Ron Paul: Libertarian Apostle - Is Pittsburgh native Ron Paul the champion that libertarians have been seeking?

Big article in Pittsburgh City Paper quotes me, Mark Rauterkus, about Ron Paul for President.

Ron Paul: Libertarian Apostle - Is Pittsburgh native Ron Paul the champion that libertarians have been seeking? Or just an Internet flash-in-the-pan - Main Feature - Main Feature - Pittsburgh City Paper - Pittsburgh

'He's definitely the best candidate out there right now for this country,' says Mark Rauterkus of the South Side, a vice chair of the local Libertarian Party and a fixture on local ballots. 'I think he's a libertarian through and through, and I am certainly supporting him.'

Of course others are quoted in the article too, including our F-bomb dropping neighbor and fellow blogger, M.L.

The article is long and it isn't all positive. Furthermore, there are few points that I'd want to touch up. Generally in an article of that length, it would open plenty of areas where more clarification would be justified. But in this article, I want to begin by being complimentary to the writer, Charlie D.

For starters, my quote is fine. Hey, I'm a fixture! There might be a future in that fixture statement. How about: Rauterkus, a fixture for freedom. Or, Fix our Future and vote for Rauterkus, the fixture for controller. Perhaps, Rauterkus, the fixture with a grip.

Bumper stickers and button slogans welcome. (Fixture, future, framework, fitness, flow, freedom, flush, ...)

From signs

The worst statement in the article is at the top. The article say: He (Ron Paul) opposes the government enforcing any law, or offering any service, that is not explicitly prescribed in the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. One world is missing. Insert FEDERAL before GOVERNMENT.

When I talked to the reporter and gave the interview we covered this topic. Ron Paul has a much more limited view of what the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT should do than other politicians. The FEDS need to do certain things. The STATE of PA needs to do other things. County government and city (municipal) government needs to do certain things too. Each layer of government has its PURPOSE. Purpose is very important to the overall health of the system and it makes a huge call to process.

Too often those in power now try to blur the divisions among the various levels of government. Local concerns need to stay local. National concerns should be managed at the federal level. State's rights issues directed to a candidate for US President are out of bounds and need to be dealt with accordingly.

Sure, there is some overlap. Sure, I want to be open and honest. But, we need to have discipline in what we expect and demand from government and the people we elect in these political roles.

Federal money should not be paying for a tunnel under the Allegheny River for light rail expansion to the new stadiums. This is just one example of how the region and nation has its wires all crossed these days. We have certain groups of people and other piles of money doing different things -- and it is all done so as to avoid accountability. The confusion is often done by design to help the status quo. We are talking about FUD 101 (FUD = fear, uncertainty, doubt).

The FEDERAL Money comes to PAT (Port Authority Transit) for a capital project so local people can't object, yet they pushed for it, and are able to say falsehoods. City council, authority boards, overlords, county council, county executive -- yet alone voters, are all 'off the hook' and 'without accountability' for hundreds of millions of dollars that goes under the river (literally).

Ron Paul is not against finding lost children. He is against the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT doing it. Ron Paul is right. Ron Paul got some local money for the sheriff to beef up its missing children programs.

Ron Paul would say that government could and should enforcing law and offer services that are not prescribed in the U.S. Constitution if those activities happened at the state, county, and municipal levels.

I call myself a "COMMON SENSE LIBERTARIAN." Government has a role to play in our lives. Really, governments have various roles in our lives as we need to keep distinctions among the various levels of government.

Pittsburgh's political landscape is in terrible conditions because many people in high places are clueless as to how the different branches of government and the different levels of government should behave.

City issues need to be handled by the city -- not with state bailouts nor state appointed overlords. Mission creep is killing our public process and our public lives have become a heavy burden and anchor that pulls down our private and economic lives as well.

From RonPaul

More from the article.

Nit picks: Ron Paul is a Republican. He is also libertarian and constitutional. Not "OR" -- but "and."

What a guy did when he was five is not as important as what he did last week. But, I guess this article needs to be written in Pittsburgh as he was here when he was five. But the milk man chatter and image of him in a white hat serves little use.

Furthermore, what was published on the internet in hate-filled sites serves little use as well. Furthermore, Paul's newsletters published decades ago -- and taken out of context -- is hard to battle.

From RonPaul

Quote: Paul is delivering a radical, energizing political message to the masses. I don't think Ron Paul is 'radical.' He is more like 'milk.' Meanwhile the others who want to run for president are the pop, fizz, bubbles and JOLT. Many of the others seeking to be president are drunk on power.

Quote: running ... as an Internet insurgent.
Insurgent! Ron Paul is a ten term US Congressman. He is a veteran -- with a "stint" of six years.

Quote: ... ... the ideas he touts, some of which would barely be recognized by many of those living in his old hometown. Say what? The people of Green Tree are sure to recognize the idea of 'freedom' and 'liberty.' That makes little sense. People in Green Tree today might not recognize a person's face from the neighborhood -- as he moved away in college, some 50 years ago. But the people are sure to understand and recognize what the IRS does and how it could go away. The people are sure to embrace many of Ron Paul's ideas -- and the all will be able to recognize the issues.

Quote: Cyberspace has long provided a home to those whose beliefs fall out of the mainstream. For those looking for a candidate to call their own, the Ron Paul message came floating by and they grabbed it in droves.

Ron Paul's message didn't come floating by. The message has roots in the American Revolution and Constitution. What went "floating by" -- was that plane that crashed in Shanksville, PA. I worry when talk of liberty and freedom is not made to be mainstream -- but only found on some remote edge of culture cyberspace efforts. Gosh. Terrorist and terror isn't the things that should be turned into the 'mainstream.'

From RonPaul

Rt. 28 getting another on ramp

Great photo in the P-G, on the front page of its web site, shows the Sarah Heinz House, sorta. Looking at the photo of our city, I don't see a lot a space where people can live. I don't really see much of a way for people to cross those highways. Nor do I see a need to create more roads.

P-G Link of article.

I don't know what time that photo was taken, but it looks kinda nice without any cars on the road. Perhaps this was take at 2015, and I don't mean time of day. In the year 2015 our roads might be as empty as the photo shows at all times of the day.

I'd like to stress the creation of bike lanes.

I'd like to stress the use of existing railway lines and heavy rail as transport for people.

I'd like to see more people live in the city so they don't need the highways every day to get into and out of town.

No doubt, it is a bit of a pain for drivers to go from Rt. 28 to 579 and handle the various turns involved from one road to the other. But the pain involved with the loss of our city neighborhoods has been massive as well.

Furthermore, the bottle neck in the road network isn't at the end of Rt. 28, is it??? I think there are lots of other problems with Rt. 28. This is not the biggest issue in that commute.

Double Negative -- Luke and Dan -- and homeless with status quo

Effort to reduce homelessness behind schedule 'We have a concern that the resources that are coming in are not simply funding a status quo that doesn't work.

The resources that have come to the county are $60-million dollars in the past five years.

Neither Luke Ravenstahl nor Dan Onorato care about the poor. The poor are very bad campaign donors. The poor are not welcome in the cultural district either.

The poor are -- in the minds of Luke and Dan -- much like the Canadian Geese of North Park. The status quo plans are worthy as long as everybody ignores both the problem and the efforts to a solution. Keep em scattered so they don't dwell in any one location.

Penn Hills High School -- Class of 1977 -- missing classmates

We're working on our 30th reunion, slated for November 2007. I graduated with more than 1,200 classmates. We have found and sent an invitation to a vast majority of the classmates. But, if you click the posting's comments you'll find a list of those we can't quite locate.

Do you know of these folks? Can you help us locate them -- for the benefit of our class reunion?

Email me, Mark@Rauterkus.com, and I'll pass along the info.

Thanks.

The Angry Drunk Bureaucrat: Ravenstahl Announces Pending Announcement

From people & vips

The Angry Drunk Bureaucrat: Ravenstahl Announces Pending Announcement

My reply to his wonderful posting:

Luke is known to always be the one who will tell us what, when he feels like it, where ever, how ever, and why ever.

Got it?

Come on Matt H, back me up on this, wood you.

---

View video of Luke saying, ... well ... watch it yourself. (It is very short). Isn't that a ringing endorsement of Elect.Rauterkus.com and this blog?

This guy is about to make the news again, oh boy.

From people & vips

Go Russ Go.

A press event is slated for Thursday in Harrisburg.

What's cooking with this new high school proposal?

I don't know why they have to say space is limited. Call the meeting. If overflow space is needed, find it.

The Pittsburgh Science & Technology Secondary Learning Community: A Community Discussion

Tuesday, September 18, 2007, 5:30 to 8:30p.m

Reizenstein School, 129 Denniston Avenue, East Liberty

Learn about plans to open this new school, potentially with 6th – 9th graders in August of 2008. This is an opportunity to gather information about the innovative design and offer your feedback. Pittsburgh Public Schools will present the information and incorporate community feedback into the plans. Parents, students, and anyone interested in public education and high school reform are encouraged to attend.

Space is limited! Light dinner provided. Childcare is available for registrants with children ages 1 and up.

The deadline to register has been extended! To RSVP click HERE or call 412-258-2660.

Recent community meeting -- details pending posting to this blog

Oh, if these seats could talk.

Gregg Behr nicks Ronald Reagan, saying it is morning in Pgh. The story we tell -- it is time to morn

Pop City, flush after an fine wine and cheese party at the North Side's New Hazlet Theater two nights ago, is talking whine and cheese like few others.

Pop City - Gregg Behr: The Stories We Tell OurselvesRemember when President Reagan declared it to be morning in America? Well, it's morning in Pittsburgh.

Gregg is a well heeled foundation type.

I morn for a few reasons.

America's political system depends upon debate and competition. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh's mayor has no time for debate. He fills his schedule with quickies in the community that is hardly an opening statement and uses the chief of police, director of parks, staffers and public works supervisors as pawns.

The mayor, like the boss of the political party of the Dems, have a lot of work to do. It is morning alright. They need to wake up. They need to do the right things at the right time.

We are just a month before election day and I want 30 debates, not three -- or NONE.

Morning in the city could come in January 2008 after Luke Ravenstahl departs Grant Street.

Morning could come after Pittsburgh's voters elect people from outside the Democratic party for Mayor, Controller, and with three different districts in city council.

Pittsburgh is hell with the lid off -- because we have a lot of smoke. We have people who want to be cloaked by smoke. We have people who want to breeze in and sail out of meetings without accountability and go forward, depending upon the way the wind blows.

The myth lives on because the political players of this town are not trustworthy.

It is demoralizing to have NO DEBATES. Ours is a placed marked by economic downtrun, dislocation and discouragement because our political landscape carries the same traits. The political elite want it that way. By design, they aim to fool and sustain their folly.

From people & vips

Pittsburgh is roboburgh as too many of the voters act like robots and only pull the party line. Pittsburgh is "green" in its buildings and bricks and hardware -- but not software nor politics nor actions against corporate welfare, a central green party plank. Pittsburgh's knowledge town works if you look at the ivory tower, the flood of studies and analysis, and the sterile operating rooms. Too bad they can't perform some type of magical organ transplants for our culture of community engagement.

Pittsburgh citizens lack the knowledge of where our city stands in terms of its finances. The people are not told. The tools for self monitoring are absent. The story is not being told because those in power want to inject self-doubt to everyday citizens -- keeping the power and upper hand for themselves.

The stories that we tell ourselves do frame who we are and where we are going. Sadly, guys like Michael Lamb and Bruce Kraus want to be controller and on council, yet they do NOT want to say anything or do anything. So, we are not going to go anywhere. They want to get the job. They want to coast. They want to have dislocation.

I don't think all of us need to be those 'great communicators.' But, the leaders need to be that way in times of crisis.

PhoneyFred.org site hits Thompson campaign and comes from realm of Mitt Romney.

Thompson aide: Romney will 'do anything, say anything, flip-flop on any position' to win - On Politics - USATODAY.com The statement from Todd Harris, communications director for Fred Thompson, accuses Mitt Romney's campaign of a 'half-baked cover-up' of what he alleges is the association between a Romney consultant and a hastily pulled website that said nasty things about Thompson.

Harris concluded with the kind of rhetoric that tends to warm Democratic hearts: 'This latest episode only serves to prove what many voters are already figuring out: Mitt Romney will do anything, say anything, smear any opponent and flip flop on any position in order to win. The American people in general and the Republican Party in particular deserve better than this.'

Bang, bang.

Have you opened any new web sites?

Surrender Should not be an Option

Surrender Should not be an Option ... We have achieved the goals specified in the initial authorization.

Another shell game - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

This is what a lie looks like. This is what a liar does. Meet Dan Onorato, the guy who said no local tax money would go for the new arena.

Another shell game - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Pennsylvania's taxpayers already have spent millions on the new Penguins arena despite assurances they would be held harmless.

'Loans' of $19.7 million for site preparation from a state capital fund have morphed into grants. Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato have said no local tax money would be devoted to the project.

But speaking in such highly technical terms belies the fact that all Pennsylvania taxpayers -- of which 'local' taxpayers are a significant subset -- are helping to pay for the hockey arena.

Money to buy the land under the Civic Arena, land that is owned by the public, is going to be purchased back from Penguins in 10 years. So, $15-million needs to be put aside now. \

Large sums of money is being put in reserve today to purchase land in the future to the benefit of the Penguins ownership. The team ownership would have a new areana and would have fumbled on the development of the area around the new digs.

Go figure.

Any way you size it up -- Onorato lied.

Half the money is from the city. The other half is from the county. In total, all of it, $15-million, is from city residents as we live in both the city and the county.

I don't want the public authority to buy back land that is already owned by the public.

Furthermore, I want the new arena to be owned by the Penguins. That's going to be public land too.

This is a deal that is as bent as a hockey stick.

By the way, we'll get a free skate in two sessions at the Civic Arena for RAD Days. Oh my gosh. How wonderful. See the Google Calendar along the side of this blog for September 25.

Meanwhile, the only other indoor ice rink, on the South Side, is still closed. And, there is little hope of it opening as the city rejected all the proposals that arrived in May 2007.

They are putting away $15-million for the Penguins and can't release the land where another hockey rink sits, that can be used by city and county residents. We don't need $300,000. Nope. We need the city to grant permission for a developer to make that opportunity real.

Rumble: Hampton & Deer Lakes bad boys

What's up with that?

KDKA radio news is making sure everyone knows that this was NOT a school sanctioned event. A few went to the hospital.

City Council OKs TIF for Bakery Square

No TIFs.

City Council OKs TIF for Bakery Square City Council OKs TIF for Bakery Square Wednesday, September 12, 2007 Last night, City Council approved $10 million in tax increment financing for Bakery Square in Larimer.

The financing plan for the Walnut Capital Inc. development at the site of the former Nabisco plant at Penn Avenue and East Liberty Boulevard was proposed by the Pittsburgh Urban Redevelopment Authority and is still awaiting action by the city and the Pittsburgh school board.

Half of the money will help with the cost of the garage. The other half will help pay for the traffic lights and construction costs of turning Penn Circle into a two-way roadway all around the circle.

This was a "County Council" matter, not as reported, by City Council.

There was a County Council meeting last night at 5 pm. And, the meeting was NOT on the internet, as it should have been.

Regulation, Free Trade and Mexican Trucks

Regulation, Free Trade and Mexican Trucks ... Within the next few days our borders will be opened to the Mexican trucking industry in an unprecedented way. A 'pilot' program is starting which will allow trucks from Mexico to haul goods beyond the 25 mile buffer zone to any point in the United States . Officials claim this is being done with utmost oversight, but Americans still have their legitimate concerns. Rather than securing our borders, we seem to be providing more pores for illegal aliens, drug dealers, and terrorists to permeate. ...

Happy New Year!

Enjoy!

Let's blend cultures with this post, as it seems to be the year to bash China.

From hex

One bomb away from losing rights by Robyn Blumner

From ads - political

Source: http://tampabay.com/

Published September 9, 2007

For months, Democrats in Congress had resisted White House demands that they pass a bill to approve warrantless domestic wiretapping. Democratic leaders were willing to make small technical fixes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, but not give the president a swath of new, unchecked powers to eavesdrop on Americans.

Then a funny thing happened. Just before Congress took its August recess, President Bush and Republican leaders in Congress started suggesting that an al-Qaida attack was imminent in the nation's capital.

Bush told the nation in his weekly radio address on July 28 that "America is in a heightened threat environment," and "our national security depends on" passage of his version of the wiretap bill.

At about the same time, Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott, R-Miss., shared that he had been warned that "disaster could be on our doorstep." He said people should leave Washington until Sept. 12 to be safe.

The Democrats, nervous that any domestic attack would be blamed on their failure to let the president ignore the Constitution, predictably caved. At least temporarily, they handed Bush the power to intercept Americans' international communications without court oversight, swatting away the explicit protections of the Fourth Amendment like an annoying gnat.

Then, with mission accomplished, the imminent threat disappeared. We didn't hear another thing about it.

Accusing opponents of inviting the next attack on American soil if they don't acquiesce is one of the administration's favorite tactics. That is how it passed the USA Patriot Act and later its reauthorization, as well as the disgraceful Military Commissions Act of 2006. It is also how the administration beats down those on its own team who deign to raise civil liberties concerns.

A fascinating piece in today's New York Times Magazine features extended interviews with Harvard law professor Jack Goldsmith, a conservative lawyer who for nine months headed the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. In vivid detail, Goldsmith describes how the administration used the specter of terrorism as a means to expand the power of the presidency.

This was especially true, according to Goldsmith, of Dick Cheney's top aide, David Addington, who once told Goldsmith that if the OLC ruled against an administration policy, "the blood of the hundred thousand people who die in the next attack will be on your hands."

Addington seemed to relish the coming of another big one and what powers loyal Bushies could arrogate in the aftermath. Goldsmith recalls him saying: "We're one bomb away from getting rid of that obnoxious (FISA) court."

In other words, after one more terrorist attack, the administration could get Congress to wipe away any kind of warrant requirement for domestic spying.

These fly-on-the-wall insights are contained in Goldsmith's soon-to-be-released book, The Terror Presidency. He is donating the profits to charity, Goldsmith told the New York Times, so no one will think that he is doing this for the money.

Goldsmith came on board at the OLC in October 2003 as a true believer in broad executive power and the need for exigencies in the face of dire threats, he told the New York Times. But he couldn't countenance the many constitutional excesses of the White House, particularly its open contempt for the other branches of government.

Goldsmith said he regularly clashed with White House insiders, Addington especially, who was always the "biggest presence in the room" and Cheney's proxy.

Goldsmith said he infuriated Addington by determining that the Fourth Geneva Convention applied to all Iraqi civilians, including terrorists and insurgents. The administration was used to picking and choosing to whom the Conventions applied.

And Addington was again enraged, Goldsmith said, when the OLC head withdrew two legal opinions that came to be known as the torture memos. One had been used to give the CIA legal cover to engage in abusive prisoner interrogations.

Goldsmith - flashing his right-wing stripes - expressed in the New York Times interviews lingering regard for some of his former colleagues. But with the same breath he explained how they demonstrated an almost pathological disregard for the law.

In his book, according to the New York Times, Goldsmith wrote that they did to FISA what they did to other objectionable laws: "They blew through them in secret based on flimsy legal opinions that they guarded closely so no one could question the legal basis for the operations."

Team Bush and its "one bomb away" agenda would use the next attack to finish the job of consolidating the nation's power in one man. And since Congress is demonstrably cowed into submission by the mere prospect of the next bomb, imagine how it will fold when the next one actually falls.

The resiliency of our constitutional system is only as strong as the will of the leaders we have defending it. Which is to say, not very - not very, at all.

St. Petersburg Times

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Mike Ference 412.648.1066

mference@katz.pitt.edu

IEE seeking innovative, incisive entrepreneurs for 2008 Entrepreneurial Fellows Center Class

Pittsburgh, PA – September 14, 2007 – The University of Pittsburgh Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence (IEE) at the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business is looking for a few good entrepreneurs. Now recruiting for the Entrepreneurial Fellows Center Class of 2008, the organization is calling all leaders of high-growth businesses interested in unmatched educational seminars, mentoring and networking opportunities.

“High-growth entrepreneurs need immediate and practical suggestions for dealing with organizational growth, complexity, transitions and performance so that they can meet increased demand and successfully compete on a larger scale,” said Ann Dugan, assistant dean and IEE executive director. “Our program offers a unique balance of the many different things an entrepreneur needs to succeed.”

The course consists of a comprehensive, 10-month Katz certificate program that includes monthly presentations by Pitt’s Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business faculty and respected business leaders, one-on-one mentoring with an experienced entrepreneur, and access to an interactive, private online service offering an exclusive forum for students, mentors and Katz faculty to share ideas. After graduation, alumni continue learning with Alumni Association programs and discounts on future Katz educational programs.

“Our students have put their learning to work and as a result have outperformed their industry counterparts,” Dugan said. “According to a recent survey of alumni, participating businesses have seen tremendous growth since becoming involved in the program, including a 69 percent increase in assets, a 56 percent increase in annual sales, a 31 percent increase in number of employees, and a 32 percent increase in average wages per month. These are the tangible results of the Entrepreneurial Fellows Center program.”

Alumni of the program are today’s dynamic leaders, successfully navigating the challenges of a complex entrepreneurial environment. All business leaders interested in applying for the Entrepreneurial Fellows Center Class of 2008, which will run from January through December 2008, can learn more by contacting Mike Ference at 412.648.1066 or mference@katz.pitt.edu.

######

The Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence (IEE) at the University of Pittsburgh’s Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business helps businesses grow and prosper in all stages of their lifecycle. From conceiving an idea to creating a legacy for future generations, the IEE provides education, advice, and innovative services to entrepreneurs through FirstLink, PantherlabWorks, Small Business Development Center, Entrepreneurial Fellows Center, and Family Enterprise Center.

Our mission is to be the innovative leader of economic renewal and growth serving enterprising people and businesses in the Region.

www.pittentrepreneur.com

David Adams speaks again

Click To Play

Video from today's city council meeting.

Are they going to turn this into a drive in instead?

Waterworks Cinemas to close after tonight's shows: The Waterworks Cinemas will close at the end of business tonight. The 10-screen complex on Freeport Road behind the Waterworks Mall opened in 1990.