Fountain Square Graeter's Opens Monday

More great news for Fountain Square as one of Cincinnati's most popular establishments opens a new location downtown with a seven day a week schedule:

6:30 AM to 10 PM Monday through Friday,
7 AM to 10 PM Saturdays
11 AM to 7 PM Sundays

It's starting to get cooler, so ice cream isn't going to be the hottest seller this fall, but the full bakery and limited candy selection should offer a nice treat when you are on the Square to watch a Bengals game.

Question for Republicans

Do you care who your Ohio State Rep endorses in the GOP Primary for President? I certainly don't care who Dale Mallory is endorsing in the Democratic Primary.

"Fire the Fiscal Five" Video

Here's another video I was linked to. I think there was a similar video a while about the five. This may be the same video, anyway, an interesting piece of propaganda.

Mythos Mania

Another new self proclaimed "middle-class" restaurant is opening on 4th Street in Downtown.

PSA for Sam Malone

I think Sam Malone needs to read this post in CityBeat to learn about how to be proper parent. If he learned that "Real Men Don't Hit" he might become a respectable human being.

Cranley Care

CityBeat is reporting that Councilman John Cranley is teasing the electorate with a health care plan that would provide a means for low cost health insurance for City Residents.

The plan on the first glance lacks enough detail to determine if it is just way to expensive or if it more of a pea shooter firing on an artillery range.

One of the problems that comes to mind first is what will happen when an employer wants to pull out of the insurance plan or if they can't afford to pay their portion or they just go bankrupt. If having a job is a requirement for the insurance, then it can help the working poor and working class, but if they loose their job, it doesn't help fill in the gaps.

The fact that the plan will not be "officially" brought forth until after the election makes this a massive trial balloon. Cranley is not in danger of losing the election next month. If he has his eyes on running for Mayor in 2009, then this might be a way to build up an accomplishment before a future election that at this point has many viable candidates being mentioned as running.

Bandwagon UC Fans

Ok, I am getting sick of the bandwagon UC fans who all of the sudden get upset about UC football. Hell, as a Miami fan, I bet I've been to as many UC football games over the years then a large portion of UC alumni.

If they were not ranked, few would have cared what was on Fountain Square (I think only a few care now). When UC is no longer ranked, they will go away. I really can't stand fans who jump on the bandwagon only when "their" team is winning. It is yet another thing wrong with sports today.

UDPATE: Paul Daugherty Chimes in.

CAC: Odili Donald Odita

Harris and Eby Cooperation

Something fairly new for Cincinnati, a Democrat and a Republican have come together to promote a plan for the city: Common Sense Cincinnati.

Cincy YP PAC Endorsements

The endorsements are out and the list is very underwhelming. I agree with logic behind Harris, Qualls, and Bortz. Cranley's prior mocking of YP groups does nothing to demonstrate he cares about the efforts of YPs to help the City. Cranley is a YP himself, which makes it more troubling. Berding, Cole, and Fisher all I feel are not championing the 5 issues Cincy YP PAC lists as the most important.

Joan Kaup clearly is one I would say is on the side of YPs, I would be interested in knowing why she did not make the list. I might trough George Zamary into that camp as well, with him being a much better choice to reach out to the Republicans than Pat Fisher.

Bottom line, I was very disappointed in the picks. Politically, if you are trying to spread your eggs into many different baskets, that has some logic to it, but in the long run helping the candidates who are not squarely in your corner will comeback to bite you in butt.

Louisville Dises Ohio

Via the Urban Louisvillian:
If any part of Kentucky really wants to compare cultures with Ohio, I think they are in way over their heads. And yes, we have plenty of women in Ohio with tattoos on their butts. The key difference is that they are not our sisters.

Ghiz' Westside Digs

A Hyde Park Republican, Leslie Ghiz, is having open house at her HQ located in Westwood, the heart of the Westside. Did the Eastsider locate her HQ way over there because she desperately needs to get every Westwood vote she can get, or was the short term office rent cheaper?

Charity for Charity's sake

Joe Wessels has an excellent post on the misguided "do gooders" are trying to do something, instead of doing what is best.

FOP Endorses Man Who Beat His Kid

It is remarkable that the Police Union in Cincinnati is so blind they overlooked Sam Malone's arrest on domestic violence charges (he was acquitted). Malone's son testified in court that his father repeatedly whipped him with a belt.

The Cincinnati FOP has ignored the actions of Malone and endorsed him for City Council.

Never mind that they endorsed nearly all of the Republicans running, which is a given with an organization that has recently be a shill for the Republicans. How can the union representing the law enforcement agency for the City support a man who has never denied he hit his son with a belt. It is disgusting that the representatives of the local police force would let a man who uses violence as tool to control his son represent the City in any capacity, let alone at its highest level.

The sad part, this isn't a surprise.

Roebling Point?

Will a new marketing plan help put the "other" Covington entertainment district on the map?

If He Were a Democrat....

Si Leis would be run out of town on a rail for this kind of crap if he was a Democrat. Talk radio would want his head. Peter Bronson would be calling for him to be put into jail. The Enquirer would be pushing for a recall vote.

What is sad, is that this has been Si Leis's style for years. It surely is not the first time he has done this. The problem now is that the far right wing in Hamilton County are against Leis on the Tax issue. That makes him a target and they have had this kind of dirt on him for years?Wwhy wait until now to bring it out? What people will do to put their political views forward on a tax issue is really remarkable.

Change at CinWeekly

CinWeekly's Kari Wethington is moving over to the Enquirer to cover news in Northern Kentucky. This I believe is a plus for Kari and I hope helps her career. What she should be doing, at least part time, is writing about local music in Cincinnati on a regularly. The way the Enquirer has been assigning reporters, I find it more likely she will only have a geographical beat, not a topical one. This is an Enquirer trend that is not a wise way to build up the skills of reporters. It is instead a way to use them as machines to churn out copy.

Furthermore, I hope CinWeekly does not drop coverage of the local music scene. We didn't have a local blog coverage this year from Cin on Midpoint. I would surmise that Kari's move caused a gap that left open the coverage. Cin needs to step up to the plate and continue the level of music coverage Kari was providing. They could still do more! The Enquirer has no care about local music or much of any local news. Cin has many issues, but one of their highlights has been Kari's music coverage over the last few years. I for one will miss her weekly column. I do wish her well on her new job.

Over Kill?

I think the issue here is that some kids are acting like jerks and not getting out the way of the car. I mean, where did "Car! Game On" come from? As a kid we played whiffle ball and football in the street all the time. We did it on side streets and we got out the way when cars came down.

All you need to do is get a few of the kids parents to drive by and give them crap for not getting out of the way. This is a parenting issue, not one the city should be worry about.

The exception is on busy streets. It should be a rule already that you just can't be out on medium to high volume streets. That is simply a safety issue. Practically, no one is foolish enough anyway to be out playing touch football in the middle of Reading Road.

How?

Winburn has started his campaign of fear. I've not seen the ad, but the article claims he wants to bring down violent crime. Again in the article is states violent crime is down 12.6% from last year. What magic bullet does Charlie Winburn have to get crime down? Is he going to perform a mass exorcism to rid the City of violent demons or something?

Blog Debate

The Enquirer's Editorial Page Blog is holding what can best be described as a blog debate among candidates for Cincinnati City Council. I'm confused how this is going to work efficiently, but it should be interesting.