Meanwhile, Back At The Ranch....

I "think" we're FINALLY over all the crap from the past week (and the last several posts). Nice to hear myself THINK for a change...LOL!

Now it's on the better things...like doing some editorializing by taking a cue from AWB, getting out my very own spoon (looks more like a damn OAR) and stirring the old you-know-what pot.

So get another cup of coffee...(smoke 'em if 'ya got 'em), and get ready for some pungent social comment.

Item - Costaplenty Square Marches On:

Man, if I didn't KNOW better, I'd swear George Patton came back from the dead and was leading THIS offensive....come what may, this project keeps on moving forward like the 3rd Armored Division through Sicily.

And despite any and all protests, legalities, and circumstances, it looks like the "done deal" will become more wool to be pulled over the taxpayers' eyes in Fort Wayne. Well, at least there's THREE city council members with their heads on their shoulders instead of up their asses. Schmidt, Smith and Shoaff (the triumvirate of reason) are still thinking clear enough to see the pitfalls this project "could" bring, as well as asking the tough questions (and getting ambiguous answers in the process).

Item - Property Tax Woes Continue:

If it's not Indy, it's Fort Wayne, especially when it comes to throwing a "tea party". And I don't know whether to make the analogy between the one that occurred in the late 1700s in BOSTON, or the Lewis Carroll version, because BOTH seem just as appropriate. One thing you'll probably never see is the fact that the properties that have suffered the HIGHEST individual increase in property taxes are homes owned by WHITES (and I speak from personal experience here).

Just in OUR neighborhood (according to the 2006 assessments), EVERY SINGLE house's "assessed value" that I KNOW was owned by whites increased AT LEAST 50% from the previous assessment. Ours jumped about 80% and we were NOT the highest. A former neighbor had an increase of 102%, and his house wasn't worth as much as ours currently is. Our house still has one of the highest assessed values in this area market. Maybe that's why all the "locals" want us out of here so badly...just a thought.

Now just think how you people out in Aboite are feeling about this. We live in a "blighted" area of the kingdom (city) says our king (mayor), so it really DOES all boil down to people who OWN a home, PAY taxes, WORK for a living, and are relatively STABLE individuals, as opposed to so many of the transient renters in the area....imagine that.

Then again, if the city hadn't let spending run rampant, pursued white elephant projects, as well as frivolous annexations, and would halt all the giveaway programs for the limp, lame and lazy, we wouldn't even be having this discussion...would we?

Item - Smoking Ban Still Drawing Ire:

I don't know WHAT can be done to get it through the thickheads in the city regarding this. Business owners produce receipts SHOWING that they're losing money due to the ban, and still Council sits like a bunch of pawnshop monkeys (except the brass balls are missing). Is it SO damn important to ban smoking to such a degree that we fore go free enterprise, and brand those that DO smoke with a SCARLET "S"?

Smoking may be the cause of death for hundreds of thousands every year, but I don't see like things being done to halt cholesterol intake, or sugar consumption, or anything similar. Heart Disease due to obesity will become the LARGEST cause of preventable death by the next decade if we keep on "keepin' on". I say give the smokers a break.

After all, one thing we SHOULD be allowed to pursue (along with happiness, as is laid out in the Declaration of Independence), is how we might meet our maker. Whether it's diabetes, lung disease, heart attacks...whatever, we just can't start making a shopping of things that are "bad" for us, and should be banned outright in some arbitrary wholesale manner. Drunk driving IS bad for all of us, but I'm not seeing booze being banned (that didn't work the first time either), nor do I see any and all powered vehicles being banned. Why not just ban all those "bad" genes in us, that are REALLY causing all this angst in the first place?

That would solve ALL the problems.

Item - Gas Prices Dropping...Again:

Within the past several weeks, we've been taking the *E* ticket ride at Disneyworld when it comes to stopping at the pumps. Prices have fluctuated from over $3.19 a gallon to $2.87 (as of yesterday anyway). I guess have the Whiting, Indiana BP plant back online is a major reason for the drop in cost. Then again, I can't imagine why the BP refinery didn't just "suck up the cost" over the past few weeks while they were fixing that damn leak. I mean they would STILL have a "captive" audience (read drivers in abundance) that require their fuel, right?

But we're working on this ETHANOL gig....and this will wind up COSTING so many people SO much money in the long run. I, along with other common sense bloggers have stated time and again what the woes of ethanol will be, such as MORE emissions, LESS miles per gallon, MORE corn crops (supplanting other needed crops), LESS corn for cattle feed, consumption and even whiskeys, etc.

Funny how supporters of ethanol aren't even considering the WEATHER ramifications, should we have a couple bad yearly yields due to lack of rain, or, at the other end of the meteorological spectrum....floods! We're betting the farm on being able TO farm...Good Luck.

It boggles to mind to think that with ALL our technology, we often overlook one key component...our OWN brains, as in how to USE them properly. We let models dictate trends, when we should be listening to our "gut" and maybe thinking for ourselves once in a while. Then we over think solutions when our first choice is usually our best.

Lord knows we can always do worse...but let's not hope it comes down to THAT.