Out of Town

Yes, I've been slow this week, but it's going to be a bit slower on Thursday and Friday as I will be traveling out of town on business.

I may try to get some things up over the next few days. Perhaps (while riding in the car) this would be a good time to work on a couple of posts that I've been meaning to write for a while.

Sixty-Seven Cents

67-cent property tax increase and a $20 wheel tax increase...that's what we are now going to have to pay.

Last night, the Metro Council only had a *few* hours to hash through the new budget proposals. In the end, they voted 24-12 in favor of Budget and Finance Committee chair Diane Neighbor's budget.

More from the Nashville City Paper.

Let's play Hardball

As I mentioned late yesterday, I went to Two Rivers Baptist Church for the live taping of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews. It was the first stop on Hardball's church tour, and I was able to get on-stage seating right behind the panelists.

The view from my vantage point

The Tennessean actually has a good story on the first hour of the show.

During the first hour, the debate centered on the role of religion in politics, but after watching the President's address, it quickly turned to the discussion of the war in Iraq. This part of the show was in a type of town hall format which allowed several people from the audience to take part...including several wives of servicemen. Steve Gill even got in on the action as he quickly told of his recent trip to Iraq.

I attempted to challenge Matthews
to a duel, but he didn't accept.

I actually enjoy watching Chris Matthews' show. Even though he does lean to the left, he tends to be fair and balanced in his questioning and discussion...at least to me. I was glad to have taken part in it.

Chris Matthews - Hardball

Looks like I was able to get a VIP stage-seating for this thing tonight. Keep an eye out for me (somewhere in the background) if you watch it.

Ford, Jr. thinks Kelo is good?

Bill Hobbs points to Harold Ford Jr.'s interview on Teddy Bart's Roundtable this morning. It seems Junior thinks that Kelo was a good thing.

You guys paying attention?

Speed Limit Lowered

Due to complaints about noise by residents along I-440 here in Nashville, TDOT has lowered the speed limit from 65 to 55.

The change took effect Monday morning. All vehicles using the road must drive at the new limit.

“It is hoped that the reduction in speed will reduce noise along the corridor and improve safety,” said TDOT commissioner Gerald Nicely in a statement.

TDOT lowered the speed limit in response to a recommendation from the Nashville Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) — a regional, governmental planning organization — which, in turn, had studied the matter after a group of Nashville residents, concerned about noise and safety, had requested TDOT lower the limit.

Of course, I-440 was meant to be a bypass, and when this issue was first discussed, the residents along 440 wanted the traffic to go elsewhere. Again...440 was built as a bypass so that traffic would use it instead of other roads.

So, in response to this, I say that everyone who travels along 440 should drive at 55mph, but honk your horns the entire time.

(ht: Nashville Is Talking)

No right to protection

The Supreme Court has essentially ruled that the police have no legal obligation to protect you...even if it involves a court ordered restraining order...

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that police cannot be sued for how they enforce restraining orders, ending a lawsuit by a Colorado woman who claimed police did not do enough to prevent her estranged husband from killing her three young daughters.

Jessica Gonzales did not have a constitutional right to police enforcement of the court order against her husband, the court said in a 7-2 opinion.

It's really no surprise as this has long been upheld many times in the past. One can only follow this logic to the conclusion that you must depend on yourself for your own protection.

Remember, police protection is not a right. On the other hand, the ability to defend oneself is.

More: Speaking of self-defense...this happened right here in Davidson County this weekend.

An attempted home invasion Friday evening ended when a homeowner fatally shot one of the intruders, police said.

Bobby Pottinger, 38, of Nashville was shot and killed when he and three other people tried to rob a home at 504 Macfie Court in Madison at about 11:40 p.m., police said.

What's (really) going on...

...in Nolensville, Tennessee. I just noticed that the small little town of Nolensville now has it's own blogger making waves. It's entitled "What's (really) Going On in Nolensville." The author's name is "John Smith" and seems to be following along the lines of Drinkin' the Franklin Koolaid.

Add this to the list of hyper-local bloggers popping up everywhere...and that's a good thing.

Carnival of Cordite #19

The newest Carnival of Cordite is up for your reading pleasure.

Out here in "Catoland" -The Erosion of Freedom

Here in "Catoland," as the Nashville Scene's Bruce Barry calls it (which I take as a compliment, but I'm not sure he meant it as one), I personally feel that private ownership of property is one of the cornerstones of liberty. In fact, I would count it under the natural rights of man. While the Supreme Court ruling in Kelo is not groundbreaking, it does represent an erosion of private property rights that has been going on for many years now.

In the 5th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, the last line states, "nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation." The meaning of the phrase "public use" has now taken on such a distorted definition that it can be anything from a public roadway to (now) a private company that will employ people in an economically depressed area (while at the same time provide more tax revenue to the local government). That's quite a wide definition.

From the ruling:

...while the city is not planning to open the condemned land–at least not in its entirety–to use by the general public, this “Court long ago rejected any literal requirement that condemned property be put into use for the … public.” Id., at 244. Rather, it has embraced the broader and more natural interpretation of public use as “public purpose.” See, e.g., Fallbrook Irrigation Dist. v. Bradley, 164 U.S. 112, 158—164. Without exception, the Court has defined that concept broadly, reflecting its longstanding policy of deference to legislative judgments as to what public needs justify the use of the takings power. Berman, 348 U.S. 26; Midkiff, 467 U.S. 229; Ruckelshaus v. Monsanto Co., 467 U.S. 986. Pp. 6—13.

Whether it's a longstanding policy or not to allow legislative powers to decide what's best in the needs of the public to take private property is really of no concern of me. Why? Just because you have a set precedent doesn't make it right. Our Supreme Court has taken precedent to mean more than the original intent of the Constitution and has eroded it's meaning far beyond that original intent.

Legislative Judgement

Earlier today, Glenn Reynolds quoted Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story from his Commentaries on the Constitution written in 1833. The quote provides a good argument against legislative powers being used in the determination of "public use..."

It seems to be the general opinion, fortified by a strong current of judicial opinion, that since the American revolution no state government can be presumed to possess the transcendental sovereignty to take away vested rights of property; to take the property of A. and transfer it to B. by a mere legislative act. A government can scarcely be deemed to be free, where the rights of property are left solely dependent upon a legislative body, without any restraint. The fundamental maxims of a free government seem to require, that the rights of personal liberty, and private property should be held sacred. At least, no court of justice, in this country, would be warranted in assuming, that any state legislature possessed a power to violate and disregard them; or that such a power, so repugnant to the common principles of justice and civil liberty, lurked under any general grant of legislative authority, or ought to be implied from any general expression of the will of the people, in the usual forms of the constitutional delegation of power. The people ought not to be presumed to part with rights, so vital to their security and well-being, without very strong, and positive declarations to that effect.

Why would it be such a detriment to freedom to allow a legislative authority such discretion? I don't think anyone can argue against the fact that a legislative authority tends to do things that best benefit itself. It does this by either creating more revenue (through taxation) or by doing things that garner more votes, and those two actions are the reasons that Justice Story most likely took the stance he did. In Kelo, the city of New London, CT will receive more tax revenue from Pfizer than it did from the private property owners, and the legislative body that condemned the property would presumably get more votes based on the creation of more jobs.

The "Common Good"

The arguments in favor of the Supreme Court's ruling in Kelo seem to be ones that present a world-view that it's ok to take things from a private individual if that which is taken will benefit the common good. Unfortunately, that world-view is narrow and quite dangerous to liberty. When one goes down that path, new reasons to do things for the common good can always be found. The bad news is that we, as a society, have been going down that path for many years now.

The struggle for the "common good" over the rights of the individual is tearing our society apart. You, as an individual, must be forced to give up something so that it will benefit someone else ("forced" being the keyword here). That may sound good if you have a liberal or socialistic viewpoint, but today you have seen that this "common good" ideal can and will be eventually abused because instead of helping the poor, it has helped an "evil corporation." It's the set direction which such a good intentioned ideal must follow.

To us here in "Catoland," the common good is best served only when individual, natural rights are upheld. To go against the individual is to go against the common good...even if the intention is not to do so.

Either way, this Court had a chance here to at least reverse a part of the ill conceived precedent of trampling on an individual's rights for the "common good." It failed. Yes, Justice Kennedy's separate concurrence may have "softened the edges" of the ruling, but at the same time, a flawed path was still followed.

Is the Sky Falling?

Raith with the Commerce Clause, and now Kelo with the 5th Amendment coming within weeks of each other have been a virtual one-two punch on liberty (in additon to other fiacos in recent years with McCain-Feingold on the 1st Amendment and a complete loss of the 4th Amendment with such things as the Patriot Act).

No, the sky isn't falling. It has been merely creeping slowly down upon our heads over the past several decades, but in the past couple years it's been moving faster. That speed along with this month's Supreme Court rulings have created a sort of "perfect storm" which seems to be making people realize that their liberties are slipping away. They are outraged, and they want to do something about it. Would you be calm if you finally woke up one day and realized you were no longer free?

Liberty

On August 26, 1789, the National Assembly of France approved a Declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizens which consisted of seventeen rights (written mainly by The Marquis de Lafayette with help from our own Thomas Jefferson). We, after our struggle against oppression with the American Revolution, inspired the French. After all, liberty can be quite contagious.

If you have time, read through that declaration. When you do, compare it to where we are today, and ask yourself, "are we truly free?"

Meanwhile

As some fiddle, Rome burns.

National Tragedy

Metro Budget Update

I just received this info from someone close to the Metro budget process...

Sources close to the budget debate have confirmed the fact that in response to questions from WSMV and WTVF today, Councilmen Eric Crafton revealed that as a part of the alternative budget, schools are funded at a higher level than under the Mayor’s proposal. However, the additional dollars funded over the Mayor’s request are to be earmarked directly for use in the classroom for supplies and books.

Metro Budget Protest Video

I just put together a little video montage of the budget protestors from last night. It's a 4.8 MB WMV file.

Click here to download.

Pictures from Iraq

I just noticed that fellow Nashville blogger Pink Kitty has posted some pictures from her brother in Iraq on Flickr. Go check them out.

TennCare Protest Pictures

I think most everyone who reads this site regularly (or even irregularly) knows that I do not support government involvement in health care. As I've said before, health care is not a right.

That being said, I was downtown last night and thought I would also stop by a couple of the TennCare protests that were going on. The first protest was taking place at the TennCare offices at 8th and Church St. which was less than a block away from where the Metro budget protestors were gathering. The second was the vigil being held outside of the state capital building (where there were still people inside the governor's office).

In an effort to show things that are going on around town, I present a few pictures without commentary (plus, I promised Sharon Cobb I wouldn't be mean)...

Metro Test Scores Up

Right under the headline in the Tennessean's story on Metro's test scores early results, you see this..."With budget at issue, district crunches numbers early to make case for more money."

All I have to say is this...According to the "more money for schools advocates," they didn't get the money they wanted during the last budget round. In fact, they say that they got "cut." However, their test scores have gone up. If that's the case, then they are proving themselves wrong by providing better results without getting more money.

Hey, I'm just saying.

Metro Council Meeting

At tonight's Metro Council meeting, the Mayor's budget proposal was on public hearing and second reading.

During the public hearing, many people spoke in favor of and against the proposal (over the course of a couple of hours). After the public hearing, the Mayor's budget passed its second reading with a 24-1 vote (14 abstentions).

As I mentioned this past weekend, there will be several budget alternatives coming up later this week (which I provided details of one in that Nashville Files exclusive). From the early vote counts, it looks like we may get stuck with a 35-40 cent property tax increase. Due to contractual obligations and mis-management of the Metro government over the past few years, we won't be able to go much lower. However, I will provide final details of those budget proposals later this week.

Finally, here are several pictures from tonight's meeting. Several more pictures can be seen here.

Inside the Council chamber...

Beforehand, a large group of protestors gathered in favor of higher taxes. This group was organized mainly by the Tennessee chapter of the Healthcare and Public Worker's Union (SEIU)...

Lots of sights...and sounds...

However, I'll have to agree with this sign...

The teachers and kids should have been protesting this guy...

Yes...there were several people with Tennessee Tax Revolt there as well...

And here's Ben Cunningham being intereviewed by the always elegant LJ Moody of News 2...

Tax Revolt at City Hall

I'll be downtown this evening at the Ben West Libary Building for tonight's Metro Council meeting.

If there's anything interesting to report, I'll have details later tonight or in the morning.

Bredesen Vetoes Tax

Bredesen used his veto for the first time yesterday as he struck down a cigarette tax passed by the state legislature.

Story here.

John Norris Brown weighs in here.

TennCare Sit In

There's a sit in going on up at the Governor's office today in protest over the cuts to TennCare. Sharon Cobb has more.

Bruce Barry over at PITW has more as well.

Update - Tuesday morning: Still going.

Maybe Bredesen can write about this on his blog.

Metro Budget Proposals

As early as this week, there will be several alternative proposals to the mayor's proposed budget (ie...the 84 cent property tax increase). One of those proposals will be a one year COLA budget (Cost of Living Adjusted) which will essentially take last year's budget and only account for a cost of living increase.

However, from what I am hearing from my sources near the Metro Council, that budget has no chance of passing. 1) There aren't enough votes, and 2) there are some hidden costs that have been discovered. Because of those hidden costs, even a COLA budget by itself would require at the very least a 20 cent increase in the property tax rate (*note...all increases in the property tax rate mentioned here are based on the new certified rate of $3.98).

Metro Council Attorney Don Jones met with several council members last week and revealed a few recurring debts that haven't exactly been shown to the public. The administration apparently has agreed to pension funding levels that are three times the rate of inflation which puts Metro in a situation where the debt is in a continual mode of growth. The Purcell administration also raided $12 million from the school's rainy day fund last year and now must repay that debt in this upcoming year. Lastly, several consulting contracts that have been signed are going to be coming home to roost costing even more money.

So, you take the COLA budget plus the above costs, create a 20 cent property tax increase and there may still not be enough votes when the day is over (there isn't enough "new" spending). Because of this, another budget proposal will be put forward by the Council's Republican caucus. It will be a one year, COLA budget (instead of the regular four year budget) which will include the following:

-2.9% increase in all spending over last year for every item Metro purchased or invested in insuring that the status quo is maintained for all items over last year (2.9% is the CPI).

-A 4.5% increase in pay for all Metro employees (Mayor's budget offered 3%).

-An increase in property taxes of 35 cents (49 cents less than the Mayor's proposed increase) to cover the hidden costs plus the raises.

This budget is going to be promoted by the Republican caucus as being 1/3rd of the cost of the Mayor's budget and only 20% of the School Board's request.

Of course, the COLA budget with the 10 cent increase will be offered up for a vote first (including allowing the people to vote on any increases), but that probably won't pass. From what I've heard, the 35 cent increase will probably have enough votes to pass. On a side note, Councilman Buck Dozier was going to propose a 45 cent increase budget, but this one even undercuts him (Councilwoman Diane Neighbors was going to introduce a 74 or 75 cent increase).

As far as school spending goes, read my previous post on that. I'd also like to point out that one argument that they've been using regarding free lunches is inherently flawed because they have $9 million in reserve funds sitting out there in the school lunch program (Metro Nashville School budget pg 34-35). Board members conveniently forget to mention that when they are making excuses for failure while coming up with reasons they need more money.

There is no way around it...if you live in Nashville and own property, your taxes will be going up (as of right now I'm not sure where the 1/2 sales tax increase stands). It has become very apparent that the Metro government has been living beyond its means, and now the taxpayer must pay.

More: Bob notes in the comments, and rightly so, that even if you don't own property, you'd still be paying indirectly through higher rent.

Building Catches Fire

I was near downtown this evening shooting a few pictures and started seeing smoke from the downtown area near the Metro courthouse construction.

It was a two alarm blaze of the old courthouse that is currently undergoing renovation.

Firefighters will be investigating.

Story here via News Channel 5.

Brian Conley Part II

Brian Conley has forwarded me the a few of the emails that led up to South Knox Bubba posting what he did (discussed very early this morning here).

I like to provide all sides of an issue, so you can read what led up to and what context that email was sent. To me, the context seems to be..."Are you threatening me?" "No, if I were actually threatening you I'd do this, this and this."

Due to its length I'm posting this as an extended entry, so click on "there's more" to read it all.

Mr. Wylie:

I'm forwarding you all the correspondence I had with southknoxbubba
yesterday so that your readers will see the context of the email Mr.
Neal posted on his blog. As you'll see, Mr. Neal accuses me of
manipulating him, to which I responded with an anecdote about
manipulation and the statement that I wouldn't do that. I'm sorry it
all got blown out of proportion. I'd post this on southknoxbubba, but
Mr. Neal will not let me post at this time.

Brian

P.S. The personal attacks to which I refer were remarks about these
girls being "dolts" and "spoiled lushes," etc.

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Brian Conley
> Date: Fri Jun 17, 2005 1:14:36 PM US/Eastern
> To: southknoxbubba@yahoo.com
> Subject: Re: Molly and Ellen
>
> It's not a threat. I just have a low tolerance for anonymous shit
> slinging. You've been pretty straight with me, but what really pissed
> me off was acting like my reference to the "girls" gave you some kind
> of insight into my psyche. It didn't. You don't know me. And, short of
> making the effort to know me, I'd appreciate it if you didn't act like
> you do.
> On Friday, June 17, 2005, at 01:04 PM, SK Bubba wrote:
>
>> Mr. Conley:
>>
>> I have a police record? Do tell.
>>
>> Anyway, I guess that's a veiled threat. OK, then. I'm
>> sorry you feel this way. I really don't understand it.
>> I never heard of you until people started talking
>> about you on the blog and the blab. I've tried to be
>> respectful of you and to see both sides of the few
>> controversies that have come up involving you or your
>> associates and to promote meaningful discussion about
>> some of them. I'm surprised that a mild criticism of
>> an MP entertainment article would provoke such a
>> response. Wish we could be on better terms.
>>
>> Regards,
>> SKB
>>
>> --- Brian Conley wrote:
>>
>>> Mr. Neal:
>>>
>>> If I wanted to manipulate you, I'd threaten to run a
>>> cover story on
>>> bank software designers and the blogs they create,
>>> complete with names,
>>> photographs, personal credit histories, police
>>> records, addresses,
>>> excerpts of their political rantings, etc.. But I
>>> wouldn't do that, now
>>> would I? Anonymity really shouldn't be abused.
>>>
>>> Brian
>>>
>>>
>>> On Friday, June 17, 2005, at 11:59 AM, SK Bubba
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Mr. Conley:
>>>>
>>>> I'm surprised by this e-mail. I responded to this
>>> on
>>>> the blab, but to reiterate, I don't see the
>>> "personal
>>>> attacks" you are talking about. I see some people
>>> who
>>>> didn't like the article voicing their criticism of
>>> the
>>>> article and the writers, who sort of asked for it
>>> in
>>>> the view of some readers. Actually, it seems the
>>>> opinion is running more in favor of the article
>>> than
>>>> not, so I guess you hit your target demographic
>>> with
>>>> it pretty effectively. And I'd think you'd be
>>> pleased
>>>> that people care enought about the MP and what is
>>>> written in it to even bother to debate it.
>>>>
>>>> As for MP being "very good" to me, that's the
>>> second
>>>> time someone from MP has made that remark. I guess
>>> I
>>>> thought it sort of went both ways. I have linked
>>> to MP
>>>> and MP articles hundreds of times, I have MP
>>>> prominently featured in my blogroll and other
>>> links. I
>>>> have helped promote MP books and events on the
>>> blog
>>>> and elsewhere. I have always been a big supporter
>>> of
>>>> MP. As for "very good", I recall once when MP
>>> lifted
>>>> an entire post off my blog and ran it without
>>> asking.
>>>> If you are referring to the few times MP has
>>> mentioned
>>>> my website, that's appreciated, but really it
>>> doesn't
>>>> do anything to drive traffic that I can tell. The
>>>> Street Talk thing was nice, but it also provided
>>> some
>>>> free and easy filler for MP.
>>>>
>>>> The KNS has also been "very good" to me. With
>>>> permanent, prominent links from the online blogs
>>> to my
>>>> site, frequent mentions in articles, inviting me
>>> to
>>>> participate in rather heated debate on their
>>> website
>>>> during the elections, and even recently inviting
>>> me to
>>>> guest post on their blog. Despite them being "very
>>>> good" to me, I still frequently and harshly slam
>>> their
>>>> editorial decisions and content. Sometimes even
>>>> articles by writers I "like" and respect.
>>> Commenters
>>>> frequently bash them, too. But not once has anyone
>>> at
>>>> KNS ever written to ask that I delete something or
>>>> censor somebody. They just laugh and go on to the
>>> next
>>>> story. Maybe that's just maturity, or
>>> professionalism,
>>>> experience, I guess. I know it's pretty tough to
>>> take,
>>>> and I take a lot of it and I don't even get paid
>>> for
>>>> it. At least you guys do.
>>>>
>>>> So I guess I don't get how I'm being disrespectful
>>>> just becuase someone posts criticisms of MP
>>> article on
>>>> a forum that I happen to host. On the other hand,
>>> it
>>>> would seem that you have been trying to maniuplate
>>> me,
>>>> successfully to a certain extent. I don't think
>>> it's
>>>> appropriate to expand that into censoring valid
>>>> criticism of local media because you don't like
>>> it.
>>>> Unless, of course, you want to buy me out or
>>>> something. Heh.
>>>>
>>>> Anyway, this is getting really silly, and spinning
>>>> totally off center. Sorry we seem to disagree, I'm
>>>> sure we can work out some kind of common ground.
>>>>
>>>> Cheers!
>>>> SKB
>>>>
>>>> --- Brian Conley wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Bubba:
>>>>>
>>>>> It was good to meet you last night. I do hope we
>>> can
>>>>> get together some
>>>>> time. On another note, I'd like to say that I'm
>>>>> pretty surprised you've
>>>>> let a lot of the personal attacks of Molly and
>>> Ellen
>>>>> stand. All in all,
>>>>> Metro Pulse has been very good to you and I'm not
>>>>> asking for anything
>>>>> in return, save a little respect.
>>>>>
>>>>> Brian
>>>>>
>>>>>

Seriously Part II

For those that think that a payroll tax in a city would be a good way to fleece the pockets of non-residents, you should read the following comment just left on my last post about this subject. Mary lives in Pittsburgh...a city that has actually instituted a payroll tax:

Pittsburgh is a good example of this. They started a .5% payroll tax. Downtown is starting to look more and more like a ghost town. Businesses are moving to the surrounding suburbs. They were also considering a commuter tax, where people driving downtown to work from the surrounding areas would have to pay for the priviledge of working downtown. They raised parking taxes to 50%, the highest in the country, and didn't understand what happened when the number of people parking downtown dropped dramatically. They're driving people out of downtown in droves, and still don't get it.

You mean politicians are clueless when it comes to such things? Yeah, that sounds about right.

More: Bill Hobbs cites Philadelphia as another example.

Sneaking drugs where?

I just noticed that someone Googled my site with the search phrase "sneaking drugs through the airport." I did the search myself and found that I'm the top result for that search.

For the record (and for the TSA, FBI, BATF, CIA, etc etc), I know nothing about sneaking drugs through an airport. heh

Brian Conley

Apparently, the owner of Knoxville's Metro Pulse, Brian Conley, sent an email to the previously anonymous South Knox Bubba threatening to out him, his business, his credit history, etc via the Metro Pulse's front page!

Conley's alleged email:

Date: Fri, 17 Jun 2005 12:36:18 -0400 Subject: Re: Molly and Ellen From: "Brian Conley" [conley@metropulse.com] To: southknoxbubba@yahoo.com

Mr. Neal:

If I wanted to manipulate you, I'd threaten to run a cover story on bank software designers and the blogs they create, complete with names, photographs, personal credit histories, police records, addresses, excerpts of their political rantings, etc.. But I wouldn't do that, now would I? Anonymity really shouldn't be abused.

Brian

South Knox Bubba at one point tonight (Friday night) took his blog down for a bit, but later in the night published the above email (including headers) along with his own personal information and business name...hence saying to Conley that he had nothing to hide.

If this is true, Brian Conley has just cause his paper's credibility to go down the drain (not to mention possibly attracting the ire of the blogosphere).

(Thanks to Sharon Cobb for alerting me to this)

Update: Mr. Conley has responded to an email of mine seeking further details on this situation. In fairness, I present his response below:

Mr. Wylie:

I didn't send a threat. In a follow-up email (one he chose not to post), I specifically told Mr. Neal that it was not a threat. If you'll read the email in question, it specifically states that I wouldn't run such a story. It does state that anonymity should not be abused. Over the last couple of days, Mr. Neal has personally attacked and facilitated attacks on two people I care about. I did not like it anymore than you would like someone attacking people you care about. Also, I thought it was patently unfair so I told the two people the identity of southknoxbubba. If they have corresponded with him, I am unaware of it. Still, the fact that Mr. Neal chose to reveal his identity to the world was his decision, and his alone. Personally, I wish him well.

Sincerely,
Brian

Tonight

If you're near a TV at 7:00pm tonight, you should watch News Channel 5+ (cable channel 50). Metro Councilman Eric Crafton and Metro Board of Education member Kathy Nevill went head to head this evening on Chris Clark's show, and from what I hear it should be very interesting to watch.

Seriously

The idea of a city payroll tax (mentioned in the Tennessean today) really doesn't deserve a discussion.

1) It's illegal
2) It would never pass
3) It would run lots of businesses into outlying areas

Anyone that even considers such a thing would be in need of a serious mental evaluation (no wonder it's an unsigned editorial). That said...this about all of the discussion I am going to dedicate to it.

However, if you want to read more discussion on it, Bill Hobbs wrote a lengthy piece focusing mainly on the first point I listed above.

A Visionary's Vision

Earlier today Bill Hobbs posted an email from one of his readers, Bill R., who wrote in response to Bruce Barry's post at Pith in the Wind the other day.

Barry, in reference to Councilman Crafton's presentation on school spending and performance, stated that "performance measures compiled by the state for each county are so numerous that you can pull out numbers to support just about any conclusion you would like to justify." Of course, this was right after pulling out his own numbers to support the conclusion he wanted to justify...which was essentially downplaying the mediocrity of Nashville's public schools despite the fact that they receive more money per pupil (average daily attendance) than the state average by almost $2000 (it's even above the national average). His conclusion seemed to be...damn the performance, just give them more money.

This seems to be the prevalent attitude among the "tax-first, deal with problems later" people. They admit that the schools are underperforming, but why should that get in the way of throwing more money at them? As Bill R. put it, "I have heard that doing the same thing over and over again, getting a bad result each time, and then repeating the actions with expectations of some better outcome is often a warning sign of mental instability. Just throwing money at school systems has not improved them."

As I said before, the Metro school system doesn't need more funding. I had said that they needed a change in leadership, but I've come to the conclusion that in order for real change, something more drastic has to be done. In his email to Hobbs, Bill R. made a comment that really hit home...

Perhaps school systems – which in their present forms are holdovers from the days of the Industrial Revolution – should be completely revamped. A school board that consists of the parents of the children in school would be helpful, too: no professional educators and no bureaucrats allowed on the board. (Now there’s a radical idea!)

A "radical" idea indeed. A complete revamp of a school organization...not just with the school board but with the entire organization. However, such a "radical" move would require the vision of a true visionary...the likes of what Nashville doesn't seem to have right now.

Mayor Purcell does have a great vision for the city of Nashville, but does he have what it takes to truly become a real visionary and go down a path of restructuring a school system (which even he has criticized) that's so entrenched in status quo mediocrity and ineptitude? Mind you, I'm not talking about the teachers here...they are the ones who are right where the rubber meets the road. I'm talking about the leadership and bureaucracy of the school system that bogs down the entire machine.

If someone had the guts and vision to take on such a task they could put Nashville at the forefront as a model of modern education in a "big" city. However, the perceived downsides are enormous. Such a process would create a political war that would be difficult to weather, but in the end the payoffs would be huge.

Would such a thing ever happen (or even be considered)? I seriously doubt it. As with anything in government, change is long and tedious...most of the time it doesn't even happen and just ends up getting worse. Perhaps that's a reason why true visionaries are rarely seen running for public office anymore.

Real change is needed, and fleecing taxpayers for more money to throw at the system is not going to fix it. Are there any visionaries in Nashville?

Probably not.

Batman Begins

Greg Hardin offers his review of Batman Begins...

Gone are the campy villains and gone are the neon lights and gone is the wink wink, nudge nudge, and gone are the bat-nipples and gone is the "Holy rusted metal, Batman!" and gone is all of that crap. It may have been funny on the 60's TV show, but that wasn't Batman, either. "Batman Begins" is what Batman is all about, where Batman is alone and brilliant and ruthless and resourceful and determined and intelligent and in the shadows and with a business-only mindset. They finally got it right. I can't believe it.

Be sure to read his entire review. I'll be seeing it this weekend.

House Votes to Curb Patriot Act

Amazing news. Congress (at least the House) has decided to do some checking and balancing...

One provision of the Patriot Act makes it possible for the FBI to obtain a wide variety of personal records about a suspected terrorist -- including library transactions -- with an order from a secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, where the government must meet a lower threshold of proof than in criminal courts.

Under the House change, officials would have to get search warrants from a judge or subpoenas from a grand jury to seize records about a suspect's reading habits.

A small step, at least, in favor of the 4th Amendment.

More: Speaking of checks and balances, SayUncle rails against the Supreme Court...and rightly so.

How many teachers?

Just how many teachers do we have in Metro? Well, let's ask our expert...Metropolitan Public Schools Director Dr. Pedro E. Garcia...

Click here to listen to what he has to say.

Star Wars Holiday Special

One of the darkest days in the history of Star Wars came with the release of the Star Wars Holiday Special in 1978. Star Wars fans know what I'm talking about.

Greg Hardin posted a link last week to a video of cuts from the special, but he lamented that the video didn't include the best part of the Holiday Special...the Boba Fett cartoon (which was actually the first ever appearance of Boba Fett).

I present to you a link to a video that includes part of that cartoon. Enjoy.

Quote of the Week

From Smantix in a comment over at NashvilleTruth yesterday:

We could be educating our dumb children on the moon with space chalk and giving them lunar bicycles for what Tenncare is costing. What kills me about the liberals is that it's "Separation of Church and State" 24/7 until there's a government program that they want to pimp on religion for. Then, suddenly, it's your Christian duty to provide healthcare to every state touching ours.

Yeah...pretty much.

By the way...these guys sure have been quiet lately.

The Lynching "Apology"

Ladies and gentlemen, we've witnessed political pandering at its finest this week.

I haven't even really mentioned it as I've been sitting back seeing how it would play out in the blogosphere and in the media. Just as I thought, it's sunk to accusations of racism if you didn't sign on as a cosponsor to the bill.

Heck...just check out SaysUncle's comments on his post about it. Even if you think that the Senate was wasting their time, you must be a racist.

Michael Silence quoted Knoxville talk show host Kelvin Moxley today, and I agree with him completely:

So, the US Senate offers a belated apology for failing to pass federal anti-lynching legislation. Woopdedoo, uncork the champagne. Are there any other injustices in the dark misty past for which laws and customs have eliminated but empty apologies have not been offered? An apology has weight only when it comes from the offending party. Empty apologies will not bring those people back.

Bill Clinton started this ball rolling of government officials who never committed the offense, apologizing for the actions of their forbears and predecessors. Usually it just the preening posturing of pusillanimous politicians who seek refuge from the heavy lifting of dealing with today’s problems. The apology is nothing more than guiltless people trying to bask in the warmth of media kleig lights saying “lookie at what I done!”

Why don’t these guys just get on with dealing with real problems that affect people today.

Yes, those were dark times for our nation, but they (the Senate) are not concerned about a real apology. In the end, that resolution is about as useful as passing a resolution that declares Dale Earnhardt Day.

The simple truth is that this bill was created to put the members of the Senate who sponsored it on a pedestal so that they could look down on any dissenters (who probably wanted to focus on real issues) and call them racists.

To everyone who's jumping on that pedestal...get over it.

Now let's move on to more important issues.

Interview

Brittney Gilbert over at Nashville Is Talking has an excellent interview up of some crazy blogger guy. Can you believe he had a LiveJournal one time?

For more unbelievable confessions and you should go check it out.

Ignoring the News

Yesterday and today I have been completely ignoring the news. I have not turned on the TV to any news source, and on the internet I have been avoiding anything but local news sources (mainly blogs).

All I wanted to know was one thing...guilty or not guilty. Nothing more. That's why I'm ignoring the news.

See my earlier commentary on this particular case here.

Light Blogging

Light blogging today.

A quick note though...tonight there is a Metro Council Meeting, but the second reading of the mayor's operating budget (along with the tax increase proposals) and possible introduction of a no-new-taxes budget (COLA budget) will probably take place next Tuesday night.

If any of that changes (and if I find out about it beforehand), I'll be sure to pass along the word.

Note to Vandals

Why can't people have a non-violent, civil discussion on the issues without having to resort to childish, intolerant actions?

Nathan Moore reported yesterday that the chairman of the Davidson County GOP board of directors, Jon Crisp, had a couple of his vehicles vandalized at his home after the Metro School Board Budget meeting the other night. As Moore said, "Tolerant...remember, it's all for the children. Even crushed roofs and fenders."

With that, I'd like to offer advice for future, potential vandals...

Most Republicans and pretty much all Conservatives (I fall into the latter category) strongly believe in the 2nd Amendment. If you decide that you will go the childish route of vandalism to make your point and the person catches you, you must know that baseball bats, crow bars, etc. are considered deadly force and in Tennessee can legally be met with opposing deadly force.

If you are caught in the act of vandalizing property, don't stand your ground as that can be considered potentially threatening. My advice to you (if you wish to avoid such nasty confrontations) is to immediately drop the instrument of your vandalism and run away like the cowards you are as fast as you can.

I'm just saying.

Oh...and by the way. Thanks to your actions as vandals, you've only hurt your cause. Great job!

The Dem Spokesperson on Medicaid

I think that the national Democrat leadership may have to rethink who they pick to be their spokesperson on Medicaid. Especially if he or his administration is playing political games for votes with his state's own socialized healthcare program.

More tomorrow.

More on the Metro Tax Proposals

Today I received an excellent Powerpoint presentation created by Metro Councilman Eric Crafton (Bill Hobbs has it up too with comments of his own). From the looks of it, the Metro school system doesn't need additional funding...it needs better leadership. The teacher to student ratio is low, teachers are paid the second most in the state, spending per student is the highest in the state (and above the national average), but the performance is utterly pathetic compared to schools in the rest of the state.

So, should we continue to pump more money into the schools in Davidson County?

This was in the comments section of my last update of Tuesday night's Metro Council meeting, and I feel it deserves to be posted for all to see...
----------
Posted by Jon Crisp

I am the current Chairman of the Nashville Republican Party. I lead one of the groups opposing Metro Nashville's property tax increase, a tax that hits the poor and elderly the hardest. Saturday at approximately 2pm on cable channel 3, a replay of Metro Councilman Eric Crafton's presentation on the results of our community's investment in the school system will be rebroadcast. I urge EVERYONE to watch it. To cut to the chase... Metro spends more $ per pupil, has the lowest Teacher - Pupil ratios, and yet has next to the lowest graduation rate in Tennessee, the lowest ACT test scores, and State Report Card grades in an eight county region and when compared to the other large cities in Tennessee. All this aside...the Metro School Board has demanded of the Council that they ignore the Mayors incredible $541 million dollar budget offer (Which many think is excessive) and give them a $571 million dollar budget. Did you know that we have 12,750 fewer kids in the schools than we had in 1975 but we spend over $180 million dollars (inflation adjusted) each and EVERY year more on our schools than we did then. Folks... Thats over a BILLION dollars every 5+ years! Yet it is still not enough for them.

The astounding thing that happened last night at City Hall was the arrogance, an adversarial relationship, defensive behavior, and outright bigotry that the Schools leadership exhibited.

Its this last item I want to specifically address. Ms. Kathy Nevill, Metro School Board Finance Chair said on several occasions that many people vacated the public schools in the 70's and "We all know what happened there"...and today we have 25% of the ELL (English Language Learners) in the state, and 64% of the kids in school in Metro are eligible for the free lunch programs. Several of the African American Council Members took offense to the repeated references to the request for additional funds for the ELL and free lunch kids....taking the comments as a slap toward the poor and persons of color in Nashville. I took the remarks as a sort of "We are burdened by the poor kids and immigrant kids" remark until Ms. Nevill said,"My kids attend McGavock, and we live in Hermitage.. There is a big difference between my kids and the kids at Napier school". At this stage... I thought the African American delegation would explode! The rest of the meeting was all downhill from there.

I think I realized at that juncture that we are dealing with that famous liberal arrogance that believes that the "Masses" need them because the poor and stupid are too dumb to think for themselves........and we are the liberal intelligencia burdened with saving all you people from yourselves attitude.

Is this what President Bush and Secretary Rice called the "Soft Bigotry of Lowered Expectations"? I think so.

If you wish to turn over millions more to these type folks, simply do nothing....If not, get to the Ben West Library and temporary City Hall Tuesday at 7pm. The next two Tuesday nights will determine the tax levied against you. Honk your horn, hold a sign etc...express yourself.

I appreciate Blake and others from Nashvillefiles.com being there.

It matters!
----------

Well, technically, I am the only person from Nashvillefiles.com, but the people who have been out there with Ben Cunningham of Tennessee Tax Revolt are the ones who really deserve the appreciation.

Next Tuesday night at 7:00pm is the next Metro Council meeting. I hope to be there. It doesn't matter which party you side with. What matters is that if you live in Davidson County and are going to be taxed "for the children," and can see that it's quite obvious that more money won't help the schools...well, you should be there as well.

More:
By the way...Crafton was one of the few people on the Metro Council who abstained from every budget or tax proposal vote on Tuesday (see my results here).

Friday Car Blogging

As promised, it's Friday Car Blogging (because I didn't do it on Thursday).

The Land Rover lives!

I was finally able to get the thing running to the point that I could drive it on the road (and just a wee bit off road). The carb rebuild did the trick.

I still don't have the bonnet on there though...I found that when I drove it through the yard the other day that the bushings that hold the bonnet in place fell off somewhere...so, $10 later, I have new bushings.

Next week I think I may actually take it out and bring it back to my house.

Oh...and my second ever video blog...this time with amateur video editing!

Click here to view the 1.2 MB Windows Media File.

De-Magnetize Tennessee Rally

I attended the De-Magnetize Tennessee Rally against illegal aliens held at Centennial Park this evening. The turnout was excellent and was even better than I had expected.

Speakers ranged from state legislators Beth Harwell, Donna Rowland, Bill Ketron, Jim Bryson, (and lots more) to Michael Leon a member of the Minuteman Project. He is a Hispanic and said he was a Democrat who only started disliking the ACLU after what they did during the project in Arizona (oh, and he did say that he is a veteran of both Panama and Grenada and loved Ronald Reagan).

Glen Dean of Nashville Truth was also in attendance along with his beautiful wife and four month old son. He has several good posts on the event.

The purpose of the event is to attempt to make illegal immigration a state issue for Tennessee by "de-magnetizing" it for illegal immigrants to come here. We must start at the root of the cause, and that's the hiring of illegals. Phil Valentine is pushing for fines against businesses that knowingly hire illegals in Tennessee along with other types of laws to stop the enormous influx of illegal aliens. If Tennessee passes such laws perhaps other states will follow suit.

I was able to get several pictures, and I've uploaded some of the better ones to Flickr. You can see them all here.

Here are a few good ones as well:

Michael Leon who worked with the Minuteman Project

Michael Leon speaks

Organizer of the event, Phil Valentine

He asked me who I worked for before I took the picture

His papers checked out

There were about six people who didn't agree...

Out of all of these people

Chris along with Stephen of Creative Liberty

This guy will be a U.S. Senator one day

Again...see all of the pictures here.

Thursday Already?

It's Thursday already? Well, looks like Thursday Car Blogging will be Friday Car Blogging. Come back tomorrow as I'll have some good updates regarding the old Land Rover project.

In the meantime, Chris Wage is filling in the gap with his own Thursday Car Blogging. Check it out.

Breaking old news - The Ford brothers, and Jr. too!

This would be considered a breaking "old" news story, but it's something you won't see anywhere else on the Internet.

As I said yesterday, there are probably plenty of things in John Ford's past that we either don't know about or have just forgotten. This would fall into the latter category. This actually includes alleged troubles also involving former Congressman Harold Ford, Sr., father of current Congressman and Senate hopeful Harold Ford, Jr. I'm afraid that it's not just John Ford that Harold Ford, Jr. has to be concerned about...his father has plenty of problems that he should be worried about as well.

John Ford's troubles started from the very beginning when he was elected as a state Senator in 1974. It involved his residency. For the election, he claimed he lived in an apartment at his family's funeral home, but his real home wasn't located in the district from which he was elected. Apparently, the investigation went away after no one could provide more evidence. This particular issue has been something that has been questioned to this day. Of course, as seen by this list, he's never been a stranger to controversy throughout the rest of his career either.

John Ford's brother, Harold Ford, Sr. (elected to Congress in 1974 as well), also had a few troubles during his tenure as a Congressman. As noted in a Nashville Scene story by Roger Abramson on Harold Ford, Jr., he was eventually acquitted of most of the federal charges...after six years (printed in the Metro Pulse):

Congressman Ford’s father, Harold Ford Sr., fought federal bank fraud, mail fraud and conspiracy charges for six years until his final acquittal in 1993. He was among the worst offenders in the House banking scandals of the early 1990s, having written over $500,000 worth of bad checks. The elder Ford also raised hackles in 1994 when he characterized the mostly white residents of East Memphis as “devils,” something that reverberates to this day.

Ok, so he was acquitted of those charges, but with all the issues coming up around former state Senator John Ford, I've found a few things that also include Harold Sr.'s name right alongside John Ford's...things have all been forgotten.

First, let's go back to the year 1979. It seems that an investigation was going on around a former head of the state's Alcoholic Beverage Commission's west Tennessee office...William Frogge. During his trial, a "topless nightclub" owner by the name of Arthur Baldwin was brought to the stand to testify against Frogge whom Baldwin had given money to. During cross examination from the federal prosecutor he was asked which candidates had received direct contributions from him. How did he answer? Here's an excerpt from a Tennessean article from September 21, 1979:

Under cross-examination in the federal extortion trial of William Frogge, former head of the state Alcoholic Beverage Commission's West Tennessee office, Baldwin was asked which candidates received direct contributions from him.

"JOHN AND HAROLD Ford," Baldwin answered.

The Fords, however, hotly denied any association with Baldwin, claiming they had never met the man who has worked as an undercover informant in the clemency-for-cash investigation in Nashville.

"I don't know Art Baldwin. I've never seen him and never met him," Harold Ford said in a telephone interview from Washington. "I don't know anything about him other than what I've read about him in the newspapers."

JOHN FORD SAID he also did not know Baldwin, but described him as a "crook" who "lied to impress the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office."

"If Arthur Baldwin said he handed me something himself, he's a damn liar," the state senator said. "He didn't."

Baldwin who began his testimony Wednesday said when he came to memphis in 1974 to start up his nightclub operations he was told political contributions were needed to gain leverage with influential officials.

I also came across another incident that involves the two brothers. Fast forward to 1991. A trial was under way involving embezzlement and several employees of the National Bank of Commerce. Again, the Fords' names come up in testimony (under oath). From the Tennessean on December 8, 1991:

Former tellers Patricia Elliot and Joann Moore said they were pressured by members of the Ford family to cash checks their bank accounts would not cover.

They were unclear on what leverage the Fords would have to make such demands.

U.S. Attorney Ed Bryant has refused to comment on the case except to say it is still under investigation.

Jones is charged with conspiracy, bank fraud and embezzlement. The trial began last Monday and was recessed for the weekend Friday.

Ford said the former tellers are trying to win favors from the prosecution by making accusations against him and his family.

"I'm going to pursue perjury charges," he said.
.....
The tellers were indicted on charges they embezzled some $1.5 million from an NBC branch January 1987-February 1991.

Elliott, former head teller at the branch, said financial records were falsified to cover the scheme.

The former tellers said individuals for whom checks were held included Harold, John, and James Ford.

Moore said the congressman's aides "were constantly coming in for large sums of money, $4,000 or more."

Elliott said tellers hid some outstanding checks from Ford family members "to show we weren't the only ones who got money."

She said she could not report the money going to the Fords since that would lead to an audit.

This was also included earlier in the article regarding the (sworn) testimony:

State Sen. John Ford, a leading family member, described the allegations against him as "insane." None of the Fords is changed in the case.

It's "ridiculous. Don't just say it's not true. That's too mild," Ford said Friday.

The rhetoric coming from the Fords in each case is strikingly similar (and almost along the same lines as what we've heard this week from John Ford). (Also see a December 9, 1991 article on the same story.)

A few weeks ago, TeamGOP was asking if Harold Ford, Jr. would be "tarred" over the allegations over John Ford taking bribes because they took place in Miami...

Perhaps this is just a coincidence or just bad luck, but John Ford’s brother, former Memphis Congressman Harold Ford Sr. now lives in Miami, Florida. According to several public records the father of US Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr. resides on Fisher Island Drive in Miami Florida. This adds some new twists to an already bizarre story.

I'm not really sure that story had any legs to run on, but all one has to do is do a little digging to show that there's a lot of "coincidences" in John and Harold Sr.'s past that tie them together in several alledged "schemes."

Many people say that Harold Ford, Jr. is the cleanest politician in his family (if there is such a thing as a "clean" politician), but with the history of not only his uncle but also his father, he may have to fight a lot harder to prove otherwise. It's also hard to distance one's self from his father if his father's lobbying firm is paying for ethically questionable trips....(or if you've forgotten to remove a couple of indicted "Tennessee Waltzers" from an invitation to a Chattanooga fundraiser listing them as being on the honorary host committee).

There just seem to be too many coincidences, ties and instances of money being allegedly taken for me to be comfortable having a United States Senator by the name of Ford representing the state of Tennessee. I don't know...maybe that's just me.

As an aside...don't you also think it's extremely ironic (and almost humorous) that the prosecutor in the '91 bank fraud case that mentioned the Fords was none other than Senate hopeful Ed Bryant?

Indeed it is.

----

For reference, the articles I cited from the Tennessean have been transcribed in their entirety and are linked below:

September 21, 1979
Club Operator Claims Direct Gifts To Fords

December 8, 1991
Fords accused in bank fraud case

December 9, 1991
Latest accusations bring Ford denial

These articles are a testament to the fact that back in the old days (prior to the Internet in its popularly present form), stories like these seem to have dropped off the public's radar screen fairly quickly. All the Tennessean did was reprint these UPI and AP stories from the wire without conducting any further investigations.

Today that's far from the case, and I'd like to think that it's the Internet that makes sure that stories of public corruption stay in the spotlight. This serves two purposes... 1) It forces the media to keep paying attention, and 2) the attention is not lost until everyone's questions have been satisfied.

I'll join with John Jay Hooker in saying..."I do believe blogging can save our democracy."

----

More: Adam Groves points to even more potential troubles for Ford, Jr. In particular this.

Yeah, I didn't mention that, but that just goes to show you how many problems there are out there, and I feel that it's still only just barely scratching the surface.

More on Metro Tax Proposals

More commentary regarding the Metro tax increase proposals that were covered yesterday here and here...

-Ben Cunningham asks "Who represents Davidson County Taxpayers?"

-Bill Hobbs weighs in.

-A new site dedicated to saving Nashville...aptly titled SaveNashville.org.

Be sure to check them all out.

A Bizzare Incident in Ford's Past

Busy day, but I can't miss posting when former state Senator John Ford is in the news. He, of course, is going to be fighting the charges, and announced defiantly that it was not he who was corrupt...it's the FBI...

“The government has tried to show me and others as being corrupt and villains when in essence they’re the ones that are corrupt. They’re the villains,” Ford said.

“They’re the ones who have been disingenuous all along. They’re the ones who set up a fictitious, illegal, phony apparatus,” Ford said.

And he's the one that took their illegal money and threatened one of their agents...but let's not discuss that aspect of the case right now.

Ford is defiant and he believes he'll be able to fight these charges. Why shouldn't he be? He's gone for years without having to pay the consequences of his actions. You may have already seen the long list of Ford's past run-ins with the law, but I've always felt (along with everyone else) that there's a lot more that the public has never seen hit the light of day...or maybe it did but it was forgotten long ago.

Trent Seibert has an article in today's Tennessean which covers some of the things in Ford's past. In his research, it looks like he has stumbled upon something very interesting...in fact...an extremely strange event seems to have happened in Ford's troubled past that might deserve a little more attention...(this happened in 1980):

Ford was connected to an event that only could be described as bizarre. Ford, who was married at the time, was visiting a woman in a Memphis apartment, when a man forced his way into the home, raped the woman and forced Ford and the woman to pose in the nude as he photographed them.

Ford refused to discuss the incident, even after an assailant was arrested, and the matter was seldom discussed again.

Bizarre is not the word. There was definitely smoke, but no one really ever saw the fire. How is it possible for a man to force his way into an apartment with the boisterous (gun toting) Ford present, rape his female companion, and then force her and him to pose nude?

Just call it a hunch, but I think that there's more to this story than meets the eye.

More coming later...you'll want to check back tomorrow...

Metro Tax Increase - What's Next?

Keep in mind that last night's vote on the tax proposals were just the first reading of those bills (see post from last night). This week there will be budget meetings, and the bills are more than likely going to be discussed at next week's Metro Council meeting as well (which I hope to attend).

In related news, the Nashville Chamber of Commerce has endorsed the Mayor's budget (taxes and all)...

The Chamber's board met Monday evening with Mayor Bill Purcell, who presented his budget recommendations and answered questions before the board formulated its position.

The Chamber, which represents roughly 3,200 Nashville-area businesses, is supporting both an 84-cent property tax increase and a half-cent increase in the local option sales tax, and advocating for the $30 million increase in school funding.
....
"We're in favor of low taxes, but we're also in favor of excellence in public schools," Fisher said, noting that even with the tax increase Nashville will remain a comparatively low-tax community.

Comparatively low-tax community compared to what? Definitely not our surrounding areas (where everyone seems to be moving). In fact, someone wrote me today regarding his plans to move out of Davidson County:

As for me, after living my entire fifty-two years as a Davidson County resident, I have made the decision that I must exit. My leaving may not take place within the next few months or even within the next year, but it will happen. It has simply become too expensive to live in this county--and the expense is certainly not offset by the availability of services that are not available elsewhere.

I guess that part of my problem is that I remember the Nashville of the 1950s. Time marches on!

Time marches on indeed...and so do the taxpayers (right out of Davidson County).

Tax Proposals Voted On

Metro Council passes the Mayor's budget and all sales tax proposals on first reading tonight.

More: The Metro Council passed three budget related bills with voice votes tonight. Those bills were the mayor's proposed budget (BL2005-663), the proposed property tax increase (BL2005-664), and the proposed wheel tax increase (BL2005-666). The proposed sales tax increase was not singled out for a roll call vote and was passed with most of the first reading calendar on a voice vote.

Councilman Jim Gotto made the motion that these bills be recorded on a roll call vote and discussion ensued. It was made clear that if the mayor's budget proposal didn't pass, it would automatically go into law (according to the Metro Charter). Several council members encouraged their colleagues to vote yes for all of the resolutions so that they can "keep all the options on the table." However, Councilman Charlie Tygard assailed the mayor's office for not responding the Council's request for giving them a proposed no-tax increase budget in addition to the current budget proposal. He encouraged other council members to at the very least abstain in protest over the fact that their requests aren't being taken seriously.

Of course, as expected, the bills did pass on the first reading...

-The mayor's proposed budget BL2005-663 - 23 yes, 2 no, 14 abstaining
-Property tax increase BL2005-664 - 20 yes, 1 no, 18 abstaining
-Wheel tax increase BL2005-666 - 16 yes, 5 no, 18 abstaining

I have also organized the votes for everyone to see how each council member voted. Click here to see the list.

This bill was appropriately numbered "666"

Ben Cunningham and others associated with Tennessee Tax Revolt showed up to protest the proposed taxes.

There were even a few "horn honkers" circling the building...and yes, you could hear them inside.

Metro Council Meeting

Tonight, 7:00pm. The Metro Council will be considering the Mayor's tax increase on first reading.

Be there...Old Ben West Library at 225 Polk Avenue.

Open Government

Currently sitting in on a "bloggers meeting" with Drew Johnson of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research and Larry Reed, President of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy out of Michigan (see below).

The discussion is centering around open government and ethics. According to Mr. Reed, the cleanest government is an open government. In an effort to create a more open government, the Mackinac Center has created a wonderful website called Michigan Votes. It records every bill filed and every vote made by each and every state legislator.

This is definitely something that Tennessee needs. He is right...an open government is a clean government, and right now, Tennessee doesn't have the openess it needs. As seen with the openess that blogging legislator Rep. Stacey Campfield has tried to facilitate, many legislators don't like to have the light shining into the dark corners of the General Assembly. Much like roaches (I'm sorry, but it's pretty much an appropriate metaphor), they run and hide when the light comes on.

When and if the legislature tackles more ethics issues, open government is one of the issues that must be confronted.

More: Drew will be working on bringing a project similar to Michigan Votes here to Tennessee.

Talk also centered on controlling state government spending through TaBOR.

Bill Hobbs is here as well.

More II: Matthew White covers the gathering as well.

Rethinking Scalia - Commerce Clause Decision

Perhaps Scalia isn't as good of a choice for Chief Justice as I had originally thought.

With the court's latest ruling, Scalia joined in with the 6-3 majority allowing Federal prosecutors to go after users of medical marijuana. However, this case had nothing to do with medical marijuna and everything to do with the Commerce Clause.

Dessenting in favor of state's rights was Chief Justice Rehnquist along with Justices O'Connor and Thomas.

With this case, I have a sudden, new found respect for Justice Thomas...mainly due to his separate dissent. From Law.com:

In a separate dissent, Thomas sharply criticized the majority for drifting back toward an expansive view of the commerce clause that would allow Congress to regulate "quilting bees, clothing drives and potluck suppers throughout the 50 states." He added, "The majority is not interpreting the Commerce Clause, but rewriting it."

The Commerce Clause has been misread and abused to the point that Federal authority encroaches upon every aspect of our lives now. With this case, the Supreme Court had an excellent opportunity to keep that encroachment in check...they failed.

Say Uncle has similar thoughts:

In the last few years, the supreme court has quashed free speech; federalism; right of people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures; and states’ rights. I expect that property rights will be next.

Indeed.

Those possible ethics problems

Those possible ethics problems surrounding Ford Jr. that I alluded to yesterday could start coming home to roost.

Blogging for Bryant has the details.

Seven Principles of Public Policy

Tonight, I attended a gathering sponsored by the Tennessee Center for Policy Research which featured Larry Reed, President of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy out of Michigan.

Mr. Reed gave an excellent talk centered around Mackinac's "Seven Principles of Sound Public Policy." On the Mackinac website, I found an article that covers these seven principles along with several similar points that Mr. Reed put forward in his discussion. You should definitely read it.

However, for those with less time (and smaller attention spans), I will post the "Seven Principles" here:

-Free people are not equal, and equal people are not free.
(*ed. note: equality not in the sense of justice - which is necessary - but in the governmental forced equalization of people in the socio-economic sense)

-What belongs to you, you tend to take care of; what belongs to no one or everyone tends to fall into disrepair.

-Sound policy requires that we consider long-run effects and all people, not simply short-run effects and a few people.

-If you encourage something, you get more of it; if you discourage something, you get less of it.

-Nobody spends somebody else's money as carefully as he spends his own.

-Government has nothing to give anybody except what it first takes from somebody, and a government that's big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you've got.

-Liberty makes all the difference in the world.

All are sound principles for a society that is free and wants to remain free. When governments seek to violate these principles, they do so at a cost. Government would have to grow in order to force compliance (force is where governmental power lies)...thus, liberty ends up being lost. This idea actually ties in well with what I wrote last week about healthcare not being a right.

To get the full impact of these principles (and understand what they really mean), you really should read the entire article from Mackinac.

Longtime Conservative Mantras

Hmm...maybe this is another reason why some Democrats are starting to sour on Howard Dean so much:

"Borrowing a page out of an old GOP playbook," Howard Dean outlined "his game plan for Democrats winning the White House in 2008" at a Seattle fundraiser, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports. He would run a national campaign "in some ways like a '70s Republican platform."

Democrats must emphasize a message that touts "individual freedom" and "fiscal responsibility" -- "two longtime conservative mantras he says Republicans have squandered by racking up governmental debt and legislating so-called 'moral values.'"

Individual freedom, fiscal responsibility, smaller government, staying out of people's lives...it's just so anti-Democrat that it might actually work. Fortunately, the Democrats don't get it, and they'll more than likely continue along their muddled, non-visionary path. Unfortunately, Republicans seem to have completely forgotten those "longtime conservative mantras."

Is there anyone to carry that banner anymore?

(via Michael Silence)

Another Gubernatorial Candiate?

Another possible GOP Gubernatorial candidate?

Ford, Jr. should listen to John Jay Hooker

While I'm on the subject of state races and various candidates for Senate and/or Governor, Harold Ford, Jr. would do well to listen to John Jay Hooker. Hooker doesn't think Ford should run for Senate in 2006 because of his uncle's troubles.

While speaking with someone with his campaign this weekend, he/she did lament over the fact that they are really struggling with the association between the Congressmen and his uncle. That may indeed be the case, but I just don't think that he can win a state-wide race against a Conservative Republican.

Those are two huge things working agai