Once upon a time in this country, people were admired for standing up for their convictions. But those days are coming to an end. Instead, it appears that such behavior in writing, in politics and indeed in life is ridiculed more often than it is commended.
I have noticed this tendency both in the short time that I have been writing and commenting in the blogosphere, and more recently here in the editorial section of Toledo Free Press. No matter which side of the argument you’re on, it seems that there is always someone on the other who is unwilling to honestly debate the issue, but perfectly willing to attack the person putting forth the argument from the shadows.
In this, Toledo Free Press bridges the two worlds of the traditional newspaper and of blogging. All of its columns, including those of Editor In Chief Michael S. Miller and Publisher Tom Pounds, are printed under the name of the columnist (unlike other publications, which shall remain nameless).
Like other newspapers, TFP also prints all letters to the editor with the names of the writers. Where its columns are posted online, however, it chooses to take its form more from the blogging world; allowing those who wish to assume a mask of anonymity with clever (or in some cases, not so clever) screen names to hide their true identity.
There are justifiable reasons for such behavior in some cases, as employees (especially those of the city or state) may need to protect themselves from potential repercussions from their employers, while sharing their potentially invaluable insight on an issue.
Some of our Founding Fathers found concealed their identities when getting their views aired in the authorship of The Federalist Papers.
Of course with most of the writings of our Founding Fathers, the risks included the threat of arrest and imprisonment, confiscation of goods and property and even their lives, which might have given them good reason to choose such a course. Little jeopardy appears evident except what will naturally occur from showing a modicum of civil behavior or perhaps a backbone.
Honest debate has long been the cornerstone of free speech in this country, and as such should be encouraged and celebrated in all forms of media. The particular nature of many of the comments is little more than cowardly vitriol and should be neither encouraged nor celebrated. It more often casts a pall on the very process it participates in, doing little or nothing to influence those holding dissimilar or undecided positions, and honored only by those already agreeing with the commenter. These words do little more in most cases, than simply highlighting the emptiness in the arguments of those who believe that they can only win by way of ad hominem attacks.
Also interesting to me is that this apparently narcissistic feeding frenzy is not limited to nipping at the heels of those willing to put themselves on the line with a column, but that bottom-feeding behavior appears to make them equally happy (and in some cases even more so) when attacking each other with a mixture of venom and enthusiasm.
Surprisingly, and in spite of the ill treatment accorded to those writing these opinion pieces by their assailants, many return regularly to subject themselves to such abuse. While I can, let me applaud their efforts in the face of such public scorn and ridicule. Whether I agree with their opinions or not does not matter, their continued attempts to speak their minds demonstrates a courage shown by few of their detractors (or often, even their supporters).
As for those who appear to find amusement and personal satisfaction in these pseudo intellectual exercises of anonymous acrimony, let me provide you with additional ammunition for your attacks on me. I have included a link here to a posting on my own site on what I consider my core beliefs, to inspire you to new depths of contempt.
For while I will probably be given credit for little else, let it at least be said that I am willing to stand, using my own name with the courage of my convictions.

Columnist Tim Higgins blogs at http://justblowingsmoke.blogspot.com/.

CoreNetwork, a local group of angel investors, benefited from its original investment and subsequent sale of its interest in Pump Engineering LLC, a Southeast Michigan company.
“It turned out to be a fantastic investment for our group since we doubled our money in 12 months,” said Bob Savage Jr., founder and managing partner of CoreNetwork in Toledo.
CoreNetwork completed the sale of its interest in Pump Engineering to Energy Recovery Inc. (ERI) of California in December after its original investment in early 2009, according to Savage.
Pump Engineering is a leading global provider of centrifugal turbine technology for desalination (removal of salt from water) applications and demonstrated support for emerging markets such as natural gas and high-pressure fluid processing, Savage said.
Founded in Monroe, the company relocated to new facilities in New Boston, near Detroit Metropolitan Airport for logistics reasons.
The firm’s hydraulic turbochargers and pumps are custom designed to reduce energy consumption and increase efficiency in specific process conditions, making them applicable to worldwide markets.
ERI, a leader in the development of energy recovery devices for the desalination industry, announced the completion of its acquisition of Pump Engineering in late December. Pump Engineering will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of ERI.
The acquisition is aligned with ERI’s growth strategy of expanding its products and addressing potential new markets, according to the company’s president and CEO G. G. Pique.
CoreNetwork got involved with Pump Engineering through its accounting firm, Gilmore Jaison & Mahler in Maumee. Savage said his firm introduced them to Plymouth Venture Partners, another angel investment firm in Ann Arbor.
The two companies invested a total of $2.4 million in Pump Engineering in late 2008, Savage said.
ERI paid the shareholders of Pump Engineering approximately $20 million in cash and 1 million shares of ERI common stock (NASDAQ: ERII).
“It’s a tremendous transaction for our local investors and the region as ERI will bring its global expertise to support Pump’s growing business and employment base,” Savage said.
CoreNetwork frequently partners with Plymouth Venture Partners led by CEO Mark Horne, according to Savage. That firm’s portfolio includes investments in 20 companies primarily in Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
“We view the acquisition of Pump Engineering by ERI as an example of the types of transactions that will help re-energize the economy in Michigan,” Horne said.
CoreNetwork has invested in a number of local startup companies, including AquaBlok, Limited, American Broadband Telecommunications and Nextronex Energy Systems, according to Savage.
American Broadband was a
$1 million company when CoreNetwork invested in it and today it’s a $10 million company operating from Fort Industry Square in Downtown Toledo, Savage said.
AquaBlok was established with an investment by CoreNetwork in 2008, according to its president and CEO John Hull.
The company continues to develop its patented coating technology for clay-based algae treatment products with Hull’s engineering consulting firm, also located in Toledo.
Nextronex was established with $1 million in local investments from CoreNetwork, Rocket Ventures of the Regional Growth Partnership and UT Innovative Enterprise. Nextronex is preparing to produce a solar inverter that would reduce the cost of generating electricity from solar power at its new plant in Millbury.
“We continue to search for profitable investment opportunities which should help stimulate the economy in Toledo and this region, as well as provide excellent returns for investors,” Savage said. “We’re now looking to invest in a couple of local companies.”
CoreNetwork was founded in 2003 by Savage and other business leaders in Toledo as a private independent angel investment group in Northwest Ohio.
It is the second oldest angel network in the state of Ohio and a member of the Angel Capital Association.

Dear Mayor Bell and Superintendent Foley:

The City of Toledo and the Toledo Public School District are facing budget deficits in the tens of millions of dollars. And here you both are, begging me to increase my taxes to pay for it.

You want to impose not one, but two increases on what is confiscated from my income. And you, Mayor Bell, want to charge me an extra dollar for anything the City construes as entertainment!

To say your pleadings offend the hell out of me is an understatement. You actually want me to vote to hand over even more of my hard-earned money, while the economy remains so shaky and massively higher federal taxes become more likely?

Why should I vote to increase my taxes? So I can keep paying for the School District to waste hundreds of thousands of dollars on things like surveillance of private citizens, plus however many more hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend itself from the consequences of this conduct?

So I can keep paying the City’s settlements of lawsuits brought against the former Mayor because of his personal misbehavior? So I can keep paying inflated wages, superb benefits and almost three weeks’ worth of paid holidays a year for city employees? Mr. Mayor, we working stiffs in the real world don’t have it nearly that good; yet you want me to pay the city more money to fulfill the absurdly generous labor agreements to which the City has obligated itself without my consent?

And as for an entertainment tax: Although a game at Fifth Third Field is always a wonderful experience, us taxpayers will go elsewhere or, because of being forced to cut back, stay home. Ever hear of listening to the game on the radio, where you can’t tax the airwaves?

I want an explanation from you two: How is any of this financial distress the City and the District face the fault of the taxpayers? Why do the City and District give away the store in benefits, goodies, waste and payoffs for misconduct, only to have you two coming to us pleading hardship? Do you think that those of us who are facing hardships of our own are going to get the slightest consideration from our employers or our creditors because we blew our money as profligately, especially on stupid and shortsighted commitments, illegal activities and blatant waste, as have the City and the District?

Mayor Bell, I voted for you in part because you had the guts to admit that you might have to ask for a tax increase. I would rather have a mayor who makes that admission and then doesn’t do it than one who, like our President, says he will not raise taxes and then does so anyway. But I am keenly disappointed that you have chosen this course of action so quickly.

I applaud you, Mayor Bell, for having taken baby steps in the right direction of cutting costs, but I am not convinced that you have done anywhere near enough. You warn that services will be cut; are you going to play the petty tyrant’s game of threatening the essential services that the city is supposed to be providing, such as fire, police, water, sewer and street services, while protecting layer after layer of bureaucracy and waste? I would have thought you far more honorable than that. And that last question applies to you, Superintendent Foley, as well.

Both of you gentlemen have forgotten, are ignorant of, or simply do not care about the fact that tens of thousands of Toledoans are in financial straits as dire as those the City and the School District face. Otherwise, how can you possibly respond to your latest self-induced financial crisis by reflexively turning to us taxpayers to bail you out again?

Unlike the City and the District, we serfs and peons cannot just enhance our revenue by fiat to meet our shortfalls. We cannot simply demand that our pay be increased. Over eleven per cent of us are jobless, thanks in no small part to the City’s pro-tax/anti-business reputation, and thousands more are retired or on disability; all these people have even less power to increase their benefits.

And unlike the City and the District, we have no choice but to cut back. In many cases, we’re being cut back out of our very houses. In case you haven’t noticed, foreclosures continue to increase. Yet I’m sure that the schemes you and your minions are concocting to enhance your revenues at our expense don’t stop with the low-hanging fruit of income tax increases and entertainment taxes. Doubtless, the ladders are being dug out – or procured at premium costs from non-local vendors — to strip the whole tree clean.

Respectfully,

Thomas Berry, for the Children of Liberty, http://thechildrenofliberty.ning.com <http://thechildrenofliberty.ning.com/

With the market having pulled back since leveling off and topping out in January, we believe that was is now developing is the beginning of a trading range. Last month when the market made a top, after coming off the March bottom, it did so approximately halfway between the 2002 market bottom and the all-time high in 2007, which is technically significant.

Many readers will recall that we have been saying since the market started down two years ago that we expected, once the rebound passed, the market would enter a long-term consolidation pattern, where it was expected to say for as long as a few years.

Unlike some “doom-and-gloom” preachers, we remain optimistic with respect to both the global economy and the financial markets. What we see developing in the market will certainly allow for profits, but certainly not for investors employing a buy-and-hold strategy for their portfolios.

Fortunately, we believe most investors have learned the valuable lesson that buy-and-hold doesn’t work, particularly after seeing no gains in stocks over the last decade. For those poor souls who have not yet adapted to the new investment landscape, their fruitless decade may last longer still.

While the market appears poised for a long-term consolidation, we continue to see improvement forthcoming for the economy. However, as financial markets tend to lead the economy, much of the coming improvement has already been anticipated, and is already priced into the market.

The US economy, after such a dismal couple of years, is particularly poised for improvement. Case in point is the US auto industry, which has lately been hiring back workers to fill renewed demand after inventory reductions.

Over the course of this recession the rate of auto production had slowed so substantially that it actually fell below the historical scrap rate, a condition that is absolutely unsustainable. Now that production is revving up again, the recovery in the auto sector will be especially noticeable in the US economy.

As markets so often do, the global financial markets seem to be expecting a relative strengthening of the US economy internationally, as evidenced by the recent rally in the US Dollar in foreign exchange markets.

Though many investors have voiced concern that the dollar might become worthless, we do not see this as a real threat. We believe most who make this argument are less experienced investors who, for the most part, lack knowledge for real-world economics.

In conjunction with the dollar’s recent rally, commodities prices have taken a tumble, as of late. This is due in part to recent revelations regarding China’s recent trading in commodities.

While it had long been assumed that China had been consuming the resources it was purchasing in order to fulfill increased demand, it now appears that China has been stockpiling resources in preparation for a recovery, though much remains available for consumption.

Thanks to the realization that these resources have yet to be consumed, prices of many commodities are set to correct and the dollar likely to continue its recent rally.

Dock David Treece is a stockbroker licensed with FINRA. He works for Treece Financial Services Corp (www.TreeceInvestments.com) and also serves as editor of the financial news site Green Faucet (www.GreenFaucet.com) and as a business commentator for Toledo Free Press. The above information is the express opinion of Dock David Treece and should not be construed as investment advice or used without outside verification.

“Laws are only words written on paper, words that change on society’s whim and are interpreted differently daily by politicians, lawyers, judges and policemen.  Anyone who believes that all laws should always be obeyed would have made a fine slave catcher. Anyone who believes that all laws are applied equally, despite race, religion or economic status, is a fool.”
—  John J. Miller in “And Hope to Die.”

On Feb. 9, Toledo City Council discussed immobilizing and impounding vehicles for unpaid red light/speeding photo enforcement. Here is some of what attendees said:
Lourdes Santiago from the law department said, “These two pieces of legislation simply authorize in one situation the immobilization of the vehicle as well as the impoundment of the vehicle and the other companion legislation is to authorize the impoundment of the vehicle.”
Councilman D. Michael Collins wanted the policy from the police department before voting on this: “Part in parcel of what we are doing in terms of collecting the outstanding fines and so forth goes to the economic  circumstances; the policy goes to the quality of life circumstances for the City of Toledo.”
Councilwoman Lindsay Webb requested a committee hearing: “If we are going to step this thing up and we are going to be impounding vehicles which impacts peoples ability to get to their job, to get to their doctor’s appointments, I just want to make sure that council has a clear understanding and that the citizenry has a reasonable expectation of what to expect.”
It was said most cities don’t impound or immobilize until three to five tickets go unpaid; in Toledo it will be two.
Councilman Rob Ludeman said he was on council when this first passed. “The reason I supported it then was the safety factor.” He expressed concern over a future constitutional challenge.
Santiago said: “If the penalty can never be imposed because they can ignore it, at some point the behavior will continue.”
Ludeman said: “There are lots of people in this economy that are making decisions on what to pay and what not to pay, maybe a more prudent course would be to lower the fine.”
Councilman Adam Martinez said: “This kind of seems like a civil disobedience issue that all of us should be very aware of, in terms of my issue, is the lack of due process. I understand there is a process involved but it’s almost not worth the time to take a lawyer and go to the hearing with it.”
Councilman George Sarantou said: “Facts are, less people are running red lights because of these red light cameras. We have less tickets today which is part of the reason why the budget amount is so far off this year.
“We only have 44 percent compliance, what do you tell the people out there that have paid the fines,  obeyed the law, sent their checks in; it’s a slap in the face to them.”
He thinks once boots are put on cars, “a lot of people will pay up.”
Councilman Mike Craig said: “If people are into us for two or three red light violations and they haven’t paid, the system is not working … maybe going without their car for a day or two and being inconvenienced, maybe then they’ll stop running red lights.”
Council President Wilma Brown said: “I’m voting for this because I think we need it and we need to stop making excuses for lawbreakers. People in Toledo think they have the right to run red lights and they have the right to kill people and I’m not going to give them that right.”
A committee meeting will take place at 10:30 a.m. Feb. 18. The proposal could be voted on by council as early as March 2. If this is passed by council, the Bell administration plans to do a public information campaign during the 30 days before it goes into law so people can pay before enforcement begins.
It was not said how this will be enforced on those who do not live in Toledo or how much of the more than $2.5 million owed to Toledo is from people with more than one ticket.

Lisa Renee Ward is a Toledo Free Press contributor and operator of the political blog Glass City Jungle.

Aries: The rumor mill. Attention swings between public and private life this week. While matters from the past continue to generate conundrums, a special blessing from a loved one arrives midweek. After Thursday, positive exchanges improve stalled relationships and deals.

Taurus: Great passions. You continue to excel through an influx of visionary inspiration. Your goals in love and life reach a turning point midweek, as aid and understanding open possibilities to consider. Good news arrives on Friday, paving the way for a sweet weekend.

Gemini: Life coach. Placed in a new context, feelings about past difficulties or losses are transformed. This aids in gaining forward momentum after Tuesday; benefits and blessings flow from many different sources. Little journeys prove enlightening on many levels.

Cancer: Revise and rewrite. Future plans are modified as the week begins. You’re the soul of romance this week, looking at the world through the eyes of love. By Friday, someone else is ready to join you in fulfilling dreams. Exciting possibilities flow through the weekend.

Leo: Maternal instincts. You’re able to be philosophical about personal matters, but a career question presses for resolution. Good things come to pass after Tuesday. As one door closes, another door opens. A person with a lively sense of humor makes the weekend sparkle.

Virgo: Travel brochure. Emotions are quite strong this week and hard facts are at odds with feelings. Another person expresses similar conflicts midweek, helping you better understand your own heart. Share favorite activities with good company over the weekend.

Libra: Three questions. You may have to sort out contradictory information (or feelings) as the week begins. Matters from the past could be confusing present issues. A conversation on Thursday helps you untangle things. Share your creations with others over the weekend.

Scorpio: Mutual attraction. A recurrent health issue crops up, but your main focus this week centers on relationships and creative efforts. Inner impulses need a conduit for expression. Find the best outlet and let it flow. Others may need you to lead the way and open the gates.

Sagittarius: Tipping point. Deep thinking about your life patterns, your progress, destinations and goals brings up questions about perceived obstacles and fears. A good angel smoothes the path for you midweek, leading you to unexpected good luck and fortunate connections.

Capricorn: Late start. If you feel like you’re giving more than you’re getting as the week begins, things turn around after Tuesday. Others are more open and generous after Tuesday, and express appreciation in many ways. The weekend is focused on the people and things you love.

Aquarius: Sob story. Simple explanations are better than lengthy sagas as the week begins; patience is in short supply. Personal and financial benefits flow after Tuesday, possibly the result of goes-around, comes-around synchronicity. The world is a strange and wonderful place.

Pisces: Impatient for results. Responsibilities tug you in different directions as the week begins, but the lucky planets Venus and Jupiter join in your sign to bring a wave of blessings, good news, and emotional gifts after Monday. Love infuses everything you do this week!

We recently wrote about a great trip The Retirement Guys took to San Diego to acquire ideas and strategies on how to better serve our clients. We gained a lot of helpful information and had the opportunity to listen to several excellent speakers including bestselling author Andy Andrews. I (Mark) mentioned how I had picked up a copy of his book “The Travelers Gift” which is an inspirational story about the seven principles in life that determine personal success. Well, I was wrong about one thing. They are not the seven principles that determine personal success, but the seven decisions. It turns out there is a big difference. What is interesting is this goes right along with what The Retirement Guys have been saying for a long time. We say we are about providing good information to help you educate yourself, but it is a waste of time unless you take the information and apply it. In other words, make a decision on how you can use the information to your advantage.
I already told you about the first four, so I need to tell you about the last three. The first four were: 1. The buck stops here. I am responsible for my past and my future. 2. I will seek wisdom. I will be a servant to others. 3. I am a person of action. I will seize this moment. I choose now. 4. I have a decided heart. My destiny is assured. What makes this book interesting is that the main character learns about these crucial decisions by traveling through time to visit famous and influential people, like Harry Truman, Abraham Lincoln, Anne Frank, etc.
Decisions 5 through 7 are as follows: 5. Today, I will choose to be happy. I am the possessor of a grateful spirit. 6. I will greet this day with a forgiving spirit. I will forgive myself. 7. I will persist without exception. I am a person of great faith.
It is interesting how the decisions we make affect not only ourselves, but others as well. Obviously the path you have chosen, the attitude you take, affects you and your family but also can affect generations to come. There is an example given in the book of how a school teacher from Maine affected the destiny of the world. In July 1863, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, formerly a professor from Bowdoin College was a colonel in the Union Army at Gettysburg, Pa. ( I had the privilege of touring the battlefields at Gettysburg last summer and I would highly recommend it). Chamberlain’s troops faced an overwhelming situation trying to hold off the Confederate army of General Lee. After five bloody attacks they could not hold them off any longer. They were outnumbered five to one and had very little ammunition left. The situation looked hopeless and they faced almost certain defeat and certain death. Rather than retreat Col. Chamberlain chose to charge. The Confederates thought that this must be massive reinforcements and not the beaten regiment they had faced up until now. They surrendered. Before this happened it appeared that the Confederates were going to win the war and this battle at Gettysburg turned the tide.
Think about it. If Col. Chamberlain had not chosen to act, had not chosen to charge, the world would be very different today. Our country would not exist as we know it and would probably be divided into several different countries. We would not be the power we are today with the ability to help other countries in need, like Haiti. We would not be able to defend other countries’ freedom. Your decisions will have a far reaching effect also. They may not reach as far as the decision of Col. Chamberlain, but they will reach far. Decisions we make become a thin thread that weaves from you to hundreds and thousands of lives. And guess what? The decisions you make will obviously affect you.
I have paraphrased some of Andy Andrews’ book “The Travelers Gift” in this article. I cannot come near to doing it justice. I would suggest you pick up a copy and read it yourself. I think you will find it  inspiring. As The Retirement Guys we are constantly encouraging people to make good decisions that will have a positive effect on themselves and their families. Reading “The Travelers Gift” is a good decision. Trust me. Typically, one thing leads to another. I read it and now I am writing this column about it. I hope all who read this consider the seven decisions that will determine personal success. Make a decision. You may just change the world!

Got a question for The Retirement Guys? Send your e-mails to letters@toledofreepress.com or you can reach them by calling (419) 842-0550. Securities are offered through NEXT Financial Group Inc., Member FINRA / SIPC. The Retirement Guys are not an affiliate of NEXT Financial Group. Their office is located at 1700 Woodlands Drive, Suite 100, Maumee, OH 43537.

The first year college experience can often be the most exciting time in many people’s young adult lives. With that in mind, UT’s First-Year Experience Office (FYE) founded the uncUT Film Festival.
The festival, which is now in its fifth year, aims to chronicle the many joys and frustrations of freshman life, while promoting communication and teamwork through the use of technology.
“Coming out of a background of working in theater and film, I thought it would be fun to see how our students would depict the first year experience. We chose film as a medium because it has become such a part of our culture, young people are just very visual, they speak in film. Every year since it was founded, we have proudly watched this event grow, in terms of the number of teams that take part. Last year, we had somewhere around 15 teams that entered the festival. The students learn about working on a deadline in assigned roles,” said Jennifer Rockwood,
FYE director.
All of the films entered into the festival are created in a four-week period by three-to-six member student teams, with running times ranging from three to five minutes.
All teams must have at least one first-year student.
The process begins with an application, followed by storyboards, which must be turned in by February 12, then filming and editing Feb. 17-March 17.
All films are then turned into project mentors. At least two members must also attend a designated training session, which explains the overall process and use of equipment, which is provided by FYE.
Films are judged by upper level film students, professionals, and local celebrities.
The final results of this year’s festival will be announced live at the Doermann Theatre in an “Oscar Style” ceremony March 28. Festival activities are set to begin at 7 p.m.
Prizes will be awarded. The event is free and open to the public.
Films may also be shown at a later date on the local campus television station.
“We really love having the public here for this event,” Rockwood said. “Our vendors are so supportive, I think that one of the great things that this festival shows is that anyone can take part, you really don’t have to be a film major to share your experience. In fact, many of our past entrants haven’t been filmmakers and have gone on to make other student projects.”
For more information, call (419) 530-8549 or visit www.utoledo.edu/utlc/fye.

In cities like Chicago and New York City, finding good music can be as easy as asking for directions to a hotel. You will find tons of big-name acts playing throughout these cities on any given night and they have great local acts performing in places like the famous Chicago blues club Kingston Mines. Even though we don’t have world-renowned music venues, I believe there’s a trick to finding good music in Toledo. Maybe it’s as easy as trying something new.
During the past few weeks, I have seen some great shows in Toledo. Typically, I only see bands I have heard of, but in this case I drifted away from my normal thinking. I was able to watch the supremely talented pianist Barry Douglas perform at the Moore Musical Arts Center on the BGSU campus. A friend called me the day of and asked me to go. I was hesitant at first, but decided to give it a shot. Once the performance started, I didn’t regret it for a second. Also, I saw a great folk band called Hoots and Hellmouth at The Village Idiot on their way down from the Ann Arbor Folk Festival. I really didn’t want to deal with having to wake up for work the next day, but I am so glad I went.
Both shows were different and gave me what I wanted. Douglas performed pieces by Rachmaninov and Schumann, among others, on a beautiful Steinway piano. Shows like this really capture the essence of classical music. Hoots and Hellmouth performed their take on American Folk. They had all the right instruments: guitars, mandolin, banjo and double bass. Plus, instead of a drummer, they placed tambourines on pieces of plywood, stomping on them to give the song a beat — very cool. This kind of show really gives me an energy boost from pure Americana.
I found two great new artists that I really like because I was willing to give them a chance. There are great places to hear music, such as Mickey Finn’s, The Village Idiot, Hines Farm Blues Club, The Moore Musical Arts Center, and many others. You aren’t always going to like what you hear, but you may find a few acts that really catch your attention.
Some great music is being played. The long-lasting Ohio jam band Ekoostik Hookah is playing at the Clazel Theater on Feb. 18. The Village Idiot has the Nutones on Feb. 19 and Mojo Slow on Feb. 20. The Bronze Boar will have the Coosters on Feb. 19 and Swamp Kings on Feb. 20. At the Blarney on Feb. 19 is the band MAS FINA and Cluster Folk on Feb. 20. And, at Mickey Finn’s on Feb. 19 is the band Eat Sugar.

After watching Congress for the past year, I’ve become convinced that the parties are incapable of governing our country. On one side, you have the Republicans who have decided that if they can’t make all the decisions, they will do everything they can to make sure that nothing gets done. This is not overly surprising; the GOPers of today don’t believe in government, period. They have marched virtually in lockstep (as they are wont to do) to obstruct any and all legislation that would help the middle-class deal with the enormous problems facing us, holding up any appointments that Obama has attempted to make that don’t agree with their view of what the real world should be and generally refusing to do the job they were elected to do. They might as well be replaced by the bunch of chimps in the CareerBuilder.com ads that sit around in suits and vigorously shake their heads “NO” at every opportunity. If you don’t want to at least make a feeble effort at contributing to the governance of this country, then get the hell out. We’ve got plenty of blathering fools who are not paid by the taxpayers to misstate and mislead an increasingly gullible public. I’m sure FOX News could use an orange guy in their lineup.
Now before you all start getting in a huff and pounding on your CapsLk button, let’s look at the Democratic Party. It has been so beaten and cowed over the past eight years, it has managed to squander a filibuster proof majority. They’ve let a small number of small state Senators hijack the entire legislative process. Even though the polls showed overwhelming support for things like health care reform, banking and global warming reform, the party has managed to dither and fritter away a tremendous opportunity to actually do something. Ridiculous Senate rules have virtually brought any hope of effectively dealing with any serious problems to a halt. If someone hands you a stick, like the voters did in 2006 and 2008, you don’t hand it to the minority and ask them to please beat you over the head with it! If Joe Lieberman or John McCain or whoever says they might filibuster, you don’t cave in without a fight! You make them put their mouth where the money is and stand up and talk for three days or so to see if they’re really serious. After losing Ted Kennedy’s seat in Massachusetts, they acted like the chance to ever get anything done was over. For God’s sake, W. managed to foist all sorts of idiot ideas through Congress with a much smaller majority. Of course, much of that was due to the Democratic Party propensity to fold before they’ve even tried.
The Obama administration is certainly not without fault here either. When he was elected, I thought, “finally, here’s a guy with brains who can get things done!” Instead, he seems to have surrounded himself with the same tired political hacks who abetted the people who got us into this mess, and decided to let Congress figure a way out while he sat back on the sidelines. What was he thinking? Congress is completely dysfunctional and incapable of legislating their way out of a paper bag. It’s going to take strong leadership. Someone has to step up and grab the reins. Where are the LBJs and Tip O’Neills and the FDRs, who managed to force Congress to overcome their weak kneed ways to do great things? I thought Obama was that guy. Maybe he is. We’ll see.
Before you think I’ve become a Teabagger, let’s take a look at the disenchanted electorate. They are mad as hell, but not quite sure why. To save time, I’ll boil it down to its simplest form. It wants its Medicare untouched, but doesn’t want to have to be taxed to pay for it. It wants its basic government functions to continue, but doesn’t trust government. The party has been buffaloed into thinking that government is the problem. Government is only as effective as the people you elect to run it. As long as politicians keep spending the vast majority of their time raising money to keep that job, we’re going to have ineffective government. And you’d better hope you don’t have to see what would replace those taxes if government was privatized. The inaptly named free market is anything but. Why would you want to take away control of the purse strings? If money were to be taken out of the process, maybe we could elect people on the merits of their ideas. Maybe then they would have the time and inclination to do what’s right for us. In politics, money is the root of all evil. It’s certainly not free speech.