Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Penguins, city discuss redevelopment

This is what lies look like.
Penguins, city discuss redevelopment

"We understand and respect [the historic review] process," he said. "We think that waiting until that is done doesn't make a whole lot of sense in terms of" being ready to start development once a decision has been made.

Read more: http://post-gazette.com/pg/11039/1123834-53.stm#ixzz1DOSdUIHf

Monday, February 07, 2011

Our 30 Year Mistake

Our 30 Year Mistake

I hope that Egyptians are able to work toward a more free and just society. Unfortunately, much of the blame for the unrest in Egypt and the resulting instability in the region rests with US foreign policy over the past several decades. The US government has sent more than $60 billion to the Egyptian regime since the Camp David Accords in 1978 to purchase stability, including more security for the state of Israel. We see now the folly of our interventionist foreign policy: not only has that stability fallen to pieces with the current unrest, but the years of propping up the corrupt regime in Egypt has led the people to increase their resentment of both America and Israel! We are both worse off for decades of intervention into Egypt’s internal affairs. I wish I could say that we have learned our lesson and will no longer attempt to purchase – or rent – friends in the Middle East, but I am afraid that is being too optimistic. Already we see evidence that while the US historically propped up the Egyptian regime, we also provided assistance to groups opposed to the regime.

Work & Life Balance

Game for learning? Not Monday morning in the Pittsburgh schools

Game for learning? Not Monday morning in the Pittsburgh schools

Steeler Nation, as we all know, is no nanny state. So why do Pittsburgh Public Schools students need a two-hour delay the morning after the Super Bowl?

The reason, the district said, is "for the safety of our students."

A spokeswoman said Thursday, "As you know, with the Super Bowl comes a lot of Super Bowl parties and such. We just feel it's best not to have our students out very early with people who have been up late." The people she was referring to were those "on the road who may be out early after having a very late night."

While some Pittsburghers have been known to celebrate a Super Bowl victory with excessive gusto, it's easier to imagine their recklessness in public between midnight and 2 a.m. than at 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. We can't help but wonder if the real reason for canceling the first two hours of class Monday is to give adults -- parents, teachers, bus drivers, cafeteria staff, etc. -- more time to get on their game face for work. If so, for shame.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11036/1123120-192.stm?cmpid=news.xml#ixzz1DHfLfVcW
Sports are games of space, time and relationships.

The Steelers and all our sports teams are hard workers, and sports teaches us that. But it is also a prime teacher of and platform for building relationships. We are Pittsburgh. We know Coach Tomlin. We feel for the players and the team and the organization and the city and the region and each other. This is a time to travel, to network, to be in community. And this time and these lessons are not presented every week nor every lifetime.

We take an extra two hours to insure that we value and invest the relationships of community.

Then there is one other reason. Those that work hard, rest hard. Recovery is part of the wellness factors. To study and learn in school, we have to be prepared.

The NFL gives the teams an extra week to prepare for the SuperBowl. We can provide an extra two hours to prepare for the Monday classroom. That's our time to shine and we want to be there -- ready to do the heavy lifting of learning.

I'm glad we had an extra two hours today. Next time, I'll ask for a two and a quarter hours -- just for good measure as I'm still running a tad late.

Go to school!

Saturday, February 05, 2011

Colin Delany's book on politics and use of the internet

Colin wrote:
I just put out a completely updated version of the Epolitics.com Online Politics 101 guide to using digital tools to, well, change the world! The new version (2.0) has 22 chapters covering the tools and tactics of online politics (including a new one on Twitter), and is rewritten from beginning to end to reflect the changes in online advocacy since 2008. Since initial publication in 2006, the earlier versions have been downloaded over 50,000 times and have been used as a roadmap by campaigns around the world. Best of all, it's free! More info:

Blog post with announcement and details
http://bit.ly/e1KhPr

Direct link to the PDF download page (the guide can also be browsed by
chapter on Epolitics.com)
http://bit.ly/fezMzb

Obviously, please help spread the word! Pass it along to anyone you think might benefit -- that's what it's here for. Oh, that and to give people a reason to buy me drinks.

Colin Delany
Epolitics.com -- dissecting the craft of online political advocacy
http://www.epolitics.com
cpd -at- epolitics -dot- com
http://www.twitter.com/epolitics
202-xxx-xxxx - cut by blogmaster.

Thursday, February 03, 2011

Education Week: An Open Message to President Barack Obama

Education Week: An Open Message to President Barack Obama

President Obama, when you were elected in 2008, teachers, parents, and most of us with an abiding faith in the public school envisioned a new era of school support and renewal in accord with the hopes and promises engendered by your election campaign. Instead, the centerpiece of your education program so far, the Race to the Top, reinforces, expands, and intensifies the No Child Left Behind Act of President George W. Bush and the America 2000 manifesto of President George H.W. Bush—all of which have embraced nationalized high-stakes testing as the instrument of accountability imposed upon children and teachers.

Another challenger for Kraus

Another challenger for Kraus

The slate is getting crowded for Bruce Kraus's South Side City Council seat.

Kraus is already getting challenged for the Democratic nomination by SS Chamber of Commerce president Gavin Robb. Yesterday Democratic committeeman Jason Phillips joined the fray, saying in a statement that the "crux of his campaign focuses on our need to fix our roads, improve snow and ice removal from our secondary street, pick up garbage, demolish blighted homes, eradicate graffiti and most of all, provide Police, Fire and EMS services to our residents. Mr. Phillips invasions a City Council tenure where constituent services rank highly."

The Inflation Intifada: Hunger And Revolution In The Third World - Jerry Bowyer - The Great Relearning - Forbes

The Inflation Intifada: Hunger And Revolution In The Third World - Jerry Bowyer - The Great Relearning - Forbes

The point is that with economic power comes economic responsibility. With the status of economic super-power comes the burden of economic super-responsibility. The U.S. dollar, at least for now, is the reserve currency of the world. When we explicitly tinker with its value we implicitly tinker with the currency values of the world. When we force food into gas tanks, large swaths of the world starve. When western elites fiddle, the cities of the world burn with revolution.

Thinking about the Pittsburgh Promise

Wouldn't it be nice if the kids that graduate from Pittsburgh Public Schools (or Pgh Charter Schools I guess) that attend out-of-state universities for undergraduate education (and hence can't get Pittsburgh Promise funding) could:

+ Use the Pgh Promise for grad school (Medical, Law, Dental, etc.) within PA. Pay up to $10K per year to not exceed $40k.

+ Use Pgh Promise funds for home ownership of primary residence within the city if under the age of 30. Pay up to $10k per year and not to exceed $40k total.

I'd rather see the students that attend out-of-state schools get the same funding as those that attend in-state schools, but the above options mentioned above seem to push for the desired results and offer another level of 'gracious fairness' to the formula.