Thank the Troops

Found a great website today. Lets all do this for the troops. It only takes a few seconds, and you actually get to do something good for the people that are keeping you safe.

http://www.letssaythanks.com/Home1280.html

Thanks to Nicole (one of my LSU friends!) for the link, and thank you to Xerox for the opportunity to send this thank you to the troops.

Free Whataburger!!!

Get free Whataburger food!  They will send a different coupon everyday from December 2, 2009 through December 24, 2009.  All you have to do is enter your e-mail address and zip code.

According to their website, the Baton Rouge locations are 6745 Seigen Ln (in front of Target), and 840 N. Airline Hwy in Gonzales.  There are also 2 in Lafayette (Ambassador in front of WalMart; University @ I-10), one in Bossier City, and 5 in Shreveport.

Thanks to mybrtmommy on Twitter for the link!

Enjoy!

http://www.whataburger.com/whataburger_serves/12_days_of_whataburger/

Chicago Transit CEO Hired to Tackle CATS

The Advocate is reporting today that Brian Williams, the former manager of the Chicago Transit Authority's  North District has been hired to run CATS, or the Capital Area Transit Authority.  The CATS Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to hire Williams.

This sounds like a good move for Baton Rouge.  For far too long, this city has been run as if it were some little backwoods town out in the middle of nowhere.  Thanks to our booming economy (relatively speaking) and a semi-recent situation involving our neighbor to the East, we have become the economic engine of the state of Louisiana.  We no longer have to luxury of sitting back and watching the world pass us by.  We ARE the world now, as far as Louisiana is concerned.

Williams has stated that his main priorities will be "securing dedicated funding for the bus system and increasing the number of riders."  This, along with increasing the number of bus routes, is crucial for any city.  Transportation is one of the key components that companies look at when deciding what city to move into, and infrastructure (of which transportation is a part) is one of the key components to anything that is done by a city.  Increased travel time decreases everything else.  Productive time at work is lost, time that should be spent with the family is spent sitting in traffic, and money that should be spent on vacations and home renovations are spent instead on gasoline and auto repairs.  More people in buses means less people on the road, and that mean less traffic.

The efficiency of buses will also allow us to have a more efficient workforce.  The more people that we can easily move around the city, the larger the pool of applicants employers have to choose from.  If I am hiring, I will pick the best person for the job, regardless of whether he drives or takes the bus.  But if the bus route is three miles away from my office, I will have to settle for the one that I know I will be able to depend on, which means that the bus route is not an option.

The only problem that I see is finding permanent funding.  A city the size of Baton Rouge is in a tough spot: We are big enough to have many expensive needs, but not big enough to pay for it all.  If we lived in Houston we would not have as much of a problem.  They are in the process of building a multi-billion dollar light rail system to supplement the other massive transportation systems.  But, they have the money. We cannot look to our larger neighbors and emulate them, as we must live within our means.  Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's transportation systems.  Bet you didn't know that was in the Bible!

This should be a good move for CATS.  Someone with this kind of expertise has the potential to be very good for our city.  Hopefully he will live up to his credentials.

A Balanced Budget Amendment

The body of today's post was originally posted onwww.biggovernment.com.   It makes great sense, and I highly recommend that you read it and take action.  We have probably gone too far to keep from falling over the edge, but a balanced budget is the best place to start getting our finances under control.

This is not Congress's money, it is ours.  We have had to cut back the budgets in our homes, and so now we must cut back the budget in our government.  It is not their money to spend.  It is ours, and we will no longer let the crooks in Washington blow through it like teenagers with Daddy's credit card!

I also wonder if this would be a good idea for Baton Rouge to look into.  Please read on.

A Balanced Budget Amendment…Before It’s Too Late!

by Timothy Mooney

This week, the US federal debt surpassed the $12 Trillion threshold.

Congress will vote in December to extend America’s indebtedness above $12,100,000,000,000, necessitated because our national debt grew last year by more than $1,400,000,000,000 and will grow this year by $1,400,000,000,000. According to the Obama White House estimates, the national debt will continue to grow by more than $1 trillion for the next nine years.  Except it won’t…because it can’t. There just isn’t $9 Trillion to borrow.

For years we’ve heard about the immorality of putting this debt on our grandkids. Forget the grandkids, our economy is at grave risk of collapse right now!

The dollar is in free-fall. The Ponzi scheme Congress calls Social Security is about to collapse. Foreigners are beginning to balk at loaning the US government more money. That grave economic turmoil our debt and deficit will cause in the future? It’s here now.

Beyond threatening our economic security, our national debt is imperiling our national independence. We now owe foreign entities $3.448 Trillion – 28.2% more than just 12 months ago!

Three of the five largest holders of US debt should cause you sleepless nights. We owe China the most, $797 billion  — 38.9% more than we did just 12 months ago. We owe Oil Exporting Countries $189.2 billion – 11.5% more than just 12 months ago. And we owe Caribbean Banking Centers (thought to hold billions in narco-terrorist money) $180.2 billion – 35.5% more than just 12 months ago. Japan and the United Kingdom round out the top five foreign debt holders, with our debt to the UK increasing an astonishing 173% in just the last 12 months.

Can we really expect China to increase its lending to the US by nearly 40% next year, and each of the next nine years? Even if it wanted to, the UK doesn’t have the cash to increase its lending to the US by another 173% next year.

Any one of these debt holders could put the US economy in collapse overnight by selling or even just threatening to sell off their US debt holdings.

We owe them…they own us! Clearly, our national independence is in grave risk.

The Federal government also owes Social Security and Medicare $4.5 Trillion. With the economic downturn, Social Security doled out more money than it took from employees’ paychecks for the first time this year. By 2016 – just seven years from now – according to the Social Security Trustees report, Social Security will move from surplus to permanent deficit as the baby boomers retire.

(That “lock-box” presidential candidates like to talk about has never existed. The Social Security ponzi scheme makes Bernie Madoff look like a wayward kid shoplifting a pack of gum.)

If we do not balance the budget by the time Social Security moves to permanent deficit in 2016, we almost assuredly will not without a cataclysmic economic crisis.

What’s the solution? A balanced budget constitutional amendment.

History has shown Congress simply won’t act responsibly unless the voters force them to balance the budget. With great voter pressure, Congress came within 1 Senate vote of passage of the balanced budget amendment in 1996 – and the Congress passed balanced budgets each of the next four years.

When support for the balanced budget amendment waned, Congress spent like crazy.

A balanced budget amendment is the only cure to a Congress unwilling to control spending. In fact, Germany passed the BBA just last year.

That’s why we launch this week DeficitFree.com – a national push for a Balanced Budget Amendment by July 4, 2013, and a balanced Federal budget by July 4, 2016. These would be the two best birthday gifts we could give our country!

Our first and immediate goal is to bring together 5 million Balanced Budget Amendment supporters by July 4, 2010, with a minimum of 5,000 from each Congressional district. You can join the movement atwww.DeficitFree.com. This non-partisan movement is being launched by some of America’s most successful grassroots activists – not Washington DC politicians.

We need 5 million voters to work together to ensure the Balanced Budget Amendment becomes the most prominent issue in the 2010 Congressional races and in the 2012 Presidential contest.

If we don’t, it won’t be our grandkids who will suffer the economic collapse of our country and our loss of national independence.

It will be us!

It Never Rains in Tiger Stadium

I wrote this awhile back as a mistake.  We had been to Tiger Stadium for a class assignment, and afterwards were told to write about the experience.  I didn’t know what I would write, so I just started putting my thoughts down on paper.  After writing it, I realized that it was not what I needed, but for some reason I just couldn’t get rid of it.  It has sat on my computer desk since the week of the Florida game, and after tonight’s heart breaking loss, I picked it again.  It made me feel better, and so I decided to share it with all of you.  It's too short and kinda corny, but I don't care.  This is how I feel.  Enjoy.

“It Never Rains in Tiger Stadium.”  I remember hearing that as a kid and not knowing what it meant.  As a child you take everything as the literal truth, even when you can see that there is no roof on Tiger Stadium.  Now, after almost 3 decades of screaming at the T.V., praying for a win, and yes, even getting rained on in Tiger Stadium, I know the meaning behind what those people were saying.  It has nothing to do with the weather, and everything to do with our beloved Tigers.  It means that no matter what, our Fightin’ Tigers will live up to their name, and we will continue to love them.  Sure, we will lose, we will even have losing seasons, but we will always fight our way back to the top, and Tiger Stadium will always be there as a concrete reminder.  This is the reason that other teams call it “Death Valley,” and this is the reason that we say “It Never Rains in Tiger Stadium.”

Corruption in Baton Rouge? I Never Would Have Guessed.

Well, it looks like the political corruption in Baton Rouge is not limited to the Capitol Building.  Seven people, including the mayor's sister, have been arrested on bribery charges (officially conspiracy in aid of racketeering) for taking money to fix traffic tickets and criminal matters at City Court and the 19th Judicial District Court.

The most high profile person indicted in this case is Evelyn Holden, who is the mayor's sister.  Mayor Holden's only statement was asking that we keep his family in our prayers as they go through these hard times.

If sentenced, Holden and the others could receive up to 5 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

Why does this not surprise me?  Why is it that corruption is such a normal part of politics in this state?  Its probably because we let it happen.  What happens to a child when you repeatedly threaten to spank them for doing something bad but then don't follow through?  They eventually learn that all you will do is complain.   There will be no real punishment, so what incentive do they to stop?  Politicians are the same way.  Sure, a few are actually there because they want to help people and make this a better place, but the majority are doing their job because of the power that it brings.  The people from this story had no real power, so they made it.  They realized that they could get money and power by doing these things, and so decided to say, "Damn the consequences, the rush is too great!"

The biggest problem that I see with all of this is that in reality this is a small crime and only a minor problem for the city of Baton Rouge.  If this was bigger the citizens here might do something about it, but since its not, we won't care.  We will chalk it up to life in Louisiana and go about our business as if nothing happened.  And that will be the biggest travesty of all.

I'm a Guest Blogger on My Own Blog!

I know that this is a blog about Baton Rouge and not religion, but I figured I would share it here, anyway.  Most people of BR are Christians, and to those who are not, I'm sorry, but I want to share this with everyone.


If you are interested, please check out my new blog (where this was originally posted) at:  http://moderatechristianrants.blogspot.com


_________________________________________________________


I am a Christian.  If you are reading this, you most likely are, as well.  But, have you ever stopped to wonder WHY you are a Christian?  Other than the fact that this is how you were raised?  And I know, you say it's because of being able to get into Heaven, Jesus died for our sins, etc., but have you ever REALLY thought about it?

The reason that I ask is because I have.  I have gone beyond the stories of the Bible and the lessons they try to teach us at church, and TRULY contemplated it.  I even went so far as to question the existence of God. And you now what I came up with?  A way to explain to people why you believe what you do, why you have faith in something/ someone that you can't see and that won't reveal himself.

This is the explanation that you SHOULD be giving to the people who question your faith:

There are only a few things about religion that we know for certain; that atheists, etc. will agree with us on.  The relevant ones for this post are that there either is or is not a God, and that there either is or is not a Heaven.  This leaves us with 4 options:

1.) We believe in God and there is a God
2.) We believe in God and there is no God
3.) We do not believe in God and there is no God
4.) We do not believe in God and there is a God

Option 1 (Believe; God) - this gets us into Heaven.  This outcome is GOOD.
Option 2 (Believe; no God)  - means that we do not go to Heaven, but also no Hell.  So while it is not good it is not bad either, so for this argument that equals GOOD.
Option 3 (No Belief; no God) - gives the same outcome as option 2.  Not good, but not bad, so technically GOOD.
Option 4 (No Belief; there is a God) - this sends you to Hell.  So obviously, the outcome here is BAD.

So, what does all of this mean?
This means that by believing in God you have a 100% chance of a good outcome.  (2 GOODS)
By not believing in God, you only have a 50% chance of a good outcome.  (1 GOOD, 1 BAD)

I don't know about you, but to me a sure thing is a sure thing.  If someone told you you had a 100% chance of meeting the person of your dreams tonight, don't you think you would go with them to the bar?  If someone promised you that you had a 100% chance of winning the lottery, would you forget to buy a ticket?  I sure wouldn't.

So next time that someone questions your faith, answer with this.  No one that asks those types of questions wants you to preach to them, and they might actually listen to you if you answer them with reason instead of sounding like a religious extremist (that is how they view all of us, not just the true nut-cases).

Wouldn't it be nice to know that you actually got through to someone?  Who knows, you might even convert a hardcore non-believer by using their own methods against them!

What We Are Doing Right in This Town

Well, the Bond Proposal didn’t pass.  Too bad.  Here is a list of things that Baton Rouge IS doing right.

1. Widening I-10 and I-12 to allow for future growth and traffic.
2. Numerous changes due to the Green Light Project
1. Widening Perkins
2. Adding turn lanes to the Perkins – Acadian/ Stanford intersection
3. Many others around town
3. Attracting many businesses to the area
1. Electronic Arts
2. Criterion Catalysts – Port Allen
3. many smaller businesses
4. many retail stores, restaurants
4. Infill projects – increased density means more bang for our infrastructure bucks
1. Rouzan
2. Perkins Rowe
5. Renovating/ fixing up run down parts of town
1. Mid City
2. Downtown
3. Old South Baton Rouge
4. Spanish Town
6. Slowly making it easier to ride a bike around town
7. Diversifying economy so that we are not dependant on an oil industry that will be all but gone in 20 years (thanks to “sustainable/ renewable energy”).
8. Building the movie industry in our town to the point that it will be self sustaining, and not dependant on Hollywood.
9. Baton Rouge is one of the few cities in the country with the capacity to recycle all 7 types of plastics (most can only recycle #1 and #2 – these are the numbers in the little triangle on the bottom of the Coke bottle).

This is not an exhaustive list, and there are many, many things that Baton Rouge needs to work on, but it’s a start.  We need to continue doing these while increasing the work done on the problem areas (crime and education, for starters). 

Please join in the quest to make Baton Rouge the city that it has the capability of being.  Don’t forget, just because it is what you are used to doesn’t mean that it is the best way.  As Tommy Boy’s father said, “You’re either growing or dying - there ain’t no third direction.”

Top Ten Reasons to Vote YES!

This list came from an e-mail that I received today from Progress Is.  It is a good list, and the only thing that I have to add is that if the "state's leading economist" thinks it will be profitable (see #7), then why should we believe people who know little about economics over him (I'm assuming they are talking about Elliot Stonecipher, but I'm not sure).

Top Ten Reasons To Vote YES!

1. Voting YES will help the city parish address public safety, drainage, economic development, and a riverfront development project. These have been neglected for decades and will not go away on November 15th if we do not vote YES.
2. Voting YES will synchronize traffic lights throughout the parish — a move that will save the average commuter $8.93 a month in gas costs going to and from work.
3. The plan will create 4,300 construction jobs and 24,000 permanent jobs. Without ALIVE and the economic development portion, construction jobs will go away and permanent jobs will be limited.
4. The proposition funds every major drainage project on the books, triggering an additional $137M in matching federal funds. YES means we will receive $137 million to assist in improving drainage.
5. The taxpayers of East Baton Rouge currently spend $3M every year to house our prisoners outside of EBR. The new prison will be built north of the landfill (freeing valuable property near the Baton Rouge Airport) and will house approximately 2200 prisoners with room to grow.
6. Baton Rouge's River Center currently ranks behind facilities in Shreveport, Biloxi, and Jackson. The expansion provided along with parking garages (both long studied by previous administrations) under the proposal will allow Baton Rouge to compete with cities more of its caliber!
7. Louisiana's leading economist estimates this proposition will have a $2.43 billion economic impact on East Baton Rouge in the next ten years
8. The ALIVE Riverfront project is an education venue that is expected to draw over 600,000 visitors to Baton Rouge and will contribute to keeping our local economy strong. The facility was programmed by world-class design firm THINC Design. For comparison, the Audubon Aquarium in New Orleans saw 864,000 visitors in the FIRST FOUR MONTHS
9. The taxes associated with this proposition (9.9 mil property tax 1/2 cent sales tax) will end by law when the bonds are paid off in an estimated 17 1/2 years, which will be 12 1/2 years early.
10. Voting YES will cost the average homeowner ONLY a QUARTER a day and will be the first major capital improvements program in 50 years. The time is now to stand up for infrastructure which has long been neglected and progress forward during a time when Baton Rouge has momentum.

Okay, I know that I have already posted about the Alive project and the Bond Proposal, but I feel very passionate about this topic.  Don't worry, you won't have to read anything else about it after this weekend!  Well, maybe after when I celebrate or bitch and complain.  But that should be it.

The funniest part of all is that I am a member of Progress Is AS WELL AS the B.R. Tea Party!  Kinda funny, don't ya think?  I agree with B.R. Tea Party on alot of issues, but not the Bond Proposal.

And please, get involved.  Regardless of which way you feel about the Bond Proposal, please vote!  Join the Tea Party, Progress Is, Forum 35, or any other group you want.  Just get involved in making our city the Next Great American City!

Okay, I will get off of my soap box now!

Development Projects in Baton Rouge as of 11/10/09

I went to a meeting tonight about the bond proposal that was put on by Mike Futrell and Progress Is. One of the main topics was all of the development that is currently happening in Baton Rouge.  These are the projects that I could remember from the meeting and think of right off the top of my head.  If you can think of more, please let me know.  I will add these, plus any others that I think of or see at a later date.

1. Bond Proposal (assuming it passes) -
1. Alive
2. River Center expansion
3. 4 new hotels
4. prison
5. parking garages
6. anything else that I am forgetting right now 
2. Celtic Media - more stages for movies, commercials, etc
3. the condominium development on the riverfront that I cannot remember the name of (next to Hollywood Casino)
4. expansion at Pennington Biomedical Research Center
5. Electronic Arts - building a development facility on LSU campus
6. Old South Baton Rouge - lots of development associated with LSU (mostly housing, I think)
7. Projects around LSU campus:
1. Student Union
2. Rec Center (fixing damage from Gustav)

Okay, its getting really late, so I will quit here.  Again, please leave a comment if you know of any other projects that are not listed here.

Should I Feel Guilty? No, I Don't Think So.

I have a confession to make.  I have voted for the bond proposal.  I have voted for an increase in taxes.  And I plan to vote for it again this year.  Now, I know that this makes me a hypocrite to some, as I have always said that I am for lower taxes and smaller government, but I just couldn’t help it.  Baton Rouge is stuck in the last century, and I hate it.  The education levels in our city (state, as well) are abysmal regardless of what the local school board tries to say, our entire economy revolves around dirty industry and government (from bad to worse!), and our citizens are afraid of the future.  

The reason that I will vote “Yes” for the bond proposal is economic development.  This project has the potential to attract many, many businesses that would otherwise have never looked at Baton Rouge. Companies are looking for numerous things when deciding where to open their next facility, among them being tax advantages, a skilled workforce, an educated population, and quality of life.  

The Alive project will help us to meet 3 of the 4 things listed above (even my eternally optimistic mind couldn’t get “skilled workforce” out of this!).  It will offer tax advantages in the fact that an increased tax base means that we have more money, so we don’t need to tax the s*@t out of the company looking to move here.  The increased tax base of course comes from all of the other companies that also move into B.R.  When you add them all together, you get lots of extra taxes without having to add too much to our infrastructure/ expenditures (assuming they actually do move into already built-up areas, e.g. downtown).

An educated population will result from the fact that B.R. now has more ways for our population to be educated.  Education ratings do not only include how many people have graduated high school and college, but also how many post-school options are available in the area.  These include museums, libraries, etc.  

The quality of life will be increased by providing more things for families to do.  Sure, we have things to do downtown, but it is almost exclusively for adults.  Bars and casinos are great, but it would be hard to convince our new citizens to leave their kids sitting outside of the casino from 11pm to 1am while they go and gamble.

Other cities are doing all of these things to attract businesses, and if we do not do them, we will be left behind.  Many cities along the Mississippi River are rebuilding their riverfronts, and it has benefited them greatly.  St Louis is a great example, even with the crime there. Even Vidalia, LA has seen a huge influx of businesses because of their city funded economic development.  Don’t believe me?  Take the hour and a half drive up Hwy 61 to Natchez and look around.  They have done nothing, and the city is falling apart at the seams.  They have had their heads stuck in the sand for years, and have gone from a population of almost 40,000 to around 15,000 over the last 25 years.  Vidalia, on the other hand, is doing great.  Almost all of the new development in the area is going on in this tiny little town of 4,000 across the river in Louisiana.

And I do agree with the people who say that we need to get a private company to build this.  The only problem is that all of the companies with access to this kind of cash are in large cities.  Think about it like this.  Stock brokers go after the rich because they have money.  Why would they want to help you, me, and the other 200 families that live in our neighborhood when they can get 1 guy with as much money as all of us put together?  Companies do the same with cities.  The money is in Houston and Dallas and Phoenix, so why mess with little old Baton Rouge?  Lafayette got electricity 10 years earlier than anyone else in the region because they built their own electric company.  All of the large companies with the capital to do this were investing in the larger cities, and now, 100 years later, Lafayette is one of the bigger, better cities in the state because they had the foresight to take a risk.

Come on Baton Rouge.  Stop being afraid of change and stop driving the young people from this city.  Vote “Yes” for the bond proposal, and vote "Yes" for our future.

Welcom to BatonRougeLouisiana.blogspot.com!!!

Welcome!

This blog is dedicated to common sense, which seems to be lacking in Baton Rouge (and Louisiana in general......).  I will not pretend to be an expert on any of the topics covered, but I will pretend to know what I am talking about! 

I consider myself a conservative libertarian, so if this is not your thing, you are in the wrong place.  You don't want me telling you how to live, and I don't want you telling me how to live, so why bother trying?  That is the basis of libertarianism - do whatever you want, as long as it doesn't impede on the rights of others.  Disclaimer: I am not a member of the Libertarian Party.  I am a libertarian in the way that we are all republicans because we live in a republic.  The word does not automatically denote the party.

Most people think of crazy nut-case anarchists when they hear the word "libertarian."  Well, I might be crazy, but I am definitely not an anarchist, and you will not find anything along those lines here.  As I said earlier, this blog is about common sense.  Example:  If a new tax makes sense, I will support it.  No, most do not make sense, but I am leaving this open, just in case.  More importantly, if spending money in a certain way makes sense, I will support that.  If the city spends $1 and makes $3, that makes sense.  Many in this city will be against it simply because they do not like change.  Kinda counter-intuitive, if you ask me.

In case you are wondering where I am going with all of this:

1. Baton Rougeans (?) need to stop trying to tell others how they are supposed to live
2. We need to use common sense, not emotions, when we make decisions about our city
3. We need to stop listening to the idiot at the water cooler who has no idea what he is talking about, and start truly studying the issues

I do not claim to be the voice of all of Baton Rouge, and I will not tell you to listen only to me.  In fact, I WANT you to get all sides.  This will help you to make an informed decision.  You need to read the newspaper, read the BR Business Report, watch local news, etc.  All of these will give you a different story, and this will help you to be informed.

Please use this blog as a place to discuss local issues.  A good, civilized debate is one of the best ways to become informed, so please, by all means, use this space to do so.  Don't forget to bookmark this site so that you can come back often and argue!!!

Disclaimer #2: I will probably include many things about LSU, as I have recently returned to school after an almost decade-long hiatus.

Again, welcome to the blog, and thank you for reading!