Connecting the dots

Jim Motznik trivia: Did you know he collects political buttons?

Back at ya.

The People's Republic of Pittsburgh Raising A Glass to My Fellow Bloggers

Reach Arena Deal By Friday

Humm.... Out in the open talks. Can you say LEAK?

kdka.com - Officials Hope To Reach Arena Deal By Friday One source says there's been major discussion over just who will pay a $10 million debt the Pens owe to their former gaming partner Isle of Capri.

The state, county and city have refused to foot the bill, but the same source says the city and county may buy the central medical building from the Pens to partially off-set that cost.

Who is going to pay for the tearing down of the civic arena, another $7-million cost?

Who is paying for the remediation of the building of its toxic building materials now?



Kissing butt, a time honored tradition.

PG Chat - Should laws prevent spanking by parents of children

Noon kick off on Thursday.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Chat Thursday, February 01, 2007
Should laws prevent spanking children?

www.myspace.com/chrischandlerorg

www.myspace.com/chrischandlerorg: Chris Chandler's song, Letters, (<5 minutes). Dear Mom & Dad, ... I'm being sent around the world to ... in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

The first letter is from Alex. The second letter is about Alex. Tune and story told by a Great American Storyteller.

Public comments before Pgh City Council

Introduction of a new CD, "How to Run." Welcome to Jim Motznik for starting a web page. I feel Luke Ravenstahl, Bill Peduto and Jim Motznik, since Bill said so, are all like peas in a pod. End statement with wonders about video cameras at City Planning Meeting about the Bar Bill.

Hear the audio at Rauterkus.blip.tv.

UPDATE: Jim Motznik's blog had its plug pulled.

From Picassa

UPDATE 2: Someone, hours later, re-opened the dead Motznik blog.

CHURN: Prudent people don't sanction such wasteful spending -- before deals are signed

Haste makes waste.

It makes little sense to knock down 11 buildings for a new arena before a deal is signed. Good stewardship does not look like this.

Arena deal or no deal? Clock is running - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review The city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority after Feb. 8 could begin demolishing 11 properties it purchased between Centre and Fifth avenues to prepare for a new arena.

'Market at Fifth' center of Downtown makeover - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

The root of the problem: piecemeal.

'Market at Fifth' center of Downtown makeover - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review 'They didn't want to do it piecemeal,' he said.

I'm a big fan of piecemeal. Walk before running. Crawl before walking.

The distinction is between "whole" and "hole." Or, wholistic and holistics.

Ex-Mayor Murphy grow to be all about mega developments. They choked the city. They were too big. They were growing city governement, something that is already too big.

Rather, more marketplace respect is needed. The city needed to rush to get out of the way of private investments.

It is great that the existing buildings were saved. It is great that the Pgh History & Landmarks is doing a deal. It is great to have Tom Murphy out of government.

The funny thing about these concepts came from an elevator ride I once had with the guys from Chicago who were in town to work with Tom Murphy's concept of a downtown mall with cinemas and Nordstroms. They were from Urban Retail Properties. They and Murphy talked about the need for an 'anchor.' They thought there was a need to subsidize the biggest businesses. The guy said that the development needed 'a whale.' And, that the public funds would have to feed this whale.

No joke.

Their thoughts claimed that once Pittsburgh bagged a whale, then all the other fish in the sea would somehow follow and create specialized, small business outlets.

I told him whales eat plankton and that he should take his blueprints and back to sixth grade science class.

Pop City - Pittsburgh as a Foreign City

Pop City - Pittsburgh as a Foreign City Pittsburgh as a Foreign City

We took Abby, our former house guest from Chengdu, China, now a Ph.D. student at Pitt, to one of Pitt's football games this fall. I had asked her, what did she know about American Football. She said, "Only what I've seen in the movie Forest Gump."



So, it is one thing to be from abroad in Pittsburgh as in Pop City's article. Here we go international. Plant seeds of opportunity abroad about Pittsburgh. Then have "follow-up" and become part of the gang-plank so others can land among us in Pittsburgh.

World Crises | Reuters.co.uk

World Crises | Reuters.co.uk Congress can stop Iraq war, experts tell lawmakers

Wish they would. But, they're mostly chicken. Ron Paul isn't. But the rest are content to just say, not more troop build-up.

Peduto questions mayor on knowledge of PEAS in POD

From texture - foods

I came back from California to Pittsburgh and seem to have entered, T h e T w i l i g h t Z o n e. Two peas in a pod. What kinda the time warp or worm hole did we just enter? Yesterday I pointed out that LUKE and BILL are two PEASs in the same pod. (scroll down) Now we've got a third pea identified, thanks to Bill, Jim.

Peduto questions mayor on knowledge of blog attack: "'Luke Ravenstahl and Jim Motznik are two peas in a pod,' Mr. Peduto said."

Something smells fishy.

From texture - foods

So sorry if you happen to be reading this blog on an empty stomach. I'm just about to upgrade this Running Mates blog to version 2.01, the one with scratch and sniff features turned 'on.'

Now to the semi-serious content of Peduto's recent sound bite:

Peduto questions mayor on knowledge of blog attack: "He asked what the public would be saying 'if Tom Murphy was arrested and put in handcuffs.

Yes. What about that? Why wasn't Tom Murphy put in handcuffs when he was mayor? Tom Murphy should have been arrested. But, Bill Peduto and Luke Ravenstahl and the third pea in the pod, Jim Motznik, were all too busy kissing up to Tom Murphy to have him arrested. By law, Tom Murphy needed to submit a balanced budget. He was known to fudge the numbers and even make phantom budgets that BILL PEDUTO SIGNED.

I would have been sure to have Tom Murphy arrested for making a TV campaign commercial for Ed Rendell for Governor right in the Mayor's office.

Next question: Bob Mayo's report and the web page from WTAE are not exactly the same. Did Luke ask Jim to not blog. Or, did he ask Jim to not blog any more about the handcuffs incident?

City Councilman Attacks Peer With New Blog - News Ravenstahl told WTAE Channel 4 Action News that he has asked Motznik to refrain from blogging any further on the issue.

Update with another MSM pointer to the peas in pod mention:

Pittsburgh blogs foment controversy - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review 'I think most folks understand that Jim Motznik and Luke Ravenstahl are two peas in a pod,' said Peduto, who denied spreading rumors about Ravenstahl's run-in with police. 'There are no truths to what Jim Motznik is saying. It's probably (being done) to protect his best friend, Luke Ravenstahl.'

Get a grip Luke. No tennant -- no new arena

Earth to Luke, come in Luke.

We've got an arena. We have a tennant problem. We don't have a signed lease for next year from the Penguins.

So, if we don't have a major tennant -- we can't afford the $7-million to tear down the Civic Arena and the $300-million to build a new one in its space. If the Pens depart -- we won't be getting a new facility.

Arena deal or no deal? Clock is running - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Ravenstahl yesterday responded to Hill District community leaders who are concerned that residents were being excluded from talks about how to use gambling money to redevelop their neighborhood. He plans to meet this week with state Rep. Jake Wheatley Jr., D-Hill District, and others.

'We will include the residents of the Hill District in the discussion,' Ravenstahl said. A new arena is 'one of the most important components in the redevelopment of the Hill District.'

Postcard and Handout

Needing tags for the new blog

Once blogger came out, I asked them to allow for tags. Now they've arrived. But, I'm not sure what tags to deploy?

I've got the four themes for campaign mode:

Future, Freedom, Fitness, Flow

I could just make them up as I go along:

Candidate, housekeeping, call (or invite), etc.

I might want to use the tag field to link back to the Platform.For-Pgh.org/wiki.

Advice welcome.

From texture - foods

Dawida

Dawida's point of being a friend of the schools gets my attention. Is he a friend of the school buildings, the teachers union, the kiss-butt foundations, the new superintendent, or -- the kids in the school buildings. Or, is he a friend of education? Who knows?

"... I'm at a point in my life where I can say and do what needs to be done," the 57-year-old Carrick resident said. "At this point, I just want to help my city."

So, Dawida would want us to think that others are not to that point in their lives now -- such as him. Or, is he to have us think that his past service as an elected official was more about helping himself and not wanting to help his city.

Does this make Dawida qualified? He understood that before he wasn't able to do what was in the best interest of the city -- and now that phase is just a memory.

A state representative and then senator from 1978 to 1995, Mr. Dawida is perhaps best known for his role as the lone Democrat on the Allegheny County Board of Commissioners from 1996 through 1999.

That sums it up. His career is known for nothing but personality. Is this Skrinjar talk?

Less than half way through a four-year term, he joined with Republican Bob Cranmer in crafting a bi-partisan majority that froze out the GOP's Larry Dunn. They then cooperated with Mayor Tom Murphy to put together the financing plan for PNC Park, Heinz Field and the new David L. Lawrence Convention Center.

Blogger 2.0 upgrade has occured here

I've gone to blogger 2.0. Notice the Google Ads now run at the very top of the page, where the search field used to reside. And, the Google Calendar seems to peek into a tiny horizontal box at the top of the posting area -- where the Google Ads used to reside.

Woops.

I've changed my blog archives to weekly, not monthly.

This blok has had 4,652 posts.

War costs Americans $10-Billion per month in Iraq & Afghanistan

Congressman Ron Paul reports:

Since 2001, Congress has spent more than $500 billion on specific appropriations for Iraq. This sum is not reflected in official budget and deficit figures.

Congress has funded the war by passing a series of so-called supplemental spending bills, which are passed outside of the normal appropriations process and thus deemed off-budget.

This is fundamentally dishonest: if we're going to have a war, let's face the costs -- both human and economic -- squarely. Congress has no business hiding the costs of war through accounting tricks.

As the war in Iraq surges forward, and the administration ponders military action against Iran, it's important to ask ourselves an overlooked question: Can we really afford it? If every American taxpayer had to submit an extra five or ten thousand dollars to the IRS this April to pay for the war, I'm quite certain it would end very quickly. The problem is that government finances war by borrowing and printing money, rather than presenting a bill directly in the form of higher taxes. When the costs are obscured, the question of whether any war is worth it becomes distorted.

Congress and the Federal Reserve Bank have a cozy, unspoken arrangement that makes war easier to finance. Congress has an insatiable appetite for new spending, but raising taxes is politically unpopular. The Federal Reserve, however, is happy to accommodate deficit spending by creating new money through the Treasury Department. In exchange, Congress leaves the Fed alone to operate free of pesky oversight and free of political scrutiny. Monetary policy is utterly ignored in Washington, even though the Federal Reserve system is a creation of Congress.

The result of this arrangement is inflation. And inflation finances war.

Economist Lawrence Parks has explained how the creation of the Federal Reserve Bank in 1913 made possible our involvement in World War I. Without the ability to create new money, the federal government never could have afforded the enormous mobilization of men and material. Prior to that, American wars were financed through taxes and borrowing, both of which have limits. But government printing presses, at least in theory, have no limits. That's why the money supply has nearly tripled just since 1990.

For perspective, consider our ongoing military commitment in Korea. In Korea alone, U.S. taxpayers have spent $1 trillion in today's dollars over 55 years. What do we have to show for it? North Korea is a belligerent adversary armed with nuclear weapons, while South Korea is at best ambivalent about our role as their protector. The stalemate stretches on with no end in sight, as the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the men who fought in Korea give little thought to what was gained or lost. The Korean conflict should serve as a cautionary tale against the open-ended military occupation of any region.

The $500 billion we've officially spent in Iraq is an enormous sum, but the real total is much higher, hidden within the Defense Department and foreign aid budgets. As we build permanent military bases and a $1 billion embassy in Iraq, we need to keep asking whether it's really worth it. Congress should at least fund the war in an honest way so the American people can judge for themselves.

Honesty is the best policy. Peace makes for another great policy as well.

House Party to Play Peacemaker -- anyone?

This new game is due shortly. How about if we hold a house party and play this with a small group one evening.

Interested?

Luke and Bill are TWO PEAS in the Same Pod

From texture - foods

There are lies, and then there are bigger lies. This is a big MSM lie, thanks to the Trib.

The two men battling for Pittsburgh's top job have little in common beyond their allegiance to the Democratic Party.

Councilman Bill Peduto, 42, of Point Breeze, is a bachelor with a dozen years of experience in city government. He's challenging Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, 26, who has been married since 2004, spent most of his life in the North Side and has worked three years for the city.

An analysis of their votes when the two served together on City Council reveals stark political and philosophical differences.

Stark my ass.

Just as Bob O'Connor and Tom Murphy where two peas in the same pod, so it is with Luke and Bill. Today's peas are a different crop. But, the similar methods and global understandings are far more of the same than otherwise.

From texture - foods

Neither are proactive. Neither are bold leaders. Neither are the type to rock the boat. Neither are open. Neither are against wasteful, big-ticket spending such as the twin tunnels under the Allegheny River to serve the stadiums. Neither are prudent. Neither are interested in growing the region. Neither advance freedom. Neither are really independent. Neither are parents nor with any morsel of concern for young people. Neither are adverse to going to court to solve problems. Neither are strong supporters of the democratic process. Neither want to offend friends in high places. Neither are scholars, researchers nor understand public education in the city. Neither have stood up to tax breaks for the special. Neither respect the market place.

Neither are against tax breaks for the rich for downtown housing with additional tax breaks for the cars of the rich.

Peduto's no vote on the TIF to PNC was based on the lack of standards for decorative lighting on the building or some other tidbit of lost power for city hall -- not on the principle of rejection corporate welfare. Peduto has been PRO-TIF throughout his career. He even pushed for TIFs at Lunar Square and in Shandyside.

From texture - foods

Peduto's bubble bill was a good example of how the two are different, yet very much the same. In the end, the bubble bill went pop. In the end, it didn't matter. In the end, they both were useless. Nothing changed. Sure, Peduto was quick to be against free speech. Ravenstahl was against freedom to choose. Neither worried about the big issue -- women's health. This was sidewalk politics only as big as a sign can be. Both were very happy to be in a cloud of dust that saw no net gain in any front -- except more enemies for the city and increased frustrations.

Neither worry about enforcement. Neither made strides with the citizen police review board. Neither made strides with the ethics commission. Neither made strides with the tear down of a house in Hazelwood that then caused additional damage after a fire. Oakland is a pit, has been a pit, and now that there is an election -- will become a pit stop for false promises. Neither give a rats ass about enforcement -- speaking of rodent control.

Neither have returned radios, yet alone cell phones, to the crossing guards.

Neither have worked to re-open the closed indoor ice rink.

Neither have pledged in this campiagn to debate 88 times, once in each neighborhood, and face all candidates each appearance.

Twanda Carlisle's questionable spending practices is proof enough that they both are not proactive. Neither objected to the $1-million slush fund that each member of council had been given by Tom Murphy as a pay-off for support. Both kissed up to Mayor Murphy in the past. Neither watched spending with a keen sense of urgency.

From texture - foods

Ravenstahl spokesman Dick Skrinjar said "the single most important vote" of the candidates' shared time on City Council was Jan. 3, 2006, when Ravenstahl was unanimously elected council president -- a job that positioned him to become mayor if O'Connor could not serve out his term. O'Connor was diagnosed with brain cancer six months later and died Sept. 1, 2006.

"Remember, they both voted for the same guy, and that's why we're here today," Skrinjar said.

If anyone had confidence in Dick Skrinjar before he said that -- then consider how Skrinjar thinks. Skrinjar's most important value is the man. Skrinjar is about the personality and the power. Skrinjar would fit well with royalty and the court and the expression, "Long Live The King."

Hey Dick, it isn't really all about you, Luke nor Bill.

I'm here today because I haven't walked away. Some of us have not departed, and some are still standing firm -- because we know it is about bigger concepts. For some, life and government is about the greater good, the values of being an American, being free, being with liberty.

From texture - foods

Skrinjar points to the zenith -- a vote for a person. That's because there isn't a single vote in their history where either Luke nor Bill made a vote for freedom. The Grant Street gang cares about celebrity and personality -- not Pittsburgh.

Neither Ravenstahl nor Peduto nor Skrinjar care about the big picture, such as the consititution, rights, freedom and JUSTICE FOR ALL. Their worries are special interests. Some are more special than others, so they seem to think.

When an honest evaluation occurs, Bill Peduto and Luke Ravnestahl are much like two peas in the same pod, while a big frost settles on the landscape.

From texture - foods

Fun, fun, fun -- without the t-bird. Do You Know the Way to Monterey?

News at 11. That's on the 11th. Been there. Done that.

Day started with 'jazz church.'

At the aquarium, M was sure that Grant should go first in the shark bite simulator. Grant was going to try it with his left arm if not his foot.

Perhaps the Pgh Bloggers could get a pool of money together and approach the Pgh Zoo and Aquarium and offer to sponsor a local version of the shark bite simulator.

A women, while at the otter exhibit said that she didn't know of a place where people could swim with otters. Grant said, "Lady, have you ever heard of the ocean?"

Today's agenda: Erik wants to go whale watching. Redwood sightings are possible. The boys said they wanted to 'sleep in' and just relax to start the day. But, at 5:30 am they were putting lumps in our bed, here at our Hotel Califorinia. Perhaps we'll eat Rice-a-roni and commute on the cable cars for kicks and stroll in Aquatics Park. Catherine expect to peer around with and at the seals as well on Pier 39.


We took both a city tour and a boat tour in San Francisco.

Didn't eat Rice-a-Roni.

Hitting upon every hot button of my campaigns

Who is to blame:The economic ignorance of Pittsburgh's elites.

The Regional Asset District and the Urban Redevelopment Authority -- Richman would put them both "out of business." And he'd defy civic groups like the Riverlife Task Force and the Parks Conservancy to transform any more economic places to merely esthetic spaces.

Right on. I'm in favor of NUKING all four organizations.

Well, the later two need a drastic change of course and purpose. It is a bit harsh to call for them to be NUKED. But, they do HURT the public landscape, in my humble opinion. And, they are hangouts for economic ignorance of Pittsburgh's elites.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/columnists/markowitz/s_490549.html