October 28, 2007

The Greatest Generation

I always get in trouble when I write about politics, but eh, what the heck. The waters have finally settled since I dared to write about Khrushchev, so it's time to throw some raw meat to the sharks again.

Imagine that CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox are preempting their regular schedules tonight so that John Kerry can make a speech. (Boy, this really is fantasy!)

Now, imagine that this is what Kerry said, as reported by the Associated Press and carried by the Post-Gazette on the front page:

Kerry asserted that the record of the war to date was not such as to inspire "any sublime faith in the infallibility of our military and naval experts."

Reporting to the nation on his recent world tour, Kerry described as "misdirected censorship" the idea that non-military experts or persons unconnected with the government should refrain from making suggestions about the conduct of the war, "military, industrial, economic or political."

"Let's have no more of this nonsense," Kerry said. "Military experts, as well as our leaders, must be constantly exposed to democracy's greatest driving power --- the whiplash of public opinion developed from honest, free discussion."

After describing what he termed a "reservoir of goodwill" existing in the nations he visited on a trip which took him to the Middle East, China and Russia, Kerry asserted that this reservoir was "leaking dangerously" through holes punched not by Osama Bin Laden, but by us.

Kerry also scored what he termed the "half-ignorant, half-patronizing way in which we have grown accustomed to treating many of the peoples in Eastern Europe and Asia."

"Stupid, arbitrary and undemocratic" censorship, Kerry declared, has resulted in an "atrophy of intelligence," and he said the facts he collected on his trip "should be given to us all."

At another point, Kerry declared: "Men with great power usually like to live free of criticism. But when they get that way, that's the time to increase the criticism.

"We must fight our way through not alone to the destruction of our enemies, but to a new world idea," Kerry said. "We must win the peace."

. . .

What would be the reaction to a speech like that? Fox News would go insane. Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity would call for Kerry to be arrested on treason charges. The New York Post and Wall Street Journal would demand Kerry's resignation from the Senate.

President Bush would attack Kerry for "emboldening the terrorists," and his press secretary would go further; she'd call Kerry a coward and a traitor. New rumors would be circulated about Kerry's war record; conservative newspapers would begin dredging up more dirt on Teresa Heinz.

And the Democratic Party would quickly move to distance itself from Kerry's remarks, with Harry Reid saying that "Senator Kerry has gone too far" and each of the Democratic presidential candidates calling press conferences to denounce Kerry.

By the end of the week, Kerry's political career would effectively be over.

. . .

You knew this was a trick question, right? Because John Kerry wouldn't give a speech like that.

The speech, instead, was given almost exactly 65 years ago by Wendell Willkie, the 1940 Republican presidential nominee. I stumbled across the speech while doing research last week for Pittsburgh Radio & TV Online.

Willkie wasn't talking about Osama Bin Laden, naturally. He was talking about Hitler.

Everything else is a direct quote from Willkie's Oct. 26, 1942 speech, as carried by NBC, CBS, Blue (later renamed ABC) and Mutual.

And naturally, none of those things that I predicted actually happened in 1942. Indeed, until his untimely death from a heart attack in 1944, Willkie continued to have a brilliant law career and remained an admired and respected figure. (My grandmother, a lifelong Democrat, named her dog for Wendell Willkie.)

In fact, one of Willkie's duties was to serve as a special envoy for FDR.

Imagine George W. Bush appointing Al Gore or John Kerry as a special envoy.

Forget it --- that taxes the imagination too much.

. . .

Willkie eventually went too far for the Republican Party's tastes when, in 1943, he defended the rights of a Communist Party member to advocate for the overthrow of the U.S. government. The case went to the Supreme Court; Willkie won.

Afterward, Willkie said: "Those who rejoice in denying justice to one they hate, pave the way to a denial of justice for someone they love."

Remember that if you think secret military tribunals, offshore prison camps, and torturing suspected terrorists is acceptable.

. . .

Think about Willkie's remarks as the White House continues to beat, beat, beat the drum for war with Iran.

Think about them every time a Fox News pundit or White House spokesperson attacks anyone who dares to question the President.

Think about them as the craven, cowardly Democratic Congress trembles in fear at the thought of opposing the Bush administration.

That's how badly the climate in this country has been poisoned by far-right-wing propaganda, and how badly skewed our perceptions are.

Try to skew yours back. I'm trying to skew mine back, too.

. . .

P.S.: I can't wait to see the comments this Almanac attracts. I'm afraid they're going to prove a point.

Posted at 11:45 pm by Jason Togyer
Filed Under: History, Our Far-Flung National Correspondents, Politics | five comments | Link To This Entry

October 25, 2007

Dinner and a Show

My old colleague and cow-orker, Scott Beveridge of the Observer-Reporter, has a look back at a beloved Mon Valley landmark, the Twin Coaches on Route 51 in Rostraver Township.

The nightclub, built around two old Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad passenger cars, was once among the largest in Western Pennsylvania and hosted stars like Bobby Vinton, Shirley Jones, Liberace, the Four Tops, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Johnny Mathis and Rosemary Clooney.

While campaigning for the presidency in 1960, John F. Kennedy dined at the Coaches on scrambled eggs and Stoney's Beer (it was a Friday and he couldn't eat meat), and Johnny Carson used to mention the nightclub on The Tonight Show.

As Scott points out, the era of the great night clubs like Monroeville's Holiday House and North Versailles Township's Vogue Terrace went into eclipse in the 1960s and 1970s, as musical tastes shifted from pop to rock 'n roll. The last entertainer booked at the Twin Coaches was Sammy Davis Jr.

But the Candy Man never got to perform. A spectacular fire destroyed the club 30 years ago this month --- ironically, as Scott notes, on the first day of Fire Prevention Week.

Anyway, go read it. I'll see you tomorrow.

Posted at 12:00 am by Jason Togyer
Filed Under: History, Mon Valley Miscellany | two comments | Link To This Entry

October 24, 2007

Oh, Danny Boy, The Public's Searching

Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato wants to block users from searching the county's real estate website by the names of property owners.

According to Justin Vellucci of the Tribune-Review, Onorato told county council the website "has been used for purposes other than those intended by council, such as locating law enforcement officials, teachers, judges and victims of violent crimes."

Interestingly enough, according to Vellucci, Onorato's spokeswoman "could not provide details on those incidents Friday."

Hmm. I don't want to say Onorato might be blowing smoke, but there's a definitely a whiff of something in the breeze.

I don't deny that some baddies have likely used to the property assessment website to look for information on people. Here's the thing: Bad guys have always been able to find out the addresses of people they wanted to harm or stalk. I'm not convinced that the real estate website is such a clear and present danger. And whenever a property is bought or sold, the listing is published in the newspaper anyway. This is a fig leaf at best.

. . .

But do you know who else people can search for on the website? Politicians. They can find out what properties that elected officials own. They can see if those properties are being maintained. And they can see if those local officials are paying their real-estate taxes on time. That includes your school board members, state legislators, borough councilors, township commissioners, etc.

I am not accusing Onorato of any wrongdoing. But I'm against almost every measure to restrict access to public records that the public pays for. We already block the public from searching too many records in this state. (Pennsylvania's open records laws are among the worst in the nation.) We don't need to add more restrictions.

And I am 100 percent against measures which make it harder to keep public officials accountable.

If you care about holding your public servants accountable, write to your county council representative and tell him or her that removing the names from the property database is a bad idea:

• Joan Cleary, District 6 (Baldwin, Baldwin Township, Brentwood, Castle Shannon, City of Clairton, Jefferson Hills, Pleasant Hills, South Park Township, West Elizabeth, Whitehall)



• Dr. Chuck Martoni, District 8 (Braddock, Braddock Hills, Chalfant, Churchill, East McKeesport, East Pittsburgh, Edgewood, Forest Hills, Monroeville, North Braddock, North Versailles Township, Pitcairn, Rankin, Swissvale, Trafford, Turtle Creek, Wall, Whitaker, Wilmerding)



• Bob Macey, District 9 (City of Duquesne, City of McKeesport, Dravosburg, Elizabeth, Elizabeth Township, Forward Township, Glassport, Liberty, Lincoln, Port Vue, South Versailles Township, Versailles, West Mifflin, White Oak)

. . .

Braddock's Defeat: Alert Reader Derrick notes that the vacant A.J. Silberman & Sons wholesale grocery warehouse on Braddock Avenue in Braddock has already found a new owner, according to the Trib:

Trau and Loevner Inc., a supplier of imprinted sportswear, plans to relocate its distribution and warehouse facilities from Shadyside into the three former A. J. Silberman & Co. warehouses in Braddock.

The company recently completed the purchase of the 62,000-square-foot complex for $795,000. Its current site at 5000 Baum Blvd. in Shadyside was acquired by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, said Martha Graham of Massaro Properties LLC, who represented Trau and Loevner in its purchase.

Silberman, a wholesale supplier of food, cigarettes, candy and beauty care products, is relocating to the former Mitchell Plastics Inc. building at 267 Blue Run Road in Indiana Township.

A reader from Braddock who wants to be anonymous writes:

The new tenant was described to me as a "T-shirt firm," apparently someone's idea of how to slander a long-established Western Pennsylvania business.

The Silberman boys never shared their father's feelings about helping poor Braddock. No doubt also, the idiots in charge of the Borough Council and the greedy tax collection firm compounded the problem.

What is unpleasant is the role of the state and county agencies in moving a major employer out of the Mon Valley so they can claim it as a new industry for Indianola (near Fox Chapel/O'Hara Twp). There was no chance this business would have moved to Ohio or another state.

There was a book a few years back titled "A Confederacy of Dunces." This problem resulted apparently resulted from an "Aggregation of A--holes." Sad.

The large mayor was so busy attracting non-paying artrists to Braddock he was unable to be a factor in preventing the loss of a major employer.

That's the nice thing about Braddock ... just when you think things can't get much worse, they surprise you!

. . .

A Discouraging Word: I'll add one thing ... Why, indeed, was the county involved in "helping" Silberman's relocate to poor, disadvantaged Indianaola?

A lot of people have found fault with the Waterfront development in Homestead, specifically that it turns its back on that community, Munhall and West Homestead. But one thing that impresses me is that Park Corp. and Continental Real Estate said they were going to tear down the Homestead Works and build a shopping complex ... and they did.

In McKeesport, Duquesne, East Pittsburgh and Turtle Creek, where abandoned mill sites are being handled by Allegheny County and the Regional Industrial Development Corp., it took 15 years just to pull down the buildings, and big tracts of property still remain empty.

Perhaps Homestead Works was easier to redevelop than National Works because it was adjacent to Pittsburgh.

But why --- 20 years after Westinghouse closed the East Pittsburgh Works --- isn't there more activity at the RIDC-run Keystone Commons? It's near two exits of the Parkway East and just a few minutes from the Pennsylvania Turnpike, connected to both via Route 30, Route 48 and the Tri-Boro Expressway.

Although there's arguably a need for RIDC and other county redevelopment agencies to work on certain projects, the agencies we have aren't proving their worth, and I suspect private developers would have done a better job in Duquesne and McKeesport by now.

Maybe RIDC and the county could spend more time in areas that need to be redeveloped, like the Mon and Alle-Kiski valleys, and less time in Warrendale (at the RIDC-run Thorn Run Industrial Park) and Indianola, where private industries have no trouble developing on their own.

Posted at 12:00 am by Jason Togyer
Filed Under: Good Government On The March | three comments | Link To This Entry

October 23, 2007

It Could Happen To You

Sweet sainted ghost of Gilbert F. Myer, I never thought I'd see Port Vue on Page 2 of the Washington Post's "Style" section.

And I never, ever thought I'd see North Huntingdon Township on Page 1 of the "Style" section.

And I never, ever, ever thought that the road to one of the biggest divorce cases in Western Pennsylvania history was running right through Our Fair City.

No wonder philanthropist and publisher Richard Mellon Scaife bought the Daily News. He was driving past the building often enough.

. . .

When Mr. Scaife's divorce papers were plastered all over the Post-Gazette a month ago, I decided: I'm not touching those with a 50-foot pole.

First, it was unseemly.

Second, as much as I enjoy a steamin' glass of schadenfreude as much as the next guy, who amongst us has not been unlucky in love?

I could easily see myself in Mr. Scaife's place. We're a lot alike. After all, we're both self-made media moguls. Oh, sure, he inherited a few dollars, but my mom also bought me a bunch of Series E savings bonds when I was a kid, too.

Anyway, live and let live, that's my motto.

But David Segal of the Washington Post decided to wallow through them. Boy, did he ever! Editor & Publisher calls his story an "epic report" of the "tawdry divorce details."

And if anyone has leaped to the top of the Trib's fecal roster, it's Segal. Right now, I suspect Accuracy In Media is pounding out a 400-page "white paper" on how Segal doesn't wash his hands after going to the bathroom.

. . .

McKeesport-Area Lodgings: There's a lot of chortling over the fact that the notorious Doug's Motel on Route 30 in Stewartsville is featured prominently in the Washington Post story. When I covered North Huntingdon, it seemed like some of the patrons at Doug's were frequent fliers on the police blotter.

A quick Google search last night found Doug's (which has changed hands and its name) on a website for "swingers." Somehow I don't think they were talking about people who are fans of the Dodge Dart.

You know, there was a story in a local newspaper a few years ago about a much nicer motel in North Huntingdon ... oh, here it is! It's the Penn-Irwin Motel, near the turnpike.

Anyway, remember, if you have relatives coming in from out of town and they need a place to stay, Tube City Online has a handy guide to McKeesport-area hotels and motels.

The Huntingdon Inn (nee Doug's Motel) didn't make the list, unfortunately, but maybe it should, now that it's world-famous.

. . .

In Other Business: City Councilman Paul Shelly Jr. writes that the lawsuit alleging that the city violated its Home Rule Charter by allowing employees to run for public office "may not be over."

The lawsuit, filed by local political activist and school director Dave Donato, was specifically about the McKeesport Area School Board race. Last week, Allegheny County Judge Eugene Scanlon dismissed the suit.

I'm not a lawyer, but it seems to me that Scanlon is just punting the complaint to Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala Jr., saying (in effect) that if the charter was violated, then it's up to the DA's office to investigate, because it's a criminal matter, not a civil matter.

Though I don't want to make light of this, "it seems to me that we are engaged in a desperate battle for time," as Bob & Ray said in their classic skit, "Public Lawyer."

Council (sans Shelly) is trying to change the city charter and allow employees to seek certain offices. If the charter is changed, then Donato's complaint becomes moot.

But if the charter stands, then I suspect pressure will mount on either Zappala or the state Attorney General's Office to investigate. Tick ... tick ... tick ....

Posted at 12:25 am by Jason Togyer
Filed Under: Mon Valley Miscellany, Politics | two comments | Link To This Entry

October 22, 2007

A Fruggin' Good Time

Put on your poodle skirts and saddle shoes, girls! Guys, get out the Brylcreem and comb your hair into a "DA." "It's Pony Time"!



OK, this clip from about 1968 is too late for saddle shoes and Brylcreem. Would you believe Nehru jackets and go-go boots?

Last month on Pittsburgh Radio Nostalgia, local broadcast historian John Mehno posted a link to a clip on YouTube from "Teen Time," a live dance-party show on Steubenville's Channel 9. Channel 9, then a CBS affiliate called WSTV-TV, is now NBC affiliate WTOV-TV ... the calls changed in 1979.

"Teen Time" was hosted by Del Curtis, who as John and Ed Salamon pointed out on PRN, later worked for legendary New York City country station WHN (1050) under his real name, Del Demontreaux.

(Read the rest at Pittsburgh Radio & TV Online.)

. . .

In Other Business: This is not a photo of the Upper St. Clair police department trying to restrain the McKeesport Tigers on Friday night, but it's close:

(Photo credit: New York Daily News)

. . .

Continuing Decline of Civilization Dep't.: After reading this story, I'd swear that more and more people around here are eating dumb flakes for breakfast:

When the New Pittsburgh Courier reported last week that Sylvia Washington, who is Black, stormed out of the North Shore Deli after being greeted by an employee wearing a T-shirt depicting lynchings, the store’s’ owner, Karl Mattern, said he, too, was stunned by the incident.

“I grew up in this neighborhood. I know where my roots are, and people know me and my family and know we’re not like that,” he said. “I’ve known Sylvia for years, and for her not to come to me directly, blows my mind.

“I told (the clerk) this ain’t how things are here, but he’s a kid and they don’t always think. I got a business and my livelihood here—and I don’t go for that at all.”

It turns out that the T-shirt was promoting a local punk band; the designer said it's actually an "anti-racism" message.

Yeah, but ... who the heck thinks photos of people being lynched are appropriate to decorate a band T-shirt?

I think the lady is overreacting a little bit, but on the other hand, I can understand why she had that reaction.

I'm hoping the guy that made the T-shirt, and the kid who wore it, will both learn a lesson. I'm not holding my breath.

. . .

Silberman Move Confirmed: As first reported by The Valley Mirror and picked up here at Tube City Almanac on Sept. 18, Braddock's A.J. Silberman & Co. is moving to Indiana Township. According to Mike Mallory of Tarentum's Valley News Dispatch, it's a done deal, and the move is all but complete.

Silberman's website has already been updated with the new address.

Braddock Administrator Ella Jones told the newspaper that the borough is "comfortable" with the arrangements it made with Silberman's regarding its business privilege tax.

It was Braddock's ham-fisted attempts to penalize Silberman's over that tax that convinced the company to leave in the first place.

Mrs. Jones, you should not be comfortable. Braddock Borough Council extracted a pound of flesh from A.J. Silberman & Co. at the expense of chasing one of its few legitimate businesses away.

What's worse, your borough just told new businesses to stay out of Braddock --- as if any other discouraging signs were needed.

No, Mrs. Jones, you and the Braddock Borough Council should be upset and embarrassed, not "comfortable." Unfortunately, based on the past behavior of some councilors in Braddock, I think it's all but impossible to embarrass them.

. . .

Speaking of the Alle-Kiski Valley: This month's murder of 82-year-old Flo Ranta of Clairton was truly shocking in its brutality. That a 15-year-old kid killed her, basically for what seems like "kicks," is nauseating. Pat Cloonan had the story in the News.

Not quite as sickening, but definitely annoying, was this little item from the Valley News Dispatch about last week's Leechburg Area school board meeting:

High school Principal Cynthia Portman related concerns that band director Robert Reams has about the band travelling to Clairton for Friday's football game ...

Board member Robert Cinpinski recommended school administrators contact the Clairton School District and police department concerning security at Neil Brown Stadium. Board member John Peterman said Clairton officials put the team and band buses inside the stadium and there are separate bleachers on either side of the stadium for fans.

The board recommended the administration make the final call to whether the band and cheerleading squads should not go, but both units will either go or stay home.

That's gross. You might say their fears weren't motivated by racism, but it sure smells bad to me. The only thing Leechburg had to fear Friday night was the 67-8 whomping that Clairton's football team put on them.

The sooner that our attitudes around Western Pennsylvania move away from the mindset of 1957 Selma, Ala., the sooner we will stop losing young people in droves. Until then, they don't call us "Pennsyltucky" for nothing.

Posted at 12:00 am by Jason Togyer
Filed Under: History, Mon Valley Miscellany, Politics | one comment | Link To This Entry