The Allegheny Institute on its Web site beats up Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato for refusing to revamp the county's grossly unfair property assessment system despite the umpteenth court order to do so. After the state Supreme Court in April told the county to get on with it, Judge Stanton Wettick ordered Mr. Onorato to come up with a plan. He didn't. So the judge devised his own plan and told the county this month to implement it. The county appealed, yet again.

The institute notes that the county solicitor just last month told Judge Wettick: "At this point the county's position is that when we're told what we need to get done, we'll get it done."

Mike Madison at Pittsblog asks: "Who is better able to afford paying an extra sum per year for the privilege of enjoying all the amenities, services and privileges afforded by the city of Pittsburgh? College students or professional athletes?

"Don't enact a 'tuition tax.' Instead, enact an 'amusement tax': Every pro athlete who competes in Pittsburgh, including Steelers, Pirates and Penguins and players on visiting teams ... could pay a very modest percentage of his annual income (salary plus prorated bonus plus endorsements) to the city of Pittsburgh. Athletes already pay a pro-rated income tax to states where they compete as visitors, so the concept of local taxes isn't foreign."

Tana Ganeva at AlterNet reports that "members of Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church, who think 9/11 was punishment for America's tolerance of homosexuality and express their views on that issue by protesting at the funerals of dead soldiers, were seen demonstrating outside of the school attended by the Obama girls."

Quoting TPM, she writes: "Protesters were carrying signs with anti-gay, anti-abortion and anti-Obama slogans." TPM checked out an Internet posting urging the protest at the school, which is run by Quakers:

"Quakers?! Are you frigging kidding me? You pretend to be all nonviolent, and you allow the most bloody, deceitful, evil, murderous [expletive] and his she-male sidekick to place their satanic spawn within your four walls?"

Josh Barro at RealClearMarkets: "Say what you will about the stimulus package, but it certainly has created one kind of job: a reporter who writes about how stimulus job-creation numbers are bogus.

"The federal government released a report on Oct. 30 announcing that the $787 billion stimulus package had 'created or saved' 640,000 jobs to date. The report has admirable specificity, reporting job creations and savings down to the employer and zip code. Trouble is, a lot of the data are wrong. Since the release, reporters at papers all over the country have busily written takedowns, picking out nonsensical factoids."

In a piece that takes on one of the American right's most sacred beliefs -- that Ronald Reagan won the Cold War -- Stephen Zunes at AlterNet says "Reagan was inspirational, but to claim he defeated Communism is a disservice to the millions of Eastern Europeans who struggled against great odds for their freedom ...

"These movements were largely led by democratic socialists who mobilized workers, church people, intellectuals and others to face down the tanks with their bare hands. Yet here in the United States, we are told that it was a result of President Reagan's militarism and the supposed inherent superiority of capitalism."

Let the blowback commence.

An e-mailed announcement:

"While [House] Speaker Nancy Pelosi's approval ratings may continue to sink, her favorability among children may plummet thanks to a new children's book. 'Help! Mom! Radicals Are Ruining My Country!', written by author Katharine DeBrecht, slams the speaker as an elitist, tiara-donning radical out of touch with everyday Americans.

"The sequel to the bestselling 'Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed!' continues the story of two boys who open up a lemonade stand only to have the stand seized by the government. Determined to succeed, the boys open up a swingset business, but all hope is doomed when a sweaty and sputtering Congressman Fwank and a snarky Congressman Schmoozer demand that all kids should have a swingset whether they can afford them or not."

Cartoonist Rob Rogers does "Rob's Rough," an early look at his work and his creative process, exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.