The Whistle Blower
Is Monday the regular right-wing propaganda day for the Blower?

Zee at roadSassy comes down on the "Yuppies" on City Council. I am not on City Council of course, but I do generally qualify as a young urban professional. I am a pro-yuppie voter, if there is such a thing. I much prefer an educated professional instead of an uneducated person with "experience" when choosing public officials.

Hotseat 10/20/2002 Edition
Today's edition is a special covering the Hamilton County Commissioner's Race between Democrat Jean Siebenaler vs. Republican Phil Heimlich. Both candidates were present and were questioned by Peter Bronson, Eric Kearney, and Kathy Wilson. The show was handled as basically a traditional debate. The questions were generally fair from all present. Bronson showed his bias by allowing Heimlich and easy avenue to show his right wing stance on gay rights and abortion. The performances were interesting. I listened to this program on WVXU, so I did not see it on TV, but I would say Jean Siebenaler won the "debate". Phil seemed to be forcing his talking points into the conversation by bringing up the anti-gay issue and his endorsement from an anti-tax group. He sounded like a bigot by trumpeting "family values" as more important than worrying about repealing the anti-gay city charter amendment, and he went on further to tout his bigotry against gays in his closing remarks. Jean sounded good by being direct as to what county commission role was in the mix of local government, which is to just control a big pool of money, not pass "laws".

Phil will most likely win this race, with more money and more Republicans in the county. What is sad is that he has chosen to run his campaign on the right-wing social agenda of anti-gay rights and anti-abortion. Those are not issues that county commission has any influence over. He must be a little bit nervous about Jean’s stances on the issues, if he has to push his base to get out and vote. I was not going to vote for him before this debate, but I feel good about voting for Jean Siebenaler.

Belafonte Remark on Powel Starts Row
The Guardian used Belafonte's Larry King remake referring to Cincinnati. The use of the quote is out of context and it omits his referral to Los Angeles as well.

Chris Anderson's take on the David Pepper abduction and media aftermath.

Email from the GoGetter
John Schlagetter sent me this email in reponse to my criticism of Jay Love from 1230 the Buzz.

Subj: pepper-napping
Date: 10/19/2002 6:11:31 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: john@foregenitor.com
To: CincyBlog@aol.com
Sent from the Internet (Details)



Brian: I think you're being a little hard on Jay. Based upon media accounts
of the incident, many questions remain. Had David been harmed, the approach
would have been much more serious.

He is accosted around 7:30pm on Hill Street by two Blacks initially
described as wearing ski masks and sunglasses. After dark. In Mount Adams.
Who thinks the cops wouldn't have been called to report suspicious persons?

By 7:47 (according to the Main Street ATM clock), David is withdrawing
money. (Today's Enquirer says it's 7:52.). This after having visited an ATM
on Victory Parkway, the still images from which we haven't seen, from either
his first reported visit or his return.

"Gino" is seen going past the camera as David is conducting his business.
From last night's Channel 5 broadcast, after David gets back into his car,
"Gino" again walks past the ATM camera! Is it possible David is describing
someone who was there but had nothing to do with what was going on? This
ATM is across the street and up from Carol's on Main- I hope the cops have
talked to folks who were there at the time to find out what they saw. And I
haven't read a description of the homeless person David says "Gino" said
hello to so he can be located and his witness statement can be taken.

The media reported the incident as lasting an hour and a half. Today's
Enquirer reports David calling 911 at 8:38, barely one hour after the
initial contact. Subtract the time out between riding the elevator up to
his office, calling Mike Yeazell his chief of staff, a friend, and his
parents, (who calls three people before calling 911?) and the 5-10 minute
drive between Monastery Street and his office, and you have about 30-45
minutes of activity. 30-45 minutes to go to the Victory Pkwy ATM, go to a
Provident bank location, go to the Main Street ATM, then back to the Victory
Pkwy ATM, then back to Mount Adams. We know criminals return to the scene
of the crime, but really!

Why go to the office instead of the nearest phone or even District 1
headquarters? Why not bail while out of the car on Main Street? Why the
neatly knotted tie and Diet Coke in hand while in the Scripps Center lobby?
Has the lobby guard been interviewed? Have lobby videotapes been reviewed?
Why on Thursday night in time for the weekend news cycle?

Legitimate questions about this incident remain. I like to think David
inherited his father's "calm under fire" persona, but many recount David's
thin-skinned approach to confrontation. Either the incident didn't occur as
David recounts it or he didn't repond the way he'd like us to believe.

Unfortunately for David, whatever veracity his recount has it pales under
the victimhood Democrats embrace (Alicia is "racially profiled" for driving
over 70 in a 55; John's brother's roommate is "beaten to a pulp" by guys
stealing flags, etc) and the "feel your pain" disengenuity Clinton
introduced which now allows David to "relate" to Cincinnatians who have been
"touched" by crime.

Of all the people to be mugged in Cincinnati, this guy in Mount Adams? It's
improbable beyond belief. And he talked about his role in the
Collaborative? As God as my witness, that part I believe. At its core,
this story is about the patently incompetent and crappy way Cincinnati media
report the news and their inability and unwillingness simply to report what
occurs and their pathological need and desire to editorialize and
characterize (Ms. Costello on Fox 19's 10pm news last night: "[Mr. Pepper]
rushed to the nearest phone." NO HE DIDN'T! HE DROVE TO HIS OFFICE!

John

My Response:

Subj: Re: pepper-napping
Date: 10/19/2002 11:26:17 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: CincyBlog
To: john@foregenitor.com

John,

I guess Ron Twitty was framed too, huh? Is 1230 the Buzz turning into conspiracy central? I thought the nut case Bill Boshears on WLW covered most of that. I guess since David is the son of "The Man," as Jay put it, he is presumed to be up to something sneaky? How do you drag Bill Clinton into this? Leave that kind of blather to Bill Cunningham and Rush Limbaugh. Let them find a way to blame Clinton for the depravity called the Bengals along with everything else they want, and the will do it.

The only factual issue with your time line is that Post reported that he drove home at about 7:15 PM and the ordeal presumably started before 7:30. The other major problem with your comments is that you seem to basing your concerns on the amount of time of the ordeal. The media reported the 90-minute time frame. You seem to infer that because the media was wrong in their time frame, which somehow supports valid speculation that Pepper was lying and possibly making the whole thing up. I almost get a tone from you that you would not be surprised that the media is in league with Pepper to help him politically.

Now, I do understand that Jay is trying to entertain his audience, but fermenting conspiracy and scandal is just crass showmanship. If you want to play games and poke holes into Pepper's ordeal, then I think you should be up to taking the little heat you get from me.

Brian

City vs. suburbs? Friction heats up
How much of this "War" is being fueled by Stories from the Enquirer? If there is a war, the suburbanites should not complain. They started it over 30 years ago when they started to migrate from the city. Should the City just sit there and take it, or should they do what is possible to shore up their economic base?

Abduction ordeal rattles councilman
I hope Jay Love read this part:

Mr. Pepper was mostly calm talking about the incident Friday. But shifting the subject to talk radio callers and water-cooler detectives who doubt his story, he became more animated.

This quote might make Jay feel good. If he is smiling, then he really needs to reassess his attitude.

City Council Combats Crime Wave
This story from FOX19.com was post 10 days ago. Here is a prophetic excerpt.

"If we're willing to put our money where our mouth is and support citizens on patrol and support more overtime and more visibility," started Democrat David Pepper, "I think the citizens will see we hear them, we hear their concerns, and we take it seriously and we're working very hard to do something about it."

City Council is also engulfed by a crime wave.

David Pepper Kidnapping & Robbery Coverage:
Cincinnati Post City Council member kidnapped, released
Enquirer Pepper reports he was abducted
Akron Beacon Journal City Council member says he was abducted at gunpoint
WLWT-TV Councilman In Good Spirits After Kidnapping
WCPO-TV Police Look For City Council Member's Abductors
WKRC-TV Councilman Reports Abduction & Robbery
WXIX-TV Cincinnati City Council member Abducted
WEWS-TV Ohio Councilman In Good Spirits After Kidnapping

The prize for the most crass coverage goes to Jay Love and 1230 the Buzz's Week in Review. The mocking of David Pepper's ordeal can only be rivaled by some of the callers' jokes claiming Pepper might have picking up these men for sex or drugs. Jay Love admitted, somewhat shamefully, that his first thought upon hearing of Pepper's ordeal was to laugh about it. I find nothing funny about it. I find nothing funny in bringing up on live radio that you laughed at another man's kidnapping. I wonder if Jay would have been dancing for joy it Pepper had been injured.

More Belafonte Coverage
From WLWT and WCPO.

Councilman David Pepper Kidnapped and Released by Gunmen
Two Black allegedly kidnapped and robbed David Pepper tonight. He was forced to drive, or was driven, around town for about and hour and a half and then released in front of the Scripps Howard Building. Police are still investigating. There is no word if this was a random crime or if Pepper was targeted. David Pepper is the son of the former head of Procter & Gamble.

Belafonte's Folly
From Tuesday's Larry King:

BELAFONTE: First of all, let me hasten to say, Larry, that this was never meant to be a personal attack on Colin Powell's character.

What it was meant, however, to be was an attack on policy, and the reference and the metaphor used about slavery -- it is my personal feeling that plantations exist all over America. If you walk into South Central Los Angeles, into Watts, or you walk into Over-the-Rhine in Cincinnati, you'll find people who live lives that are as degrading as anything that slavery had ever produced. They live in economic oppression, they live in a disenfranchised way. In the hearts and minds of those people, and millions of others, you're always looking for hope, and whenever somebody within our tribe, within our group, emerges that has the position of authority and power to make a difference in the way business is done, our expectations run high. Many times, those expectations are not fulfilled. But when such an individual is in the service of those who not only perpetuate the oppression, but sometimes design the way in which it is applied, it then becomes very, very, very, very critical that we raise our voices and be heard. And...

Is Harry just Damon Lynch III in Caribbean garb? Mr. Belafonte has clearly never been to OTR to compare it to Watts. The inclusion of Cincinnati into his diatribe of racially based communistic dogma can only be seen as a favor to someone or some group here in Cincy. The only other explanation I can conceive is some kind of playing card/gambling/river Freudian slip. Of all of the claims of boycotters the “economic oppression” has been the most outlandish. They are protesting the fact that there are poor people in a capitalist society. That is like being made that there is cheese on a pizza. Poor people exist. Poor people can only get “unpoor” by working their Asses off. They already get handouts in countless ways. I am in favor of providing the poor a safety net to help them survive. That is what I consider part of the government’s role, and since I’m a Liberal you shouldn’t be surprised. However, being a liberal does not mean I don’t embrace capitalism. Harry and the boycotters answer, at least on the surface, is communism for “their people” supported by the rest of us. In other words it is reverse slavery. “We” must atone for what happened to their ancestors by paying for “their people” now to get rich without lifting a finger.

Harry should listen to Colin Powel at the Alfred E. Smith Dinner. His assessment of Powel can only be chopped up to blindly pushing his extreme political agenda under the guise of civil rights. Communism by any other name still smells like shit to me.

Museum: Belafonte's comments not our view
I used to have a tremendous amount of respect for Mr. Belafonte. I do not any longer. I did not see the Larry King Show on CNN, but here is the transcript.

I have only read the comments regarding Cincinnati, which were as ignorant as one can get. I will read more this evening and post more comments later. I will have many many things to say about Mr. Belafonte. I would hope that the public see him for what he is, a communist.

Taft vs. Hagen Debate I
I missed the debate, but it sounds like it was interesting. Here are reports from across the state:
Enquirer, Cincinnati Post, DDN, Akron Beacon Journal, Plain Dealer, Toledo Blade, ONN

I think Jay Love and the entire caller base at 1230 the Buzz should take heed of Chris Anderson's comments.

Four People Indicted In Covington Civil Rights Case
Based on the charges these people appear to be total scumbags. I am not clear as to what the charge of "conspiracy to violate civil rights" entails. Which civil rights did these people violate? I did not know that private citizens could deny other private citizens their civil rights. I thought only the government or agents of the government could do that. The other charges sound clearly reasonable.

UPDATE: The news story on air is not what I would call an unbiased story. It paints an image of bad white people beyond the accused, and then the victimized black people. However, the news story does also include more of the details of the actions of these morons. The accused appear to be skinheads or neo-Nazis of some type. They are surely scumbags, but there are allegations they may have been "provoked" to some degree. If they claim such at trial, it will not go far. The harassment might get some slack if provoked, but adding in the actions like Nazi chants of "white power" is clearly racist crap. The victims may not have been perfect neighbors, but they surely do not deserve that kind of hate filled intimidation. This has all of the earmarks of a classic "hate crime."

Charlie Luken's Issue 7 stance is taken to task by Chris Anderson. Luken seems to be trying to play the West Side against the East Side. I thought the Mayor is supposed to unify the city, not try and create cross-town animosity. One could make a claim the Luken was drumming up a little class warfare, but I won't. (cough, cough)

Little pleads guilty to assault
A plea bargain that gets no attention from Talk Radio. Why isn't Jay Love of 1230 the Buzz complaining to this action by Mike Allen's Office? He railed on the Pleas Bargains for Officer Robert Litman and Specialist Michael Mercer, but when a well known basketball player cops a plea to a lesser charge the outrage is absent. Is there a double standard? Of course there is. The question now is the sentence. Will Little get of light or will he serve some time. I bet he gets off light. Sports stars get a pass in this town.
Additional stories from WLWT, WCPO, The Post, WKRC, The Sporting News, The Boston Globe, SFGate, and CBS Sports.

Cincinnati Post Editorial: "For Common Pleas Court"
Interesting split: The Post endorses Bruce Whitman, while the Enquirer endorses Fred Nelson.