Confession Tuesday: We are all responsible for the Arizona shootings

or weren’t we supposed to be the most politically mature country in the world?

Dear V.




I imagine that you already heard the news about the Arizona shootings. You had followed perhaps the discussion surrounding the shooters profiling and about who is to blame for it. And I know that it is even more confusing for you who are listening all this disputes there, back home…


So let me tell you what I think – we shall not blame Sarah Palin, nor Glenn Beck. Not even Jesse Kelly and his M16 shooting campaign event should get  blamed for this. As for the shooter, who knows what went through his mind?He is mentally unstable. but somehow he did wait for the 2010 election campaign to be over in order to act…   I do not want to imply that they are all legally responsible, but they should feel morally responsible. And to that extent  we are all responsible. There wouldn’t be a Sarah Palin, Beck and all those who are spewing political vitriol without us, the millions of Americans who are funding their campaigns and raising the ratings of their shows. It was John Dickerson who noted, I think, that the best videos of the 2010 campaign were the “viral” ones. You may recall that I wrote you about, now senator Joe Manchin III and the video that helped him win the elections – the one where he shot the Cap and Trade bill. It is sad I think that he needed to express his position in such an extreme form in order to win the dispute. And whilst the position on Cap and Trade is his to hold, the demand for thus form of expression is ours …


Do you recall how, in the years of our youth, we praised the political maturity of the American voter. And how we did wish that our country will, once more, overcome its dark age and experience democracy and grow into the same political maturity. How we re-read Tocqueville again and again. And now… Today I wonder where is this political maturity gone. And how much more perilous our bias had become without it. I wonder if we shouldn't better stop pointing fingers and look to ourselves first ...


Oh I know, there is an explanation in the ways our media platforms are changing and the Internet and all that, but…


I have to return to work now,


I hope to be able to call soon and that Maja feels much better nowadays


As always


Yuri

The confessions of a bus rider (4)

The bridges of Armstrong County or how to persuade your Republican representative to fund public transportation

After the most recent pre-election campaign I realized -like this was not common knowledge already, noted Nim - that Republicans do not like taxes. Or so they say… To be more precise, they oppose both taxation and centralization. So, to write a republican and ask them to establish a dedicated state fund for public transportation in Pennsylvania, because that would raise two issues he (or she) likes to oppose (or at best avoid discussion). One issue is revenue –more taxes, more fees? The other is redistribution of funds (who will get what) therefore centralization. So instead of asking for dedicated funding, what I'd like to ask them (the Republicans) is to reduce taxes. Yes, you read it well: Reduce Taxes. More specific: reduce state taxes. Give each county the ability to re-direct that potential revenue towards whatever that particular county needs more. And if you do look at the numbers, it may even make sense…

For example, when the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission had to vote recently on a new "band-aid" funding solution for the Port Authority of Allegheny County, 22 of the 49 commissioners present decided to oppose it. For example two out of the three Armstrong County commissioners present voted nay. So if it were up to Armstrong County the funding solution as pernicious and temporary as it was, it'd fail. But if you listen to their point, you cannot but nod in agreement. They too have roads and bridges in dire need for upgrades and repairs and when some extra money is available at state level, what does the state do? Patching public transportation budgets in Allegheny County.

It does not seem fair, does it? said Yuri

Well, to be fair, if one uses the 2000 Census numbers and a median 3.3% state tax (excludes unemployment contribution)applied to each median income to figure out each county's contribution to PA revenue from payroll (1) taxes only, it results that Allegheny County's contribution is about $651,783,921 and Armstrong County's is $25,563,236 (2). (And these numbers do not even consider all other contributions such as business taxes, tobacco & alcohol fees, sales taxes etc. ) So what if we wouldn't pay any state taxes from our incomes?
This means the Port Authority's budget shortfall is about 7.2% of what we pay in state taxes. And why we ask to pay less in state taxes, so we could pay more towards local projects without paying more taxes. Same for other taxes the county businesses do pay to
wards the state budget - instate of increasing them, just lower the percentage that goes to the state coffers so more can get to local projects. As for Armstrong county, they shall finance their bridge and road projects from their own residents revenues - after all it is only fair...

Or not? asked Anais -after all this is one state we all live in.

Yeah, but I ride the bus in Pittsburgh and I could not care less about the crumbling bridges of Armstrong County.(Annamari)

Notes:
(1) adjusted gross earnings for individuals
(2) these are very rough estimates of the actual tax contributions that will make most accountants cringe. But they do reflect an actual ratio ... In Pennsylvania the
 counties in major urban metro area generate significantly more tax revenue than rural areas.

Sources:
@lndaley  reports from Dec.13 SPC comission meeting
Census data for Allegheny and Armstrong Counties from :
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/42/42003lk.html
respective : http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/42/42005lk.html

Confession Tuesday: The confessions of a bus rider (3)

...and a train rider, I may add.

After reading the new TSA related stories , Mona wondered if those voices opposing a universal health care plan (with or without a government option) arguing that it opens the door for the government into our private health care issues will also oppose the government’s interference of the with peoples most intimate body parts.


Yuri:

These are the people who inferred (and believed) that the government will control treatment options and medication choices in a larger measure than health insurance providers do now – that is for any other reasons than cost related ones. Not impossible

-  slightly possible, adds Nim. So they will start suggesting alternatives – like the railroads they refuse to rebuild and support…

Slightly possible alternatives, noted Annamari with her usual lack of  tact. This is no longer the country where everything is possible, but the country where the least possible is most likely to become reality.

Eco-Friday: Energy alternatives (repetitive)

As Yuri browsed the web for news on the BP oil effects on energy reform (his business made some bets on alternative energy) his jaw dropped as he read the second comment to an article about the ways the spill could actually hurt the chances for reform.

“This Cristoph guy, he’d note later, blames it all on environmental activists. As if, using faulty , untested equipment in deep water drilling was not something that BP could avoid. I wonder if a thorough investigation, if one will take place, is not going to bring up some risk analysis papers that show that the cost of the spill is less than the costs of a few more years of testing and research to reduce the consequences of such accidents. But, no, it is those darn environmentalists who sent poor BP digging…mhhm… drilling for money in deep waters .”


“To me it looks that the conservatives themselves are potential sources of alternative energy” shrugged Annamari.


“How comes?”


“With so many interpretative twists and turns on the facts the conservatives seem like a pretty good source of vibrations to me”

Note: the articles mentioned above:

Why the Oil Spill Could Hurt the Chances for Energy Reform and

How Everyday Behaviors Can Produce Clean Energy

Gifts: and alphabet letters according to...

Yuri:
Achievement culture:
The culture of self-appointed gods.
Annamari:
Business education (American style):
To go global with a company that has not started doing business locally yet.
Nim:
Civility:
The behavior exhibited by our artificial alter-ego.
Anaïs:
Destiny (acceptance): to belong, humbly
Mona:
Freecycle:
Currency free trade market based on one's desire of objects another has but does not want any longer.

The blog author:
Grace (religious):
A gift of love from friends and family.


and a graceful gift is a gift that gifts beyond the original intention, such as
Yuri: One Laptop Per Child
Mona: Autism Romania
Annamari : Invisible Children
Nim: Color Online Book Donation
Anaïs: the Book of Hopes and Dreams

Nim's Hell

Sunday morning (Church )
The Rector: Hell is the sum of our sins we never attempted to overcome.


Sunday evening (Killer Queen)
Nim: Drama queen resumed by Freddie Mercury playing his fingers on a guitar's neck.




Monday morning (in Yuri's car)
Nim: I bet that when I will die I am going to end up in a room full of people equally deaf and blind. With nobody to commend my drama at its best. I'd better give it up now...
Yuri: the way I know you , you'd rather learn Braille.

Foreword

June 24; shattered.
The evening Ieronim’s body fell for the first time.
He was raised. And his body kept on falling ...

I turned as the sound of breaking glass startled me. Nim’s body collapsing along with the shattered crystal crumbles of what was once my praised Riedel & Schott Zwiesel wine set. His bones made a dry crackling noise as suddenly they were also crumbling glass and his flesh seemed to give away under its own weigh. With a puzzled look on his face he released a low, gurgling sound (He was trying to say sorry). As Yuri rushed to stop the fall, his chair resonant crush on the wood floors like parched foliage crushed by jackboots.

Few moments before, I was talking with Yuri and Annamari about the possibility of recession proof investments; we were trying to help with one of her papers, one she had good chances to publish in a specialty journal. Bored by our discussion, our two “English majors” started taking the dirty dishes to the kitchen. This was by now routine: since Annamari started to join us during the weekly dinners, Nim started to help with the dishes pretending our business talk bored him. Yuri claimed that the real reason was that he could not stand Annamari. (I think that he was becoming keen on Anaïs).

Shortly, he retrieved his balance ; his voice and quirky sense of humor:
" How are you feeling"
"Featherlight. I am free now - Hieronymus, the angel, has fallen"