BuyCincy Drinks Deep into Oktoberfest Zinzinnati

The Gents at BuyCincy have a nice article on Oktoberfest Zinzinnati.

Media Coverage of the Storm

While I didn't lose power, I still had no Cable or Internet at my house, therefore radio has been (and continues to be) my lifeline to the world. John Kiesewetter's piece on local news coverage during the wind storm illistrates how little news coverage we have. The public is oblivious to most of the world, but when they have a tree fall in their yard, they finally can take notice that no one is paying attention anymore. Hell, our entire storm here affected everyone in the tristate area and it barely got noticed in the national press. So, who is left to report on things locally? If you are saying not many, then you are correct. This is of course not unique to Cincinnati, but the storm here and our abundance of apathetic hyper consumerists show the cost of losing so many local news reporters. We have been abandoned by the corporate media. They don't see the profit in providing for the public good, instead they prefer to keep the Reds games on.

We have brought most of this upon ourselves. We want everything to be cheap, Wal-Mart cheap. With that kind of cheap, comes low quality and syndication. That is what most of the Cincinnati media landscape has become. We are left to rely on technology, which when the power goes out, doesn't amount to much. It would behoove us to start consuming media with a local focus. If you want more news coverage on WVXU, then give them money and they will provide it!

HYPE Haus Party - Oktoberfest Zinzinnati

Something a little different this year at Oktoberfest is the HYPE Haus Party. I am a little torn on this. I see Oktoberfest as more of a fest where you get out and mingle with the masses of people. If you are going to get drunk and dance a few polkas with an unsuspecting Suburban former fratboy, then you really should be out in the middle of 5th Street. If you are scared of crowds, then you might be more comfortable in this special area on Fountain Square. Tickets are limited.

2012 Olympic Chicken Dance Preliminaries

The London Olympics are four years away, but you can begin your Chicken Dance Training at Oktoberfest Zinzinnati Noon on Fountain Square along with thousands of your fellow Olympic hopefuls. To help with the training will be local Beijing Olympic vets Mary Wineberg and David Payne who shall lead the mid-day workout.

Please remember that the wearing of spandex during competition is strictly prohibited by the International Chicken Dance Olympic Committee. It is a safety concern, so please help prevent injury and wear something a little more festive.

Food For Thought

For most of us (well, most of you, as I'm enjoying my power-outage-free downtown apartment), losing a lot of perishable food because of the blackout is a minor inconvenience. A few minutes spent throwing out the contents of the fridge and freezer, some grumbling, and an extra trip to the grocery store.

But for many, it means the loss of food that was barely affordable in the first place. The storm probably came at the worst possible time--on a Sunday, after people had stocked up on groceries following the traditional Saturday of shopping.

I've not seen a public plea for help, but it seems to me that organizations like the Freestore Foodbank and other, smaller pantries in the Cincinnati area may well see an increased demand this week and through the end of the month.

So if you're so inclined, this would be an excellent time to donate food or cash to the food pantry of your choice.

UPDATE: This morning, we got a comment from someone who's obviously more in the know than I am, and I wanted to bump her comment to the body of the post:

I work with the FreestoreFoodbank and have to second what you said in this post. We opened yesterday on Liberty Street (despite a lack of power there...) and saw more than 550 households come through. That's more than twice the number of households served on an average day. We're estimating we served between 1,200 and 1,400 people through yesterday's distribution. So as you suggested, we're hurting - especially given the fact that our perishable foods were without power and therefore can't be distributed. Cash and non-perishable food donations are welcomed.And, if there are people who need emergency food assistance, they are urged to visit the FreestoreFoodbank from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. all week.

McCain Health Plan Again

Just an added note: the online chatter about health care has been fueled by Health Affairs (a nonpartisan journal) analysis of the candidates' plans. While the full text of the article is here, this is the conclusion the authors reach about the McCain plan (emphases mine):

Achieving Senator McCain's vision would radically transform the U.S. health insurance system. His plan would alter the nature, source, and financing of coverage for the nearly 160 million Americans who now receive health insurance through their employers. We estimate that twenty million Americans--about one in every eight people with job-based coverage--would lose their current coverage as a result of the change in the tax treatment of coverage. Initially, this loss of job-based coverage would be offset by an increase in coverage in the nongroup market (although not necessarily for the same individuals). Within five years, however, the net effect of the plan is expected to be a net reduction in coverage relative to what would have been observed if the tax treatment of employer-sponsored coverage remains as it is now. The decline of job-based coverage would force millions of Americans into the weakest segment of the private insurance system--the nongroup market--where cost sharing is high and covered services are limited. Senator McCain's proposal to deregulate this market would mean that people in it would lose protections they now have. These changes would diminish the security of coverage for most Americans, especially those who are not--or someday will not be--in perfect health.

The McCain Health Plan: Hold Onto Your Wallet!

Every cloud has a silver lining. Perhaps the silver lining of this week's economic crisis is that the candidates are once again talking about issues, rather than each other. So let's talk about an issue that McCain hasn't spent much time on: health care. And I don't understand why he isn't talking about it, as his plan will radically alter the healthcare landscape in this country.

John McCain's plan to provide health care to Americans is essentially reform of the tax code. If you receive health insurance through your employer, you don't pay taxes on the portion of your premiums that your employer pays. McCain would change that: this "income" would now be taxable.

Instead, McCain would offer a $2,500 tax rebate to all Americans for the purposes of paying for health insurance. But Americans won't get that money themselves--the health insurance company you select would automatically get that money to cover your premiums. And to incentivize cheaper insurance plans, if $2,500 exceeds the amount of your annual premium, you'll get the excess back. Of course, you can't spend it: it will be put in a Health Savings Account that you could use to pay deductibles or co-pays. (This is all detailed on the McCain website, here.)

McCain's theory is that if people are forced out of employer-provided insurance and into the insurance market, competition will magically drive prices down and make health care affordable for all. The New York Times' Bob Herbert has this to say:

This entire McCain health insurance transformation is right out of the right-wing Republicans’ ideological playbook: fewer regulations; let the market decide; and send unsophisticated consumers into the crucible alone.
You would think that with some of the most venerable houses on Wall Street crumbling like sand castles right before our eyes, we’d be a little wary about spreading this toxic formula even further into the health care system.

To me, the McCain plan is a bad idea on its face. But regardless of its merits, shouldn't Americans know that if they elect John McCain president, every person who has employer-provided health insurance will have higher taxes taken from their paycheck each week?

Don't Come To Work Smelly Tomorrow

Two fitness chains, Fitworks, and Urban Active, are offering free showers to the public, according to the Enquirer.

So if you're without power, stop at the gym before you go to work tomorrow.

Ike Damage

Question: What's missing from the following picture?

Answer: Check out the second pole in the picture. It's a street light, just like the others. Except it's missing its light; yesterday's winds blew it off. It was tossed, unfortunately, onto a parked car below. (The car was whisked away by the time I thought to take a picture.) No injuries, but the car was totalled.

(This is Fourth Street, standing at the intersection of Plum and facing west.)

Feel free to post descriptions of damage you saw.

Snarky aside: I still don't understand why WCPO needs two tickers to list school closings. I am amused, though, that on the larger (uppermost) of the two, they didn't find a way to get rid of the snow flurry graphics.

Oh Yes, It's a Chicken Dance Off

It's Oktoberfest Zinzinnati week so let's start things off with a Chicken Dance With The Stars.

Ike Remnant Recon

If you're at home this evening reading this, then just stay there.  Don't go out before sunrise unless you have to.

I hadn't realized the power problem is as widespread as it is.  Downtown, power is mostly on.  There's a couple intersections with traffic lights out, but power never even flickered where I live.  Yes, I'd heard the big number of customers without power:  I'd simply, mistakenly assumed that most people without power were out in Clermont, Warren, and Butler Counties and across the river.

So I went out to find some fast food dinner.  Big mistake.

Power outages are, in fact, widespread in Bellevue and Newport.  (That meant that at the restaurants where power was on--McDonald's, Arby's, and Frisch's in Bellevue--lines were interminably long.)

Power in Clifton, at least as of 8:00 pm, is apparently non-existent.  And when I say Clifton, I mean Clifton, Clifton Heights, and University Heights (and even into Camp Washington).  Widespread outages.  There's probably some damage.  Police had blocked Ravine Road from Central Parkway, and also McMillan at Clifton.  I'm not sure what happened in either place.  

Things on the West Side didn't seem much better.  There were spotty outages in Queensgate.  Further north, power seemed to be mostly out at Harrison near Queen City.

Driving is tough right now.  People seem to be mostly remembering their long-forgotten traffic school lesson:  when approaching a traffic light that is out, treat it as a four-way stop.  The problem, though, is that if you or another driver is unfamiliar with a particular intersection, you might not, after sundown, realize that you're driving through a dead traffic signal.

To sum up:  stay home.  If you can't, be very, very careful.

And I've emailed family members who live in the Florida area, petitioning them to ensure that in the future, their hurricanes stay where they belong, in the Deep South and the Gulf Coast.  We don't send them our snow and ice storms, so they should extend that same courtesy and keep their damned weather to themselves. 

Good News, Bad News

The bad news: it's going to be a long, long season at Paul Brown Stadium. The next interesting thing to happen there likely will be the 2009 Macy's Music Festival.

The good news: following the next two home games (9/29 against the Browns and 10/19 against the Steelers), you'll probably be able to purchase tickets quite cheaply.

UPDATE: I just thought of more good news. Since lots of season ticket holders will likely be willing to part with their tickets this early in the season, we should see lots of hotel business from our friends in Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

That raises an interesting open thread: whose fans are more offensive when they come to town, Browns or Steelers?

More Downtown Strolling

This Summer I have rolled into morning walking rituals. Saturday I am off to Grater's for a doughnut then Tazza Mia for Coffee. Sunday morning I go right to Tazza Mia for a tasty breakfast Sandwich and coffee and off to the Yeatman's cove to sit for a while by the river. I've got to get back into the habit of going to Findlay Market on Saturdays this Fall.

Speaking of Tazza Mia, on September 17th they are having their official "Ribbon cutting Ceremony" at 8:30 AM. The first 50 customers in the door after the ribbon is cut will get a free pound of coffee. Also, you can get a free cup of regular coffee from 8:30 to 10:30.

The Problemed Park

I got into a lively discussion about this last night, so Just Past Central has a better round up on the recent news on Washington Park's problem. I really have nothing good to say about the efforts of local social services who don't provide the base service to society to do everything to keep crime from happening on their doorsteps and in the surrounding areas where the criminals go who are not let in their doors.

When you attract crime, you can't stand in the way of others who are trying to fight it.

Yes, The Enquirer's Website Sucks

Everyone has known about it since it was relaunched with Gannett's Structure. Now Enquirer Management knows about it.

Edwards Will Not Be Charged

The Enquirer reports that Hamilton County Prosecuting Attorney Joe Deters announced tonight that he will not seek an indictment against Jodie Edwards, whose infant daughter died when left in an SUV for several hours.  The flood of comments attached to the Enquirer's story serves both as a compelling argument for why newspapers should be newspapers rather than blogs (and not permit comments on news stories) and a reflection of lots of confusion over why this case turned out as it did.

First, let me express some sympathy for Joe Deters (who, I'm quite sure, doesn't need me to defend him).  Nine times out of ten, I'd tell you that a defense attorney's job is much harder than a prosecutor's.  After all, a prosecutor has, theoretically, the resources of the entire State of Ohio at his disposal.  When cases go to trial, his principal witnesses are often uniformed police officers, which translates to instant credibility with a jury.  I spend most of my voir dire just persuading potential jurors that the mere fact that my client's been charged with a crime and sitting behind a placard that says "Defendant" doesn't mean he did anything wrong.

But the Edwards case represents the rare instance when you couldn't pay me enough to be a prosecutor.  My decision on whether to represent a client in a criminal case is easy:  either a judge appoints me or a client shows up in my office wishing to retain me.  But deciding whether to charge a person with a crime, particularly in this instance, is much more complex.  How does one weigh the shock and outrage over what happened to a defenseless child with compassion for a grieving mother, all while trying to fairly apply the applicable law to the provable facts?  I doubt Deters made this decision alone.  He no doubt consulted with the attorney responsible for presenting cases to the grand jury (to assess whether an indictment would be issued if the case were presented), some of his senior trial attorneys (to determine whether a jury would convict), and attorneys in the appellate division (to be sure a conviction would be defensible on appeal).  I know a lot of people don't like Joe Deters, but this had to be an agonizing decision.  And it's a decision with no political benefit on either side.  Either choice he made would have pissed off some very vocal, emotional people.

Second, some have accused Joe Deters of inconsistency when it comes to child endangering charges.  I don't think that's fair.  There may be some systemic unfairness, but the blame for that does not lay at Deters's feet.  Much of the inconsistency is because of the way various types of crimes are handled in Hamilton County.  Here's why.

A misdemeanor offense is initiated by the filing of a complaint.  All that's needed is for an officer to sign a complaint, warrant, and affidavit.  After an initial appearance where bond is set, the case will then be set for trial.  Prosecutors don't get involved (at least in 99.9% of cases) in charging decisions regarding misdemeanors.  Felonies, though, are different.  For those cases to proceed before a judge, a grand jury has to return an indictment.  Often, police officers will file charges and wait to see what happens in the grand jury.  But any time a death occurs, the police will consult with the Prosecutor's office prior to filing anything, and those cases will often involve "direct indictments," meaning that a complaint is never filed.  So while Deters had to make a decision in the Edwards case, he would not do so in a child endangering case that did not result in physical harm (such as a "dirty house" case or a case in which a child was left in a car for a few minutes).  Edwards would have been charged with a felony; the latter examples are misdemeanor offenses.

I've also been hearing a lot of talk about mothers charged with endangering for falling asleep or briefly leaving their kids alone.  I won't pass on the merits of those cases (suffice it to say that I believe we are over-using the endangering statute).  If the offense occurred inside the City of Cincinnati, then Deters's office never touches the case:  misdemeanors within city limits are prosecuted by the Cincinnati Prosecuting Attorney (really, the City Solicitor).  The HamCo Prosecutor has no authority or control over those cases.  

Maybe we should have some serious discussion about the way the system works.  Should we really permit charges to be initiated just on the signature of a police officer (or much worse, by "referral"--an officer giving a form to a citizen to permit the filing of a criminal charge, which means the officer won't be involved in the case at all, generally)? Edwards may have benefitted because she could afford to retain counsel early in the process.  An indigent defendant wouldn't be entitled to counsel until charges were filed.  Maybe we need to make counsel available at pre-filing stages.  But people who are complaining about unfairness and injustice are noticing symptoms of systemic problems, and shouldn't single out Deters as a scapegoat in this instance.

McCain's Strategery

A few days ago, the McCain campaign acknowledged that as far is it was concerned, the 2008 presidential election wasn't about issues; it's about personality.  Yesterday and today, we've seen how this philosophy will guide their campaign:  any time Obama or Biden attempt to engage on the issues, the Rove-advised McCain campaign will assert that they've attacked McCain or (more likely) Palin personally.

Yesterday, Obama repeated an old phrase he's often used in declaring the McCain, who's been in Washington for decades, can't seriously be considered a change candidate, saying "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig."  McCain's campaign accused Obama of calling Palin a pig.  What?

At nearly the same time, Biden pointed out a potential inconsistency in Palin policy positions.  While she's promised to be an advocate for children with special needs, she opposes stem cell research.  Biden argued that one cannot be seriously committed to both positions.  While Biden's position is certainly subject to attack on its merits, the McCain campaign didn't do that; instead, it accused Biden of personally attacking Palin's family.

Obama has responded to the "phony controversy."  In part, he says:

I don't care what they say about me. But I love this country too much to let them take over another election with lies and phony outrage and swift boat politics. Enough is enough.

His full response, below, is well worth a couple minutes of your time.

concert:nova Season 2

The fresh chamber music ensemble concert:nova has announced their 2008-2009 season:

October: Where the Wild Things Are

December: Waiting for the End of Time: Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time and abstracts from Beckett's Waiting for Godot

February: Concert in the Dark

March: Demystifying Arnold Schoenberg

May: concert:nova and Beyond Ballet

June: The Mirror Project

Details are forthcoming, so keep checking out www.concertnova.com for updates.

I'm No Journalism Expert, But . . .

The online Enquirer notes the arrest of 30 individuals accused of drug trafficking. This is the lede:

The Cincinnati Police Department is working hard to get trash off the street corners, especially when it’s the kind that sells drugs.

Really? This is considered acceptable news reporting--referring to people as "trash"? I'd understand this in an editorial or column, but a "news" article? And about people who aren't even indicted yet?

Judging from the grammatical errors in the body of the article, it appears the Enquirer had the second string editorial staff review this one. One more reason to miss the Post.

Mmm, Crepes

A few days ago, Julie blogged about the new place on Court Street, It's Just Crepes. Julie hasn't been able to make it since it's only open during the week (though that changes as of September 20th), but not having that problem, I had lunch there with a colleague today. It's in the space formerly occupied by Javier's, between Avril-Bleh and Servatii.

Yummy. (No pictures: real reviews are Julie's job; I just give my gut impression of places I like.) The waitstaff was extremely friendly and had our meals to us pretty quickly, even at the lunch rush. And their prices were very reasonable (you can check out the menu online at their website). I enjoyed watching them make the crepes, on large, circular, wall-less griddles designed just for that purpose.

I had the Hawaiian--ham, pineapple, cheese, soy sauce, and brown sugar--and my friend had the Santa Fe--chicken, swiss, mushroom, and salsa. The crepes were tasty, and the combinations that make up the fillings were good. There'll definitely be return trips for more lunch. I'm afraid to start eating the sweet crepes, though, for fear I'll never stop. So for now, I'll stick to the "savory" crepes.

Finally, let me give a "shout-out" to the Image Art Company, who apparently designed It's Just Crepes's in-store graphics and website. After visiting the restaurant, I was convinced that it must must be a locally-owned franchise of a national chain, based on how professional the menu board, window sign, and logo looked. So I Googled them. Turns out I was wrong: they were produced by Image Art Company, a local branding firm. I may have to give them a call to talk about a remake of my own firm's website and letterhead . . .