IS IT TRUE PART 2 3-3-2014: “DMD Poised to recommend 2 year extension for Earthcare Loan”

102
Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke
Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke

IS IT TRUE PART 2 3-3-2014: “DMD Poised to recommend 2 year extension for Earthcare Loan”

IS IT TRUE the City County Observer has learned that DMD Director Phil Hooper at the direction of Mayor Winnecke will be recommending at the meeting today of the LOAN ADMINISTRATION BOARD to grant a two year extension for the loan that was made to Earthcare Energy LLC by the Winnecke Administration?…that City Councilman John Friend who is on the GAGE Executive Committee that Loan Administration Board member Debbie Dewey reports to has been cited by Councilwoman Riley as the leader in securing 6 votes to rescind the $4.8 Million loan for Earthcare that was passed in 2012 before any VETTING was done?

IS IT TRUE the members of the LOAN ADMINISTRATION BOARD are GAGE President Debbie Dewey, Coalition CEO Greg Wathen, Chris Rutledge of Banterra Bank, Luke Yeager of the Evansville Commerce Bank, and Phil Hooper who replaced Tom Barnett as the Director of DMD?…the choice of two years for an extension kicks the can down the road to beyond the next City of Evansville election cycle?…with the City Council rescinding the $4.8 Million loan approval this extension is nothing more than a politically motivated exercise in cowardice and avoidance of dealing with reality?…it is the opinion of many that no one who supports this extension should hold elected or appointed office for the City of Evansville, Vanderburgh County, or even in any alter-ego organization that is a dependent of local government?

IS IT TRUE the proposed agreement is on the following link?

Earthcare Extension Agreement

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

102 COMMENTS

  1. Haney probably already used the bulk of that to pay off other of his personal debts. We won’t get it back.

  2. Now this is just sad and pathetic. Winnecke is on display in front of all of us to see here. What’s Davis think? What’s Parke thing? A two year extension for Earthcare? How many people think this is a good idea? And where is the Courier on this? This should be breaking news for them shouldn’t it?

    • I’d like to know what everyone thinks the solution should be. I see a lot of criticism about extending the deadline, but no real solutions on how to get the money back. I see a lot of finger pointing and people questioning the intelligence and ethics of the people involved, but no viable solutuions to get the money to the people of Evansville.

      I don’t know as many of the details on this as others or as much as others try to make us believe that they do but here’s my thoughts on this. $186,000 is what percentage of GDP of the City of Evansville? I would guess that it’s not a lot. In my opinion, as long as the loan is in A/R there is a greater possibility of receiving payment. When I as a creditor go to the point of playing hardball beyond a demand letter, the chances that I recover any money is greatly reduced. When outstanding monies owed go to the point of lawsuits, the chances of bankruptcy increase exponentially. If I were the city, I would continue to play nice to try to collect the money. That includes considering an extension of the due date. Most businesses are like people, if you have the money readily available you pay the bills. If a creditor is willing to work with you, you are more likely to consider them first when you get the money. Now I don’t care if you rob Peter to pay Paul, as long as you pay me.

      • So do you think those responsible for said failure deserve to be reelected?

        • In the big picture, it’s a small loan that was used to try to secure more jobs in our community. I don’t think that any of this is worthy of an indictment against any of the players involved. The administration and/or the Council should be in the business of job creation. For every setback like Earthcare, you’ll have several wins like SS&C and Berry. It’s not fair to blame someone for the failures and not give them credit for the wins. Another contradiction is from dyed in the wool Democrats like you, Brains and Elkaybee, who are voicing your displeasure and judgement on the Earthcare deal and express opinions that Mayor Winnecke should not be re-elected, when I’m sure that you voted for Obama after he wasted hundreds of millions of dollars on companies like Solyndra and others.

      • Secure a judgement against the principles of Earthcare Energy LLC and freeze their current assets until a settlement is reached. Any attorney or even a simple bill collector knows how to do this. The beauty of a small sum like $186,000 is that with three people to go after there is a high probability of recovery. Offering them a 2.4% extension is nothing. Now if they agree to start paying $3,000 per month at 7% interest and extension becomes more attractive than risking a default by pressing for payments now. They are not working with us at all by paying a pittance per month on an interest only loan. The deferral as proposed is just a political gimmick.

        • Yoda, I’ll give you credit for putting an idea for a fix out there. I don’t know if it’s a viable option or not because I’m not privy to the details or any interactions that are not made known to the public. Without knowing more of the details, I can’t determine if it’s time to play hardball or not. Too many people speculate and assume things to fill in the gaps in their knowledge. I think that most of us learned the risks associated with assumptions at a young age.

          • Getting a judgement is not really hardball. Contacting a Texas attorney to sell their stuff at auction is hardball. A judgement will get their attention. They will have to respond. If things work out great the records can always be sealed. What we should not do is give them anymore time to hide assets including the $200,000 that they have apparently transferred to another company (Enviro) and claimed as revenue. These guys are trixie and they need an eye kept on them lest they will abscond with our money. That assumes they haven’t already.

        • You can’t sue the members of an LLC unless they guarantee.

          The members of the LLC did not guarantee the loan from the city and suing the members,or principals as you call them, would be a waste of time. Do not pass go or collect your $200M. The loan the city made was not properly structured.

          • More sloppy legal work from the $3 Million a year legal team of the Winnecke Administration. Sloppy contract, sloppy loan, just slop period. Did these Ziemer character every practice law? Everything he has touched has been high school sloppy.

      • Okay, not bad, so let’s do a demand letter and see what happens as opposed to crafting a favorable extension for nothing in return. If they come back with a believable proposal we can consider it. Until then Evansville’s leaders are negotiating with themselves on behalf of their debtor. That my friend is an insane way to run a “Loan Administration Board”.

        Ask yourself, what would a real banker do? I am 100% sure it would not be a 2 year extension at 2.4% interest. Before going to foreclosure or collections a real banker will do a couple of demand letters, make some calls, etc. Collections is a last resort and would not start for 90 days anyway.

      • To ensure no politics are involved, then propose a ONE YEAR EXTENSION, and thus put the due date IN FRONT OF the Election.

      • The only place this loan gets repaid is on Fantasy Island. Maybe Tattoo collects it.

        In the first place, the new company (the borrower for you playing at home) is called Enviro Energy, LLC; we already starting out well when the borrower is not properly identified.

        Second, this company has no liquidity (cash flow) and is insolvent (no secondary sources of repayment such as guarantees or collateral which could be sold to payoff the $186M owed to the city).

        The FMV of the assets of the company is less than its liabilities and this means they are in default (default defined as not paying according to the contract, which was payment in full in 24 months).

        How do I know the FMV of the assets is less than the liabilities? Because we would have been paid back from sale of said assets or a judgment would have at least been obtained.

        Good luck on collecting a judgment which is not secured. Earthscare, or whatever they want to be called, has a better chance of selling that flux capacitor to the DOE, and Tattoo driving the Delorean down to Texas to collect all those big Texas sized checks to repay this loan, than collecting that judgment.

        Paying back debt is like owning a call option on stock. If the FMV of the stock (the price of a share stock) is less than exercise price, you don’t exercise your right to buy the stock via the option. Likewise, if the FMV of assets of a company is less than the liabilities of a company, the shareholders don’t repay the debt holders so that shareholders could own the company outright.

        Not savvying the above option pricing model explanation of why debt is repaid, then think of it this way: Why buy a company that has a $0 FMV of assets for $186M. That is why this loan won’t be paid off. The best you can hope for is that based on the current repayment schedule it gets paid off in 38 years.

        Pay around $5M or 2.5% annum to keep the dog at the door and invest the $200M at a 15% S&P return; Madoff could have taken some tips from this guy. I gotta me some this deal.

        The game is over; don’t pass go and don’t collect $200M.

    • I would love to see a group at the “golden shovel” event holding up signs -WHERE IS OUR EARTHCARE MONEY? That same group should be at every public event, just to let winne-ass and his band of thieves know the deal has NOT been forgotten

  3. The only one of that group that isn’t completely self-serving is Wathen. I have zero respect or regard for Hooper and Dewey through this boondoggle, and after Yaeger’s role in the Roberts Stadium Taskforce, he’s nothing more than whatever Winnecke needs at the moment. Wathen, I’m sure is aware that is credibility is on the line with backing this extension. Dewey and Hooper only solidify the fact that when Winnecke is gone, so goes their jobs. 900 jobs lost in Evansville since Winnecke took office. Dewey and Hooper will literally be the death of his political career. That and the fact that I’m not sure he can actually read. Maybe it’s just been so long since he had a job that required it.

    • You’re not kidding about Yaeger. His actions on the task force were to be quite frank about it, pathetic.

      • What do you expect from someone who did a chicken fat dance on youtube and fell for this bullshit from Earthcare hook, line and sinker.

      • Hey. There are 5 retweets. That’s almost close to something somewhat meaningful.

    • I have much respect and like for Greg Wathen. I have not worked directly with any of the others and have only met one of them.

      • He never did answer my question on here about high speed rail in his own article. I don’t know why we sent him to German (did he ever go to Japan too?). He thinks this is a high tech area where our airport is bringing in the business. While I’d love to see tech parks all around the Hercules Motor Plant, this town is anything but.

      • Who? Is he educated? I wouldn’t know him if so. Oh wait, that’s a place. Isn’t “Greg Wathen” where they have indoor golf and laser tag?

        • There, there Councilman. Let me escort you back to the “Freight Elevator” (a.k.a. ‘Padded Room’).

      • I worked with Wathen on some projects when he was in development in another city and he was just a “snake oil salesman” then. Wouldn’t expect that he has changed since then. Said and did whatever it took to feather his nest (image).

      • I’m glad that you said this. I also respect Mr. Wathen and in the few conversations that I’ve had with him, he seems very knowledgeable within his field of expertise. Knowing that you know more about these things than I and you also like and respect him confirms my opinions about him.

  4. This is the most disgusting act of politics this group of people could make. ALL of these people involved in this need to make the right call, can make every effort to make this right!

  5. Hopefully tactics like this and others in the past will not be forgotton during the next election.

    We can’t continue to make the same election mistakes over and over again. Lets try to vote for qualified candidates next time and not just names we reconize or straight ticket. (Cough, Weaver abd Durnham….cough)

  6. If the attached agreement is approved Earth Care will get a loan at 75% of the WSJ prime rate which is now 3.25%. That means a unsecured loan for 186K at 2.4%. There is no bank in the world that would sign up for that deal. There is something fishy smelling here.

    • It is called not wanting to admit failure until 2016. This is not much different than banks that were letting people live in houses free during postponed foreclosures. The foreclosures were of course postponed until a quarter when writing off the loan wouldn’t hurt the stock price.

  7. The books are sauteed. I suspect that the missing $ 7.5 Million from the 2012 Bank Recs was given to Earthcare, $ 5,000,000 grant, tax + gratuity (great waitress).

    Winnecke wants to get reelected before this small little detail comes out in the press.

    This is an ABSOLUTE DISGRACE. I hope J. Friend is keeping good notes, this type of fiscal ineptitude could cost LW the election–you can’t hide this level of disregard of basic finance and underwriting principles.

  8. OMG, Friend needs to come out with a statement to the Press (media) ASAP !

    This is nitwittery at its finest, Friend either gets out in front of this or gets run over by it. WOW !

    Also, republish SBR’s findings.

    • Maybe one of the worst things about it is they’ve managed to set the bar up to where a quarter million or so is now the least any self respecting con artist would try to bilk Evansville out of.

    • What is the interest rate Earthcare is paying on the “loan” of $ 200K ? What is the interest rate the City would receive for a 2-Year Investment in a CD ? Is there any self-dealing in this ‘decision to postpone the admission of failure until after the election’– as Yoda has remarked ???

    • Mrs. Blackburn, With all due respect, your credibility is shot when it comes to matters of public loans and repayment of said loans. Please refrain from making posts about the horrors of loaning public monies to undeserving entities, lack of vetting of said borrowers, and the irresponsibility of the borrowers for not returning the public funds. There’s not too many panes left unbroken in your house. If you would like to restore your reputation on these matters, please write a check to the City of Evansville for the original loan amounts less the TWO payments that you made on the loan plus inflation and interest. As a courtesy, I’m sure that it would be okay for you to calculate the interest at the same rate thay they are extending to Earthcare.

      • I find it to be completely unacceptable for Mr. Davis to call someone else’s credibility into question. You sir have shown your true colors on here.

        • My post is relevant and factual. You have shown that your contempt for me outweighs any type of convictions that you may hold. I think that most people would agree with my post. If not, they should not criticize anything about Earthcare.

          • I can’t answer for “most people” but I don’t agree with your post, I don’t disagree with it either because I don’t have all the facts, just one side of the story.

            How about taking a whiff at the substance of the Earthcare loan issue instead of trying to decide who is qualified to call a bad loan bad. I’ll bet your answer will be a swing and miss, a BIG SWING AND A MISS.

            I’ve haven’t said anything about the charges that have been leveled against for being a homer for the Winnecke admin either because I don’t the whole history.

            Here is a chance to show your mettle at standing behind the plate and calling the balls and strikes. Batter up!!

            C’mon BLUE YOU’RE KILLING ME.

          • No we’re tired of people like you and Chris Cooke getting free passes because you tell the good ole boys what they want to hear. It’s not very hard to see a double standard exists here.

          • Your post was a dwarfish little personal attack, not unexpected from you. I haven’t seen anyone agree with it. In any event it is unrelated to a person’s right, even obligation, to criticize the Earthcare scam. Elkaybee’s take on things is usually right on the money.

            It takes a special kind of guy to decriticize the Earthcare loan. You are that guy and a scold to boot.

            Your word should be as good as Laura Blackburn’s.

          • I don’t tell anyone anything. I just give my opinion. What do you mean by free pass? I’m an adult and a free American. Who do you think is going to punish me for exercising the same free speech that you exercise?

          • Here we have a mess with this earthcare loan and Phyllip decides to go after someone on something that happened three decades ago? I’m here to talk earthcare not some cco posters actions from decades ago. Quit living in the past Phyllip nobody cares about anything other than earthcare. Why can’t you see that?

            I’m glad to see this board rallying against Phyllips posts. They are getting sadder and more annoying by the day. Its like he does it for attention.

          • Just so we’re clear here. None of the CCO readers have a problem with a past political appointee taking $50,000 from the city, but you care about this? The fact that it was so long ago and she has still never paid the city back makes the issue that much more prudent. That proves that you really don’t care about the issues. You only care about the players involved.

          • Phyllip Davis says:
            February 6, 2014 at 3:22 pm
            Laura, I agree with you whole-heartedly. I just come on here and give my opinion and gets called a boot-licker, toadie, etc. I get told how other people can “buy me a hundred times over”, references to Our Times, masters and slaves. To which I still have not heard those references made to another person, but my race has nothing to do with that. If people could argue against me without the personal attacks against me, I would not have the need or desire to reciprocate.

            “If people could argue against me without the personal attacks against me, I would not have the need or desire to reciprocate.”

            cool

          • Regulator, Apples and oranges. My post is relevant to the subject. It’s not just random name-calling and racism. Of course you can’t tell the difference.

      • Read something today that reminded me of you Phyllip:

        “The only way you’ll ever get laid is if you crawl up a chicken’s ass and wait.”

        “Mrs. Blackburn, With all due respect,”

        Your first 6 words prove you to be a liar.

        Mrs. Blackburn has explained hopefully for the last time the unfortunate situation she found herself in 26 years ago and it would be awful white of you to act like a man about it instead of a dribbling deadbeat.

        Thanks, Reg

        • What does your post mean? First you start with an off-color joke that does not fit me considering that I have children.

          In calling me a liar are you saying that Laura does not deserve respect?

          Next, you go to the old stand-by and talk about race. Just so everyone knows, I’m black and the color jokes don’t bother me, they just show how ridiculous other people are. The person that hides behind a pseudonym and makes racial remarks wants to tell me how to act like a man. Would you care to give me a lesson in person?

          • I wouldn’t doubt it if Mrs. Blackburn could handle that since your mouth is definitely your manliest asset.

            But I’ll think about it…….

          • Are you going to post a picture of yourself in your hood next? I bet you’re feeling pretty proud of yourself right now. It takes a special type of human being to post racial jokes anonymously. I guess that just shows that you lack the mental capacity to debate the issues and you lack the class to know that racism is for the sewer dwellers of society.

          • I’m an ObamaBot to the PieAreSquare of $’s.

            I donated all I could afford to him both times he ran and I take criticism on these threads because of it.

            Yea buddy, I’m as racist as the day is long.

            But when I see a black guy picking on an older woman who had a misfortune years ago, I feel like maybe all black people aren’t as neat as I give them credit for.

            In other words, I don’t like you

          • In other words, man up & meet me to discuss your displeasure. What does color have to do with anything. Only a racist brings color into the conversation. I would care if Laura is purple, I still would have called her out on that issue. Why do my words give you a feeling of conviction on an entire race. I know that all white people aren’t jackasses, you are one of the few. Furthermore, it is common knowledge that Democrats are racist. That’s why blacks live under the worst conditions wherever there has been Democrat control for decades. To be honest, your main issue is that I’ve left your Democrat plantation.

      • You, sir don’t know what you’re talking about, as usual. You really don’t need to set any limits on what I post about, and I won’t try to limit you on your posts, OK?

        • Tell me where I’m wrong. Did you not receive a $50,000 loan from the people of Evansville? Did you not default on said loan after two payments? Were you not sued by the people of Evansville to recover the money? Let me think, is it better to loan a woman $50,000 to restore a house when there is no possibility of it improving the life of those in the community or advancing $186,000 to a company that may bring jobs to the community?

          You are the biggest hypocrite on this site. You have tried to run censorship campaigns against me, Indianaenoch and others. Now since your skeletons have pooped out, you’re against limiting speech. You’ve even had the nerve to tell me how to raise my family more than once.

          • Davis words have a shocking amount of bitterness and negativity in them. As someone who strives to think only positive thoughts I find them to be in poor taste. He keeps telling us his hero mayor is Mr positive but what I see here is anything but.

          • I am not going to post the story of my personal life 26 years ago on this site for you to judge my worthiness. It is a long, boring story of a really bad divorce that I don’t care to share with strangers, especially malevolent ones. As for “censoring” you, I have never asked that anything you ever posted be removed. IE committed a libelous act and his post was “edited” at my request. I can see how you might fall for his stories, though. You do appear to be pretty gullible.

          • Laura, I’m not asking you to tell your life story and in all honesty, I understand that life can throw us curveballs, but you should have that same understanding towards others instead of being so quick to judge. I’ll never bring it up again, because it is a non-story as much as anything else that everyone seems to get so angry about on this site. In my opinion, your situation and Earthcare are non-stories to me because our government pisses away more money than both of these for a lot other worthless crap. There is wasteful spending in all levels of government from local to Federal. It’s a waste of time to try to chase money that’s already gone. Just make sure that it doesn’t happen again.

          • @LKB, Was a post of mine edited? I am not aware of any. I have “committed” no libelous act against you. If it was the news article that you are calling libelous, that is public information. For it to be libelous, it would also have to be false. If it is something else, that the only thing that you have proven is that once again you are being hypocrite when you say you have never tried to censor someone.

      • You have done well to remind us of the odious hypocrisy of this liberal hacktivist. The denial of responsibility and the oblique language (“things happened”–“unfortunate situation”) is typical of liberals. These excuses are never accepted from conservatives, but we are supposed to give a free pass to liberals spewing them and send all their history down the memory hole.

        Nor surprisingly, it did not take long for the incorrigible liberal racists here to don their robes and hoods. I have limited patience for RINOpublicans, Phyllip, but the liberal racist attacks against you are a sad reminder of the hatred that animates their entire ideology.

        • I hope that you weren’t trying to label me as a RINO. I’m farther right than most people that you know. I’m just not an obstructionist or a rigid idealogue. I’m not against government spending, I’m for responsible spending. If you ever sat down and spoke with me you would know that.

          As for the racial remarks, I’ve lived in SW Indiana for about 25 years. I’ve come to expect racism from a high percentage of people. I still have the scars on my knuckles from all of the skinheads and “rednecks” that I dealt with in my teenage years. Racism is why I normally operate anonymously. As soon as people discover that I’m black, that’s where the conversations break down into racial taunts. The only thing that they can see is the color of my skin. From there, we can not have any progress.

          • Phyllip trust me on this one here
            The biggest portion of the people on here do not care of your family history be proud of who you and your ancestors are
            It’s your politics that people do not like ,it’s too dirty just like wayne parke and Lloyd winicke and Jon weinzapfel’s
            We have a right way and a wrong way to do things and our mare continues to do the wrong thing costing tax payers money we just can’t afford while Politicans and cronies are raking in mega bucks,,,they have no ethics and are stealing from taxpayers

  10. You’d think this is about as flagrantly bad as it can get unless you consider the actors.

    At least there is a media outlet in Evansville covering the scandal, and pretty well too. Another one covered Winnecke’s ‘selfie’ today. I guess he took to heart the streetcorner advice he’s been getting to ‘go selfie his selfie’.

    The loan security mentioned in the new agreement is air, bad air at that. It underscores the truth of ‘nothing from nothing leaves nothing’.

    Winnecke, Dewey, et al can’t be trusted with public money. They are susceptible to cheap conmen. It is time for them to take an early powder, escorted to the city limits if they won’t go voluntarily.

  12. How about Rutledge and Yeager buying the loan, splitting the amount equally between Banterra and ECB, and give the city back the balance due on the 200K loan? Both banks can then be free to collect the interest on the loan and everyone wins.

    • Best idea yet. Let these two bankers who would get their asses fired if they did this in their day jobs buy the paper from the City of Evansville for $186,000. Hell, give it to them at a 50% discount just to be done with it. I bet any and all a T-Bone steak that neither Banterra or ECB would buy this note at a 50% discount. They wouldn’t do it for a 75% discount either. But that koozzee buying Banker Lloyd did the deal and danced about how great it was.

  14. Is there absolutely NOTHING the city council can do about this most disgusting act??

  15. Emailed C&P Editor this afternoon about why C&P is not coming down on reporting of the EarthCare situation and got this response:

    “It could be that the firm is meeting its loan requirements. When that doesn’t happy, then it’s a story and not partisan conjecture. Real reporting is giving facts, not speculating”.

    Had told him in the first email, he need to go to the CCO and find out what is going on.

    I would hardly think the CCO’s stories are “partisan conjecture”. Thanks CCO.

    • The Courier is “in the tank” for Winhnecke, because it looks more and more like they’re going to have some downtown real estate for sale soon. I don’t see how they can stay in business much longer.

      • The Courier is in the tank for whoever has any power/control. Be it A supposed Republican mayor in po-dunk Evansville, or the liberal dictator president They like all the news stations in town can’t bring themselves to actually report and investigate events in the city or country, because they are afraid of upsetting those in charge and losing favor.

    • The C&P is a part of the cover up. Do you really believe that C&P would not jump on a story about a proposed 2-Year Extension on this Loan (whether Earthcare is current or not) ?

      C & P reports on a LOT of really trivial shit in their paper. To not report on this speaks VOLUMES !

  16. The name of the borrower is now Enviro Energy, LLC not Earth Care Energy, LLC..someone in the mayor’s office needs to look up the name change done in TX..it looks like when the new LLC was formed in TX, the Earthcare name was already taken, hence the new name..it does not appear that the old NV corp, has been dissolved..to be on the safe side both should be listed as borrowers. It does not appear the NV LLC was mergerd into the Texas LLC either. Jeezz!!?? And no I don’t trust them to get the borrower’s name correct or to verify the NV LLC has no assets in it and is no longer a voting concern.

  17. Lol. The DMD recommendation has politics written all over it, your not fooling us guys. Odd though I don’t hear much of an uproar when Obama unconstitutionally delays certain parts of the ACA for the same reasons.

  18. The Mayor must not have a very high opinion of the people who elected him. He obviously believes we are all so stupid that we will fall for anything he tells us. We may be surprised at how many people go for this line.

  19. Everyone please submit a letter to the editor of the cp requesting an investigation of the extension, and if the assets have already been laundered.

    • Ditto.

      Plus a letter on the legal bills. Of course we haven’t heard the other side on the legal bills but I agree 100% on bidding out the legal work each year. Of course that can be rigged too.

  21. There is no company called EARTHCARE ENERGY, LLC registered with the Texas Secretary of State’s office at this time.

    __

    • In February 2012, President Barack Obama’s Startup America partnered with Indiegogo to offer crowdfunding to entrepreneurs in the U.S.

      ___

      • Crowdfunding is not yet legal for equity investments. The Jobs Act of 2012 passed that April stated that crowdfunding would be up an running and that non accredited investors could legally invest in start-up equity by December 31, 2012. It is still not completed. Indiegogo and Kickstarter are still mired down with crowdbegging social types of projects where donations are sought.

        Everyday people who work for a living can still buy lottery tickets and gamble in a casino though.

  23. Phyllip Davis says:

    March 3, 2014 at 9:43 pm

    In other words, man up & meet me to discuss your displeasure. What does color have to do with anything. Only a racist brings color into the conversation. I would care if Laura is purple, I still would have called her out on that issue. Why do my words give you a feeling of conviction on an entire race. I know that all white people aren’t jackasses, you are one of the few. Furthermore, it is common knowledge that Democrats are racist. That’s why blacks live under the worst conditions wherever there has been Democrat control for decades. To be honest, your main issue is that I’ve left your Democrat plantation.
    ================================================

    So it’s not OK to make sweeping generalizations about a whole race of people, but making sweeping generalizations about a whole political party are OK??

    I’m corn-fused.

    • It’s the body of work. I can not remember being subject to racism from Republicans. Every time I experience racism, it’s from a Democrat. We could speak historically on it and go back 150 years to the Democrats enforcers, the KKK or we can stay current and talk about the Democrats that support the number one killer of blacks…abortion. We can look at a map and look to cities like Detroit, DC, Baltimore, New Orleans, LA, Chicago…all cities that have been under Democrat control and all cities where black people suffer at a disproportionate level of poverty and violence. Tell me a piece of legislation for blacks that did not start with Republicans and/or start with opposition from Democrats. The beloved Kennedys thought that the civil rights fight of the 60’s was a distraction for their agenda. If it weren’t for the vicious attacks of the Democrats in the south against the Freedom Riders, the Kennedys would have never been forced to get involved. The other Democrat civil rights hero, LBJ, voted against the civil rights act of 1957 before signing it into law a few years later. That was obviously a political move. I could go on and on. There is no reason that a black person should vote Democrat.

      • So who are the voter ID laws aimed at?? Study after study shows that minorities and the poor were/are highly disproportionaly affected. You might say it’s their problem/responisbility but you can’t deny who it effects.

        Ed Jackson was Gov of Indiana and an open promient member of the KKK, he was also republican. What does that have to do with today’s GOP? Nothing!!

        ALL politicians sought the endorsement of the KKK in the 1920’s and ’30’s especially here in IN.

        LBJ voted against the civil rights act in 1957 because Texas and the country wasn’t ready for it.
        It was hard enough to get it passed in ’64-65. Fair? NO. Reality yes.

        Politicians positions evolve just like their constituents evolve. See Obama and gay marriage rights. I don’t look at the poltical world through the lens of political parties. Politicians change their views as the times change.

        I seek out those who support egalatarianism, universal healthcare, public schools, science, equal rights, separation of church and state, strong regulations that protect our environment, animals and natural habitat.

        I see the Democratic party supporting those things more than Republicans. I strongly support liberals and progressives, most of the time I settle for Demos.

        • To assume that Voter ID laws are aimed at blacks is racist. You guys just can’t help it. Do you think that black people have more difficulty acquiring proper identification? Voter ID laws are aimed at criminals. Those that vote illegally to be specific. You have to show ID to get a pack of smokes or a beer. Is that racism against blacks too? Why would anyone not want to make our elections as legitimate as possible?

        • You sound like an interesting person Brains. I could never understand why strong environmental laws are not supported by both parties. In my view, these regs can make very good economic sense which is what Reps say they stand for. I believe that if we do not start paying attention to the earth on which we live and quit being so self-centered and consumer-oriented, we will be in bigger trouble than we are now in short order. But then I don’t really care about the party system. I vote the individual. The money that is wasted on the Rep and Dem parties could turn around the whole country in many many many ways. And so much time is spent on arguing about who is right and who is wrong. If all that energy were put toward productive uses, we would get somewhere.

          • We met once during the Wesselman Woods softball Council hearings.

            I will get in contact with you one of these days.

      • People who get on the interwebs and talk about the KKK being formed by Democrats without realizing the huge exodus of racists from the party in 1964 I go ahead and dismiss as idiots. It’s one of the most common republican misconceptions out there. It’s akin to saying Abraham Lincoln would be a republican today.

        • I don’t think that it’s a misconception at all. Most people know that several of the Dixie-crats eventually becamse Republicans. Several of the card-carrying members of the Klan stayed in the Democrat party with Robert Byrd being the most memorable one. Democrats always try to throw the racist label around when their party is the only one that had an openly racist terrorist network as their poltical strongarm. The fact still remains that the Democrat party is the party of slavery and control, they just find less offensive ways to implement their control.

        • Well if you are such the expert on the situation, why don’t you explain it too us and give us some links to read about it ourselves. That way we can put the information in context and not take the word of someone already committed to the other side of the story.

      • You infer the white people of Detriot, chicago, DC, and all vote Democrat, then move, forcing black people to live in run-down corrupt, bankrupt cities. I don’t play the race card, but I fail to see your point of view.

        • The cities that I mentioned are pre-dominantly black. I’ve never inferred that white people did anything. I said that they are under a long period of Democrat control. I don’t play the race card but you did by trying to read race into my statement that was solely based on politics.

Comments are closed.