Lebanon wants its money

Lebanon wants its money
Dell has shifted hundreds of jobs to Nashville from a plant in Lebanon, angering city officials who are now contemplating a lawsuit for breach of contract, according to the Austin American-Statesman.

Back in 2000, Lebanon and Wilson County each agreed to a 40-year property tax break on the condition that the computer manufacturer provide 1,000 local jobs. Dell is estimated to have saved millions with this generous bit of corporate welfare.

City and county officials now believe the Round Rock, Texas, company may have broken a written and verbal agreement by shifting hundreds of jobs to the plant in Nashville, leaving the Lebanon facility with an estimated 500 workers. The message from city hall and the county is clear: Return the workers to the Lebanon facility or refund the tax breaks.Dell, like many large corporations, has been trimming its workforce, cutting nearly 10,000 jobs during the fiscal year ending in January. Brantley Hargrove

Hands off our guns, ATF
Senate Judiciary Committee chair Mae Beavers appeared on Fox's Glenn Beck show to proudly discuss her latest piece of statesmanlike legislation: The Tennessee Firearms Freedom Act. Damn right! This bill, modeled after a Montana law, exempts guns made in Tennessee from federal firearms regulations.

All we have to do is stamp "Made in Tennessee" on our weaponry and—bam!—the feds lose all jurisdiction. Simple as that. Let Pith say here and now that it's about time. The Senate voted 21-7 this week to join the House in adopting this bill, and it's on its way to the governor now for his signature. Here's Beavers:

"Be it the federal government mandating changes in order for states to receive federal funds or the federal government telling us how to regulate commerce contained completely within this state—enough is enough. Our founders fought too hard to ensure states' sovereignty, and I am sick and tired of activist federal officials and judges sticking their noses where they don't belong."

Certain liberal senators had a little problem, namely that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has no intention of recognizing this new state law. That means if our citizens obey it, ATF agents in blue windbreakers one day will break down their doors and take them away to jail. Luckily, Beavers and her conservative colleagues don't care about that. Leave it to Sen. Jim Kyle to throw a wet blanket over the celebration for passage of this wonderful bill:

"This is another one of a series of bills brought to us by firearms industry and firearms advocates. At a time when we struggle to find money to care for the mentally retarded and mentally ill, we continue to spend time on these kinds of issues." Jeff Woods

Playing the slavery card
Congressman Steve Cohen of Memphis, arguably Tennessee's only liberal Democrat, is taking a page from his more grandstanding colleagues in the House: If you want to get noticed, raise hell about something to do with sports.

Cohen has written to NBA Commissioner David Stern expressing "deep concern" over the league's minimum age requirement, which bars players under age 19 who aren't at least a year removed from high school. In the good congressman's words, "It's a vestige of slavery." He argues that the rule predominantly impedes black kids, while whiter sports like hockey and baseball allow kids to go pro at age 18.

It's a nice theory—and smart politics for a man who represents a largely black district. But what he forgets is that the rule is part of a negotiated contract with a largely black union. And the union didn't agree to the deal because it was really into last vestiges of slavery. It did so for the greater good of the largely black athletes who play basketball.

Prior to the rule, NBA teams were loading up on raw, fresh-from-high-school talent that wasn't quite ready for prime time. Due to limited seating, that meant older, more useful players—possibly with wives, kids and mortgages—were forced to discover the exciting field of real estate. So the union naturally agreed to safeguard older players who'd earned their bones.

After all, it's not like the young guys would suffer.

Their form of slavery: Spend a year in college, bask in the adoration of loving fans, have someone else take their tests, and receive no-show jobs and under-the-table Chevy Tahoes from boosters with sweater vests and alarming comb-overs.

If this constituted slavery back in the old days, we're guessing there never would have been a civil war. Pete Kotz