It's been a while since my last political rant, and since the events over the last two days got my blood boiling over the public being played like pawns in a philosophical experiment of privatization here in river city....I've decided to unload.
Seems like our new mayor felt it was priority #1 to get our trash collection privatized here in river city upon taking office. Of course he never mentioned this on the campaign trail, but since his mouth-piece and greasy city attorney needs to make a splash in this little pond....after realizing he's wasted or drank away most of his life, and more importantly the puppet-master and financier of his campaign felt so strongly about it....well, it looks like it is going to happen.
Now normally when republicans get the public pumped about privatization, usually it's because private companies can 1) do it cheaper and 2) provide better service. So if one or both of those factors can't be realized by privatization one would wonder why a republican administration would feel so strongly about it. Because the puppet-master feels so strongly about it...in fact, he is the only one in river city who has even mentioned this. And now, not only is our cost going to go up by more than 50% and our service is going to be cut by the same; this administration now has the gall to say that the private bid price per household isn't enough and that they'll charge an extra buck more a month just in case. Friends, does this sound more like LIBERALS? This is crazy....and what's worse is that the republican administration isn't even being challenged by the republican held council, save one....nor does it seem like this republican town cares.
So I don't get it. It's ok for me to have to pay above and beyond the cost of trash collection? How is that any different than the puppet-master feeling so adamant about not paying for something he doesn't use? It just goes to show....it really isn't about the public good, nor is it about pure conservative thought.....it is simply about an aging ideologue attorney with nothing to show for his life and a deranged politico hell-bent on saving a few bucks so that he can gamble it away in Vegas.
But the story doesn't end there.
Yesterday morning I spent a fair amount of time estimating a proposal for a project. Since I was a little new to this area of work I had a few questions, sent off a few emails...and then realized the cost for me to do it was going to be considerable. I called the client, just to be certain I understood the proposal correctly and he said he'd put my mind at ease, the other fellow from Ball State got the job.
Ball State.....Center for Historic Preservation. I knew that both he and I were asked to submit a proposal for the job. I assumed he was submitting it as a side job as a professor. I don't believe that's the case. Instead, Ball State has embarked on directly competing for jobs that its graduates...and folks like me.....would be vying for. To add insult to injury, I got a postcard in the mail today highlighting the services that Ball State's Center for Historic Preservation can offer....hmmm.....everything that I can.
Something seems wrong about competing for work against a state university that I'm supporting with my taxes. And it would seem that if that's the case I should be able to opt out of paying income taxes to the State of Indiana. So, why is the government getting into the private sector on one count, but when privatization actually costs the taxpayer more, they bid it out?
but who says government, or politics for that matter, is logical?
Ode to a Truck
Wednesday, I took my travel companion on its last trip, from which it didn't come home with me. I took it for a drive the day before, to...
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A way out in the country, down a secluded gravel road lies a small cemetery perched on a knoll, around which the road makes four severe turn... -
So, I've passed through this tiny little Pulaski County town between San Pierre and Medaryville often enough that it's quite amaz...
15 comments:
To furtherthemore, and I may be overreaching, it is perhaps the case that the BSU org has lots of "free" labor in the guise of architectural students?
(Our community has "been there.")
BSU uses its graduate students for these projects....a little cash for them and a little for BSU.
Maybe this is a form of state university privatization in order to turn a buck...if that's the case, then they shouldn't receive tax dollars..because I sure don't.
Couldn't help but conjure up the names of Blackwater, KBR and Halliburton reading you article. Post-Iraq names that will likely live in infamy.
Channeling public personal contempt puzzles me. It certainly contrasts with what you wrote me after your decision not to run for Mayor, around Thanksgiving of 2006
“I know at times I seemed unappreciative and would ask that you forgive me for what Ed has probably rightly called naivety on my part. I appreciate John’s seemingly unwavering support in the face of doubt by others and for Ed's patience with my political missteps. I have learned a great deal”.
In a follow-up email you wrote: “I have a great deal of respect for you-that won't change”
Equally distressing is your complete intellectual dishonesty in presenting the issue regarding user fees. But the irony is rich indeed!
Kurt, more than once you have insisted, over my protest, that you have character flaws. You make it impossible for me to protest further.
Just a friendly tip for the future…take the time to learn the difference between a political rant and a gratuitous, ad hominem attack. It won’t make much difference to the target of your vitriol but it may show you as something other than a reborn hypocrite.
Deranged Puppet-Master
Well, this is an interesting development indeed. Nearly two years of carefully shielding my identity as Hoosier Reborn has been undone! LOL.
John, there is a great deal about you that still demands respect. I offer that much I didn't know then I do now which probably has changed my view and I am sadly disappointed...not that that matters. It isn't lost on me that while I thought that you had a sincere interest in me personally, I do feel like a used pawn...I haven't heard from you for nearly a year until you landed on my blog.
Well, you're welcome to hang out here...but it will make you see red from time to time and I make no apologies. I do ask that you not use my name...I put pictures of my kids on and ask that you respect that. Obviously anyone from river city who visits the site knows who HR is and I'm all right with that.
Cheers!
OMG! Mr. Potter has found your blog! He is trying to run River City and Backwater County and because you aren't buying it you must go Mr. Bailey! It is simply amazing that on every single issue this guy thinks he is right and will gladly tell anyone when they are wrong. Certainly a man of such stature would better serve the public if he ran the whole state! Why oh why does he stay in River City he is so much better than all of us! hehe!
Way to go hoosier reborn!!! It's about time someone called out the fake englishman on Western Ave., the puppet mayor and the lush city attorney. They are infact only big fish in a small pond. At least you can look yourself in the mirror and feel good about yourself. Keep up the good work!!!
I’m not interested in your blog or hanging out with you. My sole purpose is to call you out for your gutless cheap shots. Lest it escapes you I always put my name to whatever I say publicly…unlike you and the sycophant tools who miraculously appeared here.
This type of personal animus serves only to deflect from your insecurities. You initiated this and now you lamely seek refuge behind your children. If you have issues with me let’s get together and deal with them.
Hang in there hoosier reborn. We love your blog from the articles of interesting places in good old Indiana to your comments on what is happening in river city. At least you earn a persons friendship instead of buying it!!!!!
HR...repect is earned, anyone who must demand it to get it is not getting respect, they essentially are distrusted! Stand your ground don't let Mr.Oliver buffalo you. I don't care where he came from or how much money he has or gambles away on the Vegas strip. I am not impressed that he bought his way in the Indiana baseball Hall of Fame. He can "control" the Pilot Editor,the Radio Station management, the Republican party but he cannot control you and that makes you a much bigger man in a lot of peoples eyes than he can ever hope to be!
HR,
It seems that you have kicked over a hornet's nest with this post. For someone who claims to have no interest in your blog, Mr. Oliver sure is spending quite a bit of time here.
As someone who is removed from the "spectacle" (by 3000 miles) back there in Hoosierdom, it appears that your comments have hit pretty close to home for someone. As a former public servant in that community, I can say that it was a poorly kept "secret" how much of what transpired in river city and the county as a whole was directed by a small contingent, dare I say cabal, of individuals whose personal desires may or may not have lined up with the greater good of the public.
I find Mr. Oliver's statement that you "lamely seek refuge behind your children", a weak dodge to a reasonable request. There is no way that anyone as prominent and "respected" in the local community is not aware of the many dangers posed to children by a certain group of individuals who use the internet to prey on children.
In the nearly 3 decades that I have known HR , I can attest to the fact that he has no issue putting his name to any of his opinions.
PNW Hoosier
or lest I be considered a "sycophant tool",
J. Burkholder, Mt. Vernon, WA
Not knowing what to say exactly, I guess I prefer to let my friends speak on my behalf. Thanks guys.
As a former student who earned their MS in preservation through the Ball State program and held an assistantship through the Center for Historic Preservation, I would like to say that it provided a valuable opportunity to do some "real" work in the preservation world. My labor was not free, as I was paid a stipend, and I take great pride in the work I did. The two communities with which I worked were very pleased with the end results, which were absolutely up to professional standards. If, as a professional consultant, you are unable to compete with a student's work, then perhaps you should reevaluate the services you are offering.
It is also my understanding that the Center receives no financial assistance from Ball State, and that they actually pay the university to keep their doors open. It is the work they generate and the jobs they procure that pay for their student assistantships.
Anon,
This is interesting, because based on this scenario I can't imagine that the Center can compete with me due to their own overhead. This is good to know. In architecture hands on experience comes with paid internships in private firms. That's more the model I understand.
Regardless, I love what I do and know that because of my low overhead I can do it at nearly 50% of the cost of other firms...so the client, who is typically a non-profit,gets the best bang for their buck, so to speak. And that at least makes me feel good.
Thanks for this posting. The regular people of river city are not being well served by this mayor and his manipulators. Privatization of the trash service will only force change onto the citizens of whom few have ever complained about the city trash pickup. Oh! There is one benefit, but only for those who have decided that they know what is best. These are the manipulators for whom political brownie points are the goal. Nothing like being able to tell Mitch (in your dreams) that you have ensured profit for the local corporate trash hauler, even while your making all the elderly, haul their dumpster to the street curb. Let the voter never forget!
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