Friday, September 27, 2002

Hagan lectures boycott leader
I think Mr. Hagen has lived out a dream that most of the people in the Cincinnati Area have had. Hagan has my vote for taking a stand. I wonder if he will make any gains in what should be Taft country. I must applaud the Enquirer for this story. It is a very positive story for Hagen, and it was reported fairly. Taft supporters would have a tough time disagreeing with a thing it reported. I think I will have to read this story more than once. It is like watching a game winning home run in the bottom of the ninth. Hagen has helped all local democrats with this stance. The GOP can't hang the boycott on the party as a whole, like the Kentucky GOP is trying to hang Gov. Patton's scandal on the whole Kentucky Democratic party. The ranks in the boycott took a hit with this; I will listen to their talk radio reactions. I envision a big anti-democrat stance from the CJC from now on.

Thursday, September 26, 2002

Black Panthers say new group sullying name
The marquee quote:
Original Panther co-founder Bobby Seale, who recently moved back to Oakland from Philadelphia, said the New Panthers are made up of "xenophobic idiots" with a religious agenda.

"They're a bunch of idiot extremists in the same way that a racist Ku Klux Klan and a racist Nazi is," he said.
I think the "Black Fist" would get similar analysis from Mr. Seale.
Appeals court rejects Cincinnati's appeal of drug zone ruling
Ends don't justify the mean is the old saying. Labeling a sub-region of the city has the purpose of rooting out crime, but in the process it forever furthers to solidify Over-the-Rhine as the "drug zone" for the city.

Above and beyond that issue is the issue of due process. Additional punishment for crimes not directly administered by a court is what I call a legal problem.
Flag dragged, but no arrests made this time
When you are not taunting, intimidating, and threatening people, you generally do not get arrested. If the boycotters did this at Oktoberfest, they would not have been arrested. They want confrontation. They want to provoke people. They want attention to their bigoted agenda. The oddest thing that still bugs me is the issue of the “video”. The article stated "One of the protesters did just that a few hours later at the demonstration in front of the courthouse," referring to the judge’s suggestion to police of video taping the protest. I observed the same thing at the September 20th protests downtown. Where is the videotape of the Oktoberfest protest? Why are the protestors not rolling out the video of the alleged beer throwing and "N" word spouting white people at the downtown festival? These claims were made in bold fashion and they could be supported in similar style by releasing video to support the claims of the CJC press releases. They could even put unedited video on the web, avoiding fears of media bias. Why have we not seen this video yet? If there is no video from boycotters, then why did they not record it? They tape everything else, but they skipped their biggest chance to catch the results of their provocations on tape? I do not think so. The only logical conclusion: the tape does not support their claims. Truth is not the friend of racists and bigots, and that is why the boycotters do not try and use it.

Wednesday, September 25, 2002

BRONSON: Religious freedom
When a religious bigot claims there is no religious bigotry towards any religion except his, do not believe him.
Charge of disrupting meeting is dropped
Since when does disrupting a meeting have to mean the meeting could not continue? A disruption is an interruption that causes the meeting to stop, unable to function. The meeting can then continue once the disruption ends. In this case the person was arrested and the meeting was able to continue. The compliant indicated she disrupted the event but the charge is disturbing. Here is the law Ms. Watts was charged with:
§ 2917.12 Disturbing a lawful meeting.
Text of Statute
(A) No person, with purpose to prevent or disrupt a lawful meeting, procession, or gathering, shall do either of the following:
(1) Do any act which obstructs or interferes with the due conduct of such meeting, procession, or gathering;
(2) Make any utterance, gesture, or display which outrages the sensibilities of the group.
(B) Whoever violates this section is guilty of disturbing a lawful meeting, a misdemeanor of the fourth degree.
Based on the TV footage I think this woman was guilty. This sounds like either a misinterpretation of the law, or a bit of judicial nullification.
Protester picked up again
How much are people like Terry Summers influenced by Jay Love's Monday radio stunt? This stunt may turn into Jay's permanent shtick, which might just add a little push to another fanatic. If Jay wants to compete with Bill Cunningham by fighting fire with fire, or in this case acting with acting, I think he will need a bigger stage. Instead I believe Jay should stick with a honest opinion, not role playing.
Godless Americans March On Washington, Nov 2, 2002
I am sure the theists in the area are all about to pop a blood vessel. If I had the time I would be going.
UC's Guidugli cited for drinking
Business as usual in the UC Sports programs. Slap on the wrist and back on the field/court.
Ku Klux Klan hits another brick wall
A Brown County library tells the KKK to pound sand. I am surprised this story missed the pages of the Enquirer and the Post, well not really.

Tuesday, September 24, 2002

Coalition wants to change hotel porn channels
The Theocratic Fascist Phil Burress and the CCV are out to take their propaganda to the whole country. Yet again Phil is helping Cincinnati look like the Puritan Mecca of the Midwest. My question is: did Peter Bronson of the Enquirer forward Burress to someone at USA Today? Both newspapers are part of Gannett, so my theory is not totally out of left field. Utah might be the only other place where this idea will get wide spread support. I think Phil and the CCV members should pack up and move to Utah. I think he would fit right in, and leave the rest of us here in peace.
Yet another new team for WKRQ-FM
This just doest matter to anyone. If you want to listen to morning drive there are four good choices.
1. NPR on WVXU
2. The Dawn Patrol on WEBN
3. Jim Scott on WLW
4. Bob and Tom on WOFX
Archaeology Magazine: "PYRAMIDS IN JERUSALEM"
"Carvings on an ancient ossuary in the Cincinnati Art Museum depict a pyramid-topped tomb in Jerusalem according to University of Cincinnati professor Steven Fine, who was the first to recognize the significance of the engravings. The discovery adds to the small number images that show what Jerusalem looked like in the first century."
Cincinnati Post Editorial: "An independent commission"
Kudos to the Post for endorsing a blue ribbon probe of the 9/11 failures. I also am glad to read their assessment of a problem few in the media seem to want to address: "As the Bush White House is prone to do, it has suddenly reversed itself." Bush also did this on the issues of nation building, Middle East engagement, U.N. engagement, and international military intervention. Far too often, the media have been letting Bush change his mind on the fly, offering no criticism of why the changes occur. Instead some in the media (FOXNews) attack Al Gore for a thoughtful speech, instead of finding the clear omissions, diversions, and contradictions in Bush public comments. Bush continues to get a virtual Pass from the mainstream media outlets, and gets clear support from outlets like FOXNews.
Expert: Jorg didn't kill Owensby
Both sides will be going back and forth throughout this civil lawsuit. No one will be swayed and the public will remain divided on this issue. I have lost all interest in what happened. I do not trust anyone who is party to the lawsuit, nor any group supporting one side or the other. Here is the Enquirer's version.
Politicians taking message online via e-mail
Email should be used more bad candidates, but the line between Spam and legitimate email is thin. Hagen will need more than email to get his message out, but this is a great way to keep the activists informed about an issue and mobilizes them with a common message when needed. Email lists are a growing means of communication and notification that remains semi-secret, allowing covert information from being made public directly.
Hamilton County, OH Ballot
Here's the League of Women Voters website listing all of the candidates for office and ballot issues for this November's election. This is the best source for general information about the election.

Monday, September 23, 2002

Jay Love Joins Hate Group?
Love's On Air Attitude is Either a Radio Stunt or an Act of Bigotry
On today's edition of the Jay Love Show on 1230 the Buzz, Jay with a very slight joking lint in his voice professed his endorsement of the Boycott and his "enlistment" into the "Black Fist," a local black separatist and hate group supporting the boycott. Jay's three-hour rant was troubling. Well, it was more than troubling, it was disgusting. Jay was promoting the abandonment of peaceful protest and instead has embraced the use of confrontation, taunting, threats, and intimidation. Jay applauded yesterday's protest at Oktoberfest where protesters tried to make people feel "uncomfortable." I guess Jay feels that taunting people with swear words, calling them racists and bigots for being white, and making baseless allegations of criminal actions are justified measures that are supposed to change people’s minds. The only thing it will do will be to make people fear you or make people hate you. If you want to be hated and feared Jay, then keep up that kind of protest. You will get that, along with violence. Hate and fear breeds violence. Jay is promoting the intentional instigation of violence. It appears Jay thinks the only solution to the problems of "blacks" is a race war.

Jay was "impressive" with the level of bigoted statements he was making. His statements that Oktoberfest was filled with "hoards of racists" and that they were all engaged in drunken behavior was a very vividly clear example of bigotry. What will still never cease to amaze me is what Jay and the rest of the Buzz can do. They can have on racist groups, give them an open forum, and then even joke with the racist group members about joining their group. If Cunningham or McConnell did that with the KKK or a Christian Identity Group, they would be called every name in the book, and run out of town on a rail. Jay Love would apparently be happy to have over Kabaka Oba, a known black racist, for dinner at his house, but would never want a white "bigot" over to eat, because he does not like that kind of person. The hypocrisy is almost to thick to cut with a buzz saw. It instead might just be really thick bullshit being laid by a rich kid trying to relate to the fellas from the hood.
Ministry to gays draws protests
Disputes within specific religions normally get little attention from me, but here I see the stench of far right Roman Catholics. Most of the time the far right Christians are the fundamentalist Protestants, but the Catholics have their own jack-booted wing to cause trouble. Persecution of homosexuals is nothing new for Catholics, especially local Catholic radio talk show hosts who specialize in outlandish stunts that are meant to entertain, but just bore the average person to tears.
BRONSON: Hate crimes
Yesterday Peter was out in left field, but today he’s done some good reporting. Reporting is not normal for columnists, but that is only way Peter can produce a good column, so stick to your journalist roots, Pete. A side note: The Ms. Paula Dickerson incident was first reported publicly by her father calling into Mike McConnell on 700-WLW.