Facie’s Ramblings

I was really trying to think of a catchy yet appropriately descriptive title for this post, but, alas, I did not really succeed. But here goes the post anyway. You may recall that back in July, I attended a townhall for Raja, who is running for Allegheny County Executive. I came away impressed by what he said and convinced he was the right guy, and not just because there was free food involved. Last evening, for the first time ever, I volunteered for a campaign (Raja's, in case you could not tell where this was going). I and three others from a local Republican group made phone calls for almost two and a half hours to people who were registered Republicans (at least they were at one point in time). The whole operation seemed pretty slick. Let me explain how it works. Each call is automatically dialed simply by your pressing the "next call" button. You have a "script" you can read from, modifying what you say as needed. If someone answers the phone, you...

I wish I could do this post the justice it deserves, but I have big to-do list in front of me and not a lot of time. But here goes anyway. Two nights ago, I attended a town hall meeting that Raja , who is running for Allegheny County Executive, hosted. Two days prior, I received a recorded phone from Raja briefly explaining this event. Since I voted for the man in the primary, I had nothing else going on, and free refreshments were part of the evening, how could I say no?! Raja started off the event by asking the small group what they liked, what they did not like, and what they would change about Allegheny County. The answers were generally not surprising. Parks, sports, theaters, education (universities), hospitals, and people were among the likes. Taxes, road construction, transportation (specifically the Port Authority), and many municipalities/governments were among the dislikes. Raja shared with us some of his findings (surprisingly to me, young people in the area listed effi...