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Frozen yogurt war de-thaws, tart new brands hit US
Southern Ledger - August 21, 2008
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Some eBay sellers frustrated with rule changes
Southern Ledger - August 21, 2008
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Microsoft site makes digital photos into panoramas
Southern Ledger - August 21, 2008
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25 bodies identified from plane crash in Spain
Southern Ledger - August 21, 2008
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Displaced Georgians look to US for hope, aid
Southern Ledger - August 21, 2008
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26 dead as Philippine troops flush out rebels
Southern Ledger - August 21, 2008
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Indian Kashmir protests called off for 3 days
Southern Ledger - August 21, 2008
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Philippines Peace deal to be renegotiated
Southern Ledger - August 21, 2008
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Philippines peace in tatters after rebel attack
Southern Ledger - August 21, 2008
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WILL NEW NASHVILLE CONVENTION CENTER BE NAMED FOR TAXPAYERS?
June 12, 2008 -
June 19, 2008
The planned new convention center for downtown Nashville is back in the news with the selection of a Maryland-based Clark Construction Group as construction manager. The costs for the project have already risen from a “mere” $455 million when first announced two years ago to what is expected to be an amount in excess of $635 million. The ultimate cost is almost certain to be much higher than that, since public projects seldom come in at the promotional “sticker price.”
In fact, the costs for this “new” convention center do not include an expected, yet not planned, finalized or funded, one thousand room convention hotel that is estimated to cost another $250 to $350 million. Taxpayers will have to subsidize that construction, though the amount and method of financing are not yet available. If the cost of land and construction comes in higher than originally estimated, or if interest rates rise even a notch, taxpayers are likely to spend closer to a BILLION dollars.
And what happens to the existing convention center, which taxpayers have nearly completed paying for and which we have been operating at a loss of millions of dollars a year for a couple of decades? Will it suddenly become profitable when a gleaming new billion dollar facility is just up the street? Or will it become another white elephant like the Municipal Auditorium?
And can taxpayers afford a new convention facility if the Sommet Center suddenly becomes a gaping “black hole” in the budget? An FBI investigation into the financial dealings of Predators’ twenty seven percent owner “Boots” Del Biaggio, who has recently declared bankruptcy, could end up with forcing the departure of the Predators from Nashville. At the very least, it may limit the cash flow available to a team that is already struggling financially. Taxpayers will ultimately pay the price.
Advocates of the new convention center have long promised that it will create jobs. They must mean the construction labor to build the facility and the hotel and restaurant jobs that will be created to handle the influx of tourists coming to conventions once it opens. But aren’t those the same jobs we are told that “Americans won’t do”, and which millions of illegal aliens have flooded here to perform? Nashville’s leaders want taxpayers to spend a billion dollars to create jobs for illegal aliens?
Proponents have also promised “economic revitalization.” The vacant lots and empty buildings that sit north and west of the current convention center have apparently escaped their attention.
And with skyrocketing airline costs, corporations reducing spending and payrolls, and the constant threat of another 9-11 terror attack, which completely devastated the travel and hospitality industry, is this really the perfect time to bet a billion dollars on unreliable convention business? If this is such a great idea, why aren’t the private companies who are cheerleading this venture putting their own dollars at risk rather than using taxpayer money?
Tennessee taxpayers will ultimately take it on the chin for this billion dollar boondoggle. Companies regularly pay big bucks to have their names stuck on the sides of public buildings. Perhaps the taxpayers of Nashville and Tennessee should at least be given the “honor” of having their name on the Convention Center since we will be paying the tab.
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ECONOMICS 101 REVEALS THE TRUTH ABOUT HIGH GAS PRICES -
June 5, 2008 -
June 12, 2008
As gasoline prices nudge closer and closer to an average of $4 a gallon there is a lot of hue and cry in Washington about who to blame. The blame game makes for interesting political banter, but it is highly unlikely that drivers will see any relief at the pump coming from the posturing and posing bureaucrats and political hacks in D.C.
The Democrats blame Big Oil, despite the fact that Big Government actually takes a much larger share from the price of a gallon of gas in the form of l... |
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ELECTORAL MAP MAY GIVE GOP A GLIMMER OF HOPE IN THE FALL. -
May 28, 2008 -
June 4, 2008
2006 was a bad year for Republicans. Democrats took control of the U.S.
House and Senate as the tide turned strongly against President George W.
Bush and his party. 2008 has been shaping up as a year when GOP fortunes
could swing from bad to even worse. While some Republican leaders in
Washington have been claiming to see some light at the end of the
political tunnel three straight special election losses in Illinois,
Mississippi and Louisiana in House races that were co... |
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WHAT TENNESSEE BUDGET CRISIS? -
May 21, 2008 -
May 28, 2008
When Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen first took office in 2003 he
inherited outgoing Governor Don Sundquist’s final budget. That year the
State of Tennessee spent a total of $20.7 billion dollars. In the past
several weeks the Governor and the Legislature have been grappling with a
so-called budget crisis that forced consideration of lay offs for 2,000
state employees, elimination of the planned expansion of the Governor’s
pet Pre-K program, and other “dire” cuts in serv... |
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ARE TERRORISTS RUNNING PHONE BANKS FOR OBAMA? -
May 14, 2008 -
May 21, 2008
The 2008 Presidential campaign has already seen a number of outlandish, and patently false, attacks. The idea that Islamic terrorists are picking a side in selection of an American President might seem to be yet another for the list…if it wasn’t true.
Ahmed Yousef, a top political adviser for terrorist group Hamas, said in an interview on WABC radio in New York a few weeks ago that the group supports Obama. “We like Mr. Obama. We hope he will (win) the election and I do believe he is li... |
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GAS TAX HOLIDAY BECOMES PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN ISSUE. -
May 7, 2008 -
May 14, 2008
Skyrocketing gasoline prices have finally attracted the attention of presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain. While their proposed solutions to prices surging past $3.60 a gallon at the pump range from the muddled to the misleading, a key point of friction between the candidates has been their support or opposition to a Federal gasoline tax “holiday.”
The federal gasoline tax collected at the pump is currently 18.4 cents a gallon. John McCain and Hillary C... |
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