Morally Relative Conservatives
Sen. Rick Santorum has been bitching about liberal moral relativism. He does not understand what moral relativism means. What it means is that one believes each individual determines his or her own morals. They do not rely on others to decide what is right and wrong. The individual then lives up to their morals on their own terms. Conservatives like Santorum think moral relativism means that those who don't do what their religion commands can't possibly act on their own accord, without the fear of “hell” to keep them in line. Furthermore they think that without this fear the individual changes their morals to fit each situation, meaning killing one man today is bad, but tomorrow it may be good. That is of course bullshit. I have my own morals. I think I keep to my morals far better than most so called “Christians,” yet I have no religion. I do not need fear of “hell” to keep me in line. My fear of disappointing my family and friends, coupled with the penal code keep me in line.

Santorum in the AP interview condemned homosexuality, and specifically homosexual sex. He does this presumably because his religion says it is a "sin." Santorum then is practicing the moral relativism he condemns. I say this assuming that Santorum does not follow every law written in the bible, for instance

1. No eating pork: Deuteronomy 14:8


2. At the end of every seven years every creditor shall cancel loans made:
   Deuteronomy 15:1-2


3. Set up a King to rule over you that the Lord your God chooses: Deuteronomy
   17:14-15


4. Death penalty for Adultery: Deuteronomy 22:22


5. Only foreigners can be charged interest:
   Deuteronomy 23:19-20

These are but a few "laws" from the bible. Why are these not followed? I would bet Santorum eats pork, collects loans more than 7 years old, supports our laws which outlaw Kingly rule, does not kill adulterers, and collects interest on any loans he makes. He however has selectively chosen homosexuality as something he will be against, but not these other "laws." It appears that following the word of "God" is a relative term to conservatives like Mr. Santorum. Some religious laws are just out of date I guess, or not profitable enough. I hope Phil Heimlich, Peter Bronson, Tom Brinkman, and the CCV take note.

Paul McDorman's letter in today's Enquirer seemed to paint him in the same boat as Mr. Santorum on a certain level. Atheists and agnostics don't need your religion or anyone's to be "moral."

Chris Anderson found what he calls an "eerily prescient" comparison from a 1960's urbanist ideas on "activists" and today's boycotters.

Nate is trying to be funny. Ha Ha, what a knee slapper, Ha Ha, what it is to laugh..... (Cough, Cough).

Dems endorse trio for council
Do the Dems not have enough viable candidates running for council this time? Or do they think DeWine is a lock, and Tarbell and Monzel are solid and at most one is vulnerable? I don't know why they do not fill out their slate. I can only assume they are waiting to see who else gets on the ballot, and will endorse someone later if they have a chance. I wonder if the Charterites have a chance to get on more on or if an extremist independent will come close to getting elected.

Local School Employees Missing $829,000 Worth Of Paychecks
This is not the kind of news you want when you are trying to pass a school bond issue a couple of weeks. This is a PR nightmare. I hope someone gets more than a wrist slap over this snafu.

Democrats endorse 2 for City Council
Read this portion of the article from near the end:

Nathaniel Livingston Jr., a Democratic precinct committeeman from Avondale who is a leader of one of two boycott groups calling itself the Coalition for a Just Cincinnati

What kind of moronic political party allows Nate Livingston to be a precinct committeeman? That is atrocious. A promoter of bigotry and hatred is allowed to participate in a political party; you would think that does not happen in this day and age. Well, at least not in the Democratic Party. Locally, the Republicans not only let them in to the party, they elect them: like this guy, and this guy.

BRONSON: Ohio's new palace in Columbus
Attention Mr. Bronson, Attention Mr. Bronson.....Blame your fellow Republicans!!!!!!! In case you have not noticed, your political party of choice is in total control of the government of Ohio. Start Blaming Brinkman, oh wait you can't blame him, he would rather we not have a government. Ok, blame Taft, Blackwell, Petro, Deters, etc. Your guys are in office. Why do you seem to want to blame anyone other than the guys who voted to fund this building restoration? I wonder if you are going to try and pin this on Springer. You might blame Clinton, your usual, but I don't think even you could make a connection the mouth foamers could swallow. I guess “lawmakers” will have to do, but it is a shame you can’t put your GOP friends down once in a while, beyond when they don’t evoke your right wing stalwart issues of guns, theocracy, and abortion.

Number 28

Student reports crime, is arrested by Cincinnati officer
This news is old, but it is getting attention regionally. This I am sure will gin up the boycotters a bit. I don't know the facts, but the headline sounds bad, if the headline is bad, the story must be. (COUGH, COUGH)

PLEASE give a welcome to Ethan Hahn over at Queen City Soapbox. Ethan is joining Chris Anderson's endeavor at QCSBOX. I wish him a warm welcome and hope to read his as well as Chris's work often.

Back to square one
The idea of developing Fountain Square is a good one. I have to wonder about a few things. City Council has proposed to put money into a revised Main Street entertainment district and to build the "Banks project" in-between the new stadiums. Can we afford all of these? If most of the money comes from private sources I am confident they are financially viable. If all or most of the money comes form the city I am not sure if the value is there. I also have to wonder, will these three areas compete against each other, dooming all to failure? I also don’t want to loose the skywalk. They may take away foot traffic on the street, a big measuring stick for urban planners and marketers, but the convenience of the skywalk for pedestrians outweigh earnings potentials in this case. The skywalk in the entire down town is dependant on all sections being connected. If you take out a vital artery, you blow the whole system. It is bad enough the section was torn down in preparation for a new Nordstrom’s at Race and 5th, only resulting in a parking lot, but adding to that disaster will kill the shops around Fountain Place section of the skywalk.

Under cover of war, Mugabe unleashes a new reign of terror
It appears something was rotting in Zimbabwe while the bombs were dropping in Iraq. I wonder if freedom will be promised for the people of Zimbabwe. Will the bloodthirsty hawks drool over the change for another war? I wonder if International ANSWER would call it "racist" if the US tried to oust an African dictator/racist. Instead the American press, the blood lusting conservatives, and the communist backed activists will be silent or hypocritical on the issue, and yet another dictator will be coddled by France. I would think the Republicans would love to stick to France again, but when's the last time they followed through on anything for Africans that did not included religious indoctrination?

Creepy and Sad
Pat DeWine has an audio greeting on his new council member website, as do the rest of council. Is this the Pat or is it Karl Childers from the movie Sling Blade?

NEW CINCINNATI and a new City of Cincinnati website.

Medina Democrats to host Springer
If Springer gets the nomination I will eat a dead grasshopper. If he beats Voinovich I will eat a live one.

Donald Mooney on the boycott 2.0, from the Post.

The future of rock 'n' roll
Help Fight the Beast, Listen to 97X.

Youth served on City Council
People bitch and moan about City Council. No one can say anything good about them. Is it because they are young and they don't do things the "conventional" way? Or is it because they are young and have no clue what they are doing? I am 31 years old and 4 council members are my age or younger, and 2 more are only a few years older. 6 of the 9 are Generation Xer's. How does this compare to the rest of the nation? Are we ahead of the curve or is this yet another generation gap that will only get worse as the "Boomer's" get older and more of a pain in the ass than they already are?

My guess is that the city council has some great ideas, but the older, and more powerful, citizens do not take them seriously. Business leaders, who are generally older, like new ideas, but they don’t like to try them. Older activists don’t like new blood, unless they are in tow. I will not be surprised to see age indirectly used as a campaign tool this year in Council elections. I can see the Republicans trying to bash the twenty-somethings, while tip towing around their thirty-somethings. Age is but a number, but numbers can sway a fickle and moronic public. I expect more than one gray haired candidate to step forward this time around. Break out the Ben-Gay!

ESPN.com - Cincinnati Reds - Clubhouse
I guess the folks at ESPN have been spending to much time in Philadelphia. While referring the Cincinnati Enquirer the writer(s) gave us the "Cincinnati Inquirer" instead. What makes this worse is that in different parts of the web page, closer to the top, they got it right.

[Link via Matt Weiler]

Security Agency Selects Privacy Watchdog
A reader (Ray) pointed this article out to me. I thought Congress had voted to stop funding programs to collect personal data on citizens. I guess Homeland Security had some funding tucked away for this type of thing. It is odd that Tom Ridge would pick someone who basically ran a company that harassed people online. Is this what Homeland Security is come to? Saftey through harassment and intrustion?