If you've ever followed Tennessee politics, you'll know that Tennessee has no state income tax. This drives the legislature nuts, and every year they try to get an income tax pushed through. They've tried meeting in the dead of night or behind closed doors, and on several occasions have nearly gotten away with it. Last fall, I even wrote about Steve Gill, a Nashville radio host that organized an impromptu protest on the capital steps when he got word that the legislature was planning a vote on the issue behind closed doors.

With local economies in a slump, and the socialized Tennessee health care system sucking up more and more state money, it's not surprising that proponents of the tax have been using the bad news to further their agenda. Just last year, the poor economy was used as an excuse to pass a sales tax increase, giving Tennessee one of the highest sales taxes in the nation.

For everything that you've heard about 'liberal media', however, it is almost surprising that the Tennessee media seems to be a pretty big ally of income tax opponents. Last week, News Channel 5 featured a story about government waste of highway safety money. Money that was supposed to be spent on promoting seat belt use or on a drinking and driving campaign went instead to provide bobblehead dolls and other sports trinkets to hockey fans; and the trinkets and giveaways didn't even have their message emblazoned on them. In this case, as with others, the media is actually looking out for the public's interests, rather than their own.

UPDATE: Libertarians and Republicans often come off as mean spirited or uncaring when they look for ways to cut government programs. Still, nobody is going to be able to convince me that money should be seized from taxpayers with the threat of lethal force, so that the government can buy hockey fans some bobble head dolls.