The Bonomini Bakery
Get down. I have never seen this place so empty.....
But everyone there is friendly.

1677 Blue Rock Street
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SORTA Gives Up On Money GrabWVXU reports Cincinnati city Council & SORTA have settled their disputes.

Connecting the Dots
eventually…Because Blogging Isn't Cool is always on the ball…..
I just noticed that The Lloyd Library in psychedelic downtown Cincinnati was showing an exhibit of 'psychedelic' mushroom stuff called What Makes the Reindeer Fly?. Unfortunately it ends on 2/28. What is interesting about this timing is that it coincides with the Union Terminal Museum Center exhibiting The Dead Sea Scrolls that goes thru April 14.
What ties these 2 exhibits together is the work of John Allegro, one of the original Scroll translators who put 2 & 2 together to surmise that Jesus in the Gospels was actually a code for a type of hallucinogen, the Amanita muscaria, and that Christianity was the product of an ancient "sex-and-mushroom" cult.
His book, The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross is fairly beat up but available at the Hamilton County library.
It was from this book that I learned a lot about the different mind altering effects of various mushrooms and that really bothered me when the Cincinnati police, Hamilton County prosecutor and the press so cavalierly used the term 'magic mushroom' in the David Hebert murder case.

Spun Has Begun
Watching business start ups can be pretty grueling just for the potential customer. Here in bucolic Northside we have seen the American Can retrofitting take years to complete. There was supposed to be a restaurant open there back in September/October of 2012. The space between the apartments & Hamilton Avenue, The Old Myron Johnson lumber yard, has gone nowhere. Plans for a micro brewery there kinda came & went. The Clifton IGA is over a year late & still not open. The Listing Loon craft beer & wine store opened almost 6 months late. New tenants of the old Charles Miller funeral home were a couple months late. A Mexican restaurant on Spring Grove, in the old Kay's location never even opened.
But Spun Bicycle, after announcing a 3/9/13 opening date, has already opened! And they are already selling bikes!
Hopefully, this will mark the beginning of a new trend.

Why Invest in Ancient Technology Like Bridges ?
Bridges harken back to earlier and simpler times. They're nostalgic. We love them. But do we love them to the tune of SIX BILLION DOLLARS ?
The fact is, within the next 10 years, we'll all be flying around with jet packs like the one being developed by the guys at SkyFlash.
Indeed, the obsolete old rusty bridges will eventually just be obstacles and liabilities. After spending almost TEN BILLION DOLLARS to build a new bridge that nobody wants, will we be able to afford to tear it down?
A cool new bridge would be nice but, let's face it, we're broke & new technologies are coming along every day. Maybe it would be best to take pictures of these old bridges for coffee table books - they're not the way of the future.

SkyFlash on PhaseBuch

BBC Goes Zombie
The BBC has done a number of low budget touchy feely horror mystery series in the past & now they have one with a zombie theme that seems to be in the Warm Bodies vein with, maybe, a touch of Dexter. Has the CW got a teen zombie show, yet?

The Bizarro World of the Tenth U.S. Circuit Court of AppealsThe Tenth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard a case where a non-state resident was denied a concealed carry permit. The law enforcement agency claimed it could not do a sufficient background check on the non-resident's history. The court was ok with that but then went on to say nobody really has the 'right' to carry a concealed weapon.
In my mind this second part is ass-backwards. Nowhere in the constitution does it say how you bear arms.
Still, the local law enforcement agency has a point & we would probably all be better off with better inter-agency communications between state law enforcement agencies. Maybe the NRA could come up with some system & the cash to implement it for police to do inter-state background checking.

Bizniz Inside story here

Saturday Round Up

WWE Challenges Glenn BeckWWE challenges cartoon character, Glenn Beck, to explain why he thinks the audience of the pro wrestling comic book is stupid.

WWE went on, explaining its creation of an overtly racist character: "WWE is creating a rivalry centered on a topical subject that has varying points of view. This storyline was developed to build the Mexican American character Del Rio into a hero given WWE's large Latino base, which represents 20 percent of our audience."

Pope Resigns Amidst Voter Fraud ScandalPopeBenedict XVI resigns as the Catholic church reels from even more scandals as gruesome Cincinnati nun is accused of voting for her dead room mate.

Cincinnati Plans Needed Grocery StoreA new development at 4th and Race Street will have a grocery store - something absolutely needed since the nearest one is 0.9 miles away and, as such, is non-existent.

"Mike Ziegler, senior vice president at Colliers International, said many people who think about moving downtown don't because they’ll still have to drive to get to a grocery store."

The grocer will be one curently not serving the area. Why the city ignores other neighborhoods or drags it's heels helping local grocers in communities with less choice in grocery store remains a mystery.

Tweet From the Grave as a Cyber ZombieBecause the suggestions from Amazon & iTunes really reflect your interests, why not use the same lame tech to send out tweets & FaceBook posts & likes after you die - just when everybody agrees you are a nice guy - annoy them some more….

Bulgarian Government ResignsAmidst protests against austerity measures, the Bulgarian government resigns.

Sitting at the light, the motorist has GOT to want to inch up a little bit at a time while waiting…..
Never got that.
While the cyclist sitting in the middle of the lane at the light is a good idea, after getting through the intersection, she, as a slow moving vehicle, should move to the right to make it easier for motorists to pass - it's called "Sharing the Road".

Zombie Gals Are the BEST!

POTUS to Address Ohio State CommencementI didn't vote for Obama. I didn't go to Ohio State. But I live in Ohio & the President of the United States is going to speak at the main state University.
Headlines at some Ohio newspaper websites:

Obama to give commencement address at Ohio State
Cox News - Springfield News Sun & Dayton Daily News

Obama to give Ohio State commencement speech
Columbus Dispatch

President Barack Obama to deliver Ohio State University's commencement speech
Cleveland Plain Dealer

Obama to speak at OSU spring commencement
Youngstown News

Obama Coming to Ohio, Again
Fishwarp Politics blog

While SW Ohio residents gnash their teeth, pound their fists, stomp their feet and wail about dumbass politicians squandering their money on a streetcar, everybody seems pretty satisfied with a replacement bridge over the Ohio River as long as they don't have to pay for it.
One thing seriously pissing people off is Duke Energy wanting to pass utility relocation costs for the streetcar project off onto users outide of Cincinnati. But that's a mere $15M compared to the $87,000,000 needed for utility moving for the bridge everyone is vowing to avoid. And their rate hike? It should net around $100,000,00. hm….. 87 + 15 = 102…..
While estimates for the streetcar were to the tune of $12M/mile, the bridge is coming out around $375,000,000/mile ($71,000/foot). Somehow that doesn't seem steep. But bids for the streetcar came in as much as twice the estimated cost. But is this government stupidity? Maybe. The various governmental agencies that came up with these projects worked with pro engineering firms to come up with these estimates. In fact - the same engineering pros. So, if they were that far off once, why not twice? Might the replacement bridge nobody wants to pay for actually wind up costing $6,000,000,000 ($142,000/foot)?
Before we spend all this money on a duplicate bridge (ancient technology, BTW), we should try a temporary pontoon bridge, with tolls, across the river. If people use it, well maybe a bridge is needed.

Top 10 TV Comedy / Horror Mash-Ups I Would Love to SeeMixing up horror & comedy has been very successful in the past, it seems to me that in these trying times, provoked by right wing militant zealots around the world, this kinda shit would do particularly well today. Since corporate media can't come up with anything original, I propose resurrecting these proven American television comedies for makeovers with horrific twists.

Beverly Hellbillies
The family decides to go Frankenstein. Jethro moves up to an AD in biology, Ellie is working hard on human animal hybrids, Granny is always cooking up golems, resurrection potions & such while Jed, as usual, is just trying to hold things together with good old common sense. Meanwhile, Mr Drysdale thinks he will eventually get rich on military contracts from the creations the hellbillies are cranking out week after week to the audiences great comical delight. As usual, Miss jane will preach prudence and decency while falling for each and every depraved whim of Jethro Bodean.

Vampire Junction
The crazy hijinks of a trio of beautiful vampire sisters in Hooterville - a small rural town of vampires, werewolves & other supernatural creatures.
yeah - that's never been done...

2.5 Weremen
This would follow the lives of 2 shapeshifting brothers & the one hapless brother's son in Malibu following his humiliating divorce. Meanwhile the other brother would find himself in all sorts of zany predicaments in his drunken oversexed escapades with strange & dangerous supernatural creatures.
You could also call it True Blood - Malibu.

Route 666
2 handsome young guys who travel the U.S. in a sports car & are never suspected of being gay, seduce, kill & eat the lonely & disturbed people who they meet along the way. yeah - it doesn't sound funny, it would need a comedic rewriting of Stirling Silliphant's way cool monolouges.

The Brady Cult
Mr & Mrs Brady, childless widowers, recruit runaway children & force them into all sorts of evil, depraved hijinks including supplying the maid's boyfriend with product - always under the threat of bodily abuse.

Loa Ed
Wilbur has a talking goat that channels various loa, getting the eccentric & clumsy architect into all sorts of madcap predicaments.

Will & Grace & Zombies
Just that

Hell's Heroes
Madcap humor about an ethnically diverse group of souls trapped in hell who deal with the oafish yet sadistic demons & devils who command them.

The Third World Theory
2 anthropologists move into an apartment building across the hall from a Vodou mambo who seduces one & zombifies the other, who, subsequently says the same things over & over again to great comedic effect.

M.A.S.H.
Mobile Anguish Suffering & Horror
A U.S. military post of drunken, over-sexed interrogators & vivisectionists stationed in a camp in Korea where captured North Korean prisoners & nearby villagers are tortured - all the while keeping their devilish hijinks a secret from higher military officials & the press.

Assholes on TV
This is pretty humorous. These clueless dumbasses would be headless if they talked this crap about Islam.
As it is, the school is not issuing any new policy, anybody who knows anything about this shit knows there's 8 sabbats - not 20. Maybe they should ridicule all the Catholic "Saint's days" while they are on a roll. Does the Mormon they supported for president do anything a little funny?
When you find yourself in a hole - quit digging.

There's a petition you can sign here, dunno if it will do any good considering these guys thrive on sensationalist douchebaggery.

Cincinnati City Hall Mobile AppI think Cincinnati was talking about this maybe 2 years ago.....
Anyhoo, Cincinnati has a 'connect to city hall' app, you can
Look up trash, recycling and street sweeping days
Locate and report problems by address
GPS-enabled, so you can report issues even when you don't know the address
Bookmark locations for quick reporting
Track the status of your complaints
Searchable map with Property Owner information

iOS & Android

Ohio Sen. Rob Portman Makes a Spectacle of HimselfThe Fishwarp reports:

"Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, announced Thursday that he would support a GOP filibuster of Chuck Hagel’s nomination to be defense secretary."

But is Portman & his radical GOP cabal just embarrassing the core of the party?
The American Conservative suggests:

"No one outside of a small core of hard-liners sympathizes with what Senate Republicans are doing.
The entire episode shows them to be hopelessly beholden to people whose foreign policy views have led to disaster for the country and contributed to three major Republican defeats."

.Just another political failure from SW Ohio…..

Springfield Summer Arts Festival Schedule ReleasedThe schedule for the place once called the stage in Cliff Park:

• June 13: Who’s Bad: A Tribute to Michael Jackson, 8 p.m.
• June 14: Phil Dirt and the Dozers, 8 p.m.
• June 15: The Motown sounds of the Dayton group Touch, 8 p.m.
• June 16: Mad River Theater Works, 2 p.m., at the Springfield Center for the Arts at Wittenberg
• June 16: Springfield Symphony Orchestra, 8 p.m.
• June 19: Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, 8 p.m.
• June 20: Urban Jazz Coalition, 8 p.m.
• June 21: Parrots of the Caribbean (Jimmy Buffett tribute), 8 p.m., with the Parrothead Party in the Park at 5 p.m.
• June 22: Night Fever: The Tribute to the Bee Gees, 8 p.m.
• June 23: The Young Lions, a jazz ensemble from the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati, 2 p.m., at the arts center
• June 27-30: "The Wizard of Oz," 8 p.m.
• June 30: Teenage singer-guitarist Noah Back, 2 p.m., at the arts center
• July 1: The U.S. Army Field Band and Chorus, 8 p.m.
• July 2: Russian folk groups Moscow Nights and Golden Gates, 8 p.m.
• July 3: Hotel California: The Original Tribute to The Eagles, 8 p.m.
• July 5: Yesterday: The Beatles Tribute, 8 p.m.
• July 6: Cirque Zuma Zuma, 8 p.m.
• July 7: Hayseed Project Farmers Market, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the arts center, with music by the Tarheel Boys and Wild Carrot
• July 7: Singer-songwriter Susan Werner, 8 p.m.
• July 8: The Dark Star Orchestra (Grateful Dead tribute), 7 p.m.
• July 12: Springfield native Griffin House, 8 p.m.
• July 13: Brass Transit: The Musical Legacy of Chicago, 8 p.m.
• July 14: The Gary Geis Dance Company, 2 p.m., at the arts center
• July 17-20: "Footloose," 8 p.m.

More from the Noose Son here

hey - Let's Hose CincinnatiCincinnati's streetcar infrastructure bids are in & all are higher than what the city & their engineering associates had budgeted.
The bids are for more than just tracks but they are coming in to the tune of $19.6M - $24.3M per mile. The city had budgeted $12.3 per mile.
In a report by Paul Weyerich & William Lind titled "Bring Back the Streetcars - A Conservative Vision of Tomorrow's Urban Transportation" a good price is about $10M per mile. They point out what other cities paid

• Portland - $12.4M/mile
• Tampa - $13.7M/mile
• Little Rock - $7.1M/mile
• San Pedro - $4M/mile

San Francisco paid $30M per mile but they were using granite, marble & planted palm trees along the route.
While the report is old, inflation in general can't account for the price difference as Portland's cost would come out to less than $16M today.
Is Cincinnati planning on palm trees? A car palace?
Or are the bids padded to take into account the threat of legal actions that might be pursued by rabid litigious elements of Hamilton County?

Come ON, Dayton !
This video discusses the Cleveland Arcade which is seriously awesome. I grew up haunting the much more modeest but still cool Springfield Arcade which was left to rot, mismanaged, denounced as a haven for hippies and subsequently demolished & replaced with a weird 7/8 scale hotel.
Cincinnati killed theirs way back in the 20s.
The Gem City still has it's arcade but it is falling apart & could easily disappear despite the valiant efforts of the Friends of the Dayton Arcade.
This should not happen. It doesn't have to. Maybe the Dayton Arcade could someday host a Libertarian or Green convention.

More School Violence
Unfortunately, faculty & staff were not armed to the teeth when Precious Allen & posse stormed into Withrow High School & beat the shit out of a student. Were the school not a gun free zone they might have left the family looking like Bonnie & Clyde.

WLWT story here

Racial Separatist Condemns Critical Analysis of SmithermanRacial separatist Jim Clingman, famous for his giggling diatribes on Media Bridges espousing 'Blackenomics' in Cincinnati, has spoken out against detractors of megalomaniac Cincinnati city councilman Chris Smitherman, decrying them as 'shameful'.
While I applaud his efforts to convince people to 'shop local', his passive racist boycott of non-black businesses is completely unacceptable. If this is the face of a Smitherman supporter it doesn't speak well of the councilman and his other allies like COA T.

Cincinnati Harold article here.

2/9/1113

The Face of Voter Fraud
Dunno if this chick is just simple or off her rocker. She should definitely never work a poll again and should never vote again. Jail? Dunno, I'm kinda thinking mental institution.
What blows me away about this case, however, is that absolutely none of the measures taken to combat voter fraud & improve voting would have had any effect on her. Moving poll locations, changing hours, tedious ID requirements and poll worker gag orders - none of it would have changed a thing.

Is Cranley Shutting Out Berns ?The Fishwarp reports that real estate speculator John Cranley has issued a debate challenge to Cincinnati vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls but has opted to not include Mayoral candidate Jim Berns. Is this Democrat elitism or does Cranley just want to make the debate exclusive to candidates who haven't submitted signatures yet?
or…….
Did the Fishwarp just forget / omit Berns' invitation?

Maybe You Can Take it With You
Cool idea - hope it catches on. I'm thinking I'd be torn between Taco Bell or White Castle.....
Definitely would have a mix CD for the procession, although I can't imagine how to synch 'em all up.
What's sad is that there would still be people who would complain.

Jim Berns has Libertarian FartCincinnati Mayoral candidate (so far the only one) has challenged the Cincinnati City Council to eliminate the need for a primary vote for the office.

Let’s see if they can do something as easy and sensible as this

The primary was part of the plan to change the system of electing mayors directly that the public voted on. That is - it's not up to council & any attempt to circumvent the voters is certainly not libertarian. His obvious disregard for the public and the democratic process is troubling. Has Berns' years at DAAP made him an elitist? Has his view from the hill filled his head with delusions of grandeur? Does he want to be mayor...
or king?
Fishwarp story here

TPB - AFK
Coming to a terminal near you 2/8/13, The Pirate Bay - Away From Keyboard. Hopefully, it will have more likable characters than Social Network…..

Springfield Snags Convention Business from CincinnatiNo doubt due to downtown Cincinnati's collapse Springfield won the 2014 Ohio Travel Association conference over the Queen City. Springfield has been touting their new Hollenbeck Bayley Creative Arts & Conference Center on the Clark State campus at the south end of town.

More than 300 people from Ohio’s tourism industries will come to Springfield for a statewide conference that is expected to bring $200,000 in revenue to the city.

The Marriott Courtyard hotel has been working with the Clark County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau to lure more conventions to the area.

"Springfield is a very workable location," [CVB director, Chris] Schutte said. "You can leave your car in one place and walk to the convention sites or to places like the Heritage museum or our dining options."

In fact, the conference center is less than an hour's walk from the 120 unit hotel and Heritage Center with Hardees, McDonald's, Rally's, Springfield Bar B Cue, Casano's, Wendy's, Taco Bell & Schuler's along the way.

Noose Son article here

An Interesting ContrastPerhaps it's the difference in generations but Tea Party rookie Senator Rand Paul is saying foreign policy needs to move to the legislature & away from the executive branch. Meanwhile, conservative veteran Pat Buchanan asks if the GOP legislators are even capable of handling foreign policy

Is the Republican Party, as currently constituted, even capable of conducting a foreign policy befitting a world power?

Rand

Pat

Reflecting on Imia
Thousands of Greeks rallied to remember the deaths of 3 Greek soldiers who died in a border dispute on 2/2/96. More bloodshed was averted when the US stepped in and negotiated a truce based on the standing that nothing had changed. The land in question was a rock out in the sea called Imia.Or Kardak, it depends on which side of the border you're on. Or which side of the border the island is on…..Battling over a couple barren hunks of rock might seem silly to folks in the US but you have to draw a border somewhere. It's just that the borders in that area have changed and the bosses have changed so many times in the thousands of years people have lived in the area. That border isn't as benign as the Ohio - Michigan border either. It represents a significant ethnic & cultural border as well with religious differences preceding Christianity & Islam.Americans have no real cultural or ethnic purity. We might be European but that's about as pure as it gets and our history? At best, 500 years, The Turkish capitol of Istanbul, once a Roman city, was founded about 2,700 years ago as the Greek city of Byzantium. it's all just history of a land thousands of miles away for us but it's home turf for these guys.
I'm babbling now, but, can a nation with such a historically shallow culture as the US even be 'conservative'?

HAH!
Why do these preachers say, "HAH!" at the end of each phrase? I can't understand the words but it sounds like she's talking about food - pizza, potatoes...
Which is probably why the thirty something pastor is clinging to a railing…..

Suburbs Offering More Lower Paying JobsThe suburbs of Cincinnati, long known for not having high paying jobs, are becoming centers for low paying jobs.
Read all about it at the Fishwarp

The Wall Street Journal did a pretty superficial article on the effectiveness of red light cameras. The most important thing in the article was Kimberly Eccles statement,

She added that red-light cameras generally are effective when deployed correctly. However, "because of the controversial nature of red-light cameras, I do believe an agency should consider everything else" before installing them, she said.

However the article was marred by bistro statistical nonsense like

Simple before-and-after comparisons also won't do, researchers say. For one thing, intersections typically are chosen for camera installation because they have had a spate of accidents. That makes them due for a fall just by statistical chance.

One of the problems towns have faced is doling out the cameras in a political way. The tech needs to be deployed by the traffic pros.
One thing that happened at a light in Washington DC is that, while citations went down, virtually all the people later cited were from out of town. Safety was achieved as locals adjusted but out-of-towners (DC is a huge tourist town) kept screwing up. This indicates to me that there was a problem with the intersection. Monitoring the intersection, however, could lead designers to find a better solution.
Of course we can't do this in Cincinnati since voters, after a fear campaign spearheaded by COA T & NA CP, threw the baby out with the bathwater. Now every red light related crippling injury & death in Cincinnati can be laid at their blood drenched feet.

Read the whole article here

The truth about Cincinnati's plan that counters the FUD perpetrated about it here

Horror Sells

there - have a nice weekend

Cincinnati - Duke Agree to Disagree
Cincinnati & Duke Energy have decided to let a judge decide who should pay to move electric & gas lines under the cities streets. This could also settle who will pay for utility moving with the Brent Spence Bridge replacement boondoggle. This comes after Mayoral hopeful Roxanne Qualls challenged the administration to get moving & get the project done. But what does Mayoral hopeful John Cranley have to say about all this progress?

""No matter the motivation, rushing to complete the streetcar while there are millions of dollars in unresolved issues and a looming mayoral election is just not a good idea," he said in a statement."

So, after 10 years of studying & planning he wants to slow down because of some unanswered questions? More of Cranley's FUD.5 years ago he issued 9 pages of mostly inane questions about the project in an obstructionist ploy to stop the project he had initially supported.

More from the Business Courier here

Portman's Dollar-for-Dollar Deficit Reduction Amendments DismissedPortman, a veteran of a myriad of budget battles, proposed a plan requiring spending reductions equal to any future increases in the debt ceiling. His half assed thinking is not appreciated.
Southwestern Ohio has been plagued with superficial, half baked representation in Congress and the Senate; Portman doing his best to be worse than Chabot.

Fishwarp article here