Pride Cincinnati 2011

Another Pride Sunday come and gone. It was so hot! So much so that, initially I had to push myself out the door.  Surprising, since usually, in the past, I had to be at death's door before even thinking about missing a Pride Celebration.

Must be a product of age, I guess.

Pride celebrations are often pretty quiet. There is only one marching band in Cincinnati and this year, they were at the end of the parade. Go figure.

A couple of floats had music, but otherwise it was a pretty quiet affair as parades go.  Never the usual messy, noisy, naked fun that I've seen in other cities.  Cincinnati, quiet and dignified as always. Never really lets her hair down.  Must be all the marching church brigades.

Also missing on the grand scale were politicians who understand the power of the LGBT voting block.

Mayor Mark Mallory led off the parade for the second straight year and we thank him for that, riding in a convertible sporting  a dapper summer chapeau to protect his balding head from sunburn.

Council wannabes Yvette Simpson, Chris Seelbach, and Nick Hollan marched surrounded by supporters passing out campaign literature telling us about them. Thank you for coming.

I was extremely happy to see Councilmember Wendell Young. He was the only sitting councilmember in the parade. The others, I would guess, figure they have the gay vote locked up or something...Maybe they don't think they need it. I don't know.

What I do know is that the only people who will ever get my vote are those who respect me and mine. Pretending the Pride Parade doesn't exist or not worth marching in while knocking down people in order  to march in every neighborhood  block parade that comes down the pike on the west side is no way to govern or get my vote.

So thank you Wendell Young, Yvette Simpson, Chris Seelbach, Nick Hollan and Denise Driehaus for recognizing our equality.

Cecil, Roxanne, Charlie, Amy, Neil and whomever....c ya!  I'm done...yes Roxanne, I'm talking to you, too. It is time for Cincinnati to grow up and come into the 21st century. An hour downtown shaking hands during Pride Sunday, never hurt any political campaign.

Glad handing also never hurt the Fire Department or the Police Department or the Cincinnati Bengals or any number of major Cincinnati Corporations. Parades are a cheap and easy way to widen your sphere of influence and good feeling...hint...hint...

One thing to note....Why was Walgreens not open? On Pride Sunday?...on Fourth Street...It was closed...big ass white burglar bars in place for all to see....So what...they afraid of queer money? Better ask Jeff Ruby how closing establishments or taking inventory when minorities are downtown, worked for him... Think I just changed drug stores...CVS, here I come....

Thank you Macy's, Procter and Gamble, Delta, and US Bank for showing up. Time to move my money where my mouth is.

One absence of note...The CCV, or Citizens for Community Values...didn't see em. They sent out a letter on Friday warning "perversion" erupting on Fountain Square this past weekend.

I figure CCV didn't show because there wasn't any porn being passed out. Or maybe they finally have begun to realize that nobody buys into their bigotry anymore.

Cincinnati Roller girls in the house!

Cincinnati News

If it happens today....it's news to us

I stopped reading the Cincinnati Enquirer a long, long time ago. To put it bluntly, it has been an insult to my intelligence since I graduated the third grade....

It's ongoing racist, republican slant has always driven me up a wall...and I'm talking 50 plus years...since my people taught me to read...with comic books and the newspaper by the time I was three...The newspaper sections were handed around the kitchen table...each of us reading something..

But today...

Occasionally a story posted somewhere else may get my attention, however going to the Enquirer for more detail rather than the tease I'd just read, is a big waste of time.

Used to be you could get some news from the Post Time Star...but that was before it combined forces with the Enquirer and became a subsidiary before going out of business altogether..

The most wonderful thing about the internet is being able to read real newspapers from across the country and the world.....which I do daily with my breakfast...

I know they are going away, slowly, but it's good while it lasts...

Anyway...

I've been very upset with what passes as news on Cincinnati TV as well and after today, I'm turning it off too...

With the exception of Deb Dixon's work at Channel 12 and Hagit's work on the I team at Channel 9..there is no real news on Cincinnati TV.....Channel 5...well, I do like Andrew Setters....known him since he was a cub reporter....I don't get up early enough to watch Sheila Gray on 19 anymore..

This breaking news thing...which is little more then what is coming across the scanner...that's not news gathering...folks..

What set this rant off today is that the station that happens to be on my television...

leads with the fact that Simon Leis has bullied the Hamilton County Commissioners into allowing him to buy a new toy...in this case a boat..

When the real story should be....Why is this man still in office? Yeah, I know he is elected....He stopped being a sheriff a long time ago...

Given his age...he is probably double dipping just like all those people he refuses to let go under his command, because he doesn't want to train anyone new....

He said that....

Can you imagine a county or city official in any other state in the world, telling the administrators on camera, he's not going to make budget cuts because he doesn't want to pass the torch to younger and lesser paid people..

I paraphrased his words..that's not an exact quote...but you can go back and find it..

The Commisioners took it as usual..should have just stood up dropped their pants and bent over..no vaseline needed..

And Cincinnati news dutifully and quietly reported it...no pushback...no investigations....dropped the story.....like it never happened...

I know the reason is that the assignment editors and news directors are afraid that the newsmakers will stop talking to them..

News Flash Guys....They don't talk to you now!

Another story that should be screaming from the headlines...

A 20-million dollar unexpected shortfall in city money...due to an error...cuts have to come...okay...how many days off are city council and city administrators going to take unpaid...along with their hourly employees...

And if the answer is none....Why not?

It's the same as CEOs who screw up their companies and still want big bonuses...

The city is in trouble....the hourly workers didn't screw up....administrators did though..
Why should they still be paid in a business as usual fashion while hourly workers are forced to take unpaid days off to compensate for the shortfall

Another one...anyone figure out why it's easier to do business in Northern Kentucky then in Cincinnati...

Might make a nice investigative piece....

How about the real reasons why Black and other minority contractors can't get work on the so called big building projects in Cincinnati......

Or has anyone looked into the squeeze that a certain local health insurance agency puts on local doctors forcing them to cut services ..

Some doctors are charging an extra yearly service fee to patients, in addition to co pays..been going on for a while...

Why not look at the health plans being offered....rather than bitch about the changes...The changes may be legal...but are they fair....or do they allow the insurance giant to gain larger profits off the backs of the people...

Or why is everyone congratulating the new incoming head of Procter and Gamble, when this guy says he is going to move jobs into Asia and the Middle East....

Question.........are those Cincinnati jobs that are being outsourced? Even if the answer is No..there undoubtedly will be some "shrinkage" as in fewer people hired here and job consolidaion...


Questions...Questions...Questions.....And nobody is asking....hmmmmmmmmm