I posted to my 412-public-campaign email blast list:
[412] Did you see the news and quote in Pittsburgh City Paper? Reporter called me a 'fixture.'
If you are not on my email blast list, I'd love to get your email address. And, if you know of others, especially if they live within the city, send those contacts along to me.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
E-mail users bringing home the bacn
E-mail users bringing home the bacn: To me, it's a bit tastier than spam. It's relevant e-mail you've opted to receive either by signing up for a service, joining a Web site or subscribing to content,' said Andrew Foote, head of the digital marketing division of Peppercom, a New York-based public relations firm.Go figure. The first coverage of BACN from the P-G and it is ALL NEGATIVE. I'm not saying that bacn is the new granola, but come on P-G.
The term bacn is a relatively new expression first brought to life on Aug. 20 at a blog conference at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh -- PodCamp Pittsburgh 2. Almost instantly, the term spread across the Web and claimed a place in Internet lingo.
Bacn is theft just as "word of mouth" is theft to Madison Avenue.
Bacn is buzz. Bacn is sizzle. Bacn is how influence builds.
I made some bacn today with a posting to nearly 100 people on my Linked in network. I'm asking them how to put the heat on the mainstream media for the sake of political debate.
The P-G makes me giggle, as does most of the coverage from the Pittsburgh marketplace. It is sooooo negative.
Question: How do we get political debates for city-wide elections? And, can the media help at all?
I'm frustrated that there are NO scheduled debates for Pittsburgh's city controller race. Zippo. The Pittsburgh mayor's race might have three debates. We should have 30. Can we get some pressure for media sponsorship so we have debates -- or is this just a lost cause for 2007 local races?
Citizens and the mainstream media have shown some interest in hosting debates for 2008 presidential races. What works in other regions or are candidate debates rare (if not extinct) elsewhere too?
View question as posted at Linked in. (That is my first question with that service.)
Citizens and the mainstream media have shown some interest in hosting debates for 2008 presidential races. What works in other regions or are candidate debates rare (if not extinct) elsewhere too?
View question as posted at Linked in. (That is my first question with that service.)
Ex-Policeman sells a DVD -- and gives an interview
I don't like the "WAR ON DRUGS" and all the associated problems that unfold from there.
Ravenstahl fires two directors - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Ravenstahl fires two directors - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Humm...
Personal story. We had a building inspector at our house today -- just about the same time of day as when Luke was swinging his ax or waving his light saber.
Luke has been trying to 'streamline' the process for business owners in the city. It is fine to want to cut red tape. However, the neighborhood groups are going to be out in the cold.
If you want to keep a nightclub in a residential area, and the neighborhood residents don't want it to re-open -- then what side is the mayor going to take? I expect that the mayor, in his pro business mode, is going to try to streamline the process. That also means citizens get tossed under the steamroller.
Personal story. We had a building inspector at our house today -- just about the same time of day as when Luke was swinging his ax or waving his light saber.
Luke has been trying to 'streamline' the process for business owners in the city. It is fine to want to cut red tape. However, the neighborhood groups are going to be out in the cold.
If you want to keep a nightclub in a residential area, and the neighborhood residents don't want it to re-open -- then what side is the mayor going to take? I expect that the mayor, in his pro business mode, is going to try to streamline the process. That also means citizens get tossed under the steamroller.
Ravenstahl shakes up staff, P-G A new Mayor's Office position, director of operations, will be filled by Art Victor, a veteran of Allegheny County Commissioner Bob Cranmer's staff who is now with Green Tree-based correctional medical firm Wexford Health Services.Where is the posting for the job called "director of operations?"
Alecia Sirk, a former reporter and communications professional who is also Mr. Ford's wife, will be press secretary.That move worries me. Why was Matt H overlooked? Could they not come to terms in the last 90 days? Is that why there was such a delay?
Neighborhood branch libraries are to close -- if they have their way
The City of Pittsburgh has a library system that includes many neighborhood branch libraries that are great community assets. The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh runs the operation, but the buildings had all been owned by the city. Efforts throughout the system have been sour for years, in my opinion. A few libraries got physical overhauls and are now more modern and are looking great. But some of the decisions have been poor.
The library building in Hazelwood has been abandoned. It is a great building that is now in a serious state of decline and the library leadership and stewardship fails in my book.
Recently, running mate of the stars, Glenn Walsh, spoke to Pittsburgh City Council to warn them of a looming storm. In the grant application made by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh to the RAD Board (Regional Asset District), Library Administrators made mentions of their intentions to close neighborhood branches.
City Council has a big role in the library system. Most of all, the buildings that are home to these facilities are owned by the city and city council is responsible for them.
As a city councilman, and as a city controller, I'd be sure to fully investigate and report upon the efforts by the library administrators and board. These new leaders of the library system are often put in these roles despite them NOT being professional librarians.
Vote "NO" on the retention votes for judges in Pennsylvania
Reason #10: The Judicial Swindle
On July 7, 2005, the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed a bill providing pay raises for all three branches of government. The bill was passed at 2:00 a.m. with no public input and was an example of 'gut-and-run' legislation, in which a one-page bill was stripped of all text, replaced with a 22-page amendment in a conference committee and quickly passed without debate.
The bill contained a non-severability clause, meaning that if any portion was struck down in court, the entire pay raise would be struck down as well. This was an attempt to insure against any future lawsuits against the pay raise bill. In practice, if any single judge ruled against any part of the bill, every judge, legislator and executive branch member who received a pay raise would lose it.
What judge in their right mind would want to jeopardize the pay raise of every one of his or her colleagues? All for one and one for all.
By his own admission, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Ralph Cappy was a chief proponent of the pay raise package and claimed the legislature showed "courage" in passing it. He also met privately with members of the other two branches of government to hammer out the details.
The bill did not adhere to the Constitution's 'original purpose' or 'three day' rules. Just weeks earlier, however, the Supreme Court sent a clear message to the legislature that such a bastardized process was acceptable in the Court's eyes - via a decision on a case regarding the bill that created the Commonwealth's slots industry, which was passed in much the same manner.
The public was outraged by the pay raise. Activist Gene Stilp filed suit against the bill and its clear violations of constitutional provisions for the legislative process. A four-month public outcry eventually led to a repeal of the pay raise by the General Assembly on November 16, 2006.
The pay raise repeal also included a non-severability clause, meaning that if any court struck down any small portion of the repeal, everyone would get their raises back. In for a penny, in for a pound.
Since the pay raise was repealed, Commonwealth Court dismissed Stilp's suit as moot. Two subsequent suits were filed by judges against the repeal, however. These cases revolved around the constitutional provision that judicial salaries cannot be cut unless the salaries of "all salaried officers of the Commonwealth" are also reduced.
There is no definition within the Constitution of what a "salaried officer" is. Short of a constitutional definition of the term, an act of the General Assembly is the next best thing - so the legislature created a definition within the repeal specifically to prevent court challenges based on this point.
While the Stilp case dealt with the procedural issues involved with the pay raise, the judges' cases against the repeal only sought to keep the money. In an extraordinary move, the Supreme Court used its King's Bench power to pull the two cases filed by judges directly to the high court for adjudication. In an even more unusual move, the Court brought the Stilp case back from the dead so they could rule on all the pay raise issues at once.
The case took an even more bizarre twist in January 2006 when state Treasurer Bob Casey, Jr. - who was named as a respondent in the both the Stilp case and one of the judges' cases - filed an amici curiae (friend of the court) brief siding with plaintiff Stilp. A similar brief supporting Stilp's procedural arguments was filed by activists Tim Potts, Eric Epstein and Russ Diamond.
Many Pennsylvanians quietly opined that the "fix was in" as soon as the Court decided to use its King's Bench power to combine the three cases into one. Because the salary of every single judge in the state was at stake, conflict of interest issues abounded. What state court could possibly give this case a fair hearing?
Oral arguments were heard on April 4, 2006, in Philadelphia and the Court handed down its opinion on September 14, 2006. The decision came as no real surprise, but Pennsylvanians were outraged nonetheless.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court combined three separate cases - including one that was already DOA - in order to cherry-pick pieces from each to build a decision that would allow all judges in the Commonwealth to keep the loot. It was an act of legal gymnastics the likes of which no Pennsylvanian had ever seen.
Despite the non-severability clause in the repeal, the Court restored pay raises for the judicial branch only. The legislative procedural issues of the Stilp case were not resolved.
"This was a judicial swindle," Duquesne University Law School professor Bruce Ledewitz told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "They went out of their way to uphold every other part of the constitutional challenge except the part that would have affected their own pay raises." Ledewitz later stated it was only the second time in American history a non-severability clause was ignored by a court.
Justice Ronald Castille, author of the Court's majority opinion, later wrote a letter to Duquesne University Law School that arguably threatened to bring Ledewitz up for disciplinary action due to his comments. With Ralph Cappy's recent resignation, Castille is due to become the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 2008.
Every single member of Pennsylvania's judicial branch now benefits from this judicial swindle. When they want to talk about "their record," they must first explain how they justify keeping the loot from what many non-judge and non-lawyer Pennsylvanians consider to be a disgraceful act of self-service.
Just because it has been deemed "legal" doesn't make it right. After all, how was it deemed "legal" in the first place? That's right - judges pushed for a pay raise, the top judge held secret meetings behind closed doors to get it, judges filed the challenges to the repeal and judges made the final "legal" decision.
Judges may decide the law, but We the People decide who the judges are.
What YOU Need to Do on November 6
PACleanSweep Judicial Retention Poll Results
Pennsylvania's Judicial Retention System
About PACleanSweepPACleanSweep is a non-partisan effort dedicated to reforming state government in Pennsylvania. For more information, please visit www.PACleanSweep.com.
| For more information: Russ Diamond, Chair 717.383.3025 |
Ron Paul: Libertarian Apostle - Is Pittsburgh native Ron Paul the champion that libertarians have been seeking?
Big article in Pittsburgh City Paper quotes me, Mark Rauterkus, about Ron Paul for President.
The article is long and it isn't all positive. Furthermore, there are few points that I'd want to touch up. Generally in an article of that length, it would open plenty of areas where more clarification would be justified. But in this article, I want to begin by being complimentary to the writer, Charlie D.
For starters, my quote is fine. Hey, I'm a fixture! There might be a future in that fixture statement. How about: Rauterkus, a fixture for freedom. Or, Fix our Future and vote for Rauterkus, the fixture for controller. Perhaps, Rauterkus, the fixture with a grip.
Bumper stickers and button slogans welcome. (Fixture, future, framework, fitness, flow, freedom, flush, ...)
When I talked to the reporter and gave the interview we covered this topic. Ron Paul has a much more limited view of what the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT should do than other politicians. The FEDS need to do certain things. The STATE of PA needs to do other things. County government and city (municipal) government needs to do certain things too. Each layer of government has its PURPOSE. Purpose is very important to the overall health of the system and it makes a huge call to process.
Too often those in power now try to blur the divisions among the various levels of government. Local concerns need to stay local. National concerns should be managed at the federal level. State's rights issues directed to a candidate for US President are out of bounds and need to be dealt with accordingly.
Sure, there is some overlap. Sure, I want to be open and honest. But, we need to have discipline in what we expect and demand from government and the people we elect in these political roles.
Federal money should not be paying for a tunnel under the Allegheny River for light rail expansion to the new stadiums. This is just one example of how the region and nation has its wires all crossed these days. We have certain groups of people and other piles of money doing different things -- and it is all done so as to avoid accountability. The confusion is often done by design to help the status quo. We are talking about FUD 101 (FUD = fear, uncertainty, doubt).
The FEDERAL Money comes to PAT (Port Authority Transit) for a capital project so local people can't object, yet they pushed for it, and are able to say falsehoods. City council, authority boards, overlords, county council, county executive -- yet alone voters, are all 'off the hook' and 'without accountability' for hundreds of millions of dollars that goes under the river (literally).
Ron Paul is not against finding lost children. He is against the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT doing it. Ron Paul is right. Ron Paul got some local money for the sheriff to beef up its missing children programs.
Ron Paul would say that government could and should enforcing law and offer services that are not prescribed in the U.S. Constitution if those activities happened at the state, county, and municipal levels.
I call myself a "COMMON SENSE LIBERTARIAN." Government has a role to play in our lives. Really, governments have various roles in our lives as we need to keep distinctions among the various levels of government.
Pittsburgh's political landscape is in terrible conditions because many people in high places are clueless as to how the different branches of government and the different levels of government should behave.
City issues need to be handled by the city -- not with state bailouts nor state appointed overlords. Mission creep is killing our public process and our public lives have become a heavy burden and anchor that pulls down our private and economic lives as well.
More from the article.
Nit picks: Ron Paul is a Republican. He is also libertarian and constitutional. Not "OR" -- but "and."
What a guy did when he was five is not as important as what he did last week. But, I guess this article needs to be written in Pittsburgh as he was here when he was five. But the milk man chatter and image of him in a white hat serves little use.
Furthermore, what was published on the internet in hate-filled sites serves little use as well. Furthermore, Paul's newsletters published decades ago -- and taken out of context -- is hard to battle.
Quote: Paul is delivering a radical, energizing political message to the masses. I don't think Ron Paul is 'radical.' He is more like 'milk.' Meanwhile the others who want to run for president are the pop, fizz, bubbles and JOLT. Many of the others seeking to be president are drunk on power.
Quote: running ... as an Internet insurgent.
Insurgent! Ron Paul is a ten term US Congressman. He is a veteran -- with a "stint" of six years.
Quote: ... ... the ideas he touts, some of which would barely be recognized by many of those living in his old hometown. Say what? The people of Green Tree are sure to recognize the idea of 'freedom' and 'liberty.' That makes little sense. People in Green Tree today might not recognize a person's face from the neighborhood -- as he moved away in college, some 50 years ago. But the people are sure to understand and recognize what the IRS does and how it could go away. The people are sure to embrace many of Ron Paul's ideas -- and the all will be able to recognize the issues.
Quote: Cyberspace has long provided a home to those whose beliefs fall out of the mainstream. For those looking for a candidate to call their own, the Ron Paul message came floating by and they grabbed it in droves.
Ron Paul's message didn't come floating by. The message has roots in the American Revolution and Constitution. What went "floating by" -- was that plane that crashed in Shanksville, PA. I worry when talk of liberty and freedom is not made to be mainstream -- but only found on some remote edge of culture cyberspace efforts. Gosh. Terrorist and terror isn't the things that should be turned into the 'mainstream.'
Ron Paul: Libertarian Apostle - Is Pittsburgh native Ron Paul the champion that libertarians have been seeking? Or just an Internet flash-in-the-pan - Main Feature - Main Feature - Pittsburgh City Paper - PittsburghOf course others are quoted in the article too, including our F-bomb dropping neighbor and fellow blogger, M.L.
'He's definitely the best candidate out there right now for this country,' says Mark Rauterkus of the South Side, a vice chair of the local Libertarian Party and a fixture on local ballots. 'I think he's a libertarian through and through, and I am certainly supporting him.'
The article is long and it isn't all positive. Furthermore, there are few points that I'd want to touch up. Generally in an article of that length, it would open plenty of areas where more clarification would be justified. But in this article, I want to begin by being complimentary to the writer, Charlie D.
For starters, my quote is fine. Hey, I'm a fixture! There might be a future in that fixture statement. How about: Rauterkus, a fixture for freedom. Or, Fix our Future and vote for Rauterkus, the fixture for controller. Perhaps, Rauterkus, the fixture with a grip.
Bumper stickers and button slogans welcome. (Fixture, future, framework, fitness, flow, freedom, flush, ...)
The worst statement in the article is at the top. The article say: He (Ron Paul) opposes the government enforcing any law, or offering any service, that is not explicitly prescribed in the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. One world is missing. Insert FEDERAL before GOVERNMENT.
From signs
When I talked to the reporter and gave the interview we covered this topic. Ron Paul has a much more limited view of what the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT should do than other politicians. The FEDS need to do certain things. The STATE of PA needs to do other things. County government and city (municipal) government needs to do certain things too. Each layer of government has its PURPOSE. Purpose is very important to the overall health of the system and it makes a huge call to process.
Too often those in power now try to blur the divisions among the various levels of government. Local concerns need to stay local. National concerns should be managed at the federal level. State's rights issues directed to a candidate for US President are out of bounds and need to be dealt with accordingly.
Sure, there is some overlap. Sure, I want to be open and honest. But, we need to have discipline in what we expect and demand from government and the people we elect in these political roles.
Federal money should not be paying for a tunnel under the Allegheny River for light rail expansion to the new stadiums. This is just one example of how the region and nation has its wires all crossed these days. We have certain groups of people and other piles of money doing different things -- and it is all done so as to avoid accountability. The confusion is often done by design to help the status quo. We are talking about FUD 101 (FUD = fear, uncertainty, doubt).
The FEDERAL Money comes to PAT (Port Authority Transit) for a capital project so local people can't object, yet they pushed for it, and are able to say falsehoods. City council, authority boards, overlords, county council, county executive -- yet alone voters, are all 'off the hook' and 'without accountability' for hundreds of millions of dollars that goes under the river (literally).
Ron Paul is not against finding lost children. He is against the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT doing it. Ron Paul is right. Ron Paul got some local money for the sheriff to beef up its missing children programs.
Ron Paul would say that government could and should enforcing law and offer services that are not prescribed in the U.S. Constitution if those activities happened at the state, county, and municipal levels.
I call myself a "COMMON SENSE LIBERTARIAN." Government has a role to play in our lives. Really, governments have various roles in our lives as we need to keep distinctions among the various levels of government.
Pittsburgh's political landscape is in terrible conditions because many people in high places are clueless as to how the different branches of government and the different levels of government should behave.
City issues need to be handled by the city -- not with state bailouts nor state appointed overlords. Mission creep is killing our public process and our public lives have become a heavy burden and anchor that pulls down our private and economic lives as well.
 |
| From RonPaul |
Nit picks: Ron Paul is a Republican. He is also libertarian and constitutional. Not "OR" -- but "and."
What a guy did when he was five is not as important as what he did last week. But, I guess this article needs to be written in Pittsburgh as he was here when he was five. But the milk man chatter and image of him in a white hat serves little use.
Furthermore, what was published on the internet in hate-filled sites serves little use as well. Furthermore, Paul's newsletters published decades ago -- and taken out of context -- is hard to battle.
 |
| From RonPaul |
Quote: running ... as an Internet insurgent.
Insurgent! Ron Paul is a ten term US Congressman. He is a veteran -- with a "stint" of six years.
Quote: ... ... the ideas he touts, some of which would barely be recognized by many of those living in his old hometown. Say what? The people of Green Tree are sure to recognize the idea of 'freedom' and 'liberty.' That makes little sense. People in Green Tree today might not recognize a person's face from the neighborhood -- as he moved away in college, some 50 years ago. But the people are sure to understand and recognize what the IRS does and how it could go away. The people are sure to embrace many of Ron Paul's ideas -- and the all will be able to recognize the issues.
Quote: Cyberspace has long provided a home to those whose beliefs fall out of the mainstream. For those looking for a candidate to call their own, the Ron Paul message came floating by and they grabbed it in droves.
Ron Paul's message didn't come floating by. The message has roots in the American Revolution and Constitution. What went "floating by" -- was that plane that crashed in Shanksville, PA. I worry when talk of liberty and freedom is not made to be mainstream -- but only found on some remote edge of culture cyberspace efforts. Gosh. Terrorist and terror isn't the things that should be turned into the 'mainstream.'
 |
| From RonPaul |
Rt. 28 getting another on ramp
Great photo in the P-G, on the front page of its web site, shows the Sarah Heinz House, sorta. Looking at the photo of our city, I don't see a lot a space where people can live. I don't really see much of a way for people to cross those highways. Nor do I see a need to create more roads.P-G Link of article.
I don't know what time that photo was taken, but it looks kinda nice without any cars on the road. Perhaps this was take at 2015, and I don't mean time of day. In the year 2015 our roads might be as empty as the photo shows at all times of the day.
I'd like to stress the creation of bike lanes.
I'd like to stress the use of existing railway lines and heavy rail as transport for people.
I'd like to see more people live in the city so they don't need the highways every day to get into and out of town.
No doubt, it is a bit of a pain for drivers to go from Rt. 28 to 579 and handle the various turns involved from one road to the other. But the pain involved with the loss of our city neighborhoods has been massive as well.
Furthermore, the bottle neck in the road network isn't at the end of Rt. 28, is it??? I think there are lots of other problems with Rt. 28. This is not the biggest issue in that commute.
Double Negative -- Luke and Dan -- and homeless with status quo
Effort to reduce homelessness behind schedule 'We have a concern that the resources that are coming in are not simply funding a status quo that doesn't work.The resources that have come to the county are $60-million dollars in the past five years.
Neither Luke Ravenstahl nor Dan Onorato care about the poor. The poor are very bad campaign donors. The poor are not welcome in the cultural district either.
The poor are -- in the minds of Luke and Dan -- much like the Canadian Geese of North Park. The status quo plans are worthy as long as everybody ignores both the problem and the efforts to a solution. Keep em scattered so they don't dwell in any one location.
Penn Hills High School -- Class of 1977 -- missing classmates
We're working on our 30th reunion, slated for November 2007. I graduated with more than 1,200 classmates. We have found and sent an invitation to a vast majority of the classmates. But, if you click the posting's comments you'll find a list of those we can't quite locate.
Do you know of these folks? Can you help us locate them -- for the benefit of our class reunion?
Email me, Mark@Rauterkus.com, and I'll pass along the info.
Thanks.
Do you know of these folks? Can you help us locate them -- for the benefit of our class reunion?
Email me, Mark@Rauterkus.com, and I'll pass along the info.
Thanks.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
The Angry Drunk Bureaucrat: Ravenstahl Announces Pending Announcement
 |
| From people & vips |
The Angry Drunk Bureaucrat: Ravenstahl Announces Pending AnnouncementMy reply to his wonderful posting:
Luke is known to always be the one who will tell us what, when he feels like it, where ever, how ever, and why ever.
Got it?
Come on Matt H, back me up on this, wood you.
View video of Luke saying, ... well ... watch it yourself. (It is very short). Isn't that a ringing endorsement of Elect.Rauterkus.com and this blog?
What's cooking with this new high school proposal?
I don't know why they have to say space is limited. Call the meeting. If overflow space is needed, find it.
The Pittsburgh Science & Technology Secondary Learning Community: A Community Discussion
Tuesday, September 18, 2007, 5:30 to 8:30p.m
Reizenstein School, 129 Denniston Avenue, East Liberty
Learn about plans to open this new school, potentially with 6th – 9th graders in August of 2008. This is an opportunity to gather information about the innovative design and offer your feedback. Pittsburgh Public Schools will present the information and incorporate community feedback into the plans. Parents, students, and anyone interested in public education and high school reform are encouraged to attend.
Space is limited! Light dinner provided. Childcare is available for registrants with children ages 1 and up.
The deadline to register has been extended! To RSVP click HERE or call 412-258-2660.
Gregg Behr nicks Ronald Reagan, saying it is morning in Pgh. The story we tell -- it is time to morn
Pop City, flush after an fine wine and cheese party at the North Side's New Hazlet Theater two nights ago, is talking whine and cheese like few others.
I morn for a few reasons.
America's political system depends upon debate and competition. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh's mayor has no time for debate. He fills his schedule with quickies in the community that is hardly an opening statement and uses the chief of police, director of parks, staffers and public works supervisors as pawns.
The mayor, like the boss of the political party of the Dems, have a lot of work to do. It is morning alright. They need to wake up. They need to do the right things at the right time.
We are just a month before election day and I want 30 debates, not three -- or NONE.
Morning in the city could come in January 2008 after Luke Ravenstahl departs Grant Street.
Morning could come after Pittsburgh's voters elect people from outside the Democratic party for Mayor, Controller, and with three different districts in city council.
Pittsburgh is hell with the lid off -- because we have a lot of smoke. We have people who want to be cloaked by smoke. We have people who want to breeze in and sail out of meetings without accountability and go forward, depending upon the way the wind blows.
The myth lives on because the political players of this town are not trustworthy.
It is demoralizing to have NO DEBATES. Ours is a placed marked by economic downtrun, dislocation and discouragement because our political landscape carries the same traits. The political elite want it that way. By design, they aim to fool and sustain their folly.
Pittsburgh is roboburgh as too many of the voters act like robots and only pull the party line. Pittsburgh is "green" in its buildings and bricks and hardware -- but not software nor politics nor actions against corporate welfare, a central green party plank. Pittsburgh's knowledge town works if you look at the ivory tower, the flood of studies and analysis, and the sterile operating rooms. Too bad they can't perform some type of magical organ transplants for our culture of community engagement.
Pittsburgh citizens lack the knowledge of where our city stands in terms of its finances. The people are not told. The tools for self monitoring are absent. The story is not being told because those in power want to inject self-doubt to everyday citizens -- keeping the power and upper hand for themselves.
The stories that we tell ourselves do frame who we are and where we are going. Sadly, guys like Michael Lamb and Bruce Kraus want to be controller and on council, yet they do NOT want to say anything or do anything. So, we are not going to go anywhere. They want to get the job. They want to coast. They want to have dislocation.
I don't think all of us need to be those 'great communicators.' But, the leaders need to be that way in times of crisis.
Pop City - Gregg Behr: The Stories We Tell OurselvesRemember when President Reagan declared it to be morning in America? Well, it's morning in Pittsburgh.Gregg is a well heeled foundation type.
I morn for a few reasons.
America's political system depends upon debate and competition. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh's mayor has no time for debate. He fills his schedule with quickies in the community that is hardly an opening statement and uses the chief of police, director of parks, staffers and public works supervisors as pawns.
The mayor, like the boss of the political party of the Dems, have a lot of work to do. It is morning alright. They need to wake up. They need to do the right things at the right time.
We are just a month before election day and I want 30 debates, not three -- or NONE.
Morning in the city could come in January 2008 after Luke Ravenstahl departs Grant Street.
Morning could come after Pittsburgh's voters elect people from outside the Democratic party for Mayor, Controller, and with three different districts in city council.
Pittsburgh is hell with the lid off -- because we have a lot of smoke. We have people who want to be cloaked by smoke. We have people who want to breeze in and sail out of meetings without accountability and go forward, depending upon the way the wind blows.
The myth lives on because the political players of this town are not trustworthy.
It is demoralizing to have NO DEBATES. Ours is a placed marked by economic downtrun, dislocation and discouragement because our political landscape carries the same traits. The political elite want it that way. By design, they aim to fool and sustain their folly.
 |
| From people & vips |
Pittsburgh is roboburgh as too many of the voters act like robots and only pull the party line. Pittsburgh is "green" in its buildings and bricks and hardware -- but not software nor politics nor actions against corporate welfare, a central green party plank. Pittsburgh's knowledge town works if you look at the ivory tower, the flood of studies and analysis, and the sterile operating rooms. Too bad they can't perform some type of magical organ transplants for our culture of community engagement.
Pittsburgh citizens lack the knowledge of where our city stands in terms of its finances. The people are not told. The tools for self monitoring are absent. The story is not being told because those in power want to inject self-doubt to everyday citizens -- keeping the power and upper hand for themselves.
The stories that we tell ourselves do frame who we are and where we are going. Sadly, guys like Michael Lamb and Bruce Kraus want to be controller and on council, yet they do NOT want to say anything or do anything. So, we are not going to go anywhere. They want to get the job. They want to coast. They want to have dislocation.
I don't think all of us need to be those 'great communicators.' But, the leaders need to be that way in times of crisis.
PhoneyFred.org site hits Thompson campaign and comes from realm of Mitt Romney.
Thompson aide: Romney will 'do anything, say anything, flip-flop on any position' to win - On Politics - USATODAY.com The statement from Todd Harris, communications director for Fred Thompson, accuses Mitt Romney's campaign of a 'half-baked cover-up' of what he alleges is the association between a Romney consultant and a hastily pulled website that said nasty things about Thompson.Bang, bang.
Harris concluded with the kind of rhetoric that tends to warm Democratic hearts: 'This latest episode only serves to prove what many voters are already figuring out: Mitt Romney will do anything, say anything, smear any opponent and flip flop on any position in order to win. The American people in general and the Republican Party in particular deserve better than this.'
Have you opened any new web sites?
Surrender Should not be an Option
Surrender Should not be an Option ... We have achieved the goals specified in the initial authorization.
Another shell game - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
This is what a lie looks like. This is what a liar does. Meet Dan Onorato, the guy who said no local tax money would go for the new arena.
Large sums of money is being put in reserve today to purchase land in the future to the benefit of the Penguins ownership. The team ownership would have a new areana and would have fumbled on the development of the area around the new digs.
Go figure.
Any way you size it up -- Onorato lied.
Half the money is from the city. The other half is from the county. In total, all of it, $15-million, is from city residents as we live in both the city and the county.
I don't want the public authority to buy back land that is already owned by the public.
Furthermore, I want the new arena to be owned by the Penguins. That's going to be public land too.
This is a deal that is as bent as a hockey stick.
By the way, we'll get a free skate in two sessions at the Civic Arena for RAD Days. Oh my gosh. How wonderful. See the Google Calendar along the side of this blog for September 25.
Meanwhile, the only other indoor ice rink, on the South Side, is still closed. And, there is little hope of it opening as the city rejected all the proposals that arrived in May 2007.
They are putting away $15-million for the Penguins and can't release the land where another hockey rink sits, that can be used by city and county residents. We don't need $300,000. Nope. We need the city to grant permission for a developer to make that opportunity real.
Money to buy the land under the Civic Arena, land that is owned by the public, is going to be purchased back from Penguins in 10 years. So, $15-million needs to be put aside now. \
Another shell game - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Pennsylvania's taxpayers already have spent millions on the new Penguins arena despite assurances they would be held harmless.
'Loans' of $19.7 million for site preparation from a state capital fund have morphed into grants. Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato have said no local tax money would be devoted to the project.
But speaking in such highly technical terms belies the fact that all Pennsylvania taxpayers -- of which 'local' taxpayers are a significant subset -- are helping to pay for the hockey arena.
Large sums of money is being put in reserve today to purchase land in the future to the benefit of the Penguins ownership. The team ownership would have a new areana and would have fumbled on the development of the area around the new digs.
Go figure.
Any way you size it up -- Onorato lied.
Half the money is from the city. The other half is from the county. In total, all of it, $15-million, is from city residents as we live in both the city and the county.
I don't want the public authority to buy back land that is already owned by the public.
Furthermore, I want the new arena to be owned by the Penguins. That's going to be public land too.
This is a deal that is as bent as a hockey stick.
By the way, we'll get a free skate in two sessions at the Civic Arena for RAD Days. Oh my gosh. How wonderful. See the Google Calendar along the side of this blog for September 25.
Meanwhile, the only other indoor ice rink, on the South Side, is still closed. And, there is little hope of it opening as the city rejected all the proposals that arrived in May 2007.
They are putting away $15-million for the Penguins and can't release the land where another hockey rink sits, that can be used by city and county residents. We don't need $300,000. Nope. We need the city to grant permission for a developer to make that opportunity real.
Rumble: Hampton & Deer Lakes bad boys
What's up with that?
KDKA radio news is making sure everyone knows that this was NOT a school sanctioned event. A few went to the hospital.
KDKA radio news is making sure everyone knows that this was NOT a school sanctioned event. A few went to the hospital.
City Council OKs TIF for Bakery Square
No TIFs.
There was a County Council meeting last night at 5 pm. And, the meeting was NOT on the internet, as it should have been.
City Council OKs TIF for Bakery Square City Council OKs TIF for Bakery Square Wednesday, September 12, 2007 Last night, City Council approved $10 million in tax increment financing for Bakery Square in Larimer.This was a "County Council" matter, not as reported, by City Council.
The financing plan for the Walnut Capital Inc. development at the site of the former Nabisco plant at Penn Avenue and East Liberty Boulevard was proposed by the Pittsburgh Urban Redevelopment Authority and is still awaiting action by the city and the Pittsburgh school board.
Half of the money will help with the cost of the garage. The other half will help pay for the traffic lights and construction costs of turning Penn Circle into a two-way roadway all around the circle.
There was a County Council meeting last night at 5 pm. And, the meeting was NOT on the internet, as it should have been.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Regulation, Free Trade and Mexican Trucks
Regulation, Free Trade and Mexican Trucks ... Within the next few days our borders will be opened to the Mexican trucking industry in an unprecedented way. A 'pilot' program is starting which will allow trucks from Mexico to haul goods beyond the 25 mile buffer zone to any point in the United States . Officials claim this is being done with utmost oversight, but Americans still have their legitimate concerns. Rather than securing our borders, we seem to be providing more pores for illegal aliens, drug dealers, and terrorists to permeate. ...
One bomb away from losing rights by Robyn Blumner
 |
| From ads - political |
Source: http://tampabay.com/
Published September 9, 2007
For months, Democrats in Congress had resisted White House demands that they pass a bill to approve warrantless domestic wiretapping. Democratic leaders were willing to make small technical fixes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, but not give the president a swath of new, unchecked powers to eavesdrop on Americans.
Then a funny thing happened. Just before Congress took its August recess, President Bush and Republican leaders in Congress started suggesting that an al-Qaida attack was imminent in the nation's capital.
Bush told the nation in his weekly radio address on July 28 that "America is in a heightened threat environment," and "our national security depends on" passage of his version of the wiretap bill.
At about the same time, Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott, R-Miss., shared that he had been warned that "disaster could be on our doorstep." He said people should leave Washington until Sept. 12 to be safe.
The Democrats, nervous that any domestic attack would be blamed on their failure to let the president ignore the Constitution, predictably caved. At least temporarily, they handed Bush the power to intercept Americans' international communications without court oversight, swatting away the explicit protections of the Fourth Amendment like an annoying gnat.
Then, with mission accomplished, the imminent threat disappeared. We didn't hear another thing about it.
Accusing opponents of inviting the next attack on American soil if they don't acquiesce is one of the administration's favorite tactics. That is how it passed the USA Patriot Act and later its reauthorization, as well as the disgraceful Military Commissions Act of 2006. It is also how the administration beats down those on its own team who deign to raise civil liberties concerns.
A fascinating piece in today's New York Times Magazine features extended interviews with Harvard law professor Jack Goldsmith, a conservative lawyer who for nine months headed the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. In vivid detail, Goldsmith describes how the administration used the specter of terrorism as a means to expand the power of the presidency.
This was especially true, according to Goldsmith, of Dick Cheney's top aide, David Addington, who once told Goldsmith that if the OLC ruled against an administration policy, "the blood of the hundred thousand people who die in the next attack will be on your hands."
Addington seemed to relish the coming of another big one and what powers loyal Bushies could arrogate in the aftermath. Goldsmith recalls him saying: "We're one bomb away from getting rid of that obnoxious (FISA) court."
In other words, after one more terrorist attack, the administration could get Congress to wipe away any kind of warrant requirement for domestic spying.
These fly-on-the-wall insights are contained in Goldsmith's soon-to-be-released book, The Terror Presidency. He is donating the profits to charity, Goldsmith told the New York Times, so no one will think that he is doing this for the money.
Goldsmith came on board at the OLC in October 2003 as a true believer in broad executive power and the need for exigencies in the face of dire threats, he told the New York Times. But he couldn't countenance the many constitutional excesses of the White House, particularly its open contempt for the other branches of government.
Goldsmith said he regularly clashed with White House insiders, Addington especially, who was always the "biggest presence in the room" and Cheney's proxy.
Goldsmith said he infuriated Addington by determining that the Fourth Geneva Convention applied to all Iraqi civilians, including terrorists and insurgents. The administration was used to picking and choosing to whom the Conventions applied.
And Addington was again enraged, Goldsmith said, when the OLC head withdrew two legal opinions that came to be known as the torture memos. One had been used to give the CIA legal cover to engage in abusive prisoner interrogations.
Goldsmith - flashing his right-wing stripes - expressed in the New York Times interviews lingering regard for some of his former colleagues. But with the same breath he explained how they demonstrated an almost pathological disregard for the law.
In his book, according to the New York Times, Goldsmith wrote that they did to FISA what they did to other objectionable laws: "They blew through them in secret based on flimsy legal opinions that they guarded closely so no one could question the legal basis for the operations."
Team Bush and its "one bomb away" agenda would use the next attack to finish the job of consolidating the nation's power in one man. And since Congress is demonstrably cowed into submission by the mere prospect of the next bomb, imagine how it will fold when the next one actually falls.
The resiliency of our constitutional system is only as strong as the will of the leaders we have defending it. Which is to say, not very - not very, at all.
St. Petersburg Times
IEE seeking innovative, incisive entrepreneurs for 2008 Entrepreneurial Fellows Center Class
Pittsburgh, PA – September 14, 2007 – The University of Pittsburgh Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence (IEE) at the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business is looking for a few good entrepreneurs. Now recruiting for the Entrepreneurial Fellows Center Class of 2008, the organization is calling all leaders of high-growth businesses interested in unmatched educational seminars, mentoring and networking opportunities.
“High-growth entrepreneurs need immediate and practical suggestions for dealing with organizational growth, complexity, transitions and performance so that they can meet increased demand and successfully compete on a larger scale,” said Ann Dugan, assistant dean and IEE executive director. “Our program offers a unique balance of the many different things an entrepreneur needs to succeed.”
The course consists of a comprehensive, 10-month Katz certificate program that includes monthly presentations by Pitt’s Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business faculty and respected business leaders, one-on-one mentoring with an experienced entrepreneur, and access to an interactive, private online service offering an exclusive forum for students, mentors and Katz faculty to share ideas. After graduation, alumni continue learning with Alumni Association programs and discounts on future Katz educational programs.
“Our students have put their learning to work and as a result have outperformed their industry counterparts,” Dugan said. “According to a recent survey of alumni, participating businesses have seen tremendous growth since becoming involved in the program, including a 69 percent increase in assets, a 56 percent increase in annual sales, a 31 percent increase in number of employees, and a 32 percent increase in average wages per month. These are the tangible results of the Entrepreneurial Fellows Center program.”
Alumni of the program are today’s dynamic leaders, successfully navigating the challenges of a complex entrepreneurial environment. All business leaders interested in applying for the Entrepreneurial Fellows Center Class of 2008, which will run from January through December 2008, can learn more by contacting Mike Ference at 412.648.1066 or mference@katz.pitt.edu.
######
The Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence (IEE) at the University of Pittsburgh’s Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business helps businesses grow and prosper in all stages of their lifecycle. From conceiving an idea to creating a legacy for future generations, the IEE provides education, advice, and innovative services to entrepreneurs through FirstLink, PantherlabWorks, Small Business Development Center, Entrepreneurial Fellows Center, and Family Enterprise Center.
Our mission is to be the innovative leader of economic renewal and growth serving enterprising people and businesses in the Region.
Are they going to turn this into a drive in instead?
Waterworks Cinemas to close after tonight's shows: The Waterworks Cinemas will close at the end of business tonight. The 10-screen complex on Freeport Road behind the Waterworks Mall opened in 1990.
9/11 A time to remember
Libertarian Party pays tribute to victims of 9/11 and renews commitment to our country's founding principles
Press Release from the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania
Harrisburg, PA – The Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania today pays tribute to the 30 Pennsylvanians who died in the 9/11 tragedy. The LPPa also pays tribute to more than 170 Pennsylvanians who lost their lives since then in Iraq and Afghanistan as part of the government’s war on terror.
"Our hearts go out to those who have lost family members as a direct or indirect consequence of the 9/11 attacks," stated Doug Leard, LPPa Chair of Media Relations.
The LPPa also asks Pennsylvanians to today reflect on the individual liberties on which our country and Commonwealth were based. The party pledges to continue its efforts to preserve and where necessary restore these liberties.
Unfortunately, the government has used 9/11 as a pretext to attack many of these liberties. The Patriot Act has damaged our fourth-amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure and our fifth-amendment right to due process. The Military Commissions Act has effectively eliminated hapeas corpus for foreigners and U.S. citizens traveling outside the country. The Real ID Act establishes national identity cards.
In the name of the war on terror, Washington has embroiled our troops in the Iraq war. In the name of security, the government has nationalized 43,000 transportation security jobs. Since 9/11, government bureaucrats have increased their spending by more than 40%. On this day, the LPPa renews our commitment to small, limited government dedicated to peaceful international relationships.
Michael Robertson, LPPa Chair, commented “Our nation was founded on the ideal of Liberty, which so many people have fought and died for. It makes our country a beacon of hope to all people, and if we lose our Liberty, then surely the terrorists have won."
Monday, September 10, 2007
Interesting crash course on PFAs, DV and public life
City Council got an ear full of valued info today at a post agenda concerning our shared public life, jobs, hires, anger, protection from abuse, and -- of course -- domestic violence.
More to come.
Tonight there is an event on the North Side. See my calendar.
More to come.
Tonight there is an event on the North Side. See my calendar.
Petition for the voters of Allegheny County - don't raise taxes -- put it to a vote
KDKA radio host, Marty Griffin, is talking on the air about a new petition so a question can be put before the voters. Interesting.
I called the show to ask about the nexus of the petition.
I was engaged in talks about two weeks ago about another petition effort. I also talked at the Labor Day parade with this individual. He was working on the form and and its associated electronic version / PDF.
Are these petition efforts the same? I hope there is some coordination among the two.
Marty said that many were working on the question including those at the Allegheny Institute.
Update: I did swing by the KDKA Radio Station reception desk and got a copy of the form from Marty Griffin. I've been checking matters out with the election department, county clerk, Allegheny Institute and other interested players.
Voters should have a voice. Furthermore, Dan Onorato is NOT going to be happy with the call for a vote. He wants to raise the taxes. He wants to be king and not be subject to the will of the people. Heck, Dan Onorato can't even pick the proper voting machines despite getting excellent advice on what to get from experts.
We need, and I advocate for, more questions on the ballot in the city and Allegheny County.
Once 500 signatures are gathered on the petition, the matter goes before Allegheny County Council. They can then put the matter onto the ballot -- or not.
Getting 500 signatures, with the help of KDKA radio host, would be a slam dunk. Putting the word out that this petition is buzzing in the neighborhoods with Marty's help would kick start someone on County Council.
I don't think they should dream up new taxes. The Democrats in Pennsylvania and Allegheny and the city are great at the creation of new taxes -- and fail in efforts of getting new jobs and residents.
I called the show to ask about the nexus of the petition.
I was engaged in talks about two weeks ago about another petition effort. I also talked at the Labor Day parade with this individual. He was working on the form and and its associated electronic version / PDF.
Are these petition efforts the same? I hope there is some coordination among the two.
Marty said that many were working on the question including those at the Allegheny Institute.
Update: I did swing by the KDKA Radio Station reception desk and got a copy of the form from Marty Griffin. I've been checking matters out with the election department, county clerk, Allegheny Institute and other interested players.
Voters should have a voice. Furthermore, Dan Onorato is NOT going to be happy with the call for a vote. He wants to raise the taxes. He wants to be king and not be subject to the will of the people. Heck, Dan Onorato can't even pick the proper voting machines despite getting excellent advice on what to get from experts.
We need, and I advocate for, more questions on the ballot in the city and Allegheny County.
Once 500 signatures are gathered on the petition, the matter goes before Allegheny County Council. They can then put the matter onto the ballot -- or not.
Getting 500 signatures, with the help of KDKA radio host, would be a slam dunk. Putting the word out that this petition is buzzing in the neighborhoods with Marty's help would kick start someone on County Council.
I don't think they should dream up new taxes. The Democrats in Pennsylvania and Allegheny and the city are great at the creation of new taxes -- and fail in efforts of getting new jobs and residents.
Russ Diamond and PA Clean Sweep, working election magic again
PACleanSweep to Announce Intentions on Retentions
PACleanSweep, a non-partisan organization aimed at reforming state government in Pennsylvania, will hold a news conference Thursday, September 13 in the Capitol rotunda in Harrisburg to announce its intentions regarding November's judicial retention elections.
PACleanSweep was instrumental in the ouster of Supreme Court Justice Russell Nigro in 2005, marking the first time a member of the Commonwealth's highest court was not retained by voters. The organization followed that effort by recruiting or aligning with over 110 candidates for legislative seats, accounting for over one-third of all challengers in the 2006 primary election.
35 PACleanSweep candidates won their primary races, seven of whom defeated the sitting incumbent head-to-head. Eleven PACleanSweep candidates eventually won legislative seats in the 2006 general election, accounting for 20 percent of the total 55-seat turnover in the General Assembly during that historic election year.
The group's efforts for the 2007 judicial retention elections will be based on the results of an informal survey offered to visitors to the PACleanSweep.com website and its 5500 email list subscribers.
The event will begin at 10:30 a.m. and the public is invited to attend.
Divers know dangers, take plunge anyway - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Divers know dangers, take plunge anyway - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review take plunge anywayThe rivers are scary... so the urban lore sustains itself. Nice 'feature article.'
Hardy won't seek Fayette commissioner seat - Tribune-Review
Wow. Mr. Hardy is out of the race.
Hardy won't seek Fayette commissioner seat - Tribune-Review Fayette County Commissioner and 84 Lumber founder Joseph Hardy announced during a campaign rally Sunday that he is withdrawing from the commissioners race. About 1,200 Hardy volunteers and supporters attended the rally, which doubled as a Steelers game day party, at the Fayette County Fairgrounds.Broken hearts are brutal.
During halftime, Hardy's campaign manager and spokesman, Jeff Nobers, stood at the podium with Hardy and broke the news. Nobers said the crowd was saddened by the unexpected announcement, but supportive and understanding.
Hardy, 84, a Republican, is serving his first four-year term as commissioner. Nobers said Hardy went on with the rally as a way to thank his supporters.
Domestic abuse by police gets city hearing
Domestic abuse by police gets city hearingBig time article. We'll see what the hearing brings.
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Ron Paul slated for TV at 8 pm on Monday
Ron Paul will be on the O'Reilly Factor on Fox News tomorrow. The show is on at 8 pm.
Pitt A.D. Long finalist for Arkansas job
Pitt A.D. Long finalist for Arkansas job Pitt A.D. Long finalist for Arkansas jobNow Pitt will be able to make another change to its logo and mascott, for another $100K or more.
The next guy or gal should bring back the Script Pitt -- or be asked about it.
And, what is the trend in colors? Isn't the mustard gold the new pink?
Where the presidential candidates line up on war in Iraq
Where the presidential candidates line up on war in Iraq Mr. Paul, the most passionate opponent of the war among the GOP candidates, unsuccessfully proposed legislation that would have removed all troops from Iraq by the spring of this year.If you care about peace, you'll hang a Ron Paul sign in your window. Make one yourself.
'Reforming' pensions, US Airways & the Chinese - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
'Reforming' pensions, US Airways & the Chinese - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "'Reform' is one of those words that politics has rendered meaningless."Exactly.
Reform has become 'deformed.' Once reform of this and that happens, it is a short step before all is deformed.
Rather than talk of reform here -- I often want to do other things.
First, we need to replace.
Second, redirect.
Third, reform.
The worst thing would be serious reforms implemented by the jerks and clueless politicians that are in office these days.
For example, Dan Onorato can't choose the right voting machines. He can't even manage our democracy despite being told by experts and advocates for democracy what we needed and what to choose. Onorato picked the wrong voting machines -- against strong advice otherwise. I don't want him to lead reform efforts.
The Row Office Reform effort was goofy as well.
Rather than putting forth a package deal where all the various row offices were considered with one yes or no vote -- the citizens should have been able to vote on the future of each row office as an individual decision.
Look at how hard it is for Luke Ravenstahl to see what is ethical or not. He is the worst person to help make up new rules for the ethics code. He can't do it. He can't even understand that letters to the mayor from ethics hearing board chairs are not private correspondence.
This is why we can't have LUKE reform the rules that govern the ethics hearing board. Rather, we need to replace, re-direct, then reform.
All the talk about reform needs to take a back seat to more urgent talk -- REPLACING the politicians that are in office now.
Saturday, September 08, 2007
South Side Slopes Neighborhood Association
South Side Slopes Neighborhood Association: "StepTrek 2007 Oct.14 - Register Now!"
Oasis Project - shelter and domestic violence with IT company
Oasis Project | TeachMac: "We'll Give a Million—Can You Spare $10?"This might be a nice cause for the next round of giving for bloggers.
Or, perhaps this would be a good effort to establish in Pittsburgh.
IT background insights.
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