A Point of Clarification, asked by John Schlagetter
John wonders that since the boycott of Downtown Cincinnati is targeted to "consumers," why are not consumers of legal services of attorneys located downtown subject to the boycott? I would ask how can any boycotter use their phone and not be breaking the boycott? Last I checked Cincinnati Bell is located on 7th Street. I think John is on to something.

Gay-rights group to push partners registry for ballot
If John Cranley and David Crowley want to really help gays and homosexuals, then lets seem them support an ordinance in Cincinnati creating a "domestic partner registry." This registry would allow for all couples, homosexual or heterosexual, to register with the City as a couple who are living together as a domestic couple. This registry would allow a means for people to gain access to see domestic partners in hospitals where only "family" is admitted. It also might create a means where other similar accommodations made to traditional married couples might be extended to those who are part of the domestic partner registry. This registry is not in my opinion the best solution for discrimination against gay marriage, but it might be a means that under current law could not be touched. The state of Ohio should legalize Gay Marriage or create a Civil Union provision allowing for equal levels of right for homosexuals to live in a domestic partnership as any other couple might.

John Schlagetter is calling out the CJC. I am sure Nate's ego will not let this go without a response. Stay tuned to their website forum for their regular dose of bigotry and racist dogma. Same bat time, same bat channel.

John refers to WCIN's "50 Most Influential Blacks in Cincinnati" event. I do not think people putting on this banquet are racist, but I don't see this as a very race friendly kind of event to have. There is no 50 most influential whites in Cincinnati event that I know of. If there were, I would bet nearly all 50 of these people would condemn it as racist, and call for a protest. WCIN's event might be subjected to protest, but not by any so-called "white organization." Instead a sect of Black Nationalists will likely be the only protestors. This is a double standard. Many might call this a justified double standard, but if you do un to others, they will do un to you in return. The cycle of racism and bigotry has been allowed to swing back as a subtext that allows minorities to do things that if the majority did would be considered offensive. I don't know why this is allowed to occur, but it goes with little objection from the minority community and the media.

Round up the Usual Suspects!
Peter Bronson of the Enquirer is shocked, SHOCKED that Aaron Sanders, head of the Miami University College Republicans, was fired as a columnist for the Miami Student. Peter has no clue that this is the best thing that could have happened to Mr. Sanders in his political career. In one simple action he has been made into a right-wing hero. He is a martyr for the cause of conservatism. He not only was fired for opposing what he called "pornography", but he has created a fight with one of the biggest enemies of the theocratic fascist jet set: the college professor. Freepers around the country are surely frothing at the mouth, while the CCV and its kin are beating the war drums both with Peter Bronson, their champion, pumping up his protégé. I shed no tears for Mr. Sanders. He will be laughing all the way to his cushy political job very soon, and by making FOX News, he surely will not have a problem getting a job in a Republican administration somewhere. Senator Doug White could use some help I am sure.

Damn Yankees Syndrome
If the USA were a baseball team it would surely be the New York Yankees. Why do those damn Yankees always win the World Series? Most baseball fans either root for the NY Yankees or they hate them with a passion. Now, after 9/11 the Yankees have received much sympathy from all of American along with most all things New York. That not with standing the history of hating the Yankees is a tried and true tradition. That tradition is at its core nothing more than jealousy. When the Yankees won nearly countless pennants and World Series from the late 1920’s through the early 1960’s, it was almost natural for people to start hating them. It is natural. Envy is a human failing, but an unavoidable one.

Is this the bottom line composition of the bulk of the hard-line protests against the American led campaign to go to war to disarm Iraq of WMD? Are all of the cries against alleged American hegemony nothing more than some envious French pundits shaking their fists at those damn Yankees? Does that make Jacques Chirac into Joe Boyd/Hardy? Shoeless Jacques from old Iraq? France would have to then be the Washington Senators. They Irony there is incalculable. Saddam Hussein would then have to be Mister Applegate (the Devil of the Faustian story) temping Jacques with victory over those Damn Yankees as long as he sells his soul. I can’ t figure out who Lola is in this fictionalized musical made real. There are several candidates for the role. Yasser Arafat is the most obvious choice. Germany might be a possibility, but their role might be closer to a Benny Van Buren. Right-wingers would want to use the anti-war protestors as their Lola, but I will not give them the satisfaction. Robert Mugabe fills the role almost as well as Arafat, but Yasser has to be the sentimental choice.

The pièce de résistance and the crème de la crème of my little conflagration of analogies is the fact that from 1995 to 1997 the most beloved American comedic actor in France, Jerry Lewis, starred in the National Tour of a Damn Yankees revival. Irony is best served with a little cheese and champagne.

FOX News Watch Faux Pas
FOX News's Eric Burns made a couple of mistakes that got my ire on today's edition of the FOX News Watch program. I sent an email with my complaint.

Eric,

In covering the Aaron Sanders, college student columnist, you made two major mistakes. First you failed to include the fact that Aaron is the Chairman of the Miami University chapter of the College Republicans, one of the biggest chapters of that group in the country. Mr. Sanders’ ties to the GOP and his ability to gain the attention of a local columnist and your program are evidence that his motives are at a minimum less than pure journalism. Second you made a more serious mistake. You referred to Miami as the "University of Miami of Ohio." Miami was a University while Florida still belonged to Spain. Coral Gables University may be a fine school, but they do not have the history of Miami University, nor the storied alumni. As an alumnus myself I am often forced to write emails to media outlets and reporters correcting them on this mistake. I do have a bias in the issue, but it might help that you re-read Peter Bronson's Cincinnati Enquirer Column, or better yet my blog post on the issue. What is worse is that Jim Pinkerton, while commenting on the topic, correctly referred Miami as "Miami University." It is difficult for me to praise Mr. Pinkerton, but he earned it in knowing his Miami's.

Brian Griffin
Cincinnati, Ohio
Miami University Class of 1994

I don't think it is "pithy" enough for FOX, so I doubt it will be noticed. This program is entertaining, but it is really biased. It has two conservative partisan columnists and two liberal media analysts. The analysts discuss the quality of the media, while the columnists mostly scream about the "so called liberal media."

Man pleads guilty to fraudulently billing porn Web sites to county
If Simon Leis has anything to say about this man he will get the electric chair. Not for fraud or theft, but for viewing porn websites.