Diaspora Developments

Mike M and others at Pittsblog.Blogspot.com and elsewhere are talking about a manifesto.

Diaspora - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Diaspora

Bridges are nice. But, the notion that I'd love to use as a story of Pittsburgh would be 'gang planks to Pittsburgh.'

From planning-urban

Think of a large ferry boat, pulling up to a pier and in about 30-seconds, 200 people spill, from two levels, into the city's streets.

I'm not talking about those dinky foot bridges that take 40-minutes to empty the Majestic before or after a ball game. I'm thinking big, wide, mulit-level gang-planks to transfer mobs of pedestrians.

Okay, here goes my mind dump to take the conversation to another level. All in all, part of the charm of being Pittsburgh is our attraction everywhere else. But, part of the harm is to only talk about and only focus upon ourselves. We need to look beyond our borders. But, we also need to look within and allow others that come to raise their colors from time to time. I think that this diaspora can and should go both ways.

I'd love to see Pittsburgh's "REUNION HALL." Or, better yet, five such "reunion halls."

From DHCC - mt-was...

I'd love to see a CMU club. We've got a HYP (Harvard, Yale, Princeton) Club. But this doesn't need to be 'stuffy' -- just a Tartan kinda-place. Build it in Hazelwood.


I'd love to see other cities and regions have Reunions Days here in Pittsburgh. Folks from Cinci, NY, Boston, Chicago, Canada, etc., could have a places and times to gather -- monthly. Of course these could be commercial venues. Folks with a St. Louis connection meet at Bar Louie on the first Saturday of the month, for example.

Every parade, festival, road race (i.e., Great Race, etc.), and event must cross the river in some shape or form.

Small city rivalry among small sports teams should occur. First, the city schools need to be a part of the WPIAL. Furthermore, sports teams, such as swimming, rugby, ultimate, golf, tennis, etc., etc. should have regional teams to battle on regular basis. This takes the sister-cities notions to new heights. Little leaguers in Brentwood could play against Youngstown. Divers in the South Hills should dive against Bowling Green. Footballers from West Mifflin should play against a squad from State College.

The largest event in the Convention Center each year should be a youth technology summit.

A new magazine, Teacher from Pittsburgh, should be created. We've been exporting teachers to the rest of the nation. They all have classrooms. They should get scholarships to travel back home.

Every college in PA should have a new scholarship to attract Pgh Public School grads to their campus -- Pittsburgh Promise like.

AND, every grad at every college in PA, if not the region in future years, should be given big-brother/big-sister/mentor opportunities and housing / home ownership options to move to Pittsburgh with their degree and perhaps for grad school / start of career.

Grads from Slippery Rock, Westminster, Nova, PSU-Johnstown, should all have clearly marked homes in The Burgh.

Pittsburgh needs urban campgrounds.

Pittsburgh needs a few new youth hostels.

Pittsburgh needs out-of-town newspaper deliveries - news stands.

Pittsburgh should open a "Metro High" that would be for transplants to Pittsburgh.

Time shares happen at the beach in N.C. I think that a few high rise time shares could flourish in the city. Many people from around the world would be happy to come to Pittsburgh for one week a year, if they had a nice place to stay. They'd take in ball games, shop, and visit.

Think urban time shares for Pgh. From planning-urban

Three or more of the area Pittsburgh Catholic High Schools should open dorms and present prep schools options. Resident students could be part of the mix at Bishop Canevan, Seton LaSalle, OLSH, Quigley, North Catholic, etc.

Pittsburgh should open all its schools to school choice so students and families can choose whatever school fits best with the person.

Pittsburgh's Westinghouse and Peabody should be turned into single gender schools, and open to the regional students. (Think Oakland & Central, but public.)

Every High School in Allegheny County should be encouraged to host reunions.

Venues on Grant Street and throughout Pittsburgh -- in quasi public settings -- should be made to be much more accessible for weddings, wedding anniversary celebrations and family reunions.

Activist planning education rally, May 17

Activist planning education rally An East Liberty activist yesterday said the Pittsburgh Public Schools' restructuring efforts aren't enough to lift black, poor students out of 'subservience' to white, higher-income peers, and he called on residents to join him in an education rights campaign.

Salvador Wilcox, chief executive officer of Education Innovations Inc., has planned an 'Education Crusader' rally for 11 a.m. May 17 outside school district offices in Oakland. 'Education Crusader' is the name of Mr. Wilcox's blog.

While he said students and teachers should consider walking out of their classrooms to take part, school district and union officials cautioned against that.

This would be a good time to rally against the broken promise of the Pittsburgh Promise. I won't be there.

2 strong women seek nomination to school board district 2

2 strong women seek nomination to school board district 2 Mrs. Tecza, 44, of Polish Hill, is an employment specialist at Achieva, an organization for people with disabilities. In her previous role there as an education advocate, she helped disabled students get instructional programs meeting their needs.

The Conversation: Vote for Rick

The Conversation: Vote for Rick

Fidelis of Sigmaringen - Happy Feast Day St Fidelis

Fidelis of Sigmaringen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia His feast day in the Roman Catholic Church is April 24.

Michael Badnarik on internet radio

When Michael Badnarick was a candidate for US President, he came to an event I hosted in Mt. Washington. It was a busy night, and I didn't take video or photos, sadly.

Passion.

A powerful or compelling emotion or feeling.

Boundless enthusiasm.

As far back as I can remember, I have always loved Liberty. The first memories I have are of me wearing my navy blue Cub Scout uniform, marching in a Fourth of July parade. I remember being very proud, waving to my mother and father as they watched from the curb.

Since then, my passion for Liberty has grown exponentially, motivated in large part by the realization that most of what my government does is unconstitutional. I knew that somehow, some way, I was going do something about it. I ran for Texas State representative, and then surprised myself by running for President of the United States. My fellow Libertarians surprised me even more by making me their 2004 Libertarian nominee in a stunning "come from behind" victory. That success led me to devote two more years attempting to win a seat as the first Libertarian in Congress.

Today - disallusioned with "politics as usual" and the corrupt elections foisted upon us by the use of electronic voting machines - I have decided to attack the problem from a different angle. I am going to combine my freedom of speech with my burning desire to restore our Constitutional republic to its original standard of ethics. Tomorrow, April 23rd, I begin a new career as the host of a new radio talk show called Lighting the fires of Liberty!

The purpose of my program will be to share the love I have for freedom, and the ideals upon which the founders created this great nation. Naturally, I will talk about the Constitution and quote frequently from many of our early patriots, but I want my program to be different. I want to inspire people! I want to instill an all consuming and burning passion for Liberty! I want my listeners to experience the same level of patriotic fervor that Patrick Henry experienced when he exclaimed, "Give me Liberty, or give me death!"

I want you to laugh and share the joy I feel, knowing that we live in the greatest country the ever existed on the face of the earth. I want you to get angry when you realize that the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and the REAL ID Act are blatantly unconstitutional, and threaten the very lifestyle we love so much. I want you to be moved to tears when you listen to Ray Charles singing "America... America... God shed his grace on thee!"

I am very proud that I will soon be a member of the WE THE PEOPLE RADIO NETWORK, along with other Liberty activists such as Alex Jones, Dr. Katherine Albrecht, Jack Blood, Peymon Mottahedeh, Mark Koernke, Debbie Stevens, and others. Not only that, but I've been given the very prestigeous "morning drive time" slot every weekday from 7:00am until 9:00am, Central Time. I invite you to listen online at www.WTPRN.com, and call in to express your passionate views on the air. The call-in number is 512-646-6449.

The guest for my very first program will be my mother, Elaine Badnarik. She is the person who taught me to read, to love learning, and to pursue every adventure and activity with all of the passion I could muster. In all of the ways that are truly significant, I am the person I am because of the example that she set for me. Tomorrow is your opportunity to call in to speak with her personally on the air.

Finally, this is the very last time I will broadcast a message to every eMail address I have collected during my last two campaigns. I know that many of these address are now obsolete, however I haven't had any way to know which ones those are. Now that my website newsletter program has been modified to successfully distribute messages to the thousands of addresses I have collected, I will make this announcement - and then delete everyone from the list! Therefore, if you want to continue receiving my newsletter, you will have to visit www.ConstitutionPreservation.org and re-subscribe to the newsletter one last time.

Thank you for your past support of my political campaigns. I am honored that so many people thought I was worthy of their time and endorsement. I hope that many of you will now become avid listeners of my program. Fortunately people in the Pacific Time Zone will not be required to wake up at 5:00am to hear me because my program will automatically be archived on the website the moment my program goes off the air. I am no longer a candidate, however as long as I am able to breathe, I will continue...

Lighting the fires of Liberty, one heart at a time!

Michael Badnarik

Think Free Be Free - Welcome to ThinkFree.ca

Think Free Be Free - Welcome to ThinkFree.ca ThinkFREE is dedicated to helping achieve a freer and more just society, where authority is achieved without deception and exercised with restraint, understanding, accountability and compassion. We employ educational seminars, guerrilla videography, Notarial justice, advocacy, public action and dance. (Seriously, never doubt the power of dance)

Film extras ad ruffles feathers in Christchurch

Film extras ad ruffles feathers in Christchurch - New Zealand's source for entertainment news, gossip & music, movie & book reviews on Stuff.co.nz Christchurch Public Domain Authority

Perhaps I'll announce that I'm a candidate for another office. I could run for the board of an authority: The Christchurch Public Domain Authority.

DVD handouts at BootCampPgh.org

At yesterday's event at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, I passed out some DVDs of a movie.

From ads - political

Hope you enjoy the film.

six days and counting

From family - travels

We're now in a panic.

Concept map of the wiki of the platform on the blog

From maps

Luke pimps Les Ludwig's slogan again

Les Ludwig coined the slogan, "Do more with Les." Les ran against Bob O'Connor. Luke -- this quote rubs me the wrong way.

Health-care switch to save city millions 'It is a significant savings for us, as a city that continues to do more with less,' Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said while unveiling the arrangement yesterday.

How about if the city just does what it must with what it has. I don't really want Luke to do more. No more property tax abatement. No more boneheaded spending.

A single payer health system, as designed by people in Pittsburgh already, would do wonders to the city's budget. It could give PA a competitive adantage and it makes for a system-wide fix helping small business, large business, government workers and every citizen.

Getting all the health insurance from one provider also has the risk of sinking the city when the contract comes due in a couple of years.

There is some security in diversity.

Getting all the health insurance coverage from one provider is like a single, bigger band-aid.

A fitness program too!

City Ethics Board Still Can't Get Together - News Story - WTAE Pittsburgh

City Ethics Board Still Can't Get Together - News Story - WTAE Pittsburgh 'I think you look to what's important for this commission to do going forward,' said board member Kathy Beuchel.

Why We Think We’re Unhappy and What Not to Do About It

Cato Unbound � Blog Archive � Why We Think We’re Unhappy and What Not to Do About It One obvious reason for our willingness to believe in widespread malaise is the proliferation of books, movies, articles, and other media that tell us how horrible things are these days. Part of the story has to be that bad news sells better than good news. “If it bleeds, it leads,” as they say. University of California, Davis psychologist Michael Hagerty suggests that this is one reason most Americans think that their life has improved, while most other Americans’ lives haven’t.

Recent City Homicides Raise Public Safety Concerns

kdka.com - Recent City Homicides Raise Public Safety Concerns

Water Pork from Taxpayers for Common Sense

WATER PORK BILL FLOATS THROUGH CONGRESS
Volume XII No. 5 - April 30, 2007

Lawmakers this week passed a $16.5 billion water project bill (H.R. 1495), containing more than 800 parochial pork barrel projects for virtually every Congressional district in the nation. This bill has it all: from $1.8 billion to build seven unnecessary new navigation locks on the Upper Mississippi River (pdf) (Sec. 8003) to studying the navigation impacts of building the infamous “Don Young’s Way” bridge project in Alaska (Sec. 4005), to $55 million for pumping sand (pdf) to maintain Imperial Beach, CA for the next 50 years (Sec. 1001 (9)).

In a race to get this long stalled bill approved (they've been working on it since 2002), congressional leadership seemed to forget about the fundamental flaws that Hurricane Katrina exposed in the way the Corps of Engineers develops, designs and constructs this country’s water resource projects. In the starkest terms, Katrina showed us (pdf) that the time is long passed to end the political spoils system that has driven water project investment for more than a century. We need a modern, accountable and prioritized system to develop and award projects. It’s a message that Congress has failed to grasp.

Almost as an afterthought, lawmakers passed an amendment by Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Tom Petri (R-WI), and Peter Welch (D-VT) that directs the Corps of Engineers to update archaic rules (pdf) that govern how water projects are developed and selected. The outdated current rules (Principles & Guidelines), for example, encourage the Corps to build levees that protect undeveloped low-lying areas to spur economic development rather than building higher and stronger levees where there are actually people and property to protect. Disco died, come back to life and died again since 1983, the last time these rules were updated.

The Senate will now consider its own bill, which includes an amendment by Sens. Russ Feingold (D-WI) and John McCain (R-AZ) that would make the Corps more accountable to the public through truly independent peer review for costly, controversial or critical projects. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Barbara Boxer (D-CA) is looking to add to the $15 billion price tag by including more projects in the bill for “acute needs.” (pdf)

But there is no acute need for billions more in water projects. The Corps already has a whopping $58 billion backlog of projects they haven’t built yet, and will get only $2 billion in construction funding this year. To add more than $16 billion in new projects will just add more competition for the precious few construction dollars lying around. The acute need is for serious reform. Congress should require the Corps to prioritize projects and funnel money to the projects that will benefit the nation the most. Absent such a system, Congress and the Corps don’t even know which projects should be first on the list. When that happens, decisions are based on politics rather than need.

The Administration, which has rattled the veto saber recently, left it sheathed for this bill. Considering the well deserved public relations hit this Administration took for its Katrina response, you might think reforming the agency that built the New Orleans levees would be a top priority.

Breaking the nearly two-century old iron triangle of water pork in this country (we have a copy of an 1836 House Ways & Means Committee report documenting 25 wasteful Corps projects) is going to take a lot more. Katrina exposed the costly consequences of our existing parochial water project system. Now Congress needs to take the necessary steps make the Corps of Engineers more accountable.

Going on at Taxpayer.net This Week

The Senate this week introduced its own standards regarding how it will handle earmarks in appropriations bill.

Big Idea Book | Engage Pittsburgh

What happened to the promise of the funding of ideas from the fall of 2006? Spout Fund -- what's up?

Big Idea Book | Engage Pittsburgh
The Big Idea Book is an aggregation of the ideas and projects that were discussed at The Sprout Fund's September 9, 2006 Idea Round Up event and the online discussions that will continue on engagepittsburgh.org throughout the fall 2006.

Ideas are grouped in general topic areas like chapters in a book. Currently, the only features enabled for engagepittsburgh.org users are the abilities to view, comment and rate (vote) the ideas. Additional features to modify and add to the idea pages will be forthcoming.

The Movies of Campus MovieFest

An easy way to kill some time.

The Movies of Campus MovieFest The Campus MovieFest International Grand Finale, showed phenomenal short movies, music, and more. CMF provided Apple laptops, camcorders, and training to over 25,000 students this past year and on June 10th, hundreds experienced the best short movies of 2006 submitted by students at schools throughout Atlanta, Florida, Boston, California, and Scotland, plus a fascinating Q&A session with the top filmmakers.

New arena could displace synagogue in Hill District - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

New arena could displace synagogue in Hill District - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: The only synagogue that serves Downtown could be moving again to make way for a new arena, an official said Thursday.

The arena could be built around Beth Hamedrash Hagodol-Beth Jacob, but the city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority would prefer to relocate the synagogue to make more space, said Executive Director Mary Conturo.

'It would work much better, in terms of the loading dock and access to it, if the synagogue relocated,' Conturo said. 'Possibly we could design around it, but it's not preferable.'

This makes me mad. The congregation is going to move. Move out of the city.

They didn't think about this before? There is far to much that they didn't tell us.

The church buildings are going down now.

Duhh. Why didn't we build the new arena out by the airport. Then, perhaps, there would be a new development there. And, with the new development, new residents. And, furthermore, new places of worship.

We are tearing down and churning. We are not growing the region.

Make Internet TV

Make Internet TV: "Make Internet TV
You Make the News"