When is Motznik Going To Resign?

It wasn’t that long ago, perhaps immediately following the last presidential election, but Pittsburgh City Council member Jim Motznik was a panel guest on the Ann Devlin-version of NightTalk, and promised to resign from public office to work on Senator Hillary Clinton’s campaign, should she run for President.

Now I like Mr. Motznik personally. I’m still perplexed as to why he sprinted away from a Channel 4 cameraman a few years ago after being posed a rather pedestrian political question. He’s always been polite and friendly in the neighborhood, flush with folksy tête-à-tête, a sewer-boot wearing Paul Harvey if you will, albeit with only a third of a vulgarity. He’s a Renaissance man for the new age.

I remember the statement about giving up his day job for the betterment of our country as vividly as yesterday and thought it peculiar even then. Why would he have make such a declaration, even though it was the Ann Devlin version of NightTalk, which promised to deliver upwards of a dozen viewers at any given time, including me for at least one minute on any given evening.

I was always amazed that the show perpetually seemed to be in rerun. We’re not talking about the “good” NightTalk with John McIntyre, an above-it-all elitist with a fairly sublime sense of humor and quick wit, but the tumbleweed installment. Ms. Devlin appeared to have the cushiest post in all of local television, and yet the show would go for weeks upon weeks without new editions. It was kind of like “Lost” with decades between new installments…but I digress.

Anyhoo, as we all know, Mrs. Clinton appeared in a web-based video to “chat” about her run for presidency, a campaign everyone knew started the minute she and the former president smashed their last collector’s plate on the way out the door of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

In the video, the Senator from New York via Arkansas and Illinois looked as comfortable as an Iranian hostage in 1979, emboldened by the muscular Jimmy Carter administration. Like some of those 63 diplomats and three U.S. citizens who were shown on tape, Mrs. Clinton exuded confident, assured that the “take no prisoners” Carter domination would soon kick down the door for freedom. Her titular “Smartest Woman in the World” gimmick would assuredly surpass even those steel-enforced days of Carter supremacy, where money flowed through the streets much like the omnipresent oil and coal mining jobs.

With that type of euphoria right around the corner (despite Carter and the first President Clinton’s salad days, minority home ownership is only now at its highest levels ever), it’s imperative that we only draft our best and brightest to assure another eight years of intern-groping and Linda Bloodworth-Thomason menopause humor.

We need Barbara Streisand to be relevant again…wait, she was never relevant outside of Broadway and Tinseltown (and yes, I am referring to the David Dukes/Kristy Swanson vehicle from 1997)…but I continue to digress.

We as a country need to assure an upswing in collective virtues and values first started by the highly-successful Governor Tony Soprano/Rendell, where taxes are nearly non-existent and competence—from the Lieutenant Governor position on down to the guy who sweeps up after the High Holy Priest’s daily cheesesteak—is once again on par with those heady Carter administration days where peanuts were as precious as the Peso.

When will Mr. Motznik hand in his two-week notice and help prepare the world for Marilyn vos Savant’s more impressively intellectual sister?

Only time will tell, but it should be any day now.

Myron Cope To Lemieux: Keep Pens In Pittsburgh - News

Triple Yoy! Money has never been my god either. You betcha.

Myron Cope To Lemieux: Keep Pens In Pittsburgh - News Cope continued to try to persuade Lemieux by writing, 'Perhaps unfairly, I'm asking that you disregard bottom-line offers and keep the Pens here, simply because it's the right thing to do.'

Cope ended his letter to Lemieux with, 'Money has never been my God. Never.'

Time, however, has been my master, now and then.

Sports are nothing but games of time, space and relationship, so wrote a wise friend and author, Keven DeForrest.

With the floor falling at the Convention Center, I think that the Stadium and Exhibition Authority, as well as Dan Onorato, have other matters to attend to. So, I expect that the Pens will visit Houston and review the offers on the table from elsewhere.

Monkey's might come sailing out of that hole before we hear again from good old State Senator and SEA Board Member, Wayne Fontana, who said last week, "We haven't heard anything. So that must be a good sign."

This week the MSM had its video cameras targeted by the government-hired thugs -- as they more than frowned on my tiny camera in packed rooms at hearings two weeks ago.

Well, I think that the meltdown at the Convention Center is going to make for a deep freeze in the Pens talks about a new arena.

I've got a full-court rant brewing about the Convention Center for tomorrow.

Three Rivers Post & Standard -- yanked off on increased sales tax plan from Fast Eddie

I know another someone who is NOT happy with the plan to raise the sales tax. A touch of anger is in his words at this post on another blog.

The Three Rivers Post & Standard Fast Eddie can’t balance a budget and needs to raise the sales tax on all citizens. God forbid they actually cut some of the flab from the State budget.

From texture - misc.

Anne Feeney's email blast -- speaking of two recent deaths, Jennifer Strange and George Becker

Snips of Anne's email blast include:

THE CURIOUS CASE OF JENNIFER STRANGE

While I was in Sacramento I heard a story about a radio contest sponsored by KDND that reveals some interesting truths about America at the dawn of the 21st century.

the background

KDND "107.9 The End" had gotten hold of one of the highly advertised Nintendo Wii game systems. You've probably seen commercials or news stories about the lines waiting to buy these things. KDND's contest was "Hold Your Wee for a Wii."

The winner would be the person who could drink the most water without urinating.

One of the twenty contestants that morning was Jennifer Strange - a mother of three. She knew that her children really wanted this expensive game system. The contestants were given 8 ounces of water to drink every fifteen minutes for two hours. After three hours of this, all but two contestants had given up... Jennifer Strange and a woman named Lisa.

http://www.sacbee.com/static/newsroom/kdndslides/ You can listen to Jennifer joking with the DJs during the contest. She loses the contest to Lisa. A few hours after leaving the station she was found dead from "water intoxication." She had consumed 7.5 liters (almost 2 gallons) of water during the contest.

The reaction

While everyone agrees it was sad that this young mother died, there were many voices (including the Sacramento newspaper) talking about her 'free will,' her 'personal responsibility' and the 'release' that she signed. It set me to thinking.

I think it is our nature to trust others. We think, "Would the radio station invite me to do this if it could kill me?" But perhaps our trust is misplaced.

Every day United States workers are told to do things that are dangerous and unsafe. (Every year 60,000 death claims are paid to the families of those workers.) Every day soldiers are ordered to do things in Iraq, Guantanamo and elsewhere that violate the military code of ethics and the Geneva Conventions. Every day we open the newspaper or turn on the television and we hear about climate change, about the cost of the war in Iraq, about the violence in New Orleans. We certainly have more information about the life-threatening dangers facing us than Jennifer Strange did about the 'dangers' of drinking water.

Do we speak up? Do we refuse unsafe work? Do we support soldiers who are refusing to violate international law and the dictates of their consciences? Do we demand an end to the war? Do we demand responsible planning for a sustainable future? Do we demand housing and social services and law enforcement for the people of New Orleans?

Or do we sit at home and just keep swallowing, swallowing, swallowing the platitudes coming out of the White House? Why? In order to continue our lifestyle? We have the information we need to save our lives and the lives of future generations. If we ignore it and keep swallowing the lies coming to us from Washington and FOX (sic) News, how are we different from Jennifer Strange? How can we expect to avert her fate?

---

George Becker - died February 3, 2007 - age 78

My friend George Becker led an extraordinary life. He started on a labor gang in the open hearth at Granite City Steel in Illinois when he was 15 years old. He went on to become the President of the United Steelworkers' Union of America in 1993. He became labor's voice in the anti-corporate globalization movement. He brought thousands of Steelworkers to Seattle for the WTO demonstrations in 1999. The USWA presence was essential to the impact we had there.

I performed at the convention where the Rubber Workers Union merged with USWA (on my birthday) ... it was a really close vote. Rev Joseph Lowery spoke. Rich Trumka spoke. In the end, I think that merger was approved by seven votes. My dear brothers from Bridgestone Firestone in Decatur may have cast the pivotal votes... I'd like to think I had a small hand in that outcome.

During President Becker's tenure I worked on the lockouts at MSI and A/K steel. He never failed to inspire and empower his members. And he had a great sense of humor.

George was the voice of the rank and file. He never lost touch with them. His obituary is at http://www.postgazette.com/pg/07036/759517-122.stm

---

Anne is playing a house concert at 4 pm on Sunday, March 11, 2007. The Friendship House Concerts Presents Anne Feeney at Jim and LLouise Altes' House, Pittsburgh, PA 15224, Price: $10. Be there if you can.

Black and Gold pleads for Pittsburgh decision

Black and Gold Money won't make you happy; emulate The Chief and keep the Pens in Pittsburgh

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

I hope somebody reading this is close enough to Mario Lemieux to call it to his attention.

Mario, I've known you since your rookie season and have always found you a fine fellow, so I'm going to ask a lot of you. In these cynical times when the bottom line so often rules, it's perhaps silly to ask, but consider emulating The Chief -- the late Art Rooney Sr

Carbolic Smoke Ball - taking the fall for the hole in the Convention Center

Carbolic Smoke Ball Onorato consoled concerned citizens with promises that someone would be fired.
'I assure you, someone will take the fall for this,' Onorato said. 'And I can further assure you, that person will be one of Luke's enemies.' He then turned to Ravenstahl for a high five, chest bump and air guitar.

Eric Heyl's Blog Kick's Bootie

Eric Heyl's Blog - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review To summarize: We have a councilman launching a blog to defend the mayor -- who doesn't have a blog -- against attacks that surfaced in a talk show host's blog in a conspiracy allegedly involving another councilman who brings not a blog but a private MySpace profile to the table.

That, apparently, is what passes for discourse in the mayor's race -- at least until someone posts something on YouTube.

Someone's posted on YouTube already.

Hometown Heros

What Happened to Yesterday's Hometown Heroes?
by Lee Wishing

Each morning my local county newspaper shows up late. Speaking with the delivery man and calling the office hasn't changed things. So, rather than canceling the 20,089 daily circulation paper I continue reading the local news with my coffee ... a day late. And I love to read it cover-to-cover. Yet, lately I'm finding I'm growing frustrated with the content. I see some of our older hometown heroes growing weak. But, not our kids.

It's Saturday, and as I read Friday's sports on page B-1, I see three brawny boys wearing "Reynolds Wrestling 600 Wins" t-shirts hoisting the western Pennsylvania District 10 AA Dual Meet Championship trophy over their heads. Reynolds is a local perennial small school wrestling powerhouse. Above them are pictures of 112-pound and 140-pound boys locked in mortal holds.

On page B-3 there are four similar pictures: one shows 125-pound Reynolds Raider Robbie Miller turning Greenville's Doug Richmond on his back with the referee lying next to the boys waiting to call the pin. Richmond must have bloodied Miller's nose earlier in the match because Miller has cotton in his nose. And Richmond isn't giving up even though he's on his back. His back is bridged and he's jamming his palm under Miller's chin. Hometown heroes, these boys. Great stuff!

And then I turn back to page B-1 to read a story about the Pittsburgh Penguins. Another hometown hero, Mario Lemieux, and his Penguin co-owner partners are wrestling with Pennsylvania's governor, Pittsburgh's mayor and Allegheny County's executive to get a new arena for their team. The paper reports that Lemieux and company leave the negotiations-they walk off the mat-because they don't want to share parking and other revenues.

But wait, my instincts tell me there's something wrong with this picture. Why are Lemieux and friends wrestling with the referees? Why are they turning to government for a $290 million deal? Aren't the governor and his team elected to create and enforce laws rather than wrestle with businesses over how much money to grant them? And what's happened to Lemieux? I don't ever remember a champion asking a referee to hand him a win or a Stanley Cup, let alone huge financial favors.

Hmmm...even though he was on his back with the referee lying just inches away, Greenville's Doug Richmond wasn't asking the referee for help. He was fighting for the win.

And then I turn to the business page on B-5 to read a story titled "Dairy Queen Gets Grant to Upgrade Equipment." Once again Pennsylvania's governor is featured. This time his office announces that the governor is giving a local DQ franchise $7,500 to install high-efficiency refrigeration equipment. The story notes that the governor has handed out $2.8 million in similar equipment grants to other small businesses since July 2004.

What is going on with America's business owners? Are they starting out tough as youngsters but growing up soft-turning to government to solve their problems with money that doesn't belong to them? And how do they learn to become weak? Do they read about hometown heroes gone soft in America's sports and business pages? There's a lot of talk today about athletes having a responsibility to be role models. What's happened to Lemieux and Pittsburgh's young mayor? The mayor was a college football player not too long ago. Are these men role models for future business owners?

I've got to shake off this mental softness that's seeping into my mind. Back to page B-3 for me. I'm cheering on young Robbie Miller and Doug Richmond. Grow up strong guys. If you go into business, remember your picture on page B-3. Frame it. Hang it in your bedrooms. Hang it in your dorm rooms. Hang it in your offices. Remember, the referee is just a referee. Don't ask him for help. Even though I'm reading about you a day late, you guys are my hometown heroes today.

Lee Wishing, an adjunct scholar with the Commonwealth Foundation (www.CommonwealthFoundation.org), is the administrative director of The Center for Vision & Values (www.visandvals.org) at Grove City College.

Permission to reprint is hereby granted provided the author and affiliation are cited.

Commonwealth Foundation | 225 State Street, Ste. 302 | Harrisburg | PA | 17101

Teacher Accused of Using Pirated Software in Classroom

Net-Gold : Message: Teacher Accused of Using Pirated Software in Classroom Former Soviet Leader Wants Microsoft to Withdraw Complaint

Russian Teacher Faces Detention in Siberian Prison Camp

MOSCOW, Russia (Reuters) -- Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on Monday asked Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to intercede on behalf of a Russian teacher accused of using pirated software in his classroom.

In an open letter, Nobel Peace Prize winner Gorbachev said the teacher, Alexander Ponosov, from a remote village in the Urals, should be shown mercy because he did not know he was committing a crime.

'A teacher, who has dedicated his life to the education of children and who receives a modest salary that does not bear comparison with the salaries of even regular staff in your company, is threatened with detention in Siberian prison camps,' read the letter, posted on the Internet site of Gorbachev's charitable foundation"

Another great example why we should all use open source software.

Happy Waitangi Day

This is a national holiday.

Waitangi Day - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Where we'll be in May 2007.

Value Networks Clusters

Value Networks Clusters Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything luncheon on 27 Feb 2007 in San Jose, California, USA.

There might be a distant visitor element. I'll try to participate from Pittsburgh.

Wiki's are great.

Rental inspection touted as a key to blight control in city

Nanny state legislation is in the pipeline.

Rental inspection touted as a key to blight control in city City Council members yesterday proposed regular inspections of all apartments and rental houses in the city.

Putting new fees and new burdens onto those that invest in the city is a sure way to curb those investments. When the punishments come, along with the red tape, the investment money will flow elsewhere.

Furthermore, as a renter and resident, I don't want to have an inspector walking into my home. Privacy becomes a serious concern.

A building inspector might think my computer has an electrical short and seize it. Meanwhile, this computer is sending figurative darts into the heart of nanny state politicians like Len Boadack or tux buying Dan Deasy.

The state should not have invitations into anyone's home. Places should be off limits for government workers, without probable cause. Assessors shouldn't enter into homes either, and they don't.

If my downstairs neighbor has dripping water into his ceiling, then probable cause is present. But a standing invite on a regular basis sends red flags of worry.

Before I posted about the city's complete lack of responsibility for property that the city owns. After the city gets better control on its properties and once the residents are sure that public properties are kept in good condition -- then let's talk.

The city owns more than 10,000 household properties throughout the city. The city of Pittsburgh is, by far, the worst landlord east of the Mississippi.

City owned building, vacant, blight issued. Clean up your own house first. Album: playground - usa

The new law is to make big government bigger. New inspectors are going to be hired. New payoffs get to be made.

The $1,000 per month fine for each unit is going to mean that hundreds of apartment buildings are going to be put up for sale when leases expire. This will make more empty buildings and additional blight.

Landlords should get billed for repeat inspections. However, the bill should be paid to the tennant and not to the city. The city wants to punish the landlords and that screws the tennant. That isn't the city's money. Damages should be paid to the ones that suffer, the tennant.

Another problem is the chilling effect with police calls. Pittsburgh faces a serious problem in that the citizens don't want to work with the police. The witness protection program leaves many out in the cold. Crowds of people won't identify shooters. The engagement among citizens and police is frail -- to sugar-coat the stituation. Now, with this new bill, a couple calls to the police is going to get you a bill. A charge.

What about someone with a protection from abuse order and a leaking sink.

We need to do everything we can to make the police accessible to those in need. A family on the run might need a safe place to sleeep even if the bathroom floor lacks that glow of see-yourself-shine. More hoops for landlords to jump through to make a rental just cripples freedom of those who need it the most.

Here is a better solution. Pitt, Duquesne and the other colleges should begin to worry and make proactive measures to protect its students. Who is the Pitt employed, off-campus, student housing coordinator and handy man resource?

Pitt should worry about its people.

Pitt's inaction has skunked up Oakland.

Pitt should be pulled into the middle of this problem, not Grant Street.

After the city gets its act in order, and after the universities get their acts in order with great housing options for its students, then let's talk about Section 8 housing -- then we might call upon landlords for a public hearing.

I look forward to this bill's public hearing being scheduled shortly.

By the way, send a building inspector to the Convention Center. I hear they have a hole in the floor.

From Convention Ce...

Teacher. Wordsmith. Madman. -- rips letter to editor from Tim Stevenson

Some great blogging is showing up in the neighborhood.

Teacher. Wordsmith. Madman. TURNING YET ANOTHER PAGE

New blog: Campaign 2008

Here is a guy after my own heart. He is long winded too! And, he hits upon the P-G as well.

Campaign2008 In terms of our PA state legislators, they regularly bend or break the law. One former legislative power, Sen. Frank Gigliotti, was once asked if the main point of electoral politics was not to 'serve the public interest.' His famous response, recorded on tape, was, 'F--k the public.' There's evidence he was not alone in that view.

Compare and Contrast Health Care Plans

Here is another plan: Don't get sick. (Just joking.)

A chart has been made that shows, in yes-or-no replies, the two major health care options now being floated in Pennsylvania. One is from Governor Ed Rendell. The other is called FAMILY & BUSINESS HEALTH CARE SECURITY ACT OF 2007.

Thanks to Molly Rush for sending along the chart. People in Pittsburgh have been working on the later plan for a couple of years.

http://docs.google.com/View?docid=ddznxj6h_25d6sc6x

Get the details in the link above, a published Google Document.

Lanz Children Fund

Mom's gone. Kids are young. Here is how to give.

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/10912186/detail.html

If you are local, please feel free to either send a donation to the address below, or go to your local PNC branch office. You will only need to know the name on the account to make a deposit. They will not give you the account number, but will find it by the name.

Donations can be sent to the following address:

Lanz Children Fund
c/o PNC Bank
US Steel Tower
600 Grant Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15219

Please, whether you send money or go to a branch office to make a donation, make sure you have the name on the account being "Lanz Children Fund", as that is the only way to make sure the money goes to the correct account. If you send a check, maybe just include a note that the check is a deposit to the "Lanz Children Fund".

Tuesday Update: Pgh Public School already called OFF

Tuesday, February 06, 2007 - NO SCHOOL

Check for yourself at http://PghBOE.Net.

Woops. Trouble at the Convention Center

From Convention Ce...

National ID Card opposition from Libertarians

Opposition grows to the REAL ID driver’s license

Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania - For Immediate Release - February 5, 2007

For more information contact: Doug Leard (Media Relations) or Michael Robertson (Chair) at 1-800-R-RIGHTS / chair@lppa.org

Harrisburg, PA - The Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania (LPPa) applauds Maine's state legislature for its overwhelming rejection of the REAL ID. Their legislature cited the grave threat to individual liberty, the increased risk of identity theft and the enormous cost of this unfunded mandate. Eleven other states are considering similar bills. The LPPa urges Pennsylvania's legislature to do the same.

The REAL ID, passed by Congress in 2005 as an amendment to an appropriations bill, forces the states to standardize their driver licenses converting them into "smart cards" capable of linking to government and private databases. In theory, this connectivity permits a drivers license card to also function as: credit, debit, and banking cards; health, life, auto and property insurance cards; membership, admission and rental cards for private uses; and other applications still being devised.

The danger is that a distant computer or bureaucrat can disable the ID portion of your card and none of the functions will work. LPPa Media Relations Chair, Doug Leard, explained, "When the NICS [National InstaCheck System] system crashed, no one could be validated for a gun purchase. A computer error suspended the Second Amendment for gun purchasers. With the REAL ID system, a computer problem or government bureaucrat’s decision can shut down the day to day lives for millions of people. The Bill of Rights becomes just a list of suspendable privileges at the mercy of computer reliability and government bureaucrats."

The $12 billion dollar estimated cost of the REAL ID unfunded mandate will be passed to the states and then to the taxpayers via increased Department of Motor Vehicle fees, tolls and/or taxes.

Michael Robertson, LPPa Chair, added, "We urge the Pennsylvania legislature to adopt a resolution declining to comply with the REAL ID provisions and to call upon the Congress to repeal this mandate. The mandated concentration of personal information in the hands of a few poses a grave threat to individual liberty and should be viewed as unacceptable in any free society. Pennsylvanians should contact their state and federal elected officials with this message."

Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania, 3915 Union Deposit Road #223, Harrisburg, PA 17109
www.lppa.org, 1-800-R-RIGHTS, info@lppa.org

More.

Kansas City Star | 02/05/2007 | States rally against a national license States rally against a national license - Legislatures resist a federal effort that would standardize the driver’s ID and link databases.

WASHINGTON | A revolt against a national driver’s license, begun in Maine last month, is quickly spreading to other states.

China's Internet powerhouse crushes opposition, worrying government - International Herald Tribune

China's Internet powerhouse crushes opposition, worrying government - International Herald Tribune China's Internet powerhouse crushes opposition, worrying government

http://qq.com