Fort Wayne News

Have fun! - AWB

Popularity: 2% [?]

Every time this dumbass from NIPSCO checks my meter, he backs onto the grass. There’s now a permanent bare spot from him spinning his tires.

NIPSCO - Inconsiderate

from Dan Turkette on Vimeo.

I’m going to have a couple of these strategically placed in the yard next month.

AWB

Popularity: 2% [?]

From the News Sentinel:

“They may hate guns, but they have no problem blasting holes in the Constitution,” Colbert said of the campaign, the lobbying arm of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, founded by James and Sarah Brady. James Brady was press secretary to President Reagan when he was shot in the head and partially paralyzed in the 1981 assassination attempt on Reagan.

“How long is he going to hold that up as, like, I know more about being shot than you do?” a vexed Colbert asked Helmke about Brady. “Wouldn’t it take more courage to be shot and go, ‘No, I’m not going to infringe on other people’s rights just because something bad happened to me’? That would be bold.”

AWB

Popularity: 2% [?]

From the News Sentinel

Mayor: Contract decision ‘bittersweet’ 

Although he remains optimistic it will improve government performance, Mayor Tom Henry on Wednesday called his predecessor’s 11th-hour decision to award a three-year, $285,000 contract to a nonprofit corporation the former mayor helped create “bittersweet.”

Before taking office Jan. 1, Henry said Graham Richard sent him the proposed contract with the High Performance Government Network, which promotes management techniques Richard said saved the city $30 million. “I said I’d consider it,” Henry said. But City Controller Pat Roller signed the contract less than a week before Richard left office, obligating Henry’s administration to pay $95,000 this year and again in 2009. Despite signing the contract the last week of the year, the city also paid $95,000 in 2007, even though it received no services in return.

$30 million my ass. Prove it.

“That was the ‘bitter’ part. That doesn’t sit well with me,” Henry said.

The organization is located in the Public Safety Academy, where it pays rent of nearly $615 each month.

How much room is that I wonder?

AWB

Popularity: 2% [?]

Guest post by Scott Fluhr of Hoosier Pundit

I have not blogged about the AG race lately, as there isn’t a whole lot to say.

Mitch has long-since thrown his backing behind Jon Costas, the man that he hand-picked to be a candidate in the first place. That’s about as surprising as the director for some movie saying that the movie’s lead actor deserves an Academy Award; it’s about as ringing an endorsement as a candidate being endorsed by their own mother.

Now, however, Hoosierpundit sources in Marion County have an interesting tidbit from the rumor mill about the looming GOP convention floor fight for attorney general.

Carl Brizzi, the Republican prosecutor in Marion County, endorsed Greg Zoeller, whose unwillingness to yield to Mitch Daniels’ grand design threatens to torpedo the Governor’s pick for attorney general in a potentially embarrassing convention floor fight.

Brizzi’s endorsement has put Marion County’s hundreds of convention delegates in play, and there are almost a hundred open convention delegate slots from Indy.

Perhaps fearing weakness by Costas (large areas of the state have lined up in favor of Zoeller), the Governor and his allies have gone into overdrive to push a turnout of pro-Costas delegates from Indianapolis.

Because the GOP state convention is a one-day affair, on a weekday, in Indianapolis, getting delegates to the convention from the rest of the state will be difficult (traditionally, just getting a quorum at the convention has proven difficult at times in the past).

But getting big delegate turnout from Indy will be easy.

The Marion County GOP is now mandating that appointed convention delegates sign a loyalty oath, a signed affidavit, pledging to vote for Jon Costas for attorney general. The pressure upon these would-be delegates is significant, and the desire to ram through the Costas nomination high.

One can’t also help but wonder if certain Ron Paul supporters, who have already made trouble in GOP state conventions in states such as Nevada, might well be willing to make such loyalty oaths to gain convention delegate appointments and cause endless trouble in other areas.

And that is only the beginning of the unintended consequences of strong-arming delegates with such tactics, and thus effectively limiting the pool of willing and eager convention attendees.

The efforts in Marion County raise serious questions about the Costas candidacy.

If Costas’ victory must be obtained by the Governor ramming it down the throat of the convention–a gathering of a party base that is already fractious and frequently none-to-happy with the Governor for reasons best discussed elsewhere–then what sort of victory is it?

If Costas cannot win a convention floor fight without being railroaded through by Mitch Daniels, then that does not speak well for his appeal as a candidate in November.

This post is also available at Hoosierpundit.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Tracy “Waldo” Warner missed his column yesterday, with no explanation on the Journal Gazette web site.

The last column was May 6th. Where are ya Tracy?

AWB

Popularity: 2% [?]

Earlier this week, 911 dispatch received a call where the complainant that their neighbor was letting freon out of an air conditioner and it was going to kill the ozone. Sheesh.

I looked at Indiana Code, this was all I could find:

IC 35-46-6-2
Inhaling toxic vapors
     Sec. 2. A person who, with intent to cause a condition of intoxication, euphoria, excitement, exhilaration, stupefaction, or dulling of the senses, ingests or inhales the fumes of:
        (1) model glue; or
        (2) a substance that contains:
            (A) toluene;
            (B) acetone;
            (C) benzene;
            (D) N-butyl nitrite;
            (E) any aliphatic nitrite, unless prescribed by a physician;
            (F) butane;
            (G) amyl butrate;
            (H) isobutyl nitrate;
            (I) freon;

I could not find anything else. I did find this, by Greg Perry.

Keep cool!  –  AWB

Popularity: 3% [?]

The wall built to protect the Wildwood Park neighborhood has fallen once again. It was repaired this past March after a slew of winter accidents knocked down portions of the wall. Photos taken by the News Sentinel in January show pieces of the wall falling inward, or away from Jefferson Boulevard and into the backyards of Wildwood Park residents.

Today several sections of the wall are missing, but oddly, the walls appear to have collapsed towards Jefferson, as if pushed from the backyards.

Satellite view after repairs.

AWB

Popularity: 3% [?]

Two-thirds of whites who cite race would not vote for Obama in general election.

A confluence of groups inclined toward Hillary Clinton gave her an easy victory in the West Virginia primary, with less-educated, lower-income whites predominating in this Southern state.

In a trouble sign for delegate-leader Barack Obama, barely more than half said they’d vote for him in November if he’s the party’s nominee.

The Race Factor

Racially motivated voting ran somewhat higher than elsewhere: Two in 10 whites said the race of the candidate was a factor in their vote, second only to Mississippi. Just 32 percent of those voters said they’d support Obama against John McCain, fewer than in other primaries where the question’s been asked.

I was talking to a friend a few months ago, and his grandfather is a died-in-the-wool Democrat, around 80 if I recall correctly. He stated, and I paraphrase, “there’s no way I could vote for a %$#@ or a $#@%.

The sentiment illustrated above crosses all lines, economic, education, social, etc, but rings true with the older voters. Some people just cannot bring themselves to vote for the *chosen* democratic nominee, considering their race or gender.

[...]

Forty-nine percent of voters thought that at least to some extent he shares the views of his controversial former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright

Go Jeremiah!

Fifty-one percent doubted Obama’s honesty and trustworthiness..

AH… nice - AWB

Popularity: 3% [?]