5/3 Bank Moves into 21st Century?

XRay Magazine is reporting that 5/3 Bank has agreed to change it's discrimination policy and include sexual orientation. The change comes on the heals of a campaign from local gay-rights organizations to move money out of 5/3 Bank next month. According to the XRay report the "Move Your Money" Campaign has been "Curbed." 5/3 Bank claims no connection between their revised policy and the activist actions.

The Enquirer has more.

Bronson: Blame the Evil Liberals!!!

Well, he is far more subtle, but he just might as well can come out blamed the Clenis® in column today:

Here's another reason STDs are out of control: Teens have been taught by our culture that oral sex is not sex - although it transmits STDs. They are seduced with a relentless background music of sex in media and entertainment. And when they think of STDs at all, they think of the disease that gets all the attention, AIDS.

Maybe sex education in schools that was not based on being what a fundamentalists Christian finds acceptable and more like what a reasonable human being find acceptable would help reduce the number of STDs. I also find Peter's, "kids believe oral sex is not sex" theme to be one not based on anything beyond recycled conservative dogma, not solid scientific data from reputable sources.

In fact, what is odd, is that this sounds like something Bronson would have written about 6 years ago. It could be a slightly modified retread.

Bush Coverage

Kudos to Korte for including opposition comments in his article on the Bush appearance. We got two retorts added in, so I am sure that will be seen as bias by the GOP, even though it was buried at the very bottom of the article, opposed to the top half for Rob Portman. We also got the full text of Bush's speech.

Korte and Weiser also had a briefs section and the stray plane story was played up like no one's business. It is almost like Bush is releasing the stories on stray planes to show how much he is "in danger" to the public or how much hyper protection he has to make the terrorist forget about attacking him. I wonder who pushed the news story on the plane incident? The DDN says there were two planes escorted down by military jets. The DDN also had a story on the fundraiser.

RNC Talking Points on Iraq

Atrios found this and is not sure how old they are, but here are the talking points from one well known RNC pollster on what Republicans should say about Iraq and terrorism. I wanted to post this just to make sure that Peter Bronson has a back-up copy. There is even a section about writing editorials, so I can Peter's sources more clearly.

Dayton Racial Problems

I never thought race relations were great anywhere, but Dayton did not seem worse than Cincinnati. This incident seems to suggest otherwise. This is something that I have not heard of recently happening in Cincinnati. I don't see a big fight happening because of race at a Main Street or Mt. Adams bar. Now, why is that? Unfortunately I think the reason is because here in Cincinnati people self segregate far more than in Dayton.

More here.

P&G: New Ivory Soap

P&G will be announcing a new line of Ivory Bar Soap. The question I have: will it float?

Odd Enqurier News for Website: Bias?

Ok, I don't have a problem with story being in the newspaper, but why did the Kerry-South Korean contributors story make it to the online edition of newspaper? This is not a local story and nearly all national stories that appear in the print edition of the paper don't make it online, usually because they are just AP Wire stories that are online in a 100 other places. This story is from the AP.

You don't suppose it is online because Bush is town today do you? Hmmm????? This story is listed on the front page of the website and on the Local page. It was in the Front Page Section of the Print Edition. Why was it online? I have sent an email to a couple of editors at the Enquirer asking why.

A side note: I hope that in tomorrow's coverage of the Bush Visit we get a rebuttal view from a Kerry supporter, like we got from Portman on Kerry's visit here. If we don't, then it will be for two possible reasons, laziness or anti-Kerry/pro-Bush bias.

Protest Predictions?

How far away will protesters be when Bush stops in Cincinnati today? I will guess they might get within 500 yards, but that might be pushing things. There will be no flip-flop type protestors inside the events; I will bank on that one.

The Last of the Cicada NY Times Articles

I believe this article from the New York Times is the signal that they have officially ceased their coverage of the Cicadas as a news story until about 16 years and 9 months from now. All I can say is ABOUT FUCKING TIME!

UPDATE: "Just when I thought that I was out they pull me back in."

Water is STILL Wet: Political Edition

Who the hell needs "expert" political analysis to conclude that Bush marriage proposal plays well among conservatives? These are Ohio analysts too, so go figure how they could have come up with that far reaching conclusion all on their own.

Propaganda Works #44561

Tom Vuksta of Fairfield really gets a lot from BushCo commercials. I've seen locally the ads that start with a positive Bush trying his best to be Reagan by sounding "positive" and then it switches and attacks Kerry for talking about the "Great Depression." Tom was suckered into this via this letter to the editor (last):

I have been reading newspaper reports and television reports in which Sen. John Kerry keeps comparing today's financial problems to that of the Great Depression of the 1930s.
If Kerry thinks we are now in the equivalent of the great depression, I can only say that I knew the great depression because I lived through it. Kerry does not know what the Great Depression was really like - he did not live through it. There is absolutely no comparison between today and the 1930s.
Thomas Vuksta, Jr.
Fairfield

Now, this is either an astro-turf letter or it is from an older guy who only reads the spin, and not the full speech of Kerry. When Kerry was in town he did not talk about the Great Depression, Rob Portman did>

"I know it is in John Kerry's political interests to badmouth the economy and compare it to the Great Depression, but the truth is we are experiencing the fastest economic growth in 20 years," said Rep. Rob Portman, R-Terrace Park, the communications chairman of Bush's Ohio campaign.

BushCo is pissed because Kerry regularly says that not since the Great Depression have we lost more jobs. Just like this from a Dayton Speech:

Under his watch, we've lost more jobs than at any time since the Great Depression.

That is not comparing it to the Great Depression, it is using the Great Depression job loss record as a bench mark. This how spinning is done. BushCo says something that Kerry does not say, and then get idiots to believe it because they don't know the details if original remarks. Now, I shall surely here from the BushCo folks saying that Kerry is lying or what ever else they want, but the fact is this is spinning. This is propaganda. Kerry's facts are "correct." If not, then BushCo would be calling him a liar, which on this they are not.

This is what I hate in politics. This is not debate, this is just playing "see who can hit the cookie first, last one has to eat it."

Clinton Haters

They will never die! They are the human version of cockroaches. CBS broke with precedent and aired anti-Clinton commercials during last night’s “60 Minutes” from a conservative group who seem bent on destroying Clinton's Book. Isn't that a actionable suit for Clinton's publisher? The commercials reportedly aired in here in Cincinnati. I was out and missed “60 Minutes” last night. Tom Hanks was very good in "The Terminal" by the way.

Did anyone see the commercials?

"Kindness in women, not their beauteous looks, shall win my love"

It is Saturday so I am in the mood to kick back and post on something without any news value at all. There are certain movies with certain female characters that I have been very enamored with. In no particular order, here is a list of those who most tickled my fancy.

1. Katharine Hepburn as Tracy Samantha Lord in The Philadelphia Story


2. Maureen O'Hara as Mary Kate Danaher in The Quiet Man


3. Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa Lund Laszlo in Casablanca


4. Tara Fitzgerald as Betty in The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain


5. Kristin Scott Thomas as Fiona in Four Weddings and a Funeral


6. Emma Thompson as Beatrice Much Ado About Nothing


7. Meg Ryan as Annie Reed in Sleepless in Seattle


8. Alyson Hannigan as Michelle Flaherty in American Pie 2


9. Winona Ryder as Josephine "Jo" March in Little Women


10. Natalie Portman as Queen Padmé Amidala in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

Now, please keep the ribbing to a minimum.

Anti-Red Cross Sentiment?

Where do idiotic attacks on the Red Cross come from? The Enquirer has a letter that puts forth condemnation of the Red Cross with an almost anti-UN style:

Will Red Cross act over Johnson death?

First, the beheading (on tape and all over the Internet) of Nick Berg in Iraq in May, and now, the beheading (again, on tape and all over the Internet) of Paul Johnson Jr. in Saudi Arabia.

Does the International Red Cross have any plans to determine whether these two incidents were 'acceptable forms of treatment of prisoners,' to the same extent as it has been doing with the incidents at Abu Gharaib Prison and elsewhere in Iraq and Afghanistan by the coalition forces?

Dan Nebert,
Wyoming

Most who know anything about the Geneva Conventions knows that the Red Cross has been charged with determining the treatment of prisoners of war and other detainees held during arm conflicts. It is not the Red Cross's job to inspect criminal organizations who have kidnapped individuals.

The letter implies that the Red Cross should not be worrying about the treatment of Prisoners in American jails. His other contention could only be to try and equate al Qaeda to the US Military, which I am fairly sure he would rebuke. Bottom line issue Mr. Nebert should think about: America is supposed to be better than torture. We are the beacon to the world on human rights, and when we fail, even if one thinks we did so only moderately (a real stretch), we must hold ourselves as highly accountable as any other country. Mr. Nebert likely would prefer to just let the military wipe out anyone who dares not follow American(BushCo) geo-political policy. I guess I am next on the list. Well maybe not next, but on the list.

Know in the News

Nice article today on the Know Theatre Tribe with reports of a fall production, Jason Bruffy news, and Know-to-Go specifics.

By the way ANOTHER AMERICAN: Asking and Telling still has performances on June 18th, 19th, 24th, and 26th.

New College in Warren County

The Ohio Board of Regents annouced approval of a plan to start a community college in Warren county, likely in the Lebanon area. The school has no permanent facility and will be cooperating with three different state schools until they are on their feet.

Countdown to Election Day Rally

Sign up HERE if you want to attend the Countdown to Election Day Rally and Citywide day of action which is part of the Campaign to Repeal Article XII.

Help take a bite out of Phil Burress’s ass! Stop the theocratic fascists in their tracks come November.

'Back in the Day'

Last night while enjoying a wonderful CT walk up in Mt. Adams I got into a great bar debate with a woman whom I shall only call Ms. A. Now, Ms. A commented on the phrase "back in the day" that I used in a discussion we were having about Cincinnati and indicated that she had only heard that phrase used here in Cincinnati, and she hears it a lot. Now, I am not a native of Cincinnati, so I am more than willing to bash us for being 10 years or more behind the times, which made me state that I was sure that they phrase was not unique to Cincinnati. Well, I was right. The Urban Dictionary has it listed: Back in the day. Most of the entries put it forth as an intercity phrase, which has been co-opted by the mainstream society, including myself. Now, this phrase is, as it is put in one of the definitions, really old-school. Cincinnati is not known for cutting edge urban language, so my guess is that we here are finally catching up with a phrase that was "hip" back in the day, say around 1988.

Oh, the coolnees we infuse on the culture. Please?

Crock of Beans

Bush is coming again to Cincinnati. It is just odd how both candidates just follow each other around.

Bush's reported topic will be hismarriage plan. Now, not his anti-gay stances, all though this is a "great" place to push that, he instead is trying to push a social agenda through the law. I thought that the GOP was against that? Oh, right, they are only against it when they are not either reaping the benefits of the cash flow, or their religious dogma is not the social agenda being pushed. He is seeking to push marriage, or should I say encourage, on poor people. If you have to be poor, what better way then to have more mouths to feed and more people to argue with about money.

I was most amused by the comments in the article from a Bush spokesperson:

'The president is going to be talking about his compassion agenda, highlighting his goals to create a more compassionate society,' White House spokesman Jim Morrell said. 'He will be touching on his Healthy Marriage Initiative as well as focusing on ways of building a culture of personal responsibility.'

Now, how is a president supposed to be taken seriously on creating a compassionate society when he rejects support for Stem Cell research on the heals of a call from the Reagans to increase government funding of Stem Cell research in hopes of curing diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s? How can this president seek a society that builds personal responsibility when he can't take personal responsibility for misleading the American public on why we went to war in Iraq? He blames the CIA or some other nameless intelligence agency. He shows he compassion by leading a war that killed thousands of Iraqi civilians and over 800 Americans. That is a great model for American kids. I mean Clinton played semantics with lying about blowjobs and Bush is playing word games with what constitutes "links" with al Qaeda.

More on Bush's visit from the Post and WCPO.

Intent

Down in KY the conservative fundamentalists have taken hold of the state with an iron hand. The new law they have created has to been seen for the intent, not just the anecdotal example used to sell it.

The intent of this law is to try and criminalize abortion. It does not do anything to prevent crime. It does not do anything to deter someone from killing a pregnant woman. The purpose is to put forth a conservative religious agenda by using the law.

Hmmmmmm Doggie, I love opening up a can of worms, and there is no can as big as the abortion debate.