Smitherman vs. Elder High School

Greg Korte has a story about Councilman Chris Smitherman's early weeks in office. I am so far not impressed with Smitherman. What I see so far is someone making trouble for trouble's sake. I don't mind someone making politics entertaining, but Smitherman's tone is arrogant. His motives appear good, but his tone comes across like holier-than-thou preacher. He acts like a crusader, bent on bringing down the police chief. He also appears to be wasting the City Manager's time. If Korte's description of his memo writing is true, then I think it might be useful to limit it to one memo a day. If they are information requests, then a large one once a week might go over better in the Lemmie's office. It would really go over better out here in the public if Smitherman did not try and keep his requests quiet. If you are going to rattle cages, then you had better do it out in the open. Otherwise it looks like a shakedown.

Korte was able to get a look at the Elder High memo response. We learn that Elder is indeed the local high school with the most Alumni on the force, but only 76 of the 1,044 officers attended Elder.

Rank/Local HS/No. of PO/Rate
1: Elder - 76 - 7.28%
2: Western Hills - 69 - 6.61%
3: Oak Hills - 46 - 4.41%
4: Withrow - 39 - 3.74%
5: Woodward - 37 - 3.54%
6: Aiken - 36 - 3.45%
7: Roger Bacon - 35 - 3.35%
8: Hughes - 32 - 3.07%
9: Colerain - 27 - 2.59%
10: Walnut Hills - 25 - 2.39%
11: LaSalle - 24 - 2.30%
12: Purcell Marian - 23 - 2.20%
13: Mount Healthy - 22 - 2.11%
14: Seton - 20 - 1.92%
15: St. Xavier - 16 - 1.53%
15(Tie): Princeton - 15 - 1.44%
16: Anderson - 15 - 1.44%
18: Forest Park - 14 - 1.34%
19: Northwest - 13 - 1.25%
20: Moeller - 11 - 1.05%
20(Tie): McNicholas - 11 - 1.05%
Total - 606 - 58.05%
Total of PO - 1,044
Non Cincy HS - 438 - 41.95%

The 606 total might include some duplicates of officers who attended more than one high school. These numbers blow out the Elder myth. The only "fact" that drives the myth is that the number of senior officers who are Elder grades is most likely higher than the rank and file of the force.

Dennis Miller's Darkside Conversion

Dennis Miller has a new show coming on CNBC and according to this AP report he will not say anything negative about Bush:

"I like him," Miller explained. "I'm going to give him a pass. I take care of my friends."

So basically Miller will just do what FOX News does?

I will find it hard in the future to watch Miller if his attacks sound like they are Rush Limbaugh talking points with a thesaurus treatment. In this article he attacks Peter Jennings for not liking Bush. He LOVES George Bush so much that he will give him a "pass" and he wants people to take him as anything more than a shill? If you want to do pro-Bush humor, fine do it, but you have to rely on the Talk Radio or FOX News audience for any ratings. I don't know if they will come to CNBC, but who knows. I am most amazed in reading that Miller's new show will only air once a week. I guess Dennis has a whole lot more things to work on.

UPDATE: I was wrong, and did not read the website correctly, but he is on Monday through Friday plus Sunday.

'You don't live in CLEVELAND'

Well, at least not any more if you are one of the laid off Cleveland Police Department officers who move to Cincinnati if the reported plan by Cincinnati City Manager Valerie Lemmie to hire some of those out of work officers works out. This plan actually is the best thing to come of City Hall in a long time. I don't see anyone questioning the plan, unless you don't like cops or think we have to many now. There are a few activists who will whine about it, but they whine about everything unless it puts money in their pocket.

Ethan Hahn and Greg Mann comment on this issue, and both agree that it is a good move.

Temperament

Uberblogger Atrios links to a video made to look like a commercial. It is a partisan and harsh presentation made by an individual person, but it shows where the media has failed in it's attack on Howard Dean's "temperament" and whether he is fit to be president, let alone dog catcher. Bush’s “temperament” got little discussion back in 2000, but seems to have been all but forgotten. The Bush part of the video is documented at the Smoking Gun, which is generally accepted to be a credible source.

First Kay, Now Powell?

Is Colin Powell coming to his senses? Well, the BBC news reports paints that picture. CNN and the AP reports don't have the same shade as the BBC, but all point out the basic element, Powell is backing off his UN claims about WMD. Will the media wake up? Will the New Hampshire circus drown out this story?

FBI Has Found Lashawn Pettus-Brown

The FBI has confirmed they have Lashawn Pettus-Brown in custody in New York City.

Kay: No WMD Stockpiles

Kay stated regarding stockpiles of WMD:

"I don't think they existed," Kay told Reuters in a telephone interview. "What everyone was talking about is stockpiles produced after the end of the last (1991) Gulf War and I don't think there was a large-scale production program in the '90s," he said.

Kay said he believes most of what is going to be found in the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has been found and that the hunt will become more difficult once America turns over governing the country to the Iraqis.

Bush in the 2003 SOTU:

Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent. In such quantities, these chemical agents could also kill untold thousands. He's not accounted for these materials. He has given no evidence that he has destroyed them.

U.S. intelligence indicates that Saddam Hussein had upwards of 30,000 munitions capable of delivering chemical agents. Inspectors recently turned up 16 of them -- despite Iraq's recent declaration denying their existence. Saddam Hussein has not accounted for the remaining 29,984 of these prohibited munitions. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed them.

From three Iraqi defectors we know that Iraq, in the late 1990s, had several mobile biological weapons labs. These are designed to produce germ warfare agents, and can be moved from place to a place to evade inspectors. Saddam Hussein has not disclosed these facilities. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed them.

So I think we can all say there were not any WMD (at least no significant amounts) in Iraq at the start of the war. No more obscure maybes. The question should be asked, why did the President think there was. I believe that the intelligence Bush referred to in 2003 was not good and that at least Bush's advisors knew it, if not Bush and Cheney themselves.

This is as big a sign of incompetence and or deceit that an Administration can have. Will the media, will the Democratic nominee have the ability or the courage to call the President on this? If handled correctly this would be a point raised and raised again in a debate that would be undefendable for Bush. Winning the debates is not going to win the election, but they do matter.