Hoosiers are too stupid to know when they’re going in the right direction says today’s Indy Star. O.k., I’m paraphrasing. But what else am I to take from the Star’s urging Daniels to keep going in the same direction despite the fact that only 37% of Hoosiers approve of that direction. The first rule of holes is to stop digging. Contrary to that rule, the Indy Star editorial board urges Gov. Daniels to dig faster.
Adoption of Daylight Saving Time, they assert without evidence, was a necessary change, however, for a state trying to compete in the transportation and logistics sectors. I’ll keep an eye out for a large increase in high paying transportation and logistics jobs for Hoosiers.
Bidding for “transportation and logistics” jobs is a quick fix. The facilities, which do not generally involve much capital investment, go up quickly and look impressive. But reference to the latest issue of INContext (See:
http://www.incontext.indiana.edu/2006/march/5.html)
illustrates that weekly pay from these positions is mediocre. I can understand the hunger for any job, but I have to wonder how attractive it leaves the State.
I don’t think that Indiana’s economic malaise can be blamed on Daniels, but his solutions are not likely to bring high-paying, high-skill positions to Indiana. Retail distribution centers, CAFO’s, and the like do not pay much to their employees. I don’t know that much about the type of jobs his toll road lease plan might bring.
Just read the editorial. Wow! Was the editorial board bought off by the Daniels PR team? How are going on DST and leasing the toll road to a private company going to make young people value education or improve the educational attainment of adult Hoosiers?
Were voters aware that Daniels was going to change positions on DST and make a mess of the time zone situation in Indiana? Or that he was going to close state hospitals? How about closing rural BMV offices?
Whether you agree with what Daniels has done/wants to do or not, the *way* he has gone about effecting change has shown him to have contempt for representative government. Shouldn’t the editorial board be concerned about that?
If you don’t want services cut (closing of hospitals, BMV offices, etc.), tell your local legislator you’re willing to have your taxes raised to pay for them. I did.
People always want more in the way of services, but they want them for free (“Don’t raise my taxes!”).
I’d like the tax dollars being spent in Iraq to be spent on state infrastructure. But, then, I’d also like to spend my days drinking good beer on a nice golf course under blue skies and 75 degree weather with low humidity. I’d like a lot of things.
If you clap your hands loudly enough, it will all be okay!
also, I was interested in the sidebar to the abortion article yesterday that revealed that the people who most want an abortion ban are older (presumably post-childbearing age) and men. Color me so surprised! It’s always easier to stigmatize and reflexifely legislate when there is no threat of direct impact on you.
Joe:
Please don’t make assumptions about whether I’m willing to pay for services. I am, and I have made my state rep and state senator aware of my feelings. My memory is not too hot, but I don’t remember Daniels going to the people until after he and his dept. directors announced their plans about the BMV’s and state hospitals. In fact, if memory serves, he waited until after last year’s legislative session was over to do so. Also, my original question was whether voters aware of those plans during the Daniels campaign.
I don’t have a problem with making government more efficient. Daniels does not care how anyone feels, however. Apparently, he thinks that he and his cronies know best. He makes plans, then he grudgingly goes to the legislature and tries to railroad his plans through. With the CAFO issue, he didn’t even do that much. He and his agribusiness buddies are taking advantage of the fact that many rural Indiana counties don’t have regulations in place. Higher taxes or lower taxes aren’t the only issue or even the main issue. Daniels’ contempt for representative government is.
Republicans always want to cut taxes, make sure someone makes a profit,and make people think government cuts in programs benefit everyone.
And social legislation affects only the immoral and lazy,so again it benefits and rewards the truly deserving,and brings us closer to God. The above post got me thinking,yes, all we need is faith… let’s just click our red heels together( or clap) and follow the yellow brick road.
The state has passed legislation to keep vending machines in school cafeterias,yet upgrade the snacks.In the fine print,it probably spells out who’s going to be in charge of ‘upgrading’…the vending machine company,we assume.
Despite their claims to the contrary, when it comes down to it, the Indianapolis Star has been, is, and forever will be the GOP’s best PR outlet.
>> Higher taxes or lower taxes aren’t the only issue or even the main issue. Daniels’ contempt for representative government is.
Doug, did the rest of my comment get chopped off?
Guess I shouldn’t use “>” symbols to quote people…
I suppose it did get chopped off. At any rate, I didn’t do anything to it and that’s all that’s in the system. Sorry about that. To quote folks, just use “blockquote” inside of angle brackets.
I have tried to copy and paste in the past. The copying and pasting was okay, but then the rest of the post that I typed disappeared.