About: Mike Sylvester
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Posts by Mike Sylvester:
Palin is a great pick for VP
8/29/08 @ 7:52 pm
I want to start this post by reminding you all that I switched to the Republican Party earlier this year from the Libertarian Party. I am a Republican who is sick and tired of Republicans who vote for larger government and more regulations.
I also want to remind you that in many posts I have said that I will likely vote for Libertarian Bob Barr for President in November.
McCain’s choice of Palin has made me reconsider; I am not longer sure whether I will vote Republican or Libertarian for President in November.
Palin is a great choice for VP for many reasons:
1. She will energize the Republican base because she is a strong social conservative. I think this will ensure the Republican base votes in November and it will help McCain’s fundraising as well.
2. She has more Executive experience then Obama, McCain, and Biden combined. She was the Mayor of a small town in Alaska and has been the Governor of Alaska for as long as Obama has been a US Senator.
3. She is the only person who is truly from the middle class on either ticket. Her dad was a school teacher and her mother was a school secretary.
4. She has never served in Washington DC and I think that will help her with voters. I think many people are sick and tired of Washington DC insiders screwing things up for all of us.
5. She has a captivating personal history.
6. She has a strong reputation for fighting corruption in Alaska. She has gone after Republicans including their corrupt Republican Senator and Republican Representative.
7. She is against earmarks and told Washington that Alaska did not need Washington DC to build the infamous “bridge to nowhere.”
8. She is not a lawyer. Both members of the Democratic ticket are lawyers and I think that will hurt the Democrats in November.
There are many more reasons; however, these are some of the first ones that struck me.
Palin is the kind of candidate that Obama should have chose rather then a man who has served in the senate for 36 years.
Mike Sylvester
Filed Under 2008 National Elections | 43 Comments
What were they thinking?
8/29/08 @ 7:33 pm
In a few minutes I will put up a post explaining why I think Palin was a good choice for McCain.
Before I get to that I want to talk about campaign themes and how BOTH Obama’s campaign and McCain’s campaign chose VP’s that are not in line with their overall campaign themes.
First Obama chose Biden. Obama’s campaign theme has been that Washington is broken and that we need “change.” “Change” is a message that has resonated for Obama. Obama then decided to choose a man who has served in the United States senate for the last 36 years. A man who has created the environment that Obama continually says he wants to change. The pick of Biden did not match Obama’s message of “change” at all.
Then McCain chose Palin. McCain has run on a theme of “experience.” He has portrayed Obama as too inexperienced to be President of the United States. So he chose a women who has some exectuive experience; but, no foreign policy experience at all. The pick of Palin did not match McCain’s message of “experience” at all.
As far as theme’s go Obama and Palin are a much better fit for a theme of “change” and McCain and Biden are a much better fit for a theme of “experience.”
Mike Sylvester
Filed Under 2008 National Elections | 8 Comments
Harrison Square condo sales floundering
8/29/08 @ 1:02 am
Everyone reading this blog knows that I ardently opposed Harrison Square. I spoke at public hearings, City Council meetings, and wrote several editorials for the local newspapers concerning Harrison Square not to mention blog posts concerning the project.
In the last few months I have not said much about the project. I have just sat on the “sidelines” and watched it falter.
Up until a couple of weeks ago we were told that everything was on schedule and that ”The Harrison” would be completed by June 1st, 2009 as agreed upon in writing by the City and the Developer.
Recently Greg Leatherman was quoted in the Journal Gazette as saying that it is now likely that “The Harrison” will not be completed as agreed upon. In other words, it will not be in service for opening day as was repeatedly promised by the Developer and various City officials.
According the the media there is one reason and one reason only that construction on “The Harrison” has not begun and that is that the Developer has not been able to secure financing.
Late last year Councilman Don Schmidt asked the Mayor’s office for financial statements showing the financial capacity of those involved with the project. This was discussed with the Mayor’s Administration at a City Council meeting and they told Councilman Schmidt that he would not be allowed to see financial statements for those involved. Councilman Pape got involved and argued against the need for City Council to see any financial statements. I watched this exchange in person and I was quite irritated that Councilman Schmidt (At the time President of the City Council) was rebuffed.
Now ”The Harrison” will likely not be completed on time because the Developer cannot secure financing…
If the Developer had a large amount of money they were willing to invest into “The Harrison” financing would be easy to obtain; however, they seem to want to incur a lot of debt and not invest a lot of their own capital. This would have been good to know late last year when Councilman Schmidt tried to determine their financial capacity.
In my opinion there are several reasons why the financing for “The Harrison” is not in place:
Filed Under Featured, Local Politics | 7 Comments
Republican senate primary in Alaska
8/27/08 @ 6:13 pm
Unfortunately for Alaska, Ted Stevens, the forty year incumbent Republican Senator from Alaska won his primary this year.
I have never liked Ted Stevens because of his stance on earmarks and pork barrel spending. In my mind Ted Stevens is likely one of the two worst Senators in the country (Ted Kennedy has always been number one in my book) and Ted Stevens has somehow served for forty years.
He was recently indicted on several Federal charges and he has been accused of corruption in the past on multiple occasssions.
I am very disappointed that Republican primary voters chose Ted Stevens to be the Republican nominee for the Senate from Alaska this year.
I certainly hope that he is defeated in November.
I support a majority of Republican candidates; however, I will never support Republicans who I feel are corrupt.
Mike Sylvester
Filed Under 2008 National Elections | 4 Comments
Mitch Daniels most recent initiative
8/25/08 @ 11:45 pm
There are a lot of things both to like and to dislike about Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels.
His most recent education proposal is not one of the things that I like about him. It is a socialist proposal.
Mitch Daniels proposes that the State of Indiana should give more college tuition assistance to Hoosiers whose families make below $60,000 per year. He wants to increase aid levels so that the State of Indiana would pay for two years of free tuition at Ivy Tech or the equivalent amount of about $3000 per year to go to another college.
This is a socialist idea.
Why on Earth does Mitch Daniels think that a student who is part of the “mythical” family of four who makes $60,000 per year needs even more financial assistance to go to college? What is wrong with requiring students to get a job and pay for their secondary education? What is wrong with joining the military, reserves, or National Guard to pay for secondary education?
Per the Federal Guidelines a family of four is considered impoverished if they earn $21,200 or less.
The median income of a family of four in Indiana for next fiscal year is $67,897.
I do not feel it is the Indiana Government’s job to help a family that makes almost the median wage send their kids to college.
In fact, I think it is socialist.
Mitch Daniels has two ideas on how to pay for the program described above:
The first idea is to privatize the Hoosier Lottery. This is something he brought up in the past and he is bringing it up again. This is the part of his proposal that seems to indicate that he believes in free enterprise. He basically wants to allow a private company to operate the Hoosier Lottery in exchange for one billion dollars up front and then 200 million dollars annually. When Mitch Daniels proposes this I think he is showing that he believes the private sector can more efficiently operate the Hoosier Lottery then it is currently being operated.
I am not sure if I favor privatizing the Hoosier Lottery or not. It is an interesting idea and I would have to analyze the proposal and its “fine print” in order to determine if I thought it was a good idea; in proposals like this “the devil is in the details.”
His second idea on how to pay for his education initiative is to issue bonds against the growth in lottery revenues. This is a fiscally terrible idea. First of all the Hoosier Lottery revenues are fairly steady and there is not necessarily going to be revenue growth in the Hoosier Lottery. Second of all the money from the Hoosier Lottery has already been promised to various other programs and it is likely those programs will need the revenue from the Hoosier Lottery revenue growth as it is. And third I think it is a terrible idea to issue bonds and have Indiana pay interest on bonds to fund programs like this.
Please read more about Hoosier College Promise.
What do you think?
Filed Under Featured, State Politics | 8 Comments
Barack Obama chooses Delaware Senator Joe Biden to be his VP
8/23/08 @ 11:54 am
As readers of this blog know I will not be voting for Barack Obama for President. I currently plan on voting for Libertarian Bob Barr for President since I cannot bring myself to vote for Obama or McCain.
That being said I am very surprised that Barack Obama chose Joe Biden as his running mate.
Barack’s entire campaign has been about “change.” He has successfully ran a campaign with its main premise being that Washington DC needs “change.”
That being said he has chosen a Vice Presidential candidate who represents the Washington DC establishment. Joe Biden has been a member of the US Senate since 1972.
Joe Biden’s personal background is one that seems typical for a US Senator:
He was born in 1942. Rather than serve in Viet-Nam he went to college as a traditional college student and became a trial lawyer.
He spent four years as a trial lawyer and has been a US Senator for the last 36 years…
I think Obama made a terrible choice.
That being said I think it is very possible that McCain will make an equally poor choice…
Mike Sylvester
Filed Under 2008 National Elections | 20 Comments
Barack Obama and his “plan” to create five million new green jobs
8/18/08 @ 3:00 am
I am getting sick and tired of hearing the commercial where Barack Obama promises to “create five million new green jobs.” This commercial has aired over and over in Indiana and ANYONE who reads his plan and thinks that it is going to create five million new green jobs needs to report to a medical institution because they need to “have their head examined.” Here is the plan.
Five million jobs is a whole lot of jobs. The entire civilian workforce in the US is a little over 145 million people. So if Barack Obama’s adds five million new green jobs then one in every 33 jobs in the United States would be a new “green” job…
The entire United States military including all active duty members, reserve members, and national guard members is a little over 2.8 million strong.
Barack Obama is claiming he can spend 150 billion dollars and create five million green jobs.
Does ANYONE believe this absurd claim other then completely blind and partisan supporters of Barack Obama?
Mike Sylvester
Filed Under 2008 National Elections | 4 Comments
Unemployment rate rises significantly
8/17/08 @ 8:20 pm
In many of my previous posts concerning the economy I have stated that there are two main reasons why I do not feel that we are in a recession and why I have felt that the economy is not in as bad of shape as some people want us to think. The unemployment rate has been relatively low and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) continues to rise.
It is amazing that our economy has continued to grow once you consider the high price of fuel, the real estate market, and the credit crunch.
We are still not in a recession; however, the unemployment numbers are deteriorating and this trend will likely drive us into a recession if it continues.
About 2/3 of all spending in the US comes from consumers (The rest comes from the various units of government). If people lose their jobs we will see consumer spending decrease and foreclosures and bankruptcies increase. The government will also spend more in unemployment benefits.
The national unemployment rate has risen from 5.4% to 5.7% from January to July of this year. The Indiana unemployment rate has risen from 5.1% to 6.3% Ouch.
The increase in unemployment in Indiana is large and significant. A lot of Hoosiers are looking for jobs and drawing Unemployment Benefits. The Indiana Unemployment Fund has been depleted over the last few years and I can almost guarantee that the tax rate on all Indiana employers will be increased next year.
I tend to think that elections are often about jobs. A lot of Hoosiers have lost their jobs in the last six months and I think that many of them will blame those currently in office for their job loss.
I think Mitch Daniels will likely win re-election; however, if the job losses in Indiana continue he may end up being defeated…
Mike Sylvester
Filed Under State Politics | 2 Comments
More taxpayer dollars to be wasted on consultants
8/15/08 @ 9:00 am
Thursdays headline of the Journal Gazette made my blood pressure rise by 10 - 15 points. “Space sharing back on table.”
Two years ago the City of Fort Wayne and Allen County were on the verge of combining and “co-locating” in a building to save costs.
According to the JG article:
“The City scrapped plans to move offices to Renaissance Square in 2006 because renovations were $1,000,000 more than expected. The cost estimates came from a $20,000 study from Design Collaborative.”
Also per the JG article:
The City and County have hired Design Collaborative in 2008 for $45,000 taxpayer dollars to study the costs for “rearranging numerous governmental departments.”
It seems every couple of years we hire a consulting firm to do this study.
How many times do we have to hire Consultants to perform the same study?
Mike Sylvester
Filed Under Featured, Local Politics | 9 Comments
Developers run amok in Fort Wayne
8/15/08 @ 3:00 am
I have always been irritated by the fact that local “Developers” have been able to get pretty much any “Development” they wanted approved fairly easily by local Government.
“Developers” only lose when a huge number of citizens get upset and that very rarely happens.
Today’s headline in the News-Sentinel makes my blood boil. “Developer suing 3 for Canyon Cliffs votes.”
Give me a break.
“Developers” have long had their way in Fort Wayne and Allen County and pretty much every body of Government has bent over backwards to accommodate every “Developer” in the name of construction and progress.
This has resulted in Fort Wayne being a sprawling City with expensive City services due to the sprawl.
If we are going to continue to poor money into Downtown Fort Wayne then we absolutely must limit “Development” on the edges of Fort Wayne.
I am absolutely appalled that “Developers” are going to sue three planning commission members and the Planning Commission itself over their votes concerning Canyon Cliffs.
Give me a break…
I wish that the ENTIRE Canyon Cliff’s Project had been killed and I feel that the ”Minor Plat Ordinance” needs some serious revision because if it is interpreted the way the “Developers” and their lawyers interpret it we might as well do completely away with the Planning Commission.
Mike Sylvester
P.S. This is an issue that YLNI and the supporters of Harrison Square should get involved in. Harrison Square and similar projects are doomed to fail if the City of Fort Wayne continues to grow in an uncontrolled and haphazard fashion.
