Fishers Where Are You on the Simulus Bill?

Fishers where are you?

You are not on the list?

What List?

The State of Indiana has a list of shovel ready project they hope to get funded under the Stimulus Bill. The total of cost of all the projects submitted by Indiana is $2,598,965,295.

Who is on the list?
Carmel • Crawfordsville • Crown Point • East Chicago • Evansville • Fort Wayne • Gary • Hammond • Hobart • Indianapolis • Kokomo • Kokomo, IN • Lake Station • Lawrence • Merrillville • Michigan City • Mishawaka • Muncie • Plymouth • Richmond • St. John • Terre Haute • Whiting

Notice all of these are cities, no towns, how come? You see the list comes from the "shovel-ready" projects the mayors submitted in the 2008 U.S. Conference of Mayors report.

Will Fishers be totally left out – No. But they will have to file for Federal Grants after the fact, so while they are filling out a grant application, Carmel will be building more of their silly roundabouts and Fishers will still be going in circles on paper.

Will all projects be funded from this list, no, but they will have a head start in the funding process.

Where can you find the list? Glad you asked. Please go:

http://www.stimuluswatch.org/project/by_state/IN

In the Saturday Indy Star is an article “City to get $11.6M from feds” The article starts out by stating “first wave of stimulus money heading to states and cities.” Once again the word town was left out. Many of the road projects that were listed in the article also appear to be going to cities and not towns.

The overall problem is a Federal mindset that a city is a city and a town is 4 stoplights and 2000 people.

Now back to the first question. Fishers is a town and therefore will always play 2nd fiddle to any city even ones much smaller in population in the eyes of those far away looking at giving away Federal money. Don’t forget they see the word Town and have no clue about what the town really is a large city with the wrong name.

Joe's Leading Indicators Show Economy Going Up.

Joe’s leading indicators show the economy getting better in about 5-6 months and it has started to move upward.

For those of you who read my blog and don’t know this I also make and sell reproduction military insignia, www.1903.com, if you want to look. Well this is not a giant field and it the insignia is sold to collectors, re-enactor and museums. So in a way a limited crowd, but a worldwide crowd. I ship overseas at least 3-4 packages a week. A few months ago when the Euro ruled I was shipping 8-10 packages a week and my US sales tanked. Then everything tanked.

Now I call this my leading indicators because I can track sales shipments and get a general feel for what is going on. For example, last July sales dropped 50% from June and then remained low until December, when I saw an up tick But all of a sudden in January the sales moved up ten percent over Jan 08 and this February is already up 33% over last year with 4 days to go.

So if I look over my sales the drop was predicted about six months before all hell broke use and so I now have to say in 5-6 months we should be moving up again.

Letter to Secretary of State Todd Rokita

In Indiana the Secretary of State is charged with running the elections. Needless to say I don't think he is doing a good job. In fact as you read below I think he is doing what can be expected of someone in one party protecting his own party. Letting the party politics get in the way of doing his job. Rumor has it he is going to run for Governor of this State, so to him I say before you run for Governor, clean up your current job.

The following is a copy of a letter mailing out today to Mr. Rokita. Look for his answer on this blog, or maybe you will never see an answer. Would not surprise me.
Joe

Joseph L. Weingarten
14066 Deer Stone Ln
Fortville, IN 46040

February 6, 2009


Mr. Todd Rokita
201 Statehouse
302 W Washington St # E111
Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 232-6536
Fax (317) 233-3283

Dear Secretary Rokita;

On October 9, 2009 I faxed a letter to you of complaint of Ms. Kathy Richardson conducting her own election. To date I have not received a response on any action taken by your office. Ms. Richardson was a candidate as defined by IC 3-11-8-18

Ms. Richardson was clearly in violation of IC 3-11-8-15 as a candidate in a polling place on numerous occasions.
She was also in violation of the following codes:
3-11-10-2 during the receipt of Absentee ballots while as a candidate for office and within fifty feet of the poling place.
3-11-8-18 when she repeatedly offered assistance to voters during voting, while a candidate and within 50 fifty feet of the poling place.

As a result Ms. Richardson ‘s certification of election should be removed for her violations of the Indiana Code and the election re-accomplished under ethical and fair circumstances. Or is it your policy to permit members of your own party to act with impunity when it comes to elections.


Respectfully Submitted


Joseph L. Weingarten


1 Atch October 9, 2008 Ltr


Here is the October 9 letter

Joseph L. Weingarten
14066 Deer Stone Ln
Fortville, IN 46040

October 9, 2008


Mr. Todd Rokita
201 Statehouse
302 W Washington St # E111
Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 232-6536
Fax (317) 233-3283

Dear Secretary Rokita;

As Secretary of State for Indiana your office is responsible to insure that fair elections and integrity of the vote take place in this state.

I request that you take immediate action to suspend all voting in Hamilton County until such time as Ms. Kathy Richardson is replaced as Election Administrator. Ms. Richardson is a candidate for State Representative in the 29th District.

Ms Richardson is running her own election. She is in full view of people entering to vote early or to request absentee ballots. This places a candidate within full view of voters during the time of election directly within the boundaries of the polls. She counts her own votes and based on questionable past actions this raises a concern over the integrity of the vote. I request the State of Indiana immediately take over full control of the elections in Hamilton County and insure that the ballot is correctly placed and counted before all voters. Ms. Richardson must be removed from the election office. Or she can withdraw from the election. Failure to do so brings into question the integrity of elections throughout the State of Indiana.



Respectfully Submitted


Joseph L. Weingarten

Save the Auto Industry - State by State

OK so the Republicans only want to save their friends at Wall Street and in all the Banks. They could care less about the working people of the USA and one of our largest industries. Well, I care and offer this suggestion. If every state had a sales tax holiday for one week on any purchase of a product made by the big three, this problem would be over. Sure each state would lose some tax dollars, but they are losing them anyway as no one is buying. So get moving and declare a sale tax holiday. Lets save the big three without Washington.

Republicans do you want a depression?

The Republicans bail out Wall Street, the banks, etc and don't even say a word about pay cuts and when it comes to the auto workers and Democratic leaning unions they go hog wild. To the many of you who believe bankruptcy is the answer, just watch the effect as 1000's of small businesses down the line go out of business because the big three stop paying them or don't have too. That will throw even more people out of work and the Republicans will cause a depression.

Free markets is an easy answer for all the worlds problems. Let the market determine who wins, who losses. But in today's Bush world it would appear it depends on who you are.

Hopefully the big 3 can hold on until a new Senate comes to power next month and a new bill is introduced.

OK I lost, but the election was fun.

Well, the election is over and I lost, but I must say I think I put up a good campaign. It was very interesting and I have to admit a lot of fun. I met a lot of very nice people and a few nasty ones – but only two of them, which is not too bad. So here is a little about the campaign.

I did not raise much in the way of money for this campaign, it seems everyone had one person on their mind and that is where the money went. Also finding people to help was very hard, once again, the people drifted to the top slot again. So pretty much I was on my own. Towards the end a few people came forward and helped with phone calls and walking door to door. To all of you I big thank you.

I did have a plan but as with all plans things don’t work out. I was hoping for a debate with my opponent, but she doesn’t debate. She told one person who requested that we have a debate “Incumbents don’t debate.” And I find that statement very interesting. Well no money, no debate, so why not walk door to door. Sounded good to me, lets see there are 32,000 doors in the 29th District, how many could I do, based on about 100 a day and on weekends 200, the total came to 6000 doors. That became my goal. The other plan was to meet people at the Farmers Markets, other Festivals, etc. I printed up flyers to give out in my door-to-door visits and cards to hand out at festivals. Well as it turned out on the Friday before election day, I did meet my goal of 6000 visits to homes and here are some highlights: one naked man answered the door, but zero naked women. It was a very hot summer day and I am willing to bet he didn’t even realize the king had no clothes. Two people told to get off their property in no uncertain terms after they asked which party I belonged too. These were the two that were not nice. I am pretty certain one of them called the police on me as a few minutes later a patrol car came by and I just continued to walk door to door and he didn’t say a word but watch for a few minutes. While talking about police, in another community a patrol car pulled up and when he saw my name tag for office, he just smiled gave me a thumbs up and drove off.

I keep getting asked about dogs, the big ones just look at you and stay in their yards. But when a dog was in the yard I went on to the next home. One home I did not open the chain link fence to ring the doorbell, the dog chain was as thick as my wrist and I knew it was better to move on. One little dog broke thru its invisible fence and ran into the street and pulled on my pants. The owner came flying out of her house and grabbed the dog. After she put him in the house we talk about my campaign and she said I will vote for you, but don’t sue my dog. I figured one vote was worth a couple of dog bones I would win in court.

Most people were surprised that a candidate came to their door actually many were shocked. I met a lady who had just celebrated her 100th birthday and how sweet was she. A young man of 30 who told me he knew nothing about politics and could he ask a few questions, we spent the next 30 minutes together. Most people did not know what to say and only a few asked questions, etc. Some told me about some problems and I told them whom they should contact in the local government. But by and large it was a lot of walking and fun. To those of that answered your door, thank you for the honor letting me meet you.

Festivals, farmers markets, etc. They also were fun and I met over 3000 people at these events. I know because I gave away 3000 cards with my name on them. I was asked to leave the Noblesville Farmers Market because they do not allow political activity. Hmm I was asked to leave in front of a booth working for women’s equality, sounds political to me, they also over the various weeks had a few others. I think it was just to get rid of a Democrat since the Republicans don’t campaign in Hamilton County. At another event a police office came up to me as I was going around saying hello and asked what I was doing. I told him and he said don’t brother people. I told him if you brother people you wouldn’t get their vote as he walked away. I did see him later point me out to another officer. So I can tell you, that the police are watching and that is good.

Well, I did raise enough money to buy some yard signs and place them around the three towns in the district, Fishers, Noblesville, and McCordsville and in the countryside of Wayne Township. Right away the signs in Fishers started to vanish and I mean vanish. I did find a bunch of them at the Fishers Town Hall Dumpster and got them back. In the other areas they remained on duty informing the voters. I know because I mapped out where I put them and after the election got almost all them back. I do have a yard sign story. When early voting started at the County Courthouse a number of us Democrats stood outside the Courthouse on Saturday and met voters as they entered to polls, we even had signs in the grass. Fast forward to the next Saturday, a deputy comes out and tells us we have to remove all signs. A little while later we had a Democrat lawyer show up and protest, by this time the Mitch people had shown up and were putting out their signs. An official came out and said all signs had to go, I asked her if she wanted a law suit on Monday morning against the county in violation of the First Amendment after all this was a polling place and public property. The county had enacted that rule in the past week and I am sure it was based on Democratic signs. Well in ten minutes, word came back; signs could be used but only during voting hours. The same as at the polls.

Well, I guess I will run again in two years, but may start walking earlier and try for 10,000 homes, maybe some of you will want to help walk and we can get to almost every home in the district. It’s a great way to meet your neighbors and who knows you might find a naked man.

Then again maybe people will donate money and we could run a newspaper or TV ad. I am accepting donation now for two years from now.
www.indianaforjoe.com

Our Financial Mess- Black Friday October 10, 2008

Why?

I am at loss myself and have never seen anything like this ever. Our world has lost all confidence in the US Government and thus in the US Markets. In my opinion they are in fear McBush might win the election and current policies will continue. Once Obama wins I also believe we will start to see a small stabilization and after the New Year when he takes office a recovery will start. Until then many business and people will flat out stop all spending.

Why did happen?

Lets go back 1000 years to the plains and why the American Indian never established towns and cities. They had no regulations and they hunted and chopped wood and when an area had no deer left, they moved to a new area. After 10-20 years the new area had no deer left, firewood was all gone and they moved to a new area, after 10-20 years they had no deer left, firewood was all gone and maybe even moved back to the area they were in 30 years ago as nature let the few remaining deer re-populate and the new trees grew. Now if they had started to build cities and have a real government, they would have understood to replenish the land by regulations and understand forest management.

We only have to go back a few 100 years to see what happened in our land for the same types of examples. Let’s say you were a lumber robber baron and there were no regulations. You started by chopping down every tree near your lumber mill to maximize your profits; you kept expanding your circle of chopped clear land without any regard for the land. When all the land was clear, you packed up the mill and moved it to a new area full of tress. Then came the government and finally stopped you, you yelled, it’s government regulation, stop this, we are free to do whatever our profit hungry business wants to do, get out of our way. But for the good of everyone else, we start to require lumber companies to plant new trees. Establish forest management.

1929 no regulations on Wall Street and in banking, the same greed that the lumber mill had we had in the financial markets. Maximize profits without any regard to anything but your own company, your own profits. Come into the Bush era and the same thing happens, remove regulations, the free market, well this time the mortgage leaders move to maximize profits by chopping every tree, clearing every field and building millions of homes for people who can’t afford the home. The to cover their tracks, they sell the mortgages to one another, so no one can tell who owns what and more greed, give mortgages with no money down. Building contractors who could care less start selling to anyone with no money down and don’t tell the new homeowner about real costs. “I didn’t know I had to pay for gas to heat my home and hot water, the apartment I came from it was included in the rent, I though it was in the mortgage.” Yes, I actually heard this. Then came the property taxes, insurance, etc. Many of these new homeowners started to move back to apartments and just walked away from their homes. They had no investment, it was a no lost for them. I met one home owner, who moved in with a zero down mortgage, had never paid a single mortgage payment and had lived six months free in their home only paying the electric bill. He figured he had a few more months of free “rent” before they got to him.
We as a nation need to understand the greed that comes from a few without regulation and oversight. Make the regulations fair but stop the few crooks, which ruin it for all. The concept of free markets, etc is nice and in a perfect world might work. But we live in a world where a few are willing to steal. In the 1930’s we made a lot of regulations to stop the crooks of the markets of the 20’s. In the next few years we are going to have to look back and start to make new regulation or institute old regulations to stop the type of abuse that caused this mess. It’s not the end of the world to have a few regulations for the benefit of most against a few who want to ruin for all to their benefit.

I hope that my Republican friends can cross the line this election year and vote for the person best to lead in their area, whether the President, Congressman or the State Representative. Look at the person, what they have done in the past or what they propose to do in the future. The ones who want to do nothing or continue what they have been doing it’s time to replace them.

My name is Joe Weingarten and I am running for State Representative in the Indian 29th House District and I approve this message.

Paid for and authorized by the Weingarten for 29th District State Representative Committee.