New Orleans Pics

Here's a link to amazing and voluminous pictures from atop a downtown New Orleans building. Let's hear it for the digital camera, the internet, and the blog!

http://sigmund.biz/kat/index.html

More Boortz

Check in to Neal's Nuze again today. It is excellent, as it has been all week. Some of the best commentary on Katrina and its aftermath can be found there. Here are links to the Nuze from the past few days:

Thu 9/1 Wed 8/31 Tue 8/30

New Orleans Anarchy

The natural disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina has often moved me. The scope of the devastation caused by it, and especially the human misery, has often given me pause over the past few days.

However, the subhuman reaction by many in New Orleans has also given rise to anger in me. There is enough human misery there already, and no need to compound it with the general lawlessness.

AP report on general lawlessness. Unfortunately, the police are a large part of the problem. Beyond participating in the looting themselves, this quote seems to sum up their attitude:

Tourist Debbie Durso of Washington, Mich., said she asked a police officer for assistance and his response was, "'Go to hell - it's every man for himself.'"

Here, we are unfortunately seeing the result of actions by so many within a society that do not respect individual rights or property rights. These are most assuredly not libertarians looting and raping. Indeed, the justifications for the looting in particular offered by so many are classic socialism. As you can see, socialism unleashed is a frightening spectacle.

Pics from the scene. Pictures are worth 1,000 words. The one that shook me to my core is of a little girl abandoned by her family, who was overjoyed at receiving bottled water.

Let's get around to teaching property rights to the people of New Orleans once the rebuilding is reasonably completed. Natural disasters can occur at any time, and it is likely that New Orleans will again see flooding and hurricanes. The misery caused by natural disasters cannot be prevented. The misery caused by humans in the aftermath can- and should- be prevented.

As a Libertarian spokesman who often engages in debate over policy solutions, I so frequently hear that a move to a more libertarian society would bring anarchy. Well, New Orleans is experiencing real anarchy right now, and it isn't happening because there is a widespread belief that one's home is his castle, that any theft is theft no matter the reason, or that it is wrong to initiate force against another human being. Look on it well. This is the result of teaching socialism, that individual need trumps individual rights.

In fact, New Orleans could have used a libertarian mindset over the last few days.

Excellent Neal's Nuze

Every day, Neal Boortz posts his running commentary, that are equal parts show notes, mini op-ed columns, and reading assignments. Today's is excellent, and addresses many things I would like to cover in the wake of Katrina given unlimited time and energy. The following is all from Neal Boortz. I don't usually cut such large portions of other's work, but this is so good and really, I would just be duplicating him, so I may as well just step aside and give Boortz the floor and the credit.

Boortz on looting:

I saw a picture on Yahoo News yesterday. The picture showed two people wading through chest-deep water in New Orleans. The lady has some food with her. The caption says "Two residents wade through chest-deep water after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store after Hurricane Katrina came through the area in New Orleans, Louisiana" Finding? They found the food? Sorry ... they stole it. Just because they're white doesn't mean they "found" food. Another picture on Yahoo News showed a black person with food taken from a grocery store. This person was
identified as a "looter." White, black ... whatever. It's stealing.

Fellow Hoosier Libertarian Rob Beck has excellent commentary on looting.

Boortz on gas prices:

There has never in the history of the world been a better way to allocate scarce resources than to simply allow the law of supply and demand to take its course. Whenever government steps in to interfere, shortages occur and chaos often reigns.

The way to handle the gas panic in Atlanta yesterday was to RAISE PRICES! It's not price gouging. It's the law of supply and demand at work. Today there will be people in Atlanta who might not be able to drive their own cars to work, to doctors appointments or to buy groceries who would otherwise be driving if gas stations throughout Atlanta had raised their prices in response to the increased demand and limited supply.

Let me explain:

As the panic spread, and the demand increased, the prices at the pumps were pretty much unchanged ... for a while. As a result people decided to top off every vehicle they owned .. .no matter how much gas remained in the tank. The predictable result was that stations soon ran out of fuel. The word spread, and more people hit the streets to fill more cars. Today people in Atlanta will find that many gas stations still have their pumps shut down. Throughout the night tanker trucks were busy trying to replenish the stations, but there simply aren't enough trucks to meet this demand. Another supply problem.

So .. what was the solution? For the politician the solution may have been to pander to the electorate by talking about imposing fines on gas station operators who "overcharge", whatever that means, consumers. The real solution, though, was to increase prices in response to the increased demand and limited supply. This is what the uninformed and the political class call "price gouging."

Let's take a look at what would have happened if the free market had been allowed to do what it has always done so well -- when left alone -- and that is to allocate scarce resources. If gas prices had risen strongly yesterday (as they in fact did at some stations) then people would have given a second thought to filling every car they own. If the prices were, say, $5 a gallon, consumers would have purchased what they thought they might need to get through the next few days, and would have started making plans for conservation., Certainly few people would have been shuttling back and forth filling up every car they owned. As a result, the gas that one consumer didn't pump into his second or third car because the price was so high would have been gas available for someone to put into the car they actually needed to get to work.

Keeping the prices artificially low encouraged over-consumption and hoarding.

This is why we can expect to find shortages in Hawaii, California, or any other place that puts artificial price caps on gasoline. A dear price makes you think carefully about use. This is one thing environmentalists understand about the mechanism of price when they call for artificially high prices. I hope those folks are happy now.

Boortz on "price records" and refining capacity:

At long last, we finally have a gas price record. The media has been reporting for years about "record gas prices," but they never have actually been records. The left, in their never-ending quest to demonize the oil industry, doesn't adjust gas prices for inflation. You simply cannot compare prices from one era to the next without adjusting for inflation.

So what was the record? In 2005 dollars, gasoline cost an average of $3.08 a gallon in March of 1981. It only took almost a quarter of a century to break the record. So what about bringing down prices now?

Prices have shot up in the wake of Katrina because 10% of the United States' refining capacity has been knocked out. Those refineries are along the Gulf Coast. Since there are only 149 gasoline refineries in the United States, and since none have been built in the last 30 years, knocking a few offline means supply doesn't meet demand. Thus the price goes up.

The answer is to build more refineries...and fast. If we had enough refineries to pick up the slack and continue meeting the demand, the rest of the country wouldn't be paying so much at the pump right now. So who is to blame?

Your friendly neighborhood environmentalist, that's who. It takes years to get a permit to build a refinery, if it can be done at all. We haven't built any in so long because Democratic, liberal, leftist, socialist enviro-wackos are preventing the permits from being pulled. No new refineries means every last one is running at full capacity in the summer. A hiccup of any kind means an interruption in supply. It's made worse by the fact that the oil companies have to refine dozens of special environmental blends to satisfy the politicians in various cities.

So as you fill up today and tomorrow for your holiday weekend, just know that you are paying so much because of the radical environmental movement in this country.

Thanks, Neal!

Pump Prices

Yes, it's bad. It's to where the price per gallon is where we've never seen it before- even in California! This is my photo from the local Co-Op, in Noblesville:

For perspective, gasoline pump prices are now on par with where they were in the early 1980s. Adjusted for inflation, that is. The screaming is that the prices are the highest ever. That screaming was happening a dollar per gallon ago. Now it's finally true.

So, since it is finally true, perhaps we can start to address the root of the problem- the lack of refining capacity in the United States.

Mike On The Air

Here's a reason to wake up early on Labor Day. Libertarian Party Executive Director Brad Klopfenstein will fill in on the Abdul In The Morning show on WXNT 1430-am, from 6-9am, next Monday morning. I will be Brad's guest.

If you want to listen from outside the Indy area, go to WXNT's website and pick up the streamed signal. Remember that Indiana is on Central Time right now.

Victory Viewing

The Fishers Town Council Meeting will air three times today on Channel 19 (at least on Insight cable). I'll be checking it out to see my speech. I'd love to tape it and make it available somehow. Anyhow, here's the schedule: 1pm, 5pm, and 9pm.

Update: Total rip-off!!! The one-hour broadcast just happened to conclude with the end of Scott Faultless' remarks... and just before I took the podium!

In fact, none of the remarks of anyone but Council members and the Town Manager were aired. The non-vote on the food & beverage tax was not aired. The Council members' rationales for voting against the tax were not aired. What gives?!

These programs are supposed to be a public service, not merely a propaganda service on behalf of the members of government. I'll be looking into this nonsense.

Libertarians Have Solutions

What makes the Libertarian Party of Indiana distinct from some other state parties is that we offer solutions, not merely criticism.

Margaret Fette is the Chair of the LP of Monroe County. She recently submitted a proposal for a map redistricting for Bloomington. Her map meets the requirements for distributing roughly equal populations per district, but is free of electoral bias. It lets the voters decide who will be their representative rather than the party bosses.

From the Hoosier Times:

Libertarians' map merits consideration

August 30, 2005

The Monroe County Libertarian Party, not wanting to be out of the loop in the Republican-pushed mid-decade county redistricting process, has submitted a map for new county council districts that merits serious consideration by the redistricting committee when it meets Wednesday.

and

(T)he map makes a lot of sense - more than the one the Democrat-controlled
redistricting committee and county commissioners approved in 2001.

It's not enough to criticize. Offer a counter-proposal, submit it, and stand behind it. Margaret showed that even in a fairly hostile political environment such as in Bloomington, good ideas cut through the fog like a beacon of light.

Margaret's map is an important strike against the practice of gerrymandering, which serves the major political parties well, but is a major disservice to the people in such districts, and is damaging to the democratic process by ensuring unresponsive elected officials.

Note: I would include a link to the Hoosier Times story, but it is only available to subscribers.

Good News As Bad News Letter

I submitted a revised version of my recent post "Good News That's Kinda Stinky" to the Noblesville Daily Times. It was printed as a letter in today's edition. Link to letter.

VICTORY!!!

After a lengthy campaign, the Libertarians in Hamilton County finally helped Republican Council members re-discover fiscal conservatism and defeat a tax.

Fishers Town Council voted to not vote on the proposed 1% food & beverage tax tonight, effectively allowing it to die on the vine. It was curious that they chose not to vote. You would have thougth that they would have wanted to be on record voting against a tax.

Coverage from the Noblesville Daily Times.

The Libertarian Party provided the only consistent opposition to the food & beverage tax increases. Libertarians spoke out against each tax. These were considered and passed in Hamilton County, then Carmel, Noblesville, and Westfield.

Libertarians wrote several letters that were printed in the Noblesville Ledger and Daily Times. We spoke on WXNT 1430-am. We directed an email campaign to contact the Councilors. We led pub crawls that finally gave the business owners and patrons a voice. This has all been chronicled on this blog over the last few months.

All of the Councilors on all of these bodies are Republicans. We beat them up for being tax-and-spenders. Finally, one of these bodies decided it didn't want to get beat up on this any more.

This is the value of having Libertarians on the ballot. If we weren't on the ballot here in Indiana, there would not have been any opposition to the taxes. The Republicans created them. The Democrats, such as exist in Hamilton County, stood by silently, absently. They attended no meetings.

If Libertarians didn't show up in all of these places, this tax would have passed.

After Town Council President Scott Faultless gave a powerful speech in favor of the tax, I got up to speak in opposition to the tax, but also in support of keeping my Town great, and in support of Fishers' restuarant and tavern owners.

My main points were pretty simple, and followed from what Mr. Faultless gave me. He cited the #1 statewide ranking the Town of Fishers was awarded by Money Magazine. He also cited the Town's fiscal conservatism of the recent past. He meant this latter as justification that one little tax hike now isn't a big deal. My counter was that the high ranking and the low tax rate are not inseperable. If the Town moves away from what made it great and earned the high ranking, we can only expect that ranking to slip.

Mr. Faultless cited several other targeted taxes we have in Fishers- on tobacco, on alcohol, on hotel rooms, and on a host of others. Rather than having made the case that the trend justified extending, I felt that Faultless made the opposite case, that we sure do single out a lot of little groups of people, and that's unfair. The hospitality industry shouldn't be singled out to carry the tax load.

The ordinance included language that cited the fact that restaurants were subject to the same 1% extra tax, so adding it in Fishers wouldn't put our restaurants in a comparative disadvantage. I argued that by defeating the tax, the Council could instead put Fishers restaurants at a comparative advantage compared to those in Carmel, Westfield, Noblesville, and Indianapolis. I argued that the Town should always act in such a way to make Fishers more attractive to business, not less.

My arguments won the day. Of course, I was not alone. John Livengood from the Hospitality Industry spoke, as did Dave Dore of White Castle. Fishers resident Gregg Puls also spoke.

Research Results

I am currently in the draft mode for an article on the gerrymandering of districts. Think it isn't a problem in Indiana?

In 2004, there were 100 races for State Representative, as all 100 seats are contested each year. I use the word "contested" with some hesitation. 32 seats were not contested at all. Completely unchallenged. Free pass for the incumbent.

Of the remaining 69, 9 were challenged only by the Libertarian candidate. One more was contested by a write-in candidate, who received five (5) votes.

In fact, only 13 of the 100 were in any way competitive. In this sense, I define competitive as a non-blowout, where the second-place finisher was at least within 10% of the victor.

On over to the State Senate in 2004, 25 races were "contested". Here 9 seats were completely unchallenged, with the incumbent getting a free pass. 5 seats were contested only by a Libertarian candidate.

Only one race, for District 5, was competitive. Get that. Only one. 24 of the 25 races were uncompetitive, meaning, blowouts.

If you are wondering why your elected officials seem a bit aloof to your concerns, here you go. Both sides know they are going to be re-elected in certain districts because people are not willing to vote against their natural inclinations no matter how bone-headed the elected official is with policy; and, the major party opposition will not field a serious candidate with serious financial backing to honestly challenge. The reason these two statements are so is gerrymandering: The practice of creating electoral districts in such a way that satisfies electoral rules for population distribution, while creating outcome certainties so that the major political parties can largely conserve their resources.

Not exactly representative government at its finest.

This is one of two issues that will make up my main campaign platform.

Parade in Markle

Yesterday's Wildcat Parade in Markle was great fun, and a nice chance to get in front of some voters. The theme of the parade was Mardi Gras, and we gave away beads- about 50 dozen all told.Ame and Isabel look on as I untangle beads with Sheri Conover Sharlow.

Jeannette Jaquish's daughter Zephyr dressed as Lady Liberty, and led the parade. My son Alex is holding my banner as he waits for the line to start moving.

Interestingly, not all of the Democrats of Republicans were marching in the parade. Some lined the streets, probably so that they could more directly work the crowds. I made it a point to give beads to some from both parties. They were speachless, which was amusing. I wished them good luck in the elections in 2006, and finally they were able to manage weak smiles. I never understand what the constant feeling of antagonism is all about with those guys.

This was Isabel's first parade, and was not merely a spectator. Actually, as Ame pushed her in the stroller, Isabel slept. This was amazing, because we were followed by emergency vehicles that ran their sirens almost continuously. This shot is from the end of the parade, and I had given out nearly all my beads.

I remarked to the family that I may well spend every Summer weekend in 2006 this way, as the campaign gets along towards the election. We'll test that theory that everyone loves a parade.

There were people who said that they would vote for me, only because I gave their kids beads and others didn't. It's not the best reason, but it matters, and I'll take it.

GOP = Tax & Spend

I thought the time was right to compile some articles showing that the trend I have chronicled here- tax & spend Republicans- is not merely a Hamilton County phenomenon.

Item: Fox News, the conservative news channel itself, ran Radly Balko's critique on GOP spending at the Federal level. This is not Ronald Reagan's GOP anymore.

Item: Washington Post article, "In Congress, the GOP Embraces Its Spending Side".

Item: Mark Tapscott's article "Has the GOP Lost Its Soul" appears on Townhall.com, and discusses the pork-barrell spending and Bush's lack of veto.

Item: The Daily Kos describes Alabama's new governor's flip-flop on taxes. Alabama actually has a GOP chair, though, who spoke in frustration on this situation instead of toeing the line. Has three links to additional items.

The Cato Institute: Cato has about 30 or so articles on this topic. Here's the link to the main page on Federal spending. Cato's 20-page study in pdf format, "The Grand Old Spending Party".

There are hundreds more. You get the picture: The GOP has abandoned fiscal conservatism. Only the Libertarian Party opposes tax-and-spend anymore.

Colts Negotiations Failings

As someone who has conducted negotiations for a paycheck, I have marvelled for months at the tremendous gaffe the governments side has allowed to float along.

The Colts haven't signed anything.

This is Negotiation 101. One party should never begin to act and to commit resources unless and until the other side has committed to do so as well.

The government side has been so eager to act, they didn't bother getting the Colts to agree to the $3/ticket tax, or even to sign a lease. Touchdown Colts! This did not stop the Central Indiana counties from passing a 1% increase in their food & beverage taxes. Touchdown Colts!

So, the Colts are completely in the driver's seat. The governments have no leverage (Field Goal Colts!) beyond the hope that if the Colts play hardball, the public will resent it. That's a bad bet, because the governments were betting that the public would not resent a raise in taxes to support the team and a new stadium. Touchdown Colts!

In fact, the Colts never even issued the threat of leaving Indianapolis. The pols- Mayor Peterson, Governor Daniels, Senator Kenley- have all made it out that the Colts put that item on the table. Perhaps the team did behind closed doors, but no team spokesman has ever said this on the record. Touchdown Colts!

Score: Colts 31, Governments 0

Today's Indy Star report makes for amusing reading, if one is amused by three governments that fumbled into the waiting arms of team owner Jim Irsay. So, it makes for irritating reading.

Peterson said he understands the ticket tax is no longer part of the deal because the stadium can be paid for without it. Chuck Schalliol, director of the Indiana Office of Management and Budget and Gov. Mitch Daniels' chief financial official, said Thursday the tax is not essential.

This is called Giving Away The Store. Had I done something like this when negotiating on behalf of utility companies, I would have been fired before the conclusion of the negotiation.

Kenley said the legislation did not fund the authority without a lease agreement to safeguard public money. Without a deadline, there would be no pressure to finish the lease, he said. Nearing construction within months of the session's May ending is extraordinary, he added.

"Why commit that kind of money without a lease?" Kenley said. "It takes all three parties to get the resources."

Why indeed, Senator Kenley! We already have committed the money without a lease. The Republican County Councilors in Hamilton and other doughnut counties have voted for the tax increases. The taxes are already being collected by restauranteurs in some jurisdictions. Bottom line: the lease should have been signed before a single tax vote was even taken. Alas.

No part of this project has yet begun to look like anything positive for this region. This is tax & spend crony capitalism at its worst, and on display for all to see.

Bus Blues Reprise

This is a re-post from 2003. My sentiment is entirely the same today.

Great gravy, has school resumed already? I've had to stop in traffic, seeing the yellow busses with the railroad crossing-quality warning signals flashing ahead, letting kids on and off.

Every year, I get to thinking about the costs of busing kids to school. This is absolutely not a complaint about desegregation busing. This is a complaint about busing kids at all.

With all of the charges of childhood obesity and poor physical condition, the bus looks like yet another enabler of that condition. Let the kids discover that they have legs, and that those things below the waist do a remarkable job of propelling from A-to-B.

With all of the budgetary shortfalls school administrators endlessly wail about, consider how many more books, computer labs, athletic items, and heck, roof repairs, could be had, if not for the expenditures related to busses:

The bus itself
Fuel for the bus
Maintenance for the bus

A bus barn
Property on which the bus barn sits
Security for these facilities

The salary of the bus driver
Benefits for the bus driver
Matching taxes- social security, workers comp., etc, for the driver
Ditto these three for the maintenance staff
Ditto these three for security

Insurance on the bus itself
On the bus barn
On the property on which the bus barn sits
On the bus driver
On the maintenance staff
On the security

I think of all of the fuel wasted in traffic as cars sit while mommies fuss one last time before the kid gets on the bus. I think of it in terms of lost money and gained pollution. I think of the time lost. I think of the lost opportunity for a nice, brisk, one-mile daily walk in the morning. I think of property released for other uses, generating tax revenues in so many ways. I think of new books, repaired roofs, new tubas, and new athletic gear. Get rid of the busses!

Certainly, the savings would be enough to put one copy Atlas Shrugged in every teacher's lounge, and a copy of The Road to Serfdom on the School Board President's desk.

Get Over It!

I was listening to Abdul In The Morning on WXNT 1430-am today, and was disgusted to hear discussion on Daylight Savings Time. Enough already! This is hardly the most pressing issue facing Hoosiers today, and yet, so many treat it as though it is.

If you're a farmer and concerned, I understand. If you own a drive-in theatre, I understand. Otherwise? Good grief! Look at this list of issues. Can you honestly tell me with a straight face that remaining outside of DST is more crucial?

Jobs
Safety Issues - Fire, Police, Emergency Response Facing Budget Cuts
Transition From Manufacturing
Fair Elections / Paper Trail Voting Systems
Ever-Higher Taxes
Competitive Elections / Gerrymandering of Districts
Methamphetamine Plague
Underperforming Educational System

Reality check, folks. If the average Hoosier put as much energy into any one of the above issues as into fighting DST, we would be on the road to a better, more secure future.

If The Dollar Store Can Do It...

... Why can't Indiana?

Leave it to our state government to fail to do what any retailer will do effortlessly: produce a receipt you take home with you.

Buy something completely innocuous- sweat socks, disposable diapers, any Al Franken book- and you'll get a receipt. You'll have eternal proof of how much money you spent, where you spent it, when you spent it, and what you spent it on.

Exercise the most precious right of American citizenship and vote, and you'll walk away empty handed, and unsure that your vote was definitively counted.

Was there petulant, ponderous resistance among retailers when the time came for them to install machines in their stores that would produce purchase receipts? Not among the intelligent retailers. These machines actually helped them track their inventory better, which allowed them to become more efficient while serving their customers better.

In the same way, intelligent governments should eagerly obtain the sort of voting machines that at once produce a detailed receipt for the voter and tally the votes.

Indiana's voting machines currently lag some 25 years behind the cash register at Wal-Mart. It's time to rectify that situation, and make a paper trail for votes as important as a paper trail for purchases of kitty litter.

Good News That Is Kinda Stinky

Congratulations to the City of Noblesville for finally landing an actual tenant in the Noblesville Corporate Campus, in the area of I-69 & SR 238. Simon will be developing an enormous shopping area in the Campus.

While that's obviously great news for Noblesville and Hamilton County, the development is also representative of a sort of failing on the part of the City.

The Corporate Campus was touted as the future key location in the I-69 "Life Sciences Corridor".

For those who need the nudging, a shopping mall is not exactly life sciences. Again- it's great news, but hardly part of the plan, which has only had false starts, and nothing in the way of results. The eager reception by the City smacks of desperation. From the Indy Star:

City Council members here smiled and nodded through a presentation Tuesday night for the Hamilton Town Center -- an expansive retail project that could become the largest open-air shopping center in the metro area.

Then council members piled on the compliments, with some proclaiming the vast retail project would forever change the historic Hamilton County seat.

The way the Campus was developed is objectionable and incorrect.

Hamilton County is not the kind of place that is desperate for development, requiring prodding and pleading in order to draw it. No, Hamilton County is the fasting growing County in the state of Indiana.

And generally, when a developer selects a location for conversion from farm ground to commercial space, the developer provides the infrastructure, building the roads and sewers, and then transfering it all as a gift to the City.

The City of Noblesville built the infrastructure here. Roads to nowhere have occupied the Noblesville Corporate Campus area for two years. Sewers conveying nothing have been in the ground for the same time. This infrastructure is not a gift to the City. It is a gift to the developers, paid for by the City. Unnecessarily. At taxpayer expense. This goes way beyond mere zoning, which tries to plan and dictate what kind of development goes where.

According to a Noblesville Daily Times article that the City has maintained on its website, Noblesville spent $60 million on this infrastructure. http://www.cityofnoblesville.org/egov/docs/1122473294_483032.pdf That's an enormous amount of money to lay out on a project that has had roads to nowhere for two years, especially in light of the budget issues area governments have faced.

Again, the Simon development will be a wonderful thing. It's just that Simon should be preparing to foot the bill for the infrastructure right about now.

One other thing reported in the Star article is noteworthy:

"Since I became mayor two years ago, I've wanted to get the Corporate Campus off to a real strong start and not just take the first business that came along," Mayor John Ditslear said. "But never did I think we'd hit a home run like this with a Simon mall."

He's right about not taking the first business to come along. This is the second. Whatever happened to Helmer? Wasn't that the start to this regional development? We haven't heard much about Helmer lately, and that is curious. The idea behind the Life Sciences Corridor was to attract excellent, high-wage jobs. Helmer's website offers no news about the creation of its new headquarters in the Corporate Campus. A shopping area is great, and has the City drooling over projected tax revenues. But as for job creation? Give me all the Helmers we can find.

Then, lets get back to letting developers be developers, footing the bill for their projects.

A Joke That Rings True

While walking down the street one day a Republican Town Councilor is tragically hit by a truck and dies. His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.

"Welcome to heaven," says St. Peter. "Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see an elected official around these parts, you see, so we're not sure what to do with you."

"No problem, just let me in," says the man.

"Well, I'd like to but I have orders from higher up. What we'll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose were to spend eternity."

"Really, I've made up my mind. I want to be in heaven," says the Republican Town Councilor.

"I'm sorry but we have our rules."

And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell. The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a club and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him. Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. It's the Elephant Open. Or is it the Commissioner's Outing?

They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at expense of the people. They play a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar and champagne. Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly guy who has a good time dancing and telling jokes. They are having such a good time that, before he realizes it, it is time to go. Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises.

The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens on heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him.
"Now it's time to visit heaven."

So, 24 hours pass with the Republican Town Councilor joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns.

"Well then, you've spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now choose your eternity."

The Republican Town Councilor reflects for a minute, then answers: "Well, I would never have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in hell."

So, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell.

Now the doors of the elevator open and he's in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage. He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags. The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulder.

"I don't understand," stammers the Republican Town Councilor. "Yesterday I was here and there was the Elephant Open... or was it the Commissioners Outing? We ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now all there is a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable. What happened?"

The devil looks at him, smiled and said, "Yesterday we were campaigning. Today you voted. Our policies are a little different than our campaign promises."

"But you know all about that."

The next opportunity for seeing this joke played out on the people of Hamilton County comes Monday, August 29, at 7pm, when the Town of Fishers votes on its 1% food & beverage tax.

That is, unless you act to convince them otherwise. They seem not to have much in the way of principles, and open to blowing whichever way the breeze takes them. Give them a strong anti-tax gust by email or in person at the meeting at Fishers Town Hall.

A House A Mess

It's a sort of trouble in paradise for the Republican Party here in Hamilton County. On the one hand, they are the dominant party here. On the other, they are coming unglued in embarrassing ways. Matt Tully's column in the Sunday Star.

The battle is being fought by a pair of Hamilton County's top political names -- new county GOP Chairman Charlie White and longtime County Commissioner Steve Dillinger.

White calls Dillinger an annoying "Boss Hogg" who is too friendly with firms doing county business. Dillinger counters that White has betrayed former allies and doesn't have the trust of many county Republicans.

Concerns over this battle are spilling beyond Hamilton County's borders. Gov. Mitch Daniels won the GOP stronghold by nearly 50,000 votes last year, and state Republican leaders fear a party split heading into the 2006 elections.

That suits me very well. Throw in the Libertarian strategy of exposing the tax-and-spend ways of the Hamilton County GOP, and voters turning up their noses at these childish, amateurish displays, and we may well see the whole thing come apart, with voters going Libertarian.

They're only a heartbeat away right now. Certainly several small business owners -restauranteers mainly- are making the jump. That will happen so long as the GOP abandons its fiscal conservative side in favor of toeing the line for the Governor, or in balancing budgets through tax increases.

The next chance to see the GOP step on their tails is when Fishers votes on a 1% food & beverage tax, Monday, August 29.