The Latest Liberal Republican From Hamilton County

Today's award goes to State Senator Luke Kenley of Noblesville. He has taken the lead in the Legislature to craft a bill for socialized football. From the Indy Star:

"We're kind of in the third quarter of this game and we're running out of time-outs," said Senate Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee Chairman Luke Kenley, referring to the planned April 29 end of the year's General Assembly session. The Noblesville Republican has organized a working group of city, state and Colts officials that will meet today to begin hammering out a bill.

Kenley used a lot of football jargon, so I will too. The right thing to do would be to go back to the huddle.

I don't object to legislators getting involved to create a group that will produce a stadium. That would be exactly the right thing to do, getting investors together who would create a private company and build the stadium with private funds.

Unfortunately, what passes for leadership these days is spearheading a team of cronies who conspire to produce new laws that take taxpayer dollars and redistribute them to favored citizens. Kenley has worked hard to position himself as a fiscal conservative, but this proves plainly that he is no such thing.

Luke Kenley is just another one of the many liberal Hamilton County Republicans.

Another Uncredited Joke

I really would like to provide a link and credit to the magazine who published this joke, recently circulating by email. Alas. Enjoy!

Three politicians in a bar were discussing where they liked their wives to be during sex.
The Republican said, "On the bottom, of course, as God intended."
The Libertarian said, "I see nothing wrong with the woman being on top."
The Democrat said, "I prefer my wife to be out of town."

Ironic

It's funny. I have heard many general objections to the idea of Libertarians serving in government, usually based on misconceptions, resulting in preposterous doomsday scenarios.

My favorite is the hog farm scenario. Because Libertarians believe in the right of private owners to enjoy the fullest property rights possible, some interpret this to mean that hog farms will sprout up next to their fine suburban home or church. They want zoning to ensure that the hog farm will be kept away. What would really keep the hog farm away is the value of land in the area. If there are $200,000 homes on $40,000 half-acre sites, there is no way a hog farmer will be interested in the adjacent parcels. In order to make a living, a hog farmer needs acreage that goes for about $4,000/acre, not $80,000/acre. That price will keep him away better than any zoning regulation. After all, zoning regs vanish with the payment of the variance fee.

In the confusion over the distinction between libertarianism and libertinage, we find that some people think that anarchy will plague any jurisdiction that elects even one Libertarian, with rioting in the streets, and the city in flames.

So, at last, I arrive at my long-winded irony. Whenever I see a major party mayor or governor looking at a tight budget, the first thing out of their mouths is the threat of layoffs affecting police or fire forces.

Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson, a Democrat, proposed an intriguing plan to consolidate the police and sheriffs departments. It's worth a look, and if the consolidation can produce savings to the taxpayers without a loss in efficiency and effectiveness, it's worth doing.

Because the consolidation apparently needs legislative approval, and the Republicans in the legislature are stringing the approval along, the Mayor fell back on scare tactics. Peterson put the following items on the block, to various degrees, per the Indy Star:

Mayor Bart Peterson outlined some services he said could be cut if his
Indianapolis Works plan to streamline local government is not approved by the
General Assembly. Peterson said not all of the cuts likely would have to be
made. Here are examples:

Police officer layoffs
Firefighter layoffs
Reduce street sweeping
Reduce garbage collections
Eliminate non-required water qulaity monitoring
Close city parks
Reduce staff in the Mayor's Action Center
Eliminate historic preservation planning.

This is the kind of slash-and-burn cutting that we get accused of, but would never propose. We propose the removal of frivolities. Mayor Peterson proposes to eliminate the essentials first while maintaining the frivolities, to reduce quality of life for all citizens rather than for political hacks.

"We need to do whatever it takes to avoid making these choices," Peterson said.

Very well! A Libertarian wants to cut many things from a city budget. Funding for the police or fire is not one of them. I wouldn't dream of proposing to close parks or stop picking up garbage. Since he seems to be begging for it, let's give the Mayor a little free help.

Any lobbying a city does, such as for a football stadium, should be cut immediately. No city or other government entity should ever be involved in the promotion of the arts. Art is in the eye of the beholder, so the last thing I want is a soul-less bureaucracy enforcing official beauty. Cut all associated expenses immediately. Pie-in-the-sky, speculative alternative transportation is the stuff of billionaire adventurers, not responsible cities. Cut it immediately. Is it really necessary that the Mayor's staff be as large as it is? Cut it immediately.

Go to the City's website. www.indygov.org/home.htm There is all kinds of pork ready to be chopped. Chop it out and see if there isn't plenty of money suddenly available for the proper functions of government, such as safety forces.

Hamilton County Liberal Republicans 2

If you want proof that government is growing, look no futher than the buildings government occupies.

The City of Noblesville's government is growing. The proof is the land the City purchased, and the buildings on that land that were demolished or being moved. From the Noblesville Ledger story:

In February, the Noblesville Common Council approved a maximum $16.4 million
budget to build a two-story addition and renovate the existing City Hall. The
budget is based on an estimated cost of $175 per square foot.

If you want proof that local Republicans are becoming tax-and-spend brethren of the Democratic Party, look no further than the language loaded with mollifying justifications.

"We don't anticipate it will cost that much," Mayor John Ditslear said
Wednesday, pointing out that costs were estimated high.

A resident who owns a $150,000 home would pay an additional $21 in annual
property taxes in 2006 if the city approves the maximum budget. In 2007, the tax
goes up by $31, the highest increase expected during the 21 years needed to pay
off the bond issue.

The problem with this attitude, whether in Noblesville or in Carmel, is that there is a cumulative effect to be considered. This Noblesville bond will be repaid over 21 years. How many other bonds, existing and yet to be concocted, will City residents also be paying off over that time? To paraphrase Senator Dirksen, $31 here, $31 there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money.

What possible benefit will the citizens really gain from the additions to City Hall? I can't think of any, and I haven't seen any specified. I can point to the costs, though. Since it is true that if you build space for bureaucrats, the space will be filled with bureaucrats, we can expect that in addition to the cost of the building, and the cost of taking the land off the tax roll, there will be the cost of the bureaucrats- salaries, benefits, vehicles, clothing, etc.

Hamilton County Republicans continually show themselves to be fiscal liberals. This is just the latest example.

Don't Let The Door Hit You

Tonight is Dan Rather's last telecast. When Rather announced that he was leaving, I thought that after years of not watching network news, and with him and Brokaw both leaving, I would give the networks another shot.

I did. Once. I quickly remembered why I stopped watching. Most of what they air just doesn't strike me as news that matters. Since they are broadcasting to a national audience, I expect issues of national importance to be covered. Wars, the Congress, the White House, the economy- these are all items of national importance.

Local weather events don't qualify, even if they are of great magnitude. Random acts of violence don't qualify, either. Yet, these make up the bulk of the reports. Thus, it's a waste of my time.

Like an increasing number of people on this planet, I get my news online. I go to news sites I like and in 10 seconds or less, I skim the headlines. If anything grabs my attention, I read the article. No waiting for a loathsome story on an ice storm in Wisconsin to pass. No yawns as a story about shootings in Mississippi drags along. I like to cut to the chase.

Rather's last broadcast doesn't interest me in the least.

Liberal Republicans Overrun Hamilton County

The re-invention of Marion County is beginning to get out of hand up here. The worst public proposal in the history of the County, seemingly backed by every Hamilton County Republican, is the $800 million light rail boondoggle proposed for the Nickel Plate railroad corridor. If successful, it would remove almost 4% of cars from I-69. Almost. If it removed 60%, I'd be impressed. Alas.

Pointless waste of this magnatude is hard to top, but three-term City of Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard is doing his level best.

The first project proposal that rankled fiscal conservatives was the lavish Central Park. I am all in favor of public parks and greenspace. However, this item includes building a water park, which is something best left to private enterprise. Sadly, there was very little backlash within the GOP.

Finally, the most recent proposal has allowed some Republicans to notice that the spending outside the proper functions of government is getting ridiculously out of control. This time, the Republican mayor wishes to build an $80 million concert hall. From the Sunday Star:

One of Indiana's most affluent cities soon will begin debating whether to build an $80 million concert hall -- but amid growing concern that Carmel finally has found something it can't afford.

and

"The mayor has spent thousands and thousands of dollars getting this project to this point, and he's just assuming, like everything else, that we're all going to buy into this," said City Council President Kevin Kirby, among critics who suggest Carmel should deal with problems such as annexation and traffic congestion before signing the biggest check in city history.

"To me, $80 million seems like an absurd number. Right now, there's not a whole lot of support on the council for this."

Good. There shouldn't be any support on the council for this. $80 is an absurd number when talking about the proper role of government and spending on an arts center. Government shouldn't even be spending a nickel.

One correct role for the office of mayor when seeking a concert hall is to seek a private developer to build it, and a promoter to operate it. The proper role of city government is to ensure the public safety, to manage the public infrastructure, and to manage a small number of services. Anything above and beyond that is the sort of liberal noodling the GOP used to torment the Democrats about. This is especially true on the arts, where certain Republicans made a living attacking the funding the NEA received. Anymore, it's hard to tell the difference between the two parites.

Sunday's Letters

The Indy Star featured two letters from Libertarians- from me and from Chris Ward. Here's Chris':

I am sincerely dismayed at the actions of the House Democrats this week. Sacrificing the people's business to counter what they perceive as a Republican "power grab" was narrow-minded and extremely arrogant.

Wasting two days of the General Assembly cost Hoosier taxpayers thousands of dollars. Democrats should be ashamed of their fiscal irresponsibility. First, they ran up the deficit the state currently has, now they want to waste even more of the taxpayers' money by not even showing up to work?

In 2006, I hope that citizens remember what happened this week. If you want true bipartisanship and officials who care about your individual needs, vote Libertarian.

Christopher D. Ward
5th District Representative, Libertarian Party of Indiana
New Palestine

I can't say what Chris originally wrote, but my letter was slimmed down a little bit. Here's what the Star printed:

Michele McNeil's article on lobbyist activity was enlightening. It is important to track the various interests that try to influence legislation.

So, it was of great interest to see that the city of Indianapolis was listed as one of the top 10 lobbyists, ranking ahead of AT&T, the Indiana Trial Lawyers Association and Trump Casinos.

I expect gambling interests to spend big money to influence legislation. While the ethics of lobbying and its effects are subject to debate, nobody can question the fact that it's their money to spend. In the case of the city's lobbying efforts, tax dollars are being spent.

This is a moral outrage and an indictment on the priorities set by the mayor. Given the chance, the people would never vote to have tax dollars spent on lobbying.

Tax dollars should be used for funding safety, sewers that work and other proper functions of government.

Mike Kole
Secretary, Libertarian Party of Indiana
Fishers

Edits occurred in the original's final two paragraphs, with portions chopped out highlighted in bold, as shown below:

This is a moral outrage, and an indictment on the priorities set by the Mayor. Given the chance, the people would never vote to have tax dollars spent on lobbying. The Mayor struggled for months to find the money for the Police, but could squander six figures on lobbying for a stadium.

If the Mayor wants to secure his legacy with the help of the legislature, he should spend his own money. Tax dollars should be used for funding safety forces, sewers that work, and other proper functions of government.

I was pretty keen on reminding people that the Mayor played hardball with the Police, claiming there was no money. If there is no money for police, a very proper governmental function, how is there money for a frivolity such as lobbying? I was also very interested in making an overture towards the possible motivation for this spending, and to name the moral outrage. Trump spent his own money on lobbying, so I won't be taking him to task. The Mayor spent the people's money! While I might raise an eyebrow at the Mayor if he spent his own money, I wouldn't be able to cite it as a moral outrage. It would be his money down the hole, and his money is his to blow.

Poker Roundup

Knowing that I had to finish in the top three in order to have a prayer of advancing in this five-week tournament, I resolved that I would play a disciplined game, grinding out advancement through folding, if necessary.

It was necessary, and boring. Sheesh! I played only six hands all night. I won four, which was nice. Another was a split. My only losing hand was at the final table, leaving me in sixth place. This was my best finish yet, but won't get me to the next round.

I caught rags all night long. The first table would have been an opportunity to clean up had I caught anything, since the table was in with four or more players almost every time, and they were playing crap. Fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold... I was disciplined, allowing the others to carve each other up and knock each other out. I advanced through inaction.

Ah, well. There will be other tournaments. This was a nice initiation. I figure if I can get to the final table every time in a group of 40, I'll win one soon enough.

One Way To Get To A Restructuring

The NHL owners and players have been at an impasse for eight months and the 2004-05 has been scrapped. Neither side seems to be moving toward the other. What will move things along?

How about losing all 30 current owners? That's a proposal the NHL listened to, as Bain Capital Partners LLC and Game Plan International made an offer to buy the league lock, stock, and barrel. From ESPN:

Bain managing partner Steven Pagliuca, co-owner of the NBA's Boston Celtics, and Game Plan, which recently acted as an adviser on the sale of the Ottawa Senators, are betting that many NHL owners would welcome the chance to get out of the hockey business.

The NHL, which because of its ongoing player lockout recently became the first major North American pro sports league to cancel an entire season, has said its teams have lost a collective $500 million over the past two seasons.

and

NHL executive vice president Bill Daly was cautious in describing the level of interest the proposal received from the governors.

"I'm not going to characterize it," Daly told the Globe and Mail. "I would imagine different clubs had different feelings. The board listened to a presentation and that's about it."

Daly said the league was compelled to listen based on the significance of the offer.

"When someone's offering over $3 billion, we felt we had an obligation to the board to have them, at least, hear it from the proposed purchaser," Daly added.

That's the most astute observation I've heard from NHL brass throughout the turmoil. I don't think it will happen, but it might have the effect of waking some owners up. Let's hope.

Vive Free Speech!

I remember the huge disappointment cable TV was when I discovered that most channels air cut or edited versions of R-rated material rather than the uncut original. Comedy Central, TNT, Bravo, A&E, etc., all err on the side of edits?

I've always asked, "Why"? I don't like the idea that broadcast television is edited, but I concede the rationale that broadcast TV and radio are freely available, and kids could hear f-bombs or see a titty. I still think that these things are not a huge problem, and that parents should be the keeper of the remote, not the FCC. As consumers who pay the bill for cable and satellite radio, we should choose to hear the profanity, if that's what we want.

Bad news: Now Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) wants to impose the FCC's broadcast TV and radio rules on the cable and satellite networks. From CNN:

"Cable is a much greater violator in the indecency area," the Alaska Republican told the National Association of Broadcasters, which represents most local television and radio affiliates. "I think we have the same power to deal with cable as over-the-air" broadcasters.

"There has to be some standard of decency," he said. But he also cautioned that "No one wants censorship."

Stevens told reporters afterward that he would push legislation to apply the standards to cable TV and satellite radio and television. It could become part of a pending bill to boost fines on broadcasters who violate indecency restrictions or of an effort to overhaul U.S. communications laws.

If Stevens is successful, it could pose new problems for raunchy radio host Howard Stern, who has said he was forced to leave broadcast radio for satellite radio to avoid decency limits -- and Federal Communications Commission fines.

All this in the wake of Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction". Thanks, Justin.

There's hope from an unexpected source.

While lawmakers and some parents groups are anxious to wipe the airwaves clean of indecency after singer Janet Jackson bared her breast last year during the Super Bowl halftime show, President Bush has said parents are the first line of defense and can just "turn it off."

Amen, Mr. President. It never surprises me when Republicans want to alter or censor broadcasts to eliminate cuss words. What disappoints me (it doesn't surprise me anymore) is whena Republican like Stevens puffs his chest to let business know that the governement is supreme, and business better know its' place.

Stevens said he disagreed "violently" with assertions by the cable industry
that Congress does not have the authority to impose limits on its content.

"If that's the issue they want to take on, we'll take it on and let the
Supreme Court decide," he said.

For my lefty friends, this is the danger of describing the airwaves as "the public airwaves" rather than the private property they should rightly be. If they are "public" the government absolutely does have in its power the ability to dictate and to censor. Best to ensure that they are private property so as to weaken this power.

Odd Gambit

The Indiana House Democrats did not relent in their boycott of the legislative session, sitting it out in caucus as the deadline to vote on bills expired. The Star's update. In order to kill two bills, they took down 132.

House Democrats were so opposed to bills creating an inspector general for the governor and requiring voters to show ID at the polls that they sacrificed 130 other bills during the 15-hour standoff. They sacrificed, for example, a plan to help fellow Democrat and Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson build a new Colts football stadium with state money.

"There are some issues so important that they're worth standing up and fighting for," said Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, who took to the floor just after 9 p.m. to report the concerns of his caucus.

The problem with this is that the Dems just didn't get anything as a result of their antics. Sure, they took down the two items they opposed, but had they negotiated, they could have done that and more, getting some things they wanted in other bills. All they did was show that they were willing to go to the wall. Now what?

Well, the Senate takes over. The Senate has a very comfortable Republican majority, which if I'm not mistaken, is large enough to ram through any bill it wants to. All the Senate needs to do now to get what the House Democrats tried to block is to amend a surviving bill to include those items.

We call this a zero sum game.

I have to think that Pat Bauer and the Democratic leadership believes that there will not be a backlash against his party in 2006, when voters return to the polls. The next general election is more than 20 months away, and the turnout for that cycle is usually very low. No need to worry about accountability under such circumstances. In the meantime, it's probably a first-class hoot for Democrats to watch Republicans howl.

I would like to point out that if Libertarians were in the House, we would not boycott the proceedings. We would work to build a coalition of opposition sufficient to defeat measures we disapprove of. We would speak on the floor to our objections. We would vote against objectionable bills. We might lose some votes, but we would be moving the business along.

It is uncommon that I completely agree with a Star editorial, but here it is:

By late afternoon Tuesday, any sympathy earned in recent weeks by Democrats in the Indiana House had been exhausted.

Instead, Minority Leader Pat Bauer and his stubborn band of followers unintentionally reminded Hoosiers why voters had turned Democrats out of power in November.

Partisanship. Pettiness. Short-sightedness. Bauer managed to put all of his lesser qualities on display this week by keeping his caucus off the House floor for the better part of two days. The resulting lack of a quorum wasted lawmakers' time and taxpayers' money. And it endangered important pieces of legislation for no justifiable reason.

Almost two months remain in a legislative session that started off with great promise. It's time to stop the silliness in the Statehouse and move ahead with fixing a state government that hasn't functioned properly in years.

So Far, So Walked Out

The Democrats threatened to walk out on the legislative proceedings, and so far, they've kept their word. Here's the lunchtime update, from the Star:

Bosma said House Republicans would return to the chamber about 11 a.m. to do business. But House Minority Caucus Chairman Dale Grubb, D-Covington, would not promise a return by Democrats. Only Democratic Reps. Chester Dobis, D-Merrillville, and Scott Pelath, D-Michigan City, showed up at 11:15 a.m. as House Republicans tried to do business. They demanded a quorum call, which showed only 54 of 100 House members present, not enough to do business.

Another quorum call at noon also failed to produce enough House lawmakers to do business.

"Respectfully, Mr. Speaker, I cannot give you a time" when Democrats will return, Grubb told Bosma as Bosma pressed him.

Bosma had sad he hoped to resume at 2 p.m., but the Democrats remained in caucus.
Republicans control the chamber by a 52-48 margin, but two-thirds of members must be present in the chamber to do business.

The amazing thing is, the Democrats haven't put anything on the table. If I were going to throw up a roadblock like this, I would be saying that I want 'X' or 'Y' or 'Z' if I'm going to come back. Get something, for Pete's sake!

No, this is just posturing for its own sake. Power for power's sake. Zzzzzzzzzz.

Another Walkout?

Last year, Republicans walked out of the Indiana Statehouse over the crucial issue of gay marriage. There was a minor backlash against these legislators, mainly on the basis of getting priorities straight. Budget and property taxes first, everything else second.

Since then, the GOP has taken over control of both houses and the governor's office. Obviously whatever backlash there was over that walkout had no lasting effect. Perhaps that is the thinking behind the Democrats walking out yesterday. From the Indy Star:

House Democrats offered a prelude Monday to the legislative showdown that could gridlock bills today -- a crucial deadline day for the General Assembly.

At stake are bills that would require Indiana to observe daylight-saving time, give Gov. Mitch Daniels his own special prosecutor and help fund a new stadium for the Indianapolis Colts.

But there's no telling when Democrats will come to the floor to work today.

Monday, they stalled for nearly seven hours because of a crush of last-minute amendments, one of which would steer control of a Colts stadium project toward the governor.

I kind of like gridlock, generally. It means that taxes won't be raised. There aren't any tax cuts or budgete cuts on the table, so why not just wipe out the whole session? Well, mainly because the people voted to put these Representatives in the seats to vote on legislation. If the Dems don't like the proposals, they should simply vote against them.

In the Star's follow-up story today, the Dems gave a first impression that they would do business, but then went back to playing games:

Democrats showed up about 9:20 a.m., voted to register their presence and heard a rambling speech to the entire chamber by House Minority Leader B. Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, before retreating behind closed doors 16 minutes later.

I have to think that Libertarian reps would be far more valuable to the process.

Spending Outrage

Something caught my eye in an article in today's Star about gambling interests and their lobbying efforts.

Did you know that the City of Indianapolis spends tax money on lobbying? In fact, the City ranks #4 so far this legislative session, according to the Star.

This is good journalism, but the issue of the City's lobbying must be raised. It is important to track the various interests who try to influence the laws the citizens of this state will be subject to. The City of Indianapolis ranked in spending ahead of AT&T, the Indiana Trial Lawyers, and Trump Casinos even.

I expect gambling interests to spend big money in the hopes of influencing legislation. While the morality and ethics of lobbying and its effects are subject to debate, nobody can question the fact that it's their money to spend. In the case of the City's lobbying efforts, tax dollars are being spent.

This is a moral outrage, and an indictment on the priorities set by the Mayor. Given the chance, the people would never vote to have tax dollars spent on lobbying. The Mayor struggled for months to find the money for the Police, but could squander six figures on lobbying for a stadium.

If the Mayor wants to secure his legacy with the help of the legislature, he should spend his own money. Tax dollars should be used for funding safety forces, sewers that work, and other proper functions of government.

Best Radio In Indy

Easy call: WXNT, 1430-am. Abdul Hakim-Shabazz is the only talker in Indy who is doing heavy issue-oriented talk and hosting the lawmakers on all levels, from governor Mitch Daniels, down to the various City-County Councilors, with the state legislators in between. Abdul in the Morning airs from 6-9am, weekdays. Get the online feed if you are outside the range of the airwaves.

WIBC-am could be doing this, especially in light of their large news staff, so it is surprising that they haven't been. That high-watt signal is positively wasted on Garrison.

The amazing thing about Abdul's head-first plunge into Hoosier politics is that he is coming from the Chicago area. Undaunted, he has aggressively pursued policy makers, so his learning curve has been sharp. Beyond that, he includes Libertarians in the mix, which always scores highly with me. Abdul self-describes as a "consistent conservative", but my assessment of him is that of a small-l libertarian. He is in favor of more public policy than I am, and he believes that the Republican Party is still the best vehicle for limited government policy.

WXNT is as close to a libertarian station as you could get. In addition to Abdul, all three hours of the Neal Boortz show air from Noon to 3pm. Boortz alone would make WXNT a favorite. Conservatives Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham are also on.

Minor downside- Michael Savage is unfortunately on, too. The man is simply nasty and unyieldingly negative. Thank goodness he is not a libertarian, or we would suffer a disastrous negative association we can't afford.

Oh well, on the average, WXNT is a great station. Check 'em out!

Poker Report

My third tourney date was rather like the second- a little bit better than the time before, and another nice lesson on the game was learned.

My play was generally very sound. This time, I finished eighth overall, good for 200 points. I'm climbing the ladder, but by baby steps. I'll need that quantum leap next time. Scoreboard. I'm still in 15th. Only the top five advance to an invitational tourney.

I stuck with my game plan and it paid off. Going into the final table, I was in third place. Problem was, the chip leader had 4x more chips than me, and I only had about 2x those at the bottom. I had a real opportunity to surge ahead, but I messed it up.

Until the final table is formed, the players deal their own hands. At the final table, ten players were crushed together along with a dealer. On the second hand, I lost sight of the fact that the dealer was not a player. I was dealt pocket sixes while being the big blind. The flop turned up another six. I was excited. Since I was sitting to the left of the dealer and I wanted to just capture the blinds and the first round of bets, I called all-in. Problem was, I was out of sequence. The action was three players ahead of me. Some of them were going to bet, but they quickly folded up. Exposed, I went all-in anyway and picked up the pot. Had I been aware of the sequence, I would have captured at least an extra 1,000 or so chips.

Lesson: PAY ATTENTION TO SEQUENCE!

From there on, it was downhill. A player looking to leave the table because his wife was ready to go started playing every hand all-in. I played a K-Q suited against his all-in 3-7 off-suit. Hard to feel bad about that, right? Here comes the flop. Two 3s and a 7. Nuts! What can you do? It cut my chip stack by two-thirds, and I limped through the rest of my limited time at the final table.

Weekly Poker Fun

Tonight is the third tournament of five being held at Barley Island in Noblesville. Come on down and join the fun. Registration is 6pm, play starts at 7pm. No buy-in, no cash on the table = fun atmosphere.

I'll try to advance in the standings again this week. I'll need to leap up rather than crawl.

Marion County's Latest Disincentive

Thank goodness I left Marion County, which means Indianapolis, just inside a year ago. Had I stayed, I would be subject to a new income tax increase. Indy Star report.

Proponents will point out that the increase is only raising the tax a mere 0.3%, from 0.7% to 1.0%. This now puts Marion County's tax on par with every suburban county that surrounds it. Until now, there was actually a very minor incentive for people making large incomes to stay in Marion- that 0.3% difference. No big difference? Marion County needs all the advantages it can get.

The reason for the tax increase is to build more jails. The Marion County jails are so stuffed full of inmates that the County chooses to release many of them. Some have taken advantage of their early release to commit murder.

This sounds like a place I am glad to have left behind.

I am not at all convinced, though, that Marion County's jails are stuffed full of violent criminals. I have no doubt that there are a significant number who have committed non-violent, victimless crimes. It is unfortunate that rather than doing the job of sorting out the violent from non-violent offenders, the City-County Council, lead by Democrats, simply committed to building more prisons.

Aren't the Democrats usually the ones leading the charge against American society werehousing inner city minorities and the poor in jails? I guess they are now in favor of it. The vote was 21-7. All seven opposed were Republicans. All 15 Democrats voted in favor.

Very delighted to live somewhere else. No doubt others will continue to follow in hordes.

Big Eminent Domain Case Heard Today

The US Supreme Court will hear arguments on a case that matters to everyone who believes in property rights, and is opposed to the use of eminent domain to transfer land from one property owner to another private property owner for a different use. CNN Story.

Eminent Domain was meant to be a means to acquire land for obvious common benefit uses: roadways and bridges mainly. That use was meant to be employed sparingly and as a last resort in the event civil negotiations broke down to an impasse. In the best case scenario, the government makes a fair market offer and the property owner agrees to a deal.

But today, governements on all levels, especially municipalities, are using eminent domain as a tool beyond its original intention. Eminent Domain is now being used by cities for taking property away from the current owners and giving to to other private entities- usually developers- on the basis that the new use will create jobs and a bigger tax base, which are certainly public benefits and sufficient justification for getting around negotiation and agreement.

This is important because all of us live in some kind of housing. We care about our homes, especially if we are homeowners. Home ownership is the cornerstone of the middle class. These cities are showing us that homeowners are increasingly becoming a class to be oppressed and disregarded. It should cause great alarm. From CNN:

"A recent study by the property rights group Institute for Justice, which is representing the New London homeowners in court, found about 10,000 cases from 1998 to 2002 of local governments in 41 states using or threatening to use eminent domain to transfer home and properties from one private owner to another. Courts in at least six states have upheld the practice."

Neal Boortz has much to say on this, thank goodness, on his website and on his radio show. The Institute For Justice is a non-profit legal organization that takes eminent domain abuse cases, and is one of the litigants in today's case on behalf of the property owners.

Fear And Loathing Inside One's Own Head

The shocking news of the apparent suicide of Hunter S. Thompson hit the news late last night, and brought immediate response inside literary and cultural circles. Thompson was credited with being among the "New Journalists" and applied the term "Gonzo Journalism" to his own methods. AP story, with pics on Yahoo.

The results were books such as "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and "The Hells Angels". This latter was my introduction to Thompson, and I was impressed with the courage and the fortitude required of him to gain complete acceptance by the then-outlaw biker gang, at a great physical cost.

Here are some links to fine tributes to Hunter S. Thompson: Blogcritics has no less than six obits, plus a review of his new book, "Hey Rube" by Dave Nalle. Hoosier Libertarian Al Barger has his own treatment. From Lileks' Bleat.