Vote 'NO' on these Ridiculous Issues

Issue 1- Raise the age at which Ohio Supreme Court justices can be seated? To be honest, I can't name any of the justices. No one can unless your in a poli sci class at YSU right now. They might as well be the Illuminati for as much power as they swing without anyone knowing who they are.  But I know seventy is old enough to ask them to stop being seated. Increasing the age at which justices can be seated to to seventy five serves no good purpose because it allow justices to still be on the bench in their eighties. If people are thinking about taking grandpa's drivers license at that age I can't imagine allowing him making decisions on state law.

Issue 2- SB5 is a ridiculous attempt by the Kasich administration to remove power from local municipalities and state workers by consolidating it in Columbus. Local school boards are perfectly capable of negotiating with teacher's unions. City councils can negotiate with cops and fireman. If you don't like the outcome of those negotiations, stop electing the people in those positions. And while we're at it, stop demonizing state workers because they make more money than you. Go back to school, earn a degree and get a better job. No one ever said you have to make crap money doing a job you hate forever. Your personal situation is your fault. Stop taking it out on the DMV clerk because they have better benefits than you.

Issue 3- This is just a ridiculous attempt to make people think they have a choice on Obamacare. The backers on this issue want you to think you can stop the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. You can't. The legality of requiring people to purchase health  insurance if their employer doesn't provide it will be settled in the U.S. Supreme Court. If it is found unconstitutional, no one has to buy anything. If it is found to be constitutional, Issue 3 is irrelevant because federal law trumps state law. That means you've got to buy health insurance and stop sponging off the rest of us at the emergency room.Vote 'No' just to let Washington know we recognize there is a health care crisis and something needs to be done.

"Play some Coltrane" and the Apple Hipster iLife

No more Apple hipster crap, please, I'm begging you.  I'm watching a good football game where the Browns are holding their own against the Seahawks and during a break they ran an iPhone i4s commercial. They were showing off the new personal assistant application and all it can do.  It's neat, no doubt.  It uses a combination of GPS and calendar type reminders to see where you are and play the reminder at the appropriate time.  Like I said, neat.

Then Mr. Smooth says "Play some Coltrane" and my hipster alarm went off.  I'm just sick of the whole iLife sales pitch, like our lives would be just perfect if we all had Apple products.  They hit you with that innocuous Indy b side music and show you how their product will do everything for you if you'll just join the cult. And I get that doing that is their hook, showing you technology you didn't know you needed.  It's just that I'm tired of being sold something that is unachievable.

No device is ever going to fulfill your needs the way Apple says they will. We'll never be the hip, multicultural, thick eyeglass frames, wild haired but totally conformist culture they are selling. Most of us cannot achieve the white teeth raucous laughter the people in those commercials enjoy while bopping along with white ear buds in place.

I know every company does these things but Apple has a snobby attitude when inviting you into the cult. Yeah, they're hipper than the PC users, just ask them.

Back to the whole Coltrane thing.  I think they picked John Coltrane because there isn't anything controversial about a jazz musician who has been deceased for forty years and it's hip to listen to jazz. If they had picked someone contemporary the company risks dating themselves, they risk alienating themselves from the music snobs who look down upon everything and they risk an association with someone outside their control, someone who can get into a car wreck tonight or OD tomorrow.  Let's face it, Apple isn't in the business of taking risks.  That would be too edgy.

Abandoned Boat Part Two

We like abandoned things and places here at Tales from the Rust Belt. (It's true, do a search for "abandoned" to see some cool pic). A couple of months ago we featured an abandoned boat in the woods of Hubbard Township. Today we found a boat in a fenced in lot on Albert St. near McGuffey.

If you see anything abandoned inthe area feel free to email it to us at rustbeltblog@gmail.com. We would love to see it and feature it.

Oh Yeah, It Is Class Warfare

I've been watching the coverage of the Occupy Wall St. folks for a few weeks now and I have to tell you, I'm surprised it took so long for people to organize some sort of protest over the assault the middle class has been enduring. Let me start off by saying that I have nothing against capitalism.  I like making a buck and I think plenty of other people like it too.  There's a feeling of accomplishment that comes with earning money through the application of your strength, wit and ingenuity.  I don't care if you make it by building a car or hitting a ball.  You earned and it's yours.

But I have an enormous problem when all that wealth stacks the rules of the game against people.

The Supreme Court has decided that companies can give as much money as they like to support political causes.  Those unlimited funds buy access to politicians and access allows influence.  I don't have a loge at a stadium to treat my senator to a ball game or host a one-thousand dollar a plate fundraiser.  Let's be honest, you can call your elected representatives and voice an opinion and you can even shake their hand at a town hall meeting but that doesn't compare to spending three hours with their undivided attention while watching a game.  That access let's me introduce lobbyists and talk about trade agreements that end with unemployed Americans and iPads being put together for $8 apiece in China.

The people camped out on Wall St. and around the country (including Youngstown this weekend) are fed up and pissed that the deck has been stacked against them.  Real wages in this country have declined over the last decade because of the recession.  People see their jobs outsourced overseas, they see banks bailed out, they see home values decline, they see their government spending an obscene amount of money on wars and they see no jobs.

Then we have a government that is completely dysfunctional.  The President, a democrat for God's sake, opens budget ceiling negotiations with the republicans by offering to raise the retirement age for Social Security.  The republicans want tax cuts for the "job creators".  Unemployment is at 9.1%; exactly when are the job creators going to do some creating?  When people hear this rhetoric they know this:

• President Obama can't get anything passed through congress.
• The republicans will not do anything until after the 2012 election.
• All of the help that eventually comes will be directed to the 1% when it comes.

Why wouldn't people be demonstrating?  No one wants a return to the Gilded Age.  People are tired of hearing that if they just apply themselves they will succeed.  No one wants to see their standard of living decline and no one wants their children to be worse off than they were.  They want their kids to have the opportunity to do better and right now that isn't likely.  So we have marches and demonstrations.

The right thing to do would be for government and business to work together on a solution.  There has to be a point where both sides recognize that a declining standard of living is not good for the market place or the citizens.  We should have laws that make it cost prohibitive to outsource jobs while creating a friendly atmosphere for business here.  There may be taxes that need to be rolled back and regulations that are ridiculous but it needs to be a meaningful discussion that addresses the needs of both sides.

I don't have all the answers but I know one thing:  People who have a job to go to in the morning don't spend a lot of time demonstrating in a park.

Goodbye Summer

End of the season cookout with a nice bonfire. Excellent weather and good times with friends and family.
Sent from the BlackBerry® of Michael Prelee.

George Carlin on Class Warfare

I came across this little gem yesterday.  It's George Carlin describing class warfare in America:

You know how I define the economic and social classes in this country? The upper class keeps all of the money, pays none of the taxes. The middle class pays all of the taxes, does all of the work. The poor are there... just to scare the shit out of the middle class. Keep 'em showing up at those jobs.

That's us folks.  Showing up at those jobs because we're scared.