Click on the picture and look at ‘em good. Those are the people — minus the two standing on the ends in the back row, Tom Tebben and Tommy Pitts, who weren’t there for the vote — who believe you should pay for police and fire service for a business that likely would have made this move anyway. This way, there’s some government assistance attached, so they’ve done something to “bring jobs.”

Do you suppose we, the taxpayers who will pay for the services (not that bars ever need police service), will get a discount on food or beer? Or do you suppose City Council just agreed to, pardon the term, piss away our tax money for more service jobs?

Per the story in The Lima News, BW3 will receive a 15-year, 50 percent tax abatement on real estate in exchange for brining 18 full-time and 27 part-time jobs into the city and creating another 18 full-time and 17-part time jobs. That’s economic development, folks. Big doings in Lima. We’re getting a new, old sports bar.

Someone ought to congratulate City Council and the administration for this stroke of economic genius — perhaps by voting for the other guys, whoever that might be when the time comes.

With all the talk about blood sugar, heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, vision problems (including blindness), amputations and impotence, my self-esteem is really taking a beating. Sure, taking better care of myself would help, but why aren’t these advertisers considering how I feel about myself?

That’s to say nothing of the advertisements meant to persuade people to quit smoking, exercise more often, try to regain their hair or, for what’s left, to color it. The advertising world isn’t easy on those of us in middle age.

Common sense says someone with the above issues should do more to take care of himself. And the advertisements are a reminder of the ugly consequences of what ails a person, and they serve as some motivation to act responsibly, if not vainly, on one’s own behalf.

The way the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance sees it, though, folks like me could use a hug, some kinder, gentler advertising and probably a good helping of comfort food. The California-based association hasn’t gotten around to my issues, as it is focusing on the potential hurt feelings billboards and signs in the Cincinnati area might have on overweight children. (more…)

For the out-of-towners, the Lima area has this funny need to select the best date possible to send the kids out trick or treating. Oct. 31 is just too, well, commonsensical. Normally, it means there is a week of dates — which you need to check the paper to keep track of — on which Halloween is held.

But, in typical Berger fashion — and in the typical fashion or far too many area township trustees — they’ve all come up with a date on which to hold Halloween. Even the simple problems are no longer simple. Checking the calendar might be too easy, and God knows we’d all be lost without Mayor Dave thinking for us. 

Yes, there are differences. Obama wants to leave Iraq. Now that the Democrats control Congress and there is no chance they can pass, McCain supports the Bush tax cuts he once opposed. Also, with Pelosi blocking a vote on drilling in Alaska and offshore, McCain is firmly for that, too.

But, Republican or Democratic, the solution to your every problem lies in Washington. Why else would they have a platform on every issue, particularly on those that should come with this answer: That’s not the job of the federal government.

Anyway, Barr and Nader supporters, dream on. The American people want to hear from your candidates, but the American people don’t control the political process. Republicans and Democrats do.

The Zogby findings:

UTICA, New York - More than half of likely voters nationwide - 55% - want Republican-turned-Libertarian Bob Barr to participate in presidential debates this fall, while nearly half - 46% - said they think Ralph Nader should be allowed into the on-stage fray, the latest Zogby Interactive polling shows.

Among political independents, 69% said Barr should be at a lectern with Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama, and a majority of Republicans and Democrats agreed. Among Democrats, 52% said they think Barr should participate, while 50% of Republicans agreed.

Thirty-nine percent of Democrats and 41% of Republicans said they did not think Barr should be included in the debates.

Zogby release is here.

The humor of this aside, it’s ironic that the neighbors complain about the noise but think nothing of forcing other people to pay for their housing, hence the term “publicly owned.”

From The Associated Press:

Man banned from girlfriend’s home after noisy sex

By RAPHAEL G. SATTER, Associated Press Writer

LONDON — A British man has been banned from visiting his girlfriend’s home after neighbors complained about noisy sex, a local official said Thursday.

A court barred Adam Hinton, 32, from being within 110 yards of his 29-year-old girlfriend Kerry Norris’ apartment, Brighton and Hove City Council spokesman Mike Taggart said.

Residents of Norris’s publicly owned home had been complaining since 2006 about thumping music, banging headboards and screamed obscenities, Taggart said.

Neighbors also complained about Norris sunbathing naked in her yard, and were upset that a 6-year-old child in the building had been “subjected to the sort of obscenities you wouldn’t want a 6-year-old to hear,” the spokesman said.

“She is a classic nightmare neighbor,” Taggart said, insisting the case was not about sex. “It’s about allowing your neighbors to have a normal decent life without being disturbed.”

The court granted the city council’s request for an injunction banning Hinton from the apartment because Norris had ignored a previous court order demanding that she be more quiet, Taggart said.

Norris last week was forced to pay $560 in fines and court costs for breaking the “noise abatement order,” Taggart said.

Neither Norris or Hinton could be immediately located for comment. Brighton and Hove is located in southern England.

 Never mind that one council member referred this to McLean’s committee, another seconded that motion and seven of eight councilors present agreed to send it there. Garlock doesn’t think there ought to be a meeting, so — you know, Sam — just ignore what voters of the city’s 2nd Ward elected you to do. Dave will appreciate it, after all.

Good. Just what Lima needs. Beck proposes something, for political gain. The administration says no, for political purpose. I’ll help, provided you do it my way, Beck says. No, but we’ll take the help (which we admit we need) on our own terms, Garlock tells Beck. Do we get a third choice next year for mayor?

But, all the usual squabbling between Beck and Berger (or a Berger administrator) aside, what McLean does will be interesting. Does he act like a good administrative lappie, as so many councilors do, or does he hold the committee meeting, possibly risking the ire of Berger and Co.?

Click here (well, on the blue that says Garlock letter to McLean) to read the Garlock letter to McLean.

Beijing provides 100,000 condoms for athletes  (more…)