Sala Udin can stuff his license where the sun doesn't shine

Sala Udin is a cry baby.

Sala Udin took a gamble and lost. Get over it Sala.

Sala Udin should take his middle-man license that is worthless -- and use it as toilet paper. Or, frame it and sell it on eBay. Or, make a paper airplane out of it and toss it off the West End Bridge. Or, Sala could take the license and give a share of it to all the CORO Fellows as a puzzle piece. Then in 10 years they can have a reunion and being to put together all the components and trade notes as to how they learned and applied their lessons of milking the system.

Casino Plans Presented To City's Planning Commission - News Story - WPXI Pittsburgh

So, did any video cameras show up? Was any news agency blocked from pointing their cameras at the people doing the work of the public?

Casino Plans Presented To City's Planning Commission - News Story - WPXI Pittsburgh Casino Plans Presented To City's Planning Commission

Bob Mayor, what happened? Anyone?

Ron Paul gets asked a bunch of tough questions from Bill Maher

Questions on CIA, Civil War, Global Warming. We go to war to subsidize more oil and buy more oil. FAA.

Help: Calling Computer Graphic Gurus - I need to use GIMP to Open a PDF file

Error message:

From signs

I need to open a PDF file. Make some changes by inserting simple text elements. Then resave the document as a PDF.

The GIMP should be able to open a PDF as a graphic. I can't get it to open. What does this error message mean? How do I fix it?

Anyone -- please call or email.

Or, anyone who wants to hand-hold with me, let me know. I've got to do this on a semi-regular basis.

Thanks! Now more on my own:

Don't Back Down: Reading PDF Files with GIMP: "So I browsed about some more, and found this page, which talks about the very issue, and recommends placing a single executable file (gswin32c.exe) into The GIMP's bin folder, usually somewhere like:

C:\Program Files\Gimp 2.0\bin

So I did. Voil�. It came right up the next time I tried to open the PDF (I did exit the GIMP first and restart, not sure if that is necessary). Since only a single file was installed, I figured I would play with it and see if it only needed that file for some reason, or if the entire Ghostscript needed to be installed. When I uninstalled the program entirely, leaving only the executable in the bin folder, it got further than without anything installed - but it didn't load the file. Presumably this means that the exectuable can 'find it's way' back to the libraries that are needed to render the file, which in turn means the whole thing needs to be installed (fonts don't appear to be necessary)."

I did get this to work for me. Works fine, but is very, very slow due to the large size of the file. I'm really pissed at Harrisburg and Allegheny County for the red tape I'm trying to cut. Some 20 hours of effort has been lost in this ordeal, and it isn't done yet -- because some government worker in Harrisburg won't take 20-seconds to send out a WORD file as an attachment. Furthermore, those who work on the 6th floor of the election department downtown in the Allegheny County office building won't insist that it get sent. So, they are little help as well.

Thanks to Mike, Dave, Tom and others who have helped this running mate just show up to the starting line.

City Council Candidates, district 9, Dem's candidate forum in 3 parts

A few weeks ago I went to a city council candidate debate held at the Homewood branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. The wonderful event was hosted by a black media organization.

More than 10 people entered the race. This event gave a clear understanding of the candidates who wanted to be the city council member for district 9.

Three frames are posted below. First is the opening statements of those who took the stage. The opening statements were uploaded to both Rauterkus.blip.tv and YouTube.com/rauterkus. Part 1 covers questions 1, 2 and 3. Part 2 covers questions 4 and beyond.

YouTube is rejecting the files because of length. So, all have been put at Rauterkus.blip.tv.







Another candidate, David Adams, was at the event. However he is NOT a Democrat. He is expected to join the race for the general election. More on that effort shortly.

Comments welcome.

Inside baseball comments from Mark Rauterkus:

The incumbent, Twanda Carlisle, did not show up. The event organizers had expected her to attend. I scolded her at the next city council meeting for skipping the event. Debate participation is an important component of a functional system of democracy, in my humble opinion.

Randall Taylor, a member of the Pgh Public School Board, is in the race but he came at the very end. He might have given one answer and closing statements. His late arrival was what it was.

Rachael Cooper, 22, a graduate from Howard University, would go on to win the D party endorsement. But, she didn't get her financial disclosure forms filed by the deadline and the judge would toss her off the ballot. She has a strong voice and was impressive to watch.

Rev. Ricky Burgess has plenty of community experiences. He made a few home runs within his statements including one about "land." That snip of video would be part of a highlights film, if I ever had the time to prepare that. Burgess is the front runner going into the primary election because he was the victor of the second D-party endorsement vote.

Ora Lee Carroll is super strong on family. She also put out a rather strong call to the others for cooperation. She was looking for loyalty and seemed a bit bent out of shape that there were so many on the stage. She knows that it will take a bit of teamwork to unseat the existing councilperson.

Eric -- or is it Erik -- may have pulled out of the race and is offering help to another candidate.

Everyone on the stage did a good job. Stepping up is a hard task. I'm not going to fuss about what was said to a great degree. First, lets just celebrate the will of the participants to mount a campaign against a sitting member of city council.

Sudan: The Passion of the Present: Darfur attracts attention throughout Pittsburgh this month

Sudan: The Passion of the Present: Darfur attracts attention throughout Pittsburgh this month The coalition's rally will kick off on April 28 at 2 p.m. at Freedom Corner, Hill District. It will be a gathering of organizations from the mid-Atlantic region. Actress Mia Farrow is scheduled to address the Pittsburgh marchers.

The next day, the coalition will host a citywide letter-writing campaign and divestment workshops.

Mr. Rosenberg is pleased to see so many join the effort, but he remains cautiously optimistic.

'I'm excited to see the advocacy, but in all the time [that] it's taken, there has been a terrible toll on Sudan. We need a solution.'

For more information on the Pittsburgh Darfur Emergency Coalition's Weekend of Action, visit www.pittsburghdarfur.org.

Put the brakes on the Pittsburgh Promise -- voices from educational advocates

Please see below for my thoughts on City Council’s activities around the Pittsburgh Promise. I urge you to get involved to stop this program from proceeding until it has been defined beyond a press release. Please contact your city councilperson to express your thoughts, even if they’re not in consonance with my position.


Thanks, Salvador Wilcox, CEO, Education Innovations, Inc.
6435 Frankstown Ave., 2nd Floor
Pittsburgh, PA 15206
412.661.8751 ext. 150
www.educationinnovations.org


Please table Pittsburgh Promise resolutions and hold public hearings

Bill and Lenny,

(I don’t have the emails to the other City Council Persons, so could you forward this to them, please.)

I’m writing you to request that bill relating to the Pittsburgh Promise be tabled until such a time that:

1. public hearings are had to discuss the merits of the program; and

2. the program is actually designed and goes beyond a press release released by a mayor running for office and a superintendent who has yet to prove any of his programs actually work

I have many concerns.

1. A solution follows from the problem it tries to solve. In this case, since the solution is money for college, the problem would be defined as a lack of resources to pay for college. However, that is not the problem in Pittsburgh. At least not the primary problem. The problem is that we don’t have enough kids who graduate or get accepted into college. The Pittsburgh Promise does not solve that problem. And the programs that supposedly solve them are yet to be proven. By giving to this hollow promise, we do not focus on the achievement problem.

2. When the Superintendent of the Pittsburgh Public Schools complains of financial stress, it is not a time to be adding another bloated program to the already bloated bureaucracy. The City and the School District should be looking for revenues to bring the school district back to financial health. Aside from adding more staff to the District, no other details have really been thought out. Neither big business nor the foundation community in Pittsburgh is running to support this. We should ask why before we appeal to good nature of tax payers to give to a program which has yet to detail how the money would be spent.

3. The school district is in as bad shape, in part, to a historical and continued overstaffing in the administration level. It took decades to address the decline in population. It took decades to close buildings. It has not sufficiently addressed uncontrolled changes in work orders. It is paying for two Deputy Superintendents of Instruction, one of which does no work for the District.

4. It seems unfair that the District, who already receives nearly ½ Billion dollars per year in tax revenues should dip into tax-payers good will again. Especially since it has yet to actually prove that it can educate the majority of our minority population. There are many other organizations that actually do provide results. Council could start with a charter school fund to introduce more competition for the District. Charter schools and charter applicants have been orphaned by foundation’s support of only the superintendent. A charter school fund would bring about innovation in the district. Philadelphia has embraced public schools and Pittsburgh should also. In Philadelphia, charter schools boost the District’s average achievement!

5. The District has not released any details on how children will qualify for the scholarship, nor how much children will get. The school district has not analyzed what the overhead for this program will be. If the financial health of the district is any indication, I’m not convinced that the District can handle such a large program. If the intent is true, perhaps a local foundation like the Pittsburgh Foundation would be better able to handle the program.

6. Charter high school students are in spirit and in law, Pittsburgh Public School students. They should not be left out of the program. So far, no indication has been made about their participation. If the District is allowed to have a tear-off coupon but excludes charter school students, then tax-payers should also be given the option to designate their funds to a particular charter school, or a general charter school graduation fund.

The idea in principle is a good one, though the problem to access to higher education seems to me lack of academic skills and not a lack of resources to pay for college. Were that we had so many students accepted to college with no means to pay for it.

Since the details have not been developed and since no time line has been given for those details, surely we should be apprehensive about passing City Council resolutions blindly.

Salvador Wilcox

PAT Audit Promised: Controller awakes from his slumber

Marty Griffin, KDKA Radio, was wondering why there will be a new audit of PAT. He was scratching his head thinking, perhaps, it was because Jack Wagner had done audits and there might be a race in 3 years for the Governor's office.

I give him the real reasons in an email.

---

Hi Marty,

Mark Patrick Flaherty, Allegheny County Controller, became aware, last week, that he'll face an opponent on the ballot in the general election. That is why he woke up and came to life with PAT.

The opponent is a Libertarian, doctor from Hampton. He is a 'running mate' of mine.

Furthermore, we're starting to gather the thousands of necessary signatures.

Plus, I told you a few weeks ago about Rich Swartz, the Dem on the ballot who is running against Dan Onorato. Well, Dan's lawyers could NOT toss him off the ballot. That went down on Friday afternoon.

So, Dan Onorato has an opponent in the primary, Swartz, and the winner will face me in the general election.

I'm now running for FIVE offices, not six, as I stated on the show with you a few weeks ago. Another guy from Chartiers City is standing in my place (that's the placeholder element) for the slot for Allegheny County Council Member At-Large.

If you'd like an update, give me a call. There is a lot to talk about. For example, I want to sue the Allegheny County Election Department as they will NOT provide an electronic version of the nomination papers. Red tape that they could fix in about 15 seconds with a simple email of a state form.

Did you ever listen to the CD I left with you???? It has a great campaign theme song. We should play that on the air.

I could use the ARMY to lend signatures to get access to the ballot.

PRESSURE comes now and then with elections. Dan Onorato is on the record saying he thinks elections are a DISTRACTION.

Kennywood has a new feature and is looking for videos -- RUSH for the April 30 deadline

Welcome to Kennywood - Funzone Kenny TV is an information and entertainment closed circuit TV system that makes its debut this summer at various locations around Kennywood including a big screen at the Kennyville Stage. At the Kennyville Stage, various types of video entertainment will be shown to park Guests such as concerts and funny videos. And that's where you come in.

We're hoping you will submit your FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS or, in the case of local bands looking for exposure, A VIDEO OF YOUR BAND PERFORMING so that we can show them all summer long to our Guests. Who knows - this may be your first step towards becoming a big Hollywood producer?

Here's a sampling of the types videos we're looking for:

* High School Marching Bands performing
* Funny Pet Tricks
* American Idol wanna-be's
* Funny Home Videos
* Upstart local bands (rock, country, etc) performing original material or someone else's with permission
* Your Kennywood Memories (stills or video)

Submission is simple! Here's what you do:

Rendell: Hijacking the Reform Train

Great insights, as always, from PA Clean Sweep:

Governor Ed Rendell should step aside from his bid to become the state’s reformer-in-chief. While some of his ideas may have merit, the Governor has no more right than the average citizen to prescribe the structure of state government in Pennsylvania and his viewpoint is distorted by his position.

Perhaps his goal of a better open records policy is desirable, but his suggestion of creating an Office of Public Records Advocate might be just another plump patronage position to be filled by political pals. Maybe the people can come up with a better plan for making government more transparent.

Perhaps merit selection for state appellate judges is an idea worth considering, but what if the people would rather make all judicial races non-partisan affairs and ban contributions to those races by lawyers?

How could Rendell’s proposed Appellate Court Nominating Commission, dominated by a majority of legislative and executive appointees and confirmed by the Senate, improve the independence of the judiciary? Independence from the other two branches should be encouraged, but independence from the sovereign people at the voting booth should not.

Perhaps the Governor’s suggested campaign finance limits appear to level the electoral playing field. On the other hand, maybe the people of this Commonwealth realize that the voter revolt of 2006 would not have been possible under those limitations and that no financial ceiling could ever negate the current incumbency protection program.

Perhaps Rendell’s legislative term limits sound like a good idea, but reality in Pennsylvania suggests that if the General Assembly was truly part-time and was stripped of the unconstitutional perks it now enjoys, term limits would be utterly unnecessary.

Perhaps Pennsylvanians want a smaller legislature, but maybe they’d like a larger one, or to keep its size the same, with some of the above mentioned features and fewer expenses. Maybe they want to look at the other 49 states to see what others are doing before deciding which path is best for the Commonwealth.

Perhaps the time has come for citizen redistricting, but Rendell’s 11-member commission would include four legislators and three appointees of the governor, two of whom would be legislators. The remaining four would be appointed by - you guessed it - the four legislative caucus leaders. Pennsylvanians just might have a slightly different notion of how a citizens’ redistricting commission should look.

On constitutional issues in Pennsylvania, the governor’s opinion has no more real or deserved weight than the average citizen’s. Perhaps the Governor has some good ideas. Perhaps he doesn’t. Either way, today’s climate dictates that constitutional change should not be viewed only through the myopic lens of the chief executive.

The merit of Rendell’s ideas have should be discussed openly among citizens, not quietly between the three branches of government. Other citizens should be able to discuss their ideas as well. The proper forum for such a discussion is a constitutional convention. Surely, the Governor would be free to provide his vision for consideration at such a gathering.

“Citizens will not rest until there is an end to perks, an end to control by private interests and an end to political rules that shut them out of the process,” the Governor said in a press release. But his plan eliminates no perks, suppresses the freedom of speech in political races and utterly shuts the people out of the process of structural change.

Nearly two years after the reform train left the station as Ed Rendell signed the pay raise, the Governor is using his bully pulpit to try to hijack it. Perhaps he doesn’t realize that many other citizens were on board well ahead of him. Their voices on constitutional matters deserve an equally fair hearing.

In announcing his preferred reforms, Rendell expressed trepidation at the prospect of a constitutional convention, but if he truly believes in the right of self-governance as enumerated by Article I of the Constitution, a carefully crafted citizens’ convention provides no cause for hand wringing, anguish or hesitation of spirit.

A plan for such a convention of the people is available at www.PACleanSweep.com.

Citizens’ Constitutional Convention Act of 2007

Read the Governor's Proposed "Reforms"

Make a loan. Change a life.

Best American athlete. Hint: it isn't Big Ben.

The best American athlete - Sports - NBCSports.com One of the marks of a truly great champion is that he (or, as the case may be, she) is willing to compete fearlessly against other elite athletes, even when it's not seen as his or her signature event. That's what champions do. They test themselves.

At the Athens Olympics, Phelps swam the 200 free even though he had to know beforehand it probably meant the end of his attempt to better Mark Spitz's haul of seven swimming gold medals, set at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Phelps is especially deadly in the butterfly and the medleys, where a swimmer is asked to swim -- all in one race -- the butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle.

Phelps finished third in the Athens 200 free, in what swim aficionados now call 'the race of the century,' behind Ian Thorpe of Australia and Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands.

Kudos to Phelps. He tried. He won 'only' six gold medals in Athens, eight overall.

One of the marks of a truly great champion is that he (or, as the case may be, she) is willing to compete fearlessly against other elite athletes, even when it's not seen as his or her signature event. That's what champions do. They test themselves.

At the Athens Olympics, Phelps swam the 200 free even though he had to know beforehand it probably meant the end of his attempt to better Mark Spitz's haul of seven swimming gold medals, set at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Phelps is especially deadly in the butterfly and the medleys, where a swimmer is asked to swim -- all in one race -- the butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle.

Phelps finished third in the Athens 200 free, in what swim aficionados now call "the race of the century," behind Ian Thorpe of Australia and Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands.

Kudos to Phelps. He tried. He won "only" six gold medals in Athens, eight overall.

In that same manner, this January at a meet in Long Beach, Calif., Phelps undertook an extraordinary challenge.

In the space of 41 minutes, he swam the 100-yard fly, 100 back and 100 breast against Crocker, Peirsol and Hansen, among the best in the world in their events.

The race against Hansen in the breaststroke marked Phelps' 15th, and final, event in 50 hours. Hansen won, in 52.81. Phelps came in second, in 54.67 -- more than a second lower than his previously best time.

In the butterfly, Crocker -- with whom Phelps has had a great rivalry -- went out fast and won in 45.23. Phelps came in second.

Phelps beat Peirsol, winner of the 100- and 200-meter backstroke events in Athens.

In all, at that meet in Long Beach, Phelps won four races and finished second in three others.

Three second-place finishes? That's America's greatest?

Very funny insights to the World Championships 400 IM

CollegeSwimming.com :: View topic - World Championships Almost as impressive as Phelps WR was Marin, who was dead last at the 100 by about a body length, and then worked back and almost beat Lochte for Silver. The splits are intersting

Phelps
55.05
1:03
1:11
57

Marin
59.05
1:02
1:11
57

If only Marin could swim butterfly, things would be real interesting. He was so far behind in the first 100, I thought he had lost his suit on the dive or something.

Pride: Music: Original Soundtrack

Amazon.com: Pride: Music: Original Soundtrack
1. Dare To Dream - John Legend
2. Back Stabbers - The O'Jays
3. Express Yourself - Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd St. Rhythm Band
4. I'll Take You There - The Staple Singers
5. It's Your Thing - The Isley Brothers
6. Let's Clean Up The Ghetto - The Philadelphia International All-Stars
7. Slow Motion - Johnny Williams
8. I Love Music - The O'Jays
9. Love Train - The O'Jays
10. Strawberry Letter No. 23 - The Brothers Johnson
11. The Payback - James Brown
12. Bridge Over Troubled Water - Aretha Franklin
13. Sizonqoba Simunye - Aaron Zigman

French Connection - Tennesse Signs Agreement With National Federation

CollegeSwimming.com::French Connection - Tennesse Signs Agreement With National Federation CollegeSwimming.com contacted several coaches to gain comment on what is already a contentious issue. No program would go on record with their comments, though each articulated disgust with the move. At least two programs, however, have already begun pursuing similar agreements with other countries. One coach, who asked to remain anonymous explained that the agreement isn’t an entirely new, “We’ve been working on it [securing an agreement] for two years but have only found interest from Bolivia….and let’s be honest there aren’t many world beaters coming out of Bolivia.”

Our trip later this month to New Zealand is now with more urgent purpose.

Recruit Chooses College over Pros

CollegeSwimming.com::Recruit Chooses College over Pros “Andy’s got a limited time frame to strike while the iron’s hot,” the agent said. “Five years from now, you won’t see Huggies offering this kind of money.”

April Fools Joke. Cute.

From playground - usa

Onorato To Challenge Property Tax Ruling

kdka.com - Onorato To Challenge Property Tax Ruling Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato says he'll go to court to overturn a ruling that will allow county property owners to appeal their assessments based on sale price.

Chief Executive, Dan Onorato, has a history of making threats and then blinking at the last minute. Then he tells the lawyers to pull back as it becomes clear, right before the judge enters the room, that he'll loose. Onorato's efforts spend the money. He pays all the lawyers, and doesn't get the outcome he desires. Well, he does get one desired outcome: A pay day for his cronie lawyers.

But, that isn't what I'm looking to do.

Dan's bluffing. Dan's without a solution.

When the judges are called into the mix, nobody wins. Dan is not going to win. The taxpayers are not going to win.

We need more creativity and less legal attacks. We need better solutions and less posturing.

The bleak picture for property owners is being painted by the hands of Mr. Onorato himself. He is not able to lead the county out of this downward spiral.

The ones that make the mess are generally the ones that are least capable of fixing the mess.

Dan made the mess. Dan can't clean it up.

Which brings us to the next postings, below. Humpty was an egg. Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty was a big man and all. But the bigger they are the harder they fall.

All the king's horses and all the king's men could NOT put Humpty together again.

Tribune Review Editors again at odd with the truth

Are these guys clueless, stupid, or what? Who can be so wrong with such ease?

Awkward times for Santorum - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review With no opposition for Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato and Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl in the upcoming Democrat primary, the most compelling local primary race is for -- of all things -- city controller.

Dan Onorato has a challenger in the May 2007 Dem party primary. His name is Rich Swarts. Dan Onorato, if he wins, will have a challenger in the November 2007 election as well.

It would be different if I didn't call Dave Brown, reporter for the Trib who covers politics. I called him twice this week and left him voice messages. He didn't call back.

I think these guys can be saved. They could be born again. And, these guys are not only guys, for what its worth. One of the worst is a women editor who has killed a number of stories in the past.

I would LOVE to meet with the editors and reporters of the Tribune Review. Call me: 412 298 3432.

We often miss the circus in our house. Good reasons in this blog posting

Our life is a circus. So, we don't get out to them often. My mother has taken the kids to the circus in the past. I don't want to spoil that memory for them by taking them there again.

Renovating Parenthood: The Financial Circus: "We surprised the kids today with a visit downtown to see the Shrine Circus. My wife found a 'great deal' on tickets, so it wasn't too expensive. Sure, great deal. Once we walked in there I was robbed of every dime I had.

It's a good thing the Shriners are a charitable organization. Because there is NO reason a visit for four to the circus should have cost us over $120.

It started with the $9 for parking. Well, The folks that run Mellon Arena obviously need to maintain the parking lots somehow, at least until they are all torn up in six months when the new arena for the Penguins starts construction. Once inside, they really had us cornered."

The rest of the post gets better. Read it over there.

Two other points from my end can be blended upon his story. First, the parking situation is NOT going to get any better. When the construction happens, the entire hill area is going to become a big muddy mess. Parking has got to shrink in significant ways as they are going to build the new arena on part of the existing parking lot.

So, getting to the games in the next couple of years, as well as to the circus, is going to be more difficult.

Furthermore, I've said all along that there is NO NEED to build a new arena for the folks that go to the circus. None. Keep the existing arena with the existing parking lot as is. Then build a new arena in another part of the county. Then we can have a circus the same time there are NHL Playoffs. And, we can have a circus the same time there are high school graduations.

New Pittsburgh: High-tech growth starts at home, group says

From texture - misc.

CMU is going to host a high tech conference in November 2007 that is meant to be a way to get the word out about technology education as a great opportunity for girl students. Today, guys still have a large percentage of seats in high tech academic programs.

Blast from the past news article from May 1, 2003 and the P-G:

New Pittsburgh: High-tech growth starts at home, group says Pittsburgh's efforts to attract more young high technology professionals are well known and documented.

Jeannette Blosel/Post-Gazette

Photo of Mark Rauterkus and Diane Durand at Alphachimp Studios in Oakland.

But some local high tech enthusiasts believe that if the region really wants to build its reservoir of high tech talent, the best place to start is with children who already live here.

One of the ways to use the now closed indoor ice rink owned by the city is to turn part of it into the year-round home for the Youth Technology Summit. The entire building and park would not need to be devoted to technology. However, it would be great to have a youth-driven space where open-source tools are always "on."

From family - travels