Are Your Departed Loved Ones Necro Slaves ?

I do not endorse this company, but they are spot on about the current online memorial services.
I paraphrase

Dad worked hard all his life and now that he's passed, he's still working - selling online advertising.

FWIW, your family can probably get it's own website with message boards, videos, databases & such for around a hundred bucks a year, so 5 zeds or more & you can probably beat the big guys' price of $20/yr apiece & you can set it up anyway you want and no advertising.
Well, if you want to run ads for cousin Otis' bait & ammo shop - go for it.

Minor Swing

1/23/2014 would be Django Reinhardt's 104th birthday.

Streetcar Fares

In a Transportation committee meeting 1/22/14 where committee chair Amy Murray inexplicably expressed surprise at hearing the terms 1A, 1B, and 2 regarding streetcar phases, Metro operations folk announced a fare schedule of $1.75 for 2 hours & $3.50 for 24 hours. Longer term passes were up in the air due to tech advances & incorporating with the bus system possibilities.

Self Interest & Free Stuff

The Hamilton County GOP wants to move the Board of Elections out to the old Mercy Hospital in Mt Airy. That's where you go for early voting. Currently only the 17, 19 & 38x go out that way, the 38x being a limited service route & the 17 just being one of four 17s, who at best, only run about once an hour. The trip by bus would be much longer for most folks as opposed to the trips to the current location at the hub of transit activity in the region.
The local Dem head yammers on about black people & the GOP yammers on about free parking. Yeah, Republicans and their "free stuff" again.

Current travel times look like this
1 hr - Mt Washington
.25 - .5 hr Clifton
.5 - 1 hr - Oakley
.5 - 1 hr - Westwood
.75 hr - Madisonville
.75 - 1 hr - Sayler Park
1.25 hr Harrison
1 - 1.25 hr - Forest Park
.75 hr - Terrace Park
1.5 hr - Green Township

To get to the Mt Airy facility, times look like this
1.5 - 2 hr - Mt Washington
.75 hr - Clifton
1 - 1.75 hr - Oakley
.5 - 1 hr min - Westwood
1.5 - 1.75 hr - Madisonville
1.75 - 2 hr - Sayler Park
2 - 2.75 hr - Harrison
1 hr - Forest Park
1.25 - 2 hr - Terrace Park
1 - 1.25 hr - Green Township

Triatafilou's cronies in Green Township would get a bit shorter ride. All the locations he cites involve some walking, of course.

More at The Warp

Child of God

One of the things that really struck me about this book was Cormac McCarthy's description of sound. As people routinely butcher McCarthy's books in movies, I've learned not to expect much.
In the opening scene in the book, the protagonist walks up to a group of people in n open field at a farm auction & protests their being there as he squats in an old shack on the property. A guy walks up & clobbers him in the back of the head with a shovel. The scene was very airy & the sound of the shovel against the head was described in great detail. In the brief clip of the scene in this trailer it seems very claustrophobic & there's virtually no sound of the impact.
He seems a little 'under dressed' in the scene where he's shooting at the farmer in the field, too.
So far, it doesn't look good. The protagonist doesn't look anything like what I saw reading the book. He seemed more like a mish mash of Ernest T Bass & Charles Manson.
oh well...

Horror Sells

ok, not exactly horror, but, seriously, if the drug store had people trying out condoms all over the place?
yeah, now we're talking horror...

New Media Voice in Town

While WC3PO doesn't seem committed to delivering discussion of local issues on TV, they are putting Kevin Osborne on the browser screen on Mondays. The first episode is in a bar with John Cranley (fitting) where Osborne throws a few softball questions at the mayor while dorky jazz music plays in the background for 7 minutes.
It's not going to usurp Dan Hurley's Newsmakers. Hurley's civic & historical knowledge make him a tough act to follow. I think it was WC3PO that had a panel discussion at about 4AM on Sunday mornings that featured area journalists like Peter Bronson. Funny how serious news doesn't work as well on Sundays at 4AM as bawdy humor, horror movies & deranged preachers do.

Filthy Lucre

It appears the obviously Ayn Rand inspired Building Cincinnati is going to a pay site. They will charge $8/mo and are currently looking for crowdfunding.
Building Cincinnati covers business development in the Cincinnati region. They dont' cover shootings, car wrecks, vice arrests, scandals & gas station robberies. There's no messy Mallotgates & no biased scattershot Fishwarp style reporting - just in depth analysis with facts straight from the horses mouth.
Fortunately, Blogging isn't Cool can continue to provide hard hitting content (see below) at no cost (financial) to the reader since our costs are pretty much covered the old way - betting on cribbage games at Bohemian Grove.

Wrecking Ball

I don't know if Ron Jeremy's cover of wrecking ball constitutes horror any more than Miley Cyrus' ever present tongue, but...
wahtever

Beer & Politics

A big government, tax & spend Democrat, Rep. Dan Ramos, of Lorain has proposed House Bill 391 that reduces business regulations by increasing the maximum percentage of alcohol allowed in beer sold or produced in the state from 12 to 21 percent. This would bring it line with alcoholic beverages like wine that are already sold in stores.
Meanwhile, small government, business friendly Republican AG Mike Dewine is generally opposed & wants to maintain the nanny state double standard system already in place.
Pretty typical for Ohio….

Read more at the Cowtown Dispatched

Hamilton County Juvenile Court Scared Straight Program

The Most Influential Hamburger

I'm not exactly sure what that even means, but Time has listed the 17 Most Influential Hamburgers with the White Castle slider at #1.
ok, but The Big Boy doesn't even make the list?
wackos…

Time to Move

Is it time for the Freestore to move?
Their mad desire to have acres of parking coupled with growing non metro poverty and the city of Cincinnati trying to increase it's tax base to help pay for welfare, it would seem so. Their strategy of buying nearby buildings, letting them go to hell & then demolishing them for surface parking for their auto owning poverty stricken clientele seems irrational and not in lune with the best interests of the city.
Their latest target is 1606 & 1608 Walnut, purchased 7 years go & left to decay.
The Freestore has applied for a Certificate of Appropriateness to demolish these structures for a surface parking lot. The properties are located within the Over-the-Rhine Historic District.
A pre-hearing conference has been set for 1/21/14 at 9:30 A.M. in Suite 720, Centennial Plaza Two, 805 Central Avenue to provide interested parties with an opportunity to review the project and to ask questions prior to the hearing on 1/27/14.
Maybe it's time to move to a location more befitting their enterprise. Cincinnati Mall?

Watching

While there might be some value in public executions & torture, it's not likely going to happen anytime soon. At least not while we have Democrats in office.
But would you want to watch a family member be executed?
In a recent execution, using an untried chemical cocktail, the children of the executed watched as their father died over a short period of time, 15 - 25 minutes. Shootings & beheadings take less time. Crucifixions take considerably longer. Regardless, even if your dad brutally raped & murdered young pregnant woman, watching him die is going to be painful. So why watch?
I've done one natural death watch. It's no fun but you don't want to leave the dying alone. But that's not an execution.
I don't get it, I think I would tell my kids to stay away. There's no reason to have that burned into your memory.

Fishwarp aarticle with an amusing misspelling here

MM

Slummin' through the sketchbook, I found this scribble. While it seems like something an insomniac might scrawl out, it actually came to me in a dream. I made some cursory attempts at animating it but - mesh problems….
Anyway, this marks the 2,000th post here at Blogging Isn't Cool. woohoo!

Who's the Dead Chick ?

While not exactly horror, the women's blog at The Guardian has brought up the use of the corpse in advertising.
Miley Cyrus on a beach with a corpse is a lot less offensive than swinging around naked on a wrecking ball with her tongue hanging out of her head, but no less weird.
Apparently, it's mainly a fashion thing & I am completely ignorant of that world.
Dunno if this is a trend that will move to automobiles, candy bars, etc.
Maybe I will have to get a subscription to Vogue…..

The End of Apple

An overly dramatic ad for ~ a gizmo…
yay
Sure, you can spot the Ohio State Marching Band in there if you don't blink, but, without horror, who the hell is going to buy it? If Apple cannot embrace horror in their marketing strategy there can be no chance for their success in the future. Maybe, as sales drop off, they will see the pale green light flickering in the darkness and take it as a torch into the wild & wooly chaos of the marketplace apocalypse.

SMOKIN' !

If you were wondering how hot 1956 was - wonder no more.

Jim's

Any Bob City native over 40 should remember Jim's. Located near the Regent Theater on Limestone in hygienic Springfield, Ohio, Jim's serrved sodas & sandwiches to Ftogtowners for decades.
It's interesting to me to see how people's tastes have changed over the years. no more egg phosphates, egg malted milks, Green Rivers, and no more chopped olive sandwiches. I gotta say, it all looks pretty good to me. Especially the prices.
Jim ran the shop with his wife or sister. We never really figured it out. They would yell orders, etc. across the dining room and would frequently bicker.
My parents would dump me off at my grandmother's apartment on weekends and we would walk up to town, past the train station, to Jim's, the Regent & Woolworth's on Saturdays after sitting up watching old horror movies on Friday night - Chiller Theater.
oh well...

Cello Madness

Cello Madness @ the Northside Tavern tonite featuring the chick in the above video.
More info here.

Cosmos

Castle Csjethe to be Restored

Čachtice or Csjethe castle was built between 1263 & 1276. It was later the home of Hungarian Countess Erzsebet Bathory til her death in 1614. She was imprisoned in a few rooms there in 1610.
The castle was burned in 1708 and the ruins are currently located in Slovakia although it has been in other countries over the centuries. Obviously Slovakia is looking at raking in tourist €s & is restoring other castles as well.

More here.

Headache cam view of the ruins

Motivaations

One has to wonder why some people are so concerned with building a new bridge over the Ohio River to help facilitate Interstates 71, 74 & 75.
A new report indicates that human trafficking tends to follow the interstates & cites a concentration along I-75.
The hottest areas for the sex trade are listed in Northern Kentucky where folks are most adamant about a free ride and in Sharonville, OH, home of the CCV.
hm

Read more at the 'Warp.

Railroads Half Off

Charlie Winburn deserves a place in the Hamilton County government. In the footsteps of such luminaries as Chris Monzel and Phil Heimlich, he is spearheading the proposition of selling off assets to pay off short term debts. But like his visionary predecessors, he wants to sell at fire sale prices. Now, bear in mind he was steadfastly against leasing parking assets, but….
Which way is the wind blowing today?

Fishwarp story here

The Blind Rage of the Tyrant

While Cincinnati city hall hemorrhages talented staff due to Cranley's maniacal hamfisted antics, he is threatening to 'clean house' at SORTA, too. Seems he's pissed about their offer to handle the streetcar operating costs.

Absolutely we’re going to expect changes on that board
The fact is they were willing to cannibalize bus service …

Of course they weren't going to cannibalize bus service - that's just more of Cranley's paranoid fantasy world. But what the Business Courier dug up was interesting - that the majority of the appointees voting for supporting streetcar operations were chosen by Hamilton County commissioners.
Cranley can only exact his revenge on a minority of his SORTA enemies.
sigh
Can we expect a return of Tom 'We don't have signs' Luken to the SORTA board as Cranley desperately tries to turn back time?

Slummin' in the Sketchbook

This will probably be the scene at the Moerlein Lager Haus tonight with the UrbanExchange thing going on. Buncha young hotheads stoked on booze. oh yay….
Dunno if that Simes character shows up on a Skype monitor or not.

Smitherman - Round Up The Usual Suspects

Christopher Smitherman wants more cops on the streets of Cincinnati and stricter enforcement of the law. While a major number of people arrested in Cincinnati are black and many people wail about the disproportionate number of blacks incarcerated, Smitherman pays this no mind.

We’ll deal with a little blowback from people in the community who have a little more liberal perspective, this committee supports you, chief. I want your officers to know this committee supports you.

Of course it might just be Smitherman kissing some union butt, who knows?
Smitherman's term as president of the Cincinnati NAACP hasn't seen a great drop in black criminal activity or black victimization. Between his 'advancement' agenda & fellow councilman Winburn's jobs, jobs jobs agenda, black poverty in Cincinnati has only worsened.
The chief of police, Jeffery Blackwell, wants to replace officers lost to attrition over the last few years which would put Cincinnati back to having a lot of police per citizen. More than some comparable cities. He also wants to utilize technology better.

We are desperately short of officers. Additionally, we need to improve our technology platform.

Unfortunately, Smitherman spearheaded a campaign to outlaw technology that could free up highly skilled officers from fairly mundane tasks. He cited the racist deployment of monitoring devices as a reason. Deployment would have been handled by the police, of course, so does Smitherman support the police or believe they are racist? Who does Smitherman think his stepped up police efforts are going to snare?

More at the Fishwarp.

Themes Gone Wild

Since the experience is more important than the food and since, as we all know, Horror Sells, I'm thinking about a resaurant with a host dressed like Dracula, waitresses dressed like Dracula's brides, bussers dressed as zombies, bartenders dressed like mad scientists and a kitchen staff dressed in Texas Chainsaw Massacre gear. Probably do up the bar & kitchen equipment in weird retro spaceship robot crap and if anybody has a birthday, you could send somebody out running through the dining room with a leatherface mask & running chainsaw.
Maybe get H.R. Geiger to design the tables & chairs, some animatronic steampunk band for music…..
Insurance might be an issue but, so what? It would be a guaranteed success!
Menu? Who cares?

Subconcious Password

by Chris LandrethI posted another one of this guy's animations awhile ago, Bingo the Clowno. I guess it's fitting I can't find it…

Finding that silver lining

With a pre-dawn high of 5, it's pretty damn cold. And icy…
But on the bright side, the nosferatu won't be digging themselves out of the ground anytime soon.

Trash Talking

While not a Sittenfeld fan, this beats the hell out of Cranley's rambling, curmudgeonly mess of a press conference the other day.
Note to PG - next time, turn the camera 90°, &^#@it!

PS - Good luck with the hair Ben Gals!

Horror Sells Industrial Lighting

Larson electronics is marketing it's 10 Must-Have lighting Products for the inevitable Zombie Apocalypse.
This is assuming, of course, that the lights, especially moving lights, don't attract the brain eating monsters...

Stolen Musical Instruments

The following instruments were stolen form Justin Todhunter’s Westwood home. He plays with Jake Speed & the Freddies and the Rattlesnakin’ Daddies.

• 2000 blue Fender Stratocaster
• Eastman mandolin with red finish
• 1949 National 1088 Triplex Lap steel guitar
• 1985 Kentucky KM-1000 mandolin
• 2005 Martin OOO-M acoustic guitar
• 2009 Douglas bass guitar

Weird Fishwarp article here

Frisch's Jumps the Shark

In a recent interview with WKRC…

Representative for Frisch's, Karen Maier, said, "It does not taste the same but it is still good. It is flavored Pepsi or it is flavored Coke and they don't taste the same but they are both good products."

So, consider, if you will, an Italian restaurant swapping out Chianti for Liebfraumilch. "It does not taste the same but it is still good. It is fermented grape juice and they don't taste the same but they are both good products."
For that matter, everything on the Frisch's menu is about equal quality, so why bother with menus? Just tell the waitress what you want to spend and get whatever. It does not taste the same but it is still good.

For folks wanting to turn this fiasco around or just vent your outrage, there's a FB page, Bring Coke Back
and there's a petition drive
Change.org

WKRP article here

Progress? What Progress?

Bad to BizarreWhen John Cranley promotes the progress of Cincinnati but places a wager using a bunch of old shit…
In placing a bet on a football game with the San Diego mayor, they San Diego mayor offered 'craft beers' from his city. Cranley offered Gold Star Chili, Montgomery Inn Ribs & Graeter's Ice Cream. At his own personal expense.
If you are going to tout the city's progress & the other guy is wagering beer, why not…

• Triple Digit Brewing
• MadTree Brewing
• Rock Bottom Restaurant Brewery
• Mt. Carmel Brewing
• Rhinegeist Brewery
• Christian Moerlein
• Rivertown Brewing
• Blank Slate Brewing

Does this man have any idea what's going on in this town or is he locked in the 70s?
His amateurish, (not very) cheery Cheneyesque press conference was somewhere between creepy & sad.
Man, I miss Mark Mallory already...

1969 OK

yeah, ok, technowise maybe, but the existence of the dependent housewife 45 years out kinda didn't work so well.

2014

ok, so I'm bringing in the new year with a 40+ yr old song celebrating youth & condemning the old regime - it's just cycles, dammit.
Some of those pictures in he vid ain't exactly right...

Holiday Theremin Disaster

Mad Todd

Ed Fitzgerald, a Cuyahoga boy, knew he had no statewide name recognition when he decided to run for governor, so he started last summer. Todd Portune, a Hamilton County boy just kinda pulled his candidacy outta his ass at the last minute. Name recognition schlame recognition…
Portune, when queried on the issue, cited the filing deadline was what was important. A perfect technocrat response.
Fitzgerald's claim to fame is as a good government guy having rooted out corruption in Chicago & Clevo. After 4 years of Kasich, there's probably plenty of work to be done in that department in Columbus these days.
Todd Portune has a thing about railroad park & rides. The 2 major parties have allegedly rigged brokered elections to keep him (& others) in office. I seriously used to like the guy but he's just appearing kinda worn out & just coasting.
So, why the challenge? Might there be conspiracy afoot? BiC certaily hopes so.
Could be the Green TWP GOP is putting Portune up to this. Could be the state Dems are putting Portune up to this, thinking the debate would improve Fitzgerald's name recognition and the run would put another line in Portune's Wikipedia page.
Or is it Portune's ploy to get on as Fitzgerld's Lt Governor?
Whatever, Kasich's bombasticness is most likely to win in 2014.

Audacity of the Echo Hippie

The dewy eyed Millennial liberal, buoyed by his doting parents' praise & admiration has brought forth an obnoxious group of wet behind the ears saviours - The Echo Hippies.
Silly twits who actually believed their parents when they heaped praise upon them for wiping their own asses, are coming out of the woodwork to solve all the world's problems.
Marx spewing babes - unaware of real problems & their roots and unaware of people already working on the issue, some longer than the Echo Hippie started to draw breath are driving me up a wall.
They seem to disavow anybody over 30, anybody in a uniform, including clerical collars. OK, granted, that sounds familiar, but as I have aged, I have seen the merits of fogeys and I have come to respect the brightness of the yunguns.
When you storm in demanding stuff and don't even know its already there & already in place - that is what bugs me. Then, when they are challenged, they scream & cry foul.
It's so easy to just ask first, but these fucking, liberal little impertinent, screaming maggots are really starting to piss me off.
and, furthermore - get offa my lawn !!

∃ ∀ ∈ ⊕

Year End Warp Up

The 2013 Sidebar GirlsAs the year winds to a close, it's time to take stock of ye olde blogge. The smashing success of the sidebar girls just can't be measured. Surfeit it to say, a slideshow with a moshed up GarageBand loop mess was merited.
Readership was down 3 years in a row - I didn't think that was even possible…
Google has made tracking keyword searches nigh impossible but I found top searches were:

• Grace Slick
• Amazing Hair Raising Monsters
• John Cranley
• Alyce & Rhae Andrece
• Ashley Bulgari
• bridge design
• Janice Rule
• brothel menu
• Gruss vom Krampus
• Britney Skye, zombie

Top countries are USA, Germany, Canada, Russia, & England. Top towns are Cincinnati, Ashburn, Palo Alto, Dayton & San Diego.
14.1% of readers stay longer than an hour, so I guess I, at least, have some kind of somnambulistical effect on some folks.
Top pages were

• The Cincinnati Streetcar Controversy
• Is John Cranley Even Lying to Himself?
• Death of a Star Wars artist
• Films of Cincinnati 1934
• The Fugs - CIA Man

My hottest merchandise appears to be the Seal of Mercury Mousepad. Sold 2 in the last 3 months. One in Wales & one in Australia. Ain't sold a thing from my Cincinnati Collection. sigh.
My Slummin' in the Sketchbook series is attracting a lot of attention. I'm kinda thinking a coffee table edition for Xmas 2014.
People are sharing links via FB more
Chrome is the most popular browser, with Firefox & IE slugging it out for second & Mac OSX coming in at about 15% & Linux at about 5% for operating systems.
So what's in store for 2014? Recipes? Showtunes? NASCAR?
Stay tuned!

Here They Come! Is Cincinnati Ready?

While the goons over at UrbanCincy are carrying on about whether the city is ready for echo-boomers, we, here at Blogging isn't Cool & our pals at the Bilderberg Group, are more concerned with whether the city is ready for the billions in European investment in the USA or not. These guys have already decided to invest in the country, but do they even know what Cincinnati is? Where Cincinnati is? What it's strengths & weaknesses are?
Our last mayor might have had the right idea by representing the city abroad but how well he did it & how good his aim was, I don't know. Did he go to Romania? One third of the Romanian companies, mainly from manufacturing, technology and consumer goods industries, are considering international expansion in the coming year, according to a study conducted by Citibank. The most popular areas for expansion are the Middle East, Europe and the U.S.
We have Globili - that's a start, but most of the international businesses that are interested in coming to the US already have English speakers. We have a website but so does everybody else.
What we need are people out scouting for businesses abroad that are a good fit with Cincinnati, it's location, people, skills, assets etc.
As the PIC @ UrbanCincy points out

As Cincinnati’s new leadership settles into their self-empowered roles of merely paving roads and keeping streetlights on, how does that position the city and region in an ever-changing economic landscape…

And it's not just foreign investment, American businesses are re-shoring, too.
A greater portion of the United States population is expected to move to urban areas in the coming years. The fastest growing segment of the population is immigrants as US birth rates have slowed.
Is Cincinnati prepared to reap anything from these trends? Or is Cincinnati, like a child, just going to stare out the window while chewing on the lead paint on the sill?

Psyche Rock

Pierre Henry's Psyche Rock. I only really know him from his work with Spooky Tooth that always comes up around Christmas.

Slummin' in the Sketchbook

Too Drunk to Fuck

Who knew Evan Johns did a cover of this DK classic?

Still There'll be More

Santa...

dear God - please make it stop.
HT to The Cincinnati Monocle

It's Christmastime In The City

Valeria Meets Barbie

As a fan of the barbie animated movies, I have to say Valeria Lukyanova is intriguing. I'm also a zombie fan , but Zombie Boy is just plain weird. Lukyanova takes it s step further, tho, with Space Barbie (below).
So here's what I want to see, Lukyanova in a Barbie animation. Creepy? Sure, but kids' entertainment tends to fit in there somewhere between creepy & horrifying so what the heck?
I wonder if this chick worries about somebody cutting her head off?

Slummin' in the Sketchbook

So be good for goodness' sake
I can't believe how legible my handwriting used to be. Anyway, time to get into the Christmas spirit & what better way than with a Santa hauling around a blood dripping axe.
Oh Ho Fucking Ho indeed...

Is the First City Wide Benefit of the Streetcar Greater Civic Engagement ?

Invest in Neighborhoods hopes so.
From their latest newsletter:

Let's Continue the Drive
The past couple of weeks have seen an exercise of citizen engagement unlike anything Cincinnati has experienced in recent memory. Historically at the neighborhood level, we tend to see a significant increase in participation when issues that touch self interest are being debated.
To be sure, the streetcar debate did for some involve self interest, but for many, many more (on both sides of the issue), it was a matter of what they felt was best for the future of our city. Many of those had not ever before spoken or acted publicly on an issue of such importance.
It's apparent to us there's a whole lot of passion about Cincinnati throughout the city. This passion, if pointed in the right directions, can benefit every neighborhood in the city.

Talk about swords to ploughshares…
Cincinnati can really benefit from friendly neighborhood rivalry but it can also result in bitter Balkanization. Our new mayor deftly used division to his favour in the last election.
Besides the outpouring of activism on both sides of the issue, the scrutiny applied to the streetcar project has also been pretty educating as to the processes of government, public infrastructure projects, government accounting, and such.
Taking this experience, we should be able to move forward promoting our communities & the city at large more efficiently & effectively.
Or we can waste it and just fall apart & squabble & threaten secession & bask in victimhood I guess...

Frank Zappa

12/21/1940

Glorious Results of a Misspent Youth

ya know?

Can You Spot the Difference ?

Torture 101

Torture is primarily a psychological thing. Beating the crap out of somebody is less effective (& a lot more work) than slugging somebody a couple times and threatening to beat the torturee to a pulp. Ultimately the torturee needs to think he can gain freedom by cooperation. If he believes he is doomed he might lie, clam up or try something heroic. You don't even need to use violence on the torturee. You can tell him he is about to be released and, at the last minute, tell him things didn't work out - can you offer this one bit of info, please?
In the end, the torturer has to expect to free his prisoner and must decide what message he wants to send. Does the prisoner go free looking healthy and unharmed or does the torturer want to send a message to other would be opponents and release the prisoner crippled with a noticeable injury, a limp, a missing eye or finger.
We can expect to see how John Cranley will handle that last part in the coming weeks & months.

Cornered Rats Don't Run

If you are a streetcar supporter heading down to the Cincinnati City Council meting Wednesday, 12/18 @ 1:30 PM, watch your back.
Streetcar foes, like the union thug presidents might get hauled out screaming & cursing or senile old politicians might stage a sit in. People might make throat slashing gestures or certain councilmen might lunge at his opponents. Or maybe a CO   er might think someone is standing too close and freak out on him.
We will see which city employees are dedicated to the city & it's peoples and which are bowing to their union bosses.
These are an irrational, angry, unpredictable lot with violent tendencies and Cranley is pleading with that thuggish horde to show up in force. Believing the fix to be in, they have not shown up at council meetings since the latest junta.
Cranley certainly doesn't have a good reputation for keeping control of his meetings and now that there are "no rules", who knows what bedlam might occur.
Remember, this isn't about money - it's about class warfare, nativism & political control. These people are beyond reason. Due to recent events they will be like cornered rats.
Watch your backs.

.

This swim club I belonged to as a kid - not a country club, more of a workingman's - WHITE workingman's recreation club, had a goldfish pond and a fish food dispenser thingie that you could plop a nickel into, like a gum machine, and get a small handful of fish food pellets.
When you'd throw the pellets, one by one into the water, the goldfish would be all over each other to catch a pellet or two.
It was kinda mean.
My buddy took the meanness & cheapness up or maybe down a notch. He didn't bother paying a nickel, he just threw pebbles into the water & let the fish fight over nothing. He would laugh and laugh and laugh.
He also got off on feeling up my dog's tits when she was pregnant.
Anyway, I am seeing Larry's mindset in John Cranley as he routinely plays streetcar supporters - tossing them pebbles.
Fuckin' with fish ain't the same as fuckin' with people.

The Boy Just Can't Help It

The Green TWP GOP

The gift that keeps on giving
The never ending font of corruption, nepotism, incompetence & right wing douchebaggery of the Green Township GOP, the latest gem is the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts, tasked with maintaining court records, couldn't keep the office's domain name registered. If Tracy Winkler's name sounds familiar, it should, the Winkler family makes up about half the local judiciary. You might recall the judges were cited for lavish spending in their courtrooms & for going off on costly seminars & conventions at posh resorts while Hamilton county was facing deficits and making draconian cuts to the budget and laying off employees.
This is also the township the Terhars call home. A husband & wife wrecking crew, Mr terhar was virtually handed a seat on the Ohio General assembly while Mrs Terhar, after winning a seat on the Ohio school board, was virtually handed the presidency of that board by powerful GOPers like John Kasich. Qualifications be damned. She was recently caught making ridiculous statements regarding the President being akin to Hitler even though the actions attributed to Hitler were false and any Ohio high school graduate should have known that. Meanwhile Mr Terhar has been merrily working to restrict voting, restrict womens' health options, promote gerrymandering & opaqueness (in the name of transparency) in politics, etc.
How did Terhar, a man with virtually no political experience get the gig? His wife turned it down when the GOP had to replace another Green TWP resident Robert Mecklenborg, who got busted driving drunk, pumped full of Viagra on an expired drivers license in Indiana in he company of a stripper about 1/3 his age. "old family friend"? hell, even his wife called BS on that one.
Green Township trustees demanded SORTA keep their damned buses off their turf because they didn't want "those people" coming into their beautiful little Utopia.
But that's not the only threat they have faced. One of Green Township's best managed to get on as president of Hamilton County's CMHA where he slammed Cincinnati's Hyde Park neighborhood with Section 8 housing and blocked any Section 8 in his home township. This all fell apart, however when HUD found out & demanded Green Township take on their fair share. Residents howled about their victimization (Hyde Park's didn't matter) and Steve Chabot, R Westwood, ran to their side & then walked away.
Back to that board of trustees. After advertising for a secretary - stating necessary qualifications & posting a deadline for applications - hired a woman sorely lacking in qualifications and who submitted her application past the deadline. It turned out she was the ex-wife of a prominent GOPer.
Back in August, 2013, folks in Green Township, drunk with their self importance, called in a grocery bag as an obvious terrorist bomb threat - because terrorists really give a fuck about Green Township. And while the residents see fit to complain about Morticia Addams' attire, bonfires of Democrat yard signs are AOK.
I thought Tremont City in Ohio's Clark County was the drama capitol of the world, but Green Township…

Very Interesting

Borrowing $20 MILLION for a highway interchange is AOK without independent audits and promises from the private sector for maintenance costs over the next 25 years.
Support was largely based on ROI predictions made by some of the same people who made the highly suspect predictions for the Cincinnati streetcar.
How much will this $20 MILLION cost us? About $2Million a year for a total of about $43 MILLION.
What will maintenance cost over the next 25 years? Who knows? Who cares? It's FREE!
Did anybody consider just using highway type signage on existing roads?


Read not much more at the Fishwarp.

Growing Cities

Slummin' in the Sketchbook

Do you dream in cartoon? I frequently do & the fact that it doesn't totally freak me out kinaa freaks me out. While this looks nothing like the Loa, Legba, it was. Had to draw it next AM which kinda verified that it was. I guess…

Snubbed Again

ok, I'm used to it. I'm a big boy. This time around the CEAs don't even have a category for Best Slapped Together Soundtrack for a Dumbass Blog Video!
ugh the state of multimedia in Cincinnati is pitiful…
I will have my revenge.

Read more about this rigged for elitists awards mess here

It Wasn't Obamageddon?

The Fishwarp reports the 10 most discussed topics on American FaceBook were;

• 1 Super Bowl
• 2 Government shutdown
• 3 Boston Marathon
• 4 Syria Crisis
• 5 Harlem Shake
• 6 Pope Francis
• 7 George Zimmerman
• 8 Royal Baby
• 9 Nelson Mandela
• 10 Presidential Inauguration

On my feed #1 would have to be some form of Obama, Obamacare, Impeach Obama, Obama Traitor, The End of The World, The Sky is Falling or something. Maybe I just have the wrong friends...

Read more on the hottest topic of the day here

More of Cranley's Empty Promises

Another community asset dashed by Mad King Cranley is local access television. While he pledged to keep it alive during his campaign he has now opted out. Media Bridges thought they could count on the long on rhetoric/short on facts guy but are now definitely closing down. They will be having an auction for non-members 12/17 from 10AM to 4PM.
You can see some of the inventory here

Cincinnati 1934

Thanks to Digging Cincinnati History for finding this UTube of old film clips of Cincinnati's Mohawk & Camp Washington neighborhoods from 1934. (this is worth going full screen)
While there has been improvements in Northside & the southern part of OTR/Northern Downtown, the area in between is in pretty bad shape & pretty vacant. Unfortunately this area is not part of the current Cincinnati regime's agenda. The problem with their plan is that anywhere that borders on these blighted neighborhoods is in danger. Watching these clips, one can see the areas were once very vibrant. They can be again.

Marx !

Figures it would be a damn commie who would be behind putting the God of Thunder on a stupid pink scooter…

Is John Cranley Even Lying to Himself ?

Bad to BizarreAs Cincinnati's mad mayor had to get even with councilmemebers who called out his gangland style leadership during his first week in power, he as one might expect, lied through his teeth.

And we opened up government. People could be heard. Speakers were not limited as in the past and I listened carefully to everyone. Council members could freely express themselves, and actually introduce motions that will get a full hearing.

Seriously? Every public speaker was limited to 2 minutes & council members, if agreeable, had 6. Of course if you didn't agree with the mad king…Cranley's description stands in stark contrast to how other people there saw it.

Cranley’s first week lacked structure, included attempts to purposefully silence the voters of Cincinnati and elected members of council

Is Cranley capable of telling the truth? Is he even lying to himself?

Cranley's Fractured Fairy Tales

Bad to Bizarre
Interesting that John Cranley doesn't like / trust any of the info that's come out of city hall in the last 8 years except one memo that's 'just right'.
Interesting how he spins his communication with the Feds as if they are acquiescing to him

At our request, they have decided to hold off of on canceling the streetcar project until midnight on December 19th in order to allow the City to make a final decision. I appreciate their patience and collaboration on this important policy decision

When it actually sounds a bit more like a smackdown

[the city has breached the city and SORTA's grant agreement in] an unprecedented action to suspend a federally funded transit project while it is currently under construction. Unless this action is reversed and I receive not later than midnight on Dec. 19, 2013 unequivocal assurances that the city will proceed with the project to completion on the current FTA-approved schedule, FTA will immediately terminate all of its grant obligations for the project and initiate a debt collection action to recover money owed

If this guy was Pinocchio, he'd need a brace of some kind to hold his head up.

More at the Biz Currier

Happy Krampusnacht!

On the eve of the feast of St Nicholas, Nick's pal, Krampus, comes to visit all the little children & all the young ladies.
And if some of 'em wind up in the river? well...

yeah, this is how holidays oughtta be celebrated!

Cincinnati is NOT Open for Business

In less than 3 days Cincinnati's John Cranley & his Gang of Five has established Cincinnati as possibly the worst city in the midwest to do business with. Their actions have been worse than David Crowley's Environmental Justice legislation. Toss in John Kasich's corrupt economic development scheme & I don't know why anybody would come anywhere near the Buckeye state let alone the Queen City to invest.
While the obsession with killing the Cincinnati streetcar may be aimed at killing Mark Mallory's legacy, this recent move is also going to demolish any of his efforts to lure foreign investment to the city. Why would anyone from China, Germany or Spain ever want to invest in such an unstable political climate? While making the city a horrible place for investors has been a long term goal of CO    and the NA CP, their chaos is now institutionalized.
The U.S. is expected to benefit from tens of billions of dollars in foreign investment in the next ten years. Cincinnati has killed any prospect of reaping any benefit from that for at least four.
The next generation of Cincinnatians will have a bleak future for sure.

Mind Reading Robots ?

oh, great. Just fucking great. What could go wrong?

WC3PO article here

Remembering David Mann

When I was a yung'n, just getting to know Cincinnati, I lived on Halstead Street. In my time there I only ever saw 2 politicians. Quite a difference from Northside where they routinely pay to walk down Hamilton Avenue in sweltering heat & rain every year.
One of these politicians was Steve Chabot who was running for Cincinnati city council. He vowed to walk down every street in the city. Even if the guy's a complete asshole, I thought, he has to pick up something from this stunt. I had just got off working 3rd shift & had gone out on the front porch with an ice cold Stroh's, a bag of Mike Sells' and my latest haul from the comic shop. I had fashioned a speaker cabinet with a couple old car speakers I mounted in a cardboard box stuffed full of old newspapers. I had set that out on the porch & I distinctly remember it playing Black Flag's My War when Chabot ran up to me & breathlessly told me, "I'm Steve Chabot and I'm running for city council". He then darted off down the street. My Black Sabbath T-shirt, comic books, beer & chips at 8AM on a Saturday morning might have put him off, but both of us being Republicans, I was sad we didn't get a chance to discuss issues.
The only other politician I ever saw down there was David Mann. On steamy hot windless summer afternoon, I was on my bike outside the bar at the corner of Eliza & McMicken (I cannot remember it's name). Like most of the other guys hanging out, trying to stay cool, I was skinny, shirtless & unshaven with unkempt hair. We were all poor & trying to make the best of miserable summer day in the Ohio River valley. We were all a little surprised to see a large gray town car come rolling up the street - doors locked, windows up AC blasting - keeping the carload of suits inside nice & frosty. And there was David Mann, in the back seat, smecking & gavoreeting with his fellow suited droogies as they glided thru the slums of Cincinnati.
And that's about it.

Why Should I Care ?

Hundreds of Supporters Rally for Finishing Streetcar

image by NerdyParkerOn Dec 1, 2013, hundreds of Cincinnati Streetcar supporters lined the partially built streetcar line to show their support for finishing the thing and to protest the ego & politically riven efforts to stop it.

image by J. MecklenborgConstruction of the track is coming along nicely & appears to be of good quality. The gauge will also accommodate longer range light rail cars, making the line more extensible, and the boarding platforms will line up with the streetcar floor eliminating the need for slow & costly electronic ramps for wheeled stuff entering / exiting the cars. All in all, a smart, well designed system to be proud of for generations.
Meanwhile, councilman Smitherman still claims to not knowing his brother was involved with the project for the last 4 years, vice mayor Mann claims he needs 'good numbers' while touting the $50k/day construction costs the Fishwarp reported & City Bleat clearly debunked and John Cranley still assumes he can just walk away from the whole deal with no consequences even though CAF & the FTA have been clear to the contrary.
More from Sunday

Why is Chris Smitherman Lying ?

Because it's just what he does? As the late Dean of Cincinnati used to say, he just makes stuff up. Or maybe it's because he's a sociopath & the boy just can't help himself.
The Business Courier reported that Smitherman was surprised to know his brother, Al, thru Jostin Concrete was engaged in building the Cincinnati Streetcar line but to avoid any conflicts of interest, asked his brother to withdraw from working on the project. Offering no evidence, I guess we should just take his word for it.
But Jostin's involvement goes back to 2009 as reported at UrbanCincy. And the Cincinnati Blog dug up this gem on the NA CP websiteChris Smitherman shouldn't have been re-elected - he should have been impeached.

Who Needs a Bridge ?

Flying cars, hovercraft, amphibious cars, rocket packs, winged back packs, ultralight aircraft, ferries…
The reason to build a $300 BILLION 14 lane bridge that will blight Covington, KY just keeps getting weaker. Now Amazon announces it is looking into delivery by drone. Packages can be flown up from Hebron to your Cincinnati doorstep - no bridge necessary!
Stop the madness - forget the bridge - it's the past - we should move forward.

Cyber Monday Bonanza

You can camp out at Target, beat the shit out of your neighbors at WalMart, get murdered by C.H.U.D. downtown like all the other lemmings ~OR~ you can crawl in to work & get real cool stuff online.
Where else can you get a cocktail shaker emblazoned with the crest of Erzsebet Bathory? To Serve Man BBQ aprons? Seal of Mercury keepsake boxes? Simbi ornaments? Ault Park shopping bags? Music Hall & Union Terminal clocks?
WHERE ?
I'll tell you where - NOWHERE
From 80s midwestern punk rock to obscure 70s San Francisco acid rock - from futuristic man eating aliens to 16th century serial killers - from John Dee to Marie LeVeau - BLOGGING ISN'T COOL HAS WHAT YOU NEED !!
That's right folks, from the sandy beaches of Lake Erie to the white cliffs of Dover, all your holiday shopping needs are at your fingertips RIGHT NOW ! If you can't decide what you want - just get one of everything. While nothing is guaranteed, your satisfaction is imminent.
Your next mouseclick could be the most important twitch in your life.

• The Bathory Crest collection
• To Serve Man collection
• The Jockey Club collection
• The Ault Park collection
• The Knowlton's Corner collection
• The Music Hall collection
• The Union Terminal Clock collection
• The Union Terminal Queen collection
• Caduceus Corner
• The Tree of Life collection
• The Jack Therion Deluxe collection
• The Loa Simbi collection
• The Sigil of Saturn collection
• The Seal of Mercury collection
• The Kabbalistic Hexagram collection
• The 'You Gotta Ride' collection

The Fishwarp's Editorial Board

Sounds like the Cincinnati Enquirer nowadays...

RIP Brian Griffin

Blogging isn't Cool mourns the loss of Brian Griffin - recently killed in a traffic accident.
More info here

Simpson Spells It Out

The Biz Courier's take

John Cranley - The Mad King

As evidence mounts that John Cranley's obsession with the Cincinnati Streetcar could trigger some disastrous results for the city, the man digs in, like a rabid cornered rat. His lashing out at everybody opposing him as incompetent liars shows a degree of paranoia & vindiveness seen in the likes of Chavez, Stalin, Jim Jones, Hitler, Jong-il, Koresh…
Is Cranley the next name to put on the list?

Moyers Takes On Zombies

yeah, you knew it was coming.

Pants

Who knew that starlet & top model Joanna Angel was also an accomplished dancer & classically trained musician?
Seriously. Who knew?

The Cincinnati Streetcar Controversy

This afternoon John Deatrick, project manager of the Cincinnati streetcar project will lay out the cost of halting the project in it's tracks (sorry).
The problem is, economics isn't the issue. Streetcar opponents haven't had a valid argument in years. This is a political game and a last gasp of an old guard to hang onto power. This is primarily the old 60s Democrats vs. the younger Democrats. Do the old Democrats care if they waste money? Do the establishment Republicans who backed Cranley & some council candidates with fairly clear mental problems?
nope - it's not their money
This is all about power. What did the streetcar supporters argue the streetcar would produce?

• bring new people to Cincinnati
• retain young people in Cincinnati
• re-populate the inner city
• offer opportunity to entrepreneurs
• revitalize the inner city

And what's wrong with that? Shouldn't we be forward looking? Shouldn't we "think about the children"?
Not if you're trying to hang onto power. This kind of talk scares the shit out of some people. These things would all change the political dynamic - the social demographic of the city. These young people and outsiders have no fealty to people like Tim Burke, David Mann or the Luken & Reece dynasties. These 60s Democrats want their welfare state, their minority set asides, affirmative action - Their Great Society. They want their handouts so they can curry favor with voters. They don't want to offer opportunity.
The split in endorsements in factions of the local Democratic party were telling. Party stalwarts, Thomas & Mann were omitted by the Hamilton County Young Democrats in favor of the more progressive Moroski. The younger Democrats don't give a crap about these old guys and the old guys know it. It's easier for them to cater to obstructionist Republicans than to accept the evolution of their own party.
Killing the streetcar isn't about economics or the future of the city - it's about local power and ego.

Cost to stop the streetcar

Can You See Me ?

The Fishwarp asks, Are police visible enough?. The new Cincinnati police chief has decided that officers should wear their hats in crowds & drive their patrol cars with more lights on. If you really want to make these giys more visible, tho, I'm thinking something more like the outfit the lead character in The Electric Horseman wore. We could use LEDs, now, of course, instead of the high voltage mess Redford wore. But getting some height would be a good idea, too. Since horses have been deemed too expensive (although this shouldn't be a problem for Cranley), I'm thinking...
MONSTER TRUCKS
Camels would be cool, too, but to be practical, you pretty much need the power of a monster truck.
But the plain white cap could be done better, too and in keeping with the monster truck theme, I'm thinking full head helmets with skull faces & embedded gas jets so the officers could go for the whole flaming skull thing.
And make no mistake, that helmet could be loaded with all sorts of futuristic Iron Man type crime fighting crap.
I'm also thinking motion sensor triggered laser sighting devices mounted on the monster trucks. Anybody who doesn't freeze in their tracks when a cop drove by would instantly see the dreaded red dot on their body scaring porktowners into being model citizens.
Police visibility is important and Cincinnati can lead the world in this endeavour. It might cost a fortune and be hokey as hell and maybe a little bit mad, but that's what Cincinnati is all about nowadays.

Sometimes Horror Doesn't Sell

Sammy Davis Jr, Christophr Lee, Adam West, Jack Klugman in a TV show about a bungling demon's crazy antics. How could it go wrong?
Unfortunately Poor Devil never made it past a pilot in 1973.

Cranley's Theme

.

Ohio River Bridge Alternative #237

Cincinnati ~ Elm Street, 1938Do we really need to spend $300 BILLION on a bridge that goes all the way across the Ohio River? I think not. We can save BILLIONS if we just build two aligning ramps and let modern cars - fast and light as they are nowadays - just leap the rest of the way.
There's no need for the government to employ any expensive space age tech, not that bridges are particularly modern or anything, simple ramps will work fine. We can leave the high tech to the automobile industry & rely on the skills of the American driver to take care of the rest.
If you believe in America, anything is possible.

Tally Ho !

Should The Cincinnati Enquirer change it's name to Tally Ho? Or maybe just The Village Enquirer? Tally Ho was, of course, the name of the paper in the TV show, The Prisoner where Patrick MacGoohan found himself trapped in The Village, a mysterious place where nothing was what it seemed and information was not particularly forthcoming & what was, was never too reliable.
They might as well use the Tally Ho trademark - the trademark on pretty much everything in the Village. it's not like they print anything, anymore, anyway…heck, The Village even kinda looks like Cincinnati…

Cincinnati Needs to Keep an Eye on Columbus

Cincinnati needs to be very concerned about the next Ohio gubernatorial administration because, if we can make it that long, that governor will be picking the commission that oversees Cincinnati in a state of fiscal emergency. There is no doubt that Cranley's shortsightedness and recklessness will lead the Queen City into the abyss and councilmembers like Smitherman, Winburn Mann & Murray will not be the ones to put him in check due to either lack of mental faculties or will. This is going to be a one way ride.

Mary & Jack

London - 1888Warning - gruesomeness ahead
Jack the Ripper held Whitechapel, in London, in terror in 1888. He left a series of brutal murders of prostitutes, not only killed but mutilated with body parts missing. The murderer, who was never found, also taunted the police, writing letters to them & the press and sending body parts as credentials.

From hell
Mr Lusk
Sor
I send you half the Kidne I took from one women prasarved it for you tother piece
I fried and ate it was very nise. I may send you the bloody knif that took it out if you only wate a whil longer.
signed
Catch me when you Can Mishter Lusk.

While London was no stranger to murder at the time, the brutality of his crimes and his insane rants on paper and scrawled on walls were incredibly shocking to the citizenry.
Naturally, the press milked it for all it was worth.
Bear in mind that women didn't have the career opportunities then that they have now. Prostitution wasn't that uncommon. Being shut out of most jobs, a woman's best career move was pretty much finding a man who would marry her & provide for her in exchange for sex, maid service & baby creation - not a huge leap from prostitution.
While all the murders attributed to Jack were on the street, the last one attributed to him was in a woman's apartment and the madman, unhurried, took his time…
November 9, 1888 Jack the Ripper murdered & mutilated Mary Kelly.Crime scene photography was also new at the time. All of the fiend's victims were photographed.
Police reports described Kelly's loins as being "flayed to the bone". A number of details that can probably be easily explained caught the public's attention & spread rumours of the supernatural & deviltry. The door of the victim was locked from within & a teapot hanging in the fireplace was partially melted - indicating an unnaturally hot fire.
Serial killers have been around forever. In the United States, today, it's estimated there are 35-50 at any given time. This particular maniac caught the public's eye due to his original use of media, however, and ushered in the kind of "modern age" of an ancient horrible tradition.

False Promise

Back in Old Testament days, if a guy reneged on a promise, he had to pay the promisee some fraction of what the promise was deemed worth. In New Testament land, the welsher was required to admit to his failing and beg forgiveness.
Seems like the old way would be a lot easier & more expedient.
Anyway, whichever route Paul Booth takes, I hope his soul finds peace.

Suck It, Guido

While November 5 tends to take us back to the Catholic terrorist, Guy Fawkes' failed attempt at mass murder 400 some years ago, this set of monuments in Roermont, The Netherlands shows love can trump religious intolerance.
Colenol JWC of Gorkum Was buried in the protestant section of a religiously segregated cemetery. Brick walls separated the Catholic, Protestant & Jewish sections. He was, however, married to a Catholic woman, JCPH of Aefferden. When she died, she had her burial in the Catholic section, on the other side of the wall from her deceased husband and then connected the two monuments with the clasping hands over the wall.
But bonfires are still fun...

We Can't Afford John Cranley

John Cranley intends to take on massive debt & increase spending dramatically but has not explained where the money is coming from.
Borrowing $100 Million to put into the pension fund with no return on the investment and identifying no revenue stream to pay it back (with interest) is reckless. Increasing police spending by $20 Million a year without a source is reckless and will lead to the city cutting services, laying off workers including police and ultimately, to fiscal emergency.
Cranley's disdain for planning and zoning will lead to haphazard development that will make the city & it's neighborhoods unattractive places to live for current residents as well as potential new residents.
Roxanne Qualls has promoted spending on projects that will generate revenue for the city and make it an appealing place to live for generations. The parking lease she has promoted will take the responsibility off the city of expensive maintenance costs and parking rates will be contractually controlled. John Cranley has pledged to raise parking rates but nothing is in place to stop him from raising them through the roof.
Roxanne Qualls work on utility aggregation & buying from renewable sources & her work on recycling will conserve our resources & save money in both the short and long term for not only the city and it's residents but the entire region.
Many people have cited the progress Cincinnati has made & the momentum we have built. We need to keep that going with a pragmatic leader with vision like Roxanne Qualls. John Cranley wants to put the brakes on and, in the case of the streetcar, throw away $70 to $90 Million dollars and, at the same time, embroil the city in expensive litigation that would last for years.
The simple fact is - we can't afford John Cranley as mayor of Cincinnati.

The Blogging isn't Cool Endorsements

It's pretty hard getting worked up over the city council candidates. The mayor's race is easy - Roxane Qualls is great & John Cranley is a dick. If BiC were the Fishwarp this would lead our board to endorse Cranley, of course, but, nevermind. There are some real tunas running for council but nobody who really lights our fire. So this year the BiC board is going with:

• Shawn Butler
• Michelle Dillingham
• Greg Landsman
• Mike Moroski
• Laure Quinlivan
• Chris Seelbach
• Yvette Simpson
• Wendel Young

And if we could make negative votes, they'd go to Chris Smitherman, Michelle Wegman & Charlie Winburn.

Anybody But Smitherman

Some pretty good advice. Heck, the crazy ass HamCoGOP isn't even endorsing the loon. His only real support is some devotees & CO    .

John Cranley's Bad Week - Cincinnati's Bad generation ?

Unpaid loans, ethics conflicts resulting in the loss of hundreds of Cincinnati jobs, the rising costs of canceling the streetcar, civil rights abuse allegations…
The more we learn about Cranley's behavior, the more likely it seems that he would merrily drag the city down with him into myriad legal entanglements that would cost the taxpayers tens of millions of dollars and stymie any forward movement the city might be making.
But does anybody care? From the Biz Courier:

"Since TV news has all but ignored the mayoral race in favor of its usual, steady diet of out-of-context murder, mayhem and teachers having sex with students, it seems to me Qualls will have to buy TV ads pointing out these stories for voter awareness to reach critical mass."

Add to that, the Republican Enquirer's not wanting to rock Cranley's boat and you have a fairly perfect storm brewing in Cincinnati's shadows.