Ladies & Gentleman: The VindleVoss Family Circus Spectacular!

See The VindleVoss Family Circus Spectacular! at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival. This show opens on June 2nd. Go to www.cincyfringe.com for tickets and a listing of over 30 other productions.

Chapter 1 of Sir Derek of Snow vs. The Blue Suite #CincyFringe

Somewhere in this dazzling serial there rests a mystery that can only be solved by seeking out a web browser, going to www.cincyfringe.com, and buying as many tickets to Fringes shows as your credit card allows.

If you don't buy them, don't hold anyone but yourself responsible for what might happen...

Council Member Wayne Lippert Supports COAST

Cincinnati council member Wayne Lippert is set to be a "co-host" of a fundraiser for COAST's political action committee for a June event featuring national conservative-activist Grover Norquist.

Yes, that is "the" COAST.

That is the COAST bent on doing what ever it can to block any type of progress and development the City is trying to push forward.

That is the same COAST that mocks people who live anywhere in the City of Cincinnati that isn't either majority white or majority upper-middle class.

That is the same COAST that has no known members who actually live in the City of Cincinnati.

That is the same COAST that purports lies about anyone and everyone that dares speak out against their vitriol.

You may be wondering why a member of Cincinnati City Council would support a group like COAST. I'm wondering the same thing.  COAST represents the mindset that has been holding Cincinnati back.  What possible reason would any member of council support this group?  Sure, there is the political angle, which likely is part of the game here.  There is suburbanite money to be gained, and COAST has some far right-ring surban money out to keep the city down.  There has to be more to it than that.  Ok, fine, Grover Norquist is a well know speaker to Conservatives.  If one wants to go the event as a Republican, I can comprehend doing so.  I don't get "co-hosting" the event to benefit a group like COAST.  That ties Lippert to the group more than just attending the event.  This links Lippert to everything COAST has done.

When COAST wastes tax payer money to file a nuisance lawsuit against the City and the Mayor because they seek to harm the Mayor's personal financial income, that is something that will be linked to Lippert.

Some would ask how I can claim Lippert is going to be linked to everything COAST or a member of COAST does.  Well, that is rather easy.  Lippert will be linked to COAST because he chose to support them and every time he does not voice his disagreement with a position or action they take, I believe it's fair game to assume he concurs with it.  When they do something outrageous and offensive and Lippert does not denounce it, then his silence is a clear sign of agreement.  That is the bargain made when you "co-sponsor" an event and willfully show your support for a political organization.  You buy it, you own it.  Those who get into bed with the Local NAACP, for example, are burdened with the selfishness that is Chris Smitherman, so this fits along the same lines.  The problem here is that the local NAACP is in bed with COAST, so that type of mutual opportunism reeks of hazing at a really dreadful frat house, but that's a whole different topic.

What I am seeing Lippert and nearly all of the other Republican candidates for city council do is play politics like this is Washington, D.C.  They are playing alliances like they are either running for a Federal level office or for a suburban township board of trustees.  We live in a city.  It is a real place. We have Democrats here that make up a majority of populace.  We also have citizens who mostly believe in reality.  COAST lives in a fantasy land with an antebellum political philosophy that ignores the reality of the last 150 years.  Over that time cities were and are the center of progress.  We didn't win two world wars from ideas formed on farms or cul-de-sacs, we won them from the ideas born in urban areas.  Cities foster ideas on how to live with each other, not on ideas on how to live apart.  If Lippert wants to be a leader, he needs to lead the GOP and himself away from the nut-cases like COAST.  If not, he's going to end up another nut-case.

A first step for Wayne is to voice why he's supporting COAST (or denounce them for their tactics).  I'll open up my blog for a response from him or his campaign, published without alteration. Drop me a line and I'll get it up as quickly as I can.  I want to understand why a Cincinnati council member supports COAST and I believe the rest of you out there want to know the same thing, so I look forward to a retort of my comments.

Enquirer Still Lacking on Analysis, Producing More Bias

It is not new for the Enquirer to specially highlight crime in OTR over other areas, but when they do, it would be less biased if they did a few things.

1. Know the neighborhood better: Do the analysis and show where in OTR the crimes have taken place. You could answer better why something is happening statistically if you know where in the neighborhood these crimes are taken place. There are a couple of hot spots.  Then you might answer why police don't target those areas.
2. Before putting of this type of news report, tell us who is publishing it and why they are doing this know. Are council members using this for political gain?
3. If you are going to talk about increases, why not share the attention where shootings have risen at as high or higher rates, like in Northside, Lower Price Hill, Madisonville, North Avondale, and Bond Hill.
4. Why does the article address why Avondale's rate fell so much? In 2010 Avondale had almost twice as many shootings. In 2011 it had about half as many.
5. Why weren't any residents who live say North of Liberty in OTR interviewed, or not included in the article? I guess that get's back to my first point, something Journalist no longer do: know the people and areas they cover.
6. Why not ask why police don't patrol OTR as much anymore?  Are shootings up in one place and down in other because of where police patrol and the drug dealing and criminal element go where the police are not?

WLWT recently focused on a why the recent anti-crime blitz of OTR failed, but their story covering the same story the Enquirer covered instead focued on the overall murder rate and police calls for more resources. They didn't target OTR the same way, they lumped the whole city together, a different type of bias. WKRC has similar story to WLWT.

Live Penguins at the Know Theatre!!!!!!!

DougScout out did himself for the final installment of the the Saga of DougScout.


Help the Know Theatre keep DougScout and the rest of the staff and company continuing to make amazing theatre right here in Over-the-Rhine. Head to their donate now page, click on the donate Today button and give what you can. The more you give, the happier you will feel, guaranteed!

Data Comparisons Can Due Wonders

I don't know how long it would have taken, but some Cincinnati City Official found out that 400+ City of Cincinnati Employees have outstanding parking tickets to the City.  I can personally attest that a comparison like this wouldn't take long.  Say 15 minutes if you have two lists with compatible indexes.  A little longer if reformatting would be involved, but any database software and/or a spreadsheet tool would due.  Why wasn't this done before?  Why just now?  I think it would be a good idea for any government to compare any list of individuals who owe it money to those who are employees by such government. There may be laws against this in some jurisdictions, but if there are, they should be repealed immediately.

Kasich Is Waxing His Pinto

Prince John Kasich, Governor of Ohio, is playing chicken with Casino developers and they just gunned their muscle car directly at Kasich's Pinto. He really might want to consider swerving his Pinto out of the way or he will end up as roadkill.