Bush speech a call to arms
This speech sounds like a campaign stop, not an address to the nation. The speech will take place at Museum Center at Union Terminal with around 500 invited guests. I would like to compare the guest list to a list of GOP contributors. I bet the only Democrats there will be the Mayor, and those city council members invited. I also wonder how fast protestors can organize and be there. We might draw the progressive-populists down from Antioch and Columbus for a real “teargastic” party. I will be looking for my invite in the mail. I am sure I would be the first person the local GOP would think to invite. After all, I am now “on par” with Willie Cunningham and Peter Bronson, who I am sure, will be in attendance.

Comair adds flights to Erie
I grew up about an hour from Erie, PA. It is not a city many people visit.

THE_CINCINNATI_BOYCOTT_FRAUD
A new website (MSN group) against the boycott. This website gets personal, including detailed profiles of the usual suspects involved in the boycott. There are only a few members thus far, so where they editor plans on going with it is yet to be seen.

Rob Williams Out of Legal Trouble
Mike McConnell has reported on his 700WLW-AM radio problem that Rob Williams, morning anchor for FOX19, was cleared by a grand jury on a charge of passing a bad check. This report has not made the local television news and did not make today's papers. Mike made a valid comment about how all to often when people have legal trouble the media rarely follows up to report that those troubles pass without action. I do not know the details as to how this case was resolved, but Mr. Williams was back to work today. I would make a suggestion to Mr. Williams: always pay for airline tickets with a credit card.

An Email from Nate Livingston
I guess I have riled up the little racist. My little blog here has somehow catapulted me into a category with the likes of Peter Bronson and Willie Cunningham. I of course am nothing but a two-bit amateur blogger, but I have to thank Nate for his backhanded praise. Here is the email:

Subj: RE: FW: [cincyboycott] Forum -- this Thursday, October 3, "Straightening Out the Lies"
Date: 10/03/2002 4:36:55 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: natelivingston@netscape.net
To: contact@cincynation.com

natelivingston wrote:

I was just glancing at the "Gannett Newspaper Division Principles of Ethical Conduct For Newsrooms" which states "[W]e [Gannett] will hold factual information in opinion columns and editorials to the same standards of accuracy as news stories", and that "[b]ecause these Principles embody the highest standards of professional conduct, the Gannett Newspaper Division is committed to their adherence. They have been put in writing specifically so that members of every Gannett Newspaper Division newsroom know what the Division stands for and what is expected of them. The public will know, too." [ http://www.gannett.com/job/jobs/principles.htm ]

Where is Gannett's Newspaper Division President, Gary L. Watson, the Enquirer's Publisher, Harry Whipple, or Managing Editor, Rosemary Goudreau, to enforce Gannett's ethics policy and hold Peter Bronson accountable for the blatant lies he continues to tell, including those he told in his column last Sunday, or to deal with the Enquirer's ethical problems in general? [ http://enquirer.com/editions/2002/09/29/loc_bronson_making.html ]

The Coalition For A Just Cincinnati has asked to me with the news editor. We have asked to meet with the editorial board. But the Enquirer doesn't seem interested in acting reasonably and responsibly. What will it take to get the this Gannett newspaper to act ethically and professionally? Does Ms. Goudreau have to be fired like the Enquirer's last editor, Lawrence Beaupre? Or does the Enquirer have to be sued like it was from Mr. Lindner and Chiquita? (Oh, I see that the Enquirer was sued just a few days ago for printing more false information about African Americans.)

While these thing are happening, I have to ask, where is the Cincinnati Media Collaborative?

THE COALITION FOR A JUST CINCINNATI WILL RESPOND TO LIES BY PETER BRONSON, PAT BARRY (BARRY TINGLY), WILLIE CUNNINGHAM, THE "NEWSBOY REJECT" BRIAN GRIFFIN, AND OTHERS WHO HAVE ACCUSED US OF BEING DISHONEST AND WHO HAVE REFUSED TO TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED DURING OCTOBERFEST. I'm sure that once the videotape is shown, the defenders of white rioters will continue to make excuses for the violent bahavior of white Cincinnatians.

Please attend:

WHAT:
"Straightening Out the Lies" -- a forum open to the Press and to the Public, sponsored by the Coalition for a Just Cincinnati.

WHEN:
Thursday, October 3, 2002,
6:30-8:30 p.m.

WHERE:
Temple Bible College, 3202 Reading Road, Cincinnati 45229 (Avondale)

WHY:
Find out what really happened during Octoberfest and the Red Hot Weekend. Why did the police refuse to protect peaceful, non-violent citizens? Why did the "news" media look the other way? Why have members of the media, including Peter Bronson and Mike McConnell (700wlw) continued to lie about what happened?


In Solidarity,
The Coalition for a Just Cincinnati

Since I am writing and posting while this event is going on, it is obvious I did not go. The event is billed as and "open forum." That translates to: anyone can come, but you will have to just shut up and listen to us. They seem to indicate they have a video. I would like to know how much they edited it. I would bet they edited it extensively, and I bet they also could have altered it. This assumes there really is a video, but I think even they cannot get around lying about that simple fact, although they could try. I will be listening to the radio tomorrow and reading the papers to see if I get any attention from Nate or the CJC. I would guess they would stick with the heavy weights. I am sure Nate just threw me a bone as a little jab. If Nate were not such a low life, this would be fun.

Bush coming to Cincinnati
The Post has the better story. Bush will be making a big speech here, exact location to be determined, about his case for attacking Iraq. It is not known if this is a part of a series of stops or a big national event. It is reportedly to be open to the public, but that no might be as simple as showing up to where the event is held and going in. I hope the speech is held somewhere downtown. Bush can't personally add anything to the local "strife," but having the President of the United States break the boycott is not a bad thing.

Bush to visit Cincinnati Monday
No indication as to why Bush is coming here and if will be in the city or someplace near by. Fund rasing I would guess, low key and partisan in nature.

A tale of the death of alternative media from Chris Anderson. This brings up a local issue. City Beat still is around, but Everybody's News just vanished several years ago.

Vine St. Kroger to get a face lift
Jay Love and several callers to his radio show today were complaining that Kroger was doing this. They think it was a sign that city is going to change the type of residents and customers on Vine Street. I hope the residents and customers on Vine Street do change, if they want to have a store. Jay seemed to indicate that Kroger should have done this for the community long ago. Why? This is not like putting in a park. This is a business. Companies do not pour money into stores for the social good. They do it to make money. An upgraded Kroger’s built in 1995 or even 2000 would not have changed anything in Over-the-Rhine. All it would have been is a waste of money for Kroger. The people at Kroger do not leave the garbage in the parking lot. Those in the neighborhood leave it. Kroger is damned for doing something, and damned for not doing something. I would close the store down if this is attitude that a majority of people are going to profess.

CityBeat: Piling On
Did the Owensbys’ attorneys write this article or did Leslie Blade? I really do not like this kind of "journalism." This is advocacy "journalism." The supposition espoused by the comment of "police ambush" is not only inflammatory, it is crass sensationalism. I can understand discussion of this case and the many problems with the testimony of the individuals involved, but to create a conspiracy, best left to the antics of delusional boycotters, is a clear sign of prejudice. An assumption has been made and made and made again no matter what the police and prosecution say. When people make baseless claims against Mike Allen that are ludicrous to anyone with an ounce of objectivity, I do not think facts or realities matter.

As a sidebar issue I must conclude that this article is strongly tainted with progressive populism. This is the political philosophy, as I have phrased it, which most would just call the far left or radical left. Conservatives would just call this liberalism. Since I am a liberal I can tell you this is not liberalism. I am working on a general set of definitions of political ideologies, which I will eventually post. Please don't wait with baited breath.

CityBeat: Porkopolis "Love, War and the People's Money"
Greg Flannery was not chicken. He printed what no other local media outlet would carry. He reported what I alluded to yesterday: the allegations of Councilman Pat DeWine's affair with Betty Hull, former head of last year’s Issue Five campaign. Greg hits the points of what is wrong with this alleged situation, to which I agreee. This is however an example of why Nate Livingston is not exposed by the Media to be the dirt bag he is. Nate made this allegation at a City Council meeting last week. Nate opened the door for Greg, and me to be fair, to walk through. The gang on the Week in Review on 1230 the Buzz last Friday indicated that this affair had been a rumor dating back to last year. I would have liked to have seen the Cincy Post have the balls to included this in their political sex scandal editorial, but I guess they are chicken.

Livingston released after contempt finding (2nd item)
Nate Livingston has all of the earmarks of a deadbeat dad. The number of domestic court cases filed against him is outrageous. I am still amazed that this accused abuser is allowed to be the leader of a so-called "civil rights group", the CJC. I have to wonder about the women who are listed as the co-leaders of the CJC. Are they codependent? Were they victims of domestic abuse of some type and have an emotional attachment to or tolerance of other abusers?

Nate Livingston is clearly a bad parent. His neglect for his family is only rivaled by his neglect of the truth. Why do most of the activists and nut cases supporting the boycott turn a blind eye to his record? This goes hand in hand with the tolerance of the outright racism and bigotry from other boycott supporters, including Nate. Why are the Enquirer, the Post and City Beat afraid of exposing Nate for the lowlife he is? Is it because he creates theater that makes for good copy, and they need all of the sensationalism that can fit into a single issue of their newspaper? You don’t have to answer that, do you?

Media Minded on the Enquirer Lawsuit
The anonymous blogger Media Minded comments on the lawsuit filed against the Enquirer. This is a conventional analysis of the issue from this conservative media critic. He/she is copy editor at a major newspaper; so their views are an interesting take on the interworkings of big media outlets.

Chris Anderson's take on the Enquirer lawsuit.

Cincinnati Post Editorial: "Learn from the masters"
"Patton's not alone" was their tag line for this editorial about recent political sex scandals. How could they leave out a certain local elected official who is the son of another elected official?

For Ohio governor, efficiency means no e-mail

Taft, 60, has never sent a work-related e-mail as governor, doesn't have a computer on his desk and asks his staff to research information he needs on the Internet.

My 82 year old grandmother has her own computer and uses email. Why does he not use email at his job? Email is clearly far more efficient to use as means of communication. I could not function effectively at work without email. The entire government is wired for email, which saves postage if nothing else. I guess using this: Governor.Taft@das.state.oh.us is pointless.

Enquirer Lawsuit Gets Wide Coverage
San Francisco Chronicle, Akron Beacon Journal, Austin American Statesman, Newsday, ABC News, Anchorage Daily News, Guardian, KTVU
These are most all just AP wire pick-ups. By morning this will hit most of the papers in the country I would guess.

Lawsuit filed vs. police, Enquirer
Here is the Enquirer's version of the story on the lawsuit filed against them. This paints a significantly bigger picture of the lawsuit. The passages they quoted have Ken Lawson written all over it. I think the conspiracy has fewer legs on it than Mr. Lawson is stating. 5 police officers have been named as John Doe defendants, meaning they are believed to be real people, but their identity is unknown to the plaintiff. The claims against the Enquirer are outlandish. They are overstated and what could be considered bigoted. I think that if Mr. Williams III wanted to get Lt. Col. Twitty's job, I don't think he is going to do himself any favors by suing the organization he apparently has interest in joining.

I see this as a case of bad reporting. Ms. Prendergast had reported on Deangelo Williams in a story from last year, where Deangelo Williams got into a heavy shootout with police. A year later this guy is on the street getting arrested again, a whole different issue. Ms. Prendergast also could have been confused with the fact that there are 2 other Clarence Williams listed with drug offenses on the courtclerk.org website, both of whom are college age (20 and 21).

It will be interesting how this lawsuit progresses. I am more inclined to have the Enquirer fight it. At this point there are no documents listed on the court clerk's website giving any more details than in the papers. If I were the Enquirer, Ken Lawson would be in my editorial sites. There may be something to individuals in the police department knowingly giving the Enquirer bad information, but the Enquirer would not print what it new to be false, no matter what its detractors might think. They may have just been lazy, and need to fire either the reporter for not researching or a staffer for not doing the research.

Mike McConnell of 700WLW thinks the American public, including him, are not being "sold" on War with Iraq. We are all being fed propaganda and he knows it. It just happens to like the propaganda or is just getting on board what he thinks will be the "winning" side in the game of "one upsmanship." He wants to say "I' told you so" to those against war when Saddam uses chemical weapons during the war. "Think of what Iraq would have done if we had not followed the blood lust of my callers," is something like he might think to say at that point. I wonder if he would get the irony. I do not know when the GOP became so hawkish, but it has not always been that way. I wonder if the hawks that called in to Mike's show would have been calling Republicans who opposed sending aid to England before we entered WWII "unamerican" for not wanting to go to war against Hitler. I am sure in hindsight they would have one opinion, but it would not be consistant with their rantings now.

Suit claims newspaper wrong on arrest identity
This case must be a problem for the Enquirer. I cannot find the referenced article on thier archive that the suit refers to. My knee jerk reaction to the conspiracy claim about Mr. Williams being tarnished intentionally to reduce his chances to become the new assitant police chieif is to disregard it. I do think this warrents looking into. There is some smoke here, and the source of Jane Prendergast's story is a question that I think needs answering. I do not know how the source shield rule is applied for civil cases, if at all, especially when the source appears to be wrong. I hope the Enquirer releases it soon. The longer they wait the worse it looks. It might just be a case of bad reporting or bad reseach, for which the newspaper should just confess, settle, and get on with their business.