Indiana

Catching Up on Political Potpourri

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz

There have been quite a few news items that have been on my radar screen this week that I’m finally getting a chance to chime in on, so with that said, here they are.

Senate Stuff

Is it my imagination, or is there a 9-11 subtext in the latest round of Dan Coats political commercials?  They’ve been running for a couple weeks and it’s “ironic” that they just happen to be around on the 9th anniversary of the terrorist attack.

Meanwhile, Brad Ellsworth is going on the attack saying Coats lobbied against American jobs, no offense to the Ellsworth camp, but it would be nice to see some substantive policy positions get unveiled.   Maybe we’ll get some (from all candidates) during the upcoming debates.

IPS Problems

If you’re like me, you were shocked when you saw the story about an Indianapolis  Public School teacher that had to rummage through the trash bins of Carmel schools in order to find supplies for her students.  And while the district cries poverty, a new report shows its spending between $225,000 – $300,000 on cell phones.  I don’t think anyone was calling Office Depot to order pencils and paper.

Smoking Ban

Indiana lawmakers are talking about wasting the taxpayers time and attempting to pass a smoking ban in all public places.  However a new study by the U.S. Center for Disease Control & Prevention shows the smoking rates have remained stagnant for the past five years, going from 20.9% to 20.6%, even though more states have adopted smoking bans.  It would make more sense to spend money and energy  on tobacco prevention rather than total bans, because obviously they’re not working.    And here’s another interesting fact from the CDC, 54% of 3 to 11-year olds are exposed to second hand smoke and I don’t see a lot of kids running bars.

Parking Problems

I’m working on a blog post regarding the city’s parking proposal.  Fundamentally, I agree with it, but I am spending time reading through the deal which will take a day or two.  In the meantime, I ask opponents to come up with an alternative to pay for infrastructure  in a world of declining property tax revenues.

Full post as published by Indiana Barrister on September 09, 2010 (boomark / email).