Kevin Kookogey, Chairman of the Williamson County Republican Party, warns of Agenda 21

This is Kevin Kookogey, Chairman of the Williamson County Republican Party. Today I am going to speak to you about Agenda 21.

 Agenda 21 is the nebulous name given to that comprehensive plan alleged to improve the world community in the 21st Century. It was launched in 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. But Agenda 21 is, in fact, an insidious strategy of environmental totalitarianism and social engineering designed to achieve “one world order” under the authority of an unelected global bureaucracy.

 Among other things, Agenda 21 is hostile to America’s founding and animating principles, including national sovereignty, private property rights, private development, single family dwellings, free markets, and free use and development of resources. The proponents of Agenda 21 advocate for redistribution of wealth, and their doctrine is, quite simply, nothing more than a restatement of communism.

The proponents of Agenda 21 are intent on forcing you into crowded communities and limiting your parking spaces in order to achieve their “green dreams” of eliminating automobiles in favor of walking or riding your bikes – although I imagine they make exception if we agree to drive those little electric toys that nobody wants. Meanwhile, these unelected elites jet around to world conferences deciding what is best for you and me.

To achieve these dreams, the United Nations seeks to impose global taxes on currency transfers, fossil energy production, commercial use of oceans, and international airfares.

Perhaps you have never heard of Agenda 21. But I would bet you are familiar with phrases like “sustainable development,” “smart growth;” “regionalism,” “comprehensive planning,” and allocation of so-called “green spaces.” Terms like these were selected by the United Nations to overcome objections by those of us who argue in defense of liberty and national sovereignty. The Preamble and Chapter 28 of the Agenda 21 Plan expressly recommends obscuring the true intentions of Agenda 21 by use of the term “smart growth” and other innocuous sounding phrases.

The good news is that conservatives and liberty-minded activists are now alert to Agenda 21 and its implications. Our legislators in Tennessee are considering bills to stem the tide of Agenda 21, and even the Republican National Committee recently adopted a Resolution in opposition to Agenda 21. The Williamson County Republican Party and many other county Republican parties in Tennessee have adopted similar Resolutions.

The bad news, however, is that we are years behind. Agenda 21 has already made significant headway in cities, counties, and local communities throughout America. More than 1,100 cities, towns, and counties are members of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (the ICLEI, as it is better known), an international association of local governments as well as national and regional local government organizations that have made a commitment to “sustainable development.” There’s that word again!

The ICLEI coordinates local government representation in the United Nations, in contravention of the United States Constitution and your individual liberties.

Let me give you just a few examples of how Agenda 21 is weaving its way into your lives right here in Middle Tennessee. In 2010, Columbia, Tennessee, was selected as one of 62 cities to participate in the “Community Challenge Planning Grant” program. This program is a collaborative effort of three dubious federal agencies: - HUD, DOT, and the EPA – and it presumes that cities can develop in more “sustainable” ways by improving “livability” of their most troubled areas. Through a “Regional Planning Grant,” Columbia received $250,000 to prepare a new highway corridor which would become a “blueprint” for “sprawl repair” for the entire city. You see where this is going. Natural growth, or what they call "sprawl" is suddenly deemed immoral, whereas living closer together is - according to the police State - morally superior. Yet, by accepting funding from the federal government, the city of Columbia has naively submitted itself and its citizens to Agenda 21.

The City of Franklin provides another example, having recently paid the ICLEI for software to evaluate your water use. Franklin also employs a “Sustainability Grants Coordinator,” and maintains a “Sustainability Mission Statement.” More alarming is Cumberland Region Tomorrow, or CRT, a 10-county Middle Tennessee initiative working under the purposefully ambiguous phrase of “collaborative action for quality growth.” Among the objectives of the CRT is a high-speed-rapid-transit to connect Belle Meade to East Nashville, hardly a priority at any time, let alone in today’s economy. Funding, of course, would be accomplished through a “regional tax,” this on top of what we already pay in city and county taxes.

But perhaps most disconcerting in all of this is how Agenda 21 is targeting the rising generation. You know how important that is to me. Leadership Middle Tennessee recently hosted a Youth Summit at Belmont University in order to introduce and promote “Regionalism” to our high school youth. The website announcing the event boasted that these students needed to be aware of so-called “regional issues,” …like healthcare, tourism, education, workforce, economic development and transportation…all code words of the Progressive movement, ladies and gentlemen, intended to seduce you into believing that local communities are not capable of addressing local issues without the help of Big Brother.

What is "regionalism" today will be "nationalism" tomorrow. Following that, we will be subject to an unelected global authority with no say in how we live our lives.These folks intend to induce you into a gradual surrender of your liberties in favor of a dominant, authoritative State.

Please tell members of Congress, as well as your state and, especially, your local elected officials that you are aware of Agenda 21, and that we will be ever vigilant in opposition to all of its entanglements. Remind your representatives that they are our agents, and that we are the principals. As such, we have only delegated – not surrendered – our rights, and that we expect them to protect and defend our sovereignty, in this area as in others.

Speaking for freedom, I am
 Kevin Kookogey
Chairman,  Williamson County Republican Party 

My comment: No comment.

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Nashville limo owners want to stop enforcement of $45-per-trip minimum fare

A group of budget limousine and sedan service companies urged a federal judge Monday to temporarily bar Metro government from enforcing a $45-per-trip minimum fare.

The companies sought the preliminary injunction until the court can decide the merits of a lawsuit calling Nashville’s new limo regulations anti-competitive and unconstitutional. read more

This is another step in the on-going battle to overturn Metro's mandatory livery service price-fixing scheme. At the heart of the battle is a Metro requirement that a "limo" charge a $45 minimum fee for a fare even if the fare is a 5 mile, 10 minute ride.

Until June 2010, limousine service was largely unregulated and limo's were a luxury service. However, a new service appeared on the scene a few years ago which was not a taxi but was cheaper than a limo. This new service did not use the stretch limousine vehicle but used black sedans.

This service was started by Ali Bokhari, who emigrated from Pakistan in 2000, and ended up in Nashville.  He saw an opportunity for a new kind of livery service and he developed a successful business model. From starting with one car, his business has grown to a fleet of 20 cars plus 15 independent owner-operators who work for him. Seeing his success, others started providing the same service. This new type of service was popular. Instead of paying $45 or more for a limo to take one from the airport to a downtown hotel, this new service only charged $25. Also, a lot of clients preferred the less ostentatious black sedan over a stretch limousine.

There was problem however.  The big well-connected limo companies were losing customers to the sedan companies so they went to Metro and got a bill passed that essentially would put the sedan companies out of business and made them operate like limo companies. The regulation they drafted established a minimum $45 fee for a limo ride.  The Metro Council passed their anti-competitive bill in June 2010 and no one in the Council, even the self-identified constitution-loving, free-market advocating conservatives, opposed the bill.

In addition to the new minimum fare requirement, the new law did a lot of other things designed to restrict the ability of the sedan companies to provide the service they were providing. The new law did such things as permit only one fare per hour; require a central dispatch office, which has the effect of prohibiting clients from directly contacted the driver by cell phone and thus prohibiting the single-car, owner-operator; established discriminatory vehicle age and mileage requirements on sedans which are more restrictive than those on the limo body type vehicle; and more. 

It seems regulators do not like innovation or deviation from the way things have always been done.  They want all services to fit in neat little well-defined boxes so they can more easily be regulated. Innovation and regulations just do not go well together. Also, well established firms do not like to lose business to innovators and those who can successfully compete for their customers. With friends in high places, many successful businesses are not above using the power of government to squash the competition. The fact is, a lot of businessmen are not advocates of free markets. They like government favors and protection from competition.

In April 2011, Metro Livery and two other economy limo companies filed a federal lawsuit challenging challenging the constitutionality of the new regulation and the minimum fee. The Institute for Justice, a libertarian public-interest law firm, is representing the livery companies. Metro sued to dismiss the law suit.

On January 20^th, 2012 the motion to dismiss was heard in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee and the court denied the motion to dismiss. That ruling emphasized that “Courts have repeatedly recognized that protecting a discrete interest group from economic competition is not a legitimate governmental purpose,” quoting Craigmiles v. Giles, a 2002 case that the Institute for Justice won on behalf of some casket retailers in Tennessee. The casket retailers in that case were being locked out of the marketplace by a group of well-connected companies. The casket retailers won their case.  In dismissing Metro’s motion to dismiss, the court recognized precedent in holding that legislating for no other purpose than protecting industry insiders is illegitimate.

This latest action is a motion to prohibit the city from enforcing the $45 fee until the constitutional issue is decided.  I am hopeful the court will not allow the city to enforce what may very well be ruled an unconstitutional law.

For more on this issue click here.

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Library Budget Hearing: No plea for more money.

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Tricia Racke Bengel, the interim Director made the presentation. In the past year, the Goodlettsville branch opened and new branches are planned. More programs occurred with more participation. We project about 6000 programs for the coming year. More books and movies are being checked out. Some 15,000 students who did not previously have library cards, now have them. We are expanding digital learning labs. The "flood project" continues to move foreward to achieve the 2010 flood. Our website is now our fourth busiest "location. There is a big demand for digital, downloadable books. We are busier than ever before. With a 2% budget reduction we would have to cut 7 1/2 position and close a small branch library. She does not say which branch.

My View: Closing any existing branch will be opposed by patrons of that branch even though at times as new branches open, some old branches should close.  Whoever the Council Member is representing the neighborhood with the branch proposed to be closed, will be expected by patrons of that branch to fight to keep it open. Closing one branch is a less a painful way of making cuts than other alternatives. Often, when an administration seeks a tax hike, they threaten that without the hike, all libraries will have to close a half day a week or a day a week. Along with community centers, and brush collection, libraries are one of the services most often held hostage to a tax hike. The administration is to be commended for not resorting to that old ploy.

Having watched a lot of these budget hearing, I must say that I do not feel that the administration is playing games. I think we are getting honest presentations of the cities needs. That is not to say that I think all budget increases should be granted or that I am prepared to support a tax hike, but I do not feel we are witnessing inflated doom and gloom scenarios designed to force a tax hike.

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Planning Commission Budget Hearing: No new money requested.

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Rick Bernhardt, the Executive Director of the Planning Commission makes the presentation. Among the accomplishment this year, Mr. Bernhart says is the change to allow by right, residential development on the major corridors which will permit intense mixed use development corridors anywhere in the USD. Other accomplishments was completion of the Bellevue and the North Nashville Community plan and an improvement in how the public can track proposed zone change applications. Major projects for the coming year include the development of the fairgrounds master plan, implementation of the "open space" plan, the east-west connector plan, and more. Due to budget restraints, the MPC will not be hiring an outside consultant at the cost of $2.5 million, as originally planned, to develop the updated general plan. He explains how the General Plan will be developed with available resources. He explain what is involved and included in developing a General Plan. He says he can live with a 2% budget reduction. (There was no mention of Agenda 21.)

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Thinking about hate crimes

If a man brutally robs and beats a person of the same sex, race, sexual orientation, and religion should he get a lesser sentence than if the victim is of a different sex, race, sexual orientation, or religion. If while committing the brutal beating he calls the victim a "Jew" or "nigger" or "queer" or 'honky' or "bitch" or "spic" should he get an additional ten years added to the sentence?

Why should one victim be deemed more worthy of greater protection than another based on the motive of the perpetrator of the crime. We are not talking about not providing greater protection to the weak, such as children or women or the elderly, but providing greater protection to a victim simply based on the motive of the criminal.   



Hate crimes are criminal acts motivated by bigotry or bias. Often classifying a crime as a "hate crime" adds an automatic additional sentence. An additional ten years is typical. Another way of expressing the same thing is to say if the crime is committed by an “unbiased” person motivated by greed, or lust or pure unadulterated evil, then that person gets a ten year lesser sentence because at least he isn't  prejudice. 

It is my view that thoughts and attitudes should not be punished; actions should be punished. Below are three separate recent incidents where the crime was an alleged "hate crime."  Is there any logic to why these crimes should be considered worse crimes because they were supposedly motivated by bias or prejudice?

Three Occupy Oakland protesters charged with hate crimes

(Reuters) - Three Occupy Oakland protesters accused of surrounding and taunting a woman before stealing her wallet were charged on Friday with robbery and hate crimes, authorities said.

 
Michael Davis, 32, Nneka Crawford, 23, and Randolph Wilkins, 24, confronted the woman on the streets of Oakland in February after she told them not to riot in her neighborhood, the Oakland Police said in a written release.

"She was surrounded by three protestors and battered as they yelled vulgar epithets regarding their perception of her sexual orientation," Oakland Police spokeswoman Johnna Watson said. read more

 

 

New York Reverse Mortgage Scam Charged as Hate Crime

Mar 07, 2012 04:18 pm | Elizabeth Ecker

A reverse mortgage fraud scheme directed toward a 81-year-old Brooklyn, New York man will be charged as a hate crime for targeting an elderly victim, Kings County District Court announced today. Sal Lauria and an accomplice were charged with grand larceny ...
read more 

Lawyer: Lesbians’ assault on gay man can’t be hate 
By Richard Weir, Boston Herald 

Three women identified by their lawyers as lesbians were arraigned yesterday on a hate crime charge for allegedly beating a gay man at the Forest Hills T station in an unusual case that experts say exposes the law’s flawed logic “My guess is that no sane jury would convict them under those circumstances, but what this really demonstrates is the idiocy of the hate-crime legislation,” said civil liberties lawyer Harvey Silverglate. “If you beat someone up, you’re guilty of assault and battery of a human being. Period. The idea of trying to break down human beings into categories is doomed to failure.” read more

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Fire Department Budget Hearing: They want $2.3 million more. more money.

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Fire Department Budget Hearing
Fire Chief Steve  Halford make the presentation.

New fire stations have opened in the last year. If the department was to have a 2% reduction, we would have to have a reduction of 31 personnel.  This would result in the elimination of 2 of the current 35 fire companies. This would result a reduction in response time. The Department this year had a Department of Homeland Security grant called a "safer grant" which allowed, along with some existing vacancies, the department to train hire and field 63 new firefighters and emergency medical technicians. We need to make up with local funds the loss of this one-time grant. The bottom line? The Chief list several line item "budget modifications" that total to a $2.3 million additional budget request.

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Police Department Budget Hearing: Police wants $8.2 million of new money.

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Police Department Hearing summary
Chief Anderson represents the Department.

This is one of the longest of the budget hearings, running 44 minutes, however the first 10 minutes is a budget overview and introduction from Mayor Dean. Homicides are down, the lowest in 45 years. The Federal "Cops" grant which added 50 officers to the force expires this year and local funded will have to be provided to keep those officers on the force. That is a commitment we have made and a commitment we plan to keep, says the Mayor. We have expanded the number of police precincts and when the 12th Ave South prescient opens, we will be up to 8 precincts. Additional funding will be needed to fund the new DNA crime lab. A 2% decrease in funding would result in reducing the number of police by 57. "From my position," says the Mayor, "there is no going back."  Anderson says he is asking for $1.3 million to hire 20 crime lab scientist. The potential exist for our crime lab to work over 1000 DNA cases a year. Bottom line? The Police Department wants an additional $8.2 million.

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Corker Says Health Care Law is Going to Drive Up Costs, Will Need to be Replaced

As the Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of the president's health care law, Senator Corker said the law is going to drive up health care costs and will have to be replaced with "common sense" legislation that "fits these times, fits the American people, allows the freedom and choice that American people are accustomed to" and is "fiscally sound.

Senator Corker explains that regardless of the outcome of the Supreme Court decision regarding Obamacare, the Senate must put in place a different piece of legislation. He explains how Obamacare mandates massive cost to the State, and how the bill will incentivize a mass exodus of people off of employer provided health care plans to government subsidized health care and will drive up the cost of health care. "There is no way that the projections that were laid out as to what the cost of this bill was going to be, are going to be what the actual cost are."

I would hope that Senator Corker and his Republican colleagues and the Republican nominee for President would come up with a specific list of proposed legislative changes that would be a plan for real health care reforms. Simply saying "no" to Obamacare is not enough. Something is terribly wrong with the way health care is provided in this county. To just say we have the best health care system in the world and to pretend the status quo is OK, is not true and is not something the American people will buy. My fear is that if we do not come up with a Republican alternative health care reform plan, cost will continue to spiral out of control, more and more people will be without insurance and in frustration the American people will accept a system even more radical than Obamacare.

I feel certain there will be movement on health care in one direction or the other. We must have health care reform, but we need reform toward more individual choice, empowerment of the individual, less government control, and a system that uses market forces to contain cost and expand coverage. The Republican proposal should be a ten-point program, or some such set of number of concrete proposals, that would actually lower cost and expand coverage. I don't know all of what should be in a plan, but these are starting points: (1) allow insurance plans to be sold across state lines, much like auto insurance is sold (2) allow reimportation of drugs from Canada and elsewhere, (3) allow individuals the same deduction for buying insurance that employers get for providing insurance, (4) tort reform, (5) incentivize medical tourism, (6) remove barriers to private sector companies such as Medibid that create a direct market for medical procedures and services, (7) require, where possible, that Medicare and Medicaid use competitive practices to purchase health care for medicare and medicaid recipients. There are other proposals, but this is a start. The Republicans need to aggressively push for replacing Obamacare, not just undoing Obamacare.

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Carl Boyd, Jr: Another Voice Joins the Conservative Chorus

Carl Boyd, Jr. Brings “Nothing But The Truth” to Radio

Nashville, TN --- A new voice joins the airwaves with Carl Boyd, Jr. bringing his “Nothing But The Truth” radio show to Supertalk 99.7 WTN. The station already boasts personalities including Ralph Bristol, Michael Delgiorno and Phil Valentine.

“After much prayer, we have decided to accept the offer to carry our brand of conservatism to the number one local news talk station in the city of Nashville,” Boyd says. “We are very excited about the opportunity. The station is a good fit for us and I am very grateful to WTN’s Tim Meagher and Brian Wilson for the opportunity.”

A Tennessee State University communications graduate, Carl Boyd, Jr. is currently pursuing a graduate degree at TSU’s College of Public Service and Urban Affairs. Boyd launched his radio career on the campus of Tennessee State University on WTST campus radio. Inspired by the likes of Bill O’Reilly, Anderson Cooper and Tom Brokaw, Carl was driven to serve his community and offer to the best of his ability, the truth.

Boyd is the self-proclaimed independent Conservative voice of the people. As Boyd explains, “My mission is to inform taxpayers of elected officials’ decisions, hold them accountable, and make the listener aware of the political bias that surrounds them.”

Boyd has interviewed local, state, and federal government officials including Tennessee Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, U.S. Senators Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander, and State Representative Brenda Gilmore. His show gained notoriety when Boyd uncovered facts on a controversial issue surrounding the city of Nashville, and when he appeared as a guest on This Week with Bob Mueller on the Nashville ABC affiliate.

An ordained preacher, Boyd attended American Baptist College and Immanuel Bible College. He calls himself an African American Independent Christian Conservative who believes in standing with the word of God on social issues without wavering.

“Nothing But The Truth” launches on Easter Sunday, April 8 from 6 – 9 a.m. and on Sunday, May 6^th moves to the 3 – 6 p.m. slot, replacing Laura Ingraham.

For more information, visit www.nbttr.com

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Update: What to look for at the April 3rd Council meeting

You can get your own copy of the Metro council meeting agenda at this link: Agenda. The agenda also links to the analysis. Council meetings can be really, really boring if you don't know what the Council is voting on. With an agenda and analysis, they are just really boring.

As per a tweet from Michael Cass, "Council agenda includes appointment of attorney Brock Parks to Beer Permit Board. Parks lost close race for council District 26 last year." Chris Harmon is the Council Member currently serving his first term in District 26. He won his race against Parks in a squeaker winning 50.3% of the vote. It seems like a slap in the face to a sitting council member to appoint a defeated challenger to a board or commission. The Mayor recently appointed Ana Page, who was defeated by Tony Tenpenny, to a position on the MDHA board.

ORDINANCE NO. BL2012-118 sponsored by Council Members Clairborne, McGuire and Tygard is the Gaylord-Dollywood Snow-Splash Park subsidy bill. It gives a 60 percent property tax break to Gaylord-Dollywood for developing the park. This should generate some good discussion and should be controversial. To learn more see the Metro Staff Analysis and read here and here and here.

ORDINANCE NO. BL2012-121 by CM Karen Johnson amends the “passenger vehicle for hire” regulations in the Metropolitan code to exclude shuttle vans that solely provide transportation to and from a parking facility and the airport. This is probably just a housekeeping measure and will generate no controversy and looks like a good bill, but since Metro is facing a lawsuit for its vehicle for hire price fixing and because the city has conspired to restrict competition in the limo and taxi business, any bill concerning taxis, limos or shuttle services should be watched very carefully.

ORDINANCE NO. BL2012-116 by Council Members Sean McGuire, Fabian Bedne, Ronnie Steine, and Karen Johnson, on third reading, is the HCA tax give break bill. This deal would give 100% tax abatement for the first five years, and a 50% abatement for the next five years on a new regional data center being built in Antioch. This will probably sail right through without debate. The bill was approved by the Budget and Finance Committee and passed on second reading by a voice vote. Two council members were recorded as abstaining but none requested they be recorded as voting "no."

There are a couple other bills (BL2012-115, smoking ban extension and BL2012-92, a property rights expansion) which I though would generate some opposition when they were on second reading, but they did not, so I would not expect them to be opposed on third reading.

Other than the Gaylord-Dollywood Snow-Splash Park tax giveaway bill, there is nothing on the agenda that will likely generate controversy.

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Davidson County Sheriff's Office Budget Hearing

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Summary of the Sheriff's Department budget hearings.

Daron Hall makes the budget presentation. He says the Sheriff's Department will be within budget this year and will be for the coming year. He can live with the 2% budget cut.  He has managed cuts well. The personnel turn over rate is one of the lowest in the county which saves a lot of money. The Department has one of the lowest overtime rates in Metro government and one of the lowest overtime rates of any sheriff's department in the Country. We have some 1100 empty beds in our system. (There was a time in the past when we had jail overcrowding.) This saves a lot of money. The staffing ratios are within standards due to the decrease in inmates. One whole building that can house 300 inmates is closed. He is looking at taking inmates from other counties for a fee or leasing an empty building to a for-profit corrections company that would use the building to house state juvenile offenders.

The 287G program (illegal immigrant deportation program)  is one of the reasons for the decrease in inmate population. Only 2% of those arrested under 287G are rearrested anywhere.

A program called "transition from jail to community" is credited with reducing recidivism. Nashville is only one of six jurisdictions in the country that has this program and Nashville's has been the best of those. Nashville's program is recognized as the "best practices" model. Cooperation between various elements in the criminal justice community and non-profits has made this program successful.

It is my view that we are fortunate to have Daron Hall as our Sheriff and it is my impression that he is doing a good job.

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Fairgrounds Master Plan notice from Ann Hammond (Planning)

To those who have participated in prior studies of the Tennessee State
Fairgrounds and surrounding area:


Attached you will find a preview of the process to create the Fairgrounds Master Plan, as directed by Metro Council.  I will let you know by follow-up email when the consultants begin work and the dedicated web page is launched.  You will find additional information in the attached memo.

Please let me know if you have any questions at this time.

Best Regards,

Ann Hammond

Metro Planning Department

Memo Stakeholders FMP initiation.pdf 48K View Download

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