Fox News hates America

Don't they know that undermining our President in time of war is only helping The Enemy?

Don't they know that The Enemy hates us and will use any sign of weakness against us?

Don't they know that when they spew out bad news they're damaging to our resolve in the righteous crusade against Islamofascism?

Don't they know that every time they report bad news (like these poll numbers) it undermines the country's need to believe that we're thoroughly behind our President in his war on terror? And if we lose our resolve, hasn't The Enemy already won an important battle?

Why does Fox News hate America?

From Fox:

The president’s approval rating dropped to 36 percent, down from 41 percent approval two weeks ago and 40 percent in mid-June. Bush lost ground this week among some key constituent groups, such as Republicans, whites and men. Overall, 53 percent of Americans say they disapprove.

"It is important to remember that the president got his bounce after the killing of al-Zarqawi in Iraq," comments Opinion Dynamics Chairman John Gorman. "While administration officials were careful not to overplay the significance of this, it naturally created hope that things would get better. Several weeks of bloody footage from Iraq have pretty much dashed those hopes." [emphasis added]

And the Zarqawi bounce? Before Al-Zarqawi was killed, the president's poll numbers were 35/56 Approval/Disapproval. Since al-Zarqawi was killed in the first week of June, Fox reported back twice on the President's poll numbers:

• 6/13: 40/52 Approval/Disapproval
• 6/27: 41/50 Approval/Disapproval

So it looks like the 5-point bounce is over - thanks, thus spake Fox' pollster, of "several weeks of bloody footage."

Damn the media! If only they'd show more pictures of puppies and bunnies, we'd begin to feel good again about the worst president ever! If only they'd spend more time uncritically reporting on every story about how the WMD have actually been found (or moved into the Bekaa valley before the war), we wouldn't be thinking that the current resident of the White House lied to get us into an immoral war.

In any case, what Fox doesn't tell you is that along with the 5 point drop, 36% is only 3 points higher than Fox's lowest number for our president, the war criminal.

Technorati Tags:Bush, Fox News

Things to Do!

How do you move around Pittsburgh?
Transportation Forum with Dan Onorato
When: Thursday, July 13th
Where: The Union Project, 801 N. Negley Avenue , Highland Park

Schedule of Events:
6:30-7:00 PM: Special guest DJ spinning. Come early to mingle and snack.
7:15 PM: Regional Director of the League of Young Voters, Khari Mosley, to introduce County Executive Dan Onorato. Onorato to brief the audience.
7:45-8:15 PM: Question and answer session facilitated by Khari Mosley
8:15- 8:30 PM: Closing remarks, program ends.

How do you move around Pittsburgh?
County Executive Dan Onorato is briefing the Pittsburgh League of Young Voters and their partner organizations on his transportation vision and forthcoming white paper.

The Pittsburgh League of Young Voters wants the plans to reflect what young people think. It's our city and our transit system.

All are welcome to attend

The following buses stop in front of the Union Project:
71a-Negley
77f-Morningside-friendship
77g-Stanton Heights-Friendship
94a-Stanton Heights
94b-Morningside

Senator Ferlo Invites You to a Town Hall
When: Wednesday, July 19th from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Where: Union Project's Great Hall, 801 North Negley Avenue in Highland Park

"On July 19th, I will be hosting, along with organizers at CODEPINK Pittsburgh, a Town Hall Meeting that will be the regional installment of the Center for Constitutional Rights' National Teach-In on Articles of Impeachment.

We will watch the documentary, HOW TO IMPEACH A PRESIDENT, followed by a discussion moderated by Jules Loebel, a Vice President of the Center for Constitutional Rights.

Join me, Wednesday, July 19th from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm at the Union Project's Great Hall, 801 North Negley Avenue in Highland Park.

Visit www.PittsburghImpeachBush.org to read how this Town Hall Meeting is the latest in a continuing effort to educate, advocate, and raise the public debate surrounding the accountability of the Bush Administration. For more information call (412) 389-3216 or (412) 363-8683.

I look forward to seeing you at what promises to be a spirited evening of debate and discussion.

See you there!"


Goodbye Party for the Mon-Fayette Toll Road
When: Fri Jul 21: 8PM
Where: Mayor John Fetterman's Place, Braddock, PA
(across the Street from the Carnegie Library)

The Mon-Fayette Toll Road is a bad idea from the 1950s that can't seem to die a natural death. As the region clamors for increased transit options; bridges without gaping holes; increased bicycling, pedestrian, and trail amenities; and a system (a system!) that works, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and elected officials like Senator Barry Stout continue to push the $3.5 billion Toll Road.

Now is the time for a collective "NO!" Join us for a Goodbye Party for the Mon-Fayette Toll Road, in the heart of Braddock, through which the road would heartlessly raze.

Let's rally. Let's party. Let's kiss the Toll Road goodbye!

More Info: http://www.thisishappening.com/EventPage.php?eventid=42249&show=profile

Produced by: Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future (PennFuture); Progress Pittsburgh; Sierra Club, Allegheny Gp; Group Against Smog & Pollution; Mayor, Braddock PA; League of Young Voters; Hazelwood Initiative


Voter Education Campaign Kickoff Event
The Sierra Club
When: Saturday, July 22nd
Where: 3109 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh PA
Shifts: 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
1:30 pm - 4:30 pm

Contact randy.francisco@sierraclub.org and let him know which shifts you can do.
Call 412-802-6161 with any questions

Purpose: To raise awareness about the environment around the governor's race.
Their goal is to speakl to 35,000 infrequesnt voters face-to-face before this off-year election.

Party with music from Inviolet and beer from East End Brewing after both walks!


Public Hearing on Gov. Rendell's Mercury Pollution Reduction Plan
When: Tuesday, July 25th at 1pm
Where: The Department of Environmental Protection's SouthwestRegional Office
(400 Waterfront Drive in Pittsburgh), Conference Rooms A & B

The Governor's Mercury Pollution Reduction Plan is still standing,after attacks in the legislature. (Folks, that's YOUR doing!) However, public mercury hearings are ongoing. The one for PGH is in late July.

To "present testimony" (speak), contact the state Environmental Quality Board at 717-787-4526 at least one week in advance to reservea slot. If this is your issue, useful contacts include PennEnvironment (http://www.pennenvironment.org/) and Clean Water Action(http://www.cleanwateraction.org/pa/ ) as well as the Sierra Club.


South End Active Democrats 16th Annual Free Family Picnic
When: August 6, 12:30-?
Where: Commissioners Cottage at South Park

You do not have to be from the South End to be there. Theye have members in four counties and 33 wards and township in Allegheny.

All Democrats Welcome!

Come enjoy pony rides, petting zoo, train rides, dj, bocci,beer and food.

Please bring a covered dish. Donations and door prizesare welcome.

Anticipated crowd of between 400 and 600 people. No speeches, just a chance to talk with Democrats who are involved or want to get involved.

For more details contact SEAD President and Democratic State Committeeman Robert Frank at robfrank@winning.com or Rosemarie Christy at 412-343-5207.

If you would like to make a donation to make this happen or bring a door prize, they would appreciate your help.

Santorum's got some splainin' to do!

Not really sure what this means, exactly. But here's the story.

Eric Miller, a member of Santorum’s campaign staff, created and registered www.smalltowndefenders.com at the request of Santorum’s deputy campaign manager Luke Bernstein, Hazleton solicitor Christopher Slusser confirmed.

The Web site promotes Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta’s controversial illegal immigration ordinance and seeks signatures of those who support it. Miller was asked to help the mayor’s office with the technical aspects of launching the Web site, Slusser said.

Here's the site, for those who are curious.

I think there might be something fishy here - the text of the ordinance itself isn't on smalltowndefenders.com - why not?. All that's there is a message from the mayor of Hazelton and an opportunity to sign a petition. I am curious as to what happens to all those names - the website's been built by Santorum staffers. Does Lil Ricky get access to all that data?

In any event the ordinance should be here it is at the city's official website, though I haven't been able to dl the pdf file. Traffic around the site is probably too congested.

Our good friend Virginia Davis does her job of explaining it all:

The Republican senator’s re-election campaign is not connected to the Hazleton ordinance, Virginia Davis, a spokeswoman for Santorum, said Tuesday. The work performed for Barletta is a “non-issue” since it was done on personal time, she said.

Barletta, a Republican, is a regional campaign coordinator for the two-term senator. As a campaign coordinator, Barletta works to raise money for Santorum’s campaign.

Slusser said it might seem “a bit ironic” that the two men who helped with the Web site also work for Santorum. The site was “not ever intended to be a site that was created at the behest of (Santorum),” he said.

Actually, that's not irony. The Wikipedia has a great example of irony (the best I've read in a while):

In June 2005, the State of Virginia Employment Agency, which handles unemployment compensation, announced that they would lay off 400 employees for lack of work because unemployment is so low in the state.

Now that's irony. What's going on with this Hazelton ordinance website isn't irony. It's politics as usual. Perhaps someone should send Davis a dictionary.

Anyway I have a question: Lil Ricky goes ballistic and makes a baseless charge that "Casey operatives" are stalking his property in Penn Hills - and yet his spokewoman can, with a straight face (especially important in Senator Man-on-Dog's office), state that there's no connection between a website constructed by an actual Santorum operative and the Santorum campaign itself.

Yea, right.

Technorati Tag:/Rick Santorum/

I wasn't going to go there...

At least not for a couple of days anyway. But McIntire has:

*PLEASE MAYOR BOB O'CONNOR OF THE 'BURGH, GET WELL.

*The city is in a precarious enough position as it is. And that twelve year old knucklehead who is City Council Prez gets the job if you resign. DON'T DO THAT TO US.

So has The Judge (Just go there -- he's got visual aides).

Really, though, I have no idea what they're talking about...

"No Sweatshops, Bucco!" March/Carnival -- Today!

WHEN: Today! 7/11/2006, 4:30 PM
WHERE: Meet at Freedom Corner (Centre and Crawford Avenues) at 4:30 and then march to the Roberto Clemente Bridge (aka 6th street bridge).

The Sweatshop Carnival (a moveable celebration) will be on the bridge and also around PNC Park. The Sweatshop Carnival is a global message of peace and solidarity from the 2006 All Star Game at PNC Park.

It will include games such as:

Close this Factory
Toss that Worker a Peanut
The Wage of Poverty Wages
Baseball for Workers
No Sweatshops Bucco Mural coloring contest

Speakers will also be present.

This is being sponsored by The Pittsburgh Anti-Sweatshop Community Alliance.

An editorial from the Post-Gazette on this subject can be found here. It asks:

Would you mind if that Pittsburgh Pirates shirt you bought last week was sewn by a 14-year-old girl in Bangladesh during her 12th hour of labor in a factory that pays her in pocket change and certainly no overtime?

and notes:

Polls have shown that most Americans do mind. And certainly Pittsburghers, with their long tradition of improving labor conditions through collective bargaining, are even more likely to balk at their hometown team's shirts being manufactured in sweatshops.

For more information:
nosweatshopsbucco@yahoo.com
Thomas Merton Center
5125 Penn Ave
412-241-1339

Wishing Mayor Bob O'Connor All the Best

Yesterday's announcement that Pittsburgh Mayor Bob O'Connor has primary central nervous system lymphoma certainly came as a shock to the residents of this city.

We here at 2 Political Junkies wish him well in his fight against this rare disease.

An online chat about the Mayor's cancer diagnosis is being held today from noon to 1:00 PM at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's web site.

A Dispatch from the Loony Right - The "Gay Agenda" is to blame for 9/11

Barney Frank, in particular.

In a special report to the Cybercast "News" Service, Jeff Johnson writes that it was the "Frank Amendment" that was the culprit.

The setting is the Congressman's election campaign.

A Republican candidate for the Massachusetts congressional seat currently held by Democrat Barney Frank is reigniting debate over whether changes to U.S. immigration laws Frank sponsored made it easier for the 9/11 hijackers to enter and remain in the United States. Frank continues to deny the charge, but GOP challenger Chuck Morse accuses Frank of opening the "turnstiles of terrorism" by denying immigration officials the power to bar or remove non-U.S. citizens from the country based on their ideology.

Cybercast News Service has learned that while Frank has routinely claimed he advocated the changes because immigration law was "unduly restrictive on political grounds," the avowed homosexual lawmaker spent ten years fighting to change the statute primarily to eliminate a long-standing ban on homosexual foreigners entering the U.S.

It should be noted that according to this article the Frank Amendment became law in 1990. More than a decade before 9/11. It should also be noted that the article also says:

But Frank points to an exchange between 9/11 Commission Chairman Thomas Kean and himself during Kean's appearance before the House Select Committee on Homeland Security on Aug, 17, 2004, that, Frank argues, proves him blameless.

FRANK: "Can I just say here that the key point here is under the statutes, as they now exist, those people were excludable if the right procedures had been followed?"

KEAN: "That's exactly right."

Frank also defends the new law, noting that it does allow State Department officials to deny entry to any alien "who a consular official knows or has reasonable ground to believe has engaged, in an individual capacity or as a member of an organization, in a terrorist activity or is likely to engage after entry in a terrorist activity."

So even though the law predates 9/11 by a little more than a decade and even though one of the heads of the 9/11 commission is quoted as pretty much repudiating this crap, it's still Barney Frank's fault.

Why? Because he did it for gay rights.

"[I]n a law inherited from the early fifties ... Congress instructed the Executive Branch to exclude from America people whose political views we found offensive," Frank contends. "The amendment we adopted dropped from the law the authority to exclude people because their views would be politically unpopular, but continued to allow exclusion of people who would commit acts of violence, terrorism, etc."

But in his contribution to the pro-homosexual political how-to book "Creating Change: Sexuality, Public Policy, and Civil Rights" entitled "American Immigration Law: A Case Study in the Effective Use of the Political Process," Frank offered a different explanation for his ten-year-long effort to limit the grounds on which citizens of other countries could be denied entry into the United States.

"Interestingly, it is both the least well known of all the legislative battles that supporters of gay and lesbian rights have fought, and it is also the one that was the most successful," Frank wrote. "... in 1990, I had the enormous satisfaction of sponsoring a successful amendment to American immigration law that repealed the homophobic [sic] provisions of that statute in all of its permutations."

So there you have it. If only the "avowed homosexual lawmaker" Barney Frank hadn't passed that god-awful amendment to protect the rights of those sodomites (non-American sodomites), all those evildoers would not have been able to slip in and kill 3,000 of our people on 9/11.

And you thought it was the abortionists who did it. Or was it the secular humanists?

More mental crap from Wingnuttia

How stupid does Rick Santorum think we are?

From Today's New York Times:

The most recent round of independent polls shows that Mr. Santorum is arguably the most endangered senator in the country. Polls show that Robert P. Casey Jr., the state treasurer, holds a comfortable lead over Mr. Santorum — in a Quinnipiac University poll, Mr. Casey is in the lead by 18 points.

Mr. Santorum has insisted that voters do not really know much about Mr. Casey, that some Pennsylvanians actually believe the Democratic candidate is his father, former Gov. Robert P. Casey, who died six years ago.

"This is a guy recruited by the Democrats because he has a good name," Mr. Santorum said, after shaking hands at a Fourth of July fireworks display in Radnor. [emphasis added]

Huh? Is it really Lil Ricky's position that some Pennsylvanians, when answering a pollster's questions, are confusing Bob Casey with his dead father?

I realize Bob Casey's not the most exciting public speaker, but that's ridiculous.

Why can't conservatives ever take responsibility for their actions? By foisting the blame on the stupidity of Pennsylvania voters, Lil Ricky is trying to say that his huge negatives have nothing to do with:

• His support for Bush's immoral war in Iraq
• His support for Bush's overall agenda
  
• Terri Schiavo
• His loony meltdown over his "residency" in Penn Hills

and so on...

No, for Rick, he's doing badly in the polls because some Pennsylvanians are unable to differentiate between a guy they see most everyday on the news and a guy who passed away 6 years ago.

Rick Santorum - what a great judge of intelligence.

Technorati Tag: Rick Santorum

But you know, it's not a civil war or anything...

From CNN.com:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Gunmen roaming a Baghdad neighborhood on Sunday killed at least 42 unarmed Iraqis as soon as they identified them as Sunnis, emergency police said.

Ala'a Makki, a spokesman for the Iraqi Islamic Party -- Iraq's main Sunni political movement -- said the victims included women and children.

He called the killings in Hay al Jihad "one of the biggest massacres of Sunnis."

Later Sunday, two car bombs detonated simultaneously at a market in Baghdad's Karsa neighborhood, killing at least 19 and wounding 59, police said.

The market is close to the Tammimi Hussainiye, a Shiite prayer site.

Today is absolutely gorgeous here in Pittsburgh -- mid 70s, sunny, and breezy -- but then of course, I don't have to worry about someone putting a gun to my head and pulling the trigger as I lounge around in my backyard.

At least they're keeping out the gays!

From today's New York Times:

Hate Groups Are Infiltrating the Military, Group Asserts

A decade after the Pentagon declared a zero-tolerance policy for racist hate groups, recruiting shortfalls caused by the war in Iraq have allowed "large numbers of neo-Nazis and skinhead extremists" to infiltrate the military, according to a watchdog organization.

[snip]

"We've got Aryan Nations graffiti in Baghdad," the group quoted a Defense Department investigator as saying in a report to be posted today on its Web site, www.splcenter.org. "That's a problem."

[snip]

The report quotes Scott Barfield, a Defense Department investigator, saying, "Recruiters are knowingly allowing neo-Nazis and white supremacists to join the armed forces, and commanders don't remove them from the military even after we positively identify them as extremists or gang members." [Emphasis mine]

[snip]

An article in the National Alliance magazine Resistance urged skinheads to join the Army and insist on being assigned to light infantry units.

[snip]

"Light infantry is your branch of choice because the coming race war and the ethnic cleansing to follow will be very much an infantryman's war," he wrote. "It will be house-to-house, neighborhood-by-neighborhood until your town or city is cleared and the alien races are driven into the countryside where they can be hunted down and 'cleansed.' "

He concluded: "As a professional soldier, my goal is to fill the ranks of the United States Army with skinheads. As street brawlers, you will be useless in the coming race war. As trained infantrymen, you will join the ranks of the Aryan warrior brotherhood."

god wars

This is not Photoshop'd:



I first saw it over at A Spork in the Drawer which also has a link to an article on the statue from the NYT.

The statue is 72 feet tall. It's called "The Statue of Liberation Through Christ" and aside from hoisting a cross instead of a torch, the figure is also cradling the Ten Commandments and bears the inscription "Jehovah" on the crown.

The statue is on private property and was paid for with private funds. The pastor of the church who commissioned the statute calls it "a creative means of just really letting people know that God is the foundation of our nation."

He also has said that our nation's ills include "promotion of expressions of New Age, Wicca, secularism and humanism." And he added, "This statue proves that Jesus Christ is Lord over America, he is Lord over Tennessee, he is Lord over Memphis."

Now people can pretty much do whatever the hell they want (within the law) on private property. But I open with this story because I believe that the attitudes behind the creation of this statue also help to create the kind of atmosphere where the following events occur. And these events do involve the State (as in Separation of Church and State):

Fallen Soldier Gets a Bronze Star but No Pagan Star

At the Veterans Memorial Cemetery in the small town of Fernley, Nev., there is a wall of brass plaques for local heroes. But one space is blank. There is no memorial for Sgt. Patrick D. Stewart.

That's because Stewart was a Wiccan, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has refused to allow a symbol of the Wicca religion -- a five-pointed star within a circle, called a pentacle -- to be inscribed on U.S. military memorials or grave markers.

As Shakespeare's Sister put's it:

The minister who served as the chaplain of Sgt. Stewart’s unit, Rtd. Army Chaplain William Chrystal, strongly supports Sgt. Stewart’s widow’s request to have the pentacle put on his memorial. He suspects that the reasons it’s being denied are strictly political, considering “It’s such a clear first Amendment issue… I think the powers that be are afraid they’ll alienate conservative Christians if they approve a symbol that connotes witches and warlocks casting spells and brewing potions.” I believe he’s right, which leaves me with only one question.

Just how much of our country are we going to sacrifice to protect the delicate sensibilities of the willfully ignorant?

And this:

Jewish Family “Forced to Move” Over School Lawsuit

A large Delaware school district promoted Christianity so aggressively that a Jewish family felt it necessary to move to Wilmington, two hours away, because they feared retaliation for filing a lawsuit. The religion (if any) of a second family in the lawsuit is not known, because they're suing as Jane and John Doe; they also fear retaliation. Both families are asking relief from "state-sponsored religion."

[snip]

On the evening in August 2004 when the board was to announce its new policy, hundreds of people turned out for the meeitng. The Dobrich family and Jane Doe felt intimidated and asked a state trooper to escort them.

The complaint recounts a raucous crowd that applauded the board's opening prayer and then, when sixth-grader Alexander Dobrich stood up to read a statement, yelled at him "take your yarmulke off!" His statement, read by Samantha, confided "I feel bad when kids in my class call me Jew boy."

...A former board member suggested that Mona Dobrich might "disappear" like Madalyn Murray O'Hair, the atheist whose Supreme Court case resulted in ending organized school prayer. She disappeared in 1995 and her dismembered body was found six years later.

The crowd booed an ACLU speaker and told her to "go back up north."

In the days after the meeting the community poured venom on the Dobriches. Callers to the local radio station said the family they should convert or leave the area. Someone called them and said the Ku Klux Klan was nearby.

But it apparently wasn't enough to just taunt a sixth grade kid, the Stop the ACLU Coalition went ahead and published the Dobrich's name, address, and phone number on their web site. You know, just in case anyone might want to make to take the suggestion that they "disappear" seriously.

Jesus' General calls this for what it is: a pogram.

I will echo what Shakespeare's Sister has to say:

"I’m so bloody sick of this bullshit I could puke."

UPDATE: Welcome Crooks & Liars readers!

Ann Coulter - Plagiarist

This has been floating around the news for a few days. It's from the New York Post. Hey, doesn't Rupert Murdoch own the New York Post? And doesn't he also own Fox News?

Proof enough that the attack on the scary adam's apple lady are from the lib'rul press, huh?

Here's how the piece begins:

Conservative scribe Ann Coulter cribbed liberally in her latest book, "Godless," according to a plagiarism expert.

John Barrie, the creator of a leading plagiarism-recognition system, claimed he found at least three instances of what he calls "textbook plagiarism" in the leggy blond pundit's "Godless: the Church of Liberalism" after he ran the book's text through the company's digital iThenticate program.

He also says he discovered verbatim lifts in Coulter's weekly column, which is syndicated to more than 100 newspapers, including the Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) Sun-Sentinel and Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle.

Plagarism is a bad thing, right?

So far, there hasn't been any reaction from her. Except this.

Once considered a legitimate daily, the Post has been reduced to tabloid status best known for Page Six's breathless accounts of Paris Hilton's latest ruttings, and headlines like "Vampire Teen -- H.S. Girl Is Out for Blood." How crappy a newspaper is the Post? Let me put it this way: It's New York's second-crappiest paper.

Maybe the Post's constant harassment of me is an attempt to shake me down for protection money like they did with billionaire businessman Ron Burkle. I have sold a LOT of books -- more books, come to think of it, than any writers at the New York Post.

It's been pointed out that she isn't exactly responding to the attacks on her credibility (a side note: Ann Coulter has credibility? Maybe not so much any more). She just attacks Rupert Murdoch's paper as the "second crappiest" in New York.

Looks like the story is heating up. Universal, the syndicate that publishes Coulter's crap might be investigating her, too!

Couldn't happen to a nicer She-Devil.

Technorati Tags:ann coulter

Playing Ketchup*

Looks like I missed a few things while I was in the hospital for a few days recovering from my real life stint on "When Animals Attack."

Here's where I try to catch-up:

1. Damn! Jane from firedoglake visited the Burgh and hooked up with the folks from Drinking Liberally. She blogged about it here. Eli at Multi Medium and Spork Incident at A Spork in the Drawer covered the event locally. Forest Hills Council Member Marty O'Malley emailed me a heads up for the event but I was still in the hospital. Anyone who's ever attended an anti war rally in this city has seen Marty. He's the tall dashing gentleman in the Vietnam Vets cap and vest covered with anti Santorum buttons (1 for $3, 3 for $5). Thanks anyway, Marty!

2. Many blog posts from many blogs (Comments from Left Field/Fester's Place, The Conversation, The Angry Drunk Bureaucrat, Tunesmith & Anthony, and Mark Rauterkus & Running Mates and Mark Rauterkus & Running Mates) on a) my councilman's run in with the law, b) the efforts by the firefighter's union and local Republicans to cut Pittsburgh City Council down from nine members to five. I will state that I am 100% against the effort to cut the size of Council. This is just an effort by the firefighters to punish Council for Act 47 and their followup to their failed attempt to have it overturned. If it passes, it will not only decrease representation (with minimal cost savings), it will possibly pit some of the better council members against each other (Peduto vs. Shields ?) and reduce minority representative (women and African Americans). If you think your councilmember sucks, there's an easy fix -- vote them out! (Besides, if "The Honz" is for it, I'm against it.)

3. Tony Norman and Dave Copeland riffed on the new Frank Black song "I'm Not Dead (I'm in Pittsburgh)." The song was co-written by "Pittsburgh punk pioneer Reid Paley." Having spent not a little time amongst the "Pittsburgh punk pioneer"s back in the day, I'm sure I could remember some funny Reid stories if I thought about it for a moment or two, but instead, I'll repeat the most retarded thing ever said in a bathroom line to me which occurred circa 1978(?) and which was voiced by Mr. Paley: "You know, you could say 'Hi' when you see me, it's not like I'm trying to get into your pants or anything." Ever the charmer... (Good CDs though.)

4. Questions about whether Tricky Ricky Santorum actually broke the law by showing classified documents on FOX News.

5. The BIG LOCAL STORY not being covered in the MSM: The reported kidnapping of Pittsburgh's beloved Judge Rufus Peckham (first reported by Ms. Adventures on the Mon -- now a suspect in the case; picked up by UnSpace; and, of course, ongoing coverage at The Carbolic Smoke Ball where posts disappear and reappear as frequently as the Judge himself.

6. Something about some game/event on Sunday. I'm not too up on the details, but I know it necessitated sweeping the homeless off the streets and will prevent me from watching any more local news until, say, Tuesday.


*This is Pittsburgh after all.

Santorum is STILL lying!

Take a look.

Rick Santorum graduated from High School, right? He knows how to tie his shoes, right? Then why isn't he smart enough to know to avoid the political beating he took in May?

For those who can't remember, here's what I wrote at the time. And a follow-up.

And a thumb-nail version of the story.

There was a primary and Rick Santorum went to vote in Penn Hills. A local Democrat named Ed Vecchio sought to challenge the Santorum's voter registration in that community by saying that the Santorum's don't live in the house they say they live in (according to the law he was within his rights here). According to the news reports he said something about how there wasn't even any furniture in the house.

At that point Rick went ballistic. He accused the Ed Vecchio of trespassing (a crime, by the way) and sought to connect the Casey Campaign to that "crime."

It was our first real look at how much of a loon Rick Santorum really is.

Now take a look at the current Penn Hills story. The Santorum campaign is still lying about the whole sordid event. Here's the basic point of the story:

A Penn Hills judge of elections received a warning on proper procedure after a resident challenged the right of Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum and his wife, Karen, to vote in the community.

Mark Wolosik, county elections director, sent a letter to Lisa Moore in late June to question how she handled the challenge by Edward Vecchio, husband of Erin Vecchio, Penn Hills Democratic Committee chairwoman.

Wolosik determined Moore had not followed proper procedure when Vecchio challenged the Santorums' right to vote at the Forbes Elementary School polling site in the primary. Vecchio believes the Santorums do not live in their Penn Hills home and cannot fulfill the residency requirement for voter registration.

Moore should have required the Santorums to fill out a form to confirm their identity, residency and voter registration and obtain the signature of another registered voter in the district covered by the polling site. Then, the Santorums should have proceeded to vote, Wolosik wrote in his letter.

And yet here's what the Santorum Campaign says about it:

Erica Clayton Wright, a spokeswoman for Santorum's re-election campaign, said she is pleased with the county's decision.

"The recent decision by the Allegheny County Elections Division to dismiss the baseless voting claims against Rick and Karen Santorum demonstrates that there was never a general issue as to where they live and vote," she said.

"This once again proves that Casey operatives will stop at nothing, including the use of personal attacks, to dodge the issues of the campaign.

"It's a sad day in politics when one's opponent is incapable of running a campaign on the issues that concern Pennsylvania and instead focuses on trying to strip one's basic constitutional right to vote."

Huh? Did I miss something? The Penn Hills judge got it wrong on procedure and got a warning for it. How is that a dismissal?

But the biggest lie is found one paragraph below that:

"This once again proves that Casey operatives will stop at nothing, including the use of personal attacks..."

The Vecchios aren't Casey operatives - it's a lie to say that they are. Just thinking it won't make it true (just like the WMD or evolution or Terri Schiavo).

Rick Santorum - a man unable to tell fact from fantasy.

Cool City/Cool County Resolutions Pass Unanimously

Congrats to everyone who contacted their City/County Council members for the Cool City/Cool County Environmental Resolutions (blogged about here).

The resolution was not only supported unanimously by City Council -- it was cosponsored unanimously. It was also the first time that City Council unanimously supported an environmental resolution.

Moreover, County Council also passed their resolution unanimously, garnering support from Republicans as well as Democrats.

Kudos to the local Sierra Club who has been working on this effort for some time.

However, this victory would not have been possible without all the environmental groups who joined in as well as all the progressive groups who participated.

You could say it went viral and City Council was definitely overwhelmed with your emails.

Just goes to show how much power we have when we all work together for a goal.

Jack Kelly gets spanked - it's bloggeriffic!

I found something added to the bottom of the page of Jack Kelly's most recent screed at the Post-Gazette. Here it is, in full:

(This column is a corrected version. The following correction will appear in the July 5 print edition: "Jack Kelly's July 2 column conflated references to two different Wall Street Journal op-ed articles by MIT professor Richard Lindzen. The first quote from Dr. Lindzen was from a June 11, 2001, piece, but it was incorrectly identified as being published last week. The second Lindzen quote was correctly attributed to his commentary last week (June 26). In addition, the Kelly column referred to a National Academy of Sciences report on climate change and a quote from CNN reporter Michelle Mitchell; they were both from June 2001, not this year. The column should have addressed the NAS report on climate change released June 22, 2006.")

Now I don't want to brag (ok, maybe a little), but this is more or less what I wrote on Sunday.

Perhaps I should send the P-G a bill for "fact-checking" services rendered. Maybe I can get a free subscription or a new toaster or something.

Interestingly, the above correction was not found at the Toledo Blade. The Toledo Blade and the Post-Gazette are both run by the same company and this column was published at both papers. As of 7:10 am on 7/5/06 there was no correction posted on the Toledo Blade column. I gotta ask, if Jack Kelly is incorrect in Pittsburgh, doesn't that mean he's also incorrect in Toledo? Maybe things work a little slower in Ohio.

Anyway I'll do some more homework for the now counterfactual Jack Kelly. The last sentence of the above public spanking reads again:

The column should have addressed the NAS report on climate change released June 22, 2006.

So what was the report from June 22? Here's the press release from the National Academy of Science and the report's opening statement and the report itself. Took me about 3 minutes to find it.

And even here gets Kelly into hot water. He said in his now infamous column:

The Little Ice Age was preceded by the Medieval Warm Period (roughly 900 A.D. -- 1400 A.D.), when temperatures in Europe and North America were higher than they are today.

The report that Kelly should have been writing about (Bad Jack! Bad, bad Jack!) has a handy chart that tracks different types of temperature records. If you look at the chart carefully, you'll see that, again, Jack Kelly is wrong. According to that chart, temperatures are higher now than they were in the "Medieval Warm Period". Perhaps I am misreading the chart. Perhaps due to it's wide range of information spread out over a wide time period, a lot of relevant info is lost.

Perhaps not being a scientist (and I believe I share that characteristic with Jack Kelly), I should pay closer attention to what the scientists actually say and try not to make simple statements of fact that might turn out to be incorrect if I bothered to research the data. I'd look incompetent if I did that.

In any event, the report's opening statement includes these two points:

3. It can be said with a high level of confidence that global mean surface temperature was higher during the last few decades of the 20th century than during any comparable period during the preceding four centuries. This statement is justified by the consistency of the evidence from a wide variety of geographically diverse proxies.

4. Less confidence can be placed in large-scale surface temperature reconstructions for the period A.D. 900 to 1600. Presently available proxy evidence indicates that temperatures at many, but not all, individual locations were higher during the past 25 years than during any period of comparable length since A.D. 900. The uncertainties increase substantially backward in time through this period and are not yet fully quantified.

That's from the National Academy of Science. And yet a National Security Correspondent sitting at a desk in Pittsburgh, PA can state with out qualifiers that temperatures in North America and Europe were higher between 900 AD and 1600 AD than they are today.

He should have done a little more research before making such a simple statement of fact. But then again, we're talking Jack Kelly here.

Technorati Tags:Jack Kelly,

Osama: Dead or Alive! (not so much)C.I.A. Closes Unit Focused on Capture of bin Laden

Bush Admin says "Happy 4th, motherfuckers!"



From today's NYT:

WASHINGTON, July 3 — The Central Intelligence Agency has closed a unit that for a decade had the mission of hunting Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants, intelligence officials confirmed Monday.

The unit, known as Alec Station, was disbanded late last year and its analysts reassigned within the C.I.A. Counterterrorist Center, the officials said.

The decision is a milestone for the agency, which formed the unit before Osama bin Laden became a household name and bolstered its ranks after the Sept. 11 attacks, when President Bush pledged to bring Mr. bin Laden to justice "dead or alive."

[snip]

Michael Scheuer, a former senior C.I.A. official who was the first head of the unit, said the move reflected a view within the agency that Mr. bin Laden was no longer the threat he once was.

Damn straight!

Forget the 3,000 dead on 9/11 that Bush relentlessly pimped to start an unjustified war that has killed another 2,500 Americans so far.

Time we dealt with the real threat to this country:

Somewhere at the border there's a flag-burning, liberal, Mexican homo trying to cross over to gay-marry an abortion doc!

Happy 4th of July from Tony Norman!

Go read his column.

After asserting that I.F. Stone would surely have exposed the Bush Administration's monitoring of international banking transactions, he goes on to trash the Congress and its media lapdog.

When Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert cracked wise at the White House Correspondents Dinner that reporters should continue taking the administration's dictation regarding the war, an indignant Washington press corps took umbrage, insisting Mr. Colbert was rude and unfunny.

But as usual, it took a satirist far removed from D.C.'s daily banalities to intuit the truth. In his ironical way, Mr. Colbert articulated what would become the openly stated policy of the Republican-controlled Congress a few months later: identify as treasonous any news outlet that dares to tell the American people the truth about how the war on terror has gone terribly awry.

And follows with a punch to the gut:

If this Congress, addicted to flag symbolism and gay marriage bans but allergic to actual work, had its way, we wouldn't know about the rendition of suspected terrorists to so-called "black sites" in Europe, warrantless domestic wiretapping or prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay.

That's exactly the point. Instead of investigating the allegations of abuse by our government (done in our names, of course), Bush's rubber-stamp Congress struts and frets about those few times that the media actually reports about those allegations.

And then accuses the media of treason when it does.

This Congress and this President have never wanted us to know about the human rights abuses, the torture, and the corruption. I'm sure they'd be happy if we just sang Lee Greenwood all the time.

And I’m proud to be an American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I won't forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.

I know this is an aside, but the thing that has always bothered me about that passage was how it runs directly contrary to the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

See that? The Founders held it self-evidently true that all men are created equal. No one gave us that freedom. It's "unalienable" according to Jefferson. Greenwood's "men who died" certainly protected but did not give it to us. We are free because we are human.

But let's get back to Tony's column. I think Tony gives us (collectively in the blogosphere) a shout out!

After years of being encouraged to view the news media as just another arm of the vast corporate entertainment complex that rules our lives, it's difficult to think of the Fourth Estate as having a profound role to play in a properly functioning democracy.

With the exception of The Times and a handful of other papers, much of the media is silly and irrelevant. Politicians sense this and have decided to take advantage of it.

Bloggers and documentarians will eventually fill the vacuum if newspapers abandon their historic role out of fear.

Go read the column.

And Happy Fourth!

cool city/cool county

ACTION ALERT:

Cool Cities Resolutions to be Offered in City and County Councils.
Your help is needed to ensure they pass!

After screening Al Gore’s movie An Inconvenient Truth on June 15, Pittsburgh City Councilman Bill Peduto, and Allegheny County Council President Rich Fitzgerald pledged to introduce resolutions calling on the Mayor of Pittsburgh, Bob O’Connor, and the County Executive, Dan Onorato, to sign on to the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement (informally known as the Cool Cities Agreement). This whole shebang got started thanks to Sierra Club here locally.

Over 240 cities have already signed on to the agreement, which is a first step towards curbing Global Warming. For a copy of the Agreement, please go to (http://www.seattle.gov/mayor/climate/PDF/Resolution_FinalLanguage_06-13-05.pdf ).

On Wednesday, July 5, both City Council and County Council will consider the resolutions. This is only the second time that the two councils have introduced a joint resolution on an issue. Members of both councils need to hear from you between now and Wednesday, so they know how critical this issue really is, and how widespread public support is for halting global warming.

Pittsburgh City Council Meeting
Wednesday, July 5, 10:00am
City-County Building
414 Grant Street

Allegheny County Council Meeting
Wednesday, July 5, 5:00pm
County Courthouse
436 Grant Street
4th Floor - Gold Room

TAKE ACTION! Please e-mail members of both councils; they will be receiving (and reading) e-mails over the holiday, but not necessarily checking phone messages. If you are able, please attend one or both of the council meetings to show your support. You can register to speak at County Council in support of the resolution. (At City Council, resolutions are introduced and voted upon prior to public comment, which is why e-mails to City Council are especially critical).

Sample message (City Council): Please co-sponsor the important resolution urging Mayor O’Connor to reduce greenhouse gas pollution levels in the City of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh will join 250 cities nationwide in taking action to stop global warming, in the face of a lack of leadership from the Bush Administration. The debate is over: global warming is real, and Pittsburghers want to do something about it now. Thank you! [Please be sure to leave your name, address, phone number, and e-mail, and if you live in that council district, be sure to note you are a constituent who votes and cares about this issue].

Council President Luke Ravenstahl (District 1): Luke.ravenstahl@city.pittsburgh.pa.us
Councilor Dan Deasy (District 2): Dan.deasy@city.pittsburgh.pa.us
Councilor Jeffrey Koch (District 3): Jeffrey.koch@city.pittsburgh.pa.us
Councilor Jim Motznik (District 4): Jim.motznik@city.pittsburgh.pa.us
Councilor Doug Shields (District 5): Doug.shields@city.pittsburgh.pa.us
Councilor Tonya Payne (District 6): Tonya.payne@city.pittsburgh.pa.us
Councilor Len Bodack (District 7): Len.bodack@city.pittsburgh.pa.us
Councilor Bill Peduto (District 8): Bill.peduto@city.pittsburgh.pa.us * Prime sponsor of the resolution, e-mail to thank him for his leadership.
Councilor Twanda Carlisle (District 9): Twanda.carlisle@city.pittsburgh.pa.us


**********************************

Allegheny County Council: Regular meeting of County Council is Wednesday, July 5 at 5:00 p.m. A 3-minute public comment opportunity will be available, but you must register to speak by close of business on Monday, July 3. Register online at: http://www.county.allegheny.pa.us/council/meetings/recomm.asp .

Please remember to contact your own County Council member as well as the two at-large members.

Sample Message (County Council): Please support the important resolution 2695-06 urging County Executive Dan Onorato to reduce greenhouse gas pollution levels in Allegheny County. The county will join 250 cities and counties nationwide in taking action to stop global warming, in the face of a lack of leadership from the Bush Administration. The debate is over: global warming is real, and Allegheny County wants to do something about it now. Thank you! [Please be sure to leave your name, address, phone number, and e-mail, and if you live in that council district, be sure to note you are a constituent who votes and cares about this issue].

John DeFazio (At Large): jdefazio@county.allegheny.pa.us
Dave Fawcett At Large): dfawcett@county.allegheny.pa.us
Matt Drozd (District 1): mdrozd@county.allegheny.pa.us
Jan Rea (District 2): jrea@county.allegheny.pa.us
James Burn (District 3): jburn@county.allegheny.pa.us
Micheal Finnerty (District 4): mfinnerty@county.allegheny.pa.us
Vincent Gastgeb (District 5): vgastgeb@county.allegheny.pa.us
Joan Cleary (District 6): jcleary@county.allegheny.pa.us
Susan Caldwell (District 7): scaldwell@county.allegheny.pa.us
Charles Martoni (District 8): cmartoni@county.allegheny.pa.us
Robert Macey (District 9): rmacey@county.allegheny.pa.us
William Robinson (District 10): wrobinson@county.allegheny.pa.us
Rich Fitzgerald (District 11): rfitzgerald@county.allegheny.pa.us
Rich Nerone (District 12): rnerone@county.allegheny.pa.us
Brenda Frazier (District 13): bfrazier@county.allegheny.pa.us

Don't know your district? You can find it here: http://www.county.allegheny.pa.us/council/dist.asp


**********************************

Then, let the Sierra Club know if you've contacted your council members or if you can attend either meeting by emailing them: atalouz@aol.com

**********************************


Here is the City Council Resolution (The County's is similar):

A RESOLUTION

A Resolution of the Council of the City of Pittsburgh, urging the
Mayor to take action to reduce global warming pollution levels in the
City of Pittsburgh by meeting or exceeding the Kyoto Protocol target
for the United States, which calls for a reduction of greenhouse gas
emissions by seven percent (7%) below 1990 levels by 2012.

WHEREAS, the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the
international community's most respected assemblage of scientists, has
found that climate disruption is a reality and that human activities
are largely responsible for increasing concentrations of global
warming pollution; and

WHEREAS, the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement to address
climate disruption, is in effect in the 163 countries that have
ratified it to date; with 38 of those countries having implemented
legal requirements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on average 5.2
percent below 1990 levels by 2012; and

WHEREAS, in July 2006, on the occasion of the G8 Summit, the G8
countries will gather in Russia to address the major challenges of
climate change, energy sustainability and security; and

WHEREAS, although the United States officially withdrew from the Kyoto
Protocol in 2001, over 200 cities and counties in 38 states have
pledged to reduce their global warming emissions, and these local
governments are lowering energy bills, saving taxpayer dollars, and
protecting our environment; and

WHEREAS, many cities and counties are reducing global warming
pollutants through programs that provide economic and quality of life
benefits such as reduced energy bills, green space preservation, air
quality improvements, reduced traffic congestion, improved
transportation choices, and economic development and job creation
through energy conservation and new energy technologies; and

WHEREAS, the City of Pittsburgh is committed to the effort to reduce
the United States' dependence on fossil fuels and accelerate the
development of clean, economical energy resources and fuel-efficient
technologies such as conservation, methane recovery for energy
generation, waste to energy, geothermal, wind and solar energy, fuel
cells, efficient motor vehicles, and bio-fuels; and

WHEREAS, by taking innovative, responsible energy-saving steps like
making buildings more energy efficient, promoting transportation
alternatives, reducing waste, and investing in more fuel-efficient
vehicles and clean renewable energy sources, Allegheny County is
leading the way to a better, cleaner, and safer future.

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Council hereby requests that
the Mayor of the City of Pittsburgh sign on to the U.S. Mayor's
Climate Protection Agreement and aim to reduce global warming
pollution levels in the City of Pittsburgh by meeting or exceeding the
Kyoto Protocol target set for the United States, which calls for a
reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by seven percent (7%) below 1990
levels by 2012, by promoting energy efficiency, promotion of clean and
affordable energy sources and systems, development of local energy
resources and systems, relying upon local industry to the greatest
extent practicable, promotion of cost-effective economic instruments
that can help to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, and
promotion of waste management and reuse/reduce/recycle activities; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Council further requests that the
Mayor explore other means of increasing the City's renewable energy
use for the benefit of the City's residents and businesses, through
cost savings in lower electricity bills, protection and health of the
environment and by generating growth to the economy within the City of
Pittsburgh.

SPONSORED BY COUNCILMAN WILLIAM PEDUTO

**********************************

For more information on the Sierra Club Cool Cities campaign, visit
http://www.coolcities.us


UPDATE: At 7:50 PM, Sierra Club said...
Hi Maria,Thanks for this, just thought you and your readers would like to know that today both councils passed resolutions asking Mayor O'Connor and Mr. Onorato to sign onto the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. And both councils passed the resolution unanimously, with many if not all members in both bodies co-sponsoring.

This Modern Media

TOM TOMORROW'S TAKE:



THE COLBERT REPORT'S TAKE:
"The NY Times want you and your family dead!"


AND FINALLY, SOME PAYBACK:
Dana Priest slaps down Bill Bennett