1) I know it must be Halloween because I received something in my mailbox designed to curl my hair (too late -- already done) and cover me in goosebumps. Yes, I got the most recent Ravenstahl mailer -- the one that has the big picture of GW on it beside a photo of Mark DeSantis. On the back it reads: "Say no to George W. Bush, Say no to Republican Mark DeSantis." OHMYGOD, Karl Rove will appear under my bed at midnight on election day if I vote for DeSantis! SAVE US ALL!!!!
2) FEMA is looking into Lil Mayor Luke's joyriding in a Homeland Security SUV. Very scary . . . for Lukey!
AND, TRULY FRIGHTENING:
3) Looks like Interim Mayor Luke Ravenstahl may get his wish and have a vote on City Council Bill No. 2007-1797 (Police and Domestic violence) postponed until after the election.
It's no secret that Ravenstahl does not support this bill or that the FOP opposes it and has LIED about what passage of it will do. They are claiming that Council does not have the authority to pass it (BULL!) and that that commanders who accidentally violated an ordinance could be subject to criminal charges (MORE BULL).
What I find more frightening is that only Doug Shields and Bill Peduto (the two cosponsors) have so far come out in favor of the bill (though Twanda Carlisle may be leaning in its favor).
If you haven't yet, email your councilor RIGHT NOW and ask them to support Bill No. 2007-1797 and the four amendments.
The police cannot and should not police themselves as they want.
(Also, check out Behind the Blue Wall a blog that tracks domestic violence issues with police nationally.)
UPDATE: Click here for something m,ore fun than scary.
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Instead of privatizing a service like trash collection, he extends it to Wilkinsburg -- not because it saves Pittsburgh money but because it's created a few more city jobs while helping a municipal neighbor.Motznik said the move actually saved the city $815,000.00 a year and that it also took 30 garbage trucks off the streets (Council President Doug Shields chimed in saying it actually saved the city over a million a year).
"...it doesn't matter to me who they endorse for mayor." (Yeah, right)He also compared the Post-Gazette to AM talk radio and said that the people of Pittsburgh weren't as dumb as the media thinks they are.
"I'm frustrated at the crap that a newspaper I used to think was credible would print." (You mean when they printed your bogus claim that Ravenstahl created the 311 line?)
"Don't they have a board of directors that reviews their stories to make sure they are accurate?" (Uh, Jimmy, that wouldn't be the job of a board of directors.)
"Why isn't the editor reading this stuff?" (Uh, Jimmy, it's the editors who WRITE the editorials.)
"Why isn't the editorial board reading it?" (See above.)
"I'm not here to tell you to vote for Luke Ravenstahl." (Well, yeah, you kind of are.)
We have a mayors race. If you are going to vote for Ravenstahl press 1, DeSantis press 2, Olivia press 3, Scott press 4, if you want to keep your choice private press 5. There's also a controllers race. If you're for Lamb press 6, etc.OK, When the message began, I was excited. Maybe someone was conducting an independent poll!
This was the battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1778. Lee is actually Court-Martial for failing to follow Washington's orders, by the way. He said the Revolutionary War could have been won in 1778 were it not for Lee's treason.Once an officer in the British army, Lee was the second ranking general in the Continental Army after Washington. He was captured by the British in December 1776 after carelessly dallying at an inn. His captors offered him a choice. He could be sent to Britain to be hanged as a traitor, or he could turn his coat. Lee (understandably) chose collaboration.
Lee's task (after he had been exchanged for a British general captured in Rhode Island) was to keep Washington from attacking the British when they retreated from Philadelphia. The British had been weakened by the detachment of a large number of troops to guard the West Indies from the French, and were saddled with 3,000 loyalist refugees. They were very vulnerable.
Lee first argued against an attack on the British, and when Washington insisted on a scaled down one, demanded that he rather than Lafayette lead it. He kept the best units under his command from participating in the battle, and his confusing orders would have led to a rout had not Washington arrived on the scene in time to stem it. But a great opportunity was lost.
Those were complex times, as now, and those 19 percent of Democrats who said in a recent poll that the world would be better off if the United States loses in Iraq ought not to judge Arnold or Lee too harshly.Is he saying that those 19% are traitors? I think so.
Again, with Jack Kelly it's what he doesn't say that's almost always as important as what he does say. The next paragraph of the article (and this one carefully ignored) says this:Nearly one out of every five Democrats thinks the world will be better off if America loses the war in Iraq, according to the FOX News Opinion Dynamics Poll released Thursday.
The percentage of Democrats (19 percent) who believe that is nearly four times the number of Republicans (5 percent) who gave the same answer. Seven percent of independents said the world would be better off if the U.S. lost the war.
Overall, 11 percent of Americans think the world would be "better off" if the U.S. lost the war, and 73 percent disagree.Gee, I wonder why Jack didn't say that one-out-of-ten Americans think the world would be better off if "the U.S. lost the war."
. . . the sun still rose,
the three rivers have not turned to blood,
and there is no rioting in the streets . . . yet . . .
Has anyone else heard of this plan? I must've missed the talking points that day. Does anyone out there know anyone who actually believes that? The Trib editorial board quickly gets onto the rest of the endorsement:Mark DeSantis could be the next mayor of Pittsburgh. But for all the wrong reasons.
A growing number of Democrats fear Mayor Luke Ravenstahl is a liability. They might try to swing the Nov. 6 election to the Republican challenger, letting him serve the remaining two years of the late Mayor Bob O'Connor's term. After all, there's nothing worse than allowing an immature and lightning-attracting accidental mayor to expand his power base by being elected in his own right.
Democrats could tolerate a brief GOP mayoral tenure. With their lock on City Council, Mr. DeSantis couldn't do much "damage." Back the political novitiate, hamstring and discredit him, then plan for a Democrat mayoral coronation in 2009. Yeah, that's the ticket.
But we think Mark DeSantis should be elected for all the right reasons. His sound policy prescriptions. His understanding of basic economics. His forthright nature. His integrity. His understanding of "public service" and his fealty to restoring its true meaning.Note the phrase "forthright nature." And although they misuse, I think, the term "positivism" in the next paragraph, by the end of the editorial they "heartily" endorse Mr DeSantis. In a press release, DeSantis is quoted as saying:
I am very honored to receive the endorsement of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. I am pleased to see that the Trib's editorial board believes in my vision for a new Pittsburgh. The endorsements of both the Tribune-Review and Post-Gazette are indications of the growing momentum of my campaign.It's weird, both papers agreeing on something political?
It ends by reminding their readers -- the voters -- that only they have the power to enact real change.Pittsburghers are living in a unique time. There has never been an election for mayor in which the incumbent has served for 14 months, in which the winner will get only two years and where the future of the city, now under strict oversight from the state, hangs in the balance.
Unusual times call for more than the usual leadership. For Pittsburghers on Nov. 6, that means voting for Mark DeSantis, the first Republican the Post-Gazette has endorsed for mayor since John Tabor in 1969.Why should a city dominated by Democrats consider a Republican for mayor? Because one-party rule has failed Pittsburgh and failed it repeatedly. It has failed to prevent population loss and business erosion. It has failed to head off the city's near-bankruptcy and job loss. It has failed to generate the big ideas that should be propelling Pittsburgh into the 21st century.
When I contacted the campaign press for a confirmation, Meghan Jones, the campaign's press secretary, informed me that the endorsement is actually in Sunday's paper (on page G2, I think she said.)The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette announced today that they have endorsed Mark DeSantis. The editorial board said this about the election and Mr. DeSantis, "It's a campaign about who can muster the vision and leadership to modernize city government." The editorial board compared Mr. DeSantis to the other candidates stating, "None of them holds the promise of Mark DeSantis." "One thing we do know is the Republican, this year, can win."
I am humbled by the Post-Gazette Editorial Board's endorsement. I believe Pittsburgh residents want a change and the Post-Gazette's column reflects the thoughts and feelings of the voters in this city that want a positive change.Seeing that Maria, the OPJ, has already published her intentions to vote for DeSantis, it's nice to know that the P-G is following her lead.
Mr. Giuliani responded: “Okay. First of all, I don’t believe the attorney general designate in any way was unclear on torture. I think Democrats said that; I don’t think he was.”Video at Crooks and Liars.
Ms. Gustitus said: “He said he didn’t know if waterboarding is torture.”
Mr. Giuliani said: “Well, I’m not sure it is either. I’m not sure it is either. It depends on how it’s done. It depends on the circumstances. It depends on who does it.
"I have not said 'no' to that but I have not had any blueprint put in front of me that makes sense. It just doesn't," he said.Here, I had the exact same reaction as Bram:
You are waiting for someone to hand you a "blueprint?" How about putting together a plan of your own?.
"[T]he premise is that you will attempt to find 5 statements, which if you were to type into google (preferably google.com, but we'll take the other country specific ones if need be), you'll find that you are returned with your blog as the number one hit."So here's ours:
1. Absolut Corruption / Absolute CorruptionAlso coming up #1:
2. 2 Political Junkies / two political junkies
3. Lil Mayor Luke
4. Lil Ricky Santorum
5. Jack Kelly gets spanked
And critics, certainly, are frustrated by that defense. It is similar to Ravenstahl's explanation earlier this year for why he promoted three police officers who had faced allegations of domestic abuse. The allegations against one officer, then-sergeant George Trosky, were well publicized, and Ravenstahl says he promoted Troksy anyway, based on his overall service. "The other two were issues I was unaware of until afterwards, and I certainly regret that I was unaware of them."Chris Potter even posts an audio clip of Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's remarks on this issue.
So far, he says, resolving the issue has also been taken out of his hands. In June, Ravenstahl met with anti-abuse advocates and pledged to work with them on a zero-tolerance policy. But while the city has instituted a citywide background check for new hires and promotions, a comprehensive policy has not been released -- because, Ravenstahl says, women's groups haven't met with him since.
"I've been frustrated that our initial meeting [with anti-abuse activists] has never been followed up on," he says. While another meeting is slated the week this issue hits the stands -- and anti-abuse legislation is being debated in city council -- Ravenstahl says activists have "chosen to take the public forum more so than the private one, through city council post-agendas and public hearings. And as a result of those public conversations, we haven't been able to meet privately." The hearings and debates, he says, have "slowed the process down unnecessarily."
"It's been up to the mayor's office to give us scheduling," counters Jeanne Clark, a member of the National Organization of Women who has been among the loudest voices calling for reform. "I can tell you that a member of the mayor's staff directly requested that any public action on this be delayed until after the election, and everyone involved refused. I think the mayor needs to look into the mirror for the scheduling problems."
 | An |
October 24, 2007
Dear Friends,
Steel-City Stonewall Democrats and Congressman Mike Doyle would like to invite you to a Special Event with Representative Barney Frank of the 4th Congressional District of Massachusetts.
This is a casual meet and greet event with the Founder of the Stonewall Democrats, Rep. Barney Frank.
Please join us at the home of Christine Donohue* on Saturday, November 3, 2007 beginning at 3:00 p.m.
Event Details:
When: November 3, 2007
Time: 3:00 p.m.
Cost: Free and open to the public, Light refreshments will be served
Address: 6568 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, 15206, at the corner of Fifth & Beechwood
Parking: Best option is parking along Beechwood
We look forward to seeing you on Saturday, November 3, 2007 at 3:00 pm.
*Christine Donohue is a candidate for the Superior Court of Pennsylvania and has graciously offered to lend her home for this event!
Looks like I know what I'll be doing every other Thursday.A press conference was held at 1:30 this afternoon at the Philadelphia Inquirer to announce that it has added former Sen. Rick Santorum to its stable of columnists.
Also hired is George Curry, the former editor of Emerge magazine. They will alternate the weekly Thursday spot. Santorium's column will be called "The Elephant in the Room." He said it would not focus all that much on politics.
"...compel the Police Bureau to refer all allegations of domestic violence by officers to the independent Citizen Police Review Board."While the FOP has argued of the last measure that it "would be tantamount to taking away an officer's livelihood based on a mere accusation" it must be noted that this policy is 1) considered standard practice by the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the U.S. Military and 2) that an intimate partner must convince a judge that there is a threat of eminent danger before a PFA is issued (far from the accusation at the October 18th public hearing that cops will lose their guns over "shouting matches").
"...bar the hiring or promotion of anyone subject to a PFA or criminal domestic violence investigation. "
"...force officers who are subjects of criminal domestic violence investigations or protection from abuse orders to "surrender all firearms, including their primary service weapon, immediately"
Nationally, women make 81 cents to the dollar as compared to males. Statewide it's 73 cents while it's only 70 cents in the city of Pittsburgh.Councilwoman Twanda Carlisle was blown away by the last figure and offered to help in any way she could in her last months on Council.
There are 3,440 city employees but, only 923 are female.
Mayor's OfficeYou can also join others in lobbying Council members in person on both pieces of legislation on Tuesday, October 30th at City Council at 9:00 AM.
Phone: 412-255-2626, Fax: 412-255-2687
Len Bodack, Jr.
len.bodack@city.pittsburgh.pa.us , Telephone: 412-255-2140, Fax: 412-255-2419
Twanda Carlisle
twanda.carlisle@city.pittsburgh.pa.us , Telephone: 412-255-2137, Fax: 412-255-8658
Dan Deasy
dan.deasy@city.pittsburgh.pa.us , Telephone: 412-255-8963, Fax: 412-255-2821
Darlene Harris
darlene.harris@city.pittsburgh.pa.us , Telephone: 412-255-2135, Fax: 412-255-2129
Jeff Koch
jeffrey.koch@city.pittsburgh.pa.us , Telephone: 412-255-2130, Fax: 412-255-8950
Jim Motznik
james.motznik@city.pittsburgh.pa.us , Telephone: 412-255-2131, Fax: 412-255-2821
Tonya Payne
tonya.payne@city.pittsburgh.pa.us , Telephone: 412-255-2134, Fax: 412-255-2821
Bill Peduto
bill.peduto@city.pittsburgh.pa.us , Telephone: 412-255-2133, Fax: 412-255-2821
Doug Shields
doug.shields@city.pittsburgh.pa.us , Phone: 412-255-8965, Fax: 412-255-2821
Nice folks over there in the Bush Administration, huh? George Tenet doesn't come off any nicer. Larry Johnson, again:In 2004 the FBI received intelligence that Al Qaeda hit teams were enroute to the United States to kill Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, and Valerie Plame. The FBI informed Valerie of this threat. This was just more “good” news piled on the fact that her intelligence career was in shambles, that intelligence assets she had recruited/managed were destroyed, and that she was unable to rebut publicly false and malicious smears of her character and reputation by a bunch of partisan Republican hacks. As the mother of two pre-school children, her first thoughts were about protecting her kids. She took the threat seriously and asked for help.
When the White House learned of these threats they sprung into action. They beefed up Secret Service protection for Vice President Cheney and provided security protection to Karl Rove. But they declined to do anything for Valerie. That was a CIA problem.
Valerie contacted the office of Security at CIA and requested assistance. They told her too fucking bad and to go pound sand. They did not use those exact words, but they told her she was on her own.
[Tenet] refused to come to the aid of one of his CIA officers who faced a specific death threat. In fact, Georgie boy never once reached out to Valerie to provide any comfort or encouragement. He wanted to stay on good terms with the White House so he effectively cut her loose.Nice guys over there. Not only do they initiate a policy resulting in the deaths of nearly 4,000 American servicemen and women, not only do they uncover the identity of a CIA operative (in violation of the law) who's the wife of a critic of that policy, they do nothing for her safety when receiving intelligence that her life may be in danger.
1) If you only read the article, go back right now and view the equally snarky video they've posted.Oh, and Betty, no, you should not expect to receive $1,800.00 asparagus tongs for Christmas.
2) While seeming to leave no gory detail out, the article actually sanitizes one bit. It says of Scaife, "He almost never speaks to the media, and on one of the few occasions he did, it was to tell a reporter, who'd sandbagged him on the street, that she was ugly and that her mother was ugly, too."
What WAPO left out was that he also told her, "You fucking Communist cunt, get out of here."
We don't actually have to claim this guy as our own, do we?
To make a long story short, after the debate we "press" folks went through the big doors to ask the candidates any follow up questions we might have. A LOT of them were about the Mayor's charge that DeSantis had "sold the city down the river" for the FOP endorsement.
I had two questions for the candidates. They were:
I know, they're not the greatest questions, but I thought they were fair and reasonable if a bit tepid. But I figured I was on someone else's turf (WTAE's) and I didn't want to do anything that would make the rest of us look bad.
I asked Mr DeSantis first. And to be honest, he gave a rather pat answer. There wasn't anything that wasn't in the debate that he needed to bring up, he said, and he thought he did OK, though it's the people who will be deciding on how well he did.
Then I made my way over to the Mayor. He was finishing a round of questions from (I think) David Highfield (of KDKA) on whether there was anything he's done as mayor that he regretted. As soon as Mayor gave his answer and Highfield moved away, I asked the mayor for a few seconds.
He asked who I was (a fair enough question, I thought, as I was a new face) and as we shook hands, I introduced myself as "David DeAngelo, 2 Political Junkies." I don't think I got to the end of the word "junkies" when he interrupted me with a quick, "I'm not interested, thanks." He turned and walked away, right out the door.
Wow, I thought. I just got dissed by the Mayor of the City of Pittsburgh.- I assume that when Ravenstahl said he became an ACDC member at age 15 that that was just a slip as he's said before that he was 18 -- but then I mix up some stuff that happened in my teen years too.I just got a call from David who has something very interesting to say about what happened right after the debate ended...
- Ravenstahl claimed that he was "proud of what the Democratic Party stands for" but since it's pro choice and he isn't I guess he allows himself some wiggle room.
- I still don't get how Luke thinks that opening the firefighters' contract would cost the city money especially when he said that after they had discussed an upcoming report that was expected to recommend closing down some stations...
The U.S. Inspector General may recommend criminal prosecution of departed Attorney General Alberto Gonzales at the conclusion of an investigation, possibly as early as next month, the fired former U.S. attorney for Western Washington told a Spokane audience Friday.Some details from McKay:
And this guy was appointed by dubya, remember.Gonzales “lied about” reasons for the firings when questioned under oath in July by the Senate Judiciary Committee and now has hired a lawyer and is refusing to answer questions from the Inspector General, McKay said.
The White House said McKay was fired for poor performance ratings of his office, but the ex-U.S. attorney said he and his office got exemplary reviews just three months before he was fired.
“The chief law enforcement officer for the United States should not lie under oath,’’ McKay told the bar association.
It was reported last week that Gonzales has now retained a high-profile defense lawyer, and apparently is refusing to answer questions from the Inspector General, which could signify the investigation is nearly complete, McKay said.
On those "signing statements":(a) The Military Commissions Act of 2006 is hereby repealed.
(b) The President is authorized to establish military commissions for the trial of war crimes only in places of active hostilities against the United States where an immediate trial is necessary to preserve fresh evidence or to prevent local anarchy.
(c) The President is prohibited from detaining any individual indefinitely as an unlawful enemy combatant absent proof by substantial evidence that the individual has directly engaged in active hostilities against the United States, provided that no United States citizen shall be detained as an unlawful enemy combatant.
(d) Any individual detained as an enemy combatant by the United States shall be entitled to petition for a writ of habeas corpus under section 2241 of title 28, United States Code.
The House of Representatives and Senate collectively shall enjoy standing to file a declaratory judgment action in an appropriate Federal district court to challenge the constitutionality of a presidential signing statement that declares the President's intent to disregard provisions of a bill he has signed into law because he believes they are unconstitutional.And so on. It bans torture and kidnapping and the use of secret evidence to designate someone an "foreign terrorist." You mean that's allowed now?
But let's take a look at what he's quoting from. Jack must have read what he's quoting, right? Or else he wouldn't be quoting it, right?It's getting harder to write negative stories about the situation in Iraq, but Jay Price and Qasim Zein of the McClatchy Newspapers did their best:
"A drop in violence around Iraq has cut burials in the huge Wadi al Salam cemetery (in Najaf) by at least one third in the past six months, and that's cut the pay of thousands of workers who make their living digging graves, washing corpses or selling burial shrouds," they wrote Oct. 16.
At what’s believed to be the world’s largest cemetery, where Shiite Muslims aspire to be buried and millions already have been, business isn't good. [emphasis added]The article later points out that:
So it's a Shiite cemetery in a city that's the third most important holy site for Shiite Muslims, containing as it does an important Shiite Mosque. Now, I have a question or two.Najaf, a city of about 600,000 people, is built around the gold-covered Imam Ali Mosque, a shrine to one of the most revered figures in Shiite Islam who grew up in the home of the prophet Muhammad and later became his son-in-law.
The city, with the shrine and graveyard, is considered the third-most important holy site for Shiite Muslims, after Mecca and Medina. It attracts millions of pilgrims each year — and tens of thousands of funeral parties.
Dhurgham Majed al Malik, 48, whose family has arranged burial services for generations, said that this spring, private cars and taxis with caskets lashed to their roofs arrived at a rate of 6,500 a month. Now it’s 4,000 or less, he said.That's the only thing in the article even closely resembling "a third." But let's do the math anyway. The article says there's about 4,000 cars arriving a day carrying caskets to the cemetery. In a week that's about 28,000. A month 120,000. Six months its 720,000.
No idea whether that's pre-surge or post-surge or an average or a one time spike. Again some math.Malik said that the daily tide of cars bearing coffins has been a barometer of Iraq’s violence for years. The number of burials rose and fell several times during Saddam Hussein’s persecution of Shiites, and it soared again during the eight years of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.
Then in the 1990s, the daily average fell to 150 or less, Malik said. With the current war, the burials again reached 300 daily.
Lotsa statements of fact. Statements of fact that could be checked. How does our Jack respond? Jack criticizes it with this:What does Iraq look like on the ground? It's certainly far from being a modern, self-sustaining country. Many roads, bridges, schools and hospitals are in deplorable condition. Fewer people have access to drinking water or sewage systems than before the war. And Baghdad is averaging less than eight hours of electricity a day.
Iraq's institutional infrastructure, too, is sorely wanting. Even if the Iraqis wanted to work together and accept the national identity foisted upon them in 1920s, the ministries do not have enough trained administrators or technicians to coordinate themselves. At the local level, most communities are still controlled by the same autocratic sheiks that ruled under Saddam. There is no reliable postal system. No effective banking system. No registration system to monitor the population and its needs.
I don't doubt the former soldiers are reflecting honestly what they saw when they were in Iraq. But of the 12, only two were in Iraq in 2006. Five others served in 2005. Three served in 2004. Two served last in 2003. None have been in Iraq since Gen. David Petraeus took command and the troop surge began.So, obviously, everything they wrote is wrong. As a counter argument, he quotes an anonymous e-mail sent to a military blogger named Blackfive. Here's the text in its entirety:
Sir, E-mailing from wonder Camp Fallujah. All is well out here. Peace is breaking out all over the place and nobody knows what to do. I spent the day with the RCT-6 CO and his PSD. We rode straight through Fallujah without incident and down to Amiriyah to check up on a Police Transition team. The TTs are quickly becoming the main effort. I rode in a new MRAP and they are pretty awesome. The A/C was down right cold and the turret system was top notch. The vehicles are rather huge, but they actually seem very nimble for their size. Not to mention they may save some lives. The Marines liked it. Things are going well and it should be a very interesting deployment for First Marines. You can't help but get the feeling that we'll be wrapping up the AO for the USMC. Which is probably appropriate considering the history that First Marines and its battalions have in the AO....especially 3/1.That's about all for now. I will be back in CONUS in a little over a week and deploy for the year in January. Hope all is well on your end.Semper Fi[name redacted]So things are going well in Fallujah. Great news, of course. But here's what the Chicago Tribune had to say a few days ago about Fallujah:
Again, great news. The city walled in and less violent than it once was. But the article goes on:The last car bomb in Fallujah exploded in May.
On that warm evening, insurgents drove a vehicle packed with explosives into mourners for a slain local tribal leader as they wound through a ramshackle corner of the city, killing 20. The next day, Fallujah's mayor banned all vehicles from city streets.
If there were no cars, reasoned Mayor Saad Awad Rashid, there could be no car bombs.
"It stopped," said Lt. Col. William Mullen, commander of a shrinking force of U.S. Marines in the city who have watched the insurgency melt into the encircling countryside. "The 'significant events' in the city stopped. I think a lot of [the insurgents] left."
The Americans are not far behind: After surrounding the city with walls and improving security on its streets, the Marines are pulling back from the one-time insurgent bastion of Fallujah. They are redeploying to surrounding areas as the U.S. troop "surge" allows them to consolidate progress made largely by tribal leaders and local officials in security and civil works.
Hmm...Things are better but ...
It is a place under 24-hour lockdown, surrounded by berms and barbed wire. But that's a price Fallujah's war-weary residents say they are willing to pay for now.
"The last four months, things have been going better," said Khamis Auda Najim, a 38-year-old cabinet-maker in Fallujah's Andalus neighborhood. "But the changes are just on the security side. The street surfaces, the sewage, the electricity, the water? Those aren't as good."
And in one of the city's darkest hours, Luke answered Pittsburgh's call."(Would that be when a tornado and flooding came to town and Lukey was hobnobbing at a Steeler's training? Hmmm...maybe not.)
The union representing City of Pittsburgh police today endorsed Republican mayoral challenger Mark DeSantis over incumbent Democrat Luke Ravenstahl. The Fraternal Order of Police was announcing the choice at an afternoon press conference.The article also said, "The Ravenstahl campaign was not immediately available for comment."
[W]e just want Jews to be perfected, as they say.You can read the rest of the interview here. There's more in the interview about how interracial couples in New York City...well you have to read it for all it's painstaking genetic subtlety:
For those keeping score at home, the Seinfeld episode she's referring to is, I believe, called "The Wizard" and it was first broadcast in late February, 1998. That's almost a decade ago. Nice that she's up on popular culture.COULTER:...You walk past a mixed-race couple in New York, and it's like they have a chip on their shoulder. They're just waiting for somebody to say something, as if anybody would. And --
DEUTSCH: I don't agree with that. I don't agree with that at all. Maybe you have the chip looking at them. I see a lot of interracial couples, and I don't see any more or less chips there either way. That's erroneous.
COULTER: No. In fact, there was an entire Seinfeld episode about Elaine and her boyfriend dating because they wanted to be a mixed-race couple, so you're lying.
DEUTSCH: Oh, because of some Seinfeld episode? OK.
And by the way, of course a Christian wants everyone to be a Christian. I assume all vegans think the world would be better if everyone were a vegan. And the global warming wackos would like everyone to believe in their crackpot global warming theory. And nonsmokers would like everyone not to smoke. I don't even go around passing laws, like Michael Bloomberg.I just love the part about the "crackpot global warming theory." Anyway later on she said this about Judaism:
But Judaism, as I explained -- Christians accept the Old Testament. Jews don't accept the New Testament, so, you know, as long as we're playing this new sport of "he who is offended first wins," if anyone's going to be offended by anyone else's religion, the Jews believe that my savior, a Jew, was a raving lunatic, and you don't see me sniffling and crying.Sniffling and crying (about any subject) might make her human.
Deepening unhappiness with President George W. Bush and the U.S. Congress soured the mood of Americans and sent Bush's approval rating to another record low this month, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.And
Bush's job approval rating fell to 24 percent from last month's record low for a Zogby poll of 29 percent. A paltry 11 percent gave Congress a positive grade, tying last month's record low.Now we all know why dubya's numbers are in the toilet (his illegal war, the un-American domestic surveillance, and so on), but Congress? Perhaps this is the reason. Yesterday, the FISA bill passed last August (and rushed through Congress with more lies of terrorist threats) was to be voted on again. Congressman Jason Altmire was on Lynn Cullen's radio show to talk about the vote.
TPMElection Central has some more details. Eric Cantor, GOP House member from the New York, posted this on his website:Democratic leaders in the House were forced to suspend consideration of legislation updating the laws for warrantless wiretapping Wednesday after Republicans threatened to offer a procedural blockade.
Aides to Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) notified Republicans Wednesday evening that the bill, which had been scheduled for a vote that afternoon, would not come to the floor after Republicans advertised their intent to offer a motion that would essentially kill it.
The motion was a simple declaration that nothing in the bill would prevent intelligence officials from conducting surveillance on Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda or "any other terrorist organization" from attacking the United States or its citizens.
The problem is that Republicans wrote the motion in such a way that it would kill the overarching bill if Democrats helped them approve it.
And since most members of Congress would rather not vote for something that could be construed on the campaign trail as a vote to defend bin Laden, al Qaeda or any other terrorist organization, Democratic leaders could not bring the overarching bill to the floor.
Today, we will be offering an amendment to the legislation to clarify that nothing in the bill "shall be construed to prohibit the intelligence community from conducting surveillance needed to prevent Osama Bin Laden, Al Qaeda, or any other foreign terrorist organization…from attacking the United States or any United States person."The only problem is that the FISA bill already had such provisions. Rep Jerry Nadler (D-NY):
It also includes emergency provisions, including the ability to get a warrant after the fact, to ensure that the government will never have to stop listening to a suspected terrorist plotting an attack.As Greg Sargent writes:
...it would appear to make it very obvious that Cantor's amendment was simply about scuttling the bill and nothing else.Even the AP said that:
The measure would have allowed unfettered telephone and e-mail surveillance of foreign intelligence targets but would require special authorization if the foreign targets were likely to be in contact with people inside the United States, a provision designed to safeguard Americans' privacy.
The Republicans scuttled a bill that would protect our privacy. But when have they ever believed in the right to privacy?
All this while polls show that voters oppose warrantless wiretaps. Somewhere around 60% of them.
The people are against the war, they voted in a Democratic Congress to stop it. It can't or won't. The people are against warrantless wiretapping, the Democrats in Congress can't stop the minority party in the House from scuttling the bill.
Is there any wonder why the numbers for Congress are so frickin low?
House Bill 288 requires all Pennsylvania hospitals to provide information and access to emergency contraception medication to rape victims if they request it.It's so freaking simple and straightforward that some idiots in the Pennsylvania House can't keep their stupid hands off of it. Or rather, it has such widespread public support that the opposition is running scared and will try anything to water it down.
Grucela introduced an amendment which "allows" a victim to call an immediate family member about her assault, who would be expected to bring emergency contraception to the hospital, rather than have it provided by the medical professionals in charge of her care.I'm sorry, but can you name any other circumstance in which a hospital lets family members give drugs to patients willy-nilly in an emergency room? Can you say LIABILITY?
Please take a moment to call today to get your legislator on record!Support House Bill 288 with the Ross amendment. Oppose the Grucela amendment, and any additional amendments to the bill. If your legislator happens to be Rep. Grucela, let his office know you are appalled that he would even consider an amendment that puts the burden of care on the victim rather than medical providers.
Pittsburgh's police union charged yesterday that a proposed ordinance to address officer-involved domestic violence amounts to "police bashing" and "overkill."Meanwhile, not a few charge that the bill does not go far enough. From a September 26th P-G article:
But Elizabeth Pittinger, executive director of the Citizen Police Review Board, said she found Mr. Shields' bill lacking.Gloria Forouzan, founder of Run, Baby, Run, is also quoted in that article, but you can read an extended version of her objections here at The Pittsburgh Women's Blogging Society (including this gem: "The ordinance assures us that the Police Bureau's brass will “strongly consider” not hiring people with abusive/violent tendencies. Wow, that's really reassuring. Are they kidding?").
An effective ordinance "has to be more explicit in its expectation of employee conduct, and it has to be more explicit in the consequences," Ms. Pittinger said.
Also lacking, she said, was language dealing with officers who are subjects of protection orders but have not been charged with crimes
He adds that one of the many problems single-party rule brings is that serious issues do not get addressed. Locally, that's city-county consolidation. Simpson sez: Won't happen here. Why?In Burundi the party was UPRONA, the Union for National Progress. In Bulgaria it was the Bulgarian Communist Party. In Zaire, it was the Popular Movement of the Revolution and in the Central African Republic, the Central African Democratic Assembly. In Chicago, under Mayor Richard J. Daley, it was the Democratic Party, as it is here.
Pittsburgh has been under Democratic Party control for more than 70 years. It shows virtually all of the effects of single-party rule, with the exception of the use of police and other security forces to keep the ruling party in power, although one of this year's mayoral candidates, Ryan Scott of the Socialist Workers Party, complained repeatedly about police repression in the mayoral candidates' forum the Post-Gazette sponsored last week.
...everyone knows that consolidation has to occur if Pittsburgh is ever to break out of its vicious cycle of insolvency and high taxes, but the Democrats do not want to achieve that efficiency since it would mean moving their supporters out of patronage jobs.He takes a stab at Mayor Luke and does that broader context thing to find another example:
Now I can imagine all the Luke Supporters who crowd this blog (and you know who you are!) wanting to get all medieval on Simpson's behind for comparing their boy to one of the more obviously corrupt dictators of Central Africa. They'd be looking, I would think, to distract the conversation away from Mayor Luke's obviously improper use of a DHS vehicle as his personal ride to criticising Simpson for saying that Pittsburgh's Ravenstahl was as bad as Zaire's Mobotu (and if you look carefully, Simpson didn't say that at all).When Mr. Ravenstahl grows up he might make a decent mayor. At 27, being 27, as he tells us when we the media point out what he is doing, he feels free to accept gifts from the Penguins and UPMC and to commit the typical cardinal sin of officials in a one-party state -- employing public assets for his private use. Only someone who knows he will get elected no matter what he does would use a Department of Homeland Security-provided vehicle to go on a recreational outing with his wife.
But that is normal behavior in a one-party state. President Mobutu Sese Seku of Zaire used to requisition the planes of the national airline, Air Zaire, for personal trips to his vacation homes around the world. For him there was no distinction between public and private property -- what was his because of his position and what was his personally. No party but the ruling party in a one-party state would dare put up for election such a candidate.
...Bill Peduto, who either deliberately or unwittingly put forward the message that there are different points of view within the ruling Democratic Party. That is an illusion that the population should not buy. If someone like Mr. Peduto were elected mayor, it would be highly unlikely that he would change anything significant, having incurred the debts that he would have had to incur within the party to get elected.And:
So is there any way out of this mess? It's hard to say. The Republican candidate, Mark DeSantis, is not exactly a ball of fire, either. Ryan Scott, 24, the Socialist Worker candidate, and Tony Oliva, 27, the Libertarian candidate, are basically repositories of undeveloped ideas, works in progress like Mr. Ravenstahl.So there you have it. Single-party rule: Bad. For Pittsburgh, there's little chance of any way out of it.
