Newest ConserVOLiance Member

What a great way to start off a Friday morning and end up our week. Welcome to our 11th member, Byron Chesney from the Knoxville Trivia Blog.

It’s currently just a rumor, but one with ample evidence to support it, that Byron is actually twins. This rumor got started when it was noticed on the internet that, not only does Byron have an active life in the real world, but he maintains and contributes to an incredible **SIX** blogs and websites. His blogging career is headed towards its second anniversary and who knows how long his other sites have been around?

The most striking thing about his sites is that they all deal with Tennessee in one fashion or another. I’m sure some of our readers from north of that famous line are wondering if there is enough to the South to generate that much verbiage. Hehehe … You ain’t seen nothing! When you need a quiet break from the rigors of Tennessee politics, take an online stroll through some more placid Tennessee scenery and browse Byron’s blogs.

Byron describes himself as “…just a proud, native Tennessean with conservative, Christian, family values and I believe that our political leaders should reflect those same values.” Nothing fancy or high falutin’ – just your basic, Tennessee, every day man. It’s men like this that I met when I first arrived here over 25 years ago that impressed me and were part of my decision to make Tennessee my home. Glad to see that there are still some of them around today!

Welcome to The ConserVOLiance Byron –

Blue

New ConserVOLiance Member

We’d like to welcome our newest member of The ConserVOLiance, Mark Albertini at Mark Albertini Politics. Mark is officially our 10th member and helps accomplish our first membership goal. For this, we are grateful!

Mark hails from the Chattanooga area and though he’s only been blogging a short time, his stuff packs a whallop! That’s likely the former US Marine in him. Those guys lead from the front and don’t do anything half way! You may not agree with him but there will never be any doubt about where Mark is on an issue. In fact, his blog has a really cool feature at the bottom of the page. It’s a section titled “Where does Mark Stand on the Issues?” and lists a brief synopsis of his stands.

If this sounds like the work of someone running for office, well, you’re quite perceptive. Mark ran for the Tennessee State House in 1994 in between earning a Master of Divinity degree in 1993 and his Juris Doctorate in 1999. Judging from the tone of his site, I wouldn’t be surprised to see another run for office in his future. But you can say you knew him when he was “just” a blogger!

Welcome Mark, we’re glad to have you!

Semper Fi, from the ConserVOLiance, and thank you for your service to our country and to our great state of Tennessee,

Blue

Newest ConserVOLiance Member.

Our newest member is an incredible find and it’s both an honor and exciting to be able to introduce you all to Daniel Myers from ‘Daniel Myers Politics’.

Why all the hype? Well, sit down before reading this because if it hits you the way it hit me, standing may not be an option. This is what Daniel would like you to know about him …

To begin with, Daniel is only 17 years old. He’s only been blogging for about a year. I know, I know – what’s the big deal with another teenage blogger with a little staying power and discipline? Well, there are 17 year olds and then there are 17 year olds, if you get my drift. And with THIS 17 year old, the really remarkable part all happened before he began blogging!

While only online for a year, Daniel has been involved with politics for over seven years! And yes, I did the math. He has been on the campaign staffs for 17 different candidates and was the State Coordinator for a Presidential Campaign. He’s hosted an Internet radio show with over 18,000 listeners and was the first person to host online Presidential debates (and, yes, that last word is plural).

Daniel is in regular contact with Tennessee’s federal elected officials along with many state elected officials. All his local office holders know him personally. He was asked by his Mayor to moderate a City Council Candidate forum and has been interviewed on many occasions by newspapers and radio programs across the country.

He has had the opportunity to meet, speak with, and interview dozens of bloggers, journalists, party leaders, candidates for various offices, book authors, senators, congressmen, governors and more. All from the age of 10 to his ripe old age today of 17. Give him another 7 years and who knows what he’ll do and where he’ll go.

We’re excited that he’s agreed to accompany us here at the ConserVOLiance for a part of the trip. Welcome Daniel!

For the ConserVOLiance,

Blue

New ConserVOLiance Member

Our newest member here at The Tennessee ConserVOLiance is the proprietor over at Bear Creek Ledger.

Self described as “Formerly from a lake in MN, now from a holler in TN” this gal is no stranger to the ‘Net. In fact she’s one of the ‘old hands’ having just completed her 3rd year of blogging. I first made her acquaintance back in June of this year when we reported on a Cookeville meeting Lamar Alexander had with some constituents that headed off in a southerly direction. I had only heard about it while BCL was actually AT the meeting. Posts on that meeting got noticed around the ‘Net and in following the trail of links, I met BCL.

She’s a very diverse and in depth writer offering insight on a variety of topics from Taxes to Immigration to 2008 Presidential candidates. Love her or hate her – you always know where she stands and she’s not likely to move easily.

All this and more is why Bear Creek Ledger is an incredible addition to the rolls here at The ConserVOLiance. We’re glad to haver her and you’ll be glad too!

For the ConserVOLiance,

Blue

New ConserVOLiance Member.

I’m excited to introduce you all to our newest member, Murfreesboro’s JayPeriod.

I ran across Jay’s blog, Conservatively Speaking, at TownHall. I was impressed with both his content and his ability to write brief and to the point posts. I’m hoping he can teach me how to do that as well.

He’s that good as he’s been blogging for over three years. Beyond blogging on politics at TownHall, Jay also blogs on several other topics such as auto racing, motorcycle riding, photography and his spiritual life. Likely this last topic is the most important one for Jay. It’s also one that impacts all his other topics as well. You see, besides being a prolific writer, and along with wearing all the other hats he owns, Jay is a pastor and works with at least one Murfreesboro ministry, The Chi-Alpha Christian Fellowship.

Such an eclectic mix of interests and experience cannot help but make for interesting conversation. Watch for Jay’s stuff at the ConserVOLiance page and stop by Conservatively Speaking now and then for some frank talk that you’ll enjoy. Welcome Jay! Thanks for joining in …

For the ConserVOLiance,

Blue

New VOLiance Member!

If you’ve spent any time at all in the Tennessee blogosphere, you’re familiar with Ned Williams at Wisdom is Vindicated, our newest Voliance member. I’ve had the pleasure of blogging with Ned on a couple of occasions and it’s always been fun.

Ned’s a Middle Tennessee blogger and both a strong Christian AND and attorney. How he pulls that off with the grace and ease that he does is likely more a testament to both Mrs. Ned and the Holy Spirit than just Ned alone, but we’ll take it either way.

Ned is definitely a veteran blogger with a LOT of experience observing and commenting on issues and events at every level of government. His blog archives go back to 2005 and he’s almost doubled his output each year. What a coup to be able to blog with one of ‘The Old Dogs’!

Thanks for signing on the bottom line, Counselor! Looking forward to the battle!

For the VOLiance,

Blue

New VOLiance Member!

I’ll go ahead and give our newest member, JB Davis from JB’s Corner, his shout out and welcome now. However, by his own admission it’s not likely he’ll be reading it anytime soon. His most recent post is titled ‘Hunting Season’ and he’s just letting us all know why we won’t be seeing him on the ‘Net much for the next couple of weeks. Just like those pesky Right Wingers with their gun rights and NRA, meat eating ways to run off a-hunting when there’s work to be done!!

In the meantime, we’re glad to have JB on board. If we can find a ConBlogger with a restaurant (or a really big grill), we’ll hook him or her up with JB and have us a get together!!

I’ll have to be careful even poking fun at JB. He appears to be one, serious individual. He’s only been blogging for about 7 months at JB’s Corner but in that time he’s put up a whopping 446 posts! Not a bad production rate! We’re looking forward to hearing from this East Tennessee hunter ConBlogger as he draws a bead on all things liberal and squeezes the trigger.

Welcome JB! Keep your powder dry and open fire whenever you’re inclined!

For the VOLiance,

Blue

New ConserVOLiance Member!

Monday Morning is a great time to welcome our newest Alliance member and introduce him to you. It’s Truman Bean of Truman’s Take and he blogs from Middle Tennessee – in Brentwood, just south of Nashville.

Truman is another of those bloggers I did not know about prior to start of the VOLiance. Yet, he’s just a half an hour or so away. When you browse his blog, it seems odd that I hadn’t heard of him before. He’s a veteran blogger with a year and a half under his belt and currently ranks #13 on BNN’s list of ‘Most Influential Bloggers in Tennessee’!

Congratulations on your success and achievements, Truman. And welcome to the VOLiance! I’m looking forward to getting to know you now that I know you’re there. And, if you’re a coffee drinker, I might even see a joint cup o’ java in our near future!

For the VOLiance,

Blue

New ConserVOLiance Member!

Our newest VOLiance member is Craig Thomas from The Roundtable blog. Craig is from Maryville and, on 11-09-07 celebrated The Roundtables’s first blogiversary! Congratulations, Craig and we’re excited to have a veteran blogger such as yourself join our ranks!

One of the cool things about an Alliance like ours is that you get to connect with people that you might not have connected with ordinarily. Such is the case here. Despite being Tennessee ConBloggers, I don’t think I’d had the privilege of Craig’s acquaintance. How cool that one of the first things the VOLiance has accomplished is to rectify that oversight.

That’s the very purpose of the VOLiance. Networking with others of like mind and purpose with the intention of being more together than we were apart.

Welcome to TNCVA and thanks for holding down the fort in East Tennessee! Thanks, too, for being member #3! Not bad for the first 3 days. Think what will happen if we keep that rate up for the next six months!

For the VOLiance,

Blue

The Upward Mobility Picture – Much Brighter than You’ve Been Told!

Thanks to VOLiance member ‘Right Truth’ for the hat tip on a new study outlining the reality that all is not as we’ve been led to believe. In her post ‘Rising Inequality and Shrinking Opportunity? Not So Fast!’, Deb points to a

… study, to be released today, … a careful, detailed piece of research by professional economists that avoids political judgments. But what it does do is show beyond doubt that the U.S. remains a dynamic society marked by rapid and mostly upward income mobility. Much as they always have, Americans on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder continue to climb into the middle and sometimes upper classes in remarkably short periods of time.

Yet another myth promoted by the Left in both New and Old Media and regurgitated thoughtlessly since it conforms, not with reality, but with the reality the Left wants and needs to be so. Thanks to this VOLiance member, a little bit of the light of Truth is shown in another of the Left’s dark corners. Click through and read Deb’s entire post. You’ll be glad you did.

For the VOLiance,

Blue