Ethics are for Others: BMV Edition

While most people would probably settle for not having to wait in line enough of a perk as head of the BMV, Mitch's man wanted more. So he hired 24 former co-workers. How did he find 24 opening? Easy he fired 10 people.

Another Town, Another Budget Crisis

This time it's Clinton Indiana. The state denied their previous budget, and the town was left to pass an emergency budget. When that failed the town had no money and the Mayor had to lay off workers. Lucky for the residents of Clinton the town police and fire fighters agreed to volunteer. But it makes you wonder if the state even understands the damage they're doing to communities in Indiana?

1 in 10 Hoosiers live in Poverty

And nearly 1 in 6 don't have health insurance. While the unemployment rate may be going down in Indiana the quality of these new jobs is going down as well.

"Ellen Annala, chief executive officer of United Way of Central Indiana, said that even if people like Turner find new jobs, they likely will continue to struggle. That's because most new jobs in Indiana are coming from the service sector. Those jobs pay about $16,000 a year, according to state job statistics, and often do not include health insurance."

More and more Hoosiers are slipping into poverty even with jobs. We have to find a way to get them basic health insurance and the job training that will help them climb back out of poverty, because way too many of these Hoosiers below the poverty level are children. You can make all the arguments you want about adults who live in poverty, but there is no excuse for allowing children to live in poverty.

Place Your Bets

On how long until Mitch blames former Governor Kernan for this.

First Round of Property Tax increases begins

And so it begins, the town of Fishers is considering a property tax increase due to funding shortfalls from the state.

"This mechanism does not help us," said Councilman Tim Lima, referring to state formulas and perceived flaws that led to unexpected declines in county option income tax (COIT) revenues."

State to Privatize Prison

In another move to union bust under the guise of saving the state money Mitch has agreed to a 10 year contract with the Geo Group Inc. of Florida to run the New Castle state prison. Why do I say "guise of saving money?" Because the Geo Group has a habit of over charging wherever it can, $5 million in Florida alone.

Setting aside for the moment the problems inherent in for-profit prisons (lower non-union pay increases the chance of corruption among guards)this deal may not actually save the state any money, in fact as the Florida case show it could cost more if not caught.

Rep. Chocola does know Cass County exists, right?

$12 million to upgrade US 31, a highway that already exists, and only $3 million to build the Hoosier Heartland? Seriously, $12 million for a 4 lane highway that already exists, but he can't figure out how to talk somebody out of a $250 million bridge so we can build this highway?

So ask yourself how hard is your Congressman working for you? Is he working for you at all?

Counties in Dire Straights

Anybody wondering how Mitch and Co. managed to balance the state budget can wonder no longer, he took a page from his old boss. In the same way President Bush pushed unfunded mandates onto the state (No Child Left Behind being a very expensive example) the Indiana GOP has pushed budget costs down onto the counties. The results? New county taxes, first in the form of wheel taxes, but soon we'll start to see property taxes rise by 18-20% as school corporations are forced to make up the shortfalls.

But hey remember, Mitch didn't raise your taxes the counties did.

Ethics are for Others: Business as usual

So the Indiana GOP is sending out emails that state "Chairman Kittle and the governor's office are coordinating with Commissioner Sharp's office in relaying concerns that our friends in the transportation industry are currently having" and offering an opportunity "personally relay concerns you and your firm may be having." Who were the emails sent to? Engineering firms hoping to win highway construction contracts. And as we here in Indiana are well aware there will be a lot less highway construction under Mitch, so the GOP wants to offer it's "friends" an opportunity to be heard. Gee I wonder how a engineering firm can make sure the GOP hears them?

Mitch's excuse? "Instead of condemning the promise of access, Daniels argued that Democrats acted worse when they ran INDOT."

Ever notice how that is his excuse for everything? Ever actually hear Mitch site a specific situation when making one of his claims? Neither have I.

Indiana Hunger Summit

This stat really jumps out at you: "According to the most recent data available, 238,887 or 9 percent of Indiana's households are experiencing hunger and food insecurity each month."

Why? Indiana's current unemployment rate is 5.1% (according to the Indiana Workforce Development website.) While that doesn't mean that exactly 3.9% of Indiana households are employed but going hungry it seems indisputable that many of these households are gainfully employed but still going hungry.

According to Charles Warren, Research Manager of the Indiana Institute for Working Families, ICHHI, “Food insecurity and hunger are primarily an income issue and can only be addressed through economic development programs that increase the personal income of all Hoosiers."

That means job training, and transistion assistance for people trying to complete job training. It means making a real effort at funding programs that help the poor rise about the poverty line. The question is will the Daniels administration rise to the challenge, or try and sweep it under the rug?

Mr. Northern

From a post on DailyKos


Mr. Northern:

I am a Veteran of the Iraq war, having served with the 4th Infantry Division on the initial invasion with Force Package One.

While I was in Iraq,a very good friend of mine, Christopher Cutchall,was killed in an unarmoredHMMWV outside of Baghdad. He was a cavalry scout serving with the 3d ID.Once he had declined the award of a medal because Soldiers assigned to him did not receive similar awards that he had recommended. He left two sons and awonderful wife. On Monday night, August 16, you ran down the memorial cross erected for him by Arlington West.

One of my Soldiers in Iraq was Roger Turner. We gave him a hard time because he always wore all of his protective equipment, including three pairs of glasses or goggles. He did this because he wanted to make sure that he returned home to his family. He rode a bicycle to work every day to make sure that he was able to save enough money on his Army salary to send his son to college. At Camp Anaconda, where the squadron briefly stayed, a rocket landed inside a tent, sending a piece of debris or fragment into him and killed him. On Monday night, August 16, you ran down the memorial cross erected for him by Arlington West.

One of my Soldiers was Henry Bacon. He was one of the finest men I ever met. He was in perfect shape for a man over forty, working hard at night. He told me that he did that because he didn't have much money to buy nice things for his wife, who he loved so much, so he had to be in good shape for her. He was like a father to many young men in his section of maintenance mechanics. They fixed our vehicles with almost no support and fabricated parts and made repairs that kept our squadron rolling on the longest, fastest armor advance ever made under fire. He was so very proud of his son-in-law that married the beautiful daughter so well raised by Henry. His son-in-law was a helicopter pilot with the 1st Cavalry Division, who died last year. Henry stopped to rescue a vehicle belonging to another unit on what was to be his last day in Iraq. He could have kept rolling - he was headed to Kuwait after a year's tour. But he stopped. He could have sent others to do the work, but he was on the ground, leading by example, when he was killed. On Monday night, August 16, you took it upon yourself to go out in the country, where a peaceful group was exercising their constitutional rights, and harming no one, and you ran down the memorial cross erected for Henry and for his son-in-law by Arlington West.

Mr. Northern - I know little about Cindy Sheehan except that she is a grieving mother, a gentle soul, and wants to bring harm to no one. I know little about you except that you found your way to Crawford on Monday night in August with chains and a pipe attached to your truck for the sole purpose of dishonoring a memorial erected for my friends and lost Soldiers and hundreds of others that served this nation when they were called. I find it disheartening that good men like these have died so that people like you can threaten a mother who lost a child with your actions. I hope that you are ashamed of yourself.

Perry Jefferies, First Sergeant, USA (retired)

Sad? Pathetic? Or both?

What exactly is so threatening about a candle light vigil? Well to conservatives in Washington apparently a lot. Threatened by the idea of people praying for peace 18 members of the Free Republic D.C. group felt it necessary to hold a protest. What are they protesting against? Peace? That's the sad part, pathetic is them thinking that their 18 somehow overshadowed the 300 who had showed up for the vigil. Too bad conservatives haven't yet figured out that the public at large wants out of Iraq. People understand that Iraq isn't about terrorism, and they understand that this government hasn't properly prepared for the ongoing needs of the troops or the Iraqi people. And the Bush administration simply has no right to put American lives on the line and refuse to support them with the armor and personal needed.

"I think it's also important for me to go on with my life"

This one speaks for itself.

Just another case of the GOP over-looking the little guy

Got to hand it to Mitch on this one, this has to be his dream come true, combining his administrations ability to mishandle the simplest task, and screw the the average Hoosier at the same time.

The issue? It will not take twice as long for unemployment checks to be issued as before. But don't worry Mitch's guy is on the case:

"In some cases you have to take a step backward before you can take a couple steps forward.." - Workforce Development Commissioner Ronald Stiver

I'd say Mitch will sleep well tonight in the Governor's Mansion, with dreams of poor people waiting for their checks dancing in his head. But of course Mitch is too good to actually live there.

Lugar: Gas prices will continue to rise.

"U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar predicted the gasoline prices will continue to rise. "Supply and demand is likely to drive the price right on up as long as I live and you live," Lugar told the Louisville World Affairs Council. On the production of bio fuels, Lugar said, "If we were serious about it, we would have done it a long time ago and we would be using it now."

Ok, he's right about demand being at record levels, but at some point we need to face the fact that oil companies are playing with the supply levels, closing refineries for "repair" and refusing to build new refineries. If this was completely tied to oil prices then net profits would be equal to before, higher prices offset by higher costs. But instead oil companies are showing record profits, $7.6 billion alone for Exxon Mobile, for the quarter. So clearly this isn't an issue of crude oil costs alone.

As for the argument that this is free trade functioning as it should? That's a fine argument when it isn't also a matter of public safety/ national security. When gas prices rise they rise for everybody, police and fire departments included. National security? The #1 consumer of gas in the US is the pentagon, when prices go up after budgets are set public agencies have to cut costs somewhere else. So is Exxon making $100 million a day really worth the cost to public safety?

The GOP's answer to the problem of high gas prices? They gave the oil companies a $500 million dollar tax break.

Rep. Chocola (R-himself) Loves Serving Pork

By now most have seen Rep. Chocola's mailing claiming victory in the name of fiscal responsibility by prohibiting NASA from spending $20,000 on a performance artist. Apparently he knew he would need the money to dole out some whopping large slices of pork in the highway bill, though an awful lot of this money doesn't seem to be going to highways. Take a look:

$230,000,000 “Bridge to Nowhere” connecting Gravina Island (population: 50) with the Alaskan mainland.
$3,000,000 (est) a documentary about advancements in infrastructure in Alaska
$2,750,000 Renovate and expand the National Packard Museum and adjacent historic Packard facilities (Warren, Ohio)
$2,320,000 Will add landscaping enhancements along the Ronald Reagan Freeway Route 118 for aesthetic purposes (CA)
$2,000,000 Construction of a parking facility at the University of the Incarnate Word (San Antonio, Texas)
$1,800,000 Construct a visitor interpretive center at the Gray Fossil Site (Gray, Tennessee)
$1,200,000 Blue Ridge Music Center install lighting/steps, upgrade existing trail system and equip interpretative center with visitor information (VA)
$1,000,000 The Journey Through Hallowed Ground, Rt. 15, scenic corridor management planning and implementation, FY 2006 (Virginia)
$1,000,000 Restoration of the Van Cortlandt Manor Entrance near Croton (NY)
$960,000 Implement streetscape improvements on segments of Laurel Canyon Blvd. and Victory Blvd. in North Hollywood (CA)
$300,000 Complete heritage tourism work plans for communities along SR 6 (PA)

$245,000,000 for non-highway construction, and this is by no means a comprehensive list. We could pay everybody on that island in Alaska $2,000,000 a person and still come out ahead $130,000,000. And our highway, the Hoosier Heartland? $3,000,000. Not even enough to begin construction. How can he claim to be serving Hoosiers when he'll vote for a $235,000,000 bridge for 50 people but won't fight to build a highway?

Just thought you should know

That while Rep. Chocola (R-himself) is out saving the country from performance artists, the Democrats in the Indiana Congressional delegation are actually working to help Hoosiers.

Ask yourself, what is more important, knowing when your credit card number has been stolen, or stopping NASA from hiring a performance artist? What actually means more to you in your day to day life?

What time is it?

Apparently it isn't time for Mitch to show any leadership, that's for sure. Mitch refused to show a preference saying the legislature should decide. The GOP controlled legislature punted telling Mitch to have the Department of Transportation hold hearings. Except Mitch didn't fill out the paperwork right, so the DOT say no thanks, let the counties decide. Which leads us to this article where Elkhart county says in effect that the state needs to decide this.

Is this seriously how Mitch is going to bring outside investment to Indiana? Do we really think this complete vacancy of leadership, or common sense will make people want to do business in Indiana?

Limbaugh: Iraq veteran a "staff puke"

Funny how for all the right's indignation about liberal's "contempt" for the armed services, it never bothers them to smear a veteran who disagrees with them. Case in point today's Rush Limbaugh show:

Okay, call him a staff puke if that's what you want, but civilian affairs, staff puke."

Last I checked any service member in Iraq was at risk of losing their lives. How many roadside bombs do you think Rush encounters on his way to the office? Major Hackett volunteered to go to Iraq, Rush Limbaugh volunteered to abuse drugs, who am I suppose to respect?

Ethics are for Others: The Isn't that Convenient? Edition

David Thomas said today that the governor broke no ethics rules by parking the 34-foot recreational vehicle outside a July 19 fundraiser benefiting Rep. Troy Woodruff, R-Vincennes. Thomas was appointed by Daniels to be Indiana’s first inspector general investigating ethics violations and corruption in state government.

Normally people recuse themselves when investigating somebody who gave them their job. But that probably would've just gotten in the way.