Congratulations to Wes Flinn

Give a big shout for Wes Flinn! Wes and the lovely Jawa Girl are getting married TODAY here in dazzling SW Ohio. It is nice having Wes and Jawa Girl back in town and it will be great being there when they tie the knot. Here's to their long future together!

Supply and Demand's a Bitch

The Continetal Lounge is opening up its restaurant to non-members of the club. I would surmise that membership is not generating enough business, so they need some of the little people to provide patronage to help keep the endeavor going. I am not a fan of the concept and structure of this club, so this is sign to me that the economics of the situation are becoming more clear to the operators that this type of entity will not survive as it was structured for very long. That is a good thing.

City Beat Blog

Greg Flannery and the City Beat News Team have started a blog. Bout Time Greg, Sheesh.

Diner Location to Become Vinyl

Main Street is getting a boost from a new restaurant called "Vinyl." Great news. Get out and support it when it opens in July.

A Casino at Broadway Commons

I really don't think a casino at Broadway Commons is going to work. Gambling Grandmas are not the type to attract to Main Street. On the river is where it otta be, down past the Brent Spense. I favor casinos, I just don't favor them being the focus of tourism efforts for the city.

But How?

Peter Bronson does his best to booster his nutty buddy Charlie Winburn in his latest column, but neither tells us how we can reduce crime. Peter notes Winburn's quick fix solution

Winburn says he can cut homicides in half in six months by going after "500 African-American families who commit 80 percent of the crimes, homicides, drugs and use of guns in Cincinnati."

Ok, fine maybe that's true. Maybe if you somehow pick certain people to go after things might get better, for a while. Killing cancer cells does not rid you of what caused the cancer in the first place.

What about jail space? When is the county or state governments, controlled by the GOP, going to pony up the money and build a new jail up in Sharonville? I say Sharonville because no one wants a jail near by, but why not up in Sharonville? The Sheriff Deputies would have a shorter commute.

All we get is talk-talk. We get conservative Bronsons out there saying stuff like "So what does it take to finally do something about it?" My question is: so what does it take for people in the suburbs to stop being a bunch of chickenshits? How do you fight crime? Outside of the police getting aggressive, which they should, it takes individuals building a community (an entire METRO community) that prides itself on cooperation, communication, and interaction. Don't let irrational fear drive you to the burbs. I've said this before, and I am going to get the pussies scared of their own shadows saying they are staying behind their cul de sac moats because they can't risk their little kids lives on some poor inner city black kid they'd rather stay away anyway.

As long as you create and maintain an "us and them" attitude, live in seclusion, and experience nothing outside your villiage, society will feel like a monster out to change you. Society can only change you if you let it or want to change. Change is not bad, but if you want to claim to be tuff and strong, then face the fears of difference and of violence with a real simple thing, don't let it scare you. Go places you are told to fear. If you then still fear it, ask why. If you no longer fear it, ask others why they still cling to fear like a security blanket that would make Linus blush.

OHIO's FIRST - Cranley v Chabot

New blog in town called Ohio's First. It will be on the blog roll soon. Give it a read.