We Are Safe

We are safe folks, you are not going to be killed in Cincinnati. When I say "you" I don't mean you if you are buy or selling drugs. Murders happen to innocent people very very infrequently. Foster Parents are not going to kill their foster Children, just because it happens, does not mean it will happen to you. Fear mongering is not going to make things better, unless your goal is to drive people away.

Blackwell vs. Strickland Round 1

Any take on who won the first debate? Did anyone pay attention to make it matter?

POWR PAC Shows True Stripes

No matter how many times Pete Witte bob and weaves, he can't deny that in the end POWR PAC is a Republican Group. They dance around that by backing city council Candidates like Cranley and Thomas because they have no other choices. The GOP has given up on the City, not backing enough candidates to even take a majority on Council.

POWR PAC is burning bridges here. Is this group about the West Side of Cincinnati Residents or is this about National politics? Steve Chabot isn't doing anything for anyone in the 1st district. Putting your weight behind him shows they are not about City Politics and working together. Instead they are about being foot soldiers in the national political fight.

Local Democratic candidates should denounce POWR PAC's actions and they should not seek their endorsements in any local elections. That will fall on deaf ears. It shouldn't, but it will.

Public Service Announcement to the President

You can't remind the U.S. that the country is at War when Congress never declared war. There is no state of War. We are not on a War footing. This is not 1944. If Bush is going to throw around words like War and Freedom, I wish he would do it without trampling on the U.S. Constitution. I mean, Hell, if Bush is a literalist on the matters of the U.S. Constitution, as his love of Supreme Court Justice Scalia suggests, then he should be first to admit that his administration is claiming powers reserved for the President during a declared war. These powers have only been used in the time of actual war, which by the way, the last one ended over 60 years ago. If he wants to be FDR or Lincoln and ignore the Constitution in time of War, then he better get of his bum and ask Congress to declare one.

20/20 Line-Up Announced

20 Days and 20 Nights has been announced. Look for more information here: www.20days20nights.com.

Live Blogging Riverfest

The Enquirer has reporters on scene giving frequent updates on the crowds, sights, weather, and traffic surrounding Riverfest.

Interesting idea for the Newspaper to do this type of thing. I give them credit for trying something new. Much like showing the fireworks on TV, I wonder how much of an audience there is for this. Live Blogging other events that a lot of people don't go to might be a better way to expand reach of the Enquirer's blog, and actually give a reason why you need to visit their blogs over just watching TV.

Heartless Bastards Show Rocked

With the biggest Southgate House crowd I have ever seen, the Heartless Bastards played a great set at their CD Release Party. My vantage point from the balcony was excellent. Erika's voice was strong and is wonderful on the new album's songs. The live set of the new album's songs are much harder then the studio versions.

I could have done without the guest violinist, though.

Long Live WOXY

WOXY is going silent on September 15th. There is reportedly a very small chance someone might buy the Internet radio station. I expect this is end of the future of rock and roll. Sad.

Pellet Gun Halts Mail Service

How does what sounds like a few kids cause mail deliver to be halted for three weeks for portions of three streets in Evanston? I know that pellet guns are not in the famous phrase:

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.

, but come on. Get a police escort while delivery in going on. Just park the officer on the street. I would think that would suffice.

Gambling Effort Falling Short

The ballot initiative that excluding Cincinnati from opening a casino has fallen short of the number of signatures needed to be placed on the November Ballot. They have 10 days to get more.

I didn't sign it, and advise you not to sign it. If it had included Cincinnati, I would have signed it.

'Some of Our Best Candidates Are Black'

Race in politics is a thorny, but not a complicated issue to figure out:

"'Our candidates would not engage and have not engaged in race-baiting, and it is disingenuous for Democrats to suggest otherwise,' said party spokesman John McClelland, who pointed out that the GOP's candidate for governor, Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, is black."

I am sure that party spokesman John McCelland has lots of black friends too.

What John and the GOP are lacking is in telling the truth. Yes, the GOP is race-baiting black voters in trying to vote for Ken Blackwell because he is black. They are playing the same game they accuse Democrats of doing when the Dems run minority votes, which happens with much, much greater frequency.

Lawdog Loves Tasers

Local Lawyer Ken Lawson seems to have found a way to try and buy himself a new boat.

Strickland Still Up Big In the Polls

Another month of polls like this showing Ted Strickland up by 20 plus points and Ken Blackwell maybe in a hole beyond help.

The knives are going to have to come now. Blackwell has to attack and hit with big money. If he can't get his face on TV over the next month and turn the polls around, then he is going to lose the faith of his backers. No matter how many conservative preachers exploit their religious role by endorsing him for office, he still can't win without big money.

Sad and Sickening

Why do these types of missing child situations turn into twisted movie of the week?

It sounds like other people may be charged in the attempted cover-up.

It's Not News

No, it is not news that Peter Bronson wants you to know that it is likely that the Pakistanis used torture to gain information from alleged terrorists. It is not news that to Bronson and those like him the "ends justify the means." It is not news that honor and principle don't matter if a white person's life is in the balance.

If a 100,000 civilian Iraqis die, that is justified because it was in revenge for 3,000 9/11 murders (which were totally unrelated) and helped make the 336 billion dollars of profit for oil companies, not to mention big profits for war industries. Honor and principle matters when the Bronsons of the world are thumping their bible in church. They matter when it comes to protecting their own or their own purse. It's not news when the Bronsons of the world talk out of the both sides of their moralists mouths. Beating a man is fine with Bronson. It isn't news that torture is wrong.

Forbes: America's Drunkest Cities

I don't know how you actually rate cities on their level of drunkenness, but somehow Forbes Magazine has done it. Cincinnati ranks 16th. Columbus and Cleveland were 3rd and 7th respectively. Ohio can drink.

Anti-Truth Group

It shouldn't shock anyone that an Anti-Abortion and Anti-Women group is out to fly a banner with a misreprentation of reality when they just make stuff up:

Harrington said his group turned to the skies to air its views because some stationary billboard companies refuse to post the images. Mainstream TV, radio and newspapers also won't use the ads because of their graphic content, he said.

"They often censor the grim reality of abortion while permitting horrifying images of dead Americans in Iraq to be broadcast and printed," Harrington said.

Mark Harrington, I don't think you are watching or reading the U.S. media much. They DON NOT show bodies of dead Americans! The war has been censored from the broadcast and print media. The GOP Government is preventing the media from filming or photograhing the coffins of dead soilders returning to the country in an honorable manner. He will be lucky to find a single image of a dead American body from the Iraq war to be shown on TV. That has rarely happened and is not shown close up. If the guy can't tell a basic truth about something like this, he can't be trusted otherwise.

Flying this sign is wrong, but it is legal. It shows how fanatical these groups are. They can't communicate their point in a sane manner, instead they have to create this confrontational myth. Ultimately they may not actually go through with it, instead just be happy about getting the press about saying they are going to do it.

Beatty Gets Manslaughter

It is a surprise that Howard Beatty was only found guilty of voluntary manslaughter, which means no more than 13 years in prison for killing Kabaka Oba.

GetLocal!???

A new attempt to to try and localize news from the Enquirer. I have not looked at it much at all. Is it just a filter of the paper based on community or is there additional new content? Is this were they are putting their news/postings from the public, the lazy journalism effort (Real Life, Real News, Real Crap?)?

Crap on a page!

How lazy is a journalist to write an article based solely on tying a B Movie to Sports?