Here’s some useful advice from an old country saying: Never try to teach table manners to a pig — it doesn’t work, it’ll wear you out, and it just annoys the pig.

The same advice goes for anyone who thinks they can teach even a bit of common sense to the preening political ideologues who’ve taken over the Republican Party and the U.S. House of Representatives. As we’ve seen in their incessant, pigheaded attacks on the health care reform law, their minds are not merely fogged up with extremist anti-government theories, they’re impervious to rational thought.

They failed to defeat Obamacare in 2010, despite trying to scare old people with mindless lies about “death panels.” Now they’re trying to repeal the law by getting people to swallow their hogwash that it contains “a massive tax hike on the middle class.”

Really? No. One, it’s not massive; two, it’s a payment for direct benefit that people will receive, namely decent health care coverage; three, very few people will have to pay the so-called “tax” at all; and four, many people and small business will get tax credits and federal assistance to offset the cost of coverage.

Their greatest failure, however, is that they offer no alternative to Obamacare. During the debate on their latest attempt to repeal the law, a Democratic lawmaker asked for a copy of the GOP’s health care plan so he could read it aloud to other members. Silence in the chamber.

The Republicans’ political slogan has been to “repeal and replace” Obama’s reform, but they’ve dropped the replace part, saying they can’t offer an alternative until they complete the repeal.

No surprise — I doubt this bunch can walk and chew gun at the same time. Though they’re a tenacious bunch! Maybe not tenacious, more like dogmatic, obstinate and obtuse, too. Pigheaded — yeah, that’s it.

So, once again, on July 11, GOP lawmakers threw a group hissy fit on the floor of the House over the Affordable Care Act that Obama and the Democrats passed two years ago — a law the Supreme Court has just recently ruled to be constitutional. The House Repubs hate, hate, hate that law. So, all 244 GOP members pursed their lips in a collective pout and voted in lockstep to outright repeal the blanket-blank ACA. That’ll show Obama who’s boss, they crowed!

Well, not really, since their “repeal” won’t pass the Senate, much less get past the president’s veto pen. But these pouty solons are not really interested in legislating — they’re into political peacocking, putting on a show for the fans in the far-right-wing bleachers. And apparently it’s an interminable farce, for this was the 31st time that they’ve voted to repeal the law!

Thirty-one replays with the same do-nothing result. Don’t they have real work to do? At some point (probably back at about vote number 20 or 25), they crossed over from appearing ideologically steadfast … to just plain stupid.

They snidely assailed the health care reform as “Obamacare,” as though that’s a pejorative. But as the law has begun taking affect, more and more Americans are liking it a lot, because it produces real benefits for us. Start with the 30 million people who get help in affording prescription drugs, plus all of us who get some relief from the gouging and constant denial of coverage by monopolistic insurance giants, and Obamacare becomes a label of pride.

If I were him, I’d run on it — and go after the petty politicos who’re trying to take away the benefits it provides for people

These nationally syndicated cartoons are sponsored by Guthries Pharmacies

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In recognition of the dedication of zoo keepers and aquarists, the American
Association of Zoo Keepers (AAZK – www.aazk.org) and Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden
will be celebrating National Zoo Keeper Week from July 15-21, along with zoos and
aquariums across the nation. The zoo keepers at Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden work
365 days a year, caring for over 700 animals. Amos Morris, Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic
Garden’s Director stated, “Zoo Keeping attracts some of the most innovative, resourceful,
and passionate people I’ve ever had the pleasure to work around. The zoo keeper is
dedicated to their animals care no matter what the weather or conditions. There are many
other trades who support the care of our animals; however, I would like to specifically
recognize the hard work and dedication of the 18 talented zoo keepers on staff. Without
them, it would be incredibly difficult to exhibit the animals.”

According to Mesker Park Zoo’s Assistant Animal Curator, Denny Vogt, “The career of a zoo
keeper has evolved dramatically from what it was 30 years ago. Zoo keepers are not only
responsible for feeding and cleaning up after the zoo animals, but they are also responsible
for training and enriching the animals, participating in medical exams, designing exhibits,
and educating zoo visitors. A zoo keeper’s day at work is rough and tiring, with plenty of
bruises, cuts, and dirty uniforms. We all become zoo keepers because we are passionate

about the welfare of the zoo animals and want to make a difference in their lives and the
lives of the visitors who come to visit them.

On Saturday July 21, Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden’s zoo keepers will be hosting a
meet and greet session from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Zoo’s Discovery Center Classroom. The
public is invited to attend and find out more about this interesting and rewarding career.

Evansville’s Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden is open 365 days a year from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
(must leave grounds by 5 p.m.). Adult admission is $8.50 and children ages 3-12 are $7.50.
Children under 3 are free. In recognition of their support, Vanderburgh County residents
receive $1 discount. Group discounts and yearly memberships are also available. Please
visit www.meskerparkzoo.com for more information.

Evansville, July 18, 2012 – Due to further evidence of West Nile Virus in the City
of Evansville, the Vanderburgh County Health Department is going to perform
focused adulticiding operations in areas where significant mosquito or West Nile
activity has been found. The adulticiding operation will take place the evening of
July 20, 2012, weather permitting. The spraying will be within an area bound by
Alvord Blvd., Covert Ave, Vann Ave., and Bellemeade Ave. If the treatments
cannot be completed on the designated date, they will resume on the next
available day.

The Vanderburgh County Health Department will continue to focus its efforts on
habitat elimination, education, and treatment of stagnant or standing water as
these are the most effective forms of mosquito control.

The Health Department is asking residents to:
 Be Smart. Take special precautions when outdoors between dusk and
dawn, when mosquitoes are most active;
 Be Safe. Use insect repellant containing DEET, Picaridin, or Oil of
Lemon Eucalyptus.( Products containing DEET should not be used on
infants aged <2 months of age and those containing Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus should not be used on infants <3 years of age); and  Be Certain. Make sure your property is free of any standing water, which could be breeding grounds for the mosquitoes that carry the virus. Empty flowerpots, buckets, old tires, and clogged gutters.

By: John Kass

Excerpts

When President Barack Obama hauled off and slapped American small-business owners in the mouth the other day, I wanted to dream of my father.

But I didn’t have to close my eyes to see my dad. I could do it with my eyes open.

All I had to do was think of the driveway of our home, and my dad’s car gone before dawn, that old white Chrysler with a push-button transmission. It always started, but there was a hole in the floor and his feet got wet in the rain. So he patched it with concrete mix and kept on driving it to the little supermarket he ran with my Uncle George.

He’d return home long after dark, physically and mentally exhausted, take a plate of food, talk with us for a few minutes, then flop in that big chair in front of the TV. Even before his cigarette was out, he’d begin to snore.

The next day he’d wake up and do it again. Day after day, decade after decade. Weekdays and weekends, no vacations, no time to see our games, no money for extras, not even forMcDonald’s. My dad and Uncle George, and my mom and my late Aunt Mary, killing themselves in their small supermarket on the South Side of Chicago.

There was no federal bailout money for us. No Republican corporate welfare. No Democratic handouts. No bipartisan lobbyists working the angles. No Tony Rezkos. No offshore accounts. No Obama bucks.

Just two immigrant brothers and their families risking everything, balancing on the economic high wire, building a business in America. They sacrificed, paid their bills, counted pennies to pay rent and purchase health care and food and not much else. And for their troubles they were muscled by the politicos, by the city inspectors and the chiselers and the weasels, all those smiling extortionists who held the government hammer over all of our heads.

I thought about this after I heard what Obama told a campaign crowd the other day, speaking about business owners and why they were successful.

“You didn’t get there on your own,” Obama said. “I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something — there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.

“If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.”

If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that? Somebody else made that happen?

Somebody else, Mr. President? Who, exactly? Government?

One of my earliest memories as a boy at the store was that of the government men coming from City Hall. One was tall and beefy. The other was wiry. They wanted steaks.

We didn’t eat red steaks at home or yellow bananas. We took home the brown bananas and the brown steaks because we couldn’t sell them. But the government men liked the big, red steaks, the fat rib-eyes two to a shrink-wrapped package. You could put 20 or so in a shopping bag.

“Thanks, Greek,” they’d say.

That was government.

We didn’t go to movies or out to restaurants. Everything went into the business. Uncle George and dad never bought what they could not afford. The store employed people, and the workers fed their families and educated their children and put them through college. They were good people, all of them. We worked together and worked hard, but none worked harder than the bosses.

It’s the same story with so many other businesses in America, immigrants and native-born. The entrepreneurs risk everything, their homes, their children’s college funds, their hearts, all for a chance at the dream: independence, and a small business of their own.

Most often, they fail and fall to the ground without a government parachute. But some get up and start again.

When I was grown and gone from home, my parents finally managed to save a little money. After all those years of hard work and denying themselves things, they had enough to buy a place in Florida and a fishing boat in retirement. Dad died only a few years later. You wouldn’t call them rich. But Obama might.

Obama’s changed. Gone is that young knight drawing the sword from the stone, selling Hopium to the adoring media, preaching an end to the broken politics of the past. These days, he wears a new presidential persona: the multimillionaire with the Chicago clout, playing the class warrior, fighting for that second term.

And he offers an American dream much different from my father’s. Open your eyes and you can see it too. He stands there at the front of the mob, in his shirt sleeves, swinging that government hammer, exhorting the crowd to use its votes and take what it wants.

Link to Article and Video:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-met-kass-0718-20120718,0,2313230.column

Some Facts from the website of Gallup Polling:

2012: Today President Obama leads Mitt Romney by 47% – 45%, the lead has changed hands several times

2008: On September 17, 2008 McCain led Obama in the poll by 49% – 44%, Obama won by a comfortable margin

2004: In August John Kerry led President George W. Bush 50% – 45%, Bush won by a small margin

2000: On September 20th, Vice President Al Gore led George W. Bush 51% – 41%, Bush won by a hanging chad or two

1996: President Clinton led every poll by a significant amount and went on to re-election

1992: Candidates President G. H. W. Bush, Governor Clinton, and Ross Perot all enjoyed large leads at some point during the summer, Clinton survived winning with well under 50% of the vote

1988: On July 26th Michael Dukakis led Vice President George Bush by a staggering 54% – 37%, maybe the biggest turnaround ever once Dukakis took to riding a tank

1984: President Ronald Reagan held a double digit lead in all polls wire to wire and was re-elected by a wide margin

1980: President Jimmy Carter led Ronald Reagan on October 26th by a margin of 45% – 39%, the economy and Iran did not sink in until a few days before the election that Reagan won

1976: President Gerald Ford led Jimmy Carter by 47% – 46% on election day, Carter won a close election

1972: President Nixon lead George McGovern by double digits in every poll winning re-election by a wide margin

For those who are placing November faith in July polls even at the state level the results above should sober you up. Both candidates have plenty of opportunities to defeat themselves with gaffes, bleeps, and blunders between now and November and both have proven they are fully capable of inserting their foot into their mouths already.

Evansville City Councilman John Friend, CPA has advised the City County Observer that he intends to hold the ordinance regarding the recommended salary increases for 10 City of Evansville employees for further study. Councilman Friend is going to push for a 3rd Party review of the competitiveness of the salary brackets of the City of Evansville with comparable cities. Upon completion of such a study Councilman Friend intends to include the study as an addendum to the resolution and to make upgrades to the salary brackets if deemed appropriate.

Councilman Friend stressed the importance of having a competitive salary structure with appropriate job descriptions for all City of Evansville employees. He also stated that the capricious way that things have been done with respect to salary increases does not reflect a policy of good fiduciary responsibility.

The most glaring example of capricious actions that undermined the authority of the Evansville City Council happened with respect to former DMD Director Tom Barnett who was paid over $40,000 per year through the Growth Alliance for Greater Evansville (GAGE) that was reimbursed by the Weinzapfel Administration through other funds. It was learned at that time that Evansville was not even competitive with towns of less than 20,000 people and lower costs of living than Evansville for this position. Barnett’s contract with GAGE was signed by Mayor Weinzapfel as the Chairman of the Board of Directors. No other signatures were on the contract.

Councilman Friend estimates that the study if authorized will take about 4 months to complete.