Is George S, the acting director of the city's law department, still on the job?
Did he get hired? Is he still an acting director?
How is the search for that position progressing.
Did he submit his resignation -- call it what you wish -- perhaps a 'soft resignation.
Out of all the guys who were managers who were asked to resign -- he was one who should have been fired months ago. I asked, in public, for him to be terminated.
Well, what's up????
Given his track record, I don't think he is fit for the job. Catherine McN is proof positive. Nothing else needs to be said.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
[412] Did you see the news and quote in Pittsburgh City Paper? Reporter called me a 'fixture.'
I posted to my 412-public-campaign email blast list:
[412] Did you see the news and quote in Pittsburgh City Paper? Reporter called me a 'fixture.'
If you are not on my email blast list, I'd love to get your email address. And, if you know of others, especially if they live within the city, send those contacts along to me.
[412] Did you see the news and quote in Pittsburgh City Paper? Reporter called me a 'fixture.'
If you are not on my email blast list, I'd love to get your email address. And, if you know of others, especially if they live within the city, send those contacts along to me.
E-mail users bringing home the bacn
E-mail users bringing home the bacn: To me, it's a bit tastier than spam. It's relevant e-mail you've opted to receive either by signing up for a service, joining a Web site or subscribing to content,' said Andrew Foote, head of the digital marketing division of Peppercom, a New York-based public relations firm.Go figure. The first coverage of BACN from the P-G and it is ALL NEGATIVE. I'm not saying that bacn is the new granola, but come on P-G.
The term bacn is a relatively new expression first brought to life on Aug. 20 at a blog conference at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh -- PodCamp Pittsburgh 2. Almost instantly, the term spread across the Web and claimed a place in Internet lingo.
Bacn is theft just as "word of mouth" is theft to Madison Avenue.
Bacn is buzz. Bacn is sizzle. Bacn is how influence builds.
I made some bacn today with a posting to nearly 100 people on my Linked in network. I'm asking them how to put the heat on the mainstream media for the sake of political debate.
The P-G makes me giggle, as does most of the coverage from the Pittsburgh marketplace. It is sooooo negative.
Question: How do we get political debates for city-wide elections? And, can the media help at all?
I'm frustrated that there are NO scheduled debates for Pittsburgh's city controller race. Zippo. The Pittsburgh mayor's race might have three debates. We should have 30. Can we get some pressure for media sponsorship so we have debates -- or is this just a lost cause for 2007 local races?
Citizens and the mainstream media have shown some interest in hosting debates for 2008 presidential races. What works in other regions or are candidate debates rare (if not extinct) elsewhere too?
View question as posted at Linked in. (That is my first question with that service.)
Citizens and the mainstream media have shown some interest in hosting debates for 2008 presidential races. What works in other regions or are candidate debates rare (if not extinct) elsewhere too?
View question as posted at Linked in. (That is my first question with that service.)
Ex-Policeman sells a DVD -- and gives an interview
I don't like the "WAR ON DRUGS" and all the associated problems that unfold from there.
Ravenstahl fires two directors - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Ravenstahl fires two directors - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Humm...
Personal story. We had a building inspector at our house today -- just about the same time of day as when Luke was swinging his ax or waving his light saber.
Luke has been trying to 'streamline' the process for business owners in the city. It is fine to want to cut red tape. However, the neighborhood groups are going to be out in the cold.
If you want to keep a nightclub in a residential area, and the neighborhood residents don't want it to re-open -- then what side is the mayor going to take? I expect that the mayor, in his pro business mode, is going to try to streamline the process. That also means citizens get tossed under the steamroller.
Personal story. We had a building inspector at our house today -- just about the same time of day as when Luke was swinging his ax or waving his light saber.
Luke has been trying to 'streamline' the process for business owners in the city. It is fine to want to cut red tape. However, the neighborhood groups are going to be out in the cold.
If you want to keep a nightclub in a residential area, and the neighborhood residents don't want it to re-open -- then what side is the mayor going to take? I expect that the mayor, in his pro business mode, is going to try to streamline the process. That also means citizens get tossed under the steamroller.
Ravenstahl shakes up staff, P-G A new Mayor's Office position, director of operations, will be filled by Art Victor, a veteran of Allegheny County Commissioner Bob Cranmer's staff who is now with Green Tree-based correctional medical firm Wexford Health Services.Where is the posting for the job called "director of operations?"
Alecia Sirk, a former reporter and communications professional who is also Mr. Ford's wife, will be press secretary.That move worries me. Why was Matt H overlooked? Could they not come to terms in the last 90 days? Is that why there was such a delay?
Neighborhood branch libraries are to close -- if they have their way
The City of Pittsburgh has a library system that includes many neighborhood branch libraries that are great community assets. The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh runs the operation, but the buildings had all been owned by the city. Efforts throughout the system have been sour for years, in my opinion. A few libraries got physical overhauls and are now more modern and are looking great. But some of the decisions have been poor.
The library building in Hazelwood has been abandoned. It is a great building that is now in a serious state of decline and the library leadership and stewardship fails in my book.
Recently, running mate of the stars, Glenn Walsh, spoke to Pittsburgh City Council to warn them of a looming storm. In the grant application made by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh to the RAD Board (Regional Asset District), Library Administrators made mentions of their intentions to close neighborhood branches.
City Council has a big role in the library system. Most of all, the buildings that are home to these facilities are owned by the city and city council is responsible for them.
As a city councilman, and as a city controller, I'd be sure to fully investigate and report upon the efforts by the library administrators and board. These new leaders of the library system are often put in these roles despite them NOT being professional librarians.
Vote "NO" on the retention votes for judges in Pennsylvania
Reason #10: The Judicial Swindle
On July 7, 2005, the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed a bill providing pay raises for all three branches of government. The bill was passed at 2:00 a.m. with no public input and was an example of 'gut-and-run' legislation, in which a one-page bill was stripped of all text, replaced with a 22-page amendment in a conference committee and quickly passed without debate.
The bill contained a non-severability clause, meaning that if any portion was struck down in court, the entire pay raise would be struck down as well. This was an attempt to insure against any future lawsuits against the pay raise bill. In practice, if any single judge ruled against any part of the bill, every judge, legislator and executive branch member who received a pay raise would lose it.
What judge in their right mind would want to jeopardize the pay raise of every one of his or her colleagues? All for one and one for all.
By his own admission, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Ralph Cappy was a chief proponent of the pay raise package and claimed the legislature showed "courage" in passing it. He also met privately with members of the other two branches of government to hammer out the details.
The bill did not adhere to the Constitution's 'original purpose' or 'three day' rules. Just weeks earlier, however, the Supreme Court sent a clear message to the legislature that such a bastardized process was acceptable in the Court's eyes - via a decision on a case regarding the bill that created the Commonwealth's slots industry, which was passed in much the same manner.
The public was outraged by the pay raise. Activist Gene Stilp filed suit against the bill and its clear violations of constitutional provisions for the legislative process. A four-month public outcry eventually led to a repeal of the pay raise by the General Assembly on November 16, 2006.
The pay raise repeal also included a non-severability clause, meaning that if any court struck down any small portion of the repeal, everyone would get their raises back. In for a penny, in for a pound.
Since the pay raise was repealed, Commonwealth Court dismissed Stilp's suit as moot. Two subsequent suits were filed by judges against the repeal, however. These cases revolved around the constitutional provision that judicial salaries cannot be cut unless the salaries of "all salaried officers of the Commonwealth" are also reduced.
There is no definition within the Constitution of what a "salaried officer" is. Short of a constitutional definition of the term, an act of the General Assembly is the next best thing - so the legislature created a definition within the repeal specifically to prevent court challenges based on this point.
While the Stilp case dealt with the procedural issues involved with the pay raise, the judges' cases against the repeal only sought to keep the money. In an extraordinary move, the Supreme Court used its King's Bench power to pull the two cases filed by judges directly to the high court for adjudication. In an even more unusual move, the Court brought the Stilp case back from the dead so they could rule on all the pay raise issues at once.
The case took an even more bizarre twist in January 2006 when state Treasurer Bob Casey, Jr. - who was named as a respondent in the both the Stilp case and one of the judges' cases - filed an amici curiae (friend of the court) brief siding with plaintiff Stilp. A similar brief supporting Stilp's procedural arguments was filed by activists Tim Potts, Eric Epstein and Russ Diamond.
Many Pennsylvanians quietly opined that the "fix was in" as soon as the Court decided to use its King's Bench power to combine the three cases into one. Because the salary of every single judge in the state was at stake, conflict of interest issues abounded. What state court could possibly give this case a fair hearing?
Oral arguments were heard on April 4, 2006, in Philadelphia and the Court handed down its opinion on September 14, 2006. The decision came as no real surprise, but Pennsylvanians were outraged nonetheless.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court combined three separate cases - including one that was already DOA - in order to cherry-pick pieces from each to build a decision that would allow all judges in the Commonwealth to keep the loot. It was an act of legal gymnastics the likes of which no Pennsylvanian had ever seen.
Despite the non-severability clause in the repeal, the Court restored pay raises for the judicial branch only. The legislative procedural issues of the Stilp case were not resolved.
"This was a judicial swindle," Duquesne University Law School professor Bruce Ledewitz told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "They went out of their way to uphold every other part of the constitutional challenge except the part that would have affected their own pay raises." Ledewitz later stated it was only the second time in American history a non-severability clause was ignored by a court.
Justice Ronald Castille, author of the Court's majority opinion, later wrote a letter to Duquesne University Law School that arguably threatened to bring Ledewitz up for disciplinary action due to his comments. With Ralph Cappy's recent resignation, Castille is due to become the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 2008.
Every single member of Pennsylvania's judicial branch now benefits from this judicial swindle. When they want to talk about "their record," they must first explain how they justify keeping the loot from what many non-judge and non-lawyer Pennsylvanians consider to be a disgraceful act of self-service.
Just because it has been deemed "legal" doesn't make it right. After all, how was it deemed "legal" in the first place? That's right - judges pushed for a pay raise, the top judge held secret meetings behind closed doors to get it, judges filed the challenges to the repeal and judges made the final "legal" decision.
Judges may decide the law, but We the People decide who the judges are.
What YOU Need to Do on November 6
PACleanSweep Judicial Retention Poll Results
Pennsylvania's Judicial Retention System
About PACleanSweepPACleanSweep is a non-partisan effort dedicated to reforming state government in Pennsylvania. For more information, please visit www.PACleanSweep.com.
| For more information: Russ Diamond, Chair 717.383.3025 |
Ron Paul: Libertarian Apostle - Is Pittsburgh native Ron Paul the champion that libertarians have been seeking?
Big article in Pittsburgh City Paper quotes me, Mark Rauterkus, about Ron Paul for President.
The article is long and it isn't all positive. Furthermore, there are few points that I'd want to touch up. Generally in an article of that length, it would open plenty of areas where more clarification would be justified. But in this article, I want to begin by being complimentary to the writer, Charlie D.
For starters, my quote is fine. Hey, I'm a fixture! There might be a future in that fixture statement. How about: Rauterkus, a fixture for freedom. Or, Fix our Future and vote for Rauterkus, the fixture for controller. Perhaps, Rauterkus, the fixture with a grip.
Bumper stickers and button slogans welcome. (Fixture, future, framework, fitness, flow, freedom, flush, ...)
When I talked to the reporter and gave the interview we covered this topic. Ron Paul has a much more limited view of what the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT should do than other politicians. The FEDS need to do certain things. The STATE of PA needs to do other things. County government and city (municipal) government needs to do certain things too. Each layer of government has its PURPOSE. Purpose is very important to the overall health of the system and it makes a huge call to process.
Too often those in power now try to blur the divisions among the various levels of government. Local concerns need to stay local. National concerns should be managed at the federal level. State's rights issues directed to a candidate for US President are out of bounds and need to be dealt with accordingly.
Sure, there is some overlap. Sure, I want to be open and honest. But, we need to have discipline in what we expect and demand from government and the people we elect in these political roles.
Federal money should not be paying for a tunnel under the Allegheny River for light rail expansion to the new stadiums. This is just one example of how the region and nation has its wires all crossed these days. We have certain groups of people and other piles of money doing different things -- and it is all done so as to avoid accountability. The confusion is often done by design to help the status quo. We are talking about FUD 101 (FUD = fear, uncertainty, doubt).
The FEDERAL Money comes to PAT (Port Authority Transit) for a capital project so local people can't object, yet they pushed for it, and are able to say falsehoods. City council, authority boards, overlords, county council, county executive -- yet alone voters, are all 'off the hook' and 'without accountability' for hundreds of millions of dollars that goes under the river (literally).
Ron Paul is not against finding lost children. He is against the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT doing it. Ron Paul is right. Ron Paul got some local money for the sheriff to beef up its missing children programs.
Ron Paul would say that government could and should enforcing law and offer services that are not prescribed in the U.S. Constitution if those activities happened at the state, county, and municipal levels.
I call myself a "COMMON SENSE LIBERTARIAN." Government has a role to play in our lives. Really, governments have various roles in our lives as we need to keep distinctions among the various levels of government.
Pittsburgh's political landscape is in terrible conditions because many people in high places are clueless as to how the different branches of government and the different levels of government should behave.
City issues need to be handled by the city -- not with state bailouts nor state appointed overlords. Mission creep is killing our public process and our public lives have become a heavy burden and anchor that pulls down our private and economic lives as well.
More from the article.
Nit picks: Ron Paul is a Republican. He is also libertarian and constitutional. Not "OR" -- but "and."
What a guy did when he was five is not as important as what he did last week. But, I guess this article needs to be written in Pittsburgh as he was here when he was five. But the milk man chatter and image of him in a white hat serves little use.
Furthermore, what was published on the internet in hate-filled sites serves little use as well. Furthermore, Paul's newsletters published decades ago -- and taken out of context -- is hard to battle.
Quote: Paul is delivering a radical, energizing political message to the masses. I don't think Ron Paul is 'radical.' He is more like 'milk.' Meanwhile the others who want to run for president are the pop, fizz, bubbles and JOLT. Many of the others seeking to be president are drunk on power.
Quote: running ... as an Internet insurgent.
Insurgent! Ron Paul is a ten term US Congressman. He is a veteran -- with a "stint" of six years.
Quote: ... ... the ideas he touts, some of which would barely be recognized by many of those living in his old hometown. Say what? The people of Green Tree are sure to recognize the idea of 'freedom' and 'liberty.' That makes little sense. People in Green Tree today might not recognize a person's face from the neighborhood -- as he moved away in college, some 50 years ago. But the people are sure to understand and recognize what the IRS does and how it could go away. The people are sure to embrace many of Ron Paul's ideas -- and the all will be able to recognize the issues.
Quote: Cyberspace has long provided a home to those whose beliefs fall out of the mainstream. For those looking for a candidate to call their own, the Ron Paul message came floating by and they grabbed it in droves.
Ron Paul's message didn't come floating by. The message has roots in the American Revolution and Constitution. What went "floating by" -- was that plane that crashed in Shanksville, PA. I worry when talk of liberty and freedom is not made to be mainstream -- but only found on some remote edge of culture cyberspace efforts. Gosh. Terrorist and terror isn't the things that should be turned into the 'mainstream.'
Ron Paul: Libertarian Apostle - Is Pittsburgh native Ron Paul the champion that libertarians have been seeking? Or just an Internet flash-in-the-pan - Main Feature - Main Feature - Pittsburgh City Paper - PittsburghOf course others are quoted in the article too, including our F-bomb dropping neighbor and fellow blogger, M.L.
'He's definitely the best candidate out there right now for this country,' says Mark Rauterkus of the South Side, a vice chair of the local Libertarian Party and a fixture on local ballots. 'I think he's a libertarian through and through, and I am certainly supporting him.'
The article is long and it isn't all positive. Furthermore, there are few points that I'd want to touch up. Generally in an article of that length, it would open plenty of areas where more clarification would be justified. But in this article, I want to begin by being complimentary to the writer, Charlie D.
For starters, my quote is fine. Hey, I'm a fixture! There might be a future in that fixture statement. How about: Rauterkus, a fixture for freedom. Or, Fix our Future and vote for Rauterkus, the fixture for controller. Perhaps, Rauterkus, the fixture with a grip.
Bumper stickers and button slogans welcome. (Fixture, future, framework, fitness, flow, freedom, flush, ...)
The worst statement in the article is at the top. The article say: He (Ron Paul) opposes the government enforcing any law, or offering any service, that is not explicitly prescribed in the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. One world is missing. Insert FEDERAL before GOVERNMENT.
From signs
When I talked to the reporter and gave the interview we covered this topic. Ron Paul has a much more limited view of what the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT should do than other politicians. The FEDS need to do certain things. The STATE of PA needs to do other things. County government and city (municipal) government needs to do certain things too. Each layer of government has its PURPOSE. Purpose is very important to the overall health of the system and it makes a huge call to process.
Too often those in power now try to blur the divisions among the various levels of government. Local concerns need to stay local. National concerns should be managed at the federal level. State's rights issues directed to a candidate for US President are out of bounds and need to be dealt with accordingly.
Sure, there is some overlap. Sure, I want to be open and honest. But, we need to have discipline in what we expect and demand from government and the people we elect in these political roles.
Federal money should not be paying for a tunnel under the Allegheny River for light rail expansion to the new stadiums. This is just one example of how the region and nation has its wires all crossed these days. We have certain groups of people and other piles of money doing different things -- and it is all done so as to avoid accountability. The confusion is often done by design to help the status quo. We are talking about FUD 101 (FUD = fear, uncertainty, doubt).
The FEDERAL Money comes to PAT (Port Authority Transit) for a capital project so local people can't object, yet they pushed for it, and are able to say falsehoods. City council, authority boards, overlords, county council, county executive -- yet alone voters, are all 'off the hook' and 'without accountability' for hundreds of millions of dollars that goes under the river (literally).
Ron Paul is not against finding lost children. He is against the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT doing it. Ron Paul is right. Ron Paul got some local money for the sheriff to beef up its missing children programs.
Ron Paul would say that government could and should enforcing law and offer services that are not prescribed in the U.S. Constitution if those activities happened at the state, county, and municipal levels.
I call myself a "COMMON SENSE LIBERTARIAN." Government has a role to play in our lives. Really, governments have various roles in our lives as we need to keep distinctions among the various levels of government.
Pittsburgh's political landscape is in terrible conditions because many people in high places are clueless as to how the different branches of government and the different levels of government should behave.
City issues need to be handled by the city -- not with state bailouts nor state appointed overlords. Mission creep is killing our public process and our public lives have become a heavy burden and anchor that pulls down our private and economic lives as well.
 |
| From RonPaul |
Nit picks: Ron Paul is a Republican. He is also libertarian and constitutional. Not "OR" -- but "and."
What a guy did when he was five is not as important as what he did last week. But, I guess this article needs to be written in Pittsburgh as he was here when he was five. But the milk man chatter and image of him in a white hat serves little use.
Furthermore, what was published on the internet in hate-filled sites serves little use as well. Furthermore, Paul's newsletters published decades ago -- and taken out of context -- is hard to battle.
 |
| From RonPaul |
Quote: running ... as an Internet insurgent.
Insurgent! Ron Paul is a ten term US Congressman. He is a veteran -- with a "stint" of six years.
Quote: ... ... the ideas he touts, some of which would barely be recognized by many of those living in his old hometown. Say what? The people of Green Tree are sure to recognize the idea of 'freedom' and 'liberty.' That makes little sense. People in Green Tree today might not recognize a person's face from the neighborhood -- as he moved away in college, some 50 years ago. But the people are sure to understand and recognize what the IRS does and how it could go away. The people are sure to embrace many of Ron Paul's ideas -- and the all will be able to recognize the issues.
Quote: Cyberspace has long provided a home to those whose beliefs fall out of the mainstream. For those looking for a candidate to call their own, the Ron Paul message came floating by and they grabbed it in droves.
Ron Paul's message didn't come floating by. The message has roots in the American Revolution and Constitution. What went "floating by" -- was that plane that crashed in Shanksville, PA. I worry when talk of liberty and freedom is not made to be mainstream -- but only found on some remote edge of culture cyberspace efforts. Gosh. Terrorist and terror isn't the things that should be turned into the 'mainstream.'
 |
| From RonPaul |
Rt. 28 getting another on ramp
Great photo in the P-G, on the front page of its web site, shows the Sarah Heinz House, sorta. Looking at the photo of our city, I don't see a lot a space where people can live. I don't really see much of a way for people to cross those highways. Nor do I see a need to create more roads.P-G Link of article.
I don't know what time that photo was taken, but it looks kinda nice without any cars on the road. Perhaps this was take at 2015, and I don't mean time of day. In the year 2015 our roads might be as empty as the photo shows at all times of the day.
I'd like to stress the creation of bike lanes.
I'd like to stress the use of existing railway lines and heavy rail as transport for people.
I'd like to see more people live in the city so they don't need the highways every day to get into and out of town.
No doubt, it is a bit of a pain for drivers to go from Rt. 28 to 579 and handle the various turns involved from one road to the other. But the pain involved with the loss of our city neighborhoods has been massive as well.
Furthermore, the bottle neck in the road network isn't at the end of Rt. 28, is it??? I think there are lots of other problems with Rt. 28. This is not the biggest issue in that commute.
Double Negative -- Luke and Dan -- and homeless with status quo
Effort to reduce homelessness behind schedule 'We have a concern that the resources that are coming in are not simply funding a status quo that doesn't work.The resources that have come to the county are $60-million dollars in the past five years.
Neither Luke Ravenstahl nor Dan Onorato care about the poor. The poor are very bad campaign donors. The poor are not welcome in the cultural district either.
The poor are -- in the minds of Luke and Dan -- much like the Canadian Geese of North Park. The status quo plans are worthy as long as everybody ignores both the problem and the efforts to a solution. Keep em scattered so they don't dwell in any one location.
Penn Hills High School -- Class of 1977 -- missing classmates
We're working on our 30th reunion, slated for November 2007. I graduated with more than 1,200 classmates. We have found and sent an invitation to a vast majority of the classmates. But, if you click the posting's comments you'll find a list of those we can't quite locate.
Do you know of these folks? Can you help us locate them -- for the benefit of our class reunion?
Email me, Mark@Rauterkus.com, and I'll pass along the info.
Thanks.
Do you know of these folks? Can you help us locate them -- for the benefit of our class reunion?
Email me, Mark@Rauterkus.com, and I'll pass along the info.
Thanks.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
The Angry Drunk Bureaucrat: Ravenstahl Announces Pending Announcement
 |
| From people & vips |
The Angry Drunk Bureaucrat: Ravenstahl Announces Pending AnnouncementMy reply to his wonderful posting:
Luke is known to always be the one who will tell us what, when he feels like it, where ever, how ever, and why ever.
Got it?
Come on Matt H, back me up on this, wood you.
View video of Luke saying, ... well ... watch it yourself. (It is very short). Isn't that a ringing endorsement of Elect.Rauterkus.com and this blog?
What's cooking with this new high school proposal?
I don't know why they have to say space is limited. Call the meeting. If overflow space is needed, find it.
The Pittsburgh Science & Technology Secondary Learning Community: A Community Discussion
Tuesday, September 18, 2007, 5:30 to 8:30p.m
Reizenstein School, 129 Denniston Avenue, East Liberty
Learn about plans to open this new school, potentially with 6th – 9th graders in August of 2008. This is an opportunity to gather information about the innovative design and offer your feedback. Pittsburgh Public Schools will present the information and incorporate community feedback into the plans. Parents, students, and anyone interested in public education and high school reform are encouraged to attend.
Space is limited! Light dinner provided. Childcare is available for registrants with children ages 1 and up.
The deadline to register has been extended! To RSVP click HERE or call 412-258-2660.
Gregg Behr nicks Ronald Reagan, saying it is morning in Pgh. The story we tell -- it is time to morn
Pop City, flush after an fine wine and cheese party at the North Side's New Hazlet Theater two nights ago, is talking whine and cheese like few others.
I morn for a few reasons.
America's political system depends upon debate and competition. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh's mayor has no time for debate. He fills his schedule with quickies in the community that is hardly an opening statement and uses the chief of police, director of parks, staffers and public works supervisors as pawns.
The mayor, like the boss of the political party of the Dems, have a lot of work to do. It is morning alright. They need to wake up. They need to do the right things at the right time.
We are just a month before election day and I want 30 debates, not three -- or NONE.
Morning in the city could come in January 2008 after Luke Ravenstahl departs Grant Street.
Morning could come after Pittsburgh's voters elect people from outside the Democratic party for Mayor, Controller, and with three different districts in city council.
Pittsburgh is hell with the lid off -- because we have a lot of smoke. We have people who want to be cloaked by smoke. We have people who want to breeze in and sail out of meetings without accountability and go forward, depending upon the way the wind blows.
The myth lives on because the political players of this town are not trustworthy.
It is demoralizing to have NO DEBATES. Ours is a placed marked by economic downtrun, dislocation and discouragement because our political landscape carries the same traits. The political elite want it that way. By design, they aim to fool and sustain their folly.
Pittsburgh is roboburgh as too many of the voters act like robots and only pull the party line. Pittsburgh is "green" in its buildings and bricks and hardware -- but not software nor politics nor actions against corporate welfare, a central green party plank. Pittsburgh's knowledge town works if you look at the ivory tower, the flood of studies and analysis, and the sterile operating rooms. Too bad they can't perform some type of magical organ transplants for our culture of community engagement.
Pittsburgh citizens lack the knowledge of where our city stands in terms of its finances. The people are not told. The tools for self monitoring are absent. The story is not being told because those in power want to inject self-doubt to everyday citizens -- keeping the power and upper hand for themselves.
The stories that we tell ourselves do frame who we are and where we are going. Sadly, guys like Michael Lamb and Bruce Kraus want to be controller and on council, yet they do NOT want to say anything or do anything. So, we are not going to go anywhere. They want to get the job. They want to coast. They want to have dislocation.
I don't think all of us need to be those 'great communicators.' But, the leaders need to be that way in times of crisis.
Pop City - Gregg Behr: The Stories We Tell OurselvesRemember when President Reagan declared it to be morning in America? Well, it's morning in Pittsburgh.Gregg is a well heeled foundation type.
I morn for a few reasons.
America's political system depends upon debate and competition. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh's mayor has no time for debate. He fills his schedule with quickies in the community that is hardly an opening statement and uses the chief of police, director of parks, staffers and public works supervisors as pawns.
The mayor, like the boss of the political party of the Dems, have a lot of work to do. It is morning alright. They need to wake up. They need to do the right things at the right time.
We are just a month before election day and I want 30 debates, not three -- or NONE.
Morning in the city could come in January 2008 after Luke Ravenstahl departs Grant Street.
Morning could come after Pittsburgh's voters elect people from outside the Democratic party for Mayor, Controller, and with three different districts in city council.
Pittsburgh is hell with the lid off -- because we have a lot of smoke. We have people who want to be cloaked by smoke. We have people who want to breeze in and sail out of meetings without accountability and go forward, depending upon the way the wind blows.
The myth lives on because the political players of this town are not trustworthy.
It is demoralizing to have NO DEBATES. Ours is a placed marked by economic downtrun, dislocation and discouragement because our political landscape carries the same traits. The political elite want it that way. By design, they aim to fool and sustain their folly.
 |
| From people & vips |
Pittsburgh is roboburgh as too many of the voters act like robots and only pull the party line. Pittsburgh is "green" in its buildings and bricks and hardware -- but not software nor politics nor actions against corporate welfare, a central green party plank. Pittsburgh's knowledge town works if you look at the ivory tower, the flood of studies and analysis, and the sterile operating rooms. Too bad they can't perform some type of magical organ transplants for our culture of community engagement.
Pittsburgh citizens lack the knowledge of where our city stands in terms of its finances. The people are not told. The tools for self monitoring are absent. The story is not being told because those in power want to inject self-doubt to everyday citizens -- keeping the power and upper hand for themselves.
The stories that we tell ourselves do frame who we are and where we are going. Sadly, guys like Michael Lamb and Bruce Kraus want to be controller and on council, yet they do NOT want to say anything or do anything. So, we are not going to go anywhere. They want to get the job. They want to coast. They want to have dislocation.
I don't think all of us need to be those 'great communicators.' But, the leaders need to be that way in times of crisis.
PhoneyFred.org site hits Thompson campaign and comes from realm of Mitt Romney.
Thompson aide: Romney will 'do anything, say anything, flip-flop on any position' to win - On Politics - USATODAY.com The statement from Todd Harris, communications director for Fred Thompson, accuses Mitt Romney's campaign of a 'half-baked cover-up' of what he alleges is the association between a Romney consultant and a hastily pulled website that said nasty things about Thompson.Bang, bang.
Harris concluded with the kind of rhetoric that tends to warm Democratic hearts: 'This latest episode only serves to prove what many voters are already figuring out: Mitt Romney will do anything, say anything, smear any opponent and flip flop on any position in order to win. The American people in general and the Republican Party in particular deserve better than this.'
Have you opened any new web sites?
Surrender Should not be an Option
Surrender Should not be an Option ... We have achieved the goals specified in the initial authorization.
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