Remember: Come 2012 we can vote out *Republicans*, too...

And I can think of a few who’d be better in retirement...

Chris Hodapp:

In July, 10-year-old Lydia Coenen and her 9-year-old sister Vivian set up a lemonade stand near their Appleton, Wisconsin home, to sell lemonade to people heading to a car show.  A police officer informed them their stand was prohibited by a new Appleton city ordinance that bars unlicensed vendors from selling food and drinks within a two-block radius of a special event.

It sounds so crazy that it could only happen in a Monty Python routine, yet at least four other similar episodes happened across the U.S. in July alone, in Georgia, Maryland, Texas and Iowa.  In Maryland, the children’s parents were threatened with a $500 fine.  Is that what we want here in Indianapolis?  It’s clearly what City County Councilman Angel Rivera [R-at large] wants with his Proposal 188...

The proposal prohibits private ticket sales within a one mile radius of any event involving 500 or more people at Lucas Oil Stadium, Conseco Fieldhouse, Victory Field, Hinkle Fieldhouse, Murat Theatre, the Indianapolis Convention Center, the Indiana State Fairgrounds, and White River State Park, unless one of the parties involved in the sale has a license. So if you are stuck with an extra ticket to a game or show, now you will need a license to sell it outside the venue.

But the biggest wave of draconian new regulations involve "special events.” Events as innocuous as a neighborhood block party now will fall under the scrutiny of the city requiring new permits and fees. More troubling are the establishment of so-called "clean zones” that require new licenses to sell merchandise, food, souvenirs, et cetera, whether you are on city property or your own private property, during certain events.

Revenue grab, or some "protection” for Rivera’s campaign contributors?  Doesn’t matter.  Out!

Indianapolis Star:

The state is letting the NFL use the government center's two parking garages and one surface lot when Indianapolis hosts the Super Bowl on Feb. 5.  Fans who park in them will be paying an undetermined fee, with the money going to the NFL.

Connie Smith, spokeswoman for the state Department of Administration, said it's the first time the state has not kept the fees collected when the public uses the state garages for special events...

...because the National Football League needs the money SO much more than our cash-strapped state.  Right.

And then there’s always Mitch Daniels’ appointee Supreme Court Justice Steven David.  You remember him, the guy who repealed the Fourth Amendment in Indiana?

Three reasons that remind me why I call myself a conservative, not a Republican.  One scratched ballot, coming up.


Previously:

Credits:  Hodapp via Nathan, Star via Advance Indiana.

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 20:58:39 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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