Purposely Inflamatory and False

Got an chain email from a right wing friend today, that linked to the following survey:
 

How naive do you have to be to fall for such hype?

I Wanted to Ask Him the Same Question

Mr. Beck, what is "white culture"?:
"ehh,,emm, uhuhuuuuhhh.aaaa,.. uhh....duhh.."

Blackwell and Palin Two Peas in a Pod

Local Clifton resident, former City Councilmember, and former Secretary of State (of Ohio), Ken Blackwell clearly has delusional presidential ambitions. He resurfaces this week with an editorial claiming that not only does Obama want to kill Grandma, but your injured war vet too. These idiots have no shame.

A couple responses to his article are excellent:

..."Your Life-Your Choices," was not deep-sixed as you claim by the Bush administration, it was re-issued several times. The Obama administration simply re-issued the booklet with updates to language inside, like any other yearly publication.

Pre-counseling veteran's returning from war with debilitating life long injuries to take note of depression and suicidal thoughts is not "a sharp kick?" towards government murder. It is a booklet to help prevent suicide, and to prepare soldiers who's conditions are life-long to make smart educated decisions about any future care like being kept alive on a feeding tube, or DNR orders on the operating table.

You are lying to anyone who reads this article for partisan political purposes. You are doing our soldiers a great disservice by unfairly painting a document provided for their and their families benefit as a government death squad. You are intellectually bankrupt, and morally specious.

...Getting counseling on how to protect yourself and ensure you own wishes and medical decisions is extremely important so as to EMPOWER patients to have control over their end of life care. The whole point is that countless people end up in situations where they have not made their wishes clear, which can be incredibly traumatic for their families. No one is trying to kill them off: they're trying to encourage people to think seriously about what they DO want, and make sure they've taken the steps to ensure it clearly.

Opportunistic harpies like Blackwell and Palin are using this issue to score cheap points at the expense of an actual and very serious issue. In the process they are going to leave a lot of people without clear directives, access to counseling, and so forth. It's absolutely disgusting.

Karkadoulias

A few weeks ago, the Cincinnati Business Courier had an article highlighting the demolition by neglect that one property owner, Gale Smith has been conducting at the corner of Elm and Liberty. Here is a picture of 1703 Elm Street, one of his remaining buildings:

This got me thinking about the 1500 block of Elm, where I once lived. I used to see another a block south of this every day. It was vacant, but still a good quality building. I always liked it and always wondered why it was vacant. I heard that the owner was named Karkadoulias, and that he/she was the same person who had produced this sculpture that is now at Sawyer Point Park:

Anyway, the building I lived near was 1527 Elm. I later found out that the Karkadoulias' bought the building in 1979! Heck, Gale Smith only bought his six years ago.

So this is what that once beautiful building looks like after 30 years of neglect and vacancy:

The rear:

When I first noticed this building, it had windows with glass, and a good roof. The metal roof blew off last September, and has not been repaired yet:

Mercene Karkadoulias owns a few buildings in Over the Rhine (and in other neighborhoods), all bought decades ago for a pitance and most vacant and deteriorating. Here is another one, 1733 Vine:

The City of Cincinnati barricades these buildings and puts the expense on the tax bill:

And another one she owns, recently had a shooting on the doorstep.

I really don't mean to pick on this one owner, but unfortunately this kind of situation is all too common. From what I understand, Mercene Karkadoulias has some extenuating circumstances in her life. But when you look into all these cases of vacant buildings and slumlords, they all have extenuating circumstances of some kind. I met one man who owned several buildings who was quite paranoid and not mentally stable, but he was somehow able to buy some vacant buildings and drive them into the ground. Now he owns some vacant lots with tax liens. Some lack the technical skills or just have no idea where to start. But for whatever reason they don't want to sell. We, the community, should not allow this to happen.

Whatever the circumstances, there is no excuse on earth for owning a building for 30 years and letting it deteriorate to the point of collapse. Even if it was not a historic building in a significant historic district, would you want this building as your neighbor? Either fix it up or sell it to someone who can.

To top it all off, Ms. Karkadoulias recently put For Sale signs some buildings. The asking price for 1527 Elm? $95,000, firm. Mind-boggling.

Savage Autism Quote

I'll tell you what autism is, In 99 percent of the cases, it's a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out. That's what autism is. Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man. Don't sit there crying and screaming, idiot.

-Michael Savage, right wing radio host July, 16th.

...I can't believe shows like this have listeners.

Saggy Pants Law in Flint

Hilarious:

 

 

Drivers License Exchange

Getting my license plate tranferred at the DMV, and the guy in front of me:

Clerk: Are you registered to vote?
Man: No
Clerk: Do you want to register now?
Man: No, I've never voted.
Clerk: Do you want to be an organ donor?
Man: No.
Clerk: Weren't you here last week?
Man: Yeah, this is the 3rd time I lost my driver's license this summer.

Indianapolis Lynching

For Juneteenth, here is a scan of a postcard I recently found of Riverside Park Pavilion in Indianapolis.

Front of Postcard, looks innocent enough:

 

But then you read the back and maybe feel sick to your stomach:

 

Since it was never mailed, there is no postmark, and I am unsure of the date or of the lynching referred to therein.

If you cannot read it, it says:

This is where they lynched a negro the other day. They don't know who done it. I guess they don't care much. I don't, do you?

Update: There are some postcards with this one from Indianapolis. They have the same handwriting and are dated 1911 to 1921. They are adressed to Mrs. George Brown, Cedar Grove, IN, and signed, - your son John

Area Racist Stabs Self

They don't come out and say it, but that appears to be what is happening here:

FAIRFIELD TWP. — A stabbing victim says a man stabbed him because he didn't like his taste in music.

Paul Boggs, 27, told police he was on his porch in the 2100 block of Allstatter Avenue in Fairfield Twp. listening to country music about 7:15 p.m. Wednesday, May 14, when a man walked up the hill from Tuley Road and said he was listening to "racist music." During an ensuing physical altercation on the porch, the man allegedly stabbed Boggs in the chest with a knife, according to police reports.

Boggs told police he grabbed a baseball bat and chased the suspect up the hill toward Fairfax Avenue, but lost track of him when he ran through an access gate.

He was transported by Fairfield Twp. life squad to Bethesda North Hospital, according to police reports.

Two Butler County Sheriff's Office K-9 units were called to the area, but were unable to track or locate a suspect. No knife was recovered, said Fairfield Twp. police Chief Richard St. John.

Police records show this is the third time in less than nine months that Boggs has reported such an incident.

On Sept. 2, 2007, he told police he was stabbed in the back as he rode past the 2100 block of Fairfax Avenue on a bicycle. On Nov. 19, 2007, he said he was stabbed in the leg on Fairfax Avenue near Alston Avenue before his attackers ran toward Sky Meadows Trailer Park.

In all three incidents, Boggs told police that his attackers were minorities.