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Politics at The Cincinnati Beacon

Christopher Finney, Tea Party Speaker, Local NAACP Lawyer, Against “Obamacare”
Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Second chance? Mallory allegedly squelches WLWT story on city policy
Friday, March 12, 2010

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Stephen JonhsonGrove, an attorney with the Ohio Justice and Policy Center, recently sent the following letter to WLWT, regarding alleged actions by Mayor Mark Mallory to suppress a news story. (The story was published recently by CityBeat. ) But the media backstory here is fascinating. Why would Mayor Mallory work to suppress a news story? What’s going on here?

Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Moving Cincinnati forward one step at a time & the power of engaged citizens
Wednesday, March 10, 2010

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In CityBeat’s latest edition Kevin Osborne recognizes the efforts of the Beacon’s own Dean of Cincinnati in bringing multi-lingual signage to Fountain Square, our city’s front door step. While unfortunately the sign is only going to be bi-lingual it is still a positive step towards our city self-identifying and being recognized by others as a grown up international city.

Posted by Justin Jeffre
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The Importance of Reigniting the Conversation on Embedding Journalists Within the Military
Thursday, March 04, 2010

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As the United States continues its engagement in multiple military conflicts around the globe, a topic that is rarely discussed within the so-called “mainstream” media is how they cover war. Since the United States invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq in 2003, reporters from major news networks have taken advantage of the opportunity to become embedded with U.S. combat forces.

Posted by Chris Johnson
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What the Bond Rating Agencies Say About Hamilton County
Tuesday, March 02, 2010

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Trying to get a clear picture of the county’s financial health isn’t easy for the average citizen since many of the records are not available. But the county has to borrow money for projects large and small, and bond rating agencies provide reports of how they see the county’s fiscal health. Through a public records request, letters from the big 3 bond rating agencies—Moody’s, Standard and Poor’s, and Fitch’s—were obtained for 2008 and 2009. It isn’t totally clear for them, either.

Posted by Michael Earl Patton
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Smitherman’s Black Owned Business List, and Registered SBEs
Friday, February 26, 2010

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The City of Cincinnati has this list of registered Small Business Enterprises (SBEs). Recently, The Beacon published this list of businesses provided to Cincinnati Public Schools by local NAACP branch president Christopher Smitherman. We thought we’d take the list from the business cards Smitherman provided, and cross-reference it with the city’s SBE list. After all, Smitherman says CPS should hire the parents of its students—and shouldn’t those businesses interested in public contracts at least be registered with the City on the SBE list? What will such a search yield?

Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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“African American Contractor and Workforce Email Address from the Cincinnati NAACP”
Saturday, February 20, 2010

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Through public records, The Cincinnati Beacon has learned not only the manner by which local NAACP president Christopher Smitherman attempted to get more African American contractors work with the CPS building project—but we have also acquired a list of email addresses and business names. In the name of transparency, we are providing this information in the interest of public service.

Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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John Boehner Continues to Advance the GOP’s Strategy of Opposition
Wednesday, February 17, 2010

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Congressman John Boehner (R-OH) has been a big critic of the stimulus legislation that was signed into law by President Obama last year. He even threw the actual bill on the floor during debate:

Posted by Chris Johnson
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Where Did the County’s Money Go?
Saturday, February 13, 2010

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At the recent Hamilton County hearing for a sales tax increase, I said the public was not allowed to see audited statements for the county for 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2008. For 2007 the state auditor released a report that Hamilton County flunked the audit. I was limited to a 2 minute statement, so with the other points I was making I could not go into detail. Mr. Pepper replied that the problem was solely due to problems with the Jobs and Family Services Department and they were powerless to provide those statements. I disagree, the problem is larger than that, and would like to give details that I was unable to at the hearing.

Posted by Michael Earl Patton
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Democratic Auditor Dusty Rhodes to write for the Cincinnati Tea Party blog
Wednesday, February 10, 2010

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The CTP blog says the “voice for Hamilton County fiscal conservatism has agreed to complete a regular running “insiders” view of Hamilton County’s financial situation”. This isn’t only interesting because he’s a Democrat and they are Republicans, but Rhodes’ critics of all political persuasions have accused him of hiding the county’s books for years.

Posted by Justin Jeffre
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CPS kids lose skills between 3rd and 5th grade
Sunday, February 07, 2010

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We are relatively familiar with the performance of Cincinnati Public Schools on the school and system level. In 2008-09, 3 out of 4 CPS schools failed to meet their adequate yearly progress targets under No Child Left Behind. And 11 of 59 CPS schools have been in No Child Left Behind “improvement status” for five or more years.

What’s new in this report is data that compares the percentage of students who meet state learning standards in third grade with the percentage that meet state learning standards in fifth grade.

Posted by komarek
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Were the streetcar advocates full of sh!t?
Wednesday, February 03, 2010

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During the campaign, I voted against the anti-passenger rail charter amendment. I agreed, and I still do, that its language was too broad for the purposes it alleged to address. But that broad language would have only been problematic if a real issue had come down the tracks to do what rail supporters claimed. So when President Obama announced his inter-city rail proposal, it sure looked like Cincinnati would be left ouf of the loop on national, high speed, intercity rail development. As I did not want the streetcar issue spilling into these other domains, I endorsed a “No” vote on that issue. After all, or so the streetcar advocates proclaimed, wouldn’t it be goofy if the intercity rail line stopped at Sharonville? But now we see it will anyway!

Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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NORML in Northside, Feb. 6th!
Sunday, January 31, 2010

Posted by Media Release
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The Bellwether is back!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010

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I thought Bill Sloat at the Daily Bellwether had stopped posting altogether. Apparently I was wrong and he’s going strong with lots of regular posts. He has an update on Peter Bronson’s latest move to Cincy Magazine and some interesting info about the busted bubble in Portland among other things.

Posted by Justin Jeffre
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Smitherman accuses CPS of fraud, gears up to oppose levy
Friday, January 22, 2010

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First, let’s make clear the different issues here: Smitherman was right when it came to busting CPS over minority contract numbers. The district’s mistakes are absurd. However, what bearing does that have on a school levy? What kind of school levy is Smitherman even talking about? What kind of levy has been proposed? For when has it been proposed? As usual, Smitherman takes a good issue, and obscures it with publicity opportunities and weird rants that ultimately obscure his work.

Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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The local GOP, MLK and the United States of Amnesia
Tuesday, January 19, 2010

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Bill Moyers recently reported, “Will Rogers once said, “The short memories of American voters is what keeps our politicians in office.” But as Democrats face what many believe will be a tough mid-term election, historian Thomas Frank argues that it might just be the other way around for incumbent Democrats”. (This interview is worth watching and got me thinking.)

Posted by Justin Jeffre
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Media ignores passing of Heimlich maneuver co-developer, Neil Armstrong colleague (except us)
Saturday, January 16, 2010

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Photo: Left to Right: Neil Armstrong, George Rieveschl Jr. PhD, Henry J. Heimlich, MD, Edward A. Patrick MD, PhD (circa 1975).

For three decades, Dr. Edward A. Patrick lived here and worked in hospital ERs around Ohio and Kentucky. With his longtime colleague, Dr. Henry Heimlich, Patrick developed the Heimlich maneuver. In 1985, Surgeon General C. Everett Koop told the Washington Post that after receving a letter from Patrick about his choking studies, Koop issued a Public Health Statement recommending the Heimlich maneuver over all other choking treatments. Months later, the American Heart Association and American Red Cross changed their choking rescue guidelines according to Dr. Patrick’s recommendations.

Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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From the Battle of Seattle to the Crisis of 2008 and Obama
Wednesday, January 13, 2010

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Guest article by Dan La Botz*

In September 2008, some 8,000 people — from social movements and churches, and from labor and the left — marched through Pittsburgh to protest the meeting of the finance ministers of the G-20. The march came on the tenth anniversary of the famous Battle of Seattle where labor unions and environmentalists had united with a broad array of social movement activists to attempt to challenge the World Trade Organization. That Battle had been a stunning success, representing a new stage of cooperation among diverse movements, a new level of militancy, and suggesting that the movement was ascending. Yet just two years later the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center the Pentagon, and a would-be attack on the Capitol stopped the global justice movement in its tracks and activism declined rapidly.

Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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The “Buy Local” Movement - Minority Inclusion, or Exclusion?
Sunday, January 10, 2010

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When CityBeat announced its challenge for people to support the local economy during the Christmas shopping season, they had a great idea more people should think about through the course of the entire year. They also produced this video, showcasing various local merchants. It’s very well done, and shows 54 people as part of the “Buy Local” advertisement. I don’t know what percentage of these people are store owners, or employees. I also don’t know the race to which each person individually defines him or herself. But on the surface, the video appears to include no non-white males, one non-white female (Asian), 18 white males, and 35 white females. Such imagery begs an obvious, but important question. How white is Cincinnati’s “Buy Local” movement?

Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Hamilton County GOP’s New Year’s Resolution: Be More Like Michele Bachmann
Monday, January 04, 2010

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2009 was a year that saw lots of interesting behavior from members of the Political Right. You had Sarah Palin resigning as Governor of Alaska, the rise of Glenn Beck on Fox News, a local radio talk-show host making outrageous comments that received national attention, and angry tea-party members yelling at town hall meetings.

Posted by Chris Johnson
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The time bomb in the Senate Bill: The tax on your health care
Tuesday, December 29, 2009

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This Op-ed in the NY Times by Bob Herbert is titled “A less than honest policy”. This tax makes a mockery of the Presidents pledge that people that like their plans can keep them and it’s being sold dishonestly-as something that will only affect the rich.

Posted by Justin Jeffre
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Guess who’s coming to dinner?
Tuesday, December 29, 2009

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Ever wonder why Obama-Biden’s policies look so much like Bush-Cheney’s policies? Well it turns out Obama kept a lot of Bush-Cheney’s people and policies. Oh yeah, and Obama and Dick Cheney are cousins.

Posted by Justin Jeffre
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Cincinnati’s major league stadium scandal makes the NY Times
Friday, December 25, 2009

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Cincinnati is featured in this NY Times article. Recently I’ve been reading about these major league stadium scams that have been transferring public funds to private wealth across the nation in David Cay Johnston’s “Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (And Stick You with the Bill).”

Posted by Justin Jeffre
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The Christmas Resistance Movement
Thursday, December 24, 2009

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The following has been reposted from the Christmas Resistance web page.

You know holiday shopping is offensive and wasteful. You know Christmas “wish lists” and “gift exchanges” degrade the concept of giving. You know Christmas marketing is a scam, benefiting manufacturers, stores, and huge corporations, while driving individuals into debt. You know this annual consumer frenzy wreaks havoc on the environment, filling landfills with useless packaging and discarded gifts.

Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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A Call to Artists: Gentrification is NOT a myth
Sunday, December 20, 2009

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A Working Paper by Kelly Jo Asbury, Instructor, Chatfield College

As an artist and educator I feel no greater responsibility than that of constant inquiry, whatever the topic. The query must be initiated in order to obtain deeper understanding within any context and it must be unapologetically intensive and extensive. Facts must be separated from opinions. I was involved with a public art project this summer, which inadvertently provided me with the opportunity to explore the “art of language”.

Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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SALF-gate? 49,000 questions for Education Secretary Arne Duncan
Thursday, December 17, 2009

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“One of the most erudite, prolific and acidic critics of national education policy.” That’s how the Washington Post memorialized Gerald Bracey shortly after his death in late October. One of his regular targets was President Obama’s basketball buddy, US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. In an eerie parting shot from waaaay off-court, Bracey just slam-dunked Duncan.

Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Obama Dismisses King, Justifies War
Monday, December 14, 2009

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Like many over the past week, I have read the words delivered by President Obama as he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway. I was interested to see how he was going to address the apparent conflict of his being awarded a peace prize while presiding over and escalating war. How Obama chose to address this contradiction was both troubling and very telling about how both he and this Administration view the role of war.

Posted by Chris Johnson
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Do men deserve an opinion on the abortion issue?
Sunday, December 13, 2009

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Do men have the moral right to advocate or make decisions regarding the legality or illegality of abortion? Or, is this something completely within the domain of a woman’s decision? Does the phrase “women’s reproductive rights” correctly, or incorrectly characterize this issue from a gendered perspective? And further, what do modern polls show about the opinions of men versus women on the matter? Are women more or less likely to support “women’s reproductive rights” than their male counterparts? It is my firm belief that men deserve equal standing in this controversial debate.

Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Is One Voice for Choice going to cause Steve Driehaus to lose his seat?
Tuesday, December 08, 2009

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The Stupak-Pitts amendment obliterates women’s reproductive rights and is causing progressives to target the Democrats that support it. Congressman Steve Driehaus bragged in a press release about leading the effort to put this amendment in the health care reform bill which is a windfall for the insurance and drug companies.

Posted by Justin Jeffre
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The Rebecca Maneuver: From Phil’s failed campaigns to AFP!
Saturday, December 05, 2009

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For the past several years, Rebecca Heimlich (yes, wife to failed local politician and pay-to-play “commentator” Phil Heimlich) has been mostly unemployed, at least according to her resume. Not that there’s anything wrong with being a stay-at-home mom: Rebecca has used the time to self-publish a book with her two children entitled “Do Cups Have Arms?” She’s also spent time assisting Phil in failing to win local offices. With that kind of track record, it’s no wonder Americans For Prosperity have named her the new director for the State of Ohio!

Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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