State Health Care Example: Rationing, Increase Taxes

Better to look at state examples to determine how health care overhaul would work on national scale.

Gary thechartman Smith... look to Massachusetts, the citizens don't like it now. There's rationing, increase in taxes...

http://www.thechartman.com/

On Fox News Saturday with a couple other similar-minded guests, with the exception of Lamont Hill... who continued to promote the concept the federal government not only can fix the broken health care system but does it best.

The other guests tried to get through the reality the federal government has failed with the Postal System, etc. but nobody brought out the fact unfortunately the Congress actually raided the Social Security Trust Fund which Hill cited as one of the government programs that "works."

And Hill didn't mention the Medicare system (also used in examples of how the federal government fixes and works) is close to bankrupt.

Hill also began to comment on how the government option desired would be the only way to obtain "competition..."

but as soon as he mentioned how the new system would be paid for by eliminating the fraud, waste and abuse in the Medicare system, and by increasing taxes on the wealthiest 1 percent and 5 percent of taxpayers, the guffaws drowned out his proffer the public option would provide competition...

Net the Truth Online

Town Council Vacant Seat Update

Fayette County Democrat Committee looks for more time for nomination papers
By Mary Pickels
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, September 25, 2009

Fayette County Judge Ralph Warman convened a hearing Thursday following the filing of an emergency motion by the county Democrat Committee, requesting additional time to file nomination papers for a Uniontown City Council candidate.

Douglas S. Sepic, attorney for the committee, filed the motion prior to a meeting by the Fayette County Election Board.

Sepic stated in his motion that a vacancy was created for the seat in March upon the resignation of Councilman Marlin Sprouts. Sprouts was forced to quit council after he entered a guilty plea in federal court to charges involving a mortgage scam.

Council appointed Philip Michael to fill Sprouts' unexpired term. But because Michael had lived in the city only since October, some residents questioned whether he met legal requirements to serve on council. Michael resigned in April after council candidate Gary Geary filed a lawsuit alleging Michael did not meet a one-year residence requirement of individuals who are elected to serve on council.

In April, council appointed Curtis Sproul to fill Michael's vacated seat. Sproul was to serve until the November election.

Yesterday, county Election Bureau Director Laurie Lint testified before Warman that in a letter dated March 26, she informed the chairmen of both political parties of the vacancy on council and that they could submit nominations until Sept. 14.

Lint said in a published report earlier this month that the seat would not appear on the November ballot and would have to be filled by appointment by the city council for an individual to serve through the 2011 election because the vacancy was created after the March 10 deadline to file primary nomination petitions.

"My understanding at the time was that it was not going to be on the ballot," Lint said.

Several weeks later, Sepic wrote, Lint said she learned that the vacancy legally had to be filled by accepting nomination petitions from the political parties.

"While presumably done inadvertently, the director of the Fayette County Election Bureau, nevertheless, set in motion a chain of events which have led to contradictory statements by or on behalf of the election bureau and/or the Fayette County Board of Elections, a change in electoral procedure, legal obscurity and confusion as to when and how the said Uniontown city council seat would be filled," Sepic wrote in his motion.

The Democrat Committee, he said, relied upon Lint's statements as to how the seat would be filled and did not appoint a candidate or file a nomination certificate.

Under Sepic's questioning, Lint acknowledged that she did not notify the public or either committee that her earlier comments were inaccurate.

The county Republican Committee filed on the last day possible, Sept. 14, submitting the name of Gary Altman. Altman is the committee's attorney and was permitted to participate in yesterday's hearing.

Also testifying was Fred Lebder, Democrat Committee chairman. He said he visited the election bureau and, because Lint was not there at the time, asked a staff member to call the Department of State to confirm the March letter.

He did not recall the date of the visit, but said his understanding following the phone call was that the seat was going to be filled by appointment. He later saw Lint's published comments regarding nominations and was told they were accurate.

Altman requested a dismissal of Sepic's motion, claiming it was filed too late, stating that no provision exists in election law for late filing and questioning whether the Democrat Committee would have had time to file nomination papers before the Sept. 14 deadline.

Warman said he would take the matter under advisement and rule at a later date.


http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/fayette/s_644902.html

Dems seek deadline extension
September 25, 2009 04:39 AM TEXT SIZE By: STEVE FERRIS
Herald Standard

Print E-mail this
Related News:
Uniontown residents accused in burglary waive charges to court
Council faces another Uniontown appointment
County studies austerity programs
County studies austerity programs A Fayette County judge is considering whether to grant the county Democratic Party's request to extend the deadline to nominate a candidate for special election to fill a seat on Uniontown City Council.

Judge Ralph C. Warman convened the hearing late Thursday afternoon to hear arguments about the party's petition. The Fayette County Election Board held a meeting in the morning to discuss the county election bureau's handling of the election for the seat.

Warman didn't issue a ruling, saying he would take the arguments and petition under advisement.

At stake is whether Republican Party nominee Gary Altman, a Uniontown attorney, will be uncontested or face a Democratic challenger in a special election on Nov. 3 for the council seat that ex-councilman Marlin Sprouts once held.

Sprouts won the office in the 2007 election, but was indicted in a federal mortgage fraud case about a month after he took office in January 2008. He resigned on March 17 after he was sentenced to probation and ordered to pay restitution.

During the same March 17 meeting, council appointed Philip J. Michael to serve the remainder of Spouts' term, which would have expired at the end of 2011.

Michael resigned in April after Democratic council candidate Gary Gearing sued him, claiming he was not qualified for the office because he didn't live in the city for a year prior to his appointment and council should have appointed him to serve only until the November election.

Council then appointed Republican council candidate Curtis Sproul to fill the vacancy until the November election.

Attorney Douglas Sepic, who represents the county Democratic Party, argued in the petition that the Sept. 14 deadline to nominate candidates should be extended because the party was led to believe the seat would not appear on the Nov. 3 municipal election ballot and didn't learn it should be on the ballot until after the deadline passed.

Altman, who also represents the county Republican Party, made several arguments for dismissing the Democratic Party petition.

Altman said Sepic's petition was filed more than seven days after the Sept. 14 statutory filing deadline and state law requires such a petition to be filed no more than seven days after that deadline.

Secondly, Altman argued that there are no provisions in state law that would allow the court to override the Sept. 14 deadline, which was set by the state legislature.

However, an e-mail a Pennsylvania Department of State attorney sent the bureau last week stated the parties could petition the court to extend the deadline.

Fayette County Democratic Party Chairman Fred Lebder testified that he received a letter in March from the bureau saying the party had until Sept. 14 to nominate a candidate, but bureau director Laurie Lint said in a Sept. 10 article in the Herald-Standard that the seat would have to be filled through an appointment until the 2011 election.

He said he then went to the bureau office on a day Lint was not there and an office employee called someone in Harrisburg who confirmed that the seat should be filled through an appointment.

The election board discussed the confusion surrounding the seat, but didn't take any action because Sepic's petition was pending court action.

Board Chairman Vincent Zapotosky said the meeting was needed to restore public trust in the county election bureau, which he described as a "sacred institution."

Advertisement The court's decision will be binding, bureau solicitor Sheryl Heid Heid said, so the board did not have to take any action.

Heid said she and Lint originally reviewed applicable laws and determined that the council seat should appear on the November election ballot and council's appointment should expire on Jan. 1, 2010.

The bureau sent letters and nomination certificates to both parties on March 26.

The letters said nominations were due by Sept. 14, Heid said.

Sepic's petition requesting a hearing to extend the nomination deadline says state law requires nomination petitions and papers to be filed at least 50 days before the election and Sept. 14 was the deadline.

The Department of State e-mail advised the bureau that the seat should be on the November ballot because the vacancy existed at least 30 days before the election, but the election is a local matter and the department had no jurisdiction over the matter.

The bureau is not required to notify political parties about office vacancies, Heid said.

It is up to the parties to be aware of vacancies and nominate candidates to fill those offices, but the bureau tries to be helpful, Heid said.

State law requires a special election in November for the council seat, Heid said.

Heid said she began receiving phone calls about the seat the day after an article was published in the Herald-Standard on Sept. 10.

In the article, Lint said the bureau contacted state officials and was told council would have to fill the seat through an appointment until the 2011 election because the seat became vacant after the March 10 deadline to submit nominations for the primary election.

That information was not correct, Heid said.

She and Lint reviewed the matter the following week and determined that the March 26 letter to the parties contained the proper procedure for filling the seat, but, by that time, the Sept. 14 deadline had passed, Heid said.

The Democratic Party didn't nominate a candidate because of Lint's statement in the newspaper article, Sepic said in the petition seeking the nomination extension.

Altman's nomination came in a letter submitted on Sept. 14. The certificate that was enclosed with the March 26 letter was not used, but Lint said she accepted the nomination because no one objected to it.

At that time, Lint didn't believe the nomination was a major concern because she didn't think the seat would be on the November ballot, Heid said, adding that challenges to the nomination had to be filed within three days.

Zapotosky said he believes the bureau erred by accepting the Republican nomination because the party did not use the nomination certificate.

After the meeting, Zapotosky said he still had concerns about the mistakes the bureau made with the election for the council seat, calling it a breach of public trust.

Commissioner and board member Angela Zimmerlink said any matters concerning election bureau personnel and the solicitor would be addressed during a commissioners' meeting and not during an election board meeting.

Two city council seats will be on the ballot for the regular municipal election.

Democratic candidates Francis "Joby" Palumbo and Gearing and Republican candidates Sproul and Rhodes are running.

Council appointed Palumbo in January 2008 to replace former councilman Joseph Giachetti who won the election for the city treasurer's office.

http://www.heraldstandard.com/news_detail/article/1631/2009/september/25/bdems-seek-deadline-extension-b.html

PREVIOUS COVERAGE

Council faces another Uniontown appointment
September 10, 2009 04:21 AM TEXT SIZE By: STEVE FERRIS
Herald Standard

Uniontown City Council will have to make another appointment to fill the seat that former Councilman Marlin Sprouts held.

Fayette County Election Bureau Director Laurie Lint said Wednesday the bureau checked with the Pennsylvania Department of State and was told the seat will have to be filled through an appointment until the 2011 elections because Sprouts resigned after the March 10 deadline to file primary election petitions.

Sprouts resigned March 17 after he was sentenced to probation and ordered to pay restitution in a federal mortgage fraud case. He was indicted about a month after he took office in January 2007.

At its March 17 meeting, council appointed Philip J. Michael to serve the remainder of Sprouts' term, which would have ended in 2011.

Michael resigned on April 14 after Democratic City Council candidate Gary Gearing sued him, claiming he was not qualified to hold the office because he lived in the city for less than a year before he was appointed and council should have appointed him to serve only until the November election.

Council then appointed Republican council candidate Curtis Sproul to fill the vacancy until the general election on Nov. 3.

Advertisement If Sproul wins in November, council would have to appoint someone else to fill the vacant office until the 2011 elections.

Previously, Lint said the appointment would last until the November election when a special election would be held to fill the office and the Democratic and Republican parties had until Sept. 5 to submit nominations.

"It will not be on the (November) ballot," Lint said Wednesday.

Sproul, Republic candidate Russ Rhodes and Democratic candidates Francis "Joby" Palumbo and Gearing will run for two four-year terms in the November election.

A similar appointment situation is facing Fairchance Borough Council.

Council appointed council candidate Neal Christopher to fill a seat vacated by former council vice president Dora Miller's resignation in June. Lint said council would have to appoint someone to hold the office until the 2011 elections.

Christopher is one of four Democrats who won nominations in the primary and will run unopposed in November.

http://www.heraldstandard.com/news_detail/article/1220/2009/september/10/council-faces-another-uniontown-appointment.html

PA Libertarian Party Lawsuit Challenging Election Code

As they should do, the Libertarian Party of PA has filed a lawsuit challenging PA Election Code. Wish they'd get more involved in challenging bloated local voter registration lists, but they have quite a bit on their plate as it is.

As for Mark R. his points are well-said. (Just wish he'd see the light on support for a Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention and change his position for it.

The danger of a PA Con-Con is well-documented on our site, and elsewhere.

Net the Truth Online

Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Libertarian Party joins lawsuit challenging PA Election Code
Posted by Mark Rauterkus at 1:23 PM

Lawsuit filed to protect electoral process and secure voters’ rights

Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania
3915 Union Deposit Road #223
Harrisburg, PA 17109
www.lppa.org

For Immediate Release: May 5, 2009

Contact: Doug Leard (Media Relations) at Media-Relations@lppa.org or
Michael Robertson (Chair) at 1-800-R-RIGHTS / chair@lppa.org

Harrisburg, PA – On behalf of the Libertarian, Constitution and Green Parties of Pennsylvania, the Center for Competitive Democracy (CCD), a non-partisan,
non-profit 501(c)(3) legal advocacy group(http://www.competitivedemocracy.org/) has filed suit in federal District Court challenging the constitutionality of the Pennsylvania Election Code.

The lawsuit specifically challenges provisions that authorize courts to order candidates to pay litigation costs and fees to private parties who challenge their nomination papers. The lawsuit also seeks to require elections officials to count and certify write-in votes as required by the election code.

“Making minor party candidates pay the costs of validating their nomination papers while using public funds to subsidize the major party nomination process makes a mockery of the constitutional guarantee of equal protection,” said Mik Robertson, Chair of the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania. “The interest of the government is to secure voters’ rights to choose their elected representatives, not limit those choices.”

The lawsuit, Constitution Party of Pennsylvania, et al. v. Cortes, et al., No. 09-1961, was filed in response to a judgment ordering a 2006 Green Party candidate to pay more than $80,000 in litigation costs to private parties who challenged his nomination papers, and by Pennsylvania elections officials’ routine failure to count write-in votes.

The lawsuit asks the court to hold Sections 2872.2 and 2937 of the Pennsylvania Election Code unconstitutional. Section 2872.2 requires minor party candidates to submit nomination papers to gain ballot access, no matter how many votes the minor party won in the previous election. Section 2937 authorizes private parties to challenge those nomination papers, and authorizes courts to order the candidates to pay their challengers’ litigation costs and fees. The lawsuit also seeks enforcement of Section 3155, which requires elections officials to compute and certify valid write-in votes.

In 1972, the Supreme Court declared in Bullock v. Carter that states may not require candidates “to shoulder the costs” of conducting elections by charging filing fees without providing a non-monetary means of gaining ballot access. In Pennsylvania, however, these candidates cannot gain ballot access unless they submit nomination papers..

Constitution Party of Pennsylvania, et al. v. Cortes, et al. has been assigned to Judge Thomas Golden. CCD is expected to file a motion this week for preliminary injunction to suspend the fees already assessed pending the outcome of the action.

http://rauterkus.blogspot.com/2009/05/libertarian-party-joins-lawsuit.html

H1N1 Flu Vaccine: Emergency Declaration Force

Massachussets Emergency Law, if enact4ed would enable non-emergency officials such as the police to quarantine, remove children from home of parents who refuse to vaccinate. So reports Judge Napolitano on Fox 'n Friends this morning.

Unfortunately, instead of dedicating the remainder of Fox 'n Friends programming to this potential for "martial law" as the Judge maintained, the trio introduced yet another celebrity on the program.

Fact-checking is in order on this local item in Fayette County. Isn't it odd, only the Republican Party locally made a 'selection' for a candidate for the special election? And the name of the individual was not released. Why not? Why weren't both political parties interviewed for this article? And what about the so-called form that was the wrong form? Who gave out the form? From where was the form obtained?

Article

Council seat requires special election
September 20, 2009 04:22 AM TEXT SIZE By: STEVE FERRIS
Herald Standard
The Department of State has informed the Fayette County Election Bureau that state law requires a special election to fill a position on Uniontown City Council.

Bureau director Laurie Lint sent letters in March to the county Democratic and Republican parties, saying they should submit nominations for the council seat by 4:30 p.m. Sept. 14.

Last week, Lint said the position would not appear on the Nov. 3 election ballot because she contacted the State Department and was told the seat would have to be filled through an appointment until the 2011 elections because the seat was vacated after the March 10 deadline for candidates to submit petitions to enter the primary.

Fayette County Commissioner Angela M. Zimmerlink said she contacted a Department of State attorney after she received many calls about the council seat last week and was told the seat should appear on the November ballot.

She said

Louis Lawrence Boyle, deputy chief counsel for the Department of State, informed the county that Sept. 14, which was 50 days before the election, is set in state law 25 P.S. section 1953(b) as the deadline for nomination certificates.

Boyle said it appears that the City Council vacancy should be filled in the municipal election in November because the vacancy existed on March 17, which was at least 30 days before the election and he cited state law 53 P.S. section 35801 as the source of that information, Zimmerlink said.

The attorney also said that in similar cases in the past, the department has advised counties that political parties seeking an extension of the deadline should request one from Common Pleas Court because the Department of State secretary can not and the department can't authorize a county election board to do so, she said.

Boyle added that the City Council seat is not under the jurisdiction of the Department of State and the department has no authority over the county's handling of the election, Zimmerlink said.

Advertisement

"It is strictly a local matter," she said, referring to the information from Boyle.

The Republican Party reportedly submitted a nomination on Sept. 14.

Zimmerlink said she was told the nomination didn't meet statutory guidelines because the wrong form was used.

She said she wants to convene a meeting of the county election board, which all three commissioners serve on, to air the matter in public and inform voters about what took place. The board would not render a decision on the election if a hearing were held, she said.

However, Vincent Zapotosky, chairman of the board of commissioners, said he is not prepared to hold a hearing and the state did not direct the county to have one. He said the election for the council seat should be corrected administratively, Zimmerlink said.

She said the election bureau will notify the parties about the Department of State's position on the election.

The seat in question initially was that of former councilman Marlin Spouts. He won the position in the 2007 election and took office in January 2008.

He was indicted in a federal mortgage fraud case about a month after taking office and resigned March 17 this year after he was sentenced to probation and ordered to pay restitution.

At its March 17 meeting, council appointed Philip J. Michael to serve the remainder of Sprouts' term, which would have ended in 2011.

Michael resigned on April 14 after Democratic council candidate Gary Gearing sued him, claiming he was not qualified to hold the office because he lived in the city for less than a year before he was appointed and council should have appointed him to serve only until the November election.

Council then appointed Republican candidate Curtis Sproul to fill the vacancy until the November election.

Republican candidates Russ Rhodes and Sproul, and Democratic candidates Francis "Joby" Palumbo and Gearing are running for two four-year seats on council.

http://www.heraldstandard.com/news_detail/article/1252/2009/september/20/council-seat-requires-special-election.html

Real Americans Don't Need Wheelchairs

Don't miss Fox News commentary by Peter Johnson Jr.

Johnson calls the plan for so-called Health Care reform Father Government in his commentary this morning. He ends by suggesting:

Keep on doing the math. Next time someone says you don't need to be concerned about the proposal to overhaul Health Care, Johnson says, tell them you've done the math.

And the math doesn't add up.

http://twitter.com/peterjohnsonjr

Johnson's commentary can be googled for factuality. And it all - adds up.

Net the Truth Online

Waste Fraud Abuse Evident in Medicare Program

Radio America WND TV interview of 'Grace Marie Turner Pres. of Galen Institute RaMedicare funds going to fund bingo... what are chances Congress will cut half-billion to pay for another entitlement program... going bankrupt to tune of millions... not a model... fed govt going to require everyone have coverage... people are stunned that govt is going to require them to have this coverage...

WND TV Discussion Health Care legislation

http://live.radioamerica.org/loudwater/player.pl?name=wnd&url=http://feeds.radioamerica.org/podcast/DWP/audio/000007_012811.mp3

OPINION SEPTEMBER 11, 2009, 3:37 P.M. ET Medicare Is No Model for Health Reform

...5) Medicare is rife with fraud. According to the FBI, between 3% and 10% of all health spending is lost to health-care fraud. Despite the president's promise this money could be recaptured to pay for his reform agenda, Congress has shown itself to be remarkably incapable of curtailing fraud and abuse in government health programs...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204884404574362543878647858.html

The GOP's Health-Care Alternative
Health Care > Politics

Email a Friend
Written By: Grace-Marie Turner & Joseph R. Antos
Published In: Wall Street Journal
Publication date: 05/20/2009
Publisher: Wall Street Journal

http://www.heartland.org/policybot/results/25361/The_GOPs_HealthCare_Alternative.html

$600 billion annually lost to medicare fraud

Jim Frogue interviewed by Greta Susteran On the Record... $600 billion a year is lost to Medicare Fraud...

Center for Health Transformation

plugged book Stop Paying the Crooks

http://www.healthtransformation.net/cs/stop_paying_the_crooks

Forum

http://www.healthtransformation.net/cs/Sept09_Medicaid_Conference

testimony

http://aspe.hhs.gov/medicaid/jan/Frogue.pdf

Ron Paul: Coercion is not Health Care Act

H.R.2629 - Coercion is Not Health Care Act
To protect the American people's ability to make their own health care decisions by ensuring the Federal Government shall not force any American to purchase health insurance.

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h2629/show

Ron Paul Introduces Free Choice in Health Care Bill
By tmartin • May 25, 2009

Statement of Congressman Ron Paul
United States House of Representatives

Statement Introducing the
Coercion is Not Health Care Act (HR 2629)
May 21, 2009

http://www.ronpaul.com/2009-05-25/ron-paul-introduces-free-choice-in-health-care-bill/

Daily Paul

http://www.dailypaul.com/node/95119

Commentary on Bills

http://www.forhealthfreedom.org/Newsletter/June2009.html

Open Congress and Gov Track

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h2629/show

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-2629

(Congressional Switchboard- 202-224-3121) and ask him to cosponsor H.R. 2629 “`Coercion is Not Health Care Act’

H.R. 2629 does not allow for any federal requirements for health insurance coverage as a condition to receive any benefit under Federal law

It also does not allow for any individual or agency of the Federal Government to require any individual to purchase health insurance coverage.

http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=22166

Toll-free numbers to Congress switchboard are usually provided by an organization. By providing such to our readers, we do not necessarily endorse comments or statements about positions on issues.

This one seems OK

TOLL FREE SWITCHBOARD NUMBERS FOR THE SENATE OR HOUSE OF REPS, JUST ASK TO BE TRANSFERED TO WHOMEVERS OFFICE YOU WISH TO SPEAK

1-877-210-5351
1-800-828-0498

1-877-210-5351
1-800-828-0498

http://constitutionallyspeaking.wordpress.com/us-legislation-activity/

Defeat Any Fed Health Care Bill Requiring Anything

Interview with Megyn Kelly on the Health Care legislation HR 3200 CAPPS Amendment) reported out of House Energy and Commerce committee, Bart Stupak, emphatically highlights the CAPPS Amendment to the original bill makes public funding for abortions first time ever!

Not since 1976, says the legislator has Congress authorized such IN THE WAY OF federal funding of abortions.

While apparently the Congressman's bill (with Pitts) was voted down, and the CAPPS Amendment passed, the wording in the Congressman's own amendment is troubling...

Read it closely... pay attention to

"except in the case where

"a woman suffers from a physical..."

http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_111/20090731/hr3200_stupak_1.pdf

In Stupak's bill, read closely, abortion would have been covered and paid for by taxpayers' monies and who doubts clever use of the 'exception' clause' by so-called abortion rights supporters and enablers?

Also while the Stupak and Pitts Amendment was defeated in committee, even had it passed, other language in the original bill may still enable the federal funding of abortion.

That Congress is considering any measure to mandate health care coverage/insurance be purchased or obtained by individuals, and as reported, if not the individual would actually be fined some several thousands of dollars should raise the concern of all "individuals."

Each and every one of YOU. Yes, you.

Sadly, and unfortunately, there is a lack of education about our Constitution and its Bill of Rights.

This health care 'reform' effort is nothing less than a power grab by both political parties and what came before this proves without a doubt Republicans are no more to be trusted to refrain from trampling the U.S. Constitution than Democrats.

Just look up SChip. Just look up the Hyde Amendment. Just look up Social Security Act.

This all is not only socialistic, it is anathema to the very foundation of our nation.

One that was founded upon the idea of freedom of the individual and possession of unalienable and inseparable from the individual - rights. Guaranteed rights.

The Federal Government was not founded to impose its will on individuals but to secure our unalienable and individual rights.

Secure. Protect. Defend.

The Federal Government was not founded to "give" us rights, nor was it founded to "find" what rights we individually possess.

It was founded to "secure" individual rights.

How far have we moved from that concept.

So far it is not a concept that is on the tip of the tongue of all individuals who are indeed citizens of the United States.

See the World Magazine article Killer Bill, August 15, 2009.

We're just getting into dangerous territory when the federal government intrudes further and further into matters which are supposed to be in the domain of the "states" and "the people" according to the Constitution of the United States Bill of Rights Tenth Amendment.

What's not to understand about the Constitution's intent that the federal government be a government with defined and limited "powers?"

Any true individualist who believes that status is what the Constitution guarantees should thwart any attempt to bring any health care reform to the United States which mandates or requires anything of anyone or of any insurance company, etc. Anything the federal government requires in this way is simply unconstitutional. Period.

Below find a variety of info pertaining to the issue of so-called Health Care 'reform.'

Be aware any talk, any talk of applying this legislation to an 'individual' is simply unconstitutional and I'd dare say, traitorous.

This situation highlights dramatically what is afoot at this time in our nation's history.

And Republicans are not to be trusted on this either even though many mouth how they don't want legislation that mandates individuals be insured and if not they'll face fines.

In the past, look at what they've voted FOR. Even one vote for one measure that does not pertain to the defined and enumerated powers of the federal government shows the hypocricy. One single vote.

Net the Truth Online

Fact Check President Barack Obama's Denial Abortion Funding nonexistent in Health Care Reform legislation

Abortion foes quickly denounced Obama’s statement as untrue. The NRLC’s Johnson said "the bill backed by the White House (H.R. 3200) explicitly authorizes the government plan to cover all elective abortions." And our analysis shows that Johnson’s statement is correct. Though we of course take no position on whether the legislation should allow or not allow coverage for abortions, the House bill does just that.

http://www.factcheck.org/2009/08/abortion-which-side-is-fabricating/

excerpt

Congressional Committees Rejected Pro-Life Amendments
Finally, the health care reform bills mandate abortion services as evidenced by the Energy and Commerce and HELP Committees’ rejection of amendments which would have prohibited mandatory abortion coverage, ensured that taxpayer money did not fund abortion, and prevented preemption of state laws on abortion. The Senate HELP Committee rejected each of these amendments, offered by four different Senators (Enzi, Hatch, Roberts and Coburn) by a vote of 12-11.

Similarly, the House Energy and Commerce Committee rejected an amendment offered by Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Penn.) and Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) that would have excluded abortion from the required basic benefits that any government or private plan must offer, but included an exception for cases involving a danger to the mother’s life, rape, or incest. On the initial vote, the amendment passed by a vote of 31-27, but upon revote, Democrat from Tennessee, Rep. Bart Gordon changed his vote to No, sinking the amendment by a vote of 30-29.

In place of the Pitts/Stupak amendment, the Committee approved an amendment offered by Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.) by a vote of 30-28. The Capps amendment allows for immediate federal funding of elective abortion coverage through the public plan pursuant to a determination by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, requires that all areas of the country contain one private plan that covers abortion, and permits taxpayer subsidies of private plans that cover elective abortion.

http://blog.aul.org/2009/09/08/status-of-conscience-protection-in-the-pending-health-care-reform-bills/

"New faces of New Orleans" August 15, 2009
Killer bill
Healthcare: Pro-life lawmakers raise alarm: Absent amendment, healthcare bill will subsidize and mandate abortion coverage | Edward Lee Pitts



Illustration by Krieg Barrie
WASHINGTON—On July 17, House lawmakers rode to the rescue of the nation's wild horse population, passing a bill to prevent their slaughter by adding millions of acres to their roaming lands.

But while lawmakers devoted tightly doled out floor time to debating the welfare of the West's estimated 36,000 wild horses, another life-and-death debate has been relegated to committee rooms: the fate of unborn children in the pending transformation of the nation's healthcare system.

A growing number of lawmakers from both parties are fearful that passage of the current healthcare proposal as written would lead to taxpayer--supported abortions.

Just days after the wild horse vote, concerned House members decided to kick-start the abortion debate. Gathering together inside the new Capitol Visitor's Center, the bipartisan grouped warned in a press conference that a "stealth abortion mandate" is real and would require insurance companies to include abortions as part of a basic coverage plan.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

Already two amendments in the House and one in the Senate specifically to ban publicly funded abortions have been defeated. Meanwhile Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag responded, "I'm not prepared to" when asked if he would rule out abortion funding in the legislation.

"Obamacare is the greatest threat to the lives and well-being of unborn children and their mothers since Roe v. Wade," says Rep. Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican.

This is not just a Republican concern. Recently 20 House Democrats sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warning that "we cannot support any healthcare reform proposal unless it explicitly excludes abortion."

Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., now puts the number of pro-life House Democrats opposed to the proposal at 39. That's a number that, combined with House Republicans and fiscally conservative Democrats, could hold back party leaders' plans to push a healthcare bill through Congress in the fall. The timeline has already been altered once after the proposal's $1 trillion price tag and its creation of a controversial government-run insurance plan forced congressional leaders to abandon an August deadline.


Among the biggest red flags for pro-life legislators is the bill's creation of a Health Benefits Advisory Committee that would determine what procedures are covered under a public plan. The bill requires every American to have insurance that meets certain standards. "According to the president, in his own words, central to the idea of healthcare is the idea of reproductive health or abortion," said Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa. "That will be considered a minimum benefit."

Unless the legislation explicitly excludes abortion procedures, pro-life lawmakers predict that abortions will soon become part of the required insurance package. The stakes are high, Stupak argues, because buried in the 1,017-page health bill is language making it clear that federal standards would preempt any state law. That could put 200 state laws aimed at protecting life in jeopardy, Stupak says.

But requiring abortion coverage is not the only potential change. Healthcare legislation could also lead to taxpayers footing the abortion bill. The measure authorizes subsidies to purchase healthcare premiums for individuals and families who do not qualify for Medicaid. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that provision alone would cost taxpayers $773 billion over the next decade. "Without such restrictions this legislation would certainly result in the federal funding of abortion on an unprecedented scale," Stupak says.

Supporters of current legislation say the bill doesn't specifically include abortion. But pro-life lawmakers say they have heard that before. Indeed, this current fight has echoes of the effort that resulted in the Hyde Amendment, passed in 1976, that bars the federal government from using tax dollars to pay for abortions through Medicaid. Medicaid didn't mention the word abortion, but courts ruled that the procedure fit under many of the broad categories outlined and had to be covered. Until the Hyde Amendment passed, Medicaid paid for hundreds of thousands of abortions.

Today pro-life advocates fear this could happen again as the reach of the Hyde Amendment may not extend to provisions in the current healthcare bill.

http://www.worldmag.com/articles/15729

Investigate This Type of Activity Despite Political Bent

New York ACORN Front Group Based in New Orleans Gets Taxpayer Money
Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Wed, 09/09/2009 - 14:42

Email to friendPrinter-friendlyOne of the defining hallmarks of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, is its propensity for using front organizations to advance its goals. The New Orleans-based nonprofit organization has fully 360 subsidiary and adjunct groups. Lately, one of its affiliates, a misleadingly-named nonprofit entity called New York Agency for Community Affairs, Inc. (NYACA), has been at the center of attention. A recent probe by a consortium of New York City newspapers shows NYACA thus far in this year alone has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from New York state and local taxpayers for political campaign services. In many cases, the lawmakers who earmarked the funds had been locked in close re-election campaigns that used NYACA volunteers. It's no small wonder that NYACA and ACORN overlap to the point of being nearly indistinguishable.

According to its mission statement, NYACA was founded "to provide a vehicle for grassroots community organizations to increase their capacity to meet the needs of low- and moderate-income communities." The group's avowed purpose is assisting homeowners facing foreclosure and renters seeking to buy a home. But in practice it is a cleverly-disguised conduit for ACORN to contribute money to left-of-center New York politicians in tight re-election races. "There seems to be some sort of relationship between these different organizations," said Jill Manny, a New York University law professor and executive director of the National Center on Philanthropy and the Law, after reviewing NYACA tax records. That would be an understatement.

The New York Agency for Community Affairs has received more than small change. A recent investigation by Manhattan Media, a consortium of New York City neighborhood-based newspapers, reveals that NYACA and its ACORN alter ego have made out well. Examining tax forms, lobbying records, campaign finance reports, and contracts, researchers found that in 2009, NYACA has received $175,000 from eight state senators, $240,500 from 10 state assemblymen, and $85,000 from four New York City Council members. For 2006, NYACA reported a little over $1.3 million in revenues, almost all from government. That same year, the group paid out nearly $1.2 million for "contractual services" to ACORN and another $67,000 in direct grants. And in 2007, NYACA received more than $730,000 in government support, sending $711,152 of that to ACORN.

How closely are the two groups linked? For one thing, there's the Internet. Clicking on www.nyaca.org routes the viewer to the website of ACORN Housing Corp., www.acornhousing.org. Even more curiously, the New York Agency for Community Affairs isn't based in New York at all, but at 2609 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA 70119, the same address as ACORN's local affiliate there. What's more, NYACA's chief organizer is Jon Kest, younger brother of ACORN National Executive Director Steven Kest. Jon Kest also serves as chief organizer for the local ACORN chapter in New Orleans. As ACORN has its national headquarters in New Orleans (1024 Elysian Fields Avenue), it doesn't take a huge leap of imagination to realize NYACA is an ACORN front. But NYACA isn't entirely devoid of a New York connection: One of its employees is Bertha Lewis, head of ACORN's New York City affiliate. And the Kests until a decade ago ran the New York City operation. That's when Ms. Lewis assumed the reins. Even sports teams change their name if they move to another city. Apparently, ACORN affiliates don't.

Creative bookkeeping explains why ACORN saw fit to add an organizational layer in the form of New York Agency for Community Affairs. NYACA is registered as a "public charity," which exempts it from paying certain state and local taxes, and equally importantly, prohibits it from engaging in or supporting political activity. ACORN, on the other hand, is a "social welfare organization" - that is, authorized to conduct certain political campaign operations using public as well as private funds. ACORN in fact has received large sums of money from the Working Families Party (WFP), an entity founded by none other than Steven Kest in 1998 to move the Democratic Party leftward (Note: Under New York State election law, a party may "cross-endorse" candidates of other parties). The WFP describes itself as a coalition founded by ACORN, the Communications Workers of America and the United Auto Workers.

NYACA clearly wants it both ways. On one hand, the group wants to influence the outcome of elections, with organized labor playing a central role. On the other hand, it doesn't want to pay taxes connected with this activity. In other words, ACORN set up the New York Agency for Community Affairs as a legalized money-laundering operation - and possibly with some illegal misrepresentation of facts. According to records filed with the IRS and the New York State Attorney General's Office, NYACA declared no relationships with any outside organizations through common employees or officers. To believe that would require defining "relationships" in ways not found in Webster's Dictionary.

NYACA Executive Director Mariana Davenport thinks the group's critics are manufacturing something out of nothing. Through an e-mail she noted: "The organizations share staff and space. Although many of the NYACA board members are also members of ACORN, ACORN has no authority to direct NYACA." NYACA, she emphasized, is merely a "fiscal sponsor" for taxpayer funding for ACORN's foreclosure prevention and homebuyers' assistance programs, among other initiatives. But why would ACORN need such a "sponsor?" And why would ACORN employees, of whom Ms. Davenport is one, have a need to list themselves at a separate organization that does the same things?

http://www.nlpc.org/stories/2009/09/09/new-york-acorn-front-group-based-new-orleans-gets-taxpayer-money

ACORN CEO Speaks about Home Defender Teams

Video on site shows Brenda Lewis talking about housing foreclosure...

Stories From The Front Lines Of The Foreclosure Crisis
by Bertha Lewis

Published February 19, 2009 @ 06:48AM PT

(Friends, I'm thrilled to feature this guest post by Bertha Lewis, CEO & Chief Organizer for ACORN, detailing the scope of the foreclosure crisis and ACORN's response. This is part of an on-going series with ACORN here at Change.org. - Leigh)

Yesterday, President Obama announced a $75 billion program to address the challenge that foreclosures pose to our collective economic future with an orientation towards helping families stay in their homes. But the provisions in the President's proposals won't be implemented for weeks and months. Between now and then there are still 2.3 million families in the country facing foreclosure proceedings. And one new family joins them every 13 seconds. The reality is that everyone is affected by this crisis; the foreclosure epidemic is at the heart of our economic meltdown.

So, today, Thursday Feb 19, ACORN members and community activists in seven cities are formally launching the HomeStaying Campaign, in which families facing eviction for foreclosure will announce plans to stay in their homes, and Home Defender teams will stand in solidarity with those homeowners.

The Home Defender Teams are local neighbors and community activists prepared to mobilize on short notice to peacefully help defend a family's right to stay in their homes until a fair solution to the crisis is put into place by the new Administration. Over the coming weeks, people in 24 cities are going to be taking part in this campaign. The New York Times did a great story yesterday about a Home Defenders training session in New York City over the weekend.

Homeowners who live in neighborhoods with one foreclosure see their housing values drop by 2%. For homeowners in communities hit hard by this crisis it is much worse. The abandoned homes become magnets for crime and vagrants, further destabilizing communities, to say nothing of what happens to the families that have to go through the process of losing their homes.

http://uspoverty.change.org/blog/view/stories_from_the_front_lines_of_the_foreclosure_crisis

An interview with Bertha Lewis CEO of ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now)

...Q. With so many mortgage foreclosures, how has ACORN been able to help the dispossessed?

First of all, for ten years ACORN has been saying, "the economic sky is falling," and we were ignored, at best. We sounded the alarm on predatory lending, on sub-prime loans and on rampant deregulation. ACORN has counseled foreclosure victims, promoted legislation for a federal moratorium on the runaway foreclosure trade, and fought to have banks and lending institutions modify loans. We recently created our ACORN Home Defenders Campaign to keep homeowners in their homes long enough for President Obama's program to kick in. We have trained volunteers, across the country, in non-violent action to defend people in their homes and turn back sheriffs who serve evictions. So, yes, we are also in the halls of Congress, in the board rooms and on the streets fighting against these foreclosures. We'll fight for ten more years until home-owning Americans actually have a fair shake.

http://thehillbrooklyn.org/drupal/node/

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Don't Dismiss Paranoid As Mere Paranoid

some material covered in WND and Newsmax may be a bit 'out there' but in the interest of finding truth in the end every avenue should certainly be explored.

WND's coverage of the SPP alone is worth the price of a visit. As always, check the facts presented independently, as we've done here at Net the Truth Online.

Some fear GOP is being carried to the extreme
The Republican establishment hopes cooler heads will prevail over strongly anti-Obama parts of the conservative base.
By Peter Wallsten

September 14, 2009

Reporting from Washington - Amid a rebirth of conservative activism that could help Republicans win elections next year, some party insiders now fear that extreme rhetoric and conspiracy theories coming from the angry reaches of the conservative base are undermining the GOP's broader credibility and casting it as the party of the paranoid.

Such insiders point to theories running rampant on the Internet, such as the idea that Barack Obama was born in Kenya and is thus ineligible to be president, or that he is a communist, or that his allies want to set up Nazi-like detention camps for political opponents. Those theories, the insiders say, have stoked the GOP base and have created a "purist" climate in which a figure such as Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) is lionized for his "You lie!" outburst last week when Obama addressed Congress.

They are "wild accusations and the paranoid delusions coming from the fever swamps," said David Frum, a conservative author and speechwriter for President George W. Bush who is among the more vocal critics of the party base and of the conservative talk show hosts helping to fan the unrest.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gop-fringe14-2009sep14,0,940651.story

Has Osama Bin Laden been dead for seven years - and are the U.S. and Britain covering it up to continue war on terror?
By Sue Reid
Last updated at 10:59 PM on 11th September 2009
Comments (28) Add to My Stories
The last time we heard a squeak from him was on June 3 this year.
The world's most notorious terrorist outsmarted America by releasing a menacing message as Air Force One touched down on Saudi Arabian soil at the start of Barack Obama's first and much vaunted Middle East tour.
Even before the new President alighted at Riyadh airport to shake hands with Prince Abdullah, Bin Laden's words were being aired on TV, radio and the internet across every continent.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1212851/Has-Osama-Bin-Laden-dead-seven-years--U-S-Britain-covering-continue-war-terror.html#ixzz0RDf42lJG

Fed Stimulus Tracking Site Defenders Political Ad

Critics: Private Web site does better job at stimulus tracking than government
By Mike Cronin
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, September 13, 2009

Despite President Obama's promise to track "every dime" spent under the economic stimulus bill, the private sector is doing a better job of that than government, critics say.

Recovery.gov, a Web site the government established to keep track of stimulus spending, lacks crucial data and is difficult to use, they say.

"We have a government Web site that can't and won't make information publicly accessible," said Rep. Daryl Issa, R-Calif. "There needs to be a greater will and commitment to following through on the pledge to create transparency."

But Earl E. Devaney, who chairs the federal Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board in Washington, the organization responsible for the Web site, argues "it's fair to say the site is more transparent than any other attempt that's been made" to track federal government spending.

"We put up the most complex database of government spending, ever, in five or six months," Devaney said. "Normally, that would take a couple of years at least."

The Obama administration promised openness regarding stimulus spending because many critics said the $787 billion package won congressional approval in February too quickly, and with too few safeguards.

Ryan Alexander, president of the Washington-nonprofit Taxpayers for Common Sense, thinks a free, private-sector Web site with a similar name — Recovery.org — does a better job of listing bid-ready federally funded projects that government entities are advertising or awarding nationwide.

People can log onto Recovery.org and learn, for example, that as of Sept. 5, Allegheny County was scheduled to receive the most stimulus-related money of any county in Pennsylvania — $775.8 million for 154 projects that include stimulus funding.

A few more clicks and that Web site reports that, as of Sept. 5, contractors could bid on 123 projects in Pittsburgh and two in Greensburg. The site lists each project's location; estimated cost; owner and type, such as PennDOT construction; and number of affiliated jobs.

That information isn't available on the federal Web site.


Data roadblocks

The federal site provides visitors with information that includes stimulus-related news, job opportunities, links to stimulus-related sites, recovery-related investment categories such as energy and health care, and ways to report misuse of stimulus money.

It does not provide easy-to-find city and county project data, and makes it difficult to locate useful lists of information at the state level — particularly if you don't know what you're looking for, Alexander said.

"But the federal government can't provide that type of state and local project data because they don't have it," said Michael Balsam, who directs strategy and products for Onvia, which runs Recovery.org. "They don't have a way to track it. There's no parent-child relationship between county and city governments and the federal government. That's where the idea for Recovery.org came from."

Issa notes that most Onvia site hits come from federal employees looking for information about stimulus spending.

That's correct, said Eric Gillespie, Onvia's chief information officer. Nine of the top 10 visitors to the site work for the federal government, he said. Watchdog group officials say that's because Recovery.org provides accurate data and is simple to surf.

Rep. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers, R-Wash., became so frustrated with Recovery.gov that she started her own Web site to better present stimulus spending data: sunshine.gop.gov.

"I wanted to create a one-stop shop to allow the public to know where the federal government is using their money," McMorris-Rodgers said. "Sunshine.gop.gov consolidates information into one place that otherwise would be contained on numerous Web sites and difficult to find. The Web site provides information in plain English and is easy to navigate."


Administration's efforts lauded

Despite Recovery.gov's flaws, some critics commend Obama's and Devaney's efforts. Onvia has 12 years experience of mining this type of data; the Obama administration, a few months.

"No other presidential administration has done this before," said Craig Jennings, a senior fiscal analyst with OMB Watch, a nonprofit watchdog organization in Washington. "It's going to take some time. But the jury's still out on recovery transparency in general. It's absolutely necessary to hold their feet to the fire."

Devaney emphasizes that Onvia built Recovery.org to make money. The government Web site — in addition to showing the American people how their money is being spent — can be a tool to discover and halt fraud.

The recovery board is requiring recipients of stimulus money to report contracts and other data beginning next month, Devaney said. Within weeks, Recovery.gov's second version will be online — probably before the self-imposed deadline of Oct. 10, he said — providing a more user-friendly interface and more ways to access data.

Still, Issa and others are not impressed.

"If you're looking for waste, fraud and abuse, Recovery.org is a more useful tool," he said.


'Political advertisement'

Issa said the federal site is "currently more of a political advertisement for defenders of the stimulus, touting states and regions receiving stimulus funds, than it is a tool for the public to see what projects on the ground are being built and by whom."

Alexander concurred.

"It's not pretending that it's neutral," Alexander said. "It's an arm of the stimulus package."

Gillespie said Onvia executives never intended for the Web site to compete with the federal site. Recovery.org is an advertising vehicle for Onvia, he said.

By showing contractors stimulus projects that are available, it tells businesses "here's what we do and what we can offer," Gillespie said. "We track every government transaction, stimulus and non-stimulus. Stimulus spending represents only 2 percent of all government projects."

Clayton Stahl, president of Gulisek Construction LLC in Mt. Pleasant, said company officials have used Recovery.org to track stimulus spending even though the Westmoreland County firm is not an Onvia client. Gulisek is a highway-bridge builder working on four stimulus projects, including one in Robinson.

"We find it very parallel to what some other government agencies, like PennDOT, provide," said Stahl, whose company belongs to other organizations that advertise government contract work.

Gillespie praises Obama administration officials for being "on the right path," with one caveat.

"They should just put all the data up and allow people to start poking at it," Gillespie said, repeating one of several suggestions he gave to improve Recovery.gov during congressional testimony in May.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_642866.html

Attorney Objects to Broad Search Warrant

Man charged in church raid wants evidence suppressed
September 11, 2009 04:06 AM TEXT SIZE By: AMY REVAK
Herald Standard
The attorney for one of the 22 people facing drug-related charges following a raid Aug. 2 at the Church of Universal Love and Music in Bullskin Township has filed a motion asking a judge to suppress evidence against his client.

In a suppression motion filed by attorney Thomas Shaffer, he claims that the search warrant was overly broad and is asking that the charges against his client be dismissed.

Shaffer's client, Jason Cavallo of Woodstock, N.Y., is facing charges of one county of possession with intent to deliver, one count of possession and one count of drug paraphernalia.

Shaffer contends that there is not one mention of an individual named Jason or Jason Cavallo in the probable cause affidavit as using any illegal narcotics or selling any illegal narcotics on either May 16 or July 4 and "there existed no probable cause to support the issuance of the all-persons search warrant."

After an assistant district attorney went to two separate events and saw drug activity at the "church," Fayette County Judge Ralph C. Warman granted a search warrant that covered 42 acres of church land and all of the people on it. It was served Aug. 1.

After the arrests, the church was essentially shut down.

Following a hearing last month, Chief U.S. District Judge Donetta Ambrose granted a preliminary injunction that will stop the Church of Universal Love and Music from holding any more events until a full hearing that won't occur until months from now.

After hearing testimony, Ambrose ruled that the church's founder, William "Willie" Pritts, either knew or should have known there was "pervasive" drug use on the grounds.

The hearing came about after members of the Fayette County Drug Task Force came armed with a warrant on Aug. 1, and conducted a drug sweep.

The sweep resulted in 22 arrests, and Assistant District Attorney Mark D. Brooks testified that officers seized 76 bags of marijuana, 22 bags of psychedelic mushrooms, 2 bags of hash, several hits of LSD and four large and two small nitrous oxide tanks. Numerous pipes were also seized.

Brooks said the marijuana and mushroom bags ranged from gallon-sized plastic bags to smaller ones.

The use of illegal drugs on the church's property was in violation of a settlement agreement between Pritts, and the county commissioners.

http://www.heraldstandard.com/news_detail/article/1631/2009/september/11/man-charged-in-church-raid-wants-evidence-suppressed.html

More

'Funk Fest' suspects from controversial church spend day in court
It took nearly five hours to conduct 19 preliminary hearings Thursday for those facing drug charges after a raid at the Church of Universal Love and Music in Fayette County early last month.

On Aug. 1, the Fayette County Drug Task Force, consisting of nearly 40 officers — including task force members, state police and the county sheriff's office — held the raid at the Bullskin Township nondenominational church where 22 people were arrested during an event that was advertised as a "Funk Fest." Most of those people faced preliminary hearings yesterday at Connellsville District Judge Ronald Haggerty's office.

According to the task force, the raid netted 76 bags of marijuana, 22 bags of psychedelic mushrooms, eight tanks of nitrous oxide, two bags of hashish, several marijuana grinders and digital scales and 1,090 devices used for smoking marijuana.

Among those who waived their right to a preliminary hearing or whose charges were held for court yesterday included: Taressa Lyne King, 22, of Huntingdon; Brian King, 47, of Swedsboro, N.J.; Michele Sedota, 21, of Pittsburgh; Paul Vincent Uber, 39, and Beth Ann Uber, 45, both of Northeast, Pa.; Jerome Frank McNeill, 31, of Pittsburgh; Nicholas Adam Dayton, 22, of Callipolis, Ohio; Richard Steven Nagan, 53, of Bronx, N.Y.; Charles Bruce McCord, 29, of Frostburg, Md.; Jason Frank Cavallo, 24, of Saugraties, N.Y.; Ryan Christopher Burrer, 21, of Athens, Ohio; Jason Allen Nicholson, 26, of Everson; Alfred Jack Grimm, 23, of Connellsville; and Patrick Thomas Nicholson, 24, of Normalville.

A charge of possession with intent to deliver was dropped against Ryan Christopher Burrer, 21, of Athens, Ohio. He waived his right to a preliminary hearing on charges of possession of a controlled substance and use of drug paraphernalia.

Other defendants, like Philip Anthony Bannon, 24, of Bethel Park; Megan Lynanne Lupher, 47, of Greensburg; and Betsy Pearl Wadsworth, 37, of Greensburg arrived to court without a lawyer or a public defender. They waived their right to a hearing or legal representation to county court, where they will need representation.

During an exchange with Haggerty, Lupher said there were two reasons she didn't need an attorney.

"One, I can't afford one; and two, I'm not guilty, so I don't need an attorney," she said.

It was later explained to her that public defenders are provided free of charge for those who cannot afford an attorney.

Adam Joseph Klimas, 29, of Parkersburg, W.Va., had additional charges added to his original charges of two counts of possession of a controlled substance and two counts of possession of drug paraphernalia to include two possession with intent to deliver charges. Police found two gallon-capacity plastic bags with marijuana and hallucinogenic mushrooms along with multiple smaller bags of marijuana and mushrooms, two digital scales and a package of sandwich bags in his possession.

One of the defense attorneys, Thomas W. Shaffer, filed a motion to suppress evidence seized in the raid, and asked that all charges against his client, Jason Cavallo, be dismissed.

Shaffer unsuccessfully argued that the search warrant only included the church property, and did not include the names of the individuals arrested at the venue.

Fayette County Assistant District Attorney Mark Brooks argued that such a motion is not district court.

The summer concert season ended Aug. 13 when U.S. District Judge Donetta Ambrose banned events at its site until she decides whether the church broke an agreement with the county in which organizers agreed to keep drugs out of its events.

In issuing a preliminary injunction against the church, Ambrose said its seems likely the county will win its claim the church violated the March agreement that settled an earlier lawsuit.

Owner William Pritts and the church sued the county in 2006 after county officials repeatedly denied his requests to rezone his 158-acre property so he could stage outdoor concerts there. At the time, county officials said Pritts founded the church in 2002 as a way to skirt zoning laws; the county paid Pritts $75,000 to settle his claims of religious discrimination.

Part of the agreement, however, required Pritts and the church to prevent drug use during concerts.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/fayette/s_642593.html

Church questions search warrant
August 04, 2009 03:51 AM TEXT SIZE By: JENNIFER HARR
Herald Standard

Two days after a raid at the Church of Universal Love and Music in Bullskin Township, an attorney for the church has leveled allegations that the search warrant that allowed police to come onto the grounds was overreaching, and that Fayette County officials are unfairly targeting the church.

Although he had yet to read the warrant issued by Fayette County Judge Ralph C. Warman, attorney Gregory Koerner said Monday that the enforcement action "violates the spirit of our agreement with the county" as it relates to the settlement in the federal lawsuit.

"We feel that the church's rights were violated, and the county acted in bad faith," Koerner said. "The warrants were defective in several ways, the search was outrageously outside the scope of the warrant and excessive."

Members of the county's drug task force and state police arrested 23 people and seized drugs and paraphernalia on the grounds of the church in Acme on Saturday evening. The church's founder, Willie Pritts, had sued the county several years ago when the church, which bases it s worship on jam band-type music, was denied zoning several times.

The matter resolved in March, when the county agreed to allow Pritts a designated number of concerts per year, with several stipulations. One of those was that there be no illegal activity - specifically drug use - on the grounds.

District Attorney Nancy D. Vernon said the search warrant was based on two undercover officers who twice went to the grounds. There, she said, they bought LSD (acid), marijuana and cereal treats and brownies laced with marijuana. She said that police also saw people using drugs and vendors selling paraphernalia.

She scoffed at Koerner's claim that officers pointed machine guns at children, noting that no weapons of any kind were pointed at children, and that the directive was that officers avoid the use of any physical violence.

"I believe the children were exposed to much more danger when they were around Rice Krispies treats with THC, brownies made with 'church butter' and people who were high on LSD," Vernon said. "Those things are more dangerous than the police coming in to serve a search warrant."

She indicated that someone on the scene told police that "church butter" was used to make the food, and said police are having it tested to confirm that it does contain a narcotic. THC is tetrahydrocannabinol - the main psychoactive substance in marijuana.

"It is a shame that the county of Fayette is spending so much of the county's money trying to shut down this church, which represents a positive influence on the community," Koerner said, noting that none of the church's actual members nor anyone affiliated with it was among those arrested.

He also claimed that those arrested were for "petty charges like paraphernalia" and said that Vernon's contention that it was one of the biggest drug busts in the county's history was a "distortion" of the facts.

"They should be going after the real problems in the county like heroine, cocaine or methamphetamines," he said.

Vernon said she based her analysis of the bust being one of the biggest in the county's history on the number of people taken into custody on one fell swoop and the amount of paraphernalia and drugs like marijuana, LSD (acid) and psychedelic mushrooms seized.

"We've never seized as much drugs and paraphernalia as we did from that festival," Vernon said.

Koerner also alleged that police came up on the stage, harassing musicians and making racist comments to at least one, who is now considering filing a lawsuit.

"It was described to me as a Gestapo raid," Koerner said. "It's a sorry state of affairs in America when the government can do this to its citizens in the name of law enforcement."

Police did ask the band to stop playing, Vernon said, because authorities did not want them to use the speaker system to alert the rest of the people that law enforcement was on the grounds. The band complied, she said, and there were no racial remarks made.

"The raid was conducted in a fashion that was uneventful. There were no injuries, and the task force was outnumbered at least 20 to 1. They performed their job effectively, pursuant to a search warrant that permitted them to search all persons and all property (on church grounds)," she said.

Vernon said that there were about 36 officers on the scene, and between 400 and 500 people at the church. Officers left headquarters to go there around 5 p.m., and were there until about 8:30 p.m., she said.

http://www.heraldstandard.com/news_detail/article/1220/2009/august/04/church-questions-search-warrant.html

Music church calls drug raid 'malicious'
August 04, 2009 02:11 AM TEXT SIZE By: Tom Liebmann
Bucks County Courier Times
PITTSBURGH (AP) - The attorney for a western Pennsylvania church that hosts "jam band" concerts says authorities engaged in "malicious prosecution" when they seized illegal drugs and drug-laced items in a weekend raid.

"The church's policy and our mission is to prevent illegal drugs," attorney Greg Koerner, who represents the Church of Universal Love and Music, said Monday. "This is a malicious prosecution, gross violation of the church's rights."

No one affiliated with the nondenominational Christian church was arrested or charged, including church leader William Pritts, Koerner said. Pritts could not be reached for comment Monday because his home telephone number is unlisted.

Fayette County District Attorney Nancy Vernon said Saturday's raid was based on open drug use and sales her undercover agents saw at concerts on May 16 and July 4. Twenty-three people, including vendors and spectators, were arrested.

"The drug use and the vendors were so pervasive that it's not simply a case of someone coming in with drugs on them and nobody notices it," Vernon said. Four vendors were openly selling glass pipes, bongs and marijuana crushers, she said.

Pritts' church on a 147-acre tract about 35 miles southeast of Pittsburgh has drawn national attention, partly because of a segment on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" in 2003.

In it, Pritts stated "God never said you can't party on" and criticized "bogarting" - the refusal to share a marijuana joint during the concerts, which his church characterizes as nondenominational services.

Koerner said the raid violates the "letter and spirit" of the March settlement of a federal religions freedom lawsuit Pritts filed in 2006, after the county refused to grant him a religious use exception for the shows.

Advertisement The county had previously said concerts weren't allowed on land zoned for agricultural use and echoed neighbors' concerns about noise, traffic and garbage.

Under the settlement, the county allowed Pritts to hold six Friday-Sunday concerts, and six more Saturday-only shows subject to noise, security, curfew and other restrictions.

Drugs were also explicitly banned.

"We certainly were going to try to keep them drug-free, but we don't have the right to search people as they come in," Koerner said, though Vernon said concert venues do that all the time. Koerner said Pritts and his hired security have ejected people seen using drugs openly.

But according to the search warrant, task force agents saw people at the May 16 and July 4 concerts openly using and selling drugs or drug-laced items, including "gonga treats" - which Vernon said were Rice Krispies treats laced with THC - and brownies or fudge made with marijuana-laced butter.

Agents confiscated more than 1,000 drug pipes or similar items, LSD and bags of hallucinogenic mushrooms, she said.

Vernon called "ridiculous" Koerner's claims on behalf of the church that agents threatened concertgoers and a band with guns, and that agents had "machine guns pointed at minors."

Vernon said the agents safeguarded children in the crowd of about 500 spectators, never carry "automatic weapons" or machine guns, and conducted the raid "without incident."

Koerner said he may ask a federal judge to consider whether the raid violated the March settlement. Marie Milie Jones, the attorney who represented the county in the lawsuit, said she is also trying to determine if the criminal charges mean Pritts violated the agreement.

http://www.heraldstandard.com/news_detail/article/1220/2009/august/04/music-church-calls-drug-raid-malicious.html

Court closes controversial church
August 14, 2009 03:58 AM TEXT SIZE By: JENNIFER HARR
Herald Standard

http://www.heraldstandard.com/news_detail/article/1220/2009/august/14/court-closes-controversial-church.html

PA: Budget Proposal bipartisan

reports not yet confirmed but it looks like something's happening

SEPTEMBER 10, 2009 | by NATHAN BENEFIELD

PA Senate GOP Caving on Tax Hikes?
http://www.commonwealthfoundation.org/policyblog/detail/pa-senate-gop-caving-on-tax-hikes

September 10, 2009
Marsico Supports Establishing a Committee of the Whole to Break Budget Impasse, Issues Statement

HARRISBURG – Rep. Ron Marsico (R-Lower Paxton) issued the following statement in response to Rep. Craig Dally’s (R-Northampton) proposal to adopt a temporary rule to resolve the House into a Committee of the Whole to prepare the 2009-10 state budget:

“I support my colleague’s quest to introduce a House resolution that, if adopted by the chamber, would resolve the House into a Committee of the Whole. At this point, it seems to be one of the only alternatives left to being able to work on and prepare a budget.

“If this resolution passes, the committee will be allowed to have more open and informal discussions about the budget than if we were in regular session. This type of frank debate among all members of the House is what the Republican Caucus has been asking for since May. We have asked nicely and that doesn’t seem to be working. It’s time to take legislative action to move this budget forward.

“The entire House would finally be able to debate proposals offered by members. There are so many good ideas being offered by various members about how to solve this budget crisis but they have been continuously ignored. We are all here to do a job, not just a handful of us. Why not let us all participate in getting this budget passed?

“This procedure has only been used twice in the last 72 years. It is not something that is done on a regular basis because we are typically able to work out our differences without it coming to this. However, this situation is completely out of control and we need to implement this procedure immediately. I hope that both sides of the aisle will support this resolution

http://images.icuecorp.com/RI01/50085462/webfiles/webindex.htm

Rendell says he will veto bipartisan state budget proposal
Gov. Ed Rendell said today he would veto a $27.9 billion bipartisan state budget proposal that avoids a major tax increase.

"This budget is not balanced for this year, and it's a billion dollars short for next year," Rendell said in Pittsburgh. He said he plans to tell the legislative leaders who announced the agreement that he would "absolutely" veto the measure.

"If they override it, they override it," Rendell said. "They pay the price next year when there's a billion (dollar) deficit."

The proposed budget avoids a sales tax and income tax increase, but hits smokers and some businesses.

Legislative leaders made it clear they are moving ahead.

"Given the state of the economy, a lot of difficult choices had to be made in this budget," said Lt. Gov. Joe Scarnati, a Jefferson County Republican who also is Senate president pro tempore. "However, we were able to come to an agreement that meets our core principles of no broad-based tax increases, a budget that spends less than last year, and one that is sustainable."

Scarnati said legislative leaders are scheduling a conference committee to move the bill.

"This budget is far from perfect but Democrats and Republicans alike are coming together in order to end the pain that hundreds of thousands of people are feeling," said House Speaker Keith McCall, D-Carbon County.

Pennsylvania is the only state without an approved budget. Today is the 73rd day of the impasse.

Lawmakers and legislative staffers say the deal includes:

• Legalizing table games at casinos.

• A 25-cent per pack hike on cigarettes.

• Leasing drilling rights on the Marcellus Shale natural gas reserve.

• A one-year state tax forgiveness program expected to generate $100 million.

• Halting the scheduled phase out of the capital stock and franchise tax, a levy on a businesses' assets.

Rendell has repeatedly stressed that to meet his approval a budget must have "recurring revenue" to balance this year's and next year's budget and provide $300 million in additional spending for education.

The legislative deal provides $300 million more for k-12 education spending.

The overall plan is about $1 billion less than Rendell proposed in February. It is about $268 million less than last year's budget.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com:8000/x/pittsburghtrib/news/breaking/s_642648.html

Related

Issue date: 9/10/09 Section: News
Pennsylvania budget stuck in deadlock
Prameet Kumar

http://media.www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/2009/09/10/News/Pennsylvania.Budget.Stuck.In.Deadlock-3767112.shtml

Wecht: Dump columnist
Buzz up!Thursday, September 10, 2009

There are many erudite, highly respected writers who espouse a strong, politically conservative philosophy in an intelligent, objective and well-reasoned fashion. Presumably, a solid newspaper such as the Trib can have a pick of such journalists.

What possible justification can there be for publishing a virulent crypto-fascist like Pat Buchanan ("Did Hitler want war?", Sept. 2 and TribLIVE.com)? William F. Buckley, the revered godfather of conservative political philosophy, expressed his opinion that Buchanan is an anti-Semite.

Just think of the tens of thousands of young American men and women, as well as the millions of people elsewhere in the world, whose deaths were directly caused by Adolf Hitler, undoubtedly the most sadistic, vicious, brutal totalitarian dictator of all times. What shameful impact do Buchanan's words have on their families?

And very importantly, for our children and grandchildren born after World War II to read that Hitler did not really want to go to war, did not intend to exterminate every Jew in Europe, did not intend to enslave much of the civilized world, was simply attempting to negotiate some reasonable territorial claims for Germany -- these are the most intellectually ludicrous, ethically disgusting and morally reprehensible arguments that any decent person has ever dared to promulgate. Indeed, in some countries that suffered great harm during the Nazi invasion and occupation, Buchanan might well be prosecuted for expressing such incredible thoughts.

This blatant attempt to revise history must be strongly condemned and actively rejected.

Please reach out for a top-flight conservative journalist to replace Pat Buchanan as one of your syndicated columnists. The Trib, as the unofficial and responsible voice of political conservatism in our community, owes this to its readers, including Democrats like me!

Cyril H. Wecht

Squirrel Hill

The writer is the former Allegheny County coroner

http://www.pittsburghlive.com:8000/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/letters/s_642279.html

Coulter Raises Questions Charges Lies

More health care lies
Buzz up!By Ann Coulter Friday, September 11, 2009

Only national health care can provide "coverage that will stay with you whether you move, change your job or lose your job" -- as President Obama said in a New York Times op-ed.

The only reason you can't keep -- or often obtain -- health insurance if you move or lose your job now is because of ... government intrusion into the free market.

You will notice that if you move or lose your job, you can obtain car and home insurance, hairdressers, computer technicians, cars, houses, food and every other product and service not heavily regulated by the government.

Federal tax incentives have created a world in which the vast majority of people get health insurance through their employers. Then to really screw ordinary Americans, the tax code punishes people who don't get health insurance through an employer by denying individuals the tax deduction for health insurance that their employers get.

If Democrats really wanted people to be able to purchase health insurance when they move or lose a job as easily as they purchase car or home insurance, they could do it in a one-page bill lifting government controls and allowing interstate commerce in health insurance. This is known as "allowing the free market to operate."

• The "public option" trigger is something other than a national takeover of health care.

Why does the government get to decide when the "trigger" has been met, allowing it to do something terrible to us? Either the government is better at providing goods and services or the free market is -- and I believe the historical record is clear on that. Why do liberals get to avoid having that argument simply by invoking "triggers"?

Why not allow people to buy medical insurance on the free market when a "trigger" is met, such as consumers deciding their health insurance is too expensive? Or how about a trigger allowing us to buy health insurance from Utah-based insurers -- but only when triggered by our own states requiring all insurance companies to cover marriage counseling, drug rehab and shrinks?

Thinking more broadly, how about triggers for paying taxes? Under my "public option" plan, citizens would not have to pay taxes until a trigger kicks in. For example, 95 percent of the Department of Education's output is useful, or at least not actively pernicious.

Also, I think we need triggers for taking over our neighbors' houses. If they don't keep up 95 percent of their lawn -- on the basis of our lawn commission's calculations -- we get to move in. As with Obama's public option trigger, we (in the role of "government") pay nothing. All expenses with the house would continue to be paid by the neighbor (playing "taxpayer").

• National health care will not cover abortions or illegal immigrants.

This appeared in my Aug. 28 column, but I keep seeing Democrats like Howard Dean and Rep. Jan Schakowsky on TV angrily shouting that these are despicable lies. Then why did Democrats vote down amendments that would prohibit coverage for illegals and abortion?

On July 30, a House committee voted against a Republican amendment offered by Rep. Nathan Deal that would have required health care providers to use the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) Program to prevent illegal aliens from receiving government health care services. All Republicans and five Democrats voted for it, but 29 Democrats voted against it, killing the amendment.

On the same day, the committee voted 30-29 against an amendment offered by Republican Joe Pitts explicitly stating that government health care would not cover abortions.

If any liberals sincerely believe that national health care will not cover illegals and abortion, how do they explain the Democrats frantically opposing amendments that would make this explicit?

Ann Coulter, a political analyst and attorney, is a columnist for Human Events.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com:8000/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/s_642490.html

Never Forget

We will not forget the tragedy of September 11, 2001 as many will not.

Our condolences to all whose innocent family, friends, co-workers were taken without just cause.

Net the Truth Online

Freedom Works Spokesman: Medicare Debt Ridden Fix It

On C-Span, M. Kibbe of Freedom Works:

The Health Care plan includes taking monies from Medicare to pay for the new programs and coverage of uninsured... Medicare is in debt about 47 million (billion haha) and it is Medicare that needs fixed...

Fayette County Election Bureau Notes Council Election Changes

No small matter the political make-up of local county council seats, and the like.

while Net the Truth Online does not endorse candidates for public office, we do attempt to raise issues and questions related to such offices.

What's unsettling about the situation reported on in the Herald Standard article is it has taken since March '09 for this particular determination to be made so close to an election. Six months after the former assessment was made that the Republican and Democrat Parties could name individuals to be a candidate for the 'special election' 'vacated council seat ' and the public is informed that will not happen?

Uniontown City Council will have to make another appointment to fill the seat that former Councilman Marlin Sprouts held.

Fayette County Election Bureau Director Laurie Lint said Wednesday the bureau checked with the Pennsylvania Department of State and was told the seat will have to be filled through an appointment until the 2011 elections because Sprouts resigned after the March 10 deadline to file primary election petitions.

Worse, the Herald Standard article begins with

Uniontown City Council will have to make another appointment to fill the seat that former Councilman Marlin Sprouts held.

Will have to make another appointment to fill the seat...

That makes it appear there is no other recourse than for another appointment to be made by city council, when there is a potential alternative. Sproul keeps the appointment because he is no longer a candidate for one of the two open council seats.

To shake things up, the appointed councilman, a Republican, Sproul, should pull his candidacy status seeking one of the two open council seats in the November election. He would then retain his appointed position on the Uniontown City Council, unless and until that appointment is challenged, or the city council members cause a vote to vacate the seat.

By withdrawing from the race for one of the two open seats, Sproul would give an opportunity rarely seen in local politics to another Republican candidate in a county with a 4 to 1 ratio of Democrat registered to Republican registered voters.

A chance opportunity to actually win.

Should Republican Russell Rhodes win one of the two open slots, and one of the Democrats win the other open seat, still city council would have the situation of considering an appointment other than Republican Sproul (to serve out the formerly vacated seat wherein two Democrats were appointed) - but it would be unlikely they'd chance making a switch - or face looking like politics was played in the first place by making the appointment of a Republican over a another Democrat.

Pledge signers:

http://www.localgovernmentacademy.org/sub.asp?ID=71&subID=247

Net the Truth Online

Uniontown City Council will have to make another appointment to fill the seat that former Councilman Marlin Sprouts held.

Fayette County Election Bureau Director Laurie Lint said Wednesday the bureau checked with the Pennsylvania Department of State and was told the seat will have to be filled through an appointment until the 2011 elections because Sprouts resigned after the March 10 deadline to file primary election petitions.

Sprouts resigned March 17 after he was sentenced to probation and ordered to pay restitution in a federal mortgage fraud case. He was indicted about a month after he took office in January 2007.

At its March 17 meeting, council appointed Philip J. Michael to serve the remainder of Sprouts' term, which would have ended in 2011.

Michael resigned on April 14 after Democratic City Council candidate Gary Gearing sued him, claiming he was not qualified to hold the office because he lived in the city for less than a year before he was appointed and council should have appointed him to serve only until the November election.

Council then appointed Republican council candidate Curtis Sproul to fill the vacancy until the general election on Nov. 3.

Advertisement If Sproul wins in November, council would have to appoint someone else to fill the vacant office until the 2011 elections.

Previously, Lint said the appointment would last until the November election when a special election would be held to fill the office and the Democratic and Republican parties had until Sept. 5 to submit nominations.

"It will not be on the (November) ballot," Lint said Wednesday.

Sproul, Republic candidate Russ Rhodes and Democratic candidates Francis "Joby" Palumbo and Gearing will run for two four-year terms in the November election.

http://www.heraldstandard.com/news_detail/article/1220/2009/august/11/brecount-bounces-geary-from-ag-race-b.html

Related from the Herald Standard

Recount bounces Geary from AG race
August 11, 2009 03:52 AM TEXT SIZE By: ANGIE ORAVEC
Herald Standard
A recount of primary election votes apparently changed the outcome of the Albert Gallatin School Board race.

Laurie Lint, director of the Fayette County Election Bureau, confirmed Monday that challenger Ryan Geary Sr. lost the Republican nomination in the spring race for school board.

Lint said a recount of votes was finalized mid-June. Votes were unofficial until that time. New vote totals show that incumbent candidate Kenneth J. Plisko bested Geary by one vote.

Plisko gained the fourth and final spot on the Republican ticket by securing 254 votes, pushing Geary out of the race. Geary secured 253 votes, an additional 13 votes as compared to unofficial election results in June, but less than the other candidates.

Geary did not receive enough Democratic votes to secure a spot on that ticket, either, so he will not appear on the ballot in the November general election.

Geary said he was "shocked" when the Herald-Standard notified him of the news Monday. Geary said he had not heard from the election bureau on the recount. He said when he called the bureau around July 4 to check on election results, he was told he was on the ballot for November.

He said he was just about to gear up his campaign for the fall.

"If I lost, I lost. So be it," said Geary, but noted he wonders how his election to the board could hinge on one vote when he had a higher vote total than Plisko in May.

Lint said votes not able to be scanned at a polling place were scanned in as part of the recount. She said some absentee votes could be included in the recount of the Albert Gallatin School Board race as well as the newly scanned votes.

Geary speculated that the scanned votes, when scanned at the election bureau, could have been counted twice. He also would like an explanation as to why a voting machine at the Fayette County Area Vocational-Technical School needed replaced.

Advertisement "What happened? Why wasn't it working?" he asked.

"I just think it's funny," Geary added. "Something is not right. I just don't like the (vague) description I got (from the election bureau on the reason why I lost the Republican nomination)."

Although Geary is out of the competition, voters still will see a contested race. They will be able to choose four among five candidates - all who are competing for four-year terms.

Plisko, along with incumbents Edward F. Andria, Bill Boni and Ed Sutton, will face off against two-time challenger Terry Ryan. Ryan lost the election to school board in the 2007.

Andria and Sutton finished in the top spots on the Republican ticket, with 358 and 318 votes, respectively. New vote totals showed Andria and Sutton received an additional 33 and 22 votes, respectively, since June. Ryan still finished third, securing 276 votes, 27 more votes as compared to June.

Democratic vote totals also changed, but did not alter the outcome of the race.

Plisko cross-filed and secured a spot on the Democratic ticket with 1,752 votes, 46 more than in June. He placed third on that ticket.

Andria, the top vote getter on both tickets, received 2,215 votes, 102 more than in June. Sutton, second-place finisher on both tickets, received 1,838 votes, 52 more than in June. Ryan secured 1,498 votes, 39 more than in June. Bill Boni, whose name appeared only on the Democratic ticket since he did not cross-file, received 1,704 votes, 65 more than in June, securing the fourth and final spot on the Democratic ticket.

Plisko could not be reached for comment on the new outcome of the race Monday.

http://www.heraldstandard.com/news_detail/article/1220/2009/august/11/brecount-bounces-geary-from-ag-race-b.html

Uniontown mayoral hopeful to forgo recount

A Fayette County mayoral candidate who lost the election by just 56 votes likely will not seek a recount, despite the slim margin separating him from the winner.
The unofficial returns in the race for mayor of Uniontown that put Democrat Ed Fike ahead of Republican Russell R. Rhodes do not include 131 absentee ballots cast in the city.

The election bureau is in the process of counting 1,200 absentee ballots cast countywide, with results not expected to be announced until Friday. Friday also marks the start of the official count, said Laurie Lint, election bureau director.

Rhodes yesterday said he does not expect the absentee ballots to give him enough additional votes to overtake Fike. Even if the official count still gives Fike the win by only a slim margin, Rhodes said he won't ask for a recount.

"I don't think, in today's electronic world, that would make a difference," Rhodes said. "It's tabulated right off the machines. If it was paper ballots, that would be another thing."

Rhodes said asking for a recount would be looked upon as "sour grapes." Although he's disappointed with the loss, he is thankful the race was close.

"People didn't give me a snowball's chance in hell," Rhodes said. "We're outregistered here, at least 2 1/2-, maybe 3-to-1, but I gave them a run for their money."

Rhodes noted he won four of the city's seven wards, but "just didn't fare well enough in the three losing ones to sustain that drive there."

Fike could not be reached for comment.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com:8000/x/pittsburghtrib/news/election/counties/s_536954.html