Free Press Restored!

It appears that the Warren County Governmentwill allow a free press at the BOE. That is they will let it happen next time. We still don't know why someone in the County's Emergency Services Department thought the Warren County BOE was being threatened. Ohio Homeland Security and the FBI did not issue a warning for Warren County. It might have been nice, you know truthful, for the County to come clean with the threat information they relied upon. I'll be dutifully waiting for a press release letting me know.

Forgotten By the Powerful

MIA/POW Soldier's Family Asking For Help

Theocracy In Action

The Bush Administration is supporting the posting of the 10 Commandments in courthouses. Ah, where were they on the Roy Moore case? This is red meat for the fire breathing fundies out to establish a theocratic state. It gets little attention, mostly because the courts will not rule in their favor, unless they continue to put extremists on the bench.

I'm Shocked!!!

In a poll commissioned by David Pepper, David Pepper won. In other news a dog bit a cat.

Is this the same phone poll that called Tom Brinkman?

Marked Man

This young kid is undoubtedly being demonized by the right wing. What will be missed by most are any answers or investigation of a point the man made:

An American seeking to become the first U.S. soldier granted refugee status in Canada after refusing to serve in Iraq told immigration officials Tuesday that the Army was drilling its soldiers to think of all Arabs and Muslims as potential terrorists.

"We were being told that it was a new kind of war, that these were evil people and they had to be dealt with," said Pfc. Jeremy Hinzman, 26, who fled from Fort Bragg, N.C., on Jan. 2.

"We were told that we would be going to Iraq to jack up some terrorists," Hinzman told the Immigration and Refugee Board on the second of his three-day hearing for political asylum.

Most of the right wingers who will likely come close to call for this man to be shot on sight, share the view that all Arabs and Muslims are potential terrorists. That is viewed as truth rather than at best an opinion.

This is the bottom line psychosis that I believe is the basis for much of the support of Bush and of the War in Iraq: hatred of Muslims for the attack on 9/11. Revenge is a powerful tool in the fighting of war. It being used for Iraq is not a shock and I wonder how many will doubt it is being done.

Mike Allen, Esq.

Mike Allen reportedly will enter private practice as a lawyer once he leaves the prosecutor's office next month. What kind of law will he practice? Will we see civil law or criminal law? I would assume a former prosecutor would make a great criminal defense lawyer. Maybe a Deters v. Allen capital murder case will happen.

Fighting Terra

Guest Columnist Tim Holloway pens a plea to fight "terrorism."

Every day terrorist-sponsoring nations such as Iran, Sudan, Syria, Libya and North Korea work to undermine and threaten the security of Americans and freedom-loving people around the world. They do this through genocide, supporting terrorism, and proliferation and development of weapons of mass destruction.

In the list of countries we seem to be missing someone: Saudi Arabia. He also might want to revise his list with recent changes in Bush policy towards Libya. Got to get in line with the man now, don't we?

The Diner to ReOpen?

The Cincinnati Post is report that the Diner on Sycamore will reopen this month or early next year.

Gadgetman

I think someone needs to let Peter Know that TiVo is not a "WayBack" machine.

Also Peter, Merry Fucking Giftmas! I know how you love to embrace your fellow Jews this holiday season by trying to shove Jesus down their throat. I guess they are not grateful enough to show praise to your deity. Sorry. I guess that is why you're going after the retailers this year. I guess attacking a company originated mostly by Jewish merchants is your way of showing how much you love Jesus.

4 Years

When will the usual conservative suspects start attacking Don Rumsfeld for stating he foresees an American pullout from Iraq in 4 years? It seems to me that someone else said something similar and was lambasted for 'aiding the enemy.' I guess the bad guys can just hold the ball for four years and then win? Oh, sorry I guess those are 4 years in Republican Time, not Democratic Time. Republican Time is like biblical time, where six days is about 500,000 million years each.

Fundie is as Fundie Does

Yes, I take these things seriously. It is not just my paranoid rantings, smart people actually agree with me.

Dusty Rhodes Is Being Dumped

John Kiesewetter, who is back reporting on the media, is reporting that Air America is coming to WSAI. His source is Dusty Rhodes, Hamilton County Auditor and part time DJ at WSAI.

I don't know how official this makes it, but Dusty Rhodes likely would not make this up, unlike Bill Cunningham.

Dutsy comment was not very becoming:

"As a Democrat elected in this county, I don't want my party to be seen as the Al Franken party," says Rhodes, who turns 65 Monday.

Well, Dusty is a leading Democrat, leading in voting for Republicans. I for one hope Dusty just gives in and goes to the Dark Side. Just because you are stuck in 1958, does not mean the rest of us are. Dusty needs to get with the party or just leave it.

This was buried in the paper. I still can't find it via search but thanks go to Grassroots Cincinnati.

Take That, Larry Redwine

Ann Thompson goes off on Larry Redwine who wrote a mind numbing column last month claiming victim hood for all conservative 'Christians'.

Ann did a great job of illustrating the fire and hate from people Larry Rewind would likely call political comrades.

Ann does go way over the top claiming that the Democrats are holier than thou. I agree with the Dems on most issues, but as a party they play hardball too. The claim that the GOP is hypocritical when it plays dirty and then says they are good little 'Christians' is added disdain I think they earn, but the Dems are no angels.

Air America in Cincinnati?

Axinar is reporting that WLW sensationalist Bill Cunningham believes liberal radio network Air America will be coming to Cincinnati, specifically to AM 1530.

I have to say: no way in hell. I think this is a Cunningham stunt or just his usual make-stuff-up-just-to-gain-attention type of comment. What is sad is that I think Cunningham is unable to not act like his on air personality in public anymore. Cunningham I think is just trying to scare anyone he can into fearing, "the liberals are coming."

The fairness doctrine is dead. Conservatives hated it and now they could not stand to have to live by it. The FCC may certainly become a prudish nirvana, but it will not become fair to public access to the airwaves.

Now, Clear Channel may instead be willing to try something radical, like offering real variety in programming. 1530 is owned by Clear Channel and their oldies music may not be making any money, or rather not enough for their desires. Conservative Talk programming actually does have a physical limit at the moment. There are not enough programs to fill up all of the hours of the day on yet another radio station.

I disagree with two points Axinar made on other radio programming in town. I would not call NPR liberal. Air America is liberal. NPR caters to urban taste and culture certainly, but I know many Republicans who regularly listen to it and really like it. NPR is called liberal by hard right conservatives because it caters to urban taste and culture, which they find evil, different, and inpure, which is what they call liberal. Also, while I would agree that the Buzz is a distinct alternative to WLW and the other conservative radio stations around town, I would not call it 24 hours of liberal programming. It has some liberal hosts, but on many issues would not carry the water of mainstream liberals, especially on many social issues. Also, the station has Lincoln Ware in a leadership role and Lincoln is a Republican. A different kind of one, but still in that camp on most issues.

I think Air America would be great for the city. What I don't know is whether it would make money.

Miami Accepts Independence Bowl Bid

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.

Miami's season was not all that I wanted, but they really bounced back from some early set backs. Details here.

Also, Senior Football player Michael Larkin was involved in a altercation last night.

And So It Begins

This is just the begining.

What's Missing From This Article?

We are treated with a puff piece on Answers in Genesis about putting dinosaurs outside their re-education camp in Boone County Kentucky. We get the facts about how the group had to get zoning approval. We learned about how much they are funded. We learned that they have a 160 seat "classroom." We learned that they take the bible literally.

What we don't learn is that every educated scientist, scholar, and rational person finds that this group’s contention that the earth is 6,000 years old to be totally and completely false. It is a fact that the earth is billions of years old. I am sure they would rebut that, but I think my 9th Grade Earth Science professor presented enough information on rock formations, how rivers are formed, and carbon dating to suffice anyone willing to use logic instead of emotion. What was missing from the article was a simple sentence, after the telling of AIG's mission, stating that every other credible scientist believes that most of their claims are totally without merit, or something to that affect. I sent an email to the reporter asking some general question as to why this story was writing and how did the Enquirer become aware of it. If I get a response I will post it. I don’t expect one, but you never know. AIG gets heavy coverage by the Enquirer and from what I can find very little, if any, is negative.

One can disagree on the origin of "life," but anyone who thinks the Earth is only 6,000 years old is either incredibly stupid, ignorant, or just insane.

[Link via Wes Flinn]

GOP Self Congratulations

The GOP is dancing for joy at making a slight gain in the number of blacks voting for Bush. How did they do it? It was rather simple, appeal to anti-homosexual bigotry:

'But we are clearly gaining ground because our platform has placed a specific emphasis on social issues, which appeal to the black faith community,' he said.

When we hear "specific social issues" here in Ohio, we don't need any more detail about what they are talking about. There is a vocal anti-homosexual strain in the black community and it was exemplified by Fred Shuttlesworth. Picking off a few of the wealthy anti-homosexual blacks is like shoot fish in barrel. Invite them in and they go in freely. They fit in like a hotdog in a bun.

I don't believe this group of black Ohio Republicans won Ohio for Bush. They were as needed as every other vote was needed. This is no great feat for the GOP. This group is more conservative than half of the Bush supporters. What keeps them weary of the GOP is the racism and bigotry that still lives in significant numbers in their ranks. These particular blacks can afford to hold their noses with their wallets and stand next to people they might find repugnant. It is no different than the socially Liberal conservatives who gladly took the votes for Bush from theocratic anti-homosexual bigots. The smell of money overpowers the smell of Fascism, I guess.

Crime Story

Nick Spencer has chronicled yet another crime his bar has suffered. Nicks states that they got relatively lucky with this, but that is as he says "…as lucky as you can with a window busted out at 7 in the morning." Nick puts the issue in clear as day language:

For those keeping track, we've been open two months now. We've now been broken into, one of our employees' had their car stolen, another two cars broken have been broken into, not to mention all the drug dealing and prostitution across the street, and its negative impact on business.

Crime is just out of control down here right now. Period.

Now, what I hope people say is, "See man, Downtown is not safe." Downtown is safe. This is OTR. OTR has huge problems. Not the level of problems those who fear Downtown thinks it has, but enough to disrupt life of those who live, work, and do business there. What OTR lacks is a solution. The problem I believe rests with police-community relations. The cops have given up leaning hard on criminals. They fear being blamed for what ever happens. I can understand that. What they have to understand is that they can't go on thinking that they are superheroes who should be kowtowed to every time their contract comes up. They should allow bad cops to be fired by reduced the binding arbitration that keeps bad cops on the force. The leadership of the police has to eliminate their attitude of classism, bigotry, and on a small level racism by a few.

On the community's side we must root out the criminals. We can't let them run the streets. This is where the boycotters have let down their own constituents. They have created the same us vs. them attitude that the leadership of police have created. Ego, pride, bigotry, and racism are what is allowing drug dealers to go unpunished.

What I think I would advocate would be for a private group/company/person to mount video cameras outside their places of business and tape the crimes going on. If drug dealers camp out on a corner, then tape them doing their business and pass a copy along to the cops. If you also get some license plate numbers of drug customers I would pass those along to the media.

If the government were to do this without cause, I would oppose it. If a business owner were to do it from their property, I would have no problem at all. What keeps this from happening more is cost, in both dollars and time. That is where the city might be able to offer loans of some type to help. I don't think they could pay for them outright. That might raise issues of the property owners being agents of the police, opening up possible legal defense issues.

The citizens need to fight crime, not be bystanders.

Another idea could be a take back the streets initiative. A neighborhood watch type program. It could start with a gathering in the effected areas. If 500 people are standing around where the crime is happening, one would think less crime would happen. This would be met with fear though. It comes close to vigilantism, something which I absolutely oppose. The problem with any action like this is that most people don’t given a damn. Now, they care about it and will give support for helping with it, but actually doing something, that is a different story. I can speak from personal experienced. I would be right there with those doing nothing, sitting on my fat ass watching TV. We all must do more, but I think we will not get out and get involved. A head in the sand is so much easier than sticking out a neck.

Greg Hoard Leaving TV

WXIX Sports Director Greg Hoard is leaving the station at the end of the year. The sports on WXIX was the best element of the station. Both Hoards made a great team. The article points out that Greg Hoard often felt out of place on TV. Looking back I would agree that was the noticeable something about his style. It was like he really did not want to be doing what he was doing. I hope WXIX takes Dan Hoard quick. He is likely to be picked up soon as a play-by-play guy by someone full time. He does a good job with the UC games on the radio.