Tales From the Rust Belt

The Eraser of Doom at Rust Belt Pop

2012-01-12T14:36:00.002-05:00

This is our new design up at Rust Belt Pop; the Eraser of Doom. Enjoy this design featuring a little stick figure running from an eraser on pajamas, T-shirts and sweatshirts.

What Was Ben Roethlisberger Wearing Last Night?

2012-01-09T16:51:00.001-05:00

The Steelers lost to the Broncos last night and as much as that makes me smile, it was Ben Roethlisberger's post-game outfit that had me chuckling hardest. A quick look for a still photo of his outfit brough this picture up so I'm sharing it with you. Enjoy.

I can only assume Pretty Boy Floyd was waiting with a getaway car outside so the two of them could hit a night club and rob a bank after the game.

We Just Had An Earthquake!

2011-12-31T15:12:00.000-05:00

At 3:05 an earthquake shook an area from Hubbard to Austintown. It was lengthy, probably at least ten seconds and moved the whole house.Anyone else feel it?

Edited to Add information from the United States Geological Survey:

Earthquake Details

This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.

Magnitude	4.0
Date-Time	Saturday, December 31, 2011 at 20:04:58 UTC Saturday, December 31, 2011 at 03:04:58 PM at epicenter Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location	41.159°N, 80.729°W
Depth	2.2 km (1.4 miles) (poorly constrained)
Region	YOUNGSTOWN-WARREN URBAN AREA, OHIO
Distances	9 km (5 miles) NW of Youngstown, Ohio 11 km (6 miles) SE of Warren, Ohio 89 km (55 miles) ESE of Cleveland, Ohio 234 km (145 miles) NE of COLUMBUS, Ohio
Location Uncertainty	horizontal +/- 10.3 km (6.4 miles); depth +/- 10.2 km (6.3 miles)
Parameters	NST=108, Nph=125, Dmin=65.7 km, Rmss=1.02 sec, Gp= 50°, M-type="Nuttli" surface wave magnitude (mbLg), Version=5
Source	Magnitude: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D) Location: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID	usc0007f7s

Five Years, 134 Homicides and an Analysis of the Data

2011-12-29T15:19:00.000-05:00

In March of 2007 I began recording the homicides taking place in Youngstown after reading about a similar project in the LA Times. Over the last five years I have plotted each homicide in Youngstown in a separate map for each year. One goal for doing so was to use facts to refute some of the myths that have become commonplace. Another goal was to provide area residents with a visual resource that allows them to determine which parts of the city truly do have a problem versus those parts which just have a reputation.

In the original blog post I took Mayor Williams to task for not doing enough to reduce the city's homicide rate. It would appear that I was incorrect in that assessment. Zero Tolerance patrols and interdiction, V-GRIP and assistance from Federal agencies like BATF, FBI and U.S. Marshals have all been effective resources in reducing the homicide rate for the 2007-2011 time frame. Neighborhood block watch programs have also been effective. As the graph shows, 39 homicides were committed in 2007. That number has decreased each year until leveling out this year and last at 22, assuming there are no murders committed between now and Saturday night. This decrease has also occurred during a severe recession. Urban myth would have us believe that crime increases during such times of economic hardship.

As good as it is that the overall number of homicides committed has dropped, it is troubling to see certain trends within the data. In examining the age range of victims we can see that the number of children killed who were less than 10 years old is troubling. These are victims that cannot effectively defend themselves in a situation where an adult is determined to harm them.

Further, the age range of 18-25 is disproportionately represented in the data. 46 of the 134 homicide victims or 34% fall into this age range. This is hardly surprising given that this age group has many factors working against it. Many homicides are drug related and dealing drugs is an easy way to make money in a city where the unemployment is officially 8.9% and most likely higher than that if one takes into account the underemployed and those who have given up looking for a job or exhausted their unemployment benefits.

Certain areas of the city are also disproportionately represented in the data. This graph and its accompanying map plot homicides by zip code for the five years studied. Zip code 44505 on the city's East side recorded 36 of the 134 homicides that occurred, the most of any zip code within the city. Following the map to zip codes 44506, 44502, 44507 and ending at 44511 paints a bleak picture for the East and South sides of the city.

In fact, those areas appear to be pushing Youngstown above the national average for homicides. Nationally the homicide rate for the United States is 4.8 per 100,000 people. If homicides for only 44509 (8), 44510 (5), 44504 (7) and 44512 (1) are counted, the average is 4.2 per year or 5.46 per 100,000 people. This number is much more in line with the national rate.

The original blog post in 2007 gathered comments that stated the city administration has this data and uses it for planning. That is good news. However, the goal here is to get this data into the hands of people who can use it to make decisions about where they live and how they make improvements in those neighborhoods affected by high rates. Ideally, someone could use this as a starting step to other demographic studies such as incomes for these areas, education rates, unemployment statistics, property values and similar studies. Mayor Sammarone's administration is making transparency in government and federal assistance a priority. Hopefully residents of Youngstown can use this data to help steer assistance to the places it is most needed.

Hubbard Brine Well Looks Like a Bad Idea

2011-12-12T12:48:00.002-05:00

According to this story in the Vindicator, there is a meeting Tuesday afternoon in the Hubbard Township administration building with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to discuss the brine well that is planned for the area near I-80 & Route 62. Please see the map below. The article states it will be located on the property between King Collision and the Yellow Freight terminal.

Brine wells store hydraulic fracturing fluid used during natural gas drilling. This fluid is a brine solution of water and toxic chemicals. It's just the thing to keep away from surface water sources.

What makes this such a monumentally bad idea in this writer's opinion is the proximity of the well to Little Yankee Run Creek, a waterway that feeds into the Shenango River. The Shenango River is a source of drinking water for several communities.

Little Yankee Run Creek is notorious for overflowing its banks in the spring when snow melts and other times of the year when heavy rains occur. It regularly threatens to flood the exit ramp off I-80 and the water level can reach high enough to almost touch the bottom of the bridge on Rt. 62.

If an accident at the well were to occur the hydraulic fracturing fluid at the well site could flow into the creek and contaminate the water supply. The creek itself could flood and overcome the protective spillage barriers around the well. This would also contaminate the water supply.

The meeting to discuss this well is at 3pm tomorrow afternoon at at the Hubbard Township Administration Building, 2600 Elmwood Drive.

Big Sales on Christmas Vacation Movie Designs

2011-12-11T19:22:00.001-05:00

It’s a Sale! $10 off orders over $50*, thru 12/16. Coupon Code FDEC1150. Details: http://www.cafepress.com/content/si/promo/details.htm

Take a look at lour designs for Christmas by clicking here! Our Christmas Vacation Movie designs have been flying off the shelves. The pajamas and T-shirts make great gifts. Order today to get your selections in time for Christmas! Don't forget to use the promo code FDEC1150 to get your savings!

Necropolis by Michael Dempsey

2011-11-29T13:12:00.001-05:00

Mahoning Valley native Michael Dempsey's first novel, Necropolis, is a swinging good time. It's a genre mixing sci-fi noir crime novel that follows life, death and ressurection of police detective Paul Donner. In this debut novel, Donner is killed in a botched hold up at a bodega and revived 40 years later thanks to an event called "the Shift". Donner finds himself unwanted in a world where noir is back in style and among people who dislike revived persons. New York is quarantined under a dome and the land surrounding it, the blasted heath, is uninhabitable. Donner is also "youthing" or aging backwards, another result of the Shift.

In fantastic noirish convention Dempsey fashions a full cast of characters to support the story as Donner begins to investigate his own unsolved murder. His prose is smooth and fleshes out a fully formed retro-futuristic world for his characters to inhabit. This is an engrossing, fun story that hooks the reader. Whether you are a sci-fi fan, a mystery fan or someone who lovers the noir mysteries of the old pulps, this book satisfies your interest.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T10:25:00.001-05:00

Here's hoping you aren't stuck at the kiddie table and that the cable doesn't go out.

You are a Factory of Sadness! Mike Polk's Browns Rant

2011-11-20T13:40:00.001-05:00

Occupy Thanksgiving...from your Dinner Table. Don't Shop on Thanksgiving Day!

2011-11-11T15:12:00.001-05:00

There's been a trend in recent years for stores to open earlier and earlier the morning after Thanksgiving. According to this article on Yahoo!, the Thanksgiving Day line has been crossed and several retailers will open up starting at 10:00 pm Thanksgiving Day and Midnight on Friday.

From the article:

Ms. Nyberg is drawing the line now that major chains like Target, Macy’s, Best Buy and Kohl’s say they will open for the first time at midnight on Thanksgiving, and Wal-Mart will go even further, with a 10 p.m. Thanksgiving start for deals on some merchandise.

My plea is a simple one. Please stay out of the stores on Thanksgiving Day. Store associates deserve a day with their families. Getting a "deal" on something is not worth ruining someone's day with their family. This economy has shown us what's really important in life and it isn't getting a flat screen TV for a good bargain. It's the people around you, who support and love you. The people working those cash registers deserve a holiday with their family as much as you do.

If you go into a store on Thanksgiving Day you are supporting the retailer's notion that opening earlier and earlier is the only way to succeed. As a shopper, you most likely enjoyed a day off work, had dinner, enjoyed some football and shared stories with your family. Store associates will have to give all of that up to prepare the store so you can pop in, spend an hour getting your deals and then go home.

Our family goes out of our way not to patronize retailers on holidays. I get gas before hand, have groceries in the fridge and plan the day to be with family. In doing so I am hoping to make retailers see the futility of opening their stores on holidays. This year why don't you join us and Occupy Thanksgiving from your dinner table?

Get Out and Vote Today

2011-11-08T07:44:00.000-05:00

Don't forget to vote today!

Vote 'NO' on these Ridiculous Issues

2011-10-29T19:35:00.000-04:00

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

2011-10-23T16:27:00.000-04:00

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

2011-10-20T08:37:00.001-04:00

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

2011-10-14T14:57:00.000-04:00

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

2011-10-08T20:00:00.000-04:00

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

2011-10-05T09:24:00.000-04:00

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.

North Dakota Wastes Natural Gas Even as we Scramble to Pull it from the Marcellus Shale

2011-09-27T14:22:00.000-04:00

There is an interesting article in the New York Times today about the practice of Gas Flaring in North Dakota. As oil prices increase, companies are rushing to drill new wells in the Bakken shale field. One result of drilling for oil is finding natural gas as a by product. The Times reports that as much as 30% of the natural gas produced by oil drilling is flared, or burned off, into the sky. This is done because it is impractical to collect and store it for travel from the Bakken shale field.

From the article:

Every day, more than 100 million cubic feet of natural gas is flared this way — enough energy to heat half a million homes for a day.

Economics is cited as the reason for the wasteful practice. After all, the oil is the prize here, not the natural gas, not with prices for it pushed low due to an abundunt supply. Pipelines and collection equipment cost money and quite frankly it is cheaper to burn off the gas than invest in the infrastructure necessary to get it to market.

However, it is stunning to see the commodity that is so highly prized here in our area wastefully burned off into the sky over North Dakota. After all, V & M and other pipe producers have spent hundreds of millions of dollars gearing up for the fracking boom that is getting under way. Wasn't it just a few years ago that natural gas prices were three times what they are now due to supply shortages? I remember people in the late 2000's calling Ron Verb's radio show and complaining incessantly about the cost of heating their homes.

Hopefully some enterprising company can see an opportunity for this fuel rather than letting it heat the sky.

Big Bang Theory Season One Episode List T-Shirt & iPad2 Covers

2011-09-25T11:09:00.000-04:00

Rust Belt Pop has a new Big Bang Theory T-shirt up for sale, thanks to Cafepress's license with the network. It's the Big Bang Theory Season One Episode List black tee. This design is available as tees for men and women, on his and her pajamas and on hoodies. The design is also available on a cover for the iPad and iPad2. I enjoy the show and the episode titles have always caught my eye. This fun design captures the titles from the first season. Later seasons may follow as time permits.

Obamacare Leads to One Million Young Adults Getting Health Care

2011-09-21T12:57:00.002-04:00

The provision in the president's new healthcare bill that allows young adults to stay on their parent's health coverage is credited with insuring an additional one million people in the first three months of this year, according to the surveys in this article. These are people that would have been removed from their parent's coverage when they graduated from college. The new law allows them to remain covered until they are 26.

This is a spot of good news amid gloomy economic stories. I know many people are opposed to this law but these are a million people who will use regular doctor's visits to treat illness or chronic problems instead of flooding emergency rooms. Once the health care law is fully implemented I believe we'll see the benefits of greater coverage.

Some Ideas for Putting People to Work, Reducing Crime and Building Rather Than Destroying

2011-09-08T16:42:00.001-04:00

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. This is, I repeat, the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. ... Is there no other way the world may live?- President Dwight Eisenhower

While perusing news sites I saw that another home invasion occurred in Youngstown. Earlier in the day I was thinking about the jobs speech President Obama will give tonight and BAM, a light bulb went off. Remember the COPS program that was so successful in the 1990's and the early 2000's? Community Oriented Poilicing? I think it's time to bring it back on a grand scale as part of an integrated plan to rescue cities such as Youngstown, Detroit and Buffalo.

We clearly have many problems that negatively affect urban cities in the United States so why not attack a few at once? What I'm suggesting is an approach with four main points:

Cease operations this year in Afghanistan and bring the troops home. It's been ten years, Al-Qaeda is out of the country and we've spent enough money and lost enough lives. Get these people out of harm's way and bring them back here where some of their training can be put to use. Also, this frees up an enormous amount of money to use on the other three points. For instance...
Reduce the number of blighted properties in cities. This is an infrastructure project that doesn't require nice weather. Take some of our peace dividend money and use it to hire construction firms to knock down abandoned homes. Municipalities have done the hard work of identifying abandoned properties and created land banks to take possession. Now the cities need the resources to remove the structures. This may also decrease available housing stock and help the real estate market.
Hire police to secure the neighbohoods currently under siege. We have plenty of good people trapped in bad neighborhoods. These are people who only leave their houses when necessary. We'll have plenty of soldiers who may want to pursue law enforcement as a career and they'll have experience with securing an area from hostile entities. This one is a no-brainer.
Hire teachers and provide training for those needing it. One of the great points made in Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers was that many of the soldiers profiled in the book came back to the United States and became teachers, engineers and builders. After seeing so much destruction they were eager to build and help others. We should take that discipline they have and their ability to adapt to difficult situations and transition it right into teaching and building. One of the reasons employers don't come to our area is because they claim we have an ill prepared workforce. Well, let's create a wave of teachers, professionals and tradesmen who can lead others. Then make education a requirement of public assistance and train a workforce that potential employers will desire.

This all sounds expensive and it will be but this is investment in America. This is using our money to build ourselves up rather than waging war. Whether we want to admit it or not we have a dangerous generation of people out there who feel lost and forgotten. These problems can be fixed if we are willing to make the effort.

We Did So Land on the Moon

2011-09-06T18:54:00.001-04:00

Do you know those people who claim we didn't land on the Moon? What's so disheartening about these folks is that despite all their reasons for why we didn't or couldn't accomplish such a feat, most of the time their disbelief boils down to a lack of imagination. They think of the enormity of such a project and since they cannot imagine what it would take to get men to the Moon. The equipment that would have to be built and the math, Oh My God the Math! They've grown up jaded in a world where we've stopped exploring on a grand scale.

Luckily there are pictures.

From the NASA.gov website:

At the Apollo 17 site, the tracks laid down by the lunar rover are clearly visible, along with the last foot trails left on the moon. The images also show where the astronauts placed some of the scientific instruments that provided the first insight into the moon's environment and interior.

"We can retrace the astronauts' steps with greater clarity to see where they took lunar samples," said Noah Petro, a lunar geologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., who is a member of the LRO project science team.

All three images show distinct trails left in the moon's thin soil when the astronauts exited the lunar modules and explored on foot. In the Apollo 17 image, the foot trails, including the last path made on the moon by humans, are easily distinguished from the dual tracks left by the lunar rover, which remains parked east of the lander.

"The new low-altitude Narrow Angle Camera images sharpen our view of the moon's surface," said Arizona State University researcher Mark Robinson, principal investigator for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC). "A great example is the sharpness of the rover tracks at the Apollo 17 site. In previous images the rover tracks were visible, but now they are sharp parallel lines on the surface."

Loving the Chevy Volt

2011-09-05T17:37:00.000-04:00

I read the article the Warren Tribune had up about the Chevy Volt being on display at the Canfield Fair with great interest. It was a nice article but it was followed up with some comments that ran toward the negative. The Volt is a good looking, electric car that runs on a plug in charge. It also has a back up motor powered by gasoline.

The comments ranged from the informed that crunch the numbers to see if the car is worth the price to the ludicrous that insist on bringing politics into every situation (liberals have no common sense, liberals this, liberals that). I think a couple salient points are being missed.

First , the Chevy Volt is an American vehicle utilizing state of the art technology to put an electric vehicle on the road. I have to believe there's going to be a premium cost for that. The government has come through with a tax break for electric vehicles (not just the Volt, either). With the tax breaks a Volt runs about $32,780. Right now that's what this technology is going to cost. A few years from now, after the technology is more readily available, prices will inevitably come down.

Second, and this may be the biggest advantage to the Volt, purchasing one allows the buyer to transform their philosophy to action. If you really want to get away from foreign oil, if you want to reduce your carbon footprint and you want to buy American, then this is a car that allows you to accomplish those things.

Finally, it's the buyer's money. They can spend it however they want. People have been buying Hummers and Excursions for years because that's what they want. If someone wants to spend their money on adopting an early electric vehicle, then they should have the freedom to do that. That's what we're all about, right?

The Red Riding Trilogy: Great Crime Thrillers

2011-08-30T13:04:00.001-04:00

One of the nice things about streaming Netflix is the non-mainstream content you get exposed to. In this case, Netflix offers the Red Riding trilogy from England. As a fan of crime dramas, such as Homicide: Life on the Street or Clockers, I am always interested in realistic stories that show the underbelly of society. Red Riding hits all the right notes. The trilogy consists of Red Riding 1974, Red Riding 1980 and Red Riding 1983.

The three films deal with the police corruption in North England, specifically the West Yorkshire Constabulary. Against a series of serial killings and child kidnappings, including the Yorshire Ripper murders, we see brutal police methods put to work to gain a conviction, regardless of the guilt or innocence of the accused. The top notch cast plays their detectives as hard men with rough edges. There is no pity in the interrogation rooms. The story here does more to frighten the viewer than any goofy horror film. Once you see how utterly helpless suspects can be in the grasp of corrupt police officials you will know what it's like to be truly powerless and vulnerable.

Everyone is on the take as well. These officers don't so much view their job as serving and protecting as maintaining graft and protecting their patrons. Indeed, in the first film, asking the wrong questions about a string of child kidnappings stretching back several years gets cub reporter Eddie Dunnford in a lot of trouble.

One of the greatest aspects of the films is the cinematography. The bleak english countryside communicates the desperation of the people living near Yorkshire and the village of Fitzwilliam. There is an altogether familiarity for residents of our rust belt of gray concrete, desolate public housing and desperation.

The films demonstrate how authority can be corrupted in the absence of an informed public who cares about what is happening. In 1974, especially, we see how a corrupt mall developer uses money and influence to get public officials to do what he wants while they look the other way. Familiar, eh?

If you are a crime buff and enjoy realistic, gritty dramas on the subject I recommend all three Red Riding films.

Maureen Dowd on Dick Cheney's New Memoir

2011-08-29T13:22:00.002-04:00

Maureen Dowd certainly has a way with words and it shines through in yesterday's review of ~~Darth Vader's~~ Dick Cheney's new memoir. I may or may not read it myself, although it does seem to have a certain self-delusional quality that might be entertaining. I haven't read George W. Bush's memoir either but only because the going-out-of-business sale price of 40% off at Border's still isn't low enough. I'll wait for the library to get a copy.

All kidding aside, I will probably want to dust off my history degree and see what the draft-deferring war monger has to say. It will be interesting to hear him defend the decision to go to war in Iraq, to hear him justify torture and to learn what he thought of the other people in the administration. Additionally, Ms. Dowd says it was co-written by his daughter Liz Cheney so that should ratchet up the 'gotta be right' tone of the book because no daughter has ever been more of a daddy's girl than her.

I just hope I can get through it without hearing his words in that Burgess Meredith Penguin voice.

Best Buy Gouges Hurricane Irene Shoppers for Water

2011-08-28T07:50:00.000-04:00

I've seen this story on a couple sites and thought I'd share.

As hurricane Irene bears down on the Jersey Shore, the Best Buy in Howell, NJ has taken it upon themselves sell cases of Dasani water for $40.56. One of the DJs for New Jersey 101.5 just sent this photo to theCHIVE.
At a time when it’s so important for these seaside communities to come together to help each other out (maybe even lower the price on water, eh), it’s disappointing to see a massive corporation like Best Buy not only assume zero social responsibility, but also go the extra mile to make a buck by selling bulk cases of water at the single bottle price during an emergency.

It's like Best Buy in Howell, NJ is doing it's best to give people a reason to boycott them after the storm. Remember Best Buy, you can shear a sheep many times but you can only kill it once.

United States Announces Plan to Invade the United States, Build Schools, Roads

2011-08-17T13:35:00.001-04:00

The United States of America announced today that they are invading the United States of America. In a statement released by the American government, the White House announced that “the government of the United States is dysfunctional and has effectively abandoned the citizenry of the United States.” Citing specific instances that led to the decision to invade, a White House spokesman mentioned allowing the infrastructure of the country to fall into disrepair, high unemployment rates, exorbitant health care costs, failing schools and a failure to effectively budget tax revenues.

“Also,” the spokesman said, “there is a boatload of oil in some places.”

“Since the military is the only government entity still effectively functional, we’ve decided to invade the United States,” the spokesman said. “We plan on improving roads, building schools and bringing 21st century medical care to the overwhelmed populace. Private contractors will be employed to accomplish many of these tasks and they will hire local people in an effort to reduce unemployment.”

The occupation of the country is expected to last some time given the difficulty of the situation, the spokesman said. “Given the ineffectiveness of the government to accomplish even the most basic functions we anticipate a lengthy mission. Hopefully this humanitarian mission will enable the United States government to overcome its problems and once again become a fully functioning member of the global community.”

World Afire, Obama and Congress Head Off to Vacation

2011-08-11T09:30:00.003-04:00

As regular readers of this blog know, I campaigned hard for the President. I liked his passion and thought he had good ideas and a mandate to implement them. Now I see the stock market in free fall, unemployment at ridiculously high levels and an economy that is brittle. It's now that he decides to take the family up to Martha's Vineyard.

He has an opportunity at this point in time to be a real leader, to sieze the moment as Churchill or a Roosevelt and give people hope in the face of overwhelming despair. Now is the time to stand up and try something, anything to get this economy turned around. Big ideas or small, a pat on the hand or a pep talk, he absolutely must be the leader we elected him to be. We need a steady hand at the rudder, a calming influence and the hope that things are going to get better.

Maureen Dowd has reffered to him as President Spock and this decision confirms his aloofness. A lot of the people who lost jobs in 2008-2009 still haven't found work and those that kept their jobs haven't seen their wages come back. Now it looks like we could be entering those dark days again and here's what we get from this White House:

Press secretary Jay Carney defended Obama's plans to take a break even as he's pledged urgent action on those issues.

"I don't think Americans out there would begrudge that notion that the president would spend some time with his family," Carney said.

I do begrudge him that time. He needs a little Clinton gravitas, a little of that old "I feel your pain". We're still waiting, after three years, for things to get better. I know the Republicans are working against him but that's the name of the game. That's politics. They aren't going to work with him so he has to learn to go through them or around them. If he won't learn that one simple lesson, to stand up and fight for what he believes, he needs to forget re-election and let Hillary Clinton get into a primary fight.

Finally, the only way he could have been more elitist in choosing his vacation destination would have been to announce that James Taylor would be serenading the whole family on the beach around a bonfire. If he has to go somewhere, go to a depressed area where all that vacation money would do some good. A tour of the Lake Erie shoreline gives you Presque Isle, Cedar Point, Geneva-on-the-Lake, Kalahari Waterpark and other attractions. There's no harm in coming out to see the folks he leads and how we spend our vacations.

The World Appears to be on Fire. These are Your Instructions for Tuesday

2011-08-09T08:20:00.000-04:00

Sunday Morning News Shows and the Living Fossils who Roam Them

2011-08-07T10:04:00.000-04:00

Just saw Senator John McCain on Meet the Press. This millionaire who enjoys government health care just explained that Social Security and Medicare must be reformed because the country is going broke. In his next breath he explained how we must continue "the mission" in Afghanistan. Essentially saying our money is for war, not for our retiring middle and lower income classes. He had that creepy campaign smile on his face as he said this.

Living skeleton Alan Greenspan just explained, I kid you not, that the United States would never default on its debts because we could always print as much money as we need. Eventually all of that cash will wash up in the grocery store and we'll be paying $4 for a loaf of bread but I guess we can worry about that later.

Republican strategist Alex Castallanos just explained that President Obama is responsible for businesses not hiring because he has plans to raise taxes on the 20% of the people in this country who hold 80% of the assets. Who else is going to pay? The rest of us are out of money and those are the people who sent our good paying manufacturing jobs overseas. I'm no economist but won't the deficit be reduced if we cut spending and raise taxes?

Folks, the boat is sinking and the crew is arguing about whether we should use buckets or teaspoons to bail out the water.

Good Score at Steel City Con

2011-07-31T11:50:00.001-04:00

The folks who put on Pittsbugh's Steel City con did a great job again this weekend. The three day event had comics, celebrities and toys for collectors of all ages.

Lindsay Wagner (Bionic Woman) and Tony Todd (Candyman) were the big celebrities this weekend.

There were some vendors with fun stuff like comics and Legos for anyone who enjoys those items. There was also a vendor selling movie prop replicas which is where I scored my Fight Club bar of soap.

They do this three or four times a year so look for the next one in the fall.

This Debt Ceiling Thing is Just Killing Me

2011-07-25T10:14:00.002-04:00

Folks, I just can't look at the news regarding the debt ceiling anymore. They have a deal, they don't have a deal, the gang of six has a plan, now we're anti-gang. The President takes to the bully pulpit and lashes out at Boehner, Boehner acts like he's still relevant and not a puppet for Eric Cantor's Tea Baggers. It's enough to make responsible adults wonder how the electric bill gets paid each month.

While they bicker the markets lose more and more value. Haven't we done what we were supposed to? We went to school, worked hard to move up, went out on our own, saved, sacrificed and put away for that magical day when we could retire and live a little. In twenty years I'd like to walk out of Shawshank a free man; no debts, no mortgage and a little security. The more Obama and Boehner and the Tea Baggers dicker the less chance there is of that happening. These are prime earning years and the value of our 401k's and IRA's are flat.

I'm tired of both sides of the argument. Yes, my Fox News loyalists, it's true that some people don't pay Federal income tax. It's because they work in service sector jobs making $8.00 an hour. They used to make more in manufacturing but we decided to ship those jobs overseas, so stop complaining. You got the higher stock dividends you wanted.

To the MSNBC Ed Schultz fans, yes, those manufacturing jobs are gone. Now would be a good time to acknowledge that fact and whip your children if they step out of line at school. Dropping out or just getting a high school diploma will not do it. You need a college degree or training at a technical center. A little personal responsibility goes a long way toward making sure you don't wind up dead ass broke.

We are where we are. It's time the government got their act together and sat down at the kitchen table like mom and dad and decide what bills are important and which ones need to go away. It may mean shutting off the cable TV while we make sure there's milk in the fridge but that's what grown ups do.

President Obama, Mr. Boehner, Mr. McConnell, you're being paid to lead. Get to work.

Where's the Damn Coffee?

2011-07-24T14:37:00.000-04:00

Rust Belt Pop has a new design up in the store. Our retro 'Where's the Damn Coffee?' design graces a white mug. Click here to take a look.

Borders Book Stores Closing Leaves Area with Less Places to Browse, Relax and Peruse

2011-07-20T09:27:00.001-04:00

Borders is closing two area stores as part of its nationwide liquidation following a bankruptcy. The two stores are located in Niles at the Eastwood Mall complex and in Hermitage inside the Shenango Valley Mall. These closings reduce the number of bookstores in the area from 7 to 5 and that's counting Campus Book & Supply near YSU.

To give you some perspective, I did a Google search for tobacco stores and got seven results returned. It's now easier to buy rolling papers than books in the Mahoning Valley.

I'm really going to miss the Hermitage location. Growing up, we always did our big holiday/ birthday shopping at the Shenango Valley Mall. It was always a treat to go into Waldenbooks (as it was known in the stone age). You could get comics, D & D supplies, sci-fi paperbacks and the latest Stephen King, when I was older.  Not having a bookstore in that mall will leave a gaping hole. Even today, when we make it out that way we always wander in and see what's new.

The staff in both locations was very helpful and courteous to a fault. The stores were always clean, well stocked and brightly lit. Comfortable chairs made me feel right at home while I made my selections.

I know the book selling market is changing thanks to the accessibility of all things on Amazon and the proliferation of eBooks but bookstores have a charm that cannot be measured in efficiency and gadgetry. I like to wander in and take my time. You can start out looking at the bargain books laying on the tables near the front and wander in deeper, looking for bestsellers.  There's a special feeling when you discover authors you don't know writing about topics you didn't know interested you. Amazon.com can't replicate that. A search function is a poor substitute for browsing among the different genres or suddenly seeing a book someone recommended.  "Recommendations for you" don't broaden your horizons beyond the topics you're currently reading about.

This isn't the first round of book closings to hit our area. I can remember when The Little Professor was open in Hermitage and was sad to see it not reopen after the fire a few years ago.  I've been to the Book Rack in Sharon and it's nice. I've never tried Dorian's though, and I really should.

Given that both of these individual Borders locations were busy most of the time when I was in them, I hope that they were performing well enough that someone gives them another chance. After all, their closing is part of a nationwide closing. I'm not a book store snob either. I don't care if an independent daredevil takes on these locations or if Barnes & Noble decides to conquer the market in either location. I just want a nice place to wander around in and spend some money on books.

David Brooks on How the Republicans Blew an Opportunity

2011-07-19T12:58:00.000-04:00

There is a great opinion piece in the New York Times by David Brooks today about how practical conservatives blew their chance to turn the battle of the debt ceiling into a big victory for themselves and the country as a whole. With a little compromise on their part to reform the tax code and a democratic president willing to tinker with Social Security and Medicare, government as a whole could have actually accomplished something. Instead, Eric Cantor and his young guns dug in their heels and we're going to wind up with the status quo.

My favorite bit of the article is when Brooks lays blame at the various groups who are involved in the government but who have no interest in accomplishing anything that is off message:

The Big Government Blowhards. The talk-radio jocks are not in the business of promoting conservative governance. They are in the business of building an audience by stroking the pleasure centers of their listeners.

The Show Horses. Republicans now have a group of political celebrities who are marvelously uninterested in actually producing results. Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann produce tweets, not laws. They have created a climate in which purity is prized over practicality.

We all need to be more critical in how we receive information about how we are governed. Turning off Rush and his ilk and tuning out the nonsensical soundbites seems to be a good start. It's also time to remember grandma's advice about half a loaf being better than nothing with regard to how compromises are "off the table" in the current congress.

The Middle Class is being Abandoned (Part II)

2011-07-14T16:31:00.001-04:00

Jobs. Every politician promises to tinker with government policy to create them even as they claim it isn't government's job to create jobs. Every politician claims getting people back to work in these hard times is their number one priority but we're stuck at 9.2% unemployment no matter what party is in power.

The middle class needs jobs to thrive and America needs the middle class to thrive. Not just any jobs either. We need jobs that pay a decent salary and we need medical benefits. Whether those medical benefits come from employers or a government program is irrelevant to this argument. The fact of the matter is that people get sick and there is no way they can afford to pay for medical care on their own without going broke and stiffing medical providers with a bankruptcy. Spaghetti dinners are no way to fund liver transplants.

The Democrats and Republicans both support trade deals that send jobs overseas because they say those deals lead to things like cheap consumer products and stability in other countries. Of course, we know that what they're really doing is taking care of the people who contribute huge sums to their campaigns. Don't tell me I'm wrong, either. I have family members who were making $12.00/ hr in the 1990's working for a local bathroom products supplier who moved production to Mexico after NAFTA was adopted and they are still making $12.00/ hr today.

Republicans tell you that giving everyone medical coverage will lead to rationing because there are not enough doctors to treat everyone. They ignore the fact that such rationing is happening now because people without coverage just don't go to the doctor when they are sick. Republicans are cool with that, though.  A silent, suffering group is much preferred to a crowded waiting room.

Democrats at least try to cover everyone but in coming up with their crazy plan they've scared the hell out of businesses who are unsure about how Obamacare will affect their bottom line. Those businesses are not hirning unless they have to.

Republicans believe you can work for $10.00/ hr, raise a family, fund your 401k and set aside money for medical expenses in a Health Savings Plan. See? No, government needed.

Democrats are a little light on self-responsibility (except for Bill Cosby). They want tenure for teachers and no accountability when kids utterly fail their way through school. Too bad. The rest of us are graded on our performance and how well we succeed at our jobs.  Michelle Rhee deserves to be heard.

And let's not forget ourselves. We of the middle class have an overwhelming sense of entitlement. We went to school, we work hard and by God we're due...lots of things. If our kids are failing in school it sure isn't our fault. We work all day and we'll be damned if we're going to devote time to the kid's homework every night. Teaching is what those teachers are for (Yes, parents have actually told my teacher friends this).

We let ourseleves become divided over things like public employee pay and benefits. When things were good and we could afford government services everyone snickered at how little civil servants made. Now that things are bad half the population is up in arms screaming about their "lush" salaries. How about directing that anger at the elected officials who have let things get this bad?  Everyone should be doing well and if leaders can't accomplish that goal, they need to get out of the way.

We keep putting the idiots in charge but we never run for office ourselves.  Oh no, that would be too much effort. We let ourseleves be distracted from important things like jobs and the economy by issues like gay marriage and the President's birth certificate.

So what the middle class is left with is trade deals that don't encourage employment, inadequate medical care and two parties that can't even agree as to what the problems are, much less formulate a solution to them. Politicians will lay blame on each other's party but when is the last time you heard a good, common sense solution to any of these problems?

They are abandoning us and we're letting them do it.

The Middle Class is being Abandoned

2011-07-11T14:55:00.000-04:00

When I think about the Federal budget and how annual deficits lead to large debts, I like to look at numbers. Charts and graphs are the only way to parse the data and see what's what. That's what I would like to do here, because I don't see anyone else doing it.

The noise on TV is coming from the children we have sent to Washington. Not one of them, not a single one, has the interest of the Middle Class at heart. This country prospers when the Middle Class has decent jobs that allow them to save and purchase goods and services. This congress and this president are ignoring the numbers and fighting over ideology rather than working on a real solution to our budget problems.

Our tax reveues are not high enough to meet our expenditures. We don't bring in enough money to fund everything we would like to so we borrow. Here's a chart that shows that very plainly. Not enough blue bar, too much red bar.

The defense budget is out of control. The defense budget for fiscal year (FY) 2000 was around $300 billion dollars. In 2010 it was just over $700 billion. This is not sustainable. Look at the chart. See the green in the yearly columns? Using that as a base we have spent an additional 2.6 trillion dollars over the last ten years. Our debt is 14 trillion dollars. That means two presidents and five congresses have contributed 18% of the debt in just ten years. That is not something reasonable people do.

Looking at the charts gives us insight to the problem. We can see that difficult choices need to be made. I'll bet the Middle Class is going to bear the brunt of those difiicult choices, too. Later this week we'll examine what's being floated and how it will impact us.

Abandoned Boat in the Woods

2011-07-07T19:39:00.001-04:00

We found this abandoned boat near the edge of some woods. The trees, grass and vines are slowly claiming the vessel for their own.

MSNBC Article Lists Youngstown Area as 1 of 10 Cities That Will Take a Decade to Recover

2011-07-04T17:06:00.001-04:00

MSNBC has an article up that lists "10 cities that will take a decade to recover from the recession". The article says that while we are currently seeing a resurgence in employment it is due to manufacturing jobs but “the current surge in manufacturing payrolls is not anticipated to last, and by the latter part of the decade the sector is expected to be in secular decline again.”

Well thank goodness we saw hard times coming and made some plans, eh?

When I read these articles I'm always amazed at what they have to say about this area and places like Dayton, Toledo and Canton. Here's what it says about the Youngstown-Boardman-Area:

7. Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio-Pennsylvania
Change in employment 2001-2011: -11 percent
Population: 565,773
Unemployment: 9.1 percent
Poverty level: 15.5 percent
Median income: $40,734

Youngstown, Ohio, is a former steel city and is the center of an area called “Steel Valley”, the largest part of which was Pittsburgh. The disappearance of the steel mills has left the city’s economy dependent on health care and education, notably Youngstown State University — the city’s largest employer. According to one local paper, the city has more than 4,500 vacant structures and a shrinking population.

That's it. No mention of the success we're enjoying thanks to GM Lordstown's new Cruze. He completely missed the investment of almost three quarters of a billion dollars by V & M Steel in a new pipe mill that will supply material for accessing the Marcellus Shale gas deposits. (My understanding is that those deposits will last considerably longer than a decade). There's a longer list here.

But those are manufacturing jobs, you may say. What about new business?

Glad you asked. It turns out that considerable time and money has been spent on the Youngstown Business Incubator. Their mission is to "Facilitate the creation of high-value businesses through collaborative partnerships that promote innovative technologies."

So yes, things are bad, but as has been pointed out more than once this area is recovering faster than most from the Great Recession. We've had decades to think about how to do so and it appears to be paying off.

The author of the article gets it right about YSU and medicine being large employers but he should have dug a little deeper. I'll drop him a note and let him see how we do things.

Account Services Robo Call Scam is Still up and Running

2011-06-24T16:37:00.002-04:00

I got a call today on my cellphone from 901.248.7430. It was a recording named "Ann" with Account Services, calling to let me know that time was running out to lower my credit card rate. This amazing opportunity was due to Preseident Obama's recent stimulus (?). What this scam really wants to accomplish is to pry your credit card number out of you and go on a spending spree with your cash.

I enthusiastically pressed "1" so I could talk to a representative but it was a short conversation. I usually run a routine of stringing the bunko artist along but as soon as I asked "Drew" how he knew what my credit card number was and how he had gotten it, he told me to have a nice day and hung up.

How rude.

I tried to trace the number and lo and behold it turns out not to be assigned to anyone! Can you believe it? I found this page of people talking about similar experiences with a robo caller scam. So if you get this call folks, hang up on them (or string them along having some fun giving them fake info) without giving them any data they could use to steal your credit card number or identity.

By the way, you register a complaint with the government at the donotcall.gov site.

Reconciling Cheerleading for the City with Reality in Youngstown at 1AM

2011-06-14T13:38:00.000-04:00

You ever have one of those moments where you want to think a certain way but reality jumps in and forces you to think another? I had one of those last night.

We had a little emergency that required us to be out around 1am in Youngstown last night. Once that was all taken care of we had to get home so partially out of habit and partially out of a desire to get home and sleep, I drove from one end of Market starting in Boardman all the way to Logan to get on Youngstown-Hubbard Rd. I could have jumped on 680 but that would have taken longer and, hey, I've driven those streets about a thousand times.

That route took me past some familiar sites on the Southside. Some were familiar because we used to visit them when I was younger, like when dad would stop at Ghossains to play the number. Others were familiar because of stories in the news, like cruising past Auburndale and wondering if any of the folks I saw wandering the streets at that time belonged to a certain gang known for roaming that area. You see, when it's that late my mind immediately starts questioning what anyone is doing out that late for a stroll.

I'm a bit of a news junkie so when a car full of young guys rolled past, turned around at the bend near the 680 exit and hustled back south I had to wonder they were up to. Are these the kind of guys we read about who somehow find themselves being shot at by unknown persons while minding their own business cruising side streets in the wee hours of the morning?

Downtown was less bleak, of course. Buffalo Wild Wings had a decent crowd and the buildings were lit up enough to provide a sense of security. Up the hill to YSU and the university area was just as brightly lit.

Of course once you're past Belleria crossing over 422 you may as well have stepped off the planet.

Wick Avenue is dark as you pass by the old dealership on the right. Real dark. As in, just keep driving on that flat dark. Once you hang a right and pass by the Golden Dawn the weeds get tall and the area looks abandoned by the city. I've said it a hundred times in this space: Youngstown-Hubbard Rd. is one route by which people going to St. E's enter the city. Why does it have to look like Baghdad on a bad day?

Look, my view is that Youngstown is the heart of the region. It has to succeed if the whole Mahoning Valley is going to succeed. You can't have a gaping hole where 10% of the population is unemployed, 50% are drop outs and more than that are on some form of the social safety net. That is not a recipe for any city to prosper.

I don't think the city is as bad as some but it's been a long, long time since I cruised through in the late night and I have to tell you, I wouldn't have minded seeing a cruiser somewhere along that trip. I got a sever case of slow-swivel-head at every red light, watching cars behind me, to the side of me and kept a close eye on the sidewalk. And that bothered me because I don't do that at home.

The thing is, though, as someone who writes about the area, who wants to see the area be great, how can I deny the feelings I had as I rolled down Market St.? People will have those same thoughts and feelings as they come in for a show at the Covelli Centre, go downtown for dinner and drinks or use city resources like St. E's. As much as the Williams administration has done for the city (and they've done a lot) there still isn't that sense of "hey, come on over and visit, you'll be safe" that you get in other places. Setting that tone would go a long way toward getting money from outside the city into the city.

Just my thoughts, folks.

Summer's Here

2011-06-12T16:50:00.000-04:00

Time to grill...
Sent from the BlackBerry® of Michael Prelee.

Let's Acknowledge the Lower Number of Homicides in 2011

2011-06-10T13:18:00.000-04:00

We're almost at the halfway point of 2011 and homicides in the city are down sharply compared to the past four years. There have been five homicides this year, January through this writing on June 10. That number is less than half the average of 12.75 for the same range of months for 2007 - 2010. That's a 61% drop in murders for this year compared to the average for the last four years.

To me, this is huge.

I have no idea if quality of life crimes such as burglary or auto theft are down similarly but something is making a difference. I know that violence hasn't dropped off as much as city residents would like. Shootings still occur and it's clear that the fine people who operate St. E's emergency room contribute to keeping the homicide rate low.

But what else is working? Is it the stand Father Maturi took after the vicious attacks last year on St. Dominic's parishoners? That probably had a lot to do with focusing city leadership on Southside crime. It could have been the involvement of the Federal government in working with city police to take down the criminal LSP gang on the southside as well as numerous successful busts of drug dealers. But some of those busts had an odd feel to them, almost as if the Feds were themselves and the Youngstown was Pakistan. They swooped in and took out the problem without letting the city know they were coming to get Osama.

Now that we have some momentum how do we keep it going? Summer is here and poverty is still crushing the Southside and the Eastside. Unemployment may be improving in the city but not enough to keep idle hands occupied. I'm once again struck by the dichotomy of the current administration; they accomplish good things when they attempt large projects, like demolishing abandoned structures but falter when they need to be proactive with a problem. It's clear money is tight but is there no way the mayor could pick up the phone and wrangle some money out of the area's big businesses to run a limited summer jobs program? Kids who learn to work early on will probably get a sense of pride out of earning their own way. It may be nothing more than cleaning streets, painting over grafitti or mowing grass but it's accomplishing something rather than looking for a way to get into trouble. If someone does know of such a program, I stand ready to be corrected. None of my search results or the Youngstown city homepage list such a program.

Remember when Playground Equipment was Made of Steel?

2011-05-31T15:27:00.000-04:00

I spent a couple hours in Hubbard's Harding Park over the weekend and saw that at least one playground still has the old style steel pipe equipment. There is a more modern playground in the park full of plastic equipment with a mulch base to ease falls but down by the creek you can still find slides made of sheet metal and steel tubing bent into insect shapes.

The Bug

This was the playground equipment of my youth. This was the stuff we found on the elementary school playground at home. On weekends and summers at Dad's house on the Southside we would walk up the street to Sheridan elementary on Hillman and find exotic equipment like steel pipe spaceships and our favorite, the red stagecoach with bench seats and large wheels made of bent pipe.

A steel jungle gym. Or an eight year old's fort

There's a reason this equipment isn't used anymore. I can't count the number of times I had skin burned by a sliding board made of polished sheet metal or risked a concussion by falling off a jungle gym. Heck, all of this stuff had concrete bases! Of course, when we were kids no one really thought about things like that. You just played and if you skinned a knee or fell too hard no one wanted to walk two blocks to get home. You just kept playing.

Progress is good and I'm sure today's equipment is safer but some of that stuff was just plain fun.

A Space Station?

The Deficit for April was 40.5 Billion. Why?

2011-05-12T13:01:00.000-04:00

According to this story the Federal deficit for April was 40.5 billion dollars. The good news is that amount was about half of what it was last year and tax revenues were up 45% compared to last year. The bad news is that this pace of deficits leads us to a trillion dollars deficit for 2011. But why?

I've done some digging and was shocked by what I found. Dealing with numbers this big always leaves me a little stunned but when we're borrowing tens of billions of dollars a month, you have to see why you're maxing out your credit cards.

Unemployment benefits are costing the federal government about 60 billion this year or 5 billion for the month of April. That's 12% of April's deficit.

Afghanistan war costs are 119.4 billion for the year or 9.95 billion dollars for April. That's 24.5% of April's deficit.

Iraq (war? conflict? operations?) costs are 51.1 billion for 2011 or 4.25 billion dollars for April. That's 10.5% of April's deficit.

Possible tax revenues for 2011 were reduced when the Bush era tax cuts were renewed. That reduced the revenues for 2011 by 400 billion dollars or 33 billion dollars for April. Those lost revenues account for 81% of April's deficit.

To summarize, 33 billion in revenues + 9.95 billion for Afghanistan + 4.25 billion for Iraq = 47.2 billion dollars for April. And that's without factoring in the cost of unemployment payments.

So, if the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were wrapped up and tax rates would have been allowed to return to year 2000 levels we would be running a surplus of 7.2 billion dollars even after paying the 5 billion dollars for unemployment benefits. A surplus.

Sure, my back of the envelope scribbling may not take some nuiances into account but in our house we budget with money coming in versus that going out and we manage to break even or make a surplus each month. That's why it's irritating to watch 537 elected yahoos sling mud at each other over the debt ceiling. They all want their cake while they gorge themselves on it.

Forbes Says the Valley is the 5th Fastest Growing Industrial Area

2011-05-10T19:48:00.000-04:00

The Valley is showing some strong signs of life as the nation moves to recover from the recession. Forbes magazine lists the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman area as the fifth fastest growing industrial area in the country. Here's the story from WKBN:

According to the story, "manufacturing has grown consistently over the past 21 months, and now, for the first time in years, according to data mined by Pepperdine University's Michael Shires, manufacturing regions are beginning to move up on our list of best cities for jobs." Other rust belt cities on the list include Lansing, Mich., Elkhart-Goshen, Ind., and Anderson, Ind.

According to a release from the Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber, just last month the area registered the third highest percentage job gain in the last 12 months in the U.S. behind only Raleigh, NC, and Milwaukee, Wis.

Nice to see Forbes likes us again.

Why We Celebrate Bin Laden's Death

2011-05-03T22:38:00.000-04:00

I have to tell you, I saw those kids at OSU on the Monday morning news gathered in the streets and chanting U-S-A, U-S-A, waving the flag and I was struck by the similarities between them and anti-American protesters in the many countries that hate us. The flag waving, chanting and patriotic fervor had the same mood as those who dislike us so much. It was enough to give me pause.

But then I really thought about it, how I felt about our killing Osama Bin Laden. I decided I was happy he was dead. This may be the first time I've ever felt that. I've been callous before, shrugged my shoulders about other terrorists and criminals who get themselves killed. I've thought, "well, if you're going to lead that kind of life, then this is what could happen." I have never been glad, though, that someone's life was taken.

When I saw the news at 5:50 that morning it all came rushing back. The horror of that terrible Tuesday ten years ago. I could remember exactly where I was when I heard about the planes crashing into buildings, the disbelief on everyone's faces that an attack of that magnitude was occurring and I remembered how much I wanted vengeance for what was happening and now, ten years later, that feeling is quieted.

My politics lean liberal, as regular readers here know, but liberal doesn't mean weak or imbue me with a penchant for turning the other cheek. What this man and his gang of thugs orchestrated was the murder of innocent men, women and children, of first responders, of Americans and other citizens of the world. We simply cannot progress with men like this willing to hurt us this badly. So finding him and killing him was a matter of justice and a matter of moving forward.

We've become immune to killing in the decade since the 9/11 attacks. Thousands of our men and women in uniform have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. Hundreds of thousands have died in those countries due to the warfare. Now that we've been reminded that death matters we should demand a cessation to hostilities in Afghanistan and bring our troops home. It's time for President Karzai to stand on his own two feet because there isn't anything important enough in that country to lose one more American life.

The Taliban is no longer in charge and we've killed the man responsible for 9/11. The goals we set for ourselves have been met and our dead are avenged. It's time to look inward and see how we progress from here.

Bin Laden Sleeps with the Fishes

2011-05-02T22:26:00.001-04:00

And I'm stealing other people's stuff to celebrate...

We Got a Heck of a Lot of Snow

2011-04-29T23:08:00.000-04:00

As if we didn't know, WKYC makes it official. We had more snow this winter than ever before...

If you really wanted a winter wonderland, Youngstown was the place to be. That city was the snowiest location in northeast Ohio thanks to lake effect snowstorms that hammered the eastern part of the area. Youngstown recorded 118.7 inches of snow, or five feet more than usual.

The Vindicator is Making Much Ado About Nothing Regarding Public Employee Pay

2011-04-28T23:02:00.000-04:00

The Vindicator has a new feature called Government Watch that, in their words is "in response to the immense scrutiny that government spending — from schools to counties to the state and beyond — faces in our tough economy."

It's a fine idea, after all one the primary functions of the press is to keep an eye on government and inform the public of what is happening. However, the Vindicator has taken a stance on public employee pay that borders on ridiculous. Bertram deSouza clearly thinks all employees, especially those at YSU, are overpaid. The paper has a "goal to publish the five-year spending and salary histories of key agencies". This includes publishing the names of employees and what they make.

What public employees make is no secret. Anyone who wants to find out can do so. What I find remarkable is that the evidence to back up their editorial wrath about public salaries doesn't amount to much. I pulled the March pay adjustment spreadsheet and averaged the new salary column. You know what I found? The average pay for the employees on this sheet is ...$39,593.46. That's overpaid? That's about nineteen bucks an hour. And what do these folks do? Well, we've got JFS case managers, veteran srervice investigators, equipment operators and JJC group leaders.

These are positions that demand skills and education and apparently the Vindicator thinks this level of compensation is unaffordable. I'm don't agree. The public deserves a civil service that can operate efficiently and safely. Nineteen bucks an hour seems like a good bargain.

Too Much Bacon

2011-04-21T17:00:00.003-04:00

I had lunch at Denny's today and saw the "Bacon Pyramid" display on the table.

It's a frightening display of all the bacon dishes they serve. If you look at the top of the pyramid you'll see a Maple Bacon Sundae that only Ron Swanson would order.

This is just crazy right? If you ate these dishes your heart would cry little grease tears.

The Poor DO Pay Taxes

2011-04-18T05:42:00.001-04:00

In the ongoing debate over who pays taxes, whether they pay enough and who doesn't pay taxes, I often hear about this rather large group who do not pay taxes, this 45% of people who somehow get out of paying Federal income taxes. I've seen Fox News "analysts" who say that it isn't fair to those who do pay taxes that such a large segment of the society doesn't pay Federal income taxes. They say these folks don't have any skin in the game so they get the benefit of resources they don't pay for.

Frankly, I'm tired of the argument.

These folks still pay taxes. They pay state and local income taxes, property taxes (if they own a home), sales taxes, gas taxes and any fees the government requires like license plates and driver's licenses. This is a fair bit of coin out of their pocket and I'll bet you anything it's a bigger percentage of their pay than it is for those who pay Federal income taxes. It's all a matter of proportion.

The government encourages a large middle class through the tax code. There are deductions for mortgage interest, children and other dependents, child care, college expenses and medical expenses. These deductions exists to make it easier for the middle class to thrive because the middle class is the economic engine that runs the country. A strong middle class is necessary for political stability. They vote. They don't revolt. In general, they don't break the law because they have it good.

Here's a nice chart Mother Jones put together a while back showing the concentration of wealth in this country:

If you are part of that 20% that own 80% of the country's wealth you can afford to pay more taxes. The tax burden on you is far less than it is on the folks making $9.00 an hour. And because our government is pursuing an insane policy of turning our economy into a service economy that pays less than manufacturing, there are a lot more people living on $9.00 an hour or less than there used to be.

So it's time to stop whining about your tax bill and start questioning the policies of a government that has wrecked the economy so badly that 45% of the population can't earn wages high enough to qualify to pay taxes. It isn't their fault they can't find better jobs, not when unemployment is at 9%. It's time to find an economic policy that lifts 45% of the population out of the hole they've been led into.

Activity at the Racetrack Site

2011-04-13T14:42:00.002-04:00

There has been a lot of surveyor activity at the Centerpointe Business Park lately. This is the proposed site of the horse racing track Penn National has in mind for their move from Toledo. Surveyors have been at the site almost daily. Maybe they feel good about the state allowing video lottery terminals (VLT)s?

Phil Palombi Released a New CD

2011-04-10T20:58:00.002-04:00

Phil Palombi, a Rust Belt native who chased his dream of being a jazz bass player all the way to New York City, has released a new CD titled: RE:Person I Knew - A Tribute To Scott LaFaro.

My newest CD is now available. It's titled RE: Person I Knew - A Tribute To Scott LaFaro, and features former Bill Evans alumnus and drum great Eliot Zigmund and former Scott LaFaro roommate and piano legend Don Friedman.

For this tribute to LaFaro, I was granted access to Scott's original 1825 Abraham Prescott bass! It's the first full length CD to feature the bass since Scott used it on the Village Vanguard recordings in 1961.

If you're interested, you can buy your copy directly from my website at:

www.philpalombi.com

Despite knowing Phil when we were in school together and listening to him play I was never a big jazz fan. But when he released a CD titled 80 East I knew I had to give it a listen and thus had my musical horizons widened. You should definitely drop by his website and grab a copy of this new one. Below is a youtube video of Phil performing.

Stacks of Saturday's Vindicator Went Straight from the Presses to the Recycling Bin

2011-03-27T20:25:00.000-04:00

Hubbard has a great recycling program. You bag up your recyclables and drop them off in the designated dumpsters behind the fire station. Very nice. When we were dropping off our stuff this morning I noticed the paper section of the dumpster was filled with stacks of unsold copies of Saturday's Vindicator. I wonder if their negative editorials about public employees are costing them sales?

Right Now

2011-03-22T22:56:00.005-04:00

Right now, someone is late for work because their car was stolen.
Right now, bridges are crumbling.
Right now, someone thinks no one sees them picking their nose.
Right now, someone is wondering how many more times they'll have to sit in the ER waiting room.
Right now, people are wondering why Barack Obama can't be more like Jed Bartlet.
Right now, someone should know better than to post that picture.
Right now, a kid is listening to his parents worry about losing the house.
Right now, the treadmill is collecting dust.
Right now, someone is trying to be the 20th caller.
Right now, someone just went into debt at a payday loan store.
Right now, I'm listening to the Talking Heads 'Nothing but Flowers'.
Right now, someone is doing something to put a target on their back.
Right now, the Moon is waiting for us to visit.
Right now, no one is reading your Facebook status update.
Right now, you should tell them you love them.
Right now, someone is leaving angry comments on a Fox News story.
Right now, someone is worse off than you.
Right now, a dog is doing that thing where they drag their butt across the floor.
Right now, you have pictures of relatives you never knew in your house.
Right now, those tires need to be replaced.
Right now, it's time to get something done.

RICO Indictments a Good Start but Youngstown still Faces Challenges

2011-03-20T07:52:00.001-04:00

It was good news to see 23 gang members on Youngstown's south side indicted last week for crimes that will fall under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) act. This type of investigation, conducted by Federal officials, has a wider scope and greater chance of taking criminals off the streets for longer periods of time. The feds can devote more resources than local law enforcement. These members of the LSP gang terrorized their neighborhood by selling drugs and committing murder.

The actions of gangs like this intimidate lawful citizens and cause good, productive people to flee the city for the suburbs. This is evident in the recent census data that reports a drop in city population by 18%. Mayor Williams may have been surprised by the dramatic drop in population but I don't think anyone else was. High unemployment, an extremely high income tax rate of 2.75%, the worst school district in the state and a high crime rate (including hundreds of murders over the last decade) combined to make the city an unattractive place to raise a family.

The principal problem remains the economy. The city needs a higher percentage of the population to be productive people paying taxes to provide good services. It all comes down to jobs. The city has had high profile successes recently but it needs good, solid opportunities for a workforce that faces high unemployment. The volume of successful opportunities needs to increase dramatically. Does the mayor have a plan to attract such jobs?

As the details about the city's population decline are analyzed we will see that the people most able to support the city are the ones leaving. People working for a living won't stay and pay the high income tax rate. Those too old to move receive retirement income that is not taxed. Ditto those on public assistance. In ten years we can expect to see another large population drop.

What the city needs now is a plan to attract employed, productive people. The challenge is coming up with such a plan with the resources available.

Jon Stewart Exposes Fox News's Hypocrisy Toward Teachers

2011-03-12T22:32:00.000-05:00

Collective Bargaining Benefits us All. SB 5 Will Harm Ohio.

2011-02-27T10:15:00.003-05:00

As I sit here watching Meet the Press this Sunday morning, I'm struck by how callous Conservatives feel toward public sector workers. Kim Strassel, a guest on the show and an editorial board member and columnist for the Wall Street Journal, said governors are saying:

"We look at these budgets, it's due to public sector union benefits and we cannot touch them because of collective bargaining, because of these things we need the flexibilities and tools to fix this. And so that's an argument that resonates with Americans."

So if we eliminate collective bargaining the agreements born of that bargaining are null and void and pensions can be reduced due to budget constraints. Reducing pension payments are now "flexibilities and tools". If retirement ages need to be raised, then sit down and prove it. Put the numbers in front of unions and make the case that the well is dry and thirty and out is no longer an option. Prove that people are living longer in retirement and that funding exists for only so many years of pension payments.

The taxpayer pie is shrinking and budgets are smaller. All of us have seen our income reduced or at least the rate of growth slowed. Benefits have been curtailed and some have lost their jobs. Public employees will have to pay higher medical benefit premiums, have their wages frozen or reduced (like the rest of us) and they will probably have to work longer before retirement and if they don't like it they can always find work in the private sector, the same as the rest of us.

Taking away collective bargaining agreements smacks of changing the rules in the middle of the game. These agreements protect professional employees, establish safe working conditions and ensure accredited employees are in positions that demand specialized training. Collective bargaining agreements are about far more than pay and benefits. It is in our best interest to let the process continue and hold both the unions and elected officials to account for the results.

So THAT's What it Feels Like to Face an Unyeilding Horde Who Want You Dead

2011-02-23T20:26:00.001-05:00

They're coming to get you Moammar

I wonder if Gadahfi is rethinking that whole military coup thing right now? He can't hang in Libya much longer and if he goes anywhere else I think we'll try to snatch him for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. This is quite the corner he's painted himself into.

Youngstown 2010 has Lessons for Detroit

2011-02-20T08:19:00.000-05:00

The Detroit Free Press posted an informative article comparing Youngstown's efforts to manage a shrinking city with Detroit's. City leaders in both locations are running into reality as they try to implement plans to reduce the size and scope of city services. Especially surprising is the resistance people have to relocating from parts of the city leaders would like to shut off.

But relocating people, ambitious in theory, proved difficult in practice. A lack of resources limited the scope. Ultimately, the city offered incentives of up to $50,000 to move just five homeowners. Four declined; one initially said yes but became too ill to accept.Today, Mayor Jay Williams said the idea of moving people always was more "theoretical and academic" than a core part of Youngstown 2010. Hunter Morrison, an urban planning professor who helped draw up Youngstown 2010, said the city has "pretty much abandoned the notion that you're going to aggressively move out folks."

EW.com is the Devil, Firefly Fans Bitterly Disappointed

2011-02-19T17:07:00.000-05:00

I was perusing CNN.com and saw a link to an EW.com story that said, "'Firefly' returning to cable; Fillion says he'd play Mal again".

Oh great day in the morning!

Then the hammer fell.

"The Science Channel has acquired the rights to the cult-hit and will air the series in its short-lived entirety, plus some new extras."

No new series, no further adventures of Serenity and her crew. Just a headline designed to grab the attention of nerdom. A collective 'Nooooooooooo' could be heard from sci-fi fans everywhere.

It's probably just as well. The actors have moved on, the sets have been struck and lightning can rarely be captured twice. But still, EW, you suck.

That Eminem/ Detroit/ Chrysler Commercial

2011-02-07T22:07:00.004-05:00

I like this commercial. It says Detroit and, by extension the Rust Belt, isn't a place to be ashamed of. It says we build things. This little bit of advertising tells the world something we already knew; that making things is good and honorable. In this ridiculous "service economy" full of financial "products" the denizens of the Rust Belt go to work and build rolling steel.

Have You Seen "Pancakes and a Lobster Tank: Living With Autism, Loving Alex" ?

2011-02-01T20:30:00.004-05:00

· Where: Youngstown State University - Kilcawley Center (Chestnut Room)

· When: February 12, 2011 @ 7PM (Box Office Opens @ 5:30pm or Reservations / Pre-Sale at www.rebeccamaher.com

· Cost: $9.00 ($8.00 for Seniors / Students with ID)

· Contact: John J. Maher (330.233.2439 or john@rebeccamaher.com)

· About "Pancakes and a Lobster Tank; Living with Autism, Loving Alex":

Rebecca Maher's "Pancakes and a Lobster Tank: Living With Autism, Loving Alex", a timely and humorous multi- act one woman show, premier performance in Youngstown, Ohio on February 12, 2011.

Youngstown, Ohio - "Pancakes and a Lobster Tank: Living With Autism, Loving Alex" is the brainchild of Rebecca Maher. Rebecca is an author, performer, and the mother of a child with autism. She resides in Warren, Ohio.

In "Pancakes and a Lobster Tank; Living With Autism, Loving Alex", the audience is provided with a humorous and heart wrenching account of a mother's experiences raising a child with autism. Current statistics from the Centers for Disease Control conclude that 1 in 110 children in the United States have Autism. During the course of this work, the viewer will get to see the world from a unique perspective that is sometimes tragic, always emotionally stirring, and ultimately a triumph of the human spirit and condition. The journey begins with recounting a "typical" public dining experience and continues to reveal such experiences as receiving the diagnosis, fighting the system, and ends with...a trip to Wal-Mart! The range of emotions provoked by this work must be experienced to be believed. Rebecca sums it up best when she says that life with a child with autism "...can be a lot like a roller coaster ride complete with screaming, panic induced laughter, and someone may ultimately vomit."

This play debuted at the Trumbull Theatre in April 2010 and has been performed across the state of Ohio. Rebecca has completed a full-length memoir, which served as the inspiration for "Pancakes and a Lobster Tank; Living with Autism, Loving Alex" and her second theatrical piece entitled "Anxiety". Rebecca is also an experienced performer specializing in readings and stand-up comedy.

The show, which features a key multimedia component, has recently undergone a soundtrack revision. The new musical component features the work of Punchline. Punchline is a Pittsburgh based Punk / Pop band that features emotional lyrics accompanied by powerful pop accompaniment with a strong punk sensibility. Their work brings a whole new energy to Rebecca's performance!

Please visit www.rebeccamaher.com for more information.

Good Message in President Obama's State of the Union

2011-01-25T22:59:00.000-05:00

So yes, the world has changed. The competition for jobs is real. But this shouldn't discourage us. It should challenge us. Remember – for all the hits we've taken these last few years, for all the naysayers predicting our decline, America still has the largest, most prosperous economy in the world. No workers are more productive than ours. No country has more successful companies, or grants more patents to inventors and entrepreneurs. We are home to the world's best colleges and universities, where more students come to study than any other place on Earth.

The President hit the right notes in his SOTU speech. Things are better but still not great. We need to get off our butts and rise to the challenges before us. It's shameful that we have a 25% drop out rate for high school and that so many countries are doing better than us academically.

I liked that the President co-opted so many Republican issues and did so in a way that will make it difficult for them to get around him. Mixed houses of congress and presidents often lead to legislation that is good for the country. It would be great if the next two years worked in the favor of us and not the special interests.

From the BBC: US steel town blames China for bad times

2011-01-22T09:39:00.000-05:00

There is an interesting article on Youngstown with comments from locals and Thomas Friedman up on the BBC website. Reporter Justin Rowlatt spent some time in the city discussing the decline of the American steel industry and manufacturing in general. His article hits all the notes we've seen before, dilapidated buildings, Bruce Springsteen's song and empty lots that used to be home to mills.

We've seen all this before.

Yes, we have run down buildings. We get it.

He spoke with a couple guys outside a downtown bar who wanted to leave, to go somewhere, anywhere that prosperity may be easier to find. The problem is that prosperity is up to the individual. A school teacher interviewed for the article cries at the thought of what lost jobs mean to a family but the article doesn't address the elephant in the room. Namely, that too many of us don't make a good effort in school, don't go on to learn a trade or attend college and that we expect a good job to fall out of the sky and knock us on the head.

Even Thomas Friedman gets in on the act. Lamenting what he sees as China showing us what we used to have; drive, ambition and a willingness to get things done:

"We see in China things we used to see in ourselves: can-do, get it done, hard work, sacrifice, 'own the future'.

"That used to be us, and now we see it in them."

The evidence is all around us. Youngstown has the worst performing school district in the state, high poverty and high unemployment. What we are also sorely lacking is the ambition to do better; to see our environment as a challenge to overcome rather than shrug our shoulders at the way things are. That's something else they're doing in China. The poorest resident in Youngstown still lives much better than most rural Chinese who still make do without indoor plumbing.

This area is full of success stories, whether the BBC sees that or not. It's up to all of us to make our own success and give reporters something else to write about.

A Civil Conversation about Gun Control

2011-01-13T12:45:00.000-05:00

Nicholas Kristof has a good article up at the Ny Times today about reforming gun regulations. He puts forth some very logical ideas that would curb the harm people commit with firearms while still allowing ownership without inconvenient restriction. This is a fine example of how we need to deal with a problem through compromise and civil discourse.

It's Time for a Grown Up Conversation About Political Speech

2011-01-10T23:14:00.003-05:00

It doesn't matter whether Jared Laughner was swayed to shoot Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and nineteen other people by the absurdly hateful speech that dominates political speech today. The incident is horrific on its own merits. It is enough that this incident has so many people worried that such speech could incite an unstable person to attempt assassination. This is a conversation we need to have.

American politics has been dominated by over-the-top speech for more than fifteen years. It isn't just pseudo-violent rhetoric that is concerning, it's the way civil discourse about issues has degenerated into a football like atmosphere where only one side can be right and compromise is seen as weakness. Think about this: we've gotten to the point where Sarah Palin saying something like "Don't retreat, reload!" or Joyce Kaufman saying "If ballots don't work, bullets will" is the point where we ask ourselves if we've gone too far.

It is has become acceptable for pundits like Rush Limbaugh to castigate Republicans who compromise with Democrats as RINO's (Republican In Name Only). Democrats on the far left have beat up on President Obama for two years because he continues to reach out to Republicans. Suddenly we cannot accept that grown men and women may see getting half the pie as better than no pie.

It's time for us all to grow up a little bit and stop treating politics like professional wrestling. We can't just accept partisan speech from MSNBC and Foxnews without listening to other sources. We can't take offense when John Stewart skewers our party for some outrageous thing they say or do. There are real problems facing this country and we need deep thought, worthwhile discussion and compromise to solve them. We can succeed without getting everything we want. In fact, our future depends on it.

New Butterfly Design from Rustbelt Pop

2011-01-08T22:12:00.001-05:00

This is the new Butterfly design available at Rustbelt Pop. You can see it on t-shirts, tote bags, journals and mugs. Don't worry. I know the blog hasn't been updated in some time but things have been busy and regularly scheduled programming will recommence soon.

Butterfly Beach Tote

Butterfly Scoop Neck

Butterfly Journal

2010 is Over, Hopefully 2011 is Better

2010-12-31T08:16:00.000-05:00

2010 wasn't the best year so I'm ready to toss it out and move on to 2011. Here are a few hopes for 2011:

I hope more people see the area as an interconnected region and get away from the notion that there is Youngstown and then all the rest of the Mahoning Valley.
I hope efforts to reshape and revitalize the city are successful. From a new grocery store on the Southside to hiring downtown, it's well past time for some good news.
I hope citizen's groups, the police and ordinary people can continue to work together to reduce crime. It's time to take out the trash that is ruining a fine area.
I hope all the area schools improve their academic rating. Education is the key to economic success. I've seen first hand what happens when people with the right education and experience find their way to the right position.
I hope our area continues to pull together to help those in need and the organizations that support them. Some of those fine organizations are the United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley, Hospice of the Valley, the Rescue Mission of Mahoning Valley and the Salvation Army.

Here's to a better year in 2011, everyone.

Fox News Readers Lose their Minds as Senate Repeals "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

2010-12-18T17:10:00.000-05:00

I love the lunatics that read Foxnews.com. Whenever a controversial news story pops up, I scroll through the comments and get a heaping helping of crazy. In this case about 8,000 comments are predicting the apocalypse if the current gay members of the military serve openly. Fox News readers are uncomfortable with lying unless it's about one's sexual orientation. As if who you diddle has anything to do with how you shoot.

I've attached a little bit of the craziness so you can share in my enjoyment of the lunacy.

The Future is Now

2010-12-12T18:51:00.002-05:00

I'm posting this by connecting my seven year old Sony laptop to the mobile hotspot created by a Palm Pre cell phone. Technology is wonderful sometimes.

Also, my Apple loving friends cannot do this with their iPhones. Hee hee.

An Observation about Sarah Palin

2010-12-04T12:02:00.000-05:00

Former half term governor of Alaska Sarah Palin claims to have written two books since losing the vice-presidential bid in 2008. I have to give her credit. It's not everyone who can govern a state, appear as a paid personality on Fox News, film a reality TV show for TLC and raise children while finding the time to write two books. How does she do it?