Cincinnati Advance

The Cincinnati Tomorrow Civic League has changed its name to Cincinnati Advance. Complete with a new website, the group is changing its name to maintain its independence as stated in the latest "Wire:"

Why the name change? We originally created the Cincinnati Tomorrow Civic League as a separate group from Cincinnati Tomorrow so that the original group CT would obtain 501(c)(3) tax status. That was intended to allow CT to do fundraising to perform more civic-minded efforts in our community. o­ne hurdle has been the name similarity of the CT prime and CT Civic League. 501(c)(3) organizations cannot endorse any commercial entities. That led to us cutting out great things like the calendar and links, not to mention limiting the type of stories we could publish o­n our main page. With the rebranding and separation of Cincinnati Advance, we eliminate this confusion: Cincinnati Tomorrow is the home of civic advocacy and non-profit projects; Cincinnati Advance has much greater latitude in doing projects like the After5 Walks, Culture Nights, and so o­n. This restructuring will allow both organizations to better focus o­n their projects and encourage their success.

To you the fine folks who attend the After-Five Walks, Culture Nights, and other events, you will not see anything different. I also will be taking a more formal position with the group as well, so look for more on what the group plans in the future.

"Words, words between the lines of age"

Is Bush starting to feel a bit guilty?

Washington- President Bush expressed misgivings Thursday for two of his most famous expressions: "Bring 'em on," in reference to Iraqis attacking U.S. troops, and his vow to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive."

Is it possible for him to eat his words, or is this just another case of targeted audience speak, where Bush takes a page from Clinton and plays to his audience's desires, while Bush's blood lusting supporters would not be listening to this crowd anyway?

Flooding, Etc.

I drove this morning along Route 32 to Newtown and the Little Miami River has flooded all the way up to the edge of the road. The Clear Creek Park is more like a lake.

Today was renewing my car registration day. I had to get the eCheck and the nearest location is in Newtown. I was surprised on something. My car was not completely tested. I don't know why. I did not ask. It is a new enough car with a new exhaust system, so I am sure it met the standards, but I wonder why the car did not get the test where they "drive" in the car in place and measure the exhaust.

I then had to go get the renewed registration at the BMV. I got the typical wait in line. I waited for a while until I was the next in line. Then this old couple comes in and walks right up to the main counter and proceeded to ask a question in the form of telling a story about getting a ticket. Once the BMV clerk said they don't handle tickets, twice, and said they should go downtown, twice, I got my little 06 sticker and was on my way.

Post Mortem on Monzel v. Ghiz

It's official. Councilman Sam Malone, the anti-gay bigot, has appointed Chris Monzel to City Council. The man who has been appointed to council more often than he has been elected.

This should now be an opportunity for the Dems. The East Side moderates are a source that have been ignored as fickle and too willing to vote for the GOP. This episode should be exploited for all it is worth. The County GOP has for some unknown reason gone to the right to try and keep someone on council in the city. The idiots in Sharonville (Phil B. and his thugs) have cracked the party. Now is the time for the Dems to open up that crack and bring the social liberals on board.

The article indicates Ghiz may not run this year and even got a job offer from Joe Deters. She reportedly turned it down.

This is a gut check for the Hamilton County Democratic Party. If if they don't find a couple more David Peppers (not money wise, just position wise) to run for council, then they will be lucky to keep the 5 seats they have and will likely drive the East Siders into a devil's bargain with the bible thumpers in the rest of the county.

I Have No Words

Discuss, but be nice.

Vice Mayor's Pub Crawl

Vice Mayor Alicia Reece is pushing for a restaurant/bar smoking ban in the city.

First, Reece said she will launch a stop by campaign where she will make visits to restaurants, bars, bingo halls, bowling alleys and other establishments to talk with owners and citizens about the issue.

This amounts to a city sponsored pub crawl. As someone who has been on many a pub crawl, I would offer this simple advice: pace yourself. Also, prepare to feel the wrath of the smokers. I myself am torn on this issue. I don't like smoke in restaurants at all and would not shed a tear if the ban goes in.

I do have a problem with private business being forced to remove it. Having the city ban gives cover to bar owners who would want to do it, but have no juice to enforce it. I guess I would give an out to business that allow it, but make some kind of accommodation for their employees, like great air filters, or a money settlement to find another job.

GOP Chooses Anti-Gay Bigotry, (We Think)

It is nice to know who you are up against. In this city the GOP has reportedly given in to the bigots of the party and will appoint Chris Monzel to council.

What a bunch of fucking idiots.

Are these guys really this stupid? [Note: I wonder if they are were men?] Monzel lost last time, not just to Leslie Ghiz, he lost to Damon Lynch III. Unless they promised the White House to Ghiz, I would advise her to become a Charter Candidate the minute after they give it to Monzel. The only way they could insult her 2003 campaign more would be to issue a retro-active revocation of the GOP endorsement. She appears to b a loyal Republican, but can she honestly stay in a party when it is clear they did not pick her because of her support for gay-rights. Their logic is mostly likely the belief that Ghiz could win next time, but Monzel could not, unless he was on council. The logic fails because he already lost as an incumbent and he would likely loose vital East side GOP support for this debacle.

How honestly could the GOP not respect the voters? Well, that is the silliest question I could have asked. We are talking about the Hamilton County GOP.

Now more than ever I would like to know who voted on this. I would like to know more if that vote actually was for Monzel or if the bigot vote said they would raise a stink if they did not appoint their person.

Phil Burress must have a really big hard-on at this very moment. Hurting people who support gay-rights, especially in his own party, will likely now become his pet project.

[Note: official word on this has not yet come. A press conference is expected later on today.]

UPDATE: More from Wes Flinn and Nick Spencer.

UPDATE #2: WCPO reported last night that Monzel has been picked.

UPDATE #3: The Post's story brings a whole new level into this.

Although the party's selection committee favored moderate Leslie Ghiz last month in an informal straw poll, incumbent Council Member Sam Malone nixed that choice, said sources close to the process. Malone prefers conservative Monzel, who lost a reelection bid in 2003.

[...]

"It's almost certainly going to be Monzel," said one high-level party source. "That's what Sam indicated to us."

"Ultimately, it's Sam's choice," another source said. "At best, we're an advisory board, and he's not taking our advice."

So it was all Sam Malone? A personal vendetta against Ghiz? The bigot in Sam just couldn't let go.