Thursday: Patrick Dowd is melting down.

Can anyone dispute that? (Burgh Report)

Our own general impression is...

1) Pittsburgh is fully able to create a truly irrevocable trust fund in which we deposit money to pay off future bond debt ... thereby presently decreasing the amount of interest we pay and the amount we will be asked to pay in coming years. Because bond holders like that.

2) the City instead is going to put it under a bed of sorts and promise to pay down debt with it in coming years.

3) the City has already openly mulled investing that exact bed-money in other stuff, including high-yield bonds from our own Water Authority (think rate-payers)...

4) the City has long shown a penchant for investing too aggressively, or taking out loans to pay other loans (basically, anything the right finance whiz needs to sell us)...

5) upon Dowd's inquisitions, the ICA Board acted with the mayor late during the last evening before the budget vote to just take that money and stuff it under the magic bed of doing several things at once anyway...

6) yet the mayor's budget still shows numbers as though we are doing #1: Start paying the #$%$& debt already right now. And it just so happens to work out so that things look good on paper through 2013.

So yeah. We get it. The interesting question is why are they doing this to us? That will take a longer post.

The question I would ask if I were you is, "Hey Patrick! Why the meltdown?"

Or heck, you could try asking Bill.

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Mainstream coverage of all that jazz is here and ... oh ho ho!! Look at this!

Hey, if Our Firemen say they need it, and they came by it in a grant, that's just fantastic. (Trib, Jeremy Boren)

But I thought we were the taxingest, spendingest city and region in All Mehiko! I wonder if that's what the rightists like to tell all the rubes... (Trib, Brian Bowling*)

Something about charities getting together to help out needy non-profits makes our head spin ... but once again, the Pittsburgh Foundation, the United Way, the Hillman Foundation and others are to be commended. If it's not too far removed from your sphere of activity, put on some benefit concerts -- you already have a great name. (P-G, Timothy McNulty)

I'd be lying if I said the ones who seek me out for an interview don't get special treatment. (P-G, Team Effort)

This column started out really annoying, but then it took a turn and got really good -- and then took another turn and got all sad! And then a little inspiring. But mostly sad! But oh wait ... are we only talking Thursdays? Suburban Living? We get to keep Viewpoint? We can totally deal with that. (P-G, Ruth Ann Daily)