Police Not Cooperating?

The Federal Monitor has stated that the police are not fully cooperating with the Monitor's staff, including refusing to hand over documents and refusing to allow ride-alongs. The Monitor was established as part of the Collaborative Agreement which included a 5 year police monitoring provision.

Have the police given up on the Collaborative Agreement? Has the CBUF also given up on it? Has everyone just forgotten what the hell it was in the agreement? I know I have. The police and the inner city communities were supposed to start to work together to try and change police and citizen actions. The police policy got the most attention. They have the formal policy to critique. The citizens have no formal policy, but have a basic public duty that should not be that difficult. Don't break the law and if you are witness to someone breaking the law at least help the police if they ask you what you know. We still have an “us vs. them” situation between the police and blacks in this city. The C.A. was to be a hopeful start of a change of that situation. Is it worse or just business as usual? I think we all can see that little has improved.

Back in Town

I have returned to balmy Cincinnati. The Airport was very busy. The flight was fine. The vacation was great. I am really tired.

Fathom a New Club?

Kari Wethington of CiNWeeky reports on the opening of Fathom a new night club. Fathom replaces what was Spy Club located on W. 5th Street.

Sounds like a bit of a Club Clau, but with more of an open feel to it. What's their target demographic? The hipster, the college kid, or both?

Over the Top and Over the Edge

Mr. Rick Hines, publisher of Cincynation.com, has in my opinion gone over the edge of taste, honor, and credibility. He created special page with an attack on me. I can take criticism of my blog and my writing, but it is amazing how personal this guy has gotten. I criticized his website and he goes ape-shit. I know he is desperate to make every penny he can for his real estate website, but using an attack on me to do so is either an example of an uber-sensative personality or is just someone who wants above all else to create a faux feud in order to get MORE WEB TRAFFIC to his site. He also lied about how many "hits" I get per day, but I will not push that one any more than mentioning it.

What is just funny is his tabloid abuse of the Airport, Comair, and the City of Cincinnati. It would appear Mr. Hines learned more from the National Enquirer than from the Cincinnati Post. I guess a recent flight he took was delayed and he feels the need punish someone and chose to make up stuff. The funniest (but also saddest) point and one where he should list his sources is this from his website:

City gave street cleaning crews the day off

The City of Cincinnati let street cleaning crews take the day off yesterday, even though side streets were filled with 9 to 20 inches of snow. "Looking down sidestreets, it wasn't unusual to see neighbors helping to push stuck cars," said CincyNation's Rick Hines. "The city had gotten off to a slow start on Thursday because employees didn't show for work. Was letting them take Saturday off a reward for their laziness? This is just plain, stunning incompetance in this city.

"Incompetance is a chronic problem in Cincinnati and there seems to be no end in sight. It all comes down to being lazy."

Jeffrey Hines, who lives in Mason, said all streets there were cleared early and he didn't see any problems in that well-maintained city.

Who was his source about the city giving the day off to snow plowers? What was funny and sad is that he quoted himself, yes the supposed another quoted himself. Being a pseudo-journalistic Bob Dole living life in the third person may be normal for Mason, but I think the rest of country could do without that type of silliness.

What I really don't get regarding the means to his ends is that his site is "Specializing in Cincinnati real estate," but if one wants to sell homes/property in Cincinnati, why would you try to drive away potential home/property owners by constantly saying Cincinnati is "Lazy" and sucks and over-hyping everything that happens in the city?

Finally, if Mr. Hines does not like my site, then I suggest he stops reading it, or at least stop posting so many comments. Now, he won't do either, but he especially will not stop posting comments because that is why he is playing this game, more attention. I have said my piece on the subject and I think have exposed his site's shortcomings, so I shall move on. I hope he can too.

Comair Grounded

I really don't get how this could happen. How does a computer go down long enough to ground the entire fleet of planes? If over use causes a system to fail in this day and age, I think it is time for new system manager. Someone is getting fired over this one. This is not even a primary function, it is about routing and tracking the crews, so it is likely a PC based system, as opposed to a mainframe system, but with airlines you never know. Hell, try re-booting. That is the first step every PC help desk has you do, I hope they have done that already.

I am flying regular Delta tomorrow and as of now the flight is on time and more importantly flying. Needless to say I shall be monitoring it closely.

UPDATE: Some Comair flights are resuming, reportedly 10 to 15 percent, but most remain canceled.

Happy Holidays!!

I hope everyone is digging out from the snow and ice. Have a great day today and tomorrow.

Quip of the Year

I don't know if this is really the best of the year, but it made my day. Paul McLEary at CJR addresses the "Merry Christmas" story being kept alive by FOX News and other media outlets:

So we have a suggestion for all the reporters and editors who are keeping this one alive: Instead of worrying so much about putting Christ back in Christmas, you might start thinking about putting news back in 'news reports.'

Indeed.

[Via Kevin Drum]