I wrote this site for my campaign – which I lost. The ideas and issues are still relevant. Just put in the name of RENEE HOYOS as the good guy and TIM BURCHETT as the bad guy. Actually Tim is a nice person but his election will be a step backward and Renee will be the voice of the future.

Bob Scott

I did not write this but everyone who vilifies “the LEFT” needs to read it over several times (but they won’t)

0 THE BLOG 08/07/2008 05:12 am ET | Updated May 25, 2011
Right-Wing TN Church Shooter is Fan of O’Reilly, Hannity, Savage

By Jonathan Kim

On Sunday, 58-year-old Jim Adkisson entered the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church during a children’s performance of the musical “Annie Jr.” In a guitar case, he carried a shotgun and 76 rounds. Adkisson killed two church members, Greg McKendry (60) and Linda Kraeger (61), and wounded six more before he was wrestled to the ground as he tried to reload. What was Adkisson’s motive? From RawStory:
A report from the local Knoxville news details the findings from Adkisson’s home, along with key statements from a document written by Adkisson related to an apparent motive behind the violent attack that rocked the suburban community:
“Adkisson targeted the church, [Investigator Steve] Still wrote in the document obtained by WBIR-TV, Channel 10, ‘because of its liberal teachings and his belief that all liberals should be killed because they were ruining the country, and that he felt that the Democrats had tied his country’s hands in the war on terror and they had ruined every institution in America with the aid of media outlets.’

“Adkisson told Still that ‘he could not get to the leaders of the liberal movement that he would then target those that had voted them in to office.’”

If any of that sounds familiar, it’s because you’ve been hearing the exact same claims coming from the right wing’s most prominent stars and spokespeople for years. It’s all there: liberals are ruining the country, Democrats are letting the terrorists win, liberals hate America, the liberal media is bamboozling the nation.
Carol Smallwood, a longtime acquaintance of Adkisson’s, said he hates “’blacks, gays and anyone different from him,” which is also consistent with right-wing ideology. In a four-page note Adkisson left in his car, he explicitly noted his hate for the “liberal movement” — the Unitarian Universalist church is well known for its liberal stances on homosexuality, civil rights, opposition to war, women’s rights, and multiculturalism. While another major cause of Adkisson’s rage was his inability to find work and having his foodstamps reduced, Knoxville Police Chief Sterling P. Owen IV noted “[Adkisson] did express frustration that the liberal movement was getting jobs.”
And how do we know that Adkisson was a consumer of popular right-wing thinking? Anticipating that he would be shot by police, Adkisson left the door to his house open to make it easier for authorities to enter. He didn’t want his motive and the ideology it sprang from to be a secret. From the Knoxville News Sentinel:
Inside [Adkisson’s] house, officers found “Liberalism is a Mental Health Disorder” by radio talk show host Michael Savage, “Let Freedom Ring” by talk show host Sean Hannity, and “The O’Reilly Factor,” by television talk show host Bill O’Reilly.
The right has already begun and will continue to claim that Adkisson is just a crazy nut, is not really a conservative (or is actually a liberal), that his stated motive of carrying out right-wing ideology means nothing, and that it is “inappropriate” to discuss politics in relation to such a heinous crime. But they are wrong on all counts. While Adkisson’s money problems surely caused him to snap, it was the words of the right’s loudest voices and brightest stars that gave him the justification for his rampage. Some quick Google searches turned up these quotes from prominent right-wingers:
“I’ll tell you who should be tortured and killed at Guantanamo — every filthy Democrat in the U.S. Congress.” — Sean Hannity
“To fight only the al-Qaeda scum is to miss the terrorist network operating within our own borders… Who are these traitors? Every rotten radical left-winger in this country, that’s who.” — Michael Savage
“Liberalism is the greatest threat this country faces.” — Rush Limbaugh
“It is not a stretch to say that MoveOn is the new Klan.” — Bill O’Reilly
“I’m thinking about killing Michael Moore, and I’m wondering if I could kill him myself, or if I would need to hire somebody to do it. No, I think I could.” — Glenn Beck
“We need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed, too.” — Ann Coulter
“I don’t see any difference between [Arianna] Huffington and the Nazis.” — Bill O’Reilly
“The Islamofascists are actually campaigning for the election of Democrats. Islamofascists from Ahmadinejad to al-Zawahiri, Oba — Osama bin Laden, whoever, are constantly issuing Democrat talking points.” — Rush Limbaugh
“There are things in life worth fighting and dying for and one of ‘em is making sure Nancy Pelosi doesn’t become the [House] speaker.” — Sean Hannity 
Obviously, this merely scratches the surface of what issues daily from the mouths and keyboards of right-wing pundits.
And let’s make one thing very clear: these are not quotes from the fringes of the right, opinionated actors, and anonymous bloggers marketing to a small number of depraved kooks. These are from the right’s best-selling authors, their most popular radio hosts, and their most prominent TV personalities with audiences in the millions. Just this month, ABC Networks and Premiere Radio Networks gave Sean Hannity a five-year $100 million contract and Clear Channel gave Rush Limbaugh a staggering eight-year $400 million contract. O’Reilly, Savage, and Coulter’s books consistently land on the New York Times’ best-sellers list, many at #1. In fact, all three of the known right-wing books found in Adkisson’s house were NYT best-sellers.
Let’s just call this what it is: the right wing openly, proudly, loudly, and repeatedly advocates violence against liberals and Democrats. In fact, they are paid millions to do it and are given national platforms to spread their message. You cannot say that liberals and Democrats actively and purposefully want to destroy the United States and equate them with Nazis, Al-Qaeda, and the Ku Klux Klan, then claim that you don’t want them to get hurt. You can probably guess how Hannity, O’Reilly and their ilk feel terrorists should be dealt with, and it isn’t a fair trial with the full protection of the law and the Geneva Convention.
Now the right will claim that it is the left that is hateful and violent and that the left is “just as bad” or worse. To that I say: Prove It. And I don’t mean some comment on a blog from crazylib420 — I mean a quote from a prominent, best-selling liberal or Democrat who commands salaries in the millions of dollars. Show me when Arianna Huffington, Keith Olbermann, Bill Moyers, Al Franken, Michael Moore, Rachel Maddow, Markos Moulitsos, or someone from the “liberal” media repeatedly said that the News Corp. building should be blown up, Republican senators should be executed, that the only way to talk to conservatives is with a baseball bat, or that John McCain should be assasinated. If liberals are truly more violent than conservatives, this should be an easy task. Yes, Keith Olbermann has said that George W. Bush and his administration practiced fascism with their criminal collusion with telecom companies to spy on Americans without warrants, but that would only be offensive if you didn’t know what the definition of fascism is (according to Encarta: any movement, tendency, or ideology that favors dictatorial government, centralized control of private enterprise, repression of all opposition, and extreme nationalism).
The right-wing myth that it is actually liberals who are hate-filled and violent would be laughable if it wasn’t so dangerous. Because it is this perception that liberals are out to physically harm or kill conservatives that justifies the right actually committing violence against those whom they consider liberals. If conservatives feel a violent “war” is being waged against them by minorities, gays, judges, and liberals who want to see America destroyed physically, culturally, and spiritually, how are they supposed to fight back? The right consistently uses violent and warlike words and imagery to describe the domestic enemies they face, including the “liberal” media that Adkisson also blamed for the decline of America.
Adkisson did not open fire in that church because he was obeying imaginary voices in his head and did not know right from wrong. The voices in his head were from the likes of Savage, O’Reilly, Hannity, Coulter, and Limbaugh, and they were telling him exactly what was right (conservatives) and what was wrong (liberals, gays, minorities, Democrats) and who he should blame for all his and the nation’s hardships. I haven’t read the books Adkisson read, but I’m guessing they did not fill him with love and tolerance. My guess is that the books accomplished exactly what they were written to do — fill readers with fear and rage towards liberals. Adkisson himself said that he would’ve rather killed liberal leaders, but thought that killing liberal voters was a suitable alternative. Would Ann Coulter, who claimed “My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times Building”, disagree?
Meanwhile, back at FOX, they have imposed a near media blackout of this story, despite the involvement of its two biggest stars. I’ve watched enough FOX to know that stories about mass shootings, sensational murders, and missing white children/women are their bread and butter, filling the times when they aren’t attacking Democrats. But as of 9:28pm PT, a search of the foxnews.com website turned up not one story about the shooting. Neither O’Reilly nor Hannity mentioned the shooting on the Monday or Tuesday after the shooting. In contrast, both O’Reilly and Hannity devoted large blocks of their shows to the Virginia Tech shootings, and FOX did stories about it around the clock. But when their books helped provide the justification for politically motivated murder, Hannity and O’Reilly apparently can’t be bothered to address it, or even acknowledge that it happened. O’Reilly and Hannity are quick to blame violence on video games, rap music, liberals, and the decline of American culture, but they are silent when the hatred they explicitly espouse is acted upon. By not covering the story, FOX, O’Reilly and Hannity are not just protecting themselves, but also the violent right wing ideology that created the Frankenstein’s Monster that was let loose on the victims of the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church.
Even though FOX won’t cover this story, it cannot be allowed to fade because some network or editor feels the murder wasn’t gruesome enough or the body count was not high enough to officially constitute a national tragedy and the accompanying media frenzy. Because no matter what conservatives will say, this shooting in Knoxville says something very important about the right wing and the messages its most prominent, powerful, most highly-paid voices are sending to millions of Americans. To be honest, I’m surprised that incidents like this are not more common, though I suppose it happens every time a gay person or any other minority is attacked simply for being who they are. But if a bout of economic hardship is enough to cause a right-wing true believer to aim a shotgun at his imagined liberal oppressors, this sad episode may be repeated for years to come.
(Research for this post by Max Schulman and Colin Eldred-Cohen) 
Follow Jonathan Kim on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ReThinkReviews

In thinking about socialism our government – almost without exception only gets involved or takes something over when the private sector can’t or won’t do that something in the best interests of the country. I have worked where companies polluted the environment and they would not stop unless they were made to stop. Kingston Pike in Knoxville was once a private toll road- can you imagine if all roads were little toll roads? They have private armies in some countries- no one thinks that is a good idea. Private health care has resulted in many people who don’t get the care they need. Well paid publicly employed police are needed to protect all the public and prevent corruption. The availability of patents is really appreciated by inventors. The private sector can do many things very well but often regulations are needed to prevent a race to the lowest cost regardless of any unpleasant consequences.
Unregulated capitalism quickly deteriorates to oligarchy. For a great example look at what happened to the poor Russians- they went in a few months from communism to unregulated capitalism with wealth concentrated in a few oligarchs. There should always be evaluation and correction but capitalism with well considered regulation and some functions run by government is the best current system even if people who don’t like government involvement want to label it a dirty word-SOCIALISM. If this be socialism, make the most of it.

Single Payer Medical
I have had medical insurance- I am currently on Medicare- for most of my adult life and I appreciate the feeling of security it gives me. The people who are against Obamacare and single payer insurance do not have any thing that will give everyone the feeling of security that we who are insured have. I pay more for my insurance than it pays for my illnesses and surgeries and I am happy to do so.
Medicare for all would be a very good system- Medicare has one serious problem, however. The US congress decides how much the doctors and hospitals are paid and congress- particularly when controlled by Republicans- will not pay what is needed for doctors and hospitals to thrive. A good single payer system- like Medicare for all- would be a benefit to our country and a person who knows about Medical costs like Phil Bredesen could really help -in that or in any debate on changes to the medical care system. The pharmaceutical industry spent 2.3 billion dollars in this decade lobbying and It shows incredible lack of understanding of reality for a recipient of a lot of that money to criticize a person with a degree in physics who has worked in the pharmaceutical industry and founded a large health maintenance organization. Or maybe she thinks voters won’t bother to discover that Phil Bredesen knows what he is talking about.

Please do not elect a climate denier to anything.
Carbon dioxide is a waste product when people burn coal, oil and natural gas and it is mostly disposed of into the atmosphere. Worldwide fossil fuel burning will result in about 35,000,000,000 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere this year and this will raise the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from 411 to about 413 parts per million, When I first saw the Keeling curve ( look it up) I thought it was interesting but not worrisome- the carbon dioxide yearly rise was only about 2 parts per million- but it has kept on going up from 315 to over 410 ppm and is still going up.
What does carbon dioxide do in our atmosphere? It controls the earth temperature. If we had no carbon dioxide in the atmosphere all the oceans would freeze. Do climate deniers know that? If we have too much carbon dioxide the oceans will get too warm and the ice caps will melt and raise the oceans by several hundred feet- goodby Florida!
Our generation must quickly stop extracting fossil fuels from the ground and go to massive solar power installation. We have the technology now- we never had it before and we have been given the technology just in time. All that is needed is the political will to lead the world into power generation without carbon dioxide.
People in the past have done remarkable things- the Egyptian pyramids, the pre Columbian Indian towns made without iron, the mound builders. Now it is our turn to do something wonderful for our children but like the great wall of China it can’t be done without political leaders who have the ability to understand the damage climate deniers are doing right now and stand up as leaders.
Everything else can wait- we humans have to turn the Keeling curve downward and do it now.
Do not vote for any candidate for any office who will not promise to lead on cutting out carbon dioxide emissions by massively increasing renewable power generation. Find out who they are.

Abortion letter
We got a blind phone call from a man who said he represented a “ pro life “ organization. This was a misrepresentation- he represented an organization that opposes legal abortions. The pretext is that Roe vs Wade initiated millions of abortions and repealing it will save millions of unborn children. Anyone who favors legal abortions is a baby killing murderer. The facts are never stated- only the emotional scream that the Democrats are evil people who “rip the innocent baby out” and murder it and sell the parts for a profit.
Worldwide about half of all pregnancies are unwanted and about half of the unwanted pregnancies end in abortion – whether they are legal or not. If you really want fewer abortions then you need to have abortions safe and legal so you can know how many there are and devise policies to reduce the number. If you want to stop all abortions you should move to another planet. Making birth control readily available seems to be the most effective way to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and concurrently the number of abortions. Good education also helps.
Under presidents Clinton and Obama the number of abortions in the United States was trending down. The Republican fight against birth control and safe, legal abortions will reverse the downward trend and there will be more abortions but screaming about murdering babies will still blind many well intentioned people and raise money and influence votes. And people who voted for Trump and believe Fox News are probably not willing to understand this.
If you think outlawing abortions solves problems then maybe you think outlawing alcohol and drugs solves problems?

Theodore Roosevelt National Park Is one of our country”s treasures.

I have worked in refineries and chemical plants and I know they are serious sources of air pollution because the operators cut corners and ignore spills and venting. A responsible company would not be building next to a national park and the fact that a company plans such a plant is evidence that it is irresponsible and it will have poor management. Responsible management starts at the top and there is essentially no chance the plant will be run to minimize air pollution. It will be run to lower operating costs. I ask you to google Bhopal to see how poorly irresponsible plants are run. The Bhopal plant management removed the air conditioning on a tank and didn’t even reset the alarm temperature- and killed thousands of people. I have seen how poorly some companies act and the fact that this company is siting a plant next to a national treasure is an Indictment- whatever they pontificate about how great they are.

There is a more suitable location. Large-scale industrial development does not belong next to a national park.

I hope you care about America’s natural and cultural heritage. I hope you will reconsider the significance of this storied landscape and relocate the refinery to a more suitable location where Theodore Roosevelt National Park will not be affected.

I appreciate your consideration.