Texas Looms Larger for a number of reasons

Ron Paul posted:

The DC neocons think their old dream is about to come true. They think they can defeat me in the Republican congressional primary in Texas on March 4th. And you know what? They may be right.

My opponent, who describes himself as a traditional conservative, is a dedicated servitor of all the special interests who have given us the disaster of recent years, from unconstitutional wars to a looming recession, from huge deficits to massive new welfare programs.

A Republican operative allied with the worst forces in DC recently said: "Give what you can [to Ron Paul's opponent]. Ron Paul is running scared -- using his Presidential campaign's donors' money to subsidize a desperate last-minute attempt to save his Congressional seat."

That is a lie, of course. It is illegal to use presidential campaign donations in my congressional race. The congressional campaign has to stand on its own. But so far, we have raised only about a third of what a well-funded effort would need.

In my 10 terms in Congress, I have not only been able to serve my constituents, and help them, for example, negotiate federal red-tape. I have also been able to defend our principles of less spending, lower taxes, no inflation, and strict adherence to the Constitution. Some people in DC laugh at the idea that I should obey my oath of office, and ask first of any proposed legislation, is it constitutional? But I know that you share my support for the vision of the framers.

My friend Congressmen Wayne Gilchrest (R-Maryland) was just defeated in his primary election by a neocon fraud similar to the one I face. My friend Walter Jones (R-North Carolina) is under heavy pressure as well. People like our hand-picked opponents will do anything to gain and keep power. They represent everything that is wrong with DC.

If I am defeated in the upcoming congressional primary, our ideas will be held to have been defeated as well. It will be proclaimed from the rooftops in DC that such "ridiculous and outmoded notions" as the free market, sound money, personal liberty, limited government, and a pro-American foreign policy are through.

I am determined not to let this happen. All that you and I believe in is far too important to the future of our country, and to everyone and everything we love, to let the neocons dance on its grave.

Please, help me stop the lies, the distortions, the pressure groups, the special interests that benefit from DC rip-offs. There is still time to run radio and tv ads, to set up phone banks, to get out the vote. But unless you help, my reelection to Congress may be in jeopardy. Please help me return to Congress to fight for the people of my district, and for the ideas that can save our country from the path to trouble we are now on.

I hesitated to ask you, since you have already done so much. But my wife Carol said, "When you need help, you ask your best friends." So I do ask you, to hold out your hand in support.

Please give today http://www.ronpaulforcongress.com, as generously and as quickly as you can.

Sincerely,

Ron

Public comment delivered to Pgh Public School Board and Administration: Schenley High School can stay open

From moments ago, a fellow parent delivered these comments to the Board of Ed and the Administration in public comment. Nick's son and my son are school mates and team mates at Frick Middle School.

Good evening everyone. My name is Nick Lardas. I am a resident of Oakland and am here to speak again as a concerned parent, taxpayer and voter.

I request that the board vote no on moving students out of Schenley HS, and no on further expenditures on HS reform. These issues are interrelated and until complete information and complete plans are available spending any money down any one path is a waste of our precious resources.

Ten days ago because of my engineering & construction expertise I was invited along with a group of construction professionals to tour Schenley HS with some PPS Facilities personnel. Base on that visit and the information in this Facilities Portfolio on Schenley I have concluded that the building is safe for students now and next year. There is no emergency. There is time to plan wisely before spending money.

There is not now, nor have there ever been according to your records any asbestos fibers in the air at Schenley.

According to WJE, your expert, the plaster that fell last summer was the result of prior water and vibration damage that was never fixed. Now that all the plaster has been addressed there is no imminent threat. Furthermore there’s no such thing as sudden catastrophic adhesion failure in 90-year-old gypsum plaster. Go search the web or the public library.

High moisture readings in water damaged plaster are to be expected regardless of humidity levels.

Contrary to what has been reported the ventilation system is partially working. The exhaust fans on the roof penthouses are actively pulling air out of the building. While the intake fans are off, the ducts and dampers are open so makeup air is being drawn into the building through them.

The new windows do not seal well. In fact your facilities personnel are screwing them shut because of this. I don’t understand why you do not have the manufacturer who warranted these windows fixing them.

If you would like to act in an abundance of caution, remove the plaster ceilings in Schenley this summer. This is work that will have to be done as part of the renovation of Schenley, so you will not be throwing money away on any temporary move.

The cost to renovate Schenley according to your portfolio is $37.8 Million, not the higher figures reported.

There is not enough time in the 3 minutes allotted here for me to explain everything I know related to these issues. I would appreciate the opportunity to meet with each of you individually or together to more completely explain your own documents, as well as tour Schenley with you and facilities personnel to point out these items. If you are interested my contact information is included below.

Thirty years ago this school district rushed to embrace the latest in educational trends and wasted tens of Millions on open class rooms & windowless schools. Concepts which have proven to be a failure. There is no emergency. The sky is not falling. Don’t be fooled by fancy names and feel good salesmanship. Ask for all the data. Ask for the cost benefit analysis of all the options studied. Take the time to get all the information and make an informed decision.

Respectfully Submitted by:

Nicholas D. Lardas

Nick's contact info has been nuked by the blog owner. If you want it, leave a note in the comments.

Tom Kawczynski pulled out of a race for R nomination for PA House

Tom Kawczynski posted to a public email list this notice. He had been working to get onto the ballot for the Rs in a state house race. Tom lives in Bellvue. He had also been a key organizer for the Ron Paul MeetUps.

Hey Everyone,

Since some of you didn't know, I just wanted to confirm that I am dropping out of my state legislature race. Although I very much wanted to run, and was very grateful that the support so many of you gave, there were circumstances beyond my control that forced me to withdraw. If I had a choice, I would have continued my run, but that did not seem feasible.

I believe now as I ever have that it is important that all of us stay involved, howsoever we choose, to spread the important ideas that this campaign has illuminated. People want to hear about liberty and limited government. I spent a great many hours out there talking to people, house by house, door by door, and they accepted this message. It transcends parties and policies.

For the same reasons that I'm withdrawing from this race, I'm going to be taking a much lower profile. Rest assured this is not because of any change in my ideas, but driven by a new dedication and focus in creating a situation for myself where I am more able to facilitate the changes I believe are so necessary. We all need to get smarter in how we act, and myself more than anyone.

I just wanted to say thanks to those who helped. I'd like to especially thank Scot, Jay, Lionel, Dave P., and Sara. I couldn't ask for better people or better friends. Value the people you meet here. They're a special bunch, and together, we're the best hope for the future.

Yours,
Tom

I don't know if Tom will stay on the Libertarian Party board or not.

Modern China in Recap from AP -- without a byline

Don't you love the AP and Sports Illustrated?

SI.com - More Sports - China hoping Olympics will bring international fame - Monday February 18, 2008 11:25AM: "Return of prestige"

This article (link above and reposted below) provides a modern day re-cap of China with a review of a reporter who has been there. He knew Chairman Mao. He reopened the AP office in Beijing after the rules of the Cultural Revolution were changed to allow Americans to return to China. However, the reporter / writer is without a byline on this posting from the S.I. web pages.

Nice article:

Return of prestige
China hoping Olympics will bring international fame
Posted: Monday February 18, 2008 11:25AM; Updated: Monday February 18, 2008

HONOLULU (AP) -- On Aug. 8, 2008, when the Beijing Olympics begin in promised splendor, a few may reflect on how far or how fast China has come to host this high mark of international prestige.

A little more than a year after the games finish, Oct. 1, 2009, China will mark its 60th anniversary as a communist nation. It is a survivor when many Marxist regimes have met their demise beginning with the first, the Soviet Union.

To my old eyes, it seems almost a miracle that China has survived the pain and bloodshed to emerge from poverty and become one of the richest of Earth's nations in so short a time.

Torn by internal strife for years, long shunned internationally, China now seeks to acquire something intangible but precious, to match its new prosperity. It seeks prestige, or "weiwang" in Chinese. Prestige is a quality China once had in abundance as the ancient Middle Kingdom, an empire to which other nations regularly paid tribute.

To understand why Olympic prestige is so important to China, it is important to remember how low as a nation China had fallen -- and how little real prestige it enjoyed -- as a result of power struggles during the first few decades of its communist existence after the Nationalists were vanquished in 1949.

It is useful, too, to remember the three powerful, larger than life figures who dominated the Chinese landscape early on.

They were Mao Zedong, its founder, a peasant's son and dreamer; his ambitious, once bone-poor third wife, Jiang Qing, and Deng Xiaoping, the no nonsense realist. During the early years of Mao's dictatorship, quarrels within the Communist party over China's direction brought it to the edge of collapse, a blood-spattered period remembered today for its cruelty and chaos.

The violence only ended with Mao's death and his wife's imprisonment in 1976.

Twice purged by Mao, Deng emerged from house arrest a few years later to halt China's headlong tumble into anarchy and begin the remarkable economic recovery and regaining of national prestige reflected in these Olympic games.

As an AP reporter, I knew all three of the lead players: Mao and his wife in 1940s Yanan, the Red base before the victory of 1949, and Deng in 1979 Beijing.

Mao was a dreamer with his feet firmly planted in the past. He believed China was powerful enough to achieve greatness by itself without relying on the outside world.

When Mao's grandiose national economic campaign resulted in failure and famine, the pragmatists led by Liu Shaoqi and Deng removed him from office and took over. Mao meekly accepted his punishment. But Jiang Qing, furious at losing her place as First Lady of China, fought back.

Cannily, she used Mao and his great national popularity and organized the Marxist sounding 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution. With the help of defense minister Lin Biao, she turned Mao into a demigod, a genius born once in every 10,000 years. Then she denounced Liu and Deng as villains for trying to diminish Mao's greatness. The nation's students, organized into Maoist Red Guards, attacked anyone daring to belittle the Great Helmsman's name. The "no school" bell rang throughout China and the students gleefully went on a hot-eyed rampage.

I wrote about the Cultural Revolution mostly from Hong Kong and Tokyo -- Americans were barred from China -- but got a glimpse of China under Mao when I was allowed to accompany the U.S. ping pong team to Beijing in 1971. I made more visits later, after the ban against American reporters was lifted.

Beijing under Mao was drab, emotionless and bureaucratic. The Forbidden City and the Summer Palace, once a delight to visit, were stiff with plaster statues of Mao. Huge portraits of Mao adorned the walls of the Forbidden City and China's Great Wall.

The little red book of Mao quotations, compiled by Lin Biao, and tin Mao portrait badges were everywhere. I acquired one.

By the end of 1971, only months after the American ping pong visit, Lin Biao's agenda had become clear: he plotted to murder Mao and take his place at the head of party and nation. Discovered, he fled, and died when his Moscow-bound plane crashed en route.

Madame Mao, high priestess of her husband's cult, banned the famous Peking Opera, put in its place a half dozen dramas of her own composition which glorified Maoism. I suffered through several of them, bemused by the heroes, bigger than life, and amused by the villains -- usually running dogs of American imperialism.

I had the good luck to reopen the AP Beijing bureau in 1979 and thus become a daily spectator during the early days of Deng's determined campaign to recover China's lost prestige. Unlike Mao, who dictated the smallest details of Chinese life from Beijing, Deng believed in openness and few controls. He gave the cities and the provinces license to make their own rules, draw up their own contracts.

I developed a bantering friendship with Deng, one of the few Marxists I knew with a sense of humor. Remarkably modest for a man with so much power, he described himself modestly as the first among equals and insisted he had no desire for titles like party chairman or president.

He intended, he told me, to gradually introduce controlled democracy along with his limited capitalism. Later, the student protests that brought chaos and bloodshed to Tienanmen Square in Beijing in 1989 soured his view of democracy. He ordered the troops to fire on the unarmed demonstrators. He died at the age of 93 without apologizing.

Some observers say the games now give the Communist party an ideal public opportunity to achieve for China, after all its suffering and sacrifices, the prestige it so apparently desires.

Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

New Ron Paul money bill

Quotes of the Day:
"Inflation has now been institutionalized at a fairly constant 5% per year. This has been determined to be the optimum level for generating the most revenue without causing public alarm. A 5% devaluation applies, not only to the money earned this year, but to all that is left over from previous years. At the end of the first year, a dollar is worth 95 cents. At the end of the second year, the 95 cents is reduced again by 5%, leaving its worth at 90 cents, and so on. By the time a person has worked 20 years, the government will have confiscated 64% of every dollar he saved over those years. By the time he has worked 45 years, the hidden tax will be 90%. The government will take virtually everything a person saves over a lifetime."
From: G. Edward Griffin


The above quote may need some explanation. Most people don't know that the Federal Reserve has the power to create new dollars out of thin air.

It does.

Most people also don't know that this is one of the ways the government pays its bills. The process is simple . . .

* The Federal Reserve creates new dollars
* It transfer these dollars to the federal government in return for Treasury bonds
* The U.S. Treasury uses this money to cover some of its expenses

It's a neat trick. The politicians don't have to raise your taxes, but they have more money to spend.

What happens when this new money hits the economy? Apologists for the Fed use a clever supply-and-demand argument to claim that nothing at all happens. Here's how the argument works . . .

* Economic growth equals increased productivity equals an expanded supply of goods and services
* An expanded money supply equals an increased demand for goods and services
* If the expanded demand equals the expanded supply prices will remain stable
* Insto, presto, no price inflation will result

But there are two big problems with this argument. First, it assumes that the Fed will be able to determine the total supply of goods and services in the economy, and keep the money supply in balance with it. This assumption causes the argument to fail, instantly.

Total U.S. economic activity amounts to many trillions of productive events. No amount of reporting to the government could possibly measure this with any degree of precision. It's inevitable that the Fed will misjudge how big the economy is, and thereby misjudge how much money creation is consistent with avoiding price inflation.

When the Fed causes the money supply to grow faster than productivity grows, supply and demand will be out of balance. There will be more money chasing relatively fewer goods. The result will be higher prices on the things you buy.

Each of the dollars in your pocket will buy less than they did before. Your savings will lose value. This is one way you pay the government's inflation tax. Here's another way . . .

Your wages will rise slower than prices will. It's much easier for a super-market to change a price tag on a carton of milk than it is for your employer to adjust your compensation. Your standard of living will decline as your paycheck buys less. This is another way you pay the inflation tax.

How do we eliminate the hidden inflation tax? Congressman Ron Paul has developed a simple approach to this. He wants to end the Fed's monopoly over the money supply. He wants to make the Fed compete with other forms of money, such as gold. This competition would reduce the Fed's ability to inflate the dollar supply. Toward this end . . .

He first proposed the "Honest Money Act," which would repeal the legal tender law and provide people with increased legal security to make transactions in other forms of money, such as gold.

Now he has a new bill, designed to remove the federal government's monopoly control over the creation of coins. This new bill is called the "Free Competition in Currency Act."

We have joined these two bills into one campaign!

If you want to stop paying the inflation tax please send Congress a message asking them to co-sponsor these two bills. You can do so here.

Thank you for being a part of the growing DownsizeDC Army.

Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

Reloading candidates from the D and R parties in competitions for US Congress -- or lack of them

The list of D and R candidates running for public office in 2008 in Pennsylvania is here (PDF). Third party challengers are NOT yet on the radar as third-party types are just now able to get signatures to get onto the ballot.

PA has 19 members of the US House. Only one is slated to retire this year. Eighteen are seeking re-election. Not a single member presently in the US House is facing a challenger within his or her party. They all are getting a 'free ride' on April 22.

The one member presently in the US House who is going to retire has NINE candidates seeking to fill that seat. The retirement, from a R is from the district that includes State College. Nine R candidates have filed as that soon to be open seat.

The US House delegation from Pennyslvania is presently with 11 Ds and 8 Rs. So nine Rs are running for one seat and seven Rs are running against nobody.

The list of Rs seeking the open seat in the US House in the primary include:
* Chris Exarchos
* John Krupa
* Lou Radkowski
* Keith Richardson
* Matt Shaner
* Jeff Stroehmann
* John Stroup
* Glenn W. Thompson
* Derek Walker

Three Ds are running too:
* Bill Cahir
* Mark McCracken
* Richard P. Vilello Jr.

Six districts (out of 19) are expected to have candidates from the two-old parties (Ds and Rs). Competition from third party candidates is still unknown.

Republican Tim Murphy (18th District near Pittsburgh) has four Ds in a fight to square off against him in November: Wayne Dudding, Beth Hafer, Steve O’Donnell and Brien Wall.

In the 4th District near Pittsburgh, former Rep. Melissa Hart is challenging Democratic Rep. Jason Altmire in a rematch of a 2006 campaign that Altmire won by 4 percentage points.

In the northeastern 10th District, freshman Democratic Rep. Christopher Carney will face the winner of a three-candidate Republican primary that includes Dan Meuser, Chris Hackett and Davis Haire.

In the 8th District (Bucks County north of Philadelphia and includes a small part of the city), Rep. Patrick J. Murphy, D, the only Iraq War veteran currently serving in Congress will have competition. The R primary has two candidates: Tom Manion, a retired Marine Corps colonel whose son was killed in Iraq, and Joseph Montone, who lost a Republican primary in the 8th District in 2004 and also was unsuccessful in 2006 in a state House race.

In the 7th District (most of Delaware County west and southwest of Philadelphia) freshman D,. Joe Sestak, will face Republican W. Craig Williams. Neither faces opposition in the primary.

In the northeastern 11th District, Hazelton mayor Lou Barletta recently announced that he will challenge 12-term Democratic Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski.

In the northwestern 3rd District, four Democrats filed to challenge Republican Rep. Phil English: Kathy Dahlkemper, Kyle Foust, Tom Myers and Moise “Mike” Waltner.

In Pennsylvania’s 6th District, Republican Rep. Jim Gerlach has won each of his three elections by the same 51 percent to 49 percent margin. The three Democratic candidates challenging Gerlach are Mike Leibowitz, Bob Roggio and Bob Rovner.

Pennsylvania’s 15th (Allentown, Bethlehem and Lehigh Valley) has two-term R, Charlie Dent. The Democrats’ 2008 candidate will be Siobhan “Sam” Bennett, a local party activist who twice ran unsuccessfully to be mayor of Allentown.

Congressman Mike Doyle, D, (Pittsburgh area) is without a R opponent. Is Mark DeSantis, R, going to wage another write in campaign? However, Titus North, Green, is expected to enter the fray for the general election.

US admits it fired on anti-Qaeda fighters - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Want to be friends?

US admits it fired on anti-Qaeda fighters - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): "The incident, coming on the heels of other incidents in which a total of 19 group members have been killed, sparked mass resignations from the US-sponsored Awakening.

The birth of a nation: not always pretty -- time will tell

Kosovo Declares Independence From Serbia Kosovo's parliament declared the territory a nation on Sunday, mounting a historic bid to become an 'independent and democratic state' backed by the U.S. and European allies but bitterly contested by Serbia and Russia.

Serbia immediately denounced the declaration as illegal, and Russia also rejected it, demanding an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council. President Bush said the U.S. would work to prevent violence after the declaration and the European Union also appealed for calm.

Check out the flag and other insights at Wikipedia.

Kosovo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Kosovo (Albanian: Kosova or Kosov�, Serbian: Косово, Kosovo) is a newly-independent European nation, situated in the Balkans."

Wonder if they'll be headed to the Olympics?

Richard Florida's latest book

It's a mantra of the age of globalization that where you live doesn't matter: you can telecommute to your high-tech Silicon Valley job, a ski-slope in Idaho, a beach in Hawaii or a loft in Chicago; you can innovate from Shanghai or Bangalore.

According to international best-selling author, Richard Florida, this is wrong. Place is not only important, it's more important than ever. Globalization is not flattening the world; in fact, place is increasingly relevant to the global economy and our individual lives. Where we live determines the jobs and careers we have access to, the people we meet, and the "mating markets" in which we participate. And everything we think we know about cities and their economic roles is up for grabs.

Richard Florida is Professor of Business and Creativity at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. He is the founder of the Creative Class Group, an advisory services firm charting new trends in business, communities, and lifestyles. His national bestseller The Rise of the Creative Class was awarded the Washington Monthly's Political Book Award and the Harvard Business Review's Breakthrough Idea Award. He lives in Toronto with his wife. www.creativeclass.com

Who's Your City? By Richard Florida

$26.00 US or $32.00 CND, Hardcover

Available in the US & Canada on March 10, 2008

(In Canada please contact Random House Canada at 905-624-0672)

Lane 9 News Archive: USA Swimming Grand Prix, Missouri: Flash! Natalie Coughlin Lowers 100 Back World Record

Three world records in swimming in recent days.

Lane 9 News Archive: USA Swimming Grand Prix, Missouri: <font color=red>Flash!</font> Natalie Coughlin Lowers 100 Back World Record: "COLUMBIA, Missouri, February 17. THE weekend just witnessed its third world record in less than two days as Natalie Coughlin went off during the preliminary heats of the 100 back at the Missouri Grand Prix.

With Eamon Sullivan tracking down Alexander Popov in the men's 50 free as part of the NSW State Open Championships, and Kirsty Coventry erasing Krisztina Egerszegi's global standard in the 200 back, the mood was right for Coughlin to perform with an incredible time of 59.21 in the 100 back.

That dropped Coughlin's previous global mark of 59.44 set at last year's World Championships in Melbourne, Australia."

Renovate or Replace

Renovate or Replace? -- also put out by the Pennsylvania Department of Education (among others).

This is a long PDF file, and it doesn't have a table of contents, but it's filled with interesting/important information about all aspects of renovating old school buildings. It's as though they wrote it with Schenley in mind!

Feel free to pass it around!

Thomas Gillooly noticed Mark C's letter to the editor in the P-G about mortage fraud.

Today's Post-Gazette carries an excellent letter to the editor by Mark
Crowley on the Fed's responsibility for the mortgage 'crisis'. It packs a great deal of information into a few words, and points out an extremely important aspect of the situation that the mainstream media generally ignore. Great letter -- and the P-G highlighted it by putting it conspicuously into a box in the corner of the Letters section.

Congratulations, Mark!

Mortgage fraud prime suspects are the feds themselves


If U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan really wants to prosecute subprime criminals ("24 Indicted as Mortgage Fraud Probe Widens," Feb. 5), then two prime suspects from the Federal Reserve warrant her attention.

Former Chairman Alan Greenspan bailed out technology firms and investors with easy credit to soften bad investments. This distorted the marketplace, rewarding and encouraging more bad investments. It also levied an "inflation tax" that robbed honest savers and made the poor even poorer. Think theft and counterfeiting.

Current Chairman Ben Bernanke continued this bailout scheme for the banking and mortgage industries. Easy credit generated more bad debts further ravaging our currency. In 2007 the dollar index fell from 85 to 75 -- 12 percent inflation. Imagine the national magnitude of that theft. Think RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act).

Messrs. Greenspan and Bernanke had partners. Multiple Congresses and administrations distorted, hid and quietly accepted inflation statistics that in no way represented the drastic decline in the dollar's purchasing power. In exchange the partners received debt-generated revenue that funded unconstitutional warfare, welfare and wealth transfer scams.

Think evidence tampering, conspiracy and treason.

Unfortunately, Ms. Buchanan is part of the same syndicate. It focuses her attention far down the food chain. So when might she investigate a prime suspect?

Think never.

MARK CROWLEY, Plum

Edge of Sports gets an interactive face lift

New site makeover now allows comments on every article.

Edge of Sports Behind the Clemens, Congress Claptrap

School update -- it's going to be gut check time this week

Public Hearing: Monday, February 18th, 7:30 pm, Board of Education (BOE) Building in Oakland. Email your comments or sign up to speak before noon by calling 412-622-3600.

Agenda Review: Wednesday, February 20th, 6:30 pm, BOE.

The Board and staff review and discuss the education and business/finance items on the agenda.

This meeting will be available for viewing on City Channel Pittsburgh, Comcast Channel 13, on the following dates and times:
Thursday, February 21, 7:00 PM
Friday, February 22, 10:00 AM

Legislative Session: Wednesday, February 27th, 7:30 pm, BOE.

The Board will take action on education, business/finance and personnel matters on the February agenda.

This meeting will be available for viewing on City Channel Pittsburgh, Comcast Channel 13, on the following dates and times:
Thursday, February 28, 7:00 PM
Friday, February 29, 10:00 AM

---

So, the vote to begin moving programs will take place at the meeting on the 27th. Guess when the first meeting to "ask for input" from parents about these changes (the A+ schools meetings) is scheduled? On the 28th.

As far as we know, the plans for Schenley have not changed at all, save for the building closure vote being taken off the table. That means these plans are likely to be voted on at the legislative meeting (sorry for all the asterisks, they're at the end, no need to skip down there now):

1) Moving the 10-12th grade Schenley students to Reizenstein.

2) Keeping current Frick 8th graders at Frick for 9th grade.*

3) Creating University Prep** at Milliones, starting with a single grade of 9th graders* (how many?) next year.

4) Spending $ to make changes to Frick to accomodate the 9th graders (estimated at 150 students***).

5) Spending to renovate Milliones for the University Prep program (6-12).

6) Spending to renovate Reizenstein**** for a 6-12 IB program.


So, we're still asking for pretty much the same thing we've been asking for since the beginning. Right now, we'd at the least like the word TEMPORARY put into any plan to move students and any further spending on renovation cut out.

Or in other words, move all Schenley students together, temporarily, and save the big costs of renovation or changes at 3 buildings (Reizenstein, Milliones, Frick). Clearly renovation spending at 3 buildings greatly reduces the chances for Schenley's future. It also guarantees the creation of a far more segregated school in University Prep at Milliones.

Except for CAPA, there are no solid plans for any of the other high school reform plans proposed. Where is the new Science and Technology going to be located? How can we plan responsibly without knowing that? There will be 4 high schools clustered in the East End with at least two of them far under capacity. What are the plans to deal with that? Call your board member if you're comfortable with that and also encourage parents not directly concerned with Schenley but interested in the future of the district to email the school board asking them to get more information and get it out to the public!

Write to the board yourself, too, (not sure how effective the spoken testimony is, unless it's centered solely on money or building condition issues. We're hearing that they're sick of hearing how great Schenley/Schenley spirit is. ;-D) and encourage them to either:

-- vote for a temporary move and no spending on renovation until a complete plan is developed

-- vote not to move the students at all (ceiling plaster could be removed this summer, preventing any danger from falling plaster)

-- vote to table these items until all information about changes are available to the district and to the public.

Just a little more in support of these options:

Other districts are committing to their historical structures. Delaying or postponing a vote would give the district time to actually completely develop the plans for high school reform and determine where the best practices should be implemented and to further gain community support for these programs.

We've not yet been given the go-ahead on fundraising for Schenley. Without district support for that effort, we can't ask for money -- grants, personal, corporate.

Interestingly, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Education website seems to agree with our position, here are some quotes from School Construction Reimbursement Criteria:

" School districts must develop a complete building facility study of all
district educational facilities "

"School districts are encouraged to consider the impact of acoustics,
daylighting and other factors on academic effectiveness and building
efficiency in the design process. "

"In addition, school construction projects should be planned in the context
of sustainable community development."

"School districts should take all reasonable efforts to preserve and
protect school buildings that are on or eligible for local or National
historic registers. "

*********************************************************

* How does the district intend to staff three separate schools? Are they going to ask teachers to drive around, losing instructional time to travel time? How do you even begin to attempt to insure the possibility of equal access to the best teachers and classes? As a parent of an 8th grader, I admit to having a vested interest in that one year of schooling -- if this 8th grade class hadn't seen so many changes in teachers already, I might be less concerned, but they've been subject to a revolving, uh, classroom of teachers over the last few years.

** The University Prep is predicted by the district to have an 80% African-American, 20% "other" split. The only way that is possible is counting the "other" students from Arsenal Middle School. Will they join the University Prep program at 9th grade and with a disadvantage to the other students or is Arsenal the next school on the chopping block, if all of its Schenley feeder students are moving to Milliones over the next few years?

*** I'm not sure where this number of students continuing on in IB/IS comes from. I have not been asked if I still intend to keep my child in the IB program and I know there are others who are choosing other school options in light of these changes.

**** I have yet to hear an architect (or contractor) in Pittsburgh say that spending money on Reizenstein is a good idea. Those that have been in the building are the most opposed to using it as a school! I have heard plenty about the green aspects of Schenley, about the importance of natural lighting, and about the fact that money spent on a solidly designed and solidly built building is better than money spent on a building that won't last for nearly as long. Many of the open school, 70's era buildings like Reizenstein have already been ditched or are being closed now, across the country.

I should definitely give out prizes for reading! Thank you if you've made it this far --

Jen Lakin

Ravenstahl Appoints 28th Ward Chair to End Political Plowing

The Burgh Report: Ravenstahl Appoints 28th Ward Chair to End Political Plowing Ravenstahl Appoints 28th Ward Chair to End Political Plowing

Pittsburgh's Plan For Better Snow Removal Announced - Pittsburgh News Story - WTAE Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh's Plan For Better Snow Removal Announced - Pittsburgh News Story - WTAE Pittsburgh: "Pittsburgh's Plan For Better Snow Removal Announced

Hold the phone headline crafters and spin generators. The plan is to spend money on equipment and software for fall of 2008. That's it. There is little else.

Extras: One guy in Public Works gets a new title and no increase in pay. Another guy gets put only on the desk job. Plus, the drivers are told to follow their route and not go elsewhere. Going out of their way is not allowed, even if Moses says that the the Bat Cave under the Mon Warf is under 10-foot of new snow.

A better headline would be, "Don't call 3-1-1 or else I'll get really mad."

Or, "Garbage trucks to damage more cars on narrow streets with snow plows."

20/20 on ABC to uncover the already naked, skin-less bodies of dead people

The Science Center is hosting the exhibition, Bodies. Yada, yadda, yadddda.

Go see Lion King instead.

We're going to see Amadeus tonight.

Question: If these bodies come from the prisons of China --are the babies and kids from the same places?

On campus at the university in Chengdu, China, there is a "Body Building." They don't mean "body building" like flexing of muscles and striking a pose after lifting weights for years in a competition. That "body building" had no windows -- or if they did -- they were kept open. Medical students went there so others don't.

That was part of our tour that we didn't take. Likewise, I've not been to the Science Center's exhibit.

And, I'd not want to say that our choice is a 'boycott.'

EU: Avoid political issues at Games. Goofy POLITICIANS should boycott their own advice to athletes

Sports is too important. Humm....

SI.com - More Sports - EU: Avoid political issues at Games - Thursday February 14, 2008 3:22PM The European Union wants athletes to resist raising human rights and other sensitive political issues during the Beijing Olympics.

'Sports is too important. It is too important to use it as a political instrument,' Milan Zver, the sports minister of Slovenia, which holds the EU presidency, said Thursday.

This is weird. Heavy Or Not, perhaps.

Perhaps this is a bit of the 'nonprofit brotherhood' in action, but on the world stage. In Pittsburgh, the nonprofit folks always stick together. For example, the North Side's Childrens Museum wants to see its neighbor, the a historic branch of the Carnegie Library, move away. The buildings are side by side in a park / commons. The two offer great programs for the public that work in harmony with each other. However, the nonprofit weenies that work in one site want to back the others and enable them to move out of the neighborhood.

Only in the world of Pittsburgh nonprofit weenie can you find a person who thinks that the library is a bad neighbor.

Well, here, in the world stage, the EU officials don't want those pesky citizens nor jocks to rain upon their own parade and make a stink about politics. But the parade is on the other side of the world.

Who is the coach of the EU Olympic Team?

How do those with the IOC expect to enforce the notion that athletes can't discuss political issues within the Olympic zones when these people are all decorated in the flags of their home nations?

Crazy.

Zver argues that political pressure through sport doesn't work. He said the boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games was largely politically ineffectual, but did major harm to sport and the Olympics.

I agree to a point. The 1980 Olympic boycott was ineffectual. It was bad. Very bad. President Jimmy Carter insisted that the USA team would NOT travel to Moscow to compete. Carter was a jerk with that move. Bad move.

The boycott then, and elsewhere, does hurt sport. They hurt humanity too.

The stupidity of the boycott was found within the statements and actions of the politicians -- NOT the athletes. The screw up as that of the party official working in a capital. The harm was to the athletes, coaches, fans, societies and world of sports. But the talking and the guilty were not those athletes.

It is the E.U. jagoffs that need to see what's what and come down hard in favor of the newest retraction from the Brits. Allow the athletes to speak freely. Allow the games to go on. Allow the play to occur -- without restrictions.

Boycotts suck. So, let's be certain to NEVER repeat the same mistakes. Let's NOT put boycotts onto the backs of the athletes in their actions. And, any IOC boycott of political chatter is going to be ineffectual.

Time again, for those whacked out (not Mac) high school basketball scores

The city league sports scene features league play were nobody wins. It happened again last night in a playoff game. The final four for girls basketball had a final score of 79 to 27. Playoffs. Winner advances to the city league championship game.

Plus, South Vo Tech isn't playing any more. This isn't a WESTINGHOUSE score.

Our city schools need to get into the WPIAL.

Pittsburgh needs to figure out how to compete -- day in and day out. Every day competition needs to flourish here. What we've got now sucks. And, it won't be expensive. It is a cheap improvement.

The city's boys' semifinal basketball game this evening at Brashear at 6:30 PM: Schenley vs. Carrick, (got 4th seed).

Girls' basketball last night saw Schenley winning their semifinal match against Perry at the Allderdice gym by score of 79 to 27. Even with the one-sided action, the games are very exciting with some amazing passes and lots of 3 point shots in preparation for the finals at the A.J. Palumbo Center on Thursday, at 7 PM. (boys' finals are at 5:30).

Schenley's swim team finished its dual meet season last evening with a loss to Allderdice, the perennial city league champs. The city league championships are 12 pm Saturday, February 23 at Trees Hall, University of Pittsburgh. Last year, the Schenley Spartans came in second to 'Dice and our swimmers won several medals. Ellie Tecza qualified for states at that meet ( 'Dice had only one qualifier).

PSCC: The regularly scheduled meeting of Schenley's PSCC is Wednesday, Feb. 20th at 6 pm in the Schenley library. The scheduled topic this month is world language/IS/IB. If you have questions about the program, block scheduling, sequence of classes, electives . . . Wednesday will be a good opportunity to get some answers. High school reform will be discussed at a later meeting.

Did anyone attend the workshop held on 2/11 for filling out the FAFSA forms sponsored by NEED?

If anyone has IS related information to share with the email list, I will be happy to send it.

amy moore

My boys and I dropped into the swim meet yesterday, between traffic jams. The meet was nice.

Jen found the anti-talk -- from developers (?) of Arena deal

Jen posted in an email blast:

It was brought to my attention that Craigslist Rants and Raves is full of anti one hill posts today, many of which are ignorant and racist. My biggest concern is that they are publicizing Dan and Luke's phone numbers and asking people to call (first link) an that supposedly some folks have sent emails (second link). If you want to see the whole discussion its the third link, though its pretty infuriating. Rather than argue with anonymous idiots and trolls on rnr I thought a better response might be to have people from around the city drop Dan and Luke a line and ask when negotiations are going to continue and to express support for not only one hill but the whole cba idea. Please take a few minutes today to do this, and feel free to pass on this request.


Dan Onorato Phone# 412-350-6500 Email- executive@alleghenycounty.us

Luke Ravenstahl Phone#412-255-2626 Email- mayorcompl@city.pittsburgh.pa.us

http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/rnr/574867125.html

http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/rnr/574972252.html

http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/rnr/

Some time ago, Bram ran into a group with the same type of chatter as well. Are these the same?