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Thanks for the assist.  And remember, all well-thought out opinions are welcome here.

Several hundred residents gathered today in a prayer vigil for IMPD Officer Jason Fishburn, who was shot while trying to apprehend a suspect wanted for murder.

A number of pastors, police and local officials offered up words of support for officer Fishburn and other victims of violence.

The vigil occurred across from Wishard Hospital near the old YMCA.

It was even hard at times for this cynical, agnostic pundit to not be somewhat moved by the message of the vigil.

However, there is still a part of me that is very Old Testament, and in the wake of the shooting of Officer Fishburn, I have very little sympathy and tolerance for law breakers these days.

I have two questions for you as Indianapolis deals with a sharp increase in violence and homicides.

1. Have you had enough?
2. What are you going to do to make a difference?

Feel free to elaborate on your answers.

IMPD Officer Jason Fishburn is fighting for his life today after being shot in the head.  Fishburn was shot on the Eastiside in the 800 block of Euclid.  He and several other officers were serving a warrant on a man wanted in  the murder of 69-year old Clifford Haddox.

Fishburn was also shot in the torso.  He was taken to Wishard where doctors operated on him to alleviate the swelling in his brain.  He is now in  a medically induced coma.

The suspect was also shot, but his injuries were not life threatening.

Fishburn, 29, is a five-year veteran of IMPD, married and comes from a family that was in law enforcement.

Chief Mike Spears is calling on the community to pray for Fishburn.

An IMPD police officer was shot tonight on Indianapolis’ east side.  No word yet on his condition, but he was part of a team serving a warrant on a suspect.

I’ve been worried about this for a while.  If these idiots will shoot each other with no regard it was a matter of time before a police officer was hit by one of them.

Public Safety Director Scott Newman told me they are planning some aggressive tactics to crack on crime.

I wonder if they will be aggressive enough.

Jesse Jackson has done it again.  While waiting to be interviewed on the Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” Jackson said some rather derogatory remarks about Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama. 

On Sunday, Jackson accused Obama of “talking down to Black people” and said (watch out for tough language here) “I want to cut his nuts off.”  He made these comments off air, but the microphone was on.

Jackson apologized for his remarks, but there is a bigger picture here.

First, he will be here in Indianapolis today.  He may stop and speak at a youth non-violence rally at noon at City Market and later this evening at “Light of the World Church.”    It’s a little ironic that you will be preaching non-violence shortly after saying you want to cut off someones manhood.

Secondly, and more importantly, Jackson is typical of a civil rights leadership that has outlived its usefulness.  Jackson, Shaprton and the rest of their lot need to go retire to the old activists’ home.   2008 is not 1968. 

In the 21st Century the old civil rights struggle has given way to economic empowerment and personal responsibility.  Jackson and his ilk can’t quite seem to grasp that concept.   To make matters worse, they denigrate the new breed of Blacks who don’t play the race card at every other turn and actually try to get ahead based on merit. 

We are accused of “not being true to the struggle” or “forgetting where we came from.”  My personal favorite attack line is “you been hanging around white folks too long!”  Meanwhile, Jackson and his ilk continue to line their pockets by exploiting every opportunity to make white people and corporations feel guilty about things they had nothing to do with.

Black folks are never going to move forward as long as these guys continue to try to drive the bus.  Times have changed.  Maybe the Jackson-Sharpton mafia should go sit in the back for a while.

For those of you who dislike me, you may dispense with the “Uncle Toms” now.

With the recent rash of murders in this town (a dozen or so in the past two weeks), I’m somewhat surprised there isn’t a bigger public outcry.  There were 50 people who protested property taxes on the 4th of July, but I have yet to see one rally on homicides and murder.   The city and some community leaders have called for peace in the streets, but where is the rest of public?

However, looking at a map of the city’s homicides, I can guess why there isn’t a bigger uproar.  If you look at the map, you’ll see a big chuck of the murders take place in the area bordering 16th and 38th streets.  There are another strech of murders along Washington Street.

When I look at the map, it got me to thinking, if  more of these murders happened in nicer neighborhoods, maybe more people would be upset.

Our friends at The Bilerico Project are celebrating their first birthday!   While we take a more right-of-center approach to issues, the blogosphere is a much better place with them.  And we both agree that people should be judged as individuals and what they do not who they do.  Happy Birthday, guys!

My Democratic friends are throwing some criticism at Indianapolis Greg Ballard saying he has failed to speak out on the problems facing IMPD.

In a news release put out today Marion County Democrats stated…

“Since the arrests of nine public safety employees including police officers the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department is in turmoil and Mayor Greg Ballard has shown a true lack of leadership amidst the crisis. In just the last few weeks, IMPD officers have been arrested for allegedly selling guns to a felon, stealing drugs and money, and running a suburban prostitution ring. Yet, Mayor Ballard has remained oddly quiet about the mounting problems that have plagued the department since he became mayor in January.”

Apparently my Democratic friends missed the past couple news conferences where the Mayor spoke out on the problems facing IMPD. They also must have missed his recent appearance on my morning radio show where he answered the question as well. They also must not know how to use Google and do a news search.

I understand this may be a little difficult for them to do; with fellow Council Members getting arrested, local officials handing out political literature in their government offices, and internal race-based fighting over who should run the County party.

Maybe someone could take a few minutes and sit down and do a Google search.  At least this way they could put out news releases addressing the substance of problems within IMPD (created in part by the atmosphere set down by Frank Anderson) instead of putting out news releases that are easily refutable.

Ah, if only life were that simple.

Has the Center Township Assessor been listening to Judas Priest lately?  You could make the argument that Eugene Akers has.  

As citizens have been going in to appeal their property tax assessments, Akers’ office has been handing out political literature telling them to vote against transferring the Township Assessor’s duties to the County Assessor.

I know this is true because I went to the Office last week and they not only gave me a copy, but made several copies, at my request, to hand out to all my friends.

Here’s the text of the flyer…

JUST SAY NO!

If you wish to retain local representation in Center Township, vote NO on the November 4th General Election Referendum issue:

“Should the assessing duties of the Elected Township Assessor in the township be transferred to the County Assessor?”

Please look for this referendum on the backside of your ballot!

JUST SAY NO!
Thank you for your Support!

There was no disclaimer on the flyer nor was there a disclosure statement as to who paid for it (of course we know who did, it was the taxpayers). 

I wasn’t sure about the legality of this until I called the Indiana State Board of Accounts and was told the agency would take exception to the township assessor paying for political activities out of public funds.

We can have a debate about whether consolidation of the township assessors into the County assessor is a good thing, but it doesn’t help the township assesssors when one of them does really dumb things like this.

It also makes me wonder if someone is stupid enough to engage in blatant politicking on government time, do they really need to keep their job?