Highlights of the Nov.15, 20ll Council meeting

Former Metro Councilman Mike Jameson was elected General Session Judge. In the first round of votes, of the eight candidates running, Jameson, Freeman and Jones received votes in that order with none getting 21 votes resulting in a runoff between Jameson and Freeman. Jameson won the runoff.

RESOLUTION NO. RS2011-59 sponsored by LANGSTER & MCGUIRE was deferred to November. Duane Dominy raised a question, asking if using  public funds for this purpose would endanger the tax exempt status of the church. The staff adviser confirmed it possibly could, but that would be a decision for a state agency to make.  This resolution approves a contract between the Metropolitan board of health and Corinthian Missionary Baptist Church to upgrade the church’s kitchen facilities and to promote community gardens in North Nashville. The funds for this contract are from the federal stimulus grant the health department received to promote healthy living. These funds will be used to provide nutrition education, as well as to purchase a dishwasher, install kitchen sinks, purchase a new refrigerator, and purchase kitchen utensils for the church.  The church is to receive $24,275 in federal stimulus pass-through funds under this contract. An amendment was approved to revise the language of the bill to remove any reference to the ministry activities of the church and to specify that the programs are open to everyone regardless of religious affiliation. Despite this amendment, this still appears to be the use of public funds to benefit a religious institution and in my view should be rejected.

BILL NO. BL2011-3 sponsored by Councilman Tygard would allow recreational athletic fields and associated structures to be constructed within the floodway under certain conditions. Councilwomen Evans argued that fences and dugouts could obstruct water flow and be detrimental to flood control. Councilman Dominy argued that ball fields could be build that would not obstruct water flow. The bill passed on a voice vote.

BILL NO. BL2011-4 sponsored by Councilman Stanley which would require quarterly stormwater reports to be submitted to the Metropolitan Council was deferred one meeting for more study.  Councilman Stanley did not oppose the deferral but argued in favor of the need for the bill. I found his arguments persuasive. This bill needs to pass.

ORDINANCE NO. BL2011-31 sponsored by TYGARD and others amended the “meal ban” provisions in the Metro ethics code to allow elected officials, employees, and members of boards and commissions to accept free food or drink up to a value of $25 from a single source in any calendar year. This bill restores some sanity to an overreaching reform that went as far as prohibiting Councilmembers from accepting a cup of coffee at a neighborhood meeting. It passed by voice vote.

ORDINANCE NO. BL2011-39 privatized the metro tow-in lot eliminating several metro positions and saving millions of dollars. This was discussed at length at the Budget and Finance Committee and passed the Council without discussion.  This seems like a very wise move to me. Privatization almost always saves the city money. 

ORDINANCE NO. BL2011-39 increased from $2 to $3 a per seat ticket tax at Titans stadium.  The reason for this is to have the revenue to fund a bond issue to be presented next council meeting that would in essence have Metro co-sign a loan for improvements to the Titans stadium. It looks like a bad deal to me.  One of the objections was that the bonds were 25 years and the useful life for the improvements was much less than 25 years. Another objection is that the deal between the city and the Titans, has Metro taking the risk and the Titans taking the profits. The bill passed by machine vote 36-1. However there was a lot of discussion and many are not pleased with the relationship between the city and the Titans but feel the Titans have the city over a barrel. 
 
Controversial BILL NO. BL2011-25 sponsored by Councilman Matthews that would rezone a small portion of the lot in order to allow Temple Baptist Church to construct an LED sign was deferred one meeting.

The backyard chicken bill was not on the agenda but will be up for public hearing in December.

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Herman, you know "Libya," that country in Africa? Gaddafi?

Oh no. This is painful to watch. Between Rick Perry and Herman Cain, this makes Perry look like the smart one. Perry's brain freeze is easier to excuse than Cain's stalling and stumbling and trying to remember his position on Libya.  I wanted to help him and say, "you know, Libya, that country in Africa."  What would he have said if they would have followed up with a question about the War Powers Act?


After watching the Gingrich-Cain Debate a couple weeks ago I said my dream ticket would be Gingrich-Cain. I have liked Cain. I have liked his straightforwardness and common sense approach to issues. I like his private sector success.  I like his charisma and personality.

I did have my reservations however when some time back, while visiting Murfressboro, he said the First Amendment did not apply to Muslims and said local governments should get to decide which religions get to build houses of worship. Later he did backtrack.  I excused and overlooked that. He had a lot of other things going for him.

Rightly or wrongly, however, I think Cain is damaged. I do not think he can overcome the damage done by the sexual harassment allegations.

I do not think he helped himself by defending water-boarding the other night. And, with performances like this, I am not sure he is ready for prime time. I am beginning to believe Cain would be a drag on the ticket.  I am cooling to Herman Cain.

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Attention Nashville Homeless! Help Occupy Nashville!

Attention Nashville Homeless!

Join the party!

Free Stuff!

Help Occupy Nashville!

Legislative Plaza- 24 hours a day!

Free Food! Free blankets! Free winter clothing.

(Also, some have found unattended lap top computers and cell phones on the mall and that they have been able to claim and sell. Some protestors have abandoned their tents and belongings and they are now free for the taking. )

Companionship and all night conversation!

Join generous people who advocate sharing the wealth, who do not like authority or conformity. Like you, they feel "the man" has screwed them. They hate the rich; they love the poor. 

They will share their donated food and blankets and money with you and they most likely will invite you to share their tents and other belongings. They advocate sharing the wealth and believe in economic justice.

Don't worry about the police arresting you for loitering or sleeping in the park or urinating in public. The laws are no longer in effect. 

Enjoy all night guitar playing and conversation and camaraderie. Bring your booze and drugs. They won’t mind. These are very non-judgmental, tolerant, and loving folks who share your values.

Most of them or what you might think of as rich privileged kids but they are doing their protest for everyone except the very, very, very rich.  

Their movement is for everyone except the top 1%.  
That means you!  

Many of them don't really know any real poor people and they will be excited to hear you stories. Also, some of these folks have never spent the night out before when it is cold and rainy. You can help them by showing them how to do it. They will appreciate the help. You will be welcomed with open arms! They would find it hypocritical to turn away the homeless.

They are waiting for you to Join the movement!

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Ramsey: Occupy Nashville 'Ought to be Removed'

“I think they ought to be removed,” Ramsey said. “I do.

“I’ll bet you that if I took a Boy Scout troop up there and camped out over the weekend, they wouldn’t allow them to do it. That’s just my opinion. I think they’ve gone way too far.”

I agree! If the Boy Scouts or the homeless had started camping out and cooking on the Legislative Plaza and it was not associated with this political protest, would they have been allowed to do so? Of course not. There are even public spaces that have "keep off the grass" signs. The state should push back against the judge who ordered a temporary restraining order; not, throw in the towel. If I was simply an out-of-town tourist and wanted to camp on the capitol grounds to save cost of a hotel room, would that be permitted? I don't think so. This circus of leftist, malcontents, deviants, freaks, homeless, and camaraderie-seeking, spoiled, upper middle class "youth" should be sent home or jailed.

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Former Councilman Jameson wins Nashville Bar endorsement for Judgeship

From The City Paper

In the race to fill an open Davidson County General Sessions judgeship, 60 percent of Nashville Bar Association members polled recommended former Metro Councilman Mike Jameson, dwarfing the favorable numbers of nine other candidates. (link)

View complete Nashville Bar results here.

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Congress passed two Veterans Preferance Bills. Don't call them "Jobs Bills."

Yesterday the Senate passed two bills designed to encourage businesses to hire veterans. The bills had broad-based bi-partisan support. The bills are the Returning Heroes and Wounded Warrior Tax Credits, that will give businesses up to $9,600 for hiring veterans who are out of work or who have service-related disabilities.

I support these bills. However, it is incorrect to call these bills "jobs bills," they are "veteran preference bills." These bills will not put a single additional person back to work. The bills will cause an employer to give a preference to veterans over non-veterans. I don't have a problem with that; I support it. Veterans who served their country deserve preference.  However, anytime you give preference to one group, whether it is in college admissions or hiring of firemen, anyone who is not in the preferred group is in the group discriminated against.  Rather than jobs bills, it would be more accurate to call these two bills, "veteran preference bills" or "discrimination against non-veterans bills."

A veterans preference bill can result in an employer hiring veterans at the expense of non-veterans. Tax credits for hiring just anyone would do little to increase employment.  A tax credit would do little to cause an employer to hire an employee he does not need.  A tax credit would serve to lower the cost of hiring employees, but unless an employer needs new employees lowering the cost of labor will not appreciably result in new hires. 

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What??? This isn't Occupy. This is a riot for a Pedophile.

I don't get it. Hundreds of Penn State students took to the streets after the ouster of football coach Joe Paterno and rioted.

I didn't understand the Occupy riots but understood they had a left wing political motivation. The Occupy riots are riots to destroy capitalism. The Occupy rioter think they are rioting for a noble cause.

But this? This is a riot to protest the firing of a coach who protected a pedophile. Do they think that this is a noble cause? Are the protesters saying that‘s it’s fine with them that children are being raped by a pedophile? Are these students saying that winning football games is more important than protecting boys as young as ten years old from being sodomized and victimized.

It is sort of like the people who still love the pervert Michale Jackson after learning of his perversion.

I did not understand the Catholic Church rallying behind and protecting pedophile priest. But, Catholics did not take to the streets tuning over vehicles to protest the exposure of pedophile priest.

What the hell is the matter with these people? Are these students rioting in defense of pedophilia or is rioting just fun and they will riot for any cause? This is totally disgusting.  Has our nation sank this low?  Can someone explain this?

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Newt wins Again; Perry forgets.

In my view, Newt Gingrich by far out shown every other candidate on the stage last night. Newt has well thought out answers and a great depth of knowledge. You know he is not making it up as he goes along and he is not relying on memorized talking points. He knows what he is talking about and he is philosophically grounded.  Romney performed well but he can not convince me he has any core convictions.



Poor ole Rick Perry blew it. If you are going to be adamant that there are three agencies you would abolish, don't forget which ones they are.

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Debra Maggart for State Representative fundraiser

Please SAVE THE DATE to Join

Tennessee Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey

&

Speaker of the House Beth Harwell

And other Special Guests

In Support of State Representative and House GOP Caucus

Chairman Debra Maggart

For a White Bean Supper and Presidential Straw Poll

Veteran’s Day Friday, November 11

4:00 pm – 6:00 pm

With Special Musical Guests to be Announced

Historic Rock Castle

139 Rock Castle Lane Hendersonville, TN 37075

Event Chair $1000 per couple

Sponsor $500 per couple

Attendee $100 per couple

Make checks payable to:

Debra Maggart for State Representative

P.O. Box 331983

Nashville, TN 37203

Please RSVP to Rachel Barrett

615-564-2642 or Rachel_Barrett@Comcast.net

Casual Dress

Rain or Shine in heated Pavilion

Paid for by Debra Maggart for State Representative, Debra Maggart Treasurer

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Banks Drop Debit Fee because the Market Works, not due to Occupy.

When the Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank bill passed limiting the amount of money banks collect from merchants each time a customer uses their debit card, it was inevitable that banks would try to figure out a way to make up the lost revenue. The result was the $5 a month debit card fee. Although as a result of Dodd-Frank, I was expecting higher bank fees, like everyone else I was unhappy when I received notice from my bank that they would be charging a monthly debit card fee.

I am so entangled with Union Planters and value the personal relationship with my banker that I was not going to switch banks. However, I did express my displeasure to my banker and I was going to maneuver around the fee. On one of my accounts I almost never use the card anyway. I use a credit card that gives me points toward cash-back, and then monthly I automatically pay the card in full. There is an annual fee for having this card, but I still come out ahead. To avoid the fee on my and Louella’s joint account I was planning to get a second card and do the same thing on that account. In the meantime, on this second account, we were using checks and cash.

A dear friend of ours who we know very well was very upset about this new fee and she closed her Union Planters account and opened an account with the Old Hickory Credit Union. Many people I encountered were upset about this new fee. Despite it being the result of government action that caused banks to impose this fee, the banks would have been wiser to just eat part of the loss and make up part of the lost revenue in a less transparent manner such as reducing the interest rate on cash balances in checking accounts, raising fees for overdrafts and increasing interest rates.


The Occupy movement and their friends in the mainstream media have been spinning this story of consumer discontent with this new bank fees and the banks dropping the fees as if it is the result of political pressure and a victory for Occupy. It is not. My friend who switched banks did not do so out of any left-wing affiliation or political motivation. I was not going to take actions to avoid this fee because I was motivated by Occupy or any other political movement. The result would have been the same without the Occupy movement. Consumers have power. The banks dropping this new bank fee is much like Coke backing off of New Coke and Ford dropping the Edsel. The market works.

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Lynda Jones lobbies the District Google Group for Judgeship Support

Candidate for General Session Judge Lynda Jones is lobbing the members of the 17th District Google Group asking them to urge their council member to support her candidacy.  The following was received today on the District 17 Google Group.

Dear neighbors and friends,
   I am reaching out to you because I have followed your list serve for
years. I love the historic character of District 17 and have numerous
friends on this list serve.
I am Lynda Jones and I am being considered for appointment by the Metro
council to replace Judge Ruben who passed away last month.
You can learn about my professional credentials at www.linkedin.com,
www.superlawyers.com or my website at www.joneslawgrouppllc.com.
I chaired the General Sessions court committee for the Nashville Bar
Association where I rewrote the local rules of practice.
Please contact Sandra Moore if you would like to see someone on the bench
who knows your community.
Please feel free to call me if you have any questions.
Warm Regards,
Lynda

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Cain, Gingrich Debate Lincoln-Douglas Style

If you were watching football and missed the Gingrich-Cain debate, you missed a great debate. Well, let us say a great discussion; there was not a lot of disagreement between the candidates. Still, it was a great event and revealed a lot about the candidates.

My view of the debate is that Gingrich won.  He is far more qualified to be President than Cain. Not, that Cain is not as qualified as was Obama when he took office or maybe any number of other Presidents. Should Cain end up being the Republican nominee and then win the Presidency, I am confident that his values and instincts are right and he could surround himself with brilliant people to carry out the right policies. Gingrich on the other hand is brilliant! He is an intellectual. He has thought issues through. He has the knowledge and ability to lead us through the treacherous days a head. 

This was an excellent format.  Letting the candidates have free range to ask each other questions and to respond and have back and forth is much more revealing about the qualifications of a candidate than ten people on a stage trying to avoid the pit-falls of a "gotcha" question. My only criticism of the debate was the sound quality. You can understand them, but the poor sound quality is a distraction. Gingrich had the advantage in that his hand-held microphone provided a clearer sound quality than whatever they were using for Cain

I have not been excited about any of our candidates.  I have yet to jump on any band wagon. I have not contributed to any of them.  My favorites were Bob Corker, Mitch Daniels and Chris Cristi but none of them ran. For a short while I liked Bachmann, then when Perry came on the scene, I liked Perry for about a week. I was then leaning toward Cain.  I am now prepared to say I am supporting Newt Gingrich. I am going to send a donation.

My dream ticket would be a Gingrich-Cain ticket.

The information below is from the C-span web site.  Follow the link below, then under "video play list," click "Cain, Gingrich Debate."

Cain, Gingrich Debate Lincoln-Douglas Style
Washington, DC
Saturday, November 5, 2011
http://www.c-span.org/Events/Cain-Gingrich-Debate-Lincoln-Douglas-Style/10737425199/

GOP presidential candidates Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich engage in a 90 minute debate hosted by the Texas Patriots PAC. There is no moderator and the two candidates discuss and respond to each other’s positions on domestic policy in The Woodlands, TX.

 The debate is divided into three parts, with each part focusing on one entitlement program – Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

 In previous media-moderated debates, Gingrich said repeatedly that should he be the GOP nominee, he would challenge President Obama to Lincoln-Douglas style debates.

 Cain has risen in the polls recently with his 9-9-9 tax plan, but the media has focused this week on two previous settlements with women alleging he sexual harassed them while he lead the National Restaurant Association. The topic will not be discussed at the debate.

 The Lincoln-Douglas debates were a series of three-hour debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas during the 1858 Illinois Senate race. In the format, one candidate would start with a 60 minute statement, and his opponent would get 90 minutes to respond.  The first speaker then got a 30 minute rebuttal. The two candidates took turns speaking first.

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