The Conservative Classicist Says "Merry Christmas"

I rode the WGNS truck's courtesy float today in the Murfreesboro Christmas parade. It was intended as a ride for those siblings and parents of Cub Scout Pack 197 who couldn't march, but not many chose to ride it, so it ended up basically being my family and another scout's mom on the whole trailer. It was quite appropriate since 1)I'm thinking about a Riverdale JCL float with a classical theme next year and needed a good view of the route and 2)I'm a conservative blogger, and WGNS does broadcast conservatives G. Gordon Liddy and Michael Reagan. Thanks to WGNS for the ride, and the "real" Pack 197 float and cub scouts that were behind us did very well in the judging, winning best scout entry.

Jeff's is a Great Example of Smart Growth

You've often heard me preach the virtues of patronizing Premiere 6 rather than the new Carmike. Here's another Murfreesboro "smart growth" choice in the field of restaurants--Jeff's on Hancock. This fairly new restaurant set up in a preexisting building in an older part of Murfreesboro off of Mercury. The restaurant serves good home cooked food, and the people that run it are very nice. The chess pie I had featured a crust so light I thought the plate was going to levitate off the table. The smothered pork chop is their specialty and will make you want to break out into the old Joe Diffie tune "Good Brown Gravy". Try them out. You will like the food and are giving your money to people that care about their customers and their community.

Cason Construction

I submitted this to the Daily News Journal, but as yet they have not printed it. I suppose they accept too much money in ads from out of state volume builders and developers to print it:

In the worst economic crisis of our time, it is easy to simply blame Washington and Wall Street for our troubles, but with the overmarket of construction at the heart of the problem, planning authorities and legislative bodies at the local level must also be accountable for their role in our falling home values. I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees something terribly wrong in approving a massive apartment complex on Cason Lane, one of the most congested streets in town. With major employers in the area slowing down and school enrollment increases lower than projections, you would think we would see a slowdown in sprawl, but as the Daily News Journal reported last week, planners seemingly have "no qualms" about approving anything and everything. I just moved here from the Cordova area of Memphis, and I would hate to see Murfreesboro go down the path of my former city, where corrupt developers completely control public policy. There neighborhoods now start to bust before they have fully boomed. The developers just move down the road and do it all over again, leaving the rest of us to deal with the crime, sprawl, and foreclosures that stem from growth that is not sustainable.

History Repeating Itself with the Economy

Despite the federal government's injection of 700 billion, the economy still continues to fall. This is also precisely what happened in 1929 when first Richard Whitney, and later William C. Durant and the Rockefellers, attempted to inject more money into the system to bolster confidence and stop the fall. In my opinion, the government should buy mortgages directly from the PEOPLE, not the banks. Many people facing foreclosure would like to simply sell their home at appraisal value or less to get out and purchase a cheaper home they can afford. Many people have homes they desperately need to sell so they can purchase another home in another area due to relocation. During the Great Depression, the government had to enact policies to stop overproduction in farming. With the culprit in this downturn the housing overproduction, local, state, and federal government needs to come up with a plan to deal with the oversupply of housing now and a plan to prevent it in the future. To me the glut of subdivisions and strip malls is the equivalent of the stock buying boom of the 1920's. In the 20's people borrowed money for stock that deflated, and now millions of homeowners have borrowed money for homes that have devalued. Buying homes back from struggling homeowners saves the banks and the people from ruin, whereas simply taking toxic subprime mortgages off the bank ledgers still leaves people facing foreclosure of their homes (by the government now rather than the previous private bank owner). The federal government could then use the oversupply of homes purchased for government housing programs through agencies such as HUD or property grants to the states for their own local housing programs. The government still does this for farm products now. That's what commodities are (you know, "government cheese" and the like). It's time to do something like that with houses.

Don't Bail out Banks so Developers Can Do it Again!

Bailing out banks suffering from devalued mortgage backed securities without also addressing the glutted housing surplus that created the financial crisis simply feeds the problem. It is easy to point the finger at Washington and the failing banks who made risky subprime mortgage loans, but local elected bodies and planning commissions in this county and elsewhere must acknowledge their complicity in approving the massive residential volume construction and commercial developments that have proven to be unsustainable. I would hate to see Murfreesboro go the way of Memphis, where developers completely control public policy and have devastated the community with "boom and bust" development after development, irresponsible behavior that has created untenable sprawl and suburban decay.

How the U.S. Helped Putin

Now I would say that Esquire magazine is definitely not a source conservative bloggers rush to for insightful political commentary, but I found some of the articles in the October issue refreshing for a magazine that panders to the Dolce & Gabbana crowd of out of touch liberals. In a stunning article, C.J. Chivers chronicles the rise of Vladimir Putin and Russia's growing dominance, all thanks to the U.S. military. How, you ask? Well, before we went on the offensive and took the fight to the Islamic homeland, jihadists were flocking to Chechnya and, as 9/11 would prove, the United States. Smugglers in former Soviet republics made a pretty penny trafficking in illegal immigrant Muslim freedom fighters. The U.S. decision to invade Iraq created a new front and reduced the numbers of Muslims travelling to Chechnya, allowing the Russian military to take control of the region and claim victory. Instead of thanking the U.S., however, uninformed Russians came to the conclusion that Putin was behind the sudden turn of events. Now Putin is poised to begin a reassembly of the Soviet Union, beginning with Georgia. Now folks, we need a Ronald Reagan, and while McCain may not be an exact fit for Reagan's shoes, he's definitely more qualified to protect America than Barack Hussein Obama.

Palin's Power Has Democrats Pouting

Barack Obama continued to attack Sarah Palin on the campaign trail. You'd think that Palin was running for President, and McCain was the Vice-Presidential candidate. If Obama keeps this up, he may just give the Republican electors a great idea, because an elector can actually do that. In 1988 a Democratic elector voted for Lloyd Bentsen for President and Michael Dukakis for Vice-President. Seriously though, the focus on Palin is proof that she has attracted attention from the undecided and has invigorated the party's conservative base who up to this time were "calling in sick" when asked to work on this campaign. Obama attempted to go after Palin on "earmarks", but can a Democratic candidate who proposes massive tax increases and entitlement expansions really take her to task on that issue and expect voters to take him seriously? One thing that was stated at the GOP convention rang true, and it was nice to hear--we sent the GOP to change Washington, but Washington changed the GOP. Palin's presence on the ticket is a strong move in correcting the damage, and the Obama camp knows it, which is precisely why they are acting as if she has to be defeated, not McCain. With Palin taking the side of the oldest President elected to a first term, she would be the most populist and politically active VP since Teddy Roosevelt, and we all know how that turned out. Is this barracuda the bull moose the GOP has been looking for?

In local news I would encourage everyone to patronize the Premiere 6 theatre in Murfreesboro. The popcorn is great, there is less traffic than on that awful Cason Lane, and the theatre has less traffic. Going to Premiere 6 is also the environmentally friendly, anti-sprawl thing to do, since Premiere has been here for years, and Carmike represents new construction in a congested, sprawling area that could have negative effects for Murfreesboro in years to come.