Cause and Effect: As the government increases.

As the government increases,

freedom decreases, but restrictions increase...
secrecy increases, but trust decreases...
accountability decreases, but waste increases...
meetings increase, but accomplishing decreases...
resources decrease, but laws increase...
paperwork increases, but communication decreases...
efficiency decreases, but tasks increase...
taxes increase, but representation decreases...
legislating decreases, but maneuvering increases...
self-righteousness increases, but morality decreases...
acheivement decreases, but excuses increase...
testing increases, but teaching decreases...
compassion decreases, but apathy increases...

As the government increases!

Why does the government increase?

Opposing Presentation at the BOAC.

I just attended a Board of Aviation Commissioners meeting tonight in my hometown. I've spoke of the airport expansion project in previous posts, and tonight I made a presentation in opposition of that expansion.

Here is the video

What's happening is the City is trying to expand our local airport through a federal granting program called the AIP, or Airport Improvement Program, which the FAA oversees. This program is designed to give grant money to airports for expansions, new runways, new aprons, land acquisition...basically everything except hangars and hotdogs. And its at little cost, because it will mostly come from federal tax dollars, which we all know is our dollars.

This project is being sold on the premise it will create jobs. But that is unproven for these little airports, at least for the moment. We've only been given national fluff pieces that use the words..."could, maybe and potentially."

My biggest complaint, though, is that the City will take land by eminent domain in order to build this airport. This, to me, is morally wrong. But morality doesn't translate too well, so I presented them with census data from 45 areas that either built or expanded their airports. Here is the data I compiled.
















The first sheet explains pretty well, the who, what, when, how, why and where. But for those who want further explanation, I compared employment data and income data from 2000 to 2006-2008 for each of these areas. I took percentages of that and extrapolated it to "what can we expect to happen" in our area in 8 years.

It basically showed that these 45 areas didn't show a marked improvement in employment or income in 8 years after they built or expanded an airport. That should surprise anyone who thinks airports create jobs. It surprised me when I started compiling it.

I felt the Board did treat me fairly, but my hope is they will treat the information I presented fairly. I remain positive!

Butts create bridge for your cash strapped city?

Is your city strapped for cash? Have you seen your school funding cut by x-amount of dollars? Is the mayor looking for a way to fund a new economic development project?

Here's a an idea that could solve all those money woes...actually enforce the littering laws, and particularly enforce them on those who chuck their cigarette butts anywhere except a trash can.

We've all seen it. People have this urge to chuck their butts as much as they have the urge to smoke. Out the window of the car, chucked onto any grassy knoll, and don't get me started about what can be found at the beach.

It is estimated that 4.5 trillion cigarette butts, worldwide, end up as litter each year. If each of those were to carry a fine, holy junk thats a lot of revenue.

In my town there is a $50 fine for littering for each offense. If we lowball an estimate of 2000 butts chucked and fined each year, that $100000 in additional municipal revenue.

Understandably this is a short term fix or a bridge, but its a solution that is already written into law and simply needs to be enforced.

What kind of church goer are you? - Part 2

Do you wake up on Sundays with a fresh step. A bounce almost. You have this urgency to get there. You have this feeling that you are about to experience the grandest of Holy Spirit. You walk in and have the biggest smile on your face. You find your seats somewhere in the first few rows. Your heart begins to pound as the lights dim and music begins to play. You think to yourself..."how wonderful it would be to feel this way all week".

After a mesmerizing worship, the preaching begins with a challenge. The Bible is opened to the book of Something. And you're immediately convicted by the illustration the pastor gives. You shout out an "AMEN". At the end of preaching, the service ends in prayer and you, as you walk, out have this new charge to be the pursuer of God, He wants you to be.

But then the lines are long at Walmart as you are to prepare a meal for some friends from church. As you are racing home, grandma and her dog are driving about 24 miles below the speed limit...then you miss the light as grandma goes right through. "Bleeping, bleep!!" you shout!

If situations like this occur more often than not, I would contend that church for you is a "rock concert". You go for the spectacle, the entertainment. You go to church because of the way it makes you "feel". But as soon as church is over, you cling to your old worn out pair of shoes rather than putting on the flip-flops of God. You choose to let life get in the way of that charge you left church with. Is church a spectacle to you?

Mouse just quit working.

Have you ever experienced a time when your mouse just quit! You know, you move the mouse, but the pointer doesn't move. The little light underneath the mouse stays on, but nothing...absolutely nothing. So you think to yourself, lets try plugging the mouse into another USB port...nothing. So you tell yourself, maybe if I stick in my flashdrive, I can get a better idea of whats going on...nothing.

Don't fret!

If you search online for "usb ports not working" or "mouse just quit working" or "usb peripherals stopped in windows 7" you'll find a lot of garbage and hard to understand instructions about the device manager and reinstalling your operating system. Its garbage! Don't buy any product and don't go the complicated route first.

I found one little idea about 15 minutes ago that would have saved me the last 3 hours of frustration. I'm resharing it because its so valuable.

1. Turn off your computer.
2. Pull out all your USB peripherals(mice, flashdrives, ipods, etc).
3. THEN PULL THE POWER CHARGER OUT OF THE SIDE OF YOUR COMPUTER.
4. Now go get a cup of coffee or tea.
5. Turn your computer back on and check to see if the mouse works.
6. If it still doesn't work, try the complicated suggestions of those other guys.

For some reason, the power charger has something to do with how the USB ports function. So by pulling the cord, something inside either resets or wipes out the USB information that is causing the hang. Best of luck.

Hockey game etiquette and the cowardly lion.

Its amazing what you can learn at a hockey game.

This past Friday night, some guys from church and I went to a hockey game in Indianapolis. The Indiana Ice were hosting the Des Moines Buccaneers at the Pepsi Coliseum. Apparently, its okay to have a venue's speaker volume be loud enough to physically hurt a person's ears. The music was so loud that we couldn't speak with the very people we came with. So here's an idea for anyone running a venue or an event. Check your decibel level. Check it on a kid, check it on an average man, and check it on the elderly. If the bullhorn in front of you is quieter than the music your trying to entertain a croud with, then your volume is too loud.

The next thing I learned at the hockey game was the new etiquette a person uses toward a visiting team. Apparently, your not supposed to yell or heckle the opposing team's player when they are in the penalty box. There were 3, 60-something ladies, sitting directly behind the visiting teams penalty box. Each time an Ice fan sitting behind them began heckling the player being penalized, these ladies would look back, as if to say..."stop that, you're hurting this player's feelings."

And lastly, and again, apparently, the new definition of beauty for women aged 60 and older is the lion from the Wizard of Oz. No kidding. Their lips are so puffed that they can't close them by shutting their jaw. But this must be beautiful because I'm seeing it more and more. I'm seriously considering asking my wife to get this procedure done, because I don't want her to lose any self-esteem by not looking like the cowardly lion.

So, the next time your go to a hockey game, swing by the plastic surgeon first, grab a set of earplugs and be as quiet as possible when you get there.

"I love eating during Biggest Loser" fan page.

So again. I'm not so profound. Here are a few of the similar groups currently on facebook.

Eating fattening food while BL is playing. (253 fans)
Watching BL and eating JUNK FOOD. (1 fan)
Watching BL While Eating ice cream (1 fan)
watching BL while eating some form of sweet (48 fans)
Eating Fatening Foods while watching BL (103 fans)
Watching BL While Eating Cookie Dough and/or Cake (5 fans)
I love watching BL and eating ice cream!!!!! (4 fans)
watching people lose weight & eating unhealthy stuff:)(BL) (31 fans)
watching BL while eating an ice cream sundae\other dessert (1 fan)
Watching BL While Eating A Bowl Of Ice Cream (32 fans)

I'm still considering creating the "I love eating during Biggest Loser" fan page because I truly don't have a favorite treat to eat during the show. I just like to eat.

I love eating during Biggest Loser.

Okay, after the previous couple of days of serious talk, here's a silly subject. You know how you can create fan pages on Facebook? I wish someone would create a "I love eating during Biggest Loser" fan page.

If no one has stolen this idea by this time next week, I'll do it myself.

Before we use eminent domain.

There are many other questions that need asked before a government body decides to proceed with eminent domain for economic reasons. Here are only a few.

How many in the community want this project? How will this project produce jobs and economic progress? What success have other cities had after building this type of project? What other types of projects would be more efficient at creating progress? How does the government factor a "fair price" for that property?

Now, here's some questions for you as neighbors.

Should governments be asking the moral question of using eminent domain? Are you confident that governments are basing decisions off of proper data? Are you willing to help protect the property rights of others in order to help your own property rights? If you're not willing, why?

Not until YOU put yourself in the shoes of the landowners who are affected by this procedure, will property rights ever be protected the way they should. These property owners will have no leg to stand on against the government bodies. What will do when Uncle Sam comes to take your property?

Safety and the use of eminent domain - Part 3

I do believe that eminent domain is useful in terms of safety. If an unwise 10-story building owner in downtown Indianapolis refuses to protect their building from falling, therein endangering the adjacent owners and visitors...common sense tells us that this is a perfect reason to condemn and take the building.

Imagine the scenerio and the ramifications of a local populace approaching a building owner who refuses to protect their surroundings. Imagine the dozer crew, and the blocking off of city streets, and the tearing down of that nuisance building. The building owner, instead of taking responsibility for protecting his building, would quickly hire a lawyer and sue the gathering of community "protectors".

For this reason, eminent domain must remain an option...for now.

On the flip side, if eminent domain must remain legal, there will always be family members or friends or neighbors who will be affected by it. And it's because we, as a nation, are always chasing the next "economic whatchamacallit". Take a minute to review the current cases online. Most deal with an "economic whatchamacallit" project being built and a property owner who wants to keep their property. Of course the property owner has little community defense on his side because of the promise of economic prosperity posed by the government officials. And this gets back to a much larger issue, where most folks never get involved in another's property fight because they are being promised more cash in their pocket. Economy trumps morality. I think that is so unfortunate.

Not until we see property owners gaining the support of the community, will we see changes in how eminent domain is applied.

A little more to come.

When is eminent domain immoral? - Part 2

Can you imagine being stripped of your "freedom" to keep your property. Let's say you grew up on the family farm and worked tirelessly alongside your parents to maintain and keep that farm beautiful. Can you imagine having that farm taken from your parents and they would have no legal recourse to keep it? There are many attempts to seize property like this occuring throughout the United States. If you do a search for "use eminent domain" over the past year, you'll see over 40000 links to sites discussing it.

Many would say, "Well, the GOVERNMENT won't just take it, they will pay you a fair price for your property." That is, in fact, true. They are required by law to compensate you for your property, but that is not the issue here. Some folks find it more rewarding to own a homestead, or a business, or a wildlife area, than to receive a golden ticket from the GOVERNMENT. But again, if the GOVERNMENT wants it, they can proceed to condemn it, compensate you and take ownership.

I wish governments would first ask whether it's moral to use eminent domain on the grounds of building an economic whatchamacallit. I'd say its not when landowners want to keep their property and here's why. I'd bet 75% or more of us have been taught to “treat our neighbors as we’d like to be treated”. Therefore, how can we justify taking a person's freedom to own their land, if we are trying to follow this basic moral tenant? Wouldn’t we be saying to them, their property is more important to us than their happiness or freedom to keep that property. I don't want to be the country that says that. I'd love to hear your reasoning, if you can.

More in the next post.

What is eminent domain? - Part 1

We grow up being taught that if we work hard, the fruit of our labor will be compensated. With that compensation, we can then choose to spend it as we please on the things we want or need or want to give. For many of us, one of the major purchases we make is a home. Once we own the property, we can sell it, let it deteriorate, take care of it, or we can will it to our children. Some of us take this for granted, but this entire process happens under the blanket of freedom. We have the privilege to choose throughout this entire process. Did you know you can have that "freedom" taken from you, through no fault of your own?

Have you ever heard of the term EMINENT DOMAIN?

Eminent Domain is a legal procedure by which a government body can condemn a property, whether it’s unsafe or not, in order to gain ownership of that property. The most common uses of eminent domain involve the purchase of land for the development of public utilities, streets and highways, railroads, airports, damns, etc.

An example of this is slated to occur in my hometown. City officials are planning the expansion of our local airport through funds and restrictions provided by the FAA. With this expansion, there are a dozen or so landowners who will lose portions of their property by eminent domain. They will be stripped of their "freedom" to keep their land.

More in the next post.

No ringtone voicemail message feature.

Here's an idea that could be called "I don't want to bother you, but I didn't want to forget to tell you" voicemail message feature. Okay, so I'm not great at coming up with names.

I know I've ran into a few instances where I'd like to leave a quick voice message for someone, without having to ring their phone and get into a conversation. Kind of a backend voicemail contact. They aren't bothered by the ring, and yet you are able to communicate your message.

Many might be asking, well "why don't you just text them?" Believe it or not, there are those of us that don't text all that often and find it cumbersome to communicate that way. It would take us 10 minutes to text the message, versus 30 seconds in leaving a voicemail.

This feature has been talked about by others for a few years now. Doing a quick google search will reveal how unprofound this idea is, but will also reveal some clues to the market potential.

One overarching problem I could see in having this type of feature on your phone. SPAMMERS. I can only imagine if your number gets put onto the spammers hotline. You know how that part of the story goes.