Monday, October 22, 2018

Fwd: Invite to Everything Afterschool

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Dear Mark,

 

We invite you to join us on Thursday Nov 13 at Rodef Shalom Congregation (4905 Fifth Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15213) for Everything Afterschool, our annual enrichment fair. The event will take place from 10:30AM to 12:30PM

 

With 54 different exhibitors, Everything Afterschool offers out-of-school time programs and enrichment providers a chance to connect and learn about resources in the community.

 

We also have some fantastic raffle prizes in store for everyone who registers, including: Amazon.com gift cards, free admission to Fun Slides Carpet SkatePark, T-shirts, mugs, books on leadership, and more.

 

If you'd like to attend the fair, please register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/everything-afterschool-2018-tickets-51027024203

 

 

We hope to see you there!

 

Best,

Gulcan


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Mark Rauterkus       Mark@Rauterkus.com 
Executive Director of SKWIM USA, a 501(c)(3)
The Pittsburgh Project - swim coach and head lifeguard
Middle School Swim Coach at The Ellis School
Former Varsity Boys Swim Coach, Pittsburgh Obama Academy
Sabbatical for 2018: PPS Summer Dreamers' Swim & Water Polo 
Pittsburgh Combined Water Polo Team

http://CLOH.org

412 298 3432 = cell

Fwd: Important Service Update


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From: TalkShoe Support <support@talkshoe.com>

T-Mobile & MetroPCS are charging their customers 0.01/minute to dial-in.
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Hello Rauterkus,

Do you have callers that are T-Mobile or MetroPCS users? 

T-Mobile and MetroPCS have started charging their customers 1¢ per minute to dial most free podcasting phone numbers. This affects ALL free podcast number services, not just TalkShoe.

It is important to note that this is NOT originating from our end; certainly, we would have no reason to restrict users' access to our service. If you or your participants are experiencing this issue please reach out to support immediately and one of our agents will be happy to help you find a solution. We can be reached by replying to this email or opening a ticket with our support desk. 

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Fwd: Gubernatorial Debate



---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: KenK4Pa <Campaign@kenk4pa.com>

 
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 21, 2018
For more information, please contact Ken Krawchuk at
Campaign@KenK4Pa.com or 224-Krawchuk (224-572-9248)
 
 
LIBERTARIAN GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE KEN KRAWCHUK ACCEPTS INVITATION TO LWV DEBATE
 
ABINGTON, PA – Ken Krawchuk, the Libertarian Party candidate for Pennsylvania Governor, has accepted the invitation of the League of Women Voters to participate in their hour-long televised gubernatorial debate being held at 7 PM on Wednesday, October 24, at the North Penn VFW, 2519 Jenkintown Rd, Glenside, PA 19038.  The event will be hosted by Ms. Susan Carty, the President of the Chester County Pennsylvania League of Women Voters.  The debate is to be broadcast by the Pennsylvania Cable Network, and moderated by Francine Schertzer, Vice President of Programming at PCN.
This event is open to the public and media.
 
"I'm very grateful that the League of Women Voters has stepped forward to sponsor this forum," said Krawchuk, "Especially since the Libertarian statewide candidates have been shut out of every debate to date.  Thanks must also go to PCN for their willingness to participate.  Their 3.5 million subscribers will finally have the chance to hear the Libertarian message of lower taxes and more liberty.
 
"One thing that really surprises me is that Mr. Wagner and Mr. Wolf have not yet accepted the League's invitation," confided Krawchuk.  "I even sent both of them a personal letter encouraging them to participate, but neither one has replied.  Mr. Wagner's silence is particularly surprising, as he has constantly been calling for debates to be held.  Well, here's his chance to live up to his word.  Me, I'm hoping they both show.  Pennsylvania deserve hear side-by-side our visions for a better Pennsylvania."
 
Krawchuk, 65, is an Information Technology entrepreneur from Abington, Pa.  He has appeared on the gubernatorial ballot twice before, facing Democrat Ed Rendell in 2002 and Republican Tom Ridge in 1998.  Because of Pennsylvania's onerous ballot access laws, Krawchuk is the first third party or independent gubernatorial candidate to appear on the Pennsylvania ballot since 2002.  His return to politics comes on the heels of his federal court victory in 2016 that ruled unconstitutional the $80,000+ fines that have been levied against statewide candidates who were unsuccessful in their attempt to appear on the November ballot.
 
Founded in 1971, the Libertarian Party is the third largest political party in the state and the nation, with over 170 elected and appointed officials currently serving in office nationwide, and 40 in Pennsylvania.  Libertarians are fiscally conservative and socially liberal, and like the Founding Fathers, Libertarians believe that you have the inalienable right to conduct your life as you see fit, without interference, so long as you respect the rights and property of others.
 
For more information about the Libertarian Party, the public is invited to contact the Krawchuk campaign at www.KenK4Pa.com, Campaign@KenK4Pa.com, or (224) Krawchuk (224-572-9248), the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania at www.LpPa.org or (800) R-RIGHTS, or the National Libertarian Party at www.Lp.org or (202) 333-0008. 
 
Krawchuk appears weekly on a livestream at 8 PM every Wednesday night that is simulcasted to Facebook (https://facebook.com/KenK4Pa) and YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/user/KenKrawchuk).
 
###
Copyright © 2018 Libertarian for Pennsylvania Governor, All rights reserved.
Please say subscribed if you would like to receive all the press releases from the Ken Krawchuk Campaign for Governor.

Our mailing address is:
Libertarian for Pennsylvania Governor
PO Box 260
Cheltenham, PA 19012-0260

Friday, October 19, 2018

Author visit in Homestead


I wanted to invite you to my book signing on Friday, November 9 at the Barnes & Noble, Waterfront in Homestead.   A copy of the book cover is attached.   I think this is a timely book which I hustled to get out just in time for the mid-term elections.  

If you can’t make the event, you can always order the book online:  https://www.amazon.com/Plot-Control-World-Billions-Elections/dp/1510745009/

Hope to see you there!  

Warmest regards,
Dan

Fwd: [New post] Five Reasons to Vote NO on the Allegheny County Children’s Fund

---- Forwarded message ---------
From: gadflyonthewallblog
Subject: [New post] Five Reasons to Vote NO on the Allegheny County Children's Fund



stevenmsinger posted: "     You can't raise taxes without a plan of how to spend the money.   But that's exactly what voters in and around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, are being asked to approve this Nov. 6.   Come election day, all voters in Allegheny C"
Respond to this post by replying above this line

New post on gadflyonthewallblog

Five Reasons to Vote NO on the Allegheny County Children's Fund

by stevenmsinger

Screen Shot 2018-10-17 at 12.14.03 PM

 

 

You can't raise taxes without a plan of how to spend the money.

 

But that's exactly what voters in and around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, are being asked to approve this Nov. 6.

 

Come election day, all voters in Allegheny County will be confronted with what's been called the Children's Fund, a referendum asking for a voluntary 5% property tax hike that allegedly would go to pay for early learning, after-school programs and healthy meals for kids.

 

But there are no details about who will provide these services, who will be responsible for the money, exactly what else the money might be used for or almost anything substantive about it.

 

It's just a check with "For Kids" scrawled in the Memo and everything else left blank.

 

The plan is highly controversial drawing criticism from across the Mon Valley including school directors, education advocates and even progressive groups like the Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network (PIIN).

 

Here are the top five reasons you should vote NO on the referendum:

 

1) It Raises Taxes Without Stipulating Where the Money Goes

 

Here's what we do know.

 

The Children's Fund would be financed by 0.25 mills of property tax — $25 on each $100,000 of assessed value, beginning Jan. 1.

 

That's expected to generate roughly $18 million a year that would begin to be distributed in 2020.

 

If approved, it would change the county Home Rule Charter to establish the fund as part of county government. It would create a new office under the supervision of the county manager.

A Citizens' Advisory Commission would "review and advise" the work of the new office, according to the proposed charter amendment.

 

However, County Council and County Executive Rich Fitzgerald would have to do the work of actually creating all this stuff. They'd have to pass an ordinance establishing how this all works, what powers the advisory commission has, etc. They would have to determine whether the money goes to existing programs or new ones. They'd have to set up audits of the money every five years, conduct a study to recommend goals and a focus for how the funding is spent.

 

That's an awful lot left undecided.

 

It makes no sense for voters to hand over the money BEFORE we figure all this other stuff out.

 

It's not at all how good government works.

 

You're supposed to define a problem or need and then come up with a plan to meet that need. You prepare a budget that justifies raising taxes and then you vote on it.

 

This is exactly the opposite. We're getting the money before the plan of how to spend it.

 

That's a recipe for fraud and financial mismanagement.

 

 

2) It's Unclear Who Would Be In Charge of the Money

 

Who would be accountable for this money?

 

We know who gets to decide this - County Council and the Chief Executive. But we don't know who they will pick or what powers they'll delegate to these people. Nor do we know what kind of oversight there will be or what kind of regulations will exist for how it can be spent.

 

This is a blind statement of trust.

 

It's like saying – "Here's $18 million. Go buy us something nice."

 

What if they mismanage the money? And what would that even mean for money with so few strings attached? And how would we know? How transparent would this process be?

 

It's kind of hard to approve such a plan with so many variables up in the air.

 

3) The Campaign was Not Grass Roots

 

To hear supporters talk, you'd think this was a bottom up crusade created by, organized by and conducted by everyday citizens from our communities.

 

It wasn't.

 

Sure, volunteers for the Children's Fund went door-to-door to collect more than 40,000 signatures from voters last summer.

 

But they weren't all volunteers.

 

 

Financial documents show that the whole initiative has been funded by various nonprofit organizations that could, themselves, become beneficiaries of this same fund.

 

 

According to the Children's Fund's own campaign finance report, as of June there were three nonprofit corporations who donated $427,000 to the campaign: the Human Services Center of Turtle Creek gave $160,000, Pressley Ridge Foundation gave $150,000, and Allies for Children gave a donation of $45,000 and another for $72,000.

 

That's like McDonalds spending a hundred thousand dollars to fix up the school cafeterias so it could land a multi-million dollar annual contract!

 

It's a huge conflict of interest.

 

At very least, it's purposefully misleading.

 

Many of those "volunteers" gathering signatures weren't working for free. They were part of the $100,000 spent by the campaign to hire Vote Goal Organizing for paid signature collectors.

 

That doesn't look like charity. It looks like philanthrocapitalism – when corporations try to disguise grabs for power and profit as philanthropy.

 

Corporations – even so-called nonprofit corporations – rarely do things out of sheer goodness. They're acting in the best interest of the company.

 

I see no reason to think this "Children's Fund" is any different.

 

4) It Works Around Instead of With Local Government

 

Though almost everyone agrees with the stated goals of the Children's Fund, many organizations and government officials complained that they were not consulted and made a part of the process.

 

 

Two Pittsburgh Public School directors went on record in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette about a lack of communication.

 

"First and foremost, we have not had any conversations with the organizers of the referendum," board president Regina Holley said. "There are lots of ifs and whats that have not been answered."

 

Kevin Carter, another city school director added, "In my role as a school board member, they didn't talk to us about this at all."

 

"When you leave your largest school district in the region out of this conversation, are you doing this around children?" he asked, citing that the district serves 25,000 students daily.

 

This has been a common thread among officials. No one wants to say they're against collecting money that's ostensibly for the benefit of children, but it's hard to manage the money if you're not part of the process.

 

And it's not just protocol. Many are worried that this lack of communication may be emblematic of how the fund will be run. If organizers aren't willing to work with local governments to get the job done, how will they know what each community needs? How will they meet those needs? Is that even what the fund will really be about?

 

Richard Livingston, Clairton school board president, noted concern that the money collected might not be spent evenly throughout the county. For all he knows, it could just be spent in the city or in select areas.

 

Indeed, this is not the best way to start any endeavor funded by all, for the benefit of all children.

 

 

5) It's Redundant

 

While it's true that the county could use more funding to meet the needs of students, numerous organizations already exist that attempt to provide these services.

 

 

There are a plethora of Pre-K, after school tutoring and meal services in the Mon Valley. In fact, much of this is done at the county's various neighborhood schools.

 

If organizers were only concerned with meeting these needs, why form an office within county government that would have an appointed advisory commission? Why not just increase the funding at the local schools and/or organizations already doing this work?

 

In fact, this is exactly the reason the Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network is against the initiative.

 

According to the organization's statement:

 

 

"At PIIN, we believe that the faith community is a sacred partner with our public schools, and we have long been supportive of both the community schools model and increasing state funding to provide an excellent, high-quality education to every child in our region. We believe in funding for early childhood learning, after school programs, and nutritious meals. However, we cannot support a ballot initiative that creates an unnecessary entity, with an unknown advisory board, and an unclear process for directing our tax dollars.

 

This is why we are urging our membership to reject the Allegheny County Children's Fund Initiative at the polls this November."

 

 

 

Another related organization, Great Public Schools-Pittsburgh, also released a statement with "several specific concerns" about the potential fund. These include how the money would be distributed, which organizations would benefit from it, and questions about its redundancy.

 

Several pre-K programs already exist but are not fully funded, the organization noted. Why don't we just fund them?

 

The group is a coalition of the Education Rights Network, One Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, PIIN, and the Service Employees International Union.

 

The group's statement noted concerns but fell short of urging an outright NO vote.

 


The bottom line is that many people are concerned about inadequate funding for children's programs.

 

But this "Children's Fund" is not a solution to that problem.

 

This is the creation of another bureaucracy that can take our tax dollars and do almost whatever it wants with them.

 

There is no guarantee it will help kids.

 

In fact, it looks a lot more like a power and money grab by corporate interests, many of whom would prefer to privatize our school system.

 

This November, when you go to the polls, do the right thing for our kids.

 

Vote NO on the Allegheny County Children's Fund.

 

IMG_8288

 



 

Like this post? I've written a book, "Gadfly on the Wall: A Public School Teacher Speaks Out on Racism and Reform," now available from Garn Press. Ten percent of the proceeds go to the Badass Teachers Association. Check it out!

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Ta.


Mark Rauterkus       Mark.Rauterkus@gmail.com
Swimming and Water Polo Coach, Schenley High School, Pittsburgh, PA
http://CLOH.wikia.com
412 298 3432 = cell