Good Bye Dollar: And a peek into the future

Click to play. Hint: It is the triangle that points to the right, either in the middle of the screen or the one at the left of the slider / progress bar.

Hat tip to a friend's blog, Three Rivers Post.

American Entrepreneur and the new drink tax

The American Entrepreneur - Newsletter Articles ALLEGHENY COUNTY'S NEW TAXES: THE REST OF THE STORY

A great deal has been written and said about the December enactment of two new taxes in Allegheny County. The case against levying the new drink and car rental taxes was exceptionally strong; the case for levying new taxes was pitifully weak.

This Saturday's show is going to have a segment devoted to this topic, the new Allegheny County drink tax. It caused quite the uproar among
the restaurant industry thus far in 2008. Ron will talk with Ed Dunlap of The LeMont Restaurant about what he's doing to ease the burden of the tax for the customer.

Dave P is home from NH --- Lessons Learned and Other Thoughts from NH

Dave Powell, a Pittsburgh Co-Organizer for the Ron Paul MeetUp, and chair of the Libertaian Party (I'm the vice-chair) sent along this report of his recent trip.

Competing Campaign analysis:

Thompson – flameout… a total no-show.

Rudy - ditto. A very few signs and supporters. We essentially tied with Guiliani - and people are taking notice, and wondering why they haven't heard of this Dr. Paul guy (we heard this on the trip back).

Huckabee - a few sincere volunteers, and lots of media. Fairly weak showing (but dedicated) at polling, only Huck signs at my polling place, one guy for half the day, and a young family that (IMO very bravely with the 3-year old and 4-month old) stuck out the whole day. However, he is taking the social conservative/religious vote. Dr. Paul is a religious man, and he (IMO) rightly does not wear it on his sleeve, or pander to religious groups. But this is costing him votes. IMO a push for the religious vote is needed, so reach out to the church groups, go to putluck dinners, fireman's charities, borough town hall meetings, etc.

Romney has a well oiled machine. Guys with little coiled ear-pieces. Lots of supporter-volunteers. The media came and waited for him. I held a RP sign behind his head for the whole time. :) Follow Romney, and you get the media. Probably all paid/pro organized, only one volunteer showed up at the Anderson Cooper rally, and he would not get off his cell phone to hole up both ends of his wire-framed sign. At my polling place many volunteers showed up, but they almost all left after Mitt made his appearance.

Mccain - one or two volunteers at my polling station. Still gets media attention though.

Kuchinich – a few sincere volunteers, and these guys love us. The DK bus honked when it went past. Poor guy, I felt bad for him, they had signs outside of their HQ and nobody to hold them.

Edwards - had sign wavers, but a weak showing at the polling station. They only showed up a couple of hours from the closing, and only had like 5 people for the last hour, all volunteers possible getting off work.

Hillary - had a shuttlebus, and lots of signs wavers, possibly some pro. Definitely knew that they were on a schedule and had somewhere to be next.

Obama - lots of sign wavers - young volunteers as far as I could tell. Fair grassroots turnout.

Random Thoughts/Suggestions:

Canvassing problems: It’s winter, and dark by 5 nobody was home during daylight. We wasted whole days knocking on empty doors.

Ineffective model – insane computer-generated directions were impossible to follow, and we spent too much time per house. We should have just been given a few streets to hit every door, we had the manpower. So, I would jump out of the car and flyer 2-4 houses while my partner did the packet canvass.

Get a bullhorn to lead chants - people screamed themselves hoarse, and IMO affected turnout the next day.

Nametags/badges for field leaders would help direct the volunteers, help avoid another Hannity incident, and help identify good candidates for interviews to the media...we don't want a Truther or similar selected to represent us on camera. In addition, If anything strange happens(ie: getting violent during a rally), take pictures/video, and try to relate what happened to a staffer. I just saw 2 Youtube clips where the same guy appears as a local voter in Iowa and NH. If (and I haven't seen anybody yet) anyone is acting as a plant in our organization, a little evidence can go a long way.

Continue to let people organize themselves. This actually did happen, but I wanted to point out that allowing people that clicked to work together is most effective. So, for instance, continue to make it easy for people to change what house they stay in so they can get to work early with people they function well with. BUT: Provide more effective communication with the grassroots. Many people noted that they were not put to 100% effective use. Why no Organization Organizer? Roxy, Brinks, Norm and others were great (and they need assistants), but exactly whose job was it to communicate what was going on next? Again, a badge or two might be nice. Often people were milling around chatting while something important was being communicated. If everyone knew who would have the latest news they would pay more attention. The grassroots was still pretty effective at communicating considering everything, but something as simple as, say, bulletin boards at friendly pubs, flyers, or a blog could work wonders (for instance, I could not find a few rally locations in time)

Learn the election laws of every location (including items such as marching on city hall steps - we almost had an incident). Start with the state, but don't forget the municipalities...I was informed of a few rules that would not appear in the state lawbooks. For instance, I was told to wipe off the "Ron Paul 2008" that someone had drawn with white paint on my van's windows (the rationale being that campaigns cannot park a huge sign next to the polling place). I should stress as well, that the "moderator" of the election has ABSOLUTE control over the polling place. They may kick you out for ANY OR NO REASON AT ALL. You MUST abide by their decisions. If you encounter an issue, politely ask them if there is particular election code that they are citing, and is it possible to show you/get a copy of the cited election law so that we may straighten things out with HQ. But they also may just classify you as an "interference" and ask you to leave, so go. Also, ask to watch the votes get counted, preferably with a video camera.

Get a shuttle bus. Hillary had one, and it very effectively got people to where they needed to be. We had people stranded in other towns without rides unable to attend events.

Familiarize yourself with Paul's positions, *especially positions that you do not agree with*. Be prepared to make a pro-life argument. Be prepared to argue immigration positions. these are two deviations from the libertarian platform. It is possible to find some areas of agreement, and just stress those.

Dress as nicely as you can. We need to defringe-ify this movement or the media will turn it into a circus. People have quit jobs, moved, travelled from California, Hawaii, Florida, New York, Virginia, Texas, Montana, Spain, Panama, Poland, Estonia and sacrificed time with family and friends for this effort. Please shave and put on a tie.

I hope this helps those who will be picking up this effort in other areas. I also hope that we have worked through the growing pains and will field a team of seasoned campaigners.

Please feel free to forward this message on to other meetup organizers.

Great Quote from Brad Porter of FACT: The Battle for Freedom is one that can never be won, but can always be lost.

Pgh Public Schools -- next board meeting on Sunday

Mark -

I have just learned that PPS has a Board meeting on Sunday at 2 PM - that's right - Sunday. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss Excel 9-12. The meeting will be in the Board Committee room. I think they are planning for a long meeting that would go all afternoon and into the evening.

Its not on their website yet, but I confirmed this with Robin Wenger in the Board office. I know you are posting these things so I thought you would want to know about it.

Thanks,

Carey Harris
A+ Schools

techPresident's Favorite Videos of 2007: Voter-Generated Video

techPresident – techPresident's Favorite Videos of 2007: Voter-Generated Video Favorite Videos of 2007: Voter-Generated Video

Poll: Bullshit Is Most Important Issue For 2008 Voters

one of this years better campaign commercials

New Arena Discussion with Bram on a podcast

The biggest city planning meeting in our lifetime -- starts at 2 pm on Monday at 200 Ross Street.

Bram of the Pittsburgh Comet and the Burgh Report was kind enough to give me some time to get a better understanding of the fireworks associated with the developments of the new hockey arena in the Hill District. A Community Benefits Agreement (CBA for short) is on the rocks. It seems that what Mayor Ravenstahl wants does not match well with the dreams and ambitions with the various groups and residents.

http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/901

We talked about this thread and another blogger:

New Arena Discussion - Page 42 - Steelers Fever Forums: "Re: New Arena Discussion"

Revelations - http://drgoddess.blogspot.com/

Update: The arena is on for hearing and action on Monday. They are last on the
agenda. (Reported Dolores Hanna, Special Project Operations Manager, Department of City Planning)

TEXAS SWIMMING: Olympic Coverage off to Rough Start

Honey, pay-back is a bitch, regardless of culture and TV celeb / news status.

TEXAS SWIMMING: Olympic Television Coverage off to Rough Start The Wall Street Journal article - complete with a translation

Franklin College Explores Addition of Swimming

There is a bit of a trend here -- going against the tide. Too many schools have cut the mens swim teams. Some are picking up swimming again.

CollegeSwimming.com: Franklin College Explores Addition of Swimming: “The stars are aligned for this,” said Hass. “I believe the college, the area and the school corporations would all benefit from having a competitive program at Franklin College.

Franklin College is in Indiana.

Ohio University cut its mens swim team -- and I still hate them for that. I'm a graduate of O.U.

Slippery Rock too.

Hired, other resigned: vindication, ethical and PROACTIVE

A number of issues are spin into this posting. Koch gets hired by the mayor. Lamb resigns from the board of A+ Schools and the Ethics Hearing Board gets self determination.

All three matters were woven into the packets of complaints that I filed with the Pittsburgh Ethics Hearing Board a few months ago. http://www.Rauterkus.com/ethics/ Each are resolved.

First, today's P-G reports:

Ousted politicians land on their feet at city hall Former Councilman Jeff Koch, defeated in the May Democratic primary, is now a special streets program supervisor in the Public Works Department.

Word on the street was a typical, but wrong, 'to the victor goes the spoils' saga. Mr. Koch is a long-time, valued, insightful guy who departed city council at the start of 2008. It made great sense to re-hire him as a city worker to do the work of residents as great help is hard to find. Koch gets things done. He works hard. He is down to earth and straight forward in his dealings. We need knowledgeable, skilled, city employees on the job.

I was proactive in my challenge to the Ethics Hearing Board. I didn't have proof. But, the matter is resolved now.

Now we are left to wonder. Did the hiring of Koch by Ravenstahl come after the vote on Monday? Humm...

Hindsight: Koch's hiring could have happened in July. Then he could have resigned from city council and that office could have been taken out of its lame duck status months earlier. That would have pushed up the money in the city budget's vacancy allowance of unfilled positions. But, that's okay. I didn't rant about the lame duck members of council -- and their staffs -- but I pondered it. I'll make that point in a policy paper later and not be as bold in my attacks at people in jobs today.

But back to current events and inside Grant Street. The Kraus vote for Shields as City Council's President might have insured the hiring of Koch to the Public Works department. That's just a hunch.

However, it will be interesting to see if Kraus should pitch a fit, or, just get to the clean-up that is needed in Oakland.

Memo to the 'clean, green and mean' councilman, Kraus: Read the paper. Go pick-up that trash!

Incursion of slobs rankles longtime South Oakland residents Some of those who remain are demanding that the city and the University of Pittsburgh do more to combat the trash and unruliness they see all around them.

Two other interesting development to watch for in the future, should Koch get on the job, as hoped, in the months to come. When you see Mr. Koch on the job, either in a jumpsuit or a three-piece suit, look to see if you can spot any message on his t-shirt. And, look to the dashboard of his vehicle for the bobble-head doll.

(insert blog artwork here)

The city should be working on INFRASTRUCTURE. That is a major plank and policy to promote at ever turn (pun intended).

Skimpy water line waylays opening of county's bioterror lab ... The $5 million state-of-the-art bioterror lab in Lawrenceville took more than five years to build and is finally finished, but the county can't move in because the water line to the sophisticated laboratory is too small to support the building's sprinkler system.

The 10,000-square-foot building was finished in mid-December but couldn't get a city occupancy permit because of the water supply problem caused by a corroded, 4-inch cast iron water line dating to the 1930s, ...

A good friend of mine has suggested to me that the 'infrastructure bandwagon' is one to jump upon with full force. Libertarian and Republican candidates in the city and region could win elected office if they harp upon INFRASTRUCTURE. Our pipes are crumbling. The rash of water main breaks hurt the economy.

I'm too much of a 'generalist' to campaign on a single issue. I favor the freestyle -- ranting at will upon things that need to be addressed. But others could pick up this mode of operation and find great success in winning votes -- and perhaps -- beating incumbent Democrats.

Sewer pipes, retaining walls, rehab of bridges and street lighting are not sexy political issues for candidates. But, if the nuts and bolts matters of public infrastructure are championed, candidates of any party would earn respect and votes. And by all means, I don't mean to imply that new tunnels under the Allegheny River to get to the stadiums should be put into the category of 'infrastructure stewardship.' Building the tunnel under the river is nothing but a boondoggle. Spending the nearly billion dollars to do that project is going to further weaken the budgets to take care of what we already have.

Second: Michael Lamb, the city's new controller, has resigned from the board of A+ Schools. I have learned from Carrie Harris, the executive director of A+ Schools, that Michael Lamb made a verbal resignation. That's good. That's behind us now too, thankfully, finally.

Third: Wrangling in city council at the end of 2007 about the budget and home for the Ethics Hearing Board have taken some of the pressure off the matters with the other complaint. I think that the Ethics Hearing Board is unethical -- and filed a complaint against that entity. But, things are moving to fix these issues. Most of all, when a complaint is filed with the Ethics Hearing Board, it won't get screened by the Law Department. The Law Department sat on my complaints. The complaints were filed, a meeting was held weeks later, and the complaints were NOT put before the Ethics Hearing Board because of Law Department red tape. A major divorce has to happen between the Ethics Hearing Board and the Law Department. Sister Patrice can open her own mail.

There is much more to be done. But, that round is over. We need to be proactive. We need to celebrate victories.

Ron Paul: McCain’s Reckless ‘100 years in Iraq’ Comment Endangers Americans — Ron Paul 2008

The guy who says 'no torture' (and I'm fine with that) says 100-years of occupation too. I'm not fine with a 100-years in Iraq, as per McCain's threat. Isn't that pledge a hint at a different kind of nationalistic torture. Boil it down to McCains vision of the US troops being a bully.

I don't wish to ship some of our best and brightest over there for extended stays -- without families -- wearing uniforms -- costing us dearly -- exposed to risks of the highest order. Our men and women should not be forced to go on tours of duty abroad.

Ron Paul: McCain’s Reckless ‘100 years in Iraq’ Comment Endangers Americans — Ron Paul 2008: "Press Releases › Ron Paul: McCain’s Reckless ‘100 years in Iraq’ Comment Endangers Americans

Press Releases › Ron Paul: McCain’s Reckless ‘100 years in Iraq’ Comment Endangers Americans

January 7, 2008 2:32 pm EST

ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA – In response to John McCain’s comment at a recent town hall event that he would be fine with keeping American troops in Iraq for 100 – or even 1 million years – Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul issued the following statement:

“John McCain’s statement in favor of keeping troops in Iraq for 100 years or longer puts him out of sync with the majority of Americans, who want our troops to come home. Further, his comments recklessly put America at risk as such a statement will likely serve as a recruiting tool for Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, who appeal to radicals and incite violence against Americans by claiming that the US desires to occupy the Middle East indefinitely.

“It is time to act in the true national security interest of the United States and begin withdrawal from Iraq and the rest of the Middle East immediately. Americans will be far safer under a pro-America foreign policy that seeks to end the dangerous idea that the US should be the policeman of the world.

“Further, the financial costs of keeping troops in Iraq for a century would be massive – in addition to the steep price in American lives. If John McCain really wants such a long term presence, he needs to level with the American people and tell them that his policy means we will not be able to fulfill our obligations here at home.”

According to quarterly FEC reports, Dr. Ron Paul is supported by more active duty and retired military retirees than any other candidate to be the next commander in chief. An investigation by the Houston Chronicle revealed that Congressman Paul received “more donations from current military…and retired military…than any other candidate.”

###

Romney decides to pull ads in S.C., Fla. - Yahoo! News

Romney decides to pull ads in S.C., Fla. - Yahoo! NewsRepublican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has decided to pull his advertising from South Carolina and Florida, in a sign of trouble for a campaign that badly needs a win.

In more detail, the Romney campaign is pulling a page from the Bill Peduto playbook.

Spencer Zwick, Romney's national finance director, told the phone bankers: "If for some reason he is not the nominee, all those funds will be returned to the donor himself."

AP: Richardson to end presidential bid - Yahoo! News

Peace activists -- those who want to make peace and not war -- and all who want to avoid a vote for neo-cons and near-neo-cons! Come join the Ron Paul Revolution.

The military / industrial complex that the USA has become can be changed. That is the real change that people of the nation -- and the world -- desire. Our foreign policy has to change. Ron Paul will present that hope better than the rest.

AP: Richardson to end presidential bid - Yahoo! News New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson ended his campaign for the presidency Wednesday after twin fourth-place finishes that showed his impressive credentials could not compete with his rivals' star power.

Richardson planned to announce the decision Thursday, according to two people close to the governor with knowledge of the decision. They spoke on a condition of anonymity in advance of the governor's announcement.

I know that a number of my D friends were big-time supporters and fans of Richardson. Until now, they had a reason to be excited about a candidate in the race.

I hope and expect that many of the Richardson voters will place their votes to Ron Paul now.

Townhall.com: Questions for the Fair Tax Crowd::By Jerry Bowyer

Townhall.com::Questions for the Fair Tax Crowd::By Jerry Bowyer Questions for the Fair Tax Crowd

by Jerry Bowyer. Lots of comments there too.

Planning commission meeting on the 14th

The Pgh Planning Commission meeting agenda is out.

click comments or the google calendar

Junkies Comment on the 'painful' part of Patrick's vote -- IMHO

These are my words, posted at another blog.

Blogger: 2 Political Junkies - Post a Comment Dowd was yanked off, IMHO, because he wanted a public discussion of a legislative agenda from possible candidates -- before the vote.

It didn't happen.

So, he was forced into a vote without justification, without real merit.

He turned in his vote without doing the homework. Or, really, a better view would be -- he was the 'teacher' and he turned in a 'passing grade' to the student (Doug) without the student doing any of his assigned homework. Teachers don't give out grades lightly. It was painful for Dowd to give out a vote without merit. The basis of the vote was plain old politics of the past and of the person.

That was Dowd's first step. Leaving the 'high road' was done. Perhaps he can return to the high road, bailing out himself, by forging a common legislative agenda in the days and weeks to come.

VotePA - Election Integrity & Voting Rights in Pennsylvania

Vote PA dot US is where voters, activist, scholars, researchers, candidates, political wonks, and tireless volunteers who care about democracy go to stay connected and engaged.

VotePA - Election Integrity & Voting Rights in Pennsylvania Fill out your e-mail address
to receive our newsletter! We will never share your information wiithout your permission.

Thanks for the conference call. There is so much to do.

Ron Paul was on Jay Leno -- for good reason -- talking about the exclusion from the debates

Ron Paul Talks About Fox on Leno

Tuesday, January 8, 2008 9:47 AM

By: Newmax Staff

Appearing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on the eve of the New Hampshire primary, presidential hopeful Ron Paul said he still doesn't know why he was excluded from Fox News� Sunday night Republican debate.

Paul was left off the GOP debate roster even though Paul and his supporters set a new one-day fundraising record, raked in nearly $20 million in the fourth quarter of last year -- and got 10 percent of the vote in the Iowa caucuses.

Rudy Giuliani, who got only 4 percent in Iowa, was included in the debate, along with John McCain, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, and Mike Huckabee.

Leno told Paul on Monday night's show: "I'm trying to figure out why Fox News chose not to put you on."

"You know, we tried to find that out," Paul replied. "But they didn't return our call."

A sympathetic Leno said: "You're being extremely polite for something I think you got screwed over. I mean, I might not necessarily agree with you, but I think, as an American, we like to see everybody get an equal shot."

Paul speculated that Fox "didn't want to hear the message. Maybe they're intimidated. Maybe they're frightened. Maybe they didn't want to hear the truth. Who knows?�

The Los Angeles Times' Andrew Malcolm observed: "So Paul gets 10 percent in Iowa and gets excluded, but Rudy gets 4 percent and sits on the left end of the Fox Box desk. Hmmm."

Me &Thee Blogspot: Quick Q and A with Joe Jencks

Check out this wonderful interview with Joe. He has a new band. We've got to get him back to Pittsburgh soon.

Me&Thee Blogspot: Quick Q and A with Joe Jencks ... with one of the most relevant singer-songwriters on the scene today ...

More links:

Listen to Show #140 with Joe Jencks

Art of the Song - Listen: "Listen to Show #140 with Joe Jencks"

The song, "Come With Me" is on the radio show interview in MP3 format.
I love that song. "I will carry on!"

Wall Street Journal + Jerry Bowyer = NO FAIR TAX

Free Preview - WSJ.com: By Jerry Bowyer

If talk show hosts ran the world, we'd have a national sales tax. We'd have no immigration, and we would have long ago carpet-bombed the entire Middle East. We'd also have something called 'fair trade,' which means no real trade at all.

But they don't run the world; they just pretend that if they did, everything would be great. I would be a lot more confident that this was true if I didn't know so many talk show hosts. I would be even more confident if they had really run anything of consequence before. But I do, and they haven't.

I do NOT like the fair tax. The fair tax is a nice idea for the first 30-seconds. But, the fair tax is a bad idea for America at this time. It is a bad idea for the economy. It is a bad public policy.

Speaking of bad policy -- pointing to an article that can't be read. I'm not interested in getting the WSJ password. So, the rest of the Bowyer article is dark to me.