Smaller Indiana will be hosting their first, of hopefully more to come, debates across a variety of topics. The first debate will take place this Friday night at the Indy Fringe downtown facility.

The debate will feature two teams debating the question of whether healthcare is a right or a privilege.

Here are the teams:

Arguing for Healthcare is a Privilege

• Mr. Randy Suttles, former CEO of Medical Savings Insurance
• Dr. Ben Park, CEO, American Health Network
• Michael Hicks, PhD., Economist, Ball State

Arguing for Healthcare is a Right

• Eric Meslin, Director of Indiana University Center for Bioethics
• Eric Wright, – Associate Dean of the Indiana University School of Public & Environmental Affairs
• Others – TBD

This would be a very interesting event to take part in and observe the two sides. I’d encourage anyone that’s available to go to the event and then use the information you’ve gained FROM BOTH SIDES of the argument to have intelligent discussion with your network of friends and colleagues.

The event is free, but there are limited seats so registration is required. Feel free to start the discussion here, but I’d be very interested in hearing anyone’s thoughts about the event after it’s over as well.

Image: stock.xchng

I read a story today on IndyChannel.com about the prices for speeding tickets not being printed on tickets anymore. Or at least not for awhile.

I guess the problem is that ticket prices are changing or something and we can’t expect officers to know what the ticket price should be. Are you serious?

If they get confused, can’t they just call dispatch and be reminded?

It’s part of a new policy crafted by safety court Judge William Young, whose staff told Call 6 on Wednesday that the new guidelines are intended to accommodate changing ticket prices.

I wonder if I get a speeding ticket if they’ll let me take a few months to figure out what I’m able to pay on the ticket before they hear from me.

It reminds me of a story of a friend who got a traffic ticket from an intersection camera that took a picture of him running a red light or something. When he got the ticket in the mail he wrote a check for the payment on the ticket, photo-copied it and then sent the photocopy of the check in the ticket payment envelope.

Kind of a tit-for-tat on sending a picture of the payment since they only sent a picture of the offense itself.

On the surface you’d think charging employers more for their unemployment tax would be the most appropriate thing to do to increase the amount of money available in the state’s unemployment.

Here’s the challenge.

The Senate Republican plan would raise the maximum rate to 8.2 percent. The taxable wage base would increase from $7,000 to $10,000.

By increasing the amount an employer has to pay into the plan for every person they currently have employed, you’re increasing the cost of the employer to stay in business. How many employers now might layoff another employee or two just to afford the cost of paying up to $350 more per employee into this fund.

Then there’s more unemployed people using up the fund. Vicious cycle I see starting there.

Of course the other problem with the unemployment fund is that you’ve got people claiming unemployment that could be employed, but they’ve got more money coming in from unemployment than they do by getting a job that pays minimum wage.

Why would anyone take a job and actually work to make less than they could by just sitting at home on the couch and submitting a few applications for employment here and there to prove they’re "looking" for work.

You’ve also got the people in the system who are double-dipping. Collecting unemployment but working somewhere, for someone and taking money under the table.

Source: GOP rejects Dems’ amendments to unemployment fund plan | IndyStar.com | The Indianapolis Star

Image: http://www.stockxpert.com

The Mission:

Hoosier hospitality is inherent in all of us. It’s caring on a personal level. It’s performing random acts of kindness. It’s giving a ride to a friend, helping a sick neighbor or simply buying a stranger a cup of coffee. In these challenging times, the Indianapolis Colts are launching the “Help a Hoosier…and then some” campaign to help strengthen our community and empower Hoosiers to create change by engaging in random acts of kindness across the State of Indiana.

Go to The Colts’ Help a Hoosier Site to participate.

Do you have a complaint about something that you need someone with a little bit more clout than you can muster.

This time of year the thing that we seem to be finding more of is pot holes and you can visit the Indy Mayor’s Action Line and report a pothole.

You can report more here as well by using their online form. Submit complaints related to road kill, graffiti, illegal signs, weeds, brush removal and more.

Browsing through the friends of a friend on Facebook I noticed he was friends with Mayor Greg Ballard and Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels.

If you’re in Indianapolis, are you friends with your local politicians? Are they on Facebook?

President Elect Barack Obama took politicians using the Internet and social media to a new high. If politicians were more visible and accessible on networks like Facebook, would that help them understand a little bit more about the people they were governing?

What do you think?