Beware of Men Baring Almanacs!

I bought this Almanac a few weeks ago. I wonder if I am on a list of people to watch?

Run for your lives! Books of openly available information are going to get you!

Wes Flinn has something on this too.

Dowlin Is Running For Commissioner

John Dowlin made it official: he is running for the Republican nomination for Hamilton County Commissioner. He reportedly had "50 prominent Republicans" at his press conference supporting him, including anti-homosexual state Rep. Bill Seitz.

Republican Anderson Township trustee Russ Jackson, Jr. also announced he will run against Todd Portune the other Commissioner's seat up for election next year. 4 other Republicans are rumored to be seeking Portune's seat.

Hmmm. This looks interesting. A GOP slug fest? Will they get to bloody to win come November? I think Portune will be safe if there is any kind of significant GOP primary fight. Dowlin and DeWine should each win against the Democrat that is put up as fodder for that seat, which turns out to be Forest Park Mayor Stephanie Dumas. Maybe Jay Love will run for Forest Park Mayor?

More from the Post.

Damon Lynch IV Indicted

The Rev. Damon Lynch III's son, Lynch IV, was indicted Monday on theft charges allegedly relating to a multiple car break-ins. I still can't find a story on this in the Enquirer but it did make the Post.

Former Lt. Col. Ron Twitty's Stepson Found Shot

Allen Shannon, the 30 year old stepson of the former CPD assistant police chief, was found shot last night. He was pronounced dead on arrival at University Hospital. This is of course sad, but it creates something that I would guess is a awkward situation between Twitty's family and the police investigating the homicide. I find it more puzzling that Ron Twitty kept his job today as a fill in host for Jay Love on 1230 the Buzz. I think I might have called of work to support my wife. He did get a lot of sympathy from callers in the few minutes I listened.

Enquirer Story, WCPO, WLWT, and WKRC.

PolState.com: Former Hostage Anderson Running For Ohio Senate

Terry Anderson, former Middle East AP reporter who was held hostage for over 6 years, has announced that he is running for the Ohio State Senate seat in the 20th district. Anderson is a political rookie but thinks his experience as a journalist, a marine, a college professor, and businessman provides him with an ample background to serve in office. more........

Queensgate Correctional Facility?

It shows how much I know when it was news to me that we have a county correctional facility in Queensgate. I thought Simon Leis only had the downtown county jail to worry about. Does anyone know how the two facilities are used? One longer term than the other or one lower security? It appears maybe the Queensgate facility does have lower security, since someone escaped.

Concealed and Carry Lies

Here is an article on the Conceal and Carry website that tries to claim that Cincinnati's Murder Rate would be lower if there was a conceal and carry law in Ohio. This comment is most pathetic

To fight against legislation which has such proven results is nothing less than gross negligence, and they're getting people killed.

Guess what guys, the vast majority of the murders in Cincinnati are drug/crime related. "Innocent" people are not the majority of people being killed. I would bet a large number are felons and could not carry a gun even under the law being advocated. I hope people see this as an example of lying. Most advocacy groups’ spin there message and come close to lying, but they don't do it as bad as this.

More Kids Gone Wild?

It is never good when someone brings a gun to roller skating rink.

The Strippers are Coming.....The Strippers are Coming

The rumors that a Hustler Strip Club or porn store is coming to Covington are false. I have to admit; I did not hear such rumors. Were those rumors just fund raising propaganda for the CCV?

Traffic....Anyone?

This article brings great news for Columbia-Tusculum. A revitalized area along Columbia Parkway would be great. What sucks is that this means the East Side of town will get stuck in Traffic again. Columbia Parkway was just tore up for a sewer/drainage project and resurfaced. Now it will be torn up again for this project. The traffic will suck, again. I also wonder what this new "Columbia Square" will do to Parkway traffic. Will it become clogged with shoppers and diners? I love business expansion in the city, but we also need something to help with East Side Traffic woes. We have very few ways to get downtown. We don't have 75 to go down if 71 is backed up. I hope someone thinks about traffic this time, unlike when they had construction on Beechmont and Columbia Parkway at the same time.

By the Way

I am back in Cincinnati. My trip was great. The family is good. Florida was nice. I am happy to be back home though.

Chum for Bigots?

This column in the Enquirer reports that a former CIA agent alluded in Congressional testimony that an Al Qaida terrorist cell might be brewing here in Cincinnati. Now, I find this laughable, but I am pissed more. In the opinion of the Enquirer columnist the intended connect was that the Islamic Center up in West Chester was given money by the Saudi Government. Now, this is something for the government to keep an eye on, but the Saudi government gives a lot of money to a lot of Muslim centers all over the country. Why did this former CIA have to bring up Cincinnati? I think we have enough bigotry, hate, and fear to last us through the next year without any help from Washington.

I am very disappointed that they columnist did not get a comment from someone at the Great Cincinnati Islamic Center. Instead he got a comment from the Saudi Embassy. Why not ask American Citizens themselves what they think about being linked to terrorism?

AP's Top Ohio Stories of 2003

The top one is fine, the black out, but #2 is the OSU national football championship? Please, give me a break. Sports news beat out the Ohio Troops in the Iraq war? Who voted on this list?

Enquirer's Loser of the Week

A happy New Years to this week's lone Enquirer looser, out going FOP President Roger Webster. He was booted from his post this week and I think the city is better for it.

Party Poopers

I guess standing is now a crime in Ohio. I guess sitting will be the next thing banned. All you will be able to do while at college is stand at attention in front of an adult (over age 30) and to sleep tied into your bunk at night. Meals will have to be eaten while walking, unless walking is banned too.

Battle of the GOP D's

Pat DeWine is looking to take the next political step by running against John Dowlin in the Republican primary for Hamilton County Commissioner. This will make everyone wonder two things: 1. Will Pat quite City Council? 2. If he does or if he wins the Commission seat, who will take his place on Council. I predict no on #1 and Leslie Ghiz on #2.

I have to wake up reporter Cindi Andrews to a fact about something she listed in the article

Kabaka Oba, a Cincinnati boycott activist, is the only Democrat who has filed for the seat.

It is a fact that Kabaka Oba is a militant black racist and separatist. I have no problem reporting that he is on the Primary ballot, that is reasonable. Just listing him as a "boycott activist" gives him some kind of legitimacy, when everyone with a brain knows he is just the black version of a KKK wizard.

The Post's Report.

Ohio: The Pulse of Presidential Politics

The Enquirer reports on the coming onslaught of politicking by both the GOP and Dems. Ohio is the bell -weather state of bell weather states. We always are fickle for Presidents, but this year with things looking to be a bloody battle (literally I think) the politics should be coming sooner than before.

One element of bias in this article is the description of Move-on.org's commercials as "anti-Bush." If stating what they believe is the truth makes their commercials "anti" something, I guess every Coke and Pepsi ad are anti-milk.

New FOP President Speaks

The Enquirer reports on the new FOP President Harry Roberts. Some interesting facts on Sgt. Roberts: He lives in the city of Cincinnati, and he graduated from Withrow High School. Is this a break from the Elder voting block? Was this a vote against the old guard, or is they guy just an Eastside transplant to the old Westside guard? I really know nothing about this guy. Is he is new rational blood in the FOP or is he more of the same?

Rob Bernard Reponds

Rob Bernard responded to my post on a FOX News article. Rob makes the argument that religion should not be banned from public areas. I agree. Individuals have the constitutional right to make their religion known on a non-fixed basis. If you want to walk through fountain square carrying a cross, that is fine, as long as you don't interfere with anyone else. Erecting that cross (or Menorah or a 10' penis) is not something I find to be valid on public property. Secularized symbols of Christmas I have problem with having on public property. Santa Claus, Christmas Trees, etc are fine. They might indirectly refer to the religion, but they are not dogmatic teachings or divine symbols from Christianity.

What I don't think Rob sees is that from my point of view "sharing" should be voluntary.

I would argue that it is intolerant to keep religion out of public areas. The exclusion of religion from the public arena is simply taking another side in the religious debate. Putting up a big cross, nativity scene, menorah, Star of David or a giant Torah doesn't push your religion on others because they don't comply with that religious code. It doesn't say "join our religion and follow our beliefs or something bad will happen to you" it says "this is a symbol of what we hold dear and we want to share it." Opposing religious expression is as much a statement of religious beliefs as anything else.

Two points: First, a religious belief requires a belief in a god or gods or supernatural entities or supernatural creators. Opposing religious expression is not a religious belief, nor an expression of religion. Atheism is not a religion. Atheism is a belief, yet, but beliefs alone don't make a religion. A religion has to do with a god or the supernatural. Second point: in the above excerpt the "we" in the "is a symbol of what we hold dear and we want to share it" comment is what is the problem. This “we” is so varied that they only way to fairly determine it is not make it "we", but make it "me." If you want it on pubic property keep it to "me," if you want to make it "we" why not keep it in your church? If I want to share in your religion why can't I just go into the buildings with a big cross on top? Once I am there the "we" can share with anyone any type of in your face religious expression they wish, without any government intervention (except for established laws).

Keeping religion out of public places does not indorse atheism. The government should take a “don’t ask don’t tell” type view on religion. It should do nothing but protect the right of any individual to practice their religion and provide the ability to government workers (military, police, etc) who while on duty are unable to practice their religion. This is were military Chaplains come into play.

Also for the record, I don’t have anti-religious beliefs. Am I an atheistic-agnostic? Yes. Do I believe that all known religions are invalid? Yes. Am I against anyone being prevented from practicing their religion? NO! What I am against is people thinking that when they superimpose their religion on me or when they try to make me to comply with their religious dogma through law that they are practicing their religion. If pushing one’s religion on others is such a vital part of one’s religion (you know getting more members), then it sounds more like a Ponzi scheme.

Finally, if Rob or any religious person wants to celebrate their religion they have the constitutional right to do so. They can build a church and sing praises to “God” or “Satan” or “Ra” or “Odin” until their lungs turn blue. They can do that while walking down the street. What they can’t do is use the government to help them proselytize. The purpose of publicly expressing religion is to ADVERTISE it. Why do you advertise? To make people aware of your product. Outward expression of religion (mainly speaking about the big three monotheistic religions, but I think all apply) has two core purposes: to try and let others know what your religion is and to let others know you follow that religion. The first is a means of proselytization and second is a means of identification of compliance. That is a cold and clinical description of what outward expressions of religion are, but I don’t see any other valid explanation. If you don’t want to show off your religious beliefs, then you really would not need to express them. If you want people to act like you, what is often considered most pure is by acting upon those beliefs, instead of telling people you believe them.

FOP chief Update

The Enquirer has a full story today. In it Keith Fangman hints that there were sound reasons for Webster to be voted out, but did not get into it. There sounds like a huge backstory here worth telling. Will anyone ferret it out?

SoapBox Parking

Queen City Soapbox is Back! Ethan comments on shopping at Kenwood Town Center. He hits the parking problem and I can say that it was horrible the Saturday before this past weekend, so it must have been worse Sunday.

Let's hope Ethan and/or Chris comes back into the blogger world! The posts have been sparse over there and there commentary is missed.

Fair and Unbalanced: Faux News

A "story" on "Religious Restrictions or Religious Censorship?" is on the front page of FOX News. It is unsigned, but included a reference to a video report. I can't really find anything more biased than this so far this week. It not only paints a false picture it states this little tidbit as if it were bad:

Still, the number of bans on public displays of Christianity continue to grow. And while those symbols may have little value alone, many Christians fear that taken as a whole, that kind of intolerance will wind up creating not freedom of religion but freedom from religion in this country.

Now, first, it is not intolerant to keep religion out of public areas, that is a biased statement. It is intolerant when you feel the need to push your religion on others, just because they don't comply with your religious code. Second, what is wrong with freedom from religion? Why should I have to have my tax dollars go toward anyone else's religion practices?

What is the purpose of religious displays? The purpose and the intent are to promote the religion and gain followers, money and power. Why should certain groups be allowed to do that? I just don't understand what logical reason there would be to push religion in public areas other than to try and instill a theocracy.

What would be nice if FOX News would just give up their "Fair and Balanced" claim. With stories like this one, it is clear they don't want to be balanced, they want be biased and make the people that like them think they are being fair to "them." The "them" in this case is "us." Now when I say "us" I don't mean "them." Now again, when I say "us" I really mean "me, Al Franken."

If anyone got that poor joke/cultural reference, they might win a prize. Otherwise, just give Faux News the bird this holiday season.

Are You Shitting Me?

The Post has an editorial that sounds familiar to me. I don't know where I could have read this story before.

Oh, and you're welcome! Ah, well, you better thank Atrios instead.

A Glimmer of Hope?

The courts have dismissed a lawsuit trying to overturn the Hate Crimes Ordinance passed by City Council.

The lawsuit was brought by Sam Malone, Tom Brinkman, and CCV member Mark Miller.

Let us review here: two elected officials tried to prevent homosexuals from getting treated like the protections afford to people based on race, sex, national origin, ethnicity, and religion. Now, why would they oppose protection for homosexuals, but not oppose protections for people based on religion? Hmmm, I wonder why?

I understand how the CCV stand. They don't hold back. They hate gays. They want gays kept second class citizens or just weeded out of the society all together. What is with our two elected officials?

Brinkman is not really a mystery. He is a paleo-conservative. He wants to return to a time when a female exposing her ankles was considered public nudity.

I don't get Malone. What does he have against gays? Malone was the lone GOP pro-choice candidate for council, but he has a thing against gays. People have varied views that on some levels don't seem to go together well, at least not logically.

Webster Out as Cincinnati FOP President

Sgt. Harry Roberts is the new President. Was this voluntary or was Webster forced out? I assume it was by choice. I don't see any internal divisions in the CPD, but one never knows and the WLWT story lacks much detail.

Webster's recent actions in the wake of the Nathaniel Jones death were horrid. He fueled the flames of anger with his selfish comments at a time when he could have voiced his opinions in private, and not pissed off the black community. He will not be missed.

UPDATE: The Enquirer has the vote details. Webster was defeated in the election. He was defeated nearly 2 to 1. Fangman is back as VP. How big a deal is this? What caused the revolt?

Money Mistake

I loved how Money Magazine screwed up calling West Chester by its old name, Union Township. I find one problem calling this one of the best places to live. What they fail to mention is the problems they are having with such fast growing area. The schools and the government services can't catch up, and since the area is not a municipality, taxes are not easy to raise. This puts more stress on Bulter County, talking away from the rest of county. I would like to see what portion of City of Hamilton residents sale tax payments are used to fund police and other supports for West Chester Township. West Chester needs to incorporate into a city. That will raise taxes and keep people out though, so I guess they may sponge off the rest of the county for a while longer.

Post's Story. What is sad about this is that both papers found out about this story from a wire report.

Kitna 'Outrage' Story Part II

The Enquirer's story on the "Kitna hats" tries to go "deeper," but does it make it more than it appears. Where there only 500 hats sold in total? Who else sold the hats? How many other locals sold the hats? If "hundreds" bought them, is that a story?

Did the fact that a Catholic focused store was making a big deal out of this amount to a story? I know many don't like to bring up the differences between the Christian sects, but at its core is that not part of the story. I don't think Kitna is a Catholic, and wearing a hat like this would not be an expression of faith that I don't think would get much approval from a priest. If it got support after the fact, I still don't think that would be an acceptable tone for most Catholics. Evangelical Christians, which I assumed is Kitna's sect, are more often the in your face type of groups.

I think the story should have mentioned that various sects and that at a minimum indicate that a Catholic group was support Kitna's action.

From the story people need to stop invoking freedom of speech and freedom of religion when ever someone is prevented from doing what they want to do. The first amendment generally only applies to the actions of the government. The NFL can keep religious expression out in any form it wants from its action and its employees. It could keep out a specific religion if it so choose as well. It might loose a tax break if it did that and would loose a bunch of business, but that is about it.

UPDATE: The Post chimes in with an editorial that is all over the map. They say that yes Kitna techinically violated the rules and you can't make exceptions, but that it is no big deal. They however pumped up efforts to sell the hats. Does Scripps get a cut from "Kitna Hat" sales?

Guess Where I Went Yesterday!

Well, I did not do any blogging yesterday, which I am sure was a disappointed to 4 of my readers, but I had a good reason. I was at the beach. Well, not all of the day, but in the afternoon. The Temps were above 70, and the sun was out. I was able to find a small number of shark's teeth. This part of Florida is known for shark's teeth, old one's, that wash up on shore. They are mostly small, but there are millions of them just on the edge of the sand near the water. Collecting shark's teeth are one of the very touristy things to do here. The other is to wear shorts when it is only 60 degrees out.

Another Hate Filled Christmas Message From Old St. Bronson

Yet another column from Peter Bronson filled with hate. It can't fail can it? Peter Bronson can't let his tired 1950's world go. His myth of what the 1950's were like would be a better description of what he wants. I am amazed. I don't know why he pushes his hate, but I also don't know what kind of a fairytale land he lived in when he grew up.

I spent some time last night talking with my father about his childhood during the 40's and early 50's. You know, the time when all was right in the world, except those horrible "commie pinko bastards." My Republican father told me how his single mother, single from a divorce, never spent a holiday at home in the apartments they live in. They instead traveled to relatives. They never had a fairly tale Christmas with a white picket fence and a father bring home the bacon. My dad did not even get a Christmas card from his father until he was about 45 years old.

Now this is the past that Mr. Bronson wants everyone forced to live in. We are to be required to succumb to his religion, his morals, his cultural traditions at schools and in the Media.

Peter then sings praises to the failure of a clothing retail company. I guess his prayers were "answered" with their drop in sales. I guess he will not mind the people who lose their jobs because of that drop in sales. I guess companies that don't adopt his Christian ways are just doomed to failure. They defiled his "god" therefore they should expect to fail, and the 22 year old working the register at the Kenwood Mall who gets laid off, she is your "sinner" Peter?

Bronson disgusts me. He is so gleeful in his hate for all things non-evangelical Christian it is almost sad. It is not sad because it is so horrid. If one did not know this man was educated, you could just pass if off as ignorance. It is not ignorance, it is just hate. He hates people who don't comply with his religion. What other explanation can there before a column like this 4 days from his religion's holiday about spreading joy to all.

It is so extremely pitiful for him also to praise the fascist organization know as the CCV. I am happy to call myself one of the critics of the CCV. As long as the CCV exists, I will oppose it in my writings. Someone must counter the dogma from Bronson.

Happy Fucking Christmas Peter.

Good Clooney Story, Dirty Politics Ahead

Here is a good story on Nick Clooney campaign for Congress. It was fair and gave voice to his critics and opponents. What was brutal was this quote about Nick's son George from Kevin Murphy, one of Nick's opponents:

"If Mr. Clooney decides to make his son an issue in the campaign, he will have to live with the positions and the statements of his son, who has succumbed to the Hollywood liberalism that is very far removed from Midwest values," Murphy said.

Now, what does this tell me? If Mr. Murphy gets the GOP nomination, then he will make George the issue, not Nick. It will not matter if Nick brings him up or not, just have George stand next to him a single event, which will make the papers, and that is all Murphy needs to try and play upon the mindless hate for "Hollywood." What do extreme Conservatives hate about Hollywood? Two things: gays and their stance on guns. Guns are the issue that drives hard conservative men into fits of rage, and gays are what make them fear their sexuality. I think that is at the core of this veiled threat from Murphy. I think Davis has enough sense not to make it much of an issue, assuming George is just there for a photo op.

This sounds like good old fashioned Kentucky Politics: down and dirty.

Piousness Sells

Well, I hope someone other than a church made a buck on selling "Kitna hats." I hope some will let me know if this was a big talk radio topic in Cincinnati. This issue has Bill Cunningham's name written all over it. Let's hope Cunningham is on vacation.

Bush's Plan to Not Tax the Wealthy?

Kevin Drum comments on what David Brooks has to say about Bush's up coming State of the Union Speech. In it Brooks claims Bush will unveil his push to "reform" social security, unemployment insurance, and Medicare. Look for a whole new round of "newspeak" terms from Bush. Ownership of one's own "unemployed workers personal re-employment accounts seems to be where insurance is no longer the key element. You will save on your own, and the government and your employer will likely be off the hook for anything, assuming the market does not drop and your actually make enough money to saving anything.

Kevin's final analysis that Bush's intent is just a push to not tax any investment income and not tax corporate income, putting all tax revenue on the shoulders of the worker. That is what Kevin call's class warfare. Funny, I call it the same thing, but by calling it class warfare we will surely be accused of waging class warfare.

Ugh. Reason #5,550 of why I am not a Conservative.

Cranley Out of Commissioner's Race

Cranley's reasons were financial. He just raised 200K for his council run and it is believed he would need 500K for the Commissioner's run. I think he is hold out for making another run for Congress. I have no inside source on this, I am just speculating. John ran against Steve Chabot and for a very young candidate did well. He has become more conservative in his views and could be a challenge for Chabot under the right circumstances. Liberals are no big fan of Cranley, but the 1st Ohio Congressional District has so few Liberals to get votes from, Cranley might be in place to run for Chabot's seat, maybe when Chabot leaves at some point down the road.

Wearing Religion on Your Sleeve

Bengal's QB John Kitna has been fined for wearing a hat with a Christian cross on it during post-game press conferences. I was really bothered by Kitna pushing his religion. It is his right, but I felt it was rude to be so up front about it. I also felt that his choice of hats was poor. Most of the season he wore really cheap hats with "god" awful colors. It was a mockery of hats.

As far as his being fined for doing it, that strikes me as strange. I would have just warned him first. It is unknown if he was warned or not.

I hope the reactionary right does not want to make this into some kind of an issue. I am sure they will, but I hope they complain about the NFL, not anyone else. There actions are totally legal, and the 1st amendment does not apply in this case. The NFL limits what it players can say, it can limit their freedom of expressing their religion.

I am sure will see the freepers and Peter Bronson making an issue of this, and somehow blaming Bill Clinton for it. It must be a sign of the end times, so I guess I better stock up on water.

Damon Lynch IV Arrested

Rev. Damon Lynch III's son has been arrested on charges of breaking into cars. Yes, this is the son of the man who almost became a Cincinnati City Councilman and who is leading a boycott against Cincinnati.

If you find this ironic, then you are definitely not alone. I would guess that "living" in East Price Hill was not the best choice for Rev. Lynch. His son seemed to need more supervision. I will bet that cries of racial profiling or that his son was set up by the police will be used as his defense. Has Ken Lawson been hired yet?

I will have to wonder how many times "the white man" will be blamed. How many times will the Cincinnati Police be blamed? Will it all just be called a CIA conspiracy?

This should be a big news story, but it is getting little play. The Post has nothing online and the Enquirer has been silent. WLWT, WKRC, and the Whistleblower (who I think had it first) were the only news outlets to report it.

Media Merger Mania Beginning?

Scripps is adding 5 more TV stations. I guess WCPO will start recycling San Francisco stories too.

That Makes 70

The 70th Homicide in Cincinnati happened last night.

We Interrup Our Regular Programming.....

Just thought I would give a weather report from sunny southwest Florida. Yes, that's right; the Cincinnati Blog is on its annual pilgramage to the placial Griffin Family Estate.

The temperature is 60 degrees in the shade and there is not a cloud in the sky. The pool is damn cold, so we will have to get the heater going. It should hit 70 by Monday. I will just have to suffer until then in upper 50's low 60's weather.

I will try to keep on blogging all through my vacation. I will not be as Cincinnati focused. I will try to be lighter for the holiday season, but getting pissed about something is not difficult for me, and writing about it gets it off my chest. I still will be reading my email, so send me any local stories I might miss.

Enquirer Editorial Page Sees the Light

They ran an editorial page today praising Miami's football team and saying they should have been in a BCS bowl. I agree with them. They call for the NCAA to scrap the BSC system and go to a playoff. I agree with them there too.

Here is the problem. The Enquirer is located about an hour and some change drive from Yeagar stadium. It is a longer drive on game days. The sport page for the Enquirer provides a story before and after every game for the Football and the basketball team. That is all the boosting that occurs. There are the occasion story on Miami players or coaches that happend this year, which were much appreciated. This year the team was really good, so it figures more coverage would follow.

In normal years, Miami has to fight for space in the paper not with UC, which logically should be the main school the Enquirer follows, but with OSU and UK. That is a slap in the face. There are thousands of Miami Alumni in the Cincinnati Area. They are among the most influential people in the community. It would be beneficial to Miami and I think in earning more readerships if the Enquirer sports page would treat Miami better than it does, send a full time reporter to the games, send a photographer. Treat Miami like the 1A program that it is. Now, in comparison, the Local TV news is horrid. They give more coverage to the Elder football program than to Miami.

I beat the local media on this issue all the time. I think I will keep it up. I think that this game got great coverage from the Enquirer. I just think at least half of that coverage should be there for every Miami game, and for that matter every UC game. The Miami-UC football game should be given the same level of hype as the UC-Xavier basketball game. That may be asking for a lot, but they never happen on the same day, I think there will be room.

Rest of the Coverage from the Enquirer: Daugherty column, Ben's statement, Coach's comments and the game summary.

Big Ben Off to the NFL

Ben Roethlisberger made it official after last night's win in the GMAC Bowl that he is leaving Miami for the NFL. Ben is a junior in football eligibility, but is an academic senior. He will be missed by Miami fans, but he will find success in the pros.

Reasons for War

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

MIAMI 49, Louisville 28

Love and honor to Miami,
Our college old and grand,
Proudly we shall ever hail thee,
Over all the land.

Alma mater now we praise thee,
Sing joyfully this lay,
Love and honor to Miami,
Forever and a day.

Great Win, Great Season, Great Team!

I wish Ben all the luck in the world. I think he has played his last game as a Redhawk.

Letter From a Fool

Here is a letter to the editor from today's Enquirer

Those against Bush hurting our nation

President Bush couldn't have made it any clearer at the get-go. "Either you're with us, or you're against us." What part of that don't you understand?

To the writer of the letter "Bush a divider, not a unifier" (Dec. 14): People that think like you are also the kind of people that caused this great country to lose the war in Vietnam. back in the '60s and '70s. You just feed the enemy.

I don't like to argue with anyone about war because it is true - no one really wins after you consider all the lives lost. But if you don't contribute to it, you have no right to profit from it.

By the way, I believe in the Easter bunny and the tooth fairy and even Santa Claus. If this makes me a compassionate conservative, so be it.

Ed Gruener, Colerain Township

Was Ed trying to be funny or is he just showing that he has the mind of child? I added the bold above, but it stands out all by itself. I don't think you are compassionate Mr. Gruener, I think you are a fool. You are a fool if you believe in fairy tales, and you are a fool if you believe in the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, and Santa Claus. Oh, the fairy tale I think you believe in is the validity of this War and your "love it or leave it" attitude. I think your mindset is what is straight out of the 1960's. I think your stubborn mindset, also held by military leadership, is what lost the war in Vietnam. I really find it horrid that you think anyone should "profit" from a war.

I really hope you were trying to be a satire on conservatives who are ignorant (not all of the them are - cough, cough), but I fear that your letter was bona fide, grade A real. If this is who makes up a die-hard Bush supporter, I really don't get how people with half a mind flock to him like lemmings.

Media Still Missing the Boat on WMD

It takes Diane Sawyer, queen of the celebrity interview, to actually push Bush on not finding any WMD in Iraq? To no one’s surprise this fact gets little play in the news. The fate of Saddam is the hot news. Bush dodging the questions and not answering the basic facts that his Administration said Iraq possessed WMD (the actual weapons), but none have been found, this is not getting much attention. That would seem to be news to me. That would seem to be huge news of either bad intelligence (which is their fall back spin) or just purely misleading the country on why we went to war.

I seriously hope that which ever Democrat faces Bush in a debate next fall beats that issue into the ground and refuses to let his spin go by. I can see Dean doing that easy. I don't know yet if Dean is the best Democrat to be President or not. I am glad I am not part of a political party. I don't want to have to pick from the 9.

City Council Shuffling

The Post is reporting that if John Cranley ran against John Dowlin for Hamilton County Commissioner, he would win. The Post story strongly indicates that Cranley could announce a run soon. Pat DeWine is also thinking about running. Who then steps up to take seats on Council?

In the GOP one might think Monzel would get the nod as a previous councilman, but he is also considering running for County Commission. I would bet Leslie Ghiz should get to fill out DeWine's seat if he were to leave for Commission. She got the next most votes for office of any Republican.

On the Dems side I have no idea. Bond and Britton were the other two people on the ballot this year, but they had no fire in their bellies. I see no one else on the bench for the Dems with any public record of accomplishment to rest on. Would they consider trying to recruit Damon Lynch? I don't think they would, but one never knows.

WHY?

So Bush now would back a constitutional ban on same sex marriage. I want to know why. I don't want his canned answer, "marriage is between a man and a woman." That reminds me of an answer a parent would give a child to the question why is the sky blue. There is full and complete answer as to why the sky is blue. There is a full and complete answer as to why Bush is against homosexual marriage, and why he does not support Civil Unions. I believe the answer is simple, but one he can't say without losing support. Bush will tolerate homosexuals, but he (along with a lot of other bigots) fears gay men. That would be homophobia by definition. There ignorance is based on religion and misconceptions perpetuated by bigots.

Gays exist. Bush needs to get over that fact. Then he needs to state why he is against providing equal rights and benefits to all people. Why does he favor special rights for heterosexuals? Hmmmm?

I would bet Bush would not care much about lesbians being married. I would posit that most homophobic men are not fearful of lesbians.

I still don't hear why people are against gay marriage and civil unions. All I hear are "code" words. Bigoted "code" words that I think make it clear to those who wish to keep homosexuals second-class citizens that they are on their side. Freedom from religious piety will never be achieved with an atmosphere where fear rules intellectual expression, as well as emotional expression.

More Bronson, More is Missing

Now, I am shocked that in his latest column Peter Bronson did not take the opportunity, like many of his conservative comrades, to do a victory dance of taunts towards Democrats and liberals. Instead he takes a swipe at France, Arab TV stations, and the general anti-war movement.

What Mr. Bronson misses is a key fact about the issue of Mass Graves and crimes against humanity that he wants Saddam Hussein to face charges in a court of law.

When did most of these crimes take place? Ok, Gassing Iranian troops? In the 1980's. Gassing the Kurds in Iraq? In I think 1988 (or 1987?). The timing of most of mass graves? The vast majority of the people in mass graves are the Shiites and Kurds who dies after their uprisings in 1991.

Now, who has no right to use these issues as a political football, at least a credible or non-hypocritical argument? If you said George Bush and the GOP, then you would be right. Why do I say this? Why do I say it without a thought of the "good" Bush has done here? Simple, look and see who turned a blind eye to Iraq's use of chemical weapons during the Iran-Iraq war, why that was the Reagan administration of course. Who did nothing when Saddam used WMD on the Kurds in his own country? Reagan again. Who let thousands of Shiite and Kurdish fighters get slaughtered in 1991? Well, that would have been George Bush the elder of course. His administration encouraged the rebellion and then let people get slaughtered when we refused to provide any significant assistance.

Now, Peter Bronson and company want to use avenging these horrid acts by Saddam as their reasoning for going after Saddam. WMD has once again been forgotten. Where is the report on what we have found so far? Anyone read that? Is it available?

If defeating tyrants is such a great feat, why didn't the GOP lead the fight to depose Milosevic in the Kosovo War? Instead they dragged their feet and wanted nothing to do with it, not even when we won. General Clark is even now testifying against Slobodan in a war crimes trial as I type, but his actions in the Kosovo War are being attacked by his military rivals and the GOP.

I find it so disgusting to see this kind of selective reasoning go on, and then part of the selectivity is to point out the other side's selectivity. (Yes, I know you can use that against me to a point too.)

I hoped that people would not use the war for politics. I wish the GOP would not lie about not using it as such themselves. They will surely blame every critic of the war of political grandstanding, but every commercial touting the win in Iraq next year will be just as exploitive of the over 458 (and counting) dead Americans. If anyone using winning a war as a means to win an election and then turn around and claim to care about people, then I really want to vomit. I predict I will be vomiting all through next summer.

Media Scum

Well, this is how you scare people into watching your local TV news. Put fear into the minds of parents of young children and they will do what ever it takes to "save" them.

Add in a picture of a young child that died from the flu and you have a full fledged community wide panic.

This is why the media, local TV news mainly, are scum. This will be the lead story for the rest of the week. It is sad that any child dies, but face facts, kids die often at Children’s Hospital. When a kid dies of cancer, where is the lead story pumping up the public to do something about cancer? Well, that is not really news either. It would be great drama. That is what local TV wants far more than news. If they want drama, why not just run ER reruns at 5:00 PM instead of useless health reports that reverse positions every six months?

UPDATE: The real local ER's are feeling the panic.

Warning, I will now be insulting a religious sect

Ok, with that caveat I shall go ahead and say that the extreme Christian fundamentalist morons at the "Answers in Genesis" compound in Northern Kentucky are about a stone's through away from insanity. Some of them are honestly a few radioactive isotopes short of a Carbon 14 molecule.

I can tolerate those who do not believe in evolution. I think they are wrong, ignorant, or just plain stupid, but they are not totally off the deep end.

The "young Earth" theorists in the creationist movement on the other hand are just pure idiots. For anyone who has taken basic Earth Science in high school to then actually think the Earth is only a matter of 6,000 to 10,000 years old is just ludicrous.

People can believe what they want to believe, but I really want to know why anyone takes this group seriously? Why would the Cincinnati Post take them seriously? Why don't they send a reporter to interview someone and ask some, oh....I don't know, CRITICAL questions?

The problem here is that it is pointless with the delusional folks at the creationist museum. They are part of a quasi-cult. The dogma they feed on is so circularly based, you can't tell where their head begins and their ass ends.

Full disclosure. If you don't know, I am an atheistic agnostic. I have my bias, but for the life of me, I just can't see why this group gets this kind of attention. It is like giving attention to NAMBLA, the KKK, or the New Black Panther Party. The only unfortunate difference, there are far more people who actually buy into the extreme creationist dogma than those extremist groups.

These same religious extremists most often correlate with other right-wing beliefs: anti-abortion, anti-homosexual, anti-intellectualism, and even anti-women rights. Yes, I am painting with a broad brush here, and their those who share some, but not all of these beliefs who don't fit into this category of paleo-thinkers. It is a cause for concern that these types of extremists are not shunned the way the KKK, NAMBLA, or the New Black Panther Party is. These types of extremists have money are have influence over a growing number of people. I will admit, they freak me out sometimes, and in the back of my mind I really don't trust them.

I hope I am just paranoid on this one. I don't want to be in Bush's Heathen Death Camps come 2005. (Tongue in Cheek, well just a little)

More on this from Wes Flinn, and Greg Mann.

Iraq: Time for Action

Ok, now that Saddam is out of the picture, this is the time to step up action. Send in more troops. Get the lid on security now while Saddam's followers are in the dumper. Time is not going to allow much dawdling; we need a first of the year change including more international human involvement with foreign troops or police forces on the ground.

If Bush sits back too long and tries to bid time to figure out what he is going to do about the mess that is an Iraqi transitional government, then I think he will have wasted another year of American's having to control the country. If he wants to turn over control to the Iraqi's by next summer and not have it turn into civil war, then he better hit the ground running now.

This is the test for Bush. Will it be home for the holidays for the administration or a new push for action? With Powell out of action for a while, I don't see Bush making much headway before January, which means no new troops for another month beyond that.

If April comes and we rotate large units of troops out, while security stays the same, I hope people on all sides, even the rabid Bush Hawks, will begin to question what the hell the plan is. Now, most of us rational folks (even many conservatives) have been wondering what the post-war plan was before the war even started. I just hope this cheerleading exercise does not lead to complacency by the media and the rest of the chattering class.

Insta-DickHead

Shorter Glenn Reynolds: In your face everyone who did not favor my hawkish stance on Iraq!


What an asshole. Now, I say that knowing full well that I piss people off, but most of the time I try to limit the scope of who I attack to a specific group or specific person. Here the 800-pound gorilla sounds like a jerk. A partisan hack of the Coulter vein. Why can't he just cheer for his side without trying to rub it in the face of people? I find it offense that Glenn, arguably and educated man, lumps people together just like a GOP partisan hack. He does it at a time that everyone is glad to Saddam caught alive. Now, Glenn might be pissed that the troops did not drag his dead body in the streets of Baghdad, but you can't quell blood lust via long distance. If Glenn wants revenge, he better hop on a plane and kill his own Arab with his bare hands.

Off the blogroll he goes!


For the record, just so my conservative readers don't try and tar and feather me: SADDAM IS DEAD, HIP-HIP HOORAY!

Better Start Swearing While You Still Can

If Congressman Doug Ose gets his way, you might get busted if specific words are broadcasted. Those words are included in this section from his proposed bill:

As used in this section, the term `profane', used with respect to language, includes the words `shit', `piss', `fuck', `cunt', `asshole', and the phrases `cock sucker', `mother fucker', and `ass hole', compound use (including hyphenated compounds) of such words and phrases with each other or with other words or phrases, and other grammatical forms of such words and phrases (including verb, adjective, gerund, participle, and infinitive forms).

So while I still can I will just wish Mr. Ose a shit kicking knock the piss out of your asshole kind of a day. I hope no motherfucking cocksuckers mess with his cunt. I guess Dickhead, God-Damn-It, asswipe, dickwipe, Dicksmacker, buttmuncher, butthead, asshead, asschin, bitch, son of a bitch, etc are ok?

Actually I think anything "profane" is what he wants to punish. I would guess he did not like Bono's slip of the tongue at the Golden Globes this year getting a pass by the FCC.

I hope this fascist gets his bill stomped.

[Via Atrios].

Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien Resigns

Ok, why did Chretien resign? I can't find a simple sentence or two explaining why he resigned. I think I have pieced together that he is resigning ahead of next year's elections, and by resigning now he gets out of the way for a new person to take over from his party. The assumption is that he is retiring and this is the traditional way to leave power in Canada.

I would hope that news stories might just explain that simple fact, especially for us Americans who don't know the details of Canadian politics.

Chewbacca Offense in the Making?

Ken Lawson has tipped his hat as to what his plan of attack will be in a soon to be filed lawsuit against the city by the family of Nathaniel Jones.

The key phrase is "Positional asphyxia" which basically means being positioned in a manner to stop breathing. "Cardiac dysrhythmia" was the official cause of death from the Hamilton County Coroner.

I predict if there is a trial, the Coroner's office will be put on trial along with the City. Lawson will seek to try and discredit them as much as possible, which he did last week right after the autopsy results were released.

The Chewbacca Defense is a growing concept in blog circulars that describes the typical method of confusing juries with meaningless points to try and get defendants without a good defense. I through out the phrase "Chewbacca Offense" as a similar concept that is used by civil trial lawyers to try confuse or mislead juries into wanting to punish Organizations, Governments, or other perceived faceless Institutions for doing wrong on society in general or a segment of society.

Now, don't get me wrong. Often those big behemoths do wrong and need to be punished, but trying in this concept they bring claims or theories that fit historical assumptions that have no basis in fact outside the plaintiff’s own "experts."

I wonder if Lawson will actually get a reputable pathologist to say in this case that Hamilton County Coroner was totally wrong. He would need that if he goes to trial and hopes to win. If he hopes to get a settlement out of City, then all he needs to do is to make the city think it will cost more to prove he does not have such pathologist to state the cause of death was certainly wrong.

Top News Stories of 2003

I am working on my list of the top 10 locally based stories for GoXRay.com. I would love some suggestions on stories or which ones people think were the most important.

The Enquirer is doing the same thing, and you can vote here. Their list is odd. They are asking for the stories that "engaged" Cincinnati most this year. They list the Governator, Bob Hope's death, the Space Shuttle disaster, and SARS. I would have thought that the WAR IN IRAQ just might have been a international story people would have been "engaged" locally.

My list will stick with stories locally. There will be a ton of lists of National stories around. Lists are fun and easy to write, but if you are going to do one, try to make it unique. I am trying for that.

Also, any suggestions for Cincinnatian of the Year? That would the person, group, entity, or thing that most impacted the Cincinnati Region this year for good or bad.

Pissing Off the Chamber of Commerce

One way to piss of the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce and every merchant in town is by running a story on how great the shopping is in Chicago two weeks before Christmas.

Rev. Al Sharpton's Coming to Town

You better watch out. You better not cry. You better not pout. Al's going to be at Joseph-Beth Booksellers tomorrow afternoon promoting his book. No word if he will appear anywhere else in town, or if he will address the Nathaniel Jones case. I can’t imagine that he would not at least discuss it at his book signing.

Ok, will the CJC big protesting this? Will Nate make the trip to Norwood to protest? This should fit their boycott criteria: outside "celebrity" making a commercial appearance in the city. I would pay money to see Nate and Kabaka Oba denounce Al Sharpton. That would be a stunt that could get Nate back on the national news. Well, Nate? Are you up for it?

Fluff Jackpot!

The Enquirer hit the jackpot with a joint interview of all of the singles on City Council. To use a remote line from SNL: "Who were the ad wizards who came up with this one?"

I appreciate the attention to single people, but could they have maybe instead picked other people to talk to, or better yet, focused an interview with city officials to real issues, not this "Real Life, Real News, Real Crap" stuff?

I have to credit Pepper with a good answer on the state of single life here in the city, especially those who are not from the area:

I disagree with John a little bit. I think it's maybe not as bad as 39th out of 40 ... But of people I know here, especially ones who aren't from here, their social existence really revolves around their workplace. If socially you don't get beyond your workplace much, people think (the singles scene) is pretty stagnant.

We as a community need to figure out how to get different sectors and groups to mix together in a more natural way than they do today.

Sam Malone really needs to get a life. His ideas of fun seem to be limited to the movies and going to a a Gameworks. I think we have enough glorified sports bars around town to meet demand.

[Link via Reader: Stacey]

"Youth" Protest Coverage

This story got a plethora of coverage. Does the number of participants have an indirect relationship to amount of news coverage? All of the stories carried a reasonable description of the turnout. Some of the stories were treating like they were having a bake sale for starving children. WCPO's was most odd:

Although the group was small it was not about to let bad weather or rules against leaving school prevent them from speaking out on the street or at city hall.

That seems like a bit of an endorsement from the reporter. He could have reworded and used a quote from the protestors or at least attributed the tone to them, not to what comes across as admiration of their spirit, if not their goals.

Coverage: Post, Enquirer, WCPO, and GoXRay.com.

Eight Reindeer Monologues

If you like theater, then check out:

THE EIGHT: Reindeer Monologues by Jeff Goode

December 8-9, 14-16 & 21-23 Sunday-Tuesday Performance Runs!

The Courtyard of Arnold’s Bar & Grill
210 E. 8th Street Downtown 513.300.KNOW
FOR IMMATURE AUDIENCES ONLY!
There is Smoking at the shows except Tuesday Dec 16

EAT AND DRINK AT THE SHOWS!

Dinner available 6:30-7:45 p.m.

Reservations only for 6:30 p.m. dinner/drinking time
Reservations are null and void at 6:50 p.m.

Other tickets will be sold on a first come, first serve basis.

$15 General Admission & $12 Student/Senior

www.knowtheatre.com 513.300.KNOW

I saw it Monday and loved it. Great actors, good food, try the lasagna.

Student "Protest"

Well, initial reports from WLW at 12:00 indicated that no protest was going on. At 12:30 WLW reports only 4 kids who were "regular" protestors at other prior rallies.

This sounds like PR coup. For what ever reason this story made the local news today. I would say they did nearly everything but just ask the kids to go down so they could have a hot story.

Coverage: Cincinanti Post, WCPO.

UPDATE: While eating lunch I saw the group walk towards city hall at around 12:50 or so. I would guess there were 25 to 30 young people. I don't know if they were high school or college age. There were also 10 to 20 over 25-year-old adults, including Damon Lynch.

Of the "kids" I would estimate that at least half if not more like 75% were "white."

Where Are They Now?

Ever wonder what Cincinnati Council Candidates do after they don't make the cut? Well, one candidate, Leslie Ghiz, was in the news representing someone in an employment dispute with the City of Oxford. What makes this case noteworthy is one of the allegations from Ghiz's client that while working she "found an 11-foot wooden penis statue in a flowerbed that she had gardened for the city of Oxford." Part of the dispute hinders on charges of creating "a prejudiced and sexist work environment directed toward Baxter."

You don't hear of a an 11 foot wooden penis on public property too often. I hate to make light of her case. It sounds like there is something to that case, at least enough to go to arbitration. I must have a few tabloid tendencies in me after all.

There Goes a Billion Dollars

The City of Cincinnati has settled for 1 billion dollars "to address long-standing sewer system violations and bring its aging sewer system into compliance with federal and local clean water rules?" Is this for real? A guess a million on stun guns will not matter much after all.

I hope we have insurance, or some other sources of income to offset this settlement amount.

Further details here.

Jess Jackson on Cincinnati: Lots of Ham

The usual sentiments? Yes. There are too many elements to criticize in this column. Mr. Jackson makes a slightly toned down version of the recurring dogma, 18 black men killed.....what if it was a white man.....97 second gap. This type of unified propaganda rivals that of the GOP. How does the same story get around? The same way it does in the GOP, talking points. An email or a FAX, or a telephone call with the same set of facts that are used to spin the media. It is textbook political spin. The Dems did it for Clinton, the GOP are the kings of it for their deities Reagan and Bush.

Unfortunately Mr. Jackson gets several key facts wrong from his nice home in Chicago. He might do well if he stepped back from the emotional propaganda and look objectively at what is happening here.

New Police Video Released

It is not online yet, but WLW-AM is reporting that not much is seen in the video. In this case the officer hit was black, as was the suspect. That simple fact will likely not make this a situation the "activists" will give a damn about. Not much will come of the tape. The press will run it on the local news tonight, but the national media will likely not give it much attention.

Enquirer Story, WLWT Story, WCPO Story.

Local GOPer's Pissed at Bush

Carl Weiser writes that a slew of local Cincinnati area Republicans are pissed at Bush. Ohio Rep. Tom Brinkman, Chris Finney vice chairman of COAST, Jim Urling, COAST chairman, Hamilton County Commissioner Phil Heimlich, and Indiana Rep. Mike Pence all have varying levels of anger with Bush fiscal policies. Whether it is Steel Tariffs, Medicare Drug Plans, or the No Child Left Behind law conservatives think Bush has abandoned their cause. Will this keep them from voting for them? Pence and Heimlich seem to be less than enthused with Bush:

Pence and Heimlich say they will vote for Bush because the Democratic alternative would be even worse. But the worry isn't Republicans voting for the Democrat. It's Republicans staying home.

Urling even calls Bush a "fraud." Does that make him anti-American? In a time of war, has Urling committed treason? Where's Ann Coulter? Call the National Guard and lets round them up!

How dare they show division in the GOP ranks! Regan's commandment be damned I guess. Thou shalt speak ill of a fellow Republican, when money is involved.

WB64 News?

The long awaited new primetime "local" news cast finally premieres tonight on WB64. We will all surely be tuned into to watch the Sinclair Broadcasting news packages on the I270 shooting, Snow Storm in the Northeast, and the Scott Peterson Trial Update. Will we see anything new on the Nate Jones situation? Fate put a big story in their lap, and they had all week to prep the story. Will it be worth the wait? I am betting it will be a waste of time. We already have plenty of Raycom Media reports on at 10PM on train wrecks; why not just give us more sitcom reruns? Cut out the middleman, and just go right for the entertainment.

Ken Lucas

Ken, NKY House Rep., has returned from the Dark Side and is now "attacking" the President again. Well, not so much attacking, but just not so lock step with him.

[Via Atrios]

Sidebar: Atrios's post on Bush's past use of the word "Fuck" are most entertaining. This stems from the White House complaints about John Kerry's use of "fucked up" when referring to Bush's Iraq policy.

Another Police Altercation

WLWT is reporting that last night at least one police officer was in an altercation with a person while trying to break up a fight. At least one man was arrested. The officer was injured while trying to arrest the suspect. WLWT reports that there is video footage from the cruiser and pictures of the officer's injuries, but the police are holding it back. The alleged reason for holding it back was the anger several council members expressed when they did not get to see the videos before the media. Let's just bet that activists will be pissed once the video is shown and not happy they did not get it sooner.

As of now there are no online stories about this incident and the press has limited information. Will this hit the media big tomorrow or not? It depends on what the video shows. If the cops are beating the man, it will air.

UPDATE: WLWT has posted the story.

Ignorance & Bigotry

Yes, State Rep. Bill Seitz is an Ignorant man:

These facts do not warrant redefining the institution, nor alter the biological fact that heterosexual relationships are, alone, capable of the miracle of natural birth.

Bill you seem to negate the fact that you don't need a husband to make a baby. All you need is some sperm. Now, if you don't think that is "natural," well I guess you might just alienate a few voters who can't conceive on their own.

This article is typical. We can't afford to pay for homosexual benefits, blah blah blah. It is not traditional, blah blah blah. It will open up people marrying goats, blah blah blah.

Bill, it is simple. You don't care about homosexuals. You don't think they should be treated like everyone else. You want to make them a second-class citizen. You are bigoted to homosexuals.

You even try to play the race card with this comment:

Gays were never enslaved or subject to the same invidious discrimination as were African-Americans. Reversing the ban on same-sex marriage is thus different than reversing the ban on racially mixed ones.

I guess you are counting on the high level of homophobia in the black community to push this over the edge?

Civil Unions are barely addressed. It is simple. If you want to keep marriage “holy” either make everything secular, or create Civil Unions for only 2 non-related people of either sex. There, done. No polygamy, no incest, no bigamy. What that so hard Bill?

Here is the pro-argument from the Enquirer.

UPDATE: Greg Mann comments.

Just Call Me the Amazing Kreskin

Mayor Luken is working to spend 1 million bucks on new stun guns:

The money could come from not filling 34 middle management city vacancies that Luken expects within the coming year, he said at City Hall on Sunday. He said the money should be enough for 1,000 stun guns for the 1,050-officer department.

So, we get more stun guns in police hands, but fewer people managing the city. More weapons, less supervision. Gee, that sounds like a "great" plan.

My prediction is that once police start using stun guns often, then there will be a call by some of the same people crying for the stun guns to stop using them. Stun guns are a short-term appeasement to squeaky wheels. In the long term people need to do two things. One is accept that police work is not a garden picnic. You can't make so no one gets hurt, unless people stop breaking the law. The other long-term thing people need to do, is stop breaking the law.

Lazy AP Reporter, Again?

Did the AP's Terry Kinney bother to consider who he/she was quoting when adding this portion of the story listed in several outlets:

"We're going right to the doorstep of the criminals," said Malik Zulu Shabazz, a Washington, D.C., attorney and president of Black Lawyers for Justice. "This shows absolutely a pattern of police activity."

Terry Kinney seems to be rather lazy not to do a little bit of research on who Malik Zulu Shabazz is. A Google search turns up a few things. Like say Shabazz’s affiliation with the New Black Panther Party. What is the New Black Panther Party you might ask? Well, according to Tolerence.org it is only a hate group. You know, a racist group. The New Black Panther Party has exhibits like this on their website, right along with a profile of Malik Zulu Shabazz.

So the black separatist/racist Malik Zulu Shabazz comes to Cincinnati to join a "civil rights" cause and the AP reporter quotes him and does not even list his widely known affiliation. Are you just lazy Terry?, Or are you just that ignorant?

UPDATE: If a Cox News Service report can identify Shabazz, why can't the AP?

Outside Blogger's View

If you want another view of the Nathaniel Jones case, one I think that is lacking in context and fact, check out Damfacrats. I have been surprised that I have not seen much blogging on this issue, beyond locals.

ODOT to Close Section of I-270 for Two Hours

A 20 mile section of highway is going to be closed to allow police to investigate the area for what is now listed to be 14 related shootings along that stretch of the highway.

This incident is obviously being compared to the DC area sniper. The person or persons responsible so far have not demonstrated the level of skill that was used in the sniper case from last year. What is lacking so far is any information on how or why these 14 shootings are linked. What type of bullet was used, are they all the same caliber? If they are not, then how do we now they are linked? Do we even have bullets from all shootings? I hope after this investigation takes place the police are able to make public some facts that could help the public to understand the level of the threat (a rifle or hand gun for instance) and to get the public on the lookout for potential suspects.

Post: Divided

Reading this story from the Cincinnati Post I do not feel like things are going to be getting better in race relations. If one were to only listen to local "black focused" radio and the self professed black "leadership", then it would seem that it is expected or at least acceptable to be bigoted towards white people in the black community in this city. Furthermore it would seem that racism towards white is even tolerated in the black community with little cause of concern.

Pig headed idiots like the FOP leadership do nothing to provide any relief to these concerns.

I really see no improvement possible in the current climate. I see the view of black separatists gaining more tolerance or even acceptance in the black community. I think the failure to oppose all racism, no matter whom it is from, as the goal that has been lost from what remains of the black civil rights movement. When the desire for equality has been replace with the desire for power and revenge, then nothing but strife lies ahead.

Just What You Might Expect

When you think of Pravda, you might think of propaganda. This commentary does not disappoint. It not only includes falsehoods about the Tim Thomas case, but it has this whopper of an incorrect statement:

The pivotal fact here is that out of 38 deaths at the hands of police of black people since 1995, 15 of those have occurred in Cincinnati.

I think there have been far more than 38 black men who have died after altercations with police in the last 8 years.

Where's the National Media?

A man has died after being arrested by Dayton, Ohio Police. Where are the national headlines? No video, no cable news circus.

Bush Hurting: 43% Stay, 47% Go

I was amazed to read this FOX News poll that says 43% of those polled would reelect Bush to another term, while 47% would vote him out. The key news in these numbers is this element from the story:

Independents lean more toward making Bush a one-term president, as 49 percent would give him retirement and only 35 percent say another four years.

This poll was conducted on the 3rd and 4th of December, a week after Bush's visit to Iraq.

I am not amazed that this story was released on Friday, but it is on the Website's front page. I don't know how much it is being reported on the TV broadcast. It will be interesting to see how Chris Wallace reports this on his debut as host of FOX News Sunday on the FOX Network.

I have not heard exactly how else Chris Wallace will be featured on FOX News. I hope he is not kept only on the Sunday program and his used for all political coverage, much like Russert is used by NBC.

Amazing Fiction

If you want to most amazing "commentary" that I have read, check out this one from Kenya. I have never read a column so incredibly wrong and fill of falsehoods, misinformation, and what might be lies. The article is by AMBROSE MURUNGA of the newspaper the Daily Nation. This article reads like Mr. Murunga got an eleventh hand oral account of what happened, and did nothing to check the thousands of international news stories on the subject to get basic facts correct. He thinks Mr. Jones was "drunk" and that police "apparently made an offensive remark to the drunken man." The man somehow quotes Charlie Luken from an Enquirer article, but fails to read the part of the article that indicates the man was on drugs, not drunk.

The World Socialist Website had a similar level of fiction in Jerry Isaacs's article as well. This article to me has what could be called libel problems. What lies people tell. I am never more amazed when anyone (in this case socialists) cries for truth but in doing so gives us propaganda at its worst.

NPR Coverage of Jones Case

Mayor Charlie Luken was interviewed on NPR's All Things Considered last night. The interview was fairly tame and bland at the same time. I found it very bothersome that one of the interviewer’s questions included the notion that "traces" or Cocaine and PCP were found in Mr. Jones’s body. The Coroner stated that Mr. Jones had "intoxicating levels" of both drugs in his body.

Hipster Friendly Radio Free Newport: We're All Racists

I see Michael at RFN thinks this is a "racist town run by Klan apologists." I guess I missed the memo that the "Klan" had a million local sympathizers. Or is it a million local members?

This town is run by right-wingers. This town is run by religious bigots. This town is run by anti-gay bigots. This town is run by cultural bigots (which everyone is in reality). This town is not run by racists. Most people are not racists. Michael sounds more racist than Peter Bronson. He says that the whites in the town (mostly "those" Catholic Germans) oppress minorities. I love hyperbole. I live and die by it in my blogging, but I can't stand to see this type of fiction played off as anything resembling credible.

Speaking as a liberal: it is not wrong to be of European decent. Western Civilization is not bad. We don't have a caste system in this city oppressing anyone. That would be a Marxist view that if you believe it would be true throughout the country, making this city no worse than anywhere else.

By the way, before anyone starts spewing off on what a liberal is, please don't go into the trite us vs. them construct of linear political ideologies.

Stumbling Out of the Gate

Chris Smitherman could not have had a worse first few days in office. His statements at this week's city council meeting really make him look like a rookie.

1. Thinking that he and city council were the "boss" of the Chief of Police was forgivable.

2. From the Enquirer: Smitherman demanded the manager obtain an "independent autopsy" and supply the autopsy report "today," as if a city manager and not the county coroner has authority to do autopsies. This is a sign of a ignorance and of cracking under his new found pressure of public office. Emotion seems to be getting the best of him, or he is vesting to much capital in pleasing what he thinks is his "black activist" voting base.

Is it Empiregate or Pettus-Browngate?

Who at city hall is responsible? The city manager is being criticized for altering audit reports involved in the investigation of city department. If this was Washington I would be calling for a Special Prosecutor. When the scandal touches the Mayor's office, the city manager, and member(s) of city council, no one can been seen as independent. I hope the FBI take a bigger role.

More from the Enquirer.

Talk Radio Part of the Problem, or a Symptom of It?

The Post has a story on what is pretending to be programming on local talk radio here in town. The story states what to any listener is the obvious, the Buzz and WLW are the polar opposites on this issue.

I have been listening to both this week. I usually have on WLW in the morning and the Buzz in the afternoon. This week I have had to turn off the Buzz out of frustration on many occasions. WLW's callers are in general right wing. They have had a whole lot of prejudicial and bigoted callers. There have been very few, if any racist views spouted on the air.

At the Buzz is has been much more of a hate fest. The level of anger towards whites feels to me to be palpable. The only thing topping that is the level of misinformation and ignorance as to what the facts are. Lincoln Ware brought this up:

"I try to put out a true fact and it looks like I'm siding with police and many of my callers don't like that," Ware said. "It's frustrating because some people just don't want to hear the true facts."

In the story a nighttime WEBN host was mentioned as crossing the line when talking to some callers. I have no idea what was said, but WEBN has a large percentage of rabid fans who are, or the lack of a better phrase, "poor white trash." I can apply stereotypes and guess at the idiocy let on the air.

Bill Cunningham gets the award for being a slime ball. He made many horrid "fat" jokes that was totally disrespectful.

Bill Cunningham Being Protested

The Enquirer is reporting that the "Concerned Citizens for Justice" will be protesting outside WLW studios in Mt. Adams today between 1:00PM and 3:00PM today. I am torn on this one. The protestors are idiots for giving Cunningham attention, and their motives are at best sketchy. Cunningham is a slimy media whore, who would sell his wife's dildo for ratings.

There will likely be at most a dozen protestors in the rain, if that.

MIAMI 49, BG 27

Love and honor to Miami,
Our college old and grand,
Proudly we shall ever hail thee,
Over all the land.

Alma mater now we praise thee,
Sing joyfully this lay,
Love and honor to Miami,
Forever and a day.

MAC Champions 2003

Coverage: ESPN, FOX, and WaPo.

Jones Funeral Set for Saturday

The Enquirer is reporting the funeral for Nathaniel Jones is set for Saturday when the "wake is scheduled from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, with services to immediately follow at Allen Temple Worship Center, 7030 Reading Road."

The Enquirer also has a page of reactions for readers across the country on the Jones incident.

Cunningham & Lawson on FOX News

Here is the transcript of last night's Hannity & Combs show segment with Bill Cunningham of 700WLW and Ken Lawson, attorney for the Jones family. It reads like an Abbott and Costello routine.

[From comments]

Number 66

We now have 1 more homicide than last year with the shooting death of a woman found in Pleasant Ridge early this morning.

Media Round Up for Thursday

There are almost too many stories to link to, but I will try to locate more commentary on the subject of the Nathaniel Jones Death. The news stories are mostly the same now, beyond the pontifications of lawyers and "activists."

FontPage Magazine has your typical conservative viewpoint.

Rantophilia comments on Peter Bronson's latest column.

Newsday has an analysis of the media coverage which agrees with mine:

Experts who study broadcast news doubted the story would have captured the national spotlight without the video taken by a stationary camera on the dashboard of a police cruiser.

"This has been a one-day story for the evening newscasts on ABC, CBS and NBC," said Andrew Tyndall, publisher of the Tyndall Report, which monitors the Big Three networks. "But you absolutely have to have video for this sort of story to get national attention."

We have some more conservative views from the Nation Review Online.

The Dayton Daily News also provides a first hand news story.

Also, comments from Greg Mann.

UPDATE: Delaware County Daily Times (PA) editorial.

Damon Lynch III Reappears

Damon Lynch has been relatively quiet in this mess, but he has spoken out to the media and is calling for a " change at the top of the police force," which means the firing or resignation of Police Chief Tom Streicher. He could however mean Mayor Charlie Luken, and he might be looking to face off against Luken in 2005.

3 Blind Mice?

What makes Reece, Cole, and Smitherman think that getting information sooner will do any good, beyond helping out their image in the “black community?” Councilman Chris Smitherman sounds like he is still campaigning with comments like this:

"I want to make it very clear that I am a newly elected official, and I will not tolerate, ever, insubordination," Smitherman told the chief. "I am one of the members of the board of directors of the City of Cincinnati. Last time I looked at it, I am Chief Streicher's boss."

I don't really know what Smitherman is thinking, but he does not manage the police. The City Manager oversees the police, and the City Manager reports to the Mayor. Mr. Smitherman and the rest of City Council are not the boss of the Mayor. The citizens of Cincinnati are however the boss of City Council and the Mayor. We don't tolerate insubordination either. The police don't tolerate it either, unless the FOP president does it on TV.

Morning Show Accounting

I think I heard this morning that some of the Jones family appeared on some of the network morning shows today, likely with Ken Lawson. How many does that make? I think the police chief was on the Today Show Tuesday. Have the morning shows had someone on every day so far this week?

Cunningham and Lawson on Hannity and Combs?

I missed what surely was great TV. Great in the sense that a car wreck is "great." Rob Bernard has the details.

Appearances

CinWeekly needs to rethink who the choose to interview on some subjects. Who they choose makes them look bad. In this story on "Interview terror" the reporter uses Sharon Potts, a senior associate recruiter for Convergys, as the source on methods about having good interviews. Now, why is Sharon Potts bad? Well, there is nothing wrong with her particularly, the real problem is whom she works for: Convergys. What's the big deal you may ask? Well, you must not remember the biggest election issue, the infamous Convergys deal, worth $52.2 of tax payer's money. Part of that was a promise to add 275 more jobs downtown. Convergys has yet to add those jobs, and has instead laid off at least 40.

CinWeekly looks bad here because the Enquirer was supporting the deal, to the point of holding off on a column with mild criticism until after the deal was passed. What does this CinWeekly story do? Well, it makes the reader very aware that Convergys is interviewing, which must mean they are hiring. If they are hiring that must mean they are living up to the agreement with the city. I am sure the PR folks at Convergys sure hope that what people come away with from the article.

Potts gave some interesting advice in the story:

She also suggests researching a company's history before interviewing and preparing three or four questions to ask an employer about the company to show your interest. Potts warns it would be wise to avoid sounding like a know-it-all, however.

I would suggest that if you interview with Convergys, don't ask them about the $52.2 million dollar deal and surely don't ask how many of those 275 jobs are really going to just be transfers out of Norwood and into downtown.

Vice Mayor Alicia Reece: Get Over the Whine!

Alicia Reece is pissed SHE was not given information about the Jones death before the media got it. SHE sent this Memo around earlier today and at the Council Meeting today SHE came down heavy on the City Manager and the Police Chief because SHE was out of the loop. SHE needs to be informed about what was going on. SHE had to field "calls from civil rights leaders, African American elected officials, and other leaders from all over the country, " and SHE did not have the information SHE needed to inform those that called HER.

I am so pleased to see a Vice-Mayor so concerned about police issues that SHE wrote this memo. After all everyone knows what an important person SHE is in this city and how SHE adds to debate of council. What on Earth would we do without HER.

SHE sure knows how to drive someone to tears too.

Ken Lawson: Jerk

Lawyers are known as the scum of the earth. That has always been an overstatement. I work for a lawyer, I know several lawyers personally. I hate to see scummy actions or statements from Lawyers to prove the stereotype. Ken Lawson has given me one such statement to prove to me, that he is a jerk and among the scummiest lawyers not only in Cincinnati, but I think the country. From the New York Times:

A lawyer for Mr. Jones' family, Kenneth L. Lawson, said the coroner probably called the death a homicide "because he knew we would be getting that body examined by our own coroner and we would keep him honest."

Right Kenny, the coroner is so concerned about you getting paid, that gave you the PR headline you need to help push the settlement amount over a million dollars. The more national headlines the "Law Dog" can get, the more pressure he can put on the city to settle. I wonder if Ken had place a call to Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, offering to book them plane tickets to Cincinnati.

If either of those men come here, I wonder if Nate Livingston will protest their appearances.

Shit Has Hit the Fan

The Coroner has ruled that the struggle with police was the primary cause of the death of Nathaniel Jones. This means that the case is ruled as a "homicide" a technical term. The term "homicide" will none-the-less through gasoline onto a tension racked city.

I did not think much trouble was brewing, but after listening to hate spewing from many of the callers to 1230theBuzz today, I fear that if cooler heads don't keep the peace, we might get trouble. The word "homicide" has already been used by Ron Twitty as the term describing the Coroner's ruling. He has tried to explain it what that means, but I fear many will hear only what they want. This afternoon and tonight will need adults out to keep people from letting emotion vent or quelling any opportunists from using a riot as cover for theft.

Move Coverage: CNN, WLWT, and USA Today.

Post's Coverage Shift?

With story title's like these, you would think someone has a skeleton in the closet and the Baptists Ministers Conference knows about it:
Atmosphere tense
Treatment delayed
97-second gap raises concerns

In the last story I am just amazed at the pure speculation that Ken Lawson, lawyer for the family of the Nathaniel Jones. Lawson's tactics of smoke and mirrors is there to build public outcry and attract foolish journalists into printing his manufactured contentions like the claim from the subheadline "Lawson: Tape may have been erased." Yes Ken, and your parents might have been from Mars. It is the job of defense lawyers to confuse possibility with probability. I wish journalists would not assist him.

Hot Air, How Apropos

Could a title be more fitting to this section from the Editorial Page of the Enquirer. The writers seem bent on a political reporter misspeaking on a CBS program. Couldn't Ray Cooklis find an instant where Hillary Clinton said Buffalo was in upstate NY, when every good New Yorker knows Buffalo is in Western NY State?

When it comes to misspeaking, I think the Enquirer could fill an entire editorial page with the misstatements of the sitting President. Instead they trump up a load of crap about a well respected journalist. Save the cheap shots for Talk Radio and the Blogging World. A big newspaper attacking another journalist for a mistake, while not even mentioning their own mistake, hmmm sounds like hypocrisy to me.

Anticipation

I am waiting with baited anticipation for this week's issue of CityBeat. I wonder how they will play the Nathaniel Jones Case. The players in the black community are taking variable paths in this, some predictable, some not. Will CityBeat go the knee-jerk anti-police route, or will they take a different route? The case has some issues. Will they play the racism card, which has no legs to stand on, or will they look at issues of possible bad judgment by the police or paramedics? The issue was not out yet this morning and the website was not yet updated. I am on pins and needles waiting to read it. (Cough, cough)

Which is Worse?

Is the Leader of the Cincinnati Police Union going on TV Sunday ranting about the treatment of police worse than a group of ministers reportedly saying?

But a group of black ministers Tuesday described the incident as "torture'' and called for clergy throughout the city to let their parishioners out early Sunday to attend an afternoon rally and march at City Hall.

Both attitudes do nothing but add fuel to the fire of anger. Blame is falling onto its usual suspects, which will lead to the same cries of racism and the same police union arrogance.