Decatur Celebration Ad

I just heard a commercial today, twice already on WSOY-AM, for the Decatur Celebration. This is the most annoying ad I have heard since the Firewater Cafe commercials using the same announcer, Capt. ConQueso, or maybe a wannabe Capt. C, a character who sounds like a cocaine fueled snake oil salesman. The theme song at the end is the only redeeming sliver for the spot.

I have intentionally avoided the cafe mentioned above for no other reason than revulsion at the lack of sensibility of whoever paid for the Capt. ConQueso ads. I can and do appreciate humor, but stupidity masquerading as humor isn't funny, it's just irritating. I hope this Decatur Celebration spot doesn't get heavy airplay and that other spots that are running could replace it. It is an embarrassing blot on the city's image.

Decatur Coal Gasification Plant update

Emerson, Secure Energy partner on $800M coal gasification plant

"An Emerson unit has formed a strategic relationship with Secure Energy Inc. to help build an $800 million alternative energy plant in Decatur, Ill.

The project would be the first coal gasification-to-synthetic natural gas plant to be constructed in the United States in two decades..."

more info about the gasification plant (H&R)

What's the Council doing with our taxes now?

CITY COUNCIL MOVES FORWARD TO BUILD $350,000 LOG CABIN
"...it’s difficult to understand why in the world the city would invest, at this time, a possible $350,000 to build a log cabin and what goes with it, eight miles away in the country on a site we don’t own, but for which we will have to provide security. It’s not even in the city limits! How do you explain to residents the city is providing security outside the city limits to protect a log cabin, when they want more security in their own neighborhoods to protect lives?..."

Former Mayor Osborne has this absolutely right in his editorial. The long term security costs and lack of state or federal funding make this a project for better economic times.
My question is: Are Mr. Edwards and Caulkins simply trying to build their own legacy?
My congratulations to Councilman Laegler, for having the courage to be the only "no" vote, to delay a good project for another time, when it can be properly financially supported.

Total Lunar Eclipse Tonight

Total Lunar Eclipse Space.com
"...The moon will enter Earth's umbral shadow (the full shadow) at 8:43 p.m. ET (that's 7:43 p.m. Central, 6:43 p.m. Mountain and 5:43 p.m. Pacific) on Wednesday, Feb. 20. It will appear as though an ever-larger bite is being taken out of the moon.
Some 78 minutes later, the moon will slip into full eclipse. About 51 minutes later, a bright scallop will appear as the moon starts emerging. It will be completely out of the umbral shadow at 9:09 p.m. Pacific time, which is 12:09 a.m. ET on Thursday morning..."

This will be the last total lunar eclipse until 2010.
The view above was from my backyard GardenCam.

Politics of Poison

As noted on Tam's blog:
Kit writes about
Elections and Iocane Powder
"...I used to write about politics all the time. That was back when I thought my “side” could win. I still keep up with the issues, but I’ve come to the same realization that Jayman has - America does not want what I want out of government. America loves big government. They don’t care about taxes and punishing producers and the non-scalability of things like health care and school systems. America wants Big Brother to make them feel safe. America wants Nanny Government to give them money, food, health care, and whatever else America thinks it’s entitled to loot, courtesy of the producers..." (more)

I think that the poison analogy in the post is well aimed.

Rachel Lucas says:
"...What I’m saying is, with this president thing, we are getting a new president. We are getting one and there is nothing in heaven or hell that we can to do to avoid it. The new president will (likely) be either John McCain, the dog that bites you frequently, or Clinton or Obama, dogs that bite you slightly more frequently. You are getting one of these dogs. That is a 100% surety..."

Which dog would you prefer?

Decatur Government Referendum Forum

Video of the forum is available at the Herald and Review website. Watch it here.
I listened to the radio broadcast last night and watched the video this morning.

I think that the personal attacks and accusations from the ChangeDecatur team were meant to be distractions..
One of Mr. Daniels' quotes, overused six times by my count, was ironic. "It sounds good, but is it true?" Why didn't anyone on the other side turn that back around? Were they taking the high road and staying out of the mud?
I don't think that many minds got changed either way, and the mostly softball questions allowed too much changing and reframing of the subject at hand, which is, "Do we want to convert to a commission form of government with no guarantee of further change?"
Both sides allowed that question to get less attention than they should have. With respect, some of the Chamber's time had to be used in deflection of personal attacks, and it seemed obvious that ChangeDecatur would rather reframe the question.

previous posts:
Change Decatur?
Know what change you are really voting for.

Know what "Change" you are really voting for

I noted here, in an earlier post, that I agreed with the Herald and Review editorial supporting a Yes vote to retain the current form of City government. The Mayor, who is also the editor of The Decatur Tribune, also makes a very good case for rejecting a "bad change."

MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE VOTING FOR IN CITY GOVERNMENT CHANGE QUESTION
01/16/08
Paul Osborne, Editor (Decatur Tribune)
Osborne Online
"... I believe that most of the people who support the ChangeDecatur effort are honestly motivated. They want to eliminate the city manager’s position, give the mayor more power and elect up to 20 aldermen from wards throughout the city. That’s certainly their right -- and I certainly don’t have a problem with citizens voicing or voting their beliefs, whether I agree with them or not.
What is difficult to understand is how anyone with those beliefs could now be supportive of going to a commission form of government which has a track record of little or no representation for minorities, a bloated, bureaucracy with a history of patronage and corruption, and very little citizen or neighborhood input and less members (5 including the mayor) elected at large than we presently have (7 including the mayor).
All the reasons voiced for wanting the mayor/aldermanic form of government are the very same reasons that a commission form should be rejected."

Well said, Mayor. I agree.

Vote Yes for a United Decatur
ChangeDecatur

Change Decatur?

I've been quietly pondering this issue for a while and I'm now fairly certain that voting to retain the current form of government is Decatur's best choice. The last line of the Herald and Review op-ed column in Sunday's paper pretty well sums up my present position. "Voters should understand that a "no" vote Feb. 5 is not a vote for a strong mayor/alderman system. It's a vote for an antiquated city commissioner form of government that will put city government into a state of chaos for years."
Up to three years of wasted opportunity to advance Decatur's biggest issues is the likely result of voting for a multi-step change from our Council/Manager form of government to a commissioner system, then to also change it again to a strong mayor system.
We can do more to advance Decatur, and our representation with the current Council/Manager form. If you are unhappy with local government in Decatur, it probably isn't the system that needs tweaked to suit you, it is more likely that the people who were elected need to be replaced to suit you. We have the opportunity to change half of the council members every 2 years with the present form of representation. We don't need professional politicians, we need professional management. If the Change Decatur folks dislike our manager so much, they should persuade the council members to do something about it, not throw out the baby with the bath water and revert to a form of government we abandoned 50 years ago.

If you would like to comment about this, feel free to do so. I would like to hear from both sides on the issue. If you think Change Decatur's goal is worthy, or best for Decatur, tell me why.

City Council Meeting

Council agenda
I recorded most of the City Council meeting tonight, but missed everything before the discussion of insurance.

I haven't finished watching it yet, but I have to note that it is some of the poorest quality video and audio on earth. Even if you don't look at the video, the audio has some major noise and interference issues at times too. Does the City provide the video feed to Cable, or does the Cable company shoot and air it? Anyone know? Someone, somewhere needs to fix it. Was this covered in the early discussions on the cable franchise agreements noted in the agenda?
I will finish watching what was recorded, and will post on it tomorrow.

Any comments about the meeting from someone who was there, or has already watched the live cable cast?

Keeping it local

Some good news for keeping local control of the city owned hotel.
from the Herald and Review
City to work with Horve on hotel management deal

and in other news, do you really want a nano in your pocket?...
from PCWorld
iPod Hot Pants in Atlanta Airport