Fwd: Immediate Action Reqested...Voters' Choice Act reintroduced into the PA Senate soon!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "tim Crowley" <timcrowley1@verizon.net>
Date: Feb 11, 2015 8:34 PM
Subject: Immediate Action Reqested...Voters' Choice Act reintroduced into the PA Senate soon!
To: "Mark Rauterkus" <Mark@rauterkus.com>
Cc:

Immediate Action Reqested...Voters' Choice Act reintroduced into the PA Senate soon!

 

Dear Mark,

 

The Voters' Choice Act, which would drastically reduce the onerous petition signature requirements for all PA Third party candidates, will soon be reintroduced into the Pennsylvania Senate by Senator Folmer.

 

Since you and I are  both 'Third Party' activists, I'm asking you to please rally your friends to support this legislation.   Please have them contact their state Senator this week.

 

Attached is some information on the Voters' Choice Act, as well as a sample letter supporting the VCA.  They may save you some time should you choose to help us out. 

 

Best wishes,

 

Tim Crowley

PA Ballot Access Coalition

 

http://www.paballotaccess.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=66&Itemid=56

 

Voters' Choice Act

The Pennsylvania Ballot Access Coalition has drafted a Voters' Choice Act (VCA) to address Pennsylvania's electoral problems. PBAC is currently seeking sponsors and supporters for this legislation. This legislation has not yet been introduced in the legislature, and you can help change that. PBAC has hand-delivered the VCA to all legislators' Harrisburg offices and has contacted all legislators' offices by phone. PBAC is asking all legislators to return a questionnaire on their level of support for the VCA.

Download

White paper including the Act -- this is the document in legislators' hands.

Brochure on the Voters' Choice Act -- suitable for handing out to neighbors, etc.

What is the VCA?

The Voters' Choice Act (VCA) will give greater freedom of choice to the Pennsylvania voter by making it much less difficult for independent and third party candidates to get on the November ballot. The VCA changes the way a third party is legally defined. Instead of requiring a third party's existence to be determined by how well a Democrat or Republican did in the last election, under the Voters' Choice Act a third party would be legally recognized once it has at least 0.05% of the total number of voters in Pennsylvania registered in their party. This is the way our neighboring state of Delaware legally defines a third party. Following this model, candidates from third parties, like the two old parties, would have no signature requirement to have their names placed on the November ballot.

As for independent candidates, instead of having to obtain over 67,000 signatures on their nominating petitions in order to appear on the statewide ballot in 2006, independents would only be required to collect the same 2,000 signatures that the candidates from the two old parties need to get into their primary.

----- Original Message -----

From: Ken V. Krawchuk

To:

Sent: Sunday, February 08, 2015 4:55 PM

Subject: RE: [KenK_Honchos] Near-Term Opportunity

                Very, very accurate and true.  And I'm on top of it (I think), as you know.  I plan to be there to speak at the bill's introduction rally.  I've already been in touch with Wolf's transition team about getting it on his agenda—successfully, I must add.  And more.

                 You're on the PBAC.  Let's both keep an eye out for opportunities.

 

                - Ken

 

 

Sent: Sunday, February 08, 2015 4:28 PM
To: K18
Subject: [KenK_Honchos] Near-Term Opportunity

 

No matter how we do it, collecting nominating petition sigs is going to be a very significant drain on the K18 campaign.

 

Senator Folmer is going to re-introduce the Voters' Choice Act soon in the PA Senate.  Since he will also be the chair of the State Gov't Committee, we are guaranteed that the VCA will get a public hearing and probably will get voted out of committee for a Senate vote.  Preliminary indications are that Governor Wolf might even sign the thing if it makes it to his desk.  It might be that the planets are properly aligned so that chances of getting the VCA passed this legislative session are better than they have ever been.

 

Passing the VCA would be a huge benefit to K18, as well as being a continuing game-changing benefit into the future.  I think working on getting the VCA passed this session is working on K18, as long as we think there is a reasonable probability that it can become law.

 

--

Dear Senator xxx,

 

I urge you to support the Voters' Choice Act. This bill levels the playing field between all PA political parties, not just the big, well-established ones.

 

Right now parties such as the Libertarians, Greens, Constitution Party and others must gather over 15,000 valid signatures while the Democrats and Republicans only  need 2,000.

 

The PA Constitution says that 'elections should be free and equal." This does not seem free and equal to me.

 

Sincerely,

 

xxx xxxxxx

 

Fwd: Philips HeartStart OnSite AED Promo and Referral Please!

From: Hennessy, Ann J. <Ann.Hennessy@redcross.org>

 

 

Take the first step in preparing to save the life of a loved one, friend, or co-worker-Special Philips HeartStart OnSite Package Price of $1,441!

 

Philips HeartStart OnSite AED package includes: ü  Philips HeartStart OnSite AED Includes one battery, one set of pads and an 8-year warranty on the AED
ü  Ready Pack Includes case and extra set of pads ü  Wall Sign
ü  Basic Cabinet
ü  No prescription required if only Adult Pads are ordered   Please click on this link to see a demo of the Philips OnSite AED (once the video loads, click the navigation button then "try it"): http://www.healthcare.philips.com/pwc_hc/main/shared/Assets/multimedia/flash/resuscitation/AED/HS1_onsite_demo/index.wpd   68-PCHAT, Fast Response Kit $46, (this item is optional, but it is highly recommended).  Scissors may be critical in getting clothes off, and a Razor may be needed to attach the Pads to the bare skin.   Includes two pairs of hypoallergenic nitrile gloves, Laerdal pocket breathing mask, paramedic scissors, safety razor, large extra-absorbent towel.  These items are contained in a 5 ½" x 9 ½" zippered pouch which should be attached to the handle of the carry case.     Pads and the Battery need to be replaced over the life of the device.  The OnSite Pads last 2 years, or after a use (the Pads are never reused).  The OnSite Battery lasts approximately 4 years from the time it is inserted into the device, and expiration will vary based on how often the device is used or self-tested.   Sudden cardiac arrest is one of the leading causes of death in the U.S. Over 350,000 people will suffer from sudden cardiac arrest this year.  It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere and at any age. An AED is the only effective treatment for restoring a regular heart rhythm during sudden cardiac arrest and voice prompts help guide a responder on steps to follow. Time is of the essence: ·         The average response time for first responders once 911 is called is 8-12 minutes. ·         For each minute defibrillation is delayed, the chance of survival is reduced approximately 10%, i.e., if you defibrillate at the 3 minute mark after collapse you have about a 70 % chance of survival, if you defibrillate at the 7 minute mark after collapse you have about a 30 % chance of survival, at the 10 minute mark after collapse you have about a 0 % chance of survival).  The survival rate for just calling 911 is about a 5 % chance of survival or 1 out of 20.   If you are not in need of an AED, would you please consider forwarding this email to a business associate at another company or pass on a contact phone/e-mail so I could contact directly.  This small gesture could help us reach our revenue goals and prepare for future disasters.      If you have any questions, or to place an order please just call/e-mail me.    Thank you for your support and consideration.   Ann   Ann Hennessy Sales Representative, Preparedness, Health and Safety Services American Red Cross 225 Boulevard of the Allies Pittsburgh, PA 15222 (412) 439-9958 Ann.Hennessy@redcross.org   AEDs save lives! Are you AED ready?

 

My suggestion to the Netgain site, NOTA

Democratic participation can skyrocket when all elections include the option of "None Of The Above."

Voters often confront elections with failed options. After the “None Of The Above” option becomes a universal choice in all ballot questions, citizens can circumvent a bogus ballot process.

When making a statement at the ballot box becomes worthless, frustrations mount and street violence ensues. Many don't vote.

Uncontested elections evaporate with NOTA. Incumbents must beat NOTA. When the wire-pullers and powerful put up straw candidates or token placeholders, they'd still need to deal with the affordable, always handy choice of "None of the Above." Let's terminate the option between "Bad" and "Terrible." If the choice for voters is among "Bad," "Terrible" and "None Of The Above," then there is hope.

Everyone wins as victors out tally both second place and NOTA. With NOTA, voters demand a fresh do over. New candidates are advanced as a new election is scheduled.

Democracy fixture, Netgain Challenge

http://bit.ly/netgainchallenge

They are engaging the wider community on the agenda-setting side.

They ask for example:

    How can technology make democracies more participatory and responsive?

Topics:

• ACCESS TO KNOWLEDGE
• BIG DATA
• CENSORSHIP
• DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION
• ENVIRONMENTALISM
• GOVERNANCE
• INEQUALITY
• NETWORKS
• ORGANIZING
• PRIVACY
• PROPAGANDA
• PUBLIC INTEREST TECHNOLOGY
• SECURE COMMUNICATIONS
• SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
• SURVEILLANCE

Fwd: Vietnam: Some Real History

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Andy Piascik <andypiascik@yahoo.com>

Friends,

 

I wrote this in reply to an op-ed in the Connecticut Post by John Mihalec, former speechwriter for Gerald Ford, which you can view here: http://www.ctpost.com/opinion/article/Mihalec-50-years-ago-the-start-to-Vietnam-war-6067086.php.

 

Here's the link to mine: http://www.ctpost.com/opinion/article/Piascik-Vietnam-a-longer-view-6071550.php.

 

Peace and Solidarity,

 

Andy

 

                                                                           Vietnam: Some Real History

                                                                                                                            by Andy Piascik

 

            John Mihalec's recent column (50 Years Ago: The Start to Vietnam War, February 7) is good for laughs but is seriously lacking as history. Here's some history that was conveniently left out of his fanciful account.

            Pinpointing where US aggression in Vietnam began depends on how one determines how a war starts. It's silly in the extreme, however, to claim it began in 1965, as tens of thousands of Vietnamese were already dead at US hands by that point. Better to trace the origins to 1945 when the United States refused to recognize the new government established by Vietnamese independence forces. Japan had invaded Vietnam some years earlier and the French colonialists  ran away and ceded the country to the Japanese.

That left it to the Vietnamese to do all the heavy lifting and they performed as heroically during the Second World War as any people anywhere. When in 1945 the French colonialists finished sipping cognac in Paris and decided to re-invade Vietnam, the US backed them to the hilt with weapons, financing and diplomatic cover. The Vietnamese, not surprisingly, were not so enthusiastic and resisted just as they had resisted other occupiers for centuries.

            As the French inflicted horrific violence in their failed attempt at re-conquest, the US bore more and more of the war's burden until, in 1954, the Vietnamese had again seemingly achieved independence. It was not to be, though, as the US destroyed that possibility by undermining elections that Washington knew Ho Chi Minh would win in a landslide. As in dozens of other cases over the past 100+ years, the US opposed democracy in favor of aggression. Elections are all well and good but only if the right people win; if the wrong people win, then out come the machine guns.

            So the US flew Ngo Dinh Diem in from New Jersey and installed him as dictator. Eventually the Kennedy administration found Diem too unreliable and had him whacked, a mere three weeks before Kennedy himself was similarly assassinated. This was not, however, before Kennedy began ongoing saturation bombing of South Vietnam, ordered the use of napalm and other chemical weapons of mass destruction, introduced ground troops and organized strategic hamlets. Such a great phrase, strategic hamlets; kinda like calling Auschwitz a country getaway.

            Lyndon Johnson's fabrication of the Gulf of Tonkin incident in August 1964 was another turning point. Within six months, the Peace Candidate who had startled the world with a campaign ad attacking Barry Goldwater as a warmonger (5…4…3…2…1) extended the invasion  and the bombing to the whole of Vietnam. So it remained until the Super Rich grew antsy about the financial costs of the war, the US's growing international embarrassment, unprecedented domestic upheaval, and the stark realization that there was no way the Vietnamese could lose militarily. I recall reading years ago something a Vietnamese elder who had probably seen as much death and destruction as anyone who ever lived said (I'm paraphrasing): We can settle this now or we can settle it a thousand years from now. It's up to the Americans.                 

It's impossible to calculate with precision the Vietnamese death toll. Whatever Vietnam has said has been dismissed by the powerful here as anti-American propaganda and US elites have never bothered with a reckoning. Their attitude was captured perfectly by a general speaking of a more recent conflagration: "We don't do body counts." Not, anyway, when the dead bodies are victims of US violence. 

Three million Vietnamese deaths is a popular figure but undoubtedly far too low. Also completely ignored here is the Vietnamese experience of Agent Orange and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, for example. Take the terrible suffering of US soldiers and multiply their numbers ten thousand fold or more and we get a sense of the damage to the Vietnamese. Additionally, Vietnam and the rest of Indochina (it's often conveniently forgotten that the US also waged war against Laos and Cambodia) are full of unexploded ordinances that regularly cause death and injuries, to this day. There's also the starvation deaths of hundreds of thousands throughout Indochina immediately after the war. A countryside ravaged by bombing, combined with the curtailment of airlifts, doomed those hundreds of thousands once the US imposed an ironclad embargo. That's an unpleasant truth, though; so much easier to blame everything on the Vietnamese Communists and the despotic Khmer Rouge.

Discussions of Vietnam are hardly academic exercises; the US is on a global rampage and falsifying history has paved the way to the US-caused deaths of three million Iraqis since the first invasion in 1991, to cite just one of many recent examples. We remain in the grips of people who worship wealth and are in love with death so any truth and reckoning about Vietnam and the role we play in the world will have to come from us.

 

Andy Piascik is a long-time activist and award-winning author who writes for Z, Counterpunch  and many other publications and websites. He can be reached at andypiascik@yahoo.com.

--

--
Ta.
 
 
Mark Rauterkus       Mark.Rauterkus@gmail.com    
PPS Summer Dreamers' Swim and Water Polo Camp Head Coach

Varsity Boys Swim Coach, Pittsburgh Obama Academy

Head Water Polo Coach, Carnegie Mellon University Women's Club Team
Pittsburgh Combined Water Polo Team

http://Rauterkus.blogspot.com
http://FixPA.wikia.com
http://CLOH.wikia.com
412 298 3432 = cell

Fwd: Lecture: "Practicing Mindfulness for Health, Wellbeing and Habit Change"

Lecture: "Practicing Mindfulness for Health, Wellbeing and Habit Change" 

By:  Richard King, Ph.D.

When:   Noon to 1pm, Tuesday February 12th

Where:  Dowd Room, 2nd Floor of the Cohon University Center, CMU

"Mindfulness for Health, Wellbeing and Habit Change" 

Mindfulness is typically applied for stress reduction, health, and behavior change. This presentation weaves together an overview of what mindfulness training is, does, and how to do 5 mindfulness exercises. Mindfulness practice benefits health, wellbeing and cognitive control.   Mindfulness practice is increasingly relevant for balancing our busy lives as the pace of popular culture advances.  This talk will highlight the basis for some of the benefits and applications, as well as the promise mindfulness training may hold for epidemiological impacts on health, mental health, and promotion of healthy communities.   Those interested in practicing mindfulness will have a sense of what a personal mindfulness practice may look like as well as a set of 5 ways for beginning mindfulness training.  A small portion of the talk will address mindfulness for peak performance training which is sometimes associated with elite athletes such as Olympians and Navy SEALs.  Some benefits of mindfulness training are often not appreciated at the front end.  These include increased self awareness, enhanced attentional stability and opportunities for improved quality of relationships.

--

--
Ta.
 
 
Mark Rauterkus       Mark.Rauterkus@gmail.com    
PPS Summer Dreamers' Swim and Water Polo Camp Head Coach

Varsity Boys Swim Coach, Pittsburgh Obama Academy

Head Water Polo Coach, Carnegie Mellon University Women's Club Team
Pittsburgh Combined Water Polo Team

http://Rauterkus.blogspot.com
http://FixPA.wikia.com
http://CLOH.wikia.com
412 298 3432 = cell

Fwd: Event Announcement: Community Forum on Air Pollution in the City, February 11, 2015

Upcoming event information:
Community Forum on Air Pollution in the City First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh

Community Forum on Air Pollution in the City 

I wanted to let you know that we're going to be hosting an event that members of the Consensus Group might be interested in attending to learn more about the air pollution issue from the experts. We're hosting a community forum that will include a research professor from CMU presenting maps of how bad the pollution in the area is down to the neighborhood level and an asthma specialist from Allegheny General Hospital to talk more about the local health impacts of that  pollution. That forum will be on: 

Wednesday Feb. 11th @ 7pm 

First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh in

 Shadyside (605 Morewood Ave).

Please come out learn more about air pollution in the city and how we can work to fix it.

Here is the link for our online RSVP page: http://bit.ly/1x79R48

Stephen Riccardi

W. PA Field Associate

PennEnvironment

More information: Community Forum on Air Pollution in the City

Anti Vaccinations

Nice tutorial.

Launching The GovLab Academy Coaching Programs

On the web from:
bit.ly/*govlabcoaching*

From: The Govlab Academy
Date: Tue, Feb 3, 2015 at 4:54 PM
Subject: Launching The GovLab Academy Coaching Programs
To: Steven



Thanks to the generous support of the Knight
Foundation
,
this term the Governance Lab Academy – a training program designed to
promote civic engagement and innovation – is launching a series of coaching
programs.

Geared to the teams and individuals inside and outside of government
planning to undertake a new project or trying to figure out how to make an
existing project even more effective and scalable, these programs are
designed to help participants working in civic engagement and innovation
develop effective projects from idea to implementation.

Convened by leading experts in their fields, coaching programs meet
exclusively online once a week for four weeks or every other week for eight
weeks. They include frequent and constructive feedback, customized and
original learning materials, peer-to-peer support, mentoring by topic
experts and individualized coaching from those with policy, technology, and
domain expertise.

There is no charge to participants but each program is limited to 8-10
project teams or individuals.

You can see the current state of programs below and check out the web site

for
more information and to sign up.

-

Citizen Science on the Web
,
convened by Francois Grey

(Citizen Cyberscience Centre, Geneva). Program begins the week of February
16, 2015.
-

Civic Tech for Local Legislatures and Legislators
,
co-convened by Benjamin Kallos

(New York City Council Member and Chair of the Committee on Governmental
Operations of the New York City Council) and Arnaud Sahuguet

(Chief Technology Officer of The GovLab). Program begins the week of March
2, 2015.
-

Freedom of Information and FOIA Project Coaching: Breaking Down the
Walls and Opening Up Communications
,
convened by Miriam Nisbet

(Former Director of the Office of Government Information Services). Program
begins the week of March 2, 2015.
-

Citizen Engagement Projects
,
co- convened by Beth Noveck

(Founder of The GovLab) and Tiago Peixoto

(Open Government Specialist at The World Bank). Program begins the week of
March 2, 2015.
-

Tech Procurement Projects: Making the Supply Chain Work
,
convened by Clay Johnson

(CEO of The Department for Better Technology and Former Presidential
Innovation Fellow). Program begins the week of March 16, 2015.
-

Leveraging Crowds in the Public Sector
,
convened by Karim Lakhani

(Lumry Family Associate Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard
Business School). Program begins the week of March 23, 2015.
-

Open Source Technology Practices For Civic Engagement Projects
,
convened by Brian Behlendorf

(Managing Director at Mithril Capital Management and Co-Founder Apache).
Program begins the week of April 6, 2015.
-

Humanitarian Innovation Project Collaborative
,
co-convened by Brian Forde

(Senior Former Advisor to the U.S. CTO, White House Office of Science
Technology and Policy) and Alexandra Clare

(Founder of Iraq Re:Coded). Program begins the week of April 6, 2015.
-

Lab Design: Bringing Agility and Empiricism to Public Problems
,
co-convened by Geoff Mulgan

(Chief Executive of NESTA), and Joeri van den Steenhoven

(Co-Founder and Chief Research and Development Officer of MaRS Solutions
Lab). Program begins the week of April 6, 2015.
-

Open Data Data-Driven Decisions for All
,
co-convened by Arnaud Sahuguet

(Chief Technology Officer of The GovLab) and Stefaan Verhulst

(Co-founder and Chief Research and Development Officer of The GovLab).
Program begins the week of April 6, 2015.


*Our mailing address is:*
The GovLab
295 Lafayette St
New York, NY 10012

Fwd: If you listen to only one talk of mine this year, let it be this one

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Tom Woods" <woods@mises.org>

February 3, 2015 View this email in your browser LATEST NEWS If You Listen to Only One Thing From Me This Year, Let It Be This The Mises Institute held a special event on secession in late January. Ron Paul, Lew Rockwell, and I, among others, were slated to speak. Here's where things get interesting. A Washington Post reporter was in attendance. We all knew the angle: tsk, tsk, Ron Paul! Your son is trying to be respectable, and here you are with awful people saying forbidden things about secession. So I pretty much directed my own speech entirely at this reporter. I think my remarks take on a whole new dimension when you realize that the hatchet man is sitting right there, forced to listen to me for half an hour. I have a feeling you'll enjoy this. And if you do, please share it! Secession: The Reasonable Option Everyone Resists | Tom Woods 225 ratings 4,798 views Here's How to Get My Free eBook, in EPUB, PDF, and Kindle! Remember, my free eBook 14 Hard Questions for Libertarians -- Answered is now available. I think there was a problem for Android devices last time with the Kindle link, so here's what I'll do: click here to go to a page on my site where you can find the Kindle, PDF, and now EPUB versions. Enjoy! Great Opportunity for Students Be a summer fellow at the Mises Institute! If you're a graduate student doing work in the Austrian tradition, this is a wonderful opportunity to be mentored by great economists, to have access to an outstanding library, and to get helpful feedback on your work from your peers. When I was a resident scholar at the Mises Institute (2006-2010), I looked forward every year to the new batch of summer fellows. It's a fantastic experience. Click here to find out more. I'm Coming Back to Houston Bob Murphy and I are doing an event with Liberty on the Rocks Houston on February 18, starting at 6pm. Bob and I will speak, and then (what else?) it's karaoke. It's taking place at Hefley's Bar and Grill, 138 W. Gray Street. See you there! And do RSVP on the Facebook event page. February 18, 2015 Liberty on the Rocks Houston Houston, TX April 9, 2015 American University Washington, DC April 25, 2015 Event in the works! Montreal, Canada May 22, 2015 Event in the works! Dublin, Ireland The Peacekeeper App: Protect Your Home and Community Cody Drummond's free Peacekeeper App decentralizes the process of emergency services, and gives families and communities more control over their own lives. Iran War Threatened Again? Looks like the neocons are trying to drum up support for war with Iran again. Scott McConnell of The American Conservative restores some sanity to the discussion. Peter Schiff on Investing, and What to Expect in 2015 Peter Schiff returns to the Tom Woods Show to answer listener questions about investing, the economy, and what 2015 holds for all of us. Nullify! The Agenda for 2015 With about 200 bills involving some form of state-level resistance to the federal government bending before legislatures around the country, Michael Boldin joins us for an overview of what's about to unfold. Don't miss it! Are Corporations Un-Libertarian? Are corporations creatures of the state, or would they have emerged on the market? Stephan Kinsella joins me to settle this controversy among libertarians. The Real North Korea Interview North Korea is a living example of the totalitarian phenomenon. We get an inside look with Michael Malice, plus the surprising weakness that could bring down the regime. If you haven't already, please subscribe to the Tom Woods Show on iTunes or Stitcher so you don't miss an episode. I release a new episode every weekday! Thanks for reading,