As way of explanation

I felt the need to give an update on my condition because there have been those of you who have sent me events to publish which I haven't blogged on, and there have been important issues that I missed.

I'm still sick. Unfortunately, staph infections can take months to heal.

The good news is that I've made a lot of progress in the last three weeks or so. The bad news is that, while healing much faster now, I'm often either in pain or nodding off like a junkie -- neither of which is very conducive to blogging.

The specialist that I'm seeing says that the wound should be healed in about five more weeks. I'm trying to start working now on regaining my strength so that I'll be ready to return to normal life as soon as possible.

I want to thank my friends and family members who have helped to keep me out of rehab centers for the past couple of months by doing everything from taking out my trash to grocery shopping.

Thanks, Janice, Joy and, Sue!
(Also, thanks to all of you who have offered to help out.)

Thanks too to David for keeping this blog going.

Having a blogging partner gives one the luxury of being able to skip a day or two of blogging, but David has had to cover for both of us for weeks at a time and has kept this blog from becoming just a memory.

Like I said, there's been many things that I would have liked to have commented on but couldn't, so here's a quick shout out to a few of those:

If you haven't already, I urge you to read The People's Republic of Pittsburgh's three part series on Police Secondary Employment (here, here, & here). It's long, but oh so worth it.

2pj may have missed out on commenting on Brian O'Neil's sad little column championing mediocrity (Ravenstahl), but fortunately, the Admiral and Post-Gazette readers let loose on it.

I'm Spartacus too! A very tardy Spartacus, but one nonetheless.

Important Peduto Events:

Saturday, February 24th - meet at HQ at 11am to join a team of volunteers to hit the streets and collect petition signatures.

Sunday, March 4th - 10am-3pm Democratic Party Endorsement Day at the IBEW building on the South Side. They need volunteers to take a shift to serve refreshments and cheer on Bill.

More events can be found at www.billpeduto.com

And, this Rob Rogers cartoon (more Rogers at http://www.post-gazette.com/robrogers/):



And, lastly:

You may have caught the KDKA story about a certain anti-contraception mayor's pull out at the last minute from a candidate's forum put together by five grassroots progressive groups. There's more to the story and I'll try to post on that later today, but don't miss the event itself:

Progressive Candidates Forum
Wednesday, Feb. 28th, 7pm-9pm (Meet'n'Greet 6pm-7pm)

It's time for the primary election Progressive Candidates Forum.

Candidates for City Controller, City Council Districts 9 (East Hills, Homewood, Point Breeze) and 7 (Bloomfield, Highland Park, East Liberty), and judicial candidates will be available beforehand as well, for an informal Meet & Greet.

Brought to you by Democracy for Pittsburgh, The League of Young Voters, The Gertrude Stein Club, The Steel-City Stonewall Democrats, and Progress Pittsburgh

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl declined the invitation to participate, so only mayoral candidate Bill Peduto will be present for that race to briefly address the gang as things get rolling. (The coalition of presenters agreed that it would be unfair to Peduto, who agreed to speak well in advance, to cancel the event entirely.)

So come hobnob with the rest of Pittsburgh's young and progressive politically aware, and see what the voting polls will have to offer!

Wednesday, Feb 28. - Union Station Atrium (801 N. Negley Ave)
6:30pm-7:00pm, Meet and Greet
7:00pm-9:00pm, Candidates Forum

FREE!