Another curse broken: Not since 1941

Doug Flute of the New England Patriots made a drop kick in the NFL. That hasn't been done since 1941.

These are the times to make history, not be a slave of it.

For Pittsburgh to soar again, we've got to be more than a one-party town. Our one-party town curse has been lingering since 1933.

Mindy's CD is here... Larry B and Wilburn, copies for you shortly

Mindy's new CD, Live from Pittsburgh, arrived in the mail.

I love the title!

Mindy's song, "One World," is on my latest CD, still. "Peace plays a part in my campaign for public office. I too worrie about the babies...."

Good cop, bad cop - PittsburghLIVE.com

Ouch.

Good cop, bad cop - PittsburghLIVE.com Twelve years ago, Murphy tapped his old friend Tom Cox to be his top aide. They knew each other well, a vital requirement of any successful partnership. Unfortunately, they shared the inability to get along with people.

Murphy and Cox may not have invented the bad cop/bad cop approach to management but they did take it to spectacular depths. Not long into the Murphy administration, the ship of state began to list -- from the helm.

Pittsburgh getting a 'can-do' mayor - PittsburghLIVE.com

Let's hope it doesn't snow.

Pittsburgh getting a 'can-do' mayor - PittsburghLIVE.com 'This isn't going to be an administration that is necessarily going to launch off in a lot of new directions,' Miller said. 'The directions have pretty much been defined by what has been done under the Act 47 recovery plan and the expectations of the oversight board.'

'I think Bob is the type of mayor that can operate in that environment,' he said."

AP Wire | 12/30/2005 | Pittsburgh's new mayor touts city despite problems

State Rep Frankle is hardly an ally of mayor-elect O'Connor. Frankle was a Mayor Murphy supporter.

AP Wire | 12/30/2005 | Pittsburgh's new mayor touts city despite problems 'The city's debt load and pension responsibilities remain intractable, and no level of downsizing and problem-solving is going to be enough,' said Democratic state Rep. Dan Frankel, an ally of the mayor-elect. 'I think he's going to have an enormous challenge in front of him.'

Pittsburgh Laurels & Lances - PittsburghLIVE.com

This is called, corporate welfare.

Pittsburgh Laurels & Lances - PittsburghLIVE.com: "Lance: To PNC Financial Services. Its 2005 stock performance was rated second-best by Standard & Poor's out of the 28 bank stocks it tracks. So, why the lance? This is wonderful news, isn't it? It is. But this is the same very well-to-do banking giant that wants to shake down taxpayers for $48 million to help build a new skyscraper Downtown. A good corporate citizen would not even dream of such larceny."

Wagner to challenge Diven

YourBaldwin.com

'I put my constituents first,' said Diven, a former Pittsburgh city councilman. 'I feel at the end of day, the people will see past politics and elect the person who stands up for them.'

Sadly, the people of the district elected a Democrat. But, they got a Republican just a month after the election.
Furthermore, I'm looking for someone to serve the constitution first. I don't need a bring-the-pork-home guy or gal in Harrisburg.

Big party set for O'Connor's mayoral inaugural

Are you going to go? I'll be there. And, it looks like I won't even need to set my VCR to capture the speech. Besides, the VCR can't eat all the cookies and other goodies.

Big party set for O'Connor's mayoral inaugural The ceremony will be held on the steps of the City-County Building's portico. And no, there will be no tent in case of rain.

While people take their seats from 11 a.m. to noon, they'll be entertained by the Perry Traditional Academy marching band, Wesley Center African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church choir, Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts High School choral ensemble, and Greater Pittsburgh Police Emerald Society Pipes and Drums.

I don't expect to see any protesters, other than some food vendors who might want to kick up a food fight. Has any been left off of the list? Penny and others not in the newspaper might have been invited, but just left off of the newspaper coverage. That's what I figure.

No booze. That's good. But that does not mean that all from that sector won't be attending. I've heard that the brass of Pittsburgh Brewing will be there with a tin can to take up a collection to cover its water bill. Plus they have their hearts set on a re-do of the Save Our City web page.

"T" is for "track" -- or "T" is for "termination" -- He wants a letter. Pick "T"

I don't know if the educational character from Public Television, Big Bird, will visit Police Chief McNeilly or not. But, if he really wants a letter, I'd suggest that Bob O'Connor could sends him a "T" as that letter.

The mayoral transition: Police chief out 'All they said was they wanted to go in another direction. I asked what that meant, and they said they wanted to go in another direction. I asked that they send me a letter,' Chief McNeilly said.

As McNeilly winds down his career, he'll be able to send news articles along with his resume as he applies to other jobs. He doesn't need to get a letter.

I think it was interesting to see that he asked for a letter. I don't expect he'll get a letter of termination, but that is just my outsider's hunch.

To really toss a wrench in the Bob O'Connor transition team, McNeilly should have asked for an "email." That request could have been a show stopper, a real train wreck, a real -- off-the-track kinda communication.

Here is a golden opportunity for O'Connor's team, is it up to four now?, to deligate. Perhaps they should ask the Executive Director of the Citizens Police Review Board to ink a letter for the outgoing chief.

Others, more creative than me, might be happy to write a letter for the outgoing chief as well. Those rants in the City Paper might be a good place to find such a letter.

McNeilly will land on his feet. He is a good public servant. His work in the Pgh Police Force is done, for now. His next employer is going to be very happy to have a man of his talents and drive.

KDKA - Pittsburgh's Source for Breaking News, Weather and Sports: Murphy Remembers Time In Office Fondly

Goals and principles -- Morphed by Murph.

KDKA - Pittsburgh's Source for Breaking News, Weather and Sports: Murphy Remembers Time In Office Fondly The whole struggle of trying to keep the Pirates here, which morphed into building a new baseball park, which morphed into building two parks and then a convention center.

All along I said that it is much easier to cut a deal with the owners of a sports team, or the owners / players of a corporation than with a bunch of citizens. It was easy for Mayor Murphy to pick up the phone and wheel and deal with the Rooneys. That's one phone call. It is easy to deal with the deparment store bosses, such as Lazarus or Lord & Taylor. Same too with 'fix is in' folks like Station Square owners Forrest City or Chicago developers of downtown malls (Urban Properties whatever).

It is hard to get a handle on citizen groups. It is hard to reach a consensus with diverse populations. It is hard work.

Corporate welfare deals are easier deals. But, they don't work in the long-haul.

May I be the first to wish you all a happy Boxing Day!

We are still trying to get our Christmas letter -- side A and side B -- out the door. But, we had a great Christmas. I only wish that I'd be able to turn the clock back to December 1. I need another December.

This year, we gave the kids a ping pong table -- and a room for it to fit within. And, it was all a suprise.

Others came through with a lot of help and extras. Thanks!

Murphy looks back at his 12 rocky years

Every dog has its day in the sun. The days of Tom Murphy are just about to go to dusk -- finally. To his credit, he didn't have a "day" in the sun. Tom Murphy got more than a decade.

But the beauty of this news article is within the words of Rich Lord. He is great. I just love the angles he puts into print. And, I really love it that his words are being published in the P-G. That is as much of the magic of these times as anything else.

Make no mistake. I'm am thrilled that we're able to see Tom Murphy move to the private sector. And, I'm thrilled to know that Rich Lord is going to be on assignment with the P-G in the months to come.

Murphy looks back at his 12 rocky years There was little left in Mayor Tom Murphy's office last week but a bike leaning against a desk. That and enough attitude to fill a moving van, plus about a dust bunny's worth of regret.

The man who, at his 1994 inauguration, compared his job to Tom Sawyer, 'who got all of his friends to paint the fence,' is leaving office in a town spattered with his vision. He's unabashed about a dozen years of roller-coaster governance, featuring controversial development efforts, federal oversight of policing and a continuing struggle to fix the city's finances.

'We might have overreached,' he said of his administration. 'One's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?'

We should thank them for turning our once great city into a hell -- because when we die we'll go to heaven. Yeah, right.

The over reaching was classic. To over reach is exactly what should NOT happen now and next. We have to get centered. We have to reach within. We have to be unlike Tom Murphy if we are to have any future in this city.

Not only does Tom Murphy get to be the last mayor this might ever have -- but the same holds true for city council as well. Gene Ricciardi is gone too. Both Gene and Tom are departing Grant Street -- but we have OVERLORDS camped out there now.

This is another classic Tom Murphy thought. I say, 'think again.' He says the consent decree was unnecessary, but helpful in accelerating the changes he was already making.

Humm.... but the changes he was making didn't have room for the citizen police review board. Those were changes demanded by the people's votes. So Tom's changes were Tom's to make and his to ignore if they weren't his.

The same gutter thoughts come when Tom Murphy cheered the arrival of "distressed status." The arrival of the outside forces was something he was quick to roll out the red carpet for. Murphy wanted others to come in and do the bailout. Murphy needed those outside forces because he couldn't manage inside forces. His administration could not coordinate nor execute the right changes with the right people within this town.

How sad for him as a Mayor.

Murphy didn't send the Pirates packing. But Murphy is a marathon runner in a town that does not have a marathon. Murphy's management killed the Pittsburgh Marathon.

We'll just have to restart the Marathon. But, we'll need to do it in a much different way.

Rich Lord even tossed in the word, "lockstep" into the article. That raises another concept that we'll need to crack -- like Humpty Dumpty.

Well, I'm not going to waste any more Christmas minutes on this.

Jazz these electrons, if you please

independent solutions Blog hits upon the new downtown development

independent solutions Here we go again, and again...

Just what are our elected officials up to this time? O?Connor and Rendell are happily shaking hands as they use our money to partially finance a thirty story office tower at the initially projected cost of $170 million. That is about six million dollars per floor.

WPXI.com - News - Italian Judge Issues Arrest Warrants For 22 CIA Agents

Some were worried about roid using NHL players going to Italy for the 2006 Olympics. Now there are other worries. Seems as if the judges in Italy are going to be assertive.

WPXI.com - News - Italian Judge Issues Arrest Warrants For 22 CIA Agents ROME -- An Italian judge has issued European arrest warrants for 22 purported CIA operatives wanted for the alleged kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric, a prosecutor said Friday.

Prosecutor Armando Spataro said the warrants allowed for the arrest of the suspects in any of the 25 European Union member countries. Italy issued warrants for the arrest of the 22 suspects within its own borders earlier this month.

Schools Save with Open Source

Schools Save with Open Source

A lot of people ask about the real savings that Open Source can bring to school districts. Noxon Schools has used Open Source software for 6 years now and so I wanted to demonstrate the actual savings and philosophy of Open Source in a real life setting.

Noxon Schools is a rural school district in remote northwest Montana with a student body of about 270 students. The school uses 4 Linux Terminal Servers on separate networks to serve 125 Linux Thin Clients. In addition, the school has a Web server, DNS server, 2 Proxy Servers, Backup Server and a Samba server to provide all of the services the school needs in house. 60 computers run Windows 2000 or XP.

Philosophy
As Technology Coordinator I am provided a budget to manage each year for the school's total technology development K-12. The bad news is, the budget changes every year, often the changes are as much as 40% from one year to the next. What this means is that you really cannot plan a five year project because likely the funds will not be available. This factor was one of the primary reasons I began to exam Open Source, we need stability. The expectations of administration, students and community is that technological assets will be available to every student in increasing complexity.
The second primary reason for examining Open Source is the ability to manipulate the Open Source product to meet our needs, not someone else's needs. We need servers that are setup the way we need them to be setup with the hardware we have available. We need desktops that will do what we want, not want some corporation dictates. In other words we need freedom and options.

Pittsburgh Laurels & Lances has two corporate welfare examples worth watching

When public money goes out to big corporations -- it is called corporate welfare. The Penguins' deal could be worse, but it isn't finalized. And, just because the deal is not as bad as it could be does NOT mean that I'll embrace it. To soar again as a region, we can't make goofy deals.

Why, for instance, should the new arena be given over to the sports and exibition authority? If the Pens get a new arena built for them -- then the Penguins should own it, operate it, pay taxes on it, and then decide its long-term fate.

In my neighborhood, I'd much rather have an owner-occupied building on my block -- rather than renters. Renters are fine, but owner-occupied is even better as the investment is there. And, this is a generalization. One of our blocks, if not the world's best neat freaks in terms of sidewalk trash is a long-term renter. Bless her heart. I love her devotion and how she picks up around these parts. But generally -- we've got to think about the best solutions.

If the Penguins get the handout from the developer, perhaps the Penguins should build a building to their own specs and keep it. The SEA shouldn't take ownership of it.

Furthermore, the public owns a Civic Arena. We'll just take that one back, without a main renter (The Pens). We'll program the Civic Arena, as a true civic arena. I don't want to see the Civic Arena get knocked down with the building of the new home for the Penguins.

Pittsburgh Laurels & Lances - PittsburghLIVE.com On the 'Watch List' I: The Penguins' development plans. The NHL franchise, partnering with a major gambling company and an Ohio developer, has put a bold proposal on the table to privately finance a new hockey arena and redevelop the lower Hill District. On first blush, it appears to be a great plan. There are, however, plenty of details we'd like to see. And it all is contingent on the developers getting one of those stand-alone slot parlor licenses. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, those involved in the Penguins' plan might want to walk down Fifth Avenue to show PNC's Jim Rohr how not to shaft the public.

On the 'Watch List' II: Jim Rohr. The CEO of PNC Financial Services Group next month becomes chairman of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development. Given PNC's deal this week that dives into the public pockets for Mr. Rohr's Three PNC Plaza skyscraper, we are not encouraged that he'll offer anything in the way of meaningful reform at the long-in-the-tooth conference.

The remainder of the L&L is worthy reading too. See the comments or the link above.

City's General Services director to depart

Another bites the dust.

City's General Services director to depart Mr. Perrett, 49, is a 21-year veteran of the department. He said his accomplishments include contracting out the city's vehicle maintenance, negotiating a deal with the Pittsburgh Public Schools to have city workers televise their meetings and 'just maintaining services despite severe cuts over the decade.'

The Pgh Cable Department / General Services did do some telivision work with the Pittsburgh Public Schools. However, the broadcasting of the Pgh Public Schools Board Meetings is to end, sadly. The success of the program was short lived.

The effective outcome of the broadcasting of the meetings is questioned too. One can't listen to any meeting on the web. Getting the meetings into MP3 files and stored there, for listening, is a no-brainer that General Services could have and should have done.

The Cable TV offering from the city were stripped of a number of employees and a lot of the wind in their sails departed. They work hard to just keep their heads above water. Other efforts for more cooperation among the other institutions in town could have been championed from the upper administration managers.

The O'Connor camp is not commenting on personnel moves. It is December 23 and we've heard of one person being hired.

Perhaps the higher cost of either parking or fuel has gotten to the transition team efforts. Bob might be waiting until he gets his official parking spot before he ventures out, as he got nailed by the media for nicking extra graces in prior parking news coverage.

Splendid Concept Maps of I.D. issue from MN prof.

I love the concept of "Concept Maps."

Here is a great example of Concept Maps on I.D. He is an assistant professor in MN.

I've not even looked far into the conclusions he puts forth. But, I love the use of technology in the covering of the issue.

Insight: I've been so busy in the past two weeks, I've not even watched the news or read the newspapers. I saw ID in the headlines. And, I've got all the papers sitting here, for reading soon.

Some Libertarians with an guest speaker, now a GOPer, at the Allegheny County Lib Christmas Party

Mark, Russ Diamond, Dave, Joe.

I'm now the Allegheny County Libertarian Party Vice-Chair. That's Dave Powell, my boss, the new chairman in the photo.

Russ has been working hard with Operation Clean Sweep in the past months. His site is at www.PACleanSweep.org.