IF YOU WANT the typical fundamentalist's screed on art questioning religion, then Bronson's your man. I myself am tired of responding to his drivel. Does Peter have a deal with the Corpus Christi producers? He raises a stink and they sell more tickets. Hell, I hope they made such a deal. The more people that see this, the more likely it is quality plays will be performed here. What I really have to wonder about Bronson: has he even seen the play? If not, then why is he trusting the propaganda of others? Come on Peter, buy a ticket for yourself and see what all of the fuss is about. My guess is that he might even enjoy himself. He will feel guilty about it, but hey, he can always become a Catholic and then feel guilty all the time.

'Shame the Devil': Hal McKinney and the shooting at Junker's Tavern
An ingaging column from Kathy Y. Wilson of City Beat. Kathy gives a thickly rich taste of Hal McKinny the "Northside Vigilante." Kathy paints McKinny as an honest man with a crystal focus against crime in his neighborhood. He comes across a little sad, and very creepy. I want to say he is obsessed, but Kathy's tone is a relaxed one, and she seemed to be a bit impressed. I think she expected him to be the devil, but instead pulled the curtain to find just a man, flawed yet credibly wise. The bulletproof vest would have been to much for me to handle, even more than having guns lying around a house with 6 year old kid. Needing a vest is not the kind of life I would want, and not want to be around. Kathy gets extra credit for courage in that regard.

Two indicted in Clifton 'mini riot'
The Ruby family is made for a TV movie. Being a Cincinnati restaurant magnet does not mean you are free from scandal. First Mrs. Ruby has a run in with the law, now the son. Brandon's case will undoubtedly get a fair share of scrutiny from those who think his family name might get him a slap on the wrist. That scrutiny includes me, but also I suspect includes some individuals in the boycott. Will Mike Allen push for jail time? Brandon was released on his own recognizance, which is an interesting occurrence. I would have guessed that 2 felony charges might warrant some kind of financial bond. Surprises happen, so he could walk free, or get hard time in state prison. You have to ask yourself one question: when does Mike Allen go up for reelection?

Neoliberal at Your Service
Tom Friedman's column today puts forth a good definition of "neoliberalism":

Neoliberals believe in a muscular foreign policy and a credible defense budget, but also a prudent fiscal policy that balances taxes, deficit reduction and government services.

What I find lacking is the stance a neoliberal would take on social issues. Is a neoliberal closer to Bill Clinton and the DLC on social issues? If that is the case, I am not a neoliberal. Otherwise, that definition fits me fairly well. Throw in a very liberal social freedom belief system and I am hooked, otherwise I have to qualify it with yet another subsection. One of to do items is compiling a listing and a chart on micro political ideologies. This little project is not high on my priorities, but I guess I can label Mr. Friedman without much flack.

My latest Polstate.com post is up.

OH: Springer Creates Exploratory Committee
Talk show host Jerry Springer has announced the formation of an exploratory campaign committee for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Republican George Voinovich of Ohio. Full Post

Yes, it would appear Jerry is going to run. This is great for bloggers, comedians, news junkies, and professional journalists. It may not be good for the Democrats. Jerry has three positives: money, name recognition, and an untapped constituency.

Commandments removed amid protests
Next day's update on this debacle. The Post reports a total of 35 where "arrested," but according to one protestor none of those arrested were put in hand cuffs or put in jail. Prosecutors were alleged to be determining today whether the protestors would be charged with any crimes. I expect no charges to be filed. The county prosecutor would be toast if he tries for reelection after putting local preachers in jail for trying to enact a theocracy. Small town justice at its best, well, worst.

Dear Diary: These blog readers hang on my every thought
A nice piece on local bloggers. If you read this you might find one blog missing. Well, if I had responded to Lance a bit quicker, I might have been mentioned. He caught me while I was on vacation, and I was late in responding. Oh, well. I got the Enquirer mention last week, so I guess I can let Lance spread the wealth around a bit. (cough, cough)

Removal of Commandments Protested in Ohio
Another update on this story. All 4 stone structures were removed and a total of 30 people were temporally taken into custody. At this point no charges have been filed. I have to ask, how can they not file charges? What kind of hick town is this that the preachers can break the law and get away with it? Is this Boston or something?

U.S. Bank Arena Awaits Dixie Chicks
I wonder how the handful of protestors will be covered? I bet they get some face time on local TV news. I am surprised WLW is letting the Dixie Chicks go through town without a PR stunt. Is Darryl Parks on vacation or something? He lives for that kind crap.

Matt Weiler: Color the Times impressed
Matt has comments on the New York Times review of the CAC's new building. Matt also has few observations on the local reaction to some of the art on exhibit.

U.S. Sees Likely Al Qaeda WMD Attack Within 2 Years
Is the boy King crying wolf or wagging the dog?

Ministers block removal of Commandments
Theocracy in Action! It appears the School officials or School Board and the County Sheriff did not do their duties. These people impeded a public school from doing its business, which was complying with court order. How could this not be something these fascists could be arrested for? Trespassing, disturbing the peace, protesting on public property without a permit are all possible laws they could have been arrested for. Instead politics weighs in on the situation. The school board and sheriff want to get reelected. Nice. I love it when small town bumpkins can scoff at the law with no recompense. Someone should get a contempt of court citation for this.

This action proves conclusively that placing the Biblical 10 commandments on these school's lawns had a religious purpose. This group is forcing everyone to adhere to their religion, and have ignored the law to do it. I am disgusted by this action. I am all for the individual's right to practice any religion in anyway they choose, as long as it does not infringe on other's rights. These religious zealots want to force people to accept their religion's law more powerful than the American Rule of Law.

As expected Bill Cunningham of WLW is acting irresponsibly and is allowing a kook from Adams County on the air claiming there will be a “fight” to keep the commandments on school grounds. Cunningham’s act of ginning up the dolts of Adams country has potentially dire results. The tone of the man was implying to me that he meant a physical fight, not a figurative one. Based on the prior actions by the other zealots earlier today, it can only be concluded this man is willing to attack people who are following the law, by removing the stone commandments. How “Christian” of him to say such. How “American” of him to reject the rule of law, and instead embrace mob rules. If this is any sign of things to come, then future political confrontations in the coming years are headed to more violent outcomes.

UPDATE: WLW is reporting that some arrests may have been made at one location.

UPDATE #2: WLWT updates the story stating that 10 people were arrested. WLWT indicated that only 10 of the reported 400 protesting were arrested because police did not have enough jail space. One of four stone monuments was removed. Protestors claimed they were going to "guard" the remaining three stone structures. I am using the term "protestor" generously in my opinion, but the article used it correctly in an objective manner.

UPDATE #3: WCPO, ONN, the Canton Repository and of course FOX News's story. Can FOX go a day without covering this type of story?

UPDATE #4: The Enquirer's followup.

Man killed in truck in Over- the-Rhine
People who knew him had no idea why he drove 40 into the City. Why would a boiler repairman end up in Cincinnati alone at 12:30 AM? If I were to speculate, I would suppose to buy drugs. I am speculating the police are considering this angle as well. They may have real evidence of such, where I am only guessing. They also may have evidence to infer the man was on a joy ride to the city. Will this man’s death get anyone’s attention? Nope. Number 31 is no more newsworthy than number 30, who ever that was.

Cincinnati in Black, White and Green
Well, if you want a skewed column filled with basically bigoted rhetoric, this is your article. What do you expect from the Nation of Islam? Well, I expect racist and bigoted columns, and this one fits right in with false claims, and bogus suppositions. All from a UC professor. Who would have guessed?

Let people decide on flag desecration
Ok, I guess this person would not have a problem with a constitutional amendment outlawing Christianity. The conflict with the first amendment means little to him, we can just wipe away certain elements of religious freedom. Wait, he is a Christian? Well, if the "people" decided to change the law, then I guess he is SOL. This part took the cake:

"The notion that flag burning is rare is not an issue, and if the Enquirer was to follow this mind-set they need to withdraw editorial opinion (April 9, 2003) that cross burning, which occurs far more infrequently than flag burning, should be illegal. Our laws are based on right and wrong, not frequency of occurrence. "

I wonder if this moron can tell me the last time a flag was burned? I have not heard of it happening anywhere around here, and we all dame well that FOX News would carry it live it happened. What we have seen locally within the last year right here in Southwest Ohio is a cross burning up near Oxford. So no, Mr. Marty Justis, if that is your real name, I don't think you can claim flag burnings happen more than cross burnings. I don't think you can claim that historically most definitively. What I think you should worry about is property rights. If I own a flag, it is my property. Does Mr. Justis want to infringe on my property rights? If that is the case, then I think a few of his fellow conservatives might have a beef with him. It is now against the law to burn a flag you don't own or don't have the permission to burn, and in some places you can only burn things on private property, with permission of the owner. Those obstacles are more than enough to preserves this guy myth of meaning in a his cloth. If he wants to ban something, why not ban the burning of books? Or better yet, ban the burning of the constitution.

Enquirer Editorial: “Iraq's weapons: Threat was there”The title of this editorial should be “Iraq’s weapons: Ends Justify the Means.” The Editorial Board of the Enquirer cares little about lying. They care little that everyone of consequence in the Bush Administration stated Iraq possessed WMD and were trying to gain more, using this claim as the main and most immediate rationale that war against Iraq was for National Security reasons. That claim was either an out right lie, faith in bad intelligence, or miracle brilliance on the part of the Iraqis to destroy or hide their WMD.


I don’t doubt Iraq was trying to gain more WMD, but there was no concrete evidence that Iraq had weapons ready to be used on short notice, thus creating a threat. They might have possessed machines with dual use. They likely had unprocessed materials that could have been used to create WMD. There are many many countries that have the same thing: Syria, Iran, and North Korea being three of the most well known. If there was no immediate threat, then justification for an invasion lies back on the other reasons given: violation of the UN, and deposing of a dictator.

Does this possibility mean war was justified? On the threat of WMD alone, no. Do the other reasons given for going to war justify it, yes, but lying about the only reason involving a threat to the USA does nothing to support it after the fact. Playing bait and switch does not fly. It will fly with Bush loyalists and apathetic idiots, but not to anyone who cares about simple truth.

Do Bush’s remaining reasons for war support his value of leadership? At this point HELL NO! His rationale for war now could and should be used in a dozen plus other countries, but it is clear Bush cannot and will not seek to take military action anywhere in Africa or Southeast Asia, against countries with just as horrible governments as Iraq had. He may look to invade Iran or Syria, killing thousands of American soldiers in the process. That possibility sounds far fetched I know. Invading Iraq sounded just as far fetched to me back in 2001 and early 2002. I believed Bush on the WMD, that although they could likely not be used to hit American soil directly, they could be used to hit Israel or other US allies or International US targets. I believed that Bush would not exaggerate, not rely on weak evidence, and not lie like a dog as a means to justify a war. I do not like Bush as president at all, but I supported the president and assumed he was being mostly honest about going to war. I did not trust Bush, but I honestly believed he would not spin a war like he spun his tax cut. I was wrong. I was a sucker. I expected that the US Military would find munitions loaded with chemical weapons ready to go in some kind of bunker or complex in Baghdad or Tekrit. At this point, none have been found. I assume we are correctly looking for them, but I don’t trust the Bush Administration to be looking for them. If they find anything now, it will be difficult to trust what they find. They may still find something. All they may find now is either traces of materials used to make WMD, or if they are lucky, large amounts of materials used to make WMD. I doubt they will find much any of anything supporting a viable capability to use or easily produce WMD.

Will Bush suffer for misleading the country? Only a little bit, assuming he does not get “lucky” and find something consequential. Bush supporters will allow the man do anything he wants with little or no response. Those who opposed Bush before will still oppose Bush. The rest, well, that is where it remains to be seen. If the mainstream media does its job and finds the truth on the WMD, and asks about it constantly right up to November 2004, then Bush on paper should be defeated. If the media slacks off, or lets Bush off, then little will change based on this issue alone. The media so far has slowly been working on the story. The true test will be how they react to the campaign of denials and revisionism from the Bush Gang. As long as the media does not let Bush and company try and claim that the presence of WMD did not matter and the ends are all that matters, then the truth may come out. If the media instead follows Bush like a lemming, as the Enquirer has done, then I am afraid Bush will have been allowed to wage war on false pretenses.

Martha Stewart: Living sucks these days!
Ilene Huffman from XRAY Magazine vents on the Martha Stewart scandal. I too have little pity for, especially after watching the NBC TV movie Martha, Inc. I normally don't watch TV movies, but it is TV summer, so little else was on. The movie made Martha out to an obsessive bitch, bent on world domination. Well, not world domination, but domination of a big chunk of it.

Jailed Juror Hires High-Profile Attorney
Do you have to ask who this attorney is? Or do you trust your instincts?

WCIN sues Etta James (Last Item)
WCIN's 50th anniversary celebration June 2 ended on a bad note when Grammy winning singer Etta James failed to take the Stage at the Cincinnati Zoo's Pavilion. According to the Cincinnati Herald’s front page story, the lawsuit claims that

"While the Blind Boys of Alabama performed, Defendant Jamesetta Hawkins (Etta James) refused, offering no reasonable explanation or one recognized in the contract between parties."

Ms. James who is 65 years old, did not go on because she believed WCIN could not pay her, according to the Cincinnati Post story. As of now, the Boycott B gang is not claiming responsibility. No report was made of any protests at the event.

Note: The Cincinnati Herald has no known website to provide a link to their story.

Some In Cincinnati Have Misgivings About Tax On Visiting Athletes
It appears the Boycott B's Nate Livingston had a valid point that this law was in effect, something I did not know. (A mea culpa) What is unclear is that this law affects Ava Muhammad from the Nation of Islam, as I posted here. Her status under this law is debatable, but she is not a professional entertainer or professional athlete. I assume Nate is claiming she is a professional entertainer. Nate is still making a federal case out of this issue and I don’t know why. NOI is a racist group, but so is the Black Fist, an endorser of Nate’s Boycott B. I guess Nate is cooking a red herring up in the form of his faux attack on the NOI. I will now just await another email calling me names.