My favorite Christian-flavored homobigot, Diane Gramley of the PA American Family Association, had a little missive published last week in the North section of the Post-Gazette.  This time she rallies to the defense of the poor Boy Scouts being persecuted for their own homobigotry.  I'd post a quote but it is really rather a rambly as she tries to connect transgender work issues with evicting the boy scouts from their taxpayer financed dwellings in Philadelphia.  Along the way, she lambastes Dan Frankel for his homosexual activism. 

Boy, she got a lot of mileage out of a simple article about Boy Scouts improving a woodlands trail. 

In other news, Pittsburgh got a new bishop.  His name is David Zubik.  He supports the rights of immigrants and opposes the death penalty, abortion and gay marriage.  Of course, like any responsible Catholic, he chose to focus on abortion and gay marriage in the 2004 elections. So sorry little immigrants and folks on death row.  You only count in off-election years.  

"It is totally inappropriate and out of line for me to suggest the candidates that people would vote for," he said. "It is totally appropriate and in line for me to share what the teachings of the church are, so that when people go into the voting booth, they will register their votes according to all that they have read and prayed over."

And up in Beaver County, Mr. Ian Thompson of Baden reminds his community of Melissa Hart's derring do while in office.  Mainly, she "yes, yes, oh yessed" the President.

For those who may have forgotten, last summer, when Republicans still ran the show, Congress spent weeks on end attempting to amend the Constitution to ban flag burning and to discriminate against gay and lesbian couples.
Once again, Hart was right there voting yes, yes, yes.
Meanwhile, close to 50 million Americans were living every day without health insurance, and thousands of young men and women continued to face life-altering injuries and death in the awful quagmire of Iraq.

And don't forget that Saturday is the 2nd Annual Dyke March.  It has caused the most PghLesbian controversy that we've seen in months and months.  Probably since I accused Chris Potter of sexism.  So it is definitely the place to be.  Ledcat and I are very proud that we played in part in organizing the Dyke March.  Eli is a really cool chica and it was a lot of fun to get to hang out with her even for a few hours.  Getting to know her more than makes up for all the accusations others have hurled that I've sold her out because I talked to men about the march.  On the radio.  With my friend John McIntire.  I'm not quite sure if I'll be disdainfully ignored or spat upon on Saturday evening, but I'll have Ledcat with me so I'm not afraid! 

Be warned Chris Potter that if you spit at me, Ledcat will give you a swift kick on the shins and steal your reporter pad.   

Ahem. From the Pittsburgh Municipal Code:

? 633.12 NUMBER OF PETS PERMITTED IN CITY LIMITS; EXCEPTIONS.

No person or residence shall be permitted to own, harbor or maintain more than five (5) dogs or cats or any combination thereof within City limits. This section shall not affect any person or residence whose number of dogs, cats or any combination thereof exceeds the limit of five (5) prior to the effective date of this section and upon elimination of dogs or cats by adoption, death or any permanent removal from that person or residence, owners exceeding the limit of five (5) are not permitted to obtain additional dogs or cats. This section shall not affect kennels and catteries that have been granted a kennel/cattery permit by the City Animal Control Department nor shall it affect kennels registered with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.

(Ord. 29-1992, eff. 7-16-92)

I haven't heard this mentioned at all during the whole cat licensing debate.  I spoke with the staff at three different City Councilpersons and none of them had heard of this.

Here's the deal --- my dogs are licensed and thus "on the books" whereas my cats are not.  If I have more than two cats, I go over the limit.  So, if I license my cats, I open myself up to fines or penalties for breaking the pet limit law. 

Take it a bit further ... if you face fines and penalties, perhaps you would need to get rid of a pet or two.  Where would they go?  Would Jim Motznik adopt them?  No, inevitably some would end up at the shelters and some would end up on the streets. 

There's more.  In 1994, PA Commonwealth Court struck down the five-pet limit law of the Borough of Carnegie because it did not connect owning five pets with creating a public nuisance or adversely affects the safety, health and welfare of the community.  No one can arbitrarily determine that the pet conditions of five is okay whereas six puts ya over the top.   Here's a pet site with a detailed explanation and the court ruling. 

Now, this is just me.  If I tried to be a law-abiding citizen and licensed my cats, I might get cited for violating the pet limit law.  I would not turn my pets over to a shelter.  I would not take them to visit Uncle Jimmy. I would not let them roam loose in Manchester and toss some kibble over the fence every day.

I would sue the City. 

Yes, that's right. I would drag the City into court based on the 1994 decision and probably win.  Tax dollars would be spent defending the City.  I doubt the cat licensing fees would cover those expenses. 

There are hundreds of households with more than five pets that are perfectly neat and clean and humane.  My understanding is that state law permits up to 15 pets (maybe it is 18) and then requires a kennel license.  A kennel license brings a greater level of scrutiny to the pet owner.  Thus, the municipal duty of protecting the health and welfare of the community is preserved without compromising the liberty of citizens to self-determine how many pets they can care for within the requirements of the law (and sanity).  Please don't comment about hoarders.  That's a whole different pond of koi.  Cat licensing and pet limit laws aren't going to do a damn bit of good for hoarders.

Licensing cats is a waste of tax payer dollars.  Put those monies into spay/neuter and trap/release programs.  Put those monies into education campaigns about spaying and neutering AND keeping your cat inside. 

Maybe giant billboards with Luke stretched out in the Barkalounger with a few cats draped artfully across his lap while he watches the Stillers. 

So, call your Councilperson and let them know that a cat licensing law is going to trigger a nasty mess over the pet limit law.  Is that really where we should be investing energies?  Call Payne and Carlisle.  I bet there are dozens of little old ladies with 6 or 7 cats in their districts.  Call Koch.  Lots of dog/cat households on the Southside.  Tell Peduto and Harris you don't want your mother to be dragged down to court because she has 7 animals and give both more ammunition to fight a stupid law.

My understanding is that most of the calls have been coming from outside the City.  That's not very helpful.  Get your City people to make a call. It takes five minutes b/c they barely listen to you anyway.  Well, they listen a bit more attentively than Specter's people.  But your boss won't even notice you doing it.  Seriously.  Call. 

And save up a few pennies for my legal expense fund.  I'm not going down without a fight.

While over one hundred city residents packed Council Chambers to discuss issues of domestic violence and the police, Luke went golfing.  Jeremy Boren at the Trib has the story:

Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl played at a celebrity golf tournament rather than face more than 100 women angered by the promotions of three police officers linked to accusations of domestic violence or disturbances in their pasts.

"I can confirm that he was there both days," said Nancy Angus, director of the Mario Lemieux Foundation, which organizes the annual Mario Lemieux Celebrity Tournament.

"He played as an amateur. He didn't play as a celebrity," Angus said Tuesday.

David at 2PJs does an excellent job skewering the hypocrisy.

Wait a sec! He was denying he was there as recently as Sunday - and it was a charitable event?? He's denied he was at a charitable event and then when it was confirmed that he was - THEN he says criticising him for it "smacks of crass politics and yellow journalism"?

Here's what I want to know more about.  According to the Mario Lemieux Foundation website, the cost for an amateur to participate in the two-day golf event is $27,000.  This includes:

One golf group each day (three golfers per day) of the Pro-Am at the exclusive Laurel Valley Golf Club

Breakfast/lunch in private dining area

Pro-Am gift bag

Team prizes awarded to 1st-3rd place teams on each day

Commemorative money clip

Evening Social for Pro-Am participants, Laurel Valley Golf Club

So, Luke spent $27,000 to go golfing for charity rather than attend a public hearing on police battering women. 

Where on earth did he get the $27,000?  Maybe he can pull out that "commemorative money clip" and come up with a comparable donation for the Center for Victims of Violence and Crime, Women's Center and Shelter, and PAAR. 

He's a despicable excuse for a leader. 

Roll that stone away ... let the guilty pay ... it's Independence Day ....

Guess whose back in all his self-loathing glory?  Yes, that's right ... Santorum's very own spokesfag, Robert Traynham. After licking his wounds with some of the soothing corporate money vis a vis his PR consulting work, Traynham has hitched his wagon to the potential Thompson campaign as a senior advisor.

Now it seems he's changed course and has signed on with actor and former Sen. Fred Thompson's campaign as a senior adviser.

It's a "shrewd move," says Sharon Cobb...

who notes Traynham brings strong qualifications to the campaign plus hiring the openly gay man could help win support of moderate Republicans.

Just two short years ago, blogactive's Michael Rogers outed Traynham as a closeted gay man working for Santorum.  Here at Lesbian Central we choked on the hypocrisy of that match. 

Apparently, Traynham needs to whomp on his fellow homos a bit more. Thompson on gay issues?  Hate Crimes - voted "No" twice.  Defense of Marriage Act - voted "Yes."  ENDA - voted "No." 

As Rogers puts it "At least Robert will feel right at home." 

Great.  Check out our previous posts on the derring do of our favorite spokesfag.

h/t BlogActive.com

This afternoon, I thought it might be interesting to live blog an event that the Mayor actually attends. Something critical and groundbreaking, perhaps even newsworthy.  Like, say perhaps, a "garden" party to celebrate his single-handed reclamation of a porn palace for the good citizens of Pittsburgh.  <insert applause>

So off we toddled to West Park for the 4 PM kick-off time.  We were promised live music and refreshments, plus entertainment.  After snagging a primo parking spot on Arch Street, we thought things were going to be groovy and we were really looking forward to seeing the theater.

Unfortunately, Luke's partying aptitude requires a heavy dose of yinzerettes and Iron City, because this was just ... sad.

See, the party was across the street from the Garden Theater.  But ... we weren't allowed to go in because there was a performance scheduled for later that evening.  The nice lady keeping the homeless people away from the refreshment stand told us that we could save $2.00 on admission to the show.  She also told us that the garden party was from 1 - 4 PM (it was 4:15 at the time) and refreshments would be served at 5 PM.  So, perhaps she wasn't the most reliable of reporters. 

This is where I stop the narrative.  Why would you throw a party to celebrate reclaiming a theater and not let people see it?  What the hell?  Instead, I got to see 20 photos of the glory days and argue with a fussy gay man that, no I was not spending time at the Garden in 1974, because I was three years old and dealing with a curfew.  Thus, I could not authentically sign his Garden Theater memory book.  He seemed pissed. 

So we milled around with the yuppies for awhile and fended off the overly eager Citi-Parks employees handing out programs, as well as some frightening giant puppet people.  There were a few artsy vendors.  I think someone drew a giant circle of protection in chalk around the whole affair to ward off people who don't pay property taxes.  <am I being too mean?  Ledcat thinks that, yes, I am.>

Meanwhile, I thirsted.  The food lady told me that there were two whole coolers of beverages, but none for me.  I had to wait until after the Mayor spoke. Cause if you throw a summer party and invite the entire Northside, why provide beverages to slake their thirst?  Make 'em wait!  I suppose I could trot down to the corner store ... oh wait, this is the Northside.  The corner store is 17 blocks away.  Darn. 

My thirst got the best of me.  So we trotted back to Arch Street with plans to head to see our niece and get a glass of water to boot.  With ice.  On the way, we passed a car with tags that read "Ms. Tonya" and a bumper stickers proclaiming "African-Americans for Kerry/Edwards" so I presume my City Council Rep was there.  Good for her.

I hope she brought a bottle of water.

Truth be told, I wasn't really going to live blog. I brought my trusty notepad and several pens.  I even wrote some stuff down until I was accosted by yet another puppet person and decided to flee for the relative sanctity of Perry Hilltop.  I did make time to stop and tell all the locals (taxpayers and otherwise) that dinner was on at 5 PM sharp.

This was a silly little event designed for self-congratulations and the never-ceasing Mayoral commitment to throw us off the important issues.  Who throws a party and doesn't let you see the inside of the building?  If my tax dollars built the damn barn, get the friggin giant puppet the hell out of the way and let me see what I have bought.

Maybe they should just send the giant puppets to City Council meetings and leave Luke to do the really important stuff ...