Disgusting.
A state agency that seeks to reduce the infant mortality rate in Tennessee would be cut under a budget plan passed by a Senate panel Thursday night and now headed for a floor vote.
The Republican-majority Senate Finance Committee approved the proposal 8-2, the first significant progress the budget has made in weeks. The full Senate was expected to take up the plan next week.
Lawmakers worked late into the night trying to work out differences in Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen's original proposal and a Senate Republican plan.
I can tell you why infant mortality is high in Tennessee. It's because Tennessee ranks among the highest rates of bankruptcy in the country and we've got too few people with too many resources, spending their money trying to get their people elected instead of helping their neighbors.
I'm so angry I can't see straight.
Tennessee Republicans claim to be "pro-life" but support the endless wars and the death penalty. And it appears the right to life ends at birth, at least, when you're in a recession.
Tennessee is one of a handful of states that has no state income tax, but we have one of the highest sales tax rates in the nation. That means that every time there's a recession, Tennessee is a great place to be wealthy (because property and income taxes are low) but a terrible place to be poor. Or to be a parent.
These draconian budget measures come as Tennessee Republicans continue to rail against the "San Francisco liberals" and the "Obama-Pelosi agenda" as if Obama and Pelosi are terrible people.
You know what I think is terrible?
I think it's terrible that instead of spending money on healthcare for poor people, we spend it on the 287g program that adds needless bureaucracy and wasteful spending on a witch hunt against illegal immigrants.
I think it's terrible that the Tennessee Republicans in our state legislature are spending more time worrying about protecting the rights of gun owners to carry weapons into restaurants than they spend on creating real solutions to a 10% unemployment rate (and it's worse in many parts of the state).
As Mother Teresa said:
It is poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.