State cuts terror threat to yellow
Why does Ohio or any state need its own terror alert? I can see a city or even a state issuing a specific alert when there is a semi-specific threat, but I think it is safe for the residents of Ohio to just follow the Federal terror alert guides. If Taft is just going to mimic the Department of Homeland Security, then why bother with the damn thing in the first place? Well, Bob has to fight terror with the rest of hanger's on. Ohio is not a high on the terrorist target list. I think we all can just stay vigilant, without worrying about foreign terrorists. I would much prefer Bob to keep a warning on the threats from domestic terrorists. If some anti-abortion nut case is trying to send fake anthrax letters again, I would much prefer to know about that, then a useless state warning level. What kind of intelligence reports does Taft get? Is there an Ohio Intelligence Agency? Are we sending spies into Kentucky and West Virginia? Opps, I may have just blown their cover, Sheriff Leis is knocking on my door as I type.

Numbers 25, 26, & 27. At this rate we are on pace to a have a murder rate slightly higher than last year.

CHRIS ANDERSON comments on one of the undemocratic demands issued by the revised boycott übercoalition.

Ex-campaign treasurer stole $400,000 from Boehner fund
How valued can an endorsement like this be?

The Ohio Society of Public Accountants Endorse Rep. John Boehner

"The Screening Committee and the Society's Board believe you are a candidate who will continue to be a positive influence in Washington."

The Ohio Society of Certified Public Accountants
June 26, 2002

I wonder which member of the Ohio Society of CPA's missed the $400,000+ from a congressional campaign. That is not a drop in the bucket for Boehner's war chest. You might think that someone would have caught this a little sooner. Do people really want this guy as their watchdog in Washington? Is this John’s typical level of oversight? I am glad I am not in his district.

CAIR: No Room to Judge
A letter to the editor of the Washington Post from a Rich Leonardi from here in Cincinnati. CAIR is a group that was upset with the play Paradise.

[Link via Atrios with comments]

SOMEBODY'S lobbyist is getting a big fat Raise.

Boycotters still seek broad demands
Luken thinks these demands will cost in total about 5 billion dollars, not just the 1.6 billion amount named. I wish I understood the law more, because this sounds like a case of extortion that could fall into the realm of the RCIO statues. I also question this bit of alleged history put forth by the reporter:

In fact, council members were elected using proportional representation until voters changed the city's charter in 1957 in a bid to block Theodore Berry from becoming the Queen City's first black mayor. The change prevented Berry's ascendancy for 15 years, officials said.

The fact may only be the change of the charter in 1957. The bid to block Theodore Berry is an opinion that I don’t think was established as a fact in the article, and I would guess is something only considered a fact in some people’s opinion. It might be true. I was not alive then and am still a relative new comer to this city, at 13 years in the greater Cincinnati area, so my knowledge of that kind of local history is very limited. I am skeptical that what the writer claimed as “fact” can be documented or supported. I think the reporter should have qualified that part to either support it as fact with some reference to evidence, or treat it is a generally accepted opinion in certain or some quarters, as opposed to a clear fact.