And a CityBeat in a Pork Tree

Stephanie Dunlap gives us a holiday top ten list worth reading.

Hegemo's Coffee Fix

Sarah at the Hegemo gives us her Cincinnati coffee hotspots. She does need to check out Kaldi's as she notes, and she also needs to check out Sitwell's Coffee House on Ludlow in Clifton.

Am I Missing Something?

I am not a fan of Eminem, but the folks at Source Magazine seem to be gunning for him. How do they really think he is a racist? The guy records some racially offensive slurs after he breaks up with this black girlfriend. (Yes, his black girlfriend) This makes him a "racist?" A white man who dates black women is a racist? I guess once again the term "racist" is being twisted, or redefined. I will remember that the next time I hear "cracker" used on 1230 the Buzz.

A White rapper is infringing on the "black man's" world, so he must be taken down, I guess. From this article it sounds like the guys from the Source are the ones who are "racist." This quote I think is filled with what some might call code words:

"Bringing this tape to the public is the latest chapter in The Source magazine's ongoing effort to expose influences corrupting hip-hop, including racism."

Who or What is corrupting hip-hop one might ask? I think the folks from the Source would say: "White Culture" or just "The White Man." I wonder how much they are rooting out racism in hip-hop directed toward non-blacks.

Domestic Terrorism

The CANDLES Museum in Terre Haute, Indiana was victim to arson and bigoted vandalism. "Remember Timmy McVeigh" was written on a wall of the museum. This is terrorism. This story is getting limited coverage. Tabloid stories like the Scott Peterson Trial and the police search of Michael Jackson's ranch are getting the cable news coverage.

CANDLES stands for "The Children of Auschwitz Nazi Deadly Lab Experiments Survivors."

New Blog

Give SadGirlSeven a try. She has some choice words about CinWeekly in a post from last week. One suggestion that I think she needs to take under advisement: Permalinks.

2000 Hamilton County Presidential Results

I was just reviewing the 2000 vote totals for President in Hamilton County and they are not what one would have thought. I would have guess that Hamilton County would lean 60/40 Conservative to Liberal. What happened was significantly closer than that.

George W. Bush, GOP*******197,339 54.46%
Al Gore, Dem**************153,227 42.28%
Ralph Nader, Green*********8,871 2.45%
Harry Browne, Libertarian****1,187 0.33%
Pat Buchanan, Reform*******1,042 0.29%
John Hagelin, Natural Law****520 0.14%
Howard Phillips, Const. Party**195 0.05%
TOTALS*******************362,381 100.00%

Right Leaning 199,763 55.13%
Left Leaning 162,618 44.87%
362,381 100.00%

This makes me realize one big factor; Hamilton County is by far the most "liberal" of all of the surrounding counties. Bush got over 60% of the vote in all surrounding counties. I wonder how the city gets the conservative flack when outside the 275 loop has the bulk of the hardcore conservatives. I guess the local conservative control on nearly everything with an iron fist methodology keeps us liberals quiet.

Cranley for Commissioner???

The Business Courier is reporting that Councilman John Cranley is "pondering" a run against John Dowlin for Hamilton County Commissioner in next year's election.

Is it to soon for John to move on? His showing in the recent council race was fairly good, but council's reputation in the rest of the county is horrid, and he one of main faces getting press from council. He did well against Chabot back in 2000, but is there enough support? I guess John's support of the Elkington "Plan" will be a top priority with all of the extra time he will have next year running for office again.

IME Recap

Well, I did not deliver on the level of coverage I had hoped to provide. I was able to attend two sessions on Friday and only my own session on Saturday. I attended the Minority Voices in the Media and the Art of the Interview sessions on Friday. I was impressed with Kathy Wilson. I disagree with many of her stances, but she is really good in this kind of setting.

The most interesting element of the event was Kathy Y. Wilson's revelation that she was asked to take over Laura Pulfer's column a few years back. She obviously turned that down. This I am sure is old news to some, but was news to me.

My session on blogs and webzines went fairly well. I was not a total idiot, but I was not very well spoken. I hope everyone got something from it, but I am not sure if I provided much. I think the time was limited to the point where we did not have a ton of time to answer questions. I guess our presentations went on too long.

I was shocked to read that there was a theft of a camera and TV monitor. That sucks. It sucks that someone had to ruin a good event. I hope this theft does not put a damper on this event, and it is able to grow bigger next year.

For a fuller recap, check out XRay's recap.

UPDATE: In my haste to post this, I failed to comment on Stacey Recht and Amy Eversole's "The Art of the Interview" Session. I was impressed at how prepared Stacey and Amy were. Stacey especially had everything organized, including an excellent web page with examples of interviews she had gotten previously as well as a full audio recording of the session. I myself am not good at interviewing people, so I learned quite a bit on the best practices for giving interviews. If you listen carefully you might hear my questions on the audio recording.

Local Recounts

The Post reports that there will be a recount in the Cincinnati Council race because it fell with in the statutory requirements, where David Crowley beat Damon Lynch for the last seat by 738 votes. The Norwood Mayor's race, which was decided by only 24 votes still did not meet the .5% threshold for an automatic recount. Challenges can still be made, but the challenger might bear the expense of such a challenge.

The more interesting news from the story was that two difference races ended up in ties locally. One was the Lincoln Heights council race were two people were tied for the third seat. If the recount does not change the vote, then a coin toss will choose the winner. The other was an income tax issue that ended in a tie. If that tie is not broken the increase will fail. I can't find in Ohio law how ties are handled, so I will have to take the Post's word for it.

IME Coverage

I will be providing coverage of the 2003 Indy Media Expo tonight and tomorrow from Media Bridges in Downtown Cincinnati. It is not to late to attend. Just show up and you should have no problem attending most sessions. For more information check out XRay Magazine.

Missed Conclusion on Traffic Stop Data

Well, no one can prove much of anything from the analysis of the traffic stop data made public today. One point that this story reports sums up one conclusion that was missed from the beginning:

Scott Greenwood, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, said the report wasn't intended to provide the yes-or-no answer many Cincinnatians have looked for since the 2001 riots put police-community relations at the top of the city's agenda.

"The issue is not, and never has been, whether white officers deliberately discriminate against African-American motorists out of racial animus," he said. "The discussion is whether race is used inappropriately - at whatever level - in policing decisions."

The bold was added for emphasis. I think this point is not clear to most people. The ACLU never claimed there was a "racist" plot to target blacks. I think some of the folks on the Buzz should be reporting this fact and not do what I think they were doing this afternoon, which had been a bit of race bating. Jay and Emmanuel are in my opinion pushing their unsubstantiated claims that the real problem is racism. This report clear proves one thing. There is not a grand "Elder/KKK" plot to target blacks in this city. If there was a huge plot, one might think the numbers would show this grand plot without question.

The positive quote from the article that I hope everyone read and strives to keep as a reality

Other findings suggested no unequal treatment: Stop durations were almost identical, after factoring in that vehicles driven by African-Americans were more likely to have more passengers. Black and white motorists were equally likely to have their cars searched, and the probability of finding drugs or guns was almost identical.

If this element was not reasonably balanced, then we would have a real problem.

I wonder why people in Damon Lynch's camp wanted this keep under wraps before the election? Is it because the report was not the smoking-gun they hoped for and the lack of a zinger to hit the police with would have been a political blow to his campaign?

UPDATE: Wholly Shit. Did the Post read the same report? If you read their story we are headed towards a race war. What gives? I can't find the actually report online yet.

Move Coverage: WCPO, WLWT, and AP.

Rule of Law Prevails

I have to tip my hat to the Alabama Supreme Court and State Attorney General for upholding the rule of law and removing Chief Justice Ray Moore from office. Theocracy has taken a small blow and I am very thankful. I wish people would stop following his brand of religious politics, but this will froth up the fundamentalists into a stupor worthy of Benny Hinn.

MIAMI 45, Marshall 6

Love and honor to Miami,
Our college old and grand,
Proudly we shall ever hail thee,
Over all the land.

Alma mater now we praise thee,
Sing joyfully this lay,
Love and honor to Miami,
Forever and a day.

Coverage: Oxford Press, Enquirer, DDN, more DDN, Buffalo News, Post, CDM, PD, goHerd.com, HJN.

All I can say it that the game was damn cold! I am glad we had a blanket, but I wish I had worn gloves. This victory was extra special for Miami Fans. Winning the MAC East with a win over Marshall is sweet revenge for years of falling short to them. Miami is almost a cinch for a bowl game this year, no matter if they win the MAC Championship game or not. I am one proud alumnus today.

Wes Nails It!

Wes Flinn comments on the letter I referenced yesterday by bring up the Showtime "Movie" DC 9/11: Time of Crisis. How much of this contained "factual" quotes? How much was the content fictionalized to provide a clear theme to fit the overall concept of the movie, or just something more entertaining? Based on all accounts there were many historical facts left out of this production and surely some that Bush does not want known for various reasons. Some of those missing facts are being sought by Congress in its attempt to investigate the 9/11 intelligence, with little assistance from the Administration.

Where's the outrage on the Bush Movie? How many quotes were not valid? Why did Viacom let this on the air if it was not absolutely true? Hmm... ya think it might have just been a movie, and most people did not care about it? I guess the all-powerful "liberal media" was sleeping when that movie was made.

Local Media History and Future

Kathy Y. Wilson takes us on journey through her past. Kathy looks inside CityBeat with a harsh insight:

We've gotten fat and lazy since EN packed it in. It's almost like we're sometimes in a diabetic haze. We're sweet on ourselves, and our sweet tooth is rotting.

I think CityBeat could use a kick in the ass, but I don't know if Kathy and I would agree on what that would be. I would say CityBeat needs a group blog. This was my advice for CinWeekly, but they will get to it once it can make money. CityBeat might try it and use it to build a national web presence that could augment the publication. Just a thought, but I think "professional group blogs," like the Dallas Mornings News has, will become a standard structure of every newspaper in the country.

Another Blind Fool

From a letter to the editor of the Enquirer today:

Syndicated columnist Tom Teepen ["Conservatives new playground bully," Nov. 7] and other liberal columnists are going quite mad over the way CBS dropped the highly slanted The Reagan movie when the network got caught bending the truth. What if I were to make a documentary on Margaret Sanger or Martin Luther King, Jr., and include a few dozen quotes that they never said?

I have to ask my neighbor Andrew Bartmess of Mount Washington, did he watch the Jessica Lynch story? Did he watch the movie Tora! Tora! Tora!? Did he see Thirteen Days? Does Mr. Bartmess believe those movies included a few dozen quotes never said by Jessica Lynch, Adm. Husband E. Kimmel, or JFK? The Reagan movie was not a documentary. Drama always makes stuff up. I also wonder were Mr. Bartmess learned there were "a few dozen quotes" Reagan never said in the movie. There has been a complaint over one quote about Reagan's views on gays and AIDS. There is not proof that I have seen that Reagan comments were totally made up. Now, it is likely that since a large part of the movie is about the person conversation of Nancy and Ron, it is likely those comments were made up. The funny thing is, it is a movie. Movies are dramatic representations of a writer's story. I hope the Reagan flock will get over this, or better yet, start getting pissed whenever someone on talk radio repeats lies about Clinton, Carter, or JFK over and over again.

Missing Question from Debate

In the Conceal-Carry debate I have still not heard my question asked: What about the rights of property owners? Does the right of a gun owner to carry his gun supersede that of the property owner's to keep guns off their property? Who has the burden of checking the guns at the door or keeping them out? If I own a string of food chains don't I have the right to keep guns out of my establishments? Why does the burden fall on me to keep the guns out? Do I have to install metal detectors to achieve this or does the right of a gun owner out weigh mine as the owner of a restaurant?

I myself do not want any conceal-carry law. If you want to intimidate people, strap it on your leg like John Wayne would. If you feel the need to carry a gun, I do not want to be near year, so why not let me know you are a marked man by wearing your gun out in the open. This fits in much better with the old west mentality that I think is at work here. A concealed weapon was a scoundrel's means of getting an edge. Why do the "righteous" gun nuts want to walk around with secret under their coat?

Dumbing Down American Youth

Allegations have been made that one of the questions at last week's "Rock the Vote" debate on CNN was planted by someone at CNN. The question was about which type of computer the candidates prefer, PC or MAC. This story has many irrational elements to it, for instance, if they person had a different question to say, why did they use the one they were asked to use? Why not say screw CNN and ask her own question? Was the person so eager to be on TV that they were willing to say what ever CNN wanted?

The alleged reasons for this question to be used was her other question was not "lighthearted." If this is true I see a small trend in the media growing: editors think people under 35 are shallow and stupid. What else could explain the introduction of CinWeekly?

[Link via Atrios]

Let's Cin Again, Like We Did Last Week

Last Week CityBeat took a turn bashing CinWeekly. Greg Flannery hit them hard in his Porkopolis column. Greg points out what they are in a concise manner when saying what CityBeat was not:

Otherwise, Cin Weekly was nothing like CityBeat, which doesn't publish rehashed Enquirer "news" items, syndicated food stories and recipes, advice on avoiding annoying co-workers, cornhole features, Associated Press movie and DVD stories and "family friendly" calendar listings.

The best jibe was their page 14-15 story entitled "Good, Clean Election Fun" (story not online), a play on Cin's tag line "Good Clean Fun." The montage of pictures from election day that remind one of the Cinscene photos from CinWeekly. The difference between the two photo spreads, you ask? One is of a NEWS event; the other is not in anyway a news event. Except if you think Backstreet Boy Nick Carter being at Club Clau is news. If you think that is news, then I hope you don't breed.

Cincinnati Independent Media Exposition 2003

If you have any interest in how the indie media works or starting your own media outlet then you need to go the IME 2003 on November 14th and 15th.

The second annual Independent Media Exposition will be held at Media Bridges in downtown Cincinnati during the second week of November. The Expo brings the public and mass media together under the same roof to increase media literacy, encourage citizen participation in media and promote the diverse, unique media landscape in Cincinnati and beyond. The Expo features a 16 different sessions over two days, covering DIY Publishing, Web zines, Net Radio, Minority Voices in the media, the Radical Media and a whole lot more.

Everyone is welcome!

There is a full Schedule of Events and directions to the event.