Kroger Gets Their Garage
This was a forgone conclusion, but the city will build Kroger a parking garage. I don't really have a major problem with building a parking garage. Parking is not easy everywhere downtown. If Central Parkway continues to develop, then more parking it will come in handy. The problem with the situation was the arrogance and vile business practices of Kroger’s. Making threats is not a good long run business practice. It might work for the short run thinkers who want to quell the tide today (wringing the stone for last ounce of blood), but for us true “conservative” business people, working honestly and fairly gets you more friends then foes. Kroger’s now has bunch of foes. If they do not help find a developer for their former College Hill store, or if they let the Vine Street store fall apart again, then they might feel the pinch instead of the warm body massage from city council.

Cole's comments from the debate are either piss poor or just not quoted in their entirety:

"This deal stinks," Cole said. "It stinks for the council. It stinks for the taxpayers. It stinks so bad that I beg the administration to get its act together and get us the information we need before we have to make any more of these decisions."

Why? Why does the plan stink? Is it just because the city has to pay for it? Well, the city has built many many parking garages around town. I do not think this will be a Kroger only garage, at least I hope not. So we all get some value out of it. It will make good parking for the Taste of Cincinnati. Cole's comments are just electioneering at their most ineloquent.

More from the Post.

WLW's Idea of 9/11 Commemoration
WLW's Mike McConnell’s guest was Richard Miniter formerly from the Wall Street Journal and he is promoting his book blaming Bill Clinton for not getting Osama Bin Laden. The Blame Clinton crowd, of which WLW and Clear Channel are charter members, has stooped to an all time low. This guy claims to have proof of connections between Iraq and Al-Qaeda. If this exists, why was it not presented at the UN as a reason for attacking Iraq? Yes, you can now surmise that his claims of proof are just bullshit.


Everyone will be able to watch next summer during the campaign as WLW airs someone who will blame not finding WMD in Iraq on Clinton, as well as every other conservative talk radio station and FOX News. That will be their "meme" of choice to deflect Bush's WMD problem. This is the new tone of politics? It sounds like the old games of Dick Nixon. "Rat fucking" has lost the illegality and just become the Wurlitzer. Lady of Spain where are you?

Spencer vs. Cranley
The Spencer and Cranley camps have been duking it out over at cincymusic.com's message boards regarding the Main Street development issue. Lots of people stirring up the pot and just messing around, but a lot of good debate. The McMain Street battle wages on!

Kathy Y. Wilson Baffles Me
Her latest column is just all over the map. It is oddly as personal as any blogger could be and then some. She frets over being called "racist" by CityBeat News Editor Greg Flannery for criticizing other blacks. That is a ludicrous accusation on Greg's part. It is brought forward because of the revision of the meaning of the word "racism" by transnational progressives out there. I am not a tranzi, as some call them. I am an old school liberal. I don't change the rules when you want to make new enemies. A racist to some today is anyone they want to tar as bad, just because they oppose your policies or your opinions. Racism is like patriotism. Both terms are used as red herrings. Both terms are just the latest incarnations of demagoguery that was most famously illustrated in the communist witch-hunts of the late 1940's and 1950's.

I wish Greg had used a better term to classify Kathy. He could have used classist or elitist or just accused her of being prejudice. Using the "R" word is just the 50-foot pickle people like to use to beat others over the head. I just wished these comments from Kathy’s column were not really what many people believe:

"Racism is based on economics," I said. "They make more money than I do, and there's no way I can oppress them."

Racism for the record is generally the belief that a particular race of people or all other race outside of one own is inherently inferior. A race is "a group of people of common ancestry, distinguished from others by physical characteristics, such as hair type, color of eyes and skin, stature, etc. Principal races are Caucasoid, Mongoloid, and Negroid." Economics is not part of racism. Economics might play a factor in discrimination, but discrimination is not solely the result of one’s race. If a black person is poor it is not because they are black. If a white person is rich it is not because they are white. Capitalist societies have poor people. If you want to be a communist, fine, don't use race as the means to draw people into the revolution by creating a feeling of victim hood that can be blamed on your mark.

UPDATE: Greg Flannery emailed to correct me on a big point from Kathy's column. He did not call her a "racist". Instead, read Kathy's words:

He accused me of lumping all white T-shirt wearers together as dealers, of calling for their "extinction." He called my conclusions racist.

Greg's point is valid, and I apologize for the mistake. I would argue however that if a person draws racist conclusions, they would almost certainly be considered a de facto racist, so the distinction on paper is clear, in reality it is not. I still would contend my point was correct. Kathy's conclusions were not racist. She was either generalizing being prejudice, or just absolutely correct. The whole issue she talked about was about culture, not about race. That is another confusion people seem to make on purpose all to often.

Damon Lynch and Wife are "separated"
CityBeat has reported something that either I missed in the previous accounts of the Lynch residency issue or that the rest of the media did not report:

Kenneth Lawson, Lynch's attorney, presented affidavits from Damon and Johanna Lynch attesting to their marital separation.

So is this a real separation or a fake one? A minister's marriage is really in trouble, if we assume they did not lie in their affidavits, something I hope they are not willing to do. How is this not news? How come CityBeat reported this and not the Enquirer or the Post or any of the TV stations? Does CityBeat have either the inside scoop on the issue? Since this is all public record, I doubt that. Does CityBeat not fear being attacked by the CBUF, while the rest of the media does fear that?

All of my questions are interesting, but that still leaves one concern out there. Should this be an issue? I would say, in this case, it is fair game. Part of my position is clouded by the hypocrisy of any clergyman who can't keep his marriage in working order, but I think it still fair game because of the residency issue. Lynch's credibility is low, at least with those paying attention. The status of his marriage directly impacts that issue. The gory detail are not an issue, but the general status was and is. Now, does it matter if he or his wife is shacking up with anyone right now? Not at all. It makes for good blog fodder, but that is about it.

Overall the CityBeat article was a very straight forward article. It was as balanced as I have seen from one of their news stories. I hope they keep this kind of reporting up.

UPDATE: I missed the Post's report of Lynch's separation:

For Lynch, the challenge triggered an embarrassing look into his personal life that forced the Over-the-Rhine pastor to disclose publicly that he and his wife have separated. In an affidavit filed with the elections board Friday, Lynch stated that he has lived at the condo since at least mid-July.

That was very obvious, but I still missed it. Thanks to "Dolla" in the comments for correcting me.

UC "Child" Porn Professor
Ok, this guy sounds sick, but I have a question. How did people know what files he had on his computer?

Sharonville Police started investigating Luebbe two months ago after they were contacted by a computer technician at Micro Center in Sharonville, where Luebbe had taken his computer for repairs. The technician found several images of minors having sex, according to a police report. A police search of the computer turned up several hundred images of child pornography, according to police and prosecutors.

How did the computer technician find these pictures? Were the files called "child porn.jpg" or something similar? Why was this guy checking out these files? Are their known files out there that are "marked" child porn files that computer tech's can scan for? The only other way was that this technician was looking this guys files. Why would the technician look at his files? I also would like to know if these minors were teenagers or under 13 or 14. This makes a difference. If these are pictures of a 17 year old, then that is not the same thing as a 7 year old. Police don't seem to care to indicate a difference, but there is one. My grandmother was married at age 16 to my then 26-year-old grandfather, back in 1936. If they wanted to marry today instead of then, I would never have existed. My grandfather would have been labeled a sex offender and put in jail.

Now, I don't advise dating teenagers, unless you are a teenager, but this man will likely be mistreated in prison, even before he is convicted because we have a vengeful police force and a media that will exploit a sex crime faster than any other crime.

Vigilancia Politica 20030910
Well, another one. It was a slow week for stuff, but I made a little change. I included links to all of the stories I referenced for the candidates. They are organized by topic, as opposed to candidate. I am limited by some issues in the goxray.com site code. Let me know how bad this one is. I am not jumping for joy at it. I guess the stories are not as juicy as the last couple weeks have been, so I am going through a slight news withdrawal. I guess I have to go read up another fix.