Newest Addition

Ah yes...the newest addition to my family. :)

Pro-Choice Plate

Senator Steve Cohen has attached a proposal for a Pro-Choice license plate to the NASCAR license plate bill.

With the "Choose Life" plate still embroiled in a federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Cohen argued Wednesday that a pro-choice option is needed to keep the pro-life plate. If pro-choice advocates have a chance for their own plate, the lawsuit would be undermined, he said.

"It doesn't mean you're pro-choice if you vote for it," he told other members of the committee. "It means you're pro license plate."

He doesn't think it will go through...

Cohen said the pro-choice lobby will not get 1,000 people to pay $35 extra for their own plate. "There's never going to be a pro-choice plate. Believe me. It'll never happen," he said.

Apparently this is a way of appeasing the ACLU lawsuit while at the same time extending the deadline for the NASCAR plate (which, surprisingly, they haven't gotten enough signatures for that one yet...I thought this was Tennessee).

On the other hand, it will be a sad day if a Pro-Choice license plate actually makes it to people's cars.

Volunteer Tailgate Party

Busy Mom has the Rocky Top Brigade's Volunteer Tailgate Party up today. Go check it out.

So sad...

I'm glad I don't live in England

With just 10 days left for owners of self-contained air cartridge guns to register their weapons, no-one has come forward from Nuneaton or North Warwickshire.

Police estimate up to 1,000 people from Warwickshire are now risking a five-year prison sentence by not registering their guns under the new laws, which come into force at the start of May.

Read the entire article here.

Bredesen/Naifeh Stealth Tax

Bill Hobbs has an update on the Bredesen/Naifeh stealth tax increase.

Read it...then write here and here.

BloggerCon

BloggerCon III in Nashville?

(Via Bill Hobbs)

What is Justice?

I don't normally pick out Letters to the Editor in the local newspapers as something to write on. However, one came to my attention in yesterday's Tennessean that piqued my interest...so to say.

It's entitled "Liberty and justice for all is nonexistent" written by Sister Arlene Welding (click here and scroll down to see it).

Sister Welding writes that although we seem to have money to start wars with, we don't seem to have the money to help people in their struggle to survive. She also says that their organization, Ladies of Charity, receive 1,800 calls a month for financial assistance to help pay their monthly bills.

She goes on to write:

It is the duty of government to provide jobs for its citizens who want to work. During the depression years, President Roosevelt provided work for all who wanted a job and the pay was sufficient for survival.

Wait a second...did she say that it is the duty of the government? Being as respectful as I can, I have to say that this is completely wrong. It's not the duty of the government to provide for the benevolence of anyone. What President Roosevelt did was start a society of people who were dependent on the government to provide jobs and welfare. It goes completely against what our founding fathers stood for.

Churches in Nashville are overburdened with request for help also. Yes, charity has its place, but where is justice?

Churches in Nashville are overburdened with requests for help? Perhaps, but what are they really doing about it? And exactly what is "justice?"

First, I will tell you right up front that I am a Christian...no one can say otherwise. However, the churches of today have turned over to the government part of what they were originally supposed to be doing. Many churches have become large country clubs with outrageous monuments to God forgetting that we are supposed to be humble and helpers of the poor.

Sure, the giant bronze statues, the marble floors and the oil paintings of the pastors are nice, but couldn't that money have been spent on something better? Like...I don't know...helping the poor? Teaching the poor? Feeding the poor? While at the same time spreading the Gospel to them? No...instead the church wants to turn the job over to the government because it's the government's "duty"...an was an idea entrenched in our society by people like FDR.

I'm sure that the Ladies of Charity do a wonderful job in helping the poor, but it's their job. Do it, and don't get the government involved. If you think the government has too much money to spend on other things, then start asking for spending and tax reductions so that more money will be freed up for the poor.

So, what is justice? Justice is a government that stays out of people's lives. Justice is a church that understands that helping the poor is advancing the teachings of Jesus. Justice is truth...and as Pilate asked in The Passion, "Quid est Veritas?" ("What is truth?") As a Christian, I challenge other Christians to ask the same of themselves.

The Myth of Hitler?

Those who forget history...

Pro-Choice Protest

Riiiiggghhhhttt....

The Search for Noah's Ark

An expedition is being planned for this summer to the upper reaches of Turkey's Mount Ararat where organizers hope to prove an object nestled amid the snow and ice is Noah's Ark.

Read the entire article...

Say it ain't so!

"Rock the Vote" is not non-partisan?? Say it ain't so!

Rocky Top Brigade

NashvilleFiles.com/blog is now officially a member of the Rocky Top Brigade.

Less Government

Note to politicians:

People want LESS GOVERNMENT!

A new Rasmussen Reports poll finds that by a 52% to 39% margin most people believe cutting government spending is more important than balancing the budget or even cutting taxes.

There's more:

Most dramatically, 64% of American voters say that they would prefer a federal budget that has a deficit at lower levels of taxes and spending rather than a balanced budget with higher levels of taxes and spending. Given this choice, just 25% opt for the balanced budget.

This, therefore, is the crux that most Republicans are facing now. Bush has allowed Federal spending to spiral out of control, but that's completely opposite of true Conservative ideaology.

In another article, Scott Rasmussen notes:

"This data helps explain the recent decline in George W. Bush's approval ratings and general election polls. Being seen as a big spender is dangerous for any candidate."

The other problem is that John Kerry probably won't do any better of a job in cutting spending. My belief is that it will get even worse if Kerry is elected.

Thus we are stuck with having to choose between the lesser of two evils. True Conservatives are grumbling that they are being forgotten as the Democratic and Republican parties are becoming more similar every day...at least fiscally.

Oh yeah...and on gun control as well.

What is it? Pt2

The picture from yesterday was a WWII German Luftschutzkeller (air raid shelter).

Why in the world would a bomb shelter be sticking up above the ground like that? The theory was that if falling bombs struck one they would glance to the side.

A crazy idea, but these things are still standing.

I believe these were located in the town of Gießen (Giessen):

Restoring the Lost Constitution

William Peterson has an excellent review of Randy Barnett's Restoring the Lost Constitution: The Presumption of Liberty.

I haven't had a chance to read this book yet, but I am going to try to get around to it soon. I've heard nothing but good things.

(Via Instapundit)

Mitsubishi

Is this the end for Mitsubishi?

Waffles anyone?

Head over to Google.com and type in the word waffles. This is what you get. Heh!

(via Donald Sensing)

What is it?

Can anyone guess what this is a picture of?

Click the image for a larger version

Post your comments as to what you think it is. I'll post the answer tomorrow.

WHO?

Here it comes. According to the Financial Times, WHO (the World Health Organization) is continuing its call on governments to consider using taxes in order to fight obesity.

In the final version of its draft global strategy on diet, physical activity and health, the WHO suggests governments should use fiscal measures to discourage consumption of too much sugar, salt and saturated fat. It stops short, however, of advocating specific "fat taxes" or subsidies for healthy foods.

This is kind of like taxing tobacco. A socialist "well meaning" government taxes a "sin" item in order to raise the price of said item thus causing less people to buy it (or so the theory goes). However, the government that levies this "sin" tax then becomes addicted to this new source of revenue. Ironic, isn't it?

Not only that, but I don't think it's a problem that governments (particularly the US Federal Government) should be worrying themselves with. Oh wait...Congress has pretty much written-off the Constitution, so what does it matter?

Speaking of which...Congress has been weighing in on the issue. You have two sides here: One side says that it's a matter of public concern that something should be done. The other side (mainly Republicans) says that we should block lawsuits in Federal AND state courts brought against food related industries. Which side is right? Neither.

I suggest you head over and read an article by Michael Krauss and Robert Levy at CATO.org entitled "Too Fat: Federal Powers Need a Constitutional Diet"

Two points are made clear in their article:

First, obesity is a private, not public, health problem. The term "public," if it is to have any substantive content, cannot be used to describe all health problems that affect lots of people. Instead, "public" should refer only to those cases requiring collective action, i.e., where individual harms cannot be redressed without a general societal solution.

Second, not every national problem is necessarily a problem for Washington to "solve." The cost of our overweight tort system is indeed a national ailment. When lawsuit-related costs explode, proposals for reform are never far behind—especially with Election Day on the horizon. Thus, we have been deluged by congressional schemes, like Keller's bill to protect the food industry, that enlist the federal government in the battle against confiscatory state tort laws. But no matter how worthwhile the objective may be, if there is no constitutional authority for pursuing it, then the Constitution demands that the federal government step aside.

There's that word "Constitution" again.

I, of course, have to also post the best line from the entire article which transcends so many other issues besides the obesity issue:

Ronald Reagan once noted that a government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take it all away. Similarly, a Commerce Clause broad enough to solve every national problem is too broad not to be abused.

Yes indeed.

Quote of the Day

"Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall, when the wise are banished from the public councils, because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people, in order to betray them." --Joseph Story

TaBOR Update

So, where has TaBOR gone to? On March 23rd, it was passed along to the Senate Finance Committee from the Judiciary Committee. It's almost been a month...what's up with it? Good question.

If you have seen the bill, you will notice that there is an attached fiscal note assuming a cost of $20,000 to print notice of the proposed amendment to newspapers around the state (as required by state law for a Constitutional amendment such as this).

Since this is money that isn't budgeted, it must be heard in the Finance Committee after the Appropriations bill which will be heard sometime during May. After that, then the TaBOR bill will be lined up with everything else that requires additional money.

Bottom line...TaBOR is delayed until late May or so. I'll pass along more information as it becomes available.

Camel Spiders

Straight from the NetLore Archive..."Camel Spiders" in Iraq.

You may have seen this picture in an email forward saying that they eat the bellies of camels. According to this site, they aren't as bad as they look:

This scary-looking creature (actually, it's a pair of scary-looking creatures dangling end-to-end) is indeed commonly called a camel spider, but it is found in arid locales all over the world — including the southwestern United States — not just in the Gulf region. A typical specimen can grow to about the size of a child's hand, but, though they are known for being vicious predators (see video), camel spiders are neither venomous nor a threat to human beings.

They don't eat camels, either.

However, according to a friend's father, they do bite, and it "hurts like hell."

Bagpipes are an instrument of war

While 1st Sgt Dwayne Farr doesn't fit the stereotype of a typical bagpiper, he is carrying on a tradition of bagpipes in warfare.

I doubt he's playing while actual battle is taking place, but I'm reminded of the story of Bill Millin in the 1st Special Service Brigade (led by Lord Lovat) that landed on Sword Beach in Normandy on D-Day. The Germans called him the "mad piper" as he played his bagpipes coming onto the beach, and their snipers essentially ignored him.

The 1st Brigade's job that day was to relieve the British commandos at Pegasus Bridge. As they neared the bridge, the commandos who were nearly out of ammo, could hear the pipes coming and they knew that their relief was on the way.

The British government actually classified the bagpipe as an instrument of war after the Jacobite rebellion of 1745 (effectively banning them along with kilts). As I've seen written in several places, "the shrill and penetrating notes worked well in the roar and din of battle." Just the sound of them stir up emotions that seem to tug a soldier forward as well as frighten the enemy...indeed it is an instrument of war.

I wonder what the insurgents are thinking there in Fallujah.

Gizmo Saga

Ok...while the person that kicked the dog is an idiot, I think this story has gone beyond the realm of reality here (both locally and worldwide).

Yesterday there was a story about the autopsy on the dog, and today there's a big story on how the picture in the paper was of the wrong dog.

I was angered the first time I read about it (yes, it does take a sicko to do something like this), but I also realize that it was only a dog. Why can't people get so riled up at something like taxes or losing their rights day by day? It seems that it's only the unimportant things these days that ignite people's passions.

It all reminds me of a Peggy Noonan article from February (following the Super Bowl halftime fiasco) where she asks if our entire culture has just "gone to pot." One moment slowed the slide, but that was just over two years ago:

For a while after 9/11 we seemed to sober up. There seemed a new seriousness. It wasn't heavy and somber, there was a lot of humor and wit, but we were perhaps a little chastened, a little more mature. Sept. 11 was such a shock to the national system that after it the culture's long slide into narcissistic netherworlds seemed momentarily stopped, or at least slowed. But it's picked up again.

The point is, as Noonan puts it, "We're back to the pre-9/11 freak show."

9/11 was just a jolt...a temporary re-awakening. That's all gone now. We've slipped back into the rut of freakshows and the mindless, numbing effect of endless news cycles and things that aren't important. Name games, blame games, finger pointing, and nipple shows. Where's Gary Condit?

The re-awakening is over. Just go back to sleep.

NRA News Network?

I would have to say that I am not for this.

Looking for the same legal recognition as mainstream news organizations, the National Rifle Association says it has already hired its first reporter, a conservative talk radio host from Oklahoma. NRANews.com plans to start online broadcasts Friday.

"If that's the only way to bring back the First Amendment, we're going to bring it back," Wayne LaPierre, NRA executive vice president, told The Associated Press. Under the nation's campaign finance law, he said, "if you own the news operation, you can say whatever you want. If you don't, you're gagged."

LaPierre said the NRA is taking several steps to become a "legitimate packager of news" like newspapers and TV networks, including hiring Cam Edwards, a conservative talk-show host from Oklahoma City.

A "legitimate packager of news?" What? I'm afraid it's going to go the way of Air America. I mean, hey...a gun talk show would be cool, but it would be going a little too far to try to make it into a news network of sorts.

I'm disenfranchised with the NRA anyway as they are pretty much the liberal gun-rights group out there now, and this just goes to show that they've completely wandered from their original intentions. I'll stick with KABA.

Degeneration

From Instapundit comes a link to a piece written by Gerard Van Der Leun of American Digest. Gerard is a Democrat, and he is apparently ashamed to be a one in this current political climate.

Politics is a profession founded on hypocrisy. This we all know. But, at the same time, we also need a politics that somewhere within it has a shred of uncompromised decency and more than a little courage. Neither of these qualities is self-evident in the Democratic Party today. There's not a lot in the Republicans either, but it at least is measurable even if it still is in short-measure.

What we see instead is a party that has been so out of power for so long, and is so deeply out of touch with so much of the body politic that it has turned in upon itself in its hunger for power and, through starvation, has begun to consume itself from the core out.

Bush-Hate, racism, calls for the death of Republican cabinet members, snide innuendo, joy at the death of Americans in Iraq, the endless political thumbsucking of the 911 Commission, and there's more on the way, much more. It's a tired, sick and crazed political party that is so greedy and hungry for power that it will do anything, including selling this country down the drain, to get it back. I'll have no more to do with it. I'm not the only one.

He's right. At a conversation at lunch today a friend said that he was completely tired of hearing the endless, repetitive tirades coming from the left that essentially make no sense. The only thing that seems to be driving it all is hatred for Bush...no other reason.

While it's true that all politics are founded on hypocrisy (as Gerard pointed out), it seems to be a constant with the Democrats. I don't always agree with Republicans, but I don't see in them the blind, venomous hatred that is boiling over in the Left...the constant hypocrisy...the constant attacks...the constant blame shifting.

It's tiring, and, unfortunately, it's not going to end anytime soon.

Backyard MonoRail

For those of you who've always wanted a mono-rail system in your very own backyard...take a look at this.

(Thanks, Joe)

Upping the Budget?

Bredesen is warning against the State Funding Board from upping how much money the state can budget for for the rest of this year and next.

Bredesen said he "had been hearing" that the Funding Board meeting "was getting a little politicized" to "make room for some projects that specific legislators wanted to do or change."

The governor said he had heard that legislators "were looking at increasing the ranges or adopting a budget figure way up at the high end of the range, and I had a lot of concerns about that because I'm trying so hard to get us into the fiscally conservative middle of the road on these things."

The "range" he spoke of is the range of percentage growth in tax collections the Funding Board will recommend for next year. This year, for instance, the range calls for growth in state tax revenues of between 5.75 percent and 6.25 percent.

The Funding Board range is not binding. The Legislature can choose to exceed it, but has done so only once in the more than a decade the funding ranges have been used.

Read the entire story here (registration required).

This wouldn't be an issue if we had a cap on the rate of growth of the budget each year (yes, I'm talking about TaBOR). The "politicization" of this issue wouldn't be as much of a factor, and the vampire-like, pet projects of the General Assembly wouldn't suck away every extra penny the state takes in.

License Lines

Seems some Tennessee legislators are attempting to shorten license-renewal lines by allowing county clerks to issue them (instead of having to go to a driver's license testing center).

I've got an even better idea...stop issuing licenses to illegal aliens!

Feds Collect Tax on Refused Salary

According to KnoxNews.com (registration required), the Federal government is collecting taxes on Bredesen's salary despite the fact that he's refused his salary:

As a gesture of good will, Gov. Phil Bredesen announced last year he would decline his $85,000 state salary.

Too bad the federal government isn't so generous.

For 2003, the state had to pay almost $6,000 in Social Security and Medicare taxes on Bredesen's behalf, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Federal government...generous? Of course not.

The Tax Man Cometh

Ten Ways Income Taxes Violate Civil Liberties

Many Americans filling out their income tax returns are appalled by the large amount of earnings taken by the government. The income tax is also appalling from a civil liberties perspective because of its inequity, complexity, and intrusiveness. While President Bush cut taxes, the tax code remains a monument to social engineering run amok.

Help may be on the way with Republicans in Congress planning to move ahead with reforms next year to replace the income tax with a low-rate consumption-based tax. Such reforms would go a long way toward reducing the following ten civil liberties abuses of the current tax regime.

Read the entire article.

B.A.G.

Want to tick off Michael Moore? Then participate in B.A.G. Day on April 15th. What's B.A.G. Day? Buy a Gun Day of course!

Coming soon to a street near you...

It's simply amazing...in Great Britain an average commuter in London is probably filmed around 300 times a day by surveillance cameras.

Many Britons now go about their daily lives like contestants in a reality-TV show, with cameras tracking their every move on residential and commercial streets, on buses, trains and subways, in offices, pubs and malls, even in churches and schools.

1984 is there...it's coming here as well...

Property Tax

Note to Nashville Metro City Council: Rising Property Taxes Scare off Homeowners

Easter Holidays

Slow blogging toward the end of the week.

I will be going out of town for the weekend (spending time with the family for Easter), so expect very light blogging (if any).

God Bless, and remember that on Good Friday He died for you.

Sicilian Fires

News of the weird...

I saw this story a while back, but I didn't pay much attention to it (the story linked is an update to an ongoing story). It seems that fires have been spontaneously appearing in a Sicilian town with no apparent reason. The reason for the fires baffle everyone. Things seem to just burst into flames while people are standing there watching. The electricity has been turned off in the town, and the town has been evacuated (39 residents).

Crazy, huh? Well, I seemed to remember something similar to this happening in the 50's in Alabama. With a little quick searching, I found the old story about seemingly spontaneous fires starting around a family in Talladega, AL. You can read it here.

This all sounds very X-Files-ish, but the stories are very similar. Read both of the stories...very interesting indeed.

State Tax Revenues

According to the Nashville Post today, sales tax revenue for the state of Tennessee continues to gush in:

The state Department of Revenue collected $30.7 million more than budgeted estimates in March, the eighth month of the state’s fiscal year. On a year-to-date basis, the state is now $141.7 million ahead of projections.

Despite this good news, Bredesen seems to be wanting to raise taxes on businesses around the state. Bill Hobbs covered this interesting piece of information this morning. Head over and read it.

'Passion' of the Easter Bunny?

News of the very strange and disturbing. I have no idea what the point was (it must go over my head), but a church in Glassport, PA put on a show where actors whipped an Easter Bunny along with breaking eggs to demonstrate the crucifixion of Christ. What?

That's not all:

Performers broke eggs meant for an Easter egg hunt and also portrayed a drunken man and a self-mutilating woman, said Jennifer Norelli-Burke, another parent who saw the show in Glassport, a community about 10 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

"It was very disturbing," Norelli-Burke said. "I could not believe what I saw. It wasn't anything I was expecting."

Yes...disturbing indeed.

Read the story here.

'Passion' in Italy

An impressive opening in Italy for the 'Passion.' It broke all opening day records there.

Abu Sayyaf

A small victory in the war on terrorism in the Philippines today (something you may not hear in the main media streams which will mainly be making the Rice testimony look bad).

According to AlJazeera.com, one of the leaders of Abu Sayyaf was killed today. I'm assuming it was by U.S. trained, anti-terrorism soldiers:

The armed forces in the Philippines say they have killed one of the five leading members of Abu Sayyaf group.

Hamsiraji Sali, one of five Abu Sayyaf leaders wanted by Washington for the deaths of two American hostages, was among the six killed by a Scout Ranger platoon in Basilan's Isabela town, military spokesman Lt. Col. Daniel Lucero said.

Read the entire story here.

Ban Automobiles!

Did you know that every hour, 14 people are killed in car crashes on roadways in the Americas? It's true! That's 130,00 a year! 356 a day! 76% of those deaths are from the United States.

This is an epidemic of massive proportion! The World Health Organization suggests that actions to improve road safety would help part of this problem, but I'm here to tell you that it won't.

We must fight this evil bane on our society head on. It's clear that we must ban all vehicles in order that our society be safe from this danger. There is no way around it.

Pig worms are good for you

Strange and revolting...yet interesting...

An story today reports that drinking a special concoction containing thousands of pig worm eggs can possibly fight inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

"A lot of researchers couldn't believe this treatment was effective, but people are always skeptical when confronted with new ideas," Joel Weinstock, of the University of Iowa in the United States, told New Scientist magazine Tuesday.

Yes indeed, but the story gets more interesting.

He came up with the idea after noticing that a rise in cases of IBD coincided with a drop in infections caused by roundworms and human whipworms.

Weinstock also noted that IBD is rare in developing countries where parasitic infections are more common.

It seems that the body has become so used to fighting off parasites throughout history, and in our society of advanced medicine, we have eradicated a lot of the parasites that you normally would find in developing countries. Now that the body isn't having to fight off these parasitic infections, the immune system just gets overactive and ends up causing more harm than good.

It should be noted that pig worms don't survive that long in the human body...heh...good to know.

Anyway...very interesting...read the entire story here.

Dog Story

Looks like the story in today's Tennessean about the man sicko who kicked and killed a little dog made it onto Drudge today.

This man goes from just being hated locally to being hated around the world. He probably deserves it.

ABC Notes?

heh...ABC is apparently trying to compete with Matt Drudge with a new section on ABCNews.com called Noted Now. Breaking political news in a forum they call "the next generation in Internet political news."

Some of you are currently using a certain other Web site as your homepage because you are under the misguided impression that it is the best place for BREAKING news and DEVELOPING stories that are IMPACTING now.

Yes...they are clearly trying to compete with Drudge.

Also, they apparently are attempting to pander to politcal sources to start leaking info to their site:

Note to our sources: this is going to be the place where you can reach all sorts of political journalists and others in the game -- fast and efficiently. So let the leaking and pitching commence right now.

Well, I decided to take a look at Noted Now. It seems to be passing on a lot of campaign notes from Kerry's propoganda machine as well as other interesting things like Robert Byrd bashing Bush in the Senate today.

I guess they didn't say anything about it having balanced coverage.

Diamond in the Rough

Well, last week there was photo-blog day, so today must be car-blog day.

A couple of friends from Florence, Alabama came up to Nashville today and picked up this diamond in the rough:

It's a 1962 MGA Mk11 DeLuxe. I didn't have a digital camera handy, so I just used my camera phone to get a couple of quick shots.

So, this beauty is headed down to Alabama. They got a sweet deal to boot. Apparently it had been sitting in the Green Hills area for several years, and I didn't know about it. Of course, they never told me about it either...I'll have to get them back for that. lol

Kars4Kids

On April 24th, the Tennessee Spokes Sports Car Club in conjunction with the Tennessee Baptist Children's Home will be hosting the second annual Kars4Kids car show in Brentwood, TN. This is a great event that helps benefit a fine organization.

The Tennessee Baptist Children's home is a privately funded organization that gives homes children that have no place to call home. When I say privately funded, I mean it. They in fact refuse government money (which is the way it should be).

There actually have been troubles between the TBCH and the state recently as the state doesn't want children to be forced to go to church (which is mandatory for TBCH children). Of course, it's never been a problem in the past (the TBCH was founded in 1891), but big government marches on. I've said many times before that it's up to the churches and charities to take care of the less fortunate...not the government. The TBCH provides the type of environment less fortunate kids need, and it costs the taxpayers nothing. However, I digress (I'll write more on this debacle later).

Overall, it's a great car show. The Nashville British Car Club had at least 30 cars there alone last year. I recommend that you come out to see the cars and support a wonderful organization at the same time. I believe attendance is free, but donations are always welcome. Plus, you might get to see my car out there as well.

Mark Lancaster Sentencing

FYI...Mark Lancaster's second sentencing hearing has been scheduled for May 14.

Scooby Doo

Bill Hobbs has more on the Scooby Doo inhalation scene that I mentioned here.

If you'll remember, in the first Scooby Doo movie several scenes were edited out of the final cut to make the movie more children-friendly which included a possible drug-reference of Shaggy and Scooby getting high.

"We played on all those things," said actor Matthew Lillard, who portrays creaky-voiced Shaggy. "Is Velma gay? Is Shaggy high? Are ( Fred and Daphne ) hooking up? All those jokes were in there, but we found at the end of the day it was more important to go the other way ... and that was to be more family oriented."

That was the first Scooby Doo. Now comes the sequel, and the fact remains that this movie is still marketed toward kids. When you take on that role, you have to act responsibly.

Bill Hobbs referenced a good excerpt from Phoebe Flowers in the Sun-Sentinel.

Monsters Unleashed is a kids' movie, which explains its frenetic pacing. It feels, at times, like a prototype for a theme-park ride. But that doesn't explain its multiple examples of bad influences. This is not the sort of movie to which you really want to bring an impressionable child, unless you're cool with your elementary-schooler learning about recreational nitrous oxide inhalation or the ignition of flatulence.

You should not take your kids to go see this movie. It's as simple as that.

Cash Business

Here's a good story. A trend is starting where some doctors are forgoing insurance companies with all their headaches and hassles and simply going to a cash only business. I like the sound of that.

"This is traditional medicine. This is what America was like 30 years ago," said O'Brien, 55 and self-employed, who believes he has saved thousands of dollars by dropping his expensive insurance policy and paying cash. "It's a whole world of difference."

Tax Hike in Metro's Future?

There's an op/ed piece in today's Tennessean by Gail Keller pondering if Mayor Purcell is going to attempt to raise taxes in his second term.

As I mentioned last week, all the talks about cuts in the Metro budget are designed to provide the maximum media exposure to scare people which would eventually lead to higher taxes.

The Tennessean article speaks to part of this:

When Nashville mayors get a second term, they generally do it again. The signs that Mayor Bill Purcell will try to raise taxes in 2005 — and that he knows he is in for the fight of his life — are as evident as the tulips popping up their little pink heads.

Among those signs: dire revenue predictions followed by agonizing lists of what might be cut in schools and services, a brand-new $130,000 study on whether the city needs a new $400 million convention center (gee … wonder what the study will say), vacant thermal land where (connect the dots) a convention center could go, and a host of good-guy city initiatives.

Almost every Metro mayor has gone for a property tax hike in the second year of his term. Almost all tax hikes have eventually passed in some form. But the world is now a deeply anti-tax place. To make a good case, the mayor has to really show a problem and explain how that coincides with everything being great before his re-election last fall.

If you'll remember, back in 2001, when Purcell requested an 88-cent increase in property taxes, he stated:

''If approved, this is the only property tax increase I will request during this term.''

Guess what? It's his second term.

I also heard Purcell in a speech last year say that if the state shared taxes weren't cut, then there would be no reason to raise taxes, and what happened? The state shared taxes were cut.

Something else of note...virtually no council candidate who signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge during the last election won in their respective race. Most incumbents steered clear of the pledge. Did they know that this was on the horizon?

The fact is, that I heard rumors back in August (shortly after the election) that there were already talks of a tax increase of some type on the horizon. I had heard that it could possibly come about late in the year, but that proved to be untrue. Of course, there weren't any budget "crises" at that time either. The current media coverage of the budget cuts should provide the mayor with plenty of ammo to start floating the idea of yet another tax increase.

Gail Keller mentions one crucial thing in her article......"the world is now a deeply anti-tax place." Yes, it is.

Saddle up, boys. It's time for another tax fight.

Mark Lancaster op/ed

As I said last night, the Lebanon Democrat in Wilson county wrote an op/ed commentary on Mark Lancaster and his plight with the BATF. Since the Lebanon Democrat doesn't put many stories online, I have copied it directly for everyone to see.

It is a must read it you are a gun owner...Actually, it is a must read if you are a citizen, and if doesn't make you stop and think, then it's too late.

Lancaster case a wake-up call to gun owners

The Lebanon Democrat
Friday, April 2, 2004

Commentary
By Brooks Franklin
Senior Staff Writer

When it comes to criminal defendants, Mt. Juliet’s Mark Lancaster isn’t exactly the type you normally run across, to put it mildly.

His treatment – by those of us in the news media as well as by the federal authorities who would like to see him spend up to 37 months in prison – should serve as a wake up call for gun owners in this area in more ways than one. In fact, for supporters of the constitutionally protected right to bear arms, Lancaster’s situation brings to mind the old saying from the 70s – just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get out.

His treatment by the leadership of Green Hill Church has been, in my opinion, even more shameful. Lancaster’s plight should cause each of us to take a good, long look around when we go to church this Sunday, because all the hand-shaking, back-patting and hugging going on after the service may not be a display of Christian love and fellowship after all – it may instead just be a discreet way of checking to see if the minister, a deacon or the guy sitting in the pew behind you is wearing a wire for the feds.

That Lancaster violated the law and will have to be punished is inarguable – he doesn’t even try to dispute the fact himself. But sending a church leader with a spotless record to federal prison – for three years! – for firing a couple of rounds from a machine gun he welded together himself goes beyond the pale of any rational logic. It makes about as much sense as cutting a stamp collector’s tongue out because his curiosity got the best of him one day and he finally licked the back of some rare, historical stamp just to see what it would taste like.

One would think that in an era of war, constant terrorist threat and schoolhouse shootings that seem to happen with more regularity than proms and graduation ceremonies, the boys of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms would have better things to do than go chasing after a music minister whose entire life could be summed up in two words – church work. Sadly, that doesn’t seem to be the case. You would think that Lancaster had used one of his self-assembled, self-welded World War II-era weapons to shoot up a nursing home from the way the ATF has pursued him.

The judge who will soon decide Lancaster’s fate, during a recent hearing, asked rhetorically if the federal firearms laws which he is charged with violating means the quiet, affable church leader should be treated the same as a cocaine dealer or a gang member. The government – our government, at least for now – responded with a perfect straight face that yes, that’s exactly what the law means.

In truth, that law should be changed – fast. And supporters of the Second Amendment around these parts – and from what I can tell they are legion – should be writing letters and making phone calls to the guys in Congress who suck up all those NRA campaign contributions each election cycle, asking some loud, hard questions about just who is running the ATF these days, and what the agency could possibly hope to accomplish by getting entangled in a mess like this.

And honestly, from any objective standpoint, it is a mess.

Somebody mysteriously ratted Lancaster out in the midst of a budget dispute at Green Hill Church, where he was, at the time, from all accounts a well-liked music leader. The ATF’s own affidavits, proving what investigative brilliance their agents possess, state that the bureau’s confidential informants were three people who “knew” him “through the church.” At the time of Lancaster’s arrest, several people in the congregation publicly claimed that he was done in by the church’s leadership, who have remained oddly silent ever since. Church officials did, however, fire the music minister before even one shred of evidence was presented against him publicly – which would seem to indicate someone within the church either had the inside track on what was happening, or else they washed their hands faster than Pilate himself. So much, it would seem, for being innocent until proven guilty, at least in the eyes of the church. The church’s treatment of Lancaster, as well as its unforgiving silence in the wake of the whole affair, does for the image of Christianity what O.J. Simpson – who, for the record, never owned a firearm – did for the image of professional football players.

I really don’t like painting my own government as the villain, but this whole thing smacks of the sort of reckless overzealousness that honestly frightens me. If a guy like Mark Lancaster can be dragged out of his home by a bunch of guys whose biggest thrill in life seems to be walking around in front of TV cameras wearing their official ATF wind-breakers, then who is next? The next rabbit hunter who happens to make the wrong person angry? The grandmother who clings to her late husband’s shotgun collection? The guy looking for a Civil War relic on EBay?

And as much as I hate painting the U.S. government as evil, I have to say I’m just as ashamed of my fellow journalists over this story as well. A Nashville newspaper and several TV stations were on hand when Lancaster was arrested, when the feds portrayed him as a gun loving Nazi nut. Few have been on hand, however, as the true story has unfolded, that Lancaster appeared in a grand total of two World War II reenactments, playing a German soldier each time because – surprise! – it’s sometimes difficult to get people to play-fight for that side. None of my fellow reporters have mentioned that the whole action against Lancaster seems to have started within his own church. Plenty of reporters and cameras were on hand when the ATF agents were pounding their chests and portraying Lancaster as the resurrection of Machine Gun Kelly. Since then, however, few reporters have been interested in Lancaster’s case, and I suspect I know why.

Guns just don’t get a fair rap in the big city press. They never have and they never will. For all kinds of misguided reasons, if guns can’t be shown as inherently evil and the people who stand up for their right to own them can’t be portrayed as bloodthirsty hicks, most news outlets would rather just ignore the issue altogether, even right here in Middle Tennessee – where in some circles a good, practical gun rack is about the most important accessory a pickup truck can have.

Most people see me as a wild-eyed liberal, and in many ways I guess I am. But I believe our forefathers knew what they were doing. Just as the First Amendment must remain absolute, I believe the same should hold true for the Second Amendment. It’s just when we mess with our constitutional guarantees that things go wrong. We have tried to water down our Constitution and our Bill of Rights, as it relates to gun ownership, with a lot of well-meaning but misguided laws. Now a good man is caught in the legal maze that has resulted, possibly going away to prison for up to three years for one of the most victimless crimes I’ve covered in more than 25 years as a reporter.

I was tired, exhausted really, when I returned from Mark Lancaster’s most recent court hearing, and I wasn’t at all happy when word came into the newsroom at the tail end of the day of yet another story suddenly waiting to be covered.

A 14-year-old had just been shot.

I was lucky, because I got to go on home, leaving that story to someone else. The kid was even luckier, he survived.

But on the drive home I couldn’t help myself from wondering where all the ATF boys were when this seemingly stolen gun made its way into the hands of the accused assailant – a 15-year-old who told police he was just “playing” with the weapon.

Boys will always be boys, it seems.

For the latest info on this case go here.

Huffing and Scooby Doo

The email below comes to me from Diane Stem. Diane is a good friend of mine, and she is a spokesperson for the National Inhalants Prevention Coalition. She has also spoken before the National Press Club twice regarding child inhalant abuse. Her son died from huffing when he was only 16.

PLEASE PASS THIS INFORMATION ON TO "EVERYONE" YOU KNOW. THIS MOVIE IS DEFINITELY SENDING THE WRONG MESSAGE TO UNSUSPECTING CHILDREN AND PARENTS THAT HUFFING NITROUS OXIDE FROM A WHIPPED CREAM CAN IS OKAY - JUST ALL IN FUN - IN FACT IT CAN AND DOES KILL HUNDREDS OF KIDS EACH YEAR. WHAT WAS WARNER BROTHERS THINKING?????? ......THEY WEREN'T!

SCOOBY DOO BLUNDERS:

Reports are coming into the NIPC, NATIONAL iNHALANT PREVENTION COALITION that the new Warner Brothers’, PG rated, Scooby Doo movie, “Scooby-Doo 2, Monsters Unleashed,” has a scene with Shaggy huffing nitrous oxide from a whipped cream can for “fun” (one Mom told me she saw this in the movie’s trailer on a Saturday morning during a cartoon TV show, see link below). On March 26th, the Saint Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press newspaper reported “… but they still can’t resist having Shaggy huff spray-can fumes …”

Go to this site and click on “Under the Weather”:
http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&id=1808412521&cf=trailer

Huffing is one of those quiet epidemics that affect children all over the country...more so than any school shootings do, but why do we never hear about it as much?

For more information on inhalant abuse visit the NIPC website...http://www.inhalants.org.

Mark Lancaster Op/Ed

I heard today that that the Lebanon Democrat (a local paper covering Lebanon and Wilson County in Tennessee) printed a great op/ed piece about Mark Lancaster written by senior staff writer Brooks Franklin.

When I say "great," I mean it's the best op/ed piece I have ever heard. I actually just had it read to me over the phone.

The Lebanon Democrat doesn't publish many of their articles on their web site, so I will be reprinting it here (with proper credit) once I get my hands on the print edition which should be in the morning sometime.

So, stay tuned...it's coming your way, and you've got to see it to believe it.

Helmet Laws pt2

Smijer asks a good question regarding helmet laws (after the crazy question about "legalized suicide"). Basically, should the state legislature limit insurance liability for people who ride without a helmet or should we all pay a higher premium.

Honestly, I'm not completely sure I have the best answer to that. Senator Cohen said that he thought it should be sent to the Transportation Committee to look at it that issue. Obviously, it's not going before that committee, so it may never be addressed before it goes to Bredesen. (cont.)

Here are a few good facts regarding healthcare costs and helmet laws:

Claim: Injured motorcyclists are uninsured and rely upon the public to pay for their injuries. Fact: Motorcyclists are just as likely to be privately insured as any other road user.

A Harborview Medical Center study reported 63.4% of the injured motorcyclists in the trauma center relied on public funds to pay their hospital bills. However, according to testimony by David Gitch, director of the trauma center, 67% of the general patient population also relied on public dollars to pay their hospital bills in the same time period.

A study by the University of North Carolina's Highway Safety Research Center reported that 49.5% of injured motorcyclists had their medical costs covered by insurance, while 50.4% of the other road trauma victims were similarly insured.

Claim: The costs associated with unhelmeted motorcyclist injuries and fatalities compel the enactment of mandatory helmet laws to save taxpayer dollars.
Fact: The costs associated with the treatment of motorcyclist injuries account for less than 0.001% of total US health care costs. Only a portion of these costs are attributable to unhelmeted motorcyclists, the majority of which are paid by privately-purchased insurance. The remainder, spread across the taxpayer base (which includes millions of motorcyclists), becomes insignificant.

Approximately 1.16% of total US health care costs are attributable to motor vehicle accidents. Motorcycles represented only 0.53% of the accident-involved vehicles nationwide in 1999.

Claim: Mandatory helmet laws are the most effective way to reduce motorcyclist injuries and fatalities.
Fact: The most effective way to reduce motorcyclist injuries and fatalities is to prevent accidents from occurring in the first place. Helmets and helmet laws do little to prevent accidents.

Between 1990 and 1999, the fatality rate for motorcyclists per 100 million vehicle miles traveled declined nearly 23% even though total vehicle miles traveled has increased 11%.

Two out of three motorcycle related multi-vehicle crashes are caused by the driver of another vehicle. The most common accident involves an automobile failing to yield the right of way to the motorcyclist.

Claim: States with mandatory helmet laws experience fewer motorcycle injuries and fatalities.
Fact: A study by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) conducted during a seven-year period from 1987 through 1993 found that states with no helmet laws or partial helmet laws (for riders under 21) suffered fewer deaths (2.89) per 100 accidents than those states with full helmet laws (2.93 deaths).

You should also read this Forbes article which deals a little more directly with the question of insurance costs:

Why the enthusiasm for helmets? Mike Osborn, chairman of the political action committee of California ABATE, says insurance companies are big supporters of helmet laws, citing the "public burden" argument. That is, reckless bikers sans helmets are raising everyone's car insurance rates by running headlong into plate-glass windows and the like, sustaining expensive head injuries.

Actually, it's true that bikers indirectly jack up the rates of car drivers, but not for the reason you might think. Car drivers plow over bikers at an alarming rate. According to the Second International Congress on Automobile Safety, the car driver is at fault in more than 70% of all car/motorcycle collisions. A typical accident occurs when a motorist illegally makes a left turn into the path of an oncoming motorcycle, turning the biker into an unwitting hood ornament. In such cases, juries tend to award substantial damages to the injured biker. Car insurance premiums go up.

Osborn sees a hidden agenda. "They [the insurance companies] want to get us off the road." Fewer bikes means fewer claims against car drivers. Helmet laws do accomplish that goal, as evidenced by falling motorcycle registrations in helmet-law states. It is interesting to note that carriers of motorcycle insurance do not complain about their clients. Motorcycle liability insurance remains cheap. Osborn pays only $125 per year for property damage and personal injury liability because motorcycles cause little damage to others.

So...we may actually pay increased insurance costs, but the real question is...is it necessary?

Perhaps the state should stay out of this debate and let the insurance companies figure it out. I think it would be reasonable that the insurance companies take accidents on a case-by-case basis, and tell their customers that if they are in an accident without a helmet, then they will only cover so much in costs related to the accident. Will that happen...probably not...but who knows?

Drudge Report Turns 9

It's hard to think of a time without the Internet at the ready. Hard to recall an age when information was not flowing free; borderless and without edit.

-Matt Drudge April 2, 2004
Miami Beach, FL, USA
Ninth Anniversary of the DRUDGE REPORT

On a side note, has Drudge turned into a cowboy? I like the fedora better.

Helmet Laws

The Tennessee state Senate yesterday passed the bill that would allow motorcycle riders over the age of 25 to be able to go without a helmet. Right now, all riders must wear helmets under penalty of law.

Governor Bredesen is balking at this:

''I understand the freedom-of-choice issue, but there are so many terrible injuries and head injuries and injuries that leave people paralyzed for life that can come out of this,'' Bredesen said.

I don't ride motorcycles (although I may eventually buy one), but if I did I would probably wear a helmet. The principle is the same as with seatbelts. I decide to wear them. However, it shouldn't be the government's job to protect you from yourself. That is one of the signs of a socialist state.

The more that we are regulated, the more that we are controlled. I, personally, don't like to be controlled.

April Fools Jokes

Another reason why I'm not a fan of April Fools Day:

Did you cover your toilet with Saran Wrap Thursday morning? "The River" radio hosts Woody and Jim warned all their listeners to do just that. You guessed it! It was an April's Fool's joke.

But Metro Water isn't laughing. They were flooded with calls from people worried about flooding toilets. 107.5 and Woody and Jim have issued an apology to the water district.

It's always some radio goobs attempting to pull this stuff off. At least they didn't do the normal ones like a beer truck has overturned on the interstate and they're giving away free beer to empty the truck out. It's happened before.

Hey buddy, ya broadcasting

Nicki over at Publicola seems to have gotten an irate email from a member of the British press corp recently.

The email reads:

DO NOT USE MY NEWS STORIES TO FUEL YOUR DESIRE TO BEAR FIREARMS.

TAKE NOTICE OF THIS WARNING OR I'LL PASS IT TO OUR LAWYERS TO DEAL WITH.

GREG TRUSCOTT, SOUTH LONDON PRESS, UK.

This falls under the category of "Hey buddy, ya broadcasting." What Mr. Truscott apparently fails to realize is that his stories are posted on the internet and it's pretty much public domain. Not only that, but his email has also now become public domain.

Hey Truscott, your stories all prove the point that because British citizens have been disarmed that armed thieves can come into a persons home without fear of being killed. Not only that, but if a homeowner decides to take action, they can be the ones that end up getting prosecuted. Your people are defenseless, and your stories are only showing that banning firearms in Great Britain is a great failure.

Head over to Publicola to read the entire post along with email exchanges between Truscott and KeepandBearArms.com.

KABA also posted a list of recent stories (within the past couple of weeks) from Truscott's site proving their point about unarmed British subjects.

I am pleased to present that list here as well (out of fun for Mr. Truscott):

Shot in cold blood
Mar 30 2004
By Greg Truscott, South London Press
"A 50-YEAR-OLD man has been gunned down outside a popular Brixton nightclub."

Jailed for shooting drug dealer
March 30, 2004
South London Press
"TWO gunmen have been jailed for life after shooting a Vietnamese drug dealer in a plot to steal a stash of cannabis."

Toddler hands over £10 to save mum's life
March 24, 2004
South London Press
"A TODDLER was forced to hand over her £10 savings to armed robbers - to buy her mum's life."

12-strong gang targeting jewelers, using guns to prey on unarmed people
March 16, 2004
South London Press
"David Mayer, 21, Justin Philip, 25, and Sherome Blair, 22, all from South London, were with a 12-strong gang targeting jewellers on superbikes. ... Two men sat on each bike wearing sprayed-black crash helmets, balaclavas and gloves wielding sledgehammers and guns."

Gun threat to woman over phone
March 12, 2004
By Greg Truscott, South London Press
"A WOMAN was thrown across the bonnet of a car and had a handgun put to her neck when she left a Brixton nightclub."

Talented musician shot dead, suspect at large
March 12, 2004
South London Press
"LEON Forbes was murdered in cold blood on a quiet Clapham estate, aged just 21. His family are determined to see his killers brought to justice, writes GREG TRUSCOTT. LEON Forbes was a talented music producer with a promising life ahead of him."

Isn't the Internet great?

April Fools Day

I've never been much for April Fools Day. Sean Hannity has been carrying on his April Fools joke for the first hour of his show today by saying he's now going to vote for Kerry. Taking it for an hour has seemed like a little too much for me, but I wonder if anyone actually fell for it.

For those that call us Nazis

Lots of people around the world want to call the United States a brutal, Nazi-like regime. I'll give you the best example that we aren't even close to Nazis.

If Fallujah were being occupied by the Nazis, there would have been an immediate response by killing a certain number of civilians per every German citizen or soldier killed. Examples: The Kragujevac Massacre in Serbia (100 civilians for every German soldier killed), the reprisal killings in Rome (10 for every German killed), and in France this was a well known practice as well.

Of course, our friends the French also got in on some of the action after the war in their occupation of some German cities:

On April 24, 1945, in Reutlingen, Württemberg, four reprisal prisoners were shot by the French for the murder of a French soldier. On April 28, 1945, the following announcement was made in Leutkirchen:

"[...] 4. If a German shoots at Frenchmen, or if any other incident whatsoever happens, 5 houses will be torched and 100 Germans executed.

[...] 6. I am responsible, on pain of my own death, to ensure that these orders are enforced [...] the Mayor [...]"

In Markdorf, 4 German civilians were executed per 1 French soldier shot.[67]

In Saulgau it was proclaimed on April 27, 1945, that if a French soldier were killed or even only wounded, 20 hostages would be shot and the corresponding city district would be burned to the ground.

The Berlin Ordinance of July 1, 1945,[69] stated, inter alia:

"Anyone who commits an attack on a member of the occupation forces or on a bearer of official functions, or who commits arson for reasons of political enmity, seals not only his own fate but that of 50 former members of the Nazi Party as well. Their lives are forfeit together with that of the assassin or arsonist."

Going further back in time to when the Roman Empire reigned supreme, if the same thing that happened in Fallujah had happened in one of their outposts, the entire city's population would have been crucified along the Roman roads.

I now ask after yesterday's events. Are we a brutal, Nazi-like regime?

What's the 4th Amendment Again?

This story is a few days old, but The Smoking Gun has the affidavit for a search warrant regarding the blatantly illegal search of a residence because the police became suspicious that pot was being grown in the house. Why did they think that? They thought her electricity bill was too high.

First, it's outrageous that the police would consider such a thing in attempting to get a search warrant. What's even more outrageous is that a judge approved it!

4th Amendment? We don't need no stinking 4th Amendment.

Air America

I haven't waded into the "Air America" discussion (except once previously...but that doesn't count). I didn't listen in yesterday, and I don't really see myself listening in the future either (well...who knows), but I found a nice little dissection of the radio network's first day here.

Air America Radio didn't have a grandiose debut -- the signal was elusive in Los Angeles, its San Francisco station didn't materialize and its Internet feed kept breaking off -- but the fledgling liberal network managed to plant its flag in what has been overwhelmingly conservative turf.

I guess it only "planted its flag" as far as general buzz about it, but that's about it.

A good radio show has strong pacing and a deft mixture of ideology, confrontation and humor. Franken's "Factor" was meandering and discursive, almost NPR-like, sounding more like someone shooting the breeze at a dinner party than trying to persuade listeners. The "bumpers" between segments were soft and Muzak-like. With Franken speaking in a relatively low voice, the self-proclaimed "Zero Spin Zone" sometimes sounded like a zero energy zone.

Read the whole thing though...I don't really have that much to add.

Anyone want to start a pool on how long it will last?

Walter Williams

I'm looking forward to tomorrow as Walter E. Williams will be the fill-in guest on the Rush Limbaugh show.

Budget Cuts are Good

I love to hear it when various government agencies and departments are having to make cuts. That tells me that at least someone is making an effort to control costs instead of passing the buck on to the taxpayers (raising taxes)...the supposed cure-all for continued wasteful spending.

It's not new news that cuts are coming down the pipeline here in Metro Davidson County. With these cuts come all sorts of scary stories about how your house will probably burn down and you will die if these cuts go through (I'm not exagerating...just read this).

Another big issue is that Metro schools are going to "suffer" because of these cuts. School cuts are always the hardest to do (mainly because of the protests and cries of how our children are going to be dumb since we aren't throwing enough money at them). However, it's something that's got to be done. If the schools had restrained their spending over the past several years, then we wouldn't have this problem. It's also nothing new that these kinds of cuts are always used as a scare tactic in order to get another tax increase.

The Metro Police department is also going to be making some high profile cuts (this is another prong of the scare tactic. ie...our streets won't be safe anymore if we have to make these cuts). Chief Serpas has given several options as to what can be cut:

At 10 percent, Serpas proposed cutting 168 police officers and 44 civilian positions.

At 15 percent, Serpas proposed to cut 238 officers and 56 civilian positions.

I wonder how much those nice shiny helicopters that are running traffic detail cost. Perhaps those should be cut as well.

My point is that all this talk about budget cuts and how bad it will affect everyone is nothing more than a big scare tactic. Budget cuts need to take place in Nashville, and we need serious talk about it instead of being given all of these "worse case scenarios."

Maybe it's also time to take a cue from Spring Hill and institute a local Taxpayer Bill of Rights. Spring Hill is one of the fastest growing towns in the nation. Why? People vote with their feet, and people are flocking to Spring Hill (while Nashville/Davidson County's population continues to shrink).

Members of the Metro City Council should take note and learn a lesson in economics.