Monday, September 30, 2002

I hate to report rumors but the grapevine is reporting that 1160 WBOB-AM will be switching formats to "Christian" programming. Listeners are indicating that commercials are already appearing that are fundamentalist Christian advertisements. There is no information as to when this might take place. I really hope this does not happen. I am not a big "BOB" listener, but this town has more than 3 full time "Christian" radio stations now. I do not think any more are needed. I don't think any are needed, but that is a side issue. Radio is dying in this town as it is, but this will push it a little faster if it happens.
Men attempted to jump off hotel
Are these guys totally nuts? Why only try a 34-story building? The late "Sky Punk" jumped from Carew Tower twice, so why not stick to the tallest building in town? I wonder how these crackpots got out on the roof in the middle of the night. I would have bet that at least one of them would have died. They are luck to have been caught.
West Chester Man Gets Jail Time For Fraud
This man should have gotten a much bigger fine. I would guess it cost far more than $3,000 to process his false claim and to prosecute him.
School Illegally Reopens Under New Name
Are there any sanctions to back up this action? What responsibilities lie with the Cincinnati Public Schools? I hope no State funds were used to run this version of the school.
Age Confusion for High School Student Suspended for Threat
Jay Love from 1230 the Buzz complained on his show today about the media reporting LeRoy Brazile's identity and showing his picture in the newspapers and on TV. His age is listed as both 17 and 18 in various media outlets. Examples:

Age 17 Listed: WCPO ABC9, Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati Post
Age 18 Listed: WLWT NBC5
No Age Listed: WXIX Fox19, WKRC CBS12, Akron Beacon-Journal

This suggests that maybe WLWT was incorrect or the others were lazy. Regardless of that I think the issue of reporting his name and showing his face on TV is made moot by two things. One is that his father filed a civil lawsuit on his behalf, which is what made this a public issue. The media generally only hold back the juvenile’s identity when only criminal charges are in play, the civil suit changed things. The other reason is that the young man willfully was interviewed on camera, as shown on WLWT. In this interview Leroy also contradicted his father's comments to Jay Love on the radio this afternoon. In the interview Leroy stated that he was hoping that the Judge would allow him to play in the Homecoming game that night. The father stated that the only reason for the lawsuit was to get him back in school for academic reasons. That sounds like a little bit of spinning the issue to gain position for the lawsuit, not an honest statement.

Sunday, September 29, 2002

State Shuts Down Sabis Int'l School
This was a Charter school failure. Here is a problem for this type of school, continuity. Privately owned or operated schools rely on private corporations out to make money. If those organizations go out of business, then who will teach the kids? In this case the public schools will. The public schools are a required element of any civilized society. You can no more totally privatize education than you can fire or police protection.
WXIX-TV anchorman arrested, out on bail
Rob Williams was charged with writing a bad check for $2,016.02 as payment for an airline ticket in Japan. The ticket was used, the check bounced and payment on the check was not made good. Will Mr. Williams be working Monday morning on FOX19? As of this morning they are not reporting the incident on their website. Will they pull a UC and not suspend him at all? Or has he been fired already? His contract may have protections for him or for the company in incidents like this. They should at a minimum suspend him until he can clear his name, or keep him off the air. If he is found guilty he then can be fired.

Saturday, September 28, 2002

Huggins' condition improved after heart attack
This must be horrible for him and his family. I really hope Huggins recovers quickly. When he does I think Charlie Coles from Miami can provide some advice to Bob on being a heart-attack survivor and a Division 1 basketball coach. Get well soon Huggy Bear!
The Columbus Dispatch Website no longer Free to Read
Starting October 1st the Dispatch will cost $4.95 a month to read online, unless you subscribe to the print copy. This does not bode well for news coverage for the state. The Dispatch has good state government coverage that Cincinnati does not have. I fear this is the future of most newspapers. This is going to kill blogging at some point, or it will just be transformed to more original content. This will also cut off people from other communities, unless that is where blogs can thrive. If local Columbus blogs can keep the rest of us up to date on the Dispatch's coverage, we will be able to keep informed. The next step will be for other newspapers to follow suit. The Cincinnati Post will fold into the Kentucky Post in a few years. At that point the Enquirer will look to charge for subscriptions. Lexis/Nexus may be making a comeback in the future if this trend continues. The Dispatch will see its website loose nearly all of its traffic outside the metro area. They will, however, see local subscriptions rise, which is their plan. If I lived in Columbus I would pay for the online edition. I think Gannett and Scripps-Howard are waiting to see how this turns out.

My hope to cover more statewide issues will not be as fruitful as I had hoped. I hope the Enquirer will pick up this slack. That is a pipedream, but one can hope.
Chris Anderson at Queen City Soapbox brings up a point that I had not thought about before. Lt. Col. Ron Twitty is free to work again as a police officer. I think it would fitting for the Village of Evandale to hire him. I am serious. It would help Twitty and Evandale's image. He might have to take a lower level position, but I think Roach and Twitty would share a common interest, disdain for Chief Tom Streicher.

Also a Note for Chris: I do not think Nate has a job, I do not know about Amanda Mayes, but Kabaka Oba is a bus driver for the Metro.
Mom's fit pushed Kettering teens to kill, police told
Kettering is close enough for me to add this story. Also, since it was tied for 20th on the Daypop Top 40, I had to follow the pack for pride's sake. I couldn't let a popular blog story in my own backyard to go unnoticed. Could I?
More Coverage of Football player's Suspension
From the Cincinnati Post
From MyrtleBeachOnline
Boycott no closer to goal
This sounds a bit like a column to me. It lacked a direction. They only thing I got from it was the boycotters will not give up, which was obvious. They are making this a political campaign, not a protest. This is a permanent element to the City in my opinion. The only way it will end is for the BUF or the CJC to have dominance over City Hall. This is just a political movement, a power grab. This is a progressive populist movement. Social Conservatives teaming with economic progressives (Socialists) and making an authoritarian movement bent on a simple proposition: control of City Government, or death to the City. There is no middle ground. The BUF and the CJC want to create a city with a majority of black people, which is their goal. That is the manifestation of their black separatism. Anything short of that will be not end the boycott.
Timothy Thomas' Brother Arrested On Drug And Weapons Charges
Angela Leisure seems to not have done a good job in raising her children. One is dead, partially due to his belief in automatically running from the police, even though you supposedly did nothing wrong. Now her younger son is arrested on drug and gun charges. How could the activist community let this happen? The activists certainly knew this kid. Did they not try and help him? They may have tried, but failed. That failure will surely be blamed on the "White Man" at his trial. I wonder if Ken Lawson will be representing him.

Nate Livingston showed his apathy towards this kid:
"Cincinnati is a powder keg and if something had gone wrong on this arrest, it is likely that Cincinnati would explode in violence," said Nate Livingston.
Where was Nate to try and get this kid out of the drug world? Oh, I forgot, Nate has been in and out of jail. He is to busy with his own appeals to help the brother of Nate's adopted Martyr. He is more worried about tossing around that powder keg he is referring to, while the “Black Fist” has a constant blowtorch flamed up and ready to ignite a riot.
More from Akron Beacon-Journal and WXIX.
Robert C. Gates seems to regurgitating GOP talking points. He polished it up with a slam of the network news anchors, but otherwise this sounds like an application essay for an internship at the RNC. The real questions Robert should be asking are this: Why did Bush wait this long to change the civil service rules for these departments? Why were they not changed by executive order before? Additionally, what civil service rules apply for the FBI and the CIA? Can Bush Fire a bad Agent at will? I am sure it takes a few hearings to fire an FBI agent, but Bush thinks a Border Patrol Officer is more of a concern? I wonder why those questions are not addressed. I am laughing. I don't really wonder. I just like to think I wonder, because I will pull my hair out in rage if I don't hope that Administration is really trying to reform the FBI and CIA. I will not be holding my breath, nor stilling on any billboards until they do.
Brian James Kloetzel a contributor to the Miami Review is off on a couple of points in his latest column. One is his contention that the GOP will pick up seats in the House and Senate. I do not think any polling numbers support this contention. I think a good race-by-race analysis indicates the Dems will pick up a couple seats in the House, but not gain control, and the Senate will not change its balance. The other point is that I am most certainly not better off than I was 2 years ago. My 401(k) is in the shitter, 3,000 innocent people are dead thanks to foreign borne theocratic fascism, domestic theocratic fascism is on the rise in this country, my pay raises have been negligible in the last two years, and government secrecy has ballooned to an art form. My life is not unique either, so I would say we are on the "wrong track."

Friday, September 27, 2002

Colerain Football Player's Suspension Contested
The Judge made the right decision. The parents of this kid are over-reacting. The kid was charged with a crime. Schools can suspend him for behavior problems at any point. There is no review board he can appeal to for a school suspension. He must face the consequences of his actions. His parents have of course filed a $100,000 lawsuit against the school district. Opportunism at its worse. The kid's father is a Cincinnati Police officer. I am sure that this case got the attention it is getting and will get more because of the race of the kid. These parents have the earmarks of "not my child" syndrome. This "affliction" occurs on parents who are in denial of the actions of their children. They cannot and will not admit that their child could have done what he is accused of. Too many parents fear the bad appearances of their children over the behavior of their children.
Chris Anderson at Queen City Soapbox has some very interesting thoughts on the Hagen-Livingston incident, and insightful comments on Kathy Wilson's City Beat Column.
BRONSON: They're sorry
Ok, Is Peter off his medication? How much can one right-winger rant? I do not think it is possible for Peter Bronson to rant about anything and not mention Bill Clinton. Bronson needs Bill more than water. This column was really all over the place. It was a catalog of Peter's shit list. I wonder if Peter will be voting for Bob Taft. Bronson fits into the profile of a fanatical morals voter, and the Lt. Gov. nominee running with Taft does not appear to fit his religiosity. A tough choice for the Bronson’s in this State.
Chabot urges Senate to vote on `partial-birth' abortion bill
I guess he still feels the need to shore up his base. I thought he was a lock for reelection. It is nice to see the Post can read a press release.