Ohligarchy: Hooma Gunna Vote Fer?

Suburban endorsement for a write-in vote. Okay.

Ohligarchy: Hooma Gunna Vote Fer? Saddam Hussein, in his last election before being deposed, won 100% of the vote. That should never happen in America, not even at the lowest level. Democrat Dan Onorato will coast to victory, which means that I have about eight hours to think of a name to write in. Perhaps Mark Rauterkus? Yeah, that's the ticket.

Doing the unthinkable -- Some South Siders go to out and vote twice

They get to vote twice, for me, legally.

I'll vote twice for me too.

This way I'm not quite the lone wolf that I used to be.

Plus, there are other buddies too. One, an ex-paratrooper, Tony Oliva, Libertarian, a former D1 (NCAA Division I) footballer. And the other candidate buddies both named Dave . Think David and Goliath. One Dave is an ex-marine and the other Dave is a 911 operator. So, I'm in good company. The third Dave, David Tessitor, is at-large and all over the map, generally. Standing next to him makes me look focused.

Let's vote. Let's keep democracy alive. Let's elect people who understand the constitution while possessing a long view so that the kids here have hope for our shared political landscape for the years to come. And there is very little hope when little ones play around in the dirt that reeks of lead poison while others in power just hunker down -- too busy to notify anyone and communicate.

Kraus, Lamb, Harris did little in this campaign. They were hunkered down. I have great faith that they'll do the same in office. Meanwhile, the kids are weaker. The future is more bleak.

Hats off to Luke Ravenstahl for coming out to debate, some. Too bad Luke is responsible for doing nothing else and lack of notifications on the dangerous playground conditions for months. Luke came out to debate, and he survived. Lucky for him.

Dave for Council in District 1 -- email on election day

Well, another election has come & gone, and the outcome is now in the hands of the voters. And while our district & the city face enormous challenges & important choices ahead, one thing our team can pride itself in is having run a clean campaign & having worked diligently in getting our message of change out to voters. Though it was somewhat challenging at times, we were met with immense interest & favorable reception when meeting directly with voters. The consensus is clear. People are now ready to move forward, & they want to hear about the ideas that will improve Pittsburgh in the long run.

As this campaign comes to a close, I would just like to take an opportunity to personally thank the great many of you who have helped over the past 12 months. Along with longing for better leadership, many of you took precious time out of your personal lives to help in this campaign, and we would not have been able to make as many great in-roads across this great district had it not been for all your help. No matter what happens tomorrow, we made our mark and laid the roots which will allow voters to choose a new & progressive course when they are ready. Thank you again for all your help, and more importantly, thank you for the opportunity to have worked so closely with many of you. Great friendships were forged, new relationships established, and it has been quite an honor.

In closing, allow me to also take this opportunity to invite you to join us as we watch the results come in at our post-election night party. The polls open at 7am, and close at 8pm, and we will be meeting afterwards at Max’s Allegheny Tavern on the lower North Side, located at 537 Suismon Street (located on the corner of Middle Street, 1 block west of East Street). If you can’t make it, we will understand. However, whatever you do, please remember to vote. As we have seen in recent years in races at all levels, every vote does count and can make all the difference.

Greatest respects & God Bless,

Dave Schuilenburg

(phone # moved to comments)

about Freedom, Prosperity and Peace

Michael Lamb for Controller blog got updated on May 10.

Michael Lamb for Controller Endorsements!!! May 10th, 2007

Check out the button!

The best prediction yet

Google Calendar Tuesday - Mostly cloudy with a chance of rain and snow showers. Highs in the lower 40s. West winds 15 to 20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph. Chance of precipitation 40 percent.

We're talking Steeler weather for election day after a Monday Night Football game.

Perhaps hell will begin to freeze over starting on Wednesday morning.

Secure those campaign signs, else we'll have a lot of urban tumbleweed and floppy litter on a stick.

The American Entrepreneur - Newsletter Articles - Pittsburgh's Last�Chance?

A long rant from Ron Morris about the election features a call to vote for Mark DeSantis.

The American Entrepreneur - Newsletter Articles - Pittsburgh's Last�Chance?: "This election is our one and only chance to make this all happen."

Sitting ducks: An inactive Pittsburgh is looking for trouble

Sitting ducks: An inactive Pittsburgh is looking for trouble: Living well is the best revenge.

Debate for city council, district 9: David C. Adams vs. Ricky Burgess

First 20+ minutes of the debate.

Click To Play

Bio from David C. Adams from the League of Women Voters online guide

David C Adams, 49, Pittsburgh, Ward 13

http://TheNeighborhoodAwarenessProgram.org

Education: B.S., Villanova University, 1980;
M. A., Princeton University, 1982;
University of Pittsburgh, 2005-present: Public Administration;
Giant Eagle, 2003-2005: Accelerated Management Training Program;
California University of Pennsylvania, 1985-1987: Speech Communications;
U.S.M.C., U.S.N., U.S.A.R., 1976-1985

Occupation: University of Pittsburgh, Facilities Management;
President, Conscience Newsletter, and The Conscience Group

Qualifications: Leadership Experience; Creator of Comprehensive Citywide Crime Prevention Program

Answer: 1. Alternative Funding: I would utilize the many resources of this city, and our geography to open marketing opportunities which would be exclusively directed to fund, and impact the city’s bottom line. The beauty of this idea, is the fact that corporations, small and large business, organizations, and sporting entities would help the city, as they market their products, goods or services. I believe this opportunity would also generate new business to the city. The marketing opportunities would be developed to ensure every business owner in Pittsburgh could join this opportunity, with price scales to fit every budget of business, including a payment plan.

2. Public Safety: Fire, Police, Ambulance, Emergency Services etc.

Visiting with Panther Rants and their Tailgate was a blast

Thanks everyone. I had a great time.

Panther Rants We'd also like to announce a formal eternal tailgating invitation to area Pittsburgh politician Mark Rauterkus who remained true to his word and came to the tailgate fully armed with some of his buttons and DVDs, not to mention doughnuts, bear claws and a bag of popcorn that could fill the trunk of a 1974 Cadillac. Mark was also as much fun to talk with and have around and his time and effort were rewarded with a Panther Rants limited edition collectors t-shirt. Unfortunately, none of Mark's new tailgating buddies actually live in his district, making his experience a complete waste of time, energy, and about $20 ($17 if he used his Giant Eagle Advantage card). We hope, however, that he doesn't view it as such and becomes a regular. The more the merrier.

Photos soon.

Video of Debate: Rauterkus vs. Lamb -- who can control and out-of-control, one-party town?

Click To Play

The audio from the debate between myself (Mark Rauterkus, Libertarian) and the career politician, Michael Lamb, (son of a PA Senator), is on my TalkShoe.com site. One version of the video (without subtitles) is on the web at Google Video. It is 29 minutes in length.

Playground in City reeks of lead. Poison puts brain on hold. City waits. Kids and Parents know nothing.

Our family to China three times. Once we were there while all the Recreation Centers within the City were closed. They were idle, by design. Closed for political reasons by the local Democratic Mayor. Thanks to the leadership of the Dems in Pgh, we've got more of the same to bark about.

This week Pittsburgh give itself another leg up on China, famous for its exports of cheap toys to the US that are covered with lead-based paint. Perhaps it this can be called a 'Lead Pipe Lock.'

The lack of action on these types of problems is typical. Plenty of problems concerning our kids and youth are begging for attention. Meanwhile, our city, this city, does NOTHING. That is what THEY always do. Nothing.

More talk and buzz about the parks has surfaces in recent times than ever before -- due to the killing of the geese in both North Park and Riverfront Park on the South Side. This is why we talk about parks -- dead geese. Neither the media nor the politicians are eager to engage and talk about parks. Dead geese -- not kids, not recreation, not coaching, not programming.

Now, lead-poison, toxic playground, additional inactions. Newspapers and city hall officials talk about the parks because the playground dirt is toxic. They knew about it for months. AND, they did NOTHING.

For the sake of the future and the kids -- I'd love your vote and endorsement for both city controller and city council, district 3.

I'm running against do-nothing politicians who won't rock the boat. They act like lead anchors and are sinks to sustained conversations about solutions for our region. I, at least, will scream foul! (pun intended)

Light at the end of the city's Dems? - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Light at the end of the city's Dems? - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review DeSantis, 48, a former aide to Sen. John Heinz, possesses the worldly (i.e., out-of-Pittsburgh) experience and valuable ideas that can reverse Pittsburgh's long, all-Democrat-engineered economic and civic decline.

So, the Trib vallues worldly experience.

Well, the Trib did endorse David Tessitor for Allegheny County Council At-Large. Nice.

Furthermore, for the city controller's race -- the Trib is indifferent. Printing "blindly" as a descriptive word from a Trib editor is ROTFL stuff. (Roll On The Floor Laughing)

Scroll to hear the phone messages

Clicking in this box should play the messages on your computer, without needing to leave this page. There is a drop-down box in the middle with various sound files.

Phone Calls Sound Like This

Some of my phone calls sound like this:

DeSantis' 88 Neighborhood Visits Hits Backyard

As I walked to pick up my gas-guzzlin’ SUV from the local, city mechanic (sorry to all of those who abhor the fact that I prefer to spend my hard-earned trinkets within the confines of America’s Most Livable City), I looked up to see a stereotypical Yunzer folding up a Mark DeSantis sign. In front of him, a nicely-dressed guy who was talking in docile tones. About 15 yards away, DeSantis himself.

Earlier in the day, I read a MySpace bulletin that included the 29th Ward in his campaign to hit all of Pittsburgh’s 88 neighborhoods in less than a week, so I knew he’d be in the area. Lo and behold, there he was. Here was my chance to say hello, tell him that I indeed tossed him a gold shilling or three, and admit that I would be voting for him, despite his promise to allow city workers the Golden Ticket jackpot to Washington and Butler Counties.

By the time I made it across the street, DeSantis and his cohort had ducked into a black car, across the street from a beer distributor, within a stone’s throw of former state Senator and Allegheny County Commissioner Mike Dawida’s humble abode. He eagerly re-emerged when it looked like someone was actually happy to say hello.

DeSantis and his campaign staffer jumped out and we had a discussion. I told him that the neighborhoods would suffer, and the elderly in particular would be feel less safe when their area cops would bolt in mass, away from the 70 years of Democrat regime that allowed them unprecedented perks and salaries. Stakeholders would disappear in record numbers in a buyer’s real estate market with very few buyers.

The “good neighbor” would quickly turn to an abandoned, or rented property overnight. Being a neighborhood presence is part of the job. It’s either a lifestyle or a job. If you’re a cop who doesn’t live in the community you serve, it’s just a paycheck. Nothing regal; just a job.

Anyhoo, DeSantis listened politely and his staffer asked if I thought the police would really leave. Absolutely, I retorted, mostly to far off lands with acres of lands, ponds and dirt roads. They certainly wouldn’t move 10 minutes away. Criminals there still go to the same movies.

After a nice chat in which I told him I had five signs in my yard (I miscounted: it’s six), we moved on, assured that his name would still be at the end of my touch-screen press on Tuesday.

A few minutes later near the shopping center and garage I frequent, DeSantis was going from bystander to bystander, door to door, introducing himself to everyone. From what I heard, the response was cold. Unfortunately, many of my neighbors are nearly brainwashed into thinking the way Luke Ravenstahl’s parents taught him: be afraid of Republicans, despite the fact that they believe in issues far closer to the average Pittsburgher than they easily admit.

But then again, the most fervent religious people I’ve ever known were union stalwarts through and through.

Let’s hope that Ravenstahl’s continued missteps and his boyish mistakes eventually wake up the great unwashed, but I’m not confident in their abilities to think about issues in a realistic way.

It’s been decades since any city politician really cared about neighborhoods like mine. The electorate has been lulled to sleep by public sector promises that generally help anyone other than giving lots of people the ability to pay their own city mortgages.

Vote Mark DeSantis on Tuesday. He’s not perfect, but with Bill Peduto perhaps out of the picture completely, he’s our only chance.

Pittsburgh’s Peerless Prodigal Son Of Politics Has Resurfaced

What an absolute treat to unfold Saturday’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and see the most unique “politician” ever in Pittsburgh, “sniffing” snacks of $2 bills he used to pay his entry fee into New Hampshire’s Democratic presidential primary.

Richard E. “Mad Dog” Caligiuri is the “Philosophical Outlaw,” the one-time, perennial Congressional candidate who oftentimes took on former Congressman Bill Coyne (the antithesis of thoughtful deliberation and verve). The quintessential Pittsburgh Libertarian, Caligiuri made his biggest splash in the mid 90’s when he posed nude, strategically positioned as “The Thinker,” on the back cover of one of Pittsburgh’s weekly liberal odes to all things unconventional.

“Mad Dog” had arrived. As the editor of an advertiser-supported every-other-weekly ode to all things Block Watch, Community News and feature-happy odes to all things small town, U.S.A., I was excited to meet him. We became fast friends, but alas, a family-member’s health was encompassing more and more of his time, so I knew that Caligiuri’s time in the “alternative candidate’s” spotlight was waning.

Of course, the throngs of public sympathizers and fans of unthinking, unblinking Coyne-dom voted Sleepy Socialist Willie into office one last time. Shortly thereafter, Fidel Castro’s poster boy for all things crazier-than-a-loon retired and gerrymandering allowed for the one-time middle-of-the-road-thinking Mike Doyle assumed the city of Pittsburgh. Thusly, Doyle accepted the lunatic-fringe of lefty liberalism, but before that had to face Caligiuri one last time.

Doyle and I had a good working relationship, as I did with virtually everyone in public office. One Bill Peduto guided former Congressman Dan Cohen’s political ship into an everyman’s quagmire of Congressional hopefulness. No one quite realized the inexplicable power of the Sleepy Socialist and Cohen’s political future was sunk. The shock of that outcome still resonates to this day.

Caligiuri ran against Coyne and I broke the story. Doyle informed the rest of Pittsburgh’s media that I had the scoop, that indeed he had an opponent that fall. Doyle won then, and has raced to the left faster than his idol, John Murtha fell from grace in the opinions of 95% of career service men and women. Caligiuri disappeared off the political map just about the time in which he should have shined.

In his prime, Caligiuri would have been the Internet’s political darling, a daring thinker who’s “out of the box” ideas have been copied but never duplicated.

Our friend Mark Rauterkus has picked up Caligiuri’s reigns perhaps better than anyone might have dreamt. However, Caligiuri always kept his eyes only on Congress. He became folklore to us political junkies, perhaps not as oddly as the late sandwich-board guy who despised Coyne and once ran for Mayor, but in a city with so few real “colorful” politicians who didn’t make a career out of cashing city council paychecks, Caligiuri was a hero.

Until now.

According to the Concord Monitor, Caligiuri drove to New England to enter the crowded Democratic field. He still maintains a true Libertarian philosophy, but that only makes him closer to being a John F. Kennedy Democrat than a Hillary Clinton Democrat.

New Hampshire voters were also reported to be waiting for TV funnyman Stephen Colbert to show up. Colbert had announced his candidacy for the South Carolina primary a few weeks ago, but those staunch intolerants decided to leave him off the ballot. It’s still uncertain whether Dennis Kucinich is on that ballot, but one joke shouldn’t necessarily disqualify another.

From time to time, I’ve thought of Caligiuri, but lost his phone number eons ago. Print says he continues to maintain his family’s fast food and ice cream restaurant in Wilkinsburg. Back in the day, he routinely shuttled from that hamlet to a kraal in Westmoreland County, where he presumably drank wine and waited for the next Congressional go-round.

Had I had a vote in New Hampshire, I would consider crossing party lines to plunk the Mad Dog.

It’s great to see an old friend once again.

Step It Up : Invited to speak at another rally today on the North Side

Step It Up : Spread the Word: "We have saved our Pittsburgh Penguins now we are coming together to save the other penguins that live in Antarctica. In addition to some politicians, we are expecting a guest appearance from Stanley the penguin from the National Aviary."