Paging Wendy Dant Chesser: "Students At Most Colleges Don’t Pick ‘Useless’ Majors."

Vile humanities major. 

I'm never, ever going to let this one drop. Wendy Dant Chesser is One Southern Indiana, and 1Si's operating philosophy of "What's Good for Our Oligarchs Is Good for You, Peasant" will never be my cup of tea.

Hello Wendy, Part One: In which we are properly warned not to heed the oligarchs' call to discount the value of liberal arts degrees.

Hello Wendy, Part Two: "Are dissidents born or made? A humanities major examines his life and locale."

Here's some refutation for Dant Chesser to enjoy with her morning Starbucks. For as long as she's over there and I'm back here, this will continue to be grist for the mill.

Students At Most Colleges Don’t Pick ‘Useless’ Majors, b Michelle Cheng (FiveThirtyEight)

.. The vastly different college paths that Mehta and Speers took illustrate an obvious point that is nonetheless often overlooked in discussions of higher education: Students attend college for different reasons. Some, like Mehta, see college primarily as a financial decision, an investment that they hope will have a relatively short-term payoff. Others, like Speers, may hope that a degree will bring financial rewards, but their focus is more on the intellectual and social aspects of the college experience. (Others, of course, seek both.) Those different goals affect where students go to college and what they do once they get there.

These varied approaches to college are clear from the fields that students at different colleges choose to study. According to data from the federal Education Department, students at elite universities are more likely to pursue degrees in the humanities, arts and social sciences than students at less selective schools, who tend to choose majors that are more likely to lead to an immediate, well-paying job.1
The most popular fields of study among students at the most selective schools are the social sciences, with 19 percent of degrees awarded in majors such as political science, economics and sociology. The next two most popular groups of majors are the biological and biomedical sciences and engineering. At less selective schools, the most common fields of study are related to business (the Education Department calls this category “business, management, marketing and related support services”), with 19 percent of degrees awarded in those majors. The next most popular group is “health professions and related programs.”

Career-focused majors — such as business, education and journalism — are more prevalent at less selective schools than at top-tier schools. Education ranks as the fifth most popular major at less selective schools but is the 21st most popular major at the most selective schools. Other vocation-specific majors such as law enforcement are also more popular at less selective schools.2 In total, more than half of students at less selective schools major in career-focused subjects; at elite schools, less than a quarter of students do so.

These numbers run counter to the common stereotype of students majoring in “useless” subjects and complaining when they can’t find jobs. In fact, comparatively few students at less selective schools — the vast majority of U.S. college students and the ones most likely to be pursuing degrees primarily for their career benefits — major in these less practical fields ...

Metro Louisville's pitch to Amazon promises “a quality of life second to none for every Amazonian.”

Dude.

Amazonian

Am·a·zo·ni·an

1. of, like, or characteristic of an Amazon
2. [oftena-] of an amazon; tall, strong, aggressive, etc.: said of a woman
3. of the Amazon River or the country around it

Promising (at least to me, given my proclivities), but maybe GLI, Wendy and the gang should have found a few liberal arts majors to work on the prose -- or pros, as opposed to amateurs.

Exclusive: Greater Louisville’s Amazon proposal, a great pitch, or a foul ball? (LEO Weekly)

We knew it would not be long before the local application for Amazon’s second headquarters was leaked, and it so happens that LEO got a peek at it — first.

The bid detailed on a six-part website, a collaboration of government and business leaders in Louisville, Kentucky and Southern Indiana, touts the region’s obvious, best selling point — location, location, location. It also employs expected hyperbole — “unprecedented collaboration with university and public administration partnerships, as well as strong incentives and easy transit.” Ha! “Easy transit …” And then there is the boast of “a quality of life second to none for every Amazonian.”

In what seemed like defeatist, meta, self-reflection, the introduction says picking Louisville involves “swinging for the fences” because we “may not be the obvious choice for Amazon, but we are the bold choice.” The phrasing and, as it turns out, much of the intro video, parrots Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ annual shareholder letter. Using his words is smart, perhaps, but once he gets the joke, will Bezos be willing to risk a $5 billion mistake… er, investment by coming here? ...

... Certainly, in the coming days and weeks, arguments will be had about the proposal’s content. We thought it would be instructive to take a critical look at how the proposal was presented — Did Louisville use its millisecond elevator pitch effectively, or has the door shut on us before we had a chance? So we asked someone from a local advertising agency for their thoughts (he asked to remain anonymous) ...

Previously:

Amazon's bid: More required reading that Wendy Dant Chesser and One Southern Indiana will add to their bonfire of the vacuities.

Amazon's bid: More required reading that Wendy Dant Chesser and One Southern Indiana will add to their bonfire of the vacuities.

Wendy is positively giddy -- and liberal arts degree holders should be scared.

Here’s what we know about Louisville’s Amazon bid, by Caitlin Bowling (Insider Louisville)

While other cities are publicly touting potential sites and incentives for Amazon’s secondary headquarters or crafting gimmicks to attract attention, the city of Louisville has remained relatively mum when it comes to its bid.

Louisville’s economic development arm Louisville Forward is spearheading the effort, but it has culled information from various other entities inside and outside of Jefferson County to help strengthen its proposal ...

... Wendy Dant Chesser, president and CEO of chamber of commerce One Southern Indiana, said the experience was fun because of the collaborative spirit surrounding it.

“If we can work together and be successful, we can all benefit from it,” she said. “We put in a package what I think is indicative of what the region has to offer. Now will it be enough? We will have to wait to hear from Amazon.”

It's always fun when you're playing with house (taxpayer) money. Now for that pesky fine print. I'm guessing there aren't copies of this article in the break room at 1Si.

Amazon’s Uneven Playing Field, by Olivia LaVecchia (Motherboard)

Amazon is looking for a big subsidy to build its new headquarters—the latest move in the company’s long history of using the government to get favors its rivals can’t.

In the hierarchy of the corporate world today, Amazon is near the top. It's one of the top five most valuable companies traded on the major exchanges, and founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is now the second-richest person in the world.

People tend to think that Amazon has gotten there simply by out-competing everyone else. But there's another part of the story of Amazon's rise. From the very beginning, a core part of Amazon's strategy has been taking advantage of public benefits not available to its competitors.

Now, bidding is set to close Thursday on the latest play in this strategy: Amazon's decision to launch a public auction for the location of its second North American headquarters. In that auction, Amazon is angling for such a substantial public handout that, as Amazon itself puts it in its Request for Proposals, the "magnitude may require special incentive legislation." Since Amazon opened bidding, more than 100 cities across the U.S. and Canada have publicly announced their interest in the Amazon sweepstakes, and have given over conference rooms and staff time to work on the bid, launched PR stunts, and started hashtags. Experts say that the end result of all of this hype could be a multi-billion dollar giveaway from taxpayers to Amazon.

Middle fingers: "It’s never been better to be a big company in America, but it has rarely been a worse time to be an entrepreneur."

What Democrats might be doing about it.

Indeed, the opening reference is intended as ironic, because ...

"America’s biggest companies have never been bigger, but all too many people are sitting in a McDonald’s, drinking coffee and wondering where their town went."

If you agree that "small is losing the war against big," then a logical corollary would be ceasing to accept at face value the bilge dispensed by oligarchy-based entities like One Southern Indiana.

There are other ways, you know. But Wendy's not going to be telling you about them, is she?

Monopolies Are Killing America, by Ross Baird and Ben Wrobel (The Development Set)

From rural farms to inner cities, small is losing the war against big. And we don’t see it getting better.

... The regulars asked what I did, and I told them I run a firm that funds small businesses — specifically, high-growth startups. One man pointed out the window at a nearly deserted clapboard Main Street and said, “Small business, man, that’s all we got. We used to have the hardware store there; when they opened the Lowe’s twenty miles away, well, that went under. The Walmart in Locust Grove killed off a few more. Now, McDonald’s is all we have.”

The most basic American rights — which the authors of the Declaration of Independence called “inalienable” — are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The American promise is equality of opportunity. These rights weren’t universal when Thomas Jefferson first inked these words in 1776.

And while, at first glance, America has become more free for women, people of color, and others who weren’t landed gentry in 1776, I’d argue that thanks to monopolies, American freedom is quickly in decline — and because of the unchecked power of big enterprise, we’re on the road to serfdom.

It’s never been better to be a big company in America, but it has rarely been a worse time to be an entrepreneur.

Viva Oligarchy! It was our own Indiana politicians who abdicated their duties to represent their constituents' interests, and brought us bridge tolls.

Mr. Epperson nails it in his opening paragraph of his letter to the editor, but then strays into Loony Tunes territory by tagging John Yarmouth as being responsible for tolls. There'll be an answer below, but first:

Bridge tolls a hardship for some (News and Tribune)

As a disabled senior citizen with cancer, I’m already burdened with many medical debts. I often must see my personal doctor in Louisville. The tolls for passage across the bridge may be negligible for young working people, but they are a hardship for the poor and elderly. No discounts are available for locals, yet an interstate driver can simply not pay if they even get a toll charge of $4.

What a waste of time and added expense 3rd District Kentucky congressman John Yarmuth caused, delaying this project and increasing its costs. This is the reason we now have to pay a toll. I urge all Southern Indiana citizens to talk to their friends and family in Louisville to retire this scoundrelous politician.

David Epperson

At the newspaper's Fb page, KLB replies by shining the spotlight precisely where it stands to illuminate the greatest number of parties responsible for tolling -- namely, right here in Indiana. It's a devastating indictment, don't you think?

Sadly, Mr. Epperson's plight of being subject to tolls despite needing to access medical services in Louisville is due less to John Yarmuth and far more to his own political representatives on the Indiana side abdicating their duties to represent their constituents' interests.

They're the ones who allowed the plan to balloon from one bridge to 2 with a Spaghetti Junction rebuild.

They're the ones who let one governor choose an east end route that crossed a (albeit questionably) historic property that required an expensive tunnel to cross.

They're the ones who let another governor get a pass for reneging on his promise that our bridges would be built with state funds and not tolls.

They're the ones who ignored the fact that their constituents who work in Louisville already pay a tax to Louisville to cover using their infrastructure.

They're the ones who allowed the tolling plan to be set up in such a way that Hoosiers would pay far more tolls even while the states split the revenue equally.

They're the ones that allowed a toll set up that lets out-of-state/out-of-region drivers get away without paying (because collection rates for tolling-by-mail are dismal where they're utilized in other states) thus handing the tolling burden even more so on Hoosiers.

UPDATED Clerely, schools should be included in redevelopment commission decisions.

(6:00 p.m.: See update below)

It took a few days to get back to this one.

Southern Indiana lawmakers to file toll-related bills in 2017 session ... General Assembly's 2017 session begins Tuesday, by Elizabeth Beilman (News and Tribune)

Let's be clear: Tender mercies for the toll-afflicted never came up even once for Ron Grooms when the tolling oligarchs first came calling, and he climbed into bed with them.

I suppose we must give Ron partial credit for belatedly grasping the simple fact that tolling disproportionately taxes the working poor, even if he steadfastly ignored all attempts to convince him of this at the time.

But wait -- buried at the bottom amid "other bills to be filed by local lawmakers" is something of genuine interest.

• REDEVELOPMENT COMMISSIONS — Gives local school corporations one voting appointment to municipal redevelopment commissions by taking one appointment from mayor's administration, with the intention to better include schools in redevelopment decisions (Clere)

Well, look at that. If Jeff Gahan stands to lose an appointment to the body that works most diligently to keep his campaign finance beaks wet, we might yet be entertained by a good, old-fashioned self-immolation -- though I still think New Albany City FC is funnier.

Thanks to Elizabeth Beilman for posting this update from the Indiana General Assembly page. As you can see, the legislation also provides unfilled vacancies on the board of municipal housing authorities.

DIGEST

Appointments to local boards and commissions. Provides that after June 30, 2017, one of the commissioners appointed to a redevelopment commission must be a member of the governing body of a school corporation that includes all or part of the territory served by the redevelopment commission. Provides for the appointment to be made by the appointing governing body as determined in the statute. Removes language providing for the appointment of nonvoting advisers to redevelopment commissions from the governing bodies of school corporations. Provides that nonvoting advisers serve until a member of the governing body of a school corporation is appointed to the redevelopment commission. Provides that if the executive or fiscal body of a municipality does not fill a vacancy in the municipal housing authority before the 61st day after the vacancy occurs, the remaining members of the housing authority shall fill the vacancy. Provides that the remaining members are authorized to fill the vacancy even if the number of remaining members is not sufficient for a quorum. Provides that an individual who is acting as a member of a housing authority 60 days after the expiration of the individual's term as a member of the housing authority may continue to act as a member for purposes of filling the vacancy. (Provides for expiration of this provision.)

Taibbi feels the Bern: "An elected government should occasionally step in and offer an objection or two toward our progress to undisguised oligarchy."

This one from Matt Taibbi was posted on April 29, 2015, and I've underlined a passage which echoes something we've been saying locally:

Why do we accept the entire governmental structure becoming oriented toward monetizing and dispensing financial favors to the business and construction elites, at the expense of a level playing field for ordinary people?

This is why I'll trudge down to Tuesday's BZA meeting and denounce cynical trickle-down corporate welfare yet again, even as the Dugginses and Gibsons of the ruling elite chortle from the back row at the temerity of anyone daring to question their wheel-greasing boilerplate.

Flaherty Collins rubber stamp for the Coyle site to be hastened by the Board of Zoning Appeals this Tuesday night.

I'd never even consider placing myself in the same league with Bernie Sanders, but this much we have in common: There'll be no oligarchy appeasement here.

Give 'Em Hell, Bernie: Bernie Sanders is more serious than you think, by Matt Taibbi (Rolling Stone)

 ... That saltiness, I'm almost sure of it, is what drove him into this race. He just can't sit by and watch the things that go on, go on. That's not who he is.

When I first met Bernie Sanders, I'd just spent over a decade living in formerly communist Russia. The word "socialist" therefore had highly negative connotations for me, to the point where I didn't even like to say it out loud.

But Bernie Sanders is not Bukharin or Trotsky. His concept of "Democratic Socialism" as I've come to understand it over the years is that an elected government should occasionally step in and offer an objection or two toward our progress to undisguised oligarchy. Or, as in the case of not giving tax breaks to companies who move factories overseas, our government should at least not finance the disappearance of the middle class.

Maybe that does qualify as radical and unserious politics in our day and age. If that's the case, we should at least admit how much trouble we're in.

Surprise, surprise, surprise ... said Gomer Pyle, Kerry Stemler and 1Si, as bridge tolls go on forever.

One Southern Indiana was doing that lip-synchin', Down Low ORBP Toll Funk just the other night.

Before we leave
Lemme tell y'all a lil' something
ORBP toll you up
ORBP toll you up
ORBP toll you up
ORBP toll you up uh
I said ORBP toll you up
ORBP toll you up
ORBP toll you up
ORBP toll you up

On the other hand, it isn't like we've ever looked to 1Si for meaningful content. Got drones? As for the revelation that in the absence of political representation, we'll merely be tolled forever, these important points were made at Fb:

Jeff G: The gist is that southern Hoosiers, bearing the brunt of both lost business revenue and tolls, will be paying for Kentucky road projects from now on. It will we be, though, a great time to be a realtor in Louisville.

Thomas P: And I am sure the maintenance on the non-tolled bridges will be properly attended to as they crumble due to increased usage.

Karen B: That's why they'll put tolls on them too, to cut off toll avoidance and under the guise of maintenance.

Jeff G: Yep. Shortly, non-tolled bridges and the paths to them will see substantially increased traffic. Longer term, that's an excuse to "rebuild" the bridges to enough of an extent to get around the rules about not tolling preexisting infrastructure like the did on the Kennedy. A bigger problem is that keeping tolling revenue up, i.e., making sure people drive, is a disincentive to pursue more sensible solutions like transit.

We live in a remorselessly stupid place, don't we, Kerry?

Kentucky, Indiana counting on bridge tolls until 2068, by By Marcus Green (WDRB)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Kentucky and Indiana are planning for tolls to remain on the new Louisville-area bridges at least until 2068 -- 15 years after the construction debt for the spans is paid off.

The states expect $2.3 billion in operations and maintenance costs – including for "toll operations" – over a roughly 50-year period starting in 2017, according to an updated Ohio River Bridges Project financial plan approved by the Federal Highway Administration in January.

Gahan casts covetous eyes toward Fischer's Omni deal, summoning Maalox the Younger to incentivize SOMETHING intrinsically non-local.

When Daniel Borsch posted a link to the C-J's story about the Omni Hotel project, he added this comment.

I was under the impression that the $150,000,000.00 renovation of the convention center was going to generate millions in revenue for the city thanks to all the huge conventions that are going to flock to town. If that is the case, why do we need to subsidize a luxury hotel to the tune of another $139,000,000.00 (48% of the project cost) to make it financially feasible practically next door? And we wonder why we can't pave our streets and are broke.

There ensued a substantive discussion.

JeffG: It's a great time to be a corporate player in Louisville under a mayor as fully committed to trickle-down economic theory as Reagan ever was-- the same guy who thinks $10 an hour is too much for labor thinks this is fantastic.

MarkC: Guess it's just me, but if I financed 48% of a for-profit business, I would want something approaching 48% of the profit or my money back plus interest. I never claimed to be good at this business thingy.

JeffG: Aww, Mark. You take all the fun out of public-private partnerships-- public expense, private reward. You'd make a lousy lobbyist.

Given that New Albany's mayor (a) prefers backroom deals out of public view, (b) maintains an economic development director eager to incentivize the sort of entities that usually don't need it, and (c) photobombs Greg Fischer whenever possible ... well, there may be something to learn from the Omni giveaway.

Unprecedented Omni deal would restrict Metro in future projects, by Stephen George (Insider Louisville)

The deal Mayor Greg Fischer announced this week to bring a 30-story, 600-room Omni hotel tower downtown would add a new skyscraper to the city skyline for the first time since 1993, help attract tourism and other economic activity to downtown Louisville, and provide welcome relief for a Central Business District increasingly desperate for hotel rooms.

It also would impose unprecedented limits on Metro’s ability to make certain large-scale economic development deals in the coming years while requiring the city to work on Omni’s behalf in ways it has not done before for a private entity. And if the city’s financing scheme for the project’s public costs were to fail, taxpayers would be left footing the bill ...

You see, there's this pesky non-compete clause ...

 ... However, for the first time, this deal also limits the city in future development projects that are similar to Omni. Under its agreement with Omni, Metro government would be barred from participating in any other projects in excess of 400 rooms and within a 1-mile radius of the Omni’s footprint unless the incentives it provides are worth less than $10 million — a pittance to the high-profile deals that have come to define parts of downtown.

In effect, with Omni’s projected open date in 2018, the provision would prevent Metro from subsidizing any new hotel development in the heart of the city — or in support of an expanded convention center — for the next 10 years ...

 ... the provision has irked some local developers, whom IL granted anonymity to speak freely because of the sensitive nature of their business. They told IL the non-compete clause would needlessly prevent future opportunities without offering city government any real benefit. 

The crux of it:

They also worry Metro is focusing its economic development efforts on big projects like Omni to the exclusion of locally driven, smaller-scaled investments that could better prioritize livability and quality of life downtown. And without the ability to help finance new downtown hotels near an expanded convention center, they said Metro might find itself bereft at key points down the line.

To repeat, in bigger letters:

(fill in name of city) focusing its economic development efforts on big projects ... to the exclusion of locally driven, smaller-scaled investments that could better prioritize livability and quality of life downtown.

That's my point. Not only that, but from the perspective of Jeff "922 Culbertson" Gahan's demolition fetish, the Omni deal also provides Fischer with the opportunity to level historic structures.

Envy. It's contagious.

One Southern Indiana celebrates Small Business Saturday ... with chain outlets and malls.

One Southern Indiana's self-serving, contradictory hokum never ceases to amaze me.

Unfortunately, the outfit's relentless shuck and jive boasts a bamboozling quality which somehow convinces small independent businesses against all prevailing logic that 1Si actually can do something positive for them, even as the organization supports one after another US Chamber of Commerce imperatives guaranteed to pull the rug out from under grassroots operators here and everywhere.

Thanks to S, who occasionally forwards 1Si's propaganda to NAC, for the following PR waste paper.

As usual, contrast the rote repetition of small business, "buy local" parameters -- you know, the ones 1Si generally works against 364 days a year, with the names of some of the "small" and "local" businesses on the list ... all of whom are (drum roll please) members of 1Si!

It's sickening. C'mon, brethren: Boycott the oligarchy-support org, and save your money for real progress here on the ground.

---

See attached in case you have not seen this elsewhere.  I know when I think of small businesses, Edinburgh Premium Outlets and the Green Tree Mall are on the top of my list.


In 2010, American Express founded Small Business Saturday to help businesses with their most pressing need - getting more customers. The day encourages people to shop at small businesses on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The single day has grown into a powerful movement, and more people are taking part than ever before.

Here's just a few reasons why we want you to shop small:

• Locally owned businesses put money back into the community. They support the Little League and Boy Scouts and the local theater.
• Locally owned business owners are your neighbors. You go to church with them. You attend the Lions, Rotary or Kiwanis with them. They are your friends.
• Locally owned businesses hire local people. They provide jobs.
• Help keep our community vibrant. Help grow our community into the kind of place we all want to live in. You can do that by shopping small.

Below is a list of locally owned 1si members to consider when shopping this Saturday.

Actors Theatre of Louisville
Adrienne's Company Bakery & Cafe
Aebersold Florist
Azure Skin & Wellness Centre
Bales Motor Company
Ben Franklin Crafts
Bimbo Bakeries USA
Bowles Mattress Co., Inc.
Charcoal & More
Chester Pool Systems, Inc.
Coyle Chevrolet & Nissan
Craig & Landreth Pre-Owned
Derby Dinner Playhouse
Diverse Woodworking, LLC
Edinburgh Premium Outlets
Endris Jewelers
F5 Enterprises, LLC Creative Marketing and Photography
Glowing Face Therapeutics Day Spa
Green Tree Mall
GTECH Indiana, LLC
Haas Jewelers
Hill Auto Sales, Inc.
Huber's Orchard, Winery & Vineyards
John Jones Auto Group
Koerber's Fine Jewelry
Lloyd's Florist, Inc.
Mathes Pharmacy & Homecare
My Scratch & Dent Appliances and Warehousing
Pacers & Racers , Inc.
Paul's Pharmacy Inc.
Phantom Fireworks
Precision Compounding Pharmacy
Premier Carpets & More, Inc.
Sam Swope Clarksville
Schimpff's Confectionery
Schmitt Furniture Co.
Simply Grand & Vintage Piano Works
Slone Automotive Enterprises, Inc.
Stage One Family Theatre
Strandz Salon & Threadz Boutique
Stuart Bauer Pools & Spa's
Sweet Frog Frozen Yogurt
Sweets by Morgan
The Flower Shoppe
Uptown Art

Drinking Progressively: Let's make it Tuesday evenings, 6 to 8 p.m. at BSB

ReSexted: One Southern Indiana to advocate for fascist shit whether we agree with the oligarchs or not.

1Si stayed on the sidelines for this one, didn't it? So much for being a "champion of ideas."

If I'm not mistaken, the recently reformatted newspaper web site has rendered null and void every link referenced in this space for the past five or so years. Thanks a lot. I hope your revenues go the way of Doug England's electoral prospects.

In other news, One Southern Indiana has utilized the helpful forum of a church to vow that it will push for whatever the national Chamber of Commerce demands, whether it's good for ordinary people or not, because that's what Trickle Down is all about.

We simply wait for our "bizness of Murica is bizness" betters to explain to us how we might remain passive 99 percenters, and roll over on cue.

In other words, the person who eventually replaced the guy who merrily waved his appendage now merrily waves the organization's credentials as Kerry Stemler's official "Yes Person," and no one has very much say in the matter apart from the small-pond oligarchs who pay the new chieftain's salary and issue marching orders.

Quite frankly, I'd rather see that other guy's appendage, because at least there's a modicum of honesty in just plain flashing for sex.

Note the patronizing manner in which Wendy Dant Chesser asserts ISi's "rights," disparaging the "sidelines" as though the organization has been an oppressed minority.

She's right about one thing: 1Si is a minority, all right. It just isn't oppressed enough, at least for my taste.

1si takes on bigger policy advocate role in Southern Indiana

NEW ALBANY — A week after calling for leaders to consider the effect bridge tolls will have on businesses before setting rates, One Southern Indiana President Wendy Dant Chesser vowed that the organization will be an active policy advocate.

“We will not sit quietly on the sidelines to let others create our futures for us,” said Dant Chesser during 1si’s annual meeting Tuesday at Northside Christian Church.

One of the pillars of the organization is to be a “champion of ideas” for area businesses,

One Southern Indiana's hypocrisy is absolutely reprehensible.

Your eyes are not deceiving you. At long last, with the bridges boondoggle firmly cemented in the annals of Kerry Stemler's anals, One Southern Indiana has decided to get militant about bridge tolls.

But only as they pertain to the big business and trucking firms that float First Secretary Chesser's boat.

"Suck it commuters, businesses gotta do business" says One Southern Indiana. Do not read the memo that One Southern Indiana sent crying about tolls as it will cause you to double over in a violent fit of laughter. Clearly OSI is still in denial that the bridge fairy has not shown up to cut a check for construction of the unneeded bridges."
-- Daniel Borsch at Say NO to Bridge Tolls

He's talking about this:

S. Indiana chamber asks state to help ease toll burden on businesses, by Marcus Green (WDRB)

The Southern Indiana chamber of commerce is asking state officials to consider changes to traffic and toll plans in an effort to ease the Ohio River Bridges Project's financial burden on local businesses.

The president and CEO of One Southern Indiana, which represents Clark and Floyd counties, sent the suggestions in a July 30 letter to the Indiana Finance Authority, the agency in charge of the project's financing.

Among the recommendations, based on input from chamber members, are limiting the Clark Memorial Bridge to passenger cars and trucks and restricting the span to one-way traffic during rush hour periods, Wendy Dant Chesser wrote.

That's right. To this very day, and until the end of time, One Southern Indiana cares not one jot about the impact of bridge tolls on independent local businesses, their customers or any ordinary human beings. In fact, the oligarchic organization has not had the first coherent statement to make about tolls and their effect on independent local business.

If you're reading and happen to own such a business, heaven forbid you might be a dues-paying member of 1Si. If so, you're sleeping with the enemy, plain and simple.

"There were already rumblings a year or so ago about reducing the 'toll burden' on the larger businesses and trucking outfits for whom the bridges are being built while casually and conveniently not mentioning onto whom the additional burden would be placed. 1Si strategy: 1. Make sure the bridges are built. 2. Make sure someone else pays for them. Between that and eschewing any transit development as legitimate choices would drive toll revenues down- welcome to the occupation. Malevolence and apathy, live together in perfect harmony. I'm out of bad song metaphors. I'm out of anything beyond them.
-- Jeff Gillenwater at Fb

He's talking about this:

Officials want bridge toll collection delay, by Charlie White (C-J)

With the first Louisville-area tolls in decades expected to begin downtown around April 2016, chamber of commerce officials in Louisville and Southern Indiana are urging officials to halt any toll collection until the bridges project is fully complete later that year.

"We're behind the bridges project 100 percent but we recognize there are members of ours who are concerned," said Wendy Dant Chesser, president and CEO of One Southern Indiana.

Pathetic, but then again, we've known this about 1Si for a very long time, haven't we?

From SW Michigan to S Indiana: "How the Chamber of Commerce Hurts Our Community."

Perhaps Southwest Michigan First's antics do not provide an exact match with the persistent chicanery of One Southern Indiana, but it's close enough for rock and roll.

How the Chamber of Commerce Hurts our Community ... Who is Southwest Michigan First putting first? (hint- not the environment and not poor people), by Matthew Lechel

... The problem with the Chamber of Commerce, Southwest Michigan First and the status quo ‘economic development’ community is twofold. Firstly, these groups hold our communities hostage in the name of jobs. The damage this causes impacts our community primarily environmentally, but also culturally and socially. The second major problem with the current economic development paradigm is that the primary product they’re selling (government subsidy of private business) is something we aren’t even sure works. That’s why it’s called trickle down economic THEORY. There’s loads of evidence increasingly showing that taxpayer handouts to profitable companies under the auspice of job creation doesn’t work. Of course there are other folks (particularly those who benefit handsomely) who say trickle down economics does work, and only more time will fully prove that. One thing is for certain, based on past actions the economic developers are not in any way interested in showcasing to the public their gamble with taxpayer resources works. Especially when they can get the local paper to simply assume it is a positive investment and report accordingly.

Today's truthful moment: "Bridge tolls will devastate Indiana businesses, owner says."

Kerry's in that castle, somewhere.

Mike, of course we both know that the bridges junta recognized this fact from the very beginning, which is why those earnest efforts we all made, again and again, to have Kerry Stemler and his sycophants sign off on an economic impact study for local businesses was mocked, ignored and buried beneath the Eisenhower-era verbiage -- and we were ignored because we're not the kind of esteemed, engorged business fetishists that Kerry and his ilk can get their rocks off to (and rake in a few stray bucks while smoking the inevitable post-$-coital ciggies), which is to say, we're not the big-picture, River Ridge besuited kingpins.

And then there's Ron Grooms, who said and did nothing until nothing could be done or said, and only at a dog-won't-hunt point far beyond tactical usefulness finally opened his eyes to the issues and heroically spoke out to mostly empty rooms. Posterity won't be kind. Meanwhile, the rest of us search for survival strategies.

Bridge tolls will devastate Indiana businesses, owner says, by Charlie White (CJ)

A longtime Southern Indiana businessman told Indiana officials during a Tuesday public hearing for the Ohio River Bridges Project that businesses in western Clark County will be "devastated" by the addition of tolls on Interstate 65.

Mike Kapfhammer, co-owner of Rocky's Sub Pub and Buckhead Mountain Grill on Riverside Drive in Jeffersonville, estimated that 40 percent to 50 percent of his customers cross the river from Kentucky without paying a toll. He doesn't believe many will buy toll transponders if they only travel to the Hoosier state for dining or shopping ...

Russell Brand: "A pale liver-spot on the back of Murdoch's glabrous claw."

With clocklike regularity, Russell Brand's hitting the nail hard and straight:

They forever print tabloid tales of benefit cheats on the swindle, which is bad – I used to do it – but the reality that we lose £1bn a year on all benefit fraud combined, and £25bn on tax avoidance and evasion by big companies and the super rich is seldom reported. Why don't we read that story in the Sun? Perhaps it's because, as Rupert said in his private email, the Sun would "continue to fight for its beliefs". Of course, the Sun believes in an easy ride for big corporations – it is a big corporation, Newscorp is one of the biggest there is. Plus they get £35,000 per page for the corporate ads they carry for Tescos, Vodafone, British Gas, O2, corporations within the incestuous family of business, media and government that grow corpulent together.

Ah ... the media.

The Sun on Sunday lied about me last week. Have they learned nothing?
Not a big deal in the scheme of things, but it's still the same fecund bone-yard of gossip, poison and lies, by Russell Brand (Guardian)

The Sun on Sunday, which is of course the News of the World with a different hat on, lied about me last week.

In the general scheme of things, the crumbling economy, the savaged environment, the treacherous, inept, deceitful politicians that govern us, the corrupt corporations that exploit us, it might not seem like a big deal. That's because it isn't to anyone, except me or my girlfriend. The pain, disruption and distress, that the Sun inflicted by falsely claiming that I cheated on my girlfriend, in the context of such awesome corruption, is a pale liver-spot on the back of Murdoch's glabrous claw. Still though, it's a tiny part of the demon's dermatology and as such, connected to all the other pestilence. Here's how.

The multi-talented Kerry Stemler can screw up wet dreams on BOTH sides of the river.

Sifting through the weird breathlessness of Insider Louisville typically takes some doing. One of the site's latest fixations has been purges underway at Greater Louisvile Inc (GLI), which is Louisville's version of One Southern Indiana (1Si), which in turn suggests that a source for discounted Hazmat suits would be very much appreciated if I'm to keep reading about the wonders of besuited enrichment.

Wait ... what's the smell? It smells like a garden-variety Quisling to me.

CEO Craig Richard’s letter to GLI members reveals first details about staff cuts, budget issues and travel freezes

 ... These changes were not made lightly or in a vacuum. Communication with GLI’s Chairman of the Board, Kerry Stemler, and members of our Executive Committee on these decisions were ongoing. I appreciate their full support as we implement these changes and cost-saving initiatives.

Let me get this straight: Stemler gets to poison more than one well? On both sides of the river? Too bad we're not a tri-state area; he could pull a hat trick -- or a rat trick.

Just savor this prime bit of vintage oligarch-speak gibberish as he explores efficiencies and body cavities at GLI.

Sources: ‘Bloodbath’ at Greater Louisville Inc., with at least 25 percent of staff dismissed, by Terry Boyd

 ... “There were two catalysts for organizational change at this time – the post-recession business dynamics and the new leadership agenda of our president and CEO Craig Richard. We’ve been able to identify efficiencies within the organization and create a structure with an increased focus on economic development and member services.” Kerry Stemler, Chairman of the Board, Greater Louisville Inc.

Writing like that is so incredibly bad that it makes one pine for the halcyon days of Benny Breeze. In comparison with Stemler's nonsense, Tea Party screeds read like Thomas Jefferson. It makes Bob Cesar look visionary. More gin is demanded.

Posterity is going to be very unkind to these lemmings. GLI and 1Si will be consigned to the ash heaps they both richly deserve to inhabit. Meanwhile, future generations will be asking:

Why'd they let a second-rater like Stemler dictate anything beyond a mobile phone's voice mail message?

What is One Southern Indiana's position v.v. Freedom Indiana? Don't hold your breath waiting for an answer.

Maureen Hayden's column last week was quite good: Coalition growing against state constitutional gay-marriage ban.

The coalition, called Freedom Indiana, is rapidly expanding its presence out of the state’s capitol city and into communities around Indiana by building the kind of grassroots campaign that can knock traditional political power off its pedestal. [Think of the grassroots campaign of political novice Glenda Ritz who with little money or name recognition took down her well-funded, incumbent opponent in last year’s race for Superintendent of Public Instruction].

There is a passage of particular interest to those of us who monitor One Southern Indiana's perenially slavish devotion to wrongheadedness.

Here’s where the rubber may hit the road: Indiana’s biggest job creators, including Cummins and Eli Lilly and Co., are behind Freedom Indiana. For them, HJR-6 is a stinging rebuke to the 'Hoosier hospitality' that politicians say has helped Indiana recruit jobs and economic investment for our state.

That's why I posed the question to 1Si: "What is One Southern Indiana's position v.v. Freedom Indiana?" As we endure the vigil of days/weeks/months until 1Si (for once) learns that social media is a two-way street (as most other streets should be), it's vital to recall that when the oligarch fluffers claim to be representing us, they actually are not:

One Southern Indiana does not speak for me or this local business. Repeat.

The non-elected oligarch's benevolent society otherwise known as One Southern Indiana does not speak for local business in the broader sense, and it does not speak for NABC in any sense at all -- whether on the topic of managed health care, or tax reform, or the unconscionable boondoggle of the Ohio River Bridges Project.

It's gotten personal with me.

Slower streets, faster revitalization. We need only dispense with the reactionaries.