IS IT TRUE November 17, 2014

1. Employment: Is this the same regurgitated IIT from the other day? Does this included all retirees that are past 100 years old? There are many retirees that were put on the curb early so business could hire kids coming out schools at fractions of the cost! The blood is on the business sector for their greed of outsourcing to third world countries costing millions of jobs. I know technology does eliminate jobs but they open other doors to employment. Bottom line is that employers need to provide jobs that Americans can have a little “ROI” for their employment like the days of old. Can not change globalization is what has been said here on this site, so high unemployment on the governments dime is the solution for those Americans. Then there is the tens of millions from the south, over the last 30-40 years that has added to those unemployed numbers.

   • I wonder what proportion of those percentages are retired or disabled people, or full-time students. That 93 million people who aren’t working indicates to me that a good many of Mitt Romney’s reviled “47%” are looking for jobs. Raw percentages like this are good for shock value, but really don’t supply solid information.

     • The latest data on those who are “officially” unemployed or among the underemployed or defeated people who would prefer to work indicate that 27 million people would prefer a job to their present situation. So 27 Million is the number who would take a job if a good one came along. The “official” number is of course 8,950,000.

       • So what is the conclusion? Your IIT mention a huge 86 million not wanting employment! 8.95 million unemployed? 27 million wanting a job? Please stop the circle and explain that 86.9 million!

     • Those numbers sound about right if you’ve worked in the social field as a social worker, like LSW,MSW,LCSW. There’s a tremendous number of people that are not working because they are in the process of scramming in hopes of getting on disability. Some people will not seek employment for years as they work the system waiting for disability. Disability is an absolute boon for lawyers, what a lot of people don’t know is that disability payments starts the day you file, no payments are received until disability is approved which could take years. It’s not uncommon for people to wait 5 plus years for disability and receive a lump sum payment of 30-40 thousand dollars and the lawyer gets 1/3. Nice tidy sum there. There’s also the marijuana thing and the amotivational factor associated with MJ use, it just kills a persons drive to get a move on. Once the anhedonia syndrome sets in long term unemployment follows. Something else that would surprise people is the number of people that get disability because of injuries suffered from drug use or exploding meth labs. I will close this by saying that I now believe in miracles because I have seen cripple people get up and walk, the day they receive the first big check from the lawyer after he gets his cut.

2. President: Has the editor ask for the same from the last Republican president? WMD’s that were not there? Photo op on the aircraft while in a fighter jet, “Mission Accomplished”? The tanking of the economy under his watch which caused the big Demo takeover in 08 of both legislation and executive branches? That this caused the ACA to happen in which the editor is griping about today?

   • ACA as it exists was CRAFTED by the Democrats EXCLUSIVELY. Your contention that because Bush was a Liar,–that’s why Obamacare , was deviously (for the Stupid voter)crafted,— and that’s why we have had another–Liar (you can keep your Doctor) in the White House of the last 6yrs?
     Sorry, but I’m going to have to call that a convoluted reasoning to justify a need to tell yourself you were NOT wrong about Obama,–all I can say is if that makes you feel better then have at it.

     • Didn’t the Dems get the plan format from Mass and Mit Romney? he he he. Got cha!

       • The idea of health insurance marketplaces was sired by the far right Heritage Foundation, which informed Romney’s scheme in Massachusetts.

       • Indeed they did. It was crafted by Jonathan Gruber (the guy who is all over the news calling us stupid) to be specific. The difference in Romneycare and Obamacare is that deception was not used to pass Romneycare but it was vital to passing Obamacare. At least that is what Professor Gruber who went to the White House many times to earn his $400,000 says.

         • That guy was not the one to did the AHCA. He was a minor player and not the architech of Obama Care by any means. And a lot of the American voters are stupid. Most didn’t even vote in the last election. I would not call those the failed to vote Smart! A better word might be lazy or apathetic. I seem to recall that Romney had a poor view of the American Voters too.

           When I worked for the City under a GOP administration many of the people I worked with at that time (republicans) thought that the Democratic Voters were stupid. It’s too bad that I didn’t record many of those personal conservations with those members of the GOP and put them on U tube for all to see today. That would be telling.

           The fact is that many in office think that the voters are stupid and don’t feel that they need to cater to the voters until right before election time and then it’s only though running TV ads and radio ads to try to convince the voters that they are the best candidate for office.

           Ever wonder why all the streets get paved in Oct the year before the election? I noticed that this year in Warrick County. They even patched Interridearn Road (SP?) with pavement near Chandler and further North they used a cold mix to patch some sections of the road with huge potholes in it.

         • I think those who use the exchange are the best ones to evaluate it, and that looks pretty good: http://on.msnbc.com/1zvKn3K

         • Just a minor disagreement, editor. When Gruber spoke of stupid voters, he was referring to those who he thought could be fooled as to what obamacare really was.
           I don’t think he had much hope he would sway Republicans or Independents.

         • LKB, just FYI, latest Pew poll shows obamacare ratings at their lowest point since its inception, you might want to reconsider where your getting your info,,,,,MSNBC, Really ?

           http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/05/05/poll-obamacare-hits-new-low/

         • @CB1: My information is less than a day old, and yours is six months old. Yes, MSNBC was reporting a PEW POLL, just like your old one from the Washington Post.

         • @LKB; Your right (no pun intended), the info I posted was dated but while searching for how I made my mistake I found this latest Gallup poll (which I think was actually the poll in your link, it was vague) that shows the low rating;

           http://www.gallup.com/poll/179426/new-enrollment-period-starts-aca-approval.aspx

         • @CB1. It is a Gallup Poll, and I think our information is based on two different parts of the same poll. My information is based on the part that deals with people who actually bought insurance through the ACA market place. Of those participants in the program, 74% rate their insurance as either “excellent” or “good”. That is about the same rating as people who are not participants in the market place give their insurance.
           The figures that you show are ratings based on asking people polled whether they “approve” or “disapprove” of “Obamacare”. Taken together, they show that people who actually have Obamacare like it just fine, but people don’t approve of what they think of when they hear the word “Obamacare.” It’s a sad reflection on the ignorance of the American public, just like Mitch McConnell’s double-talk about getting rid of Obamacare and keeping KY-nect, which is Obamacare. A lot of Kentuckians fell for it. Btw, I’m not saying that is why Allison Grimes lost. She lost because she is a weak-willed typical politician, not much different from McConnell, who ran a bad campaign. Why would people want to trade one jerk for another?

           • I thought you comment was for me and I was wondering WTF. I now see your comment so for CB1 with whom you have been bickering all day. Carry on.

         • @LKB; Well that make more sense, the people that are getting it for free like it.
           Thanks for the clarification.

       • Really Moveon? That’s how you see this? Got cha? Gruber was indeed spot on.

         • About the public being stupid?

         • He was spot on in exposing the need to be LIARS to forward their agenda.

       • Glad to see so many dems becoming fans of Romney after expressing so much love for Reagan and Bush/Rove over their pro-amnesty stances.

     • ……”ACA as it exists was CRAFTED by the Democrats EXCLUSIVELY.”

       Crash — You are trying TOO hard when you say this…..like perhaps you’re insecure about something. Thou dost protest too much LaRue

       • ACA was crafted by the Democrats exclusively,
         –there Shem, I hope that as now written it filters into “Shem’s World” and there is some grasping as to just Who/Whom Gruber(stupid voters) was referring to,–Oh No,– it couldn’t be Shem could it? Nah! ‘–Ha,ha,ha,ha, –apparently My posts unsettle Shem, –his just make me laugh.

     • I never said I agreed with the ACA. I said the ACA got past because the Demo’s were the majority in both congress and the executive branch of government. As I have said for a longtime, one party majority makes bad policy! Bad republican decisions during Bush 2 term flooded congress with democrats! Now the tide has turned and the republicans have the congress majority because of Demo’s mistakes!

       The IIT was bashing current president while the past president had lied as well and given a pass. Just presenting both sides!

   • There was no CCO during the Bush presidency so the answer is of course no. Blaming the stupid banner on that boat and the failed intelligence reports of the Bush Administration for the Obama Administrations problems with the truth makes no sense in the case of the ACA. Doing so makes about as much sense as blaming Winnecke because Russ Lloyd didn’t build a baseball stadium downtown in 2000.

     • THAT BEING SAID…..Editor is disingenuous in nitpicking the “the difference between Republican Think Tank Romneycare and Obamacare is deception was not used to sell Romneycare.”

       What? Editor is not providing impartial critical analysis.

       Instead, Editor is being a tired-routine anti-Obama political hack.

       • SPOT ON Analysis by Riferfront Shem!!!!!!!!

     • One should not bash current president, while giving a pass on the previous one!
       How many were killed and maimed under Bush’s lie?
       How many were killed and maimed under O bama’s lie as you claim?
       How many trillions were spent on Bush’s lie, and how many billions more on medical for those service people until their old and gray?

       • I do not know the numbers precisely but I do know the people who died cannot be brought back, and I am willing to gander that the dollars were near a trillion.

         Bush’s lie as you call it passed in both houses of congress unanimously. I even question whether it was an intentional lie or a failure of our intelligence gathering agency. That failure must have been convincing enough for all of the democrats, republicans, and others in congress to have believed it when they voted for it.

         ACA passed without a single vote outside of the democrat party. Fortunately Obama’s lie can be corrected if the will to do so can be mustered. We shall see.

         • …this is just preposterous arguments by Editor. Using language like “Obama’s lie can be corrected.”

           I expect this from Breitbart and Drudge.

           It is PATHETIC to see it from the Editor of the City County Observer.

           • It can be corrected and I hope it does get corrected. They can start by allowing competition across state lines and allowing us to order prescriptions from Canada and Mexico. That will take lots of the costs out.

             Now to the previous critique. Do you think GWB knew the WMD was bullcrap when he went to the congress for approval to go to war? Did the entire congress all get the wool pulled over their eyes by the flawed intelligence or did they just roll over for a lying president?

             Isn’t Breitbart dead?

         • Editor,

           Good points. No I don’t think Bush lied. He thought it was the right move. But he forced a war, w/out provocation in Iraq on his watch, in the light of it being clear that the sources of 911 terror were elsewhere. It’s the definition of ready, fire, aim. History is judging that move as catastrophically wrong (his Father, George H. Bush, a wise, experienced statesman, has been reported to have cried knowing this was the wrong move reinforcing in his mind it was Jeb who he thought would be the next Bush President.)

           By the way, Editor, for you to get drawn into an argument, and then make infantile comments about Obama, is demeaning to your Editorial Brand. And to compare a domestic policy program, ACA, to the error of starting a war that will last the next two generations, is long-term historical folly. History will forget the US transition to a more state-oriented healthcare program as it is already common in numerous first world, highly developed countries. History will NOT do the same for an error starting a war that we have no idea when it will end.

         • …just to clarify:

           a. George H. Bush and Barbara Bush thought Jeb would be the son who became President. Not GWB. That is what I was referencing.

           b. The decision to invade Iraq and remove Sadaam as a reaction to 911 terror started a war that is likely to last two generations or more. It unexpectedly unleashed, albeit pre-existing but nonetheless mostly dormant, primal Middle East forces and resentments between Arabs and Persians…and Sunnis and Shia’s. The unintended consequences of that decision are overwhelming.

           • I did not know that about the Bush family.

             The consequences of imperialism in the Middle East are deep and wide. I think the British started it all back before I was born but we have done nothing but throw gas on the fire ourselves. I hope you are right that there will be peace in two generations. I don’t think there has ever been a stable peace there.

         • Editor:

           The tension in the Middle East is a subject about which reasonable people can disagree. And I don’t know when peace will exist there, I was talking about direct, active US military involvement. At some point, the Middle East powers are gonna have to take ownership of solving those tensions.

           But my larger point is Editor making an argument comparing the decision to remove Sadaam and the resulting instability to tension over a domestic policy issue like state-oriented healthcare in the US is silly. In 30 years (probably 5-8), the ACA will have vanished from the headlines. But the continued US war in the Middle East will likely be as prominent then as it is now.

3. City master plan: What administration was considered the last one that followed a plan and why?

   • The present administration couldn’t make or follow a master plan. It would compare to your and my master plan to date Jennifer Annison. Wieneke is out of touch with what it takes to turn E;ville around.

     • Winnecke continues to example that Common Sense is in near catastrophic short supply in Evansville governance.

     • A Master Plan indicates planning and course. Once a plan is in place the desired level of anarchy needed to line pockets is diminished

4. IMHO:

   IS IT TRUE? “the problem with what is going on now is that there is no master plan for this community period?”

   ~b~ Oh …there IS a Master Plan.
   MASTER PLAN:
   Organize Appointed Decision Brokers, Consultants, Attorneys, Banks, Realtors, Labor Unions and Connected Cronies in such a way as to move as much money as possible from the struggling taxpayers to the aforementioned cabal. Note: Considerable armtwisting and bedroom promises may be necessary to align Elected Council Members and to numb their Guilty Consciences.

   The returns to Master Planners are significant … and manifest as Campaign Contributions, Pledges of Political Support and Photo Ops featuring greasy, grinning cohorts, complete with paused, clammy handshakes. …

   _____

   IS IT TRUE “the Courier and Press is back on the brick wagon with a published comment that the Ford Center, a few historical buildings, and even the old Greyhound Bus Station are a basis to attract millennials to Evansville?”

   ~b~ THE PARABLE OF THE STINKING TOILET:
   Picture this
   You are invited into someone’s home. It has “curb appeal.”
   As you tour the house new furnishings and fixtures are apparent, but as you near the bathroom, the unmistakable stench of human waste burns your eyes and nose.
   You try to ignore it and not show your disgust but as you peer into the bathroom bowl, you spot excrement floating in stagnant urine.
   The toilet appears to have been used for weeks without flushing. You (at this point) can’t help yourself, and blurt out, “what the hell is going on here?”

   The host calmly explains, “well, we spend our time and money on more important things. We offer an Arena, some Puttied-up Structural Relics and a couple of Rotting Riverfront Hotels that just “look dead.”
   Won’t you stay for supper, perhaps lodge for the night?
   _____

   What would be your reply?_____

   This disturbing parable mirrors our apparent strategy for attracting visitors to Evansville.

   One thing is certain:
   The Good Citizenry of Evansville have paid their taxes, rates and their lives, but alas,
   Evansville’s toilet is full and overflowing.

   _____

   Our best and brightest will never be distracted by a few shiny objects, mountains of excuses or empty promises.

   Up-to-date Infrastructure, Safe Neighborhoods and Decent Employment Opportunities are the keys. …

   HAPPY MONDAY!

   • Great observations and the analogy is too close for comfort to what is literally happening in Evansville! +1!

   • Very good story bubba and it certainly makes the point well. I would just add to the story. Imaging the new houses driveway lined with such toilets filled with ten day old turns and urine. Line those old toilets up along the main street entering the new houses subdivision and you get the picture. This is what a new visitor to Evansville smells and sees as he passes along Bee Slough to enter the Downtown Evansville Riverfront. Right next to the Train and Convention Center the new visitor has the East Side (downtown) sewage treatment plant on his left and Bee Sloughs Open Sewage Pit on his right. Smell the flowers yet? It hits you right about when you get near the treatment plant or maybe a little further down the road if the winds not blowing from the right direction.

     I seriously don’t know how the people living in that part of town can stand the smell of those two chess pools.

     I can only think of what new people to Evansville think when they drive down South lane Drive and are entering the Riverfront area to visit the Casio from I-164 or 41 South. Or anyone that drives down from 41N and enters the downtown via South lane drive bypass on the South of Town.

     I wonder if with a South wind people visiting the train or playing tennis can smell the stench? I know that I smell it every time I travel from Newburgh to the West Side via I-164 bypass and South lane Drive to avoid the construction that happens along the Lloyd over the past ten years.

5. REPOST from the blogger named ‘meter maid’:

   Meter Maid
   Nov 15, 2014 at 2:05 pm
   Until the property tax caps came along, those TIF’s were not so concerning….if you have the opportunity to review the most recent financial statement that Mr. Winnecke published, you would might discover that the General Fund is overdrawn by 11 million dollars and the parks fund by 264k…Master TIF funds declined by 50% over the twelve month periods…Hospitalization declined by 3.3 million, Russ has tap the Pension funds by 3.4 million. He has borrowed 8.4 million from ONB without an approval…Kool-Aid anyone???
   _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

   Whoever ‘meter maid’ is, sounds like someone with inside knowledge. The General Fund is overdrawn by $ 11,000,000 ? Is the City having to play the float ? Russ Lloyd, JR. borrowed $ 8.4 Million from ONB without an approval ? Is the City having to set up a revolving line-of-credit to cover its checks ? On what collateral would ONB make such a loan ? Maybe this revolving loan is ONB’s naming rights for The Centre ?

   • Also, another post over the weekend re: the continued deterioration of the Waterworks’ financial position:

     http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/2644179/outlook_on_evansville_ins_waterworks_revenue#rela8

     • http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/2868037/summary-evansville-indiana-watersewer-jun-14#rela9

   • Why is this not FRONT PAGE NEWS ! The pillars of Rome are falling around us !

6. OK lets talk about Master Plans? What exactly is a Master Plan and who’s responsible for making this Master Plan. Is there a special Master Plan making department for the City of Evansville? Is there a requirement in the city code for anyone to make up this Master Plan? If so then did the City Council Approve the requirement to make a Master Plan?

   And if there is to be a Master Plan who’s responsible for carrying out the Master Plan? Who’s going to pay for the development of this Master Plan? Who’s going to review and approve the Master Plan and then who’s going to approve the monies to carry out the Master Plan’s objectives?

   How long is the Master Plan to stay in place if it’s approved and funded? Hummn. And then again who’s responsible for carrying out the so called Master Plan? Say if the current Mayor comes up with this Master Plan and then does not win the next election? Is the new Mayor going to be required to carry out the first Mayor’s Master plan? <— This one is the key to the entire thing. IMHO

   Have we had Master Plans in the past and who developed them? And if this is true then why are we not still following those older Master Plans?

   Maybe we just need some short term plans that can be accomplished during the term of the current Mayor. Long term planning and strategies are not going to work if we keep having new people in the Mayor's Office and the other offices. And the City Council can change often as well.

   This is not a Corporation where there is some stability. This is an elected office that changes with the wind of the electorate.

   Sure we need planning but it's going to have to be more short term as long as the Mayor's office can change with the wind! Perhaps the problem is not who's in the Mayor's office but with the way this democracy is setup in the first place. Change can't be good for Stability IMHO.

   Perhaps we need to make the Mayor's office more of a ceremonial office and hire some type of City Manager. Is that how the Civic Center is really run anyway? Anyone remember Gill Ruston? Think about who really owns the Civic Center Complex and who maintains those buildings? Now those people could make a Master Plan for maintaining the Civic Center's Buildings and that might work well. In fact I bet that they have a sort of Master Plan for maintaining the Civic Center. We the tax payers just help to pay for it with our tax dollars. For most all the elected people that have offices in the Civic Center Pay RENT to the Building Authority of the Civic Center. But wait a minute. Didn't the Tax payers pay taxes that built the Civic Center? Why don't the Citizens own the Buildings now and why are we paying the bond's off as well as paying rent to a Building Authority? Talk about a shell game. I wonder if the Shell game was in the Master Plan?

   • Here’s a link that will explain to you what a master plan is;

     http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/urban-planning3.htm

     • I know what it is but I wonder who’s going to follow it after it’s been paid for and designed? Who carries the plan out what what’s forcing them to do that?

       We have had master plans in the past. Remember the plan to revitalized Main street and put new lights along the sidewalks? Remember the plan to close Main Street from two way traffic to one way traffic or no traffic?

       How many master plans have we gone though now with the Main Street. And where has that gotten us so far? IMHO all it did was make some people rich. The rest of us had to fork over tax money to help make a few people rich. And the Down town is still vacant for the most part.

       How many vacant buildings are located along Main Street from the Riverfront to the Civic Center? I really don’t know but I bet that there area few empty buildings and that’s not the way it was suppose to happen according to the “MASTER PLAN(S).

       • You make a very strong case for a city manager form of governance. With a city manager and a ceremonial mayor the arrogance of mayors gets pushed aside in favor of a long term vision that is at least somewhat non partisan. It works way better and usually assures that the guy in charge has some continuity and qualifications.

         • You know if one tries the same thing over and over again and it’s not working then it’s time to come up with a new plan. Doesn’t Henderson, KY use a City Manager? Maybe we can learn something from our friends across the River I wonder if the USEPA is on them about raw sewage being dumped into the Ohio River?

         • How is the city manager normally set up? Is this person in that position until they decide to move on? Can the city council fire the manager for actions that they may have overstepped? Wondering!

           • They are contract employees. They can be fired for cause or they can resign at will. They are the most visible decision makers in the budget process. Firing a city manager for political purposes usually results in writing a 6 figure severance check. The last time I read about such a thing happening the settlement was just over $300,000. Under a City Manager system, the mayor kisses babies and flips sand while the city manager takes care of real business. It works very well. Some may even say that it protects the voters from themselves.

   • I believe Evansville would be much better off with a City Manager and strong Common Council, instead of the strong Mayor, weaker Common Council that we now have. Of course, Indiana law makes switching to that type of structure virtually impossible.
     So long as we have the old-style, backroom patronage, nepotism, and cronyism political dealings with the left hand never knowing what the right hand is doing, talk of any coherent Master Plan actually being followed is just a waste of breath, IMO. We can surely pay millions for such a plan, but getting the clowns that run the circus to follow it would be another matter.

     • Nothing is impossible. But the voters need to stand up and demand that the State change the way this state works as far as our cities. Right now things are not working that well. Maybe it’s time for a new change. I wonder if there is anyone in State Government with a vision for improving the way this state works? If not there are other states where people can move to live.

       • I’m pretty sure the only “visions” in State government are of Mike Pence becoming President Pence. Hoosiers are scared to death of change, so going elsewhere makes more sense. That’s why we have the “brain drain” we do.

7. I saw a good show on WNIN last night. It was about how the invention of the ice making machine and the refrigeration industry changed the demographics of America. People living in the south didn’t have AC many years ago and neither did they have microwave ovens and flash frozen fresh vegetables or a home freezer to keep them frozen. Back in the old days most people in the USA lived in the NE and Northern States. The vast majority of people lived in the Northern States. People who lived in the South suffered from the Heat.

   But after we invented refrigeration and AC and refrigerators came into popular us the people started going South. The human population of the Southern USA has increased dramatically in the past 50 years. Look at the new congressional seats that are giving some of the Southern States more electoral votes today as compared to many years ago.

   Things change I guess.

8. The City of Evansville, that is, the administration and the common council that approves all the spending, have been living like much of society is living nowadays. They jump from one new project to another which are touted to be the next “must have” item for the city, and are usually hatched and promoted by the people who will be making money from the project. There is no master plan, and the credit cards are maxed out. The city is making minimum monthly payments as the debt keeps growing, and the administration , counter to all reason and common sense, continues to discuss adding even more debt with projects like a privately owned hotel, and the IU Med School, which IU is fully capable of building on their own dime, which is actually our dine anyway.

9. For more Americans to want to work many are going to need to be forced to do so. The only way is to take the teat away.
   We’re going to seem so mean but we have to take away all the freebies available. People aren’t ashamed to get help anymore & in fact some like to gloat about how long it’s been since they’ve held a job-while in a bar drinking & smoking away.
   Those that really cannot work for whatever reason need taken care of – no question about it.
   The rest need to be shamed into working. Or let hunger take over. It’s quite motivating.

   • I’m sure if we just make things a little harder on people, they’ll shape up and quit living lives of leisure:

     National Center on Family Homelessness: http://www.familyhomelessness.org

     • Effective balance. The people sent into the systems by lousy rental issues and land grab games.
       Like that locals car lot swapo deal sometimes looks from afar, fishy timing. How’s all that really working out now that the mainstreams buried it?

       http://www.nlchp.org/

   • Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs worked well 45 years ago but not chance today. We have 45 years of Learned Helplessness to undo, no chance of that.

10. The obsession with downtown living and young professionals is just a short-sighted as most decisions made by our City government. Those young professionals mature, marry, and have families. When that happens, they don’t want to live in the loft anymore, if they ever did. They want to live in safe areas with good schools and convenient shopping and family entertainment.
    Yes, I know there will be more young professionals. I also know that fads change, and the urban lifestyle is the current fad. Truth is, one can live a sort of urban lifestyle here. They just have to live in an east side apartment instead of a loft in the Dead Zone. The rest of the truth is that if we can’t offer a safe, comfortable middle and upper-middle class way of life to families, we’re not going to survive. ” Evansville” and “hip” just don’t go together.

    • Ditto. …

    • I believe the idea that it was cool to live in a rawish ‘loft’ was crafted as a marketing strategy by … Jonathan Gruber. It was originally to aid the Tanners in leasing drafty, brick interiored, haunted unrentables. Those poor often abandoned structures were commonly graced by external ductwork, jerry-rigged electrical systems and found in blighted or neglected areas. Once the drywall went up they became cheapo apartments at a premium price. Gruber had taken the smarts temperature of the target market and found it wanting. (Honey, should we go vote today? No, let’s go look at lofts again).

      No telling what that guy will come up with next. It should be a book, he must strike before all those who never heard of him until 2 weeks ago forget about him for all time.

      • Mike Huckabee says we’re turning into Nazi Germany, and I bet it’s all that Gruber guy’s fault. Mike “F” is a preacher, and he wouldn’t lie, so I guess he must know what’s happening in the right wing.

        • Most things are indeed Gruber’s fault. If the anti-ACAers wouldn’t have been so busy slobbering all over themselves during the extended runup to its passage, lying about death panels and such, maybe they could have bucked the call of the genes and mounted an attack not based on lies. It kills their dark souls that it’s actually working. Glomming mindlessly onto the Gruber clip is a sad commentary on just how empty their arguments against the ACA are.

          F’s chances of ever being nominated for president have plummeted from below zero to way below zero. An unrepentant young-earther slob with a guitar, appealing to magic. Not much call for any of those around here. Or anywhere except FOX news. Even without his considerable baggage, the nation will never elect a president called Huckabee. Maybe that interviewer was trying to do him a favor, changing his name to something more palatable to his philandering base.

          • Speaking of empty arguments Bandana, I agree Huckabee will not be president but not because his name is Huckabee. Gruber voters elected a man with the name Barack Hussein Obama. Twice.

          • Being a young earther yourself I can see why you’d like to defend Huckabee. Even you realize it’s fruitless. Those voters who elected Barack Hussein Obama twice elected a Harvard Law graduate and professor, and he’s been a fine president. He got health care reform though, something that many before had tried and failed at.

          • Harvard law graduate and professor? Who is that Bandana?

          • PCD,
            That’s President Obama.
            Harvard Law Review President, which is a big deal.
            Graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard Law, another big deal.

            He was an assistant to Professor Lawrence Tribe, which is yet another big deal, while at Harvard.
            He was a professor teaching constitutional law somewhere else, I forget where. Still a minor big deal.

            • He has not even claimed to be magna cum laude. He has never released his grades. If he was magna cum laude you can bet it would have been released to the public.

              He was indeed the student president of the Harvard law review.

              He was an adjunct professor of law at the Univ. of Chicago. Adjunct is a fancy word for part time and not on university staff. For instance if you were to teach an English 101 class at IVY Tech your title would be adjunct professor.

          • Nope, Getting right, you got it wrong.

            Wonder why you’d want to lie about your president? He sure doesn’t owe something like you a look at his grades. Harvard Law Review is about as good as it gets up there, of course an Ivy Techer like you wouldn’t know that. He graduated Magna Cum Laude, even a lightweight like you would probably know about part of that, ho ho ho. He taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago. He worked for Lawrence Tribe at Harvard, I’m sure you think that has to do with Indians. Doesn’t much matter what you think about him, you don’t matter much.

            I’ve got to reluctantly conclude you’re just stupid.

    • ……..moving next to WalMart used to be popular I guess. With some of the older generation, it appears to still have some attraction. ………The issue isn’t whether downtown and the riverfront is a priority. That has already been established. The issue is transparent, wise, long-term vision efficient government.

11. Why work??????
    The value of the full package of welfare benefits for a typical recipient in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia exceeds the poverty level. Because welfare benefits are tax-free, their dollar value is often greater than the amount of take-home income a worker would have left after paying taxes on an equivalent pretax income.

    •In 40 states welfare pays more than an $8.00 an hour job. In 17 states the welfare package is more generous than a $10.00 an hour job.
    •In Hawaii, Alaska, Massachusetts, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, New York, and Rhode Island welfare pays more than a $12.00 an hour job—or two and a half times the minimum wage.
    •In nine states welfare pays more than the average first-year salary for a teacher. In 29 states it pays more than the average starting salary for a secretary. And in the six most generous states it pays more than the entry-level salary for a computer programmer.
    •Welfare benefits are especially generous in large cities. Welfare provides the equivalent of an hourly pretax wage of $14.75 in New York City, $12.45 in Philadelphia, $11.35 in Baltimore, and $10.90 in Detroit. For the hard-core welfare recipient, the value of the full range of welfare benefits substantially exceeds the amount the recipient could earn in an entry-level job. As a result, recipients are likely to choose welfare over work, thus increasing long-term dependence.

    • Add a free cell phone, reduced housing costs, free health care and food stamps; victimhood isn’t too bad.

      • Don’t forget the big chrome rims like the ones on your pickup truck and the massive plasma TVs. They’re giving ’em those too now, you know.

        • And everyone on welfare also gets a free credit card and one million dollars in tax free cash from Oprah too. Wink Wink And I think that Obama said they all get free apple pies and a cherry coke too.

        • I don’t have a pickup truck but isn’t that the preferred mode of transportation for the working man?

      • The “full benefit package” that Jay is talking about already includes those things. Calm down, Ellen.

    • I call BS on this one! I seriously doubt that welfare pays that much to anyone. But in either case comparing the payments to the Federal Min wage requirement is a poor joke at best. Would you like to live with a min wage paying job? I seriously doubt that you are anyone else wants to live in poverty.

      Your facts don’t make any sense and I doubt that the tell the story properly at all.

      I think that people should work for a living and that they need to be paid more than they get right now. The model of the factor owner reaping almost all the reward is what’s wrong. People who do the labor deserve much more of the benefits. But that does not happen most of the time.

      • Welfare pays at most $250/mo if you have kids and the father is in jail (most likely due to Republicans antiquated drug policies.)

        • It looks like on the welfare website that the food and cash benefit for a family of 4’is $1400 per month. When take home pay is considered this is about $8 per hour. This excludes other benefits like housing or Medicaid. It isn’t much but it is more than the minimum wage.

          http://www.welfareinfo.org/payments/

          • My argument was that the Federal Minimum wage is way too low and needs to be upped a lot. Try living on less than 8 dollars an hour. Does that mean a 40 hour work week equivalent Min Wage paycheck at what ever min wage is set at these days. Some where below 8 dollars per hour.

      • It really does “lay it on thick”. If there is any fact to it, I suspect it is including a rent subsidy medical, cash benefits, and food stamps for a very large family. In most places, there are waiting lists for subsidized housing for years.

        • There’s a waiting list for section 8, but not public housing. Housing is available at Caldwell and Fulton Terrace.

      • An actor or an athlete makes millions for playing a role or a game because work is paid at market value, the arbitrary value our society places on specific functions. An entrepreneur lays everything on line to open a business, takes on the responsibilities of making payroll, the health and safety of his employees, keeping the lights on and paying for the costs of operation. If his business doesn’t succeed his employees lose their jobs but he could lose everything.

    • You make a very strong case for an immediate, BIG raise in minimum wage. Of course, doing that would take its toll on the Waltons getting public help in paying their workforce.

      • It would also take it’s toll on the price of everything from fast food to anything you would buy at WalMart. People go into business to make a profit and if their cost of doing business goes up, be it payroll or taxes, it will be passed on to the consumer.

        • I don’t buy anything at Walmart, as I don’t want to contribute any more to the support of the Walton family welfare payments. If the 10 or 15 cent raise in the price of a pink slime burger puts it out of reach for you, that’s a good thing.

          • It will, however, decrease the buying power of minimum wage workers, the largest group of consumers of fast food and WalMart.

          • @Ellen Woerter:
            An increase in minimum wage has never, ever reduced the earner’s buying power. The opposite has been true when minimum wage increased. If you have any FACTS to back up your statement, please provide a link. History and The World According to Ellen don’t match.

          • LKB. You might want to re-consider and at least go to Wall Mart and look around-you at their employees. A number of them are doing productive jobs there while no other employer will hire them. If anyone is hurt by Wall Mart boycotts it’s them, not the Waltons.

          • @ common sense:
            They apparently just LOVE the way the Waltons treat them: http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2014/11/14/walmart-pay-protests-planned-for-black-friday

12. Lots of liberal denial here today and the usual hectoring lectures about good government from deadbeat patronage queens who couldn’t manage a yard sale, let alone a city. Now the libs are tossing the impeccably liberal architect of Obumblescare under the bus when all he did was to casually reveal the contempt and hatred the liberal Overclass has for the American people and their willingness to lie and cheat to pass their hare-brained legislation. Recall that Emperor No-Hopey told us that it was estimated under Obumblescare that our health care premiums were going to decline by 3000%. So ignorant are these liberals that they lapped his nonsense up and believed it 100%.

    I keep thinking that the liberals have finally hit rock-bottom when it comes to credibility, but they always seem to be able to excavate a new sub-basement.

    • I never cease to be amazed by their collective ability to spin. I’ve heard it said that electing President Obama twice is not as tragic as the fact that there are so many Americans that actually did that. That is truly frightening.

      • Electing Hillary – or Elizabeth Warren – will scare the socks off you, then. You better start bracing yourself for that, because all the Republicans have will be either Jeb or Mitt.

        • Ben Carson could be a viable candidate. I wonder what conservatives will be called if the race card is taken away.

          • LOL!! He’d be a bigger joke than Herman Cain. Your masters, the Kochs and Adelsons of the world, will NEVER allow a fool like him to win the nomination. They prefer other rich, white guys that they can identify with.
            You don’t need to wonder about not being called racists, as those attitudes will continue and Carson will not get more than 10% of the vote, if he has the nerve to try to run.

          • Spot Elkay, if fact priceless.

          • Spot on Elkay, in fact priceless. Ho ho ho.

          • The same thing Jesse Jackson said about Obama, he really doesn’t understand the African American experience.

13. LOL! This assessment of Dr. Ben Carson’s chances in the next election from the one who assessed the recently concluded destruction of Democrats called the 2014 elections, as meaningless. Priceless.

14. the gruber was right on about the stupidity of the deadbeat liberal……..the above comments without a doubt proves the gruber right…………thank God the vast majority of Americans now know barry is nothing more nothing less than a pathological lying media creation community organizing clown…………barry is not even qualified enough to shine the shoes of G.W.Bush

    • Well that’s about as outright pathological racist as it gets. Good shoes don’t require much shining, those that do purchase them and put them to viable use strive to not fool around that said pile of political dung you normally sport.
      How one achieves the purchase is sometimes a measure, if lessened by position its only a given illusion. We think both G. H. W, and GW along with Jeb would likely slap the dung straight off your face just for implying such an racially biased comment. The current President only expects such comments, those are kind of a historical, shrugs it like a missed free throw….at the Whitehouse basketball court. However. 😉

      “Evansville’s bricks are still covered in crap, until someone fixes that you’ll need to keep cleaning the footwear.” Just don’t be such a damned bigoted moron about the sourcing.

      • Humm V. What if he had said G W Bush was not qualified to shine Obama’s shoes? Would that have been racist?

        • You know Horsey, coming from an inveterate racist like yourself, your goofy passive/aggressive questions mean nothing. You had many comments removed for not being able to temper your racism and sexism on another forum, and now you’ve found a home. I’m glad to see Obama’s presidency is melting you folks down, loser. It’s turned some normally probably smart people into caricatures and let pieces like you fly your flags with impunity. It’s really instructive but nothing people who know you didn’t know all along.

          • That’s pretty harsh coming from a plantation owner. I think this last election indicated the smart folks are leaving the plantation and getting on the freedom train. It bugs plantation owners when they lose something they bought and paid for. Got news for you, Jordan can read.

          • Bandana: Some things…. Its the core difference, its easy to raise a flag, its even more simple to understand why it was raised. Once that’s all clearly defined what defines whether or not it stays on top ones pole is ….. well, to us there is no one definition due anyone’s cause, human reasoning usually prevails.

            But, if the causes flag is humanly worth it, keeping that flag up there takes understanding, courage to back the strength of commitment and guts that’ll keep the standard high on the pole. and one big very large iota of sacrifice.
            Americas smart people don’t paint dumbass caricatures, they save those lowly bars for those that might attempt to communicate them, for the mundane, however easily influenced others.
            We don’t mind pointing to them though.

            Historically even to the dawn of the human artistic, stupid needs a picture, words aren’t ever enough, abstraction only moves thought through the balances struck for the art of understanding. Some simply cannot lapse applied progression with thought.

            With those aspects, for them, being taught becomes to much personal labor for the gratification needed. So.

            Btw: Awarded, Two steamed, and organically oiled UTCS for all the comments today.
            We likey.

          • Nice, hanki. If you ever achieve typing 3 words in succession without using dumb insults you might try to answer the question. Anyway, your reply(s) have given us a glimpse of your unique intellect.

          • “Phase shifting interferometry (PSI)” More than common sense. thanks for ongoing the data, sensed commonly.

            The “old Indiana farmer” always said “urinating up a rope was somewhat fruitless,” But, he did mention that activity is more an entertainment venture than an accomplishment. However if only when ones perceived opponent has hung himself by his foot. Then the activity might possibly be scored as an planned accomplishment. Then standard planetary gravity might again rule the equations applied effectiveness. That, one might guess could very well go straight back to the shoeshine deal in applied repetitive numeric advantages.

      • you stupid ignorant gruber deadbeat liberal racist voter i shined shoes as a youth it was work…………………..it is obvious you do not know shit from shinola……….

        • Oh yes he does, he knows you’re not Shinola. Gruber made you in 2013.

      • Nothing racist there V. Your response is typical of the centrist, independent and apolitical who hides behind these labels because of the shame associated with being a liberal. It’s possible back in your younger days before you became a pseudo intellectual giant you had your shines shined in front of the McCurdy or old Bus Station. Old habits and memories are hard to break and forget.

15. Elizabeth Warren for President. An ideal candidate for our local Demo deadbeat demographic. A blond-haired, blue-eyed Anglo multimillionaire who has never done an honest day’s work in her entire life and achieved her Hah-vuhd position by pretending to be a downtrodden Cherokee straight off the reservation in Oklahoma. From time to time, Fauxcahontas deigns to leave her Cambridge mansion to hobnob with the little folks, shake her lily-white fist at her banker friends, and play the populist. Then it’s back to those swanky soirees and salons, where this fearless Queen of Caucasians can share some caviar, brie, and a glass or two of 1982 Dom Pérignon Brut Champagne (“…a very complex toasted bread and buttery croissant character along with some nutmeg, spice, chocolate and vanilla notes”) with those very bankers and rich folks she pretended to be hating on just an hour before.

    Somehow, deep within its rotten bowels, the Democrat Party has perfected the ability to form and excrete 24-carat phonies at will, with Exhibits A, B, and C being Hilary, Emperor No-Hopey, and Crockajawea Warren.

    • Howler- Wow! Wish I had said that.

    • That was absolutely awesome. If the CCO were to give special recognition to the Response of the day, you would be the hands down winner.

      • It figures that the two of you would be enthralled by an ignorant, hate-packed, fact free screed of the kind howler delivered.

        • Wrong again, LKB. I didn’t care for your hate filled ignorant screed at all. But not at all surprised.

16. Amazing. So much arrow minded misinformation and complaining. WE the people can sit at keyboards and DO nothing as long as we have a target (them) to blame.
    And divided we fall.

17. Right watcher, 105 comments and counting, not one viable or affordable solution to the problems sported there. And, that place still looks and smells like crap, as well. Good, we didn’t think this would be this easy, but it is.
    Even a rancid load excreted turds finds gravity eventually. Suggestion. “Work on that”. Most historic civilized human societies learn to build for that about the time they could bang out a symbolic meaning on a semi flat rock. Its just not that tough.

    What’s the use? Tonight we’ll give for now, roll in it idiots, we’ll be back with more sunshine tomorrow.

18. Re: Evansville (and for that matter, Vanderburgh County) has had Master Plans (downtown Civic Center complex was part of one) starting with McDonald Sr. and progressing through a series of both Democratic and Republican administrations. And for the most part they were ignored or the work of totally inept planners. It hasn’t mattered who was sitting in that 3rd floor corner office beginning with Frank Sr. and continuing until the present occupant, everyone has been a SNAFU. All of our elected leaders have acted like little dogs; piss a little here, piss a little there, and it stinks like someone has pissed all over the place.

19. After today, is anybody up for locking Laura and POV in a closet and waiting to see who comes out breathing?
    Or should it be a tag team match with Laura and Bandana in one corner vs. POV and Howler and CommonSense? V can referee.

    • I’m for watching you ask inane questions and chase your tail.

20. The pitiful denial of the local Demo deadbeat demographic about their savior-of-the-day, Crockajawea Warren, shows just how truly dumb they are. That the whiter-than-white Warren was willing to fake being an Indian in order to glide up on the affirmative racism escalator is despicable. That she then quietly tried to reel in her big lie before being exposed shows that she knew all along what she was doing: falsely claiming membership in a group which most certainly did suffer at the hands of the government, notably under the odious racist and spiritual founders of the Democrat Party, Andy Jackson, and his Tammany stooge, Matty van Buren. In a healthy society, a vile liar and hypocrite like Fauxcahontas Warren would be laughed back to her Cambridge mansion and her worshipful supporters seen as idiots or lunatics.

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