June 04, 2008
@MichaelSilence
Posted by joe lance in About Blogs at 04:15 PM | Comments (0)
Coffee with the candidate: Bob Tuke
TennesseeTicket.com was generously afforded an exclusive opportunity today to sit down and talk issues with Bob Tuke, who's one of several Democratic candidates for the United States Senate seat currently held by Republican Senator Lamar Alexander.
We met at Greyfriar's Coffee & Tea Co. Tuke's staffer we'll call him "Will" joked amiably about the mix-up that happened a couple of weeks ago at a campaign fundraiser. The afternoon heat dictated cold drinks, instead of hot: an iced mocha for the candidate, and an iced latte for your blogger.
My writing isn't known for brevity, so here is the executive summary of our visit, and I'll also write it up "how I do" and post it after the jump.
Energy
War
Healthcare
Qualifications
Now, the full version:
For purposes of time, I gave Bob (I'm just going to periodically refer to him as "Bob" hereafter) the benefit of the doubt in the primary contest, and invited him to describe what his foremost priorities would be if elected to the Senate.
Not surprisingly, he started with energy policy. (Today saw a major release on the topic, which at the time was news to me; although, serendipitously enough, "EnerG" was the first heading on my notepad going in.) He referred to the cap-and-trade system being debated in the Senate, and vowed to re-introduce this measure if Congress cannot override President Bush's presumed veto.
He said he would also work to eliminate subsidies to oil companies, and introduce a "windfall profits tax" on said companies if they did not lower their prices. I wondered that such a "strongarm" measure would be employed. Bob responded with a steely "some call it 'jawboning'; and yes, that is exactly what we will do."
We then discussed alternative and renewable energy sources. I could sense the advocate coming out when Tuke talked about the worldwide grain shortage that has, in part, been caused by what he considers careless policy aimed at growing corn for fuel. I asked about Mike Padgett's proposal to use genetically modified sugarcane instead of corn. He disagreed with that as well, and stated that arable land should be reserved for food production, while switchgrass can be grown in areas that can't be tilled.
Nuclear energy came up next, and on this, too, Bob disagreed with his principal Democratic opponent. He doesn't believe that we should invest in more nuclear plants until we have discovered a way to make nuclear waste safe. "Yucca Mountain is not the answer," he declared.
Another top priority we talked about is the ongoing war in Iraq. I asked if he felt the Iraqi government and security forces are up to the challenge of taking on their own challenges. No, came the answer, they are largely propped up by the American presence; but we need to withdraw from that country regardless, because our armed forces shouldn't be refereeing an ethnic civil war.
It seems that Tuke would push to send more troops back to Afghanistan, and even into Pakistan, rather than bring them all home immediately. The goal, obviously, would be to go after the terrorists that targeted New York and Washington on September 11, 2001. The 82nd Airborne and Marines should not have been diverted from Afghanistan to Iraq, he said.
Bob also feels very strongly about how troops are treated once they are home, either between deployments, or for good. One of his goals as a Senator would be to make sure that soldiers get to spend at least the length of a deployment at home, between deployments.
He expressed hope that the Webb GI Bill, which has passed the Senate, can be reconciled with the House version and signed into law by the time he would be sworn in, if elected; but if for some reason it is not, he would work to ensure its enactment. "I went to law school on the GI bill. It makes me mad that Senator Alexander opposes" this improvement.
Our last policy discussion was on healthcare, and on this topic, I found very little difference between what Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has proposed and what Bob Tuke says he will champion. Hypothetically speaking, a President Obama would have a strong ally in a Senator Tuke on this matter.
Both favor a universal coverage that is at the same time voluntary (but you'd have to be "stupid" to not sign up for it, says Bob). However, a single-payer system is not in the prescription, as private enterprise "will do things just a little bit better." I pointed out that many people in Chattanooga are employed in the insurance industry.
"Insurance companies will make plenty of money" under such a plan, he predicted. Though the margin on a universal plan that has restrictions on rates and allows no exclusions would be slender, Tuke feels that companies would offer and consumers would buy premium supplemental coverage that would satisfy both the insurers' income requirements and the customers' comfort levels. Our time was running low, and I wasn't able to add a discussion about prevention versus the cost of care.
I didn't bring up the "march across Tennessee" with the candidate; however, Will made sure to mention that one section of it will be covered this Saturday in Chattanooga, and it will culminate at the Democratic Party headquarters on Patten Parkway at 4:30pm.
Bob Tuke ended our visit with a synopsis of why he feels Tennesseans should elect him to this office. He cited service to our country as a Marine, experience in adoption law and legal services for a low-income healthcare provider, and a wealth of experience in the private sector as his primary qualifications. "I know how to craft legislation that helps people," he mused.
I want to offer my sincere thanks to the campaign for allowing me this opportunity, and I look forward to watching this race develop over the next two months.
Even more, I hope that these reports help Chattanooga and Tennessee voters to inform themselves about the candidates and what each would endeavor to accomplish in the Senate.
Posted by joe lance in US Senate Elections at 01:20 AM | Comments (1)
June 03, 2008
Have you heard? Bo Diddley
I'm a day late and a dollar short in noting the passing of eminent blues/rock 'n' roll guitarist Bo Diddley.
A sad part of his story is that the music industry was far more late, and far more dollars short, in compensating recording artists like Bo Diddley. I remember hearing what amounted to a lecture (and then a song) on this subject by Microwave Dave a few years ago at the Bessie Smith Strut.
Although it can be argued that these artists got paid what was in their contracts, it is also pretty clear that many of them were tricked into the terms.
Rest in peace, Bo Diddley.
Posted by joe lance in Guitar Blogging at 08:04 PM | Comments (1)
Question of the day
"[W]hen will Hillary drop out? Tonight? Tomorrow? Thursday? August 28? January 21?"
-- Brendan Loy, the proud father of a child who's lived almost her entire life so far with the Democratic nomination in progress
Posted by joe lance in Presidential Elections at 09:17 AM | Comments (1)
June 01, 2008
George Will busts a cap in cap-and-trade
As seen in today's Commercial Appeal:
[W]hy not a straightforward tax on fossil fuels based on each fuel's carbon content? This would have none of the enormous administrative costs of the baroque cap-and-trade regime. And a carbon tax would avoid the uncertainties inseparable from cap-and-trade's government allocation of emission permits. So a carbon tax would be a clear and candid incentive to adopt energy-saving and carbon-minimizing technologies.
[C]ap-and-trade, by hugely increasing the amount of politics in the allocation of money, would guarantee a surge of money into politics.
Posted by joe lance in Policy at 09:56 AM | Comments (0)