beterwas
honestly misbehaving
June 21, 2009 at 3:07 pm · Filed under Confound Authority, Musings, Raise The Debate
Every day is a shite storm in Muncie, it seems.
Yesterday’s StarPress featured an article on the City Council’s plans to introduce new LOIT taxes, in an effort to bridge our City’s funding gaps.
You can imagine the reaction.
Like everyone else, I don’t enjoy paying taxes; any more than I enjoy paying for utilities, gasoline, medical bills or anything else. Like those other things, though, I recognize both the necessity and the benefit of paying for them.
I meet people every day that say to me “government produces nothing,” or make comparisons between taxes and “reaching into your neighbor’s pocket;” and quite honestly, it frustrates me. I understand that there is an anger and anxiety that drive such sentiments, as well as a sense that our tax dollars are being wasted at every turn; and to some extent, there is validity to those feelings.
But there is also an irrationality behind them. To say that government produces nothing suggests that roads, schools, public safety, rule of law, etc. would just magically materialize on their own. To compare paying for public services to robbing your neighbor suggests that we don’t have an obligation to support public services; but rather that they are an entitlement of sorts. And while no one can argue that there isn’t fraud, waste and abuse when it comes to local government’s stewardship of tax dollars, the picture that is painted is at best a caricature – the waste comprises a small portion of the overall budget, not a majority.
The other comment I hear oft-repeated has to do with local government “living within their means,” and “living on a budget, like the rest of us have to.” The fundamental problem I have with those attitudes is that the two represent very different dynamics. Managing your personal finances revolves around making decisions that best benefit you, personally – it is a “me” proposition. Government operations, on the contrary, are about providing collective services and managing the things individual citizens can’t manage themselves – which is more of a “we” proposition.
Read the rest of this entry »
May 26, 2009 at 10:00 am · Filed under Call Bullshit, Raise The Debate
As President Obama settles into his third month in office, a long-raging debate continues over whether the best place to find the answer to our economic woes – government spending or tax cuts?
I’m going to go with spending.
The idea of lowering taxes to increase revenues has been given a fair try. Twice in our lifetime, and once before that. What it results in are massive deficits, unemployment, the evisceration of vital programs like education and health care, and increases in local regressive taxes, such as property and sales tax. Read the rest of this entry »
May 25, 2009 at 1:54 pm · Filed under Call Bullshit, Confound Authority
I just received a phone call from Mayor McShurley.
It was a “courtesy call” to tell me that my email addressed was being blocked, and that her entire staff was informed to no longer take my calls.
None of my calls or emails have been abusive, profane or harassing. I’ve been polite, friendly and helpful to everyone at City Hall, despite having being met with rudeness and contempt (such as that stunt she pulled during the last CC meeting).
I have offered suggestions and assistance, volunteered my time and expertise, and until recently, been supportive of the city administration (almost to a fault, according to some).
Admittedly, I did recently make a comment about “pissing contests” between the Mayor’s office and the City Clerk’s, in response to spending six months trying to get some documents emailed to me. I can’t believe that’s it, though. Saltier things have come out of her mouth, to be sure.
I guess that’s how she rolls. Funny, I thought she worked for me.
Has anyone else out there received a similar call, I wonder?
May 20, 2009 at 3:18 pm · Filed under Finish Ahead, Raise The Debate
Yes, the city is in crisis, to answer the question posed by Tuesday’s front page headline.
There is certain to be much continued discussion over who’s to blame. Republicans will continue to rattle off lists of Democrats, and vice versa. Members of anti-tax groups will blame the City Council, members of the Council will blame the Mayor, the Mayor will blame the unions, and it will go on and on and on. At the crux of this round-robin of finger-pointing will be endless debates over what to cut and how much; and lost in the din will be all of the sustainable suggestions.
The time has come to shout above the noise: I believe that, in pursuit of misguided political objectives, our city is being taken the wrong direction. The answer is not to try and cut our way out of this, but rather to build our way out.
Whenever I read thoughtless suggestions like “just cut X% across the board,” or “get rid of the deputy mayor,” or some other such position; it’s usually followed by some mission-accomplished sort of proclamation. “See? Problem solved.”
Except it’s not. We still can’t pave or even clean up our streets. Our fire department is one flat tire away from being incapacitated. Our police department is still using ’80s-era technology. Why would anyone want to move to, or more importantly, invest in a city that so clearly can’t manage itself?
Next year we’ll still have to cut more, and then more after that, and so on. If we eviscerate the city government now, what do we eliminate next year, or the year after that?
Such discussion always reminds me of the disgraced surgeon in Stephen King’s Survivor Type, stranded on an island, slowly eating himself, and rationalizing each amputation along the way – until finally, he’s left with only his hands and his hunger.
Read the rest of this entry »
May 12, 2009 at 11:06 am · Filed under Musings
Mayor Sharon McShurley said this week: Muncie must cut $2.1 million NOW or go broke by November.
Why is it that the city must cut $2M? Why can’t the city raise $2M?
That’s the real problem with this Mayor. She lacks vision and leadership; but more importantly, she refuses to even hear, let alone consider any ideas that come from outside her small circle.
Read the rest of this entry »
April 20, 2009 at 2:49 pm · Filed under Confound Authority, Raise The Debate
It’s time to stop the insanity.
Norm Stamper, retired Seattle Police Chief, pens a great column comparing the use of marijuana and alcohol.
“Over the past four years I’ve asked police officers throughout the U.S. (and in Canada) two questions. When’s the last time you had to fight someone under the influence of marijuana? (I’m talking marijuana only, not pot plus a six-pack or a fifth of tequila.) My colleagues pause, they reflect. Their eyes widen as they realize that in their five or fifteen or thirty years on the job they have never had to fight a marijuana user. I then ask: When’s the last time you had to fight a drunk? They look at their watches.”
Read the rest of the story here.
April 15, 2009 at 10:31 am · Filed under Finish Ahead, Raise The Debate
A lot of people on the right are complaining that the media isn’t taking their teabagging parties Tea Party Rallies seriously.
Perhaps it’s because they are professionally-organized events disguised (thinly) as spontaneous groundswells.
Maybe it’s because right-wing histrionics and silly stunts aren’t really news, except to Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity fans.
It also doesn’t help that some of the attendees are their own worst enemies. In Cincinnati, the crowd chased away the media, including reporters from the CBS news affiliate.
Here’s some coverage from Cleveland.
Enjoy more tea party highlights: They’re sure to be enlightening and entertaining.
Also, if Glenn Beck is supposed to be there, odds are pretty good that he’ll do something nutty. Read the rest of this entry »
April 14, 2009 at 10:23 am · Filed under Musings
I’ve had some interesting exchanges with posters to the Star Press website. One recurring trend is people that have, at best, a limited understanding of how government works, offering up quotes from various texts to support their unqualified positions.
What I find funny is that those same people haven’t actually read the books they quote from, and as such, don’t realize that those writings don’t actually support their position at all. Read the rest of this entry »
« Previous entries ·
Next entries »
