See what you can do with this guy

Here's a challenge for the literary gang based on a few facts about a fellow. By reading the following bullets you know as much about him as I do. See what you can come up with.

• He was born in 1895.
• His name was Barney.
• He had a metal plate in his head from an accident that occurred during WWI when he was sitting on a box of landmines enjoying a cigar.
• He did go to college, although I don't know where.
• He liked the theatre (plays, not the musical spectacles of today).
• He was a sports writer for the Brooklyn Eagle before that newspaper declared bankruptcy during the Great Depression.
• He read Shakespeare.
• He spoke fluent Yiddish, although only one person who knew him ever heard him use it.
• He liked Wild Turkey.
• He had an artist friend who painted this portrait in 1941 (http://sunsite.utk.edu/delaney/delaney.htm ).
• He and his friend hung out in a bar on Canal Street that was frequented by artists.
• According to people who knew him it was not uncommon for his hands to be bandaged from brawling.
• He was a lefty and a member of the Workman's Circle ( www.circle.org)
• After some years of little or no employment during the Depression he finally got a job as a parole officer on the Lower East Side in the days when the POs actually visited the parolees instead of the other way around.
• Professionally he carried a gun.
• His nose was flat from being kicked while inspecting a horse at Aqueduct.
• It was not unheard of for him to blow the rent at the track.
• In the early sixties he and his wife visited Israel. He insisted on leaving after only three days because he was offended by what he perceived to the enforced second class status of the Palestinians.
• Among his effects were obituary clippings about people that had died fighting the Fascists in Spain.
• He died in 1965.
• I don’t know where he’s buried.

The Objector Visits The Big City.

It was great to be back in New York. As usual, we had a list of things that we wanted to do but we only go through about half of it. It always seems to work out that way.

Our first evening we hit Times Square, almost by default. We had intended to make it downtown to the Blue Note, but traffic was so bad getting into town that we never made it. But we were in the city so we decided to do the tourist thing. I already mentioned the band, but there were a few other things that were cool.

I had never seen one before, but there was a street corner Rabbi preaching away at 43rd and Broadway. Who knew?

It's apparently good to be a fireman in New York these days. A fire truck pulled up to a hotel and three of the six crewmen ran inside to take care of whatever they were called for. The other three guys stayed with the truck where they were mobbed by female tourists taking pictures.

The other two days were spent wandering from neighborhood to neighborhood seeing the sights and enjoying ourselves.

We went to the Whitney Museum, which is a nice small-ish collection of American paintings that includes a good deal of Edward Hopper, as well as some of the 50s and 60s pop stuff. The great thing about their Hopper collection is that they have the archive of all of his drawings, so they are able to put a single painting in a room and then also exhibit all of the pencil studies for it. It enables the visitor to see the genesis of the painting by following the studies around the room until you inevitably get to the final study that is closest to the actual painting followed by the painting itself. Very interesting.

I love going to Chinatown. It's chaotic and foreign and just incredible. On Saturday it was also amazingly crowded. The sea of humanity shuffling down Canal Street - navigating around guys hawking fake Rolexes and Prada bags - was a single, unstoppable mass of folks flowing along, spilling into the street.You couldn't stop to tie your shoe. There is a place on Mosco street, just off Mott, called the House of Dumplings. The whole place is about six feet by ten feet with half of that being taken up by a grill. The dumplings are amazing and at five-for-a-dollar they are hands-down the best bargain in Manhattan. We didn't get to spend too much time in Chinatown - essentially we went for the dumplings - but I could have spent all day there. Fortunately, it will still be there the next time we visit.

Even yesterday, as we were leaving, we stopped and picked up a pizza. I am an ardent believer that there is very little good pizza west of the Delaware river, so we took a pie home with us.

Obviously three days is not enough time, but we had a lot of fun and, personally, I can't wait to go back. You will never run out of things to do in New York. It was a great trip!

You can never have too much Coleman Hawkins

I did get to do some serious music shoping while we were in New York, mostly at hole in the wall places downtown. Take-homes included:

• Coleman Hawkins (pictured) - Hawkins Alive at the Village Gate. 1962. A Japanese re-issue of a Verve recording, very nicely done.
• Coleman Hawkins - Coleman Hawkins and His Confreres. 1961. The dates feature Ben Webster, Roy Eldridge and the Oscar Peterson Trio back when Ray Brown was still in that band.
• Lionel Hampton - Ring Dem Vibes. 1976.
• Elvin Jones - Jazz Machine. 1999. A live recording from the Blue Note.
• Illinois Jacquet - The Blues, That's Me! 1969. IJ was a tenor sax player, but on this album he plays a Bassoon of all things on Monk's 'Round Midnight'. Great boozy sounding blues.
• Red Garland - Solar. 1962.
• Iro Haarla - Northbound. 2005. These newer ECM recordings are somewhat avant, but the musicians are excellent and the recordings tend to be peerless.
• Shelly Manne & His Men - At the Blackhawk #1. 1959. This is good west coast cool. There are actually five seperate albums released by Contemporary Records from this series of performances.
• Milt Jackson - Self titled. 1955. Very hard to beat this one.

A very good trip indeed!!! My wife wonders at my ability to unearth Coleman Hawkins records that we don't already have lying around the house. Well, there's always the next trip.

The 42nd Street Polo Club

We almost made it to the Blue Note

We had reservations to go to the Blue Note down in the Village. For any number of reasons, mostly transportation related, we didn't make it. We were, after all, staying in Secaucus.

There was a silver lining to this little setback though. The night we got to town we wound up wandering around the Times Square area where we ran into these guys. They called themselves Hypnotic. I'm not sure about the name, but they were a really tight band. Funk infused big band jazz, for lack of a better classification. They were really swingin' too. They were using a tuba for their bottom instead of an electric or upright bass which is very unusual these days, and they did it very well. They hail from Chicago and are currently living in Queens. We hung out and listened to them for over an hour, bought a couple of CDs and felt as though we'd gotten to see something very cool. The bonus was that it was way cheaper than the $90 plus drinks we would have dropped downtown. It was one of those lemons and lemonade things.

What are they talking about in New York?

This is impossible to actually read, but it says, ".... Shooting that wounded five Duquesne University basketball...." Referring to the gunplay last week at Duquesne University.

This was the first thing we saw go by on a ticker tape. I didn't realize this had become a national story and I was surprised to see it scrolling by in Times Square. Pittsburgh achieves a level of infamy I guess.

New York City, Come Hell or High Water!

The editor of the Unconscionable Objector, along with my indulgent and long suffering wife, have just returned from the Big Apple. That’s right: New York City, which would be in the general vicinity of where I grew up before moving to the Burgh.*

I'm sure I won't disappoint anyone by changing the subject away from political blather for a few posts.

It was a short trip. We were really there for only two and half days, but we packed a lot in and we had a great time. I feel like I've been gone for a week. This is good. I needed a vacation.

We were lucky we made it at all. We were supposed to leave Thursday morning and we were supposed to be staying at the New York Athletic Club, a very posh private club located at 59th and 7th - Central Park South. My dad knows someone who is a member and we were able to book rooms. The idea was to meet my parents, stay the club and enjoy the city. Unfortunately, my mom got sick and my parents decided to go back to Florida early(she's fine). My dad, who is well meaning but kind of dense sometimes, made an assumption that because they were leaving we would not be coming. After all, this wasn't our vacation that we'd been planning for six months, and there wouldn’t be any reason we’d ever want to go to New York City other than to see my parents...... nooooo. So anyway, along with canceling the remainder of his own reservation he also cancelled ours. This would be Wednesday and we're supposed to arrive on Thursday around noon.

Did I mention that we'd been planning this trip for six months?

This week was also the tail end of fashion week AND the United Nations summit. Lots of reasonably priced hotel rooms to be had in mid-town. Noooo problem.

We were forced to compromise, and I do mean compromise.

We wound up at the La Quinta Inn in Secaucus NJ. Yes folks: Secaucus. If you're not familiar with Secaucus let me give you a little background. The town is essentially re-claimed swampland that for a hundred years was used a land fill. Lotsa garbage. Panoramic shots of this general area appear in the opening credits of the Sopranos. About fifteen years ago someone got the bright idea to take the wetlands that were not already burried in garbage and fill them in to build a few office buildings and some big-box retail. It has since grown to become an ocean of asphalt that rivals New York City, but with absolutely none of the city's finer amenities. In the midst of this sea of tranquility is where we stayed, in a hotel that was a little worn and at a location that had all the charm of a Walmart parking lot. It was, however, clean and very convenient to Manhattan with a bus leaving every ten minutes from the front door. We didn't spend much time there in any case and it did not ruin our trip by any means.

The next few posts will be the highlights.


(*I actually grew up in New Jersey, but only ten miles from mid-town and I never owned and IROC. All my family was from the city and that's how I identified. This may also explain why I never fully warmed up to the Boss.)

Yeah, but.....

On the other hand, the GOP is having an argument about whether or not they should be allowed to torture people....

This is why the Democrats can't win.

As we're coming up on the November election, I think this quote from the Times sums up nicely why the Democrats won't win the election.

“The reason that Democrats aren’t talking about specific plans to end the war is because it’s hard to figure out what to say without alienating a broad swath of the electorate.”

So they are only going to offer a plan to end the war if their political calculations show that it will help them in the polls. Offering a plan to end the war simply for the sake of ending the war would be asking too much.

At least the Republicans will tell what they're trying to accomplish in Iraq, even if it isn't working.

America's beloved passtime

I spend a great deal of time complaining about sleazy politicians and other associated slime, but if convicted, the winner this week will be small-time loser a little closer to home.

You just can't make this stuff up.

The Post-Gazette reports that, according to charges filed against Mark Downs, the former coach of a Uniontown T-Ball team, Mr. Downs allegedly offered his eight-year-old pitcher $25 to hit an autistic kid with the baseball during practice in order to get the disabled kid to withdraw from participating in a playoff game.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06256/721322-85.stm

Then, according to testimony, and as if to further prove what a dirtball he was, the coach made up some excuse to renege on paying the pitcher his money!!!!

OK. So what have we taught our budding young Tom Seaver? Win at all costs? Be a vicious bastard because that's OK as long as you come out on top? When someone offers you money make sure you get a contract? It’s all right to pick on the handicapped kid? Well the pitcher testified against his coach which will probably be a better learning experience than anything Mr. Downs could have taught him.

I think this guy needs to go to jail for a few months.

Oh, and the kid who got hit with the ball (twice) is OK. He apparently learned the hard way to wear both a helmet and a cup.

Infamy for the 21st century.

Well, I suppose a word or two about the fifth aniversary of the September 11th attacks is appropriate.

I'm not one for gushing patriotic jingoisn and you'll never hear me babling on about heroism and valor - although there was certainly plenty of that to be noted. There are people who are better at that stuff than I am. To me, 9/11 isn't about that. Its more personal and it isn't something I'd wear on my sleeve.

Aside from the personal loss for the dead and their survivors, the great tragedy of the event was its pointlessness. It wasn't an invasion to conquer Manhatten. Nobody was trying to gain anything economically from it. No one was trying to protect national interests - the usual reasons people go to war. No, this was an attack simply to provoke more fighting, to goad the United States into going on the offensive; an act of war solely to cause a war, with no goals other than death and destruction - the whole thing over some vague notion of 'sticking it to the infidel'.

It was traumatic. I don't know why, but I was trying to be blasé about it in my best New York fashion. That didn't work though. I started not being able to sleep and that went into months. Being sort of dense, it took me a while longer to figure out why I couldn't sleep. It took a full year before I felt normal again. I'm not sure why I was trying to play it down in my own mind. I guess I didn't want to think about it, but I couldn't help it. Who knows?

The first thing I honestly laughed at - I mean really howled my ass off at after the attack? South Park, when Cartman plays Bugs Bunny to Osama's Elmer Fudd. "Pretty small ain't it?" The irony of course, is that I only happened to see it on TV because I couldn't sleep. It doesn't seem as funny today, but at the time it was great.

My first reaction was not especially progressive. I felt this urge for punitive retaliation. Kill a few hundred thousand people indiscriminately to just to make a point that we could do it. That feeling lasted about a week, then I got over it, and then I wasn't sure what to think. Afghanistan seemed like a good place to put some effort. Getting the people who committed this crime and stringing them up seemed like it was too kind. This too passed and I tried to be mindful that access to a jury trial is one of the things that makes us better than these terrorists, even though it is too good for them. Intellectually I still tell this to myself, but emotionally I don't always believe it.

This was an ugly thought. About two weeks after the attack I was in a parking lot walking back to my car. Coming up the aisle towards me was a young Muslim man. He was a small fellow. He had a beard, although he was barely old enough to be able to grow it. It was the kind of beard that the jihadis wear; untrimmed, un-groomed, just sticking out at all angles. Then there was his wife; fully covered from head to toe, walking six steps behind him like a shadow. He didn't interact with her. She just followed him. In that moment this fellow represented to me the very thing we were being attacked by; the enemy of any sort of enlightenment, an adherant of medivilism. Without asking I assumed that he was a religious fanatic whose wife was little more than chattel. I felt like access to our open world was being abused by the presence of a man who treated his wife as a third class object. I got angry. I wanted to beat him with my fists right there on the asphalt. I looked him in the eye and he saw me. He had sort of a crazed expression, although I suppose in retrospect that might very well have been fear. I'll bet he got a lot of dangerous looking stares in those days. I walked past him and kept going to my car. I'm embarrassed that I ever felt that much hatred towards someone I didn't even know. *

I was never crazy about the idea of using 9/11 as a pretext for other adventures, either foreign or domestic. Enough ink has been spilled on bitching about Iraq (although I confess that initially I was not inexorably opposed to it) and the erosion of civil liberties, but in general, we didn't do well here.

I don't think we've done an especially good job honoring the victims. To my mind, the best way to pay homage to the dead was to uphold the core values of the country. Instead we got a lot of militaristic "with us or against us" dogma, boot-in-your-ass country songs, melodramatic flag-waving tributes and small minded public officials using the tragedy to advance some pretty nefarious agendas. In the aftermath we espoused freedom, but we didn't honor it by preserving it. I know I've said this before, but our leaders took a situation that could have been used to reaffirm all the ideals this country is supposed to be about and they squandered it. Oh, they talked about those ideals, but their actions - the invasions, the prisons and the tourture (!), all of that said something otherwise entirely. We pissed away what should have been the defining American moment of the 21st century. Then again, maybe we did define it, just not the way I think we should have.

Anyway....

A nod to the people who were personally touched by 9/11. In all of the aftermath and uproar and politics and misuse of your tragedy I think most Americans hold a special place for you. I know I was personally affected by it and I suspect a lot of other people were too in ways that they'll never tell.

Pax.

(*I wrestled with whether or not to include this paragraph. It's not something I'm proud of. In the end though I decided to include it because a) it really is one of my most vivid memories about the aftermath of 9/11, particularly because it is so out of character for me to think that way, and b) I don't think anything is served by trying to cover up the kind of conflicting and often angry feelings that the whole thing created. If I'm going to talk about it I might as well talk about all of it. I know I wasn't the only one.)

Not all bad

I was going to write a scathing piece about naked ambition and political ego, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.

When I still lived in Pittsburgh's Beechview neighborhood Jim Motznick was our Councilman. He's taking some well deserved flack this week, but I actually had a pretty good experience with him.

My wife and I - as some of you know - had a little heroin problem living across the street from us when we still lived in town. Fed up, frustrated and very concerned I organized some of the neighbors to action and we called the Motz for assistance. He did us a couple of good turns. For starters, he put together a meeting between We-the-People and the zone 2 police commander with the narcotics squad in tow. The police and Mr. Motznick met with us for several hours one evening. They agreed to work with us and it was very productive.

In the weeks that followed, the heroin problem made some threatening remarks that caused some additional concern. Mr. Motznick was again helpful in hooking me up with a Magistrate who was willing to issue a restraining order. In the end I didn't use it, but it was nice to know it was available.

We won too. The pressure we put on the problem a) got the guy arrested, b) got the guy to kick, and c) got the guy to throw his junkie friends off the street. A victory for everyone.

We wouldn’t have been able to do it if Jim Motznick hadn’t sponsored that initial meeting and I genuinely appreciated his help.

So I am sorry to say it, but this week Mr. Motznick…well…he needs to tone it down a little. It was no secret that he wanted to be Council President when Riciardi moved on. He didn’t get it and now, through a bizarre twist of fate, Ravenstahl is Mayor instead. But at the time, who knew?

Jim Motznick’s behavior this week – publicly insulting his peers and whining that he didn’t get the nod for Council President – was unseemly and unfortunate, especially since Bob O’Connor hasn’t even been buried yet. He was right to apologize. He said some stupid things.

But he’s not an altogether bad guy; a little over-ambitious maybe, but not all bad. He was effective for my street. He can still be effective for other constituents. I hope he’s able to set aside his ambition to serve his residents. He and the city will be better off.

Pittsburgh politicians reach unanimity..... It's Tom Murphy's fault!

Pittsburgh, September 6th, 2006 - Of all the sentiments being expressed this week about the passing of Bob O'Conner there was one sentiment that I was surprised to hear so much of: 'Whatever is wrong with Pittsburgh, its Tom Murphy's fault'. All week long, every time there has been a local news story, some politician was taking a pop at Murphy.

It seemed odd.

I think City Council - almost to a man - is still bitter that Murphy called for the Act 47 municipal bankruptcy protection. The O'Connor people are still ticked that Murphy cut that last minute deal with the firemen during the 2001 Democratic primary tipping the election to Murphy. The community development crowd felt betrayed by promises of neighborhood revitalization that evaporated into two stadiums and some very high-profile flops downtown.

Yes, the deal with the firemen was ... well I guess 'corrupt' would be the word for it, but by the same token, just prior to the bankruptcy City Council wasn't exactly jumping off a cliff with both feet to make any of the tough choices that needed to be made in order to balance the budget. There is plenty of blame to go around.

Tom Murphy might have been a prickly guy, and as a result perhaps an unlikely politician, but I don't think he was as bad as everyone now seems to claim. Regardless of whether you think the two stadiums were an unaffordable luxury, or whether Murphy downplayed neighborhood development in favor of big downtown projects, the city is in better shape today than it was when I moved here in 1993 - largely the years coinciding with Murphy's administration. I'm not saying it's perfect, or that Murphy can take all of the credit, but it is better and he certainly had a role in the improvements.

I'm generally of the opinion that anything positive that happens in the City of Pittsburgh occurs despite the best efforts of the City government. It's a redundant and obstructive bureaucracy. Someone explain to me why the City needs to have its own dog license instead of just using the County's? At the head of the brigade of apparatchiks is City Council. There are some good people there, but there are also some useless members representing only the narrowest city employee’s union interests or providing patronage to close friends. Pittsburgh City Council demonizing Tom Murphy is like Tammany Hall calling the Chicago Machine to point out patronage, feather-beding and graft - six of one, half-dozen of the other.

But I suppose nothing diverts attention away from one's own faults better than pointing out the faults of others (While I, on the other hand, am an editorialist). A City Council that is neutered by Act 47, and therefore has no real recent accomplishments to boast of, has little else to do other than to cast blame any which way it can. Unfortunately for Tom Murphy, they've made him the whipping boy.

Don't be fooled.

Yeah. No one saw this coming....

The sub-title for this blog is 'Bears poked... no waiting' which is in itself a rip off from Canadian TV's Red Green Show, as in 'Don't go poking bears with sticks'. Of course, the difference is that when I do actually poke anything it's with my keyboard, and I'm really just poking politicians or other filthy lucre, not real bears.

This guy, on the other hand, poked everything he could get his hands on, literally. Back when we used to have TV I saw this guy pulling big pissed off venomous snakes out of bushes, climbing trees to escape pissed off poisonous lizards and running away from pissed off wildebeasts...... He seemed to have a knack for pissing off virtually every wild animal he encountered, probably because he was always grabing them by their tails and pulling them out of bushes. Poking the bears as it were.

Well, he will poke no more bears, or snakes or wildebeast. He was killed yesterday in a freak sting-ray accident. At least he died doing what he loved.

The moral of the story? Only poke rhetorical bears. They're much less dangerous.

Yeah, we know they're a bunch of godless fruit-bombs out there, but they still dig the Steelers

Frisco Dave, originally from that most Pittsburgh of neighborhoods - Peters Twp - sends along his ode to the Steelers:

This is probably the last email I get to send out before the 2006 football season starts and I have to return to the “SoS” (same ol’ Steelers). The ones that steal defeat from the jaws of victory, the ones that get your hopes up and then dash them.

So let’s take a moment to live in the world of the super bowl winnin’, 6 games on the road achievin’, Peyton Manning trouncing, better than the Patriots bein’ Steelers.

Ah. Isn’t that nice?

It’s like a warm bath and a cold beer. *

I got my sport illustrated DVD (with commemorative football and coffee table book) this week. I watched it a couple nights ago. I got all choked up when Jerome retires on the podium holding the Lombardi trophy.**

Let us also take a moment to reflect on those things that happened that we will have to answer for no longer.

1.) We’re sorry about Carson. Kimo was a Bengal. He feels just awful. We split the games during the year, so no; it wasn’t a lock if your boy was still playing. It was not intentional and we have all apologized. Give it break already.
2.) Peyton Manning is a nice guy, we just beat him. And remember that tackle? Remember it? Oh man. I just gave myself goosebumps.
3.) Tough calls go both ways and the Seahawks didn’t want it bad enough. I have been gregarious the whole year. Can’t we just agree that what’s done is done and move on? The Seahawks can win next year. Go on.
4.) Yes, Ben Roethlisburger is a hillbilly from Ohio, but he’s *our* hillbilly from Ohio. When you see him on national TV and he sounds like he’s standing on the front porch of his doublewide in a Skynyrd T-Shirt and boxers, scratching his ass with a warm 12-pack remember that he’s really good and he’s got a ring to prove it.
5.) Bill Cowher is not attractive and he gets worse every year.*** However, you will have to see his ugly mug on a bunch of endorsement deals. I did not handcraft that chin, please do not complain to me about it.

Okay. Let us now return to normal land. Here we go Steelers, 10 and 6!


*If you haven’t taken a warm bath with a cold beer- you should try it. But only one beer. You don’t want to drown.

** This is like the Steeler fan version of “The steel magnolia beaches of fried green Madison County”. It’s hard not to get a little misty eyed.

*** Have you seen his daughters though? Cute! It’s what we call the reflexive Al Gore principle of breeding, which states: The more like a doofus your dad looks the more likely you are to be hot. Years from now, if I were to have a daughter, she is gonna be a knock out. Guys are already lining up to date Zelda Bailey.

Frisco Dave invites anyone to join his list. Just drop him a note at list@rockmonkey.net.

This is Pittsburgh after all

Just so no one thinks that Pittsburgh has lost sight of what is really important in the wake of Mayor Bob's passing, the four headlines on this evening's Post-Gazette are:

• Funeral arrangements for Mayor O'Connor announced (6:41 pm)
• Ravenstahl's term as mayor will extend to Nov. 2009 (8:02 pm)
• Ribbons in Squirrel Hill to honor O'Connor (2:06 pm)
• Staley makes the team as Steelers cut 22 players (7:57 pm)

(Raoul called it)

Use the Force Luke

I think I can sum up the feelings of a lot of people in Pittsburgh when I say, "Wow. Will you look at this?"

I think I can sum up the feelings of Mr. Ravenstahl who is probably saying, "Oh Shit!”

Maybe he’s not saying that. I don’t know. I would be.

Congratulations Mr. Ravenstahl, you are the Mayor of the City of Pittsburgh.

This guy is twenty-six years old, and although he did grow up in a very political family, he still has only two and half years of experience as an elected official and this is a VERY politicized town. Every community development group, public service union and a thousand other coat tail riders are angling for a piece of a shrinking financial pie. If he doesn't get the right people around him this kid is going to get eaten alive.

How Luke Ravenstahl wound up being the City Council President - and thus in the succession for the top job – is a classic Pittsburgh political tale and a measure of how dysfunctional this City can be.

The City Council is largely neutered under the City’s Act 47 bankruptcy plan. Periodically they make noise about this issue or that outrage against the city unions, but with the ongoing restraints on the municipal budget, their influence is greatly diminished. Really, Council has no one but itself to blame for this predicament. Largely due to their deep political debts to the City’s unions, they were unable to make the difficult fiscal decisions that would have slashed the budget and avoided the bankruptcy. Then-Mayor Tom Murphy actually pulled the trigger and called in the State for oversight. Very few of them thought Murphy would actually do it and most of them have never forgiven him for it.

At any rate, the prior Council President, Gene Ricciardi was retiring to become a judge, leaving a vacancy in the top job. None of the more experienced people were able to pull it together for themselves. Motznick – Ricciardi’s chosen successor - couldn't get the votes. Tawanda Carlisle was facing some ethical problems. To my recollection, Peduto did not seek the position, having just lost to Bob O’Conner in the mayoral primary. In the end, it looked, to me at least, like they gave the job to the one guy who hadn't made enough enemies among his peers not to get elected; the new guy, Luke Ravenstahl.

And now, through a strange twist of fate, this kid is the Mayor of the City of Pittsburgh.

I guess stranger things have happened.