So Long Pat Barry, We Hardly New Thee
Well, Pat is and was a media veteran here in Cincinnati, but with the cancellation of his short run WKRC radio show, I will miss him being on the air. Pat was the only moderate voice from a current affairs talk radio show on Clear Channel’s stations here in town. Now we shall be treated to the rabid dog fascist stylings of Sean Hannity of FOXNews fame. Sean is one of the worst talk radio hosts in America. He is beyond being a shill for the GOP, he acts as their penis, while stuffing his trite GOP propaganda down his listener's throats. He is the walking poster boy for Conformist Republican Christians of America, Inc. Spinsanity had a great column on his slippery handling of facts and his nasty habit of myth perpetuation. Darryl Parks, local Clear Channel AM boss, is a man with only one purpose: get bigger ratings. He must feel threatened by the newly started ultra-right wing talk radio on WBOB. He seems to feel that he needs to shore up his programming, weed out any hint of "liberals," and pull back a conservative audience that does not like Gary Burbank's comedy and might be tempted by the moralizing of Michael Medved.

Local radio has taken one more step to oblivion, and another outlet for local discussion is gone. Now we get more of the same. The same topics, the same message, and the same propaganda. Soon FCC Chairman Michael Powel will be opening the gates to Clear Channel to own more, and local radio will be dead, except for what little local radio is on NPR. Local TV news is dead, local newspapers are holding on by a thread. I hope blogs catch on locally. Soon that may be the only means of public information and public discourse. Long live the Blog!

"Answers" in Genesis talk (2nd item)
Attention to all morons in Cincinnati, you can be treated to a wonderful morning of faux-science by the likes of the international man of creationist propaganda and lies himself: Ken Ham. Why would any religious person of with even a remote level of credibility promote this delusional man's rantings in a newspaper column? This guy thinks the Earth is only 6,000 years old. How can parents willingly allow their kids to be fed lies that this? The allure of theocratic fascist religions will never cease to amaze me.

Show Somebody the Money
Chris Anderson on the Empire Theater debacle. The folks on the Buzz's Week in Review on Friday used this a reason to slam Luken and Reece. I would like to blame all of city council for not following up on the issue, but most of the blame lies with LaShawn R. Pettus-Brown. John Schlagetter has a few emails with city officials on this.

NASA Sets Its Sights on Nuclear Space Rocket
The timing sucks rocks, but the idea is excellent. If Bush does release this as part of the State of the Union, I will be surprised and disappointed. The story will get missed in the Iraqi shuffle, and we will not be able to find the money for it right now. I hope the Democrats do not make this into an issue of affordability, but I fear they will. This issue is much too important for the usual partisan pissing match. The story was also in the Guardian

Homeland Security Research Center Meeting
The meeting was held in Columbus, but the center is based in Cincinnati. I don't feel any safer either way.

Score One for Kathy Y. Wilson
The Cincinnati Post reports that the murder of Gregory A. Beauchamp on New Year's Eve is being considered a hate crime. Kathy made that case in her City Beat column last week. Will Mike Allen champion this case or will he keep it under raps? How will the political cards fall? Alienate many blacks for exposing more black crime and the level of bigotry against homosexuals in the black community, or alienate the CCV, Phil Burress, Peter Bronson, and Phil Heimlich.

UPDATE: WLWT-NBC lead off with this story on tonight's 11:00 PM broadcast. Where were they on January 1st? Where were they the day after Kathy Wilson's column?

John Schlagetter's Political Junkie has moved, please adjust your links. John has also created a new blog about his email exchanges with political officials and other persons of infamy.