Opinion

Summer's here. And post-vacation, please indulge me as I clear the desk of the odds and ends that stacked up in my absence:

• This just in! The Toledo, Ohio, Block Bugler has moved the headquarters of its Pittsburgh edition from 34 Blvd. of the Allies to 425 Sixth Ave., Suite 1100, Pittsburgh, PA 15219-1811. Yes, that also would be the headquarters address for the Allegheny Conference on Community Development.

  Hey, it's a logical move. After all, can anyone really doubt that it was the conference that ordered its house organ to do such a large feature on the Trib's little ol' "Rohr box"? Given all the attention, it truly must be the box that Rohred.

• The Bugler, by the way, continues to set the standard for violating the Equal Ideological Labeling Act. "Conservatives" always get tagged; liberals oftentimes get a free ride -- no tag. This is because liberals think themselves society's ideological be-all and end-all -- you know, self-important brace-snappers -- and that conservatives are abhorrents. Must be a genetic mutation or something that makes the brace-snappers believe such a thing.

• The Pittsburgh Clique, that coterie of usual suspects who, deluded, fancy themselves a modern cross between Richard King Mellon and David L. Lawrence, attempted to set a few new standards for public discourse last week in the Bugler's Rohr apologia:

  Heinz Endowments boss Max King effectively thinks it "destructive, "hateful" and an "ad hominem attack" to name names in matters of public interest. His boss, Teresa Heinz Kerry, apparently didn't subscribe to his standard the night before the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston.

Whoops, there I go again, being "destructive," "hateful" and "ad hominem," naming names and all that. Hold on to your fedoras given the blowback (and tell the kiddies to skedaddle into the yard from the veranda), but here's last week's example of the Rohr box's "destructive," "hateful" and "ad hominem attack":

"Lead the way, Mr. Rohr! Return the public's $48 million!"

Golly, gee, Max, have you sicced the state Human Relations Commission on us yet? Or perhaps the NAPBC (the National Association for the Protection of Bankers from Critiques)?

Then there's former Pittsburgh Cultural Trust President Carol Brown. She considers the Trib's daily "Rohr box" the work of a "zealot."

And here I thought conservatives were supposed to have the exclusive franchise rights to name-calling.

The daily "Rohr box" beseeches the PNC Financial Services boss (and, oh yes, he's also the Allegheny Conference boss) to give taxpayers back those millions he got to cover nearly 30 percent of the cost of his banking behemoth's new Three PNC Plaza skyscraper.

But it's funny, Ms. Brown, and to quote a Southern friend, "It's ya'll who've lost sight of the goal."

Truly revitalizing Pittsburgh can come only with wealth-creation efforts, not endless wealth-transference schemes that give us only flimsy facades that don't last much longer than the latest chamber of commerce (or Allegheny Conference) photo shoot.

Oh, and another thing: Attempting to kill the messenger when that message is at odds with The Clique may be fashionable but it serves only the clique, not the public.

And Carol, one more thing: Have your secretary call the administrative assistant I share with an entire newsroom. We'll do lunch; the topic: Economics 101.

Elsewhere on the post-vacation desk:

• New "NBC Nightly News" producer Alexandra Williams says she plans to enlist liberal MSNBC mouth-foamer Keith Olbermann to do occasional "end pieces" at the end of anchor Brian Williams' 6:30 p.m. newscast. Please, it's the dinner hour!

• Reports National Journal's "Hotline" blog: "House Minority Leader John Boehner, speaking to a private gathering of Republican activists (Tuesday) night, called the Senate's immigration compromise bill a 'piece of (expletive).'" Hey, sometimes there's only one word to describe something and, by golly, the gentleman from Ohio should be commended for his excellent word choice.

  And no wonder he used such vivid language: Heritage Foundation scholar Robert Rector conservatively estimates that the Senate immigration bill could cost about $2.5 trillion over 30 years.

  Capitulation dolled up as "compromise" always ends up with an outrageous price tag. And the bill can go to only one place -- the taxpayers.

• Don't look now but even the Brookings Institution is effectively saying that Pittsburgh's ranking as America's "most livable city" by the "Places Rated Almanac" is akin to the same phrase uttered by John Boehner. Out of 302 cities, Pittsburgh ranks 254th for economic conditions and 250th for residential well-being. (Carol Brown, consider this factoid your first economics lesson.)

  But fear not! I'm told Three PNC Plaza will begin our long-awaited return to glory. Wasn't the Lazarus project supposed to do that a decade ago? Just one more intervention, yeah, that's the ticket ... puh-LEEZ!? Just ONE MORE FIX?!

• French economist Frederic Bastiat taught of the "seen" and "unseen" in economic decision-making. The New York Times (will wonders never cease) offers a textbook example of just one of the many "unseens" regarding this nation's dubious rush to embrace ethanol as an alternative fuel.

Beef prices are skyrocketing because there are not enough prime and top-choice steaks to meet demand. Why? Because corn prices, paced in part by the government-created increased demand for ethanol (or the future prospect thereof), have risen 60 percent over the last few months. Higher corn prices have forced already strapped farmers to feed their cattle for a shorter duration. And that means the supply of top-quality beef is down.

How much do you care to wager that some government nincompoop will come along with a "solution" that subsidizes everything and everybody right up the food chain to "balance things out"?

By golly, maybe we should pass a law outlawing corn gouging!

• Most Read
• Most E-mailed
• Latest News