The Philosophy of Masters
"300 of 500 prisoners were homeless before incarceration. We need multiple homeless shelters. This is a crisis in our town. To say other towns have homeless problems also ignores Pueblo's is out of control. Don't blame drugs. Establishment failure... #puebloup" ~a Jackie Massey tweet
xxx
Here is the law that gives the Power to Pardon to the brand spanking new Mayor (Gary Clark, probably), stripping it away from the President of City Council (Chris Nicoll) [the deleted part is in brackets]:
"SECTION 3. Chapter 2 of Title I of the Pueblo Municipal Code is hereby amended as follows:
Sec. 1-2-6. – Penalties; power to pardon.
The [President of the Council] Mayor shall have power to grant pardons and to remit fines and penalties imposed for any violation of any provision of this Code, but in every case where he or she may exercise this power, he or she shall report such action to the City Council at its next meeting, with his or her reasons."
xxx
Remember when Massey reminded the crowd that we are currently in the 21st Century, after several candidates talked about getting us to the 21st Century, I'm assuming?
The US govt quit the UN Human Rights Council b/c they issued a report that said 40 million people were living in poverty in the U.S., & 18.5 million were in extreme poverty.
"Dirty Dancing" was about unresolved class conflict in Amerika.
In a recent interview, Janet Wilson said she was for Muny Internet. She actually said that she was for the "Municipalization of All Utilities"...
A few of Masolw's Necessities:
Muny Police
Muny Fire Fighters
Muny Parks
Muny Water
Muny Finance
Muny Civil Service
Muny Electricity
Muny Waste-2-Electric Trash
Muny Internet
Muny 3D-printed Solar Power Houses
Muny Food
Muny Air
Muny Land
Muny Russian Steel
Muny Gasoline
Muny Marijuana (to pay for the 5-Star Big Rock Candy Mountain)
Muny Mountain Dew, Code Red
Muny FBI
Muny ICE
In general, I'm for the Municipalization of Maslow's Necessities: Food, Water, Clothing, Shelter, Security, Internet, Land, Houses, Cars, Russian Steel, etc. But I also do not believe that any government corporation, board, agency, department, cabinet, gang, etc, can maintain a monopoly. Pueblo City can only be an equal player on the market w/ private enterprise. I'm for a mixed Socialist/Capitalist System. It's actually how Amerika's been since FDR. Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who arrested a Husband & Wife for being Communists in Pueblo City in the 1950s, believed in a 90% tax rate for the wealthy fat cat capitalists. That anti-Communist sure did believe in a big fat fkn government. & the 1950s are looked upon as idyllic, like all was well, & right, & perfect w/ the world. at least for half of the middle class whites. they had "Leave It To Beaver" lives.
with Pueblo City Muny Gasoline, say, I believe it's okay for Pueblo City to buy 1, or 2, or 10 gasoline stations around the city, but that's it. They can only own as many gas stations as Loaf-n-Jug owns, or whomever the #1 private market King of Pueblo City gasoline station is. By owning a few gasoline stations - say, like how Pueblo City owns 2 Golf Courses (Elmwood & Walking Stick Golf Courses, call the Muny Pro Golfer, he's being paid w/ the taxpayer's dime, Dave Lewis, @ 719.553.1181) - Pueblo City can stop these oil companies from gouging us... gas is teetering at $3/gallon, remember when the oil companies tried to charge us $5/gallon? We can stop them, by owning a few gas stations, to regulate price gouging. Pueblo City's Muny Gasoline would have to make a profit, to pay their employees, to make sure they get a return on their investment, if only to break even, but by owning several gas stations, it's the difference b/t the oil companies marking gasoline up by 100%, by double, to maximize their profits until we're drowning, or by marking it up at 20%, or something reasonable like that. Really, 5% profit should be good enough for them. & the rest should go to the city anyways.
These Landlords are making bank around here. None of those hundreds of dollars in rental costs is taxed? Tax rent at 50% & use those proceeds to build a fancy smancy brand new Sim City, Johnny's 100 Acres, just outside of KitCarsonville, on the back 40, behind the home, the home on the range.
Anyways. Muny Gasoline, just like Muny Internet, Muny Electric, & Muny Water, would regulate price gouging, & Muny Gasoline can set the standard for how to treat her employees, w/ a union, a good wage, benefits, safe working conditions, fun culture, etc.
City Council gets Confirmation Powers for the Department Heads. The people should vote on all leaders of the Executive Branch. The people should get the Confirmation Powers for the Department Heads. Including the City Clerk, & the Chief of Police.
My only concern w/ Muny X, or Muny Anything, is to make sure that it's always popularly controlled, of, by, & for the people, the working, poor, & homeless classes, & the good half of the middle class. So, Municipalization of the Internet is just fine & dandy w/ me, IF, & if's a big word for only being 2 letters, but IF, we have ourselves a functioning democracy, one that actually represents the working masses. if the working masses control the government, not the 1%, bankers, & corporations, but the working masses, then by having the government w/ their hand in every market, then we the working class people, will own everything, the entire means of production, & we can redistribute it all to our collective private fortunes. lol j/k we do have a bunch of Industrial machines. it seems like we could just churn out 100s of tiny houses for the homeless, at the very least, the 30% of the local homeless wanderers, & put them out on their own Big Rock Candy Mountain reservation in the county somewheres.
In Occupy, however, I learned that the Police own & control the public spaces, not the people. Don't we have a huge National State Park, just on the outskirts of Pueblo township? I saw huge Big Rock Candy Mountains all over out there, on the opposite side of the highway where the Colorado State Park is, just outside of Pueblo City.
Charlotte Perez & Janet Wilson are rightfully in favor of The Rule of Law.
"Nobody should be above the law." ~Janet Wilson
"Yes I am. Nobody is above the law. Including these corrupt police officers or corrupt elected officials." ~Charlotte Perez
Janet Wilson's politics teeters b/t Libetarianism & left Libertarianism. But that's better than the Democrats, who are now Republicans, & the Republicans, who are now 3-headed Hydra/alien savages from Pluto/batshit insane imperialist racist psychos.
I'm a Left Libertarian. I'm more Left than Libertarian, b/c the Poor don't have a chance, & the homeless have even less of a chance than them. Once the Homeless & the Poor have a chance, then I'll be more Libertarian than Left. until that day comes, the Left needs to have their heyday 1st. Then the Libertarians can get their gay pride & prostitute & crack parade on. & a laisse-faire capitalism festival.
Today's Republicans are Trumpists, which means they're neo-Fascists. Today's Republicans are Neo-Fascists. Both parties are rabid imperialists.
I'm Occupy. I'm a Lefty. A bleeding-heart liberal, who thinks more w/ his heart than his brain.
But the Libertarians are Half-Right. For example, take the War on Drugs. How come Democrats & liberals don't stand up for personal freedom, & oppose Richard Nixon's 1971 War on Drugs? Do they believe the War on Drugs has worked? Democrats & liberals barely mention the War on Drugs, whereas the Libertarians are opposed to the War on Drugs on principle. That makes John Pickerill of Pueblo West an attractive candidate against Leroy Garcia, Pueblo's State Senator, a Democrat, who just secured himself the most powerful leadership role in the Senate.
What's Leroy Garcia's public policy on Richard Milhouse Nixon's 1971 War on Drugs? Nearly 50 years later, & the drugs are here. The Drugs are everywhere. Heroin needles for all of our children to play with in the parks. But don't do the Switzerland Plan, no, no, no, of Harm Reduction, of passing out clean needles from a doctor & a hospital, & reducing the Harm... no no no. I mean, that's only the solution to the fkn problem. People are going to do drugs. People can drink bleach, if they want to, or Gatorade, whatever they goddamn please, in a free society.
John Pickerill of Pueblo West doesn't have to say anything regarding the War on Drugs. I already know. He's opposed to it, on principle, b/c he believes in personal freedom. w/ Liberals, I'm not so sure. If you believe in a limited government in terms of surveillance & power police, if you believe in personal freedom & privacy, if you believe you have a right to your own body, then vote for John Pickerill of Pueblo West for State Senate this November. Unless Leroy Garcia says otherwise, I'll assume he's a conservative on the War on Drugs, & Pickerill is the radical liberal.
Janet Wilson knows that the War on Drugs has failed. Janet Wilson believes in Muny Internet. Janet Wilson is also very critical of the banks, who, in terms of class war, are precisely the mfers causing all of this economic misery around here. The major banks in Pueblo City are financial institutions dedicated to making profits for their shareholders, not for the people of Pueblo City, but for their private investors. The cops can't stand the neighborhood gangs from robbing the neighborhood, but they'll profit the Capital of the Banks, the buildings, the factories, the cars, the machines, & whatnot.
Janet Wilson will view the banks with a critical & skeptikal eye, which makes her the opposite of Dennis Flores. Dennis Flores sits on the Advisory Board of US Bank, but not on the Advisory Board of "Let's End This Bullshit Fkn Poverty & Homelessness" Commission. Dennis Flores who only cares about Banks, specifically US Bank, & about destroying democracy by killing IRV w/ his stupid ass Kyrgyzstan Cutthroat 2-Round Voting System tainting this historic 1st Postmodern Mayor ever in Pueblo City history campaign. Thx a bunch, u ol' goathead!
Janet has a finance background, so I'd rather throw a Janet-molotov cocktail into the overly bloated & inept machine, & let her drain the swamp, than any establishment asswipe. If I was Mayor, I'd fire everybody, & then reallocate the entire budget. I'd start anew. I'd begin again. I'd start all over. I'd destroy the rickety old house, & replace it with a Titanium Skyscraper w/ Inconel Steel foundation. Build this house from the ground up. I'd replace all of the Department Heads with one of their underlings. Their most deserving underlings. But all bosses would be fired. I'd liberate them, into unemployment. Enjoy the free market fuckers!
An overly bloated Government Bureaucracy is what killed the Manchus. An overly bloated military Government Bureaucracy.
Let Janet figure out our budgeting woes. Let Janet cut the fat off of the pork. You can cook that pig w/ it's own grease.
A Wilson Administration would set Pueblo City & her new Mayor on a firm foundation of a lean, & mean new government, w/ permanent progressive libertarian future. I'm still w/ Unkle Jackie, but Pueblo City would be lucky as hell to have a Janet Wilson, our Canadian Godmother, as her Mayor.
I want a Green New Deal. An ambitious, super progressive, New Deal. Pueblo City, in many ways, is pretty cool. Pueblo City, also, in many ways, is a shithole. I'm sure the County has their problems, but I want a City leadership that'll stand up to the County, & the State, & the Federal Government, if need be, for us, we the people.
"Always be fiercely loyal to, & fearless for, the common people. ~William Justus Goebel, paraphrased
xxx
So far, I have not found any substantial power grab by Pueblo's City Council, but I'm still reading on it, comparing & contrasting the Strong Mayor changes versus the City Council changes. There's at least 26 pages of City Council changes, & I don't have the original 70+ changes anymore, so I'm going with my notes, which I only jotted down the stuff I thought was important, so therefore, isn't verbatim.
Peter Roper only specifically mentions that Pueblo City Council helped themselves to the "Power of Adding An Item To An Agenda", which I'm not worried about. As a citizen, I feel like I want the Power to Add An Item to the Agenda, which I kind of do, at least I can introduce a topic to talk about, in the very beginning of the meeting. The 1st 6 people who sign up to speak during the Public Forum, can speak for up to 5 minutes, about any goddamn thang they want to talk about. Many times, many meetings, there's no 6 people who sign up, & rarely, do all of them use up all of their time.
City Council gets confirmation powers on Muny Judges, & Department Heads, & they can easily override a Veto. That Veto override should worry the Mayor. All City Council needs to do in order to get a Veto-proof majority is find 5 supporters for it. If only 5 of 7 City Council folks agrees w/ a law, or a budgetary measure, or personnel, or rabid dogs, or whatever, then it'll get passed, b/c 5 is all that is needed in order to break a Veto. So that Veto power is only for nail-biters, for when City Council barely passes a measure, by only 4 votes. Then, & only then, will that veto power even matter.
The Mayor doesn't vote, except to break ties, so that could be a way for the Mayor to break City Council apart. If 3 vote for, & 3 vote against, & 1 abstains, the Mayor gets the power then, as well.
Pueblo City Council can easily break the Mayor's veto w/ a Veto-proof majority, ie 5 of 7. While the new Postmodern Mayor gets brand new veto power, it only takes 5 of 7 City Council votes - a "super majority" - to surpass the Mayor's veto, at the next regularly scheduled city council meeting. So all that is needed to gang up against the Mayor is for 5 of 7 City Council folks to establish a Legislative Power Bloc of 5. Perhaps the ambitions of Atencio, Flores, & probably Aliff &/or Nicoll, all sparring w/ each other, trying to best each other, for the common people, no doubt, will keep City Council always squabbling w/ each other, making it easy as pie for the Mayor to come in, divide, & conquer City Council, & then own Pueblo City for 5 more years.
Pueblo City Council also vote on the Budget, & they pass any & all permanent &/or temporary new laws, or amendments to old laws. The Mayor doesn't get Legislative Power - the Power to Pass Laws -, nor does the Mayor get any Judicial Power either, the Power to throw lawbreakers in jail, & to fine them. The Mayor does have, imo, the Power of Arrest, in order to keep the Police Branch under Civilian Control. The police work for the Executive Branch, but only if the Police Chief & the new Mayor understand the 3 Branches of Government.
If anything, City Council took more power away from themselves when they gave the Power to Pardon to the Mayor, stripping it away from the President of City Council. This means 2 things: 1) Chris Nicoll has the Power to Pardon, and; 2) after 2018, Chris Nicoll, if he's not elected Mayor, won't have that power anymore. That's City Council taking power away from itself.
The Mayor will eventually have to work with City Council. City Council writes all of the laws. All of the permanent laws & all of the temporary laws. Any laws that are passed, amended, changed, any ballot initiatives put on the ballot, plus the spending of $100 Million, all must be agreed upon by the Mayor & by the majority of City Council, or, at least, by a super majority of City Council.
One way you could dissolve City Council would be by way of a Charter Convention.
As a citizen, I want my Mayoral candidates to rail against the establishment, for their wrongs, but to also give them lip service for their rights as well.
Now how the Mayor can fight against the Veto-proof majority is by dividing & conquering. The Mayor's the Man (or Woman). He's the Czar. He's the Big Cheese. The Big Mac & Cheese Whiz, on an Arby's Roast Beef sandwich, Man. or Woman. By being the Chief Head Executive Monarch of Pueblo City, population 107,000, the Mayor can convince City Council to go along w/ his vision, his agenda... the 1st Postmodern Mayor of Pueblo City will be huge. They'll be Mr. or Mrs. Pueblo City for 5 years, unless recalled for a Teapot Dome scandal, & they'll be the frontrunner for Mayor for decades to comes, as well as their progeny, their lineage, their legacies.
To break a Veto-proof majority, all the 1st Postmodern Neomarxist Mayor of Pueblo City needs to do is befriend at least 4 of them, to be very loyal to him, & that's it. Pick 4 favorites & work with them on major projects & initiatives & include them in the fun of being Mayor. nominate their choices for department heads. listen to their advice for where budget monies ought to go. The Mayor will need City Council, & City Council will need the Mayor. & both will need Muny Court, & vice versa. Those are the 3 Amerikan centers of power for the 3 branches of Pueblo City. Executive. Legislative. Judicial.
Pueblo City Council will have to write any & all temporary &/or permanent laws. The Mayor can sign those laws, or veto them, & the Mayor has the power to execute all Pueblo Law, & the Budget begins with him/her. The Mayor comes equipped with a mandate from the people, for his or her vision, for wanting to build Schools & Hospitals, he's got budget powers, & veto powers, & executive power. BUT, the Mayor does not, can not, write any of the laws. Pueblo City Council & Pueblo Mayor must get along, they must work together, doing a 2-step tango, or some kind of insane crazy ass breakdancing demo, either way, to get a new Judge hired, the Mayor must nominate, & City Council must confirm.
The Mayor will have the City Attorney at his/her disposal, but City Council will need to get their own lawyer.
That Deputy Mayor position is an interesting case too. Whenever "the Mayor is absent", the head chief Executive then becomes the Deputy Mayor. So whenever the Mayor leaves to go to Colorado Springs, or Canon City, or Colorado City, or Beulah Valley, or Beulah, & leaves Pueblo City, is "absent" from Pueblo City, then the Deputy Mayor becomes the Gilgamesh-in-Chief? The head honcho, the grand parabola, the hexagon from the Pentagon? I don't like that. It's like a Tag Team wrestling match. The Mayor just tags himself out whenever he's in a jam, then tags himself back in when he's out of the jam, if he's got himself a loyal Deputy Mayor. If he doesn't, one day when the Mayor decides to go for a stroll at the Big Rock Candy Mountain across from the State Park just outside of Pueblo City, then a traitorous &/or ambitious Deputy Mayor could issue 20 Executive Orders in the Mayor's absence, since technically speaking, the Deputy Mayor would be Mayor, while the Mayor is absent.
The Mayor & Deputy Mayor tag-teaming themselves in-&-out can also be a problem when it comes to the Power of the Pardon. There's some discussion about whether or not the President can pardon himself... in Pueblo City, we won't even have to have that discussion, b/c by having both these tag team Mayor & Deputy Mayor in charge, they can swap positions, & then pardon each other for any crimes they have committed.
It would be easier for Pueblo City Council to get at least 4 council members to be in solidarity w/ a new Ordinance, say, "Get Pueblo City Back to Legal Status w/ a Charter Convention" Ordinance, & then get the Mayor to sign that mfer. Once 4 council members agree w/ the Charter Convention of 2020, & the Mayor signs it, then it becomes Pueblo Law. With City Council going through the Mayor's office, 1st of all, there's harmony amongst the Executive & Legislative Branches, & 2ndly, they don't have to wait until the next regularly scheduled meeting to override a veto. They can get the matter of city business decided & concluded on that very same day.
The tie-breaking vote & the veto give the Mayor barely any leverage. The Mayor doesn't get a vote on City Council. So anything the Mayor wants passed will have to be introduced through one of his City Council allies, & voted on by them as well. The Mayor gets to Veto any 4-person strong legislation, & he gets to vote to break a tie, which can only be a 1-1 tie (w/ 5 abstaining), a 2-2 tie (w/ 3 abstaining), or a 3-3 tie (w/ 1 abstaining), w/ that last one being the most likely outcome for a Mayoral tie-breaker vote.
The Mayor & his/her 4 merry City Council reps is all he needs to break that Veto-proof Legislative Blok of 5. If the Mayor wants to get really wild, then just let the other 3 be The Opposition. The minority get their say, but the majority get their way. The 3-person snake Opposition won't be able to get a Veto-proof majority against the Mayor's 4 merry City Council mongoose minions.
But the Mayor doesn't need to worry about building a coalition before they're elected. I'd rather vote for a Mayor that will order, & bully, & manhandle City Council, or organize, inspire, charismatically convince them, if you will, instead of one that'll acquiescent to their every whim & whimper. As long as Pueblo City votes for a Mayor who has a vision, who has charisma, hell, even a baby can exercise power, so I have no doubt that the Mayor will be able to lead City Council, even if as a Mayoral candidate, they vehemently criticized City Council - ie The dirty filthy stink'n mf'n Establishment - all of the way up until election day, b/c of the Office itself, & b/c of the human condition.
Once Janet Wilson wins the Mayor's race, both Atencio & Schilling will start kissing her ass immediately, even if she was critical of them during the entire campaign.
Ultimately, the people hold the Mayor accountable, but for 5 years, it'll be the people's Legislative Branch that'll have to hold the new Postmodern Mayor accountable.
I want a strong Legislative, Judicial, & Executive Branch, & I want them to jealously guard their respective authorities, b/c that's how our govt was set-up, in order to prevent tyranny.
The Mayor-elect could just pick Bob Schilling to be the lone opposition voice, to break groupthink. Just designate Schilling as the person who gets to mouth off about everything, it's what he's good at anyways, but listen to Ed Brown the closest. Always listen to Ed Brown. Never, ever, underestimate Ed Brown. Even though he hasn't declared his Mayoral candidacy yet, I'm not sure how these 25 candidates will be able to beat Ed Brown. That quiet super progressive mfer is slick. Patient & super nice too. Opposed to the War-on-Drugs too.
As Mayor, I would also strive for unanimous consent. There's only 7 City Council folks. If all 7 are reasonable, the Mayor ought to attempt to make them all happy, if possible, for that would usher in a Century of a Pax Amerikana Utopia for the people of Pueblo City & the world.
xxx
Jack Guy Lafontant @LafontantGuy: "Mwen bay Prezidan an demisyon m maten an anvan mwen desann nan chanm depite-a. Mwen te kontan sevi peyi-m. Mwen la e map toujou la pou m sevi Ayiti." 5:13 PM - 14 Jul 2018.
"All wickedness comes from weakness. The child is wicked only because he is weak. Make him strong, & he will be good. He who could do everything would never do harm." ~Janjak Ruso
xxx
From the "Elect John Pickerill" facebook page:
"LEGISLATIVE AGENDA as candidate for Colorado State Senate (District 3):
Pickerill's agenda takes on the district’s most serious challenges, such as maintaining economic prosperity in the face of epidemic drug abuse and increasingly-intrusive federal dictates.
But first and foremost it is about liberty. “My vision is to restore the freedom to live the American dream,” Pickerill explains, “and ’freedom’ must be more than just a buzzword.” Pickerill defines personal freedom as being able to exercise your human rights however you see fit as long as you aren’t preventing someone else from doing the same. He defines economic freedom and property rights in a very similar way.
To Pickerill, the biggest obstacle to economic growth is how productive members of our society are forced to pay for failed government welfare programs, both corporate welfare and social welfare. Most of those are federal programs, none of them are authorized by the U.S. Constitution, and all of them are making more and more people dependent on a government handout. And this indirectly fuels our community’s drug addiction problem. Pickerill urges social welfare be turned back over to our community’s institutions with a proven track record for helping people the best – our churches and charities.
If elected, his legislative proposals will include:
• Affirm the General Assembly’s authority to judge the constitutionality of federal acts. If the GA determined a federal act, such as Obamacare or a firearms restriction, was unconstitutional the GA should declare the act null and void and unenforceable in Colorado.
• Affirm the General Assembly’s authority to control the collection of federal taxes. The GA can then protect Colorado taxpayers from being forced to fund unconstitutional federal acts.
• Repeal failed drug prohibition laws. Those laws aren’t stopping people from getting drugs. They aren’t the solution. They’re part of the problem. They overcrowd our jails, overwhelm our county criminal justice systems, and bust county budgets. Drug addiction is best overcome in a treatment facility, not jail.
• No sales tax on gold and silver. Gold and silver are considered money by the Constitution. It shouldn’t be taxed just because it changes hands. This currency option lets Colorado citizens protect themselves from dollar inflation by the Federal Reserve.
• Individual Property Rights: End the practice of eminent domain and forced annexation. End government land-use zoning regulations over private property.
• Political Parties: End all taxpayer-financing of political parties by repealing Colorado’s primary election law. End government special privileges to the two major political parties that give them unfair advantage over all other political parties.
• Education reforms: End all high-stakes standardized testing.
Since 2013, Pickerill was chairman of the Montgomery County, IN, Republican Party, and often challenged Republican officeholders to actually follow the GOP platform, especially on fiscal responsibility, property rights, and free enterprise. In May 2016, he resigned as chairman, observing most in the party were openly hostile to their own platform and typically practiced quid pro quo campaign finance methods. He is now a member of the Libertarian Party.
John Pickerill holds a degree in physics from Purdue University. He is a retired Navy nuclear submarine officer and an Iraq War veteran. He, his wife, and children reside in Pueblo West where he works as an engineer."
xxx
Here is the law that gives the Power to Pardon to the brand spanking new Mayor (Gary Clark, probably), stripping it away from the President of City Council (Chris Nicoll) [the deleted part is in brackets]:
"SECTION 3. Chapter 2 of Title I of the Pueblo Municipal Code is hereby amended as follows:
Sec. 1-2-6. – Penalties; power to pardon.
The [President of the Council] Mayor shall have power to grant pardons and to remit fines and penalties imposed for any violation of any provision of this Code, but in every case where he or she may exercise this power, he or she shall report such action to the City Council at its next meeting, with his or her reasons."
xxx
Remember when Massey reminded the crowd that we are currently in the 21st Century, after several candidates talked about getting us to the 21st Century, I'm assuming?
The US govt quit the UN Human Rights Council b/c they issued a report that said 40 million people were living in poverty in the U.S., & 18.5 million were in extreme poverty.
"Dirty Dancing" was about unresolved class conflict in Amerika.
In a recent interview, Janet Wilson said she was for Muny Internet. She actually said that she was for the "Municipalization of All Utilities"...
A few of Masolw's Necessities:
Muny Police
Muny Fire Fighters
Muny Parks
Muny Water
Muny Finance
Muny Civil Service
Muny Electricity
Muny Waste-2-Electric Trash
Muny Internet
Muny 3D-printed Solar Power Houses
Muny Food
Muny Air
Muny Land
Muny Russian Steel
Muny Gasoline
Muny Marijuana (to pay for the 5-Star Big Rock Candy Mountain)
Muny Mountain Dew, Code Red
Muny FBI
Muny ICE
In general, I'm for the Municipalization of Maslow's Necessities: Food, Water, Clothing, Shelter, Security, Internet, Land, Houses, Cars, Russian Steel, etc. But I also do not believe that any government corporation, board, agency, department, cabinet, gang, etc, can maintain a monopoly. Pueblo City can only be an equal player on the market w/ private enterprise. I'm for a mixed Socialist/Capitalist System. It's actually how Amerika's been since FDR. Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who arrested a Husband & Wife for being Communists in Pueblo City in the 1950s, believed in a 90% tax rate for the wealthy fat cat capitalists. That anti-Communist sure did believe in a big fat fkn government. & the 1950s are looked upon as idyllic, like all was well, & right, & perfect w/ the world. at least for half of the middle class whites. they had "Leave It To Beaver" lives.
with Pueblo City Muny Gasoline, say, I believe it's okay for Pueblo City to buy 1, or 2, or 10 gasoline stations around the city, but that's it. They can only own as many gas stations as Loaf-n-Jug owns, or whomever the #1 private market King of Pueblo City gasoline station is. By owning a few gasoline stations - say, like how Pueblo City owns 2 Golf Courses (Elmwood & Walking Stick Golf Courses, call the Muny Pro Golfer, he's being paid w/ the taxpayer's dime, Dave Lewis, @ 719.553.1181) - Pueblo City can stop these oil companies from gouging us... gas is teetering at $3/gallon, remember when the oil companies tried to charge us $5/gallon? We can stop them, by owning a few gas stations, to regulate price gouging. Pueblo City's Muny Gasoline would have to make a profit, to pay their employees, to make sure they get a return on their investment, if only to break even, but by owning several gas stations, it's the difference b/t the oil companies marking gasoline up by 100%, by double, to maximize their profits until we're drowning, or by marking it up at 20%, or something reasonable like that. Really, 5% profit should be good enough for them. & the rest should go to the city anyways.
These Landlords are making bank around here. None of those hundreds of dollars in rental costs is taxed? Tax rent at 50% & use those proceeds to build a fancy smancy brand new Sim City, Johnny's 100 Acres, just outside of KitCarsonville, on the back 40, behind the home, the home on the range.
Anyways. Muny Gasoline, just like Muny Internet, Muny Electric, & Muny Water, would regulate price gouging, & Muny Gasoline can set the standard for how to treat her employees, w/ a union, a good wage, benefits, safe working conditions, fun culture, etc.
City Council gets Confirmation Powers for the Department Heads. The people should vote on all leaders of the Executive Branch. The people should get the Confirmation Powers for the Department Heads. Including the City Clerk, & the Chief of Police.
My only concern w/ Muny X, or Muny Anything, is to make sure that it's always popularly controlled, of, by, & for the people, the working, poor, & homeless classes, & the good half of the middle class. So, Municipalization of the Internet is just fine & dandy w/ me, IF, & if's a big word for only being 2 letters, but IF, we have ourselves a functioning democracy, one that actually represents the working masses. if the working masses control the government, not the 1%, bankers, & corporations, but the working masses, then by having the government w/ their hand in every market, then we the working class people, will own everything, the entire means of production, & we can redistribute it all to our collective private fortunes. lol j/k we do have a bunch of Industrial machines. it seems like we could just churn out 100s of tiny houses for the homeless, at the very least, the 30% of the local homeless wanderers, & put them out on their own Big Rock Candy Mountain reservation in the county somewheres.
In Occupy, however, I learned that the Police own & control the public spaces, not the people. Don't we have a huge National State Park, just on the outskirts of Pueblo township? I saw huge Big Rock Candy Mountains all over out there, on the opposite side of the highway where the Colorado State Park is, just outside of Pueblo City.
Charlotte Perez & Janet Wilson are rightfully in favor of The Rule of Law.
"Nobody should be above the law." ~Janet Wilson
"Yes I am. Nobody is above the law. Including these corrupt police officers or corrupt elected officials." ~Charlotte Perez
Janet Wilson's politics teeters b/t Libetarianism & left Libertarianism. But that's better than the Democrats, who are now Republicans, & the Republicans, who are now 3-headed Hydra/alien savages from Pluto/batshit insane imperialist racist psychos.
I'm a Left Libertarian. I'm more Left than Libertarian, b/c the Poor don't have a chance, & the homeless have even less of a chance than them. Once the Homeless & the Poor have a chance, then I'll be more Libertarian than Left. until that day comes, the Left needs to have their heyday 1st. Then the Libertarians can get their gay pride & prostitute & crack parade on. & a laisse-faire capitalism festival.
Today's Republicans are Trumpists, which means they're neo-Fascists. Today's Republicans are Neo-Fascists. Both parties are rabid imperialists.
I'm Occupy. I'm a Lefty. A bleeding-heart liberal, who thinks more w/ his heart than his brain.
But the Libertarians are Half-Right. For example, take the War on Drugs. How come Democrats & liberals don't stand up for personal freedom, & oppose Richard Nixon's 1971 War on Drugs? Do they believe the War on Drugs has worked? Democrats & liberals barely mention the War on Drugs, whereas the Libertarians are opposed to the War on Drugs on principle. That makes John Pickerill of Pueblo West an attractive candidate against Leroy Garcia, Pueblo's State Senator, a Democrat, who just secured himself the most powerful leadership role in the Senate.
What's Leroy Garcia's public policy on Richard Milhouse Nixon's 1971 War on Drugs? Nearly 50 years later, & the drugs are here. The Drugs are everywhere. Heroin needles for all of our children to play with in the parks. But don't do the Switzerland Plan, no, no, no, of Harm Reduction, of passing out clean needles from a doctor & a hospital, & reducing the Harm... no no no. I mean, that's only the solution to the fkn problem. People are going to do drugs. People can drink bleach, if they want to, or Gatorade, whatever they goddamn please, in a free society.
John Pickerill of Pueblo West doesn't have to say anything regarding the War on Drugs. I already know. He's opposed to it, on principle, b/c he believes in personal freedom. w/ Liberals, I'm not so sure. If you believe in a limited government in terms of surveillance & power police, if you believe in personal freedom & privacy, if you believe you have a right to your own body, then vote for John Pickerill of Pueblo West for State Senate this November. Unless Leroy Garcia says otherwise, I'll assume he's a conservative on the War on Drugs, & Pickerill is the radical liberal.
Janet Wilson knows that the War on Drugs has failed. Janet Wilson believes in Muny Internet. Janet Wilson is also very critical of the banks, who, in terms of class war, are precisely the mfers causing all of this economic misery around here. The major banks in Pueblo City are financial institutions dedicated to making profits for their shareholders, not for the people of Pueblo City, but for their private investors. The cops can't stand the neighborhood gangs from robbing the neighborhood, but they'll profit the Capital of the Banks, the buildings, the factories, the cars, the machines, & whatnot.
Janet Wilson will view the banks with a critical & skeptikal eye, which makes her the opposite of Dennis Flores. Dennis Flores sits on the Advisory Board of US Bank, but not on the Advisory Board of "Let's End This Bullshit Fkn Poverty & Homelessness" Commission. Dennis Flores who only cares about Banks, specifically US Bank, & about destroying democracy by killing IRV w/ his stupid ass Kyrgyzstan Cutthroat 2-Round Voting System tainting this historic 1st Postmodern Mayor ever in Pueblo City history campaign. Thx a bunch, u ol' goathead!
Janet has a finance background, so I'd rather throw a Janet-molotov cocktail into the overly bloated & inept machine, & let her drain the swamp, than any establishment asswipe. If I was Mayor, I'd fire everybody, & then reallocate the entire budget. I'd start anew. I'd begin again. I'd start all over. I'd destroy the rickety old house, & replace it with a Titanium Skyscraper w/ Inconel Steel foundation. Build this house from the ground up. I'd replace all of the Department Heads with one of their underlings. Their most deserving underlings. But all bosses would be fired. I'd liberate them, into unemployment. Enjoy the free market fuckers!
An overly bloated Government Bureaucracy is what killed the Manchus. An overly bloated military Government Bureaucracy.
Let Janet figure out our budgeting woes. Let Janet cut the fat off of the pork. You can cook that pig w/ it's own grease.
A Wilson Administration would set Pueblo City & her new Mayor on a firm foundation of a lean, & mean new government, w/ permanent progressive libertarian future. I'm still w/ Unkle Jackie, but Pueblo City would be lucky as hell to have a Janet Wilson, our Canadian Godmother, as her Mayor.
I want a Green New Deal. An ambitious, super progressive, New Deal. Pueblo City, in many ways, is pretty cool. Pueblo City, also, in many ways, is a shithole. I'm sure the County has their problems, but I want a City leadership that'll stand up to the County, & the State, & the Federal Government, if need be, for us, we the people.
"Always be fiercely loyal to, & fearless for, the common people. ~William Justus Goebel, paraphrased
xxx
So far, I have not found any substantial power grab by Pueblo's City Council, but I'm still reading on it, comparing & contrasting the Strong Mayor changes versus the City Council changes. There's at least 26 pages of City Council changes, & I don't have the original 70+ changes anymore, so I'm going with my notes, which I only jotted down the stuff I thought was important, so therefore, isn't verbatim.
Peter Roper only specifically mentions that Pueblo City Council helped themselves to the "Power of Adding An Item To An Agenda", which I'm not worried about. As a citizen, I feel like I want the Power to Add An Item to the Agenda, which I kind of do, at least I can introduce a topic to talk about, in the very beginning of the meeting. The 1st 6 people who sign up to speak during the Public Forum, can speak for up to 5 minutes, about any goddamn thang they want to talk about. Many times, many meetings, there's no 6 people who sign up, & rarely, do all of them use up all of their time.
City Council gets confirmation powers on Muny Judges, & Department Heads, & they can easily override a Veto. That Veto override should worry the Mayor. All City Council needs to do in order to get a Veto-proof majority is find 5 supporters for it. If only 5 of 7 City Council folks agrees w/ a law, or a budgetary measure, or personnel, or rabid dogs, or whatever, then it'll get passed, b/c 5 is all that is needed in order to break a Veto. So that Veto power is only for nail-biters, for when City Council barely passes a measure, by only 4 votes. Then, & only then, will that veto power even matter.
The Mayor doesn't vote, except to break ties, so that could be a way for the Mayor to break City Council apart. If 3 vote for, & 3 vote against, & 1 abstains, the Mayor gets the power then, as well.
Pueblo City Council can easily break the Mayor's veto w/ a Veto-proof majority, ie 5 of 7. While the new Postmodern Mayor gets brand new veto power, it only takes 5 of 7 City Council votes - a "super majority" - to surpass the Mayor's veto, at the next regularly scheduled city council meeting. So all that is needed to gang up against the Mayor is for 5 of 7 City Council folks to establish a Legislative Power Bloc of 5. Perhaps the ambitions of Atencio, Flores, & probably Aliff &/or Nicoll, all sparring w/ each other, trying to best each other, for the common people, no doubt, will keep City Council always squabbling w/ each other, making it easy as pie for the Mayor to come in, divide, & conquer City Council, & then own Pueblo City for 5 more years.
Pueblo City Council also vote on the Budget, & they pass any & all permanent &/or temporary new laws, or amendments to old laws. The Mayor doesn't get Legislative Power - the Power to Pass Laws -, nor does the Mayor get any Judicial Power either, the Power to throw lawbreakers in jail, & to fine them. The Mayor does have, imo, the Power of Arrest, in order to keep the Police Branch under Civilian Control. The police work for the Executive Branch, but only if the Police Chief & the new Mayor understand the 3 Branches of Government.
If anything, City Council took more power away from themselves when they gave the Power to Pardon to the Mayor, stripping it away from the President of City Council. This means 2 things: 1) Chris Nicoll has the Power to Pardon, and; 2) after 2018, Chris Nicoll, if he's not elected Mayor, won't have that power anymore. That's City Council taking power away from itself.
The Mayor will eventually have to work with City Council. City Council writes all of the laws. All of the permanent laws & all of the temporary laws. Any laws that are passed, amended, changed, any ballot initiatives put on the ballot, plus the spending of $100 Million, all must be agreed upon by the Mayor & by the majority of City Council, or, at least, by a super majority of City Council.
One way you could dissolve City Council would be by way of a Charter Convention.
As a citizen, I want my Mayoral candidates to rail against the establishment, for their wrongs, but to also give them lip service for their rights as well.
Now how the Mayor can fight against the Veto-proof majority is by dividing & conquering. The Mayor's the Man (or Woman). He's the Czar. He's the Big Cheese. The Big Mac & Cheese Whiz, on an Arby's Roast Beef sandwich, Man. or Woman. By being the Chief Head Executive Monarch of Pueblo City, population 107,000, the Mayor can convince City Council to go along w/ his vision, his agenda... the 1st Postmodern Mayor of Pueblo City will be huge. They'll be Mr. or Mrs. Pueblo City for 5 years, unless recalled for a Teapot Dome scandal, & they'll be the frontrunner for Mayor for decades to comes, as well as their progeny, their lineage, their legacies.
To break a Veto-proof majority, all the 1st Postmodern Neomarxist Mayor of Pueblo City needs to do is befriend at least 4 of them, to be very loyal to him, & that's it. Pick 4 favorites & work with them on major projects & initiatives & include them in the fun of being Mayor. nominate their choices for department heads. listen to their advice for where budget monies ought to go. The Mayor will need City Council, & City Council will need the Mayor. & both will need Muny Court, & vice versa. Those are the 3 Amerikan centers of power for the 3 branches of Pueblo City. Executive. Legislative. Judicial.
Pueblo City Council will have to write any & all temporary &/or permanent laws. The Mayor can sign those laws, or veto them, & the Mayor has the power to execute all Pueblo Law, & the Budget begins with him/her. The Mayor comes equipped with a mandate from the people, for his or her vision, for wanting to build Schools & Hospitals, he's got budget powers, & veto powers, & executive power. BUT, the Mayor does not, can not, write any of the laws. Pueblo City Council & Pueblo Mayor must get along, they must work together, doing a 2-step tango, or some kind of insane crazy ass breakdancing demo, either way, to get a new Judge hired, the Mayor must nominate, & City Council must confirm.
The Mayor will have the City Attorney at his/her disposal, but City Council will need to get their own lawyer.
That Deputy Mayor position is an interesting case too. Whenever "the Mayor is absent", the head chief Executive then becomes the Deputy Mayor. So whenever the Mayor leaves to go to Colorado Springs, or Canon City, or Colorado City, or Beulah Valley, or Beulah, & leaves Pueblo City, is "absent" from Pueblo City, then the Deputy Mayor becomes the Gilgamesh-in-Chief? The head honcho, the grand parabola, the hexagon from the Pentagon? I don't like that. It's like a Tag Team wrestling match. The Mayor just tags himself out whenever he's in a jam, then tags himself back in when he's out of the jam, if he's got himself a loyal Deputy Mayor. If he doesn't, one day when the Mayor decides to go for a stroll at the Big Rock Candy Mountain across from the State Park just outside of Pueblo City, then a traitorous &/or ambitious Deputy Mayor could issue 20 Executive Orders in the Mayor's absence, since technically speaking, the Deputy Mayor would be Mayor, while the Mayor is absent.
The Mayor & Deputy Mayor tag-teaming themselves in-&-out can also be a problem when it comes to the Power of the Pardon. There's some discussion about whether or not the President can pardon himself... in Pueblo City, we won't even have to have that discussion, b/c by having both these tag team Mayor & Deputy Mayor in charge, they can swap positions, & then pardon each other for any crimes they have committed.
It would be easier for Pueblo City Council to get at least 4 council members to be in solidarity w/ a new Ordinance, say, "Get Pueblo City Back to Legal Status w/ a Charter Convention" Ordinance, & then get the Mayor to sign that mfer. Once 4 council members agree w/ the Charter Convention of 2020, & the Mayor signs it, then it becomes Pueblo Law. With City Council going through the Mayor's office, 1st of all, there's harmony amongst the Executive & Legislative Branches, & 2ndly, they don't have to wait until the next regularly scheduled meeting to override a veto. They can get the matter of city business decided & concluded on that very same day.
The tie-breaking vote & the veto give the Mayor barely any leverage. The Mayor doesn't get a vote on City Council. So anything the Mayor wants passed will have to be introduced through one of his City Council allies, & voted on by them as well. The Mayor gets to Veto any 4-person strong legislation, & he gets to vote to break a tie, which can only be a 1-1 tie (w/ 5 abstaining), a 2-2 tie (w/ 3 abstaining), or a 3-3 tie (w/ 1 abstaining), w/ that last one being the most likely outcome for a Mayoral tie-breaker vote.
The Mayor & his/her 4 merry City Council reps is all he needs to break that Veto-proof Legislative Blok of 5. If the Mayor wants to get really wild, then just let the other 3 be The Opposition. The minority get their say, but the majority get their way. The 3-person snake Opposition won't be able to get a Veto-proof majority against the Mayor's 4 merry City Council mongoose minions.
But the Mayor doesn't need to worry about building a coalition before they're elected. I'd rather vote for a Mayor that will order, & bully, & manhandle City Council, or organize, inspire, charismatically convince them, if you will, instead of one that'll acquiescent to their every whim & whimper. As long as Pueblo City votes for a Mayor who has a vision, who has charisma, hell, even a baby can exercise power, so I have no doubt that the Mayor will be able to lead City Council, even if as a Mayoral candidate, they vehemently criticized City Council - ie The dirty filthy stink'n mf'n Establishment - all of the way up until election day, b/c of the Office itself, & b/c of the human condition.
Once Janet Wilson wins the Mayor's race, both Atencio & Schilling will start kissing her ass immediately, even if she was critical of them during the entire campaign.
Ultimately, the people hold the Mayor accountable, but for 5 years, it'll be the people's Legislative Branch that'll have to hold the new Postmodern Mayor accountable.
I want a strong Legislative, Judicial, & Executive Branch, & I want them to jealously guard their respective authorities, b/c that's how our govt was set-up, in order to prevent tyranny.
The Mayor-elect could just pick Bob Schilling to be the lone opposition voice, to break groupthink. Just designate Schilling as the person who gets to mouth off about everything, it's what he's good at anyways, but listen to Ed Brown the closest. Always listen to Ed Brown. Never, ever, underestimate Ed Brown. Even though he hasn't declared his Mayoral candidacy yet, I'm not sure how these 25 candidates will be able to beat Ed Brown. That quiet super progressive mfer is slick. Patient & super nice too. Opposed to the War-on-Drugs too.
As Mayor, I would also strive for unanimous consent. There's only 7 City Council folks. If all 7 are reasonable, the Mayor ought to attempt to make them all happy, if possible, for that would usher in a Century of a Pax Amerikana Utopia for the people of Pueblo City & the world.
xxx
Jack Guy Lafontant @LafontantGuy: "Mwen bay Prezidan an demisyon m maten an anvan mwen desann nan chanm depite-a. Mwen te kontan sevi peyi-m. Mwen la e map toujou la pou m sevi Ayiti." 5:13 PM - 14 Jul 2018.
"All wickedness comes from weakness. The child is wicked only because he is weak. Make him strong, & he will be good. He who could do everything would never do harm." ~Janjak Ruso
xxx
From the "Elect John Pickerill" facebook page:
"LEGISLATIVE AGENDA as candidate for Colorado State Senate (District 3):
Pickerill's agenda takes on the district’s most serious challenges, such as maintaining economic prosperity in the face of epidemic drug abuse and increasingly-intrusive federal dictates.
But first and foremost it is about liberty. “My vision is to restore the freedom to live the American dream,” Pickerill explains, “and ’freedom’ must be more than just a buzzword.” Pickerill defines personal freedom as being able to exercise your human rights however you see fit as long as you aren’t preventing someone else from doing the same. He defines economic freedom and property rights in a very similar way.
To Pickerill, the biggest obstacle to economic growth is how productive members of our society are forced to pay for failed government welfare programs, both corporate welfare and social welfare. Most of those are federal programs, none of them are authorized by the U.S. Constitution, and all of them are making more and more people dependent on a government handout. And this indirectly fuels our community’s drug addiction problem. Pickerill urges social welfare be turned back over to our community’s institutions with a proven track record for helping people the best – our churches and charities.
If elected, his legislative proposals will include:
• Affirm the General Assembly’s authority to judge the constitutionality of federal acts. If the GA determined a federal act, such as Obamacare or a firearms restriction, was unconstitutional the GA should declare the act null and void and unenforceable in Colorado.
• Affirm the General Assembly’s authority to control the collection of federal taxes. The GA can then protect Colorado taxpayers from being forced to fund unconstitutional federal acts.
• Repeal failed drug prohibition laws. Those laws aren’t stopping people from getting drugs. They aren’t the solution. They’re part of the problem. They overcrowd our jails, overwhelm our county criminal justice systems, and bust county budgets. Drug addiction is best overcome in a treatment facility, not jail.
• No sales tax on gold and silver. Gold and silver are considered money by the Constitution. It shouldn’t be taxed just because it changes hands. This currency option lets Colorado citizens protect themselves from dollar inflation by the Federal Reserve.
• Individual Property Rights: End the practice of eminent domain and forced annexation. End government land-use zoning regulations over private property.
• Political Parties: End all taxpayer-financing of political parties by repealing Colorado’s primary election law. End government special privileges to the two major political parties that give them unfair advantage over all other political parties.
• Education reforms: End all high-stakes standardized testing.
Since 2013, Pickerill was chairman of the Montgomery County, IN, Republican Party, and often challenged Republican officeholders to actually follow the GOP platform, especially on fiscal responsibility, property rights, and free enterprise. In May 2016, he resigned as chairman, observing most in the party were openly hostile to their own platform and typically practiced quid pro quo campaign finance methods. He is now a member of the Libertarian Party.
John Pickerill holds a degree in physics from Purdue University. He is a retired Navy nuclear submarine officer and an Iraq War veteran. He, his wife, and children reside in Pueblo West where he works as an engineer."
Comments
Post a Comment