Monday, January 31, 2011

HEY! I know! Let's do something completely pointless and see if somebody files a lawsuit! Whenever other people do it, they usually get sued and LOSE!
Clermont County commissioners have decided to lead meeting attendees in prayer before commission meetings.
It's generally accepted to have various religious leaders from the community lead prayers but not the elected officials.
In support of freedom of religion, commissioner Archie Wilson stated, "You have to open it up, but when somebody starts chanting, I’m probably going to have a problem."
Commissioner Humphrey stated that he didn’t think atheists would have to be allowed.
Class act.

Fishwrap story here.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Should the Israelis support the Egyptian protests? Would their support result in any new democratic government in Egypt being favorable to Israel?
Younglers ? - Schulung's ?

2 of Springfield's favorite food vendors are, of course, Young's Jersey Dairy (technically just north of Yellow Springs) and hometown favorite, Schuler's Bakery. The two businesses have decided to sell one another's products. Schuler's won't have a fountain but will sell ice cream by the pint at their Derr Rd store in northern Springfield & Young's will hawk Schuler's pastries.
Now they just need a rack to sell Mumford's Potato Chips.
nom...

Noose Son story here.
Ole’ Book Nook Closes

Urbana's lone book store is set to close after serving the community for 25 years.
After the closing of the 2 mall bookstores in Springfield's Upper Valley Mall, Springfield, 10 miles south of Urbana, is left with one independent book store & one comic book store. The next nearest bookstore to Urbana is in West Liberty, about 12 miles to the north. There are a couple other book sores out in the rural wastes of central Ohio but the best selections will be in Columbus, about 50 miles to the east.
Is the bookstore even relevant today? One can get on Amazon & read customer reviews, view rankings, etc...
Champaign County does have a library. What it's future is - who knows?
With the added tech of Kindle type crap, the bookstore gradually gets less and less relevant. The Amazon portal for independent book dealers keeps old books available to the general public without requiring a person to hunt about in all these small town book stores.
Whatever, it's still kinda sad.

Noose Son story here.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Groeber's Closes

Another tradition in Springfield comes to an end. After a half century of serving up some of the best burgers in town, Groeber's has called it quits.
Not exactly a family type place but the type of place that treated you like family, Groeber's srved up great chow & cheap beers. Located for years on McReight Ave. across from Ferncliff Cemetery & just north of Wittenberg University, they quickly gained a reputation with Wittenberg students. It was particularly appealing to the rugby team that played in the field behind the bar. The location was so appealing the school bought it & forced the establishment to move to it's last location at First & Bechtle. That place had been a bar for years, at one time being the 13th Hole.
In recent years Bechtle expanded north & every friggin chain restaurant known to man moved in. It drives me crazy that chains see a market in Springfield but locals can't seem to make a go of it. There is rarely a locally owned start up in the town although there is a lot of cheap rent. Well, they keep demolishing the cheap places making it even harder for locals to get a foothold.
I'm having a real Chrissie hynde moment about now.....

Noose Son story here.
Red State Premiere in Springfield

Kevin Smith is touring his new movie, Red State & will be in Springfield, Kuss Auditorium March 14.
The movie is a horror film that starts out like so many with a group of teenagers venturing into the unknown. Then, instead of Leather Face or Captain Spaulding, they run into a family / church group modeled after the Phelps family's Westboro Baptist Church.
Reviews are mixed. Westboro protested the films debut at the Sundance Film Festival.
The tour consists of 13 cities including Boston, Atlanta, Chicago and New Orleans. In 2008, when much of Ohio went blue, Springfied's Clark County went decidedly red and Ohio was recently ranked near the bottom of most tolerant states. Could this be the reason for Smith's visit?

Online ticket sales ($67) here.
Noose Son story here.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Astronomy Domine

OK, bear with me now....
The Telegraph reports that Beetlejuice is going to go nova probably sometime in 2012. Well, actually probably a long time ago as it takes awhile for light to get here. We will notice it in 2012. naybe...
Thing is, we have a presidential election in 2012. While there is no religious test for the presidency, some candidates wear their beliefs on their sleeves a little more than others. While somebody actually being able to predict the nova & politically profit from it would be pretty cool theater, what would people infer if it happened right before the election, right after or on inauguration day? Would politicians attempt to own it?
Could it validate Obama's hidden Islamo-Facist agenda of destroying America and the world?
Only one potential Republican candidate for the presidency, Chris Christie, shows any chance of defeating Obamma. Since he has "christ" in both his first and last names & the "second sun" could be translated as the second coming, could he be elevated to some form of Jesusness if elected during the nova?
Would it bring bout a rise in Mormonism if Mitt Romney were elected and this "sign" subsequently occurred?
Which Republican would most benefit from this nova occurring during the primaries? Mitch Daniels blames crimes against humanity, usually perpetrated in the name of gods, to be caused by Atheism. Would a win in a state primary by Daniels in conjunction with the nova result in a decrease in atheism or the persecution of atheists?
This event will seriously freak out the bats & make a lot of people batty. You read it here first, folks,
Novas have consequences.

If this happens during an election year, it will have an impact on voting as people take a natural but uncommon occurrence & make it into some sort of divine omen.
Or maybe I am not thinking far enough out. Maybe the current impact will be less than what happens decades afterwards when the "Second Sun" kids, born during the nova, become adults & people imbue them with divine insight & powers and put them into positions of authority.
If nothing else, it will likely serve to further confuse Bill O'Reilly as to the nature of tides.
Budget Crises?

After watching a couple episodes of The Learning Channel's Police Women of Cincinnati, an out of town acquaintance asked me, "Why do they always send a fire truck whenever there is any kind of injury?".
hmmm.....

Friday, January 21, 2011

Cincinnati's Image

Image by Basil Wolverton

In a Cincinnati City Council Quality of Life Committee meeting, Chair, Laure Quinlivan, asked, "What is Cincinnati's image?". She wasn't exactly asking if the average shmoe perceived the city as a gaggle of beer drinking, chili eating German Catholics who were rabid over one of the worst football teams in the universe but what persuaded or dissuaded people when considering investment in the city. This does include people just looking for recreation but more importantly, how it affected people's search for a place to live & set up businesses.
There are a number of organizations promoting the city & surrounding area but they don't really work in concert.
The economic development department, almost cut to nothing in budget cuts has posted the site ChooseCincy as a portal for prospective businesses. They boast a "data Center" & the ability of a reader to compose a report of the information he & his organization find important. They also have a YouTube channel with a number of videos both promotional & testimonials.
The Cincinnati USA Convention & Visitors Bureau also has a site promoting the city to, duh, tourists & convention planners. They also have a promo video -

While the image of Cincinnati might be more like the image above, from Basil Wolverton's Bible illustrations in the minds of Cincinnati.com's commenters, the consensus was Cincinnati really has no image. Like many rustbelt cities, Cincinnati is just one of those places where people live, have jobs & cary on with their boring lives.
Quinlivan wants the various promoters to come together with a more focussed message. The attendees stated that this meeting helped a lot. What Quinlivan is asking for, however, is something businesses pay beaucoup bucks for & Cincinnati doesn't have the money. In 2009 LPK donated a logo for the city to use. It would be great if another agency would do the same for a brand for the city, even if it's just consulting for the various agencies doing the drudge work.

Fishwrap story here.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011


I gotta learn Japanese...

Monday, January 17, 2011

Re-Purposing a Mall

Photo by Gordon Bombay

The Fishwrap reports that the Cincinnati Mall, Cincinnati Mills, Forest Fair Mall in Fairfield is planning a redevelopment that will include a hotel, ice rink, restaurants & amusements. While only the third name, I believe this is about the fifth incarnation of the place.
I think it might be time to think outside the box on this one.
Early on my nephew suggested it be used as a jail. This is something residents say we need but residents don't want to pay to build a brand new one, maybe this place could be retrofitted. Given it's various wings, it could house a juvenile detention center, too.
We need a bigger better place for our homeless. Crossroads Church likes the idea of malls or the homeless. Seems like a perfect match.
It has enough room, it could be used as a funeral home / crematory with a mausoleum & columbarium.
Perhaps an indoor golf course. Flood the lower level & make a year round fishing & swimming facility?
We could also hawk it to Hollywood for the set of some kind of disaster film, maybe Resident Evil 37, Incontinent, and they could burn the place down or blow it up in the end.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Babble On

yeesh, if this were a job interview I sure as hell wouldn't be hiring this clown. If there is insight to be had, well, Kasich discusses HSUS & casinos.
Is there some reason video has to be distorted? Do people actually like distorted video? It bugs the shit out of me.
Whither the Old SCPA ?

Cincinnati's old SCPA building is probably one of the most beautiful warehouses in the world. Valued at over $10 million, it is probably one of the most expensive per square foot, too. It's proximity to the future casino has any number of possible developers as well as community leaders thinking.
Unfortunately, state law forbids the school board from selling the property, instead demanding it be offered to the someone involved in the failed Ohio charter school program. Would we want these guys getting their mitts on this place? While almost unfathomable, I think that would be worse than CPS owning it. Otherwise getting real estate, especially prime real estate out of the hands of Cincinnati Public Schools hands can almost always be a good thing.
Will our new TEA inspired Republican Ohio let CPS sell the property to a private developer? It would seem to fit into their smaller, less intrusive, business-friendly rhetoric. Or will their blind hatred of public schools & the dreaded, evil teachers lead them to "just say no" to any request by a school district?


WLWT article here.

For images of the building & it's interior, click, here.
A Better Plan For IGA?

The recent closing of Keller's IGA in Clifton has sent shockwaves through the community. While the owners thought they would be re-opened in short order, that has not happened. Owners claim they had agreements with state tax & AG offices. Those posts changed on January 10th, however. Who knows where IGA stands now?
Being an anchor store for that business district, the closing will likely have a detrimental effect on nearby businesses. As Ohio needs every tax dollar they can get, this action is about like cutting off one's nose to spite one's face. If the other stores' sales decline, the state will get less & less revenue.
Perhaps a better plan would be for the state to keep the store open, maybe force it to go for bankruptcy & continue to collect taxes & maintain the quality of life in the neighborhood.

City Bleat article here.

NOTE - When I went looking for an IGA logo to post at the top, I had no idea I would find so many pictures of naked ladies named Iga.
sheesh

Thursday, January 13, 2011

HEY! It's Warm & Sunny in Northside !

thanks to jeremywf1
Budweiser Ad - 1915

An ad that ran in the German American weekly, The Fatherland. The paper was administered by agents of the German propaganda machine to persuade Americans to remain neutral or support Germany in it's struggles with England & Russia.
Within a few years, brewers would be condemned for starving allied troops by using too much grain. Brewers & Germans were accused of spying (which the publishers of the paper most likely were). "Budweiser Means Moderation" was part of the marketing brewers used in the era as America gradually inched towards Prohibition.
The illegible type invites people to visit the St Louis brewery.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Stocksdale's to be Razed

Long time Springfield restaurant, which hasn't really been Stocksdale's for decades, to be razed.
One of it's last incarnations, Joe's U.S. 40 Grill, closed last year.
The owners were some of the founders of Young's Jersey Dairy. The place served normal people and late night diners for years.
Seems like just yesterday we were grabbing some grub before Phil's late night WUSO radio show & the guy wound up tipping the waitress in acid.
sigh
The owners say the building, a gem of modern architecture, has outlived it's usefulness.

Noose Son story here.
Farewell

And now it's time tosay good bye.
This computeer has served me well under Win 98 & about 4 versions of Fedora Core Linux but at 700mhz, it's just gotten too damn slow. And, hey, that served me well under Win 98? Actually that whore was so gunked up with crap, I couldn't even get online at one point. That's when I switched. I might also point out that I could not install Ubuntu on this old dog either. I think the CD drive was too slow so install processes kept timing out.
Now, should I even bother with activating the WinXP Pro on my new old computer? (refurb) Go ahead & install FC 14? Try Ubuntu again?
Only time will tell. For now...
Vaya con Mike, you pokey ass Methuselon.

For those of you hoping I was going to quit wasting Google server space - forget it, see ya later, frater.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Growth v. Ed

The Fishwrap has reported a listing of states' educational performance & policies by EdWeek . Interestingly newly released census data compiled by The Urbanophile tells us which states are growing the fastest & slowest. Are people moving to states with the best educational facilities? Not exactly. States are listed with the worst population performers from worst to 40th worst and from best to 10th best with their educational report on the right. States in the top 10 are listed in blue & states in the bottom 10 are listed in red.

Least population growth.
  • Michigan - 24
  • Rhode Island - 31
  • Louisiana - 21
  • Ohio - 11
  • New York - 2
  • West Virginia - 10
  • Vermont - 12
  • Massachusetts - 3
  • Illinois - 40
  • Pennsylvania - 9

Greatest population growth.
  • Nevada - 45
  • Arizona - 42
  • Utah - 41
  • Idaho - 44
  • Texas - 13
  • North Carolina - 19
  • Georgia - 8
  • Florida - 5
  • Colorado - 39
  • South Carolina - 15
Burning Crosses

The Ohio School Board has agreed with lower boards decisions to fire a Mt Vernon science teacher for a number of reason but the cup of grass was "branding" kids - burning crosses into their arms with a "high frequency generator".
I am assuming these were not permanent but it seems like something a parent should agree to before the branding commences. Why a cross, or an "X" as the teacher contends, and not something like the kid's initials? Who knows. I wonder what people's reactions would be if he had drawn a swastika, pentacle, hammer & sickle or crescent & star onto the kids' arms. The guy had been teaching Christianist creationist type stuff in the past & was less than honest in investigations into his activity. He had surveyed students and asked about their religious views. ok. When asked about this, he denied it and when completed surveys were brought to his attention he claimed his rights to privacy had been violated. Sounds like a guy who knows he's out of line. One school board member said she had been dealing with complaints about the guy for 11 years.
John Freshwater says he does not know if he will continue to appeal his case.

Noose Son story here.

Previous story here.

An even previouser story (because this has been dragging on for 3 years) here.
Hittin' the Tarmac Hackin'

The new Ohio Secretary of State, Jon Husted, on his first day, has reversed an order by outgoing SoS to check on ballots cast minorly incorrectly. In a polling location serving 2 precincts, voters were given provisional ballots if they approached the wrong precinct instead of being directed to the other precinct. The difference between precincts is tables on opposite sides of a room with their numbers scrawled in Sharpie on a piece of paper identifying them.
I have approached the wrong table & have been directed to the other a number of times. It seems natural to tell someone to try again rather than introduce a whole new process of digging out a provisional ballot.
The race in question is for a countywide position, Juvenile Court Judge. Precincts don't really matter much. The all or nothing approach to validating ballots seems kind of heavy handed in localized vote counting.
Voting isn't a game. It is a right & responsibility & we should be working together to count every vote as best we can. The people denying these 800+ ballots are all Republican. The people wanting them checked & counted are all Democrat. It seems odd that the difference of opinion would be along party lines. In this case the Democrats seem to be acting more in line with the spirit of the process. The Republicans are defying the will of the individuals on this one.
I have to admit, I didn't vote on this race. Tracie Hunter is kinda cute in a stick bug sorta way but I have not been impressed by her work on CitiCable & I knew nothing about the Republican running for the office. On top of that, I have no kids & kinda believe everybody under 30 should be incarcerated or at least manacled, anyway.
The poll workers who screwed up & caused this mess should be fined & fired. In the long run I hope Husted does a better job of training poll workers so this doesn't happen again but, from this first action, I don't see that coming.

Fishwrap story here.

Cincinnati Blog post here.

Friday, January 07, 2011

Perpetual Danger

When Ted Strickland signed an executive order barring Ohioans from owning "exotic pets", he brought up the recent death of a a handler working with a bear. Apparently we are to believe this ban is in our best interest due to the dangers of "exotic pets".
"This rule will help protect Ohioans from deaths and serious injuries caused by attacks from dangerous wild animals held in private ownership." ~ T. Strickland

Don't believe it for a minute. This order stems from from an insidious agreement made earlier with HSUS which has never given a rat's ass about human safety. They would shove you under a bus if they thought it could liberate your cat so it could starve, get fleas & wind up getting eaten by a coyote. If it was about safety it seems there would be a few other priorities for the governor.
Since 1990 there have been 20 deaths by "exotic animals" in Ohio. In 2009 there were 519 murders in Ohio. In cases where people weren't gunning for specific people, 1,190 people died from traffic accidents. So, you are over a thousand times more likely to die due to your fellow man's inattentiveness than becoming Simba's dinner & over 500 times more likely to get shot while stiffing your pimp. 0.008 people in Ohio per 100,000 are killed by "exotic animals" every year.
This isn't about safety at all.
Wayne & his thugs want these animals to live free or die. They consider the ownership of pets (companion animals) to be a tortuous form of slavery. Make no mistake, that furball dozing on your lap, purring & digging it's claws into your leg is a victim of your horrific and immoral abuse.
If safety & proper care for these animals, many being "retired" from zoos & circuses, is an issue, we could have the Ohio zoos concoct a training program & set confinement standards that "exotic pet" owners would need to learn & follow in order to keep these critters. Regulation, the zoos could pick up some spare change, the state could pick up some license money, the animals would not be put to death & everybody wins.
Well, except for the animal rights loons.

Fishwrap story here.
Source
Source
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Monday, January 03, 2011

Was Karl Marx a Quimbobberoo?

Dinesh DSouza seems to be the latest darling of the TEA crowd. He paints Obammer as an Anti-Colonialist (Anti-Imperialist) Marxist. So Karl was an anti-colonialist. Isn't that also a prime tenant of libertarianism? Paleo-Conservative Pat Buchanan frequently gripes about the US imperialistic tendencies. Is Ron Paul a Marxist? Seriously, if Karl & I both like tuna salad, does that make me a Marxist or him a Quimbobberoo?. If D'Souza is trying to smear Obammer by linking him to a Russian Commie let's take a look at Russia for a minute. The patron saint of TEAse, Ronald Reagan, singlehandedly brought about the fall of the, dare I say it Soviet EMPIRE? Dunno about Ron's role but those guys looked pretty colonialistic to me. And Barry? Lessee, he still has us in Iraq, Afghanistan & maintaining a plethora of military bases all over the world.
Then D'Souza describes his upbringing as being similar to Obammer's because he was born & raised in India as an Indian citizen & Barry was born an American citizen & spent most of his life in the US state of Hawaii. ~gotcha~ Peas in pod.
D'Souza has seemed to learn one thing in the US. He seems to see how to tap into white racist fears of the "Angry Black Man". Barry's choice of ministers hasn't helped any, of course.
I guess this shows one of the unspoken objectives of the TEAse. In their desire to shrink government, they have vowed to not cut the military. That they condemn one of the prime beliefs of the original smaller, more constitutional libertarians speaks volumes.
"The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information. With a fascist the problem is never how best to present the truth to the public but how best to use the news to deceive the public into giving the fascist and his group more money or more power." ~ HA Wallace '44


source

Sunday, January 02, 2011

OTR in a Nutshell

Just finished Mike Morgan's Over the Rhine: When Beer Was King.
This book, in conjunction with Zane Miller's Changing Plans for America's Inner Cities: Cincinnati's Over-The-Rhine and twentieth-century urbanism will give you a real understanding of how Over the Rhine got to be what it is today & hopefully can shed some light on how to make it live again. Yeah, I know there's more books on the hood but these 2 will go a long way in familiarizing yourself with the subject. Miller's book is out of print but available at libraries & through online book stores but the prices are kinda high nowadays. Morgan's book is brand new & available from all the usual outlets. Morgan's book dedicates almost 2 pages to historic Emmert Grain.
Frances Trollope's Domestic Manners of the American has some goodies about her "Mowhawk Country Home", too.

Saturday, January 01, 2011

Dergulumania

After losing over $200 million in private investment before a tie was even hammered in, Governor elect Kasich is endorsing gas mining that, if it's there, if it is available, and if anybody wants it could make us all rich.
Lotta ifs.
The method used to extricate this gas from shale is called hydraulic fracturing. It tends to lead to groundwater contamination. Communities as far south as Springfield get their water supply from aquifers that are fed by Lake Erie.
This trailer for the movie Gasland goes into the process & problems.

The guy lighting his tap water scene is pretty cool. "It's not supposed to do that."
In Kasich's deregulation frenzy, it would be nice if he might lift restrictions that limit Cincinnati from pumping water further north. It would help out the city, negate the whole "privatization" - water district plan & could provide safe water for people who might very likely suffer from his gas mining scheme that seems a helluva lot iffier than the 3C train at creating jobs & prosperity.