Courtesy of the City of Atlanta, Georgia

Well, Well, Well, it seems as though there are examples of using quality inspections to keep park systems looking good.

Here is a link for the curious. Once again, Evansville does not need to invent this, monkey-see monkey-do techniques should suffice to get our parks a good inspection.

parkinspectiondirections

68% Citizen Support for Action in Recent Poll, When will Evansville Follow?

MUNCIE — After hearing more than an hour of sometimes-heated comments about a proposed smoking ban, the Delaware County commissioners apparently had few of their own. With little discussion, the officials unanimously approved the ban during a special Monday evening meeting.

The comments during the public hearing were heartfelt and brought murmurs — and sometimes more — from partisans in the crowd. At one point Donati banged his gavel and called for order.

Few comments could top that of the first speaker, Robert Scott Wolfe, who said he was told his terminal cancer was caused by second-hand smoke.

The ordinance will go into effect 30 days after the date of passage.

Pre-vote surveys indicated that 68% of the 605 people surveyed supported the comprehensive smoking ban and that 85% support protecting ALL workers from second hand smoke. It was also noted that 69% of current smokers were in agreement.

On the Home Front

Of course the question locally is just when will the Evansville City Council finally get on board and support public health by passing a comprehensive smoking ban. Private interviews with the sitting City Council indicate a 5-4 affirmative vote for adopting a comprehensive smoking ban. Similar interviews indicate that a smoking ban that exempts Casino Aztar will fail by that same 5-4 margin. Last year a stronger smoking ordinance ended in a 4-4 tie with Curt John who opposed the ordinance being absent.

The results of this years Democratic primary and the decision not to run by Councilman John has paved the way for 2012 to be the year that a comprehensive smoking ban will pass in Evansville. Three of the five no votes will not be returning to the 2012 City Council and the other two no votes are now in strongly contested races. All indications are that a comprehensive smoking ban will pass next year by at least a 6-3 margin but could be adopted unanimously in a 9-0 vote if the contested elections all go the way of the 73% of the people of Evansville who support a comprehensive smoking ban.

Ball State University Report

http://www.bsudailynews.com/delaware-county-commissioners-unanimously-approve-smoking-ban-1.2598530

IS IT TRUE if political candidates for public office don’t pay their advertising bills in a timely manner this should tell the potential voters something?

IS IT TRUE when the 5th Ward City Councilman and Budget Chairmen John Friend, CPA called John Kish many times during the last couple of weeks and doesn’t hear from him there is something wrong in RIVER CITY? …we can’t wait for the upcoming City of Evansville budget hearings to begin? …we respectfully suggest that Mr. Kish better be ready to answer pointed financial questions posed by the City Council Dean of Accountancy, John Friend, CPA at the upcoming City of Evansville Budget hearings? …don’t be surprised to that City Council members Dan McGinn, Esq. of the 1st Ward and Dr. Dan Adams, At Large member have additional in depth questions about the Arena and proposed downtown Hotel that they want Mr. Kish to answer also?

IS IT TRUE we have received a few interesting comments we made today praising our 2nd Ward City Councilwoman for her outstanding way of campaigning? …we not only stand by our statement but would like to add if the election was held today Missy Mosby would be re-elected as the 2nd Ward City Council member? …we know that E L Walters shall make an extremely competitive race between himself and Missy?

IS IT TRUE that Lambert’s Café in Sikeston, Missouri has built a chain of restaurants by playing on a local colloquialism of the past tense of the word throw?…that the THROWED ROLLS that are served at Lambert’s are pretty tasty?…that once in a cross country drive after eating a Lambert’s that my 8 year old son commented that “they threw those THROWED ROLLS at us every time we held our hand up”?…that to the astonishment of many pairs of ears last night on the 10 o’clock news a local news anchor used the term THROWED as the past tense of THROW?…that some professions really do require that words like THROWED and terms like “I SEEN IT” to be left at home?…that an aspiring young news guy should have been trained not to use the word THROWED?…that today he and his employer shall remain nameless but that if this becomes a habit that we shall call him out by name?…that the City of Evansville is struggling with a reputation for being fat and that we do not need to add dumb to that list?

IS IT TRUE that Congressman Anthony Weiner who has expressed long term aspirations to become the Mayor of New York City has become the latest high profile member of congress to succumb to the siren’s tweet?…that it seems like social networking has become the crack cocaine of the US Congress?…that people who thrive on collecting “like” clicks and on the adoration of unknown people are not adjusting very well to having unlimited access to the general public?…that the need to be adored does not mix well with social media and that people who gravitate to politics are Type A personalities in the category of “need to be adored”?…that it is really a shame to see a bright and courageous young congressman like Anthony Weiner throw his congressional mojo away for the thrill of tweeting some inappropriate pictures?…that we hope that Congressman Weiner gets his mojo back and returns to his well known aggressive pursuit of progressive policies?…that whether you agree with him or not, his style and passion will test your theories and make your own positions better and stronger?…that the continual stream of losing congressmen that can’t handle social media is disturbing?…that if the same litmus test was applied locally that scores of elected officials may be caught in the same trap?

IS IT TRUE that a limerick crossed our mind yesterday and that it is dedicated IN THE SPIRIT OF FUN to Congressman Anthony Weiner?…that the following limerick assumes that the Democratic leadership of the US House of Representative will find a way to make Congressman Weiner resign?…that will be a mistake and that many of the hounds howling for his head have done worse things than tweet something stupid?

There once was a Congressman named Weiner
Whose persona could not have been meaner
He sent out a tweet to a cute little vixen
Then lied like Clinton and Nixon

By Kieron Mcfadden

It is one thing to decide and agree upon the product we want our government to deliver in exchange for the money we pay it.

It is quite another to make sure that it does and that it keeps on so doing.

There is hardly a government on the planet at this time that is delivering the product.

If the environment is being rendered safe for somebody (which I doubt) that somebody sure as hell is not the likes of thee and me.

Regardless of whether our government SAYS that whatever it is doing it is making the world safer, our experience is that the environment is becoming more dangerous in almost every aspect and very often the danger emanates from government itself!

Take the war on terror for instance. I don’t know about you but I don’t feel safer. I don’t feel any more scared of terrorists than I did but I sure as hell feel more intimidated by my own government in its efforts to make the world safe!

Economically I feel less safe. In the unstable, mismanaged mess of my country’s economy, I’m poorer and less secure than I once was and less confident of the future and I sure am more inhibited in my efforts to flourish and prosper.

Are people more literate, more equipped with the life skills necessary for them to be able to flourish and prosper? No, they are not. In my own country, Great Britain, educational standards have dropped through the floor.

We need to be able to make correct and rational decisions so as to flourish and prosper. For that we need truthful information and not falsehoods from our fellow human beings, from industry and from government itself. Is our environment then free of the falsehoods that lead to erroneous decisions? No it is not. And it is a deteriorating scene in which we become increasingly bewildered. Governments lie and withhold information and even start wars that get a lot of good people killed based on falsehoods; mighty drug corporations are less than honest about the drugs they try to seduce us into buying; food corporations put stuff in the food that damages our health and hope no-one will notice; the media slants its reports and cannot be trusted, and so on.

We are not getting the product of a safe environment in which all honest people are able to flourish and prosper free of inhibition to our survival efforts.

What we are getting is the opposite: a progressively less safe environment in which the inhibitions to our survival efforts are increasing.

So our governments are not delivering the goods.

It is necessary then to correct the actions of government so that it does deliver the goods or at least moves in the right direction – towards a safer environment and reduced inhibition to our efforts to flourish and prosper.

We would do that with any other group that sold us a lousy product. Indeed any entity that produces something MUST have some kind of quality control function in order to be able to detect and correct a flawed or inferior product.

So why not government?

But how do we correct the course of government when it moves in the wrong direction and does not deliver the goods?

What is required if that is to be achieved, is a quality control function for government.

This would be an entity exterior to government and thus able to oversee it. Such an entity would have a clear idea of what the product is supposed to look like. It would be alert enough to spot the flat ball bearings when they appear AND the specific errors or malfunctions further up the production line that produced the flawed product. It would also have to be powerful enough to insist that corrections are made so that the product IS delivered.

So far as I am aware no government in history has ever had such a quality control function and like any group that does not have the facility to detect and correct goofs, they fail.

Does such a quality control entity exist? At present, no.

Could we create one? Yes, we could.

If all public groups came together and formed a forum, a united front able to speak with one voice, such a forum could exert quality control upon government, probably for the first time in history.

It would actively then be helping government deliver its product of a safe environment in which all honest people (including those in government) can flourish and prosper.

And then we all win.

June 6, 2011

Dear Friend of Liberty,

John Edwards was the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2004, and he was a leading contender for the presidential nomination in 2008. We all now know he cheated on his wife and lied to America about it throughout much of that time. Now he’s facing potential jail time if convicted of using campaign funds for a cover-up.

Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner has put on quite a show lately.

The soap operas aren’t confined to Democrats. Republican California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently confessed to cheating for decades and had a child he hid from the public for years.

Not that long ago, Newt Gingrich was cheating on one of his ex-wives while haranguing Bill Clinton over Monica Lewinsky.

A few other names come to mind: Al Gore, Mark Foley, Jesse Jackson Sr., Jesse Jackson Jr., and Mark Sanford.

Some people argue that these people’s private lives should not be of concern to the public.

A counter-argument is that people who lie about their private lives are also likely to lie about official business as well. Could they also lie about weapons of mass destruction, or global warming, or the necessity of a trillion-dollar bailout?

So what’s my point? That Libertarians are more honest than Republicans and Democrats?

Actually, no. My point is, human beings are fallible, and many of us are dishonest and easily corrupted.

That’s one of the reasons why government should have as little power as possible. When human beings have the power to control others’ lives, our natural fallibility makes us very dangerous.

What’s worse, power tends to corrupt us and make us even more dishonest, conniving, and cruel.

We Libertarians understand that humans are fundamentally imperfect, and we will always be imperfect.

Libertarians aren’t simply looking for honest politicians. We are looking for politicians who understand this problem, and who will stand on principle to take power away from government, and return it to the individual.

Sincerely,

Wes Benedict
Executive Director
Libertarian National Committee