Day: April 23, 2017

Letter to the Editor: Governor Tim Burchett?

Tennessee Star Staff
Burchett

  Dear Tennessee Star, With Dr. Mark Green’s nomination to be the next Secretary of the Army it has left many in the state desperately trying to find a true conservative candidate they can support in next years gubernatorial race. There is one person that all conservatives can support, that person is Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett, if he decides to throw his hat in the race. ● Why Burchett? As mayor he’s proven himself to be a fiscal conservative. Burchett isn’t afraid to stand up to anyone in his fight for limited government, even special interest groups that are influential at the local level. During one of his ‘budget fights’ with the schools he had this to say, “I want to very respectfully say that it is easy to claim that more money will solve our problems, but we need only to look to Washington, D.C., though, to see that this is simply not true.” When the big government folks on the School Board wanted more money which would have resulted in a tax increase he pledged to veto any measure to raise taxes. Gubernatorial candidate Randy Boyd even testified before the Knox County Commission in support of the massive…

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Pence Optimism About Islam And Indonesia Misplaced

Tennessee Star Staff
Mike Pence

  by George Rasley, ConservativeHQ.com Editor During Vice President Mike Pence’s recent visit to Indonesia he praised Indonesia for its “tradition of modern Islam.” We wish that the Vice President’s remarks reflected reality, but our experience living and working in Indonesia tells us that the Vice President’s optimism that a secular Indonesia will serve as a bulwark against Islamism spreading through Southeast Asia is misplaced and based more on wishful thinking by American Pence in Indonesia policymakers than it is on fact and history. When the Dutch arrived as colonial conquers, Islam was already firmly established in Sumatra and a Muslim dynasty had just completed the conquest of the Hindu kingdoms of Java, the largest and most populous island in the Indonesian archipelago of some 17,508 islands, of which 922 are permanently inhabited. The colonial wars that followed slowed, but did not stop the advance of Islam through the islands, which were not a united country, but a series of local fiefdoms and tribal societies. The Dutch made desultory attempts to Christianize Indonesia with missionaries succeeding to convert the majority on some islands, such as Ambon. The Dutch made use of the Ambonese as policemen and advanced other Christian Indonesians in…

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Metro Nashville School Nurses Receive No Formal Training On Female Genital Mutilation

Wendy Wilson
Tennessee Star

Metro Nashville school nurses have not received formal training on how to spot potential cases of female genital mutilation despite state lawmakers drawing attention to FGM with legislation in 2012. The 2012 law requires health care providers to report injuries related to FGM, a brutal practice in parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia that has been brought into the West through immigration. In the U.S., Tennessee is ranked 18th in state rankings for potential risk for women and girls, according to the Population Reference Bureau. The Tennessee Star has found that state and local agencies have not established clear guidelines and procedures for building awareness and documenting FGM cases to comply with the spirit and intent of the 2012 reporting law, which was passed to support state legislation in 1996 making FGM performed on a minor a felony. School nurses in Metro Nashville Public Schools are required to take an annual training course on reporting child abuse but it makes no mention of FGM. The Metro Nashville school district has refugee and immigrant students from Somalia and other parts of the world where FGM is practiced. “The annual course does not cover FGM specifically,” said Brian Todd, a spokesman for…

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Faith: Verse of the Day for Sunday, April 23

Dana Hunsinger Gill
Tennessee Star - Verse of the Day

  VERSE OF THE DAY Be blessed and be a blessing April 23, Sunday Romans 7:6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. 2 Corinthians 7:16 I rejoice, because I have perfect confidence in you. 2 Timothy 1:7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

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