Items of interest

First, with a tip to Steve Fritsch at The Cincinnatus Standard, comes the news of an organization focused on limiting the growth of government spending. COAST, the Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes, started in Cincinnati to address spending and tax issues in that city, but has expanded to focus on state and federal spending as well. I hope you'll make it a regular stop...perhaps some in this area would like to form a local chapter???

Second, from The Cato Institue, a libertarian think tank, comes this announcement:

This Friday, March 9, at 4:00pm, Vaclav Klaus, the president of the Czech Republic, will address the topic of contemporary environmental issues facing Europe and the world, such as global warming at the Cato forum "Facing a Challenge of the Current Era: Environmentalism." Recently, Klaus asserted that "Global warming is a false myth and every serious person and scientist says so. It is not fair to refer to the U.N. panel. IPCC is not a scientific institution: it's a political body, a sort of non-government organization of green flavor. It's neither a forum of neutral scientists nor a balanced group of scientists. These people are politicized scientists who arrive there with a one-sided opinion and a one-sided assignment." Klaus also said, "other top-level politicians" do not express their global warming doubts because "a whip of political correctness strangles [their] voice."

Information on how to watch this address on line is available here.

Finally, there's a lot that happened over the last two weeks when I was on vacation, but I think the strangest of all was the announcement of Mayor Carty Finkbeiner's business advisory council - individuals who are to offer advice and suggestions about how to make Toledo a business-friendly community - at the same time that City Council was hearing about the Mayor's suggestion to transfer ambulance service FROM private ambulance companies to the Fire Department. Did the irony of the situation strike anyone else?