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In a game that almost wasn’t due to the worst snowstorm to hit the east coast in over 15 years, NBC definitely got their money’s worth. The Penguins dominated the Capitals, taking a 4-1 lead, until the Caps came back with FOUR UNANSWERED GOALS to win in OT. The home crowd loved it, and I guess they deserved something for going out in this weather.

The good news: The Caps owned the Pens in the regular season last year, too, but the Pens still beat them in the playoffs. I would not be surprised if the Caps won the Stanley Cup this year, though. They’re really, really good right now.

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Power and phones finally came back on after being off for 25 hours in my neck of the woods south of Pittsburgh. Thank goodness for cell phones.

We stuck a yard stick in a non-drifted area of the snow and came up with a measurement of 25″ of cold white death. The south hills are a wasteland right now; I doubt many if any businesses opened today due to the mountains of snow and power and phone outages all around Allegheny County. What a day.

Plus I found out that the Penguins lost. Suckage.

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I had some teachers who protested their contracts once. But they didn’t protest during school hours. They did it in the morning before school started, and when the bell rang, they were in their rooms doing their jobs.

Not so in the case of the Penn Hills School District:

Talks are due to resume between the school board and the teacher’s union in the Penn Hills school district on Friday night.

But students remain out of class for a second day, after more than 400 teachers headed out to the picket lines Thursday morning.

…

The school district released a written statement saying that schools will be closed Thursday and Friday, and parents will be notified of any future closures once administrators know how long the strike will continue.

I’m glad they’re looking out for “the children” that teachers claim to care so much about. One of them is holding a sign which reads, “If you can read this thank a teacher not an attorney.” I would tell that person that it wasn’t a teacher who taught me how to read – it was my mother. And she never went on strike, either.

The Trib quotes a parent who supports the strike despite the fact that it is causing him a lot of trouble:

James Craig knows it will be tough arranging child care while Penn Hills teachers walk the picket lines.

But the father of six — five of whom are school-age — believes the personal difficulties a strike places on his family are less important than the need for the district’s 415 teachers to exercise their right to fight for a fair labor contract.

“We’re two working parents who will have to ask relatives to help watch our children, or take vacation days to stay home with them,” said Craig, 40, a 1988 Penn Hills graduate. “But I completely support the teachers in this strike. They have a very difficult and stressful job.”

Right, as if they are the only ones with difficult and stressful jobs. I know a lot of people who have difficult and stressful jobs who would be fired immediately if they decided to just stop working. I have always found it ridiculous that we are willing to give teachers, the little Mussolinis in the classroom, more leeway than people in other fields of employment.

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Even Flyers fans have to admit that he’s ridiculously cute:

Young Fan Jack Rosensteel Wins USA Hockey and Reebok’s “Why Hockey Rocks!” Competition

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Reg Henry, one of the many sardonic, conceited liberals at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, is not happy about Scott Brown’s victory:

And as we were recalling old times, the people of Massachusetts who recently thronged the streets for Ted Kennedy’s funeral were busy repudiating his life’s work by electing a Republican senator and making health-care reform well nigh impossible.

Henry goes on:

I returned to find a story in the Post-Gazette that said that Republicans think this is just the beginning of health-care reform and that their proposals will soon take flight.

Pull my other leg, it’s got a bell on it. If the Republican Party cared one whit for health-care reform, it would have done something about the growing crisis in the years when Bush had complete control of Congress. This “health care reform is just beginning” talk is merely a fig leaf of political cover. Clever as always, the Party of Family Values is vaguely aware that its vindication has come about by screwing countless families.

Do you see the gaping flaw in logic here? I have to wonder if Reggie does, and he’s just pretending that he doesn’t, being a dishonest liberal. But, I’ll just assume that he doesn’t see it, and perhaps he’ll read this and be informed.

First he tells us that Scott Brown’s victory has made “health-care reform well nigh impossible”. Why is that? Because the Democrats are left with 59 votes in the Senate, which is not enough to end a filibuster. In other words, in order to accomplish something that the other party opposes, Henry is telling us that you need a 60 vote majority in the United States Senate.

Now, class, who can tell me how many Republican Senators President George W. Bush had in office while he was president? If you answered “Fewer than 60″, you remember more about the last 8 years than Reg Henry does.

President Bush was in office from January 2001 until January 2009. Here is the breakdown of the US Senate during those years:

2001-2003: 50 Republican Senators
2003-2005: 51 Republican Senators
2005-2007: 55 Republican Senators
2007-2009: 49 Republican Senators

During the Bush years, the Republican-controlled Congress did indeed attempt some rational health care reforms, such as tort reform and making it possible to purchase interstate insurance coverage. Oddly enough, Reggie seems to have forgotten that all of those attempted reforms were blocked by the Democrats… just as the Democrats blocked Republican attempts to fix Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the Democrats blocked Republican attempts to pass pro-life legislation. Now Republicans are blamed for preventing health care reform, for destroying the economy, and for not doing enough for the pro-life cause. Isn’t that interesting?

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The Penguins played the Flyers again today in their first game since the Flyers crushed the Pens 7-4 at Mellon Arena. Today’s game played at Wachovia Center in Philly was marred by some of the worst officiating ever. Crosby gets called for slashing someone BEHIND him? Refs wait ’til AFTER the Flyers score to call a penalty that was committed several seconds ago, thus negating the goal? What the heck?

Though both sides had plenty reason to be upset about ridiculous calls, the Flyers can’t complain too much since they had 9 power plays vs. 6 for the Penguins. The player of the game was definitely Sergei Gonchar, who made one of the most amazing shots on goal I’ve ever seen:

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Wow.

Mary Beth Buchanan, the former U.S. attorney for Western Pennsylvania, opened a bid to extract the children and the sisters from Ben Avon who ran the BRESMA orphanage in Port-au-Prince.

Ms. Buchanan, who has been openly mulling a run for the Republican nomination to challenge incumbent Rep. Jason Altmire, D-McCandless, spent four days obtaining clearance for the children to enter the United States, medical supplies for the trip down and back, physicians to escort the children and -- in the final link that did not fall into place in time -- an airplane cleared to land in Haiti.

She said the organizer of the other rescue attempt, Leslie Merrill McCombs, a senior consultant for UPMC, phoned and grilled her for information, obtained a list of the children and ended up shipping medical supplies gathered as part of the Buchanan effort on the plane that carried Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and Mr. Altmire.

However the successful rescue was organized, it had the effect of short-circuiting Ms. Buchanan's effort and shifting attention to Mr. Altmire, a former UPMC lobbyist.

Read it all

… and here I thought it was classy of the Governor to put it all together.

Tip to Chris.

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Dale, I thought it was a day to be aware of the Pittsburgh Penguins. So be aware that last night, Evgeni Malkin scored his first ever NHL bag trick:

It IS a bag trick, Steigy!

Sidney Crosby had a six point night (2G + 4A) as well.

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Montgomery County commissioner & far-left progressive candidate for Governor Joe Hoeffel has injected himself into the story over Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl’s veto of a prevailing wage bill.

Mr. Hoeffel’s intervention in the city of Pittsburgh dispute reverberated in the competition for the Democratic nomination in that its target, Mr. Ravenstahl, is a close ally of Mr. Onorato, who is one of Mr. Hoeffel’s chief competitors. The North Side native is expected to report a fundraising total later this month that will dwarf Mr. Hoeffel’s war chest.

Speaking after Mr. Ravenstahl’s inauguration earlier this week, Mr. Onorato professed to be unconcerned by Mr. Hoeffel’s foray into his political backyard, or by his overall strategy of more liberal elements of the party’s base.

“I think Mr. Hoeffel may be surprised by the support I have with progressives, including progressives in [southeastern Pennsylvania],” Mr. Onorato said.

Asked for his reaction to the veto, Mr. Onorato declined to criticize his North Side neighbor. Without offering details, however, Mr. Onorato did say that he favored the general concept of a prevailing wage for projects supported by local government economic development funds.

Despite Mr. Hoeffel’s embrace of the Pittsburgh proposal, his own county has no similar measure on its books.

However, his co-campaign manager Lauren Townsend said he likes the idea and added that he had directed his staff to explore the idea of a similar requirement for Montgomery County.

The prevailing wage is an average of wages for a particular job (trade, position) in a certain area (in this case Pittsburgh), and it would affect projects with at least $100K in city money or 100,000 square feet in size. Which means that any city project or any office development. Mandating pay like this tends to discourage development. Ravenstahl was right to veto it.

The news that Hoeffel plans to “bring it home” to Montco is troubling. The Philly suburbs have long the beneficiaries of the City of Philadelphia’s fiscal messes and business unfriendly revenue schemes. Indeed, we can point to the King of Prussia and Fort Washington and Pharm belt developments as evidence of the migration.

Chester and Lehigh counties (especially) will be thanking you in a few years for their new jobs, Joe.

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The Penguins have not yet broken out of their slump, despite a win against Atlanta on Tuesday. Numerous defensive errors and other sloppy plays resulted in a 7 – 4 win for the Flyers. Lately the Pens seem to be giving up huge numbers of golden scoring chances to any and every team they play against.

The Flyers, on the other hand, seem to have overcome the problems they were experiencing earlier in the year. Every team goes through slumps, but that doesn’t make you feel any better when it’s your team.

Philadelphia Flyers James van Riemsdyk scores his second goal of the game, on one of the numerous defensive collapses of the Penguins

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The Steelers won their game today, but wins by Houston and Baltimore prevented them from making it to the playoffs.

The Eagles already clinched a playoff spot before today, but suffered a shutout loss to Dallas… and they’re playing Dallas again next weekend.

The Penguins took an early 2-0 lead against Florida, only to collapse, again, allowing 6 unanswered goals in a pitiful performance which extends their losing streak to five games. I’ll never understand how teams can be awesome one month and suck the next month. When the Olympics are over, the Pens will likely be back to their winning ways.

The Flyers were outscored by Ottawa in a 7-4 goal-fest. The Flyers’ strategy this year of trading away young, promising players for an old goon who is past his prime doesn’t seem to be working very well.

Speaking of the Olympics, as I thought, Penguins Captain Sidney Crosby will be teamed up with Flyers Captain Mike Richards on Team Canada. Pittsburgh native and former Penguin Ryan Malone will play for Team USA, along with current Penguin Brooks Orpik. Orpik is actually named after Herb Brooks, the coach of the 1980 Miracle on Ice USA team which won Olympic Gold. Sounds like a good sign for the USA if you ask me.

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While we’re ranting, here’s a mind-numbing letter to Pravda-on-the-Mon the Post-Gazette:

Must our legislative process be such a mess?

Watching the assembly of the health-care proposal in the legislative grinder is distressing and it causes me to admire the simplicity of an authoritarian system of government where solid ideas and programs can be implemented in a most streamlined fashion. Witness the emergence of China in the recent decade from a populous, largely agrarian society into a world economic power that is already eclipsing the United States in several areas. One of many contributory reasons is this efficient application of its agenda unobstructed by diluting partisan debate. Fractious, obstructive arguments are not part of the formula.

The trouble is that both authoritarian and democratic processes are subject to the earthly realities of corruption. What else can you call it when Nebraska wins a special single-state, permanent exemption from the expansion of Medicare; when Michigan wins an exemption from a special excise tax on nonprofit insurers; when Vermont wins $10 billion — with a “b” — funding for community health centers? Good for them, bad for everyone else. How else can corruption be defined other than acts that benefit a few at the expense of the whole?

The only ray of sunshine in this is that perhaps a democracy is better able to sustain the blows inflicted by bad decisions and self-interested policy-makers. We at least have some checks and balances and a constitutional scaffold that provides adaptive stability. Legislation can be overturned. Lawmakers can be voted out. The process is dirty and imperfect, and I can only hope it is superior to systems that have efficiencies but lack the self-centering properties to counter the influences of corruption. So pay attention and vote when the opportunity comes about!

I’ve bolded my favorite parts so that you can enjoy them as well.

I keep hoping that maybe this letter is written with such subtle irony that the editors at the PG have missed it, but somehow I don’t think that’s the case.

This may be my last post because I’m pretty sure my head is going to explode in a couple minutes.

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All Hail! Lord, we greet Thee,
Born this happy morning,
O Jesus! for evermore be Thy name adored.
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing;
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

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At the expense of the Penguins:

I was at the game. The Pens were getting killed in the second, then at the start of some Penguins power play, a woman who might as well have been a supermodel ran up the steps to go into the concourse for no apparent reason. I wondered if this was a sign of good luck, but it if was, she had to be a Devils fan.

As the final seconds ticked off the clock and my team lost 0-4, there was nothing left to do but stand up and applaud.

Congrats, Marty.

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The Pens and Flyers played to a 2-2 stalemate going into a shootout, but Kris Letang and Sidney Crosby scored while Marc-Andre Fleury stopped both Philly shots to give the Penguins the win in the Philadelphia Home Game of the two game Home-and-Home series.

Sweep! Better luck next time, Flyers!

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Tonight the Pittsburgh Penguins stomped all over the Philadelphia Flyers, limiting Philly to only one power play goal in a 6 – 1 rout. The slumping Flyers showed that they have yet to break out of their losing ways, but they’ll hope to do so in the Philadelphia Home Game in this Home-to-Home Series between the Pennsylvania archrivals coming up on Thursday. Expect the Flyers to play with even more passion than usual in that game, as they seek revenge for tonight’s humiliation, and attempt to avoid what they hate the most – being defeated by Sidney Crosby and the Pens on their home ice. Expect a good game, and expect more of this:

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Ok, that’s pretty sweet.

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Even the Crosby-haters have to admit that this is cool. Sidney Crosby was chosen to carry the Olympic Torch through Halifax in his home province Nova Scotia, as the Flame makes its way westward to Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Olympic Hockey is going to be awesome this year. Imagine Sidney Crosby, Mike Richards, and Rick Nash putting aside their differences and being an unstoppable force on Team Canada. Or how about Team Russia with Pavel Datsyuk, Evgeni Malkin, and Alex Ovechkin? Insane.

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The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports today that the crowd at the Veterans Day parade in downtown Pittsburgh was even smaller this year than it was last year.

It was a day to pay homage to all U.S. soldiers, and veterans like Denk, 60, of Baldwin Borough said they were honored by the ardent support at the Pittsburgh Veterans Day Parade.

But they also could not help noticing that long stretches of the parade route — from Mellon Arena, Uptown, to Boulevard of the Allies, Downtown — were barren of spectators. Organizers said about 5,000 people came out.

“I wish we could have a turnout like the Steelers,” Denk said, noting that more than 250,000 people showed up for a Super Bowl victory parade earlier this year, while an estimated 300,000 hockey fans saluted the Penguins after their Stanley Cup victory in the summer.

“But we’ll take this,” Denk said, passing a large group of students. “Look at them. Thanks for coming out!”

Children cut school (with their parents’ permission!) while adults left work early in order to attend the victory parades of our football and ice hockey teams, but these same people apparently couldn’t be bothered to do the same for our veterans.

Due to a hectic week at work I was unable to attend the parade yesterday as I usually do, but next year I’m going to request off on November 11th just so I can be in downtown Pittsburgh at the 11th hour of the day saluting our real heroes. It’s a terrible shame that all Pittsburgh could muster for these men and women who fought and bled for us was 5,000 people.

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