Perry in a Pickle Over Peculiar Petrograph

Did he paint over it before...he was before...was it before or after the press took a picture of it?

Egyptian Democracy Could Benefit U.S.

Egypt and Tunisia are large tourist attraction states partially dependent on the tourist trade for a large share of the economy. Not many Egyptians would welcome an Islamist regime that would have every tourist and journalist afraid to go to Cairo lest they become another victim of anti-Western terrorism. Yemen, however, also undergoing upheaval, stands as the Arab nation with the most propensity toward switching to radical Islam. With terrorist attacks having already occurred even under the current regime and little Western investment, the radicals there could impose a Taliban-like theocratic regime. Obviously Egypt has been a staunch ally of the US and has respected the sovereignty of Israel. These actions were wise and gave Egypt the opportunity to develop its economy by fostering friendly relations with the West. Unfortunately the fruits of this alliance have been enjoyed by too few Egyptians. I don't know a lot about modern Egypt, but I do know about our own Egyptian namesake--Memphis, Tennessee, where we have an NBA franchise, a shiny new Forum, and are home to the nation's distribution center. Yet Memphis also has the highest car theft rate in the nation, the highest bankruptcy rate, and foreclosures and violent crimes so numerous that it spawned two television shows, one fictional (Memphis Beat) and one based in an all too true reality (Police Women of Memphis). Perhaps the people of our Memphis should go down to our own defunct pyramid and start protesting like the people in Tahrir Square.

Spring Hill Mayor Giving the Town Away, with No Takers.

Having already had one meeting to figure out how to make the town more "builder friendly", the mayor of Williamson County's most densely populated town, full of starter homes on 1/3 acre or less lots and huge apartment complexes, wants to have another meeting. This sadly is like the father of an ugly daughter that can't find a husband for her. As I have stated before, you do not oversupply the market and hope demand increases, you create an atmosphere in Spring Hill that drives demand. If you really want to get business thriving in Spring Hill, the mayor needs to have meetings with residents and homeowners to see how we can make the town "resident friendly", and that is unfortunately many times contrary to the wishes of volume builders who have ALREADY left their indelible mark on the town. It does not take a degree in urban planning to explain what is going on in Spring Hill. The recession has hit this area hard, and all real estate markets were hit hard. Why buy in Spring Hill when you can buy a house 15 to 20 minutes closer to the city in the county at a bargain price. Look at any Sunday paper in the "What you can get for..." feature, and you'll be shocked at where you can live currently for Spring Hill prices....Franklin, Brentwood, Thompsons Station, Nolensville. Many times you get more than the low square footage and sardine can sized lot Spring Hill developers offer. A second problem is the intolerable congestion on 31, an impediment to any business wanting to locate in SH, yet local politicians only want to talk about a new exit on 65. Thirdly, we must realize that until GM increases the utilization of the plant, demand for living in one of Nashville's most distant suburbs will not be what it was a decade ago, no matter how many meetings you have with builders to "give away the store."

Maury County Mayhem

Schools are now back in session after a two week fall break and a power struggle between the Maury County Commission and the Maury County School Board. Ostensibly to show their disapproval at poor performance, the commission seemed to cater to the constituents with kids in Columbia Academy and those older residents without students currently enrolled who wanted to reduce funding. The current budget requires no tax increase and was simply increased by using the schools' own rainy day funds. The county commissioners failed to realize that there is a major cost associated with new growth. You can not approve any and every residential development without thought to how much it will cost the county to educate the students that move in. Both the planning commission and the county commission are charmed by the short term cash that developers throw in their face to gain approval, but then balk when that doesn't come close to covering the burdens to local government of the development. I wonder how many members of the county commission that voted against the school budget were also in favor of some of the poorly planned, poorly built and very densely populated projects that have gone up around the county.

Spring Hill Buys GM regardless of Mexican Investment

Spring Hill recently agreed to purchase Chevrolet vehicles after the local GM dealer agreed to match the price offered by Dodge. While it seems important that Spring Hill should support GM, I would say that goes only so far as GM is willing to support Spring Hill. The automaker's recent announcement that it would continue to invest and create jobs at a Mexican plant to the detriment of the Spring Hill plant is frustrating to say the least. Spring Hill indeed could have retaliated by buying the Dodge vehicles. At this point I'm not sure if the town's recent display of loyalty is likely to be reciprocated by GM, a company that borrowed millions from taxpayers, and is now shipping more of its operations to Mexico. Does it make sense that Nissan and Volkswagen are making big investments in Tennessee that are considered to be profitable while GM turns its back on the State that along with the rest of the country bailed the company out?

Mayor Dimwit Pushes to Make Town Sprawl Hill

After controversial comments made earlier that the town needs to become "builder friendly", Dinwiddie is continuing his push to sell out Spring Hill's rural charm to volume builders by having a luncheon for developers at city hall on Monday. Giving developers a free hand at ruining Spring Hill is not the answer to the GM closure. In fact, the oversupply of housing statewide only hurt GM employees more since some that were returning to Michigan could not sell their homes. And now Dinwiddie wants to add more cheap housing to the city? Larger family homes on large lots might be a help to the city, but I don't think that's what Dinwiddie means by being "builder friendly". Thus, I think we can expect more low square footage starter homes and huge overpriced apartment complexes in the near future, developments by the way that have proven consistently deficient in paying for the government burdens that they create with their own property tax revenue. Now just why is it that the mayor wants developers to build more in a market that is already bulging with supply?

Amid Recession, Obama Socializes Medicine

With home sales stagnant and unemployment rates in double digits, Obama helps ram through an expensive health care bill that offers nothing that will reduce health care costs. Only time will tell how much damage Obamacare will do to the best health care system in the world. Although we possibly could see a drastic decline in quality of care and longer lines and waiting lists for access to care, what we will probably see is that the bill arrived with a lot of fanfare and bragging rights for both sides, but in reality the bill will be little more than a political "flash in the pan". Obama had no choice but to push the bill through, but either way it is a lose-lose situation for Democrats. If the bill had failed, the Obama administration would go into the next election with absolutely NO accomplishments to its credit, but with the bill's approval, voters are blowing the doors off the GOP to get back into the Republican Party, as the Democrats have with the passage of the bill given us their most overt assertion of an agenda of socialism to date. Indubitably the GOP will retake Congress in 1994 fashion this November. If the economy rebounds, Obama perhaps can limp into the 2012 Presidential election on even footing, but if Obamacare inflicts even more financial uncertainty, he himself may have sacrificed his second term on a useless health care bill that is merely symbolic of the leftist leanings of his party.