Just take a look at how many Republican judges are unopposed in Hamilton County.  In a year with record-high voter registration in the Black community and tons of Democratic voters likely to be casting ballots, the Hamilton County Democratic Party couldn’t find any candidates to oppose all these judges.  Isn’t that extraordinary?  Or, isn’t it indicative of the kind of back-room deals people like Todd Portune engaged, securing his own employment while leaving people like Joe Deters unopposed. Though Proportional Representation would not affect judicial races, these deals by established Democrats show the need for implementing the system here in Cincinnati.

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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This morning, Impact Cincinnati on 91.7 FM surprised Jeff Berding with the chance to debate Christopher Smitherman on the radio about Proportional Representation.  Listen to a calm Smitherman rationally discuss PR while a frantic Berding raises his voice over fear of losing his job!

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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photo courtesy of here

As this election season drags on and the race for President is getting more personal by the day, it seems as though we are learning little that is “new” from either major candidate. As has been demonstrated in both Presidential debates, Barack Obama and John McCain agree on many issues. Both have voted for the bailout, both advocate sending more troops into Afghanistan, both are advocating for the use of nuclear power for energy, both advocate unwavering support for Israel and on it goes. This alliance on many issues has some progressives scratching their heads as to what exactly an Obama administration will mean for the country. In fact, it is along these very lines which progressives are divided between supporting Obama and voting for a third party candidate. With under a month left before the election we all have to ask ourselves this question: Will an Obama Presidency produce fundamental progressive change for this country?

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Posted by Chris Johnson
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According to my sources, the local Democrats have once again set in place a series of out-of-sight deals to insure that certain players get to hold certain positions of power—and if true, by doing this behind closed doors and off the ballot, they have therefore sacrificed voter choice and voter empowerment for the maintenance of the status quo.  The details of this deal seek to place certain interests into key City positions, sometimes for reasons that hardly even seem political or to the benefit of any particular ideology.  This is an example of the dark, underbelly of the political process.

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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In the event that no one else bothers to at least report on all the candidates running for President who have achieved ballot status in Ohio, here is how our ballots will actually look:

Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Dear Editor,

As an American historian teaching in the local university, I write to remind you of what I’m sure you already actually know: third parties and “minor” candidates have always provided the electoral system with new ideas that would otherwise not be on the agenda.  This was the case with the abolition of slavery, women’s suffrage, farmer’s rights and worker’s protests.

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Posted by Media Release
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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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So last weekend, I was on Fountain Square, with my son—and I also happened to have Justin’s video camera.  The Junior Dean was using his shoes to make an “X” in the dirt/gravel area.  This really upset an orange-shirt-wearing Downtown Ambassador.  What happened next was weird, but ultimately enlightening.

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Posted by Bearman
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When we posted a press statement from COAST opposing the bailout, a progressive commenter blasted them for their position.  When asked how that same progressive would address Dan LaBotz, who also spoke against the bailout, I was called a “cheap whore.” Anyway, though it took me a bit longer than I would have liked, here is Dan LaBotz (from Cincinnati Progressive Action) and other progressives speaking at Fountain Square.  Enjoy!

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Chennel Pace, a 29 year-old African American woman, was arrested and charged with four counts of child endangering on September 28, 2008 by the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office.  She spent one night in jail and was released on an ORC bond (her own recognizance) by Judge Dwane Mallory.  All four of her children are alive and uninjured, but they have been removed from her care by Jobs and Family Services.  The court stipulated their removal and also instructed Ms. Pace not to contact them.  The endangerment charge was applied because Ms. Pace’s 12 year-old daughter was watching the other three children ages 8, 6, and 18 months while Ms. Pace went to work.  Ms. Pace works at Lincoln Crawford Nursing and was working a few hours of overtime to pay bills.  Ms. Pace was not in a bar while her children were at home.  She was at work.  Yet, the Hamilton County system has criminalized her and taken away all of her children. 

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Posted by Media Release
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Some will refuse to believe it, but there is a part of me committed to being an undecided voter until the moment I cast my ballot.  I remain open to someone persuading me one way or another until the moment of my vote.  That said, I still advocate for whomever happens to be my favorite candidate at the time.  And, at this time, I am enjoying the candidacy of Ralph Nader.  So I decided to exhibit my enjoyment of Ralph Nader’s campaign at the recent open-to-the-public party Democrats held in Oakley to watch the Vice Presidential debates.  I was surprised by my rough treatment by the Democrats.

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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The deadline is Monday, October 6th...

Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Timothy Reed was arraigned today in Hamilton County Court before Magistrate Amy Searcy at 12:30 p.m. Magistrate Searcy gave Timothy Reed a $500,000 straight bond for child endangerment.  Timothy Reed is an African American male, 19 years of age, and father of the infant in question.  Mr. Reed says he went asleep and when he woke up, his infant was injured.  It is reported that he believes that the other children (toddlers) in the home harmed the child while he was sleeping.  The key question is: did he intentionally hurt his child? 

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Posted by Media Release
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If you are like me then all of this talk of bailouts and economic disaster in the media has given me a giant headache.  Conservatives are taking the same stance as progressives, talking heads are telling us that our economy is going to collapse if we do nothing, and others have claimed that we are on our way to becoming a socialist country.  It is enough to make your mind spin and wonder what exactly is going on.  Suddenly up is down and the next day down is up.  Perhaps some comments from some leading minds on this crisis will help to filter out the madness.

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Posted by Chris Johnson
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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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Here is the latest exchange of letters on the matter of the FSQ garage occupancy type, the Mr. Clean Auto Spa, and the presence of open toilets for the garage on Fountain Square.  I am determined to get to the bottom of this!

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Posted by Bearman
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In this week’s Business Courier, Councilman Jeff Berding wrote a response to the Courier’s endorsement of Issue 8 (Proportional Representation) in their paper the week prior.  Berding has had a very poor voting record in supporting African American issues even though he is defined as a democrat and the African American community is the base of his local party.  For example, some of his votes included decreasing resources to health clinics, decreasing resources for keeping swimming pools open, and supporting the building of a mega jail.  The proponents for the mega jail were misleading the public to believe that the jail was necessary to reduce inmate overcrowding.  It is now clear that the jail overcrowding argument was a lie. 

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Posted by Media Release
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The Enquirer’s Howard Wilkinson points out that Obama cited Henry Kissinger (a war criminal) to defend his position in last night’s debate. Kissinger (McCain’s advisor) is wanted for questioning about the US backed coup in Chile on 9-11-73. Christopher Hitchens has written extensively about this and other war crimes that Kissinger has engaged in. Kissinger had to resign from the 9/11 Commission because of conflicts of interest. Why are people citing a war criminal? 

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Posted by Justin Jeffre
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The Cincinnati Beacon has received data on Cincinnati’s top five intersections for collisions.  Presumably, these are the very dangerous intersections posing such a public safety threat, that we need to install red-light cameras to avoid imminent death.  We do not have any data on how many people die per year at these five intersections, if any die at all.  We also have no details about injuries, nor the amount of damage done.  These are just the five intersections with the most accidents.

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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The United States faces a financial crisis and President Bush and Treasury Secretary Paulson are trying to stampede us into giving them a blank check to bail out the banks. Our future, our children’s future, and America’s future is being threatened. Congress is deciding next week. We must act now.

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Posted by Media Release
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COAST calls on members urgently to contact their members of Congress to oppose “worst idea of our lifetime”

COAST calls on its members to contact their Congressmen and Senators immediately to oppose the latest $700 Billion bailout for America’s richest citizens proposed by President Bush.  The vote in Congress presently is anticipated Thursday or Friday.  To date, the actual language of the largest bailout bill in American history, which Brit Hume of Fox News says will be voted by the most unpopular Congress in American history at “historic speed,” has not even been presented.

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Posted by Media Release
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Posted by Bearman
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The Enquirer reports on the battle for ethics between Vic Wulsin and Jean Schmidt, but the article fails to name one of the most conspicuous aspects of Wulsin’s 2006 ethics disclosure form:  her alleged employment for the Heimlich Institute.  Blogger Matt Hurley has been staying current on related press statements from Schmidt’s campaign, and it’s clear that Schmidt does not intend to ignore either The Heimlich Institute or malariotherapy.  Wulsin’s omissions on her 2006 forms add fuel to this growing fire.

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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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Brother Steven Gerard Sidlovsky from the St. Anthony Secular Franciscan Order has recently been circulating a petition hoping to establish “Life Peace Zones” in Cincinnati.  These would be binding zoning designations based on Catholic family values.  And it turns out Councilmember Chris Monzel has jumped on board, asking Cincinnati’s Law Department to look into what type of wording might be acceptable for pushing some version of this concept through City Council.

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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Washington, DC, September 10, 2008—Rock the Vote, the leading organization for youth and politics, has announced plans for a three week road trip designed to fully maximize voter registration, education, and engagement efforts in key youth markets.  They will be here this Sunday in Cincinnati with Q-Tip, Bootsy Collins and Miss America. 

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Posted by Media Release
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Councilmember Crowley and others who wish to install red-light cameras would have us believe this is a public safety issue.  But I have not heard of any councilmember releasing the location of intersections to potentially receive these devices.  Wouldn’t a simple, no-cost way to improve safety involve at least telling us the location of dangerous intersections?

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Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
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