Clooney's Cash

Nick Clooney has set a record in fundraising for the House district in Kentucky he is trying to win. He is well positioned to win. Will he? The last polls I read about had him up significantly. I think he name might just keep that seat for the Dems.

College Voters

I tend to think that college kids are not any more informed, as a whole, than the general public. This article reports a lot of sides of who might get most of the college kids votes, but it seems to say little but what activists say, or at least what conservative activists say. Quoting a poll and then asking the president of the UC College Republicans is hardly a comparison worth much in the analysis of college voter. Why did this reporter not get a UC Democrat quote?

I was most concerned about this point from the poll:

• Liberal and conservative labels don't apply as much anymore, and the students don't like to be seen as Democratic or Republican. The poll identified two key groups: religious centrists, who believe religion should play a larger role in government and are concerned with the nation's moral direction; and secular centrists, who are more libertarian.

I added the bolding. What kind of person actually wants religion to play a larger role in government? A theocrat maybe? Where do kids get that kind of idea from? I guess from certain Religious Sects that advocate or are working towards a theocracy. What country do sound more and more like? We are starting to sound like Iran.

Question for Smitherman

Under the First Amendment can a student shout racial slurs at a public school teacher, and face no suspension from class? Council has passed a rule booting anyone who disrupt council meetings for 60 days. From the article:

Charterite Christopher Smitherman voted against the measure, saying the rule violates the free speech rights of people who petition City Council.

Bronson writes and quotes Smitherman in his column today, painting Smitherman's apologist views fairly plainly:

But City Council came through. Everyone voted yes except Chris Smitherman. He seems to think cops who are even accused of using the N-word five years ago should be fired - with a real torch - but people who shout and scream it at council meetings just don't get enough respect.

"We can't arbitrarily say what is disruptive and what's not," he argued, drawing disruptive applause (an almost certain indication that you're on the wrong side of an issue at City Hall). "What policies do we put forward that bring this kind of thing on?" he asked. "We must hear the voice of the people."

Smitherman I guess thinks that '400 years of oppression' makes it OK for a bunch of black racists to shout the "N-word" or the "K-word" at council members.

Bronson is actually right on this point. Smitherman is gutless. He fears taking on the black racists in town. He wants to bring the city together, but he doesn't want to stamp out all the racism. White racism is bad, but black racism must be the fault of white people. It would not surprise me to find out that Damon Lynch would have taken a better stand against black racists if he was on council.

MMMMM, It's so Good.....

I don't know jack shit about visual art. Well, not jack shit, but not much. Luckily I have a friend who does know something about art, and more importantly has a forum to interview and publish information directly from the gallerist. Some modern art is not my style, but I like ideas that challenge me, but that don't mock me. If you check out the M Gallery, give me your impressions.

Selfish Council, GOP Scam?

Kotre reports in his column that the district voting Plan would have favored GOP. It would have favored the GOP if we look at what happened in the last election, which is the way he approached it. Since moving around in the city is easy, Damon Lynch III can attest to that, then most sitting council members could cherry pick their districts. The people that would be hurt are those who rely on a specific demographic, like Witte, who would have to stay on the West Side, where Cranley could move East and challenge Ghiz and could do well. That might make for a stormy race on many levels.

Don't Blame the City

A Hamilton County Sheriff's Office Investigator shot and killed a suspect. What puts a wrinkle into this is that the officer in question was also involved in a 2001 incident were police shot into the crowd the protested after the funeral of Tim Thomas. He was cleared of wrong doing in that incident.

What will drive this case as it does with all police public issue is the race of the suspect. It was not give in the article. If he was black we will hear outrage. If he was not black we will not hear outrage. That is the way of world with activists who think in terms of race, and not in terms of humanity.

What I found shocking was the glibness of Simon Leis on this incident:

Mercado may take a few days off if he wishes, but isn't required to take administrative leave, Leis said.

That is amazing that they have no policy to at least require an officer to take off time to assure he is able to cope with killing another human being. Not to mention that there seems to be no investigation at all into what happened. I would assume that they incident is either on video or audio tape since it was undercover, which may account for things being so cut and dry. If not, it looks like Leis just does not care about what happened. What a cold SOB.

Summary of Bush Press Conference

"We gotta play it one day at a time"

"I'm just happy to be here and hope I can help the ballclub."

"I just wanta give It my best shot and the Good Lord willing, things'll work out."


I really don't get how anyone thinks this guy is a good leader when he can't answer a rather tame questions and instead goes into a blather of “umspeak” and over rehearsed clichés. Answer a question directly and honestly is what I expect of a good leader. I don't think any President in the modern era have been a particularly good leader. I can understand why people who are party backers back Bush. He is their guy and they back the GOP. I can understand and respect that. He pushes their ideology and that is what they want. That is what I want too for my ideology. What I honestly don't get is how people think this guy instills a sense of safety. I really don't feel safe with this guy in office. I am not saying I fear being killed, but I don't see Bush doing anything that anyone else could not do, at least anyone else with his "qualifications."

District Plan in Danger?

Korte reports on the support or rather lack of support for the Plan produced by the Electoral Reform Commission which calls for electing council members by district and creating an executive Mayor, eliminating, or at least really weakening, the City Manager's role.

If the plan proposed does not at least keep some at-large council seats, then I would oppose it. A pure district representation structure would create a mini-Balkans that would increase the divisions in the city, instead of decreasing them. I wonder why a metro government plan has not been pushed yet. The GOP sees that as their only way to control the city, while still living in the suburbs.

Hope I Die Before I Get Old

Editor & Publisher reports on Newspaper Rock Critics being fired for being too old. The focus on Larry Nager formerly of the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Sniffing Too Much Deodorant

As a single man in Cincinnati I don't see this how this town is "a great city in which to be dating."

Recent Iraq Battle Hits Home in Cincinnati

A local Army reservists, Keith Maupin age 21 of Bativa, is listed as MIA after the convoy he was part of came under attack. I am speculating that he might have been part of the same convoy the civilian truck driver who is not being held hostage was in.

My thoughts got out to the family. I hope for the best, but the situation is not looking good.

It brings a whole new element to the Iraq war when the term "MIA" begins to be used again.

Institutional Bigotry

The State of Kentucky House has passed a constitutional amendment that bans homosexual marriage and civil unions. 85 of the 96 members who voted in favor of this. There are 85 anti-homosexual bigots in the Kentucky House. The amendment must still pass the Kentucky Senate, and then go to November Ballot for approval by voters.

This movement is pure bigotry, pure hate, and pure discrimination. The purpose here is to oppress and do whatever possible to keep homosexuals as second-class citizens. This actually is worse than the DOMA passed in Ohio.

No McCain

McCain will not be Kerry's VP and just so the right wingers don't forgot, neither will Hillary. I know they need some reason to get people to give them money, but can't they just use something with some truth to it? You know, there's more evidence Iraq had WMD, than Hillary being on the ticket in 2004.

It would have been kick ass if McCain was the VP. His opinions are really conservatives, but it would have pissed the hell out of BushCo if that happened, making it worth it.

Holy Shit!

Shaq swore on live TV!!! Break out the FCC fine book Powell, Georgie needs a new pair of combat boots!

Hurray for Guns!

It never ceases to amaze me the things people find as uses for guns. Shooting up a boat full of people at a marina was something I had not thought of before.

The Battle of Algiers

If this movie can play in Salt Lake City, Utah, then why is it not scheduled to play in Cincinnati yet? Hesiod has more on the movie. I have been reading the script. It is not out on DVD and the VHS version is hard to come by and not the best print. I assume a DVD version is in the works after it makes the art house rounds.

Clooney on Clooney

Marcus Carey, GOP candidate in Kentucky's 4th district, might do well laying off George Clooney and start worrying about Nick Clooney.

I have to ask though where did this part come from:

George Clooney, formerly of Augusta, Ky., is Nick Clooney's son and was president of the Augusta Independent High School Science Club in 1978-79.

Was this a Clooney joke or an Enquirer joke on him?

Smoking Crack at the Enquirer Editorial Board

Who was the brain surgeon who came up with this one with this one?

Paper receipts may seem a good idea to let voters verify that their vote was accurately recorded. But paper receipts enable the possibility of vote-buying. Vote sellers could turn them in as proof needed to collect bribes from corrupt political organizers. The new machines allow voters to review their vote, and the new federal law requires the machines to produce a secure "audit trail" that lets election officials cross-check paper printouts with electronic totals.

Vote-buying? What kind of moron came up with this rationalization? How could you buy a vote after it is cast? Seriously? How? Does someone at the Enquirer Editorial Board think that someone could create fake print outs and try and challenge an election? You would need human bodies to get on the stand and lie for you to do that, a whole bunch of them. That could happen now with our without electronic systems without vote print outs.

I know how to simply do away with the irrational fears of the Enquirer’s Editorial Board.. CREATE TWO PRINT OUTS. One for the voter and one gets turned in at the polling station like paper ballots are currently, simple as that. I don't really think the voter has to have a print out, but that would be the ideal. What we do need is a hard copy of a vote to have in case the hard drive in one of the machines crashes before the data is downloaded or during the download process, not just because of possible fraud. The process is simple and the solutions are easy. Why are some (and I do mean only some) conservatives dragging their feet?

UPDATE: Wes Flinn also comments.

Editorial Bias

Media bias is a common theme in current events commentary these days. Mostly of the time it is a conservative complaining about "liberal bias" in the media. Often they say that liberal reporters can't report on religion without bashing it. I hope Peter Bronson has read this article in his newspaper about religion in the city. This article was written by a liberal. I don't think I am outing Maggie as a liberal, so I hope no one is aghast at this news, especially Maggie. Her article is very positive on a whole variety of religious groups and specific churches in Cincinnati. In fact the article gives no criticism of any of the groups, which some of them deserve. I don't have a problem with that. I would have add a few other things, but likely if they were added, the editors took them out.

What I am most dismayed at is the title of the article: "Younger worshippers flock back to church: From mainline to modern, youthful ministries flourish." Now, I am fairly sure that most reporters never write their own headlines. That is done by editors. In this case the bias of those editors comes out in full glory. Read this excerpt from the article:

According to a March Gallup poll, 48 percent of America's 18- to 29-year-olds and 59 percent of 30- to 49-year-olds say religion is important in their lives.

But a much smaller number attends services. Only 30 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds and 40 percent of 30- to 49-year-olds say they have attended services in the past week.

Despite national surveys that say there has been only a slight attendance increase among young people over the past decade, local churches say they are seeing a significant upswing of young faces in their congregations.

So nationally few younger people are going to church (with a ?slight attendance increase? over the last ten years) and local church groups claim they are seeing a ?significant? increase in attendance, that information is then somehow transformed to "flourish" and "flock back?" Local churches who are in the business of spinning their message to gain new members are claiming they are beating the national trends, but they don't provide support for their comments and this is enough to claim that young people are filling local churches like their is no tomorrow?? (cough, cough) This information is in the article and editors paint the story as a ?Win? for religion on a big church holiday. How convenient.

I also hope that Freddi Caldwell, a subject in the article, was also joking when he told Maggie that he was a former ?heathen.? If not, well that indicates to me a sign of not only ignorance, but a sign of a person grasping for meaning and buying into something because it?s easy. He was going on about drinking filling a void. If he is an alcoholic I hope he is not claiming he drank because he was not religious. Alcoholism is a disease, not the result from the lack of religious conviction. Religion can satisfy people?s emotional needs, but not their physical needs.

What an Opening Paragraph

Libertarian-Conservative Jim Pinkerton I think has written one of the best opening paragraphs outlining the problem with Bush's pre-9/11 stance on al Qaeda:

"If you knew that President Franklin D. Roosevelt had received a memo a month before Pearl Harbor entitled, 'Japanese Determined to Attack the United States in the Pacific,' and that he had done nothing about that information, would that knowledge change your perception of FDR as a wise war leader?"

That sums up the failings of Bush. It is not that he could have done anything to prevent 9/11. He likely could not have. What he could have done was to try harder and to admit that he could have tried harder. Instead his surrogates (he says little on the subject) just claim nothing could have been done or that it was someone else's fault, namely the red herring of all red herrings, Bill Clinton.

Bush's campaign has its focus: "Bush is a great leader." What Pinkerton points out is that he may be the person walking out in front, but that does not make him a leader.

This morning John Dean was interveiwed on NPR and made a point about Bush and Cheney meeting together with the 9/11 commission. His point is that Bush is just the Head of State, and Cheney really runs the government. Bush can't answer things without Cheney by his side. This point has been made before, but has mostly been satire. Here we see it in action. Bush's support generally is rested on the personal connect people on the right have for the guy. His frat boy charm is something I find vomit inducing, but the conservative subculture (bible thumpers and small businessmen) eat that attitude up. Bush is the Head of State the GOP wants. What Pinkerton and Dean's observations support is the empty suit charge made against Bush. Bush is not an idiot, but he is a long way from an engaged commander-in-chief.

[Pinkerton Link via TPM]

UPDATE: Great Minds Think alike. Kevin Drum comments on this paragraph as well.