Please Vote in my Republican Primary Preference Poll

I would like to know for whom the visitors to this blog would vote if voting in the Republican Iowa caucuses. Please look to the left and cast your vote.

The polling data coming from Iowa has been all over the place. The most recent CNN polling shows that Romney is on top just days before the caucus. Santorum has a promising rise, Paul is holding firm in second place but has dropped from the number one spot he had for a short while and Newt has dropped like a rock. This comparison of where they are now compared to where they were three weeks earlier is revealing.

                      Dec. 21-27              Nov. 29–Dec. 6
                             2011                 2011
Romney                   25%              20%
Paul                         22%               17%
Santorum                16%                  5%
Gingrich                  14%                33%
Perry                      11%                 9%
Bachmann                 9%                7%
Huntsman                 1%                 1%
Someone else (vol.) *                      *
None/ No one (vol.) *                     2%
No opinion                2%                 5%

Despite Ron Paul's favorable showing in Iowa, I think there is almost no chance he will be the Republican nominee. He is too far outside the political mainstream. Should he be the nominee, I think President Obama will be reelected in a landslide. Also, despite Romney's top spot in Iowa today and his consistent holding on to about 20% of the Republican support nationwide, I do not think he will be the nominee. He is simply too moderate for most Republicans and has flip-flopped too often. I have been a Newt supporter but quite frankly am not encouraged that he can win the nomination. If he is the nominee, I think he could provide a strong challenge to Obama simply because he is so much more intelligent and informed than Obama and can better articulate his positions and has a good game plan for winning. In a debate, Newt will run circles around Obama and Newt can force Obama to debate. However Newt has a lot of baggage and with Obama's vast campaign war chest we would see a very dirty campaign focusing on Newts negatives. 

I think we have a great chance to make Obama a one-term President but we must have the right candidate to do it. I don't know who that candidate is.

The Iowa caucus is January 3rd. Please cast your vote today in my poll. I would like to know who you support. This poll is only open 4 more days.

Please cast your vote in the poll to the left and then leave a comment telling me who you are supporting and why.

Thanks for participating, Rod

More Occuy Nashville News: From Girl Brawls to Tents on Fire

How much longer is the State going to allow this nuisance to continue?

What to look for at the January 3rd Council meeting. An update.

Signs and Chickens and not much else

This is a Council Meeting devoted to bills on public hearings and unless there is a zoning issue in your neighborhood that you care about, this council meeting will be even more boring than most council meetings. There are only two issues that will generate any general interest.

BILL NO. BL2011-30 will prohibit the conversion of nonconforming static billboards to tri-face billboards. This may sail though with no public comment but some neighborhood activist will be very much in favor of this bill and some sign industry people would be expected to oppose it.

The Backyard Chicken Bill (BL2011-47) sponsored by Karen Bennett establishes regulations and standards pertaining to the keeping of chickens. Currently, it is illegal to keep chickens in the city, this would permit that. Those wanting to keep Chickens would have to pay an annual $25 fee, could have no more than six hens and no roosters. At one time there was a lot of opposition to this bill, so I don't know if there will be a lot of comment or not but their could be.

There are also many people who strongly support this bill. There is even an organization with a Facebook page called Urban Chicken Advocates of Nashville (UCAN) which is pushing for passage of the bill.  I monitor several neighborhood websites and there has not been a lot of chatter about this recently. I am all in favor. I might raise chickens myself if this passes.

Update: Thanks to the Metro Council Member who informed me that currently the rule is that it is illegal to have chickens in the city if you have less than 5 acres. 
  

Another update: Charlotte Park Neighborhood Association opposes the backyard chicken bill. Posted in the Nashville Neighbors Google Group, Charlotte Park Neighborhood leaders Wallace and Janice Lampley post a letter sent to all Metro Council members urging them to vote against the Chicken bill.

We just think this is a bad idea, and will only cause many problems for neighbors and our Codes Department and Health Department, in dealing with all the complaints that will be coming in, if this is approved. As we've said before, Codes Department works hard, and so does our Health Department in trying to keep up with all the complaints in Davidson County, and this is just something that doesn't need to be added to their heavy complaints schedules already, and neighbors don't need to have to start dealing with something else in their neighborhood that has been a problem already in ours.

Support the Beacon Center

If you are not familiar with the Beacon Center, you need to get to know this organization. They expose corruption and waste in state government, educate law makers on free market legislative proposals  and advocate for less government. They are very influential and effective. To learn more, follow this link: The Beacon Center.

I have just sent The Beacon Center a tax deductible contribution. I urge you to make a contribution to this worthy organization. I am passing posting their appeal letter below. Rod

Dear Rod,

As we get ready to ring in a New Year, you can help us usher in meaningful free market policy reforms in 2012. Don't wait until it's too late to make your 2011 tax-deductible contribution to help advance freedom and prosperity in our state. Click on the link below to donate today!

In 2012, we will work tirelessly to roll back the job-killing state death tax, educate our fellow Tennesseans about the benefits of school choice, and help put healthcare decisions back in the hands of patients and their doctors, not bureaucrats in Washington.

In order to help us advance these goals and more, please take just a few moments to make your tax-deductible gift before the end of the year. You can visit www.beacontn.org/support, or you can send a check to the address below. Your generous support will ensure that we will once again serve as the state's leading advocate for free markets, individual liberty, and limited government.

I wish you and your family a very Happy New Year!

In Liberty,

Justin Owen

President & CEO

P.S. As long as you go online and make your donation before midnight on December 31, you can use your contribution as a tax deduction for your 2011 charitable giving. Visit our secure website at www.beacontn.org/support, or you can mail a check to the address below. Thank you for your support!

Beacon Center of Tennessee

P.O. Box 198646

Nashville, TN 37219

Ben Cunningham forms new Nashville Tea Party

Ben Cunningham

Local anti-tax crusader Ben Cunningham has formed a new group called  Nashville Tea Party which  will focus on local government issues. Ben is best known for leading the 2001 effort to stop a state income tax and he has been a leader in the local Tea Party movement. Ben has said one issue the new group will focus on is opposing a potential property tax increase in Davidson County.
 
Ben is not a Davidson County resident but lives in Summer County.

Merry Christmas Girl Brawl at Occupy Nashville

What happend at the Metro Council Dec 20: Happy Kwanza, subsidizing Lifepoint, deferring limo price-fixing fix, remodeling a church kitchen.

updated 12-27-2011
A boring Meeting: Happy Kwanza, subsidizing Lifepoint, deferring limo price-fixing fix, remodeling a church kitchen.


"The Metro Council, on a unanimous second of three votes, gave preliminary approval of millions in financial incentives to Brentwood-based LifePoint Hospitals as a way to lure the company’s headquarters and its 400 employees to Nashville." (link) This bill was substituted and re-referred to Budget and Finance. There was no discussion and I don't know what was in the substitute bill.

BL 2011-49, the bill that would undo the limousine price fixing bill the council passed in June, 2010 was deferred by the sponsor on second reading. The Transportation Committee voted 5-0 to defer until the second meeting in January, Public Safety voted 6-0 to defer two meetings, the Convention and Tourism committee voted 5-0 to defer indefinitely and suggested that a meeting be held to bring together all the stakeholders, and Budget and Finance voted "at the request of the sponsor" to defer 14-0.

More highlights.

In Communications from the Mayor, (see 5:30) he wished everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah and a Happy Kwanza. Kwanza of course is the made up holiday created in 1966 by Marxist Black power radical and convicted felon Maulana Karenga. It is a Black-only holiday created to offer Blacks an alternative to Christmas since, according to the founder, Christianity is a White man's religion. I have never wished anyone a happy Kwanza and will not do so. I wish the Mayor had not.

Contrary to my predictions, resolutions RS2011-111, RS2011-112, RS2011-113, which would give a beer permit to three locations that already had a liquor by the drink license, did not have anyone speak in opposition. Good!

RESOLUTION NO. RS2011-59 which awarded $24,275 in federal stimulus pass-through funds to remodel a church kitchen and do some other stuff was not on the consent agenda but passed by voice vote with no discussion. No "no" votes were heard and no one asked to be recorded as voting "no"  and no one felt it necessary to explain their vote for this resolution. I find it hard to believe that not a single council member thought this was an inappropriate expenditure. To me, it appears to violate the spirit of the establishment of religion clause of the first amendment. I would have liked to have heard some discussion.

This was boring, boring meeting and lasted less than 39 minutes. I am all for efficiency and I realize that much of the work of the Council gets done in committee and I do not want Council members just grandstanding to get TV face time. However, is everything so non controversial that nothing is worthy of an explanation? Do all forty members think exactly alike? I am disappointed in our new Council. I expect someone to question, to explain, to object and to vote "no" at least occasionally.