Oh Sweet Pastry

Fred Pastry over at the Cincy Dealer sends up Jeff Berding and his connections with Mike Brown and the Bengals deal with the County for the Stadium. Pastry's piece of satire levels frosting on those greasing the wheels of government for their own profit. Mike Brown and Bob Bedinghaus may have done this, would Brown and Berding do it too?

Know Theatre's Good Boys

Photo by James Czar

Get out there and see Good Boys. Reviews are good and those I talked with last night enjoyed it. Tonight is a pay-what-you-can night, so those short on cash could pay 10 bucks instead of the normal 15.

The play explores what happens after a school shooting to the families of the shooter and his victim. It is a riveting play that explores all levels of humanity.

Once More Into the Breach

Kevin Drum is forced again to do the job of the media:

According to the memo, the bottom line is this: By the summer of 2002 George Bush had already decided on war regardless of Saddam Hussein's actions; democracy promotion was not even mentioned in passing as a reason for the war; postwar reconstruction was an issue of no concern; and the "marketing campaign" for the war was deliberately timed to coincide with midterm elections.

Just for the record.

As Kevin says few will care about this, because truth is fleeting, and memories hold scant more than a thimble.

Volunteer For Fringe

I have added this linked graphic on the sidebar. It will lead you to the Cincinnati Advance website and will provide all the information you could need, at least for now, for getting signed up as a volunteer for the Cincinnati Fringe Fest. Lots of shifts are available and there are perks if you work even one shift!!

Exhibit B

I wonder how long before this type of action takes place here in Ohio. I think in many churches it has happened more subtly and over time. Mainline churches I don't think would stoop this kind of extremism, but once you start down that path, how would it end?

No, this is not going to be the start of a full fledged politicization of churches, well no more than exists now, but this action will not be the only one we hear of, assuming this news story catches fire. Stories on religion generally do.

Fire Station segregation?

The facts as to how integrated the Cincinnati Fire Houses are is an open question. It is a bit of a loaded question as well too. When words like segregation and integration have traditionally be used to show that people were forced to segregate, as opposed to self segregation. If the fire houses are segregated one could argue logically that it is self-segregation. One could argue it is not and it is wrong. No one has yet claimed that blacks or whites are being forced into racially separate fire houses.

What I wonder is why is this a major issue for council to bring up? As the article points out it is Union contract time again, so I am sure that has something to do with it, but with recent fire coverage brownouts plaguing the city, wouldn't funding be better topic? It may be true that the way firefighters are assigned to units plays a part in the coverage, level, but as far as I know, that was not mentioned in the article.

What we got instead was a campaign salvo from Chris Smitherman:

Smitherman believes where and how Fire Department personnel are assigned is a policy decision that should be made by city administrators, not a contractual issue.

The city's negotiating team is discussing the topic in the latest contract talks, which began two weeks ago and should be completed by late this month.

So, City Council knows better when it comes to who should be stationed in what firehouse? Does Mike DeWine know best what Airman should be manning the gates at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base?

U.S. Rep. Strickland May Be Back In

Ted Strickland is reportedly set to announce his candidacy for Governor next week. This puts two names into the Democratic primary that are formable candidates and with the organization and funding could defeat any of the Republicans currently running, especially after a bloody GOP primary where the extreme Conservative backed Ken Blackwell wins, which I think is unlikely at this point, but if Petro does not get it together, Blackwell will move up quick.