Job Hunting for Dummies

This week in My Friday Column I take an early look at next year's  election  and some of those who believe that they have what it takes to knock off Barack Obama and become the 45th President of The United States.

JOB HUNTING FOR DUMMIES

There are millions of people in our country that are out looking for work.  Some of them have been out of work because of all of the job losses due to the downturn in the economy.  Some of them have jobs, but would like to find a better job.  There are others out there who have really good jobs, but they still would like better jobs, most of these people we call Republican Presidential hopefuls


The former Governor of Alaska seemed to have the momentum coming off the presidential election.  You couldn’t turn of the TV without her opening up and giving her two cents worth... 


I do not understand the attraction of the former governor of Alaska but she seems to draw a crowd wherever she goes.  I have a hard time believing that she is electable but stranger things have happened.  The fact that she was elected as the governor and then felt she didn't need to complete her term should be enough to turn people off.

Another “tea party” darling that is getting a lot of attention is Minnesota Representative Michelle Bachmann....


She did the one thing these days that you cannot do and still get elected President of the United States of America.  She was bad on TV, a lesson learned over 50 years ago by Richard Nixon.  Many people may never have seen her response to the State of the Union, but it was just so awkward that it was replayed over and over again.  Maybe it was an important message, of course no one heard it.

Newt Gingrich the former speaker of the house who masterminded the “Republican Revolution” of 1994 has also seemed to be leaning towards running.  His only hurdle seems to be questions of is fidelity during his multiple marriages.  


Personally I do not think that his personal problems necessarily have any bearing on the way that he would be able to govern but the Republican Party is who always puts "FAMILY VALUES" as the cornerstone of their platform.  They believe that the traditional family and marriage are under attack by groups that are just looking for equal rights.

On “Meet the Press”  last Sunday the Governor painted a rosy picture of life in Indiana.  He told of how attractive our state is to new business, but admitted that did not actually translate to new businesses actually moving here.  He talks of making hard choices to balance budgets without raising taxes.  He always seems to forget that they did raise the sales tax 1% for most of the state, and another percent for Marion and surrounding counties to pay for sports arenas for an NFL and an NBA team.

So My Man Mitch wants to be the President of the United States.  As the George W. Bush budget director I think he should be automatically disqualified but that wouldn't be fair.  Daniels has consistently made every argument, ":Us vs. Them" and has really let a lot of people in Indiana down.  Severe cuts to education as a way of balancing the budgets will be his legacy that we will be paying for for years to come.

I can understand why someone would want a job where you get to live in a nice big house and people drive you around everywhere. Yes there are  long hours and the pay is really not that good.  It is only a four year contract but if you do good you could work there another four.  You do get to travel the world but you also have to answer the phone if it rings at three in the morning.  

Is it Easy Being Green?

This week in MY FRIDAY COLUMN I take a look at what it takes to live in a "GREEN" house.

IS IT EASY BEING GREEN?

Last week one of my children asked me if we lived in a “green” house.  While kidding I said it is closer to a grey brick, but I knew exactly what they meant.  Apparently they had a discussion in their elementary school class about conservation, and what it meant to “Go Green”.  So we spent some time that afternoon going over some of the things that we do around the house, and thought of some things that we could do better.  Which also led to them going through our house turning out all the lights.

One of the biggest things we do as a family is try to limit the amount of garbage that goes into the trash each week. The main thing that we do to accomplish this is by recycling. With New Albany’s curbside recycling it is easy to separate things that can be recycled. If you live outside of the city limits you may take recyclables to one of the drop off points that the Floyd County Solid Waste

Department has each week

At our house another thing we do to limit our garbage is by utilizing a compost bin.
As part of the process of decomposition dead material must also 
be introduced. With all of the Oak trees in my neighborhood, last fall I had plenty of leaves in my yard but none of them
had to be put in plastic bags to be hauled away

Over the last few years rainwater and sewer bills have gotten
a lot of attention in New Albany. 

I  have taken a step that uses one to control the other.
I have connected two 55 gallon barrels to the gutter system 
of my house. It is a primitive system that was installed cheaply
in just one afternoon.

I try to use my bike to travel whenever I can. This is another step that I take to reduce my carbon foot print. It is also great exercise and saves plenty of money in gas. Even though it is less than four miles to my job, It still saves a considerable amount of gas and wear and tear on a car. Plus it takes about ten minutes to drive to Clarksville, and I can ride there in about fifteen minutes. Plus I feel much better and seem to have a more relaxed day at work when I get there under my own power

In the early days of Sesame Street, Kermit the Frog sang that “…it’s not easy bein’ green”, but it may be easier than you think. Taking a few minutes out of your day to separate your garbage, turning out the lights when you leave the room, and planning ahead to keep your car usage to a minimum, are simple ways to make your household greener. If everyone just tries to do a little more, it can make a big difference.

Democrat Men's Club Meeting March 9, 2011: The Others--City Council at Large

I video taped all of the candidate speeches at the meeting held by the Democrat Men's Club of Floyd County.  As I get them posted I will continue to offer links to each of them.

Democrat Men's Club Meeting March 9, 2011

Tonight the Democrat Men's Club of Floyd County held a meeting and invited all of the candidates on the ballot for the May 3rd primary to speak.   The event was scheduled on Ash Wednesday because of the club by-laws and there were some that could not make it due to prior commitments.  It was still a good turnout for both members and candidates.

I taped each of the candidates speeches and will post the Mayoral candidates here for you to see.  All three candidates were present at the dinner but Paul Etheridge left before he gave a speech.  Sorry but the sound quality is not great..

Jeff Gahan

Irv Stumler

Signs, Signs Everywhere There's Signs

This week in MY FRIDAY COLUMN I take a look at the plethora of Signs throughout our community.

SIGN, SIGN EVERYWHERE A SIGN

“Signs” tells the story of a young man who seems to be upset at the proliferation of signs around his world “Blocking out the scenery, breaking my mind...” among the problems he sees with all the signs.  Luckily the guy who the song is about has never had to spend any time in New Albany of 2011.

I can understand the man's frustration about all the signs around.  It seems to have gotten out of hand.

When you travel into our city from Clarksville you immediately are inundated with the vision of signs.  God forbid you come into town when a furniture store is having another “Going out of business” sale, when they line up  the entrances to our city with rows of colorful identical signs directing us that “everything must go”, again.  

While so far most of the political signs that have been put up this year are not on public property or right of ways it won't take long.  Many of the signs we see around town, whether it is on the side of the road or stapled to a telephone pole are placed illegally.

Before January was even over I had heard rumors that someone had started putting up political signs.  I just sat and shook my head that someone felt that it was necessary to get the jump on the other candidates by putting yard signs up the first official week of his campaign

I am not sure why they have decided to get such a jump on the signs this year...

This year I have also noticed that the signs of gotten larger.  In prior years almost everyone went with a standard size yard sign and a few of the bigger types in key locations.  This election season many of the signs seem to be on steroids, but with the bigger signs the mayoral candidates have been able to put catchy slogans on them.

Along with websites that may or may not go anywhere, they can tell us important  things like "making it happen" or "a common man for a common cause"...

I understand that political yard signs are not going away anytime soon.  I would hope that I don’t have to tell voters not to pick their candidates by the number of signs they see or the color scheme that was chosen.  I am sure that some do.  I would hope that you would take the time to do some research on the name you see on that yard sign.  Look at the candidates website for how they feel on the topics that are important to you, or go to an event that they plan to appear and walk up and ask them about their platform.   You might even let them know how you feel about all of these signs.

Does Stumler for Mayor Understand how this works?

Back on February 11th I received a piece of mail from the Committee to Elect Irv Stumler.  At the top of the letterhead was a website www.Stumlerformayor.com.  The first time that I tried to reach this site I was disappointed that it just took me to GoDaddy.com.  In the last couple of weeks they have started erecting signs that also listed the site.

Now nearly three weeks later there seems to be an actual website...sort of.

If you click on the site now it takes you to a page that features a banner that is just a copy of the yard sign.

It is 2011...If you are going to make a serious attempt at running for mayor, even in New Albany, you should at least put some effort into it.