Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Koch Brothers group relaunches ads to defeat Insure Tennessee

Will governor veto guns in parks? Harwell recommends against it

Voucher bill clears Senate 24-8

Ramsey says he won’t interfere with second life of Insure Tennessee

Tennessee House Agrees To Hand Teachers Slight Relief From Testing Pressure

Minimum wage, equal pay bills fail in House subcommittee

Legislature Continues Assault on Property Rights with Guns In Parking Lots Update...more from Crockett

State Lawmakers Are The True Takers in Nashville

Tennessee lawmakers pass guns-in-parking-lots update

Pro-voucher groups dropped quarter million dollars on lawmakers in Ed committee

Resolution seeking revival of Insure TN wins first vote

TN Legislature Continues to Erode Personal Rights

Is it time for 'death with dignity' in Tennessee?

Tennessee House to debate abortion ultrasound bill this week

Tennessee ranks fourth-worst state for voter turnout

House subs shutting down this week

Morning Energy Report

This is well worth the read. Here are some things of note that I picked up:

A pair of competing bills aimed at renewing the Export-Import Bank were introduced in the Senate yesterday. One bill, led by Sens. Mark Kirk and Heidi Heitkamp, as well as another six senators evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, would extend the Ex-Im's charter for four years and lower its lending cap from $140 billion to $135 billion. The legislation would also raise the percentage of the agency's operations that must go toward supporting small businesses from 20 to 25 percent. Meanwhile, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, and three fellow Democrats, introduced their own version that would renew the Bank for seven years, and raise its lending cap by $20 billion, to $160 billion.

The other important difference: Besides funding, the biggest difference between the two bills relates to existing restrictions on coal financing. Shaheen's bill does not include language that would permanently override restrictions on the financing of coal-fired power plants abroad. On the other hand, the Kirk-Heitkamp bill removes coal restrictions completely by prohibiting discrimination against any energy sources. The Kirk-Heitkamp bill: http://politico.pro/1Gwnmkw. The Shaheen, Democrat bill: http://politico.pro/1I2Ehw9 (h/t Pro Trade's Victoria Guida)

A Republican goes green?

The New York Audubon is awarding GOP Rep. Chris Gibson its highest award tomorrow, the William B. Hoyt Environmental Excellence Award, for his dedication to protecting the state's environment. His advocacy for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the Forest Legacy Program, the Long Island Sound and Great Lakes restoration got the group's attention. Coincidentally, Gibson was also the sole Republican to vote against two GOP EPA bills this week.

Politico Energy Report

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Crockett Buzz for 3-19-15: Nonsense in Nashville

Robert Houk:Enough of the nonsense in Nashville

Tenn. GOPer slams Volkswagen: Creating 200,000 jobs is ‘intentionally’ a ‘magnet for unionized labor’

TN House speaker calls for 'pre-meeting' transparency

Republican lawmakers to pitch medical marijuana plan

Naifeh says Democrats were more open than Republicans when they controlled House

CPI Buzz: Secret Legislative Meetings called "Complete Betrayal of Open Government

This and more from Crockett:

Secret meetings at TN Capitol called 'complete betrayal of open government'

Crockett Buzz: TN Republican Cat Fight over "Padding Expense Accounts" and MOre

TN speaker's survey shows 6 out of 10 support Insure Tennessee

Cooper questions Haslam, lawmakers on Insure TN failure

Tenn. Republicans Hit Each Other on 'Social Hour,' Expenses

Protesters targeting senators who voted no on Insure TN

Buzz for Friday the 13th....Campaign Donations Drive Republicans? (Surely Not)

Are Campaign Donations Behind Republican Opposition to Net Neutrality?

Lawmaker Proposes Body Cameras For All TN Law Enforcement

Marijuana bills gaining some traction in Tennessee

Chattanooga joins White House effort to fill tech jobs

Haslam Hands in Air, "Don't Sue Me. Bro" and Other Amazing news of the Day from Crockett 3-12-15

Is Tennessee's Cap on Damages Unconstitutional?

Haslam to hold peace talks with school systems threatening lawsuits

Open carry proposal among gun bills killed in House

TN Legislature All About Guns in Parks Playgrounds Ballfields, And No Health Care Either

Tennessee mislabels 3,500 drivers' licenses 'Not for Federal ID'

Alexander, Corker refuse to sign GOP letter to Iran

Opinion: Todd Gardenhire could be a case study in hypocrisy

The Campaign Cash That Can Kill the Open Internet

Corker and Alexander Among Seven Republican Senators Who DON'T Commit Treason

I'm really outraged at this. If you are an American and a patriot, You do NOT undermine the foreign policy of the President of the United States of America!

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/03/09/1369534/-Republican-Senators-Tell-Iran-Any-Deal-with-President-Obama-Won-t-Last

News Buzz for 3-9-15

Jacking Up the Ransom Note on Public Records Is Not the Answer to Government Transparency

Advisory Committee on Open Government isn’t open?

Todd Gardenhire's school voucher bill moves in Tennessee House this week

Rural Tennesseans limited in Internet choices

Your Electric Utility is Working to Kill Roof Top Solar Power

“Independent studies show that distributed solar benefits all ratepayers by preventing the need to build new, expensive power plants or transmission lines,” said Matthew Kasper, a fellow at the Energy & Policy Institute, a pro-solar think tank. “Utilities make their money by building big, new infrastructure projects and then sending ratepayers the bill, which is exactly why utilities want to eliminate solar.”

Wapo Story (Read!)

Friday, March 6, 2015

Crockett Buzz 3-6-15

Lawmaker Doesn’t Want Women’s Economic Council Because Men Need One Too

Behind the News Fluff on Energy

There are major decisions that will shape our lives forever, in some cases. These things get shoved into the dark recesses on what is sarcastically called "The News". By the time we find out about them it is too late and someone has made off with the family chickens and left us with the droppings all over the place to clean up.

Little things like nuclear waste forever left onsite at phased out nuclear reactors. Nobody would have bought into nukes in the first place if we had been told something like this was going to happen. Most of Europe is abandoning nuclear power for this very reason...that and that Chernobyl thing.

Like the fact that NJ Gove Chris Christie drove the negotiations behind the scenes with Mond polluter Exxon, in order to let them off the hook to the tune of $8.5 billion in yet another energy related environmental disaster. Wouldn't we all like t ay our fines to the tune of 3 cents on the dollar?

Here's the morning energy report with lots of fascinating little items that will not make your evening news cast.

Morning Energy Report

Here's the Friday report, including the part where Chris Christie calls any criticism of his secret deals to give Exxon Mobile billions of dollars off their pollution settlement, "Baldly political".

Friday Energy Report

Thursday, March 5, 2015

"Thinks of the Day"...From a Woman Named Butt

“I guess I’m offended that all of these things are predicated on something that they, apparently, the (House) Black Caucus, thinks I said or thinks I thought or thinks I insinuated. Not anything that’s true.”

TN State Rep Sheila

From Our "Your State Legislators are Idiots" Dept: Tennessee's Latest Bill Bans Nonexistent Muslim 'No-Go Zones'

Crockett Buzz for 3-5-15

TN Senate Dems Criticize Haslam, Lawmakers for Opposition to FCC Municipal Broadband Ruling

Tennessee's Latest Bill Bans Nonexistent Muslim 'No-Go Zones'

State committee kills veteran hiring preference bill

State senator accused of hitting ex-wife with car

Politics and Energy 3-3-15

This is always fascinating. I wish it didn't piss me off so much when I read it...The Keystone Pipeline will be inserted into every must pass bill from now on and Lamar Alexander will cram nuclear power down our throats, even as the rest of the world has decided it is a really bad idea. That's just for starters. It sort of lets you know that your elected officials don't work for you and me.

Energy Today in American Politics

Crockett Buzz 3-4-15

What did the governor say today on guns, race, vouchers, etc? Well, not much, but….

3500 Tennesseans receive incorrect photo ID due to printing error

Huge Stakes As Supreme Court Takes Third Crack At Obamacare

Obama promises veto of Alexander-sponsored bill to reverse NLRB rule

Incidents Continue to Surface that Show a Strong Need to Change Cop Culture: Hamilton County Deputy Beaten In Mistaken Identity

After his co-workers realized they had beaten him in a bizarre case of mistaken identity, Aaron Shelton says they tried to shut him up. They told him "they were all brothers, man."

...Flores writes that on Nov. 11, 2014, Shelton and his wife, Heather, heard a loud noise and stepped outside their home at 1516 Ely Road. Shelton saw a man run into his carport.
Then Shelton saw deputies pointing their guns at him.

They told Shelton to get on the ground, and he followed all their commands, he said. According to the complaint, he told them he was an off-duty deputy and his wife shouted the same thing. But as he lay prone on the ground, his fellow deputies got on top of him, beating him with their hands and shoving his face into the concrete, the complaint states.

Shelton said that one deputy, Curtis Killingsworth, struck him with a baton.

At some point, Shelton's neighbor yelled to deputies that they were beating the wrong man. They stopped, realized they'd made an error and discovered that the man they were actually hunting had already been apprehended. At that point, "some or all of them told Aaron that 'they were all brothers, man,'" the complaint states.

Flores said that comment is particularly troubling because it indicates the deputies who beat him wanted him to keep quiet.

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/local/story/2015/mar/03/deputy-sues-co-workers-after-beating/291209/

Monday, March 2, 2015

Buzz for 3-2-15

Pat Nolan: Guns in Parking Lots Redux

Bid to Block Health Exchange in Tennessee Seen as 'Overkill'

First week of winter storm cost TDOT $11.3M; overall impact now being assessed

Roy Exum: Cameras Or Subterfuge?

Rep. Van Huss praying for recognition of ‘Almighty God’ in TN constitution