Dog on Ice Flow trumps Tom Ridge
Today FOX News and MSNBC cut away to live coverage of a dog being rescued from an ice flow during Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge’s speech here in Cincinnati on a new effort to prepare the country for terrorism and war.

WLW’s Mike McConnell gets credit for noticing this fact. He did not mention what CNN was airing. I would guess they only have two TV’s and did not have on CNN, I hope their right-wing slant is not so crass to shun CNN.

I am sure some conservative will blame PETA or the SPCA for this misplacement of priorities. The reason for this lopsided coverage is simple, DRAMA. Cable news networks care little about news and information, unless it has DRAMA. DRAMA in today’s terms is only the visual. This is an example of what makes the Television news media horrible today. It is not a social or political bias; it is a focus on ratings, not on providing quality journalism. The real problem with this is that no one in the public, outside of the few readers I have, will see this problem with TV news. Since they control the curtain, they won’t let you behind it

The kicker has to be a caller to WLW who said “liberals” should be happy FOX News showed it was warm and fuzzy by caring for animals. It is not quite blaming PETA, but it is close enough. It goes to show that if you make it stupid, people will not care, or will not know the difference.

I Fart in Your General Direction
This afternoon while visiting the café in the building where I work I was slightly shocked. There were about seven men sitting having coffee in the café. This not that odd, but they were all speaking French. They were talking up a storm and I felt like they were talking about me. They were laughing at several points while I waited for my calorie filled mocha. I was able to make out two words: Croissant and Fromage. This shop did sell croissants, so I assumed they were making fun of the quality of American Croissants. I don't know about the cheese.

This whole issue was odd today because the biggest meme on the Blogosphere over the last week has been "France Sucks." I had the unfound feeling that these men were going to start insulting me for being American. They were doing nothing wrong, but the meme has been beat into me with calls for boycotts of French products and events and other complaints. I was out numbered but according to the prevailing warblogger logic, if I ask a French person to surrender they will. It is supposed to be like a Pavlovian response. I was tempted to try out this theory, but I felt a bit out of place. Having a Cappuccino in Cincinnati is a bit too European to complain.

Am I still allowed to eat filet mignon?

This is not the Café where I ran into the French mafia.

Cincinnati to host round of CAFTA negotiations
Will our beloved local Zapatista Stalinists be back for another round of protests? I can't wait to see a gang of Transnational Progressives with effigies, gas masks, and 1..2..3..4 chants. Oh the fun, oh the revelry.

Hot act 50 Cent drops in to rap
Ok, where is the CJC's artists of conscious campaign? I for one would like to see this act boycott Cincinnati.

UPDATE: WCPO reports "50 Cent" is out on bail on a weapons charge.

Homeland Security chief to speak
It's official. You can get your duct tape refunds Downtown on Wednesday.

Peter Bronson's Good Old Boy Network
In today's Enquirer Peter Bronson is off attacking Miami University and the Miami Student, the campus newspaper, for firing Aaron Sanders after he wrote a column for the newspaper. The column criticized a teacher and a film shown in a class at Miami. Peter is really not being honest with who this student is. This student is the chairman of the College Republicans of Miami University. Peter wrote a column using Sanders as the main source last fall in a campaign to get FOX News included in the campus cable system. Peter and this student obviously are working “in cahoots.” Peter wants to help out a fellow right-winger, and at the same time put forth his ideological agenda.

Peter obviously cares nothing for promoting good journalism, especially when it conflicts with his chance make a fellow paleo-conservative into a victim in the faux war with academia. Peter illustrates his agenda with this quote from his column:

They said he did not see the movie before writing about it. But that's true for most reporting. Sanders didn't claim he saw it - he indirectly quoted students who did.

Has Peter given up journalism? Peter says that most reporters would not see a film before they reported it, which is true, when talking about reporters. They can report that a film was shown. It would be very subjective to report that “some” people were offended by the film. That point could be made in a column as this student did, but would it be good journalism without seeing the film first? A column is at its core an opinion, not an unbiased news story, but good columnists generally do not report false or misleading facts. If this student columnist did not see the film, how good a columnist would he be if reported someone else’s opinion of the film instead of his own? I would say he would be a bad columnist who is making grossly biased argument that is not worthy of a college student. It was a political tactic made by a political party. This student is not a journalist, he is a politician, all be it a junior one. I have no doubt he will be a paid staffer for a conservative politician as soon as he graduates, and Peter cries for him because his editors have chosen to edit him out of the newspaper. Well, Peter was concerned about this being a learning tool. I would argue Mr. Sanders has learned a lesson. That lesson clearly is don’t abuse your position. Write an honest story, don’t write a bad column to put forth your agenda. Instead, write a good column, and hope it puts forth your agenda. Playing fair in writing and politics is something I advocate to all, but I guess the ends matter more to Peter than the means. If Peter can “save our souls” by establishing a theocratic state, I would think he would be happy as a clam.

UPDATE 02/18/2003: Miami's newspaper currently does not have a website, but I think the Sanders column can be read here.

AUSTRALIAN BLOGGER Tim Blair considers Bush a "relatively moderate" Christian. I wonder who he thinks qualifies as a conservative Christian. In this case I think Tim's perspective is thrown off by the Pacific Ocean. Bush is not the most conservative Christian, but he is in that camp. Bush is an evangelical Christian, and even though that group is growing, it is not mainstream, which is another word for moderate in my experience. Now in this post Tim is making some kind of contextual comment to refer to Bin Laden's past, which I don't dispute, but the context of Bush is off. Bush is far more likely to push American Christianity to the right, than to the middle, which is where he was raised. Bush is more of a potential parallel to Bin Laden's slide to extremism, than a contrast.

The White Death has Gripped the City!
Do to weather conditions; Cincinnati Blog is on Plan 9, from outer Space.

GOP rules with no minorities, few women
Other news today: Fire is hot, snow is cold, sex feels good, and the CCV is a theocratic fascist group.

TBOGG suggests new a new hair style for Congressman Steve Chabot who is head and shoulders above the rest of the country in sucking up to the religious right, especially those living on the west side of Cincinnati.

Colombia, U.S. Search for Americans in Jungle
This story is over 24 hours old and got almost no coverage. Why is the anarchy better known as Columbia not getting attention from both the government and the media?

1 murdered American and 1 murdered Columbian and 3 more Americans missing and presumed to be kidnapped, and this barely makes the TV news? No video is why and this shows the single biggest bias in Television journalism: video rules. If there is film, there is drama. Drama sells. Information does not sell. Viva TV!

Comments Problems
Haloscan.com, my comments provider has been having issues, and it appears that I have lost comments posted over the last few days. I generally don't delete them, unless horribly offensive, so don't accuse me censorship, I have no control of this problem.

Local peace groups spreading wings
In the picture accompanying the article there is a picture that reads "War is not the answer." The problem with this and most protests is that they don't provide an answer. They want "peace." I want peace, but how can a country live in peace that is not free? Iraq is not free. They are run by a horrible tyrant. Everyone agrees on this, but protestors have no solution to free the people of Iraq. The only solution proposed by the anti-war side is more inspections and containment. Well, that works in keeping the Iraq regime in check. It also keeps Saddam in power. Inspections and containment will keep Iraq a dictatorship for years to come. It will not change. No Arab country has embraced democracy, and it will take conflict to change that. This impending war has been forced upon America at this point by Bush. It should have been resolved in 1991 by his father, but the UN mandate held him back. The only issue where Bush will fail is in building a new Iraq. Bush is failing now in Afghanistan, providing no aid in his current budget. This is where the only meaningful attacks on Bush lie. Protest Bush's love-em and leave-em policy of war and abandonment, but support the war to liberate Iraq. It is coming no matter anyone wants, so make some lemonade. Do not charge at windmills just because you don't want Bush to be reelected. I don't want that either, but I will not play politics with freedom for a country.

Ridge coming to Hamilton Co.
Breakout your gas masks and duct tape in salute to Secretary Ridge!

Rob Bernard's reference to traditional "political spectrum", the left-right line, is outdated in today's political/ideological arena. The square chart illustrated at the libertarian website is better, or at this site. These are still not perfect. Politics is not a simple assortment of beliefs, but instead a hodgepodge chaos of individual ideas and philosophies.

Southern Heritage? Or hate symbol?
There is a moron on Eastern Ave in Linwood who flies a tattered old "Stars and Bars." What is the purpose of flying this flag? If it part of a design or put in a historical context, I have no problem with the flag. When it is used as a sign of pride in the "South," that can only refer to the ante bellum “South,” the society with slavery intertwined with the culture as much as cornbread.

NPR : 'Iraq: The World Speaks' - An NPR/BBC Joint Production
I sent the following question:
To: NPR

My Question for the discussion is the following: Why are both sides of the War issue using atrocious hyperbole to express their view points? It seems to me that when people scream about the War being about oil are ignorant about American history, foreign policy, and rule of law. They instead just don't like George Bush's politics, which I fully understand, and allow outlandish and ludicrous rhetoric to rule their argument, whiling down playing rational questions of his policy. This happens while the Bush Administration and Conservatives here in the USA panic the country with exaggerated Iraq-terrorist connections stemming from an exploitation of the 9/11 tragedy. It distresses me that both sides play into each other's hands by only using arguments that confirms the opposite side's prejudices and biases.

Brian Griffin
Cincinnati, Ohio

The 800-Pound Gorilla of Blogdom Links to City Beat!
It appears my 15 seconds of fame from this CityBeat article has been linked by Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit. I don't mind the link, but my picture is on top of the article, and that might drive people away from reading it. For those visiting for the first time, welcome! I might actually be able to drag my moment of fame along for a few more seconds, but don't fear my ego growing to large. With a mug like mine, humility was instilled at birth.

Some U.S. lawmakers want to ban French water, wine and move troops from Germany
Your House GOP leadership in action. What a bunch of morons. Why don' t they just start bombing Paris? Jingoistic juveniles strutting like a bunch of bloodthirsty jocks. I guess they will boycott me if I don't agree with them and take action to oppose their polices.

700 WLW reups Bill Cunningham contract
The Big One's Big Mouth is back for eternity. I guess Cincinnati is now "hell."