The Bread Line Blog

WVU's Coach Holgs is the 'Hungry Eyes' Guy

2011-10-25T22:54:00.009-04:00

Substitute a Red Bull, ice cold beer or slot machine for the Orange M and Coach Holgs would be a ringer for the "Hungry Eyes" guy in the M&M Pretzels commercial.

Dan Wheldon Knew the Dangers of Racing

2011-10-17T11:19:00.010-04:00

Dan Wheldon knew the dangers of auto racing when he stepped into the cockpit of his IZOD IndyCar Sunday afternoon. The 33-year-old died at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after being involved in a fiery crash at Lap 11 that ultimately forced the cancellation of the race. Ironically, Wheldon was victorious the last time an IndyCar driver was killed in a race. More than five years ago, Paul Dana died at Homestead Speedway near Miami. Wheldon edged out the victory, and then had some prophetic and compassionate words in victory lane.

"Our thoughts are with the Dana family," Wheldon said after winning at Homestead in 2006. "It's a very, very sad day. I think we put on a good race ... but it's just a very sad day. It's a job that can be pretty vicious at times but also can have pretty big highs."

Wheldon knew the dangers, but it doesn’t make his death any easier. Please read the column I wrote for the Charleston Daily Mail after Dana’s death. It still rings true today.

By Mike Jones

Charleston Daily Mail

March 27, 2006

Everyone involved in racing understands the dangers of the sport.

Drivers, crewmen and fans realize the inherent risks every time the cars motor around high-banked ovals at mind-boggling speeds for hundreds of miles.

Many legendary drivers who have built the sport have died behind the wheel.

Since 1996, 10 drivers from the IRL, CART and NASCAR's top three series have died from on-track crashes.

But the understood dangers don't make it any easier to accept when the racing community mourns the loss of a driver.

Paul Dana, a 30-year-old rookie driver in the IndyCar Series, was killed in a horrific crash during a morning practice just hours before Sunday's race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Dana crashed into another car driven by Ed Carpenter, who spun out while in turn two. Most drivers slowed in time to miss the spinning car, but Dana, for reasons still unclear, was seemingly unaware of the caution and slammed into the back of Carpenter's car at nearly 200 mph.

Both Dana and Carpenter were airlifted by helicopter to a nearby hospital. Carpenter was awake and in stable condition Sunday. Dana, however, was pronounced dead two hours later.

In a somewhat surprising decision, the racing series decided to continue with the race just three hours after officials confirmed Dana's death. While car owner Bobby Rahal removed his other two cars driven by Buddy Rice and Danica Patrick, the rest of the drivers prepared for business as usual.

Racing analysts agreed with the decision and said the drivers would be able to block out the tragedy once they strapped into their cars and fired the engines.

But should the show have moved on so quickly?

A man was dead and a family devastated. Dana's wife, Tonya, was informed of her husband's death while attending a church service in Indianapolis.

The high-speed excitement seemed inconsequential in light of the death of a person.

Before the race, ABC covered the tragedy and helped viewers understand the gravity of the situation. But the network barely mentioned Dana's death during the two-hour race.

Even in the face of tragedy, though, Dan Wheldon and Helio Castroneves delivered a fantastic finish, racing within inches of each other, with Wheldon winning by the nose of his car.

While crewmen cheered and congratulated each other, Wheldon, the defending IRL champion, put the day's events into perspective.

"I think, under the circumstances, we shouldn't really celebrate," he told his crew moments after crossing the finish line.

In victory lane, a subdued Wheldon merely stepped out of his car, quietly embraced his team and then pushed aside questions about the incredible race.

"Our thoughts are with the Dana family," Wheldon said. "It's a very, very sad day. I think we put on a good race ... but it's just a very sad day.

"It's a job that can be pretty vicious at times but also can have pretty big highs."

Sunday's race had both. But the great side-by-side finish didn't seem at all important in light of the morning's tragedy.

Veteran Finally Receives War Medals

2011-03-15T08:00:00.000-04:00

By Regina Lakus
Chartiers Valley Patch
March 14, 2011

BRIDGEVILLE, Pa. - After 65 years of waiting, one local veteran finally received proper acknowledgment for his service to the nation.

Ed Schneider, 87 of Bridgeville, is now able to hold the nine Bronze Star medals he earned for his service in World War II.

In a twist of fate shortly after he left the military in 1946, the St. Louis warehouse that stored his service records burned to the ground. It wasn't until last November that he found the help he needed to acquire his honors.

New Baby Made Super Bowl Entrance

2011-02-12T00:04:00.002-05:00

As Chris and Gina Tarr settled in to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday afternoon, the couple started to get nervous about what was going to transpire.

But it wasn’t the game they were most anxious about.

Instead, Gina went into labor about five hours before kickoff and the couple rushed to West Penn Hospital in Bloomfield to deliver their first child.

“It was the perfect storm,” Chris Tarr said. “The Steelers game kept me distracted so I wasn’t so stressed out. It took the edge off. If I was watching the Super Bowl and they were losing, I would’ve been upset. It made it even keel.”

The delivery doctor initially thought the baby would be born in the early morning hours Monday, but little Eli William decided to make his appearance just as the game ended.

“Almost exactly when they were handing the Packers the Lombardi Trophy,” Tarr said.

Steeler Nation Welcomes New Arrivals

2011-01-28T22:38:00.004-05:00

By Mike Jones
Chartiers Valley Patch
Jan. 28, 2011

Little Brayden McQuillan was in the world for less than 10 minutes Friday morning when the staff at St. Clair Hospital wrapped him in a gold Terrible Towel and placed a Steelers knit hat on his tiny head.

“They’re born Steelers fans here in Pittsburgh,” said Sharon Johnson, clinical supervisor at the hospital’s Family Birth Center.

The staff at the hospital in Mt. Lebanon wrapped up 10 newborns in the towels Friday in celebration of the Steelers’ run to Super Bowl XLV. Each baby born this week at the hospital will also be wrapped up in the black and gold, a tradition the staff also did in 2008.

First-time dad Alexander Ameredes said his wife, Rachel, gave birth to their son Alexander on Wednesday, two weeks earlier than predicted. The Collier Township man said he thinks his son wanted to make sure he was around for the big game on Feb. 6.

“I was worried about the Super Bowl,” Ameredes said. “I think he was, too."

More Than Just a Yellow Dish Rag

2011-01-26T23:24:00.003-05:00

By Mike Jones
Chartiers Valley Patch
Jan. 26, 2011

In the early 1990s when the Penguins were winning Cups and Pirates were still relevant, I tended to follow those teams rather than root for the downtrodden Pittsburgh Steelers.

They had won four Super Bowls a few years before I graced this Earth, but had fallen on tough times in the 1980s.

That all changed when Bill Cowher took the reins in 1992 and rejuvenated the team and catapulted it to a playoff berth against the Buffalo Bills. However, I still didn’t quite grasp what it meant to be a Steelers fan at the tender age of 9.

That is, until my mother handed me a yellow dish rag and told me to start waving it around.

“Are you crazy?” I asked her. “Why would I do that?"

It’s probably the same question people in Baltimore or New York or maybe even Green Bay ask themselves when they see those golden cloths twirling in the stands. But that was just about the time when I began to understand the lore of the Pittsburgh Steelers and The Terrible Towel.

He sees you when you're... ballin'

2010-12-22T22:20:00.003-05:00

Santa Claus and his elves watch closely as the Lady Colts defeat North Hills 51-42 Wednesday night. No word if Mrs. Claus was also in attendance. Read both the boys and girls varsity basketball game stories on Chartiers Valley Patch.

Old train station found new life as library

2010-12-20T12:56:00.003-05:00

By Mike Jones
Chartiers Valley Patch
Dec. 19, 2010

Passenger trains had all but stopped rolling through Bridgeville by the early 1960s, and the freight lines from Pittsburgh were being used less and less. So the old Bridgeville train station sat unused and unattended for more than a decade. And as it rotted away, it became a symbol for what the railroads used to mean to the borough.

Meanwhile, the newly formed Bridgeville Public Library had already moved out of its cramped space inside the Trust Building on Washington Avenue and into a slightly larger home in a nearby apartment building. Looking to expand even more, Ernie Mihaly of the local Kiwanis Club had a wild idea: rebuild the dilapidated train station and turn it into a literary hub for the borough.

That decision likely saved a century's worth of history.

We begin anew

2010-12-14T17:50:00.003-05:00

My new journalism website, Chartiers Valley Patch, launched at 6 a.m. Monday. I welcome all of my followers here to visit the site and pass along the hyperlink to anyone who lives in and around Bridgeville, Collier Township, Heidelberg and Scott Township. Your support, opinions and suggestions on this blog over the past 17 months have been very-much appreciated. Thank you.

http://chartiersvalley.patch.com

Twitter

2010-11-16T17:31:00.004-05:00

While we build our website and prepare to launch the Patch, you can follow my Chartiers Valley news and updates on Twitter by going to twitter.com/charvalleypatch. Any news tips and story ideas are greatly appreciated.

NYC

2010-11-07T08:00:00.003-05:00

I will spend my final day of unemployment by traveling by plane to New York City to begin training tomorrow for my new job. Unlike most training I've had for jobs (mostly on the job) I will be staying a plush hotel on 44th and Broadway before taking my MacBook/iPhone to the AOL for a two-day training class on Monday and Tuesday.

It hasn't sunk in yet that it's over.

I still am having trouble coming to grips with the fact I have a job that will pay the bills. How sad is that? But once I come back to Pittsburgh, I'll be spending every waking minute building my website and promoting it to everyone living with in the boundaries of the Char Val school district (and beyond).

So while The Bread Line Blog may be winding down, my work is heating up. Stayed tuned to this blog to find out where I'll be writing next. Your readership will be incredibly important to me as I try to build a local website and try to expand into your neighborhood.

Election Day games

2010-11-02T07:00:00.001-04:00

Election Day is an exciting time for Americans. It's the opportunity to participate in government and make changes or confirm policies. What it shouldn't be, though, is a game. Unfortunately, that seems to be the only thing that the media considers important.

The horse race is more important than the platform, or so it seems. I watched with head-slapping disgust as CNN discussed what it meant for a Florida candidate's poll numbers when she viewed a text message offering her advice during a commercial break in the gubernatorial debate. Shouldn't the media be asking how they will try to get people back to work and try to stem the bleeding caused by the financial meltdown?

It's more fun to talk about campaigns than it is to talk about how complicated policies will actually affect our everyday lives. But it is those platforms of the the new Congress that restarts in January that should be the highest item on the news agenda.

Republicans may win the House today. But two months later they'll have to govern. Or the Democrats might hold onto both chambers. But two months later they'll have to govern.

Too often the media portrays these races as a sport where there are winners and losers. Sure, half the candidates win and the other half lose. But it's the policies set into motion by the victors that will change our lives. I can't help but to think how those policies may have helped to trigger (or failed to prevent) the economic meltdown two years ago. Would I have spent the past 16 months searching tirelessly for a job that I should have never lost?

So go to the polls today... or don't. I plan on going, but I'll let you decide for yourself if you want to invest 10 minutes into our democracy. Just remember that this isn't a game. In a few months, the politicians elected today will make serious decisions about our future.

The end game

2010-10-29T09:45:00.003-04:00

It had been 16 long months since I opened my morning newspaper and didn't thumb through the want ads. This morning, though, I went directly from the Local News page to the Sports section with nary a thought of finding work.

It's a relief.

I had applied to AOL's Patch.com in August after my aunt told me about the internet company's start-up news websites. I really wasn't sure what the job would entail, but the resume went out in assembly line fashion as it had for months. It wasn't until two weeks ago when a recruiter in Virginia called me to set up a phone interview. A few days later, I sat down with Western Pennsylvania's regional editor for a one-on-one interview at a South Side coffee shop. On Monday, I whizzed through a three-hour writing exam that asked me to use faux police reports to cobble together multiple stories on a fatal fire. I finished the process with another phone interview on Tuesday with a local editor in Illinois.

After that, I hoped for the best and prepared for the worst. Then I received a phone call yesterday morning from the original recruiter. There was a sadness in her voice that I detected -- or maybe it was my own pessimism -- that quickly turned to delight when she asked me to come aboard.

The position of local editor will be to build and launch a news website for the Chartiers Valley area around Bridgeville. The company expects me to work from my home, and it is sending me an iPhone, Mac laptop, copier/printer/fax machine and police scanner. I will be responsible for all the happenings within my local beat. They also are providing a small budget for me to hire freelance reporters. This is a new concept in journalism, but it is an exciting opportunity that I intend on giving the best chance to succeed.

I have been unemployed for 16 months, but I haven't forgotten how to work. It's time to get out of the bread line and back into the workforce. I can't wait.

It's over

2010-10-28T11:00:00.002-04:00

At 10:54 a.m. today, I accepted a position as a Local Editor with AOL's Patch.com to cover the Chartiers Valley area.

I begin Nov. 8 and will offer more details about the job and beat in the coming weeks. Thank you for your support over the past 16 months.

Obama campaigns at W&J College

2010-10-22T13:07:00.008-04:00

(Candidate Barack Obama shakes hands with a supporter. Photo by Celeste Van Kirk)

By Michael Jones
O-R Staff Writer
April 16, 2008

Barack Obama calmly stood behind a blue curtain, his arms crossed and body swaying back and forth, moments before being introduced to the crowd of about 300 people.

It is a routine the Illinois senator has been through hundreds of times on the campaign trail, but just beyond the curtain, anticipation swelled as supporters wearing campaign garb eagerly awaited the Democratic presidential hopeful's entrance.

"It's time to take our country back," Pennsylvania Auditor General Jack Wagner said, "and that's why I believe we are here today to support Barack Obama."

With that introduction, Obama stepped through the curtain and the crowd inside the Rossin Student Center ballroom on Washington & Jefferson College's campus rose to its feet and gave him a raucous reception. It took him several minutes to make his way to the podium as he shook hands with dozens of military veterans seated underneath an American flag draped overhead.

Obama's visit marks the first time one of the three remaining presidential contenders has come to Washington County. His chief rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, will travel to the Mon Valley Saturday.

Philip Fiumara Jr., district commander for the Department of American Veterans, gave Obama an American flag lapel pin to wear before he addressed the crowd. Obama quickly pinned it to his coat and personally thanked him following the event.

"I heard a lot of people say he won't wear a flag pin," Fiumara said. "Well, if he's helping veterans, he needed a pin."

Obama spoke for a mere 15 minutes, highlighting his grandfather's service during World War II and explaining the problems facing many present-day soldiers returning from battles in Iraq and Afghanistan. He then turned the forum over to the audience and took questions for 45 minutes.

Near the end of the forum, Charles "Tootie" Smith, a disabled Vietnam War veteran living in McDonald, took the microphone and addressed Obama for several minutes, never asking a question.

"This is what America is all about," Smith said. "So, Mr. President, thank you."

He then stood and hugged Obama as the crowd cheered.

Jim Trent, who served in the Navy during the Vietnam War, is a registered Republican and will not be able to vote in the Democratic primary Tuesday. He has not decided for whom he will vote, but said he wanted to see Obama in person to help him choose in the general election.

"I just wanted to hear the man," Trent said after the event. "I like him."

Trent, of South Strabane, dismissed the controversy over Obama's comments at a private fundraiser last week that small-town voters are sometimes "bitter" and that they "cling to guns or religion ... to explain their frustration."

"Yeah, we do hold to our guns and our religion, but that's something we've done for generations in this area," Trent said. "It's part of our background and who we are. I think they're just using comments like that out of context and some people are upset about it. I wasn't at all."

As Obama left, he shook hands with supporters who crammed into a velvet rope near the stage. Heidi Szuminsky of Waynesburg weaved her way to the front and briefly spoke to the candidate.

"I've been waiting to do that for a long time," she said.

As a member of the Young Democrats in Greene County, Szuminsky has supported Obama since he gave a stirring speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2004.

"I think he's the one candidate who can actually unite our country and truly bring about the change he speaks about," Szuminsky said. "There's just so much I like about him."

Obama heads today to Philadelphia, where he will debate Clinton.

A fine line

2010-10-20T17:36:00.006-04:00

Steelers linebacker James Harrison should not have been fined $75,000 by the National Football League for his hit on a Cleveland Brown. There, I said it... along with every other human being not employed by the NFL.

Harrison is a monster on the football field, but a softy off of it. He aims to hurt people, as he plainly said after the game on Sunday. But so does every other defensive player. You want your opponent to feel pain, but you do not want them to suffer an injury.

As for Harrison's fine, it makes no sense. Mohamed "Image Redacted" Mossaquoi turned to catch a pass that slipped through his fingers. The minute he turned to look, he saw Harrison barreling downfield on the verge of a monster hit. So Mossaquoi ducked his body into the fetal position and put his head in line with Harrison's shoulder. How could James Harrison ever pull back or change his direction to miss Mossaquoi's head?

Now Harrison is threatening retirement because the game has changed. Say what you want about that suggestion, but I think "Silverback" should do whatever makes him happy. If playing football and earning $8 million a year doesn't do it for him, then so be it. The boys on ESPN's "Pardon The Interruption" couldn't believe Harrison would trade that money for a job as a bus driver, which he previously said in a news interview would be his profession had he never made it to the pros.

Now, I don't know James Harrison personally, but I do believe he would be happy being a bus driver making pennies. Because that seems to be his personality. He has always scrapped his way into the lineup ever since permanently catching on with the Steelers in 2004 after linebacker Clark Haggans broke his hand while weight lifting. Had Haggans never broken his hand, Harrison would be working full-time for public transit.

And I think he would be satisfied with his life doing just that.

So maybe we should all learn something from James Harrison. Football is fun, but we shouldn't put it on a pedestal. He knows his place in society with or without the NFL, and I commend him for willing to move on to his "life's work" before his contract and body say he should.

The forgotten game

2010-10-13T15:36:00.007-04:00

Fifty years ago today, the smoky industrial town of Pittsburgh upset a baseball juggernaut.

It's hard nowadays to imagine the Pittsburgh Pirates as a championship caliber team, but the 1960 roster shocked the world at 3:36 p.m. on this date. It still is amazing that this team, which won Game 7 against the feared New York Yankees, doesn't get the historical credit it deserves. Outside the Lines on ESPN conducted an online poll this afternoon and just 8 percent thought it was the most memorable home run in a World Series. It finished last out of six total nominees. That's hard to believe considering it's the ONLY home run to decide the championship in a Game 7.

Although the Yankees had outscored the Pirates by a score of 46-17 during the first six games, the series was tied heading back to Pittsburgh for Game 7. The Pirates blew a 9-7 lead in the ninth, but they had final ups in the bottom half of the inning. And there was scrawny Bill Mazeroski standing at the plate - a player known more for his glove than his bat - cracking the winning run over the center field wall.

While most of the country doesn't even remember this game, a group of Buccos fans and former players still gather at the Forbes Field outfield wall in Oakland to listen to the radio call and commemorate this amazing feat. In a city that has seen 18 consecutive years of abysmal baseball, Oct. 13 is recognized as a local holiday for a city starving for meaningful baseball

Finding my dream job

2010-10-11T09:47:00.004-04:00

For a baseball team that has tried and failed at everything during 18 consecutive losing seasons, it's baffling why the Pittsburgh Pirates haven't yet contacted me for the opening at manager. So, I've taken it upon myself to send a cover letter and resume to the Pittsburgh Baseball Club this afternoon to be considered for the field managing position.

Hey, I couldn't be any worse than what they've had since 1993.

In my application, I will tell team owner Bob Nutting that my plethora of baseball knowledge from Little League would be a solid foundation to help me handle the transition to the majors. Plus, I have some supervisory experience on my resume having served as a crew leader during this years census count.

I'll promise to work cheaper than any other managerial candidates the Pirates are currently interviewing, and you know that is important to Nutting. Recently-dispatcher John Russell made $500,000 a year in his three seasons, and he will also be paid that salary again to NOT coach the team next year. Before that, Jim Tracy spent a couple years making a couple million, and Lloyd McClendon prowled the dugout for five years with nothing more than a stolen base to show for his salary. I feel that I could easily manage this underachieving ball club to a losing record for, let's just throw out a number, $50,000.

So, what say you, Mr. Nutting? Wouldn't you like to at least get your money's worth for 105 losses? You know my number, and I look forward to speaking with you about my qualifications (or lack thereof) in the near future.

The new guy

2010-10-05T21:07:00.018-04:00

We weren't sure what would happen when we brought the hound home. He had been surrendered as a stray last month at a shelter in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of East Liberty, so little was known about his past. But the terrier/hound they called Cheetah has been a great gift for our household.

After my girlfriend, Tiffany, started a new job Downtown that made a few extra bucks, we decided to adopt a shelter dog. While celebrating her first day on the job last week, we came across some mutts outside the Texas Roadhouse where we dined. We asked questions and got plenty of information on the dogs the shelter workers cared for. We had talked for months about bringing a dog into the home, but only recently decided that the time was right to adopt.

So we went to the Animal Rescue League of Western Pennsylvania on Saturday and met the litany of mutts they have in kennels.

I tried to pet each one to give them human interaction, although the volunteers at the Rescue League take great care of the animals and walk them frequently. Then we came upon a shivering hound who pushed his nose to the front of the cage. We met him in a small greeting room, took him for a walk and unleashed him in a fenced-in yard. There was something about him that told us he was the right dog for our house.

We brought him home on Sunday and renamed him Riley.

We have had no trouble teaching the 13-month old how to go outside when needed and behave in our modest home. But it's the volunteers and workers of the Animal Rescue League whom we should thank for bringing us such a well-tempered and loving animal. Still, we wonder where he came from and how we were so fortunate to bring him to our home.

After serendipitously finding Riley, I would strongly encourage anyone looking for a four-legged companion to adopt from one of the various shelters in the area.

Western Pennsylvania Humane Society
Animal Friends of Pittsburgh
Washington County Humane Society
Animal Rescue League of Western Pennsylvania

Total disconnect

2010-09-29T12:43:00.003-04:00

Albert Haynesworth is being paid $100 million over seven years to play a game. And after his offseason of complaining and refusingto practice during mini-camp, he isn't playing that game very well anymore.

So he went on a Washington radio station and made one of the dumbest and most asinine comments I have ever heard. He's bitter and clinging to his guns and religion because the Redskins want him to play a different defensive scheme than he was accustomed to in previous years. I don't have a lot to say about this idiot because I'll let his own words do all the talking.

"Just because somebody pay you money don't mean they'll make you do whatever they want or whatever. I mean, does that mean everything is for sale?" Haynesworth said last week. "I mean, I'm not for sale. Yeah, I signed the contract and got paid a lot of money, but ... that don't mean I'm for sale or a slave or whatever."

No, you're not a slave. You get paid for what you supposedly do for a living. But you WERE for sale two years ago when you signed that record-breaking contract with the Redskins. They may not own your soul, but they are paying you enough money to tell you what to do while at the office. So shut up and get back to work you pathetic ingrate.

Radio killed the radio star

2010-09-27T08:09:00.002-04:00

This wasn't the first time "they" pulled the plug on Stan and Guy. But once again, Pittsburgh is left without the most trusted men in Yinzer sports.

ESPN Sports Radio 1250 will cease to exist after this week because Mickey and Minnie decided that childish radio shows such as Hannah Montana will somehow be more lucrative in this cradle of sports than, well, sports. I knew something wasn't right while driving to the grocery store yesterday morning and 1250 had a national feed talking about the Cowboys instead of the Steelers. Really? The freaking Cowboys! I immediately turned the dial to NPR to find something more interesting.

But this was just a precursor to the real tragedy. ESPN Radio is pulling out of Pittsburgh and firing the entire staff. I ridiculed Ken Laird earlier this year when he erroneously predicted the end of the Bruce Arians era. However, I still think he is a good reporter with excellent insight on the Steelers. Hopefully he will be able to catch on with another radio station in the region.

This decision to end Pittsburgh's most prominent sports radio station is just another example of the demise of journalism. Whether it be newspapers that try to offer token services on their websites or radio stations that can't compete with bare bones staff, it's clear that the viewer/reader/listener no longer wants to pay for his/her services.

And that makes me sad, because this isn't the first time sports fans have faced cutbacks. Fox Sports Pittsburgh neutered us two years ago when they ended SportsBeat and the Steelers postgame coverage. For some bizarre reason, they kept the postgame show of the Triple-A team that currently plays at PNC Park.

There is no such thing as a free lunch, and this decision by Mickey Mouse proves that fact. We do not want to pay for news, but we are quickly realizing that the only free services we can find nowadays are barren news pages and dead airwaves.

Pittsburgh: Home of the Truthiness

2010-09-17T20:26:00.022-04:00

I couldn't stop laughing while watching last night's "The Daily Show" and "Colbert Report" on Comedy Central. Those two nuts, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, announced they are hosting competing rallies in the shadow of the Washington Monument on 10-30-10. It's a big joke, but I imagine thousands will attend (including me) in a defiant gesture that there are millions of us out there who are sick of the rancor going around America like a bad case of the swine flu.

After weeks of hearing doomsday clown Glenn Beck constantly blabbering about his Restoring Honor rally, I assumed it was only natural that the professional comedians launched their own rally.

So a few weeks ago, someone from The Series of Tubes launched a website to push Colbert into hosting a "Restoring Truthiness" rally on 10-10-10. It blew up on Facespace and the Twatter like you wouldn't believe. But what we didn't know was that it was the work of a Yinzer to get the faux conservative pundit and his Comedy Central pal/rival to organize a real event in D.C.

Joseph Laughlin, 28, of Pittsburgh, made the pioneering suggestion last month on Reddit. "I've had a vision and I can't shake it," he said when others begin chirping about a response to Beck. "Colbert needs to hold a satirical rally in DC."

It turned into an Internet sensation that has raised a quarter-million dollars for charity. It also pushed the comedians into a corner where they had no choice BUT to rally their troops. Colbert begged his viewers last week to stop sending him live doves and Beanie Babies after Laughlin's website encouraged just that.

I don't know how many people will show up for the Rally to Restore Sanity when it collides on Oct. 30 with the March to Keep Fear Alive. But I'm proud to say one of our own helped to bring the Colbert Nation and Daily Show news junkies on a collision course that very well could bring the end of days.

Well done, Mr. Laughlin. You've made the Steel City proud.

Our broken government

2010-09-14T22:02:00.009-04:00

While watching the Senate primary results roll in from Delaware, I couldn't help but wonder how broken is our government? The fact that Christine O'Donnell could win the Republic nomination with just 30,000 votes -- less than the number of people at PNC Park for a SkyBlast -- and could eventually decide such a powerful position is astounding to me. Sure, she still must win in the general election, but how could someone with such poor qualifications get the nod for such an important position?

It makes me wonder why we still allow a bicameral federal legislative body. Why should we give 30,000 people -- just 3 percent of the entire population of Delaware and a micro-fraction of the American population -- an opportunity to be 1/100 votes in the U.S. Senate? That means people in smaller states have much more voting power than people living in larger states such as Pennsylvania.

The founders decided on the bicameral government to give both small and big states equal representation. But it's becoming increasingly clear that the minority in dime-size states has an overwhelming voice in our government.

A Super view from the Cardinals section

2010-09-12T13:00:00.004-04:00

With gold towels whipping and ear-throbbing cheers following each Steelers touchdown, Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., felt more like Heinz Field South than a neutral site.

But two hearty souls sitting in the Steelers' end zone directly behind the uprights found themselves stuck in enemy territory surrounded by fans draped in crimson and white.

The fourth quarter might have looked bleak for Steelers Nation, especially for my father and I stationed in the suddenly raucous Section 123, but Super Bowl XLIII became one of the best experiences of our lives.

I never before gave one thought to attending a Super Bowl. The cost and pageantry of the whole thing made it seem like an impossible journey. But my dad, Howard, who lives three hours away in Jacksonville, Fla., somehow scored a pair of the prized tickets and we quickly planned our hectic itinerary.

That glorious Sunday morning began with the two of us hiking to the roof level of a dank parking garage just a few hundred yards from the stadium. By 10 a.m., it already was packed with Western Pennsylvanians partying and kicking back Iron City beers. Strangers from far-flung areas -- Butler, Somerset, Cambria, Center and Dauphin counties -- instantly became close neighbors.

Three hours before kickoff, we left our tailgate and walked to the stadium anticipating heavy security. We snaked our way through the line and made it to the metal detectors, where security momentarily stopped me for unknowingly smuggling in a $1 bag of peanuts. They immediately confiscated my salted contraband and set me free.

We sat down in our seats to soak up the scene before introducing ourselves to a few Arizonans staggering to their spot a row away. It didn't take long for us to realize we would be surrounded.

After initial jubilation from a couple Pittsburgh scores, the game and the atmosphere in our section began to change. Arizona appeared poised to score at the end of the first half and I turned to my father and suggested the ideal scenario would be a game-tying field goal. But my dad refuted that pessimistic prediction.

"Best-case scenario is a pick-six," he said.

Then it happened.

A Steeler stepped in front of quarterback Kurt Warner's pass and the players rushed down field toward our seats. I didn't immediately know who intercepted the pass until a few seconds later when my eyes fixated on linebacker James Harrison's unmistakable figure lumbering down the sideline.

What eventually would be a 100-yard touchdown return turned into an 18-second cage match brawl. Steelers defenders formed a convoy around Harrison, blasting every Cardinal with the audacity to attempt to prevent the greatest defensive play in Super Bowl history. The blocking was ferocious and players' bodies littered the field from either exhaustion, pain or exhilaration.

When Harrison rose to his feet a few minutes later, he was greeted with a bear hug from head coach Mike Tomlin. The stadium erupted, except for our neighbors.

The Steelers had rolled to a 17-7 halftime lead, but I felt queasy even when The Boss took the stage and rocked the stadium. Only Bruce Springsteen's bizarre crotch-first slide into a television camera could distract me from thinking about what would develop in the second half.

Little did I or the other 70,773 fans know what we would witness. The third quarter was dull, but the fourth quarter made up for its lack of sizzle.

Our section exploded as Arizona receiver Larry Fitzgerald streaked down the field directly toward our end zone with the look of a man prepared to maim anyone in his way. My father and I huddled together to weather the storm from our section.

But the Arizona fans began celebrating their Super Bowl victory 2 minutes and 37 seconds too early. A man behind us threw up his arms and triumphantly shouted, "I can't believe we won the Super Bowl!"

Neither could I.

That's when Ben Roethlisberger got to work at his own 12-yard line. He scrambled, finding enough time to hit receiver Santonio Holmes, the eventual Super Bowl MVP. Each time Roethlisberger eluded pressure, a teenage girl in the next row shouted, "He is so lucky!"

"This isn't luck," I thought. "It's Big Ben at his finest."

The raucous celebration in our section dwindled to a light simmer when Holmes flashed open and stumbled to the Cardinals' 6-yard line. Meanwhile, the rest of Raymond James Stadium rocked, but I remained subdued and nervous, still clutching my Terrible Towel in one hand and my father's shoulder in the other.

Then it happened. Big Ben chucked the ball to the corner of the end zone and Holmes caught it before immediately getting slammed out of bounds.

Was it a catch? Did he have both feet down?

Steelers Nation anxiously awaited the official video review. The stadium remained stunningly silent. Then, referee Terry McAulay returned from the booth, raised both arms in the air and set Raymond James ablaze.

A LaMarr Woodley beatdown of Warner sealed the win. I hugged my father and shouted, "We won the Super Bowl, Dad!" And this time, there was no disputing that claim.

As confetti showered the field, most of the Cardinals fans slithered our of our section and into the cool Tampa night. I looked around and saw a few joyous Steelers fans celebrating in our section among the empty stadium seats.

My dad and I hugged and posed for pictures in front of the swell of players and media that swarmed the field. After the emotional roller coaster we rode for nearly four hour, it was time to celebrate. Even if I needed my Terrible Towel to dab a few tears of joy from my face.

Media censorship

2010-09-11T10:34:00.006-04:00

I was watching with great angst the end of the Coal Bowl last night when the WVU Mountaineers lined up at scrimmage and just stood there. Then the television camera focused on a Marshall defensive player for no reason at all. And that's when the ESPN announcers explained what was happening.

A fan had run onto the turf and was playing tag with the cops. The hoard of police officers tackled him and dragged him away before play resumed, but the television cameras never showed this drunken idiot causing problems. They said they refused to show the fan so as not to encourage others to act in a similarly stupid manner.

That's very interesting. Because the media has been unrelenting in covering a similar idiot in Gainesville, Fla., who wanted to burn Korans today. That seems awfully hypocritical to me.

This so-called "Christian" pastor planned to burn 200 Islamic holy books to protest the actions of radical Muslims overseas and the proposed construction of a mosque in New York City. Day after day, the media camped outside this church of just 50 congregants and spent unnecessary time covering this extremist's idiotic plan.

Even ABC News' Jake Tapper asked President Obama yesterday why the administration elevated the story to a national level by having Department of Defense Secretary Robert Gates call this pastor and request he reconsider those plans. Uh, Jake, I don't think it's the president who elevated this story. You and your media cronies did a pretty good job giving this guy all the attention he wanted.

In the end, this pastor is clearly insane. Can you imagine the reaction in America if an Islamic imam declared that the Holy Bible should be burned on Christmas Day? So why is this pastor given more than a single minute of air-time for proposing something so radical?

All things considered, I would have much rather preferred to watch that drunken fan get pummeled by police than I would watching this idiot have a weenie roast with Islam's sacred book.

Steelers Nation fan-tastic in Fla.

2010-09-10T11:37:00.006-04:00

By Michael Jones
Observer-Reporter
Feb. 2, 2009

TAMPA, Fla. – Terrible Towels twirled and Raymond James Stadium rocked as the Steelers rolled Sunday night to a victory in Super Bowl XLIII against the Arizona Cardinals.

But hours before Santonio Holmes hoisted the Lombardi Trophy, anticipation swelled at tailgates near the stadium as game time approached.

The Corrigan family kicked back at their pickup truck that proudly displayed a sign asserting that Tampa was now Steelers Country. Joe Corrigan, 66, of Sarver, Pa., was tailgating and holding a reunion with his two sons, Sean and Patrick, both of whom left Western Pennsylvania for jobs elsewhere.

"I'm excited," said 39-year-old Sean Corrigan, who now lives in Atlanta. "It's always been a dream of mine."

The overwhelming force of Steelers Nation left an impression on the family.

"I'm amazed how few Cardinals fans are here," Sean Corrigan said.

The fans from Arizona, looking tan and happy to just be at the Super Bowl, made a decent showing this weekend, but were easily outnumbered. Patrick Corrigan, 35, who recently moved to Denver, still was unimpressed.

"When you see them, they have brand new jerseys with the price tags still hanging off," Patrick Corrigan joked about the recently growing Cardinals' bandwagon.

That didn't matter to their father as he kicked back an Iron City beer on the roof of a parking garage overlooking Raymond James Stadium. He was just glad to be here after his wife broke her leg last week but still encouraged him to travel to Florida for the game.

"When this came up, I said let's not miss this opportunity," Joe Corrigan said.

William "Tripp" Kline and his wife, Suzanne, said their flight from Pittsburgh to Daytona Beach was packed with Steelers fans. The couple from South Franklin Township said their US Airways crew even played the "Here We Go" fight song over the plane's intercom.

"From what we can see, the flights are jam-packed with Steelers fans," William Kline said. "We're just going to soak up the whole atmosphere at our tailgate. Take in all the pageantry."

While the Klines were in Florida to enjoy the game, Phil Eonda, was all business. The 49-year-old Tampa police detective, formerly of North Franklin Township and a 1978 Trinity High School graduate, was working security at the city's convention center. His shift was supposed to end at 5 p.m., giving him time to head home and watch the game.

"The chance of this happening was remote," Eonda said about the Steelers coming to his adopted hometown for the big game. "I'm glad they made it, and they're here."

The game wasn't only attracting people from the City of Pittsburgh. Fans from all around Western Pennsylvania and elsewhere partied in the shadow of the stadium. A crowd of fans from Centre County stood in the parking garage and chanted the Penn State fight song as they twirled their towels. Others traveled from Somerset, Johnstown and Harrisburg to represent the black and gold at the parking garage.

Overcast skies in the morning eventually gave way to sunshine as tailgaters more accustomed to freezing temperatures relished the warmth. Mark and Melanie Melfi, of Toledo, Ohio, went to Detroit for the Super Bowl festivities three years ago and were greeted then with snow. This time around, however, they sported sunglasses and short sleeves.

"The weather is totally different," Mark Melfi said. "The atmosphere in Detroit, because it was so close, was great, but it couldn't handle the crowd."

"It was just different then," Melanie Melfi added. "We hadn't won a Super Bowl in, what, 25 years? There was that hunger, and we just weren't going to lose that game."

They couldn't find tickets to Super Bowl XL, but watched it at a Detroit bar. This time around, though, they scored tickets on eBay a few days after the Steelers defeated the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC championship game.

"After Detroit, we told ourselves we should've gone," Mark Melfi said. "This is just a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

Hopefully not for Steelers Nation.

A nightmarish fantasy

2010-09-08T13:13:00.016-04:00

No matter how hard I tried, the pop-up window on my computer would not display last night's Yahoo! fantasy football draft. There was no money on the line, but it was just another feeling of total isolationism that is somehow just now beginning to set in. I had been looking forward to this annual fantasy draft for weeks and, just like everything else over the past 15 months, it was taken away from me.

So as I was wrangling with the computer, my seven friends were drafting their players as the automated server was selecting for me Falcons running back Michael Turner in the first round. SERIOUSLY!? Michael Turner in the first round? I would've preferred, of course, to have Aaron Rodgers.

It might seem stupid, but it made me even more depressed than I already was. Here are my seven friends, all of whom have decent-paying jobs, having fun on a Tuesday night and enjoying each others' company. And there I was, by myself, watching the Pirates game on television. The freaking Pirates!

It symbolized everything I'm feeling right now. My friends -- and 82 percent of Americans -- are successful and enjoying the fruits of their labor during this economic jackpot. And then there's the rest of us, sitting around with no hope of anything. No job, no pay, no purpose in society. It brings me back to the Post-Gazette's story on Monday that illustrated how 3.5 million Americans don't exist in the eyes of the system. I still "exist" because I continue to collect unemployment benefits, but it sure doesn't feel like it right now.

Witness to calamity

2010-09-04T08:00:00.002-04:00

By Michael Jones
Charleston Daily Mail
Sept. 9, 2005

"I never thought something like this could happen in America," a man told me while standing in the crowded lobby of Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans at 3 a.m. Saturday.

His brand-new white shoes were caked with muck. He had trudged through contaminated water after leaving his original shelter -- an interstate overpass. He removed the laces because they were too waterlogged to be of any use.

He seemed to look through me with his drooping eyes. He was standing next to all his belongings in a couple of suitcases and wondering aloud how he would ever put his life back together.

When would he again see his wife, who had presumably already left the airport on an earlier flight? Would he ever regain his job as a welder? Where would he live until the city could be drained and restored? Would he ever really move back to New Orleans?

"Our world just changed,"

Nothing could have prepared me, or the Air National Guard members I accompanied, for what we saw at that airport. These suffering Americans were too tired and despairing to raise a fuss about the rancid conditions, though.

While the airport was slightly better than the hellish confines of the convention center and Superdome, it was quickly deteriorating. Trash littered the floors throughout the place, and the concourse smelled like urine and worse.

Thousands of people slept on the floor or on baggage conveyor belts while others waited in endless lines for the next flight out of the city. Moans could be heard from some of the sick in a quarantined concourse that housed the most critical patients. Hundreds of these patients, mostly elderly, lay slumped over in their wheelchairs or on green stretchers. Many appeared lifeless.

Those who had been pronounced dead were taken to a temporary morgue set up in the waiting area for a Continental Airlines gate, far from the other survivors and the television cameras.

It's impossible to convey the depths of this tragedy through a newspaper or a television set.

"How do you convey the smell, the sight and the feel of it?" asked Senior Master Sgt. Dennis Heilmann of the 130th Airlift Wing.

I wondered that, too, especially since I had been working for the Charleston Daily Mail for only four weeks before receiving this assignment.

What would be tougher? Seeing the uncensored mess that was New Orleans or trying to put that horrifying picture into words?

---

Never did I think I would be thrust into a major national story so soon.

On Thursday morning, Sept. 1, I was making my daily "cop calls" to various police departments in the state. Before the day was over, I was standing on a tarmac at the New Orleans Naval Air Station.

When I received the assignment from my editor, I didn't have time to really understand what I was about to undertake. The prospect of working with an Air Guard squadron was intimidating. How would they react to having a reporter on their C-130 cargo plane?

More importantly, would I be able to stand up to the horrifying sights and rigorous work ahead?

Those questions and many more went through my mind before I boarded the cargo plane with nine crewmen.

A local news cameraman, Chris Coyner, and I were granted an all-access pass with a C-130 crew commanded by Maj. Kyle Adams. We were able to observe everything and conduct interviews as they carried out their tough assignment.

The first two days of the mission were slow as the crew transported only Army National Guard troops from Ohio to the New Orleans Naval Air Station.

Early Saturday, though, we arrived at the international airport to evacuate the most critical patients from the city. Nothing could have prepared us for what we were to see.

Much of it will stay with me for years. I hope never to forget the evacuees' faces so I can be reminded of how fortunate I am.

We take our many luxuries for granted. I did before Saturday.

Surprisingly, the air guardsmen I accompanied expressed that same sentiment. Men and women who had served in "The Desert" -- Iraq and Afghanistan -- could not put into words what they felt about the devastation they saw on the faces of the survivors.

It seemed that even the displaced New Orleans residents themselves didn't understand the magnitude of their ordeal. Understandably, they appeared to be more focused on surviving the difficult conditions than worrying about everything they had lost.

As relief workers worked to move thousands of survivors through the airport, the media representatives began to pour in. Dozens of satellite trucks lined the parking lot, but many of the tragic stories had already left on flights to their unknown destinations.

---

Throughout the week, I got an inkling of why the Base Realignment and Closure Commission might have spared the 130th Airlift Wing. The guardsmen carried out their mission professionally, even with constant confusion.

The crew waited on the New Orleans tarmac for five hours Saturday while volunteers loaded three other planes around theirs. The C-130, carrying 24 patients, left as dawn crept over the horizon.

After unloading those patients in Houston, the crew members requested a waiver so they could continue flying missions. They needed permission to work long enough to make it back to San Antonio, or they would be in violation of flying procedures.

Military rules require a flight crew to stop flying 16 hours after they are alerted for a mission. Although they were working on little sleep, the crew was granted the two-hour waiver, but each member had to approve.

Huddled in a tight circle, each of the nine immediately made it clear they wanted to fly back to New Orleans for another round.

Rescue workers diligently loaded 24 more patients onto the C-130. One doctor thanked a crew member and told him two patients would have died had they not been airlifted immediately.

Another airlift the following evening meant more problems. As the C-130 approached Chennault Airport, a small airstrip in western Louisiana, one patient's pulse rate dropped to 30 beats per minute.

Adams and the rest of the flight crew did everything in their power to get the plane on the ground as quickly and safely as possible. A waiting ambulance crew stabilized the woman, but some of the crew members took the experience very hard.

It was clear to me that their work, and the work of the other crews from the 130th, resulted in many lives being saved.

---

Despite my experiences, I saw glimmers of hope in the fact that people suffering through unspeakable anguish still could smile or speak a greeting to me.

While returning to Charleston Tuesday night, the crew played "Country Roads" over the plane's intercom system. As we headed home, I reflected on what I had seen over the past six days.

Covering this tragedy has been the most rewarding and disheartening experience of my life. It was an incredible privilege to tell this story.

C-130 crew returning after hurricane duty

2010-09-03T08:00:00.003-04:00

By Michael Jones
Charleston Daily Mail
Sept. 6, 2005

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - After a grueling mission to evacuate dozens of critical patients our of New Orleans, the crew of EVAC 306 from the 130th Airlift Wing received word it was going home today.

The flight of the West Virginia Air National Guard C-130 left Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio this morning and headed to Houston to airlift supplies to Louisiana.

Then it was back to Charleston for a much-needed break.

The past several days have been hectic for the 130th, which has endured numerous itinerary changes. Scheduling conflicts on the ground have forced numerous delays, but the crew has worked hard to overcome those problems.

This is nothing new for the 130th. While most people have 9-to-5 jobs, the members of the Air Guard don't have a set work schedule. During the five-day operation, the crew worked a 10-hour shift, 12-hour shift, two 16-hour shifts and an 18-hour shift.

Their hour-by-hour lives are frustrating and exciting all at the same time, they say.

"I would kind of like to know where we're going and when we're going, but in our type of job, you don't get that," said 1st Lt. Tim Street, the flight's navigator. "You have to be able to change as it goes and adapt."

Street, who has spent more than 11 years in the Guard, expects to be deployed to Afghanistan in the coming weeks.

"It is kind of frustrating when you don't know what will happen and when you'll do (missions), but you get used to it," Street said. "It keeps it interesting and keeps you on your toes, but I enjoy it."Many crew members expected to stay longer than Monday and were surprised to leave just one day after the original departure date.

"I didn't know if we would be here two days or two weeks," he said.

A perfect example of the changing schedule occurred Sunday when the 130th expected to make three trips to New Orleans. After the initial trip, it was clear they would not need to return because the sickest patients had been moved.

Just a day earlier, the crew had to request a waiver to extend their hours so the could evacuate more survivors. Without that extension, their mission would not have been able to move 24 critically ill patients needing immediate assistance.

"That's the name of the game with the C-130 crew," said 1st Lt. Todd Perry, the crew's co-pilot. "As long as you're flexible, it works so much easier for the user."

Many feel the length of any mission is not as troublesome as the question mark of the return date. Some say they do not mind serving for long periods but wish they could tell their families when they are coming back.

Perry, who is from Hico in Fayette County, said that has been especially tough on his wife, who has had to oversee the construction of their new hours while he has been gone.

"It is hard because you're not sure when you're 100 percent positive when you'll be home," he said. "You can't tell your wife a certain date."

He will return to his job as a State Police trooper in South Charleston in mid-October.

But there is always the excitement of traveling to unexpected places and not being completely tied to a schedule.

Maj. Kyle Adams, the aircraft commander, sees positives and negatives to his job as a pilot for both the U.S. Air Force and Delta Airlines. His roles as a commercial pilot is much different because it involves trying to meet strict schedules.

"On one hand, I like the variety the military give yous," he said. "On the other hand, I like the consistency of the airline."

But all of the crew from the 130th understands there area factors they cannot control. They waited in line for more than four hours on the Louis Armstrong International Airport tarmac until it was their turn to load the critical patients.

Understandably, the rushed evacuation created many problems for rescue workers. Still, Adams said a good game plan is most important for a successful mission.

"Perfect planning prevents poor performance," he said, spouting a line he learned in training.

"I hate to waste the time and daylight of loading problems," Adams said. "I can take care of pre-mission stuff, but I hate to burn time."

As the crew makes its final rescue flight of the mission, most are torn between the desire to see their families again and the satisfaction of helping those in need.

"It's bittersweet," Adams said. "I feel good with what we did, but I wish we could help more. But we've got to follow orders."

The C-130 crew that left last Thursday is expected to arrive in Charleston this afternoon. There has been no word of if, or when, a return trip to New Orleans will be scheduled.

Even hardened C-130 crews jarred

2010-09-02T08:00:00.005-04:00

By Michael Jones
Charleston Daily Mail
Sept. 5, 2005

LAKE CHARLES, La. - Some might believe there is no greater trauma than the sights of war, but what members of the 130th Airlift Wing have seen seen this week has changed their view.

Nine crew members from a C-130 unit based in Charleston are seeing the human side of the devastation from Hurricane Katrina. On Saturday, they successfully airlifted 48 severely ill patients to two Texas cities.

Just past midnight today, the crew airlifted another nine to Chennault Airport, a small airstrip here in western Louisiana.

Only a few walked the concourses of Louis Armstrong International Airport, but all of them saw the feeble, elderly survivors lying helplessly on stretchers stacked in the back of the plane. Most of these men have been to war, either Iraq, Afghanistan, or even Vietnam. None of them, they say, have ever seen anything like the devastation in the aftermath of Katrina.

Senior Master Sgt. Dennis Heilmann, a full-time guardsman from Scott Depot, said this is the most impressive relief effort he has seen in his 26 years in the Air Guard. He also said aiding West Virginian flood victims couldn't prepare him for this task.

"I don't have words for it," he said Saturday in the airport concourse. "It was heartbreaking. I was awestruck.

"How do you convey the smell, the sight, and the feel of it?"

"Master Sgt. Dave Summerfield of Pinch has seen just about everything after serving in Vietnam and both Iraq wars.

"It's worse than any war I've been in," Summerfield said, referring to the casualties and destruction. "It's something I never expected."

The co-pilot of the crew's C-130, 1st Lt. Todd Perry, wished he could give the survivors the same care his family receives. Perry, a state trooper stationed in South Charleston, said seeing the frail victims made the crew push harder to evacuate more patients even after working an 18-hour shift.

"I felt like I had no control over anything, even with a 155,000-pound airplane," Perry said.

Because the disaster hit America, it made Perry reflect on who he was helping.

"This person could be an old neighbor from West Virginia or the guy working at the coal mine down the street," he said.

The experience has been just as gripping for others, including 1st Lt. Tim Street of Teays Valley, a new navigator slated for deployment in Iraq soon.

"This was the first I felt like I was doing something," Street said.

This morning's operation was the third trip the crew to made to New Orleans in less than 48 hours. Since then, relief workers have made major progress in removing survivors and cleaning the soiled airport hallways. An immense relief effort has been mounted over the past couple of days, seemingly making up for the initial problems.

Maj. Blake Jessen, director of operations for Lackland Air Force Base, said New Orleans had to turn away aircraft for a brief time because of the volume. The airport relief operation was the "largest airlift in American history," Jessen said.

"It took a little while for things to get going because the military won't go until somebody says start," Jessen said. "Once they did, there were enormous amounts of airlifts going in there and grabbing people and taking them out."

Perry saw a San Diego County sheriff's helicopter landing on the runway adjacent to his C-130. He said it was "unprecedented" to see such a large number of civilian and military aircraft landing simultaneously without incident.

"The airlift Saturday was more broad than anything I've seen in my 15 years in the military," Perry said.

On Saturday, thousands filed through endless lines as they waited to leave the airport. On Sunday, only a couple slept in the cramped concourses.

One man, George Deano from St. Bernard Parish, said he waited until Saturday to leave his friend's flooded two-story house. Deano, sitting with his dog, Tucker, waited so long because, for most of the week, evacuees were not allowed to bring their pets to shelters.

"We thought it would be bad, but not like this," he said. "I lost my Harley, my truck and my house."

Deano said he and his friend used a generator to restore power to the house. But many more didn't have that luxury. According to some accounts, more than 15,000 people were shuttled through the airport in four days. More than 2,500 were critical care patients needed immediate evacuation.

In fact, the crew from the 130th took the final nine patients from the airport. They laid on stretchers with Air Force medics in Gate D1. The day before, that gate was used as a temporary morgue.

Heading from San Antonio, the crew flew an ambulance, a team of medics and a crew from ABC's Good morning America coming from the Houston Astrodome.

"Of all the wars I've covered and all the stories, this is the saddest I've ever seen," said Nancy Snyderman, the crew's correspondent.

One hour into the final flight away from New Orleans, one of the critical care evacuees took a turn for the worse. The elderly woman's heart rate fell to 30 beats per minute, and a medic onboard requested an ambulance to be waiting when the flight arrived in Chennault.

The flight crew, led by Maj. Kyle Adams, a Delta pilot originally from Summersville and now living in Atlanta, immediately radioed ahead and focused on getting to the airfield as quickly as possible. Adams said the woman, fading with every passing minute, made him think of his family.

"The (medic) put it best," Adams said. "We had to give her the best chance to die comfortably."

When the plane arrived, she was whisked away to a waiting ambulance. The medics on the ground were able to stabilize her and give her a great chance for survival.

When the crew departed for San Antonio, there was a somber mood in the cockpit, even with the success of the mission. As time passed, though, the crew on the flight deck began to recite lines from the move, "Super Troopers." While flying over Houston, Perry radioed an air traffic controller to announce their position.

"Good evening, Houston Center, this is Evac 306 checking in 'meow' at flight level 200," Perry said, mimicking an inside joke from the movie.

Instantly, laughter filled the dreary cockpit. For a few minutes, the crew could step away from their work and smile.

'It's hard to put into words'

2010-09-01T08:00:00.003-04:00

By Michael Jones
Charleston Gazette-Mail
Sept. 4, 2005

NEW ORLEANS - A crew from Charleston's 130th Airlift Wing landed in New Orleans early Saturday morning and evacuated numerous injured and sick patients to Ellington Air Force Base in Houston.

Less than four hours later, they did it again.

The Air National Guard's 130th Airlift Wing flew into Louis Armstrong International Airport with 10 medical evacuation members and a critical transport team trained to care for patients while in the air. The team was able to extricate 48 people, mostly elderly, who were too sick to leave the flooded city on their own.

As the Hercules touched down to begin its first rescue mission at 12:50 a.m. local time, the only lights glimmering in New Orleans were from rescue boats searching for survivors.

The medical and flight crews were unsure of what they would see upon their arrival at the airport. Maj. Kyle Adams, the flight commander, warned the crew that the "terminal is turning into chaos."

"We don't know what to expect and that's the most frustrating thing," said Capt. Steven Lehr, a member of the critical care team. "We usually get a (casualty) report."

An eerie feeling set over the aircraft as it taxied, most knowing the airport might have little use after the rescue missions are completed. Three C-130s from the 130th sat on the tarmac simultaneously, all shuttling survivors to different cities, including Charleston.

A large red and blue sign reading, "Welcome to New Orleans," hung over the middle concourse, welcoming tourists before the monstrous Hurricane Katrina ripped through the region.

Just below it sat a luggage conveyor belt leading to a large white moving truck. Instead of transporting baggage, though, it was lowering bodies in white bags to the waiting truck. A temporary morgue was set up in a Continental Airlines gate labeled D1.

Medics moved their patients using baggage carts with two or three stretchers in each compartment. Lehr was taken aback after seeing all the people needing immediate medical attention.

"There's a lot of sadness, tiredness and total despair," he said. "It's hard to put into words."

While at least a dozen C-130s from various squadrons around the country carried people from the New Orleans airport, thousands waited for commercial jets to shuttle them to various U.S. cities. The airport has become the third major shelter since last Sunday.
City officials originally opened the Superdome for residents to ride out the storm, but unsanitary conditions and lawlessness forced its closure, leaving thousands without a place to stay.

Almost every person in the airport terminal looked tired and dismayed, with little hope after a week of searching for food and shelter. They sat in metal chairs, waiting.

Others just slept. Either on the floor or on luggage conveyor belts behind check-out counters.

In the morning, one day into the airport's role as a shelter, the terminals were filled with garbage, yet many said it still did not compared to the hell of the Superdome.

One man said he spent four days on an interstate bridge waiting for transport to a shelter. He said he had lost his wife at the airport and believed she had already boarded a plane.

"I didn't know something like this could happen in America," the man said, looking at the thousands of people who surrounded him in one of the airport's concourses. "It's like a nightmare. I don't know how to start all over again. Our world just changed."

A couple looking for a working vending machine said they stayed a the Superdome for four days before conditions became unbearable. They said they saw a man commit suicide by throwing himself from the second tier of the arena.

Some, though, had harsh words for the federal government for not taking care of their needs sooner.

"They've forgot about us," a woman said as her autistic son slept on the tile floor. "It's been like this for a week, and I'm losing my mind."

The lack of communications has made it almost impossible for survivors to gather information about the relief effort. One woman blasted the major and governor while another woman's anger was directed at the U.S. government.

While tensions were hire, all stayed calm, unlike the riotous behavior by looters and vandals in downtown New Orleans.

After the crew members of the C-130 brought their patients to a hanger at Ellington, they prepared for a second trip to New Orleans. But they first had to get approval to extend their shift.

Flight crews are allowed to fly for only 16 hours until they must take a break. If they wished to make another rescue mission, they would need to extend that time by two hours. Within minutes, they received approval, but were still racing against the clock to make the deadline.

"At (11 a.m.) we go, either with air or butts in the seats," Adams said, alluding to the time their C-130 and crew must depart New Orleans.

When they landed, it was a much different scene than five hours earlier. Dozens of helicopters and commercials planes littered the runways and skies, creating a deafening whistle.
Daylight brough more help, and that meant fewer survivors waiting in mile-long lines to leave. The floors were cleaner, spirits were mildly brighter, but the loss from the week still took its toll.

Maj. David Lester, a veteran of the Iraq war, said what he saw there could not compare to the horror he saw at Louis Armstrong International. Just before the final survivors were loaded into the C-130, a doctor came to Lester, thanking him and his crew for returning. The doctor told him two of the patients likely would have died had they not been airlifted to another city.

This afternoon, the 10 men from Charlie West will fly back to New Orleans and continue their mission.

Air Guard in thick of Katrina rescues

2010-08-31T08:00:00.002-04:00

By Michael Jones
Charleston Gazette-Mail
Sept. 3, 2005

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Two flight crews from the 130th Airlift Wing began the daunting task of evacuating refugees from flood-ravaged New Orleans to various cities Friday afternoon.

The West Virginia Air National Guard has sent three C-130 cargo planes and their crews to Louisiana to aid in the relief effort following Hurricane Katrina earlier this week.

Another four planes -- loaded with troops, Humvees and supplies -- are scheduled to leave Yeager Airport this morning to head to the disaster sites. Two other C-130s left Thursday.

As tension in Louisiana continues to mount concerning emergency aid in the region, crew members from each C-130 understand the survivors' concerns. Maj. Kevin Meagher has done several tours of duty in Iraq and helped a relief effort after an earthquake that struck Iran in early 2004.

"I think (the mission began) a couple of days too late, but I'm really glad we're able to do it," said Meagher, who was part of the first crew to leave. "There's not enough being done and we've been sitting around for a day-and-a-half now. The opportunity to do it is great, but it's just a little frustrating."

He and his team, which evacuated survivors early Thursday, were grounded Friday afternoon while the other two C-130s extracted scores of refugees. Meagher's feelings of a late response by the federal government are echoed by the sight of thousands of New Orleans residents scrambling for food, water and dry land.

Local police have been over-matched against gangs that have looted and ransacked the already crippled city. National Guard unites from numerous states have been called to restore order to the area.

Some in the 130th understand why relief efforts have been slow from the beginning.

"They didn't realize how bad the storm was going to be," Sgt. Julius Rembrandt said. "They didn't realize how many people didn't evacuate, so it's going to take a while to get everything in order. It looks like things are moving a little quicker (Friday)."

You with thing were a little more organized, bu tit's such a massive operation," Sgt. Dennis Heilmann said. "We're used to this sort of thing."

"I'm sure it's going to take time to get things organized so I think things will come together real quick," Sgt. Steve Dye said. "Hopefully soon."

The three crews from the 130th were waiting in San Antonio for their orders Friday afternoon, but where they will be today is anyone's guess. One crew left for New Orleans around 5 p.m. local time Friday to transport sick and injured survivors to Nashville, Tenn., and San Antonio overnight. Another plane was scheduled to leave at 9 p.m.

One of the major stumbling points in the evacuation process has been finding room for thousands of people who were washed from their homes. The Astrodome in Houston was already filled to capacity early Friday morning, leaving a San Antonio business complex as the best alternative.

Heilmann said the Guard unit is prepared to handle such a disaster, but is more accustomed to dealing with situations in West Virginia.

"It's not different from the missions we do," Heilmann said. "We've always done disaster relief, it's just different to come down here and do it."

All members of the Guard acknowledged they were pleased to help, even while receiving word of the mission on such short notice. Most crew members were not told of the operation untnil a few hours before they left. Maj. David Lester said the delays can be frustrating, but the Guard is designed to be flexible to conditions they cannot control.

"It gives us great personal satisfaction because when you see on the TV and you read in the newspaper about these folks who are suffering, to know anything we can do to help means a lot," he said.

"We're glad to be down here and do anything we can to help with the relief effort," said Rembrandt, who served 15 years as a firefighter before joining the Guard. "There are a lot of people that are desperate for any kind of help they can get."

The Air Guard in Charleston, which has seven planes available to fly to the disaster areas, will continues their mission indefinitely. The three crews already present are expected to stay until Monday, although their departure date is still in question.

The four planes leaving today are supposed to deliver 65 troops and other people and 16 Humvees to the disaster sites. Two of those planes will make additional trips.

C-130s from Yeager fly to flood zone

2010-08-30T08:00:00.003-04:00

By Michael Jones
Charleston Daily Mail
Sept. 2, 2005

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Last Friday, airmen from Charleston's 130th Airlift Wing weren't sure what the future would hold for their base.

Today, they were hauling much-needed supplies and personnel to flood-ravaged New Orleans.
Ten members of the West Virginia Air National Guard flew out of Yeager Airport on Thursday afternoon on a mission that placed them on five different airstrips in 11 hours. Their relief effort to areas affected by Hurricane Katrina is expected to last four days.

The first C-130 flight from Charleston departed Wednesday. Officials expect more in the weeks ahead.

"This is exactly why we didn't want to lose our planes," Maj. David Lester said. "We can help in natural disasters.

"It's a perfect example of us doing what we're trained to do."

After a summer of uncertainty and anxiety for local guard members, the Base Realignment and Closure Commission granted the 130th a reprieve last week. The panel overruled defense planners who had recommended that the unit's planes be stationed at Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina instead of Yeager.

Lester said the operation is similar to what would happen following a terrorist attack in the United States.

First Lt. Todd Perry, the aircraft's co-pilot, said the mission signifies the spirit of the 130th.

"You would have had the same amount of volunteers even if they would have taken away our base," he said. "We were immediately ready to go."

Most crew members weren't told they would be heading out until 10 a.m. Thursday. "I want to get to New Orleans before sunset and get out of there," Maj. Kyle Adams told them.

The crew loaded up their C-130 and lifted off at 2:10 p.m., only to return 30 minutes later because to a malfunctioning cockpit gauge. In less than an hour, they prepped a new plane and were in the air with Wright-Patterson Air Base in Dayton, Ohio, as their destination.

As the C-130 took on fuel, a Boeing 747 in a paint scheme resembling Air Force One pulled to within 300 feet. Lester said the jet is a mobile command post used to direct relief activities. Before anyone deplaned, 20 armed guards cleared a perimeter around the aircraft.

The smaller, prop-driven C-130 has two crew members designated to protect the plane at all costs. The security procedure, called "Raven," is customary in other regions of the world, but is rarely employed within the United States, said one of the onboard cops, Senior Master Sgt. Dennis Heilmann.The higher state of security for the Air National Guard reflects the escalating danger in New Orleans, where widespread looting has occurred.

"It's difficult to comprehend that something like this is happening in the U.S.," Lester said.

The original mission Thursday was to transport doctors and nurses to Louisiana. Those plans changed when the C-130 landed in Dayton at 4 p.m.

Along with two other C-130s from Mansfield, Ohio, the plane from Charleston was ordered to go to nearby Springfield, Ohio, to pick up armed troops. Carrying rifles, shotguns, and flak jackets, 41 Army National Guard soldiers boarded. They were flown directly to the New Orleans Naval Air Station, 10 miles from the city.

Sixty miles from the base, an eerie darkness crept across the night sky. The only glow coming out of the sunken city was lights from rescue helicopters.

Once the plane touched down, the soldiers quickly left the cramped cargo hold where they had spent the past three hours sleeping. They were whisked away and disappeared into the dark and muggy Louisiana night.

With their mission complete, the crew of the C-130 secured the plane and headed for San Antonio, Texas, arriving early this morning. They were scheduled to leave this afternoon for Louisiana, where they were to transport sick and injured refugees back to Texas.

Katrina

2010-08-27T08:00:00.010-04:00

I became a newspaper reporter because I wanted a job that few other people could do. Little did I know that three weeks into my journalism career, I would be thrust into one of the biggest stories of my generation. We all remember the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast, and how it took days to get aid to the evacuees. But I was just a spectator until four days after the storm when my boss at the Daily Mail turned to me and asked if I wanted to accompany the 130th West Virginia Airlift Wing to New Orleans. I never entered the city, but spent much of the time at Louis Armstrong International Airport. There, I saw things that I could barely describe in words, especially for a rookie reporter.

The response to Katrina was shameful. Each and every level of government failed us during this unimaginable disaster. And I think it impacted us as a nation just as much as the terrorist attacks on 9/11. Rather than blaming a foreign murderer, we had to look at ourselves on how we failed our fellow Americans. The West Virginia airmen whom I accompanied had been to Iraq and Afghanistan, but they could not shake the chilling feeling that a disaster such as this was happening in America. With the national press covering the disaster, it is the perspective of these airmen and their ordeal that I wrote about.

Five years after Katrina, I want to once again share their stories from the week I spent in Louisiana and Texas. Each day, a new story from that award-winning series of my trip to the Gulf Coast will appear on this blog.

Sept. 2, 2005 - C-130s from Yeager fly to flood zone
Sept. 3, 2005 - Air Guard in thick of Katrina rescues
Sept. 4, 2005 - 'It's hard to put into words'
Sept. 5, 2005 - Even hardened C-130 crews jarred
Sept. 6, 2005 - C-130 crew returning after hurricane duty
Sept. 9, 2005 - Witness to calamity

Problem solved

2010-08-26T15:29:00.002-04:00

The speed of the Internet is truly impressive. Less than 22 hours after complaining about Verizon FiOS for problems with its billing service, a company official from New Jersey e-mailed me to say they were looking into the issue. I called him this morning and gave some of my account information that he needed to solve the problem.

By 3 p.m., I had received a call from a local Verizon representative, who said she was contacting the debt agency to have the charge removed. I appreciate that the company went to great lengths today to look into the issue, but I think the problem could have (and should have) been solved yesterday when I called the company billing department to get a clarification on what the $26.19 charge was for.

Say what you want about the internet, but it certainly is more efficient carrying a picket sign in front of a company’s headquarters.

War is over?

2010-08-19T08:00:00.002-04:00

NBC News reported Wednesday night that the last brigade of American combat troops has left Iraq. But how can that be true when 50,000 American military personnel remain in country as "support" for the Iraqi army?

It comes with some relief to know that military operations in Iraq will officially end at the end of the month. Still, it seems like that message is a smokescreen for the reality that we are still bogged down in a country that never wanted us there in the first place. More than seven years after "shock and awe" decapitated Saddam Hussein and his tyrannical government, we found it much more difficult to conquer a people that had never before tasted freedom.

Still, our previous president made it seem like this was the next logical step after 9/11 when the American people were conditioned to war. I was never one of those suckers who thought we should invade Iraq. But I do remember being a naive freshman in college when the world changed for America.

I'll never forget when my father and I attended the first regular season game at Heinz Field on Oct. 7, 2001. During halftime, the crowd roared after President Bush announced that the first bombs were being dropped on Afghanistan. While I knew this was the right action, I just looked at President Bush on the JumboTron and wondered when it would end and whether we would be safer. Little did I know that we'd also be dropping bombs elsewhere 17 months later.

Sadly, we have become a people that accepts war. Unlike the isolationist attitude that built our foreign policy before the world wars of the 20th century, we have become the key global decision-maker in what is right and wrong. As an American, I don't want that burden. There are an untold number of injustices in this world, and how are we do decide which dictator should fall?

The announcement that combat operations are over in Iraq (more than seven years after this foolish declaration) is a bittersweet moment. And I hope that future generations will look at this war -- along with its painful ramifications -- and decide that it's just not worth fighting for.

Stop the insanity

2010-08-16T15:39:00.010-04:00

The 24-hours news cycle has an amazing way of churning out useless stories and making them appear important. This week, the "hot issue" is President Obama's comments on the proposed mosque near ground zero in New York City. He told reporters that he agreed with the local zoning decision that allowed a mosque to be built in Manhattan. And that's when things blew up.

Never mind the fact that prohibiting a mosque to be built on private property would be insanely unconstitutional, this story and Obama's reaction has absolutely no bearing on my life. Nor does it affect 99.9 percent of Americans. So why is this story being blown out of the water by pundits on cable news?

And just last week, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette put a story on its front page about a local man who tried to get his name legally changed to Boomer the Dog. This "furries" fanatic said most of his friends know him by that name, so he wanted to make it official. And this concerns me, how?

A few subscribers thought the same thing.

It's time for Americans to take a hard line against news organizations that decide to harp on minor stories rather than report accurately on actual news. The First Amendment gives reporters great latitude as they try to do their jobs properly... and I suggest they stop blowing that right on frivolous stories.

Good for him

2010-08-10T16:48:00.011-04:00

I'm sure many of you have already heard about the story of the wayward JetBlue flight attendant who lost his cool when dealing with an unruly passenger, then promptly deplaned using the emergency slide. Although Steven Slater undoubtedly will lose his job for the fiasco, it appears most Americans are on his side. Many have the same opinion on his actions: "Good for him."

Flight attendants have to deal with all kinds of crap from ungrateful passengers every flight. It seems only natural that one of them would finally lose his/her cool in these unsavory situations. But not only did Slater exit the plane in an unusual way, he also grabbed a beer as he hit the slip-n-slide. I couldn't help but chuckle after reading the details of the blowup. According to The New York Times...

"On Monday, authorities said, a JetBlue attendant named Steven Slater snapped on the Kennedy International Airport tarmac. After a dispute with a passenger who stood to fetch his luggage too soon on a full flight just in from Pittsburgh, Mr. Slater, a career flight attendant, had had enough.

"He got on the intercom, let loose a string of invectives, pulled the lever that activates the emergency-evacuation chute and slid down -- making a dramatic exit not only from the plane but, one imagines, also his airline career. On his way out the door, he paused to grab a beer from the beverage cart. Then he ran to the employee parking lot and drove off, authorities said."

Does it get any better than that? The rest of the story can be found by clicking on this link.

A paralyzed body

2010-08-06T08:00:00.002-04:00

It has at times been downright infuriating to watch how the federal government has "functioned" this past year. And there is no better example of a dysfunctional government branch than the U.S. Senate, a supposedly collegiate body whose members are acting more like frat boys. This is not to say the majority should jam every piece of legislation through without deliberation by both parties. But it's the simple procedures -- such as judicial appointments that have been stalled for 18 months -- that should not be held up by the anonymous dissent of a single senator. The New Yorker magazine published a lengthy story on the senate that is a must-read for anyone, regardless of their political leanings. It is quite long, but it will leave you baffled at how Senate procedures have been twisted into a pretzel.

THE EMPTY CHAMBER
By George Packer
Aug. 9, 2010

This is just one of those days when you want to throw up your hands and say, ‘What in the world are we doing?’” Senator Claire McCaskill, the Missouri Democrat, said.

“It’s unconscionable,” Carl Levin, the senior Democratic senator from Michigan, said. “The obstructionism has become mindless.”

The Senators were in the Capitol, sunk into armchairs before the marble fireplace in the press lounge, which is directly behind the Senate chamber. It was four-thirty on a Wednesday afternoon. McCaskill, in a matching maroon jacket and top, looked exasperated; Levin glowered over his spectacles.

“Also, it’s a dumb rule in itself,” McCaskill said. “It’s time we started looking at some of these rules.”

She was referring to Senate Rule XXVI, Paragraph 5, which requires unanimous consent for committees and subcommittees to hold hearings after two in the afternoon while the Senate is in session. Both Levin and McCaskill had scheduled hearings that day for two-thirty. Typically, it wouldn’t be difficult to get colleagues to waive the rule; a general and an admiral had flown halfway around the world to appear before Levin’s Armed Services Committee, and McCaskill’s Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight of the Homeland Security Committee was investigating the training of Afghan police. But this was March 24th, the day after President Barack Obama signed the health-care-reform bill, in a victory ceremony at the White House; it was also the day that the Senate was to vote on a reconciliation bill for health-care reform, approved by the House three nights earlier, which would retroactively remove the new law’s most embarrassing sweetheart deals and complete the yearlong process of passing universal health care. Republicans, who had fought the bill as a bloc, were in no mood to make things easy.

So, four hours earlier, when Levin went to the Senate floor and asked for consent to hold his hearing, Senator Richard Burr, Republican of North Carolina, and a member of Levin’s committee, had refused. “I have no personal objection to continuing,” Burr said. But, he added, “There is objection on our side of the aisle. Therefore, I would have to object.”

Click here to read the entire story.

Same song, different dance

2010-08-05T08:00:00.003-04:00

A year ago, I weighed in on Brett Favre's third retirement on this very blog. Now, just 50 weeks later, I think it's time to once again discuss this enigmatic NFL quarterback after he texted teammates telling them he was retiring... only to say yesterday that he is still considering playing. Shocking.

This is what I wrote on Aug. 18...

"Favre's actions show a lazy man who manipulates teams and the system to skip out on training camp. While it is not as overt, this is no different than a cocky wide receiver holding out of training camp until he gets that bigger contract. ... Although I love how he plays the game, I'm sick of Brett Favre's tired act. If you want to play, Brett, then don't announce that you are retired and confirm that decision a few days before training camp only to return three weeks before the start of the season."

While nothing has changed this time around, my beef is more with ESPN lapping up this nonsense and launching wall-to-wall coverage on the alleged retirement. A real news outlet would have reported the facts and allowed reporters to weave through the inconsistencies. In this case, we know Favre texted teammates about not being able to play for the upcoming season due to a bulky ankle. But the red flag should have been when head coach Brad Childress told reporters that he had not heard from Favre about any decision.

To compound this, Favre never came out and stated he was retiring (not that his own words could have been believed anyway). Instead, ESPN's so-called experts rattled off their favorite memories of the quarterback. But analyst Merrill Hoge wasn't fooled when he pointed out, "My favorite Favre moment probably will come this year. Come back, Brett!"

And as a buddy of mine appropriately wrote in a text message: "I won't believe it until the Vikes are eliminated from playoff contention."

Rooting for Red Zone

2010-08-03T08:00:00.005-04:00

Steelers training camp has arrived and the stars are garnering all the publicity. But it's the unsigned rookies with whom yinzers most relate.

There's no better example than Isaac "Red Zone" Redman, who ripped apart the Steelers goal line defense last year during training camp, before plowing into the endzone for a few preseason touchdowns. "Red Zone" is what Pittsburgh is all about, and judging by my mother's allegiance to the undrafted running back from Bowie State, he certainly was the town's favorite Steeler in training camp. He didn't make the final cut in 2009, but he has a great chance to join the team this year with all of Yinzer Nation rooting for him.

So it was with great shock this week when kicker Jeff Reed complained about his $2.8 million franchise year contract. This is the same person who beat up a Sheetz towel dispenser in New Alexandria and later put up his dukes to police following tight end Matt Spaeth's splash play in a bar parking lot. Now, this liquored up kicker has the audacity to claim that "life isn't fair." Living in a city that lost its only industry just a generation ago, Reed should just look at the hypocyloids on his helmet to realize that, indeed, life isn't fair. Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to leave Pittsburgh merely because they can't kick a pig intestine through a metal pole.

So we may cheer for Big Ben when he's chucks 70-yard touchdowns, and we salute Jeff Reed when he puts the game-winning kick through the uprights. But us yinzers love players like Hines Ward and Isaac Redman when they show heart for our team. They are what Pittsburgh is all about.

The promotion

2010-08-02T08:30:00.000-04:00

Many have viewed the 2010 Census as a bloated waste of government expenses. But for those of who are unemployed, it is thankful refuge for both wages and purpose.

I began my work for the census in March as a "group quarters enumerator" who searched for the homeless under bridges and in soup kitchens. I then graduated to a NRFU-RI position where I made sure the enumerators weren't making stuff up when they went door-to-door. Believe it or not, some of those census takers were indeed frauds, so I had to clean up their mess by finding the real people who lived in the neighborhood. I took pride in that job, and made sure I did everything possible to get the facts right while saving the federal government money.

Apparently, my hard work paid off. Last week, I was hired as a crew leader for the final stage of the 2010 Census. I will now be leading a group of 10 other enumerators as we make the final push through this Constitutionally mandated phase of counting human beings. The crew leaders begin training for the final phase today before instructing our crew next week.

The census job has made me feel important. Now, this promotion to a managerial position has made me feel like I made a difference through those early (crazy) phases. It feels good to be rewarded for hard work in a thankless position. But most of all, it is important to add this supervisory position to my resume.

Regardless of how people feel about the federal government and the 2010 Census, I know this job has turned me into a better worker and prompted me to now be a manager.

Happy Holidays

2010-07-30T11:22:00.006-04:00

The hap-happiest season of the year finally has arrived. It's that proud yinzer tradition of salivating at the very thought of watching a few overpaid football players pulling big screen televisions out of their fancy cars before running wind sprints to open training camp in Latrobe, Pa. Of course, all of this is a welcome distraction from our bland lives (and the abysmal Pirates baseball club) in the middle of summer.

So how did we get here?

Obviously, professional football (along with the college and fantasy versions) has taken over our lives. But do the Steelers really mean more to Pittsburgh that other teams mean to their respective cities? I would have to say undoubtedly yes.

The Steelers will forever be linked with the molten metal that made Pittsburgh. But it seems incredibly ironic that the football team was becoming an unbeatable dynasty in the 1970s just as the city was losing that very industry. An untold number of yinzers left Western Pennsylvania to find jobs elsewhere, but they remained devoted to the team. Meanwhile, the Pirates' clubhouse devolved into a crackhouse and the Penguins were still awaiting the arrival of Le Magnifique.

Even as the Steelers struggled through the 80s, out-of-towners held on to the football team as the only connection to their city. I knew that feeling when I lived for a couple years in Charleston, W.Va., but made sure to follow every play from my living room couch.

Say what you want about the modern-day players who have tarnished the team's imagine, but I can't see a day when yinzers aren't frothing at the mouth as the Steelers report to training camp. It's a special bond between a city and its team... unless, of course, they go 6-10.

An impossible question

2010-07-23T11:01:00.006-04:00

The woman interviewing me by phone last night caught me off-guard with a question I knew was coming, but yet I had no idea what to say.

"Where do you see yourself in three years?" she asked in the middle of my fourth job interview in the past 13 months.

"I really have no clue," I foolishly, yet honestly, stated. "Hopefully in Pittsburgh, and hopefully with a secure company."

STUPID!

But what was I supposed to say? Forget three years from now, I don't know where I'll be three months or even three days from now. It's a typical job interview question that probably is designed to measure your goals and priorities. And it's a question I had answered with ease in previous job interviews during my journalism career. I wanted to write for a NASCAR or sports publication, although those dreams are all but dead now.

Could I have ever imagined the correct answer to that question when the Observer-Reporter interviewed me in November 2006? "Well, I see myself struggling to pay my bills after you decide to can me -- along with 24 other people -- in the midst of a prolonged recession that essentially destroys the newspaper industry."

There is no good answer to that question when you're unemployed, because the most important goals are immediate: Finding work. After talking to my father about the interview, he offered an answer that might be appropriate should I be put on the spot again.

"Probably living in the gutter... unless you hire me!"

Perfect.

Unempalooza 2010

2010-07-22T10:59:00.002-04:00

A buddy recently sent me a hilarious blog entry by state Sen. Daylin Leach, D-King of Prussia, that attempts to understand the reasoning behind Republicans blocking the jobless benefits extension. In his satirical blog entry, Leach imagines what prominent conservatives think the unemployed do all day as they celebrate Unempalooza 2010. Most nights, according to Leach, the unemployed snort Jaegermeister until the wee hours of the morning before rolling out of bed after noon. In other parts, Leach asks how middle-class Americans can be viewed by Republicans as hard workers until the day they're let go from a job. Then they're trash that must be swept to the curb. Here's my favorite line...

"You see most of the time, Republicans talk about how great the American worker is. They are the salt of the earth, and all of our policies should be directed towards helping "working families". They are "real Americans", not like liberal college professors or weird Kenyan/Indonesian Presidents of the United States. These are great people! Until the moment they lose their jobs. Then, they become lazy, predatory parasites, lazily suckling on the teet of Socialist Leviathan."

The full blog can be viewed by clicking on this link...

My thoughts exactly

2010-07-21T09:15:00.002-04:00

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Jim Chukalas, an auto parts distribution manager living in New Jersey, lost his job nearly two years ago. On Monday, he became the de facto spokesman for the unemployed after appearing on The White House lawn with President Obama urging the Senate to extend jobless benefits. His comments remind me of many breadline stories I have heard -- including my own -- since this recession began. He spoke about his problems on MSNBC's Countdown with guest host Lawrence O'Donnell the other night.

"The automobile business is not where I would want to be trying to make a living right now," O'Donnell says near the end of the interview.

"It's tough, but it's all I know," Chukalas responds. "But it's a tough business right now. It's a tough time."

I hear ya, buddy. Just substitute "auto business" with journalism.

What's the jobless to do?

2010-07-20T10:48:00.011-04:00

For those without a job, unemployment benefits are a lifeline. For our elected officials, it's a political football to be kicked around in anticipation of the upcoming midterm elections.

Despite the bickering, the federal government is now on the verge of passing a benefits extension that Republicans vehemently oppose. There are arguments on both sides about whether UC benefits help or hinder unemployed workers. Liberals argue that this money is immediately injected into the economy, which is true. Conservatives argue that it allows unemployed workers to be picky about jobs and reject substandard positions.

This argument may also be true. But what conservatives do not address is how subpar these positions might be. A job is a job, right?

James Sherk, a policy analyst at The Heritage Foundation think tank, told the Post-Gazette that unemployed workers will continue looking for jobs in their field rather than taking a position that pays less. That leads to longer unemployment, he said, because they are more willing to reject a position while still receiving benefits.

Well, obviously! Why wouldn't someone continue searching for jobs that they are qualified to do? And why wouldn't they expect to attain a similar salary level to what they had upon termination?

What conservatives will not say publicly when they are quoted in this manner is that they think the unemployed should take jobs normally reserved for high school kids during the summer. But for someone who has a mortgage, car payments and possibly children, how will a minimum wage job pay the bills? If this was my future, I wouldn't have spent the past decade studying communications at college before working in that field to boost my resume.

So let me pose this questions to the BLB readers. Do you think unemployed workers should accept subpar jobs that may not pay the bills rather than continue searching for a position in his/her field? With that in mind, let me also ask if you would voluntarily leave your current job and take another position that pays at least 25 percent less than what you're making now?

Losing control

2010-07-16T11:22:00.005-04:00

The longer we slink around in the breadline, the more hopeless the situation feels. But there's also a sinking reality that goes with long-term unemployment: Total loss of control.

It feels as though we have control over nothing any more. It's a helpless feeling, whether it be the Senate failing to extend unemployment benefits or human resource workers chucking our resumes in the trash or companies deciding which professions are in demand.

I've applied for at least 10 jobs this week and called to inquire about two others. And each time, there is a certain euphoria after hitting the "submit" button. But by the next day, that high fades with the realization that those job applications probably will never see a supervisor's inbox.

This feeling is nothing new, of course. I busted my chops for the O-R before they sent me packing. I foolishly thought that you could keep your job by working hard for the company that cuts your paychecks. Silly me.

Then there is the decision by a local company not to hire me for an open public relations position. I'm not saying they didn't make the right decision, because I don't know who they eventually hired. But it does leave you with an empty feeling while waiting for a decision after the interviews and writing tests are completed.

Finally, I learned today that the state Department of Labor & Industry does not consider my work with the Tribune-Review a sideline business. Therefore, I am allowed to keep the unemployment compensation money I received during several weeks in 2009 in which the Trib published my $50 stories. However, I've been waiting nearly two months for a response to this question while other writers told me DLI decided to cancel their unemployment compensation due to their work.

Everything seems to be a waiting game, and I really don't know what will happen in most cases. And I don't like that feeling.

Thank me in November

2010-07-12T11:08:00.007-04:00

Found this appropriate political cartoon by Ed Stein over the weekend. I was thinking the same thing upon learning the federal government had unceremoniously stripped away my unemployment compensation on June 5.

As Stein said in his explanation of the cartoon: "The new talking point is that extending unemployment benefits will only discourage people from looking for jobs. Oh, we lazy Americans. Fifteen million of us thrown out of work since the recession began, and we just don’t want to go back on the job because of those cushy benefits. Unemployment is our fault."

I certainly will remember that in November.

The merriment ends

2010-07-09T10:33:00.005-04:00

The most glorious 46 weeks of my life have ground to a halt. My unemployment compensation has been terminated due to the Senate's inaction on the issue. I knew the end was coming, but what caught me by surprise is that the benefits actually ended on June 3. Apparently, my job working for the U.S. Census did not lengthen the UC benefits as they should have because I was earning auxiliary money. Instead, I'm pretty much screwed.

I contacted Adecco yesterday and likely will be working as an office secretary in the near future. Maybe I'll call a local freight contractor and get that job driving train crews from station to station.

This, of course, is what fiscal ideologues wanted. They want the unemployed to take subpar jobs that don't pay the mortgage. This is what they want for middle-class Americans. So this is what they're getting. And we'll soon find out what their experiment achieves as thousands of the unemployed lose their paychecks by the day. Welcome to the New America.

We are all suckers

2010-07-08T15:40:00.031-04:00

Changing jobs can be an exciting and worrisome time in one's life. But is anyone so important that they need to hand in their two-week notice on national television? Apparently, LeBron James and ESPN think so.

So since the four-letter network plans to air this insane spectacle of LeBron choosing his new basketball team, I thought it would be just as ridiculous to Live Blog the event. Do I really care about LeBron James and/or the NBA? Not a chance. But this opportunity to blog was just too stupid to pass up. See yinz at 9 p.m. sharp.

8:59 p.m. -- Anticipation is swelling on the four-letter network with most rumors pointing to Miami. That means it CAN'T be Miami, because that would blow all the fun, right? Meanwhile, ESPN is airing a viewers poll showing that its Miami with 99% precincts reporting.

9:01 p.m. -- "The Decision" rolls in with a throaty narrator introducing the show: "With breathless anticipation, the basketball world is waiting," the Morgan Freeman wannabe says. "The time has come. The most coveted free agent in the history of the game... LeBron James." It can't get any worse, can it?

9:05 p.m. -- A roundtable discussion of four talking heads puke up their opinions with no real clue about what's going to happen. Put me in a suit and I could offer a similarly mindless analysis of this colossal event. Roll B-footage about LeBron's career, as if we don't know who he is. I think it's time to grab a beer.

9:11 p.m. -- ESPN is milking this golden calf for all its worth as the commercials start rolling in. I would like to know who thought an hour-long special was a good idea. They could've pulled it off in five minutes and let the four-letter network roll around in the slop for the next four months.

9:17 p.m. -- Stu "Cyclopes" Scott is asking the panel AGAIN what they think "real quickly." How many times are they going to try to answer this question. Just ask the man himself, already! Just for good measure, they show the viewer poll again before sending us off to another commercial.

9:22 p.m. -- There he is! The time has finally arrived! Or not... Jim Gray is seated across from LeBron and asks him "what's new?" ARE YOU SERIOUS? WHAT THE HELL KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT?!?!

9:27 p.m. -- Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Let's get this charade over with. Although, Gray nearly let's him off the hook by asking him if he would like "to sleep on it."

9:28 p.m. -- LeBron James: "This fall, it's very tough, but this fall I'm going to take my talents to South Beach and join the Miami Heat." Hahaha, there are GROANS in the audience. As much as I hate Cleveland, this is the biggest middle finger I have ever seen given to a city (besides Bob Nutting owning the Pittsburgh Pirates).

9:30 p.m. -- "I never wanted to leave Cleveland," LeBron says moments after announcing that he's leaving Cleveland.

9:32 p.m. -- "You have to do what makes you happy," LeBron says, quoting his mother. Yet, he looks like he's about to cry. This is comically bizarre.

9:33 p.m. -- Now that he announced his decision, it's time to do more productive things like look for a job. Good luck, LeBron, in Miami. And I'd like to offer my condolences to Cleveland. At least you still have the Browns!

Hiking to the summit

2010-07-08T08:00:00.006-04:00

By Michael Jones
O-R Staff Writer
Sept 15, 2008

MEYERSDALE, Pa. - My knees weakened and palms began sweating as I climbed the rickety metal stairs to the observation deck overlooking Mount Davis in southern Somerset County.

A person afraid of heights probably shouldn't be venturing to the highest point in Pennsylvania, I thought, as I gripped the railing and took gingerly steps to the summit last week.

But upon reaching the top and standing more than 3,000 feet above sea level, the anxiety immediately turned to serenity as I gazed at the picturesque view of rural Pennsylvania and Maryland.

These acres at one time were owned by Civil War veteran John N. Davis, but he died in 1913 without knowing his land was the highest point in the state. It wasn't until 1921 that geologist Harold A. Bean definitively measured the height of what formerly was known as Davis Plateau. The highest elevation was previously thought to be Bedford County's Blue Knob at 3,136 feet, but Bean determined in May 1921 that this "bump on the mountain" was the highest at 3,213 feet.

Less than a month after Bean asserted the highest point actually was in Somerset County, thousands of people living in small towns around Negro Mountain celebrated the news by hiking to the summit on a rainy day on June 18, 1921, according to a story in the Meyersdale Republican newspaper. Led by the Alpine Club of Pennsylvania and its leader, Col. Henry W. Shoemaker, about 1,000 trekked to the top for the formal ceremony.

"The Alpinists do not pick the easy road to the summit, and the rougher the going and the harder the climbing the better it is liked," the club's secretary, J. Herbert Walker, told the Republican. "Of course, if there is a good road down from the summit, this is taken, but the ascent is made over the rocks and through the brush to test the mettle of the climbers."

The Alpinists suggested naming the summit Mount Freedom, but the county commissioners settled on Mount Davis its name for the past 87 years. It is located on top of Negro Mountain, a 30-mile range that runs through Somerset County and Garrett County, Md. The name evokes the story of a brave black servant, but it is now draped in controversy.

There are two relatively similar tales about the name's origin, both of which date to the French and Indian War during the mid-18th century, according to separate newspaper reports from 1756.

In one account, Col. Thomas Cresap led 71 volunteers from Fort Cumberland over the mountain and into Pennsylvania. Cresap was accompanied by a "large and powerful" black slave, believed to have been named Nemesis, when the group encountered three Indians on horseback. Nemesis raised his gun and the Indians jumped from their horses and hid behind trees. Nemesis showed courage in the fight but died during the battle.

In another story, Capt. Andrew Friend left the same fort with a hunting party heading for Ohiopyle in what is now Fayette County. They, too, encountered Indians and retreated. During the fight, an unnamed black servant was mortally wounded, but Friend and another man helped him off the trail and comforted him during the night. The man died before dawn, and they buried his body on the mountain. Upon returning to Fort Cumberland, Friend named the mountain after the man because of his bravery and the compassion showed after the fierce battle.

There are several other urban legends the locals continue to tell, and it remains a mystery which one is correct.

"We don't know the exact details, but because it was named Negro Mountain it did involve a black person," said Cynthia Mason, a researcher at the Meyersdale Library. "That's about as far as I can go with anything. It makes for interesting stuff."

However the mountain was named, it continues to raise eyebrows for some who travel over it on Route 40 or Interstate 68 in Maryland.

Democratic state Rep. Rosita Youngblood of Philadelphia sponsored a resolution last year that would have formed a commission to study renaming the mountain. She requested that the name of the mountain be reconsidered to "accurately reflect the history of the region and the heroism displayed by the African-American" involved in the fight on Negro Mountain.

She suggested renaming it Nemesis Mountain to update the historical significance of the battle and the man. The resolution has failed to gain any traction in state government, but the racial undertones of the name remain.

"My question is, 'Does it have to be Negro Mountain?'" Youngblood said. "The man had a name."

The merriment continues

2010-07-06T16:04:00.007-04:00

After going more than a month without hearing a peep from the company that interviewed me in May, it became crystal clear I hadn't been hired for the public relations position. Sure, I'm disappointed that I didn't get the job, but life and unemployment are full of frustrating roadblocks. But why did it it take six weeks after the final phase of the interview process to get word about the job?

I e-mailed a human resources person on June 14 to ask if they had made a decision. She told me they were going to pick the sweepstakes winner in a few days and then notify everyone the following week. With still no word three weeks later, I sent the same e-mail back this morning.

"A candidate has been chosen," the human resources representative responded in the e-mail. "You should have received an e-mail notification from the HR Dept."

Opps. Guess I don't check my e-mail nearly often enough.

A sustainable job was so close I could taste it. Then it lingered for two months in a continuous tease that can only be described as barbaric. Oh, well. It's bound to happen. But I just don't understand how a company searching for a public relations specialist could be so unorganized that it fails to communicate its hiring decision to a potential employee. Maybe they should've hired me to help them fix that little problem for them.

No place like Daytona

2010-07-05T15:31:00.007-04:00

This story originally appeared July 4, 2006 in the Charleston (W.Va.) Daily Mail

By Mike Jones
Daily Mail Staff

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - NASCAR fans are a rare breed. Anyone who has ever attended a race knows that. The fans pay thousands of dollars for tickets, hotel rooms, parking and, most importantly, beer.

Bewildered outsiders don't even begin to understand. They ask why someone would shell out that kind of cash to watch cars drive in circles. What they don't realize is NASCAR is an experience that can't be explained on television. It must be felt in person.

I will never forget the first time I heard 43 cars roaring by at nearly 200 mph at Daytona International Speedway or the echoing thunder as they flew down the backstretch. The Fourth of July event at Daytona Beach, Fla., has changed somewhat since I attended my first Firecracker 400 in 1993. Track officials added lights to the high-banked oval in 1998, altering the race for both competitors and fans.

Previously, drivers weren't the only ones who sweated buckets when the green flag dropped at 11 a.m. in the 90-degree heat. Fans perspired beer faster than they could consume their cans of Miller Lite and Budweiser that are stowed in coolers under their seats.

With an 8 p.m. start now, visitors take trips to the beach or barbeque in parking lots in the morning and afternoon. Others wade in the hotel swimming pool for most of the weekend and the beer cans that line the edge of the pool document their progress.

In the 2005 edition of the Pepsi 400, rain began falling an hour before race time, prompting my father, stepbrother and me to march back to the hotel for a late-night swim. Other fans, many of whom weren't fortunate enough to have a hotel room next to Turn 4, waited out the three-hour rain delay in their seats and soldiered through the race that didn't end until nearly 2 a.m. Sunday. Exhausted fans that partied for nearly 19 hours simply crumpled in their seats and passed out moments after Tony Stewart took the checkered flag.

That wasn't the case in 2006 when the race passed rather quickly and we were able to get to bed before midnight. There were the usual drunks at the event. A Dale Earnhardt Jr. fan stumbled out of his hotel room on his way to the track and mumbled incoherently to others.

But instead of a rain soaked holiday, fans were treated that year to a cool summer breeze passing from the Atlantic Ocean as the race started as scheduled. The distinctive smell of Octane 110 firing from the exhaust pipes filled the air just moments after the command was given for drivers to start their engines. One man, spitting chew while lounging in his seat, waved the fumes toward his nose in a circular motion with a cupped handed.

Now this, I thought, is what racing is all about.

Most fans at the 2006 Firecracker 400 wore shirts emblazoned with Budweiser, Home Depot and Dodge, but some lesser-known drivers' gear was speckled in the crowd. My father, known by most of his friends as Hobie, wore a Joe Nemechek T-shirt and U.S. Army visor to support his favorite driver. Nemechek appeared to be poised for a good showing after qualifying fifth and my father was excited.

Nemechek, a native of Lakeland, had bought auto parts from my parents' store in the little central Florida town during the late 1980s while he was racing dirt bikes and stock cars at local tracks. He and his brother, John, who died in a crash at Homestead Speedway in Miami in 1996, often chatted about racing, prompting my father to root for Joe over the past 15 years.

It was a admirable position to pull for the underdog. But besides winning the 1992 Busch Series championship and a handful of Cup races, Nemechek hadn't done much in his career. Dad pulled for him anyway.

But this was to be the final time after years of disappointment took their toll. We had made a deal a few weeks earlier that he would re-evaluate that allegiance if Joe couldn't finish 17th or better in the Pepsi 400. The prized Nemechek shirt, it was agreed, would be torched in our $29.97 charcoal grill if he couldn't muster even a mediocre finish.

Just hours before the race, a good omen occurred as I met Nemechek in his "swag trailer" just outside the track. He signed a few autographs, and with a smirk and a nod, sent me on my way.

But not long after the green flag flew and Stewart jumped out to the lead, Joe began his usual descent to the back. We prepared ourselves for the impending barbeque as the laps ran down. With 14 laps left, however, Jimmie Johnson bobbled, sending his car into Bobby Labonte, who had an uncharacteristically strong run until the crash. A few laps later, a bigger pile-up collected more front-runners, catapulting Joe closer to the cutoff point.

But the late crashes weren’t enough for poor Joe. It wasn’t to be. We watched as Denny Hamlin and Brian Vickers sealed the shirt's fate while Nemechek stumbled to a 19th place finish.

As Stewart climbed the fence and mingled with thousands of fans who met him at the bottom of the flagman's stand, we trudged back to the hotel room in search of a lighter and a few bricks of charcoal. Before the race, my step-brother had vowed to save the shirt regardless of Nemechek's finish. Now, he was discussing pulling for Kurt Busch in honor of his favorite adult beverage.

We toasted the memories with the shirt aflame and my father, a closet Junior fan, closed the lid, and, more importantly, a chapter. But when we reopened the grill, the name "NEMECHEK" still was legible on the charred remnants of the cloth. At that point, I doubted my father ever could give up on the driver he had cheered for more than two decades.

When we return to Daytona, I expect my father will be just as dedicated to Joe Nemechek. He's truly a rare breed.

Census jobs boost economy

2010-06-30T08:00:00.003-04:00

The PG's Elwin Green brings us the story of Mike Jones, a South Fayette resident who's also a microcosm of a Census labor force unsure of what's next. The decennial US Census also gives a boost to unemployment figures -- and the gain was especially needed this past year. But what happens after everyone's counted?

By Elwin Green
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
June 29, 2010

For Mike Jones of South Fayette the 2010 Census has been more than a decennial ritual conducted by the federal government. It has been a much-needed break from a spell of unemployment.

Mr. Jones, 27, was let go from his job as municipal and state government reporter for the Washington Observer-Reporter a year ago. He began working in March, and still works, with the Beaver Falls office of the Census Bureau as a group quarters enumerator, tallying residents of hospitals, group homes and the like.

In so doing, he joined an army of temporary workers that signed on with the bureau in a hiring blitz that added 48,000 jobs to the nation's economy in March, 66,000 in April and 411,000 in May -- more than 95 percent of all jobs added that month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Now those jobs have begun to disappear.

Read more about my census job...

Remembering a proud Mountaineer

2010-06-29T08:00:00.019-04:00

The news about Sen. Robert C. Byrd's death early Monday morning quickly spread out of West Virginia and into the main stream media. But it was another proud West Virginian who died Monday that meant more to me personally than losing the longest serving senator in United States history.

Bob Kelly, the managing editor of the Charleston (W.Va.) Daily Mail, died yesterday while rehabilitating from a brief illness in his hometown of Parkersburg, W.Va.

BK -- as most of us in the Daily Mail newsroom called him -- was more than just a boss with an ornery personality; he was a mentor who made me a better reporter and writer. That doesn't mean it was ever easy with Bob. He would poke and prod and force you to ask the next tough question and/or rewrite your copy to adequately immerse readers in the story. I used to hate when my phone rang on deadline because I always knew it was him sitting in his office and spying on my story moments after I tapped it onto the computer screen.

"Heeeeeey, Miiiiiike," he would say in his slow West Virginia drawl. "Did you ask (insert random name here) about (insert random question here)?"

"Well, no, Bob," I usually stuttered in response. "I was gonna..."

"Well, why don't you do that, OK?" he demanded.

"But, Bob..." I started again.

CLICK!

And that was that. If I still didn't do the job right, he would scold me that I could do better. "Details, Mike," he would often say. "Details." But damn if he wasn't right every time. In the end, the story would be better because of the followup calls he would push me to make and the revisions I would begrudgingly insert. Those journalistic virtues have stuck with me ever since.

That was the way it went with the entire Daily Mail crew. From the editor-in-chief who hired me (Nanya Friend) to my immediate editor who offered both a carrot and a stick with his supervision (Brad McElhinny) I would gladly have run through a brick wall for every one of them.

But BK just pestered us to do better. Although his ornery personality drove us nuts, he also made us laugh with his sometimes bizarre rituals. After suffering from leg problems in 2005, he walked around the newsroom with a fish slipper on one foot to soothe the pain. Other times, he offered me encouragement when I faced difficult problems.

Less than a year on the job, I wrote a story about a local motorcycle builder who killed his wife and himself in front of their two children. I felt sick after receiving several nasty e-mails and phone calls about my story. But there was Bob Kelly to crack a lighthearted joke to pick up me and my coworkers from a sad situation. He added perspective to the ordeal that helped me return to work the next day.

He was a great newsman.

In the end, the media will pay more attention to Sen. Byrd's death than to the passing of BK. But the most influential West Virginian I have ever known is Bob Kelly. My thoughts are with Bob's family and the Daily Mail staff.

The wasted year

2010-06-24T09:00:00.013-04:00

Well, this has been a massive waste of time.

It was a year ago this morning that I strolled into the O-R newsroom and took a seat at my desk to begin my last real workday. I spent an hour working the phones trying to get some info on a local bull riding arena that would be opening in the coming weeks. Then I received an instant message that fellow reporter Amanda Gillooly had been let go. About a half-hour later, the "editor" asked to see me.

"What the (bleep)!?" I shouted in my head.

I explained the rest of the story on this blog a year ago, but I still chuckle when thinking about the "editor" and owner asking me if I wanted to finish my workday. Hell no! Instead, I asked for a box to pack my stuff. Then I greeted several of my coworkers in the newsroom and said my goodbyes. I found it ironic that a couple of them were crying and I was not. They had a job, and I did not.

I thought it would be easy to find a new job. I have the education, experience and work ethic that a new employer would cherish. Damn, if I wasn't mistaken. From blogging to freelancing to campaigning to enumerating, it's been the most bizarre 365 days of my life.

And now we begin Year 2 in the unemployment line with little hope of finding sustainable work. Some might say things will turn around. We shall see. But there's really nothing else to do except keep blogging and plugging away.

So I present to you Vol. 2 of The Bread Line Blog

The squeaky wheel...

2010-06-23T11:13:00.007-04:00

If only I knew a year ago. If only I knew that all I needed was for my mommy to call Tom Northrop at the Observer-Reporter and demand that I keep my reporting job. If only I knew that whining and moaning gets you exactly what you want in America.

That's what happened with the breadlining Pittsburgh piergoi just days after the Pirates fired him for insubordination. Rather than taking his punishment like a man, his "helicopter mother" swooped in and saved the day. She whined to the Post-Gazette, prompting a dismal media buzz that forced the Pirates to rehire the 24-year-old. The baseball club now claims the disparaging comments about the team on his Facebook site were not grounds to be fired, but I suspect that the bad publicity caused the quick turnaround.

If only I knew a year ago.

Although I still doubt the initial termination is news, I most certainly think the rehiring is newsworthy. It shows that hard work means very little nowadays as long as you stomp your feet until you get your way. It shows that you can trash your employer (the people who sign your paychecks) and get away with it as long as you're a cute and lovable pierogi.

So maybe that's the answer. Maybe I've been looking at the wrong career all along. I performed as The Wild Thing several years ago while interning with Washington County's minor league baseball team. Maybe next year I can find a teflon job as Sauerkraut Saul.

Not even fake news

2010-06-21T10:32:00.008-04:00

By now, you've probably read about the heartbreaking tale of a Pittsburgh pierogi runner who lost his $25 per race job during this savage recession. The poor 24-year-old kid (who still lives at home) just wanted to run the pierogi races at Pirates games. What yinzer wouldn't love that gig? Unfortunately, this kid ripped the team on his Facebook page after it announced contract extensions for the GM and field manager. Then he was surprised when management canned him the next day for insubordination.

Somehow this turned into a front page story in the Post-Gazette when his mommy called the media to complain. What the heck compelled the P-G to run this "story" above the fold? This isn't news. It's not even fake news.

First of all, the kid made $25 per game. That's barely a part-time job. I'm sure he can make more money flipping burgers at a fast food joint. Second, not many companies take kindly to employees posting nasty comments on social networking sites. Anyone who thinks otherwise is sadly mistaken. Plus, this guy was suspended by the Pirates earlier due to a scheduling gaffe.

But my main complaint is with the P-G. When a helicopter mom calls you complaining that her son lost his barely part-time job for ripping the Pirates, that doesn't make it news. The fact that the P-G made this a story -- let alone a front page story -- is insulting for those of us who have lost real jobs for doing absolutely nothing wrong.

A shameful hiring policy

2010-06-18T08:00:00.002-04:00

I already knew that every time I submitted a resume to a company, it would be competing against numerous other worthy candidates. What I didn't know (although suspected) was that I also was competing against myself.

A new CNN report shows that some companies are immediately discarding resumes from unemployed applicants. If it's true, that is a shameful hiring policy. How dare these companies turn away from willing applicants who have the audacity to seek a job. How dare they force us to trudge through the unemployment line, accepting welfare checks when all we want is a decent-paying job with a side of health care benefits.

"Making that kind of automatic cut is senseless; you could be missing out on the best person of all," said Judy Conti, a lobbyist for the National Employment Law Project. "There are millions of people who are unemployed through no fault of their own. If an employer feels that the best qualified are the ones already working, they have no appreciation of the crisis we're in right now."

I couldn't agree more. It makes you wonder how many applications were immediately chucked in the trash because the resumes don't include a current job. I seemed to have solved that problem by freelancing for the Tribune-Review and working as a census enumerator. However, I'm beginning to wonder if that U.S. Census Bureau position is a red flag that I'm without a full-time job.

Some think we should boycott the companies that use this practice, but who knows which employers are doing it? Most of us send our resumes into the tubes of internet, never to be heard from again. It's becoming increasingly clear that the cards are stacked against the unemployed. Unfortunately, it's worse than I previously thought.

Help wanted

2010-06-16T08:00:00.004-04:00

Constituents loves to complain about their elected leaders and government. In fact, it's probably the thing we do best. So a couple local state representatives decided to launch an online "suggestion box" to channel the frustrations of Pennsylvania citizens.

Jesse White and Matt Smith, both Democratic representatives from Western Pennsylvania, uploaded the website, YourPaBudget.com, that asks for budgetary suggestions and posts them on the homepage for viewers to rate. Who knows if any of our ideas will be enacted in this year's budget, but I applaud White and Smith for giving us a platform to express our opinions. Hopefully they are reading them and taking notes on what their constituents want.

The site is easy to use and the suggestions appear online in just a few minutes. It's very interesting to read what others are thinking.

As for the most popular opinion? Reduce the size of the General Assembly.

Gather your armies!

2010-06-15T11:15:00.023-04:00

Democracy is a wonderful mechanism to run our government. It allows "We The People" to choose our elected leaders, and challenge them at the ballot box if we disagree. But some of those People are just plain stupid.

Case in point: Rick Barber, a tea party candidate running for Congress in Alabama. His internet ad entitled "Gather Your Armies" is becoming a viral sensation. It is set in a dark tavern as he explains modern-day tax policies to George Washington, Sam Adams and a fellow who appears to be Ben Franklin. It opens with Barber calling for Congress to impeach President Obama (too bad for Republicans that the president has never been caught with an intern in the Oval Office). By the end, Barber is whipped into a frenzy and asks the three ghosts if they are with him in opposing this "tyrannical" government.

"Gather your armies," George Washington responds.

Unfortunately, Barber is skewing his history by railing against what he perceives as unfair taxes. It was during George Washington's presidency that the Congress enacted the Whiskey Act excise tax in 1791 as a way to pay for the Revolutionary War debt. Rural western Pennsylvania farmers, who distilled and sold their own whiskey, felt this tax was unfair and rebelled against the Act three years later. A few months after the Whiskey Rebellion in July 1794, President George Washington led 13,000 federal soldiers into Allegheny County and quickly quashed the revolt.

Barber's commercial shows a fictitious Washington hanging out in some dank basement bar and calling for Americans to turn against the federal government. But history tells us that the real George Washington likely would have encouraged the federal government to gather its armies and put down the revolt Barber is suggesting.

The Golden Mouse

2010-06-10T14:48:00.018-04:00

Congratulations to Scott Beveridge in earning The Golden Mouse award for achieving 100,000 unique page views on his blog. Mr. Beveridge, a local newspaper reporter, just recently passed the 100k mark on Travel with a Beveridge after launching it three years ago. His former newspaper colleagues, Michael Jones and Amanda Gillooly, presented Mr. Beveridge with The Golden Mouse over beers and pizza Tuesday night.

Mr. Beveridge, who earlier in the day doubted the existence of the prestigious Golden Mouse, was too shocked by the appearance of the award to offer any semblance of a speech.

"Oh my God," Mr. Beveridge said, slapping his hand against his forehead as the presenters pulled the award from a brown paper bag.

The plaque, the first in a series by Mr. Jones, a local blogger and novice woodsmith, cost less than $8 and prominently features a gold spray painted computer mouse that hadn't been used in a decade. Mr. Beveridge said he plans to display the award on a wall in his home, although it can also be used as an over-sized beer coaster.

Trolls have their say

2010-06-08T08:00:00.004-04:00

It took only a few minutes after The Wall Street Journal published an online story about unemployed census workers when the trolls started coming out to play. They immediately began bashing the three of us featured in the story because we were unfortunate enough to get canned from our professions and have to find alternative jobs. But rather than rage against these anonymous idiots, I chuckled. I mean, they're hilarious!

Bill Trask said: "Oh drat... now these out of work ACORN enthusiasts may have to go out and get a REAL JOB... but wait... they don't have too, Obama will give them more money - (they just have to wait until their census counts are tabulated.)"

Now I'm an ACORN enthusiast? Well, that sounds about right considering my mom's maiden name is ALCORN. And what would you consider to be a "real" job?

Shrini Kulkarni said: "The salaries for the Census workers are paid by the Federal Government which goes on the national deficit. How can this be a good thing for the economy? It seems that this census is just another white elephant Obama wants to showcase in his radically left winged vision of the nanny state."

The Census is Obama's white elephant? Haven't they been counting Americans since our founders wrote the Constitution? And I guess the Bush Administration had nothing to do with the planning during the first eight years of the decade.

David Shellenberger said: The headline has it wrong: ending employment of government workers cannot come fast enough. The funds spent on government employment deprive taxpayers of better use of their own money.

Well, thanks for your vote of confidence, Dave. Nothing like kicking an unemployed man when he's down!

Andy Dulina said: I find it ironic that the people chosen to be interviewed for this article all came from "blue" states. Hey folks, how's that change y'all voted for workin' out for ya??

What would you say if I told you that I live in a "red" congressional district. And if he read the story, he would have noticed that the first interviewee lost his job in January 2008.

Quoted in The Wall Street Journal

2010-06-04T15:34:00.010-04:00

So after 50 weeks of unemployment, here's my 15 minutes of fame. The Wall Street Journal quoted me for a story today in its online edition about the unemployed working for the Census Bureau. My prose was buried in the bottom of the story, but it certainly seemed like the least worrisome out of the three tales. Click on the headline to read the entire story, or check out my section below.

Census jobs end all too soon

By Joe Light and Justin Lahart
The Wall Street Journal
June 4, 2010

Since losing his job as a newspaper reporter last June, South Fayette, Pa., resident Michael Jones, 26, has landed interviews with only three companies and hasn't yet received an offer. Last November, Mr. Jones read an ad for census jobs and took the qualifying test on the Monday after Thanksgiving, earning a perfect score. In early March of this year, he got the call letting him know that he had been hired as an enumerator, at $15.25 an hour.

"If I hadn't gotten that job and my unemployment benefits ran out, I'd have to take drastic measures," Mr. Jones said. "The first day of work, I couldn't wait to drive to training. It had been so long since I had a 9-to-5 workday."

Mr. Jones's census job is scheduled to end in mid-July, depending on how quickly his team finishes its work. If Congress doesn't extend unemployment benefits again, his benefits will run out in mid-August. If that happens, and Mr. Jones still hasn't found a full-time job, he plans to start looking at jobs driving train crews around for a railroad company or working in retail.

Another journey to Oz

2010-06-04T10:00:00.000-04:00

Another Journey to OZ from Dana Kerkentzes on Vimeo.

By Michael Jones
For the Tribune-Review
June 3, 2010

Dana Kerkentzes of Elizabeth Borough wasn't quite sure what would happen when she focused her video camera on a local children's production troupe for her college senior project.

What Kerkentzes found was an inspiring story that landed her 15-minute documentary, "Another Journey to Oz," in a British film festival.

The recent Westminster College graduate spent last summer following the Petite Players as they prepared an offbeat play of "The Wizard of Oz" at the Grand Theater in Elizabeth. The fact that she grew up just a few minutes away from where the group performed made the film a bit more personal.

"I wondered what these kids did and what it was like," said Kerkentzes, a 2006 graduate of East Allegheny High School. "I thought this would be a great opportunity to tell the story about kids doing something they love."

Kerkentzes, 22, immersed herself into the production and slowly introduced the video camera to the 46 school-aged performers and their parents. She spent months with the group that led to goofy moments during rehearsals.

Read more...

Wide reach of the Web

2010-06-03T08:00:00.006-04:00

I shouldn't be surprised anymore when a wayward reporter contacts me about something I wrote on my blog. But it still stuns me upon reading an e-mail from a scribe who wants to know more about one of my blog entries.

This time, the e-mail came from a Wall Street Journal reporter ... cue jaw drop.

The newspaper wants to report on the jobless who turned to the U.S. Census Bureau for a temporary paycheck. It appears the WSJ wants anecdotal stories as it reports on how those census jobs might be skewing unemployment figures. Apparently, this blog caught the reporter's attention.

We set up an interview for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday -- just as severe thunderstorms rolled through Western Pennsylvania -- and we spoke for about 40 minutes about my unemployment and subsequent federal job. The interview ranged from the day the Observer-Reporter let me go to what my job duties are as a quality control enumerator.

And it so felt good telling that story.

Whether any of it ends up in the newspaper, it still was worth the time. This is why I began blogging two days after receiving my pink slip. I want people to know what happens to the unemployed after their severance checks and compensation benefits run dry.

Hopefully, the stories of this blog's unwilling p a r t i c i p a n t s will reach a national audience.

Another round

2010-05-30T08:00:00.004-04:00

The House has passed another jobless benefits extension. The bill now awaits Senate approval.

Regardless, I don't see how I could possibly accept it.

I've lived the "American dream" long enough. It's time to make my own name regardless of what happens with my labor situation. I have received benefits for 26 + 20 weeks (not counting the Census gig) but why would I accept any more time? The government allowed me 11 months to find a new job, but that plan has clearly failed. I recently had an interview with a local company for a public relations position and still await to hear if I have been hired. But if not, I know that McDonalds and The Home Depot are hiring.

This, in my opinion, is the fallacy with the employment situation. We can suck off the government teet for a while, but we never have any real sustainable options. Want to start a new business? Too bad you can't get a bank loan because you don't have a steady income. Want to relocate to an area that has jobs? Too bad you're stuck with your mortgage you just bought a year ago.

This jobless spell has been one of the most difficult situations of my life. Although I have tried to make extra money working odd jobs for the past 11 months -- newspaper freelancer, Sestak campaigner, NRFU census enumerator -- I don't see how any employer would want to hire me with that gap in my resume.

And so this vicious cycle continues. I can keep accepting government benefits, or I can make a name for myself. Unfortunately, that name might be written on my apron at your nearest home improvement store.

A time to tax

2010-05-24T10:41:00.015-04:00

I've broached quite a few touchy subjects on this blog over the past 11 months, but I suspect this entry will strike a nerve... It's time for the Pennsylvania state legislature to raise the gas tax by 10 cents. There, I said it. Now feel free to scroll down to the comment sections and start ranting.

But seriously, our roads are crumbling and bridges becoming impassable. The state legislature tried to correct the problem in 2007 with passage of Act 44 that would allow the state to either lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike or toll Interstate 80. Either plan would have raised about a billion dollars each year to fund transportation costs. But both plans were rejected. Now the state is facing a $500 million budget gap in road funding that will have to be made up elsewhere.

So rather than raising the rates for people using the Turnpike or I-80, let's spread the costs around to the entire motoring public. It's the fairest "user fee" that could ever be devised. And it wouldn't be as costly at the pump as you might think.

Think back 10 years ago when gas was $1.29 per gallon. The state gas tax was roughly 30 cents per gallon, which meant it was about a 23 percent tax on fuel. Flash forward to today when gasoline is hovering around $3.00, and that same tax percentage drops to just 10 percent. So while gasoline prices have more than doubled, the state (31.1 cpg) and federal (18.4 cpg) gas taxes have remained stagnant.

Why not implement a 15 percentage tax based on the wholesale price of gas? If the wholesale cost is $2.00, then the tax would be 30 cents and the price at he pump would be $2.30 before the federal tax is applied. If gas rices to $3.00, then the cost would be $3.45.

I'm not suggesting that the public would not be infuriated by an gas tax increase. But would it really be that burdensome to tie the tax to inflation rates or raise it a measly dime to ensure better roads and bridges? Now, I don't expect the state legislature to enact an increase because, after all, this is an election year. But I do think they should stop paying lip-service to the need for better roads while not having the political spine to find a solution to the problem.

UPDATE: Transportation experts agree that a gas tax increase is needed to fund road improvements. One expert estimates a 25-cent increase would provide $1.5 billion in additional revenue, so my measly dime suggestion would bring $600 million. Isn't that just about the same number we need to fill the budget gap? What say you, Harrisburg?

A busy election night

2010-05-19T10:43:00.049-04:00

Fellow breadliner Amanda Gillooly and I rushed around Western Pennsylvania as we covered a couple races for www.pa2010.com. Below, I have included clips of our stories about the Democratic gubernatorial race and Republican primary in the 4th District. Also, PA2010 editor Dan Hirschhorn filed a story about the Senate primary that pitted Arlen Specter against Joe Sestak. Click on the headlines to read the full stories.

Onorato cruises to Dem gubernatorial victory
PITTSBURGH—Dan Onorato, the Allegheny County Executive who started plotting a path to the Governor’s Mansion years ago, took a big step toward getting there Tuesday, easily winning the Democratic gubernatorial primary in a race he was favored to win from the start.

Rothfus beats Buchanan by a wide margin
WEXFORD—Keith Rothfus said he just might be able to sleep Tuesday night. “Relieved is how I feel right now,” he said about an hour after he was declared the winner of the 4th District Republican primary. “But now we have even more work to do.”

Sestak crushes Specter in primary
WAYNE—Joseph A. Sestak, the former Navy Admiral and second-term congressman who challenged his party’s political establishment, won the Democratic Senate primary Tuesday, riding a wave of anti-incumbency and a brilliantly-run TV campaign to a victory that ended the 45-year political career of Senator Arlen Specter.

Wagner: 'Some things don't work out the way you want'
PITTSBURGH – As rain fell across Pennsylvania for most of Tuesday, Jack Wagner's gubernatorial campaign held on to a glimmer of hope that a lower state turnout coupled with the intense 12th District special election just might be enough for an upset victory in the Democratic primary. But as results came in from Allegheny County—a critical base shared by both Wagner and eventual winner Dan Onorato—it became increasingly clear there would be no surprise endings.

Rothfus: 'I'm not worthy'
WEXFORD—Before the polls closed Tuesday night, Republican Keith Rothfus said that win or lose, he was feeling one thing: Not worthy. "I am humbled by the support I’ve received,” the Edgeworth lawyer and 4th District candidate said with a smile here. “I know it sounds cliché, but—I’m not worthy. The people I have met on this campaign—they are just people who believe in this country and believe in what this country can be. And I struck a chord with these people.”

Arlen Specter's perfect storm
The political world watched almost stupefied as the national melodrama played itself out. The pre-primary polls told the startling story while the astonished pols read the increasingly clear tea leaves: Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania’s longest serving U.S. Senator, arguably the state’s most skilled and luckiest politician, was losing. And he was losing to an opponent few had heard of just about a month earlier, losing despite substantial advantages in money and party endorsements, losing despite support from the president, the vice president, and the state’s governor. Specter was losing despite anything he or anyone else could do to stop it.

(Photos by Michael Jones/PA2010.com)

VOTE or DON'T

2010-05-18T07:00:00.004-04:00

It's 7 a.m. and the polls have officially opened in Pennsylvania.

So go out and vote in your respective primary elections... or don't complain about the results. And if you're a registered independent, well then I'm sorry Pennsylvania's convoluted closed primary system won't allow you to have your say.

Regardless of party affiliation, today's elections offer a number of interesting races, including two that are garnering national attention.

The one that has the most immediate impact will be the 12th District race between Democrat Mark Critz and Republican Tim Burns. The district, which looks like a kangaroo jumping into the mouth of a pit bull, was vacated earlier this year when longtime congressman John Murtha died due to complications from gallbladder surgery. The special election is a dead heat and could predict what will happen with the rest of the congress in the fall. Although I don't live in the district, I've seen plenty of the commercials from both the campaigns and their party affiliates. Most have ranged from stupid to bizarre: The 50-foot Nancy Pelosi monster and Critz telling voters he opposed the Democratic health care law and is pro-gun/pro-life are the first that come to mind.

The other race could shakeup the D.C. political establishment. Sen. Arlen Specter is teetering on the edge of losing the Democratic primary to Joe Sesetak, a two-term congressman from eastern Pennsylvania. Sestak has hammered Specter about his party switch and whether Democrats can trust him. Specter has responded by slamming Sestak's military record. It will be a monumental upset if Sestak wins. And with recent polls showing a statistical tie, the incumbent should be very concerned.

But the election that I will be following closest is the Democratic gubernatorial race. I don't care who wins, but I will be reporting on two of the candidates, Dan Onorato and Jack Wagner, from their campaign parties tonight in Pittsburgh. The stories will appear at www.pa2010.com, a political website that will serve as a dragnet for every major competitive race in Pennsylvania. Thirteen reporters from across the state will file updates via the PA2010 blog, upload candidate videos and write stories while embedded at campaign victory (or sulking) parties.

So get out and vote today, and then follow up-to-the-minute election night coverage on www.pa2010.com.

UPDATE: BLB Guest Columnist Amanda Gillooly will be following the 4th District Republican primary race between Mary Beth Buchanan and Keith Rothfus for PA2010. She will be reporting throughout the night from both campaign parties in Wexford, Pa., so make sure to check out the District-4 race as well.

Dislodged with a crowbar

2010-05-13T11:02:00.018-04:00

By now, you've probably listened to this audio recording of Sen. Arlen Specter thanking Allegheny Republicans for endorsing him in this Tuesday's Democratic primary. Laughs emanated from the audience packed full of Allegheny County dems the first time he made the blunder. The second time, though, was no laughing matter for the party elite trying to defeat challenger Joe Sestak.

My mother and I watched the story explode on television, prompting us to wonder if the 80-year-old Specter is all there. "I kinda feel bad for him," my mother said. "He just looks so sad all the time."

"Feel bad for a politician?" I said. "Puuuuuuhlease!"

These people don't care about you or me. They care about the power. They care about the lobbyist kickbacks. They care about the pay, perks and pensions.

And they are hopelessly entrenched in a system that is broken. From municipalities to the state and federal government, these politicos are destroying our democracy. But that might be changing in a non-partisan fashion. Pols from both sides are losing their primary bids to a new generation of people who will probably be no more noble than their predecessors. But at least it's a start.

As Gail Collins of The New York Times wrote yesterday: "The war on insiders does not seem like all that bad a development. The problem with American politics is less that incumbents are being upset than that they usually cannot be dislodged with a crowbar."

This storyline was punctuated on The Daily Show last night when Senior British Correspondent John Oliver opined on the recent prime minister elections across the pond. The Briton explained that voters there don't have the same cuddly feelings for their politicians, like Gordon Brown, when they leave office. As Oliver explains 5:15 into this clip, "it's one of the few things we have to look forward to."

Instead, he said, the British "treat our political leaders like the disposable bureaucrats that they are."

Here's hoping we do the same with our "leaders" this election year.

Bureaucracy at its worst

2010-05-12T15:08:00.005-04:00

I certainly hope you filled out your Census information and mailed it in. Because if you didn't you're going to get hounded by a census taker again and again and again. And when you finally do cooperate and give them the needed information, it's very possible ANOTHER census worker will drop by your door to hound you again and again and again.

Unfortunately, the latter position is my new job. I'm a Non-Respondent Follow-up Reinterview Enumerator, or NRFU-RI-ENUM for short. I'm basically quality control for the original enumerator.

Not only does it seem redundant, stupid and wasteful, but it also sounds really dangerous. These people probably aren't happy to give their information to an enumerator in the first place, so they'll be even less thrilled when I come knocking on their door to make sure the first census taker didn't forge the information.

Now, we are not doing this for the entire population that didn't respond, just 20 percent of those. It's designed to be a quality control measure, but it sounds like a big fat waste of time.

For the 2020 Census, I'm suggesting we give each household $50 to respond to the original mailing. And if that doesn't work, start airing commercials informing non-respondents that an army of census workers will be hounding you for months if you don't Mail It Back.

It would probably be cheaper -- and safer -- that way.

Drinking on the job

2010-05-07T15:17:00.007-04:00

There are few job postings that really stick out. Most of them look basically the same with bland details about what your bland job duties will be. But this posting for a "public relations" position on Craig's List really caught my attention...

Beer Pong Promotional Reps Needed (Pittsburgh)

World Beer Pong Tour is looking for promotional reps to promote upcoming events at Buckhead Saloon in Pittsburgh May 22-25.

Reps sign teams up and sponsors for the tournament. Please fill out a job application for Promotional Rep at worldpongtour.com/jobs/reps.php

More info on World Beer Pong Tour at www.worldpongtour.com

Uhhh, there are no words to describe that position. As expected, the job is part-time and workers are paid by commission. Now, I'm no salesman, but how hard can it be to get a bunch of drunk frat bros to sign up to play a little beer pong? On the other hand, if this blog suddenly disappears from the tubes of Internet, you'll be happy to know that I've found my calling in life.

Leaving class to horse around

2010-05-06T11:14:00.002-04:00

By Michael Jones
For the Tribune-Review

Anxious stares quickly gave way to wide smiles Tuesday morning as 13 students from Bethel Park High School's special education program visited a Washington County horse farm for the ride of a lifetime.

The activity gave the students a hands-on experience with horses after they recently finished reading "Black Beauty" for class.

Sherry Parise, an autistic support teacher, could barely contain her enthusiasm watching 16-year-old Hannah Dibble prepare for the first ride of the day at the Horse 'N Soul farm.

"This is so exciting," Parise said as Hannah climbed atop a brown equine named Nash.

Parise said Hannah is usually quiet in class, so she was encouraged as Hannah responded to an instructor's direction to tell the horse to "walk on." With that command, Nash began moving forward with an instructor guiding the horse around the ring.

Parise was just as excited a few moments later when Jimmy Tosic, 19, mounted the next horse and gave the same instructions. Flashing a wide smile, Jimmy waved to her and other students while riding Rocky in the pen.

"Just to see him so relaxed on that horse," Parise said. "He's not going to want to get off.

"I love animals and kids, so this is the perfect place for me."

Read more...

(Photo by Keith Hodan/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

The phone interview

2010-05-05T10:21:00.004-04:00

I've interviewed hundreds of people for stories over the phone, but this was the first time someone was asking me questions using the ole rotodial. A local college called a few days ago asking me if I would be interested in interviewing by phone for a public relations position I applied for months ago. Of course, I was excited and wasn't about to turn them down.

My cell promptly rang at 9:30 this morning and we moved right along with the questions. But it felt strange talking to three potential bosses sitting miles away speaking through a conference call. It was impossible to gauge their reactions or feed off their enthusiasm, which I think makes personal interviews so interesting. They asked the standard answers and I gave them the standard responses, hoping I would eventually be elevated to the next group of applicants that get the one-on-one treatment.

Of course, I don't blame them for conducting phone interviews to narrow the list. It surely saves time as they move forward with the hiring process. It just was a very different -- and probably very useful -- experience on this winding road of unemployment.

Drill, baby, drill?

2010-04-28T19:49:00.009-04:00

A cloudy sheen of oil the size of Delaware is consuming the Gulf of Mexico as it inches closer to the New Orleans coastline. Thousands of gallons of oil is spewing from an underwater well after a rig caught fire last week and then collapsed into the murky waters. The ramifications to the wildlife along the coast will be devastating, so the U.S. Coast Guard has decided to light the oil on fire. And it has also ignited new questions about off-shore drilling.

What began as "drill, baby, drill" is turning into "burn, baby, burn" (although this doesn't appear to be a disco inferno).

So, where is Sarah Palin reacting to this man-made disaster? She offered fiery rhetoric at the 2008 Republican National Convention when she worked the crowd into a frenzy that off-shore drilling would be America's salvation for its fossil fuel consumption. She and other Republicans recently chastised President Obama, even though he opened wide swaths for off-shore drilling in the Atlantic Ocean. That decision now appears to be a mistake.

Let me say that I'm not necessarily opposed to off-shore drilling, but I do think the calls of "drill, baby, drill" were ludicrous and short-sighted. Fossil fuels obviously are finite, so rather than drilling for more oil and ripping off mountains to mine more coal, why don't we put all of our energy (literally) into finding new fuel sources that are both renewable and cheap.

Ah, but "green energy" isn't cheap, you say? Well, nothing is cheap in its genesis. It takes years to develop technology and find more affordable ways to link it into our lives. From televisions to computers, things become cheaper over time.

Glenn Beck likes to talk about his 9.12 project, but imagine if we had started a full-tilt green revolution on Sept. 12, 2001? I seriously doubt we would be dealing with a faltering economy and strained diplomatic relations with the Middle East. And I know we wouldn't have idiots like Sarah Palin calling for us to "drill, baby, drill" in the wake of an environmental disaster.

NASCAR is back

2010-04-26T21:34:00.009-04:00

I realize I live in the north, but NASCAR is my favorite sport. Ever since my father took me to my first race at Daytona in 1993, I have fallen in love with a spectacle that excites some and bewilders others. Regardless, the sport has fallen on hard times (with ratings and attendance) as it tried to become mainstream. The bigger the fanbase the more the money, right? Wrong: The sport needs to connect with the southeast, which is where it roots are firmly entrenched.

That's why Sunday's race at Talladega was so amazing. From the bumping and fighting, the Aaron's 499 had it all. There were a record number of leaders and lead changes. And it's amazing the response you get when the sanctioning body decides to afix a spoiler onto the backs of the cars rather than a douchey fin.

But I digress. What made the race so intriguing is the passing and rivalries. Four-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson cut off teammate and fellow four-time champ Jeff Gordon on the backstretch. Gordon had to slide back into the pack and he wrecked a few moments later. This is the second time in as many weeks that the two teammates have tangled, making for an interesting storyline despite their clean-cut images. This is what racing is all about.

Then, on the last lap, Kevin Harvick bumped Daytona 500 champ Jamie McMurray to the side and they drag raced the final 300 yards to the checkered flag. It forced even the most hardened NASCAR fan to stand up and shout.

This is what the sport needs. More fighting and more side-by-side racing. I realize I'm in the minority with NASCAR, but I have a feeling that more people will start showing interest if the racing -- and story lines -- are as intriguing as they have been this year.

(Photo by Getty Images in the last lap of Sunday's Nationwide Series Race)

Wrong side of the law

2010-04-21T09:01:00.006-04:00

The trooper's name sounded familiar, but I wasn't quite sure...

While working with the Observer-Reporter on May 29, 2009, we heard on the scanner a police chase involving a motorcycle on the interstate. The bike crashed, so my editor looked over and asked me to go to the scene and find out what happened. I obliged and rolled up to the crash -- as I had in numerous other interstate crashes since 2005 -- and got out of my car to investigate.

I walked up to a Cecil Township police officer and asked her if she could locate a state trooper to help me out with the accident. A few hundred feet away was a crashed bike near several state police cruisers and ambulances. But before she returned, a state cop on a motorcycle rode up to me and asked me what I was doing there.

"Hi, my name is Mike Jones, and I'm with the Observer-Reporter," I told him. "Do you know what happened here?"

"No," the motorcycle trooper said to me.

"Can I talk to the supervising officer?" I responded.

"No," he said. "You have to go."

"Can I stand in the grassy medium?" I asked, since in four years I had never been kicked out of an accident scene.

"No. You have to leave," he said.

So I walked back to my car and called my editor, Liz Rogers. We had been struggling for several months to get timely press releases from state police based in the Washington barracks. Those press releases are the lifeblood of a news organization trying to get the daily crime updates to the public. But about five minutes after talking to my editor on the phone, the trooper rolled back up on his bike and ordered me to surrender my license and registration.

"What is going on?" I thought.

He let me sit there on the side of the road for another seven minutes while he took my information. When he returned, he cited me for failing to follow traffic instructions from a uniformed officer and failing to change my registration address. I didn't know his name, but it would become the subject of much debate at a later time.

I appealed the citation with District Justice Jay Weller, who decided that I was not wrong for parking my car on the side of the road to obtain information for the story. The media is protected by Constitutional rights that permit us access to some places where the general public is not allowed. Both citations were dismissed and I felt vindicated for my work. But the trooper who cited me would become entrenched in a much greater story less than a year later.

I forgot his name, but later I learned the trooper was Edward Joyner: the same person who is being investigated for his role in the Ben Roethlisberger saga. He's the "bodyguard" who allegedly stood in the way of several sorority girls as they tried to get their friend out of a dank Georgia bar bathroom with Roethlisberger. Now, the Pennsylvania State Police are investigating the case to see whether Joyner acted wrongly in the situation.

The Roethlisberger allegations are shocking to me, but I am willing to wait to see how the Steelers and NFL handle the situation. Still, while most Pittsburghers have their eyes on Big Ben and his suspension, my attention is focused squarely on how the state police handle the actions of Trooper Edward Joyner.

And I wonder if he told those girls standing in the Georgia bar hallway the same thing he told me: "No. You have to leave..."

Pittsburgh's role model

2010-04-17T08:00:00.004-04:00

Friday night gave us a stark reminder of the differences between Pittsburgh's two greatest athletes.

On one side, the star quarterback of the football team is practicing on the South Side about a month after following a wasted girl into a single commode bathroom. The unsavory details have already been exposed, so there's no need to expand upon them here.

A couple miles away at the Mellon Arena, you have the captain of our hockey team pulling off an usual hat trick: Scoring a goal, making an unbelievable save and passing the puck on his knees to a teammate for the game-winning goal.

Make no mistake about which player Pittsburghers most align themselves with today.

Football will probably always be king in this region, but Sidney Crosby has officially taken the mantle as this city's brightest star. Since arriving in Pittsburgh five years ago, he has been gracious to both the fans and media. And, oh by the way, he's the best player in hockey.

We used to identify ourselves by our football team, but it's becoming increasingly evident that we might want to reconsider. The Steelers players continue to get into legal trouble and their supposed leader, Ben Roethlisberger, disgraced his team and the city with his disgusting behavior in Georgia. Do you notice how that doesn't happen with Sid the Kid? That's a funny nickname, considering he acts like more of a man than Roethlisberger.

The past month has been an eye-opening experience for even the most ardent Pittsburgh fans, myself included. Both the Steelers and Penguins are winning championships. The difference between both teams are their leaders.

And Sidney Crosby showed once again Friday night why he's the face of Pittsburgh.

Honoring the dead

2010-04-16T16:03:00.010-04:00

A 27-year-old Army veteran in full uniform lies dead with a twisted white sheet covering his body. The statue of a Civil War soldier stands over him, looking down as if to gaze at what had happened just a few feet away.

The deceased man apparently used an assault rifle to shoot himself on the steps of the Veterans Affairs medical center in Dayton, Ohio. The man, who I will not name, enlisted in the Army in 2003 shortly after the Iraq invasion before leaving the service in 2007. Details of the soldier's suicide are vague, but it seems to be another reminder of the devastation inflicted on our citizens when they are sent to fight an unjust war.

But political feelings aside, why did The Associated Press feel the need to publish the photo of this man? How does it serve the story in any way besides to sensationalize his death? The AP used the full shot from the Dayton Daily News, which cropped the photo for its website.

There were plenty of times when I was sent out following a fatal car accident -- many times the person was ejected from the vehicle -- and the photographer declined to capture the shot or would not agree to have it published.

Using difficult photos is one of the most troublesome decisions for an editor. Some elicit strong emotional responses that would be tamed with a censored photo. But the details of this soldier's death are clear. And any good reporter would have been able to describe the sad scene, while also preserving this man's dignity.

UPDATE: 4:26 p.m. - In the few minutes after writing this post, the Post-Gazette and Associated Press have taken the non-cropped photo down from their websites.

Photo by Ron Alvey/Dayton Daily News

A hectic week

2010-04-15T13:05:00.005-04:00

The common misconception about breadliners is that we don't do anything. That couldn't be further from the truth, especially for me this week. On Monday morning, I ventured out with the Census and enumerated 18 people for a few hours. Then I wrote a story about a new apartment complex in Braddock for the Trib in the afternoon before covering the Mt. Lebanon School Board meeting in the evening. That's when I got a call from Dan Hirschhorn of Pa2010.com asking me to cover a union endorsement on Tuesday for Jack Wagner. Back from that, I had to write a couple political stories for his website before polishing off the Lebo school meeting for the Trib. Toss in a few extra bucks for yardwork and I'd say it was a very productive week.

Braddock housing complex a symbol of renewal

A sparkling new apartment complex for low-income seniors, situated in the shadow of the defunct UPMC Braddock hospital, is set to open Friday, a $13 million project that county and local officials hope will help revitalize the borough.

The Avenue Apartments complex, on Braddock Avenue in the borough's main drag, has 53 units. Pennrose Management Co. has finalized 10 leases since it began accepting residents last month.

The property manager and Mayor John Fetterman are concerned the lack of a hospital next to the apartment complex will waste an opportunity to serve the complex's residents.

Wagner looks to showcase union support

Auditor General Jack Wagner rolled out a slew of union endorsements on Tuesday, seeking to demonstrate his support within the organized labor community even as the state’s largest umbrella labor group did not make an endorsement in the Democratic primary for governor.

About 35 members from six local unions stood behind Wagner in the lobby of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center here, where the AFL-CIO was holding its state convention. Neither Wagner nor Democratic rival Dan Onorato were able to garner the two-thirds vote needed for an endorsement from the AFL-CIO, but the Wagner campaign was clearly looking to downplay that by holding Tuesday morning’s news conference.

“I think it’s powerful,” Wagner said of the union endorsements. “I appreciated every one of them from the bottom of my heart. I always make sure my employees are treated the way I want to be treated. They are really about the middle class and providing quality jobs for Pennsylvania.”

Residents packed the Mt. Lebanon School Board meeting Monday night, some to support and others to rail against the proposed high school renovation project.

The board was considering a motion to submit the renovation plans and public feedback to the state Department of Education for approval.

About 25 people spoke -- with opinions on the project's $113.3 million cost evenly divided -- before the board voted 7-2 to forward the documents to the state. School directors James Fraasch and Faith Ann Stipanovich voted against the motion.

The project has prompted a petition drive to lower the costs to $75 million. Mt. Lebanon resident Elaine Gillen brought a stack of papers to the meeting containing 3,333 signatures and laid them on the desk in front of the board.

Slime Bowl XXL

2010-04-12T16:33:00.008-04:00

Apart from the Steelers losing Super Bowl XXX and a few AFC Championship Games, I'd be hard-pressed to find a worse day in franchise history. It amazes me how the two most critical players from Super Bowl XLIII -- Ben Roethlisberger to Santonio Holmes in the corner of the endzone -- both got into such serious trouble in the offseason. By now, we all know the (alleged) stories, so I won't get into them again.

But we awoke this morning to news that the Steelers had traded Holmes to the N.Y. Jets for a fifth round draft pick. That's all a Super Bowl MVP is worth these days? Actually, that price seems way above market value considering Sanantone's frequent run-ins with the law and his Twitter followers. He told one Twitterer (or is it Tweeter?) to "go drink the worst thing you can drink and kill yourself." That's one way to keep a loyal fanbase. And now he's been suspended for the first four games in 2010 due to a second violation of the NFL's substance abuse police. Apparently, Sanantone likes to "wake n' bake" at his crib. Good riddance to that spoiled idiot.

Amazingly, that wasn't even the biggest headline on Monday. Instead, we were all waiting to hear whether a Georgia prosecutor would file charges against Big Ben after a 20-year-old college student suggested he raped her in a bar bathroom. Although the prosecutor declined to press charges for lack of concrete evidence, his vivid and disgusting details of the incident that occurred in a 5-by-5 foot bathroom made me want to vomit. I'm wondering if public backlash against Roethlisberger might be more ferocious than felony rape charges.

However, District Attorney Fred Bright had a good suggestion for Roethlisberger that both he and his teammates should follow: "Grow up ... You need to be a role model for your team, your city, the NFL. You can do better."

I'll second that.

A cheap date

2010-04-08T13:11:00.010-04:00

The 80-degree weather yesterday just begged for an outdoor activity. So my girlfriend and I decided to head to PNC Park for the nightcap between the Pirates and Dodgers. Now, sporting events can get rather expensive, which is a turnoff when you're unemployed. But after 17 losing seasons, the Pirates marketing staff devised a way to keep people coming back. And "Buc Night" worked liked a charm to attract me and Tiffany.

Usually, the cheapest seats available at a game are $9. Throw in a hotdog and coke that each cost about $4.50 and your date night is getting expensive. But not on Wednesday night. The cheap seats, hot dogs, soft drinks and popcorn were all a dollar. With that said, I didn't expect Buc Night and the nice weather to push more than 31,000 people to the ballpark. We stood at the end of the line for several minutes before an older gentleman threw up five tickets and said he was selling them... for a dollar. He had already purchased the tickets online before several people backed out at the last minute. Were they counterfeit tickets, we wondered for a minute? But there really was no reason why he would have taken so much time to manufacture them for a dollar a piece.

So we purchased a couple and zoomed to the gates to beat the crowd waiting in the snaking ticket lines. Then we immediately bought four hot dogs and four (child sized) drinks. Unfortunately, they ran out of hot dogs when we went for a splash-n-go near the end of the game.

The cost for the night was astounding: Parking, two tickets, four hot dogs, eight small cokes and a bag of Cracker Jacks ran us to $22.50. You can't get out of the movies or dinner for that price. Regardless of what people say about the Pirates and owner Bob Nutting, a trip to the ballpark is a steal, especially for the breadliners.

Oh yeah, and the Pirates also won 4-3 in extra innings.

A bleak morning

2010-04-06T09:16:00.013-04:00

West Virginians should be bursting at the seams with pride just a few days after their WVU Mountaineers made it to the Final Four in the college basketball tournament. Instead, the state is surrounded in a cloak of sadness today following another coal mining disaster that has most of us dumbfounded by the magnitude of the tragedy.

Nearing the end of the day shift yesterday, a blast ripped through the Big Branch Mine that snakes beneath rural Boone and Raleigh counties. The force of the blast killed seven miners riding on a mantrip as they finished their workday. In total, 25 miners have died and four are missing as of this morning. Rescuers plan to continue searching for survivors later today when methane levels decrease.

There should be no doubt that mining is a dangerous business. Anyone who travels miles into the earth probably understands the inherent risks, but they take pride in their work due to family ties and livable wages. But it should not be acceptable for a country as advanced as ours to endure such a tragedy. A disaster like this usually is reserved for countries with governments -- such as China -- that treat their workers like toy soldiers.

Instead, we have a mine and a company with numerous safety violations and past fatalities. There are few characters in the mining industry with such a poor reputation as Don Blankenship, who owns Massey Energy. You might remember his name from a few years ago when he whisked one of West Virginia's supreme court justices away on an all-inclusive vacation to Monte Carlo. Not long after the trip, the state supreme court ruled to overturn a $75 million decision that Blankenship was originally ordered to pay to a competitor.

That's sleazy, but it's still just money. What happened at 3 p.m. Monday has destroyed lives and families. In a country like ours, I don't understand why it's so readily accepted that people might die while trying to earn a paycheck.

UPDATE: 7:19 p.m. -- I thought ABC News did an excellent job covering this story tonight. Diane Sawyer spoke to a miner who was heading into Big Branch as the explosion happened. He described what it was like to watch his friend being carried out of the mine, which illustrated the heartbreak even for those who survived.

They also interviewed the wife of a miner killed in the blast and spoke to her son, who had just left his shift in the mine minutes before. He teared up as he talked about how badly he wished his father was standing on the porch with them. ABC did not sensationalize these stories, but merely let these people speak for themselves.

At the end, Sawyer interviewed Blankenship and she refused to let him off the hook. He looked contrite as though he realized that the magnitude of this storm might destroy his company. The anchorwoman finished the newscast with a story about why people in West Virginia do such dangerous work. The answer: It's in their blood.

Raise the Jolly Roger!

2010-04-05T16:58:00.008-04:00

Even 17 consecutive losing seasons couldn't ruin today. Opening Day in baseball is like a national holiday, and that certainly is the case even in Pittsburgh where a winning season -- let alone a playoff appearance -- seems more elusive than finding a job in this economy.

After enumerating four people in Findlay Township this morning, I returned to my house to polish off some paperwork and sit down in front of the television to watch the game. Expectations couldn't be lower coming out of spring training, but it was exciting nonetheless. Then Garrett "The Legend" Jones crushed a couple of homers to lead a 11-5 rout against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are now a game above .500 and lead their division. It probably won't last longer than the end of the week, but we can dream, right? That's what makes Opening Day special.

Welcome to TNSOL Town

2010-03-31T12:30:00.007-04:00

A small fire could be seen burning in the distance of an abandoned railroad property in backwoods Beaver County early this morning. For the dozen of us census workers who spent the early morning hours today attempting to count the homeless population in our zone, this was exactly what we were looking for.

We trekked down a long and winding gravel road that led to the secluded camp site unsure of what we might find. The glow of the fire brightened the closer we inched with flashlights trained on the area. But when we arrived at the fire, there was no one there, just a red car with a legally registered Pennsylvania plate and other indications that someone in another car left hurriedly minutes before. We had been fooled. Instead of enumerating someone, we likely had been stalking a couple of teenagers drinking beer.

Beginning at 12 a.m. today, census workers fanned out across the country to canvass Targeted Non-sheltered Outdoor Locations, or TNSOL, searching for homeless people who would be otherwise omitted from the decennial count. Our group searched six places in our region that previous canvassers indicated might be where the homeless population stays. Wearing reflective vests and holding flashlights and clipboards, we searched local parks, underneath bridges and in densely wooded areas, but found no one during the three-hour event. The frigid temperatures likely sent the people we were looking for into shelters for the nights.

Although it was unsatisfying, it still felt important that we made the effort to count those who are the most neglected in our society. The U.S. Census Bureau's effort to count these people across the country should give a more accurate representation of who we are as a nation. And it shows that the 2010 Census is about more than just a paper form to be filled out and mailed back.

Working for Free - Part 2

2010-03-30T08:00:00.005-04:00

By Joe Pontillo
BLB Guest Blogger

When I got to L.A., I had no immediate prospects in the entertainment business, and had no idea how I was supposed to get that started. I began working a couple of part time jobs - at a grocery store (Ralphs, as featured in The Big Lebowski) and a video store (remember when you used to have to go to a store to rent a movie?). I'd had no L.A. or New York internships during my time at film school, so I didn't know anyone and didn't have any professional experience. And when that's the situation, there's really only one way to get your start. You work for free.

My aunt, who lived in Ohio, informed me that a neighborhood friend of hers had a son who was producing music videos out in L.A. She offered to put me in touch with him and see if he could offer me any advice or opportunities. It just so happened the company he worked for was bringing in interns at the exact moment I contacted him, and he offered to pass my resume along.

So that's how it happens. You you become an intern or, simply, an unpaid production assistant. "Un-work," as I refer to it. This accomplishes two of the most important things you need to start your career in entertainment - it gets you experience, which is far more valuable than any college degree; and it helps you make friends and acquaintances, which is how you're going to find your way into future jobs. Since entertainment jobs are essentially all freelance, you live by your connections. These are the people who will inform you about job openings on their shows and will get your resumes to the right people (along with the ever-important implied recommendation).

How do you keep a roof over your head and food on your cheap Ikea table while you're working for free? It's surprisingly manageable, even in the high-cost-of-living city of L.A. Obviously, you're not living extravagantly. But as long as the bosses at your part time jobs are somewhat cooperative, you can usually work out a schedule where you can earn enough to get by, have plenty of face time at your unpaid entertainment job, and even have enough left over to go out to the occasional movie.

How do these multi-million or billion-dollar companies justify using free labor when they seem to have so much money to kick around? Well, I can't honestly say it's justified. There are a lot of people with padded pockets walking amongst the zero-dollar interns in any given office, and it seems like there should be a way for them to remain rich while still tossing a few bucks to the underlings.

But ask any line producer on any show at any time and they'll tell you the budget is beyond stretched. And they're not lying; they can only work with what they're given.

It may suck to have to work for free but, in a way, it's the greatest gift a newcomer could ask for. It makes the game so easy to play. People who are stressed out about money love to get things for free, and you're in a position to underbid anyone. It's an investment in yourself; you'll gain experience and contacts that will pay dividends later

I worked around the office of the music video company for a couple months, and was invited to be to an on-set production assistant on a couple of their music videos and commercials. With that experience on my resume, I was able to convince "The Amazing Race" to hire me for a low-end position. From there, I worked my way up to higher positions on a variety of shows. It's amounted to some six years of employment. And that, my friends, is what we call a career.

Recently, however, I've been looking for a change. I'd worked those six years mostly in post production on unscripted TV shows. When I finally took a moment to give my life some cold, hard analysis, I remembered that I'd never really meant to pursue post production, and had never been all that passionate about unscripted shows. It was time for a change. And, as luck would have it, a friend who works in animation informed me that they were accepting interns at her company.

It's hard to press the reset button at age 29. But I'm not getting any younger; I can do it now, or wait until I'm even older and more ingrained in what I've been doing. So I took the chance. For almost a year now, I've been putting in several days a week at the animation company. It's been great to try something new. I have plenty of anxiety about whether or not they'll be able to hire me, especially in this economy. But at least this time around, I have one thing that I didn't have before - the knowledge that working for free is a great strategy that pays off.

So what can I say? It's like the lady said: a great way to get your start is to offer to work for free.

Accept it. Embrace it. Don't resist it. It will serve you well.

Joe Pontillo previously worked in post production on unscripted television shows. He currently interns at Shadow Animation and writes scripts. He resides in Los Angeles and blogs at www.yourdailyjoe.com

Working for Free - Part 1

2010-03-29T08:00:00.005-04:00

By Joe Pontillo
BLB Guest Blogger

When you enroll in film school, people start to take you a little more seriously as an aspiring filmmaker. You still face a certain amount of skepticism from a great many people, but at least your goals -- and your intentions to achieve them -- come off as a little more authentic. People have a better understanding of how to relate to you. What was once perceived as a flight of fancy now seems more practical and attainable and, most importantly, comprehensible. When they see a "making of" special, or a magazine interview with Quentin Tarantino, they think of you.

In 2000, while I was right in the middle of film school, a friend of the family passed an article my way. A soon-to-be-released movie had amongst its producers a native of my hometown of Erie, Pa., so the local newspaper did an interview with her. The movie in question was Dungeons & Dragons. Yes, that Dungeons & Dragons -- the rather regrettable adaptation of the role-playing game starring Jeremy Irons and Thora Birch. But, quality of the movie aside, it was interesting to know that someone from my hometown was a producer, and that it was really possible for a lowly Pennsylvanian to "make it in Hollywood."

I've long since forgotten the name of the producer, and the article does not seem to be archived online. But as I recall, the questions focused on what it's like to go from a small Pennsylvania town all the way to big, bad Los Angeles, and then how one actually manages to become a producer on a movie. In the course of answering one of the questions, the producer said something that stood out from everything else in the entire article. Something that would haunt my remaining college years. Something that would stoke my anxieties about taking the dive and moving to Los Angeles. She said that when one is getting a start in the entertainment industry, a great strategy is to offer to work for free.

I couldn't believe what I was reading. Work for free? But how? How do you manage to pay your rent, or buy food, or, hell, go out to see a movie once in a while? Because isn't that why you wanted to get into this business in the first place... because you love movies? I couldn't imagine working for free in Pennsylvania, so how was I supposed to work for free in California, where the cost of living, as I understood it, was far higher?

And then I started to get indignant. Why should someone have to work for free on a movie? When it comes to money and Hollywood, all you ever hear about are these $80 million budgets and these $200 million box office returns. Are you telling me there's no room in there to toss a newbie a few hundred dollars a week to help them get by?"

"Not me," I assured myself. "Maybe this woman worked for free to get her start, but that's not what I'm gonna do. I know I have to start low on the ladder. Of course! But I'll make sure I'm earning at least a little bit of money. I have to!"

And then I worked for free.

Click here for Part 2...

Joe Pontillo previously worked in post production on unscripted television shows. He currently interns at Shadow Animation and writes scripts. He resides in Los Angeles and blogs at www.yourdailyjoe.com

Census 101

2010-03-24T17:36:00.005-04:00

LEETSDALE, Pa. - I am now officially a public servant. At 8:39 a.m. today, I raised my right hand inside the borough building here along the Ohio River and pledged to participate faithfully and honestly in the federal government's census count.

The first day of census training was simple, although I must have signed and filed a couple dozens registration forms during the eight-hour shift. Those typical bureaucratic forms ranged from direct deposit information to confidentiality agreements. And it felt great to know I will be earning my government paycheck by working rather than raking in taxpayer money due to lack of employment.

The room was filled with 25 people of various backgrounds, ages and professions (or lack thereof). Most said they were retirees, although a few of us in there mentioned we were without a job. This position will supplement our income and give us a much-needed feeling of being productive.

The initial phase of the job for this crew will last for about four weeks and focus on counting people living in group quarters. That includes nursing homes, soup kitchens, homeless shelters and prisons. Fortunately, I don't know of any prisons in the western Allegheny County zone where I'll be working. We continue to train Thursday and Friday before the crew leaders cuts us loose next week.

I'm looking forward to getting back into the workforce.

From weddings to health care

2010-03-22T19:09:00.008-04:00

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Apparently I missed must-see TV on Sunday while attending my stepsister's wedding. Rather than cracking a tall, cool Budweiser and watching the totally bizarre vote on health care, I spent my night at the wedding on Florida's first coast.

Sure, I had fun throwing back a few while spending the night with my family, but I would have just LOVED to watch all the crazies (aka: Republican congressmen) march on D.C. just before voting against Obamacare. I mean, were the Republicans really applauding the protesters who spit on Democratic politicians and yelled gay/racial slurs? Did one Republican congressman really call a fellow colleague a "baby killer"?????

And here I thought the drunks at the wedding were out of control.

Do I love this bill? Not really, because I'd prefer a single-payer system where everyone pays and everyone benefits. But our democracy usually results in these types of unsatisfactory compromises. But I'm OK with that because this is a major step in the right direction.

Still, I would've liked to watch our infantile elected leaders interact in a way that makes rowdy wedding receptions look tame. Maybe next time.

Sweeps week

2010-03-17T08:00:00.004-04:00

Who else is tired of these third-party health care reform commercials? I'm going to be sick if I see one more ad trying to sway Congress to vote for or against the health care bill. This feels more like a presidential campaign than the dog days of March. These commercials are amazingly annoying and don't really prove any points. One of them shows a hurricane hitting the Gulf Coast, as if that explains why Obamacare will allegedly kill grandma.

But what is more infuriating is that these commercials are aimed at U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire, who isn't my congressman. Instead, I'm stuck with the regrettable Tim Murphy, a Republican who has made it clear for months that he won't support any Democratic form of health care reform. Even thought I don't live in Altmire's district, I decided enough was enough and called his D.C. office. I told the receptionist that while I don't live in his district (although just 26 miles from the Aliquippa office) that many people in Western Pennsylvania do support reform.

But the commercials keep coming and this area isn't alone. We find out this week that Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper, D-Erie, is getting pounding by ads that she should not support a bill that the crazies claim won't adequately fund cancer... just weeks after both of her parents died of cancer.

Disgusting.

It's clear that these third-party organizations (cough cough, big-money corporations) are just slinging mud to see what sticks. And it appears to be a preview to the kind of garbage we can expect after the Supreme Court ruled in January that companies may spend relentlessly against political foes. Gee, I can't wait 'til November. Let the real games begin!

The demise of newspapers

2010-03-15T15:57:00.006-04:00

Maybe I got out of the newspaper industry at just the right time. Local papers used to be the pillars of the community when they provided important information and uncovered stories that would otherwise have been swept under the rug. Now, they're nothing more than online sideshows in the age of blogs and Twitter.

Case in point: The Post-Gazette is promoting a live webcam video of Xante, a Golden Retriever puppy spending his weekdays in the newsroom. I wasted about 15 seconds watching Xante wag his tail this afternoon before moving on to more interesting things like washing my clothes. Is this P-G Puppy Cam really what Pittsburgh's top newspaper should be focusing its attention on?

Things seemed to devolve even more when the Observer-Reporter launched a contest today asking people to guess the mystery location where several Peeps marshmallows were staged for a photo. This seems to undermine the O-R's journalistic credibility by publishing something so trivial next to hard news. And with only two full-time photographers left on the payroll, why are they wasting anyone's time shooting a photo of marshmallows dressed up in baseball uniforms?

What really concerns me, though, is whether people find this more interesting than feature stories about people doing good and/or hard-hitting news articles that expose sleazy politicians. If so, then that makes me glad I'm a former newsman.

Take Me Home, Country Roads

2010-03-13T23:36:00.020-05:00

Onward we march to the dance! So in honor of the West Virginia Mountaineers defeating Georgetown to win the Big East Tourney...

Getting in on the conversation

2010-03-12T08:00:00.004-05:00

Char Jeggle, of Shadyside, second from the left, talks about the essence of man, good vs. evil, during a conversation salon at Upper St. Clair Public Library. Photo by Jasmine Goldband/Tribune-Review

By Michael Jones
For the Tribune-Review
March 11, 2010

Even as human contact migrates to the Web, the Allegheny County Library Association is getting people together to talk -- face to face.

Conversation salons, where philosophical and newsworthy topics are broached and everyone has a say, have become a hit locally and across the country in the age of Facebook.

"We're all on computers now, and we don't have as much personal involvement with each other," said Lee Boyd, a salon organizer at Upper St. Clair Library. "I think we need more of that. It's nice to meet people in the community with wisdom on issues."

Conversation salons date back hundreds of years ago to The Enlightenment, when people discussed philosophy and new scientific discoveries. They first returned to Western Pennsylvania about nine years ago as a way to get retirees interacting on a regular basis.

Now, 10 area libraries hold monthly salons with attendance ranging from a few to up to 20 people.

"We didn't have to work at all to drag people in or entice them," said Norm Wien, who helped promote the early salons. "There's this subset of people who like to converse in a polite and respectful way, and it caught on right away."

A group of 17 people met last week in the Mt. Lebanon Public Library, with the chairs positioned in a circle so all could be included.

"If it gets bigger than that, they don't get their dibs in," Wien said. "If it gets too small, then you lack the diversity of the viewpoint."

Most people in this particular group are from Mt. Lebanon, but a few are from other South Hills communities. Joe Meltzer, the group's facilitator -- or referee -- got the conversation started.

"The first topic is immigration," Meltzer said before throwing his arms up in the air. "Go!"

Read more...

"A census taker once tried to test me..."

2010-03-10T08:00:00.005-05:00

Although that classic line by Hannibal Lecter in "The Silence of the Lambs" is bone-chilling, it isn't enough to deter me from working as a census enumerator this spring. The U.S. Census Bureau contacted me this week to hire me for the part-time job that offers a lifeline in this economic abyss. At $15.25 per hour for up to 30 hours each week, it's a nice gig if you can get it. This part-time job also should replace unemployment compensation during the eight weeks the feds need me to knock on doors counting heads.

I'm excited to begin my training in a couple weeks, but am somewhat concerned that people will shy away from this constitutionally mandated count because the federal government is held in such low esteem. Now, I'm not so much worried about who might be on the other side of the door (I've been to plenty of funky neighborhoods as a newspaper reporter) but I do wonder if people will actually answer my questions when I come knocking. There is no need to worry about privacy, though, because it will be 72 years before your basic answers are released. And those answers become fascinating reference points for future generations interested in genealogy.

Not to sound like a PR shill, but the census is important because it decides how federal money is directed and helps to shape our state legislative and congressional districts. And after watching the cluster that has become our state/federal governments, do we really want our local communities on the short end of this legislative mess?

So do us all a favor and mail in your census forms when you get them this month. Otherwise, I might be searching for you in the coming weeks, although I promise not to be too testy.

Photog for Hire

2010-03-08T08:00:00.006-05:00

By Greg Tarr
BLB Guest Blogger

Never thought I'd use it again, but I held onto it anyway. Who knows, one of these days I may just be a member of the press again. It's a long shot considering since June 24 (lay off day) I haven't applied for a single photojournalist position or even considered it. But in the console of my car still sits a Pennsylvania Newspaper Association parking tag from 2008. And I'm glad it was still there.

Thursday at 3:45 a.m., I went outside to get into my car so I could head to work. Work? I'll get to that a little later. Quarter to four in the morning? I can explain that too.

I wasn't expecting a layer of frost on my windows, but it was there. Unfortunately, my ice scraper was in the garage. Instead of going back in and wasting time, I reached in my pocket for my driver's license (a great scraper in a pinch) but it wasn't there. That was in the house, too. Finally, what do I find looking up at me just waiting to be used again? Used for anything at this point? My PRESS parking tag. A little flimsy, to be honest, but it got the job done.

So what job was I scrambling to make it to for a 4:00 a.m. start time? I'm a part-time employee at Target working mostly in the stockroom. I've been working there since the beginning of November. Retail is a different world from what I am used to, but it's going. I've met some new friends and I get a 10 percent discount. That's really all there is to say about the job.

Now, about the photo business. I secured the funds to purchase photography equipment a few months ago and have been picking up little photo jobs here and there. I have four weddings booked for 2010 as of right now and I have a few others pending. The first wedding is coming up May 8 in Chicago. Before you start to think that I'm already a famous wedding photographer traveling the United States, I'm going to be honest. It's a friend's wedding. I'm excited about the future and can't wait to start shooting.

So there's a little update on what I've been doing with my time. If you know anyone out there looking for a very reasonably priced photographer cutting his teeth as a new business owner, I know a guy.

Greg Tarr previously worked as a staff photographer at the Observer-Reporter in Washington, Pa. He can be reached by e-mail at gmtarr@hotmail.com, or visit his photography website at www.gregtarrphoto.com

The TMZ effect

2010-03-06T08:42:00.000-05:00

Easily cast aside as a celebrity gossip forum, TMZ.com is becoming an increasingly legitimate source for news, especially offbeat sports stories. Whether it be photos of Steve McNair's lover to snapshots of Tiger Woods' smashed Escalade windows, TMZ is finding relevant information and putting it on the Web.

And now they broke a monster story. The website was the first to report that Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is being accused of sexually assaulting a woman at a Georgia bar. Roethlisberger has not been charged with any crimes, but this is still newsworthy because police are investigating. And once TMZ pounced on the story Friday afternoon, it prompted every major news organization in Pittsburgh to stumble around for information on the investigation.

How do they do it?

Some cast them off as a joke, but it's clear they have informants in unusual places. Now, a lot of the celebrity gossip photos they publish are stupid. But TMZ might soon become the most trusted name in news if they continue breaking stories in lieu of the mainstream media.

An e-mail from Arlen

2010-03-05T08:00:00.004-05:00

An e-mail from Arlen Specter's campaign manager Thursday morning caught me off-guard: "fyi...we sent this to our press list last night..." What Christopher Nicholas was alluding to was my recent blog post about Rep. Joe Sestak's campaign payroll. A few hours later, the Philadelphia Inquirer and PoliticsPA.com had contacted me asking to elaborate on my post. I politely declined, saying I would let the blog speak for itself. This was not the way I planned to get publicity for a blog about unemployment.

Forwarding my post to the statewide media seems like typical political gamesmanship, but it doesn't change the fact millions of Americans are out of work. Although Sestak's payroll problem should be a part of the debate, it still diverts the discussion from more important issues.

About a year ago, Specter changed political parties as unfavorable poll numbers pounded him following his vote on the stimulus. He figured he could cruise to re-election as a Democrat with support from President Obama. Unfortunately, the rest of us living down here in the real world don't have the same connections to keep our jobs.

But can a leopard change his spots so quickly? After all, it was Specter who supported many of the disastrous decisions by the Bush Administration that led to this savage recession. From politicians to greedy CEOs, why is it that the people who make decisions that adversely affect the rest of us are never punished for poor judgment? It seems self-preservation is more important than principle.

The 15 million Americans without a job today did not have that same luxury as Specter to switch party registration to keep a job. Hopefully he'll realize that and focus on the millions of people struggling through this recession, even if it costs him his job in the end.

New domain, same great site

2010-03-04T11:23:00.006-05:00

The Bread Line Blog now has a new domain name. It might have been all the GoDaddy.com commercials with Danica Patrick (or maybe it was her DNF at Las Vegas) but this blog can now be found at www.thebreadlineblog.com. The original blogspot hyperlink will still work, but this should offer fewer taps at the keyboard.

I have been amazed by the positive -- and sometimes negative -- responses to this blog over the past eight months. It has offered me an opportunity to reach out to other unfortunate victims of this recession, while also receiving great advice from people who lost a job years ago. Thanks again for reading and responding to my often mindless rants.