Can't win on hate alone

Two conflicting titles today

It Takes an Agenda

Conservatives cannot live by Hillary-hate alone.

and

Candidate Hillary: the GOP's dream

While there's no question that rabid conservatives like me are dying for a crack at the Hildebeast, the GOP is going to have to come up with a message that's more than "at least we're not her. Money quote from the first article....

“Of the top three Democratic candidates, she’s absolutely the weakest in the general election,” Rasmussen says. “Hillary is a unifying factor for Republicans, and Republicans aren’t otherwise unified. If Hillary is the nominee, this is a competitive race.”

But see if you can spot the problem. Conservatives are fraught, angry at their traditional party, unable to decide on a standard-bearer, unsure even what they stand for. They don’t think this is the year to sort those problems out. They’re counting on a short-cut when the Democrats nominate an unelectable cold fish who has infuriated the Right for a decade and a half. Millions remember how they felt when she belittled other wives for “staying home and baking cookies,” and Bill Clinton promised voters “two for the price of one” if they sent his family to the White House.

On the Right, the list of grievances was even longer. Both Clintons were seen as ambassadors of 1960s radicalism and cultural decadence, and Hillary was the worse of the two: a pro-choice feminist who didn’t take her husband’s name until pollsters told her it would help him make a political comeback.

Yet for all of that outrage, Republicans lost that election to the Clintons. And the hope that voters will see what they see and reject what the Clintons stand for resembles the plan Democrats clung to in 2004. They choose John Kerry on the theory he would be the least controversial general-election candidate, then counted on an electorate fed up with George W. Bush to deliver the election.

For Goldberg's analysis click here
For Weigel's click here

Tanning is verbotten in Ohio

If it wasn't bad enough that Ohio has banned nearly source of fun within the Islamic Republic of Ohio borders, we've go another one down the road coming.

Tanning for teens. According to the Enquirer...

State Rep. Courtney Combs wants to make it mandatory for anyone under 18 to get a doctor's prescription before they can use a tanning salon.


No word yet if teens will be allowed outside for more than one hour of sunlight per day.

Next. Chuck E Cheese Pizza will be required to eliminate all noise within it's pizza joints.

The most important issues for conservatives

Many conservatives have been less than enthusiastic with the choices the GOP offer for president.

Yet I challenge all conservatives to note the three most important issues confronting our next president.

Mine

1) Completion of the Iraq War effort

2) Appropriate judicial appointments

3) Continues support of the Bush tax cuts and fiscal restraint


While most conservatives want to think that Rudy's pro abortion position makes him likely to support bad judicial candidates, the fact is, he was a former prosecutor. He understands why it's important to appoint judges that believe in separation of powers and don't want to become defacto legislators.

To my understanding, Roberts and Scalia will never shoot down abortion laws per se. What will happen is a deferral of the issue to the state legislatures which is where it belonged in the first place.

Now I do worry about Rudy's penchant for taxes and government spending but I don't think he'll govern as a democrat on these issues.

Curiosity, what do you think are the three most important issues for the next election?

Post a comment or email to gtvcpa@yahoo.com. I'd like to see what the general consensus is.

Ohio Job Killers

Maggie Thurber has a great breakdown of this goofy Sick Days Ohio campaign making it's way through the signature process.

Highlights of the bill.

* people who work part-time would get pro-rated days

* the sick leave would accumulate monthly and accrual would start immediately, even if a new employee might not be able to access said days until after being employed 90 days (probationary period)

* you could carry over days, but employers wouldn't be required to permit the accumulation of more than 7 per year (meaning employers could allow them to accumulate to whatever level they choose above the 7 days)

* you can accumulate and use the sick time in hourly increments

* an employer may only require an employee to provide certification from a health professional if the absence covers more than three consecutive work days, and the employee would then have to provide the employer with such certification within thirty days

* employers could be fined for not properly posting the notice of this law

* employers may not eliminate or reduce existing leave policies to comply with the provisions of the proposed law and should not be discouraged from providing a more generous leave policy

* unions could still bargain for more leave

* employers cannot use paid sick leave taken pursuant to this Act as a negative factor in an employment action, such as hiring, promotion, or a disciplinary action; or count the use of paid sick leave under a no-fault attendance policy

I was presented a petition last summer and signed it Seymour Butts.

Another Ohio job killer.

GOP ABCs

She's electable all right

When conservatives fret about the Hildebeast running the country, I always fall back on the notion that half of the country cannot stand the woman.

Gordon, do you have any facts to back that up.

In fact, I do.

Here's a Zogby poll to the question, who would you never vote for?Clinton 50%
Kucinich 49%
Gravel 47%
Paul 47%
Brownback 47%
Tancredo 46%
McCain 45%
Hunter 44%
Giuliani 43%
Romney 42%
Hair Club for Men 42%
Thompson 41%
Dodd 41%
Biden 40%
Obama 37%
Huckabee 35%
Richardson 34%
Not Sure 4%

That's pretty good when you can manage to make "Dr Spock" Kucinich look like a fraternity rush chairman.

I'm always curious about the 4% who are "not sure". Who are these people? What is your name? Not sure would get 4%.

Not Big Oil, Big College

Apparently, the executives from ExxonMobil, BP oil and Shell found a new way to rip off the American public. They now run your local college and university.

College tuition went up 6.6% last year.

How is it that tuition has about a 30 year track record of rising faster than the rate of inflation.

Probably wouldn't have anything to do with the liberals who run these institutions. You know, those liberals all concerned with teaching our little ones.

Think about it. Kids can't afford college, Kids are no longer subject to socialism re-education camps, All of our youngest end up as libertarians. It's all coming together.

But Seriously

If you are one of these save the children SCHIP types I have a question for you. How is it that you can trust the government to manage such a big program effectively when....

1) Our infrastructure crumbles before our eyes. Bridges that needed replacing 10 years ago are 10 years from having a replacement plan.

2) Medicare is running a 10-17 trillion dollar unfunded liability that will need to be funded when the baby boomers hit retirement. Don't you think you'd want to shore that up before you went and added another big ole entitlement.

3) Social Security. See #2

4) Have you ever gone into a government office and not waited in a long ass line for service.

It occurs to me that before we entrust government with one more responsibility, maybe they need to show they can effectively manage what they already have.

Just remember the slogan our reps and senators tell each other...... "Congress.... If we weren't here, we'd be in jail".

Antioch

Antioch College in Yellow Springs is about to close the doors on it's 230 students, each paying about $36,000 a year to attend.

Emma Emmerich, a 19-year-old second-year student from Cincinnati, said she's not interested in any other schools but Antioch because it is inclusive, diverse and addresses sexism and classism issues.

What I don't understand is why Emma doesn't just go to one of the state schools? She could save money and get the same socialist, feminist, class warfare, anti-male/Western civilization, pro-gay rights, anti-military, pro-abortion, post-modernist, education.

Some Monday Comedic relief

The past couple of weeks have been slow.... nothing to get my ire up. So I continue to inject a little brevity before the next City of Cincinnati bad idea comes to fore.

Another stunner

In another weekend stunner, the Bears scored a touchdown and won a game.

By the way, something that bothered me all weekend. Can anyone make a play anymore without a five minute celebration.

I watched three different games where guys we're celebrating plays where they actually received a penalty for roughing the passer or a personal foul.

You know your play will ultimately be noticed by the people that matter, the people that pay big money.

Campus gun bans

Apparently, the University of Cincinnati students, faculty & staff are protesting the campus gun ban by asking all people with concealed carry permits walk around campus with their empty holsters.

I wanted to link to some site but it's apparently not a news story for any of the local news to cover.

Is it a coincidence that the huge surge in off campus crime at UC might be connected to the gun ban? After all, let's say you can't have your gun on campus. I'd say the chances are good you're not going to have one in your back pack one block off of campus; and the criminals know this.

So nice going UC, you've effectively advertised to the criminal element around campus "Come here and rape and rob our students without fear".

Once again, my challenge to all those anti gun zealots; I'll have a lot more respect for your position if you put little signs up around your house indicating your house is unarmed and no guns are permitted on the premises.

I'm still waiting.....................

Dishwashers for Clinton

The Washington Post, not exactly a conservative paper of record, is blasting the Hildebeast for her insatiable appetite for campaign cash.

Excerpt

This appears to be another instance in which a Clinton campaign's zeal for campaign cash overwhelms its judgment. After the fundraising scandals of President Bill Clinton's 1996 reelection campaign, the dangers of vacuuming cash from a politically inexperienced immigrant community should have been obvious. But Ms. Clinton's money machine seized on a new source of cash in Chinatown and environs. As the Times reported, a single Chinatown fundraiser in April brought in $380,000. By contrast, 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kerry raised $24,000 from Chinatown in the course of his entire campaign.

As with the warnings it dismissed about the mega-bundles being brought in by fundraiser Norman Hsu, the Clinton campaign saw the red flags here. After the April fundraiser, when some of the donors' stated occupations seemed out of line with the amounts they were giving, the Clinton campaign wrote to contributors asking them to confirm that the money was their own. In the case of seven $1,000 contributions, donors did not respond and their checks were returned, according to the campaign. The campaign says that the others, including one who told the Times that he did not give the money, reaffirmed the legitimacy of their contributions.

More....

That trustworthy news media

Powerline, a blog no less, has a post exposing yet another pack of lies printed by the main stream press as factual.

You know that main stream media, the group that likes to belittle blogs because we don't have things like editors and fact checkers. Well apparently the Washington Post doesn't have those things either.

Steyn

Mark Steyn with his surgical like incisions, lays out the "real war on children"

Excerpt

Etc. So what is the best thing America could do "for the children"? Well, it could try not to make the same mistake as most of the rest of the Western world and avoid bequeathing the next generation a system of unsustainable entitlements that turns the entire nation into a giant Ponzi scheme. Most of us understand, for example, that Social Security needs to be "fixed" – or we'll have to raise taxes, or the retirement age, or cut benefits, etc. But, just to get the entitlements debate in perspective, projected public pensions liabilities in the United States are expected to rise by 2040 to about 6.8 percent of our gross domestic product. In Greece, the equivalent figure is 25 percent – that's not a matter of raising taxes or tweaking retirement age; that's total societal collapse.

More....

Ugly

Well, I thought it was a slam dunk today for UC football and, once again, they let me down big time.

It's this kind of play that turns one into a raging alcoholic, much like a Browns or Cubs fan.

Tonight, when I get pulled over at the most recent DUI checkpoint, I'll just tell say "it's not, not me fault occifer Ima UC sports fan"

Maybe I'll get some sympathy.

Misstep

I read this headline this morning


Pelosi Makes Political Misstep
in Reversal on Armenian Genocide


Misstep? She's knee high in cow manure and it's a misstep.

The problem with democrats in the house and senate, is that their governance is all about trying to make republicans look bad. But all it's succeeded in doing is painting themselves as anti-American.

Consider the whole Harry Reid rush Limbaugh flap versus the General "Betray us" stink by moveon.org.

As much as I criticize republicans for being about power over principle; the democrats can be criticized for being about power at the expense of anything thing American.

It looks like things may be looking up for the GOP here soon. Unfortunately, it won't be because of anything they did, it's because of their opponent's incompetence.

Journalists Depressed - We're Winning in Iraq

There's a journalistic depression sweeping the nation. We're winning the Iraq War.

As Charlie Gibson put it on ABC’s World News Tonight, “One item from Baghdad, today. The news is that there is no news. The police told us that to their knowledge, there were no major acts of violence. Attacks are down in Baghdad, and today, no bombings or roadside explosions were reported.”

Oh, come on, Post. Come on, ABC. You’re not trying hard enough. Any story can be bad news if you’re willing to dig deep enough.

More.........

More Ron White

Screen writer strike

The Hollywood screen writers may go on strike?

You mean those same writers that brought us "Joey"?

I don't think we'll miss much,

Go 'Cats

Bearcats are off to Pittsburgh in an attempt to beat down the Panthers.

If I would have told you two years ago, the only team in this city worth watching was the Bearcat football team, you would have taken my crack pipe from me.

Use those fuel alternatives

You've got a politician who aggressively supports alternative fuel development to offset the effects of fossil fuel on global warming.

Wouldn't you think it would be hypocritical of said politician to not support the development of a wind farm off the coast of Cape Cod?

If you do then meet Ted Kennedy. But then, why should we be surprised. He's all for the rights of women, right up until you get to drown one.

Those crazy Turks again

Once again, Charles Krauthammer nails Pelosi to the wall on this stupid atrocity resolution in the House.

The atrocities happened 90 years ago. Not a single living Turk under the age of 102 is in any way culpable. Even Mesrob Mutafyan, patriarch of the Armenian community in Turkey, has stated that his community is opposed to the resolution, correctly calling it the result of domestic American politics.

Turkey is already massing troops near its border with Iraq, threatening a campaign against Kurdish rebels that could destabilize the one stable front in Iraq. The same House of Representatives that has been complaining loudly about the lack of armored vehicles for our troops is blithely jeopardizing relations with the country through which 95 percent of the new heavily armored vehicles are now transiting on the way to saving American lives in Iraq.

And for what? To feel morally clean?

How does this work? Pelosi says: "Genocide still exists, and we saw it in Rwanda; we see it now in Darfur." Precisely. And what exactly is she doing about Darfur? Nothing. Pronouncing yourself on a genocide committed 90 years ago by an empire that no longer exists is Pelosi's demonstration of seriousness about existing, ongoing genocide?

This week's DUI checkpoint

Consistent with the status as the No Fun State, this week's SW Ohio DUI checkpoint will be in Colerain Twp. on the 8800 block of Colerain Ave., in front of the Golden Corral restaurant.

As a reminder, if you live in Ohio, you cannot do the following things

Smoke
Gamble
Go to Strip Clubs
Drive without a seatbelt
Play your music too loud
Light a fire in your "fire"place
Tap your feet in a public restroom
Text obscene messages to your attorney
Wave to your babysitter
Talk dirty to your wife without permission
Water your lawn
Scratch inappropriately
Whack the whack a mole
Wear thong underwear without registering

And now you can't even eat at a buffet without having to go through a checkpoint.

I'm sure part of the check point will include a strip search making sure you don't run off with some dinner rolls from the buffet.

Friday Funny - Ron White

I'm still waiting for a Murtha apology

Midas has a post below about Pete Stark's ridiculous comments about President Bush where there's now a clamour for him to apologize.

But I'm still waiting for the apology from Jack Murtha, who slandered specific soldiers, accusing them of war crimes. Charges for which they were eventually cleared of.

Opinion Journal has a great chronology of the fiasco and the opportunism of butt heads like Murtha.

Excerpt

Innocents were killed at Haditha, as they inevitably are in all wars--though that does not excuse or justify wrongdoing. Yet neither was Haditha the atrocity or "massacre" that many assumed--though errors in judgment may well have been committed. And while some violent crimes have been visited on civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan, overall the highly disciplined U.S. military has conducted itself in an exemplary fashion. When there have been aberrations, the services have typically held themselves accountable.

The same cannot be said of the political and media classes. Many, including Members of Congress, were looking for another moral bonfire to discredit the cause in Iraq, and they found a pretext in Haditha. The critics rushed to judgment; facts and evidence were discarded to fit the antiwar template.

Most despicably, they created and stoked a political atmosphere that exposes American soldiers in the line of duty, risking and often losing their lives, to criminal liability for the chaos of war. This is the deepest shame of Haditha, and the one for which apologies ought to be made.

Clinton fundraising again

Something remarkable happened at 44 Henry St., a grimy Chinatown tenement with peeling walls. It also happened nearby at a dimly lighted apartment building with trash bins clustered by the front door.

And again not too far away, at 88 E. Broadway beneath the Manhattan bridge, where vendors chatter in Mandarin and Fujianese as they hawk rubber sandals and bargain-basement clothes.

All three locations, along with scores of others scattered throughout some of the poorest Chinese neighborhoods in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx, have been swept by an extraordinary impulse to shower money on one particular presidential candidate -- Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton.

More.....

Pete Stark (D) CA

Why doesn't the media take politicans to task for saying stuff like this?

Just before a House vote to override President Bush’s veto of a bill to expand the State Children’s Healthcare Program by $35 billion, California Rep. Pete Stark (D.) suggested the President was “amused” by innocent people who died in the Iraq war.

"...you're going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president's amusement."

Enough is enough

"Many people feel that neither party offers a coherent set of principles that they can agree with. For them, the choice is whether you believe in Big Government or you don't. And if you don't, you call yourself a libertarian. Libertarians are against government in all its manifestations."

Michael Kinsley: Libertarians Rising

Will Ferrell playing George Bush

Dear Mike

Dear Mike Duncan

I just received another one of your GOP solicitation emails. This is at least the fifth email I've received asking for money to stop Hillary. However, none of these emails address why I should support the GOP.

If I knew you could collect money strictly for hating Hillary, I would be a millionaire.

So here is some advice Mike. You and all your DC consultants actually come up with an inkling of an idea as to why anyone would want a republican in office. Let's face it, the world did not end while Bill Clinton was president for eight years and it won't with Hillary either.

Don't believe me? Ask Mike Dewine. He ran his senate seat as a liberal and then ran his reelection race with the slogan "Well at least I'm not Sherrod Brown".

Conservatives have had enough of the Bob Taft's, George Voinovich's, & Chuck Hagel's. From now on we'll pay for performance not on potential.

You want people to respect and support your party? Then run a party of principle and not a party of "at least we're not Hillary".

One more reason to hate public schools

If you are a regular reader to this blog, you know I'm not a big fan of public schools.

However, I've often defended public schools because the public insists on using the schools for social initiatives, at the expense of a providing education to children.

But rarely do public schools ask for these mandates. Not the case in King Middle School, where the have decided to make birth control pills available to girls as young as 11.

The school has had an outbreak of pregnancies in the past year. Is it a coincidence that the pregnancy rates spiked as soon as the school started offering condoms at the school?

Are you an "American" or a "Median"

Dan Henniger of the WSJ, has an excellent piece breaking down General Sanchez's speech from last Friday.

The mainstream media only want to report his comments critical of the Bush administration but he actually blasted lots of folks; including the media.

Excerpt

"It seems that as long as you get a front-page story there is little or no regard for the 'collateral damage' you will cause. Personal reputations have no value and you report with total impunity and are rarely held accountable for unethical conduct. . . . You assume that you are correct and on the moral high ground."

"The speculative and often uninformed initial reporting that characterizes our media appears to be rapidly becoming the standard of the industry." "Tactically insignificant events have become strategic defeats." And: "The death knell of your ethics has been enabled by your parent organizations who have chosen to align themselves with political agendas. What is clear to me is that you are perpetuating the corrosive partisan politics that is destroying our country and killing our service members who are at war."

I've noticed that many of our modern media elites like to think of themselves as a member of the media first (I'll coin, a Median), American second. But being a media member is no nationality. In fact, what actually makes you a member of the "media"? Surely not education; Peter Jennings was a high school drop out. Maybe experience? Andrea Thompson of NYPD Blue was hired by CNN to anchor a news broadcast (also a college drop out). Maybe it's a professional certification like passing the bar or the CPA exam; except they don't have one.

So the fact is, anyone can call themselves a journalist.

But let's assume you can be a journalist first, American second. Shouldn't the military have the right to shoot a journalist in the field of battle if the journalist interferes with mission success?

The fact is the US Constitution have specifically protected the press from government persecution. But with every freedom comes a responsibility or we risk losing the freedom all together. Maybe the NY Times should think of this before they print their next "America's wrong" piece.

Why do we let government control education

Jeff Jacoby with a great piece on the stranglehold teacher's unions have on government schools and the democratic party.

Money quote

Nobody would want the government to run 90 percent of the nation's entertainment industry. Nobody thinks that 90 percent of all housing should be owned by the state. Yet the government's control of 90 percent of the nation's schools leaves most Americans strangely unconcerned.

More....

Monty Python - Dead Parrot

Let's condemn those crazy Ottomans

Congress is attempting to vote on a resolution to condemn the extermination of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks during World War I.

Most in the know understand that this is an attempt by democrats to upset the Turks. Why? Because we need their help in Iraq and this resolution will effectively kill our relationship with the Turks.

What else would be the reason for bringing this up nearly 100 years after the fact?

I'm a little sick of all these stupid resolutions from a group of people that have no reason to condemn anybody. However, if passing these stupid resolutions means they're spending time not passing SCHIP, then resolve away.

The No Fun state

I was listening to Scott Sloan (WLW) last night when he was talking about a bill floating through the statehouse banning events with prize money such as bowling, dart, or shooting tournaments. This on the heals of the strip club restrictions, which will effectively close all the strip clubs in Ohio.

He's got a brief posting on his blog.

So these are the things we Ohioans are no longer allowed to do

- Go to strip clubs

- Smoke

- Gamble

When will we be renaming Ohio the "People's Republic of the Midwest".

I can see these ads next summer. For a good time come to Utah.

Got Choice?

Planned Parenthood objects to a new Ohio bill requiring abortion providers show pregnant women ultrasounds of the fetus prior to an abortion.

According to Planned Parenthood, the bill is not needed because patients are already provided with ultrasounds when requested.

I'm sure they are. But let's face it, if you are hell bent on having an abortion, you probably don't want to see an ultrasound because you probably don't want to see the truth.

So I would suggest that "pro choice" is probably a misnomer. How can you effectively "choose" when you won't use all the information at your disposal. Maybe we should call the Planned Parenthood folks "pro-uninformed choice".

Want to get away?

Here's a vacation idea:

The World Toilet Summit in New Delhi, India.

Two guys that don't get it

Question....... Based on these pictures what happened?

A) these guys just got off of a carnival ride.

B) found out that they don't have to go to anymore Bengal games.

C) were just announced as the next contestants on "The Bachelor".

D) were just charged with felonious assault for beating up an off duty cop.

I'm thinking these guys need a beating.

We better make sure these guys have health insurance for their children.

By the way, answer is D.

How Many Ways Can You Lose A Game?

Wait 'til he writes the 2007 version

Why should I pay?

If you haven't followed the Frost family controversy closely, join the club.

Someone please correct me if any of these facts are wrong. But as I understand it, the democratic party are using the Frost family as the perfect family example as to why the feds need to cover the SCHIP program. As an article from the Baltimore Sun explains....

Earlier in the week, his younger sister helped congressional Democrats sell expanded funding for the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Yesterday, with the White House threatening again to veto the legislation, it was Graeme Frost's turn to take up the cause.

The 12-year-old Baltimore boy, whose family relied on the government-funded insurance program after he and his sister were severely injured in a 2004 car accident, came to Washington yesterday to record the Democrats' weekly radio address.

"If it weren't for CHIP, I might not be here today," Graeme says in the address, to air today on stations across the country.


However, after some fact checking by the GOP, it has come out that despite the relatively low income in the Frost household, the family actually has quite a number of assets (including cars, their home and/or business property) that could be liquidated or borrowed against to pay for the family's health insurance. In addition, the family's four kids attend a private school; money that could be used for the kids' health insurance.

I will acknowledge that I do not know all the financial issues related to the Frost family. But that's actually the point.

How do we begin a national policy initiative when there are 300 million individual situations across the country?

As an accountant, I'm fully aware of ways to divert income to meet various income parameters; all legal. If you own a C-corporation, you can easily leave earnings in your corporation (let the corp pay the tax) to keep your W-2 earnings low for a few years and the bonus all the earnings out at a later date.

I just read in the paper about a family who tragically lost their 18 year old daughter to a drug overdose after she was just released from a $30,000 rehab program they just paid for.

How do we ask that family to pony up for the Frost's situation?

How do we ask a family to pony up for someone's drug rehab when they have a mother in desperate need of psychological services as a result of bi polar disorder?

How do we ask that family to kick in for the guy down the street who bought way too much house and now can't make his $2,000/month mortgage payment (as is being proposed in New Jersey).

Finally, why should I pay for anyone else's issues, when they won't do everything they can to pay for their own expenses? If the Frosts' thought it was more important to send their kids to private schools, why should I pay for their insurance?

The fact is, each of these situations are tragic in their own way, but how do we pay for any of these and not the other(s)?

As I stated, in a past post, when my business was struggling 10 years ago, one of the first things that I cut was my health insurance but I did not cut beer from my budget. Why in the hell should someone else pay for my health insurance when I could easily pay the premium with my beer budget?

Why be pro-life?

Jonah Goldberg has a provocative piece titled Why be Pro-Life?

Excerpt

And that gets me to my more philosophical or principled reason for being pro-life: I just don't know. I confess that I lack passion about debates over RU-486, Plan B and other measures that terminate a pregnancy in the first few hours or days after conception, because that's when I'm least sure that a life is at stake. But when it comes to, say, partial-birth abortion, I am adamantly pro-life. I don't know if a fertilized egg has rights. But I am convinced that a baby minutes, days or weeks before full term is, simply, a baby. And despite what you constantly hear, Roe vs. Wade doesn't recognize that fact.

Like Goldberg, I struggled with the entire abortion issue until I established a faith in God and I started to get that God will make sure it all works out.

But I still believe there' s a lot of hypocrisy all over the abortion debate.

If you believe in a woman's "right to choose", do you believe in the legalization of prostitution? After all, it's a woman's body to do with what she pleases; isn't it?

If you are pro-life, let's assume a we ban legalized abortion. Should we prosecute a woman for premeditated murder if she has an illegal abortion?

God never intended life to be so tidy on this earth. He challenges us all the time with moral and ethical dilemmas. It's why we never really get any true moral clarity until we spend quiet time with God.

Despite all that, if you talk to women who have had abortions, an overwhelming majority can tell you the date they had the procedure done, all the parties involved and nearly all would tell you it was the biggest mistake of their lives. And that may be why I'm against abortion, I just don't want to see women scarred like that for the rest of their lives.

Wannstedt on the hot seat

Dave Wannstedt on the hot seat at Pitt where, the Panthers have a losing record yet again.

Who would have thunk it? After all the great teams he put together in Miami and Chicago, people are surprised the Panthers can't cut it?

CSI british style

The news is slow so I'm posting a little humor.

Just do the damn math

Cincinnati will unveil plans Tuesday on how to pay for a four-mile, $100 million downtown streetcar line that advocates believe will contribute $2 billion to the city’s economy and transform Over-the-Rhine.

The plan’s cheerleaders include politicians, transit activists and urban developers.

So far, it seems to have no enemies, although that could change when the city explains where it will get the money to fund the plan.

More

Let's do the math. If a streetcar contributes 2 billion dollars to the economy, that would increase the city's tax revenue by $42 million dollars ( 2 billion multiplied by a 2.1% city income tax rate).

By my math, that results in a $58 million dollar shortfall. Where the hell do you think the proponents of this plan expect to get the shortfall from?

These rail clowns have been coming at this for years now and vote after vote keeps being rejected. The fact is, we have a Metro bus system that covers nearly all the downtown area, what the hell do we need a streetcar for?

Roads, police, fire. All this other stuff is like putting lipstick on a pig.

Endowment funds

It's nice to see that the University of Cincinnati's endowment fund earned 15.9% on it's investments last year. The endowment is now worth 1.1 billion dollars.

With those earnings they'll be able to use that money for..... Actually what will they use all that money for?

If a billion dollar endowment makes 6% on it's investment, the fund would earn $60,000,000 per year and never touch principle. They could use that money for student grants or tuition payments for well over 3000 students.

If nothing else, the endowments could be used to at least offset the massive inflationary pressure on tuition hikes.

But instead, endowment funds become larger for the sole purpose of.... being larger. Harvard has an endowment fund of $20 billion dollars. Why? What is the mission for the use of all these billions? Solicit and accumulate more billions?

What I've never understood is why people keep giving to these endowment funds when they wouldn't think of giving money to their public school system, who could probably use the money more than a damn endowment fund.

So the next time you get those license plates renewed and you want to give that $50.00 to your alma mater; just keep it. You'll get more out of it than the school will.

Craig thrown under the bus

Larry Craig is upset with Mitt Romney for not standing up for him.

“I'd worked hard for him here in the state. I was a co-chair of his campaign on Capitol Hill. And he not only threw me under his campaign bus, he backed up and ran over me again."

Knowing Craig's penchant for sending signals I think there's sexual code in this quote.

The other blog

If you've never seen my other blog. I have an updated post related to personal finance and tax tips.

Check it out at http://valentinetaxtips.blogspot.com/

Bengaldom

We're back to Bengaldom here in the Queen City.

Bengals manage to lose to a mediocre college team in Kansas City and the Reds hire a "players" coach.

When are we going to get "fans" coach. You know that guy... They're the guys that actually win some games.

Criminal wardrobe

I always wondered why your average street thug wore baggy pants.

After all, if you think you're going to have to make a run from "the man", wouldn't you want to be wearing something sleek and speed efficient as opposed to something you're likely to trip over.

Well, meet Terry Lee Collins, arrested on theft of drugs. Police nabbed him after his pants fell down to his knees and tripped him.

Thank God you average criminal has as much smarts as a box of raisin bran.

Lord take me downtown

We just got back from the ZZ Top show at the Nut house in Dayton.

Like Rush, you have to marvel at how these guys get so much sound out of three instruments. They kept their show to basically all the old standards; Cheap Sunglasses, Heard on the X, Pearl Neckless, Under Pressure. & Tubesteak Boogie.

They ran through quick versions of the '80's video staple, Legs, Gimme all Your Lovin' & Sharp Dressed Man.

The highlights of the night; their cover of Jimi Hendrix' Foxy Lady and LaGrange where Gibbons played his guitar with one hand.

Other notes,

1) I've heard good things about the Nutter Center as a great venue for concerts... I was not impressed.
2) Where the hell do all these people with mullets work?
3) There is a term, muffin top, that illustrates a person's gut hanging over their waistline, but I think Nuclear mushroom cloud is more appropriate for some.

People against the war

Dear Gordon,

I generally like your blog, but I think you underestimate the American people and their opinions on the Iraq war and the SCHIP program.

People are greatly in tuned to what our lawmakers are doing in Washington and want our politicians to provide a better health alternative for our children. In addition, people want our kids home from an unjust war brought upon us by a nut case.

Sincerely,

Roxanne Q.

Dear Roxanne,

If you doubt my trust in the American public, Go to my Zoomtown homepage. For the three hottest google searches, it's not Iraq War, SCHIP or Nobel Peace prize. It's

1) Britney Spears
2) Paris Hilton
3) Halloween Costumes.

Need I say more. By the way, welcome home Roxy.

Gordon

It was all a dream

It was all set up, UK beats LSU. Cal goes down to the team UC beat like a drum. And UC lost to UofL for the 9 time in the last ten years.

At least that's what I thought I remembered after all those beers yesterday. So when I woke up I thought I find out it was all a dream.

Doh.

Then I see Midas' post on Dusty Baker as the new Reds manager. I'm going back to bed.

Trot

Can't sleep... I see Dusty and his toothpick everytime I close my eyes.

Wow, what a game... and I don't mean UC vs. UL.

Trot Nixon snapped an 11th-inning tie with a pinch-hit single, and the Indians broke loose for six more runs in a record-setting performance to beat Boston 13-6 early Sunday and tie the AL championship series at a game apiece.

The anticipated matchup of postseason star Curt Schilling and 19-game winner Fausto Carmona fizzled into a stalemate that lasted 5 hours, 14 minutes. It ended at 1:37 a.m. EDT, when Joe Borowski got a game-ending double play.

Say it ain't so...

I feel sick to my stomach...


Dusty Baker has agreed to a three-year deal to manage the
Cincinnati Reds, beginning with the upcoming season, ESPN has learned.

Baker, a former Cubs and Giants manager and current ESPN analyst, will continue to work with

ESPN through this season's League Championship Series and World Series.

Baker is expected to be introduced at a news conference in Cincinnati on Monday.

Remember this... Chicago Cubs manager Dusty Baker, dismissing suggestions he made a racist assertion when speaking with reporters about day baseball, stands by his comments that black and Hispanic players are better suited to playing in the sun and heat than white players.

"You don't find too many brothers in New Hampshire and Maine and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. ... We were brought over here for the heat, right? Isn't that history? Weren't we brought over because we could take the heat?"

From Lance...

On a positive note...Reds Marketing now has two more promotional nights...Tooth Pick Night and Wrist Band Night. And the Reds can save money on paying a bat boy....Dusty can use his son again.

frank caliendo redux

Frank on Letterman

Globalization

As always, Mark Steyn, hits one out with this piece on the spread of wahhabism.

You'll never get a politically correct version of anything with Steyn.

Go Bearcats

Tonight the future Mrs. Gekko and I will be at Nippert Stadium hoping to see the Bearcats extend their win streak to ten games, second longest behind LSU.

We'll be at the Holy Grail and I'll be available for autographs until about 6:30. Since I'll be with the future Mrs. Gekko, I'll ask that all you young, hot, blogger groupie types not to request that I sign your bare breasts with a sharpie. It really gets the future Mrs. Gekko upset.

A mistake?

"I lost my wife due to my own action and I live with that every single day," Dieterle said. "I am sorry is the only thing somebody can say. It's no consolation, I know. Michelle was a good person. We had a good life. Mistakes were made."

So what exactly was Mr. Dieterle's mistake? Maybe he ran a red light that resulted in her death? Maybe he was drunk and accidentally shot her? Maybe he gave her to much medication?

No. Mr Dieterle's mistake was to accidentally scale a three story apartment building; inadvertently break into her apartment; forgetfully raping and killing his wife; and erroneously mutilate her genitals as she was bleeding to death.

The only mistake in this case is the fact that this guy doesn't have a fatal IV in his future.

Gore beating the odds

I really hate seeing the names Midas and Al Gore in the same article...

Bookmakers cut the odds of Al Gore becoming the next president of the United States and started to sweat as the former U.S. vice president won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.

The reason is that in winning the prize Gore has now satisfied two of the three conditions the bookies set for a 100 to one bet they had offered -- winning an Oscar, becoming a Nobel laureate and taking up residence in the White House.

He seems to have the Midas touch and if his supporters encourage him to stand he may shake up the whole race," Ladbrokes spokesman Robin Hutchison said.

This just in

In an apparent shift of events, the US Supreme Court just ruled that the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Al Gore this morning should, in fact, be awarded to George Bush.

Details at Scrappleface.

Quote of the day

Liberals love jobs but hate employers

Unknown

We're # 46

A report just released by the Tax Foundation ranks the various states for the business tax environment.

Ohio comes in at a strooooong 46th place, just in front of New York, California, New Jersey & Rhode Island.

Oh yeah, but Wyoming, Nevada and South Dakota college football sucks, so there.

Why the music business sucks

If you ever wanted to know why the music business is in such disarray, you could guess music downloads on the internet.

But if you guess, because studios are blowing $120,000,000 on Madonna, you're probably in a better ball park.

I watched Madonna during the Live Earth show and it was clear to me that she's washed up. But apparently not washed up enough to squeeze $120,000,000 out of Live Nation for her next three albums.

That $120,000,000 would go a long way in identifying, developing and promoting new talent. Instead it's wasted on a washed up skank.

What's going to happen when Keith Richards realizes he's dead and the Stones can't put out another album?

A Friday Funny

Frank Caliendo doing a Bush impersonation

Those pesky liberals

Apparently, the democratic party is getting frustrated by the pressure many liberal groups are putting on them to advance the liberal agenda. According to this article

Representative Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat, is as closely tied to the issue of gay rights as Barney Rubble is to Fred Flintstone. But recently, Mr. Frank has been under siege by gay rights groups.

They are angry because Mr. Frank has removed specific language about “gender identity” from the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, a bill that would protect gay men and lesbians in the workplace and that gay rights advocates say would now leave transsexuals and transgender individuals vulnerable.

The democrat complaints about liberals actually mirror the rift between conservatives and republicans, Remember the infamous Trent Lott quote about conservative talk radio

“Talk radio is running America. We have to deal with that problem.”

One of the things talk radio, the internet, and blogs, in particular, have done in the political stratosphere is to force a distinction between republican/conservative, liberal/democrat and to force politicians to toe the ideological line.

Obviously, libs and conservatives are most passionate about the debate and, as a result, drive the debate. Politicians hate it because they no longer have the ability to hide behind nuance; play the moderation card. They can no longer pull the old "I was for it before I was against it" caca because the blogs will tear it apart.

I think this is a good thing for conservatives. Imagine the public's appetite for a bill protecting the transgender population. It goes no where.

So let's keep up the pressure on these guys and maybe we'll actually get some conservatives in office and not republicans like RINOvich and Lott.

Nobel Peace Prize

Let's see

The UN
Jimmy Carter
Yasir Arafat
Al Gore

That just about makes the Nobel Peace Prize totally irrelevant.

By the way, didn't the computer win a Nobel Peace Prize.

Uh, Gordon, that was Time's Man of the Year, unless you're talking about Gore again.

Taking Carter's advice

So the Hildebeast would talk to Iran without any preconditions.

I would engage in negotiations with Iran, with no conditions, because we don't really understand how Iran works. We think we do, from the outside, but I think that is misleading,"

Wow, so she would follow the very strategy that allowed our embassy to be raided and our citizens to be taken hostage by the very man (little man Ahmadinejad) who perpetrated the assault the first time.

I guess if you're the party that supports public education, it shouldn't be a surprise they never learned a history lesson.

A Carter Critique

Jimmy Carter provides some worth while criticism of the Bush Administration. :)

An excerpt via Best of the Web.

Walsh: And finally on Iran, what if they continue to defy world opinion and develop a nuclear weapon capability? What should the United States do about it?

Carter: Well, first of all, I think we should be communicating with the Iranians directly, through diplomatic means. Even after the shah was overthrown, we still maintained diplomatic relations with Iran--in fact, that's proven by the fact that my hostages were in Tehran. They had an equal number of diplomats in Washington, about 75 or so, and we should be communicating with them. And secondly, we should assure them that we don't intend to launch a pre-emptive war against them as we did in Iraq. But there are a lot of threats coming out, and that tends to put the Iranians on the defensive and make them want to do everything they can to build up their weaponry. So communicating with them and letting them know that we'll resolve their difference--differences diplomatically would be my recommendation.

Hey Jimmy, How did all that "talking to your enemies" work out for you. Somehow it occurs to me that despite all that talking...... the Iranians still invaded our embassy and took hostages. But at least they released them as a result of all those diplomatic talks. Right?

Jimmy will always be the best thing that ever happened to the GOP.

How can the GOP get him to speak at the next democratic convention?

No Dust in this house

Rumor has it, the Reds may hire Dusty Baker to be the team's new manager.

Some advice to Krivsky and Castellini.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This guy has a reputation for burning out pitchers, Remember Mark Prior? How about Kerry Wood?

This guy must have read Isaiah Thomas' self help book "How to be incompetent and still get the job you want".

A million ideas

According to the Hildebeast

"I have a million ideas. The country can't afford them all."

Of course she does. She's a liberal. See my post below. We have a 300 million people in this country. You could conceivably have 300 million programs to cover every want, need & desire of every citizen.

But how do you do programs for, let's say, 20 million people and not do something for all the rest?

Even better, not only do you not do something for the remaining 280 million but you make them pay for what you're doing for the 20 million.

That's why people don't fear socialism... They're all at the trough waiting to get their's.

Projection

The party of open mindedness, sent out a directive to House staffers.

Excerpt....

House Homeland Security Committee staffers are on a peculiar mission to study "public health issues at events involving mass gatherings," which has personally insulted Rep. Robin Hayes of Concord, North Carolina.

The event: NASCAR.

The rub: the requirement that the Democrat and Republican staffers attending first be immunized against Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, tetanus, diphtheria, and influenza.

I'm going to go out on a limb here. I will bet a lot of money you will get more disease(s) in a San Francisco bath house than you will a NASCAR race.

Unless you are a Gordon fan........... then it's probably like the bath house example.

Fear of Socialism

In general, I think Joe Conason is a hack writer. Yet I found myself in agreement with his title "Why socialism evokes no fear"

I agree with the general premise, but disagree as to why. I still contend Americans want to be pacified, they don't want to hear bad news; unless it's about a David Hasselhoff DUI.

Americans are tired of the debate they never wanted in the first place. I have a convenience store client where I go to buy my coffee and paper every morning. I can tell you that as long as the average Joe can buy his cigarettes, coffee, & lottery tickets every morning, they don't give two dumps about SCHIP, the Iraq war, or Norman Hsu.

So Katie, get the poor child with no insurance off the screen, I just heard K-sperm knocked up another girl friend and I want the details.

Thomas

Thomas Sowell has a great piece revisiting the whole Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill affair.

I still remember my initial thoughts when the great senators attempted to lynch Justice Thomas and that was simply scumbags don't confine their "scumbagginess" to one. It's usually a trait that transcends numerous people.

Yet there was never any reports of the kinds of things by others. What gives?

As I said in a previous post, a liberal has no difficulty in smearing someone's character since it's a quality they give no value to.

Pelosi

How incompetent is republican leadership when they can't get any traction on someone like Pelosi.

Excerpt from a piece by Dana Milbank in the Washington Post

But her spirits soured instantly when somebody asked about the anger of the Democratic "base" over her failure to end the war in Iraq.

"Look," she said, the chicken breast on her plate untouched. "I had, for five months, people sitting outside my home, going into my garden in San Francisco, angering neighbors, hanging their clothes from trees, building all kinds of things -- Buddhas? I don't know what they were -- couches, sofas, chairs, permanent living facilities on my front sidewalk."

Unsmilingly, she continued: "If they were poor and they were sleeping on my sidewalk, they would be arrested for loitering, but because they have 'Impeach Bush' across their chest, it's the First Amendment."

Huh? What does that have to do with anything? What kind of courage does it take for someone to campaign on ending the war and they end up more concerned about someone putting a Buddha in their front yard?

I think Webster's needs a new definition of courage.

Courage adj. - A quality absent in the city of Washington DC.

John Belushi Donut Commericial spoof

Hillary fundraising

A video of the Hillary fund raising machine.

WOW

Is that Fred Thompson's wife?

Do we get to look at her for the next four years.

I think I'm a Fred Head now.

Hopefully they run on a co-presidency platform.

Dems pullout of MI

Once again the party of "every vote counts" has decided to pull out of the Michigan primary.

Anyone see the hypocrisy here?

Just say no

If I hear of an upcoming tax levy or state issue that I'm not sure about, many times, I just look to see who's for and against the issue and I can make up my mind fairly quickly.

Hamilton County, OH has an upcoming sales tax hike to support construction of a new jail.

At least that's how it's presented to the public. This morning I found the local rag (not on line to date) with the headline

Ex-NAACP presidents endorse tax

The NAACP is for a jail tax? If you think something is awry here, you would be correct.

The tax is not just for a jail. It's for a jail and other programs.

I think that should solidify my vote now.

Just pretend you forgot

A man was charged with felony child endangerment after he left his daughter in a hot car.

If he was Brenda Nesselroad-Slaby you could just say you forgot even if it means the baby died and not get charged.

How about that for justice.

"Ask not what your country can do for you....."

Imagine this quote from JFK's inauguration speech if he were to give it today. Before he'd get to the White House, the headlines would scream.....

"Kennedy hates SCHIP, hates children"

"Kennedy expects poor people to pay for groceries"

"Rich at an advantage... can do more for their country, Poor left out"

At one time, it was considered shameful to be poor and to ask for a hand out. To offer to pay for another child's health insurance, would have been consider an insult to the parent.

When my father broke his neck, I remember the shame in my family when we received food stamps and free lunches. I refused to tell the clerk I was a free lunch because I didn't want anyone to know we were poor. I got a job to pay for lunches I could have received for free just so people wouldn't know.

Yet today, it's just gimme, gimme, gimme, more, more, more.

We even have advertisements on the radio to solicit people to take government hand outs.

The trends in this are increasing at ever increasing speeds. I want to blame George H.W. Bush for his part in this.

Remember the debate with Clinton and Perot? When the young woman started her question with "You are our father, we are your children......."

That question was all teed up for Bush to make the role of government clear for the population. Instead he blathered on and on about compassion, programs, blah blah blah.

What he should have said was...

"I am running for President of the United States, I am not your father, nor am I an uncle, cousin brother, sister, mother or aunt.

There are 300 million people in the United States, 300 million people with different wants, needs, & desires. There will never be a government big enough to address every thing for every person in this country.

In addition, the government cannot do anything for one of the 300 million without creating an issue for another."

Instead of politicians stepping up and really laying out the hard cold facts of life, we get these every thing for every body BS sound bites and a government that finds itself as hating children because it won't pay the insurance for children in households making $80,000/year.

The next politician who lays it out like that will get my vote forever. Unfortunately, he couldn't get elected as a dog catcher.

And I wonder how a dumbass like Laketa Cole gets elected.

Laketa follow up

In follow up to Midas' post below. You can tell it's election time in the city.

Just this past weekend I was all set to post about the lack of substantive stupidity on the part of Cincinnati City Council candidates.

I guess I was premature.

I am absolutely amazed at the lack of understanding of basic economic theory by politicians. So I'll explain to Laketa how this works since the public schools failed to.

First Laketa, businesses open in an attempt to make a profit. No business ever opened with it's eyes on improving the community. If someone was into that, they don't open a business they become social workers.

Second, businesses rarely close because they are profitable. If there was a buck to be made in that part of town, someone would be there to make it.

Third, profits are a combination of sales less expense. In the area of town this Aldi's store was located, there may have been tremendous demand for products from this store but there are also incredible expenses that stores don't have to face in the 'burbs. These include, extra security, increased theft, lack of a qualified work force, taxes that are double the suburbs, etc. etc.

Most grocery stores work on a 1-3% net profit margin meaning that on a $100 sale they might make 1 to 3 bucks. If someone steals $100 worth of goods from the store, you need $1000.00 worth of sales just to get yourself back to break even.

I'm actually a little sick and tired of politicians catering to this type of rhetoric. If Ms. Cole was a true leader she would take the time to educate the people in the neighborhood of what it takes to create a positive business culture.

Instead we get this playing down to the idiocy of the populace and, as a result, businesses just decide it's not worth operating in a city that would rather line up with ding dong and derelicts instead of their businesses.

We all operate in a cost/benefit principle in all aspects of life; marriage, where we live, what we buy, etc... Businesses are no different.

Until local politicians do the things necessary to welcome businesses to their community, they will continue to be littered with JD Byrider and check cashing stores.

MoveOn.Dems

The party of open thought, wide minds and a large tent is putting out hits on self-enterprising T-shirt designers:

Michelle Malkin: MoveOn.org, the left-wing extremists who bashed the commander of American forces in Iraq as a traitor, should get out of the political kitchen. The George Soros-funded hitmen can't stand even a bit of heat from Mom-and-Pop retailers who tried selling T-shirts and mugs on the Internet critical of the "General Betray Us" smear ads against Gen. David Petraeus.

Laketa speaks

Laketa Coles thinks Aldi's owners are racists because they want to move their store out of Avondale. Guess it has nothing to do with making money, security, declining populations and the overall cost of doing business in the area.

Without the Aldi, Avondale residents would be left with only convenience stores for food shopping in the neighborhood.

And that's why we (African-Americans) have the diabetes, the hypertension, because we don't always have stores to buy fresh produce and healthy food," Cole said.

"They built the store off the backs of the African-American community, the poor community," she said.

When they eat their own, Part Tres

An Air American personality I've never heard of (is that redundant?), has a piece about Hillary's leadership.

Excerpt.

If I seem down on Democratic leadership, I have excellent reasons. Because there is no leadership. In August, they lost a fight on the FISA bill (actually, what fight?) giving the government new powers to spy on Americans. They just allowed Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman to pass two bills that threaten war against Iran — again, without a fight. They just lost votes on withdrawing troops from Iraq — again.

And all of these losses are against the most persistently unpopular president of our lifetime. If you’re not down on these Democratic “leaders,” then you’re not paying attention.

But above all of them stands Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. She is comfortably leading the race for her party’s presidential nomination. She has the bully pulpit. The press will listen to whatever she says. She can make an impact. She is in a position to lead.

And what has she done with that?

I’m still waiting …

In all honesty, throughout his piece, I kept thinking.... replace Hillary with the name of any senator and you wouldn't have to change the text at all.

As far as I'm concerned, John McCain is the only senator that has at least fathered and moved legislation he believes in (albeit none of it appetizing for conservatives). It's why I have so much disdain for senators and probably why none of them can win an election. They spend way too much time bobbing and weaving through votes, always playing a nuance for the masses.

It's why leadership in the senate is a total oxymoron. Leaders aren't groomed in the senate; only weasels and snakes are groomed in the senate. Larry Craig is the epitome of everything senatorial.

If I were to ever have to shake the hand of Voinovich, Brown, et al I would immediately look for a napkin so I could wipe their slime off my hands.

It's really the only reason I support Guiliani for president..... He's actually run a government not run for cover with every little controversial vote like the "senators".

Wow, I need a shower just writing about these derelicts.

These Go To Eleven

One of the greatest Spinal Tap clips

Doh! Award

The City of Cincinnati has issued a statement in response to complaints from the public about them showing the OSU-Purdue game on the Fountain Square jumbotron instead of the UC-Rutgers game Sat night.

The Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC) manages Fountain Square and operates and determines the programming for the LED Board. Steve Leeper, the director of 3CDC agrees that they should have played the U.C. game. It was an oversight on their part. They promise that they will give U.C. the priority in the future.

Ron Wahl
Assistant to Councilmember Roxanne Qualls

Why the Bengals will always suck

It's been 4 plus seasons of the Marvin regime in Cincinnati. Despite what you think of him as a coach, there are several reasons the Bengals will always be a second tier NFL football team. One of those reasons is the front office.

Just compare the front office personnel of the Indianapolis Colts v. The Beagles (HT Lance McAlister).

Colts

Chris Polian, Vice President of Football Operations
Steve Champlin, Director of Football Administration
Tom Telesco, Director of Player Personnel
Dom Anile, Sr. Consultant to Player Personnel
Clyde Powers, Director of Pro Player Personnel
David Caldwell, Western Regional Scout
Todd Vasvari, Eastern Regional Scout
Bob Ferguson, Special Asst. to the Dir. of Player Personnel
John Becker, Area Scout
Ryan Cavanaugh, Area Scout
Mark Ellenz, Area Scout
Bob Guarini, Area Scout
Byron Lusby, Area Scout
Matt Terpening, Area Scout
Kevin Rogers, Pro Scout
J. W. Jordan, Salary Cap/Personnel Analyst
Stefani Paul, Player Development Administrator
Jamie Moore, Scouting Assistant
Jon Shaw, Scouting Assistant
Debbie Finn, Asst. to the Director of Player Personnel

Bengals

Pete Brown Senior Vice President - Player Personnel
Paul Brown Vice President - Player Personnel
Jim Lippincott Director of Football Operations
Duke Tobin Director of Player Personnel
Greg Seamon Scout
Earl Biederman
John Cooper
Bill Tobin Scouting Consultants
Debbie LaRocco Personnel Assistant

Can you imagine any business that runs a 100 million of payroll with this kind of staff. You could get better players using Monster.com than this assortment of ass kissers and nepotism.

I can appreciate wanting to improve your organization from talent drafted and developed from within. But if you are going to do that, you need to spend the bucks to pay scouts. Watching the SEC and Big Ten game of the week is not an effective personnel strategy.

So everyone that buys those tickets for that crap they call a team, call yourself an enabler and be used to 8-8 because that's what you are supporting. The city of Cincinnati paid for and deserves better.

Biofuels & Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Fill'er Up!

A new study co-authored by Nobel Prize winning chemist Paul Crutzen argues that growing some of the most common biofuel crops, including corn bioethanol, releases around two times the amount of the potent greenhouse gas Nitous Oxide (N2O) than earlier studies supported, which, according to the study, would erase any benefits from not using fossil fuels.

"What we are saying is that growing many biofuels is probably of no benefit and in fact is actually making the climate issue worse," said co-author Keith Smith from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

According to the article from Chemistry World, some previous estimates had suggested that biofuels could cut greenhouse gas emissions by up to 40 per cent.

Bears win?

You got to be kidding me.

I went to bed last night at halftime, assuming that Brett Favre would complete another 30 passes in the second half only to wake up this morning to see....... the Bears won?

Happy Columbus Day

I have to thank the intellectual elite for this one. I never celebrated Columbus Day. As a holiday, it never had much meaning to me until a bunch of intellectual elites had it mean that everything related to European expansion was bad.

So happy Columbus Day, I think I'll celebrate by enjoying a big glass of wine in my palatial estate that was built reminiscent of European expansion... although today they call it urban sprawl.

The party of faith

Once again, the party of faith is putting together a radio show on atheism via Air America radio network.

As a Christian, I'm feeling more welcome all the time.

What do we own?

The conservative UAW guy has a breakdown of the national debt and the contingent liabilities of the federal government.

Congress recently passed a credit limit increase to 9.85 TRILLION dollars.

This on top of at least 30 TRILLION in unfunded social security and medicare expenses.

I'm often troubled by the media's lack of interest in the national debt issues. Often the debt is refered to in % of GDP, fixed dollars, etc.

But as an accountant, debt is relative to what you own.

For instance, no one (except a pay day check casher) would loan money to someone without a corresponding asset. For instance, you borrow $100,000 for a house, the bank wants at least $100,000 in collateral.

What collateral does the US government have? I've done lot's of internet searches and cannot find anything that estimates the value of assets the US government owns.

I know there's lots of real estate, oil and forestry reserves, gold, etc. But what's it all worth?

We've got to be getting close to that limit.

Just think of the day some repo guys are out on the tarmac hooking up Air Force One.

Pelosi prays for Bush

SO Nancy Pelosi prays for George Bush. It's nice to see one of the party of family values prays for our president.

Out of curiosity, does her god wear leather chaps, a ball gag and answers her prayers in Broadway musical tunes?

Goat

Jay Mariottti: It's sickening enough that someone would kill a goat, hang it on the Harry Caray statue the other night and post a video of the carcass on YouTube. But you know what's really creepy? It had zero impact in reversing the most futile, maddening, wretched and incurably impotent daze in the history of American sports.

If sacrificing a billy goat can't purge a curse, isn't it doomed to last forever?

This is Cubdom, where despair comes with the game ticket and parking pass.

Don't talk to strangers

Marion Jones became the latest in a group of now infamous people that includes Martha Stewart and Scooter Libby of committing the crime of lying to federal investigators.

Regardless of what you think about each of those people's alleged crimes, there seems to be something inherently wrong about being convicted of lying to investigators when they can't convict you of the crime the investigators are investigating.

So tip of the week, if groups of people show up at your door wearing dark suits and white shirts, politely tell them you've got better things to do.

tryforgettin merchandise

I've been doing the blog for almost a year and I can say without question the most popular post so far has been tryforgettin'

If you want any merchandise related to the video, click here.

I receive nothing from the sale of the merchandise. It just seems like a shameless plug for someone who's helped out my blog traffic.

Go Bearcats

With the Wisconsin loss, LSU now owns the second longest win streak with ten, I believe.

The nation's second longest win streak with nine is..........The UC Bearcats.

With their 28-23, win over 20 ranked Rutgers on the road the Bearcats have the 'Nati crazy about college football.

I refuse to predict anything with the Bearcats since my World Series prediction of the Cubs went down faster than a Bill Clinton intern.

But I'm enjoying it while it lasts.