Tax UPMC and then what

Over at another blog I posted a reply to the notion that a tax on UPMC is what is needed.

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Folks, think again.

If Pittsburgh's Politicians should move to tax UPMC, Pgh would be a REAL Ghost Town. Then we'd really be able to watch another chapter of the cancer spread.

It is the same type of observation of when talking about the downtown if you are the Pgh Downtown Partnership. The bums, hobos, street people are messing up the downtown streets. -- WRONG -- Fact is, the streets are so empty that the only ones you see are the more seedy folks. The problem is that they are the only ones you notice when nobody else is around.

UPMC isn't the problem. The problem is that everyone else has already departed.

Taxing UPMC won't bring everyone else back.

Envy can't drive the region and city into the future. That's not a formula for success. That's not how I want to raise my children. And, when they get mature enough to see it for themselves, they'll not want to stick around and be a part of it either.

Likewise, clearing the bums off of the downtown streets won't allow downtown to thrive again.

Think again if you think that the root of the problem is to 'tax UPMC.'

I can not tell a lie

Wizards are wonderful.

International Solidarity Commssion (ISC) of the IWW - All Star 2007, Community Collective Bargaining with the Home Team

July 11, 2007 marks one year since the Pirates Baseball Club hosted the All Star Game and promised the people of Pittsburgh that they would investigate working conditions in the factories sewing Pirates’ apparel. As the Pittsburgh General Membership Branch of the IWW reminds the Pirates at their July 8 game at PNC Park against the Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh has high standards for workers’ rights. The City’s Sports and Exhibition Authority has recommended the investigatory protocols of the Workers Rights Consortium (WRC), disclosure of wages and factory locations, truly independent investigations, and a commitment to the factories where investigations take place.

The International Solidarity Commission of the Industrial Workers of the World stands alongside the Pittsburgh Anti Sweatshop Community Alliance and SweatFree Communities in requesting that all unions and solidarity organizations support workers sewing their Major League Baseball (MLB) teams’ apparel by holding their Home Teams – rather than MLB -- accountable for workers’ rights. MLB is amongst the largest licensers of copyrighted logos in the world. If MLB had any sincere concern workers rights, it would already be following WRC protocols, and previous investigations would have been more substantial than the public-relations-white-washes workers have experienced thus far. The Home Teams represent the people in their respective cities, and it is the Home Teams that will be held accountable for the working conditions in factories sewing team apparel.

It is up to each community to hold its Home Team accountable for sweatshop conditions in factories sewing team apparel. The ISC extends greetings of solidarity to all workers sewing baseball merchandise. The ISC will receive testimony from workers sewing apparel with any of the team logos and distribute that testimony to unions and solidarity organizations for presentation to their respective baseball teams. To that end, the ISC wants to familiarize workers with the MLB logo that appears on all licensed merchandise.

The National Garment Workers Federation of Bangladesh and the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity have already provided specific testimony about the factories in which their members work sewing Pirates/Major League Baseball apparel. One year after the Pittsburgh Pirates promised to investigate working conditions, the team has dropped the ball, which makes the occasion of the 2007 All Star Game a sad day for the people of Pittsburgh.

At the pinnacle of the baseball season, when all eyes are focused on San Francisco, the ISC urges baseball fans, unions and solidarity organizations to leverage each team’s efforts to represent them and hit a home run for workers rights. By community collective bargaining with the Home Teams, we can set a new standard for accountability in the global apparel industry.

The ISC invites unions and solidarity organizations to join us in Chicago on Labor Day weekend for a SweatFree Baseball strategy session. We invite union activists to draw on the ISC as a resource when preparing apparel industry solidarity trips to Latin America and the Caribbean.

Contact: solidarity@iww.org
IWW SweatFree Baseball link (for information on New Era and Majestic) www.SweatFree.org/Baseball

Realbeer.com says put a buzz on PA -- in creation of a political buzz

Talk about seeing -- or saying -- double.

Realbeer.com Beer Therapy -- Blog Archive -- Beer Activist help needed in Pennsylvania Beer Activist help needed in Pennsylvania

Beer ActivistsSupport Your Local Brewery has issued an ...

RealClearPolitics - Articles - Freedom and Benevolence Go Together

RealClearPolitics - Articles - Freedom and Benevolence Go Together: "Doesn't it stand to reason that someone who wants everyone to be free of tyranny does so partly because he cares about others? Wishing freedom to one's fellow human beings strikes me as a sign of benevolence. But Moore and the left don't see it that way."

The Demise of Rachel Ray?

This morning on the radio I heard that Rachel Ray, the spunky little chef, is moving out of the digs she shares with her husband of two years and perhaps moving to an apartment.

What's Rachel cooking up? Adultry.

Will the rumored affair with Colby Donaldson of "Survivor" and razor blade commercials fame tarnish Ray's "Girl Next Door" appeal?

Will the housewives and female general populous continue to adore the plucky Rachel, as she whips up delicious recipes with a boy toy in the wings? I haven't seen Rachel's syndicated TV show in a while, I understand that Colby is a part of it now.

Don't get me wrong, even a straight-as-straight can be Republican like me can see why Rachel will throw her up-until-now blemish-free public image into the kitchen garbage can for a handsome cowboy like Colby. And we don't know anything about Mr. Rachel Ray; perhaps he's a cad.

Don't know.

It's just a question: will these shenanigans do anything to the empire that IS Rachel Ray? Perhaps she will be on Dr. Phil before we know it.

Boogie Man Thinking

This is an absurd statement in a posting on another blog: "Conservative thinking is what got us here."

The conservative tag, as well as liberal, and progressive is only a tag. None of them fit me well.

What got Pittsburgh into its mega mess is one-party rule by Democrats. We've had nothing but Dems. That's for sure. That's been constant. That's been a source of the problem. That is the first and NEXT log jam to fix.

The one tag that works throughout for all of us is ''screwed up city.''

Pittsburgh got in trouble because it was in a habit of giving too much away. Too much went to corporations. Too much went to the unions. Too much went to the developers. Too much went to the workers. Too much went to the sports teams. Too much went to the bankers for bond re-finance deals. Too much went where it should not have gone. Too much went to brownfields without any return.

We need government to focus on liberty, freedom and not the world of other things that are constant give-a-ways that are unfair to some and benefit others.

China executes ex-drug chief for graft - CNN.com

China executes ex-drug chief for graft - CNN.com BEIJING, China (Reuters) -- China executed a former drug and food safety chief on Tuesday for corruption in an unusually swift sentence which will serve as a warning amid a series of health scandals that have stained the 'made in China' brand.
art.

The Supreme People's Court approved the death sentence against Zheng Xiaoyu, 62, who was convicted of taking bribes worth some 6.5 million yuan ($850,000) from eight companies and dereliction of duty, Xinhua news agency said.

They don't fool around.

In the US, Libby gets a pardon. In China, he'd be dead.

Today's front page photo of Fast Eddie with a big smile with a solution to the budget -- days late -- might have a different outcome if we were in China. If they are known to be corrupt, and say, can't pass a budget. They would not lay off thousands of employees and close the parks, owned by the people. Heads would roll, literally. They are there to do a job. Otherwise, they leave.

Drink this and choke on Onorato's brew

Tuesday takes - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Onorato's stealth tax: Governor-in-training Dan Onorato, Allegheny County's chief executive, lost an incredible amount of goodwill by secretly lobbying state legislators for a 10 percent tax on all alcoholic drinks to help fund mass transit. It's one thing (bad) to publicly propose new taxation; it's quite another thing (one might say chicken-livered) to do so on the sly.

Another MSM interview -- or two -- about Ron Paul

Wars Costing USA $12 Billion a Month

This must be what a surge looks like.

My Way News - Report: Wars Costing $12 Billion a Month WASHINGTON (AP) - The boost in troop levels in Iraq has increased the cost of war in Iraq and in Afghanistan to $12 billion a month, and the total for Iraq alone is nearing a half-trillion dollars, congressional analysts say.

All told, Congress has appropriated $610 billion in war-related money since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror assaults, roughly the same as the war in Vietnam. Iraq alone has cost $450 billion.

The figures come from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, which provides research and analysis to lawmakers.

PA House Bill about School Funding and Pittsburgh specific elements

(see comments for an update)


www.legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS/Legis/PN/Public/btCheck.cfm

Check out House Bill (HB) 842 which is the state's bill to enact all education funding --including everything else they put in here. Take a look at the parts about Pittsburgh. Lots of Duquesne School District things there.

For Pittsburgh Public Schools specifically:

P. 12, Lines 1-15 Pittsburgh is the only district in the state classified as a Commonwealth Partnership School district. This new language gives the board the right to negate contracts -- but not teacher contracts.

P. 12-13 Gives Pittsburgh Supt. Power to dismiss employees. Can you say Lynn S.?

Insights and reactions welcomed.

Thanks for the pointer to Theresa Smith.

Costa To Run For Mayor? Why?

Guy Costa, the city's current Public Works chief, had to submit his letter of resignation to Mayor Luke Ravenstahl just like most of the others in charge of our underwhelming public servies.

Now the Tribune Review reports that he is contemplating a run for Ravenstahl's seat the next time up.

The T-R says that friends are urging him to run because of a perceived disrespect. Remember, Pittsburgh's side streets are totally and completely untouched with salt or snow plows during the winter months. In fact, I have no idea how my neighbors who live on a steep incline, get to work or anywhere else for that matter when it snows.

We're on our own out there folks, and Mr. Coast-a sometimes gets standing ovations from him friends on City Council.

There isn't a Costa in the entire city who isn't on the taxpayer's dime. Paul is a quiet state Representative, brother Jay is even more quiet in the state Senate. I think former city police chief Dom is a brother. Dom even had a few feelers out for Mayor this past time around.

They are all entitled to huge pensions. Don't get me wrong, all of these guys appear to be nice people. None are evil, and in Guy's case, he's in a no-win situation. If Public Works were excellent, it would be expensive. If it were deplorable...which at times it had been during the Mayor Murphy administration...suburbanites wouldn't be able to make it downtown. Don't think for a second that's NOT who most on Grant Street worry about. That's where the real money lies.

Why wouldn't Mr. Costa just get a private-industry gig. He undoubtedly would have friends that could help him land a job perhaps as cushy as the one he currently maintains.

Here's an interesting idea: could the Costa clan empower the Special Interest sector to vote for Republican Mark DeSantis? This is a union town, so they say. Hence the massive exodus to the suburbs and neighboring counties. Could the Special Interests vote in DeSantis, thus setting up a Costa-to-the-rescue union-estatic revolt in a few years?

With news that Costa is thinking of a run makes a Bill Peduto return unlikely. Peduto doesn't pander to the Special Interests that have a bloated influence on this town. That's why Peduto bailed this election cycle: reform is a dirty word to those pining for budget-breaking pension packages.

Ravenstahl played the game, but we are now been innundated with stories that showcase the Mayor's youth, inexperience, and some-say lack of decorum. He too is not a bad guy, but he was also a compromise city council president who was never expected to raise to the top of the city's food chain.

Pittsburgh is still desperate for a great new leader. That sound you hear is not the cavalry. They aren't on their way.

There are SEVEN notes in a musical scale. Seven, Seven, ohh Seven.

Chandler style poetry for 7-7-7 from Kansas City:

Hey everybody – it is that time of the year again.

Happy Seven-Seven-Seven!

Sorry to break my pledge of only bothering you once a month.

But since 01-01-01 I have written something for the date and this year should be no exception –

I warn you that on the 8th of August I will do it again.

So this little missive is brought to you by the number Seven.

For the past Seven hours I have been on I-70 doing 70 miles an hour.

Why was 6 afraid?

Because Seven ate 9

God created the world in 6 days and on the Seventh he rested.

Seven is the 4th prime number – and the first number to have two syllables – unless you count zero – and well… you don’t count with zero – which makes zero – if you believe in a circular universe - the highest number doesn’t’ it?

But I digress. There are Seven days in a week

The seven seas and the Seven Continents

The seven wonders of the world

There are seven holes in you face - and seven deadly sins.

Chastity, Moderation, Liberality, Charity, Meekness, Zeal, and Humility, and the seven virtues: sloth, letchery, gluttony, pride, envy, wrath and

In Proverbs 6:16 – 19, it is stated that "These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:"

There was The Seven Year Itch, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, “Seven Plus Seven Is,” SeSevenen, seven swans a-swimming, 00Seven, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

Seven come eleven.

Seven Eleven, A touchdown and an extra point, Lucky seven, Michael Vick, The atomic number of nitrogen – which I think Michel Vick inhales a little too much of lately.

The Seven ages of man

The Seven colors in the rainbow

The Seven cities of Gold

Seven UP

Diet Seven-UP

Seven hills of Rome

Seven Liberal Arts

Seven Sages

Seven emperors Julius Caesar, Augustus, Galba, Hadrian, Nerva, Sallust, Vespasian

A Sabbatical comes every Seven years - A jubilee Seven xSeven years – 49.

David is The Seventh son of Jessie

And Jesus in SevenSeventh in a direct line to David.

Seven blessings made beneath chuppah

The Seven cul-de-sacs of hell, or The Seven terraces of mt purgatory – depending on which book you read.

The Seven heavans of Islam – Seventh heavan

Jesus says to Peter to forgive seventy times seven times.

The Seven joys of the blessed Mother Mary

And of course, The Seven sorrows of the blessed Mother Mary

There are Seven palms in a cubit

The Buddah took Seven steps at birth

The Seven Hindu Sages

The Seven islands of Atlantis

The Seven notes in a scale

The Seventh Seal

The Seventh Samuri

The Magnificant Seven

The Seventh Son

The Seventh Inning Stretch

Flight SevenSeven was used to attack the Pentagon on September 11th, 2001 – which ummm – has 5 sides, a top and a bottom – OH My GOD! That’s Seven that proves it – there is a conspiracy.

I am sure at least seven of you will writ me back and tell me much better ones than those.

Seven more of you will unsubscribe to this news letter – because # Seven is so lame.

I have Seven dollars in my pocket.

Drop by my website and review the archives if ya wanna read 01-01-01 thru 06-06-06

See ya later,

chandler

So much for brevity and the soul of wit.

Ron Paul in Iowa - video

Crap politics, as usual, "Mayor’s neighborhood forums" see on other site

- � mayor’s neighborhood forums Join Mayor Luke Ravenstahl for a Mayor’s Neighborhood Forum - the first in a series of ten community conversations throughout Pittsburgh neighborhoods. The Mayor will report back to the North Side Community on initiatives such as his Neighborhoods First Agenda and solicit input on the state and future of the community.

Thursday, July 19th
6:30 -7:30 pm
Pittsburgh’s Grand Hall at The Priory

This is junk. This should not happen in an election season.

The Burgh Report: Excellent Post by Mark Rauterkus

The Burgh Report: Excellent Post by Mark Rauterkus ... I really couldn't understand precisely what he was trying to do ...

Motivations are hard to understand. The easy questions in life are "who" and "when" and perhaps, "what."

The questions and insights of "how" and "why" are for the most advanced.

From time to time, I understand that I'm guilty of speaking over the heads of most of the folks in the audience. I aim to deliver content that goes beyond the basics.

I really confound my out of region friends and family. They don't know what's what in Pittsburgh. They don't live our Pittsburgh life. Our shared experiences of being in the Burgh -- is understood by a vast majority of my neighbors. So, lots of readers here, and lots of people who know me, my family, my passions, my work in other sectors are just "deer in the headlights" when it comes to a topical shift about Pittsburgh's political landscape. They zone out because they don't live in our 'twilight zone.'

Case in point, lots of the folks in suburban Pittsburgh felt good about Tom Murphy. Murphy gave them the Convention Center, PNC Park, Heinz Field, Lord & Taylor and an evacuation plan from the tallest downtown buildings in the wake of 9-11 fire-drills. My disdain for Tom Murphy and the logic of my objections to his leadership was lost on everyone 30-miles away from The Point -- and nearly everyone within 10-miles of The Point.

Case in point 2, few in the local media have a handle about what I'm about. Nearly none in the media have ever generate professional expressions that bolster and inter-twine with my positions and issues. There has always been a 'missing link' of sorts between myself and the MSM (mainstream media).

I've never been in the 40-under-40 crowd. I'm not going to show up on the Sunday Business Page shows. These are givens that are fine with me. But the point to make is that my mo-jo isn't defined by others. There isn't a focused, feature piece that connects the dots for John-Q-Public.

Complicated. Self-made. Multi-media, multi-dimensional, blah-blah-blah.

I'm a Libertarian too! I'm free. I'm stressing liberties. A framework for freedom isn't something that can fit in a downtown retail outlet with a tax-break. Home Depot, on the other hand, is something that you can drive to in East Liberty under a big orange logo that employs guys in bibs, each with a W2 on file, selling bricks and mortar. Go figure.

Finally, for now, I'm a coach. I love to push, pull, drag, trick, and cheer so that others get out of their "comfort zones." Education, like democracy, is messy. Community conversations are wild.

That's why. To kick up some dust.

I understand that my city, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 2007, is still not a place where my children and their peers will want to reside. I understand that what we got here today is lacking. The opportunities are better elsewhere. There are too many hurdles to both prosperity and freedom in our region. I want my kids and their friends and classmates to thrive. I want what is best for future generations.

Politically, Pittsburgh is nearly a wasteland. The weirdness that resonates from within our public sector crumbles all sorta of other aspects of our lives. Our community lives are with big weaknesses. We are all poorer and less able to live up to our potential because of those nagging problems.

I'm fed up and I'm NOT going to flee. I'll stay put and fight with issues, ideas, concepts and votes -- from time to time. With us thinking again, perhaps some physical violence will be kept at bay.

I understand that I'm fortunate in this period in my life. The flexibility that I have isn't by chance. But, it does summon a sense of duty and purpose to what I do. I do what I do in large part because I am able and others are not.

Thanks for asking. Hope to see you around town soon. I'm sorry if we haven't met yet. Cheers.

Transforming Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania

More reading from Mark F. -- from the past.

Transforming Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania: "Hold That Thought - Pittsburgh Quarterly Magazine"

Trivia time: My middle initial is "F" too.

Trivia time quiz: What's Mark F. DeSantis birthday?

Local scholarship fund with swimming, cancer, travel, and hope all mixed together

Home The Marissa Boyan Scholarship Fund is a 501 (c)3, non-profit corporation.

Here is where the Pittsburgh Bloggers should lend some attention, good will, and financial assistance.