Campbell Brown: Teachers Unions Go to Bat for Sexual Predators

The system to review misconduct is rigged so even abusive teachers can stay on the job.

• By CAMPBELL BROWN

By resisting almost any change aimed at improving our public schools, teachers unions have become a ripe target for reformers across the ideological spectrum. Even Hollywood, famously sympathetic to organized labor, has turned on unions with the documentary “Waiting for ‘Superman’” (2010) and a feature film, “Won’t Back Down,” to be released later this year. But perhaps most damaging to the unions’ credibility is their position on sexual misconduct involving teachers and students in New York schools, which is even causing union members to begin to lose faith.

In the last five years in New York City, 97 tenured teachers or school employees have been charged by the Department of Education with sexual misconduct. Among the charges substantiated by the city’s special commissioner of investigation—that is, found to have sufficient merit that an arbitrator’s full examination was justified—in the 2011-12 school year:

• An assistant principal at a Brooklyn high school made explicit sexual remarks to three different girls, including asking one of them if she would perform oral sex on him.

• A teacher in Queens had a sexual relationship with a 13-year old girl and sent her inappropriate messages through email and Facebook.

If this kind of behavior were happening in any adult workplace in America, there would be zero tolerance. Yet our public school children are defenseless.

Here’s why. Under current New York law, an accusation is first vetted by an independent investigator. (In New York City, that’s the special commissioner of investigation; elsewhere in the state, it can be an independent law firm or the local school superintendent.) Then the case goes before an employment arbitrator. The local teachers union and school district together choose the arbitrators, who in turn are paid up to $1,400 per day. And therein lies the problem.

For many arbitrators, their livelihood depends on pleasing the unions (whether the United Federation of Teachers in New York City, or other local unions). And the unions—believing that they are helping the cause of teachers by being weak on sexual predators—prefer suspensions and fines, and not dismissal, for teachers charged with inappropriate sexual conduct. The effects of this policy are mounting.

One example: An arbitrator in 2007 found that teacher Alexis Grullon had victimized young girls with repeated hugging, “incidental though not accidental contact with one student’s breast” and “sexually suggestive remarks.” The teacher had denied all these charges. In the end the arbitrator found him “unrepentant,” yet punished him with only a six-month suspension.

Another example from 2007: Teacher William Scharbach was found to have inappropriately touched and held young boys. “Respondent’s actions at best give the appearance of impropriety and at worst suggest pedophilia,” wrote the arbitrator—before giving the teacher only a reprimand. The teacher didn’t deny the touching but denied that it was inappropriate.

Then there was teacher Steven Ostrin, who in 2010 was found to have asked a young girl to give him a striptease, harassed students by text, and engaged in sexual banter. The arbitrator in his case concluded that since the teacher hadn’t actually solicited sex from students, the charges—all of which the teacher denied—warranted only a suspension.

Michael Loeb, a middle school teacher in the Bronx and UFT member, calls this a “horrible situation,” telling me “if you keep these people in the classroom, you are demeaning our profession.”

Parents I spoke with described their tremendous fear about what is happening in the classroom. Maria Elena Rivera says her 14-year-old daughter was stalked by one of her Brooklyn high school teachers (who resigned from his position before the Department of Education decided whether to send the case to arbitration). Today her daughter is in counseling, says Ms. Rivera, and doesn’t trust anyone: “It so messed her up. I can’t protect her.”

Local media have begun to get the word out, yet the stories come and go with trifling consequences or accountability. New York City’s schools chancellor and districts statewide must have the power to fire sexual predators—and the final say cannot be that of an arbitrator with incentives to lessen the punishment.

Fortunately, state Sen. Stephen Saland has proposed legislation in Albany to do just this, removing arbitrators’ final say while still giving teachers due process and the opportunity to appeal terminations in court. But the buck would stop with those officials in charge of our schools and tasked with protecting our kids: the chancellor in New York City, and school districts elsewhere in the state.

Mr. Saland’s initiative has little chance of success without union support—which is hardly assured. “I don’t understand how they think this could be a gray area,” says Natalie Harrington, who teaches English at New Day Academy in the Bronx. “I worry that if the union goes to bat [against] this, it makes it seem like they will do anything to keep anyone in the classroom.”

Michael Loeb still supports his union but says it “treats teachers like interchangeable widgets”—defending all teachers no matter what they have done.

The union has reached a moment of truth. With responsible legislation on the table, the right course of action is obvious. At stake is the safety of kids, the reputation of the unions, and the standing of every good and responsible teacher throughout the state.

Ms. Brown, a former news reporter and anchor at CNN and NBC, recently testified on this issue before the New York governor’s Education Reform Commission.

A version of this article appeared July 30, 2012, on page A13 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Teachers Unions Go to Bat for Sexual Predators.

Romney’s Jerusalem comment was no gaffe.

‘Culture’ Clash

Romney’s Jerusalem comment was no gaffe.

By JAMES TARANTO

In Israel’s capital yesterday, Mitt Romney “added one more flat note to the image of the Republican presidential hopeful’s gaffe-prone international foray,” the Christian Science Monitor claims. In the New York Times account, Romney “offended Palestinian leaders . . ., thrusting himself again into a volatile issue while on his high-profile overseas trip.”

Oy vey, what a meshugass! But actually, what Romney said was not a gaffe in any sense of the word that this column understands.

Here’s the Romney quote, from the Monitor: “At a breakfast fund-raising event in Jerusalem Monday, Romney said he couldn’t help but notice the ‘dramatically stark difference in economic vitality’ between Israel and ‘the areas managed by the Palestinian Authority,’ and he concluded, ‘Culture makes all the difference.’ ”

Romney added (as quoted by the Times): “As you come here and you see the G.D.P. per capita, for instance, in Israel, which is about $21,000, and compare that with the G.D.P. per capita just across the areas managed by the Palestinian Authority, which is more like $10,000 per capita, you notice such a dramatically stark difference in economic vitality. And that is also between other countries that are near or next to each other. Chile and Ecuador, Mexico and the United States.”

The Monitor complains that Romney made “no mention . . . of the trade and mobility restrictions that Israel maintains over the occupied [i.e., disputed] territories of the West Bank and Gaza–restrictions that both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have said for years are key factors in hampering Palestinian economic growth.”

This sentiment was amplified by Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian Authority politician, as the Times reports: “It is a racist statement and this man doesn’t realize that the Palestinian economy cannot reach its potential because there is an Israeli occupation.”

The claim that Romney’s statement was “racist” is inflammatory but silly. Neither Jews nor Arabs constitute a distinct race; in the usual racial taxonomy both are classified as white. Ethnically, they are closely related, both Semitic peoples–as Arabs will sometimes point out to deflect the charge of “anti-Semitism,” a European word for Jew-hatred that translates awkwardly into the Middle Eastern context.

The differences between Israelis and Palestinian Arabs, or between Jews and Arabs more broadly, are in fact not racial but cultural, with “culture” understood broadly as encompassing everything from religion and politics to prevailing norms about work, family and all manner of social activity.

Erekat’s claim that the depressed Palestinian GDP per capita is the result of Israeli restrictions is overstated. There are many other Arab countries that do not suffer this disadvantage, and most of them are nowhere near as prosperous as Israel.

According to the CIA World Factbook, the Jewish state had a per capita GDP of $31,400 in 2011, considerably higher than Romney’s estimate and the 41st highest in the world. The only Arab countries whose per capita GDPs topped Israel’s were Qatar (No. 2, at $104,300), the United Arab Emirates (No. 12 at $48,800) and Kuwait (No. 19 at $42,200)–all oil-rich states with sparse populations.

National Review’s Mark Krikorian lists the figures for several other Arab countries:

Lebanon’s is $15,700, Egypt $6,600, Jordan $6,000, Syria $5,100, Iraq $3,900. . . . Even Saudi Arabia has a per capita GDP significantly lower than Israel’s–$24,500–and Libya (also with oil and few people) is at $14,100. The CIA reports the combined per capita GDP of the West Bank and Gaza as $2,900; that’s lower than other Arab countries, so one could indeed plausibly argue that the “road blocks and closures and so on” are part of the reason for Palestinian backwardness, but obviously not a very large part and certainly not “most” of the reason, as claimed by Erekat.

Yet even Krikorian goes too easy on Erekat. While it is no doubt true that Israeli trade and travel restrictions make the Palestinian economy less productive than it would otherwise be, the Israelis do not impose these restrictions for fun. Rather, their aim is to prevent terrorists from entering Israel and weapons of terrorism from entering the disputed territories. Israel would have no justification for these restrictions if terrorism and the hatred that fuels it were not part of Palestinian culture.

So what Romney said was completely true (aside from his erroneous data on GDP per capita, and the correct numbers only make his point stronger). That doesn’t necessarily mean it wasn’t a gaffe. As Michael Kinsley famously observed: “A gaffe is when a politician tells the truth – some obvious truth he isn’t supposed to say.”

To put it another way, a gaffe is a statement that is both true and impolitic, like when Romney said in London that he found foul-ups in preparations for the Olympics “disconcerting.”

Romney’s statement about Palestinian culture would have been impolitic coming from a Middle East peace envoy. Depending on the circumstances, it might have been impolitic coming from a U.S. president. But Romney is a candidate for president in the most pro-Israel country in the world, probably including Israel itself. As Walter Russell Meadwrites:

By stressing the strength of his emotional and political commitment to Israel, Governor Romney hopes to strengthen his claim to be running as the red-blooded, truly American candidate against what the GOP devoutly hopes voters will see as the cosmopolitan, Europe loving, Israel-criticizing, Noam Chomsky-reading, French-thinking socialist now living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

In the context of an American presidential campaign, praising Jewish culture is anything but a gaffe. It’s about as politic a sentiment as one can express.

Is Huma Abedin the Next Van Jones?

- Accuracy In Media - http://www.aim.org -

Is Huma Abedin the Next Van Jones?

Posted By Cliff Kincaid On July 22, 2012 @ 6:37 pm In AIM Column | Comments Disabled

Senator John McCain has become a left-wing media darling for defending Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin ^[1] against truthful charges that she has family connections to the pro-terrorist Muslim Brotherhood. Andrew McCarthy notes ^[2] there used to be a time when McCain was alarmed by the advance of the Muslim Brotherhood.

We commented on this new phase of McCain’s career when he showed up at a Washington event to praise and honor the Arab-funded Al-Jazeera, ^[3] the voice of the Muslim Brotherhood.Ikhwanweb.com, the website of the Muslim Brotherhood, has labeled Al-Jazeera “the greatest Arab media organization.”

Almost as curious as McCain’s flip-flop on this critical national security issue is Republican House Speaker John Boehner saying ^[4], “I don’t know Huma. But from everything that I do know of her, she has a sterling character, and I think accusations like this being thrown around are pretty dangerous.”

The “accusations” are questions about the kind of investigation that was made of her background. Boehner admits not knowing her but has already come to the conclusion that the “accusations,” which are questions, are somehow “dangerous.”

The issue here is the U.S. relationship with an organization that has spawned almost every major terrorist group in the Middle East and is taking control of Egypt and other nations.

Equally bizarre has been the rhetoric of Fox News contributor Edward Rollins, who used to work for Rep. Michele Bachmann, one of five members of Congress raising questions ^[5] of the State Department Inspector General about Abedin. “I can assure Mrs. Bachmann, that Ms. Abedin has been thru every top clearance available and would never have been given her position with any questions of her loyalty to this country,” Rollins insists ^[6].

But Rollins cited no factual basis on which to make such a sweeping allegation. How does he, a former Republican official, know anything at all about the background investigations, if any, of top Democratic or Obama administration officials?

A question for Rollins, who has assumed the mantle of national security expert: Did Abedin get the same background investigation enjoyed by Van Jones before he lost his job at the White House? At the time that Jones was forced to resign, in response to damaging disclosures about his communist background, Rollins said ^[7] Jones “did the right thing” by resigning because he had become an embarrassment to the White House. Abedin is quickly becoming another such embarrassment.

But while Jones was only in his job for six months, Abedin has been by Hillary’s side for many years, the last three as Deputy Chief of Staff to the Secretary of State.

The Jones case is instructive. There is no indication that the White House asked the FBI to investigate him or, if they did, that the background report uncovered anything having to do with his communist background. This would mean that the FBI did a lousy job of investigating Jones. On the other hand, there is the possibility that the FBI did uncover something sinister about Jones but the White House decided to ignore it, until the concern about him reached a fever pitch.

The Congress to this day has never investigated how Van Jones got his job, although Obama aide Valerie Jarrett admitted at a national left-wing bloggers convention that “we”—presumably referring to herself and Obama—decided to pick him. What the Congress should be doing, in the wake of damaging disclosures about Abedin, is investigate how she got her job and what influence she is exercising at the State Department. That is exactly what Bachmann and others want to know.

Members of Congress take an oath to defend our country against all enemies, foreign and domestic. The notion of “enemy” loses its significance if Obama officials can redefine the term and escape accountability for making deals with those who want to destroy us.

In general, the Congress needs to know who in the administration is getting a pass on what the FBI used to call its CARL test—examining a federal applicant’s character, associates, reputation and loyalty. Such a probe necessarily involves inquiring into one’s family members.

Obama himself escaped such scrutiny, by virtue of the fact that he won his office through an election. That is why his “vetting” by the media, at this late date, four years after he was elected, is still absolutely necessary. But escaping a federal background investigation should not be extended to other top administration personnel.

Rollins’ claim that he can somehow “assure” Bachmann of the results of an investigation into Abedin is an obvious falsehood. As a former campaign manager and now pundit, he has no such authority or expertise.

Making charges that are truly irresponsible and beyond the pale, Rollins went on to allege that Abedin is the victim of McCarthyism. This is a falsehood that shows how little Rollins knows about the Venona transcripts, which documented, in the words of historians John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, that the Soviets “had recruited spies in virtually every major American government agency of military or diplomatic importance,” and that 349 citizens, immigrants, and permanent residents of the United States “had had a covert relationship with Soviet intelligence agencies.” Senator Joe McCarthy, still one of the liberals’ favorite villains, only scratched the surface of the problem.

What the American people should be demanding from the media is an investigation of Muslim Brotherhood infiltration of the U.S. Government at this time in history, as we see Egyptians demonstrating in the streets against the Obama/Hillary embrace of this dangerous organization. Egyptians also yelled “Monica, Monica,” at Hillary Clinton, something we do know a lot about.

Incredibly, The New York Times actually ridiculed the protesters ^[8] for believing in a “conspiracy theory” that “originated with American conservatives!”

But the Obama Administration’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood is not a conspiracy but a fact.

In the case of the hapless Ed Rollins, it is clear he knows less about Abedin than he knew about Van Jones, which he admitted was nothing. But he makes news by bashing the presidential candidate who gave him a job. This makes the liberal media love him.

The damaging revelations about Abedin just keep coming. Walid Shoebat and Ben Barrack have written extensively about Abedin’s Muslim Brotherhood connections. And Shoebat, a former member of the Muslim Brotherhood, is preparing the release ^[9] of a major report on this matter which will make people such as McCain, Rollins, and Boehner look even more foolish than they already are for jumping to conclusions about this important case.

Shoebat has already written ^[10] in detail that McCain’s defense of the Hillary aide is “demonstrably false.” It doesn’t do any good to argue, as Rollins did, that McCain is “an American hero” and that he “stood on the floor of the Senate” to defend Abedin. For some curious reason, he has switched sides in the Middle East and has embarrassed himself in the process. To make matters worse, he endangers U.S. security.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, now taking off on a foreign trip that will include Israel, has no alternative but to distance himself from McCain’s wildly irresponsible and erroneous statements.

Abedin may go the way of Van Jones. Frank Gaffney’s Center for Security Policy has just released a new report ^[11] about the Islamist connections of Abedin’s mother, noting that the evidence indicates that Abedin has “deeply problematic foreign associations” that could, in violation of departmental guidelines, “create… a heightened risk of foreign exploitation, inducement, manipulation, pressure, or coercion.”

The growing controversy suggests the need for House Speaker John Boehner to do his job, rather than serve as an apologist for the Obama Administration. That means reinstating a House Internal Security Committee to get to the bottom of such matters.

If there is a legitimate controversy over how Abedin got her job and whether her family connections present a problem, the matter should be moved beyond the Inspectors General of State and other agencies, and put under the purview of a new House Committee on Internal Security. The congress hasn’t had a committee or subcommittee like this for decades because congressional liberals abolished them all on the grounds they were too “McCarthyite.”

Key questions deserving answers include: who, if anyone, investigated Abedin’s background, and were they made aware of the information about her Muslim Brotherhood connections?

We have a senior senator, the Speaker of the House and a top Republican former campaign official jumping to the defense of an aide to the Secretary of State who is a central figure in a U.S. administration embracing that organization. This is the real story, and it is a bipartisan scandal.

---

Article printed from Accuracy In Media: http://www.aim.org

URL to article: http://www.aim.org/aim-column/is-huma-abedin-the-next-van-jones/

URLs in this post:

[1] defending Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/2chambers/post/john-mccain-defends-huma-abedin-against-accusations-shes-part-of-conspiracy/2012/07/18/gJQAFpxntW_blog.html#mccain-full-text

[2] notes: http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/310198/questions-about-huma-abedin-andrew-c-mccarthy

[3] honor the Arab-funded Al-Jazeera,: http://www.aim.org/aim-column/senator-mccain-becomes-shill-for-al-jazeera/

[4] saying: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/2chambers/post/john-boehner-accusations-against-huma-abedin-pretty-dangerous/2012/07/19/gJQAeDT6vW_blog.html

[5] raising questions: http://bachmann.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=303218

[6] Rollins insists: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/07/18/bachmann-former-campaign-chief-shame-on-michele/

[7] said: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2niO0Q9Ll0g

[8] ridiculed the protesters: http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/16/egyptians-who-jeered-clinton-cite-american-conservatives-to-argue-u-s-secretly-supports-islamists/

[9] preparing the release: http://www.shoebat.com/2012/07/21/stay-tuned-2/

[10] written: http://www.shoebat.com/2012/07/19/shoebat-exclusive-michele-bachmanns-critics-are-lions-in-peace-but-deer-in-fight/

[11] new report: http://supportsecurefreedom.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/CSP-Analysis-of-excerpts-from-Women-in-Islam-and-IICWC-IICDR-Relationship.pdf

 

 

BILL O’REILLY CALLS ON CONGRESS TO PASS ANOTHER GUN LAW DURING HEATED SEGMENT

MEDIA

• Posted on July 25, 2012 at 7:37am by  Jonathon M. Seidl
•  

Popular Fox News host Bill O’Reilly called on Congress to pass another gun law in the wake of the Colorado theater shooting. But it’s a position that was unpopular with GOP Rep. Jason Chaffetz (Utah) on Tuesday night’s “O’Reilly Factor.”

O’Reilly believes that the sale of any “heavy” weapon should be reported to the FBI. He called it “common sense” during his segment with Chaffetz. Chaffetz disagreed.

Mediaite has some of the back-and-forth:

Chaffetz said that the FBI should not be given a “master list” of every gun owner in the country, but O’Reilly interrupted Chaffetz to say that he was misrepresenting what he said. O’Reilly said that if you go to flight school, the FBI knows about it, but not if you purchase a machine gun. Chaffetz said O’Reilly’s assertion was “absolutely not true.”

Chaffetz said that anyone who buys heavy weapons has to get a tax certificate from the ATF and pass a background check. O’Reilly countered by pointing out the gun show loophole in the law, to which Chaffetz responded, “You can’t just buy a bazooka.”

The two continued to argue and O’Reilly even began raising his voice with the congressman. And after Chaffetz wasn’t swayed, O’Reilly retorted:

“If the FBI is alerted that somebody is buying 60,000 heavy-duty rounds, they’re going to check it out, because that’s what anti-terrorism is! That’s what they do!… You’re telling me you object to this? This doesn’t intrude on any hunter, anybody with a handgun to protect themself, anybody with a rifle, this is an AK! Come on!”

Chaffetz disagreed: “Absolutely it is.” He even later accused O’Reilly as being “misinformed” about the laws.

The Shoulders of Giants

• 

• BEST OF THE WEB TODAY
• Updated July 26, 2012, 4:34 p.m. ET

Obama didn’t build “You didn’t build that.”

By JAMES TARANTO

Who built “You didn’t build that”? Not President Obama, or his speechwriting team, or even Elizabeth Warren, the leftist Massachusetts Senate candidate who’s struck similar themes. Blogger William Jacobsondiscovers what may be the ur-text, and it dates from 2004:

There is no such thing as a self-made man. Every businessman has used the vast American infrastructure, which the taxpayers paid for, to make his money. He did not make his money alone. He used taxpayer infrastructure. He got rich on what other taxpayers had paid for: the banking system, the Federal Reserve, the Treasury and Commerce Departments, and the judicial system, where nine-tenths of cases involve corporate law. These taxpayer investments support companies and wealthy investors. There are no self-made men! The wealthy have gotten rich using what previous taxpayers have paid for. They owe the taxpayers of this country a great deal and should be paying it back.

The source, as with so much in left-wing politics these days, is George Lakoff, the University of California linguist who is the Democratic left’s leading light on questions of cognition and rhetoric. That passage comes from “Don’t Think of an Elephant!: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate: The Essential Guide for Progressives,” the only book we can think of with an imperative title, an imperative subtitle and a nominative sub-subtitle.

The central problem with Lakoff’s argument is that his idea of a “self-made man” is a straw man. A self-made man is a successful man who succeeded by dint of his own effort. When he says there’s “no such thing,” he’s engaging in the sophistry of strained literalism, pretending that a man can be self-made only if his own effort is a sufficient condition for success. One might as well say there’s no such thing as a self-made man because we all have parents, or because God created us, or because we are the product of millions of years of evolution, or because today’s innovators stand on the shoulders of giants in the private economy.

That last point is crucial. No one denies that people alive today owe a debt to the past, but Lakoff and his fellow progressives seem to be under the misimpression that government is the only means by which we receive that sort of inheritance. The great industrialists of the 19th and 20th centuries might have paid a lot of taxes, but that wasn’t their primary contribution to the world of today.

Still, at least Lakoff gives them credit for some contribution. That paragraph refers six times to “taxpayers,” a word that never appears in Obama’s July 13 speech. Lakoff thus acknowledges, if only implicitly, the economic truth that it is the private sector that supports the government rather than the other way around. For Obama, it’s teachers all the way down.

Associated PressGeorge Lakoff tries not to think of an elephant.

The basic substantive problem with the Lakoff-Obama argument is that it blurs the distinction between an uncontroversial proposition (government is necessary) and a highly disputed one (government of its current size and scope is necessary and may even be insufficient). The ability to blur such distinction is a useful skill for a politician; the best way to accomplish something controversial is to persuade people you’re doing something uncontroversial.

But rhetorical tropes like “There is no such thing as a self-made man” and “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that” do just the opposite: They call attention to the way in which the progressive ideology goes against the American grain. Americans believe in rugged individualism and self-determination, and it is foolish for a national politician like Obama to mock those values.

It is not necessarily foolish for an academic-cum-commentator like Lakoff to do so, and in fact such an approach has been very good for him. But he need only appeal to people (including politicians) who share his ideology. That’s why politicians who do would be wise to look skeptically at his advice.

BuzzFeed.com reports that Brad Woodhouse, the Democratic National Commitee’s communications director, “outlined an all-out response to Mitt Romney’s attack on President Obama over his ‘You didn’t build this’ line–which the president and independent fact checkers have said has been taken out of context.”

You’d think they’d just let this rest and come up with a better way of making the argument for big government. That line about “independent fact checkers”–that is, journalists–is a giveaway as to why they haven’t. They’re listening to people they think are authoritative, who insist Obama said nothing wrong. It turns out that, just like Lakoff, they think their audience consists of people who already agree with them.

The Politics of Condescension 
The New York Times has a pro-gun-control piece by retired Illinois policeman Michael Black, which unwittingly illuminates one reason Americans are suspicious of gun control. Check out this anecdote:

Illinois is the only state that does not allow ordinary citizens to carry concealed firearms. A few years back, I was visiting my father at the laundromat where he worked, when one of the regulars, who knew I was a cop, asked if I was “strapped.” When I said yes, he complained that he should have the right to carry a gun, too, since he was “a law-abiding citizen.” I’d heard this knucklehead spout off about minorities on numerous occasions and didn’t think he was a good candidate to be packing a weapon in public, though in many states, he could have been.

Black gives us no reason to think the man wasn’t a law-abiding citizen; the cop just didn’t like some of the things the civilian had said. Perhaps the objections were well-founded, but to restrict the man’s freedom for that reason would offend the First Amendment, never mind the Second.

A similar sort of elitism is evident in a blog post by The New Yorker’s John Cassidy: “When Bill Moyers, Keith Olbermann, Mayor Bloomberg, and Rupert Murdoch are all in favor of something–in this case, tougher gun laws–and there’s still no chance of it being enacted, you can rest assured that forces other than reason and partisan politics are involved.”

We guess that four-man list is meant to be ideologically inclusive. It isn’t really. Except for Murdoch, everyone on it is far to the left, at least on social issues. But here’s an even bigger problem: Why should anyone assume that two media figures and two media magnates are somehow broadly representative of American opinion?

Or check out this column from the Times’s Gail Collins:

Right now you are probably asking yourself: “What would it be like to live in a place with an unemployment rate of 1 percent?”

Me, too! So I went to Williston, N.D., to find out. There are certain things that journalists do as a public service because you, the noble reader, are probably not going to do them for yourself–like attending charter revision meetings or reading the autobiography of Tim Pawlenty. Going to Williston is sort of in this category. The people are lovely, but you’re talking about a two-hour drive from Minot.

OK, we realize she’s probably trying to be cute by acting like an exaggeratedly stereotypical East Coast elitist. But the stereotype comes across more clearly than the exaggeration.

BIGGEST NAME IN CHRIASTIANITY DEFENDS CHICK-FIL-A

WND EXCLUSIVE

BIGGEST NAME IN CHRIASTIANITY DEFENDS CHICK-FIL-A.

‘I plan to ‘Eat Mor Chikin’ … next Wednesday’

Published: 5 hours ago

B UNRUH Email | Archive

Bob Unruh joined WND in 2006 after spending nearly three decades writing on a wide range of issues for several Upper Midwest newspapers and the Associated Press. Sports, tornadoes, homicidal survivalists, and legislative battles all fell within his bailiwick. His scenic photography has been used commercially, and he sometimes plays in a church worship band.

Rev. Billy Graham, at 93 the senior statesman among Christian leaders in America, says he’s rooting for his longtime friends, the Cathy family, in a nasty public blowup over their religious beliefs.

“I want to express my support for my good friends Truett Cathy and his son Dan Cathy, and for their strong stand for the Christian faith,” he said in a statement released by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

“I’ve known their family for many years and have watched them grow Chick-fil-A into one of the best businesses in America while never compromising their values. Chick-fil-A serves each of its customers with excellence, and treats everyone like a neighbor. It’s easy to see why Chick-fil-A has become so popular across America,” he said.

Over the past few days, the Henson Co., creator of the Muppets characters, said it no longer would work with Chick-fil-A. The mayor of Boston publicly bashed the restaurant chain. Chicago officials said they would not want the company to operate in their wards. And “kiss-in” protests were announced in front of company outlets on college campuses.

All brought on by advocates for homosexual behavior because Dan Cathy, whose father, Truett Cathy, founded the $4 billion-plus a year business, gave an interview to the Baptist Press.

“We are very much supportive of the family – the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that,” Cathy said.

In a separate radio interview, Dan Cathy said, “I think we are inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say, ‘We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage. ‘I pray God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think we can try to define what marriage is all about.”

Graham said each generation “faces different issues and challenges, but our standard must always be measured by God’s word.”

“I appreciate the Cathy family’s public support for God’s definition of marriage,” he said.

“I also appreciate Gov. Mike Huckabee’s leadership and for encouraging Americans to support Chick-fil-A on August 1. As the son of a dairy farmer who milked many a cow, I plan to ‘Eat Mor Chikin’ and show my support by visiting Chick-fil-A next Wednesday,” Graham said.

The BGEA noted Graham rarely inserts himself into public disputes but will when the issue primarily is moral, not political.

The longtime evangelist, author, speaker, leader and counselor to presidents last spoke out earlier this year when he urged North Carolina voters to support an amendment that defines marriage as between one man and one woman. Voters approved the measure, resoundingly, May 8.

At the time, Graham said in an AP report that watching “the moral decline of our country causes me great concern.”

“I believe the home and marriage is the foundation of our society and must be protected,” he said.

“At 93, I never thought we would have to debate the definition of marriage,” Graham said, according to the AP. “The Bible is clear – God’s definition of marriage is between a man and a woman.”

The report quoted William Martin, the author of Graham biography “A Prophet With Honor,” saying that while Graham often preached about the need for sexual purity, he rarely spoke about same-sex marriage.

Graham last preached at a crusade in 2005, but in 2010 Barack Obama “made a pilgrimage” to meet him, according to the AP.

The meeting continued a tradition of presidents consulting with Graham that began with Dwight Eisenhower.

See what the biggest companies in the nation are doing to promote homosexuality.

Among the recent attacks on the Cathy family:

• Boston’s Democrat Mayor Thomas Menino wrote to Dan Cathy, “I was angry to learn on the heels of your prejudiced statements about your search for a site to locate in Boston. There is no place for discrimination on Boston’s Freedom Trail and no place for your company alongside it.”
• Chicago officials said they wouldn’t allow the permits needed for a Chick-fil-A to be built in their district.
• Homosexual “kiss-in” protests were planned at college campus locations of the store.
• The Henson Co. announced it would not longer work with Chick-fil-A.

But as WND reported, hundreds of thousands of people across America are pledging to support Chick-fil-A restaurants.

A Facebook campaign has been launched by Huckabee seeking to build support for the chicken-sandwich chain famous for closing its stores on Sundays so employees can attend church if they choose.

Huckabee, a 2008 Republican presidential candidate, invited Americans to join him Wednesday, Aug. 1, for a “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day.” Some supporters are advocating showing support every Wednesday.

He noted the company now is a $4 billion a year effort with more than 1,600 stores.

“The militant homosexual advocates have launched an all out assault on Dan Cathy and Chick-fil-A, pushing for a boycott because the Cathy family has contributed to traditional marriage organizations. The attempts to hurt or destroy Chick-fil-A is nothing short of economic bullying. In the name of ‘tolerance,’ there is an effort being mounted to put pressure on people to stop eating at Chick-fil-A. Even worse is the vilification of the company and its employees. The Christian world view of Dan Cathy is being met with intolerance and vicious hate speech,” Huckabee’s announcement said.

“I ask you to join me in speaking out to your constituency via Facebook, Twitter, email, broadcast, etc., to make Wednesday, August 1 ‘Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day.’ No one is being asked to make signs, speeches, or openly demonstrate. The goal is simple: Let’s affirm a business that operates on Christian principles and whose executives are willing to take a stand for the Godly values we espouse by simply showing up and eating at Chick-fil-A on Wednesday, August 1.”

On Facebook and other social media websites, vitriolic attacks on the family and company continue.

Shirley Stanton of Orlando, Fla., said: “Even though I don’t live in Boston, I am proud of their mayor. Thomas Menino is truly someone Boston should be proud of and praise.”

But some social networkers are identifying the crux of the issue.

Jon Untiedt said: “Sounds like Boston is discriminating against Chick-fil-A’s CEO’s First Amendment rights.”

And Keith S. Brooks said: “A mayor urging a company to keep its taxes and jobs out of his city is absurd. Keep the personal preferences of ones private life, private. Let the market dictate what people will or wont participate in. But suggesting to a business that the personal feelings of their CEO should be the measuring stick of whether or not they are allowed to conduct business in your city is, at the very least, a seriously slippery slope. I’m from Boston. Yes, they are prideful. They are also knuckle headed. What happens if a strong Christian becomes the mayor of Boston and he decides he doesn’t want Home Depot in the city of Boston anymore because they support gay marriage? Would it be OK for that mayor to suggest the company take its millions of dollars in taxes and hundreds of jobs and kick rocks? Dangerous stuff here. And I have many gay friends, but this kind of grandstanding by a mayor who is looking for sympathy votes for his next election is cowardly and has NO place in an intelligent society.”

Valorie Phillips wrote, “I love the double standard that Jim Henson’s company is expressing by not … accepting Christians’ belief in the biblical definition of marriage.”

John Hayward at Human Events said the attacks are reaching unhealthy levels.

“The name of the game being played against Chick-fil-A involved ending the discussion, by ruling one side of this important social debate completely out of order, and dismissing their beliefs as unworthy of respect. All resistance to gay marriage is instantly transmuted into personal hatred of gay people. On the other hand, criticism of traditional marriage proponents cannot be viewed as hateful, no matter how angrily it might be expressed. It’s a rigged heads-we-win, tails-you-lose game,” he said.

Chick-fil-A appears to have taken itself off the soapbox, at least for now, with a corporate statement that said: “The Chick-fil-A culture and service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect – regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender. We will continue this tradition in the over 1,600 restaurants run by independent owner/operators. Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena.”

Click here to print.

BLOOMBERG BACKS DOWN ON COP-STRIKE-FOR-GUN-CONTROL

WEAPONS OF CHOICE

BLOOMBERG BACKS DOWN ON COP-STRIKE-FOR-GUN-CONTROL

Called for police officers to take job action to force change to firearm laws

Published: 1 hour ago

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is backing away from his call earlier this week for an illegal strike by police officers, saying now that he didn’t mean a “literal” strike.

On the Piers Morgan show on CNN earlier this week, Bloomberg was reacting to the fact that the suspect in the Aurora, Colo., mass murder had a shotgun, a rifle and two handguns.

“I don’t understand why the police officers across this country don’t stand up collectively and say we’re going to go on strike,” he said on the show.

He said the officers should send the message, “We’re not going to protect you unless you, the public, through your legislature, do what’s required to keep us safe.”

Bloomberg is the co-founder of Mayors Against Illegal Guns and has lobbied for more rules, restrictions and regulations for guns over and over again.

He said, “Police officers want to go home to their families. And we’re doing everything we can to make their job more difficult, but more importantly, more dangerous, by leaving guns in the hands of people who shouldn’t have them and letting people who have those guns buy things like armor-piercing bullets. The only reason to have an armor-piercing bullet is to go through a bullet-resistant vest. The only people that wear bullet-resistant vets are our police officers.”

But according to a report on New York’s CBS affiliate, a strike by police officers in New York would violate state law.

Bloomberg “clarified” his remarks in light of that, the report said.

“I don’t mean literally go on strike,” he told the station. “Keep in mind, it is police officers who run into danger when the rest of us run out. Police officers have families. They want to come home to their families safely.”

The suspect in the Aurora shootings last week at a theater showing a new Batman movie was arrested by police when they arrived on the scene. He had used a shotgun, a rifle with a 100-round clip and two handguns to shooting 70 people, including 12 who died.

The attack immediately sparked suggestions from a wide range of sources that the U.S. should impose more rules and regulations for gun ownership.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Barack Obama said he would be seeking more limits.

“For every Columbine or Virginia Tech, there are dozens gunned down on the streets of Chicago and Atlanta, and here in New Orleans,” he said. “For every Tucson or Aurora there is daily heartbreak over young Americans shot in Milwaukee or Cleveland.  And when there’s extraordinary heartbreak and tragedy like the one we saw, there’s always an outcry immediately after for action.

“There’s talk of new reforms and there’s talk of new legislation. And too often those efforts are defeated by politics and by lobbying and eventually by the pull of our collective attention elsewhere,” he said.

CBS reported that likely GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney noted that more gun laws probably would not have changed things.

“A lot of what this … young man did was clearly against the law. But the fact that it was against the law did not prevent it from happening,” he said.

Click here to print.

TENNESSEE GOVERNOR HASLAM, WATER RIGHTS AND AGENDA 21 CORRUPTION PART 4 of 7

PART 4 of 7         By Kelleigh Nelson

July 16, 2012
NewsWithViews.com

Impact on Neighboring Properties

Woody’s neighbor on the East lost his stream flow from one of the streams that converges on the Airport property, but crosses the neighbor’s property first. He lost his stream flow to a wetland. The neighbor is currently in front of a Water Board in the State of Tennessee trying to rectify that impact. On the other side, the other stream has exponentially more water flowing from it. One inch of rain on a 300 acre parcel of land, in its natural state, which is what this was, produces 500,000 gallons of storm water runoff. When developers covered the 300 acres with a hard surface, that same one inch of rain produced eight million gallons of storm water runoff. So just as the engineers told Woody, he was eight inches under water. That was the first impact. It is against Tennessee Law to increase the water flow of a water way. Retention ponds and basins are to be utilized in order to keep this from happening. After the rain subsides, the additional waters can be released from the holding areas without negatively impacting the downstream areas.

Measuring Turbidity of the Water

The second impact is the water pollution. The federal limit on turbidity is 280 units (NTU). Turbidity basically measures the solids in the water to determine the level of pollution. It is the ability to shine a light through a water sample to see the suspended solids in the water. When the streams started being contaminated due to the development, Woody, and his brother, Reg, bought a machine to test the waters and check the impact to see how bad the pollution was on their property. The machine they purchased only goes up to 4,000 NTU, the measurement of turbidity.

Their measured numbers were regularly in the 2,400 to 3,500 turbidity ranges until they started going so high they could no longer be measured. The numbers were off the machine, over 4,000 NTU. Reg called the factory, had the machine calibrated and checked to make sure it was properly reading the turbidity numbers. Since the machine was functioning properly, Woody and Reg had an official engineer come out to take certified stream readings because their readings would not be legally valid if litigation ensued. He calibrated and used their machine. The official readings were the same as theirs had been.

Please keep in mind the federal limit on turbidity is 280. Come to find out later when the Tennessee Department of Conservation released their turbidity readings from their own monitoring stations in the stream, they were up to 14,000 units. That’s 50 times higher than the safe limit specified in the Clean Water Act. This intermodal is built on a Memphis aquifer feeder and they’re running 14,000 NTU polluted water straight into the watershed. This is the same watershed they were afraid to build on at the previous site for fear of pollution. Woody and Reg can no longer drink water from the well on their property because the water is so contaminated. This is real water, real aquifers, real people, real wells, real streams, and these big developers are essentially buying their way around the regulations.

The true turbidity that they’re dumping into the Wolf River is now over 16,000 NTUs. This is documented by TDEC and Woody has the official files. TDEC has turned their backs on this pollution, as has the Wolf River Conservancy. Keith Cole, Executive Director of the WRC stated they are “not concerned with enforcement.” When the turbidity is that high and they say they’re not concerned about enforcement, then you know there’s a big payoff somewhere. Remember that land that Adair donated to the Wolf River Conservancy that has become the Wolf River Mitigation Bank? Well, the WRC was selling off mitigation credits at $40,000 each, which made the value of those 80 acres of donated land worth $3.2 million dollars. So, in essence, the very issue – water pollution of the Wolf River Watershed – that the WRC opposed previously, is happening right now before their very eyes, and they are not concerned with enforcement of the laws. Perhaps the $3.2 million dollar donation by William Adair has a bearing on that issue. Ultimately, when Woody and Reg exposed this entire illegal program at the state level, the WRC closed its illegal mitigation bank and turned it back over to the TWRA to run, trying to get out before being exposed themselves.

William Adair bought the 3,000 acre Twin Hill Ranch property in 2007. An important factor in this land use decision for the intermodal that has garnered little attention is the fact that Twin Hill Ranch serves as an important recharge area for the region’s drinking water source. The Memphis Sand Aquifer touches the surface in numerous places on the Ranch and the site for the proposed intermodal facility sits atop the Memphis Sand Aquifer. The intermodal facility environmental assessment shows drinking water wells in the vicinity that serve people living on Knox Road, Neville Road and U.S. 57. The town of Rossville obtains its public supply from three other shallow wells. If any drinking water wells are affected, these likely will be the first ones where contamination could appear.

Quite obviously with the turbidity count so high on Wolf River Airport, there is little doubt other wells in the vicinity that serve the area are also polluted or soon will be.

Where Does the Money Go?

Woody and Reg have exposed this entire program. They were told they were crazy and the “In-Lieu-Fee” program didn’t exist. They went to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) office and TDEC refused to give them any documents regarding In-Lieu-Fee’s. TDEC stated the documents went back to Nashville, so Woody and Reg went to Nashville to get them. In Nashville, they were told the documents had been sent back to Memphis. Again they went back to the Memphis Field Office of TDEC and when they went in, they were told the copy machine wasn’t working. They told the men they could look at the documents, but not copy them. Fortunately, Reg was prepared and he brought his copy machine with him and copied all the documents. The In-Lieu-Fee program does exist.

In one case, the developers bought one stream beside Woody’s airport for $787,700. The other stream on the other side they bought for $946,000. Keep in mind they only bought the upper portion of either one of those streams. They didn’t buy the entire stream. The questions they were asking in the TDEC files were not, “Should we impact this much stream?” or “Is this too serious?” No, the only question they asked was, “How much money do we charge?”

Adair and the Piperton Waste Water Treatment Plant

The Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) is a gift from Adair to the City of Piperton and it is still not finished. Power lines were just run to it the first of June, 2012. Of course because this is a tax free gift to the citizens of Piperton through politics, the politicians are accommodating every move Adair makes.

In 2009, Woody started writing letters to the city of Piperton, and the City Engineer. He told them the plans for the treatment plant were too close to the airport by Federal Aviation Administration Advisory standards. Any ground water attracts birds and other wildlife. You can’t have either near an airport. They told him they didn’t care, they were still putting it in where they planned, which was right smack next to the airport. Woody actually has the original plat from Neel Schaffer Engineering, and the woman who gave it to him got fired.

In 2010, Woody wrote emails to the City of Piperton, to Mr. Vojin Janjic atTennessee Department of Environmental Conservation (TDEC), and to William Adair stating the Waste Water Plant was too close to the airport. Of interest is the fact that Adair’s name is on the permit for the plant, but only a municipality can be the permit holder for a Waste Water Plant. Technically, Piperton issued the permit illegally, but it was only because they were getting everything gratis from William Adair. Actually, Piperton Mayor, Buck Chambers, applied for the permit, but Adair signed it. He was the developer and applicant for the permit. The City Manager of Piperton, Stephen Steinbach, told Woody verbatim, “I can find no evidence to suggest that there exists any mandatory federal locational criteria that would prevent the City from realizing its goal of having its first centralized Waste Water Treatment facility constructed on the selected site.” In other words, they felt, no obeisance to federal regulation, Memorandums of Agreement laws, or their own state laws, or desire to protect the property of their citizens.

William Adair bought land down from the airport, and apportioned other parcels of land by eminent domain to be used in part for the WWTP. Adair said he was “horse trading” for these several parcels of land during the eminent domain process on other properties (private entities) for the WWTP he was giving to Piperton. In trading the land, he donated 80 acres to the Wolf River Conservancy to establish and operate the Wolf River Wetland Mitigation Bank.

The Wetland Mitigation Bank, according to federal standards, is also too close to the Airport. (FAA-CIRCULAR-150_5200_33b) The City of Piperton also took land by eminent domain from a neighbor, Bruce Bowling, and paid him $16,000 per acre. The man didn’t want to sell, and he didn’t want to lose his property as it had been in the family for generations, but Adair wanted it for his WWTP. When a city is having a Waste Water Treatment Plant built for them free of charge, they’ll accommodate the one paying the bill.

We’ll continue the battle of the WWTP location and the ensuing lawsuit in part 5.Then Woody arranged a conference call between Vojin Janjic of TDEC, (which is a subsidiary of EPA) and a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) official from Atlanta to explain the agreements that have long existed in theMemorandum of Understanding between FAA and EPA, Corps of Engineers, the Navy, and other agencies. These agreements state there must be a 5,000 foot minimum separation between the Waste Water facilities and airport operations. The WWTP was only 1,750 feet from the airport! Waste Water Treatment Plant’s are specifically mentioned in the Advisories. They state that bird strikes are the number one cause of aircraft crashes and thus any sitting water is a danger to aircraft within a specified area. (RememberCaptain Sullenberger who landed in the Hudson? His plane ran into a flock of geese).

Click here for part —–> 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,

© 2012 Kelleigh Nelson – All Rights Reserved

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Kelleigh Nelson has been researching the Christian right and their connections to the left, the new age, and cults since 1975. Formerly an executive producer for three different national radio talk show hosts, she was adept at finding and scheduling a variety of wonderful guests for her radio hosts. She and her husband live in Knoxville, TN, and she has owned her own wholesale commercial bakery since 1990. Prior to moving to Tennessee, Kelleigh was marketing communications and advertising manager for a fortune 100 company in Ohio. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, she was a Goldwater girl with high school classmate, Hillary Rodham, in Park Ridge, Illinois. Kelleigh is well acquainted with Chicago politics and was working in downtown Chicago during the 1968 Democratic convention riots. Kelleigh is presently the secretary for Rocky Top Freedom Campaign, a strong freedom advocate group.

Website: www.rockytopfreedom.com

E-Mail: Proverbs133@bellsouth.net

TENNESSEE GOVERNOR HASLAM, WATER RIGHTS AND AGENDA 21 CORRUPTION

PART 3 of 7

By Kelleigh Nelson

July 13, 2012
NewsWithViews.com

Norfolk Southern Railroad announced in 2009 that it would build a $129 million intermodal rail yard terminal on 570 acres in newly annexed land in Rossville, which is in rural Fayette County. The map of the plan shows the site for the yard, which will include a rail spur from Norfolk Southern’s main line north of Tenn. 57 and an access road to U.S. 72 in Mississippi.

The original site chosen was known as the “Windyke” site because it is owned by the proprietors of Memphis’ Windyke Country Club and was slated for a golf course. Railroads have the power of eminent domain, thus this location could have been chosen despite being owned by the Country Club. Norfolk Southern could have put up to 2,000 trucks a day onto highway Tenn. 57. Several groups were against this site. The Wolf River Conservancy was worried about the effects a large intermodal yard would have on the Wolf River and the Memphis Sands aquifer, which is the source of public drinking water. Southern Fayette Alliance was another group formed by Buck Clark as a non-profit to keep the rail yard from being built on this site and polluting the Wolf River. This site was six miles east of Degan’s Wolf River Airport.

The City of Memphis was practically giving the railroad a site in the Frank C. Pidgeon Industrial Park on what is called President’s Island. It is literally on the Mississippi River, just South of the Hanrahan bridge. They would have had rail, riverboat, and trucking, but they just didn’t want to go into downtown Memphis.

Since William Adair had purchased his 3,000 acre farm and was planning to build his rural development of Piperton Hills on it, Buck Clark, from Wolf River Conservancy, and Southern Fayette Alliance, approached Adair about using some of Adair’s site for the rail yard. Buck had land adjacent to Adair’s property. Since Adair had a 3,000 acre ranch, he said he’d sell them the 300 to 600 acres they needed and make it adjacent to his Piperton Hills development. Then he’d get it rezoned so the rail yard would be in Rossville. What he did was buy farmland in the surrounding area. None of the Aldermen of the City of Rossville, population under 1,000, approved whatever Adair and Clark were going to do, but instead gave them carte blanche to do as they pleased with Norfolk Southern. When Norfolk Southern intimated they would use eminent domain to take some of Adair’s property, he wasn’t as cozy with them as he once was, but they have still remained in business together. Adair’s development company is doing the dirt moving work for the rail yard facility, moving over 3.4 million yards.

Intermodal freight transport involves the transportation of freight in anintermodal container or vehicle, using multiple modes of transportation(rail, ship, and truck), without any handling of the freight itself when changing modes from truck to rail, or from ship to rail, etc. Norfolk Southern’s rail yard will receive 4,000 to 5,000 trucks per day and deliver containers to be off-loaded on the trains for delivery. This intermodal will allegedly remove up to a million long-haul trucks from the road. That’s one million jobs being cut.

The Intermodal will serve as a key component of the railroad’s CrescentCorridor, a 2,500-mile, $2.5 billion public-private partnership rail network linking the southeastern and northeastern U.S. The $105 million terminal is a part of the railroad’s Crescent Corridor program of projects to establish a high-speed intermodal freight rail route linking the Gulf Coast and the Northeast. Anyone else find the name “Crescent” rather disturbing?

Sixty U.S. legislators endorsed the Crescent Corridor concept, including U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker of Tennessee and U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen of Memphis. Alexander and Corker have proven themselves to be on board with UN Agenda 21, along with Representative Cohen.

The railroad is planning to fund $31 million of the project’s $112 million price tag, and the state had requested $81.2 million in federal stimulus money under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009’sTransportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Program. Norfolk Southern received $105 million in federal stimulus money and will use half that money, or $52.5 million, for the facility. The other half will be used for an intermodal facility in Birmingham, Ala. I’m sick of trillions of tax dollars being given to private corporations under the guise of stimulus!

As for their green claim, residents are wondering how green it can be. Trees are being felled, ponds are being drained, streams are being bulldozed, and roads are being built over the area’s rolling hills in preparation for hundreds – and later thousands – of trucks coming in and out each day.

Governor Bill Haslam says, “I’m excited about the jobs this project will bring to Fayette County and Tennessee. My administration continues to focus on making Tennessee the No. 1 location in the Southeast for high-quality jobs, and this project is indicative of why one of our target industry clusters for job growth is transportation, logistics, and distribution.” Haslam tells Tennessee the intermodal’s projection for jobs by 2020 is 6,200, and by 2030 9,000 new jobs. What he doesn’t tell you is that 1.3 million truck drivers will lose their jobs. In reality, very few jobs are actually created at the Intermodal Facility, perhaps 15. The ancillary jobs might come from other corporate relocations there, which would inevitably mean additional stream mitigation.

The list of supporters of this intermodal system reads like a Who’s Who of UN Agenda 21 promoters all under the guise of going “green,” and saving the highways, fuel, interstate congestion, and of course fewer tons of CO2 released annually.

Adair and Norfolk Southern’s Intermodal Rail Yard

This story sounds like countless other stories we’ve heard about big government, the elite, and the trampling of the little guy’s rights, but it’s not, it’s way, way more. This story affects not only Woody Degan’s family airport, it affects every citizen in the State of Tennessee. This man and his brother are fighting for the God-given rights of every citizen in our state and perhaps the country. When the citizens of a state lose control of their water to the state government, all the rest of the dominos in the UN Agenda 21 program will fall. Here’s what happened in 2008 before the Waste Water Treatment Plant and Norfolk Southern Intermodal was started.

Ronnie Lee is a personal friend of the Degan family, and he’s also a real estate agent who works for William Adair. In 2008, Ronnie had talked to Woody and his brother Reg about buying the whole airport. However, the Degans never gave him a price because they didn’t want to sell. Shortly thereafter, Southwest Management of Phoenix, AZ sent a surveyor to snoop around the airport to look at the land, and ask about them selling some of the land off the end of the runway. Woody said no, that it would make the runway too short. What was happening is the developers were looking at putting the rail yard right smack next to the airport, while Adair and the City of Piperton were looking at putting the Waste Water Treatment Plant adjacent to the airport.

The first letter Woody received from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) stated they were going to impact one of his streams because they were doing some work upstream on a project and it would impact so much land and so forth. They stated the developer was going to participate in the Tennessee Stream Mitigation Program and that’s how the damages would be offset.

Several months later Woody received a letter from the Corps of Engineers that stated the same thing, except it was on another stream they were buying on the other side and they would be participating in the same program to offset damages.

Woody couldn’t understand why he was getting very similar letters on two different streams from two different agencies. The key here is that the Corps of Engineers is doing their books for them on the state level. They do their reports so they can keep it off the state books and this is to get around both the State Water Act and the federal Clean Water Act. There is no legislation that allows this, either at the federal or state level. It is done just so they can keep their developments going in spite of being illegal.

The letters were about the development of an intermodal rail yard by Norfolk Southern which is right across the street from Wolf River Airport. It is basically a hub for trains. They come in, reconfigure and go back out. Woody and his family are all for the rail yard and the corporations that will surround it as this will help his business, but he can’t operate if he’s a foot under water.
As mentioned above, the Windyck site was six miles east of the present location, but the opposition was so heavy because it was going to pollute the Wolf River Watershed being so close to the river. The runoff and drainage would go into the river and kill the fish. Exactly the same thing is happening now at the present site in Rossville in Fayette County, Tennessee. These two streams converge on Woody’s property, and the north end of Woody’s property abuts the Wolf River. The Rossville location is closer to the interstate, so they mitigated here. They also knew about Adair, who was already doing a development in the same area, and they bought the acreage from him.

There are federal stipulations or advisories from the FAA, the National Transportation Administration, the Corps of Engineers, the EPA, and they are all signatory to these “Memorandums of Agreement,” stating they will NOT DO exactly what they’re doing. So, not only are they getting around the federal Clean Water Act, they are doing things in close proximity to the airport that they shouldn’t be doing. The state wants this project for the jobs the ancillary businesses surrounding the intermodal will create. Everyone understands this. It is actually a perfect situation with an airport and an intermodal with surrounding supporting businesses.

However, this intermodal rail yard did not have to be near the Wolf River Airport. The City of Memphis was practically giving them a place called President’s Island. The infrastructure was there, the rails were there, the land was available, but they refused it. There is enough unoccupied building inventory around the country, that we shouldn’t even have to talk about mitigation.

There is now a stream outside of Woody’s building at the airport that is nine feet deep in pristine, white, hard-edged sand, which means that sand hasn’t been in the creek for long, and it is clean without other mixed dirt. This means that sand most likely came from underground, which also means the project hit an aquifer. This is a Memphis sand aquifer feeder so this project is potentially polluting the groundwater. An environmental assessment was paid for by the project itself, and done by the Irish company, American Engineering Consultants (AMEC). The assessment stated there is a 50/50 probability of breaching the aquifer and polluting it.

The developers were sent numerous letters of complaint by Woody and his brother and their representatives, and then the developers lied saying they’d never received them, until they had to produce them in state court. The entire cadre of state organizations has misrepresented facts and has lied all the way up to the Environment Conservation Committee in Nashville, TN. The developers and state organizations have lied from the beginning to where they are now.The project developers, Norfolk Southern, along with AMEC, and the former Attorney General, Paul Summers, of the State of Tennessee, came and sat in the airport office, at their request, and showed Woody and his brother maps. They knew there was an airport, and they knew the airport was federally numbered. When they produced their Environmental Assessment and all of their official TDEC paperwork, they left the airport completely out of any Environmental Assessment they did. In fact, they stated that all the downstream use for the land use was agricultural. The airport has been flooded twice. The plan is for 34 to 35 Corporations to locate around this project, so what’s going to happen when they start hard surfacing land that used to absorb runoff? The first flood caused the airport to lose computers, records, and filing cabinets that ended up turned over. The condition of the property, including the grass, was so damaged that it was back to square one to repair the loss.

  

They know Wolf River Airport has been flooded multiple times as a result of what they’ve done. They were in court arguing about not having an impact while Burlington Northern trains were stopped at the creek crossing, refusing to go across because they considered the water level too dangerous. The water was actually coming up over the rail tracks. An engineer for Burlington Northern, who shares tracks with Norfolk Southern, halted his train and refused to cross the stream bridge when the tracks were flooded. The cost of that delay came to approximately $1 million per hour.

 

Trucks and backhoes show up at the crossing, on the Airport’s private road, and Woody goes out to ask what they’re doing. They don’t want to tell Woody that they’ve put the rail on restriction because an engineer from Burlington refused to cross it. Norfolk Southern, AMEC and TDEC all say everything’s okay, but Burlington Northern who is not part of this conspiracy, says otherwise.

Part 4 will explain the impact on neighboring properties and the pollution of the aquifers that supply the area’s drinking water.

 

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Kelleigh Nelson has been researching the Christian right and their connections to the left, the new age, and cults since 1975. Formerly an executive producer for three different national radio talk show hosts, she was adept at finding and scheduling a variety of wonderful guests for her radio hosts. She and her husband live in Knoxville, TN, and she has owned her own wholesale commercial bakery since 1990. Prior to moving to Tennessee, Kelleigh was marketing communications and advertising manager for a fortune 100 company in Ohio. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, she was a Goldwater girl with high school classmate, Hillary Rodham, in Park Ridge, Illinois. Kelleigh is well acquainted with Chicago politics and was working in downtown Chicago during the 1968 Democratic convention riots. Kelleigh is presently the secretary for Rocky Top Freedom Campaign, a strong freedom advocate group.

Website: www.rockytopfreedom.com

E-Mail: Proverbs133@bellsouth.net

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TENNESSEE GOVERNOR HASLAM, WATER RIGHTS AND AGENDA 21 CORRUPTION

PART 2 of 7

By Kelleigh Nelson
July 8, 2012
NewsWithViews.com

Woody Degan and Wolf River Airport

Why is Woody Degan’s running for State Senate in District 32? The answer is because of the Tennessee corruption that is destroying private property and the water rights of the State’s citizens. Tennessee has a $56 million dollar bank account that is off the state books! It currently has $13 Million in the account! The money comes from the state selling our rights to the water and waterways of Tennessee. Governor Haslam’s bagman, Senator Mark Norris, attempted to legalize that process through SB2211, stripping the citizens of their water rights under Tennessee Law! Woody exposed it and defeated Sen. Norris’ AGENDA 21 legislation, and saved our water rights!

Who is Woody Degan? He’s a graduate of the University of Memphis with a B.A. degree in Marketing, Advertising and Corporate Communications. He is president and co-owner/manager of Wolf River Airport. He is certified in General Aviation Security through the Transportation Security Administration, Department of Homeland Security. He produces and engineers live concerts. He is a band leader, a lead vocalist, and has shared the stage with stars like Stevie Wonder, Chuck Berry, Ray Charles, Isaac Hayes, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Charlie Pride. Woody is also a groundskeeper and farmer and has 30 years of experience in special use Turf maintenance. The list goes on.

The Degan Family, Woody, his brother Reg, and his mother Mary, all ownWolf River Airport. The airport is east of Memphis about three miles into the next county, which is Fayette County. It was an old airport from the 1940′s. Woody’s father was a world renowned aviator. He was the guy who identified and located the Lost Squadron under the Greenland ice cap, which is actually a History Channel special.

Colonel Roy E. Degan, Jr. wanted a small place where youngsters could go to learn to fly and was outside of the control zone. He had three boys and decided he would build his own place, and so he joined with 10 other people and bought this old airstrip. They made a number of major improvements, including constructing buildings and hangars. They now house about 45 aircraft there. The airport is a general aviation airport and is federally numbered; 54M is the Wolf River Airport. It serves as the training place for the 101st airborne out of Ft. Campbell, Kentucky. They’re the copters that took SEAL Team 6 to get Osama Bin Laden and they also do training operations at the airport. Wolf River Airport also services domestic traffic, local traffic, and emergency helicopters.

Wolf River Airport has been flooded by the developers of a Waste Water Treatment Plant and the developers of the new Norfolk Southern Intermodal Rail Yard. The damage to two streams, as well as the land surrounding the airport, is horrendous. The Degans are fighting to keep their business and their property from being destroyed. When this happened, Woody and his brother did their due diligence on how the developer got their permits. Tennessee has some great water laws, and the federal Clean Water Act is very clear and thorough in addressing water situations. However, Woody and his brother learned these developers had essentially “bought” their permits, which is illegal and should be! To do what they’re doing with the streams that caused the Wolf River Airport flooding is certainly illegal.

This is the story of corruption, destruction of private property, pollution of waterways, failure to follow state and federal environmental laws, payoffs and monetary gains by the rich and powerful. It is the story of Woody Degan’s fight to expose what is ultimately UN Agenda 21 in the State of Tennessee. It is a story that is happening across the Nation. It is the story of the destruction of God-given and Constitutionally guaranteed rights for all citizens. It is a story that goes to the top politician in the state, Governor Haslam. It is a story that needs to be exposed.

The Cast of Characters

William Adair is a developer in Memphis, Tennessee. He owns William C Adair Development Co LLC, established in 2008 in Tennessee. His partner is Pierre DeWet, a Texas billionaire. DeWet is the developer of “The Heart of Tyler, Texas Main Street Program.” The Main Street website states, “The Texas Main Street Program, part of the Texas Historical Commission’s Community Heritage Development Division, helps Texas cities revitalize their historic downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts by utilizing preservation and economic development strategies. The program began in 1981 and is affiliated with the National Trust for Historic Preservation.” This is United Nations’ Agenda 21 Smart Growth.

William Adair started Direct General Insurance in 1991 and sold it for $685 million in 2007. He and his wife then moved back to Colliersville, TN. He decided to build a $100 million project in Piperton which would include homes, industry, charter schools, and retail stores. He paid $28 million for the 3,000 acres known as Twin Hill Ranch, most of which he plans to develop into a mixed-use subdivision called Piperton Hills. It would be patterned upon his business partner, Pierre DeWet’s “Heart of Tyler” program which is referred to as the “ideal city.” Besides the obvious comparison to Smart Growth cities promoted by the United Nations Agenda 21, I am reminded of the book, “The Ideal Communist City.” It was written in the 50s by six Soviets describing the ideal cities built in communist Russia that are exactly what the Smart Growth agenda is promoting in America today.

Adair is also responsible for the construction of the Piperton, Tennessee Waste Water Treatment Plant. He is spending $5 million of his own money for the Waste Water Plant as a gift to the City. He is also involved in the development of the Norfolk Southern rail yard intermodal. Adair actually sold the land for the intermodal to Norfolk Southern.

Mark Norris is Tennessee Senator Majority Leader, from District 32, and serves as Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee. He is a member of the Finance Ways and Means Committee, Ethics Committee, State and Local Governments Committee, and Energy and Environment Committee.
Norris is an attorney for Adams and Reese, LLC. He is a member of the Litigation Practice Group where he represents small businesses, health care providers and property owners, and he provides general counseling to individuals, charities, corporations and nonprofit organizations. Adams and Reese also specializes in representation of clients in the oil industry before all courts, governmental regulatory bodies and tribunals, as well as in alternate dispute resolutions, including arbitration and mediation. This plays an important role in this expose`.

Norris is also a member of the Council of State Governments’ Southern Legislative Conference. As a member of the delegation of presiding officers from The Council of State Governments’ Southern Legislative Conference, he recently traveled to China at the invitation of the Chinese government.
The goal of the China-US Exchange Foundation is to help Americans across many spectrums gain a deeper understanding of the environmental, economic, social and political developments in China.

The Southern Legislative Conference delegation was among the invited guests to the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. The delegation gathered several hours before the parade began at Tiananmen Square to witness the vast display of Chinese military power, including 52 weapons systems, 151 warplane flyovers, 12 intercontinental-range missiles, and a new missile, the Dongfeng 21-C, along with thousands of marching troops.

Norris is also the Chairman for the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR), which is the liberal, Rockefeller spawned southeast division of Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (ACIR). On April 21, 1935, the New York Times magazine published a plan in which the states would merge into new units calledFederal Regions, that would be controlled from Washington, DC. In 1959, Nelson Rockefeller called for an Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (ACIR), which became a federally-funded Rockefeller think-tank within Congress to prepare a working formula for the concept. Norris’s seemingly close relationship with Governor Haslam is not surprising inasmuch as TACIR is a proponent of Agenda 21′s Smart Growth. TACIR’s “Growth Policy,” which includes limitations on “urban sprawl,” makes it quite clear they’re a proponent of Agenda 21. Remember, Haslam allowed Smart Growth into Knoxville when he was the City Mayor, and Haslam refused to sign the non-binding Resolution against Agenda 21,–the first Resolution he’s refused to sign.

Mark Norris plays an integral part in this story. His closeness with the Governor has him carrying legislation the Governor wishes to see passed. One such piece of legislation was SB2211 which would have codified the unlawful activities with “In Lieu Fees” via the Tennessee Stream Mitigation Program.

Typically the Senate will let the bills run their course in the House before they act on them; this way the Senator has some cover. He doesn’t have to publicly take a stand on the issue. These bills are in what is called ” summer study” and can be brought up again as soon as session starts in January of 2013. Therefore, these bills must be watched closely.

Norris Campaign Donations

Governor Haslam recently appointed Samir Ali to the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (ECD). In the Governor’s Constituent Newsletter #21, he referenced Dr. Subhi Ali who is Samar’s father. Dr. Ali is past President of the Tennessee Medical Association (TMA). Rosine Ghawji states in her newsletter, that one likely explanation is “simple politics and cronyism.” The appointment has caused some intense backlash against the Governor for many reasons. Samar Ali’s background is of particular interest inasmuch as she will be International Director for the ECD under Commissioner Bill Hagerty. She served an internship for the Islamic International Arab Bank in Amman, Jordan. She was working as an associate at the international law firm Hogan Lovells where she specialized in advising clients on “Shariah-Compliant transactions.” Samir was a founding member of the first U.S. delegation to the World Islamic Economic Forum where key leaders declared Shariah Finance to be “dawa” (missionary) activity to promote Islam and Shariah.She was one of the 13 appointed fellows serving in the Obama White House. She was also a donor to Democrat Harold Ford, Jr.’s Tennessee campaign. Samar Ali donated to the 2008 Obama Victory Fund.

In 2004, Samir Ali’s father, Dr. Subhi Ali donated to several Democrats, one of whom is pro-Hamas/anti-Israel Cynthia McKinney, a staunch supporter of the Nation of Islam. Of special interest is a donation to McKinney of $2,000 from Abdurahman Alamoudi, former Director of the American Muslim Foundation, and al Qaeda’s top fundraiser in America. He is currently serving a 23 year prison sentence. [Link]

Other donations to Democrats included Lincoln Davis, Bob Clement, and former Tennessee Governor Bredesen. Of extreme interest is the fact that Dr. Ali has also donated to Senator Mark Norris. The Independent Medicine Pac (IMPACT) has also donated to Senator Mark Norris. The PAC is listed among the affiliates and partners of Dr. Ali’s Tennessee Medical Association (TMA). Dr. Ali’s other daughter, Yasmine Ali, M.D., is listed as a Board Member of the TMA.

One might also like to ask why Tennessee Republican State Senator Norris has donated to well-known Agenda 21 Senator, Lamar Alexander. Ali was recommended to the position by Will Alexander, the son of U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, who was promoted to chief of staff of the department in May. Hagerty and Haslam signed off on the appointment, which is an executive-level position.

The reality is, Woody found out what was going on in the state of Tennessee, why it was horribly askew, and why his representative, Mark Norris, wasn’t representing him or the Citizens of the State of Tennessee. People encouraged Woody to run against Senator Norris. It took him about 9 weeks to get used to the idea and when he did, he threw his hat in the ring. [Link] If we elect Woody Degan, these bills will never get the opportunity to see the light of day again.

Once Norris found out Woody was running against him, he hired a private detective to spy on Woody and the Wolf River Airport. Fortunately for Woody, the detective wasn’t as smart as Norris assumed. The bills for the detective’s time were sent to Woody’s Campaign Headquarters rather than to Mark Norris, so Woody had a head’s up on the fact that he was being followed and spied upon. Wonder how the detective was paid…

Representative David Hawk is a House member of the 103rd through 107th House Assemblies. He is a member of the House General Sub-Committee of Conservation and Environment and he is also the Chairman of the House Conservation and Environment Committee. Interestingly enough, Hawk is also involved with Main Street Greeneville, TN, the same program both William Adair and his partner Pierre DeWet have invested in with Piperton, TN and Tyler, Texas respectively. This is a Smart Growth project.

In Part 3, we’ll look at William Adair and Norfolk Southern’s intermodal rail yard.More importantly however, Representative Hawk carries legislation in the House for the Governor and especially in the House Conservation and Environment Committee where he hoped to pass HR2349 which would have codified the unlawful activities with “In Lieu Fees” via the Tennessee Stream Mitigation Program. Link to video Hawk tried to suspend the rules and push this bill forward. Thank God for a few good Democrats in the room who smelled a rat and put this bill under some serious scrutiny. Fortunately, this bill did not pass. However, the mounting pressure of his inability to deliver the bill back to Norris and the Governor so infuriated Representative Hawk that he apparently went home and physically abused his wife later that weekend. [Link]

Click here for part —–> 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,

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Kelleigh Nelson has been researching the Christian right and their connections to the left, the new age, and cults since 1975. Formerly an executive producer for three different national radio talk show hosts, she was adept at finding and scheduling a variety of wonderful guests for her radio hosts. She and her husband live in Knoxville, TN, and she has owned her own wholesale commercial bakery since 1990. Prior to moving to Tennessee, Kelleigh was marketing communications and advertising manager for a fortune 100 company in Ohio. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, she was a Goldwater girl with high school classmate, Hillary Rodham, in Park Ridge, Illinois. Kelleigh is well acquainted with Chicago politics and was working in downtown Chicago during the 1968 Democratic convention riots. Kelleigh is presently the secretary for Rocky Top Freedom Campaign, a strong freedom advocate group.

Website: www.rockytopfreedom.com

E-Mail: Proverbs133@bellsouth.net