Libertarian Candidates

We have some great candidates running for office this year, and they could use your support in the final weeks before the November 2 election!

Please visit the websites of the candidates in your area to see how you can help or how to contribute to the campaign. You can get a link to the candidate websites at our home page, www.lppa.org.

Even though our statewide candidates will not appear on the ballot, you can still make a statement for individual liberty, personal responsibility, and limited government by writing in their names on November 2! A list of those candidates and the district candidates appearing on the ballot is included below.

Thank you all for your continued support!

Michael J. "Mik" Robertson

Chairman, Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania

Libertarian Candidates 2010:

Governor/Lt. Governor:
Marakay Rogers/Kat Valleley

US Senator:
Douglas M. Jamison

Representative in Congress, 5th District:
Vernon L. Etzel

Senator in the General Assembly
14th District:
Betsy Summers

28th District:
Ed Gately

45th District (Special Election):
Len Young

Representative in the General Assembly
63rd District:
Michael J. Robertson

64th District:
Vance H. Mays

85th District:
Erik Viker

109th District:
Thomas Anderson

119th District:
Brian Bergman

120th District:
Tim Mullen

196th District:
William Kohler

203rd District:
Mike Muhammad

Good Idea Factory -- or seedling

LTE from Dan S

http://pittsburghli ve.com/x/ pittsburghtrib/ opinion/s_ 702138.html
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EXCELSIOR SPORTS: September 2010

EXCELSIOR SPORTS: September 2010

Western PA Trail Symposium | The Pennsylvania Environmental Council

Western PA Trail Symposium | The Pennsylvania Environmental Council

Saturday Bike Ride for Woodland Hills

Tour Du District charity cycling event will be held Saturday morning. The event will be held Saturday, October 2, 2010 . Although the longest route is 30 miles, the hills on the route make the ride feel more like 50-60 flat miles. As a reminder, the 30 mile route will include 3 hills that are some of the highest percentage grades outside of the city of Pittsburgh . The 30 mile route will provide cyclists with a great opportunity to prepare for the Dirty Dozen. The 25 mile route will offer cyclists a great ride without major hills. There will also be a 2.5 mile and 5 mile family ride. After the event, DJ Serbak will be playing music and their will be a raffle with prizes. Please consider participating in this event, we still need riders! For more information, please click on the link below:

http://tourdudistrict.blogspot.com 

October 2010

In ten days, on 10-10-10, our oldest son turns 16!

Now what?

West Ham enters bid to move into Olympic Stadium - More Sports - SI.com

West Ham enters bid to move into Olympic Stadium - More Sports - SI.com

Catherine V. Palmer - getting some ink in the UMass Alumni Magazine

Link pointer 1.

Catherine V. Palmer
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT

Catherin V. Palmer, BS Communication Disorders, '84 Director of the AuD program in the Department of Communication Science and Disorders, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Pittsburgh.

Tell us briefly who you are.

Catherine V. Palmer, PhD. I am an associate professor and director of the AuD program in the Department of Communication Science and Disorders, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Pittsburgh. I am also an associate professor in the Department of Otolaryngology in the School of Medicine and serve as the director of the Audiology and Hearing Aid Clinic at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. This includes clinical work and overseeing the operations of the main clinic and six satellite clinics. I graduated with a BA (Education) and BS (Communication Disorders) from the University of Massachusetts in 1984.

What is your most memorable moment at UMass?

My most memorable moments are all related to the wonderful experience of living in the Butterfield Dorm and the friends that I had there including my best friend, Pat Vaillancourt ’84 (now Pat Quill) who also was in the Communication Disorders program. My brother, Bob Palmer, was in charge of the in-house food services in the dorm for my last couple of years and that was great as well. I also participated in the synchronized swimming club and had a good time choreographing and performing routines. I also participated in the summer program at Oxford University which was a terrific experience in terms of travel and education.

Describe your professional career for us.

I spent the last semester of my time at UMass teaching 3rd grade on an Indian Reservation in Taos, NM. This was a wonderful experience and although I already knew I would be going back to graduate school for audiology, this teaching experience has impacted how I teach as a college professor. I attended Northwestern University for my Master’s degree and then spent two years at the Long Beach (California) VA practicing as an audiologist and a research assistant. I returned to Northwestern for my PhD and upon completion joined the University of Pittsburgh in 1990. My job as a professor at the University of Pittsburgh includes teaching and research and expanded greatly in 1998 when I took over as the director of Audiology for the medical center. The combination of responsibilities is wonderful with the clinical practice informing both my research program and teaching and my research impacting my teaching and clinical practice as well. I was honored to serve on the board of the American Academy of Audiology and currently serve on the Board of the DePaul School for Hearing and Speech. I am the Editor-in-Chief of Seminars in Hearing as well. I created the Musicians' Hearing Center at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in 2003 and enjoy working with musicians and providing hearing protection to all ages of musicians to ensure that they can participate safely in this activity for a life time.

How did the SPHHS help you prepare for your career?

I enjoyed every moment of my time at UMass and in the Department of Communication Disorders. The department gave me a sense of connection in what is a very large University. This allowed me to have a safe haven as I explored all that UMass had to offer. Jay Melrose was my advisor and I always had the sense that he really cared about how I did and what happened to me. The other faculty members were supportive and challenging and presented lots of opportunities for involvement (I remember interesting research with Dr. Harry Seymour and a great trip to my first American Speech Language Hearing Association meeting at the urging of the faculty). With encouragement from Rich Freyman, I presented my first research paper at a national conference in my senior year. This gave me a sense of interest in research and the comfort to interact at a research meeting. I feel very fortunate to continue to interact with the UMass Communication Disorders faculty who I knew as a student; and my good friend, Karen Helfer, who completed her PhD at Northwestern University at the same time I did, joined the faculty as well. UMass continues to have a tremendous group of individuals in the Communication Disorders Department.

What do you think the future holds in store for professionals in the field of Public Health and/or Health Sciences?

There is a tremendous need for services from audiologists across the life span. We are seeing a shift to a focus on quality of life in health care and audiologists will play an essential role in this area. Individuals are more aware than ever that they need to protect their hearing and that they need to do something about hearing loss if it has occurred because it impacts communication thereby cutting them off from people and activities that they care about. The research and technology that audiologists now have access to allow us to do more than we've ever been able to do before. It is exciting for us and the people we serve.

Is there anything else that you would like us to know about you?

When I arrived at the University of Pittsburgh, the first person I met was Elaine Mormer ’79, ’81G (previously Rosenthal). Elaine graduated from the UMass graduate program in audiology just as I was finishing my undergraduate degree there, but our paths had never crossed. She had single-handedly kept the program at Pitt going and she was ready to do big things once a faculty was in place. We (as a group) have done big things and now have an excellent, thriving audiology AuD and PhD program. We sometimes get students who have completed their undergraduate work at UMass and that is always a treat (and they are always well prepared). The highlight of my work is taking on new projects with Elaine and seeing what we can accomplish - it is a true blessing to have a colleague like Elaine and our backgrounds and work ethic are very similar partly due to UMass.


I got married to Mark Rauterkus a couple of months after arriving in Pittsburgh. We now have two delightful boys (Grant, 12 and Erik, 15). We have lived in the same house for 20 years and have the good fortune of having Mark's parents and my mother living in the Pittsburgh area. My career has afforded us the opportunity to travel around the world with our boys as I have been invited to teach and lecture and Mark's career as a swim and water polo coach has allowed them to join teams and make friends around the world.

Twitter, Facebook, and social activism : The New Yorker

From four the first day it grew.

Twitter, Facebook, and social activism : The New Yorker
By next morning, the protest had grown to twenty-seven men and four women, most from the same dormitory as the original four. The men were dressed in suits and ties. The students had brought their schoolwork, and studied as they sat at the counter. On Wednesday, students from Greensboro’s “Negro” secondary school, Dudley High, joined in, and the number of protesters swelled to eighty. By Thursday, the protesters numbered three hundred, including three white women, from the Greensboro campus of the University of North Carolina. By Saturday, the sit-in had reached six hundred. People spilled out onto the street. White teen-agers waved Confederate flags. Someone threw a firecracker. At noon, the A. & T. football team arrived.

The Eagle: Around the World to Korea

.
Written by Anna Vitti

This August, Erik Rauterkus, Tobias Raether and C.J.Abenes took a memorable trip across the globe to Korea for two weeks with a program called C.I.E.F. The U.S. students stayed on the Yonsei University campus. The trip entailed the introduction of Korean culture to a number of United States students. When asked why they wanted to go in the first place, Erik noted that he really wanted the cultural experience and went to “broaden my horizons.” The students all found out about the program in different ways. Tobias’ mother was a local coordinator of the program. C.J. found an ad on the internet and checked it out. Tobias pointed to the fun of being in Korea with a group of fellow American students really liked visiting Seoul and experiencing the city."

Linux in Schools

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2010/09/linux_in_schools.php
"This is an excellent guest post by Scott Rowed on the use of Linu in K-12 schools, including strong evidence that school districts tha do not have students using the Linux operating system are placing their students at a disadvantage, as well as a description of on outstanding success story in British Columbia.""Learning Linux in school can be compared to French Immersion. Just as students in the French program still learn English, students learning Linux will still be exposed to Windows and Mac computers sufficiently to learn what they need. Linux, as well as French, can open up career opportunities that otherwise may not be possible."

Announcing the October 13th OpenGov Community Summit @ NASA (and online)*

RSVP: http://october-opengov-workshop.eventbrite.com   

What: The Open Government Community Summit Series is an inter-agency
collaborative event hosted by a different agency each month. Several
working groups have formed out of previous workshops, and the focus for the
final two workshops of 2010 is to actually build-- not just talk about-- the
essential "learning infrastructure" (i.e. collective knowledge resources and
standard operating procedures) necessary to sustain the open government
community over the long haul.

This month's summit is generously hosted by NASA and facilitated by the Open
Forum Foundation .

Something New*:* Whether you can attend the summit or not, we need your
help. Our community lacks some critical elements of this learning
infrastructure and we're calling for the OpenGov Community Barn Raising of
2010 which is occurring online now through October 13th.

To participate in building this learning infrastructure prior to the summit,
join one of the working groups (OpenGov Inspiration
, OpenGov Community Knowledge Management
, OpenGov Community Standards)
and write a single sentence describing how you'll spend your 30 minutes
working on any of the community infrastructure projects that are listed on
those pages between now and Oct 13th. Full details for this collective
effort are on the wiki.

Note #1: Everyone is highly encouraged to bring a laptop to this event so we
can experiment with some new online and in-person collaborative techniques.

Note #2: Due to security restrictions at this location, participants must be
US citizens. Remote participation, however, will be robust and open to all.

When: Wednesday, October 13, 2010 from 9am-2pm, with an additional
opportunity for inter-agency co-working in the workshop space from 2pm-4pm
("co-working" means using a shared workspace to do your normal everyday work
in the presence of people doing similar work from other agencies). We highly
recommend you allow plenty of time to clear security in the morning.

Who: Federal managers implementing open government programs across all
federal agencies, transparency advocates, participation advocates, and
collaboration experts.

Where: NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC. The closest metro stations are
L'Enfant Plaza (Blue/Orange/Green/Yellow Lines) and Federal Center SW
(Blue/Orange Lines). Enter the building at the intersection of 4th and E
Street SW.

*Remote participants* will be able to contribute ideas and shape the
in-person workshop as it takes place. Final details will be emailed to
registered remote participants on October 11th. We are committed to making
this a highly engaging experience even for those that cannot be present in
DC that day. The first hour of presentations will be streamed live; several
of the breakout sessions that follow will be in a discussion format and have
a 2-way audio feed. We'll also be using Google Docs for collaborative
note-taking and brainstorming, so that remote participants are as connected
to the event as possible. Several of these techniques are experimental;
it's open gov, so we're all learning as we go!

House OKs concussion measure for young athletes

House OKs concussion measure for young athletes

the state House on Tuesday night passed the Safety in Youth Sports Act aimed at trying to prevent serious brain trauma and better monitor concussions in Pennsylvania athletes in middle and high schools.

Following nearly a half-hour of debate on such points as civil liability and the act's language defining "a licensed or certified health-care practitioner," state representatives approved the measure by a 169-29 vote.


Read more: http://post-gazette.com/pg/10272/1091118-454.stm#ixzz10vMAVvm5

Trouble in the Land of Wikileaks | techPresident

Trouble in the Land of Wikileaks | techPresident

Ding Dong and Grant. Yep, his name is just that.

We miss you Ding Dong. Hope all is well with you.

Diplomatic feud latest woe at Commonwealth Games - More Sports - SI.com

Diplomatic feud latest woe at Commonwealth Games - More Sports - SI.com

Direct from ericjodom:
Can you help me spread the word that http://liberty.com is live as of today? Thanks!

Gates Gives $12M to Four Cities to Boost College Completion - College Bound - Education Week

Gates Gives $12M to Four Cities to Boost College Completion - College Bound - Education Week

Fw: [ooo-announce] OpenOffice.org Community announces The Document Foundation

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-----Original Message-----
From: The Document Foundation <info@documentfoundation.org>
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2010 08:58:32
To: <announce@openoffice.org>
Reply-To: announce@openoffice.org
Subject: [ooo-announce] OpenOffice.org Community announces The Document Foundation
OpenOffice.org Community announces The Document Foundation

The community of volunteers developing and promoting OpenOffice.org sets up an independent Foundation to drive the further growth of the project

The Internet, September 28, 2010 - The community of volunteers who develop and promote OpenOffice.org, the leading free office software, announce a major change in the project's structure. After ten years' successful growth with Sun Microsystems as founding and principle sponsor, the project launches an independent foundation called "The Document Foundation", to fulfil the promise of independence written in the original charter.

The Foundation will be the cornerstone of a new ecosystem where individuals and organisations can contribute to and benefit from the availability of a truly free office suite. It will generate increased competition and choice for the benefit of customers and drive innovation in the office suite market. From now on, the OpenOffice.org community will be known as "The Document Foundation".

Oracle, who acquired OpenOffice.org assets as a result of its acquisition of Sun Microsystems, has been invited to become a member of the new Foundation, and donate the brand the community has grown during the past ten years. Pending this decision, the brand "LibreOffice" has been chosen for the software going forward.

The Document Foundation is the result of a collective effort by leading independent members of the OpenOffice.org community, including several project leads and key members of the Community Council. It will be led initially by a Steering Committee of developers and national language projects managers. The Foundation aims to lower the barrier of adoption for both users and developers, to make LibreOffice the most accessible office suite ever.

The Foundation will coordinate and oversee the development of LibreOffice, which is available in beta version at the placeholder site: http://www.libreoffice.org. Developers are invited to join the project and contribute to the code in the new friendly and open environment, to shape the future of office productivity suites alongside contributors who translate, test, document, support, and promote the software.

Speaking for the group of volunteers, Sophie Gautier - a veteran of the community and the former maintainer of the French speaking language project - has declared: "We believe that the Foundation is a key step for the evolution of the free office suite, as it liberates the development of the code and the evolution of the project from the constraints represented by the commercial interests of a single company. Free software advocates around the world have the extraordinary opportunity of joining the group of founding members today, to write a completely new chapter in the history of FLOSS".

FSF President Richard Stallman welcomed LibreOffice release and it's stated policy of only recommending free software. "I'm very pleased that the Document Foundation will not recommend nonfree add-ons, since they are the main freedom problem of the current OpenOffice.org. I hope that the LibreOffice developers and the Oracle-employed developers of OpenOffice will be able to cooperate on development of the body of the code".

"The Document Foundation supports the Open Document Format, and is keen to work at OASIS to the next evolution of the ISO standard", says Charles Schulz, member of the Community Council and lead of the Native Language Confederation. "The Document Foundation brings to the table the point of view of developers, supporters and users, and this might accelerate the adoption process of ODF at government and enterprise level".

Chris DiBona, Open Source Programs Manager at Google, Inc., has commented: "The creation of The Document Foundation is a great step forward in encouraging further development of open source office suites. Having a level playing field for all contributors is fundamental in creating a broad and active community around an open source software project. Google is proud to be a supporter of The Document Foundation and participate in the project".

"Viva la LibreOffice", said Guy Lunardi, product management Director at Novell. "We look forward to working with the Document Foundation to help develop a solid open source document software offering. Ultimately, we envision LibreOffice do for the office productivity market what Mozilla Firefox has done for browsers".

Jan Wildeboer, EMEA Open Source Affairs at Red Hat, has commented: "All over the world, users, companies and governments are moving to innovative technology solutions based on Open Standards. Red Hat is proud to join this effort".

Mark Shuttleworth, founder and major shareholder of Canonical, the makers of Ubuntu, has declared: "Office productivity software is a critical component of the free software desktop, and the Ubuntu Project will be pleased to ship LibreOffice from The Document Foundation in future releases of Ubuntu. The Document Foundation's stewardship of LibreOffice provides Ubuntu developers an effective forum for collaboration around the code that makes Ubuntu an effective solution for the desktop in office environments".

"The Open Source Initiative has observed a trend back towards open collaborative communities for open source software", said Simon Phipps, a Director of the Open Source Initiative. "We welcome The Document Foundation initiative and look forward to the innovation it is able to drive with a truly open community gathered around a free software commons, in the spirit of the best of open source software".

"We welcome the LibreOffice project to the free software community as we believe there is a great opportunity for them to enrich the free desktop experience." says Stormy Peters, Executive Director of the GNOME Foundation. "Over the years the GNOME community has been supportive of OpenOffice together with applications in the GNOME Office suite, such as Gnumeric, GnuCash and Abiword. As LibreOffice joins the free software community, we believe that free desktop users will benefit from a rich set of choices."

Patrick Luby, Chief Engineer of NeoOffice says "I am happy to see a new, independent LibreOffice foundation to continue creating an office suite with enhanced features, pushing OpenOffice.org in new, exciting directions". Ed Peterlin, Chief Visionary at NeoOffice says "I am excited we will be able to continue bringing excellent features from LibreOffice to the Mac platform. In the future I also hope to extend our web based collaboration tools to support LibreOffice users on all platforms".

Chris Halls, UK Managing Director of Credativ, an independent consulting and services company specialising in the development, implementation and support of open source solutions: "Welcomes the foundation as an opportunity to provide a new focus for the community contributors and allow them to move the project forward together. In our business, we support thousands of office desktops in many different environments. It is vital that the feedback and code that we can contribute as part of our day to day work can flow easily into the project".

"The creation of The Document Foundation is in line with the vision BrOffice.org - Projeto Brasil has for the Brazilian OpenOffice.org community. Our country already has a large investment in the Open Document Format and the software tools fully suporting it. BrOffice.org and The Document Foundation share the same values and objectives and we are more than happy to be part of it.", says Claudio Filho, Chairman of the BrOffice.org NGO of Brazil.

The Norwegian foundation "Åpne kontorprogram på norsk" ("Open Office Suites In Norwegian") is responsible for the Norwegian translation of OpenOffice.org, and for promoting OpenOffice.org in Norway. So far the Norwegian project has been administered and financed mainly by counties and municipalities, but recently the foundation has started a process for getting commercial companies more actively involved. We realise the need for a more substantial commercial participation to establish a long-term sustainable project. Our foundation notes that the other Nordic countries, a majority of the European countries, as well as a range of worldwide big companies like Google, Novell, Canonical and Red Hat are now cooperating with The Document Foundation. We believe this is the right way forward also for Norway. A cooperation with The Document Foundation will make it easier to create more innovative and user-friendly solutions integrated with the LibreOffice suite. Eliminating license barriers and obtaining easy access to source code and standards will facilitate further development of related and integrated surrounding products.

Additional information, including the mission, are available on the web site of The Document Foundation: http://www.documentfoundation.org
Biographies and pictures of the founding members of The Document Foundation are available here: http://www.documentfoundation.org/foundation/
There is a specific page for people interested in contributing to the development of the code: http://www.documentfoundation.org/contribution/

The Document Foundation has a Twitter account at http://twitter.com/docufoundation and an Identi.ca account at http://identi.ca/docufoundation

The announcements mailing list is at announce+subscribe@documentfoundation.org
The discussion mailing list is at discuss+subscribe@documentfoundation.org
The IRC channel is #documentfoundation at irc.freenode.net

The Document Foundation

The Document Foundation is an independent self-governing democratic Foundation created by leading members of the OpenOffice.org Community. It continues to build on the Foundation of ten years' dedicated work by the OpenOffice.org community, and was created in the belief that an independent Foundation is the best fit to the Community's core values of openness, transparency, and valuing people for their contribution. It is open to any individual who agrees with our core values and contributes to our activities, and welcomes corporate participation, e.g. by sponsoring individuals to work as equals alongside other contributors in the community.

Media Contacts

Florian Effenberger (Germany)
Phone: +49 8341 99660880
Mobile: +49 151 14424108
Skype: floeff
E-mail: floeff@documentfoundation.org

Olivier Hallot (Brazil)
Mobile: +55 21 88228812
E-mail: olivier.hallot@documentfoundation.org

Charles H. Schulz (France)
Mobile: +33 6 98655424
E-mail: charles.schulz@documentfoundation.org

Italo Vignoli (Italy)
Mobile: +39 348 5653829
E-mail: italo.vignoli@documentfoundation.org

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Fw: Zoe Mulford with Brad Yoder in Friendship October 24

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

-----Original Message-----
From: Friendship House Concerts <friendshiphouseconcerts@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2010 00:40:19
To: altesj<altesj@yahoo.com>
Subject: Zoe Mulford with Brad Yoder in Friendship October 24

Friendship House Concerts is proud to present

Zoe Mulford
with Brad Yoder

Sunday, October 24

4:00 pm

A set by American songwriter Zoe Mulford is like a small volume of
short stories - evocative, beautifully crafted, and endlessly varied.
Whether her starting-point is Franklin's doomed polar expedition or
the neglected contents of her own refrigerator, her vivid storytelling
and down-to-earth humor promise listeners an enjoyable journey. She
backs her clear voice with guitar or claw-hammer banjo and
intersperses her own songs with selections from the music that
inspires them: American and British folk ballads, Appalachian banjo
tunes, and the work of songwriters from George Gershwin to Richard
Thompson. Raised near Philadelphia, she now lives in Manchester,
England and plays on both sides of the Atlantic.

Her latest release, "Bonfires", celebrates the folk tradition from
North Carolina to Liverpool. The album reached #3 on the Folk-DJ chart
the month after its release and has continued to have airplay across
the US and beyond.

In addition to music, Zoe likes farmer's markets, children's books,
martial arts movies, and cooking with lots of garlic.

Check out Zoe and her music at http://www.zoemulford.com and Brad at
http://www.bradyoder.com

Seating is limited. For information and/or an invitation, call or email:
LLouise & Jim Altes
412.361.6051
friendshiphouseconcerts@gmail.com

Suggested donation: $10.00. All proceeds go to the performer.
After the concert, there will be a pot luck dinner. Please bring an
entree, an hors d'oeuvre, a salad, a side dish, or dessert to share.

Upcoming events of interest:

Sept 26 Craig Bickhardt http://www.craigbickhardt.com/ @ Cindy &
Rick's cah@lonewolf.com
Sept 29, Bill Staines http://www.acousticmusic.com/staines at Bill &
Judy Locke's lockewn@comcast.net
Oct 3, Matt Brown http://www.brownsdream.us/ at Annie & Curt's
amtrimble@earthlink.net
Oct 22, Romi Mayes http://romimayes.com at Tania and Rich's tbikerman@yahoo.com
Oct 24, Zoe Mulford http://www.zoemulford.com/ at Jim and LLouise's
friendshiphouseconcerts@gmail.com
Oct 24, Phil Cooper & Susan Urban (February Sky)
http://www.februarysky.com/ at Curt and Annie's
amtrimble@earthlink.net
Oct 27 (tentative), Mollie O'Brien and Rich Moore
http://mollieobrien.com at Cindy and Rick's cah@lonewolf.com
Nov 15, Bryan Bowers http://www.bryanbowers.com/ @ Cindy and Rick's
cah@lonewolf.com
Dec 4, Dwight Diller http://dwightdiller.com @ Cindy and Rick's cah@lonewolf.com
Dec 4, Rod Picott w/Amanda Shires http://www.rodpicott.com/ at Tania
and Rich's tbikerman@yahoo.com
Mar 23, Molasses Creek http://molassescreek.com/ at Rick and Cindy's
cah@lonewolf.com
Apr 3, Brian Peters
http://www.harbourtownrecords.com/peterspromoters.htm @ Rick and
Cindy's cah@lonewolf.com

As Athletic Directors Compete, Money Flows to All Sports - NYTimes.com

As Athletic Directors Compete, Money Flows to All Sports - NYTimes.com

Waiting for Superman, an educational movie only about charter schools

t r u t h o u t | "Waiting for 'Superman'": A simplistic view of education reform?: "In the eyes of some education observers, 'Waiting for 'Superman'' oversimplifies the problems facing US students and implies an education reform silver bullet for struggling public schools.
'Waiting for 'Superman,'' opening Friday in New York and Los Angeles, has generated buzz for months in education circles. Everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Bill Gates is celebrating the documentary, which tells the emotional stories of five students who have entered lotteries to get into successful public charter schools.
Yet in the eyes of some education observers, the movie oversimplifies the problems facing US students and implies a silver-bullet fix for struggling public schools."

$10 million for Project 10^100 winners

From:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/10-million-for-project-10100-winners.html

Two years ago today, we began Project 10^100 by asking you to share
your ideas for changing the world by helping as many people as
possible. Your spirit and participation surpassed even our most
optimistic expectations. People from more than 170 countries submitted
more than 150,000 ideas. We selected 16 big ideas and asked the public
to vote for their favorites. The five ideas that received the most
votes are the winners of Project 10^100. Over the past 12 months,
we’ve reviewed concrete proposals to tackle these ideas, and today
we’re pleased to give a total of $10 million to five inspiring
organizations working on solutions to each of these global challenges:

...

Idea: Make government more transparent
Project funded: Public.Resource.Org is a non-profit organization
focused on enabling online access to public government documents in
the United States. We are providing $2 million to Public.Resource.Org
to support the Law.Gov initiative, which aims to make all primary
legal materials in the United States available to all.


See:
http://public.resource.org/law.gov/index.html

Law.Gov is an idea, an idea that the primary legal materials of the
United States should be readily available to all, and that
governmental institutions should make these materials available in
bulk as distributed, authenticated, well-formatted data. To make this
idea a reality, a series of workshops were held throughout the
country, resulting in a consensus on 10 core principles.

...

Also for interest from the Google blog post:

Idea: Make educational content available online for free
Project funded: The Khan Academy is a non-profit educational
organization that provides high-quality, free education to anyone,
anywhere via an online library of more than 1,600 teaching videos. We
are providing $2 million to support the creation of more courses and
to enable the Khan Academy to translate their core library into the
world’s most widely spoken languages.

Steven Clift - http://stevenclift.com
Executive Director - http://E-Democracy.Org
Follow me - http://twitter.com/democracy
New Tel: +1.612.234.7072

Fw: Radical Reels!

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

---

From: Megan Bennett <megzzies@gmail.com>

Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2010 21:24:17 -0400

To: Megan Bennett<megzzies@gmail.com>

Subject: Radical Reels!

Hi POC peoples!

Do you want to see BANFF-like adventure films on Monday, October 4th?  Venture Outdoors is offering POC a group deal to see Radical Reels at 7 30 pm at the Byham Theatre.  Radical Reels is like BANFF, except the films are adrenaline-oriented.  Tickets should run about $10 apiece. 

This year, films will be about skiing/snowboarding, mountain biking, rock climbing, whitewater kayaking, noboarding (you'll have to come to Radical Reels to find out what that is) and more!

For the trailer, visit http://ventureoutdoors.org/

To get the group rate, at least 10 people need to come.  I know this is short notice, but please let me know by Wednesday, September 29, if you are interested.

Have a good night and get pumped for Radical Reels!

~Megan

Pittsburgh PTO Workshop

FAIR-WORKSHOP

Meet Fundraising Companies
Mingle with other PTA/PTO’S

HAVE FUN – START THE YEAR OFF RIGHT
BRING THE FAMILY
Monday, September 27, 2010
6:00 to 8:00 PM

PTA/PTO member or just thinking about it
Come and learn about:
Running a successful PTA/PTO
Roles and Responsibilities of Officers
Best Practices

Administration Building (Oakland)
Conference Room A
341 S. Bellefield Ave.RSVP to Wanda Spencer
412-622-3617
Wspencer1@pghboe.net

t r u t h o u t | C'mon, Time to Rebrand Your Life!

t r u t h o u t | C'mon, Time to Rebrand Your Life!: "In India, a similar rebranding is under way for next month's Commonwealth Games. In the country that has most of the world's malnourished children, the capital Delhi has been rebranded a 'world class city' at a cost of $2.5 billion. A school for 180 slum children has been bulldozed so that a vast estate of luxury apartments can be built for visiting athletes. 'They told us we were a security threat so we had to go,' said the head teacher. 'All my children were crying.' It is one of many demolitions; over 100,000 families have been evicted to make way for 'security zones' around the games and facilities that will mostly benefit India's small, but powerful, managerial and technocratic class who, besotted with all things corporate, prefer not to be reminded that 77 percent of their compatriots are dirt poor."

Why You Can't Have a Moneybomb App | techPresident

Why You Can't Have a Moneybomb App | techPresident: "An Apple spokesperson follows up on this question of why you'll find yourself rejected from the iTunes store if you attempt to build an iPhone or iPad app that takes political donations or charitable contributions.
Apple's '70/30' revenue-sharing model is, it seems, the primary condition holding you back. Under that model, developers retain the bulk of the money that comes their way through the iTunes store, but Apple still retains nearly a third of the cash."

Let's do a quck fact check: Florida football to Pittsburgh? Not this team, politician

Bamb! Where sports and politics collide.

South Africa Olympic body: Cape Town's missed bid not our fault - More Sports - SI.com

SAfrica Olympic body: Cape Town's missed bid not our fault - More Sports - SI.com: "South Africa's Olympic committee says it was not responsible for Cape Town missing a deadline to submit a bid to host the 2020 Olympics.
South Africa's Olympic body, SASCOC, said Tuesday the city's claim that it was never advised of the July 31 deadline was untrue and an attempt by officials 'to hide their own inefficiency.'
SASCOC announced Durban as the country's only candidate for the 2020 Games this month, saying Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town failed to show interest.
But Cape Town spokesman Pieter Cronje said his city was never made aware of any deadline and insists SASCOC did not outline the process.
The disagreement threatens to undermine South Africa's attempt to bring the Olympics to Africa for the first time."

Fan movement wants Igloo tribute etched on Penguins' new arena - Puck Daddy - NHL - Yahoo! Sports#comments

Fan movement wants Igloo tribute etched on Penguins' new arena - Puck Daddy - NHL - Yahoo! Sports#comments: "During a public open house at the new Consol Energy Center, Pittsburgh Penguins fan Matt Filip entered through a Verizon-sponsored gate and gazed at an image greeting fans through large window panes: Mellon Arena, a.k.a. the Igloo, which had been the team's home since 1967.
Filip savored the view, turned to his brother and said, 'Dude, they should just etch this right here.' And a movement was born."

Trouble before the Commonwealth Games in India

NEW DELHI (AP) -- A footbridge being built near the main stadium for the Commonwealth Games collapsed Tuesday, injuring 23 construction workers and putting the event in further jeopardy less than two weeks before the opening ceremony.
Read the full story at http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/more/09/21/commonwealth.games.in.doubt.ap/index.html  

Port Authority hopes to bring rapid bus transit to East End

Rapid Bus could be supported only if it is a non-exclusive route in that bikes are also permitted and encouraged to ride along all the bus ways.

Port Authority hopes to bring rapid bus transit to East End: "Panelists at the forum cited obstacles, including narrow rights of way and the need to preserve on-street parking for retail businesses, that could restrict the development of bus-only lanes."

We need to begin not with Rapid Bus. But with PAT's full support of bikes along existing bus routes. We should allow bikes along the bus lane through Oakland. We should allow bikes to travel through the Wabash Tunnel, the Light Rail Tunnel to the South Hills and along the East Busway.

Then, once bikes have been managed to co-exist with the buses, then we can talk about Rapid Bus support.

A bike can get out of the way of the bus. A toot of the horn and pull over.

We can set up special classes and a special culture for bike travel along the bus routes. No headphones perhaps. Certain speeds perhaps. We can make it work.

A sham process to destroy the Civic Arena

A sham process to destroy the Civic Arena: "The board's vote came despite a Sept. 3 letter from the National Trust for Historic Preservation 'strongly' urging the SEA 'not to take any action leading to the demolition' and warning that 'anticipatory demolition' -- one undertaken before a required federal review process has even been initiated -- 'would severely jeopardize future federal funding for any element of the proposed redevelopment plan.'"

Saving Communities Fundraiser vs the Allegheny County Drink

Sunday, September 26, 2010 7:00 PM

Where: Molly Brannigans (Mt. Lebanon)
660 Washington Rd
Pittsburgh, PA 15228
412 341-7827

Saving Communities Presents Drink against the Drink Tax!

Featuring Live Music, including:
Irish balladeer Terry Griffith, Composer of “The Drink Tax Song.”
Celebrity Bar Tenders who will donate their tips to the cause.
“Easy Lou,” Pittsburgh’s premier DJ.

“Chinese Raffle” (Choose which prizes you want to try to win.)

$5 Door Charge is donated to fighting the drink tax.
RSVP in advance and get a flyer from Molly’s worth 15% off your food charges at the event. Also, if you use that flyer, an additional 15% of the revenues from your meal purchase will be donated to our fight against the drink tax

For more info and to RSVP to this Meetup:
http://www.meetup.com/ronpaul-1834/calendar/14827855/  

South Side Meeting on Monday the 27th from 6 to 8 pm about Armstrong Park

From Aaron Sukenik Business Development Manager
Amstrong Park/Esser Plaza Public Meeting - Monday, September 27 @ 6-8 PM

South Side Community Leaders,

I would really appreciate any circulating and forwarding of this Public Meeting Announcement that you are willing to give.

Armstrong Park and Esser Plaza (between 12th & 13th Streets, and Sarah & E. Carson Streets) are great assets to our neighborhood. However….. Do you think that these open spaces are being put to the best and highest uses?

Are there certain elements of these open spaces that you particularly enjoy or dislike?

Would you prefer other uses and amenities at this site?

Please join us for the first community meeting on Monday, September 27 @ 6 PM, at the South Side Market House (1200 Bingham St., at Bedford Square) to discuss Armstrong Park and Esser Plaza as it is, and what it can be. This will be the first community meeting that will seek to guide designs and plans for future capital improvements to the site. The meeting will include discussion of:

Overall Project Purpose
General Neighborhood Demographics
Armstrong Park
Esser Plaza and E. Carson St. Alley Existing Conditions
Initial Opportunities and Challenges
Vision (Playground versus Park versus Commons)
Park Amenity
Brain Storming Session.

What could be in the Park.

What should not be in the Park

This is your public space – Your input will help craft the roadmap that will seek to guide future investments in Armstrong Park and Esser Plaza.

Hi,

We live at 12th Street and use this park on most days. The Park is way better without the dogs there. The dogs had gotten out of hand in the past years, but in recent months, this has changed for the better.

Pigeons. We want pigeon feeding more than dogs. Like kids, they fly away in time. (I'm joking.)

The new dog park, at a hefty price, is being built at river Park. That will be a great use of space there. That will be a fantastic opportunity for the dog owners. That uses some space that was nearly a Hoover-ville just last year.

Perhaps we'll see you at the meeting.

LIBERTARIAN Len Young enter PA 45TH SENATORIAL RACE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact: Len Young
652 Cooper Rd
Monroeville, PA 15146
412-372-5215
Young4pasenate@verizon.net
http://www.young4pasenate.com/


Special Election gets 3rd party candidate

9/20/10 Monroeville, PA-

Len Young is ready to challenge the status quo. “It is time for government to again
be accountable to the people,” said Len Young, Libertarian backed candidate for the 45th District Senatorial special election. “The voters deserve a representative who is not tied to special interest or partisan politics”.

Young, a long time Monroeville resident, will expose waste and redundancy in Harrisburg, battling to balance the budget with a common sense approach. This will be only the first step to tackle the growing tax burden on hard working citizens and small business.

Young is the owner/operator of Len’s Landscaping, and has had 12 successful years as a small business owner. “To be a success in business, you must balance costs, the customers wants and his budget”, says Young, “This simple principal has been forgotten by the politicians in Harrisburg”.

Young will drive to reduce government interference with the free market. By simplifying and correcting onerous regulations consumers will benefit from lower prices and jobs created by expanding businesses.

Young also serves on the Monroeville Board of Parks and Recreation. He will take this experience with him to work on balancing the needs of business and protecting the environment.

Young is no stranger to fighting for personal liberties and rights. As a member of ABATE and the Motorcycle Riders Foundation, he has spent many days in Harrisburg and Washington. His meeting with representatives led to freedom of choice for all riders. Young has served as President of his ABATE chapter and now is treasurer.


It’s time for common sense and accountability in the 45th District. It’s Time for Len Young.

Fw: [DW] Fwd: [COG] $1 Million earmark for CrimeReports.com = less real public data access

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

-----Original Message-----
From: Steven Clift <clift@e-democracy.org>
Date: Sat, 18 Sep 2010 15:54:30
To: newswire<newswire@groups.dowire.org>
Reply-To: clift@publicus.net
Cc: <open-government@lists.okfn.org>; citycamp<citycamp@forums.e-democracy.org>; <munigov@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [DW] Fwd: [COG] $1 Million earmark for CrimeReports.com = less real public data access

This is BAD news for opening up broad access to crime data - the
number one everyday citizen demanded government information based my
direct experience with online community forums. Note some useful
links: http://pages.e-democracy.org/Minneapolis_and_St._Paul_crime_data

"CrimeReports is contending in a current federal case that public crime
data becomes CrimeReports' own proprietary product in the form
provided on CrimeReports.com."

The bill should be amended to fund an effort modeled on the
standardization of transit scheduling/routing data -
http://www.gtfs-data-exchange.com - so that all police departments can
put out real-time feeds of various crime data (heck, Seattle even does
911 calls now - http://schrier.wordpress.com/2010/08/05/citywatch/ )
for broad reuse.

Like weather data provided by the federal government, it gets to the
people through many, often competing providers.

Read on below.

Steven Clift - http://stevenclift.com
  Executive Director - http://E-Democracy.Org
  Follow me - http://twitter.com/democracy
  New Tel: +1.612.234.7072


From: Dan Knauss <dan@newlocalmedia.com>
Date: Fri, Sep 17, 2010 at 3:35 PM
Subject: [COG] $1 Million earmark for CrimeReports.com = less real
public data access
To: Citizens For OpenGov <citizens-for-opengov@googlegroups.com>


In the FY 2011 Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies
Appropriations Requests, there is a $1 Million request for the Major
Cities Chiefs of Police Association which would be used to purchase
services from CrimeReports.com.
http://bennett.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=CommerceRequests

CrimeReports.com is a private company that makes contracts with
municipal police forces to provide their crime data to the public on
the CrimeReports.com website--but according to the PDs' specifiations.
In the process, the public information that the source crime data is
may seem to become more accessible, but this is not the case.

CrimeReports is contending in a current federal case that public crime
data becomes CrimeReports' own proprietary product in the form
provided on CrimeReports.com. (See links below and The Citizen Media
Law Project's article, "Public Engines to World: Look, But Don't Touch
the Crime Data"
http://www.citmedialaw.org/blog/2010/public-engines-world-look-dont-touch-crime-data)

In this view it would be technically illegal for someone to duplicate
or republish material from CrimeReports.com by other means, which many
PDs may use as their sole or primary means of providing public access
to crime data. (It is not access to data, it is access to a limited
representation of some data.) This is not only bad for public and
media oversight, it is bad for technologists who wish to tap public
data for research and applications.

From the appropriations document:

Project: The National Crime Map Expansion
Amount: $1,000,000
Purpose: The National Crime Map currently includes more than 800 law
enforcement agencies across the country; its aim to make incident
level crime data available to the general public at the neighborhood
level within 24 hours of occurrence.
Location: Draper, Utah
Recipient of Funds: Major Cities Chiefs of Police Association
Explanation/Justification: Very few members of the public have ready
access to street level crime information on a timely basis. This
funding will allow any law enforcement agency in the United States to
connect to the existing National Crime Map, CrimeReports.com.
Currently, more than 800 agencies have already joined at an average
total cost of $110 per month. Through this funding, CrimeReports.com
will be able to expand the map and drop the cost of integrating and
deploying the system to roughly $20/month per agency, regardless of
size, population served, or members of the community served. In
contrast, cities that build their own portals spend $50,000 - $100,000
per agency to implement local crime maps.


Further reading:
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100614/0208019805.shtml
http://www.citmedialaw.org/threats/public-engines-inc-v-reportsee-inc

-----------------------------------------
Group home for Newswire - Steven Clift's Democracies Online Newswire:
http://groups.dowire.org/groups/newswire

Replies go to members of Newswire - Steven Clift's Democracies Online Newswire with all posts on this topic here:
http://groups.dowire.org/r/topic/78LSbyxxnHIBFG4HUJtLrF

For digest version or to leave Newswire - Steven Clift's Democracies Online Newswire,
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with "digest on" or "unsubscribe" in the *subject*.

Newswire - Steven Clift's Democracies Online Newswire is hosted by Democracies Online - http://dowire.org.

Event with a CD for Just Harvest anf music

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

---

From: Pittsburgh Live Music <dont-reply@grou.ps>

Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2010 11:34:39 -0500

To: <Mark@Rauterkus.com>

Subject: New Event

RadioFreeTunes has added a new event, details are below:

Come out for an evening of Americana Folk Music on Saturday Oct 2 and get free copy of the Americana Dreams CD
 
"Americana Dreams" CD Release Party
 with
Mike Stout and the NewLanders
October 2, 2010 at 7:30 PM
Youth Preservationists
110 East 8th Avenue
Homestead, Pa. 15210

Tickets are $20 and include a Free copy of the CD.
Call Mike at 412-461-5650 or email him at mikestout619@comcast.net for Tickets

Proceeds will benefit Just Harvest   www.justharvest.org

Enjoy an evening of delicious Americana Folk music with sound of the fiddle, dulcimer, mandolin, guitar and warm harmonies in the tradition of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger

Enjoy an evening of delicious Americana Folk music with sound of the fiddle, dulcimer, mandolin, guitar and warm harmonies in the tradition of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger

Just Harvest is a membership organization that mobilizes the citizens of our community to work for the elimination of hunger and poverty. In partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare Just Harvest helps its low-income clients obtain food stamps. Each applicant is assisted in overcoming common hurdles in the application process.  Just Harvest is boosting the paychecks of low-income workers by providing free tax preparation assistance. In 2010, Just Harvest's tax assistance volunteers helped over 2,200 people file their taxes, getting them almost $4.5 million in refunds. Working with local officials, farmers, and neighborhood groups Just Harvest has expanded the reach of farmers' markets into low-income neighborhoods and worked to allow produce to be purchased through government benefits such as WIC. Just Harvest advocates for better more compassionate administration of welfare programs and legislative action to aid the poor.

Mike Stout  http://www.mikestoutmusic.com
Mike Stout is a socially conscious singer song-writer and community leader. He leads crusades against local and global economic injustice, rallying people with his music to take action. His sound and lyrics are influenced by his musical heroes Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Jackson Browne and Bruce Cockburn.  John Hayes of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette wrote of Mike "In the Woody Guthrie tradition, his songs reflect contemporary issues without resorting to journalism. They're more like partisan op-ed columns that grab political opponents by the throat and don't let go." Mike tells his stories from the heart about people who are affected by unemployment, social injustice, environmental hazard, or war.
 
The NewLanders   http://www.newlanders.com
The NewLanders have researched and rediscovered songs that capture the American experience.  By interweaving traditional instruments, including the Appalachian lap dulcimer, fiddle, and mandolin, with richly layered harmonies and electric guitar and bass, the NewLanders have created a contemporary sound, while honoring and preserving the inspiring stories of the past.  A NewLanders' performance includes engaging narrations and real-life accounts from the mills, mines, rivers, and fields of their home region, western Pennsylvania, as well as haunting songs and poignant stories that celebrate the enduring spirit that built our nation. "Your songs provide powerful images of our nation's heritage and raise the spirit of Pennsylvania's rich past." Mr. John M. Perzel, The Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

Starts: 10/02/2010/19:30
Finishes: 10/02/2010/23:00

» To RSVP or discuss, go to http://grou.ps/pghlivemusic/calendar/event/303571

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Podcamp Pittsburgh today

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Penn State gets $88 million gift, will build ice arena

The Civic Arena is going to go to Happy Valley! Get a few of the cargo blimps and air-freight the dome there.

Penn State gets $88 million gift, will build ice arena: "Penn State today received the largest private gift in its history -- $88 million.
Penn State alumnus Terry Pegula and his wife Kim donated the funds to build a new multi-purpose hockey arena near the Bryce Jordan Center and to help establish Division I men's and women's hockey programs."

Olympic legacy company getting interest in stadium - SI.com - More Sports

Olympic
legacy company getting interest in stadium - SI.com - More Sports:
"'We're very hopeful that we're going to have a good use for the stadium,' said
Altman, a leading American urban planner and former deputy mayor of
Philadelphia."

Motocross champion is an inspiration to deaf people

Motocross champion is an inspiration to deaf people: "Motocross champion is an inspiration to deaf people"

Cheers!

A friend takes her last breath. Others cry out in vain

Morners lower their heads.

The Civic Arena is headed for demolition.
The city-Allegheny County Sports & Exhibition Authority voted unanimously this morning to proceed with steps necessary to raze the 49-year-old landmark to make way for a Penguins-led redevelopment.

The decision came despite last-ditch pleas by preservationists, led by the group Reuse the Igloo, to save the old building.

The vote occurred without any discussion from board members, prompting shouts of "Gestapo" from one member of the audience.

Mary Conturo, SEA executive director, said the agency now will start removing asbestos from the building and prepare bids for demolition, which could be ready by February.

Read more: http://post-gazette.com/pg/10259/1088024-100.stm#ixzz0zhlul9WW

Wayne Fontana gets a new nick-name, Gestapo.

Perhaps he thought that it was time for lunch and instead of saying, "It's soup" -- they meant to say, "Gazpacho soup." That's why they were in such a rush to vote and get out of the meeting.

Of a side interest, putting a quote in the paper without attribution is hardly what I'd call good journalism. By the way, I wasn't there.

One Day on Earth -- 10-10-10 = Erik's Birthday

One Day On Earth
If you haven't heard of the One Day on Earth project, it's time you did. On October 10th (10.10.10), people in every nation of the world will be documenting a topic that matters most to them over a 1 day period to contribute to a unique film and archive. Participants that contribute 1 minute or more will receive the film for free and access to the non-commercial downloadable archive. If you're game for a cool, easy and history-making project to participate in, this is the one for you.
Join the United Nations, over 40 non-profits and many award winning cinematographers. Subscribe to the Vimeo channel and sign up to participate.

GOP may win big despite itself

By Bob Barr

Two months before the November 1994 off-year elections, I and several dozen other Republican candidates were scrambling to raise funds necessary to have a chance of unseating our Democratic incumbent opponents. Although we hoped to prevail, few if any of us really grasped what was about to happen. The gathering tsunami that would sweep the GOP to a majority in the House of Representatives for the first time in four decades on November 8th of that year, was a secret known only by then-Minority Leader Newt Gingrich and a tight-knit fraternity of associates and consultants.

President Clinton’s unpopularity in the fall of 1994 was palpable; but few prognosticators or media pundits understood the depth of the disdain with which large segments of the voting population viewed the chief executive. The economy was in far better shape than now, and although Clinton’s embrace of gun control that year, and of a large tax increase the year before, clearly had sapped his popularity, neither he nor most analysts expected he would wake up on November 9th facing a hostile House and Senate.

It was, more than anything, a tribute to the hard work and vision of Newt Gingrich that caused a seismic shift in American politics 16 years ago. It was not simply that he worked his fingers to the bone in the months leading to the election; but his untiring efforts over the decade before, that provided the horsepower that undercut 40 years of Democratic control.

In 1994, the Republican Party nationally had vision, an articulated agenda, and well-known leadership. The Democratic Party had control of a Congress that was a mile wide and an inch deep; led by a president blinded by his own hubris. It turned out to be a toxic recipe for the incumbent party.

Here we are, eight election cycles later, and the respected Cook Political Report is predicting another major political shift similar to that of ‘94. In his latest crystal ball gaze, Charlie Cook foresees a 40-seat shift in the House (enough for a GOP majority) and a possible nine-seat dislocation in the Senate (which would change the majority there, too). Yet, few politically-knowledgeable Americans could articulate anything resembling a Republican agenda, vision or leadership; they couldn’t, because there simply is no national GOP vision, agenda or leadership.

This time, it is the party in power that is doing it all on its own; the master of its own looming demise. Fair or not, the Democratic Party nationally is being tarred with the broad brush that is the continuing bad economy. The sour mood infecting the electorate is made bitterer still by the health care legislation championed by a hubris-infected president pushing against a citizenry clearly not on the same page.

And while the Tea Party movement has failed thus far to realize the potential attributed to it a year ago, it clearly reflects very broad-based voter dissatisfaction. Already, several Republican candidates who would not likely on their own be poised to win against Democratic incumbents, have successfully tapped into that sense of general unease to boost their poll numbers. Just ask Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

Unlike 1994, when the Democrats were caught napping, this time they see it coming already. Speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly is strong-arming her colleagues in safe districts to dig deep into their war chests to help more vulnerable members. Attack ads are appearing early and often. In another obvious effort to stanch the growing hemorrhage, the weakest and most vulnerable Democratic incumbents already are being cut loose.

Whether all this will enable Pelosi and Reid to cling to small majorities in their respective bodies remains an open question; there are, after all, eight weeks remaining before Election Day. But right now, despite themselves, the Republicans may reap what the Democrats have sown; and with very little effort.

South Side Pops to meet tonight

I don't have the lawn mower, nor the attraction to splash parks, nor the office cubical, nor.....

Thanks Mike for sending this pointer:

Yes, it's been one year since our first gathering in September of 2009 at The Intermission Lounge. Hope to see all of you there to kick off our second year, tonight, Wed, Sept 15. Welcome to all the new dads -- hope that you'll join us.

Civic Arena's future could be known by Thursday

Civic Arena's future could be known by Thursday: "Civic Arena's future"

Bike Polo.

RenewPittsburgh - Support Youth Football in Homewood!

RenewPittsburgh is sponsoring an on-line fundraiser during September to support the Homewood Community Sports Youth Football program!  You may have heard that there was a tragic triple shooting outside of the team's home opener last month. 

Please consider sponsoring a player for $25 each, and 100% of the proceeds of the fundraiser will help take care of the equipment needs, purchase gift cards for players, and support additional security at future games. Please consider helping us reach our goal of raising $2,500 for the team, and we would greatly appreciate your support.

You can donate to support the team by clicking on the donation button below.

We also have featured a donation thermometer on the RenewPittsburgh homepage, to track the progress toward our goal.  

We think it is critical that we show these kids and coaches that there is City-wide support for what they are trying to accomplish. Many of us have witnessed firsthand the great work that these players and coaches are doing in the Homewood community. For many of these kids, the football team provides a unique outlet for learning the virtues of teamwork and discipline.

Thanks very much for your invaluable support and for believing in Pittsburgh.  Please see below for additional upcoming volunteer opportunities in September and October in a local neighborhood. 
 
Best regards,

Kevin Acklin
Executive Director

Duquesne president outlines university's commitments

Duquesne president outlines university's commitments: "He talked about striving for programmatic excellence. He made reference to his decision to discontinue men's swimming, golf, wrestling and baseball programs.
'Sometimes when excellence is genuinely impossible, ending a program is the honest answer,' he said. 'We faced this directly last year in athletics.'"

I would love to hear a tape of this interview, in full. Anyone got that? Can it be made into a P-G blog posting (full transcript) or else even a P-G podcast?

Amen to this: Complaints spur change in Brookline bus route

Wow. Real listening and adjustments. Imagine that. Amen!

Complaints spur change in Brookline bus route: "Complaints spur change in Brookline bus route"

Now on to those other bottlenecks.

Penguins open training camp to public

This article was from years ago. The Pens wanted a practice ice and it was NOT yet built. But, we already have the Civic Arena. And, we used to have the indoor rink on the South Side that crashed due to lack of proper management.

Penguins open training camp to public: "The Penguins are opening their first two days of training camp practices, Sept. 18 and 19, to the public as the team skates together at Consol Energy Center for the first time.
There will be open seating and no charge for admission. Vendors and features will be available at the new arena.
The three main gates will open at 8:45 each morning, with practice beginning at 9 and running until 1:30 p.m. There will be a scrimmage each day at 10 a.m."

Statement by Apple on App Store Review Guidelines

Statement by Apple on App Store Review Guidelines: "In particular, we are relaxing all restrictions on the development tools used to create iOS apps, as long as the resulting apps do not download any code. This should give developers the flexibility they want, while preserving the security we need."

Huge move.

Rolling, keep on rolling.

Principal rides bike for 18 hours to honor students: "His motivations were simple: to show his appreciation 'for all of the hard work that Woodland Hills students have done in the past year' and to 'raise awareness' for the Tour du District fundraiser, a bike ride scheduled for Oct. 2 and sponsored by the Woodland Hills Foundation."

Fw: [DW] Civic Commons - Sharing Technology for the Public Good

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

-----Original Message-----
From: Steven Clift <clift@e-democracy.org>
Date: Thu, 9 Sep 2010 08:04:25
To: newswire<newswire@groups.dowire.org>; <munigov@googlegroups.com>; <locallabs@forums.e-democracy.org>; sunlightlabs<sunlightlabs@googlegroups.com>
Reply-To: clift@publicus.net
Subject: [DW] Civic Commons - Sharing Technology for the Public Good

This is a really big deal - for years I've talked about how it is
impossible for one local government to justify subsidizing the
technology needs of other governments. Bundling up, sharing, and
supporting code just can't be paid solely by one jurisdiction's
taxpayers. The Civic Commons has the potential to grease the wheel and
allow some real sharing. Key is to find resources and partners to
bolster the support for sharing and to recognize that "civic code"
used by a government in one place, might be used by a non-profit in
another, etc. I think "e-democracy/e-participation" tools for example
could benefit strongly from these efforts.

One thing we are contributing to this "space," working with OpenPlans
on (a lead Civic Commons partner) is a simple online group for locally
minded technologists - those in government, citizen geeks, etc. - if
you code, design, etc. join up: http://e-democracy.org/locallabs

Steven Clift
E-Democracy.org

P.S. In Europe they have - http://www.osor.eu - "The Open Source
Observatory and Repository for European public administrations (OSOR)
is a platform for exchanging information, experiences and FLOSS-based
code for use in public administrations." Hey, time to meet.


See:
http://civiccommons.com/about/

About

In the face of budget crises, government entities at every level must
cut costs and find efficiencies. An enormous opportunity lies in their
IT infrastructure — the technology they require to provide their
citizens essential services. For the most part, each city, county,
state, agency and office builds or buys their technology solutions
independently, creating huge redundancies in civic software and
wasting millions of tax-payer dollars. They should be able to work
together. An independent non-profit organization, Civic Commons will
help these institutions share code and best practices, reform
procurement practices, and learn to function not only as a provider of
services but as a platform to which an ecosystem of industry can add
value for government and its citizens.

Civic Commons is a collaboration between many organizations, including:

Code for America, OpenPlans

[E-Democracy.org is signing on as a supporter as well - Steve]

What We Do
Civic Commons is just starting as an organization, however, we are
committed to the following:

* Facilitating the sharing of code among government entities, with
an eye towards developing an "Open Civic Stack"
* Connecting governments throughout all phases of technology
procurement, and building systems for more transparent & informed
technology choices
* Developing and supporting Open Data and Open Standards as
foundations of an "Open Civic API"
* Spreading government technology best practices
* Building a community of "civic hackers" and give them clear
opportunities to assist in the development of government technology

Values & Principles

The following principles guide the development of Civic Commons' activities:

* Be Agile. While being inclusive and open, retain the ability to
move quickly and prove ideas through actions
* Be a Connector
* Never get in the way. For efforts that are already successfully
under way, Civic Commons' role is to be an information exchange, to
provide discoverability, and to provide advice where needed; not to
set up barriers or process requirements


More:
http://codeforamerica.org/2010/09/08/announcing-civic-commons/

Sep 8th, 2010
Announcing Civic Commons
by Jennifer Pahlka
Jennifer Pahlka

Today we are here at the Gov 2.0 Summit in Washington DC for the
exciting announcement of the Code for America project for DC. The
project is called Civic Commons, and it's a way to help governments
share software they have developed, and thereby reduce IT costs,
foster collaboration, and spur innovation.

...

Finally Bryan got a gleam in his eye and said, "You know, DC doesn't
need another cool software project. What we need is a way to share
what we have with other cities, and for them to be able to share what
they build with us." When Tim suggested that the Code for America
Fellows assigned to DC could focus on solving this bigger problem,
Bryan jumped at the chance.

....



Steven Clift - http://stevenclift.com
  Executive Director - http://E-Democracy.Org
  Follow me - http://twitter.com/democracy
  New Tel: +1.612.234.7072

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Replies go to members of Newswire - Steven Clift's Democracies Online Newswire with all posts on this topic here:
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Fw: Reminder: Danielle Miraglia in Friendship September 19

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

-----Original Message-----
From: Friendship House Concerts <friendshiphouseconcerts@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 8 Sep 2010 22:20:26
To: altesj<altesj@yahoo.com>
Subject: Reminder: Danielle Miraglia in Friendship September 19

Check out this Virtual Flyer Danielle made for our concert

http://www.trespassmusic.org/miragliapittsburgh

Friendship House Concerts is proud to present

Danielle Miraglia

Sunday, September 19

4:00 PM

A strong steady thumb on an old Gibson guitar is the driving force
behind Danielle Miraglia's delta blues influenced guitar style. Add a
raw, powerful, whiskey tinged voice and one might be tempted to label
her a blues artist. But while Miraglia's style pays homage to these
blues traditions, her classic rock verve, catchy melodies and eclectic
array of song subjects that range from deeply personal to socially
relevant give it an original twist that is all her own. A fresh sound
along with a sharp wit and a captivating stage presence is gaining her
fans all over the map. "A heart-on-sleeve storyteller with an innate
sense for melody, her voice bends and sinks and floats in all the
right places, with a raspy, whiskey bottle scrape most reminiscent of
Lucinda Williams." - Dissolver Magazine

Her songs range from heartfelt as in "Moment by Moment" a gospel-like
promise to live in the present, to thought-provoking as in "You Don't
Know Nothin'" which Jon Sobel of Blogcritics.com describes as "One of
the best new folk songs I've heard in years. Its depiction and
dissection of human misunderstanding is both sharp and tender. All you
need to know about what drives people apart and what draws them
together can be witnessed in a few hours spent in a bar. Many of us
feel something along those lines, but Danielle Miraglia is that rare
songwriter who can put it into words."

The continually growing fan-base and attention she has received in a
short time is a clear testament to her talent and growth as a writer
and performer. With poignant themes that get under the listener's
skin, she leaves music fans and critics alike yearning for more.

Check out Danielle & her music at: http://www.daniellem.com

Seating is limited. For information and/or an invitation, call or email:
LLouise & Jim Altes
412.361.6051
friendshiphouseconcerts@gmail.com

Suggested donation: $10.00. All proceeds go to the performer.
After the concert, there will be a pot luck dinner. Please bring an
entree, an hors d'oeuvre, a salad, a side dish, or dessert to share.

Upcoming events of interest:

Sept 19, Danielle Miraglia http://www.daniellem.com/ at Jim and
LLouise's friendshiphouseconcerts@gmail.com
Sept 22, Ronny Cox http://www.ronnycox.com at Cefalo's in Carnegie
tombreiding@verizon.net
Sept 25, Joe Crookston www.joecrookston at Song Space at First
Unitarian Church songspace.firstuu@yahoo.com
Sept 26, Craig Bickhardt http://www.craigbickhardt.com at Cindy and
Rick's cah329a@gmail.com
Sept 29, Bill Staines http://www.acousticmusic.com/staines at Bill &
Judy Locke's lockewn@comcast.net
Oct 3, Matt Brown http://www.brownsdream.us at Curt & Annie's
Oct 24, Zoe Mulford http://www.zoemulford.com/ at Jim and LLouise's
friendshiphouseconcerts@gmail.com
Oct 24, Phil Cooper & Susan Urban (February Sky)
http://www.februarysky.com at Curt and Annie's
Nov 15, Bryan Bowers at Cindy & Rick's
Dec 4, Dwight Diller @ Rick & Cindy's

Los Angeles school named after Al Gore - latimes.com

Los
Angeles school named after Al Gore - latimes.com: "The
$75.5-million Carson-Gore Academy of Environmental Sciences will open Sept. 13
for about 675 students."

Mini Polo

This summer, with 2010 Summer Dreamers, we did much of the same thing as mini polo movie above. But, we didn't have the goal set-up as we should have. We used simple cones.

I'm working on our audio visual show still.

Christchurch Quake Map

Holly shit.

Christchurch Quake Map: "Christchurch Quake Map"

That's not an earthquake. It is a series of serious shakes and quakes.

Blogger on the Earthquake in New Zealand. Interesting read.

Public Address | Southerly: "Refugee Status | Sep 08, 2010 22:28
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake, as we discovered on Saturday morning, sounds rather like a thousand empty wheelie bins being trundled over cobble-stones.
We'd had difficulty getting our three-year-old son to sleep the night before. Several books (one novel-length) had been read aloud by my wife; soporific ukulele music had been played until my fingers had cramp; there'd been sobbing and tears of frustration (mostly from me). Eventually, around midnight, our household slipped into a fitful slumber.
I suspect, therefore, that we were more traumatized than most to be awoken at 4.35 am. The heaving and plunging of the floor reminded me of being in a storm at sea. It's a sensation that I don't much enjoy in a boat; I absolutely loathe it on dry land.
The movement was so violent that my wife had some difficultly picking up our son. We huddled in the doorway in total darkness as pictures fell from our walls and crockery smashed in the kitchen. A series of aftershocks kept us in the doorway for an hour."

DePaul grads move into classes with hearing children

DePaul grads move into classes with hearing children: "Madison Miller of Grove City was born with moderate to severe hearing loss, but wore hearing aids from the age of 6 months, so she had some hearing ability.
But then her hearing worsened when she was about 3 1/2 or 4, with no definite cause identified, and her otolaryngologist, David Chi, recommended she get cochlear implants. She got her right ear done at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC at age 5 and then waited, while still wearing a hearing aid in the left ear, to get the other cochlear implant a year later."

DePaul rocks!

PaWater Polo

PaWater Polo: "PaWater Polo: Welcome"

Open data, democracy and public sector reform

Open data, democracy and public sector reform: "This is an online report based on an MSc Dissertation at the Oxford Internet Institute by Tim Davies submitted to the University of Oxford, July 2010. It is shared using the Digress.it platform which allows for paragraph level commenting and hyperlinking to elements of the document.
A downloadable PDF copy of the report is available here.
The original research, underlying data, and further work has been blogged in detail on the Open Data Impacts blog."

M2Z's Free, Wireless Nationwide Broadband Plan Killed: Thank the FCC | Fast Company

Free wireless with a coast to coast coverage sacked for USA thanks to some paper pushers.

M2Z's Free, Wireless Nationwide Broadband Plan Killed: Thank the FCC | Fast Company: "Despite a seemingly stout business plan, and all the financial, social, and educational benefits it would bring, the FCC's just turned down M2Z's application for a coast-to-coast free wireless broadband system.
The FCC did not elaborate on why it turned down a plan from a new company called M2Z which would've created a U.S.-wide, free wireless broadband network. M2Z's trick was going to be to use a spare bit of the radio spectrum, the 2GHz 'AWS-3' band, and earn itself cash by embedding ads in its free Net service as well as licensing out part of the spectrum it would then be controlling for other commercial uses. The entire nationwide system could've been up and running inside 10 years, and 5% of M2Z's revenues would've gone straight to the Treasury."

New Song: My Country...

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=8630731

The song is a bit PG-13-ish. But it has a beat and some strong messages.

Lyrics
Now tell me again how this country is the land of the free and the home of the brave
You can't really believe that what you see now is the reason so many brave men gave
Teacher used to say we had the Bill of Rights
I think they took our rights and sent us the bill
Well I don't know about you my friend but I think I've had my fill
They been walking on me for my whole life I think it's finally time to draw the line
You can tell old John Cougar Mellencamp he can stick his song where the sun don't shine
My country my ass- This is not the land I learned about in class
My country my ass- That freedom justice stuff is all in the past
Got a checkpoint up the road ahead better pull out your ID
And your taxes just went up again gotta cough up some more money
Be careful what you're saying when you're on the phone you never know who might be listening in
They got cameras watching everywhere you go so they know just where you been
You know you better think about the books you read or your name might go on a list
Don't take too many pictures now, or they'll think you're a terrorist
They're watching you every time you turn around and they don't like what they see
You gotta be f*** ing kidding me if you think this country's free
My country my ass- This is not the land I learned about in class
My country my ass- That freedom justice stuff is all in the past
Well the banks messed up so they took money from us and gave a zillion dollar bonus
And they didn't give a damn what we had to say I swear to God they think they own us
But when they say "bend over" and you say "yes sir" and then you vote for them again
If you're the kind of people who fought our wars tell me how'd we ever win?
They been walking on us for far too long and don't you think it's time to draw the line?
Why don't you tell those jerks in Washington to stick their laws where the sun don't shine
My country my ass- This is not the land I learned about in class
My country my ass- That freedom justice stuff is all in the past
They say America love it or leave it
Well I loved it, and it left me

Hampton may hire teachers to cover unexpected student increase

More people departing the city?

Hampton may hire teachers to cover unexpected student increase

Hampton is seeing growth at the middle school grades -- about when the families that can depart the city do so.

Playing "dodgeball" in the heavens.

We're not even talking about last night's electrical storm that blew into Pittsburgh. This is different.

Asteroid Double Whammy Near Earth Wednesday Wired Science Wired.com: "Two small asteroids will come within moon distance of Earth Wednesday.
The first, asteroid 2010 RX30, will come within 154,100 miles of Earth — about 60 percent of the Earth-moon distance — at 5:51 a.m. EDT (1251 UT). This asteroid is estimated to be about 42 feet across.
The second, 2010 RF12, will come almost 12 hours later, at 5:12 p.m. EDT (0012 UT Thursday). It will swing by Earth at just 20 percent the Earth-moon distance, or 47,845 miles. 2010 RF12 is even smaller, only about 23 feet across."

The fact that they’re scheduled to arrive so close to each other is purely a cosmic coincidence.