Huge sigh.

First, less than two weeks ago, I came across a local news item in which a clergyperson stated the belief that Ohio State Rep. Josh Mandel (R, Lyndhurst, 17th), had succeeded in passing legislation that would force certain Ohio pension plans to divest from investments in companies with ties to Iran or Sudan.

No such legislation passed, no such law exists. The pensions signed a voluntary agreement and, from what we know, continue to work on plans that would be in compliance with that written agreement.  However, no Ohio law was ever passed requiring them to divest.

I contacted Rep. Mandel and I contacted the news outlet.  The news outlet issued a correction (it had previously reported on the fact that the bill was getting tabled) and Josh and I had a lengthy conversation about the situation.

Then, over the last few days, items started to pop up in my mail about Mandel’s speech in California.  I wrote about his presentation here.

Here is why I’m writing further about that presentation:

There is a first-hand report of that event that is making its way to the public via Powerline, Townhall, The American Thinker and the Jewish community via outlets such as Jewish Current Issues (aka JCI, aka JPundit.com).  After the recitation of the impressions Mandel left with the attendees, the post at JCI, in addition to asking people to contribute to Mandel, had a four minute video of his speech in California posted last night that has since been removed.  They used a program called DropShots which, according to the website, “does not allow your page to be indexed or available to search engines” and so I’ve not had any luck finding that video for you to watch.

Okay - so that’s really not upsetting - what’s got me distressed? First, from Powerline:

Given that he’s a Republican in a two-to-one Democrat district in the Cleveland area, Mandel will need to give a lot more sterling speeches — and raise another $400,000 — to stay in his current job.

While Mandel could give almost any speaker a run for his money, the secret to his winning a state representative seat two years ago was knocking on almost 20,000 doors — wearing through three pairs of shoes in the process. But with the GOP having a razor-thin four seat majority in the Ohio House, Mandel will be facing a tidal wave of cash from his opponent, the state Democratic party, and independent political groups, including so-called “527s.”

If Mandel survives this November, expect to hear a lot more about him. Not only does he give a “world-class” speech, but he already has an impressive legislative track record. In his first (and only) term, he introduced Iran divestment legislation, and he successfully led the effort to force Ohio’s massive pension funds to stop investing in companies that do business in
Iran.

Are they talking about the same Ohio House District 17 that I live in?

Two to one Democrats? 

Candidates who need $400,000 to win a seat (that’s been a GOP seat for years)? 

Facing a “tidal wave of cash from his opponent” et al?  Where??? Where is that tidal wave coming into the 17th race from the Dems?

“If” he “survives”?

Evidence of any of these, anyone? Numbers, anecdotes - anything?

Okay. So that’s Upsetting Thing #1 (which is really Upsetting Thing #2 after the thing with the “successfully passed” Ohio law that doesn’t exist).

Here’s Upsetting Thing #2 (or 3, depending on how you count), from The American Thinker piece:

Mandel faces tough odds-but then again he always has and he has always risen to the challenge. We hope he continues to do so.

“Faces tough odds”

“he always has”? (more…)

Troy Neff as a part of his show today was asking people to reflect on why we should love/be proud of our Country and were we live as a City. Tom sent me an email the other day about the Fourth of July (thank you Tom!) that also made me think about the history of our nation and while things may not be as we’d like them to be, we do have quite a bit to be proud of.

So, here’s your chance to share what you are most proud of or love about the US and whatever City/Township you live in. We often concentrate about what we don’t like, it only seems appropriate that we once in a while reflect on what we do.

Mini update - Troy has a list of audio links on SwampBubbles and if you want to hear what I said? audio from this morning.

Hmm, you know - it’s really hard to get excited about $18,000 to a foodbank in Ohio when they’re giving $400 million to Rush Limbaugh.

Here’s a bit about the giving side of Clear Channel and here’s a list of what it’s done in Ohio.

Anyone with primary experience: am I being too harsh? Or not harsh enough?

Here’s a list of what they own in every state, including Ohio. For Cleveland:

Cleveland

• WAKS 96.5-FM
• WGAR 99.5-FM
• WMJI 105.7-FM
• WMMS 100.7-FM
• WMVX 106.5-FM
• WTAM 1100-AM

Phew - I only have to re-set two pre-sets.

That sound you hear is the bomb inside St. John ticking away the moments until critical mass has been achieved.

Should prove to be quite entertaining I would imagine.

UT’s President Lloyd Jacobs had some interesting comments that were made in email exchanges in the continuing story of the Arts & Science College that among them suggest throwing a Dean under the Bus:

“For several days I thought the best thing to do was to throw [Lee] under the bus and get on with our agenda,” Jacobs wrote to Rosemary Haggett, the university’s provost. “Maybe thats [sic] still the best thing – input please …

“However, we probably can’t do that because we can’t reward the bad behavior that the [Arts and Sciences] folk have displayed, I think.”

As the article points out there are more details at the Arts & Sciences Council E Forum.

They may play an important role, but to get over the threshold of what will interest me enough to open the stuff in my inbox that comes from the campaigns? There are several tips I would give.

First, the research, from the Center for Media Research:

a new PEW study reported by Aaron Smith and Lee Rainie, “The Internet and the 2008 Election,” shows that a record-breaking 46% of Americans have used the internet, email or cell phone text messaging to get news about the campaign, share their views and mobilize others.

In addition, says the memo report, three online activities have become especially prominent as the presidential primary campaigns have progressed:

• 35% of Americans say they have watched online political videos, triple that in the 2004 race
• 10% say they have used social networking sites such as Facebook or MySpace to gather information or become involved. Two-thirds of internet users under the age of 30 have a social networking profile, and half of these use social networking sites to get or share information about politics or the campaigns
• 6% of Americans have made political contributions online, compared with 2% who did that during the entire 2004 campaign [emphasis mine]
  

Here’s the Pew study.  But the Center for Media Research post has some good graphs and other info (I’m playing beat the clock between shlepping, finishing up the Carnival and my first workout session to get my back back to…something better than it is).

Let me remind you of something Ohio Democratic Party Chair Chris Redfern said to my in early 2006:

…we spoke about many topics, including blogs, bloggers and blogging.

If he were in a position akin to that of a media placement advisor for a corporation, but doing so for a politician, what percentage of a budget did he think blogs would get?

Zero. Unequivocally.

Did he think Paul Hackett or Howard Dean would say the same?

No direct answer, but we talked about how Hackett’s juggernaut experience in the Ohio 2nd race and Dean’s fundraising successes aren’t really parallel to the question I asked, but do represent the burgeoning use of a media that Redfern agreed was in its infancy and as such, not really a known quantity yet.

He stated at least a couple of times his belief that in 4-6-8 years, the story re: blogs may very well be entirely different.

So, we’re now two years from that time, not 4, 6 or 8.  But I still feel ready to ask Chairman Redfern: are we beyond the “Zero. Unequivocally” stage yet?

Well, what is 6% of all political contributions?  If candidates raise $200 million total between them, that’s $12 million? And how much ad money from the campaigns did it take to raise that $12 million? What was the ROI?

Certainly doesn’t sound like nothing, especially if you don’t have the $12 million.

I haven’t looked yet but if anyone has ideas of what have campaigns spent to get money, let me know.  I think I read a couple of months ago that the proportion is still miniscule for online advertising, but is that including this notion of e-mail communication?

And what if anything has the ODP spent to raise more? I know I get an awful lot of e-mails asking me for money, including from the ODP.  That must cost someone something.

Yeah, I think we’re past the unequivocal zero.

Today an editorial focuses on Why Scott should be saved in the Blade. It’s a recommended read for those of you following the Scott High School story and it also should be pointed out that:

The Ohio Schools Facility Commission of the Board of Education of the Toledo City School District, Lucas County, Ohio, will hold a meeting in room 309 of the Thurgood Marshall Building, 420 East Manhattan Blvd., Toledo, Ohio, 43609-1267, on Wednesday, July 2, 2008 at 1:00 p.m.

The OSFC Committee will meet for the purpose of discussing items for the special Board Meeting to be held on Tuesday, July 28, 2008 as well as to consider other items as may officially come before the Committee.

It's a good day to be working at the Akron Radio Center; back after a two-week hiatus and graced by the news AkronNewsNow.com has won a prestigious national Edward R. Murrow Award for best news website.

You can read more about it here; there's also a link directly to RTNDA, which manages the Murrow Awards. It is quite a coup for a website that started out 20 months ago with a hope and desire to fill a niche in a community that deserves a strong and vibrant media.


That we are recognized with a national Murrow is even more fitting in this year of the "patron saint" of American broadcast journalism; 50 years ago, he challenged us to make radio and TV more than just "wires and lights in a box." This is also the 100th anniversary of his birth.

Akron is in a unique place; less than 40 minutes drive (in most traffic) from Public Square, we tend to fall under the shadow of the bigger Cleveland news market. The "big dog" among newspapers in northeast Ohio pays occasional attention, most of the television and radio outlets based in Cleveland only consider Akron news important when something (or somebody) blows up. That leaves us with the Akron Beacon Journal, struggling in a very turbulent newspaper landscape, broadcast news organizations such as WAKR-WONE-WQMX (the same folks who bring you AkronNewsNow.com) and WKSU-FM, and local talk outlets such as WNIR-FM and WHLO-AM's Matt Patrick Show. In Canton it's just the Repository and WHBC-AM.


We deserve better.


It is a stroke of luck that of the dominant local radio news players in Akron, three (the families of stations WNIR and WAKR, and Kent State's WKSU) have strong local management that not only understands but embraces the greater Akron community. There should be a very real concern that Akron and surrounding communities NOT wind up just another suburb of Cleveland, and a vocal news media covering the stories (or at least trying to...) in our neighborhoods makes a real difference in retaining our identity.

Despite all the talk of regional cooperation, I believe it is also something top of mind at local City Hall offices. Mayor Plusquellic, for example, is using his news conference time tomorrow to help promote a better understanding of Akron's neighborhoods. Big picture for northeast Ohio is one thing; keeping the home fires burning is another.

We are proud of the recognition with a national Edward R. Murrow Award, a testament to the vision and financial support of our ownership led by Thom Mandel and Nick Anthony. They have a long history of putting their spirit and money behind their belief in Akron being a good place to live, work, and build for their families. Without that support our voices painting the picture of home, occasionally challenging the people in power, wouldn't be heard.


Competition for ideas leads to debate, not a bad thing for a community deserving of its own place in the landscape.

Despite being without access (or television) for the past 5 days, I have been staying informed - and I'm chomping at the bit.

Wesley Clark said nothing wrong, nothing incorrect, nothing insulting. He stated a truth in response to another truth offered by Bob Schaefer of CBS News. Full stop.

Senator Barack Obama however is wrong to distance himself from General Clark in an attempt, to be honest, to show others how moderate he is (and he always was).

Although, he is also tacking a little too far to the batshit-right center-right. I would proffer that he should think twice about that, but back to St. John for today...

Just because Senator McCain was a POW doesn't make him GOD. It makes him Mr. POW (rather than Mr. 9/11, Rudy Guiliani). While that truly doesn't make him qualified to be President, neither does his dubious record in the Senate and during this campaign.

Not only was he a POW, he's the Republican candidate who somehow gets to play like he's above it all, while surreptitiously working with outside groups to smear the Democratic candidate's wife, having more lobbyists on his staff than actually reside in Washington, and a set of such breathtaking lies that his campaign should have been over well before he won the nomination.

I also understand he made a propaganda tape (or 32) while he was in Vietnam. Does anyone care to defend this omission in the popular meme about St. John?

Or maybe his long-standing opposition to any legislation dealing with the records of other POWs and those Americans who remain MIA in Vietnam?

Is that not more important than Wesley Clark's response to the actual comment these morons - including Senator Obama - are up in arms about?

Now, if you'll excuse me... I have some teevee vegetating to catch up on. More hope to be found in losing brain cells than defending the latest POS Democratic candidate.

I wanted to share the video but I didn’t want to create any copyright issues, so I headed off to YouTube to find the song written by Jon Stainbrook’s company, Sonic Tailor (The site has now been pulled and the video is no longer online, the Google cache still shows the site but the video link has also been pulled) and performed by a band called “Nam ‘69″ which appears to be an anti-war type ditty called, “Blood, White and Blue.” I couldn’t find it, so you’ll have to watch it from the Sonic Tailor website, but this song is not to be confused by one with the same exact title, Blood White And Blue performed by Studded Youth at Just Bills that they state is one of their original songs and was added over a year ago or the same title by “Free Money” or…the more well known “Rise Against” with their Blood-red, White & Blue that they recorded in 2003.
(more…)

From NBC4i:

An editorial in the Wall Street Journal Weekend Special Edition [written by Dayton resident and president of the pro-charter school Thomas B. Fordham Institute, Chester E. Finn, Jr.] painted a grim picture of Ohio’s economy.

…

The article started, “Once known as the Mother of Presidents, Ohio is now getting poorer, older and dumber –- and making all the wrong moves to reverse the situation.”

Governor Ted Strickland’s office was drafting a response Monday, NBC 4’s Mikaela Hunt reported.

The office will ask the paper to write a follow-up, too.

A spokesperson for Strickland called the op-ed piece a “very hard-edge partisan political attack” and cited the state is creating a job atmosphere that has a lot of potential, Hunt reported.

You can leave a comment to the question NBC4i asks, “Do you agree with the op-ed piece or with Gov. Strickland’s office?” the only problem being that there is no “piece” from the Strickland office yet, but you know what they mean, I think.

The Blade article from this weekend on the sentencing of Michael Gagnon and the family of Michael Gagnon did not speak to the media then, but two of them did speak to Troy Neff, his father, Michael Gangon, Sr. and Clara Gagnon, his mother.

Part of the discussion was related to a post that Clara wrote on her MySpace that she stated was written in anger. Even though the post has been deleted it is now out there. It’s something that many people don’t realize that no matter how angry you may be that once something’s written on the net, it’s really hard to make it go away. Troy posted part of the MySpace post on SwampBubbles. It appears that a friend of Bethany’s found Clara Gagnon’s MySpace.

There have also been a few blog posts out there where the discussion has gotten very heated and very emotional with friends/family of both families commenting, the name of the site is “People you will see in Hell.”

How do we determine which family has a right to be angry, it’s easy to say that only those who lost loved ones have the right to feel pain, or anger or have issues with the legal system but the reality is that night changed both families lives forever.

Here’s the letter and here’s the pdf that details the changes. What I notice:

1. When I looked at the one page overview of “numbers,” my first thought was: oh, no - you do not want to do this (i.e., show all these numbers that will make people think about/see how much gas is used and how much paper is consumed rather than any information about how the paper is trying to go green or greenify its operations at any level, not to mention using/maximizing its online capabilities) (to wit, the paper won another award, this time from the APME, for its multi-platform presentation of the Johanna Orozco story - “ONLINE CONVERGENCE, Over 150,000: The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, for deep reporting on the grueling recovery of an 18-year-old girl shot in the face; you can read about a different award they won for the coverage here).

2. The Page Two WakeUpCall: Did anyone from the PD check with James Pindell of Politicker.com, where one of the features is called Wake-Up Call? The PD’s version is described as,

…your guide to what’s new online at cleveland.com. If you only have a few minutes, this page is your watercooler study guide, led by its “Five Smart Things You Should Know Today” summary.

3. Moving the Opinion page to the back of the first section reminds me of how the New York Times in print is organized. Now, unless I’m reading it incorrectly, which is possible, it sounds like there will no longer be a dedicated op-ed page but rather just one page that will be, “…a lively one-page mix of editorials, columns and your letters.” Hmm. But the Sunday Forum will go to six pages.

4.  Thursday will have a feature in the back of the Inside & Out section called “New on the Net.” There doesn’t appear to be a visual preview of what the section will include or look like.

5. The Business section appears to have the most changes that interplay with cleveland.com: there will be no section at all on Mondays, but rather will be represented by changes at its place on cleveland.com, including the provision of “online-only features.”  Now, the thing here, in describing this change? Is that, if, you know, the section won’t be anywhere in print on Mondays, and it will all be online on Mondays, then isn’t the entire section, on Mondays, an online-only feature?

And that’s the bulk of the summary. Now, whether it results in the rumored 35 page per week cut addressed by Roldo Bartimole in early June, I can’t really visualize.  I might have to buy it for a week just to see.

Areas that aren’t mentioned at all: politics, women, education, jobs, real estate, crime. May or may not be relevant but to me, as a reader, especially after reading Rocky Mountain News‘ publisher/editor John Temple’s column about individualizing newspapers, well - if I had an individualized newspaper, those are some of the topics I’d want to know will be covered in an organized and well-displayed way. (As an aside, I e-mailed Temple about one observation I had regarding the idea of individualizing print papers and he responds to it here in his blog.)

I’m also curious to know the price of the revamp. Would I buy a smaller paper, that had more essential info to me in it, at the same price it’s now charging?  This is an interesting question.  One reason I stopped buying it was because I felt that the editorials were poorly reasoned and failed to serve the community in a way commensurate with the brain resources and talent that exists at the PD. That doesn’t mean the conclusions had to be the same as mine, but at least solid reasoning needed to be provided.  It’s hard to believe, but it’s been more than 18 months since I received it regularly.

The revamp doesn’t say much about the guts of the stories themselves or how the editorial process may change (but there is this pdf that goes over the process of producing the paper). Will we see more wire reports or fewer?  Will the brief items be so brief that even someone who spends a minimal amount of time online will already know those stories? Will we see more narrative, or no?

The Business re-do indicates that there will be some front-paging of news about local business and I know that there have been some changes to the front page as well re: local highlights.

I am kind of a news junkie - I have to say - so I might just talk myself into getting the paper again.  Just so I can, you know, trash it. Right? For the record, I’ve sent a link to this post to the changes AT plaind DOT com e-mai, as an FYI.

For an interesting take on the proposal made by Lucas County Commissioner Ben Konop, I recommend reading this Toledo Journal article. Unfortunately they don’t archive their stories so the link will most likely not be live after next week. Some of the points made:

While the ”Job Corps” Mr. Konop proposed would have paid below the living wage threshold, Eric Walker, the county’s director of workforce development, said The Source job placement center has 530 enrollees willing to work for $7.50 an hour. The program would have been run by the Workforce Development Agency.
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From the NYT article tomorrow on Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films (think of Ohio’s own Cliff Schecter), I realized that Reverend Rod Parsley and Family Feud’s Richard Dawson appear to have been separated at birth:

 

Freaky, eh?

It should go without saying that no one wants a Toledo police officer or any police officer to be harmed by a dog. If it comes down to an unavoidable life or death decision of the dog over the officer it’s established practice that the police officer has the authority to shoot and kill the dog.

The police department’s manual states that officers may use a firearm to destroy “a dangerous animal that poses an immediate threat to the officer,” and also “a seriously injured animal where humanity requires its relief from further suffering.”

The question comes down to is enough care taken for it to be avoided. In yesterday’s incident, it is being stated that information was given to Toledo police that the person they were looking for no longer lived there.
(more…)

Grand Central Political published this column by Jennifer Nedeau of New Media Strategies and Human Folly, “Could A Little “Sex” Help Female Political Candidates?” Here’s a tease:

Since Barack Obama took the Democratic Presidential Nomination, I have come to wonder: if Hillary had harnessed some of the powerful imagery of SATC, could she have done better among women like me who think she just wasn’t female enough to earn the title of “First Female President?”

…

In the SATC movie, Miranda remarks to Carrie as she looks for a Halloween costume - “These are the only two choices for women - witch or sexy kitten?” Currently, the ability for a female leader to rise above these stereotypes is difficult, if not impossible. If we are ever going to get past these stereotypes, we need a female leader who is brave enough to prove that being powerful and female isn’t a detrimental condition corrected by a short hair cut, a figure less suit and emotionless campaigning. I think Hillary in particular would have had more success if she had tried to embrace her gender instead of treating it like a handicap. Perhaps then, the females turned off by her decision to fit in all too nicely with the male political paradigm, might have decided she was someone worthy of their vote.

Before you start rolling your eyes, or wondering WTF is Jill saying she thinks, remember the following:

The next female who wants to be commander-in-chief could try to embrace her gender as a plus, rather than a minus. Simple things such as an upside down stiletto could easily take the place of the “V” in “Vote for Me” as a start. Instead of stuffy suits, add some fashion to the political stage and allow a popular female designer to dress the candidate for a day. Work with Mommy Bloggers, admirable female celebrities, female sports stars, and sorority girls to create the solid base of female support to carry the campaign. Most importantly, meet women in their element. Organize the female electorate such as Mobilize.org did with a voter registration drive at the Sex and the City Movie Premieres. Or host a Cocktail Caucus at CHANEL similar to what Polichicks Online has done.

I chose to be a Barack Obama supporter in part because I did not agree with Hillary’s misogynistic branding of her campaign. When Obama took the nomination it became clear that in targeting the 20 to 40 year-old demographic he found success - they wanted to have a beer with him and listen to his policy - something Hillary could not seem to achieve. However, when another female wagers for the White House - instead of seeking a candidate to drink a beer with, why not a one who might sip a Cosmopolitan? Bridging the gender gap in politics is not impossible; it just takes a little creativity.

See the sense? I do. And this isn’t an easy topic or a stupid or silly one either. I know there are women who will always bristle at the suggestion Nedeau makes because they’ll see it as selling out or not pursuing gender neutrality.

However, if our gender - whether man or women - offers us the potential to have advantages, as political candidates, and re-brand otherwise negative images connected to our gender which we reject, why not manipulate these images and definitions ourselves? That’s taking control, and I can’t argue against it (and have in fact argued for it before).

It’s never too late to try out strategies like the ones Nedeau suggested. Maybe the next step is to start a website that encourages women who are running for office or will be running for office to figure out their level of comfort with these suggestions and see how she fits them in, and whether they work, or fail.

If I run for something, I promise to be a guinea pig for this tactic. You?

As an example of turning images on their heads, here’s the White House Project’s baby doll fit t-shirt (which I wear constantly):

Works for me.

From the Wall Street Journal blogs:

Some newspapers have attempted to reduce their reliance on the AP. This past spring, prompted by unhappiness with the AP’s fees and reduced coverage of state and local news, the eight largest newspapers in Ohio created a cooperative called the Ohio News Organization, or OHNO, which allows its members to sidestep the AP by sharing stories. Five Montana newspapers owned by the newspaper concern Lee Enterprises Inc. have also begun sharing more content. And editors in Texas, Pennsylvania and Indiana have quietly inquired about how the Ohio cooperative works.

…

Ohio is ground zero for the widening rift between the AP and its member newspapers. Ben Marrison, editor of the Columbus Dispatch, says a recent trial in Akron involving the theft of state money epitomizes members’ frustrations. Before the trial Mr. Marrison placed a call to the AP Ohio bureau to find out if it would be sending a reporter.

In the past, Mr. Marrison says, he could usually count on the AP to cover such a trial if he wanted to commit more reporters to a bigger story. When he was told the AP wouldn’t have a reporter there, he sent one of his own to Akron. Shortly after the story was posted on the Dispatch’s Web site, an AP staffer rewrote it for a broader audience and put the new version on the state wire. “So it was important enough for them to move, but not important enough for them to cover,” Mr. Marrison said. “What has happened is we’ve become the wire service for the wire service.”

The portion in bold echoes AP’s own displeasure with blogs that do, well, somewhat what the AP did with that story.

What a surprise.

What do you think of OHNO so far?

Hattip to Romensko.

First what appears to be good news, Erie Street Market draws encore as concert venue and the City is expecting to earn $10,000 to $15,000 per event. The interesting side part of the article has my selective history warning bells going off again:

Mr. Croak, who operated the former the Main Event in East Toledo, has had legal troubles in the past. He was arrested in 2001 and accused of allowing underage drinking at the nightclub and operating a business where alcohol is sold or furnished in violation of the law.

He pleaded not guilty, and the charges eventually were dismissed six months later.

What’s interesting is charges that were dropped were focused on when it appears other things brought up back in 2005 by HistoryMike on Toledo Talk where it looks like there was a guilty plea, don’t get mentioned.

Hence the creation of a new category, “Selectively”…

What it says underneath the picture of the three-year old child:

“Suffering Great and Small: An 11-month-old boy with broken legs found shelter in a church in Harare, Zimbabwe. His mother said youths with the governing party shattered his legs while trying to make her disclose the whereabouts of her husband, an opposition supporter.”

Here’s an interesting article about the U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe, James McGee. The U.S.’s stance is to have the run-off election called off but McGee does not expect that to happen.

Here is the YouTube of the pre-election violence filmed by the US Embassy and broadcast on CNN:

What can you do? This column in The Guardian enumerates seven things:

1. “We - through our elected governments - can work for a second UN resolution, stronger than the last.”

2. “We can encourage our governments - as many as possible, especially those outside the traditional west - not to recognise as Zimbabwe’s legitimate leader the president who emerges from this Friday’s terror sham election (assuming it goes ahead, despite yesterday’s appeal for postponement from the leaders of Tanzania, Angola and Swaziland).”

3. “We can shame the mining giant Anglo-American into not pushing ahead, under Mugabe, with its £200m investment in a platinum mine at Unki.”

4. “We can spread the word that the Queen - the royal “we” - has at long last stripped Mugabe of his honorary knighthood.”

5. “We can sign the petition to Thabo Mbeki and other leaders of Southern Africa on avaaz.org, to be published in newspapers across the region. (The number of signatories has risen from 90,000 to over 111,000 while I’ve been writing this article.).”

6. “Then anyone in London can join a planned small demonstration at Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday party in Hyde Park this Friday, respectfully asking the old hero to urge Mugabe to leave the stage. Mandela’s discretion and loyalty to his successor Thabo Mbeki have, in this regard, outlived their useful term. Few contrasts are more painful than that between these two veteran anti-colonial leaders and long-term political prisoners, Mandela and Mugabe, the one ennobled and the other embittered by long struggle and imprisonment. Few voices would carry more weight in the world than that of Mandela calling for Mugabe to go.”

7. “Last but not least, we should listen to what the legitimate representatives of the majority in Zimbabwe say about stepping up sanctions. An obvious objection is: “But broader sanctions would hurt the people, who are already suffering enough.” Sometimes, though, the people themselves are prepared to take the pain for long-term gain. Or at least, that’s what their legitimate representatives tell us - and how else can we know? That was the message from the ANC under the apartheid regime in South Africa and from Solidarity in Poland. In both those cases, the historical record suggests that sanctions did contribute to the eventual good result. In other places, sanctions made things worse. To say simply that sanctions don’t work is a useless, lazy generalisation.”

On their own, none of these steps will have the desired effect. Some, taken individually, are open to easy ridicule. (”Fall, Sir Robert …” I could write the squib myself.) And taken altogether, they won’t get rid of the monster: that depends on the Zimbabweans and their southern African neighbours. But these suggestions do nail the fatalist idea that there’s nothing we can do. And I’ll bet you this: sooner or later, even in Zimbabwe, the ballpoint will defeat the gun.

What else do you think we should/could be doing?

My husband just called me to tell me that part of what I said this morning on Troy Neff had to be “bleeped” out. We were talking about 1Matters and I said Ken had assigned my role as “making people give a shit”. I didn’t realize that the word was one of those that had to be bleeped out. So, my husband and his co-workers including his boss are having fun with this one, calling me a “typical potty mouthed liberal”…

I knew as a huge George Carlin fan that at one time shit was one of those 7 dirty words…but I didn’t realize it was still taboo, to be honest I didn’t even think about it, it just happened…

Before someone else writes it, yes, shit happens but I learned today it’s not supposed to on an AM morning radio show. I’ll link the podcast here after it’s live and I promise to never ever ever ever say shit on the radio again. Though I have a feeling I’m going to be teased about this one for a longgggg time to come.

Update: “the” podcast

It sounds logical when you read this in the Blade, Toledo says Marina District bonds won’t alter debt limit especially this part:

Fran Song, Toledo’s debt management officer, said the general obligation bonds included in the financing structure would be paid off through assessments on Marina District property and not affect the city’s ability to borrow.

City Council yesterday reviewed the Finkbeiner administration’s request to issue $8.2 million in notes for the project, which includes a riverfront roadway and park.
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As a previous Springfield Township resident, a frustration expressed from time to time was the lack of TARTA services, but it was very clear that the Township Trustees were not interested. An article in the Maumee Mirror on the topic of “TARTA Sales Tax Proposal Doesn’t Sit Well With Trustees” is an interesting one. This statement made by Marilyn Yoder caught my attention:

Yoder said in 32 years, she has had only three residents call and ask for bus service.

That would mean besides myself in the past 32 years only two other people called? Seems a bit odd, but even before blogging I was a bit of a rebel. There was a number of elderly residents who had to rely on cabs because there was no public transportation, as well as younger people who could not yet afford a car. Unless something has magically changed in the years since I’ve left the township that need is probably still there.
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This in via email from a reader sharing some good news:

WTOL is reporting:

Preliminary totals show volunteers collected nearly $100,000 in cash.

If you didn’t donate? There’s still time, Give Autism the Boot.