McCain's "Straight Talk Express" Hits the Ditch ... John McCain, in the Senate Republican cloakroom, making a conference call to 'his top fund-raisers to urge them to keep up the fight.This is piling on as another bites the dust.
'The call, however, may only have exacerbated an already tough week for Mr. McCain. Senate ethics rules expressly forbid lawmakers to engage in campaign activities inside Senate facilities. If Mr. McCain solicited campaign contributions on a call from government property, that would be a violation of federal criminal law as well.'
...
We have long regarded Senator McCain as a hypocritical opportunist, lacking both the political integrity and emotional temperament to be President.
Friday, July 13, 2007
McCain's "Straight Talk Express" Hits the Ditch
Sounds like a local story of a city council aid who calls locals from a city phone.
Free the iPhone : Support wireless freedom!
Free the iPhone : Support wireless freedom! Apple touts the iPhone as the “Internet in your pocket” — but it’s not.
Weed Killers thoughtout town by private contractors
Carl S called me after I put my cell phone number within a blog posting elsewhere to raise concerns about some actions he has witnessed within the community. The 3-1-1 number may work, as it should, for some instances, but calling me (412 298 3432) gets you a blog posting too.
A private contractor working for who-knows who is spraying some wicked weed killer all around town. This goes under billboards, next to roads, along sidewalks, so he says.
The root chemical is much like "agent orange." It is toxic as can be with 98 percent as an inert agent, i.e., kerosene. Look up 'herbicides' on Google, or at Wikipedia.org/Herbicide. Skin rashes and other side effects are unleashed with the spread of these poisons.
Is this just happening in the western parts of the city and county? It occurs in Crafton too.
Furthermore, plenty of folks are up in arms at a recent meeting or two in the west neighborhoods. A bunch of folks clashed against the Housing Authority. If police had not been at the meeting, Carl could have seen someone
getting hung -- literally.
The city got a grant of some sort from HUD and is in the process of buying 30 houses in certain neighborhoods in that part of town. (Sheraden, I think.) These are then going to be 'given' to folks who had been flooded out ofBroadhead Manor a few years ago.
Some lawyer (it seemed) young woman from the Housing Authority started the meeting at the podium and got blasted by follow-up questions from those in the audience. It got nasty from there. Others had to step in to field a long list of concerns.
Carl stresses that this isn't an issue of race at all. Folks in the audience are both black and white.
Stay tuned. There will be a Zone 3 public safety meeting, again, on Wednesday night. I'd love to get his reactions on a podcast in the future.
A private contractor working for who-knows who is spraying some wicked weed killer all around town. This goes under billboards, next to roads, along sidewalks, so he says.
The root chemical is much like "agent orange." It is toxic as can be with 98 percent as an inert agent, i.e., kerosene. Look up 'herbicides' on Google, or at Wikipedia.org/Herbicide. Skin rashes and other side effects are unleashed with the spread of these poisons.
Is this just happening in the western parts of the city and county? It occurs in Crafton too.
Furthermore, plenty of folks are up in arms at a recent meeting or two in the west neighborhoods. A bunch of folks clashed against the Housing Authority. If police had not been at the meeting, Carl could have seen someone
getting hung -- literally.
The city got a grant of some sort from HUD and is in the process of buying 30 houses in certain neighborhoods in that part of town. (Sheraden, I think.) These are then going to be 'given' to folks who had been flooded out ofBroadhead Manor a few years ago.
Some lawyer (it seemed) young woman from the Housing Authority started the meeting at the podium and got blasted by follow-up questions from those in the audience. It got nasty from there. Others had to step in to field a long list of concerns.
Carl stresses that this isn't an issue of race at all. Folks in the audience are both black and white.
Stay tuned. There will be a Zone 3 public safety meeting, again, on Wednesday night. I'd love to get his reactions on a podcast in the future.
Raising Money Online and quote: They seem to be the laggards.
Democrats Lead in Raising Money Online - New York Times: "One surprising development has been the online strength of a Republican long shot, Representative Ron Paul of Texas, who has garnered fierce devotion online and been able to sustain his campaign in large part from Internet donations.Rudy, pull the plug.
Potentially troublesome for Republicans, however, Mr. Giuliani, the current party front-runner in national polls, has done the least of all of the major candidates online, raising an anemic $1.3 million.
“The Giuliani campaign to me is the mystery,” said Michael Cornfield, adjunct professor of political management at George Washington University, who specializes in online political campaigning. “They seem to be the laggards.”
Reverse 9-1-1 makes the news today after being blogged about yesterday
At another blog, in the comments area, we talked a bit about 3-1-1 and REVERSE 9-1-1 yesterday. Today, the Trib has an article about Reverse 9-1-1.
The new blog: and its 3-1-1 post.
The comments.
Trib coverage of Reverse 9-1-1 headed to I.U.P.
Trib and 3-1-1. A quick call to Pittsburgh city hall can solve nagging issues - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Platform.For-Pgh.org and 9-1-1.
The new blog: and its 3-1-1 post.
The comments.
Trib coverage of Reverse 9-1-1 headed to I.U.P.
Trib and 3-1-1. A quick call to Pittsburgh city hall can solve nagging issues - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Platform.For-Pgh.org and 9-1-1.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Build up -- not out. To UPMC and my blogging comments
I've been on the various blogs today spreading some love. You can use the COComment feature of this blog to view some rather long back and forth comments from other blogs. Go to the left of this page and scroll down to the blue box to explore.
Ron Paul - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I'm loving this guy more and more each day. He was a swimmer in college.
Ron Paul - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Paul paid for his first year at Gettysburg College with saved newspaper-delivery and lawn-mowing money. Paul delivered mail and laundry on the side while in Gettysburg; for one year, he managed the college coffee shop. He gave up track after a knee injury, but joined the college swimming team instead after taking it up as therapy. He had been offered a full scholarship to run for the track team but declined it, worried that he wouldn't regain his previous speed. Paul was inducted into Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity,[5] and he served as steward and house manager of the fraternity. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1957.Give it a read.
Duck, duck, goose. Dan is on the job now.
The parks are always an after thought with Dan Onorato and the rest of the crew on Grant Street. That's a shame.
Perhaps we can host a dragon boat race there and take care of some of the problems the way they do it in China.
http://kdka.com/video/?id=29783@kdka.dayport.comThis makes another reason why the region needs a Pittsburgh Park District. Folks who care about the parks should be in charge of the parks -- in democratic, open, honest ways.
Perhaps we can host a dragon boat race there and take care of some of the problems the way they do it in China.
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| From china - foods |
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| From NZ birds |
Budget Impasse Wreaks Havoc In Pa. - Politics News Story - WTAE Pittsburgh
I was on WTAE TV 4 News the other day. It was just before the state had its mini-shut down. I gave a few comments to the TV Reporter about the state plan that shut the state parks.
I can't find it online. But it aired as a couple have told me they saw the news.
I can't find it online. But it aired as a couple have told me they saw the news.
Budget Impasse Wreaks Havoc In Pa. - Politics News Story - WTAE Pittsburgh Budget Impasse Wreaks Havoc In Pa.Pointers welcomed.
NCAA Penalizes 75 Schools - meanwhile the swimmers got crushed at Ohio Univ.
Talking NCAA sports and academic progress.
But there is more. The guys on the squad were able to transfer to other NCAA schools. However, the NCAA rules of making annual academic progress were hard, if not impossible, for some of the student athletes because Ohio University is on an academic calendar that has QUARTERS and most other universities have SEMESTERS. The quarter hours don't always transfer into another system so as to meet the 'academic benchmarks' that the NCAA rules require. More dumb rules.
So, lots of the swimmers lost their team to no fault of their own. And, when forced to transfer to another school to continue to study and swim -- they lost a year of eligibility and opportunity.
Any athlete that is in a program that gets cut (because of Title IX) should be able to be eligible for a transfer for the next season without hardship on the athlete. The athlete should be given a free pass to play anywhere that will have him or her -- for the next year -- without worry about grades and academic progress.
TEXAS SWIMMING: NCAA Penalizes 75 Schools 112 teams at 75 colleges failed to meet the Academic Progress Rate requirements.The Ohio University Men's Swim Team was cut. They swam this year. The team won't be around next year. This is still a bad decision and makes me sad.
81 of those 112 teams face scholarship cuts.
49 teams have received warning letters for failure to meet academic standards for three (3) consecutive years.
44% of men's basketball teams face sanctions next year.
40% of football teams face sanctions next year.
35% of baseball teams face sanctions next year.
67% of the teams facing penalties are men's basketball, football, or baseball teams.
Ready for the swimming numbers? Only one school in the country (Florida A&M) was cited for poor academic performance in swimming.
So here it is in a nutshell:
We pump all kinds of money into football, basketball, and baseball only to see these sports at the top of the 'Dumbass' category.
We cut sports like swimming that rarely get into academic trouble. We are near the top in academics but are told we shouldn't exist.
What a screwed up world it's become....
But there is more. The guys on the squad were able to transfer to other NCAA schools. However, the NCAA rules of making annual academic progress were hard, if not impossible, for some of the student athletes because Ohio University is on an academic calendar that has QUARTERS and most other universities have SEMESTERS. The quarter hours don't always transfer into another system so as to meet the 'academic benchmarks' that the NCAA rules require. More dumb rules.
So, lots of the swimmers lost their team to no fault of their own. And, when forced to transfer to another school to continue to study and swim -- they lost a year of eligibility and opportunity.
Any athlete that is in a program that gets cut (because of Title IX) should be able to be eligible for a transfer for the next season without hardship on the athlete. The athlete should be given a free pass to play anywhere that will have him or her -- for the next year -- without worry about grades and academic progress.
Everyone out of the pool -- and unplug that iPod
Our swim practice yesterday had a thundering exit. We hear thunder, the kids get out of the pool. One of our meets was knocked off its schedule too -- to re-play on Monday. Expect another storm Monday night as Crafton visits Green Tree then.
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| From signs |
Experts warn of lightning-strike injuries with iPods
Lightning traveled through a man's iPod causing burns on his chest and neck
Colorado teen struck while listening to a music player
Eardrum ruptures are the most common ear injury in lightning-strike victims
(AP) -- Listen to an iPod during a storm and you may get more than electrifying tunes.
A Canadian jogger suffered wishbone-shaped chest and neck burns, ruptured eardrums and a broken jaw when lightning traveled through his music player's wires.
Last summer, a Colorado teen ended up with similar injuries when lightning struck nearby as he was listening to his iPod while mowing the lawn.
Emergency physicians report treating other patients with burns from freak accidents while using personal electronic devices such as beepers, Walkman players and laptop computers outdoors during storms.
Michael Utley, a former stockbroker from West Yarmouth, Massachusetts, who survived being struck by lightning while golfing, has tracked 13 cases since 2004 of people hit while talking on cell phones. They are described on his Web site, www.struckbylightning.org.
Contrary to some urban legends and media reports, electronic devices don't attract lightning the way a tall tree or a lightning rod does.
"It's going to hit where it's going to hit, but once it contacts metal, the metal conducts the electricity," said Dr. Mary Ann Cooper of the American College of Emergency Physicians and an ER doctor at University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago.
When lightning jumps from a nearby object to a person, it often flashes over the skin. But metal in electronic devices -- or metal jewelry or coins in a pocket -- can cause contact burns and exacerbate the damage.
A spokeswoman for Apple Inc., the maker of iPods, declined to comment. Packaging for iPods and some other music players do include warnings against using them in the rain.
Lightning strikes can occur even if a storm is many miles away, so lightning safety experts have been pushing the slogan "When thunder roars, go indoors," said Cooper.
Jason Bunch, 18, says it wasn't even raining last July, but there was a storm off in the distance. Lightning struck a nearby tree, shot off and hit him.
Bunch, who was listening to Metallica while mowing the grass at his home in Castle Rock, Colorado, still has mild hearing damage in both ears, despite two reconstructive surgeries to repair ruptured eardrums. He had burns from the earphone wires on the sides of his face, a nasty burn on his hip where the iPod had been in a pocket and "a bad line up the side of my body," even though the iPod cord was outside his shirt.
"It was a real miracle" he survived, said his mother, Kelly Risheill.
The Canadian jogger suffered worse injuries, according to a report in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.
The man, a 39-year-old dentist from the Vancouver area, was listening to an iPod while jogging in a thunderstorm when, according to witnesses, lightning hit a tree a couple of feet away and jumped to his body. The strike threw the man about eight feet and caused second-degree burns on his chest and left leg.
The electric current left red burn lines running from where the iPod had been strapped to his chest up the sides of his neck. It ruptured both ear drums, dislocated tiny ear bones that transmit sound waves, and broke the man's jaw in four places, said Dr. Eric Heffernan, an imaging specialist at Vancouver General Hospital.
The injury happened two summers ago and despite treatment, the man still has less than 50 percent of normal hearing on each side, must wear hearing aids and can't hear high-pitched sounds.
"He's a part-time musician, so that's kind of messed up his hobby as well," Heffernan said. Like the Colorado teen, the Canadian patient, who declined to be interviewed or identified, has no memory of the lightning strike.
In another case a few years ago, electric current from a lightning strike ran through a man's pager, burning both him and his girlfriend who was leaning against him, said Dr. Vince Mosesso, an emergency doctor at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Eardrum ruptures are considered the most common ear injury in lightning-strike victims, occurring in 5 percent to 50 percent of patients, according to various estimates -- whether or not an electronic device is involved. A broken jaw is rare, doctors say.
Ron Morris' newsletter covers Russ Diamond on the need for constituional convention
Ron Morris' - The American Entrepreneur FREE Newsletter: "WHY WE NEED A CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION"I'm not sure we need a constitutional convention. But, since Russ is talking, I'll tune in.
Should a convention occur -- count me in. I'd love to be a player at those meetings.
Watchdog's remark sends Rendell on a tear
pacleansweep : Message: Watchdog�s remark sends Rendell on a tearSpeaking of good food and bad, taste this blowback.
'Eric Epstein,' boiled Rendell, 'is about as mentally stable as that guy who ate all those people.'
Chinese food 'made from cardboard'
Chinese food 'made from cardboard' - CNN.com BEIJING, China (AP) -- Chopped cardboard, softened with an industrial chemical and flavored with fatty pork and powdered seasoning, is a main ingredient in batches of steamed buns sold in one Beijing neighborhood, state television said.Are we going to pick on China for the next year until the 2008 Olympics? Or, will the picking go on for the next decade?
I've got a bunch of nice food photos from China. I didn't ever have any cardboard. But, don't drink the water.
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| china - foods |
Minority Report - Pittsburgh ignores the plight of black citizens at its own peril - Views - Revelations - Pittsburgh City Paper
Woops. Pittsburgh's Nasty Little Secret gets some play at the City Paper, again.
Some are, some are not.
Of course you can't 'privatize' a soul. But, you can mostly keep families gated.
To be honest, we do NOT need to 'interact' for any of us to survive. One can't 'have to' care. That graph is just a bit over the top to be taken without a blink. Think again.
Pittsburgh - Minority Report - Pittsburgh ignores the plight of black citizens at its own peril - Views - Revelations - Pittsburgh City Paper Ralph Ellison wrote about the 'Invisible Man'; I am going to talk about Invisible Leadership. I find it disgraceful that so many black and white elected officials (with the exception of Hill District state Rep. Jake Wheatley Jr.) could remain silent or neutral on these issues.A question was asked -- and the answer is "sorta."
How do you remain silent or neutral about us losing our very lives? What does it matter if you have a good job or a nice car if you can get shot on your way to work or carjacked at every turn? If your kids can't go to school with other children because so many of their peers are ill-prepared and, therefore, poor role models? I saw a billboard for a K-12 'cyber school' the other day and it sickened me: Are we that removed from each other's essential humanity?
Some are, some are not.
Of course you can't 'privatize' a soul. But, you can mostly keep families gated.
To be honest, we do NOT need to 'interact' for any of us to survive. One can't 'have to' care. That graph is just a bit over the top to be taken without a blink. Think again.
We cannot privatize our souls. We can't keep our families gated. We are going to have to interact. And talk. And care about one another. Unless we do, none of us will survive.But, right on about the rest. Indifference sucks.
Complaint Department rumbles with City Paper and Police Promotions --- sustain
Pittsburgh - Complaint Department - News - News - Pittsburgh City Paper The whole issue of promotion shows there are real problems with the police force.
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.
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.'
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.'
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
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
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