Banned in BostonCity Hall

This blog has been banned at City Hall. Well, not exactly banned because it is me, although I am sure the anti-homosexual councilman Sam Malone might think otherwise, but all blogspot blogs are being filtered out of the City's computer system.

The computers used by elected officials should not be filtered on any level, unless the city adopts a law filtering all forms of communication into City Hall, including TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, mail, and the telephone. For that matter they should create a sound dampening system to keep out people yelling from the street.

Why wouldn't city officials want to know what citizens are saying about local issues and local politicians? On this site and others we do just that. Now, do we also discuss national issues, sure, so does WLW and WDBZ. Are those radio stations being jammed inside the building?

Greg brought up one issue in the article that smells of censorship:

The city manager's office determines which categories of Web sites are "off limits" to city employees. Those categories include pornography, bandwidth-hogging streaming video or audio, gambling sites, alternative media, hobby sites and any site dubbed "tasteless" by the software.

Two points, who determines what is tasteless, the City Manager or the software company running the filter? Second, who the hell is deciding what is "Alternative media," and way would you ever ban it? Does that include sites like the Village Voice or IndyMedia? Locally could it mean my blog and the Independent Eye?

I also don't like it when Nate and I are on the same side of this issue. That alone gives me the creeps, not just censorship.

UPDATE: Nick Spencer comments, and believes his site is not banned.

UPDATE #2 (2:20PM): The AP has the story, but so far all I have found is a Toledo TV station's short take story. It does mention "two blogs specific to Cincinnati news and issues." I would not mind a more specific mention of the blogs so the readers can judge for themselves if blogs like mine should be considered something beyond just a "message board" as we are considered now by the city's filtering software.

CityBeat: Best of Cincinnati

It is the time of year again for CityBeat's Best of Cincinnati. Make sure you vote and vote often. There is a best blog category, so, don't make me beg. Be it know that I will beg for votes. Shame is something you forego when you start blogging, at least when you start blogging in Cincinnati.

Vagina Monologues – Cincinnati

This Sunday is V-Day at the Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati. Enjoy a wonderful show featuring Former Mayor Roxanne Qualls, Stephanie Dunlap, and Regina Carswell.

Hartmann In Race for Secretary of State

Hamilton County Clerk of Courts, Greg Hartmann (R), has tossed his hat into the fire pit and has chosen to run for Ohio Secretary of State. He will not leave office while running for the primary, which is a shame ethically, but not strategically. That of course means he can bail out if someone else gets in the race. It also means that the People of Hamilton County do not have to have yet another person appointed to an elected office, at least for now. I have heard no other names being tossed around in public for either the GOP or Dems to run for Secretary of State. Locally people might throw out the names of Reece and Luken. I think Reece will run statewide for something, but Charlie is the wildcard. He is often perceived as damaged goods. He has the conservative Democrat rep to actually be a contender, if he had the desire and the willingness to build a strong team to run things on the ground. The Democrats in Ohio seem to me to not have the party loyalty, which I can fully understand as a registered Independent, need to when it comes to the organization working on the ground, which hurts come election time.

If the Ohio group that worked for Kerry last year, worked for a Coleman or even a Springer for Governor, then against Blackwell, Petro, or Montgomery, they would have at worst an even money chance of winning.

Sara Lee Out, This Hurts

Any loss of jobs hurts, but this type of consolidation is often unavoidable.

Hamilton County Decentralization?

What does a $70/hr consultant know about Hamilton County? The Republican county commissioners appear to believe he knows something. I don't know how. You know all governments and communities are alike, so we can just take a cookie cutter, apply the shape this man is selling and shut up and like it.

Si Leis is pissed about hiring this guy, a source indicates. Si appears to be pissed generally because his budget faces cuts, which is a common reaction, but when he talked with the commissioners recently it illustrated friction, not unity with his fellow Republicans. Now, who would not have friction with Si Leis? Other than ignorant voters of course.

What makes me nervous are the goals of Phil and Pat, illustrated by this from the article:

The contract with Roberts is written broadly enough to give him a consulting voice in reforming virtually all aspects of county government under the control of the county commissioners, including "a redistribution of responsibilities" with the city of Cincinnati.

Is this a plan to just dump down the government functions, or all those it can, from the county to the municipalities? Or in the case of Hamilton County, a way for the burbs to dump on the City?

The toxic twins of the Cincinnati GOP are already threatening to cut the funding of SORTA, will they just pull out and force the city to cover it all? There have been plans floated recently for the city and county to swap service responsibilities, but what services and who stands to gain? I can only see the Blue Ashs, Maderias, and even Norwoods looking to keep county services on things they can benefit from, not others outside their areas.

Open Thread

Running Late, Go Nuts, with a little class if you please.

Typical Bronson Yet Again

Question to Peter Bronson: What are your thoughts on how Bob Huggins was treated by the cops and how managed to keep his job coaching young adults?

Dildo Cover Takes Balls

A big hat's off to CityBeat for their cover this week. The cover story is a Valentine's Day themed montage of articles on various love related topics.

What takes balls is CityBeat going to the edge with cover art that slides in a Dildo on the end of the machine gun. It is subtle enough for the non-reader to catch while shopping at Biggs or other locations that fear the right-wing prudes (CCV) who have worked to ban CityBeat from as many places as possible.

Sam I Am

In what appears to be a text rendering of acceptance speech from Chris Monzel we lean that the newly appointed councilmember plans on working with Sam. That Sam is Councilmember Sam Malone. We are told that Monzel will work with Sam, work with Sam, and work with Sam some more. We don't read how he will work with anyone else, you know, like the other 7 members of council and the mayor. Without working with at least a few others they will not get anything done.

Why didn't this gain attention:

And during this past year, I have been asked many times by people: "When are you moving?" and "now you don' have to live in the city any more." And honestly my wife and I did think about moving out to the suburbs.

So who is asking Chris when he is moving and why? Also, WHY WOULD YOU APPOINT A PERSON TO COUNCIL WHO CONSIDERED MOVING TO THE SUBURBS? If he can't commit to living the in city no matter if he is on council or not, then he does not belong on city council.

This reads like something Steve at BlueChip Review wrote as satire. The problem is that it appears real. Steve should have made a better reference that it was a speech, not a column written specially for his publication.

Blackwell vs. Petro

Are we seeing the first blow in what I hope becomes a bloody Republican primary for Ohio's Governor?

Conforming Bronson

I see Peter lacks in originality. That might be a shocker somewhere in in China, but not to those who subject ourselves to his columns. Today he attacks both Miami University and a radical professor from Colorado which is the hottest talk-radio/O'Reilly crusade of the week. I also wonder if Steve Szaronos, the student quoted, is affiliated with the Miami Young Republicans club. It seems that Peter has a special email address just for Conservative activists at Miami. Will Peter write a column against any university who pays Ann Coulter? Coulter once joked about blowing up the NY Times building, wanted to use the US Army to convert Muslims to Christianity by force, and calls all liberals traitors. I guess dissent only counts if you are skinny conservative blonde walking pile of dung.

KKK Alive in Kentucky

In Shepherdsville, Kentucky an over zealous mother went on a crusade to protest a couple of Muslim students wearing a hijab, in technical violation of the dress code. Her child then had to wear a T-Shirt that said "FBI - Firm Believer In Christ" on it. She went to the extreme of protesting outside the school, and her protest attracted other adults dressed in White Robes wielding Confederate Flags. She denied this has racial overtones. The article made no mention of whether she denied that this had to do with her being anti-Muslim or not.

Dragging Feet?

Are Lloyd Memorial High School dragging their feet in allowing a Gay-straight club on campus? Based on the article they obviously are trying to not have to establish one. If they have any other activist groups, or more importantly, if they have any religious based groups, then they have no choice but to allow the club. If not, you can guess that bigotry is preventing it from happening. Now, honestly, I would not want to be an openly homosexual teenager living in Erlanger, Kentucky. The anti-homosexual blind hate that seethes from far too many brain washed kids is one of the worst forms of torment know to American Schools. Things may have changed some other the last few years, but has it changed in Erlanger? At least we did not have to hear the local preacher threatening the protest the school meeting. Imagine if this was in Adams County, Ohio.

More Opinion on Springer

Tom Feran, Plain Dealer Columnist, dishes up a topic filled with Jerry Springer. Has Jerry reinvented himself? I don't know. Tom couldn't help but dig up a slam on Cincinnati in the midst of his comments:

In a field dominated by conservative talkers, in a city that's been called the place where the Old South meets Germany, he's the local headliner on a station billed as a "revolution in talk radio" because it leans left.

Ouch, that smarts. Tom is right about one thing: he points out that so far Springer has not flopped. Is he setting records? I doubt it. Is he making money for Clear Channel? I think he is surely making more than oldies music.

Academic 'Freedom'

Four GOP Ohio Legislators having been reading right wing blogs and talk radio a lot and want to keep teachers in university from introducing "controversial matter and coursework that has no relation to the class’s subject of study."

Several obvious problems, this goes against local control of education, a GOP issue. This also brings up a culture police by requiring someone to define what "controversial matter" entails. It also brings up the horrid concept of watching professors in an FBI informant frame of mind. This is asking people to become McCarthyites, dropping a dime on a commie being rewarded with a gold star.

What I wonder most is that are these four legislators going to apply this to all public schools? If so, they might start with anyone trying to push creationism or its watered down version Intelligent Design on public school science classes. These two topics are without question controversial matters and neither have any relation to any science class's subject of study. I therefore suggest they start cleaning out their house, before worrying about a professor talking about ideas.

Trickle Down, Part II

Taking a page from the Bush Administration, Governor Bob Taft is set to propose a massive cut in the personal income tax and corporate taxes as well as an increase on sin taxes and a revenue tax on all areas of businesses in the state. Details are limited, but the Enquirer article does outline the basics: Cut personal income taxes:

Cut individual income tax rates across the board. The primary goal would be to reduce the top rate from 7.5 percent to 6 percent or less.

This is from Saturday’s business section, so I don't know if that is glee or not with the mention of the primary goal being the cutting taxes for the richest Ohioans.

Lawmakers are now scrambling over Taft's latest folly. How will they balance the budget? Where is the money going to come from? Once again a lawmaker, most of often a Republican, is deciding the price before he is sure what he is selling. Figure out what you want to spend it on and how much that will cost, then figure out how you will raise that revenue to get that level of funds. Instead, Taft will toil about cutting this, streamlining that, but will not tell anyone how this will help fund education or provide medical services to the poor. He will not show us how he will generate jobs, other than allow corporations to make more money and then take their service centers to India, Manufacturing centers to China, and pass every cost increase on to the customer and employee, giving the shareholder every once of immediate profit, caring not for the long term gain of all.

Yep, same old trickle down. Give to the rich and pray they will pass it along. Faith based economic was the type of drivel I expect from Bushco, not a reasonable Republican like Bob Taft.

Controversy Lingers

If those honoring troops up in Warren County want to avoid controversy:

'We didn't want this to be anything controversial,' said Regina Herbolt, Robby's mother.

'Whether we should be there or not, human lives were lost.'

After the crosses were cleared, Hesler addressed the scouts in front of what used to be the memorial - now a bare field, muddy and sunken with holes.

'I hope you guys remember the people who helped keep you free, OK?' he said. 'Don't forget them, all right?'

Why did they decided to remove them once the Iraqi "election" past? Why not at leave them up to next Memorial Day? I guess the Cub Scouts unit, Pack 452, are learning to be good little Republicans by adhering to GOP propaganda.

I know what you are thinking, the parents are too subtle to know the symbolism of what they are doing, and I say, no, they knowing chose to remove them after the Iraqi "elections" thinking that someone ended everything. They can now wash their hands and move on, just don't forget them, all right?

More Springer Speculation

William Hershey of the DDN is still pushing the Jerry for Governor meme. Unless Springer quits his TV show, he just can't be elected and with other candidates getting in the race, he will loose his name recognition advantage. He is best suited as Ohio Dem party Chair, and radio talk show host.

Good Old Nate

Here is the Nate that people know. His screed against Greg Korte, the Enquirer CITY HALL beat reporter, is classic racism from Nate:

And look how the press, especially the Enquirer's Greg Korte, treats proposals introduced by African Americans. Yesterday State Senator Mark Mallory introduced a proposal to abolish the elected Cincinnati Public School Board and replace it with one appointed by the Mayor. (I'll share my views on this in a separate blog entry.) Now, Luken and Council Member David Pepper hadn't seen the proposal but Korte called them for a comment. Of course, they both dismissed Mallory's initiative.

Why did Korte quote these two white guys? Two reasons. First, because they were white. Christopher Smitherman, Charles Winburn and Alicia Reece have all expressed interest in running for mayor. Why isn't their opinion on Mallory's education proposal important? Second, Korte always runs to a white politican[sic] who has something negative to say about a Black politician. You don't think so? Why didn't he ask State Representative Tom Brinkman for his view? Could it be that Brinkman (whose opinion counts because he has a vote on the issue) might actually agree with Mallory and you wouldn't want to see that now would you? If the issue is race or police they can find the Black candidates but they aren't interested in their views on education or finance. That's just wrong. (Before anyone gives me that crap about Pepper and Mallory being the only "official" candidates, keep this in mind -- Mallory has been an "official" candidate for months but Korte constantly seeks out Pepper and quotes him in the paper (always reminding readers that he is running).)

If Nate wants to call Korte a racist, he should just come and say it. It would be an outright lie, but hemming and hawing about something like that makes one look like they are forcing it. If you are going to play the race card, don't you at least try and look like you are not playing the race card? Also, did Nate not consider the possibility that Korte called all three people mentioned, but they didn't return his calls? Also, why doesn't Korte ask Brinkman for a comment? Simple, Korte is not on the STATEHOUSE beat. Also, shouldn't Korte have quoted Brinkman? I mean Tom is as "white" as they come around here. He is the "white man's" "White Man."

Nate might, just might want to consider that Korte gets quotes from Pepper because either Pepper has the money to pay a good PR guy or David just really has a lot of time to spend responding to reporters. The other three also have had dirty laundry raised about them by the press and likely are a bit more hesitant to talk to the press with anything not scripted grandstanding.

I think Nate was really pissed because, well, Greg didn't call him for a comment. Last I knew Greg didn't work for the AP, and therefore doesn't have Nate's number on speed-dial.

Phil Burress's Work

So Phil's folly not only oppresses homosexuals, it helps endanger women. Thanks to Phil and all of the folks at the CCV for giving degenerate men another legal defense after beating their girlfriends.

Reece Rumors

The word on the street is that she is running for Mayor and will announce it soon. For the life of me I don't know why she is running for Mayor. Is it the likelihood that she would not be picked as Vice Mayor no matter who wins the race and does not want to suffer that humiliation?

She (and her father) has her eye on something for 2006, but what good would a loss do for her this year, other than character building?

Some say say she could win? Mallory has more money, more experience, and far fewer enemies and will carry the bulk of the black vote. If anything, she makes it likelier Pepper wins.

Mallory's Education Plan

It is not just a Plan, but a rather a hostile takeover. I don't have the detail yet, but I can tell it will be a hot issue. Pepper will likely attack it, once he figures out what Mallory is actually proposing, in detail.

I wonder how the GOP will react. They gave on the CPS long ago, so I would guess they might not really care. They have the suburban and private schools, so the CPS can wither on the vine in their minds.

UPDATE: More from the Post.

For Those Who Love Dear Leader

I guess you can't stand anyone dare speak against him so I shall just give you want you want in a lyrical chant:


Praise to the Lord, Our Savior
Lead on to the promised land, see us through
Praise to the Lord, Our Savior, Our Deal Leader
Jebus ain't that bad too

Owensby Melee

It is no surprise to me that Deters will not retry Jorg in the Roger Owensby case. The same day the father and brother of Owensby got in to a shouting match in the courtroom of Patrick Caton, who was involved in a hearing about being reinstated to the CPD after being fired for his involvement in the Owensby case.

The ‘shouting match’ sounds like it was a stunt to gain media attention when you read this portion of the article from the Post:

"We were the ones calling (Caton) a punk -- murderer because that is what he is," said Victoria Straughn, one of those with Owensby.

Straughn heads "The Coalition of Concerned Citizens For Justice" which is one of the various Boycott A groups.

State of the Union

I did not watch it and I have not read it either. I have only heard the highlights on the news and some of the after speech spin. I normally watch it no matter what, but last night I turn off the TV and listened to music for an hour. I did not feel like shouting at the TV screen. Based on what I have heard so far Bush was Bush. What I have heard leads me to believe that on Social Security he has promised to pull a rabbit out of his ass. He has not said how, and has not promised the rabbit will be living when he does. That sums things up about his plan to phase out Social Security. I will post more on SSA, the lies Bush told about it, and the impending propaganda blitz in the coming weeks.

The politicizing of Iraq was complete. Last night is all about politics and spinning the Presidential Legacy. He claimed credit in both image and most clearly in tone. That was not a shock. It is his MO. Say you did something with symbolism, and trust that a lazy media and ignorant public will not bother checking or caring if you live up to what you said.

State of the City

Mayor Luken gave his annual speech to council yesterday. The text of his speech is here. The interesting point is that this is Luken's tenth such speech and he started the tradition back in 1987.

How is the city? The critics will say we are dying. I say we have potential. What we do have are a large number of apathetic citizens and two rings of suburbs who hate the city, except for the sports stadiums and the big city image they feed off of.

Feed Issues

I got an email saying I have problem with my Atom Feed. I think I have updated it, please let me know if it is working. Once it does I will be deleting this post.

More Money and Is Ghiz Not Out?

More on the Mayor/Council money from Korte. He has more on Mallory's PSA effort.

Also Ghiz has a few bucks left over, so Korte suggests we not count her out as a candidate. I don't know. I think she might be sick of it.

A new name has been mentioned as a candidate: Chris Bortz, who be a Charterite if he choose to run. Bortz is the nephew of former Mayor/Councilman Arn Bortz, a long time Charter Committee member.

Nick Spencer is also mentioned and I must admit I don't understand what he is saying about Nick's campaign finance issue. I guess it might be good news, but he makes it sound like he's avoiding trial by getting treatment for a bad memory or something.

Hartmann For Secretary of State?

The Enquirer is reporting the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Greg Hartmann (R) plans a run for Ohio Secretary of State. He was sure nice to get elected last year to a four year term and turn around a few months later and possibly start running for another office. I hope he resigns if he gets the nomination. Who will fill his seat if he gets in?

Also, interesting fact, he has only lived in Ohio for 7 years. I did not know Republicans actually vote for outsiders. Is he from maybe Northern Kentucky or some place that is almost Cincinnati?

State SC Justice Arrested for DUI

Democratic Justice Alice Robie Resnick has been arrested on charges of DUI. If you do the crime, face the time. This is stupid, stupid, stupid. Why would a 65 year old Judge try and drive home drunk? Why would anyone let her? Call a freakin cab!

I understand that she is one of the few left of the court with an ounce of fairness for the consumer, but doing this does nothing but tarnish her career. It sounds like her career will not be affected much. That is good for her, but is it good when a Justice make such a stupid mistake? What will be sad is how she will be pounced on by her foes. Yesterday as a fluke I had on 700 WLW during part of my drive to lunch and heard Bill Cunningham mentioned it. He managed to sound almost fair in the minute I listened to it, and then it went into news, so I don't know how he hammered her after the break. She has been a big target of Business leaders in the past. She will have a big problem if she seeks re-election.

Big Money

Raising money in the race for Mayor is not going to be a problem for Pepper or Mallory, who have raised $251,870 and $111,138 respectively. Once the GOP fields their candidate and start pushing in money, this should be the most expensive Mayoral race in Cincinnati history.

Expo Store In Oakley On Hold

The Expo Store, a Home Depot division, slated to be built in Oakley looks like it will not be built at all. Home Depot is stating they are evaluating the Expo store line and will not go forward with any new locations during that evaluation period. I think that means in real terms, they can't afford to build any stores right now or it means that the Expo locations are failing a business model and either will be scrapped or retooled. The land for the store is cleared. I hope Home Depot does not hold it hostage. The new retail center going up the Oakley area needs a full allotment of big box retail as a support ring to make the shopping experience work. That is what I think makes the Easton Town Center in Columbus work well, better than Newport on the Levee.

Mark Mallory PSA?

What is with the Mark Mallory Public Service Announcements on TV? These are not something sponsored by any government agency, they appear to be paid for by Senator Mallory himself. These are not labeled as campaign commercials, but in all practical purposes they are. They talk about snow storm damages and people who may qualify for state assistance. This is a shrewd move. He might even have been able to use official state funds for this, since the purpose was basically communications with constituents. He gets his face on the air and in the minds of possible voters.

It might be wise for him to report how these commercials were paid for. They are called a PSA, so could they be virtually free from Time Warner? Only production costs? They are running quite often to be an actual PSA. I think I have seen it about 10 times over the last few days, on various cable channels.

DDN: Coleman to Run for Governor

The Dayton Daily News is reporting that Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman will will seek the Democratic nomination for governor of Ohio. He is reportedly set to announce later on today.

UPDATE: More from the Enquirer.

Target 5 Takes Action Against Bird Shit

An actual headline from WLWT's website: Target 5 Takes Action Against Bird Droppings. Yes, bird shit is the topic of hard hitting investigative journalism in our fair city. I am just going to pack it in now, I think I have seen it all in Cincinnati Media spectrum of mindless drivel.

Cincinnati.com Blogs

There are now more than just CiN Weekly's Staff Blog from the Cincinnati.com family of blogs, including bios or intros from the bloggers:
Photographers
Tech Tipsheet -- Bio
Sports Roundtable -- Bios
Pop Culture -- Bio
Popo's Sports Blog -- Intro
The Arts -- Bios

I am holding judgment in addition to the blogroll until I see how they go. One thing you will notice that is missing, a political/current events blog. I am please they have comments on all the blogs. I hope they don't need to be approved before they are posted, but the legal department may have butt in.

Witch in the Old Mill Creek

Today is your last chance to send in comments to the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers on the project to widen the Mill Creek. You can still email your comments. Be sure to add "Mill Creek" to the subject line. Or you can call: (502) 315-6769.

Pete and Repeat Were in a Boat...

In reference to my post from yesterday and a comment from said post we get a history lesson via Kevin Drum.

Kids Today Are Uneducated

Kids today are either really uneducated on the workings of a Democracy or they are misled by equally uneducated parents.

Come on, have the government approve newspaper stories? Are these kids on crack or have they spent to much time in Pastor Bob's destroy the liberals bible study class?

Xer's or Just an Unknown?

Via Rob Bernard we get an article from the Dayton Daily News announcing changes to the paper, mostly the renaming of several weekly sections with the inclusion of "X" to the title. I don't know if this is some type of a marketing ploy to gain the attention of us slacker Gen Xers or if this is meant to trick teenage fans of the Xtreme Games into thinking their business reports are featuring Tony Hawk. Either way I don't think it will do much for circulation.

Chick Rock Fest

I don't know much about this event, but when you combine chicks, rock music, and the Southgate House it must be good. Look for it on April 8th and 9th.

More at their website www.chicksrockfest.com.

Everyone Hearts Berding

Jeff Berding has officially announced his candidacy for Cincinnati City Council. At his announcement once could not find a more motley crew of local politicians. Get this list as compiled by Greg Korte: Mark Mallory, David, Pepper, Charlie Luken, David Mann, Arn Bortz, Tom Brinkman, Pat DeWine, and Pete Witte. Are the last three actually going to vote for Berding? If yes, then I will applaud all three for being non-partisan, but does that make Jeff Berding another Dusty Rhodes, who is as much of a Democrat as Bob Taft.

I don't know much about Berding. I would surmise that as part of the Bengals organization he would likely be very pro-business. The article reports he already has raised $40,000. That kind of bread at this point in time puts him in line as the front runner to fill Pepper's open seat. The fact that he is only one of two declared challengers for council might have something to do with that as well.

Will Berding keep a Rucker or Harris from running? That I hope only depends on Reece's and/or Smitherman's choices to run for mayor, freeing up their seats as well.

Private Parts

When people push the privatization of Social Security they are failing to provide the details. Now, most people don't care about the details, even though the say they want to know them. When they start to hear about COLA's, administrative policy, and PIA's their eyes start to roll back into their head.

Even with that in mind I have a laundry list of unanswered questions, problems, and issues that would have to be answered, solved, and addressed before any private accounts were established.

1. Who is eligible for a private account? What will be the cut off age?
2. What percent of individual's contributions will be eligible for contribution?
3. Will the tax status of the private account be on a Pre-Tax or After-Tax basis?
4. If it will be Pre-Tax, that creates a tax cut, how will the massive loss in revenues be made up?
5. If it will be After-Tax, will that point be made known when this is made to look like a 401K Plan?
   
6. Who will administer these accounts? Employers? The government? Are Individuals forced to go to a Financial Institution on their own?
7. Who pays the administration fees?
8. Are administration fees included in Bush's Plan?
9. What investments can be included? Private Funds? Stocks, bonds, options, futures, commodities? Anything? Who Decides what a person can invest in?
   
10. Who manages those investments? Are they owned directly or in a mutual type fund?
11. Who pays the brokerage fees? Are they straight fees or discounted?
    
12. If these are collectively owned in mutual type fund, who does the accounting?
13. If the private accounts are use, who then who votes the proxies?
14. Will lump sum distributions now be allowed?
15. Will beneficiary benefits continued to be offered.
16. How will beneficiary, minor dependent, disability, and death benefits be funded?
17. Does Bush's plan cap the level of earnings on private accounts to pay for existing and future "traditional" benefits?
18. Is Bush using the "Cash Balance" type of retirement plan as his basis for this? Those type of Plans have not yet received favorable determination letters from the IRS.
    

I could on and on with questions that are not being asked by the media and not by politicians. This issues should be debated in public, and not just on CSPAN. CNN, FOX, MSNBC, PBS, talk radio, and we in the blogosphere should be discussing the details and understand it BEFORE a lobbyist writes the bill and passes it around an hour before the final vote.

In the Wood & Acropolis Chili Lose Battle to Stay

A Judge has ruled in favor of developers paving the way for the destruction of two long time UC and Clifton Heights establishments, In the Wood and Acropolis Chili. No indications on any appeals or other avenues to allow these property owners the continued rights afford to most all other property owners.

UPDATED for the Spelling Guy

Reaction to Police Shooting

Yes, it has been muted if you measure it by the media coverage. The Buzz appears to not have had a glut of angry callers. No negative comments outside the suspect's family have been heard, but since when has Cecil Thomas been a bellwether for the mood of black activists?

Allen - Collins Settlement

Mike Allen, former county prosecutor has agreed to pay Rebecca Collins $45,000 as part of a settlement of a lawsuit alleging sexual harassment. The lawsuit against the County is still pending.

Yet More Typical Bronson Blather

Peter Bronson is at it again, but this time E Goods takes him to the woodshed, not me.

Irrational Delusionists

Today is the day for the war supporters to wave their flags over their eyes, sing Amazing Grace, and blow their back slapping wad on the Elections in Iraq. It does not matter to them how we got here (no WMD) and it clearly matters not, or at least does not matter today what will happen tomorrow (civil war). Today Dear Leader was able to take a bow, and anyone who dares says "big fucking deal" is with the terrorists. How many free societies have curfews the day of elections? How many have bombers kill 25 people and would at least 71 on the day of elections?

People who feel good about today are so completely delusional about the situation in Iraq. To them it is all about Bush's policies and their support for it. This is not about them. This is not about Bush's image. This is about the people of Iraq and they are not in good shape. We, at this point, know not how many votes were cast. We don't even have any election monitors to show no fraud. We don't know who will be appointed the leaders of the country. We have so many open questions about what will happen next, playing PR cheerleaders does nothing but provide political cover for Bush on the eve of his State of the Union address. We now will not only see a pull back of the rhetoric by the Bush administration, but a pull back of the press. Iraq will become just like Afghanistan, a faceless back story where little has changed since the last dictatorial government fell.

So I guess now I am a terrorist for not waving a flag for Dear Leader.Sorry about that. Sorry for not accepting the propaganda. Sorry for not conforming to the dogma. Sorry for wanting real democracy in Iraq. Sorry for wanting people to face the reality of state of Iraq and not the PR drivel coming from Dear Leader’s minions. I am not sorry for anything I have written. If you don’t like it, then tough. If you feel the need to tell me to ‘love it or leave it,’ I think you have shown why I had to write what I did and why I can’t stand still and let PR pass as truth.

Image Boost?

As a company P&G has many, many problems, but they are a plus for Cincinnati in both attracting new people to the city as well as their sizable charitable giving to various groups including a strong commitment to education and the arts. Will their mergers with Gillette boost the image of Cincinnati across the country? In the short run I think it is simply good press, so the answer is yes. Cincinnati as a Midwestern corporate HQ center is something that has been slipping as of late with the sales of Star and Provident, and this adds a boon to the Perception of Business leaders that Cincinnati is still a white collar Mecca.

The real benefit only comes with jobs jobs jobs. P&G states that the combined company will loose 6,000 jobs, but most of that will be overseas. On the surface this sounds like a plus for Cincinnati, but a loss for Boston. Over time this insures jobs here in Cincinnati and it could expand them.