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Yes, we know But, you know, there's someplace between "California" and "Papua New Guinea" that still works well and isn't taxed to death.

Well, California works quite well, so they're not taxed to death, sorry for breaking the news to you.

San Francisco's city budget is about the size of Tennessee's state budget. At what point do we realize that something just isn't right about this?

Hmm, now?

I mean, 9 billion versus 37 billion. That's only off by 4. And not even comparable, since the budget of the state of Tennessee isn't covering the same things that San Francisco's city budget is. A lot of what San Francisco the city does is also done at the city and county level in Tennessee.

So bad enough you totally bullshitted on the numbers, you're bullshitting on the funding principles.

We have roads, sewer, a police force, schools, etc. They're paid for with a state sales tax that's 9.25%, about what CA pays. But we don't have a state income tax. We realize that we don't need it.

Much of the expenditures for police in Tennessee is paid for with property taxes. As are schools but well, courts are hearing if it's underfunded.. And the state just passed an increase in its gas tax to pay for roads.

I'm sorry you don't know how things work, but that you don't know is quite detrimental to your own ability to communicate your ideas.

CA's tax structure is maniacal, and the wealthy people who set this up have no idea how badly they're screwing the middle and lower classes.

Yet you have demonstrated no knowledge about your OWN state's funding or taxes, let alone another one's.

It was my understanding that many states will not allow you to title a vehicle in the state if you do not have a physical address. If that is the case, any of the banned states could refuse to title one that does not already have an existing title which makes your end run scenario ineffective. By the time I get around to buying one, they'll be antiques anyway, so it probably won't matter :(

For instance, in Tennessee, from the DMV website:
In the case of an individual, Tenn. Code Ann. Sections 55-3-103(a) and 55-4-101(c) require a person seeking to register a vehicle in Tennessee to have a bona fide residence in Tennessee. The use of the term "bona fide residence" simply means that a person is living at a physical location in the state of Tennessee.

First read the bills slate.com gives as evidence.
http://ncse.com/files/pub/lega...
http://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bill...

Now, show me where it says, "teach creationism".

I'm not saying they are wrong, and that LA/TN aren't teach creationism; but those laws seem to protect teachers from getting fired for teaching [locally controversial] science the way I read them (as long as they don't explicitly say, "you're religion is wrong").

Hello from Amazon.com,

Thank you for being a loyal customer of Amazon.com LLC. We appreciate your business and look forward to continuing to provide you vast selection, low prices, fast delivery and convenience.

As you may know, Amazon.com LLC is not required to collect sales or use taxes in Tennessee. However, the state of Tennessee requires us to provide the following notice to you:

You may owe use tax on purchases you made from Amazon.com LLC during the previous calendar year. The amount of tax you may owe is based on the total sales price of the items you purchased during the calendar year unless an exemption exists under state law or you have already paid the tax. A sale is not exempt under state law because it is made through the Internet. The total sales price of purchases you had shipped to Tennessee in 2011 was $104.78. This is the amount that you may include on your Tennessee use tax return to calculate the appropriate use tax owed unless you have already paid the tax.

As purchases from Amazon.com LLC can be made through various sales channels, we have included directly below your breakdown of purchases from the various channels.

Total sales from www.amazon.com $xxx.xx
Total sales from www.endless.com $0.00
Total sales from www.myhabit.com $0.00
Total sales from www.amazonwireless.com $0.00
Total sales from www.smallparts.com $0.00

In addition, the state of Tennessee requires us to provide you with the following link that you can use to get more information and pay any taxes due:

Use Tax Page: https://apps.tn.gov/usetax Please note the following:

While Amazon.com LLC does not report this information directly to the state of Tennessee we are required to provide this information to you based on Tennessee Code T.C.A. 67-6-5 (f)(3) signed into law March 23, 2012.

This notification has been sent to all customers that had purchases delivered to Tennessee. If you are not a resident of Tennessee, the most common reason for receiving this notification is that you may have sent a gift to a recipient in the state.

For more information you may also view our Tennessee Use Tax Notification Page at:

www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200909330

Sincerely,
Customer Service

Excerpt from HB0368 (the "Monkey" bill):
"(2) The teaching of some scientific subjects, including, but not limited to, biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming, and human cloning, can cause controversy; and
(3) Some teachers may be unsure of the expectations concerning how they should present information on such subjects."
Source

I can't even begin to count how many times I've been told "Evolution 'skepticism' has NOTHING to do with Climate Change skepticism!"... from where I sit it's all there in black and white.

In case you want to read the bill. I think 1D is the main issue.

Thanks.
"(d) Neither the state board of education, nor any public elementary or secondary
school governing authority, director of schools, school system administrator, or any
public elementary or secondary school principal or administrator shall prohibit any
teacher in a public school system of this state from helping students understand,
analyze, critique, and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific
weaknesses of existing scientific theories covered in the course being taught.
(e) This section only protects the teaching of scientific information, and shall not
be construed to promote any religious or non-religious doctrine, promote discrimination
for or against a particular set of religious beliefs or non-beliefs, or promote discrimination
for or against religion or non-religion."

A lot of people here want scientists who do not question the current theories. So much for progress. A lot of people here want to bash religion for a bill that is explicitly not promoting religion. So much for the First Amendment.

http://www.votesmart.org/candidate/48696/bo-watson
"A smaller government is more effective at addressing the needs of individuals. Bo believes that the government that is closest to home is the best, and that is why he chose to run for office in State Government."

http://ltgov.tn.gov/2011/04/lt-gov-ramsey-to-appoint-sen-watson-as-next-speaker-pro-tempore/Lt. Gov Ramsey said Watson's "tireless work on issues of government reform has been an inspiration to all of us striving to make state government as small, efficient and transparent as possible."

How exactly does micromanaging school curricula --down to the very topic-- by the state legislature count as small government, again? It seems like those who trumpet "small government" are the quickest to use government as a big, nosy cudgel to impose their beliefs upon citizens, and to compel or prohibit citizens' actions.

Read the bill before you make such conjecture.

Neither the state board of education, nor any public elementary or secondary
school governing authority, director of schools, school system administrator, or any
public elementary or secondary school principal or administrator shall prohibit any
teacher in a public school system of this state from helping students understand,
analyze, critique, and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific
weaknesses of existing scientific theories covered in the course being taught.

Now, getting good teachers is another matter.

In case you want to read the bill. I think 1D is the main issue.

This is slashdot, no one actually clicks through and reads details before they post (although we violated that rule).

The bill as written is actually pretty good.

Here is the link to the actual bill:

Tennessee HB 0368/SB 0893

Just like guns, automobiles or iPhone jailbreaks: I am sure this bill could be misused. However, it appears to be a good bill - and it is sad that we even would need a bill such as this.

This is tagged as "republicans".

http://www.capitol.tn.gov/districtmaps/Senatewest.html

Obion County is in district 24. The representative from that district is a Democrat. Just click on the representative's biography. The current senator is a Republican, but was preceded by Democrat John Tanner, who was there for 20 years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_S._Tanner