New threat to our way of life: giant pythons

Well, The Dice was NOT snake bitten today at the swim pool at Pitt. Schenley was winning the city league championship meet -- and the girls meet too. After the 500 free, about 3/4th of the way, the points went to The Dice, dipping Schenley into second.

Alderdice has won the city swim championships since 1977. Schenley has never won it.

Ouch.

In other snake bitten news... check this out.

New threat to our way of life: giant pythons: "The Burmese python is one of several nonnative giant constrictor snakes - believed to be former pets - that have been introduced and then established themselves in Florida's Everglades National Park. Biologists estimate 30,000 nonnative giant snakes live in the Everglades, perhaps more. Some have begun appearing in areas outside the park, alarming biologists and also people who don't care for snakes.

It makes sense to do open water swimming in our rivers -- and NOT in Florida nor SF Bay.

Post-Gazette's Early Returns give me some "recycled electrons" about campaign finance reform tips

You know, this is one of my best ideas -- transparent PAC accounts. I'd like to see it take root.

Post-Gazette NOW - Local News - Early Returns City campaign finance reform

Speaking of meetings and speeches, council's public hearing on member William Peduto's campaign finance reform legislation is set for 2 p.m. next Tuesday.

For those of you who can't wait for an earnest discussion of campaign donation caps and pre-campaign contribution limits, here's a neat idea former council candidate Mark Rauterkus dropped on Early Returns today:

Why not convince a bank to set up special political campaign accounts that anyone with an Internet browser can check in on whenever they want? The city could then compel all candidates for its offices to use such accounts for all of their campaign activity, making all contributions and expenses public instantly, rather than disclosing them only a few times a year in paper records filed on the sixth floor of the County Office Building.

Mr. Rauterkus said he presented the idea to a citizens committee on campaign finance that Mr. Peduto convened, and you can bet he'll be back at the public hearing.

At this week's Allegheny County Libertarian board meeting, and such a great meeting it was, we talked about this concept. One of the other board members said, "If we had transparent PAC accounts, there would be no need to have anything else. We'd know exactly who is the source of the money that is heading to the politicians.

I'm not certain that the "transparent PAC accounts" are a silver bullet. But, it is the best weapon we could ever wish for -- complete transparency.

And, to couple that transparency, we need the punishment phase to be all about the complete avoidance of payments of any types of checks and contracts (and pay) for those who break the campaign finance reform measures.

That's the other brilliant idea -- the scarlet letter!

Matt H dumps invoices on local medai & Project On Government Oversight (POGO) Blog: Whistleblower Documents Web Site Ordered to Shut Down

UPDATED below:

Matt H has released a ton of insights to the local media about bogus spending at the Housing Authority.

Pittsburgh Hoagie: All meat no filler: "Part of my story

http://kdka.com/video/?id=38584@kdka.dayport.com"

If he had come to me, I might have given him this tip. And, still to this day, he could take those documents and post them there. As it stands now, a copy of things just gets flipped before the TV camera. Put em up for all to see.

Wikileaks - Wikileaks: "Wikileaks"

In other, similar news, just hitting elsewhere, we learn of this:

The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) Blog: Whistleblower Documents Web Site Ordered to Shut Down: "Wikileaks is openly defying a California federal court, which granted a permanent injunction last Friday ordering the site to shut down. Swiss company Bank Julius Baer sought the injunction to prevent the site from posting what it claims are stolen documents provided by a disgruntled former employee. The Court also ordered Wikileaks to stop displaying or distributing the documents, which allegedly show the bank’s involvement in money laundering and tax evasion in the Cayman Islands. Wikileaks believes the orders violate the First Amendment and vows to appeal."

Update on Friday, a response by Mayor Ravenstahl.

http://kdka.com/video/?id=38628@kdka.dayport.com


Why does the reporter say that Pat Ford and Mayor are "asking questions." Those two are the ones who should be giving answers. They are the one's who have the power to watch the spending, day-in-and-day-out. They should NOT be asking questions. Those two should be held accountable.

3rd Concept Mapping Conference.html

3rd Concept Mapping Conference.html

Ueberroth views U.S. Olympians as invited guests, not reformers

SI.com - More Sports - Ueberroth views U.S. Olympians as invited guests - Friday February 22, 2008 6:33PM: U.S. Olympic Committee chairman Peter Ueberroth views American athletes as invited guests to the Beijing Olympics, not China's would-be reformers.

I'm not sure Ueberroth and the USOC would understand a reformer from a discus.

Behemoth, good word. Much like bureaucrat. Behemoths and bureaucrats are not to be trusted when it comes to reforms.

One of the architects of the 1984 Los Angeles Games that helped turn the Olympics into the behemoth they are today, Ueberroth acknowledged the upcoming Beijing Games will be different. They will shine a light on China, which before now was a relatively closed part of the world.

But "we don't just go there, we get invited there," he said Friday at the close of a USOC board meeting.

"We accept the invitation, and then there's a set of rules that are IOC rules," Ueberroth said. "We accept those rules. We expect and are sure that our athletes are going to respect their own country, respect their flag, respect the flag of every other country and operate as we all will, under the IOC rules of the Olympic Games."

The International Olympic Committee charter contains bylaws that say the Olympics are not to be used as a political platform. With the Olympics coming to the world's last communist superpower in less than six months, much has been made of China's record on human rights and free speech, to say nothing of its pollution and questionable food-safety practices.

The Beijing Olympics, many believe, are a golden opportunity to expose the problems.

Ueberroth said he's heard many of the same complaints before -- four years ago in Athens, in 1984 and with pretty much every other Olympics in between. But he said he expects these games to be "literally, the best ever."

"This is a virulent worldwide disease that takes place before any Olympic Games, and that's that the doom-sayers all come out and every worst-case scenario is portrayed," Ueberroth said. "I think it's fair for people to do that, but it seems like business as usual."

Of late, Britain's Olympic federation has caused a stir with one potential plan for athletes to wear masks during competition to fight pollution, and another calling for athletes to sign an agreement stating they will not use the Olympics as a political platform. The federation has assured the agreement will not be a restriction on free speech.

A Dutch lawmaker this week suggested a boycott of the opening ceremonies to protest China's human-rights record.

Mia Farrow has been loud in her calls for China to use its influence with Sudan to help end the conflict in Darfur. China is a major buyer of Sudan's oil and is regarded as one of that isolated government's closest international partners.

Farrow's campaign was bolstered by Steven Spielberg, who pulled out of serving as an artistic adviser for the opening and closing ceremonies because he said he could not reconcile working on the Olympics while China and other nations were not doing enough to ease the suffering in Darfur. American speedskating gold medalist Joey Cheek has spoken out, co-founding the Team Darfur athletes coalition to bring attention to the cause.

Relatively quiet in all this has been the USOC, which has repeatedly stated that it has no concerns with the food supply and is comfortable having its athletes eat the majority of their meals in the Olympic village; that it believes Beijing will get its pollution problems in check; that it won't use the Olympics as a platform to affect political change; and that it believes the Chinese government will fulfill its promise to provide journalists full access to the country through the Olympics.

Ueberroth agrees with the notion that the Olympics are bigger than sports -- "They provide a gift to the world of transparency," he said -- but he does not buy into the notion that the USOC should be out front, promoting change in China.

"In one sense, it's China's Olympic Games, but all they are is a host," he said. "All Los Angeles was was a host, all Athens was was a host. It really is the Olympic movement and you participate under their rules and guidelines, all their procedures and their protocols."

His comments came after a daylong meeting in which USOC board members received updates about the venues and preparation in Beijing, and also on the progress of Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympics.

Ueberroth said he was pleased with the city's progress, thinks it will be a good thing for leaders to be at the Beijing Games to get a sense of the enormity of the project. They will make the trip if they are named one of the finalists after the next cut in June.

Ueberroth is confident Chicago will make that short list, but still doesn't consider Chicago a favorite in the contest, which includes Madrid, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and three other cities.

"They're improving every day, but so are their competitors," he said.

The board did not reach a decision on whether to relocate its headquarters or remain in Colorado Springs. Ueberroth said an initial list of six potential homes has been pared to three, including Colorado Springs. A decision will likely be reached before the next board meeting in May.

Neither Ueberroth nor CEO Jim Scherr changed their opinion of America as an underdog to win the medals count at the Beijing Olympics.

U.S. teams had a very good 2007 in world championships across the globe, winning four of six gold medals in women's gymnastics (a record), 20 in swimming (best in 29 years) and 14 more in track (nine more than second-place Kenya).

"Those championships were spread around the world, these games are in China," Scherr said. "The Chinese competitors, some were there in '06, some were there in '07, all will be there in '08. This will be a very difficult competition."

Food safety, OMG. Let's not be so quick to toss the first spit ball -- err -- meat ball. My kid's school district just dumped 95 metric cheesburgers into the bio landfill.

China has been "open" in recent times. It is so open that most of the items in any American household have more things made in China than anywhere else -- if you don't count the refrigerator art from your kids when they were in pre-school. Woops, there is another food mention.

American's have "OPEN" refrigerators and freezers -- and they don't have those so much in China.

Meanwhile, Chicago is in line to be a host of a future Olympic Games. Wonder if the IOC remember the last time Chicago hosted a big confab -- as in political convention, Chicago SEVEN. No big deal.

Really, 'doom-sayers' are the best friend of the thugs who wear black boots and swing clubs with badges on their chest. Homeland Security Types, TSAers, and the rest are always keen to cook up or make threats to increase security, spread fear, cause uncertainty and inject doubt.

The Olympic WARNING color is what, code ORANGE? Can the five olympic rings be blended into some warning signal for Tom Ridge's sake.

It was at OUR GAMES, in Atlanta, when the guy's life was changed due to a bogus bomb accusation.

We are guests. Everyone's a guest. They'll roll out the red carpet. It will be great -- because humans are great. Coming together is great. Reaching for greatness is fun, and its great to witness.

RICH STATES, POOR STATES: ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index

RICH STATES, POOR STATES: ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index: RICH STATES, POOR STATES

ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index

by Arthur B. Laffer and Stephen Moore

Save Schenley High School -- of course.

Amy M reports:

On Wednesday, February 27, the Pittsburgh school board will be voting on critical issues related to the future of Schenley, Frick, and Milliones, and the students who will be attending those schools. As I understand it, the 4 issues to be voted on are:

1. Move grades 10-12 of Pittsburgh Schenley to Reizenstein for the fall term.

2. Establish the robotics program at Pgh. Peabody.

3. Add 9th grade to Frick ISA.

4. Open Univ Prep at Milliones starting with 9th grade in the fall.

Three committees have been actively working to research our options and develop alternative plans that will maintain the Schenley experience while being mindful of the challenge of increasing student achievement and reasonable use of taxpayer funds. Those of us who have been involved in the discussions of the future of Schenley do not want any decisions to be made before complete information is available and all viable alternatives are considered.

If you are not a member of one of these committees, you can contribute in a very important way: PLEASE CONTACT YOUR SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER AND EXPRESS YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE UPCOMING VOTE. The board members are voted into office by the residents of the city and should be voting in the best interests of the citizens.

If you have been reading my previous emails and the emails of Jen Lakin, you are aware of my views on the subject but I am going to repeat some of the information/beliefs that I have already stated.

Schenley, the building, is definitely worth saving. The cost to make the building useable is not $64 million. According to Nick Lardas, our committee resident expert, the building is safe for use. If plaster is a problem, it could be safely removed during the summer. (Nick's complete speech to the board is in one of my last emails.) The building committee is actively at work with some very experienced knowledgeable people volunteering their time.

Schenley, the school, is definitely worth saving. The proposed move will eventually divide the current student population into 3 separate schools. The proposed university prep will create a nearly all African-American school which does not seem in the best interests of the students or our city. The school within a school has worked well, benefiting all groups. There are high schools in the city with much lower performance ratings than Schenley; the reform should not begin with a successful school. Spartan Spirit is very real and very much alive. High school is more than academics.

The central location of Schenley is critical to its success. Public transportation is readily available. Rigorous academic programs should be in the vicinity of the universities and the resources of those universities utilized.

Moving the freshman class to Frick for even a year will be a logistical nightmare. Students and teachers will have to travel between the schools for classes and extracurricular activities. Parents have been complaining about the world language teachers (or lack of) at Frick for several years; adding ninth grade will further complicate a bad situation. Students who are unhappy with another year in the middle school building will opt out of international studies to go to a "real" high school.

I know that I have not covered all of the facts or feelings about the Schenley situation but I want to get this sent. I hope that many of you will take the time to call or write your school board member. This vote is critical.

amy moore

Keep Schenley High School open. Put the University Partnership program into Schenley High School too.

We can't let the city schools make a new high school within an older Middle School Building that is only full of black students.

We don't want to re-open Reisenstein's building for a school. That school building does NOT have any windows. It doesn't have a stage. It was set up as a middle school -- not a high school.

Sell the Reisenstein building.

Sell the Board of Education Building too.

Keep Frick Middle School as it is -- but with better language teachers. We've been upset with the language teaching and learning at Frick for years. The bi-lingual teachers need to be given contracts in March for the next year. And, if they are not top flight, they should NOT have their contracts renewed. Frick is a fine middle school.

Moving all the programs to new locations and the fix up for the different buildings is very expensive.

A+ Schools has a job opening

Who wants a job with A+ Schools? Apply soon.

A Schools: "PROGRAM DIRECTOR
A SCHOOLS

When you get there, perhaps you can update their web site and make certain that Michael Lamb's name is NUKED from the list of its board members. He resigned more than a month ago.

Get Psyched!

The WPIAL Swimmers are set to explode next week.

School Lessons from Milwaukee, via Allegheny Institutue Policy Brief

Policy Brief

An electronic publication of

The Allegheny Institute for Public Policy

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February 22, 2008 Volume 8, Number 14

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School Lessons from Milwaukee

Pittsburgh’s population continues to fall and could dip below 300,000 in the 2010 Census if recent trends continue. There can be little doubt that much of the population loss can be blamed on the outrageously expensive, poorly performing Pittsburgh Public School District. Substantial numbers of parents interested in a better education for their children, and who cannot afford private schooling, are moving out of the City to take advantage of better schools. Is there a way to stem this outflow? Former Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist believes school choice offers a real opportunity to stop and eventually reverse this long time trend.

In a recent Allegheny Institute forum, Mayor Norquist spoke of his experience instituting one of the nation’s first voucher programs in Milwaukee. In what he calls the “educational-finance monopoly”, families are compelled to send their children to public schools. Those who can afford to move out of the city typically do so as their children approach school age—and take their tax dollars with them.

As a result, poorly performing school districts can drain a city’s tax base. Norquist recognized this in Milwaukee and began a push for school choice noting that “school choice is especially good for cities” in helping to maintain their tax base. He further observed that “under the traditional government monopoly in education, children from affluent families were leaving the public schools, and leaving children from less-affluent families behind. Instead of choosing an alternative school for their children, wealthy parents were choosing an alternative place to live. Our city, and too many other cities, were left behind.”

In Milwaukee’s voucher system, the parents are assigned an amount equal to the state’s share of the per pupil expenditure to spend at the school of their choice—currently about $8,000 per year. The local per pupil share, derived from property taxes, remains with the school district. According to the Pittsburgh School District’s budget, state aid in 2008 is placed at $7,392 per pupil. Thus, if Pittsburgh had a voucher system similar to Milwaukee’s, parents in the City would have over $7,000 per year per child to send their children to the school of their choosing. This amount would cover most non-public grade schools and many private/parochial/other religious high schools.

Many factors contribute to the decline of a city’s population, but there is no doubt that the performance of the public schools is one of the major determinants. Note that in the ten years between 1990—just before vouchers were available—and 2000, combined private and public school enrollment in Milwaukee rose by 14.4 percent. During the same period Pittsburgh’s combined enrollment rose a relatively small 4 percent as non-public enrollment climbed while the public school count actually fell 3 percent. This occurred even without a voucher program to create an outflow from the public schools. Moreover, since 2000, Pittsburgh’s public school student population has plunged by 25 percent as parents continue to move away or find alternative ways to educate their children rather than send them to the public schools.

To further demonstrate the differences in the two cities, it is important to note that while both cities experienced a population decline from 1990 to 2006, the 15.5 percent drop in Pittsburgh was nearly twice that of Milwaukee’s 8.7 percent decline.

So what are the lessons Pittsburgh can draw from the Milwaukee experience if there are folks in the District who would like to adopt a voucher system? First, they will need a lot of help from the Legislature. Milwaukee had Polly Williams in the Wisconsin Legislature to help push through the legislation to make the voucher system possible. Secondly, there needs to be support from the school board and superintendent. Norquist notes that as mayor of the city, his influence was used to get pro-voucher school board members elected who then hired a superintendent willing to reform the public school system. While this may seem a daunting task in a Democrat controlled town such as Pittsburgh, keep in mind that Norquist was a Democrat mayor who fought for this enormous reform of Milwaukee schools.

The Milwaukee voucher system is less than twenty years old and with its current limit of 22,500 students who may participate is not yet a completely free choice system. But it was a good start and has shown the way for other cities around the country; including Cleveland and Washington DC .Will Pittsburgh follow their lead? Given the current attitudes toward school choice in this area by teacher unions and other powerful public sector unions, the battle would be long and hard, but anything is possible if the resolve is there.

Parents who are fed up with their child’s under performing school must take a leading role in the fight for school choice. Help from civic groups, business groups, and the philanthropic community will almost certainly be needed to reach the desired goal of a generous, far reaching voucher program for Pittsburgh’s children. By the way, this is a far superior way to keep and attract kids than the so called “Pittsburgh Promise” program.

It is must be recognized by people in the City who care about its future that school choice is a fundamental component of freedom and freedom is always a good thing in promoting competition and economic vitality. It is not pie in the sky rhetoric. The question has to be asked, “Why are parents being forced to send their children to poorly performing, sometimes physically dangerous schools that are egregiously failing the majority of students and where there is little or no improvement year after year?” In fact, the case can be made that for many schools things continue to get worse over time.

At the very least, if there is a shred of honesty and human decency left in the education establishment — teachers, board members, administrators, and paid defenders of the status quo — they should loosen the monopolistic, ironfisted grip of the public schools over the education of the City’s children. Are they afraid that an experiment in choice would lead to such a massive demand for the available vouchers that it would be impossible not to expand the program? If that is the case, it is tantamount to admitting they know in their heart of hearts that their system is a failure even with all the money being spent and all the programs and all the promises year after year that things will get better.

It is time for Pittsburgh to take what might be one of the most important steps it could ever take. Create some real school choice opportunities for those currently being held hostage by force of state law and school board governance of a system that fails far too many of the City’s young people. This is a moral issue. Preservation of the school district and the self-preservation of those who are employed by it are not the foremost consideration here. Offering opportunities for parents to seek the best education for their children without having to leave the City should be everyone’s primary goal.

In sum, we need to have a leader such as Norquist in this community—a leader who truly believes and understands that the City’s long term best interests and the education of the City’s children must take precedence over the beneficiaries of the failing status quo system. Such a leader inevitably reaches the conclusion that parental school choice financed through a generous voucher program is the single best policy that can be adopted.

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Jake Haulk, Ph.D., President Frank Gamrat, Ph.D., Sr. Research Assoc.

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Please visit our blog at alleghenyinstitute.org/blog.

If you have enjoyed reading this Policy Brief and would like to send it to a friend, please feel free to forward it to them.

For more information on this and other topics, please visit our website: www.alleghenyinstitute.org

If you wish to support our efforts please consider becoming a donor to the Allegheny Institute. The Allegheny Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and all contributions are tax deductible. Please mail your contribution to:

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Thank you for your support.

Schenley Hoopers: Boys snag City championship again -- Swim Fast Too!

Schenley -- in its last year (we hope not) as a wonderful, true urban high school -- is in its championship run. Last season, the Schenley boys hardcourt team was STATE CHAMPION. This year is different, but just as good in the city-league title game. Boys win:

Schenley snags City championship - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Schenley snags City championship

Next up for the guys, a March 1 date against the #3 WPIAL team.

Girls get second, by 1 point:

Westinghouse nips Schenley girls in City basketball title Westinghouse nips Schenley girls in City basketball title

In other, personal Schenley sports news, I had the pleasure of leading Tuesday's Schenley swim team workout. The swimmers, both boys and girls, are in the city championship swim meet this Saturday at Pitt's Trees Hall (around noon).

For years, the swim competition in the city has been dominated by 'Dice.' I don't know how long their streak is. But, the Dice domination is impressive.

This year, Schenley's teams want to break the traditions.

In the heat sheet -- after all the points are scored based upon the seeded times -- Alderdice girls win by only six points. That's a very close meet.

I gave the team nearly two hours of a tapered workout -- stressing starts, turns, finishes and end of season knowledge.

I was impressed with the squad's capacity to listen and follow new leadership from a guest coach. The team has good depth, good talent, and some athlete leadership as well. They'll do well at the city meet -- and I expect it to be a wild meet.

National Friendship Week

Send this to everyone you are friends with.

(see comments)

Thanks Gina!

Robotics Institute: Teaching technical creativity through Robotics: A case study in Ghana

There has been a robotics major at Schenley High School. They are now being moved to Peabody, it seems. Plus, there is to be a Univeristy High School Partnership with Pitt that is going into an old middle school.

I wonder what these kids in Africa have next to what we do with our own kids?

Robotics Institute: Teaching technical creativity through Robotics: A case study in Ghana Creating technology that is relevant and accessible to developing communities is an emerging area of scholarly and practical importance. Diversity in both the creators and conshttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifumers of advanced technology is required to develop sustained and useful applications of robotics, AI, and other technical fields in developing regions. Increased diversity will result in a wider array of technological innovations that are of benefit to both developed and developing regions. However, due to restricted access to technical resources, infrastructure, and expertise, technology education in developing communities is non-trivial. Thus, international partnerships and creative course designs are required. In response to this need, we developed a partnership between Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, USA and Ashesi University in Accra, Ghana to design and implement an undergraduate introductory Robotics course targeted towards the Ghanaian context.

Check out this example of what's going on with high-tech in developing countries:http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

http://www.techbridgeworld.org


Of particular interest (from Joel) is one article linked to from the "Publications" section of the site:

http://www.ri.cmu.edu/pubs/pub_5743.html

Click on the "pdf" link to get the whole essay.

One has to respect these people -- both the folks from Carnegie Mellon and the natives of Ghana-- who are willing to take on subjects like AI (Artificial Intelligence) and robotics under the conditions they faced.

Near the end of the article, the authors describe themselves as being "in the preliminary development stages of a robotics kit modeled on the Open Source Software approach." I wonder how much progress has been made in this area? Is anyone up for contacting the article's authors and pursuing this?

Rogge: IOC cannot fix worldly woes - Chew on this while your at it.

SI.com - More Sports - Rogge: IOC cannot fix worldly woes - Thursday February 21, 2008 12:25PM: "With the clash between sports and politics sharpening as the Beijing Games near, the president of the IOC says the Olympics cannot solve the world's problems."

Of course the Olympic Games can't fix the problems of the world.

In other news, pack a lunch if you are going to compete. Bring bread. The typical kitchen in China does NOT have an oven. But, there are plenty of bakery outlets. And, bring cereal. They don't eat it. In China, it is really hard to eat your Wheaties. They don't sell cold milk either. Buy it warm. Then put it into the refrig.

We hope to go to Beijing. We'll do what I can to bring our appetites. We're not going to compete. And, after the events, I expect you'll see a lot of very hungry, ready to party US Olympians.

The United States Olympic Committee's plan to bring its own food to China has disappointed the leader of food services for the Beijing Olympics.

"I feel it's a pity that they (Americans) decided to take their own food," Kang Yi, the head of the Food Division for the Beijing organizing committee, said Thursday. She added the USOC had not officially notified her department of the plan.


The USOC is planning to transport tons of meat and other foods to a training camp at Beijing Normal University.

The 600-plus American athletes are expected to eat their daily meals at the Athletes Village, USOC spokesman Darryl Seibel said. But the U.S. delegation also includes an additional 400-plus personnel -- support coaches, trainers, etc. -- who are not eligible for food service at the village and therefore will eat most of their meals at Beijing Normal.

Seibel said the food service at Beijing Normal will serve as a supplement to the Village, which will house about 17,000 athletes and officials during the Aug. 8-24 Games and be capable of serving 6,000 meals simultaneously.

"We have absolutely no concerns about the quality and safety of the food in the Athletes Village," Seibel said. "Also, we will be sourcing products from local suppliers for our training table, in addition to bringing some products with us. We had the same approach during the Athens and Torino Games, as well."

Food safety in China has become a major issue for the Olympics, following recent incidents of tainted products and reports of the heavy use of drugs and insecticides in food production. Officials are aware a positive drug test triggered by contaminated food could ruin an athlete's career and generate a public-relations disaster for China, which is intent on showing itself as a modern, sophisticated country.

"We have made lots of preparations to ensure that they (athletes) can get together at the Olympic Games," said Kang, speaking at a news conference Thursday on food safety.

Another official said there was no evidence drugs and growth stimulants used in meat production could trigger positive doping tests.

"As far as we know we haven't found any scientific report on this," said Lu Yong, director of the Beijing Municipal Food Safety Monitoring Center.

Tang Yunhua, a spokeswoman for the Beijing Municipal Office for Food Safety, repeated Thursday the plans for extensive monitoring from the pasture to the plate -- using bar codes, satellite tracking devices and labor-intensive operations -- for food served at the Olympic Village.

"We can guarantee the food safety during the Olympic Games," Tang said.

"We have a safety plan during the Olympics Games to guarantee our venues will be safe," she said. "And the standards for Olympic food safety are much more strict than international standards. So all the delegations can enjoy the food provided during the Olympic Games."

In the US, we have our own food worries with recalled BEEF. And, much of our food is not welcomed in other parts of the world -- as we use too many drugs and steroids. Go figure.

Making an Ethical Stand: Ethical operations deals among ethical players.

Part 2 on my series on Campaign Finance Reform

by Mark Rauterkus

Conducting a business presents choices as to who to deal with and who to avoid. The suppliers and providers of the the goods and services you buy matters greatly and impact the end product, the economy and one's sense of satisfaction.

The same holds true for the business dealings of our government entities.

The city of Pittsburgh buys supplies, obtains materials and lets contracts. Municipal, county and state government, as well as the authorities, have massive budgets. Some businesses cater to government sales and contracts, no doubt.

It makes great sense to be particular as to who you do business with and who to avoid.

If we want to live in a more ethical city and region, we need to tell our city leaders that we don't want them to spend any money with unethical suppliers. For instance, the City of Pittsburgh will NOT sell property it owns to anyone who already owes back taxes to the City of Pittsburgh on other property. If you want to obtain new property, from the public holdings, you had better not be a tax cheat. That makes sense.

This same line of thought can be applied to other aspects of city government. Felons need not apply for jobs in the courts. Background checks are needed for those who work in the schools and at parks. Campaign finance issues can come under the same type of scrutiny.

New laws on campaign finance reform are being discussed in city hall this week.
A public hearing is slated for 2 pm on Tuesday, February 26, 2008. Check out the ordinance to supplement administrative code, by adding "Campaign Finance Regulations," sponsored by Council member Bill Peduto at his blog: http://www.reformpittsburghnow.com/ And, visit http://Rauterkus.blogspot.com and search for "Finance."

Holding better campaigns and elections is important to the health of the region. But massive weakness with enforcement and penalties may cripple the good intentions of better elections and cleaner candidates.

If everyone plays above board and follows the (new, proposed) rules, we'd have wonderful new day. Dream on. This is politics. We're in Pittsburgh, a one-party town. Some have been known to cheat in the past.

When cheating occurs, the fair-minded folks get screwed while the cheaters trump the system. Those that are more clever at money laundering shouldn't have an upper hand in getting government jobs. Candidates who can money launder well and win elections would then get put into positions where they'd further refine their skills with tax-payer funds.

Keeping participants more faithful to the rules and spirit of campaign finance reform needs drastic, yet simple, measures.
I suggest a "Scarlet Letter Penalty."

If you want a city contract, you can't break our campaign finance rules. If you are at odds with the campaign finance measures, you're out. Let's live in a city that chooses to only make payments to those who honor our campaign finance laws.

If a culprit breaks any campaign finance reform law, that person, as well as his company, becomes ineligible for any contract from city government. All payments from the city to the offending person and firm, including pay checks, are terminated. These individuals and firms would wearing a 'scarlet letter" so as to be "black listed at the time of cutting city checks."

This "scarlet letter penalty" would apply to both, the candidate and the donor. A candidate that wins an election could keep his post, as the people voted and the election was won. But, the candidate won't get paid.

If a mythical great uncle wants to give a large sum of money to his favorite nephew to run a campaign in Pittsburgh, fine. The money from the great uncle can be taken by the candidate, reported and spent. Meanwhile, the generous great uncle won't be eligible to get any city contract. He won't worry about city contracts and won't try to benefit from them. This great uncle donor has no worries about getting special influences, and in turn, the taxpayers have few fears about corruption from that source.

The length of punishment is another factor to consider.
Some say that a four-year punishment is long enough. In their point of view, if someone gets caught and screws up in the 2009 election and buys a candidate a seat, in part by breaking a campaign finance law, the guilty donor would be eligible for city contracts four-years later, in 2013.

I don't like the timing of a four-year penalty phase. Four years could be too short. Or, it could be too long.

Consider, for example, Don Barden or some other slots parlor operator seeking to buy city council members. Barden holds a contract with the state for the exclusive operation of a slots operations in the city. The state sold license to Don Barden never expires. His was a one-time payment that lasts forever. Four years is NO TIME AT ALL in that type of deal.

A contractor that builds bridges, tunnels and other mega projects -- such as light rail extensions to Oakland and the East End -- would gladly suffer a few years of penalties to have votes on city council and contracts awarded in year five and beyond.

Punishment to the ones that make the infraction to the campaign finance regulations should be in effect for as long as the candidate that benefited is an elected official in any public position. The "scarlet letter penalty" should end when the candidate exits all public positions.

For the sake of example, if a guilty employee at a developer such as Forrest City gets caught giving $50,000 to a council candidate, (the limit is $2,500), then that firm is OUT for all city contracts. However, if the candidate who took the money resigns his or her post, then the firm could get back into the game for city contracts. The candidate who took the money and the company that gave the money are in bed together. They both should be linked while that candidate stays in any government post.

A big payment that exceeds the limits could go to a candidate can not be spent for years. The funds could sit and gather interest for future campaign cycles, decades into the future. The city does not have term limits.

I'm not fine with specific dollar amounts of the proposed fines.
Another suggestion was to set penalty amounts for fines for the rule breakers. They wanted to attach the dollars of the sin in the campaign finance deed to the penalty. The thinking of the rule makers was to charge the villains a three-fold putative damage. Make the guilty pay a fine that is three times what was spent on the candidate.

I think it is impossible to set uniform dollar amount penalties in this realm. In recent times, $50,000 could easily buy a seat on city council. If the risk of getting caught means a pay-back of three times that amount, say $150,000, that's nothing when contrasted with the totals being spent in public building projects. A public financed parking garage, for example, can cost $10-Million. That penalty of three times the amount of damages as tied to the sins that flowed into the election coffers is chump change.

A Sister and Rabbi and a vacant seat huddle and an Ethics Hearing Board meeting breaks out.
The new bills sponsor has the proposed campaign finance regulations being upheld by the Pittsburgh's Ethics Hearing Board. I've seen glaciers move faster than the Ethics Hearing Board. That body is a total failure. The mayor's golf outing with UPMC executives in the summer of 2007 won't be resolved until the spring or summer fo 2008. They want to change the employee handbook to redefine perks from nonprofits. Sad to say, the Ethics Hearing Board in Pittsburgh, as appointed, can't navigate its way out of a wet paper bag. It would be more effective to administer Boy Scout Oaths to candidates, or do nothing.

Employees, companies, and citizens, it is time to ponder these proposals. Those who make and receive political donations are doing so with good intentions, but we need to think them through. I want the new rules to benefit challengers, competition, taxpayers and freedom.

---

Postings in this series:

Part 1: Local Campaign Finance Reform http://rauterkus.blogspot.com/2008/02/local-campaign-finance-reform.html

Part 2: Making an ethical stand. http://rauterkus.blogspot.com/2008/02/making-ethical-stand-ethical-operations.html

Part 3: Proposal to Bankers for a Campaign Marriage, with drive-through guests http://rauterkus.blogspot.com/2008/02/proposal-to-bankers-for-campaign.html

A new platform: The Libertarian Majority

Libertarian Majority: "As Libertarians, we seek a world of liberty; a world in which all individuals are sovereign over their own lives and no one is forced to sacrifice his or her values for the benefit of others.

This is great.

Singapore will host first Youth Olympics in 2010

SI.com - More Sports - Singapore will host first Youth Olympics in 2010 - Thursday February 21, 2008 8:09AM: "The event, to be held every four years, is designed to encourage youngsters to get involved in sports and spend less time in front of computer and television screens. The first Winter Youth Olympics will be in 2012.

Let's not bash computer screens. I think it would be great to blog at that event. :)

Rogge said broadcasters will be offered free daily television highlights from the Singapore Games.

"We know that youth sport is a difficult issue for broadcasters who are not showing much of it and I regret that," he said. "However, this exposure will be much bigger than for any other junior world championships."

Perhaps we can get the feed and stream them onto PCTV 21.

Vote on closing Schenley High School delayed - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Vote on closing Schenley High School delayed - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "City schools Superintendent Mark Roosevelt said he delayed a vote on closing Schenley High School to give supporters time to raise money to fix it and to study if it would be cheaper in the long run to repair the structure.

In other Schenley news:

The topic of this evening's PSCC was scheduling for next year's classes. Mrs. Facaros facilitated the meeting with counselors Dr. Dillard and Mrs. Martin. Sample course selection sheets for incoming 9th graders, 10 through 12, and IB Diploma Programmed Course Requirements were available. Counselors will be meeting with each student to plan schedules for next year; students will bring schedules home to be signed.

Grades and records of 10th grade students will be reviewed carefully before students sign for IB courses. An attempt will be made to coordinate the block schedules with non-IB classes for flexibility if the student has difficulty with the IB classes. The goal of scheduling is to find the right level of class for each student.

Schedules for next year are tentative, depending on the outcome of the school board's vote next week on the move to Reizenstein, the expansion of Frick to include 9th grade, the move of 9th grade students to Milliones for university prep, and the move of the tech program to Peabody. For example, if the moves do go through, it will eliminate culinary arts as an elective for all but the Peabody students. With the 9th grade in the basement of Frick, the food prep rooms will be eliminated; Reizenstein does not have facilities for food prep either.

Discussion on proposed moves: As usual when there are Schenley parents, there was an informal discussion of the proposed moves for next year. Time is passing very quickly to have classes in place for next September. As stated above, certain aspects of the schedule will have to be changed depending on the location of various students. If the 9th grade is to remain at Frick, renovations will be needed to the basement floor which currently houses the kitchen, sewing, industrial arts classrooms. After the location of students is determined, the placement of teachers will have to be determined. Teachers who have been trained for the IB program will have priority over teachers who have not been trained. At this time, it is planned that the 9th graders at all "Schenley" sites will follow the high school bell schedules. Teachers, especially world language teachers, will probably travel between the two IS sites. It is possible that buses will transport students for advanced math and after school activities although those details have not been worked out.

A parent requested and Mrs. Facaros will try to arrange a tour of the Reizenstein facility for those who would like to tour the building. This will need to be arranged before any renovations are begun on the building.

Although this was a short meeting, there was a lot of information. If anyone who was at the meeting has anything to add, please email me and I will make corrections/additions.

Next PSCC meeting: March 19. Topic: IB/IS
Please put the April 16 PSCC meeting on your calendar when Duquesne University will be doing a parent evaluation of High School Reform. We need parental input.

amy moore

Great, another institution doing an evaluation on high school reform after the deal has been cut. The evaluation needs to happen in April -- for changes in say 2010 and unfolding to 2014.

David C. Salo is publishing a new book -- June or July 2008

Dave Salo, Ph.D., head men's swim coach at USC, author of the now out of print book, Sprint Salo, is publishing a new book with Human Kinetics.

Sounds good. Total conditioning for swimmers, or something like that.

Can't wait.

Finally the skeleton spotlight to herself. - Wednesday February 20, 2008 2:36PM

We are NOT talking about "BODIES" at the Science Center.

SI.com - More Sports - Katie Uhlaender finally has the American skeleton spotlight to herself. - Wednesday February 20, 2008 2:36PM: "Katie Uhlaender finally has the American skeleton spotlight to herself."