Defense of the Dean Scream

From Instapundit: Dave Winer defends the Dean Scream and gives a behind the scenes look at it. I don't know who this person is and therefore his credibility is somewhat suspect, but his explanation of why he screamed makes good sense. The Media of course can't grasp the answer, because it does not fit the mold of Dean they have already made.

Now, why Glenn Reynolds linked to this could be judged as a bit "Negative" Dean support. Glenn might want Dean to face Bush, so why not help him anyway he can. Reyonlds has political influence, especially in the primary stages, so saying he is being Machiavellian is not as big of a reach as it may seem.

Bush Then and Now

THEN: In the 2003 SOTU Bush's mention of elements relating to the "liberation" of Iraq.

The dictator who is assembling the world's most dangerous weapons has already used them on whole villages -- leaving thousands of his own citizens dead, blind, or disfigured. Iraqi refugees tell us how forced confessions are obtained -- by torturing children while their parents are made to watch. International human rights groups have catalogued other methods used in the torture chambers of Iraq: electric shock, burning with hot irons, dripping acid on the skin, mutilation with electric drills, cutting out tongues, and rape. If this is not evil, then evil has no meaning. (Applause.)

And tonight I have a message for the brave and oppressed people of Iraq: Your enemy is not surrounding your country -- your enemy is ruling your country. (Applause.) And the day he and his regime are removed from power will be the day of your liberation. (Applause.)

NOW: In his 2004 SOTU

Since we last met in this chamber, combat forces of the United States, Great Britain, Australia, Poland and other countries enforced the demands of the United Nations, ended the rule of Saddam Hussein, and the people of Iraq are free. (Applause.)

Having broken the Baathist regime, we face a remnant of violent Saddam supporters. Men who ran away from our troops in battle are now dispersed and attack from the shadows. These killers, joined by foreign terrorists, are a serious, continuing danger. Yet we're making progress against them. The once all-powerful ruler of Iraq was found in a hole, and now sits in a prison cell. (Applause.) Of the top 55 officials of the former regime, we have captured or killed 45. Our forces are on the offensive, leading over 1,600 patrols a day and conducting an average of 180 raids a week. We are dealing with these thugs in Iraq, just as surely as we dealt with Saddam Hussein's evil regime. (Applause.)

The work of building a new Iraq is hard, and it is right. And America has always been willing to do what it takes for what is right. Last January, Iraq's only law was the whim of one brutal man. Today our coalition is working with the Iraqi Governing Council to draft a basic law, with a bill of rights. We're working with Iraqis and the United Nations to prepare for a transition to full Iraqi sovereignty by the end of June.

As democracy takes hold in Iraq, the enemies of freedom will do all in their power to spread violence and fear. They are trying to shake the will of our country and our friends, but the United States of America will never be intimidated by thugs and assassins. (Applause.) The killers will fail, and the Iraqi people will live in freedom. (Applause.)

Month by month, Iraqis are assuming more responsibility for their own security and their own future. And tonight we are honored to welcome one of Iraq's most respected leaders: the current President of the Iraqi Governing Council, Adnan Pachachi.

Sir, America stands with you and the Iraqi people as you build a free and peaceful nation. (Applause.)

Before the war, the "liberation of Iraq" was a minor element, almost in passing, in the reasoning for war. After the war, BOOM, that was nearly the only reason for going to war that Bush is talking about. When talking about WMD the length of content from the speeches would be reversed between the years. Notice that switch? Notice how before the war it was WMD all the time, but now WMD is almost a dirty word in the administration, and Freedom for Iraq is all that matters. How was this not misleading the American people?

Allen vs. Smitherman

Well, I wonder who organized the speakers at city council yesterday calling out Mike Allen:

"He had no right to call this man a young punk, whether he agrees with him or not," West End resident Earmon Powell said Thursday. "He had no right to say that about our beloved brother."

For the record, Mike Allen had every right to call Chris Smitherman anything he wants. Earmon Powell is just wrong, but he has the right to make his incorrect statement if he wants.

Allen's comments were not becoming of an elected official. If the local Dems have any balls left, they will run a commercial with the"smart-mouthed little punk" comment all through Allen's future campaigns.

One contention I found laughable though:

In the past, some segments of the African-American community have complained that the chief, assistant chiefs and many members of the department's command staff are graduates of Elder High School, a predominantly white, conservative Catholic school on the West Side, and that might have influenced the way they deal with minorities.

Smitherman, though, never made that assertion, and has said he wanted the data for informational purposes.

Why didn't Smitherman provide detail on what his "informational purposes" in knowing what high school each police officer attended. There is no other logical reason to know what high school each officer went to except for proving or disproving the Elder High School story. If he wants to know the level of education of each officer or the rates of those with college degrees, that might be useful. I wonder if Smitherman asked for the names of the colleges any police officers attended.

UPDATE: Greg Mann comments and points to and Enquirer editorial. I agree with Greg that the Enquirer failed to criticize Allen for his end of the feud. I agree with much of Enquirer's critique of Smitherman's demeanor, but Allen was just as childish, if not worse. He has not gotten the "dissing" he deserves from the big media outlets. Allen is considered a "hero" in WLW land.

Weekend Update Lead: Rose to sign books at gambling casino

Tina Fey would be remiss if she did not use this headline as an example of legitimate news outlets putting her out of business.

Same Old Thing

Sam Malone appears to need do some fundraising. How better to gain some West Side money then try and take away the rights of women to pay for medical procedures. Now of course the procedure is an abortion, the most polarizing political issue of the modern area. Malone and DeWine both new they would loose, but they have to please the anti-abortion contributors with at least a symbolic gesture that everyone knows will not stop abortions. All it would do is hurt women. Controlling and hurting women seem to be an obsession for anti-abortion activists.

I knew Malone was supporting discrimination against homosexuals with his support of a lawsuit trying to remove the recent hate crimes ordinance. What I did not know was the Malone was a theocrat ant-abortionist. I thought he was at least hands off on the abortion issue, not making much of it, but instead he wishes to govern the city by voting as his religious dogma tells him he must vote. How Nice. This has been a week full of theocratic Republicans. Bush, Ohio GOPers, and now Malone are trying to impose religious beliefs on the populace via secular law.

WMD-Related

Rob Bernard points out that Bush's use of the term "WMD-related program activities" in the SOTU was used in the Kay Report. I can't disagree. The problem is that it does not absolve Bush of playing language creep. Kay may be his excuse now, but what was Bush's excuse when he said right here in Cincinnati that Iraq had (have at that point) in their possession. One might wonder why Bush would lift that quote from the report anyway. It is a horrible sound term. It sounds like what John Stewart might think up to make fun of Bush's SOTU. I guess Bush was just cutting out the middleman.

Computergate?

Kevin Drum points out a startling up tick in the severity of the alleged computer hacking by Republican senatorial staffers on Democratic computers. It appears that over at least a year a series of memos from Senate Democrats and their staffers were stolen and then leaked to the media, namely Bob Novak, or used as talking point fodder.

This act is theft. This act is as big as Watergate. Obviously it is not involving the President, but in this case it can be proven that what was stolen was used to smear the Democrats. Add in Plamegate and media SHOULD be in a frenzy. For some reason they are sitting on their hands. Hmmm

CT Fun

We had a great time at the Oakley After-5 Walk with Cincinnati Tomorrow. I was very pleased to finally meet Wes Flinn face to face and have a nice chat about blogging. I hope Wes can make it out to more walks.

Shout Out: Through the grapevine last night I head that councilman David Pepper either has read or reads the blog. I will just say Hey!

Enquirer Sued by Former Music Critic

The Enquirer has been sued by former music critic Larry Nager for unfair treatment and age discrimination. Nager was fired January 9th (3 days before me) and was allegedly he was "not aggressive" and "did not do his job."

One radio report stated that Nager's lawsuit link the "demotion" of former TV & Radio critic John Kieswetter to a West Chester beat reporter.

Irony?

A white South African immigrant student promoted himself for an African-American Student award given only to black students at a Public School. He was suspended for putting up posters in school with his picture on them.

Why would a public school give an award only among one race at a public school? Did putting up posters without permission violate school policy? If it did he deserved the suspension, if not, then why was he suspended? Criticizing bigoted or racist polices of schools is something we should encourage in our students.

[Via the 800-pound gorilla]

Ohio Senate passes gay-marriage ban

Theocratic double speak never fails to offend:

State Rep. Bill Seitz, a Green Township Republican who sponsored the bill, said he was 'elated' at the prospect of Ohio being the 38th state to pass the Defense of Marriage Act. 'It's gigantic step toward strengthening the traditional view of marriage,' Seitz said.

How do you defend marriage when half of them end divorce? If the theocratic bigots want to "defend marriage," why don't they ban divorce?

What? Hmmm? You say that banning divorce would make half of the conservative politicians look bad with their prior divorces? Well, they can't pass an ex post facto law, so they can force the rest of us to live in bad marriages if they want. What better way to promote marriage by forcing bad ones from ending and preventing certain people from marrying?

Don Quixote

Cheney refuses to give up on WMD search. I think he needs to come clean on the windmills. Dick could take the fall for the President and admit that he pushed him into the war. That would be the honest thing to do, but who in politics does the honest thing.

Miami University Journalism Program

I am pleased to read that Miami will have a specific Journalism Department starting in the Fall. Previously Mass Communication and English were the only things that came close. I had a friend in college who was a Mass Com major and did work at a newspaper for a while. I hope Miami can use the department to beef up the student newspaper.

Cincinnati Enquirer Editor Tom Callinan is one of four applicants to head the department. Gregory Flannery
of CityBeat asks "will Editor Tom Callinan be the next in the ongoing exodus from The Cincinnati Enquirer?" Are the changes the Enquirer has undertaken all Tom has to offer to the paper or does shaping new journalists a new alure for a veteran editor?

Ramos in Sundance 2004

CityBeat's Steve Ramos is at the Sundance Film Festival and has an online daily diary of his misadventures.

Ohio Senate Approves Gay-Marriage Ban

Blah! All that is left is for Tedious Taft to sign it, which he eventually will. Theocracy on the March, with bigotry in tow.

Mockery of a President

When you read this section from Bush's SOTU last night it can be nothing less than astonishment, and nothing better than laughable:

Some in this chamber, and in our country, did not support the liberation of Iraq. Objections to war often come from principled motives. But let us be candid about the consequences of leaving Saddam Hussein in power. We are seeking all the facts - already the Kay report identified dozens of weapons of mass destruction-related program activities and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations.

First, Bush knows well that everyone in the chamber supports the liberation of Iraq. What many, including me, disagreed with was how Bush went about doing it. He did it by lying to the American public or at least misleading us. He gave the finger to the rest of the world for not doing what he wanted. He failed to plan for both the after-math of victory and for the strain the Iraq war had on the "War" on terrorism.

The most outlandish and greatest SNL moment came from his "WMD-related" quote. He basically used WMD as an adjective to try to link what stuff they found to his trumped up reason for the war. It is laughable to me how people just don't care, or don't notice, how Bush uses language creep to back peddle from his initial claim. First Iraq had WMD, and then they had WMD programs, now they have "weapons of mass destruction-related program activities." I guess downloading this from the internet could be called WMD-related program activities.

Ohio General Assembly's Bigotry

It appears that the anti-homosexual sentiment in the Ohio Senate is strong. It is amazing how homophobia drives politicians. They may not be homophobic themselves, but they fear the level of homophobia by voters who would turn on them if they did anything to give equal rights to homosexuals. This movement is led by conservative Republicans, but there are many Democrats who are doing nothing or sitting on their hands. Social Conservative blue collar Democrats and religious blacks are keeping elected Democrats from making the fair and just decision to fight the anti-homosexual bill.

I would like to encourage that people hit the GOP for pushing this, but don't give the Democrats a pass if they don't stand up for the rights of gays. Ask Mark Mallory and Steve Driehaus what they are doing and where they stand on equal rights for homosexuals, including marriage or civil unions.

Driehaus's (D) from Cincinnati prior comments include:

Rep. Steve Driehaus, D-Cincinnati, has reservations about the bill, which he said could send the message that Ohio lawmakers are intolerant toward the gay community.

Still, he says he'll vote for the marriage act because he believes his constituency defines marriage in a very specific way.

"My constituents believe marriage is a union between a man and a woman that is held sacred," Driehaus said. "We should respect that."

Nice to know representatives will submit to the bigotry of their constituents.

Where in the World is LaShawn Pettus-Brown?

California is the place you ought to be. This is hilarious. Pettus-Brown is allegedly trying to join a Dennis Rodman BB team in LA. He is wanted by the Cincinnati Police and FBI, but he is hanging out in LA with tons of media around Rodman who will stake out a celebrity's house to determine if they wear boxer's, but they will not look into who might be wanted by the law and standing right next to them.

Bush Declares His Bigotry

I am sure the conservative readers will disagree, but last night in his SOTU Bush declared his bigotry towards homosexuals

Activist judges, however, have begun redefining marriage by court order, without regard for the will of the people and their elected representatives. On an issue of such great consequence, the people's voice must be heard. If judges insist on forcing their arbitrary will upon the people, the only alternative left to the people would be the constitutional process. Our nation must defend the sanctity of marriage.

His endorsement of an anti-homosexual constitutional amendment was not a shock, but was a move that will draw political lines. Bush did not even have the courage to just come out and say he was for the amendment. He instead had to use the quote above which danced around the issue and prevented him from sounding like Pat Robertson.

UPDATE: Wes Flinn Comments.
I was surprised he did not even mention abortion. Not even in passing part of a laundry list of issues. I guess he can't use that as a big issue this time around. It is a no win issue in the country. Its only value is to drive out turnout. Raising the issue will not change anyone's mind.

Theocratic Fascism At Home

The Fascist in Chief of Hamilton County Speaks.

Leis spoke about crime and the courts, obscenity and pornography, abortion and same-sex marriages - issues he feels plague America.

His theme: Over-tolerance propagated by a too-liberal media is wrecking the family values of Cincinnati and America.

"As prosecutor and sheriff, I enforce obscenity laws, and on many occasions I have been made an object of ridicule by the media," Leis said. "I will never compromise my beliefs on this issue."

Well, I for one don't to disappoint the expectations of the sheriff. As a fledging member of the media I openly mock you Simon Leis. You are a bigot, fascist, oppressive jack-booted thug out to force your religion and your own laws on Hamilton County. Keep your theocracy to yourself, and instead of attacking those you are supposed to protect (like me), why don't you work to make new friends, instead of alienating those of us who don't share your brand of fire and brimstone. Be the sheriff, don't be a crusader.