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Gustav stalls offshore in Haiti after killing 23
Southern Ledger - August 28, 2008
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Indian security forces kill 3 in Kashmir
Southern Ledger - August 28, 2008
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Indian security forces kill 5 in Kashmir
Southern Ledger - August 28, 2008
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Kashmir police and suspected rebels in shootout
Southern Ledger - August 28, 2008
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Swiss exonerate Europes last executed witch
Southern Ledger - August 28, 2008
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Combat flares in 3rd area of Pakistan border belt
Southern Ledger - August 28, 2008
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At least 5 dead in Kashmir battle over hostages
Southern Ledger - August 28, 2008
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9 killed in bomb blast in northwestern Pakistan
Southern Ledger - August 28, 2008
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Garth, Doherty make nice while filming new 90210
Southern Ledger - August 28, 2008
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FACTS AND FIGURES WILL UNDERCUT FUTURE INCOME TAX PUSH
August 2, 2004 -
August 8, 2004
During the income tax wars in recent years the pro-tax crowd regularly pointed to Tennessee's revenue figures as evidence of the need for an income tax. Yet the same media outlets that so breathlessly reported the revenue "facts" to justify an income tax have suddenly gone silent as new numbers are released month after month that prove their arguments to have been nothing but hot air. The latest tax collection figures were released late last week and revealed that collections for May, 2004 were up nearly $38 million dollars over budget estimates. Two months remain in the current fiscal year but Tennessee has already collected $277.2 million more than was originally budgeted. The state will end up collecting a revenue surplus of over $300 million by the time the fiscal year actually ends.
Surprisingly, the good news that Tennessee's economy is producing tax revenues at a pace 7-8% higher than last year gets very little attention from a mainstream media that is determined to continue the poor-mouthing that echoed so often in the last several years. Once again their pro-income tax agenda is taking precedence over their duty to tell the truth.
For years the pro-tax propagandists told us that Tennessee's sales tax dependency was a recipe for imminent disaster. They editorialized about higher taxes and an income tax as the route to a Tennessee utopia. They said that children would starve, old people would be forced to eat cat food, and roads would become overgrown with kudzu if we did not pass an income tax.
But Tennesseans knew better and collectively balked at efforts to use cries of "wolf" to force us into an unnecessary and ill-conceived tax. Last year, despite continuous predictions of gloom and doom by those who will never have enough of our money to suit them, the state finished with a surplus of about $150 million. This year we will easily double that. We have done this WITHOUT an income tax.
These figures destroy the argument that our "sales tax dependent" budget is not "elastic" enough to flex with good and bad economic times. Tennessee revenues have consistently outperformed inflation in the past decade. The only thing Tennessee revenues have failed to keep pace with is the incessant spending demands of legislators who seek to buy -- or at least rent -- voters' love with other people's money. In "bad" times Tennessee has outperformed income tax states; and in "good" times we are doing it again. The pro-tax experts and their lackeys in the media have been proven wrong.
When the legislature refused to pass an income tax in the final year of the Sundquist Administration and instead increased the sales tax to pay bills that had come due from uncontrolled spending during the past decade, the pro-tax crowd predicted that Tennesseans would flock across the borders to buy their groceries to avoid the high sales tax and that collections would never meet expectations. Wrong again.
Now those same nay-sayers are claiming Tennessee's record revenue collections are "illusory" and disguise fundamental flaws in the tax structure that spell doom for all of us. Why should we believe anything they say when they have never been right about anything in the past?
The pro-tax crowd has not gone away. Most still retain their power in the legislature and are simply biding their time and disguising their true intentions until they launch another attack on the taxpayers of Tennessee. But the so-called "facts" and "figures" they have relied upon in the past have proven to be lies. Tennesseans are not likely to be fooled by the same bogus claims and cries of "wolf" in the future. The fact is, we now have them figured out.
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A TRUE HERO GIVES HIS ALL FOR HIS COUNTRY -
July 19, 2004 -
July 25, 2004
The words "hero" and "patriot" get bandied about a lot these days. Seldom are they applied to those who truly measure up to the words. Pat Tillman did not just measure up to those words, he defines them.
Two years ago Pat Tillman was a star football player for the NFL's Arizona Cardinals. In 2000 he had 224 tackles, a team record. He had a $3.6 million dollar contract. He had fame. He had a new wife and a community that revered him as a "hero" on the football field. He was a "celebrity... |
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WILL THE POLITICAL DOMINOES FALL? -
July 26, 2004 -
August 1, 2004
Many political analysts are concluding that Tennessee will not be competitive enough between Bush and Kery to place it amond the battleground states in the 2004 presidential race. Since Al Gore could not carry Tennessee in 2000 it is reasoned that a more liberal version from Massachusets will fare more poorly among the state's voters. And with no gubernatorial or senate elections to motivate voters, many politicians and pundits are beginning to look ahead to 2006 -- when Tennessee could see seve... |
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