Hat Meet Ring

Hail, Hail, the Gang's All!

Lil Mayor Luke does Pittsburgh a solid and drops out of the race, but now apparently every Johnny-come-lately (and Joanne-come-lately) wants to throw their hat into the ring. Retired PA State Auditor General Jack Wagner and City Council President Darlene Harris are already gathering petitions. PA State Sen. Jim Ferlo is planning to begin gathering signatures today. And, according to The Trib, City Councilman Ricky Burgess and State Rep. Jake Wheatley are feeling out the unions, but aren't commenting to the media. They of course join City Councilman Bill Peduto and City Controller Michael Lamb.

Who's on first? According to PoliticsPA:

Today’s developments benefit Peduto most directly; Wagner and Lamb share a political base in Pittsburgh’s south side/south hills.

On The Nones - And Bishop Zubik

Yesterday the P-G published this opinion piece by Most Rev. David A. Zubik, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh.

In it he addresses some of "the nones" - the 14 percent or so of people, according to this study by the Pew Research Center, who say they have no religious affiliation - though they may believe in a God and pray.

The good Bishop is troubled:

Every generation -- every human being -- at some point has to answer a fundamental series of questions: Who am I? Why am I alive? What does my life mean and how am I supposed to live my life? But barely half of the "nones" report any reflection on these sorts of questions.

That said, the lack of religious identity in a growing number of people is of great concern to me. But I have found that many people, now in their 70s, 60s, 50s, 40s or 30s, who were lost to faith in their late tweens and 20s, have too often made a decision -- without much thought -- that lasts a lifetime. They create a life mired in consumerism.

I have to face up to the fact that some of the "nones" were created in our own churches and temples. They were the children of believers -- possibly marginal believers, but believers nonetheless -- who never caught it, or caught it and dropped it by the wayside as they entered their young adult years. The Pew Research notes that 74 percent of the "nones" were raised with some religious affiliation.

While he never actually gets around to discussing perhaps why the "nones" are growing more unaffiliated by the generation.

Luckily the Pew report gives us an answer (and this would be something the Bishop decided we didn't need to know):

Overwhelmingly, [the "nones"] think that religious organizations are too concerned with money and power, too focused on rules and too involved in politics.

Hmm...I'd hazard a guess that perhaps the collective faith in the Bishop's Church might well have been weakened over the years by the dissonance between the rules on sexual morality (pro-life, anti-contraception, anti-equality) it seeks to impose (by way of the political process, doncha know) on everyone and it's own disastrous handling of its own predatory priests:

Prosecutors who have been stymied for years in their attempts to build a criminal conspiracy case against retired Los Angeles Archdiocese Cardinal Roger Mahony and other church leaders said Tuesday they will review newly released priest files for additional evidence.

Thousands of pages from the internal disciplinary files of 14 priests made public Monday show Mahony and other top aides maneuvered behind the scenes to shield molester priests and provide damage control for the church.

How often did things like this happen while the country was being sternly lectured on the civilization-crushing moral evils of condom use or masturbation or Ellen Degeneres?

It's Been A While, My Friends...

I haven't done one of these sorts of posts in a while but here goes.

This weekend the Tribune-Review published an interview with columnist Eric Heyl.  It begins like this:

Carl Meacham is director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based nonpartisan foreign policy think tank. He spoke to the Trib about what Cuban President Raul Castro's recently announced plan to step down when his term ends in 2018 means to Cuba and the United States.

We have to wonder about the "non-partisan" nature of this foreign policy think tank when, according to The Bridge Project a majority of its foundational support came from one source (well three Scaife controlled sources; the Allegheny, Sarah Scaife, and Carthage Foundations)

According to that website between 1985 and 2011, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, received a total of $19,786, 480 dollars (unadjusted for inflation) from about a dozen foundations.  Of that total, about 54% or about $10,743,000 came from those Scaife Foundations ($400k from Allegheny, $10.15 million from Sarah Scaife and $195K from Carthage).

And yet, Eric Heyl, columnist employed by uber-conservative Richard Mellon Scaife at the Scaife owned Tribune-Review didn't see fit to tell you of his boss's financial entanglements with the "non-partisan" think tank.

The Right Wing noise machine noises on...

Called it

It should come as no surprise that Luke Ravenstahl's decision to not run again for Mayor of Pittsburgh is not even the least bit bittersweet for me, but unlike some comments on the intertubes, I don't believe this is all about some possible fallout from the police investigation (more like the last straw). I do believe Ravenstahl when he said yesterday that he'd been thinking about not running for a long time. And, I called it a year and half ago here:

The Thrill is Gone  

Larry Roberts/Post-Gazette
Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl at the
opening of the new Beechview supermarket

John Heller/Post-Gazette
Ravenstahl "listens" to East Enders' flooding concerns

You almost have to feel sorry for the guy. Now in his 30s, he's lost his "youngest mayor" news worthiness. He can't get away with the hijinks of his earlier years of stalking Tiger Woods or joyriding in a Homeland Security vehicle. At odds with the majority of Council, he can't deliver City assets to his bankster friends or even help oust his critics in that body. And, while he always had a problem with showing up/staying at important meetings (including those with the President), he can't even manage to be at the right place at the right time when natural disasters hit our region.

Just look at those pictures.

Is that the face of a happy camper?

And, even as the thrill may be gone for him, it's also gone for the voters. With a 19% approval rating, he's no longer Pittsburgh's Favorite Grandson.

But, Lil Mayor Luke still has over two years to serve in his current term. Maybe he should just do himself -- and all of us -- a big favor and pull a Palin. Say you're doing it for your family for Pittsburgh and just go.

Too soon?

Somewhere in an alternate universe:  
(Via Bram via Facebook)

Jack Kelly UPDATE!!

Hey, remember this blog post?

It's the blog post where I quote Jack as writing this:

At the time they met with President Barack Obama on 9/11/2012, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, knew it was terrorists who were attacking our consulate in Benghazi, Libya, Mr. Panetta testified Feb. 7.

Their pre-scheduled meeting in the Oval Office took place about 90 minutes after the attack began. The president "left it up to them" whether to respond, Mr. Panetta told the Senate Intelligence Committee. The fighting would last for six hours more, but neither he nor Gen. Dempsey heard from the president again that night, Mr. Panetta said.

And I wrote:

Note the word "whether" after the quotation. And note the quotation for that matter. Now you'd think that in a newspaper (even if it is only an "opinion" column found in that newspaper) when a Secretary of Defense is quoted the writer gets the quotation right - or at least it's close enough not to be misleading.

By phrasing it the way he does, Jack leaves his audience with the impression that the President left the decision to respond up to Panetta and Gen. Dempsey. This is false.

Well guess what?

[This is where you'd say, "What?"]

Guess what I found at the P-G this evening?

[This is where you'd say "What?" again, only slightly annoyed.]

Take a guess what I found?  GUESS!

[This is where you'd say, "If you don't tell me right now, I'm gonna break your arm!"]

Ok, ok - Sheesh!  Might wanna lay off the espresso, (or maybe try some decaf).  Anyway, here's what I found at the Post-Gazette this evening:

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told the Senate Intelligence Committee that President Obama had "directed both myself and [Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff] to do everything we needed to do to try to protect lives there" when told of the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. A Jack Kelly column published Sunday said Mr. Panetta had testified that the president had "left it up to them" whether to respond.

You're welcome.

Now if I can only get them to do this BEFORE Jack's columns are published.

Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl drops bid for re-election (Update 1x) Not resigning

It's official

Mayor Luke Announces...

Luke Ravenstahl, the mayor of Pittsburgh just said:

I'm here today to announce that I am dropping my bid for re-election.

It's done.

No matter what happens in the next few minutes, there's already this

No matter what happens in the next few minutes, there's already this:

A "StepDahn" T-shirt to go with the "#StepDahn" Twitter tag.

Short Ravenstahl Update

WTAE's Bob Mayo just tweeted:

Mayor's office news release says 11amnews conference.
— Bob Mayo (@bobmayo) March 1, 2013

In case you're curious...

Message to My Friends At The City-County Building

Can someone over there PLEASE fix this?

My friend Sue writes for a local blog called Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents and focuses on LGBTQ issues.  She writes that access to its content is being blocked at the City-County Building.

It's an important voice for an important segment of the Pittsburgh community and agree with it or disagree with it access to its content should not be blocked - anytime.

UPDATE: I rewrote this for clarity.

UPDATE numéro deux: About 2pm this afternoon (March 1) someone from the City-County Building DID take a look at this specific blog post.  I am hoping that means that someone over there in city government will soon figure a way out of this rather embarrassing situation.

While you're waiting, Pittsburgh

Give a listen here.

Violence Against Women Act Update

A short update:

Pennsylvania Representatives Rothfus, Marino, Kelly, Perry, Pitts, and Murphy all vote a healthy NO on reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act.

(And that's definitely a no that means "no!")

Song of the Day

Speculation running rampant that Mayor Ravenstahl will drop out of race

It started with this story at Early Returns at 10:30 PM last night which noted that Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl had been missing more meetings than usual in the last few days and quoted a close ally:

"It is with a heavy heart that I tell you here tonight that the mayor couldn't make it. Within the next couple of days he'll be having a press conference to discuss some issues,'' Mr. Quigley said adding that "... there's some personal things going on right now that I'm not at liberty to discuss.''  

"Everyone in this room supported the mayor at one time or another,'' he continued. "Us as Northsiders it's always been an old adage that we stick together. I'm asking everyone on this room to send their prayers out to the Ravenstahl family and to stick together as Northsiders.''  

Later, Mr. Quigley alluded to the federal investigations swirling around the city Police Bureau as he said, "I'm going to tell you that the mayor is implicated in nothing that's going on with the city. He's having some personal issues. And I am here to tell you that in the next couple of days there's going to be some kind of press conference. I would just ask everyone in this room, reserve your thoughts and say a prayer for the mayor and his family.''

That was followed up with a similar story in the Post-Gazette two hours later.

This morning, all hell broke loose:

KDKA: Sources: Mayor’s Mother Facing ‘Serious Health Crisis’
KDKA: Mayor Ravenstahl To Make Major Announcement About Future
WPXI: Sources: Ravenstahl questioning re-election run
Post-Gazette: Announcement expected from mayor, but no press conference set

And, that doesn't even count the tweets and Facebook updates.

Guess we'll all be tuning in to the noon news today...

Fact-Checking Keith Rothfus On The "Cell Phone Giveaway"

Today's Tribune-Review published this commentary on the upcoming sequester from the tea-party pen of the newly elected representative from Pennsylvania's 12th district,  Keith Rothfus.

And he gets just a few facts wrong on his list:

Our federal government will spend more than $3.7 trillion this year. Replacing the sequester requires finding $84 billion in smart cuts to that budget. Here are a few things we could eliminate to begin replacing the sequester:

• $2.2 billion by ending the federal government's cellphone giveaway

What he's describing is something that's popped up recently (quite coincidentally, I am sure) on another of Richard Mellon Scaife's media holdings, Newsmax:

Nearly half of the 6 million people who received free cellphones and communications services through the government-funded Lifeline program last year apparently were ineligible or did not respond to certification requests, a new report shows.

The U.S. government spent about $2.2 billion on the program last year alone, reports The Wall Street Journal, which conducted a review of the program's funding.

The only problem with this is that eliminating the program won't save the gov'ment any money. Here's why (and this is from the WSJ piece referenced above):

The Lifeline program—begun in 1984 to ensure that poor people aren't cut off from jobs, families and emergency services—is funded by charges that appear on the monthly bills of every landline and wireless-phone customer.

Factcheck already has something on this program:

Lifeline is funded by telecom customers who pay a universal service fee as part of their phone bills. The fee technically is not a tax but a cross subsidy, the rules of which are determined by the Federal Communications Commission.

And:

As we explained [in 2009], the FCC requires phone companies to fund “universal service” programs such as Lifeline that improve telecommunications access to all Americans. The companies pass the cost along to consumers in the form of a universal service fee, which is listed on a monthly phone bill.

The fees go into the Universal Service Fund, which is administered by the Universal Service Administrative Company, an independent, not-for-profit corporation. USAC manages Lifeline and three other programs that provide telecommunications services to rural areas, schools, libraries and places where it’s more expensive to provide access.

And:

Lifeline does not “give away” “government phones.” The program reimburses phone companies with a monthly subsidy of $9.25 for each low-income customer who uses a landline or a cell phone.

So however leaky the program is, eliminating it would not reduce guv'ment debt in anyway - it would only reduce everyone's cellphone bill by a little bit AND reduce access to the global telecommunications network  by poor people a lot.  But it won't reduce the debt.

That's something Keith Rothfus got wrong.

BREAKING! Not every sweater you get from Goodwill has demons in it!

But it couldn't hurt to rebuke them just in case:

Tips for Mayors

Jack Kelly Sunday

Jack Kelly, conservative columnist over at the Post-Gazette, is at it again.  And again there's more proof that his columns are never fully checked by my friends over at the Post-Gazette.

Take a look at the first two paragraphs from today's column:

At the time they met with President Barack Obama on 9/11/2012, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, knew it was terrorists who were attacking our consulate in Benghazi, Libya, Mr. Panetta testified Feb. 7.

Their pre-scheduled meeting in the Oval Office took place about 90 minutes after the attack began. The president "left it up to them" whether to respond, Mr. Panetta told the Senate Intelligence Committee. The fighting would last for six hours more, but neither he nor Gen. Dempsey heard from the president again that night, Mr. Panetta said.

Most of it is demonstrably false.

But there's no reason for you, my audience, to simply take my word for it that I write is true - that's what Jack does with his audience.  No, let's go to the facts.

Starting with that second paragraph - specifically this sentence:

The president "left it up to them" whether to respond, Mr. Panetta told the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Note the word "whether" after the quotation. And note the quotation for that matter.  Now you'd think that in a newspaper (even if it is only an "opinion" column found in that newspaper) when a Secretary of Defense is quoted the writer gets the quotation right - or at least it's close enough not to be misleading.

By phrasing it the way he does, Jack leaves his audience with the impression that the President left the decision to respond up to Panetta and Gen. Dempsey.  This is false.

My evidence?  Let's roll the tape:


At about 38 seconds in, Panetta testifies:

We had just picked up the information that something was happening, that there was an apparent attack going on in Benghazi. And I informed the president of that fact, and he at that point directed both myself and General Dempsey to do everything we needed to do to try to protect lives there. [Emphasis added.]

And then at about 1:09, Panetta reiterated that the President:

...basically said, 'Do whatever you need to do to be able to protect our people there.'

Panetta also said this in his prepared remarks:

By our best estimate, the incident at the Temporary Mission Facility in Benghazi began at 3:42 p.m. eastern daylight time on September 11th. The Embassy in Tripoli was notified of the attacks almost immediately and within 17 minutes of the initial reports – at 3:59 p.m. – AFRICOM directed that an unarmed, unmanned, surveillance aircraft that was nearby to reposition overhead the Benghazi facility.

Soon after the initial reports about the attack on Benghazi, General Dempsey and I met with President Obama and he ordered all available DoD assets to respond to the attack in Libya and to protect U.S. personnel and interests in the region. [Emphasis added.]

And yet despite all this evidence, Jack Kelly tells his readers that the President of the United States left the decision to respond to the Benghazi attacks up to the Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff - a falsehood.

Then there's the sentence, immediately following:

The fighting would last for six hours more, but neither he nor Gen. Dempsey heard from the president again that night, Mr. Panetta said.

Another falsehood as General Dempsey said on CNN three weeks ago:

CROWLEY: But when did you learn, if this was a seven-hour battle, we don't know when people died, and there when the ambassador died, but if this was a seven-hour battle, a U.S. strike force couldn't have gotten there in time to be of some service?

DEMPSEY: You know, it wasn't a seven-hour battle. It was two 20-minute battles separated by about six hours. The idea that this was one continuous event is just incorrect.

And yet, Jack Kelly informs his readers that "the fighting" would "last" for more than six hours.

And that's just the first two paragraphs - this is how he frames the rest of the column.

I'll ask it again: Doesn't anyone at the Post-Gazette fact-check Jack Kelly?  Completely fact-check, I mean.  Fact-check him enough so that everything he presents as a fact is, in fact, true.

It just doesn't look like it, guys.  Sorry.

Sign of the times

(Via Dan Gilman)

 

Post-Gazette: A recap: The investigation of the Pittsburgh police