In St. Louis

Ok, I'm running late for now, so I'll open it up again.

Smitherman Is a Loon

First off, I hate Nazis. I also hate the KKK. I don't however believe that we, as a society, should think like they think and willfully allow a situation to occur where human beings are attacked, no matter how horrible individuals may be. Chris Smitherman, recently elected president of the Cincinnati Chapter of the NAACP, issued one of the stupidest letters (pdf) from a supposed community leader that I have ever read.

Chris Smitherman has demanded the Cincinnati Police Department offer no protection for the Nazi's march. Smitherman is clearly opening the door for a situation where human beings could be beaten or even killed on the streets of Cincinnati.

If Smitherman is going to run a chapter of an organization that has long been associated with non-violence, then I fear that here in Cincinnati we have the beginning of a sectarian struggle much like the one people in Baghdad are facing today.

If you can't rise above the level of your oppressors, then you are an oppressor.

The letter is signed by him alone, so I presume this was a solo effort on his part. Smitherman is off his rocker. How did anyone ever endorse this man for office?

Additinally, I find it odd that he managed to write a letter that mentioned Christians and Muslims, but when the topic of the letter is about a Nazi group Jewish people were not mentioned at all.

Finally, Damn Chris Smitherman for making me write this post. Why does he have to create a firestorm out of this. He could have issued a simple press release condemning the idiots and requested a few things. Instead he makes demands. He makes demands in a tone that sounds like as a terrorist, nearly as much as these Nazis.

New Downtowner

The Downtowner has be reborn as "The Downtowner, Pulse of the City." Biggest addition to this effort are in 2 places. First, they have a website: www.pulsedt.com. Secondly they have expanded their circulation to include Covington, Newport, Bellevue, Oakley, Hyde Park, O'Bryonville, East Walnut Hills, Clifton, Mt. Lookout and Northside. So far the new paper is expanding their presence in a positive way. They need to clear up the website first off, it is very clunky, and doesn't always format well or at all. They are akin to the Community Press, so if that is their target, go for it.

I Don't Like Mondays

Today is a travel day for me, off to toil away along the Mississippi for 3 days (on business). My blogging will either be normal or light. I'll likely be able to blog more, but when ever I am out of the city I tend to feel out of touch, but more interested in keeping up with what is going on.

Call it open for now. Keep the gloves on.

Bronson: Sinners Must Die!

No, Peter Bronson didn't actually write that in his recent column, but he might as well have. What he and all other "abstinence-only" advocates do when they refuse to talk about how contraceptives can prevent STDs because they hold the belief that those who have sex outside of marriage deserve to get STDs and suffer the results, which could include death.

Using fear in this manner is helping cause more needless deaths. Peter and his anti-sex pack may be out to thin the herd for their "cause," but they shouldn't be doing it with tax dollars.

As a society we have organized government to do what it can to prevent physical harm from affecting the citizens it governs. Educating kids about condoms helps save lives.

Guess what else educating kids about condoms does! Educating kids about condoms reduces the number of abortions. It does so by reducing the number of unwanted pregnancy's. I somehow thought Peter and his ilk wanted to stop abortions. I guess they only want to prevent all of them by controlling women's bodies. Reducing the number of abortions must not be something they are interested in doing.

Snarky Preemption: To the Trolls who are going to comment about John Cranley or some other Democrat's anti-abortion stance, stop. This post is about the fools like Peter Bronson who are anti-abortion and anti-condom. Save your foolishness for another post.

City Hall Isolated?

Joe Wessels has a good column today about a new website started locally that gives citizens an outlet to voice their views on pothole like issues: www.votercam.com.

The effectiveness of the website here in Cincinnati has to be evaluated with a strange situation:

Council Member David Crowley responded and got city transportation officials to contact Blackshaw. The only problem was city officials could not access the site because of restrictions placed on their computers. So the workers apparently looked at the site on their home computers and realized how concerned residents were.

Over a year ago there was a news story about my blog being blocked from City Hall and several officials had to request special permission to view it from City Hall computers. I understand the city not wanted a clerk to spend their time reading blogs on the job, but when a website is doing the City's job of identifying problems, wouldn't it be nice if City Officials could view the website and get cracking on fixing those problems? If they can't this done, then the City is making itself isolated. Kudos to the transportation department officials who viewed the site on their home PCs on their own time. Communication is a key element of government. When the citizens organize themselves and provide the simplest of ways to grasp a problem, the least the city could do is review what they are saying.

Law Dog's Drug Problem

Ken Lawnson has stated he has a drug problem that threatens he career. This is not a new story, this is not a unique story. This will make some people mock Ken, this will make some people feel sorry for him. Other will see the fact that Ken Lawson gave this interview to the Enquirer at the same time the Cincinnati Bar Association files a complaint against him and view the interview as PR tactic.

Is it Good Friday or Christmas?

It is snowing quite strongly on Good Friday afternoon. I'm stuck out here in the burbs working, so anyone else getting the snow?

Cincinnati Metro Population Compares Well

The Post listed out 2000 to 2006 population changes and Cincinnati is less than 10,00 people smaller than Cleveland. Further more, we grew more than San Fransisco and Boston in both percentage and actual number increase.

By the way, 2.1 million people is a big metropolitan area. That's the "big city." For those of you who grew up here, you don't have that perspective, but it is very true.

Nazis to March in OTR?

The Enquirer is reporting that a "white supremacist group of self-proclaimed Nazis" are allegedly planning to march in OTR.

It is beyond sad that scum like these idiots still exist. There are maybe 5 people who would show up and they would be faced with likely hundreds if not thousands people protesting.

The real fear to me is that there will be violence. A crowd of hundreds of peaceful but angry people, could turn into a mob who might turn protest into rage with damage to innocent people/property with no direction connection to the situation.

I was torn about posting this story. By posting it, I am giving these loner idiots more attention. If I ignore it, then I would criticized for ignoring racism. It's a lose-lose situation. I chose to post this story, with the hopes that I have sane non-Nazi readers. I know I am hoping for a lot.

The Mayor Tries Again

On national TV Mayor Mallory got it on the second try.

Berding Gets Recommendation

Jeff Berding is a simple formality away from gettingDemocratic endorsement for City Council. The Nine are as expected: Berding, Cole, Cooper, Cranley, Crowley, Garry, Harris, Thomas, and Young.

Mitch Painter Running for Council

You have get your sea legs somehow, so rookie politician Mitch Painter, nephew of Judge Mark Painter, has announced he is running as an independent candidate for Cincinnati City Council. He has a website: www.painterforcouncil.org.

Mallory's Excuses

The Enquirer fields Mallory's 10 excuses for his opening day wild pitch.

Mayor's Got a Rubber Arm

No Oakley Jungle

Bad news for the Cincinnati Millworks with word that Jungle Jim's expansion plans are dead. It does appear that the project is going nowhere. The key for Jungle Jim's was the new highway connector, which seems to have no progress what so every.

On the other hand the area on Madison Road is doing well with new store fronts being built and a new restaurant on the way called Hugo, which fills the Pho Paris space.

Dems Delay Council Nominations

Today is the day the HCDP nominations committee meets to make their recommendations.

Kevin Osborne reports that the likely 9 to get nominations (assuming Berding doesn't get booted) are:

Incumbents:
Jeff Berding
Laketa Cole
John Cranley
David Crowley
Cecil Thomas

Challengers:
Minette Cooper
Brian Garry
Greg Harris
Wendell Young

There may still be a fight over Jeff Berding, especially his alleged backing of Republican John Eby. That is not something a loyal party member does, at least not publicly.

Best news: Alicia Reese is not running!

Play Ball! Let's Go Reds!

Opening Day is here. Get out your gloves, get out your bats, comb your hair and don your hats.

Good luck to the Reds. Get out to a game this year.

Crime Is Down - Where's the Enquirer?

Joe Wessels has a very good story in the Post announcing a dramatic decrease in crime in OTR, Downtown, West End, and Mt. Adams. This is of course great news and had to do with the refocus of the CPD and patrolling by the Sheriff's department.

I've not yet read anything about this in the Enquirer. If I missed it, then please pass on the link. This should have been front page news.

I've Seen the Light

Peter Bronson is right about everything!




Oh, and April Fools!