Effective Protest? I Say Yes

Two protesters were arrested and two others were thrown out of Great American Ball Park yesterday afternoon for holding large banners over the outfield wall with anti-racist/pro-immigrant messages during the Reds game against Arizona.  No one was hurt, the message got out to good sized crowd, and media coverage was pretty positive.  The two will likely plea out and take what should be very light punishment.  As far as protests go, this was effective.  It's not going to change the world mind you, but it hopefully will change some minds.

Monzel Is Grasping At Something, But Doesn't Seem To Know

During a mini-debate at the Enquirer with fellow Hamilton County Commission Candidate Jim Tarbell, Canidate Chris Monzel was just pulling every thought out of his ass he could grab.  All he came up with was straw.

Chris Monzel wants to sell the Bengals and Reds Stadiums to solve the county's budget crisis.  He fails to say how this might be accomplised.  He fails to say how it could be completed in time to affect this years or even next year's budget.  He fails to say he has a better idea than Commissioner David Pepper tried when he brought up the the idea to sell the stadiums previously.  He actually contacted a group of bankers who turned him down.

Monzel is failing to say because he doesn't know.  He doesn't know what he would cut, he just says everything.  He doesn't say who will be buy the Stadiums because he has no clue and is ignorant of the County study the Enquirer cited stating that there isn't a market for the Stadiums with the level of debt the County holds on them.

Monzel doesn't know much of anything, except what the anti-government nuts he has hitched his wagon to want.  He knows he will not raise taxes.  He knows he will never say what he would want government to do, because that would piss off his base, who hate having a government do anything.  He knows he can't do anything that will piss off the crazies he is courting because that is all he has.  He has no plan for the future, he has no ideas to make this a better place to live.  All he has are trite social concerns that don't have any inpact on County Government.  If you hear him talk about abortion, know that he is pandering.  When you hear him talk about being a son of the suburbs, know that he is pandering.  When you hear him say he will do "what ever it takes" to lower crime, know that he is pandering.

You can know this because he has done nothing as a council member to address the same problems the County is facing.  The City has a budget deficit, but he has not provided a plan that will reduce all or even a noticable fraction of that deficit, even though he claimed to have done so. Why?  Why hasn't a sitting Council Member come up with a plan to help the city?  He can't.  He knows he can't.  He can't fix the City budget without cutting the police and fire departments, and he knows the the FOP and Fire Fighters union members live in the County, as opposed to the City, and will vote against him without a hesitation if he agrees to cuts that layoff unneeded members of their unions.

Monzel seems to know who will vote for him if he panders to them, but don't seem to know hot to actually fix the problems facing the City and County.  Why would anyone vote for him?

Check out more from the Daily Bellwether.

Constitution Party & Tea Party Candidate Indicted for Sex With a Minor

Eric Deaton, Constitution Party and Tea Party endorsed candidate for U.S. Senate in Ohio was indicted last month for unlawful sexual conduct with a minor in a Montgomery County court.

The New Lebanon man is claiming this is politically motivated. He is accused to allegedly having sexual contact with a female 15 years old during 2006 and 2007.

Sorry Mr. Deaton, Grand Jurys are not known for political motivation.

The man out to "Restore moral citizens to office" didn't appear to actual mean himself, which seems to make his third party candidacy even more futile.  The Tea Party sure can pick 'em.

More here.

Opening Day On Thursday?

The 2011 Reds Schedule was published yesterday and Opening Day is on a Thursday. Yes, it normally is on a Monday, but MLB has decided that games need to start earlier to avoid playing the World Series in November. The time of the game has not been published, but local support would be for an afternoon game, preceded by the traditional Findlay Market Opening Day Parade in the morning.

It feels kinda of cheap to move the day, but since the Reds lost the right to play the first game every year, this may be an opening to gain back that tradition.

Winburn Supports Qualls for Mayor in 2013

I don't know if Roxanne Qualls is happy that Republican Charlie Winburn is the first known endorsement of her yet unannounced 2013 mayoral campaign, but she got it yesterday via this Twitter post from Jane Prendergast of the Enquirer:

Winburn: I don't want to be mayor, I'm supporting Qualls. "I already told her that."

At this point, would there even be a Republican candidate to opposee her?  She got more votes than the sitting mayor got last year as Councilmember, and is the clearly leading candidate at this early stage. I find it laughable for an elected Republican to give her an endorsement, even this early and even off the cuff.  I am blogging this in part to make sure that he can't deny it wasn't published, but I'm sure Charlie Winburn wouldn't have much qualms about changing his mind a few years down the road.  He's not known for being unfungible.  Just so the search engines don't miss it: Republican Charlie Winburn has endorsed Democrat/Charterite Roxanne Qualls for Mayor of Cincinnati in 2013.

We have a big election coming up this November, next year we have Cincinnati City Council to go through, so the Mayor race seems like it isn't even a consideration.  I don't expect we'll hear much about this until late November 2011.

Get Ready It's Oktoberfest Week!

Get you beer steins cleaned and work on your beer fighting weight. This weekend is Oktoberfest Zinzinnati. The world of beer and brats will be centered on Cincinnati's 5th Street for 2 full days. Don't miss a second, unless you need to relieve yourself, which after a day's worth of beer drinking, you will need to do. Bring your grandma and your dancing shoes.

Local 'Tea party' Opens an HQ: Guess Where?

If you thought about it for all of Five seconds and then blurted out loud: "West Chester, of course," then you would be correct. There's nothing really surprising that the TPers GOTV efforts would focus in West Chester, home of the Conservative Republican base. The local group is nothing but a Republican organization, and anyone denying that is clearly not worth all of the tea bags in China you can buy at the West Chester Walmart.