HARRISBURG, Pa. – Republicans who control the Legislature said Monday they won’t return to Harrisburg to discuss Pennsylvania’s cash-strapped public transit systems, even though the session doesn’t end until Nov. 30 and Gov. Ed Rendell is unhappy with a stopgap funding bill awaiting his signature.

The House and Senate both recessed early Sunday without acting on a plan backed by Rendell to raise $110 million for 41 transit agencies by increasing taxes and fees on new tires and requests for driving records, among other things.

phillyburbs.com: GOP leaders: Legislature won’t return to deal with transit woes: 11/23/2004

Those that rely on public transportation in Pittsburgh and Philly stand to lose.

I rarely do these things – tell people to call governors to tell them to veto bills – but this one is really important. The Pennsylvania Senate passed House Bill 30 which prohibits municipalities from delivering telecommunications services for compensation if it competes with private enterprise. The bill is now awaiting signature by Governor Rendell but he has grave reservations about the proposed law and won’t sign it unless significant revisions are made, notably to the prohibition on municipalities offering telecoms services.

Tell the Gov you don’t want this bill to become law and tell him they’ve got to take that section banning munis from offering telecoms services. It’s not that I think munis should be offering these types of services, rather I believe they should have the option of doing so, especially where there is a duopoly (one cable and one DSL operator).

Telephone Governor Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania at (717) 787-2500.

Note: Although House Bill 30 has been in the works for a year, the most restrictive language was added in only last week. In essence it says that we, the people, through our duly elected representatives, have to ask Verizon (or any other private telecoms provider) for permission to set up an alternative network. Doesn’t anyone find this appalling? Once upon a time, it was the other way around – private companies had to ask our elected officials for permission to dig streets, set up electric poles, build roads, etc.

Muniwireless: Pennsylvania Senate Passes House Bill 30: Call the Governor: 11/20/2004

It was shortly after the election, and he wanted to let me know that he thought how I got involved was inspiring. I didn’t think it amounted to all that much. But I was happy to have contributed in someway.

More importantly, I’ve told him this before, I told him again that night, and I’ll say it again now – he’s the inspiring one.

There are two responses to adversity: You can point a finger at everyone else, screaming from a soapbox in your bedroom – or you choose to fight.

Put your name down. Make a donation. Volunteer someplace.

Damn straight Oliver! Great stuff. This is just what is needed – not a return to cynicism and defeatism that so many are apt to fall into. If all you do is point fingers and play Monday morning quarterback – you’re part of the problem. If you have ideas – lay your cards on the table. I’m eliminating from my reading list the obvious whiners who thrive off of negativity and do nothingness. Get involved.

Dear Karl,

I want to thank you personally for what you did in the election — you rewrote the book on grassroots politics, taking control of campaigns away from big donors. No campaign will ever be the same.

You moved voters, helped hold George Bush accountable, and countered the attacks from big news organizations such as Fox, Sinclair Broadcasting, and conservative talk radio.

And your efforts count now more than ever. Despite the words of cooperation and moderate sounding promises, this administration is planning a right wing assault on values and ideals we hold most deeply. Healthy debate and diverse opinion are being eliminated from the State Department and CIA, and the cabinet is being remade to rubber stamp policies that will undermine Social Security, balloon the deficit, avoid real reforms in health care and education, weaken homeland security, and walk away from critical allies around the world.

Regardless of the outcome of this election, once all the votes are counted — and they will be counted — we will continue to challenge this administration. This is not a time for Democrats to retreat and accommodate extremists on critical principles — it is a time to stand firm.

I will fight for a national standard for federal elections that has both transparency and accountability in our voting system. It’s unacceptable in the United States that people still don’t have full confidence in the integrity of the voting process.

I ask you to join me in this cause.

And we must fight not only against George Bush’s extreme policies — we must also uphold our own values. This is why on the first day Congress is in session next year, I will introduce a bill to provide every child in America with health insurance. And, with your help, that legislation will be accompanied by the support of hundreds of thousands of Americans.

There are more than eight million uninsured children in our nation.

That’s eight million reasons for us to stay together and fight for a new direction. It is a disgrace that in the wealthiest nation on earth, eight million children go without health insurance.

Normally, a member of the Senate will first approach other senators and ask them to co-sponsor a bill before it is introduced — instead, I am turning to you. Imagine the power of a bill co-sponsored by hundreds of thousands of Americans being presented on the floor of the United States Senate. You can make it happen. Sign our “Every Child Protected” pledge today and forward it to your family, friends, and neighbors:

http://johnkerry.com/EveryChild

This is the beginning of a second term effort to hold the Bush administration accountable and to stand up and fight for our principles and our values. They want you to disappear; they are counting on that. I’m confident you will prove them wrong, and you will rewrite history again.

Here is what I want you to know. I understand the strength, commitment, and passion that are at the core of what we built together — and I am determined to make our collective energy and organization a force to be reckoned with in the weeks and months ahead.

Let’s roll up our sleeves and get back to work for our country.

Thank you,
John Kerry

John Kerry email to supporters: 11/19/2004

Me and thousands of others got this email today. I gotta tell ya – I am very, very excited that Kerry isn’t going to let the enthusiasm of so many volunteers fall by the way side. It’s one very big email list of people that want to make a change for the better. Sign the petition folks. Sign your name and take a stand.

BTW – Even if the video is word for-word a reading of the email above, it’s great to see.

Happy Birthday to you.

…does the FCC have the legal status necessary to regulate digital TV or not? Susan Crawford has been following this, and posted the brief (PDF) that was filed by the FCC in response to this question, along with her thoughts on the implications of the FCC’s increased bravado:

The FCC’s brief, filed in response to PK’s challenge to FCC’s jurisdiction in the flag matter, is breathtaking. FCC’s position is that its Act gives it regulatory power over all instrumentalities, facilities, and apparatus “associated with the overall circuit of messages sent and received” via all interstate radio and wire communication. That’s quite a claim.

The scope of such a claim is immense, reaching people’s PCs and any other conceivable digital television consumption device. Unfortunately, it’s evident that much of the FCC’s latest legislation (and hubris) comes at the behest of the larger players in the content production industry, which doesn’t bode well for consumers. The trifecta of increasingly draconian copyright restriction, combined with the new ability (via the DMCA) of private entities to effectively set their own copyright rules outside scope of the law, and an FCC that thinks it controls as much as it does, create a harsh environment for smaller companies and consumers. Indeed, the FCC’s dismissal of 70 years of procedures reflects the potential problems we could face in near future

arstechnica: FCC clarifies that they do, in fact, control everything: 11/15/2004

I wonder when they will tell me my blog, mailing lists, or email is indecent?

As Jeff Jarvis pointed out – it is far too easy for just a few people to suppress the free speech of the many by using the FCC. He filed a Freedom of Information Act request to research a $1.2 million dollar fine the FCC levied against Fox for the suggestion of sex on one of its shows. What he found was disturbing. You should read it.

Now these “Selective Constitutionists” are up in arms over the Monday Night Football opening Desperate Housewives advertisement, featuring Terrell Owens and Nicollette Sheridan. Gimme a break. It was a soap opera spoof piece! If you really want to sanitize sports advertisements, lets start with all those damn Viagra or beer commercials. I just hate hypocracy. I just hate it.

Notice my use of the phrase “Selective Constitutionists”. We need a word or phrase, with as much omph as ‘politically correct liberals’ to label those who decide to support only part of the Constitution, part of the time. I don’t know what that word or phrase is, but I do know it’s important to find.

This was removed from the university website, but I think you should read it:

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

The media tells us that you have received the largest number of popular votes of any president in America’s history. Congratulations!

In your re-election, God has graciously granted America?though she doesn’t deserve it?a reprieve from the agenda of paganism. You have been given a mandate. We the people expect your voice to be like the clear and certain sound of a trumpet. Because you seek the Lord daily, we who know the Lord will follow that kind of voice eagerly.

Don’t equivocate. Put your agenda on the front burner and let it boil. You owe the liberals nothing. They despise you because they despise your Christ. Honor the Lord, and He will honor you.

Had your opponent won, I would have still given thanks, because the Bible says I must (I Thessalonians 5:18). It would have been hard, but because the Lord lifts up whom He will and pulls down whom He will, I would have done it. It is easy to rejoice today, because Christ has allowed you to be His servant in this nation for another presidential term. Undoubtedly, you will have opportunity to appoint many conservative judges and exercise forceful leadership with the Congress in passing legislation that is defined by biblical norm regarding the family, sexuality, sanctity of life, religious freedom, freedom of speech, and limited government. You have four years?a brief time only?to leave an imprint for righteousness upon this nation that brings with it the blessings of Almighty God.

Christ said, ?If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my father honour? (John 12:26).

The student body, faculty, and staff at Bob Jones University commit ourselves to pray for you?that you would do right and honor the Savior. Pull out all the stops and make a difference. If you have weaklings around you who do not share your biblical values, shed yourself of them. Conservative Americans would love to see one president who doesn’t care whether he is liked, but cares infinitely that he does right.

Best wishes.

Sincerely your friend,

Bob Jones III
President

BJIII:lw

Letter to President Bush from Dr. Bob Jones III

BTW – you can’t associate these folks with Catholics like myself since they claim we are a ‘satanic counterfeit’ (yes, you read that right) :

…A Catholic may be saved in spite of his church. He will never be saved because of it.

Romanism is a pagan counterfeit of the Christian religion, ancient paganism and idolatry, claiming to be the church which Christ founded. While the other groups and denominations have differed historically on questions of scriptural interpretation, their common origin is biblical. Romanism is a religion of works. Protestantism is a religion of free grace. The Roman Church is not another Christian denomination. It is a satanic counterfeit, an ecclesiastic tyranny over the souls of men, not to bring them to salvation but to hold them bound in sin and to hurl them into eternal damnation. It is the old harlot of the book of the Revelation?”the Mother of Harlots.”

Bob Jones University: Romanism and the Charismatic Movement

They have since backed away from such a hard line against Catholics – and against interracial marriage (within the past for years), and it’s old news that George Bush visited the university during his 2000 run for President. What is news is that the school wants payback for its support during the campaign.

John Kerry returned to Washington last week and did something surprising for a defeated Democratic presidential nominee. He met with his party’s leaders in the House and Senate to plot strategy for the upcoming year.

Those who supposed Kerry would disappear on vacation, put on a few pounds, grow a beard, make an American Express commercial, or teach at a small college raised their eyebrows: Kerry might actually be serious about playing an important role over the next few years. He might even be planning another presidential run.

This scenario would not be surprising if Kerry were a Republican. GOP contenders are groomed over a long period, and losing is often a part of the credentialing process.

Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush ran unsuccessful campaigns before winning — with Reagan twice falling short of the GOP nomination and Nixon failing once as the nominee, followed by a more embarrassing defeat for governor of California.

As a result, Republicans almost always nominate a familiar, tested brand — a Nixon, Reagan, Bob Dole, or Bush — who knows every whistle-stop and pothole on the national campaign trail the way an expert skier knows the bumps on a favorite mountain. (George W. Bush got the lay of the land from his father’s two decades in the national spotlight.)

The Democrats, meanwhile, begin every cycle afresh, as though looking for a caped crusader to lead them to the White House. Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton could not have been picked out of a police lineup outside their home states before launching their national campaigns. And past nominees George McGovern, Michael Dukakis, and Kerry were all unknowns on the national stage, stepping out of the chorus to sing the lead.

Since Democrats’ first allegiance is usually to their causes, not their leaders, losing candidates get discarded quickly. As Ted Kennedy once said in a concession speech scripted by eight-time losing consultant Bob Shrum, ”The cause endures.” But a candidate’s shelf life expires immediately.

One reason Democratic candidates so often fall prey to Republican efforts to ”define them” through negative ads is that they are undefined to begin with. Lately, this seems to have become a staple of the Republican game plan, as Clinton noted at the Democratic convention.

”Since most Americans aren’t that far right, our friends have to portray us Democrats as simply unacceptable, lacking in strength and values,” Clinton advised the party faithful.

…Voters knew Bush; they did not know Kerry. So despite the Democrat’s best effort to appear strong, a broad-brush characterization of Kerry as weak was enough to send some voters scurrying back to Bush. If voters had seen more of Kerry over the past few years and had their own observations to guide them, they would not have been so easily swayed.

…Over time Kerry might decide that after running the costliest Democratic campaign ever, only to win the exit polls but lose the presidency, he cannot bear to return to square one.

But there is every reason to believe that he — as well as Edwards and Dean — would be better candidates for having run before. And the country would get less talk of swift boats, screams, or hair products, and more of a chance for serious debate.

Boston.com: In ’08, familiar faces could aid Democrats: 11/16/2004

More here: WashPost: After the Race, John Kerry Climbs Back Up the Hill. This is a guy you can’t help but respect – that is – if you don’t let Karl Rove define him for you.