| Without Fear of Contradiction - - -
Suppose I tell you that the government will design a product and make you buy it. If you say no thanks, that's too bad. The government will decide what you need and what you will buy. If you say you can't afford it, we'll send in government investigators to check, and if they conclude indeed you can't afford it, we'll tax your neighbors and make them subsidize you so you can pay for it. We'll set up a government bureaucracy to monitor and make sure you're cooperating. If they discover you haven't made the purchase, they'll go to your employer and have your wages garnisheed. Let's assume further that total spending for this government-designed and -mandated product accounts for about a fifth of the nation's total economy. The former Soviet Union? Communist China? No, this is the new Hillarycare.
Misadventures in Atlanta
It's the disappearing act some people pull when they start dating. What's so unfortunate about it is that Jordan is actually a part of our group. It's not as if he's some guy she just recently met who has to go through the awkwardness of meeting us! He's already in! Naturally, if you go from single to being in a relationship, some of your priorities are going to shift. Maybe your Saturday nights have been reassigned to your new beau. And maybe one of your weeknights, too. But there are five other nights (plus weekends!) in your schedule! Is a couple hours a week too much to ask for friends who have been there for you? And it's not just women who act this way. My friend James and his girlfriend (also both within our social circle) have fallen off the face of the earth since they became exclusive almost three months ago.
Ameren customers angered with rate increase proposal
Ameren officials are asking for $247 million more annually to help cover rising replacement costs for items such as utility grade wire, poles and plastic pipe. They claim the added revenue would not go toward offsetting the costs of rebates and refunds tied to this year's rate relief settlement.The Illinois Commerce Commission, which ultimately will decide to accept or reject Ameren's proposal, hosted the public hearing - the first of six statewide and the only hearing in the region.State Rep. John Bradley, D-Marion, who asked the ICC to make Marion one of its stops, was not impressed with Nelson's presentation. He said another rate increase for the utility is unconscionable given that Ameren only had to pay back $150 million in rebates to its customers as part of the $1 billion agreement forged with the legislature last year."They say they're suffering, but they ought to see the suffering put on the people of Southern Illinois," Bradley said.
The winter of our content
But Jimmy Cone's betting there are enough who think otherwise to keep his latest business venture, Cone Farms LLC, growing. Cone — or, more precisely, his old friend Garry Koettel, who manages the farm's daily operations — raises organic heirloom tomatoes in a half-acre greenhouse just this side of Sheridan. They're a high-end, niche product, currently retailing for $5 a pound at the Fresh Market store in West Little Rock, but less than a year into things, demand is so strong that the farm's 6,000 plants can't keep up. Tomatoes aren't naturally a winter crop, of course, and those imported from warmer climates are infamous for their resemblance to cardboard. But Koettel insists that Cone Farms' 'maters are different because they are genuinely vine-ripened, not picked green and treated with ethylene gas to change their color.
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