Early Returns, a blog thingie of the Post-Gazette staff, made a mention of a new citizen (nonprofit) candidate showcase site from the
Pgh League of Young Voters.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Local News - Early Returns The Pennsylvania League of Young Voters launched a Video Voter guide this week. Note to PLYV: delete that Peduto entry.
The guide can be found on the Web site of the Pittsburgh-based group at http://www.pittsburgh.indyvoter.org
I've visited that site. It is very good. I was about to blog about it, but most of all, I was about to dive in there, update my replies to the questions asked. And, I'd really like to review and react to the issues raised by various candidates.
As you could discover for yourself, some folks seeking office are clueless when it comes to the questions presented. Some folks give the wrong answers, in my not so humble opinion. Meanwhile, other candidates make replies that are wonderful. I loved Tom Fallon's statement about the kids. He was right on.
But, the POST-GAZETTE kills me with its advice to the League. The P-G told the League to drop the comments from a person who is not in the race now. Say WHAT! The Post-Gazette kills me and our community a thousand different ways, much like paper cuts that we must endure. That is horrid advice. And, what's more, it comes from a horrid source, the P-G.
Let's be clear. I want comments and content online. I don't want less. I don't want video statements to be taken down.
I want to hear from Bill Peduto, then, later, and in the future. The Post-Gazette wants to DELETE. Delete -- like in the readership of the city's major daily newspaper is half of what it once was. Delete -- like the population of the city used to be more than 600,000. Now population counts are diving under 300,000. They delete schools. They delete buses. They delete historic buildings. They delete candidate discussion points. They delete conversations of true merit.
Delete, as in kill democracy outright so that the mayor has no opposition in the primary. Delete so that the Republicans (and I used to resemble that remark) don't want to run for mayor due to the BIG DELETE KEY at the Post-Gazette.
We don't want DELETE. WE want inclusion. We want the whole story. We want voter choices and elections that are BETTER than what is offered to people in Communist China.
Don't ignore. Take you head out of your -- err -- hole in the sand. Report upon the whole range of the story, especially on the internet.
We need archives. We need history. We need to understand each other. We need the League of Young Voters to stick video cameras into the faces of candidates and would-be candidates. And, we don't need the Post-Gazette to tell them to delete certain files from those presentations.
I want raw footage. I want grassroots democracy. I want blogs where my comments and those of others are accepted for what they are worth.
Most of all, when there is a race in our neighborhood, like mayor, controller, city council, county council and such -- and there is a list of candidates who are running -- I want the list to be inclusive. I'm still deleted from the lists at the Post-Gazette.
Rich Lord gave me the impression that the P-G's powers that be won't include me or my running mates onto the list of candidates seeking office. My objections seemed to have cause a minor adjustment to the internet pages of the PG. The link advertised a complete list of candidates on the P-G page, but it was changed. It needed to be the P-G's way because I've not filed my papers to get onto the ballot. Humm...
Hillary, McCain, Obama, and countless others who are running for office in 2008. They are on many lists. They don't live here. And they have NOT filed their papers yet either. The P-G dedicates a lot of ink to them.
Life does not begin for a person after he or she files papers to be on the ballot for a specific race. Life is too precious to be led only by those who are in office already.
The Post-Gazette is forever dedicating lots of ink and space to those who are NOT running for office. Jack Wagner. Jim Ferlo, Sala Udin and Jim Roddey are all not running for mayor, but there have been (countless) stories on those guys.
So, does the P-G want a monopoly in providing our marketplace coverage of those who are NOT running for office? Did the League of Young Voters tread upon the turf of the P-G? Is that why the P-G political crew is so interested in giving advice to the PA League of Young Voters to DELETE the video snip of a member of Pgh City Council? He ran for mayor before. He might run again. He was seeking an endorsement.
We don't win by subtraction. Nobody wins that way. To not loose, perhaps, is fine for some. But victors don't triumph through a process of subtraction. We won't succeed. We won't prosper. We won't flourish.
We win by addition. We win by inclusion. We win by documenting as much as we can. With the internet, costs are only recycled electrons.
I don't want the YouTube mentions of Peduto, Fallon, T.Colazzi or others to be deleted. Keep em. Build, don't demoralize. Boost, don't destroy. Be brutally honest, don't lie by omission. Be trustworthy, not full of hype and blown by the wind.
The Post-Gazette has a gate-keeper mentality that should change. I crave a 'gang-plank mentality.' The P-G's Early Returns should be a magnet for attracting ideas, issues and solutions, as well as people. The Early Returns name hints at a time of a 'new dawn.' Should the Early Returns be Old and Elitist?
Next, on to this question of real merit:
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