Commonwealth Foundation : Research Library: ... Job creation, personal income and population growth continue to stagnate in Pennsylvania relative to the rest of the nation, the legislative “bonus checks” and pay hikes for governors and judges lack merit in the minds of most taxpaying citizens.
Exercising Faith by Dr. Robert Schuller
The core of Possibility Thinking is the mental activity we call "positive assuming." Even though the idea may have been unsuccessfully tried before, you should do the following:
• Assume that the times may have changed.
• Assume that nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come.
• Assume that there are solutions to the problems that have defeated the dream before.
• Assume that there are solutions to the money problems.
• Assume that costs can be cut, revenue can be increased, or the project can be refinanced over a longer period of time.
• Assume that smarter people can be either hired or invited as partners to make this challenging idea possible.
• Assume that obstructionists can be bypassed, isolated, or invited to join as partners in prosperity in a new joint venture.
• Assume that instead of a collision you could form a coalition!
Now you're exercising what religious people call faith. Faith is sometimes spelled A-S-S-U-M-E.
SI.com - More Sports - China punctuates diving dominance at worlds - Sunday July 24, 2005 9:30PM Taylor has visited China and seen the country's diving programs.
'They've got a great system,' he said. 'They have everything you could possibly want -- good funding and good support.'
Party switching, as part of the strategy:Operation Clean Sweep: Pennsylvania: "Whenever it's time to reapportion legislative districts, incumbents always find a way to do it in a fashion that further secures their own political futures. It's time to use that against them by casting off your party label. In 2006, it's not Republicans vs. Democrats; it's the Incumbent Party vs. the Citizens Party.
Mutual of Omaha Duel in the Pool Coverage provided by NBC Sports. Saturday August 6, 2005, 4:00 - 6:00 p.m. ET Sunday August 7 1:00 - 2:30 ET
Check local listings for the time in your area.
Untitled Document 2nd Annual Black Family Reunion
A Community Festival
A Pledge for Peace Through Safe Passages To Health and Wellness
August 6th and 7th
Mellon Park, Point Breeze
(Corner of Fifth and Penn Avenues)
ABOUT THE REUNION
Concept Summary
Continuing in its tradition of providing socially relevant and need-based services to disadvantaged communities, CEA anticipates its upcoming 2nd Annual Black Family Reunion to positively impact those who attend. The community festival is projected to attract several hundred individuals and their families looking to spend quality time learning about themselves and having summertime fun. The premise for this year’s theme “Safe Passages to Health and Wellness,” is based on the concept of empowerment that CEA has advantageously developed over time.
CEA is strongly committed to family and community empowerment to achieve healthy lifestyles. People who are empowered are able to define standards of health and wellness for their own community based on cultural traditions that promote positive outcomes.
Slotting in Slots Locale Remains Local
Writer: CHARLIE DEITCH
"We're victims of his addiction," says anti-gambling activist Bruce Barron of state Rep. Mike Veon's latest effort to ensure Harrisburg has the last word on where the state's slots casino will go. "I can't believe he calls cramming a casino down an unwilling neighborhood's throat an overwhelming need," says Barron, president of No Dice, a local group that opposes the expansion of gambling in Pennsylvania.
Although no decision has been made on where Pittsburgh's gaming facility will land, Democrat Whip Veon (D-Beaver Falls) wants to make sure the state Gaming Control Board has control, despite the state Supreme Court's recent ruling that local municipalities can make the final zoning decisions. Veon did not return multiple calls. On July 10, he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that this was “one of the rare times that the state should override local zoning."
Contends No Dice's Barron: "An amusement park would bring in a lot more revenue than rows of slot machines and the state would never step in and overrule local zoning to place one of those Downtown." Veon, he adds, "is clearly addicted to government sources of new revenue, because there's no justification for taking a business like this and putting the decision for where it should go in the hands of the state. It makes absolutely no sense from a public policy perspective."
The move has been widely denounced. A recent City Paper story (main feature, "Letting Chips Fall," July 6) highlighted how free-for-all slots placement has turned West Virginia into an even less desirable place to go.
Site-selection battles are being fought all across the state, from Bethlehem to Gettysburg, Barron notes. It's unsettling to think the final decision is not going to be made by local officials about placing a slots casino on the North Shore, for instance, or in Station Square or the Hill District.
"If Mike Veon gets his way, this very important decision is going to be in the hands of an organization whose main interest is to maximize casino revenue," Barron says. "The people driving this thing don't care what happens to your neighborhood as long as they get their profits. The only thing worthwhile Harrisburg can do for us now is to cancel this whole business before we live to regret it."
It's not only gambling opponents who have a problem with the lack of local control. Robin Rosemary Miller, executive director of the North Side Chamber of Commerce, says parking czar Merrill Stabile, who is trying for a license for a potential North Shore casino, seems very open to working with the community and developing a program to give back to the neighborhood. But she still withholds judgment.
"No one better understands the impact something like this will have on a neighborhood than the people who actually live in the community," Miller says. "Someone from Harrisburg isn't going to know what's best for this neighborhood. That final decision should remain here."
A new creation - PittsburghLIVE.com Murphy to announce cleanup commission
Mayor Tom Murphy plans to announce the creation of the Clean Pittsburgh Commission at a news conference Monday morning.
The city-controlled commission would work with the Pennsylvania Resources Council, a nonprofit, volunteer-driven environmental protection group, to find low-cost ways to clean up streets and sidewalks.
Pittsburgh City Councilman Doug Shields, of Squirrel Hill, said the new commission would require $10,000 to $20,000 of the city's recycling and street beautification money to match local and state anti-litter and recycling grants. Shields said the commission would consolidate cleanup efforts from several city departments and various environmental groups to make Pittsburgh more attractive to environmental protection grant providers.
China bows to pressure, cuts yuan's ties to dollar China bows to pressure, cuts yuan's ties to dollar
Friday, July 22, 2005
By Jim McKay, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
China yesterday announced it will no longer peg its currency to the U.S. dollar, a long-awaited change sought by the Bush administration, the nation's manufacturers and much of the industrialized world.
News 8 Austin | 24 Hour Local News | Health Beat | Musicians should protect ears Musicians want to hear their music, but they don't want the very same music they create to gradually deafen them over time.
7/21/2005Wage-ing War -- You get what you pay for … and that’s the problem
Writer: CHRIS POTTER
If you ask me, the biggest problem with our state legislature isn’t that these guys make too much money. It’s that they work too hard for it.
That’s not a popular sentiment nowadays: Thanks to a midnight deal bundled into the state budget early this month, rank-and-file legislators are getting a 16 percent pay hike to $81,050 a year. Those in leadership positions will earn even more.
But at least the ass-covering and hypocrisy that followed was almost worth the price. Almost.
“House Democrats Laud Budget’s Commitment to Most Needy” trumpeted a statement by House Democratic Whip Mike Veon and Minority leader Bill DeWeese. Among the “most needy,” apparently, were House Democrats themselves. But there’s no mention of the pay hike in the 851-word release … which did, however, assert that the budget “represents a shared sacrifice across state government.”
Um, yeah.
The hypocrisy in these situations is often bipartisan, of course, since the measure couldn’t have passed without Republican help. In the end, though, I’d be willing to pay all these guys a few more bucks if they’d stop trying so hard to serve me.
Look at Veon, for example. He’s so committed to public service that he’s doing the job of local officials as well, trying to prevent cities like Pittsburgh from exercising any control over where casinos will be sited. Can’t we just tip Veon an extra couple bucks to go away, like the violinist playing beside your table at the restaurant?
After all, the Pennsylvania Economy League notes, the real problem isn’t that legislators make so much money. It’s that there’s so many of ’em.
“[W]hile the increase in each legislator’s base pay irks a lot of people,” says the PEL, “the size of the legislature is an even bigger driver of cost.” With 253 members, Pennsylvania’s General Assembly is the largest full-time state legislature in the country. And those 253 members have the largest combined staff in the country, the PEL says -- not to mention one of the fastest growing. The number of legislative staffers in Harrisburg has more than doubled since 1979.
Of the 12 other states PEL looked at, meanwhile, only half have year-round legislatures. So although state legislators get only average per-diem reimbursements, they have a lot of diems in which to earn them. Our legislators would be less expensive, in other words, if they didn’t work quite as much. (Note that I didn’t say “quite as hard.”)
When you factor in other factors like pension and benefits, you end up with a legislature that costs $20.5 million a year. By any reckoning, that’s the most expensive state legislature in the country. The General Assembly costs 20 percent more than the next most expensive legislature -- New York’s -- and almost twice as high as the assembly in California.
This is the point where we all agree to throw the bums out. But state legislators in Pennsylvania win re-election well over 90 percent of the time, and the conventional wisdom says that public outrage will fade before the next election.
Still, if we want to change how business gets done in Harrisburg, we’ve got two things going for us. First, these legislators can obviously be bought. Second, we want them to do less, because at least half the time they do more harm than good -- and because we end up paying for it either way. And if there’s one force that drives a political hack more than greed, it’s laziness.
So here’s my solution. Next year, legislators should be offered twice their current salaries … if they agree to cut their number in half and promise to serve us half as diligently. After they vote for the wage hike, their district numbers will be put in the state’s Lotto machine. The drawing will, of course, be supervised by a senior citizen. The first 25 Senators and 101 House reps whose numbers come up … well, their numbers will be up. Voting in favor of this bill would mean there’s an even chance of coming out with twice as much money, and of ending up jobless. Those are better odds than you’ll find in the casinos Veon wants so badly.
And one thing we know about the state legislature: These guys love to gamble.
Governor Rendell has announcement on Sunday and a series of economic development announcements on Monday. Feel free to spread the word. Please let Clayton Wukich, 717-787-5825, know if you can attend.
An announcement regarding Seniors from Mt. Washington Senior Center at 122 Virginia Avenue in Pittsburgh at 11:30 am on Sunday, July 24.
Economic Development Announcements from Carnegie Mellon University, Co-Lab, 5000 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh at 10 am on Monday, July 25.
Economic Development Announcement from American Eagle Outfitters, 150 Thorn Hill Drive at Warrendale at 1 pm on Monday, July 25.
Expect an Economic Development Announcement from Frontier Steel, 4990 Grand Ave, Neville Island on Monday, July 25 at 3:30 PM on Monday, July 25, 2005.
A trimmer Honsberger is still talk radio's heavy hitter Honsberger is more upbeat and agreeable than the old Fred. Others have told him he is even nicer to callers.
Idlewild to expand water park Idlewild amusement park in Westmoreland County today announced that it will expand its water park by 20 percent next year.
The million-dollar expansion will also create a pirate-themed attraction at the water park section of the Ligonier park.
The yet-to-be-named expansion project will includes six water slides and play areas with water guns, crawl tunnels, a net climb and bridges.
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