Bernadette Soubirous started something in Lourdes, France, that continues to this day in the City of Pittsburgh. The Virgin Mary appeared to her in 1858 and told the 14-year-old that a chapel should be built at Lourdes. Shortly after that, Soubirous fell to her knees and started to dig near where the grotto was created. She dug deep enough to strike water from a sacred spring. That became the pool at Lourdes that millions claim has miraculous healing powers. The city pools water also must be divine. What else explains the near-hysteria along Grant Street and at local foundations when word leaked out that the pools would not open this year• The city pool water is miraculous because it somehow cools urban youth during summers to keep them out of trouble. How pool-challenged suburban communities have kept their youngsters cool, calm and under control without the healing water and chlorine is the bigger mystery. While the waters of Lourdes and city pools perform miracles, they have not provided the kind of public service found in today's stream of unconsciousness: How many convenience store customers complain about paying $2 for a gallon of gas, yet think nothing of buying a 16-ounce bottle of water for 99 cents? Allegheny County Council also must have water on the brain. Why would a government entity that is close to sinking in red ink unanimously authorize a study to create a massive park system along the county's four rivers• How many people can you name who believe the county's stewardship of its parks has been praiseworthy? Me neither. Memo to the Riverlife Task Force: Since your organization is pimping this knock-off of Cleveland's Emerald Necklace park system, pass the hat at your next meeting to raise all the money needed to build, and maintain, your latest elitist scheme. Taxpayers should not always be forced to pay for the Pittsburgh variation of noblesse oblige. Memo to state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler: While you and the other sponsors of the state's Defense of Marriage Act are filing suit to pour cold water on two gay men trying to marry, two sections of the state constitution under the "Declaration of Rights" pour cold water on your case. Article 1, Section 26: "Neither the commonwealth nor any political subdivision thereof shall deny to any person the enjoyment of any civil right, nor discriminate against any person in the exercise of any civil right." Article 1, Section 28: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania because of the sex of the individual." How many of the supposed conservatives who claim that the Constitution means just what it says -- that it is not a living, breathing document -- will ignore the two declared rights for political gain• The $13.3 million share of revenue Major League Baseball handed out to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2002 -- money that the team will not spend in the free agent market -- is another reason to suspect that taxpayers were defrauded. The Bucs said that the income from a new stadium would allow it to compete for high-quality free agents. The taxpayers kept their end of the good-faith bargain. Since the Bucs did not live up to theirs, the team should offer the $13.3 million as partial reimbursement to taxpayers.

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