IS IT TRUE June 26, 2013

IS IT TRUE when it comes to dogs there are two colors of dogs that Democrats come in?…a yellow dog Democrat is an old school party line person who in the words of the old Dixiecrats “would rather vote for a yeller dog than a Republican?”…lately the term most often associated with Democrats that have a practical streak and would rather vote for a yeller dog than some of the extreme left members of the Democrat party?…this is a blue dog Democrat?…that the winner of yesterday’s CCO Readers Poll concerning voting for the next Democratic candidate for Mayor was a real live “Blue Dog” from Nashville, TN?…that “Blue Dog” declined the opportunity to move from Nashville to Evansville to run for Mayor in 2015?…we hear that “Blue Dog” is strongly considering making a public endorsement who he wants to become the Democratic nominee for Mayor of Evansville?…if he does you can expect he shall support a strong “Blue Dog” democrat to run against the current Mayor?…that given the fact that all of BLUE’S opponents in yesterday’s poll are more blue dog than yeller dog in their Democrat ways, old BLUE will be as confused as if there were three cats close to him and he had to choose which one to chase?

IS IT TRUE the U.S. economy grew at a 1.8% annual rate in the first quarter of 2013, slower than the earlier estimates of 2.4% growth?…economists had expected a 2.4% final reading for first-quarter growth?…the revision was due largely to personal-consumption expenditures that slid to a 2.6% gain from 3.4%?…consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of economic output, largely drove overall gains in the first three months of the year?…the downward revision came from weaker spending on legal services, personal care and health care than previously estimated?

IS IT TRUE a 20 foot sink hole has developed on the east side of Evansville following the deluge of 6 inches of rain that fell on Monday?…we are sure this will be repaired in short order and will be interested to see if it was a natural occurrence or an aging pipe that was overwhelmed by the rush of water that failed and caused the sink hole?…we are hoping that this was a natural occurrence and not a pipe failure because if it was a pipe we can probably expect more sink holes but if it was natural it may be the only one?

IS IT TRUE the City County Observer broke the story that Evansville City Councilman at-large Jonathan Weaver had expressed an interest in running for Mayor of Evansville in 2015?…Councilman Weaver had made such statements at the recent Democrat love fest and removed all doubt yesterday with a public announcement?…his next step should be to form an exploratory committee to see just how much support there may be out there for a Weaver candidacy?…unless something has seriously changed since the last election Councilman Weaver may enjoy much more support than the CCO readership gave him when he came in 4th in a 4 candidate poll against Jonathan Weinzapfel, John Friend, and a dog named Blue?…the astounding part of that poll is that a real live dog got more votes than all three of these perennial elected officials combined?…Weaver in the last election got the 2nd highest vote total of all nine members of the City Council and may well have given Mayor Winnecke a run for his money in the general election?…the CCO recognizes that Jonathan Weaver has a pretty large group of supporters and will be a formidable candidate in both the Democrat primary and the general Mayoral election?…future opponents of this former weatherman whether he is a blue dog, yeller dog, or hound dog would be foolish to overlook Weaver’s base of support?

IS IT TRUE June 25, 2013

IS IT TRUE Good Jobs First, a nonprofit national policy resource center out of Washington DC released a study yesterday on the efficacy of local and state governments handing out corporate welfare to companies in excess of $75 Million to create jobs?…the results of this study were abysmal to say the least with a conclusion that these big handouts cost taxpayers $456,000 for each job actually created?…the size of the study that included well over 200 such corporate welfare deals was large enough and broad enough to have statistical significance?…the biggest mark among the 50 states for this practice of job extortion was the State of Michigan that handed out $7.1 Billion to 29 companies?…in spite of such handouts Michigan was the only state of 50 that had a net population loss between the years 2000 and 2010?…from a dollars per job perspective this practice of writing checks to companies for over $75 Million rivals the federal stimulus for overpriced buying of jobs?…even Apple Computer gets into the act by extorting huge sums of money for putting data centers in?…Apple’s most important criteria for choosing such a site however is not the size of the bribe they get it is all about CHEAP ELECTRICITY and having TWO PROVIDERS?…if any location wants an Apple data center they had better be down at about 5 cents a kW*hr and have a backup provider ready to supply electricity?…for these reasons SW Indiana is out of luck when it comes to big data centers like the ones Apple and Google install across the country?

IS IT TRUE during the first month of having all LED lighting in place this writers home used 607 kW*hr less electricity than last year?…this amounts to a 26.4% reduction just from replacing every bulb in the house with LED bulbs?…2013 has been slightly hotter than 2012 as well so the savings may even be higher?…the savings associated with this reduced consumption amount to about $150 per month here in Edison territory making the payback period for the $600 worth of LED bulbs only 4 months?…they are rated to last roughly 20 years at 3 hours per day on time?…over the life of these light bulbs the savings should amount to $36,000 on an investment of only $600 assuming the rates do not rise?…if the electric rates rise which they certainly will the savings are even greater?…back in SW Indiana where the rates are slightly lower saving 607 kW*hr per month would save closer to $100 making the payback period 6 months instead of 4 months?…LED bulbs used to replace incandescent bulbs are the highest energy payback since the invention of walls and roofs so get out there and replace the bulbs used the most as fast as your budget will allow?

IS IT TRUE Evansville had a deluge of rain yesterday with some areas recording more than 6 inches in a half a day?…flooding was all over the place and even found its way into places that normally do not flood at all like the Eastland Mall parking lot?…it was good to live on the second floor yesterday unless of course your car was parked at ground level?…another thing that was sure to have happened yesterday with so much rain so fast is a major discharge of raw sewage into the Ohio River and even into some neighborhoods because our city managers have not seen fit over the last 50 years to fix the combined sewer problem?…finally at gun point of an EPA lawsuit they have made a half baked proposal to do these repairs?…it is mystifying how a half baked job on keeping raw sewage out of the streets and river are is seen as progressive but that parks, stadiums, and hotels still take priority?…it is a half century of neglect that inspired the readers of the City County Observer to vote by a 10 to 1 majority in our readers poll to support a 100% solution to the sewer fiasco before ONE RED CENT IS SPENT ON FUN AND GAMES?…Evansville does not have a clean audit, is facing over a BILLION DOLLARS in basic infrastructure repairs and yet our leaders are seriously wanting to hand out $37.5 Million in corporate welfare for a hotel compound, $46 Million for new water meters, and over $10 Million for a dog park with skateboard ramps?…sometimes you just gotta wonder what people are thinking?…this makes about as much sense as parents who choose cotton candy for dinner for their children as opposed to a balanced home cooked meal?