Author Archives: Editor

Crime Commission Wants Less Gambling

Posted on August 18, 2009 | Leave a comment

By Roger Greer

Illinois lawmakers have legalized 66,000 video-gambling machines, but none of them will be placed in DuPage County.

When the Legislature started looking at the expansion, the Chicago Crime Commission warned the DuPage County Board that the long-term, negative societal costs of video gambling would far outweigh any financial benefits.

Anita Bedell, executive director of Illinois Church Action on Alcohol and Addiction Problems, said the board took the commission at its word.

“Video gambling sends a wrong message,” she said. “We’re encouraged that DuPage County was the first, and we hope other counties and communities will follow suit.”

Other counties have taken notice. A similar proposal is expected next month by a coalition of Cook County board members. The Will County Board will soon consider similar action. And Kane County officials just decided to form a task force to investigate the impacts of video-gambling machines.

“People are considering the effects of gambling, the impact on their communities,” Bedell said. “And they can say ‘No’.”

Read >United Methodists Battle Gambling in Ohio to learn about some of the problems caused by gambling Ohio.

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Posted in economy, Ohio

Ohio officials reject vote on slots for 2010

Posted on August 18, 2009 | Leave a comment

Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner’s office rejected a petition with more than 3,000 signatures that attempted to place Gov. Ted Strickland’s plan for video slot machines on the 2010 ballot. According to the finalized state budget agreement the governor is expected to issue an executive order to authorize the video slot machines at Ohio racetracks. The plan includes a total of 2,500 video slot machines at 7 race tracks. However, the plan which was added to the state budget is exempted from the referendum process. The final state budget was signed July 17, 2009.

On July 20, the group LetOhioVote.org filed a lawsuit in the Ohio Supreme Court in an effort to block the slots plan from going into effect. “There is an argument to be made, and the Supreme Court will evaluate whether or not this is subject to a referendum,” said Carlo LoParo, spokesperson for the group.

Ballot initiatives for gambling were turned down in 1990, 1996, 2006 and in 2008.

In all of our politicians efforts to use vice to pay for government, this blogger sees a potential pro-citizen plan that would save taxpayers billions of dollars. Let Gov. Strickland, the high court, and the legislators pay ALL state government expenditures gambling dollars. Seeing that Ohio officials defy the will of Ohio citizens concerning gambling, then all citizen taxpayers and voters should not have to pay any taxes. See that Ohio public officials produce services for themselves and their special interests and not the voting public, let them do it all without the tax dollars of Ohio citizens.

Of course those citizens who like the ideas of their corrupt politicians could always donate their money.

Source: Ballotpedia

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Posted in economy, news, Ohio, politics, taxes

Genesis One Literally Speaking

Posted on August 15, 2009 | 1 comment

The first chapter of Genesis has been a source of religious and scientific disagreement for centuries. In the 20th Century, Darwinian evolution became a foundational dogma of both secularism and science. Because it lends its weighty influence to atheism, many regarded Darwinian evolution as being antagonistic to the faith.

According to faithful adherents, Darwinian evolution is undeniable scientific fact, but a number of its key doctrines such as natural selection have been questioned with much skepticism by hundreds biologists, geneticists, chemists, evolutionists, and other scientists.

The most recent public contention has been between establishment Darwinists and intelligent design (ID) scientists. Darwinists call IDers names like religious fanatic, evangelists, and other words not worthy of mention. Yet, most leading IDers are either educated practitioners in scientific fields or science educators. IDers infer an intelligent designer from both their own scientific research (that apologists of Darwinism claim don’t exist) and from the research of other scientists. Darwinists see the inference as a religious threat to evolution science and many of them oppose ID based on their atheistic views.

Earlier in the 20th Century, the debate was between Creation science and Darwinian evolution. Today, many leaders in the scientific community regard ID as a renewed form of Creation Science, which means scientific findings biblically interpreted.

One of the hotly contested interpretations has been a literal seven day creation of the heavens and/or earth. It has been contested because the results of scientific dating techniques refute its claim. Carbon dating show the earth is billions of years old. Yet, evidence also exist that shows humans lived contemporaneously with dinosaurs–an evolutionary impossibility. There even exists a fossilized human sandal embedded in pre-dinosaur sediment, which raises a legitimate but unanswered question as to whether carbon dating is correct or whether human have been around throughout most of earth history.

If the Hebrew word for day in Genesis 1 is literally interpret as a 24 hour period, then Genesis 2 presents a terrible problem. In that chapter, the universe was created in one day. Overcoming this dilemma is not that difficult because the text also says that on the 7th day God rested. It is logical to infer that here is a summary reference to chapter one.

Nevertheless, literalists are not out of the deep waters. For covering the scriptures are the waves made by the prophets who said that a day (24 hrs.) is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as one day to God. Punching a few more holes in the literal boat are scientific scholars like Gerald Schroeder who claim that time being relative as proven by Einstein allows for a day being thousands if not billions of years, while at the same time, being merely 24 hours viewed from an earthly perspective. Schroeder is a proponent of the Big Bang theory of the origins of the universe.

The Big Bang theory lends itself to a triune God creating the universe out of nothing as explained by mathematical physicists Frank Tipler as well as to an evolutionary view such as quantum physicist David Bohm’s Implicate and Explicate Order.

A more important question concerning the Creation account than whether God created it in 7 days, 7 millenniums or 7 other periods is how and what did God create? Yet, science specializes in answering how questions. The author of Genesis only informs us that God made the power of His information the source of the Creation. Oddly enough, Bohm also believes that information guiding energy is the source of all matter and life in the universe.

Genesis gives us some additional clues as to how God created. One of those clues is the absence of any mention of God making or creating plant life. God’s involvement is mentioned in all other aspects of creation except plant life. The clue suggests self-organization and replication. Bohm’s theory is particularly useful on the third day.

Not only did plant come forth out of the ground on the third day but so did Jesus of Nazareth. His roots may have been earthly but his destiny extended to the heavens, which leads us to another clue.

In verse one, God began creating the heavens and the earth. A careful reading of the rest of Genesis reveals a clear distinction between heavens and heaven. This distinction refers to all planets, suns and stars beyond the living environment of the earth and its heaven–the airy atmosphere and its upper canopy of water–that God created on the second day.

On each day, God intervenes to form each part of our living environment and each group of species except for plants and humans. That’s right; humans are not a completely separate and distinct specie in the Genesis account. That is inferred by the lack of a new division, either a new day or a distinct body type from those animals of the earth. The uniqueness of humans is their likeness to God. It is true the human body has unique features enabling humans to reflect the nature of God or its opposite. Nonetheless, humans continue to bear a resemblance to other mammals that were also created on the sixth day.

The answer to the question about what God created would not be complete–if it can ever be completely answered–without the following observation:

The first chapter of Genesis is not primarily about God creating the universe; that is limited to the first verse. The focus of Genesis 1 is about God creating a planet capable of sustaining all forms of life. Most importantly, the one eternal creature that God created from the dust–whether by modifying a prior specie or by a special creation–is the only creature that resembles the Creator. The human body resembles the form of God as revealed to Moses, the elders of Israel, the prophets, the apostles as well as by the only perfect human representation–the only begotten son of God, Jesus Messiah. Most importantly, humans resemble the moral, intelligent, aesthetic, and creative being of God.

Literally, Genesis 1 (and 2) is the goal to which the history of corrupted humanity and the history God’s redemption of we humans is destined to attain. The end time is not a bleak account of God’s arbitrary cruelty but rather a judicial account of the final achievement of history’s goal for those who choose the path of God’s redemptive justice. That is also the meaning of chapter 21 of Revelation.

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Rehabilitation of our city streets

Posted on August 14, 2009 | Leave a comment

The city placed the following announcement of the front page of its website:

The Engineering Department has announced plans for the City’s annual street rehabilitation program. The Xenia City Council awarded a contract to Strawser Construction Inc. of Columbus, Ohio to rehabilitate four (4) deteriorated streets. The four streets include June Drive (Tackett Dr. to W. Second St.), Rockwell Drive (Cato Dr. to Kylemore Dr.), Kylemore Drive (June Dr. to Massie Dr.) and Wimbledon Drive (Bellbrook Ave. to Commonwealth Dr.). Work is scheduled to begin during the week of August 10, 2009 and expected to last through September 2009.

It is wonderful that some of our neighborhood streets are going to receive some tender loving care.

I’m wondering, however, if it is the streets that need rehabilitation. Is the troubled economy giving our streets rather than city officials or laid off taxpayers the need for some rehabilitation? I’m not sure it is our streets that are capable of straying from the moral path of lawful behavior. Can pavement commit crimes? Do thoroughfares become delinquent? Do street attempt to get our money based of bogus arguments?

God help the employees of the Strawer Construction company if our streets decide to assault them for violating their privacy or profiting from their pain. After all, up and down our street there are those who are not making enough even to pay for Simon Kenton’s underground troubles.

Maybe Simon Kenton troubles it’s really just passing gas. It could be just a lot of hot air trapped below. I think I heard some complaining of a foul odor. At least our streets are not having that kind of problem that needs rehabilitated.

Can paying taxes be rehabilitated?

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Posted in economy, news, politics, taxes, Xenia

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Maintaining the Status Quo in Education

Posted on August 13, 2009 | Leave a comment

By David W. Kirkpatrick

Potential sources of reforming public education are the institutions of higher education. After all, virtually all of the professionals in the K-12 system are products of higher education, from at least four years for a bachelor’s degree to qualify as a teacher to years more for advanced degrees and for the innumerable specialty degrees.

Yet higher education has not only not helped improve basic education, it has been a major roadblock.

More than a generation ago Martin Haberman in an article entitled “Twenty-Three Reasons Universities Can’t Educate Teachers” wrote, “[T]here isn’t a single example of school change university faculty have researched and advocated that is now accepted practice…Any status survey will reveal that the proverbial-third grade in Peoria grinds on pretty much as it did in 1910.”

True then. True now. And it is probably safe to predict that it will be true tomorrow.

This has had at least the acquiescence of teacher unions, if not their outright approval, or they would try to change it.

Proof that unions are a major obstacle to reform, if proof is needed, came in Colorado when a series of reforms were introduced in the state legislature. These included alternative teacher certification, a pilot voucher program, privatization, special contracts and merit pay.

It would be unrealistic to expect a teacher union to endorse such a wide-ranging program. And the state education association did not do so. As might have been anticipated, it termed them “so-called” reforms and announced that it would oppose every one of them.

In Florida the teacher union opposed both master teacher and merit plans, showing its unanimity with other teacher unions across the nation to this day.

In California, teachers were pressured to not sign charter school petitions and to harass those who might circulate or try to sign such petitions. School districts willing to grant charters even faced lawsuits.

In New Jersey, home of one of the strongest state education associations in the nation, that union not only opposed any steps toward privatization but warned its members to look out for such dangerous moves as site-based management, allowing two teachers to work together in the same classroom, and even proposals to provide teachers with computers or telephones.

John I. Goodlad has written that “both the NEA and AFT…support the strange notion that children need two adults at home but can stand only one at a time in a school.”

It would be difficult to act much dumber than that. Teachers in their self-contaminated classrooms are the only professionals who consistently work in such isolation. Increasingly, here and there, some teachers have come to recognize that this is not necessarily “the way it’s spozed to be,’as demonstrated by the fact that such classroom technology has not only gradually been introduced here and there since then but has often occurred not only with teacher acceptance but following their active encouragement.

Ironically, the more pressure is exerted on the system to change, and the more the unions are criticized, the more teachers take such criticism personally – a tendency the unions are happy to exploit.”

As long as 35 years ago, In What’s Best For the Children, Mario Fantini observed:

“(R)ank-and-file teachers, afraid of the external forces that are converging on them, turn increasingly to their professional organizations for protection. In return for this protection, the teachers give up their individually and their authority. This is delegated to a small group who will wage the protective war. All the rank and file need to do is to cooperate, to follow faithfully the suggestions of the central leadership group.

“That is still true today, except fewer people speak of teacher groups as “professional organizations.”

It can also be argued that the constant attacks on unions have actually strengthened them by frightening the teachers. The answer is to make unions unnecessary by implementing teacher independence and choice, which is why most charter schools and private schools are not organized, and why the unions oppose such teacher freedom.

Although, sadly, most schools of choice are not overly innovative either.

Source: The Buckeye Institute Viewpoint, August 10, 2009.

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Total control of our lives

Posted on August 12, 2009 | Leave a comment

By Rense Johnson, Chairman of Citizens for Term Limits

The Obama Health plan isn’t just about health. It is a cover for grabbing total control of our lives.

I have heard that health care is estimated to comprise about a sixth of our economy.

HR 3200, the Obama plan, was reviewed by Liberty Council, a nationwide public interest religious civil liberties law firm.

Reading the bill (see our Links pagehttp://www.liberty.edu/media/9980/attachments/healthcare_overview_obama_072909.pdf) reveals a power grab by Obama and the government elitists attempting to gain TOTAL CONTROL over our lives.

Meaning personal, family, financial, banking, spying, abortion, speeding up end-of-life.

Rather than attempting to list the ways in which Obama would assert such total control (they are legion), I will state it in the negative: I defy anyone to find in HR 3200 one iota of freedom, one iota of daylight, for American people. There are none.

We should be grateful for the 52 so-called “blue dog” Democrats, the conservatives in the Democratic House of Representatives. It is a reflection of Democrat rot in the House that there aren’t twice that number willing to stand up for conservative values. Makes Republicans look better than they actually are, by a long shot.

The only answer? A term-limited congress, House and Senate, that will serve the people as the Founders intended and not their own selfish interests – including Obamacare and all its elitist supporters.

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Harp Huggers Hug Their Last On Cloud Nine

Posted on August 9, 2009 | Leave a comment

Many people still believe heaven will be like an eternal yoga on cloud nine. That is for those who find peace and relaxation through meditation. Western tradition pictures heaven as reclining on a white fluffy cloud enjoying eternal serenity while hugging a golden harp. While hugging one’s golden harp, people believe that by strumming a lively golden strings to the divine rhythm of heaven they will experience greater joy. All of this bliss is magnified by the soothing radiance of heavenly light.

Yes, it is a boring vision of man as an island–a western view of autonomous man in heaven. Autonomous man is left alone in peace by everyone, even God, to enjoy eternal life without government interference. It is an egalitarian vision because everyone that is worthy of heaven gets to enjoy their own rest and relaxation to the same everlasting degree as every other person on their own cloudy oasis. What could be more fair that that?

I have bad news for all those harp huggers. It ain’t so. Sorry to have to burst another bubble–the current economic one is depressing enough; but turning a blind eye to a false vision would be a great disservice. Exposing the false hopes, false dreams, or blinding darkness–however bright with hope may seem–is supposed to be the duty of writers.

The puffy idea that people who do more good than harm are worthy of own their own cloud doesn’t hold water. The whole concept is merely evaporated hope based on a false premise of justice and fairness. As the gospels teach us, do-gooders are no more worthy of heaven than the scum of the earth. Why? One sin is counted as a bad as all sins. Because we all have or will sin, the stain on our do-goodism can not be removed–no even with White Cloud. The only detergent capable of removing that stain, the shame, or the statutory claim against our moral wrongs is the sinless blood of a lamb or rather of the sinless son of God, Jesus of Nazareth.

That’s the gist of the gospel preached by Pastor Jon.

Can preachers like Jon and their gospel be wrong? It is claimed that they are. It is claimed that there are many ways to heaven whatever it really is. It is claimed that the exclusiveness of the gospels is dead wrong, but is it?

If humans are made in the image of God (Gen 1:26), a collective of humans in society is likely to reflect divine justice as least a little. That being the case, do we humans merely forgive breakers of our great moral laws because we are all really nice guys whose love surpasses the need to protect others in society from breakers of those law? Actually, our system of justice forgives no one for doing more good than the last crime committed that has gone unpunished. Of course, I must give credit to the many secularists who have worked very hard to change our inherent sense of justice, but it stubbornly persists as does the persistence of moral evils performed by once upon a time do-gooders. We human do take into account past good behavior or good citizenship in the process of punishing the guilty, which is usually expressed by leniency. Nevertheless, neither God nor we humans forgive do-good lawbreakers until after they have been duly punished–if then.

The problem is God’s only punishment for sin is death. The soul that sins it shall die, declared the priestly prophet Ezekiel. The wages of sin is death, said the Apostle Paul. Because it is, only death can fully satisfy the demand of divine justice. Thus, the only cloud of serenity humans earn by greater good works than bad is a dark cloud of pending judgment. That is except for the fact that God initiated and accepted the willing sacrifice of sinless living souls on behalf of us guilty humans. (Gen 3:21; 4:4; 8:20-21, etc.) Sacrificed animals, however, are not sufficient to satisfy divine justice fully for one important reason: they are not culpable for sin. Only human commit moral crimes against God’s laws. Only the sacrificial death of a willing and sinless human could possibly satisfy divine justice fully, and only God would be qualified to offer such a sacrifice. The gospel of Jesus, his apostles’ epistles, and the testimonies of those who constitute the Church claim that Jesus is that effectual sacrifice we all need,and the evidence is their moral and God-honoring lifestyle.

Thus, the Jesus-oriented lifestyle is the only one that can lead to heaven.

Jesus freaks are weird dudes because they have given up the Western and Eastern illusions of heaven as either a cloudy bliss of liberalism or an antinomian* free ride to heaven’s gate as the Hale-Bopp comet followers proved. Even if the Boppers made it to the gate, they were likely turned away because they had failed to get the right entry tickets. Jesus freaks, on the other hand, live for the day when they will live in a renewed heaven and earth where God evidently dwells among them. Heaven will be like the new beginning that came at the end of the movie Knowing–only better. For some it will be even better than being able to eat of the fruit of the tree of life again. It will be a techie heaven where humans will continue to invent new technologies, according Pastor Jon. I must note here that Pastor Jon used to work for the computer technology giant IBM. In this heaven, we humans will also continue to enjoy music, singing, worshipping God, exploring and learning, eating good food while discussing with friends and loved ones whatever comes to mind, and other things God created us to do. There will be a great new heath care reform plan too. HMOs, Medicare/Medicaid, doctors, drug companies, their lobbyists, and legislative supporters will no longer exist. In this heaven, no pain will be regarded as great gain. Broken bones due to sports injuries or other forms of play will a thing of the past, and so will wild animals eating or otherwise harming us humans. There will be no weight loss programs or the pain of failure. Who knows, a five-day a week job in which we do work totally unrelated to our training or goals may be no more as well.

Yet, the reality of heaven is hell. At the present, we live between heaven and hell. Some of us experience as much of hell as we ever will. Others, however, experience as much of heaven on earth as they ever will, said Pastor Jon. Destiny is a choice given by God. What one chooses is the only fate there is. Eternal life in heaven or hell is the final consequence of our earthly choices. This is a fact backed by the testimonies of many who have died and who came back to life to share with doctors, researches, and us ordinary folk what they experienced on the other side. You may have heard of Don Piper who has discussed his ninety minutes in heaven publicly and who has been written down in a book by the same title. It is worth reading, and so is choosing to follow Jesus to heaven.

Those who will not be there include the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, immoral persons, sorcerers, isolators, and all liars. (Rev. 21:8) I wonder how many people in modern business, sales, education, media, politics, or mainstream religion will make it above the cloudy illusions of success, influence or wealth to heaven?

* Antinomian is the rejection of all moral law and human accountability for it. Those who hold this view are of the illusion that Christ as the end of the law for salvation means grace is the end of all accountability to moral law rather than the means to fulfilling it. As such, grace is the equivalent of lawlessness.

Paraphrased quotes of Senior Pastor Jon Young came from this my own less than perfect memory of his Sunday morning sermon at Dayton Avenue Baptist Church on August 9, 2009

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Ohioans challenging Gov. Strickland’s Slot Machine Gambling to Ohio Supreme Court

Posted on August 7, 2009 | Leave a comment

On Friday July 23, LetOhioVote.Org filed a Writ of Mandamus with the Ohio Supreme Court directly challenging Governor Ted Strickland’s plan to place up to 17,500 video slot machines at Ohio horse race tracks without a vote of the people.

In the writ, LetOhioVote.Org committee members Tom Brinkman, Gene Pierce and David Hansen asked the Ohio Supreme Court to uphold the right of referendum on this issue. Further, the committee seeks the Court’s affirmation of the peoples’ constitutional right to vote on the video slot machine scheme. If the committee’s effort succeeds, the issue will be placed before voters in November 2010, and the slot machine rollout will be halted pending that vote.

“In 2006, nearly 57 percent of Ohioans opposed placing video slot machines at horse race tracks,” Pierce said. “If Governor Strickland and legislative leaders believe their plan is better than the one the voters already rejected, they ought to make their case directly to the people. Simply ignoring a public vote should not be an option.”

“The governor and legislative leaders should have the courage to place this issue before the voters,” former state representative Brinkman said. “They didn’t have the nerve to cut government, but they freely violate the expressed will of the people? Well, we say ‘not so fast.'” Brinkman is the co-founder of COAST, a Cincinnati-based taxpayer advocacy group.

“Placing video slot machines at struggling race tracks is nothing more than giving wealthy track owners a huge government bailout,” Hansen added. “It’s the same old story; they can’t make their business profitable so they turn to government. Any way you look at it, it’s bad economics and bad government.”

In 2007, Governor Strickland said, “The people of Ohio have spoken with a clear voice on this issue time and time again. They do not want an expansion of gambling in their state.” “The people deserve another opportunity to speak with a clear voice on this issue,” Pierce concluded.

Joining the fight against Strickland’s violation of Ohioans constitutional rights was Buckeye Institute’s 1851 Center for Constitutional Law. The 1851 Center filed an amicus brief on behalf of Ohio Citizen Action, Citizens in Charge and the Ohio Freedom Alliance. The brief urges the court to find language in the state budget excluding the authorization of video slot machines from referendum unconstitutional.

“The referendum process outlined in the Ohio Constitution is sacrosanct and must be tread upon lightly,” said Maurice Thompson, director of the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law. “Ironically, in seeking to arbitrarily and unconstitutionally deprive the people of Ohio of their right to Referendum, the General Assembly accentuates the very reason why Initiative and Referendum are so vital to Ohio’s governance.”

The brief points out that the right to referendum was added by amendment to the Ohio Constitution in 1912 to “serve as a check on the General Assembly by permitting laws, or parts of laws passed is that body to be submitted to voters for their approval or rejection.” In addition the brief cites that the Ohio Supreme Court has, on multiple occasions, upheld the right to a referendum as a staple of democracy in Ohio and should do so again on this issue.

Commentary: In 2006, slot machines gambling (Keno) was voted down by Ohio voters. It was called the Learn and Earn Initiative (Issue 3). Ohioans did learn how much rich track and bar owners would gain and how little school children would gain if passed. Moreover, Ohioans learned that shyster politicians, race track and bars owners were attempting make profits their Constitutionally guaranteed right. Those were reasons Ohio voters said NO to the Keno gambling initiative, a second step to justifying casino gambling. (The first step was allowing the lottery.)

The real issue then is not whether voters have a right of referendum, but a right to have their vote actually count. Ohio citizens made a valid constitutional decision about slot machine gambling at race tracks and other establishments. The decision was NO. No contingency exists–like the State budget deficit–that can negate the common consent of Ohio voters.

The issue created by Gov. Strickland and his legislative supporters amounts to the worse kind of political misbehavior. For they blatantly violate the rights Ohio citizens, oppose their Constitutional powers, and thumb their noses at the will of Ohioans. I do not see any other way to stop politicians of their ilk other than a swift and permanent removal from public office.

In the private sector, it is called being fired.

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Posted in economy, Ohio, politics, schools

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Xenians working for murals

Posted on August 6, 2009 | Leave a comment

Starting from a small informal interest group in late 2007, the Xenia Mural Society soon became a component of the non-profit Greene County Community Foundation (Greene Giving). They have gathered ideas, information, and opinions about murals in other cities and found that tastefully done murals are seen as a very positive addition to a community. They have set as their goal the creation of a significant number of murals in Xenia over time.

The XMS is now moving forward cautiously with the preliminary goal of facilitating the creation of one mural for Xenia in 2010. The theme for the first mural will be “Trails,” a very broad concept which will encompass many of the historical factors which make Xenia unique: Railroads, Bike Trails, even early buffalo trails. They have chosen four very nice designs and will be getting full color renderings by mid-August and choosing a winning design in time for Xenia’s Old Fashioned Days in late September. Enthusiasm for the mural project is growing in Xenia.

Several building owners are interested in hosting the first mural. Sadly, they do not have funds to independently finance a large mural. You may go online to their website: www.XeniaMurals.org to get an idea of how a first mural may look.

With support of grants from the Ohio Arts Council and Greene Giving, the Xenia Mural Society has been able to organize and to secure the final design winner’s prize. “We are convinced that this is a worthwhile project that will improve our city for many years to come, says spokesperson Alan King.

Below is one a colorful mural by of the finalists, Olivia Anderson.

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Xenia City “No New Taxes” Levy Passes … Ha! Ha!

Posted on August 4, 2009 | 1 comment

While discussing the levy yesterday, a fellow Xenian informed me that the operating levy was originally supposed to be temporary. You know he was 100 percent correct. The temporary operating levy lasted 5 years; and, like Arby’s 5-for-$5 deal, Xenia voters renewed the temporary levy for another five.

The 490,000 dollar question is this: Does the definition for temporary in tax levy terminology every mean permanently ended–as in no more? The traditional answer seems to be not on your life. In tax jargon, a temporary tax is synonymous for a permanent tradition. The federal goverment’s temporary wartime welfare program, Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA and now “No Child Left Behind”), and similar tax and spend programs are prime examples of permanently temporary tax programs. it was one of of those life-long career goals of politicians like Senator Edward Kennedy.

Anyway, as reported by Greene County Board of Election, 72 percent of Xenia voters said YES to a renewal of the city’s operating levy and 23 percent said NO way.

My vote counted for 5/100 of a percent, which means almost nothing.
The real troubling statistics is that only 7.4 percent of voters showed up at the polls. Out of 28,349 registered voters, only 2,103 voted. It is no wonder why the proponents of the levy–city and school employees and dummies like me–won by such a huge margin. Maybe, the other 92.6 thought it was not worth risking the possibility of being drowned or struck by lightening or some similar hazard. Or, maybe their fear or lackadaisical outlook was really just a silent way of supporting the levy. Some might even in a nose thumbing kind of way have been exclaiming who cares!

Well, I care because the good news for me is that the crappy turn out increased the political significance of my vote. Instead of my vote being of only 5/100 percent relevance, it rose to a statically significant 67/100 of a percent.

As you can see, my political ego has been boosted to a level of almost being significant in the bigger off-season special election scheme of things. But, at least, it was good for a few laughs…well, maybe, but you should have been there.

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Posted in city services, economy, news, politics, taxes, Xenia