You Scratch My Blog, I'll Scratch Yours

First a thank you to Beryl Love for a mention in his CiN Weekly Editor's Note.

Second I must complement the CiN Weekly Staff blog for doing a good job. The thing that makes a blog flourish and that is difficult for all of what I call professional blogs (like those at MSNBC or the Plan Dealer) is updating often. I would do much more updating if I had a hot rich wife to sponge off of, but alas I trudge on.

I am very pleased with the blog. It is funny, it has a voice, or should I say a group of voices, and it is indeed a "real" blog. I would guess that news or information that I might print, would not end up in a post there. Reasons are that 1) I do more politics and in your face punditry, 2) They do a culture publication not meant to directly compete with the Metro Section of the Enquirer.

What I like most is the person angles taken. That is part of what makes blogging its own medium. That makes me continue to read it and why I have added it to my blogroll. I have had a CiN link in with local media sites since last year, but this I think deserves inclusion into the local blogoshere.

I can offer one bit of constructive criticism on the blog. I would advise including the same side bar on the front page of CiN on the staff blog. This is the side bar with links to the staff page, about page, etc. Having an "RSS" feed would also get you in good with the hardcore blog crowd who use "news readers" like Bloglines.

The best thing the mention in the editorial gave me was something to bring to Thanksgiving Dinner at my sister's. I had a conversation starter and could use it as a shield in discussions of why I am not married, don't have kids, and don't have a "better" job. For that I truly thank Beryl. He has no idea how much that helped. It even helped in part with avoiding talking about politics, if you can believe it.

UPDATE: Sledge points out that there is an RSS feed for the CiN Blog. I did not search deep enough. Thanks to Matt for that.

The New Gestapo, Phil Burress, and Fascism

I have been called paranoid. I have used hyperbole in describing the radical Christian Right. I do not think I can add much to this New York Times article about Phil Burress that should not bring Fascism and a New Gestapo to your mind:

Beyond that, Mr. Burress plans to take his grass-roots movement in Ohio to a new level, using a computer database of 1.5 million voters to build a network of Christian conservative officials, candidates and political advocates.

He envisions holding town-hall-style meetings early next year in Ohio's 88 counties to identify issues, recruit organizers and train volunteers. With a cadre of 15 to 20 leaders in each county, he says he believes religious conservatives can be running school boards, town councils and county prosecutors' offices across the state within a few years.

'I'm building an army,' Mr. Burress said. 'We can't just let people go back to the pews and go to sleep.'

Burress and his minions are theocratic fascists out to rule the public. They plan on pushing their religion on everyone using the government. Everyone should start waking to the fact that the radical right are a danger and their power is not small, and has a big chance to grow. The vote totals in Ohio should indicate that. The GOP should not feel safe. They have made a pact with these theocrats, and give them lip service and credibility. If they don't stand up and renounce the Faustian bargain they made, they are then in cahoots with the Burress mob. If they don't so as the Christian Right demand they will be instantly denounced and lump in with the rest of us Heathens.

I hope I am crying wolf. I hope the NY Times is just blowing smoke up Phil's ass (he might like that). I hope Phil is really just a nobody getting a little undeserved attention. I can hope, but I lost hope when Phil the bigot got his anti-homosexual amendment passed.

Turkey, Turkey

Happy Thanksgiving Day!!

Dayton Gets It

Downtown Dayton will have WiFi access covering all of Downtown Dayton.

3D3C the ball is your court, along with Downtown Cincinnati Inc. City Council can't seem to get this done.

Property Rights Vs. Gun Rights

The good old Oklahoma Legislature conjured up a law stating gun rights supercede property rights. This is where I hope the most nutty gun nut can stop and say enough is enough. I thought gun nutsrights supporters want to have guns so they can defend their property. Why then can't a property owner protect their property from guns, keeping all guns off their property?

Personal Jesus

The summation of the big Jesus statue in Monroe, Ohio comes from the lips of Jimmy Flynt neighbor of the church and statue :

'Lawrence Bishop has his business going on here, and I have my business going on here, and that's the beauty of America,' Flynt said.

Bishop is the leader of church.

Flynt sums it up best: its a marketing tool for business. The Hustler store should do the same thing with a statue of a large breasted woman.

Adam Rosenberg is Out

Executive Director of the Hamilton County Democratic Party Adam Rosenberg is leaving the post at the end of the year. With a big city council race ahead the post has immidate importance cultivating Democratic candidates for the race. Who will take his place?

Nick Spencer Paperwork Problems

Greg Korte unleashes the first mini-scandal of the Cincinnati Council election season. It is a bit early for this type of event to impact the election just under a year away.

Nick does not look good over this. What I don't understand is did Nick receive the multiple mailed letters and even hand delivered letter or did not? That would appear to be the failing by someone. I think Nick learned his lesson and can move on. I bet he is glad this happened now and not next September.

Pettus-Brown Guilty

Good news for justice: LaShawn Pettus-Brown was found guilty on all six counts, but the money he stole is long gone and the theater is now an empty lot. The city is not criminally liable, but someone should be fired for allowing this guy to get a dime of public funds. Elected officials should share responsibility and suffer along with the city staffer(s), but will not.

OT Turf War?

Is there a battle between the City Audit Committee and Mike Allen via a Grand Jury over the investigation into misuse of overtime by some Cincinnati police officers? Or is this just Chris Smitherman jockeying for his mayoral run?

Fear and Loathing Cincinnati

Headlines make a story and even though Cincinnati has improved on the list if most dangerous cities we still are treated as if the city is helltown. This just proivdes another opportunity to say crime sucks, the city has too much crime, and someone has to do something about it. That someone is.......sure as hell not me.

MIAMI 66, Xavier 54

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.

Details here and here.

The Walrus Does the SuperBowl

The NFL has tapped Sir Paul McCartney as the SuperBowl halftime entertainment in hopes that the FCC will let them be.

My question is will the WLW's Mike McConnell boycott the halftime show or the whole game for added someone he loathes to the show? His anti Democrat screed on the link above should for once and for all label him as a right wing hack. He sometimes has made sense, but he is now starting to sound like Bill Cunningham.

In Snow Removal Terms We're Now Kentucky

If snow removal is cut as Luken is pushing, Cincinnati will then start acting like rural Northern Kentucky acts when it snows: they close everything down. If there is a forecast for a couple inches of snow, then many districts in NKY cancel school once it starts to flurry outside. It then takes them weeks to clear the streets.

Again, why are we trying to spend money on Airport Hangers when we can't clear snow from the streets? I am not knowledgeable enough on City or State law, but couldn't the Mayor declare an emergency and then get the money needed to clear the streets incase of a major storm? I would bet that small accumulations would be where the side streets never get plowed. When I lived over off of Delta Ave, we had a big storm back in 96 or 97 I think and our street did not get fully plowed for a week. The bottom of our street would get plowed by a private plow from a condo high-rise. If not for that we would have been sliding down the hill into Delta Traffic. I live on a major street now that I think would be plowed, but last winter it wasn't plowed hours after 6 inches fell.

Growing up an hour from Buffalo, I have no real concept of how decisions are made locally about snow removal. To us it was a big deal and they got the job done. I would bet the crew in Jamestown, NY, a town of 35,000 where I grew up, could plow Cincinnati better than the crew here. It may not be the crews, but rather the management of when and how they plow. I have seen trucks going around salting the roads, but without plowing them at the same time. I don't know how that is logical. There may be a plan that is supposed to work and it might have to do with not damaging the roads or parked cars, but I hope they can make their efforts more efficient.

What I don't get at all is how 71, 75, and 275 can be so poorly plowed. I can understand that they will be filled with slow moving traffic, but how can ODOT or the County or the City, who ever has responsibility, let those roads go unplowed? I was driving from Colerain to Beechmont last winter during a storm and I think I saw one set of plows and barely one lane had been touched on both 275 and 75. This was on a Sunday, so I guess they did not do much, but the major highways I would think would be the first priority. It snowed all afternoon, and at night nothing had been touched.

Here I have biases that prevent my objectivity, where I can't understand how snow slows down life around here as much as it does. In a town where you can't live without a car, life is even more difficult with people who just should not be driving in such weather. My commutes out to Mason this winter will not be good.

Moralist Over Reach?

When the fundamentalist Protestants make divorce illegal in their churches, akin to Catholics, then they can start to have an oppressive leg to stand on. Trying now to push traditional marriage on everyone is just bullshit. When they fry Newt Gingrich for his personal life, then maybe they will be consistent. Until then they are the Wizard of OZ in a pulpit, with a big skeleton in their vestibule.

Stupid People

If you think humans were created from Dust 10,000 years ago, then yes you are an ignorant or stupid human being. If on the other hand you think that evolution may have been started by a god or intelligent being or other type entity then you are just wrong, but not stupid.

Half of those polled actual think man was created 10,000 years ago. A third are "bible literalists" and if you are one, yes you are a stupid person. Am I demeaning your religion? Maybe. Am I demeaning your right to believe what you want to believe? Not at all. I am exercising my right to believe that anyone who thinks the bible is literal fact is a moron.

[Via Covington Jim]

The funniest thing about this is that I am sitting right now in Starbucks listening to Christmas carols. I actually like old fashioned Christmas music.

Church of DisneyWorld

If I ever have kids can I bring in a letter from Father Goofy or Bishop Mickey explaining that my kids need eight days off from school to celebrate the Country Bear Jamboree and pay homage at the Hall of Presidents?

Drinking Liberally

A chapter of Drinking Liberally has started up here in Cincinnati. 7:30 PM every Tuesday starting tomorrow night at the Comet in Northside.

What is Drinking Liberally?

An informal, inclusive weekly Democratic drinking club. Raise your spirits while you raise your glass, and share ideas while you share a pitcher. Drinking Liberally gives like-minded, left-leaning individuals a place to talk politics. You don't need to be a policy expert and this isn't a book club - just come and learn from peers, trade jokes, vent frustration and hang out in an environment where it's not taboo to talk politics.

Bars are democratic spaces - you talk to strangers, you share booths, you feel the bond of common ground. Bring democratic discourse to your local democratic space - build Democracy one drink at a time.

If you go let me know how it was. I will try and get out to it at somepoint, but not for a while.

Iraqi Mosque Shooting

Kevin Sites, the cameraman who caught the shooting of the Iraqi by the U.S. Marine gives a description of the event in detail on his blog.

[Via Kos]

UPDATE: I wonder if Steve Fritch has read this. If he has I wonder what his knee-jerk reaction was to it.

Christian Vocalist?

In a letter to the editor in the Enquirer Laurie Flanigan refers to Nicole C. Mullen as a "Christian vocalist." What makes her different from any other vocalist and why doesn't she use the term Christian Music vocalist instead? That I think was most likely what she meant, but her use of the term sounds like this women is somehow a better singer because she is a Christian. She may be a great singer, but to listen to her sing a ballad over another singer just because she is a Christian is a sad way to go about things. To listen to her because she sings a type of music you like better than others is fine and understandable.

Religious labels have crept into the culture at an alarming rate. We have Christian Business directories out there with Christian Mechanics. I guess Christians are supposed to keep to their own kind or something.

Is the term "Christian" being co-opted by fundamentalists? I would say yes. I would hope mainstream or liberal Christians take back the name and don't make it some kind of label of superiority, which holds an ominous tone of past troubles.