... And Another Thing: California, Here We Come?

If No On 1 wins ...

When supporters of Amendment 1 to Tennessee's constitution on the November ballot say they fear a loss would mean more taxpayer support of abortions in the state, they have in mind something like what happened in California recently, according to The Federalist.

That state's Department of Managed Health Care recently ordered all insurance plans in the state to immediately begin to cover elective abortions. That's not pills or contraceptives but procedural abortions.

With the goading of the American Civil Liberties Union, the department concluded that a 40-year-old state law requiring health plans to cover "basic health services" had been misinterpreted all these years. The state's own employee health plans had covered only "medically necessary" abortions, but the new directive goes much further.

It means even churches, which can legally exclude contraceptives from their health plans for reasons of religious conscience, have to provide surgical abortions. So another Hobby Lobby case -- eventually winding up in the U.S. Supreme Court -- may be in the offing. Alliance Defending Freedom and Life Legal Defense Foundation already have filed administrative complaints with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights, so stay tuned.

Not neutral

Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke must deal with various politicians in Chattanooga, Nashville and Washington, D.C., in his effort to do the best he can for the Scenic City. Among those politicians are U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Ooltewah, and U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-South Pittsburg, both of whom he might want on his side in federal legislation involving Chattanooga. But the mayor, a former Democratic state representative, is not being shy about his picks in next month's congressional elections.

He recently voiced his support for Dr. Mary Headrick, the Democrat who is opposing Fleischmann, and Lenda Sherrell, the former Chattanoogan who is opposing DesJarlais. Indeed, he and and his wife, Monique, are hosting a reception at their home on Oct. 30 for Sherrell, with sponsorship levels listed at $1,000, $500 and $250. Joining him, among others, as part of the host committee are former U.S. Rep. Lincoln Davis, who was defeated by DesJarlais in 2010, and Chattanooga City Councilman Yusuf Hakeem.

Berke is perfectly within his rights to support any and all candidates, but it must gall those who thought he might remain neutral in the races in order to foster a better working relationship for the future.

Socking it to the poor

Once again, President Barack Obama's plans will hurt rather than help -- as he likes to claim -- those who can least afford it in the Tennessee Valley if electricity rates skyrocket by up to 18 percent due to his Clean Power Plan, which is what a study by a business group claims.

Whether the rates jump 2 or 18 percent, they hit the poor the hardest since they can least afford the increases.

In June, the president's Environmental Protection Agency announced plans for carbon controls on fossil fuel power plants that would reduce carbon intensity by 30 percent by 2030. States are expected to submit their blueprints to do so by 2016, and they are expected to be in effect by 2020.

The study, funded by the coal, railroad and manufacturing industries that admittedly would be heavily affected by the controls, found that electricity rates would increase by double-digit levels in 43 states. Those states include Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia.

Mike Duncan, a former chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority and now chief executive officer of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, said the new rules are "plagued with problems" and would be "exorbitantly expensive." In comparison, he said, the plan would cost more than five times as much as the Clean Air Act Amendments of 2010.

"I have one thing to say to the president," Duncan said. "Pull this rule before irrevocable consequences hit American people and businesses."

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