Round Three

On the third Anniversary of the 2001 riots it appears that the media is going to startbeating on Cincinnati Again. I guess the 1 anniversary and the 2 were not enough. Here is another column on the Dateline programming airing tonight. Tune in and see what the show reports for yourself.

A Lie or a Delay?

Ken Blackwell has chosen a new voting machine for Hamilton County. He chose eSlate, a machine manufactured by Hart InterCivic of Austin, Texas. What I find troubling is what Blackwell's spokesman said:

A joint committee of Ohio's General Assembly recommended Wednesday that by 2006 all county elections boards be required to allow voters to confirm their choices with a paper receipt. Blackwell supports studying the issue of voter-verifiable paper trails but the technology is unavailable and unproven, spokesman Carlo LoParo said Thursday.

The technology exists, whether or not any of the companies are willing to respond to demand is another problem. How could it be "unproven?" You have a machine that currently "writes" the vote to a data disc. It is not difficult to at the same time it writes to the disc it also print out that data in a report that can be verified by the voter and then stored like current paper ballots are stored at the polling place and then Board of Elections. It is not that difficult a process. The paper trail would serve as a back-up, both for a technical error and for a legal challenge to an election.

I will paint LoParo's comments as spin and not a lie, but that is being generous. It is after all the job of a political spokesperson to lie for their boss, but convince as many people as possible that they are not lying.

A Walter Cronkite Moment?

I am not trying to compare Iraq to Vietnam, even though the political parallels in tactics and policies are obvious, but does these comments from Bill O'Reilly compare at all to Walter Cronkite's famous comments on the Vietnam war. I don't mean to compare Cronkite to O'Reilly. The former is the gold standard in broadcast journalism; the latter is a delusionally ridden ego pretending to be a human television personality.

What O'Reilly is however is a good barometer for the rightwing. If you loose O'Reilly, you lose many hardcore Bush supporters. That is where the comparison to Cronkite comes to bear. He was seen as the man of mainstream America.

I make these comment tentatively and want opinion on them. Is this such a comment from O'Reilly, or just another rant from a man with such an out of context sense of self righteousness that he actually makes sense to insane child molesters or to Michael Jackson? ( I kid, I kid)

[Via Atrios]

Good News for Voters

Panel urges paper proof for voters

"COLUMBUS - A House-Senate committee studying the security of electronic voting machines recommended Wednesday that boards of election be required to allow Ohio voters to confirm their choices with a paper receipt, beginning in 2006 elections. "

Great news for Ohio voters. The only problem is getting Taft and Blackwell behind this. The problem is the lobby for Diebold Election Systems. If Taft or Blackwell give in the GOP friendly Diebold company, elections in this state will lose a level of security.

Boycott B Apologist

When a group of known racists and bigots yell and scream at City Council members and the Mayor nearly every week you might think the new council members might want to taken them on. You might think that outspoken council members who are trying to shake up the status quo, like Councilman Chris Smitherman, would want to confront the obvious racism and bigotry that the Boycott B members, Nate, Kabaka, Kirkland, et al. Instead Smitherman shows his cowardice in this report on yesterday's council meeting:

Councilman Christopher Smitherman said he opposes the new rule. He said the problem is that City Council doesn't show enough respect to the people who come to speak.

Should we drop the "man" from his name and just call him "Smither?" Where is the Councilperson who was willing to dress down the police chief? Why is "Smither" defending their attempts to spew their hate on the city? Why is "Smither" defending racists?

I wish Korte had a direct quote from "Smither," instead of referring to his comments. Maybe "Smither" will give a direct interview on the problems of racism and why racist blacks should be denounced as much as racists of any race.

All is Well

Why do I keep picturing Kevin Bacon in Animal House trying to "calm down" a frantic crowd when I think of the Bush Administration and Pentagon spokesmen talking about the Shiite rebels controlling parts of three Iraq cities? How can parts of three cites come under the control of a rag-tag militia in a matter of a few days? How can that happen and anyone say the "coalition" has Iraq under control. I know, know, all is well, nothing to see here, move along.......

Semantics and BushSpeak

I have a big problem with the language being used by the Administration regarding the latest uprising in Iraq:

'U.S. forces are on the offense. The United States and our partners and free Iraqi forces are taking the battle to the terrorists,' Rumsfeld told a Pentagon news conference in Washington.

The problem I have is throwing around the term "terrorist." When a car bomb blows up the UN building in Iraq, that is terrorism. When grenades are launched at civilian hotels, that is terrorism. When a "militia" rebels against an occupation army, that is not terrorism. Call it a rebellion, call it an insurgency, call it an illegal gang, but don't try and lump it in with al Qaeda, because their actions are not the same.

I am not defending the extremists, but I am defending the use of language in proper communication of factual situations. All to often the government spin things to fit their point of view. "Homicide bombers" was just such a term created for political reasons. That term is propaganda, but it was at least an attempt that announced as a change in terminology. The way the Bush Administration throws around "terrorist" is about as bad as Islamic extremists throw around the term "infidel."

Kerry Rally

A good crowd forthe rally.

Will reporters print local Democratic responses the next time Bush or Cheney comes to town and gives a speech like they did for Portman?

Crowd size: The Enquirer reports about 3,000, I think WXIX said 2,700, but someone on WVXU said 800? What is up with that difference? I think some needed some more sleep at Xavier.

More from WCPO, CPD, and DDN.

WWSSD

What would the Secret Service Do if anti-Bush protestors raised a ruckus in the front row of a Bush rally? Answer: they would start sending out their resumes because that doesn't happen to Bush. Protestors are kept far away from Bush and they even send undercover police into the protests to see who says anything “threatening” about Bush, and then have them arrested

When Bush comes to town next time and holds a public rally, oh hold on, Bush doesn't hold public rallies, he just holds screened out gatherings for supporters or fundraisers.

Something Something D-o-o Economics

So you say you want to help the economy and you are a Republican, what do you propose? Well, a tax cut for the wealthy and an increase a tax increase for the middle class. Gee, that works!!! (Cough, Cough) Oh damn, why don't we just repeal sales tax on fur coats and sports cars while we are at it, that will surely create more jobs in the tens.

[Via Pandagon]

If Only a Hamster Would Fly Out of My Ass

A Letter to the to the Editor of the Enquirer:

Try anti-violence point with WWII
In response to the letter 'Violence abroad begets more at home' (April 3), if the men and women during World War II had only applied those holier-than-thou lofty ideals instead of responding in violence with their 'puffed-chest, arms-bearing stances' against the Axis powers - had they instead spent their resources on housing, health care and education - we could be raising the children of those Axis regimes now, and with better care.
Edward Charron
Anderson Township

Mr. Charron, on that note, what if JFK had just nuked Cuba instead of the wimpy blockade how much more powerful would we be now??????? We would not be powerful at all, 99% of us would be dead from the nuclear war that would have followed.

Put the WWII what if comparisons to bed. This is not the first such letter the Enquirer has printed. Come up with some better rhetoric people!!!!

John Kerry in Cincinnati

I will not be able to make the rally. If I was still working downtown I would go, but I will have to rely on news reports and hopefully first hand reports from readers.

The Rally is getting quite a bit of coverage: DDN, ONN, Post, and CPD.

Recounts

When the is the Velvet Hammer coming to Clermont County to protest the recount about to begin for the GOP Primary election between Tom Niehaus and Jean Schmidt? Here is what the BOE plans on doing:

Before the recount started, Bare said he and Kathy Jones, board of elections deputy director, would determine voters' intent on questionable ballots. If they can't decide, the board of elections will.

Intent of the voter???? Intent of the voter????? Why oh why would we care about that? If they can't fill out their ballot correctly, then screw them! Oh, wait, you say these are Republican voters??? Well, in that case, lets make sure we count every last voter's intent. We don't want to shortchange anyone's vote. No one will confuse us with Florida.

Much Ado: I am a Hamster

Dogberry: Dost thou not suspect my place? dost thou not suspect my years? O that he were here to write me down a hamster! But, masters, remember that I am a hamster; though it be not written down, yet forget not that I am a hamster. No, thou villain, thou art full of piety, as shall be proved upon thee by good witness. I am a wise fellow, and, which is more, an officer, and, which is more, a householder, and, which is more, as pretty a piece of flesh as any is in Messina, and one that knows the law, go to; and a rich fellow enough, go to; and a fellow that hath had losses, and one that hath two gowns and every thing handsome about him. Bring him away. O that I had been writ down a hamster!

Just in case you missed the obivious: yes it's from Shakespeare.

Culture Wars

Daniel Brown explores the culture wars in a column at QCF. His comments on the Gibson Movie I think are telling of some level of reality:

The Passion of Christ was a mini-sensation in March. This over publicized, over-hyped movie teaches us nothing about why people followed Jesus but much about mob violence and physical abuse. Symbolically, what is important is that it plays into the hands of the religious right, whose values pervades American society and has killed art and culture in Greater Cincinnati. Whether anyone's faith will be enhanced is up for grabs.

Indeed

Alistair Cooke

If have never seen or read it, I suggest catching Alistair Cooke's address to congress from 1974. It was on PBS last night in a tribute to the great BBC journalist. It was remarkable not only in its uniqueness, but in the guts for which it was made. Cooke said more about American Democracy and History than I have ever heard from a natural born citizen. He even addressed the Nixon scandal, which had come to a head only a month before his speech. Check your listings to see when PBS repeats the program.

Dateline is the 'Devil'

Oh great. The television show that helped kill television news is doing a story on tickets by police and they of course chose Cincinnati as a place to study. This AP story pretends to be news, but is really just a press release. Can I start a pool? How many dramatic music themes will NBC producers use for the segment involving Cincinnati? I would bet on 3.

Daily Kos

The controversy surrounding DailyKos is the "hot" news in the Blogosphere. The Blogging of the President has the best summary of what the controversy is all about and the facts surrounding it.

I hope Rob Bernard reads that link and stops stuff like this.

Rob is following the leader into a grass roots McCarthyism. I really would hope that the conservatives don't want to go down the road of death by association. Their laundry smells far worse than a couple of words from Kos.

Bob Edwards - NPR Flap

James King, director for broadcasting for WVXU has written a very telling column on how NPR handled the removal of Bob Edwards from the NPR Morning Edition program.

As a daily listener to Morning Edition I was perplexed by the change. Morning Edition and All Things Considered are the best things on radio today in America. I don't know what changes they could be trying. The only thing that could improve it would be making it more "live." That would change it, and keeping the same atmosphere while being live would be very difficult. If they are going for the same thing, I don't see why they would dump Edwards, unless there was some kind of internal contract or personal conflict.

I hope NPR does not try something stupid, like CNN did with their attempt to compete with the Today Show. If NPR wants to pull Stern's or Imus's audience I think they have gone insane. NPR is for those who like to think. Stern is for those who don't like to think. Imus is for those who can think, but want to pretend they are, without having to do any thinking at all.

Odd Cincinnati Reference

It appears that Tre Arrow, formerly known as Michael Scarpitti, who was wanted for 19 months for firebombing logging and cement trucks in Oregon, has been captured. What does this have to do with Cincinnati? Well, nothing, except for a reference in the article about Mr. Arrow:

Arrow dropped out of college and moved west, first to Cincinnati where he played in a band and fathered a child with his backup singer, and then to Frazier, Colo., where he worked in a whole foods store.

I think this would have been sometime before 1996. If you knew this guy or what band he was in, send me an email.