It sounds a lot different when you say it to someone's face:

"It's gone beyond hypocrisy. The rhetoric emanating from the Republicans is as if some prelude to civil war."

The Tennessee Democratic Party announced today that the keynote speaker and special guest at the annual TNDP Jackson Day Dinner in Nashville will be Vice President Joe Biden.

Presser after the jump...

“This bill does nothing to change the expectations in the market that some firms are too big to fail,” said Senator David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican who serves on the Banking Committee. “I’m disappointed that Senator Dodd has decided to abandon any sort of bipartisan approach in favor of political posturing on behalf of the Obama administration.”

This hews closely to the advice that GOP pollster Frank Luntz gave to Republicans earlier this year, which was to portray financial reform as inevitably leading to more big bank bailouts, no matter what the legislation actually says. House Republicans also used this tactic incessantly during the regulatory reform debate last year, falsely claiming that Rep. Barney Frank’s (D-MA) bill created a “permanent bailout fund.”

However, Dodd’s actual legislation tells a very different story.

Let's fix stupid laws now and other pressing issues! Meanwhile, back at the perpetual TN state financial crisis....

FACT CHECK: Premiums would rise under Obama plan

This so-called fact check seems to have fewer facts than the facts they are checking. At any rate, the headline is the important thing for people to talk about around the water cooler, along with the impending socialist government takeover of health care and death panels which were also thoroughly vetted and confirmed by the same "liberal media," I'm sure.

A message from the President of Ireland and some fun facts from WhitesCreek Steve, who was born in Dublin (but not that one)...

The Knox County Democratic Party will offer a scholarship to a graduating senior this spring. More details to come soon. You can contribute to the scholarship fund here.

http://www.actblue.com/page/scholarship

A new report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) finds, among other things:

• More middle-class Americans are uninsured.

Nationwide, the total number of uninsured, middle-class people increased by more than 2 million since 2000, to12.9 million in 2008.

• The average employee’s costs for health insurance rose, while income fell.

Nationwide, the average cost an employee paid for a family insurance policy rose 81 percent from 2000 to 2008. During the same period, median household income fell 2.5 percent (adjusted for inflation).

• Fewer people were offered, eligible for, or accepted insurance coverage through their jobs.

As costs of health insurance premiums rose, some employers stopped offering coverage benefits to employees, or changed the criteria for employees’ eligibility. While most employers still paid the lion’s share of their employees’ insurance premiums, rising costs have been passed on to workers — with some choosing to drop insurance.

The report is being released during Cover the Uninsured Week (March 14-20), a campaign organized by RWJF to advocate for health coverage for all Americans.

In Tennessee, median household income declined 8.2% from 2000 to 2008 while employer provided insurance premiums went up 45.3% for individuals and 63.5% for family coverage.

The report also says 1.3 million Tennesseans (25.3% of the population) age 0 to 64 are on government provided health care such as TennCare, an increase of 3.5% since 2000. Another 859,000 (16.4% of the population) are uninsured, up 6.4% overall and up 10% among those with income less than 200% of poverty.

Another troubling statistic about that latter category: the number receiving public assistance (i.e. TennCare) declined by 2.5% at a time when they need it the most.

On the other hand, the greatest increase (4.4%) in the number receiving government provided health care was among those with incomes greater than 400% of poverty. This suggests that employers are shifting more of the health insurance burden to taxpayers, and is another reason why health insurance should be divorced from employment.

The numbers in this report are likely worse now, because these statistics were compiled before the economy crashed and reported just as the state begins more cutbacks in TennCare.

RELATED:

• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation report
• State by state analysis

But Tim Burchett is?

Knoxville Chamber of Commerce says Niceley-sponsored bills are ‘hostile to business’

...State Sen. Tim Burchett, R-Knoxville, is Senate sponsor of all five bills that Niceley is sponsoring in the House. But Burchett is not being criticized, Wagley said, because “he has worked with us on other issues” while Niceley has not...

"and it is about time we took some real action. We're here to do it.” -Chuck Schumer

A bipartisan group of senators on Tuesday introduced legislation to pressure China to raise the value of its currency, a step the Chinese government has adamantly resisted in order to keep its exports relatively cheap.

Arguing that the Treasury Department has failed under successive administrations to combat China's policy of artificially pegging the yuan at low values against the dollar, the bill would compel the department to make such a determination. This could result in import duties.

The legislation is similar to a measure co-authored by Schumer and Graham in 2006. That bill passed the Senate with 67 votes, but was abandoned before being introduced in the House after Beijing took steps to boost the exchange rate of the yuan.

From the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (link to 3/15 CBO report at that link also):

"The current economic climate creates tough decisions for everyone," said NASFAA President and CEO Joan Crissman. "It is encouraging that Congress continues to make funding student financial aid a top priority in these difficult times."
The reconciliation package is expected to garner widespread support from the higher education community, but higher education associations are waiting to see the final language before offering official positions on the bill.

But Senator Alexander's postion as GOP #3 does not afford him the opportunity to wait for the final language before calling for the repeal of another "government takeover." The Tennesseean:

At two Capitol Hill news conferences, Alexander on Tuesday decried the proposal as another government takeover that would deny choices for students

When are reporters such as BILL THEOBALD • Tennessean Washington Bureau, when given statements such as "deny students choices" by politicians such as Lamar Alexander, going to start asking "WTF does that mean?!"
"He said

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is recruiting 8th grade girls for the second summer Girls in Science Camp at Tremont. The camp is funded by a a 3-year, $1,000,000 Science Education grant from Toyota to Friends of the Smokies. The deadline for registration is this Friday, March 19th.

More info and link to registration form...

UPDATE: There was some confusion in the GSMNP announcement regarding the registration fee. We spoke with John DiDiego, who heads up education programs at Tremont. He said the registration fee is $50, which is refundable if the application is for some reason not accepted. He also said there are still openings and that the Friday deadline will be extended if all of the 24 available openings aren't filled by then.

None of these reforms are the kind of sexy, big-ticket items that make headlines—no history book, for example, will memorialize the day when the Veterans Administration stopped throwing away half-used inhalers before their patients are done with them.

Nevertheless, these under-the-radar reforms are likely to save hundreds of billions of dollars over the next 10 years. This memo examines some of the efforts by Obama administration officials that could well become the catalysts for these kinds of significant savings engineered through more government efficiency and transparency.

It's Sunshine Week

There is fear and resistance to change inside government that requires cultural, political, and attitude adjustments. And there’s a large gap between the good intentions of citizens and watchdog groups and think tanks and reporters, and translating those good intentions into effective results. Many people want to act, but they rarely know how or where to begin.

begin.

At the end of the day, the process that the Cycle of Transparency describes is about creating a government more deserving of our trust, and ultimately, a government that allows its citizens to fully participate and hold government accountable as our Founders intended.

Notably, it includes a public option and adds the unrelated “Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act”...

Then from the Budget Committee to the Rules Committee:

The Rules Committee will most likely make in order a subtitle amendment containing new legislative text that has yet to be released by the Democrats, which will contain the Obama proposal for reconciling the Senate and House bills, drop the public option, keep the student loan reform bill, and may have some new stuff we haven’t yet seen (we’ll keep you posted).

Wait, what?

"A public health insurance option, a national exchange and an earlier implementation date"? No.

But in an indication of how complicated and arcane the Congressional process can be — even for veteran journalists — reporters quickly retracted their stories.

Have questions about the health care bill? Click here and we'll work to get them answered by members of Congress and their staff this week.

From the Knox County Election Commission:

• Democratic primary ballot

• Republican primary ballot

Knoxville's new pedestrian bridge crossing the river to where? A half-mile west of the Henley Bridge to the Thompson-Boling Arena. This location is certainly dependent on growth and change on the South Side. In addition, it appears to be dependent on wanting to access UT.

Why this location? Is this really a good location? Would it be better if it was closer to town?

March 14-20 is Sunshine Week. It is a time for all citizens to ask, "What is my government doing, and how do I know it?" The only way to answer those questions is to demand open government at all levels.

So the mayor and others get pay increases while county department heads look to cut their budgets by 4-8 percent.

Do they work extra hard, tirelessly devote themselves to a particular exercise regimen, or maybe take special diet supplements to achieve this, or are they just naturally supple enough to keep fitting their feet in their mouths two at a time?

Ten Year Plan staff member Robert Finley announced in comments here today:

The TYP's nonprofit affordable housing development partner, Southeastern Housing Foundation, discovered today in the process of conducting a geotech study that the Teaberry site is not viable for the PSH [permanent supportive housing] development previously under consideration there. The sinkhole system at the site is extensive, and development there would be cost prohibitive.

The previously-scheduled meeting for 7pm, March 18 at the Arnstein Jewish Community Center is still scheduled. The City and the TYP are committed to an ongoing public dialog about site suitability, case management programming, service delivery, and other components of PSH. The questions prompted by the earlier announcement of the proposed development are germane to PSH in general. We look forward to a candid discussion this Thursday.

Mayor's office point man Bill Lyons added:

The Teaberry Lane location has been eliminated from consideration due to soil conditions and sinkhole issues. The developer decided not to pursue building on the site after reviewing materials from his geotech analysis. The City and the TYP have been aware of possible soil issues since late last week and concur with the developer's decision.

The community has requested that the meeting planned for Thursday evening at 7pm at the Arnstein Jewish Community Center take place as scheduled. Representatives of the City and the Ten Year Plan will attend to discuss the program and answer questions from citizens. Despite the fact that this site has not proved to be suitable, this is a good opportunity to make clear what the program is and explain our commitment to the scattered site approach. It is also a great opportunity to listen to citizen concerns about supportive housing and the siting process.

It seems the latest proposed site and neighborhood reaction have generated quite a bit of discussion, and created an opportunity for public education and involvement regarding the siting process and the plan to end chronic homelessness in general.

UPDATE: Gleason Rd. Homeowners released the following statement:

A Mar. 15 KNS headline says gas prices are lower ("Knoxville gasoline prices edge lower"). Whereas, a WVLT headline says gas prices are up ("Knox gas prices up more than 4 cents per gallon").

Is it all in the interpretation? Or the headlines writers? Or the sources?

That's one problem with the Internets. There is a lot of information and it is up to the reader to determine what source to use.