Ballard Coughs Up $15 Million Stowed Away In Different Funds To Avoid More Tax Increases

By hook or crook, Mayor Greg Ballard has been trying to force the City-County Council to accept permanent tax increases to close what has been described as a $15 million budget deficit. He sold the council on expanding the base of the IMPD taxing district, a permanent property tax increase, and he's been trying to force an even larger, permanent property tax increase by eliminating the homestead property tax credit. This from the guy who went before the House Ways & Means Committee his first year in office and asked the legislature to eliminate all property taxes. At the same time, we've witnessed hundreds of millions of tax dollars being diverted under this mayor for the personal business use of his big campaign contributors. After months of wrangling over the budget, an agreement is announced where $15 million in found funds is uncovered to shore up the supposed budget deficit, including:

• $5.7 million just sitting in an escrow fund leftover from the deal to sell the water and sewer utilities to Citizens Energy several years ago;
• $6.9 million borrowed from a "fiscal stability fund" that currently holds about $80 million; and
• $2.4 million from the city's rainy day fund.

Most importantly, the deal ensures that the CIB's 40% increase in its operating budget will remain intact, which we've come to understand is Mayor Greg Ballard's number one budget priority in city government because of all the free tickets he receives to Colts and Pacer games and concerts and other events hosted at the CIB's venues. The budget will supposedly allow IMPD to hire 30 new police officer recruits next April, a number that is needed just to replace retiring police officers. Police will still get the pay raises provided under their contract, and there will be plenty of money to continue boosting the pay of Mayor Ballard's mayoral staff. Next year, Ballard will be back seeking even more tax increases because future tax diversions he has on his plate will continue to erode the tax base relied upon to fund basic city services. The local media will never report these facts to you, but that's how it is. It's unfortunate that the City-County Council lacks members or staff who have the ability to uncover the constant shell games that are played with city funds. Who knows what you'll find hidden away. The convoluted way the City keeps its books would make it a piece of cake for an unscrupulous insider to steal millions of dollars annually without ever being noticed.

UPDATE: The  council voted to approve the budget tonight by a vote of 26-2. Councilors Robert Lutz and Christine Scales voted against its approval. Interestingly, the engrossed proposal voted on by the council omitted the language retaining the homestead property tax credit, a difference of about $11 million. There was no debate on the budget's passage, which is quite telling given that it's the most important vote council members make during the year.

The only debate occurred over the passage of the CIB's budget, which came in response to comments by Councilor Frank Mascari in opposition to their budget because it includes more subsidies for the Pacers. Naturally, Bob Grand's stooges on the council, Aaron Freeman and Ben Hunter, spoke up in defense of the continued subsidies. What really upsets me is the disingenuousness of councilors' explanations for their actions. Repeatedly, there is reference made to binding agreements and state laws that tie the hands of the council, specious claims that the council illegally sought to impose a PILOT on the CIB, and that the agreements with the sports team requires these subsidies.

The CIB had a long-term, binding lease agreement with the Pacers, which required the Pacers to pay all maintenance expenses on Banker's Life Fieldhouse. Herb Simon threatened to break that lease agreement with the City, for which he would have been subject to draconian penalties, unless the CIB agreed to fork over tens of millions of dollars to his team annually. Ostensibly, these payments are to cover the maintenance costs on Banker's Life Fieldhouse, which the Pacers were contractually obligated to pay since they pay no rent and retain all of the revenues the facility generates. These numbers are inflated. It doesn't cost that much money to maintain Banker's Life Fieldhouse. Besides, the CIB had already been paying for any extraordinary capital expenses for improvements to the facility and continues to pay those extraordinary expenses, even after handing out $10 million a year to the billionaire Pacers' owner.

As to the PILOT, the council had statutory authority to impose a PILOT on the CIB since its inception. Lucas Oil Stadium and Banker's Life Fieldhouse are used exclusively for the benefit of the for-profit businesses of the Colts and Pacers. Go anywhere else in the state where publicly-owned property is being used exclusively by a business for its personal business use and property taxes are levied upon those businesses. That's the law. That's what is required by the Indiana Constitution. Only in the Twilight Zone known as the CIB is it considered anathema to make a private business pay property taxes on publicly-owned property used for private purposes. The CIB and the Pacers, which both pass out a ton of free tickets to state lawmakers just like they do for council members, convinced the legislature to pass a horrible law that repealed the statutory authority of the council to collect a PILOT on these facilities. What else is new? Our state legislature could care less what the Indiana Constitution requires or whether taxpayers are treated fairly under our state's tax laws. As long as everyone is getting their free tickets to the games, everyone at the State House and the City-County Building is happy. The council voted to approve the CIB's budget on a 19-9 vote.

Xerox Snafu Shuts Down Food Stamp EBT Cards In 17 States, Including Indiana

A computer snafu caused by Xerox made EBT cards used by food stamp recipients in 17 states, including Indiana, inoperable. Food stamp beneficiaries visiting grocery stores over the weekend in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio were among those turned away due to the system-wide failure caused when the private vendor was conducting a routine check of the system. Initially, some thought the system's failure related to the government shutdown brought about by the inability of President Obama and Congress to agree on a budget outline for providing continued spending authority by many federal agencies. Officials for Xerox say they had the system restored by late yesterday evening. Xerox acquired ACS, the company that has been a part of the badly-botched welfare privatization effort in Indiana that has cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and years of costly litigation.

UPDATE: Here is more information about the EBT glitch the mainstream media isn't talking about. According to a local news report out of Louisiana, EBT cards were showing no balance when the users swiped them. Rather than turn customers away, a local Walmart store allowed EBT users to go ahead and make purchase. As word spread, people started grabbing everything on the shelves, overfilling their shopping carts. When the system came back online, people abandoned shopping carts filled with groceries. KSLA has more about what happened in Mansfield and Springhill in Louisiana, which describes the scene of people stealing food as "natural, human reaction":

The chaos that followed ultimately required intervention from local police, and left behind numerous carts filled to overflowing, apparently abandoned when the glitch-spurred shopping frenzy ended.

Springhill Police Chief Will Lynd confirms they were called in to help the employees at Walmart because there were so many people clearing off the shelves. He says Walmart was so packed, "It was worse than any black Friday" that he's ever seen.

Lynd explained the cards weren't showing limits and they called corporate Walmart, whose spokesman  said to let the people use the cards anyway. From 7 to 9 p.m., people were loading up their carts, but when the cards began showing limits again around 9, one woman was detained because she rang up a bill of $700.00 and only had .49 on her card. She was held by police until corporate Walmart said they wouldn't press charges if she left the food.

Lynd says at 9 p.m., when the cards came back online and it was announced over the loud speaker, people just left their carts full of food in the aisles and left.

"Just about everything is gone, I've never seen it in that condition," said Mansfield Walmart customer Anthony Fuller.

Walmart employees could still be seen putting food from the carts away as late as Sunday afternoon. "I was just thinking, I'm so glad my mom doesn't work here [Walmart] anymore, that's the only thing I could think about, those employees working, that would have to restock all that stuff," said O.J Evans who took cell phone video of the overflowing shopping carts at the Mansfield Walmart.

Evans believes it was natural human reaction that led people to fill up their carts during the glitch, but Walmart shoppers Stan and Judy Garcia feel very differently. "That's plain theft, that's stealing that's all I got to say about it," said Garcia.

Obama Administration Gave Fake Persian Relic To Iran As A Show Of Improved Relations

Late last month, a CNN news report hailed the return of a 2700-year old silver chalice to Iran by the Obama administration as "a new token of friendship between the United States and Iran, at least that's the way Iran's cultural heritage chief sees it." "Whatever the case, Mohammad-Ali Najafi was palpably delighted Friday to see the ancient Persian artifact return to its homeland," CNN reported. According to CNN, the chalice had been stored in a U.S. customs warehouse for a number of years after an arts dealer allegedly tried to smuggle it into the country in 2003. The return of the relic coincided with President Barack Obama's phone call to Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, the first time a U.S. president has spoken to his counterpart since 1979. There's only problem with the CNN story. The so-called relic is a fake and the U.S. government should have known it was a fake artifact if it followed up after the arts dealer who brought it into the country claimed it originated from Syria, not Iran.

According to Tablet Magazine, the bad fake was probably created in 1999. This conclusion was made by Oscar White Muscarella, a retired curator for the Met in a publication several years ago. It was purchased by a wealthy New York arts collector after it showed up in a gallery in Geneva in 2002. The arts collector is a trustee of the Met. Three experts were found to authenticate the relic after the arts dealer questioned its authenticity. Homeland Security officials arrested the arts dealer and seized the piece after he identified its place of origin as Syria. The arts dealer paid a $5,000 fine, and the arts collector got his money back. The piece was then sent to a Queens warehouse to be stored until it was recently dusted off and returned to Iran as part of an effort by the Obama administration to improve relations. "While the artifact was inaccessible to scholars and other investigators, a single photograph made available to Muscarella convinced him that it was a fake," the Tablet reported. "Indeed, anyone with passing familiarity with ancient Near Eastern art, or any kind of art, would become suspicious at the merest glance."

Governor Pence's Economic Development Agency Throwing Millions In Wasted Tax Dollars To Billionaire Herb Simon's Indiana Pacers

Gov. Mike Pence may not care whether you can afford to buy health insurance, but he wants to make sure more of your tax dollars are put into the pocket of one of the state's few billionaires, Herb Simon, who believes it's the responsibility of taxpayers to subsidize whatever business undertaking he has within this state. The Indiana Economic Development Corporation is paying his Indiana Pacers millions of dollars for a completely useless sponsorship opportunity that won't create one single job in this state. This is in addition to the millions annually in state revenues that are being diverted to the CIB to subsidize the Pacers to the tune of over $10 million annually, in addition to the rent-free use of the arena and retention of all revenues generated by the facility. According to the IBJ's Anthony Schoettle, the IEDC becomes the first sponsor to pay to have its name emblazoned on the hardwood of the basketball court inside Banker's Life Fieldhouse.

For that right, sources close to the league said, IEDC--which previously had no in-venue signage deals with the Pacers--will pay a low-seven-figure sum over two years. The floor signage, along with other fieldhouse advertising IEDC bought, will debut at the Oct. 16 preseason game against the Dallas Mavericks . . .

The NBA reserves the right to remove the ad during nationally broadcast games on TNT and ESPN.

So the IEDC will shell out millions of dollars to have the slogan, "A State That Works," emblazoned on the hardwood, which may not even show up on nationally-televised broadcasts of the team's games. Anyone with a brain knows that this is nothing more than yet another way of utilizing taxpayer dollars to subsidize the Indiana Pacers. There is absolutely no benefit from this advertising. It is absolutely shameless how much we as taxpayers are being forced to subsidize this greedy billionaire's NBA team. The best thing that could happen to this state and city is for Herb Simon to pack up this team and get it the hell out of here. It is nothing but a blood-sucking enterprise that is depleting valuable tax dollars that could be more wisely spent elsewhere.

Firing Of Top Nuke Commanders Raises Alarm Bells Ignored By Mainstream Media

This is another one of those alarming cases where we don't appear to be getting accurate information from the mainstream media on what is taking place within the highest levels of the American military. Early last month, Infowars.com reported that high level military sources had sounded the alarm over the movement of nuclear weapons from Dyess Air Force Base in Texas to an undisclosed location in South Carolina in a secret transfer involving no paper trail. Here's how the military source described the transfer of nuclear warheads from the Air Force base on September 3, 2013:

“Dyess is beginning to move out nuclear war heads today. I got a tap from DERMO earlier. He said it was the first time they have been even acknowledged since being put there in the 80′s. No signature was required for transfer… There was no directive. He said that Dyess Commander was on site to give authority to release. No one knew where they were going really, but the truck driver said to take them to South Carolina and another pick up will take them from there.”

At the time of this news report, President Barack Obama and a handful of congressional leaders were clamoring for military intervention in Syria, whose government they were blaming for a chemical weapons attack inside Syria despite the lack of any definitive evidence to support the claim. The U.S. has been secretly arming rebels, including those with ties to al Qaeda, in an effort to topple the Assad government. We later learned that South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham had warned during a speech in his home state of the potential for a nuclear attack by terrorists in Charleston making its way to the Palmetto State by way of Charleston Harbor if the U.S. didn't intervene militarily in Syria. A local CBS News affiliate reported on Graham's comments the same day Infowars.com reported on the movement of nukes from Dyess Air Force Base:

Graham told reporters in Goose Creek on Tuesday that taking action against Syria in response to the situation is not a question of yes or no, but rather a question of bad or worse choices.

He says if there is no U.S. response, Iran will not believe America’s resolve to block Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Graham also says those nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists could result in a bomb coming to Charleston Harbor.

Late last month, the AP reported that the number 2 Navy admiral in charge of our nation's nuclear weapons had been suspended from his duties, allegedly due to gambling-related problems. The decision to suspend Admiral Tim Giardina took place almost immediately following the disclosure of the movement of nuclear weapons from Dyess Air Force Base but was not reported until three weeks later.

The No. 2 officer at the military command in charge of all U.S. nuclear war-fighting forces has been suspended and is under investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigation Command for issues related to gambling, officials said Saturday.

The highly unusual action against a high-ranking officer at U.S. Strategic Command was made more than three weeks ago but was not publicly announced.

Air Force Gen. Robert Kehler, who heads Strategic Command, suspended the deputy commander, Navy Vice Adm. Tim Giardina, from his duties on Sept. 3, according to the command's top spokeswoman, Navy Capt. Pamela Kunze. Giardina is still assigned to the command, but he is prohibited from performing duties related to nuclear weapons and other issues requiring a security clearance, she said.

Kehler recommended to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel that Giardina be reassigned, Kunze said. Giardina has been the deputy commander of Strategic Command since December 2011. He is a career submarine officer, and, prior to starting his assignment there, was the deputy commander and chief of staff at U.S. Pacific Fleet.

Two senior U.S. officials familiar with the investigation said it is related to gambling issues. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the probe in incomplete.

Yesterday we learned that the Air Force's top commander in charge of nuclear weapons was dismissed just two days after Giardina's dismissal, allegedly due to alcoholism concerns. That report involved Maj. Gen. Michael Carey, a 35-year veteran. According to the report, Giardina has now been fired and demoted from a three-star to a two-star rank for allegedly using counterfeit poker chips. Maj. Gen. Jack Weinstein of the Air Force Global Strike Command has been named as Carey's temporary replacement.

Mainstream news media ignored Infowars' original report about the alleged movement of nuclear weapons from Dyess Air Force Base despite that leaked news report coinciding with the removal of the top nuke commanders. Infowars has expressed concern that rogue forces at the highest levels of our government intend to use our own nukes in a false flag attack that may occur on American soil. There is concern that the sacking of the number one and number two guys in charge of our nuclear weapons is because of their refusal to allow the misuse of these weapons for illegal, unconstitutional purposes. This also follows the recent Navy Yard shooting where a mentally ill contract employee working for an IT company that is run by former military intelligence officials was able to gain access to the highly-secured military compound in our nation's capital with guns and go on a shooting rampage.

Marion County Courts Have Job Opening Paying $62.4 Million A Year, Parks Job Offers $78.9 Million

Obviously someone isn't proofing the job postings on the City of Indianapolis' website too closely. There's a job opening for an Assistant Director of Finance for the Marion Superior Court that pays $32,000 an hour, or $62.4 million annually.

Class Title:	Assistant Director of Finance- Marion Superior Court
Bargaining Unit:	Exempt and Non-exempt non-cba
Class Code:	FIN/ACCT
Salary:	$32,000.00 Hourly $2,400,000.00 Biweekly $62,400,000.00 Annually

If that job doesn't suit you, there's a job opening as a Senior Park Manager at Eagle Creek paying more than $78.95 million annually.

Class Title:	Eagle Creek - Senior Park Manager
Bargaining Unit:	Exempt and Non-exempt non-cba
Class Code:	MGR
Salary:	$78,956,800.00 Annually

Pentagon Admits To Faking Repatriation Ceremonies For Fallen Soldiers

How many times have you seen these images of solemn ceremonies conducted for fallen soldiers long missing being returned to the country after losing their lives in past wars? It turns out that the Pentagon has been faking the ceremonies for seven years using coffins being carried from planes that no longer fly that are supposedly carrying the remains of soldiers returned months earlier.

For seven years, the Department of Defense has faked repatriations where military personnel carry honored dead soldiers off of planes as part of their ceremonial return to the U.S. 

While the Pentagon insists the coffins indeed contain the remains of MIA soldiers returned to America from foreign wars, it now admits that the Hawaii arrival ceremonies often attended by a tearful audience aren’t actually arrivals at all. 

In fact, the coffins are toted out of planes that can no longer even fly, but must be towed onto the runway for the phony ceremonies and the remains have sometimes been back in the country for months.

The ceremonies are handled by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, an agency charged with recovering some 83,000 missing service men and women from World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. 

Until now, agency has allowed the public to believe that flag-draped boxes pulled from C-17 military planes contained the rediscovered dead from those countries. 

But the Pentagon acknowledge to NBC News Wednesday that, in fact, the remains had only just been removed from the lab at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Honolulu.

Now, the events will be known as ‘honor ceremonies.’ . . .

Hey, they faked the capture and killing of bin Laden. Why wouldn't they fake the repatriation of fallen soldiers?

Attorney General's Lawsuit Against Affordable Health Care Act Argues Hoosiers Aren't Eligible For Tax Credit

The people at the federal level charged with administering the Affordable Care Act don't see it this way, but according to a new lawsuit Attorney General Greg Zoeller filed against the Obama administration, the state of Indiana believed that by not choosing to create a state-run health care exchange, Hoosiers who participated in the federal plan wouldn't be allowed to receive tax credits offered to those earning up to 400% of the poverty level to offset the cost of purchasing health insurance. It seems our Attorney General wants the law to be interpreted in that fashion so large employers could not be penalized for not offering health insurance to their employees. Read it to believe it: Here's a summary of the Star's Maureen Groppe's lengthy story today. Read it to believe it.

When Indiana decided last year not to run its own health exchange under Obamacare, Gov. Mike Pence said it was because the move would cost the state too much money without providing enough benefits.

The state revealed for the first time in a lawsuit filed this week that it also assumed that by opting for the federal health exchange that Hoosiers would not receive the federal tax credits designed to help needy people afford health insurance.

That, in turn, would prevent large employers in the state from being penalized under the health-care law for not providing insurance to workers, the lawsuit argues.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday by Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller. He said he teamed up with 15 school corporations to argue that the ­Internal Revenue Service lacks authority to penalize the state and other Indiana employers for not offering coverage to anyone working at least 30 hours a week. The threat of the penalties is causing the state and schools to cut the hours of some employees because they can’t afford to pay for their health insurance, Zoeller said.

The suit attacks a part of the law that some have described as sloppy wording but that critics say was intentionally written so tax credits would be available only in states that run their own exchanges. Although lawmakers expected most states would want to run the exchanges — because states regulate their own insurance markets — most states decided not to . . .

The gist of the lawsuit is that Zoeller is upset that Hoosiers who participate in the federally-run exchange will still receive tax credits for purchasing health insurance because he's more concerned about employers who will be penalized by the law for not offering  health insurance to their employees. He's using state resources in an attempt to force an interpretation of the law that screws over the little guy to save large employers from paying penalties. Great. In other news, Gov. Mike Pence has appointed a lobbyist for insurance companies to serve as the state's new Medicaid director. Hmmm. These guys obviously don't care about the optics of their actions.

Fort Wayne Council Failed To Properly Revoke Tax Abatements

The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette reports that the public was misled when it was told this summer that the city council for the first time had revoked tax abatements for twelve companies that had failed to live up to the job creation commitments it made when the tax abatements were first granted. It turns out that because the council didn't follow the process set out in state statute, the companies continued receiving their tax abatements.

In July, when the council was to do its annual approval of the list of abatements so the companies could take the deduction on their property taxes, members removed about a dozen from the list because they were not in compliance, having either not filed their paperwork or not met their obligations for investments or job creation.

Unfortunately, council attorney Joe Bonahoom said, simply not approving them was not enough, because state law requires the council to take action in finding the companies non-compliant and give them 45 days to address the issue.

“When you omitted them from the list of approvals, you essentially took no action,” Bonahoom said. “Statutorily, by taking no action, we approved them.”

So for the most part, the tax breaks will continue. But Bonahoom said the companies are now on notice that if they are not in compliance next year, the city will take active steps to remove the tax phase-in.

According to the Journal-Gazette, the council voted yesterday to approve abatements for 12 projects it thought it had discontinued in July and approved a new 7-year tax abatement for another company. At-large council member John Crawford, a critic of tax abatements, told the Journal-Gazette that it proved the city never intended to force the companies to live up to their promises. Meanwhile, all Allen County taxpayers started paying higher income taxes this month so the city could continue passing out tax abatements and public subsidies to favored taxpayers.