Caption This:

An Open Letter to President Barack Obama

Dear Mr. President,

MONGREL PEOPLE?!!! MONGREL PEOPLE!!!!  What the hell were you thinking? 

Mr. President, you are the most powerful man on earth, leader of the free world, and role model to millions of minority kids in America....And the best you could come up with is a lame joke that would be on the cutting room floor of any third rate stand up comedy routine.  Mongrel People. And then you have the nerve to blame the media. How freaking and utterly pathetic.

Mr. Obama what's even more disturbing was the relative ease and comfort with which you uttered these words to describe one of the most historically significant minority in the United States. It seemed a bit too natural, too easy, almost like you've repeated this before in private circles of friends who have nothing but contempt for those whose bloodline and credit card limit reek of working class. 

Mr. President, we also wonder if you also use a canine reference when you're talking about women as well?  You remind us of the awkward middle class first generation African-American college graduate who tries to fit in with elite whites by diminishing his own race - which by any standards shows an immense character flaw that no amount of professional accomplishment will hide - not even a Presidency.

Now just in case you didn't take any history classes at Harvard or missed the 1970's Roots mini-series, we're going to break down this whole "mongrel people" thing for you.  Mr. President, not all African-American with skin-tone lighter than Wesley Snipes were born as a result of love and marriage like you were. 

Many of them -us,  can trace our heritage back to a time when our great-great-great grandmother was raped by her master as her husband our great-great-great grandfather looked on with shame.  That's how some of us became the "mongrels" you speak so casually about.  The other reality is that Africa is a continent not a nation so to assume that we would all look alike is quite frankly woefully ignorant - or as ignorant as someone with an Ivy league education can be.

But let's get back to you.

Mr. President are you a man so uncomfortable with heritage who fights a never ending internal war of hating the bloodline of a white mother and the loss of affections from a black father? 

No one, not even the First Black President should refer to any group of people as mongrels.  And here's a newsflash for you Mr. President - you're almost 50 years old - Deal with your childhood woes like most adults, get a therapist or  move on. Those without jobs don't give a damn about your internal immature angst.

And just so you don't try to turn this into one of your famous "teachable moments", this isn't the first time your mouth wrote a check your ass couldn't cash.  There's this one, and this, this and last but not least this one. We are starting to realize that just like irrefutable physics formula E=MC2 realize that you oratory skill is directly proportional to your proximity to the teleprompter. We think after your less than stellar performances in the past, you wouldn't try any more uni-lateral speeches.
Our advice to you President Obama is to pull up your political pants, stop slouching in the Oval Office and act like a President not some privileged minority frat boy uncomfortable with his color and invest in a Thesaurus.

And just for the record my mother, thank God, was one of those "typical white women" because she taught me how to love myself and my family lineage especially my African-American father.

Thank you and God Bless America.

Governor Daniels Continues Upward Climb

OBSERVATIONS: We admit we've been a little lacks in following My Man Mitch, his ups and downs and for that we will make the proper adjustments today by recognizing yet another positive piece done on the national stage, however we will only bump it up a tad. Moving forward we promise to be more diligent in seeking out the good, bad and ugly transpiring at the State level. Let it not be said that we have a bias...even for the competent ones.




UP: MDAN $175, AimingHigher $120

DOWN:

Ballard Gushes On Water Deal With Toasts to His Little Democratic Friends

OBSERVATIONS: In what could only be described as a major policy victory, Mayor Greg Ballard (GBAL) not only pushed through the transfer of the water utilities ownership, (with a bit of a slush fund for infrastructure improvements) he was able to bring three Democratic councillors with him, much to the dismay of arch political rivals Gary Welsh (ADIN) and Terry Burns (ITIM).  In what could only rival an eclipse of the sun occurring on the same day as Halley's comet both bloggers rip into Jackie Nytes, Mary Moriarty-Adams, Paul Bateman  and Libertarian Ed Coleman (who also heard a earful from HFFT) for crossing party lines to vote in favor of the ordinance. 

Gary was particularly cutting with his analysis on who voted for what and why. And if we are to be fair, it could explain why these votes are always there for Mayor Ballard.

So will there be a price to pay for voting with the Republican mayor as Terry implies? Not hardly.  We think that this is the normal horse-trading that goes on when you have something that the other guy wants or needs. 

Besides this isn't the first time these two have cut their own deal and these three are in safe districts with high name recognition. We also think its a bit odd how silent Marion County Democrat Chairman Ed Treacy (ETRY) has been on this issue.

Sorry Terry looks like you may be a bit premature on the ole' horse head-in-the-bed routine. Remember folks, sometimes its not about who is talking, its about who isn't...and Eddie ain't talkin'!

ANALYSIS:

UP: JNYE $120,  MAMA $120, GBAL $120, PBAT $110; ADIN $160, ITIM $135, HFFT $120

DOWN: ECOL $100

Jose Evans Goes To Church, Melina Kennedy Goes to the Air, Joanne Sanders Goes to Jail!

It was a busy weekend for our local Democrats as they try to dispel the moniker we gave their political mutual funds.  First up is mayoral-candidate- Jose Evans (JEVNS) who conducted a town hall meeting this weekend at Second Baptist Church on the west side of Indy. While a good first step for the councillor it did lack the "solutions" aspect that most community residents are accustomed to seeing in the past.  

What we found noticeable was the lack of the Ballard administration's participation at the event. Another sign of political ineptness. News Flash Mayor: You never ever let the opponent debate an empty seat with your name on it. It only reinforces the perception you don't care.  As we stated its a good first step for the rookie councilor but he needs to bring some more solutions to the table if he want to move in his corner.

Next up is Melina Kennedy (MKEN) who has hit the airwaves with a little piece called "working together".  While its not a bad, it isn't memorable nor inspiring and we were left wondering "what was the purpose?"  But since the weather is nice we'll give her a little bump for effort. No more freebies Melina let's get it in gear Miss Mel!

Finally there's our favorite Union supporter Joanne Sanders (JSAN) who in a show of solidarity against a secret ballot to unionize hotel workers (go figure) was arrested outside of the Hyatt hotel.  We would like to give Joanne something for her efforts however we're just not impressed with her performance .

Listen up Councillor Sanders if this was about discrimination, abuse of power or similar we would gladly raise your stock, however in this economic environment even the workers understand that they're lucky to have a job. Let's us be blunt here - housekeeping and janitorial service are not, we repeat are not skilled positions.  Wanna' raise? Learn a skill. 

In reality we saw this as an obvious dress rehearsal  for a full blown show in 2011 for the Super Bowl organizers. We expect to see plenty more of  the same next year. 

ANALYSIS:

UP:   JEVNS $130,  MKEN $140, SiMi $60

DOWN:  GBAL $110

SAME:  JSAN $120

Caption This:

IPSE Weeking Chuckle....

Political Popourri: The Latest In Bone Head Moves!

OBSERVATIONS:  We are focusing on bonehead moves today.

First up. Ms Bell, please, please tell us there's no truth in this post by Paul Ogden (OGPL) stating that you hired a PR firm to assist you in addressing last week's nightmare.  Quite frankly we're not sure which is more pathetic for an organization with the track record and name brand of Indiana Black Expo:
1) Having to hire a PR firm,
2) Hiring a PR firm that didn't have the insight to hire at least one African-American or
3) Taking advice from one of the most inept mayors on community relations Indianapolis has ever had? 


I mean come on the guy couldn't even get enough people to applaud him at your event. Were you even paying attention?

Ms Bell. Sistergirl, here's a newsflash. IBE's origins are grassroots and community-based, not corporate. Our advice is to dump the PR firm and use that money to outfit your staff in a pair of Nikes and clipboards, hit the streets and re-connect with your customers.  Maybe Amos Brown (ABWN) can help you engage the community at more than just a flyover level.

Go to the barbershops, beauty shops, church meetings, libraries and local parks. Meet with those you want to buy your product. This isn't rocket science. And finally please don't listen to a Mayor who has an African-American Deputy Mayor that states "If the Mayor wants me to wash windows for this kind of money, that's what I'll do!"

Indianapolis Times has the latest on Carl Brizzi (CBRZ). As you know this "stop motion train-wreck on a man" has a stock value of zero on our board so we reflect this latest bit on news as part of the NQAI - the local GOP mutual fund.  Unfortunately, at least for this week the local GOP leadership are no stronger together than they are apart.

On a national level things aren't looking good for HopeandChange (HoCha) mutual funds as this lastest issue sucked up 5 days of natioanl airtime from what should have been another policy accomplishment of the Obama adminstration.  Also Mr. Rangel's tax escapades will wreck havoc in the next few weeks on Democratic messaging if he doesn't step down soon. As unemployment continues to remain periously high, breaks in the ranks of the Democrats concerning extending the Bush taxes cuts will significantly eroded this mutual fund. 

ANALYSIS:

UP:   OGPL  $210,  ITIM $130, NoSa $110, ABWN $130

DOWN:  GBAL $110, NQAI $70, HoCha $60, OWMS $70

IPSE to Andre Carson: We Have An Explaination!

OBSERVATIONS:  Well this is what happens when you run with the wrong crowd.  Now we reported on this a while back and to be honest we were quite kind. Advance Indiana has another blurb on the Congressman Carson's apparent pretense of engaging in a cell phone call in order to avoid asnwering a reporter's questions. Not good.  There's also this piece posted yesterday by Larry O'Conner that openly challenges Congressman Andre Carson and indicates that he now has received national attention from his 5 minutes of fame during the healthcare debates earlier this year. And like most ill-conceived ideas, its a gift that keeps on giving.   At some point the Congressman will need to get on the air locally and nationally to clean up this "misunderstanding" or risk a credibility gap that will only continue to grow. 

Now in defense of the good Congressman we heard that Winnie the Pooh's homeboy was in the audience and someone may have recognized him and gave him a shout out. We would say this theory can be proven with the same amount of evidence as the Congressman has shown to support his position.  We have reached out to the inhabitants of the 100 Acre Woods subdivision to verify this story and will keep you posted. 

So what does this mean for his campaign for the 7th CD?  Absolutely nothing as long as the congressional district map remains unchanged and GOP Marion County Chairman Tom John and Lacy Johnson share the same executive bathroom at Ice Miller. Unfortunately there's still a price to pay for rookie mistakes like these and here's the bill.

UP:  ADIN $150

DOWN:  ACAR $80

IPSE Collects the Last Thoughts On the Black Expo

OBSERVATIONS:  We just wanted to do a quick round-the-block tour of the blogosphere to make sure we didn't leave any scattered thoughts unreported out there and to see if there was any general concensus on lessons learned.

Of course we can't leave this topic without getting getting the always provacative Gary Welsh of Advance Indiana (ADIN)  (and let's just say he had ALOT to say about this) and of course his nemesis Amos Brown (ABWN) this post was particulalry hard-hitting and worthy of public discussion .  Needlesss to say we weren't disappointed.  Bart Lies (BLIE) also weighs in  as does Ruth Holliday (RUHO), and we must acknowledge that she still has that biting wit.   

Here's our take on the issue.  Black Expo got exactly what it asked for through a marketing plan designed to target and motivate youths who have "bling" in their everyday vocabulary to come downtown.  These youths did and Saturday night brought the dividends of Black Exp's marketing efforts. This isn't a racist statement its the applied logic of cause and effect.  Having said that, here's our suggestion:

1) We believe if Ms. Bell targets her marketing efforts specifically to familes, then it will be families that will attend not a bunch of baby-faced neanderthals (our tribute to Amos Brown) 

2) The Mayor needs to dump the deadweight of downtown bigwigs on the taskforce and replace them with individuals with community ties that are not on the government payroll or influence. We think there are quite of few parents who can add both insight and value to any planned discussion on how to appeal to families. 

Mayor if you want to run the City like a business then you need to think like a businessman. When marketing to a specific customer it helps to get their opinions as opposed to group of blackberry carrying bean-counters in finance. Okay, we said our part now here's our scores.

ANALYSIS:

UP:  ADIN $140, BLIE $105, ABWN $120, RUHO $105

DOWN:

Paul Ogden Fought The Law....And Won!

OBSERVATIONS:  Paul Ogden (OGPL) is growing into a pretty good giant-slayer as his latest target presiding traffic court Judge William Young.  His work in and out of the courtroom he has caught the attention of the Indiana Commission of Judicial Qualifications and could lead to some pretty heavy sanctions against judge Young.  Not bad for a guy who takes hits from other like-minded bloggers in stride.  He does a pretty interesting analysis of Mayor Ballard here, here and here.  As a result we think that the 25th floor shouldn't take this guy too lightly.

And if you mesh this with Indy Democrats take on Mayor Ballard well...let's just say his re-election is not a slam dunk. 




ANALYSIS:

UP:   OGPL $200, IDEM $140

DOWN: 

IPSE Reports: Shamus Goes Down As Ballard And Co. Goes Up!

OBSERVATION:  In what has turned out to be a great piece of community/police collaboration the alleged Black Expo shooter went from doing the "wobble" to doing the perp walk today.  While we have no pity on this "gangsta wannabe" we can't help but wonder what was his mother thinking when she named him "Shamus". Never ones to leave unaswered questions for our audience we decided to do a little investigating and this is what we discovered.   We think moms was either an oldschool gamer, had a serious crush on Burt Reynolds or she was using the proper name for a certain sea critter.
We guess someone will need to ask her at his arraingnment today which answer is closest.  In the meantime we give big boosts to Mayor Ballard (GBAL), Public Safety Director Straub (FSTRA) and the AmenCorner (AMCO) for a job well done.

ANALYSIS:  

UP:  GBAL $120, FSTRA $115, AMCO $140 

DOWN:

IPSE Introduces New Mutual Fund: The AmenCorner!

OBSERVATIONS:  In light of the  re-emergence of the Black Minsterial Alliance, Concerned Clergy and others as a result of the Brandon Johnson story we've decided create a mutual fund specifically for local religious leaders.  The AmenCorner represents the collective African-American pastors from this to this (Rev. Charles Harrison) and all points in between. 

So why create a fund for these guys? Simple we think that IMPD/Community relations could play a significant role in the upcoming municipal elections. Unlike past Republican mayors in the past Mayor Greg Ballard  (GBAL) doesn't have a 10% voter cushion to insulate himself against the machinations an organized and vocal African-American community (specificaly black churches).  We believe that this particular adminstration has little room for error and if they want a second term having a non-combative relationship with the black community is absolutely necessary.

This has been the traditional role of the Deputy Mayor's position however we've yet to see Ballard deploy Deputy Mayor OlgenWilliam (OWMS) in any meaningful way or Williams use his existing talents and networks to strengthen these relationships. 

We understand that Ballard has scheduled a sitdown meeting with these pastors so as a results we open the fund with a very strong number as the first step to influencing public policy is securing a seat at the table .

We will also raise Mayor Ballard's stock for having the foresight to head off political problems before they begin. Of course it remains to be seen what the outcomes of this little powwow will bring.  Bottom line, if the politicans don't get this solved you can kiss downtown business profits, Black Expo's future success, and the 2012 Super Bowl goodbye.

ANALYSIS:

UP: AMCO $120, GBAL $100

DOWN:

A Hot Mess In the Ole' Town Last Night.

OBSERVATIONS: We lead off this bundle of bodacious blogging with the a re-cap of last's night's Ievenattheage of18Istilldon'tknowhowtoactinpublic at Indiana Black Expo last night.   Abdul over at Indiana Barrister (INBR) does a good job providing us a blow-by-blow account and Advance Indiana (ADIN) reminds us that this isn't the first time.  He also followes up with this between-the-eyes post.

Meanwhile Democratic Mayoral Candidate Jose Evans (JEVNS) is first out of the box to dicuss what could the defining issue in the 2011 Mayoral election - crime and IMPD/community relations.  While he may have been a little out fo his field of expertise with the waterdeal, this issue has the ability to garner the grassroots support in the primary (something we think Melina Kennedy may not be able to do) and provide Ballard with a very serious non-conventional challenger.

We will give credit where credit is due. Mayor Ballard (GBAL) and Public Safety Director Frank Straub (FSTRA) will get a boost in value for hitting the streets last night and showing leadership that has up to now, well be a little scarce.  We will also introduce a new mutual fund in our next post that we hope will make this experiment a little more interesting.  More to come in a bit, meanwhile here's our take:

ANALYSIS:  

UP: GBAL $90, JEVNS $130, FSTRA $95,  INBR  $160, ADIN $135

DOWN:

Political Potpourri

OBESRVATIONS:  Here's our special blend of observations we wanted to slide in today. First we need to acknolwedge the pummeling Ryan Vaughn (RVHN) took not once, but twice, but three times  at the hands of Councilor Jonanne Sanders (JSAN), BartLies and the the anonymous Indiana Barrister commenter Think Again.  Speaking points are not a substitute for actually understanding the substance of the debate.  It was painfully obvious that Ryan Vaughn is not ready for prime time unless he brings a teleprompter or has Bob Grand or Joe Loftus whispering in his ear.

Mayor Ballard (GBAL) scores a big one with the announcment of the Pacer deal.   Paul Ogden (OGPL) and Gary Welsh (ADIN) were worthy adversaries however they were no match for the Ballard machine. While he may be the Mayor who bent the taxpayers over for the Pacers, he won't be the Mayor who let them leave. The clanking sound you hear is the can being kicked downt he road. Of course we can't help but say we told you so!

We hear from multiple sources that Baker and Daniels newbie attorney Zach Myers, son of Dr. Woody Myers is testing the waters for a possible bid to inherit the seat currently held by Pike Councilor/Mayoral candidate Jose Evans.  What makes this news worthy for posting is that it does indicate that Jose is serious about his bid. Melina may want to review the David and Goliath story just in case. This will be an interesting item to watch as the GOP doesn't seem to have anyone in the bullpen let alone on deck.

ANALYSIS:

UP:  JSAN $120, JEVN $120; GBAL $80, ADIN $130, OGPL $190, BLIE $110

DOWN:  RVHN $100,

Ding, Ding Ding!!!!! The Market Is Now Open

The Market is now open. Don't forgent we now have political mutual funds. Good luck and Happy Hunting.

Trading Day FAQ:

Okay fans this is the day we've all been waiting for, the first day of trading. Trading will begin at 9am and continue for the next 12 hours. Posting with a time/date stamp before 9am will be deleted. We've posted this a few minutes prior so that if there's anyone who wants to participate they can do so however, they MUST be a follower in order to post a legitimate transaction. For additional information and sample postings please see the instruction pages at the top of the blog including TRADING DAY PAGE listed above this post. Today we may offer observations/analysis as followers/traders may offload declining stock. Here is a quick list of the rules:


Each stock listed on IPSE has 1,000 initial shares available for trading.


* You can purchase your own stock as long as it is listed.

* Watch for supplemental postings throughout the trading day as they can have an impact on the price of stocks during the trade. However trading will not have an impact on outside postings.

* Regular Trading Days allows traders to buy and sell all listed IPSE stock within the comment section.

* Stock price on this date can fluctuate according to trading activity occuring within the comment section and posts throughout the trading day. If there hasn't been a previous posting raising or lowering the value it is assumed to be $100. All buy/selling must occur in the comment section only of the Trading Day post.

1) Each follower starts with $100,000 in their account. You MUST be a follower in order to participate. Violators will have their postings deleted.

2) Trading Day is a buy/sell day.

3) Buys are registered in the comment section only. Transactions posted elsewhere will not be counted.

4) Conversely any posting other than actual transaction will also be deleted.

5) Traders are required to keep an accurate count of their trades and cash balances.

6) For more information please see the TRADING DAY page listed above.

Gordon Gekko: The most valuable commodity I know of is information. (Wallstreet 1987)

Abdul Takes On Indy's Black Leadership: Now Will He Walk the Walk?

OBSERVATIONS:  Abdul Hakim Shabazz (INBR) has found his roots lately as he offers a series of posts here, here and here providing his take on local black clergy, black leadership, the collective black community, black youth in general.  While we found his posts provocative and for the most part substantive we couldn't help but notice that the cavernous disconnect between the Abdul's words and his deeds. 

Simply stated, we have been scouring the blogosphere and written media and have yet to find evidence of Abdul's work on behalf of Indy's black community. Some might even suggest that the the only time Abdul mentions the plight of the black community is to score political points for his friends or against his foes.

That being said we will give him a bump up for doing what Mayor Greg Ballard, Deputy Mayor Olgen Williams and Director Straub seem incapable of doing - addressing this issue in the public square instead of hiding under a desk.

UP:  INBR $145

DOWN: GBAL $65; FSTR $85; OWMS $75

Jon Easter And Newcomer Vop Osili...Man-Crush or Dedicated Democrat? We'll Let You Judge!

OBSERVATIONS:  We debated long and hard about this post but when it was all said and done snarkiness one out with a few built-in compromises.  We found Indy Democrat's (Jon Easter) post last week, a bit over the top when it came to touting the Democrat candidate for Secretary of State Vop Osili. It kinda reminded us of a proud parent with a crap load of baby photos..."And here's Junior taking his first step, here he is with daddy's shoes on..."

Now we understand that Jon Easter is a Democrats Democrat and we give him his props for it, but damn dude it sounded like you had a little man-crush thing going on there (not that there's anything wrong with it).  This leaves us to wonder if there's anyone out there doing the same lovey-dovey photo-shoot for good ole' Charlie White.

Anyway we've had our say and just so we keep things fair, we'll acknowledge Jon's efforts to keep candidate Osili's name out here in the blogosphere.

And of course this post wouldn't be quite complete without a little music that seems to capture this special Easter/Osili moment in a special way.

ANALYSIS:

UP:  IDEM $135, VOP $135

DOWN:

IPSE Introduces Political Mutual Funds!

FEDERAL:


HopeandChange (HoCha): Represents all things Democratic/Liberal at the Federal level. Opening price: $70.

NopeandSame (NoSa): Represents all things Republican/Conservative at the Federal level. Opening price $90.

STATE:

NotMyMan (NoMM): Represents all things Democratic/Liberal at the State level. Opening price $60

AimingHigher (AIHI): Represents all things Republican/Conservative at the State level. Opening price $110

LOCAL:

NoQuestionAboutIt (NQAI): Represents all things Republican/Conservative at the Local level. Opening price $80

SilentMinority (SiMi): Represents all things Democratic/Liberal at the local level. Opening Price $50

We're really looking forward to see how this will work tomorrow and in the mean time have fun picking your favorite funds.

IPSE: Good News Bad News...

OBSERVATIONS: Well folks we have so good news and we have some bad news about today. First the bad news. We have decided to postpone "Trading Day" for another 24 hours to bring the political market up to date.  So for all of you "followers" who are eager to begin trading our advice is to study up on the rules of the game listed at the top of the blog (each opens to a spearate page) and watch the board today so that you can hit the ground running.  Keep in mind this is will NOT be an inaugural trading day which means you can  buy and sell during the designated periods.

Now the good news!  We now have three tiered mutual funds so that you can trade stock at all levels of government - local state and federal. With all that is going on in politics nowdays we were having a difficult time ignoring some of the blockbuster stories occurring at the federal and state levels of government and how they play into our local trading game. So for the last three weeks we've been playing around with this concept and wanted to test the model during a live trade.

For the sake of the IPSE game we are using a mutual fund model, in that we are bundling each party's politicians, advocacy groups, pundits and results from national polls into one fund that represents that party's collective value at that level.

At this time there will only be two funds, one representing the Republican/Conservative Party the other the Democratic/Liberal Party at each level of government.   

For you the investor this provides you with the opportunity to safely take advantage of the collective upward or downward trends of a political party while continuing to play the high stakes game of trading individual stocks.  As with individual stock a fund has a base value of $100 dollars however in order to hit the ground running we have will provide an opening price that reflects the day's value.

We also believe the introduction of funds to the game will allow newcomers to better understand the game as well as provide a way for partisans to put their money where their mouths are.  

IPSE Asks: Hate Speech or Free Speech II?

And the Democrats say they want to catch the GOP in public gaffs...We'd laugh if this wasn't so damn sad.

IPSE Asks: Hate Speech or Free Speech?

Happy 4th of July