Election Crimes are happening. The voting machines are failing us.

This is just a snip of the PDF file.


Pointer from Dave Eckhardt.

Once again, the harder you look at them the worse they look.

http://coalition.eckhardt.net/press-2009-04-06.pdf

The Boston Globe has 450 employees with Lifetime-employment contracts

No wonder that company expects to be $85 million in the hole for this year.

University of Memphis English Department Chairman Heads to Kentucky | Carbolic Smoke Ball

University of Memphis English Department Chairman Heads to Kentucky | Carbolic Smoke Ball: "It’s official: Eric Link, the high-profile, charismatic chairman of the University of Memphis English Department has left the school to lead the English Department at the University of Kentucky.

I want to know about his supplemental contracts, like for sneakers, tv shows, radio shows, and country club options.

Grants with Port of Pittsburgh Commission

Welcome to the Port of Pittsburgh Commission - Grants: "DEADLINE FOR SUBMITTING APPLICATIONS FOR THE NEXT ROUND OF GRANTS IS MAY 7, 2009 3:00PM

Beginning in 2009, the Port of Pittsburgh Commission has created a small grants program, of $5,000 to $20,000, for non-profits and local units of government in southwestern Pennsylvania. The grants may be used for sustainable, port-related economic development projects. Projects may be educational, recreational, environmental or touristic in nature or support some other economic development activities related to the rivers or streams of the 12-county Port of Pittsburgh district. The 12-counties in the PPC district are: Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Blair, Butler, Clarion, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Washington and Westmoreland.

Olympic Sports: Women's Softball divorces Men's Baseball -- now with new dates

Women's softball has been hitched to men's baseball in terms of Olympic sports for some time. However, baseball, with the steroid scandals and the less than highest quality players on the teams for the Olympics, soured relations have developed. The International Olympic Committee said that baseball's time in the games is finished. The sport, (baseball) got ejected.

Meanwhile, women's softball got the shaft as well from the Olympics.

Now, the two different sports are hitching up with new opposite sex partners.

Baseball wants in the games again -- with men's baseball and women's baseball.

Softball wants in the games again -- with women's softball and men's softball.

Frankly, I don't think it makes sense to exclude women's softball from the Olympics only because Team USA won every year -- until 2008. Women's softball should stay in the Olympics.

Furthermore, I don't think it makes sense to allow for women's baseball nor men's softball to become Olympic sports. I'd rather see canoe water polo. Furthermore, it is a crying shame if we don't have women's ski jumping in the 2010 winter Olympics. But, that's a different matter.

Baseball to add women's sport to bid

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Baseball will be adding a women's component to its bid to be reinstated for the 2016 Summer Games.

Harvey Schiller, the president of the International Baseball Federation, tells The Associated Press the change will be made in the next few days.

The move comes a few weeks after women's softball rejected baseball's proposal for a joint baseball-softball bid. The two sports are among seven competing for two openings for new sports at the 2016 Olympics. The International Olympic Committee will vote in October on which sports to add.

Schiller says women's baseball is a growing sport. He estimates that between 300,000 and 500,000 women play baseball worldwide. Meanwhile, women's softball has given the IOC an option of adding men's softball.

Tragedy postpones mayoral debate and more

To be clear, the tragedy did not postpone the debate, Luke Ravenstahl did.

Tragedy postpones mayoral debate A mayoral debate scheduled for tonight has been postponed.

City Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, City Councilman Patrick Dowd and attorney Carmen Robinson were scheduled to debate at 7 p.m.

However, Mr. Ravenstahl sent his challengers an e-mail yesterday asking that they reschedule.

'The tragic deaths of three Pittsburgh police officers on Saturday, April 4th, has shaken our city to its core,' he wrote. 'The impact of the ultimate sacrifice paid by Officers Eric Kelly, Paul J. Sciullo III and Stephen J. Mayhle continues to reverberate throughout our city, state and country. With that in mind, our scheduled debate should not take place this Monday so that our attention is not diverted from our obligation to comfort the family, friends and colleagues of these fallen heroes.'

The debate was scheduled to be aired live on PCNC, a cable news channel affiliate.

A new date has not yet been set.

Of course, neither of the challengers can object to this request. So, I will.

Has Luke done his homework -- or not?

I'm sure he has been busy. But, he should be busy. That is expected.

Holding a debate could be a perfect time to just what he wishes to do. With a one hour TV presentation, salted for tonight, attention could given to obligations of comfort for the family, friends and colleagues of the police officers.

Rather than scratch the debate, this is a great time to hold an extra meeting / debate. Use the time slot with the candidates to get their views out for others to hear, as life marches on. Stretch the opening statement to five minutes, rather than the typical 90 seconds or so.

But, the problem for Luke Ravenstahl is the fact that one of the other candidates that he'd have to share the stage with is a former police officer. She walked miles in those shoes in the past. She might have known the one officer and his family.

I remember September 2001's political climate. In the 2001 primary, I had tossed my hat into the ring, so to speak, as an opposition candidate to what Tom Murphy was doing to Pittsburgh. I wasn't in the race in the fall of 2001 when 9-11 hit, but James Carmine, Ph.D., professor of philosophy, smooth talker, was.

We had been asking for debates in August.

Later that fall, I even staged one with others at the Carneigie Library Lecture Hall -- and Tom Murphy didn't show up.

After 9-11 there were no political debates -- but -- they election in November still happened, of course, as they should have.

What didn't happen in 2001 was voter education. Those in power love it when that occurs. Accountability evaporates. Watchdogs slumber.

The bottom line, or, at the end of the day, -- there was one debate in the fall of 2001 with the Democrat Mayor. One. That debate was on TV -- but it was held on Sunday night before the polls opened on Tuesday. Good grief.

City Council cancels meetings in wake of shootings: "Pittsburgh City Council has canceled all official business this week in light of the deadly shooting of three police officers Saturday."

Last week, Councilman Bruce Kraus was absent at the Wednesday meeting of council. He was in Erie meeting with the city council there seeking support for a a new law concerning lost-and-stolen guns. That discussion looms large in these times in terms of diminishing Second Amendment Rights.

No clue here as to how those meetings unfolded.

Coverage

Affidavit outlines shootings that left three Pittsburgh police officers dead Earlier yesterday, she called David Shribman, executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, to complain about the newspaper's coverage of the shootings and threaten a lawsuit.

She demanded that the newspaper stop publishing information about her and her son, saying the reporting thus far was not factual and should be limited to the officers and their grieving families.

'You're going to have the biggest lawsuit in the history of the city of Pittsburgh,' she later told a reporter.

IOC officials tour possible Chicago Olympic venues - More Sports - SI.com

Windy City news.

IOC officials tour possible Chicago Olympic venues - More Sports - SI.com: "Earlier, the committee members visited the proposed Olympic Village site on Michael Reese Hospital property on Chicago's near South Side, where they were met by Mayor Richard Daley and former Olympic diver Greg Louganis.

Why is there only a temporary facility slated for Chicago's Olympic bid in terms of the aquatic facilities?

Greg Louganis -- insist that long term facilities be built.

Feuding in the South Hills

Open thread. My thoughts soon.

Feuding in the South Hills: "Intense political battle between former allies Motznik, Diven runs much deeper than May 19 district judge race"

Rangs, a swimming pull tool

Stanton Heights Shootings

Wow. Check the news.

East Liberty TIF is not what Pittsburgh should be doing.

I'm not happy with yet another tax break, a TIF, Tax Increment Finance, that is coming to Pittsburgh. There are lots of reasons for my objection. Here are a few.

The TIF deal was presented by bosses of the URA (Urban Redevelopment Authority) to members of Pittsburgh City Council on Tuesday at a post agenda. The statements from the URA are crazy and way beyond belief. They should be called on the absurd nature of their discussion and presentation -- but all on council seemed to just smile.

A new TARGET store, so the URA said, is not going to take away anything from business in the city council district where it will be built. This is a big development with a big box retailer. They combine three parcels of land for the project and all the money that goes there from customers would not be spent elsewhere in the district. Oh my gosh. Opening a new TARGET in the east end of Pittsburgh is going to impact other business receipts from Ross Park Mall to Monroeville to Homestead's Water Front. It is a regional impact. The URA is right, Target won't offer any detrimental impact to others near by -- such as the ice cream truck that goes around in the summertime.

The TIF comes, but where in the world is the CBA (Citizens Benefit Agreement). Why don't we have one? There was a lot of noise made about CBAs in recent development deals with the hope that they would be a standard point of order. Promises are being made, but they are not being documented in a formal agreement. Rather, the promises are much like campaign pledges -- hot air.

Should we trust in: More than 150 jobs. Most of the employees are going to be residents of city council district 9. Green buildings to certified standards. Better traffic patterns. Pedestrian friendly treatments.

The subject of wage taxes is raised at the table with city council. But the focus of the meeting is about the TIF. What is the topic? Why get hoodwinked? The TIF deal and the other taxes (wage, RAD, parking, etc.) are not to be combined.

Why should the URA pay for sidewalks, street lights and road re-configuration? Is the URA gong to pay for winter-time salting of the streets too? Is the URA going to replace the street lights after they burn out or flip to LED lights? Point being, these basic services are city infrastructure bits that the city should pay for out of its budget -- not the URA's budget. The URA should be doing development deals -- not running public works.

Of course taxes are not to be spent on one's self. They make it sound like the TIF money is going to be spent on other bits of infrastructure elsewhere -- within the same general neighborhood. Hello. That's the way all taxes work, generally. You don't pay taxes to fix your own roof. Covering costs that your create is called investment. Taxes are paid so that the money can go to fund government and areas where there are public rights of way. Duhh. The uptick in taxes should be collected by the city and then spent as the city sees fit. That's ideal government.

What are the pay to play implications of this TIF deal? Research? Where is that database? Mossites (sp?) is the developer.

If the East Liberty area is booming now with all sorts of new biz springing to life there, then the last thing that East Liberty should want is more government money in the mix with an additional layer of red tape. Government needs to get out of the way. New development needs to be sustained on its own with private money.

Fix the traffic circle. Do that as part of everyday government -- not a TIF tied to a TARGET store.

City council and the URA have a role. But it isn't with tax breaks. City council wants to have a bigger role. I want them to get out of the way. And, it takes work to get out of the way at times.

In the end, the TIF is a way to rob the school district. That tax break robs the kids of today. Why not just have the developer pay what is due?

I said that the tax break should not be given so as to cut the income for the school district. Then City Council President, Doug Shields, the man who won't shut up and won't let me talk in public comment, said he wants to short change the school district. Doug thinks that the school district needs to give up money with the TIF if it wants to get the increase in taxes later. Wrong Doug. Why should the school district give up income when it is needed? Why not do public investment into the school instead of undoing the goffy things that the city did wrong in the past? The public investment going to street lights and roads is not going to help our kids be more competitive in the classroom. Doug Shields is double trouble for the school kids of today: He robs what is due to them now. And, what is to come later he skims from the top to spend with the URA.

Why not have the URA have a school investment fund?

YouTube - ChathamChannel's Channel

YouTube - ChathamChannel's Channel: "Subscribe
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The Chatham University Channel"

Spring break is here. Time for a break, of sorts. Enjoy. Refresh.

Woodland Hills Aquatic Team : Job Openings

Woodland Hills Aquatic Team : Job Openings: "Woodland Hills Aquatic Club (WHAT) is seeking to immediately fill their head coaching position."

Pittsburgh Peabody

My $.02.

I posted my initial thoughts at the PURE Reform blog. Here they are again with numbers and a few extra points.

PURE Reform: Proposed options for future uses of Peabody HS: "Proposed options for future uses of Peabody HS"

#1 I think that the plan A should be for 150 IB kids per class, for a total of 600 students, not 500.

#2 Furthermore, I think that we can fit in 50 extra seats for a 13th Grade Option as well. So, round that to 650.

#3 The traditional Frick school (grades 6, 7 and 8) would need to stay at Rise&Shine Middle School. Frick's building is being used as a 6-12 Sci Tech High School. This should be part of the counter plans. What about middle school for IB track? Missing element must be proposed.

#4 Idea: Put 600 at IB Jr. High (Reiz), 200 in each grade (6, 7 and 8). Figure at the leap to HS, 20 kids go each to CAPA & Dice and some to other HSs and even CTE.

#5 By all means, the IB Middle School is NECESSARY to making the IB High -- work. Would 600 in that building be okay with the economics?

#6 Furthermore, the CTE students in certain grades would be able to have half-days at school and half-days at other sites / jobs, etc. The student load with half days could be greater on the CTE side? I know that the kids at South Vo Tech often were out of the building but still in 'school time' as they were on the job.

#7 I don't like the CISCO option. It is a dead technology. It is too much like that offered at computers at Brashear and the Sci Tech too.

#8 All our efforts in networks and tech should be with an open-source approach. Perhaps a computer programming / languages model -- to rely upon the thrust of writing and languages (foreign, PERL, JAVA, etc.) would fit.

I reserve judgment if the idea of a mixed IB / CTE school at Peabody makes the most sense. It is a worthy investigation, for sure.

The boutique option of only IB is something that Mark Roosevelt wanted, I dare guess. That isn't a priority of mine.

#9 How about an IB Jr. Sr High School with one or two CTE options -- such as Robotics and Open Source Programming. Don't get all overboard on new programs that would fill the CTE menu and eat up a lot of space.

#10 I think we should still demand a FULL CTE school to be built. State of the art, etc. Wonderful for the trades. That would be, I dare say, in a new site.

#11 I would like to see single gender, city-wide magnets for public high schools put onto the table. These could also include smaller single gender middle schools too. Perhaps there is a push for 6-12 schools. It might be present as an option.

#12 Put a boys high school at Westinghouse and a girls high school at Reizenstein. Or, do it the other way around. Or, flip the gender at the schools every three or four or five years. The other option would be to use OLIVER HS for one gender and Westinghouse for the other.
Put 75 kids in each grade, 6, 7, an 8. Put 100 or more in grades 9, 10, 11, and 12.

The single gender option would be cheap to implement.
The single gender option would sink or soar on its own merits. If they get a good program and good teachers, more will want to go there.
The single gender public option could and should compete for students with Oakland Catholic and Central Catholic.

#13 When I've sent email to the BGC in the past about ideas and schools -- they've never had a reply or even notice that the messages were read. A simple note in reply would be welcomed.

Sorry I could not attend the most recent meeting at the end of March. Had a conflict that could not be avoided. When is the next meeting? Keep us posted.

Pittsburgh's 3 mayoral candidates agree to debates

Pittsburgh's 3 mayoral candidates agree to debates: Three Democrats have agreed to appear in three televised debates before Pittsburgh's mayoral primary on May 19.

Incumbent Luke Ravenstahl and his challengers, City Councilman Patrick Dowd and attorney Carmen Robinson, will debate live on April 6 on PCNC, the cable news channel affiliated with WPXI-TV, the city's NBC affiliate.

KDKA-TV, the CBS affiliate, will air a taped debate April 15. And ABC affiliate WTAE-TV will broadcast a live, in-studio debate April 20.

All the debates will last an hour and air at 7 p.m.

Where is the P-G sponsored event? What about QED's event?

I think that the Jewish Foundation is also going to host an event, but it might be more of a candidate talk and less of a full-fledged debate.

Neighborhood groups, nonprofits, Sustainable Pittsburgh, -- time to step up!

Education spending of stimulus funding

U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan just announced how states and school districts can begin receiving the first installment of education stimulus funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).
Read the full story.

Edweek.org is hosting an Open House through April 8, so you can get this type of breaking news and access to all of the vital coverage posted recently on the stimulus. Some highlights you won't want to miss while access is totally FREE:

• States Eye Education Stimulus to Fill Budget Gaps
  Local officials are crying ‘foul’ as a growing number of governors make a play for federal economic-stimulus aid for schools.
• Stimulus Providing Big Funding Boost for Early Childhood
  Advocates are betting that the billions of dollars for programs like Head Start are just a “down payment” on future expansion.
• K-12 Taking Primacy in Use of Stimulus Dollars
  Many states are targeting the new education aid at elementary and secondary schools, rather than toward higher education.
• Exclusive Video Interview: Duncan on States That Reject Stimulus Money
  U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan talked with Education Week about the stimulus, school reform, teacher issues, and his pick for deputy.

For complete coverage and to keep fully up-to-the-minute, visit our Schools and the Stimulus page. Stay easily updated on all of the stimulus news: download the Stimulus widget and place it on your Web site, blog, Facebook page, or other personal page. Or get the RSS feed on the stimulus.

In addition to digging into the stimulus, you should also visit our annual report on how well states are incorporating technology into their schools, Technology Counts 2009: Breaking Away From Tradition: E-Education Expands Opportunities for Raising Achievement. Read about the latest research on e-education, find out how to search the internet for quality content, see how your state compares nationally, and download your state report.

During the edweek.org Spring Open House, all articles are available gratis.

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Highlights, edited slightly for brevity are below. Looks like a rehab of Schenley High School is very possible and able to be justified fully.

- significantly more spending flexibility on school construction than many administrators had expected.

- Unveiling the first payments at a school in Capitol Heights, Md.

- funding could be a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon.

- to invest significantly in best practices and scale up what works

- stabilization funds used to backfill cuts,

- allows districts to spend funds on new school construction. Lawmakers had opposed funding for school construction during the drafting of the $787 billion stimulus package, which President Barack Obama signed into law in February.

- “[School construction] has the potential to eat up a lot of these funds, particularly for states that don’t have severe funding shortages,” said Vic Klatt, a lobbyist with the Washington firm Van Scoyoc Associates, who previously served as the staff director for Republicans on the House education committee. “People who are hoping a lot of this money will go for education reform activities may be a little disappointed.”

- “In an urban district, if 30 percent of your schools are not [meeting testing benchmarks] and ... all your teachers are doing well on your evaluations, that’s going to be embarrassing.”

- connect student-achievement data to individual teachers,

- track students from high school through college graduation.

- Some states prohibit the sharing of data across systems for privacy purposes.

- more flexibility than anticipated to use money on school construction. The completed bill permitted districts to undertake modernization and repairs.

- Districts may spend on any activities authorized under the No Child Left Behind Act and other statues—including the federal impact-aid program, which authorizes funds for building new schools.

- Secretary Duncan said the interpretation offers districts the flexibility to work on construction projects that fit local needs. “There’s a need there—there’s a need to do renovation and rehabilitation,” he said. “You have areas that are significantly overcrowded, and children jammed into buildings. That doesn’t work.”

- ... spend tens of billions in taxpayers’ money on virtually anything—including new school construction,

- Districts can use the impact-aid authority to pay down past debt

- a state may not limit how a local district uses its share of the stimulus money.

- “While states allocate the funds, it should be up to local school districts and colleges and universities to decide how to use this emergency aid, not states,” the statement released by his office says.

- States do have discretion in deciding how to spend money in the $8.8 billion Government Services Fund, which can be used for “public safety and other government services,” including assistance for K-12 or higher education, as well as to support administrative costs associated with implementing reporting requirements.

- any states playing “shell games” with stimulus spending would disqualify themselves for future funding. He singled out the $4.35 billion in discretionary money he has dubbed the “Race to the Top” fund.

LTE: Give me liberty

Post-Gazette LTE 4/2/9

Give me liberty

It seems that President Obama's stimulus plan does come with strings attached. That really is no surprise. Over the past nine years we have come to expect the government to give at a cost. Be it "compassionate conservatism" or "hope," we the people end up paying the cost.

The Patriot Act gave us security with a loss of freedom and liberty. The Bush years led to deficit spending by the Republican Congress, and the current administration seems to be following suit. Is there really a difference in the two parties?

On issues of freedom and liberty both parties talk a good game, but in the end both regulate and impose laws that hurt both the individual and business. The Republicans wrap themselves in the flag and challenge your patriotism if you question their motives and policies. The Democrats
surround themselves with various groups and call you names if you disagree with the direction they want to take the country.

In the end, nothing is accomplished. Why? Getting things done means losing an issue to raise funds on or losing an issue to divide and scare the nation into voting against the opponent. Change is the last thing our elected officials in Washington and, yes, Harrisburg want. Real
change would involve them losing power and the citizens gaining power.

I challenge you to find what the government is not involved in as you go through your day. From the amount of water in your toilet to what you can eat or do, the government is there, helping you throughout the day. Big Brother is there whether you want him or not.

JOHN G. PARKS, Pleasant Hills

Cognitive dissonance in Pittsburgh and beyond: Blogging gets as bad as everything else.

Cognitive dissonance in Pittsburgh and beyond: Blogging gets as bad as everything else. Blogging gets as bad as everything else.

I would love to see the city sue for copyright infringement on a re-broadcasting of a city council meeting. That will be the day we get a new city solicitor, for sure.

If I was elected, I'd move to put a public domain statement on everything that the city does.

I'm a big fan of public domain.

As to the P-G interview, the first point would be a claim of fair use. There, humor helps. It is sorta a lampoon in a sick and twisted kinda way. The P-G lawyers are better served looking at employee buy-outs now, not campaign issue noise finding its way on YouTube.

Hell, Matt (or whomever), might want to send the P-G a bill for advertising its P-G web and turning the content into something that others should take notice of.

BTW, I remember when this came before council from the PWSA. It smelled bad then.

Laggard vs. Young Fluke. Humm...

I think that the YouTube clip is effective as a dis-credit to the mount of the campaign. We're watching. How one handles the bumps in the road are telling the most, it seems to me. There are sure to be other chapters.

Set the stage for the debates. They become more important as time shrinks. Carmen could rise as the two men sustain their blazing boyhood ways.

Men in Blue fast break to make officials red faced before the world

Chicago cops protest during IOC visit CHICAGO (AP) -- Chicago police officers unhappy with contract negotiations have picketed outside City Hall -- an action that coincides with a visit by an International Olympic Committee inspection team.