Brother, Can You Spare A Dime . . . . . A Report From The Breadline

Raise your hand if you think the United States has the best health care access and coverage in the world and if you think the United States is the richest and bestest country in the world . . . . Let's hear it for American exceptionalism . . . . .

The number of Americans who lived in households that lacked consistent access to adequate food soared last year, to 49 million, the highest since the government began tracking what it calls “food insecurity” 14 years ago, the Department of Agriculture reported Monday. The increase, of 13 million Americans, was much larger than even the most pessimistic observers of hunger trends had expected and cast an alarming light on the daily hardships caused by the recession’s punishing effect on jobs and wages.

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One figure that drew officials’ attention was the number of households, 506,000, in which children faced “very low food security”: up from 323,000 the previous year. President Obama, who has pledged to end childhood hunger by 2015, released a statement while traveling in Asia that called the finding “particularly troubling.”

But, lest we get all wobbly about the fact that 14.6% of our country does not have adequate food or feel too sorry for these hungry children, Robert Rector, an analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation, comforts us by stating, “Very few of these people are hungry. When they lose jobs, they constrain the kind of food they buy. That is regrettable, but it’s a far cry from a hunger crisis.”

Now, doesn't that make you feel better, these people are not hungry, they have just stopped buying steak, caviar, and foie gras, and are eating ramen noodles instead. I mean, after all, what five year old doesn't love a steady diet of ramen noodles.

'Every Breath You Take, Every Move you Make'

Bring on "Big Brother!" Public Safety will improve with the installation of video cameras at various points around town. Starting in Downtown and Uptown, street corners will have 24 hour surveillance and will be able to better catch criminals and watch for medical emergencies.

OTR is being considered for this, and I personally say yes please!

I am trusting the police on this issue. I understand that every time I walk to Fountain Square, I will be captured in the surveillance. This invades my privacy on one level. It is legal. The police could just have multiple officers stationed at the same locations and watch me just as much. They would be witnesses to know that I walked by just as much as video tape would be. Stationing multiple police officers as each corner is obviously way too expensive, so not a practical option.

One point that is not mentioned in the article and is the key question against this idea is how long is the video tape stored? 24 hours of tape is a lot and takes up a ton of space, whether digital or not. How long will it be stored? How long will police have to trace your movements? There has to be some time restraint, unless they have as much server space as Google, so that time frame will be something that should be made public.

Jim Knippenberg - Requiescat in Pace

What a sad thing to learn of Jim's death last evening. He was truly a legend in Cincinnati, the kind of person who knew everyone and, truthfully, knew a lot of gossip about everyone. Jim was a kind and generous man who loved life and lived it about as fully as one can. He will be missed.

Somewhere Jim is gathered at the bar with all his friends who went before, hoisting one and laughing that gregarious laugh. Some evening soon, all of those of us left here on this mortal coil should lift a glass to Jim and his life and memory. And in doing so, remember that "Life is rather like a tin of sardines - we're all of us looking for the key." Traveling mercies Jim.

Good News For CNN

National Cable News became a joke yeas ago and Lou Dobbs made CNN far worse than it needed to be with his insanity. His anti-immigrant jingoism, his embrace of birthers, and his out right anti-Obama stances were what you expect from outright biased news outlets like FOX. Lou Dobbs is now leaving CNN which does nothing but increase the credibility of the TV network. I think the cheers from Atlanta could be heard across the country when this was announced.

Serious Run or a Stunt?

28 year old Surya Yalamanchili is running of the Ohio 2nd Congressional District. By itself, that action is neither serious nor a Stunt, but when you add the fact the Yalamanchili was a contestant on "The Apprentice" television show, then I just don't see how this would be anything other than a stunt to provide him with attention to use for personal gain. Yalamanchili is a former marketer for Linkedln, so media stunts are not out of the possible sphere of his area of experience, so I am very doubtful of the seriousness of his campaign. If you want to run for political office, you need to do more than just issue a press release and have a website. You need an organization with people to help you and they must believe in you. The election is less than a year away, so he better start working on the basics if he doesn't want to be just an also-ran.

Remove Cole From Finance Chair

If there is one thing Mayor Mallory can do to improve City Council quickly, then it is removing Laketa Cole from the Finance Committee Chair. Her inability to work with, well, anyone, makes it an obvious need. She was the only person voting for her motion on the Property Tax rate in the committee session yesterday. So, now things are up in the air and someone with actual credibility wouldn't have let it get to this point.

Qualls Nixes Vice Mayor Slot

In this in-depth piece by Howard Wilkinson Roxanne Qualls stated she does not want the Vice Mayor's appointment. Here's the meat of what her future may hold:

Does she parlay her strong support among Cincinnati voters into a position of greater influence on the new City Council, such as an appointment to a major committee or as vice mayor?

Nobody knows; and Qualls isn't saying much.

No, she told The Enquirer on Friday, she isn't interested in being Mallory's vice mayor. Yes, she said, she might be interested in running for mayor in 2013, but "it's too early to talk about that." Yes, she said, she would consider a run for county commissioner, but is "leaning against it."

She clearly has City Wide support. That support will be something to think about in the future. A post as Finance Chair maybe something worth considering, especially if she can have more influence in getting some on the right to vote with her.