Debate coverage and C-SPAN shows

C-SPAN's coverage of the first presidential debate is at 1pm ET Monday, September 6, 2004. The only two to show were Green Party Presidential Nominee David Cobb and Libertarian Party Presidential Nominee Michael Badnarik. It was held in New York City during the Republican National Convention.

Sunday, September 5, at 7:45 AM EST The program Washington Journal hosts Janet Brown, Executive Director, Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), for live call-in. Ms. Brown will talk by video link from Boston about the status and history of presidential debates. She will respond to telephone calls, faxes, and electronic mail from viewers.

The telephone numbers to call to find out why all the candidates are not being allowed in the debates are:

Washington Journal: Democrats (202) 585-3881

Washington Journal: Republicans (202) 585-3880

Washington Journal: Others (202) 585-3882

According to a recent Rasmussen poll, 68% of Americans want Michael in the debates - including 67% of Republicans and 64% of Democrats. Sadly, Ms. Brown, the CPD, George Bush, or John Kerry are in the minority and don't want democarcy for America.

People who don't care about open debates are careless people with democracy and don't care about the American people.

The Badnarik campaign footed the lion's share of the bill for the debate in NYC, as the Cobb campaign simply did not have enough financial resources to cover the expenses. To be clear, the Badnarik campaign was more than willing to help out our third-party brothers. Several Green Party members were more than generous to help defray the cost.

No Yard Signs

Another great reason to avoid YARD SIGNS comes to from Florida. Election day in Florida was Tuesday. Days later, Frances, a hurricane, arrived. The political signs stuck all around the state are sure to be fast-moving in-flight objects making life more dangerous, ripping down electrical, phone, cable lines and causing nasty property damage as they scrape and puncture.

I hate yard signs. I doubt I'll ever spend a nickle on yard signs in any campaign.

Pitt football

Ohio University visits Pitt for a football game on Sept. 11. See the comments for invite to the OU tailgate on the Gateway Clipper.

Pitt's first game of the season, slated for South Florida has been wash out due to Frances. The teams are slated to meet either Friday, December 3, or Saturday, December 4. Good decision.

Music is important -- but out of bounds

Music has a great place and role in all cultures, and one day I'll put more muscle into the S6 efforts. But is Slam Bush.net out of bounds?

Personally, I don't think it is wise to be so "negative" and "slam Bush." -- But I am all in favor of dissent and am also all in favor of good humor. We need to all 'lighten up.' So, in some ways, this is good. See the comment section for the details of an event in Pittsburgh with Sala Udin and Bill Peduto.

Linux in Government: Will Schwarzenegger Terminate Windows?

Linux in Government: Will Schwarzenegger Terminate Windows?: "Linux in Government: Will Schwarzenegger Terminate Windows?"

Four years ago, in my platform for Mayor, I pledged to make Pittsburgh an open-source leader. This plank is sure to surface in future campaigs as well. But now, the rest of the world has passed our ability to blaze new trails in these elements of technology. We can still lead, but perhaps not be the first. In 2000 and 2001 -- the concepts of open-source were original stump issues. In 2004 and 2005, others have worked on the issues and those efforts are sure to lend credit to the challenges at hand.

When we go to open source, we'll have better tools and save money. It isn't always as simple as the A-B-Cs. But, technology is something that can bring serious advantages to Pittsburgh's public landscape, if we have the leadership that gets it.

Not many political contributions are available from the poor children.. , but then one always has Microsoft.

Pens Practice Rink part of plan

PG reports Practice Rink for Pens part of plan

Kansas City Start coverage Kansas City.com/mld/kansascity/business/9567443.htm?1c on process for new arena for NBA / NHL

News flash: Tom Murphy, senior vice president of corporate communications at Sprint Corp. is named to the Kansas City planning committee for the development of a new, indoor arena there. Sprint has agreed to pay up to $2.5 million annually for the arena naming rights.

Closed door dealings, presentations stink

The city committee that will decide who will design the arena will conduct its interviews and deliberations behind closed doors.

“I don't want anybody to disturb the committee from paying close attention,” said Kansas City Councilman Terry Riley, one of the nine members. “We don't want anyone lobbying for one group or another. We want the best team for Kansas City.”

Assistant City Manager Rich Noll, who also is on the committee, said the decision to bar the public did not violate the Missouri Open Meetings Law.

“It is a working session,” he said. “There's no legislative activity going on and no public policy being addressed at that time.”

Closed South Side Indoor Ice Rink needs attention

If the Penguins want to have a practice facility, as they should, how about a look again into the now closed, indoor ice rink on the South Side. The rink is closed. The facility hosted Pens practices and had a rental connection when it was orginally covered. The NHL All-Stars held practices there.

Better yet -- a swim pool

Rather than putting in a practice ice, I'd love to see an aquatics complex within the scope of the new arena project. The Univ. of Florida has a 50-meter pool and diving towers within its basketball facility, tucked behind the stands. The spaces are not wasted around the edge of the arena.

When we visited China, I was impressed at the ongoing use of the space along the edge of the downtown stadium. Ballroom dancing, roller skate rink, and a casual dining area was put into action along the ramps and landings of the outdoor stadium. The indoor arena in China hosted a stock market. Photos pending.

Wasted Spaces

Sure, PNC Park hosted a concert that featured "The Boss." Other business events occur at PNC Park from time to time, and at The Great Hall in Heinz Field. But, these are too few and too far between.

Its great to see High School football games as part of the Rib Cookoff this weekend. Let's hold more regular events at these facilities. Why are we not playing scholastic soccer at Heinz Field on the other nights this weekend? Or, in the spring, when the demand on the field is less, we should have events with local teams.

We have public facilities and they should be used around the clock in other uses and around the calendar with other special events.

Bye-bye UV Loop

UV Loop Goes Bye-Bye -- PG coverage
The end of the road for the UV Loop is of little suprise to me. It was far too empty. Its course was bad as well. Sure, the support was amazing. But, it wasn't sustainable. It was a good idea that needed constant evolution.

After riding the UV Loop on a number of trips, mostly just for fun, I noticed how it wasn't effective. Same too with the new water taxi. A course re-do was needed. A few back and forth routes would have been much more productive. And, in turn, would have been sustainable. Some of the suggestions I made to the organizers at the outset of the UV Loop would have been significant. It needed 10 to 100-times the ridership, and the loop wasn't able to provide those passenger trips.

China and the Olympics

My pre-Olympic prediction that the Olympians from China would perform very well in Athens rang true. The strong medal winning performances by China and Japan make Beijing in 2008 something special. The I.O.C. President, Jocques Rogge was in agreement and spoke highly of Asian nation performances. The Athens Games is where Asia has awakened. He expects Asia to be a full strength for the Beijing Games.

The women's volleyball team from China held a practice before they played the US squad -- and they didn't even use a ball. The announcers watched the practice, 90 minutes, and not a ball to be found. Final game score, 25-18.

The divers from China are amazing. They took six out of eight gold medals. Photos from our trip are yet to go online. However, any of the 10-year old divers in Chengdu would have been able to breeze to a WPIAL diving title. And, there were 20 or more very talented, hard working kids in the pre-teen ages.

China got 31 gold in Athens, but had a goal of 20 and had 28 gold in Sydney. Japan had 16, making the best for them in 40 years. South Korea was 12th with eight golds.

Ping pong -- China got three out of four golds. After the games more ping-pong comes into the spotlight as a diplomatic tool for China and its neighbors.

In badminton, China got three of five golds.

China looms large in swimming, gymnastics, rowing, track-and-field, shooting, basketball and weightlifting. Ethiopians passed at the end of the 10K by said that they assumed they were a full lap ahead of the Chinese runner, Xing Huina (women).

Others to watch include South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan Indonesia. The South Korea women archers won an 11th straight gold -- completing a 20-year streak, unmatched in any other sport at the Olympics.

This blog

Readability and Attribution

The web's we weave are not always as visible and clear as they could or should be. In interest of time, fair use, and repetition, links to other articles are generally put within the rants that occur on this blog. I do a good bit of external linking on all of my sites.

From time to time I should thank, in public, the editors and writers of the PG and Trib. Of couse their conent is used most often for fodder to these fires. I do try to give them credit in each instance. I avoid academic footnotes, but should try to be less sloppy.

As I see clever and helpful writting, I often post a kind mention directly to the writers.

In the future, the aim is to use both the "blockquote and "ITALIC" formats to better isolate material that is lifted from the other sources.

First day of school

The kids are back to school, starting today. But, today also marks the first day South Vo Tech is empty. There was summer school.

Fifty percentage of all eleventh grade students score below proficiency in math in Pittsburgh Public Schools. For eleventh graders who scored below the proficient level of reading, there has been small improvement as the percentage decreased from 41 percent in 2002 to 39 percent in 2004.

The percentage of African Americans that scored below proficient in math is a staggering 82.5 percent in 2004 (virtually the same as the 82.7 percent in 2002 (but an improvement over the 84 percent in 2003)). The results are slightly better on the reading part of the test: 72.1 percent scored below proficiency in 2004. The group scored better than those who took the test in 2002 (74.1 percent), but not as well as those who took the test in 2003 (71.8 percent).

The students who are closest to graduating and entering the workforce and higher education are doing the worse.
Policy Brief in PDF formatted version from the Allegheny Institute

My suggestions: Split up the Pgh Public School District with one HORIZONTAL slice and a number of vertical ones for the K-8 levels. I'd love to see three to five new school districts come into formation. Each district with its own elected school board, superintendent and geographical area would be constructed for students from K to 8th grade. Then the existing PPS District would be city-wide and only need to focus on the education of the high school aged students.

I coached at New Trier High School, named at the time by Town and Country magazine, the very best public high school in America. It was. The New Trier school district is a 9-12 district. It has a number of other districts that feed into the high school. Each of the other districts, smaller, are able to focus upon the education of the younger kids, grades K-8.

Pittsburgh's Public Schools, as a district, is too big. It is too hard to get volunteers, focused attention on learning, and other challenges into solutions.

My kids are excited about the new school year. My hope is that everyone feels the same and that the desires to learn never fade. And, as a parent I know that I can best impact the kids in their youngest ages. And, when it comes to teaching higher level lessons, like those found in high schools, great teachers are necessary. We need to overhaul our approach to education in Pittsburgh, and a split in the district would be a great solution.

To hedge his adventure, our oldest boy did ask last night if it was still possible to take Semester at Sea. Not this year Erik.

Wearing blame IS productive

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04246/372097.stm

Ed Rendell, PA's Governor, doesn't yet understand our situations.

PG article (link above) quote: "I know people think this city is crying wolf, but there's no question this city is out of money by December," Rendell said.

We are crying "wolf" and pointing fingers at Mayor Murphy. The city is out of money because the wolves ate it all! The city has been chewed into nothingness. The link between the call of wolf and the lack of funds might be lost with the Governor's understanding.

"We've been trying to point the finger of blame for over a year now. That's not productive. Regardless of who's to blame it's up to us [in Harrisburg] to solve this and give Pittsburgh the opportunity to get back on its feet financially."

Wrong. Going to the root of the problem is productive. Wearing blame and putting blame where blame needs to reside is critical to fixing our future. To be productive is to learn from history. To make the same mistakes again is what we all fear.

Harrisburg has a role in the solution, now that Pittsburgh is so far gone. However, it is NOT up to Harrisburg to solve this. Why give Pittsburgh an opportunity to get back on its feet financially when it will not come face-to-face with the necessary blame and will repeat the same tragic outcomes?

Summary:
It is one thing to be a big spender. However, it is another matter when the spending is illegal. And, when the plan to overspend breaks the city's charter, our law, not once, but for two years -- then we have a real problem and case of repeated mistakes. Mayor Murphy and the City Council passed budgets that were not legal -- TWICE in a row. This is sure to happen again.

The mayor and the city's leaders have yet to realize what they did is wrong the first time yet alone the second time. The third time is upon us.

Rendell repeated yesterday that some kind of state-approved tax reform is "absolutely essential" for the city.

What is really essential for the city, is the understanding that we can't sidestep blame. When Ed Rendell gives cover to Tom Murphy, again and again, we won't be able to heal. The healing begins as soon as Tom Murphy and his cronies go to the private sector.

Murphy's next spending plan is due to the board Sept. 22. Expect that the city won't be able to live within its means. We expect the wolf to bear its ugly head again to devour some more.

Great debate news in PA, finally

Debates for US Senate to be inclusive - PG article

PA will be treated to U.S. Senate debates with all the candidates. Great news.

Democratic challenger Joe Hoeffel has persuaded debate organizers to allow the Constitution Party's Jim Clymer to take part in the candidate forums set for Oct. 2 and 9. The debates' co-sponsors, which include the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters and the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania said Clymer and Libertarian Party candidate Betsy Summers will receive invitations to participate. Thanks Joe!

Originally, the debates, included only Specter and Hoeffel. Both the League of Women Voters and the PA Association of Broadcasters are known to often exclude candidates. Both got pulled out of another shameful moment by a candidate leader.

The talk of debate criteria is bunk. The only criteria that should be used at this point is the ballot itself. If a name is on the ballot, then the true criteria has been established. All debates should be opened to all candidates in a fair and even manner. The state's arcane election laws take a second seat to the state's bigots who host debates and don't include everyone from the outset.

From PG, link above: "We consented to the Hoeffel campaign: 'If you want Clymer in there, we'll stick him in there,'" said Richard Wyckoff, president of the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters.

I prefer that the president and the association consented to a sense of fairness, not to the Hoeffel compaign. Moment to moment justice is needed, especially with the watchdogs.

The story here isn't about any campaign trying to pull votes away from another. Rather, our shared well of democracy counts most of all. And, those who would choose to spoil our American landscape with lame journalism needs to be discounted by their peers, or in this case, just given a scolding for showing their true UN-Democratic colors at the outset.

Gag Orders for Men and Women in Blue

Being 'open' is a value that matters greatly. I hate to witness "closed society" methods.

The ACLU has threatened to sue Pittsburgh's police chief if he doesn't lift rules restricting the free speech rights of city officers. Officers can't speak to the media after disciplinary action, even after an internal investigation is finished. Only police management can address discipline.

The rules also bar officers or other employees from publicly criticizing superior officers or fellow employees and require officers or other employees to clear any critical comments through the chief's office.

The policy is vague, confusing and has a chilling effect on speech. Meanwhile, this blog is open to postings, even unsigned ones.

Phili set to clean our clocks

Phili, the city of brotherly love, home to fast Eddie, our urban counterpart to the east -- home region of two of my sisters is doing thing that sizzle past what we can muster in Pittsburgh.

Olympics to Phili in 2024

Wireless Society

Pittsburgh should and could take the leader's role in wireless access, if we get a mayor who cares in these matters. Our present mayor can't even get what is due to us as part of the Comcast Cable agreement.

Pittsburgh shouldn't put together a bid package for the Olympics. However, we should be a region that trains an Olympian or five. Plus, we do need to get that cooperative spirit flowing around here. We can't even host a marathon, yet Akron has two.

GOP Convention Schedule

Sent from a friend: Tonight's GOP Convention Schedule

Back from the beach

We did a lot of surfing at the beach, but didn't encounter anything like this. However, the Green Tree Great White Sharks ruled the summer swim league again in 2004. We'll need to update the final standings, but all went well with the team, our young swimmers, the coaching and such.

National Taxpayers Union smashes Tom Murphy

Politicians Increasingly Use Property Grabs to Pad Government's Bottom Line

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania -- Using subsidies and city-financed loans adding up to more than $50 million -- $150 for every person living in Pittsburgh -- Mayor Tom Murphy lured Lazarus and Lord & Taylor to relocate in the city. However, both upscale department stores closed before they even reached the sales target that would require them to start payments on their taxpayer- financed loans.

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=35180

ntu.org

September 24 workshop @ school, family and community

Joyce Epstein, Director of the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships at John Hopkins University, will be facilitating a workshop in Pittsburgh on September 24, 2004 at the PFT (Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers Building) on the South Side. The workshop will be conducted from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. There is no cost for attendance.
More at PPS.CLOH.Org.

Fat Lady Sings at North Side Amphitheater Plan

Trib coverage of A.I. policy.
PDF version of policy brief.
Comments in the Trib PM from 4 faces in the crowd

Is this another "done deal?" The design is bad. The plan is bad. This should not occur with PUBLIC funds. The land is already secured with public muscle. Do it on your own.

All the Kng's Men Could NOT put Humpty together again

Just as Humpty fell, so too went our city. Pittsburgh has stumbled. To fall is bad. But, dealing with that tumble is more telling. Pittsburgh can't get back up. Pittsburgh won't be able to fix itself with the help of all the king's horses and all the king's men. The present leaders, i.e., the king's horses and men, can't work together. Do they have the creativity needed in these times.

I've said, for years, that the king's resources joined with those of the people would make for much better solutions.

Mayor Murphy's veto on the City Council agreement with the I.C.A. (Intergov. Cooperative Agency) (one of the oversight boards) is telling. The Murphy VETO came at the final hour, just before the agreement would have been law. Murphy should have spoken sooner in the process about the amendments. And, furthermore, as soon as the legislation passed City Council in an 8-1 vote, Mayor Murphy should have made his veto known.

"Time is of the essence," said Councilman Alan Hertzberg, one of the five who voted to sustain Murphy's veto.

To Tom Murphy, who has had time pass him by, the rush to fix Pittsburgh is secondary to the rush to stand his ground.

Gov. Ed Rendell stepped into the dispute, pledging in a letter to lobby the Legislature to diversify the board.

Dear Gov. Rendell. Send the letter to lobby for diversity to YOURSELF. I've been harping that the ICA overvsight board mistakes would be repeated with the GAMBLING Panel for PA. Paid $145,000 per year, we see that diversity is expected with the appointment by Gov. Rendell of a women for the last slot, Mary DiGiacomo Colins, a former associate in the Phili D.A.'s office.

McCabe, the sixth member of the gambling board, has been called, Rendell made the final appointment in early September. Legislative leaders of both parties appointed four members. Rendell gets to pick three. Each of the legislative appointees has veto power over board actions. One of the seven appointees is a women. One is an African American. Five are white males.

"It's a moral issue," said Carlisle, who voted to override the veto. "I do want to see a woman on that board."

Take aim at the Gambling Board too. And, don't fuss after the train leaves the station. Don't take a lead from Tom Murphy, as he is always way behind the curve on everything.

Arguing to sustain the veto, Councilman Sala Udin warned his colleagues that they would alienate the governor if they insisted on keeping the amendments in the agreement. "I don't want to get in a fight with the primary friend we have in Harrisburg," Udin said. "We will need Gov. Rendell's support."

With friends like this, who needs enemies? Gov. Rendell is no friend to "democracy" nor "the people." If Gov. Rendell wanted to change the diversity on the oversight board, he could and would.

Shields punts on second down

Councilman Doug Shields, building on Udin's argument, cautioned that state legislators will refuse to give the city new taxation authority if council continues to squabble with the oversight board over the amendments. "We're not in the driver's seat anymore," he said. "We don't hold the cards to bargain."
Of course you don't hold the cards. Of course City Council is a short step away from meaningless. Of course Tom Murphy is powerless. However, to punt, or to give up, is hopelessness personified. Doing nothing insures nothing gets better. Will the downward spiral ever even slow when elected leaders not only squander the power that is their duty but prohibit others from doing somethig about this king and his court?

Swiftly, .... ROTFL

In a prepared statement, Murphy said, "It is my hope that council will move swiftly to adopt the new cooperation agreement, which will allow us to move forward in a cooperative spirit with the [oversight board]."

ROTFL = Roll On The Floor Laughing.