A Citizen's Guide to Indiana

Masson's Blog

Property Tax Plan

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Mary Beth Schneider, writing for the Indianapolis Star, has an article entitled “Business tax load could rise in new bill”.

It’s a Democratic property tax relief plan that would, in turn, give local governments the power to impose higher personal income taxes and to impose corporate income taxes. There is initially a sense of bipartisanship with respect to the bill. Both Sen. Kenley and Gov. Daniels think there are positive aspects to the bill, not least of which is the political courage to provide for a revenue mechanism to replace lost property taxes. But, that’s outside of the House. House Republicans and the Indiana Chamber of Commerce are apparently opposed to the bill.

Sweet gig

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The Indianapolis Star has an editorial excoriating Congressman Dan Burton (the candidate they endorsed for Indiana’s 5th Congressional District). The editorial is a follow up to a Maureen Groppe story on how Burton has been playing hookie from his job as a Congressman, missing votes to go play golf.

The editorial concludes:

So here’s the score: Burton would rather play golf than attend a hearing on Iraq. He shows up for work less often than a 20-year-old slacker who refuses to move out of his parents’ basement. He has little shame when it comes to accepting expensive gifts. And he feels immune from voters’ wrath because he’s been handed a heavily gerrymandered district that might as well hang up “Democrats need not apply” signs.
Sweet gig, Dan.

Definition of Hoax

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For some reason this Mooninite in Boston scare has really captured my imagination. It is a cautionary tale about how we are spending our security dollars. If, after all this time and all this money, we have a security apparatus in place that needs to shut down Boston to determine that a Lite Brite magnet of a cartoon character flipping the bird is not dangerous, we have real problems and our money probably hasn’t been well spent.

But, that’s sort of the lesser of my concerns. More disturbing, I think, is the media terror porn industry. I’m reminded of Kent Brockman asking a scientist, “Should we panic?” Response: “Yes, yes we should.” A commenter on Boing Boing had a comment on the insistence of media types and government officials using the term “hoax” to describe what happened here:

Next, let’s all get out our dictionary and look up “hoax”, shall we? Because while “War of the Worlds” was a hoax, this was not. There was no subterfuge involved, and no effort made to convince people that these devices were bombs. If I see a scary looking tree out my bedroom window, think it’s a monster, and then discover upon closer inspection that it isn’t, it doesn’t mean the tree has perpetrated a hoax against me. What it means is that for a moment I took leave of my senses. And just because I’m embarrassed about it doesn’t give me the right to go cut down the tree.

While there are legitimate security threats out there, we have to be concerned that there is a massive security industry out there that has to justify its existence, there are media companies that can sell more ads if they have you scared and watching, and we have a population that demands perfect safety. Sort of a toxic, expensive mix that probably doesn’t use our resources in the most efficient way.

Update Wonkette has an update on the prosecution of the two unfortunate punks who apparently hung the Mooninite lights:

The harmless cartoon Lite Brite thingies might just be harmless cartoon Lite Brite thingies, but the prosecutor still has to be very tough and extra-crazy in such a terroristic situation: “Assistant Attorney General John Grossman called the light boards ‘bomblike’ devices and said that if they had been explosive they could have damaged infrastructure and transportation in the city.”

Yes, and if prosecutors were actually barrels of shit wrapped in dynamite, courthouses around the country could be severely damaged and extremely unhygienic.

Number One in the Hood, G.

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Holy overreaction, Batman! Cartoon promo causes panic. Electronic displays (magnets with lights) of one of the Mooninites from Aqua Teen Hunger Force giving the finger caused Boston officials to panic and shutdown highways, bridges, and a section of the Charles River. Nine other cities managed to notice similar displays without freaking out.

Reading a news report trying to describe Aqua Teen Hunger Force is kind of amusing:

Turner Broadcasting, a division of Time Warner Inc. and parent of Cartoon Network, later said the devices were part of a promotion for the TV show “Aqua Teen Hunger Force,” a surreal series about a talking milkshake, a box of fries and a meatball.

I also like how the words chosen by the story give a fig-leaf of credibility to the Boston reaction. Instead of magnets, they’re “devices.” And, they were “planted” throughout the city. Planting devices sounds so sinister.

stAllio! has a good analysis.

Ari Fleischer on the Stand

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Ari Fleischer, former White House Press Secretary, took the stand in the Scooter Libby trial. Libby, as you may recall, is on trial for lying to federal investigators as they looked into the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame, wife of Ambassador Joseph Wilson, in retaliation for Wilson’s debunking of the President’s State of the Union claim that Iraq sought uranium from Niger.

The federal prosecutor declined to press charges against anybody else in the matter because, he said, he was being told too many lies to make a case.

The Los Angeles Times has a story on Fleischer’s testimony. I always thought Fleischer was a stonewalling, disingenuous s.o.b. when he was serving the White House. But, he was so, very, very good at what he did, I had a grudging respect for his competence. The White House Press Secretaries who followed have not been nearly as good at their jobs. Part of that probably had to do with the fact that Fleischer got out while the getting was good. Before Iraq had turned irrevocably to crap. The L.A. times story focuses on how his demeanor was much different on the stand than it was when he was Press Secretary. Much more affable, apparently, when testifying than when representing the White House.

SB216: Cell Phones & Driving

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One for Phillip from the Star Press. Sen. Kruse didn’t think much of laws banning cell phones while driving until he fumbled his own phone and crashed into a ditch.

“I was on the cell phone, messing around trying to dial a number and I lost control, went into a ditch and smashed my car up pretty good,” said Kruse, R-Auburn. “That scared me, so I decided to file a bill and get the issue out in the public.”

Similar bills have died a quick death in the legislature during the past seven years, and the odds for Kruse’s Senate Bill 216 appear long this session.

[tags]SB216-2007, motor vehicles[/tags]

They are too kind

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I’m a little taken aback by the probably too generous mention of this blog in a Matt Gonzales article in INtake Weekly entitled Grab a byte. But, I’m not so humble as to forego reprinting the section on Masson’s Blog here:

Attorney and blogger Doug Masson may be a resident of Lafayette, but his astute and rigorously researched blog entries about Indiana politics should be of interest to any and all Indianapolis political junkies. Calling his blog “A Citizen’s Guide to Indiana,” Masson is ardently devoted to revealing the often hidden inner-workings of Hoosier government and politics. Although the legalese and political jargon that pervades the blog is likely to scare off amateurs, Masson’s blog is must-read stuff for those looking for otherwise hard-to-find information and political commentary that’s both smart and urbane.

Now, I’d better go look-up the word “urbane.”

Paying for the Wars in Iraq & Afghanistan

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The Christian Science Monitor has an article entitled How US is deferring war costs.

To pay for World War II, Americans bought savings bonds and put extra notches in their belts. President Harry Truman raised taxes and cut nonmilitary spending to pay for the Korean conflict. During Vietnam, the US raised taxes but still watched deficits soar.

But to pay for the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US has used its credit card, counting on the Chinese and other foreign buyers of its debt to pay the bills.

We’re spending about $10 billion per month. By the end of the year, the total funds appropriated will have been about $600 billion.