emissions keep energy costs spiraling higher. American Electric Power, parent of Appalachian Power Co., reports that it is "the largest purchaser of coal in the Western Hemisphere." For Appalachian, coal-fired power plants generate about 98 percent of the electricity it delivers to customers in a territory that includes portions of Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee. For AEP companywide, coal fuels about 70 percent of power generation. And all that coal, an increasingly controversial fuel, helps explain the upward spiral of Appalachian's costs for complying with environmental regulations. Appalachian and AEP report...

The details thus far are sketchy, but two things stand out about the saga of state Senator Paul Stanley and his 22-year-old former legislative intern, McKensie Morrison: (1) The two of them seem to have had some sort of sexual relationship; and (2) explicit photographs of Morrison, apparently taken in Stanley's Nashville apartment, were used in an attempt to blackmail the Germantown legislator. The story apparently first surfaced Tuesday in a Nashville TV station's report on an arrest affidavit charging Morrison’s boyfriend, 28-year-old Joel Palmer Watts, with an attempt last April to extort $10,000 from Stanley, married with two children,...

Tennessee was home to a failed attempt at universal single payer care, and has lessons to teach a President who has promised that in pursuing his goal of universal health care, he will learn from the policy failures of the past. In 1994 Tennessee implemented managed care in its Medicaid program, creating a system known as TennCare. The objective was to use the anticipated savings from Medicaid to fund and expand coverage for children and the uninsured. The result was a program that nearly bankrupted the state, reduced the quality of care, and collapsed under its own weight.

The Obama administration is raising the stakes in a fight over states' rights and firearm ownership by arguing that new pro-gun laws in Montana and Tennessee are invalid. In the last few months, a grass-roots, federalist revolt against Washington, D.C. has begun to spread through states that are home to politically active gun owners. Montana and Tennessee have enacted state laws saying that federal rules do not apply to firearms manufactured entirely within the state, and similar bills are pending in Texas, Alaska, Minnesota, and South Carolina. Yet the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and Explosives now claims that...

The ATF - as expected - has issued a letter in which it disregards the 10th Amendment restrictions on federal power (as seems to be the trend since the late 1930) and has notified Tennessee’s federal firearms dealers that the Tennessee Firearms Freedom Act is meaningless. Essentially, ATF is saying to the state of Tennessee that the 10th Amendment no longer exists. We expected such from a tyranny that no longer lives within the bounds of its express authority…

FAYETTEVILLE, Tenn. – A man who knew a southern Tennessee woman slain along with her family tells The Associated Press that she and her husband who is charged in the killings had been having marital trouble. Authorities say Traci Shaffer, her 16-year-old son and teenage neighbor were found dead Saturday in her home near Fayetteville. The bodies of Shaffer's brother and father were found in a neighboring home.

"Alcohol encourages dangerous behavior" admits restaurant owner. And knowing how these owners feel about their duty to their communities, I have no doubt that they will be glad to support legislation banning alcohol sales in restaurants. After all, this is not the “Wild West”. We do not need saloons on every corner.

Bill Haslam is a lifelong Republican and, as of a few months ago, a card-carrying NRA member, too. After announcing his bid for governor in January, the Knoxville mayor was criticized by gun-rights advocates over his membership in Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which has considered suing weapons manufacturers for gun crimes. Haslam's response was to quit the group in March and join the National Rifle Association, explaining it as an attempt to clarify his support for the Second Amendment and saying that the mayoral group had strayed far beyond its original mission with a number of proposed policies. Candidates often...

Councilwoman Arrested, Car Confiscated MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Shelby County District Attorney Bill Gibbons announced Wednesday that a state grand jury had indicted Memphis City Councilwoman Janis Fullilove-Chalmers on charges related to allegedly submitting false information to receive a duplicate Tennessee driver license and allegedly driving while her license is revoked. The grand jury returned an indictment for unlawfully using a state issued driver license and fraudulently obtaining a driver license. Both are misdemeanor offenses. The Tennessee Highway Patrol filed these charges against Fullilove-Chalmers last October. A judge in general sessions criminal court sent the case to the grand jury following...

Note: The following text is a quote: Retired University Professor Sentenced to Four Years in Prison for Arms Export Violations Involving Citizen of China John Reece Roth, 72, of Knoxville, Tenn., was sentenced to 48 months in prison for violating the Arms Export Control Act by conspiring to illegally export, and actually exporting, technical information relating to a U.S. Air Force (USAF) research and development contract. The sentencing took place in U.S. District Court in Knoxville before Judge Thomas Varlan, Jr. A former University of Tennessee professor, Roth will serve a term of two years supervised release after completing his...

A popular Tennessee Congresswoman, Marsha Blackburn (R), has become the first woman and the first Tennessean to add her name to the list of co-sponsors for Representative Bill Posey’s (R-FL) proposed amendment (HR-1503). The bill amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, and would require candidates for President of the United States to provide among other things, “…a copy of the candidate’s birth certificate…”. The bill’s list of co-sponsors continues to grow with Blackburn as its latest member. The seven Representatives already supporting the bill are: - Rep. Bill Posey (R-Florida) (sponsor) Rep. John R. Carter (R-Texas) Rep. John...

After any war, the use of force throughout the world is almost taken for granted. Men involved in the war have been trained to use force and they have discovered that, when you want something, you can take it. The return to peacetime methods governed by law and persuasion is usually difficult. We who have long boasted that, in our political life, freedom in the use of the secret ballot made it possible for us to register the will of the people without the use of force, have had a rude awakening as we read of conditions in McMinn county,...

Democrats say Bredesen mostly got his way on budget. NASHVILLE -- Republicans may have only "semi-control" of the General Assembly, but they say they nonetheless made major strides this year in areas such as gun rights, social issues such as abortion and charter school expansion. "There were lots of things we accomplished this year that I'm very very proud of, things we'd been working on for years," Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, R-Blountville, the Senate speaker, said as lawmakers ended their annual session last week. "We were able to advance those whether it's pro-life issues, Second Amendment issues." He and other...

In Tennessee, a judge is legally required to be “patient, dignified and courteous” with people in court. He is also required, not unreasonably, “to respect and comply with the law”. But not all judges do. The Supreme Court of Tennessee recently disciplined Judge Durwood Moore for unlawful judicial conduct. Presiding in court one day, the judge happened to glance at Benjamin Marchant, a friend of someone who had court business. Marchant was not a witness, just a spectator. Yet after observing him, the judge ordered court officers to seize the man, get a urine sample from him and have it...

KNOXVILLE, TN—On Thursday, June 18, 2009, in U.S. District Court in Knoxville,Tenn., U.S. District Judge Thomas A. Varlan, Jr., sentenced Roy Lynn Oakley, 67, of Harriman, Tenn., to six years in prison for trying to sell parts of uranium enrichment equipment that he had stolen from a U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”) facility in Oak Ridge. Oakley had illegally taken this equipment while employed at a building formerly known as the K-25 plant. The K-25 building, now known as the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP), was operated by DOE as a facility to produce highly enriched uranium used in the...

Note to Tennessee Republicans: You aren't helping things! "Newscoma posted details of a racist email sent from Sherri Goforth, legislative aid for Sen. Diane Black (R-Gallatin). The email depicts the Presidents of the United States with President Barack Obama as a pair of eyes in a black background. I spoke with Sherri Goforth minutes ago to confirm she sent this email. She confirmed she had sent it and also said she had received a letter of reprimand from her superiors but said she will stay on the job." She's going to keep her job? This is appalling. And it just...

The manager of a prominent Nashville hotel cancelled a contract with a conservative foundation to hold a conference this weekend on radical Islam, apparently after learning that the group would feature a keynote address by controversial Dutch parliamentarian and filmmaker, Geert Wilders. Muslim groups succeeded in preventing Wilders from screening “Fitna,” his 15-minute movie on radical Islam, in the House of Lords this February, on claims it was insulting to Muslims, and dogged him during a recent U.S. tour as well. Thomas A. Negri, managing director of Loew’s Vanderbilt Hotel and Office complex in Nashville, told Newsmax on Wednesday that...

Today, the Tennessee State Senate approved Senate Bill 1610 (SB1610), the Tennesse Firearms Freedom Act, by a vote of 22-7. The House companion bill, HB1796 previously passed the House by a vote of 87-1.On its way to the Governor’s desk, the bill states that “federal laws and regulations do not apply to personal firearms, firearm accessories, or ammunition that is manufactured in Tennessee and remains in Tennessee. The limitation on federal law and regulation stated in this bill applies to a firearm, a firearm accessory, or ammunition that is manufactured using basic materials and that can be manufactured without the...