IS IT TRUE May 1, 2015

1. The mayor said he spoke to Bosma privately as they walked down MLK Blvd. Said he pointed out to Bosma where the med school would go. Thinks they had a ‘good conversation’.

   Ineffective mayor, not a single positive accomplishment to point to. Too expensive to keep for a second term.

   • And now the rest of the story …………he is asking for another 1.8 million above budget . Council will vote on it May 11th. Spend,spend, spend there is no end.

     • There ought to be some revenue produced first. Will not happen, after all, the immediate surroundings are no return revenue dinosaurs anything built in or nearby the “menagerie of mistakes” is doomed to join the red inked “boulevard of broken dreams.”

       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_YF2mtpXQg

     • What does he want this for?

   • I highly approve of your attempt to shift the blame onto the Republican Winnecke. This is much better than we Giddyites having to explain why Rep. Riecken, herself a member of the legislature, failed completely to have any influence over this funding decision. It is true that in many states, some legislators of the opposition party are highly esteemed by the members of the majority for their integrity, conscientiousness, and judgment, and they have a great deal of influence despite their minority status. It is true that this is not the case with Rep. Riecken, who is viewed as an unserious, mindlessly partisan lightweight by members of both parties. I can hardly wait for her victory in November, and the mindlessly partisan revenge against the few Republicans in Evansville to start! They are sure going to squeal when we revoke their homestead exemptions!

     J. Coddington “Comrade Hugo” Fetlock IV
     Maximum co-coordinator
     Organizing for Idiocy
     Evansville Cell

   • What Mr. Winnecke has accomplished over spending during his first three years as the chief executive of our community in the tune of $27,000000. . . .streets in disrepair. . .intercity crime on the increase, Park facilities in need of considerable attention even after Mr. Weinzapfel handed him nearly $4,000,000 in cash for Parks & Rec and NOW as Jan 1st, 2015 in upside DOWN by $400,000. . .

     With Winnecke’s party literally controlling every aspect of Local, Regional and State Government and he simply con not convince his party to fully fund one of the most important projects this City has seen since Gov Orr was in office and who by the way brought to our City the Lloyd Expressway, USI, and I-164 working with a Dem Mayor and Republican control legislators. . . .

     In the final analysis, seemingly a nice enough guy but the facts are very clear: not well respected by his State Party Committee especially the Governor of Indiana. . . but nice to know Speaker Bosma can find his way to Evansville!!

     • Why would you not be surprised that Winnecke failed to give the two individuals most effective in making the IU Medical School reality, Dr Dan Adams and Dr. Steve Becker recognition. . . quick to gladly receive praise but nowhere to be found when unfortunate events and situations development. . . .leading from behind will be his epitaph. . . right along with Obama. . . .

2. Graduation rates are one thing. Graduating and getting a good job or passing State Testing is another. USI turns out some of the best nurses around here and they are all very good and pass their State Testing to become RN’s with a high rate of people taking the test and passing on the first time.

   Give me quality over quantity anytime. Sorry I had to stand up for USI as they do a great job. I’m sure that Ivy Tech and UE turn out good nurses as well. I’m not as familiar with their programs. I graduated from Purdue University and my wife graduated from UE and I helped her study for a Chemistry Class she was taking to get your BSN. Her daughter went to Purdue University and took Pharmacy. Now the Pre-Veterinary Students along with the Nursing and Pharmacy Students at Purdue University have to take Chemistry 109 and 110 their freshman year. I took that class and found that my step daughter was using the very same Chemistry book that I used back in 1970. The Chemistry book that my wife was reading at the time was nothing compared to the one that Purdue University used for their nurses. I’m just comparing the one text book but I found it surprising that the Nursing Students at UE were not as challenged in Chemistry as those from Purdue. That’s all I’m saying. My dad and some of my cousins also graduated from UE over the years and it’s a great small school. But in Chemistry Purdue Chemistry Course was a lot more challenging and harder. IMHO.

   • USI’s graduation rate is 40%.

     • Good. They weed a few out rather than handing out diplomas to anyone who signs up.

     • Is that the over all graduation rate then? 40% is pretty low. I do know that USI has recently raised their standards for admission into that University. IE you have to have better grades in High School before you can enroll at USI now. So that might help improve the graduation rates.

       Another thing. Part time students don’t always take classes in order to Graduate from USI. They may be attending other Major Universities like IU or Purdue and take a summer class out at USI to transfer those credits to the other University. I would hope that would not affect the USI so called Graduation Rates. I went to Purdue for four years and graduated with my BS Degree and also took a couple of courses out at USI and had them transferred to Purdue. The Physical Geology Class at USI was just as tough and educational as the Historical Geology Class that I took at Purdue University. Class sizes were the same and both the Professors were heads of the Universities Geology Department. I can remember the name of my Prof at USI but can’t remember the name of the Prof at Purdue. Both were great Professors that I enjoyed very much. And my Purdue Historical Geology Professor went out for beers with my friend and fellow classmate after our finals. We have a grand time the afternoon listening to him tell us stories. Both Mark, my friend, and I aced that class

       Purdue University is known for it’s Academic and has turned out some great graduates that walked on the Moon. Not many other Major Universities in the USA can say that about it’s program. 🙂 While it might be nice to win an NCAA Basketball Tournament that in no way compares to going to the moon and back. A moon walk takes the cake every single time! And USI professors that I had were top notch. Dr. Denner and Dr. Stenonus were top notch in their respective fields. Dr. Denner was responsible for getting more people from this area into IU Medical School than anyone else I know.

   • The first couple of years I went to UE my girlfriend was in the nursing program there. She turned out to be a fine nurse and wasn’t bad at it even before getting her degree. It was during that part of my life that my friends fairly said I would ‘get up at the crack of Dawn’ (8 a.m. classes would do that, ho ho ho).

     • Girlfriend’s name was Dawn . . . . .? What’s this about her crack .. . . ?

       • OK. You weren’t fooled or misdirected by the ‘8 a.m. class/disclaimer/cleanup attempt’.

     • The salacious objectification and commodification of women in your post sets a very poor public example of progressive behavior.

       J. Coddington “Comrade Hugo” Fetlock IV

       • Sorry Ace, I’m just trying to set a good example for our youth.

         • J.C./C.H. Is just a ridiculous aftermarket troll, so why even grace an answer, or response.

   • Moveon, it is mind boggling for us to believe that you graduated from Purdue (they proudly hired Mitch Daniels as President) given your anti-business pro-Obama liberal posts. IU Bloomington, yes. Wisconsin Madison, yes. Any Ivy League school, yes, Any private liberal arts college, yes. Cal Berkley, yes. Purdue West Lafayette, not possible. Hillsdale University, also not possible.

     • EAT IT JOE!

       • You may wonder if ol’ Joe is a member of the new chapter of “Focus on the Chicks” established by Sinister Schaefer as has been reported, allegedly of course. . . .

     • I find it ironic and silly that a boy of your caliber would choose “JoeBiden” as a screen name and then turn around and spew the garbage that you do in here on a daily basis. Does YOUR MOMMA know you are on the family computer again. She should move that thing from the basement back up to the Kitchen where she can keep a close eye on you. They have special schools for kids like you. Just saying Joe.

     • Mr. Vice-President, I am afraid that you are confused. Comrade Moveon is a proud graduate of the Left Wing and Thigh Department of the Perdue University of Poultry Studies. Its president is not Mitch Daniels, but Frank Sanders, a great-grandson of the Kentucky Colonel himself.

       • Site troll above.

         • I do dislike trolls–especially the ones who make long, rambling, illiterate posts in between six-packs that use a lot of faux-scientific weather jargon they regurgitate (badly) from the Weather Channel. They discredit the progressive movement. As I have often said, we need USEFUL idiots, not simply idiots for the sake of idiocy.

           J. Coddington “Comrade Hugo” Fetlock IV
           Maximum co-coordinator
           Organizing for Idiocy
           Evansville Cell

   • A few yrs back ue had a low board exam pass rate for rn’s and I heard was put on notice/probation by state board. So much for 50k a year education. Is this true?

3. Isn’t Ivy Tech run by Winney’s Predecessor, Weinzapfel a Dem? That explains it right there. Politics. IVY TECH is not of the right political persuasion to get money from the GOP controlled State Legislature and the GOP Governor. Pretty simple and yes that STINKS to high heaven. Hopefully the people affected by this decision will remember how the GOP Governor and GOP total controlled State Legislature (both house and senate are dominated by the GOP) denied them their funding to go and become a part of the Future of this part of the State of Indiana. They should have been included in the funding and the new Medical Center was short changed by the GOP this year. Hopefully when Pence gets defeated for Governor and the current GOP controlled State Legislature gets thrown out the Dems can step in and send some funds down to Southern IN and to IVY TECH especially.

   • And if we had a democrat governor and legislature and a republican mayor we would have ended up with nothing.

     • Spot on.

   • Tinfoil hat alert for Moveon. Shinny side out works best.

     • I prefer to wear my baseball cap. Thanks, but no thanks, Joe. You can keep and wear YOUR tin foil hat. I would not want to take your silly protective gear away from you in YOUR time of need!
       Have a nice day Joe.

       PS: You told me that last time that the rough surfaced side should be worn on the outside not the shinny side. That’s how I saw you wearing it yesterday and the day before that. You said that it disperses the NSA rays better that way. At least that’s what you said the last time we talked. But then again I never know for sure which way you are going to wear that hat. It’s different every time I see you in it.

4. Democrats protesting against out of control spending. That’s rich. You’ll notice that don’t do that where our federal government out of control spending is concerned. Those that do are labeled radical, wingnuts, teabaggers, and of course the liberal favorite, racists.

   • I agree we should be out protesting for a 35% cut in military spending, we’d still outpace the world in that department.

     • Mr. Obama has cut the spending for national defense. As a share of gross domestic product, a common measure of defense strength, spending has shrunk from 5% to just over 3% of GDP. At current rates, it will by 2016 fall below 3% — lowest since World War II.

       Oh how nice it would be to be so naïve as to believe we don’t need a strong defense.

       • Mr. Dittoes, we are not naive. We understand that severely weakening our defense is the best way to bring America down, expose ourselves to attacks, and help establish tyrannies throughout the world. It is true that it seems that many of those tyrannies will be of the Islamist kind, but we have a cunning plan to subvert those regimes by distributing copies of Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals and The Collected Speeches of President Barack Obama in them.

         J. Coddington “Comrade Hugo” Fetlock IV
         Maximum co-coordinator
         Organizing for Idiocy
         Evansville Cell

         • Great plan!

         • The troll has spoken again.

         • Ahhhh Yes we tried the old “Obama will destroy this country” meme but when that became patently false to even the dullest red stater, now the conners have moved to the Obama didn’t destroy the country be he will allow a third party to destroy this country, About as believable as the plot to “Moonraker”.

           Yes the RW would take food from a starving child’s mouth to give to Wall St. bankers or DOD Generals want every thingamajig attached to ever whatchamacallit no matter the cost.

           I’m sure you clowns think it’s great policy to build tanks and planes even the DOD doesn’t want and park them in the Arizona desert while 1/3 of our children live in poverty. Next we’ll hear that if the Pentagon doesn’t get their annual blank check ISIS thugs will come door to door raping the women and cutting the heads off the men, (eyeroll)

           Of course RW nutbags in this country will believe anything, like McConnell activating the Kentucky State Guard to make sure Jade Helm 15 (Obama) doesn’t take over all the coal mines to store uranium for Iran’s secret takeover of Texas.

         • It is a measure of the cunning behind our progressive plans after 50 years of massive social spending, income transfers, urban redevelopment, and trillions of dollars spent, far more than our military spending, that…THINGS ARE WORSE THAN EVER! The solution is more of the same. Especially more community organizers, party activists, and patronage hires. We need to continue to build the conditions for complete economic and social collapse so that the socialist dictatorship we long for can finally be installed. In order to win, we need to intensify our progressive policy failures! President Obama is showing us the way by conducting a master class in failure. And-to give credit where credit is certainly due-First Lady Michelle Obama is teaching the school children of America that they must eat the unappetizing swill the government places in front of them or go hungry. Children are never too young to learn the the necessity for blind, unquestioning obedience to government bureaucrats of progressive ideology.

           J. Coddington “Comrade Hugo” Fetlock IV

   • Please be advised that going forward the word ‘racist’ will be pronounced ‘rassis.’ Thank you.

5. Wonder if the ” Ivy Tech problems at State” are actually Weinzapfel problems ? Maybe the boys at State, and at IU, paid attention to the construction of the Arena ?

6. Here is an IBJ article about IVY Tech’s graduation rates. It is for all programs and not specific to nursing, but this is why the state is jaded on IVY Tech in general. A 2% on time graduation rate and 23% overall is not acceptable as a whole. That is the source of the state’s heartburn.

   http://www.ibj.com/articles/42095-ivy-tech-system-high-in-grads-low-in-graduation-rates

   • Off topic:
     http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/01/business/energy-environment/with-new-factory-tesla-ventures-into-solar-power-storage-for-home-and-business.html?hpw&rref=business&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0

     • Thanks Bandana. I would love to have one of these power walls!! I need to add more panels too but to do that I would have to cut down more trees. Vicious cycle. Appreciate the info.

   • I was a Telsa type electric car in front of me the other day on Bell Road in Newburgh, IN. Good looking car and it was fast too. But it looked better than the new Corvettes to me. It was black and the paint job was very shiny and pretty for a dark colored paint. The sun glistened off the surface of the car. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen one of those cars.

     The future is sunlight and the past is sunlight. In the near future we will be able to convert sunlight into electricity and store it in batteries. Also the sunlight will help split water molecules into Hydrogen and Oxygen gases which are then stored in tanks. These two gases when recombined in a fuel cell produce more electricity which is today being used to drive enemy submarines and some other larger vehicles. We use Fuel Cells in space today. Tomorrow they will be installed in your home and be used to make electricity to power your house and charge up your brand new Telsa fuel cell car while it’s parked in your garage. The future looks good if we can get there.

     • It is gratifying to know the advanced chemistry and physics textbooks you used at the Perdue University of Poultry Studies alerted you to the prospect of devices that convert sunlight to electricity. It is true that the first of these devices was invented in the 1800s and that the modern silicon solar cell has been around since the 1950s, but evil corporations have prevented the public from knowing about these discoveries. It is wonderful to see a fellow progressive breaking down the walls of this vast conspiracy!

       J. Coddington “Comrade Hugo” Fetlock IV

       • Troll 101

         • And isn’t he funny. I am thoroughly enjoying his posts and, with a self-appointed elitist calling him a troll, I know his witticism is hitting it’s mark.

           Bravo, Comrade Hugo, bravo!

         • Its the tea brewed from the sock puppets, and that’s pretty inglorious rhetoric, as is usually barfed onto the blog after the fact.

7. The City of Evansville’s

   Better or Worse than four years ago.

   Vote B or W
   and

   A) If better its more because of CC than Mayor
   B) If better its more because of Mayor than CC
   C) If worse its mostly the CC rather than the Mayor
   D) If worse its mostly the Mayor rather than the CC

   1) Budget/Finances

   2) Capital Projects Hotel / Med School / Arena / Zoo / Mesker etc

   3) Road and Bridges

   4) Water Delivery

   5) Snow removal/Response to Weather incidents

   6) Parks

   7) Swimming Pools

   8) Community Relations between Police and Citizens

   9) Government service response times, getting answers to questions, transparency etc

   10) Violent Crime

   Feel free to add your own category

   • Ohhh Geeez left the Sewers/CSO !

8. High graduation rates in cherry picked degrees.

   The fact that you DO NOT present the schools overall graduation rate (including nursing) tell us all we need to know. It obviously does not look good.

9. If I understand this correctly we would be moving the medical dept of IV Tech only to the IUMed School. The medical dept of IV Tech has a good overall grad rate and GPA yes? And if it could be improved, why not put it in a setting where improvement can happen. If IVTech (medical) is accepting inferior students, then by putting IVTech in the IUMed facility, that will weed them out and the product for the whole community will improve.

   It certainly can be argued that the GPA for many different health professionals has declined pretty drastically over the year. Over the whole range of medicine this is true. Go back 30-50 years and it is amazing to see the difference. But we live in a more complicated world of science and life in general. The definition of what makes a good doctor, nurse, etc has changed. I know that I do not want an uneducated or ignorant person caring for me but there is personality type that produces a better overall practitioner. The demands on health care professionals are tremendous and the need for their services is increasing minute by minute. I say Give IVTec a chance to grow to the challenge.

   • I started out in a community college to get two years of credits more economically, transferred to UE to finish a BS in engineering and then did graduate school at Stanford. I have a lived through it perspective from community college all the way to the #1 ranked mechanical engineering school in the world.

     Subject matter is subject matter no matter where you attend school. Calculus is calculus and chemistry is chemistry. The difference is in the overall student population. The real difference in these academic environments was the competition level. At the community college there were serious students with ambition but most were not. That meant that getting an A in a class did not take much work. At UE the competition was ratcheted up and getting an A was more difficult. At Stanford everyone who was there was a top performer somewhere meaning that getting an A meant being the best of the best.

     Every institution graded on a bell curve. I like athletic metaphors so here is the metaphor. Community College was like high school sports. You can be the star of your small school because the competition is just not very good. UE was exactly what college is expected to be with above average competition among the students. You had to be well prepared and work hard to excel. Stanford was like Olympic training. To excel you had to beat the best just like in any elite athletic event. That said, dropping a random group of community college students into the mix at Stanford would work about as well as entering a random group of high school runners into an Olympic final. Nearly all of them would be humiliated. Some would rise to the occasion, but most would get discouraged and quit.

     I see a potential for this in mixing the IVY Tech students in at a Medical School. Perhaps the top 10% after the first year should be sent there. UE and USI both have fully accredited nursing schools of excellence. I see no problem with that mix.

     • Joe, I respect your comments and agree with them for the most part. What I would say is this. If the Bottom 90% of IV Tech drop in the first year because they don’t want to wake up and start working, then they should be dropped. It is time to demand good performance from students in the health care field. I don’t feel that what I have said is wrong. Perhaps these students that are dropped are not in the right field for them. Perhaps they need to learn what commitment and work means. But they are adults now and need to make their own future. Meanwhile, IUMed will not be there to wait until they catch up or to babysit them. Also many of these students are part time because they are adults with other jobs, families etc so the mix may totally change.

       I have actually heard from a teacher (who happens to teach at USI) have students say to him after he made an assignment, “Do we really have to do this?”. Unbelievable! This is what my point was about students and people in general are different than in the past. Also, I will tell you that when Ted got in to IU Dental School in 1971 he got in as an alternate, the first alternate, but as an alternate none the less. A dentist was all he had ever wanted to be since second grade. We breathed a big sigh of relief !! This was during Vietnam if you will remember. Classes were always easy for him. He did not have to work — until he was scared into it by being an alternate. It is also interesting that at that time, you had to have a higher GPA to get into Vet school at Purdue than to get into dental school at IU — by a few points but still.

       What I hope is that by combining schools that this will make all of the caliber of classes equal so that excellence is there across the board. People whose health care depend on these grads deserve no less.

       • Equal on the highest level possible is what is needed. Raise the performance up by consolidation. I am tired of seeing things dumbed down to the lowest common denominator just so someone doesn’t get their feelings hurt. These students will be entrusted with people’s lives. They need to be tested at the highest levels before being sent forth into the world to cure the masses.

         • Absolutely!! You said in a nutshell what I was trying to say with my rambling.
           Thanks Joe. My Dad always thought a B grade stood for Below average. Bless him. He was kind but did not coddle. Dumbing things down helps no one least of all the student.

         • Ivy Tech Students are just as worthy as the BA, BA, MS, PA MD, & PhD students. All of them being mixed together , as the consortium building is designed to do, will allow them all to share gravitas…and realize the TEAM’S worth and thus learn to give great medical care.

         • Absolutely Dan. We need all the brain power we can get and should help kids that are really trying to meet their potential. Expecting excellence from all will be the norm. What an exciting concept!

         • Joe: I took my last EMT class out at USI. Sherman Greer taught the class. He coddled his students and even gave them the test answers before the test. Just to get them to graduate from his class. I guess he figured he was doing good. I taught swimming and lifeguards and had friends that did the same thing to their students. Some of them I would not trust to save my life if I were swimming in their pools or lakes with them on guard duty. Half of them could not even swim a mile if they had to. Most didn’t belong in the Lifeguarding classes and should have been back in regular swimming classes to learn proper stroke technique and to build up their strength and endurance for themselves. But my good friend felt sorry for them and was a nice guy and passed them all after some remediation training in proper swimming techniques. That should have been taught in the pre-requesit classes. Life guarding is a tought and some times dangerous job and one better be able to swim and defend themselves in the water when they are grabbed by a drowning victim who’s only thought is to keep his/her head above the water. And if that means climbing up on the approaching lifeguards head they will do that and drown your ass if you don’t know what to do. So time in class is precious and the Water Safety Instructors (WSI)don’t need to be taking time to teach swimming techniques. They need to be teaching blocking and escape techniques and proper carrying techniques.

           So therefore I agree that we challenge the students more and make them better. But some students don’t belong in the medical field. Not everyone is qualified or cut out to be a doctor. We need more doctors but we should not lower the standard to do that. We should find more students who are capable of rising to the top instead.

   • I see your point Martha. Those that are in need of better education are the first to get their funding cut. It should be the other way around. To me this is basically class warfare again. Those poor students generally are not what you would call Rick and or Wealthy. Most are working full time now and trying to got to school to better themselves. They are relatively poor and have menial jobs that don’t pay much. Which is why they have to work so hard and are tired. Then they have to go to school for a long time because they can’t afford to stop working and go to school full time. They take a few courses when they have time after work.

     Those with the big money are inherently smarter and have more leisure time. But they get all the funding (Signature School or Charter Schools). Most of the kids in the Charter schools are supposed to be gifted I guess. I bet that over all those that get cherry picked to go to the Signature Charter School have families that are better off than most. Not all but most are in that catageoy.

     But my point is that we should spend more on the poor familys to bring them up to snuff so to speak. They are the ones that need more help not less. Those that have money can always pay to go to a Private School. They can better afford to go to a Private School. Why should the tax payers help fund the rich and not the poor. That’s ass backwards but guess who controls things??? Rich do. And they make sure that the get their way always. “Let the rest of them eat cake”, they say.

     • But. . .few will be eating caviar. . . FOW’s (Friends of Winnecke). . . .

10. Martha, the grades should mean:

    A: Acceptable for now but don’t get the big head because there are plenty of people out there as smart as you.

    B: Below your capacity. Didn’t try very hard did you?

    C: Cause for getting grounded

    D: Dumb

    F: Failure

    In today’s politically correct world, performance can’t be used as a criteria for grading. And then they hit the real world and learn that performance does matter, unless of course they get a job that is protected from performance reviews.

    • Joe
      It takes good parenting and a special kind of love to instill in a young person the will to set their own high standards for themselves. To help a child learn what he is capable of is an art that many parents have not mastered. It is a fine balance that is hard to reach. We have to find it in our schools early on and we must require it in our universities.

      • They don’t teach parenting in schools unfortunately! Do they teach that in the Religious schools? We become parents but have to learn on our own how to be good parents I guess.

        • Moveon,
          In a good parenting void, one hopes that a wonderful adult in the child’s life steps up. A teacher, a relative, a minister or anyone would work. Actually when I wrote the above that you were referring to, I did not think of economic aspects of the problem although they are plainly factors. They would certainly be reflected on the choice of schools for the less monied vs the wealthy. But my statement is still valid. We want the best, brightest, and most talented to enter the field of medicine in all its genres. Health care is not for everyone. My hope for everyone is that they find their passion and achieve in that field. (Don’t laugh!!) Find what you love and the money will take care of itself. I know this because @ 66 I just figured out what I want to do when I grow up. Many sidetracks, many years spent helping others, hours and hours of dreaming and searching to find the right fit. All worth it. It’s all good.

11. DID YOU KNOW THAT YOU CAN VOTE TOMORROW ON SATURDAY?
    THREE PLACES ARE OPEN:
    1. THE CIVIC CENTER – ROOM 214
    2. NORTH EAST BAPTIST CHURCH
    3. THE NORTH SIDE SALVATION ARMY

12. We can only pray and hope that concerned citizens take note this June of Winnecke’s wild-eyed spending habits and pressure this Council to STOP drinking the Kool-Aid with Santa Lloyd obviously guided by Christmas Carol and his Elf a/k/a Kelley Coures. . . FOUR MORE YEARS OF THIS NONSENSE AND WE WILL BE REFERRED TO AS DETROITVILLE ON THE OHIO!!!

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