Badnarik Class about Constitution

This class and home study program is condensed into just two hours (meeting in Harrisburg and King of Prussia) and comes with the book and 12 hours of instruction on DVD. Cost is $120.

This is a great opportunity for teenage homeschool students. Details in the comments. Now if only we could get our Congressmen and Senators to sign up!

Michael Badnarik is a teacher on the US Constitution and ran for President of the United States. I voted for him -- rather than "W" or Kerry. Badnarik visited Pittsburgh and spoke at a meeting I helped to organize in Mt. Washington.

Michael Badnarik will share with you the little known and lesser understood history and original intent of the Constitution. According to Congressman, Ron Paul (R-TX), "Michael Badnarik has created a constitutional primer that will edify and entertain schoolchildren and seasoned libertarians alike. He does an excellent job of demystifying our founding document, demonstrating that ordinary Americans can and should understand the Constitution and how it applies to their lives."

"Introduction To The Constitution" with Michael Badnarik, Seminar and Home-Study Program, Download the PDF flyer.

Two Pennsylvania classes this month:

Saturday, Sept. 24th: Harrisburg, PA
2:00 - 4:00 pm, Harrisburg Hilton and Towers
1 N 2nd St, Harrisburg, 17101
Contact: Quince Eddens 717-608-5806 (cell)

Sunday, Sept. 25th: King of Prussia, PA
2:30 - 4:30 pm, Philadelphia Inquirer Building
800 River Road, King of Prussia, PA 19406
Contact: Jim Baab 610-574-1222 (cell)

Attend the 2 hour mini-course and receive the course book “Good to be King” and the in-depth, 12 hour DVD set. All for $120.

Register now at www.constitutionpreservation.org

Even if you think you know the Constitution well, you’ll be shocked at how much you were never taught.

Next Meeting of the Allegheny County Libertarian Party at Rauterkus.com

Come to our office at 108 South 12th Street, South Side, for the next monthly meeting of the Allegheny County Libertarians: 7 pm on Wed. Sept. 21.

Windy City event features Pittsburgh speaker - Monetary Conference

Chicago Monetary Conference is to be held from September 29 to Oct 2, 2005. Pittsburgh's Dan Sullivan will be one of 25 or so speakers. Steven Zarenga is the main organizer. http://www.monetary.org/2005conference.html.

Lessons from Hurricane Katrina (via Libertarians of PA)

Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania
3863 Union Deposit Road #223
Harrisburg, PA 17109
1-800-774-4487
www.lppa.org

For Immediate Release:
Date: 09/14/2005

For more information contact:
Doug Leard (Media Relations) or David Jahn (Chair) at 1-800-R-RIGHTS

Lessons from Hurricane Katrina
Pennsylvania Should Encourage Private Responses

Harrisburg, PA -- The Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania (LPPA) extends its deepest sympathies to those who lost so much from Hurricane Katrina. In the days ahead, much national attention will focus on how the loss of life and property could have been minimized and on policy matters regarding disaster preparation and costs.

Local, state and federal responses to Katrina are not within the LPPA's scope, but lessons learned that apply to Pennsylvania are. One observation is that in times of crisis, communities that are highly dependent on government are highly vulnerable if all levels of government can't coordinate, predict and prepare for every possible contingency.

The lesson is that citizens and local communities need to accept their personal responsibility for self-reliance in times of crisis and that government must not obstruct private relief efforts. To that end the LPPA suggests a legislative review of state laws and regulations to identify those that deter emergency preparedness and response. Some obvious focus areas include:

* Private Organizations Aiding Disaster Recovery – From the Salvation Army to Wal-Mart to churches to credit unions, private organizations have been effective all along the Gulf Coast. We should ask our own private organizations how Pennsylvania can avoid obstructing their efforts during a disaster here. In addition, local businesses and service groups, being on the ground here, should be given latitude since they have invested locally and have special incentive to minimize damage and maximize recovery.

* Medical Licensing Requirements – Out-of-state medical professionals kind enough to offer their services along the Gulf Coast were stopped due to licensing issues. The rapid or automatic granting medical professionals a functioning status here should be a high priority.

* Absolute Right of Self-Defense – In a time of crisis, citizens’ right to self and community defense must not be impeded or questioned by government authorities. Nor should it be for those volunteering for the relief effort.

* Keep Vicitms’ and Responders’ Affairs Private – Some private organizations helped to arrange victims’ mail delivery to their offices where some of that mail was illegally opened and monies taken from victims who received aid. State private property laws should reinforce failed federal laws in these instances for victims and responders.

LPPA spokesman Doug Leard added, “Of course, a well-balanced state budget, a lean state legislature, a healthy economic climate, the absence of parasitic slush funds, would make it easier for Pennsylvanians and private organizations to make preparations and to actually assist during a time of crisis. That in turn makes it easier for the state to step in when truly necessary."

It is still best to walk your bike on the sidewalk. Perhaps I'll make a whole campaign out of nothing else but good city-living guidelines. Forget about heavy subjects, such as freedoms or subsidization of rich people's housing for downtown loft apartments -- just don't burp in public nor play your car radios too loud.
Photo by Mark Rauterkus.

The Salvation Army facility will include a concert hall space that can also be used for Sunday Worship. 

Western Avenue work paid for by those who live on that street

The model has changed for the worse, here again. If a road needs to be improved -- those who have "frontage" on that road are going to pay more.

I am against all types of non-democratic weeie-driven, improvement districts that live upon soft money and extra fees and taxes. BIDs = Business Improvement Districts. BIDs are ways to increase taxes as if the residents are not paying enough already. BIDs also come up with fancy ways to spend more money.

Funds OK'd for Western Avenue work URA director of business development Robert Rubinstein said legislation creating a Western Avenue Business Improvement District, and allowing the assessment, would be introduced in council within weeks. Council would have to conduct a public hearing before voting, he said.

When roads get paved because those who live there are paying more for the paving -- it is a case of the rich getting richer. We won't need to pave the roads in the poor neighborhoods.

Road paving decisions need to come from the most prudent logic, based upon fairness, giving economics of the community some weight and allowing opportunities for citizen input and critique. Presently road paving decisions are often about patronage. This move to BIDs makes the special interest groups get more clout and more attention to scares resources.

Road work in progress somewhere in the world.

Bankrupt city BUYS another property, spends more, further hurts downtown

This is no "redevelopment group" -- it is government. The URA (Urban Redevelopment Authority) gets money from taxes and does NOT pay taxes.

Redevelopment group adds another property - PittsburghLIVE.com

The Pittsburgh Urban Redevelopment Authority added another property Tuesday to its growing cache of buildings in the Fifth and Forbes corridor Downtown.
Authority members unanimously approved the purchase of a 4,100-square-foot building at 218 Forbes Ave. owned by George S. Aiken for $350,000. The purchase means the authority will own at least 18 buildings in the Downtown corridor.
Redevelopment director Jerry Dettore said the building was needed to complete the authority's ownership of a cluster of properties around Aiken's restaurant, George Aiken's Delicious Prepared Foods, which will continue to operate for up to five years. Dettore said his agency has been buying Downtown buildings to prepare the city for Mayor Tom Murphy's plan to attract a major company to develop a large retail district.

The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: Microsoft plans to outsource more, says ex-worker

The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: Microsoft plans to outsource more, says ex-worker Microsoft is on track to outsource more than 1,000 jobs a year to China, according to blistering evidence released yesterday in Microsoft's increasingly nasty spat with Google over an employee who jumped ship in July.

In a revelation that highlights the complexity of China President Hu Jintao's visit to Seattle and Microsoft on Monday, legal filings detailed claims of how Microsoft had offended the Chinese government by not outsourcing as many jobs as promised to Chinese technology vendors.
Slashdot comments

Russ Diamond, lead organizer of PA Clean Sweep, visits Pittsburgh on Wed, 14th

Russ Diamond, the lead organizer of PA Clean Sweep, is due in Pittsburgh on Wednesday. We're meeting with him at 5 pm at the Crawford Grill in Station Square. I'll try to attend.

Free Movie at Pitt -- 9 pm on WED -- "Busted"

The movie, Busted, is to be shown this wednesday in room 120 in David Lawrence Hall at the University of Pittsburgh.

"Created by Flex Your Rights and narrated by retired ACLU director Ira Glasser, BUSTED realistically depicts the pressure and confusion of common police encounters. In an entertaining and revealing manner, BUSTED illustrates the right and wrong ways to handle different police encounters and pays special attention to demonstrating how you, the viewer, can courteously and confidently refuse police searches."
http://www.flexyourrights.org/busted

Grant S is headed home after delivering supplies to the Gulf

katrinaWay to go Grant S. He took a turck load of goods to the gulf in the wake of Katrina. He wrote (via Kathy and edited slightly by the webmaster) in part:

... PS I found four lost salvation army trucks, and got them provisioned again, and got national guard to donate ice and water until the head office in Jackson was able to re-supply them. They thought they thought they may have been looted or worse, but they just ran out of gas and got lost with no communications. And they ran out of provisions. Have pictures of all this, with me in some, just to make Ray jealous. Now that the women will see ME in he man mode.

HOT, buggy and wet. The sand bugs like to bite me. Safety is good and lots of good people are down here helping. Stayed in a huge Baptist Church last night. Many good people arriving from all over now. I am coming back soon. Food is gone, and I am tired.

Love to all G

Grant S -- you are our hero. Safe travels home. If you want help uploading those photos and telling your story on the web -- give me a call.

Spammers' Speed Trap: Posting some snares in the wake of Katrina

katrinaWe need to come up with a plan to set some traps to place within the databases built in the wake of Katrinia and People Finder efforts.

Humm.... More thinking and documentation to do.

BTW, the FEMA decoder rings are on the back burner for now.

Eternal vigilance: Libertarian ideology: give it a break!

Adam's recent blog entry, now at his own blog, starts on the harsh side but is right on the money at its close. I call myself a "common sense libertarian."

Eternal vigilance: Libertarian ideology: give it a break!: "Humans need to embrace multiple ideologies, recognizing that the real world includes great uncertainty and humans have a number of concerns which may complement or conflict with each other. They also need to think more like engineers, treating the world as raw material that can be shaped, bit-by-bit, into one's ideal.

Need a skipper. Take your pick.

Jim Leyand is in town. Get out... These are the guys that should manage the Pirates.

Quiz: Who are these fellows? Where was the photo taken?

Perhaps the Pirates would be able to get both for a good price.

Unloading a City Park Asset to the Salvation Army -- discussions to start.

Post agenda is slated for 1:30 on Tue, Sept. 13, 2005, to talk about the plan to turn over a City of Pgh Park to the Salvation Army. They hope to create a new Kroc Center. The Park is in Brighton Heights on the city's North Side.

LIVE CHAT: Embracing NCLB: One School's Experience

WHEN: Wednesday, Sept. 14, 6 p.m., Eastern Time

WHERE: http://www.edweek-chat.org

Rail Road Flat Elementary, an impoverished, 100-student public school in rural northern California, has become one of the highest-achieving schools in the state and last year was a state nominee for "national model of excellence" status. The school's success has been attributed to strong student discipline and a heavy emphasis on the kind of teach-to-the-test learning that is often frowned upon in more affluent areas. "There's a need for structure," says Rail Road Flat teacher Randall Youngblood. "If I was teaching in another socioeconomic group, it might be different." But what are the drawbacks?

In this chat, Youngblood will discuss his school's approach to academics and classroom management and its attitude toward state and national policy.

Submit advance questions here.

For more information on Rail Road Flat Elementary, read the article "One-Track Minds" in the Aug./Sept. Issue of TEACHER MAGAZINE.

No equipment other than Internet access is needed to participate in this text-based chat. A complete transcript will be posted shortly after the chat's completion.

Gregg Behr efforts at Forbes Funds

Nonprofits need clout in Pittsburgh -- yeah, right.

Forbes Funds, Copeland Fund, Tropman Fund, Wishart Fund, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Any charitable organization, incorporated as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) corporation and serving Greater Pittsburgh, can become a member of the Greater Pittsburgh Nonprofit Partnership (GPNP) by contributing a minimum of $100.

Petition calling for indie commission of feds after Katrnia

Signatures are gathering at on online petition to send an unmistakable message that Americans want answers in the wake of Katrinia. They want 50,000 people to support an Independent Commission -- by Wednesday.

Sign the petition.katrina