Cincinnati, Ohio—IMPACT Cincinnati, the activist network that organized the equal marriage protest at City Hall on November 15th, will be holding a candlelight vigil on Thursday December 4 at The Gathering Church (1431 Main Street, Cincinnati, http://www.thegathering-church.org) at 7:00 p.m. The event will be dedicated to those who are still denied equality under current Ohio statute, and those who have been negatively impacted by discriminatory laws. 

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Noam Chomsky is a world-renowned public intellectual. The NY Times Book Review described him as “arguably the most important intellectual alive”. The child of working-class immigrants to America, he has become one of the 10 most quoted sources in the humanities - along with Shakespeare and the Bible. The fact that most people have never heard of him is evidence that the “liberal media bias” is a myth. He discussed the meaning of President-Elect Barack Obama’s victory and the possibilities ahead for real democratic change here.

Posted by Justin Jeffre
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Over a dozen concerned citizens gathered in Mt. Auburn last night at the Church of Our Savior for a public meeting to discuss Hamilton County’s proposed budget and its impact on county services and workers.  The proposed budget cuts for 2009 would close a jail, eliminate deputy patrols in some townships, layoff hundreds of county workers, and have an untold impact on many public programs.

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Posted by Chris Johnson
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The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that the City may be one billion dollars in the hole regarding the retirement system—a fact reported by The Cincinnati Beacon since June, 2006—in an exclusive video interview with Christopher Smitherman.  The issue was even picked up by the New York Times, who also interviewed Smitherman—a guy who has been warning Cincinnati about this for years.  Meanwhile, facing bankruptcy, City Manger Milton Dohoney has been taking trips to Portland so he can make plans for a $200 million dollar choo-choo train downtown.

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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The story of Camilo Mejia is recognized by many in the anti-war movement as a story of one man standing up against the injustice of war.  Mejia was the first conscientious objector of the Iraq War and has been a leading voice for the organization Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) where he was named Chair of their Board of Directors in 2007.  Mejia has been traveling to cities as part of the Resisting the Empire Tour and this tour is what brought his story to the University of Cincinnati’s campus last week.

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Posted by Chris Johnson
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This might not be the most exciting article—but from an archival and historical perspective, we wanted to make sure there was an easily accessible record of Jeff Berding’s involvement in the stadium tax boondoggle that some suggest has contributed to the terrible state of County budget, leading to the recent massive layoffs and cuts in service.  So here are excerpts from a variety of articles, dating back to 1995.

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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The distinguished Professor and his wife (who’s also a professor) were members of the militant anti-war group the Weather Underground. In their first joint television interview, Ayers and his wife Bernardine Dohrn discuss the McCain campaign attacks, President-elect Obama, the Weather Underground, the legacy of 1960s social justice movements, and more. 

Posted by Justin Jeffre
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Cincinnati, Ohio—A protest in favor of equal marriage will occur at Cincinnati’s City Hall on Saturday, November 15 at 1:30 p.m. Local students, activists, and community members lead this event as part of a day of national protests in reaction to the passage of Proposition 8 in California, re-banning equal marriage in that state. 

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It was as if the air had been let out of a balloon.  The networks announced at 11pm EST that the country had elected Barack Obama to be the next President of the United States.  I could instantly hear people shouting outside of my home and within three minutes, someone near-by began shooting off fireworks.  I watched the sea of people at Chicago’s Grant Park explode on my television set as people hugged each other and jumped around, unable to control their excitement.  Crowds began to gather from Washington D.C. to major cities across the globe driving home just how much of a global impact the U.S. elections have.  We watched the world let out a collective sigh of relief on election night with images of a unified and hopeful people anxious to see what happens next.

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Posted by Chris Johnson
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Guest column by Linda Newman

It seems this election has devolved to the incessant question “Who is Obama?” The McCain campaign is weirdly focused more on Obama than McCain, and can be summed up as “We don’t know” or “Watch out – he is not what he seems.” Among my politically leftward friends the same question is being asked perhaps more politely – whose interests will he really serve – does he really represent change?  Ironically, they decry that he is so obviously not the left-wing populist that the McCain campaign so badly wants the middle to think he is.  Work/vote for McKinney or Nader they urge – no Democrat can change the system.

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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For years, Dr. Victoria Wulsin has been running away from her involvement with the Heimlich Institute’s illicit human experiments in which AIDS patients were deliberately infected with malaria. In fact, she literally ran away when The Beacon tried to interview her about the subject earlier this year!

Just how skittish is Dr. Wulsin about the subject? Turns out she engaged a Columbus attorney to fire off this recent letter to her political opponent after a Jean Schmidt fundraising letter had the audacity to raise the subject.

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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After engaging in many conversations about the plight of this country and the world over the weekend, I felt a little worn down.  All of the issues that surround the Presidential election combined with sifting through all the misinformation can be exhausting and dejecting at times.  I woke up early Saturday morning to attend a mandatory class on working the polls as I will be doing on November 4th and was pleased to find the class packed with people of all ages anxious to spend their time helping others vote on Election Day.  Viewing the election through your television screen for the past two years can wear you down and seeing active members of your own community eager to participate in the process is a good feeling.  Coming out of that class I felt partially recharged and so today, I decided to ride that wave of optimism and go down to the Board of Elections to vote early.

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Posted by Chris Johnson
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Who Dey Revolution reports that Hamilton County had to redirect money originally destined for Cincinnati Public Schools to cover the costs of the new Bengals stadium.  One must wonder how Cincinnati City Council’s Jeff “Bengals” Berding feels about the stadium deal he led taking money away from public school children.  What kind of a Democrat would do something like that?

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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The Speak for Peace Tour 2008 came to Xavier University’s Bellarmine Chapel last Thursday evening in an effort to bring voices from the Iraq War to Cincinnati, Ohio.  The Speak for Peace Tour 2008 is put on by the American Friends Service Committee and has traveled throughout various cities in the country.  The American Friends Service Committee is a Quaker organization founded in 1917 and “carries out service, development, social justice, and peace programs throughout the world.” The event was also co-sponsored by Xavier University’s Peace & Justice Programs, Bellarmine Chapel, and the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center.  The Iraq War and its impact on human lives was the main topic as speakers Eugene Cherry and Raed Jarrar addressed the crowd.

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Posted by Chris Johnson
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I know, when I support third party politics, people say I’m really a Republican in disguise.  And I know, when I’m part of coalitions like the NAACP-COAST partnership to put issues on the ballot, people say I’m giving credibility to right-winged nut jobs.  But I am not a Republican, and as recently showcased at the Cincinnati Blog, Republican voters tend to be over-the-top-crazy—and now a Fairfield man has taken off his white hood to show the world how he can’t stand the thought of a Black man being president.

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Guest article by WD Tony

On Friday, September 26th a group of people gathered outside of a nondescript building in Miami Township to protest Pathway Family Center. Some of the protesters are local but some drove from out of town to demonstrate their concerns. 

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So what would really happen if Ralph Nader were allowed to debate?  What would it look like, to see Nader’s talking points on a television screen right next to the kinds of talking points promoted by the corporate party candidates?  Would it be anything like the clip below?  And if so, how would the American people respond to such a radical redefinition of the political conversation?

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Last night, I was called to fill in for someone at a community forum, speaking about Proportional Representation.  I was happy to do my part for the campaign, but I think the most rewarding aspect of the experience was meeting an older gentleman who has lived in Cincinnati long enough to remember PR.  He asked me, during the question session, why the City ever got rid of PR in the first place.  I told him that the Republicans who then controlled Cincinnati did not want minorities and Democrats earning so much control—and that they got rid of it to maintain Republican rule.  The older guy shook his head “yes,” and said my comments matched his recollection.

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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A few months ago, Hamilton County Public Health sent shocking informational flyers to some, but not all, Hamilton County residents.  These flyers asked for volunteers should our region suffer some kind of catastrophic event—and it promised that volunteers (and their families) would be the first to receive, for example, inoculations against disease should we become the target of bioterrorism.  It kind of sounds like Hamilton County is already assembling the list of who gets to live, and who gets to fend for themselves in the crazed throngs, should we face a society-ending or -changing event sometime soon.

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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The moment has finally arrived.  This moment, that of the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression, has been brewing for some time and was predicted by those who had the long-term vision to look beyond the rhetoric of deregulation.  This is the same concept of deregulation that has its roots in Reaganomics and manifested itself in the form of the legislative efforts of Phil Gramm.  Gramm worked to pass the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 and the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 ; both of which attributed to the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 and ushered in the deregulatory practices which have contributed to the crisis that the U.S. finds itself in today.

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Posted by Chris Johnson
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This past week, Councilmember David Crowley attended a community forum at Christ Church Cathedral to defend red-light cameras.  He actually said the red-light cameras were a public safety issue.  I guess City Council hopes we forget this whole concept was initially introduced in Finance Committee—a pretty strange place to talk about safety issues.  The reality, of course, is that Cincinnati has already included potential revenues from these cameras in their budget planning processes.  That’s why they are so frantic right now:  the successful NAACP petition drive has delayed the installation of the cameras, screwing up a backwards budget process that has put profit before people, with red-light cameras and their representatives pretending the issue is something else.  But we will not forget!  We are not as dumb as you may think, Councilmember Crowley!

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Now I’m not saying that Democrats are racist, but I think Tim Burke is.  In this article, chairman of the Hamilton County Democratic Party, Tim Burke, said “I know there is a real concern out there that some people who normally would be voting Democratic might not vote for an African-American.” Adding, “Gov. [Ted] Strickland has spoken openly about this.” Democrat’s make backroom deals that limit voter choice, don’t support black candidates much, they fail to make sure black votes are counted, they slash human services and reject funding that would help alleviate the scandalous infant mortality rate, they continue the failed Drug War and introduce other draconian drug laws that disproportionately lock up blacks.

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Posted by Justin Jeffre
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By now you’ve heard of the lawsuit filed against the City of Cincinnati by area social service agencies.  If you haven’t yet had a chance to see a copy of the suit itself, we’ve got one uploaded for your convenience!

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Guest article by David Krikorian – Candidate for US Representative. Ohio Second District

Poverty is affecting more Americans every day and the second congressional district unfortunately exemplifies this alarming trend.  There is growing division in our country as the middle class shrinks and our population separates into the haves and the have-nots. Good jobs are hard to find while wages are not keeping up with living costs as the price of food and gasoline have risen sharply and health care costs are driving people into bankruptcy.  Unfortunately these trends are getting worse and there seems to be little in the way of effective national leadership on these issues. 

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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At the end of my last article in which I summarized the police reaction to dissent during the DNC, I mentioned how there were already indications that we would see more of the same in St. Paul during the Republican National Convention. This observation, unfortunately turned out to be accurate and now that the RNC has concluded, there is an opportunity to look back and examine how police dealt with dissent and with the independent media.

Posted by Chris Johnson
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Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar were arrested yesterday by St. Paul police outside the Republican National Convention. Kouddous and Salazar were covering the protests and filming when they were arrested and detained. Both Kouddous and Salazar had proper press identification but were manhandled by police. Salazar was dragged by her leg and received scrapes and a bloody nose. Kouddous was slammed against a wall which has resulted in chest and back pain. Amy Goodman was arrested after she approached police and asked to speak to a commanding officer regarding her producers. Police then yanked her by the arm and arrested her. Video is below…

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Posted by Chris Johnson
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Recently, we ran this item about rumors speculating the City might move to privatize Cincinnati’s water supply.  In that item, we shared a records request, and we just received our first round of documents—which, in some ways, raise more questions than they answer.

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Local NAACP President, Christopher Smitherman, is outraged by the lack of charges in the recent death of a child.  He proposes that the Criminal Justice System in Hamilton County is not just broken, it is racist. The Cincinnati NAACP continues to illuminate why so many African Americans in Hamilton County have no confidence or trust in Hamilton County Prosecutor, Joe Deters, or the criminal justice system. “The African American community is just tired of the double standards,” Smitherman announced.

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Posted by Media Release
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Very quietly in late June, buried in a flurry of pre-vacation business, Cincinnati City Council adopted a plan devised by a closed door committee of Cincinnati’s richest philanthropies, that essentially wipes out City funding for volunteer-driven, neighborhood-based, grassroots-style nonprofits.

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Mac’s Pizza Pub has been recognized by a PETA website called VegCooking as one of the top 10 restaurants in the country for Vegan Pizza.  I’ve had the pleasure of eating vegan pizza at Mac’s, and I daresay that anyone presented with a piece, without being told what it was, would never know the difference!

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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