More ethics problems -- go figure

This is an issue of ethics in Olympic circles.

IOC backs Bach against possible conflict of interest - More Sports - SI.com 'Dr. Bach was in contact with the ethics commission and got advice. There is no reason to believe Dr. Bach broke the rules of the IOC ethics code,' IOC spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau said.

Flashback -- Flashforward -- Cambodia -- Godspeed Anga

Last year at this time our family traveled to New Zealand. Catherine was a visiting professor and taught a course. We adhere to "no child left behind" -- so we bring our kids with us for the international exerience and applied education.

We love to travel as a family -- but make it a point to go abroad and bring along two graduate students from Pitt's audiology program. It has become a bit of a 'custom' and one we cherish.

This year year, Anga, seen in the photo at our house at meal time (last year), is headed abroad again. She left yesterday for a month of service in audiology in Cambodia.

Be safe. She is going solo. I hope we have tons of interesting photos and stories to share -- either while she is on the road -- or upon her return.



Personally, it is weird to be here, in Pittsburgh, in the spring. Last year we left Pittsburgh as winter was closing, and we returned to summer. While away, we enjoyed New Zealand's mild fall weather. So this year it is a treat to enjoy spring see the trees and flowers in bloom and the greening.

Cambodia.

Poynter Online - Can a Reporter Trade a Newswriting Career for a Song?

Nice feature. Blends music and journalism.

Poynter Online - Can a Reporter Trade a Newswriting Career for a Song?: "Can a Reporter Trade a Newswriting Career for a Song?"

His MySpace has six songs for free listens. Creative.

Casino financing remains unsecured - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

This causes concern and the alternative solution is still valid.

Casino financing remains unsecured - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Two top Majestic Star officials said Tuesday the casino operator doesn't have enough money to build the North Shore slots palace, but will soon."

Move the slots parlor -- it isn't a 'casino' -- into the Convention Center. The Convention Center is already built. The Convention Center is a white elephant. The income from slots is not flowing yet. Prime the pump. Kill two major headaches with the same stone.

Yearly costs to operate the Convention Center and pay for past debt makes a huge weight upon the backs of the public treasury. Sell the Convention Center to Don Barden.

The Conventions that are already booked won't need to be screwed -- as Don Barden can also absorb the Vistors and Convention folks and he can put them on private payroll. They can manage the space as necessary.

More Morning After the PA election

I didn't vote! Couldn't. Now, for some of the rest of the story.

Democratic voters set a record by a huge margin yesterday. Capitolwire's Pete DeCoursey reports that yesterday's Democratic vote total of nearly 2.3 million voters shattered the old record of 1.53 million in 1980. Only 710,000 Republicans voted...

GOP nominee John McCain, who locked up the nomination months ago, nevertheless saw 27.3 percent of Republicans vote for Ron Paul or Mike Huckabee. What does this mean? Will these voters stay home in the fall? Will the Paul supporters vote for the Democrat in November because both Obama and Clinton share Paul's commitment to ending the Iraq War? Will the Huckabee voters stay home because McCain is too inconstant and not conservative enough in their eyes to be trusted? Were these voters asking McCain to consider Paul and Huckabee as vice presidential candidates? Or does it mean that a lot of mainstream Republicans just stayed home to avoid the hordes of Democrats at the polls?

Snip above and below from Democracy Rising Pennsylvania.

There were several winners who didn't get a majority of the vote yesterday. Rob McCord, a finance professional from Montgomery County, placed first in a four-way race with 43.5 percent of the vote for PA Treasurer.

Multiple candidates were in a few house and senate races: Cumberland County's 88th House district, for example, saw seven Republicans on the ballot. The winner, Sheryl Delozier, received just 26.5 percent of the vote but is virtually guaranteed a victory in November in a very heavily Republican district.

Such results beg the question of whether to continue a system in which someone wins despite most voters choosing someone else. Instant Runoff Voting is one way to deal with this problem without making voters return to the polls for another election.

Not only does IRV ensure that the winner is the candidate most voters want, it prevents the divide-and-conquer strategy in which incumbents get straw candidates to take votes away from challengers. It may be that most voters don't want the incumbent, but because their votes are divided between challengers, the incumbent wins anyway.

Look for a discussion of this at Pennsylvania's Constitution Convention, whenever it happens.

In Pittsburgh's west, the three way race had a city council member as the winner. Ex-state rep aid got third. The outsider challenger got 2nd. Perhaps a 2-way race would have hurt John Paul Jones the most.

REPRESENTATIVE IN THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY 27TH DISTRICT
(WITH 64 OF 64 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
JOHN PAUL JONES --> 4,328 = 31.96%
RYAN L. DOUGLASS --> 4,068 = 30.04%
DANIEL J. DEASY, JR. --> 5,136 = 37.92%
WRITE-IN --> 12 .09

I would LOVE to see John Paul Jones begin his campaign for city council in the next couple of days.

In L-ville land, the ex-city councilman, Len Bodack lost. (Whew.) And, the ex-member of county council, Brenda Frazier, lost. She helped to bring Allegheny the drink tax as per Dan Onorato's wishes. Voters went with the ex-policeman, for years on disability. Tight race. Tough decision. All Dems.

REPRESENTATIVE IN THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY 21ST DISTRICT
(WITH 70 OF 70 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
DOM COSTA --> 4,940 = 34.62%
LEN BODACK --> 4,703 = 32.95%
BRENDA FRAZIER --> 4,595 = 32.20%
WRITE-IN --> 33 = .23%

I'd love to have Libertarian candidates on the ballot in both of those races this fall. Anyone want to run?

Next point of interest, watching Brenda Frazier wiggle her way back onto the Allegheny County Council. She wanted to have her husband appointed to her seat after she departed, so I have heard. Then, in case she lost her race to become a state rep, she'd be able to return to county council. But, that isn't what happened.

Ohligarchy: There's Got To Be A Morning After

Ohligarchy: There's Got To Be A Morning After There was a choice for President! As I promised, I voted for Ron Paul. Voting for Ron Paul makes Rauterkus happy. That's a positive thing. Why would you want to upset the man? Also, there was the delightful symbolism of voting for Ron Paul in the very church in which he was married, way back in 1957. Call it a belated fifty-first wedding present.

Allegheny County Returns for Ron Paul

These are the numbers in the city of Pittsburgh among Rs:

Allegheny County Returns
Huckabee 444
McCain 3,423
Paul 1,020

Went to one polling place and they had 4 Rs vote and more than 100 Ds.

DeSantis delivers on micro-loan pledge - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

This story was the buzz at some polling places today.

DeSantis delivers on micro-loan pledge - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Even though he wasn't elected, DeSantis is making good on a campaign promise to develop a micro-loan program.

The Blog of Burgher Jon gives me some mention in the quest for open gov on TV -- Lebo style

I got some ink at another blog.

Jon, I'm always glad to help and offer up solutions. I'm glad you noticed too.

The Blog of Burgher Jon Until local governments get a clue we're going to have to keep waiting for good old Rauterkus to video tape his TV. What do you suppose it cost him to put that video together? about $28,000?

My price tag won't be as high as theirs.

:)

RIP: Buck Dawson, 87, Promoter of Swimming, Is Dead - New York Times

From canada-ak-o-mak

Buck Dawson, 87, Promoter of Swimming, Is Dead - New York Times: "Buck Dawson, 87, Promoter of Swimming, Is Dead

Buck was a great, great man. He will be missed by thousands around the world, including our family.

I was very honored and happy to introduce my sons, both swimmers, to Buck in the summer of 2006 while in Canada at Camp Chikopi and visiting the friends from the other side of the lake at Ak-o-mak.

Rest of story:

Buck Dawson, the first executive director of the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and a leading promoter of the sport, died on April 4 in Fort Lauderdale, where he lived. He was 87.

The cause was heart failure and complications of Parkinson’s disease, the Hall of Fame said.

From 1964 to 1987, Dawson helped build the Hall of Fame into an attraction that now enshrines such celebrated inductees as Johnny Weissmuller, Buster Crabbe, Mark Spitz, Gertrude Ederle, Eleanor Holm and Esther Williams. Spitz is now the hall’s chairman. By his own admission, Dawson himself was a poor and infrequent swimmer.

“Buck did more for swimming than any nonswimmer in the world,” the Hall of Fame said in announcing his death, adding: “He made the Hall grow from an idea to a shoebox collection and ultimately a million-dollar operation as the showcase and archives of swimming.”

Dawson was credited with bringing to Fort Lauderdale national championship events in swimming, diving, synchronized swimming and water polo, and he persuaded college teams to train there during their spring break. He traveled throughout the year promoting the sport.

For years, in Ontario, he and his wife, RoseMary, a swimming coach, ran the first known competitive-swimming camps, Camp Ak-o-Mak for girls and Chikopi for boys. He wrote or was a co-author of 18 books on various subjects, including swimming, volcanoes, the Civil War and World War II.

William Forrest Dawson was born Oct. 31, 1920, in Orange, N.J. His father, Cecil, was president of the Dixie Cup Company. Buck Dawson attended the University of Michigan, where he was a top sprinter on the track team. He left college during World War II and served as an officer commanding glider troops in the 82nd Airborne Division; he was later a public information officer. He wrote the official history of the 82nd Airborne.

After the war, he returned to college and graduated in 1948. Returning to the Army during the Korean War, he damaged one eye in an automobile collision and wore a black eye patch afterward.

His wife died in 2003. Their daughter, Marci Williams, died in 1999. Dawson is survived by a stepson, Bruce Corson, of Ann Arbor, Mich.; two stepdaughters, Connie Corson of Colorado Springs and Marilyn Whitney of Savannah, Ga.; two step-grandchildren; and three step-great-grandchildren.

Buck is also survived by hundreds, if not thousands of once young swimmers.

From Grant

That's Buck in the middle of the big hug. Grant, my youngest, is the guy off to the left of the photo. I took the photo from a canoe before the start of 3-mile swim race.

View Album

Get your own

Buck isn't in this slide show, but it gives a peek at 'camp'.

Cheruiyot, Tune win Boston Marathon - More Sports - SI.com

Great day for a marathon.

Cheruiyot, Tune win Boston Marathon - More Sports - SI.com Among those in the event's second-largest field: seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, who finished 488th in 2:50:58.

Nice run Lance.

A runner from the USA got into the top ten -- 10th.

Election Protection's final push to ready for vote tomorrow

The Freedom Unlimited Building is at 2201 Wylie Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15219 -- and the training is slated for tonight from 6 to 7:30 pm.

PRESS CONTACT: Celeste Taylor, 412-670-0937
Stacey Gates, 240-274-5400/sgates@pfaw.org

Election Protection Coalition Operates Statewide Hotline for Pennsylvania Voters in Primary

Poll watchers to be deployed in Allegheny County

Election Protection Volunteer Training, Monday, April 21, 6:00-7:30 p.m.

On April 22, the nonpartisan Election Protection (EP) coalition will operate its national hotline, 1-866-OUR VOTE (1-866-687-8683), to provide live assistance to voters in Pennsylvania's April 22 primary. The EP coalition is working with allies across the state to dispatch poll monitors in key precincts, and PFAWF is coordinating these efforts for the coalition in Pittsburgh to help solve problems that may arise on Election Day.

We invite you to cover the Election Protection coalition's volunteer training:

When: Monday, April 21, 2008, 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Where: Freedom Unlimited Building, 2201 Wylie Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15219 (next door to the NAACP Building in the Historic Hill District.)

The toll-free voter assistance hotline will provide voters with live, free legal and general assistance to help them vote. Volunteers trained in election law will assist voters with questions such as:

- where and when to vote

- what kind of ID may be required

- whether to vote on a provisional ballot or emergency ballot

- what to do if their names have been removed from the voting lists

- what to do if they have since been directed to the wrong polling place

- what to do if they are challenged at the polls

The hotline will be available to all Pennsylvania voters on April 22, and will collect reports about voting problems that arise. The data will inform efforts to improve the election system before the general election in November, and the information will be made available to the news media and the public. In addition, on-the-ground poll monitors and roving attorneys will be deployed in Allegheny County as a pilot project for the November election.

PFAWF has been engaged in on-the-ground poll monitoring and voter education in Pennsylvania since 2004. Allegheny County has continued to experience problems that have the potential to disenfranchise thousands of vulnerable voters including poll worker recruitment and training; the availability of voting machines and polling place resources; improper use of provisional ballots and emergency ballots; the statewide voter registration database and voter registration problems; and voter education and voter outreach.

The EP coalition includes People For the American Way Foundation, NAACP National Voter Fund, B-PEP - The Black Political Empowerment Project, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, PA League of Young Voters Education Fund, Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh Young Professionals, PA Common Cause, PA Disability Voter Coalition, VotePA, VoteAllegheny, Voter Action, PA Voice, League of Women Voters of Greater Pittsburgh, Freedom Unlimited, Spiritual Progressives, and Everybody VOTE.

EP works year-round to safeguard the right to vote of historically disenfranchised voters, including Hispanic, African-American, youth, disabled and low-income voters. For more information about Election Protection, visit www.EP365.org or call Celeste Taylor at 412-670-0937 or Stacey Gates at 202-467-4999.

Vote for these people for R deligates to Convention

Suggested Delegates to the Republican Convention:

Robert Tamburo (3rd on the ballot)
Andrew Maul (5th on the ballot)
Crystal M. Jones (7th on the ballot)

Mainstream Media gives this guy the willies

YouTube - GillettePhenom's Channel

YouTube - GillettePhenom's Channel: "Create a video of 90 seconds or less showcasing your skill in a ball sport. Your video may include the biggies—basketball, baseball, soccer, football, golf, tennis—the lesser obvious ones— volleyball, water polo, cricket, rugby, croquet—and even the fooseballs and Super Balls of the world.

You can kick it, throw it, shoot it, catch it, juggle it, dribble it, heck do a dance with it if you like. If you're phenomenal enough, you could win."

Tiger is there.

OLYMPUS: Event, WED at 3:30 pm at CMU

OLYMPUS: Events Olympus Show and Tell 5 (Poster, 322 KB)
Wednesday, April 23, 2008 • 3:30pm - 5:00pm
Collaborative Innovation Center
Carnegie Mellon
Reception Following @ Apple

Wi-Fi gets one city $3-M windfall

A few years ago, I went on many rants about Wi-Fi efforts in the city. Well, if I had had my way, the city would be richer and with a new system. Instead, the suckers in city hall did an insider deal with the PDP (Pgh Downtown Partnership).

No money will change hands in the reacquisition of the network and the city estimates that it has netted $3.19 million on the deal.

Corpus Christi, Texas, got paid more than $3-million from EarthLink. Now EarthLink is getting out of the municipal, consumer Wi-Fi business, by design and by its own choice. So, that city gets the services and the cash.

Pittsburgh gets nothing, yet again.

Great clean-up, redd up, etc.

County Events Page: "Scheduled Events for Allegheny County"

Fix Up Parade

Good news:

New signs of the times: Hit the riverfront trail.

From playground - usa

Thanks for the new nets on the basketball courts.

From playground - usa

Thanks for the attention to the ground cover in the parks too.

Bad News

Going to the paint has different meanings when the pavement is cracked to such conditions.



Fast break has different meanings:



The court in our park has a regular 3-point line -- and a NBA 3 point line as outlined by the cracked pavement.

From playground - usa

The fences in the parks need minor touch ups so this does NOT happen.

From playground - usa

As the fence gets destroyed, the cost for replacement is much greater.

From playground - usa

From playground - usa

Use the Primary Election Day to get signatures for general election ballot

Primary Day in Pennsylvania is fast approaching. With your help, it can be a day when we take a major step forward as a party – not so much because of who is on the primary ballot, but because of who we can put on the ballot in November.

We need as many Pennsylvania residents as possible to go to the polls this Tuesday, April 22, to petition for our candidates to get on the general election ballot. Please take as much time as you can on Tuesday to grab a clipboard and some pens and ask these voters to help us give them a Libertarian choice in Pennsylvania in November!

You can download the nomination papers and find all the information you need to fill them out at http://www.lppa.org/2008_Nomination_Papers.html. (“Nomination papers” is the official state term for petitions in Pennsylvania). That petition will not only place our Presidential ticket on the ballot, it also includes your Libertarian candidates for Attorney General, Auditor General and State Treasurer.

There’s no better place to find registered voters who are in the mood to sign your petition than a polling place on Election Day! Every signature you can collect as a volunteer accomplishes much more than simply helping Libertarian candidates get on the general election ballot. We need to collect 24,666 valid signatures from Pennsylvania registered voters to succeed. That’s a tall-order that requires the help of professional petitioners who have to be paid. Every signature you get as a volunteer saves the party up to $2 each, which can be used to finish the petitioning efforts in Pennsylvania and all across the country.

Please go to http://www.lppa.org/2008_Nomination_Papers.html today and follow the instructions to download and print the petition. Feel free to contact me directly by email at sean.haugh@lp.org, or by phone at 202-288-9853, if you have any questions. I’m also happy to help you find a notary and someone with the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania to whom you can turn in the signatures you collect.

There will be many more opportunities for you to circulate the nomination papers up until we have to complete the drive in late July. But there’s no better chance to get valid signatures than at the polls on Tuesday. Every single signature helps! With your efforts, we’ll be able to get back on the ballot in Pennsylvania and give everyone a Libertarian alternative in November. Thanks!

Yours in liberty,

Sean Haugh
sean.haugh@lp.org
Political Director
Libertarian Party