The Tennessee ConserVOLiance

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Cross posted at An Ol’ Broad’s Ramblings 

It would be nice if all the best ideas I have for all the best posts I write were my own. But they’re not. So often the words you read or hear from me, while mine in print or speech, were inspired, appropriately, by the person who is my inspiration in so many areas of life, my wonderful bride, The Much Younger Trophy Wife. And so it is with this … thanks for the idea, honey …

Into the chill and quiet of an unremarkable night a herald suddenly and brazenly proclaimed, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” These are familiar words for millions. Their familiarity brings peace and comfort. But that same familiarity hides questions that need asking. Why did God make His announcement now? Why didn’t He wait until Jesus was a young boy or a man beginning His work? Why proclaim the arrival of the Hope of humanity at the very beginning, when the Christ child was not even a child, but an infant?

I suspect the full answer is far more deep, elegant and inspiring than my explanation will be, but I pray it provides you some encouragement this Christmas.

It wasn’t simply information that the angels were disseminating in the quiet hills of Judea, it was inspiration. It was not as if God was running down a cosmic checklist of things to do to make His son’s birth memorable and was now at item #9, “Cue the angels!” It wasn’t that God was revealing yet another part of His plan to redeem humanity, although we’re getting closer. Bethlehem’s birth is, indeed, the first step down the road to Calvary’s Cross.

I often refer to God as The Great Economist because of His ability to pack so much substance into even the most mundane of things. And so it was that night. Beyond the event being announced, the manner in which the announcement was made opens our eyes a bit more to the character of God Himself and provides another reason for rejoicing and hope.

Why announce the birth of Christ at this time and in this manner? Why not to kings and rulers? Why not when His Son is about to begin his ministry and acquire some notoriety? Because announcing His Son in this way adds to the information being provided a more subtle message which, if we permit, bolsters our faith.

God is demonstrating companionship in making the announcement in this way. The time would come for His Son to be announced to “kings and rulers”. That herald would be Paul the Apostle. But the King of Kings is not impressed with the rulers of men. The sovereign of all creation does not distinguish between the man on the throne of power and the one in the throes of poverty. It is we who apply such false criteria. The announcement was of “good tidings of great joy, which shall be to ALL people”. In order to emphasize that relationship with God was available to all men, regardless of status, the announcement was made to the lowliest of men. If those with worldly reputation are offended that the masses are offered companionship with the Almighty, it might be wise for them to remember that, to Him, they are also part of humanity’s masses.

God is demonstrating confidence in making the announcement in this way. All of His plans are wrapped up in that bloody, mewling, swaddled newborn. When the herald makes his proclamation, none of those plans are realized yet. Everything is just potential at this point. That potential includes potential problems, too! Why make such an important announcement when your plans are at their weakest, their most vulnerable? Every endeavor has a beginning. When one knows the end of a matter, as and even before it begins, one’s perspective is decidedly different. Consider your attitude when you sit down to play checkers or tic-tac-toe with a child. The only way that child is going to win is if you let it. That does not speak ill of the child, it speaks highly of you. Your understanding and ability to deal with the twists and turns in the game ahead are more than sufficient for you to be able to predict the outcome of the game with confidence. Thus the bold announcement that the helpless Child is, indeed, “a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord!”

Finally, God was demonstrating courage in making the announcement in this way. That He was confident did not mean that there were not very real threats to the plans that He revealed on that peaceful night. From His infancy when soldiers were dispatched to kill him by a threatened ruler to His adulthood and the dispatch of yet more soldiers to haul Him before a kangaroo court and ultimately hand Him over to yet another threatened ruler, the very life of Christ was at risk. His family had to flee for their lives to Egypt; Satan tried to tempt Him into killing Himself; and, even the crowd that accompanied Him wherever He went tried to throw Him off of a cliff at one point. Who knows how many other threats to the plans of God remain unrecorded? Yet Emmanuel, God with us, faced them all and bested each and every one of them. Even at the end, understanding the dynamic of the will of God, He proclaimed His life was His to surrender, not man’s to take. Thus, the incredible announcement into a dangerous world, “Fear not!”

Companionship. Confidence. Courage. For all men. Because a Savior is born. We need not fear. That is the message that was proclaimed at the beginning. It was made then instead of later because of our frailty. The truth of the matter is that a man starts each day of his life alone, unsure and afraid. But with each dawn comes the message of the manger of companionship, confidence and courage. “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”

Merry Christmas,

Blue Collar Muse

The housing market slowdown has led politicians of both parties to propose a variety of industry bail-outs. None of the ideas are good: taxpayers would be forced to subsidize people who never should have bought a home while lenders would cut back future loans even for responsible borrowers.

Among the worst ideas is increasing lending activity by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which already are at risk in the subprime lending debacle. Freddie Mac just announced a $2 billion loss, and more red ink is expected.

Indeed, warns Peter Wallison of the American Enterprise Institute, these enterprises “are nothing more than huge S&Ls, but in one respect they are more dangerous.” The federal government only backed federally-insured deposits for the S&Ls, “but Fannie and Freddie have what the capital markets consider to be government backing for all their debt.” The result could be a true financial disaster.

Blue Collar Muse

The housing crash is a serious problem, hurting borrowers, lenders, and investors. But the surest way to make it a crisis would be to bail out borrowers, lenders, and investors.

The federal government already has manipulated interest rates. The administration has pressed lenders to maintain low initial rates and forego foreclosures. Legislators are pushing to expand mortgage lending by federal agencies.

Politicians obviously see a short-term benefit in bailing out their constituents. But we will all pay the long-term cost as lenders raise their fees and cut back on future mortgages.

Moreover, as columnist George Will observes, such a bail-out represents “an enormous new entitlement” for the irresponsible. Unfortunately, this won’t be the last time that they will try to off load the consequences of their mistakes on
the rest of us.

Blue Collar Muse

A Merry Christmas to all of you and I hope that the new year will be a pleasant and fruitful one.  This will in all probability me my last post of this year.  I am traveling to see family the first of next week and have to work extra the latter half.  But starting with January 1st, you can expect to hear lots more from me.  I will be posting on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, guaranteed.  On those days, I will usually post between 12:30 pm and 2:30 pm because I am done with classes at 12:30 pm and have to be at work at 3:00 pm.  I will try to post on some Tuesdays and Thursdays, but I have late classes those days and will probably wake up late.  The only time that I will post on the weekends is if something substantial happens.  I will try to cross post at least my Monday post.  I also will start a separate blog where I only post news about the global warming hoax, entitles “A Convenient Lie”.   I will have a link to it from my main page. If any of you have experience editing/producing movies on the PC let me know. I would like to do a short documentary about the 9/11 conspiracy theories entitled “Loose Brains”.

Keep it real
Keep it conservative

RW Johnny

And my big ol’ honkin’ Hummer, and….hmmm….I’ll think of something else. After all, I’m covered now!

H/T: Real Debate Wisconsin

Cross posted at An Ol’ Broad’s Ramblings

Cross-posted from The Roundtable

The Wall Street Journal has a good article about Senator Tom Coburn, who has blocked 90 bills in 2007.  We should all be thankful to him for stopping wasteful projects.

Stopping stuff is Sen. Coburn’s specialty. In a Congress that has had trouble passing even the simplest legislation, Sen. Coburn, who proudly wears the nickname “Dr. No,” is a one-man gridlock machine. This year, the senator, who indeed is a medical doctor, single-handedly blocked or slowed more than 90 bills, driving lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to distraction.

In a time where our Congressmen and Senators clearly are on a spending spree, Dr. Coburn actually stops bills to make them be debated without having them simply rushed through the Senate.  He uses a tactic called a “Hold” to accomplish this.

Read more…

If you’ve been coming by for the last month or so and wondering what the site is all about beyond some of the best political news coverage and commentary on things impacting Tennessee and Tennesseans, here’s a great opportunity for you.

Our newest ConserVOLiance member, Fabian Story from Political Straight Talk, is more than a blogger. He also hosts an internet radio show/podcast at Talkshoe. Fabian has invited me to be on his show this Saturday night, December 22nd, at 8PM Eastern/7PM Central. We’ll be talking about the ConserVOLiance, political activism, politics and who knows what else. Since it’s a talk show, you can get involved, too. Just head over to Fabian’s show page, Political Straight Talk Radio, and join in the fun!

You’ll need to set up an account. It only takes a minute or so to do it and you’re all set. Then you can participate in chat, phone in or just listen. And if you can’t join us live, the show is archived and will be available to listen to later at your convenience. Either way, we’ll be looking forward to seeing you and chatting with you at Political Straight Talk Radio Saturday night.

For the ConserVOLiance,

Blue

Thompson Says Enforce Immigration Law

Republican Fred Thompson said Thursday there should be few if any exceptions when it comes to enforcing U.S. immigration laws, or the flow of illegal immigrants would continue.

Thompson was responding to a question from a man who told of a friend who is a chicken farmer and has to hire workers from Mexico, hoping they have legal status.

While the U.S. president represents that chicken farmer, Thompson said, he also represents millions of other people and future generations who want the nation’s laws enforced.

“It is not good, in my opinion, for our country to start becoming dependent on a constant flow of illegal immigrants that are usually less educated and come here only because they’ll work cheaper than somebody else will,” he said. “And when and if they were to assimilate into American society, we would need another 11 or 12 million (illegal immigrants), and another 11 or 12 million after that.”

Thompson said the legal immigration system in the U.S. has inefficiencies and people get caught up in the bureaucracy. But he said the rule of law must be the top priority.

“We have to look out No. 1 for what is right, what is the law. If you’re coming and saying ‘It’s against the law, but,’ I think you’ve got to have a very good reason, and I very seldom see a reason that justifies the ‘but’ if it’s against the law.”

This ain’t rocket science people! You have an invasion, mostly coming from the south, and the only way to stop it is to enforce the law. How hard is that to understand?

When the same man pressed Thompson further to talk about his plan for illegal immigrants already in the country, the former Tennessee senator said he believes the issue will be resolved through “enforcement by attrition.”

Thompson proposes cutting off incentives to illegal immigrants. That means keeping employers from hiring them in the first place, and sealing the borders to keep illegal immigrants going back and forth between jobs and family. He said it also means shutting down sanctuary cities and keeping illegal immigrants from getting college and other breaks.

What person, in their right mind, believes that giving “freebies” to those who break the law is a good idea, and will stem the flow?

After the event, Thompson was asked by reporters what should happen to children who are born to illegal immigrants in the U.S. _ making the children citizens _ if their parents are deported.

“The parents make that decision, just as parents would under any circumstances,” he said. “If they are going to be leaving the country, I would expect them to make the decision to take their child with them. But, if they make other arrangements with a loved one or someone who is here for that child, then they could do that, too.”

End the ‘anchor baby’ nonsense. How many women have made their way across the border, illegally, just to give birth, believing they’ll have a free ride?

When asked if the policy allowing those children to have U.S. citizenship should be altered, he said that would require a difficult change to the Constitution.

“That’s not really as much of a current issue in terms of our illegal immigration problem as chain migration is,” he said. “These children can be used as so-called anchor babies and they can grow up and bring in many, many other members of their family. I think that ought to be limited … to spouses and children. I think that’s where our concentration needs to be focusing.”

The 14th Amendment gave citizenship to freed slaves, and that was a very good thing. Using that same amendment as a tool for illegals is not.

Cross posted at An Ol’ Broad’s Ramblings 

Cross Posted by Toni at Bear Creek Ledger

Back on Sept. 10th I predicted that Briley would come through this with only a tap on the wrist and shock of shocks I was correct! Imagine that you were driving drunk, had a rear end crash into another vehicle, fled the scene, led police on a 100 mph chase, were combative with police once stopped, kicked in the window of a police cruiser - do you think the “routine” charges would be charges with a misdemeanor DUI? That’s what Wilson County Judge John D. Wootten, Jr. contends.

Here’s the Sept. 10th posting:

The response from Democrat House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh regarding the following actions of Democrat State Representative Rob Briley was that Briley who suffers from alcoholism needed to go into treatment —- again.

Report: Briley finished drink at gunpoint after 100 mph chase

A heavily intoxicated State Rep. Rob Briley, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, fled the scene of an accident in DeKalb County on Saturday afternoon, then led police in Wilson County on a 100-mile-an-hour chase before finally stopping, according to police reports and court documents.

The Nashville Democrat was arrested at gunpoint after stopping his SUV in the middle of the road and is alleged to have kicked the window of a patrol car while in custody.

Once Briley finally stopped for law enforcement officers, he got out of his vehicle and finished drinking his beverage which was in a cup. Briley is the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and is an attorney. This is the committee which is supposed to overhaul the state’s drunk driving laws in the next legislative session. Yep, that’s who I’d want to be writing laws on drunk driving, a drunk driver.  Oh and Briley is also a member of the House Ethics Committee which passed a toothless number of ethics laws this past legislative session, all meant to allow the Democrat corruption to continue at Capitol Hill in Nashville.

But there’s more to Briley’s exploits for the day:

In connection with a traffic accident that occurred earlier in DeKalb County, Briley has been cited by the Tennessee Highway Patrol for leaving the scene of an accident, following too closely and failure to give notice of an accident, THP spokesman Mike Browning confirmed today.

In that accident, a 2005 Nissan SUV hit the rear end of a pickup truck on Highway 70 in Dowell Town.

Witnesses in the pickup truck told troopers that the SUV then made a U-turn and left the scene, Browning said.

There were no injuries. The final report of that accident was not immediately available.

Wouldn’t surprise me a bit if this guy skates with nothing more than a tap on the wrist. His family is politically connected in the state and he’s a member of the good old boy Democrat controlled House which has been entrenched in it’s control since Reconstruction.

Briley is just a victim of his alcohol disease and bears no responsibility for his actions.

Now we see what charges stuck for this Tn Democrat:

Briley says he was driving to rehab before DUI stop
Briley (D-Nashville) pleaded guilty this week to DUI, but cut a deal with state prosecutors to suspend the felony charge of evading arrest and other misdemeanor charges against him.

In the written agreement with the state, Briley submitted a “recitation of the facts,” which is required by law.

snip…..After he was arrested, Briley did enter rehab at Cumberland Heights, but left abruptly after it was alleged in published reports he had an extramarital affair with a Capitol Hill lobbyist, Mary Littleton.

Briley’s statement provides a glimpse into the deteriorating life of the 41-year-old Nashville attorney from the famous political family.

In a previous interview Briley had with The City Paper, he would not discuss the day of his arrest on advice from his attorneys.

He did acknowledge in that interview that he was an alcoholic and that he had relapsed after 14 years of sobriety in 2003.

Contributing to his relapse, Briley said, were memories of unnamed childhood abuse against him.

Briley’s loss of sobriety contributed to him also having a pending divorce from his wife, Pier, who has moved to Vermont with their two children.

It all came to a head on Sept. 8 for Briley.

That day, a police officer’s video camera taped the state lawmaker in an apparent agitated state, whaling in pain and asking to be killed.

In the agreement signed by Wilson County Judge John D. Wootten, Jr., Briley must abide by nine obligations for the next two years in order for his charges not to be reinstated.

For the DUI, Briley will serve 10 days in Wilson County jail over a period of five consecutive weekends starting in January.

Yep, nothing new here. Remember, he was just driving to a Rehab Center!   Bwahahahahaha…….Another Drunk Tennessee Democrat Legislator who walks away with a tap on the wrist, no felony charges and no resignation from the Legislature. Just politics as usual at the TN State Capitol.

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