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

IS IT TRUE? June 6, 2011 Special Evening Edition

IS IT TRUE that it is good to see reminders in the media that Evansville was named the most obese city in America?…that while it is a good reminder that people would be healthier if they were to eat better and do some exercise it is interesting that we are not seeing many reasons being put forth that we are too fat as a community?…that to look for reasons that we tend to eat unhealthy foods and too many of them we need to look no further than the food booth list for the upcoming ShrinerFest?…that there are 30 food booths signed up to serve 66 different types of food?…that the list of foods offered is fried, deep fried, candy, sugar, soda, and all sorts of things that are tasty but will clog an artery and fatten one up too quick to imagine?…that a person that wants to eat a healthy meal had better eat before going down?…that people do not need much encouragement to turn into gluttons but that with all of the buffets in town, the festivals that celebrate junk food, and the Bierstubes what is a health nut to do?

IS IT TRUE that the menu and vendor line up for the ShrinersFest is at the website below.
http://www.hadishrinersfest.com/#!food

IS IT TRUE that health insurance is much more costly for the portly than it is for people with a healthy body mass index?…that this cost can be up to 300% more for a person with a body mass index of over 30 as compared to a person with a body mass index of 20?…that smoking even runs the premiums higher?…that fat people and smokers suffer more lost days at work than non-smokers of healthy weight?…that as much as the City of Evansville likes to promote itself as a place that is inexpensive to do business that the wage advantage is more than lost when businesses Google and find out that 37.9% of our population is clinically obese and that we are the only city over 100,000 people to reverse a smoking ban?…that the lifestyle choices that keep us fat and keep smoking tolerated are hurting us terribly in our capacity to be a competitive place to do business?

IS IT TRUE that the City County Observer was contacted today and told of a rumor floating around that Lady GAGA will be the opening act at the new Arena?…that there has been a Facebook page dedicated to making this happen for about a year now?…that Lady GAGA just finished a long running “Monsters” tour that brought in more than $100M but reportedly left GAGA $3M in debt?…that all indicators on the concert scene point to a new Lady GAGA tour for 2012 but not any more dates in 2011?…that it was just a couple of months ago that Lady GAGA sold over 20,000 tickets in Louisville’s YUM Center at over $100 each?…that for the Evansville Arena to be cost effective for Lady GAGA that we will need to sell every seat in the house for an average of $200 per ticket?…that this is possible but not necessarily probable?…that if GAGA comes to Evansville it will be out of her charitable feeling toward us?…that if charity comes to town looking and sounding like Lady GAGA that we accept that we will willingly accept that charity?

By Kieron Mcfadden

Here is an interesting observation: what is the PRODUCT of that group we refer to as “the government?”

So far as I am aware, it has never been stated or agreed upon and appears at any rate to be unknown by those in government and those on whose behalf government is supposed to be acting (“the people”).

Society comprises many thousands of groups.

Each group engages in some activity or other towards some end result, some product which is valuable in greater or lesser degree to the other members of society.

That product can be some physical thing or some service provided.

To be valuable and viable that product must in some way be wanted by and enhance the survival or well-being of the recipient.

This applies to virtually any group and by way of example (and you can correct the wording if it does not quite work) I suggest the following:

A house-painting company produces painted houses that look smart and are protected from the elements.

The product of a school is children possessed of the knowledge and skills that enable them to be an asset to and to flourish and prosper in the society.

The product of a police officer might be stated as an area free of crime.

The product of a food manufacturer might be stated as safe, healthy and nutritious food.

The product of a shoe shop might be well-fitted and comfortable shoes on the feet of satisfied customers.

The product of a taxi driver could be defined perhaps as customers delivered in safety and comfort to their destination.

Okay, so these may not be entirely adequate statements of the products of various groups and others, particularly those involved in producing the product, might be able to work out a wording that defines it more aptly.

The point however is that everyone engaged in some form of production, in some activity for which they receive an exchange from others, is delivering a product.

If one cannot define what one’s product is, or cannot work it out or does not think that there is one, then the chances are one is engaged in an activity that has no worthwhile purpose so far as everybody else in concerned.

If one cannot define one’s product, one does not know then what one is supposed to be doing and has no end result for one’s activity. Without a product we wind up with a lot of activity for activity’s sake.

Some food manufacturers are an example of companies that do not know what their product is. Not knowing they are supposed to produce safe, healthy and nutritious food and thinking that their product is “sales” or “profits for shareholders” or something, they produce unsafe, unhealthy, non-nutritious food. In so doing they product an un-viable, non-survival product that harms the consumer contributing to obesity and other physical and mental ill-health.

Some government education departments do not know what the products of their schools should be. The British Labour government was a case in point. I had some vague notion that their product was “exam passes” or something. As a result, while exam passes rose, actual educational standards in Britain – already low – fell through the floor.

Government is also a group of people that performs a function in the society but without a clear definition of its product, one has no yardstick by which the government itself nor anyone else can measure whether it is succeeding or failing.

A ball bearing factory has the product of perfectly round ball bearings or some such. Perfectly round ball bearings are needed and wanted by others and thus have a survival value (they enable other machines to be built that assist people in the business of survival.)

But what if the ball bearing factory did not know that it was supposed to produce perfectly round ball bearings? What if it had only the hazy idea it was supposed to produce small metal objects of some kind? When flat or square ball bearings start coming off the assembly line, and being some kind of small metal object, they are not picked up as flawed or undesirable products and are then passed on to the consumer.

But flat or square ball bearings have no value to the consumer. They are of no use in enhancing survival. So nobody will buy them and the factory will fail and go bust as its “products” are unwanted by anyone.

But what if the ball bearing factory were in a position to FORCE others to accept and buy whatever it churned out, even though the “product” was useless or even detrimental to the survival of the purchaser?

In essence that is the position of most governments. A government is a group of people. It engages in some activity or other. Its product is not clearly defined and agreed upon. It is in the unique position of being able to FORCE the consumer to pay for whatever it happens to churn out, even when what it turns out is detrimental to the survival of the consumer.

With no clearly defined product, no agreement as to what it is SUPPOSED to produce, we wind up with a lot of activity but no-one within government or on the receiving end has any reliable, consistent way to measure government’s success or failure.

Governments are just sort of “there.” They flounder around like a headless chicken, they stagger from one crisis to the next, raise taxes, churn out laws in endless profusion, declare wars in which everybody loses, promise one thing while doing another, lie, intimidate, mess people about – and often to the extent where citizens have to form groups to protect themselves from their own government, throwing government into the status of an enemy rather than an ally – and so forth.

Very often governments wind up administrating in the service of one or another vested interest such as banking or drug companies. They get the idea they are supposed to keep populations “under control.” They work on some notion that they are supposed to just “keep themselves going.” They conceive of themselves as a group distinct from or even imposed upon the society of which they are a part and think it is perfectly reasonable to muck their fellow citizens about, educate the young into advanced illiteracy or preside over a decline in the standard of living of some of the richest and most productive nations in the history of the planet.

And the governed, none the wiser as to what their government’s product is, tend to go on rather bemusedly supporting it, buying its justifications and excuses as its conduct degenerates, it renders their world less and less safe and it drives civilization into chaos and ruin.

So what IS government’s product? Or rather, what SHOULD it be? What is a desirable product for as government?

We could agree that the product of government is prosperous multi-national corporations, or a population that does as it is told or rich politicians or safeguarded banking interests and this might work for the CEOs of multi national corporations, banking cartels and so forth but it does not work too well for millions of the rest of us.

What we need then is to agree on a product that enhances and promotes the optimum degree of survival for all of us.

Suppose we decide that the product of our government is:

A safe environment in which all honest people are able to flourish and prosper free of inhibition to their survival efforts.

This is a viable and desirable product for government to work for and deliver so far as both we and government are concerned.

There is not much point in our having a government that does anything else is there? A government that actually inhibits our survival does not have much value so far as we are concerned.

We can measure government’s performance and gauge its competence or incompetence, its sincerity or lack thereof once we know the product we want from it.

By their PRODUCTS ye shall know them.

Look around. Is the environment safer or less safe? Are we more able to flourish and prosper or less?

Is YOUR government currently producing flat ball bearings?

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5555111

IS IT TRUE that just as committed that Mayor Weinzapfel’s office has responded to the CCO Freedom of Information Act request with 24 pages of details regarding his recent trip to Evansville’s sister city Osnabruck, Germany?…that we appreciate their promptness?…that they made it a point to advise us in writing that Mayor and Mrs. Weinzapfel conducted personal business on the trip which explains the fact that the City of Evansville did not pay for the airfare?…that the time in Osnabruck was four days and that the Mayor’s contingency also included Dr. Linda Bennet, President of USI, Dr. Stephen Bennett, Greg Wathen, and Mariya Gandzhova of the IEDC?…that as we requested nothing with respect to any of them that we received nothing either?…that the only expenses that were paid by the City of Evansville were some ceremonial trinkets for the Burgermeister (Mayor) of Osnabruck, Boris Pistorius?…that the total spent on all of the ceremonial trinkets for the Burgermeister was $493.06

IS IT TRUE we are hearing that some politically connected members of the Evansville Police Department are beginning to openly talk about who they would like to be appointed the next Chief of Police? …that the name of Sergeant Billy Bolin is the name is predominantly mentioned?…that the names of Chief Brad Hill and Assistant Chief Rob Hahn are also being thrown around?

IS IT TRUE that the Dean of the Evansville City Council was spotted wearing a “Lloyd Winnecke for Mayor” button at an event held on the Evansville river front last Friday?…that a few of his close political buddies did the same?…that these individuals also supported the current President of Evansville City Council, President B. J. Watts over the recent winner of 6th Ward Democratic primary Al Lindsey?

IS IT TRUE one of our “MOLES” over heard a local political loser for public office giving 2nd Ward City Councilwoman Missy Mosby advice on how to run her upcoming General election this November?…that actual numbers don’t lie and that MIssy Mosby’s record is 3 wins and no losses (2 primary and 1 general election wins) and her self-appointed political advisor’s record is not that impressive?

IS IT TRUE that the award for the “hardest working candidate” for local public office goes to 2nd Ward City Councilwoman Missy Mosby? …that “CCO MOLE #3” sees her everywhere?

IS IT TRUE that we are hearing that select members of the Evansville Fire Department have been talking about contacting US Department of Justice-Civil Rights Division to file a “class action” complaint against an Administrator of this department for violating their “Civil Rights” because his political tampering is causing major problems in the work place?

IS IT TRUE that they say timing is everything?…that the IAFF Local 357 Firefighters Union recently rejected the employment contract with the City of Evansville by a wide margin?…that it is becoming legend that the present Administration last month sent Fire Chief, Keith Jarboe to the Evansville Safety Board to reinstate 6 of the 15 Lieutenants back to their previously appointed positions within the individual fire stations because of safety concerns?…that the Evansville Safety Board passed Chief Jarboe request with little debate?…that last Wednesday Chief Jarboe returned to the Safety Board and ask them to remove the previously approved positions? …that this act could be considered a political retribution towards our outstanding firefighters because they voted down the proposed employment contract with the city?…that the Mayor and Chief Jarboe once ran for political office as “pro union” candidates in years past?…that timing is everything?

IS IT TRUE that the President of the IAFF Local 357 Firefighters Union recently received an official invitation to attend the upcoming Vanderburgh County Democratic Party “Annual Achievement Dinner”? …that the local 357 Firefighters President Shawn Oglesby asked the Evansville Fire Chief, Keith Jarboe permission to take time off so he could attend this worthwhile fundraiser? …that Chief Jarboe rejected Mr. Oglesby’s request?…we now wait and see if the leadership of area “unions” come forward to request that Chief Jarboe reverse his decision in order that the local 357 Firefighters Union President will be able to represent their membership? …that this could be another prime example of the petty politics being played by the Weinzapfel Administration?