I Got 15 Kids & 3 Babydaddys-SOMEONE'S GONNA PAY FOR ME & MY KIDS!!!

This is sad and angering. It is angering that a 37 year old women has had 15 children. It is not that people don't know what causes babies. It is not something in the water. It is sad that someone can be a single women and have 15 children and three babbydaddys and not have a sense of shame.

This is an extreme case but the attitude that "somebody needs to pay for all my children" is all too common. With 72% of all black children born out of wedlock something is seriously wrong.

Did the system fail Angel? Yes, but not in the way that Angel thinks. Society failed Angel and her 15 children when society removed the stigma from single motherhood and made single motherhood a badge of honor.

The system failed her when it created a mentality that one is not responsible for their own welfare but society is responsible.

The problem of institutional, multigenerational poverty goes on and on. Along with it is multigenerational single motherhood and irresponsible fathers and men engaging in a life of crime and spending a large part of their life in prison. For children to drop out of school, girls to have their first baby at age 16 and for boys to become criminals at a young age and to face a life of poverty and hopelessness is the expectation and the norm. We have tried welfare, and the Great Society and we had made the problem worse, not better. It seems the more we subsidize poverty the more of it we get. The more we relieve people of responsibility the more irresponsible they become.

For a short period of time, before backtracking, we experimented with welfare reform and it was showing progress. We need to double the effort to end the welfare system and we need to make it a crime to not care for your children and we need to bring back orphanages. We need to apply some tough love to the problem of poverty.

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Bob Schwartz on Mitt Romney's attack on Newt's Immigration Plan

I am glad to see Bob Schwartz take on Mitt Romney over Romney's attack on Newt Gringrich's plan for immigration reform. I agree with Bob.


Newt has offered a humane proposal, not for amnesty, not for citizenship, but for a plan that would legalize the status of long-term illegal immigrants with roots in the community. It is hard for me to imagine very many people would find much to criticize with Newt's proposal. If someone entered the country illegally twenty-five years ago, but has since worked, paid taxes, their children have been raised in this country and some of their children were born in this country and are citizens, and they have not otherwise committed any crimes, it would be immoral to break up that family and deport them. 

To round up 12 million people and deport them all is simply not going to happen. The logistics of deporting 12 million people is daunting. They would have to be imprisoned in detention camps awaiting deportation. The cost of detaining 12 million would be prohibitive. To the world, removal of 12 million people would be considered ethnic cleansing. We need a program to determine who stays and who goes and those that stay need to be registered. The alternative to a plan for massive detention and deportation is a plan for processing and registering of those who are here and selective deportation. We need to know who is here. The status quo is not a plan.  I hope most Republican primary voters are decent people and Romney does not benefit by pandering to the worst in people.


Bob Schwartz is a former candidate for the Republican nomination in the Fifth Congressional District and her served on the Executive Committee of the Davidson County Republican Party. His article appeared in today's Tennessean. (link)

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BELLEVUE BREAKFAST CLUB SATURDAY, December 3, 2011 8:00 AM  BREAKFAST (Dutch) TEE'S FIRESIDE CAFE' 7114 HWY 70 SOUTH (same shopping center as TJMaxx & CVS Pharmacy)    Special Guest

Albert Tieche Administrator of Elections in Metro Photo ID's and next year election cycle

Thanks for your support during 2011 and looking forward to 2012! Betty Hood

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What about Climategate Part II?

by Rod Williams
Several years ago, I was persuaded by the evidence that global warming is most likely a scientific fact and that human activity was most likely a contributing factor. My position was shaken however by the “climategate” scandal when emails of climate scientist were hacked and it appeared that the effect of global warming was greatly exaggerated, that contradictory evidence was ignored (“hide the decline”), and those scientist who dared offer a skeptical opinion were conspired against to be marginalized and ridiculed.

Despite climategate  however, I never became a global warming denier . That is, I never reached the conclusion that global warming was all a crock. (I hate the term "denier" when used to refer to global warming skeptics, and I almost used it. "Denier" is a loaded term, much like "Holocaust denier." Reasonable people can have different opinions on the reliability of the science of global warming or people can be misinformed. That does not make them evil.) I had greater doubts about the validity of  science after climategate. If I was to express as a percentage my degree of acceptance of the theory of global warming, at the height  of my  acceptance of  I was about 90% persuaded; after climategate I was about 55% persuaded.

Putting climategate in perspective along with the mass of scientific evidence supporting the theory, my acceptance of global warming theory gradually increased again. After a recent study financed by the Koch brothers and led by global science septic Richard Muller reaffirmed the theory (see here, here, and here), my acceptance level shot back up to close to 90%.

Now comes Climategate II. Five thousand more emails have been released and they again show a conspiracy to lie, manipulate data, and hide contradictory data. The below excerpt is from a recent Washington Times editorial. Look closely at the quoted email within this excerpt. (my highlighting)

The basic problem with climate research is that it is at best soft science, and this leaked correspondence demonstrate just how unsettled it is. “Observations do not show rising temperatures throughout the tropical troposphere unless you accept one single study and approach and discount a wealth of others,” one scientist wrote. “This is just downright dangerous. We need to communicate the uncertainty and be honest.” Nonsense, another concluded: “ The trick may be to decide on the main message and use that to guide what’s included and what is left out.” But what if the whole warming phenomenon is “mainly a multidecadal natural fluctuation?” one scientists muses. “They’ll kill us probably.”

This is apparently only a small portion of what is revealed by the leaks. Nevertheless, I am still persuaded the theory of global warming is correct. However, one can only conclude that the theory is not as air-tight as it is ofter presented. One must conclude that many scientist working on the theory were not persuaded by the evidence but manipulated the evidence to fit their preconceived conclusion. There was a conspiracy to present a united front and hide doubts and hide contradictory evidence.

The conclusion to draw from this is that scientist are not Gods. They are not without an agenda and skeptics should not be demonized. Reasonable people can reach different conclusions. 

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Fraud rate of 76% in "Free" Phone Program for Poor

I am stealing the below story word for word from Taxing Tennessee.

Who would have expected it?

In most states, the companies that offer the phones are also responsible for overseeing the program, leading to charges that the government is letting the foxes guard the henhouse. Considering that these companies are paid as much as $10 per month for each person in the program, some critics say it’s actually to their benefit if customers sign up more than once.

The results of a Government Accountability Office fraud investigation reinforce that point of view. Only 5% of Lifeline providers have been audited so far, but 76% of those audits have already discovered fraud.Link

My Comment: When one can get public housing or Section 8, food stamps, TnCare, Families First, a tax "refund" by claiming earnings that did not really occur, and a free cell phone, then to stop being poor is too expensive. Is it any wonder that so many people stay in poverty? When you can get all of your needs met by being poor it is scary to try to stop being poor. The poor are slaves on the welfare plantation, bought and paid for by the Democratic Party.  Rod 

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New United Way Funded Training Available: The Basics of Communicating with the Media

by Rod Williams

There is a great workshop coming to Nashville, December 10th. This workshop could benefit anyone involved in influencing public opinion.   The Neighborhood Resource Center is excellent at teaching political activism. With leaders trained in the Saul Alinsky tradition, NRC knows what that are doing. Ignore the bias of the organizers and learn their skills.

One does have have to be left-wing community organizer to benefit from the skills that NRC can teach. Tea Party activist, potential political candidates, campaign managers, Party leaders, or anyone interested improving their ability to effectively communicate their message could benefit from this training. And, this workshop is free, funded by United Way charitable dollars.

Below is the annoucement as posted to the Nashville Neighborhoods Google Group:

Hi Nashville Neighborhoods List,

Please let people in your neighborhood groups know about this media
training!! We will have some reporters here to coach us on how to pitch
stories to the media and to prepare us for being interviewed. See below,
as well as the attachments. (Feel free to forward this to others!)

Thanks!!!

Mike Hodge
Neighborhoods Resource Center

*=======================================================*

Would you like the world to know about all the great things happening in your neighborhood?


Do you have an issue in your community that you want to expose so it can get resolved?


Television and print media are powerful tools that can help your neighborhood group get things done.


Learning how to use them effectively can also help you build your group’s membership and reputation.

Neighborhoods Resource Center warmly invites you to our FREE event:

Media Training for Neighborhood Leaders

Saturday, December 10th, 9 am to Noon
NRC Firehall, 1312 3rd Avenue North

Sessions include:

The Basics of Communicating with the Media

• Developing your Message & Staying on Message in Interviews
• Creating Press Releases & Press Packets
• Developing Relationships with Reporters (Reporters should be
• calling YOU!)

Reporter Round Table: Panel Discussion with Local Reporters

• Learn straight from the experts about how local media outlets work
• Find out how to get effective and accurate coverage

Are You Experienced? Pitch your Story to Reporters

• Get one-on-one time with reporters in an interactive break out session
• Practice sharing your story and get feedback on how to improve it

*RSVP Requested: Contact Carol at 782-8212 or cmccullo...@tnrc.net*

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A Single Picture That Explains "Occupy Wall Street"....

This explains it all! ⤵

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Attention Tourist: Free "Occupy" Camping in Downtown Nashville. Important update

Attention Tourist

Free Camping in Downtown Nashville

Have you wanted to visit Music City but been short of cash. There is a lot of cheap or free stuff to do in Nashville.

The biggest expense of a Nashville vacation is lodging. 

The Priceline price of a night in the Courtyard by Marriot or the Downtown Hilton is $169 a night! With sales tax and the Hotel-motel tax totaling 17.25% plus $2.50 per room per night additional tax, the real cost of lodging is over $200 a night!

You could stay at a Motel 6 or other cheap motel about 30 miles from downtown, but by the time you add the taxes, you will still be spending $50 a night. And, who wants to be miles out of town?

Governor Bill Haslam

Now, for a limited time only 

Camp free in downtown Nashville

The Governor has stated that he will not evict campers from this  prime public downtown space . Consider this a personal invitation from the Governor to come camp out in Nashville. 

Free: yes absolutely free! No hotel-motel tax, no camping fee, no liability insurance required.

 

Beautiful site: The camp site is the War Memorial Plaza in the shadow of Nashville's beautiful State Capital building, adjacent to the War Memorial Building, across the street from the Tennessee Museum and the Performing arts center. Be lulled to sleep by the sounds of the bubbling Plaza fountains.

Great Location: This camping site has the same advantages of the downtown hotels. Three blocks from Nashville's famed "lower Broadway." Visit the honkytonks of Nashville and walk back to your lodging site. No driving. Avoid the risk of a DWI. Also close to art galleries, restaurants, museums and historical sites.



Free Entertainment: There is free entertainment nightly on the Plaza. Occupy Nashville will be providing musical entertainment. This being Nashville, even our Occupy has talented musicians. In the absents of other musicians, there is always drumming. Also, storytelling, poetry and chanting.

Mild Temperatures: It is not cold yet! Tonight the temperature will only drop to 59 degrees, tomorrow the low is only 62. Mild temperatures usually prevail until late December.

Free Food: The Occupy group is offering free food and coffee. You may want to take at least part of your meals complements of Occupy.

Important update: Free Electrical Hook-up! I don't know why the State is giving away free electricity to campers on the Plaza but they are as revealed in this article.

Don't put it off, 

we do not know how much longer before the public demands and end to this policy of free camping on the War Memorial Plaza.

Options:  If you prefer camping on grass instead of marble, you may try camping in the nearby beautiful Bicentennial Mall with it's beautiful monuments, fountains, flowers, grass and trees. This park has not been officially designated as a place for free camping like the Plaza, but the same logic should apply. Also, you can drive right up to the camping areas and have your car nearby for out-of-the-trunk camping or you could park a pop-up camper or RV. To insure you are left alone and that you get the same free camping rights as the Plaza campers, just put a sign on your tent, pop-up, or RV that reads, "we are part of the 99%."

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Approve Volunteer Cab. Let the Market Determine the Need for Taxi Service.

by Rod Williams

Here in Nashville, a group of 61 cab drivers wish to form their own cab company.The cab drivers are all Ethiopian, all of them legal immigrants, some of them already American citizens and others in the process of becoming citizens. They are currently driving cabs for other companies.

Here is the way the taxicab system works in Nashville: A cab driver owns his own cab, he pays for his own fuel, maintenance and insurance. However he does not own the permit to operate a cab and must pay a weekly fee, called a "lick," of  $150 to $200 to the company that owns the permit.

The Ethiopian cab drivers have applied to Metro Government for the right to form a new company called Volunteer Cab. So far, they have been denied and a vote has been deferred until December 20. Existing cab companies are auguring against the entry of this new company into the market saying the market is saturated and the applicants can not show a need for a more cabs. Others are arguing that it is often hard to get a cab in Nashville and that there is a need for more cab service.

It is an outrage that Metro Government is denying this new company the right to form.  The whole taxi regulation system that views its function as protected existing cab owners rather than protecting the public needs to be repealed. We need to have an unlimited number of taxicabs and let the market determine the cab fare and the number of cabs.

I am not opposed to all regulations of taxi cabs or limousines. Tourist need to be assured that if they get into a cap that it is driven by a licensed driver, that the cab is carrying insurance, the vehicle is road-worthy and they are not likely to ripped off. Regulation should be for the benefit of the consumer, not protectionism for the provider. If we need for the government to set the taxi fare, the rate should be the maximum not the minimum. We need to rethink regulation of transportation. Nashville does not have to follow the model of other cities, we could become a leader in free-market transportation.

Congratulation Councilwoman Karen Johnson

Karen Johnson

Congratulation go to Councilwoman Karen Johnson, who has argued before the Taxi Licensing Commission on behalf of the drivers wishing to form the new taxi company. She has argued in favor of free enterprise and against a limit on the number of taxicabs. She has told the licensing board that free enterprise is the American way and that they should not limit the number of cabs. She told them, "The more the better." Perhaps Karen Johnson will emerge as the champion of free enterprise in the Metro Council.

To read the Tennessean article on this issue, click here.

To read how Metro tries to drive out of business economy limousine service in order to protect expensive limousine service, click here.

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