Historical Perspectives
In the recent dust up with a local Catholic girls school trying to host an interfaith outreach potluckk, a lot of moronity has been raised. Dan Hurley, a local historian amongs about a dozen other hats, posted a LTE in the local Fishwrap discussing the social position of Catholics in America in the mid 1800s.
Hurley notes:

A newspaper entitled the "Anti-Papist," published in Cincinnati in 1846-47 with contributions from Harriet Beecher Stowe and other prominent citizens, stated clearly, it opposed "the principles of Papacy as both anti-Christian and anti-Republican."

An easy entertaining way to get an idea of what was going on would be to watch "Gangs of New York". That crap wasn't just in New York. It was thriving in the midwest as well. source and source.
We quit celebrating Guy Fawkes/Pope Day (with the burning of the Pope in effigy) because George Washington needed every ale man he could muster for the Revolution and that meant the few Catholics who served, too. King George was frequently represented in league with the Pope, as Anti-Christ like figures around the time of the Revolution.
When I see the Catholic Church behave in the small minded way they did at MoM, I wonder if the anti-Papist movement didn't have merit.

Full letter here.

Tandy Ad - 1982

Send in the Drones
Residents in the Springfield - Dayton area might be getting a sneak peek at the end of the world soon if legislators approve the airspace for rat brain controlled stealth assault drones. Estimates are for 1,000 new jobs - well, till they are replaced by robots.

Read all about it here.

Video by CincyStreetcar Blog

Chabot Wood
Mother of Mercy, a Catholic girls high school in Westwood, has backed out of hosting an interfaith Ramadan dinner at the school Friday night.
Instead, the dinner will be held in the Catholic Center at St. Monica-St. George Parish in University Heights.
After the "Cameragate" incident at Steve Chabot's Last "town hall" appearance it's interesting to contrast the neighborhoods' differences in tolerance and to think about how intolerant Westwood is overwhelmingly supportive of Chabot while diverse University Heights is probably at best, luke warm to the guy.
Westwood - take your small minded ignorant hatred & secede. And take combover boy with ya.

Fishwrap story here.

Cut the Damn Camera

It appears Representative Steve Chabot is all about controlling the message. In typical lawyerly fashion, he wants no documentation of his public appearances. Why? What's he afraid of? That he might be exposed for being the lame wildebeest that he is?

Cabaret Voltaaire's Cut the Damn Camera.

It's Official
The government has declared itself, it's agents and agencies not culpable. Message from Deters - "Don't even try suing us"
Still no word from the witness. Still no identification of the "psychedelic" mushrooms.
SSDD
Retread Fishwrap story here
WCPO's non story here
WKRC's shallow story here
WLWT's video of Deters moving his lips here
Here's a guy explaining how to attack a police officer. Think about his movements if he were extremely drunk.

1969 OK

Johnny Lytle

Watching an older person grapple with senility & dementia can appeal to one's more cynical sense of humor but when the affliction strikes a loved one the response usually is not that one. It's stricken members of my family & we have been adamant about protecting our loved ones from the humiliation of a cynical public. One of the most famous cases in this regard was Nancy & Ronald Reagan. When the ex-president's mind gave way, Nancy Reagan almost militantly shielded her husband from the cynical public.
While COA T's amoral and opportunistic exploitation of former Cincinnati councilman, mayor and congressman Tom Luken is pretty depraved, it's not to be unexpected. This has led to Luken challenging Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory to a series of televised debates. Luken forgot about his last scheduled television appearance on Newsmakers. Does the man deserve the public humiliation? I am sure some past political opponents would relish it, Mallory has no taste for it, but the question is - where the hell is the Luken family?

Springfield In Top 5 Again
The Springfield News Sun reports that Site Selection Magazine has ranked Springfield, OH, #5 as an area for economic development for cities between 50,000 & 200,000.
While Springfield has slipped a little. This is the third year in a row it has been in the top 5. Dayton and Cincinnati have usually ranked well in their population categories.
In other pointless list news, they also have Ohio at #10 in their top 10 states.

Previously

Dilemma at the Fishwrap

As the Porktown Fishwrap's print edition sales fall, they have opted to using a smaller and more appropriate tabloid format. An easy solution for the newer size restraints would be to move to a 5 or 6 point font but therein lies the rub. Most of the people who still read the paper paper are increasingly in need of 14, 16 & 18 point (preferably bold) type.
what to do, what to do…..
With any luck they will adopt the Page Three Girl. At any rate, the smaller format will be more convenient to use on the streetcar.

Can You Spot the Difference ?

Over the years people ask about the proposed Cincinnati Streetcar system - What's any different about the streetcar and dressing up a bus like NOKY's Southbank Shuttle? I dunno. Do YOU see anything remotely different?

What do these guys have in common?
Ace Hardware, Clifton
Ace Hardware, Northside
Adrian Durbin Florist
Algin Office Equipment
Ambar India
American Apparel
American Heritage Flooring
Amol India
Antonelli Institute of Art
Apna India
Aquarius Star
Aronoff Center
Arby's
Arlin's
Baba Budan's
Bacall's
Bagel Brothers
Below Zero Lounge
Biagio's Bistro
The Blue Jay
Bruegger's Bagels
Cadillac Ranch
Campus Cyclery
Chameleon
Check Smart
Chicago Gyro
China Kitchen
Chipotle
Cincinnati Main Library
Clifton library
Clifton Natural Foods
Clifton Post office
Clifton Wines
College Hill Coffee
The Comet
Contemporary Arts Center
CVS
Darou Salam
Donato's Pizza
Ellanet
Esquire Theatre
Extreme Fashions
Good Samaritan Hospital
Goodie's Barbecue
Graeter's
Grammer's
Greg's Antiques
The Grove
Habaneros
Hamilton County Court House
Happen
Harry's Bar & Pizza
Hazel Glas
Honey
Javier's ~ or whatever it's called now
Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse
Jerusalem Restaurant
KFC/Taco Hell
Kilamanjaro
KoSho
La Rosa's
Lenhardt's
Mac's Pizza
Main Event
Mediterranean Foods
Melt
Mishiella's
Mixx
MOTR Pub
Murphy's Pub
Nada
Naru
National City Bank
Nicholson's
Northside Bar
North Side Bank & Trust
Northside library
Northside Tavern
NorthSlice
NVision
NYPD
Ohio Book Store
Ohio Check Cashers
Olive's
Park & Vine
Park Chili
Penn Station
Picnic & Pantry
PNC Bank
Proud Rooster
Richter & Phillips
Rohs Street Cafe
Schaeper's Pharmacy
Schwartz's Point
Shadeau Breads
Shake It Records
Shell Gas
Sidewinder Coffee
Sitwell's Coffee House
Skyline
Some Clothing Store in Clifton
Some Jewelry Store in Clifton
Starbucks's
Subway
Sophia's
Take the Cake
The Tax Place
Taylor Jameson
Thai Cafe
Thai Express
Tink's
Toko Baru
U.C.
White Castle

Yep, if you want a burrito, a coffee, listen to jazz, rock, bluegrass or maybe just get a master's degree - it's all available on Metro's RT 17.
~ and, yeah, I know the list isn't complete….

Searching old Newspapers
ok, this is probably old news to everybody else but it's pretty cool. Google has scans of some old newspapers at Google Newspapers. It's not a lot. No Cincinnati or Dayton but a little Springfield, some Covington, 35 years of Urbana & a damn century of Portsmouth.
Springfield Daily News 1861-2
Covington Journal 1849-76
Champaign Democrat (Urbana, OH) 1887-1916
The Urbana Democrat 1913-1915
The Urbana Daily Democrat 1915-1922
Portsmouth Daily Times 1900-2004

Attendance at Hamilton County Fair Almost Doubles

Photos from the HCF FaceBook site
Meanwhile neighboring fairs had decreases in attendance along the lines of almost 20%. Still, the Fishwrap has to grouse about it.
oh, yeah, a goat was born there last week (at the fair - not the Enquirer).

The Road to Hell
My name is Chris and I'll be your driver

In the latest episode of the Sillyman Hour on Time Warner Local Access Cable, Smitherman wanders a residential area of Avondale bemoaning all the vacant abandoned housing. Besides breaking into the Mr Rogers theme repeatedly he tries linking the blight to a proposed health clinic (shot down by Smitherman's Republican comrades) and the proposed streetcar.
I agree that the buildings need to be occupied & so does the city. The city's law department has been vexed with banks like Wells-Fargo & Deutsche Bank and their cavalier handling of their properties.
Smitherman has a plan, tho, and as he repeatedly states, "It's not rocket science". The city should use eminent domain to seize the properties and then sell them to responsible people for $1 each.
He doesn't mention that the government is required to compensate property owners a fair value for their properties & that the process is long and costly. He also ignores the fact that his plan is unconstitutional. Remember the (other) Gamble House that did get saved in Norwood? You can't use eminent domain to transfer property from one owner to another.
The city can, however, use infrastructure to make places more convenient to live in. That's the core of the streetcar plan that Smitherman so despises as bringing in new residents is characterized as gentrification. Wouldn't that be the result of his unconstitutional plan for Avondale? Or maybe the issue is the right people.

And the First Salvo is Fired

The Fishwrap, AKA the Area Around Cincinnati Enquirer has fired off it's first doom & gloom article about the Hamilton County Fair, which runs from today through Saturday, complete with 29 black & white photos shot during the 50s & 60s. Probably the last time they sent a reporter. Many of the pictures, like above, showing empty stands. The black & white subtly indicating the event is old & out of date. The lack of highlights indicates dark, murky undesirability.
waytogoboys…..

Read all about it here

Diversity for Dollars

NPR had an article about Hollywood Heroes Losing the Fight for Diversity with author John Ridley. Ridley complained that the various movie adaptations of white comic book characters should replace those characters with Black & Hispanic actors to kinda mix it up & get a more diverse audience.
Ridley suggests:

"But for a real leap, how about casting Will Smith as Superman; Denzel Washington as Superman's father, Jor-El; and Michelle Rodriguez as Lois Lane? I guarantee you non-stop chatter until the film opens."

A kind of stereotype there I think. Black males & Hispanic females...
Ya want real flips John? How about Gina Torres as General Georgette Patton portrayed as a vampire prostitute that preys on children? How about a hard drinking, hard fighting, hard loving, gun totin' Mother Theresa played by Tom Selleck? How about Brad Pitt as Dutty Boukman?
Or howabout you do what Robert Rodriguez did & create your own damn hero as in Machete? Or Disney with The Incredibles?
If your aim is parody, fine. Weapon Brown and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies were both great as parodies. If you want to do an adaptation, do it straight. I think maybe Ridley has been in Hollywood too long.
As Bruce Campbell pointed out:

"If you go to Hollywood, you've already sold out. By the sheer act of going there, you're saying, 'I need to go there because this is the only way I can get my movie made.' Baloney! Indiana's the place to make your movie. Pontiac, Michigan. Whatever. Then you're just making it on the merits of the movie."

.
Disney knows that it's characters are it's main asset. Ya don't fuck with 'em. Valerie D'Orazio brought this up on her now locked down blog, The Occasional Super Heroine. If Marvel or DC want to piss away their characters (and Marvel definitely seems to) that's their choice. The comic book reader is pretty conservative, tho, and while the illiterate popular movie audience may go for it today, it's not a good long term strategy. If you just want some money for your next fix, whoring could be the way to go. I suggest getting creative, however.

Die You Zombie Bastards

Die You Zombie Bastards (2005), is quite simply a masterpiece of film making. Red needs to find his wife, Violet, after count Nefarious kidnaps her to be his queen in a world where he has transformed the population of Earth into mindless zombie slaves. Helping to reunite the cannibal couple is Hasil Adkins in his dramatic debut as Red's sensei. Jamie Gillis delivers a blockbuster finale as Stavros, the mysterious man who aids Red along the way.
Paired with a powerful soundtrack by top recording artists, this globe trotting action adventure is bound to thrill and delight.

Support your local newspaper.
Piss off Jeff Ruby.

Return of the Brownshirts?

photo by CSPAETHC
One of the things I like about the blogosphere is that it gives the "man on the street" a chance to self publish & then the interconnectedness of the intertubes has a viral component that kinda resembles an anarchist AP.
Originally published at CincyVoices by CSPAETHC. He witnessed a campaign worker sporting a Chris Smitherman shirt collecting signatures & then emptying a news box of City Beat papers and depositing them in a nearby trashcan. The edition of the City Beat had this article taking Smitherman to task for recent political positions. Smitherman, who is president of a Cincinnati chapter of the NACP has taken a number of positions that seem to run contrary to mainstream & national NAACP positions.
The result to CSPAETHC's post is that it spread like wildfire through the local blogosphere. It's been repeated at The Cincinnati Blog, The Cincinnati Asylum & Metro Cincinnati as well as on local message boards.
I'm no pro editor so I don't know if this merits MSM coverage. The Fishwrap's Politics Extra Blog seems well suited. The Asylum demands Smitherman give City Beat an apology. There are a number of ways Smitherman can get out of this but they all require that he address the issue. Ignoring it could be pretty costly in the end.

M

Yes, this marks my 1,000th post on this thing. Dumb luck should have provided for at least 1 worthwhile post. I mean a chicken or a monkey would be able to churn out something…..
Well, if people don't arrive via "next blog" they appear to be searching for Grace Slick, Iggy Pop, Mrs Butterworth or Leslie Ghiz.
~ok~
After the Grace Slick article, my most popular page is a countdown of the 10 Hottest Robo-Cyborg Babes. A crowning achievement.
I mainly focus on SW Ohio but, after Cincinnati, the next highest ranking city to hit the site is Columbus. But that comes in behind Sydney, Lower Hutt & friggin' Madras.
I admit it, I only signed up with Blogger so I could post a comment on a Rob Zombie blog. I only started making my own posts because I had nothing to do at work.
I started out griping about Republican fiscal irresponsibility in the county government. I haven't had much of an impact there. Then I campaigned for Ron Paul & railed against Obama. That went well. Condemned state gambling. fail. Ragged on the CCV - they're still looking for ways to crawl down our throats & into any other unprotected orifice. I wanted to change the world. Maybe I should just learn how to make bombs…
or go into real estate - regardless, I will endeavor to improve my use of commas & not mix up tenses so much in my next 1,000 bits of blathering.

Shorts

From Lemmy
Pet Peeve #279 - why do guys have to wear big long baggy shorts? There's no point & they look dumb. They're more like culottes. Lemmy gets it. Girls get it. Usually girls are the vain ones who wear impractical things but in this case, the guys got 'em beat in spades. It's hot. It's muggy.
jeezle…

Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie

WCPO reports that Paul McCartney's request to not serve meat at his shows will not be honored in Cincinnati. Hamilton County Commissioner Greg Hartmann says fans need not worry and hot dogs will be served.
ok, how hard would it be to serve vegetarian hot dogs & just not tell people? In my experience, carnivores & vegetarians have a knee jerk reaction to the word "vegetarian" with carnivores blurting out "HELL NOES" & vegetarians getting all giggly & tittery.
If it tastes good, people tend to eat it.

The Teacher Is NOT Your Friend

Missouri has passed a law preventing teachers & students from "friending" on social media services that allow private messaging. Apparently they don't want kids to turn out like Waldo.
Thing is, teachers and students have always lived amongst us. Teachers have always had rules limiting their behavior. Kids have always been stupid & misinterpret the intentions of teachers.
This legislation is throwing the baby out with the bath water.
It also highlights a problem with social media which is that none of us is just one person. Short of establishing a number of accounts, it's hard to address that with junk like PhaseBuch, MySpaz or Tweeter. Why would an adult teacher want a student reading about cousin Jimmy's upcoming operation? I know I wouldn't have wanted my high school teachers reading about my personal teenage crap.
That being said, being a middle aged geek who likes cartoons, punk rock & zombies, I have accumulated a lot of young "friends" on the intertubes. Some of these kids clearly don't get the idea that they are posting personal crap to the entire world. More than once I have thought about asking to talk to their parents. Maybe their teachers could do this. Well, not in Missouri.

NPR story here.

Could The Guy Do Something More Arrogant ?
After campaigning on an austerity / small government platform & lambasting the incumbent governor for his use of a personal aircraft, it appears the new sheriff is in line to quadruple his use of the same plane. His spokesman has said they realized after the election just how handy the plane was. What else did Kasich fail to think through? Could a rail line across the state have actually been a good idea? Running through the state's capitol, perhaps a gubernatorial rail car set up for meetings & press conferences could have been handy too.

WKYC story here.

Greg Hardman of Christian Moerlein Brewing & Lager House