That's Church

It was on Twitter from Abby of thecagedbirdsings.com that I first learned about this little house in Liberty Hill, Texas, population 1,500, where diehard Steelers fan David Terry lives with his wife, Sara Jo.

Check out how a Steelers fan deep in Cowboy Country, and who has never lived in Pittsburgh, professes his love of the black and gold.

Seventy years ago Johnstown, PA was partially destroyed by a flood. You can see video of terrified residents running from the rising rivers here.

As a result of that flood, the state of Pennsylvania enacted an “emergency” tax on all alcohol sold in the Commonwealth. Intended for rebuilding, the “temporary” tax started at 10%. And indeed it was only temporary, because in 1963, it was upped to 15%. LOL.

Then in 1968 they said, “This temporary tax has been a little too not temporary. We need to raise that shit up to 18%.”

And the people rebelled and the people told their politicians they would not vote for them if they didn’t repeal that temporary emergency tax that had become a permanent punishment on buying alcohol in PA.

No, they didn’t. The people it seems aren’t even that aware that the tax still exists. That we’re paying an extra 18% to buy alcohol on top of the 6% sales tax.

But it hasn’t been done away with. This once temporary tax now generates $200 million a year for the general revenue fund, despite efforts by a few legislators like Marshall to repeal it.

“Since 1997, I think there have been about 13 bills to repeal or reduce the tax,” he recalls.

And all have gone nowhere, says Marshall, because so few people know about this 18 percent hidden tax.

The Johnstown Flood Tax has been with Pennsylvania so long after it finished its job that nobody really thinks it’s going to end any time soon. The key to ending it is public education. If more people know about it and complain to their legislators, it may be repealed.

Is that all we need to do, you guys?

Get mad?

Let’s do that, please?

Think the State can’t afford it?

Pennsylvania collected $1.8 billion in General Fund revenue in May, which was $33.9 million, or 1.9 percent, more than anticipated, Secretary of Revenue Daniel Meuser reported today. Fiscal year-to-date General Fund collections total $24.3 billion, which is $539.4 million, or 2.3 percent, above estimate.

That’s one month. This is ridiculous that we’re still paying this and we’re not pissed about it. Let’s get pissed. Let’s email our representatives. Let’s let them know we’re not voting for them unless they vote to repeal this “temporary” tax. Let’s get vocal.

Let’s privatize the PLCB for the love of beer.

Just temporarily.

[wink]

This weekend the first Pittsburgh open casting call for The Dark Knight Rises was announced, so those of you who have “Appear in a Batman movie as a victim or perpetrator in a city besieged by crime and corruption” on your bucket lists, here’s the details!

“Magnus Rex” (“The Dark Knights Rises”)

A Warner Bros. Film requires extras to play as Victims and Perpetrators within a city besieged by crime and corruption. Take part in the urban action adventure ripping through the streets of Pittsburgh from July 28th through August 21st.

Casting Dates:

Sat. June 11th – 9am – 1pm and 2pm – 5pm

Sun. June 12th- 10am – 1pm and 2pm – 6pm

Sat. June 18th- 9am – 1pm and 2pm – 5pm

Sun. June 19th- 10am – 1pm and 2pm – 6pm

The Omni Hotel 530 William Penn Place Pittsburgh, PA 15219 in the William Penn Ballroom (ground floor/downstairs)- Use the Oliver St. Entrance, please

Men and Women ages 18 and over. ALL ethnicities!!!! No experience necessary!

Some specific types we are looking for are: Prisoners/Thugs, Guards, Police Officers, Business men & women and Sports Fans- ALL types are needed!!

For more information, visit SWD Casting.

Thoughts:

1. Would you be insulted if you went in hoping to be a victim and they cast you as a perpetrator? Are you just violent-looking then?

2. Would you be insulted if you went in hoping to be a badass perpetrator and they cast you as a sobbing, begging-for-life, pants-peeing victim?

3. In a city beseiged by crime and corruption, I will pay the Batman producers the sum of one million dollars if they manage to work a shot of a free-range diaper-wearing one-shoed toddler in there somewhere. For added Burghy-ness, tuck the corner of a Terrible Towel in the back of the diaper.

4. Other perps I’d like to see in this besieged city are the Pittsburgh-standard zombies, ninjas, taser-resistant drunks, and a meter-maid who tries to boot the Batmobile for not paying the meter after 6:00 p.m.

Directly below this post is a kickass video from 1,2,3 called Work that showcases the awesome “workiness,” if I may, of Pittsburgh.

Directly below this line is a video that popped up on People of Walmart, Melody Joy/Mechanical Animal. Filmed in and around Pittsburgh. And in Walmart.

I guess it has a very Lady Gaga feel to it and to each his or her own.

But I gotta tell you that the parts filmed in Walmart?

HOW CAN YOU NOT LAUGH AT THAT?!

I hope that’s what the artist was going for, humor, otherwise, I’m going to feel very bad about all the pointing and laughing I just did.

If it makes the artist feel any better, I often point and laugh at Lady Gaga too.

Also, the stunned faces at 1:27 made my whole week.

(h/t Jenny)

The more recent videos set in Pittsburgh tend to take the rose-colored path through the city.  The incline. The skyline. The pristine beauty of those places we like to hold up to the world and say, “Look at what we have here.” Phipps. Warhol. Fountain. Bridge.

But regardless of how more beautiful and pristine the city of Pittsburgh is becoming each year, a far cry from what we were in the 70s and 80s, there’s still that element that we shouldn’t forget — the hard-working, gritty, blue-collar, roll up your sleeves and carve out a living aspect of Pittsburgh.

It might not be the cleanest, the prettiest, the high-classiest, but it is what made Pittsburgh what it is, and that’s why I love the new video from 1,2,3, a duo of Pittsburgh guys Nic Snyder and Josh Sickels.

Watch this, Pittsburgh. Love it for who we are way deep down:

I emailed the guys’ manager to see if I could ask them five questions for my Pittsburgh Magazine series, and they haven’t gotten back to me.

If they do, I’ll be sure to ask them all about filming this video, future plans, and more.

(h/t Jenny)