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.

P&G: New Ivory Soap

P&G will be announcing a new line of Ivory Bar Soap. The question I have: will it float?

Odd Enqurier News for Website: Bias?

Ok, I don't have a problem with story being in the newspaper, but why did the Kerry-South Korean contributors story make it to the online edition of newspaper? This is not a local story and nearly all national stories that appear in the print edition of the paper don't make it online, usually because they are just AP Wire stories that are online in a 100 other places. This story is from the AP.

You don't suppose it is online because Bush is town today do you? Hmmm????? This story is listed on the front page of the website and on the Local page. It was in the Front Page Section of the Print Edition. Why was it online? I have sent an email to a couple of editors at the Enquirer asking why.

A side note: I hope that in tomorrow's coverage of the Bush Visit we get a rebuttal view from a Kerry supporter, like we got from Portman on Kerry's visit here. If we don't, then it will be for two possible reasons, laziness or anti-Kerry/pro-Bush bias.

Protest Predictions?

How far away will protesters be when Bush stops in Cincinnati today? I will guess they might get within 500 yards, but that might be pushing things. There will be no flip-flop type protestors inside the events; I will bank on that one.

The Last of the Cicada NY Times Articles

I believe this article from the New York Times is the signal that they have officially ceased their coverage of the Cicadas as a news story until about 16 years and 9 months from now. All I can say is ABOUT FUCKING TIME!

UPDATE: "Just when I thought that I was out they pull me back in."

Water is STILL Wet: Political Edition

Who the hell needs "expert" political analysis to conclude that Bush marriage proposal plays well among conservatives? These are Ohio analysts too, so go figure how they could have come up with that far reaching conclusion all on their own.

Propaganda Works #44561

Tom Vuksta of Fairfield really gets a lot from BushCo commercials. I've seen locally the ads that start with a positive Bush trying his best to be Reagan by sounding "positive" and then it switches and attacks Kerry for talking about the "Great Depression." Tom was suckered into this via this letter to the editor (last):

I have been reading newspaper reports and television reports in which Sen. John Kerry keeps comparing today's financial problems to that of the Great Depression of the 1930s.
If Kerry thinks we are now in the equivalent of the great depression, I can only say that I knew the great depression because I lived through it. Kerry does not know what the Great Depression was really like - he did not live through it. There is absolutely no comparison between today and the 1930s.
Thomas Vuksta, Jr.
Fairfield

Now, this is either an astro-turf letter or it is from an older guy who only reads the spin, and not the full speech of Kerry. When Kerry was in town he did not talk about the Great Depression, Rob Portman did>

"I know it is in John Kerry's political interests to badmouth the economy and compare it to the Great Depression, but the truth is we are experiencing the fastest economic growth in 20 years," said Rep. Rob Portman, R-Terrace Park, the communications chairman of Bush's Ohio campaign.

BushCo is pissed because Kerry regularly says that not since the Great Depression have we lost more jobs. Just like this from a Dayton Speech:

Under his watch, we've lost more jobs than at any time since the Great Depression.

That is not comparing it to the Great Depression, it is using the Great Depression job loss record as a bench mark. This how spinning is done. BushCo says something that Kerry does not say, and then get idiots to believe it because they don't know the details if original remarks. Now, I shall surely here from the BushCo folks saying that Kerry is lying or what ever else they want, but the fact is this is spinning. This is propaganda. Kerry's facts are "correct." If not, then BushCo would be calling him a liar, which on this they are not.

This is what I hate in politics. This is not debate, this is just playing "see who can hit the cookie first, last one has to eat it."

Clinton Haters

They will never die! They are the human version of cockroaches. CBS broke with precedent and aired anti-Clinton commercials during last night’s “60 Minutes” from a conservative group who seem bent on destroying Clinton's Book. Isn't that a actionable suit for Clinton's publisher? The commercials reportedly aired in here in Cincinnati. I was out and missed “60 Minutes” last night. Tom Hanks was very good in "The Terminal" by the way.

Did anyone see the commercials?

"Kindness in women, not their beauteous looks, shall win my love"

It is Saturday so I am in the mood to kick back and post on something without any news value at all. There are certain movies with certain female characters that I have been very enamored with. In no particular order, here is a list of those who most tickled my fancy.

1. Katharine Hepburn as Tracy Samantha Lord in The Philadelphia Story


2. Maureen O'Hara as Mary Kate Danaher in The Quiet Man


3. Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa Lund Laszlo in Casablanca


4. Tara Fitzgerald as Betty in The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain


5. Kristin Scott Thomas as Fiona in Four Weddings and a Funeral


6. Emma Thompson as Beatrice Much Ado About Nothing


7. Meg Ryan as Annie Reed in Sleepless in Seattle


8. Alyson Hannigan as Michelle Flaherty in American Pie 2


9. Winona Ryder as Josephine "Jo" March in Little Women


10. Natalie Portman as Queen Padmé Amidala in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

Now, please keep the ribbing to a minimum.

Anti-Red Cross Sentiment?

Where do idiotic attacks on the Red Cross come from? The Enquirer has a letter that puts forth condemnation of the Red Cross with an almost anti-UN style:

Will Red Cross act over Johnson death?

First, the beheading (on tape and all over the Internet) of Nick Berg in Iraq in May, and now, the beheading (again, on tape and all over the Internet) of Paul Johnson Jr. in Saudi Arabia.

Does the International Red Cross have any plans to determine whether these two incidents were 'acceptable forms of treatment of prisoners,' to the same extent as it has been doing with the incidents at Abu Gharaib Prison and elsewhere in Iraq and Afghanistan by the coalition forces?

Dan Nebert,
Wyoming

Most who know anything about the Geneva Conventions knows that the Red Cross has been charged with determining the treatment of prisoners of war and other detainees held during arm conflicts. It is not the Red Cross's job to inspect criminal organizations who have kidnapped individuals.

The letter implies that the Red Cross should not be worrying about the treatment of Prisoners in American jails. His other contention could only be to try and equate al Qaeda to the US Military, which I am fairly sure he would rebuke. Bottom line issue Mr. Nebert should think about: America is supposed to be better than torture. We are the beacon to the world on human rights, and when we fail, even if one thinks we did so only moderately (a real stretch), we must hold ourselves as highly accountable as any other country. Mr. Nebert likely would prefer to just let the military wipe out anyone who dares not follow American(BushCo) geo-political policy. I guess I am next on the list. Well maybe not next, but on the list.

Know in the News

Nice article today on the Know Theatre Tribe with reports of a fall production, Jason Bruffy news, and Know-to-Go specifics.

By the way ANOTHER AMERICAN: Asking and Telling still has performances on June 18th, 19th, 24th, and 26th.

New College in Warren County

The Ohio Board of Regents annouced approval of a plan to start a community college in Warren county, likely in the Lebanon area. The school has no permanent facility and will be cooperating with three different state schools until they are on their feet.

Countdown to Election Day Rally

Sign up HERE if you want to attend the Countdown to Election Day Rally and Citywide day of action which is part of the Campaign to Repeal Article XII.

Help take a bite out of Phil Burress’s ass! Stop the theocratic fascists in their tracks come November.

'Back in the Day'

Last night while enjoying a wonderful CT walk up in Mt. Adams I got into a great bar debate with a woman whom I shall only call Ms. A. Now, Ms. A commented on the phrase "back in the day" that I used in a discussion we were having about Cincinnati and indicated that she had only heard that phrase used here in Cincinnati, and she hears it a lot. Now, I am not a native of Cincinnati, so I am more than willing to bash us for being 10 years or more behind the times, which made me state that I was sure that they phrase was not unique to Cincinnati. Well, I was right. The Urban Dictionary has it listed: Back in the day. Most of the entries put it forth as an intercity phrase, which has been co-opted by the mainstream society, including myself. Now, this phrase is, as it is put in one of the definitions, really old-school. Cincinnati is not known for cutting edge urban language, so my guess is that we here are finally catching up with a phrase that was "hip" back in the day, say around 1988.

Oh, the coolnees we infuse on the culture. Please?

Crock of Beans

Bush is coming again to Cincinnati. It is just odd how both candidates just follow each other around.

Bush's reported topic will be hismarriage plan. Now, not his anti-gay stances, all though this is a "great" place to push that, he instead is trying to push a social agenda through the law. I thought that the GOP was against that? Oh, right, they are only against it when they are not either reaping the benefits of the cash flow, or their religious dogma is not the social agenda being pushed. He is seeking to push marriage, or should I say encourage, on poor people. If you have to be poor, what better way then to have more mouths to feed and more people to argue with about money.

I was most amused by the comments in the article from a Bush spokesperson:

'The president is going to be talking about his compassion agenda, highlighting his goals to create a more compassionate society,' White House spokesman Jim Morrell said. 'He will be touching on his Healthy Marriage Initiative as well as focusing on ways of building a culture of personal responsibility.'

Now, how is a president supposed to be taken seriously on creating a compassionate society when he rejects support for Stem Cell research on the heals of a call from the Reagans to increase government funding of Stem Cell research in hopes of curing diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s? How can this president seek a society that builds personal responsibility when he can't take personal responsibility for misleading the American public on why we went to war in Iraq? He blames the CIA or some other nameless intelligence agency. He shows he compassion by leading a war that killed thousands of Iraqi civilians and over 800 Americans. That is a great model for American kids. I mean Clinton played semantics with lying about blowjobs and Bush is playing word games with what constitutes "links" with al Qaeda.

More on Bush's visit from the Post and WCPO.

Intent

Down in KY the conservative fundamentalists have taken hold of the state with an iron hand. The new law they have created has to been seen for the intent, not just the anecdotal example used to sell it.

The intent of this law is to try and criminalize abortion. It does not do anything to prevent crime. It does not do anything to deter someone from killing a pregnant woman. The purpose is to put forth a conservative religious agenda by using the law.

Hmmmmmm Doggie, I love opening up a can of worms, and there is no can as big as the abortion debate.

QCF Scoops the Enquirer

The Tyrone Yates letter to the governor hit the pages of the Enquirer a day after the Queen City Forum broke the story by publishing the letter.

Yates to Taft: Summer Riots Possible

The Queen City Forum has a letter from Tyrone Yates, Ohio House Rep, to Governor Bob Taft. In the letter Taft warns that if Ohio does not provide summer jobs funding, there will be summer riots.

Is this over the edge? Are we that close to summer riots? Does Yates really think more jobs would stop riots this summer? It would help in the future, but that fast?

UPDATED for Grammar. Damn, I was almost late to work for stopping to post on this.

America as the Bully

Jack Sinkking of Batavia wrote in a letter to the Enquirer:

Those railing against the war in Iraq could learn a lesson from these young people. No sane person wants war but it's like the old schoolyard bully where every once in a while someone needs the guts to stand up and smack him in the mouth.

I think Jack should take a look around. America is now viewed as the bully in the world. Saddam was a dying despot. He was not bully anyone but his own people. Jack might want to worry about the rest of the world pulling a "Bush" on us and invading. (Yes conservatives, that is called sarcasm. I am not serious about the US being invaded.)

CiN Weekly's Editor's Note

Beryl Love, Editor of Cin Weekly has written a blog like quick take column. I like it. Cin needs opinion. It needs real opinions on culture, current events, and politics. Their business model likely has no room for those, but this small piece is a good start.

Bam! The Future of Rock Lives

It's Alive!!!!! 97X willbegin web broadcasting within two weeks, according to Doug Balogh, former owner of 97.7 FM. Two mystery investors have come to rescue and help get 97X back on the web.

I wonder about several issues: Where will the broadcast studio be? Still in Oxford? I would suggest they move it to Cincinnati. Set up shop in OTR and have a window studio on its worldwide home.

Portune on Drake

Why was Todd Portune worried about voiting on the Drake? The Drake is, by the way, a rehabilitation center publicly funded here in Cincinnati, something you did not get from the article, but should have.

I guess the school board can't vote the school related issues if their kids go to the same school district they live in. Well, they should at least consult the ethic committee so they don't have their childless political foes attacking them. Todd's grief likely comes from those who don't need a wheelchair.

Kerry Visits Cincinnati

Korte has a pretty good articlesummarising the speech Kerry gave at the fundraiser. The Enquirer also added a second story of breifs including a section on one of the attendees who was an old personal friend of Kerry who now works at UC. The second story included more of the political holders-on who spun the event with the usually blah blah blah.

What was missing from the Enquirer? Not what I expected. They included a non-AP wire story from the Columbus rally. The Blade also ran a story as did the DDN and PD. The Plain Dealer also gave us the "Pickle," infamous AP reporter whose negative bias towards Kerry has been known to be biased.

P&G Aiding Sexual Revolution

Does the CCV know about this? One whiff of this news and I am sure that the letter writing campaign will start to keep women from using what will likely be called the female Viagra.

Phil Burress and the boys love to control women's sexual practices, so I am sure this will be next on their list of companies to boycott. No more Tide! No more Crest! No more Charmin (its the best!)

Punting on Third Down

SCOTUS took the easy way out and punted. They did this I think in part because of avoiding making a ruling in the current political climate where riots in the streets are not just something in the movies, but instead something people realize could happen. I do admit that the thought of being attacked for not being religious is something I think is very possible, especially in this city.

Kerry in Ohio

Kerry will be in town today for a fundraiser and then go to Columbus for a rally. Will the flip-flopping college kids return? Will the coverage of them be as high from the Enquirer if they do come? Will the paper even cover the event? We might get a report on the fundraiser, but we will likely only get an AP report on the Columbus rally, if they are feeling chipper.

Bronson: Still Pointless

Bronson's latest column is rather all over the road with out much of a theme, beyond being rather incoherent. It is as if Bronson is trying to channel Stan Lee (ala Peggy Noonan), but then faking it when he realizes Lee is not dead.

Cincinnati Connection to Terror Suspect

Cincinnati attorney Doug Weigle previously represented Nuradin Abdi, who is the man charged in the plot to bomb shopping malls. Abdi was from Columbus.

Huggins Got a Pass?

The Enquirer is reporting that in April 2003 Huggins was stopped by the same police force for bad driving and listed he was taken home "due to feeling ill." That smells like a case of the police giving the big time college basketball coach a pass. If it were provable, I wonder if Fairfax police lied on their police report? I wonder if other police departments in the area have done the same for Huggins.

Starship Troopers

The new military uniforms look to me like the uniforms from the movie Starship Troopers. There is a bit of an East Block meets Hollywood feel to them that I find rather unsettling.

Self Fisking

A trend I have seen in the Blogosphere is one called 'Self Fisking', where you attack and destroy your own points without anyone else having to do so. Well, Otto Perry did just that in his column: Don't belittle our nation's efforts: He wrote:

3) Like Professor Leising most citizens do not favor wars, but after 9-11 the decision was made to confront terrorists on their soil before they get to ours.
Most people in Iraq are not terrorists, but the war has drawn terrorists into Iraq from all over the Middle East. It is a preference that they be faced there rather than in our neighborhoods.

Now, Mr. Otto, if we were supposed to be fighting "terrorists" on their own soil in Iraq, then why did we attack Iraq to bring terrorists there? If Iraq had al Qaeda terrorists there before the war, then why did we not say so with the proof? Why would we have to kill thousands of Iraqis to attract a few dozen terrorists to Iraq? How is this rational? How is this logical? How is this actually making it into the Enquirer?

Republican 'Family Values'

Rush Limbaugh, Wife divorcing

Phil Burress's Nightmare

I hope this article on the Gay Pride parade is making Phil Burress cry like a baby. His anti-homosexual group has but one goal, to keep peaceful people like these from living a fair and equal life. Burress wants them removed from society, a cleansing of the culture made in the image of his theocratic delusions. I bet Peter Bronson had to censor is own copy of the paper today. I am sure he can't bare to so a gay person's picture, at least not one having fun out in full view of the public.

Privacy Solution

There is a very simple solution to quell the concerns of people about the Court Clerk's website online publication of court records. It is simple; just require a registration to view the pages in question. Either make it a heavy security where you must mail or phone in to register or at least require a valid email and or IP trace.

This should quell the problem. Most people should understand that the records people are getting are still public record that anyone can get with a trip to the Clerk's Office. The difference is that they have to show their face, which keeps out more crooks. Apply the same concept to the web.

Special Treatment?

Was last Tuesday's DUI stop the first time Huggins has been stopped by police? The Enquirer is reporting that comments from the police indicated that it was not the first time police had stopped him for erratic driving. With news like this I have to laugh back at comments I heard on Saturday from Andy Furman who opined about the treatment of Huggins. He wondered if a history professor would get the kind of attention that Huggins arrest got. Furman was playing the PR agent for Huggins, trying to blame this on the media, on the college, and on everyone else who does not get what it is like to be Bob Huggins. He wants Huggins to be treated just like everyone else. Well, if he were treated like everyone else, "Furball," then his ass would be in jail now for a getting a second DUI instead of being let off the first time. His fame got him a pass. He will likely get a pass from his fans, who only want to win. He will get equal treatment from society, when he starts getting the same treatment as everyone else, not special celebrity get of jail free cards.

I give credit to the local media for covering this story. Huggins has not been Mr. Popular, outside of WLW, but has a fan base that care more about National Championships, than they do graduation rates. This guy should be fired. He was reportedly drinking with the families of recruits, almost certainly with the kids their too. That is not a role model, that is a man breaking the rules for wins. If UC wants to break the dirt stain that is their basketball program's reputation, they better start with a new head coach.

"Don't do this to me." Huggins did it to himself. He is lucky he did not do it anyone else, then not even the boosters could get him off.

Bronson: Pointless

I really don't see any point to Bronson's column today other than to harp on Coretta Scott King.

The only thing he tries to pull out of his ass is the complaint that King did not give a support the troops speech. Why would he expect that? What good would that speech really do? If people want to help the troops, why don't we work on not sending them off on pre-emptive wars? That will save far more lives than a few meaningless words that no solider will ever read.

A WKRP Blog

Someone has started a blog about the TV show WKRP in Cincinnati. It is a stale blog, but the thought is much appreciated. One of the most under rated shows of all time.

Sitting on the Stairs

I was watching part of a movie today, Adam's Rib, and I was a taken back by a simple scene where Katharine Hepburn is sitting on the stairs waiting for Spencer Tracy to come home. I miss having stairs to sit on. I can remember growing up and on the stairs is where many a big family discussions took place. Often it was when someone came home, like my brother or sister. Other times that is where you got lectured for doing something wrong.

Having lived in an apartment for 10 years now and since my parents moved south to Florida one floor house, I don't get to sit on the stairs much anymore. I could go for some carpeted stairs with a cast Iron railing like our old house had.

Like Coach like Players

Bob Huggins has been charged with a DUI after drinking with a recruit's family. Got to love the cops keeping it hidden since Tuesday. There sure is a good clean college basketball program there in Corryville. If he gets harsher treatment than some of the many college athletes in Ohio who have DUI's, then I will be shocked. I am shocked he was arrested in the first place.

More from the Post, including the police report.