Roadkill Taxpayers

BUFFET & OBAMA - The Hell With American Jobs

2008-10-20T23:29:00.003-04:00

Obama claims to support American Jobs and the American Auto Industry.

Obama boosts of his support by Warren Buffet and assistance to help for Obama’s economic advise.

Buffet owns 10% of China based auto manufacture that will be selling their electric car in the United States by the end of the year.

Buffet move will put more UAW, Ford, GM, and Chrysler jobs on the line.

Now Who Does Obama Support? Facts speak the truth and read the following published stories.

Read the following from The Truth About Cars

Buffett Bucks Boosts BYD Chinese Hybrid
By Edward NiedermeyerOctober 16, 2008

Battery maker and hybrid powertrain dark horse BYD got quite a legitimacy boost when the Oracle of Omaha (and possible Obama cabinet member) Warren Buffett dropped $230m on ten percent of its stock. And that boost seems to be translating into accelerated plans to bring BYD cars to market. China Car Times reports that BYD will begin selling its “dual mode” (not to be confused with GM’s disasterous “two-mode”) hybrids (specifically, the Toyota Corolla F3DM compact) before the end of the year, several months before the previously-publicized release date.

No plans have been announced to accelerate European sales, set to begin in 2010. And U.S. sales are still a gleam in Warren Buffett’s shrewd eye. BYD hybrids have been extensively tested in China, and the firm claims that its proprietary batteries are good for 62 mile of plug-in charge and will last over 300k miles before needing to be replaced. The parallel/serial hybrids can be charged to 50 percent of capacity in ten minutes, while a 100 percent charge takes seven hours, according to BYD. If these numbers hold up and quality is up to snuff, BYD could soon be a big name in the hybrid game. After all, Ma Buffett didn’t raise any fools.

Here is a story from Portland Business Journal on September 30, 2008

The Warren Buffett-owned parent company of Pacific Corp. announced Monday it bought a 10 percent stake in BYD Co. Ltd., the Chinese company that is considering Portland as a test market for its electric automobiles.

MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., a subsidiary of Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and owner of the Portland-based electric utility Pacific Power, said it agreed to buy 225 million shares of Shenzhen-based BYD — a $230 million investment.

“We are thrilled to be partners with BYD and the people of China,” Buffett said in a news release. MidAmerican Chairman David Sokol said they are attracted to BYD’s commitment to make a “dramatic environmental impact with their products.”

BYD Co. is the world’s biggest maker of mobile-phone batteries. The company broadened into automaking in 2003, when it bought Shaanxi Qinchuan Auto Co. It's now working to develop its battery technology to bring a new breed of alternative fuel vehicles to the marketplace.

BYD Auto executives have visited Portland twice since April in the search for a U.S. test market for its planned plug-in electric and all-electric models. Some are hopeful that it will eventually make electric cars here.

In August, Henry Z. Li, general manager of the company’s auto export trade division, met with Gov. Ted Kulongoski (D), Portland Mayor-elect Sam Adams (D) and U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith (R), among other leaders in the business community, to discuss the company’s plans.

Li said BYD’s initial plans are likely to involve placing 10 of the company’s vehicles into a corporate fleet, allowing them to gauge the vehicles’ performance in a controlled setting.
While those plans may be small in scale, state officials may have larger plans.

Kulongoski on Friday created a working group that is tasked with creating policy and an alternative fuel infrastructure aimed at luring electric car manufacturers to the state. From Nov. 15-21st, Kulongoski will be in China and Japan where he will meet with exeutives from BYD, Toyota and Nissan to make the case for bringing manufacturing sites to Oregon.

“We have to move away from gasoline powered vehicles and move towards alternative power sources such as electric, natural gas and fuel cell vehicles — and Oregon is positioned to be a national a leader for this next generation of vehicles,” Kulongoski said in a news release last week

Powell Endorses Obama - Powell Stands To Make Millions Off Deal

2008-10-19T16:25:00.002-04:00

(Read the entire post as the first point outlines a few of the things Powell talked about Sunday when he endorsed Barack Obama for President)

On Sunday former Sectary of State Collin Powell announced he was going to support Barack Obama for President of the United States. He played out the usual Obama party line but did it with a little more flare.

He was critical of McCain as to not having a solid economic plan to help the middle class. However he never addressed or was asked how Obama’s tax rebate for the “middle class” did less then provide a large rebate check to those who do not pay any federal taxes currently.

He went on to be critical of McCain for the comment of some lady in a crowd that Obama was Muslin. In fact Powell went to get length to hammer this subject as though people within the McCain campaign had said such. He did not even acknowledge that McCain took the microphone from the lady and denied Obama was such.

Powell then moved on to the issue of people in Sarah Palin campaign rally crowd yelled “kill him” and “terrorist” in reference to Obama. This issue was first brought to the attention to the media and public via Obama campaign officials. Not one media outlet reported hearing such on the day it was suppose to have happened. In follow up investigation the Secret Service investagated the claims. They talked to their own agents attending the event that where scatter all over the crowd in their protection of Palin. The Secret Service also talked to police officers, civilian ushers, and others attending the event. NOT ONE OF THEM HEARD EITHER SET OF WORDS!

Of course this is the same guy that stood before the public, the UN, and Congress telling them that Iraq still had weapons of mass destruction. Many in the public, the UN, and Congress believed him. This turned out to be a lie. On Sunday Powell tried to pass this off on to some other members of President Bush’s staff.

Powell is the same person who first investigated the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam by US Soldiers. He issued a report that stated, “In direct refutation of this portrayal is the fact that relations between American soldiers and the Vietnamese people are excellent.” Further investagation proved Powell lied. In 2004 Powell, on the Larry King Show, pretty much stated this is just something that happens in war.

NOW FOR THE FINANCAIL WHORE

In 2005 Powell joined Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a venture capitol firm located near San Francisco, California. He joined and was given the newly-created position of "strategic limited partner." Which means to us poor saps is he brought no money to the fund but will be cut into the action, based on what he can do for them. Then in 2007 Al Gore joined the firm as a partner.

In April 2008 Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers announced they where trying to raise $400 million to invest in green technology to be used as venture capitol into start up companies. They pictured billion dollar payoffs from investments.

KPCB has publicized its plan to put as many as 50,000 electric cars on U.S. roads by late next year (2009) and would be produced just south of San Francisco. The venture will be called Think North America and be based in Menlo Park, California.

Obama has promised to provide tax cuts for people purchasing new electric cars. This would encourage people to purchase these cars. Also Obama has promised to cut to zero capitol gains tax made by companies in this kind of business for two years. Obama has offered other tax cuts for new start up companies like this one.

This company made billions of dollars by taking such companies like Netscape when sold to American On Line. It appears KPCB made just under one billion dollars. Another investment of KPCB was the $8 million invested and returned to them two billion on the sale of Cerent to Cisco Systems.

Powell is a two time self admitted liar and now can add financial whore to his resume. He just sold out the general public for his own financial wealth.

Obama - The Numbers Don't Lie On Your Rebate

2008-10-19T12:10:00.002-04:00

Before starting let it be made clear I fully understand and support to assisting those of less means. They are fellow humans. Those of us of more means should extend a hand to them. What I am outraged with is the system is broken because of just throwing cash out and not really helping these people with real programs.

Let us meet the fictitious gentlemen of John Doe of Anytown, Indiana. John is a single parent with two young children. He works for Ajax Disk Company. He earns $20,000.

Mr. Doe can obtain what is called “Section 8” housing. This is a government SUBDIZED program to assist those of low income with housing. Depending on where Mr. Doe elects to live this assistance could be valued up to about $225 a month. This represents $2,700 in assistance SUBDIZED by taxpayers.

Mr. Doe can take part in Indiana’s health insurance program for a $54 a month. This would offer him full coverage of himself and his two children. The taxpayers pick up the remaining cost. The total cost to Mr. Doe is $648 a year. Those of just slightly more in incomes, purchasing the same policy via their employer, would pay about $1750 a year out of their paychecks. This is based on the employer paying 75% and the employee paying 25%. The taxpayers are SUBDIZING Mr. Doe insurance coverage by $1,102 a year.

Mr. Doe may also qualify for some amount of Food Stamps and Low Income/Free Lunch program for his children during the school year

Mr. Doe pays income tax, Social Security tax, and Medicare tax every paycheck during the year. He would see no more then $2,500 in federal taxes withheld, $1,240 withheld for social security, and $290 for Medicare taxes.

The end of the year comes and it is time to do Mr. Doe’s taxes. Using the Deluxe Turbo Tax 2007 software his tax returns where completed.

On line 24 Mr. Doe qualifies for the standard $7,850 deduction. This reduces his taxable income to $12,150 for line 25. Line 26 calls for a reduction of $3,400 per person claimed. This provides Mr. Doe with an additional deduction of $10,200. The results in Mr. Doe of having a taxable income of $1,950 on line 27.

Line 38 is the amount of federal taxes Mr. Doe paid, which was $2,500. He also qualifies for an additional child tax credit of $1,238 on line 41. Line 42 totals the tax credits and in the case of Mr. Doe, it comes to $3,738.

Bases on his adjusted income of $1,950 Mr. Doe will have no Federal Tax obligation. Hence, the IRS will send Mr. Doe a check for $3738. That is $1,238 SUBDIZED by other taxpayers.

Using Barack Obama’s tax rebate calculator Mr. Doe will also receive $1,379 check SUBDIZED BY other taxpayers.

The point is Mr. Doe is not “getting his own money back” as he already got that back and dipped into other taxpayers’ pocket when he received his $3,738 check. Now he is taking a second dip to the tune of $1,379.

Obama Endorsement - Give Me A Break

2008-10-18T17:35:00.002-04:00

Am I the only one in the United States that is not surprised by the Chicago Tribune’s and L. A. Times endorsement of Barack Obama? I was surprised it had not come earlier!

I figured such would happen back in July. Try the name of Sam Zell. Good old Sam is one more multibillionaire from Chicago. If you have forgotten Zell purchased the Tribune Company back at the end of 2007.

Zell’s purchase included in part the Chicago Tribune and the L.A. Times. Also included was the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field.

As the deal was finalizing newspapers all over America saw editorials written that the end of the newspaper business as a true newspaper was nearly over. The fear was Zell was only interested in turning a profit and not being a true servant of the people.

Zell’s worth was built on mostly commerical realsate and based out of Chicago.

On June 27, 2008 the following exchange took place between Zell and Carl Quintanilla on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” with regards to the Chicago Tribune.

CNBC’s Carl Quintanilla: HOW IS THE AD MARKET GOING TO HOLD UP THIS YEAR?Sam

Zell: WHAT AD MARKET?

Quintanilla: WELL PUT.

Zell: I MEAN, ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT THE PEOPLE WHO BUY ADS? I'M TRYING TO FIND ONE OF THEM.

Quintanilla: YOU'RE ON YOUR WAY, THOUGH, TO EQUALIZING NEWS COVERAGE AND ADVERTISING, RIGHT?

Zell: THAT'S CORRECT.

Quintanilla: YOU'VE LAID OFF SOME PEOPLE IN HARTFORD, BALTIMORE. YOU'RE GOING TO SELL NEWSDAY TO CABLEVISION. HOW MUCH PROGRESS DO YOU FEEL YOU'VE MADE IN GETTING TRIBUNE TO A POINT WHERE IT CAN FINANCE, IT CAN SURVIVE?

Zell: I THINK THE CASE OF "THE TRIBUNE" OR THE NEWSPAPERS IN GENERAL BASICALLY COMES DOWN TO PRODUCING A NEWSPAPER THAT THE CUSTOMER IS WILLING TO PAY FOR. AND THE CUSTOMER IS THE ADVERTISER AND THE CUSTOMER IS THE READER. THAT'S THE CHALLENGE. I THINK THAT BECAUSE NEWSPAPERS HAVE HISTORICALLY BEEN MONOPOLIES, I THINK THEY'VE BEEN INSULATED FROM REALITY. I, YOU KNOW, AM IN THE POSITION WHERE I'M GOING TO HAVE TO, QUOTE/UNQUOTE DELIVER REALITY. I THINK WE CAN HAVE TERRIFIC NEWSPAPERS, BUT I THINK THE NEWSPAPERS HAVE TO RESPOND TO THEIR CUSTOMERS. IN MANY CASES A LOT OF THE THINGS WE'RE DOING RIGHT NOW WERE ALL IDENTIFIED IN FOCUS GROUPS OVER THE LAST EIGHT YEARS. AND THE FOCUS GROUPS WERE MADE, WERE TAKEN, AND NOBODY PAID ANY ATTENTION TO THEM. OUR CUSTOMERS WERE TELLING US WHAT THEY WANTED AND WE'RE GOING TO GIVE IT TO THEM.

I think Mr. Zell pretty well sums up his views on what he intended to see the direction the paper was going to take. Considering a major percentage of the readers of the Chicago Tribune are Democrats, it would indicate that Zell intended the paper to take more of a liberal view. This would drive up readership and hence induce increased advertisement revenues.

This is the same newspaper the in 2006 and earlier raised serious issues about Obama’s association with Bill Ayres. When Tony Rezko was first charged with Federal crimes the Tribune was asking a number of questions and provided readers with some less then favorable details.

During the primary race the writers of the paper wrote a number of columns in which they asked questions to Obama’s campaign on a number of “sensitive” issues. They noted Obama’s campaign never answered questions phoned or emailed to them.

Reading the Chicago Tribune endorsement all of those issues seem like they never existed and not answering Tribune questions was not even considered. In this editorial endorsement they to simply dismissed the work and efforts of their own writers.

Considering Zell’s drive for advertising dollars, the changes in the editorial board make up since he has arrived, and Zell’s “heavy hands on” approach to the operation of paper it is little wonder this endorsement took place.

It is sad to see the end of 161 year history come to an end at the hands of a single private owner over that of being owned by the public stockholders.

Obama Should Give Rev. Jackson Credit

2008-10-17T21:22:00.001-04:00

Many voters have a short memory because it was Rev. Jessie Jackson used two phrases throughout his campaigns for President of the United States in 1984 & 1988. Rev. Jackson routinely used “out of touch” to describe all the other candidates he was running against in the primary race.

The the word “erratic” was saved for use when he was talking about a single opponent.

So for some of us it like a flash back some 20 years ago!

Of course some of the same people that worked with Rev. Jackson back then is involved with Barack Obama’s campaign this time!

An Open Letter To Warren Buffet

2008-10-17T20:27:00.003-04:00

Dear Mr. Buffet,

I admire you for putting some of your money into stock market and maybe it will work out. I know you believe strongly in the character of the man tells you more then the man speaks. I also know that if you know a person’s friends and who he associates with tells you about the man’s real character.

I understand you endorse Mr. Barack Obama for President. What I need is some help on understanding why you would do such, considering the following.

Mr. Obama has never shared with the voters anything about his grades and courses of study while in college. I know you would never hire someone with a short career in the financial field without knowing about their schooling. So I ask why would someone hide such from a potential employer?

Mr. Obama met this fellow by the name of Bill Ayres when he first returned to Chicago from Yale. When Mr. Obama was questioned about Mr. Ayres he said he did not know him. But once presented with evidence by the national med that he had served on boards with the man and only then did Mr. Obama remember him.

However, Mr. Obama has offered us voters no less then five stories on his relationship with Mr. Ayres. My question is how can us voters trust him when he has to keep changing his story as more facts are learned from outside sources? If you had an employee that kept changing their story on some business dealings just how long would you keep them employed?

Mr. Obama also met Rev. Wright and started attending his church when he arrived in Chicago from Yale. Rev. Wright has been long known in Chicago as “fire and hell” minister. This has often documented by the local news media, be it the print or electronic.

It seems Mr. Obama’s friend Oprah Winfrey had attended Rev. Wright’s church prior to Mr. Obama arrived in town. It has been reported by several print outlets that she left the church because of his radical preaching. She has never stated any reasons other then she decided to change churches.

Rev. Wight’s anti government, anti white, anti free enterprise, and other hatred has came from his lips for over 25 years. He makes no bones about what he thinks and shares it with his followers every Sunday.

My question here is why would Mr. Obama set in the church pews for 20 years and listen to radial sermons? Then only after Rev. Wright’s ravings are shown on national television does he elect to separate himself from the church? Mr. Buffet does that not rise to what Mr. Obama’s real values are and what he really believes?

I understand Mr. Buffet that you believe in Social Justice but is that not a two way street so everyone can meet in the middle? I mean, if one side is teaching hatred for one side it is pretty hard for the other side to extend their hand. We hardly can meet in the middle when one party is full of hatred!

Maybe you can help me out on understanding Mr. Obama’s relationship with Tony Rezko. Mr. Rezko said in federal court recently he first talked to Mr. Obama when he was still a student at Yale but that is not what Mr. Obama had said before.

A big concern Mr. Buffet is Mr. Obama had a professional, political, and family friendship with Mr. Rezko. Mr. Rezko owned a company Mr. Obama knew about that rehabbed and managed low income apartments in Chicago. Mr. Obama claims to have had little professional contact, as a lawyer, with him.

When Mr. Obama ran for Illinois Senate he developed a political relationship with Mr. Rezko, in the way of political contributions and the hosting fund raising events. There is nothing wrong with this outside to establish they knew each other in more then casual nature Mr. Obama had previously offered.

Once Mr. Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate he assisted in getting a bill passed that allowed Mr. Rezko to make millions of dollars on one of many low income projects he was taking part in.

Mr. Rezko was sued a number of times Chicago by the Chicago Housing Authority for not keeping the low income apartments in decent repair. There were actually protests by residents that drew the attention of the media over these issues. The stories showed up in the newspapers and on television. Yet, Mr. Obama to this day claims he never heard of these problems.

Mr. Rezko most infamous problem when the heat to one of the large low income housing buildings was turned off for four weeks because the gas bill had not been paid. The Chicago Housing Authority had to sue Mr. Rezko to force him to pay the bill and get the natural gas turned back on. This was covered by both local print and electronic media. Again Mr. Obama said he did not know anything about such.

Now you have to understand Mr. Buffet some of these buildings wherein a short driving distance to Mr. Obama’s home. He would have often traveled close enough to them to see the broken windows, broken play equipment, and trash strewn about. Again Mr. Obama has maintained he did not know anything about such.

Mr. Obama purchased a house and as part of the overall deal Mr. Rezko purchased the vacant lot next to Mr. Obama’s home. At a later date Mr. Obama purchased part of the vacant lot from Mr. Rezko. Mr. Obama said, only after being pressured by the media, that he did a dumb thing by getting involved in the home purchase with Mr. Rezko.

I ask you Mr. Buffet if you interviewed a possible employee and he gave you these stories would you hire him? Would you want to share this kind of information to other investors and claim he is your number one employee?

Mr. Buffet, I am sure you are on first name basis with Penny Pritzker. You know, the Finance Chair of Mr. Obama’s campaign. While her worth is not like yours, but she is non the less a billionaire, a couple times around.

Ms. Pritzker formally owned a bank called Superior Bank of Chicago. The bank that was taken over by the FDIC in 2001. The FDIC indicated that one of the biggest cause of the bank failure was bad mortgage loans made by the bank and its agents. In order to stay out of court she paid the FDIC $100 million at one time and agreed to pay $335 million more over 15 years.

Mr. Buffet, I wonder how you feel about the poor people who savings where not covered by the FDIC insurance. She never stepped up to the plate to cover their losses. Some how I do not seeing this as a practice of social justice.

Mr. Obama has known Ms. Pritzker for years, yet he has never objected to her causing those with less, harm. Mr. Obama has never shown concern for this and that by itself would indicate he endorses such behavior.

Mr. Buffet does it not seem a question of one’s character in that they shout about some oil company making a moral/legal profit over a friend who violated the financial laws and also turned on those who had less then her?

I know from your history that you have gone into board rooms and ripped CEOs for their behavior. You mix no bones about being a moral person and also follow the intent of the law. You have ripped them for not looking out for stockholders, employees and even the general public. I think that is a great way to conduct yourself both in the business sector.

Now Mr. Buffet I ask you this simple question of would you hire a new employee with a history even near that of Mr. Obama’s? I would appreciate hearing from you because at my level there is no way I could even think about giving Mr. Obama a second interview, let alone hiring him as President of the United States.

Obama - Your Rebate - Your Taxes - Double Talk

2008-10-17T18:48:00.003-04:00

1- Obama’s MIDDLE CLASS tax rebate is just that. It is not a true tax cut as the tax charts are not being changed.

2- Obama’s MIDDLE CLASS tax rebate has not been promoted to be more then maybe a one shot deal. After 2008 tax filings it will be gone. That is why it is called a TAX REBATE and not a TAX CUT! Listen to his ads and him speak.

3- Regardless of what independent tax information you use you will find that nearly 33% of all people filing tax returns end up paying no federal tax when their federal tax return is completed April 15th .

4- About 25% of all filing tax returns end up getting more back from the government then they paid in income taxes all year.

5- While Barack Obama says he is going to tax the rich more, which is true it, does not tell the entire story. It makes good campaign talk.

6- On your tax return you see that you have paid $1700 over the course of the year. With your credits you will get $300 back. So you will end up paying $1400 for the year. Then you will get a $500 TAX REBATE at some later date. This brings down your net federal tax to the federal government to $800.

7- Your $800 goes into the big federal checking account, along with the 66% of the other people who end up paying any federal taxes each year. This becomes one big pile of money to operate the entire federal government.

8- Now the federal government starts writing the checks for the rebates. Well you only get your $500. Part of your $800 you paid over the year goes to the 33% that ended up paying ZERO income taxes for the entire year.

9- In fact you are going to really help out the person with two children that makes $20,000 a year. They will pay no federal tax for the year. What was taken out of their paychecks during the year will be returned with their filing of a tax return. If this person is divorced, their former spouse pays any amount of support, the ex spouse pays the rent, and the ex spouse covers the children with health care. This person will be getting $1,379 tax rebate.

You can go to http://taxcut.barackobama.com/?source=sem-pm-fts-tc-search-us&gclid=CJWNwq2nr5YCFQ0xawodziDALg and verify it for yourself. Enter $20,000, with 2 dependents, and you pay some form of child care.

You bust your butt all year and end up paying a net $800 to the federal government. The person who is used as an example above will be $1,379 on the plus size. Therefore they are $2,179 dollars a head of you on April 16th. So run to your nearest voting booth and cast a vote for Obama. You will have just voted for socialism!

Obama's Health Plan Not Endorsed By Chamber

2008-10-17T09:36:00.001-04:00

If you listen to Barack Obama, one would believe the U.S. Chamber of Commerce supports his health care plan. Obama has made this point many times during debates, stump speeches, and television ads. So it must be true! Well, no!

First, no local level, state wide, or the national Chamber of Commerce unit has given either health plan an endorsement. That is simple fact!

The President of the US Chamber of Commerce posted the following on their web site today.

“ Endorsing a Health Care Plan
by Tom Collamore

It is great to see the issue of health care reform getting the coverage it deserves during this election season. I would just like to clear up one misperception we have noticed in the last few weeks. The U.S. Chamber does not endorse presidential candidates, nor have we specifically supported either candidate’s health care platform. As Tom Donohue, president and CEO of the Chamber, often states:

We stand ready to work with whoever is elected president, and we hope that any new president will want to work closely with us."

Neither presidential proposal on health care reform is perfect, very little in this world is. But the Chamber is committed to ensuring that we have a world-class health care system, and equally committed to working with the next Administration to ensure that the health reform debate builds on a foundation that works – the employer sponsored system.

If you are looking for a health care platform we do endorse, get a quick summary here, or read a more detailed version.”

You can go to the C of C site on by clicking below. This will allow you to follow links to additional information. http://www.chamberpost.com/2008/10/endorsing-a-hea.html

Both Obama and McCain seek the same end point with regards to health care. They differ on how to pay for it. The C of C does not endorse neither candidate, nor their health plan. They believe neither addresses the true problem of rising costs.

Obama keeps on beating the drum that by spending $60 billion of taxpayer money to put all hospitals on computerized record systems will save 25% of health insurance costs. The only hospitals not currently on computerized records systems are ones that have neglected to on their own accord.

The vast majority of hospitals have already switched over to computerized record systems within their own cost savings programs. They did not need outside government financial support to do so. Right here in Fort Wayne, Indiana you will find everyone one of our hospitals has already switched to computerized record systems.

Fort Wayne residents will not see hospital care costs go down by 25% (this savings has been debated to be much closer to 10% savings then 25%). Hence, Fort Wayne’s health care costs will remain nearly the same. Therefore health care insurance premiums will stay near where they are at.

Obama’s proposed savings will not be realized until four years out. The reason is his plans call for four years to convert all hospitals to using computerized medical records program. So using Obama’s concept, on an average across the nation there should be a 6% reduction in health costs per year.

Obama and McCain do not address trying to control actual health care run-a-way costs of 8-12% a year. Obama’s so called savings would be gone in two to three years at best but cost 60 billion dollars to get there. McCain’s $5,000 tax credit would be gone in three to four years.

Obama can only hang his endorsement of any Chamber of Commerce group is to the Miami Chamber of Commerce that took a survey of members on who they would vote for in November. On October first the Miami Chamber released a press statement saying 46% of members polled said they would be voting for Obama. 25% had indicted they would be voting for McCain. The remaining 28% had not decided. The Miami Chamber did not release how many of their members had actually been polled.

What is interesting when you go to the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce you can not find a press release of such. In fact, the only web site reporting on this is web site called “The Insider!”

Here is the link:
http://dailybusinessreview.typepad.com/insidetrack/2008/10/bucking-the-tre.html

So Obama has no endorsement from any Chamber for his health care plan.

Obama's Class Warfare Battle Opens On New Front

2008-10-15T10:37:00.002-04:00

Barack Obama has already started a class war by his socialist action of taking directly from the so-called “rich” to hand it to all others. If person did this on their own they would be defending themselves in court on thief charges.

Now Obama is introducing a new social warfare battle. This time he has attempted to carry it out in silence in hopes the people do not figure it out.

Over on the Obama site they have this new “Obama-Biden Tax Calculator” to provide users a chance to see what they will be getting from his socialist transfer of money.

On the evening of October 14th I tested Mr. Obama’s system out. Being formally from engineering background I tried several various incomes and being single over married, filing a joint return.

Let us start out with a person making $30,000 a year. If you are single, you get $500 just like his commercial says. If you are married, filing a joint return you get $1,000. This follows right along with his plan.

Now if you making $30,000 and are buying a house the game changes. A single taxpayer will get a check for $957 and the married couple will be given $1,457. That is based mortgage balance of $76,000.

So it appears if you DO NOT rent/lease an apartment or house then you don’t deserve the same refund. It appears those who rent or lease are doing much well off then those who are buying their home.

It gets crazier –

Let us jump up to the people making $50,000 to $75,000. If you are single non-homeowner you get $500. The married couple non-homeowner will be given a $1,000 check. But if you are single and have a $125,000 mortgage you get $1300. A married couple with the same $125,000 mortgage you get a check for $1,800.

It appears as you make more in this bracket and are deeper in debt, of your own choosing, you get $800 more.

If you use a mortgage balance of $125,000 and apply it to the above single/married to the above the single person gets $1,282 and the married couples get $1782. So there is a reward of $18 to be $25,000 deeper in mortgage debt.

And Even More Craziness –

Let us jump up to the $150,000 - $200,000 gross income bracket. If you are single, living in a rented home you will get back a grand total of $34. Being married, living in a rental or leased housing you will get back $504.

Now if you are single, buying a home with a mortgage balance of $200,000 you will get a check for $834. A married couple would get $1300.

Again Obama is showing the more debt you owe the GOVERNMENT owes you more money.

Obama has started new class warfare by pitting those who are buying homes against those who rent or lease. He is also rewarding people with the higher debt with money over those who owe less.

This is a reminder to everyone. Obama’s plan is not a tax cut that applies equal to all. Obama is not offering to redo the tax charts but only providing a “one time giveaway!”

Remember in 2010 Obama, and apparently a Democratic Party Congress, can quickly change this program and move people who this year are getting a check into those paying more taxes. If Obama wanted this to be a long term program he would have offered to have the tax tables changed like he proposes for the "rich!"

If you wish to check out Obama’s site here is the link:

http://taxcut.barackobama.com

So You Think Obama's Tax Plan Is Fair?

2008-10-15T09:47:00.003-04:00

1- Regardless of the words you elect to use taking from one person to directly to give the proceeds to the other is socialism. If you did such on your own you would go to jail for thief.

2- More then 60% of small business owners, whose business GROSSES in excess of $250,000 a year, live a middle income life style. That after paying all the bills of the business they end up with the income of their middle class neighbors.

3- Look around your neighborhood or even city. Who are the businesses who purchase the advertising signs on the little league diamonds, contribute to the food banks, sponsor the bowling teams, purchase for the schools needed equipment, and donate money to local charities? We all know that when things get tough these businesses have to cut back on giving. With nearly a 10% federal tax increase facing them they will have to decide if they can afford to help their own local community. Keep in mind, most businesses are in trouble from the down turn in the economy and yet Obama wants to hit them with a massive tax increase. What would you do if you where in their shoes?

Where Is Jimmy Carter????

2008-10-15T09:25:00.001-04:00

Former President Jimmy Carter has traveled to many parts of the world to ensue that elections in these countries have fair and open election. He has spoken out strongly with regards to voter fraud. Yet, where is he with regards to ACORN and registration fraud that is the required in order to carry out voter fraud?

While I have not agreed with many things Carter did while in the White House I have always admired him for his efforts to make sure democratic elections where held in other countries. Sadly, with him standing on the sidelines brings into question was he ever really interested in fair election?

Democrat Gun Owners Vote Obama For Gun Control

2008-10-14T11:02:00.002-04:00

Monday, October 13, 2008 the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence endorsed Barack Obama for president. One should not be surprised of the support.

People like Bill Ayres and Barack Obama have long supported of taking guns away from the people. It is sort of ironic a person like terrorist Bill Ayres would support such considering he and his cohorts used deadly explosives to kill people back in the 1960’s. Then again he knows people without guns can not defend themselves and that criminals have guns.

Bill Ayres is not a ghost living in some small office at the Univeristy of Chicago. He is still involved in Obama’s ideals and nurturing, but now he uses the cell phone.

What should amaze people is Obama several times opposed changes in the Illinois law to enhance the sentence for people who committed crimes with the aid of gun! For some reason using guns in crimes is OK, but owning one should be a crime!

One more reason to support Obama - Biden

United States & China Understand It - Obama Doesn't

2008-10-13T16:36:00.002-04:00

Currently capitol gains tax in the US is set at 15%. In China it is 20%. Obama proposes to set the US rate at 28%. Like it or now everyone of us live in a world economy! If you where an investor from Great Britain, France, Germany, or the United States just where would you invest your money into a new company? On a 100 thousand dollar business gain would you rather take home $85,000, $80,000, or $72,000 after capitol gains tax?

Obama's way is the exact way NOT TO ATTRACT FOREIGN investments into the United States.

Michelle Obama Odd Statement Makes Sense Now

2008-10-10T11:18:00.003-04:00

I remember when Michelle Obama made her comment about finally being able to be proud of her country. At that time I knew very very little about Barack Obama, let alone his wife. On the Democrat side I was listening more to what Hillary Clinton was saying as I figured she would be her party’s pick.

My own independent researching of who Barack Obama did not start until after he was picked at the DNC. None the less, her comment just seemed odd at the time. Today, I can not say that it was not odd at all!

February 17, 2008
Speaking in Milwaukee, Wis., on Monday, Michelle Obama said, “People in this country are ready for change and hungry for a different kind of politics and … for the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback.”

Think about their friend, hardliner socialist and self admitted terrorist Bill Ayres. The very guy who did and still supports, the destruction our government as it is. To destroy our corporate business world and see that Israel is destroyed.

BTW Bill Ayres was not the one who seleced Obama to join various groups. It was the king power broker of Chicago and that was Bill's father, Thomas Ayres.

BTW in Chicago they do not get to hung up on the word "foundation." People up there laugh about the word. Many of these groups use "foundations" to collect federal, state, and local tax dollars to facilitate their political driven ideas of social change. They move money from foundation to foundation then to some group. It is difficult often to find out who some these groups are and who are members. Along the way many of them make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for themself as they are employed by these foundations.

BTW Barack Obama first connected up with Newton Minow, Harold Washington, Rev. Jessie Jackson Jr., Thomas Ayres, Tony Rezko, Bill Ayres, and the rest of the left wingers when Harold Washington ran for Mayor of Chicago. That is where it all started.

BTW Obama got into Harvard not on a letter from Bill Ayres. No, his father the power king of Chicago and Newton Minow wrote the letters that pulled the strings.

BTW the story of people in Boston raising money to get Obama into Havard are bogus. Obama attended there on minority scholorship, Tom Ayres' money, and Newton Minow's money. That is why you never say anything in Obama's own books about working or doing anything at Harvard. He was there to get an education and to return to Chicago.

Obama is not his own man. He shares the same politicial views with several based far leftwingers from Chicago who have the power and money.

In closing remember Obama's comment about meeting any leader at any time..... Do you remember what person in the United States did that very thing? Here comes a surprise ......

Rev. Jessie Jackson.

He used his public standing and did that very thing. Just think how many times he screwed up our relations with various governments by doing so.

Obama Hates Them But Now Wants Them

2008-10-10T11:04:00.002-04:00

Someone explain how this works….. Barack Obama wants to kick the crap out of big business in increased taxes and restrictions. That big business and the rich owe it to the small people to pay “their share!” Now he is wants those same people to step up to the plate to save the economy. To return to a stock market he hates. To invest in the big banks he hates. To invest in the big companies, that he hates, to keep people working!

At least now Obama will not need to worry about changing the “capitol gains” tax. No one is going to have any “capitol gains” for a long time. He can get his fellow Democrats to double “capitol gains” or triple it because there is nothing there to get.

One does not need to be a genius to figure out if Obama taxes business enough they will just leave. No business needs the United States any more. Even GM could close down their North American Operation and continue to be in business! IBM could close most of their North American operations and move what is left to India. Toyota could close their North American manufacturing operations and go back to Japan.

We all will be working on government “make work” projects and after a few years there will be no money to even pay for them! The Unites States is no longer the dog that wag's the tail of the world. We are just one part of the dog now!

China and Russia have figured it out a few years ago and have switched to free enterprise systems. Obama wants to go the other way by taxation. No, our form of government/business is not perfect. But does it not seem odd that every other country in the world trys to model their business sector after ours.

Think long and hard before you vote. You will be voting on your future, your children, and maybe your parents.

Obama On Seperation Of Church And State

2008-10-09T14:38:00.000-04:00

Barack Obama has stated he fully supported faith based programs that used taxpayers’ dollars to execute local programs. While on the surface this seems like a good idea but one needs to view the world from a wider view then their own church.

Back in 1990, after Obama had graduated from Harvard Law School, he was teaching part time at University of Chicago and working in at a Chicago law firm he wrote a paper for University of Illinois at Springfield under a highly controversial project called After Alinsky: Community Organizing in Illinois. He wrote his paper under the title of, “Why Organize? Problems and Promise in the Inner City.”

He wrote the following paragraph:

“Nowhere is the promise of organizing more apparent than in the traditional black churches. Possessing tremendous financial resources, membership and — most importantly — values and biblical traditions that call for empowerment and liberation, the black church is clearly a slumbering giant in the political and economic landscape of cities like Chicago. A fierce independence among black pastors and a preference for more traditional approaches to social involvement (supporting candidates for office, providing shelters for the homeless) have prevented the black church from bringing its full weight to bear on the political, social and economic arenas of the city.”

The very thing of separation of church and state that is a consent struggle at all levels in this county. Yet in 1990 believed this did not apply to those he was trying to organize. Just remember Rev. Wright, Obama’s pastor, from Trinity United Church was on the pulpit when he was ranting about the United States. The Catholic Priest Michael Pfleger was also addressing a worship meeting of Trinity Church when he carried on with regards to belittling Hillary Clinton.

One has to wonder what Obama’s real idea of the separation of church and state? This clearly shows Obama has one more set of standards that he will apply to some and not to others. Under Obama, America will not be equal!

Michigan - Case Study Of Obama's Corp. Tax Plan

2008-10-08T11:56:00.002-04:00

Barack Obama has been campaigning all over the state of Michigan about how he is going to bring jobs back to the once famous home of the world’s greatest auto manufacturing companies. The talk sounds great, and on the surface should justify every single VOTER in the state to vote for him.

However, Michigan provides a case study of what happens when government oversteps the boundary of what the rest of the nation and world is doing. The very government voted in year after year proved to be the very demise of the auto manufacturing industry in Michigan. All one has to do is look at Flint, Saginaw and Detroit as shell’s of their former strong cities.

VOTERS in Michigan elected people from both parties, that over a twenty year span, pushed unemployment compensation well above the national average, they pushed workman’s compensation well above the national average, they pushed business taxes well above the national average, they jacked up property taxes, and frankly bite the very hand that fed the state hundreds of millions of dollars every year. These elected officials kept this up, at the wish of VOTERS, until the GOOSE THAT LAID THE GOLDEN EGGS decided to go nest in some other place. Be it a neighboring state or move manufacturing completely out of North America, but they left.

GM, Ford, and Chrysler all had plants in Michigan that they could have retooled to produce new vehicle lines but financially it no longer made sense. They could afford, over a ten year payback period, to go purchase new property, build brand new buildings, equip the buildings, and transfer hundreds of UAW workers to new states.

I have driven through Flint, Michigan and it sad to see all the empty buildings. But the VOTERS ARE THE ONES AT FAULT. They kept buying into and voting for people who would continue to suck more and more out of the auto manufactures. It reached the point that to stay competitive, they had to leave! They had no choice if they wanted to survive!

Corporate America has a responsibility to pay whatever their “fair share” is! But by electing people, who push the fair share too finance government funded social programs, will learn a very ugly fact of life. Where that point is often unknown, but once it comes to past, it is too late. There is no re due in this!

Regardless to what any candidate, from any party, says they have no way of stopping a business from moving to some other state or country. They may throw up some roadblocks but either the company will move or be forced to close. They will no longer where competitive! Either way they will be gone! The VOTER pays the real price and not the talking elected officials.

When a candidate appears before you and says that the woes facing America will be solved by increased taxing of corporate America is seeking a vote from only your heart. Every VOTER should stand back and think of the big picture. We live in a global economy today! If there ever a time to vote with your brain over your heart is this year.

Oversite Committee - One More Congressional Joke On Us - Obama Shadow Testified

2008-10-06T22:29:00.007-04:00

Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Hearings – A Major Joke

Monday (10-06-08) Representative Henry A. Waxman graveled the committee to order to hear testimony in regards the recent bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. The Committee On Oversight and Government Reform appeared, by watching the event on the cable television C-Span channel, that about 1/3 of the total committee members where there. Maybe due to campaigns was the reason for so many being absent. Of seventeen Republicans committee members, only two or three appeared to be there.

The person who testified that drew my interest was Nell Minow, Chairman of the Board and Editor, The Corporate Library. She blasted corporate America and government every chance she could. While The Corporate Library website indicates the company serves a noble purpose of providing services/information to small stockholders within corporate America she hardly came across as such.

Well that started the old brain a spinning. So off to the Internet I went. First stop was OpenSecrets.org to check on any contributions to the elected officials. Well, slap me silly as Minow had made two contributions to the presidential race. Mr. Barack Obama was provided with $500 on March 12, 2007 and $500 more on February 10, 2008.

For some reason her last name struck a nerve so I searched “Minow Chicago” and up came 100's of places to look. I learned her father was Attorney Newton (Norman) Minow and worked at the law firm called Sidney-Austin. That she has two sisters by the names of Martha Minow and Mary Minow. Her mother’s name is Josephine.

Back to OpenSecrets.org I go. Josephine Minow, of Chicago, sent Barack Obama $2,300 on February 23, 2007. Then she followed up with $2,300 more on August 16, 2007 (This would be a violation of federal law and one of the payments should be returned).

Next we have Martha Minow of Cambridge, Mass. She donated $2,300 to Obama on February 23, 2007. Then she followed that up with $2,300 more on March 28, 2007. Then she contributed a final $2,300 more on July 14, 2008. (This would be a violation of federal law and two of the payments should be returned).

Last but least his her other sister, Mary. She contributed $283 to Obama coffers on August 27, 2008. She lives in Cupertino, California.

So the four member Minow crew has pumped in $11,783 into Obama coffers. OpenSecrets.org has shown Obama’s campaign has returned $4,600 to family members, but that is not included in the above numbers and dates.

Martha’s is employed as a professor at Harvard Law School and that drew my interest. Obama graduated from Harvard Law School. Sure enough, she was a teacher there when Obama attended law school.

Let us jump back to their father Norman Minow. He was a partner in the law firm of Sidney-Austin in Chicago. That rings a bell in researching Bill Aryes, the domestic terrorist, a couple weeks ago. It also rang a bell that is the law firm where Michelle worked and met Barack. Now we are talking a small small world.

The question that I always wondered about is when Barack had just completed his first year of law school he was obtained an internship with a Chicago law firm. Internships for lawyers is hardly ever done, and if so, they are only offered to students before their final year of all school.

The reason law firms do not take interns is because the legal industry has learned that interns often end up with other firms after graduation and client lists from the first company often goes with them.

Still I was puzzled how this all worked? We had Obama at Harvard, Martha Minow was one of his law professors, and Martha’s father was a partner the law firm Sidney-Austin.

Then I stumbled across the fact Bernardine Dohrn worked at the law firm Sidney-Austin. This is the wife of Bill Ayres and who served a long federal sentence for her terrorist actions also worked in the office. Dohrn, who was graduated from law school, can not be licensed as an attorney, because of her felony record.

There are no records, no one will talk, and there is no paper trail of the relationship of all these people during that summer. That only thing talked about is Michelle’s first date with Obama. Other then that, everyone’s lips are sealed. Stange!

What did surface that on May 11, 2008 Nell Minow sent an email to a blog by the name of Global Labor and Politics. The gentleman, who wrote a column on Obama, wondered about how Obama got connected to the law firm of Sidney-Austin. Well, Nell explained in her email that her sister, the professor, talked to her dad about hiring him for the summer.

So now we know how Nell (testified today before congress) Minow, her sister Martha, her mom Josephine, he dad Norman, Bill Ayres, Bernardine Dohrn, and Michelle Obama all know each other. What a small world we live in.

To me, it also explains Nell’s comments in the hearing today. It was like Obama had one of his paid talking heads to testify before the committee…. Oh, why I am no longer surprised.

Here is some other triva-

Nell Minow went to University of Chicago
Dr. Luigi Zingales, who also testified today, teaches at the University of Chicago
Bill Ayres teaches at University of Chicago

Nell Minow contributed to Obama campaign
Robert Prescott, who also testified today, donated to Obama’s campaign

Michelle Obama worked in Mayor Daley's admin. and was promoted, but she has never talked about that part of her career.

True Health Insurance Crisis - Maybe Not

2008-10-05T22:27:00.002-04:00

Trying to find a solid figure for how many Americans are uninsured is nearly impossible. It appears the Census Bureau released a report called, “Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2005.” They put the number at 46.6 million uninsured, based on collected census data. However, other groups have a much lower number. Please read on.

One of the things found in the report was there was 9.5 million that where “not a citizen!” This drops the number to about 37.1 million. Mikael Moore, of the movie "SICKO" has said himself that unless you are an American then you would not be considered for coverage under any national health plan. This was stated by Moore on “ABC’s Dateline” show on June 17, 2007.

On May 23, 2007, Katie Couric reported on CBS’s “Evening News” that there where 47 million Americans who “COULD NOT AFFORD INSURANCE.”

On July 10, 2007, Moore repeated the statement on CNN’s “Larry King Live” show.

Let us check the Census report referenced above-

There are 8.3 million Americans without insurance who earn between $50,000 and $74,999 annually. Then you can add on 8.7 million more, which make in excess of $75,000 a year. The medium income in 2005 was $46,326. One could conclude that these families elected not to take part in partial employer funded or purchase their own health care insurance. Subtracting the 17 million, who have elected not to purchase health insurance, from the 37.1 adjusted figures the uninsured number drops to 20.1 million.

What is interesting is a study done by the highly liberal San Francisco based The Kaiser Family Foundation reported even a lower number then the 20.1 million. They report the number they could calculate was between 8.2 and 13.9 million who lack health insurance and make under $50,000 a year.

Kaiser went on to state that the 8.2 chronically uninsured only includes those uninsured for two years or more.

It is also worth noting, that, 45 percent of uninsured people will be uninsured for less than four months according to the Congressional Budget Office. Using the high figure 20.1 million uninsured would be reduced to 11.1 million based on the CBO figures. Which is near the average of the two numbers calculated by The Kaiser Foundation.

Also it should be noted and not calculated into the figures is how many of the uninsured would be covered under Medicaid or state ran children coverage if they had a claim. Because they are healthy and not needing any health care they are lumped into the uninsured group.

As of today the US Census Bureau estimates the US population is 305,342,612 people. Using the 20.1 million the uninsured is 6.6% of the population. Using the high 13.9 million Kaiser Foundation number converts to 4.6%. Using the uninsured based on CBO/The Kaiser Foundation average, the number for the real long term uninsured is 11.1 million or 3.6 percent of the population.

One really needs to ask is this really a health insurance industry led boondoggle? The insurance companies know if health care is transferred from employer based that fewer people would purchase any coverage. More people would run the risk of staying healthy over investing in health care. So that does not help them. So their continued increases in employer provided coverage runs the fore mentioned risk.

Health insurance companies also suffer large claims often in employer funded coverage because of catastrophic claims. An entire year’s collected premiums could be wiped out with one major claim.

Under employer funded insurance coverage it is difficult for an insurance company to weed out people with chronic health needs. They have no way, out outside of raising premiums, to the company and risk losing the business. But if they raise the premiums too much the employer will seek a new company to provide coverage for their employees or cancel the employee plan. Hence they run the risk of loosing again.

However, if they could convince the government to offer a plan to underwrite basic coverage based on individual coverage they would be in. The government picks up the employees with chronic diseases, along with the rest of the employees. Much like Medicare’s Part “A” the coverage is very basic and any person that can afford it carries Medicare Part “B.” Even with this coverage a person can often find they have thousands of dollars still owing after Medicare coverage is exhausted.

Health insurance companies will offer their own deluxe Part “B” but only for those with perfect health. Should they contact a chronic illness (diabetes, cancer, heart trouble, etc) they will be cancelled or premiums rose so high they can not afford it. At that time the insurance company will be thrilled.

Rest assured if the health insurance industry have their way everyone will have their own policy and they will cherry pick who can afford true adequate coverage in their Part “B” program.

Our health care system may not be as broken as we have been led to believe. That what we are getting is a major smoke screen so the health insurance industry can reap profits to a level they have never obtained before.

Granted we see higher insurance costs but are they being inflated in hopes of pushing us into a “semi national health program” to benefit these insurance companies? It will take an HONEST congress to look into this matter, but any of that hope seems to be slipping away day after day.

OBAMA - TOUGH ON CRIME - NOT HARDLY

2008-10-01T12:53:00.004-04:00

Barack Obama makes mention in his own book about his use of cocaine in his younger years. While admitting such could not be easy it clearly illustrates his belief society owes the criminal element. That society has failed these people and hence society owes them. Those views where carried to his days in the Illinois Senate and now to his presidential race for the White House.

TREATMENT OF JUVENILES

Obama believes that transferring any juveniles to adult court is wrong, regardless to the crime they committed. He believes transferring them is unwarranted because it has not shown any reduction in juvenile crime levels.

Under our laws juveniles sentenced for crimes can be held until they turn 21, at the latest, in some states and 18 in most states. They are free to walk the streets again and their records are sealed. Seldom in adult court can a juvenile’s record become part of the evidence for a jury to consider in deciding guilt or sentencing.

Keep in mind in most cases juveniles are not bound over to adult court unless the crime is so outrageous it sickens most people. Crimes like rape, home invasion, murder, armed robbery, deadly beatings, assault, shootings, and the likes are generally the only charged crimes that see a juvenile transferred to adult court.

What Obama misses is when a juvenile has been transferred to adult court the system is doing so as to remove that person from the free society. It is a matter of protecting the free society!

I would like to see Mr. Obama stand before a parent of young daughter who was raped by a seventeen year old and tell them that he thinks the fellow that committed the crime will only be sent a way for a couple of years and then turned totally free. That society made him do it!

I would like to see Mr. Obama stand before a man in a wheel chair, who no longer can walk, and tell him that the person who beat him with a club that the juvenile will be walking the streets in a year or so. That the man was part of society that made him do it!

I would like to see Mr. Obama walk into a funeral home and tell a family that the person who murdered their father that would be free to walk the streets in a year or two. That the man brought the death on himself because society made him do it!

GANGS ARE OK WITH OBAMA

Most people like the idea of a politician who votes for individual rights, but the fact that Obama could do so and still maintain the respect of law enforcement shows his political skills. Obama voted against a proposal to criminalize contact with a gang for any convicts on probation or out on bail. In 2001, Obama opposed making gang activity eligible for the death penalty. "There's a strong overlap between gang affiliation and young men of color.... I think it's problematic for them to be singled out as more likely to receive the death penalty for carrying out certain acts than are others who do the same thing." In 1999, Obama opposed mandatory adult prosecution for youth who discharge a firearm near a school, declaring, "There is really no proof or indication that automatic transfers and increased penalties and adult penalties for juvenile offenses have, in fact, proven to be more effective in reducing juvenile crime or cutting back on recidivism."
Source: The Improbable Quest, by John K. Wilson, p.146 Oct 30, 2007

OBAMA WANTS FREE COLLAGE EDUCATION FOR CONVICTS

While people who have remained outside the criminal justices system often have to take out student loans to pay for collage Obama believes convicts should get a free ride to the same education. He has made no bones about his belief in this concept since he was an Illinois State Senator in 1998! That society messed up and made the convict undertake his crimes.

His belief, because there is no evidence to support his position, is in giving a free collage education to former convicts will reduce the odds on them returning to a life of crime.

However, he still believes those of any means must struggle with maybe two jobs and loans to obtain a collage degree.

Obama continues to support his failed Illinois idea in his run for the White House. It is outlined in his own “Blueprint For Change!”

Do not believe me, do your own research on the Internet. It is there and only takes a little research to find such.

Obama's Idea Of Presidential Leadership

2008-09-25T10:05:00.000-04:00

Obama kept to belief in how he views presidential leadership yesterday when he elected not to join John McCain in returning to Washington, with regards to the financial problems facing America. The idea was for both of them to work on getting some package assembled to get money again flowing in our financial sector. That both parties in congress seemed so split that nothing appeared was going to get done. The risk facing America is far greater then this country has faced since the depression of the 1930’s

Obama has long believed that his underlings would do the work and he would only provide guidance in getting things done. He has often used the word “vision” of providing the underlings of the goal they should strive for.

John McCain believes in giving his underlings a message of how he wants things done but also knows from his career in the Navy and in congress that at times the “boss” needs to get in their and be the leader. That he needs to lead by example.

Every sailor on a ship counts on the captain of ship to be at the helm during a battle. To make the right decisions that protect their lives, as they carry out their duties. That he issues the tough orders to put the few at risk knowing some must be placed in risk to carry out the mission with the least lives lost.

Even in our own families, when a tragedy strikes, we look to a certain member of the family to take a leadership roll. They are the strong person who may bring up the subject of deciding the removal of a family member from life support because there is no hope is something that needs to be addressed. They are the person who sets down with a parent, with other members of the family setting near by, and explains them it is time they no longer can live by themselves.

Leaders are willing to put their neck on the line for the good of all. They do not use others for possible cover if things don’t know perfect. Leaders are willing to take the lumps to see something through to a successful conclusion that maybe lacked total support at the start.

Leaders lead and talkers talk. Obama showed his true sides by doing the dodging of letting others assume all the risk. He could claim victory in the public if things go right and distance himself from everyone if it fails.

Obama vs McCain - World Policy Is Deciding Factor

2008-09-19T12:44:00.002-04:00

Obama, by his selection of Joe Biden, that he is not strong in foreign policy. This is somewhat an honorable thing. Like it or not the United States does not and can live in isolation. That has been tried and failed as history clearly shows.

Liking the global economy or not make no difference. It is real and will be real even if some of us plant our heads clearly in the sand. Also the overall global economy and foreign happenings are tied to each other, like it or not. Our domestic economy is tied to foreign policy, like it or not. It is not going to change no matter what unless we wish to become a third world country. Then we can do what we want and no one will care because we no longer matter!

Much like when the United States entered World War II, everyone in the United States and parts of the world where happy. There where protests and even riots in some of our major cities. While this is not reflected in many of our history books but a research of old newspapers clearly shows it did happen.

A President will need the expertise to balance our own economy, our position in the global economy, the global economy, worldwide politics, and lastly what is good for the masses. No easy task for a simple human because regardless to any decision the chances are a vocal group will be opposed to it. Sadly, often history written long after the President is gone from the face of the earth that it becomes clear if their decisions where correct.

LIKE IT OR NOT:

1- Oil is the blood of the world economy. Without it, every major economy will FAIL worldwide.

2- Russia has a failing economy both at that their own stock market and attracting foreign investment. Foreign investment has dropped nearly 50% in the past six months.

3- Russia leadership believes oil is the way back into being a world power broker and sphere of influence.

4- Russia’s leadership is old school in their thought process, that believe in using the military to carry them back into being a world power.

5- Russia invaded Georgia to send multiple messages to neighboring countries including our friends in Europe.

6- Russia leadership has already cut oil to parts of Eastern Europe in showing their power.

7- Iran is developing short range missiles and has some type of nuclear program going on. While public debate is if the nuclear systems are being developed for power generation or weapons use.

8- Iran has an unstable leadership that is not supported by the majority of people living in the country.

9- Iran leadership has recently stated they believe Israel should be wiped off the face of the earth. Iran’s leadership could be short sighted and launch a nuclear attack Israel which Israel would rightfully respond with his own launch of nuclear weapons. Regardless of how “limited” this exchange would be world wide effect from fallout on the health and welfare of people hundreds to thousands of miles away.

10- North Korea has demonstrated they have both a nuclear program and missile program. They are one of the poorest countries in the world to have access to nuclear program and missiles.

11- North Korea is a complex issue of trying to help them become a thriving country without helping them become a military power. China plays a key roll in what happens within North Korea.

12- China is an expanding country that is joining the modern world. They are growing at record pace even though their government has tried to slow this process for solid economic reasons. The United States needs to build relations with them and work within that fame work to provide better human rights, environment issue, and being a peaceful nation. However, it has to be from a fine balance of equal respect, military strength, and cooperation.

13- Venezuela is much more complicated matter that is setting on the backburner. The leadership of Venezuela is only supported the poor from within their country. The remainder of the society has little to no confidence in the leadership.

14- Venezuela leadership is seeking to become a regional power broker in the Western Hemisphere. They have made recent close ties to Russia, which is mostly an arm for oil program. While Venezuela has no natural enemies in the region they are building the largest standing military in South America. This is of concern of many of our South American friends.

15- Africa, as a region, is a troubling area from wars, hunger, illness and human rights. No single country can fix any of the problems by themselves. But this is one issue that a President will need to understand both our friends and enemies in pursuit of attacking these issues.

Voters are going to need to decide a tough decision. Do they want a guy who has nearly zero experience in even being around foreign policy over a guy who has been around it for over 20 years? The new kid would need a “scorecard” to even remember the names of these players, let alone how they thought in the past, which often predicts the future.

Alaska Needs Hurricane To Get Bridge

2008-09-17T18:29:00.006-04:00

Hurricane Ike gave me some time to think about things and how we spend our money at the federal level. We have a $350 million dollar bridge to so called “nowhere” that was cancelled. We have an entire city sinking by almost an inch a year that we know for a fact. We have an island that got plowed over by the second hurricane in three years and now looks like a bombed out city.

The bridge to “nowhere” would have connected one town to an island of nearly 95 square miles. It had 50 residents there and the area’s only commercial airport. No one wanted to talk about the fact that the bridge was the only area that the neighboring community could grow. No one wanted to talk about this was the “port” most cruise ships visit on their journey to Alaska. No one wanted to talk facts or long term goals.

This is alright if we played the games fair.

Let us look at New Orleans. We spent tens of billions of dollars in emergency help during and right after Hurricane Katrina. This year Hurricane Gustau nearly slammed into New Orleans. But still it will take upwards of a billion dollars to fix this community again. We are spending tens of billions to improve dikes and other things, to make it more “hurricane proof.” By the time all is done, provided no more hurricanes come, the US Government will spend nearly 40 billion dollars.

No one argues that much of the New Orleans area is sinking and will continue to do so at the rate of just under an inch a year. Some studies say the speed of the sinking is growing faster over time.

One would think that a smart government would figure out it would be far cheaper to just buy up much of the lowest areas, pull the dike walls down, and let nature do its’ thing. It would be far cheaper. Plus we all know Mother Nature will win the battle. She always has, and when the perfect storm comes all the dikes, pumps, and sandbags will be scattered in her wake.

Just for giggles think about the global warming factor of our oceans rising three feet from snow and ice melt….. Yep, we will be adding three more feet onto of the tops of the dikes… New Orleans, without question is the biggest money pit in the world!

Now let us move over to Galveston Island, Texas. It is a barrier island that is just about 2/3 the size of the island in Alaska that wanted a bridge. It does have a population of just under 60,000 so that makes it the winner.

In three years it has felt the effects of Hurricane Rita and slammed into by Hurricane Ike. The cost of cleanup and repair will cost a few billion dollars.

Now everyone knows that Interstate 45 goes across a series of small islands to connect to Galveston Island. This includes a number of bridges. One would not have to be too smart to figure out that the bridges cost nearly as much as Alaska’s bridge to “nowhere!” That is if figured at the same “today’s dollar” formula.

Now we will allow people to build back onto a barrier island, commit billions to it, and then watch some hurricane rip it apart again. The cycle will repeat itself over and over, as Mother Nature decides to.

To me it all comes down to “whose backyard is the sandbox in!” The bridge in Alaska would have been there for maybe 50-75 years. Yet in the same time we will spend several hundred times that in rebuilding a barrier island and a sinking city!

Obama - Not Even His Heavyweight Senators Helped Him

2008-09-17T18:29:00.003-04:00

The following is a list of the most powerful committees in the US Senate. Listed are the most ranking members of those committees, including the chairman. Also the years the senator has served is noted in years. To the right of that is the name of President who was in office when the senator arrived.

The reason all of this is shown is for the reader to consider that Barack Obama is serving on two of these, equal to John McCain. However, with four years in the senate (only two with him present as he has spent the last two running for President) he has little to no clout to these veterans. A good chance he has little understanding of the fully workings of these committees.

Outside of Senator Ted Kennedy, not one of the senators is as liberal as Obama. Hence, Obama will have a difficult time reaching across his own party to sell his agenda. Reaching into the Republican side of the isle will be impossible!

One has to wonder why Obama could not get any of his changes before these committees when he was even showing up in the Senate? Obama, if he was a real leader, would have gotten some of his things through the senate. But I guess no one was listening, including his fellow Democrats.

Senate Appropriations Committee- Every government agency and those seeking earmarks depend on the Senate Appropriations Committee for annual funding. This committee is the banker of congress as it requires their approval to release funds for spending.
Chairman Sen. Robert Byrd (D) – 50 Yrs – Eisenhower
Member Sen. Daniel Inouve (D) – 46 Yrs - Kennedy
Sen. Pat Leahy (D) – 32 Yrs - Ford

Senate Rules and Administration Committee- This committee has the control the rules of floor debate and contested elections. Senate Rules has oversight over the Federal Election Commission, the agency that regulates campaign financing.
Member Sen. Robert Byrd (D) – 50 Yrs - Eisenhower
Member Sen. Daniel Inouve (D) – 46 Yrs - Kennedy
Member Sen. Chris Dodd (D) – 28 Yrs - Carter

Senate Budget Committee - Member of the Senate Budget Committee has the responsibility of ensuring that government spending levels are in line with federal revenues. That means evaluating the president's annual funding proposals and making sure that both the legislative and executive branches stick to their goals of balancing the budget and reducing the federal deficit.
Chairman Sen. Kent Conrad (D) – 22 Yrs - Reagan
Member Sen. Robert Byrd (D) – 50 Yrs - Eisenhower

Senate Finance Committee - The senate tax-writing committee effects banks, insurance companies, real estate agents, accountants, and securities and investment firms. Decisions by Senate Finance Committee members affect a lot of companies' bottom lines. Senate Finance also has jurisdiction over Medicare, Social Security, health care, and international trade.
Chairman Sen. Max Baucus (D) – 30 Yrs - Carter
Member Sen. John Kerry (D) – 24 Yrs - Reagan

Senate Armed Services Committee – This committee provides senate leadership on new weapons systems and spending.
Chairman Sen. Carl Levin (D) – 30 Yrs - Carter
Member Sen. John McCain (R) – 18 Yrs – Ranking Member – Top Repub. – GHW Bush
Member Sen. Robert Byrd (D) – 50 Yrs - Eisenhower
Member Sen. Ted Kennedy (D) – 46 Yrs - Kennedy

Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee - The Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee devotes its time to health, education, and workplace issues. It is the committee that generates proposals to change the health care system, the minimum wage, working conditions and compensation, and welfare and labor laws. The committee is also responsible for how the Food and Drug Administration operates, including the process for approving drugs and medical devices.
Chairman Sen. Ted Kennedy (D) – 46 Yrs - Kennedy
Member Sen. Chris Dodd (D) – 28 Yrs - Carter
Member Sen. Barack Obama – 4 Yrs – GW Bush

Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee - The Senate Commerce Committee has jurisdiction over some of the country's most powerful industries. These include telephone utilities, broadcast and cable companies, airlines, and tobacco and computer companies.
Chairman Sen. Daniel Inouve (D) – 46 Yrs - Kennedy
Member Sen. John Kerry (D) – 24 Years – GHW Bush
Member Sen. John McCain (R) – 18 Yrs – GHW Bush

Senate Foreign Relations Committee - The Senate Foreign Relations Committee makes decisions on foreign aid and policy. This committee also plays a key role in renewing the trade privileges of other nations and expanding membership to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Chairman Sen. Joe Biden (D) – 36 Yrs - Nixon
Member Sen. Chris Dodd (D) – 28 Yrs - Carter
Member Sen. John Kerry (D) – 24 Yrs – GHW Bush
Member Sen. Barack Obama – 4 Yrs – GW Bush

Senate Judiciary Committee - The Senate Judiciary Committee oversee federal court system. Their jurisdiction covers such issues like bankruptcy, immigration, copyright, and antitrust.
Chairman Sen. Pat Leahy (D) – 32 Yrs - Ford
Member Ted Kennedy (D) – 46 Yrs - Kennedy
Member Joe Biden (D) – 36 Yrs - Nixon

Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee - The Senate Banking Committee has jurisdiction over the nation's financial markets, banks, and insurance companies. The committee also oversees mortgage insurance, credit unions, and housing projects. All of these interests are part of the finance/insurance/real estate sector.
Chairman Sen. Chris Dodd (D) – 28 Yrs – Carter

Obama - On Veterans Affair

2008-09-17T09:56:00.001-04:00

Presidential candidate Barack Obama offers in his “Blueprint For Change” a number of things to assist our veterans of our various military organizations. While America, as a country, has not rewarded our brave former military members fairly for their service Obama is hardly one to carrying the banner for them.

In his “Blueprint For Change” the following is reprinted from it.

AT A GLANCE

A Sacred Trust
Barack Obama believes America has a sacred trust with our veterans. He is committed to creating a 21st Century Department of Veterans’ Affairs that provides the care and benefits our nation’s veterans deserve.

Help for Returning Service Members
Obama will improve the quality of health care for veterans, rebuild the VA’s broken benefits system, and combat homelessness among veterans.

Improved Mental Health Treatment
Obama will improve mental health treatment for troops and veterans suffering from combat-related psychological injuries.

THE PROBLEM
Wounded Troops Suffer
The Walter Reed scandal showed that we don’t always provide returning service members with the care they deserve.

Veterans Budget Shortfalls
In 2005, a multi-billion dollar VA funding shortfall required Congress to step in and bail out the system.

Benefits Bureaucracy is Broken
There are currently more than 400,000 claims pending with the Veterans Benefits Administration. VA error rates have grown to more than 100,000 cases a year.

There is a Shortage of Care for PTSD
Veterans are coming home with record levels of combat stress, but we are not adequately providing for them.

These are all noble and warranted commitments, make no doubt about it. However, Obama has served on the Senate’s Veterans' Affairs Committee for nearly four years. This is the very committee that proposes changes to the VA, holds investigation hearings on VA issues, and is the chief congressional proponent on VA issues.

Obama has attended less then 50% of their meetings and has offered nothing to correct any of the issues he claims he cares so deeply about now. This is one more piece of “something for everyone” dribble from Obama.

He had four years to show some kind of leadership on VA issues and showed zero.

Obama Should Ask Sen. Chuck Schumer What Is Going On

2008-09-17T01:50:00.003-04:00

Sen. Chuck Schumer, democrat, sets as the Chairman of Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. He has been the chairman for the past two years and has been the ranking member for many years before that. This is one of the most powerful committees in congress.

Democrat Sen. Chuck Schumer also sets on the powerful committees of finance, judiciary, and rules and administration. Every one of them has extreme control and power within the walls of the Senate Chambers.

The Senate Banking Committee has jurisdiction over the nation's financial markets, banks, and insurance companies. The committee also oversees mortgage insurance, credit unions, and housing projects. All of these interests are part of the finance/insurance/real estate sector. History shows members of the committee often receive more political donations from areas they oversee.

A seat on the Senate Finance Committee guarantees members that they will attract generous donations from banks, insurance companies, real estate agents, accountants, and securities and investment firms without even asking. This committee writes and proposes tax writing bills so the fore mentioned groups have a great deal in the interest in their work.

The Senate Judiciary Committee members may attract hefty donations from lawyers, whose courtrooms they oversee, they also draw money from other interests that care about the use of the nation's justice system. This includes financial sector which often finds itself at odds with stockholders with regards to mergers and other transactions.

The Senate Rules and Administration Committee in its self does not control much in proposed laws. However they control the rules of floor debate so the very life or death of bills and amendments is held in their hands.

Now we look what companies, via executives have doled out the bucks to Senator Chuck Schumer. Since the start of 2007 Citigroup ($81K) investment banker, UBS ($80K) investment banker, Paul Weiss ($67) lobbyist, Benson Kasowitz ($64K) lobbyist, Met Life ($59K) insurance, Goldman Sachs ($58) investment banker, Morgan Stanley ($57K) investment banker, Lahman Brothers ($54K) investment banker, Merrill Lynch ($50K) investment banker, and JP Morgan ($48K) investment banker have pumped money into Schumer’s coffers. The fore mentioned looks like the “whose who” of banks that are in trouble! Schumer is not up for re-election until 2010.

Just maybe this is a reason there has been no hearings into the banking problems that is affecting every American today. Maybe Obama should be asking Schumer what the heck happened, over yelling it is all President Bush’s fault. Schumer did not and does not need the President’s approval to hold meetings, to investigate the banking industry.

Obama - Has No Clue On Fannie or Freddie

2008-09-16T23:49:00.002-04:00

While many remember “the good old days” under Bill Clinton they fail to understand it was under his watch and his leadership that started us down the road we set today. What is even more troubling is Obama offering the voters much of the same as Clinton did. Obama shows a lack of leadership by not even knowing the following details with regards to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

1- Bill Clinton proposed the concept of getting “lower income” earners into home ownership. He championed, from the oval office, that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac purchase and guarantee “subprime” loans. It required Fannie and Freddie to accept these loans as part of their business operation.

2- This caused the start of a “housing boom” that carried into the early 2000’s. House values exploded, by percentage of value that had never been seen in US history.

3- These “subprime” mortgage loans where bundled and sold as securities to nearly ever major banking institution around the world. That is why the damage appears to be so wide spread.

4- In 2004 congress was warned that there were severe accounting problems within Fannie. This was presented to congress by Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight a office under the control of President Bush

5- In September of 2004 the top two executives at Fannie Mae resigned.

6- In February 2005 Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight seeks further investigation into the operation of Fannie Mae.

7- The congressional elections of November 2005 turned control of congress over to the democrats. This put the chairmanships of all committees in the senate under democrat leadership.

8- In June of 2006 the US Securities and Exchange Commission appeared before the senate subcommittee stating the settlement had been reached with regards to accounting problems with Fannie Mae. But noted continued concerns and the senate failed to follow up on those concerns.

9- The subcommittee and the senate as a whole did not pass any additional oversight for Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac

10- In late 2007 Sen. Charles Schumer (NY), and other top Democrats from congress pushed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to purchase additional “subprime” mortgage loans to stave off bankruptcies.

11- It started out as a fairytale and has now turned into a living nightmare.

Summary – While it fits Obama to yell that President Bush is at fault the truth is far from it. Former President Bill Clinton opened the “pandora box” and congress REFUSED to close it. Obama has been a member of congress since 2004 and there is zero evidence he ever spoke out about the problems with Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. As long as they added money to his campaign fund everything was fine.

Here are news stories from various outlets that date back in time before several media outlets added spin to their stories.

9-23-2004 Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41165-2004Sep22.html

2-24-2005 Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47843-2005Feb23.html

10-17-2005 AP Wire Story - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1504347/posts

5-23-2006 Los Angles Times - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41165-2004Sep22.html

6-15-2006 U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission - http://www.sec.gov/news/testimony/2006/ts061506cc.htm

11-15-2007 CNN Money - http://money.cnn.com/2007/11/15/magazines/fortune/fannie_losses.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2007111509

Obama - Lack Of Knowledge Or Fear Mongering?

2008-09-16T20:49:00.001-04:00

It is easy to set on the sidelines and say anything you want to put fear into people is plain wrong! Obama continues to spout that all the problems where created by the Bush administration. It is easy, but for people that really care to understand should set back in their chair and truly reflect on the troubling issues we face.

The Current Crunch Of The Financial Sector –

While Obama claims the failure of Lahman Brothers was due to President Bush is more then far fetched, it is plain stupid. But to be honest would not serve him and his pursuit of the top job in the United States. He refuses to accept that he holds a job in the US Senate that could have investigated this business. He refuses to accept his running mate has served longer time in the senate then his opponent, yet Biden stood by.

In the last two years the Democrats, who have held every senior level position in congress, and they where not interested in any reform. Keep in mind Obama, Joe Biden, and John McCain all where active Senate members. Neither Obama nor Biden, both part of the Democrat majority, failed to offer any proposed laws to correct this. The reason why is the no one knew outside the glass walls of Lahman Brothers.

Keep in mind ONLY CONGRESS can pass laws. They pass the regulations that Lahman Brothers must operate under. The President and any of his officials can not supersede the laws congress passes in monitoring what any business does.

If a person was to check that during the last two years Obama was the NUMBER ONE person, of the 24 people seeking the office of President, in collecting campaign dollars from Lahman Brothers. As of today, Of all the companies that have failed, or are rumored to be in deep trouble, Obama is the NUMBER ONE recipient of campaign dollars. Only Hillary Clinton collected more money from one of these companies over Obama. John McCain drew pennies from these companies when compared to Obama’s dollars.

Think about your 401-K

Everyone that has a 401-k savings account took a hit yesterday. This is a real key to understanding how well Lahman Brothers hid the financial mess they where in. Most people having a 401-k have all or a share of their money dedicated to be invested in “financial investments”, or “banking companies”, or “financial companies.”

Your money is lumped with thousands of all people and is sent to a mutual fund company. They invest the tens of millions of dollars they have come in. Most of their company profits are derived from a small percentage of the profits they make for each of us. Hence, their motive is your motive.

The head of these various mutual funds can nearly destroy a company they have invested in by pulling their funds from that company. Hence these companies CEO, CFO, and other top management are always available to these mutual fund managers. The mutual fund managers have more access to these people then any member of congress or even the President of the United States.

Mutual Fund managers watch minute by minute what these companies are doing. An example would be if they hear about some senior executive may be leaving they are on the phone wanting to know all the details as to why. They then decide if they want to keep the mutual fund money with the company or move some of it out. If they hear about financial problems they are all over it.

Now consider the mess at Layman Brothers. Layman Brothers must have hid their problems very well as to keep it from such great mutual fund managers, who can sniff out problems better then a hound dog on the trail of a raccoon, is clear.

The senior executives of Lahman Brothers have acted in a criminal manner. Sadly there is not way to recover the billions of dollars investors have lost. It does not save the thousands of jobs of people who worked hard and in an honest fashion for them. Besides going to jail these executives should loose every penny they have.

So before everyone buys into the simple garbage Obama is spitting out is to think about how well they hid it from the people that know the business multiple times better then congress and President Bush. Their senior executives purposely hid the truth. If Obama was president he would be setting in the same position as President Bush.

Obama - Call Clinton On Demise Of Fannie, Freddie, and Lahman Brothers

2008-09-16T00:14:00.003-04:00

While Obama has proved he was wrong about the crashing of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Had he had is staff research, since we know he doesn’t do his own work they would have learned their idol Bill Clinton set the policy, procedures, and signed the HUD bill that laid to the nightmare we face today. He would also know that government oversight of both Fannie and Freddie is limited by congress.

Clinton can duck, he can run, and he can talk all he wants but the facts are this nightmare was his idea. He pushed congress to enact new laws that provided that marginal credit risks could purchase homes. These became known as subprime. This means they do not meet the standards of normal loan qualification standard. Of course people, on the outside thought the word meant “less then perfect” over “less then normal minimum standards.

We all know the Washington Post is a left leaning newspaper that often curves stories to their political belief. However, on June 10th of this year they wrote a pretty solid story on the subject. There are quotes from people who worked in the HUD department, under Bill Clinton that they blew it.

It appears, by the story that President Bush tried to slow down the nightmare. But because of the way Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is set up by law, they do not have to directly follow the orders of the President. The law with regards to the operation of the two was set up by President Clinton, and approved by Congress.

While the talking media, print media, and Obama shoot their mouths off that this all belongs on President Bush’s desk are plain wrong. Placing blame on McCain is unfair as it would be unknown to him and congress was what Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac where actually doing behind their closed doors.

Here is the link to the Washington Post. It explains in detail how Fannie and Freddie failed but also provides how banks like Lahman Brothers got wrapped into this mess.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/09/AR2008060902626.html

Obama - One More Sugar Daddy Bites The Dust

2008-09-15T23:23:00.001-04:00

While Democrats are back slapping themselves over the tremendous amount of money Obama is raising they have failed to ask themselves a couple of questions. Where is all this money coming from? Who is really dumping all this cash in this race?

While in the early days the Obama machine relied on appealing to small private donors who chipped in the five, ten, and twenty bucks to start him rolling was noble. While that appeal still continues it just does not add up to over 350 million dollars.

Obama introduced a new angle to the fund raising scene this election. Instead of taking money from companies, via their lobbyist he is taking the checks directly from the executives and their cohorts. This allowed him to embellish the number of contributors and hide where the money was coming from.

So who is this hour’s Obama sugar daddy to bight the dust? Well sadly it looks like Washington Mutual is in deep trouble. It is unknown at this hour if they will survive or not.

To demonstrate how screwed up Washington Mutual is to look who the top brass and the other members of the band mainly supported. Sen. Chris Dodd, a democrat, was in and out of the race almost as fast as Joe Biden.

Now Washington Mutual was not flush with cash, now we know why, they still lined the campaign coffers of the Democrats, the best they could. Dodd hauled down 35% of the $66,000 plus they sent out.

Behind Dodd was Obama with a 25% share and Hillary Clinton scooped up 15%. John McCain managed to make off with less then 2% of the flash money.

I have figured out a new way to play the stock market and win. Find out who did not overload Obama’s and Clinton’s coffers and buy their stock. If Obama and Clinton show up as top picks of political money then you best pass it by.

Councilwoman Goldner - Hello The Real World Is Calling

2008-09-15T20:22:00.007-04:00

Fort Wayne City Council member Karen Goldner posted on the Allen County Democratic Party’s official blog a statement that shows she really is out of touch once again. She is showing she is needs to educate herself on the facts or stop passing around unfounded Obama talking points

So here is her post and my comments.

One hates to use the term "meltdown".....
A few random thoughts on our economy:
Does the failure of gynormous financial institutions to exercise any reasonable amount of prudence, leading to their collapse and threatening the entire economy make you MORE or LESS likely to think we should privatize Social Security? I'm just asking.

Are you kidding me… A 3rd grader could take the Social Security funds to the neighborhood bank and do two things. The first would be to put all the money in a savings account and earn more money. The second is the 3rd grader could figure out if they want the money to grow for 30-40 years down the road that they could not dip into the account whenever they felt like it. Of course the kid was not the Democrat who first dipped into the Social Security account and has continued on. The Republicans do not get a pass on it either they as they did not stop it when they could have and even are known to draw down on this cash cow.

If you can remember back that far, you might recall that McCain economic advisor Phil Gramm was the key sponsor of the 1999 law that allowed banks to enter the commercial investment and insurance markets. That law repealed the Glass-Seagel Act which had been enacted during the Great Depression as a response to the collapse of the U.S. banking system. The '99 law worked out nicely for Sen. Gramm, who left the Senate for a lucrative banking job, but perhaps not so well for the rest of us.

First she does not know the Gramm act she is trying to talk about is the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Yes the same Gramm that is now working with John McCain. But she forgot that the Leach is one and only Rep. Jim Leach (R), from Iowa. You know Karen, the one you and your fellow Democrats fell all over yourselves when he spoke before your Democratic convention a few weeks ago. The third was Rep. Tom Bliley (R) from Virginia.

Second, the bill was passed both houses by overwhelming numbers. It sailed through the senate by a 90-8 vote. Which I think means a big bunch of your fellow Democrats jumped on board.

Third, the act was signed by one President Bill Clinton. You remember him being the Democrat who could of have vetoed this BAD law that would have avoided today’s nightmare!

And in case you were wondering, John McCain still thinks our economy's fundamentals are strong. (P.S. If you watch the video you might ask yourself what exactly is McCain going to propose to prevent this from happening again? His economic philosophy is the philosophy that got us here.)
Posted by Karen Goldner at 05:51 PM Permalink Comments (0)

While many of are hurting but let us look at the big picture that McCain is talking about. McCain has clearly stated we hurting but the sky is not falling. We have problems to address and all of them will not be a quick fix. I am not so sure after today, but let us look at the real facts.

Phil Gramm is really Dr. Phil Gramm – PHD in economics. He taught 12 years at Texas A&M, economic business consultant for 10 years to some of the largest companies in the United States, former VP at UBS. He is highly regarded by many in congress representing both sides of the isle. Those who disagree with him often lack any real credentials to do so, and do it from afar.

He was asked to become an advisor for McCain because of his understating of economics within the United States, the world, and their intertwined relationships. While many economic professionals have a solid understanding of US economics or world economics few have the deep understanding how the two often meet at the hip.

Now let us look at the facts.

Our exports are at near all time record levels. Our exports to Canada, Japan and Europe where at record levels for the first six months of the year.

Foreign investments into the United States at the highest level in decades.

Trade deficits have shrunk despite increasing imports of higher oil prices.

Outside of the financial segment of United States businesses have return moderate to fairly strong returns on investment.

Despite the mortgage crisis and the high prices of fuel the US economy grew 1% in the first half of the year.

Now those are the facts! It does not make many of us feel better when we think about our own little world. I know I don’t feel that warm and fuzzy but the thing is I also see hopes in those things are ticking forward, ever so slowly.

I personally think Gardner either jumped the gun by not doing her research before she typed away, or was just wanted to pass on Democratic talking points sent to her by Obama’s camp, or is clueless. I hope it is not the last one!

Hines - Mayor Henry and Obama Not Held To Same Standard

2008-09-15T16:29:00.004-04:00

Before we get to the issue of this post you need to understand where I come from. I am a white male in my late fifties. I was born and raised in the southeast side of Fort Wayne. In my youth I lived in white neighborhood and parent’s house was within a quarter mile of the city limits. The closest I recall any African-Americans living to us was nearly a mile away. I did not know an African-American until I was in high school. African-American issues where something that never came up in our house until the 1960’s. I can not remember my mom or dad saying good or bad things on this subject.

So my education of the plight of the African-Americans came via the black and white television news (when reporters reported the news and did not spin it), the local newspapers, and AM radio (yes, they had real news shows). I remember Life magazine being around the house so I am sure it had some influence on me as well.

I could write a book on my views but let me share this quickly and move on.

Frankly I am tired of anyone who attempts to compare anyone to Dr. King and others like him of the 1960’s. Those people are the only people in my lifetime that “showed up for a gun fight without a gun!” They fought nearly daily battles and lost many. But they never gave up, they never packed it in, and they ended up winning the noble war they declared.

They are in a class of their own and no one, and I mean no one, can even think they are on equal footing with them. Yes, they “talked the talk” but they also “walked the walk” for the millions that have followed. Many have come since that have talked the talk, but could only take a baby step compared to these people.

Now to the focus of this post----

City Council member Glenn Hines ripped Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry on the hiring of African-Americans into his staff. While I disagreed with Hines’ as to his timing wrong and even his method of delivery of his message but I will defend him in his right to say it.

Here is quote from his chastising comment to the Mayor.

“I just don’t trust that this administration will do the right thing based on their record in the nine months that they have been in office. They’ve let down the African-American community in not having a single African-American at a department head and there’s been empty promises and I don’t see any commitment like I seen with the Lebamoff administration, even the Helmke administration, Win Moses’ administration, even Graham Richard’s administration.”

However, Hines comes up short and clearly indicates he wished to only to embarrass the Mayor. Hines apparently does not speak out across the board to all those who fail to follow his beliefs. Hines has never made a public statement about the Obama’s so few African-Americans in his campaign operation.

Obama has fewer then three people, in public speaking rolls, which represent his campaign at the national level. Obama has a nearly an all white staff that works out his National Headquarters in Chicago. That his office is located in the highly upscale and high rent district of North Michigan Avenue, just north of the Chicago River. The area is known is Chicago as the “magnificent mile.”

I will again defend Hines right to say what he did about Mayor Henry. But not to do the same to Obama would tend to show Hines lives by a double standard.

In July, Obama appeared before a group of youths at the NAACP convention in Ohio. He talked about the great mach on Washington back in the 60’s that demanded justice and jobs for blacks. Yet, he hardly tries to promote such with in his own campaign.

Why does this concern me? I wonder what really are the motives Hines and Obama? How can I trust them on issues I do not understand because the ones I do I know, they are not true all the time?

Obama Ends Affair With Layman Brothers

2008-09-15T14:33:00.002-04:00

It appears Obama’s close ties to Lahman Brothers came to a crashing end today with the announcement of Lahman Brothers bankruptcy filing. Until recent weeks Obama’s door was open to some of Lahman’s most senior executives in discussing banking and investment issues with his most trusted advisors. While the national media seldom, if ever, covered these stories, little tidbits would come and go in trade publicans dealing with financial issues.

The only trail left now is to “follow the money” to see that Obama’s door was wide open to people from Lahman Brothers. So far (as of 7-31-08 federal campaign reports) Layman Brothers had dumped nearly one million dollars on people running for the office United States President. Twenty-four people started the race and two remain.

Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and Obama where graced with nearly 60% of Lahman Brother connected money. Obama was bestowed with the second largest share of 27% of the million dollar “pot of gold!” The only person gathering more was Clinton, who was earmarked with more then 30%.

In trying to cover all their bases those connected with Layman Brothers shipped John McCain a tad over 10% of their money. Many financial companies found McCain not their liking as he agreed with their thoughts some times and at others strongly opposed them. He was not a sure bet to protect their interests.

Look at this way when Layman Brother connected people passed their money around. Hillary got a quarter and a nickel out of every dollar, Obama then had a quarter and two pennies set in front of him, and McCain was left with a thin little dime. Even Biden, who lasted only through the Iowa caucus, was handed two cents of every dollar!

Like so many things in life the truth often shows it way by following the money and not the words of the speaker.

One More Of Obama's Supporters Biting The Dust

2008-09-15T13:34:00.001-04:00

AIG American General, one of the largest insurance companies today announced they will be restructuring in an effort to survive. The chance of making it is unknown at this time.

What is troubling is “following the money”, that often leads to political influence, lands at the door step of the Democrats, Obama, and Hillary Clinton. In 2000 and 2004 presidential election cycles the fore mentioned decried President Bush from accepting money from AIG.

Based on federal filings, of campaign donations, the Democrats have captured the lion’s share of money being passed around by AIG employees. Of over $250,000 in donations Obama was lavished with nearly 30% of their money, Clinton coffers obtained 18 % of the AIG money, and Joe Biden’s short run for president campaign still obtained a nickel of every dollar AIG passed around. Out of the 24 people seeking the United States’ top elected position these three grabbed over fifty cents of every influencing attempting dollar from AIG.

It appears John McCain was not much of a blip on AIG’s radar as he only captured 14% of their money. It should not be a surprise as McCain is often at odds with the insurance industry on a number of fronts. With today’s announcement by AIG it appears McCain may have been right about the industry.

Obama's Shine The Light - Very Dim At Best

2008-09-13T14:53:00.005-04:00

The text appearing in blue is the direct and complete section from Obama's "Roadmap To Change" platform. No words, sentences, or paragraphs have been left out. Comments are below each section and are in black.

BARACK OBAMA’s -
Shine the Light on Federal Contracts, Tax Breaks and Earmarks

Create a Public “Contracts and Influence” Database: As president, Obama will create a “contracts and influence” database that will disclose how much federal contractors spend on lobbying, and what contracts they are getting and how well they complete them.

Oh, how the words sound so great and produce so little for the public. After studying Obama’s campaign of raising money this is the perfect ticket for nearly NO transparency.

Hard to believe? Then read on!

Lobbyists are tied to “special interest groups” that may represent the auto industry, health care, air transportation industry, AARP, teachers, defense equipment manufactures, some foreign government, and so forth. Did you notice that only one of these groups would even fall under “federal contractors?” The rest are not even in play under Obama’s plan. They get a free pass.

One way Obama has avoided “taking lobbyist money” is to take it directly from the CEO’s and top management. The number one person receiving donations from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac people is Obama. Yet you do not find the money listed under PACs (Political Action Committee) or lobbyist on his reports.

Obama is also the largest recipient of donations from Blue Cross Blue Shield of California. He is the largest single recipient of donations from four of the largest health care insurance companies in this country. Get the point…. He avoided the “lobbyist” tag and tried to hide the fact from the general public, the best he could. He laundered the donations to make it appear he is something he is not.

Even to carry out this “Contracts and Influence” Database will require the highering a fair number of federal employees to pull the data together, enter it into the database and maintain it. How the contracts are graded, based on completion is unknown, as there is no fixed set of rules, there no grading system, and no system of collecting the data.

Expose Special Interest Tax Breaks to Public Scrutiny: Barack Obama will ensure that any tax breaks for corporate recipients – or tax earmarks – are also publicly available on the Internet in an easily searchable format.

Any special taxing of the business sectors, regardless if good or bad would fall into this. There are a number of Internet web sites that already do this, on a daily basis. They are watchdog groups who do it and it is paid by private funding. This would be a case of duplicating what the someone in the private sector is already doing and would require the highering of more federal employees.

End Abuse of No-Bid Contracts: Barack Obama will end abuse of no-bid contracts by requiring that nearly all contract orders over $25,000 be competitively awarded.

Besides slowing down government response even more, increasing the number of federal employees, and closing out more small business of the process it seems like a good idea. Say What?

If anything the federal government already has an over burdensome system of bidding for most small contract work. Nine out of ten small businesses wishing to do business with the government give up because of just getting qualified is not worth the financial cost.

Bid contracts take some time to write up the specs, a required period of time to accept bids, review the bids, announce the bids, publish bids prior to final award. That should only add a few months to every government purchase.

Most are “screw ups” and not abuse (people carrying this out can be fired) are just that. Hurricane Katrina proved can happen. Did lower level employees of FEMA do it on purpose? I don’t think so. Just like I would not assume if your boss gave you two hours to find and buy six pairs of Sarah Palin style eyeglass rims that you could at the lowest possible price. You could end up paying more then you would have if given a day to search. Plus, if the frame house knew you had only two hours, and most of that time was up, they may gouge you some.

The other time is during war time. Some say President Bush allowed for such abuse during the early part of the Iraq war. It sounded like it to me but you know what? Congress never held any real formal investigations and never even took a letter of censure to the floor of congress. So I think it was posturing by those who opposed the war.

So this entire idea of Obama’s will call for the additions of no less then dozens of people to process and manage such. We may save a million dollars a year by this but spend twenty-five million doing it.

Sunlight Before Signing: Too often bills are rushed through Congress and to the president before the public has the opportunity to review them. As president, Obama will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days.

Here we go again.

There are watchdog groups, depending on what the bill deals with, on the Internet. Most of them offer free access and they review bills and provide insight into what it does.
By the time it would ever get to Obama’s desk would be a little too late. Then again maybe he will let whoever has access to the Internet have a vote on the bill. Who ever gets the most votes will decide if it gets signed or not. Now that will show some real leadership and stepping up to the plate!

Shine Light on Earmarks and Pork Barrel Spending: Obama’s Transparency and Integrity in Earmarks Act will shed light on all earmarks by disclosing the name of the legislator who asked for each earmark, along with a written justification, 72 hours before they can be approved by the full Senate.

A law that has been tried many many times before and rejected by Congress time and time again! The votes are not even close!

This bill does not end or even curtail earmarks. It gives the public notice, but it sure does not say some public access Internet database either. Maybe it will be written on a calk board, just outside the janitor’s room, at the far end of the hall!

You want to stop them then give the President the same rights that governor of Alaska has. The governor can reduce the amount or strike it entirely on a line by line basis. That would stop earmarks because the BUCK STOPS AT THE PRESIDENTS DESK!

Again we will have to hire more people to track and publish this information to some unknown place

Obama's Lobbying Plan - Talk Is Cheap

2008-09-13T02:04:00.004-04:00

The text appearing in blue is the direct and complete section from Obama's "Roadmap To Change" platform. No words, sentences, or paragraphs have been left out. Comments are below each section and are in black.

BARACK OBAMA’s Lobbying Plan
Shine Light on Washington Lobbying

"Centralize Ethics and Lobbying Information for Voters: Obama will create a centralized Internet database of lobbying reports, ethics records, and campaign finance filings in a searchable, sortable and downloadable format."

"Require Independent Monitoring of Lobbying Laws and Ethics Rules: Obama will use the power of the presidency to fight for an independent watchdog agency to oversee the investigation of congressional ethics violations so that the public can be assured that ethics complaints will be investigated."

Obama proposed this in the Ethics Law he co-sponsored to the US Congress. This was section was stripped from the proposed law, by his fellow DEMOCRATS. Without a change to the law, only one item from above is under his control. He could have the campaign finance filings listed on the Internet, as they are public information. It would be a waste for the federal government to do so, as several Internet websites already provide it FREE.

"Support Campaign Finance Reform: Obama supports public financing of campaigns combined with free television and radio time as a way to reduce the influence of moneyed special interests. Obama introduced public financing legislation in the Illinois State Senate, and is the only 2008 candidate to have sponsored Senator Russ Feingold’s (D-WI) tough bill to reform the presidential public financing system."

What Obama is proposing with regards to free television and radio time is from the extreme left side of the DEMOCRAT party. In his proposal for every hour some radio or TV show provides a liberal or conservative show the opposite side would be ENTITLED to equal free time on the same station. NOT ONE television network, including cable channels, or radio station have endorsed this. Jointly a majority of Republicans and DEMOCRATS reject this.

Obama started his run for President of the United States saying he would abide by the existing presidential public financing laws. But just a couple of months ago he said he would not take any money through the public financing. This released him from meeting the lower standards of the existing laws., which he claims he wants to make stronger! It would have limited him in the amounts of money he could take from certain groups and how much TV and radio time he could purchase. John McCain agreed to abide by the public financing laws and currently is working within the current public financing law.

In summary, the odds of Obama getting any of this past congress is slightly above zero. If it does, it will not be remotely close to what he is proposing as it will be gutted out again by the DEMOCRATS. Obama opted out of the current public financing law and trying to find support to pass a tought versions will not happen.

Military Families For Obama - Not

2008-09-11T20:12:00.000-04:00

Every person who is connected to someone in the National Guard or a Reserve Unit should think long and hard before they vote. They should shut out the talk from both sides and do their own research because the lives of their beloved military member may be at stake.

When President Clinton was in charge he cut our standing troop level in by nearly half. He cut our military from well over 700,000 strong to less then 400,000. He cut off nearly all purchases of “hardened” Hummers for the army. He cut funding for army choppers, APCs, and everything needed by our “troops on the ground.”

The Navy was gutted of ships that support the Army and Marine segments of our military. The Air Force was gutted. He even gutted the Coast Guard to the point they could not patrol our shores on the same basis as they had before because they could not purchase the fuel.

Some advanced weapons systems still in development stage were mothballed. Other proposed systems where killed before prototypes could be even built. This resulted in the deaths of troops in Iraq because they where not available.

We, the general public never paid attention, as Clinton took this money and more to finance his social projects. Congress, from both sides of the isle went along with this. Enough Republicans joined Democrats to allow this to happen. We made a mistake, but do we want to make it again? There is balance between both but gutting is not the way.

We can argue the point of the Iraq war but the real discussion is do we have a military that can provide our troops the best and afford them to carry out their mission.

While Obama has said he will add fewer then 80,000 full time military, it would not cover our needs of today. We still would be rotating Guard and Reserve units through the Arab world. Maybe each member would serve one less tour of duty, but we still would be ripping them from their homes, families, and jobs. This was never the purpose or design of these support units to be mainline front line full time troops.

Under Obama’s plan he would allow little spending on new advanced weapons to protect our military troops. It would be, what you have is what you get!

Obama’s says he will cancel contracts on “wasteful” weapons systems. Everyone of the new advanced weapon systems can be lumped into such. It all falls on the eyes of the beholder. Obama has no background, concept, or any advisor on his staff that would be qualified to understand such systems. This is life and death and not one of picking something off the shelf that looks nice!

Keep in mind Clinton cut funding for the “predator” unmanned vehicle. Had he not done this, the weapon system would have continued to be advanced and would have been in the hands of our troops when the war started. It saddens me to think of the dozens and maybe hundreds of Americans that would be alive if Clinton had not gutted the spending on just this project.

Obama’s entire message to the voters is social programs. Pick up a copy of his platform or go to his website and read up. Please read it from one end to the other. He promises something to everyone and tells you 5% of the taxpayers is going to pick up the entire price tag. You decide if that is even possible and then vote. Everyone is not going to get something and more then 5% of taxpayers are going to pay for it.

One of the few projects he supports is the new refueling plane. One has to wonder if he supports it so much because Boeing’s office in Chicago, his home district?

Earmarks - Obama vs. Palin - Real Facts About Them

2008-09-11T09:50:00.004-04:00

1- Earmarks are financial requests MADE BY SENATORS to the federal budget bills in congress.

2- Earmark requests go DIRECTLY TO A SENATOR from the officials of towns, townships, cities, counties, social programs, and schools. They DO NOT FUNNEL THROUGH A STATE GOVERNOR to the senator!

3- Every educated person knows earmarks are part of the sad game Congress requires lower level government units to play to get federal funding for many projects. It is not if a local government or elected official likes the idea of earmarks because it is the only way and the rules that the SENATORS CONTROL!

4- At the local level every elected official has a moral obligation to seek federal funding when they can, in an attempt to get some of their federal tax dollars returned to the locals. SENATORS FORCE them to do this because of way they run congress.

5- SENATORS REFUSE to change the laws to make the distribution of federal funds more equal to all units of government.

6- SENATORS COLLECT THE REQUESTS that come into their office and submit them to the budget bills.

7- SENATORS USE EARMARKS as a method to attempt to influence voters in upcoming elections.

8- SENATORS VOTE on the spending of federal money on earmarks. They can stop any earmark they want with a simple vote.

9- SENATORS USE EARMARKS as a method as “payback” to some local elected officials for their political support in recent elections.

10- MORE SENATORS have been charged with crimes in their handing out of earmarks then the local officials in requesting them.

In these ten bullet points does anyone see where a GOVERNOR is responsible for earmarks? SENATORS are responsible!

Like all of us are taught by are parents when we where little. Play by the rules. If the rules are wrong, then change them. SENATORS make the rules with regards to earmarks and not some governor!

Obama - Blueprint To Nightmare Part 1

2008-09-10T11:22:00.002-04:00

Why Obama Scares Me - Part One - About Me

Anyone that knows me knows that I am from the middle with a conservative leaning. I have been passionate about programs/laws that have been brought forth by both parties. Over my life I have even endorsed the concepts forwarded by third party candidates. I am not sure if that makes me a maverick, independent, or some crazy but none the less here are my thoughts.

I honestly believed Hillary Clinton would be carrying the flag for the Democratic Party. I never believed Barack Obama would even be a top contender within his party. My reasoning was he lacked experience in all areas of government. He had zero management time, no time working within a budget, making a budget, and no true leadership rolls in his employment history.

I remember him from the 2004 Democratic Convention. He was good speaker but was not even in same league as John Kennedy, Ronald Ragen, Dr. Martin Luther King, or Bill Clinton. Each of these people had great strengths and weaknesses but each of them had a unique quality Obama lacked. They “talked the talk” but they also “walked the walk.” Because of his lack of experience, Obama could not even “crawl the crawl!”

As I watched the primary races come to past I started to wonder what where these people thinking? This guy comes out of Illinois with little record and was elected to the US Senate four years ago. That he had spent nearly all of the last two years away from the US Senate. He seldom returned to Washington to cast votes on key issues to represent the people of Illinois.

When he ended up with the nod of the Democratic Party I figured he would select Hillary Clinton. I knew it would be difficult, but she afforded a more moderate part of her party, was a woman, and knew her way around congress. Being the wife of former President Bill Clinton gave her eight years of highly insightful observation and sometimes hands on to the workings of our government. She was someone who had been a senator since 2001. Let alone she had a highly active role in Bill Clinton’s holding the office of Governor of Arkansas.

The thing I thought would be a problem for him selecting her was drive. While I do not agree with many, if not most of her ideas, I respect her for being the one out front on the issue. If the issue was going to succeed or fail she was going to be out there. I saw that as a problem for Obama, as she could overshadow him and his desire to be in the limelight would clash.

I believed Bill Clinton could also be a problem for Obama. Bill Clinton likes to speak his mind no matter what. While this trait is often welcome, Clinton’s view points could be possible troublesome for Obama down the road.

When Obama selected Senator Joe Biden from Delaware I first thought what the heck. The only thing he brings to Obama is someone who often makes the news, not so much for his views, but for his verbal attacks on people. Plus, he had a history of making “stupid” comments that played well on the news.

Biden was one that the media seldom went running to when they where looking for view points from key senators. When a group of the “top” democrat senators would appear before the microphone to explain their position Biden was seldom among them. Right or wrong, I had always perceived him as someone with tenure in the senate, but not a shaker.

Then it dawn on me that many in the media was saying that Mitch Romney was going to be McCain’s running mate. Biden could portray being a person of much less means then the often referred to rich Romney. Biden is one of the few that could get into a jousting verbal match with Romney and come close holding his own. So Biden seemed to make sense based on that limited criteria.

Because I did not know much about Obama I started to search the Internet. I first checked out some blogs that portrayed him the greatest thing since “sliced bread” to those that did not put him much higher then squashed ant. Postings on both sides seem so far over the top that they did not warrant further consideration for a source of information.

Then I started to google his name and other key words. I generally kept my looking at postings from mainstream media groups. This included the major television networks, cable news networks, and newspapers. While knowing all of them had their various political agendas, I read everything I could.

Well, I started become very concerned about the makeup of Obama. It was not what took place “on stage” before the public but what went on behind the scenes. I believe accidents happen and people are sometimes in the wrong place at the wrong time. But when a pattern keeps repeating itself and huge holes exist in a highly public life one has to wonder about what is the real makeup of the person. However, I am not going to dwell on that point now but will spell these issues out in later posts.

The next few posts deal with Obama's published “Blueprint For Change.” It can be viewed online at his site at http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/ObamaBlueprintForChange.pdf

What I am going to deal with in the next few posts is WHAT IS MISSING and not so much what is there. The only reason to walk you through this is to show how a carefully crafted document can mislead people.

We all have our hopes and with the condition of our country is working through we all are desperate for a brighter day. So it is natural to be pulled to a person who can deliver a smooth talking speech that sounds like that person has all the answers.

In everyday life situation we would be scared to death if a contractor came to our house to put in some new windows and he said to get your business he will put a new roof on and put up shutters for no extra money. Keep that logic in mind as you follow along.

Knuth Joins Gardner Is Out Of Touch

2008-09-08T20:04:00.003-04:00

They always say first impressions are most often right. I should have kept mine of Kevin Knuth once I read some of his postings on the official Allen County Democratic Party blog. But no, I though he had matured to be able to see the big and entire picture. Well, in the last two weeks he shows he is out of touch with the truth and understanding.

It first started when he decided to post a link to the age old hack attack on John McCain. It is the sickening one that shows the deadly fire on the USS Forestall that killed so many brave young Navy sailors. The site tried to blame the fire on McCain, who was a pilot on one of the planes involved.

I emailed Knuth on this subject and I believe ask him for any place in the “real world” where McCain was found to have caused this deadly fire. I am not sure I asked him to remove this crap but one would think he would have, but didn’t.

Now he has shown he is he has no understanding of people talking strait. In his latest post:

Oh yeah....she's ready to lead........
Looks like Sarah Palin needs to learn about the mortgage business.
Posted by Kevin Knuth at 04:48 PM Permalink

Link here:
http://allencountydemocrats.typepad.com/allen_county_democratic_p/2008/09/oh-yeahshes-rea.html

He posted a link to ABC News. This starts out with this;

A Confusing Comment on Fannie & Freddie From Gov. Sarah Palin

September 08, 2008 2:56 PM

Natalie Gewargis-->Saturday in Colorado Springs, Colo., Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said, "The fact is that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers. The McCain-Palin administration will make them smaller and smarter and more effective for homeowners who need help."

"Too expensive to the taxpayers?"

They're private entities.

Though they're private entities ultimately backed up by the taxpayers.

He is poking fun somehow at Palin’s quoted comment of, "Too expensive to the taxpayers?"

Guess what Knuth? You will make a perfect County Council member of spending tax dollars like they are free and pouring off the printing press. What you missed is she was dead on!!!! If you would have watched Fox News over CNN you would have learned she was so right. Then again, she does not use the twenty minutes to promise the world everything but takes two seconds to say the facts.

By the way read down to the next post to see whose election campaign got the most money from these two “seized” companies.

OBAMA BEST BUDDY OF FANNIE MAE

2008-09-08T18:53:00.005-04:00

While Obama has been running a campaign of "for the people" may be soon crashing. Sarah Palin may not even be a factor.

He opened his campaign to millions of people, via the internet, seeking their small donations to fund his “for the people” campaign. He raised untold millions taking the hopes of these people to what he promised "CHANGE." What they are getting today may bring them to their senses that Obama is the typical political hack out of Chicago. Who will say anything and do anything to get their vote. Let alone their hard earned money, if he gets elected.

Most everyone here in the United States has known for a couple of months that the mortgage companies where in deep trouble which includes both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Congress has known for much longer that these two companies where in deep trouble.

Well today Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac where taken over by the government. That the stock holders where left with nothing and US could have slipped into a depression even worse then rocked the US back in the 1930’s. Had the government not stepped in untold US banks would have collapsed within days, weeks, or a few months. There is not enough money is the government bank insurance plan to cover people’s savings. Oil would have been the least of our problems. I know this comes a shock but wait a few weeks as more details come out. Oh, this is not Bush's fault if you look at the Fannie & Freddie are setup with little oversight from the feds.

So how does Obama play into this?

Well out of the nearly two dozen candidates running for president he was number one in the hearts of Fannie Mae. Out of the top 100 contributions Obama received 56 checks for a total of $64,000. Sadly, John McCain’s campaign took 4 checks for $3,300. The top brass over at Freddie Mac did not hand out as much money as of 7-31-08 (last available data available until 9-30-08 for the August figures). Out of 91 listed contributions Obama took down 35 of them for $29,000. McCain received 8 checks for $7,900.

Here is a interesting list of donors Obama collected from before his run for president. Keep in mind he was a freshman senator with no zero influence in the senate.

Goldman Sachs (Investment Bankers) $693,830
JPMorgan Chase & Co (Investment Bankers) $454,921
Lehman Brothers (Investment Brokers) $365,922
Moveon.org (Internet) $347, 483
Morgan Stanley (Investment Banker) $314,638

My guess is Obama, if confronted by media, will say he did not know about it. Then followed by the money is being returned and he will throw one more body under the bus for accepting such.

As for McCain, I think he owes an explanation as well.

Guess who was right behind Obama? Come on and take a wild guess! OK, here is a clue. She is a Democrat. Go figure!

OBAMA Picks McCain - What A Surprise

2008-09-08T14:35:00.003-04:00

Oh how Obama changes his speak in a little over four months. He is running around in every major city, small town, and small hall yelling that John McCain is like President Bush. What is funny just four months ago he was saying that McCain, Hillary Clinton, or himself would make a better President of the United States

Keep in mind back in April there was a whole host of Democrats and Republicans still in the race. But he picked John McCain.

Oh, how Obama flips around just to fill the people with what they WANT TO HEAR over what they NEED TO HEAR.

From ABC News 4-20-08

ABC News' Eloise Harper and Sunlen Miller report: Sen. Barack Obama, speaking in Reading, Pa., said that John McCain would be better than President Bush, and Hillary Clinton used the line as an opening to attack both Obama and McCain.

"You have a real choice in this election. You know, either Democrat would be better than John McCain, but, and all three of us would be better than George Bush," Obama said. "What you have to ask yourself is who has the chance to actually really change things in a fundamental way? So that 10 years from now or 20 years from now you can look back say, 'Boy, we really moved in a new direction and we've put the country on a better path.'"

OBAMA - Vote For Me Or You Don't Vote

2008-09-08T14:15:00.002-04:00

Obama has shown that following the wishes of the people is only valid if they happen to be his views. As human nature we calulate what a person will do in the future based on what they hve done in the past. Seldom is this wrong!

Read the following and then ask yourself the following question. If the race is close in November will he launch a team of hundreds of laywers to strike thousands of votes across america because someone may have signed their name where it was suppose to be printed and printed where it was suppose to be written? Is this the type person you want to be the next President of the United States?

Keep in mind this is the same person who has often spoken of getting thousands of poor and disadvanaged signed up to vote.

From CNN Politics.com – May 30, 2008

In his first race for office, seeking a state Senate seat on Chicago's gritty South Side in 1996, Obama effectively used election rules to eliminate his Democratic competition.

As a community organizer, he had helped register thousands of voters. But when it came time to run for office, he employed Chicago rules to invalidate the voting petition signatures of three of his challengers.

The move denied each of them, including incumbent Alice Palmer, a longtime Chicago activist, a place on the ballot. It cleared the way for Obama to run unopposed on the Democratic ticket in a heavily Democrat district.

"That was Chicago politics," said John Kass, a veteran Chicago Tribune columnist. "Knock out your opposition, challenge their petitions, destroy your enemy, right? It is how Barack Obama destroyed his enemies back in 1996 that conflicts with his message today. He may have gotten his start registering thousands of voters. But in that first race, he made sure voters had just one choice."

Obama's challenge was perfectly legal, said Jay Stewart of the Chicago's Better Government Association. Although records of the challenges are no longer on file for review with the election board, Stewart said Obama is not the only politician to resort to petition challenges to eliminate the competition.

"He came from Chicago politics," Stewart said. "Politics ain't beanbag, as they say in Chicago. You play with your elbows up, and you're pretty tough and ruthless when you have to be. Sen. Obama felt that's what was necessary at the time, that's what he did. Does it fit in with the rhetoric now? Perhaps not."

The Obama campaign called this report "a hit job." It insisted that CNN talk to a state representative who supports Obama, because, according to an Obama spokesman, she would be objective. But when we called her, she said she can't recall details of petition challenges, who engineered them for the Obama campaign or why all the candidates were challenged.

But Will Burns does. Now running himself for a seat in the Illinois legislature, Burns was a young Obama volunteer during the presidential candidate's first race.

Burns was one of the contingents of volunteers and lawyers who had the tedious task of going over each and every petition submitted by the other candidates, including those of Alice Palmer.
"The rules are there for a reason," Burns said.

He said that challenging petitions is a smart way to avoid having to run a full-blown expensive race.

"One of the first things you do whenever you're in the middle of a primary race, especially in primaries in Chicago, because if you don't have signatures to get on the ballot, you save yourself a lot of time and effort from having to raise money and have a full-blown campaign effort against an incumbent," Burns said.

Burns said he believed that Obama did not enjoy using the tactic to knock off Palmer.
"It was not something he particularly relished," Burns said. "It was not something that I thought he was happy about doing."

But Obama did it anyway, clearing the field of any real competition

Goldner - One More Campaign Payoff

2008-09-08T00:36:00.002-04:00

On Tuesday the Fort Wayne City Council will vote to decide to over ride Mayor Henry’s veto of creating a new board exclusively to oversee the Fort Wayne Fire Department.

The new “Fire Board” will take over the work the Board of Safety has done for decades. While this new board was debated before the council there was not one case presented where the Board of Safety made an error. There was no listing of any chronic problems the Board of Safety.

Here is the deal. Currently the Board of Safety is composed of three appointed people by the Mayor. Recently Mayor Henry expanded it to include five members. The additional spots where filled by a retired police officer and retired firemen.

The new “Fire Board” would have five members. Three members would be picked by the Mayor and two remaining spots picked by the firemen. So any time an issue came up if the two union firemen did not agree with the Mayor all they needed to do is sway one of the tree other members to vote with them. In a nut shell, the Mayor no longer had true control over terminations, suspensions, working rules, and so forth. All three of his appointments would need to agree to carry out the wishes of the Mayor or the Fire Chief.

Keep in mind conditions for termination, suspension and work rules is part of the contract the firemen have with the City. The board only agrees if any violation took place.

This is going to add one more layer of government in the way of the new “Fire Board” and give the Mayor and his Fire Chief less control over it. Also this board will need materials, meeting place, someone to type up papers and so forth there is a few thousand dollar annual cost. That is unless the city has to pay the fire fighters when they are at the meetings or doing work for the board. Then we could see this new board costing maybe ten grand a year.

The police still operate under the Board of Safety and one can guess, and rightfully so, they will want a board set up the same way. I would guess it would be called the Police Board. As outlined above the Mayor will loose control and the city is faced with maybe an additional ten grand a year. It would take an unamaious vote on behalf of the Mayor's appoitment to to make sure the Mayor's wishes are carried out.

Coming to the station under the influence, which if I am right, draws a suspension and possibility of being fired. With the new make up the firemen charged by the Chief and is one of the “good old buddies in the union” he may not serve any suspension. The two firemen vote to take care of their buddy and only need one of the Mayor’s three appointments to “protect” the guy.

Goldner was endorsed by the fire fighter’s union when she ran for the 2nd district council spot. I BELIEVE BUT NOT DEAD NUTS SURE that the union also gave her a financial donation. That some firemen may have assisted in her campaign and this may be in kind donation.

I am not sure if any other council members received the fire union endorsement or financial donations to their campaigns. That would be for them state in public over people having to go and retrieve campaign records.

One has to ask the following:

1- If a person receives a campaign donation directly for union or its political action committee would a council person have to excuse them self from voting?

2- Unless there is some legal reason, to which the public has not been told about then why is this being done? There appears to be nothing wrong and there is a binding contract in place that limits what the Board of Safety can do. So what is the problem?

3- Adding two boards with ten members the cost (if officers and firemen are paid) couple approach ten to twenty grand when everything is figured in. In tough times is this what we want to saddle on the public?

4- This action will reduce this mayor’s and all future mayors’ control over these two very public departments. Is that what council wants for now and in the future?

One would hope that after thinking about this that members of council support the Mayor and veto this bill.

Goldner Needs To Talk To McCain

2008-09-07T23:24:00.004-04:00

Here is City Councilwoman Karen Goldner’s post on the Democratic Party of Allen County blog.

September 06, 2008

The "E" Word

We have heard a lot about the Republican convention this week and congratulations to our friends on the other side of the aisle for a nice event.

Predictably, we saw lots of pageantry (nice touch on that backdrop for McCain's speech, but hey - mistakes happen.) We also heard lots of talk about their candidates and lots of criticism of Barack Obama. So far, nothing to be surprised about.

But what did we NOT hear? We did NOT hear about what the Republicans plan to do for working families and to get the American economy back on track. That is too bad, because that is what this election should be about. In a democracy, politican campaigns should be about ideas. Both sides present theirs, and the voters can decide which they like better.

But this year, you don't get to hear about the Republican plan for the economy. I guess when the Republican candidate believes that the economy is fundamentally sound, as John McCain has said, there's no need to worry about it.

If you believe our economy is fundamentally sound, please raise your hand.

I thought so.

Posted by Karen Goldner at 02:47 PM Permalink

Now it seems Mr. Goldner is trying to say the economy is in trouble and people are hurting. I think most of us agree!

I guess there is a difference in the Democrat ranks is that once you are elected to office then there is NO ECONOMIC problems if you are spending other people’s tax money. Because just three weeks ago she was trying to convince fellow council members and Mayor Henry’s officials that it would be a wise investment to spend maybe a million dollars more on an IT contract to support a local company. Then again she did not share with the public that one of the three subcontractor companies involved, included a friend of hers, as reported on the Angry White Boy blog.

“… It should be noted that Stacey Smith, the President of Prairie Quest Consulting is friends with Karen Goldner.”

Oh well, Goldner has shown in recent days integrity and being candid is no longer part of her makeup. If you see her, ask her about using the party’s blog to post a link to an Alaskan blog that was breaking the news via a comment about Sarah Palin’s fifth child was not being hers, but that of her daughter.

After posting a reply on the site and writing her an email of being outraged she said she did not intend for people to see that particular comment. Even though it was located in the top half of the posted comments, she claims it was not her intent! She did not edit her post saying anything about that some information may be in error or unfounded.

There are dozens of blogs in Alaska but somehow she found that particular one, at that very time, to let others know what “friends” in Alaska where saying.

Getting back to the subject is great to know is the economic condition of one of her friends was going to get a great deal better if she could only have swayed the council and the Mayor's officials.

Hay throwing taxpayers under the bus is no problem. Look at the friends, former supporters and voters Obama has tossed under the bus in the last ten plus years. No big deal!

If she had taken off her Donkey Ears maybe she would have heard McCain address the issue. See, McCain can not promise everyone everything (the world is great)! He has to address these complex issues and that takes more time then a ten second sound bite.

One More Scare From The Obama Camp

2008-09-07T22:26:00.003-04:00

Let us play the stupid Obama’s extreme leftist idea of what happens if John McCain dies while serving as President. They try to portray a Sarah Palin wondering around the halls of the White House in a state of bewilderment. They want you to believe there would be a fog floating throughout the hollowed halls. That one would only hear is a little shrill little voice going “help, help, help….”

Had Obama’s buddies, in the news media, and his staff would have attended U.S. History over Self Promotion class in high school they would have known that our constitution has this 25th Amendment. See. it provides for the new President to nominate a new Vice President. Then both of houses of congress would need to confirm, by vote, the new Vice President.

One has to wonder why the media want to use age, to defeat a healthy and highly productive political official. You can rest assured every one of them would be in court within hours of their employer telling them it was time to move on, as they where too old!

Then again, maybe this is a sad statement about those on the left.

BTW, I have watched Barracudas and I can tell you one thing is do not provoke them! They don't play very nice, when provoked.

Obama On BioFuel

2008-09-06T14:58:00.001-04:00

Obama has slammed McCain for his stance AGAINST the massive, tax supported increase production of befoul, more commonly known as E85 gasoline. McCain screamed, yelled, and kicked his desk that this wrong. That we needed more grown products to produce E85. That the cost of doing such will cost the Americans billions more then it saved.

While rally crowds are applauding Obama for the comment they forget their wallets are thinner because of this stupid spending. Remember this is case where Obama SUPPORTED President Bush and McCain DID NOT!

As they say, “The proof is in the pudding!”

1- The massive use of corn has resulted in lower production of wheat and soybeans. Two other key farm products to feeding America and the world.

2- Farmers have been forced to cut their production of beef, pork, and poultry because of increased feed prices. This has driven up the price of these meats.

3- Even at current manufacturing rates of E85 fuel we can only produce enough corn to support just a tiny percentage of total US needs for gasoline.

4- To convert most cars to be able to burn E85 will cost well over $1,000

So when you are at an Obama rally when he makes this comment and then flashes that smile of his just remember the following. He is smiling because he just conned you! He told you what you wanted to hear and not the hard truth of an honest and open future leader!

IS OPRAH RIGHT???

2008-09-06T14:01:00.003-04:00

While many of us know the real reason Oprah Winfrey will not invite Sarah Palin onto her television show, she does have the right to have whoever she wants to have as a guest. People in Chicago know that Winfrey has been a supporter and a major financial contributor to Obama’s campaigns that go back to at least his run for a US Senate seat.

Winfrey used a closely worded press release to be truthful but being less then honest about her decision. In the statement she said she decided she would not use her show to promote any presidential candidate. That is true. What she failed to tell you is prior to his “announced” presidential run Obama has already started forming a campaign committee, filed the paperwork for such, and raised money within the Chicago community. That Obama had already had meetings with many of Winfrey’s rich fellow Chicago friends.

For her to offer that she did not know Obama was going to run for President if false and she knows it. Then again what would you expect out of anyone connected to the Democratic Party of Chicago. The most corrupt political party of any in the United States.

Winfrey may deny that there is internal problems within her staff one would have to surmise that some knew that Obama’s last appearance was nothing more then a “pre-announcement” promotion for his running for office. See, even people on Winfrey’s production company can see the truth, when they know the truth.

OBAMA - MOST IMPORTANT CONGRESSIONAL WORK

2008-09-05T22:13:00.003-04:00

U.S. Senators Barack Obama (D-IL) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) introduced in 2005 a bill that deals with NOT one nuclear weapon. Here are the guts of Obama’s most important work in the Senate.

Materials of Mass Destruction.---The Committee supports sections 10-12 of Public Law 109-472 which strengthens U.S. efforts to interdict illicit shipments of weapons or materials of mass destruction and secure vulnerable stockpiles of conventional weapons. The Committee provides $48,059,000 to implement these programs, of which $10,000,000 is under Export Control and Related Border Security Assistance, $36,059,000 is under the Small Arms and Light Weapons Destruction program, and $2,000,000 is under the Nonproliferation and Disarmament Fund.

As noted above they introduced this in mid 2005. The senate jumped all over as it was tossed it into a voice vote near the Xmas vacation date came for congress in December of 2006. Then it took six months more to get the Appropriations Committee to release the funds.

While this is a noteworthy thing that Lugar and Obama did one has to figure out it was not the most important work of that year, month, or week of congress. I will concede it could have been on that given day. That is provided it was a slow day in congress!!

By the way Obama was able to wrangle over 200 million dollars for the Chicago Transit Authority from congress in less then a year. I think it is called an “earmark”

Below is a link to both Lugar and Obama’s press release relating to this bill….

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=388x3353

6.1% Unemployment Rate - The Real Truth

2008-09-05T15:26:00.004-04:00

While Democrats are promoting “the sky is falling” with today’s released unemployment numbers one has to take it with a large grain of salt. Do NOT get me wrong, we have a major issue with unemployment and only the world market place will determine how we get out of it.

First, with the recent passage of the extended unemployment benefits law, many thousands of people who had expired their benefits previously now return to the unemployed calculations. They now have an additional 13 weeks and again are crunched into the numbers.

When they had used up their unemployment benefits (26 weeks) they where no longer consider in the unemployed numbers. This is not a President Bush way of figuring numbers but goes back for longer then I can remember. My guess this happens because they count the number of claims filed and once a person no longer can make a weekly unemployment claim they have no way when or if they ever find a job.

Second, manufacturing was hardest hit. Which tells us fewer people are buying products made here in the United States. While we are concerned, and rightfully so, our own “backyard” the economy of many parts of the world have started to slow.

Third, during the month of August many auto manufacturing plants where closed for adjustment for over production. This also resulted in many, if not most, of direct suppliers to the auto manufacturers to lay off their work forces.

Forth, the real unemployment number is closer to a tad over 10%. The four percent difference is made up of people who claim to looking for work and those who have taken part-time employment while looking for full time work. This four percent number will very, based on what
I could find, is down to just under three percent in best of times.

Here in Allen County the GM plant was closed during the last week of August. They where told by their UAW union to file for unemployment, which is there right and should do so. The thing is our plant workers will return to work, I believe, in the second week of September. But for August numbers they are unemployed!

The clouds in the sky are growing darker but the sky is NOT falling!

Some Liberals Are Sexists Of The Highest Level

2008-09-04T16:47:00.004-04:00

The likes of the left wing talking heads have turned to what blogs are saying to take one more shot at Sarah Palin. I guess when you can not use facts you turn to deplorable garbage to fill your time slot.

When the talking heads could not smear her with the sickening smear of being a grandmother and faking it as her own child, they just started swimming in the cesspool in a different direction. Now they spin the story of how horrible it is as a mother of five, with one being special needs child, should be home taking care of her children.

Yet they never raised one question about their VP candidate being sworn in as a senator in the very hospital room his two young sons where fighting to recover from auto accident injuries that claimed the life of their sister and mother.

How sad.

OBAMA'S PANDERING TO WOMEN & MINORITIES

2008-09-04T11:07:00.002-04:00

Being as old as dirt one lives through a great deal. Some of it joyful, and some sorry full. But it is education regardless.

Obama is running around the United States telling women, who he is pandering to, that he is going to get them equal pay. I called his office in Chicago this past Tuesday to ask how they got to their numbers. Well, I was handed off to three different people before they told me they would have to get back with me. However, they cautioned me the numbers where “good.”

Well I am still waiting on that call…. See I was so stupid I told the lady how they got to the stupid numbers. Stupid me.

However, back when little Obama was just two years old Congress passed a law called Equal Pay Act of 1963. This covered equal pay between sexes.

When Obama reached three years of age the equal pay law was added to the Civil Rights Act of 1064. This covered equal pay among all, regardless to race.

By the time Obama reach kindergarten the equal pay was applied to the Age Discrimination Act of 1967. You got it, this one covers age!

Then in 1970 the equal pay coverage was applied to Americans with Disabilities. Obama would be in the 4th grade. I think everyone knows who this applies to!

There is two ways to get to Obama’s apple and oranges, implying workers are not covered under equal pay. Again he is pandering to the female and minority vote.

If you have any questions about equal pay issues between sexes or minorities call your local EEOC office or look it up on the Internet. The only real thing he may do is try to extend the filing time you have to file a complaint to longer then the current 180 days.

Biden The Biggest Bigot In The United States?

2008-09-02T18:52:00.002-04:00

I am sure you are wondering how I got to this “strange” belief. Well let us only slip back to September 26, 2007. When the Democrat controlled Senate voted on his idea of breaking Iraq into three states. He would divide the oil income between the three and then walk away saying a job well done.

He supported forced relocation of hundreds of thousands of HUMAN BEINGS based on being a Sunni, Shiite, or Kurd. That will solve all of Iraq problems.

What is the even sadder is so many senators supported this resolution. It should have turned the stomach of everyone of them that supported this resolution.

One has to wonder what the United States would have been like had Biden been in charge back during our civil war and even in the 60’s.

Prior to this Biden offered this division in an op-ed column to the New York Times, one liberal paper. Seems amazing how some would treat an entire population that happen not to live in the United States. Maybe they are second class citizens?

I AM BACK

2008-08-28T14:39:00.000-04:00

I am back writing on my own blog after months of being away. I have been posting on other local blogs but I have recovered enough to start writing my own thoughts again.

I do want to thank the local bloggers for their continued postings. Regardless if I agree or disagree with them it is great that we have many people expressing their thoughts and others adding their own. I know I have learned from these and hope others have as well.

Two years ago I suffered a minor stroke during an operation. Since then I have suffered one major heart attack and a second minor one in the last six months. What shocks me prior to the stroke I have never had an issue with my heart or blood pressure? Heart problems do not even run in either side of my family. So go figure!

The only reason I mention this is some of my skills where slightly effected. My verbal and writing have been slightly effected. It seems it is more pronounced at times then others. I just hope each of you bare with me. I do not ask pity from anyone but only understanding.

Henry Thinks He Is Worth More Tax Dollars

2007-11-15T23:10:00.000-05:00

Mayor Richard is apparently trying to take care of his fellow Democrat Tom Henry. The local papers are reporting that Richard will be asking for an increase of $10,000 for the incoming mayor. One has to wonder why the Mayor did not make this request back when City Council worked with the 2008 budget? I am sure there is a good reason but it escapes me.

I spent a few minutes checking out what some mayors make across the United States make. Henry will not be going to Arlington Texas because the mayor there only makes $90,000.

Toss out Tulsa, Oklahoma as the Mayor down there hauls down only $105,000. With cost of living adjustment Henry would need $125,000.

You will not find Henry applying for Omaha, Nebraska either. The Mayor there makes the insulting low salary of $95,000. Henry would need at least $131,000 to make it worth his while.

Besides being cold, Flint, Michigan would fail to attract Henry. The Mayor only takes home $100,000 and Henry would need $122,000.

The real kicker is Oakland, California. The Mayor there makes 183,000 a year. However, Henry would need to hold out for $270,000 to make it equal what he will be making in Fort Wayne for the 2008 year.

Now this issue will be going to City Council.

I hope the old story of attracting top talent does not sway council. They may consider having their research person check what other cities across the United States are doing. I think, they will learn that the Mayor of Fort Wayne is pretty close to the top, for a city our size, in annual salary.

The News-Sentinel story is at:
http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071115/NEWS/711150330

Steve Shine - Captain Of A Ship Adrift

2007-11-08T19:23:00.000-05:00

While appearing on Pat White's show on WOWO Steve Shine hinted that Ken Neumeister and Cathy Hawks would remain very much a part of Allen County Republican Party. It seems he was saying both of these people, who he had appointed to a position of trust, that their media rants of dishing Matt Kelty and supporting Democrat Tom Henry was acceptable. Both of them made a conscious decision to appear at a new conference with Henry. Adding more insult, was the two of them taking a position of standing directly behind Tom Henry, for all the cameras to to capture the perfect picture.

One has to wonder when this "accepting" attitude became Shine's policy. Back in 1999 he kicked Ken Nicolet out, as a precinct committeeman, when he wrote a letter to the editor supporting Graham Richard. Nicolet clearly stated, he was supporting Richard because he was a lifelong friend. If memory serves me right, he never mentioned he was a precinct committeeman for the Allen County Republican Party. Yet Shine had him gone, within hours, of the letter appearing in print. Even though Nicolet had served the party well as the elected St. Joe Township Trustee and Advisory Board member in the past.

I can buy into Shine's story that he cannot control what any member of the Allen County Republican Party says. However, if Shine allows their return to any position within the party, he is endorsing their behavior. Plus Shine is endorsing any one in the future can do the same without any accountability.

If Neumeister or Hawks want to return to the party, then they should appear before a meeting of the precinct committeemen. Shine did this very thing with Matt Kelty, and like him, let them explain their actions. Allow precinct committeemen to decide if they want them back. That would be "inclusive", not "exclusive!"

By Shine forming some new committee, which the makeup is unknown to the rank and file of the party, can only lead to a repeat of the last seven years. He will once again be walking down the same road that has the party loosing seats on county council, the mayor's race, and at the township level.

Mr. Shine has tried to paint a picture of a minority of Republicans supported Kelty in their voting. He is wrong, and should go back and look at the election returns again. Kelty, did in fact, obtain more then 50% of the republican vote. In order for Kelty to have received less then 50% of the republican vote he would have had to have less then 31% of the vote.

With the Allen County Republican Party continued "exclusive" over "inclusive" attitude, the party will continue to see a loss the large core of hard working people Shine had built in the early '90s.

Sturges Grabs More Tax Dollars

2007-11-08T18:15:00.000-05:00

The election is over by one day and everyone's democratic party contributor Barry Sturges is back to grabbing tax dollars for himself. He apparently is not happy with just making commissions off the sale of South Town redevelopment properties, Harrison Square leasing, and the sale of sites within the city owned industrial park. Now he picked up $65,000 for his Castlewood Shopping Center.

Read the News-Sentinel story at:
www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071108/NEWS/711080321

Schmidt Drops Ball - Goldner Runs With It

2007-11-07T19:21:00.000-05:00

This is the sixth in a series of posts concerning the 2007 elections

Republican Don Schmidt may have lost his city council seat because he forgot to campaign. Schmidt has never been one to run a high profile campaign. He has pretty much left his record speak for him and it has done him well in the past. The last time he campaigned hard was when various phases of the St. Joesph Township annexation voted in the city elections for the first time.

This time Schmidt got caught in the same way that nearly cost Democrat Win Moses his state representative seat, by Matt Kelty. Schmidt and the rest of the party never paid attention to what was going on in his own district.

Upstart Democrat Karen Goldner worked the neighborhoods and met the people. She took a modest campaign fund and used it wisely. She reached out to the voters in second district. She attended all the "meet the candidate" forums that where held. She even posted comments on several local blogs in answering questions raised.

With Schmidt allowing his record to speak for him, he failed to understand in four years many people move in and out of neighborhoods. He failed to match Goldner on mailings to voters that he really wanted to serve another term on council. To many voters, Schmidt had just became a name. His flyers at the end, was too little too late.

While it is easy to blame the Libertarian party for Schmidt's possible defeat, it would be very wrong. Had he campaigned one half of what Goldner did, he would not now be considering asking for a recount in the voting. He would have won, like he has so many other times.

Smith & Didier Not Part Of Steve Shine's Spin Zone

2007-11-07T18:41:00.000-05:00

This is the fifth in a series of posts concerning the 2007 elections

Republicans Tom Smith and Tom Didier blew away their opponents in seeking their return to city council. Both ran in districts where three candidates where on the ballot.

First district councilman Smith came away with 60% of the vote. Even with Libertarian Byran Peters grabbing almost 10% of the vote did not hurt Smith.

Third district councilman Didier swayed just about 62% of the voters to return him to office. While Debra McBride (D) tried her best, Didier's being responsive to those in his district was just too much to overcome.

For these two councilmen the "anti Kelty" vote was not present. The voters in their districts believed these where the two best people and voted for them.

The Harrison Square issue did not hurt either one. Smith had been opposed to it from the beginning. Didier, while guarded in his endorsement, voted for it.

The smoking ban appears to have played no roll in the voting. Smith supported the ban and Didier opposed it.

Republican Chairman Steve Shine, has stated that the loss suffered by John Crawford was tied to the Harrison Square voting is unfounded. Also to say the Libertarian candidates "stole" voters away is bogus. Voters who decide, on their own, found the Libertarian candidates more to their liking then what Crawford stood for.

Shine has attributed Crawford's loss to Matt Kelty's defeat in running for mayor. Had Shine and Crawford tried to work with Kelty, instead of trying to seal his defeat, Crawford would be returning to council in January. Both Crawford and Shine took their shots at Kelty and just maybe enough of Kelty voters decided it was time for Crawford to go.

While Shine may try to sell the Harrison Square and Kelty's problems as the reason for Crawford's loss just doesn't add up with people who look beyond the headlines.

Pape Taking Firth District - No Surpise

2007-11-07T16:14:00.000-05:00

This is the fourth in a series of posts concerning the 2007 elections

Democrat Tim Pape will be returning to the city council chambers come January 1st. Pape easily defeated Republican Ron Buskirk and Libertarian Bob Fuller. Percentage wise, Pape did slightly better then he did in 2003. While the margin of the win was impressive he did not appear to gain any "bump" from the top of the ticket, in the way of Tom Henry.

The predominate democratic district appears to endorse the Harrison Square project as there was little, if any voting backlash. It will be interesting to see how this support plays out over the next four years. As Henry continues to sheppard current Mayor Richard's public supported projects along.

Pape is going to have to make some decisions regarding, being involved with issues that come before council, that his law firm has worked on bequest of the Henry administration. He might find some taxpayers object enough to this that they will file formal complaint against him with the Indiana Bar Association.

Hines Wins In Inpressive Style

2007-11-07T12:30:00.000-05:00

This is the thrid in a series of posts concerning the 2007 elections

Democrat Gynn Hines collected three out of every four votes cast in the sixth district voting last night. Receiving nearly 78% of the vote, clearly showed the people of the district appreciated the economic development that has taken place in the southeast portion of Fort Wayne.

The redevelopment of the old Southtown Mall site served the southeast side of Fort Wayne well. It also improved the overall view of Fort Wayne when people enter the city on Highway 27, from the south. With the addition of the Wal Mart and Mennards provides a destination point for people living in the area and those living to the south of the city limits.

There was no surprise in Hines winning in the heavy democratic district. The margin of his win however was very impressive.

The people of the district used their votes to indicate they did not care about the concerns of some regarding how the mechanics of the redevelopment took place. To them, the end results justified the means taken to accomplish the goal.

Libertarian Party Wins With No Wins

2007-11-07T11:18:00.000-05:00

This is the second in a series of posts concerning the 2007 elections

You cannot look up a phone number for the Allen County Libertarian Party, because they don't have one. You cannot find a building front housing the Libertarian Party, as they don't have one. What you will find a loose collection of people who are passionate about their political beliefs. They do have a local blog and should consider adding a web site as their local "home."

The Libertarian candidates financial reports filed with the Allen County Election Board where unimpressive. The party's entire slate of candidates raised less money then some powerbrokers gave a single candidate, in either of the two mainstream parties. Yes, they spent a great deal less per vote earned then any candidate from the Democrat or Republician Party. That should tell the powerbrokers something.

This party had no money for flashy television commercials, no massive radio campaigns, and no full page ads in the local newspapers. The Libertarian candidates depended on a few political sign, handbills, and walking their respective districts to promote their ideals.

Only in a few isolated cases where the Libertarian candidates even invited in taking part in "meeting the candidates" forums. To those groups, it is nice to see that they where inclusive over being exclusive. The vote return clearly shows they did reach some voters. Even if the main stream parties don't like it.

Shame on local newspapers, who did not provide them an equal chance to get their word out. Seldom was the Libertarian asked of their views on key issues facing the city. This was a clear sign of being exclusive over being inclusive. This short changed the voters of Fort Wayne and showed how pandering the some in the local media are.

The local media complain how they are not provided some kind of information by someone on some issue. Then they write long editorials denouncing such actions. Well, they should think back about how they decided that the voters did not need to hear the Libertarian views. It is two way street!

Some Republicans claim the Libertarian candidates "stole" votes from their respective candidates in yesterday's election. This is as far from the truth as you can get. Some voters found the Libertarian candidates more in line with their beliefs, then what the other candidates offered. This is not stealing votes, it is earning votes.

One would be hard pressed to believe that the conservative Libertarian Party would draw more then a minute fraction of democrat leaning voters. Most Libertarian voters came from the conservative wing of the republican party. The local GOP turned these voters out by the candidates they offered, and their record on all of the issues.

The election allowed the Libertarian Party a chance to get part of their foot in the door. The powerbrokers of the Democratic and Republican parties will not willingly open the door and invite them in. Even some of the local media do not believe the door should be opened to Libertarian Party. They are going to need to "keep the faith!"

The future success of the Libertarian Party will be determined if they can maintain their hard work of getting their ideas out, staying on point, and be understanding of other views. They need to take advantage of the "open mike" comment sessions at city council and county meetings. They need to continue to express their support or objection to issues that come before these bodies.

It will be up to the current members of the Libertarian Party to build on what they have worked so hard to accomplish thus far. They may not have won an office, but their impact was felt. Their ideals are real and fair number of people supported those beliefs, with their votes.

Just set back and think about how the results may have changed had one of the Libertarian candidates had just one half the money some of the mainstream candidates had. Then again, I am sure that scares the heck out of some of the mainstream political powerbrokers.

How the Libertarians effected the various election results will be covered in later posts.

Crawfrod Defeat A Complex Mix

2007-11-07T09:35:00.000-05:00

This is the first of a series of posts on the 2007 election

While standing at Republican Party Headquarters last night, Councilman John Crawford stated on a local radio station that he believed his defeat was a result of his stance on Headwaters Square, the smoking ban, and republican mayoral candidate Matt Kelty's issues. While there is no denying that these may have played some roll in his defeat, there where other issues that contributed to his defeat.

Crawford drove away former supporters by his actions on council. One was when he introduced a special clause into law that made smoking within 100 feet of any property line of the local hospitals. He angered both smokers and nonsmokers that worked within the walls of the hospitals. It was not the smoking issue, but one of hospitals using local government to strong arm the conduct of employees. For some of them, this was the very issue why they would not vote for Crawford.

While the sign ordinance was not discussed during the campaign, it did cost Crawford votes. The local real estate agents and realtors had asked council to hold up passing the sign ordinance to see if there was some way they could allow for real estate signs showing directions to open houses. Crawford was the one who spoke out it was a waste of time to even consider such. Of the hundreds of real estate agents doing business in Fort Wayne, this was the very issue why some of them would not vote for Crawford.

Matt Kelty had his share of issues to deal with. Sadly, some of those came from within the Allen County Republican Party. With the likes of Sam Talarico, Jr. in the highly publicized media event jumped across to support democrat Tom Henry did not fair well with some republican voters.

The average republican voter has long thought of Crawford as a leader among the elected officials. His standing mute, thus endorsing Talarico's behavior, told the conservative wing of the party that he really was not the leader they thought he was. For some, this was the issue as to why they could not vote for Crawford.

Crawford used a council meeting to chastise and hold Matt Kelty up to contempt, over a radio spot sponsored by some outside political PAC. This ad ran on an extremely small market share local radio station. While many found the radio spot distasteful, but id did not break any laws and it did not contain any lies. For some, this use of a council meeting to further a personal belief was the issue as to why they could not vote for Crawford.

The media did not pick up on it, for whatever reason, Crawford's campaigning manager was his young teenage son. To some, this was making a mockery of importance of having a good knowledgeable campaign manager. For a few, this was the issue as to why they could not vote for Crawford.

Some believe the issues Matt Kelty faces did not help the republican party, across the board. However, looking at what other republicans did in the voting that would be error in thought. They held their own. The negative Kelty effect was minimal in their success.

Crawford has stated his support of Harrison Square, the smoking ban, and the sign ordinance are things he strongly believed in. While this may be true and he should be respected for standing by his convictions. However, it was not what many of the voters believed in.

Crawford stood tall on these issues and should stand tall in accepting his own defeat.

My Endorsement Goes To Matt Kelty - Even Though I Said I Would Not

2007-11-05T18:53:00.000-05:00

My endorsement will not swing the election for mayor one way or the other. Then again, my vote may well be the deciding vote. I was not going to endorse anyone, but as the hours grew shorter my mind said, do it. So I am!

I am going to do it with bullet points

Matt Kelty is an outsider. He owes no one that is in office. His financial support has come from the grass roots and a few like minded people. He did not attract several hundred thousand dollars of money from law firms, contractors, and so forth from places like Indianapolis, Chicago, and Michigan.

Matt Kelty is not from "this is the way we have always done it" club. By not knowing this is the way it is always done, opens the chance to explore new avenues in how the City of Fort Wayne runs. It provides a chance for the taxpayers to come forth with new ideas.

Matt Kelty has firmly stated the OmniSource property should not be purchased without full disclosure and City Council approval.

Matt Kelty has stated he will see Harrison Square through. However, there will not be, what has become the norm in local government building projects of, "Oh, by the way we need to add this and that to the cost!"

Matt Kelty has promised to hold the line on property taxes. At first he said he would cut taxes but as the campaign ran on, he learned that was a promise he could not keep. Instead of continuing with a false promise, he modified his platform to hold taxes.

Matt Kelty has been subjected to more political stress then most Mayor's face in three years in office. While some of the stress was at the hands of people within his own campaign he stood tall. He did not duck the issues. He took the heat. To me, that means if something happens within in the city he will be there to take the blame and get it corrected. He would not hide and let someone else be the fall guy. It is hard to believe we will hear "no comment!"

Matt Kelty is concerned about jobs. Without jobs, Kelty understands all the public-private feel good projects will only serve as a monument to a failed period of time in Fort Wayne in generating jobs.

Matt Kelty does not see entering economic development, backed with tax payer guaranteed bonds, as a wise mode of operation. Kitty Hawk is the latest example of poor decisions made by others.

Matt Kelty will stream line all the boards and commissions. Ones no longer serving the best interest of taxpayers will be done away. People appointed by the Mayor who appear to have a conflict of interest will be asked to resign or will not be reappointed.

Matt Kelty will see that the public has input on projects. No longer will unknown groups, who happen to be appointed by the mayor, will become the mouth piece of the public. Look at what Mayor Richard did to the people who volunteered thousands of hours to the North River project, only to learn he was not being honest and open with them. He was using them to try jamming a land purchase down the throats of the public's throat.

Matt Kelty will try to work with the people already employed within the city. Many are employed at the sole desecration of the mayor. These people will be given a chance to work with Kelty. If they elect not to, they should move on before being forced to move on.

The legal issues are real. However, as I have said from the time they where handed down that they most likely will go away or he will be found innocent. I still stand behind that belief.

The birthday cake was a joke that just went from bad to worse. We all have been around places where a joke was told or a cartoon displayed that turned out to be just in poor taste. This is just one of them. It is not a deciding factor of being a good mayor.

I will not bash Tom Henry, like those who oppose Matt Kelty have. Tom Henry is a good man and does not deserve to have every little error that his campaign has made, to become a focal point to ridicule the man.

While some have said Kelty has little support from fellow Republicans may be true. However, at the same time, the elected Democrats have not rallied around Henry. No city wide public endorsements from Mayor Richard, who Henry said he would follow many of his ideas. No city wide public endorsements from council members Tim Pape, Glynn Hines, Tom Hayhurst, and John Shoaff. Let alone state representatives Win Moses and Phil GiaQuinta.

So as I go to sleep tonight, I know in my heart I am doing the best for my family and myself in voting for Matt Kelty

The "WHAT IF" 2007 Election

2007-11-05T09:28:00.000-05:00

It is now less then 24 hours to when local Fort Wayne voters start voting for what the Fort Wayne government will look like for the next four years. Then tension is high for every candidate running for office. Few, if any of the races seem like an automatic win for a given candidate.

The weather forecast for Tuesday seems to be one of what if. The weather is supposed to include cold cutting winds, possible light scattered rain, and maybe even a snow flake or so before the polls close at 6 P.M. What if the weather turns out just overcast and cool?

The turn out of voters is forecast to be very light. The number of absentee ballots returned often indicates the percentage of voters who will actually vote. A smaller absentee percentage, when compared to previous elections, has trended to indicate few voters going to the polls. What if they are wrong?

Who will vote appears to be in question. Some say, based on previous turnouts, that in bad weather many Democrats do not make it to the polls. In mid October, a poll indicated many republicans would be voting for Democrat Tom Henry. The margin has changed but neither candidate has been willing to share what their data shows. Republicans may stay away from the polls or just bypass making a selection in the vote for mayor. What if a little of each takes place?

The At-Large City Council race seems wide open. The voters will be selecting three people to represent the entire city on the nine member council. There claims that the new smoking ban may lead to victory or defeat for one incumbent member. Others have staked their political future on where they stand on the Harrison Square project. Will voters make these the defining issues?

The upstart Libertarian Party has fielded three candidates for the at-large race. They have been given little space, by the local media, at the political table. Yet, they have worked hard with their limited funds and seldom provided media exposure. They will attract some voters from both sides of the two main political parties. Depending on the voters, they just might be able to grab a seat at the city council table starting January 1st. Even if they do not win, they may well be the spoilers to some other candidate's hopes.

The 2007 Fort Wayne City Election is all about "WHAT IFs!"

The only thing that we know for a fact is that the people who get out and vote will help mold the future of Fort Wayne for the next four years. The opinions and beliefs of the local media, bloggers, letter to editor writers, talking heads, special interest groups, and outsiders will become mute.

Regardless, the people will have spoken! These are the real people who care about Fort Wayne's future. The ones who did not vote, could care less.

Mayor Richard - We Are Not That Stupid, But You May Be

2007-11-02T18:51:00.000-04:00

Check out the latest Mayor Richard's OmniSource con game....

Yep, he is now telling us he wants someone else to pay for the cleanup of OmniSource, with our federal and state tax dollars. He has no clue when such could or would even happen.

Then his people try to compare the OmniSource cleanup to the Bowser Avenue cleanup. The only thing these two have in common is the word "cleanup." Comparing the two is like comparing a person with a broken arm, to someone suffering massive body trauma.

Everyone running for office, or holding office, should be standing tall on this issue. They should either state they support Mayor Richard on this issue, or not.

The only two people I know who have outright rejected what is going on is Matt Kelty (R) and Karen Goldner (D). Kelty is running for mayor and Goldner is running for the 2nd district seat on city council.

This is so stupid, I cannot even express my thought without yelling. My only guess is Richard's has some vested interest in seeing this property purchased by the city. This is past common sense.

Check out the report here.....
http://www.indianasnewscenter.com/news/local/10980506.html

The OmniSource property is closer to the cleanup project of the I. J. Recycling grounds on North Clinton. It took 20-25 years to get cleaned up. All at the cost of taxpayers!

Think of this. If companies could just sale contaminated property to local government, then have the EPA/IDEM clean it up, there would not be one court case in the United States of the EPA suing companies for cleanup. Every company owning contaminated property would just sale it to the local government for a buck, and walk away.

PROUD TO SAY I AM FROM FORT WAYNE

2007-11-02T13:35:00.000-04:00

Maybe this is what Fort Wayne is really about. Please read this story and then pass the link on to others. If this does not touch your heart then I am not sure it can be touched.

This makes me proud to say, I AM PROUD TO BE FROM FORT WAYNE.

We may have our issues, but we have some damn fine people living here.

http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071102/SPORTS/711020304

Mayor's Appointee Speaks Out On Kitty Hawk Failure

2007-11-02T10:40:00.000-04:00

In this morning's edition of The Journal Gazette, Amanda Iacone writes a news story of the response of Fort Wayne-Allen County Airport Authority regarding the shut down of the Kitty Hawk sorting hub. Her contact for the story was one of Mayor Richard's three board appointments. Michael Gouloff, board president, is never directly quoted but one is led to believe this he is the person supplying the information.

Increasing property taxes will likely be the last option airport officials consider to pay off a debt left by departing cargo carrier Kitty Hawk.

Fort Wayne-Allen County Airport Authority officials said Thursday they won’t know for a while how much of a $34 million bond the airport authority will have to repay. The airport authority issued the bond to lure Kitty Hawk to Fort Wayne International Airport.

Two weeks ago Kitty Hawk filed for bankruptcy and in all that time no one had considered checking to see how much of the bond was still outstanding? Bond payments go to one place. Either that person has the outstanding balance or the person who they may forward the payment to would. One could understand that it could take a couple of days to get the exact balance but over two weeks?

One has to wonder if the delay in releasing the information is more political? By releasing the figures would only provide Matt Kelty with additional ammunition of unwise government guaranteeing of bonds, for marginal private businesses.

By not releasing the numbers, Gouloff also makes Kelty's claim of some boards and commission of not being transparent to the taxpayers to be true.

Kitty Hawk's shut down its sorting facility Monday, putting 300 people out of work. The company filed for bankruptcy last month.

The airport authority borrowed the money to build the air cargo company an overnight cargo hub plus an aircraft ramp in the late 1990s. Lease payments were intended to cover the bond issue. But when Kitty Hawk announced it was closing its Fort Wayne location, it defaulted on a 20-year lease with an option for two five-year extensions.

The airport authority has a reserve fund set aside with one year’s worth of expenses. Officials will tap into that fund to cover bond payments for now, board President Michael Gouloff said after a board meeting Thursday.

The airport authority is setting on a "slush fund" of enough money to maintain a full year of expenses? The City of Fort Wayne does not even attempt to maintain a fund to maintain our police or fire protection for six months, let alone a full year. Again, this only offers for strength to Kelty's drum beat of some boards not being transparent to the taxpayers.

When an unaccountable board can build a "slush fund" of this size, one has to wonder how much additional revenue they bring in annually that is spent on other things? These are taxpayers dollars they are hoarding!

While they may claim it is money from tenants at the airport they would be wrong. Every property taxpayer in Fort Wayne contributes annually to the operation of the airport. If the airport was totally self-supporting, then their potential claim could be considered true. But currently it is not!

The courts will determine what relief the airport authority will receive, Gouloff said.

Gouloff should have told the writer that the airport authority is an "unsecured creditor." Which puts airport pretty far down the list of those who may receive any money. When it is all said and done, the amount left to the taxpayers will be well in excess of twenty million dollars.

Using property taxes to pay off the debt is an option of last resort. But if the airport authority had to raise taxes, the increase would be minimal, he said.

This is the exact thinking, that has in part, lead to the property tax crisis all across the state of Indiana. In Fort Wayne most property tax bills are composed of a composite of taxing units. This includes city government, county government, township government, school district, library, county redevelopment special tax, public transportation, and the airport authority. A "minimal" increase from each of these non-related eight taxing units becomes "massive" to the taxpayer.

This is one more sign of the arrogance that some appointed members of various boards have towards the taxpayers!

Gouloff is hopeful the airport authority will be able to fill what he called a great air cargo facility, including a 240,000-square-foot warehouse. Gouloff believes other companies will recognize the facility and be willing to use it, he said.

Gouloffs statements and thoughts should tell us he does not see Kitty Hawk returning in any form.

Oh well, one more case of wasted tax dollars.

How To Flood Out Your Neighbor - Fort Wayne Style

2007-11-02T00:29:00.000-04:00

1- Dig a deep hole in the ground

2- Find a place where the river narrows down

3- Find the worst place along the river. That would be where the river makes a sharp "dogleg" turn and the river is very narrow.

4- Dump the dirt next to the river bank, in the flood plain

5- Rains come, snow flys, snow melts, and water has no place to go.

6- Water backups in the rivers

7- Homes and properties are flooded

8- Remove some of the dirt after the flood season is past

9- Level out reaming dirt

10- You have just filled in a flood plain area without a DNR* permit

*An inquiry to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources was made nearly two weeks ago. They have yet to respond indicating what permit was ever granted for the property to be used as a temporary storage site of dirt, or that the flood plain could be forever raised.

That is how you flood out your neighbor. Thank you Mayor Richard. You got us one more time!

WANE TV & News-Sentinel Poll May Mean Little

2007-10-31T14:15:00.000-04:00

The two media outlets have hyped the poll they had conducted back in mid October. Does the results mean much? One has to wonder as, both the Democrat Party Chairman and Republican Party Chairman where guarded in what the results showed. At first glance it appears Tom Henry is beating Matt Kelty so badly, that someone should put the beer on ice. However, people that know how polling is conducted remain uncommitted to what the results really mean.

The public has been advised very little of how the polling model was created. Was it just based on obtaining 600 "likely" voters across the city ? Was it based within zip codes, based on the political make up of the zip code? How many registered voters did they have to reach to find the 600 who where "likely" voters? This entire post could ask questions on how the sampling group was selected. Until WANE TV & The News-Sentinel spells out all the details concerning the survey, the results will be questionable.

The sampling error factors do not speak to what the city voters would do as a hole. What it did say, if a person sampled the voters in whatever fashion the polling company used, they would get the same response 19 of 20 times.

One has to look at what was going on during the days leading up to the polling. Was there good or bad news being put forth by the local media, that may have effect on what voters thought at that moment in time? This could cause a distortion in the results that causes "blip" but not a true valid long term statement. Some voters may days later, or even weeks, may have modified their potential voting decision after learning more of each candidate.

A major factor that a poll cannot calculate, regardless to how well it was done, is the voter actually going to vote. It is one thing to tell someone on the phone that a person intends to vote, but them doing so, is vastly different.

One point that needs to be considered that the undecided is a large group of voters. One would guess most of these people are ones that have considered voting for Kelty. They are in limbo if they will push the button for Kelty or not. It would also be natural to believe some part of the "anti Kelty" Republicans will end up voting for Kelty. They will have had well over a month to continue to evaluate their position from the time they where polled.

Smith Field Closing-Ticket Prices Rise-Taxes Go Up ???

2007-10-30T13:38:00.000-04:00

In this morning newspaper it was reported that no one from the local airport authority would comment on the closing of the Kitty Hawk operations. The authority is made up of six people, with three each being appointed by the Mayor and the Allen County Commissioners.

Allen County taxpayers are facing paying over $20 million in increased property taxes to cover the bond issued to build Kitty Hawk their cargo hub. To reduce the impact on property owners, the Airport Authority may elect to take some of the following actions.

What should concern the people who use Smith Field it may require it to be closed because of the failure of Kitty Hawk. The operations manager for Fort Wayne International Airport stated that cut backs would have to be made. Will there once again be run at shutting down Smith Field?

What should concern every person who uses Fort Wayne International will ticket prices increase as the board tries to increase income? The board will raise the rates for rental of terminal space, higher landing fees, and so forth. This will require the airlines to pass the charges onto the customer.

The Airport Authority Board's "NO COMMENT" is unacceptable in the public sector.

Draw whatever you want from the following information but the Fort Wayne - Allen County Airport Authority no longer represents the general public. The board in total, or majority of them must believe they are some private company, that does not have to answer to public.

This is why fewer and fewer voters give a damn about their communities!

Fort Wayne - Allen County Airport Authority Board of Directors

Michael S. Gouloff*, President (Mayor in 1997) [Tom Henry Financial Contributor]

Cathy Gallmeyer**, Vice President (Commissioners in 1999) [GOP Executive Board - One of the first to resign]

Tim Haffner, Secretary (Commissioners in 1994) [Republican Appoint]

Jerome F. Henry, Jr.* (Mayor in 2007) [Tom Henry Financial Contributor]

Richard B. (Barry) Sturges, Jr**. (Mayor in 2007) [Tom Henry Financial Contributor]

Neil Hayes, (Commissioners in 2002) [Republican Appointed]

*Gouloff & Henry both serve on the Board of Directors of Tower Bank. Tower Bank held stock in Kitty Hawk for a number of years. As of latest SEC filings the bank still maintained that stock ownership.

** Gallmeyer and Sturges both employed with Sturges' property companies.

Kelty's "City of Neighbors" - More Details

2007-10-30T13:01:00.000-04:00

Most of us wondered what was going through the mind of Matt Kelty when he announced his plans for "City of Neighbors." I, for one, found it appeared to lack anything. It was a repeat of things the private sector has tried, and only provided moderate success for any one.

I wrote an email to the Kelty campaign and let them know what I thought. I included that this project sounded like the very thing Kelty opposed. I did not recieve anything back until yesterday. I received an email from Dave MacDonald explaining more in detail what "City of Neighbors" was about, and how it would work in concept.

While I am not endorsing this plan, it does have some items that gets the brainwaves flowing. It seems to have some ideas for the most part.

Here is the email:

I am a website developer and online marketer (since 1998). I am quite familiar with pay-per-impression, pay-per-click, and pay-per-action advertising. I have utilized each of these revenue generation techniques in the past and continue to do so today. As such, I fully appreciate your perspective. "Traditional pay-per-impression advertising will never generate $1,000,000. To suggest otherwise is 'pie-in-the-sky.'" I agree. It cannot. This is not being proposed.

City of Neighbors' fundraising approach may be better compared to the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo's $10.5 million capital project for the new African Journey exhibit. Donors are asked to contribute $400 or $1000 for which their name will be displayed on a 'recognition tile' or 'plaque.' Arguably, one would never pay $400-$1000 for a building tile, brick or plaque itself; it is understood that one is supporting the zoo and recognition of this support is icing on the cake. At one time raising $10.5 million by selling building bricks was considered 'pie in the sky,' and yet this has become a generally accepted fundraising practice.

In lieu of tiles, bricks and plaques, City of Neighbors will recognize Community Partners with their own banners and ads. Businesses will be rewarded for being a 'good neighbor' when they endow the project with advertising dollars. Seventy-five (75%) percent of a business' advertising expense/endowment is paid directly to Fort Wayne neighborhoods. In return for their support, businesses receive online recognition linked directly to their own website. Neighborhoods will be partially compensated based upon their participation (more active neighborhoods will earn more than less active associations). Participation will be primarily determined by counting the number of page views received from each community relative to all others. 'Counting page views' should not be confused with traditional pay-per-impression advertising.

Other funding mechanisms will also be available. Business classified advertising and online auctions, as well as opt-in email for receiving business advertising will generate additional revenue for the program.

City of Neighbors will be funded entirely by outside private investment and revenue generation. No tax dollars will be requested or accepted. City of Neighbors is a market-driven solution that helps Fort Wayne neighborhoods, and is self-sustaining without tax dollars:

Start-up costs: Funded entirely by private investment

Setup/Administration: Software development company

Operating costs: Funded entirely by revenue generation

Oversight: Not-for-Profit Organization (not affiliated with the City of Fort Wayne)

Beneficiary: Fort Wayne neighborhood associations

City Departments Involved: None (although mutually-beneficial partnerships would be considered)

Tax dollars used: None

I initially proposed that the project would provide funds to the Community Development department of the City of Fort Wayne. However, after careful reflection I determined this was an unnecessary step; grants to neighborhoods needing additional support may be made directly by the non-profit and implications of involvement by a City department were confusing. I hope this response clarifies the issue.

Please feel free to reply back with any other questions or concerns.

Kindest regards,
Dave MacDonald
Kelty for Mayor Committee

Just Get Out And Vote

2007-10-26T11:03:00.000-04:00

In looking back at the last city election in 2003 only slightly more then 3 in 10 registered voters voted in Fort Wayne's general election. 53,191 voters decided Fort Wayne's future with regards to the elected leaders. What is ironic, nearly 12% of those voting did not even cast a vote for Mayor. Only 47,031 votes where tallied for the Mayor of Fort Wayne race.

This year nine candidates are seeking to fill the three city at-large council seats. The winners could be decided by less then three votes per precinct. In the 2003 election, with only six candidate running, Democrat John Shoaff defeated Republican Tom Friestroffer by 3.6 votes per precinct for the third and final at-large seat.

In the council district races the only one that went down to the wire was Tom Henry against Tom Didier. Didier won the race by 172 votes. This broke down to just over 5.5 votes per precinct the 4th district.

This year the Libertarian Party has offered a slate of seven candidates running for the various council seats. It is unknown if any of their candidates will win. Nevertheless, they may play a key roll into who is elected. While the Libertarian Party offers several quality candidates they suffer from little party funding and no great personal wealth to run a strong campaign. The City's ban on signs will prove to be an additional obstacle in getting their candidates name before the voters of Fort Wayne.

The at-large council seats appears to offer the most exciting race this year. In 2003, John Crawford lead the voting with 19% of the vote. He averaged 142 votes per precinct. Following Crawford was Sam Talarico, Jr., with 134 votes per precinct. The final winner of the at-large seats was John Shoaff. He collected 123 votes per precinct.

The three candidates who lost where, as follows; Rebecca Ravine - 119 votes per precinct, Thomas Freistroffer - 120 votes per precinct, and May Johnson with 99 votes per precinct. There was a total of 43 votes cast for write-ins.

The Libertarian Party could change this year's results even by not winning one seat. By pulling a mere five or six percent of the total vote, could result in changes. The Libertarian Party does have a message that is being heard by some. It will be interesting to see if the message has reached the level of Fort Wayne electing its' first Libertarian.

The race for Mayor will come down to which candidate can get their voters out to vote. The voters will weigh what their personal values are, beliefs in what the media has offered, a reflection on the Harrison Square project, the smoking ban, property taxes, what people perceive as political dirty tricks, and the direction the city is heading. It shall be interesting to see what affect all these issues have.

No voter should consider their vote a wasted vote. A wasted vote is one that is never used!

IS POLICE CHIEF YORK DANCING WITH WORDS?

2007-10-26T08:38:00.000-04:00

In today's Journal-Gazette, Fort Wayne Police Chief Rusty York takes exception to Matt Kelty's claim some Fort Wayne Police officers' body armor is no longer warranted to be worn. At first reading appears York seems to state that Kelty's claim in untrue. However, going back and reading the statement paragraph by paragraph York could be playing the word game. York could have just come out and said it was untrue and for Kelty to produce one piece of body armor that was out of warranty.

Following is York's statement. BOLD CAPITOL TEXT is of mine.

SETTING UP HIS ARGUMENT
On numerous occasions, mayoral candidate Matt Kelty has publicly expressed concern that officers of the Fort Wayne Police Department are not provided body armor and suggests that the administration of the police department is jeopardizing their safety. Kelty is misinformed, and I feel compelled to provide an accurate account of our protective body armor program.

STATEMENT OF FIRST EQUIPPING AND THE REQUIRED WEARING
Every Fort Wayne police officer is issued protective body armor when he or she begins work with our agency. Uniformed officers are required to wear body armor at all times, and all other personnel are required to wear it during arrest or high-risk situations.

CONFUSING STATEMENT - VESTS OR TOTAL BODY ARMOR--- YORK SAYS FIVE-YEAR WARRANTY AND THEN WARRANTY DOES NOT EXPIRE AT SAME TIME.
The manufacturers of protective body armor typically provide a five-year warranty on their products. In 1999 the police department was able to secure a federal grant, which allowed us to replace all of our officers’ vests that were older than five years. Keep in mind that the warranty of all of our body armor does not expire at the same time.

QUALIFIED ANSWER - DOES NOT ADDRESS ANYONE HAVING BODY ARMOR OUT OF WARRANTY.
Our budgeted level of commissioned officers is 460. We have hired 93 officers over the past five years, providing them with new body armor. Body armor costs about $497. This year we replaced the body armor of 191 of our officers at a cost of $95,280, and we have budgeted the same amount for 2008.

SAY WHAT? - EITHER THE $1,700 CLOTHING ALLOWANCE IS GREATLY TOO MUCH OR "PAY IT OUT OF YOUR OWN POCKET!"
Officers receive a $1,700 annual clothing allowance. At any time, if an officer feels compelled to replace his or her vest outside of our rotation cycle, they could use their clothing allowance for that purchase.

SELF SERVING STATEMENT
Our agency prides itself on being one of the most professional, highly trained and well-equipped police departments in the United States, with officer safety being our highest of priorities. Officers put themselves in harm’s way on a daily basis – it is a requirement of their profession. We recognize their valor and do our very best to keep them safe.

MY CLOSING COMMENT
If Police Chief York disagrees with Kelty he should have just laid out the numbers. He should have not danced around with words, that in conclusion, leaves one wondering if every officer does in deed have the proper body armor.

If York is right, he should just challenge Kelty to produce one vest that is out of useful life. York should not play with words, because a bullet will go right through his words and just maybe a worn-out vest.

Eric White over at the Center Line blog has his own view on this subject. You can check it out at: http://americanwhiteguy.wordpress.com/2007/10/26/police-chief-rusty-york-responds/

Kelty Big Supporters - Interesting Group

2007-10-25T11:05:00.000-04:00

Over the course of the race for the Mayor of Fort Wayne several names have been brandished about regarding who is supporting Matt Kelty. Generally the names have come up because of their financial support to Kelty. One name has been used by Kelty in his message of people making a business go despite not having any local government assistance.

Dick Freeland:
The owner of the Pizza Huts in Northeast, Indiana & Northwest, Ohio. Freeland started his business from one store front location and grown to be a model for Pizza Hut Inc. Prospective Pizza Hut franchise purchasers are brought to Fort Wayne, to be shown how one can become highly successful. According to Freeland's Pizza Hut website they employ over 2,000 people in their business.

Freeland knows that growing and sucessful Fort Wayne attracts more people. Which he knows will result in more business to his locations.

http://www.pizzahutfwi.com/

John Popp:
President and third generation owner of Aunt Millies. Been part of the Fort Wayne business community since 1901. Business now includes seven bakeries in Indiana and Michigan. Located near the heart of downtown Fort Wayne on Pearl Street. Is known as a leader in the bakery business with many innovations in the machinery and processes of making bread products. Aunt Millies employs over 2,000 in their operations.

Popp has his core business downtown and to see downtown Fort Wayne grow, would only be beneficial to him and his employees.
http://www.auntmillies.com/

John Tippmann:
From the business of Tippmann Group. The company has a strong relationship to the community in the owning of the historical Lincoln Tower in downtown Fort Wayne. Also they took the lead, in purchasing the old Sears department store building on Rudisell near South Clinton into an office complex.

Part of the Tippmann Group is considered national leader among companies that build refrigerated warehousing. This is carried out under their Tippmann Construction Company. They currently have several building under construction all over the United States.
Tippmann has tens of millions of dollars of personal wealth at risk in the downtown Fort Wayne. The sucess of downtown Fort Wayne directly effects this company.

http://www.tippmanngroup.com/home.html

Tom Spiece:
The owner of Spiece Fieldhouse. Spiece in known around the United States for one of the most successful businesses in promoting basketball programs for the youth of America. Additionally his business also includes one of the larger physical fitness centers, that is not supported in part, by charitable donations.

Spiece took a vacant industrial building and built it into an attraction that draws over 800,000 people a year to Fort Wayne. The number of people enterting his building is only on the scale of what the Allen County Coliseum draws. Yet, Spiece did this without tax abatements or government grants.

Spiece has to be considered the largest private businessman in Fort Wayne that a good tourist business is a must. Good hotels, restaurants, and shopping choices must be available for his business to continue to succeed.

http://www.gymratsbasketball.com/

It is hard to believe these men would continue to support Matt Kelty if they did not believe he could be a leader. These are smart, successful, and seasoned businessmen that each has a stake in seeing Fort Wayne grow and become a great city. These men are not "short timers" in our community. Most have been here for nearly their entire lives and have no plans to leave.

If this sounds like this is a promotion for Kelty then that would be wrong. However, I am impressed with the fact some of our top businessmen must see some good things in Matt Kelty.

This is just some food for thought for the readers.

Mayor Appoints 240 To 38 Boards & Commissions

2007-10-25T09:54:00.000-04:00

Listed below is 38 Boards and Commissions that the Mayor of Fort Wayne appoints people to. The length of service on these boards varies from one to four years, or strictly at the Mayor's choice. Some of the boards are required to have political balance in having so many members of each party represented. The appointment year very with many of these boards.

The Fort Wayne Allen County Airport Authority and Fort Wayne Public Transportation Corporation set their own budgets and property tax levies without any final approval from an elected body. Under their current setup, they can act without any true accountability to the taxpayers of Fort Wayne.

Alcoholic Beverage Commission - Mayor appoints 1 of 4 (1)

Allen County Regional Sewer District Board of Trustees - Mayor appoints 2 of 7 (3)

Animal Control Commission - Mayor appoints 3 of 5 (6)

Board of Public Safety - Mayor appoints 3 of 3 (9)

Board of Public Works - Mayor appoints 3 of 3 (12)

Board of Zoning Appeals - Mayor appoints 3 of 5 (15)

Cable Fund Advisory Board - Mayor appoints 3 or 5 (18)

City Plan Commission - Mayor appoints 5 of 9 (23)

Citizen Advisory Committee for the Community Development Block Grant - Mayor appoints 21 of 21 (44)

Community Service Council - Mayor appoints 51 of 51 (95)

Community Trust Investment Commission - ? of 4 (95)

Economic Development Commission - Mayor appoints 3 of 5 (98)

Fort Wayne/Allen County Airport Authority - Mayor appoints 3 of 6 (104)

Fort Wayne/Allen County Board of Health - Mayor appoints 4 of 6 (110)

Fort Wayne/Allen County Convention & Tourism Authority - Mayor appoints 4 of ? (114)

Fort Wayne Board of Park Commissioners - Mayor appoints 4 of 4 (118)

Fort Wayne Housing Authority - Mayor appoints 5 of 5 (123)

Fort Wayne Hospital Authority - Mayor appoints 5 of 5 (128)

Fort Wayne Police Merit Commission - Mayor appoints 2 of ? (130)

Fort Wayne Public Transportation Corporation - Mayor appoints 3 of 7 (137)

Fort Wayne Redevelopment Authority - Mayor appoints 3 of 3 (140)

Fort Wayne Redevelopment Commission - Mayor appoints 3 of 5 (143)

Historic Preservation Review Board - Mayor appoints 7 of 7 (150)

Housing & Neighborhood Development Services Board of Directors - Mayor appoints 11 of ? (161)

Humane Education Advisory Council - Mayor appoints 10 of ? (171)

Internal Audit Committee - Mayor appoints 4 of 5 (176)

Leo-Cedarville Regional Sewer District - Mayor appoints 1 of 5 (177)

Mayor's Affirmative Action Advisory Council - Mayor appoints 15 of 15 (192).

Mayor's Commission on Domestic Violence, Rape & Sexual Harassment - Mayor appoints 10 of ? (202)

Metropolitan Human Relations Commission - Mayor appoints 4 of ? (206)

Rivergreenway Overlay Committee - Mayor appoints 1 of 6 (207)

Safety Village/Survive Alive Commission - Mayor appoints 5 of 7 (212)

Safe Housing & Building Advisory Board - Mayor appoints 4 of 5 (216)

Sign Review Board - Mayor appoints 5 of 5 (221)

Stormwater Management Board - Mayor appoints 3 of 5 (226)

Three Rivers Ambulance Authority Board of Directors - Mayor appoints 4 of 9 (235)

Three Rivers Festival - Mayor appoints 1 of ? (236)

Urban Enterprise Association Board of Directors - Mayor appoints 4 of 7 (240)

Property Tax - Local or State Cause

2007-10-24T22:10:00.000-04:00

I received a several emails today regarding Matt Kelty's comment about over 99% of property tax dollars are consumed within Allen County. It reflects Kelty's claim that local government does control the impact on the paying of property tax over Tom Henry's claim of it being state controlled issue.

Below is selected Allen County townships, with three school districts, and with City Link Bus Service taxing area included. These rates are the 2006, payable in 2007.

Joseph Township - FWCS - PTC Bus Rate Percentage
School FWCS $1.3812 43.31%
City Ft Wayne $1.0195 31.97%
County Allen $0.5331 16.72%
Library Allen $0.1521 4.77%
Citylink PTC $0.0324 1.02%
Airport Fort Wayne International$0.0233 0.73%
Sate Indiana $0.0230 0.72%
Township St. Joe $0.0167 0.52%
Revel Com-TIR $0.0075 0.24%

Total $3.1888

Aboite Township - SWCS - PTC Bus
School SWCS $1.6428 47.56%
City Ft Wayne $1.0195 29.52%
County Allen $0.5331 15.43%
Library Allen $0.1521 4.40%
Citylink PTC $0.0324 0.94%
Airport Fort Wayne International$0.0233 0.67%
Sate Indiana $0.0230 0.67%
Township Aboite $0.0203 0.59%
Revel Com-TIR $0.0075 0.22%

Total $3.4540

Perry Township - NWCS - PTC Bus
School NWCS $1.5594 46.49%
City Ft Wayne $1.0195 30.39%
County Allen $0.5331 15.89%
Library Allen $0.1521 4.53%
Citylink PTC $0.0324 0.97%
Airport Fort Wayne International$0.0233 0.69%
Sate Indiana $0.0230 0.69%
Township Aboite $0.0040 0.12%
Revel Com-TIR $0.0075 0.22%

Total $3.3543

Wayne Township - FWCS - PTC Bus
School FWCS $1.3812 42.37%
City Ft Wayne $1.0195 31.27%
County Allen $0.5331 16.35%
Library Allen $0.1521 4.67%
Citylink PTC $0.0324 0.99%
Airport Fort Wayne International$0.0233 0.71%
Sate Indiana $0.0230 0.71%
Township Wayne $0.0880 2.70%
Revel Com-TIR $0.0075 0.23%

Total $3.2601

Henry - Kelty Debate - My Spin On The Winner

2007-10-24T11:56:00.000-04:00

Tom Henry and Matt Kelty debated issues regarding the race for Mayor of Fort Wayne last night. It was through the efforts of Allen County Public Library, Indiana NewsCenter, and WOWO. The people of Fort Wayne where able to hear both candidates speak about the issues without the spin or sound bite provided by local reporters. The hope is that many of the people with intentions on voting November 6th where listening.

The local blogging community has many posts and comments with respect to last nights debate. In fact, I posted my own comments on a number of them. The comments run dealing with the real subject matter to being off the wall. Nevertheless, all the comments make for interesting reading.

What I saw and heard may not be shared by any or many, but it is what now is stored in my old worn-out brain damaged head.

No one was perfect in "performance" last night. It runs from Tom Henry to the local media members who asked the questions. They all had their moments of finding the right wording, and communicating such. Frankly, I found it refreshing that everything did not seem like it was rehearsed.

Having met Tom Henry several times over the years I could tell he was not real comfortable. He seemed to struggle at times, like he was trying to remember things others may have told him to make a point of. To judge his fitness for office based on this would be in error.

Mat Kelty came across much more concise in his answers. They are the same points he has made from early on in his campaigning. He had his moments when the right words did not materialize, but they where limited. Again to judge his fitenss for office based on this would be in error.

Overall, I think both men did well. No, they where not perfect, but they are human! Frankly I have seen too many people running for office, that had all the right words, the right timing, and convincing mannerisms but delivered very little once they where elected.

I saw Kelty as the winner, in my humble view. But then again, I am but one voter, who is leaning toward voting for Kelty.

My belief was based on Kelty's view on property taxes and economic development. I do not agree with his view on Aqua Indiana. The issue of "illegals" was shared by both, and is the only one Fort Wayne can follow.

Interesting Campaign-fiance Ordinance Law

2007-10-23T00:26:00.000-04:00

Jeffersonville, Indiana campaign-finance ordinance, which took effect with this year’s elections. The ordinance prohibits candidates from accepting more than $100 during a campaign cycle from anyone doing $10,000 or more per year in business with the city or anyone who has engaged in or has threatened litigation against the city. The restrictions cover activities for an eight-year period, including four before the election and four after.

This should be something for the City of Fort Wayne to consider. Maybe the $100 limit could be raised but it should be considered by either Matt Kelty or Tom Henry.

Requirements To Be Mayor - What Does History Say?

2007-10-21T00:58:00.000-04:00

The issue of Matt Kelty never running a large company or having been elected to a previous elected office has been tossed around some during this mayoral race. Henry has held an elected office before but never headed a large company. Kelty has never held an elected office or ran a large company.

It appears the last person that may have run a company, which may have matched the size of the city of Fort Wayne's annual budget, would have been Henry Berghoff. He served as the Mayor of Fort Wayne for one term. The term ran from 1897-1901.

What is interesting is the details about one of Fort Wayne's past mayors, in that of William Hosey. He spent most of his life as a machinist for the Pennsylvania Railroad. He did earn a college degree in literature and philosophy at night school. Hosey served four terms as Mayor of Fort Wayne, but none of the terms where consecutive.

If you look over the list of Mayors of Fort Wayne there is several them that never held an elected office before becoming Mayor. So if Kelty is elected, he would not be setting any record for Mayor of Fort Wayne.

Just some food for thought!

Who Said It - Jehl or Fox?

2007-10-20T17:44:00.000-04:00

It amazing when you change the names on some issue how it can mean something different to the reader. Let us say this was the response Kelty campaign made regarding the political ad on the local Christian station.

Glenna Jehl, campaign manager for Kelty, said he didn’t know anything about the endorsements until learning about them from the local media.

"Any group has a right to endorse candidates based on whatever criteria they are using," she said.

Jehl agreed she didn’t know what criteria the group used, and she said she has never spoken to AFA. She also said she wasn’t aware of any conversations Kelty had with AFA, although AFA said they spoke with Kelty several times.

Now suppose this was Henry's campaign making comments regarding the endorsement by a number of local bar owners.

Joe Fox, campaign manager for Henry, said he didn’t know anything about the endorsements until learning about them from the local media.

"Any group has a right to endorse candidates based on whatever criteria they are using," he said.

Fox agreed he didn’t know what criteria the group used, and he said he has never spoken to Vaughn. He also said he wasn’t aware of any conversations Henry had with Vaughn, although Vaughn said he spoke with Henry several times.

The first one is wrong! It just replaced the names of Henry, Fox, and Vaughn with Kelty, Jehl, and AFA. The second deals with the smoking ban in truth. Both groups offer endorsements on different issues. It just depends on which side of a given issue you may be on. Read what Fox said about endorsements.

Frankly, I find the radio spot a little too much for me, but like the people they talk about, they do have a right to have their say.

Fort Wayne Needs 20% Unemployment Rate

2007-10-19T13:28:00.000-04:00

If you listen to either Tom Henry or Matt Kelty, that we need a ready to employee work force for the next company that comes knocking. The only way to have that "ready" workforce is to have people setting on the sidelines waiting to be employed. To reach that goal means these people need to be unemployed! Think about it.

If you listen to either Tom Henry or Matt Kelty, you hear this beating this drum of getting our colleges together to make sure they are educating the students in the right areas. Excuse me, but when I attended college, I elected what I wanted to study. At that time (just before they invented fire) mechanical and electrical engineers where in high demand in Fort Wayne. Today, that demand is a small fraction of what it was. Thousands of these engineers have long left the area because of a lack of employment. Then again maybe mechanical and electrical engineers are no longer needed in today's world.

Little talk is done by any candidate of attracting new businesses to Fort Wayne. We have untold levels of economic development groups. It seems like an endless case of confusion for any outsider who is trying to figure out who the "GO TO" group is.

It seems like every candidate today talks about assembling groups to get anything done. These elected people are picked to "lead" and not be the chairperson to 300 groups. If leadership by groups is what we want then let the voters decide monthly.

We still hear the candidates saying they will fix streets and get their area more police protection. Well, we have heard those claims since elections started and will be hearing them for generations to come. Sure they may get one street improved but overall these are empty pandering comments.

The core subject for this community is "JOBS!" We need leadership that will go out there and work with outside companies to see what it will take to get them to locate in the Fort Wayne area. The area of wireless connection and the fields of education our colleges provide is pure bunk. Honda sure would not have located where they did if the decision was based on these two factors.

Search the Internet and you will see companies locating in cities that are not even on the level of Fort Wayne. No, we need leadership that gets the job completed, over blaming others in the community for the short falls.

Oh, in closing how many software engineers do we have on the third shelf, down isle two? There is a company thinking of coming to Fort Wayne and will need several software engineers!

Kelty & Henry On Same Page - Thank Goodness

2007-10-19T12:35:00.000-04:00

Thank goodness Matt Kelty and Tom Henry are on the same page for at least one issue and that is the OmniSource property. I think every resident in Fort Wayne wants to see some development with the property, over setting there with a falling down fence. It is eyesore as it sets today. That in some form development it could become an asset to our community over being a liability.

One has to ask the city leadership why did it take this long to have the study completed? A Phase I ESA only takes a few weeks and the results could have been known months ago. A Phase II ESA would take longer but provide much more detail of the environmental problems facing the purchaser of the property.

In today's News-Sentinel Gary Lyman, the city's brownfield manager said the city has conducted a variety of testing on the OmniSource property. One has to hope professional company did this is highly regarded within the environmental community. Anything less will just lead to additional questions and questions of the people involved in the purchase.

The testing should have been ordered as part of the option to purchase and should have been at the cost of the seller. The city should release the entire contents of what was requested that be studied and the entire report. That way, those of us that are concerned have our answers and the purchase may go forward.

I will wait until the report is released. Keep in mind I am not opposed to the conception use of the property. I just want to see that the property is clean enough that any development can go forward without spending millions more to clean up the site.

To view the News-Sentinel story click below:
http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071019/NEWS/710190314

Local Bloggers Have A Right To Question City!

2007-10-18T12:44:00.000-04:00

Midland, Michigan Loons Ballpark - HOK Design

Some of the local bloggers have been taken to task for our questioning of local government and the people associated with it. Sometimes the questions are well founded. The past actions of city officials provide reasonable reason to question the openness to our local community. They provide only information and deeds to serve their wishes and not that of the community at large. Again, we see exclusive is greater then the inclusive government!

The selection of HOK Sports to design and manage the building of the baseball stadium at Harrison Square is not the issue. The selection of who was going to design the new baseball park at Harrison Square was not decided in a one hour meeting. In fact, one would guess some city officials discussed it for weeks and maybe even months. The selection of HOK was the best choice and there is no issue with HOK Sports in the least.

What city officials failed to disclose to the public was that HOK had already designed a baseball park for a Midwest League team. The scale and the scope of the project would nearly match that of Harrison Square. It would have provided the public a chance to see the work of HOK, at a level we should see in about 18 months. One has to ask why?

City officials did not bother to mention that the Midland, Michigan Loons play in a HOK designed ballpark. Just maybe, they did not want local residents to see that Midland's ballpark was built on corporate donated land and is, in part financially supported by a local foundation group. That the businesses in the community stepped up to home plate and hit a grand slam home run for the community!

Below is a link to a story written in Baseball parks.com about Midland's ballpark. HOK designed this ballpark and it contains story and photos.

http://www.baseballparks.com/GreatLakes-1.asp

The next time some local blogger questions something about Fort Wayne officials, they just may have sound footing to pose the question. Then again, if it takes a local blogger to bring a question to the front one, has to wonder what our local professional media outlets are doing?

HOK Sports - Only As Good As We Let Them To Be

2007-10-18T11:40:00.000-04:00

San Francisco - HOK Designed Ballpark

Cincinnati - HOK Designed Ballpark

St. Louis - HOK Designed Ballpark

Washington Nationals HOK Ballpark - "Design-Build" Concept

The City of Fort Wayne picked one of the premier, if not the premier baseball design/construction management firms in this country for the new baseball park at Harrison Square. To look at the ballparks HOK Sports has designed, is to look at some of the greatest ballparks the Untied States has. They have been a leader in the new concept of "design-build" of ballparks

.
The term "design-build" means that the design of the ballpark is ongoing while the construction has already started. This allows for a compressed time schedule from when funds are approved, to the time the first fans walk through the gates. HOK Sports breaks the ballpark down into phases of design and construction. An example would be, to start behind home plate, followed by the stadium's third base side, then onto the first base side, followed by left/center field, and followed by the right/center field. After these phases are complete the final phase would be the baseball field itself. This is not to say how HOK will complete Fort Wayne's ballpark but only an example of "design-build" concept.
HOK can only be as good as their customer allows them to be. Once the plans are being detailed any changes the customer wants could put the entire project completion date in jeopardy. Plus costs could spiral out of control.

HOK emplpoys subcontractors they have used in the past for a good reason. The on-site supervisors and management of the subcontractors know how "design-build" must flow. Delays in completion of any segment, of a phase could put the entire project behind schedule. Any delays in the schedules spells cost financial overruns in labor and materials. If there was ever a project of "leaving the professionals do it," this would be it.

It is clear, a project being built under the "design-build" concept should be left to the professionals who have done this before. However, Fort Wayne leaders should be pushing for as many local construction workers be hired to work on this project, under the management of HOK selected subcontractors.

Henry & Gouloff - Should Resign Or Be Fired

2007-10-16T14:51:00.000-04:00

With yesterday's filing of bankruptcy by Kitty Hawk there should be no question left that Mayor Richard should ask both Jerome F. Henry, Jr., and Michael S. Gouloff to resign from the Fort Wayne Allen County Board of Aviation. Both of these men where appointed to the board by Mayor Richard

Henry and Gouloff also serve as board members of Tower Bank. The bank has in their investment portfolio, which in part includes some 12,400 shares of Kitty Hawk stock, as of September 30, 2007. The bank has owned these shares for at least two years.

No longer can Henry and Gouloff serve the best interest of both Tower Bank and the residents of Allen County. In serving the best interest of Tower Bank may force them to consider moving Kitty Hawk operations from Fort Wayne International Airport. If Kitty Hawk would leave the airport, the remaining multi million dollar balance, of the property taxed guaranteed bond would fall on the local property owners.

Fort Wayne - The City That Lacks Promotion

2007-10-16T11:28:00.000-04:00

Over the last couple of months I heard about some pretty good events going on in Fort Wayne AFTER THEY ARE OVER! In my circle of friends (yes I have more then my dog) we have discussed the issue of someone missing an event. Most of these friends take at least one of the daily papers, watch the crazy local news, and are on the Internet daily. So it is not like we live in an isolated, sheltered world.

With all this talk about revitalizing downtown Fort Wayne got me thinking. So Sunday night I started the goggle search of events happening in Fort Wayne. Well, if I wanted to search at least a dozen or so sites which in turn then led me off to other sites or that required me to go to a third site, I could learn of some of the events going on in Fort Wayne. Wow, what a pain in the rear! One has to wonder what the people living outside Fort Wayne do if they are interested in seeing "what is happening" in all Fort Wayne?

Think of the hundreds of the out of visitors who are setting away the nights in their hotel rooms because they have no clue what may be going on in Fort Wayne. They lay down on their bed to only doze off, while watching TV. Then return home and tell others there is nothing going on in Fort Wayne. No one should be shocked or surprised!

Can it be fixed? Yes, and very quickly if we want to! Then again, we would need to pull together as a community, over a group of people concerned only about their little part of the world.

If we cannot get the basics down of promoting all of Fort Wayne how will we ever succeed as a city? Either we become an inclusive community or we will fail because we are an exclusive community. If we seek to be a diverse community then we need to promote are entire community to ourselves and the world around us.

To reach the goal cannot be driven by individual profit or individual glory, but of making Fort Wayne a better place!

Busse Could Lead Fort Wayne To Revitalize Downtown

2007-10-15T19:31:00.000-04:00

In today's News-Sentinel there are several stories about the issue of Fort Wayne revitalizing the core of the city. It is discussed one of the issues facing revitalization is "turf wars." The term "turf war" could mean "self interests," "power brokers," "self serving" and a great many more terms to describe those who think they should be one(s) to see the revitalization through. If that mind set continues the residents of Fort Wayne will end with a bunch of projects that do not deliver. Fort Wayne deserves better.

What is needed is someone who is not dependent on others, be it political or financial, to take the lead. This person has to be of such standing that when they call the phone gets answered. The person needs to be able to work with the people who want to accomplish this goal and to go around, or through those that have some other agenda.

Keith Busse runs the multi billion dollar Steel Dynamics Incorporated (SDI). He has built this business from the ground up and kept his company strong even when most other steel producers suffered greatly in the United States. While working in a steel mill is hard work you will not find much of a turn over in employees. He pays well, and shares some of the profits with the employees. Yes, he has stockholders to answer to, but has proven by sharing the profits with the very people that produce the goods increases productivity above the competitors. That is the type of leadership this project needs

Busse could be the very man to spearhead the revitalization of downtown Fort Wayne. While his business interests would not allow him to have a day-to-day roll in the project he could be the one that pulls it together. He would be able to settle "turf wars" by blowing them up. He could get everyone pulling the same direction regardless to political following or financial interest.

Working directly with him could be people like:
Ian Rolland - Former CEO of Lincoln Life
Phil Laux - Former President of Greater Fort Wayne Camber of Commerce
Joseph Ruffolo - President of Ruffolo Benson Investments
Tom Spiece - President of Spiece Fieldhouse

Laux could be hired by a combination of foundation grants, community grants, and even a contribution from the City of Fort Wayne to run the operation on a day-to-day basis. He and the other members would pull the data together and make final presentations to Bussie. Once the group agreed to a course of action it would be presented to the Mayor and City Council for consideration.

Supporting the "board" would take several other community groups to gather information in many areas.

IPFW - Surveying the people of Fort Wayne (address their wishes and issues. By addressing their issues will lead to buy in)
Invent Tomorrow - Continue to travel to cities to gleam the good and problems these successful cities have had
Fort Wayne Planning Department - Assist in the planning
Fort Wayne Economic Department - Assist in economic development
Utitilies - I&M, NIPSCO, Verizon, Comcast
Arts - Historical, Art, Music, Library
Chamber of Commerce - Business community
Banks -
Foundations -
Health Care - Parkview, Lutheran, Senior Living, Mental Health
Sports Corp - the various sports entities
Labor - Unions
Justice - Courts, FWPD, probation department, work release
Park Department -
Corp of Engineers - River
Department of Natural Resources - River
Congress - Mark Souder, Mike Pence, Birch Bayh, Richard Lugar

While the above list may be a partial list the idea is to make the planning inclusive over exclusive of shutting anyone out. The point is they would have tasks to complete and input to provide in writing the plan.

Total investment in this project will be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. We need the leadership of people who are use to dealing in projects of this scope. These people know how to get things done and get them done quickly. Fort Wayne could use this approach and maybe reach our goal of revitalising our city in five to six years over twenty years.

Path to News-Sentinel articles:
http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071015/NEWS/710150309

Kitty Hawk Files Chaper 11 Bankruptcy

2007-10-15T17:55:00.000-04:00

The days of Kitty Hawk flying out of Fort Wayne may be numbered. Kitty Hawk filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in Federal Court in Texas today. The filing is apparently Kitty Hawk's last gasp at reorganizing before selling off what assets they have reaming.

The taxpayers of Allen County, Indiana may well be called on, to pay off the remaining bond that was floated to build the air hub facility at Fort Wayne International Airport. These is not the first time taxpayers in Allen County has been left "holding the bag" regarding taxpayer guaranteed bonds and the airport.

Click below to view the Securities Exchange Commission filing regarding Kitty Hawk's most recent bankruptcy filing:
http://yahoo.brand.edgar-online.com/fetchFilingFrameset.aspx?dcn=0000950129-07-004924&Type=HTM

Previous Post On Kitty Hawk Can Be Read At:
http://fwroadkill.blogspot.com/2007/10/kitty-hawk-update-correction.html

Inclusive Not Exclusive - Path To Downtown Development

2007-10-15T10:37:00.000-04:00

Invent Tomorrow returned from their three day trip to Chattanooga where they hoped to pick up ideas on how this very unique city turned their downtown into a center of attraction. Various members of the local community have previously visited Greenville, South Carolina and Providence, Rhode Islands to which they claim have many similarities to Fort Wayne.

Invent Tomorrow Executive Director Cheri Becker said the travels are to see what lessons can be gleamed from these cities and then adopt them to Fort Wayne. One would hope the group would also have gleamed problematic issues that have come to these communities as a result of the downtown development. It is like picking beautiful roses, if you do not deal with the thorns, then you will not be picking roses for long.

It is nice to see Invent Tomorrow state that all three cities took some twenty years to reach the point they are at today. They did not do it in three or four years. The three cities developed rough plans, but ones the future administrations could buy into. They accomplished their goal with private investment, federal monies, state monies, foundation grants, and some city investment.

When anything is designed there many steps that any project must traverse before it is completed. Fort Wayne's overall final product will be the sum of many smaller projects, but each must be done in a orderly prudent financial method. They must be done with a solid master plan but with the flexibility for change.

No one can just brush off the unknown environmental issues facing the OmniSource property. By doing so, could doom the North River project for generations if the City of Fort Wayne is required to pay most or all the clean up costs. The four plus million dollar investment in securing the property could be only a small down payment in making the property usable.

While some would say that Fort Wayne is much like Chattanooga, Greenville, or Providence is a distortion in many many ways. Nevertheless, we can still learn things these cities have done that worked and what did not work that could apply to Fort Wane.

A person would be hard pressed to find many residents of Fort Wayne who say they are opposed to Fort Wayne improving itself. Where the difference is how we get there and how we pay for it. The people concerned about how we get there and how we pay for it should be part of the planing process. By being inclusive, over being exclusive may take a tad longer to develop the master plan but it will result in one endorsed by the vast majority.

Groups that want to step forward and act in the roll of leadership need to make sure the public knows who they are. Right or wrong, the deeds of other special interest groups has people questioning any new group. These groups must operate in total transparency if they wish for the public to buy into their ideas. Otherwise, they will be rightfully placed under a cloud of question!

Kitty Hawk - Update & Correction

2007-10-13T10:14:00.000-04:00

On October 5th this site posted a statement about the perceived or potential conflict of interest several people and business may have regarding Kitty Hawk . Kitty Hawk currently leases space at the Fort Wayne International Airport. You can read the post at:
http://fwroadkill.blogspot.com/2007/10/who-does-who-represent-in-leasebond.html

In a filing with the Securities Exchange Commission, Mr. Joseph D. Ruffolo resigned from the board of directors of Kitty Hawk on October 2nd. The filing was not signed by a Kitty Hawk officer until October 9th. You can read the filing at:
http://yahoo.brand.edgar-online.com/fetchFilingFrameset.aspx?dcn=0000950134-07-021047&Type=HTML

The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette carried a story in their paper on October 13th. You can read the story at:
http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071013/BIZ/710130353

Mr. Ruffolo should be commended for removing himself from any perceived or potential conflict of interest as the future of Kitty Hawk is unknown.

The original post stated the stock was no longer being traded which was in error. AMEX is seeking to have the stock removed from being traded on their exchange. The stock has been trading for under 10 cent a share as of late.

Excuse Me.... Who Is Invent Tomorrow??

2007-10-11T14:12:00.001-04:00

Here are the public known facts about Invent Tomorrow, a nonprofit company:

Cheri Becker is the executive director of Invent Tomorrow. Husband, Mark is deputy mayor of Fort Wayne
Invent Tomorrow has the same address as Carson Boxberger Law Firm in One Summit Square building.
Invent Tomorrow is a nonprofit LLC

If they want credibility here in the Fort Wayne community then they should answer the following questions.

A list of the board of directors of Invent Tomorrow?
A list of people/companies funding this nonprofit?
What industry does this nonprofit represent?

Most nonprofits and groups who promote themselves as community leaders are proud as to who their board members are. They know by disclosing their board members, it will often convince the public of the group's credibility.

Here is their site if you want to check it out. Someone please tell me who, what, and where of this group is?
http://www.inventtomorrow.com/

Hello Matt Kelty - Common Sense Is On The Phone

2007-10-09T14:47:00.000-04:00

Matt Kelty needs to find someone in his very inner circle and have a serious common sense discussion. They need to make some hard decisions about unloading some of the people within their campaign. The campaign is walking a tight rope right now of turning the "undecided" voter into a "decided" voter. Sadly for them, the new "decided" voter will not be voting for Kelty .

I believe the legal charges will result in Kelty being found innocent. However these continued "brain farts" will drive away voters. His honorable loyalty to his campaign workers can only go so far. They are not being loyal by going off and doing things on their own. If his campaign manager is endorsing or approving these things, then she needs to go.

The cake, pictured above, should never have seen the light of day inside the party. The person who made it did Kelty great harm by thinking this would be funny. The person who posted the photos on Kelty's web site should have thought before they did the posting. Mr. Kelty these people, love them in you must, sure did not think about you when they carried out their deeds.

I am starting to think that any of the following may be taking place within his campaign. Some of Kelty's supporters think this is some kind of funny game. Some of Kelty's supporters have a severe case of a lack of common sense. Some of Kelty's supporters are just out of touch. Some of Kelty's leadership workers have no clue. Just maybe, Kelty himself has no understanding of just what is going on.

Kelty needs to find the right people to work with him in the final weeks of this campaign. He needs to drop the loyal bit, if he is serious about serving the residents of Fort Wayne.

I am sure someone in Kelty's campaign is reading all the local blogs and they will see that even people who supported him somewhat are starting to question him. Right or wrong, Kelty has to learn perception is reality!

The perception right now is of an out of control campaign, that looks more like a human train wreck.

Do I Hate Everyone - No, But I Do Dislike A Few

2007-10-09T14:03:00.000-04:00

This post deals with one person who posted on one of the other local blogs asking if I hated everyone. So in fairness, I have decided to address the issue.

No, I do not hate everyone. In fact I think many of our elected officials have done some pretty good things. However, it does not give them a free pass to do wrong. There are things that are legally wrong and then there are things that are morally wrong. To which I will hold people accountable.

I use this blog as a place to exercise my right to freedom of speech. I, unlike several other local blogs, do not stop others from exercising their freedom of speech of offering their opinions that do not agree with mine. Discussing issues in the open may not result in agreement, but a better understanding of reasoning.

In today's world so many people believe in the idea, if something goes their way then how it was achieved means nothing. I would rather loose on an issue, based on full disclosure, then win by hiding facts that do not support my stand. I think when we where young children our parents called it cheating!

What I do believe in is honestly and being straight with the people. That you propose ideas, lay all the facts out, debate the issue, vote on an issue, and then move on. If you break the process link anywhere, then everything that follows is under quest suspicion. Hence, moving on gets much more difficult.

Regarding Harrison Square

I did not oppose the Harrison Square Project with the baseball park. I could not think of one single attraction that could be built downtown that would draw 300,000 people for the dollar investment. The hotel issues where not a real issue at first. The parking garage raised some questions in my mind because of exists and so forth. In summary, the concept of the plan was acceptable.

You will not find any post here or comments on any other blog stating I thought the project was illegal. You will not find where I ever stated the purchase of the property was illegal (but I do agree those that have raise some valid points that should have been honestly answered).

You will find me posting and commenting on the Embassy/Indiana Hotel walkway. I oppose it as being part of the Harrison Square Project costs, because it is not. I am not going to rehash the points I have made about it here and now.

You will find me posting and commenting on certain people being in appointed positions that voted on parts of Harrison Square. The people, who have vested interests in seeing this project carried through should have resigned or recused themselves from the discussions and voting. What they did was wrong.

You will find me posting and commenting about elected officials who provide special considerations for a few. I disagreed with the latest smoking ban as to telling bar and private clubs what they must do. Nevertheless I could live with that law. However, to put language in the ordinance to provide special consideration for the hospitals is not right. To give the hospitals a 100 foot no smoking zone past their property lines is wrong. To do so violated other property owners the right to control the use their property. It also extended public rightaway usage that was not afforded to others.

You will find me posting about the pending OmniSource property purchase. You won't find that I oppose any of the discussions on the final usage of the property so far. My problem is with the environmental status of the property and why would Fort Wayne pay nearly top dollar for the property.

You will find me posting about the rivers in Fort Wayne. I am an avid fisherman. I do fish the St. Joe from the dam at the Coliseum Blvd. and north. I have fished the mouth of the Spy Run Creek. I have fished the St. Mary's back in the 60's. I have fished parts of the Maumee. I also know their dangers they pose today. Be it the consumption of fish caught or environmental issues with the water itself.

You will find me posting about the sign ordinance as it stands, it will be struck down in any federal court challenge. The Mayor and council knew it would be but it did not serve their need. They could have asked one constitutional lawyer and the lawyer would have told them it would not pass a court review.

You will find me posting about apparent conflicts of interest. The issue comes even more troublesome when you find the Indiana Board of Accounts has demanded for the last two years that conflicts of interest forms be completed by people within local government. This year's (2006) audit the state noted that certain conflict of interests forms that they had demanded the previous year (2005) had not be delivered. Plus they had made no effort to start doing it. They thumbed their nose at the State Board of Accounts!

You will find me posting about people who seem to have their hand in the cookie jar.

You will find me posting about people who try to operate in the shadows, but may be using others as their puppets.

You will find me posting about "no property taxes will be used!" Well, you can call it whatever tax you want but when it comes out of my pocket it is a tax!

You will find me posting about "the taxes are coming from one area of the city," Well, that is B.S. because to afford those people the same level of services I have, then some of my tax dollars will be spent to provide it for them. Hence, it is still a tax and is coming out of my pocket.

Mayor Richard should have received a standing ovation from the citizens of Fort Wayne when he left office this coming December 31st. This would have been for his six sigma program that has given Fort Wayne a much more efficient delivery of basis services. Sadly, it will downed out by the cat calls and whistles of his handling of Southtown, Harrison Square, and soon North River projects.

So, if you say I hate everyone then that is your right. However I prefer to consider it calling people out. They put themselves in a position to have their real motives questioned by their own actions.

I leave you with this to ponder.

Carson-Boxberger law firm has undertaken legal work for the City of Fort Wayne. The Mayor's office has not published how much the city has spent with them for the last eight years. So the number could be a few thousand, to maybe in the millions of dollars.

Councilman Tim Pape, a partner, has a vested interest in the financial profits of the firm. Since law work is not "bid out," the Mayor could change law firms any time he desires. To continue that business income Pape could be under pressure to vote for certain issues, in support of the Mayor's position, regardless of what was best for the public.

This issue has been kicked around for several months. Pape has refused to address it in public. The Mayor has refused to release to the public an accounting of how much money has been spent with his law firm. This question would be mute if Pape was not a councilman or worked for a law firm the city maintained a business relationship with.

As for me using the words "rubber stamp" regarding the city council I will continue to use it. When you don't ask the hard questions, not demanding public answers to posed questions by council, and just go along with the flow, then you are little more then a "rubber stamp." Until I see some backbone out of the elected council members they will remain a "rubber stamp!"

When the smoking ban was discussed it was presented to council that bars would loose business. Council asked bar owners how much would they loose. The bar owners did not have any hard numbers, but could only sight what happened in other cities, which had already adopted the smoking ban.

Council members hung their hat on the fact the bar owners had no hard numbers. Yet, Mr. Crawford had no numbers to prove that the smoking ban that the bar business would remain the same or improve.

The local board of realtors desired a waiver from the sign ordnance. Mr. Crawford stated how he had researched the law and stated to provide them such would lead to the federal courts striking down the law. What Mr. Crawford failed to disclose was the fact a government cannot be selective in allowing commercial or political freedom of speech. Yet, the new law contains a provision that government will be doing such.

So I don't hate anyone. I do dislike some people for what they have done. You also have not found me asking about people from one party.

You Tell Me

2007-10-07T16:11:00.000-04:00

I was doing some research and came across some interesting items. I have put them as questions for each of you to ponder. If you want to post your answers, or not is up to you. I will post the answers on Tuesday.

1- What well known person from Fort Wayne made this statement this week?
"My general feeling is that outside monies carry great risk. Very few people or companies give money without wanting something in return," he said. "Certainly there is a correlation of interest. But they also want more – like leniency on rates. They will seek favor whenever and wherever they can."

2- Of Allen County's sixteen largest employers, how many of these employers pay property taxes?

3- How many of Allen County's sixteen largest employers produce a product that is sold to others?

4- Is Allen County population projected to go up or down by the year 2010?

5- Of children reported in school, in Allen County, for the 2006/2007 year what percentage attend public schools?

6- Of the 3,700 graduating high school seniors in Allen County for the 2004/2005 year planned on going onto Higher Education?

7- In 2004 Allen County median Household Income was $42,867. Of Indiana's 92 counties where do you think Allen County ranked?

8- Based on 2005 figures, how many people do you think drive into Allen County to work?

9- Based on 2005 figures, how many people do you think drive out of Allen County to work?

10- If you counted out 100 people living in Allen County, how many would live inside the city limits of Fort Wayne? Inside the limits of Grabill, Huntertown, Leo-Cederville, Monroeville, New Haven, Woodburn, and Zanesville?

The Spin Doctor - Doctor Crawford

2007-10-07T10:38:00.000-04:00

Fort Wayne City Councilman Dr. John Crawford is running a campaign ad on local television outlets regarding his bid to serve on council one more term . The campaign ad addresses his justification for leading the battle for the new no smoking ordinance. As all to common today, he spins the ad to justify his needs.

Crawford's ad fails to show one business which allowed children in a general smoking area before this new law. Nevertheless he attempts to paint a picture of such as he spins his story.

He offers a person thanking the new smoking ban of making her employer's place a better place to work. One has to wonder why did she go to work there in the first place? I don't remember that we have any laws telling a person where they must work. Then again it would not fit his spin!

Dr. Crawford does not address how he pushed through a 100 foot no smoking zone past the property lines of the local hospitals. Reading the law, Dr. Crawford had it written people walking the PUBLIC sidewalks, on their own private property, or just driving down the street could be issued a ticket because they where within 100 feet of a hospital property line.

People should ask why? People should ask why nursing homes, medical clinics, and doctor's office included? The answer is just one hospital wanted it for their own private reasons and that involved their own employees. Then again this would not fit Dr. Crawford's spin.

Dr. Crawford claims the health of the citizens is one of his major concerns in public life. However, he has remained totally mute on OmniSource's leak of chlorine gas. Even though this potentially deadly leak sent many people to the hospital he found he could not speak up.

Believe it or not I do support the no smoking ban outside of private clubs, bars, and providing special extended treatment for a few. Dr. Crawford has had my vote in all his previous elections, but not this one. This time, there will be no spin!

Who Does Who Represent In Lease/Bond Default?

2007-10-05T14:08:00.000-04:00

The demise of Kitty Hawk cargo seems to be only weeks or months away. The air cargo company appears not to be current on the monthly lease payments of over $185,000 to the Fort Wayne International Airport. Kitty Hawk is in the process of trying to figure out if they can continue to operate, sale the business as an "on going" business, sale parts of the operation, or auction off what assets are left.

Kitty Hawk board member, Joseph Ruffolo was appointed several months ago to figure out what was in the best interests of the stockholders. The stock in Kitty Hawk is no longer traded and has a value of nearly zero. Kitty Hawk, is in such financial distress that the recent quarterly Securities Exchange Commission required filing was not made.

Fort Wayne and Allen County property owners will then be paying off over $20 million on the remaining bond debt. The bond payments will come from increased property tax rates.

Kitty Hawk came out of reorganization bankruptcy a few years ago and looked like the business would flourish. Between market changes, increased costs, and some poor business decisions the company is now a pile of debt. After the bankruptcy the Fort Wayne Allen County Airport Authority appears to have signed some type of lease modification agreement. Nearly $2.1 million in lease payments where deferred for 18 months.

Here is a thought process of why this entire Kitty Hawk - Fort Wayne International Airport relationship is concerning:

1- Joseph Ruffolo has a large stock investment in Kitty Hawk that could result in millions of dollars in financial loss if the company was to fail.

2- Joseph Ruffolo is a board member of Kitty Hawk.

3- Joseph Ruffolo is required to look out for the best interest of all stockholders.

4- Joseph Ruffolo, while serving a board member of Kitty Hawk would have to consider to modify the lease, reduce lease payments, or break the lease.

5- Jerome "Jerry" Henry, Jr. was appointed by Mayor Richard this year to serve as a board member of the Fort Wayne Allen County Airport Authority.

6- Jerome Henry, Jr., as a board member to the authority is responsible for looking out for the best interest of Allen County tax payers.

7- Michael S. Gouloff was appointed by Mayor Richard to serve on the board of the Fort Wayne Allen County Airport Authority.

8- Michael Gouloff, as a board member to the authority is responsible for looking out for the interest of the taxpayers in Allen County.

9- Ruffolo, Henry Jr., and Gouloff are all board members of Tower Bank.

10- These three may have additional business relationships besides Tower Bank.

11- Does Tower Bank have any business relationship with any government unit within Allen County?

12- Does Tower Bank have any business relationship directly, or indirectly with Kitty Hawk that affect the financial condition of Tower Bank?

13- Kitty Hawk could become an adversary with the airport authority in regards to Kitty Hawk's lease agreement

14- By Ruffolo's position, he could become an adversary to Henry Jr. and Gouloff regarding the Kitty Hawk lease.

15- Mayor Richard and the Allen County Commissioners should make public the contents and particulars surrounding the deferral of lease payments.

16- Mayor Richard and the Allen County Commissioners should make public as to if any government body within Allen County has a financial business relationship to Tower Bank.

17- Mayor Richard should seek from Henry and Gouloff that they have no other business interest with Ruffolo.

18- Mayor Richard should demand that both Henry and Gouloff complete the proper state form regarding conflicts of interest.

If Mayor Richard and the Allen County Commissioners fail to address this issue it will just add more fuel to the fire, of local government having wide spread conflicts of interest. This issue can be cleared up in short period if our community elected leadership wish to see to it.

Local Businessman Dead - Government Contributed

2007-10-04T16:15:00.000-04:00

Robert Marshall, owner of Chuckwagon BBQ on East State Street died at Parkview Hospital. While his health was not perfect his death was sped up by the stress placed on him by the City of Fort Wayne and Allen County Government. Frank Gray wrote an outstanding article about Marshall's passing and the tribulations he suffered right up to the hour of his passing.

The article can be read at The Journal Gazette:
http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071004/LOCAL0201/710040340
Other local blogs with posts:
Fort Wayne News
http://www.fortwaynenews.com/index.php/2007/10/04/in-memory-of-bruce-marshall/#comments
Fort Wayne Left
http://fortwayneindiana.blogspot.com/2007/10/bureaucrats-kill-local-business.html

While Mayor Richard and Fort Wayne City Council members played around with the Harrison Square project they failed to fine the time to work with Marshall. Marshall leaked out a living by BBQing ribs, chicken, pork, and limited other foods outside his restaurant.

City Council member Dr. John Crawford travels by the Chuckwagon nearly every day of the week. Mr. Crawford read the newspaper articles that where printed about his running plight with the Allen County Board of Health. Councilman Crawford showed how little his leadership extended. He made no public effort to help this small businessman.

One has to wonder if Marshall was not a member of the right political party or was not connected to the right power brokers?

One has to wonder where the Mayor's office was? They claim they are there to help the small businessman but they failed here.

Not one of the people, who campaign on the issue of being for the small businessman, stood up and helped out. They all where looking for the Harrison Square money grab, and made sure they and their friends got their piece of the pie.

When you elected officials appear before a group or on television there may be some of us out here that will always look at you much like someone guilty of manslaughter. Maybe not in the legal sense, but in the moral sense you have.

For many of you, doing the right thing is something that ends when the last vote is cast during an election. For City Council, you should have a moment of silence before your next meeting in honor of Mr. Marshall, it is the least you can do!

For many of us bloggers we are saddened we did not do more. Maybe had we raised enough noise someone would have stood up and worked with Marshall, instead of working against him.

Embassy - Does Anyone Have A Clue

2007-10-03T23:52:00.000-04:00

This past weekend it was reported in the newspaper the cost of the Embassy money grab Harrison Square Walkway was under a million dollars. Now comes a report, via WPTA 21, that the Embassy people believe the cost may be two million dollars or more.

We will follow up with more details today or Friday.

Union & Blue Collar Workers Please Exit!

2007-10-03T23:51:00.000-04:00

Where does the union or the blue collar workers of Fort Wayne fit in with the future growth of Fort Wayne regarding the candidates running for the Mayor's office think? If you believe their pandering, then you fit in. If you look at what they have stated in writing, then you don't. You are not included in being part of the solution!

A few years ago a group was formed called, Young Leaders of Northeast Indiana (YLNI). Their membership is between 800-1000 people. The group promotes its self as being for the young business owners and professionals. They claim they will be a force in the direction of Fort Wayne in the future.

In following the YLNI agenda they sent every candidate for political office in Fort Wayne a simple questionnaire for them to complete. This afforded each candidate as much time needed to ponder their reply as needed before they reply. By doing so, the candidates are not "caught of guard" or their reply "was taken out of context." The candidates statements would clearly show their core beliefs.

You can view the questions and candidates answers the YLNI website. Here is a link to their site:
http://www.ylni.org/Portals/0/YLNI%20the%20vote_brochure_mailer_090607.pdf

Let us look at the Mayor's race of Tom Henry and Matt Kelty

Henry says he will stay the course on Harrison Square and endorses the North River project. He says the Harrison Square project is bringing development to the downtown. Henry fails to, or cannot list twenty high paying jobs that the entire Harrison Square project will produce.

Kelty states that since we are now committed to Harrison Square, by the actions of the Mayor and City Council, he will see it through. Kelty fails to provide any ideas on how he will steer this multi million dollar tax supported project any different then it appears to be on. In so many words, he will be going long for the ride.

Both candidates propose of streamlining government to reduce costs and red tape. Yet their respective political parties have done nothing while making the same promises. Both parties have incumbents running that have used this same talk in present and previous campaigns but delivered nothing. As they say, "Talk is cheap!"

Both candidates talk about listening to local business owners and young professionals in the future. They provide no place for the majority of taxpayers to have a voice unless they own a business or belong to some professional group. They have not invited one union leader to become part of the shaping of Fort Wayne. They have not indicated they will appoint one blue collar person to a board or commission.

I strongly urge these to take off their dark tinted glasses and see the real Fort Wayne. Fort Wayne has a long rich history of being a major player in the world but to reach that level again will take more then talk.

Does Henry and Kelty support appointing people or hiring companies to assist Fort Wayne that by all appearances have conflicts of interest? Is either candidate prepared to honor the DEMAND of the Indiana State Board of Accounts that everyone complete conflict of interest statements?

Or do we face at least four more years of the, "Good Old Boys Club?" Just possibly with different players but the same results.