I really wanted my headline to read "Eric Deters is Suing an Asshole," but I didn't want to get myself personally wrapped up in a lawsuit, so I'll try to avoid it by saying I will not shed a tear seeing Jim Schifrin having to spend time or money to defend himself in court for allegedly making libelous claims about Eric Deters in the "Whistleblower" email newsletter.
Back in August Schifrin published an allegation that Deters was having an affair with Nicole Howell, the former teacher who was accused of having sex with a student. Deters was her attorney and successfully got her acquitted on those charges. According to the Enquirer article, she now works for Deters as a personal assistant.
I don't know and don't really care what Eric Deters does in his personal life. He is not someone I would say had a crystal clear persona before this allegation was made, but that comes with being a flashy defense attorney. If he ever thinks about running for office, well, then I might think otherwise. Investigating his actions as a lawyer or employer would be relevant in judging his fitness for public office. There is no evidence Deters has thoughts in that area, but in journalistic terms, that would be this kind of information something worth investigating. It is never good journalism to print rumors, especially rumors about sex.
I don't like the crap Schifrin writes. He is just a plain old fashioned asshole, and his many attacks on people based on race, religion, gender, etc are clear to anyone who reads his newsletter.
That being said, I hope Deters loses the case. I think he will, anyway. If his purpose is to bring some negative attention to the crusty old man, then good! If Deters is trying anything else, then he is wrong.
Sunday, October 03, 2010
Friday, October 01, 2010
Hamilton County Commission Candidates Forum
WVXU's Impact Cincinnati hosted both candidates, Jim Tarbell and Chris Monzel, yesterday for a forum (MP3) on the campaign.
Monzel still didn't give any details on what he would cut from the budget to make up the deficit. He won't cut the Sheffif patrols. He stated he has a list of of the budget items detailed in a spreadsheet, but doesn't know what he would cut. He blathered on about multiple HR departments. He wants to roll up his sleeves after he takes office, but he doesn't seem to have time to add up the numbers. He has a spreadsheet to know the numbers. 15 Million dollars can't be made up by reducing office supplies. If he wants to be trusted, he should say now what he would cut. 15 Million would require cutting a large number of staff. It means cutting the jobs of actual people who perform services for the County. Monzel should be honest with voters and tell us what services he would cut to make up the deficit, if elected. He has not proposed any revenue changes that will either be tangible or will close future gaps, so cuts are his only way to fufill his plan to have "less" government.
What people need to remember is that Monzel is currently a City Council member in a city with a 50 million dollar deficit. He has access to the City Budget. He has not rolled up his sleeves and found what can be cut to make up that budget deficit. What makes anyone think he will do that for the County? I think he'll follow Greg Hartman and shift money from indigent health services. If he is going to do that, he needs to make it clear. Give the voters full knowledge of his intentions. The code words are there. He wants "less government." He is against Metro government. He wants the power structure to remain the same, and the only place to cut where you don't hurt your political power is cutting the services for the poor.
Monzel has been a terrible Councilman, and will be a bad Commissioner.
Monzel still didn't give any details on what he would cut from the budget to make up the deficit. He won't cut the Sheffif patrols. He stated he has a list of of the budget items detailed in a spreadsheet, but doesn't know what he would cut. He blathered on about multiple HR departments. He wants to roll up his sleeves after he takes office, but he doesn't seem to have time to add up the numbers. He has a spreadsheet to know the numbers. 15 Million dollars can't be made up by reducing office supplies. If he wants to be trusted, he should say now what he would cut. 15 Million would require cutting a large number of staff. It means cutting the jobs of actual people who perform services for the County. Monzel should be honest with voters and tell us what services he would cut to make up the deficit, if elected. He has not proposed any revenue changes that will either be tangible or will close future gaps, so cuts are his only way to fufill his plan to have "less" government.
What people need to remember is that Monzel is currently a City Council member in a city with a 50 million dollar deficit. He has access to the City Budget. He has not rolled up his sleeves and found what can be cut to make up that budget deficit. What makes anyone think he will do that for the County? I think he'll follow Greg Hartman and shift money from indigent health services. If he is going to do that, he needs to make it clear. Give the voters full knowledge of his intentions. The code words are there. He wants "less government." He is against Metro government. He wants the power structure to remain the same, and the only place to cut where you don't hurt your political power is cutting the services for the poor.
Monzel has been a terrible Councilman, and will be a bad Commissioner.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Too Much Time On Their Hands
After seeing some Reds players light up cigars to celebrate their clinching first place in the National League Central the other night, five people called the state anti-smoking hot line.
Really?
I was (and am) in favor of the smoking ban. But good grief, folks. Get a life.
Really?
I was (and am) in favor of the smoking ban. But good grief, folks. Get a life.
Westwood Civic Association Acting Politically?
Is John Sess, President of the Westwood Civic Association, using a meeting of the organization to benefit Republican Candidates? Kevin Osborne at CityBeat has an article which alleges the meeting, to occur on October 5th, has two GOP candidates on the attendee list, but no Democratic candidates. The event, as Kevin details, was not publicized as a candidate forum. The question is, where Democratic candidates offered a direct special invitation. Will the GOP candidates be allowed to speak? If they do, the event should be seen as a partisan event. Something that will not go over well with the WCA's mission or status.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Ignorance at the Enquirer on County Commisssion
If the Enquirer is going to endorse a candidate they might back up their basis for picking that candidate. Their basis for the Hamilton County Commission race was:
The say he has a "penchant" for "provocative" propasals. How about naming one of them? Just ONE of them. Selling the stadiums? Is that it? Didn't see that in the article. Was it background checks on Ice Cream truck vendors? Didn't see that mentioned. There's nothing else he's put out there. NOTHING. If there was something, the Eqnurier would have printed it.
Instead of providing an actual basis for who they are endorsing they go on the attack with a quote from their fake debates. The Enquirer held mini-debates in front of the Editorial Board. That "appears" to be the sole reason for their choice. Or rather I would wager this was their justification for opposing Jim Tarbell, someone who isn't a favorite of the Enquirer.
I accept the reality that the Enquirer is Republican, it is, and it has been for a hundred years or more, but I really don't like them phoning it in. If you just don't like Tarbell, say that is why you are picking Monzel. Don't make stuff up about Monzel and then conveniently leave out the details. If he has solutions for the County, what are they? He had no solutions for the City, but I guess his past performance of doing nothing on council isn't something they considered relevant or I guess it didn't "appear" to be relevant. Jim Tarbell's past performance "appears" to be something they are holding against him. I wonder what Jim did to piss them off? Fighting the power doesn't win many friends on Third Street. It would matter more if Third Street was more relevant.
If Monzel wins and signs on to Hartman's plan to cut funding for indigent health care, I guess being lied to won't be relevant either.
On Twitter I read some's question asking how they made their endorsement choices. Well, having their head in the sand is part of it. Something that needs to change. At some point the Enquirer needs to break the cycle of ignorance, but it wasn't this year.
"But Chris Monzel (R) appears to offer a clearer opportunity for forward-looking solutions and creative thinking at the county, which faces tough choices with a looming stadium fund deficit and other challenges."Appears? Might they cite something? They say he works at GE, but what good did that do him at City Hall?
The say he has a "penchant" for "provocative" propasals. How about naming one of them? Just ONE of them. Selling the stadiums? Is that it? Didn't see that in the article. Was it background checks on Ice Cream truck vendors? Didn't see that mentioned. There's nothing else he's put out there. NOTHING. If there was something, the Eqnurier would have printed it.
Instead of providing an actual basis for who they are endorsing they go on the attack with a quote from their fake debates. The Enquirer held mini-debates in front of the Editorial Board. That "appears" to be the sole reason for their choice. Or rather I would wager this was their justification for opposing Jim Tarbell, someone who isn't a favorite of the Enquirer.
I accept the reality that the Enquirer is Republican, it is, and it has been for a hundred years or more, but I really don't like them phoning it in. If you just don't like Tarbell, say that is why you are picking Monzel. Don't make stuff up about Monzel and then conveniently leave out the details. If he has solutions for the County, what are they? He had no solutions for the City, but I guess his past performance of doing nothing on council isn't something they considered relevant or I guess it didn't "appear" to be relevant. Jim Tarbell's past performance "appears" to be something they are holding against him. I wonder what Jim did to piss them off? Fighting the power doesn't win many friends on Third Street. It would matter more if Third Street was more relevant.
If Monzel wins and signs on to Hartman's plan to cut funding for indigent health care, I guess being lied to won't be relevant either.
On Twitter I read some's question asking how they made their endorsement choices. Well, having their head in the sand is part of it. Something that needs to change. At some point the Enquirer needs to break the cycle of ignorance, but it wasn't this year.
Friday, September 24, 2010
MidPoint Day One - Hot Smiles
Thursday nights at MidPoint are traditionally quiet nights. Most people have to work the next day. Most people are holding out until Friday & Saturday to really fill the venues. This year I'm happy to report that Thursday was hot, both literally and musically. If you didn't make it out, you missed out.
I hit Grammers first and that meant seeing a local favorite first: Wussy. Chuck and Lisa are steamy together and last night Chuck's distortion ripped through the opening song Rigor Mortis. The group was pumped and pushing the envelope a bit. Even as I poured through the PBR, the heat of the evening didn't end until the sun had long been set.
Male Bonding was good, but very rough. I wasn't blown away and maybe the fact that I was more interested in talking with several friends drove me from listening intently. Maybe it was the heat. Best Coast was much better and by this point the crowd had really swelled. So had the heat.
Let me say the Metro buses were great and are air conditioned, which came in handy. They were also the perfect spot to chat up others about what bands they were going to next. Some were on their way to see Shonen Knife, some You, You're Awesome and Holy F*ck, but a good sized number, along with myself wanted to see Van Dyke Parks.
My knowledge of Van Dyke Parks was limited to his MySpace page. His music was very different. Very-non-indie-rock, something that I want more of at MidPoint, which is one of the reasons I was pleased when I listened to their samples. The Group's picture was of a 65+ year old white haired man. I honestly thought this might be a bit of joke. Well, it turns out that I'm joker. Van Dyke Parks is famous. I mean Beach Boys famous. He's a well known composer arranger, most noted for working with Brian Wilson on his famed album Smile. He is the white haired man in the PR photo. He's also very aware of this fact and didn't hide it, joking often about it.
Parks played the Blue Wisp. Where else would he play? He fit in there like a musical king and musicians go to the Wisp to praise other musicians. The Blue Wisp was packed when we got there, and thankfully the fire marshal was not around. Clare and Reasons were still on stage and their music blew me away. I meant to put them on my list of picks, but for some reason I screwed up. If I believed in it, I would say fate led me to the Wisp early, but I don't, so I will just share my joy at their encore song "He Needs Me" which was written by Harry Nilsson. It is such a beautiful song and Clare and Reasons invited Van Dyke Parks up on stage to play with them for it. I was humming along to it very loudly. It only took me a few seconds to remember where it came from: Robert Altman's Popeye. I had always assumed that it was an old standard. Today I wanted to look it up, see who the composer was, so I didn't just reference the movie and appear ignorant. Well, it turns out the song, along with the rest of the score for movie, where original, by Harry Nilsson. I dug a little bit more, and as I was reading I ran across the golden ticket to a musical version of the "Rest of the Story". The music to Popeye was arranged by Van Dyke Parks. So, there it was. It all came back to something near a point. It was charming, it was cute. If had a girlfriend I would want her to sing this to me all the time. It maybe up staged Van Dyke Parks a bit to me. Maybe it was the amount of beer I had, anyway, I was really moved by it. In case you don't know the song, here's a snippet from the movie:
If that doesn't put a smile your face, not much will. Clare and the Reasons version was better on a thousand levels, but tall skinny girls are more gracefully challenged, and make for better movie stars.
Day two of MidPoint is almost ready to being, so get out and find your own smile tonight.
I hit Grammers first and that meant seeing a local favorite first: Wussy. Chuck and Lisa are steamy together and last night Chuck's distortion ripped through the opening song Rigor Mortis. The group was pumped and pushing the envelope a bit. Even as I poured through the PBR, the heat of the evening didn't end until the sun had long been set.
Male Bonding was good, but very rough. I wasn't blown away and maybe the fact that I was more interested in talking with several friends drove me from listening intently. Maybe it was the heat. Best Coast was much better and by this point the crowd had really swelled. So had the heat.
Let me say the Metro buses were great and are air conditioned, which came in handy. They were also the perfect spot to chat up others about what bands they were going to next. Some were on their way to see Shonen Knife, some You, You're Awesome and Holy F*ck, but a good sized number, along with myself wanted to see Van Dyke Parks.
My knowledge of Van Dyke Parks was limited to his MySpace page. His music was very different. Very-non-indie-rock, something that I want more of at MidPoint, which is one of the reasons I was pleased when I listened to their samples. The Group's picture was of a 65+ year old white haired man. I honestly thought this might be a bit of joke. Well, it turns out that I'm joker. Van Dyke Parks is famous. I mean Beach Boys famous. He's a well known composer arranger, most noted for working with Brian Wilson on his famed album Smile. He is the white haired man in the PR photo. He's also very aware of this fact and didn't hide it, joking often about it.
Parks played the Blue Wisp. Where else would he play? He fit in there like a musical king and musicians go to the Wisp to praise other musicians. The Blue Wisp was packed when we got there, and thankfully the fire marshal was not around. Clare and Reasons were still on stage and their music blew me away. I meant to put them on my list of picks, but for some reason I screwed up. If I believed in it, I would say fate led me to the Wisp early, but I don't, so I will just share my joy at their encore song "He Needs Me" which was written by Harry Nilsson. It is such a beautiful song and Clare and Reasons invited Van Dyke Parks up on stage to play with them for it. I was humming along to it very loudly. It only took me a few seconds to remember where it came from: Robert Altman's Popeye. I had always assumed that it was an old standard. Today I wanted to look it up, see who the composer was, so I didn't just reference the movie and appear ignorant. Well, it turns out the song, along with the rest of the score for movie, where original, by Harry Nilsson. I dug a little bit more, and as I was reading I ran across the golden ticket to a musical version of the "Rest of the Story". The music to Popeye was arranged by Van Dyke Parks. So, there it was. It all came back to something near a point. It was charming, it was cute. If had a girlfriend I would want her to sing this to me all the time. It maybe up staged Van Dyke Parks a bit to me. Maybe it was the amount of beer I had, anyway, I was really moved by it. In case you don't know the song, here's a snippet from the movie:
If that doesn't put a smile your face, not much will. Clare and the Reasons version was better on a thousand levels, but tall skinny girls are more gracefully challenged, and make for better movie stars.
Day two of MidPoint is almost ready to being, so get out and find your own smile tonight.
Willie Cunningham Wants Bigger Government!
Don't anyone tell the 'Tea Party,' but local Conservative radio talk show host and chronic suffer of Say-Anything-For-Ratings Syndrome, Bill Cunningham, has publicly endorsed a Deer Park Schools bond issue. Mr. Cunningham graduated from Deer Park High School. I will be waiting for his negative calls climb like Mt. Rumpke, defining him as a socialist for supporting public schools. I may be waiting in vain, but I will still wait.
What happens all too often with Conservative voters is they talk a big talk, but when it comes to cutting government, they only want to cut programs that affect others, not ones they care about. Good government is the honest answer to how to run a country, state, or city. We don't always succeed, but we need the government to be there and public schools are one of the most important ways governments keep society from imploding, outside of the pesky Rule of Law thing, but that's not a big topic for Willie.
What happens all too often with Conservative voters is they talk a big talk, but when it comes to cutting government, they only want to cut programs that affect others, not ones they care about. Good government is the honest answer to how to run a country, state, or city. We don't always succeed, but we need the government to be there and public schools are one of the most important ways governments keep society from imploding, outside of the pesky Rule of Law thing, but that's not a big topic for Willie.
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