I only get to mumble and grumble to myself

From Beijing - Great Wall

Judge keeps drink tax referendums off ballot An Allegheny County judge today upheld a board of elections ruling that both proposed referendums on the county's drink tax cannot appear on the November ballot.

Judge Joseph James agreed that the initiatives -- one proposed by opponents of the drink tax and one proposed by county council -- were legally insufficient.

Judge James can't be bashed by me as I'm sure to be before him in the future in some ballot challenge. So, I'll just grumble to myself.

I only get to mumble and grumble to myself

Judge keeps drink tax referendums off ballot An Allegheny County judge today upheld a board of elections ruling that both proposed referendums on the county's drink tax cannot appear on the November ballot.

Judge Joseph James agreed that the initiatives -- one proposed by opponents of the drink tax and one proposed by county council -- were legally insufficient.

Judge James can't be bashed by me as I'm sure to be before him in the future in some ballot challenge. So, I'll just grumble to myself.

Judge keeps drink tax referendums off ballot

Judge keeps drink tax referendums off ballot An Allegheny County judge today upheld a board of elections ruling that both proposed referendums on the county's drink tax cannot appear on the November ballot.

Judge Joseph James agreed that the initiatives -- one proposed by opponents of the drink tax and one proposed by county council -- were legally insufficient.

Judge James can't be bashed by me as I'm sure to be before him in the future in some ballot challenge. So, I'll just grumble to myself.

Judge keeps drink tax referendums off ballot

Judge keeps drink tax referendums off ballot An Allegheny County judge today upheld a board of elections ruling that both proposed referendums on the county's drink tax cannot appear on the November ballot.

Judge Joseph James agreed that the initiatives -- one proposed by opponents of the drink tax and one proposed by county council -- were legally insufficient.

Judge James can't be bashed by me as I'm sure to be before him in the future in some ballot challenge. So, I'll just grumble to myself.

Men Are Good, despite what you have seen...

Here are two snips of an intro and tune by Joe Jencks, the performer slated for our House Concert on Wednesday. He is singing to the kids at Sunnyhill in this clip.

From Joe Jencks house concert

From Joe Jencks house concert

Only a few seats remain for the gig. Please RSVP. Call 412 298 3432 or email me, Mark @ Rauterkus . com.

Diondega 412: "I would be surprised if they're not already investigating."

Diondega 412: "I would be surprised if they're not already investigating.": "City Controller Michael Lamb is saying things like, 'if the 'non-disparagement' clause in the unwritten settlement prohibits Ford from talking to him about an audit of how the URA awards contracts, Lamb will file a legal challenge in an attempt to invalidate it. When asked about federal and state investigations Mr. Lamb said, 'I would be surprised if they're not already investigating.' Those are ominous signs if you ask me. Foreshadowing for all you poet laureates out there."

CollegeSwimming.com::NCAA Avoids Suit By Approving Suits

CollegeSwimming.com::NCAA Avoids Suit By Approving Suits: The NCAA Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving Committee has decided to allow all new-technology suits approved by FINA (the international governing body for swimming) to be worn in intercollegiate competition including NCAA championships.

The decision reverses their earlier declared intent to extend the moratorium that prohibited the use of any suit not commercially available prior to January 1, 2008.

The change was announced in a memo sent to NCAA coaches on Thursday. It stated that the, 'committee did not have any scientific evidence' that the suits provided illegal assistance. Without. 'concrete evidence' of illegal assistance, the suits, 'will be deemed compliant for all intercollegiate competition.'

I'm all for science. I love it. Can't live without it. But....

I'm all for the real world and free markets and the marketplace.

The way one should have approached the new suits isn't with science, but with marketplace awareness.

Ban the use of the new suit because they cost more than $100.

Make the suits a matter of fiscal equity. Don't allow the sport to dip further into a game where the rich get faster and the poor get slower, because of willingness to purchase expensive materials.

These types of rules are already in place within the NCAA in other areas. For example, in the past, it was a rule that letters to high school recruits could only be printed on stationary that has two extra colors beyond the black ink. They didn't want glossy, four-color printing to go on recruitment mail because the expensive letters would be sent from certain richer schools while the others would just send bland letters on plain paper with a little paw print on the corner of the paper.

Recruits can't be given gifts.

Athletes can't be given gifts.

So, why allow the swimmers to be given uniforms that are so expensive?

These Speedo LZR race suits cost $800 or more. They have to be custom built. Meanwhile, a college coach can't give a senior athlete who is about to appear on a nation-wide TV for a show in New York at the Downtown Athletic Club a sports coat, shirt and tie. The Heismam Trophy show is not a place where you want to show up to wearing a t-shirt. Arrive in your Sunday bests. Look sharp. But, the NCAA says no can do. Don't give the kid the money to get his shoes shined. Those are rules that are equity matters. Silly.

Democracy Rising PA latest news is too good to not print

Campaigning at Taxpayer Expense - 1 Three articles in three newspapers this week have set the stage for the next round of presentments in the Bonus Scandal. The Harrisburg Patriot's Charlie Thompson, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's Brad Bumsted and Debra Erdley, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Dennis Roddy reported this week on allegations that House Republicans in particular used substantial tax dollars, possibly exceeding $1 million, for voter tracking systems used in election campaigns. Click here for the Patriot story, here for the Tribune-Review story and here for the Post-Gazette story. The original contract with a Washington, DC company, which dates to 1996, was for keeping track of communications between lawmakers and constituents about legislative business. It was amended in 2005 to include a requirement for Republican caucus staff (not campaign staff) to maintain data "for use in the elections." Remember that 2005 was the year of the Pay Raise when lawmakers knew they would need better relations than ever with voters if incumbents were to survive the 2006 elections. The 2006 contract, which amounted to $1.87 million, was negotiated during the leadership of former Speaker John Perzel, R-Phila. After Republicans lost the majority in the House and Perzel was defeated for Speaker in January 2007, the contract was scaled back to $475,000 this year, about one-fourth of the 2006 contract amount. For their part, House Democrats have an in-house system for tracking constituent contacts. The caucus spent $157,000 in 2006-07 to upgrade their system. More troubling is the $32,000 Democrats spent for voter lists this election year. Caucus staff say the lists are used for "outreach to constituents," including "newsletters, town meetings or announcements about property taxes." Yet focusing on voters rather than all constituents conspicuously uses tax dollars for electioneering. There is no other purpose for the existence of a voter list than for elections. It further amounts to explicit and intentional discrimination against non-voting constituents, who have every bit as much right to information about their government as those whose votes the incumbents are trying to capture with self-serving mailings and announcements. Question: Why isn't there just one system for all four caucuses to track legislative contacts between constituents and lawmakers? Campaigning at Taxpayer Expense - 2 After nearly losing re-election in 2006, House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese, D-Greene, is campaigning like mad against Republican Greg Hopkins, who nearly beat DeWeese two years ago. This week, DeWeese and Sen. Barry Stout, D-Greene (and parts of four other counties), promoted DeWeese's campaign with good old-fashioned, taxpayer-funded WAMs (Walking Around Money). At a courthouse media event in Waynesburg, they presented mock checks totaling $1.8 million in state grants for a variety of projects. However, as the Washington Observer-Reporter's Cara Host pointed out, the news event wasn't really news. County officials had received all but $100,000 of the money in March and April. While it's hard to justify WAMs under any circumstances, the timing of these phony checks representing very real tax dollars is yet another example of campaigning at taxpayer expense. Click here for the story. Moratorium for Bonus Scandal, not for WAMs As reported in the August 29 edition of DR News, Attorney General Tom Corbett has made the controversial policy decision not to announce charges in the Bonus Scandal between October 1 and Election Day. The reason given is not to influence the elections. What are the chances that lawmakers will impose a moratorium on announcing WAMs so as not to influence the elections? Rendell Seeks Extra Session Days Gov. Ed Rendell this week called upon the House and Senate to schedule more than the nine days of session currently on the books this fall. In keeping with the Senate's commitment not to have voting sessions after Election Day ("lame-duck" session), Rendell asked for the additional session days to occur before November 4. Rendell is seeking the additional time to hammer out an agreement to improve access to health care for PA citizens. Both the House and Senate have proposals, as does Rendell, who is optimistic that they can reach common ground with enough time. The House is a different story with respect to lame-duck session. Even though 82 percent of PA voters want to prohibit lame-duck session, the majority Democrats have scheduled session after the election. Whether they will have anything to vote on, or just show up to collect more per diems, is another matter. Need a speaker for your conference or local group? DR is eager to spread the word in your community. Contact tim@democracyrisingpa.com . Friends, we rely on individual donors for nearly all of the money we need to do this work So if you haven't donated recently, please click here to support DR. Thanks!

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PAT Buses: Onorato's LAST SHOT At Political Relevance

Dan Onorato is the Chief Executive of Allegheny County. He wants to be Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. At one time he had a shot.

Then came the 10% drink tax.

It's no surprise that Onorato is a Democrat from Pittsburgh. What was a surprise was the fiscal fact that Dan was more financially conservative than moderate-Republican Jim Roddey, the county's first ACE. Roddey, one of the region's premier and most-respected businessmen, laid a gigantic political egg in his first and only term.

Onorato's "fast track" to Harrisburg included only token competition in his re-election.

Then came the 10% drink tax.

It's no surprise that Dan Dan the Tax Man is a Democrat from Pittsburgh. Democrats from Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, and Harrisburg for that matter almost never pass up the opportunity to tax the bejesus out of their electorate. That's how they employ their cronies and political pals.

Onorato forced his "tax baby" down our collective throats as a way to pay for the extremely bloated and wasteful Port Authority of Allegheny County.

There's a big budget crunch, so what do these progressives do? Allow seniors to ride for free. Many of these same seniors board the bus to their local lottery ticket emporium. There they plop down hundreds of dollars. Then they board the PAT bus again for free. Why they don't have to pay a single greenback is anyone's guess. These same freeloaders vote in droves. And they vote in droves almost exclusively for Democrats. Why not give them a free ride? The seniors will allow their favorite liberal enablers plenty of free rides.

Surprise, surprise. Union leaders turned down a fact-finder's report that suggests contract concessions. The contract suggestions a 3-percent pay increases for each of the next three years as well as a minuscule addition to health care costs.

The Port Authority drivers in Allegheny County are the highest-paid in the country. when salaries take into account cost-of-living data. As good union stewards, like attorney Joseph J. Pass charged in a recent Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial, someone else, namely corporations, need to bend over backwards to make sure that the filet mignon and champagne keeps on coming.

Port Authority bigwigs say the agency could run out of money in January if the status remains quo.

Dan Onorato needs to fire the Port Authority drivers and find folks who want to do the work. President Ronald Reagan's legacy was cemented early in his first term when he fired 12,000 air traffic controllers who were violating their contracts.

Dan Onorato needs to realize that he was elected twice to represent the citizens of Allegheny County and not just the fraction of union workers who enjoy the spoils of a happy-spending hierarchy.

Dan Onorato will not do the right thing and replace the drivers and other employees who would rather rake in exorbitant salaries and benefits while providing less spectacular performance due to cost-cutting service cuts.

If Onorato doesn't stay firm...doesn't win this round of negotiations decisively, then he will be completely out of the running for Harrisburg's biggest throne.

Dan is still trying to get voters to decide between higher drink taxes or higher property taxes. Never does he speak of reducing costs by trimming some of the employee fat at PAT. That's not the Democrat's way.

Dan Onorato must fire the Port Authority employees if they don't soon agree to that very favorable contract proposal. He won't do it.

And he won't make it to Harrisburg, either.

Pat Ford will be free to win the fishing contest in July 09

Pat Ford, not on the job since April 2008, is to get paid to June 2009. He'll then be free to enter a fishing contest on the three rivers and take home its $1-million purse. Presently, he's in Florida, fishing, perhaps.

Wonder if he'll come to town in the fall of 2009 to kick some Kenyon's ass and win the purse for The Great Race too?

401-Keg

If you had purchased $1,000.00 of Delta Air Lines stock one year ago you would have $49.00 left. With Enron, you would have had $16.50 left of the original $1,000.00. With WorldCom, you would have had less than $5.00 left. But, if you had purchased $1,000.00 worth of beer one year ago, drank all of the beer, then turned in the cans for the aluminum recycling REFUND, you would have $214.00 cash. Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle. It's called the 401-Keg. A recent study found the average American walks about 900 miles a year. Another study found Americans drink, on the average, 22 gallons of alcohol a year. That means, on average, Americans get about 41 miles to the gallon.

Makes You Proud To Be An American!

Hagan Smith of Constitution Party holding classes

Hagan Smith of the Liberty and Justice Association (LJAI) will be teaching classes over the next several Saturdays. The first class will be tomorrow, Saturday, September 13th from 9AM - 6PM.

Topics to be covered include:

* Constitution's of the U.S. and Pennsylvania
* Jurisdictionary
* How to handle Police Officers in stops
* Secrets of the Legal industry
* Laws and Banking
* Statute Law
* Code Law
* How to force good Government
* Back to Constitutionally Limited Government

Hagan is not sure how many Saturdays it will take to complete the entire class. He has said that he will have a session each Saturday until all of the material is covered.

The cost for each session is $20 per person.

The class is supposed to be for members of the Liberty and Justice Association, so please join tomorrow if you haven't yet! There is no set amount for dues. Some pay $5 per month, some pay $10 or $20; whatever you can afford.

If you have any questions contact Hagan. His phone number is listed in the "contact" section of LJAI's website at http://www.ljai.info

This class will take place at LJAI's meeting place, which is at 545 Pittsburgh Road in Butler, PA 16002.

Learn more here:
http://ronpaul.meetup.com/1834/calendar/8744986/

Lipstick and Pigs

From NZ dump

The photo is from our travels in New Zealand. Wild pigs in NZ are called Captain Cookers -- because it was Captain Cook who introduced the pigs to New Zealand. Some went wild.

Kevin Miller of KDKA radio is going to kiss pigs with lipstick in Gateway Center. What a waste.

See the other blog for details

From Wet N Wild Invitational 2006

This saga has been unfolding and refolding and defolding for many months. It is well documented at another blog, Carlynton.Blogspot.com.

At the August 21st school board meeting, Carlynton school board directors agreed to circulate to the public and interested groups all proposed facilities use policy changes prior to any board discussion and vote.

But once again, without notice to the public, the board pushed through a new policy at the very next meeting on Sept. 4.

Once again, the administration told the public there was no scheduled vote on the policy and no publicly available documents for review prior to the meeting.

Once again the board ignored the public's previous input on what would be best for the kids.

Once again, they misled the public about their intentions.

Once again, they slap outrageous rents to parent-run and funded sports clubs that go below 85% Carlynton residents or a $200/year fee to non-resident kids participating in those clubs, whichever is greater.

And once again, they patted themselves on the back for "being fair to the taxpayers".

Oh, and they exempted from the new policy their pet programs that have few if any Carlynton kids.

Apparently, use of facilities by resident sports programs without paying outrageous fees is unfair to district residents, but use of the same facilities by non-sports group for free is totally fair to everyone.

That's the ill-logic of Brown, Schirippa, DiPietro, McCartney, Wolkowiak and Hughans.

Relive the entire assault on the democratic process perpetrated by Carlynton's own Gang of Six with the the only publicly available video of the events:

Go to Carlynton.Blogspot.com.

Kraus on radio: Pat Ford owes us an explaination

Bruce Kraus of Pgh's City Council was just interviewed on KDKA radio by Marty Griffin about the Pat Ford matter.

Bruce said, "Pat Ford owes us an explanation." "Those (letter of more than a week ago by Mr. Ford about corruption) are very serious allegations."

Others in city hall won't give an interview to Marty for the show. Mayor Ravenstahl took the day off. Doug Shields nor Jim Motznik won't do it either. Michael Lamb, city controller is talking.

The pay off and gag order are bad news. Of course.

But, watch what happens next.

Kraus is deflecting the blame onto Pat Ford.

City controller, Michael Lamb, don't sign the check. Don't pay Pat Ford. Will Michael Lamb stand up and watch our money? Or, will he give it away?

Bob Casey didn't need to make the pay off to the illegal pay raise to the state reps. But he did.

This would never have happened if the law office was terminated.

Michael Lamb, controller, could choke the release of these funds if he was with courage and enough creativity.

For instance, if Mr. Zober wants to pay off Pat Ford, then Mr. Lamb could take the money out of Mr. Zober's pay checks.

Sometimes Heroes Come In the Smallest Packages

Heroes are sometimes in the smallest packages.
My niece Kasey, 8, is a lil’ fireplug. My sister has always said that if I had a daughter, it would be Kasey. You see, she likes monsters, is a scrambling little athlete (soccer’s her game…I could never get into it, so she’s one up on me), and she has an infectious personality. I’m thrilled any time my sister says Kasey reminds her of me or visa versa.
Kasey and I have a little game. She’ll grab my hands and walk up my legs and torso, kinda like when Batman and Robin scaled a wall in the 1960’s. She will giggle like a mad gal. Her little sister, Gabrielle, looks on and often breaks out into a big smile. Gabrielle and I have our own little game: she doesn’t like me much…or at least pretends to. However, when Kasey “climbs” up Uncle Trapper, Gabrielle, now smiling ear to ear, is next in line. Their other sister, Jacqui as she likes to spell it, sits nearby and shakes her head.
Last Friday, Kasey stumbled upon a young boy being bullied and physically attacked by a larger girl outside of their shared Catholic elementary school. Never one to let an injustice go by, Kasey strode up and attempted to break up the fight. In wrestling we call it a “run in.”
Never mind the fact that Kasey cracked a hairline fracture in her spine this summer, horsing around in the yard. The larger, obviously more elementary Fight Club experienced hooligan twisted the adorable sprite’s arm back. Despite the pain, I’m certain she didn’t second-guess her decision to help the young lad. It must have been reminiscent of when George McFly saved Calvin Klein’s “best girl” by coming to her aid against the much-bigger Biff in “Back to the Future.” Check back in 20 years to see if that lad pays Kasey back with her hand in matrimony.
When my son and I talked to Kasey the other day, she downplayed the whole skirmish. My sister tells me that Kasey’s exploits are now the talk of the Johnstown Diocese, or at least the buzz around the kid’s mothers. She should be interviewed on Channel 6. Their studios are directly across the street from my mom and step-dad’s house, so the reporters wouldn’t have to go far. They already interviewed my shoveling step-dad a couple of years ago after a big snow. Kasey can be in the driveway in 10 minutes thanks to side streets.
I thought of Kasey this week when I walked out of my office building. A twenty-something couple was having a heated discussion near a car. As I spoke with my son on our cell phones, I could overhear the young lady ranting about the guy’s presence. He leaned on a car, single-rose in hand. She wasn’t happy. He was letting her rant.
I listened for a few moments then, thinking about Kasey’s courage to help someone in need, I sauntered over and politely said, “Excuse me folks, is everything okay?” The woman stopped immediately, looked me dead in the eye and with some relief, said. “No sir, we’re fine. Thank you.” The young gentleman, maybe thankful to have her stop raving for a minute, turned and ‘we’re okay.’” I said, “have a nice day” and walked away.
Less than two minutes later, they were gone, perhaps their separate ways, perhaps together. Their mini-yet-to-spike quarrel over. Our sleepy lil’ parking lot quiet again.
A co-worker smile when he saw me try the duo. I didn’t want to risk the chance that the whole argument was set up on TV and I’d have to sign a waver to show my expansive posterior simply walk by like an ignoramus as two actors hammed it up for the camera ala 20/20 or Dateline.
But I also had the courage to try and help, bolstered because an incredible 8-year-old in Johnstown risked an arm muscle to stop a true beat-down.
Integrity, character and determination are big ideals if you ask me. Sometimes those lessons are learned, thanks to the smallest packages.

Thoughtful Riot: 5 Questions for the Creators: Mr. Stoke Monkey

Another candidate.

Thoughtful Riot: 5 Questions for the Creators: Mr. Stoke Monkey: "he happened to mention Podcamp. I had been listening to a number of podcasts (Should I Drink That, Sportsocracy, Radio Free Burrito and TheGSpod to name a few) and he asked if I wanted to make an appearance on his show, The Wrestling Mayhem Show. I was thrilled. This was before I had any aspirations to become president of the United States.

Perhaps he'll be able to join us at Podcamp Pittsburgh for the Sunday afternoon discussion about political activities on the internet.

Lamb is doing a good job upholding a tax that cripples

Pittsburgh Hoagie: All meat no filler: "--Good job by Michael Lamb in winning some money for the city in a transfer tax case. The Post-Gazette reports that $828,000 goes to the city, $414,000 to the schools and $414,000 to the state. Good haul.

What did Lamb do beyond doing his job?

Furthermore, the deed transfer tax is one of the worst, if not the worst, tax that we have.

A good job would be to getting the awareness and political will to get a bill passed so as to give the city a deed transfer tax holiday.

The deed transfer tax hurts the little guys.

The deed transfer tax has a few 'shelters' that bigger buildings and ownerships can deploy to avoid paying that tax.

We want a more free, more liquid, more efficient, more productive landscape for investment, including home ownership.

The deed transfer tax puts the breaks upon the selling and buying of a home. Moving from renter to home owner is much more difficult in Pittsburgh because of the deed transfer tax.

Going Fishing?

From Pre-BJ

From Water Town in East China

From NZ dump

From texture - foods

From HK Disney

From Water Town in East China

Ravenstahl reveals plan to fix pension gap

Ravenstahl reveals plan to fix pension gap: Ravenstahl reveals plan to fix pension gap
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
By Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Faced with a worsening pension gap shared by other cities statewide, Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl unveiled his fix to state senators yesterday, calling for fund consolidations, aid recalculations and defined contributions.

The first thing to do is to fire deadweight employees.

For example, Pat Ford is still being paid. He went most of the year without working but still got an income.

Luke Ravenstahl could fix that on his watch.