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The Magnitude of a Lie

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President with strange look

Let’s think for a second about the immensity of what was done to the American people. The lie that was told. And continues to be told. And the resulting, awful, and unavoidable conclusion that your government cannot be trusted.

Obama’s claim, stated ad nauseum, that you could keep your health insurance, your doctor, your hospital, your proctologist, and so forth, was not just untrue. It was about as far from the truth as Harry Reid is from being a Martian.

On second thought, that’s not so far. But you get what I’m talking about.

The claim wasn’t even in the ballpark. Because not just a few people’s plans are going to change. Most of them will. Tens of millions. And Obama knew it.

Because the notion that your insurance must change is not just a fun fact about Obamacare; it’s central to its premise.

Obamacare guarantees certain benefits. Therefore, ergo, and so . . . PLANS THAT DON’T OFFER THESE BENEFITS HAVE TO CHANGE OR END.

Obama likes to note that while he gets called a lot of things, stupid isn’t one of them. I think he’s a little overrated as an intellect, but he’s no doubt extremely smart. And therefore, he must have understood the basic facts of Obamacare.

Earlier this month, the White House was confronted with the evidence that millions on the individual market would lose their insurance because their plans didn’t meet Obamacare’s requirements. “A tiny segment of the market,” sneered a barely chastened White House. The overwhelming majority with employer-sponsored plans need not worry.

Not true. The lying continues.

Many moons ago, in June 2010, the administration published in the federal register an estimate that suggested around half of the 156 million Americans with employer-provided health insurance held plans would not be “grandfathered” into qualifying as compliant with Obamacare and that would have to change:

The Departments’ mid-range estimate is that 66 percent of small employer plans and 45 percent of large employer plans will relinquish their grandfather status by the end of 2013.

For those like our intellectual leader who perhaps didn’t want to comb through the fine print, it was spelled out in a handy little graph.

Federal Register Screen Shot

Some of these people would just lose their insurance outright, since the new Obama-blessed plans would cost employers more.

As you may have seen in the CBS news item below, in April 2010, just after the law was signed, the Obama administration itself estimated that Obamacare would “collectively reduce the number of people with employer-sponsored health insurance by about 14 million.”

Others would continue to have insurance provided by their employers. But all would have their insurance change. What’s more, if you have great, expensive insurance from your generous employer – or a stingy employer forced to provide a good deal by a prickly union – your employer may also trim your benefits to avoid a tax Obamacare slaps on these so-called “Cadillac Plans.”

And what about the supposed $2,500 average annual savings on premiums that families were promised? Or the “bending” cost curve that doesn’t seem to be bending so much, at least not in response to Obamacare? Or the promise that Obamacare wouldn’t harm the deficit, when the cuts used to pay for it can no longer be used for deficit reduction?

We weren’t just lied to. We were sucker punched, kicked on the ground, and thrown in a trench.

I’d say we were sold snake oil, but at least snake oil has the benefit of a placebo effect.

This was all inevitable, because it’s in the law. So where was the 5,000-word exposé in the New York Times? Why wasn’t Romney hammering away, You’re going to lose your insurance, your going to lose your insurance, until voters were hypnotized into voting for him?

How do we trust Obama when he makes promises about Iran and nuclear weapons, promises that relate to world peace and the very existence of our republic? Forget where you stand politically. Obama is our president for another three years. America needs to trust its president and the government he commands – at least a little more than it trusts a used car salesman.

It can’t. And that’s a tragedy.

Source: White House Dossier

IS IT TRUE THAT CCO HITS TRAFFIC MILESTONES?

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IS IT TRUE that the City County Observer  on November 16, 2013  hit the 1 Million page views for the year milestone which leads to a projection at year end of nearly 1.2 Million page views?  …the number of unique visitors associated with this traffic is just over 100,000?  …unique visitors in this case means unique IP (internet protocol) addresses as opposed to different people. If a couple both access the CCO through one router those two people actually count as one?  …in 2012 this milestone was not hit until December 6th?

IS IT TRUE that Our projections for 2014 based on the traffic from the last quarter since the Courier & Press started charging $10 per month to access what they consider premium content is that the CCO should enjoy over 1.5 Million page views in 2014 from over 150,000 unique visitors?  … our is source is Google Analytics?

IS IT TRUE November 26, 2013

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Mole #3 Nostradamus of Local Politics
Mole #3 Nostradamus of Local Politics

IS IT TRUE November 26, 2013

IS IT TRUE that after all of the posturing that delayed the approval of Don Mattingly Way because of the need to do it right, not a single member of the Evansville City Council were there for the unveiling this past weekend?…a survey of the crowd and asking other people in attendance if they saw any City Council members resulted in a big ZERO?…t appears that they were MIA?…according to some that worked on the project, Councilman Jonathan Weaver was a big help but was out of town on his honeymoon and could not attend?…the CCO would like to congratulate Councilman Weaver on his marriage?…we are always proud to read about Evansville’s own Donny “Baseball” Mattingly who is still in the news regularly as the Manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers?

IS IT TRUE the CCO has learned that the Kansas City company that received a double payment of over $300,000 for work at the Ford Center has paid the City of Evansville back the surplus funds?…it is a sad shame that it took a lawsuit to get these people off the dime to return money that was never theirs in the first place?…it would be appropriate for this slow walking company that had to have known they had been double paid to also pay interest for the use of the money and to absorb all of the legal costs incurred by the City in the effort to get that money back?…we guess the presumption of honesty was not merited in this case?…this money should be set aside in a fund to someday put in the storage facility that was needed at the Ford Center yet overlooked in the design process?…we hear that tigers do not like the cold and are not appreciative of the sleeping quarters in the back 40 lot when the circus comes to town?

IS IT TRUE City Council Attorney Scott Danks has answered a question to City Councilman John Friend regarding the Federal Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the accrual of comp time by public employees?…Danks’ conclusion are identical to what the CCO has been publishing for nearly a month now that comp time is mandated to be accrued at “time and a half” rates and accrual cannot exceed 480 hours (320 hours worked) for fire and police personnel and 240 hours (160 hours worked) for regular public employees?…Mr. Danks’ opinion continues the streak of unanimous opinions that the City of Evansville is in serious and habitual violation of federal labor laws?…this law is just as valid and simple to understand as the minimum wage?…it is on the same page as the minimum wage designation in the DOL summary page?…we wonder just how loud the outcry would be if this or any city in America pleaded ignorance for violating federal minimum wage laws for an extended period of time?…for an organization with 1,200 employees to fail to educate themselves and their department heads about basic labor laws is as out of touch with reality as a bus driver that does not know a steering wheel from a pair of shoes?…the CCO openly wonders why there is not more concern expressed by the citizens of Evansville for their leaders being asleep at the wheel?

IS IT TRUE another unanswered question about the FLSA violations is who other than the HR Director and the Department Heads should have caught this failure?…one would expect that the heads of the police and fire unions would be competent enough to know these things and cognizant enough to make FLSA violations known, but they didn’t?…one would expect that the people from the Indiana State Board of Accounts would catch such a thing in the annual audit but they didn’t?…one would expect that someone on the City Council (John Friend) that has knowledge of balance sheets would ask a question about accrued liability for labor and catch such failures but they didn’t?…the list of people that should have been in the “checks and balances” loop is quite long but no one caught this even after Sherman Greer was outed for letting an employee accumulate 1,100 hours of comp time?…why was the legal limit of comp time never questioned even after Greer was admonished in the media by Mayor Winnecke?…it seems as the only was Evansville will learn this lesson is for the federal government (which is dealing with mass incompetency itself) to come to town and administer mass spankings?

IS IT TRUE when it comes to qualifications for public jobs it is time to start considering some litmus tests with regard to who can run for certain offices?…one can run for City Council, School Board, or any other elected office without so much as demonstrating an ability to read or add a column of numbers?…if we want competence in government it is time to demand it?…something like an 8th grade ISTEP test would be a step up for Indiana cities to filter out candidates that are unqualified to be the equivalent of a member of the board of directors of a $300 Million+ company in Evansville’s case?

New auditor Sawyer resigns for ‘family and personal concerns’

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November 26, 2013  |   Filed under: People,Top stories  |   Posted by: 

By Lesley Weidenbener
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS – State Auditor Dwayne Sawyer has resigned – just three months after he accepted the position – saying that due to “family and personal concerns” it would be best for him to step down.

Dwayne Sawyer - shown here in August when he was appointed state auditor by Gov. Mike Pence - has resigned the post for what he said are personal reasons. Photo by Megan Banta, TheStatehouseFile.com.

Dwayne Sawyer – shown here in August when he was appointed state auditor by Gov. Mike Pence – has resigned the post for what he said are personal reasons. Photo by Megan Banta, TheStatehouseFile.com.

Pence named Sawyer to the post in August after a long search that included interviews with more than a dozen candidates. The appointment made Sawyer – formerly the president of the Brownsburg Town Council – the first black Republican to serve in a statewide office.

Now, Pence will be tasked with finding a new person to fill the position, which had been held by Republican Tim Berry until he left the job to become chairman of the Indiana Republican Party.

Pence said Tuesday that he had accepted Sawyer’s resignation.

“I respect his decision to step aside,” the governor said. “Hoosiers can be assured that Mr. Sawyer’s resignation had nothing to do with his fiduciary responsibilities for the state or his execution of his duties as auditor.”

In his letter of resignation, Sawyer said, “I have come to the conclusion that it will be in the best interests of my family and the people of Indiana whom I have been honored to serve that I resign from the office of Indiana auditor of state.”

In August, the governor said he had been searching for four specific qualities – professional competence, experience in public office, a history of political activism and the character to oversee our state’s finances with integrity – when he named Sawyer to the post.

He had said then that Sawyer was the strongest candidate among the many he had interviewed.

“It was a pretty touch choice,” Pence said in August. “We had some outstanding men and women that we interviewed from all over the state of Indiana for this position. But again and again it was Dwayne Sawyer who emerged as the best choice for all the people of Indiana.”

Sawyer has private sector experience in financial systems, information technology and project management. He had most recently worked in software development for Positron. Sawyer also worked on financial management solutions while employed by Roche Diagnostics, Dow AgroSciences and Eli Lilly & Co.

 

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Commentary: Leadership needed to resolve education conflict

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November 25, 2013  |   Filed under: Commentary,Top stories  |   Posted by: 

By John Krull
TheStatehouseFile.com

John Krull, publisher, TheStatehouseFile.com

John Krull, publisher, TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS – The two sides in Indiana’s huge education war have at least one thing in common.

Commentary button in JPG - no shadowEach side believes that it is completely in the right and that the mess that is Indiana’s education leadership is entirely the other side’s fault.

The debacle began last year when Democrat Glenda Ritz won a surprise victory over the controversial Republican incumbent Tony Bennett, the education reform poster boy, in the state superintendent of public instruction’s race.

Republicans reacted with fury to Ritz’s victory, saying it didn’t mean anything and pretty much vowing to thwart her at every step. Ritz, Democrats and the teachers unions responded in kind by slow-walking many education reform measures implemented by the state legislature and signed into law by Republican governors.

The skirmishing broke into open warfare when members of the Indiana Board of Education, chaired by Ritz but composed otherwise of members appointed by Republican governors, sent a letter to state legislative leaders asking them to play a greater role in running Ritz’s education department. Ritz responded by suing the education board for violating the state’s open records law.

A court tossed that suit – at least temporarily – but then a state board of education meeting descended into a free-for-all with Ritz walking out and the Republican-appointed education board members blasting her as an autocrat.

Ritz’s defenders see her as a courageous victim standing up to bullies – primarily Gov. Mike Pence. And Ritz’s detractors see her as a dithering obstructionist whose sole agenda is stopping anyone else from doing anything.

With faint hope that anyone involved in this silly and destructive battle still is capable of listening to reason, I’m going to point out the fallacies in both sides’ positions.

Let’s deal with Ritz and her amen corner first.

Their argument is that Ritz should be allowed to dictate the state’s education policy because she won the election as state superintendent. But that argument also applied to Tony Bennett four years ago and that didn’t stop most of the folks lined up with Ritz from opposing him with everything they had.

If the Ritz crowd reserves the right to serve as the loyal opposition when doing so suits them, they can’t complain because their opponents do the same.

Five years ago, Bennett’s election didn’t put an end to debates about education policy in Indiana. It just started a fresh round of fighting.

Ditto for Ritz’s election.

Ritz’s folks will say that their opposition to Bennett was justified because he stood for things they don’t like – vouchers, a flawed school grading system and pointless round robins of student testing.

The fact that I tend to agree with them – most studies the education reformers point to as evidence their innovations work are every bit as baked as the average Grateful Dead concertgoer – is beside the point.

The folks who oppose Ritz do so from conviction and concern about this state’s children. Telling them that they can’t exercise a right of opposition that Ritz supporters resorted to themselves is an exercise in hypocrisy – particularly since the educational reform crowd scored wins (governor, super majorities in the House and Senate) in last year’s election, too.

Now, let’s deal with Gov. Pence and his Republican education chest-thumpers.

Their argument for most education reform measures is that they will empower parents. But how does ignoring the votes cast by parents against Bennett and his “reform” measures empower those parents?

The verdict that the voters delivered last fall was a mixed one that can be read several ways, but at the least it signaled the voters either were unsure about Bennett’s policies or didn’t understand them.

Instead of taking time to explain those measures to the state’s parents, the governor and his crew have acted as if Bennett had been restored to office in a landslide and resorted to pure power politics. Like the Vietnam War general who proclaimed it was necessary to destroy a village in order to save it, they have denied parents’ choice and educational accountability in order to preserve them.

This last bit of advice is for both sides.

Any idiot can escalate a fight. It takes leadership and maturity to resolve a conflict and bring people together.

And becoming the mirror image of that which you oppose – or even despise – isn’t a victory.

John Krull is director of Franklin College’s Pulliam School of Journalism, host of “No Limits” WFYI 90.1 FM Indianapolis and publisher of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.

 

Evansville Water & Sewer Utility Board Meeting Agenda

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cityofevansvilleClick on this link to read:         2013-11-26agenda

THE EVANSVILLE LOCAL PUBLIC IMPROVEMENT BOND BANK MEETING

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cityofevansvilleNOTICE OF REGULAR MEETING OF

THE EVANSVILLE LOCAL PUBLIC IMPROVEMENT BOND BANK

DECEMBER 17, 2013 AT 11:00 A.M.

ROOM 307

CIVIC CENTER COMPLEX

ONE N.W. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. BOULEVARD

EVANSVILLE, INDIANA

 

The Board of Directors of The Evansville Local Public Improvement Bond Bank will meet to conduct such business as may properly come before it on

December 17, 2013 at 11:00 a.m. in Room 307 of the Civic Center Complex, One N.W. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, Evansville, Indiana.

For further information, contact Russell G. Lloyd Jr., City Controller, Room 300, Civic Center Complex, One N.W. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, Evansville, Indiana 47708-1833; Telephone: (812) 436-4919.

Board Of Trustees Of The EVSC will Meet

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EVSCThe Board of School Trustees of the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation will meet in executive session at 5:00 p.m. on Monday, December 2, 2013, in the John H. Schroeder Conference Centre at the EVSC Administration Building, 951 Walnut, IN 47713, Evansville, IN. The session will be conducted according to I.C. 5-14-1.5-6.1(10). The purpose of the meeting is to consider filling a vacancy on the Board of School Trustees.

A regular meeting of the School Board will follow at 5:30 p.m. in the EVSC Board Room, same address.

 

METS RIDER ALERT- Update

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City of Evansville Seal

METS will be CLOSED

Thanksgiving Day.

No buses will operate. Normally scheduled bus service will resume Friday morning.

USI and West Connection buses will not operate Wednesday 11-27, Thursday 11-28, and Friday 11-29.

The METS Rider alert for USI and West Connection has been revised for Wednesday, November 27, 2013. No Classes at USI, but one bus will operate on a limited schedule. The West Connection will operate on a regular schedule.
Normally scheduled service resumes Monday 12-1-13.