Questions For Dick

VP Dick Cheney and his wife are in town today for a "town hall" meeting to take questions from prescreened loyal republicans. If Dick had any balls he would take questions from someone like myself. If he is tough he could take them, but his boss reportedly is wimping out on answering people's questions too. Here is a list that anyone going to the event can feel free to steal and ask Dick:

1. Using specific examples, please demonstrate how Iraq posed a direct threat to the United States at any point in the week leading up to the start of the Iraq war in March of 2003.
2. Using specific examples, please demonstrate how Iraq coordinated any actions or efforts with Osma Bin Laden or other groups with known financial ties to the loosely defined entity called "Al Qaeda" before the United States invaded Iraq in March of 2003.
3. When claiming Iraq possessed WMD in the months/weeks/days leading up the invasion of Iraq did you, the President, and other White House decision makers play up the evidence of the existence of said WMD or did you horribly misjudge the situation?
4. Beyond the fact that the WMD's possessed by Iraq before Gulf War I (in 1991) were not accounted for completely, was there any other credible evidence that Iraq possessed WMD at any time after inspectors left in 1998?
5. Why do you refuse to list which non-governmental persons attended meetings, some call lobbying sessions, regarding the Administration's Energy Policy back in 2001. If you don't refuse to do so, then who attended those meetings? Did Ken Lay attend?
6. Why have you not required your employees (namely your chief of staff) to state under oath if they leaked the name of the CIA agent to the press or not?
7. What reports, research, advise, intelligence, summaries, data, pictures, or other information did the Office of Special Plans in the Defense Department give you, your office, anyone working for you, or anyone else in the White House regarding Iraq, WMD, terrorism, Saddam Hussein, or anything else?

That is just a little to get him warmed up. I know I would not get any answers, and since I think any honest answers are going to hurt their image, I am sure these questions would not be answered truthfully.

GOP Candidate Challenging Mike Allen

James Rueger has filed as a write-in candidate in the race for Hamilton County Prosecutor. So we now have to Republicans. Mike Allen is taking his time about bowing out. I guess he may be waiting to see who is going to try and run against him. Now that Luken is out, he might be confident he can win, even with this unknown Republican in the race.

The Dems still have not announced anyone. They have until early next week.

Spy Club Closing

I never went there. I never wanted to go to there. I never will go there, but Spy Club is closing. Something will take its place. The old owner is going to open something else, somewhere else. The fickle tendency of trendy night clubs ebbs and flows like Red Bull down the chin of a drunken club chick.

I applaud Spy Club for lasting 5 years. Club Clau is likely eating big time into their business. Can Cincinnati support two Clau type clubs?

I want a bar for news junkies, complete with TV trained on 24 hour news from around the world and a PC where I could just sit on my ass drink beer and blog running commentary on transgressions of drunk people trying to get laid. I am dreaming, but a live blog at a bar that was on the bar's website as well as on big screen in the bar, that might work. An idea that maybe Nick Spencer could use?

Hot Seat Is Dead

Sound the Death Bell for yet another locally produced TV show. I have to admit that since they moved it to 7:30 AM on Sunday, I have watched it for a long time. I did try and catch the radio repeat on WVXU when I remembered it was on.

Where will go to see local media types get face time they really shouldn't get?

QCF

Queen City Forum is back. Come on down to their party tomorrow night at the RBC on Main. I will be there with a lamp shade on.

Kerry's Speech

I did not get a chance to read it yet. Security was lax, as usual.

UPDATE: More from The Post, the DDN, WCPO, and a tidbit about the protester claiming he was assaulted.

Not Ready For Prime Time

I am showing my true stripes tonight. I had the chance to cover John Kerry's Union Terminal speech tomorrow morning, but I had to decline. I have to work. I love blogging, I love following politics, but I know who butters my bread, and it ain't in cyberspace. It lies up in Cubical Hell: Mason, Ohio.

So instead of getting a seat at a spotlight event, I will be staring a computer screen filled with numbers. Oh what a corporate stooge I am.

Plain Clothed Sheriff Deputies To 'Protect' Polls?

Why does Columbus, Ohio need Sheriff Deputies to protect polling stations? Is there any specific threat? Which locations will they cover? Why was this information released? Who in the in their right mind is really fearful of a terrorist attacking their polling station?

This is a political ploy. This serves to keep anyone fearful of police away from the polls and to bring in the highly irrational person (likely Bush voters) with highly irrational fears of terrorists and of "them," whomever that may be.

Bronson: Just Making It Up

Ok, I guess Bronson no longer has an editor with bullshit like this:

Moore claims Attorney General John Ashcroft lost his Senate race to a "dead guy.'' False. Ashcroft narrowly lost to Mel Carnahan's widow, Jean. Despite apparent voter fraud, Ashcroft refused to challenge the results.

What name was on the ballot Mr. Bronson? Where is your proof of "apparent voter fraud?" Now he just makes stuff up? Why does he not mention who his UC student contact is? Is he Young Republican? I bet he is. We can't have a Republican activist offended now can we? At least he finally is on UC, instead of using emails from Miami's GOP club as the basis of his columns.

Now, this column is just typical Bronson. All claim, and NO FACT. He can point to a "list", but can't site a single source for any of his claims. He can't even give a link for the right-wing group from which he pilfered half of his column. It is typical of him to ride on Jean Carnahan. Attacking Widows, as long as they are Democrats, is just peachy for hack conservative columnists.

Luken Out, Who's In?

Charlie Luken has ended speculation that he would run for Prosecutor. Burke, local Dem lead, states they have a candidate. Who? Cranley?

Phil Burrss, a simple man of consistency, has changed his tune on Mike Allen:

"Allen's affair with an employee and the pending sexual harassment lawsuit have critically injured his ability to lead the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office," Burress says in a written statement to be released today. "That position demands a leader whose personal moral conduct is beyond reproach."

as opposed to:

"I can't pass judgment on either of them until all the facts are out," Phil Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values, said. "We have complete compassion for her if indeed she was sexually abused. But I know Mike Allen so well that this is hard to comprehend."

I guess Phil has made a judgment on Mike after all.

Kerry Coming to Cincinnati

John Kerry is planning a speech on Iraq at Union Terminal. This comes 2 years after Bush made his infamous speech filled with either bad information Bush use bad judgment in stating or bad information Bush knowingly spewed to the public as part of a misinformation campaign. What ever the choice, I hope Kerry points out in detail where Bush mislead us into an ill planned war, still taking lives, and approaching 1,000 American dead.

Who is the Real Funnel Cake?

I guess we have a Funnel Cake Conspiracy.

Reporter for 'DDN' Murdered

Tragic news from Dayton. 47-year-old Derek Ali, a 20 year reporter for the Dayton Daily News, was killed while protecting a woman from gunfire that erupted at a party. A group of individuals was denied entry the party and reportedly opened fire on the building, killing Mr. Ali.

Thumbs Up for Bigotry!

Here I present the darker side to Riverfest. Well, there were many darker sides: mis-clothed people, drunken idiots, stupid people, and way too much Lynard Skynard. What this demonstrates is the bigotry that simmers under the surface of this country. This man was right outside one of the entrances to the Riverfest yesterday. He was registering people to vote and giving out Bush/Cheney Stickers. As I passed by, telling the guy this picture was very "blogable," I heard a woman tell the man "good job." I retorted, in my oh so witty way, "good job? Jeesh!" That fixed her wagon, let me tell you. I walked right inside and got my Kerry/Edwards sticker for a very pleasant looking non-anti-gay woman and went on my merry way.

Do non-anti-gay people who are voting for Bush really just ignore the anti-gay issues? I guess since they are not gay, they just don't care? Yes, I know there are issue that we all compromise when voting for people, and yes Kerry is against gay marriage, but he does not seek to keep Gays as second class citizens by his support for Civil Unions. Bush's admend could have supported that, if he really wanted equal rights for homosexuals. I don't think he does. I would bet this guy in the picture would not want it either.

Riverfest 2004 Waterfalls

Waterfalls

I had a great time with a tremendous view. I have to thank Mr. H for the invite to his party. I also have to retort to Wes by just pointing to the picture. :)

Riverfest

I am declaring myself the official blogger for Riverfest 2004. I am typing now live from the 24th floor of One Lytle Place overlooking the river. We are having a great little party with one of the best views of the fireworks. If you care to watch them live I suggest tuning in to channel 12. If you have not left for the fireworks, I suggest staying home. If I can I will have some pictures on here later.

Four More Wars! Four More Wars!

Kevin Drum comments on an up coming Time article (not yet online) where plans for a second term of a Bush administration indicate that "at least five or six foreign countries" are possible targets for military action.

Kevin comes up with the obvious yet often overlooked reality of this election,

A vote for Bush is a vote for more wars, and with this crew in charge it's unlikely they'll turn out any better than Iraq has.

The beloved Bush, George the Lionhearted, is planning to further his crusade against the Muslim world. How he can plan on doing this and not either create a massive push for an expanded number of enlisted soldiers or reintroduce the Draft is a mystery you will not hear anyone on the right talk about before the election.

Collins-Allen Imbroglio

The Enquirer went all out today in reporting on the Collins-Allen affair. The headline with interview based story on Collins. What followed was something that I have never seen from a newspaper, a story about a person's former tenure with that newspaper. The trifecta is completed with an acticle foreshadowing possible change with its report about the Hamilton County GOP holding a "Come to Jesus Meeting" with Mike Allen in the near future.

The spin is getting so thick we'll need to dig out the waders. I am amazed at the Enquirer's article with a headline of "While admired by some at Enquirer, Collins no stranger to office gossip." How better to get gossip in the press than to use it as a self-reflective tool showing one's own humanity. This is a smear, plain and simple.

Some in the newsroom said those efforts made her seem manipulative. Collins acknowledges she was the subject of office gossip, most of which, she says, was ridiculous. But some of that gossip is now of interest to Allen's lawyers, who want to know more about Collins' past relationships and conduct in the workplace.

Of particular interest are any relationships she may have had with supervisors.

If they are rumors, then name names. Don't put Collins out there with hints that she was one to sleep with her bosses to get ahead, without naming those bosses.

No one in the mainstream local media has picked-up with the Blue Chip Review's story about there being two other women who are or could come forth and claim sexual harassment against Mike Allen. Does Allen have other affairs? What about his days as a police officer? Where are the stories of him back in law school or back in the CPD?

Other interesting side note from the story about Collins' past at the Enquirer, it notes that Peter Bronson and Mike Allen are or were friends many years ago. Does Nate Livingston's gossip story hold up about the Enquirer holding back a Bronson column calling for Allen to resign?

The Circus is Coming

All signs are indicating that Charlie Luken is going to run for Hamilton County Prosecutor as a write-in candidate.

It is going to be fun folks. Get out your rally caps and lets watch politics at it best. Nothing beats a write-in campaign, nothing short of a resignation. We still may have that coming too.

UPDATE: Guess who is shaking in his shoes at the prospect of Charlie Luken as County Prosecutor? If you guess Nate Livingston, you may just be right.

Amateur Politicos

I was out this morning getting coffee and as I waited for my Venti-Moca-Skim-No Whip I observed a couple talking to another woman about politics. This couple was wearing "Firefighters for Bush" t-shirts. Yes, I had to hold back the vomit. They smell of coffee helped. I did not hear much of their conversation, but one phrase caught my ear, "Where was John Edwards?" The female in the couple was asking the woman. I don't know the exact context, but my overall impression was that they were tossing back and forth trite rhetoric they heard on TV.

I often have the urge to interject into almost any political discussion, especially those who come across as what I will call amateur politicos. Now, I use amateur not in the sense of being paid vs. not being paid. What I mean is those who only read the headlines and party fliers and then try to argue politics with people, instead of those who know the complexity of the issues. Most people reading this blog, I would surmise, are fairly well read, and at least are smart enough not to be gung-ho without knowing your shit. These people seemed convinced of their point, but likely know only the superficial talking points, and know little beyond what the candidate wants them to know. I really can't stand people like this. I guess I could compare it to "fair weather" fans, or to band wagonieers.

These type of voters are what makes me just want to give up following politics. I held back from interrupting their conversation. That would have been rude, and I am not a rude person in public. I was very tempted however to put them in their place.

What do people think about those who really don't know a damn thing about politics? Now, I don't mean those who are on the other side of your position, although all too often they are just as bad, I mean those who only pay attention once every four years.