Monday, November 24, 2003

Cincinnati Hipsters Unite!

I can't comment to much on this story, I was not there, but I have to quote this part:
"These organizations are recognizing that they have to build young audiences," said James Czar, manager of information systems with Enjoy the Arts/Start, an organization that promotes art among young people. "Their older member base is eventually not going to be there, so they need to repopulate it now."
I doubt Mr. Czar would call himself a hipster, but I find it interesting this gathering was considered one of "hipsters." I have a negative feeling for the word and I am still unsure if it can apply to anyone in Cincinnati. For the record the dictionary defines a hipster as "One who is exceptionally aware of or interested in the latest trends and tastes, especially a devotee of modern jazz." Now, m-w.com has a more historical feeling of a definition:
Pronunciation: 'hip-st&r
Function: noun
Etymology: 4hip
Date: circa 1941
: a person who is unusually aware of and interested in new and unconventional patterns (as in jazz or the use of stimulants)
The modern usage from urbandictionary.com is the one that gives me the negative vibe:
someone, usually a teenager or 20something, who adheres to a counterculture ranging from indy-rockers to neo-hippies to skaters. they tend to define themselves by the music they listen to, and the outlandish clothes they wear. hipsters are opposed to other countercultures like goths, metal-heads, and gangstas, and they also avoid preps, eurotrash, white trash, and jocks

question: why does he only listen to bands that are never played on the radio?
answer: he's a hipster
So who is a hipster out there?

GOP Eating Their Own?

The Enquirer reports that the GOP has six possible candidates to run for County Commissioner against Todd Portune. The primary is coming up in March of next year, so the battle for money should be going on like a Thursday after Thanksgiving sale.

The real question is who will challenge Kabaka Oba to get the Democratic nomination to run for John Downlin's seat? John Cranley? Alicia Reece? Howard Bond?

The Democrats will be eating their own in the Race for Mayor of Cincinnati. Mark Mallory, David Pepper, and Alicia Reece are all talking about running for Mayor in 2005 as is the current Mayor, Charlie Luken. With an open primary, 2 or more Democrats could be on the ballot. That would be interesting.

Cincinnati Television News Spawns Another Political Candidate

Ken Lucas will not seek re-election, but Nick Clooney is running in his place. Nick's candidacy will surely garner a lot of attention because he is the father of George Clooney. George has slowly been dipping his toes in the water of political advocacy; I wonder how involved he will be in his dad's campaign.

UPDATE: more coverage from the Enquirer, FOX41, and ONN.

UPDATE#2: AP has the story on Yahoo and it hit the most viewed stories at #13

Sunday, November 23, 2003

The Archbishop Knew?

This report from WCPO indicates that Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk was told about allegations of sexual abuse sometime between 1988 and 1994. If he knew about these allegations, why is Pilarczyk getting away with this?

Smells like 1970

The FBI is investigating anti-war protestors. Will the summer of 2004 election season make 1968 look like a picnic? I once again will predict there will be violence, to some degree or another, at the national political conventions next summer. Also from Reuters.

UPDATE: Wes Flinn comments.

MIAMI 49, OU 31

Love and honor to Miami,
Our college old and grand,
Proudly we shall ever hail thee,
Over all the land.

Alma mater now we praise thee,
Sing joyfully this lay,
Love and honor to Miami,
Forever and a day.


A sweet victory against the dreaded BobKittens. I take joy in this win over the Alma Mater of many local journalists. I don't think this will help coverage of Miami in any way.

News Coverage: Enquirer, Post, DDN, & PD.

Friday, November 21, 2003

Mike Allen's Failure

From Mike Allen's Statement yesterday:
Hold them accountable.

Make sure this doesn't happen again.

I cannot tell you how many times or how many people have said that to me over the last year. But they were not talking about a serial rapist, or a multiple murderer, or the vicious rioters who brought our city to its knees.

They were talking about one of the most respected and revered institutions in our county - the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
Mr. Allen's failure is exemplified by not answering the plea from the public who wanted "them" to be held accountable, instead he went after "it." Allen let individual priests who knowingly protected rapists and molesters go unpunished, not even releasing a list of names of those who were involved. He did this to help keep civil lawsuits from being filed against the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

Mike Allen stated that his office was confident that there were no priests active in Archdiocese of Cincinnati who has been accused of wrong doing as part of this scandal. He failed to assure the public by not considering two important questions:

1. Are any priests (or other staff) who have been accused of wrong doing active in any capacity in ANY church or organization ANYWHERE in the world that involves interaction with children?

2. Are any priests (or other staff) who knew about or covered up any wrong doing still active in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati?

If those questions were answered, I missed it.

The media coverage locally has been heavy, but restrained. The Enquirer has covered many angles of the story, but failed to raised or at least report the questions I asked. I figured if the crime was any other organization those questions would have been asked, investigated, and reported. In Cincinnati, a Catholic stronghold, the Enquirer knows its place and knows not to push the limits on criticism on the local Catholic Church and its leaders. The Enquirer editorial especially reeked of hollow repudiation of the Catholic Church and seemed to shift all of blame to the "tiny minority of pedophile priests to victimize so many." Read it Here: Editorial, Wells Column, Story1, Story2, Story3, and Story4.

Mike McConnell from WLW took a much more strong stance against the church. He refered to Mike Allen's attitude towards the Catholic Church as a "bow down respect," where it gets 1,000 times the usual benefit of the doubt. Mike, a life long catholic, even stated that he would not attend a church in the Cincinnati Archdiocese until Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk resigns.

Other Coverage: Post1, Post2, Post3, Post4, Post5, WCPO, WLWT, WKRC, NY Times, Plain Dealer, DDN, CNN/AP.