Tony's Pissed

Uh-oh.

In his column today, Tony Norman takes on Ann Coulter's most recent bit of rhetorical wankery. For those living under a rock she said on CNBC "We just want Jews to be perfected, as they say."

So she's speaking for all Christians now? And what about all those centuries of perfecting?

Ah, yes, the history of "perfected Jews" and others in the heart of the Christian world has been so inspiring over the centuries, hasn't it?

Take the Crusades for example -- please. Those bloody religious campaigns in the Holy Land provided a marvelous outlet for "perfecting" the Mohammedans and the children of Abraham.

The aforementioned Torquemada, the Grand Inquisitor of Spain and cardinal of the Catholic Church, "perfected" Jews so much that they left the country by the thousands in 1492.

History is one long march of "perfecting" unbelievers. In fact, it's a perfect storm of perfection: Catholics perfecting Protestants. Puritans perfecting witches. Protestants perfecting Quakers and other religious minorities. The crew of the Good Ship Jesus perfecting African "pagans" by carrying them to America in chains where they would experience soul-crushing servitude for an unimaginable 300 years.

Some other choice quotations from Saint Ann of the Laryngeal Prominence:

• Being nice to people is, in fact, one of the incidental tenets of Christianity (as opposed to other religions whose tenets are more along the lines of 'kill everyone who doesn't smell bad and doesn't answer to the name Mohammed'). - from a column dated 03/04/04

• The ethic of conservation is the explicit abnegation of man's dominion over the Earth. The lower species are here for our use. God said so: Go forth, be fruitful, multiply, and rape the planet — it's yours. That's our job: drilling, mining and stripping. Sweaters are the anti-Biblical view. Big gas-guzzling cars with phones and CD players and wet bars — that's the Biblical view. - from a column dated 10/12/00

Such subtle theological positions! Amazing!

I wanna be a Christian just like Ann!

Gore Derangement Syndrome

We've seen it here in the comments but Paul Krugman has some thoughts on GDS:

On the day after Al Gore shared the Nobel Peace Prize, The Wall Street Journal's editors couldn't even bring themselves to mention Mr. Gore's name. Instead, they devoted their editorial to a long list of people they thought deserved the prize more.

And at National Review Online, Iain Murray suggested that the prize should have been shared with "that well-known peace campaigner Osama bin Laden, who implicitly endorsed Gore's stance." You see, bin Laden once said something about climate change - therefore, anyone who talks about climate change is a friend of the terrorists.

But he gets to the heart of the matter here:

The worst thing about Mr. Gore, from the conservative point of view, is that he keeps being right. In 1992, George H. W. Bush mocked him as the "ozone man," but three years later the scientists who discovered the threat to the ozone layer won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In 2002 he warned that if we invaded Iraq, "the resulting chaos could easily pose a far greater danger to the United States than we presently face from Saddam." And so it has proved.

So Gore was right about the climate and Gore was right about Iraq. That's why the citizens of winguttia go berserk.

chief / chef

While this photo:


may look like one more instance of Luke Ravenstahl aping Bill Peduto's moves,



upon further investigation, it's actually Lil Mayor Luke practicing for a second career once Pittsburghers throw in the towel and give up on giving the kid a chance.


Pittsburgh youth learns a trade.


"Hey! I I didn't f*ck it up!"
Mayoral contender Mark DeSantis, taking no chances, has vowed to keep his distance from chef hats, chainsaws and tricked-out, federally funded SUVs.

Meanwhile, Ravenstahl has already appeared in the Burghosphere in his new chapeau, but we have no idea what the caption means as we thought Luke was a Diet Pepsi guy...

(h/t to PittGirl for chef pictures link)
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Week Without Violence

For more info and all the events scheduled click here.

YWCA Week Without Violence October 14 - 20, 2007 This is an annual event sponsored by the YWMC. The objective: "focus attention on practical, sustainable non-violent alternatives." Each day of The Week Without Violence focuses on a different violence-related theme. Some of the events this week include: Wednesday, October 17: Confronting Violence Against Women 12:00 noon Allegheny County Courthouse, 436 Grant Street, between Forbes and Fifth AvenuesWalk and public assembly in collaboration with the National Council of Jewish Women at the Allegheny County Courthouse courtyard. Silent Witness figures of those who died of violence in the past year will be present as local officials discuss their actions to address violence. Friday, October 19: Eliminating Racism and Hate Crime Noon – 2:00 p.m. YWCA Greater Pittsburgh, 305 Wood Street, downtown. Luncheon Seminar on violence in the workplace for Human Resource professionals and United Way campaign companies.

More "Phony" Soldiers

Start Spinning, Rush!

We've had sergeants and generals speak out against the war in Iraq. In today's Washington Post, twelve former captains weigh in:

There is one way we might be able to succeed in Iraq. To continue an operation of this intensity and duration, we would have to abandon our volunteer military for compulsory service. Short of that, our best option is to leave Iraq immediately. A scaled withdrawal will not prevent a civil war, and it will spend more blood and treasure on a losing proposition.

America, it has been five years. It's time to make a choice.

(h/t to Meteor Blades at Daily Kos)

News From City Council

Got an e-mail this evening. Within it was a resolution, to be introduced tomorrow (10/16/07), by Council President Doug Shields. I'm being told it marks a "big culture shift" for the city.

Take a look at the beginning of the text of the resolution:

A Resolution authorizing the City of Pittsburgh to issue a Request for Proposals for the purpose of conducting a Gender Wage Disparity Study of the city's workforce.

Whereas, the Congress of the United States of America enacted the The Equal Pay Act of 1963, Pub. L. No. 88-38, 77 Stat. 56, (June 10, 1963) codified at 29 U.S.C. § 206(d), is a United States federal law amending the Fair Labor Standards Act, aimed at abolishing wage differentials based on sex. In passing the bill, Congress denounces sex discrimination for the following reasons:

• It depresses wages and living standards for employees necessary for their health and efficiency;
• it prevents the maximum utilization of the available labor resources
• it tends to cause labor disputes, thereby burdening, affecting, and obstructing commerce;
• it burdens commerce and the free flow of goods in commerce; and
• it constitutes an unfair method of competition; and,

Whereas, the Equal Pay Act of 1963 provides (in part) that: No employer having employees subject to any provisions of this section [section 206 of title 29 of the United States Code] shall discriminate, within any establishment in which such employees are employed, between employees on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees in such establishment at a rate less than the rate at which he pays wages to employees of the opposite sex in such establishment for equal work on jobs[,] the performance of which requires equal skill , effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions, except where such payment is made pursuant to (i) a seniority system; (ii) a merit system; (iii) a system which measures earnings by quantity or quality of production; or (iv) a differential based on any other factor other than sex

Whereas, the Council of the City of Pittsburgh, as policy makers, cannot be indifferent to this matter as it pertains to the work force of the City of Pittsburgh and, moreover, wants to insure that the City is in full compliance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the United States in this and all regards; and,

Whereas, the Council of the City of Pittsburgh is mindful of its obligations and affirms that it is in full support of gender equity in the workplace and desires to insure that the City does not deliberately or inadvertantly discriminate with regard to gender pay equity in the workplace.

And with that, it's a request for proposals for a consultant to do a study to make sure the city is in compliance with all gender equity laws.

It should be interesting to watch how this plays out.

The Trib Editorial Board On Limbaugh's "Phony Soldiers."

Here's what they had to say this morning. The whole thing's from the Scaife-owned "Media Research Center, run by Brent Bozell. After quoting MSNBC's Chris Matthews:

Radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh says veterans who support withdrawing the troops (from Iraq) are 'phony soldiers.' Those are his words.

They try to correct the "media bias" with this:

Actually Limbaugh was talking about leftist anti-war groups touting tales of U.S. atrocities from Jesse Macbeth, a soldier who flunked out of basic training and who is going to prison for making it all up.

The story's changed so much I'm not sure where the Limbaugh spin has settled. The Addict himself initially claimed to be talking about ONE "phony soldier", Jesse MacBeth, not, as Scaife's various hacks claim, "leftist anti-war groups" QUOTING Jesse Macbeth. Here's what The Addict said on September 28:

I was not talking, as [MSNBC's] Contessa Brewer said here, about the anti-war movement generally. I was talking about one soldier with that "phony soldier" comment, Jesse MacBeth.

Then he changed his own tune later that day:

Yes, because there have been a number of these people, but they were not active duty -- I was not talking about anti-war, active duty troops. I was talking about people who've been exposed as frauds who never served in Iraq but claimed to have seen all these atrocities...

So it was about troops who never served in Iraq, but claimed to have seen atrocies there - still not the groups touting phony tales.

Here's the transcript, by the way:

LIMBAUGH: Another Mike, this one in Olympia, Washington. Welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER 2: Hi Rush, thanks for taking my call.

LIMBAUGH: You bet.

CALLER 2: I have a retort to Mike in Chicago, because I am a serving American military, in the Army. I've been serving for 14 years, very proudly.

LIMBAUGH: Thank you, sir.

CALLER 2: And, you know, I'm one of the few that joined the Army to serve my country, I'm proud to say, not for the money or anything like that. What I would like to retort to is that, if we pull -- what these people don't understand is if we pull out of Iraq right now, which is about impossible because of all the stuff that's over there, it'd take us at least a year to pull everything back out of Iraq, then Iraq itself would collapse, and we'd have to go right back over there within a year or so. And --

LIMBAUGH: There's a lot more than that that they don't understand. They can't even -- if -- the next guy that calls here, I'm gonna ask him: Why should we pull -- what is the imperative for pulling out? What's in it for the United States to pull out? They can't -- I don't think they have an answer for that other than, "Well, we just gotta bring the troops home."

CALLER 2: Yeah, and, you know what --

LIMBAUGH: "Save the -- keep the troops safe" or whatever. I -- it's not possible, intellectually, to follow these people.

CALLER 2: No, it's not, and what's really funny is, they never talk to real soldiers. They like to pull these soldiers that come up out of the blue and talk to the media.

LIMBAUGH: The phony soldiers.

CALLER 2: The phony soldiers. If you talk to a real soldier, they are proud to serve. They want to be over in Iraq. They understand their sacrifice, and they're willing to sacrifice for their country.

LIMBAUGH: They joined to be in Iraq. They joined --

CALLER 2: A lot of them -- the new kids, yeah.

LIMBAUGH: Well, you know where you're going these days, the last four years, if you signed up. The odds are you're going there or Afghanistan or somewhere.

CALLER 2: Exactly, sir. And -- and my other comment was -- and the reason I was calling for -- was to report to Jill about the fact that we didn't, didn't find any weapons of mass destruction. Actually, we have found weapons of mass destruction in chemical agents that [inaudible] been using against us for awhile now.

I've done two tours in Iraq. I just got back in June and there were many instances of -- since [inaudible] not know what they're using in their IEDs [improvised explosive devices]. They're using mustard artillery rounds. The vx-artillery rounds in their IEDs.

Because they didn't know what they were using, they didn't do it right, and so it just kind of -- it, it didn't really hurt anybody but there are -- those munitions are over there, it's just -- it's a huge desert. If they've buried it somewhere, we're never gonna find it.

LIMBAUGH: Well, you know, that's a moot point for me right now --

MIKE: Rush --

LIMBAUGH: -- the weapons of mass destruction. We gotta get beyond that. We're, we're there. What -- who cares if, if -- we all know they were there and, and Mahmoud [Ahmadinejad, Iranian president] even admitted it in one of his speeches here about -- talkin' about Saddam using the poison mustard gas or whatever it is on his own people -- but that, that's moot, right? What, what's more important is all this is taking place now in the midst of the surge working.

And all of these anti-war Democrats are getting even more hell-bent on pulling out of there, which means that success on the part of you and, and your colleagues over there is, is a great threat to them. It's just, it's frustrating and maddening, and it is why they must be kept in the minority.

Look, I want to thank you, Mike, for calling. I appreciate it very much. I gotta -- let me see -- got something -- here is a "Morning Update" that we did recently talking about fake soldiers. This is a story of who the left props up as heroes. And they have their celebrities.

One of them was Jesse MacBeth. Now, he was a "corporal," I say in quotes - 23 years old.

From the context it's obvious (to anyone with a functioning brain, that is) that the discussion of "phony soldiers" was about those men and women in the military interviewed by the media who are against the war. The caller then asserts that "real soldiers" (as opposed to the anti-war soldiers the media talks to) are proud of their service, they understand their sacrifice and so on. As if the anti-war soldiers do not. The Addict, to his ultimate discredit, does not disagree.

After that, I want everyone to notice three things, 1) how long it takes The Addict to get to Jesse MacBeth and 2) there's a whole discussion of WMD in between and 3) The Addict still thinks there were WMD in Iraq when dubya gave the order to invade.

Still a far cry from what the Trib's editorial board said.

At least The Addict has an excuse - he's an addict. What's the Brent Bozell's excuse? The Trib's

I'm Ba-a-a-a-ak!

I'm back from my vacation. Did I miss anything when I was gone? Have we preemptively attacked ANOTHER country or discarded ANOTHER set of civil liberties?

Have the Congressional Democrats grown anything even closely resembling a spine? Has Luke been caught doing something goofy again?

Is John McIntire still off the air? And what about little Gab?

The vacation was great. We went up to New England and in no apparent order, saw the battle site on Lexington green. The nation's oldest Revolutionary War memorial is there. The American flag flies 24 hours a day there as well. We also saw the old bridge at Concord where the American militia men were first ordered to fire on British troops - there's a grave stone marking the final resting place of a British soldier.

We saw some of the historical parts of Boston. Saw Hancock's and Revere's and Sam Adams' grave site at the Granary Burial ground. There are reportedly 25,000 people buried in that grave yard. Unbelievable. Had some great food in the North End.

We saw the Mystic Seaport and the changing leaves all over the place.

It's good to be back on-line again though.

One last bit of news. In the words of Paul's grandfather, "Congratulate me boys, I'm engaged!"

WDUQ Won't Air Planned Parenthood Message

From Planned Parenthood of Western PA (and something we discussed too briefly on the radio this morning):

WDUQ vs. Planned Parenthood?

WDUQ is currently running a pledge drive asking for your money, but they've decided they won't accept ours. After allowing Planned Parenthood to underwrite news segments for only two days, the public radio station decided they could no longer tell the listening audience about comprehensive sexuality education, cancer screening, or preventive health care.

According to Scott Hanley, WDUQ’s station manager, Duquesne University has instructed WDUQ to refuse underwriting from Planned Parenthood. It seems the University is now dictating who can give money to the flagship NPR station, and what they can air. And apparently that means Planned Parenthood's message of prevention can't see the airwaves.

Planned Parenthood believes in public radio and has long admired WDUQ for its pledge to independence and integrity as a news station. We're also proud of the work we do to ensure strong and healthy families by providing men and women in need with healthcare services and information.

Like WDUQ, Planned Parenthood believes that public radio belongs to the public. Duquesne University shouldn't be able to tell WDUQ not to air our message or accept our donations. We hope you won't let this stand. You can read more about what happened at right, including the messages that won't air. Then please contact WDUQ and Duquesne University to tell them to reverse their decision.

Click on "Take Action" to get contact information for phone numbers and letters. We've provided sample letters, but please change them to reflect your feelings. Letters will go to Scott Hanley, the station manager, and Dr. Charles Dougherty, the president of Duquesne University.

What's At Stake:

On Wednesday afternoon, WDUQ (90.5 Pittsburgh, 100.5 Johnstown, 104.1 in Ligonier and Somerset, 92.3 New Baltimore) pulled Planned Parenthood prevention and education statements that started this past Monday as part of an underwriting campaign.

Planned Parenthood received the following message, “Unfortunately, WDUQ has been ordered by the Duquesne University administration to immediately cease airing the acknowledgment of underwriting support from Planned Parenthood. Accordingly, as the university holds our license, we must pull your remaining schedule.”

These ads, from a consortium of Planned Parenthood affiliates across PA, Delaware and NJ, are running in all three states. WDUQ is the *only* station to refuse to air them.

What messages are too controversial?

Support for DUQ comes from Planned Parenthood, offering healthcare services to men, including screenings for cancer and STDs. Planned Parenthood: Their mission is prevention.

Support for DUQ comes from Planned Parenthood, providing comprehensive sexuality education, including lessons on abstinence. Planned Parenthood: Their mission is prevention.

Support for DUQ comes from Planned Parenthood, whose community educators empower teens to make good choices by teaching self-esteem. Planned Parenthood: Their mission is prevention.

Support for DUQ comes from Planned Parenthood, offering cancer screenings for women and men. Planned Parenthood: Their mission is prevention.

As you know, more than 90 percent of Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania's work is preventing sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancies. We serve thousands of men and women each year with annual cancer screen and contraception. We reach thousands more with our message of responsible decision making.

We believe the local NPR affilliate WDUQ is an important voice in our community. We believe in the work we do as well. Planned Parenthood is proud to help create strong families by providing healthcare to men and women in need. We know that the message of prevention -- whether that's annual cancer screenings, sexually transmitted infection testing, or contraception, is a positive one. We're outraged that DUQ would refuse to air our message, and we hope that you are too. Please consider contacting DUQ and Duquesne University by sending them an email, to let them know that Planned Parenthood's message about prevention deserves to be heard.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION ON THIS ISSUE!

I'll be hosting for Lynn Cullen today

Lynn's off today so I'll be hosting the show in her place.

AM NewsTalk 1360 (click here to listen online)
Friday, October 12, 2007
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
PLEASE Call in at: 412-333-1360

Regular Friday guest, Jon Delano, will join me along with Bram Reichbaum for The Burgh Report and Sue Kerr for The Pittsburgh Women's Blogging Society.

Al Gore Wins Nobel Peace Prize :-)

From cnn.com:

(CNN) -- Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for their work raising awareness about global warming.

The Nobel committee cited them "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change."

The IPCC and Gore will each receive a gold medal, a diploma and a share of $1.5 million. The award ceremony will be held December 10 in Oslo, Norway.

[snip]

The Nobel committee praised Gore as being "one of the world's leading environmentalist politicians."He is probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted," said Mjoes.

Gore gets to add this new award to his two Oscars and an Emmy won earlier this year.

In unrelated news, pResident George W. Bush won the award for Worst President EVER and picked up a Worst Performance in a War. He adds that to his winning the scorn of 70% of the American public and 99.9% of the rest of the world.

CONGRATS, AL!
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You need to call these US Senators today on FISA

Christy over at Firedoglake has a list of Senators who need to be called NOW to tell them they we do not accept the following passage in the draft Senate version of the FISA bill (courtesy of the ACLU):

…the Senate bill (Committee draft) does contain immunity/amnesty for the telecom companies…Including retroactive immunity for anything they’ve done wrong in cooperating in illegal domestic spying for the past six years.

Senators to call:

*Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Chairman — (202) 224-6472
*Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) — (202) 224-3841
*Sen. John Warner (R-VA) — (202) 224-2023
*Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) — (202) 224-5244
*Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) — (202) 224-4224
*Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) — (202) 224-5623
*Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) — (202) 224-4654
*Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) — (202) 224-5344
*Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) — (202) 224-5274
Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) — (202) 224-3154
Sen. Kitt Bond (R-MO), Vice-Chairman — (202) 224-5721
Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) — (202) 224-3521
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) — (202) 224-5251
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) — (202) 224-5323
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) — (202) 224-2921

* Means these are the ones who need the most calls.

Here are toll free #s to reach them:

1 (800) 828 - 0498
1 (800) 459 - 1887
1 (800) 614 - 2803
1 (866) 340 - 9281
1 (866) 338 - 1015
1 (877) 851 - 6437

Tell them:

No retroactive immunity for telecom companiesand no umbrella warrants. Period.
As Christy says, "If they didn’t do anything wrong, why should they get retroactive immunity? And, worse, if it is likely that they broke laws, why on earth would the Senate just hand lawbreakers retroactive immunity before fact-finding on potential criminal conduct was even completed?!? That makes no logical or ethical sense."

But, please, read all of her post here (lots of good info and links).

Mayoral Race TV & Radio Ads

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl so far doesn't plan to run any.

Republican challenger Mark DeSantis has some in the can.

You can see a bit of a sneak preview of the DeSantis TV and radio ads in Jon Delano's KDKA 2 News report here (snippets) and read more analysis of the ads at Delano's blog here.

Jon Delano will be one of my guests tomorrow when I substitute host for Lynn Cullen on WPTT AM NewsTalk 1360 from nine to noon.

Hopefully, DeSantis will put his ads up on his YouTube page once they hit the airwaves.

PUMP Mayoral Candidates Debate Tonight!

PUMP Mayoral Candidates Debate
WHAT: PUMP Mayoral Candidates Debate
WHEN: Thursday, October 11, 2007, 6:30 pm - 7:30pm (doors open at 6pm)
WHERE: Duquesne University's A.J. Palumbo Center

Co-sponsored by Pittsburgh City Paper, Comcast, Duquesne University & the Greater Pittsburgh Non-profit Partnership (GPNP)

Featuring Mayoral Candidates:
Mayor Luke Ravenstahl
Mark DeSantis

Moderator: Tonia Caruso, from WQED's OnQ & host of Comcast NewsmakersVolunteer interpreters generously provided by the Center for Hearing and Deaf Services

Civic Engagement Fair & Reception to follow: 7:30 - 8:30pm

Confirmed Exhibitors

PUMP

Greater Pittsburgh Non profit Partnership (GPNP)

Everybody VOTE

Black Political Empowerment Project

League of Young Voters

Young Republicans & Young Democrats of Allegheny County

PA Center for Women in Politics & Public Policy

CoroCenter for Civic Leadership

People for the American Way

http://www.influencegovernment.com/

Libertarian Party of Allegheny County - Tony Olivia

Socialist Worker Party - Ryan Scott

Come for the Candidate forum, stay to network! Representatives from organizations that focus on voter engagement and participation will be on hand to help you get information and to connect you to important issues facing our region. Candidates & Elected Officials welcome!For more information, please contact Erin Molchany at erin@pump.org or 412-338-2133
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Clever Boy!

I received some lit from the Mark DeSantis campaign and I have to say that it's pitch perfect.

On the outside there's a silhouette of a man with five bullet points starting with "Progressive, people-oriented approach to government."

At the bottom in large type it reads "PITTSBURGH'S IDEAL DEMOCRATIC MAYOR..."

When you open it up, you see DeSantis in place of the silhouette and a large headline reading "ISN'T ALWAYS A DEMOCRAT."

Very clever and on point.

Other headlines inside include: "Party aside, doesn't this sound like your ideal mayor?" and "We're not asking you to change your party. Just your future."

Then there's a card to tear off and mail in to volunteer for Democrats for DeSantis.

Very well done.

If I have a chance, I may put up pics of it later.
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The war at home

When The Right isn't busy stalking and smearing a 12-year-old and his brain-damaged sister over a budget dispute; or insulting a wounded vet; they're busy leaking to Fox News creating a security breach that may ensure we never find bin Laden.

Way to go Wingnuts!

You kids are so krazy!

Stop Playa Hatin! A 2 Political Junkies Editorial

The mayor of our great city, His Honorable Luke Ravenstahl, has it right:

The media is out to get him.
Where is it written that the mayor of this great city shouldn't have the best pimped out ride we have to offer?

Where is it written that the mayor of this great city shouldn't be allowed to accept gifts from rich bigwigs like UPMC and the Penguins? Aren't we trying to get non-for-profits like UPMC to cough up more dough?

Where is it written that the mayor of this great city shouldn't give a cop a break?

How bad is it that the mayor of this great city has to go all the way to The New York Times to find some love?

How bad is it that the mayor of this great city can't even go to the little boy's room hang out at the little girl's room without some blogger stalking him?

And now, unbelievably, the media hounding has grown so great that the mayor of this great city must exile himself to his own couch during Steeler home games.

When you hate the playa, you hate the city, which ultimately means you hate yourself.


Mayor Luke Ravenstahl firesback at his critics in the media.*
*(h/t to PittGirl for the pic.)

Thanks, Lynn!

Thank you, Lynn Cullen, for the shout out on the radio this morning. Your Italian lessons were not wasted as you got the name perfectly (The "cc" in Lupinacci is pronounced as "ch" is in English).

Can't imagine why you'd think I'd be talking about the Mayor on Friday. Why? Has he been in the news lately?

Competing Events

While the Post-Gazette hosts their mayoral candidates' forum tonight:

Pittsburgh Mayoral Candidates' Forum
WHAT: Post-Gazette Mayoral Candidates' Forum
WHEN: Tuesday, Oct. 9, from 7 to 8:30 p.m
WHERE: Senator John Heinz History Center, Strip District. Please call 412-263-1541 to register.
MORE INFO: (Will Mark DeSantis be required to leave again while Lukey is speaking? See for yourself! I can't -- I'll be working.) More at http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07261/818520-192.stm

The Citizen Police Review Board will be hosting the following:

Politics, Policing and Public Perception
WHAT: Politics, Policing and Public Perception
WHEN: Tuesday, Oct. 9, 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
WHERE: Duquesne University, Duquesne Union -- Rm. 613
MORE INFO: For more info call 412-765-8023 http://www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/cprb
http://www.myspace.com/citizenpolicereviewboard

Not competing (because they rescheduled so as not to conflict with the mayoral candidates' forum):

Neighborhood Self Determination and the "One Hill" Controversy
WHAT: A Discussion and Analysis of the Community Benefits Agreement Movement presented by the University of Pittsburgh, Department of Africana Studies
WHEN: Wednesday, Oct. 10, 6:30 PM (seating begins at 6:00 PM)
WHERE: Frick Fine Arts Building, 650 Schenley Drive on Pitt's campus (can be found in Oakland, across from the Carnegie Library, just off of Forbes Ave.)
MORE INFO: More info can be found at the blog of Dr. Goddess.

UPDATE: I forgot about one more competing event tonight:

Governor Edward G. Rendell's The Tour to Insure
WHAT: Governor Rendell's Town Hall Meeting about Pennsylvanians living without health insurance.
WHEN: Tuesday, Oct. 9, 6:00 PM
WHERE: FrickHill House Association's Kaufman Auditorium, 1835 Centre Ave, Pittsburgh, 15219
MORE INFO: For more information, contact the Governor's Office of Health Care Reform at 412-565-5700.

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Speaking of WPXI...

Rob Owen writes about WPXI's numerous production problems in his Post-Gazette blog here.

I'm not a regular viewer of PXI but I was watching yesterday (to catch the Ravenstahl stories: here and here) and the screen would go blank, the sound would cut out and the video often didn't match the story being reported on by the news anchors.

Now if only they had introduced a story about our mayor with the video of the giant pumpkin:


http://www.wpxi.com/news/14296376/detail.html