Lobbying By Race

I am tired of race. I am sick and tired of people using race as the impetus to lobby the government for money. Lobbying is part of our democracy, but doing so based on Race increases the racial divide, and does nothing to create an inclusive society. Invoking George Wallace is a hollow and misleading rhetorical tactic, especially from the mouth of Chris Smitherman, who appears to be angling to become a local Al Sharpton, playing the race card as his first and last play.

Everybody's GOP Fightin'

In local politics, party really is not thicker than personal beefs between bitter foes. In this case seeing the Republicans fight like dogs, is quite a sporting evening.

UPDATE: A lot of detail at CityBeat's Porkopolis Blog.

Ohio 2nd: Heimlich vs Schmidt

The GOP primary is going to have a real race for the Ohio 2nd Congressional district.

Don't Call It a Comeback

LL Cool J will be performing at the grand opening of Club Red in the former Red Cheetah on 12th Street in OTR.

Cincy Fringe Festival 2007

Cincinnati Fringe Festival

But, wait, there's more:

Jason Haap Sued

Local blogger Jason Haap (aka "the Dean of Cincinnati) is listed as a defendant in a lawsuit relating to the feud between Henry and Peter Heimlich. Henry Heimlich developed the Heimlich Maneuver, which is the source of much of feud.

I've seen Jason go off the deep end on posts about Henry Heimlich and the Maneuver, but I've never known them to be worthy of a law suit.

More Smearing of Crowley

Here's a video on Youtube from a user called "HamCoGOP." I can't find this on their website, but it's a hackjob, so I would expect the HCRP to claim it without remorsing the smear of Councilman David Crowley:

What would be funny is if the "HamCoGOP" user was really a Jeff Berding supporter.

Shoe's on the Other Foot

Michelle Incanno of Springboro was offended by this saying on the side of a Starbucks coffee cup

"Why in moments of crisis do we ask God for strength and help? As cognitive beings, why would we ask something that may well be a figment of our imaginations for guidance? Why not search inside ourselves for the power to overcome? After all, we are strong enough to cause most of the catastrophes we need to endure."

If I am able to keep my cool over the many religious comments I have to endure in my life, then I think Michelle can swallow a cup full of someone questioning the existence of her deity.

Side note:Questioning the existence of "God" is not a religious exercise, other than the inference made in this argument that the concept of a "God" could exist.

Jeff Ruby Denies OJ

In a very bizarre occurrence local restaurateur Jeff Ruby denies OJ Simpson service at his restaurant in Louisville. Good for Jeff.

Why is OJ in Louisville?

Sub Rosa

Very well done web commercial:

2007 is the Year of OTR

John Fox has had an excellent editorial in CityBeat last week. The impression I get from it is that like me, John is sensing 2007 could be the year that OTR turns to a positive. He is very right about the need for all interest groups in OTR to work together. To me that means that no one can drag their feet. The biggest feet dragger has been the vocal supporters of the Drop-In Center. It must move. I would bet if they don't move, the center's location will be challenged in court for "housing" sex offenders once the SCPA is completed.

The way to finally tip OTR over to a positive comes in two ways:

1. Everyone living there must work together to fight the criminal element. If you have to lock up your old friends or relatives, so be it. Also, the long time residents need to work with the newer residents. That means a lot of racial and class mixing. That is a good thing, even outside of the action of fighting crime.
   
2. More people should take the challenge up and move to OTR. The condos are going in and the prices certainly beat those in the CBD. This year odds are in favor of this blogger putting his money where his mouth is.
   

Bates: The Candidate of Fear?

Is council candidate Melanie Bates trying to tap into the fear vote? In the city I would say she would be misguided. City residents are not the ones afraid of living in the City, that would be a majority of the Suburbanites.

One might argue she is pushing the anger buttons too, but when she says:

Melanie Bates, 53, expected a heightened crackdown on gun violence after her husband's shooting. City officials said they were united in their commitment against gun violence and tried to reassure residents that Cincinnati was safer than most big cities. It seemed - to the Bates family - that officials made little distinction between the killing of a public official's husband, in a residential neighborhood, and frequent drug-related shootings in the inner city.

Some of Bates' anger was directed at Mayor Mark Mallory.

"When Mayor Mallory called and said he was going to have a press conference on crime, I didn't even question it because I assumed it was to announce that he was going to assume some leadership in crime prevention, not telling the city that we really are safe and Phil Bates' death was an anomaly," she said.

I can understand why Mrs. Bates would be personally focused on her husband's murder, but it clearly is an anomaly. The vast majority of murders in Cincinnati and the entire country are either personal or drug related. It is also odd that in this article she comes across as if she was angry at Mallory because her husband didn't get a massive political attention. Why her husband deserved more hoopla than any of the other people murdered is puzzling.

From Bates we have no positive view of where she wants to take the city. I can understand why she doesn't emit anything positive, since its been less than a year since her husband was murdered. In a city council person we need to look forward, and this article is not good for her, he has her looking back and sounding bitter.

Finally, as can be seen I will not hold punches on Mrs. Bates. She chose to run for city council and is basing her campaign on the murder of her husband, therefore she is not above criticism on topic of his murder or her reaction to it.

Adios

WLW's "The Big Juan" billboards arecoming down, thanks to a complaint from the Hispanic Chamber Cincinnati USA. Good! There were 82 of the tasteless billboards. A little bit of an over kill.

Berding, Just Move On

Jeff Berding is sounding like a pol on Hardball with this trite quote:

“We don’t put our signatures on something and then say we changed our mind, something better’s come up,” said Councilman Jeff Berding.

Fund small arts group, already.

Berding sounds like he is trying out for higher office with the way he is on the attack all the time. Is he going to run for Congress in a few years?

Bortz comes across poorly too, attacking his fellow Charterite. Who are the "Bortz supporters" who are either playing out Chris's wishes or stepping into a pile of crap, bringing Chris into something he may not want.

We don't need more of the bickering and we really don't need 5 people trying to create an agenda that doesn't seem to be based on much of anything coherent.

Sweet!!! HB Video

A brilliant video for the Heartless Bastards' "All This Time". The visuals really are cool. This is a first class effort. The guys at Lightborne should really be proud of their work.

Music At Northside Tavern

Who is this?

Title of the video is called "Not Sold in Stores." The band's name? They have a nice early Beatles sound going on.

Need More Goat Bell

New Stage Collective extends it's production of Edward Albee’s 'The Goat or Who Is Sylvia?' through May 27. Get out and see it while you still can! Get your tickets at www.newstagecollective.com.

Portune Working For Rail Transit

Joe Wessels' column this weekend brought news of Todd Portune's efforts in favor of light-rail for the East side. Fitting street cars is interesting, but one that I think easily makes sense. Use light rail to bring people in from the outlying areas, and have them hop on a streetcar to go into CBD/OTR/Pill-Hill to work.

Another interesting point in the column is that Todd is making overtures about a high-speed rail line between Dayton and Cincinnati. Most thinking about the census likely would agree that eventually, Dayton will be included in a combined Cincinnati Metro area. When it will happen is a bigger issue, since it affects much more than broadcast revenues, namely federal funding. Whether high speed rail would be a before or after effect of the Cincinnati-Dayton-NKY-SW Indiana metro area creation is the type of issue we pay politicians like Todd Portune to figure out. Connecting Downtown Dayton to the senior Downtown Cincinnati makes for a great conduit of people that not only would affect commuting, but day/weekend trips would become be a fun/easy activity for Dayton residents.

Rocking on the Square

On the Myfountainsquare.com website, a very promising summer line up of programming is scheduled, including an interesting one called "Rock the Square" which seems to be set for most every Friday. Many of those events are tied to larger local festivals/events taking place on that Friday. One of the first one's is slated to be themed for the Cincinnati Fringe Festival.

What is missing is a line-up of acts. It is very hard to book that far ahead, but when it comes to music you have to consider you music fan likes to know who they are going to see well ahead of the day of the event. If anyone has an idea of any acts playing "Rock the Square," please let me know. I got a quick response from the folks at CinWeekly, so we might get someone with first hand knowledge to chime in.

Tragic

The Enquirer is reporting that a Flying Pig Marathon runner collapsed at the finish line and later died. The coroner reportedly stated the deceased was a 45 year old man who had a history of hypertension and was allegedly not taking proper care of himself.