Ravenstahl calls Carnegie Library's finances into question - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

The Mayor didn't sneeze. Rather, he is getting his VETO pen ready. Bruce Kraus says "God bless" to Mayor. Sign.

Ravenstahl calls Carnegie Library's finances into question - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "'God bless him,' said Councilman Bruce Kraus, who introduced the measure with six co-sponsors to ensure its veto-proof passage. 'We've heard loud and clear the importance of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh for the quality of life of the residents of Pittsburgh.'
No council member said yesterday that his or her vote would change. Harris said she was not sure how she would vote if the mayor were to veto the legislation."

To Marty Griffin: If a funeral gets hijacked, then trespassing has occurred.

The rub with your feelings is with the local judge who says damages were not inflicted.

This is LESS of a constitutional issue and more of a JUDGES SUCK issue.

But if a SHOUT OUT happens in a church from an unwelcome intruder -- then damages should be paid by the one who makes a problem in a place where they are not legally permitted to be.

A funeral picket along public rights of way is in poor taste, but it is free speech that should be protected. The right to free speech does stop at the entrance to the funeral. I want free speech.

Other topic: NO damage is caused to the police officer if a citizen puts up a middle finger.

Chris Chandler has had roots in New Orleans. Recently he moved to California.

New very cool Featured Video at www.chrischandler.org

T.H.E. .M.U.S.E. .A.N.D. .W.H.I.R.L.E.D. .R.E.T.O.R.T

June, 2010
New Orleans, LA
Vol issue
By Chris Chandler
5-30-10

Hell Yea! The Gulf oil spill is now the worst ecological disaster in U.S. history, "We're #1! We're #1!"

One hundred and fifty years ago, corporations were granted the same rights as people under the constitution. Absurdly based on the 14th Amendment which was intended to free the slaves, and then used to make sure those former slaves stay indebted servants to a new over-seer: the over-class.

It is called corporate personhood.

For years, the way I saw it was if corperations are people then the Revolutionary War was more of a corporate take over. The Declaration of Independence should read:

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one company to dissolve the financial bands which have connected them with another.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all corporations are created equal, that they are endowed by their CEOs with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of profit.

If "corporations" and "people" are synonimes than it is not much of leap to say The Constitution might as well read:

We the corporations of the United States, in order to form a more perfect merger, establish profit, insure domestic product, provide for the common defense, promote the corporate welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to our shareholders…

Ever since "personhood" was established, corporations have been winning court cases granting them due process, equal protection, freedom of speech, etc. chiefly the ability to donate to political causes in the same way that people do.

I have been against this concept for years.

But alas, after this incident in the Gulf of Mexico (soon to be known as The Dead Sea) I see the error in my ways. I say give them full citizenship and treat them as such.

If they want the rights of citizens they should also have the accountibilty of citizens. I mean, I know if my negligence caused the death of eleven people I would be in jail. Not to mention the destruction of Mother Earth they should go to jail for mom -slaughter.

So, I say first, put the entire corperation on trial – everyone on the payroll. How do you like you corperate personhood now? Put 'em on trial for for manslaughter. Mom-slaughter. Put them in jail for poisoning the food chain – 'cos in prison you often do shit where you eat.

I envision not just the CEO going to prison but every congressional appologizer. I wanna see every CEO GO TO PRISON! every CFO, every CIO, CISO CPA and CP3O-- GO TO PRISON. Every VP SVP and VIP for that matter. They are corperate persons afterall.

I wanna see every desk jockey, paper pusher, trader of stock, stock holder, share holder, folder holder, folder stuffer, every secretary to the secretary and secretary to be hired… GO TO PRISON, I wanna see every delivery boy, and office carpet vacumer go to prison just for being corporate persons.

Make an example of them – just like you make an example of the guy sitting in prison for smoking dope in his own apartment in the ghetto.

I wanna see the leathernecks go to prison, the pipe fitters and every oil rig inspector and inspector of the inspectors GO TO PRISON.

And if there is not enough room in the prison, let out the guy who is in there for smoking dope in his own apartment.

I wanna see the writers and the actors in those BS BP ad campaigns "Beyond patrolium, a greener oil company" GO TO PRISON!

I wanna see every gas station attendant and BP convenience store cigarette dealer and car wash brush ceaner GO TO PRISON.

I envision whole gas pumps dressed in orange jump-suits quivering with their little Bristish accents as a large scary man, quoting the 14th ammendment says, "insert prison joke here."

I wanna see every user of every British Patrolium GO TO PRISON. I wanna see every user of petrolium go to prison.

I SHOULD TO GO TO PRISON,

As we all watch the BP bank accounts and the bank accounts of Halliburton and Transatlantic for that matter drained while they are paying the billions,.. quadrillions in reperations.

Instead what we have is a bunch of oil slick lawyers proposing caps on compensation to congress via campaign donations.

Talk about cap and trade.

I thought you guys were against that. But le' me tell ya pal your liability cap blew out when that blow out preventor valve blew and I say it is time to BILL BABY BILL!

I say you should drain your coffers by employing every idle shrimp boat captain and his crew in every idle boat in every port from Gulfport Mississpi to clean up your mess.

Use the community we have.

Even if you spend all of the 14 billion you made in profits last year. All of the 16 you made the year before that – you should spend every dime hiring every out of work oyster fisherman in Pensacola and unemployed seafood resteraunt waiter in New Orleans.

I wanna see your share holders standing on off ramps holding buckets with signs that read "will work to pay locals for their loss."

And as for Haliburton and Transatlantic? Its no wonder Haliburton droped the name "Black Water.".

Transatlantic? You knew your oil rig was too big to fail. That's why you were claiming it was from the Marshall Islands – which is an oil company with a flag.

It should have come as no suprise that Marshall Island inspectors might be a little lax on an oil rig heading to the Americas since America did its nuclear testing there and completely blew one of the Islands off the face of the earth.

But since you did choose to fly the flag of the Marshall Islands, I say it makes you an Illegal Immigrant and I find myself suddenly agreeing with the State of Arizona and you should be deported. All of you.

It makes you a foreigner – and a crime like this – perptrated by a foreginer can only be viewed as foreign eco-terrorisim and the place you should be deported to is Guantinimo Bay where you can sit in your little orange jump suits and be waterboarded – with water, from the Gulf YOU DESTROYED.

Girl Scouts planning to close 6 camps

Girl Scouts planning to close 6 camps: "But interest in those rustic experiences has waned, and Girl Scout membership has declined. Today -- two years before Girl Scouting's 100th anniversary -- only 25 percent of the members of Girl Scouts Western Pennsylvania participate in camping activities.
Meanwhile, the region's membership fell to 35,500 last year, or 6,500 fewer than in 2007, when five smaller councils merged as part of a national realignment. That's better than the national trend -- 12 percent of eligible girls belong, compared to 9 percent nationally -- but leaders still recognized a need for reassessment."

Get out.

We have made 9,939 posts to this blog. Running up to the 10K benchmark

This blog post is counted as 9,940. And, it is as good a time as any to consider a 4th of July invite. The 10K posting is a great reason to celebrate this year. What will the 10,000th blog post bring?

<> 

	Something to shoot for, 10,000 blog postings!
From Polo

The month of May delivered 107 blog postings. We'll be very close to 10,000 in early July!

Everyone is invited to our home on the evening of July 4, 2010. We're having an open house and a celebration to mark the 10,000th blog post here.

We always have a 4th of July party. We supply the LemonAid and some crafts for the young set and all young at heart. We watch fireworks from our deck after playing in the park and tossing a few water balloons.

Bring snacks to share if you can.

Don't stay much past the end of the fireworks, as we'll be needing to get up to go to swimming practice the next morning. And, don't come before 6 pm either as we'll be cleaning the house then and trying to recover from the past swim practice or 5K or bike ride or river paddle.

Just for the record, I've got other blogs, wikis, photo and video sites as well. I'm not worried too much about a summary of the total postings.

Tech Pointers of Mark Rauterkus = 369 Posts
Sunnyhill-Dot-Org = 248 Posts
eVote Blog = 225 Posts
Erik Rauterkus Blog = 128 Posts
Transportation = 277 Posts
Grant Rauterkus Blog = 147 Posts

Carlynton, SUUSI, ABCs of sports, Market House, Allegheny and a few others are sorta dead and just digital dust.

I've made 7,712 edits since October 28, 2004 to Wikia.com wikis. The FixPA.wikia.com site, formerly Platform.For-Pgh.org has 4,788 articles. The A for Athlete wiki has 1,793 articles since May 2008. I've got 147 videos on YouTube. Viddler holds 360 videos. Blip.TV has 159 videos of mine. I've got 467 friends on Facebook and have no clue as to how to count the number of updates I've made there -- and I don't play farm nor mafia games either.

At twitter, @Rauterkus has made 4,739 tweets, follows 1,999 (but I'm stuck at the darn 2K limit), and with 1,207 followers. @Rauterkus_p0 has has 67 tweets but I get to follow another 1,076 there.

With Picasa, my one photo site, I'm way over quota with 127 albums and 5767 MB of storage.

How many times have I posted at other people's blogs is unknown. I've been enjoying PureReform recently since a number of the others have quit.

Before the internet, I published books. But I always used recycled paper, even back in the early 1990s. Now, I always choose to use recycled electrons.

Excellence for All meeting in May 2010 with Mark Roosevelt

Mark Roosevelt visited with a group of parents on Thursday, May 27, 2010, at Pittsburgh Obama. This is the monthly "Excellece For All" meeting organized by Mark Conner, the district's leader with parent engagement.

Containers and tasks.

These are great meetings if you care about our schools and the overall district. They will resume in September 2010 and are worth the effort of attending. And, they generally provide a decent meal for all the busy parents on the night of the meetings.

I didn't run the video on the start of the meeting as it was more of the same song and dance that we've all come to know. But, as the meeting got past half way, and as the questions would arrive -- I pulled out the camera.

Comments welcome, of course.

Stuff on teacher data:



Adolescent Literacy:



Performance Pay



Parent portal, community learning outreach hub, summer months and open schools:



School Security and safe travels on buses.


Labor relations and first questions. What about closing of schools? Peabody, IB mentioned. What about Gifted? What about getting more African American kids into Gifted programs?



Questions part 2 has to do with central staff, union cooperation, but bunk about the union cooperation with sports, and getting the union contract out of the coaching of city sports teams.

Sports is in there as something that needs attention.

Final part of the Q&A. It is 23 minutes so I moved it off of YouTube. The first part goes to the skeleton plan that just passed the PPS Board that week about CTE. The rest of the CTE is pending. Questions of process were raised.

---

Summer fun:


This might be a plug for CTE, (as in Vo Tech), and the culinary arts programs. Plus, part two is for another CTE offering, cosmotology. Perhaps our school board should spend some quality time this summer watching TV, especially, this network, to get some ideas as to what programs to put into the mix for Pittsburgh's Career offerings in the years to come.

How UPMC's overseas operations blossomed in 14 years

Way to go UPMC.

How UPMC's overseas operations blossomed in 14 years: "You wouldn't know it from the 1,300 employees running 14 operations in six foreign countries and the nearly $100 million in annual revenue from records management, cancer centers, general hospitals, biomedical research and a transplant center, but UPMC did not have any grand strategy when it started its international efforts nearly 14 years ago."

So the next time the Mayor of Pittsburgh wants to do something silly -- like a student or sick person tax, beware. They may take their toys and go away.

Alle-Kiski Valley's human-powered boats boom in popularity - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Alle-Kiski Valley's human-powered boats boom in popularity - Pittsburgh Tribune-ReviewWhile powerboating has been popular for years in the Alle-Kiski Valley, the real boom regionally has been in human-powered boating.
The Kiskiminetas River, which forms the border between Westmoreland and Armstrong counties, has seen tremendous growth in kayaking and canoeing.
Neill Andritz owns River's Edge Canoe and Kayak Rental in Gilpin with his wife, Evelyn. The outfitter offers 22-mile runs down the Kiski from Avonmore to the Schenley section of Gilpin, where the Kiski enters the Allegheny River.
He said his business just keeps getting busier. The Andritzs outfitted 800 customers in 2007. In 2009, the number jumped to a 2,000.
'It is due to the fact that the Kiski has made such a miraculous comeback,' Andritz said.

Rand, Korea, AZ law, and better shows

Kelly Awards: Creative high schoolers give it their all

Way to go Schenley!

Kelly Awards: Creative high schoolers give it their all: "That seemed especially true this year, when the talent and the awards were so evenly spread. At Saturday's gala, the 16 awards were spread among nine schools, with only Pine-Richland (4), Pittsburgh Schenley (3), and Central Catholic and Baldwin-Whitehall (both 2) winning more than one."

Cycle in a Ride of Silence - Memorial Day

Thanks to Jim Logan for this:

Ride of Silence - Memorial Day - 7 AM - In memory and tribute of cyclists killed by vehiclesAdd a comment »
Started by Jim Logan, VP Product Engineering at Vocollect Healthcare Systems, Inc.
What is a Ride of Silence?
Cyclists riding slowly (no faster than 12 MPH) in silence (public assembly) and in the below goals:
o Mourning those cyclists killed or injured
o Cycling is not going to be chased or intimidated off the streets we legally share
o Cyclists want only to share the road with motorists
o Making motorists aware of the life long legal, as well as life changing, problems that can ensue from killing a cyclist



On Thursday May 27th Donald Parker, 52, of Clearfield Rd, Hampton Twp, was struck by a car and died while commuting. The Western PA Wheelmen and Bike Pgh are endorsing a Ride of Silence (http://www.rideofsilence.org/main.php) that will ride portions of Don's commuting route. We will start at the Waterworks Mall in Fox Chapel and ride to the Intersection of Harts Run Rd and Saxonburg Blvd. At that point the we will turn around, and the official Ride of Silence will start, as Don was struck and killed climbing the hill on Harts Run Rd from Saxonburg Blvd to Dorseyville Rd. Approximately there-and-back mileage is 16 miles.

You are encouraged to wear a black arm im memoriam of riders killed, and a red arm band if you have been injured by a motorist.

Plan:
- We assembly at the Waterworks Mall Parking in Fox Chapel lot near the Dollar Bank end of the parking lot at 6:45 AM, leaving at 7:00 AM.
- We ride the 8 miles to Harts Run Rd and Saxonburg Blvd.
- Those who wish to ride a shorter distance should meet us at the intersection of Harts Run Rd and Saxonburg Blvd at approximately 7:45 AM.
- On the return, we will ride silently from from Saxonburg Blvd to Harts Run Rd in memory of Donald and other riders killed by vehicles.
- We will ride as a group, slowly there and back, at least until we get to the top of the descrent back down Fox Chapel Rd.
- Please treat this ride with the dignity it deserves.
- Helmets required.
- We will recruit road marshalls for the front and rear of the group the day of the event.

Jim Logan

Obituary: Gary Coleman / Star of 'Diff'rent Strokes' who wanted to be more

Obituary: Gary Coleman / Star of 'Diff'rent Strokes' who wanted to be more: "Mr. Coleman was among 135 candidates who ran in California's bizarre 2003 recall election to replace then-Gov. Gray Davis, whom voters ousted in favor of Arnold Schwarzenegger."

Fitness and Wellness Tests

Maybe you can take a look at this system: http://www.fitstatsweb.com/

It incorporates fitness and wellness tests from nationally recognized protocols and also let you add your own tests and standards. There is an adult wellness version available and it's made for large testing programs.

Francois Gazzano, Moncton, Canada

WOMEN AND MEN IN SPORT PERFORMANCE: THE GENDER GAP HAS NOT EVOLVED SINCE 1983, JSSM-2010, Vol.9, Issue 2, 214 - 223

WOMEN AND MEN IN SPORT PERFORMANCE: THE GENDER GAP HAS NOT EVOLVED SINCE 1983, JSSM-2010, Vol.9, Issue 2, 214 - 223: "women will not run, jump, swim or ride as fast as men."

Take that, Title IX.

Who are the real “crazies” in our political culture?

Mark Rauterkus, Erik Rauterkus, Ron Paul -- at an event in Northern Pittsburgh.

By Glenn Greenwald  Salon.com - May 29, 2010

One of the favorite self-affirming pastimes of establishment Democratic and Republican pundits is to mock anyone and everyone outside of the two-party mainstream as crazy, sick lunatics. That serves to bolster the two political parties as the sole arbiters of what is acceptable: anyone who meaningfully deviates from their orthodoxies are, by definition, fringe, crazy losers. Ron Paul is one of those most frequently smeared in that fashion, and even someone like Howard Dean, during those times when he stepped outside of mainstream orthodoxy, was similarly smeared as literally insane, and still is.


Last night, the crazy, hateful, fringe lunatic Ron Paul voted to repeal the Clinton-era Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy (or, more accurately, he voted to allow the Pentagon to repeal it if and when it chooses to) – while 26 normal, sane, upstanding, mainstream House Democrats voted to retain that bigoted policy. Paul explained today that he changed his mind on DADT because gay constituents of his who were forced out of the military convinced him of the policy's wrongness – how insane and evil he is!


In 2003, the crank lunatic-monster Ron Paul vehemently opposed the invasion of Iraq, while countless sane, normal, upstanding, good-hearted Democrats – including the current Vice President, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Senate Majority Leader, House Majority Leader, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, and many of the progressive pundits who love to scorn Ron Paul as insane – supported the monstrous attack on that country.


In 2008, the sicko Ron Paul opposed the legalization of Bush's warrantless eavesdropping program and the granting of retroactive immunity to lawbreaking telecoms, while the Democratic Congress – led by the current U.S. President, his Chief of Staff, the Senate Majority Leader, the Speaker of the House, and the House Majority Leader – overwhelmingly voted it into law. Paul, who apparently belongs in a mental hospital, vehemently condemned America's use of torture from the start, while many leading Democrats were silent (or even supportive), and mainstream, sane Progressive Newsweek and MSNBC pundit Jonathan Alter was explicitly calling for its use. Compare Paul's February, 2010 emphatic condemnation of America's denial of habeas corpus, lawless detentions and presidential assassinations of U.S. citizens to what the current U.S. Government is doing.


The crazed monster Ron Paul also opposes the war in Afghanistan, while the Democratic Congress continues to fund it and even to reject timetables for withdrawal. Paul is an outspoken opponent of the nation's insane, devastating and oppressive “drug war” – that imprisons hundreds of thousands of Americans with a vastly disparate racial impact and continuously incinerates both billions of dollars and an array of basic liberties – while virtually no Democrat dares speak against it. Paul crusades against limitless corporate control of government and extreme Federal Reserve secrecy, while the current administration works to preserve it. He was warning of the collapsing dollar and housing bubble at a time when our Nation's Bipartisan Cast of Geniuses were oblivious. In sum, behold the embodiment of clinical, certifiable insanity: anti-DADT, anti-Iraq-war, anti-illegal-domestic-surveillance, anti-drug-war, anti-secrecy, anti-corporatism, anti-telecom-immunity, anti-war-in-Afghanistan.


There's no question that Ron Paul holds some views that are wrong, irrational and even odious. But that's true for just about every single politician in both major political parties (just look at the condition of the U.S. if you doubt that; and note how Ron Paul's anti-abortion views render him an Untouchable for progressives while Harry Reid's anti-abortion views permit him to be a Progressive hero and even Senate Majority Leader). My point isn't that Ron Paul is not crazy; it's that those who self-righteously apply that label to him and to others invariably embrace positions and support politicians at least as “crazy.” Indeed, those who support countless insane policies and/or who support politicians in their own party who do – from the Iraq War to the Drug War, from warrantless eavesdropping and denial of habeas corpus to presidential assassinations and endless war in the Muslim world – love to spit the “crazy” label at anyone who falls outside of the two-party establishment.


This behavior is partially driven by the adolescent/high-school version of authoritarianism (anyone who deviates from the popular cliques – standard Democrats and Republicans – is a fringe loser who must be castigated by all those who wish to be perceived as normal), and is partially driven by the desire to preserve the power of the two political parties to monopolize all political debates and define the exclusive venues for Sanity and Mainstream Acceptability. But regardless of what drives this behavior, it's irrational and nonsensical in the extreme.


I've been writing for several years about this destructive dynamic: whereby people who embrace clearly crazy ideas and crazy politicians anoint themselves the Arbiters of Sanity simply because they're good mainstream Democrats and Republicans and because the objects of their scorn are not. For me, the issue has nothing to do with Ron Paul and everything to do with how the “crazy” smear is defined and applied as a weapon in our political culture. Perhaps the clearest and most harmful example was the way in which the anti-war view was marginalized, even suppressed, in the run-up to the attack on Iraq because the leadership of both parties supported the war, and the anti-war position was thus inherently the province of the Crazies. That's what happens to any views not endorsed by either of the two parties.


Last week in Newsweek, in the wake of the national fixation on Rand Paul, Conor Friedersdorf wrote a superb article on this phenomenon. While acknowledging that Rand Paul's questioning of the Civil Rights Act (and other positions Paul holds) are “wacky” and deeply wrong, Friedersdorf writes:


Forced to name the “craziest” policy favored by American politicians, I'd say the multibillion-dollar war on drugs, which no one thinks is winnable. Asked about the most “extreme,” I'd cite the invasion of Iraq, a war of choice that has cost many billions of dollars and countless innocent lives. The “kookiest” policy is arguably farm subsidies for corn, sugar, and tobacco – products that people ought to consume less, not more. . . .


If returning to the gold standard is unthinkable, is it not just as extreme that President Obama claims an unchecked power to assassinate, without due process, any American living abroad whom he designates as an enemy combatant? Or that Joe Lieberman wants to strip Americans of their citizenship not when they are convicted of terrorist activities, but upon their being accused and designated as enemy combatants?


He goes on to note that “these disparaging descriptors are never applied to America's policy establishment, even when it is proved ruinously wrong, whereas politicians who don't fit the mainstream Democratic or Republican mode, such as libertarians, are mocked almost reflexively in these terms, if they are covered at all.” Indeed, this is true of anyone who deviates at all – even in tone – from the two-party orthodoxy, as figures as disparate as Dennis Kucinich, Noam Chomsky, Howard Dean or even Alan Grayson will be happy to tell you.


* * * * *


The reason this is so significant – the reason I'm writing about it again – is because forced adherence to the two parties' orthodoxies, forced allegiance to the two parties' establishments, is the most potent weapon in status quo preservation. That's how our political debates remain suffocatingly narrow, the permanent power factions in Washington remain firmly in control, the central political orthodoxies remain largely unchallenged. Neither party nor its loyalists are really willing to undermine the prevailing political system because that's the source of their power. And neither parties' loyalists are really willing to oppose serious expansions or abuses of government power when their side is in control, and no serious challenge is therefore ever mounted; the only ones who are willing to do so are the Crazies.


Thus, for the two parties to ensure that they, and only they, are recognized as Sane, Mainstream voices is to ensure, above all else, the perpetuation of status quo power. As Noah Millman insightfully pointed out this week, those on the Right and Left devoted to civil liberties and limitations on executive power find more common cause with each other than with either of the two parties' establishments. The same is true on a wide array of issues, including limitations on corporate influence in Washington and opposition to the National Security State.


That's why the greatest sin, the surest path to marginalized Unseriousness, is to stray from the safe confines of loyalty to the Democratic or Republican establishments. To our political class, Treason is defined as anyone who forms an alliance, even on a single issue, with someone in the Crazy Zone. That's because breaking down those divisive barriers can be uniquely effective in enabling ideologically diverse citizens to join together to weaken power factions, as Alan Grayson proved when he teamed up with Ron Paul to force the uber-secret Fed to submit to at least some version of an audit (backed by several leading progressives joining with Grover Norquist and other Crazies to support it), or as Al Gore proved when he brought substantial attention to Bush's war on the Constitution by forming an alliance with Bob Barr and other right-wing libertarians. Preventing (or at least minimizing) those types of ad hoc alliances through use of the Crazy smear ensures a divided and thus weakened citizenry against entrenched political power in the form of the two parties. Obviously, the more stigmatized it is to stray from two-party loyalty, the stronger the two parties (and those who most benefit from their dominance) will be.


If one wants to argue that Ron Paul and others like him hold specific views that are crazy, that's certainly reasonable. But those who make that claim virtually always hold views at least as crazy, and devote themselves to one of the two political parties that has, over and over, embraced insane, destructive and warped policies of their own. The reason the U.S. is in the shape it's in isn't because Ron Paul and the rest of the so-called ”crazies” have been in charge; they haven't been, at all. The policies that have prevailed are the ones which the two parties have endorsed. So where does the real craziness lie?


Just to preempt non sequiturs, this isn't a discussion of Ron Paul, but of the irrational use of the “crazy” accusation in our political discourse and the effects of its application.


I'll try this one more time: for those wanting to write about all the bad things Ron Paul believes, before going into the comment section, please read and then re-read these three sentences:


There's no question that Ron Paul holds some views that are wrong, irrational and even odious. But that's true for just about every single politician in both major political parties . . . My point isn't that Ron Paul is not crazy; it's that those who self-righteously apply that label to him and to others invariably embrace positions and support politicians at least as “crazy.”


This is a comparative assessment between (a) those routinely dismissed as Crazy and (b) the two party establishments and their Mainstream Loyalists who do the dismissing. Assessing (a) is completely nonresponsive and irrelevant without comparing it to (b).


One other point: intense, fixated mockery of marginalized, powerless people has the benefit of distracting attention from the actions of those who are actually in power.

By the way, there are few points where Ron Paul is wrong. It is said in the article that some of Ron Paul's views that are wrong, irrational and even odious. Which views are those, really? None are perfect. But, let's not agree that Ron Paul is irrational just to prove a point against the crazy handle.

196 Pittsburgh workers' pay tops $100K - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

196 Pittsburgh workers' pay tops $100K - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Last year, state Rep. Matt Smith, D-Mt. Lebanon, sponsored legislation to eliminate overtime from the pension equation. Smith estimated it could save the county's retirement fund $36 million over more than 20 years."

Thank goodness teachers do not get overtime. Otherwise, the state would be bankrupt already.

However, teacher overtime comes in the form of coaching duties. Some might argue that our sports programs in the city are bankrupt.

Regardless, teacher contracts do put coaching duties and that pay into the mix when calculating retirement pay.

It would be great if coaching was NOT part of the retirement formulation for pensions of teachers.

Obama to speak at Carnegie Mellon University on Wednesday - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Obama to speak at Carnegie Mellon University on Wednesday - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "President Obama is scheduled to visit Carnegie Mellon University on Wednesday, a White House official said Friday.
Congressman Mike Doyle, D-Forest Hills, said the president will talk about small businesses and the economy.
'He will be making similar stops across the state,' Doyle said.
More details about Obama's visit were to be made available today. The White House and university officials declined to provide a reason for the visit, its location and who would be allowed to attend."

Infinonymous

Infinonymous: "The Victorian brick manse at 5325 Wilkins Avenue in Pittsburgh contains six bedrooms and seven bathrooms among its 6,500 feet of living space on three-quarters of a high-end landscaped acre in the city's East End. Its current owner paid $1.2 million dollars for the property, but pays taxes on an assessed value of $625,000. This inaccuracy -- declared unconstitutional by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, immoral by anyone with a conscience -- saves the owner nearly $3,000 annual in county property taxes, perhaps another $12,000 annually in school and municipal taxes."

City_Tourn - some photos from city volleyball finals

City_Tourn: "City_Tourn (51 images)"

Winter Classic -- Outdoor Hockey -- Let's see if we can think again.

The Penguins of the NHL could be playing outdoor hockey all winter long if they only kept the Civic Arena and opened the roof. Duhh.

So, we'll build a new arena and still not use it -- instead -- play a game at the football field.

I'd much rather see the Pittsburgh City League Championship game played at Heinz Field rather than the NHL's Penguins. The City League Title is played at South Side's Cupples Stadium.

I'd much rather see the city league team of Perry play its HOME football games on a gridiron set up at PNC Park too.

So, if the Steelers play a home game after January 1, 2011 -- then what????