Luken's Press Secretary Joins Kerry's Ohio Staff

Carl Weiser reports on the Kerry campaign's ramp up of of paid staff in Ohio:

And, she said, Ohio has more staff on the ground than any other state. Brendon Cull, Cincinnati Mayor Charlie Luken's press secretary, will be the 13th paid employee this week as he takes a leave of absence to become Ohio press secretary for the Kerry campaign.

Kerry is leading in Ohio in the latest poll, so do they really want to add staff now? Well, hell yes. If Kerry can build on his current position in Ohio he can take it from Bush and win. Brendon Cull, who I assume will working mostly in Cincinnati, will be either wasting his time against a solid Bush area, or he might turn over enough moderates in the area to help make the state a landslide for Kerry.

Everything could turn any which way, but Ohio is going to be with the trend, no matter which way it turns.

Comments

I have brought back Haloscan and have kept the Blogger Comments. I like things about both, but I want everyone to participate, so for now I will kept both and see how it works, if at all. I might turn one off if no one uses it. Let me know what people prefer.

Horrible

One of the Moose on Main's Bartenders was shot in the face after closing traveling to his car after work. Luckily his wounds were not life threatening. No reason was reported, but the circumstances sound like a robbery. Here is where gun nuts clamor for carrying more guns and where I clamor for more police patrols and where the boycotters say nothing at all about what happened.

New Editor at Cincinnati Magazine

Kitty Morgan is leaving, so welcome Jay Stowe. Jay comes from Outside Magazine, an outdoors culture magazine. I sometimes pick up a copy of Cincinnati Magazine. It's view on culture have stuck generally to the fine-living type as the focus, sprinkling in something different each month. Will we see a change?

A Blog Movie?

The 'Baghdad blogger' has a movie deal. Life in a war zone is much more of a compelling story than writing on a website from your living room. I will be waiting for my agent's phone call any time now. (cough, cough)

Witty Bronson

More like this Peter, please, more like this. I am happy to say that I really enjoyed Bronson's column today. It was humorous, took a jab at the boycott, and had fun in a generally non-partisan way, except if you were from Louisville.

If Peter just leaves out the political shilling for Bush or his regular attacks on Bill Clinton for existing, then he would actually be an entertaining columnist.

Killer Cicadas!!!

Dr. Ray Baker of Cincinnati Children Hospital does not go that far, but he is doing his best to get parents into a frenzy. What he is concerned about and has noticed is that kids are doing stupid things or react hypersensitively towards cicadas. They are either scared by the bugs and injured themselves running away, or they are injured trying to crush the bugs.

Cicadas are not going to kill anyone directly. If you are unlucky enough to get one in your car and can't handle the buzzing I guess you crash and die. If you try to eat the bugs, make sure you chew them well, we don't want you to choke on them either.

Springer Chosen by Ohio Dems for National Convention

Jerry Springer has taken his first step at revitalization in the Ohio Democratic Party. He will never shed his sleazy TV show image completely, but over time I think he will become a viable candidate for office in 2006, but not win a statewide race.

New Site Format

You are not seeing things, I have updated the site. I am still working on things, so please bare with me. I am archiving the old comments, and will try and put them somewhere, but likely they will not be linked to their old post.

If you see any problems, errors, or ways to improve the site, please comment.

Berg Murder in Iraq, Untold Story

The Nick Berg execution in Iraq has many unanswered questions and XRay Magazine probes them. I am not one for conspiracy, but at a minimum there is more to the story with the news that Berg's father was being watched by a hardcore rightist website. Covington has more.

Build More Jails?

With Si Leis uniformly acting as if he was the sole deity in the universe, he has decreed that certain women facing trial for lesser offenses will not be held in the county jail. They will instead be sent home. Leis reportedly has asked for a new jail in the past, so what is he waiting for now? Leis is not immune from pulling political stunts to make his point, please refer to his billing of Bill Clinton for security coverage for an example.

What is the underlying problem to cause this capture and release? Are more women being arrested and we don't have enough space in the female areas of the jail? Are we solving more crimes? I don't think we have stopped many thefts in the county, Leis should know that. So, What gives? Why must this happen? Why have we not built a new jail? Are we holding convicted felons in the jail who can't fit into the state system?

Shocking Peter Bronson

I don't know if this counts as a true flip-flop or not, but Bronson is defending rich Indian Hill people for wanted to keep people out of their publicly funded parks. I always thought Peter wasn't a classist. I did not know he wanted to treat the rich differently than the rest of us. I guess if you have the money, you can buy government.

Oh, by the way, this is not really a shock, in case my sarcasm was lost in transference to the written word.

Quotas Suck

A Wisconsin Daily newspaper is asking for pro-Bush letters, mainly because they don't get enough and want to "balance the perspectives." They don't get enough of the GOP astro-turf. I would advise that Post-Crescent of Appleton, Wisconsin contact the Enquirer and asked for the piles of pro-Bush drivel they have lying around in the letters to the editor files.

Chiquita Spin

If I understand this article correctly, Chiquita is claiming that their payments to Colombian rebels was just a normal business expense commonly used by US companies in Central America.

Special payments by U.S. companies in Latin America - whether for faster telephone installation or security services - are known as 'facilitating payments' and are allowed under U.S. law. Chiquita says it and other American companies have done it for years.

Are they really comparing paying protection money to criminals to telephone installation? Do restaurant owners get to deduct the expense of paying of the mafia to assure their deliveries are made on time? What a large pair of bananas they have.

The New WOXY

We still will have a modern/alternative rock station to kick around. As I reported earlier from Sledge's blog, the new station will keep the same format. I would expect the station to be more "mainstream" and compare more to 97.3. I myself would love kind of a classic alternative/punk/new wave/grunge rock station that played the likes of the Clash, U2, Pearl Jam, Elvis Costello, and the like.

Gun Nuts, Oh the Stupidity

Ohio Gun Nutt part of the OFCC have written a list of businesses they are boycotting because they don't allow people carrying guns into their establishment.

Once again gun nuts are seeking SPECIAL RIGHTS, this time through acts akin to blackmail.

Frisch's response is the best:

"We're OK if they choose to boycott our stores," said Karen Maier, vice president of marketing for Cincinnati-based Frisch's Inc., which has posted signs banning weapons at all corporate-owned Big Boy restaurants in Ohio. "We don't want firearms in our stores."

What right do gun owners have to force their "rights" upon others via civil business interference? I hope none of these guys pushing this boycott are against the boycott of Cincinnati. The must approve of the method, if they attempt to use of themselves.

Idiots. Just Idiots. They have their guns, but they will not feel good until they can take their faux penis and intimidate everyone possible with it.

Chiquita paid rebel groups

My first question about the Enquirer's story is simply: Did Uncle Carl know? From the article:

Chiquita said the Justice Department was contacted after the company discovered the groups were listed on the State Department's Foreign Terrorist Organizations list. The list names 37 organizations, including al-Qaida as well as three groups in Colombia.

A Justice Department spokesman declined Monday to comment on the investigation. U.S. law makes it a crime to knowingly provide resources to terrorist organizations.

If Carl Linder was still part of the company when this happened, I hope he is being including in the investigation.

More from CNN.

Local Pols' Views on Rummy

Korte rounds up the views and statements of local and regional politicians about Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld. They all seem to hem and haw a bit, but support Rumsfeld staying.

I myself don't really care much if he stays or goes. I don't see the policies changing either way. We might even get Wolfowitz instead, and that is a scary thought.

Rummy should not be the fall guy for Iraq. The chains of sorrow should hang around the neck of Bush himself. Dumping Rumsfeld helps Bush's keep moderate votes, so in political terms I would hope Bush keeps him.

We're the Killer Bees!

Here's the 411 on the damn cicadas.

Backhanded Praise?

Bronson column today about 1230 the Buzz comes across as backhanded praise. Mostly because of his admitted original preconceived notion about the station. After the riots the Buzz did come across much like an Al Jazeera. I don't know if one time of calm a storm, namely the mini-riot in Winton Terrace, will erase the mouthpiece they give to the likes of Kabaka Oba and William Kirkland, two of the infamous Boycott B and two of the most avoid racists in town.