Wednesday, May 07, 2003

Condon's plan no surprise, tape says
Was this tape used at the Condon trial or was it made after the fact? It seems that if it was not used at the trial, and was known to exist by respective concil it might have been enough for reasonable doubt. On the other hand, the torch and pitch fork crowd was out for a hide to sink their teeth into.

UPDATE: Greg Flannery of City Beat wonders about Mike Allen's Letter to the county Coroner's office. Does it also indicate that Condon's actions were legal?
CPS can thank a small turnout
The title of this article must be considered idiotic when you read this part of it:
The turnout Tuesday was 21 percent countywide, which, strange as it seems, is a fairly high number for a spring primary election in an odd-numbered year, when there is little else on the ballot.
The turnout for last year's May primary election was 14%. I blame this on the editors, who often write or change article headlines.
Voters Approve $480 Million Cincinnati Schools Bond Issue
This was a fairly close election, with over 47,000 voters casting a ballot. For there only being one issue on the ballot, I think that number is not that bad compared to other elections. I am glad this passed. The naysayers are concerned about the state of schools now. I care about the state of the buildings for the next 25+ years. I hope this prevents the need for more building funds for that length of time. If not, then we can bitch about it. The trick of course is that we will not know the answer until it is too late.

Monday, May 05, 2003

Sensationalist of the Day: Jay Love of the Buzz

On the second annual Cinco de Mayo Min-riot: Jay is playing "gotcha." He has the "goods" to show something. What he is trying to show was unclear. He is trying to show that the police are evil demons who let whites riot, while acting against blacks. That analysis is horribly flawed if that is his intention. He is trying to compare last year's black family reunion to this riot and he thinks the police or the news media have double standards. Well they have double standards, but not the one Jay is trying to paint. If anything, the police reacted far to restrained with last years Black Family Reunion, but they did act with strong enough force for the Cinco de Mayo Riot.

The only problem with the police action was they were slow to respond to this most recent incident. The cause for their delay is unknown, but Jay is trying to infer it was based on race. Jay is trying to infer that because he is trying to stir up conflict to attract listeners. Conflict is the lifeblood of talk radio, so his actions are expected.

A second level to the invalid analysis of Jay Love is in lack of excuse making on the parents of the rioters. When high school and younger kids ran rampant downtown the media showed light on the lack of parent supervision at a family event the media called out the parents of the kids. Many in the black community defended the kids, as was done after the 2001 riots. No one defended the Cinco de Mayo rioters. They were not supported nor were their actions called a "rebellion." They were just called thugs and everyone moved on. Jay wants them raked over hot coals by the media, which he is doing a bit himself, but he is more outraged that the media has not jumped all over this. The difference between the two situations is simple: the college students are adults. Their parents are not supposed to be in control of them, as the kids at the Black Family Reunion should have controlled.

Jay is grasping at straws. He has to play the race card to get his audience into a frenzy. Jay is being a typical hate radio host, like Rush Limbaugh or Michael Savage.

Sunday, May 04, 2003

Matt Weiler: Coaster Safety
I share Matt's comments on politicians jumping the gun, and calling for something to be done about roller coasters. What that something might be, I have no clue. I myself don't really like to ride roller coasters. I am not the most agile person, and extra g-forces are not something that does anything for me, but make me feel like crap.
Open air waves
The UC News Record profiles WAIF 88.3 FM. The "all volunteer" radio station has been rolling on for 25 years. They have online streaming, so have a listen.
Fountain Square shooting alarming
Update: WLWT is reporting the victim, 26 year old Antonio Owens, has now died from his wounds.