Comments by GadgetGuyTN

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Written on TVA proposes to retire Memphis' Allen coal plant:

Eventually we will need to replace the fossil fuels plants with nuclear, which is by far the least polluting technology. A cost-benefit analysis for a new proposed natural gas plant will need to include expected gas availability and cost over the next several decades. The proponents of solar and wind power haven't done their math correctly. Neither is a good long-term solution to produce enough power at an affordable price, and the environmental impact of both are downplayed by their proponents,

Written on Patient finally getting care for knee:

It isn't insurance if you can buy it after you have the problem! What happens when enough people wait to buy insurance until they have a medical need, pay a premium, get that surgery, then never pay another premium? The insurer goes bankrupt! Perhaps that is really what the ACA is all about: to destroy private medicine so the government can take it over. Everybody loses!
The supposed penalty for not having insurance only works with a person with significant income. Many people do not, and will work the system at little cost to themselves and a huge cost to others.
The ACA needs to be overturned as unconstitutional and immoral!

Written on Haslam to Pellissippi grads: 'You are the role model':

Wow! Talk about someone in real need of some facts! I, personally, strongly favor a flat tax precisely because the majority of the population do NOT pay a fair tax. Instead, they vote for politicians who pass laws heaping all the taxes on a small percentage of the population while at the same time decrying that small percentage for not paying enough! Yes, I do strongly dislike Obama, but it has nothing to do with his being black; it has everything to do with his lack of qualifications to run a country, and especially his active promotion of one part of the population over another. It is his liberal policies, like ObamaCare, that I despise! I will vote in a heartbeat for any candidate who works for equal treatment under the law, including the tax law, for ALL citizens! I don't care if they are white, black, green, or polka-dot, as long as they treat everyone the same, and start by making EVERYONE pay the same tax rate without exceptions! I realize the liberals only care about themselves, and too many are too dishonest to ever vote to pay their fair share, thus we will see this country continue to spiral into the ground until the Second American Revolution finally happens. (Why do you think the Dept. of Homeland Security has more bullets than were needed to fight the war in Iraq? It sure isn't to fight terrorism. They know how likely it is these liberal policies will eventually trigger another civil war, and the liberals intend to stay in power, even if they have to kill millions to do it!)

Written on THP: Trooper shot at car when driver tried to drag him:

If you mean Tennessee doesn't have a tax system that steals from only a few of its citizens but treats everyone much more fairly than most states, you are correct, and I am very proud to be called a Tennessean because of it! Did you know that only Nebraska is ranked better than Tennessee on indebtedness of the states? The national income tax is an immoral and unsustainable system that allows thieves to vote to increase the taxes on someone else while they, themselves, pay little or no taxes. The politicians who voted for this "progressive" taxation scheme should have been convicted of extortion and put in jail. Instead, the country is being crushed by massive debt as it struggles to give "entitlements" to enough voters to keep a Democrat in the White House. States like California and New York, with their socialistic policies, are all horribly in the red, but the thieves are in control there, and they don't care about anyone but themselves!

Written on Letter: Firing officer does not go far enough:

Where was the excessive force?! The officer applied a hold taught in many police academies to a drunken man resisting arrest. From what I gather, no injury to the man occurred. The photo captures a moment in time; it is impossible to tell how long the hold was or anything else about it. Without evidence of injury, the officer should have his job back! People who automatically want to throw the officer under the bus have obviously never tried to restrain a combative drunk!

Written on Workers claim Volkswagen illegally helped United Auto Workers:

I personally am very glad the workers in Chattanooga stood up to the pressure and voted against the union. I bought nine new cars in my life prior to 2010 and NEVER bought foreign cars until the UAW was so instrumental in getting Obama elected. I have bought four cars since then, and NONE was made by the UAW. In my opinion, the UAW is a serious enemy of the country, and will not get another penny from me. Unless, of course, it is stolen from me in the form of taxes, and given to the unions as pay back for electing Obama. Wait! Didn't that already happen?!

Written on Report: Share of adults working dips in Tennessee more than in other states:

The real questions are: How many adults in Tennessee WANT jobs? And how many are on the public dole and not looking for jobs? The government has made it too easy to live off someone else's work. By allowing people who don't pay taxes to vote on how taxes are collected and spent (on them!), we have assured the eventual collapse of the country. The height of foolishness.

Written on VW factory workers reject UAW union:

Hopefully people will wake up to the fact that it was largely labor unions who voted the Democrats into power in 2010 and gave us the huge mess of ObamaCare and the rest of the Obamanation. I, for one, had previously bought ten vehicles in my life, all made in the USA, and never bought a foreign car until after Obama was elected. I will NEVER again buy a car built by the UAW! As far as I am concerned, they are Enemies of the State, and much more dangerous than any foreign terrorist organization!
The workers in Chattanooga have made me proud to be in Tennessee. I will certainly consider their product the next time I buy a car!

Written on Editorial: Senate should reject bill that would allow guns in all state parks:

in response to applarch:

The most likely event associated with open or concealed carry of a firearm is "accidental discharge" rather than "stop a mass shooting." Parents and grandparents should not have to give second thought to whether they should go to a park for fear that one of the strangers mingling with their children is carrying a weapon in an unsafe manner or exercising poor judgment in what's done with it.

A theoretic risk that actually proves unfounded. Their risk from a criminal act is far higher!


Stupid! There should be NO places where a law-abiding, permit-holding person should be forbidden to carry. The whole point of concealed carry is that no one knows you have it, so it doesn't startle gun-phobic people. Over and over it has been demonstrated that people who legally carry a gun have almost a zero chance of hurting someone with it, unless that someone happens to be a criminal! We need more armed citizens doing their public duty and defending those who have chosen to be defenseless! Folks who don't understand need to read Lott's "More Guns, Less Crime" in which a county-by-county study of crime rates vs. gun laws was done. The evidence is striking. Armed citizens lower the crime rate. Surprise!

Written on Campfield's guns bill gets through Senate committee:

So has there been a rash of shootings in recreational areas by permit holders? For that matter, anywhere? Of course not, permit holders are an amazingly non-aggressive group. Why anyone wants to create criminal safety zones where the children are is beyond me. I prefer knowing that someone with a gun is there BESIDES the criminals! How many of the children shot in schools would not have been injured had an armed, responsible adult been present?!

Written on David Moon: Short-term thinking and the decline of civilization:

I wonder how much of the decline in UT football game attendance is due to their non-competitiveness in recent years, and how much is due to the significant increase in the cost to buy season tickets. If I recall, ten years ago or so, a season ticket holder could continue to buy his same seats for face value. Now there is the required donation to the school. The price went up as the quality of the product went down. I personally don't own tickets because of the very high cost of any but the nose-bleed seats.

Written on Sides line up for battle over Common Core:

in response to Graymalkin:

Many educated drivers coast or roll past stop signs while others come to a complete stop. Which driver is likely to be ticketed? Should stop signs eventually become "Yields" simply due to common practice?

Your link's first paragraph contains this statement: "Usage guides these days warn against using 'graduate' as a transitive verb, as in 'She graduated college,' or 'He never graduated high school.' The standard phrasing uses the preposition 'from': 'She graduated from college'; 'He never graduated from high school.'" Obviously, I'm sticking with the current "usage guides" and "standard" English, as are several individuals in the comment section of your link. Time may indeed change this usage; after all, "ain't" once could not be found in any dictionary; now it's there, listed as "nonstandard."
If you're still with me, let's see our disagreement at play in a hypothetical situation. I'm your Knox County evaluator; you're an English instructor. You use the phrase "graduated college" in a sentence, and I am a stickler for textbook "usage guide" and "standard" English, not your newfangled Twitter-ese shortened sentences. Are you still going to get your "5" rating from me? Maybe--maybe not. It depends upon how badly your phrasing sticks in my craw.

My intent in this illustration is that the new evaluation assessments are subjective--and that subjectivity is likely to be one of the reasons for complaints voiced by Tennessee educators. That was also my point in calling down the SCORE folks in my original post. Should their usage error be a point for downgrading them; if so, how low should I go?

Should stop signs be converted to yields simply because of common practice? Of course they should! If a large percentage of the population are doing anything counter to the law, the law is clearly wrong and needs to be changed! Remember when we couldn't turn right on red? Sanity finally prevailed. We need a similar change for all stop signs and red lights. They SHOULD be yields. How many times have you sat at a light with no other cars at the intersection at all, yet the law prohibits proceeding? It is stupid, inefficient, and needs to be changed! All such signals do is determine who has the right of way. It is still up to the driver to determine whether or not it is safe to proceed. Or have you not seen the car t-boned while it was going through a green light but the other driver didn't stop?

Written on Letter: Poor bear greater burden than rich:

What an insult to those who serve! Try Googling "Why do people serve in the military?" and see what happens. People serve out of a desire to serve their country, to broaden their horizons, or to see the world. They are interested in the educational opportunities that the military offers. Hardly anyone says, "I joined because I was poor and couldn't get another job."
The truth of the original article stands. The current tax structure treats people differently based on their income and is evil! It is no more right to steal from a rich man than to steal from a poor one!

Written on Letter: Poor should assume some responsibility:

If the wage being paid is not a living wage, don't take the job! Stop blaming the corporations for hiring people for what they will accept. If a person doesn't have a skill set worth more than minimum wage, he should turn off the TV, quit the video games, and go learn something that is valuable to an employer. Too many people make excuses or blame someone else for their lack of achievement. I have little sympathy for someone who doesn't make an effort to better himself. I worked odd jobs and even sold my blood plasma while I was in college to make ends meet. There are trades that pay well that don't require college, and there are opportunities to start service businesses everywhere. I mowed lawns, cut and delivered firewood, was an electrician's apprentice and more while I was in high school. Very few of the people on the public dole have a legitimate reason to be getting assistance. Disabled is NOT un-abled!
My advice to someone not happy with his earning power: stop making excuses and start making a plan! Ask yourself everyday, "What can I do TODAY to help me achieve my goal?" Then get off the couch and DO IT!

Written on Millions of Americans piece together part-time jobs to get by:

in response to crob7x:

That would be because it has absolutely nothing to do with it. Employers who cared about keeping qualified people on the job were already providing health insurance which hasn't stopped. Employers hire part-time so they don't have to provide any benefits.

Unfortunately, not true. My daughter, who is an MD, received notice a few months ago that she and all the other employees of the medical clinic with which she worked were losing their health insurance. Obama was saying as recently as a year ago that if you like your physician and your insurance, you will be able to keep them. It is a lie that he and the Democrats have known was a lie for at least three years, according to a recent report by NBC. The real purpose of ObamaCare is to destroy private medicine so that the Democrats can control health care. They know that if they make it impossible to make a profit as an insurance company, those companies will go out of business. When no insurance companies are left, the government will then be able to do what it wanted all along, which is to socialize medicine. Watch how many people lose their insurance in the next few months. It is no accident!

Written on Sam Venable: You're either in or you're out, Johnny:

When will people learn? No one has a right to food, healthcare, housing, or anything else that involves using the government to steal. Nowhere in the Constitution does the federal government have the responsibility to feed, house, or otherwise care for people using the money forcibly taken from a few. The current system is broken, and CANNOT last. One solution would be to change the voting rules to say that no one who receives any kind of federal aid can vote in federal elections. The madness of letting non-taxpayers vote for officials who promise to spend money on them is frightening in its implications. This country WILL NOT survive unless fairness and sound economic principles are restored. But with only about 1 in 6 people actually paying for the disastrous spending our government keeps pursuing, I am confident it won't happen. Too many people voting who don't pay anything now will not agree to fairly participate. It has become the norm for too many to accept money their thugs in government have taken from someone else. The morals of the country are too low, and too many want something for nothing. Think things are bad now? Just wait. God help us.

Written on Pam Strickland: Republicans' antics harming children:

I am very happy to see the U. S. House of Representatives doing what it was elected to do. SOMEONE has to reign in the out-of-control spending and fight the Socialization of this country. The Supreme Court did NOT rule that ObamaCare is good for this country, it only ruled that the federal government has a right to tax us (even though Obama insisted it was not a tax). The Court also advised the States that they are not powerless to oppose the law's implementation; thus, 2/3 of the States have not set up exchanges. ObamaCare is BAD for the country, and must be fought tirelessly until it is defeated! It is unfortunate that some people are being hurt by the impasse in Washington, but the house of cards the government has created CANNOT stand. The pain people are feeling now is nothing to what they will feel if the government collapses due to its insatiable appetite to spend far beyond its means!

Written on Sam Venable: Outpouring of anger is guaranteed:

I am very proud to be a member of the Tea Party. It is the only group insisting that the government tax people fairly, intrude as little as possible into people's lives, and live within its means. We are in the mess we are in because the government has been taxing some people heavily, some lightly, and most hardly at all. Politicians buy votes by promising to steal money from somebody (not YOU, of course), or print money out of thin air, and give it to you. There is no hope for long-term economic stability when people can vote to raise someone else's taxes but not their own! That insanity literally CANNOT last. There WILL come a day of reckoning. The government will collapse (along with the economy), and people will riot because they didn't get the something-for-nothing they were promised!

Written on GOP states offer little help on buying insurance:

It is not the States' job to help you negotiate a federal problem. And it is not the federal government's job to supply you with healthcare with dollars it doesn't have! It also isn't the federal government's job to require a company to sell you something, or to require you to buy it! It IS time to take back the government from the Socialists and thieves and return it to the people who actually pay the bills! We really need a new Constitution; ours is being ignored...

Written on Experts: Debt ceiling deadline really worrisome:

Exactly. Both houses, while the thieves in the Democratic
Party controlled them, voted for the most massive spending in history. Now that the U.S. House of Representatives is controlled by the party of the people who actually have to PAY the bill, it is telling the Senate and Obama to take it back! We do not want it and can't afford it!

My word to the House: Stand strong! Do NOT authorize ObamaCare appropriations!

Written on Knox school board discusses adding student input to teacher evaluations, 2014-15 calendar:

My children's experiences in the Farragut Schools were largely excellent, and both went on to graduate from college Summa C** Laude. (The KNS won't allow me to just spell out the Latin!) Yet there was an occasional teacher with high seniority who needed to retire or be reassigned. All the students and parents knew who they were, but the ridiculous tenure rules made them untouchable. Evaluations by any source are worthless if it is not possible to act on the information to reward the exemplary teachers and replace the clearly incompetent.

The best teachers manage to both be appreciated by their students and to teach them well. At least at the high school level, and probably middle school as well, student evaluations could add meaningful information if the administration is empowered to act on it!

Written on Pam Strickland: Obama, Tennessee citizens due apology for rudeness:

in response to NoOneInParticular:

"I don't like liberals. I don't like democrats."

Why do you say stupid things like this? Have you met EVERY liberal or EVERY Democrat in the United States? Isn't it more likely that you don't like their ideas? When you meet someone new do you immediately ask their party affiliation before you decide whether or not to be cordial? Get over yourself.

I don't have to meet a thief to know he isn't respectable. The Democratic Party is all about stealing from people who are productive and giving to those who aren't. Put another way-Democrats are very generous...with OTHER people's money! I have no respect for anyone who uses the government as his organized crime syndicate. The ONLY respectable thing is to treat everyone the same, no matter what color he is, how old he is, how much money he makes, or any other characteristic you can come up with. Until they tax everyone at the same percentage no matter what, they will not be worthy of respect. The liberals are destroying the country by dividing it into separate groups, then taking from some and giving to others!

Written on Harold Black: Numbers don't add up on Internet sales tax bill:

I ABSOLUTELY would fight against any change in the tax structure in TN that favors one person over another. The reason the US economy is in such bad shape is this whole idea of "tax the rich," meaning don't tax anyone else. It should be illegal to vote to raise someone else's taxes without raising your own! I love the fact that in TN we all pay the same sales tax rate no matter who we are, how many kids we have, or how much money we make.
As for the Internet sales tax idea, I support local businesses whenever I can. I almost exclusively buy online only when I can't get what I want here. Rarely is the price my reason for buying over the Internet. This isn't New York or some other big city that is likely to have what I am looking for within 25 miles. The foolish federal tax bill would put those small specialty shops I use at a huge disadvantage, and many would simply be out of business. Many small Internet retailers are niche marketers that fill a real need and should be supported, not unfairly burdened. Their sales should be treated as local sales in the state that has the online store ONLY. Taxing based on where the purchaser lives instead of where the sale occurs is crazy!

Written on Egypt on the brink: Egypt army ousts Morsi, who decries 'coup':

in response to PaulJ:

Praying for the highest good to come out of these events in Egypt.

Amen. They certainly need divine intervention to stave off serious bloodshed! Civil war seems pretty likely.

Written on In 50 years, huge strides for gay-rights movement:

in response to DoctorWho:

Yep, it sure does Old, but I thought you guys didn't follow the old testament?

I guess you'll just let all the other ones slide right, like shellfish, adultery, pork, haircuts, fabrics, crops, working on Sabbath, women speaking in church... you know, all those other abominations and no-no's from the same old testament that you hypocritically ignore.

Anyone have a valid non-religious reason? Much like you don't care what Islam instructs its followers to believe, I don't care what your religion or anyone's religion says in regard to the law and people's rights.

The entire problem is that homosexuality is just one of many ways that people pervert God's plan for their lives. 1 Cor 6:9-10 says, " you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." The ultimate sin is the pride that refuses to acknowledge God's sovereign right to be obeyed. That is what Satan himself did.

All who want to claim that their homosexual behavior is OK because it's "just the way they were born" must have missed Genesis 6:5 - "The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." And Romans 3: "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Also, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,..."

It IS "just the way we are" to be prideful, sinful people who shake our fists in God's face and tell him WE want to be God! The Ten Commandments had to be given because we naturally want to commit all ten! It is only when we admit our sinfulness and submit to him that we are changed into people who are no longer slaves to sin and can live in the freedom from it that God wants for us. And it is only then that we experience the true love and joy we really desire!

Written on AP IMPACT: Cartels dispatch agents deep inside US:

Riley is incorrect. The cartels are not ""ultimately responsible". It is the laws that make drugs illegal so they are HIGHLY profitable that are responsible. The article references Al Capone, Chicago's Public Enemy #1 in the 1920's. When alcohol was illegal, it was also highly profitable, so men like Capone were willing to kill people in order to sell it. The problem went away when the 18th Amendment was repealed.

The solution to drug-related crime is the same as it was 100 years ago: legalize drugs and tax them heavily! The war on drugs has been an undeniable disaster. It is time to end the foolishness.

Written on Tough laws, reduced ranks _ what next for unions?:

in response to cejensen:

(This comment was removed by the site staff.)

I, for one, consider unions enemies of the country. They are a big part of the reason we have Obama in the white house and an economy in the toilet. I will NEVER knowingly buy a union-made product. Lower quality for higher price? Don't need it! And I am certainly not going to put money in the pockets of a union who will then promote the liberal agenda!
Unions, like most liberals, are not interested in doing what is fair and best for everyone, just in getting as much as they can for themselves. Of course, conservatives also want to do the best they can do, but the difference is that conservatives want the chance to earn what they can and keep what they earn. Liberals want to TAKE what they can and keep what YOU earn!
I am currently in the top 1% of all earners, but I didn't start that way. I have sold encyclopedias, waited tables, demonstrated vacuum cleaners, mowed lawns, had a firewood business, worked as a nurse's aid, and even sold my blood plasma at times! I have never asked for or been given a penny of government money. I did borrow money to go to college, and paid it all back, with interest.
I worked at a non-union auto plant 25 years ago. Employees were treated very well, and almost all made more money and had better benefits than any other job they ever had. And the best thing about it was that if there was an employee who didn't work hard, made too many mistakes, failed drug testing, or was unreliable, they were gone! No union rule about keeping somebody who dragged the whole system down. People knew they had to EARN their right to keep their jobs, and they also knew that everyone else had to earn his. Productivity, quality, and employee morale were very high. They voted down a proposal by the UAW to unionize. And one more thing-that plant is STILL THERE!

Written on Pigeon Forge liquor measure approved:

in response to cejensen:

(This comment was removed by the site staff.)

All of those people who think that God is against alcohol need to go read their Bibles again, especially Isaiah 25 where it says the Lord himself will serve a banquet of choice meats and aged wines! [Hebrew 'yayin'] And John 2, Jesus turned water into wine [Greek 'oinos'] (if he turned it into grape juice, as some maintain, there would be no need for the instruction in Ephesians 5:18, "Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit". The same Greek word translated "wine" is used in both places). Too many churches have taken the instruction against drunkenness as instruction against drinking wine. Yet they don't take instructions against gluttony to mean that we shouldn't eat at all! They have become Pharisees, who take the simple instruction of God and make from it a burden on people's backs.
"Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do." Eccles 9:7 [The Hebrew word here 'yayin' is translated wine 140 times in the Bible, and is associated with both drinking to drunkeness as well as to a merry heart]. What MAY make wine drinking a sin is HOW MUCH is drunk and WHY it is drunk.
One last one: "Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain". The injunction is against ADDICTION to MUCH wine, NOT drinking wine at all! 1 Tim 3:8.

Written on Letter: Officials weak in face of NRA:

Law-abiding people who desire to be able to protect themselves and their loved ones with a gun should be able to do so no matter where they are, including schools. It is absolutely foolish to create criminal safety zones where everyone KNOWS there are no guns! There are over five million violent crimes committed in the country per year, and firearms are used nearly one million times a year to stop a crime, including over 150,000 times in which the defendant "almost certainly would have been killed" without the gun. If you choose to live life defenseless, that is your right. Just pray if you are attacked that someone who feels differently is close by. Remember! The police are almost completely unable to protect you, and in the 46% of murders committed by someone other than an acquaintance, they are quite unlikely even to catch the guy who did it.
I personally knew a women who was killed by a man on parole for two counts of attempted murder (he used a knife to slit her throat), and a friend was mugged in downtown Knoxville just last week. Evil is real, and violence happens. Let's quit whining about people who choose to recognize the threat and defend themselves, and start getting violent criminals permanently off the streets. (Yes, I favor the death penalty!)

Written on Letter: Not everyone wants a gun:

I think I can say with confidence that Mr. LaPierre does not want everyone to have guns, but he does want law-abiding people who desire to be able to protect themselves and their loved ones with a gun to be able to do so no matter where they, including schools. It is absolutely foolish to create criminal safety zones where everyone KNOWS there are no guns! There are over five million violent crimes committed in the country per year, and firearms are used nearly one million times a year to stop a crime, including over 150,000 times in which the defendant "almost certainly would have been killed" without the gun. If you choose to live life defenseless, that is your right. Just pray if you are attacked that someone who feels differently is close by. Remember! The police are almost completely unable to protect you, and in the 46% of murders committed by someone other than an acquaintance, they are quite unlikely even to catch him.

Written on Letter: Gun control not the solution to violence:

in response to Panman:

I agree that more legislation for gun control could get out of hand over this recent evil action in CT. People need to be wise to the fact if we aren't careful the only people with weapons will be the criminals.

Where I do feel that cool heads can discuss gun control is with assault weapons. The only persons that should be in possession of those weapons should be our military and special trained SWAT teams.

No one who has ever had a violent action, no matter how small to the point the police have been called, or kicked out of school for being out of control should not have weapons or weapons be allowed in that household. Maybe it's time we do a check on the whole family.

I also believe it's time we stop the gun swap shows. While some of those vendors abide by the law, not all of them do. Make no mistake that I believe every man and woman has a right to protect their home with a gun. Hysteria over this issue with unreasonable gun laws will only leave weapons in the hands of criminals.

I absolutely disagree! We the people have a Constitutional right to keep and bear arms that was granted to us by people who had just spent years fighting to overcome an oppressive government. The term "arms" means military weapons that can give us the ability to take back control from the government. History is full of examples where governments first disarmed the populace, then committed terrible atrocities against them. We MUST NOT grant only government employees the right to have such weapons!
The only solution to random acts of mass violence that can actually work is to stop believing the lie that says we somehow make people safe by making weapons illegal. All but one mass shooting in recent years have occurred where it is illegal to defend yourself! Stupid! In Israel, after terrorists killed a group of school children, the teachers were armed with military-grade weapons. Surprise! No more groups of children killed since.
People keep trying to make the world safe by passing laws which only law-abiding citizens follow, but the truth is the rate of mass homicides hasn't changed. What we need are more honest citizens to take up the responsibility of protecting themselves and their loved ones by receiving proper training and then carrying weapons. Contrary to what the alarmists who envision shoot outs in the streets say, the percentage of legal weapons carried that are used in a felony is essentially zero.
I have had a person close to me stalked and killed by a man she feared. I begged her to get a gun to protect herself, but she was more afraid of the gun than she was of the man who eventually slit her throat while her daughter watched.
The police can't protect you; the government can only make you more vulnerable. It is up to YOU to defend yourself!

Written on Pam Strickland: Haslam showed lack of will in health care choice :

in response to tom_cogburn:

Instead of whining and complaining about how the government is "forcing" people to do something they don't want, why don't you people stop and try to understand WHY the government is taking the steps they are taking?

30,000,000 men, women, and children in this country are uninsured or under-insured. These people cost "the system" billions of dollars per year because they must use the most expensive care available--usually through the emergency room.

Imagine a country where everybody has access to preventive care, so that (for example) they don't go for years with untreated diabetes because they didn't know they had it; simply because they didn't have access to a doctor who could tell them.

Think of the money saved by catching cancer earlier, when it can be cheaply treated; instead of waiting until it becomes so advanced that tons of money will have to be spent to treat it.

A penny saved is a penny earned. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. These are the motivations behind this act.

I can tell you are not in the healthcare field. Giving people a free medical card does not automatically ensure better health. My personal experience with TennCare patients is that they are the most likely to miss appointments, most likely to be noncompliant with recommendations about lifestyle changes, and most likely to have damaging habits such as smoking. The money some of them spend on cigarettes alone could have paid their health insurance. As the years have passed since we were stuck with TennCare, my partners and I have gradually dropped all TennCare plans but one. If the currently planned Medicare cuts go into effect, some of us will retire and others will stop taking Medicare, too.
The Federal government has gotten itself elected by promising to do something it cannot do. But it will destroy the finest healthcare system in the world in the process of trying. Somewhere along the way the typical Democrat has had their moral compass damaged, and they equate stealing with virtue, and personal responsibility with slavery. They want what someone else has, and they use the government as their hit men to take what they want. Instead of asking themselves, "How can I earn what they have?" they demand that what they want be taken from someone who earned it and given to them. NOTICE: You do NOT have a right to food, shelter, or healthcare. You DO have a right to live with the consequences of a lifetime of poor decisions.

Written on Letter: Secession fans free to leave:

Those who see criticism of Obama as racially-based are blind to the real issues and ignore that fact that a huge percentage of people voted for him BECAUSE he was black, which is just as foolish! I don't care if he is black, white, or polka-dot, but I DO care that he abides by the Constitution!

The words "in order to form a more perfect union" come from that esteemed document, which has been run rough-shod over by Obama and his liberal friends. The bail-out of the auto industry (and its unions!) was a typical example. Those companies should have been allowed to fail as a natural result of the uncompetitive practices the unions forced on them, but unions, like the Democrats in general, are all about power FOR THEM, not everyone. So many people in this country now are all about using the government to steal on their behalf. It is amazing to me that folks don't understand that liberal-speak "redistribution of wealth" is the same thing as stealing! The writer who characterizes republicans as low-educated, poor southerners is displaying his ignorance. According to Gallup polls, the average income is HIGHER for Republicans than Democrats or independents! It is people who have been successful that most understand what it takes to be successful, and THEY don't support the liberal agenda! It is one thing to help the poor with your own money-that is charity. It is quite another to help the poor with someone else's money-that is thievery! The tax system is so stilted that nearly half of American households pay NO federal income tax, while I, for instance, paid 25% of every dollar I made just in direct taxes last year.

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people." What part of that do they not understand? There is nothing in the Constitution about federal health care, or the federal government deciding what toilet you can sit on, what light bulb you can buy, or a thousand other things that it is dictating to us. Nor is there any mention of the states giving up the right to secede from the union which they, themselves, created. But the Civil War was fought because Lincoln refused to acknowledge the right of the legally-elected state governments to dissolve the union, even though it was those same governments that had formed it in the first place!

Written on Erin Chapin: Romney's hubris trapped on video :

in response to homewrecker:

Sadly, Romney is making Obama look like the better choice. Recently I researched nominal tax rates and economic indicators. There is absolutely no correlation between tax rates and economic booms. The one thing that is for sure..when Reagan cut tax rates..the national deficit started growing. Currently the wealth gap between the top 10% and the bottom 25% is growing. Most of the new wealth in this country is going to the extremely rich. You could cut out food stamps and tanf and wouldn't even know the difference in the federal budget. We spend more money on federal student aid every year. The 2 biggest chunks are medicare and social security.

People seem to be missing Romney's point, and deliberately twisting what he said. It is very telling that we are only given sound bites, not the entire question and answer. He is quite correct that the vast majority of people who pay no federal income tax are not going to vote for someone who they perceive threatens to make them pay taxes OR who might cut their federal aid. Pandora's box has been opened. The seeds of this country's demise were planted when Congress began taxing some people without taxing everyone. People, in general, are inherently evil (although they will forcefully deny it!), so most will vote for a candidate or party that raises someone else's taxes without raising their own. They can't see that they are thieves using the government as their proxy to steal from someone else to pay their share of the cost of programs that ultimately give the stolen money to them. To prove my point, how many people would vote for a flat tax that treats everyone the same? I would, but I am in a small minority (I paid 25% of EVERY dollar I made last year in federal income taxes!). If you don't pay taxes, you shouldn't be allowed to vote, but we have 47% of US households paying no tax, and a huge percentage getting handouts. The government should treat everyone the same; instead, it takes from those who produce and give to those who don't.
Just for the record, I have mowed lawns, waited tables, sold vacuum cleaners and encyclopedias and even my own blood plasma. I have pulled furniture apart looking for change so I could buy some food. I have never asked for a handout, but I sure have paid over the years for other people's handouts!
Obama will likely be re-elected. And I, for one, will not be hiring new employees anytime soon. If you think Obama is good for businesses (and therefore good for people who want to work for those businesses), watch the stock market the day after he gets re-elected! When you see the market crash, you will know what businesses think of Obama!

Written on Letter: Money rules traffic laws:

Mr. Gangwer makes several logical errors here, including assuming that restricting the citations worsens safety. But the actual increase in safety is slight, while the financial burden paid by those unfortunate enough to be cited is high. Do the math, and you find that the cost per accident allegedly saved is too high. (The people who argue for increased safety site numbers showing a reduction in accidents, but ignore confounding factors such as a doubling in the price of gasoline reducing the number of miles driven since the cameras were installed).
The real issue is a bad law, one that needs to be thrown out. It is not STOPPING at a red light that makes a turn safe, it is YIELDING. Make it legal for people who are turning right on red to do what they are already doing-let them treat it as a yield sign, and require them to make sure that they are not impeding oncoming traffic before turning. Problem solved!

Written on Healthcare community worries about Medicare pay cuts:

I am one of those physicians facing the 27% cut. What people don't realize is that that is off the GROSS. Most physicians overheads are well over 50% of their gross revenues, so a 27% cut means taking home less than half of what you made the year before. How many people will work in jobs that do that?! There are doctors who will quit out right because it would literally cost more to be in practice than they would make. People who complain about physicians incomes have never walked in their shoes! And they have no idea what it cost to become a physician in the first place. My daughter owed $170,000 when she finished medical school last Spring (without any undergraduate debt). If you want smart people to continue to choose medicine as a profession, you must make it worth their while. How would you like to owe that kind of money to come into a profession where someone else decides what you can charge for your services? I don't know of any doctor who thinks that they want their children to choose medicine as a field with the increasing government regulations, the ridiculous lack of tort reform, and the decreasing ability to control your own charges. I certainly did not encourage my daughter to go to medical school.

Written on Haslam signs bill placing caps on lawsuit payouts :

in response to NoRefill:

Now you need to sign a bill that limits the percentage lawyers can take from clients. Nothing says frivolous lawsuit like advertising "if you don't win, we charge you nothing" What is left out is if the lawyers win they will take at least 50%. You reduce that to 15-20% or force the client to pay for the lawyer services upfront = less lawsuits.

Actually, what you need is to require the loser in a lawsuit to pay the legal fees for both parties...that is the best way to stop frivolous is ridiculous that the plaintiff owes nothing if he loses a suit, yet the defendant has to pay his legal fees even if he wins!

Written on Union supporters disrupt Senate committee hearing :

in response to dennishepherd#616210:

Tu said: "They are only interested in what material and political gains they can make."

Yes, and it is more important now than ever before that unions continue to secure those material and political gains for all working class Americans.

They're slipping away far too quickly.

I am firmly convinced that unions are one of the largest reasons, if not the single largest reason, that so many jobs are moving offshore, while the US becomes less and less competitive. I have worked in an automotive factory, and I have seen how the unions handicap companies, making it very difficult to be profitable and produce quality goods. The more I have learned about them, the more anti-union I have become. For example, I will never again buy a new car built by a union! Nor will I do business with any company in which I know the workers are unionized. It practically guarantees over-priced, poor quality goods and services. Are you listening, UAW? Pay attention, AFL-CIO! I just bought a new car, and for the first time in my life, it wasn't made in the USA! If more people will vote with their wallets as I am doing, we will put these unions out of business!

The fundamental flaw with unions is that they want something they are are not entitled to have, and they want someone else to pay for it. They want to be guaranteed employment whether they do a good job or not, and they want to be paid more than their job is actually worth. Plus they want companies to only do business with them, not another group who will do the same job more reliably for less money. Union members need to quit whining about how life is unfair, grow up, and do a good job for a fair wage. The BEST job security is actually being worth what you are paid!

Written on Anti-traffic camera activists wage sign wars with Oak Ridge officials:

I am strongly against the red light cameras because they are used to enforce a law that I am also strongly against. It is ridiculous that a driver is allowed to turn right on red, but only if his wheels stop turning first! The important thing to do is to turn SAFELY, which is often possible to do without making a "full and complete" stop. Of course, you must be prepared to stop, just as at a yield sign, but if there is no oncoming traffic, LET US TURN! Every member of my family has gotten ticketed for making perfectly safe and SLOW turns that happen to be technically illegal. To the driver, it FEELS as if the car HAS stopped, because you are moving so slowly, but in fact your wheels are still creeping around. There is no increase in safety by making a driver stop completely as opposed to slowing down, especially when the driver's view is blocked by a vehicle that is stopped next to it. You HAVE to drive while watching for oncoming traffic in order to know whether it is safe to proceed. Come on, politicians, use some sense and CHANGE THE LAW! You are angering many of us out here!

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