In the end, the epiphany always finds you.
I can’t pinpoint its arrival in my case, but as an avid reader of history, it long ago became clear to me that a record of human events is inseparable from personal qualities that are fundamentally and eternally irrational. Envy, greed, disappointment, anger, pride, vanity, ego, arrogance … they’re usually the best explanations for decisions and positions that defy logic, whether in the heat of the moment or afterwards, when dispassionate observers seek to fathom motives for occurrences that simply don't make sense.
Apart from neighborhood politics, here's interesting achival reading from the TEAM HAMMOND TAXPAYERS' GROUP (that's right -- all shrieking caps and righteousness).
It's dated Tuesday, February 5, 2008, and is attributed (imagine that -- intellectual honesty) to the Hoosiers for Fair Taxation blog on the same day. There is no longer any sign of it there, if in fact it ever was posted, although HFFT's discussions from the corresponding time period are unintentionally hilarious, with leading Indiana tax activist and crypto-fascist hypocrite Eric Miller having just commenced his bizarre linkage between property taxes and gay marriage, prompting some Libertarians to look around the romper room and wonder if they came through the wrong door.
Because it may already have been deleted once, and to preserve this masterpiece of muddle in the public record, I'm reprinting it in full.
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TEAM NEW ALBANY: "YOU THINK YOU'VE GOT IT BAD?"
We received this message today from Freedom of Speech Team, our activist friends in New Albany.
Our city is a train wreck about to happen. Our new mayor is our old mayor of 12 years ago. He is a crook and a bigger CROOK now. You cannot imagine what all he has done over the last 30 days- an $11,000 raise for himself. We now have 2 deputy mayors a 118 take home cars. In 16 years we have spend around $60 million dollars on sewers and we now have another $47 million to spend. They have been giving like $32 million dollars in 2007 in tax abatements. They have borrowed $5.3 million from sewer utility to cover our general fund and never paid it back. We have been to the city prosecutor, Indiana atty. general and even the governor and been told is too political.
You think you have it bad in other counties. Listen to this one:
My sister is the assessor for our county. I worked for her for 5 years. During the entire time I worked there she was cutting peoples' property taxes to get re-elected.
Her first deputy works doing income taxes for 3 months out of the year. She not only collects a salary FROM doing taxes but a nice check from City. It took me 2 years to figure out what was going on and then I started making copies of time sheets and everything I could get my hands on. I mean boxes of paper work.
Well to make a long story short, my sister came to my new home (I purchased Sept. 2003 and moved into November 2003) on Martin Luther King day 2004 and handed me my termination papers. And told me she didn't have to give me an excuse to terminating me. So we got a bunch of citizens and current employees together and created Freedom Of Speech, IN 2005. Of course I am the only person who knows who everyone is. People know I'd not tell if someone put a gun to my head. Our cars have been trashed, gasoline poured on my porch. Spray painted "Bitch " on my garage door. On my birthday there was a box on my porch wrapped in a telephone cord with a bullet tied to it. Of course I deny being with Freedom of Speech.
My entire family has turned against me because I promised my dad before he died if she ever fired me to take her down. Well, I have been sitting with all this information, video tapes, time sheets. They also collected comp time and are making a fortune in local government.
I couldn't afford to fight her over being fired. I could not afford an attorney. This entire town is a house of cards. It would be so easy to expose this corruption and all if someone would help. I have even considered going to the FBI. You folks think you have it bad you ought to be living here. We have cops following us everywhere.
They are playing a shell game with our city money. Our state board of accounts audits is down right criminal for 4 years. Employees have been overpaid, our parks department ran up a $10,000 cell bill in one month. State Board of Acccounts tell us they have no power.
We don't have money to fight them. People are scared and won't even attend council meetings. I wish someone had some ideas or answers how we can fight back. We're the little people, working class citizens and have no recourse. We just keep plugging along but what can we do?? I'd be willing to go into protective custody to blow the whistle on these crooked "bastards".....
No one will touch this I swear, I have been trying for 4 years....
BTW, I guarantee this could turn into a movie deal. This is nothing but pure corruption, ghost employment, criminal crap and all we want is help to put all these crooked bastards in jail.....!!!
I have all these documents and no one to help us!!!!!!!! We need more than a Tea Party in our hometown, trust me.
Freedom of Speech Team in New Albany
From Hoosiers for Fair Taxation
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
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11 comments:
My favorite line? "trust me."
Had the strangest feeling as I read that. Uncommon sadness. Seriously.
Sadness is a legitimate response to death, Mark, and a lot of these tired old methodologies are dying.
The trick is to avoid regret.
My reaction is actually pity. I kind of understand her now. Disowned by her family, screaming about conspiracies that aren't there and not even a Republican administration will listen to and a city that's going to grow despite her best efforts.
I read a sense of helplessness and misdirected rage, which is a shame.
Newsflash FREEDOM OF SPEECH - we're not the enemy. You're demonizing the very people who are most able to make the good ole' boy crap irrelevant.
It trly saddens me that any individual can be driven to a point like this.
But I can not help but notice that in the article the author spells out that they made copies of everything they could get their hands on, boxes after boxes of items.
For such a community watchdog, did it not occur to them that was actually theft?
I mean its taxpayers money paying for the toner, the paper, the lease for the copy equipment.....
Not to mention the saddest (unacknowledged) irony of all: Having identified herself as the persecuted, she proceeds to sanction and mimic the tactics of the persecutor -- the secrecy, the character assassination, and right down the line.
There's really nothing instructive or noble in any of this, is there?
No, there's not. And that's what so sad. She will never find any peace.
That does not mean that I will cut her any slack. Just adding pity.
I would still offer a hand in help if requested but I don't think that is going to happen.
What we repeatedly see from “Citizens for Accountability” is a failure to connect the dots.
With CFA, a deficit always equals corruption.
With CFA, $X dollars spent on sewers or police always is evidence in and of itself of corruption.
CFA never does into the subtleties of how the city might have gotten into a deficit. It never gives us compelling evidence that sewer or police car spending should equal another amount. The mere fact that a particular police item came in at 110% of the projected budget amount does not tell us what caused the increase. Was it corruption or was it something else such as changed circumstances? On this, CFA is silent.
Advocating fiscal conservatism with low taxes and minimal services can be an intellectually honest and valid position. However, if you want to debate spending cuts, use real numbers. Be honest about the trade offs. CFA’s positions are not intellectually honest.
More importantly, CFA’s statements are 100% critique. CFA never gives a vision for what the city budget should be; it’s always “cut, cut, cut” but never tells us to what level. How many police officers does it deem necessary? How will the few, remaining public services be provided? On this, CFA is silent.
Nothing noble about it. No.
Yes Dan, hence some of us don't bother to listen to every critique...
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