State stomps on the common good
by Zoe Romanowsky
5/04/09
Here's a story I couldn't resist posting. A Christian, home-schooling family in Ohio was raided back in early December by the state Department of Agriculture, the county health department, and the police.
Swat teams surrounded their house, entered, and forced 10 children and their mother into a room and held them for six hours while the house was searched and their personal items confiscated.
Their crime? Running a food co-op for local families. State officials claim Jim and Mary Stower are operating a retail business without a license. The Stower family says they run a members-only co-op, which does not sell to the public and therefore does not require a licence.
The Stowers started ordering wholefoods in bulk for their family of 12 many years ago. Local families asked to do the same and eventually this led to the Stowers putting a co-op together called Manna Storehouse for families to buy food orders in bulk. They purchase mostly from local farms.
Even if the Stowers violated a law, it's amazing to me the way state and local officials chose to act. Imagine rural home-schooled kids being held at gunpoint for six hours by police with automatic rifles. The cops took the families' personal food, and confiscated their cell phones and computer.
The Stowers son-in-law is a soldier stationed in Iraq, by the way. That one computer was their main way of communicating with him.
http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5925&Itemid=80#jreactions
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Pittsburgh council readies $85K for high-powered police rifles
By The Tribune-Review
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Pittsburgh City Council on Wednesday tentatively authorized spending $85,800 to equip specially trained police with high-powered rifles.
If it passes a final vote next week, police will purchase 46 Smith & Wesson M&P15 rifles and batches of ammunition, gun sights and noise suppressors.
The weapons will be kept in police zone stations. Trained officers will be permitted to sign them out. When they do, the rifles will be locked into patrol car gun racks.
The new weapons are a response to the April 4 shooting deaths of three city police officers who were responding to a domestic incident in Stanton Heights.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_625063.html
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Pittsburgh City Council on Wednesday tentatively authorized spending $85,800 to equip specially trained police with high-powered rifles.
If it passes a final vote next week, police will purchase 46 Smith & Wesson M&P15 rifles and batches of ammunition, gun sights and noise suppressors.
The weapons will be kept in police zone stations. Trained officers will be permitted to sign them out. When they do, the rifles will be locked into patrol car gun racks.
The new weapons are a response to the April 4 shooting deaths of three city police officers who were responding to a domestic incident in Stanton Heights.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_625063.html
Grand Jury Substantiates Real ID Opposition, Rohrer Says
HARRISBURG — Following the recent grand jury’s announcement that more than 45 people have been charged with issuing fraudulent drivers’ licenses, Representative Sam Rohrer, prime sponsor of legislation to outlaw Real ID in Pennsylvania, issued the following statement:
“This most recent debacle highlights my long-standing concerns with government entities taking and storing an individual’s personally identifying information, often without their knowledge or consent. PennDOT has lost credibility over this fiasco; no driver can feel safe knowing that his or her personal information, including social security number and biometric data, is vulnerable to this kind of misconduct. In another example of the state yielding personal, constitutional rights to the federal government for the sake of federal funds, Pennsylvania adopted a facial recognition program with the stated intent to eliminate fraudulent or duplicate licenses. If we cannot trust PennDOT to hire honest employees at this most basic level of their security, how can we trust any government agency with any of our personal information?
“Your security system is only as strong as the people in charge of it. I remain opposed to intrusive technology that not only doesn’t catch the bad guys, but also compromises the innocent citizens and takes away their privacy rights. I call once again on Pennsylvania to stand up for the rights of Pennsylvanians to be secure in their persons. We simply cannot allow innocent citizens to have their personal information open to misuse at the very lowest levels.”
The Real ID Act of 2005 was passed as part of a tsunami relief bill, and mandated states comply with several federal guidelines in the issuing of state drivers’ licenses, including the use of biometric information. Rohrer introduced legislation this session, House Bill 1443, to join states across the nation in legislatively refusing to participate in the federal program.
http://grassrootspa.com/
“This most recent debacle highlights my long-standing concerns with government entities taking and storing an individual’s personally identifying information, often without their knowledge or consent. PennDOT has lost credibility over this fiasco; no driver can feel safe knowing that his or her personal information, including social security number and biometric data, is vulnerable to this kind of misconduct. In another example of the state yielding personal, constitutional rights to the federal government for the sake of federal funds, Pennsylvania adopted a facial recognition program with the stated intent to eliminate fraudulent or duplicate licenses. If we cannot trust PennDOT to hire honest employees at this most basic level of their security, how can we trust any government agency with any of our personal information?
“Your security system is only as strong as the people in charge of it. I remain opposed to intrusive technology that not only doesn’t catch the bad guys, but also compromises the innocent citizens and takes away their privacy rights. I call once again on Pennsylvania to stand up for the rights of Pennsylvanians to be secure in their persons. We simply cannot allow innocent citizens to have their personal information open to misuse at the very lowest levels.”
The Real ID Act of 2005 was passed as part of a tsunami relief bill, and mandated states comply with several federal guidelines in the issuing of state drivers’ licenses, including the use of biometric information. Rohrer introduced legislation this session, House Bill 1443, to join states across the nation in legislatively refusing to participate in the federal program.
http://grassrootspa.com/
Monday, May 11, 2009
Campaign finance reports for Allegheny County go online
Monday, May 11, 2009
By Karamagi Rujumba, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Starting today, all campaign finance reports filed by candidates for municipal, school district and county offices, plus political committees, will be available to the public online.
The effort is part of Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato's promise to make campaign finance records more readily accessible to the public through his initiative to create transparent government practices.
"This is a major milestone in our continuing effort to provide open and transparent government in Allegheny County," Mr. Onorato said.
"The placement of these files on the county's Web site allows the public to examine campaign finance reports at their own convenience, 24 hours a day. Prior to this, citizens were required to visit the county elections office in person to access these documents," he added.
The new county Web site http://apps.county.allegheny.pa.us/campaignfinanceview is scheduled to become operational at noon. The public will be able to search through the site by candidate or committee name, office title, report type and report date by means of convenient drop-down menus.
The original paper copies of all campaign finance reports filed with the county beginning this year will be scanned, converted to electronic documents, and indexed for retrieval and display on the Internet.
Reports will be posted and accessible to the public within 72 hours of each filing deadline, and they will remain accessible for a period of five years.
Furthermore, Mr. Onorato plans to submit new legislation to County Council today, setting what he said are even tighter limits on campaign contributions from individuals and political action committees.
Under Mr. Onorato's new proposal, candidates for County Council could accept no more than $1,000 from any individual and no more than $2,000 from any political action committee during each primary election and general election. The contribution limits would be double for candidates seeking countywide election, including county executive, controller, district attorney, sheriff and treasurer.
In January, Mr. Onorato and Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl announced a joint effort to reform campaign finances in the county and the city. They proposed that both governments ought to live under campaign restrictions that were much like federal campaign finance guidelines.
They proposed to enact identical campaign finance laws that would limit personal donations to political campaigns to $4,600 per election cycle and political action committees donations up to $10,000 per cycle (four years).
But two weeks ago, City Council lowered the cap in the campaign finance bill that it approved in an 8-0 vote with one abstention. Mayor Ravenstahl, who is currently seeking re-election, embraced the new stipulations as a sweeping campaign reform bill.
Now, Mr. Onorato has adopted the same campaign limits that City Council approved, even as the campaign finance bill he initially proposed lingers in a County Council committee.
"The time has come for Allegheny County to reform the way we conduct elections," Mr. Onorato said.
Karamagi Rujumba can be reached at krujumba@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1719.
By Karamagi Rujumba, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Starting today, all campaign finance reports filed by candidates for municipal, school district and county offices, plus political committees, will be available to the public online.
The effort is part of Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato's promise to make campaign finance records more readily accessible to the public through his initiative to create transparent government practices.
"This is a major milestone in our continuing effort to provide open and transparent government in Allegheny County," Mr. Onorato said.
"The placement of these files on the county's Web site allows the public to examine campaign finance reports at their own convenience, 24 hours a day. Prior to this, citizens were required to visit the county elections office in person to access these documents," he added.
The new county Web site http://apps.county.allegheny.pa.us/campaignfinanceview is scheduled to become operational at noon. The public will be able to search through the site by candidate or committee name, office title, report type and report date by means of convenient drop-down menus.
The original paper copies of all campaign finance reports filed with the county beginning this year will be scanned, converted to electronic documents, and indexed for retrieval and display on the Internet.
Reports will be posted and accessible to the public within 72 hours of each filing deadline, and they will remain accessible for a period of five years.
Furthermore, Mr. Onorato plans to submit new legislation to County Council today, setting what he said are even tighter limits on campaign contributions from individuals and political action committees.
Under Mr. Onorato's new proposal, candidates for County Council could accept no more than $1,000 from any individual and no more than $2,000 from any political action committee during each primary election and general election. The contribution limits would be double for candidates seeking countywide election, including county executive, controller, district attorney, sheriff and treasurer.
In January, Mr. Onorato and Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl announced a joint effort to reform campaign finances in the county and the city. They proposed that both governments ought to live under campaign restrictions that were much like federal campaign finance guidelines.
They proposed to enact identical campaign finance laws that would limit personal donations to political campaigns to $4,600 per election cycle and political action committees donations up to $10,000 per cycle (four years).
But two weeks ago, City Council lowered the cap in the campaign finance bill that it approved in an 8-0 vote with one abstention. Mayor Ravenstahl, who is currently seeking re-election, embraced the new stipulations as a sweeping campaign reform bill.
Now, Mr. Onorato has adopted the same campaign limits that City Council approved, even as the campaign finance bill he initially proposed lingers in a County Council committee.
"The time has come for Allegheny County to reform the way we conduct elections," Mr. Onorato said.
Karamagi Rujumba can be reached at krujumba@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1719.
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