Justice and Fortitude

Picnic, Parade, and more!

Host: Libertarian Party Of Marion County
Date: Saturday, July 4, 2009
Picnic: 12:00pm - 5:00pm
Parade: 5:00pm - 7:00pm
Picnic Location: The Dijak-Robinson’s House, 1222 Evison Ave, Indianapolis, IN
Parade start: 901 Shelby Street, Indianapolis, IN (Fountain Square)
Minimum Donation for Picnic: $20

Picnic: 12pm - 5pm
Minimum Donation: $20. Located near Fountain Square, in the heart of Indianapolis, the Libertarian Party of Marion County is holding a 4th of July picnic at the home of the Dijak-Robinsons. We guarantee it will be a blast, and the Dijak-Robinsons are excellent hosts. It will be from noon to 5PM, after which we’ll all be heading over to participate in the Fountain Square “Art of July” Parade. We need as many as possible to participate!

What does that $20 get you?
Burgers, dogs, and the standard sides, soft drinks…and beer. We’ll be getting Bud Light or Miller Light, so BYOB if you have a different preference

Art of July Parade: 5pm-7pm
A parade travelling through Fountain Square and Fletcher place. The parade is scheduled for Saturday, July 4th 2009 at 6:00pm. All participants should plan on being on site at 901 Shelby Street at 5:00pm the day of the event. Parade will begin approximately at 6:00pm. Parade will end at same location where it began, 901 Shelby Street. The parade route is approximately 1 mile. http://www.fsartscouncil.org/artofjulycallforparticipation.html

INdependence Day Tea Party: 7pm-10pm
Declaring Independence from our non-representing representatives! Have you had enough? Come and join other freedom-loving Hoosiers in a peaceful protest against our government’s sprint towards socialism, their refusal to uphold the Constitution of the United States and endless spending spree they are on…with our money! At 7:00 the Tea Party event will begin! Lots of great speakers and other surprises! The event will last 2 hours. Then, what better way to end the day than watching the spectacular Indianapolis Firework Show. You will have a perfect seat!   http://www.inteaparty.com/

Support Indy’s Cigar & Hooka Bars in the face of a possible smoking ban.

The smoking ban issue is dead in the Statehouse for now, but the anti-business zealots in Indianapolis could convince the City-County Council to take up the issue anytime! Have you heard their ads?

This time, let’s support our local Cigar and Hooka Bars. Everyone knows that these fine upscale establishments would be put out of business by a farse like the proposed smoking ban.

So, instead of a Pub Crawl, let’s do a “Cigar Roll”!

Host: Libertarian Party Of Marion County
Date: Saturday, June 20, 2009
Time: 3:00pm - ??
Location: multiple locations
City/Town: Indianapolis, IN
Email: outreach@indylp.org

Go to Facebook to RSVP: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/event.php?eid=90565694638

The financial crisis explained in simple terms…………….

Heidi is the proprietor of a bar in Berlin. In
order to increase sales, she decides to allow her loyal
customers - most of whom are unemployed alcoholics - to
drink now but pay later. She keeps track of the drinks
consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers loans).

Word gets around and as a result increasing
numbers of customers flood into Heidi’s bar.

Taking advantage of her customers’ freedom
from immediate payment constraints, Heidi increases her
prices for wine and beer, the most-consumed beverages. Her
sales volume increases massively.

A young and dynamic customer service consultant
at the local bank recognizes these customer debts as
valuable future assets and increases Heidi’s borrowing limit.

He sees no reason for undue concern since he
has the debts of the alcoholics as collateral.

At the bank’s corporate headquarters,
expert bankers transform these customer assets into
DRINKBONDS, ALKBONDS and PUKEBONDS. These securities are
then traded on markets worldwide. No one really understands
what these abbreviations mean and how the securities are
guaranteed. Nevertheless, as their prices continuously
climb, the securities become top-selling items.

One day, although the prices are still
climbing, a risk manager of the bank, (subsequently of
course fired due his negativity), decides that slowly the
time has come to demand payment of the debts incurred by the
drinkers at Heidi’s bar.

However they cannot pay back the debts.

Heidi cannot fulfill her loan obligations and
claims bankruptcy.

DRINKBOND and ALKBOND drop in price by 95 %.
PUKEBOND performs better, stabilizing in price after
dropping by 80 %.

The suppliers of Heidi’s bar, having
granted her generous payment due dates and having invested
in the securities are faced with a new situation. Her wine
supplier claims bankruptcy, her beer supplier is taken over
by a competitor.

The bank is saved by the Government following
dramatic round-the-clock consultations by leaders from the
governing political parties.

The funds required for this purpose are
obtained by a tax levied on the non-drinkers.

Finally an explanation I understand.

The Public Works committee of the Indianapolis City-County Council heard testimony last night (5/28/09) regarding a proposed odor ordinance from Councilor Evans.  This ordinance seeks to “stop the operations of companies that produce disrupting and offensive odors to nearby residents.”

Timothy Maguire, Chairman of the Libertarian Party of Marion County, spoke in opposition to this proposal. 

http://www.fox59.com/wxin-foul-odor-meeting-052809,0,7167405.story

Or, to see my full comments, skip to 1:09:15 on the video below.

http://indianapolis.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=3&clip_id=2705

I received an important message from Stephen Gordon, regarding the libertarian web show “Freedom Watch.”

Right now, we’ve got a chance to upgrade Freedom Watch to national television. It’s one of several programs being considered for an open time slot on the Fox News Channel.

According to an e-mail I received from Judge Napolitano’s colleague Shelly Roche, the Fox producers are telling her the two most important things we can do are “flooding Fox with emails and showing high view counts on the videos.”

The show features Judge Andrew Napolitano with guests Peter Schiff, Ron Paul, Lew Rockwell and more. Rock stars of Freedom. In this time of confusion and economic disaster, they are talking common sense. You can email Fox News here: yourcomments@foxnews.com

See a “best of” show here:

I came across this old article from the Cato Institute.  Apparantly, they’ve already looked into the general philosophy of municipal-funded sports stadiums, and they found that “the lone beneficiaries of sports subsidies are team owners and players.”

Sounds like Gov. Daniels and Mayor Ballard could learn a thing or two from Cato.

Congress Looks at Stadium Subsidies
http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2007/03/27/congress-looks-at-stadium-subsidies/
Posted by David Boaz
3/27/2007

This Thursday the Domestic Policy Subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will hold a hearing titled, “‘Build It and They Will Come’: Do Taxpayer-financed Sports Stadiums, Convention Centers and Hotels Deliver as Promised for America’s Cities?”

Several Cato studies over the years have looked at the absurd economic claims of stadium advocates. In “Sports Pork: The Costly Relationship between Major League Sports and Government,” Raymond Keating finds:

The lone beneficiaries of sports subsidies are team owners and players. The existence of what economists call the “substitution effect” (in terms of the stadium game, leisure dollars will be spent one way or another whether a stadium exists or not), the dubiousness of the Keynesian multiplier, the offsetting impact of a negative multiplier, the inefficiency of government, and the negatives of higher taxes all argue against government sports subsidies. Indeed, the results of studies on changes in the economy resulting from the presence of stadiums, arenas, and sports teams show no positive economic impact from professional sports — or a possible negative effect.

In Regulation magazine, (.pdf) Dennis Coates and Brad Humphreys found that the economic literature on stadium subsidies comes to consistent conclusions:

The evidence suggests that attracting a professional sports franchise to a city and building that franchise a new stadium or arena will have no effect on the growth rate of real per capita income and may reduce the level of real per capita income in that city.

And in “Caught Stealing: Debunking the Economic Case for D.C. Baseball,” Coates and Humphreys looked specifically at the economics of the new baseball stadium in Washington, D.C., and found similar results:

Our conclusion, and that of nearly all academic economists studying this issue, is that professional sports generally have little, if any, positive effect on a city’s economy. The net economic impact of professional sports in Washington, D.C., and the 36 other cities that hosted professional sports teams over nearly 30 years, was a reduction in real per capita income over the entire metropolitan area.

David Boaz • March 27, 2007 @ 3:01 pm
Filed under: Cato Publications; General; Government and Politics; Tax and Budget Policy

Sent to me by a friend…pretty close to the truth!

The monthly business meeting for the Libertarian Party of Marion County (LPMC) is back at ZING Restaurant for the next couple of months!

LPMC May Business Meeting: Tuesday, May 12, 7:00 pm at ZING Restaurant, 543 Indiana Avenue, downtown Indianapolis. This is at the corner of Indiana Ave. and West St.

Please join us at 6:00 pm for dinner.

This meeting will include a guest speaker from the ACLU.  The ACLU is our nation’s guardian of liberty, working daily in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.

The representative will talk about some of their current litigation as well as other privacy and free speech concerns. Come and find out how we can work together with this liberty-minded organization.

The guest speaker will begin at 7:00 pm, but please RSVP at FreeHoosiers if you plan to join us for dinner at 6:00 pm so we can have a head count: http://freehoosiers.ning.com/events/lpmc-may-business-meeting

Good always wins.  Always.

It may or may not be true, but it’s what I believe.  It’s why I’m a Libertarian.  It’s why I soldier on, in the defense of liberty.  Call it hopeless optimism, call it unrealistic, call it the product of too much television, but some days the only thing that keeps me going is my belief that good always wins.

Read the Bible, and you’ll find story upon story of good triumphing over evil.  Actually, read most books and you’ll read the same.  We live in a great republic because we defeated the British Empire; then later the Nazi regime; then even later the USSR.  But I think the biggest influence in my belief in the power of good was film and television.

Specifically, it was a show that’s been airing off and on ever since 1963, called Doctor Who. A BBC production, Doctor Who was a weekly PBS broadcast that my parents watched with me during my childhood, and I WAS HOOKED.  Aliens, monsters, time-travel, spaceships, gadetry, and the fundemental battle of good vs. evil…EVERY SINGLE WEEK.

I’m constantly asked why I continue my efforts with the Libertarian Party.  Why I’m okay with losing elections, why I won’t give up my convictions and join the evil party just so I can “win,” why I continue to fight when it seems that all hope is lost.  My answer can probably be summed up by the character Rose Tyler in the episode The Parting of the Ways: “The Doctor showed me a better way of living your life. You know, he showed you too. You don’t just give up, you don’t just let things happen. You make a stand! You say ‘No!’ You have the guts to do what’s right when everyone just runs away!”

Continuing to fight the good fight, even after all hope is lost, is something exemplified in every episode.  See one of the greatest examples of what I’m talking about here (only 4 minutes long):

This BBC show continues to be produced to this day.  Although originally only available in the US through PBS, it’s currently re-broadcast on the SciFi Channel.

Libertarian Party of Marion County - Press Release

Indianapolis, IN - Hoosiers have become increasingly concerned about the current crisis the CIB is facing, and for good reason. Budget shortfalls were predicted but ignored, and now the city has to find ways to fulfill its contractual obligations. While Libertarians would never have created this situation, offered below is the Libertarian Party’s solution to this current mess.

“There is no excuse to force those who don’t use the stadiums to pay for short-sightedness of the CIB,” state Timothy Maguire, Chairman of the Libertarian Party of Marion County. “That’s why I’m proud to present our plan to save the good name of our City without unnecessarily taxing its citizens.”

Read the full plan here: http://www.indylp.org/CIBplan, or below.

###

For more information, or to arrange an interview, please contact Sean Shepard at 317.513.2406 or by email at sshepard94@gmail.com

The Libertarian Plan to Save the Capital Improvement Board
Without Overtaxing the Citizens of Indianapolis
Presented by the Libertarian Party of Marion County

Historically, city and state leaders have decided that corporate welfare is the highest priority for Indianapolis. Professional football received special treatment from the city in 2005, in the form of huge monetary commitments being made to the Indianapolis Colts for a new stadium. This came on the heels of a similar project undertaken for the Indiana Pacers sports franchise.

Elected Libertarians never would have agreed to this taxpayer funded corporate welfare for wealthy sports franchises and their owners. Libertarians would also have opposed financing a new stadium before the old one was even paid off and would have demanded honoring the previous promise of eliminating the 1% food and beverage tax when the stadium was paid off. We recognize that Lucas Oil Stadium has already been built, debts have been taken on, and the Indianapolis Capital Improvement Board (CIB) is now contractually obligated to bear a majority of the operating costs for the stadium that houses the Indianapolis Colts a handful of days each year.

Since high-jacking the taxing power of municipalities has become de rigueur in professional sports, it might be unfair to criticize the Colts organization, or their owner Jim Irsay, for expecting the City of Indianapolis to make good on the inappropriate promises it has made. At the same time, however, it is an unreasonable and inappropriate use of government power to expect citizens who either cannot afford to attend events at the stadiums or who have other financial priorities to subsidize the activities of the wealthy. Since it has already been determined that stadiums are the highest priority of Indianapolis, even in light of sewer, road, government pension and other needs, and since it is clear that Indianapolis has been burdened enough by high taxes, the Libertarian Party offers the following plan to address the shortfall the CIB is currently facing.

1. No bailout for the Pacers. We take the Pacers at their word, and accept their recent statement that they never asked for $15 million in operating costs for Conseco Fieldhouse. Therefore the previously expected Pacers portion of this $47 million shortfall is eliminated.

2. Raise ticket fees on all events at all CIB-owned stadiums. Recently, Colts owner Jim Irsay stated that if the City were to raise the ticket fees from 6% to 10%, the total revenues over the remaining term of their lease agreement would total $1.3 billion. This equates to about $44 million a year, which is plenty to handle the rest of the shortfall and ensures that those who cannot afford to visit the stadium are not burdened with paying for the shortfall. However, to ensure to the taxpayers a chance to re-evaluate the financial needs of the CIB, this fee increase should be set to sunset after five (5) years.

3. Allow a new casino to be built in Indianapolis. Assuming that the increased ticket fees may reduce attendance at events, we are open to the idea of welcoming a new casino or other gambling activities to Indianapolis. This extra money should be used for: shoring up CIB finances, paying down all existing debts in an effort to lighten the tax burden of Indianapolis residents, and making actual capital improvements to existing assets, such as roads and sewers, in areas that have been neglected by the City (e.g. cultural districts such as Fountain Square).

It is important again to stress that Libertarians oppose taxation to transfer subsidy or benefits to corporations or other private interests. Libertarians opposed these projects and would not have put the City in this situation. Now, the damage is done and the options now before us may seem undesirable. Businesses should be expected to operate on their own, free from government intrusion or subsidy. Sports franchises are no different than any other private interest that employs people, maintains offices or other facilities and draws commerce to a city. There is no reason the City should be subsidizing the business interests of millionaires.

It is also important the City-County Council ensures that this will never happen again. The Council must immediately pass ordinances prohibiting the public financing of any structure if it is to be used primarily for private business uses. This includes restricting the use of property tax abatements. Additionally, it may be worth considering a restriction requiring any lease agreements or contracts that the city enters into be limited to terms of 4 years, so the city may renegotiate such agreements after every major election cycle.

About Libertarian Party
The Libertarian Party is the third largest political party in the United States, and is the only non-major party with ballot access in the state of Indiana. Libertarians believe in being SERVED by a small non-intrusive government that is financially responsible, administratively competent and socially tolerant.

For more information on the Libertarian Party of Indiana visit: www.lpin.org
For more information on the Libertarian Party of Marion County visit: www.indylp.org

Libertarian Party of Marion County | Timothy Maguire, Chairman
133 W. Market St., | #159 | Indianapolis | IN | 46204 | 317-372-6436