Bart Gordon’s Town Hall meeting on Monday night drew a crowd of 900 constituents, the vast majority of whom oppose a national-socialist style healthcare takeover, which despite his protestations to the contrary (see below) is exactly what Congressman Gordon voted out of committee (H.R. 3200).

The Daily News Journal videotaped the event and streamed it live over the internet, and now has made it available via Livestream. You can watch the town hall meeting in its entirety below.

Hey folks! Adam Johnson here; I write the newsletters for Middle Tennessee Tea Party.

It has been suggested that because we intend to have a peaceful event on Saturday the 22^nd, the “cowardly event organizers for the conservatives” somehow are “zombies” who should “bow down” and “kiss [the SEIU’s/ACORN's] feet and hands,” as if the Tea Party movement is merely “meek opposition,” trying to keep Panel attendees “from carrying signs or showing any signs of intelligence,” and that “by [my] standards,” we should “just give them everything they want now.” After all, “why meet at all if we’re going to roll over like our wimpy representatives and senators[?]”

I find that accusation insulting and more than a little short-sighted, but since it’s been made, allow me to make myself plain upon tables.

The Panel is an informational event, the point of which is for our people to walk away more intelligent and informed than when they came.

We are indeed planning on protesting, vociferously so, but at the Town Hall, not the Panel. Let the SEIU have their little demonstration; let them waste their movement’s momentum demonstrating at Bart Gordon’s office, in front of a man who already is sympathetic for their cause and who is likely not even to be there when they show up.

Seriously, does it make any logical sense to demonstrate in front of a person who’s not even there? One might as well write a letter to Santa Claus asking for his liberties back!

Frankly, it’s not signs or slogans that concern me; it’s haughty, spiteful, cynical attitudes on the part of a profound minority of those in the Tea Party movement. We’re all angry to a point, of course; our country is being stolen from us, and for the first time in 150 years, we find ourselves in the position of not standing for the status quo.

I’m a card carrying Libertarian. In my own Party, what has held us back from making substantive progress for our cause always have been vocal, short-sighted troublemakers: those who are more interested in scoring cheap political points than making substantive progress in the direction of Liberty; those who are more concerned with making themselves feel like they’re making an impact than they are in taking a step back, considering the available options, and actually making an difference; those who are more concerned with looking cool than being a good American and working for our founding Fathers’ vision of America.

Now forgive me if I don’t take kindly to being called a coward. I would hope that the people who claim to be supportive of the libertarian-conservative point of view would not be too short-sighted to know the difference between “cowardly” and “smart.” By my standards (or the standards of any reasonably intelligent, civilized person) we should outsmart them. We should look at their plans, their history, their reputation and stifle any opportunity they have to gain sympathy for themselves or their cause, to make themselves look good, or to make us look bad.

Honestly, how can one expect the Tea Party movement to “look different from the SEIU/Acorn [sic] thugs” by behaving just like they do and provoking an altercation with them, which altercations have been their modus operandi for years? If anybody chooses to fight, let it be them. Then, they will be seen as the Big Union thugs harassing the peaceful, yet stoic, Tea Party folks, the same way the police in the South were made to look bad during the peaceful protests of the Civil Rights movement era.

I defy anybody to tell me seriously that he considers those protesters of the ’50s and ’60s to be anything but heroes, and I defy him doubly to tell me that he considers those southern police officers to have been anything but villains.

Seriously, I think we all really need to take a good, long, hard look at this country. Look at the players on the political landscape. Look at how our opposition and how they do what they do. Look at us and what we’ve been doing for the last 150 years.

Now, ask yourself this question: “even if we defeat every piece of their legislation and pass every piece of ours, if we stoop to their level and play their game, will they not eventually bring public opinion back to their side and come back stronger next time, or would we be better off to write a new book, one that keeps public sentiment on our side without giving them political ammunition to use against us in the future?”

So I said all that to say this.

“Know your enemy, and know yourself.”

—Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Now let’s all get out there and take our country back the right way!

—Adam Johnson
Member of the Committee
Middle Tennessee Tea Party
www.MidTNTeaParty.org

DumpBartGordon.com now has been merged into the Middle Tennessee Tea Party website. From now on, the DumpBartGordon.com address will redirect to the DumpBartGordon category here on MidTNTeaParty.com, so keep using the old address if you like!

We still will be keeping eyes on Bart and reporting back to you with information on his (mis)deeds, and sending out calls to action, so stay tuned. Between healthcare reform, Cash for Clunkers, cap & trade/tax, and socialism in general, we all have quite enough to keep us busy!

If you were subscribed to the DumpBartGordon e-mail list and not the Middle Tennessee Tea Party e-mail list, you will receive a confirmation e-mail offering to convert your subscription to the Middle Tennessee Tea Party e-mail list.

In Liberty,

Middle Tennessee Tea Party

Bart Gordon was handed his first defeat Saturday, August 15th. Along for the rocky road trip to defeat were Rep. Kent Coleman and Democrat Party Chairman Jonathan Fagan. In a failed attempt to send Middle Tennessee Electric’s Board a message for criticizing his recent vote to impose a Cap & Trade Energy Tax on consumers, Gordon and the Democrat Party attempted to defeat incumbent board member David Lee of Smyrna. They ran Democrat Party Treasurer M.A. Smitty.

For the Rutherford County or District 2 seat, David Lee defeated M.A. Smitty of Eagleville by a 820-261 margin. There are a total of three MTEMC board seats representing Rutherford County.

Throughout the country tea party protestors are being assaulted at town hall meetings, are being called mobs by the media and Democratic leaders. The White House appears to be collecting an enemies list, hiring crooks (ACORN) to carryout the census, while their supporters are personally attacking private citizens and businesses, and attempting to taking over organizations like electric co-ops that oppose them. This is not the Democratic Party of our youth. Reasonable people long for the day when we can agree to disagree without the nasty tactics that seem to be the standard operating procedure for Bart’s cronies. When will traditional Democrats take their party back?

State Senators Bill Ketron and Jim Tracy joined GOP Chairman Lou Ann Zelenik in support of David Lee’s re-election. Many thanks to the huge crowd that turned out to defeat an attempted Democrat Party coup.

Please contact MTEMC to show your support for their continued efforts to defeat Obama’s disastrous Cap and Trade legislation – which Bart voted for.

Don’t get complacent due to this one small victory. We need to continue to let Bart know that we want him to represent the 6th District and not the liberals in DC.

In concert with events planned across the country, join us to listen in a politician-free, citizen-led panel discussion. We will discuss the proposed healthcare legislation and its potential impact on our lives. Bart Gordon has been invited to sit in the audience, but so far, he has declined. We will save him a front-row seat.

DATE: Sat 08.22.2009
TIME: 12:00 noon to 1:00
PLACE: Rutherford County Courthouse, Murfreesboro, TN

Assuming everything goes as smoothly as hoped by supporters of healthcare reform, there will be only one more vote in the House before the Act passes to the Senate and then the President.

Our sister organization Sumner United for Responsible Government, also in the 6^th District, has put together a “Last Straw Petition” for us “to let Representative Bart Gordon know that if he casts another vote in favor of government-run healthcare we will cast our votes against him.”

Click “The Last Straw” at the top of the page to get all the details!

Here’s what the Democrat’s health care bill will create to further cement the Federal governments death-grip on We The People.
1. Health Benefits Advisory Committee (Section 123, p. 30)
2. Health Choices Administration (Section 141, p. 41)
3. Qualified Health Benefits Plan Ombudsman (Section 144, p. 47)
4. Program of administrative simplification (Section 163, p. 57)
5. Retiree Reserve Trust Fund (Section 164(d), p. 70)
6. Health Insurance Exchange (Section 201, p. 72)
7. Mechanism for insurance risk pooling to be established by Health Choices Administration Commissioner (Section 206(b), p. 106)
8. Special Inspector General for the Health Insurance Exchange (Section 206(c), p. 107)
9. Health Insurance Exchange Trust Fund (Section 207, p. 109)
10. State-based Health Insurance Exchanges (Section 208, p. 111)
11. “Public Health Insurance Option” (Section 221, p. 116)
12. Ombudsman for “Public Health Insurance Option” (Section 221(d), p. 117)
13. Account for receipts and disbursements for “Public Health Insurance Option” (Section 222(b), p. 119)
14. Telehealth Advisory Committee (Section 1191, p. 380)
15. Demonstration program providing reimbursement for “culturally and
linguistically appropriate services” (Section 1222, p. 405)
16. Demonstration program for shared decision making using patient decision aids (Section 1236, p. 438)
17. Accountable Care Organization pilot program (Section 1301, p. 443)
18. Independent patient-centered medical home pilot program under Medicare (Section 1302, p. 462)
19. Community-based medical home pilot program under Medicare (Section 1302(d), p. 468)
20. Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research (Section 1401(a), p. 502)
21. Comparative Effectiveness Research Commission (Section 1401(a), p. 505)
22. Patient ombudsman for comparative effectiveness research (Section 1401(a), p. 519)
23. Quality assurance and performance improvement program for skilled nursing facilities (Section 1412(b)(1), p. 546)
24. Quality assurance and performance improvement program for nursing facilities (Section 1412 (b)(2), p. 548)
25. Special focus facility program for skilled nursing facilities (Section 1413(a)(3), p. 559)
26. Special focus facility program for nursing facilities (Section 1413(b)(3), p. 565)
27. National independent monitor pilot program for skilled nursing facilities and nursing facilities (Section 1422, p. 607)
28. Demonstration program for approved teaching health centers with respect to Medicare GME (Section 1502(d), p. 674)
29. Pilot program to develop anti-fraud compliance systems for Medicare providers (Section 1635, p. 716)
30. Medical home pilot program under Medicaid (Section 1722, p. 780)
31. Comparative Effectiveness Research Trust Fund (Section 1802, p. 824)
32. “Identifiable office or program” within CMS to “provide for
improved coordination between Medicare and Medicaid in the case of dual
eligibles” (Section 1905, p. 852)
33. Public Health Investment Fund (Section 2002, p. 859)
34. Scholarships for service in health professional needs areas (Section 2211, p. 870)
35. Loan repayment program for service in health professional needs areas (Section 2211, p. 873)
36. Program for training medical residents in community-based settings (Section 2214, p. 882)
37. Grant program for training in dentistry programs (Section 2215, p. 887)
38. Public Health Workforce Corps (Section 2231, p. 898)
39. Public health workforce scholarship program (Section 2231, p. 900)
40. Public health workforce loan forgiveness program (Section 2231, p. 904)
41. Grant program for innovations in interdisciplinary care (Section 2252, p 917)
42. Advisory Committee on Health Workforce Evaluation and Assessment (Section 2261, p. 920)
43. Prevention and Wellness Trust (Section 2301, p. 932)
44. Clinical Prevention Stakeholders Board (Section 2301, p. 941)
45. Community Prevention Stakeholders Board (Section 2301, p. 947)
46. Grant program for community prevention and wellness research (Section 2301, p. 950)
47. Grant program for community prevention and wellness services (Section 2301, p. 951)
48. Grant program for public health infrastructure (Section 2301, p. 955)
49. Center for Quality Improvement (Section 2401, p. 965)
50. Assistant Secretary for Health Information (Section 2402, p. 972)
51. Grant program to support the operation of school-based health clinics (Section 2511, p. 993)
52. National Medical Device Registry (Section 2521, p. 1001)
53. Grants for labor-management programs for nursing training (Section 2531, p. 1008)
This is how Washington works.

U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon plans to host three public town hall meetings, the first one to be held Monday night in Murfreesboro, according to Kent Syler, a spokesman for the 6th Congressional District representative.
The first forum will be at 7 p.m. Monday night at a place to be determined in Murfreesboro.
“It will be a town hall format, but the details have to be worked out,” said Andrew Oppmann, president and publisher of the Daily News Journal. “The congressman’s staff asked for our help to get this accomplished.”

http://politics.nashvillepost.com/2009/08/11/bart-buckles-gordon-will-hold-live-townhall/

Bart Gordon wants to tell your electric company what information they should pass on to you. You the member, owner, and rate payer. Bart’s irritated with the Middle Tennessee Electric Company Board of Directors because they’ve been telling you that his Cap and Trade bill will raise your electric bill and how. Every month you receive The Tennessee Magazine from your electric company informing you on issues related to your electricity distribution business. Recently the magazine has contained articles and editorials letting you know with certainty that Bart Gordon’s signature piece of legislation will raise your bill. Bart isn’t amused. He’s sending the Board of Directors a message by running A.A. Smitty, sitting Treasurer Rutherford County Democrat Party against an experienced honest member who takes his duties to you seriously. We, the members and owners of MTEMC will not let Bart get away with it.

Rally and vote for David Lee, District 2B at the MTEMC annual meeting.

Who can Attend: Everyone. Bring signs and lets have some fun.
Who can vote: MTEMC members. If you recieve an electric bill from MTEMC you are a member. Bring your drivers license or other valid ID.
When: 7:30-11:00 AM, Saturday August 15
Where: The Embassy Suites Hotel and Conference Center in Murfreesboro. Located just off I-24 at exit 76 on 1200 Conference Center Blvd.

Every person and business in Middle Tennessee will be negativly effected by Bart Gordon’s bill and he doesn’t even want to talk to you about it. That’s outrageous. Don’t let this opportunity pass to make yourself heard and protect the integrity of a prized community asset. We will be there. We need you to stand with us.

“Bart Gordon evidently doesn’t have the courage to show up in person to face his constituents, so he is having a telephone town hall meeting. Please sign up at http://gordon.house.gov/contact/tth_signup.shtml “—Tadd E.