A Soldier Speaks

Jean Schmidt should avoid speaking about the opinions of Iraq soldiers and their moral. If she continues to do so, then instead of talking with an extreme right wing Ohio politician who served desk duty during the Iraq war, Jean should talk with solders like Major David Grundy. Major Grundy's opinion is his and I don't know how common it is, but if a Major has the courage to speak out against a Republican on the War, then his opinion should be respected and should be strongly considered. I hope he does not feel pressure or even worse this hurts his career for exercising his rights as a citizen and soldier.

Mark Mallory Profile

Interesting profile piece on Mark Mallory from the Enquirer's Chuck Martin. It is interesting to know about the personality of Mark Mallory, but this side of his personality is not relevant to his job as mayor. I hope this is the last type of personality profile we see on the Mayor. I hope to hear more him discussing the type of person he wants for Vice-Mayor and City Manager.

I really could have done without the Bill Cunningham quotes and knowing Mark's waist size. Cunningham's quotes were complimentary and benign, but Cunningham adds nothing to the City in anything he does, so why ask him about Mallory? I really don't need to know Mark's waist size or suit size. Saying he dresses well is fine, I don't need to know the details.

Purple People Bridge Entance Wins Award

Today's Enquirer reports (but the story is not online) the vilified 'artwork' won a Cincinnati Design Award. I find that very hard to believe that something that caused WCPO to do a tabloidish expose on it is deserving of an award. I would call it rather ugly.

Ladies, Just In Case

If the ladies are out and about at a night club around Cincinnati this weekend and Nick Lachey starts hitting on you, don't be shocked nor upset. I bet you should be flattered to be the potential rebound girl.

Bad Apple Still Bad

The courts were no help to a bad situation. Patrick Caton should not be a police officer, especially in Cincinnati.

What is next? Will he actually rejoin the force? Does he have another job and is this just a matter of paperwork and back pay? It sounds and looks horrible, but I would be willing for the City to pay a settlement to the guy to keep him off the police force.

More from the Post.

Hating the Nati

In today's letters to the editor we get this anti-city gem from an inner-suburb dolt:

Keep sheriff out of Over-the-Rhine

I do not feel it is fair to the outlying communities to have former Cincinnati councilmen acting as Hamilton County Commissioners to authorize paying a million and a half for police protection in the Over-the-Rhine. As far as we are concerned this is another way to use the taxing authority of Hamilton County to pay for the Cincinnati operating expenses.

Why not use the funds to assist the city of Norwood or other communities? If the sheriff is over-funded, he should return the money to the county.

Fred J. Benz
Montgomery

Fred is not alone. He has many friends who would be happy to leave the city out to fail. Fred might need a slight geography lesson. The City of Cincinnati is in Hamilton County. The city residents pay the same taxes he does. How often does a Sheriff patrol the City of Montgomery? Well, when I view the City of Montgomery's Police Department's web page, and on it they have a prominent link to the Hamilton County Sheriff's website, then I will conclude that the Sheriff does quite a bit of patrolling in Montgomery. Mr. Benz, I suggest you request your city to either increase their police force & stop using the Sheriff Department to supplement its budget or shut up.

Worst of all, the Sheriff is not patrolling OTR for other reasons completely, not that Mr. Benz noticed.

Get Off Your Ass and Shop

Today is the day that everyone should be out there shopping. You are doing two things: one you are earning me a salary increase and two your are clearing out the stores so I can do my shopping in peace next weekend.

Gobble, Gobble

Happy Thanksgiving Day!!

More Schmidt Lies

We have a new report that states Jean Schmidt lied again. From Howard Wilkinson's article:

U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt said this afternoon she had “no idea’’ when she created an uproar on the House floor by saying “cowards cut and run, Marines never do’’ that she was addressing the remark to a fellow House member who is a much decorated Marine veteran of Vietnam.

“I did not know he was a Marine or I would not have said it,’’ the newly elected Republican congresswoman told The Enquirer this afternoon in an interview at her Kenwood district office.

Well, Jean either has bad hearing, does not pay attention, or is lying. I vote for the third. She clearly new he was a Marine and was present during a news conference when a it was stated.

In the UA Progressive article above we are lead back to the transcript in which I posted on Jean's nutty anti-Muslim rant. In that news conference, which took place within 24 hours of Jean's Murtha comments, one of her fellow GOP Congressman said that Murtha was a Marine right in front of her:

DREIER: I have the utmost respect for my colleague Jack Murtha. My father was a Marine. Jack Murtha was a very proud Marine. And I have worked with him for the last quarter century on the struggle for liberation in Central America and in other spots throughout the world -- in military conflicts.

Later in the news conference Jean went nutty and poured into the anti-Muslim rant I posted on previously.

Now, it is in print that she heard Murtha was a Marine. Is she foolish enough to think we are not going to conclude that she knew fully well that Murtha was a former Marine because she either can’t hear or does not pay attention? I guess she thinks her voters are stupid. I am glad to help rid them of their stupid. I hope to be rid of Jean Schmidt. What we get in her place will be just as bad (Brinkman), but might finally make for a rational District 2 to break freed of the nutty GOP wing that controls the district and instead of more of the same. Hackett would have been a good congressman. I think Pepper could be too. I just want new blood and non-nutty and non-antigay non-antiwoman candidates.

Fake GOP Site OK

www.hamiltoncountyrepublicanparty.com has survived an initial legal test.

Leslie, Leslie, Leslie

Oh the friends you choose. Korte is reporting that Councilwoman-elect Leslie Ghiz will be sworn in as Councilwoman by Rep. Jean Schmidt. Leslie said it herself-

"I'm sure I'’m going to catch 10 kinds of hell, but since when have I started worrying about that?" Ghiz said. "She's a good person. She's a female Republican. We have to support each other."

Leslie needs to just break free from the GOP. Schmidt is not the person you want as a mentor. What I hope Leslie learns now from Jean is how NOT to act as a public official.

New Vice Mayor?

Who will be Vice Mayor? One Assumes that it will be John Cranley, but one be sure. Luken picked Reece over Pepper last time. Mallory could pick Cole or even Crowley. I would surmise he would not pick "rookies" Berding and Thomas. I would assume he would pick a Democrat too.

The Committee Chairs are where things will get interesting.

Anti-Gay Tom Brinkman

The slippery slope is getting slicker. It shouldn't surprise anyone that the bigoted right wing is doing everything they can to oppress gays and lesbians and drive them away from Ohio. It is a little bit surprising that Tom Brinkman it leading the charge. Well, I guess maybe it's not surprising. Being anti-gay is still OK with the majority of Republicans. That is not a stereotype. That is a simple observation.

This is a theocratic fascist crusade against gays and lesbians. Say what you want about why this is being done, but there is no other way to honestly put it to words.

Those "moderates" who somehow thought the anti-gay amendment was anything other than a way to oppress gays were just not paying attention. This is only the beginning. The theocrats are going to do what ever they can to use the government to enact religious law. This proves I must live in the most idiotic area in the state. Brinkman and Schmidt are my representatives. They are extremists, and horrible public officials.

Cincinnati Advance Radio: Drive Time!

Joe Wessels is live on WAIF tomorrow morning at 8AM with CinAd Radio. Joe's guests this week are Fitness expert and writer of CinWeeklyÂ?s Ask Rocco, Rocco Castellano plus local authors and Enquirer staffers Rebecca Goodman and Barrett J. Brunsman discuss their book Â?This Day In Ohio HistoryÂ?. Tune in to 88.3 FM for a special Wednesday morning edition.

Something Doesn't Add Up

Someone is lying and I am betting on Jean Schmidt. If she didn't know that Murtha was a long time Marine, then why the hell was it a big story that he had changed his stance on the Iraq war? Why was she giving a speech in opposition to him? Who arranged or asked for her to speak? Was she at all coached about what to say? Could Bubp be lying? Maybe? I don't see why he would be. It is amazing how either ignorant she is or how stupid she things her voters are.

Official Council Results

Greg Korte has the offical results from the City Council race and the same 9 are getting, but the order of finish greatly changes. It Laketa Cole moved up to third, which puts her closer to where people thought she would finish. What this points out is that the election was much more even than noticed. Only a couple hundred votes separated 3-4-5, but the perception of who won changes a bit. Cole did well. She finished strong and gained votes when Bond Hill came in, the same way Mark Mallory did.

The Lies of Rep. Jean Schmidt

Here is her latest statement (and almost an apology, but not very good in my opnion). Let's start with her first lie in the statement:

Last week as I returned to the Capitol Building after attending a funeral at Arlington National Cemetery for a local fallen Marine, I found out that the Democrats had just announced their policy position to immediately withdraw troops from Iraq.

The Democrats did not put forth a proposal to "immediately" withdraw troops from Iraq. That is the lie being told consistently by the GOP and the media, but is false. See Murtha's resolution here. Additionally, you know it is a lie because of the simple fact that the GOP created a new resolution. They created a one sentence resolution which put in and created the "immediate" phrase. It was a stunt, but if Murtha had proposed an immediate withdrawal, why not VOTE ON HIS RESOLUTION? Instead the GOP created their own myth of what he was supposed to have proposed with their new resolution. That is a crafty way of playing politics, but it is a misleading and dishonest way.

Next:

Since that moment I have been attacked from across the country by the left.

This is not a lie, just a half truth. The Cincinnati Enquirer's editorial page, a conservative group who endorsed Schmidt, hits her fairly hard in today's paper. She is also being attacked by liberals right here in her own district. (Yea, I mean me)

Next:

I never meant to attack Congressman Murtha personally.

This is the second time she has claimed this and it will continue to hold no water no matter how many times she repeats it. There is no way she could have said what she said without full knowledge that what she was saying was a personal attack. Calling a man a coward is about as personal of an attack as one can get without bring up the footwear of his mother, or by using a few four letter words.

The final lie might be the most telling. It appears that Danny Bubp is cutting Schmidt adrift. He is denying ever saying anything about Murtra:

"There was no discussion of him personally being a coward or about any person being a coward," Bubp said. "My message to the folks in Washington, D.C., and to all the Congress people up there, is to stay the course. We cannot leave Iraq or cut and run - any terminology that you want to use."

Talk about cutting and running. If she has to make stuff up just to get in the Â?cut and runÂ? line into her speech, then she really needs to just stop talking. If you canÂ?t speak truth, then donÂ?t speak at all.

I think this removes any chance she has of betting a ham sandwich in the GOP primary. I think I could run as a Republican a defeat her, and boy that is a scary thought.

Havana Martini Club Moving

No, its not moving out of downtown. Instead they are moving to Tower Place Mall. Yea, this does seem kind of weird to me. I liked the club. It had pricey Martinis, and I am a beer drinker, but it provided an interesting offset to the Backstage area around the Aronoff and CAC. The location they are going to is right on 5th Street across from Macy's. This fits well with the Fountain Square Plan. It does not work for business around 6th street, which has now lost the Masionette, La Normandie, and Skyline recently. Shifting business around downtown is an expensive game of musical chairs, but in the long run is what will have to happen for the Fountain Square Plan to work.

I would like the lower Main Street area to bloom, which comes close to the 6th Street area. That could be a great residential/retail area, with small business thriving on what could be a huge downtown populace.

"I'll Get You My Pretty"

Great cartoon on Schmidt and the GOP from Jeff Danziger. It's several days old, but still good.

Catholic Services Discrimination?

On the surface the Catholic Social Services of Northern Kentucky could be discriminating in against homosexuals. Yes, I am sure that is a shock to everyone. A Christian Church invoking bigoted policies? You don't say!

Well, there is more at stake. In the cases of birth control and abortions, the Catholic services has a default out. They don't perform those services
for anyone, so no clear way to invoke discrimination. If Catholic services does offer couples counseling to non-married people, then that is discrimination to not to so for homosexuals.

If they only offer counseling to "married" couples, then they may have legal cover. It is bigoted discrimination, but it may not be illegal.

The humorous part is that the Agency director Bill Jones thinks that the requests for counseling did not come from actual gay or lesbian people, but instead from those trying to "test" the agency:

"I think there are some other people who will be really distressed that we are serving anyone who is gay or lesbian," Jones said.

He suspects the four phone calls that prompted the formal policy review this spring were from people "trying to catch us," violating church teaching, Jones said. "In the past people have called to ask where to get an abortion and to ask us to buy birth control pills. ...

"We feel some of those were test calls, to see what we would say."

That sounds like the prudes don't trust the "liberals" who well are feeding gay homeless people. I guess they are supposed to die in the streets like the heathens they are. WTF.