Finally. Even though the story was broken by "The New York Times." Well, at least SOMEONE is watching what's going on in Pennsylvania.


Radiation-fracking link sparks swift reactions
Saturday, March 05, 2011
By Don Hopey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Reports this week of high radiation levels in Marcellus Shale waste fracking fluids and weak regulation of the industry have turned on a spigot of action by federal and state officials.

U.S. Environmental Protection Administrator Lisa Jackson visited the agency's Region III office in Philadelphia Friday to ascertain the radiation issue will be addressed in an ongoing national study on the drinking water impacts of hydraulic fracturing, an industrial process used in shale gas development.

The EPA will seek data from the state Department of Environmental Protection and the drilling industry on radioactivity in the fracking fluid "flowback" water.

In a statement released following Ms. Jackson's meeting, the EPA said that while the national study progresses, it "will not hesitate to take any steps under the law to protect Americans whose health may be at risk," including enforcement actions to ensure that drinking water supplies are protected.

After a well is drilled, millions of gallons of water, sand and chemical additives are pumped deep underground under high pressure to crack the shale formation and release the gas it contains. As much as 20 percent of that fracking fluid waste returns to the surface with the gas and contains a variety of radioactive minerals from the shale.

The New York Times reported that hydraulic fracturing wastewater at 116 of 179 deep gas wells in the state contained high levels of radiation and its effect on public drinking water supplies is unknown because water suppliers are required to conduct tests of radiation only sporadically.

A number of public water suppliers, including the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority and Pennsylvania American Water Co. said this week that they would voluntarily test for radiation.

State Rep. Camille Bud George, D-Clearfield, announced he will introduce legislation calling for mandatory and independent radiation testing of all public water supplies that could potentially be affected by Marcellus Shale drilling wastewater discharges, and requiring the drilling and gas companies to pay for the testing.

State Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Highland Park, renewed his call for a moratorium on drilling and said he will introduce legislation to toughen state Oil and Gas Act regulations on well siting around residences and streams, and impose a severance tax on Marcellus Shale gas production. Gov. Tom Corbett opposes such a tax.

"A moratorium is the most reasonable approach, especially in light of recent revelations about serious threats to our drinking water supply," Mr. Ferlo said. "This bill provides a framework for updating and improving regulations, as well as retaining the economic benefits of Marcellus Shale development."

In a statement issued Thursday, the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, one of the most mainstream of the state's environmental organizations, called on Mr. Corbett to drop plans to open more of the state's forests and parks to Marcellus gas drilling.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.

Personally, I hope that my Jewish friends and neighbors have not been sitting around, waiting for the Pope to make this pronouncement. The Jewish people were never responsible for the death of Jesus, if, in fact, there is any truth whatsoever to anything that is written in the Bible. To me, it's just another pronouncement from some old man in Rome who is so far out of touch with the realities of modern society that he holds no credibility or authority in my world. My hope is that Jewish people are smart enough not to even care what this guy has to say. If he wants to make a pronouncement that means anything, then he should declare once and for all that any Roman Catholic priest who is found to have abused children is stripped of his title, thrown out of the church, and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Now, THAT would be something worth writing a book about.


Pope exonerates Jews for Jesus' death in new book
By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press
Mar 2, 8:42 AM EST

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI has made a sweeping exoneration of the Jewish people for the death of Jesus Christ in a new book, tackling one of the most controversial issues in Christianity.

In "Jesus of Nazareth" excerpts released Wednesday, Benedict uses a biblical and theological analysis to explain why it is not true that the Jewish people as a whole were responsible for Jesus' death.

Interpretations to the contrary have been used for centuries to justify the persecution of Jews.

While the Vatican has for five decades taught that Jews weren't collectively responsible, Jewish scholars said Wednesday the argument laid out by the German-born pontiff, who has had his share of mishaps with Jews, was significant and would help fight anti-Semitism today.

"There's a natural human tendency to take things for granted, and very often this tends to lead to a lapse in awareness and consciousness" about the risk of anti-Semitism, said Rabbi David Rosen, head of interreligious affairs at the American Jewish Committee and a longtime leader in Vatican-Jewish dialogue.

He noted that the Vatican issued its most authoritative document on the issue in 1965, "Nostra Aetate," which revolutionized the Catholic Church's relations with Jews by saying Christ's death could not be attributed to Jews as a whole at the time or today.

Rosen said the pope's words might make a bigger, more lasting mark because the faithful tend to read Scripture and commentary more so than church documents, particularly old church documents.

"It may be an obvious thing for Jews to present texts with commentaries, but normally with church magisterium, they present a document," he said. "This is a pedagogical tool that he's providing, so people will be able to interpret the text in keeping with orthodox Vatican teaching."

The book is the second installment to Benedict's 2007 "Jesus of Nazareth," his first book as pope, which offered a very personal meditation on the early years of Christ's life and teachings. This second installment, set to be released March 10, concerns the second half of Christ's life, his death and resurrection.

All of this in the name of free speech and Christianity . . .

High court rules for military funeral protesters
By MARK SHERMAN
Associated Press
Mar 2, 10:58 AM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the First Amendment protects fundamentalist church members who mount anti-gay protests outside military funerals, despite the pain they cause grieving families.

The court voted 8-1 in favor of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan. The decision upheld an appeals court ruling that threw out a $5 million judgment to the father of a dead Marine who sued church members after they picketed his son's funeral.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion for the court. Justice Samuel Alito dissented.

Roberts said the First Amendment shields the funeral protesters, noting that they obeyed police directions and were 1,000 feet from the church.

"Speech is powerful. It can stir people to action, move them to tears of both joy and sorrow, and - as it did here - inflict great pain. On the facts before us, we cannot react to that pain by punishing the speaker," Roberts said. "As a nation we have chosen a different course - to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate."

Alito strongly disagreed. "Our profound national commitment to free and open debate is not a license for the vicious verbal assault that occurred in this case," he said.

Matthew Snyder died in Iraq in 2006 and his body was returned to the United States for burial. Members of the Westboro Baptist Church, who have picketed military funerals for several years, decided to protest outside the Westminster, Md., church where his funeral was to be held.

The Rev. Fred Phelps and his family members who make up most of the Westboro Baptist Church have picketed many military funerals in their quest to draw attention to their incendiary view that U.S. deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq are God's punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.

They showed up with their usual signs, including "Thank God for dead soldiers," "You're Going to Hell," "God Hates the USA/Thank God for 9/11," and one that combined the U.S. Marine Corps motto, Semper Fi, with a slur against gay men.

The church members drew counter-demonstrators, as well as media coverage and a heavy police presence to maintain order. The result was a spectacle that led to altering the route of the funeral procession.

Several weeks later, Albert Snyder was surfing the Internet for tributes to his son from other soldiers and strangers when he came upon a poem on the church's website that attacked Matthew's parents for the way they brought up their son.

Soon after, Snyder filed a lawsuit accusing the Phelpses of intentionally inflicting emotional distress. He won $11 million at trial, later reduced by a judge to $5 million.

The federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., threw out the verdict and said the Constitution shielded the church members from liability.

Forty-eight states, 42 U.S. senators and veterans groups sided with Snyder, asking the court to shield funerals from the Phelps family's "psychological terrorism."

While distancing themselves from the church's message, media organizations, including The Associated Press, urged the court to side with the Phelps family because of concerns that a victory for Snyder could erode speech rights.

Roberts described the court's holding as narrow, and in a separate opinion, Justice Stephen Breyer suggested in other circumstances, governments would not be "powerless to provide private individuals with necessary protection."

But in this case, Breyer said, it would be wrong to "punish Westboro for seeking to communicate its views on matters of public concern."

In case my vast and loyal readership has not heard yet, I have decided not to return to Pittsburgh from Florida until I get $3 million per episode of the sitcom that is my life.


DAVE: I have to give Tom Corbett credit. He is paying back the natural gas industry for all of their campaign donations, and he is not wasting any time in doing it. Pennsylvania is headed for a tremendous and precipitous fall. I am seriously starting to consider a move. Even TEXAS has stricter environmental regulations and a tax on natural gas drilling. But not Pennsylvania. Nope. We're just giving it away for nothing. Only in America. And it won't be long before a state public education at a school like Penn State will cost $30,000 a year. Maybe higher. The republicans want to cut off as much government funding to the general public as possible. Do you know what happens in an urban area like Pittsburgh when the government stops funding programs that benefit the poor? Crime goes up. Way up. And I am a lot of things, but being an alarmist is not one of them. In our lifetimes, we are going to see protests in the streets like the ones in Libya, with the government and the "people" fighting it out to the death with their guns. Blood will flow, my friend. Blood will flow.

JIM: I, like far too many Americans, am too busy just trying to keep up with my life to worry about such big picture things before it is far too late. Stuck at work here until God knows when on a Friday night. Been here since before 8 am and not leaving any time soon. No time to do things like eat or sleep, let alone worry about the fall of society.

DAVE: Understood.

Unfortunately, I fear that I will find myself on the frontlines of the revolution when it finally occurs. I will be standing with the poor against the government, the police, the national guard, the army, whatever. A society, any society, that fails to care for its poor is doomed to destruction. That's even in the bible. And I stopped believing in god when Bush "won" over Gore. If there was a god, he would never have let that happen. Unless it was in his plan all along to watch us destroy ourselves and start anew. Maybe we are due. I certainly never even considered it. Until it became clear to me and others like me where we were headed. Unfortunately, Pennsylvania is in very bad shape. Our legislature is way too big, way too bloated, and way too expensive. But to protect their jobs and their benefits and their perks, they will cut programs to people who really need them. I need to get out of there. I love Florida. But this state is in pretty bad shape, too. 12% unemployment. No income tax, though. I should move to Boston. Or Toronto. But my life is in Pittsburgh. I can't imagine leaving. But I may have to leave for my own survival.

I don't think that I could have said it any better. But that's just my opinion . . .

Sunday Forum: Mouthing off in America
We've got way too many opinions and are way too willing to share them, laments writer STEPHEN RANDALL.
Sunday, February 27, 2011

You think too much. And you're not alone. Everybody's thinking too much. We live in an era in which it is important to have opinions. Not necessarily smart or original ones; almost any opinion will do as long as it's forcefully expressed.

When it comes to opinions, we're all living in an intellectual Costco, where it's volume, volume, volume.

It wasn't that long ago that opinions were something carefully considered and weighed, so that they'd stand the test of time and reflect well on the author. Thinkers were like gourmet chefs laboring over an elaborate meal they wanted to be perfect. But today, opinions are Big Macs -- thrown together hastily, served by the billions and not very good for you.

You probably don't want to have as many opinions as you have. But everyone around you has them. There's cable news, of course. Glenn Beck has plenty of opinions. So does Keith Olbermann (late of MSNBC and soon of Current TV).

When you sell opinions for money, the way Keith and Glenn do, it doesn't take you long to catch on that the more opinions you have, the more money you make. So, like radish farmers who grow more radishes in order to get rich, Keith and Glenn create dozens of new opinions per night.

But here's the problem: They're not very smart opinions. And they're forcing everyone around them, including you, to also have far too many opinions. We post them on Facebook; we tweet them; we express them in comments on Huffington Post or Town Hall. We've become junior-grade cable goons -- but paid much less.

We get angry too, just like Keith and Glenn. What's the point in having an opinion if it's not an angry opinion? If something upsets us -- like a member of Congress and a bunch of innocent bystanders being shot in Tucson -- we don't mourn, we fulminate. We assign blame. Or we deflect blame -- angrily.

It's hard to find the good guys when one side is self-righteously accusing the other side of lacking civility as if that were any more likely to spark violence than movies or video games, and the response is, weirdly, to defend a lack of civility as if it's a good thing.

Opinion inflation has invaded every aspect of our lives. It causes us to post our opinions about our dry cleaner on Yelp. Did you used to have an opinion about your dry cleaner, or was he just sort of there, like a shrub or a parking meter?

Did you even notice what George W. Bush wore on his feet? Probably not, but half the country wanted to weigh in on President Barack Obama's wearing of flip-flops to the beach.

If the Gap or Starbucks changed their logos a few years ago, would you have noticed? And more important, would you have run to Facebook (if it had existed) to cast your vote for the old Gap logo, as if it had always been a meaningful part of your life?

The Internet is a Petri dish of opinion inflation, breeding commentary like bacteria. Because few people do anything interesting or have anything factual to report, they toss off a short opinion. That, in turn, leads to opinion hyperinflation; just look at the comments sections on any blog.

Opinions quickly devolve from Big Macs into rat poison. Civility makes only a rare appearance, and facts are no longer facts. Evolution, climate change, gravity -- it's all one point of view against another. Everyone gets a vote, even the people who aren't particularly sane.

There was a time when thoughtful people tried to be balanced. The old-style political columnists were famous for saying nothing. They presented both sides of any given issue in an "on the one hand/on the other" fashion, pretty much allowing readers to form their own opinions, which -- lacking proper guidance -- readers rarely did. Walter Cronkite voiced so few opinions that when he uttered one -- about the Vietnam War -- it changed the course of history.

Of course, those days were boring. Today's onslaught of nonstop commentary everywhere you look is significantly more entertaining. Walter Lippmann was tedious; Arianna Huffington is not. Eric Sevareid could put you to sleep faster than Ambien; Sean Hannity is a shot of double espresso (with the new, not the old, Starbucks logo).

Now we're hooked. We don't go to a new restaurant to eat a meal; we go there to tweet about it. We can't post a link to an article without giving it some sort of grade. We criticize the music we listen to and the TV we watch. Awards shows have been reduced to weird Joan Rivers screeds about what celebrities are wearing on the red carpet. Each dress has to be deconstructed by a panel of experts and found wanting.

It's all turning us into surly teenagers who disagree with everything.

There's a certain irony, I realize, to expressing an opinion about opinions. And perhaps I should be grateful. Not only am I more entertained these days, but when I'm feeling lazy, I can switch from thinking too much to not thinking at all. I am so surrounded by opinions that I don't need any of my own. I can turn on Fox or MSNBC and adopt an entire political philosophy without knowing a thing.

Of course, the problem is that when I share that philosophy, I don't sound intelligent, I sound like a drunk arguing with an empty barstool.

On his old HBO show, Dennis Miller used to end his trademark rants with, "Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong."

He was right. I could be wrong, too. But he was also way too opinionated.


Stephen Randall is the deputy editor of Playboy. He wrote this for the Los Angeles Times.

Despite being in Florida for two weeks, I am keeping track of events back home in Pittsburgh thanks to the wonders of the post-gazette.com. I see that Tom Corbett is paying back his big campaign contributors from the natural gas industry by repealing the already rather weak environmental regulations that were put in place during the end of the Rendell administration. Most politicians make all sorts of campaign promises to their big contributors, but rarely do they ever actually come through with all of them. From the early signs, Corbett is going to allow the natural gas industry to rape our beautiful state, while simultaneously screwing the citizens out of safe drinking water and tax revenue. Thanks, Tom.

In other news, I see that Bishop David Zubik has brought a new friend to Pittsburgh to assist him with his duties. I think they make a handsome couple.

Brewed On Grant: Mubarakenstahl
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 09:34 AM
Written by Rob Rogers

According to Bill Peduto's Facebook page and a story in the Trib Review, the Mayor's office sent out a memo that asked City Council members to limit their use of social networks during their meetings. The memo comes on the heels of the Egyptian government shutting down the internet to prevent protesters from accessing Twitter and Facebook. Peduto dubbed Lukey "Mayor Mubarakenstahl."

Bob Smizik's Blog
Coonelly wants higher attendance before Pirates do more spending
Thursday, February 24, 2011 12:30 AM
Written by Bob Smizik

In the 1989 oh, so sweet, slightly preposterous baseball movie, "Field of Dreams," the main character, played by Kevin Costner, is walking through his Iowa cornfield when he hears a voice:

"If you build it, he will come.''

So motivated, Costner's character builds a field on his farm and he (Shoeless Joe Jackson) comes to play ball on it.

In the 2011 oh, so sour, completely preposterous upcoming Pirates season, "Field of Screams," the team president, played by Frank Coonelly, is walking among the fan base and, stuck for a good line, does a Costner takeoff:

"If you come, we will build it," he tells the crowd.

Yep, Frank Coonelly is back issuing ultimatums to Pirates fans. In a recent interview, Connelly so much as said the team’s payroll, usually at or near the bottom among the 30 MLB franchises, will remain there until more fans start coming to games.

And there you have it, the Pirates latest promotion to get fans to PNC Park: Blackmail.

Instead of being grateful for the fine support fans give the worst team in baseball, Coonelly is telling them they need to do more. If they don’t, the not-so subtle message is that there will be more years of low payrolls and -- since mismanagement is built in -- more losing teams.

Here’s Coonelly in an interview with the web site piratesprospects.com:

Pirates prospects: "Would the Pirates be able to afford a $70M to $80M payroll, in present-day worth, if this current group of players were competitive enough to merit additional outside free agents?"

Coonelly: "Today, no, but we will be able to support that payroll very soon if our fans believe that we now have a group of players in Pittsburgh and on its way here in the near future that is competitive. We need to take a meaningful step forward in terms of attendance to reach that payroll number while continuing to invest heavily in our future, but I am convinced that the attendance will move quickly once we convince our fans that we are on the right track."

Incredible! Coonelly was asked the question Pirates fans had long been asking: Will ownership upgrade payroll to support a winner? It's a question owner Bob Nutting always has ducked. Coonelly did not duck. He took the large softball thrown up by piratesprospects.com and . . . swung and missed.

James Krug of isports.com had a response to Coonelly's bewildering statement that is reproduced here because he said it far better than I could.

"Sadly, Coonelly does not place the immediate onus on the Pirates themselves to build a better, more competitive team that fans would WANT to see. Rather -- as has been a consistent message from Pirates' ownership -- they desire to see a significant increase in attendance PRIOR to the team actually getting good! It's maddening. From a purely business perspective, it is a backwards approach. You could liken it to a car company telling its customers:

"'We really want to build better cars for you. But before we do, we need you to start buying our lower-quality, underperforming cars in a much higher volume.'

"While many aspects of running a multi-million dollar business are highly complex, appeasing a fan base is not. Offer them a consistently competitive team, and they will show up in droves. Bobbleheads and fireworks only mask an inferior on-the-field product for so long. The Pirates were provided a jewel of a stadium in PNC Park that was almost entirely publicly financed. They are handed tens of millions of dollars every year in MLB revenue sharing and the MLB TV contract- to the point that it could cover their ENTIRE payroll most years!"

This is so typical of how the Pirates operate. They should be groveling at the feet of their loyal fan base and not threatening to raise ticket prices, as they've done, and not threatening to withhold a good team until more fans pay good money to see a bad team.

Not even Hollywood could make up this story.

Consol Consort
Monday, February 21, 2011 09:35 AM
Written by Rob Rogers

Pennsylvania Senate Pro Tem Joe Scarnati accepted a free trip to Super Bowl XLV from Consol Energy, Inc. Granted, he wasn't the only government official in Harrisburg to accept the freebies and he has since promised to pay them back, but it looks bad since Scarnati is involved in how to regulate and tax the emerging natural-gas drilling industry.

As some of my vast and loyal readership know, I embark on a two-week odyssey in ultra trendy Bradenton, Florida this week. With a ride to and from the airport safe and secure, I may not even have to wear a jacket on the plane. You probably haven't been paying attention, but the highs in Bradenton lately have been in the low 80s. So . . . I probably won't be needing a jacket.

I have a special present for the gecko hunter with whom I will be spending eight days alone in my parents' palatial estate while they go on a cruise to Central America with my sister's family. As it turned out, my sister got a hotel room for her family for the night before the cruise leaves from Florida and the night after it returns. Enough said.

And for those of you who follow baseball, you know it is Spring Training in Florida. My father offered me his tickets to the Pirate games during their cruise, and I said no thanks. While this season may very well be his FIRST without some kind of ticket plan for the Pirates at a time when he was residing in Pittsburgh, he still hasn't given up the Spring Training tickets. It's what all the seniors do down there. Most of the games are in the afternoon, they only last about two hours, and the old folks can drive home in time for the early bird special and be off the roads by dark.

Father of nine children ranging in age from 25 to 2 months? Roman Catholic? You think?


Baldwin man vows to keep 24-foot lighted cross in yard
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
By Sarah Steimer and Mary Niederberger, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Baldwin Borough resident Carl Behr informed borough council at its meeting Tuesday night that he would not remove a 24-foot illuminated cross from his property as he had been instructed to do.

Mr. Behr received a letter from the borough Monday, following a neighbor's complaint, stating the cross was not in compliance with borough code and must come down within five days.

Mr. Behr said the cross, which is nailed to a tree on his property at 1210 Robbins St., is "about the Lord." Those who want it removed, he said, are against God.

"This is a message I have to deliver," he said, and thanked his neighbor who complained because he said it allowed him to share his message with more people.

Mr. Behr, 45, said today that the 24-foot cross that is affixed to a tree on his property is a message to the world that it is time to "make a choice -- are you with the Lord or against the Lord?"

Mr. Behr, the father of nine children ranging in age from 25 to 2 months, said he has been a practicing Roman Catholic all of his life and that he is a member of St. Elizabeth parish in Baldwin. But things have changed for him in the past year.

"Something that's happened to me in the last year is that my journey to the Lord has gotten really strong," he said.

He said it was a message from the Lord that prompted him to erect a small lighted wooden cross on the roof of his home three months ago. Then on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 6, he received another message from the Lord telling him to erect the 24-foot cross.

He said he missed the first half of the game, in which the Steelers played the Packers, to finish the job. He lit it for the first time that night.

He admits that the crosses appeared around the time that a neighbor complained to borough officials about items from his contracting business that he had on his property and construction vehicles parked on the street. But he said those complaints have nothing to do with the crosses, the largest of which shines directly into the home of the neighbor who complained.

Mr. Behr said the placement of that cross was to ensure that it is seen throughout the valley below.

JIM: Found stink bugs twice recently.

DAVE: Yeah, it's going to be a bad summer for them. They are simply hard to kill and they have no known predators. They may be a superior bug to even the cockroach.

JIM: Pit a cockroach and a stinkbug against each other in a battle to the death. I bet that video would be a hit on YouTube.

DAVE: http://www.stinkbugtrapsonline.com/

Sure enough, I found a stink bug crawling across my floor the other night. They're still around, and not going anywhere, as warmer weather mercilessly approaches. But this is America, where even the words "the American Dream" bring John Boehner to girly tears. And where there's a need, there is always someone who is willing to try to find a solution. Usually for about $19.99. Plus shipping and handling.


Stink bug trap on the way
Saturday, February 12, 2011
By Doug Oster, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The war against the brown marmorated stink bug just got a new weapon.

Sterling International has developed the Rescue Stink Bug Trap and will have it in stores this summer. It uses a synthetic pheromone or sex lure to attract the insect into the trap.

Stink bugs, an invasive species from Asia discovered first in Allentown, Pa., in the late 1990s, have spread to at least 30 states. These bugs have confounded gardeners and farmers alike by feeding on a variety of vegetables and fruits, including but not limited to tomatoes, apples, beans and ornamental plants. They have also plagued homeowners, finding their way inside as the weather turns cold. They are harmless, but a nuisance in the house.

There are no known natural predators for them the United States, but a species of titmice (a bird) will eat them. The stink bug is also resistant to many pesticides.

Stephanie Cates, formerly of Upper St. Clair, is director of marketing and communications for Sterling International in Spokane, Wash. She says that the trap will attract both the immature (nymph stage) and mature bugs.

"In the nymph stage, they can't fly. The trap is most effective if it's close to the garden canopy so they can jump from a leaf onto the panels of the trap," she said.

It's designed for outdoor use only. Tests have found that the bug doesn't react to the pheromone indoors, although the company is working on ways to trap the bugs once they get inside. The radius of the trap is limited to 20 feet, so it won't lure bugs from all over, Ms. Cates said.

The pheromones are odor-free to humans.

"If people can catch them outdoors and eliminate them before they get inside, that's the best way to go," she said.

When the trap becomes available at independent garden centers in July, it will retail for $19.95 and come with enough pheromones to last two weeks. A replacement pheromone insert lasts seven weeks and costs $9.99.

The trap was tested last fall at the USDA's 800-acre facility in Beltsville, Md.

"We caught lots of adult stink bugs," Ms. Cates said.

Information: http://rescuebugblog.typepad.com/rescue_bugblog/stink-bugs/ .

DAVE: Check out this photo of you. There is a little story behind this photo. One of my fraternity brothers was taking photos at Greek Sing that year, and he took this photo of you and then secretly placed it in an envelope and slipped it into my IFC mailbox, where I found it days later, much to my surprise. I've kept it ever since.

CINDY: I'm so embarrassed for myself! Ugh!

DAVE: Don't be. You look a helluva lot better than the other girls.

DAVE: Sidney Crosby could be out for the season. They're not fucking around with his concussion. He is at home in Manitoba or whatever.

JIM: As more information is learned about head injuries and their long-term effects, I think teams in all contact sports are scared shitless. Yes, of course the Penguins care about Crosby and are going to be cautious because they want him to have a long and productive career. But I think that teams are also afraid that they are going to end up on the hook financially big time for all the problems former players are having due to concussions they suffered when playing.

DAVE: Several prominent law firms are already putting together massive class-action lawsuits against the NFL. You can always count on the lawyers to spur change.

Casinos continue to be just great for Pennsylvania, much like the Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling will be. Fortunately, Uncle Ed and his cronies had the foresight to see that gaming casinos were the answer to Pennsylvania's financial problems. How did that work out?


Boy, 15, played slots at casino for an hour
Thursday, February 10, 2011
By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Rivers Casino was fined $105,000 by the state Gaming Control Board today in connection with seven instances of underage gambling, including one on New Year's Day when a 15-year-old boy played slot machines for an hour.

The Meadows Racetrack and Casino also was fined $30,000 by the gambling board for three episodes of underage violations. In one, a 3-year-old child was taken into the casino by his stepmother. According to the gaming board, the two were in the casino for only a matter of minutes and did not gamble.

Both fines were the result of consent agreements reached with the casinos and approved at today's meeting.

According to the gambling board, the Rivers' violations stretched from June to January and involved gamblers ranging in age from 15 to 20. In the incident involving the 15-year-old boy, the teenager was cited by state police for underage gaming and both he and his mother were banned from the casino for life.

In another incident in September, an 18-year-old female played slot machines for about half an hour. She also had been issued a player's card by the casino on Feb. 15, 2010, and had used it three times that month. She was cited for underage gaming and carrying false identification.

Besides the incident involving the 3-year-old, The Meadows was fined for a July episode in which two children, ages 9 and 11, entered the gambling floor with their mother. According to the board, they were there for only minutes and none gambled.

The fines are the second for both facilities. The Rivers Casino also was fined $16,000 in January 2010 for one instance of underage gambling. The Meadows was fined $5,000 in December 2009, also for a single instance of underage gambling.

That's a raise of 361% for a 1-11 season on a last place team . . . in case you're scoring along with us at home . . .

DAVE: The players ALWAYS get raises. And pretty generous ones at that. Regardless of performance.

Pirates pitcher wins salary arbitration hearing
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pirates pitcher Ross Ohlendorf won his salary arbitration hearing today and will be paid $2,025,000 this coming season.

The Pirates had argued that his salary should be $1.4 million.

The case went to arbitration after the Pirates and Ohlendorf, 28, could not agree to terms. He earned $439,000 last season.

Ohlendorf had a 1-11 record with a 4.07 ERA in 108 1/2 innings last season. He was on the disabled list twice, once with a back injury and then with muscle strain in his right shoulder.

Pitchers and catchers report for spring training in Bradenton on Sunday.

JIM: The real issue is: why would the Pirates even offer him arbitration?????

DAVE: Because his is a cornerstone of the Pirates' five-man rotation of fifth starters.

JIM: Dude...

DAVE: It's true. You can look it up.

And this is why you should always check to make sure the names and email addresses in your "To" field are the right ones.


2 workers, fired over Obama e-mail, file suit
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
By Timothy McNulty, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Two workers at the Centers for Rehab Services at UPMC Mercy hospital who were fired after they shared an e-mail comparing Barack Obama to "another tar ball washed up on the shore" have filed suit against the center, saying their constitutional rights were violated.

Administrative assistant Deborah Bonnano sent the "tar ball" e-mail to rehabilitation aide James Sprung during the Gulf oil spill last summer, along with a photo of Mr. Obama running on a beach. The center fired them, saying it was "an inappropriate e-mail that contained political and discriminatory content."

But a civil suit filed in Common Pleas Court Friday said the termination violated their constitutional rights to free speech, and specifically their opinions that Mr. Obama was "dithering while oil continued to gush" after the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion.

The e-mail was apparently discovered after Mr. Sprung tried to send the e-mail to his sister but inadvertently sent it elsewhere.

JIM: I'm sorry for you about the Super Bowl.

DAVE: Thanks. It was a little painful to watch. But I didn't watch ONE minute of the FOX pre-game, so at least I didn't watch something that would have been even more painful.

JIM: You mean you didn't watch the robot built by NASA and GM to see who it predicted was going to be the game's MVP?

DAVE: Nope. Didn't see it. In traditional fashion, I turned off ESPN around noon and watched Entourage for the rest of the afternoon, before going to my friend's house to watch the game, arriving at 6:15. Unfortunately, I did catch the overly patriotic singing of BOTH of our national anthems, apparently, even though I tried to time my arrival at the party for exactly 6:30. I hate the Super Bowl pregame. But with FOX handling the "official" pregame, I was even more predisposed to skipping it. And from what I've read, I am the lucky one.

JIM: I always like to watch the singing of the national anthem. It always amazes me when teams hire people who screw it up though. Even more amazing, I was at a party in a roomful of people who were all watching and I was the only one who realized that Christina Aguilera screwed up the words. Unbelievable.

Aguilera was so bad, it reminded me of the national anthem sung before the Penguins first Stanley Cup game. I don't understand how professional organizations cannot hire people who can sing the national anthem. I used to be a season-ticket holder for the 76ers and I can say that at every home game I attended, they always had someone who was absolutely, jaw-dropping amazing at singing the national anthem. If the Sixers can get it right for every single meaningless regular season game, how can the NFL screw it up so bad in their biggest game of the year with the entire world watching? Pisses me off.

I'm 14 minutes into "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps," and I'm already thinking about stopping it and cutting my losses on yet another failed sequel. Oliver Stone used to make good movies. And he used to use good actors. Or at least actors who could act convincingly. I swear, the first one was good. Maybe a little dated now, but still a good movie.

The last remaining Blockbuster in my part of Pittsburgh, if not all of Pittsburgh, is closing. The time has come for the Blockbuster next to the 24-hour Wendy's on Baum Boulevard (which I don't think is even opened 24 hours anymore). While all of the other Blockbusters around town and around the country have closed, this one store remained opened as it continued to serve the variety of small neighborhoods around it. Like so many others before me, I joined the Netflix cult last year. But if you don't have a credit card, then you can't join Netflix or the similar companies that rent video games. I guess this Redbox that I see everywhere has pretty much replaced Blockbuster among consumers without credit cards. Just think about how the emergence of Blockbuster about 20 years ago dramatically changed the way people watched movies at home. For years we rented movies on those VHS tapes (Please be kind and rewind), and then when Blockbuster transitioned to entirely DVDs, I was forced to buy my first and still only DVD player. Blockbuster was the gold standard for renting movies and then video games for many years. Realizing that I will never need it again, I cut up my Blockbuster membership card the other night. I had originally opened my account at the Blockbuster on Baum.

Dave's Super Bowl XLV prediction . . .

My vast and loyal readership may or may not know that I do not ordinarily make predictions on big games like, say, the Super Bowl. But I thought I would take a shot this year.

I am a little concerned that the Steelers are overconfident going into the game, and that they may have to withstand an early passing attack from the Packers. I see the game settling down to more of a defensive battle going into halftime. In the second half, I expect both teams to come out throwing early and often as the second half becomes a battle of the two quarterbacks. In the end, of course, I expect Ben Roethlisberger to emerge victorious with a winning drive late in the game.

Final score:

Steelers 33
Packers 30

DAVE: Well, it seems that in addition to all the wonders that have come into my life because of high speed internet, it has also brought with it a virus of some kind. And I swear to you that I never went to one porn site or opened up even one dirty photo. After I got the high speed internet, that is.

JIM: Kind of makes it not worth it, huh? If you're going to get the virus anyway, you might as well be visiting those sites then.

DAVE: Dude, I love the real thing so much that porn has just never been able to match that. I was talking to one of the wacky women in my life today about her desire to purchase some ridiculously expensive undergarments. She sent me the link, and all I could think about was taking the underwear off of her.

http://www.laperla.com/en-us/lingerie/bras/cfilpd904780?e=&f-size=&f-style=&f-variant=bn-uswh01&s=relevance

Recap of Monday morning . . .

DAVE: Do you ever use a shoe horn?

JIM: I used to have one when I was young. Don't know what ever happened to it. I would say that I have never used a shoe horn since I left home to go to college. Why do you ask?

DAVE: Like you, I never really took to shoe horns, except maybe when I was a young man and I had to cram my feet into dress shoes every Friday night for dance class. But generally, I haven't had a need for one. I bought a new pair of shoes recently that fit nice and properly, and I need a little help getting my heels into the things. I knew that I had one somewhere in my place that I had been carrying with me for years. I looked around and finally found it. It really does help me get my new shoes on. I suppose, like other shoes before it, there will come a day when I start slamming my feet into the shoes without the assistance of the shoe horn, but for now, I need it.

JIM: So since probably about last Wednesday, my work computer has been making this loud, high-pitched squealing noise, and performance has been really slow. I mean, REALLY slow. So I called our Help Desk last week and the guy on the phone told me to blow canned air into the vents on the computer. Nice. How do I get that job?

Anyway, now my computer has pretty much ceased to function at all. I just now was finally able to get it to boot up, after nearly an hour and a half. I called our Help Desk again and the guy I spoke to this time said that they had me down to get a new one, but that they hadn't gotten to it yet. It's possible that they might be able to get me a new one by tomorrow, but he didn't know because "the depot is really backed up," whatever that means.

100% of my work is spent sitting at my desk staring at my computer screen. If I don't have a functional computer, then I can't get any work done.

DAVE: Fifteen minutes ago, I was just reading an email response that I got from the Pirates guy at the PG when my laptop started making a clicking sound, then a blue screen, then I just shut it down. I just got it back up and running. My laptop is in desperate need of replacement, but I really don't have the money right now. So, yes, having no computer at work for you definitely sucks. But if I don't have my laptop at home, then I got pretty much nothing.

In Pittsburgh, when you are born during the playoffs, you become a fan for life.

I don't mean to sound unsympathetic, but this story is an example of what I like to call modern Darwinism. And over the years, I have found that guns often play a role in modern Darwinism.


Bartender fatally shoots himself in Lawrenceville
Thursday, January 27, 2011
By Sadie Gurman and Moriah Balingit, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pittsburgh police said a Lawrenceville bartender argued with relatives Wednesday night before he went to a bar and accidentally shot himself in the head with a gun that was kept there.

John Popinski, 52, shot himself about 11 p.m. inside Salac's Bar, in the 4500 block of Butler Street, which was closed at the time. Mr. Popinski had a key and went there with his teenage son after "having some arguments" with family members, Cmdr. Thomas Stangrecki said.

The son called 911 to report that his father was shot. An arson detective who arrived found the front door locked but could hear screaming inside. He tried to kick open the door but couldn't get inside until someone with a key arrived.

Inside, the detective found Mr. Popinski shot in the head but apparently still alive. He was taken to UPMC Presbyterian in critical condition and was pronounced dead there at 11:36 p.m., the Allegheny County medical examiner's office said.

A .357 revolver was recovered at the scene. Police believe Mr. Popinski was playing with the gun, which is kept inside the bar, Cmdr. Stangrecki said.

"It appears he caused his own injury," he said.

Facebook to let advertisers republish user posts
By BARBARA ORTUTAY
AP Technology Writer
Jan 26, 5:02 PM EST

NEW YORK (AP) -- Facebook users who check in to a store or click the "like" button for a brand may soon find those actions retransmitted on their friends' pages as a "Sponsored Story" paid for by advertisers.

Currently there is no way for users to decline this feature.

Facebook says this lets advertisers promote word-of-mouth recommendations that people already made on the site. They play up things people do on the site that might get lost in the mass of links, photos, status updates and other content users share on the world's largest social network.

The new, promoted posts would keep the same privacy setting that the original posting had. So if you limit your check-ins to a specific group of friends, only these same friends would see the "Sponsored Story" version later.

The promoted content will appear on the right side of users' home pages, not in their main news feed. That's where regular ads, friend requests and other content are located.

Involving users in advertisements without their consent has been a thorny issue for Facebook. Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said in this case the company is making money off a person's name or likeness without their consent. He calls it "subtle and misleading" and says users should object.

Twitter already offers advertisers something similar, called "promoted tweets." These are Twitter posts paid for by advertisers to show up in search results and on top of popular topic lists on the site. But while Twitter's ads are written by the companies that pay for them, Facebook's sponsored stories are created by users.

Both represent an effort to make advertisements more akin to what people are already experiencing on the site instead of putting up virtual billboards that users might ignore or find tacky.

DAVE: I seriously need some advice. The woman who lives next to me and who also serves on the condo board with me (and who is generally rather strange) has friended me on Facebook. What the fuck am I supposed to do? I hate Facebook.

MICHELLE: You can ignore the request - they are not notified. Then just block her. She will never know. If you see her just tell her you took your page down.

DAVE: Tough call. It's a lose-lose for me. I think what I'm going to do is accept her friend request, and then wait about a month before deleting her as a friend. I've done something similar once before. If she has a bunch of friends, she'll never notice. If she doesn't have a bunch of friends (like me), then . . . Maybe I will check that first.

I had no idea. Parents should definitely read this . . .

Officials fear bath salts are growing drug problem
By SHELIA BYRD
Associated Press
Jan 22, 3:54 PM EST

FULTON, Miss. (AP) -- When Neil Brown got high on bath salts, he took his skinning knife and slit his face and stomach repeatedly. Brown survived, but authorities say others haven't been so lucky after snorting, injecting or smoking powders with such innocuous-sounding names as Ivory Snow, Red Dove and Vanilla Sky.

Some say the effects of the powders are as powerful as abusing methamphetamine. Increasingly, law enforcement agents and poison control centers say the bath salts with complex chemical names are an emerging menace in several U.S. states where authorities talk of banning their sale.

From the Deep South to California, emergency calls are being reported over exposure to the stimulants the powders often contain: mephedrone and methylenedioxypyrovalerone, also known as MDPV.

Sold under such names as Ivory Wave, Bliss, White Lightning and Hurricane Charlie, the chemicals can cause hallucinations, paranoia, rapid heart rates and suicidal thoughts, authorities say. The chemicals are in bath salts and even plant foods that are sold legally at convenience stores and on the Internet. However, they aren't necessarily being used for the purposes on the label.

Mississippi lawmakers this week began considering a proposal to ban the sale of the powders, and a similar step is being sought in Kentucky. In Louisiana, the bath salts were outlawed by an emergency order after the state's poison center received more than 125 calls in the last three months of 2010 involving exposure to the chemicals.

In Brown's case, he said he had tried every drug from heroin to crack and was so shaken by terrifying hallucinations that he wrote one Mississippi paper urging people to stay away from the bath salts.

"I couldn't tell you why I did it," Brown said, pointing to his scars. "The psychological effects are still there."

While Brown survived, sheriff's authorities in one Mississippi county say they believe one woman overdosed on bath salts there. In southern Louisiana, the family of a 21-year-old man says he cut his throat and ended his life with a gunshot. Authorities are investigating whether a man charged with capital murder in the December death of a Tippah County, Miss., sheriff's deputy was under the influence of the bath salts.

The stimulants aren't regulated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, but are facing federal scrutiny. Law officers say some of the substances are being shipped from Europe, but origins are still unclear.

Gary Boggs, an executive assistant at the DEA, said there's a lengthy process to restrict these types of designer chemicals, including reviewing the abuse data. But it's a process that can take years.

Dr. Mark Ryan, director of Louisiana's poison control center, said he thinks state bans on the chemicals can be effective. He said calls about the salts have dropped sharply since Louisiana banned their sale in January.

Ryan said cathinone, the parent substance of the drugs, comes from a plant grown in Africa and is regulated. He said MDPV and mephedrone are made in a lab, and they aren't regulated because they're not marketed for human consumption. The stimulants affect neurotransmitters in the brain, he said.

"It causes intense cravings for it. They'll binge on it three or four days before they show up in an ER. Even though it's a horrible trip, they want to do it again and again," Ryan said.

Ryan said at least 25 states have received calls about exposure, including Nevada and California. He said Louisiana leads with the greatest number of cases at 165, or 48 percent of the U.S. total, followed by Florida with at least 38 calls to its poison center.

Dr. Rick Gellar, medical director for the California Poison Control System, said the first call about the substances came in Oct. 5, and a handful of calls have followed since. But he warned: "The only way this won't become a problem in California is if federal regulatory agencies get ahead of the curve. This is a brand new thing."

In the Midwest, the Missouri Poison Center at Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center received at least 12 calls in the first two weeks of January about teenagers and young adults abusing such chemicals, said Julie Weber, the center's director. The center received eight calls about the powders all of last year.

Dr. Richard Sanders, a general practitioner working in Covington, La., said his son, Dickie, snorted some of the bath salts and endured three days of intermittent delirium. Dickie Sanders missed major arteries when he cut his throat. As he continued to have visions, his physician father tried to calm him. But the elder Sanders said that as he slept, his son went into another room and shot himself.

"If you could see the contortions on his face. It just made him crazy," said Sanders. He added that the coroner's office confirmed the chemicals were detected in his son's blood and urine.

Sanders warns the bath salts are far more dangerous than some of their names imply.

"I think everybody is taking this extremely lightly. As much as we outlawed it in Louisiana, all these kids cross over to Mississippi and buy whatever they want," he said.

A small packet of the chemicals typically costs as little as $20.

In northern Mississippi's Itawamba County, Sheriff Chris Dickinson said his office has handled about 30 encounters with bath salt users in the past two months alone. He said the problem grew last year in his rural area after a Mississippi law began restricting the sale of pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in making methamphetamine.

Dickinson said most of the bath salt users there have been meth addicts and can be dangerous when using them.

"We had a deputy injured a week ago. They were fighting with a guy who thought they were two devils. That's what makes this drug so dangerous," he said.

But Dickinson said the chemicals are legal for now, leaving him no choice but to slap users with a charge of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor.

Kentucky state lawmaker John Tilley said he's moving to block the drug's sale there, preparing a bill for consideration when his legislature convenes shortly. Angry that the powders can be bought legally, he said: "If my 12-year-old can go in a store and buy it, that concerns me."

CAN'T WAIT!

Since I signed up for Facebook not so long ago, I have had four people un-friend me. They were all women. They apparently take Facebook friendship far more seriously than I do. Or perhaps they have just a little too much time on their hands. Either way, this is a hilarious song parody about Facebook. Enjoy.

DAVE: I don't think that I ever told you something that I learned from ESPN over the holidays. If you are an NCAA student athlete who fails a course before a bowl game, you can appeal your failure until after the bowl game. I don't remember being able to "appeal" my grades in college. It's all rigged, my friend.

JIM: You act like you are surprised by this.

DAVE: Actually, the thing about me is that I always assume the worst about human nature. Which might be a problem were it not for the fact that humans always live up to my expectations.

Crosshairs
Written by Rob Rogers

I don't think Sarah Palin's map was the reason for the Tucson tragedy, but let's face it, Palin seems to invite this kind of scrutiny. Her defense was that they were not crosshairs but surveyor symbols. Give me a break! Meanwhile, the GOP is still avoiding "civil" discourse by calling the health reform bill "job-killing." They are acting like the very children they are denying coverage. They can't justify destroying this historic legislation ... so they call it names. Job killing? I know you are but what am I?

JIM: I just found out that all of the work that I stayed late to do on Friday and then came into the office and worked until 10 pm Saturday night was all for nothing. Someone screwed up upgrading some database software on Friday, so anything done since Thursday night is going to be totally wiped out. I have to do all of it all over again.

I could have watched the Steelers game...

DAVE: I am always amazed and impressed at all the ways that technology has improved our lives.

For instance, I couldn't cash a check at the bank the other day because "the system was down." Can't cash a check without the system. We can't do anything anymore without the system.

Bottomline: sorry, dude. That sucks.

JIM: There's got to be a way to beat the system.

This is the portable music device that I was using twenty-five years ago.

And this is just one of several portable music devices that I have now. I have a pretty vivid imagination, but I never thought technology would be so portable. And so ubiquitous.

You know, I upgraded to Internet Explorer 8 recently. And I don't like it. The reason that I don't like it is that it leaves too much of a trail of where you've been. More so than previous versions. I don't even share my laptop with another living soul, and I still don't like such a history of my Internet activities being so readily available, even to me. I guess I'm just old-fashioned that way.

Two of a very elite group of men . . .

She looks mad . . .

The nice thing about Las Vegas is that what happens there, generally stays there. And that's a blessing for the rest of the country. It's just . . . sordid. The whole story. The whole place. The whole lifestyle.


Sister of slain Las Vegas dancer curses defendant
By CRISTINA SILVA
Associated Press
AP Photo/Julie Jacobson
Jan 12, 6:24 PM EST

NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. (AP) -- The sister of a slain Las Vegas dancer stood in a courtroom Wednesday and cursed the man accused of strangling her only sibling and covering her naked, dismembered body in concrete.

"I hope you (expletive) rot in jail, you (expletive) for what you did to her," Celeste Flores Narvaez screamed at defendant Jason Griffith after his arraignment on murder, battery domestic violence and destroying evidence charges.

Griffith, 32, did not enter a plea or respond to the outburst.

During the hearing, Griffith spoke only briefly to acknowledge he had reviewed the criminal complaint against him.

"Do you understand what you are being charged with?" asked Justice of the Peace Chris Lee.

"Yes," responded Griffith, a performer at the Cirque du Soleil "Love" show at The Mirage resort-casino.

He was being held without bail and was ordered to return to court Feb. 15. He could face the death penalty if convicted of killing 31-year-old Debora Flores Narvaez.

Griffith's lawyer, Abel Yanez, said his client would not speak to the district attorney's office or police without a lawyer present.

The courtroom outburst was an unusual show of emotion for Celeste Flores Narvaez, who relocated from Atlanta to Las Vegas to calmly oversee the search for her younger sister after the dancer was reported missing Dec. 14.

Celeste Flores Narvaez told The Associated Press seeing Griffith in court offered little satisfaction.

"I want to handle it myself," she said, cracking her knuckles.

She sat impatiently in the courtroom before Griffith appeared, sharing details about her sister's funeral in a measured voice. She said she will likely return to the family's native Puerto Rico with her sister's body on Monday.

"I'm trying to keep it together," she said.

But she began to sob soon after Griffith was escorted into the courtroom.

"Is that him?" she asked a reporter, before crossing the room to sit closer to the defendant.

The family will hold two memorials for Debora Flores Narvaez this week in Las Vegas, including a public ceremony Friday at the "Fantasy" burlesque show at the Luxor hotel and casino, where the dancer performed.

The victim's body was found Saturday covered in concrete in two plastic tubs at a downtown Las Vegas home. Police said Griffith strangled her in the heat of the moment during an argument then tried to hide the evidence by sawing off her legs and storing her body in the tubs.

"It is just disgusting," Celeste Flores Narvaez said.

She said she spoke with Griffith twice after her sister's disappearance. Each time, she said, he told her a different version of what happened Dec. 12, when the two dancers met at Griffith's house to watch a television show about a serial killer.

Griffith initially told police Debora Flores Narvaez left his house to attend dance rehearsal.

"Basically," Celeste Flores Narvaez said, "he was telling lies from the get-go."

Flores-Narvaez and Griffith had been dating for about a year when investigators responded to a domestic violence call involving the couple on Oct. 22, according to police records.

She told police she was pregnant with Griffith's child when he stole her phone, pushed her to the ground, kicked her and yanked out her hair. Griffith denied hitting her.

Flores Narvaez left Maryland, where she was a Washington Redskins ambassador, to pursue her dreams of becoming a professional dancer two years ago. Friends and family said she was happy in Las Vegas, where she performed at some of the Las Vegas Strip's trendiest nightclubs - Haze at the Aria hotel and Jet at The Mirage, among others.

When it comes to guns, insanity prevails
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
By Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

After what happened Saturday, everyone senses the truth whether we publicly acknowledge it or not.

As a nation, we've reached a terrible impasse in our politics, where the sharp edge of free speech and the remorseless logic of every citizen's right to bear arms are locked in an embrace of mutually assured dysfunction.

According to witnesses, Jared Loughner, a 22-year-old resident of Tucson, Ariz., shot 20 of his fellow Americans, killing six and wounding 14, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the Democrat who represents his district.

In several Internet posts wedged between screeds about "illiterates" and currency not backed by gold, the suspect obsessed over the connection between a person's words and the ability to construct reality.

To attempt to follow his argument is to fall head-long into a rabbit hole of nonsensical gibberish. Still, Mr. Loughner did not resort to metaphors or similes during the rampage.

When internal logic fails, there's nothing like a Glock 9 and a case of depraved indifference to get one's message across to the political class. You don't have to make a political contribution or a coherent argument to be heard. Once again, guns are American democracy's great leveler.

According to those who know her, Ms. Giffords, a gun-owner and self-described "pretty good shot," would not want to see Second Amendment rights curtailed in the wake of her attempted assassination.

Ms. Giffords was much more concerned about the violent rhetoric and hateful jeremiads that permeate Arizona's airwaves and political theater.

Though she would be the first to give Arizona's lenient gun laws a pass, the push-back against the notion that Arizona's politics is uniquely intolerant began as soon as the initial shock wore off.

Questioning Arizona's shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later culture, or the vitriol created by extreme political rhetoric, is considered opportunistic by those with the most to lose.

People in the media who profit from fear don't want to see the gravy train end, even if it is destroying the country.

The only thing not considered off-limits is speculation about Mr. Loughner's mental state. Fair enough, but why is a man who was rejected by the U.S. military still able to legally buy a weapon that makes it possible to shoot 20 people in less than a minute before reloading?

"Guns don't kill people, individuals do," goes the mantra of those who insist that looking for a culprit beyond the madness of the individual shooter is beside the point.

We are also to believe that a mentally disturbed 22-year-old with access to one of the most lethal weapons on the market was not affected by violent rhetoric in the environment in which he lived. How likely is that?

Meanwhile, suppose the Constitution grants every American citizen a right to buy as many guns as his bank account allows -- shouldn't there still be limits on gun ownership by those with diminished mental capacity or evil intentions?

People like the accused gunman are a bigger threat to our system than the scariest zealot in al-Qaida.

Foreign terrorists can only hope to create havoc every blue moon, but there are disturbed and angry people in every community, occupying every point along the political spectrum, who have easy and legal access to guns.

Hardly a week goes by that we don't hear about their murderous handiwork at some office building, factory or school. It is only when these murderers turn their attention to politicians that media coverage jumps off the scale.

Still, there are millions of Americans, perhaps the majority, who would rather deal with the potential for mass shootings every day by our fellow Americans than tolerate limits on Second Amendment rights.

We consider it an essential part of our freedom, one that isn't reserved for the mentally stable. Few other democracies can boast of this right. They have a long way to go before they can match our body count.

The ongoing adventures of Sidney . . .

MOM: I knew this was going to happen sooner or later. Sidney dug a deep tunnel underneath the drain pipe and fence and ended up next door near his favorite bush. He was having a wonderful time hunting so I got his lead and went around the house and nabbed him and brought him in the front door. I quickly grabbed some blocks and plugged up the hole. His nose is so red and it does not seem to other him. I have a handyman coming this week to give me an estimate to brick in the rest of the patio. I have ordered two more fences so I can go straight across the back toward the chimney. I am removing the bushes and tossing the old ones and saving the smaller ones to pot them and have them on the patio for interest. I am going to get large pots so he does not turn them over. I think I will take up the lights in the back and try to get some sort of lighting around the table and perhaps get a floor lamp for reading for the other side. Hopefully all this will be done by the time you get here. I hate to take away his livelihood but his digging is tracking sand and dirt into the house and causing me havoc with the carpets. It is so cute to watch him outside because his tail is wagging very fast and he gets so excited at the prospect of hunting. I hate to take away his fun but enough is enough.

DAVE: The shooting in Arizona is awful. In this country, a reality of everyday life is that you have the chance of being at the wrong place at the wrong time and getting shot. Guns are everywhere.

MICHELLE: My dad is always saying guns are for protection, but how can you protect yourself from insane people? It is very scary.

The happy couple has just released a candid photo from the special occasion over the holidays.

JIM: I still remember the time you and I went golfing in Schenley Park...

DAVE: I, too, remember it quite vividly. It was the first and last time that I ever played golf. And I still tell the story of that day every time the subject of why I don't play golf comes up. You have lived on in my storytelling ever since it was one of the worst experiences of my entire life.

JIM: I'm proud to have been a part of it. I think.

Some of my vast and loyal readership may recall that I made my annual prediction of the Steelers final season record way back in September. Below is the original post. It does appear that I was wrong about the Jets in the Comments section. I didn't see them ending the season at 11-5. But I also didn't see them beating the Steelers at home.


Monday, September 13, 2010

After the first game of the season is when I traditionally make my prediction for the Steelers season record. This year is a little more complicated since Big Ben is out for the first four games. But I feel up to the challenge. In a move that goes against what most ESPN types are prognosticating for the Steelers, I predict that their record will be 11-5, with an outside chance of 12-4.

Posted by Dave at 7:00 AM

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

8-8

9/14/10 10:58 AM

Dave said...

Child, please. The extremely overhyped and overrated New York Jets might go 8-8. But not the Steelers. But here's hoping that we all enjoy seeing how it all turns out.

9/14/10 5:31 PM

(http://davethequietobserver.blogspot.com/2010/09/after-first-game-of-season-is-when-i.html)

I left Florida on December 24th, Christmas Eve. When I arrived in Pittsburgh, I called my mother, and she told me that once Sidney realized that I wasn't coming back from my father's trip to the airport, he spent the rest of the day "moping around." I told her that he was lucky to be a dog because he will have forgotten about my absence by the next morning. She asked me if I would be back to normal by the next morning.

Nope. I'm still moping around.

So, uh, how long do I have to keep saying "Happy New Year" in return when somebody says it to me? Seriously. Some people in this town are still saying "Happy New Year" in February.