Thursday, April 30, 2009

Miami County Libertarian Party Organizational Caucus

There will be an organizational caucus held on Tuesday June 2 at 7:00pm. This meeting will be in the Peru Public Library’s basement meeting room. Use the front (Main Street) entrance and take the stairs on your left down; at the bottom of the stairs turn right and the meeting room will be on your left.

Topics during this meeting will include the adaptation of by-laws, election of officers, recruitment, and the party’s website.

In order to speak or vote at this meeting, you will need to be a resident of Miami County, Indiana and a member of the national or state Libertarian party. Proof of residency and membership will be required. For those who wish to become members of the Libertarian party you may visit the national website at https://www.lp.org/membership or contact lpinhq@lpin.org at the state level.

For more information, including a copy of the by-laws that will be presented, please visit our website www.MiamiCountyLibertarians.org or send an email to us at info@MiamiCountyLibertarians.org or phone Jason at 473-7203.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Will I Ever Learn?

Will I ever learn? I mean seriously, will I?

Today I got a phone call from Julie at the courthouse switchboard telling me that a semi driver had arrived with three large things for the IT Department. Great news, so I headed out immediately.

When I got to the ground floor, sitting right outside the room where the switchboard is was a guy with some papers in his hand. Invoices or delivery papers of some kind I presumed. So I ask the guy if he had the boxes still on his truck.

He just looked at me. “The three boxes with computer equipment for the IT Department. Are you the guy who has those?” I asked. He said “No,” but he didn’t need to; the completely bewildered look on his face spoke volumes.

Next I went into the Drainage Department, where the switchboard is kept. There was Julie behind the desk with the phone. Something you need to know about Julie is that she is a ‘float.’ She is someone who works in different parts of the courthouse at all different times. Sometimes she covers an area for a day, sometimes just over a lunch break or fifteen minute break. She may be in the same office for an entire week, or she may not return there for a month. You just never know.

Any who, she’s at the switchboard when I walk in. “Where’s the delivery guy?” I asked her. She responds with “What delivery guy?”

Granted, she has a sense of humor and can pull your leg from time to time. After a minute or two, I realized with increasing horror that she wasn’t playing; she really had no clue what on Earth I was talking about. It wasn’t her that called.

Was someone playing a prank on me? Couldn’t be. We really were expecting three large boxes to arrive today, quite possibly by semi. No, this was real and I had no idea who called me or where my expensive boxes were at. Just great.

I wander outside and see a semi double-parked on Fifth Street, so I head in that direction. What’s the worst that could happen? Maybe he’ll think I’m cracked too.
Good news though, this was my guy and the boxes were still on the truck. Apparently he went into the Sheriff’s Office to ask about where to deliver these things. Someone from there would have called me then.

I still don’t know who called me. It wasn’t Julie; she never works in the Sheriff’s Office but the voice on the phone sounded just like her.

You would think that after four years I would have learned to ask who I’m speaking to before I go tearing off. But maybe not.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Heinlein on Taxes

"There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him" - Robert Heinlein, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

House Bill 1604 Decided Today

Today is tax day ladies and gentlemen; this is the day that our income tax is due to the federal and state governments. Ironically enough, it is also the day when the fate of Indiana House Bill 1604 would be decided.

All across the country protests were carried out today, tea parties, to let our legislators know that we do not appreciate our tax dollars being wasted and that we do not enjoy being over taxed. There were over a dozen such tea parties right here in Indiana, including one on the south lawn of the State Capital Building.

This is the same building where HB 1604 was passed today by approximately a two-thirds majority.

Taxes have been raised again. Tax dollars are being wasted again. TAXPAYER MONEY IS BEING SENT DIRECTLY TO PRIVATE BUSINESS TO LINE THE POCKETS OF BILLIONAIRES AGAIN!

How many protests do we need to have to make these people understand that we’re serious? We had the revolt last month; there are tea parties in hundreds and hundreds of communities today.

Are you serious? I’m serious! I have had it with the constant squandering of our money. I’m completely fed up with these so-called public servants ignoring the public and serving their own friends instead.

Let your representative know that you will be voting for those who are good stewards of our money; not just during an election year but all the time and during EVERY vote they cast.

Listen up you politicians! Some of you, a far too precious few, are exactly what the people need. Most of you are exactly what is driving our great nation into the gutter. You know who you are and so do we!

We will cast you out of office on Election Day, mark my words.

Miami County (Indiana) Libertarian Party

There is going to be an organizational meeting for the Miami County Libertarian Party very soon! Although the date and location have yet to be determined, you can expect the meeting to be held in late May or early June of this year.

Topics will include reviewing and adopting by-laws, electing party officers, and recruiting.

This meeting is open to all Libertarians who wish to attend, and to anyone thinking of joining the Libertarian party. However, only current members of the Libertarian national or state party who reside in Miami County will be able to vote during this meeting.

If you are not yet a member of the Libertarian Party, you may join at the national level following this link: https://www.lp.org/membership

For more information on joining at the state level, send a message to lpinhq@lpin.org

Look here for more information as it becomes available. If you have any questions about the upcoming meeting, you may contact me at jevans@globalme.biz

Monday, April 13, 2009

My New Fish Heads

Sometimes I can be a real stinker. Okay, don’t everyone pass out from surprise, yes it is true.

Last Saturday, the fourth, or was it Sunday? I don’t remember for sure. How about last weekend? Let’s go with that and I’ll start over.

Last weekend Keri, Morgan, and I went to Kokomo. This isn’t unusual of course, we enjoy shopping and dining there as they have much more to choose from and they have different things to choose from, then we have in Peru. And why shouldn’t they? Kokomo is like four or five times the size of Peru.

Anyway, Keri was looking for some shoes to wear for Easter and for an upcoming wedding. As we were browsing around a shoe store, I found a pair of grey fish head shoes. I’ve been wanting a pair of fish heads for some time, and these were on sale for only $20. They had red and black ones in my size too, but I really wanted these grey ones.

But the left toe, which is dazzling white, had a big dark streak on it that wouldn’t rub off. No problem, I’ll switch the left shoe with one from the other box and be on my way. Only the other pair had the same problem. The black ones and the red ones were pure as snow, both of the right shoes from the grey were too. Both lefts had a, well, a mean streak on them.

So I ask the sales lady what could be done about it. She takes the shoe to see if it will clean up somehow.

About five minutes later she returns, admitting that she couldn’t completely remove the spot. If you know right where to look and are looking at the shoe while holding it you can spot the spot easily enough. But wearing the shoe and looking down while standing and it is very hard to see. Probably no one would ever notice it.

“That’s too bad,” I said. “I really wanted that pair of shoes. Do you have any more in the back?” She assured me that all of their stock was on the shelves; there were no more in the back.

“Man that stinks,” I told her. “Tell me, if I buy this pair can anything be done because of the spot that won’t come off?”

She looks at her manager; the manager says to give me ten percent off. I agree and get my on sale shoes for another two bucks off. From twenty-five down to eighteen now.

The beauty of it is this. Any pair of shoes, no matter how careful you are, will get blemishes on them. It’s a sad fact of life. If, and I stress the word if, someone was to notice this very slight blemish, they would attribute it to normal wear. Chances are good that the first or second time they’re worn they’ll end up with at least that kind of a mark.

But I used it as a handy ruse to get an extra discount. Kind of rotten of me huh?

And what did Keri say about it afterwards? “I trained you well.”

Now who’s the rotten one?

Remember This Wednesday

Here’s a reminder to everyone; THIS Wednesday is the Tea Party, the day after tomorrow. There are events all over our beautiful nation, so it shouldn’t be hard to find one near you. I personally will be going to Indianapolis.

In Indy, the actual event starts at 4:40 pm and is scheduled to run ‘till 6:30 pm. Bring your signs, bring your voices, bring your friends, and bring some tea!

Stand up, speak out and be heard my friends!

A Simple Wager

Let me offer up a very simple wager; I've got a dollar that says our (Indiana) politicians are going to betray us and sell us out once again. I'm betting that those jackals pass the so called CIB Bailout, actually the Indianapolis Pacers Bailout aka line the Simons' pockets with taxpayer money.

Any takers?

Sunday, April 5, 2009

The New Seat

Today I put a new seat into my truck. Well, it isn't new new, it's just new to me. I bought it at a junk yard in Westfield on my way home from the Revolt at the Statehouse. I waited until I had both good dry weather, and time to put the thing in.

Unlike the horrors that assaulted me during the Utility Room Remodel, this project went quite smoothly. I was in fact surprised at how well it went. Replacing a seat probably sounds pretty easy to you, but I'm a computer guy, not a mechanic.

The original seat just broke one day. I was in a drive-thru and leaned over to get my wallet out. Snap! The seat tipped and I was leaning on my door. I've had the thing propped up for I don't know how long.

I didn't realize how much I compensated for the seat until we took a drive this afternoon. Every time we turned a corner I found myself leaning to make up for what the seat was doing. Except it wasn't doing it anymore.

Yippee! It's like having a new truck!

Come to the Tea Party

I have added a new blog to my favorites, http://www.indianapolisteaparty.com/ which is about, you guessed it, the Tea Party coming up. Visit the tea party blog for more information.

The Tea Party is a rally being held on the south lawn of the Capital Building in downtown Indianapolis beginning at 4:30 pm on April 15th, tax day. I encourage every Hoosier with transportation to come. This is going to be another opportunity for us to let our legislators know how we feel.

Stand up, speak out, and be heard! Join the tea party!

Saturday, April 4, 2009

House Bill 1604

Hoosiers, this posting is for you. You probably have heard by now about House Bill 1604 (HB1604), if you read my blog I know you have.

There is no doubt that using our tax dollars to line the pockets of billionaires is abusive and just plain wrong. However, griping and moaning about it to our friends and family won’t get anything accomplished. This is a time for decisive action!

All I’m asking you to do is send an email to your representative asking him or her to vote NO on HB1604. It’s easy and only takes a couple of minutes. If you’re not sure who your rep is or how to contact them, visit this link: http://www.in.gov/cgi-bin/legislative/contact/contact.pl

If you know what district you live in and don’t want to use the state’s form, your representative’s email address adheres to the following formula: the letter h followed by the district number, then followed by @in.gov

So if your rep is Bill Friend from district 23, his email would be h23@in.gov

If you want to see what I sent, you may view a .pdf version here: www.globalme.biz/downloads/HB1604_Letter.pdf which will require you to have Adobe reader installed. Feel free to use any or all of it word for word if you want. If you would like a text version that you can edit it is at www.globalme.biz/downloads/HB1604_Letter.txt. This is in notepad which any Windows computer can open. Help yourself to either one, or both, of these files.

Stand up, speak out, and be heard!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

No Joke

The 'We are Being Robbed Again' post is NOT an April Fool's joke. I wish that it were, but alas it is the sad and terrible truth. I would never joke about something like that, because in today's world it just couldn't be funny.

We are Being Robbed Again!

Oh my gosh I’m really mad! I’m not a swearing man, if I were this blog would probably read something like this: ^%#& 8ukj*&^8 7(&^!@$ #%#$ #^# &#& %#$# ~@ #&!~*&&@ &@^&% ^% 9&*! !*^&& ^ *@%#$!!% @$ &^%@. But I don’t swear, so let me put it in English.

The setting is beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana. Try to visualize a group of self serving, taxpayer robbing business men sitting in a meeting trying to figure out how to raise some more money. Who are these men? The Capital Improvement Board, CIB, which runs the sports stadiums in Indy.

What is their problem you ask? Well, they have a little budget deficit; it’s chump change really. 47.4 million dollars of chump change to be exact. What they say is that it cost 71 million dollars for the CIB to run for a year and they have a 47.4 million dollar deficit. That means they only have 23.6 million to work with.

Here’s the plan. They’re gonna get the Pacers and the Colts to each pay 5 million dollars. The CIB is going to cut 10 million out of their budget. Now the deficit is down to 27.4 million dollars. They have a solution to pay for that too, but first let me point out a couple flaws in their math.

First, as I understand it, the CIB has a budget of 120-130 million dollars annually; let’s be conservative and call it a measly 120 million. They need 71 million to operate, 120-71=49 million. Where’d the 49 million dollars go, I wonder? If they can afford to 10 million out of a 120 million dollar budget, that’s over 8%. Where have they been squandering that money over past years? Am I the only one seeing fat pockets?

And what is the bailout money for? The poor Pacers are apparently losing money. Yeah, that’s right. They’re worth over a hundred million dollars, they get the entire take from ticket sales, a percentage of all merchandise sold worldwide, and they don’t pay one dime of maintenance, staffing, nor upkeep of their arena. Yeah, it really sounds like those poor Pacers need the money.

Don’t let anyone fool you; this bailout is all about paying the Pacers OUR money. Sure, they’re kicking in five million, but they’ll be getting back roughly thirty million. That’s a whopping 600% return on their money! I’d sink millions in too for that kind of deal!

Don’t forget that the Pacers are a privately owned BUSINESS, owned by BILLIONAIRES!

Big deal right? The Colts chip in, the CIB chips in, and even the poverty stricken Pacers are going to chip in. Doesn’t come out of my pocket, right?

WRONG! In addition to the above, a new bill has been introduced, HB1604. Watch out, they’re going to try to slide it through fast. If passed, this will DOUBLE Indiana’s alcohol tax. It would increase admission to the games, increase the price of food and drink, and increase hotel and motel taxes. The combined hospitality taxes would put Indy at the top of the list. It would be the most expensive, hospitality tax wise, city in the entire country!

Remember, the taxpayers don’t see a dime of the increased admission, food, and drink money. Guess who pockets that!

I don’t drink, but this still really makes me mad. Taxpayer dollars going straight into the pockets of billionaires. We are being fleeced, robbed, hoodwinked, swindled, ripped off, held up, stuck it to, cheated, shafted, duped, deluded, conned, tricked, deceived, frauded, and taken for a ride. I think you get it.

But I have a solution. Actually I have two. First, call your representatives tomorrow (Thursday, April 2 2009) and tell them to vote against HB1604 and its blatant theft of tax money.

Second, boycott the CIB. More specifically, boycott the Indianapolis Pacers and the Indianapolis Colts. Don’t buy tickets to the games, don’t by any merchandise, and encourage everyone you know to do the same. Send a message, a very loud message. Hit these criminals in their wallets like they’ve been hitting ours.

Stand up, speak out, and be heard people!