IS IT TRUE September 4, 2012
IS IT TRUE that former Governor Joe Kernan issued the following statement to the people of Evansville and Vanderburgh County regarding consolidation:
“”The citizens of Evansville and Vanderburgh County should be very proud of the great work that has been done to create a unified local government plan for the greater good of the community.
“Your local government will be less redundant, better organized, more efficient, less expensive for all taxpayers, and very importantly more transparent and easier for everyone to understand.
“Your community has stepped to the front of the pack because of enlightened leadership and citizen participation. You will set the standard for the rest of Indiana on how to best provide local government services to your citizens.
“Congratulations on moving this process along as far as you have. Now just push it across the line in November.
IS IT TRUE that upon learning of this statement opponents of consolidation took Governor Kernan to task on this competence regarding this issue?…coming from South Bend and finding his way into the Governor’s office by virtue of the death of Governor O’Bannon do not allegedly give Governor Kernan and experience at all in governing a consolidated city-county?
IS IT TRUE that gasoline was reported this morning to have set a record for high prices nationwide for the Labor Day weekend?…that gasbuddy.com reports today that the average price of a gallon of gas in the United States is $3.80 per gallon which is indeed the highest ever for a Labor Day weekend but not the highest ever but it is close?…that El Paso gets the award for the most affordable gas at $3.43 but that our friends in Chicago get the award for getting hosed the worse paying an average of $4.33?…that here in Evansville we are still paying above average prices at $3.87?…paying above average prices may be worth it if we were not getting clubbed with excessive prices for electricity too?…what would really ease the pain of high energy costs would be some higher wages?…that as long as our local schools continue to see ISTEP scores fall that it is going to be difficult to attract better paying jobs to this region?
IS IT TRUE that the embattled President Obama has hauled out the Alpha President Bill Clinton to take to the television to ask American voters for 4 more years for the incumbent who has had a very fiery past with President Clinton?…that President Clinton has accused then candidate Obama of pulling the race card on his wife’s campaign in 2008 and recently referred to the business career of Republican candidate Mitt Romney as “STERLINGâ€?…President Clinton reminisces in the commercial about how great the economy was during his administration and how four more years for President Obama is just the cure for the stubborn malaise of an economy we have now?…that President Clinton must have forgotten a few things about his years in the White House if he is confusing 2012 with his second term?…President Clinton’s time in office was economically a very good time for America and was from a policy perspective more like the times of President Reagan than President Obama?…the wheels did fall off of the stock market bus at the end of the Clinton presidency just like the wheels fell off of the housing bus at the end of the Bush presidency?
IS IT TRUE the Obama campaign was out in full force this weekend asserting that in spite of high unemployment, falling wages, doubled gas prices, skyrocketing energy prices, and over a 20% rise in the price of necessities like food that we are all better off than we were four years ago?…that politics surely does make strange bedfellows and even stranger rationalizations?…that even for staunch democrats to hear words like “we really are better off now than four years ago†not only counters President Obama’s own words but has about the same believability factor as claiming that a head of lettuce is a filet mignon?…as one of our favorite songs states, “we won’t get fooled again†may become the anthem for this presidential campaign?…that applies to lies and distortions coming from both campaigns?
Gas is going up today. Get it at the current price while you can.
Your prediction came true. I took your word and filled up at Marina Pointe yesterday morning. Then in the afternoon, gasoline in Evansville went from 3.779 to 3.999, a huge jump.
I expected to see wholesale gasoline price jump an equivilent 25c, but when I got home and looked at the ticker tape on CNBC, I was surprised to find wholesale gasoline HAD DROPPED 10c below what it had been last Friday (down to 2.952 from Friday’s quote of 3.064).
Remember, federal and Indiana tax combined is 62c, and everything above that tag-on is gross profit for the retailer. Typically, retailers are satisfied with a 3c to 6c per gallon add-on above the wholesale price plus 62c.
So, after being gouged all through the Labor Day weekend, Evansville motorists now are being gouged an additional 22c per gallon. This morning, if you pay 3.999 per gallon, you are paying $1.04 PER GALLON over the wholesale quote of 2.956! That’s 42c per gallon gross profit for the gougers. That’s your dine-out lunch for a day that you get your tank filled. (Pack a peanut butter sandwich today.)
It’s horrible! Gougers are wrecking our local economy. Nobody does anything about it. What would the candidates for Indiana Governor do about this? Ask them, if you get a chance. I emailed the Sec. of State and Atty. Gen. candidates about this in past elections and got zero response from any of them. This is an economy wrecker. Nobody seems to care.
My prediction wasn’t ESP or anything, if you go to Thornton’s, they have a number on their pumps that you can send a text to and it will get you on a text distribution list. They will then send you a text letting you know when gas is about to go up. They only send out the notification when the price is going to go up $0.10 or more and they usually give you at least 8 hours notice.
Kernan, along with Evansville native Randy Shelard, spent quite a bit of time studying the issue and published their findings in the Kernan-Shepard report.
Joe Kernan was the Democrat half of the Kernan-Shepard Commission that proposed the Kernan-Shepard Plan of “government reform.” That plan essentially was a clone of a segment of the State Chamber of Commerce’s Compete Plan, which segment covered the reconstruction of local government.
Am I surprised that Joe Kernan continues to push the Chamber’s effort to restructure local government to a form that makes it easier for the Chamber to control the political policies in local government? Are you?
The Editor forgets… The final line in “Won’t get Fooled Again” is “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”
At some point Americans have to realize corrupt politicians from BOTH parties have taken us for a ride on a merry-go-round and we have to find the off switch. The rank and file in the local parties need to start pushing back against the machinery at the state and national party and let them know we’ve had enough, not just take marching orders as read.
We need standard bearers in our local parties who will take the mantle of small government seriously and not just spend $10 MILLION on another PARK.
The Republican Party has been infiltrated by a breed of politicians who are substantively no different than Democrats. When our last two Republican nominees have supported bailouts, we have a major f#$%ing problem. We either have to try to work with these parties to turn them around or I fear wholesale abandonment by the throngs of people crying out for something truly different.
Why am I so hard on the Republican Party when I myself am a member? That’s a good question and one that’s very easy to answer… If you were a teacher who saw two kids being unruly in your class – one normally an exceptional A student and one perennial D student – which one would you give the bigger lecture to? Chances are, the D student hears it all the time and won’t pay attention anyway, but the A student has potential to turn things around. That is why I criticize my own party so much, in case you were wondering.
Who care what Kernan thinks!
If he views were so respected why did Daniels beat him 2 to 1 in his bid to be elected Governor.
I can see it now, Joe was sitting at home when out of the blue a thought popped into his head: You know, those people in Vanderburgh county would be better off if the people managing Evansville were put in charge of the whole shooting match down there! After all, they have done such an exemplary job managing the city.
Sheeeeezzzzz, this from the party that bankrupted the state?
Mitch Daniels is in favor of streamlining local government also, but this proposed plan produces no savings and streamlines nothing. Hell, the two largest employee groups involved have agreed on NOTHING, and their approval would be vital, otherwise you have no plan!
Weinzapfel and the Chamber spent themselves into a corner over the 8 years of his administration and this non plan is their desperate attempt to come up with the cash to bail them out.
What really needs to take place is a total change in Evansville’s government. The managerial class that has taken Evansville down this road has to be replaced with competent people who care more about Evansville and her citizens than accruing personal power and wealth from an elected position.
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Wonder what the “Queen of Political Nepotism” County Commissionor, Marsha Abell thinks about this issue?
Who is accusing Abell of having anything to think with?
It appears to me she has forgot more than you know. What have you done to help our citizens?
Is this that Abell lady who hired her step son to be a department head of a county funded agency?
That is her!
For the umteenth time, who was hired at what position and salary please.
Seems like valid questions. If anyone has details, please share them.
BigPappa, you need ask County Commissioner, Joe Kiefer because he helped Marsha Abell pull this back room political deal of “Nepotism” off at the end of the County Commissioners agenda!
Remember, both County Commissioners, Joe Kiefer and Marsha Abell campaigned on open and honest government!
Is it true….That the DNC has removed any reference God in their 2012 platform?
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To that I will refer to the writings of a gentleman we all know and respect:
“I have lived sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men. And, if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, sir, in the sacred writings, that ‘except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.;
“I firmly believe this; and I also believe, that, without his concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel;…
“I therefore beg leave to move, that henceforth prayers, imploring the assistance of heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business: and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service.” (Benjamin Franklin)
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“History I believe furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance, of which their political as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purpose. ” — Thomas Jefferson 1813
Jefferson was sitting in the room when Dr. Franklin uttered the above words. If he had objected, do you not think such a principled man would have spoken up?
Acknowledging Divine Providence is not the same thing as a Theocracy. We, as a country, have acknowledged Divine Providence. It is the most prominent part of our constitution and it states:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,……”
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I will not debate the subject further with you, as neither you nor anyone else will alter my position.
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A praying politician is usually about as genuine as a jackalope. If and when you see them, beware.
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