Pittsburgh's DePaul School - Sounds of Success - P-G article and 100th Anniversary!

Way to go DePaul, the Sisters of Charity, and all the others involved in a fantastic Pittsburgh institution.

Pittsburgh's DePaul School celebrates a century of helping hearing-impaired children: "Pittsburgh's DePaul School celebrates a century of helping hearing-impaired children"

This school and the various programs have made dramatic changes in recent times. That's progress. And, it is success.

We'll be at the gala tonight. My wife is on the board.

Catherine and I headed to a past DePaul gala.
Doing a dance for DePaul's 100th Celebration!
DSC08578
Originally uploaded by rauterkus

Council wants say on Allentown police station

We should save the Hostel. Screw the police station. Put the police station in the basement of South Side Vo Tech.

Why build into a building that isn't accessible?

Council wants say on Allentown police station Council wants say on Allentown police station
Friday, October 24, 2008
By Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A proposed police station move in Pittsburgh's southern neighborhoods faces delays and procedural questions as some on City Council demand a vote on the $1.7 million project.

Announced by Mayor Luke Ravenstahl in July, the shift of the Zone 3 station from South Side Flats to Allentown was to occur by Jan. 1 but now seems unlikely to happen before late March, because of the need to get waivers on accessibility rules.

The administration's decision to run the transformation of a former youth hostel into a police station through the Urban Redevelopment Authority, rather than city government, also may complicate matters.

Councilman Patrick Dowd wrote to Mr. Ravenstahl saying the project 'clearly falls well outside of the scope of the URA's mission' and demanding that he 'immediately bring this question before City Council.'

Dowd is right. Ravenstahl is wrong, again.

Promises were made that can't be kept, as usual.

Sarah Palin Should Give Her Jacket To A Little Girl

I had to laugh today when I saw yet another smear attack on Sarah Palin. This time the "critics" took her to task for an expensive wardrobe.

Granted, the money spent on the clothes are astronomical. Everyone who donated to campaigns knows that's why they donating...incidentals, advertising, clothing.
Rush Limbaugh made a good point today (most of his points are correct, btw), in that most of the time, glamour girls are given the fanciest of duds.

Before Sarah Palin was ever on the national landscape, I was offended to see Michelle Obama's sense of style compared to Jackie Kennedy's. Normally, I couldn't give a cat's fur ball about style, but the comparison simply seemed to be a shallow attempt to but Michelle My Belle on a pedestal before she ever made it to Pennsylvania Avenue.

Michelle's $148 off-the-rack dress while appearing on The View was the only mention comparing the two (Obama and Palin) in the story featured in today's Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

What Sarah Palin needs to do is this...it should have started at today's event in Beaver County, PA...about an hour north of Pittsburgh...at the end of her speech, Palin takes off the jacket. She walks over to a young girl in the audience...hands her the coat...and says, "Keep it and wear it. Sell it. Whatever. It's yours." Palin then waves to the crowd which would be ruckus at this point...then walk away. End of discussion.

The whole wardrobe thing is bullcrap. Cindy McCain, who because of her father's wealth is probably the richest of all the players in this campaign, wore a staggeringly-expensive dress with matching jewelry. It wasn't taxpayer money that paid for the threads, so what.

Sarah Palin is the real rock star, the real cultural icon out of this campaign. Saturday Night Live won't touch Obama now. Don't think they ever did touch Michelle
Obama. Omarosa needs to join the cast just to play Michelle.

Anyhoo, the wardrobe "crisis" is anything but that. It's laughable.

Just do the right thing and vote McCain. I don't want the greatest country in the world to become just like Europe. Europeans still want to come here.

A+ Schools does good job with a paper evaluation of the PPS Plans

There is a public review and evalution of a planning document with a bunch of weenie talk from the PPS educators concerning our schools. One group already did a fine job of laying out dozens and dozens of comments with plenty of open-ended questions and calls for more clarity, understanding, justifications and objective measures.

Another group, A+ Schools, released a paper that takes aim at the same planning document. The A+ Schools evaluation is very good.

A couple of the final points in the document get reprinted here:

Strategy 5.6: The Pittsburgh Public Schools needs a transparent, deliberate, and
accessible format for engaging the community. There should be protocols for
community processes that include criteria for decision making and other
accountability measures so that the public knows what to expect from the District
and knows where they can provide valuable information.

(Add) There was a community engagement plan for high school reform
announced recently and it does not appear in this plan. Stating it as a specific
strategy that PPS intends to use would reinforce the sincerity of the plan that has
already been presented and invoke more likely public support.

Sure, PPS needs lots of transparent elements throughout the entire system. Tons and tons would be a good start.

The problem with the high school reform task force that had meetings for more than a year are many. The group was hand picked. The group huddled without notes ever being released. Votes were not taken. And, the outcome of all of those meetings amounted to zip. Mr. Roosevelt said that all the planning was tossed out the window because of the Schenley excuse.

The members of the task force that asked hard questions were not invited back for additional meetings once the plans changed.

The high school reform task force was a joke. Its outcomes if not its total being presented opportunities to blow smoke and fiddle time and divert attention.

The high school reform task force can't be mentioned in the current draft of the plans as the work product would have to also be referenced. That work product and advice is nothing like what is being orchestrated at present.

The high school reform task force is like a bad rash that Mr. Roosevelt wants to forget as quickly as possible and never hint of prior connections. So, the high school reform task force of the not too distance past is like the re-write of the curriculum by the private firm (Kaplan) with accelerated payments at inflated costs that was later dismissed only to be re-written by in-house people in recent times.

Churn baby churn -- disco inferno!

Well done A+ Schools. Well done Pure Reform. Nice try PPS, but your homework isn't complete and it needs a do-over. Perhaps its grade is 50% -- as it is unfashionable to give any lower score.

Right now I'm probably going to vote for...

As for me, I'm sorta waiting to see the 3rd party debate. The tide to Bob Barr can switch for me if Barr does not get on the stage with the other candidates tonight.

Nitpicking

Pittsburgh Council favors bill to garbage counseling for tenants

Pittsburgh Post Gazette - Pittsburgh,PA,USA

The vote was 5-1 with Mr. Kraus joined by Ricky Burgess, Dan Deasy, Darlene Harris and William Peduto. Tonya Payne voted against it, and Patrick Dowd ...

Changing diapers by flipping the radio dial

Just sent this as an instant message to KDKA Radio's Marty Griffin:

Crap or no crap?

Marty, you don't say it at home and would not accept it from your 1 and 3 year old children. Exactly.

However, your radio show plays in my home. I listen and my kids play here with me.

So, if you want an invite into more homes and have more parents tuned into the community news you discuss -- it needs to come without the "crap language." Cut the toilet talk, Not for your benefit, -- but for the kids ages 1, 2, 3, and older.

As a stay at home dad with the pleasure of parenting duties -- I hated the times when I needed to dive for the radio's station dial or radio's "off switch."

Parenting and citizenship is tough enough. Be a help -- not a hindrance.

Hart vs. Altmyer Debate switched to next week

Penn State Beaver Student Union Building Auditorium event is on my Google Calendar. Click to the left.

The event was to be tomorrow, Thursday. Due to Pailin's visit to the area, the date of the debate has switched.

Greg Palast & RFK Jnr. - Rolling Stone Investigation: It's Already Stolen

>October 18, 2008
Investigation by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Greg Palast released today

Don't worry about Mickey Mouse or ACORN stealing the election. According to an investigative report out today in Rolling Stone magazine, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Greg Palast, after a year-long investigation, reveal a systematic program of "GOP vote tampering" on a massive scale.

- Republican Secretaries of State of swing-state Colorado have quietly purged one in six names from their voter rolls.

Over several months, the GOP politicos in Colorado stonewalled every attempt by Rolling Stone to get an answer to the massive purge - ten times the average state's rate of removal.

- While Obama dreams of riding to the White House on a wave of new voters, more then 2.7 million have had their registrations REJECTED under new procedures signed into law by George Bush.

Kennedy, a voting rights lawyer, charges this is a resurgence of 'Jim Crow' tactics to wrongly block Black and Hispanic voters.

- A fired US prosecutor levels new charges - accusing leaders of his own party, Republicans, with criminal acts in an attempt to block legal voters as "fraudulent."

- Digging through government records, the Kennedy-Palast team discovered that, in 2004, a GOP scheme called "caging" ultimately took away the rights of 1.1 million voters. The Rolling Stone duo predict that, this November 4, it will be far worse.

There's more:

- Since the last presidential race, "States used dubious 'list management' rules to scrub at least 10 million voters from their rolls."

Among those was Paul Maez of Las Vegas, New Mexico - a victim of an unreported but devastating purge of voters in that state that left as many as one in nine Democrats without a vote. For Maez, the state's purging his registration was particularly shocking - he's the county elections supervisor.

The Kennedy-Palast revelations go far beyond the sum of questionably purged voters recently reported by the New York Times.

"Republican operatives - the party's elite commandos of bare-knuckle politics," report Kennedy and Palast, under the cover of fighting fraudulent voting, are "systematically disenfranchis[ing] Democrats."

The investigators level a deadly serious charge:

"If Democrats are to win the 2008 election, they must not simply beat McCain at the polls - they must beat him by a margin that exceeds the level of GOP vote tampering."

Block the Vote by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. & Greg Palast in the current issue (#1064) of Rolling Stone. [Media enquiries - Dave Falkenstein, Sunshine Sachs & Assoc, via interviews@gregpalast.com.]

Note - Kennedy and Palast are releasing, simultaneously with the Rolling Stone investigative report what they call, the vote-theft 'antidote': a 24-page full-color comic book, Steal Back Your Vote, which can be downloaded or obtained in print from their non-partisan website, StealBackYourVote.org

For updates and video reports, go to RollingStone.com, www.GregPalast.com and StealBackYourVote.org.

My good "church friend" sent me this video of a peek into the future

I got rid of the flash movie as it was set to autoplay. See link in the comments.

Invite for Running Mates

New media technology is becoming increasingly important to the jobs of political and government operatives, and even as responsible citizens. The work bloggers, wiki editors, and social media participants are doing is important to promote government transparency and to draw in more liberty-minded activists and citizen leaders.

In an effort to help generate new media based relationships, the Sam Adams Alliance is hosting a one-day event aimed at helping Pennsylvania bloggers network with each other and build a stronger community.

This invitation-only event is designed to bring activists of all sorts together to find out where their missions and goals align and create a community of liberty-oriented activists who will work together to amplify the pro-liberty message online and offline.

On Saturday (November 1st) we will host an all day workshop primarily for new and experienced bloggers where we'll help to build a more effective online community in the state of Pennsylvania.

Come participate in the new media revolution!

Please RSVP and direct questions to Ken Marrero at ken@samadamsalliance.org or call 615-589-4997.

Pennsylvania Samsphere Event
Comfort Inn Hershey
1200 Mae Street
Hummelstown, Pennsylvania 17036

Tentative Agenda

12:00p.m. Welcome to Samsphere! (Ken Marrero)

12:15 - 12:45p.m. Discussion: "Being a Blogger" (Ken Marrero)

Objectives, Strategies and Tactics

12:45 - 2:00p.m. State of the Pennsylvania Blogosphere (Panel of Pennsylvania Bloggers TBA)

Discussion: Analysis of the current situation in Pennsylvania

Discuss current strengths and weaknesses of state blogosphere, problems to be addressed, priorities for election day

2:00 - 2:15p.m. Break

2:15 - 2:45p.m. Dissection of community building/strategies from the Left (Eric Odom)

2:45 - 3:15p.m. Basics of using social media for online community (Eric Odom)

3:15 - 4:00p.m. SamSphere Game (Ken Marrero)

4:00 - 4:45p.m. Networking Dinner (Compliments of Sam Adams Alliance)

4:45 - 5:15p.m. Local Politics and the vital role bloggers play (Erik Telford of Americans for Prosperity)

5:15 - 6:00p.m. Investigative Reporting for Bloggers (Special Guest Trent Siebert from Texas Watchdog)

6:00 - Q&A and Networking Mixer (Compliments of Sam Adams Alliance)

**Dress code is business casual to casual.

Kraus is a big disappointment

I didn't even write this:

Councilman Kraus is a big disappointment to me

Now that I have had ample time to grade Pittsburgh City Councilman Bruce Kraus' performance, the only thing that I can conclude is that he has been a big disappointment.

Let's huddle. My comments in plain. The letter-to-editor author in italic.

I worked on Mr. Kraus' campaign thinking he would do a better job than his predecessor Jeff Koch. Was I ever wrong!

To be sure, Jeff Koch was a good fit for a time when Bob O'Connor was going to redd up Pittsburgh. But, that era was so brief. Jeff was in deep trouble without Bob. And, the entire folly of City Hall would change. Same "direction" but different key and different tempo, for sure.

We now have the "great moralizer," "the guardian of community ethics," as a councilperson.

We need a guardian for the community -- in that we need a guardian of freedom, of liberty, of the purse strings. We need to guard our kids too, among a few other precious elements -- like the Constitution. But the guarding is not what he has in mind as to the values I have in mind. Let's elect one guardian of freedom on city council and I'll be much more "secure."

A "my way or the highway" approach to solving public issues.

They think that they have the 'right' now that they won to do what they wish. To the victor goes the spoils so they think.

An arrogance that comes about because only he has the ability to determine what's the right thing to do.

The right thing to do as a citizen and as a government are often much different. Bruce is not acting as an elected official should act. He is worried about a lost week in the fight on rubbish -- and costing us our due process. His behavior is the trash that we should put out for pick-up.

A "crusader" for the public good who assumes that the public good comes to him through some revelation from on high.

Church-going, God-fearing, anointed --- oh, never mind.

An elected official who presumably speaks for his entire constituency not just those who make the most noise.

An office holder, who is supposed to broker differences among all residents, not be a mouthpiece for a select few.

A man who has the time to prowl Carson Street at 2 a.m. on a Sunday morning in search of a sidewalk pizza peddler while crime explodes in other areas of his district.

Bruce's "time" isn't the "problem." His investment of energy is what it is. But, he is batting at the leaves on the tree of suffering. He isn't getting close to the roots of our problems.

An otherwise articulate individual on most issues who remained sphinx-like on when it came to transferring the police station from 18th Street to the Hilltop, afraid to offend anyone.

If you get my point, he isn't articulate. Mush mouthed might fit.

A councilman, who, on his own, decided to sue a major advertising company without getting approval from a majority of city council and then expected the city tax payer to foot his legal bills because he feels he is a majority of one.

And he didn't really understand why or how it all went down around him on that saga.

A public servant who will not take a step across Carson Street to meet with property owners or shop proprietors to get accommodations on the problems that plague Carson Street, while those same business people tip-toe over a property line to sell goods.

Speaking of footwork -- understand that people often vote with their feet. Same too with investments. When projects can't be finished -- except with a lot of red tape navigation and finger wagging -- then the city gets closer to being a ghost town.

Great cities all over the world have tables and chairs on sidewalks; a vibrancy that comes with living in an alive city instead of the sterile suburbs; vendors or street performers providing variety and entertainment so that we all can enjoy the excitement all successful cities deliver.

Some politicians pontificate, some produce. Some are do-gooders some are doers. In each case I prefer the latter.

Great cities are great because they are places where people are free to be themselves and respect is woven throughout. Politicians have to give it to get it. And, acts from government to squash rights, such as property rights, are not to be tolerated.

From texture - misc.

Reminder: Tonight is both trash night and recycling. Let's all take our trash out at the same time as a protest.

Sports chat transcript: Asking for some on-campus football

Talk of Pitt is in the air. Wishing for a better on-campus option.

Jerry Micco's sports chat transcripttheWellHungarian: Also, if anyone else was in Annapolis, wouldn't it be awesome if the university could somehow, some way build a 35,000 seat stadium in the exact mold of Navy's Stadium. Heinz Field is great for NFL & Steelers but it is not College Football. I don't know how to do it, but may tear down some of the slums in South Oakland or buy some land from the city where Schenley Park is,, but it would be awesome

Jerry Micco: And that's probably a bit small, but a 45,000 to 50,000-seat stadium would be fine. And if you want a bigger crowd for WVU or when PSU comes back on the sked, use Heinz Field. Campus stadiums are much better for atmosphere, but the deal Pitt has with the Steelers for Heinz is a pretty good one.

I was in city council today, talking about some of the same things. More to come from me.

Larry Evans suggestion for Obama's campaign folks

This isn't the best place to reach Obama organizers, but, here is an interesting suggestion that makes sense to me. It comes from Larry Evans of Greater Pittsburgh.

Obama organizers:

At a recent Obama coffee at my home, our pool of supporters discussed briefly an idea that I think is worth tossing around with the campaign headquarters. It is important to be prepared after a probable election victory (also even after another possible narrow defeat) to give the army of Obama volunteers and supporters something creative and re-energizing to do after Nov 4.

To keep our grassroots interested and to grow its empowerment, here is my suggestion:

In every state, red or blue, Alaska or Pennsylvania, modestly fund each campaign office through December 31st to organize a symbolic Christmas Holidays activity (during the December 26-January 1 timeframe) that would benefit a local person/s or community organization in need.

An example of such an activity here in western PA could be the following:

Recently, the non-profit Carnegie Library of Homestead had to lay off workers because their funding took a dive due to investments gone south with the declining market. I talked to this historic library’s fitness center director Ed Child and we are considering holding at the Library’s gym, pool and lecture hall a week-long “Citizen-Athlete Sports and Music Festival” from Friday, December 26th through Thursday, January 1st where folks of all ages will contribute a fee to play basketball, volleyball, indoor soccer, swim and run (on an indoor track), as well as attend concerts and public forums and participate in physical skill contests and intellectual games emphasizing sportsmanship and citizenship ideals.

This community organizer’s dream event could raise some money and a lot of publicity for this highly symbolic facility deep in the heart of Steeler Country and show the nation that this regime change is truly from the bottom up and will jump start an inspiring and hopefully on-going activism that we all know must be an essential component to a successful Obama presidency.

Glad to talk more on this idea at your convenience…

Larry Evans, Pittsburgh, PA 15243

Local Candidates Debate: Titus North, Green Party - vs. - incumbent D who voted for the bailouts

October 24, 2008 1:00 PM

League of Women Voters of Greater Pittsburgh Candidates' Forum at Allderdice High School auditorium, 2409 Shady Avenue, Pittsburgh 15217 on Friday October 24th from 1:15 PM to 2:40 PM.

Titus North (Green Party) and Mike Doyle (Democratic Party) from 1:20-2:00 PM.

Mary "Liz" Hughes (Green Party) and Dan Frankel (Democratic Party) from 2:00 - 2:40 PM.

Arlene Levy, Vice President of Voter Services for the League of Women Voters, will be the moderator.

The forum is an important public service to the voters in the 14th Congressional District and the 23rd Legislative District.

More: http://ronpaul.meetup.com/97/calendar/9010722/

Coach Michael Lohberg' s 3K Walk/Run Fundraiser

Coach Michael Lohberg' s 3K Walk/Run Fundraiser
from ASCA
Michael Lohberg, respected and honored coach of Coral Springs Swim Club in Florida, and coach of numerous international Olympians as well as American Dara Torres, fell gravely ill in July with aplastic anemia, a rare and devastating disorder in which the bone marrow stops making enough red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. For weeks Michael received extensive treatments in Bethesda, MD and is now home in Coral Springs where he continues to receive treatments on an outpatient basis while he waits for a suitable bone marrow transplant. He has not been able to return to the pool deck since July. To help with the overwhelming medical costs the Coral Springs Swim Club and friends of Michael have organized a 3K Walk/Run Fundraiser on Nov. 16. You can read information on the Walk/Run here. To read information on making a financial donation visit the Coral Springs Swim Club Web site here .

Pull out firearms and insert handguns

Tonya Payne, D, member of Pgh City Council, was upset that news leaked from city hall that she was somehow against the proposed lost firearms bill now being discussed and voted upon.

Who leaked the false news? She has her opinions and hunches.

Doug Shields was the one who explained for the push to change the law from 'firearms' to 'handguns.'

A public hearing is expected as is a post agenda.

Question from 5th grader to visiting guest in civic's class: "Mr. Kraus, can you please take away the guns."

The answer should be, "No." It wasn't, I dare say.

Bill Peduto's intent isn't to saber rattle. He wants an enforceable law.

City council is again running out with an attempt with 'over-reaching legislation.'

At least this time, they are holding the proposed bill for community wide discussions. See you then.

More Pittsburgh council members sponsor stolen-gun bill Pittsburgh Post Gazette - Pittsburgh,PA,USA The sponsors are Council President Doug Shields and members William Peduto, Bruce Kraus, Darlene Harris, Jim Motznik, Tonya Payne and Dan Deasy. ...

Pittsburgh Council invites public scrutiny of firearm legislation Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - Pittsburgh,PA,USA But Councilman Bill Peduto said that's not the idea. "It's not my intent to just saber rattle. It's my intent to have an enforceable law. ...

Citizens Police Review Board, $.02

We voted for the Citizens Police Review Board. Its failure costs us dearly.

The Citizens Police Review Board is a way to challenge power. It is a check and balance. It has never operated as it should and could -- because those in power have not seen fit to let it act on its mission.

The Citizens Police Review Board could bear fruit after we get people into top administrative and elected offices who are willing to do their jobs -- not just grab for all the power that they can leverage.
Also posted at Bram's blog, http://PghComet.blogspot.com

Networks Police YouTube For Copyright Violations : NPR

Think again.

Networks Police YouTube For Copyright Violations : NPR: "The presidential campaigns have fallen victim to a common copyright problem on the Internet. News networks complained that campaign commercials were using their footage and they demanded YouTube take them off its site. Free speech advocates say this is a high profile case that's part of an ongoing problem.

The networks have lawyers. Ouch.

This is another great example of how it is nearly impossible to get a candidate to run for office.

Catherine's day with eye-candy and ear-protection

Catherine, my wife, goes to Beaver County on Wednesday to present to a classroom full of music educators for an in-service day. She'll present for three hours. It is a chance to teach the teachers. The students there must have a day off.

Kids and adults in musical classes could be exposed to sounds that are so loud that they're getting hearing damage. Drumming, brass instruments and other sounds can be so loud, especially in tighter quarters (like rehearsal rooms) with block walls that permanent damage could be a result.

We don't send our kids to school and expect them to get hurt. Furthermore, music teachers appreciate their sense of hearing.

The tiny hair cells in the ears, once damaged, do not grow back. The aim is to never loose them in youth or at later ages due to either very loud short bursts of sounds or with lesser volumes but for longer durations.

Catherine's wish, that ears would bleed. If blood came flowing out of the side of your head after noise (and loud music) exposure, most people would be more careful. Our ears go softly, sadly.

Those in chem class need to wear protective goggles. Play football and you'll need to wear a helmet. Well, march in band and you need to take care of yourself.

From Beijing 2008

In other news, Catherine has been formally invited from those in China to be on an advisory group. Sadly, she reports, there won't be any need to go back to China to fulfill these duties.