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.

100,000 Vistors!!!

I just noticed I reached over 100,000 visits on my site! I thank all of my readers!

For some reason people keep coming back. I don't sell drugs, I have no porn. I do swear a lot and bash people on occasion. What makes people read my blog, or for that matter any blog?

FunnelCake Dream

Via Maggie Downs I think I have found regular poster Funnel Cake's dream website, called www.lamehappyhour.com.

Yes, Luntz Gives More Biased Focus Group Fodder

"Swing" voters in Cincinnati are Conservatives nearly everywhere else. Frank Luntz's spin from Cincinnati is more of the same. What was funny is this quote from the GOP stronghold of Anderson Township:

Patricia Kraps, a 44-year-old human resources supervisor from Anderson Township, said the speech was positive because "It wasn't negative."

I guess she missed the rest of the primetime speakers at the RNC Convention.

Reporter Greg Korte gets kudos for giving us truth:

To be sure, the focus group leaned right of center - a reflection of a mostly conservative base in southwestern Ohio. But with very few swing voters in play - pollsters say the number is 4 percent to 8 percent of Ohio voters - Bush can't afford even a few defections from weak Republicans.

MSGOP gets another shot or did Frank just pull the wool over timid NBC's eyes?

Dems To Support Write-In To Beat Allen

The Democrats are going to put out a candidate for Prosecutor. Who will it be? Three names come to mind: David Pepper, John Cranley, and believe it or not Charlie Luken. Who else would the Dems put out there who can raise money quickly?

One of these three would certainly start to clear up the race for Mayor.

Nick Spencer has more. Also, wish Nick well on surviving a crime.

Violence Is Upon Us

Atrios reports on two incidents recently of vandalism at Democratic locations. One is in Michigan and one in Pennsylvania. This I fear is only the beginning.

A Hoax??? A Lie Is More like it.

Wille Cunningham, local talk radio hack was never selected to lead the Pledge, yet press releases and news reports said otherwise. It appears it was all just a lie put forth by Cunningham to gain attention. Well, media whores do that kind of thing, and well, Willie is a media whore.

Now, I know Cunningham is full of shit 75% of the time, but what is sad, many people don't know that, and even some do and don't care. Cunningham is the poster child for bad media. People complain about Hollywood. They would do better to push Clear Channel to keep Burbank on the comedy side, keep McConnell on the serious side, and just ditch Cunningham and put on something that is not just media whoring.

I wonder Why

Korte reports about GOP Pollster and Talking Points King regarding why he chose Cincinnati for his focus groups:

For Luntz, Cincinnati has become a favorite place to take America's pulse.

Ah, Greg may wish to rethink that. Cincinnati is not the pulse of America. I am sure no one living here actually thinks that. Cincinnati is conservative, loyally so, and the people are fickle, easily influenced. What better target to go after for a focus group you want to spin your way, assuming you are a Republican.

Mum's the Word From Bronson

Peter Bronson of the Cincinnati Enquirer still is silent on the Mike Allen hubbub.

Traitor

It is a lie to call Zell Miller a Democrat. The guy is more Republican than 4/5ths of the primetime speakers at the convention. He disgusted me. I don't mind a Republican saying what they will, fine. That is their convention, that is their choice. What is bullshit is Miller pretending to be a Democrat. He is not. He is what I can call a traitor, especially after his speech tonight. He spewed nothing but crap attacks on Kerry and then kneeling at the foot of Bush.

What is worse is that Miller is a lame duck. The Dems can't do a thing. What is brutal about Miller is how he turned on the Dems. It is like the guy has a hardon for Bush. I mean what could make you turn that fast??? Well, fear of Muslims could do it. Fear and hate, that is. I wonder if he favors a crusade too? Artios had it best:

Wow, I never thought Zell would be able to improve on the original German version of Pat Buchanan's '92 speech, but he did.

Goosestepper's unite!

Rumors from Nate

Now, Nate knows how to turn the media on its ear and say uncle, especially the AP. Here he "reports" that the Enquirer refused to run a Peter Bronson article calling for Mike to resign. Now, I don't know if Nate is baiting the media, maybe he is just baiting me, but Bronson's take on this would be most poignant. That is why not having him spout off either in defense or on the attack of Allen is not typical Bronson. What would really motivate the Enquirer to pull it, if they indeed did?

Now, how many degrees of separation are their between Nate’s “friend” and Bronson? That would be interesting and would indicate how factual this claim is.

Fear

I hear many Bush supporters talking about fighting terrorism and from that I would follow they fear terrorists. Ok, fine. Who do they fear will attack them? Who do they think in Iraq circa March 2003 was going to attack them?

I don't want to hear the idiots who still think al Qaeda was working with Iraq, just please don't bother with that myth. What terrorists were stopped by invading Iraq? What terrorists in Iraq could attack the USA? Now, I am sure the right-wingers are still dying to shout out Iraq was link to Osama, but nope. That is part of the propaganda their president and his minions created to make fear their political motivator of choice.

Fear is Bush's hope. Bush is betting that people fearing terrorism will vote for him more than Kerry. He does this because he is willing to use a war that has nothing to do with 9/11, and then make it all the same thing. Unless that same thing is a religious crusade against all Muslims, then they are apples and oranges. There are some who want to wipe out Muslims. I wonder how many of those people are in the government, and how many are just talk radio nuts. Some days I can't tell the difference.

Cheney Predictions

Does anyone care to make a prediction or two on how many timesCheney attacks John Kerry? I mean this team of positive candidate's has to show how positive and optimistic they are and how great their plans are by going negative on Kerry.

Lisa Allen: Victim and Pawn?

Lisa Allen, local judge and Mike Allen's wife has spoken out on her husband's affair. Her views were understandable about what her husband did to her, but what I seem to miss is her rage that Allen lied to her twice. She found out about the affair, Allen said it was over, but it did not end. When did she find out it did not end? The article paints the other woman as the one Lisa Allen blames, not so much Mike. That simple fact sounds like she made this PR run to help her husband's defense against Collins. That I think makes her a pawn. Did Mike Allen put her up to the PR tour?

Flip-Flopping

I guess George believed we could win a war on terrorism before he believed we could not win a war on terrorism, but now he is back to believing we can win a war on terrorism.

GOP Convention Follies

So far we have gotten lots and lots of attacks on Kerry from the GOP speakers. Well, I guess the positive party sees attacking someone as a civil thing to do. Please remind the GOP that if they are going to claim to be the positive party that they might want to live up to it.

Also Rudy Giuliani put his foot in his mouth:

"That is what the Republican Party does best when we are at our best, we extend freedom."

Well, except if you are a homosexual, an atheist, a woman, an immigrant, a Muslim, or poor. Well, on second thought you are free to be poor all you want, just don't expect a society that will help you, unless you give yourself over to a religious group.

Republicans extend freedom as long as you comply with their dogma. Be a non-conformists and you might as well be from France in their eyes.

The funny part is that a large number of Conservative Republicans would not disagree with me that much on what they stand for. Some will, and do so very badly, but far to many feel otherwise.

And Now The Other Shoe

Steve Fritsch at the Blue Chip Review is reporting that two other women are claiming to have been sexually harassed by Mike Allen. One of the women even works for a local U.S. Congressman.

Please keep an important fact in mind: Steve is a Republican, so this is not out of left field. His sources are likely very direct.

When this hits the mainstream press, will anyone care to start a Mike Allen resignation countdown clock?

Still No Plugs For Local Bloggers

I guess Ray still sees us as small fish.

Will Allen Resign?

The drum beat is starting to strengthen. All we need now is a local version of Barry Goldwater to tell Mike he needs to step down. What happens if he does? What would happen come November's election?

Political Crystal Ball

Carl Wieser is looking into the future of presidential politics and sees a possible Ohio President. He throws out names like Blackwell, Montgomery, and even Taft. He puts another name out there that scares the shit out of me: Portman. Now, why it scares me is not that he would become President. He would be better than Bush, which is of course not saying that much. What makes me nervous is what would happen if Portman did leave his house seat for any reason, like taking a position in a second Bush White House. He would do that as a stepping stone for a run for national office. That is scary first because is assumes 4 more years of hell under Bush. What is more directly scary to me is that hole it would leave for Tom Brinkman to run for Portman's house seat. That would be very bad not only for this area, but for the whole state, and for that matter the entire country. Brinkman's goal has been to destroy government at all levels. He comes across as a something like a theocratic anarchist, where the most powerful will rule the weak, and equality be damned, unless it has to do with taxes where the rich shouldn’t pay anything, even if they own nearly everything.

That should scare the local GOP, who have a love hate relationship with Brinkman. How about Leslie Ghiz opposing Brinkman??? She is a Republican and all, but she does not want to create a neo-feudalist nation. She is likely going to be on council late this year via appointment, so a run for Congress should be a great next step for the Eastsider.

MIAMI 49, Indiana State 0

Love and honor to Miami,
Our college old and grand,
Proudly we shall ever hail thee,
Over all the land.

Alma mater now we praise thee,
Sing joyfully this lay,
Love and honor to Miami,
Forever and a day.

Get the full scoop at Miami HawkTalk.

Allen in NY or Not?

With his resignation as chair Of the local Bush-Cheney Campaign, will Mike Allen be the at GOP convention in New York or not?

Republican Judge: Allen Should Quit

Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Robert Ruehlman told the Cincinnati Post Prosecutor Mike Allen should resign:

"What (Allen) did was wrong. He violated his own policy, he's going to cost the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars and he's created a morale problem," Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Robert Ruehlman, one of the longest-serving judges on the bench, said Friday.

"He's the top law enforcement official in the county. He should resign. I'm the only one with the balls to say it."

Not only is this ballsy, but what happens now when Mike actually goes before this judge on a case?

Ruehlman got freaky in his quotes later though:

"When I was (an assistant) prosecutor I worked for real men, Si Leis and Art Ney," Ruehlman said of previous prosecutors. "I really looked up to them. This kind of stuff would never have gone on with them."

So Ruehlman thinks Si Leis is a real man. Hmmm, that invokes concepts and images that I would prefer they keep in the privacy of the bedroom.

Club Clau

I survived!!!

I had fun. It was a benefit for the Know Theatre Tribe and was a great success. The place really is nice. I don't know if I would be as comfortable there on a regular night, but last night it was a good vibe. This event had a large number of people I know, so I fit in more than I would have with usual crowd.

The ladies were looking mighty nice, as usual. It was a pajama party after all.

We even had some politicos in attendance. Jim Tarbell check his hat and had at least one femme fatal "shaking her shit" to try and win Tarbell's votes for the costume contest.

Leslie Ghiz and John Cranley were judges who may have been gossiping about Mike Allen, I did not get close enough to hear. Maggie Downs also was judging, but for some odd reason, (she must need glasses), gave votes to myself and Barry Gee.

I pierced the veil of the Club Clau myth and survived. I don't know if I would ever go again, but if I did, I at least know what is behind the curtain.

Is Mike Allen a Rapist?

We have allegations of "coerced sex," but we don't have much more. I find it hard at this point to believe that the woman in this case is out for fame. You don't get fame in this town for this kind of action. You get scorn. She is not headed for fame; she is going to get death threats, if she hasn't already.

The County commission is going to investigate. I hope they hire someone from outside the county. Simon Lies and the CPD have biases that would make their findings tainted.

If these allegations are true, they are not only something with possible criminal implications; it should be grounds to have him recalled.

Blah Blah Blah...Open Thread...Blah Blah Blah

Is there much to say today? Well, Mike Allen gave plenty yesterday. Let's hope the CCV's other shoe drops.

I will be at Club Clau tonight for a benefit. Yes, I am going to the trendy nightclub. It will be interesting and you can expect a full report tomorrow.

Buzzer

Give a read to Kathy Wilson's article in this week's City Beat on 1230 the Buzz. It has a great profile of Jeri Tolliver, who I must admit I thought was younger than she is. I hope she does not take that negatively, but I would have put here in her mid thirties, not over 40.

This profile leaves out some of the Buzz's problems. It still has a huge deficit in production quality. It still has whole lot of racism on the air, not only from callers but also from many weekend hosts. Things have improved now that most of Boycott B folks don’t get on the air right away, but when racism is put forth there is often no rebuttal from some of the hosts. On WLW blatant racism is met with mockery and harsh retort, on the Buzz it is all too often treated with an “oh my goodness” or “don’t go there.” It would show more civic quality if the hosts had a policy to stamp out racism in any form, no matter who says it, even if it is a favorite caller or popular weekend or late evening host. The daily hosts are good, but on the weekend they often seem to put anyone on the air who either will pay enough money, or just can speak and push buttons.

Mike Allen's Political Career Is Over

No one can say that for sure but admitting you've had a 3 1/2 year affair with someone who works for him, well that is big time shit. No conservative family values man can live through that, and expect to run for office again. He will be lucky not be run out of town on a rail. Now, I am sure his defenders will support him, yell Bill Clinton's name a few hundred times, and quote scripture. That will not do much good. Any respectable candidate could smash Allen, who will now likely have to trash his former lover, while he may be open to ethics violations or possibly even worse.

Allen's public statements came because he reportedly believes he is about to be sued, presumably for something along the lines of sexual harassment or a hostile work environment.

I now open up speculation about who will be the next Hamilton County Prosecutor. Would Cranley or Pepper want that instead of mayor? Pat DeWine? I think all three are lawyers.

Most funny of all is that Mike Allen is working for the Bush Campaign getting ready for next week's GOP convention in NY. I would love to see his face every time a speaker says family or values from the podium.

More from The Cincinnati Post, include his full statement.

UPDATE: Clarification, Mike is up for office this November, and shockingly he made this announcement after no one else could get on the ballot. He is so very honest and straightforward. How we all can feel good that the man elected to prosecute the law is good at lying to his family. Being a good liar is something public officials, especially lawyers, can really take pride in doing well.

The Enquirer Doesn't Get it

First they equate swift boat liars and Moveon.org which is right out of the Bush/Cheney talking points:

Then there's Bush's service. Earlier this year, critics alleged that Bush had been AWOL from the Texas Air National Guard. Release of dental records quieted the storm, but suspicion about Bush's wartime whereabouts still simmers below the surface, as last week's ad for the anti-Bush advocacy group MoveOn.org demonstrates.

Now they come with an attack on all 527's almost like they have Bush's arm up their ass, parroting his comments from yesterday. Once again the Enquirer looks foolish when they comment/report on an issue but are unable to consider the most recent story showing one of the Bush campaign's lawyers was also working for the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" group.

Cincinnati Mills Discriminating?

So what is happening Forest FairCincinnati Mills Mall? Are they discriminating against blacks or do we just have a case of anecdotal evidence.

What is unseemly is this report:

Security guards at the mall are handing out yellow code of conduct slips to anyone who doesn't pass "their" test when it comes to dress and behavior.

Now, this paragraph contains a blatant level of opinion (bias). The bias still points out an issue: where can I read the "code of conduct?" I can see what it might be in a picture from WCPO, but nothing is on the Cincinnati Mills website.

Blog Roll Changes

Some Updates to the blog roll:

Greg at NFGL and Michael at Rantophilia have joined forces to form the Cincinnati Group.

I have taken a couple of links down who are no longer blogging and also have added: Shaun at Liberal Angst.

UPDATE: Adding Axinar too!

Turncoat

There is a simple name one can give to people like Zell Miller and Youngstown Mayor George McKelvey: a Republican. If you can't support your party's nominee for President, then you should quit the party. If you disagree with John Kerry that much to publicly oppose him as an elected official, then don't play games by being a Democrat.

It pisses me off that the media loves to find guys like these and paint them as anything more than aberrations. The man lives in a town where you have to be a Democrat. You don't have to believe in any Democratic issues, but you have to be one to get elected.

I wonder now if we will get any RINO's jumping ship stories? One reason we don't, the GOP eats turncoats alive.

Lemonade

It appears pointless to me to protest the Freedom Center at this point. I mean protesting the fact that money was spent to build it at this point is really rather useless. One can complain about certain aspects of it, it's purpose, it's message, it's lionization of local financial supporters, etc.

All Damon Lynch's group seems to be really doing is taking advantage of the presence of the national press. It's the media stupid. That is the driving force over the timing of most any protest that occurs on what ever topic.

At this point I think Damon Lynch would have done a service to this entire community by embracing the Freedom Center. I know that would be seen as "selling out to the man," but if wants to get elected or more importantly if he really wants to integrate the people he represents into the mainstream of the city, then he has to stop driving wedges between blacks and whites.

This does assume he wants to integrate people into one society, and he does not share the goals of Boycott B.

Woman Shot at Black Family Reunion

A 26 year old woman was reportedly shot inside Sawyer Park during the Black Family Reunion last night. A suspect was taken into custody and the weapon reportedly was located.

It is horrible that an event that is meant to bring families together was hit by violence. This incident was the worst at the event, but reports indicated that unsupervised young people (mostly teenagers?) where getting out of hand. This is similar to what happen in 2002, but with the gun violence takes on a whole different level of concern.

The local media coverage I felt was good in showing adults at the family reunion very upset about the security situation and the teenagers left with out structure to get out of hand. WCPO's report was lacking in a basic element: what happened to the shooting victim? WKRC had the facts and reported it as the lead correctly.

WLWT had no story and I guess the Sunday Paper goes to bed really really early on Saturday night. This incident happened before 7PM.

The Enquirer looks foolish with its story that has the sub-headline of "Black Reunion: 'One big happy family'." Timing makes this look worse than it was, but that is what happens in the game of news perceptions.

Yet Another Poll

UC's poll shows virtually the same results as the recent Gallup poll. The full poll results are here (pdf).

The most interesting thing was the age range breakdown. 18 to 29 year olds favored Kerry 55% to 39%. 30 to 45 year olds favored Kerry 50% to 47%. Bush has the edge with 46 to 64 year olds 48% to 44% and leads 65+ 50% to 43%.

I would have said the middle agers would have been more for Bush and the younger range more for Kerry than the percentages list. It is also funny that in this poll the older the range the higher the "Don't Know" response was. I guess old people are either not sold on anyone yet, or are not paying as much attention.

Love and Honor and a Great Education

Miami U. moves up list of top colleges

Cincinnatians assess damage

Good Follow-up article on the Hurricane. Here is a good way the media can place a local angle on a national story.

Kerry Coverage in the Enquirer

From my point of view the Enquirer did a good job of giving generally the same "amount" of news coverage to the Kerry speech as they did the Bush speech. I hope that is continued during the whole campaign and something made equal during the 2008 primary season, which was lacking this year.

The Exception: Bronson. Why don't we have a liberal columnist giving a biased view on Bush and Kerry that would favor Kerry? Here instead we have another bullshit homer job that provides political fodder favoring Bush, but none from the left.

Now, I really hope I don't read some moron saying that the rest of the reporters are pro-Kerry, because I just showed below about how the positive Kerry Poll results were not touted as they could and should have been.

UPDATE: Wes Flinn thinks we hade some bias. I would not disagree. I think at least we had a phote shoot and a link to the text of both speeches. That is a positive step.

Spinning Ohio Polls

No one knows who is going to win Ohio, but thisarticle seems to go over the top in painting the race as even

"The poll is the latest of several surveys showing the Buckeye State is still up for grabs among likely voters."

I for one can understand that a smart political observer wants to hedge his bets, but this story clearly shows Kerry with an edge here in Ohio, at this point. Up until this point the race has been very even. When Kerry is ahead by 10 among registered votes and up by 2 among likely voters, that indicates that clearly Bush has tapped out his vote. His hope is to maximize his base and keep the fair whether voters home. That is a tough job.

Introducing: Freedom Center B

First we had the Boycott A Group and then the Boycott B group crawled out of the gutter.

It appears that since we have the Freedom Center (a great organization and facility by the way), we now must have the Freedom Center B, who happen to be the folks from Boycott A. Will we be having a Freedom Center C from the racists in Boycott B?

Felonious Voting

I can predict the reactions to this story. Some Conservatives will say we should not give the vote to criminals. By that they likely don't grasp the fact that these are ex-cons or just people who in the past were convicted of a felony, regardless if they served time or not.

Liberals will say, right so, that these people served their time, and should be treated like anyone else at the polls.

I do not think there has been a systematic plan to disenfranchise people from voting. It has happen because voting systems and poll workers in the state and most of the country are generally the most educated or knowledgeable people around.

One way to get rid of this problem is to make election day a national holiday, and then get better skilled people to work the polls, those who normally have to work that day.

In search of...

Carl Weiser of the Enquirer is "in search of protestors" planning on protesting the RNC National Convention in New York.

Yes, all I can hear right now is Leonard Nimoy's choppy voice on a bad film projector in science class.

Bronson 'Drunk'?

Bronson must have been drunk when he quoted this:

He had three Purple Hearts and never lost time in a hospital. That's what we've been talking about. These guys know about Purple Hearts and they wonder if Kerry is lying.

Gee Peter Why don't you ask someone what they think about Bush's "honesty" about where he was during 1972? Or ask them why he failed to get a physical to keep on flying in the National Guard?

Peter, why don't you tell them that you supposedly agreed with Kerry about Vietnam and protested against it?

Peter's chicken hawk status looks big when he spews this gem:

Maybe Kerry should quit telling colorized war stories about Vietnam and tell us which Kerry is reporting for duty in the war on terrorism - hero or hippie?

Bronson, did you serve? I love how idiots today bitch about supporting the troops and value service, yet when someone who did his duty, was wounded in battle is then questioned about it only because he is running for office. The same people ignore their candidate's lack of honest about his "service" in the military where he saw no combat and at a minimum was given easy duty so he could work for a political campaign.

This is what makes me sick. People are this stupid to value this kind of crap, yet when the person has the values they want (combat experience) they deny it was real, but ignore that their guy never was even close to seeing combat.

Will Bronson go see Kerry speak now? I doubt it. Will the Enquirer provide a commentary about Kerry Speech as biased and pro-Kerry as Bronson's was? Hell No. Kerry will be luck to get a photo shoot like the Enquirer gave Bush's visit. At least they did give a little coverage to the Vets protesting. Best picture had a Vets for Kerry protestor holding up a sign saying "Mr. President, Here is my DD214, where is yours?"

Civil War?

Can there be anyone out there who does not think that Iraq is int he middle of a civil war? Now, it is not nearly as modern and unconventional as Bush's "War" on terrorism, but it is not your typical power struggle, which would mostly be caused by multiple ethnic factions plus an occupying military force in the mix.

What exist though are coordinated forces fighting the government and the US Military. That is a civil war if I every heard of one. People have been saying we have been facing the possibility of one for long time. I say it is true now, not just speculative. The Iraqi National Conference has nearly 100 members ready to boycott if the central government does not start negotiations again with people fighting against it. Seems kind of an odd request, but also one that signals a huge rift in the country.


I don't see the blood flow stopping anytime soon.

Shell Game

With Bush's election year exploitation of troop levels and world politics, I have to ask a simple question. Is is all just bullshit? Is is just a numbers game? Have we already pulled 70,000 troops out of Europe and Asia(Japan or Korea) and are now just adjusting the paperwork? I ask this with the understanding that we pulled at least one division out of German for Iraq. I assume now that that division, when its tour in Iraq is up, will go home to the USA, not to Germany. How much of similar occurrences will eat up the 70,000? I also wonder how much of this is includes the Navy, with reduction of the Persian Gulf fleet as another source for this number.

I also really wonder how smart this is? I guess that pulling troops from Asia means that North Korea and China are not a threat to anyone? What kind of policy do we have where we say the world is threatened by an axis of evil and then pull troops from the places where one of these axis members could strike? Is this some kind of concession to the North Koreans? I guess that would depend on how many of the 70,000 are actually from South Korea and Japan.

I also really don't think Bush is doing himself any good by holding big foreign policy speeches here in Cincinnati. Now, I grant this one is not in front of a crowd of local people, but it still just looks odd. I also pity downtown workers, don't bother trying to drive downtown while Bush is here.

Tainted Gift Horse or Dirty Money?

Say goodbye to 50K Hamilton County GOP. Now, if the local media really cared they would ask who got this money and whose election was tainted by dirty money. Getting elected with help from money collected from the proceeds of a bribe is something that should make for a scandal. We all know, however, that unless it has sex or murder, the TV news does not care. The conservative print press will report it, like link above shows, but hell they have no local angle yet. It was written from Columbus. Where's the comment from the local GOP officials??? You can go beyond Barrett and Kriss, why not fucking ask MIKE ALLEN?????????? You don’t think the Hamilton County Prosecutor and big GOP Leader would have a comment?

Family Fine After Hurricane

Well, if you did not know, my parents and my grandmother live in Charlotte County in Florida where Hurricane Charlie hit land. They are fine and the only damage they got was one small tree uprooted at my grandmother's place.

My family lives in the far northern part of the county so were lucky, the big damage was further south in Punta Gorta and Port Charlotte, which are only a 15-20 minute drive away.

From the reports I have heard and read the storm took a wicked turn and people only had maybe 45 minutes to an hour to evacuate from areas more inland from the coast. The storm coarse was predicted to hit Tampa Bay about a 2-hour drive north from where it hit.

My parents do not have power, but oddly my grandmother who lives maybe a mile away has power. They were all staying at my parent’s house, but are not at my grandmother's place.

I normally never worry about Hurricanes in Florida because where my parents live has not gotten hit like this for something like 80 years. Late yesterday afternoon when I heard the storm was turning, I was shitting bricks when I saw the eye heading towards my parents town. I am very thankful that not only are they are fine and have no significant damage to their property. I would say they were lucky.

Stuff, More Stuff and Whatnot

My time today is short so I will give a punchy post:

• Read Maggie Downs' Column
• Check out Wes Flinn's Picture at a Fingerhut event
• Read a Pipe Dream, but still follow the Olympics

Feel free to rant about what ever else is on your mind. I will surely be complaining tonight and this weekend about NBC's coverage of the Olympics and what I will guess will be the total lack of radio coverage of the events here in the states.

Enquirer Blah?

This comment was in the Enquirer's Editorial yesterday:

Take this debate to a level beyond rhetoric about swift boats and National Guard service.

I don't seem to read much or hear much about Bush's National Guard Service, or lack there of, in the media much. It appears that those desperate for a Bush win are slipping back into Clinton-Bashing mode, with the ranting and raving about a subject that is frankly total Bullshit. I mean at least Clinton was to some degree a womanizer, but the crap they are trying to pull on Kerry is just a sad example of grasping at straws.