Kos takes Hostettler to task for hypocrisy. Apparently John Hostettler (R IN-08) has asked for federal relief for the Evansville area tornado disaster. Problem is, he voted against the Katrina relief package.

Hostettler’s request surprises me a little. He is a nutjob, no doubt about it. But, by-and-large, he sticks to his principles, such as they are. Hopefully the Gulf Coast legislators don’t act en masse to deny southwestern Indiana the assistance that is so obviously needed.

The 10/5/05 minutes of the Natural Resources Study Committee has a discussion of the DNR and its policies with respect to enforcing the law against rebuilding in a floodway. Apparently it’s DNR policy not to enforce that law. If we’re serious about keeping homes out of floodways, it really has to be the State that enforces it. Politically, it’s almost too difficult for local officials to be outstanding enforcers. As good as the policy is in the abstract, it’s really tough to tell your friends and neighbors they can’t rebuild on their own property after a flood hits. But, this isn’t a mystery. The area will flood again. It’s just a question of when.

Residential Construction in Floodways. George Bowman, DNR Assistant Director of the
Division of Water, provided an overview of the Flood Control Act (FCA) The FCA was passed in 1945. In 1913 Indiana experienced its worst flooding with extensive flooding occurring again in 1943. Generally, no residences are allowed in floodways.

Amendments to the FCA allowed for the placement, reconstruction, and improvement of residences in certain circumstances. An abode damaged by floodwaters (except in the Ohio River floodway) may not be restored to its pre-damaged condition if the damage is determined to be substantial or constitute reconstruction. In 2005 hundreds of homes that were located in a floodway were substantially damaged. Substantial damage occurs when the cost of repairs is greater than 50% of the original cost of the structure.

Director Hupfer asked that legislators examine the law and ratify it. He asked that legislators determine if current exceptions and rules are the will of the General Assembly. Local communities need to enforce building requirements that allow people to get permits to build in floodways.

Senator Young stated that residences along the Ohio River are an exception because the Ohio River does not flash flood. However, people can not obtain flood insurance, so they build the property at their own risk and expense.

Director Hupfer stated that the DNR is not enforcing the prohibition on rebuilding in a floodway based on precedent, but that DNR will now enforce the law. The legislature must decide whether to change it.
Senator Young indicated that he assumed that laws that were passed were enforced.

Director Hupfer mentioned that the Wabash River flooded over 400 homes that were in the floodway and were substantially damaged. In 2003, 573 residents requested buy-outs. The DNR determined that only 189 were substantially damaged. Only $2 M was available to buy the homes, which allowed for the acquisition of around 25 residences. Construction in the floodway could affect flood insurance. He encouraged local communities to enforce the law and not allow new construction in floodways. Approximately 10-12% of homes in the floodway have insurance. If it is the legislature’s will that residences not be reconstructed, then that is what the DNR will enforce. The DNR has an obligation to enforce the law.

Senator Weatherwax noted that reconstruction of flood-damaged homes costs everyone. Developers who construct in floodways should be liable. Senator Lewis indicated that when Utica was flooded in 1997, the town was moved to higher ground. Some people would have rebuilt in the same location if they had not been forced to move.

Representative Hoffman mentioned that in some cases, counties issue permits to rebuild that the state would not have allowed. People rebuild before the state becomes aware of the reconstruction.

I might be wrong, but I’m not convinced the special dispensation given to the Ohio River area has a lot to do with that river being distinct from other rivers as far as flooding is concerned. I think it had more to do with political muscle of legislators from that area at the time the bill was passed.

The 10/20/05 Minutes of the Health Finance Commission (PDF) have some moderately interesting discussion of flu pandemic, a moratorium on new comprehensive care beds, and student nutrition.

For whatever reason, I found the student nutrition section of most interest — probably because it was the least technical and most accessible reading.

Casey Kline, Staff Attorney, reviewed changes in the draft to the definition of “healthy beverage.” The draft now refers to better choice beverages and better choice foods. Ms. Kline added that the contract phase-in that was included in previous drafts was eliminated and clarified that a la carte lines in school cafeterias would be required to comply with the provisions of the proposed legislation.

Steve Beebe, representing the Indiana Vending Council, a state affiliate of the National Automatic Merchandising Association, commented that last year the Indiana Vending Council supported this legislation. He added that the sale of candy as a school fund raiser should be disallowed since many children sell these items at school to their friends. He questioned why vending sales of similar products would be banned while this activity was allowed.

Commission discussion followed. Senator Becker agreed to continue to work on the issue of allowing sales of candy to raise funds while banning vending sales of similar products.

That’s right, ladies and gentlemen. The vending council is whining about the chess club being able to sell candy bars to raise money for new pocket protectors. It’s always nice to see Goliath out there trying to take down David.

The Indy Star has an article worth reading entitled, Economy barely budging.

Last week, the State Budget Agency released revenue figures that show individual income so far this fiscal year is below projections.
In addition, the number of people employed in Indiana has remained essentially flat this year, though the picture is an improvement from four years ago.

Governor Daniels says it’s too early to judge his economic policies based on the results available to him today. I’ll give him that. But, he wouldn’t tell us even if is policies were failures. I am disturbed by his apparent nonchalance with the prospect of Delphi workers being reduced from $27 per hour to $9 per hour. Eventually, one’s economy depends not on the ability of the average citizen to work, but on the citizen’s ability to actually buy things.

Advance Indiana has some thoughts on Rep. Bosma and Intelligent Design entitled, Advance Indiana: Bosma and GOP To Mandate Intelligent Design In Schools. Gary Welsh suggests that Bosma and Co’s connections with the Trinity Broadcast Network is analogous to the General Assembly’s connections with the Klan in the 20s.

I think that’s over the top, but it’s certainly a cautionary tale for those who think “it can’t happen here.”

Robert King for the Indianapolis Star has an article entitled Fueled by her convictions, discussing how Senator Miller’s political career has been informed by her religious beliefs. The combination produced something of a firestorm earlier this fall when Senator Miller put legislation up for consideration by the Health Finance Commission that would restrict availability of reproductive assistive technology to heterosexual married couples only. In other words, singles and homosexuals suffering from infertility problems would have to remain childless in Indiana.

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Senator Miller. She’s very pleasant, and she’s extremely hard working. From what I could tell, during the session, she was the first legislator in and the last one out during the day. She actually reads the legislation for which she’s called upon to cast a vote. I have no idea of the particulars of Senator Miller’s religious convictions and how they influence her decision making, so I have to resort to generalities. I’m always concerned when people unquestioningly base their morality on their religious beliefs. To me that is abdicating your responsibility as a moral decision maker to make the decisions yourself. You can go to your religion for guidance and suggestions, but at the end of the day, it is your duty to use your ability to reason to make a rational decision as to what is right and what is wrong. Spend more time reading your Bible and thinking about it than listening to your preacher and saying what he says. If more Christians acted in this fashion, I think we’d not hear too much about “the gay agenda.” Because, frankly, the Bible says far more about the evils of wealth than it does about the evils of homosexuality.

Of Senator Miller, the article says:

In the Statehouse, Miller has succeeded not only in winning a ban on human cloning, but also in setting strict limits on stem-cell research. She has opposed gay marriages and partial-birth abortions. She has supported limits on where sexually oriented businesses can locate.
In the church, Miller has for eight years led the Confessing Movement, an Indianapolis-based group trying to pull the denomination away from more liberal interpretations of Scripture and back to its roots. Part of that has meant resisting forces that want the church to bless same-sex marriages and ordain gay clergy. In a United Methodist Church that has drifted to the left since the 1960s, her Confessing Movement has emerged as the denomination’s conservative conscience.

The article goes on to describe the Confessing Movement and the schism it is creating in the United Methodist Church over the issue of homosexuality.

Thanks to the Indiana Law Blog for the pointer to an editorial by the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette on intelligent design. Like myself and Sneer.org, the Gazette makes the connection between this kind of debasement of our scientific education and Indiana’s lackluster technology development.

Indiana can’t afford to have its academic standards compromised by unscientific views. A profile released this week at the Indiana Technology Summit shows the state fell behind or was stagnant on 14 of 23 measures of progress in creating a technology-based economy. Adopting science standards that include instruction in intelligent design – ideas rejected by mainstream scientists – would seal the state’s backwater reputation.

Keep in mind, fear of a backwater reputation is one of the rationales commonly put forward by proponents of Daylight Saving Time for Indiana. Certainly putting Intelligent Design into our science classes would be stronger evidence that Indiana is principally composed of rubes than whether or not we choose to fiddle with our clocks twice a year.

The Journal Gazette editorial is also skeptical of Carl Baugh, the man Representative Bosma is consulting with about Intelligent Design.

House Speaker Brian Bosma apparently is on board with Border’s plan, having met last month with Carl Baugh, host of Trinity Broadcasting Network’s “Creationism in the 21st Century.” The Rev. Frederick Boyd, whose Indianapolis church hosted Baugh’s visit, told the Star that Bosma was already pursuing intelligent design legislation, but wanted Baugh’s ideas on how to create it.

An example of those ideas are found at the Web site for the Creation Evidence Museum, which Baugh founded in Glen Rose, Texas. “Among museums, this entity makes a unique contribution, demonstrating that man and dinosaur lived contemporaneously,” the Web site boasts.

Unique, indeed. Sixty-three million years elapsed between the time dinosaurs walked the Earth and man appeared, in spite of what Baugh and Flintstones fans might suggest. It’s troubling to learn the speaker is leaning on such a source for advice on Indiana’s academic standards, or that he is meddling in the state’s academic standards in any fashion. That’s best left to the State Board of Education, which has wisely approved standards based on teaching evolution.

The concern over Baugh echoed the thoughts of Ed Brayton at InTheAgora.com. Mr. Brayton says about Mr. Baugh:

Folks, if you want to show that ID is not old fashioned creation science under a new name, you gotta stay away from folks like Carl Baugh. Carl Baugh is a young earth, global flood, humans lived with dinosaurs creationist. He’s also a complete fraud, still pushing the Paluxy “manprints” more than a decade after even his fellow creationists at the Institute for Creation Research and Answers in Genesis admitted they weren’t human footprints and urged their followers not to use them as evidence any longer (and more than three decades after they were debunked by Walter Lammerts, founder of the Creation Research Society, who recognized that the Paluxy prints, if they were genuine, created just as much of a problem for creationism as for evolution because, as he put it, “On the basis of a worldwide flood what were people doing walking around yet after so much sediment deposited?”).

Taking down words also heaps an appropriate amount of scorn on the idea of teaching “Intelligent Design” alongside evolution in our science classes.

This is just more divisive crap that does not a thing to address the real concerns of Hoosiers. Howard Dean said that Republicans like to use God, gays, and guns to distract and divide. This is evidence that at least some Indiana Republicans like to operate in that fashion. I’m happy that Governor Daniels is at least noncomittal on this issue. He takes the line that the legislature probably shouldn’t micromanage schools. I’m certainly agreeable to that policy, but would be happier if the Governor would simply say that it is wrong to attempt to put non-science into science classes.

The Indy Star has a short article entitled $66.4 million paid or pledged in tax amnesty. Once again, no information about what kind of discount that $66.4 million paid & pledged represents against the amount actually owed. No information about how much of that goes to the collection agency. And, no information about how much has been paid versus how much has been pledged. Governor Daniels says “most” of that has been paid, but Gov. Daniels says a lot of things.

Incidentally, it bears mentioning that this is a much better deal for the rich than for the poor. As, I suppose most things are. In one instance of which I am aware, my collection efforts on behalf of a creditor helped force a small business out of business. Now they are living on their social security with a few pieces of property with both my client’s judgment lien and the state’s tax warrant lien encumbering the things along with their mortgages. Taking advantage of the tax amnesty would be a good deal for these folks. These folks, unlike some others, weren’t scofflaws, I don’t think. Just had some personal difficulties that translated to record keeping problems. These are the sorts of folks I would least mind being able to take care of the amnesty. But, they have no real income or assets, so it’s not going to happen. This little anectdote doesn’t really say anything for or against the amnesty itself. Just goes to show that it’s expensive being poor.

The Indy Star is reporting GOP lawmakers want schools to teach ‘intelligent design’. The article isn’t particularly clear, but I believe they want to have intelligent design taught as science. That’s a bad idea because Intelligent Design isn’t science. It’s not based on observation or falsifiable theory, which are the very essence of the scientific method.

I’m sympathetic to the idea of Deism, which I understand to be sort of the “clockmaker” theory of creation. God wound up the universe like a clock, and let it go. On the other hand, I wouldn’t teach it or Intelligent Design in the science class. I’d put it in a humanities class along side any other creation stories. They are worthy of consideration, but not as science.

Update Jason over at Sneer.org makes an excellent connection that hadn’t occurred to me. This story about putting intelligent design in the science class comes hot on the heels of a report (pdf) that shows Indiana “fell behind or stayed the same against other states in 14 of 23 measurements, such as patents gained per worker and employment in high-tech services.” Prior blog entry here.

(Jason’s entry has a great photograph of Main Street Lafayette where the address hops from 664 Main Street to 666 1/3 Main Street, presumably in a superstitious effort to avoid the Sign of the Beast.)

If we’re willing to debase our science education to accomodate delicate religious sensibilities about creation and evolution, then it’s no wonder our technological and scientific infrastructure is lagging. Are we going to continue to embrace Enlightenment principles or not?

I find this a bit odd. Supposedly the Indiana Dept. of Revenue is supposed to list tax warrants that are between two and ten years old since their first issuance, and the liability is more than $1,000. So, I go to theIDOR Tax Warrants page, where it says that, indeed, they are supposed to list such warrants. Unless I’m just completely incompetent at navigating the site, the warrant list will be unavailable from Sept. 15 through Nov. 15 which just so happens to be the Tax Amnesty period. I’d love to know the rationale behind this.

Personally, I just want to use the site to verify whether a debtor I’m trying to collect from accurately represented his obligation to the Indiana Dept. of Revenue.

Update: Interesting. I called into the Dept. of Revenue and asked first why the tax warrant information was not online. She said that it ws because of the amnesty and because DOR did not want to confuse the debtors — the tax warrant information included penalties and interest, whereas under the amnesty, the debtors would be liable for a lesser amount.

I asked whether the tax warrant information could be given over the telephone. The person I spoke with said not unless I had received permission from the debtors to release that information.

I think the Department of Revenue is now in violation of IC 6-8.1-3-16(j) which states:

The department shall publish the list compiled under this subsection on accessIndiana (as operated under IC 4-13.1-2) and make the list available for public inspection and copying under IC 5-14-3.

I just glanced at HEA 1004 which contained the tax amnesty legislation, and it says nothing about suspending the provisions of IC 6-8.1-3-16(j). I also glanced at the the temporary rules of the Dept. of Revenue (pdf) and did not see anything about the removal of tax warrant lists from public access. (Not that the DOR has the authority to ignore a statute without permission from the General Assembly in any case.)

So, to recap, the Indiana Department of Revenue is required to list outstanding tax warrants on the Internet. It has apparently decided on its own to violate that requirement because it wants to “avoid confusion”. And, it refuses to provide the required information over the telephone while the “confusing” information is off line.

My conspiratorial side suggests an effort to make it more difficult to assess the benefits and costs of the tax amnesty program. But, I suppose mere bureaucracy is sufficient explanation. And, there is always the possibility I missed the provision that authorizes the DOR to withhold this information for the duration of the tax amnesty period.