Campaign Finance Reform gets attention in post agenda meeting in city council chambers

Bill Peduto's long awaited campaign finance reform bill took another step today with a post agenda meeting in city council chambers. It was put onto the city cable.

Bill Peduto said he'd put a 'hold' on the bill if he had the necessary support to offer a 'clean money' alternative. That's code for public financed campaigns.

Humm...

I'm not sure where this is going to go.

Pointers from the MSM expected shortly.

Trib news:

Proposal sets limits on political donations in Pittsburgh
By Jeremy Boren
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, April 8, 2008

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Pittsburgh isn't among more than two dozen major U.S. cities that cap the amount a person can donate to candidates at $5,000 or less.

The city has no limit on individual campaign contributions to City Council and mayoral candidates -- but it should, said Councilman Bill Peduto, who portrayed himself as a case in point during a hearing Monday on campaign finance restrictions he has proposed to city lawmakers.

"When I ran for mayor last year, I received a donation for $50,000. The most presidential candidates can receive is $2,300," Peduto said. "For a City Council member running for mayor, the sky's the limit. There's something inherently wrong with that."'

Peduto wants to limit annual, individual donations to City Council members to $2,500; mayoral and city controller candidates would be capped at $5,000.

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Limits in other cities range from as high as $3,400 on council members and the mayor in Detroit to as little as $270 on council members and $200 on the mayor in San Diego.

Under Peduto's proposal, those who donate the maximum would be prohibited from receiving no-bid contracts from the city. Candidates would be prohibited from raising more than $250,0000 (mayor), $100,000 (city controller) or $75,000 (council members) in non-election years.

Tim Potts, co-founder of Democracy Rising PA, attended Peduto's hearing to emphasize that unchecked campaign fundraising inhibits democracy.

"You don't want someone going in with a huge war chest that makes it nearly impossible for anybody else to compete," Potts said of non-election-year fundraising.

Potts said state lawmakers, for example, spend an inordinate amount of time fundraising. Forcing politicians to stick to smaller goals could reduce time they spend not doing their jobs.

Councilman Jim Motznik said fundraising doesn't stop him from listening to constituents.

"The amount of time I spend with my people and residents who aren't in my district ... doesn't depend on whether they gave me money," he said.

Peduto's legislation doesn't specify penalties for those who don't follow the caps. It leaves that to the city's Ethics Hearing Board.

Peduto said he's willing to negotiate to lower or nix the off-year election limits and amend the legislation to lower the individual contribution caps to $1,000 for council and $2,500 for the mayor and controller.

Even those changes would help Pittsburgh shake off the yoke of pay-to-play politics, said Barry Kauffman, director of Pennsylvania Common Cause, who attended the hearing.

Only 11 states, including Pennsylvania, do not have some form of statewide campaign finance reform, Kauffman said.

Finding the five votes on the nine-member City Council could be difficult.

Peduto doesn't have the votes yet, said Council President Doug Shields.

"As the old saying goes, 'When you've got the votes, vote; when you don't, talk.' Right now, we're talking."

Jeremy Boren can be reached at jboren@tribweb.com or 412-765-2312.

9000 PCs in Swiss schools going Linux only | Education IT | ZDNet.com

9000 PCs in Swiss schools going Linux only | Education IT | ZDNet.com 9000 computers in Swiss schools have been dual-booting Windows and and Ubuntu for some time now in anticipation of guidelines from the Switzerland’s Department of Public Instruction, whose motto is “Long Live Free Software.” The Tribune de Geneve featured a story on Friday about the elimination of dual boot capabilities in all of these machines and a migration exclusively to Linux (the original story is available here in French or here in English courtesy of Google’s language tools).

Beginning this September, all 9000 computers will run only Ubuntu and free and open source software.

Sri Lanka marathon ceremony bombed, 14 killed

SI.com - More Sports - Sri Lanka marathon ceremony bombed, 14 killed - Sunday April 6, 2008 7:55PM: A suicide bomber attacked the opening ceremony of a marathon outside Sri Lanka's capital Sunday, killing a government minister and 13 other people, authorities said. Dozens were wounded.

The torch relay has had its trouble keeping on track. The news above is much worse.


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Sri Lanka is an island south of India.

Baseball, MLK, Clemente and throw-back swimming

A valued sports journalist, Dave Zirin, posts the following, fitting for this blog on the opening day for the Pittsburgh Pirates home season.

This piece was posted on sportsillustrated.com’s home page this past weekend. As always, please consider posting comments at the below link.
In struggle and sports,
Dave Z

http://edgeofsports.com/2008-04-06-334/index.html

Common Bond for Uncommon Men: Roberto Clemente and Martin Luther King
By Dave Zirin

As we remember the 40th anniversary of that dark day of April 4th 1968, when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was gunned down in Memphis, it's worth recalling the reaction by Pittsburgh Pirates All-Star Roberto Clemente.

Clemente was devastated by the news of King's assassination but didn't suffer in silence. Instead, he led a charge to prevent the Pirates and Astros from opening their season on April 8th, the day before King's burial. He convinced his teammates on the Pirates, which included 11 African Americans, to stand with him. Opening Day was moved to April 10th, and Roberto Clemente had put sports in its proper perspective.

It might seem odd that Clemente, a proud Puerto Rican national, would have led such an extraordinary action. But Clemente, who had a passionate belief in social and economic justice, considered King a personal hero. He had even met face to face with Dr. King, spending a day together on Clemente's farm in Puerto Rico.

David Maraniss quotes Clemente's feelings about King in his 2005 biography of the Hall of Fame outfielder:

"When Martin Luther King started doing what he did, he changed the whole system of the American style. He put the people, the ghetto people, the people who didn't have nothing to say in those days, they started saying what they would have liked to say for many years that nobody listened to. Now with this man, these people come down to the place where they were supposed to be but people didn't want them, and sit down there as if they were white and call attention to the whole world. Now that wasn't only the black people but the minority people. The people who didn't have anything, and they had nothing to say in those days because they didn't have any power, they started saying things and they started picketing, and that's the reason I say he changed the whole world..."

Clemente's affinity for King and the civil rights movement was rooted in his own experience with racism in the United States. Clemente played from 1954 to 1972, years that saw profound change in both Major League Baseball and U.S. society. His career spanned the entirety of the black freedom struggle from the Montgomery Bus Boycotts to the urban ghetto rebellions; from Rosa Parks to the Black Panthers. Being raised in a proud Puerto Rican household did not prepare Clemente for the racism he encountered in the U.S. Even as a dark-skinned Puerto Rican, Clemente never knew of the existence of racism before coming to the U.S. mainland. He would tell reporters that he learned that dark skin "was bad over here."

The first half of his career, the Pirates held their spring training in the still-segregated south. The Pirates' spring games were in Ft. Myers, Florida, which even by the standards of 1950s Florida was deeply segregated. Years later, Clemente's only memories of his first spring training consisted of eating on the bus with other players of color while his white teammates dined inside at both fancy restaurants and greasy spoons.

For someone who had never heard of Jim Crow, these were painful times. Clemente's friend Vic Power, a highly skilled Puerto Rican player for the Kansas City Athletics, was dragged off his team's bus one spring by the local authorities for buying a Coke from a whites-only gas station. Speaking together later, Clemente seethed at the humiliation, feeling it as if it were his own. Power tried to calm Clemente down. His approach was humor. Power liked to tell the story of a waitress telling him, "We don't serve Negroes," and responding, "That's OK. I don't eat Negroes."

But Clemente just couldn't handle it that way. In Maraniss' biography, Clemente was quoted thusly: "They say, 'Roberto, you better keep your mouth shut because they will ship you back.' [But] this is something from the first day I said to myself: I am in the minority group. I am from the poor people. I represent the poor people. I represent the common people of America. So I am going to be treated like a human being. I don't want to be treated like a Puerto Rican, or a black, or nothing like that. I want to be treated like any person."

Clemente had a profound social conscience and drive for justice, colored by a belief that he would die before his time. This came to pass when he died on December 31, 1972 after he boarded a ramshackle plane, attempting to fly to earthquake-stricken Nicaragua with 4,000 extra pounds of relief materials. His wife Vera remembered, "He always said he would die young -- that this was his fate."

Dr. King shared this personal fatalism. On April 3, 1968 King gave a speech saying, "I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we as a people will get to the promised land."

We aren't yet at any kind of promised land, but Clemente and King both helped chart a path in the right direction. It's critical to remember them not as superhuman icons, but as ordinary people who sacrificed to do extraordinary things. As the Black Panther Party newspaper Panther Speaks wrote in their obituary of Clemente, "It is ironic that the profession in which he achieved 'legendry' [status] knew him the least. Roberto Clemente did not, as the Commissioner of Baseball maintained, 'Have about him a touch of royalty.' Roberto Clemente was simply a man, a man who strove to achieve his dream of peace and justice for oppressed people throughout the world."

[Dave Zirin is the author of "Welcome to the Terrordome:" (Haymarket). You can receive his column Edge of Sports, every week by emailing dave@edgeofsports.com Contact him at edgeofsports@gmail.com. Comment on this article at www.edgeofsports.com]

Meanwhile, not too far from Forbes Field, in Oakland, but high on the hill, they are about to do a fix up of a past decision and rehab a swimming pool, Trees Hall at Pitt. In the last meet, held later this month, the swim distances are going to be 55-yards. This is what the Pitt coach posted in an email:

Trees Pool, April 26-27- The Dan Mazzei Spring Sprint Challenge

A Renovation Celebration Meet!

The LAST 55-YARD meet! Join us April 26-27 (Saturday and Sunday).

The Dan Mazzei Spring Sprint Meet will have a special “twist” this year.

We will be celebrating the renovation of Trees Pool at the meet and will be commemorating the last 55-yard meet ever run at Trees Pool!

All of the events will be run in the 55-yard “Commonwealth” distance. We will have the 55-yard free, the 220 Yard IM, and the 110 Freestyle, just to name a few.

Join us in the fun. We will ask coaches and teams to dress in the style of the 60s for the meet.

The 60s- The time of Flower Power, Long Hair and Bell Bottom Pants.

The time of Paisley Shirts and Platform Shoes.

The time of Afro Hair and Just a lot of Hair.

The time of Beach Jams and Jellies and Striped Racing Suits.

Trees Pool was one of the last 55-yard pools built in the USA. Completed in 1962, the 55-yard long-course distance pool at Trees was the “Commonwealth Distance” swum by the US, England and in the Commonwealth of Great Britain. 55-yards is about one foot longer than the now dominant 50-meter course used all over the world as the “long course” Olympic distance.

Trees Pool has been the site of at least one AAU National Championship. At that meet in 1964, a then new American Record-holder Donna deVarona (of NBC sports commentating fame) swam at Trees pool to defend her National title in the Individual Medley.

The renovation of Trees Pool will take about four months and is scheduled to be done by September 1, 2008. They will include a new pool surface, all new tiled decking, a new one-meter platform for 1-meter springboard diving, new deck heating, and a new stainless steel gutter system and pool circulation and filtration. The pool will also be shortened to 50-meters.

We are excited about celebrating the almost $2 million renovation at the Dan Mazzei Meet .

Sign your team up today for the fun! The meet entry is on the AMS Web site!

Thanks!

Chuck Knoles and the Team Pittsburgh Staff and Pitt Staff

I don't know the history of the building of the main swim pool at Trees Hall and the 55-yard length. I sorta expected that the builders did NOT have a metric ruler, so the 55-yard distance was used instead.

In other meets, a bulkhead is sunk into the water to shorten the pool. It holds the touchpads and starting blocks just fine. In the same line of thought, I sorta wonder if the meet is being held at 55-yards this year because the bulkheads, bulky, wooden, and dust-gathered, were tossed already. They would have been in the way. Lots of materials and prep work has already begun at the construction site.

What other 55-yard swim pools were built in the US and around the world?

In New Zealand, there are plenty of 33-meter swim pools. New Zealand has cut times for nation meets and records and conversion charts for 25-meter, 33-meter and 50-meter lengths.

I got to coach for a semester at Baylor University in a swim pool that was 33-and-a-third yards in length.

I hope that the upgrade at Pitt's pool goes well. Too bad they decision to upgrade Pitt Statdium didn't go as I had hoped.

Word on the street -- before the fur flies fling from ballots

Prediction: The Clinton supporters are going to 'steal the election in PA' They've got the skill and seasoned pros (snicker) in the trenches to sway 10-15 percentage points. They will be cunning. The idealists, (Obama supporters) if not prepared, will go down. Vote counts won't even be necessary.

Florida was so bad in the past that their votes don't even count this cycle.

Pennsylvania is as bad if not worse than Florida.

The surge for Obama is going to have to go into overdrive in Pennsylvania to counter the ruthlessness of the old-guard vote counting tricks from the less idealistic and more realistic camp.

Army Is Worried by Rising Stress of Return Tours to Iraq - New York Times

Army Is Worried by Rising Stress of Return Tours to Iraq - New York Times Army Is Worried by Rising Stress of Return Tours to Iraq

Sure, there are serious mental health issues with the returning soldiers.

But there are plenty of physical health problems too. Many of these folks are not being killed on the field of battle when confronted with the bomb blasts. Their eyes, ears and brains (central processing) are gone.

These men and women won't be able to work again. The injuries are life changing, of course. The cost to the individuals is steep. The long term cost of the wars are high.

The United States needs to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

How this as about a Constitutional Amendment: US Soldiers should NEVER serve a second tour of duty.

420 (cannabis culture) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I'm not part of this "culture." However, as a Libertarian, I'm all in favor of the legalization of drugs.

420 (cannabis culture) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "420 (cannabis culture)"

The Pgh Bloggers Guild is sending up some smoke as to a new PR effort among our blogs about 420 on 4/20 (April 20).

Fine.

A new Google Group has been established too. Pittsburgh Bloggers Guild | Google Groups: "Pittsburgh Bloggers Guild"

Perhaps you missed the Pittsburgh guy, speaking at Pitt, while running for President of the US

I have some new videos. Here is the first peek.

North Side residents want to send gangs a message - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Note: Kraus has floated another balloon that is made of lead.

North Side residents want to send gangs a message - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review The U.S. Postal Service warned that doing so is illegal.

'We cannot allow anyone but our own maintenance crews to service our boxes,' said postal service spokesman Tad Kelley.

The words "total failure" are at the tip of my lips.

Back-channel!

Or, another way -- ask for forgiveness if you are so strong in your convictions.

Send the US Postal Service a bill for the boxes already painted.

Act on your convictions. Then we can talk about 'illegal.'

Pitt event: public debate on Mon Valley Toll Road

University of Pittsburgh: News From Pitt: "University of Pittsburgh to Present Public Debate on the Future of Transportation in Pittsburgh on April 14
The debate is titled “Should the Mon-Fayette Expressway Be Completed?”

EYE WEEKLY - Richard Florida rules

EYE WEEKLY - Richard Florida rules: "“We have got to stop whining about how bad this place is,” Richard Florida suggests as a headline in the antiseptic commons of the Rotman School of Management yesterday, launching his new book Who’s Your City? “Just stop it.”

In honor of Richard Florida, and his newest message, "Just stop it." -- I'm going to stop blogging for the next 24 hours, Canadian.

The REVOLUTION MARCH! - REVOLUTION March on D.C. - RESTORE THE CONSTITUTION for Feedom, Peace, and Prosperity

Our goal is to organize the largest, peaceful, non-violent rally in support of The Revolution that is happening in America. Most people that have been involved in the revolution are frustrated by the lack of Media attention given to it.

We stand in unison with the other planners of this march. Including, but not limited to, RonPaulMarch.com. Please consider us a source for ACCURATE information about the march on D.C.

The REVOLUTION MARCH! - REVOLUTION March on D.C. - RESTORE THE CONSTITUTION for Feedom, Peace, and Prosperity

New Zealand and Pennsylvania -- compare and contrast

An interesting program is on tap. It discusses New Zealand and PA.

TOMORROW'S PROGRAM | Saturday @ 8am

New Zealand's Lessons for Pennsylvania

New Zealand, in the 1980s, was strapped with a stagnant economy, huge deficits, high unemployment, and burdensome taxes. The revitalization of the island nation occurred following the implementation of market-oriented reforms in the '80s and '90s.

One of the key players in New Zealand's resurgence was Maurice McTigue, who served as a Member of Parliament, Cabinet Minister, and Ambassador. Currently, Mr. McTigue is Vice President, Director of the Government Accountability Project, and Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He will join Matt to discuss the New Zealand experience and lessons Pennsylvania policymakers can learn from that nation's economic revitalization.

* * *

Not a morning person? THE BOX will be available for downloading immediately after it airs on WHP 580 AM each and every Saturday at TheBOXprogram.com.

* * *

THE BOX: Inside -Outside - On is a media project of the Commonwealth Foundation, an independent, nonprofit research and educational institute located in Harrisburg.

For more information on the Commonwealth Foundation, visit CommonwealthFoundation.org or call 1-888-THINK-88.

www.theBOXprogram.com

Forward

The Pitt News has coverage of Ron Paul's visit last night

The Pitt News Paul campaigns at Pitt

The P-G reported that Ron Paul went to Univ. of Pgh Medical School. Say what? Tim, he had some advanced medical training here. But, the Dr. Paul bio has him as a med school graduate from Duke. Note, this isn't Duquesne, but the other Duke.

Pitt News: Originally from Green Tree, near Pittsburgh, Paul graduated from Gettysburg College and trained to be an obstetrician/gynecologist at Magee Womens Hospital. He met his wife, Carol, when they went to high school together in Dormont.

I wonder if Magee was UMPC when Ron Paul was here as a young doctor? Did it have a University tie?

Amber Alert for 16 year old female, from Bedford, and White Nissan Sentra

AMBER ALERT 04/03/08 1945 HRS PSP-BEDORD WHITE 2003 NISSAN SENTRA SDN PA FDS7415 CRYSTAL ANN BECK W/F AGE 16 502 110 BRO HAIR BRO EYES BLU JEANS YELLOW HOODED “SOUTHPOLE” SWEATSHIRT WHI SNEAKERS, SCR ON LEFT CHIN CALL 911 IF SEEN

The Pennsylvania State Police has issued an Amber Child Abduction Alert for the Pennsylvania State Police – Bedford Station in Bedford County, Pennsylvania.

The Pennsylvania State Police – Bedford Station is searching for Crystal Ann Beck a 16 year old white female, 5’02",110 lbs, with straight brown hair and brown eyes. She may be wearing blue jeans, a white sleeveless shirt, a yellow Southpole hooded sweatshirt and white tennis shoes. She was last seen in the area of West 6th Avenue in West Providence Township in Bedford County, Pennsylvania on Thursday 04/03/08 at 7:45 PM.

A possible vehicle involved with this abduction is a 2003 White Nissan Sentra sedan with Pennsylvania tag FDS7415.

Anyone with information about the abduction should immediately contact the police by calling 911.

This has been an Amber Child Abduction Alert for the Pennsylvania State Police – Bedford Station in Bedford County, Pennsylvania.


Affected Counties: Bedford, Somerset, Cambria, Blair, Huntingdon and Fulton counties.

Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy taps revitalization officials - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy taps revitalization officials - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Griffin is a former congressional aide.

Go figure.

Merger and the latest report

I don't even like the title:

Government for Growth:
Forging a Bright Future — Built on Unity, Efficiency, Equity, and Equality —
for the People of Allegheny County and the City of Pittsburgh

Why not "Government Shrinkage for Growing Liberty."

I don't need a 'bright future.' Day will follow night. Summer follows spring.

There is a lot of 'bright lights' in Las Vegas. Same too in Disney World. A future that hinges on 'brightness' might also be driven to casinos -- not just slots parlors. It is bright for some to build a tunnel under the river for light-rail extension. What is bright to the construction trades is debt to the taxpayers. What is bright shopping -- like Lord and Taylor -- is not economical for most.

Even "authentic" beats the pants off of "bright" as in "flasher" and "full moon."

Forging, okay. I'd rather engineer and not use the brute strength of the hammer -- and sickle. I'd rather have government 'resign' and 'relax' and 're-tool.'

Unity, well, that's gotten Pittsburgh in its mess. The city's leadership has been full of unity. We need dissent. We need diversity. We need to break the one-party choke hold.

To be strong, it is often much better to bundle and gather together. Steel cable that support our bridges are often formed from smaller strands that are inter-twined.

Those 9-0 votes on council are all about 'unity' -- and often are full of folly.

Equity and equality -- both in the title -- is overboard. The formula has to be more complicated. Life isn't fair. It is easy to have equity -- when everyone is poor. The marketplace is nothing that government (especially the city and county) can control so as to inject equity.

And equity is not about 'growth.'

People grow in different spurts. Nature is about progress as it comes, on its own. Not about unifority, equity, cutting the blades of grass into a sea of equality.

The Mon River is not like the Allegheny. Things are as they are. How about 'reality' and 'judgement' and 'potential' and 'nurturing.'

I have two kids. I don't treat them with perfect equity. They are not equals in most things.

In governmental settings, I'd love to have one person with one vote -- but the concept I'd want to run up the flag pole is 'dignity.' Give us dignity and don't dish out equity so we have K-8 schools where those in middle-grades are eating elementary sized lunches sitting in wee desks.

Sigh. I'll have to read the rest of the report in the shower.

Ron Paul visited Pitt with standing room only audience -- sans 4th Estate

I didn't see a reporter nor a TV crew.

Perhaps there were people in the audience from the mainstream media. I expect that the Pitt News reporters were there. College students are not poisoned with the coverage like the biased media in this region.

Ron Paul did a great job, as expected.

I have it on video.

Can Ed Rendell Deliver for Clinton? - TIME

TIME coverage:

Can Ed Rendell Deliver for Clinton? - TIME The next order of business is a Clinton fund raiser in western Pennsylvania. 'I want each of you to come as close to or exceed $100,000 for your guys,' he tells Pittsburgh mayor Luke Ravenstahl and Allegheny County chief executive Dan Onorato. 'If you need me to make any follow-up calls, I will.'

Report on city-county merger due out today

Report on city-county merger due out today The tight-lipped 13-member Advisory Committee to Enhance Efficiency and Effectiveness of County and City Government has reviewed city and county functions, studied regions that have merged, and spent months trying to build consensus and finalize language in a report.

City, county and university officials all refused to talk about the findings yesterday.

The place where a merger could and should happen next is PARKS.

But better than a merger, we should move to create a new Park District that is not either the city nor the county nor the schools nor even the universities. Nor should the Park District be a 'tight-lipped' nonprofit without accountability that has Elsie Hillman (or some other nonprofit weenies) pulling the wires.

The new Pittsburgh Park District should be a public entity with elected trustees, a citizens' congress, a new model of cooperation as its own entity, working under the light of sunshine laws.

The Pittsburgh Park District is NOT a quick fix. But it is a logical next step in the overall blueprint.

People are willing to work together when it comes to places where we play together. We'll do great things for the sake of our kids.

We cherish the parks and crave real cooperation with an entity that isn't with a headquarters on Grant Street.

Full consolidation of city and county government could kill the region. Meanwhile, the new Pittsburgh, regional, Park District could be a major support system to the citizens and provide a base of experiences to work from as we merge government -- or not.