Do political parties matter anymore?

The Mercury - Do political parties matter anymore? I've been trying to think of a movie that best describes what happened in last month�s Pennsylvania primary, where 17 incumbents, mostly Republicans, were ousted by voters. I've come up with a film that sums up the present state of party politics: 'Titanic.'

So true here in Pittsburgh where Ben Woods is up for chair of the Allegheny County Dems.

They are all just re-arranging the deck chairs. I'm a lifeguard. I know we need some to man the lifeboats. But I'm also very proactive and would love to have a few join as we storm the bridge and navigate around the troubled waters that they put us in. We've got to stop their clueless ways.

The biggest thing to not do is have them skipper the reform that is brewing. We need to replace, re-direct, and then reform. They can't reform. They broke things and they must be replaced.

MAKE: Blog: Stitch N' Pitch - Baseball meets Needlecrafts

This is one way for Major League Baseball to counter the No Sweatshops Noise that is sure to hit the fan at the All-Star Game in Pittsburgh next month.

MAKE: Blog: Stitch N' Pitch - Baseball meets Needlecrafts The National Needle Arts Association (TNNA) is proud to announce a new program - Stitch N' Pitch! Building on the success at the Seattle Mariners last year, the Stitch N' Pitch event has been structured into a formal program. Partnering with individual baseball clubs, TNNA is helping to bring two American traditions together -- Baseball and the NeedleArts. We'll be at the SF Giants game on July 20th ( see MAKE post here ). Other teams up on the craft action are the Minnesota Twins, Seattle Mariners, Colorado Rockies, Texas Rangers, LA Dodgers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Arizona Diamondbacks, Cleveland Indians, and the Atlanta Braves. Check out the site for the full schedule and for more information. Link.

Las Vegas SUN: Liberal view grows online

Las Vegas SUN: Liberal view grows online: "Liberal view grows online
Activists gather at Riviera to hear Democrats

By J. Patrick Coolican, Las Vegas Sun

After news broke last week that Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid had accepted free ringside boxing tickets from the Nevada State Athletic Commission, a Web site immediately attacked the reporting.

Reid had voted against the interests of the commission, said the new Web site, TPMmuckraker.com. State law prevented the Nevada Democrat from paying for the tickets.

The Web site continued the rebuttal, making new arguments each time the Associated Press sent out a new story. Eventually, AP issued a defensive response.

Not long ago, a story of that nature about Reid would have gone largely unchallenged. Democrats would have watched, perhaps deflated, as one of its leading lights was pilloried for taking freebies.

Instead, this time, online Democrats were invigorated. For a variety of reasons - political, cultural, technological - liberal Web sites are in ascendance since President Bush's re-election. The most fervent evangelists among them believe they are changing politics."

Get ringside with this interesting article on the use of the net and politics.

This is what a real blog fest looks like. And, toss in a summit opportunity too.

PG West: Langley coach content with future

You had better bring your "A" game to go toe to toe -- as respect is earned.

PG West: Despite loss in PIAA baseball opener, Langley content with future Leo Rauterkus took it as a sign of respect.

Though his Langley baseball team was ultimately overmatched by three-time defending WPIAL champion Pine-Richland, 10-0, in the first round of the PIAA Class AAA tournament Monday, the Mustangs' head coach noticed the Rams started standout pitcher John Karr against his team.

'I saw that kid pitch in the WPIAL championship and thought we might see their No. 2 pitcher,' Rauterkus said. 'I don't know if it was respect for [senior pitcher] Matt Barnes, whom [some Pine-Richland players] played with at the Keystone Games or what.

'Matt pitched real well, but we just couldn't touch that kid [Karr].'

The fact that Karr pitched a no-hitter will do little to spoil the Mustangs' City League championship season.

Rauterkus said Langley, which trails only Peabody for most City League titles, has an enrollment (about 300 to 350 male students in ninth through 12th grades) that would place it in Class AA if it were not in the City League.

'It's tough every time we play in states,' Rauterkus said. 'We have 13 or 14 players on the team and we are facing programs that have a full varsity, plus JV and freshman teams. They have feeder programs, and we're just trying to keep this program going. It's tough. [Pine-Richland] was so strong all the way through their nine.'

Way to go Mustangs.

Perhaps Pine Richland will take it all.

And, perhaps we'll be able to NUKE the city league once and for all -- soon.

Russ Diamond, candidate for PA Governor, to enjoy 4th of July in Pittsburgh with Mark Rauterkus, family and running mates

Our 4th of July open house, a family tradition for nearly 20 years, is going to feature a special guest in 2006 -- Russ Diamond, candidate for PA Governor.

We'll be hosting a 4 pm press conference with Allegheny County boosters so the Independent candidate, Russ Diamond, can chart future campaign efforts and messages.

Througout the morning, day, and evening on July 4th, we'll be on the move from the South Side to various locations within the city and county -- and the 42nd Senate District. We'll visit various cookouts, parades and swim pools meeting voters, passing out blank nomination papers to volunteers and gathering signatures to get onto the ballot.

The night of the 4th of July, we'll be hosting a drop off gathering so volunteers can easily return their signed petitions.

If you'd like to assist, please let me know. Perhaps we can visit with you and your neighbors that day. If you'd like to attend our event, let me know. If you can get 10 to 100 signatures on nomination papers in advance of the 4th of July -- please let us know. Others are being invited to attend the 4 pm press event and then fan out around the county and to The Point to gather signatures to allow access to the November 7, 2006 general election for Russ Diamond for Governor and Mark Rauterkus for PA Senate.

Mark at Rauterkus dot com

412 298 3432 = cell

Or leave a message in this blog's comments.

TRENDS & TECHNOLOGIES that affect the way government does IT

TRENDS & TECHNOLOGIES that affect the way government does IT Still riding a high from the launch of FirstGov.gov’s new search engine, the company behind the search technology, officers of Vivisimo Inc. of Pittsburgh stopped by GCN to talk about the latest version of its Velocity platform. It turns out the General Services Administration (and the browsing public) got a sneak peak at several Velocity 5.0 features through FirstGov.gov.

Welcome to Adventures of Greg

Interesting reads.

Welcome to Adventures of Greg: "It is my goal to direct attention to these pressing issues by combining difficult physical challenges with innovative, cutting-edge 'greener' technology.

Currently, I have THREE physical endurance adventures in the works.

Post 3589 on 6-6-6

Some benchmarks: This blog has had 3,589 postings.

My wiki, Platform.For-Pgh.org, has 767 pages and its first page has been accessed 98,696 times.

A friend told me that my blog often show with high rankings on his web feed from the new My Pittsburgh site being tested with the Pittsburgh Live site (Tribune Review). One early reviewer.

On Friday night, we hosted our FIRST ever "sold out" House Concert. It was the 2nd such event in our new setting, just opened on Christmas morning, 2005. Nearly 50 people attended in one seating.

Pittsburgh Republicans Looking For Ethics Board Candidates

Since the O'Connor administration in January, the Republican Committee of Pittsburgh has been among the leaders in asking for the new Mayor to re-establish the long-dormant Ethics Board.

Then, councilwoman Twanda Carlisle was caught funneling large amounts of city money to friends for projects that are at the very least somewhat dubious. Paramount was a "councilmatic" health and religious study of her district. The study was vastly bloated with statistics and work provided by other reports. In fact, beside a two-cents worth of opinion, the study was nearly stolen from non-diploma-mill doctors. Investigators say these allocations were legal. There isn't an Ethics Board to review whether or not it "should" have been done.

There have been other allocations from other council members as well. Now, city councilman Bill Peduto, the closest thing fiscal conservatives have to "one of their own" on Pittsburgh council, has introduced legislation aimed at restarting the board.

The Ethics board should be made up of folks who are not political cronies or members of any political committee.

That being said, the Republican Committee of Pittsburgh is looking for qualified candidates to provide to Pittsburgh city council. People who are stalwarts of their community but are not Republican, Democrat, Libertarian or any third-party's committee members.

They should be city residents who lead in their community and/or business ventures.

Visit www.pghgop.org for more information or provide your candidate. You may also post here and I'll check it out.

Tom Leturgey
Secretary
Republican Committee of Pittsburgh

Pine-Richland routs Langley

Pine-Richland routs Langley - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review 'Every time we go to states, it seems like we are always overmatched,' said Langley coach Leo Rauterkus, whose team ends the season at 17-6. 'It's every year.'

Another telling quote from the city-league coach about the Pine Richland pitcher: "Karr just overmatched us," Rauterkus said. "That's all. We don't see a kid like that all year."

This is why the city league needs to be abolished and turned into a tournament or senior post-season all star classic opportunity. Meanwhile the teams in the city league need to be in the WPIAL on a day-in-and-day-out basis.

Way to go P-R. Win states this year.

The Ridge factor

The Ridge factor - Tribune-Review Tom Ridge plus Lynn Swann does not directly equal more votes.

Egypt cracks down on political bloggers

This is why I get just yawn at the Pittsburgh Blog Fests. I think we need to be agitators and instigators in terms of freedoms, not social beer swilling do littles.

Egypt cracks down on political bloggers At least six bloggers are among about 300 protesters jailed during the past month's suppression of demonstrations. The bloggers, supporters say, were singled out by police, who pointed them out before agents rushed in to hustle them away. In the view of some human rights observers, the Egyptian government has begun to note political activity online and is taking steps to rein it in.

City may lose money in selling Downtown buildings

Told you so.

City may lose money in selling Downtown buildings Since 1999, the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority has spent nearly $14 million buying properties Downtown in hopes of enticing a developer to remake the Fifth and Forbes corridor.

All the while, critics said the city was paying too much.

Now that the URA is working to finalize an agreement with Washington County developer Millcraft Industries and partner Ira Morgan to redevelop the 19 city-owned buildings, it appears the critics may have been right.

"May have been right" is the understatement of the decade.

Back in 2000 we KNEW the city was going to loose it financially. Then came the overlords.

In 2002 we KNEW the city was going to fumble the ball on its REC Centers and Swim Pools -- and put them to the test for the installing free mini-computer labs in eight sites -- and the city proved us right again.

We knew we were right on city wide wi-fi -- which won't come nor happen by the All-Star Game.

We knew we were right with Lazarus dealings.

We knew we were right about the continual population loss. People are still voting with their feet.

We knew we were right about the Pay Raise.

We nay-sayers are able to think again.

The deal that is most advantageous to the city is to REPLACE -- then REFORM. We're not getting anything that is splendid from the big-picture when looking at what's still in the pipeline from these folks.

House Concert -- success and follow-ups later

We had nearly 50 people at tonight's house concert that featured the fantastic music of Joe Jencks ... and a guest performer or two. Photos and details later....

Next, we've got a weekend swim meet in Hampton. AM with Grant. PM with Erik. And, other club swimmers too, of course.

Thanks for the interest and attending. We had a great event and energy.

Joe Jencks at our house concert

Joe Jencks and some Pittsburgh friends at our recent House Concert.

From Joe Jencks ho...

From Joe Jencks ho...

Welcome young Rain, son of an artist

Marc D, a young man who worked for me when in high school, years ago, doing some illustrations for some books, then went to S.U., moved to LA to work in the entertainment biz, got married, and now has a son, "Rain." Welcome to the world!

I guess that makes sense -- Art Festival, Rain. Artist kid's name, Rain.

His dad always wanted me to name one of my sons, "Rowdy Rauterkus." Rowdy is a great name, as in Rowdy Gains, a world class swimmer. There is a good prayer in there somewhere.

In other art news, hat tip to the Art-School Bound A.J., who got an award as the best artists in his high school. A.J. went with us to Hong Kong in the fall. He is headed to the art school in Savanah, Georgia.

Steelers field trip to White House -- and School kids could be indoors -- without a rain out 'field day'

Let's think again.

The Steelers are going on a 'field trip' to the 'White House' -- and are pumped by the 'educational value.' They want to explore some unseen rooms, as I heard in one interview. How cool -- learning about our nation's seat of power.

Meanwhile, today, the kids at our local public school, Phillips Elementary, had a 'field day' scheduled for Cupples Stadium on the South Side. We had dozens of parent volunteers in yellow shirts -- all with state police clearances on file in the school office. We had seven stations for the older kids (grades 3, 4 and 5) and another seven stations for the younger ones (K, 1 and 2).

My wife and I were set to manage the Javelin and Jump Rope station. The javelin is really just one of those foam noodles that are swim pool toys. They'll get a five yard run up and toss -- but it is more like a paper airplane flight and not brute strength. Jump rope -- also another skill spot counting max number of jumps in 30-seconds.

But all is down the drain today for the kids. The rain means we can't go.

This school field day is the third MAJOR rain out this year as the girls elementary school track meet and the back-up rain date were BOTH wash outs.

Wouldn't it be nice if the indoor UPMC Sports Medicine Facility where the Steelers practice could have been made available to the school -- just in case of rain as we've got today?

I'm not an angry one who holds a chip on my shoulder.... but .... I'm not the one to make that call to the facility managers.

For the sake of the new school administrators who have just moved to town -- understand that the facility should never have been built where it is located. That development was for an extension of the South Side, such as housing, flex office space, retail -- and new jobs. It wasn't geared to be an island of hanger sized buildings that have no community access.

UPMC has a hospital on the South Side, and has had it for years. To build onto the hospital would have been a wise move as doctors, like Dr. Fu, do surgery there at the hospital -- but not at the football training facility. And, behind the UPMC South Side Hospital is a closed indoor ice rink, a football field, an upper field, parking lots, and quite a bit of space that could have been devoted to sports.

I wanted the Steelers to move into an expanded UPMC Hospital -- not help to create a private drive on the edge of the riverfront with dwarf (non-regulation sized) fields.

Or, I wanted the Steelers to share a facility with So Vo Tech and Pgh Public Schools at South Side Stadium -- also known as Cupples Stadium. They could have built up that facility, put a roof over it, put in a parking garage and offices there -- with a nice view of the city right off of the Liberty Bridge / McArtle Road.

Then we'd be able to hold the events of the season indoors. And, the Steelers could have build a grass field on the top of the parking garage in the area too -- where we really need parking.

Meanwhile the Panthers could have held onto Pitt Stadium -- using it for practices. And the new basketball arena, The Pete, could and should have been built down Panther Hollow near the Parkway East and Hazelwood -- where the development is really needed. That would have been a cornerstone for Pitt's Riverside Campus.

Told ya so.

And today, as I chat with fellow parents of public school kids I say -- too bad the kids have a rain out when we should be in the UPMC / Steeler facility. None of them know what it is like in that indoor facility, with a small track. They've never seen it nor set foot inside. I have - for an opening day reception and a couple high-end seminars with the sports researchers / doctors.

The community leaders of today are clueless as to what was promised to the community a few years ago. We were told that we'd have access to that facility at least twice a month -- for 24 major events a year.

Lies.

I know of a few instances when we could have had our dance card punched -- and ducked a rain out for the kids' sake. Today is one such day. Two weeks ago presented another couple instances.

If anyone wants the details -- call me. I'll explain and fill in the blanks. Or, email at the bottom of this blog entry.

I hope the Steelers learn all about Jefferson, Lincoln, FDR, and others today. I hope they get a feel for the sense of space that has been protected and functional for a long time -- and isn't going out of style anytime soon, thank goodness. I hope they get motivated to learn more about history and politics because of their visit to 1600 Pennsylvania avenue. Perhaps in the future, another one of them will try to run for public office -- like old #88 is doing now in a quest for PA Governor.

Getting the Steelers into the realm of the real world political scene would be good for a lot of reasons. Perhaps some will make TV spots of endorsements and others will find it wise to drop a $1,000 donations -- or $10,000 ones -- to a few candidates for public office -- even a gym owner trying to unseat a long-standing state rep from the one-party ruling class.

Field trips -- isn't life funny at times.

Russ Diamond, Indie for PA Governor: Supports the REPEAL of Act 71 -- the slots bill.

web repost

I'd like to talk a little bit about why I support repealing Act 71 - the slots bill.

First off, let me state that I'm pretty neutral on gambling itself. I've never had much of a penchant for gambling, although I will spend a couple dollars on a lottery ticket once in a while, if the jackpot gets really big.

Other than that, I don't play cards, I don't go to the racetrack, and I don't make trips to Atlantic City or Las Vegas to gamble. The fact is, the odds are always stacked against you, and I'm pretty tight with my earnings.

But if someone else chooses to take that risk, it doesn't much bother me, as long as they're not wasting their child's college fund or otherwise overdoing it and adversely effecting others.

So why do I care about repealing Act 71? It's pretty simple - Act 71 was passed by the legislature in the very same unconstitutional manner as last year's pay raise.

The slots bill spent months in the House and Senate and then - at the last moment - it was shoved off to committee where ALL the original text was stripped out the one-page bill and completely replaced with an 140+ page "amendment" that completely changed the bill's meaning.

Its passage violated the original purpose rule, the single subject rule, and the three-day rule - all of which are clearly outlined in the Constitution. It was challenged in the PA Supreme Court, but Ralph Cappy's crew said it was OK by them.

And that's the crux of our problem in Pennsylvania - the three branches of government are all too willing to trample the Constitution - and collude with each other to do so. They do it for various reasons - to trade favors with other lawmakers, to get a bit more money for themselves, to enact programs "for the children," or - as Ed Rendell put it - to "kiss a little butt."

But I think the people of this Commonwealth are fed up with this brand of behavior from elected officials and are willing to stand up and insist that the Constitution be followed - and that's what I intend to do as Governor.

But even putting its blatant unconstitutionality aside, there are plenty of other reasons to "back up the truck" on the slots issue - because every step of the way, they've done it all wrong.

First, I would have liked to have been asked if we wanted slots in Pennsylvania. Put it on a referendum: Should we make slot machines legal in Pennsylvania? It's a simple question. And don't give us any carrot on a stick like property tax relief to try to entice us. We all know that carrot's gone now - and all we have left is the stick. Just ask the question - do we want slots or not?

And while we're at it, let's ask if Pennsylvanians want to pay for public education with gambling money. As I've talked with citizens across the Commonwealth during the last year or so, I've gotten the distinct impression that Pennsylvanians are a little queasy about this.

But let's assume the people voted to open the door for slots and use the proceeds to educate our children. How would you implement slots parlors in Pennsylvania?

If you're trying to raise money for education, would you come up with a system where the state retains most of the earnings, much like the lottery system? Or would you let the lion's share of proceeds go to others, like the way they're doing it now?

And if you're really trying to raise revenue, wouldn't you auction off the licenses to the highest bidder - instead of fixing a set price for all of them? Imagine what kind of educational endowment fund we might have had if each of these 14 licenses were sold at their market price, which some experts have said could be as high as $500-600 million! But no, Pennsylvania is letting them go at the bargain basement rate of $50 million each.

And being aware of the negative social side effects that expanded gambling will certainly bring, wouldn't you try to at least concentrate those problems in the smallest possible geographic area? Or would you plant those problems squarely in 14 different communities across Pennsylvania, placing a significant future burden
on each?

Finally, how would you go about hiring the people to work on implementing slots? Would you allow cronyism? Would you perform rigid background checks? Would you check all their credentials? I think you'd do all these things with the greatest of care.

But not Pennsylvania. We've already seen five Gaming Board employees who've had run-ins with the law, with one incident involving the tragic death of a young woman who somehow fell from a high rise building in Harrisburg. And have you heard about the backgrounds of some of the people who've applied for slots licenses?

This whole business is pretty ugly already - and not one slots license has been issued and not one slot machine is even on line yet. Is this what we want for Pennsylvania's future?

These are the reasons I support a full repeal of Act 71. Let's stop right here and go back to the beginning, before things get worse.

Ed won't do it, because expanded gaming is his 'magic bullet' for property tax relief. But I've got some news for Ed - the property taxes of Pennsylvanians have already increased by more than he ever hoped slots money would bring us.

Lynn won't do it either, although he claims to be opposed to gambling. He's content with "inheriting" slots. I suppose that's understandable from him, considering that he accepted a $100,000 campaign contribution from someone whose family is applying for a slots license. It's kind of like the pay raise issue - he's trying to be on both sides of the fence.

On July 4, 2004, the slots bill got off to an unconstitutional start. It's been all downhill from there. But we can fix this. We can repeal Act 71. All it takes is a little effort.

We did it with the pay raise. In fact, Pennsylvanians have accomplished a lot of things in the last year that no one dreamed were possible.

As Governor, I will fight to stop slots and repeal Act 71. No other candidate is even willing to consider it.

The choice is clear.

House Concert -- Friday -- Sold OUT at 7 pm

Well, there is good news and bad news. Good news -- our out-of-town singer/songwritter friend, Joe Jencks is going to be playing a gig on the South Side in our new venue in the home/office to a nice sized audience.

We're full for the 7 pm set.

Our venue. One of our friends is in town from Florida. Two are from the media (one radio and one print). Another is running for state rep (and that's not me). We'll gather our ply-wood floor with air-conditioning, lemonaid, cookies and some serious singing, with words like, "Rise As One" and "protest."

If you were on the 'wait and see' list, bad news... You'll need to show up between 8 and 8:15. I expect we'll have a bit of room for you for the 8:30 set. Otherwise, take off for Point State Park and that show.

Snips from Chris Chandler: The Muse and Whirled Retort

T.H.E. .M.U.S.E. .A.N.D. .W.H.I.R.L.E.D. .R.E.T.O.R.T.
June 1, 2006

Woodstock, NY -- By the time we got to Woodstock we were…. Hey, there is only 2 of us in this car – but who's counting. Clearly not the main stream media. Clearly not Neil Young. Ya know, Neil – it is not that there are no protest singers – it is there are no outlets for us to be heard. Not a minor point here. But, you know, I have been on about that for a long time. I am just glad that Bush’s numbers are now so low – even the country music fans are turning against him – Congratulations Dixie Chicks! What’s next? I am waiting to see one of those NASCAR drivers with a big peace sign on the hood of his car. It would really be cool if the car ran on Bio-Diesel. Willie Nelson’s Race Car.

Magellan proved Copernicus right by circumnavigating the globe.

Someday someone is going to prove Einstein was right. But to do it we’ll have to learn a lot about ….infinity.

Ya see, Einstein maintained that the universe is round. He said every straight line in the universe eventually intersects itself. Think about that! The implications are staggering… It would logically follow that Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell will eventually admit that they have always been secretly attracted to each other. Perhaps move to Canada… admit that they’ve always been… Episcopalians.

Perhaps this is a good place in the news letter to mention that next Tuesday will be 6-6-6. (Really) perhaps this is why our president – who seems to be convinced the rapture will be any day now so it really doesn’t matter how badly he screws things up - does not seem concerned that our brave fighting men have become vigilante serial killers in Khaki. It is because they are not.

In Haditha he says, “Oh just a few bad apples.” OK I would like to believe that. Ya see your buddy get killed and ya wanna go kick some ass. Hell, I am a pacifist and I can feel that pain. They should still be prosecuted. However, I don’t believe those soldiers are the problem. It is not a few bad apples. Ya see, 8 MONTHS AGO! That means there WAS a cover up. Was it a few bad apples that covered it up?

Was it a few bad apples that paid the victims families off? (FACT) was it a few bad apples that approved the funding of the pay off? Was it a few more bad apples that ignored the pay off when balancing the books? Was it a few more bad apples that ignored the books when they came into your office? That’s a whole lotta apples. Remember Apple Pie is one of our National Symbols.

Or, George, could it be the other way around – that, in fact there are only a few bad apples. They are you and your cabinet. When the rapture comes (perhaps on 06-06-06) I hope it is you and your cabinet filled with bad apples that go. So we can have our Apple Pie back.

You too, "Heard the rooster crow, at the brink of kingdom come. But you rolled over and mashed the snooze button, and we slept through Armageddon. ...

Chris' rant goes on and on.

If he starts to put a smile on your face, subscribe to his monthly newsletter. And watch for him in a town near you, soon.