Fit enought for service (military)
A ‘local newspaper” had an article entitled “fit enough for service.”
This article states that “75% of the nation’s 17 - 24 year olds are ineligible to join the military because they are either too physically unfit, have a criminal record, or have not graduated from high school.”
I joined the military 20 years ago. I have never been in good shape; however, I easily qualified. I do not have a criminal record. I felt that the entrance scores were a complete joke.
It is appalling that only one quarter of our young men and women qualify to join our military. It is also extremely sad…
Mike Sylvester
City Budget Veto Absurdity Redux
Last year the administration claimed that they were considering using the line-item veto over the council’s decision to eliminate a PIO position. Councilman Mitch Harper reminded them that a veto can remove something from the budget but it can’t put something back in. Here was my take at the time:
I sincerely hope the city attorney was not suggesting that the mayor can veto something in order to increase a line item in the budget. The mayor might be able to strike the city council assistant position or some other act of retribution but the idea that he can veto a line that doesn’t exist is ridiculous.
[...]
here’s the thing, as any 2nd year political science student would know, you can’t veto something into a bill…The mayor will be presented with a budget and if he wants to eliminate certain line items then he should go for it but he cannot assert some sort of kingly right to insert money into the budget without council approval
Now, with two neighborhood advocates axed from the budget, they are making the same
outrageous claims:
Read more
Senator Bernie Sanders Introduces Real Change You Can Believe In
The most capitalist bill in Congress has been written by a self-avowed socialist Senator - the Too Big To Fail, Too Big to Exist Act
Another Eminent Domain “Success”
The SCOTUS’ Kelo v New London decision was extremely controversial at the time as it allowed the government to eminent domain your land even if they simply wanted to give it to another private entity. In this particular case the city of New London wanted to buy out several homes so they could redevelop the area for a new hotel among other things. So how’s the redevelopment going?
Weeds, glass, bricks, pieces of pipe and shingle splinters have replaced the knot of aging homes at the site of the nation’s most notorious eminent domain project.
There are a few signs of life: Feral cats glare at visitors from a miniature jungle of Queen Anne’s lace, thistle and goldenrod. Gulls swoop between the lot’s towering trees and the adjacent sewage treatment plant.But what of the promised building boom that was supposed to come wrapped and ribboned with up to 3,169 new jobs and $1.2 million a year in tax revenues? They are noticeably missing.
[...]
New London officials decided they needed Kelo’s land and the surrounding 90 acres for a multimillion-dollar private development that included residential, hotel conference, research and development space and a new state park that would compliment a new $350 million Pfizer pharmaceutical research facility.
[...]
In New London the city’s prized economic development plan has fallen apart as the economy crumbled.The Corcoran Jennison Cos., a Boston-based developer, had originally locked in exclusive rights to develop nearly the entire northern half of the Fort Trumbull peninsula.
But those rights expired in June 2008, despite multiple extensions, because the firm was unable to secure financing, according to President Marty Jones.
[...]
The empty land means the city won a “hollow victory,” he said.“What cities should take from this is to run fleeing from what New London did and do economic development that is market-driven and incorporate properties of folks who are truly committed to their neighborhood and simply want to be a part of what happens,” he said.
Nice. Steal somebody’s land and then leave the lot empty. And just to make matters worse - remember that $350 million Pfizer pharmaceutical research facility they were trying to “compliment”?
On Thursday, Pfizer dealt a final blow to the project and the struggling seaport city by announcing that 1,400 jobs would leave the area as the pharmaceutical giant scales back amid tepid sales and a lack of new drugs in its pipeline. The move will vacate a 750,000 square foot complex built in 2001 and nothing is planned in its place.
I would file that under “unfortunate poetic justice”. Awful jackasses…
Allen County Republican Chair Steve Shine should shut his mouth
As the readers of this blog know for a long time I truly felt that Steve Shine was a terrible Allen County GOP Chair. Over the last couple of years I think he has done a much better job and my dislike of Mr. Shine has been replaced with a certain degree of respect. It looks like he is doing his best to earn my dislike again…
That being said, he was quoted in the News-Sentinel recently and said some things he should not have said.
Basically the article discusses the recently announced candidacy of Phil Troyer in the upcoming Republican 3rd District primary. Kevin Leininger writes an article where he discusses whether or not Mark Souder is a liberal on some issues or not.
Duh… Mark Souder is a strong social conservative; however, he is a big Government Republican liberal on spending issues. Consider that he voted in favor of expanding Medicare Part D, a roughly 3/4 of a trillion dollar bailout of Wall Street, and that he has voted for numerous dubious bailouts and stimulus plans that fly in the face of capitalism and conservatism…
In the article Kevin Leininger mistakenly says the national debt is 12 billion dollars and rising fast. The national debt is actually 1000 times worse that the article states; it is 12 TRILLION dollars and rising fast…
Steve Shine is the GOP Chair for Allen County. I disliked him when he kept getting involved in Republican primaries. In my opinion his job is to NOT get involved in Republican primaries; his job is to grow the Republican Party.
It is not appropriate for Steve Shine to defend Mark Souder against another Republican in the primary.
The article attributes the following to Steve Shine:
“Souder has been a superb representative, adhering to the conservative values of the district while being cognizant of its needs such as support for General Motors, which is why for the first time in history the plant is running three shifts.”
Steve Shine needs to do some more research because the above statement is so absurd that it is hard to know where to start…
Mark Souder is a social conservative I will give him that. Mark Souder is not honest; he promised to hold office for a maximum of 12 years; next year will be his 14th year. Mark Souder keeps voting with the Democrats on a large range of issues including expanding Medicare Part D (The largest increase in entitlement spending in several decades), needless bailouts of a large number of companies, a huge bailout of the banking system, etc…
It just shocks me that Steve Shine could possibly think that the local GM plant is running three shifts due to Congressman Mark Souder. Seriously Steve?
GM should be in bankruptcy and I would bet that the majority of people who consider themselves conservatives feel that GM should have been allowed to fail. Unfortunately for future Americans the taxpayers were forced to give GM and Chrysler 80 billion dollars of taxpayer money in order to keep them afloat. This money was borrowed and will be paid back with interest…
And to claim that the local GM plant is running three shifts due to the actions of Mark Souder; that is so laughable that no response is necessary…
Steve Shine needs to stay out of the Republican Primary and focus on growing the Republican Party. Steve Shine must be scared that Phil Troyer could pose a serious challenge to the big spending Mark Souder, otherwise, he would not have felt it necessary to involve himself in another Republican primary.
Steve Shine should stay out of the Republican Primary and focus on doing his job; growing the local Republican Party.
Mike Sylvester
An unnamed Fort Wayne morning newspaper?
Want to share my recent experiences with the subject:
On October 31, 2009 a “letter to the editor” was sent by email to both of the Fort Wayne newspapers. The subject was the non-use of local contractors on the unnecessary new downtown hotel. (You can read this letter - it was published by the News-Sentinel on Tuesday, November 10)
After sending the email, one week went past with no contact with anyone at the morning paper. So on the morning of November 5, Stacey Stumpf was contacted by telephone asking why it had not yet appeared. Her answer really floored me- she said that the letter was full of “number errors” and would not be published unless they were corrected. Of course, she was asked for examples and she indicated that the writer had listed that White Lodging had bought the land for the hotel for $1.00. She said that according to the newspaper’s archives she found that White actually paid the city $17 and some cents for the land. After stopping my laughter on this item she was asked for another example. Stacey said that the city paid $3.5 million “for all the Harrison Square land and the land for the hotel was just a portion of that” I told her that was in error and she was asked just where in the archives that info was found. She hemed and hawed and we discontinued the conversation with me saying I would be stopping to see her that afternoon.
I asked for Stacey when I arrived at !PM. She came down to the lobby and we talked about our earlier discussion. She then told me that she had called Greg Leatherman after she had received my letter and that he was the source for the $17 plus change and the statement about the cost of the land. I took out of my file that I had brought along a copy of our morning paper that told that Leatherman had stated at a recent City Council meeting, ” six commercial and 26 residential properties were aquired by the Redevelopment Commission for Harrison Square at a total cost of $11,923,389 of which $2.4 million was for the Bill’s Palace and $2 million was the eminent-domain price paid for the Belmont Liquor Store.
Stacey then went on to inform me that Leatherman had told her that 18 local contractors had received written contracts from the general contractor. She was asked if the local Associated Builders and Contractor’s Association had been asked about these numbers. No answer - I had contacted them and they reported that only one of their generals had even been asked to bid on any part of the job!
Stacey then repeated the statement that”only if these so-called number errors were corrected to her satisfaction” would the morning paper even consider printing my letter.
Two emails between editor Tracy Warner and myself resulted in a repeat of the above statement, even when corrections to the “silly” $17 vs $1 plus other clarifying statements was summitted.
Is our morning newspaper “in the pocket” of our city administation or not? Sure sounds like it is!
Fort Wayne City Council passes another STUPID tax abatement
The Henry Administration really needs to look at the projects they put in front of City Council before asking for tax abatements.
In turn the City Council really needs to look at the tax abatements put in front of them and they need to deny the stupid ones.
Tax abatements have been a common topic on this blog. Likely all of the normal readers of this blog know that I oppose all tax abatements. I believe that tax abatements are unfair and that it would be better to lower the tax rate that EVERYONE pays rather than pick a few “special” businesses to reward.
The News-Sentinel has a piece in the Wednesday newspaper that discusses some recently approved tax abatements.
Phil Troyer for Congress
Press release from Phil Troyer campaign
(FORT WAYNE) Phil Troyer, a Fort Wayne attorney, will announce his intention to challenge incumbent U.S. Congressman Mark Souder in the 2010 Republican Primary during press conferences to be held at the following times and locations:
Chestnut Hills Clubhouse (off U.S. 14) in Fort Wayne Tuesday, November 10, 2009 @ 8:00 a.m.
Goshen Public Library Tuesday, November 10, 2009 @ 4:00 p.m.
Troyer, a former aide to U.S. Senators Dan Coats (R-IN) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) and campaign manager for Rick Hawks’ 1990 congressional challenge race, brings considerable political experience to the race. “Frankly, I had no intention of returning to politics,” said Troyer. “Working on Capitol Hill was a tremendous opportunity for someone who grew up in small towns like Etna Green and Shipshewana. However, I decided to move back to northeastern Indiana to concentrate on raising a family and building a career outside of government.”
Troyer currently serves as General Counsel for a national financial services firm whose parent company was recently named the 2nd fastest growing privately-held company in the country by Inc. magazine. “I have a great job and was not looking to change careers,” noted Troyer. “However, when Congressman Souder voted in favor of the $700,000,000,000.00 bailout of Wall Street, I decided someone needed to do something.”
“I began researching Congressman Souder’s record on spending and was profoundly dismayed at what I found,” said Troyer. “He may talk like a fiscal conservative when he is back home in Indiana, but he votes like a big spending liberal when he is in Washington. Republican voters need to know the truth about Congressman Souder’s record on spending, and at the press conferences announcing my candidacy I will provide evidence of just how bad it really is.” Specifically, Troyer will offer documents representing fifty (50) spending votes from the past three (3) years - ranging from the $700,000,000,000.00 Wall Street bailout to $50,000.00 for the National Mule and Packers Museum in California - where Souder voted to increase spending and he would have voted to cut it.
For Troyer, the decision to run came down to a simple consideration. “I have a 9-year old daughter,” noted Troyer. “Working in the financial services industry, I understand the negative impact the exploding federal debt is already having on our economy. If we do not do something to control federal spending quickly, the dollar will continue to weaken and interest rates will rise to encourage foreign countries to continue servicing our debt. That will not only lower our standard of living but jeopardize our national security. As a father, I cannot stand by idly while career politicians like Congressman Souder jeopardize the future of our children and grandchildren with wasteful and selfish porkbarrel spending.”
“Having worked on Capitol Hill and on congressional challenge races, I understand the power of incumbency,” remarked Troyer, “but I also know the power of truth and the anger voters feel when confronted with hypocracy from politicians. I am confident that, when voters learn the truth about my opponent’s record on spending, they will no longer support him. My mission for the next six months will be to ensure people understand what he is really doing in Washington so they can make an informed choice on May 4th.”
Congress and the President have no understanding of Economics…
The idiots in Washington DC passed another stupid piece of legislation last week. This piece of idiocy was HR3548; the worker, home ownership, & business act of 2009.
This bill passed 98 - 0 in the senate. This bill passed 403 -12 in the House. Both major political parties are overwhelmingly in favor of this idiocy.
This bill does three major things.
The first thing this law does is extends unemployment benefits again. The law extends unemployment benefits to in some cases 99 weeks (A record high amount of time in the US). I oppose this change; however, there are many economists and think tanks who feel that increasing unemployment benefits helps the economy because it puts money in the hands of people who will immediately spend it. This is done at a cost of a couple of billion dollars. So while I disagree with this; there are a significant number of reputable economists and think tanks who feel this is helpful so lets ignore this small portion of the bill.
The second and third things this law does are the problem. The two items below bring the cost of this bill to over 24 billion dollars.
The second thing this bill does; and the one that honks me off the most, is it extends to 1st time home buyers credit through June 30th of 2010 as long as you have a contract signed by April 30th, 2010. Further it extends the credit to people who have owned a home for five of the last eight years. Further it raises the income limits on the people who qualify for the credit. This credit is ABSURD and shows the Congress and the President have no understanding of basic economics. This provision was opposed by large majorities of both liberal economists and conservative economists. As far as I can tell the only groups in favor of this give-away are the mortgage industry and the real estate industry and the residential construction industry. There are several things going against this bill:
- The IRS has already opened over 107,000 civil investigations into the 1st time home buyers credit. They have done this because the credit is rife with fraud.
- The IRS has reported that at least 582 children claimed the credit; several of them were as young as four years old… Imagine a four year old buying a house.
- The IRS has opened 167 criminal investigations due to suspected fraud.
- The IRS is starting to investigate fraudulent claims to such a large extent that it is taking 12-16 weeks for taxpayers to get the tax credit sent to them at this point.
- According the the National Association of Realtors the tax credit will cause 350,000 homes to be purchased by November 30th, 2009 that otherwise would not have been purchased. Goldman Sachs thinks this number is high and feels that the credit only cause 200,000 homes to be purchased by November 30th, 2009 that otherwise would not have been purchased. In other words the original tax credit that is about to expire cost you and I (and our kids) between $43,000 and $80,000 per additional house that was sold. This has to be paid back with interest.
There is no possible justification for the extension of this tax credit. Even the New York Times opposes it along with numerous liberal and conservative think tanks. Between 80% and 90% of the people who get the tax credit would have purchased a home ANYWAY.
The third part of this bill is a provision that allows businesses in some cases to take losses they have in 2008 and 2009 and roll them back for a period of up to five years. This will mean the IRS will have to refund taxes these companies previously had already paid in. This makes our current tax code even more complicated.
Good Grief…
Mike Sylvester
House of Representatives passes monstrous health care reform bill
In a dramatic vote a few minutes ago the Democratic House of Representatives passed a huge (2000 page) health reform bill. The vote was 220 to 215. One silly Republican voted for the monstrosity.
Now we have to hope that the Senate defeats this socialist bill…
Good Grief…
Mike Sylvester
