Cats and Dogs Living Together

The apocalypse meter must be rising because I agree with Peter Bronson's column from yesterday. Peter ripped into the past of John Elkington who the Mayor and Councilman John Cranley are trying to get as a consultant/developer for some type of vaguely defined Main Street project.

The only problem I have with this column is that it should have been written by Maggie Downs. She has written a lot about Main Street, she knows the people involved, and she is perfectly capable of getting the same quote from Louisiana and Georgia as Peter did. Why did she not do the column? The only reason is that Peter wanted to, and the Paleolithic columnists always get their way or that the Paper wanted to see this issue fail, and Peter can help reach the right people (those with the money) to help pull the carpet out from under any development of OTR, or at least any under the current Mayor. Why would Bronson really care what happens on Main Street? Would he ever even go there? Maybe if they started a Solid Rock Church instead of a Hard Rock Café he might.

Ohio in Play for 2004?

The latest UC poll suggests that Ohio is not a lock for Bush in 2004. Ohio is a bell weather state for politics. So goes Ohio, and more often than not, so goes the election. A 55% approval rate, down from 76% is a big hit. Iraq policy is only part of the cause. The Economy is surely the main reason for the drop. This poll is fickle, as are Ohio voters, so come next summer, this poll should be a good indicator of what is to come.

Miami-X

The Miami University student body president has invited, with the approval of the Sports Department, all Xavier University students to attend this weekends Miami-UC annual battle for the bell football game. No doubt this will piss off the Bearkitten faithful, but intercolligate relations has never known a better gesture. This is a great PR story, and surprise, surprise it is a positive story about Miami in the Enquirer. Well, it was written by Mark Schmetzer who is the semi-official Miami University beat writer for the Enquirer.

Vigilancia Politica 20030924
A fun week with even more on McMain Street. Elkington does not come off to wonderful in the various references in the column. No picture this week, I did not take my camera with me to Oktoberfest as promised, and I wish did. I missed quite a few bizarre pictures. The people with the Cole and Malone stickers on might have been the most interesting. I guess drunk people will wear any kind of stick, if you just ask.

Ooooo, a "Protest"

Nate has been busy. I guess all 6 protestors will have some fun being racist on Fountain Square. Just lovely.

Why the Leaks on 9/11 Planning?

Who is leaking all of the information on the alleged additional plans of the 9/11 terrorists and why is it being leaked? Is it being leaked to discredit Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in the eyes of the remaining terrorists? It is to taint a jury pool? I assumed he would be headed for either a foreign court or for a military trial. He would presumably be open to trial as a co-conspirator of 9/11 under U. S. criminal law, as well as New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania state laws. Doesn't this leak give him a slam-bang fair trial appeal before anything happens?

This smells fishy to me. If he is being held by the CIA then either the CIA lacks the ability to keep its mouth in the face of gain some positive PR, or it was part of some other plot to either push outstanding terrorists to act with haste or to back off from something impending. What ever the reason it leaked, I don't like it.

Reading Between the Lines

I am going out on a limb now with some nit-picky analysis of the announcement that the Bush Administration is introducing 6 new regulations to allow religious organizations to receive federal funding for programs that provide community “services.” Claims to the kind of services are varied and unverified. What makes me cringe are the comments made by Jim Towey, the head of the White House faith-based office (and no this is not the group looking for WMD’s in Iraq):

"These six new regulations and the four finalized ones represent a continued march by the president in the faith-based initiative's effort to spread compassion in our country and make sure that the most effective programs are funded," said Jim Towey, the head of the White House faith-based office.

The bold was added. Now, “to spread compassion” sounds very close to “spreading the word,” one of the evangelical crowd's many rhetorical bumper sticker phrases. Additionally, with Mel Gibson’s movie out there called “The Passion”, then “compassion” could have a more obvious context. Now I am a reading into this quite a bit, but the language could have been constructed with more care, like avoiding “crusade” when talking about going after a group of Muslim extremists.

Not to be outdone with himself, Jim Towey continued:

"He wants to see results. This is not about funding religion, but about funding results and identifying the most effective providers and knocking down the wall that separates the poor from these programs."

It is not about “religion,” he says, but that depends on how one defines religion. I think my definition and his might differ greatly. His reference to “knocking down the wall that separates” is such very unfortunate use of language. That phrase was at best a Freudian slip, or at worse code words to Christian Conservatives looking for payoffs for their obedience to King George. What this policy is doing is knocking down the wall of separation between church and state. Direct or indirect funding of religion is a violation of the 1st Amendment. It is compounded in violation when the details of who is being funded and who is not being funded. I would how to see at least a few Pagan drug clinics funded, but I will not hold my breath.