Why a Cincinnati Dateline?

This Reuters article on the Sarah Palin controversy is dateline Cincinnati and I can't figure out why. Can anyone shed some light on this?

America Votes Meeting September 4th

Looking for a great volunteer effort to help get out the vote? Check out America Votes.

America Votes is the largest grassroots voter mobilization effort in the country today, and we will be introducing their volunteers to our political organizers in a discussion of how to make Ohio a greener state with better jobs and affordable health care.

The meeting is from 6-8 pm this Thursday (Sept. 4) at the America Votes office at 2300 Montana Ave (Suite 110). There will be a strategy session, followed by a short phone bank, then dinner and mingling.

RSVP by emailing Randy at mwilson@americavotes.org or calling 513.481.7108.

If you can't make it to the meeting but are interested in volunteering, they'll be phone banking every Monday and Thursday from 5-8 pm, and we'll be canvassing on Saturday, September 20, from 10 am-2 pm. The month of October will assuredly be ripe with volunteer opportunities.

America Votes is a permanent local coalition of some of the largest national progressive organizations; our partners include ACORN, Planned Parenthood, AFL-CIO, the Sierra Club, EMILY'S List, and many others.

Cost of PR

WCPO is reporting proportional representation could cost the County 3 million dollars. Where will the money come from?

Holiday Weekend, Cincinnati Style

My parents (who presently reside near Tampa, Florida) were in town visiting over the long weekend. So we decided to enjoy ourselves, Cincinnati-style. Highlights of the weekend:

Ice cream (well, a chocolate soda for Dad) at the Fountain Square Graeter's;
A Reds game (Saturday's game, which the Reds won in more dramatic fashion than they should have);
A meal at Mitchell's Fish Market in Newport (all right, maybe that's too chain-y to be a Cincinnati meal);
Watching the fireworks from a Queen City riverboat;
Sunday brunch at the Greyhound Tavern in Ft. Mitchell (Julie: if you haven't been, you ought to give it a try);
An afternoon at the Contemporary Arts Center; and
(Without me) a meal at First Watch and some book-shopping at Joseph-Beth.

What did y'all do with your weekend? Feel free to critique my failures as a host (but remember, the folks have been to Cincinnati plenty of times, so we've done lots of other stuff previously).

Open Thread: Take That, Beijing!!!

Last night, I watched the fireworks from a Queen City Riverboat, moored just east of the Purple People Bridge. Pretty darned spectacular.

So here's an open thread. What did you like best (or least)? If you stayed home, was WLWT's coverage any better than last year?

WLWT Reporter in New Orleans

WLWT's John Bateman is blogging from New Orleans during the storm. Check in for firsthand info on what is happening on the ground.

Earth Shattering News

Stop the Presses! Chad Johnson is now legally named Ocho Cinco. This news will certainly affect us all greatly, jersey sales aside.

More from Bengals.com.

Breen on the Bastards

No, CityBeat's Mike Breen has not joined the circus and is not going to be playing triangle in the traveling version of the Heartless Bastards, which I think might be best called the New Old Heartless Bastards, or NOHB, which is going to be my new weekend acronym that I will use incessantly, to the disdain of my readers.

Obama Speech

Thoughts?

DAAP Fashion

I never went to UC (in case you missed my Miami coverage) so I don't know much about UC's various programs. What I never fully understood was the level that DAAP includes fashion design. I am impressed.

A Repsonse on Streetcars

I was working on a response to this post over the weekend, but UrbanCincy.com took care of that.

Here is most of my rant anyway:

Here's a blog post from QueerCincinnati.com against the streetcars, which I am posting in part so people can't say I aways only give attention to things I agree with. The other reason is because it is a thoughtful post. I think the is assumption that Streetcars must be looked at from a Public Transportation for the poor point of view. The Streetcar plan is not designed to replace the bus. It is designed to help with economic development and create a better and more environmentally sound way of living. The problem with comparing it to bus service creates the false pretense that it is a means to serve those without a car. It instead should be viewed as a way help reduce the use of cars and maybe even reduce the need for a car. More importantly it should be viewed as a tool to further push the revitalization of the OTR and the Banks and the Uptown area into a more vibrant urban living corridor.

CEA Theatre Winners

In case you missed it the CEA's for Theatre were announced Sunday Night. A great showing for the New Stage Collective with 7 wins for 4 different shows.

MidPoint Blogging

Check out a newish local music blog by Nate Rosing covering the 2008 Midpoint Music Festival and the local music scene. The blog has a great listing of local band links.

"North of the Border" Info

In addition to the event Brian has posted below, the Obama campaign will be hosting a "watch party" for the senator's acceptance speech to the DNC convention on Fountain Square this Thursday, August 28, 2008, beginning at 9:00 pm.

The gathering on the Square for hiss address to the NAACP convention was a blast, and I expect a similarly festive atmosphere on Thursday.

NKY Obama Speech Watch Party

For those North of the Border, I'll keep you posted on events, as soon as someone tells me!!!

Monzel Vindicated? Maybe?

This didn't happen in the City of Cincinnati, but an ice cream truck driver allegedly tried to lure 2 girls to his home in exchange for ice cream. Chris Monzel, councilman, made a big stink a few years ago about requiring screening of Ice Cream truck driver/operators. Does this in any way vindicate his actions? I think a little bit? What will be interesting to see next year is how much Chris uses this. Will that issue be brought up again for the 2009 council elections? Will he use it to get some attention this year? If he doesn't us it, I'll be surprised, even though I've brought the issue up here.

I'm A "Wing-Tipped Phony," And Proud Of It!

Today, Peter Bronson takes on the contoversial issue of . . .

Crocs.

Somehow, he segues his ode to Crocs into a jibe at every Democrat he can think of while arguing that Senator McCain wears Crocs (I'll look for this at the RNC convention). We'll put that aside, for the time being. Instead, let's focus on Crocs as fashion.

I'm convinced that the rubber-like shoes with holes should not be worn by anyone over the age of 7. They might be OK for adults on the beach or a boat. But that should be about it. If you're over seven and don't go to the beach or boating at least monthly, Crocs should not be part of your wardrobe.

Bronson's insistence that Crocs are acceptable public attire reminds me of the popular Jenny Joseph poem that opens with "When I am an old woman I shall wear purple." I don't think that Bronson is old enough, though, to have earned this amount of eccentricity.

Restaurant Week

Yay! Another Restaurant Week. I'm glad they're doing this twice a year, now. The list will be announced next week, but I'm sure that it will be similar to last time.

It looks like they're redoing the website, too: The Greater Cincinnati Originals.

OTR in the NYT

A wow article in the New York Times about street cars and how it helps out communities. It includes comments from Jean-Robert de Cavel while being interviewed at Lavomatic. Great press for street cars, OTR, Cincinnati, and urban development.

Chabot Wasting Time

As usual, Steve Chabot cares more about controlling women than he does about helping his district combat crime and a whole list of problems. Why do I say that, because as the article points out clearly, the clinic moving WILL NOT PERFORM ABORTIONS. It will provide help and assistance to women. That help I believe would include providing education and assistance on birth control. What does birth control do, HELP PREVENT ABORTION. If the extremists like Chabot really cared about prevent abortions, they would be handing out condoms and paying for women's birth control pill prescriptions. Instead we get the most crass election politics from a hack like Chabot who has no campaign other than pushing the buttons of the idiot once issue voters to get them all frothed up to actually get off their ass and vote for him. They have another anti-abortion candidate to vote for this time, so Chabot had to take extreme action to get their attention.