IS IT TRUE November 10, 2014

1. I don’t know how anyone could claim dockside gambling, which will lead to expansion of it, is some kind of vision when even Atlantic City is losing their ass and then some on casinos. Granted their problem is mostly due to the fact that northern Jersey by NYC is taking their business but clear indications all around are that casinos have gone from a destination market to a convenience market. Although Evansville was never a destination to begin with, most people are finding a casino closer to their home anyways.

   Of course, this “vision” rhetoric is only coming out because Tropicana has a lot of money and power- both of which dictate Winnecke’s decisions before logic.

   The Evansville Wharf idea looks nothing short of amazing (although a ballpark has to be in future plans), but relying on casinos is shaky at best. Not to mention, all the ills of gambling like addiction are being swept under the lime light. And that’s on top of the fact that Evansville seems dumb enough to risk losing its boat- one of the main things in this city’s marketing photo.

   And don’t even get me started on this water meter situation. Smart meters, whether electrical or water, ARE the future, they ARE the best plan going forward, and they WILL allow someone to control their energy, control their energy prices, AND even control what kind of energy they want from what part of the country (or even world) in the future. People might as well accept that. However, making land owners pay thousands of dollars for pipes is way out of line. That’s too big of a bill for most residents in the city to fund, even if payments were set up. Use your head Evansville Water Dept!

   • If ‘smart ***** is the future, When will smart-politicians be available. The models now seems connected at the hip to their contributors to get elected and their political party only!

     • Evansville Transparency sports a typical local “model”

       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgYGQxMDdNw

       • This is great work from ET, and the content is bang-on!

   • The Mayor is apparently confused about the difference in being “visionary” and delusional. Land-based gaming is NOT “visionary” and neither is he. He’s delusional when he plans for his “transformational” dog park, dorms for IUMS students in a vibrant downtown, and many other luxuries. I don’t think your Wharf and baseball park are in the cards, either, Jordan.
     The reality is that land-based gaming may possibly keep Evansville’s revenue in striking distance of being able to pay its bills, if the budget is kept tightly in check.

     • The Wharf is most definitely in the works. It all likelihood it’s Tropicana’s dockside gambling plan. It’s in the 2040 plan and VPS has already drawn up the renderings. A marina will accompany it which would fit in perfect with a canal and park at 4th and the Lloyd..

       Still not complete w/o a ballpark. That lot’s the city’s last chance to build a ballpark that would easily be the best in all of MiLB. Canoes and kayaks on the Ohio and in the marina down the right field line, small ballpark village and skyline down left field. Nothing beats that.

       • If all this happens on the Tropicana’s dime, I’m thrilled. Why is it that I’m not surprised that renderings for twenty-six years in the future are already drawn up?

         • The project itself is not for 2040. The goal is to have the entire plan completed by then. That’s a reasonable time frame. Contrary to the cco’s opinion, the 2001 plan for downtown is still very much within its active window.

           The wharf is probably all tropicana proposed but the marina may be a city initiative. I am fine with that. That is proper urban city building for the 21st century.

           Still though, a minor league ballpark brings in 1,000-1,500 hotel nights a year. Tropicana and the city must take that into account when building this wharf.

2. Party swings are common in our government. our last one was 6-8 years ago for congress. One needs to look at the congressional political stats for that 12 year time frame right after the Great War and Woodrow Wilson. Time period had a hands off approach to business regulation, stocks were at inflated record high, then BOOM in “29”.
   I mention this because there seems a big push for “hands off” again towards business, and with the record high stock market when are importing instead of producing.

   • Thought I better add this for those who has that follows that AM radio political blabbering mentality.
     08 elections gave that majority to the “O bama” Democrats that led to those hated phones and health care!

     “Now back to reality”! It makes bad government when “either party” has outright control at any level of government!

     • Armstrongs. Which political party has complete control of our federal government now?

       • Reread my post. When either party has complete control…………. Reminder not to get to giddy about the political swings!

3. This new repair policy is as huge change from past practices. In the past if while changing your meter the employee broke your pipes the water dept made the repairs. If the employee found bad pipes he would inform supervisor. The supervisor then would go inspect the pipes if he agreed the home owner was then notified. At no point if there was no leak was the water shut off. Where the responsibility lies for fixing pipes that are not broke till someone messes with them is the question. Also the proper way to install a water meter is with two pipe wrenches so equal pressure can be applied. If only one wrench is used all the force is on the customers side. This is what is causing the breaks. I do not believe Mr. Duckworth an Mr. Mounts should be allowed to make this policy change on there own. I do not believe the homeowner should be on the hook for bad plumbing practices..

   • I agree 100%. I’d ad that the guy’s making the repairs should be bonded and able to pay for any damages that they do to the meters or pipes coming and going into the meters. That would help to ensure that they are more careful while doing the new meter installation. They break it then they own it and pay for the damage. Anyone not using two opposing pipe wrenches is a fool and needs to be retrained or fired.

   • It is not enough to put a new meter back into a crappy old enclosure that is likely to fail and damage the new meter. They should be changing out all the substandard meter housings as they come to them.

     http://www.oldcastleprecast.com/plants/Enclosures/catalogs/Documents/B-WA-200%2012pg%20WaterProducts.pdf

     It makes the repair of the connections going to the new meter a lot easier and faster.

4. Will the meter repairs matter be discussed at the City Council meeting tonight ?

   I want to join the large number of attendees who are pissed off and carrying pipe wrenches and a scowl.

   Maybe bring some of that ‘pipe dope’ that plumbers used for a tight seal, but give it to the EWS brass as a symbolic gesture ??

5. “how President Obama can remain oblivious to the depth of the defeat is just mind boggling?”

   Read Ken Blackwell’s thoughts;

   “Remember,” said Ronald Reagan, “we have opponents; we don’t have enemies.”

   That’s why President Reagan was so successful in gaining the respect and affection of the American people. Even people who did not like his policies liked him.

   President Obama’s troubles in office stem in no small part from is willingness to treat American opponents as enemies. (He treats America’s true enemies as friends, but that’s another matter.)

   The readout from Election Day is that Mr. Obama’s Democrats suffered “a massacre.”

   That word from Britain’s prestigious Economist is being used even as Christians and Muslims in Syria and Iraq are suffering genuine massacres at the hands of ISIS.

   Still, we can soberly describe the Mid-term Elections as a rout, as a massive rejection of President Obama’s policies, if not the president himself. He had told voters that his policies — “every one of them” — would be on the ballot this November. He also told voters that the endangered Democratic incumbents “vote with me.” As a result of Tuesday’s massive rejection, those folks will vote with him no longer.

   The popular analysis of all this is not that President Obama is “irrelevant.” Alaska’s Mark Begich tried to save his seat by that absurd description of the Chief Executive. It didn’t work. But there is a growing consensus — especially among conservatives– that Mr. Obama is “incompetent.”

   But what if President Obama is, instead, intentional? He has said it again and again. He told interviewers he would rather be “a consequential one termer” than an inconsequential two-term president. He was echoing his previous remarks during the 2008 campaign when he paid a left-handed compliment to Ronald Reagan. He said then that the 40th president had “changed the trajectory of the country” in ways that Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton had not.

   We should take Barack Obama at his word. He said he wanted to “fundamentally transform this nation.” He pledged in his 2009 Inaugural Address “to remake America.”

   Let’s remember the bitter joke of Communist playwright Berthold Brecht. When it appeared clear the workers of East Germany were rejecting their Marxist proletarian paradise, Brecht said the party bosses would simply have to “elect a new people.”

   This is what, in all seriousness, Barack Obama is doing. He is planning to go ahead with an executive order to make millions of new Americans of the illegal aliens currently residing here. He will probably stiff-arm Congress and act in defiance of the Constitution and the laws. He will probably nominate a new attorney general — and press a lame-duck Senate to ram through the confirmation vote.

   • Same old same “O” GOP rhetoric. Obama was not running for any political office this last election. Most people stayed home and they don’t hate anyone and just didn’t want to participate in the election. For the GOP to claim a mandate when hardly anyone actually voted is silly. Come 2016 the pendulum will swing back the other way.

     • moveon- did you vote? I did.

       • yea I voted. But I’m not sure if they counted the votes. Are you?

     • Actually, you rpost is the new democrat denial rhetoric. So if there was a larger turn out the results would be different? If your base did not turn out, then what is your base telling you?

       • 2008 and 2012. The voters turned out and voted. You do remember the results as I sure do. It was not a mistake to elect the first black president of the USA two times in a row.

         This past election the number of voters was the lowest in history from what I’ve heard. That’s hardly a mandate IMHO.

         • Mandates are in the eye of the beholder. Obama claimed a mandate in both elections with 54% and 58% of the vote with 1/3 not voting. McConnell is claiming one now on the basis of the congressional gains. In truth if there was a mandate at all it was for change which Obama couldn’t deliver with any efficiency. McConnell now has the job of changing the changes. All three elections prove that the American electorate are a bunch of self serving morons. Dummies put Obama into office and dummies have clipped his wings. He will sit idly in a golf cart for the next two years. The fool still thinks he has a mandate for his agenda though. That is clearly not true.

   • Well said, country. The big question is whether Republicans can, or will, withstand the withering assault coming their as they attempt to return sanity to Washington. I, for one, am not optimistic.
     Amnesty for illegal aliens should be their “line in the sand”. Implementation of such an amnesty is truly insanity, and is the death knell for the U.S. as a sovereign nation.

     • Time will tell on the withering assault,,,,they will certainly have their work cut out for them especially with this radical POTUS.

       Check out one of the nominated AG’s positions;

       http://dailycaller.com/2014/11/09/obama-attorney-general-pick-voter-id-laws-are-about-taking-back-what-dr-king-won/

       • You’re probably not interested in reality, but here is some concerning this “radical president”.

         kikimosleyimmigrationlaw.wordpress.com/2014/08/19/…

         Did you screech about the radicalism of your political god, Ronald Reagan, when he spoke out in favor of amnesty. POTUS isn’t THAT radical.

         • Sorry the link didn’t work, but if you want to see what is real, just search that article and avoid the dolt, Tucker Carlson.

6. If you read between the lines of the water department’s justification for spending such a large amount on meters, It’s a reasonable conclusion that your water bills are going UP.

7. In every case of these meters is a set of instructions for installing these meters. Since Mr. Duckworth has not had a lot of experience in this dept. I would suggest he get a copy an go visit the job site to make sure the company is following the manufactures an AWWA standards. Before you blame the customer make sure your people are doing there job properly. I have seen no evidence of this so far.

   • That would cut too severely into Mr. Duckworth’s quality time spent at IHOP and Denny’s.

   • Duckworth doesn’t know anything about it. He will look at it and say Oh ,that is a hole in the ground !! How in hell did he get that job?????????

8. 10 November 2014

   A MESSAGE FROM THE COMMANDANT OF THE MARINE CORPS

   In his birthday greeting 70 years ago, General Alexander Vandegrift, our 18th Commandant noted that, “A Birthday is a fitting time to peer backward – and forward.” That year, Marines reflected on an extraordinary year in combat during their amphibious drive across the Pacific. Despite the challenges and the horrific conditions, Marines prevailed at Guam, Saipan, and Peleliu. On 10 November 1944, Marines looked back with pride on their accomplishment – confident in their ability to meet future challenges.

   In 2004, 20,000 Marines deployed to Al Anbar Province, Iraq – many Marines celebrated the birthday in places like Fallujah, Ramadi, and Al Qaim while decisively engaged in combat. That year, Marines also responded to crisis in the Pacific following a tsunami which claimed the lives of more than 200,000 people. On 10 November 2004, Marines looked back with pride on their accomplishments – confident in their ability to meet future challenges.

   As we celebrate our 239th birthday, Marines are in combat in Afghanistan. Since we last gathered to celebrate our Corps’ birthday, we also responded to crises in the Philippines, South Sudan, Libya, and Iraq.

   Some things change. This year found us in different climes and places than our predecessors in 1944 and 2004. We have adapted our organization, training, and equipment to the ever-changing operating environment. Some things remain the same. Marines attacked this year’s challenges with the same courage, commitment, loyalty, self-sacrifice, and adaptability as their predecessors in Peleliu and Fallujah. For that reason, on 10 November 2014, we Marines can look back with pride on our accomplishments- confident in our ability to meet future challenges.

   Happy birthday USMC.

   • Happy Birthday..Semper Fidelis.

9. ……..EXCELLENT article in this morning’s Courier & Press on what happens when the dog (the GOP) catches the car (capturing both Houses of Congress).
   ……………………..
   “Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann are political scientists who actually know politicians, consultants and hacks. Based at the American Enterprise Institute and the Bookings Institution, respectively, they have served as the semi-official Professors of Government in Washington for a long time. A few years ago they published a sober account of federal sclerosis, “It’s Even Worse Than It Looks,” that became a national best seller, quite against the odds.

   But their book didn’t make quite the splash in Washington – on the Sunday talk shows, for example – that you might have thought. I suspect the reason for that is that Mann and Ornstein broke the rules people like Mann and Ornstein are supposed to play by – they said Republicans were more to blame for toxic partisanship than Democrats. You see, there are two categories of talking heads in Washington – ideologues and experts. Experts are supposed to be neutral between the two parties.

   This week, they’ve published a clear and shrewd analysis of the thermodynamics of the GOP Congress that undermines hopes of a Great Ungridlock.

   “So what happens when a party that has defined itself as an insurgent outlier, scornful of compromise and dismissive of the legitimacy of its opposition, actually takes charge in Washington?” they ask.

   Hint: “The pragmatic desire of mainstream Republicans to transcend their ‘party of no’ label and show that they can actually govern will clash with the forces that continue to pull the GOP to the right and oppose anything the president does. This fight within the party will define the new Congress nearly as much as the battles with a Democratic president.”
   ……………….

   • I have met my gridlock, and my gridlock has a name, Harry Reid.

     • ……I-E’s comment……is EXACTLY what the article was about. The GOP is going to be tested to see if the gridlock was Harry Reid…..or not.

       It may turn out the gridlock is over. But there are many Tea Party extremists who may have the curtain pulled up on them and exposed as “wearing no clothes.” If not, it indeed was Harry Reid, I guess.

       • The real question will be if Obama is exposed as the one causing gridlock now that Reid can’t shield him.

   • Shem. Garbage article by two political hacks who call themselves scientists. Reasonable people, after sustaining such devastating losses, would at least examine what they themselves have been saying and why voters aren’t buying it anymore. Not Democrats. Their answer, as always, is to insult those who chose to inform themselves and vote.

     • ….chalk one up. Commonsense thinks it’s a garbage article….because…. Well, he doesn’t say. Chalk one up for “Proud member of NO” (And WHO does Commonsense think is the actual scientist? An obese, four-times married but no children drug addict with a radio show.)

   • I read that book, ‘It’s Even Worse Than It Looks’ when it came out. Those guys are pretty even-handed and people should pay attention to what they say, but they generally won’t.

     From E.J. Dionne’s blurb on the back cover, “The phrase ‘essential reading’ does not begin to get at the importance of this passionate warning by two of our very best political scientists about our nation’s capacity to govern itself. It is absolutely vital that this book’s findings and message enter the consciousness and consciences of journalists, politicians, and citizens who care about the future of our republic.”

     On a micro scale we need look no further than our inept, teensy little accidental mayor who sports a political tin ear and a camera-seeking gold shovel. The flap over the hard-bitten letter sent to some (captive) water ‘customers’ is a case in point. He will have someone else taking the blame for it, likely before the sun goes down today. The letter is so bad on so many levels that he might have wrote it himself. Watching something like Winnecke operate, or flap his arms like a barnyard chicken, can easily make voters think … why bother? Maybe that’s his plan.

   • I think the big obstruction in Congress for the next two years will be between the loonies like Cruz and McConnell. Mitch should have thought about what he wished for.

     If the Republicans are bargaining in good faith on immigration, they would pass the bill through the House that has already been passed by the Senate.

     • You know what, I sort of agree with you. I have not read the Senate bill but suspect that it has some parts that play to the lunatic fringe. What the House should do promptly is to alter that bill to something that is acceptable to the American people, pass it, and send it right back to the Harry Reid lead senate. We need immigration reform, but we don’t need and our population will not accept open borders. Obama seems in a mad rush to cram this down our throats and that is enough reason to subject it to scrutiny. I hope to God they read it before they pass it. We have been down that dumb ass road before.

       • ….the idea that ANYONE is rushing to cram an immigration bill forward is stupid, ignorant and laughable. Somebody in the room just doesn’t like people with brown skin (even if they are hard-working, church-going family people seeking a better life for their children than they had) The paranoia about people with brown skin is old, old, old Pillory.

         • If we disagree with policy, any policy, of this administration we are racist. How convenient.

         • Ellen playing the victim card again I see.

         • Ellen, you are laughable. You remind me of the story….when the Spouse says, “Do these jeans make me look fat?”

           ….and the other says, “Well honey, you are fat.”

         • Well damn. I have brown skin and I haven’t been feeling much hate but I get what you are saying.

     • So amnesty for illegal aliens is a good thing? How?

       • Ronald Reagan liked it for people who had lived here, “put down roots”, and were law-abiding. That’s why he signed amnesty for 2.7 million of them. The President isn’t wanting to offer amnesty, like your icon. He just wants to give them a path to earning citizenship. If Barack Obama would sign an amnesty, the Reagan-worshippers would impeach him in about five minutes, for being “lawless.”

         • I get it. Reagan liked it so you like it. Who would have thought it?
           Reagan’s amnesty for 2.7 million illegal aliens has resulted in 10+ million illegal aliens today. I know that and you should too.
           To say a “path to citizenship” is not amnesty is doubletalk, a distinction without a difference. A path to citizenship already exists for immigrants who came to America to legally. I ask again, why is it in America’s interest to give amnesty to millions of illegal aliens?

10. About the McCurdy water and sewer bill. If a property owner or renter does not pay the water and sewer bill, doesn’t it get attached to the property as a lien? And the only way the lien can be resolved is for the current property owner to cause the bill to be paid, or the property be cleared of the lien through the county commissioners tax sale process? Just asking.

    • The mcCurdy buildings water is tied to its fire protection. They can not turn off the water without turning off the fire protection. the fire dept. wont let them do that.

      • No one is living there and no one is working there. I would venture to guess that there is no occupancy permit on file anywhere. That being the case, I believe the owner has the discretion on whether or not to have the water turned on or not.

        Are you not talking about a fire department that let Kunkel off on a violation that caused HSA to step in? Are you not talking about the same fire department that let the Maingate slide on an insufficient sprinkler system? Finally are you not talking about the water company that has made the news this week for being an arrogant joke? Do not expect rational policy or behavior from an irrational place.

      • So are they heating the building also? Just wondering how they’re avoiding bursting pipes.

        • If there is no water in the pipes,meaning that they are drained, there is no reason for them to burst whether they are in a heated building or not.

          • Doctor who, smart ass, read the guy above that says the fire dept is requiring them to keep the sprinkler lines on.

11. editor….. on the complete destruction of the democrat party this election a little video is now out that shows j.gruber the Architect of obamacare in his own words admits to deceiving the American people and relying on the STUPIDITY of the American voter…….to pass this bill……this is what the commie liberals think of their base that they have to be Stupid…..I will say the majority of the American voters are not as stupid as the gruber thinks and the numbers of American voters seeing the truth is growing everyday………….http://dailysignal.com/2014/11/09/caught-camera-obamacare-architect-admits-deceiving-americans-pass-law/

    • Of course they think their voters are stupid. That’s why it’s implied that they can’t take care of themselves and they need the government to do it for them. Affirmative Action…you can’t reach the standard so we’ll lower it for you.

      • You both sound like you think its some kind of “victorious healing,” translation = “sieg heil” Might, want to take a step back, before you lower that aspect range anymore.

        • You are certainly a pedantic one, aren’t you? Unfortunately, your posts are generally unintelligible.

          • Ellen: Just quit trying to excuse your shortcomings of understanding. You old bag, your lost, deal with it. Leave us out we’re not interested in the least. Clear enough bag?

          • Maybe for you they’re unintelligible. I rather like being challenged to look up a definition on occasion.

          • B,
            Living an administered life doesn’t confer the right to bag rag folks much smarter than you. It’s unseemly. You’ll never reach you potential trolling these boards taking cheap shots at your betters.

12. Ghost, no victim card here. That’s reserved for the ever expanding, subsidized democrat base.

13. I really don’t know where to post this comment on the City Council meeting that was over a few minutes ago, so I’ll put it here and copy it to the other appropriate places.
    The fact that neither Allen Mounts nor Mike Duckworth could find the time in their busy schedules to appear before Council tonight to explain the nasty letters sent to over 1000 water customers that went out over Duckworthless’ signature. He pled ignorance about the letters, which makes me wonder just how much time he devotes to his lucrative post-retirement career. If you don’t read a letter that goes out with your name stamped on it, I really have to wonder about how well you do the rest of your job.
    Mr. Mounts allegedly accepted the blame, but apparently didn’t care enough to back out of a “previous commitment” that he didn’t notify Council of until mid-afternoon, although he was asked to appear last week. John Nobody’s Friend’s wife received one of the letters concerning property owned by her father, so it appears he had knowledge of the letters before Councilwoman Brinkerhoff-Riley. He didn’t bother to go public with any concerns for his constituents though. I guess he thought keeping things quiet might serve him better, with all of his political ambitions.
    Steve Schaeffer apparently drew the short straw, and came to the meeting. He was as apologetic as he can appear about the tone of the letters and assured people that they can disregard the threats contained in the embarrassing letters. He stopped short of committing to seeing to it that residents won’t, in the end, wind up footing the bill for the problems that Johnson Controls knew full well would happen.
    An employee of Hydromax showed up to accuse Councilwoman Brinkerhoff-Riley of libel, but was pretty quickly backed down by Council Attorney Scott Danks and Ed Massey, of the Water Department.
    The basic message I took away from the meeting is that a lot of people are really uncomfortable dealing with the truth that SBR opened up to public scrutiny and Johnson Controls doesn’t do PR well at all. My opinion is that a lot of people thought that the local voters are so apathetic that they would just roll over and play dead on this issue, and since that didn’t happen Mr. Mounts and Duckworth need to be offering their resignations this week.

    • Glad to hear Ed Massey is still in there. We were friends many years ago. Hope the Hydromax representative didn’t have an accident in the well of the council chambers that his Depends couldn’t handle when Ed stood up. Knew the affable Buddy Masden pretty well too, him and Ed would have been considered a tough pair to draw to. Good to have on board for a weekend of carousing. Or anything.

      The Poop also mentioned he didn’t like the ‘tone’ of the letters. Sounds like they all stopped well short of giving the targeted homeowners, any real relief though. I don’t like the tone of Winnecke’s stewardship of Evansville and think he should resign.

      Here’s that contract if anyone is interested.
      http://www.docdroid.net/kykb/johnsoncontolscontract.pdf.html

      • Buddy, Ed, and “Big Leon” Jones were quite a force to reckon with.
        Thanks for the contract.

        • I remember Leon too. I think he died of a gunshot wound at the BonTon. He was probably the toughest of the bunch.

          • Yes, he did get shot at the Bon Ton. He had been a body guard for John Soucie, and he was a pretty imposing figure of a man.

    • Sounds like you had a fun night. Thanks for the update LKB.

      • It was great. I watched it all from the comfort of my own living room.

        • The Big Boy was nothing if not photogenic. He posed for me at the Fall Festival a year or so before he died. He was a colorful character, most of the stories cannot be told.
          http://s26.postimg.org/xqc31btkp/Buddy_Masden.jpg

Comments are closed.