Progress Pittsburgh

Here are some blog posts, article and links that you may have missed.

• The Motherhood – Moms CALL IN the Vote – It's no surprise in the most historic election of our lifetimes that moms are playing a critical role. When you vote in this election, record the moment for all of us — and posterity too FROM YOUR CELL PHONE RIGHT HERE!
• PG wins order allowing photography near polling places – Judge James signed a court order stating that county employees cannot interfere with photographers outside polling places as long as they are "located in areas accessible to the public or into which they have otherwise been lawfully admitted." The ruling applies to any member of the public, not just the Post-Gazette.
• Vote for hope – Khari Mosley's editorial on Barack Obama from Saturday's Post-Gazette

Here are some blog posts, article and links that you may have missed.

• 2 Political Junkies: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to Wrap Monday’s Papers in “Vote for Freedom…Defeat Obama” Bags – I know times are tough for the print media, but this is just sad and pathetic. Tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette — a newspaper which has endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for president — will be delivered in a bag which has printed on it:

  "Vote for Freedom…Defeat Obama"

• technology + politics: Hillary Clinton to kick off the last two days of GOTV in Mt Lebanon – Hillary Clinton will be in Mt. Lebanon on Monday am to kick off GOTV at the Obama office. 9:30 am
• Are the Candidates Healthy? : What If Post – A local blog looks at the issue of medical history and presidential candidates
• Tools for being informed voters – List of websites to help you learn about the candidates

Please share your election day parties with us – we will keep updating this list as we learn of more election day parties

Allegheny County 

• Eat Up Cafe at the Union Project – $1 coffee with proof of voting; $3 wrap specials (see event details here)
• IBEW, 6pm – The Allegheny County Democratic Committee, Auditor General Jack Wagner, State Treasurer Candidate Rob McCord, Congressman Mike Doyle, and the IBEW Local #5 cordially invite you to attend the Election Night Victory Celebration.
• Red Hot & Blue at the Waterfront, 5pm – will have red state and blue state margaritas and appetizer specials. Present your voting stub for 1/2 off your first drink (via PUMP).
• Sports Rock Cafe in the Strip, 8pm – The Urban League Young Professionals with NSBE AE chapter, NABA, Voice Your Vote and the National Coalition on Black Participation will be hosting the 2008 Presidential Election Results Party. ($8 at the door/$5 for members of any participating organization)

Indiana County

• Indiana County Democratic Party will host an election night party at The Coney.

Here are some blog posts, article and links that you may have missed.

• Wonkette: The D.C. Gossip » Blog Archive » Wonkette Sexy Election Parties Coast 2 Coast & Around the World – Pittsburgh makes the list of sexy election parties.
• State ordered to be ready sooner with paper ballots – PHILADELPHIA — Pennsylvania election officials will make paper ballots available to voters if half the machines at a polling place break down, they said, declining to appeal a federal judge's emergency order yesterday.

  The state has previously required that paper ballots only be offered if all the machines break down, but several voter groups filed a lawsuit last week in which they said long lines at the polls could disenfranchise voters.

• Pennsyvania Voter’s Bill of Rights – Please share this post/document with everyone. Important information to have on hand for election day. Includes the Election Protection phone number.

Here are some blog posts, article and links that you may have missed.

• Watch Election Protection Training on PCTV – PCTV.org will be showing a video recording of election protection trainings all week.
• Hart-Altmire debate canceled – "Unfortunately, Congressman Altmire could not attend (tomorrow night's) debate because they rescheduled it without conferring with us and we had a conflict," said Tess Mullen, the Altmire campaign spokeswoman.
• Sen. Obama caught in double play – Pittsburgh Tribune-Review – The Chelsa Wagner – Bill Peduto Halloween party makes the Trib whispers column this week.

Here are some blog posts, article and links that you may have missed.

• Meet the Real Joes – Keystone Progress is interviewing real Joes. We've travelled around Pennsylvania and we've met some very interesting people who we believe represent the reality of Joe-ness. Check out these video interviews
• Our Vote Live | Allegheny County, PA – This site lists real time lists of voting problems that have been reported in Allegheny County. Check it out if you want to see what issues are being reported here. This site also offers reports for all of the US.
• Trick or Vote! – October 31st – Nationwide GOTV canvass

Here are some blog posts, article and links that you may have missed.

• UPMC laying off 500 this week – maybe they could have saved a little cash by not putting a sign on the building downtown.
• Hart-Altmire debate postponed – Sarah Palin's arrival is the reason for the postponment.
• What Jack Murtha and Barack Obama get wrong about race and class in western Pennsylvania. – By Dennis B. Roddy – Slate Magazine – Dennis Roddy writing for Slate.com takes a look at Murtha's comment and race play in Western PA – especially older working class Western PA.
• VoteAllegheny accepts audit of Allegheny County voting machines – Members of the advocacy group VoteAllegheny this morning said they are satisfied with Allegheny County's software audit of 18 touch-screen voting machines, even though they would have preferred a bigger random-sample audit size.

Here are some blog posts, article and links that you may have missed.

• Get involved with GLUE – How to Get GLUEy Today – GLUE – IS – PEOPLE! In less than three weeks, we will have elected a new president, and many of you will have new-found free time to devote to, let's just say for the purposes of argument, mega-regional collaboration between civically engaged city dwellers, natch. How can YOU help us hit the ground running in anticipation of a new administration in January?
• Obama East End GOTV Strategy Meeting- Oct. 15 6:30pm – MoveOn sent out an email about this today – this meeting is about their GOTV strategy.
• WXDX goes conservative – Mark Madden, who was fired from ESPN AM radio several months ago after making some crude comments about Ted Kennedy upon word of his brain tumor, was hired by WXDX for a 3-6pm show. In his debut on the air yesterday, instead of the usual metal and hard rock we got Mark Madden telling us Obama is a secret terrorist.

Here are some blog posts, article and links that you may have missed.

• BarackToberFest…With Soul – October 19, 2008 at the Shadow Lounge – Help put our team over the top while the Steelers top the Bengals. Come pledge a donation, and plan time to make phone calls and work on election day.
  Yes, the Steeler game will be on! and we'd like to get everyone plugged in to get out the vote, contact undecided voters, and fight the smears.
• PA League of Young Voters PAC – The League of Young Voters PAC is now on Facebook – join the group and check out their endorsements
• Sleep-In for the Homeless – On the night of Friday October 17, 2008 – beginning at 6:30 PM – until the morning of Saturday October 18, 2008 at 6:30 am – the portico and first floor lobby of the City-County Building in downtown Pittsburgh will be transformed into a place where local citizens can learn more about homelessness in Allegheny County as they participate in Pittsburgh’s first Sleep-In for the Homeless.
• Perspectives on a Sustainability-Driven Industrial Revolution – Movie and Discussion – Perspectives on a Sustainability-Driven Industrial Revolution
  Thu., Oct. 9, 6:30-9 p.m.
  Economy film & discussion.
  412-258-6644, www.C4SPgh.org/know.html.

Here are some blog posts, article and links that you may have missed.

• The Hot Sheet · Today’s News: Volunteer with us! – The PA League of Young Voters makes the Post-Gazette. You don't have to be young to volunteer with the League of Young Voters
• Troopergate Witness Flips Like a Pancake « Mudflats – This is an interesting post with a great picture to compliment it.
  "One of the witnesses called by Stephen Branchflower (independent investigator of the legitimate Troopergate investigation) put herself in a tricky spot."
• McKees Rocks tries to take the politics out of hiring a new police cheifmc – To find and hire Bob Cifrulak, now the McKees Rocks chief, the borough brought in Gamble as its hiring consultant.
  "We went outside and got somebody who was not involved in politics," Muhr said. "There's no controversy, and nobody can say anything like 'This guy is a friend of somebody' and this and that."

Here are some blog posts, article and links that you may have missed.

• John McCain Owns VoteForTheMILF.com? | GOVGAP – - URL Registered within ~36 hours of McCain’s Decision to select Palin as running mate
  - Redirect sends users specifically to a palin.htm file, but only on the FIRST redirect
  - Whois Privacy Information Matches JohnMcCain.com Whois Privacy
  - URL Held by same registrar
  - Note that the .net and .org versions also redirect to the McCain Campaign Website.
• WireTap Magazine – From Slingshots to Solutions: Goals for Organizers – Interesting article at WireTap that discusses effective organizing in light of the actions at the RNC
• Unlock the Vote – PA League of Young Voters has record day in voter registration at the county jail – volunteers registered the inmates at the Allegheny County Jail today — and came back with 456 new voter registrations!

Here are some blog posts, article and links that you may have missed.

• Null Space: watching the bus drive by – "More politics involved this time for sure, but one of my answers is that the Port Authority's upper Management and fellow travelers have spent a lot more time and effort on PR this time around. Think about that some."
• Diondega 412: Bram & The Trib weigh in on Ford-Gate. – Are these voices a militant minority of Luke-Haters? Or does this reflect a bigger problem for the Mayor as the 2009 primary nears. STAY TUNED.
• Arizona governor stumps here for Obama – Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano — in town today campaigning for the Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama — received an earful today from Obama supporters worried the campaign isn't pushing back hard enough against attacks by Sen. John McCain.
• Fewer driving that long, lonesome Mon-Fayette Expressway – Barry Stout – "I'm as totally committed today as I was in 1970, when the Mon-Fayette Expressway wasn't a cubic yard of concrete," he said. "Soon we'll have 57 miles. This is a road we're building for the future, for our grandchildren, so they won't have to leave southwestern Pennsylvania to work and live."

  Sigh – how can we get these officials to see that the future of Western PA is not going to be determined by more super highway – if you want to think future think mass transit please!

• Shields calls for probe of URA deals, irks mayor – "Mr. Ravenstahl responded in a statement that Mr. Shields "has forgotten that he was sent to council to do the people's business, not to promote a political agenda focused on hurting me and aggrandizing himself."

  Dear Luke – it isn't all about you. It is the people's business to maybe question why you are spending lots of taxes payer money for settlements with people that you are supposed to be working with to move Pittsburgh forward. Thank You

Here are some blog posts, article and links that you may have missed.

• Palin’s Wasilla To Rape Victims: Bring Your Checkbook – "So, for four years – from 1996, when Palin took office to 2000 when this law was passed – Palin didn't seem to have a problem with charging rape victims to solve their own crime. And if she did, she certainly didn't communicate that to her hand-picked Police Chief, who didn't have a problem with it."
• Ayanna Lee – Ayanna Lee is a democrat running for State Rep in the 44th district against Mark Mustio
• The Sorry State of Pittsburgh’s Public Transit « My Life and Times – Another Pittsburgh bloger looks at the state of transit in Pittsburgh

Here are some blog posts, article and links that you may have missed.

• Pittsburgh, Pa : Car Free America – Post featuring Pittsburgh on a blog about Car Free living.
• Elections inspector gets role in documentary – Tribune-Review – A veteran Westmoreland County elections inspector, a vociferous opponent of touch-screen voting machines, appears in a recently released documentary, "Uncounted — The New Math of American Elections."
• MoveOn.org Political Action: Host an Organizer – MoveOn.org is looking for people who could host an organizer in their house for days or weeks during the last 2 months of the presidential campaign.

Here are some blog posts, article and links that you may have missed.

• Biden will lead city’s Labor Day parade – Pittsburgh Tribune-Review – Joe Biden will be in Pittsburgh on Monday to walk in Pittsburgh labor day parade which is one of the largest in the country.
• Letters to the editor – MonFayette Expressway – 2 Letters to the editor in todays Post-Gazette against the Mon-Fayette Express way plans.
• The Hot Sheet · The Latest News from the Pennsylvania League of Young Voters – The PA League of Young Voters has a new website to see upcoming events and pictures posted right from the field.