Miami University Workers Strike Causes Football Game to Loose TV Coverage

Well, this will accomplish nothing but make another generation of business leaders hate unions. Good Long term planning there Local 209 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees! Do you even have strike fund? Here is the kicker:

About 300 union members voted.

The union claims to represent 860 workers. In reality the 560 other workers, or close to it, are likely not actual paying union members. They will probably still be at work today. Miami is bringing in temporary workers to help feed the students. I wonder how many workers from the dining halls will actually not work and make it difficult to feed the students. That is kind. An unconfirmed report from last night indicated that the Shriver Center (the student union, aka the “Res”) was locked up. It is normally open 24 hours a day.

This is the kind of union that I really can't support. What are they fighting for? Now, I don't mean for people to spout off Union Rhetoric. The dispute was down to something like 6 points. The issue was about power. The union wants to take away power from the University. I can understand this point. Power to the people is a tempting path, but when only 35% of the people the union claims to represent actually vote on striking, and only 165 people voted to strike (19% of the total 860). How is that power to the people? That is power to a small minority of the people.

The TV coverage of "the Game" is being cancelled according to this post on www.miamihawktalk.com from a credible source. Reasons for the cancellation are related to the strike, which looks to make its big show at the football game. Having no TV coverage does take away a possible PR weapon the Union could use if they wanted to disrupt the actual game. Miami may be able to pick up another game later in the season, but official word will come later on today.

UPDATE: Here is the official press release from Miami on TV coverage being cancelled. No details were given as to why, specifically the game was cancelled in this release.

More details on the strike from the Miami Student: Here and Here. Both stories are very fair and show mutliple sides of the issue.

UPDATE#2: The Enquirer has caught up with the story.

Always Glad to Help

Jack Shafer of Slate's newest piece, "The Rat of Baghdad" came out on Wednesday and believe it or not I actually was able to provide some background information for his story. I tracked the reporters who were in Baghdad during the Iraq War, so he was able to get an idea of the players in question that affected New York Times reporter John Burns, the subject of Jack's story. I am not mentioned in the piece; my posts back during the war were just a research too for Jack, but hell, I will take credit for anything I remotely may have had a hand in. If my work can provide any positive service or value to anyone, then I actually feel like what I do is worthwhile, beyond keeping me sane of course.

Even Liberal FOX News

FOX News has a story that David Kay's report on WMD in Iraq has so far produced little or nothing. What I find most interesting is that there is no author listed for this story other than "Fox News" and that the following was included in the report:

The United States and Britain made their case for war arguing that Saddam's weapons program was an imminent threat to their national security.

Couple this with the fairly tough questions asked of Condi Rice by Bill O'Reilly, one has to ask, has FOX News turned on Bush? I know, I know, they have always been "fair and balanced." (Cough, Couch) The only other possibility I can fathom is that Al Franken infiltrated the GOP News headquarters and spiked someone's coffee.

Seriously for a second, I think FOX News can no longer consider that they, in their own minds of course, are even remotely objective or "Fair and Balanced" if they don't report the fact that Bush's main reason for going to war was that Iraq was a threat to the USA through the existence of WMD and a future threat with on going WMD programs. If there are leaks from the administration that David Kay has found neither WMD nor any serious ongoing WMD programs, then Bush may be losing some of his conservative support. No one likes to be lied to. Liberals did not like being lied to be Bill Clinton, but in the end his lies did not harm anyone outside his family so it was easier to overlook them. Bush misleading people on this did cause harm to others, and that is unforgivable, even for one of his fellow Republicans. They will still support the ends of the Iraq war and defend Bush on that, but they will not be able to refute the lack of WMD, and thus loose one edge in the debate on Bush’s foreign policy.

This is really wishful thinking on may part for FOX News. I hope this is their tact, even if just for one day it is still a nice respite from the propaganda. The rest of the conservative media will likely still rattle on by downplaying the importance of WMD to Bush's threat claims or by just ignoring it all together. And so it goes.

UPDATE: What was I thinking? I am a sucker. FOX suckered me, well a little. I missed a key word in the excerpt I used above, "weapons programs." I missed the "programs" part and just read weapons, and thought it meant WMD. I should instead be screaming about the clear bias in this story, but it is a shock they even ran it. I guess Bill O'Reilly should get the praise still, even thought he did not really follow up with Rice when she failed to answer the WMD questions.

UPDATE#2: Nothing yet from the 800-pound gorilla nor the Corner on this story. If is from a source they can't claim is "biased," now can they?

Hats Off to Todd Portune

Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune, the only Democrat on the commission, has been the GOP's political enemy here for many years. People on the right really don't like his politics and his political tactics. Todd has been going through some very difficult health problems that have left him in a wheel chair. He still has long road ahead before he will be able to walk again, but for now he goes forward and now is able to get around town on his own. I hope people can look at Todd, no matter his politics, and admire the man for this kind of effort. He gets a lot of flack from people, and often it is not underserved, but I tip my hat to him for his courage, ability to face life head on, and his strength to keep on working towards walking to work real soon.

Concealed-Carry: Tradition Rules the Day

It is odd. This has been a law for 144 years, in one form or another, and yet "conservatives" want to change it. I am please that the State Supremes did not go off the deep end and rule that guns owners have more rights than those seeking freedoms of speech, the press, or of religion.

This supports my belief. You have the right to own guns and keep them on your property nearly in way you want to. If you take them off your property, then you can be regulated by the State. That is fair. It is also constitutional for the State legislature to change the laws on Conceal-Carry, which the GOP controlled government wants to, but they are playing to much politics with it to agree on a reasonable type of law. I hope the Taft camp and the extremist camps stay at odds. That will keep more idiots from carrying a gun under their coats this winter. The fewer, the better.

For the gun nuts out there, guess what: no matter how much you try and invoke the tainted studies by Mr. Lott or anyone else, you will not gain much ground with me, so don't bother. I am for the current Ohio gun laws. Keep your guns on your own property if you don't want the State to get involved, otherwise quite your whining or get your GOP leaders to compromise with each other. We liberals are not to blame for the State government here in Ohio. The conservatives have control, they don't care about what we think anyway, so why blame us?

The Enquirer's editorial is odd too. They seem to be saying "Damn you Supreme court, why couldn't you have been an activist court? We hate activist courts, mind you, but when they benefit our side, we'll just looking the other way, and ignore the hypocrisy." I'm reading between the lines, so don't nit-pick please. I wonder how many gun nuts will blame the liberals on the court for this adherence to precedent.

Cats and Dogs Living Together

The apocalypse meter must be rising because I agree with Peter Bronson's column from yesterday. Peter ripped into the past of John Elkington who the Mayor and Councilman John Cranley are trying to get as a consultant/developer for some type of vaguely defined Main Street project.

The only problem I have with this column is that it should have been written by Maggie Downs. She has written a lot about Main Street, she knows the people involved, and she is perfectly capable of getting the same quote from Louisiana and Georgia as Peter did. Why did she not do the column? The only reason is that Peter wanted to, and the Paleolithic columnists always get their way or that the Paper wanted to see this issue fail, and Peter can help reach the right people (those with the money) to help pull the carpet out from under any development of OTR, or at least any under the current Mayor. Why would Bronson really care what happens on Main Street? Would he ever even go there? Maybe if they started a Solid Rock Church instead of a Hard Rock Café he might.

Ohio in Play for 2004?

The latest UC poll suggests that Ohio is not a lock for Bush in 2004. Ohio is a bell weather state for politics. So goes Ohio, and more often than not, so goes the election. A 55% approval rate, down from 76% is a big hit. Iraq policy is only part of the cause. The Economy is surely the main reason for the drop. This poll is fickle, as are Ohio voters, so come next summer, this poll should be a good indicator of what is to come.

Miami-X

The Miami University student body president has invited, with the approval of the Sports Department, all Xavier University students to attend this weekends Miami-UC annual battle for the bell football game. No doubt this will piss off the Bearkitten faithful, but intercolligate relations has never known a better gesture. This is a great PR story, and surprise, surprise it is a positive story about Miami in the Enquirer. Well, it was written by Mark Schmetzer who is the semi-official Miami University beat writer for the Enquirer.

Vigilancia Politica 20030924
A fun week with even more on McMain Street. Elkington does not come off to wonderful in the various references in the column. No picture this week, I did not take my camera with me to Oktoberfest as promised, and I wish did. I missed quite a few bizarre pictures. The people with the Cole and Malone stickers on might have been the most interesting. I guess drunk people will wear any kind of stick, if you just ask.

Ooooo, a "Protest"

Nate has been busy. I guess all 6 protestors will have some fun being racist on Fountain Square. Just lovely.

Why the Leaks on 9/11 Planning?

Who is leaking all of the information on the alleged additional plans of the 9/11 terrorists and why is it being leaked? Is it being leaked to discredit Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in the eyes of the remaining terrorists? It is to taint a jury pool? I assumed he would be headed for either a foreign court or for a military trial. He would presumably be open to trial as a co-conspirator of 9/11 under U. S. criminal law, as well as New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania state laws. Doesn't this leak give him a slam-bang fair trial appeal before anything happens?

This smells fishy to me. If he is being held by the CIA then either the CIA lacks the ability to keep its mouth in the face of gain some positive PR, or it was part of some other plot to either push outstanding terrorists to act with haste or to back off from something impending. What ever the reason it leaked, I don't like it.

Reading Between the Lines

I am going out on a limb now with some nit-picky analysis of the announcement that the Bush Administration is introducing 6 new regulations to allow religious organizations to receive federal funding for programs that provide community “services.” Claims to the kind of services are varied and unverified. What makes me cringe are the comments made by Jim Towey, the head of the White House faith-based office (and no this is not the group looking for WMD’s in Iraq):

"These six new regulations and the four finalized ones represent a continued march by the president in the faith-based initiative's effort to spread compassion in our country and make sure that the most effective programs are funded," said Jim Towey, the head of the White House faith-based office.

The bold was added. Now, “to spread compassion” sounds very close to “spreading the word,” one of the evangelical crowd's many rhetorical bumper sticker phrases. Additionally, with Mel Gibson’s movie out there called “The Passion”, then “compassion” could have a more obvious context. Now I am a reading into this quite a bit, but the language could have been constructed with more care, like avoiding “crusade” when talking about going after a group of Muslim extremists.

Not to be outdone with himself, Jim Towey continued:

"He wants to see results. This is not about funding religion, but about funding results and identifying the most effective providers and knocking down the wall that separates the poor from these programs."

It is not about “religion,” he says, but that depends on how one defines religion. I think my definition and his might differ greatly. His reference to “knocking down the wall that separates” is such very unfortunate use of language. That phrase was at best a Freudian slip, or at worse code words to Christian Conservatives looking for payoffs for their obedience to King George. What this policy is doing is knocking down the wall of separation between church and state. Direct or indirect funding of religion is a violation of the 1st Amendment. It is compounded in violation when the details of who is being funded and who is not being funded. I would how to see at least a few Pagan drug clinics funded, but I will not hold my breath.

The Hegmo's Creative Class Warfare

Please welcome a new blogger to the fray, Sarah at thehegemo.blogspot.com. She appears to be a Cincinnati blogger with an interest for the international, hockey, and music. Give her a read.

Wyatt Earp Eat Your Heart Out!

Well, the only good thing I can say about this pro-gun "protest" is that they at least are strapping on their leg irons. None of the conceal and carry pussy stuff for these guys. They don't just want you to be fearful they might have a gun, they wish to remove all doubt, and let the fear manifest it self in fact. Now this goes contrary to the protest leader's comments:

"I'd like for that 80-year-old woman walking down the street to be able to have a gun in her purse,'' Ferrier said. "It doesn't work the same if she's got it out where someone can see it.''

It has more of an effect. Which works better: the fear that someone might have a nuclear bomb in their garage, or having the nuclear bomb on their front lawn? Guess what, the bomb on the front lawn "works better," so to speak. Neither works better in the long run. Carrying around guns is not going to change society for the better. It will just make a few people feel more important and give the weak another crutch to live by. Crime will not go down because Grandma has a gun. Grandma will just end up shooting the next man who comes to her door mistakenly thinking he is a burglar. Fear is a two way street. It can motivate you and it can motivate others.

MIAMI 41 Colorado State 21

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.

Details: MURedhaws.com,Enquirer, Cincy Post, DDN, Rocky Mtn News, Denver Post.

Miami Student's Failings

I sent the following email to the editors of the Miami Student today. I added the links:

To the Editors,

When reading the "MU ranks low for gay tolerance" story by Harper Lee yesterday (09-19-2003) I was perplexed by part of this quote used in the story:

“It’s conservative,” said senior Katie Hladky, a co-presidents of Spectrum, a student-run organization for gay, lesbian, transgender, and straight students. “When something like 60 percent of students are born-again Christians, they in general aren’t supportive of gay people or gay rights. This is not a good place to be gay.”

Now, Miami's student body tends to be more "conservative" than most public universities, that is a fact. Miami is home to a huge Frat/Sorority system that has never been strongly open to gays and lesbians, but 60% are "born-again Christians?" Unless things have changed in this society somehow in the nearly 10 years since I was at Miami, then I think Katie Hladky, co-president of Spectrum, lied. Compounding the matter both the writer and the editors from the Student failed to add a rebuttal or at least a clarification as to the validity of her claim. It is not like the statistic she quoted is somehow debatable. If she said maybe 25% or even 33%, then that could go unchallenged, but to slander the University as I believe she did with hat claim is really uncalled for, and it is a disgrace when the student newspaper facilitates it.

Additionally, the article refers to the Princeton Survey of what I believe was 351 of the top universities, based on a Student survey of 106,000 students. Now that comes out to 301.99 students per survey on average. How many students at Miami were actually in the survey? How many gay/lesbian students were in the survey? That may be difficult to determine, but how many members of Spectrum were in the survey? Was Katie Hladky in the survey? With comments that she makes about the university, it would not be surprising that she would rank Miami the 5th worst with her slanted views. If you want to know how many people are people are Ohio State Buckeye fans in the State do you spend all of your time in Columbus asking questions? Or maybe do you branch out. Did this survey do that? Where those questions asked? Why also was this survey the lead when it is a month old? If you want to run a GBLT story, just run it straight up, don't hide it behind the credibility of Princeton.

On a side note, from your editorial on tolerance the following sentence appeared: "Spectrum, Miami’s alliance of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual and queer students annually sponsors Awareness Week." What is a "queer" as opposed to a gay, lesbian, or bisexual? Is this a typo, something "new," or just the appeasement of splinter group with a hang up on language?

As a Miami Alumnus who is a full bore social liberal, I find disheartening to see that ideas are toss out there without any forethought or at least an explanation as to their meaning or purpose. Gay/lesbian rights are very important, and something I fully support. What I don't support are activists trying to disparage people and places with falsehood in hopes of trying gain hollow support for their ever-changing cause.

Sincerely,
Brian Griffin
Class of '94
Cincinnati, Ohio

I don't like it when activists are treated with kid gloves, especially when they are allowed to make stuff up without even a short editors note.

Oktoberfest-Zinzinnati

Beer!!! Brats!!! Beer!!! What three words are more beautiful in the whole wide world of city festivals? This year should be the typical. I plan on heading down this afternoon. Drink a few, eat a ton of food, and take a few snap shots of the event. I might post one or two if they turn out well. What I will be paying attention to is the little yet loud members of the CJC who plan on protesting the event. Last year there was a slight altercation between the protestors and some patrons of the event. This year I expect nothing less. I would expect to see more security on Fountain Square. The altercation will not boil up until later on when people have had a few more beers. The protests will continue tomorrow, assuming all of the protestors don't wind up in jail. Tomorrow might be the more apt time for trouble. At 4 PM the "Chicken Dance" will take place and everyone and their Fräulein will be on the square, plus the football game with the always rowdy Steeler fans will just be ending, so a recipe for high jinks is ever-present.

For info on the event go Here. Plus the Enquirer coverage Here. Protest information is here.

Theocracy on the March in Ohio

A Findlay, Ohio state representative is organizing an effort to pass a bill to get the State of Ohio to establish the Ten Commandments (part of his religion) as the foundation "on which we base our ethical, moral and legal dilemmas."

I would hope this would only get the extreme Republican support, like my Rep. Tom Brinkman, but 15 other reps have signed on. This is political grandstanding taken to the maximum extreme. People are using their religion as a campaign issue. This is not This is a wedge issue. If you are not "Christian" enough, then you are not worthy of holding office, at least in the eyes of the fanatically pious Christian.

This effort should be opposed, but will anyone in state government have the courage to face down theocratic fascists? Religiosity is yet another test that is being measured as the basis of your character. In the past it was your level of anti-communistic fervor. Today it is both "patriotism" and religion. If you are not absolutely in support of both concepts, as has been defined by the GOP, then you are one of "Them," a treasonous atheist European. I proudly am very patriotic and proud of my country. I think the President and his government currently in power is horrid. I am an atheistic agnostic. I consider myself as honorable, ethical, “moral”, and any clergyman in the world. I guess I am one of “Them,” and increasingly I am glad that I am.


More coverage: NBC4Columbs, ONN.

Insta-Drivel

I know I am behind the trend here, but have to point out that Glenn Reynolds (aka the 800-pound gorilla) has gone from semi-neutral moderate, to all out foaming at the mouth Kool-Aide guzzling end justify the means mega-hawk.

Glenn's Tirade is filled with anecdotal reports that he finds supportive of a viewpoint that is totally contrary to the reporting coming out of Iraq. Even Fox News does not paint as rosy a picture as Glenn seems to paint. Iraq is not going well. It does not take a genius to figure that out. It does take a strong person to admit when you are wrong about a policy. Glenn and the Blog-hawks cannot find it in them to admit that although the heavy fighting was done brilliantly, the aftermath was not planned and is not getting better. Now sure, not ever town in Iraq is horrible, but the parts that are bad are not getting better and any efforts to change are as rapid as a new bottle of Ketchup. I am tempted to edit my blogroll.

Should we leave Iraq? Hell no. We should stop lying about the need for help, mainly more troops, and start working quickly with the UN. Hat needs to go in hand. Let the French ego grow. Bush does not care about our international image, so why does he care about looking bad at the UN. Oh, wait, he does care about how his supporters see him, and he can’t look like a weasel to them. The hawks will be pissed if we don’t stick to the plan that is not working. Lovely.

I have to repeat Josh Marshall’s question: Where is the Kay report? Where are the WMD’s that we “knew” where there.

UPDATE: Glenn continues to drink the Kool-Aide, he even links to the MRC.

Nick Spencer Goes Nuclear

Yesterday council candidate Nick Spencer challenged the efforts of Charlie Luken and John Cranley to hire John Elkington as a consultant for Main Street development. At the OTR Chamber of Commerce luncheon Nick raised questions as to why the city is not considering the problems Mr. Elkington has had in some of his development project outside of Beale Street in Memphis. Nick's comments appeared to have not only put Mr. Elkington back on his heels, they also pissed him off enough to not show up for a meeting planned with Nick later on yesterday afternoon.

Support for Elkington is falling more and I would not be surprised if no vote occurs to even pay him. If the money for Elkington is denied, I hope that does not kill development for Main Street. Nick's had the quote that summed up the core problem with how this "plan" to hire Elkington was hatched:

"This has been put together by three or four guys who came up with this in a room somewhere and they don't want to be pressed on details," he said.

I will have more on this story in next week's VigPol.

More from the Enquirer.