Consolidation @ MindSay 
The hypocrisy of government is we spend billions on homeland security, but we can't control our international borders. We'd rather place air marshal's on rotating flights where a marshal may have to "shoot it out" with a terrorist, but simple canisters filled with "knock-out" gas could easily be placed in all planes without having to shoot anyone. In an emergency bad guys would go to sleep by a simple push of a button in the cockpit.
Regardless of political parties, the best we could place on the ticket for the presidency was John Kerry (D) and George Bush (R). One never went to war, and the other "earned" more medals in 4 months than any GI did in WW2 (and if you think he earned them I got swamp land for sale too). Both are ridiculous.
Indianapolis government really sucks, ask the cops that are about to lose their jobs while our mayor maintains "6" totally useless deputy mayor's in his administration (I doubt if Chicago and New York have that many, but if they did, their far larger than Indy). If your short on public service funds, then keep your fire and police dept.s and get rid of the bureacracy called the Dept. of Public Safety. After all if the fire and police chief's are appointed by, answer directly to, and serve at the mayor's pleasure, then why do you spend millions more for useless DPS heads, their equipment, supplies, perks, benefits, cars, and staff? Why does IPD need 5 deputy chiefs? District commanders (in reduced rank and pay) could serve the department well with it's current 5 districts.
Indy folks alreay know that when consolidation of the city and county police occur, 250 former inner-city cops will head out to the old county side. Crime in the inner-city is skyrocketing now. IPD has not hired any new recruits for a year. No new officers, officers retiring, and now 100 to 250 more will head out to the suburbs. Our mayor is an idiot! But we could find 500 million dollars for the new Colts stadium. Trick is though, our mayor had to ask the state for the money. He ended up with a regional tax, and now folks outside of Indianapolis are forced into paying for it too. Their representatives now sit on the board that has the authority to manage this new stadium taking all authority over it away from the city. Our mayor is an idiot! And even with consolidation, we will be bankrupt by 2007. No savings (as promised by our idiot mayor). Consolidation always costs more money. And yet we will still have to let our criminals out of our overcrowded jail early. Some of them have already went right back into their old habits, and committed some new ones....murder(s). Our mayor is an idiot! We have an old mental health hospital that was shut down years ago that's been collecting dust on the city's near westside. This is 50 acres of land that could be used to house minimum and medium security risks offenders awaiting trial in Indy. But folks don't want it, the city can't pay for it, crime is up, cops are out, judges are overloaded, our sewers stink, our roads are bad, our neighborhoods look gross. I guess we will become one big ghetto in about another ten years. But we will have a new stadium! I guess that would give folks here the same good feeling that New Orleans folks got in 1971 when they built theirs. I'll bet they still felt good too when they had to hide out in it during the hurricane. I remember their city leaders telling them to make a choice between infrastructure for the city, or a new superbowl stadium (that'll create hundreds of new jobs). Well they made their choice didn't they? 34 years later (since 1971) they all were still dirt poor, no jobs, hiding out for their lives first from a hurricane, then from criminals. They had idiots for mayors, and so do we!
Just a thought!
