Crematorium Controversy Burns Up City's Credibility

In yet another interesting turn of events for Spring Hill, the Board of Zoning Appeals has done a 180 and given a green light to a crematorium that no one in the town except for the prospective proprietor wants. We live in a "me" society where every individual seems to think the world revolves around him, and if I want to open a crematorium, dog gone it I'm going to do it, and if some kids get sick from inhaling ash, so be it. Not my fault. If the property values of the homes near my crematorium go to pot, so be it. Not my fault. The good of the one outweighs the good of the many. That's democracy right?

States Should Stand Ground on "Stand Your Ground"

The left, through Bill Clinton and other voices, is using the Trayvon Martin tragedy to attack the "Stand Your Ground" rule of States like Florida. What many have failed to point out, though, is the fact that neither account of what happened has anything to do with "Stand Your Ground". According to the family of Mr. Martin, Mr. Zimmerman shot him down in cold blood when there was no imminent threat to Zimmerman's life, and experts who have reviewed the tapes indicate that Mr. Martin may have been on the ground screaming before he was shot. If this is what happened, Mr. Zimmerman is culpable for homicide, and "Stand Your Ground" is no defense. On the other hand, Mr. Zimmerman's story is that he did NOT "stand his ground" but in fact was retreating back to his car when Mr. Martin attacked him, forcing him to use force. This terrible situation should not be used by the left as an opportunity to attack gun rights, and the fact that this young man died changes nothing about the dangers to law abiding citizens posed by criminals in this country daily or citizens' natural rights of self defense. If Mr. Zimmerman did something wrong, he should be punished. If Mr. Martin did something wrong, then unfortunately he paid the ultimate price for it. While we wait for the judicial branch of Florida to work, we don't need anti-gunners like Clinton blaming gun owners other than Zimmerman. And while I believe Mr. Zimmerman is culpable based on the evidence, who knows what the evidence will show or what a grand jury would do? I do know this. If I were Mr. Zimmerman, I would call Jose Baez, because he has already got one Florida client off for murder when the evidence showed she was guilty as sin.

Romney-the Face of the GOP or Independent Party Raiders?

Mitt Romney will soon ride into South Carolina as the Republican frontrunner, having already won two states. A Massachusetts moderate from a non-evangelical Christian background leading at the polls should cause us all a ponderous pause. Liberals love to bash the GOP as a hard right conservative Bible thumping party, but if that is really the case, why is Mitt doing so well? I am still waiting for the liberal media to answer that question. Of course, a great answer might lie in Obama's failure to deliver on the "hope and change" he promised Democrats, independent voters and Republicans disillusioned after 8 years of George W. Bush. The Obama administration has been, with the exception of bagging Osama, an abject economic and foreign policy disaster. Thus, with Obama unopposed in the Democratic primaries, independents may have gone into the GOP looking for an alternative, and have ended up bolstering Romney against the conservative base. Either way, Obama has a problem. If the GOP with its Tea Party and Ron Paul contingents have succeeded in taking the party back to moderate Rockefeller Republicanism (a process I would say started the second Reagan left office), the Democrats' sad, tired old attacks will be as effective as the GOP's bloody shirt tactics were in the 1932 election. If Romney's rise is coming from independents and Democrats coming into the party for reasons other than "raiding" the primaries, then it shows that the Democrats have sunk back to the Carter years among independents, i.e. a party that can't get anything done and makes bad situations in economics and foreign policy even worse when they win the White House. Independents and disillusioned moderate Republicans were a key part of the Obama coalition. If he's lost them, getting an endorsement from the Band Perry won't be enough.

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.