Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Where Are the Vote Counts?

The Enquirer is reporting that Chris Smitherman says he won the Cincinnati NAACP Chapter Presidential election, but the organization will not release the vote counts. It would appear that Smitherman graduated from the Hugo Chávez Charm School.

So much for legitimacy.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Kathy Wilson Travels, Fails to Mark the Twain

So cryptic attacks and backhanded praise once again flow like prose laden with random Jazzy CNN almost metaphors in another Kathy Y. Wilson column in CityBeat. If you want to watch ideas dance the Tango for no apparent reason, then have a read.

If you DO NOT want to watch Kathy ride the 2001 Cincinnati Riot Float in another parade, then I suggest you skip it.

Thursday, November 08, 2012

Hartmann Must Be Into BDSM

After the City of Cincinnati helped to carry Hamilton County, Ohio, and the whole election for President Obama, Republican County Commissioner Greg Hartmann is reportedly thinking about running for Mayor of Cincinnati.

He must be a Masochist. There can be no other reason for a Republican to want to got through that much pain and then get nothing out of it in the end.

I'm not sure if this is just local Republicans, like GOP party chair Alex Triantafilou, stirring the pot to see if Chris Bortz will run or if he wants to call out Charlie Winburn on lying about not running for mayor.  Either way it comes across as a severe case of denial.  No hardcore Republican stands a chance to win the Mayor's office.

I would have guessed Alex would be talking to John Cranley, seeing how Cranley would have get the Republicans on the Westside to support him if he was going to have even a remote chance to win.

Can Conservatives Stop Misusing the Word Socialism?

I cringe all the time when I hear people misuse words. I often make others cringe when I fail to replace my there with their. I think it is high time for Conservatives to stop misusing the word "Socialism." From the Merriam-Webster dictionary, Socialism is defined as follows:
Any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.
There are several other modifications of this definition that are also listed at the link above, but this is the first and the main defintion when talking about Socialism.

The President nor the Demoratic Park believe in Socialism. Anyone telling you otherwise is lying. If they continue to call the President a Socialist, then proceed to call them both a Feudalist and a Fascist and call it even.

Tuesday, November 06, 2012

Obama Has Won!

Time to celebrate!

So Much for Protecting the Vote, Enqurier.

CityBeat has the details on the dumb error by the Enquirer in posting 'test' data for an election results page that incorrectly showed Romney up by 92K after early voting in Ohio. It has been removed.

Before the error was caught, Drudge picked it up and tweeted, cause he's dying to report impossible to find information.

For the record, there have been no vote counts released by anyone in Ohio. The Enquirer just made a stupid error. I hope this does not become the basis for any conspiracy theories.

I don't know why, but it seems like they did this previously, or I am just having a bout of deja vu?

Enquirer Has Voter Protection Coverage

The Cincinnati Enquirer has several election day efforts to document voting issues in the Cincinnati area.  The main section is located here (behind the partial pay-wall), which includes interactive maps showing the precinct and issue identified.  Already there have been issues with cut/torn bar codes that caused issues with scanning and many reports of provisional voting requirements that were not expected by voters.

You can follow the voter protection efforts of the Enquirer on social media on Twitter and Facebook.

Where are the Election Night Parties?

I know everyone's worried about who is winning the election, so I'm putting out the call to all of political Cincinnati to find out where election night parties are going to take place.  Here's what I know so far:

Northside Progressives will be at the Northside Tavern starting at 7PM.

Southgate House invites those who voted to hear some music.

Libertarians are at Dave & Busters from 7 to 11 out in Springdale.

HRC (Human Rights Campaign) is a Below Zero Lounge starting at 7PM.

Jeff Cramerding and Denise Driehaus will be at Arnold's starting at 7:30PM

Connie Pillich's Team will be at Rudino's in Montgomery from 7:30 to 9:30PM

Democrats will be at Cincy's on Sixth starting at 7:30PM

Republicans will be at Toby Keith's I Love this Bar and Grill starting at 7:30PM

Milton's will a hopping spot to check out the returns and will be the choice to go late if there is a celebration to be had.

These are the only places I found or heard about. If there are more chime in via email or make a comment and I'll update as the day goes on.

UDPATES:
Urbanists start off election night at the Moerlein Lager House.

Monday, November 05, 2012

Predictions For Election Day

I am going to say that Issue #1 fails.

Other than that, I am not going to guess, unless you want to bet me that Chabot and/or Wenstrup will lose. I could use some spending money for lunch the rest of the week.

Chime in with your picks: who will be the President in January 20th, 2013 at 12:01PM?

This is what Democracy Looks Like, Literally

Monday morning lines to vote in Downtown Cincinnati. A wonderful sight!

Saturday, November 03, 2012

Long Lines at the BOE

Today the line to vote at the Hamilton County Board of Elections at around 11:00 AM stretched to Eighth Street. I fully expect national media outlets be set up TV coverage from Cincinnati on election night. Hamilton County will be one of the most watched counties in the entire nation on Tuesday.

If President Obama wins here, he will most likely carry the state and win the election.

So, where should a political blogger hang out awaiting the returns? I personally want to be in hand in case something crazy happens here. I don't want the national media to fuck up the coverage of this area or our state, so I plan keeping my nose in the game, if it is close.

If one if the candidates is walking away with the election I plan on drinking heavily, very early, no matter who wins.

Thursday, November 01, 2012

Political Intervention is Bad Business and Unethical

As a graduate of the Richard T. Farmer School of business I can tell you that I never learned it was a good business practice for a company, any company, to try to influence its employees' votes in an election. Why? For the same reason it is not a good reason to tell your employees what church they should go to. The head of Cintas, Scott Farmer, sent an email to Cintas employees that made it pretty clear how they should vote. It was the wrong thing to do. It creates a hostile workplace, literally. I would resent my CEO if he told me how to vote. The only thing the head of my company has ever done is to encourage us to vote and pass out League of Women Voters guides, the most non-partisan voter guides around.

A sane business manager worries about about attracting a large numbers of customers. A good business manager does not care how that customer votes, as long as they buy the product.  A good manager also attracts the best talent to work for them to attract those customers.  Voting choices don't determine job abilities.  It is a clear problem when bad managers state directly or imply success for employees depends on voting choices.

I don't know if it is egomania, fear, or ignorance that would cause Scott Farmer to cross this ethical line.  All I know is that he crossed it, and is showing he is not a good business manager.  I hope all of the current Richard T. Farmer school of business students pay attention.  If they like what they see in Farmer's actions, they should get an F in the capstone management course we all took as seniors.

So what do we know: at least a few CEOs feel fear from not having complete control over the government. If any Cintas voters were not put off by this, I hope they at least lose respect for their CEO. He obviously doesn't respect the rights and choices of the employees.

Richard T. Farmer's son, Scott, appears to not have learned enough at Miami. I fear that he learned too much from his father on the subject of politics, so that is clouding his judgement.

More from CityBeat.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Fingerman Running in the Ohio First Against Chabot?

Another candidate 'appears' to have entered the race for Ohio's First Congressional district and it is Mitch Fingerman.

In a district that lacks a real candidate to face the gerrymandered incumbent, it is great to have someone at least making an effort to go through the motions of running a campaign.

Thank you Mitch Fingerman!

He's having an event at Milton's on November 1st, 5:30 to 7:30. Come out and hear The Goodle Boys play and hear about Fingerman's first campaign.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

The Cincinnati Herald’s Endorsements Are Out

The weekly newspaper The Cincinnati Herald has issued their endorsements for the 2012 Election. They pick mostly Democrats in the contested races. I'm surprised they picked anyone for the 1st or 2nd congressional districts, since those are effectively unopposed races.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Mandel Alters Abortion Position: He's Lying to Someone

The Enquirer Politics Extra blog is reporting that a statement issued by Republican Senate candidate Josh Mandel within the last 24 hours differs with a questionnaire he submitted to the Right to Life Cincinnati anti-abortion group. On the questionnaire he stated he does not believe in any abortion exceptions, at all. In the statement issued in response to questions surrounding the Indiana Republican Senate race, Mandel said he has "always" been clear on abortion: he's against it in all situations, except when the mother's life is "threatened."

So, when was Mandel lying in this case? Was it to the general public or to the RTL of Cincinnati?

Mandel has the reputation of talking out of both sides of his mouth, even more than the average Politician, but documenting it takes the cake.  If the RTL group has any credibility, yeah...a long shot, they would at least demand a clear explanation. Clear being the key word. Mandel needs an explanation that does not just indicate carelessness by a staffer. The buck stops higher than that.

TPM Points to Hamilton County as 'Clearest Swing' in Ohio

A very interesting article from Talking Points Memo that provides in-depth analysis of Ohio's points of focus for the Presidential election.

Hamilton County is labeled the clearest swing county in the state and is given lots of importance. We've been a high target for both campaigns and likely will see both candidates here the final week, assuming Ohio's numbers remain close.

I don't think either candidate can write off Ohio, so I expect to see multiple trips over the next 1.5 weeks. In less than 2 weeks it should be over. If not, then buckle up fit trouble.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Planned Parenthood Benefit Tonight!

Take a break from the Presidential Election and come out for a night of laughs: You Say Election, We Say Vagina*: A Night of Legitimate Comedy (Benefiting Planned Parenthood SW Ohio)

Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door. Entertain includes:
Dirty Girl Cabaret
Lovely Ladies of Improv
OTRimprov

Show starts at 8PM (7:30 doors open)

Location: Below Zero Lounge
1120 Walnut Street in Over-the-Rhine

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Obama Yard Signs Burned in Green Township

The Cincinnati Herald is reporting multiple incidents where Obama yard signs were burned while they sat in the front yards of Obama supporters.

The undertones of racism to these incidents can not be denied. Burning anything in someone's front yard is obviously based on the KKK, assuming otherwise is ignorant.  It is sad that this likely will not get the coverage it should. WCPO has as story as well.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Quimbob's Endorsements

For what it's worth, here are Blogging Isn't Cool's endorsements in the General Election made by Quimbob.

Tuesday, October 09, 2012

The Nuclear Option Is the Choice Du Jour

I presume this is a game of Chicken, but Hamilton County Commissioners still are acting insane. Weight Loss by starvation is just has harmful as being overweight, if not more harmful. The two Republicans continue to push a radical national Republican effort to use the economic downturn as cover to gut government services wholesale. It is a blind effort that is not about actually determining how government should be run, is just a insane need to reduce government with no forethought. Instead of enacting a fair and open debate on what government should be doing they are play a cruel game that forces department heads to cut off their own limbs to avoid death.

It is like Monzel and Hartmann live in a 1861 post Bull-Run hospital and they are a Copperhead Doctor bent on trimming Lincoln's soldiers down to push their cause.

What is so disgraceful is that no one on the Commission will step up with a plan. They won't do the their job and come up with a detailed budget that will balance. They are playing chicken with various department heads they want cuts from and don't care what the loss of services will be. All the while they seek to appease Property owners by refusing the end the tax rollback to fund the Bengals Stadium shortfall. Votes from the more wealth matter more than the helping the entire County.

Gutless.

Hartmann and Monzel remind me of a Cold War U. S. General who thought we could win a full scale nuclear war. I guess they never saw The Day After.

Hartmann already is planning to place the blame for this on the City, so I think he thinks his bomb shelter will save him if everything around him implodes.

Monday, October 08, 2012

County Looking to Screw the Poor and Renters, No Matter What

The Enquirer is reporting that Hamilton County Commissioners will be given three options by county Administrators to cover the 20 Million dollar budget deficit.

The article tries to point out the differences between the choices, but it fails to put forth the main common action: the poor and people who rent will be screwed no matter which plan is picked. The plans are being cooked to make them semi-palatable to Republicans who are Hell bent on shifting the burden of the Bengals Stadium to the poor people of Hamilton County.

The first option is the nuclear option, where nearly every service is cut, so everyone is screwed, well, everyone who can't afford to pay for their own healthcare, police protection, or have enough money to buy justice and don't have to rely on the courts to enforce the law.

The second two options are just shell games to see who will cut the most from what. What both of the plans do is increase the sales tax rate and offset it with cuts to property taxes. So if you own property, you don't get as much of a tax increase as people who do not own property, maybe even none. This is how the poor and renters get screwed.

Sure, Republicans will say Renters will get the same benefit because landlords will pass on tax savings to their renters.  BWWAHAHAHAH!  That's the biggest laugh in the world, or my attempt to make it appear in this blog post.  No, landlords will pocket the tax savings and increase rents the same way the would have without the increase.  Therefore Renters are screwed even if they are part of the middle class.

So, the County is again looking to screw the poor and people who rent.  Where would you find a majority of those types?  If you said the City of Cincinnati, you would be right.  Bottom line then, the three plans seek to place more burden on City Residents and less burden (or a least no additional burden) on non-city Residents  as long as they own property.  I'm gonna guess that Monzel doesn't plan on getting any votes from the poor or renters who don't live in the city, so he can just pretend they don't exist or he hopes they move.  Either way, they become poorer to help subsidize the Cincinnati Bengals and Mike Brown.

Welcome to the neo-feudalist movement.

Friday, October 05, 2012

COAST Loses, Again

In a fight to make false statements in a political campaign COAST lost its legal defensive action. COAST was trying to get the Ohio Election Commission to be blocked from enforcing Ohio law. COAST lost. So, yes, the anti-government COAST tried to get help from the Federal Government because they didn't like the State Government's laws. It is funny how COAST, and other conservatives, like State Governments having powers to, force religion on others, but chaffe when the Federal Government prevents them from doing so. This is irony at any angle.

Thursday, October 04, 2012

Is the Enquirer Delaying Print Stories From the Web, Again?

Since I ponied up and paid for an online subscription to the Enquirer, I thought I would read their front page headline on the print edition to see how they spun the news from last night.

What I saw to the left of the front page headline was another, smaller, front page story with the headline of "NAACP election will be battle." I read the article and thought, hmm, that would be a good story to link to on Cincinnati Blog.

That's basically how news blogging goes. You read other articles and link to them, adding your own take on the subject, often reacting to article itself.

So, I start to look for the article on the Enquirer website. There's not a Local News section.  That kinda sucks.  So I check around all the sections, including the Latest Headlines section, and  I can't find it. I do several searches for the article using the Enquirer's web search function. I can't find it. I go to Google and search on an exact sentence from the article including someone's name. I STILL can't find it. Maybe it was just a hiccup with their new paywall system, I don't know, but I like to find things I know are supposed to exist when I search for them.

So I gave up looking and had a different blog post than I was planning on writing.

Has the Enquirer gone back to a "print only exclusive" model?  Has it had that for a while and as a web only reader I am just now seeing the delay?  That's possible.  I kind of would have thought that such a delay would GO AWAY with the advent of an online subscription model, but maybe not.

It is still early in the morning and the article may pop up before I publish this post, but I was annoyed, therefore I am writing about it.  That's another way blogging happens, you get pissed off about something, so you blog about it.  Kinda simple, but it works for me.

Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Is Cranley Running For Mayor?

CityBeat has done some good cyber shoe leather reporting and dug evidence that John Cranley is preparing to run for Mayor of Cincinnati.

Some of the few Cranley supports out there read this blog, so I ask them: is it true?

Should I sharpen my knives in preparation for a Conservative anti-urban candidate running in the race for Cincinnati Mayor?

Is the Republican Coroner Candidate Willing to Play Politics with Death Investigations?

The point I get from Republican coroner candidate Pete Kambelos' response to a Cincinnati Herald Candidate questionnaire, as reported by the Enquirer, is that if elected, he's going to determine the results of death investigations, like the taser case mentioned, that will appease a group of people he wants to vote for him. I guess finding the truth of the situation isn't as important as finding the "truth" people want to hear.

After determining that a person has a terminal disease and will die, does Dr. Kambelos tell them it directly, or does he spin the truth?

I really didn't expect to find any political issues to actually write about in the coroner's race, but this one is pretty big.

Does Josh Mandel Have a Personal Space Problem?

Ohio Treasurer and Republican Senate candidate Josh Mandel has much to explain for an alleged incident caught on tape where he grabbed/pushed a campaign "tracker's" camera in an elevator. A tracker is a person hired by political groups to follow around a candidate with a video camera looking for embarrassing moments. It is a common practice and normally looks for something the candidate says, not something he might do.

Talking Points Memo has the full report and points out the biggest fact causing Mandel problems: he lied about what happened and the incident occurred in front of a Columbus Reporter. Oh yeah, and it's on video tape. The latter isn't as incriminating as it could be, since you don't see Mandel put his hands on the tracker or the camera, but you do hear what is going and and hear a witness confirm what just happened.

The Columbus Dispatch has a report outlining Mandel contradiction and what should just be called lies.

Tuesday, October 02, 2012

The Enquirer Does Not Get the Point of Urbanism

If you were to presume that the majority of the Editorial page board live in the suburbs based on this editorial, then I think you would be right. I can't prove it, you know, except if I wanted to look up the individual members on the voter registration rolls, which I will skip tonight. Instead, I feel that I must point out something simple, yet,  that at least the writer of the editorial misses about why people are moving to Downtown Cincinnati.  As a person who lives in the near Downtown area (OTR), I can attest to this personally.

I plan on living here as long as I live in the metro area.

I don't plan on moving into a house with a picket fence.

The suburbanite fantasy is not for me.  Please don't force it upon me or anyone else, which is what the Enquirer appears to be doing, from the editorial:
Most Cincinnati residents live in neighborhoods like these. And we want young adults who live Downtown, attracted by redevelopment, to someday live in those neighborhoods. Neighborhoods need city investment and attention.
No, Mr/Mrs Editorial board members, I don't hope people who move Downtown "come to their senses" and move to a white picket fence neighborhood. I want people who are looking for a City to FIND and LIVE in a CITY.

We choose to live in city, not a 2.2 kid and backyard dream. If people want to move to city neighborhoods, THAT IS AWESOME! I really hope they do. They are far better than exurban wastelands and are closer to the action, the urban core. If you want to live in a city neighborhood, that is a very honorable goal.  That person is not the target for Downtown living.

If people feel more comfortable in Hyde Park, I am SOOOOOO COOOOOL with that. I want people to move there. I want Westwood and Avondale and Bond Hill and Mt. Washington and Madisonville to have tons of people living in them.  None of those neighborhoods have ever been or will ever be economic or cultural centers and they are not meant to be.

Here is what the Enquirer and much of the Conservative Republicans don't get. Urbanism is about creating a core that helps EVERYONE. We build the urban core up and then all the neighborhoods gain. Not everyone wants to live the hardcore city life like Tim Mara apparently doesn't get. That is OK, but we must recognize the urban core as the economic and cultural center of the Metro area and keeping that urban core healthy it helps foster the innovative, creative, and energetic people living in that core to induce the growth all around the Cincinnati Metro area.

We love the nightlife, we got to boggie on the disco 'round, oh yeah.

Yes, this is a hard pill for the "if you build a stripmall, they will come" crowd, but that is the past.  Our future is in our cities.  This is a throwback to the past, but the post War years have killed our culture and society long enough.  If we don't embrace urbanism, then American culture, the good parts of it at least, will decay.

As a side note, the part that I don't get and never will understand is how anyone living way out in the exurbs or traditional inner-suburbs can think that without a vibrant and focused urban core the metro area can grow.  It just will not happen.  I really hope someone at the Enquirer will wake up and see the future and stop fearing it.  Exurbanite Republicans will always fear change, but just because that is your core audience, you can't hide the truth from them forever.

Finally: so if you think the Enquirer isn't biased against the Streetcar and the City core, then I guess you have been living in a cave in Indian Hill for the last 5 years.

Monday, October 01, 2012

Where Will You Get Your Cincinnati News?

With the the Cincinnati Enquirer going to a Paywall format tonight, where will you get your Cincinnati News? Will you subscribe? Will other local outlets expand coverage? There are no other mainstream outlets that have any stories that are as in depth as a daily newspaper goes. Will the TV stations improve their online articles to compete?

I fear few will notice.

The problem is that the public, overall, is filled with ignorant sloths, who care more about sports or Dancing with the Stars, than what happens in their community. They wouldn't be able to tell much of a difference if you moved them from West Chester to Dublin, OH, while they slept.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Manufactured News Is Not Real News: MidPoint Falsely Smeared

When a complaint by one person is just not good enough for a news story, don't manufacture a story that is void of a point or many relevant facts.

Here are the problems with the article from the Enquirer:

  1. The issue is not about Midpoint: I'm not sure who is out to rain on the Midpoint Music Festival, but someone obviously doesn't like it being in Washington Park.  I'd guess the pro-bum crowd (aka 'homeless activists') are helping paint something that benefits OTR and CityBeat in as negative light as possible.  I doubt that former CityBeat News Editor, Greg Flannery,  would be pleased to see CityBeat's new owner benefiting from an event centered on Washington Park.
  2. One man's complaint against the Park gets an article? What makes Tim Mara's complaint more news worthy than the complaints of others on a laundry list of issues: police conduct, Indian Hill Voter Registration, choice prosecutions by the County Prosecutor, etc?
  3. The article alters Tim Mara's complaint: In the minutes of the Cincinnati Bar Association Local Government Committee meeting in early September, Mara is on record raising a complaint about the musical events that take place on Fridays in Washington Park.  He made the complaint there, because the guest speaker was from the Cincinnati Park Board.  The article claims Thursdays and Fridays.  The Jazz night on Thursdays was held in the bandstand, and didn't have the capacity to have the crowds and it ended at 9PM.  The Friday Flow events were at the main stage and all of the reports I heard indicated it drew a larger crowd, which was scheduled to end at 10PM.  The sound at the Bandstand has never been loud enough in my experience to be a problem from the area Mara lives on Pleasant.  Friday nights is the problem he sees, were the music is run through a bigger system and closer to his home. The issue is, and I hate to say it, who is primary audience for Friday Flow?  Also, why didn't Mara bring up the urination at the Bar Committee meeting?  He wrote the minutes referenced above, so he certainly would have noted it if he did.
  4. Where are the details on the complaints filed? What specific events, nights, and number of incidents were cited by Tim Mara that warrented this big of a deal?
  5. What about white guys pissing all over Downtown after Bengals' games?  If you haven't seen drunk white suburban/exurban men urinating in the alleyways and around buildings Downtown (especially South of 4th Street), then you've not been there on Sunday evenings in the Fall.  Why did the article not address this?  It wouldn't have anything to do with the pro-white guys suburban bias of the Enquirer, would it? At the same time as the article can ignore white guys pissing and ignore that the issue for Mara is that allegedly some black people pissing near his home, the article can allude that young mostly liberal Democratic music fans could piss all over Mara's front step.  Again, young people are bad, middle age white guys are ignored when they do wrong.
  6. Why is Josh Spring Quoted for this Article? Why is the reporter so lazy to have not gotten a quote from someone with the Midpoint Festival or maybe a member of the OTR community council?  Hell, why not ask some who went to one big events this year at the park (OTR concert, CSO, or Shakespeare in the Park) how long the lines for the bathrooms were.  Instead the Enquirer quotes someone (Spring) who wants the Park, 3CDC, the OTR Businesses, and the City itself to fail.  That's either bias or sensationalism.  It could be both, but I don't see them as sophisticated as that.
For the record, there were not long lines for the bathrooms at Washington Park during the festival.  All of the shows ended by about 10.  They were loud, I can't deny that, but so were the bands playing at 12th and Vine.  Mara needs to understand that he lives in a city, not a suburb.  If he has the misguided belief that he can turn the city into a suburb, then he may want to join hands with John Cranley and start a really big pouty party, because it isn't going to happen.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Scary Things Come Close to Happening, Even in Cincinnati

Law enforcement did their jobs, but how easily could this good police work turned into epic tragedy?

I'm also surprised this story is not getting more play, nationally. I would surmise the man's intent at running the security checkpoint was not clear, so the media isn't make this out to be a bigger deal than it was. I have to wonder why the ATF is involved and why a federal complaint was sealed on this case. Maybe that is normal procedure, and getting it unsealed is also routine, but it all leads to more questions that a professional journalist should be investigating.

UPDATE: The AP story on HuffPost has far more details than the Enquirer story. Yeah to Erlanger police for catching this guy!

Monday, September 24, 2012

Sittenfeld Lives Up to the Typical Politician He Is

I hope no one was surprised by council member P.G. Sittenfeld's anti-streetcar stance in today's vote. His prior statements on the subject were nothing but Bullshit. If anyone was confused about it previously, they should have a clear picture of his stance now.

Sittenfeld wants to be a politician and is siding with the Republicans because he thinks he will need to get  Republican votes when he runs for higher office.  I hope he learns that if you want to be a good leader, you have to stand for something, not try and tell everyone what they want to hear.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

The BBC Visits Cincinnati

The BBC's World Update came to Cincinnati today to do a story on Ohio and surrounding states as they relate to the Presidential Race. They did the show from the WVXU studio and guests included WVXU political reporter Howard Wilkinson.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Intense Bengals Security at Paul Brown Stadium

Something you don't see in the picture with the barricade is the bomb sniffing dog screening all vehicles parking inside the stadium.

Each person entering also appears to be subject to 'wanding.' So I guess you should feel safe from some type of threat?

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Charter School Problems

Ethics questions plague VLT Academy. I am glad the state is doing some auditing of these schools, but why isn't anyone questioning how the Daughter of the school's Superintendent earns $85,000 in the School years, on top of the questionable $17,000 contract for the Summer. When I state 'anyone' I mean public officials.

Public schools get raked over the coals by Republicans, but I don't hear Charlie Winburn, Steve Chabot, or Brad Wenstrup asking for more audits of this Charter school.

Friday, August 31, 2012

Friday Night Video Fights: Seedy Seeds vs. Seedy Seeds

So....This?

Or This?

MetroMix Print Edition to End with September 19th Issue

Just in time for launch of the Enquirer's NYT style Paywall for it's online content, the FREE weekly entertainment newspaper MetroMix is ending its print edition with the September 19th issue. It will instead be online and incorporated in a new redesigned website. Here is how the Enquirer article describes it:
We’re currently hard at work relaunching Cincinnati.com’s Entertainment channel – consider this the Extreme Makeover: Entertainment Edition. We’re going to combine all of our entertainment coverage into one easy-to-navigate web site.
I'm not sure how this will impact Cincinnati's entertainment industry, but I do know that it lessons the impact of having a cover story. The one thing a digital edition or website has difficulty doing is creating the impact on the reader, or casual passer by, that a cover story provides. This effect is similar to a front page headline on a daily newspaper, but for weekly or monthly publications, the cover takes on a different focus.

MetroMix provides a boost to certain events by running a cover story on it. I don't see the impact with anything that could be created online or in an email. The medium doesn't have the same type of interaction with readers. This is a loss. I don't know if will or can be replaced.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

More Enquirer-Horstman Anti-Streetcar Bias

Another week and another biased anti-streetcar headline from the Enquirer. Here is the latest article: City threatens Duke over streetcar costs.

No where in the article does it say the City threatened Duke Energy. It states the City is “investigating potential legal remedy.” It also says that the City's inability to reach an agreement "threatens to pose significant cost risk" to the project.

It does not say the City is Threatening Duke Energy. The word threat is a bias created by someone at the Enquirer. I'd like to know who wrote it. Headline writing is much talked about and usually creates a frenzied finger pointing effort. Reporters point to Editors. Editors are mum or point to someone else. In this changed internet age, I have to ask, does a reporter submit a story without a title/headline? On most blogging software you have to have a title to the story when you post it, even in draft form. Is that what the Enquirer does? Does the reporter include a headline along with the story when submitted and it then is modified by a copy-editor, content-editor, or layout designer?

Did the word "Threatens" start with Horstman or was it added after? No one will likely ever take blame (or would it be credit?) for the misuse of the word. We just have live with the bias, but we can and must call them out when they fail to present the truth to their readers.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Republican Efforts to Suppress Democratic Voters Continue

I am glad that the Enquirer is covering the voter rights issue and that they exposed the insanity that is "True the Vote" group who held a summit that ending up being a conservative rally, including a Judicial Watch announcement of a legal effort to suppress Ohio voters.

Yes, Non-Ohio base groups are seeking to purge Ohio voter rolls based on the goal of suppressing Democratic voters. Any other claim is just lie (or at best a red herring).

The only thing I wish the Enquirer would do is just report the blatant efforts by Republicans to keep Democratic voters from voting. If nothing else they should be asking the questions and reporting the answers, demonstrating where their comments are lies or distortions. The article above hints at it, but the evidence is clear and it is not just extremists like Judicial Watch, it starts with the Republican Hamilton Country BOE members. They should be asked why they refused to keep keep the BOE open for longer periods of early voting? Why would they oppose that? The political parties, both of major parties, could pay the limited cost to keep the doors open a few more hours into the evening and weekends to help those with jobs that either make it difficult to vote or just won't let them. The latter is a blatant violation of the law.

As long as voter suppression efforts are allow to continue, our Democracy continues to crumble, a brick falling for every voter who is hindered from voting.

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Fire in Covington

Not sure what is burning, but it appears to NOT be a small fire. The smell of smoke and burnt material is strong at Smale Park, but the fire appears to be at least a mile away.

Friday, August 24, 2012

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Cincinnati's Master Plan is Again About Being a City

CityBeat is reporting that the City has released it's final draft (how is a draft final?) of it's Master Plan. The key sentence from the CityBeat article that summarizes the main goal of the plan:
"The primary goal behind the plan is to transition the city away from a model that emphasizes suburban living back to a more urban model."
We as a city have come so far from ridding government with the 1950's mentality of development. We don't have the likes of Chris Monzel and John Cranley on council. The county is self destructing thanks to Monzel, but we can all be vigilant and keep Cranley from trying to drag Cincinnati back into the stone age with suburban style development ideas. We don't need any more strip malls. We don't need any more cul-du-sacs. We don't need streets that dont' allow safe walking and bike riding.

We are a city and we starting to act like it again. Don't let the Monzels or Canleys pull us off our path.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Is Winburn Lying Now or Back in 2010 (or Both)?

It would appear that Cincinnati City Council Member Charlie Winburn likes to lie. Yes, that comes as news to no one who has been following Cincinnati Politics any time over the last ten years, but this time it is a whopper. Winburn lied to someone about running for mayor. The only question is did he lie to the Business Courier this year or did he lie to the Cincinnati Enquirer back in 2010? Yes, it is fully possible he lied to both, but either way, he is being deceitful. He has broken a commandment. He is also toying with the idea that he could win. He obviously is delusional. I don't know if he thinks that Republicans will give him a ton of money and then convince all of the Republicans to ignore race, since they clearly did that in 2010. He also must assume that more blacks will vote on nothing but race and ignore the fact that he's a Republican.

I made it clear that I would not let him forget this when he said it. I am glad Quimbob has similar questions for Winburn. I hope everyone asks Winburn via email or social media when he was lying, now or then?