Nothing to Worry about for CityBeat?
According to quotes from this Boston Globe story, the mainstream free newspapers started by the Tribune and Sun-Times in Chicago did not hurt the Alternative weeklies, at least according to the publisher of the Chicago Reader:

Jane Levine, publisher of the 32-year-old Chicago Reader, says the new Chicago tabloids have not eroded her readership. ''They're supposed to be youth-oriented publications, [but] they don't want to be alternative at all,'' says Levine. She adds that a healthy dose of ''attitude'' distinguishes the truly alternative press.

If the Enquirer weekly mimics every other similar "youth" targeted mainline paper, then CityBeat will survive with only a few revenue scrapes.

They're Looting the Food King!
I guess we don't need to buy the 500 pack of "D" batteries or the jumbo size adult diapers when we read headlines like "Officials: City prepared for power outage." I feel safer just thinking about our wonderful city council on the watch for power outages. I have to panic a bit when my power, along with all of Mt. Washington, was out for at least a half an hour this past Monday. It did not even make the news. Damn, I figured the local TV news would have interrupted regular programming to tell me that I had no power.

Making a Claim of Responsibility
Did I have anything to do with indirectly prompting John Fox, CityBeat Editor, to write this editorial on why he moved Savage Love to a Web-only column? It seems as if a day or so after I posted this, a special PR link was add to the CityBeat website. It is perfectly reasonable to think that many staffers at CityBeat were simultaneously drawing the same conclusion I did from last weeks CityBeat letters to the editor. CincyNation.com ran with what I observed, so it was news to at least one other person.

If anyone at CityBeat did read my blog and checked out my conclusion from the source, than I make a full claim of responsibility for the reaction, otherwise I am just a blogger with an over blown ego.

New Local Blog
I have added Wes Flinn's blog, Walk in Brain, to my blog roll. Wes does a good job with it. It is still new, but he keeps it updated regularly. He covers mostly national issues, but he throws in local references when ever possible. Please welcome him to the Cincinnati Blogging Community.

In case his name sounds familiar you might remember him from his 2001 Cincinnati City Council campaign. I hope to hear his thoughts on this year's race. If Lynch gets the signatures by Thursday, it will be raucous.

Ohio Redistricting
It appears we have some power hungry Republicans here in Ohio. A gaggle of GOP State legislators is trying to change the North Eastern congressional districts to try and help solidify the GOP's hold on the US House. Calpundit had thoughts on this, as does Kenneth Cavness, and Wes Flinn. I think this is all talk. GOP power in this state is shallow. They have all of the statewide offices because voter turn out stinks like Lake Eire in July. The Libertarian leaning Republicans would not support this and it could actually backfire. I think DeWine and Voinovich can keep it from happing.

[Via Atrios]

Remind Me Never to Hang Up on Greg Korte
Larry Frazier, council candidate, seems to have a few problems. Greg Korte of the Enquirer smells blood in the water and is going in for the kill. His column yesterday basically sunk Frazier's campaign, which was dinky to begin with, but this story could bring criminal charges against Frazier, adding to his prior problems with the law. Will Frazier be the first independent candidate to fall?

UPDATE: Further Media coverage - WCPO, WLWT, and ONN.

Turning Water to Wine
It appears the NAACP has awoken from its slumber and wants Charlie Luken to pull a miracle out of his ass. While Charlie is at it I demand that he provide a clean and economical energy source to replace the combustible engine and produce world peace. What I really do not get: how can one demand that you meet the demands that someone else wants you to meet and which you do not have the power to meet? It is so bizarre that the boycotters think there is a man behind the curtain pulling the strings running the city, keeping them down. There are no secret meetings where the "man" plots to keep the "black man" down. Tin foil hats anyone?

Damon Lynch III to Run for City Council
Lincoln Ware reported on his radio program that Damon Lynch III is running for Cincinnati City Council. A press conference is scheduled at this hour (10:00 AM) with an official announcement.

This shakes up the race and messes up my debut of Vigilancia Politica (tongue in cheek). At this point he will only be an Independent candidate and only has until Thursday to get the signatures needed to get on the ballot. Lynch reportedly will be on air with Lincoln on the Buzz after his press conference.

UPDATE: Lynch on the Buzz stated that he will be working until 4 PM on Thursday to gain signatures. This sounds like a truly last minute push. He appears to have Ken Lawson in his corner. Will that be source of funding?

UPDATE#2: Media Round up - Enquirer, Post, WCPO, and WLWT. The big news that needs more attention is from the Post's story:

It remains unclear how Lynch, who works in Cincinnati but lives in Forest Park, will qualify for city residency to seek office.

Would he consider sharing an apartment with Nate Livingston?

Vigilancia Politica 2003-08-19
I have started a new politcal column over at GoXRay.com. I am looking for any feedback and tips on what candidates are doing on the campaign trial, so let me know.

Black Family Reunion
Organizers made every effort to avoid a repeat of last year's melee. Last night they could not stop a group of what WCPO reported were 500 teenagers converging on downtown. There were some minor scuffles, but no injuries or property damage was reported. A few fights were reported and a few arrests were made. Pictures show a large group of kids on Government Square presumably waiting for bus rides home. It appears the same problem existed as last year. Parents either left their kids down at the family reunion, or did not go with them at all, forcing the kids to travel home in mass by bus. This year trouble was avoided because police and other security were better prepared and kept order. Last year they were not prepared. What will the response be after the event? What will happen tonight after the event? If organizers keep up their efforts and police keep up their efforts, then nothing worse than a few kids will get out of hand. I hope the police will be thanked for keeping things from getting out of control, and not vilified for doing what parents should be doing.

Friends of Simon Leis?
Are the Troy, Ohio Police friends of the Hamilton County Sheriff? If they are not friends, they seem to have the same target: porn. This time though it is a strip club, not video stores. I have to ask, is this an election year in Troy? I also must ask, have they solved all crimes with actual victims in Troy? If not, why are they grandstanding with a PR induced prosecution? Yes, Virginia, yet another rhetorical question.

Commissioner Dowlin to Run Again
The 73 year old will seek another term next year for Hamilton County Commissioner. Dowlin is anti-rail and it would be nice to get someone not as set in his ways, yes you can read old in that comment. Age is not a factor, but when based on age you don't wish to change, that becomes a problem. This fellow thinks "Even though he opposes light rail, he says were it adopted today it would take 30 years to implement and he was[sic] other, faster alternatives." Just because he will not alive to enjoy a rail system is not a reason for it not to pass.

This announcement will surely piss off some Republican upstarts from the Northern Suburbs, who are surely itching to run.

UPDATE: The Enquirer reports that Dowlin will likely face a democratic challenge from former state Representative Wayne Coates. The Post reported that the GOP chairman Mike Barrett felt there would be no competition. Barrett thinks Dowlin's name will carry him through. What name? Sure, his has the advantage of incumbency, but it is not like his name is Luken, Deters, or Heimlich.

More Power Outage Fodder
It is not newsworthy, but the rain yesterday knocked my power out here at the palatial Griffin Estate. I was at work at the time, but I had to reset a clock and my stereo was on "demo," a sign the power was out.

Giz over at afternoon.para-bellum.net reports of some more significant power outages recently in Delhi, but still relatively short. Giz's blog needs permalinks. Both incidents are noteworthy for local news, not national news. 50 million people losing power is national news and demands coverage. Some talk radio folks were scolding the media for making to much of this. I guess they don't know anyone in the area's hit. This was huge news and it got big coverage in part do to the simple fact that the TV networks are headquartered in the affected areas. When news is close to home, human journalists are opted to give it more attention. That is in part why Detroit and Cleveland's troubles got little attention. This power outage makes it clear that local news coverage is not well served by national networks. The Ohio News Network (ONN) did a good job here in Ohio with Ohio specific news, mostly carrying feeds from Toledo and Cleveland TV stations.

The Cincinnati Post has the typical "are we ready" story. Here's the Enquirer's story.

Lawmakers are "demanding" answers. Give it a rest folks. Let the water pressure build up before you start the blame game. Both Democrats and Republicans in Washington are playing this game, so if anyone tries to say one side is worse than the other you might want to correct their ignorance.

UPDATE: Ethan Hahn has some thoughts.

Not MY Bag
I am sure to be pressured by my co-workers to try this, but I will not join the insta-date group described in Maggie Downs' latest column. I hate first date chitchat and doing it over and over again in one evening is about as appealing as having my teeth drilled. I will stick to randomly meeting women in bookstores. Judging a person by what they read and how they drink expensive coffee is more my style of date screening. I guess I better start setting foot in bookstores more often, and keep my nose out of my book. I have had no luck with this approach, but hey, it beats having to expose one's inability to socially interact with other human beings. (I have to work on that inner monologue.)

Follow-up: Couldn't I have found a better cliché than "having my teeth drilled?"

Hispanics vs. Whites
Here is the problem with this article about housing discrimination. I am 1/8th Latino. My Great Grandmother was from Panama/Columbia. She was "white." So, like most others out there, the Enquirer wants to paint Hispanics/Latinos as one monolithic group to compare with monolithic whites, a nice simple "black and white" story. I would surmise that most of the Hispanics in question were Mexican, and were mestizo (mixed Amerindian and white). So what are we trying to compare here, ethnic groups or races? There is no "Hispanic Race," and comparing race is really a no win action. Ethnic discrimination would have required the disclosure of the white people's ethnic groups, unless they are some how considered falsely blanketed as "ethnic Americans." I therefore find this report to be comparing apples and oranges. I would consider without much evidence that Mexicans and other Latin-American ethnic/nationality groups are treated poorly by landlords and often discriminated against. I wonder how many non-white landlords treated the Hispanic people differently than white landlords.

UPDATE: Similar treatment in the Post.

FOX News is a Sucker for Power (Blackout Story)
FOX News just reported they had reports that the power was out in Dayton and even Cincinnati. At this point no one else is reporting Dayton, and none of the Dayton outlets are reporting that. I can surely testify that Cincinnati's power is working fine. Rumors really have no place being reported on a story as big as this. People in this part of the state clean out Kroger’s when an inch of snow is forecasted. If even a few ignorant souls believed the faux reports, it might turn tragic. Jumping the gun is a fault of most Cable News Outlets, and FOX is known for hyperbole.

UPDATE: WLWT-TV is reporting no local outages. A Dayton TV station did report a report in Middletown, Ohio (between Dayton and Cincinnati.

UPDATE #2: The Enquirer is reporting there was an unrelated power outage in Middletown that cut power to the south side of town due to a transformer going down after 5 PM tonight. This outage was not related to the larger outage affecting NYC.

Theocracy Today, Theocracy Tomorrow, Theocracy Forever
Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is refusing to comply with a Federal Court Order. The difference now as opposed to 40 years ago is the President in the White House. Bush wants a country like Roy Moore wants: One Nation, One Religion: No Exceptions. George Wallace veiled his beliefs under "states rights." Will Roy Moore do the same? Religious bigotry is growing in this country, and those who don't bow down will find it more difficult to live as they choose. Roy Moore and his allies will likely veil their actions under the banner of victim hood, the poor Southern Christians can’t seem to rid themselves of those Northern Heathens. History repeats itself, and the culture wars will wage on in earnest. I plan on defending mine, but I wonder why I have to. Why does my culture worry Mr. Moore? I don’t share his religion, and I legally can’t be judged under his religion in a government court, so why does he seem to think otherwise? Rule of Law is a bedrock of our society. It does not bend for a religious zealot.

CityBeat Sells Out?
Ok, I read this letter to the editor in today's CityBeat and I had to re-read the editor's response a couple of times to make sure I read it straight.

Where's the Love?
I'm writing to ask you to please reinstate Savage Love in your weekly print edition. This was one of my favorite columns in your paper.

I'm disappointed to learn you have made this a Web-only column in order to increase traffic to CityBeat's site. Dan Savage's column is available online at many Web sites and will not necessarily increase traffic to your site.

I wrote a protest letter to Kroger when they removed your paper from their stores because of the addition of Savage Love. Asking your readers to jump through this extra hoop now seems unfair.

-- Charles Mitchell, Mount Washington

Editor Responds: Yes, we're making Savage Love a Web-only column in order to increase traffic to our site, but it's been moved from the paper primarily in order to help us increase CityBeat circulation.

I read this and it says to me that CityBeat pulled the Savage Love column from the print edition in order to get the newspaper back into Kroger stores. Savage Love is a syndicated love/sex advice column run in many alternative weekly newspapers across the country. It's content can be "graphic "at times, and I mean graphic in the sense that most parents would not want their young kids to read it. Removing the content that might be considered "objectionable" would make the publication more retail friendly.

I am floored that CityBeat would basically admit that they removed the column in order to increase circulation. Are they positioning themselves to better compete with the Enquirer's weekly? The new Enquirer weekly will surely be available at Kroger's and every other grocery stores in the tri-state area. Compromising content for the sake of sales is the best way to maintain your market position. The activist friends of CityBeat call it selling out.

A Sting, Not a Plot
Josh Marshall writes on the arrest of weapons smugglers and points that there was no "plot" against America, this was a sting operation. There were no terrorists involved, just faux ones. Now, where is the righty bloggers attack on the media for spinning the story?.........I am waiting.............opps, my bad. The story that was spun favors the Bush Administration and favors the positions taken by rightwing bloggers, so we can't expect them to cut off their own heads now, even though it would mean good journalism. Consistency in reporting is subjective so, we can't expect them to point out everything now can we? They spend their time watching to see if the New York Times' spelling is correct, so facts in other outlets are just as important as spelling at the Times.

I wonder if the righty bloggers are going to post on the Franken-Fox story. A few of them have made comments, but if CNN was suing Ann Coulter, war would be declared and Ted Turner would be burned at the stake. Yes, even though he no longer works for CNN or AOL-Time Warner. It would be that big of a deal. Blogging history would be made. Blog Harbor? Bridge Over the River Blog? I can see the movie version now. Andrew Sullivan battling Aaron Brown in a space station with laser pointers.

Is Convergys Pulling a Fast One?
Per reader Sam: The Salt Lake Tribune is reporting "Convergys Corp. a week ago confirmed plans to move at least 100 technical support jobs at its Taylorsville call center to an overseas center." Taylorsville is in Utah just to keep it in perspective. What does this mean for keeping jobs here in Cincinnati? The jobs going overseas are mostly professional jobs. What kind of jobs are they planning on adding downtown? Only call center jobs? I am sure people will be happy to get any job they can get, but that will not add as much to our tax base if they are only hourly jobs, with significant pay limits. Call center's in downtowns are difficult to keep staffed. The costs of getting downtown and working downtown are often prohibitive for lower level jobs, which make up the bulk of call center staffs. It sounds as if Convergys’s promise to increase the number of employees downtown will not create new jobs, it will just be a transfer of staff from the Norwood Convergys call center. Who's the sucker now? (We are, We are)