A Religious Based Business?

A story on a coffeehouse started by religious people and its billed as a "Christian Cafe?" The reality and the journalism seem to me to be amiss or if not, then I am quite put off. If a couple has a business and their clients are built around their church and/or friends who share their religious beliefs, then I have no problem. If their business is billing itself and infusing religious dogma into the operation of a coffeehouse, then I for one will not be going there.

Why would I stay away? Well, when you base a business on difference, then I want no part of it. By differences I don't mean niches that cater to a particular market, like a Christian Book Store. There they sell Christian Books. That is fine. That is no different than having a market niche for Children’s books or Comic Books, or Rare Books. If a dry cleaner tried to say they were a Christian Dry Cleaner, then I would find that offensive, especially if I was a Christian.

In the case of this couple's coffeehouse, I do not feel they are trying to bill themselves as owning a "Christian Cafe." The article does not support that directly, as the title implies. There are a few comments that seemed odd and out of place like:

Poet Charlette Perry stopped in at Reality four years ago to get a doughnut and coffee. She's been coming back ever since to do poetry readings on open mike night and to enjoy the wholesome atmosphere.

Wholesome atmosphere? Is Starbucks really corrupting the morals of children when they play Jazz? This along with the title seem to be a shaping of the story that does not fit with the reality of the situation. I don’t think this a business that is trying to attract Christians just because they claim to be Christians. If I am wrong, please let me know.

The other odd part about this story was that it was in the business section of the paper. What is odd is that the cafe was created and is maintained in part much like a collective organization, where patrons give to it to keep it going. That smells of communism and any "good Christian" of the "appropriate" sects knows that communism, as an economic structure, is just plain "evil."

Taft on Toast

What is Bob Taft going to do after his term as Governor ends in early 2007 and he can't run again because of term limits? In most cases one would think he would try for the US Senate, but since Mike DeWine is not term limited, I don't see that happening. They are fairly close in political persuasion as mainline conservatives, leaning a bit moderate, so Taft really would have a hard time challenging him. Today's Enquirer has two editorials on Taft, one by the Enquirer and one by Taft himself, plus a whole section of letters to the editor about Taft which all paint him with a big negative sign. Now, I would have liked to hear something positive on Taft and I am sure there is someone out there with that view, but Taft has achieved something that is very difficult, making many in his own party dislike him more than the Democrats do.

The mood that one feels on the political street suggests rather strongly that Taft would be lucky to be elected Garbage Commissioner. His political future appears dead, and the Ohio GOP is set for the bloodiest primary in memory to fill his seat. Jerry Springer is running for Governor for the Dems, in case you missed the writing on the wall. It is not official, but with JerryforOhio.com, you can bank on an attempt. Those add up to a fun 2006. At that point Taft will have to look at either a cabinet post in future GOP Administration, which I hope is long after he's hit retirement age, or just go into the private sector. It would appear to me that the Taft family dynasty is dead, or on its last rope.

WOW!! 'Fahrenheit 9/11'

Saw it this afternoon and yes it lives up to the hype. I found it powerful. The movie will hit your guts hard, no matter what your party affiliation. Anyone who thinks otherwise after seeing it is a cold-blooded son of a bitch. The theater in Newport was close to full, I would say about 4/5ths full of one of the larger theaters AMC has. It was also odd that a security guard was posted inside the theater during much, if not all, of the movie. I am not sure as to why: young faux anarchists or Hitler youths would be my guess.

I saw nothing that was really "fact-checkable," even though many have tried and failed.

South of the Border

Northern Kentucky has a new Challenger for king of news. The Sunday Challenger will become a weekly starting on July 4th. Check out the staff of the paper here. You will see some familiar names from the local media.

Forbes Can Suck On These Cicadas

Maggie Downs slammed the Forbes article on Single life in cities released yesterday. This is the best column I have read from Maggie. She knows the topic better than any journalist in town and sums up wonderfully the failings of Forbes Magazine and its biased conclusions.

Let Maggie loose on other topics!!! Let her provide a retort to Bronson's tripe.

Ooooo, An E-mail Apology

After the Enquirer broke the news to Bush that he had praised a person who was supposed to have reformed after committing a big white collar crime, but has not repaid what they stole, the White House e-mail an apology to the Fairfield business owners who were the victims of the crime. An e-mail? That's it??? What an effort. How compassionate.

Fuck You Too Dick!

Yahoo! News - Sen. Leahy Says Cheney Cursed at Him

Idiot at Forbes

Ignorant is as ignorant does. When Dan Lienert came to Cincinnati I guess he assumed that in a few hours he could figure out everything about Cincinnati. What a lazy putz. I will never admit to being a super outgoing person, but If you are trying to find the hot and trendy places to go, you might try and do some fucking research before you get into town. Maybe you ask for some help. Maybe that is how people in other cities find out where to go, hmmm ya think? If this guy really thinks that based on one day of going around on his own he saw everything, then he is not only lazy, but stupid.

Also, what kind of moron goes to the Art Museum at 3:30 PM on a Friday and expect to see 20 and 30 somethings? WE ARE WORKING!!!!! Does he think we all have time to just take off and show him around the city on a week day? It is obvious this fool takes the perception that the Peter Bronson's and CincyNations of the city want you to have; that life here is for married white people living in the burbs. Guess what folks, they are wrong. Everything we need to have a great urban center is there. The problem is that too many in the media buy into the hype because they are too lazy to do their jobs and just repeat what the Bronson's say or what the coffee cooler talk at Channel 9 is today.

UPDATE: Nick Spencer and the Apostate have more.

Worthless Article

This article about the opening tomorrow of "Fahrenheit 9/11", which questions the Bush Administration, is totally worthless. All it does is say that some people want to see it, and bunch of conservatives are pissed about the movie. WHY does it not indicate the specifics the conservatives are pissed about? Maybe because they have not seen the film and are just pissed about it because it is not a pro-bush propaganda piece, like you would find on FOX News? The classic quote comes from Mike Allen:

"'If I know this area, the film won't do very well here,' he said."

When I am watching it this weekend, I will let you know how the turn out goes. If it is being shown by the mainstream movies theaters, then I don't think they expect it to be the flop Allen hopes.

Cranley Beating a Dead Horse

Stephanie Dunlap reports onCranley, Cole, and Reece's meeting with John Elkington while on a visit to Memphis. This is the same Elkington who spewed anti-Chinese comments while in town trying to land a development deal with the city.

Shocking News: Negative Letters About Clinton in the Enquirer

Ray Cooklis couldn't find a single positive letter about Bill Clinton's book? I know that Peter Bronson's editorial page legacy still runs thick, but does it have to be that biased?

Bush is Tough on Crime

Well, if you mean tough by ignoring the plight of the victims of the crime, then you may be right. This story is just simply amazing. How did this not get vetted better by Bush's people? Could he fit any more egg on his face?

AFI Top 100 Songs in Films

I watched AFI's TV program last night. I love the AFI lists. I was disappointed by this list. I guess my problem was their use of "song" instead of music or score. The music in film goes far beyond what they listed, which ended up being the songs that were popular hits outside the movie. What they should have done was include the top music or musical moments. The person they screwed on this and who should get his own AFI musical special: John Williams. He, in my opinion, will be considered one of the greatest music composers of the 20th century. His music is "pop-classical," to some, but it gave Spielberg/Lucas a signature sounds that complete the idea of their movies better than the acting, script or visuals combined.

CiN Weekly Opinion

We have more!!!. I hope this becomes a regular element of paper. I hope to hear something with, how shall I say it, WITH SOME BALLS. We need a "voice" in the city to saying something and if Cin Weekly can have a voice, all be it one tied to the Enquirer's money gambit, then we have more competing ideas. More ideas begets more democracy.

City Hall Mess

What will City Government reform entail? Korte gives a summary of the proposals which are now coming forward to council for a vote to add the plans to the November ballot. I see currently no consensus on a plan and too many plans to really give people something to focus on. I hope council can weed down which proposals make it to the ballot to one plan that a majority of council can support.

City Beat' Stephanie Dunlap asked last week: "Council districts: real reform or clever backlash?" Is it all a sham? Are various groups just manipulating the form of government in order to gain power for their group? Is this the plan of the GOP (Brinkman) or Dems (Laketa Cole)? Who stands to gain or who stands to lose in the various forms of "reform?"

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.