Would you run for public office?

As you can imagine, vetting political candidates for our editorial endorsements is always a fascinating process. Some days we editorial writers are inspired, and other days alarmed, by the candidates who sit across from us.

Some are brimming over with experience, ideas and passion. They've put in their time in the trenches, honing their leadership skills in private-sector careers or moving up from low-profile local offices to vie for national roles.

Others appear to have little understanding of the issues they'd face if elected, or even of the duties of the office they seek. They just get a kick out of seeing their name on the ballot.

In one regard, I'm impressed by almost all of them. They put themselves out there -- which the rest of us aren't willing to do -- and really believe, in a most inspiring way, that they can change the world. They're willing to ring the doorbell of strangers, march in parades, work the crowds at festivals to engage people in the continual work of building a democracy.

Ever thought of being a candidate yourself? What could lure you into the election process -- or what appalls you enough to keep you out of a race?

Remember what they say about the lottery: Somebody's gonna win. It might as well be you.

No hole in this donut

I'm still reeling from the revised Census estimate that Cincinnati isn't a shrinking city after all.

It's like those old Saturday Night Live routines in which Emily Litella (Gilda Radner) would rant against "busting schoolchildren" or "sax and violins on TV" or the "deaf penalty," then after getting corrected, Emily would meekly conclude, "Never mind."

Is that what we're supposed to say now? "Never mind? The Census news has produced a role switch in the Hamilton County commissioners race. Now instead of Phil Heimlich blaming David Pepper for "losing" Cincinnati's population, Pepper stepped up blaming Heimlich for "losing" county population out in the "first suburbs."

It reminds me of those old political campaign attacks. Who "lost" China to the Communists? Who "lost" Iran after the Shah?

Just weeks ago, I had to reassure visiting out-of-town friends that Cincinnati wasn't becoming Detroit. This Census re-count should bolster that argument, and I'm really thrilled the Census counters now get it that demolished empty buildings do not equal population loss, and that new condos add people. But how do we convince the rest of the country about Cincinnati?

There's no hole in this donut? Nobody "lost" Cincinnati! It was simply misplaced?

Voters, Stress Your Brains...Please

Voting down party lines, going with the most recognized name, recalling things heard in a campaign ad somewhere, taking something we heard on ‘talk’ radio as fact…are these things that have influenced you when you have been in the voting booth? Well, you’re not alone because I have most certainly been guilty at one point or another. And it looks like many candidates may be counting on the good old ‘voter turnout’ to do the same.

Well, here is your chance to say no more to the mud slinging, being poked at on the national media scene by Jon Stewart or others and let it be known what you know about the issues. It’s time to really ‘wake up’ Ohio Voters, stress your brains and tell the Editorial Board and this Blog what are the issues that will drive you to the voting polls and determine which way you vote. Is it ‘just the Iraq war’ as a today’s Your Voice column implies and are you really ‘qualified to vote’ as the author laments?

In many ways it is much easier to go to the polls with our ‘gut’ instincts and media sound bites but today when the war is a major concern, oil companies have record profits while wages for the average person stay the same, regard and respect for the US globally has to be a concern for all Americans, the rising cost of healthcare is forcing more and more Americans to be without any insurance, Ohio’s college tuition rates are the second highest in the country, and the list goes on…you bet I had my brain get on the treadmill and learn about where the candidates stand on these issues and so many more that will impact me, my kids and all of you. Though I normally advocate avoiding stress, a little bit of stressing the brain in this case might be what the doctor and I recommend in this case...no, I’m not talking about the Doctor running in the 2nd district.

What have you done to exercise you brain in learning about issues and for what and where candidates stand? What will your brain take with you when you enter the voting booth on Nov. 7th?

Our new faces

Wouldn’t you just love to have a party with those 27 people?

You know the people I’m talking about – the 27 people who live in Cincinnati now who weren’t here 10 years ago.

The U.S. Census Bureau has admitted to a big “oops” as far as the Queen City is concerned. Instead of losing population faster than any major U.S. city, the bureau now estimates they undercounted us by about 22,000, putting us 27 up from where we were at the last census. So much for all that “woe-is-we-this-isn’t-a-fit-place-to-live-hole-in-the-doughnut” talk we (including the Editorial Board) has been engaging in. We are actually a growing place!

Twenty-seven people! That’s enough for a baseball game with three teams. You could have a decent-sized cocktail party with 27 people.

OK – 27 people isn’t a big number – nowhere near big enough to grow complacent about the problems the city has. But it is a start and we should celebrate that we are a city on the rise.

I propose we turn this over to a joint task force of 3CDC, the Chamber of Commerce and the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. Find these 27 people – people who have made the choice to move to Cincinnati despite all of our self-described problems. These are people who have had faith in this community. Once the 27 willing newcomers have been gathered, take their pictures and put them on the giant TV overlooking Fountain Square. These are the new faces of Cincinnati.

Anybody else want to host a party for these folks? We should all get to know them.

Congressional endorsements

The Enquirer's endorsements in the congressional races went up on the Web this afternoon and will be in Sunday morning's paper. We've endorsed John Cranley, Jean Schmidt, Geoff Davis, Mike Turner and John Boehner. I get a lot of questions after we make endorsements -- often of the "Are you out of your mind!!?" variety.

That's OK, opinions are what the editorial business is all about and we expect that yours often will clash with ours. We had a lot of comment after we came out for Ken Blackwell over Ted Strickland in the Ohio governor's race last week. Some asked if we were schizophrenic because the endorsement spent a good deal of space excoriating Blackwell for his conscienceless implication that Strickland somehow supports child molesters -- and then said we supported Blackwell over Strickland anyway.

I expect we will get a lot of questions about our picks in the congressional races as well -- with people wondering why we support a Republican incumbent in one race, but urge the Republican incumbent be dumped in the neighboring district.

I can only say that each race is taken separately. We judge the candidates against each other only in the races they are running, not in comparison to the candidates running next door. In the end, the endorsements represent the view of the newspaper as an institution, not the opinion of any single member of the editorial board.

Shame, silence and the female body

Abortion, the morning-after pill, breast augmentation and now the controversy over the vaccine for the human papilloma virus (HPV). Once again, the female body becomes a political battlefield.

The debate over the HPV vaccine is especially troubling. Doctors say it will protect females from the sexually transmitted disease and possibly save them from cervical cancer, especially if given early. But some families worry they're sending the wrong moral message by having their young daughters vaccinated, or simply dread discussing such a personal issue with them at all. Some parents hope the vaccine can be administered with other immunizations at birth, thus sparing them "the talk."

The discomfort, shame and certainly the silence send girls damaging messages about their bodies and their sexuality. Denying them information about their health -- which is, after all, what this discussion is really about -- is not only dangerous but downright negligent.

Researchers say an HPV vaccine is in the offing for boys and men. It will be interesting to see if the same sort of uneasy, protective silence enshrouds the issues for them as well.

Remembering Domestic Violence Awareness Month

It took my mother and me six minutes to drive from our house to the home of a close family member after we received her frantic call for help. I was 13.

Her husband had beaten her – again. The couple had married in our front yard years earlier – a loving ceremony that belied what was to come or what we saw that day as first responders, before 911 and ambulances and EMTs at the ready.

It felt like we were about to enter a haunted house. It was quiet now, but evil left a mark.
Blood on the walls. Broken glass and pictures on the floor. Her tiny figure sprawled over the couch. The white T-shirt she wore had turned coppery red. Blood had matted her hair and was still flowing over her face.

We took her to a local clinic, where her wounds were cleaned and stitched. She healed and went back to the marriage – and to more beatings – each seemingly more brutal than the last, but he was always "sorry."

The final beating came when he stripped her naked, dragged her through the street, and took a brick to her head. She nearly died. But she never went back into the relationship, thank God.

He should have been charged with attempted murder, but I’m not sure he served a day in jail. But that was a different time, when local lawmen were known to drive “Johnny” around so he could “cool off.”

Today’s victims have the law on their side, thanks to greater awareness and victim’s rights advocates, such as the YWCA. Still too many lie in blood-spattered rooms.
Domestic Abuse Awareness Month, October, is nearly over, but still too many victims lie in blood spattered rooms, believing they are helpless. We all have a responsibility to help them know they are not.

Fuel costs of overweight

A couple of University of Illinois researchers have calculated that the hefty weight gain piled up by Americans since 1960 consumes an extra billion gallons of gasoline per year. The heavier we are or the more junk we haul around in our cars, the worse gas mileage we get.

Does that mean we don't need to drill for new crude in the pristine Artic National Wildlife Refuge? We just need to shed pounds and clean out our trunks?

So which is easier? Right. Drill in ANWR. The average American male in 2002 weighed 191 pounds; the average American female, 164 pounds -- 25 pounds heavier than in 1960.

The same economics apply to airline fuel costs -- the heavier the passengers, the more fuel burned up. Those extra costs are passed along to all ticket-buyers, including skinny ones. In August Delta CEO Gerald Grinstein told the Enquirer editorial board that every dollar increase in fuel price per barrel costs Delta $80 million. He didn't say how much passengers' extra tonnage costs Delta, but I bet some economist is working on it. Do you think someday airline passengers will be charged extra for "packing" excess poundage on their persons?

The teenage chauffeur

An AAA report released Wednesday said teen drivers are almost as likely to be in fatal crashes in after-school hours as on Friday and Saturday nights.

Parents will be frightened by the findings. They may also -- secretly -- feel inconvenienced by them.

For generations, teenagers have desperately awaited their driver's license. Today, many ultra-busy parents are just as desperate for their offspring to get it.

A driving teen means Mom and Dad are freed from schlepping him to sports practice, a part-time job or a study session with friends at Starbucks. It means no more waiting in a cold car for a movie to let out, or making an emergency run to Kroger for posterboard.

Even better -- think of it! -- it means the eldest offspring can now serve as chauffeur for younger siblings. Mom and Dad don't have to cut out of work for 'early release' days at school or rush home for orthodontist appointments.

And it's amazing how quickly convenience -- 'Your sister will take you' -- trumps vague concerns about a teen's lack of driving skill or experience.

The AAA report makes it clear that teens are at as much risk driving to afterschool activities as to Friday night entertainment. That means 'Go slowly' is not only good advice for beginning drivers but for the parents who let them get behind the wheel.

Civics and civility needed

"Mason school board member Jennifer Miller, who ran on a conservative Christian platform, thinks Christianity should be part of public school education."

This was the lead sentence in an Enquirer story Thursday about how Ms. Miller is upset that Mason High School allowed some Muslim students to sit in a room other than the cafeteria during Ramadan, a month during which Muslims fast from sun up to sun down. She somehow construed not making fasting people sit in a room full of people eating lunch as being an unconstitutional advocacy of one religion over another. (The kids in question reportedly chose to go to the library rather than sit in a room by themselves.)

Miller made such a fuss over the issue at Tuesday's school board meeting -- accusing administrators of lying -- that the meeting was adjourned early. Wednesday she told an Enquirer reporter: "We are a Christian nation, not a Muslim nation."

Actually, we are neither. The United States is a secular nation (for good reason), populated by lots of religious people. All this makes me wonder if what we need to add to the school curriculum is not religion, but more history and civics -- not to mention civility. Refresher courses in such subjects should be required of those seeking elected office.

Peace of mind from a gun

I wonder why Bennie Hall thought he needed a gun?

Carrying a concealed weapon is legal in Ohio with the proper permit and Hall had one, according to the prosecutor.

Carrying a gun is a right. Exercising that right is a personal choice. When Ohio's concealed carry law was under debate a few years ago we heard from a lot of people about why they wanted to exercise that right. Some felt the need for protection because of the work they did, the neighborhoods they lived or worked in, or because they had been victims of crime or knew someone else who had been. Some people said they wanted to get concealed carry permits just because feeling the weight of a gun in their pocket would bring them peace of mind.

Police said Hall pulled his legal gun and fired at the person who was stealing his car Monday, killing the 14-year-year-old kid who was behind the wheel of the 12-year-old Taurus.

I wonder if having the gun handy gave Hall peace of mind?

What defines Conservative?

Dictionary.com defines Conservative as 1.Favoring traditional views and values; tending to oppose change. 2. Traditional or restrained in style: a conservative dark suit. 3. Moderate; cautious: a conservative estimate.

Sounds reasonable enough. Though change can bring creativity and innovation to the forefront in many areas needing our energies, not all change is for the best so to 'proceed with caution' and 'moderation' can often save problems subsequently. But then using the label Conservative to refer to people or referring to others as Liberal often is nothing but a ploy to mass generalize and does not address the real issues at hand. Labels are used to incite voters against an opponent or to try to draw people to ones self more often than anything else. No doubt, Conservative is also used as a negative label by some who may profess to be liberal and shun other labels as symbols of stereotyping.

Many voters are just plain sick of these labels and ideological mumbo-jumbo as the issues are getting lost in the rhetoric. They want to be known as conservatives who want honesty, want to have us live within our means and balance our budgets, find it unacceptable and want immediate accountability when learning of a congressman's indiscretion with entrusted teenagers, have a staunch stance against invasion of our privacy, and who take issue with our state allowing conditions that have deteriorated Ohio to being second highest in college tuition rates in the entire country. These conservative values, along with others, are not ones they are willing to give up no matter how politicians are using these labels.

So, what about you? What do you think of the use of these labels and where do your concerns fall that you don't want the candidates to gloss over?

No joy ride

The pre-dawn death of eighth-grader Quavale Finnell Monday behind the wheel of a stolen car has cautionary tale written all over it. The 14-year-old was shot by the car owner Bennie Hall, 61, in front of his Kennedy Heights home. Finnell's home was miles away, in South Fairmount, with his mother. The boy already had a juvenile record of 13 offenses, including breaking and entering.

A few very preliminary observations.
1. Why was an eighth grader with 13 juvenile offenses permitted to stay away from home the night before a school day?
2. It's hindsight, but he would have been safer in detention. What help if any did the courts attempt after his previous offenses?
3. Even though 14 year olds nowadays commit heinous crimes, it's still an awfully young age to understand that grand larceny or even breaking or entering is a high-risk crime.
4. If this was, as it appears, a car-theft, the boy was most at fault in initiating it. But the usually sharp lines between offender and victim quickly blurred. The car owner's action may have made him a double "victim," even if not charged. He has to live with the knowledge he killed a kid. Both boy and car owner exhibited a false sense of property rights.
5. Gun owners need to be very clear that ignorance of the law is no defense, and that includes the legal limits on use of deadly force.

Finding a way out of a dead-end street

A car left unattended for a moment. An eighth-grader who jumps in and drives it away. An angry owner who pulls out a gun and shoots the boy to death.

Quavale Finnell's story stuns us all for its senselessness, its wastefulness.

But how did we really think that the teenager's story would end?

In 14 years of life, Quavale had a police record of 13 offenses. He would have turned 15 on Thursday, over-age for the average eighth-grader. At 6 a.m. on a Monday morning, he was on his way to his home, not from it, as most students would be. Local law enforcement officials say he came from a large family and stayed in a variety of residences.

Our shock at Quavale's apparently impulsive and foolish act -- at the pointlessness of it, the sheer recklessness -- may be the most shocking part of this sad drama. Juvenile judges, teachers, probation officers and counselors who see teenagers like Quavale know that if you add up his risk factors, you come up with a negative score. His act may have seemed a desperate gamble, but then the odds were never in his favor.

Stopping Quavale would have required more than taking the keys out of a running car. Saving him would have required more than simply putting a weapon away without firing.

Police say he circled out of a dead-end street before he died trying to make a getaway.

People who know young, fated men like Quavale say, all too often, dead-end streets are the only routes they know.

A senseless killing or defense of property?

This morning's editorial board meeting was dominated by a discussion of the tragic death of 14-year-old Quavale Finnell. Police say the Central Fairmont Elementary School eighth-grader was shot by Bennie D. Hall Jr., 61, of Kennedy Heights after he caught Finnell driving away in his 1994 Ford Taurus. Hall had cranked the car and left it running to warm up while he went back into his house.

I first heard about this story on the drive to work this morning. I'm sad to say that my first reaction was that Finnell would be alive today had he not been trying to steal a car. I don't like that side of me -- the side that defaults to advocating a form of vigilantism when it comes to protecting home and property. And what in the world was a 14-year-old doing at 6 a.m. outside his own neighborhood anyway?

Since then, I've changed my mind.

I'm seeing Finnell's mother cloaked by her infant children when police told her her son was dead. She's lost a son; they've lost a brother. The community has lost someone who possibly could have been reformed.

We haven't figured out whether to write an editorial yet or what we would say if we wrote it. Perhaps you can help. Was Hall wrong to shoot Finnell? Should he have thought it through? Why was Finnell in that neighborhood that early in the morning? As an underage driver in a stolen vehicle, was he wielding a 2,000-pound lethal weapon? Did Hall possibly save the lives of others -- children at a bus stop, perhaps, or early-morning commuters?

Let's hear your comments?

Free food for hungry, opinionated teenagers

A lot more is at stake in this fall's election than Senate seats, smoking bans and slot machines.

A Chipotle burrito, for one thing, or a grande caramel macchiato.

Those are the incentives -- let's not call them bribes -- that I'm offering to a select group of adolescents willing to share their take on the elections with me.

Not only am I extremely interested in your views on candidates and issues, I'm curious about your willingness to vote in the future -- and, perhaps, even run for office.

Have we adults bored you with empty rhetoric, disgusted you with slimy campaign ads or engaged you in one of the great privileges of growing up in a democracy -- the right to take part in a free election?

Right now, you may fall under the radar screen of the political parties, but they'll be courting you in years to come. We on the Enquirer Editorial Board think that's too late. We want to engage you in the election process right now.

So please, share your thoughts and comments on this blog -- tell us how up-to-snuff you are on this election, if you discuss it at home and in class, and why it matters or doesn't matter to you.

Then, if you'd like to meet me and a small group of your peers at a Chipotle or Starbucks to further discuss the elections, send me an email at kramsey@enquirer.com. I'll choose a group of you -- some highly interested, some entirely turned off -- and treat you to free food or caffeine in exchange for a lively discussion.

Here's your chance to be heard -- and fed.

Property tax rollback

You've heard of "shoot first and ask questions later"?

Cincinnati City Council is poised to "raise taxes first and debate spending cuts later." A Finance Committee majority voted Monday to suspend the property tax rollback and let the city manager raise taxes up to 4.83 mills to collect an extra $1.5 million. The full council will vote Wednesday -- before the city manager even submits his two-year budget to the mayor.

OK, it's not big money compared to the city's expected $28 million deficit in 2008, and new manager Milton Dohoney says, "We're in a race to mediocrity," but we're also in a race with families and businesses heading out of Dodge. Shouldn't council at least study spending cuts before it raises taxes? In a shrinking city, suspending a property tax rollback is no way to create an image that Cincinnati is business and homeowner-friendly.

This -- right after property tax revaluations and when homeowners already fear Hamilton County will cancel its property tax rollback because of slack stadium tax revenues, and when legislators keep ignoring the Ohio Supreme Court's call to reduce reliance on property taxes to fund Ohio schools.

Cincinnati Council members Jeff Berding, John Cranley and Leslie Ghiz voted to keep rolling back property taxes to hold the total constant.

David Crowley, Chris Bortz, James Tarbell and Cecil Thomas grabbed for the easy money and voted to let city property taxes rise. Think we ought to bombard this facile foursome with phone calls to cut spending first, then debate if taxes need raising?

Sinking in the political mud

I hope the story on the front page of Sunday's Enquirer about how low politicians are willing to go finally wakes them up to the damage they are doing to the system -- but I don't have much confidence that it will. Most candidates and their paid tacticians seem to think this garbage sells.

We've actually had some politicians tell the Editorial Board that they have "no choice" but to hit back with negative ads because that's much more popular with their supporters than simply ignoring an attack and trying to put out a positive message. They should read the pages of comments on the Enquirer's Web site that accompanies today's story. Maybe then they would see that they do have a choice.

Perhaps the scurrilous attacks by Ken Blackwell against Ted Strickland will be a tipping point. As Sunday's editorial noted, Blackwell had strong ideas in this race (pretty much the only ideas), but he abandoned his strategy and dropped talk of his ideas to grab a fistful of mud when he thought the voters weren't paying attention to the important things he had to say.

I've known Ken Blackwell as an independent-minded politician for more than 25 years, always willing to stand or fall on the strength of his positions. I'm ashamed that he has taken this cowardly approach because he feels his positions aren't going to sustain him. As the editorial stated, Blackwell has the better ideas about what a governor should do. But he is not a better person.

Life without political ads

This is my 13th straight election year as a member of an editorial board in one of five states. Lord knows how many candidate interviews that encompasses -- surely more than 400 -- if you count them all.

Though this silly season tests our stamina, it's always a rewarding civic exercise. It takes a lot to put your name, reputation and viewpoint out there at the risk of having them sullied.

For me, the biggest drawback is having to see those nasty political ads, many of which are beginning to look more and more like a Jay Leno or SNL parody. They seem to be especially pervasive during morning TV programming.

My question is this: Do you think you could make a sound voting decision without a) hearing the scary music lead-in followed by the pasty image of some poor candidate with a 5 o'clock shadow, b) hearing the familiar urgent, baritone voice-over telling you 5 O'clock Shadow Guy has criminal ties and wants to take your children's lunch money, candy or worse, and c) knowing that candidates "approve this message"?

Or do you think political ads simply add zest to the campaign season?

Too fat for lethal injection

A federal judge Tuesday issued a temporary stay on Ohio death row inmate Jeffrey Lundgren's Oct. 24 execution and let the homicidal cult leader join a five-inmate lawsuit challenging the state's use of lethal injection.

Lundgren argued because he's fat and diabetic, he's at even greater risk of suffering pain during execution. The U.S. Constitution bars cruel and unusual punishment. The judge reasoned flaws in Ohio's execution method could be quickly fixed, although last May the state's execution crew had trouble finding a usable vein to execute Joseph Clark, who as a former addict had screwed up his veins by injecting drugs.

Whatever you think of the death penalty, such pain and suffering appeals by ruthless killers are ludicrous. Lundgren gunned down a family of five including three girls because they weren't enthusiastic enough about his cult. Besides if the courts were to buy the too-fat-to-die argument, it could trigger eating binges on death rows second to none.

It doesn't pain me to say: Take the guy's Twinkies away from him.

New member of the Editorial Board

You may notice that the posting immediately below comes from a new member of this blog. Shakila Ahmad is the current community member of the Enquirer Editorial Board, a position we rotate among volunteers from our readership every six months or so.

Shakila is a business development manager for a local medical practice and serves as a board member and volunteer for a variety of community organizations including the National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ) Cincinnati, the Islamic Educational Council, the Mason City Schools Diversity Council and the Cincinnati Preservation Association. She is the outreach chair for the Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati and the founding member of the Muslim Mothers Against Violence community initiative.

In her role with the Editorial Board she is invited to participate in all of the board's interviews and deliberations. Her insights and candor are welcome additions to our discussions and to this blog.

Economist, Businesspeople, Philanthropists...it takes all.

To help 100 Million people take their first steps out of poverty of whom 97% are women is not an easy task but this is what Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh have won the Nobel Peace Prize for. Average loans of $200 totaling $5.72 billion helping 6.6 million are numbers that are impressive for a small country with 141 million people.

So why would the Enquirer Editorial Blog bother with this...maybe this kind of creativity and ingenuity is what is needed to help people build back up their community in areas such as Over-the-Rhine. And just maybe this same level of 'out of the box' thinking tapping on various partners can even be exercized in the undeniable problem of crime.

Granted Yunus and Grameen have some issues, such as high interest rates, but they also have a repayment rate of 99%. Each borrower is in a group of five borrowers and qualifies for further loans only if everyone pays back...now that is the kind of peer pressure that counts for something!

Social worker killed 'in the line of duty'

It's been more than two months since little Marcus Feisel was killed. How many of us have forgotten 0ur promises to improve the foster care system so that such things don't keep happening?

The story of Boni Frederick, a veteran child welfare social worker killed "in the line of duty" over the weekend, brings home the point that much work still needs to be done to improve all aspects of the system.

Sometimes social workers aren't aggressive enough in making sure kids are safe. Sometimes the system doesn't do enough to allow the workers to safely do their jobs. Frederick, unfortunately, fell into the second category.

Short of goal, long on hope

On Tuesday, United Way of Greater Cincinnati announced that it's way behind on this year's fundraising goal with little more than a week left in its 2006 campaign. With only 70.5 percent of its goal accounted for, the organization says it could come up short by than more than $1 million behind last year's total of $61.8 million -- and that vital community services might be weakened as a result. As our editorial in Wednesday's Enquirer says, it's important for area individuals and companies to step up in the next week and support the campaign. Now, we know that some cynics out there say it's a too-familiar refrain -- that United Way "cries wolf" on its fund-raising total, only to come up with goal-topping contributions at the last minute. But we're convinced that United Way is indeed facing more of an uphill struggle than in previous years because of very real changes in the workforce that we've heard about in recent months. What do you think? And what's the next step for United Way?

Wash your mouth!

I waited more than 48 hours to write this very short entry for two reasons:
1. I didn't want to offer a kneejerk reaction to Nikki Giovanni's obvious attempt to shock Greater Cincinnati (which she did).
2. Along the same lines, I wanted to make sure I didn't trample on her right to free speech on the public square.
So here's my conclusion. Aside from being wrong about Ken Blackwell, Giovanni's comments were out of place. My intent Saturday was to take my daughters to the square.
Now I'm glad I didn't.
I can only imagine how the parents of small children felt when she let loose.
I heard worse from Giovanni seven years ago at a Seattle nightspot. Her words stabbed U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas and scores of others. It was funny back then, and just as shocking. I joined the throng in handclaps of praise.
But it was also after 10 p.m., in a controlled environment, and there was not a minor in sight.

They really said that

So what do Nikki Giovanni and Chris Finney have in common? They both have a foul-mouthed approach to political commentary.

Giovanni, a nationally celebrated poet raised in Cincinnati, was invited to recite her original poem, "I am Cincinnati," at Saturday's rededication of Fountain Square. The recitation listed many thngs that Cincinnati is, and a few that Giovanni thinks it is not, including "that son of a b---- Kenny Blackwell."

Finney, an attorney and staunch ally of Republican Hamilton County Commissioner Phil Heimlich, unleashed a stream of vulgarity at Heimlich's challenger, David Pepper, at a Pepper press conference two weeks ago. Among other comments, he invited Pepper to kiss his backside.

OK, the first amendment guarantees free speech and who am I to suggest putting a muzzle on political comment. And the Square is supposed to be an open-air soapbox. But it has been previously noted in this blog that civil discourse should be the preferred debating form in a democracy.

It may have given Giovanni and Finney each a momentary thrill to go over the top against politicians they despise, but it probably didn't help their arguments or their preferred candidates.

Opening round of endorsements

The Enquirer Editorial Board's endorsements have begun. Editorials recommending David Pepper for Hamilton County Commissioner and Jim O'Reilly for the Ohio First District Court of Appeals were posted on the Enquirer.com this afternoon and will appear in the Forum Section of Sunday morning's print edition. We will be making endorsements in many more Ohio and Kentucky races during the next few weeks.

These endorsements are the consensus views of the Editorial Board and represent the institutional voice of the Enquirer rather than the opinion of any one person. We make these judgments based on our experience and observations, interviews with the candidates and how the candidates match up with the editorial stance of the Enquirer on the issues.

That said, we are not trying to substitute our judgment for yours. What we offer is informed and, we believe, well-reasoned advice to you, our readers. We encourage you to carefully study the contests and the positions of the candidates for yourselves. We believe our choices are the best ones. But if you believe otherwise based on your own research and values that's fine. In fact, that's the beauty of a democracy. The important thing is to be sure you are making informed choices.

Second-hand politics

I detest smoking. I can’t stand smelling cigarette smoke when I’m trying to eat a nice meal. I get angry when I have to walk the gauntlet of downtown workers sucking on coffin nails along the sidewalk. But I’m not supporting Issue 5, because I do not believe the state has any legitimate business making such decisions for the private sector and individuals by enforcing such a sweeping ban, even if a majority of those who happen to vote Nov. 7 (call it the "tyranny of the plurality") approve it.

That’s not to say that smoking should not disappear in most places. But it’s better left to the private sector and public pressure in a local setting. It should be done by free people expressing their own preferences in the marketplace. It’s happening anyway. We are becoming a largely smoke-free society without the brute force of statewide strictures. Leaving the option open for bars and other such establishments won’t lead to a sudden surge in smoking; more and more businesses are finding the move to smoke-free status to be in their best interests.

Those who are serious about the smoking/health issue should be talking about where smoke is really being inhaled – inside the homes of smokers, where children are affected. The Surgeon General's recent report said that median levels of cotinine (a nicotine byproduct) in children are more than twice that of adults. Where’s the call for that ban? Where's the campaign to make tobacco illegal? That's the real end game here, isn't it? Let's be honest about it.

Sure, a gradual lessening of public smoking, along with education and economic disincentives, will shrink the percentage of Americans who smoke in the long run, perhaps to near zero. But what about the generations of children who will grow up in smoky houses in the meantime? Aren’t they at greater risk than adults who patronize a tavern or bowling alley from time to time, or even those who work in such places?

I’m also troubled by the trend toward using government to coerce changes in people’s behavior – what we eat or drink, how we travel, how much we weigh, what activities we undertake – by rationalizing that "bad" behavior burdens society through increased health care costs. This goes beyond the argument against an individual doing something, like blowing smoke or driving drunk, that could harm another individual. This is about doing statistical harm to the collective. It's almost Orwellian. Aren't individual liberty and responsibility on anybody's radar anymore?

Yes, government already does that to some extent – with seat belts, for example. But reasonable people should be able to disagree reasonably on where the line should be drawn.

Issue 5 is a vote for a healthier society

The intentionally misnamed Issue 4 -- SmokeLess Ohio, is a tobacco company con that will actually increase smoking exposure. If it passes it will override existing locally voted restrictions and, because it is a constitutional amendment, will trump Issue 5 -- the real anti-smoking issue on the ballot.

Let’s stop kidding ourselves, smoking is bad for you and it’s bad for me if I happen to be standing down haze from you. The Surgeon General says so, the health care statistics bear it out and rising health care costs hurt everybody. Knowing all that, why wouldn’t we want to reduce the exposure?

People say Issue 5 is an attack on the “rights” of smokers. They say smoking is legal and therefore the state shouldn’t tell us we can’t do it. It is legal; it’s just stupid and dangerous, to me, not just you. It’s not discriminating against anybody to tell them to keep their bad habits to themselves.

I say vote "No" on Issue 4 and “Yes” on Issue 5.

On Issue 5, use choices, not a hammer

You should reject Issue 5. We don’t need the hammer of state law to prohibit smoking in public places.
That’s a decision best left to businesses and workplaces, which are already exercising that right. Issue 5 would do it for them, exempting tobacco retailers, some rooms in hotels and motels, private clubs and the like.
Facilities all over the country that have voluntarily gone smoke-free have done well. But they had a choice, not a hammer. Life without smoke would be better for all of us, but that’s not a reasonable expectation. We need more education programs and cessation strategies. They work.
Tobacco retailers will love the passage of Issue 5 because they’ll just build smoke bars and keep a captive audience. And someone out there is already planning a chain of private smoke clubs.
Then what?
I'll tell you what. You may just see an uptick on smoking as private smoking clubs and expanded smoking rooms become more popular. We might take smoking out of the public square, but I'm not so sure I like the alternative, either.

Smoke-free Ohio

Ohio's Issue 5 gets my vote. I think waiters, waitresses and other hospitality workers deserve the same smoke-free protection many of us now enjoy at our workplaces.

I remember years ago when Enquirer offices weren't smoke-free, and ventilation at the "Grand Old Lady on Vine Street" wasn't the greatest. I eventually brought a fan to work out of self-defence.

That was long before U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona's 709-page study in June said the science was no longer open to dispute: There is no safe level of secondhand smoke exposure. That study also said no-smoking sections and mechanical air cleaners don't reduce the risks enough to make it safe.

U.S. health officials estimate that more than 126 million nonsmokers are still exposed to secondhand smoke in the workplace. Waitresses have some of the highest lung cancer rates in the nation.

We all pay for smoking-related diseases, through Medicaid and other taxpayer-funded health care programs. Claims about "smokers' rights "are bogus. Issue 5 doesn't stop anyone from smoking in Ohio. It just says you can't smoke in public places. Does anyone have a right to impose "involuntary smoking" on someone else?

As far as I can tell, the only industry hurt by smoke-free laws is the tobacco industry. In New York and California, restaurant business increased after smoke-free laws were passed. Louisville just went almost totally smoke-free, except for Churchill Downs.

Issue 5 doesn't ban smoking in private homes, even though many kids are also exposed there to cancer-causing smoke. Carmona made special mention of Kentucky kids. The secondhand smoke exposure rate for KY kids at home is 34.2 percent. Ohio kids aren't much better off, at 32 percent. Only smokers can spare their kids from exposure at home, but don't we owe it to them and others to assure healthier air in public places by voting for Issue 5?

Building better moms and dads

If you want to be a circus clown, a coffee shop manager, a city bus driver or a telemarketer, you will undoubtedly get hours more formal training than you will to be a parent. For a job that means you hold not just a child's life in your hands but his psyche, self-esteem and tear-stained little face, it's amazing what credentials, work history and skill base you can be lacking and still find work as a mom or dad.

The world's most important occupation comes with no job description, prerequisities or certification.

Not only will no one train you or be your mentor, they'll probably not have the nerve to point out your obvious shortcomings -- that's "your business" -- and, because it could create a messy dependency, they also won't do much to help you along.

Yet grooming better parents is surely the key to solving our most serious social problems, and as we point out in a Sunday column, one of the most effective steps in resolving the problems with foster care.

Support and instruct struggling parents and we may be able to pre-empt abuse and neglect.
Imagine what it would be like to be a region known for strong parenting.

For the sake of preservation

National city revitalization figure Stanley A. Lowe wowed an audience of more than 300 people at the Cincinnati Preservation Association's 11th Annual Fall Forum Friday at the Hilton Netherland Plaza.

Lowe lives in Pittsburgh, but works in Washington as the vice president for community revitalization with the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Of Cincinnati, Lowe said it has some of the most beautiful architecture in the country and that it's the kind of city people want to move to when they visit. He said Findlay Market is one of the best markets in America.

Lowe told personal stories about how he became a preservationist after overseeing the demolition of blighted buildings as executive director of the Housing Authority of Pittsburgh. But using federal grants to leverage capital, he has led the charge to revitalize historic housing and commercial stock in inner-city communities throughout Pittsburgh and the country. He likened the work to that occurring in Over-the-Rhine and other areas of Cincinnati.

The Trust is currently working with Gulf Coast communities devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

During his speech, Lowe wondered out loud where former Pittsburgh resident Steve Leeper, the president and chief executive of Cincinnati Center City Development, was.

He's at Fountain Square, audience members joked, personally "laying granite" for Saturday's opening.

Judges and their contributors

"Be careful what you ask for," warns an editorial in the Kentucky edition of Friday's Enquirer that talks about a Kentucky Supreme Court decision that loosened up campaign rules for judicial candidates. As the editorial noted, a recent New York Times report on Ohio Supreme Court justices found they voted in line with campaign contributors 70 percent of the time.

Charter schools accountability

An editorial in the Ohio editions of Friday's Enquirer discusses a report by the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation that says the worst performing charter schools must raise achievement or close, and all charter sponsors must be held more accountable for their schools’ performance. But the same report asks for more funding and fewer regulations for charter schools.

As stated in the editorial, those suggestions do "grate on charter-school skeptics, who want better performance -- not poor performance -- as a trigger for more state investment."

Charter schools are supposed to offer options to poor-performing public schools. Should we ruthlessly cut loose the bad ones, or prop them up and run the risk of creating a second tier of underachieving publicly-funded institutions?

NAACP, pick us, not Vegas

It should be a no-brainer for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to hold its 2008 national convention here in the Queen City.

Cincinnati is reportedly a finalist for the convention along with Las Vegas. We need you more than Vegas needs you. What you do in Vegas may stay in Vegas, but if you gamble on us, the payoff will be long-lasting and much more meaningful.

See, we have so much more to prove, and our stakes are so much higher.

Yes, we will appreciate what 5,000 people will bring to our city.

But there are many obvious reasons to hold the conference here, not the least of which is the location. Cincinnati is about a half-day's drive from most of the country's population, and we certainly have substantial accommodations with the newly renovated convention center and ample hotel space.

What's more, 2008 will be a presidential election year. As in 2004, Ohio will play a critical role in national elections. The NAACP needs to be here, and it needs to invite presidential candidates here. And wouldn't it be great for the group to sponsor a national debate at, say, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center?

The NAACP needs to be here to help Greater Cincinnati and the nation to continue discussions on important topics like social justice, political independence, the new economy, computer literacy, education, crime, the drug trade, criminal justice and race relations.

The NAACP needs to be here to show the United States how far Cincinnati has come, not just since the unrest a few years back, but since the time before the unrest.

The NAACP needs to be here to help us reveal where we lack awareness and how we must move forward.

This weekend, the city and the local NAACP are playing host to more than 30 national officers. On Friday, the local NAACP holds its annual Freedom Fund banquet downtown, which is the group's largest fundraiser.

This is an opportunity for the city to put its best foot forward. We have important company in town.

Instant history, real-time reference

We've become accustomed to instant news coverage on TV and online - everything from a major terrorist attack to the latest slow-speed (and slow-news-day) police chase in Tulsa. But it seems we're reaching the point where history itself may be written in real time.

On Wednesday, within three hours of the plane crash that took the life of former Cincinnati Reds pitcher Cory Lidle, a full article documenting the event appeared on Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that is built, edited and expanded collectively by its users.

Now, a wire story with photos or even videos on a news Web site is one thing. But the Wikipedia article managed, in near-real-time, to go way beyond just reporting how Lidle, a member of the New York Yankees, apparently crashed his plane into a Manhattan condo tower.

In true "wiki" style, its author(s) put together a lengthy, quasi-scholarly entry, complete with outline, references, footnotes documenting its assertions, a map, and links to articles about similar events, such as Yankee catcher Thurman Munson's fatal plane crash in 1979. That's quite a bit more detail than you could find in breaking news accounts.

There also was data on Lidle's plane and the the condo building it hit, plus a link to a detailed article on the plane that included an interesting sidelight: That particular aircraft, the Cirrus SR20, includes a "ballistic recovery system" parachute that allows the craft to descend gently to the ground in an emergency.

Because it was "breaking news," the article on Lidle's crash included a disclaimer that "information may change rapidly as the event progresses." As with other Wikipedia articles, a discussion tab allows contributors and readers to discuss how the article can be improved.

Not to trivialize Wednesday's terrible event on the Upper East Side, but it will be interesting to see how the Wikipedia account evolves. And perhaps it will serve as a little reminder that history, despite our perception of it as a static "object," is always a work in progress.

Fountain Square East

In midtown Manhattan last week, I stepped out of a subway station and found myself staring dead-ahead at Bryant Park, probably the No. 1 model for Cincinnati's Fountain Square makeover. My feet must have been guided by the Spirit of Born-again Parks.

Even on a cold, blustery morning, people still were using Bryant. There was some kind of martial arts competition winding down with guys in white karate suits, and off to one side, some people were playing what I thought was bocci ball. It turns out it was a French variation called petanque. Anyway I could instantly see Bryant's influence on new Fountain Square, which reopens this weekend. Both have the wooded, parklike perimeter with fountain and open space in the middle. Both also have a cafe and kiosks and winter ice-skating.

Bryant has been a huge success, and the new Fountain Square could be even more popular, not just because it has a more spectacular fountain but because the designers have shamelessly stolen more features from many different sites, and 3CDC plans to "program" the place like crazy almost 24-7. Bryant Park, near Times Square, doesn't have a video screen like the one atop Macy's overlooking the new Fountain Square. They probably figured that was overkill, but in Cincinnati it's a smart move. In Hong Kong's "Times Square," crowds congregate just to stare open-mouthed at that video board.

If anything, Fountain Square's promoters may need to resist the temptation to re-clutter the square. Open spaces are worth cultivating too. We got to save enough room for people -- and people-watching. Between people-watching, video-viewing, programmed activities and new restaurant-shopping, what more is needed? Public executions? High-wire acts? What do you think?

Whittling away at open government

Jack Greiner's guest column in Tuesday's Enquirer pointed out a growing problem in Ohio, one most people won't appreciate until it's too late -- the eroding of openness and public oversight of government functions.

Greiner is the Enquirer's lawyer. His column talks about the Ohio Supreme Court's recent 4-3 decision in the case of Oriana House Inc. v. Montgomery. Oriana House is a private company that contracts to run a detention center for the Summit County Juvenile Corrections Board. Montgomery is Ohio Auditor Betty Montgomery, who wanted to audit Oriana's books because she was worried the public funds that finance the private company were being misspent.

The court, with a remarkable lack of wisdom, wouldn't let Montgomery get the records she wanted, saying that while Oriana may be publicly funded and perform a public function, there was no evidence that the government controls its day-to-day operations. That, of course, is the whole point. Summit County contracted with Oriana to run the day-to-day operations and Montgomery wanted to be sure it was being done correctly. The court seemed to say that if a lack of oversight results in suspicion that a private company may be ripping off the taxpayer, the public can't do anything about it because the oversight has been lax. That not only defies logic, it seems to go against previous court decisions that found public entities couldn't hide what they were doing by contracting with private companies.

If you're thinking "So what, I don't live in Summit County or care about some jail up there," I have a closer-to-home example. Think Marcus Feisel, whose horrible death recently attracted the attention of nearly everyone in Greater Cincinnati. Marcus was in a foster home operated by a PRIVATE CONTRACTOR for Butler County. This court ruling doesn't sound like something that will help us look out for all the other little Marcus Feisels out there.

Pulling a Clinton

Pretty weather in October makes me think of Bill Clinton.

Under hard blue skies in downtown Little Rock 15 years ago, I was among the thousands gathered in front of the Statehouse to hear Clinton declare his presidential aspirations. Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow" blared from big speakers. It would become his theme song. I loved Bill Clinton that day. He was full of optimism and vision.

Clinton would be elected to two terms that were successful, for the most part, but his undoing was the Lewinsky sex scandal, and the fact that he did not come clean about it in the first place.

He disgraced the party.

Now it appears the GOP is pulling a Clinton.

Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., has disgraced his party by flirting with a teenage page over the computer. A hotline has been established in Washington for people to report any information they know about Foley. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, amid calls that he step down for not reacting soon enough or forcefully enough, contends he didn't know the extent of Foley's messages, yet bad news keeps coming.

A number of Republican representatives, including Hastert, have canceled appearances on Sunday morning talk shows, which provide key opportunities to make political hay. Instead, they are in damage-control mode.

The Washington Post reported that a former page told an Arizona representative that Foley sent him messages that made him uncomfortable way back in 2000.

Clinton's problems strained his party through an election season, just as Foley's problems, an increasingly unpopular war in Iraq and other issues are straining the Republican Party this election season.

Democrats smell blood.

It's amazing how sound crisis management seems to get tossed when crises happen. What about addressing a scandal quickly and truthfully, being contrite and moving on to other issues that the American people really are concerned about?

One way for Republicans to stop the bleeding would be to learn from what Clinton didn't do at first.

A former House page speaks out on Foley scandal

Plenty of opinions on all sides have been aired loudly regarding the Mark Foley scandal that has rocked Congress and Washington politics. But we haven't heard much from the young people at the center of the story -- the congressional pages -- until now. And it's in the form of a personal perspective from a Greater Cincinnati native who served as a page.

In a Your Voice column appearing on the Tuesday, Oct. 10 editorial page, former House page Elizabeth Shockey, an Oak Hills High School graduate now a freshman at Columbia University in New York, writes that the controversy has unfairly tarnished the page program. "The victims of the Foley scandal are not House members whose seats are in jeopardy, but pages, both current and former, who have been failed by a Congress riveted by its own political power struggles," she writes.

Pages chosen to work for Congress are clearly warned to stay vigilant against sexual propositions and harrassment, Shockey writes. She fears that a worthwhile program that has helped numerous young Americans learn about the workings of government is now in jeopardy -- and not because of anything the pages have done wrong.

Do you think the congressional page program is outdated or just too dangerous for young people? Read her column and weigh in here with your opinion.

Curbing our pumpkin consumption habits

A pumpkin fungus is amung us.

Pumpkin pathologists say it's melting the rotund gourds down to a pile of slime in the fields. It means jack-o-lantern prices will likely go higher -- initially, a disaster but on second-thought perhaps a blessing in disguise.

As with so many of our consumer habits, our appetite for Halloween pumpkins is near-gluttonous. Thirty years ago, a family bought and carved a single jack-o-lantern. Today, front stoops are crowded with the things, many of which are carved with specially designed tools and lighted with cupcake-sized "pumpkin candles." Once again a nice little tradition has become a production.

Maybe premium prices will bring back a bit of moderation. But don't expect it. Halloween, like most other modern holidays, is about getting as much of a good thing as you can get. . .

Victory party

Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republican whip, acknowledged last week he was the one who "wired" the $20 million inserted into last year's defense spending bill to pay for a national celebration of success in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. This year he had to write similar language for a "commemoration of success" into the new bill to roll over authorization into FY 2007.

The senator's spokesman explained McConnell felt returning troops should be treated to ceremonies and awards and not have to "sneak back" home or be spat upon the way some soldiers were during or after the Vietnam war.

Mitch deserves credit for having the foresight to arrange for a victory party to be paid in advance, but let's hope this doesn't become a story of rollovers waiting year after year for enough success to warrant the celebration.

It's also a different era from Vietnam War days. There's a different spirit this time born of 9-11. Other than a few exceptions, even U.S. anti-war groups aren't blaming the troops. Communities all over America already have been welcoming troops home with fanfare and gratitude.

I visited the 9-11 site in New York last Friday. Thousands every day still make the pilgrimage to the site. Crews are pouring infrastructure back into that vast hole in the ground as fast as they can. Every day there is a commemoration. We go there to mourn the victims and the firefighters and police who died trying to save others and those who died later in Afghanistan and Iraq during this prolonged U.S. response. It's also a place where we mourn the squandering of world good will following 9-11. I'd pick it over Washington as a place for our elected leaders to gather and review exactly what kind of victory we want to celebrate.

BorgBlog: "How Come You Never Criticize Democrats During Sex Scandals?"

BorgBlog: "How Come You Never Criticize Democrats During Sex Scandals?"

High Holy Days -- Update

Today is another case in point. Does anybody out there know what it is we are supposed to be celebrating today other than the fact that a lot of the banks are closed, the bills and junk mail don't get delivered and it's a handy theme for store wide blow out sales?

It also happens to be Canadian Thanksgiving.

Happy Columbus Day to all!

Making fun of both sides

I can usually count on the phone to ring these days when Jim Borgman skewers the Republicans with one of his cartoons. The calls invariably go something like this: "I'm tired of that LIBERAL Borgman always picking on the administration. How come he never did anything like this when Clinton was in the White House?"

They never believe me when I explain that Borgman, like the rest of us opinioneers, goes after whoever happens to be stepping in it at the moment. I love the fact that he took the opportunity on his BorgBlog to push this particular fact in everybody's face. My personal favorite is "Live from the President's shorts."

Who says elephants have long memories?

High Holy Days -- An Introduction

With Greater Cincinnati becoming more and more diverse in the religious traditions its residents adhere to, how do we adopt practices that respect each other’s holy days and take them into account when we plan our work, school and civic schedules?
That’s a question raised here recently with events that conflicted with the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, but it applies equally to other religions at other times of the year.
Members of the Enquirer Editorial Board decided to tackle the issue on this blog. Our individual perspectives appear below, and appear in our print edition of Monday, Oct. 9. We’re inviting you to join the discussion. Add your comments, explain your viewpoints and advance your own solutions.

High Holy Days -- Take One

The question has already been brought our attention by readers:

Why did (pick one A-the school district; B-the office; C-the candidate; D-the neighbors) schedule that event on a day when so many people will be (pick another one: A-at church; B-at temple; C-at home celebrating with their families; D-enjoying a day to themselves)?

It happened a week ago on Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement. It happened on Sept. 23 with the celebration of Rosh Hashana and the beginning of Ramadan. It will happen during the December "Holiday Season," when countless business, social and business/social obligations will be scheduled at days and times when many people would rather be celebrating with their families.

How do you schedule without giving offense? Why would you even think that "giving offense" enters into the equation when you receive an invitation? But that's what happened when Sycamore School District scheduled the Sept. 23 dedication of a new athletic facility.

Every year we hear from people angry because they feel compelled to substitute "Season's Greetings" for "Merry Christmas," and demand to know where some people think they get off by putting Kwanzaa between Christmas and New Year's.

I'm always puzzled by people who twist celebrations into insults. If somebody wishes me a Happy Chanukah I'm happy to take it. I certainly don't worry about offending somebody by wishing them a Merry Christmas, and while I never heard of Kwanzaa when I was a kid, I think people gathering to celebrate and reflect as a community is a fine idea and it's a tradition I'd be happy to embrace.

My wife's family is full of traditions and has a saying about "State Days and Bonfire Nights." Those are the times you dress up and put out the good china. They're the celebrations you invite friends to. That's the way all holidays should be viewed -- a time to share and celebrate. If you don't understand what the celebration is about, ask. If a day has meaning to you, accept that tradition and don't be shy (or rude) about explaining why you're skipping out on what somebody else has planned. Celebrations are meant to be enjoyed, not debated.

High Holy Days -- Take Two

Like many Americans, I grew up in a town that was quite homogeneous in religion and culture. And like many Americans, my perspective widened in college – especially, for me, in graduate school, where I became part of a diverse group of students from many nations. I witnessed my Saudi friends observing Ramadan, my normally reserved German friends from Aachen and Bonn indulging in costumed wildness at Karneval time, my Japanese friends enjoying the distinctive cuisine associated with their celebrations.

I liked the openness with which people not only respected each other's traditions, but almost invariably welcomed each other to join in those traditions as best they could. I wonder why we have such trouble carrying that spirit over into "real life."

And I came to understand that each holiday is a distinctive, subtle blending of religious impulses with cultural and national traditions, some ancient, some modern.

So it’s in that spirit, I think, that we created what you might consider a new “holiday.” You see, it was Indiana University’s undefeated championship basketball season in 1975-76, and it was fascinating to witness how the contagious enthusiasm over the Hurryin’ Hoosiers brought people together, whatever their backgrounds, and changed all our perspectives.

I’m confident that many of those friends, some of whom remained in this country and others who returned home, still observe the NCAA tournament as, if not high holy days, at least a multi-cultural form of what the Germans call “Tolle Tage” – and we might loosely translate as “March Madness.”

High Holy Days -- Take Three

During our morning editorial board meeting, cartoonist Jim Borgman made an interesting point, as he always seems to do.

We had determined what the weekend's editorials would be when Jim told us about how some members of the Jewish community, including his wife, Suzanne, were less than happy with the fact that important business was being conducted on Monday, which was Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement. No work is to be done by Jews on that day, yet in many places in Cincinnati, it was business as usual.

For Muslims, the month of daily fasting, Ramadan began Sept. 24, but those who don't have routine interaction with Muslims may not have noticed.

It wasn't until I became an adult, and left the isolation of my conservative Baptist upbringing, that I even considered the practices and rituals associated with other religions. I was challenged this morning at the thought of discussing this on the blog. But I'm glad we are talking about it.

No matter what we believe, it's important for all of us to be tolerant of another's faith and to acknowledge their needs -- both in the workplace and outside it. If that means designating a room in the office for prayer or meditation, it should be done. If it means time off for religious holidays that are not Easter, Christmas or Good Friday, it must be done.

Our preprinted calendars traditionally have included Christian holidays and traditional American holidays such as Thanksgiving. We often plan our year around them, but as our society and workplaces become more diverse, I think HR departments can consider a trade off. If someone doesn't want Christmas off, for example, give them another day of their choice.

Meanwhile, to paraphrase Krista Ramsey, it's good that we are even having this discussion because it shows how important consideration of diversity is in today's society.

High Holy Days -- Take Four

Not long ago, I came across a photo of a medical school class from the 1950s. Although everyone in the photo was a stranger to me and I had no connection to the school itself, the picture triggered an instant feeling of incompleteness and -- I'm searching for a word -- some degree of emptiness. Odd as it sounds, for no apparent reason I felt a little sorry for the class.

After pondering it for a moment or two, I realized that all the students were the same race and gender and at some purely emotional level, that translated into a less rich, less interesting experience than the world I live in every day.

That revealing moment comes to mind as I think about the dilemma schools and communities face when it comes to sensitivity to religious holidays.

People of minority faiths would say it happens pretty regularly: special events are scheduled with no thought given to their particular religious observance -- parent-teacher conferences, professional workshops, community festivals, galas, athletic events.

It's a painful oversight that feels as if it creates a pecking order for something as personal and sacred as religious practices. Mine matters; yours obviously doesn't matter as much.

The only thing that prevents such insensitivity is a realization that sensitivity is a byproduct of respect, and respect isn't a happy, rosy feeling that falls out of the sky but something that is not only intended, but practiced and indeed planned for.

I am lucky enough to live in a community where someone speaks up if holidays are trampled on or religious beliefs are insulted. It's also, not incidentally, a community where fairness and equity are part of the fabric of everyday life.

Respect is an amazingly attractive quality -- lovely, if freely given, but more handsome still when it is insisted upon by all of us.

The river

Tall Stacks is rolling on the river this week, but if you've been looking at the Enquirer's editorial page for the last three days you've seen that the Editorial Board sees the river as far more than stern wheelers and steam whistles.

The Ohio is the reason this community exists, it streams through our past and present, provides every drop that comes out of the taps and eventually carries away every drop that goes down the drains.

Byron McCauley talked of it as the boundary between slavery and freedom.
For Krista Ramsey it is a venue for play and recreation.
Ray Cooklis wrote Friday of its natural power to shape and even stop our lives.
Tony Lang spent some time just taking in its majesty from atop the Purple People Bridge as you will read Saturday.
On Sunday we will talk of how the river connects our community's history and its future.

So what does the Ohio mean to you? Is it just something you cross every day without really looking down? Do you aspire to have a home that looks out over it? Have you ever really looked at this resource? Or gone down to the bank and dipped your toes?

If you live in this town the river touches you whether you have been to its banks or not. Give us your river view.

The medicating of menopause

In a Pennsylvania court case, a woman was awarded $1 million and her husband $500,000 Wednesday after jurors concluded the hormone replacement therapy Prempro was the cause of her breast cancer.

But when it comes to how most women decide to deal with menopause and its symptoms, the jury is still out.

The case goes beyond the continually shifting medical debate of whether hormone therapy reduces such risks as heart disease, thereby benefiting women's health, or raises their risk of breast disease or other problems. It goes beyond the more immediate reasons many women begin such therapy -- hot flashes, night sweats and irritability.

For many women, the debate is more philosophical than physical: Is menopause really something to "treat," or a natural biological process that is a healthy -- albeit somewhat challenging -- part of life?

Chances are most females have had other such body-conversations with themselves since they were adolescents. Do you pop a Midol for cramps and skip out of phys ed, or would a run and slight discomfort be a better approach? How about medication during labor -- are you a martyr if you choose to try natural childbirth, or a wimp if you ask for an epidural?

While it doesn't help that women must make some of these decisions while they wait for definitive research, the greater complication is that the noise surrounding them can separate a woman from instinctive wisdom about her own body.

Advertisements by drug companies make hormone therapy look as harmless and self-edifying as a pedicure or a bubble bath. So why not do it? Meanwhile, menopausal symptoms -- thinning hair, dry skin, memory loss -- make a female feel old. So we'd better do it.

Final resolution of the Pennsylvania court case is probably still years away as drug manufacturer Wyeth enters a second phase of the trial, and 5,000 other hormone-replacement lawsuits against it wait in the wings.

Meanwhile, the controversy will continue to be "tried" in tens of millions of private homes and ob/gyn offices as women decide if menopause should be medicated, managed, tolerated or -- as a badge of maturity -- even counter-culturally enjoyed.

Come on, you like it – you know you like it

As the leaves fall in autumn, so do whatever scruples are still clinging to the average political campaign. Yes, it’s attack ad season.

The pre-Halloween ritual brings a daily trick-or-treat of candidates’ ghoulish opponent-bashing commercials, along with their mutant cousins – the heavy-breather robo-calls to registered voters, and the zombie TV spots by those “independent” “non-partisan” “voter education” “issue” groups that misrepresent a roll-call vote and conclude, “Call Congressman So-and-So and tell him to take a giant flying leap.”

All of which produces the obligatory Ain’t It Awful chorus by journalists, academics and voters who express shock – shock – at the low level of campaign dialogue, wring their hands and despair for the future of the Republic. Oh, the incivility!

But wait. Is negative campaigning really that bad? David Mark doesn’t think so. Author of the book “Going Dirty: The Art of Negative Campaigning,” Mark argues in an essay published by Reason magazine (while you’re at it, read how Reason's Kerry Howley deflates the “sexless sex scandal” surrounding former Rep. Mark Foley) that attack ads are normal, healthy, even good for the election process. In an age of instant response, round-the-clock cable and Web postings, deceptions can quickly be parried and falsehoods rectified. Whatever truth exists can be distilled.

David Mark must take lots of showers.

But he’s not alone in believing that negative campaigning is normal and healthy for the political process. At least it’s a sign that people actually care. “Enthusiasm in politics usually contains a large element of hatred,” wrote political analyst Michale Barone after the brutish 2004 campaign – which Mark notes produced the highest voter turnout in 36 years.

The problem is that we’re accustomed to commercials for products and services that take great pains to offend nobody and leave consumers with a good feeling. That really doesn’t play in politics. Do warm and fuzzy, and you gloss over the hard issues – and the differences between candidates on them. Unless it’s a real show-stopper, you get more yawns and snickers than votes.

Besides, you can argue that campaigning is much less negative than in the past. John Adams’ supporters decried Thomas Jefferson’s bid for the presidency with strings of ugly slurs and racial epithets; accusations about fathering an illegitimate child dogged Grover Cleveland’s campaign, but he won anyway.

Today’s ads seem tame and issue-oriented by comparison. Even the attacks that get personal serve to reveal something important about the candidate by how he deals with them. “Voters hate negativity – except when they like it” is the bottom line.

“When candidates present clear, stark differences, citizens are better able to judge whom to support,” Mark writes. “When those lines are drawn sharply in harsh, tough ads and attacks in the press, it’s the voters who win.” I'm still a skeptic, but Mark's arguments are food for thought. As a wise guy once said, bring 'em on.

Admit it: Don’t you secretly love to watch politicians bash each other? Let’s talk about it.

The beat goes on

It must be a Washington thing. Last month, Ohio Rep. Bob Ney, charged with corruption in the Abramoff scandal, checked himself into a rehabilitation clinic for alcoholism.

This month, Florida Rep. Mark Foley, outed for salacious e-mails sent to teenage male House pages, said he was seeking treatment for alcoholism and mental illness. His lawyer said he was apologetic for communications he made while under the influence of alcoholism. Is that called SUI -- seduction while under the influence? Foley later said, Oh yeah, he was also molested as a kid by a clergyman.

The scandal has also ensnared House leaders, including Majority Leader John Boehner of Ohio. Did they do enough to stop Foley's creepy come-ons to underage boys. You will know they're buckling, if they check themselves in for alcoholism rehab.

Isn't it breathtaking how these congressmen are suddenly so eager to go public about their serious alcoholism problem, while Cincinnati Bengals picked up for DUI or other substance abuse are trying to distance themselves a thousand yards from such public exposure. What's wrong with their lawyers? Why haven't they checked their humongous clients into a clinic for eating disorders? "My eating disorder made me do it. "

Which brings up another news report. Guantanamo Bay prison detainees are getting obese from eating everything on the menu. One weighs 410 pounds. Even the ones on hunger strikes are well-fed. Question: Is the American diet cruel and unusual punishment? Supreme Court, speak up.

And finally, check out the Louisville Courier-Journal story http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061004/NEWS0104/610040566 on the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Inspector General who says top Fletcher administration officials blocked his investigation into rigged road contracts. The Transportation Cabinet was Action Central for most of the shenanigans exposed during the administration's patronage hiring scandal. Here we go again.

Little Amish girls

There is probably nothing more innocent in this world than little Amish girls.

They are raised to be modest, trained to be reserved and encouraged to be communal, to find their purpose and identity in relation to their family and community.

But while they are often shy around non-Amish strangers, they are generally merry of heart as only the pure of heart can be, and sweetly trusting of life. They hide behind their mothers, blush if spoken to directly, wave at you -- as does their entire family -- as you pass their buggy on a dusty road.

I grew up in Wayne County, Ohio, a lovely rural place that was home to many Amish and Mennonite families.

I rode the bus with Betty, a tiny Amish girl with round, wire-rimmed glasses that magnified her bright brown eyes.

I navigated the toy aisle at the local country store with young Amish girls dressed in long black winter cloaks that made them look like graceful crows.

I admired the industry and cheerfulness of the Amish girls who sold my family strawberries and cider from makeshift roadside markets.

I do not understand who could kill a little Amish girl.

Police in Lancaster County, Penn., say Charles Carl Roberts IV did, that he lined a wall with little Amish girls and then proceeded to shoot them all.

And because he did that -- violated one of the "worlds" that has always been the most gentle, peaceful and sacrosanct to me -- I no longer believe there is a safe spot left in the world.

But I know that the Amish I have been blessed to known will find a safe spot -- the place of faith, forgiveness and simplicity that has long allowed them to be in the world, but not of it.

In search of the one-shoe(ed) man?

Like the socks that get lost in the dryer, here's another one of life's great mysteries. Why are there so many single shoes on area roads, streets and highways?

When will the other shoe drop? At the entrance of my subdivision, one Nubuck suede shoe remained in the street all summer. I was tempted to pick it up every time I jogged, but eventually it became a source of pride -- like public art. One day it disappeared as mysteriously as it appeared.

The other morning at a local intersection, after I dropped my daughter off at school, there was a another single. It was nice and new, too -- one high-top basketball sneaker alone in the road, getting drenched by a thunderstorm. At yet another intersection, a running shoe lay as a silent witness for months.

Road kill man-made in Taiwan.

I wonder if there is a land of misplaced shoes somewhere, like the land of misfit toys on that Christmas Claymation story of my youth? My little baby often kicks off her shoes, especially in the grocery store. We have to backtrack when she does this, and usually we find one or the other in the middle of the supermarket aisle, in another room, on the staircase or in a corner.

But these shoes in the street -- they're worn by adults, not babies. I keep a look out for news reports to see if anybody's been knocked out of their boots or worse. Nothing.

So this remains one of life's great mysteries -- like those treasured argyle socks you only wore once after one of them was digested by the Maytag.

Report abuse to the cops

Many states, including Ohio, have mandated reporting laws when it comes to suspected child abuse -- that is people in certain occupations are required to report suspicions of child abuse to the authorities. These include teachers and school administrators, social workers, medical personnel and others. You're a teacher and a child comes to class with a handprint welt on his face, you report it. A child writes in a journal submitted to the teacher that she is being molested at home, you report it.

The idea is that kids need protection and one of the best ways to ensure that they get it is to let the people who know how to turn suspicions over to the people who know how to nvestigate such matters as quickly as possible--that means the local child protective agencies and the police--usually both. It's not OK to ignore such warning signs if you are a responsible person, It is not OK to choose not to get involved because you're worried about somebody's reputation or the impact it might have on you.

So, it looks like we need to add "all public officials" to the list of mandated reporters.

Anybody who has been following the story of the congressional pages subjected to the unacceptable attentions off now ex-congressman Mark Foley, R-Fla., knows what I am talking about. Several of this creep's congressional colleagues knew about the messages, knew about what the behavior implied, knew that the pages were underage teens -- and yet all they did (at most) was privately tell Foley to knock it off and then passed their concerns on (maybe) to House leadership (who also did nothing).

This includes, apparantly, John Boehner, R-West Chester, who first told the Washington Post he reported the matter to Speaker Dennis Hastert months ago, and then said he couldn't remember if he had or not.

Memo to all members of Congress: The next time you hear that some adult is trying to proposition children, your first reaction shouldn't be to call a caucus, it should be to call the cops. Then you will be sure to remember that you did the right thing.

Taking a timeout -- but not just from TV

We moms will take back-up from wherever we can get it. So when Pediatrics journal says that kids who watch TV or play video games on weeknights do worse in school, you can bet we'll find some way to weave it into the dinner table conversation.

But to be honest, TV is sometimes the easiest foe I fight in the war for my children's time and attention. The tougher fight is against all those activities that offer great benefits but come at a cost of family time, private time, creative time and sleep -- the things that in some perhaps-unquantifiable way also feed into academic and intellectual growth.

Those activities include sports practice, homework, even social time for high school students who work so hard at academics that they have little time left for the great -- and fleeting -- pleasure of hanging out with friends, decompressing from the day, sharpening their great adolescent humor and sometimes even their thinking skills.

My kids don't spend hours each evening sitting in front of the TV, but many of their evenings are consumed by the day's homework or simply eaten up by a school performance, a sports practice or a school event. I sometimes dread things that should be fun -- a roller-skating party, practice for the church Christmas play, a school musical -- because I know it will throw the week even further out of kilter. And it's not like my kids are signed up for a million activities -- we scaled back on classes and extracurriculars several years ago.

But here's what I still fight to make time for -- what I genuinely believe makes my kids not only better students but better human beings: conversations about events of the day and how human beings make productive and unproductive decisions; a chance to talk about what each of us aspires to and offer encouragement to go after it; a chance to share successes, fears, doubts and pain; great, rambling creative talk, where my son tells me how he would design a new Lego or my daughter talks about what she loves about Shakespeare and hates about Hawthorne.
Making a space for that on most weeknights is a whole lot harder than simply turning off the TV.

Sorry, we can't talk about that

Over the years in Enquirer editorial board meetings with county child-protection officials, it's been tough, if not impossible, to get straight answers out of them, even about horrific abuse cases like that of three-year-old Marcus Fiesel who died in August.

It used to be said that the initials of the super-secret federal spy agency NSA stood for No Such Agency. Secrecy at many child protection agencies runs a close second.

No child should get beaten up a second time in the news media by public disclosure. But child-protection agencies typically do their own investigations of possible internal screw-ups, and the results are seldom released to the public. Is that so they don't embarrass the child or don't embarrass their agency?

The Enquirer is publishing an editorial Tuesday arguing that the curtain of confidentiality doesn't need to be so iron-clad.

Butler County's irrepressible Commissioner Mike Fox has called for a flurry of reforms. One is a truly independent Inspector General for children's services. Accent on "independent."

Will the IG's job depend on pleasing his bosses? Will he have power to do his own investigating? Who picks the IG? Oversight here or in Washington often is a joke. It's super busy people at the mercy of information that agencies feed them.

Ohio isn't the only state with confidentiality conflicts when it comes to protecting kids. In January, a national child-advocacy group warned that in some Kentucky counties it's pure luck whether neglected or abused kids get placed in a safe, permanent home. The report also urged state officials to investigate if some counties were too quick on the draw in severing kids from birth parents.

Parents who've lost custody may go the most ballistic when secrecy-obsessed agencies say "Just trust us," but we all should hound agencies that shun transparency.

Where's the outrage?

Enquirer reporter Janice Morse had a shocking story in Saturday's edition.

John Blanks Jr., of Mason, 44, was sentenced to five years in prison, essentially for holding his daughter captive for five years and treating her has his wife. It was reported that Blanks gave his daughter a sexually transmitted disease as well.

It was also reported that the abuse started when she was 13. She is 19 and is attending college away from the area. There aren't many things worse in society than incest, because the victims are usually afraid to come forward or believe they are somehow responsible for their abuser's deviant behavior. So they often live with secret shame.

Thankfully, the teen outed her father to one of her coaches this past summer, and Blanks was prosecuted.

What's difficult for me to understand is why Warren County Judge Neal Bronson sentenced Blanks to only five years when he could have put Blanks away for 20? Is anyone else out there as outraged as I am?

Oh, those 'stupid' liberals

Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey caused a stir shortly before he retired in 2002 with this comment: "Liberals are, in my estimation, just not bright people," he said. They don't think deeply; they don't comprehend; they don't understand."

The blunt-talking Texas Republican's words are typical of what American political debate has devolved into: Insult your opponent's intelligence, even his humanity. Both sides do it; it doesn't solve anything except to whip up your own side's true believers.

But Armey's view of liberals' level of understanding is getting some thoughtful support from one quarter -- Arnold Kling, a self-proclaimed "former far leftist" turned libertarian with a Ph.D. in economics from MIT. Writing on the technology-oriented Web site TCS Daily, Kling in essence says that liberals just haven't matured. When they grow up, they become libertarians.

That may sound like the dreary old saying, often attributed to Sir Winston Churchill, about a young conservative having no heart and an old liberal no brain, but Kling's argument is considerably more nuanced than that.

Having gone through the process himself, he believes that liberals, particularly those on the "far left," haven't learned to compensate for what social psychologists call the Fundamental Attribution Error - "to attribute behavior to a person's character when this behavior is in fact based on context." In other words, conservatives advocate certain policies simply because they're bad people, backed by inherently evil forces such as corporations.

That leaves no room to consider that, say, a conservative might advocate abolishing the minimum wage because he wants to help lower-income workers, might oppose illegal immigration because he is not a bigot, or might favor tax cuts because he believes they
lead to more growth and opportunity for all segments of society.

The left, Kling says, should "study the consequences of policy, not simply the motives and intentions of those who advocate the policy." He says he has come to believe that government power is corrupting no matter who holds the reins, and that it's the free market that actually keeps us aimed toward social justice.

Kling may be onto something. I'd add that conservatives have their own issues with the Fundamental Attribution Error, and it seems to be a chronic condition among journalists as well.
Maybe we all ought to stop thinking about politics and government as a matter of "good guys vs. villains." You can't arrive at good policy, or even debate it rationally, if you start with the assumption that the other side is irredeemably evil or stupid.

Heck, maybe we should all grow up and become libertarians.