As 323,000 people in the state are dropped from the TennCare rolls, South Knox Bubba is keeping track of the details, including who's losing coverage and who's pleased as punch.
What I want to know is this: why did we put so much time, money and effort into getting Bredesen elected? I'm having a hard time seeing how we're better off with him running the state than we would be with a republican as governor. Hell, even Sundquist supported tax reform! Bredesen basically campaigned on two promises: 1) that he'd use his experience in the insurance industry to figure out a way to fix TennCare; and that 2) he wouldn't support the idea of an income tax, no matter what. Well, he's completely failed with regard to promise #1, and now thanks to promise #2, he's pretty much worthless in terms of coming up with any kind of long-term solution to our budget mess. So now here we are, with some of the highest sales tax rates in the nation, forcing our already troubled hospitals to bear the cost of treating the needy, cutting the poor off from non-emergency health care, and every year we're seeing deeper and deeper cuts in both K12 schools and higher ed (dog forbid we should cut the Vols athletic program budget, though, huh?). If it weren't for Mississippi, we'd be dead last in just about every measure of quality of life. Great fucking job, Phil.
But, don't dispair! Apparently this very evening, Governor Bredesen and his wife will be hosting a private, luxurious black tie dinner for all Tennessee state legislators. Thank goodness they all have their priorities in order. Perhaps they took a cue from our nation's president, who will be attending lavish balls next week and spending $50 million on his coronation, while relief efforts continue in Asia and our soldiers continue to die in the Middle East. Or perhaps all these boneheads are taking a cue from Nero.
What I want to know is this: why did we put so much time, money and effort into getting Bredesen elected? I'm having a hard time seeing how we're better off with him running the state than we would be with a republican as governor. Hell, even Sundquist supported tax reform! Bredesen basically campaigned on two promises: 1) that he'd use his experience in the insurance industry to figure out a way to fix TennCare; and that 2) he wouldn't support the idea of an income tax, no matter what. Well, he's completely failed with regard to promise #1, and now thanks to promise #2, he's pretty much worthless in terms of coming up with any kind of long-term solution to our budget mess. So now here we are, with some of the highest sales tax rates in the nation, forcing our already troubled hospitals to bear the cost of treating the needy, cutting the poor off from non-emergency health care, and every year we're seeing deeper and deeper cuts in both K12 schools and higher ed (dog forbid we should cut the Vols athletic program budget, though, huh?). If it weren't for Mississippi, we'd be dead last in just about every measure of quality of life. Great fucking job, Phil.
But, don't dispair! Apparently this very evening, Governor Bredesen and his wife will be hosting a private, luxurious black tie dinner for all Tennessee state legislators. Thank goodness they all have their priorities in order. Perhaps they took a cue from our nation's president, who will be attending lavish balls next week and spending $50 million on his coronation, while relief efforts continue in Asia and our soldiers continue to die in the Middle East. Or perhaps all these boneheads are taking a cue from Nero.
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