http://www.makegovwork.org/ MAKEGOVWORK en-us Mon, 09 Jan 2012 03:11:13 GMT 1440 CPG-Nuke Dragonfly MAKEGOVWORK News http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/rss/rss.html http://www.makegovwork.org/images/banner.jpg http://www.makegovwork.org/ http://www.makegovwork.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=272 MP3 copy of this weeks podcast (Jan 9th) - 30MEG, DOWNLOAD, THEN PLAY United Nations Year in Review 2011 Join the MAKEGOVWORK.ORG web site to fix the problems of Spokane and America. You can e-mail me at gorbob@gmail.com with comments. NO MORE LIVE RADIO SHOW (for the moment), BUT BLOG AND PODCAST WILL GO ON - I am working on getting my show back on Fridays. But until then, I want to keep doing my blog and podcasts. If you want me back on the air at KYRS, please drop them a note at the station. I think this stuff is really important, and there is a need for a non-partisan look at the problems of the City, State and world. If you are not into receiving this via e-mail, please drop me a note at gorbob@gmail.com and I'll clear your e-mail from the system. LATEST PODCAST, Jan 8th, 2012 - I'll post the podcast of this episode tonight and put a link on the header for this weeks blog. REVIEW OF 2011. AMERICA AND THE WORLD!! - I've been wanting to do a review of 2011 for the last 2 weeks but had a cold that kept me from thinking... BUT finally I am feeling better and wanted to address this. One of the things I find interesting is that we in America see the world through a very different lense than those in Europe and Asia. This Article on Time magazine points this out very well. http://www.businessinsider.com/these-time-magazine-covers-explain-why-americans-know-nothing-about-the-world-2011-11 This shows the different views that the magazine took in the US vs the rest of the world. Below are some of the big stories of the year. BIGGEST STORIES ACCORDING TO THE WORLD. - I decided to check out the big stories from a couple of the international web sites I read. Two of the sites that are worthwhile (though they have their own bias) are RT (Russia Television and Al Jazeera. Here are the links for both. - http://rt.com/ http://www.aljazeera.com/ Here are some of the stories that the rest of the world thought were pretty big - Arab Spring (Awakening) Tunisia Start of protests Lybian War Egypt Uprising Japane Disasters Big Laden Euro Riots Famine in Horn of Africa Europe Austerity Occupy Wall Street Most of these are pretty standard, but the Horn of Africa Story was something I didn't know. 13 million people have died of starvation this last year. We in America don't seem to care much about Africa. BIGGEST STORIES ACCORDING TO AMERICA - The biggest stories in America are similar, but different. Here is the CNN story. - http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/03/living/2011-year-end-review/index.html Here is the monthly list if your interested - http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2011/12/specials/interactive.your.picks/index.html Sadly the names Kaley Anthony, Anthony Weiner and Charlie Sheen seem to be big on the American list. And the America lists always seem excessively US centric... TOP STORIES FROM "PROJECT CENSORED" - One of my favorite sites for alternative information is Project Censored. They do a yearly list of the stories the main stream media ignores or avoides. Please check out what they have to show. http://www.projectcensored.org/ MY TOP STORIES IN ORDER OF IMPORTANCE - This is my top stories list from my person bias looking at the world through my economic/political glasses. - Social Uprising all over the world Arab Spring Japanese Disasters Broken US political system Widening Income Disparity in US Declining Euro and Austerity Government Overthrow in Middle East Failed Occupy Movement Consolidation of "Money Power" in US End of Bin Laden/Iraq War War in Libya What were your big stories. Did I miss anything? MAKEGOVWORK FACEBOOK PAGE - Facebook is a great way to communicate to others, so I wanted to make sure everyone joined up if they want to keep up, and help work to improve things. I made a Facebook page, feel free to join and spread the word - Facebook "makegovwork" page. Permanent links of note - WASHINGTON FREE PRESS, INDEPENDENT NEWS JOURNAL PROJECT CENSORED, STORIES THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA AVOIDS WASHINGTON CLEAN ELECTIONS, PUBLIC FINANCED ELECTIONS WASHINGTON COALITION FOR OPEN GOVERNMENT, TRANSPARENCY IN GOVERNMENT "THE PRICE OF FREEDOM IS ETERNAL VIGILANCE" - THOMAS JEFFERSON John Waite gorbob@gmail.com www.makegovwork.org PS - Here is the E-mail list for the City council and Mayor - (I still need to double check these) dcondon@spokanecity.org, bstucker@spokanecity.org, nmclaughlin@spokanecity.org, ssalvatori@spokanecity.org, mallen@spokanecity.org, jsnyder@spokanecity.org, mfagen@spokanecity.org, awaldref@spokanecity.org Mon, 09 Jan 2012 03:11:13 GMT http://www.makegovwork.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=271 MP3 copy of this weeks podcast (Nov 16th) - 30MEG, DOWNLOAD, THEN PLAY US Debt Crisis Join the MAKEGOVWORK.ORG web site to fix the problems of Spokane and America. You can e-mail me at gorbob@gmail.com with comments. NO MORE LIVE RADIO SHOW (for the moment), BUT BLOG AND PODCAST WILL GO ON - I am working on getting my show back on Fridays. But until then, I want to keep doing my blog and podcasts. If you want me back on the air at KYRS, please drop them a note at the station. I think this stuff is really important, and there is a need for a non-partisan look at the problems of the City, State and world. If you are not into receiving this via e-mail, please drop me a note at gorbob@gmail.com and I'll clear your e-mail from the system. LATEST PODCAST, Nov 16th, 2011 - I'll post the podcast of this episode tonight and put a link on the header for this weeks blog. CHARITY DRIVE FOR "Our Place and East Central toy drive" - Every year MakeGovWork and Merlyn's does a toys/food/donations drive for Our Place charities in West Central. It is that time of year again, so if you can help out, please bring your donations to Merlyn's, Downtown Spokane at 19 w main. We will take the stuff to Our Place and make sure the stuff gets to needy families. We are also going to send part of the toy donations to the "East Central neighborhood wellness center". If you have monitary donations, please contact John Waite at Merlyn's or Our Place http://ourplacespokane.org / 509.326.7267 ourplacespokane@hotmail.co m Thank you for all your help and generosity. CITY OF SPOKANE ELECTIONS RESULTS - This weeks City of Spokane elections results were decidedly a move to the right/conservative side of our two sided political system. I was not surprised, but also not happy as well. While some of the incumbents have not solved the problems of our community, I hoped that hard work would prevail in the races. I have to wonder if anything else matters except raising money and advertising? Dave Condon vs Mary Verner - This is a tough race to watch because I was disappointed with both candidates. Our mayors race is another example of how the "top two" general elections really doesn't serve us voters. We need more choice in the general elections. Because we have to vote for the "least of two evils" we are forced to support candidates that are not solving problems. Vernor's biggest problem was her weak ongoing dealings with the Spokane police department. The timing of the Otto Zehm Story/Thompson trail was not good for Vernor, but if she had resolved some of these issues earlier, Condon would not have been able to play that card. I do think that we shall see more of the same from Condon when it comes to the dealings with the Police guild and Ombudsman. And good luck with Condon being able to solve the budget issues. Until we get help at the state level with employment and our housing issues, we will not be able to "grow" our way out of these budget issues. Salvatori/Allen/Fagen council sweep - The sweep of the three conservative council candidates was not a big surprise. Salvatori was a lock from the start because Joy Jones got a late start. Fagan was in pretty good shape to win because he had party support while Mccarigan did not. The only surprise for me was the Michael Allen win. It looked like Rush had got enough donations and worked hard enough to with the south hill race. Ben Stucker win and Prop 1 showing - Regardless of this conservative sweep, Ben Stucker won his race for council president. I do think it was do in large part in the hard work that his campaign did. Ben also was lucky to have tons of money compared to opponent. Ben was also had party endorsement from the Democrats, when Dennis is an independent. As far as Prop 1's strong showing, I cannot figure out for my life how it did so well. One of the better areas that Prop one got votes was the same first district that elected a very conservative Mike Fagen. I chalk it up to voters not paying attention to the details of the candidates and propositions. This all leads to a much more conservative government in Spokane. It will be interesting to see if these conservatives can solve the problems of Budgets, taxes, Police accountability and general transparency and honesty in government. This remains to be seen. Here is an interesting visual guide to who voted where - http://www.inlander.com/spokane/flex-234-election-2011.html 1183 AND OTHER ELECTIONS RESULTS - On a state level, we had the passing of 1183 legalizing private sale of alcohol and the ending of the state liquor stores. I hope that this brings competition, cheaper prices, increased taxes and lower costs. It will be interesting to see if there is a "social cost" of increased drinking and driving, underage drinking and other social ills. Private liquor sales has been the standard in many states like California with no obvious problems. THE FALL OF THE EURO, AND WHAT WE SHOULD LEARN - The other bog story this week is the fall of the Euro and the difficulties of the European Union. While we all know the problems of Greece and Ireland, Itlay, Spain, Portugal and even France are facing dangerous levels of debt and government spending. We should learn the lessons of Europe and fix our own problems before they become unfixable. Some have already said the Italy and Greece cannot solve their problems without printing more money. If the US continues to print more money, we too weaken our own economic situation. Here is an interesting article comparing the Euro debt crisis and the US housing problems - http://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2011/11/11/four-parallels-between-europes-debt-sub-prime-mortgage-crises/ PS - Here are the two articles I read from on the blog. Please check them out - Matt Taibbi - "How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the OWS Protests" http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/how-i-stopped-worrying-and-learned-to-love-the-ows-protests-20111110 Thomas L. Day - "Penn State, my final loss of faith" http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/guest-voices/post/penn-state-my-final-loss-of-faith/2011/11/11/gIQAwmiIDN_blog.html MAKEGOVWORK FACEBOOK PAGE - Facebook is a great way to communicate to others, so I wanted to make sure everyone joined up if they want to keep up, and help work to improve things. I made a Facebook page, feel free to join and spread the word - Facebook "makegovwork" page. Permanent links of note - WASHINGTON FREE PRESS, INDEPENDENT NEWS JOURNAL PROJECT CENSORED, STORIES THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA AVOIDS WASHINGTON CLEAN ELECTIONS, PUBLIC FINANCED ELECTIONS WASHINGTON COALITION FOR OPEN GOVERNMENT, TRANSPARENCY IN GOVERNMENT "THE PRICE OF FREEDOM IS ETERNAL VIGILANCE" - THOMAS JEFFERSON John Waite gorbob@gmail.com www.makegovwork.org PS - Here is the E-mail list for the City council and Mayor - mverner@spokanecity.org, jshogan@spokanecity.org, nmclaughlin@spokanecity.org, scorker@spokanecity.org, rrush@spokanecity.org, jsnyder@spokanecity.org, bapple@spokanecity.org, awaldref@spokanecity.org Sun, 13 Nov 2011 02:26:39 GMT http://www.makegovwork.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=270 MP3 copy of this weeks podcast (Oct 31st) - 30MEG, DOWNLOAD, THEN PLAY DC Douglas' "Why #OccupyWallStreet? 4 Reasons." Join the MAKEGOVWORK.ORG web site to fix the problems of Spokane and America. You can e-mail me at gorbob@gmail.com with comments. NO MORE LIVE RADIO SHOW (for the moment), BUT BLOG AND PODCAST WILL GO ON - I am working on getting my show back on Fridays. But until then, I want to keep doing my blog and podcasts. If you want me back on the air at KYRS, please drop them a note at the station. I think this stuff is really important, and there is a need for a non-partisan look at the problems of the City, State and world. If you are not into receiving this via e-mail, please drop me a note at gorbob@gmail.com and I'll clear your e-mail from the system. THE LILAC CITY POST ELECTION BLUES... - I usually like to do a report of my election experience and efforts after the election is over. I have been busy with work this last month, but now have time to get the meat of the elections experience. First I have to say, that I have had nothing but great responses and a great time in all my campaigns. People love that someone is trying to do something different. While I have not had the success I'd like, I feel like I am getting closer to achieving something great here. As a candidate, you do get lots of commentary and the occasional personal attack. But I think if you are being honest and true to your goals, these attacks are not really a problem at all. In fact, other than not making the general election, the process is pretty awesome. Some of the best parts are meeting people and hearing about their lives and concerns. And some of the people I met and who volunteered are great new friends that I would not know otherwise. We had a great group of volunteers, but I need to work on getting more people involved. The secret to a campaigns success is having great volunteers willing to put time into fighting for a cause. Being a true independent, I am building that group from the ground floor, so it takes more time than the regular political candidates. Sure it wound be easier to run as a R or a D but the great things in life are not suppose to be easy. The lessons I took out of this are 1) Focus on the positives in life and people. 2) Be honest about yourself and your ideals. 3) Work your ass off (literally, campaigning is a great way to lose weight and get in shape). Because I believe in what I'm doing, and had great people join me who want me to continue with my efforts, I plan on running again. Maybe others will be inspired to join me in my independent quest for political reform. PS - Go get educated on the candidates, and go vote... OCCUPY "???" (SPOKANE, WALL STREET, COLVILLE, ETC...) - One of the biggest stories of the last two months has been the advent of "Occupy Wall Street" and their local counterparts "Occupy Spokane". While the efforts of "occupy" are worthwhile and necessary for the fixing of the troubles of our country, it seems like the efforts are suffering "mission creep" and "too many cooks in the kitchen" syndrome. I hope that the efforts of occupy succeed, but they need to take the next step and get organized and make something happen politically. AND for all you "Occupy" people here is a link to Matt Taibbi's Blog collection of Rolling Stone articles about Wall Street, the big banks and corporate/government malfesance. His stuff is incredibly valuable if you want to understand what has really happened. NON-PARTISAN LEAGUE ELECTIONS NIGHT GET TOGETHER, NOV, 8TH - We will be having the next meeting of the Non-Partisan League of Spokane Nov 8th, 7pm at Merlyn's. ELECTION NIGHT!! We will have an open discussion of whatever (elections results, IRV, Occupy, Bitch session) you guys want. Being elections night, we will have lots of results to watch and ponder. At 8pm we will be moving over to the Saranac Public house next to merlyn's to get food and drink. All are welcome. Here is the facebook event link - http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=277109242321408 MAKEGOVWORK FACEBOOK PAGE - Facebook is a great way to communicate to others, so I wanted to make sure everyone joined up if they want to keep up, and help work to improve things. I made a Facebook page, feel free to join and spread the word - Facebook "makegovwork" page. Permanent links of note - WASHINGTON FREE PRESS, INDEPENDENT NEWS JOURNAL PROJECT CENSORED, STORIES THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA AVOIDS WASHINGTON CLEAN ELECTIONS, PUBLIC FINANCED ELECTIONS WASHINGTON COALITION FOR OPEN GOVERNMENT, TRANSPARENCY IN GOVERNMENT "THE PRICE OF FREEDOM IS ETERNAL VIGILANCE" - THOMAS JEFFERSON John Waite gorbob@gmail.com www.makegovwork.org PS - Here is the E-mail list for the City council and Mayor - mverner@spokanecity.org, jshogan@spokanecity.org, nmclaughlin@spokanecity.org, scorker@spokanecity.org, rrush@spokanecity.org, jsnyder@spokanecity.org, bapple@spokanecity.org, awaldref@spokanecity.org Sun, 30 Oct 2011 02:11:35 GMT http://www.makegovwork.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=269 MP3 copy of this weeks podcast (July 17th) - 20MEG, DOWNLOAD, THEN PLAY Schiff: US debt ceiling talks in deadlock Join the MAKEGOVWORK.ORG web site to fix the problems of Spokane and America. You can e-mail me at gorbob@gmail.com with comments, and I will get to anything I have time for. NO MORE LIVE RADIO SHOW, BUT BLOG AND PODCAST WILL GO ON - So because of FCC rules I had to give up the radio show. I can now comment a bit on national news and focus on local issues that go with my city council run. I hope you all are happy with the results. With that - on with the show!! LATEST PODCAST, JULY 17TH, 2011 - I did a 20 minute podcast that you can find at the top of the website blog. I wanted to do an update on what I have been hearing from people on tha campaign trail. And I wanted to catch up with all of you on how things are going. We have been swamped with getting out and doorbelling and meeting people. We have done more than all the other candidates, but who knows how it will go. With 6 candidates, it's a tough call. Please listen to the podcast for all the updates and ideas. LOCAL ISSUES - ROADS, JOBS, HOMES, ETC... - I did want to mention that still 2 months into this, roads, potholes, jobs and the economy are top priorities. I think that voters should be careful to listen to what each candiate is about, and what they have to offer when it comes to job creation and creating the tax base we need to fix our infrastructure. Here is the link to the Spokesman review candidate interviews. VOTEJOHNWAITE.COM CAMPAIGN UPDATE - The campaign has been going great. Erika, the volunteers and I have covered over 150 miles of Spokane sidewalks doorbelling. We are going to continue to work on the rest of the precincts, but are looking to raise money for a mailing to send to the rest of the voters. Please help by donating to the campaign at - web site = http://votejohnwaite.com/ And here is the link to my Spokesman review interview. If anyone wants to help with the campaign please check out the web site and facebook page - web site = http://votejohnwaite.com/ Join the facebook group = http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/votejohnwaite MAKEGOVWORK FACEBOOK GROUP - Facebook is a great way to communicate to others, so I wanted to make sure everyone joined up if they want to keep up, and help work to improve things. I made a Facebook group, feel free to join and spread the word - Facebook "makegovwork" group. Permanent links of note - WASHINGTON FREE PRESS, INDEPENDENT NEWS JOURNAL PROJECT CENSORED, STORIES THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA AVOIDS WASHINGTON CLEAN ELECTIONS, PUBLIC FINANCED ELECTIONS WASHINGTON COALITION FOR OPEN GOVERNMENT, TRANSPARENCY IN GOVERNMENT "THE PRICE OF FREEDOM IS ETERNAL VIGILANCE" - THOMAS JEFFERSON John Waite gorbob@gmail.com www.makegovwork.org PS - Here is the E-mail list for the City council and Mayor - mverner@spokanecity.org, jshogan@spokanecity.org, nmclaughlin@spokanecity.org, scorker@spokanecity.org, rrush@spokanecity.org, jsnyder@spokanecity.org, bapple@spokanecity.org, awaldref@spokanecity.org Mon, 18 Jul 2011 05:40:19 GMT http://www.makegovwork.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=268 The Politics of the Nation's Debt Join the MAKEGOVWORK.ORG web site to fix the problems of Spokane and America. You can e-mail me at gorbob@gmail.com with comments, and I will get to anything I have time for. NO MORE LIVE RADIO SHOW, BUT BLOG AND PODCAST WILL GO ON - So because of FCC rules I had to give up the radio show. I can now comment a bit on national news and focus on local issues that go with my city council run. I hope you all are happy with the results. With that - on with the show!! PROPERTY TAXES, UTILITY BILLS AND YOUR AVISTA BILL - WHO LOOKS OUT FOR YOU? - Do you ever wonder how your taxes are figured, how your utility bill is assessed, how your property is valued (especially in a time of deflation in property values)? I wonder about these things. I wonder because I as a small business owner am not sure how much longer I can handle increases in these costs while business just gets harder. Here are three questions - Is it right for your property value and taxes to go up when your property is worth less? Is it right for your utility bill to be one of the highest rates in Washington State? And what is this based on? Does a city have any say on the rates that the local public/private power company charges? One of my great desires to get elected on City Council is to have access to the information and see how this is all done. I also hope to find ways to save everyday working people money and help them afford their homes. Help me out... WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE DO YOU WANT AS POLITICIANS? - This is something I have spent lots of energy on for the last 10 years. I really am trying to quantify what kind of people and leadership we want (need) to get our city, state and country working better. This comes to my mind because one of my probable opponents says he is "most qualified" because of his Political Science classes and his PCO work in the party system. I could not disagree more. I'm looking for people who come from outside the political system that actually have real world experience and life experience. Does the candidate create job and taxes for the community, or do they live off the taxes? Do we need job creators or is the system going to "take care of itself"? VOTEJOHNWAITE.COM CAMPAIGN UPDATE - This week is the filing time for the my city council race. Monday morning the elections department opens and we candidates will go file for all the different races. Usually you get some early people like me that like to get it out of the way. But we will not know the final tally of all the candidates till friday. I expect to see LOTS of candidates in my race. But that could be a positive for us anyway. I will keep you posted. If anyone wants to help with the campaign please check out the web site and facebook page - web site = http://votejohnwaite.com/ Join the facebook group = http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/votejohnwaite MAKEGOVWORK FACEBOOK GROUP - Facebook is a great way to communicate to others, so I wanted to make sure everyone joined up if they want to keep up, and help work to improve things. I made a Facebook group, feel free to join and spread the word - Facebook "makegovwork" group. Permanent links of note - WASHINGTON FREE PRESS, INDEPENDENT NEWS JOURNAL PROJECT CENSORED, STORIES THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA AVOIDS WASHINGTON CLEAN ELECTIONS, PUBLIC FINANCED ELECTIONS WASHINGTON COALITION FOR OPEN GOVERNMENT, TRANSPARENCY IN GOVERNMENT "THE PRICE OF FREEDOM IS ETERNAL VIGILANCE" - THOMAS JEFFERSON John Waite gorbob@gmail.com www.makegovwork.org PS - Here is the E-mail list for the City council and Mayor - mverner@spokanecity.org, jshogan@spokanecity.org, nmclaughlin@spokanecity.org, scorker@spokanecity.org, rrush@spokanecity.org, jsnyder@spokanecity.org, bapple@spokanecity.org, awaldref@spokanecity.org Mon, 06 Jun 2011 02:05:59 GMT http://www.makegovwork.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=267 MP3 copy of this weeks podcast (May 11th) - 20MEG, DOWNLOAD, THEN PLAY The National Debt Crisis I WROTE THIS LATE, WHEN I WAS TIRED AND SICK. HOPEFULLY IT IS OK... Join the MAKEGOVWORK.ORG web site to fix the problems of Spokane and America. You can e-mail me at gorbob@gmail.com with comments, and I will get to anything I have time for. NO MORE LIVE RADIO SHOW, BUT BLOG AND PODCAST WILL GO ON - So because of FCC rules I had to give up the radio show. I can now comment a bit on national news and focus on local issues that go with my city council run. I hope you all are happy with the results. With that - on with the show!! NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL STUFF - This week seems to be the calm after the Osama/Obama news of the last week. And it seems like it is the week of posturing over the budget and cuts/spending. Also, we lost one fake Republican candidate for President, and gained one serious candidate for the republican nod. This week was the debate over the debt, and how to fix it. On one side you have the Republicans and their no new taxes, privatize Medicare, spending cuts and tax breaks for the rich. On the other side you have the Democrats and their small cuts with no real serious work on the national debt. To be fair, the republicans are playing loose with the numbers, and the current plan will not really cut the debt. And on the other hand, the democrats don't really see the national debt as a serious problem, so they don't want to fix it right now. As far as the Presidential race, Donald Trump seems to be out already. He was always trying to show the face needed to make whatever crowd he was in front of happy. You should never trust a candidate that says everything you like to you. There must be something you disagree with these people somehow. And as far as Candidate Newt Gingrich, I think he 10 years late in his presidential race, and he is really going to have to work to get the "moral/ethical" crowd to trust him. His personal life is not something to crow about. LOCAL - SMALL BUSINESS AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT - As far as local issues for the city council race, I wanted to go into detail about the city council race issues each week. This week I want to talk about how to fix the local economy. There are many difficulties in our local economy. We have been historically poor and recently, nit a great center of industry. We are for the most part the center of agrarian area, and the service center for our area. Especially in these hard times, these sectors have been hit hard. It is important to work on bringing Spokane into the 21st century and leveraging some of our assets to create a new and more diverse economy. While the local government can help with leadership in this effort, being broke limits the ways it can contribute. I do think that local government needs to work on removing obstacles to business, and work with business to create jobs. There always needs to be a effort to look for the public safety, but we need to get all parts of our community engaged and functioning. One effort should be to help develop local business and work with commercial property owners on getting businesses in all the empty store fronts and space in town. As the state and federal government go down in flames with their broken budgets, cities can fix their problems locally and prosper. More to come... If anyone wants to help with the campaign please check out the web site and facebook page - web site = http://votejohnwaite.com/ Join the facebook group = http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/votejohnwaite MAKEGOVWORK FACEBOOK GROUP - Facebook is a great way to communicate to others, so I wanted to make sure everyone joined up if they want to keep up, and help work to improve things. I made a Facebook group, feel free to join and spread the word - Facebook "makegovwork" group. Permanent links of note - WASHINGTON FREE PRESS, INDEPENDENT NEWS JOURNAL PROJECT CENSORED, STORIES THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA AVOIDS WASHINGTON CLEAN ELECTIONS, PUBLIC FINANCED ELECTIONS WASHINGTON COALITION FOR OPEN GOVERNMENT, TRANSPARENCY IN GOVERNMENT "THE PRICE OF FREEDOM IS ETERNAL VIGILANCE" - THOMAS JEFFERSON John Waite gorbob@gmail.com www.makegovwork.org PS - Here is the E-mail list for the City council and Mayor - mverner@spokanecity.org, jshogan@spokanecity.org, nmclaughlin@spokanecity.org, scorker@spokanecity.org, rrush@spokanecity.org, jsnyder@spokanecity.org, bapple@spokanecity.org, awaldref@spokanecity.org Thu, 12 May 2011 03:54:16 GMT http://www.makegovwork.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=266 CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE. Sat, 07 May 2011 03:48:05 GMT http://www.makegovwork.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=265 MP3 copy of this weeks podcast (May 1st) President Obama on Death of Osama bin Laden Join the MAKEGOVWORK.ORG web site to fix the problems of Spokane and America. You can e-mail me at gorbob@gmail.com with comments, and I will get to anything I have time for. NO MORE LIVE RADIO SHOW, BUT BLOG AND PODCAST WILL GO ON - So because of FCC rules I had to give up the radio show. But this week is the start of makegovwork blog and hopefully podcast. I can now comment a bit on national news and focus on local issues that go with my city council run. I hope you all are happy with the results. With that - on with the show!! THE END OF OSAMA BIN LADIN? - Tonight (sunday) I heard the news that Osama was finally killed by the US military. I still don't know the details, but it certainly put my stomach in a spin. I didn't expect it to affect me much. How about all of you? AND hopefully Obama can use this to pull us out of all these terrible and expensive foreign wars. MY CITY COUNCIL RACE, AND WHAT ARE THE ISSUES YOU CARE ABOUT - So just so everyone knows, I had to give my radio show up because I am running for City Council in Spokane (District 1, Position 1, Northeast Spokane to Downtown). The FCC radio rules dictate that you cannot run for office and have a radio show. BUT I think I'll be able to to the blog AND HAVE A PODCAST that will cover most of the stuff I did on the show (except for live call-in's). Hopefully this will be interesting and informative. You will always be able to reach me with comments at gorbob@gmail.com. So this weeks question - WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST ISSUES FOR THE CITY OF SPOKANE IN YOUR OPINION? Please send me an e-mail to gorbob@gmail.com and give me some ideas. MY ISSUES ARE ECONOMY, JOBS, ROADS AND A SUSTAINABLE BUDGET - I guess I wanted to start with my core issues and plan for fixing Spokane. Here is the info from my "issues" page at http://votejohnwaite.com/ Part of the effort has to be to understand the city budget. Here is the city link to the Spokane Budget page - http://www.spokanecity.org/government/budget/ Expand job opportunities for Spokane residents. Spokane’s economic recovery must start with a focus on full employment. We can achieve full employment by growing our existing industries, like healthcare and education, and creating a welcoming environment for new businesses. Sustained growth requires us to build healthy neighborhoods, schools and business districts in our city. Make smart choices for Spokane’s small businesses. I’ve built a successful small business here in Spokane. Every day, I balance economic choices with the real human circumstances facing our community. Small business accounts for over 80% of economic activity in Spokane. We must empower small businesses to create the jobs and economic growth we need — that means offering great incentives for businesses to open and supporting them as they grow. Protect our quality of life for Spokane families. Spokane is a great place to live because of our beautiful surroundings and unique identity. As a community, we must make choices to preserve our resources, develop our economy and build our civic culture with a long-term perspective. Our Roads must be improved, and we must figure out how to do things better, while doing them cheaper. I think we can use the internet and a citizens road committee to find better ways to pave and plan. We have a great need to improve roads to reduce auto damage and show visitors we care about the quality of our community. http://www.spokanestreetdepartment.org/ If anyone wants to help with the campaign please check out the web site and facebook page - web site = http://votejohnwaite.com/ Join the facebook group = http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/votejohnwaite MAKEGOVWORK FACEBOOK GROUP - Facebook is a great way to communicate to others, so I wanted to make sure everyone joined up if they want to keep up, and help work to improve things. I made a Facebook group, feel free to join and spread the word - Facebook "makegovwork" group. Permanent links of note - WASHINGTON FREE PRESS, INDEPENDENT NEWS JOURNAL PROJECT CENSORED, STORIES THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA AVOIDS WASHINGTON CLEAN ELECTIONS, PUBLIC FINANCED ELECTIONS WASHINGTON COALITION FOR OPEN GOVERNMENT, TRANSPARENCY IN GOVERNMENT "THE PRICE OF FREEDOM IS ETERNAL VIGILANCE" - THOMAS JEFFERSON John Waite gorbob@gmail.com www.makegovwork.org PS - Here is the E-mail list for the City council and Mayor - mverner@spokanecity.org, jshogan@spokanecity.org, nmclaughlin@spokanecity.org, scorker@spokanecity.org, rrush@spokanecity.org, jsnyder@spokanecity.org, bapple@spokanecity.org, awaldref@spokanecity.org Fri, 29 Apr 2011 04:17:26 GMT http://www.makegovwork.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=264 MP3 copy of this weeks (April 22nd) Join the www.makegovwork.org radio show Friday April 15th at 9am. You will be able to hear it at 89.9 or 92.3 FM, or STREAMED on the Internet at http://www.kyrs.org/listen.cfm. This show is meant to be a forum for you and the local community, so feel free to participate and tell us what you think. You can e-mail me at gorbob@gmail.com about the show or with comments, and I will get to anything I have time for. Or you can call the show at 747-3807 and speak your mind. Please call. This Friday we will cover - THE LAST MAKEGOVWORK KYRS RADIO SHOW - So Friday April 22nd is the last version of the makegovwork radio show on KYRS. Please listen and call in to say goodby. I hope to hear from some of my longtime regular listeners tomorrow. I'll also play some of the my favorite and classic makegovwork songs. I have had a great 3 years on the radio and will miss it greatly. If you really like the call-in political talk show, please call kyrs and request something like makegovwork to give our community a call-in access. I am working on a podcast as soon as I get my software figured out, so stay tuned for that in the near future. As far as the website blog - I will get back to our regular blog next week. THE REASON - WWW.VOTEJOHNWAITE.COM - The reason I have to lose my show is that I am running for City Council this year. FCC rules dictate that you cannot run for office and have a radio show. So the show must go. If anyone wants to help with the campaign please check out the web site and facebook page - web site = http://votejohnwaite.com/ Join the facebook group = http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/votejohnwaite MAKEGOVWORK FACEBOOK GROUP - Facebook is a great way to communicate to others, so I wanted to make sure everyone joined up if they want to keep up, and help work to improve things. I made a Facebook group, feel free to join and spread the word - Facebook "makegovwork" group. Permanent links of note - WASHINGTON FREE PRESS, INDEPENDENT NEWS JOURNAL PROJECT CENSORED, STORIES THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA AVOIDS WASHINGTON CLEAN ELECTIONS, PUBLIC FINANCED ELECTIONS WASHINGTON COALITION FOR OPEN GOVERNMENT, TRANSPARENCY IN GOVERNMENT "THE PRICE OF FREEDOM IS ETERNAL VIGILANCE" - THOMAS JEFFERSON John Waite gorbob@gmail.com www.makegovwork.org PS - Here is the E-mail list for the City council and Mayor - mverner@spokanecity.org, jshogan@spokanecity.org, nmclaughlin@spokanecity.org, scorker@spokanecity.org, rrush@spokanecity.org, jsnyder@spokanecity.org, bapple@spokanecity.org, awaldref@spokanecity.org Fri, 22 Apr 2011 05:34:20 GMT http://www.makegovwork.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=263 MP3 copy of this weeks (April 15th) Kucinich: Obama Admin Transferring Wealth to the Few More at The Real News Join the www.makegovwork.org radio show Friday April 15th at 9am. You will be able to hear it at 89.9 or 92.3 FM, or STREAMED on the Internet at http://www.kyrs.org/listen.cfm. This show is meant to be a forum for you and the local community, so feel free to participate and tell us what you think. You can e-mail me at gorbob@gmail.com about the show or with comments, and I will get to anything I have time for. Or you can call the show at 747-3807 and speak your mind. Please call. This Friday we will cover - IS THE "AMERICAN DREAM" DEAD? - Here is a long winded but worthwhile discussion of the "American Dream".". Is it dead, hibernating, or morphed into something very different than what our parents lived through. What exactly is the middle class and it's trappings? And how does the middle class dream compare to the current levels of the rich in America? I KNOW STATE BUDGETS ARE BAD, BUT WHY IS EDUCATION COST RISING SO MUCH? - Yes, a big part of the state budget issues are that revenue is down. BUT what about the other side of it - Why the hell are education costs rising so fast? Where does the money go? How does the compensation work? Is the system working? And how much goes to non-teaching parts of the education system? OK, SO HOW ABOUT HEALTH CARE COSTS? WHY THE BIG RAISE IN COSTS? - And again I have to ask - Why are health care costs going up so much anyway? And where does that money go? Because the levels of costs in America for terrible health quality results do not jive. SO THE DEMS FINALLY WANT TO GET RID OF THE BUSH TAX CUTS... - I find it interesting that NOW the Democrats want to cut the Bush tax cuts for the rich, 4 months too late. I guess it's better than nothing, BUT it sure would have gone over better if the Dems would have MADE the Republicans do this dirty work on their won now without Obama and the Dems helping them out before. Sadly, I think it's too late to fix that problem. MAKEGOVWORK FACEBOOK GROUP - I've had a Facebook group for a while, but have not pushed it much. Facebook is a great way to communicate to others, so I wanted to make sure everyone joined up if they want to keep up, and help work to improve things. I made a Facebook group, feel free to join and spread the word - Facebook "makegovwork" group. Permanent links of note - WASHINGTON FREE PRESS, INDEPENDENT NEWS JOURNAL PROJECT CENSORED, STORIES THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA AVOIDS WASHINGTON CLEAN ELECTIONS, PUBLIC FINANCED ELECTIONS WASHINGTON COALITION FOR OPEN GOVERNMENT, TRANSPARENCY IN GOVERNMENT "THE PRICE OF FREEDOM IS ETERNAL VIGILANCE" - THOMAS JEFFERSON John Waite gorbob@gmail.com www.makegovwork.org PS - Here is the E-mail list for the City council and Mayor - mverner@spokanecity.org, jshogan@spokanecity.org, nmclaughlin@spokanecity.org, scorker@spokanecity.org, rrush@spokanecity.org, jsnyder@spokanecity.org, bapple@spokanecity.org, awaldref@spokanecity.org Thu, 14 Apr 2011 04:39:54 GMT