Threats from "Evildoers" (UC)!

Rob Bernard quips: "The reason you don't invade Clifton is because UC didn't invade Oxford 12 years ago, lose, and promise to get rid of those plans in order to get Miami to stop shooting." Well Rob, "someone" did steal the "Victory Bell" for several years until it "magically" appeared again. Our intelligence has said, and I am sure Senator Mike DeWine will back me up on this, that it was member of the UC Cabal. The Bell is under threat, and we must crush that threat before something happens. We can't wait until next year's game, we must act now!

That leads me into what Rob did not address. Why couldn't we wait to go to war? Bush's claim was that we were under threat (I say imminent was the Administration talking point until they could not support the claim), and that we could not wait. We could not wait because Iraq was a threat, which as we now know what not true.

The bottom line, the only reason we could not wait to go to war was that Bush knew he could not fight one in an election year, and still get the credit for it without a Wag the Dog charge. We could have gone into battle this Fall with the entire world on our side and with a plan for the post-war. We also would not have had the 87 billion dollar bill to pay, or at least not nearly as big a one.

Why does this matter? Well, I am a person who does not believe the ends justify the means. Do I regret the ends? No, I am glad Saddam is gone. What I refuse to let happen is for George Bush to be praised for his actions and then reelected by an ill-informed and ignorant public. Now I of course have virtually no real influence beyond the small number of people who actually read my work, but I think I am part of a chorus that must sing and show that the President acted poorly, made political choice in the timing of the war, and seems willing to spin his "victory" into some grand battle that illustrates his "brilliance."

Now, are you with us (Miami) or with "them" (UC)? (cough, cough)

Corner Market Crime Ring

Jay Love tried to make this into a civil rights violation during his 1230AM radio show today. He did not like the arrest and/or indictment of 23 people alleged to be involved in a crime ring that fenced stolen goods getting a lot of attention before anyone was convicted. I wonder where Jay's complaints were when the Erpenbeck scandal broke and was front page news for months on both daily newspapers. Erpenbeck got 100 times more attention than this crime ring bust will ever get all before he or anyone implicated went to trial. Why didn't Jay complain about that?

The problem with the news coverage and the headline whoring by Mike Allen and the CPD is that they threw around the "terrorism" charge without any evidence. Money going to the Middle East is not by itself evidence of funding terrorism. Allegations like this WCPO story are more substantial, but it comes from an ex-wife of one of the accused so ulterior motives are something to be considered. Sensationalism is a bedrock of news, but when it could cause a hate crime, then restraint should take precedence.

Rush Limbaugh is Just an Idiot

With apologies to Al Franken I had to mention the Rush Limbaugh tragedy. Ethan Hahn at Queen City Soapbox comments on both of stories concerning Rush. I actually feel sorry for the man at this point. He is either a drug addict or a wrongly accused person. Based on Rush's comments Ethan referenced, Limbaugh sounds like he is hooked on painkillers. If he was not, I think he might have denied being a drug addict, instead of his refusal to talk about the issue.

On the ESPN issue I think Rush's real problem was that he crossed the line that I assumed he was not going to cross when he was hired, the political one. I assume Rush would stick with commenting on sports and not bring political comments into the issue. Topping it off, he makes stupid comments that almost appear to have been more of an automatic machine reaction. He normally just spouts off the usually talking points and Conservative clichés that he just let one slip without thinking about what he saying. The ESPN thing will not hurt his career much. Painkillers could kill his career.

Miami Strike Reporting

John Koval's column from today's Miami Student on the reactions and actions of Miami University students and strikers respectively, was a nice and balanced take on the situation. I am sure the students supporting the strike will hate the criticism leveled on their acceptance of being "radical," which I took as basically being Stalinists like the folks at International Answer and the World Workers Party. These "Transnational Progressives" are the bane of us on the left. Their acceptance of Neo-Communism (including the faux anarchists or just old fashioned communism) had fractured the left into a liberal wing and a populist wing, the liberals being the more libertarian while the populists being the unionists and embracing a form of authoritarianism.

The strikers are a sympathetic group, but confrontation with the school in the end will have been a poor choice. The school has nothing to give them.

Example of Overt Racism from a Blogger

Zee over at SpicedSass seems to just not care about what she says on her blog. I find it amazing that a human being is this racist and bigoted and prejudice all wrapped up in one.

WMD Revisionism

Some local revisionism on why we went to war.

We invaded Iraq because they we thought they weren't living up to their end of the UN resolutions. These finds, without a single WMD find, prove that they weren't.

What Rob does not answer is why the war could not wait until say, now? Why not wait until we had the whole world on our side and we had a plan for what to after we won? What was the rush??? Oh yea, we were under imminent threat from WMD, that is why couldn't wait. Now of course we know there were no weapons, just plans for weapons. There are "plans" for weapons at UC. Why don't we invade Clifton? Those evil Bearcats are a threat to my Redhawks, damn it!

Detecting a Pattern?

Am I detecting a pattern with the latest Maggie Downs column? It is a very well written and a nice column, but why is it in the Metro Section? Is this coffee shop going to advertise with the Enquirer or the new Weekly? When is the weekly supposed to come out? It was slated for Fall and it is now Fall. Is Maggie the poster gal for the Real Life, Real News program? This is real life, but is it news? This column would make a very entertaining piece if it ran with video and was played during the 5 PM "news" hour on any of the Local TV stations. Is Maggie the manifestation of what Gannett wants to make its newspapers into? The print version of the Today Show?

I like Maggie's writing, and she is a really great person as well, but I wish she would write more about what is going on, not on what people could do in their spare time.

UPDATE: Wes Flinn adds some comments.

Young Politics

Greg Korte has a good take on young voters. This part is a bit self serving, but still very very true:

Notwithstanding the Internet, television remains the primary source for news for young people. And television does a poor job covering local campaigns - especially one in which 26 Cincinnati City Council candidates are competing for attention.

Radio does a little better than TV in covering local politics here in Cincinnati, but the internet I think does a great job. And yes, that was very self-aggrandizing.

Real Life, Real News, Real Crap?

Jim Romenesko's Media Memos has a lengthly memo purportedly from Enquirer Editor Tom Callinan about a new program hitting Gannett newspapers and how it specifically affects the Enquirer. This plan, "Real Life, Real News" amounts to basically human interest market driven news. What we are going to get now is giving readers what they want, or say they want. We therefore can expect to get less of hard news. The marketing study part of this program indicates a gender and age gap. It seems that all that means to the Enquirer Management is that we (the readers) want to make the Metro section in a Tempo part deux. This except sums up what they are going to do to change their age gap:

Real Life source: As we developed a product aimed at 25-34s, we created an e-mail list of several groups of young professionals and creatives and invited them for several get-acquainted discussions over the summer. The discussions reinforced much of what we have talked about - they are interested in local news about neighborhoods and things unique to Cincinnati, places to go and things to do, goods things happening in the community, news from their neighborhoods, restaurants, local music, travel ,careers, health and fitness, arts and culture. They want to see and hear from their own generation, not what they see as our out-of-touch critics. And, they talked about looking forward, not to the past (complaints about the "riots" obsession…and, Pete Rose - many of them were born after the Big Red Machine days).

We are now going to get Dateline NBC and People Magazine in the pages of the Enquirer. If we young professionals care about what our politicians are doing I guess we are just shit out of luck. Charlie Luken, Simon Leis, and Phil Burress can do what ever the hell they want, but since the Enquirer seems to think "we" want to burry our heads in the sand, I guess we get the same crap you can watch on every Local TV station, FLUFF. Callinan tried to say this was not fluff, but it is. It is human interest gone amuck.

A second negative appears to be an abandonment of the City of Cincinnati. The suburbs will now be the focus of the paper. Every example from the memo dealt with suburban issues. The Enquirer seems to be following the ways of WLW.

The only positive thing from this memo is the realization of the importance of the internet and an increase in special content for the internet. What that exactly entails was not detailed. The Enquirer has recently increased the number of times a day they are updating the front page of their website with news stories. This is a positive step. It would be nice to do this on the weekends too, but they would need to hire some new to do it, or just break down and hire me to do a blog (cough, cough).

More from Gannett.

UPDATE: Dr. Andrew Cline at Rhetorica has a very different view on this "new" program.

Feeding Racists

Talk about generous, according to an inside source Cincinnati Tomorrow fed Nate Livingston and Amanda Mayes tonight at a special "After-Five Walk." It appears that Nate and Amanda were using the computers at Media Bridges and after the CincyTomorrow event there ended the word was passed in the building that they had a bunch of food left over and the first people to partake were Nate and Amanda. Doesn't that violate the boycott? Doesn't eating the "white man's" food somehow taint Nate? Is Kabaka Oba going to have to "purify" Nate from the "devil's" food?

ISP Problems

My cable Internet connection is giving me fits, so my posting will be intermittent. I am skipping my VigPol column this week. I apologize to my readers for that, and I promise to be back next week.

Local "Big" Media Blog

WCPO's Dennis Janson is trying his hand at blogging. DJ has in the past done commentary on WCPO's news broadcasts, but now is attempting it with his blog: Spare Change. So far there is only one post from last Friday. The post was purely commentary on the "No-Call List" which is about to take effect, but is being challenged in court.

Some criticism: first Dennis needs to loose the "centering" in his posting, that makes his post look like a poem. It might be poetry to DJ's ears, but it will not be taken that way by most readers. The more troubling problem is that this is written as broadcast copy, right down to his tag line at the end. Blogging is a literary form of journalism. Broadcast journalism conventions come across even more hokey in text form than on air. I hope Dennis revised his method and writes to a reading audience, not to one watching him. I also am disappointed that there is not more than one post. The element of blogging that makes it fun is the timeliness to it. If he is going to hand his copy to the web editor once a day, they might want to not call it a blog. He might want to provide reference links to what he is talking about, that adds depth to a blog post, and is generally part of the "standard" format for blogs. I welcome the addition of a professional outlet's blog, but at this point it needs more in it before I can even blogroll it, which is something he needs. Blogs are built on networking, and DJ's blog lacks any links to other blogs.

In light of the SacBee controversy of newspaper blogs, I wonder what kind of editing Dennis is subject to. So far it sounds like he will be edited to a degree, but until more posts arise, we will have to wait and see.

Midpoint Music Festival

This is what happens when local people put on a local event with the cooperation from nearly all corners of the community, success. 30,000 people!!! I was one of those partake in MMF. I was impressed with both the turnout and the quality of the music I heard. I hope this event returns next year and I hope the national media takes notice. If the city would put the 100K earmarked for John Elkington instead into hiring a PR person to market MMF to the national market, we might double the turnout.

Being Made an Example?

Could Judge Patrick Dinkelacker have picked a worse target than an alleged rape victim to make an example for those who refuse to testify in court after filing complaints against people? His actions have been protested now by presumably rape victims support groups. Dinkelacker could have done a service to society by not picking this person to jail, while dismissing the case against the accused. I am concerned as to why this woman who go this far and now choose not to testify against her alleged attacker. Either she is being threatened or she made up the whole incident. Either way this is just a mess, and Dinkelacker's actions do nothing to help the situation.

The Fallible Peter Bronson

Greg Mann of Notes from Ground Level takes Peter Bronson to task for his column bashing the Ohio Supreme Court's Ruling on Conceal-Carry. Mr. Mann exposes Peter's ignorance of the law and even more his ignorance of the "Conservative" ideological view on interpretation of the law, which is generally how the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in upholding the existing law banning the carrying of concealed firearms. Peter seems to not like to hold true to his conservative values when they conflict with a need to appease a core constituency of the "conservative movement."

Meet the Whistleblower

The Genie is out of the bottle for Jim Schifrin, the one man show behind the Whistleblower Newswire. Mr. Schifrin is 64 years old, older than I would have thought. That is not a slam, by any means, just a credit to him. He has more sources than the best reporters in town. Often some of what he writes is mean and harsh and offensive, but in general he is mean and harsh and offensive to just about everyone. I am not surprised the Blower has been banned from City Hall, but I am saddened by it. If Dusty Rhodes can take the ribbing, why can't Luken and Lemmie? My highlight is that in tomorrow's edition of the Blower, the regular "Real Faxes From Real Subscribers" feature, my blog here got a reference in response to an email I sent on the Plain Dealer article:

At least the Blower doesn't get all blogged down. --The Cincinnati Blog

I am happy I have not been skewered yet, but if he reads this I am sure to get my comeuppance.

New Blog: Unfolio

Unfolio a new locally based group blog has opened its doors:

After considerable deliberation on a name and design for this blog, we have finally opened our doors. Welcome! We are a blog, nay, a community, for the discussion of architecture and design and the events and ideas that surround them. (So of course we would take a while on the design.) My colleagues, Cindy, Carl and Mary, and I are all students of architecture at the University of Cincinnati with varying interests and aspirations. We hope that you will enjoy our discourses and possibly even join us in discussing the issues that shape our world today.

I bid everyone a welcome to the Cincinnati Blogging world, and I hope they enjoy what I consider fun. My readers may disagree, but hell, it is fun for me.

MIAMI 42, UC 37

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.

Ring that Bell!

Coverage: Enquirer, more, more, more, and more. DDN, More, and More.

More Miami U. Strike

The University has issued a press release on the Strike and they appear to not be backing down on anything. The rumors on the Strike are rippling throughout the campus. Reports are that the bulk of the push for the strike came from the Dinning Hall staff, who are amongst the lowest paid of all full time employees on campus. Less than half of the almost 900 staffers "covered" by the union were actually union members, around 400 to 450. Allegedly 70 of those members quit the union from the point the negotiations when down hill last month, and only 300 voted on the contract, so likely many more are no longer be members. Reports are that most of the non-dining hall staffers will break picket lines on Monday, no matter if the Strike is resolved or not. The physical facilities crews had a large percentage show up for work today, likely a majority of workers in those departments.

Reports also were made that some Professors either held classes off campus, or planned to do so because some students or the professors themselves did not want to "cross the picket line." That seems stupid. I assume if those students want to honor the same picket line they will not eat anywhere on campus, and will not even enter their dorm rooms, in fact since the grounds crews are covered here, they can’t step foot on campus and should just leave all together.

Niger-Gate?

This is fresh news via Talkingpointsmemo.com: MSNBC is reporting that the CIA has asked the Justice Department to investigate the White House for allegedly leaking the identity of a CIA agent, a violation of federal law. The agent in question is the wife of Joseph Wilson, former Ambassador to Iraq and envoy sent to Niger to investigate reports or speculation that Iraq was seeking uranium from the African country. Wilson “discredited” those reports, but Bush still used the claim in his state of the Union address.

This story hitting on a Friday night is not a shock, burying news is the standard MO for this administration top to bottom. The timing may not matter, assuming the press does not ignore it. No one in the Bush camp can escape the power of the subpoena. This will be a test of life after the Independent Council Statute. Will John Ashcroft conduct a fair and impartial investigation? Will Congress hold hearings? Will Congress at least keep tabs on the thoroughness of the DOJ investigation?