Sunday, June 22, 2003
DONALD at All Deliberate Speed has added me to his blogroll, for which I thank him. I have to correct one thing about his comments. I live on the east side of Cincinnati, not the west. I don't fit in with the "stereotypical west sider." I am to the left of most of the City of Cincinnati in political terms, far to the left on social issues. I agree with him that Cincinnati is an important gauge of opinion in the Country. Cincinnati is basically the Mecca of mainstream Conservatism. We have our share of freakish reactionary conservatives, but most of them are Bush style Conservatives. I am not a fan of Bush at all, and most of his policies I find horrible, but Bush is not a reactionary. That does not mean he is not dangerous, just not as dangerous as the Free Republic crowd.
Calling All Local Bloggers!
I am compiling a list of local blogs from the Greater Cincinnati Metro area. I will eventually have a page of links listing all of the blogs categorized by category. If you are a blogger out there, please send me an email, or add a comment, with your blog address, email address, and a general description of what kind of blog you write. I will be happy to include anyone who may not think they are in the official Cincinnati area, so don't be bashful. Also, don't hold back. If you want people to read your blog, you have to promote it. If anyone wants to suggest another blog, please send that along too. I am not trying to create a master list of blogs, just those from the Cincinnati, Tri-state, or even greater Ohio area.
I am compiling a list of local blogs from the Greater Cincinnati Metro area. I will eventually have a page of links listing all of the blogs categorized by category. If you are a blogger out there, please send me an email, or add a comment, with your blog address, email address, and a general description of what kind of blog you write. I will be happy to include anyone who may not think they are in the official Cincinnati area, so don't be bashful. Also, don't hold back. If you want people to read your blog, you have to promote it. If anyone wants to suggest another blog, please send that along too. I am not trying to create a master list of blogs, just those from the Cincinnati, Tri-state, or even greater Ohio area.
Enquirer's Concealed-Carry Coverage
The Editorial Page of the Cincinnati Enquirer has gone all out in coverage of the concealed-carry law that is slated to become law. Their editorial on it is a cheerleading call to action to try and reconcile the two bills passed in each in respective chamber. I will never know why people want this so much. Why do people feel the need to carry around a gun? How many people will ever have to draw their gun? I hope the number is small. If you never draw your pistol, why did you need it? I think the answer is that you are afraid. That is reasonable. We are all fearful of something, but most of us not to the point that we feel the need to carry around a deadly weapon.
The paper provides a good summary of the law passed by the senate, which has the governor's support. The Enquirer also provide two oddly opposing views on the subject. From Chuck Klein they get an extremist gun nut's point of view. Chuck is pissed that the Senate law tries to protect children. He wants an open shooting range so much that he is not even willing to compromise on the law and agree to a simple restriction involving children and guns in cars. Toby Hoover provides the safetly prospective in opposing the law all together. I agree with Mr. Hoover on his stance on the law and I think that carrying around guns on our streets does nothing but increase the ego of the gun carrier. If there is a reasonable need for an individual to carry a gun on their person, I am open to laws allowing people to carry a gun. Reason could be as part of the their job, like deliver persons who are targets of robbers or people who have been threatened with physical harm or have specific types of restraining orders issued for protection.
The Cleveland Suburban newspaper The Morning Journal had an interesting editorial on Friday. They raised this point in their title:
The Editorial Page of the Cincinnati Enquirer has gone all out in coverage of the concealed-carry law that is slated to become law. Their editorial on it is a cheerleading call to action to try and reconcile the two bills passed in each in respective chamber. I will never know why people want this so much. Why do people feel the need to carry around a gun? How many people will ever have to draw their gun? I hope the number is small. If you never draw your pistol, why did you need it? I think the answer is that you are afraid. That is reasonable. We are all fearful of something, but most of us not to the point that we feel the need to carry around a deadly weapon.
The paper provides a good summary of the law passed by the senate, which has the governor's support. The Enquirer also provide two oddly opposing views on the subject. From Chuck Klein they get an extremist gun nut's point of view. Chuck is pissed that the Senate law tries to protect children. He wants an open shooting range so much that he is not even willing to compromise on the law and agree to a simple restriction involving children and guns in cars. Toby Hoover provides the safetly prospective in opposing the law all together. I agree with Mr. Hoover on his stance on the law and I think that carrying around guns on our streets does nothing but increase the ego of the gun carrier. If there is a reasonable need for an individual to carry a gun on their person, I am open to laws allowing people to carry a gun. Reason could be as part of the their job, like deliver persons who are targets of robbers or people who have been threatened with physical harm or have specific types of restraining orders issued for protection.
The Cleveland Suburban newspaper The Morning Journal had an interesting editorial on Friday. They raised this point in their title:
"State lawmakers in Columbus can't manage to help more Ohioans carry a college degree, but they're hard at work to help Ohioans carry concealed weapons. How stupid. "Indeed.
Saturday, June 21, 2003
Riot News Coverage
During the 2001 riots here in Cincinnati, with the exception of the on the spot coverage of 1230 the Buzz, local news media stayed well behind police lines, limiting coverage of the most intense periods of the actions. If you listened to first hand testimony or listened to the police scanners, you hear a war zone. The decriptions from a reporter for the Herald Palladium about the recent riots in Benton Harbor, Michigan confirms what the local press may have faced if they had ventured deep into the riots back in April of 2001. Some limited stories of bottles and bricks hitting news vans were reported, but nothing compared to what reporter Kim Strode went through just trying to report the story. As a side note the Herald Palladium, the local St. Joseph-Benton Harbor, Michigan newspaper, has an interesting editorial about the police officer involved in the chase that instigated the riots.
During the 2001 riots here in Cincinnati, with the exception of the on the spot coverage of 1230 the Buzz, local news media stayed well behind police lines, limiting coverage of the most intense periods of the actions. If you listened to first hand testimony or listened to the police scanners, you hear a war zone. The decriptions from a reporter for the Herald Palladium about the recent riots in Benton Harbor, Michigan confirms what the local press may have faced if they had ventured deep into the riots back in April of 2001. Some limited stories of bottles and bricks hitting news vans were reported, but nothing compared to what reporter Kim Strode went through just trying to report the story. As a side note the Herald Palladium, the local St. Joseph-Benton Harbor, Michigan newspaper, has an interesting editorial about the police officer involved in the chase that instigated the riots.
Last Gasp or New Future for the Post?
The Cincinnati Post reports on itself today indicated they are consolidating their news rooms into the downtown Cincinnati location. From a business perspective, I wonder why this was not done years ago. I understand that Northern Kentucky residents was local coverage, and the Kentucky Post does an ok job of providing that, but being just over the border is a superficial element, that was only a symbolic tradition. I hope this buys E. W. Scripps some time to stabilize the paper. Rumor has the Cincinnati Post closing down once the Joint printing agreement with the Enquirer expires, keeping the Kentucky Post alive, but focused almost exclusively on Kentucky. If the FCC rules on ownership of newspapers and local TV stations stays in place, could the Post be sold to someone like Clear Channel? A news room connecting WLW, WKRC-TV and a new Cincinnati Post would be a conservative's dream. Would it bring new competition against an Enquirer/WCPO-TV alliance or just homogenize 3 news organizations into one? It is nothing but speculation, but is it plausible?
The Cincinnati Post reports on itself today indicated they are consolidating their news rooms into the downtown Cincinnati location. From a business perspective, I wonder why this was not done years ago. I understand that Northern Kentucky residents was local coverage, and the Kentucky Post does an ok job of providing that, but being just over the border is a superficial element, that was only a symbolic tradition. I hope this buys E. W. Scripps some time to stabilize the paper. Rumor has the Cincinnati Post closing down once the Joint printing agreement with the Enquirer expires, keeping the Kentucky Post alive, but focused almost exclusively on Kentucky. If the FCC rules on ownership of newspapers and local TV stations stays in place, could the Post be sold to someone like Clear Channel? A news room connecting WLW, WKRC-TV and a new Cincinnati Post would be a conservative's dream. Would it bring new competition against an Enquirer/WCPO-TV alliance or just homogenize 3 news organizations into one? It is nothing but speculation, but is it plausible?
HERE IS Stonewall-Cincinnati's take on the Van Kuiken Removal from the Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church for marrying gays and lesbians. Small critique: this document needs a date published listed.
Bush Says Iraqi Weapons Sites Were Looted
So let me get this straight. Bush is now admitting that we know the weapons were looted? WTF? So the oil fields were more important to protect, than the WMD? We sent special teams to secure the oil fields, but no special teams in to protect the WMD sites? Do people have barrels of VX in their basements right now? How secure is that? This sounds like the worst attempt at spinning I have ever head. Bush did not even have to the balls to say in a more covered speech, he choose the routinely meaningless weekly radio address. This did not even make the 11:00 AM CNN or MSNBC top stories. Mike Tyson's arrest made it, but not Bush on the alleged looting of WMD. Nice, folks, nice. I guess Harry Potter was just to "big" of story to cover last night, so all of the reporters are sleeping when Bush breaks news.
So let me get this straight. Bush is now admitting that we know the weapons were looted? WTF? So the oil fields were more important to protect, than the WMD? We sent special teams to secure the oil fields, but no special teams in to protect the WMD sites? Do people have barrels of VX in their basements right now? How secure is that? This sounds like the worst attempt at spinning I have ever head. Bush did not even have to the balls to say in a more covered speech, he choose the routinely meaningless weekly radio address. This did not even make the 11:00 AM CNN or MSNBC top stories. Mike Tyson's arrest made it, but not Bush on the alleged looting of WMD. Nice, folks, nice. I guess Harry Potter was just to "big" of story to cover last night, so all of the reporters are sleeping when Bush breaks news.
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