Speaking of Tall Stacks

I went last night as part of Cincinnati Tomorrow's "After-5 Walks" and I really had a good time. I was very impressed with the event. The food was good, beer was ok, the boats were cool, and the crowd was huge. We saw Changeling, a Celtic duo, and Ricky Skaggs. I am not a huge blue grass fan, but I do enjoy the music and I really enjoyed Skaggs. Changeling was excellent. A husband and wife team using a fiddle and guitar sound bigger than their number. They managed to mix in the "Smoke on the Water" riff from Deep Purple in their final song. It sounds weird to mix with Celtic music, but worked nicely.

I will likely head back down this weekend and check it out in the daylight. For full coverage of Tall Stacks in the media, the Enquirer has the full load.

German Ambassador Visits Cincinnati

The German Ambassador was in town and WLW, Peter Bronson, and Steve Chabot did not organize a boycott, or at least a protest of the event? No Freedom Potato salad?

The Ambassador went to Tall Stacks, so I guess the international sanctions declared by both the boycott A and boycott B were ignored by one of the target European governments. I guess they will say they don't care, because he is German, you know, the boycotter’s code word for "Nazi." "White Man" is the boycotter's code word for "racist" in case you wondered.

A 14 Year Old Girl?

A 14 year old girl is causing people trouble? Is this girl somehow "Supergirl" with the strength of 10 men? I don't see how any average adult could not detain this girl until police arrive. What is the challenge? I also have to ask, are "hate crime" charges being considered?

People along the Short Vine strip complained for months about unprovoked assaults by teenagers, often followed by racial slurs , that business owners say make people afraid to come here.

I assume she is black, if not, 1230 the Buzz will be ringing with cries for someone's head.

Red Dust

Have we been invaded by Martians? This story is either really serious, with nut or terrorist doing something bad, or a teenage kid is pulling some weird prank.

Anderson Township Moron

I have to ask a question to this Anderson Township Letter to the Editor writer:

Kerry not fit to be president

As I picked up the Oct. 13 edition of The Cincinnati Enquirer, I read the cover page with interest. Then I turned to page A2, "First Stop" and that's exactly what I did.

But the "First Stop" was the last stop for what stared me in the eye: a picture of a wannabe, U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., known as the "unknown soldier." The headline, "Unknown soldier' now makes his voice heard" was right. I just had to respond.

I put this "unknown soldier" in the same category with Hanoi Jane Fonda, and find them both useless.

I hope Kerry crawls back in his box and takes it back to Massachusetts, where he belongs. No way could I cast my vote to support for president. Kerry is a legend in his own mind.

Earl D. Corell, Anderson Township

Mr. Corell, did you serve in Vietnam? If you did, then did you see any fighting?

Guess what Mr. Corell, Senator John Kerry served on the Mekong delta in a small gun boat fighting the VC. He earned a Bronze Star, a Silver Star, and three Purple Heart medals. How Many medals have you won?

Where was George Bush? Oh, right, he was protecting the skies from a Mexican invasion. I am not big on military records and they don't change my vote, but when ignornat morons like this letter writer, and the idiots who put the letter in the paper, must be corrected.

I am guessing Mr. Corell is the same man referenced in this Enquirer Article from 1999. Does Mr. Corell think Iraq is another Vietnam? He sure thought Kosovo might be

“They say we have another Vietnam in Kosovo,” Vietnam vet Earl Corell told the 47 people and one dog gathered for the ceremony. “I sure hope the hell not.”

A Hamilton County sheriff's deputy, Earl Corell went to war in Vietnam in 1970. Ten years later, he came up with the idea for Cincinnati's Vietnam memorial and raised funds for the project.

Earl thought of rededicating the monument after U.S. missiles slammed into Kosovo.

“There are so many parallels between Vietnam and Kosovo,” Earl told me as we stood by the memorial before his speech. “We didn't know why we were in Vietnam.

“And nobody has told us why we are in Kosovo. Or how long we are going to be there and what we hope to accomplish.

Hmmm, does he want to extend and revise his remarks or just live with the contradiction? I am assuming his position is that of a Bush/war supporter from his knee jerk anti-Kerry letter. I think I have made a logical conclusion based on the evidence presented.

Dog Pile on the Bigot

The Elkington outrage has reached a peak with 100 Chinese-Americans attending yesterday's city council meeting. Cranley has gone out on limb:

Councilman John Cranley, Elkington's biggest supporter on City Council, said the remarks were unacceptable. Elkington made the remarks last month.

"Let me say in unequivocal terms - and I know I speak for all of council - that I condemn the statements made by Mr. Elkington at the Over-the-Rhine chamber luncheon," Cranley said.

He seemed to satisfy the crowd when he said City Council "has no intention of putting Mr. Elkington under contract with the city."

John Cranley knows one thing better than anyone: when to cut your losses and go with "popular" opinion.

CityBeat was mentioned again in the Enquirer article. That is amazing. Twice in about a week.

Cranley still wants Elkington to come to town and develop McMain street. I hope his role is limited. I also hope we get a new Chinese-American owned business on Main Street as soon as possible.

Military Theocracy?

Conservatives bitch constantly that the media is filled with liberals, which I am fairly sure they think is a bad thing. I want to know, why doesn't anyone bitch about the level of conservatives in the Officer Corps of the U.S. military? If you read about the general in charge of the fight against terrorism, Lt. Gen. William “Jerry” Boykin's, comments you might be concerned that we are closer to a Bush lead theocracy than even I thought. Atrios has the details.