Race Relations On Council: Bad or Just a Means to an End?

Ok, there are various ways to spin this, but I will take a cynical view, of course. Alicia Reece is full of shit. Tuesday's debate covered in the Post during the Council Subcommittee meeting showed that playing the race card is still an old hat for some political climbers:

Some Council members were angered about the tenor of Tuesday's debate on the proposal, alleging Reece unnecessarily injected race into the political debate over its merits.

The decision, Reece had said, would be an indicator about whether Council supports Cincinnati's black community.

"It's wrong and it's unjust," Crowley said. "If in fact she persists in that stance, I think it's grossly unfair. I would hope she would tone that down."

Now, if David Crowley, the most pro-black non-black person on council, has to say that, then something is wrong. Some might even say David Crowley is the most pro-black person on council, period.

Reece's plan seems like classic grandstanding. Let's give money to some groups who claim to want to do something to stop the black on black crime. Whether or not these groups have any proven track record is beyond the point.

Reece says the "Administration" can approve who gets their share of the $100,000 to start a program. I wonder how much pressure and influence members of council will put on the individuals in the Administration to accept the proposals of people that support that councilmember. Did Reece think this kind of plan work well with LaShawn Pettus-Brown?

What I found interesting was the debate of the details of the Reece Plan. The 5 non-black council members want some details, any details would be a start. I would guess the 3 black non-Alicia members of council would also like details on this plan. Reece seemed to care more about leaping before she looked:

"We have to go where the kids are," Reece said. "This is designed to get something on the streets and get it going quickly."

What is "this" and what is the "design" of it? How Alicia Reece (or her father) thinks she has the skills to move on to higher office is a mystery. Looks are not good for as many votes as one might think. Grandstanding is the only arrow in her quiver. The more she uses it, the duller its tip gets.

Never Know Who You Will Run Into

What do you do when you put an issue of CinWeekly to bed? Well, tonight you go to the Dubliner in Pleasant Ridge and play trivia. I am a semi regular trivia player there myself and along with our crew I was just playing along when I was approached by a man.

Now, you have to realize something that might be obvious. I am a rather bland and nondescript person, well at least outside of the blogosphere. I doubt my writing tone or style matches my face. With that in mind I was approached by Beryl Love, editor of CinWeekly. He wanted to introduce himself to me and wanted me to meet the rest of the staff who were playing the trivia game in the next room.

I have to admit I was surprised to be recognized. My mug is not exactly front-page fodder, but they knew me. I was introduced to the staff of CinWeekly, traded a few friendly jabs, and went on my way. I felt a slight bit of guilt. They were of course nice folks, not so different from anyone else. I have ridden their publication fairly hard since its inception. My guilt was short lived however. Criticism is not usually personal, and with CinWeekly it surely is not.

What was more impressive was that their team finished 2nd in the game. My team finished 4th. I was hoping to rub in an opposite outcome, but I guess their ace in the hole kept them ahead. That ace was the source of their team name: "Where the hell is Tom?" Tom was Tom Callinan, editor of the Enquirer. Tom had a few problems finding the Dubliner. I think someone needs to buy Tom a map of the city, or better yet maybe Gannett can spring for an installation of OnStar in his car.

Most of the staff appears to have read or regularly read the blog, so I would have been remiss not to mention our meeting. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. I hope they don't have to work early tomorrow.

False Alarm?

I guess it was just much ado about nothing? WLW had to kill a bunch of commercials for this?

The 800-pound gorilla thinks this was a false alarm, and decided so fairly quickly.

Flight Landing Into Cincinnati with 'Persons of Interest' On Board

WCPO and WLW are reporting that a Plane from France might have suspected terrorists on board. Some reports are that fighter jets are escorting the flight.

UPDATE: "Terrorists" was too strong of a term, and was edited. This might be much ado about nothing, but no one is taking any chances. WLW has live coverage.

UPDATE#2: FOX coverage, and WLWT's report.

UPDATE#3: 3:47PM - Flight is reported to have Landed in Cincinnati. CNN's has story on the incident and reports the plane was escorted by fighter jets. Here downtown a larger than usual number of commercial jets few over downtown in the last 20 minutes.

UPDATE:#4 3:57 PM - WLW is reporting that about 12 law enforcement officials boarded the plane before any passengers deplaned. The plane is away from the main terminal towards the DHL hanger.

UPDATE:#5 4:02 PM - The Enquirer has a story. Some people are starting to leave the plane at this point, but not in mass.

First Shots are Harsh

The first shots of what will surely be a very harsh and I think eventually violent campaign have been made. Moveon.org's has as a finalist a political ad contest which allegedly compares Bush to Hitler. A group called Club for Growth Political Action Committee has an ad sterotyping Dean:

In the ad, a farmer says he thinks that "Howard Dean should take his tax-hiking, government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading ..." before the farmer's wife then finishes the sentence: "... Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show back to Vermont, where it belongs."

This add is supposed to be running in Iowa soon.

It is 11 months before the election and we have this already. Come October how will we not have thugs in the streets battling to disrupt each other's rallies?

Blood, Blood, Blood Makes the Primary Fun!

Hamilton County Commissioner Phil Heimlich is endorsing Pat DeWine in what the Enquirer is calling his "maverick campaign to unseat fellow Republican John Dowlin."

This should be fun! It is always fun to watch an intra-party fight for office, but it is even more interesting when an incumbent faces a challenge for the party endorsement. I can't find any firm ideological split in the local GOP here. So far it is more of a battle of either the old guard vs. the new guard, or just personal friends sticking together.

What it might be is City Republicans vs. suburbanites if one takes this at face value:

"He has been a steadfast supporter on township and suburban issues," said state Rep. Bill Seitz of Green Township. "Now is no time to leave our county at the mercy of a city-centric commission."

I guess Seitz should just come out and say it what he really wants to say: "fuck the city."

Geographic political slits have historically been true on a macro level, but is this a sign of micro-geographic political battle? The City folk vs. Country folk? Westsider vs. Eastsider? Old Money vs. New Money?

This primary should prove fun.

Tracking Visitors

Michael at Rantophilia comments on the new program to fingerprint and photograph all foreign visitors not from specific strong allied countries (mostly European countries).

I myself am no overly upset of this method. We have laws on the books now limiting how long non-citizens can stay in our country. Tracking people in this manner will make it easier to find those who have violated the terms of their visa. The problems hear are appearances. One is that this looks really bad. It looks like something the Soviets would do to Westerners. I don’t like it when we look like authoritarians. The second is that the claims or more likely the implication that this will somehow help keep out terrorists are just vast over exaggerations. This will not keep people out who want to do harm. It might keep out the lone nut bent on doing something small, but if an established terrorist group wants to get people into the country, they can still do it without worrying about this new system.

The question then becomes, is this program so important? Well, I don't really think it is, but there is not a legal reason not to enforce the laws on the books in this manner.

I also have read about many countries pissed about this, namely Brazil. On this front I don't really see their gripe. Americans are not treated like saints anywhere in the world, so fingerprints or pictures of us will not matter, and it will not hurt them either.

I do however wonder what we will do with the fingerprints and photos. Will we share them with other countries? Will we keep them for ourselves? This is what scares me more: we don't care. Will we care if (or when) the Homeland Security Department does this for any domestic air travel?

More from the Enquirer.

Queen City Soapbox: Ethan Hahn Back and Blogging in Force

Please check out Ethan over at Queen City Soapbox. Ethan has been away from regular blogging, but has restarted his efforts. I bid him a welcome back!

Ethan has posts on: the Red's Faithful blog, Pete Rose, Freedom, and the cold.

Yes it is damn cold today. One must love hitting 67 one day (Saturday) and then three days latter is drops to 10.

C&C Bill Showdown

The conceal & carry bill is in limbo. It has passed both houses, but not yet gone to the Governor. Taft is threatening a veto:

Taft has threatened to veto the bill over public access to records of who has applied for a permit to carry a concealed weapon. He thinks the public should have the right to find out who is carrying concealed guns. But the House has refused to go that far, instead allowing only journalists to request permitting records by asking for individual names.

I again have to wonder why the gun owner has more rights than I do. Why can a gun owner carry around a gun in public, but I can't find out about? Why can a gun owner "protect" themself from me (quell their irrational fears to put it another way), but I can't protect myself from them? Why can't I know who has the right to carry around an machine made to kill? Why can't I know who fears me, or people like me, and then keep away from people who think I might try and commit a crime against them. I would prefer keeping away from people that I might judge as being a few cards short of full house who also are carrying around a gun, maybe in my home.

Why deny property owners the right to screen gun carriers from their property? If I am having a children's party, do I not have the right to keep parents of kids who carry a gun off my property?

Why do gun owners deserve "special rights?"

Rose Bet on Baseball

Well, this is not new information to everyone else, just Pete. I am glad he finally fessed up to what was fact to those not deluded by his bowl hair cut. I hope Pete can get into the Hall of Fame, but I hope he does not manage a team. I could stand him as a low tier coach, but not in charge of the team.

I mostly hope that once Pete gets into the Hall of Fame, his rabid fans (read Wildman Walker) will finally shut the hell up about Pete. Pete is not someone who will do much for baseball. He might fill some seats locally for a season, but the shine will wear off fast. I wonder how long he could stay out of trouble if he was highly involved with the Reds. That would be entertainment. That would not be good for the Reds though.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that this whole affair is one of the best uses of PR to sell a book in a long time. Who ever is Pete's PR person, give them a raise.

New KY Blog: Can You Hear Me Now?

I ran across another local blog Can You Hear Me Now?. The blogger lives in Kenton County and is a young 63 years old.

Back Pages?

A U.S. GI dies as his copter is shot down in Iraq and we hardly hear about it. Are people on vacation? Do we not want to disrupt the Fiesta Bowl? Is everyone just numb to soldiers dying?

No. 1

700 WLW is reporting the first murder in Cincinnati for 2004. We went just over a day and a half before the first murder. Just great.

This murder reportedly had many witnesses along Liberty Street. The victim reportedly was shot in the back twice while being chased down the middle of the street.

UPDATE: Story from the Enquirer and WCPO.

Cornhole, an Olympic Sport?

Well, not yet, but "The Inaugural Cincinnati Cornhole Classic" is a start. Mark February 20th on your calendars!

I just hope Phil Burress does not think this a Hustler sponsored event.

"Black on Black Crime" Plan

What can best be called the Cincinnati City Council "Black Caucus" has announced a plan to try and address what they are calling "black on black crime." They cite the fact that 84% of the 75 (63 of 75) were blacks. Couple that with the police chief’s contention that 90% of the murders were drug related and you see where this plan focuses. They have four main initiatives:

It proposes expanding a Children's Hospital gun violence education program into more schools and recreation centers, reinstating the police department's gang unit, choosing a Sunday for clergy to preach against violence and starting a job-finding effort for convicted felons.

The only one that will have any short term effect is getting the gang unit going again. Why did it ever go away?

The other programs are long term, but they are the just pissing in the wind, especially the special preaching by clergy. Everyone knows that drug gangs go to church and actually listen to their preacher....cough, cough.

What I don't like here is that the "Black Caucus s" is doing this on their own. They have segregated themselves into a group and are acting on their own. Now, some might see this as good. I don't see this as good. I see this as a sign that in this city blacks don't trust or just don't want to work with non-blacks. I am not say that these four believe that, but I think they are acting on their own as a "black group" because many in the "black community" would have a hissy fit if this same plan came from a white person. The status of messenger matters way to much. If people dislike or hate white people that much, then no, race relations will never improve.

Councilman David Pepper gives his solution to this problem in a guest column in the Enquirer. His ideas might actually have an impact.

And So It Begins

Welcome to 2004, an Election Year! I am not one for predictions, but on the political front I see this year more like 1968 than 1984. Blood in the streets up to my ankles? I will not go that far, but I am predicting some violence at political events. It might be something small, but if things are close come October, people will get stupid and start beating each other up.

My only resolution for the year is to use the word "fascist" no more than 5,532 times on this blog.

My Press

Incase you are really bored, you can either read online or research the mainstream press my blog has recieved. I will try and keep this up-to-date, but to be honest I will likely forget I am even doing this unless someone emails me and tells me. Well, anyway, have fun. Oh, these are not in any particular order either.

1. No blogs, no chat, no Web fun
2. Blogarithms
3. Cincinnati Magazine Feb 2005 edition, not online

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Who is Brian Griffin? - I am a thirty something blogger living in Cincinnati. That would be middle thirty something, however. I feel old most of the time, so don't think I am old just because I may write or rant that way.

2. Is Brian Griffin your real name? - Shhhh! Yes, it is.

3. Are you a professional Journalist? - No, I am not a professional journalist. I am at best an amateur journalist, if you believe blogging is a form of journalism.

4. What is a Blog? - A contraction of the term "web log", a form of on-line writing characterized in format by a single column of chronological text, usually with a sidebar, and frequently updated. From www.samizdata.net

Blogger has this definition:

A blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world.

Your blog is whatever you want it to be. There are millions of them, in all shapes and sizes, and there are no real rules.

In simple terms, a blog is a web site, where you write stuff on an ongoing basis. New stuff shows up at the top, so your visitors can read what's new. Then they comment on it or link to it or email you. Or not.

5. Where can I find out more information about Cincinnati? - Try one of the following websites: www.cincinnati.com or www.cincinnati-oh.gov.

6. What do you write about? - I write about what ever the Hell I feel like. I mostly write about Cincinnati news, politics and media, but I will venture into national politics and media coverage as well. I will dabble in culture and other random PR for friends or other groups I care to support.

7. What are you, a Democrat? - No, I am not a registered member of any political party, and I will be staying that way. I am a liberal, but don't assume a meaning of that based on your perspective, you might be wrong. I consider myself an Independent Liberal. My views on various topics vary from the typical Liberal. I would be considered ultra Liberal on personal social issues, but moderate on economic issues. I don't fear corporations, but I don't trust them either. My views can surprise people sometimes, and I like it that way.

8. How Often Do You Post? - I post everyday. During the week I try to post early mornings and then at night if I am up to it. On weekends I post when I get the fancy to write. I try to write more thought out elements on Weekends vs. Weekdays, but that is my goal, not always my reality.

9. What's the best browser to use with your site? - The most current version of Firefox works best. MS Explorer works fine, but has minor formating issues that I have yet figured out.

10. Weren't you in the newspaper or something? - Yep, I have been written about a few times in the local mainstream press. I am starting to keep track on a blog post here, so you can check out some of My Press. Geesh, I sound like a PR machine.

11. Are there other fine print items you need to point out? Why yes there are: The view points here are my own or that of the individual blogger. None of the view points expressed by Brian Griffin or any individual blogger on this site represent the view point of my employer or any organization I am affiliated with.

Got any more questions? Email them to me: cincyblog at aol.com

Beware of Men Baring Almanacs!

I bought this Almanac a few weeks ago. I wonder if I am on a list of people to watch?

Run for your lives! Books of openly available information are going to get you!

Wes Flinn has something on this too.

Dowlin Is Running For Commissioner

John Dowlin made it official: he is running for the Republican nomination for Hamilton County Commissioner. He reportedly had "50 prominent Republicans" at his press conference supporting him, including anti-homosexual state Rep. Bill Seitz.

Republican Anderson Township trustee Russ Jackson, Jr. also announced he will run against Todd Portune the other Commissioner's seat up for election next year. 4 other Republicans are rumored to be seeking Portune's seat.

Hmmm. This looks interesting. A GOP slug fest? Will they get to bloody to win come November? I think Portune will be safe if there is any kind of significant GOP primary fight. Dowlin and DeWine should each win against the Democrat that is put up as fodder for that seat, which turns out to be Forest Park Mayor Stephanie Dumas. Maybe Jay Love will run for Forest Park Mayor?

More from the Post.