Nashville Schools need Elissa Kim

Matt Nemeth

 by  Matt Nemeth

Metro Nashville Schools are a mess.  Testing has found that fewer than 30% of third grades read at a proficient level.  Graduation rates are abysmal yet metro plans on spending $723 million dollars for this upcoming school year!  

Who can honestly say that they are satisfied with the current state of Metro Nashville Schools?

One person who aims to change this is Elissa Kim.  As an educator and resident of Nashville, Kim as seen the tragic effects that a poor school system has on students.  After graduating from Northwestern University, Kim joined Teach For America and was sent to New Orleans.  Placed in one of the poorest districts in the nation, Kim saw the toll that bureaucrats take on students.  Instead of offering solutions with the money they have, the school boards would simply politicize the underachieving students as a way to gain more money for their failing system.

Elissa Kim changed this.  By working hard to teach students and make sure they were learning, she created unprecedented success in an area where many thought there could only be failure.  The focus she gave her students changed their life and hers.  Foregoing plans to attend law schools, she joined Teach For America's leadership team full time.  As head of recruiting, she found people from all walks of life who would make great teachers and changed the lives of students forever.

Elissa Kim

Nashville can use a disciplined person like Elissa Kim to sit on the school board.  Her focus and dedication to the students first allows her to stand above the status quo.  She supports charter schools to offer competition to our failing system.  When elected, she will also use her recruiting power, through Teach For America, to bring top educators here to Nashville.

For the first time in decades, we stand to elect a leader who will not be satisfied with subpar results and will always put our children first.  By offering competition through charter programs and recruitment, we will see the needed change we have fought for.  We will finally be able to say that our children are getting the education they deserve.

Elect Elissa Kim for Metro School Board District 5!

Matt Nemeth is a Republican activist and the former host of one of Nashville's Republican  Breakfast groups.  Matt works as a salesman and currently lives downtown with his dog, Sam.

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Report from West Nashville Summit: Rod Williams, United Way, and Neighbood Resource Center

Hello,

Well, if you missed Saturday's West Nashville Eggs and Bacon Summit then you missed a very heated debate.  Joe Kirkpatrick and Rod Williams were our guests. 

Joe came to talk about his radio show on 880 AM which airs Monday through Friday from 8-10am.  He is passionate and well educated about both local and national politics.  Tune into his show to hear him along with former Representative Terry Lynn.  Joe provided a very interesting perspective on democracy and the media.

Rod spoke in depth about a recent blog post he made regarding the United Way and their funding of the Neighborhood Resource Center.   Through his investigative work Rod feels that the NRC is a front-group for political activities.  He provided an interesting perspective.

The debate began when members of both the United Way and NRC showed up to debate the blog post that Rod made.  Both sides presented very compelling evidence to their cases.  The debate at one point became very heated yet, in the interest of democracy, remained civil.  Anyone who was there learned a great deal about all parties involved and are better off for this.  It also goes to show how even when two groups disagree, they can do so in a very respectful manner even when emotions run high.

I certainly hope to see you next month.  If you have any suggestions for speakers coming up, feel free to send them to my attention.  Have a great week!


Regards,

Matt Nemeth

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West Nashville Breakfast Group to Host Matt Throckmorton

DCRP-Davidson County Republican Party  Breakfast Summit, Saturday, August 20, 2011 RISE AND SHINE FOR THE WEST NASHVILLE EGGS AND BACON SUMMIT Meeting at  Shoney's 365 White Bridge Pike, Nashville Saturday, August 20, 2011 Fellowship, Dutch Treat Breakfast 8:30 AM, meeting 9:00 AM

-Special Guest- Matt Throckmorton Chairman of TN Charter School Association Come hear the changes that are taking place for the Charter School System throughout the State. Moderator - Matt Nemeth

Join our mailing list! www.Davidsoncountygop.org/party

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Report from West Nashville Summit: Bruce Wood was our guest

Hello All!

Thanks to those of you who attended our meeting this past Saturday.

Bruce Wood was our guest. He is a local environmental activist with the organization BURNT and has been fighting on our behalf for the past 22 years. Conservation is the key to his movement and Bruce makes sure that companies follow the law when it comes to waste management.

Without Bruce, Nashville would look and smell much different today. He fought to get rid of a fat-rendering plant which stunk up the city and he fought against a trash incinerator along our river. If the incinerator had been allowed to be built we would have seen upwards of 200 garbage trucks a day traveling through our city to the site and its transfer station.

One thing I learned is that these environmental concerns are truly conservative issues. Laws are repeatedly broken by people who feel they are above them. People dispose of toxic waste into landfills which then end up in our drinking water. Regardless of your party affiliation, we all want clean drinking water. At the same time, the cost to clean this up after an incident becomes enormous. If we want to hold government accountable to the tax payer than we need to ensure they enforce the law to prevent costly clean ups. Conservatives value a non-biased and efficient government. Enforcing current laws and preventing our tax dollars from being needed to clean up a toxic waste site are essential to those views.

Again, this is not a liberal or a conservative issue. Environmental degradation is preventable and we owe it to one another to make sure that the law is followed.

We certainly hope to see you at the next meeting. Have a great week!


Matt Nemeth
Moderator, West Nashville Egg and Bacon Summit

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West Nashville Summit Report: Metro Council Candidate Dave Patterson

Dave Patterson

From Matt Nemeth, Moderator, West Nashville Republican Breakfast Club

Hello All!

We were honored yesterday to have Dave Patterson speak about his candidacy for Metro Council in District 4!  Dave did a great job talking about his background, experiences and vision of what Nashville can be.  Some interesting things about Dave include:

- He has spent more than 15 years as an officer in the United States Army and Army Reserve

- He is a very successful businessman

- Dave believes in low property taxes for the city

- He and his wife are members of Our Savior Lutheran Church

When elected, Dave will become an important and effective leader in Metro Council.  He has a great vision to bring business to Nashville and make this area very competitive for small business.  I donated to his campaign earlier today.  You can do so and learn more about Dave at his website: http://www.electdavepatterson.com.

Thanks again to all who attended!  Have a wonderful Memorial Day and see you all next month!

Regards,

Matt Nemeth

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West Nashville Eggs and Bacon April Report

by Matt Nemauth

Thank you to all who attended the West Nashville Eggs and Bacon yesterday morning.  This meeting marked our 1 year anniversary and I am still proud to help moderate this event.  None of this could happen without your support.

As a reminder, Chuck Grimes will be "locked up" as a MDA Jailbird in an effort to raise money for Jerry's Kids.  Chuck currently heads up the Young Republicans of Davidson County and works for the state legislature.  He will need to raise $2400 by July 27th.  I have already donated and if you wish to as well, please click here.

Ralph Weber was an incredible speaker.  He is the President and CEO of MediBid - an service dedicated to finding medical services for people at the free-market level.  Along with his company, he served as a consultant to Rudy Guiliani and Mike Huckabee during their Presidential campaigns in 2008.

Ralph made some incredibly eye-opening remarks regarding our health care industry and what he feels would be true solutions.  One fact that he revealed was that by using nurse practitioners in an effort to reduce medical costs, those costs actually increase.  This is because nurse practitioners are likely to order more tests than necessary to properly diagnose a patient.

Again, Ralph is a wealth of knowledge regarding the health care industry.  Check out his company at: www.medibid.com.

Thank you again.  We are trying to get a health care panel setup for a future meeting.  All details will be provided once solidified.

Regards,

Matt Nemeth
West Nashville Eggs and Bacon Summit Moderator
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Becoming an American Citizen

By guest blogger Matt Nemeth

Today I was honored to witness something I have never seen. Down at the Federal courthouse here in Nashville, immigrants were sworn in as legal, naturalized citizens.

I was there to watch my friend, Leo, become an American. He was one of 60 people from 29 different nationalities being sworn in. Some of these individuals hailed from countries such as Canada, Guatemala, Cuba and Iran.

My friend was born and raised in Mexico. His wife is an American and they had met while she was vacationing in his home country. After some time, they got married and he moved here to the United States.

As long as I have known Leo, he has wanted to get his American citizenship. Today, after years of work and many fees, he earned it.

Right now we have anywhere between 15 and 20 million illegal immigrants residing here in the United States. None have gone through the process to become naturalized citizens nor do they appear to want to. They have not even begun to make the efforts that Leo has.

In the meantime, our politicians are fighting to grant these law-breakers citizenship without having to go through the same process as everyone else. In other words, our own elected officials are willing to have illegal immigrants jump in front of those working towards their citizenship and receive it first and possibly for free.

It cost my friend roughly $3500 in applications, travel, and other related expenses to get where he is. Would these politicians force those here illegally to pay the same monetary price?

Any politician who preaches amnesty also preaches putting an individual above the law. They feel that someone who breaks our laws is entitled to as little punishment as possible and the cherished gift of citizenship.

Each of those 60 people who became American’s today worked incredibly hard to earn this. They undoubtedly cherish what they now have. How do they feel knowing that politicians are willing to give their gift to someone else who did not sacrifice for it? Would those here illegally cherish their gift of independence?
The judge presiding the ceremony made an excellent observation: each person
Receiving their citizenship today gets to celebrate two days of independence every year. They get to bask in the festivities of the 4th of July to honor our nations independence and they get to celebrate every January 27th their own personal holiday. They celebrate their own independence.

No one in that room would dare take for granted what they have achieved. We should all be honored that they went to these great lengths to become our countrymen. This is something that our politicians should not desecrate through an amnesty bill. The achievements made are something that should never be legislated.

Matt Nemeth is the host of the West Nashville Eggs and Bacon Summit. It meets every 3rd Saturday of the month at the Shoney’s on White Bridge Rd.  Matt works as a salesman and currently lives downtown with his dog, Sam.

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Matt Nemeth Reports from West Nashville Summit with Ken Marrerro

Hello All and Merry Christmas!

Yesterday we had a great meeting out at the Shoney's on White Bridge.  Thank you to all who attended and welcome to those who were new!

Ken Marrero is an excellent speaker and we are luckily to have him reside here in middle Tennessee.  He beams of passion, kindness and knowledge while he is speaking.  His idea of "Second-Hand Liberty" is one that drove me to think more about how we should approach government.  As Ken says, we created the government to preserve liberty but now find ourselves almost begging them to maintain that job.  Our liberties should never be begged for.

During his speech Ken mentioned Patrick Henry's address regarding his famous "give me liberty" speech.  When I got home I looked up the entire speech and was amazed that I had never read it.  If you have never read it, please follow this link to do so: http://libertyonline.hypermall.com/henry-liberty.html

Also, if you want to keep up with Ken's blog, you can do so through this link: http://conservablogs.com/bluecollarmuse/.  Believe me, you will not be disappointed.

Look for updates regarding next month's breakfast and, as always, let me know if you have any ideas for speakers!

Have a great holiday!

Matt Nemeth

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Report from the West Nashville Summit with Sheriff Daron Hall

From Matt Nemeth
Saturday, November 20th

Hello All,

Thank you to those in attendance this morning to hear Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall speak about immigration. Today was very informative and provided great clarity as to how Nashville uses 287(g) as a tool to combat illegal immigration. 287(g) is designed to provide relief to Federal officials looking to detain illegal immigrants by allowing local law enforcement the opportunity to question anyone arrested about their residency status.

According to the Sheriff, 287(g) has been very effective. Less than 1% of illegals found in Nashville appear in any other part of the country. This means that the job that our elected officials are doing is resulting in either the proper jailing or deportation of those in this country unlawfully. It would be difficult to find another city in this nation with such a track record.

Let's continue to stand behind Sheriff Hall who openly decided to use (even against the will of critics) 287(g) to the benefit and safety of Tennesseans. He was sworn to protect the citizens of Davidson County and it is clear that he will use any legal means necessary to do so.

Any other city in this great country should be as honored as we are to have someone like Sheriff Hall watching over them.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Matt Nemeth

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Health Savings Accounts to be taxed, regulated.

by guest blogger Matt Nemeth

Look out: the government has found a new way to tax and regulate your life. That is, only if you have a Health Savings Account (HSA).

Starting next year, the IRS will require you to take a doctors note to a pharmacist if you want to buy a simple bottle of over-the-counter Tylenol using your HSA card.

If you’re not familiar with the HSA it is a type of high-deductible medical insurance program introduced to consumers in 2003. Simply put, when enrolled, you have a savings account put into your name. You and your employer can add tax-free money into the account. That money is used to pay your medical bills out-of-pocket. If your treatments exceed your deductible then the insurance portion takes over and pays the rest.

This type of insurance may cost more up front but has a great side effect: individual responsibility. When the cost of a medical bill is put in the hands of the consumer, they tend to make better decisions to save money while maintaining their health.

Another benefit to the HSA is that unused funds will remain in the account indefinitely. So, if you have spent very little money over the years and want to get Lasik surgery, simply use the funds in your HSA to cover the costs.

Of course, since the individual is holding the money, the government sees this as problematic. Under new regulations being imposed by ObamaCare roughly 15,000 over-the-counter medicines will require the note from a physician if you want to use the HSA to buy them.

Who will impose these regulations? The IRS.

If you go against the new law and use your HSA to buy the OTC drugs without a note, then be prepared to pay a 20% tax on the medicine to the Feds. There is no clarity yet if a 1099 or other tax form will need to be filed along with your receipt.

Last I checked we call this an “unintended consequence”.

What other unintended consequences will this create? Well, if you have to go to a doctor to get Tylenol then you may as well ask for its stronger and more expensive version containing Codeine. After all, since you will be paying for the visit to the doctor you may as well make it worth your time. What will that do to drive up the cost of health care?

This shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone, though. The President has seemed to have a certain personal vendetta against the concept of the HSA since he took office. Individual responsibility is a concept that liberals have never been comfortable with.

This election cycle, let’s make sure Washington understands our frustration with ObamaCare and elect people who want to put the power back in the hands of the individual.

Matt Nemeth is the host of the West Nashville Eggs and Bacon Summit. It meets every 3rd Saturday of the month at the Shoney’s on White Bridge Rd. He works as a salesman and is currently the campaign manager for Timothy Lee running for State House. He currently lives downtown with his dog, Sam.

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Tim Lee Campaign to City Paper: You Lie.

Mr. George,

I am the campaign manager for Timothy Lee who is running to be the House Representative for District 55. Today I read the endorsements that you made in the City Paper (http://nashvillecitypaper.com/content/city-voices/voter-s-guide-city-paper-endorsements).

Your endorsement of Gary Odom comes as a surprise - not because you threw your weight behind a 22-year incumbent but because you out-right lie about how this decision was made.

"After candidate interviews and deliberation, decisions were made..." Really? When did these interviews take place? Tim was not interviewed nor was any interest expressed to learn more about him. Based on what you wrote in your own editorial section you have lied.

If you claim that you have not lied, then please, tell me something about Tim that is not listed on his website. Something that would indicate you took the time and patience to speak with the very person who is putting his name and personal finances on the line in order to be elected to public office.

I would like to know the following:

- What source did you reference to learn more about Tim Lee and thus decide to NOT endorse him?
- When was the last time you actually spoke with Tim?
- You have 22-years of voting history to judge Odom, what information about Tim did you use to create a level and unbiased playing field on which to choose your endorsement?

If you cannot provide this then please admit in a follow-up piece that you have not actually spoken with the candidate.

You have every right to make any endorsement you wish. The issue is in the betrayal of your own audience's desire to read an honest publication. This is something you have failed to provide. Please call so we can discuss.

Regards,

Matthew Nemeth
Campaign Manager
Committee to Elect Timothy Lee

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