For Berger Haters

Kevin Drum covers it enough for me. Hmmm, I guess the wheels of justice move faster if you are outside the government, and of the other party.

Peace and Harmony Through TV

I don't agree with Maggie on this one. I don't disagree that TV can bring people together, especially in bars where chatting about TV shows or movies can lead to wonderful, yet simple, conversations. The shows that are mostly popular today are reality based, and reality based TV is killing any idea of intelligent culture. Having mindless fun is just peachy, but when your only options are mindless fun and then watching two rich bleach-blonds driving big camper, well that is just beyond hope. We need fictional shows to return on TV.

Where are "Friends" when we need them? They'll be there for us, my ass.

Why, Not How

This article asks: How do you move a 109-ton fountain? I am still asking WHY you move it.

Miss Me???

I just returned from a Business Trip in Chicago.  Never willingly fly out of O'Hare airport if you can avoid it.  You will always be delayed.  I had one flight cancelled and then a second delayed twice.

It is good to be home.  I hoped to blog earlier, but I can't control Delta.

Wedding Amendment?

Why is this titled Wedding amendment nears deadline? This is not about weddings, this is about marriage. It is legal for anyone to have a wedding ceremony. That happens at some more enlightened churches now.

Plum: Shakedown Street

Mark Mallory is still expected to announce a bid for mayor today and if he does many believe it will shake up the race. Korte reports that if Mallory runs Painter will not run. It sounds like Reece will not run for mayor and will instead go for either Mallory's seat or statewide office. Pepper is in for now and so is Luken. Winburn could still be the GOP pick, which would likely help Pepper by splitting the black vote from Mallory. Things are going to be wild. Charter could still field a candidate, but whom? With Mallory in, Lynch will likely stick to running for council.

Racism

This is racism.

Wasting Money

Jim Siegel is giving false hope with his
article on court rulings on posting the Ten Commandments. His implication is that the courts have been all over the map on this one. Well, I think he is wrong on this one. When Moore got knocked back by the SCOTUS refusal to interfere it sends a big signal that he would ultimately loose. Adams county schools should stop wasting their money.

Political Fluff

Was somebody just so bored with opinions on Iraq or Taxes or Campaign Finances that they instead went for a Today Show angle instead?

Mallory Running For Mayor

Mark Mallory, Ohio Senator, is reportedly running for mayor of Cincinnati. The announcement is expected tomorrow. Well, it now gets interesting. The names we have of those who are or are expected to want the job are Luken, Reece, Pepper, Painter, and now Mallory. The field is getting crowded. Someone on the Democratic side will have to drop out. I would bet on Reece. Mallory will get all of her money, so unless she gets in now, she will miss out on much of it. Pepper still can compete. Luken looks like he will loose and will waste his money trying.

It's Alive.......

It has been months since his boycott website was suspended, but now Nate Livingston has a blog. He actually has two blogs.

So far they are, um, rather tame, for Nate that is. Now that I have noticed his blog, after he emailed the news to me, I expect his posts to get, shall we say, livelier.

The funniest thing on Nate's blog so far has to be this nugget:

Some of you may know I considered running for Congress this year and was discouraged from doing so by the Hamilton County Democratic Party.  During a candidate interview, I was told by Tyrone Yates, Tim Burke and others that whoever ran against Chabot needed to raise at least $1 million to be competitive.  They felt that Greg would do a much better job of fundraising since he ran with the Party's endorsement last time.  I could've still ran in the primary and beat Greg but I had other priorities at the time.  Greg Harris is not a serious candidate for Congress.  Democrats deserve better.

Now, that is an ego.

Nick Spencer Interviews Dan Lienert

Nick Spencer has an interview with Dan Lienert the Forbes reporter who wrote a hatchet job on single life in Cincinnati. Lienernt's answers I think prove most of the negative commentary on his article correct:

1. He did not do much relevant prep work on Cincinnati.
2. He is comparing Cincinnati with the likes of cities 2 to 10 times larger and expects Cincinnati to be similar.
3. He did a half ass job trying to find anything here.
4. He must have been paid off by the West Chester Chamber of Commerce or Peter Bronson.

It felt like this guy was sent here to fulfill his preconceived notion of Cincinnati and his existing bias lead him to find what he wanted to find.  A little more effort and he would have find that life here for singles is not great, but not the crap hole he paints it to be.  Lienart is a poster child for a horrid 'nationalized' media, a type of Wal-Mart Media where local news, culture, and society are ignored or belittled.
 
If Mr. Lienert is met with pitchforks and torches the next time he comes to town, I hope he is not shocked.

Should Have Known Better

Now, what will the hawks say about David Kay's comments?  It boils down again to the two general possibilities:

• Bush misled, lied, fooled or sexed up the reasons for going to war or
• Bush is incompetent and made a really poor choice in going to war.

Now, I am sure to hear that their are other "possibilities," but they are derivative of these two.  If you think Bush was "duped" by the CIA then he is incompetent.  How could a good President allow himself to be manipulated into waging war?  Can't have your WMD and eat 'em too.

Palestinian Civil War?

News like this suggests that as soon as Yasser Arafat is dead or forced out of the West Bank, then power is up for grabs to those with the most guns and people to use them.  Israel will have little influence, short of choosing sides.  I doubt they will want to get in the middle of that kind of a fight.

Well Meaning, But Doing Harm

It is difficult to for me to criticism and old woman, but based on what she wrote in the Cincinnati Enquirer I must.  This paragraph in particular:

Do you remember the terrorist attacks on our land in 2001? These aggressors are busy all over the world right now, attacking and destroying millions of innocent people. Until they and those of their mentality can be brought down, no one will be safe to live in peace. At this time, "universal peace" is only a dream of uninformed dreamers.

What Mrs. Frisch fails to grasp is that the Muslims of the world are not out to rule the world, at least no more than the fundamentalist Christians.  Who is attacking and destroying millions of innocent people?  Oh, other than the United States of course.  Now, speaking of these dreamers that Mrs. Frisch is attacking I have to say that she is more of a dreamer than anyone she criticisms.  Anyone who rattles of the many good things the American Military did last century without acknowledging the many horrors.  She lamented that kids today don't know the history of this country, but I think she lives in a fantasy land where the history she "knows" is a John Wayne war movie.  People all too often, myself included, deny that what they have thought they hade known for years was really just propaganda.  I find that today War Hawks are living this myth far too long.  Denying that BushCo mislead the country in the war has become an affliction that I think may someday be categorized as much as Gulf War Syndrome.

Political State Report - OH: Diebold Machines Blocked From Use

My latest Polstate.com post is up:OH: Diebold Machines Blocked From Use

Ohio Secretary of State, Ken Blackwell (R), announced this week that he is halting deployment of the Diebold Election Systems’ electronic voting machines in three Ohio counties. Officials in Hardin, Lorain and Trumbull counties had selected Diebold machines for use this November. Each county will instead use their current voting system. Full post

I have not posted to PSR for several months, so I hope to pick up some slack going forward.

Ohio Sexual Politics Via the UK

Odd story to see in the Guardian. Ohio is the hotbed of the Presidential election, but to have a picture of the Lions Den sex shop as the lead? I am puzzled by one thing in the article. I have passed the Lions Den on the way to Columbus, but the article says it is in western Columbus. Is there more than one? And to answer the obvious question, no, I have never been inside it.

Good Stuff, Bad Drinks

Maggie Downs has another good topical column where she is allowed to give an opinion on a political issue. Good! Thank you editors for not killing this column. Please allow Maggie to give more opinions on political issues.

I don't like smoke. I however am very mixed on a law banning smoking in private businesses.

I think nicotinis will kill you, however. I am in favor of banning such a vile, vile thing.

Conrnhole and Beer on the Surface Don't Mix

Cliff Peale writes Beer site says cornhole IS Cincinnati. Now, to much of the rest of the country that sounds like a "Bevis and Butthead" episode gone amuck.

On a side note: This might be right up commenter Funnel Cake's alley though.

Bronson's Bigotry, Again....

Bronson emits complete anti-gay bigotry when he makes comments like:

Yes, it's divisive. Yes, it's uncomfortable. And yes, it's the moral issue of our generation.

Ah, no Peter is not. Hell, I thought Abortion was the most moral issue for fundamentalists. I personally give have a complement to DeWine and Voinovich for being smart enough to not want to change the Constitution because Christian Fundamentalists are anti-gay bigots.

When will Bronson or any other anti-gay marriage supporter come out and say why they oppose it. I will include Kerry on this in part, but he at least is for Civil Unions, which if was established nationally as part of the Constitution would have one in the Senate. Peter needs to understand that no matter how uncomfortable people feel around gays or home much they fear them, they don't want to use the government to make them legally second class citizens. That is not a great situation for homosexuals, but it beats a mandatory fundamentalists conversion process to try and "stop being gay."