Open Forum Weekend March 21-22, 2015

93

IS IT TRUE we thank you for your support and look forward to bringing you the news in a way that not only brings you into the discussion but makes you feel compelled to participate? ..the CCO is alive and well and remains your community watchdog?

93 COMMENTS

  1. Read Gail Riecken’s article re: Mesker Amphitheater in c/p this morning (Saturday).

    She got it right (all of the emphasis downtown). But since she voted for IU Med School . . . is that fair ?

    However, why break out this soundbite now? LW has already perceived this as a threat, and is meeting with the West Side Nut Club so he can say he’s ” on it”. Seems like a better play would be to say Mesker should have been fixed BEFORE all the money had vanished !

    Also, without a concrete plan proposed, her statement ends up just being a platitude.

    I will vote for ANYONE but Winnecke, but hope Gail can get a little more focused.

    • Jim, When i read Ms Riecken’s quotes or releases it reads just like LKB’s posts on this site.

          • It’s still much better than yours. Actually there is nothing wrong with my comments. They are right on the money. So I don’t have to modify anything or think to be better than you. You are the one that needs to try much harder. 🙂

          • Moveon is a poor writer, so can be excused. His posts don’t make an argument, they boil down to Pee Wee: “I know you are, but what am I?” He’s thin-skinned, and worse, boring.

        • The contents of the letter needed to be said and heard . It just should have gone to Mr Obama.

          If our CinC would not shun allies and then trust the Islamic Republic of Iran in a unilateral treaty without the advise and consent of congress, he certainly should not expect to build support for his foreign policy. Our president hates the Jews and would rather be allied with a nearly nuclear Iran then to join forces with our ally Israel for the imminent war. Iran considers us the Great Satan. Obama’s charm and wit will not make them like us. Strength is what they respect and not drawing vacuous red lines.

        • The common denominator in conservative post ring with logic and ideas. That’s why they sound the same to you…those are concepts not tossed around in liberal circles except for the logic of creating an underclass of people who choose to vote for a living instead of working for one. A built in, ever expanding voting block. That’s very logical. Ideals include. Having theyoung and healthy provide health care for the poor and sick. Everybody eats but not everyone is on food stamps. Help those who CANNOT HELP THEMSELVES. TOO LOGICAL. A giant miasma of rules and regulations with a nearly two million dollar we site as its catalyst, what a cluster f*«k.

      • You need to get your eyes checked by a real eye doctor. And after that you might need a brain scan to see what’s wrong with your way of thinking. Some wires seemed to be crossed.

        Do you really think it’s strange that two democrats think alike? Every time I see the EC&P editorials I could swear they were written by some Republican like you Cowboy.

        Stop trolling in here and go back to your EC&P cubical.

          • I don’t care what you think Paper Boy. I only read some articles. Most of them are not worth reading. The subject matter is boring and poorly written. If I didn’t know better I would think that Riverfront Shem was working for the Paper.

    • The money is GONE….between the utility and the City operations the pooh has blown nearly 11 MILLION during 2014…while many including some on this crazy council have been drinking the kool-aid facilitating the Mad Hater and his Queen of Hearts and quite frankly every one of the our elected officials need to start preparing their resumes from Winnecke to the last person on the council . . . .

      • @onceuponatime:

        You make a great point. Ms. Riecken should be saying . . . the money is GONE. Even if I wanted to support other projects around the City . . . the money is GONE. I vow to FIND where the money went; FIND out why we can’t reconcile our Bank Account; and make the tough choices down the road to keep this City solvent.

  2. Its too bad it takes an election year for politicians to finally start caring about the closure of Mesker Amphitheater for lack of basic maintenance.

    • Yea the Mayor shut it down when he was first elected and didn’t even talk about it much until he figured out that the election is getting closer.

  3. Under leadership of the Chicago Community Organizer-in-Chief, guess what Country is leading in the world in security concerns during the Iranian nuclear talks: …………..yep, the French.

    “LAUSANNE, Switzerland—France is again adopting the toughest line against Iran in negotiations aimed at curbing Tehran’s nuclear program, potentially placing Paris at odds with the Obama administration as a diplomatic deadline to forge an agreement approaches at month-end.

    President Barack Obama called French President François Hollande on Friday to discuss the Iran diplomacy and try to unify their positions. The presidents “reaffirmed their commitment” to a deal “while noting that Iran must take steps to resolve several remaining issues,” the White House said.

    French diplomats have been publicly pressing the U.S. and other world powers not to give ground on key elements—particularly the speed of lifting U.N. sanctions and the pledge to constrain Iran’s nuclear research work—ahead of the March 31 target.

    Paris also appears to be operating on a different diplomatic clock than Washington, arguing that the date is an “artificial” deadline and that global powers should be willing to wait Tehran out for a better deal if necessary.”

    “Making the end of March an absolute deadline is counterproductive and dangerous,” France’s ambassador to the U.S., Gérard Araud, said via Twitter after the latest round of negotiations in Switzerland concluded Friday.

    http://www.wsj.com/articles/european-leaders-discuss-iran-nuclear-talks-1426845251

    Even the French can see that Obama’s proposed agreement for a uranium enrichment program for the radical Islamic Iranian regime is “dangerous”. God help us all as Americas greatest national security threat lives in the White House. The following will blow you away and make you ask if Obama is confused and believes he is the President of Hezbollah:

    “Quietly and unassumingly, Iran and Hezbollah have been removed from the list of terrorism threats in a report delivered to the U.S. Senate by the director of National Intelligence, James Clapper.

    Iran and Hezbollah had been listed as terror threats for many years in the agency’s previous reports. This year’s report, published on Feb. 26, 2015, comes amid the U.S. negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program. Hezbollah, a Shiite terrorist organization, is generally viewed as a fealty to Iran. The group was designated by the U.S. as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997.

    The report assessed Iran as having the capacity to build nuclear weapons if they chose to do so, saying that would face no “insurmountable technical barriers to producing a nuclear weapon.” The report also asssessed that Iranian intercontinental ballistic missiles – a technology that Iran has been steadily developing and testing – would be how those nuclear weapons would be delivered. The report also mentioned threats emanating from Iran through counterintelligence and cyber warfare.

    Last year’s report said that Iran and Hezbollah directly threatened the interests of U.S. allies and that Hezbollah had increased its “global terrorist activity.”

    http://www.clarionproject.org/news/iran-hezbollah-omitted-threats-natl-intel-report

    “Iran has unveiled its latest missile project, a surface-to-surface cruise missile with capabilities of reaching 1,500 miles (2,500 kilometers). The announcement comes in the final weeks before the March 31 deadline set for the world powers to make an agreement with Iran regarding its nuclear program.

    The new missile effectively puts the entire Middle East – including U.S. ships in the Persian Gulf – as well as Israel, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and other parts of eastern and central Europe in Iranian missile range.

    With external fuel tanks, the missile is capable of an increased range of 3,000 km. In addition, according to a foreign expert, the missile is capable of being launched from a plane as well as outfitted with a nuclear warhead, significantly increasing its reach.”

    http://www.clarionproject.org/news/iran-unveils-new-far-reaching-surface-surface-missile-system#

    • Joe, I saw a report on the Administration quitely dropping Iran and Hezbollah from the terrorist list. I heard they later said it was a mistake. That was a little test to see if anyone was paying attention to the deal they have already cut with Iran and the U.N. without going through our Congress. Our hope is someone will show better sense that our current leaders. Thank you France. It’s a shame our main stream media doesn’t care enough about the country to cover it.

      • Yeah and Charles Manson would lead a good productive live if we would trust him and let him out of prison.

  4. Did you notice that our majority leader in the house has scheduled a trip to Israel during their recess? It’s good that someone is trying to repair some of the damage done by Ms. Jarrett and the President.

    • The person doing damage to the country is the house of representatives who are acting as if they were the commander and chief.

      • The contents of the letter needed to be said and heard . It just should have gone to Mr Obama.

        If our CinC would not shun allies and then trust the Islamic Republic of Iran in a unilateral treaty without the advise and consent of congress, he certainly should not expect to build support for his foreign policy. Our president hates the Jews and would rather be allied with a nearly nuclear Iran then to join forces with our ally Israel for the imminent war. Iran considers us the Great Satan. Obama’s charm and wit will not make them like us. Strength is what they respect and not drawing vacuous red lines.

        • You conveniently left out any discussion about ISIS which the Iranians are helping to fight. Would you leave ISIS to take over Syria and Iraq? I think not. Iran is helping us defeat ISIS and we will do our best to delay Iran’s acquisition of an atomic weapon for as long as we can. In the meantime we might as well use them to fight ISIS. Let them die fighting ISIS. I guess you would prefer that we send in our own USA troops to die to Clean up the Mess that the Idiot Texan CIC left for us.

          We can deal with Iran later. Even if we helped Israel bomb Iran we could not destroy their nuclear weapon facilities without sending in ground troops. Would you really want to do that? I sure hope not. Then we would have to put troops into Iran, Iraq and Syria at the same time. Maybe you should be the one writing letters to the mothers of the dead US soldiers. I get sick and tired of you war monger gripping about the President. Have you got no honor or respect for this country?

          First we use Iran to defeat ISIS and try to secure Iraq which was not that much of a problem until Sadam invaded Kuwait and then formed up his troops along the Saudi boarder. I agreed with what Bush # 1 did to stop Iraq and Saddam from staying in Kuwait. But Bush 1 was smart enough to decide not to go into Iraq. He chose to just isolate Saddam and that was working better than what we have not. IMHO.

          Bush 2 goes around invading all these countries in the Middle East and has started them into a Jihad and they won’t stop until we are out of the Middle East. They are drawing Muslims from all around the world. That’s what happened when Saladin Defeated the Knights Templars and the Muslim too back the Middle East.

          After WWII we divided up the Middle East without regard to religious beliefs. That’s the root cause of most of the problems in the Middle East today. We forgot that there are Sunni and Shia Muslims and failed to group them together properly. And we stuck Israel right in the middle there which further made them mad. The middle east is a mess and we would have been better off staying out of there.

          • Iran is a far bigger threat than Isis. And in this case, “The enemy of our enemy is OUR ENEMY.

          • Mega I disagree. ISIS is a threat now and we can are will use Iran to help defeat ISIS before we take on Iran. One enemy at a time.

    • Cowboy, Obama and John Kerry are on acid trips trying to negotiate with this fine gentleman over a radical Islamic regime’s uranium enrichment program:

      “Iran’s Supreme leader Ali Khamenei called for “Death to America” on Saturday, a day after President Barack Obama appealed to Iran to seize a “historic opportunity” for a nuclear deal and a better future, and as US Secretary of State John Kerry claimed substantial progress toward an accord.”

      “But Khamenei warned against expectations that even a done deal would mend the more than three-decade freeze between the two nations in place since the Iranian revolution and siege of the American Embassy, proclaiming that Washington and Tehran remained on opposite sides on most issues.

      “Negotiations with America are solely on the nuclear issue and nothing else. Everyone has to know that,” Khamenei said.”

      http://www.timesofisrael.com/khamenei-calls-death-to-america-as-kerry-hails-progress-on-nuke-deal/

      • OK then, tell us what you would do to stop Iran from getting the A bomb.

        This should be good!

        Please, no more cut and paste BS.

        • Silence? Just as I thought! You guys are so full of BS that it’s pathetic. You don’t have a clue as to what to do. If you think you can do a better job as President then why don’t you run for office. IE PUT UP OR SHUT UP>

          • With the low oil prices and with real tight sanctions their economy would be almost stopped. It was almost that way before the oil prices crashed. If they were still in office and developing the bomb then it’s time to send in the missiles and bombs on their facilities. Even their places in S. America if need be. Their economy was in trouble. I think that is why they were more open to talks. That and it was to their benefit to do it while they had an easy mark in the White House.

          • Cowboy: If I actually thought that we could take out the Iranian infrastructure without starting WWIII I would do it in a heart beat that’s not the case
            1st we can’t destroy it with anything less than a nuclear weapon that can burrow 50 to 100 ft down into the earth. And Russia, Pakistan, India, and China would not be happy with us being down wind from the blast. Unless you want to end the world prematurely I’d highly recommend that we don’t start WWIII using Nukes. Conventional weapons can’t do the job. Iran is not stupid. The Arabs discovered Algebra and the Persians ruled large areas for thousands of years. China controls the flow of rare earth minerals that we can’t do without unless we don’t want to have computers, lasers, cell phones and F35 jets. So we better not piss off the Chinese and the others with our use of atomic weapons. Think man. Hopefully you are smarter than you appear. Maybe not.

          • Move on, It is a lot easier to bring their economy to it’s knees than to use military option. Do you think China an others will be upset with them when they try to wipe Israel off the map. They have stated that as a goal. Our non-nuke bombs may not get down to their facilities but they would make it very costly for anyone going in or out of them. Last but not least. You say you hope i am smarter than i appear. Where do or did you see me ? I thought V was the only one on here to admit stalking.

          • Cowboy. We tried sanctions and they don’t work. North Korea is helping Iran get the Bomb. We can’t control how the entire world works. We tried and it didn’t work. Beside we already have plenty of sanctions on Iran. We had sanctions on North Korea but that didn’t stop them from getting the Bomb.

          • Move, The sanctions were working. That is one big reason that they are talking to us. They needed their money we had tied up and the Pres. gave them a lot of it just to talk to us.

        • Moveon, the Israeli’s wanted to put the Iranian nuclear weapons program out of business by bombing it. Obama opposed that. So now the Community Organizer-in-Chief is busy with this:

          “Iran is an outright jihadist imperialist power, and it has been called the biggest terror sponsor by our State Department — before Obama told it to shut up. Iran now controls the Syrian regime of Assad, the Houthi conquerors in Yemen’s capital of Sanaa, parts of Iraq, much of Lebanon, and at times the Hamas-occupied Gaza strip. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards are fighting in Iraq and Syria. Contrary to New York Times propaganda, the “smiling Ayatollah” Rouhani is actually grinning like a tiger after a big kill.

          Obama’s so-called “nuclear agreement” by the US and Europeans is simply a retreat before the most dangerous new rogue nuclear power. This is so barefaced a betrayal that even the US Congress is alarmed.

          http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/03/obamas_jihadist_bias_and_israel.html

          • Israel is going to get us all killed someday. Why don’t you join the Air Force and lead the Attack on Iran. Good luck with that. You may end up like John McCain and spend some time in a prisoner of war camp. McCain is mental at best. I wish Obama would have him and the other 48 GOP Senators arrested and charged under the Logan Act. If Obama was really a hard ball player that is what he would do. I’m not sure you can continue to serve in the US Senate if you are a traitor and sitting in prison. McCain was tortured and I’m not so sure it didn’t have a negative effect on his thinking. He was last or close to last in his class at the US Naval Academy and so he was not too smart to begin with.

          • Joe. I know that Obama and other’s opposed Israel trying to take out the Iranian nuclear facilities. I’m old enough to remember when Israel took out the Egyptian air fields and planes in the 7 day war with Israel. Israel did a pre-empt strike and it worked.

            But the Iranians are not going to be so easy. They have their facilities buried deep enough to not be susceptible to airstrikes. It would take a ground attack to disable them. And what if Iran already has one or two bombs and they use them in retaliation or defense. We are talking about Nukes guys. These are not to be messed with. We don’t want to start WWIII which would turn into a nuclear war. No one would have the restraint from using their nukes if others like Iran or Pakistan or even Russia fired off a nuke. I personally don’t trust Iran with any nukes. I don’t trust North Korea with Nukes but they have them now. I don’t trust China or Russia with Nukes. Lately Russia has been sending their nuclear armed war planes (Bear Bombers) done the English Channel and off the coast of Alaska more than they did after the fall of the Soviet Union. The levels of Russian fights have increased to the levels they had during the cold war years. Putin is sending the world a message during the crisis in the Baltic States and Crimea. Should we get into a war with Russia to help protect all the new NATO territories that boarder Russian what will we do when a bigger war breaks out in the MIddle East? China is threating Japan over territory and North Korea continues to rattle the cage.

            Let the Commander in Chief handle the US Armed Forces. Israel is a thorn in our side IMHO. John McCain is crazy and needs to learn some diplomacy. It was guys like him that started the American Civil War. And that didn’t turn out too well for the Southern Secessionist.

    • She got tired of hearing people like “givemeabreak”. See his post above and you will understand why.

      • Curious as there has NEVER been a comment cast onto the surface of this pond that hasn’t compelled her to rise to the surface to strike at it.

        • She is showing restraint or else someone hacked into her computer or it broke. But that can’t be the case as she is still posting on other web sites like Evansville Transparency and Evansville Post

          • I am thinking she has chosen to limit her exposure to conflict and avarice. Getting closely involved in a candidates campaign could temper ones outburst. Just speculation of course.

  5. All of the solutions to economic problems put forward thus far involve borrowing money for fun and games projects. That formula has never ever worked anywhere except maybe Las Vegas. Where is the well thought out plan for long term sustainable economic growth?

  6. Boehner should be jailed for treason. Why are the Republicans turning our government over to Israel? Imagine the howling from right wing nut jobs if a Democrat congress brought in a foreign leader in a political stunt to undermine a sitting president?

    • I doubt the Repub president would turn his back on one of our allies. Also, in my time i don’t recall having a Pres. who thinks he is a dictator until this one. Others could maintain a working relationship with congress without trying to divide the country.

      • Why do we have to support Israel, the agressor in the region? $$$$$$ Why do we support Bush’s blood brothers, the Saudi royal family? $$$$$ You people are sheep if you think this is about religion.

        • Aggressor huh? By nature of the fact they are artfully practiced warriors with technologically advanced means of warfare and thoroughly trounce those that loft missiles and dig tunnels into their homeland? You have a twisted view of world affairs and the middle east Toad man.

    • The socialists have a fit when the Israeli’s call out Obama for aiding an Islamic terrorist regime. Thank goodness for Senator Cotton and the other 46 patriots who did the same.

      “Today, President Obama is threatening to bypass the Senate entirely and conclude an “executive agreement” with the rulers of Iran. Sec. Kerry helpfully explains that we cannot sign a treaty with Iran because we don’t have diplomatic relations with Iran. We don’t have diplomatic relations with Iran because they seized and still hold our U.S. Embassy, they subjected 52 American prisoners to torture and mock executions for 444 days. They murdered 241 U.S. Marines and Navy Corpsmen in Beirut when they invented suicide bombing. And they equipped our enemies in Afghanistan and Iraq, killing and wounding thousands of U.S. soldiers. Does this sound like a regime whose word on an “executive agreement” can be trusted?

      http://patriotpost.us/opinion/34054

      • Joe. Kerry says we don’t have diplomatic relations with Iran, which we don’t. Then who are our “diplomats” negotiating with? More to the point, given reports on the “negotiations”, whose side are our “negotiators” on.

        • Cowboy, Obama is negotiating away the security of Israel, Egypt and Jordan with radical Islamic terrorists with ICBs and a uranium enrichment program.

          • Why is it up to us to protect Israel? They can take care of themselves.

          • That’s not true Joe. I wonder if you really think that and if you think for yourself or if you let talk radio right wing-nuts think for you?

            BTW: The King of Jordan is helping the USA destroy ISIS. Egypt is helping us destroy ISIS too. And the Israelis can take care of themselves pretty well with all the support that the Obama administration has given to them. Things like the anti rocket rockets to protect Israel from the Hezbollah rocket attacks

          • Jordan and Egypt are fighting ISIS in spite of Obama.

            ” For example, the US is delaying the shipment of tanks, spare parts and other weapons that the army desperately needs in its war against Islamic State.

            So why is it? Why is an administration that seemingly has made fighting ISIS one of its missions choking off a would-be friendly state under ISIS assault?

            The administration’s coziness with the Brotherhood—the incubus of modern Sunni terror, subject of a possible imminent crackdown in Britain—is well known (see, for instance, here and here). Thus, is the punishment for overthrowing a Brotherhood regime—even when that overthrow was backed by the most massive popular protest in history—getting thrown to the dogs amid an ISIS siege?

            “According to an Egyptian official,” says Issacharoff, “the formal explanation [for the arms cutoff] is that Cairo does not respect human rights.”

            http://counterjihadreport.com/2015/03/20/egypt-fights-isis-obama-cuts-off-egypt/

            Israel is fighting ISIS despite Obama.

          • Move, No way does Egypt, Jordan and Saudi trust Iran. They are helping against ISIS to acquire more terr. We pulled out of Iraq and gave them that. They have Syria and now are going for Lbyia Tunisia etc. As soon as they saw what the U.S. was going to do to them with the Iran treaty the three above started talking to Pakistan and Korea about buying Nukes Yes we have really stepped in it now unless we can stop our own people from doing something stupid, even if it is shortlived.

        • Cowboy. Iraq, Egypt and Jordan don’t have to trust Iran. But they can still use the Iranians to get ride of ISIS people.

          If we had not gone into Iraq in the first place we would not have this mess. Even Bush’s father warned him not to go into Iraq. Bush Jr should have listened to his dad. Father knows best.

      • The blood of those 241 marines is on Reagan’s hands. Face it, the senators committed treason and you’re a hypocrite.

        • Ghost, The comment was about who did the bombing not who was Pres. at the time. Don’t wander on us now.

          • Sorry Cowboy but you don’t get to control the conversation in here. Ghost can say what ever he likes and you don’t have anyway to prevent him from saying his peace. 🙂

          • Cowboy, Moveone’s following post is correct. Ghost is free to spout off regardless if it makes any sense or follows any logic. Most believe Ghost = Moveon since they always agree with and compliment each other.

        • Move, Not trying to control Ghost’s comments. Thought maybe he misread what he was responding to. By the way, why do you respond for him ? How do you know what he thinks ? You are very quick to try to pick a fight. You should relax. you are not a young pup anymore.

          • One libtard will always throw a life preserver to another if their ego has them convinced that the collective is advance by their commentary. The faux backslapping and congratulations for brilliant, insightful commentary is also another symptom of the illness.

    • I’m thinking the CCO may be on its way out, unfortunately. This town just doesn’t give two shits about anything.

    • Yea you are probably right. With Ron’s hip problems and his age and Joe leaving it might be on the way out. I’m sure that Ron doesn’t have the desire to moderate these forums with his health problems and there also seems to be an increase of trolls in here now. Brains and LBK are not posting and some of the others that I use to enjoy reading are gone too. It’s a shame too. This web site gave us all some interesting insight to the way the city government functions. We could use a good article about the way the last IN Governor let the DMV over collect money from the people of IN who drive vehicles. I’m talking about the overcharges for fees that the DMV collected. The news is reporting that the former director knew he was over charging and said he didn’t. Later he was proven wrong. Only after someone filed a class action law suit again the State DMV did we find out though the courts that this was going on. People need to care more and fight harder.

      Maybe the Editor wanted to take a day off as I would not blame him. I’m sitting outside right now with my laptop at a WiFi station. It’s a beautiful day I just finished cleaning out the gutters.

      IIT that it’s almost 70 deg F outside with a high cloud base and around 20% blue sky showing?

    • Not much substance to the thing anymore that’s for sure. Evansville will have to get along with ET and Evansville post.com to get any objectivity in the free news. The things pretty much done in from the looks of it. Wonder what it cost the taxpayers to sport the machined version of the CCO?
      The content is more political junk news than anything, that watch dog is wearing a muzzle now.

      • V I find it strange that right after all the fuss about the Marina Fire and the arrest of Gail’s dauther and son in law that Joe left us and Ron got threatening harassment stuff. Maybe they succeeded in scaring people out of saying anything bad about the city. Or maybe someone just is down in the weather today and didn’t feel like writing the IIT column. The other story are here today. But those are more or less cut and paste stuff written by someone else and not really geared to the TriState area specifically

  7. Well I see our local Fire Investigator is in Austin, TX today attending a TX arson convention. 300 TX fire investigators in attendance there and one from IN. Mr. Ron Howard is there. I wonder when he and IDNR plan to tell us what caused the House Boat Fire at the Marina. Maybe the Mayor sent him to the TX arson conference in order to learn how to investigate a boat fire/marina fire. Only time will tell if he intends to tell the public what happened with the Marina Fire. Maybe he is studying up on circuit breakers in House Boats. If I were there I’d sure be asking some of the other fire investigators their opinions as to what might have caused the fire to spread so fast.

    I attended a seminar at Texas A&M Hazardous Materials Division a few years back. We had an retired Army Colonel who was a Certified Industrial Hygienist teaching our class.

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