Breaking silence as a community

Martin Luther King Jr. Coalition, a racially diverse multi-faith group which organizes the major event held at Music Hall on the MLK Jr. Holiday, co-sponsored “Together We Can: A Time to Break Silence” Community Forum held at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center Tuesday evening.

The program focused on King’s speech to clergy and community at Riverside Baptist Church in NYC on April 4, 1967 and how King’s message is relevant and can inspire Cincinnatians to break the silence and find answers to poverty, racism and violence. Bishop E. Lynn Brown, Rabbi Gary Zola, former Mayor Dwight Tillery, as well as other community leaders, shared experience of past and present and the mandate of speaking out against these ‘interlocking cruelties’ permeating so many aspects of our society and world.

This and other Community Forums co-sponsored by the Freedom Center and available for listening at www.freedomcenter.org bring together civic and community leaders to offer their perspectives on problems facing all of us but even more importantly allow you as citizens of this community to come and share your concerns and thoughts on why and how these problems can be addressed. We have certainly seen citizens trying to take fighting crime into their own hands, offering disgust or retaliation at violence here and abroad or ridicule the thought of being ‘politically correct’ instead of seeing value in understanding another’s plight with empathy. Cynicism and lack of ownership seem to prevail.

How about citizens proactively offering a better way to address problems before they get to that boiling point? How about fighting for our rights through working for the rights of fellow human being? How about, we the people, being the leaders in the revolution of these values preached and lived out by King?

Time out on evil that men do

One of the saddest stories I read in today's edition was this: The 85-year-old victim of a Halloween 2005 attack has died.

The other one: Police say a local mother killed her baby by placing it in a microwave oven.

To live and be well for more than eight decades is a blessing. To die from complications of a shooting at that age is a crying shame.

And if 26-year-old China Arnold of Dayton microwaved her 1-month-old, she'll suffer dire consequences of the law, but she probably needs deep psychological help.

Men can do so much evil to one another, from disrupting traffic with a planted bomb, to kidnapping children, to robbing a convenience store (all of which happened today as well).

Time out!

I think we are way overdue for the glad tidings and joy I hope the holiday season brings.

How much freedom can you take?

A commenter suggests this blog was too long to get much of a response, so I'm shortening it up some.

A survey by the First Amendment Center indicates that more Americans support and understand their First Amendment freedoms than in recent years. If you look through the survey, you will see that while support for the First Amendment is up, it is far from universal.
How much freedom can you take? We'd like some response to the scenarios posed below. You can respond here or e-mail me at dwells@enquirer.com. If you include your name and a phone number so I can check back with you, we may include your comments in a discussion on the subject in Sunday's forum.

Freedom of speech:
The city just spent millions of dollars refurbishing Fountain Square to be a downtown centerpiece. The idea is to provide a place where everyone can come together. At the dedication ceremony, a speaker stands at the microphone and offers a harsh denunciation of a local politician, embarrassing the organizers and putting a damper on the festivities for some people.
Should the city require people who want to make speeches on the square to get their remarks cleared in advance?

Freedom of the press:
The local police department has drug undercover officers posing as students on a local college campus. A newspaper gets tipped to the program by a college employee who is worried some students may be entrapped by the officers. A grand jury has prepared sealed indictments but the police and college administration want to continue the operation for a few more weeks before making arrests.
Should the newspaper be allowed to run a story about the investigation in progress? Even if the paper can run the story, should it choose not to?

Freedom of religion:
A church group contributes the money to erect a Christmas Nativity display in a public park during the month of December. Every evening members of the group gather in the park next to the display to sing Christmas carols. Another group provides funds to erect a menorah in celebration of Hanukah in the park during the same period. A third group marches around the perimeter of the park every evening carrying signs that say "God is dead."
Should the city permit any or all of these displays?

Obesity is no "epidemic"

Do you think we ought to dump the word "epidemic" when commenting on our grotesquely high obesity rates?

In a state such as Kentucky with 63 percent of adults overweight or obese, excessive weight certainly is widespread, and it is a medical problem, but "epidemic" also usually carries the idea of "contagious." Obesity isn't something like the flu which we catch -- through no fault of our own. Overweight is self-caused in most cases, isn't it? We pack on the fat by over-eating and under-exercising. Also by over-buying and over-stockpiling.

Let's hope the "epidemic" label isn't just feeding excuse-and-denial, as in "Darn right it's epidemic, everybody's overweight, so Bubba, pass me another slab of ribs."

How about we get real and switch to a term that acknowledges overweight is a choice, or a long string of choices. Like the "cult of obesity" or the "lifestyle of obesity" or the "obesity orientation." Some verbiage that spells out it's not "fat chance." It's "fat choice."

Another year for Nancy Zimpher

UC's board extended President Nancy Zimpher's contract for an extra year on Tuesday, which we hope keeps her happy enough to ignore possible opportunities elsewhere. Mark Dantonio left the head football coaching job at UC to jump to the Big 10 at Michigan State. People at the Clifton campus couldn't help but notice a Big 10 presidency is about to open at Ohio State.

Zimpher has made changes at UC that go far beyond bouncing Bob Huggins. She is pushing the school to see itself, and to be seen by others, as something other than a commuter school with a couple of good programs and a basketball team.

Her UC/21 program established the goals for a 21st-century university. The focus is now on students -- attracting better ones and providing them with top-level programs in all disciplines through innovative partnerships in the business community and research opportunities on campus.

“With every day, our degrees are becoming more valuable,” student trustee Nick Furtwengler said at Tuesday's meeting of the board. That's the highest recognition a university can achieve and one that certainly deserved the recognition of the contract extension.

And the winner is? ...

... U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt after all.

Dr. Victoria Wulsin conceded victory in the 2nd Congressional race Tuesday at a press conference in Walnut Hills after all the provisional ballots had been counted. She lost by 2,466 votes, just a few hundred fewer than Election Night results.

And Wulsin dragged this race on until every vote was counted, the Kentucky governor's race was already underway. Watch out, Gov. Fletcher. Businessman Billy Harper began running ads for governor before the Nov. 7 election ended.

And so I guess we can coin a new slogan: "Politics: You can't stop it, you can only hope to contain it."

Reminds me of former Louisiana State Rep. Tony Perkins, who once kept "Perkins for Louisiana" yard signs up for what seemed to be year-round. Never know what office you might want to seek next.

Makes me wonder if there is a market for a 24-hour political ad channel?

Nah.

Foster-parents' domestic violence

Detective Victoria Reden's report on how Butler County can avoid another horrific foster-child death such as 3-year-old Marcus Fiesel's in August unflinchingly declares it was absolutely preventable.

She lays out more than 12 recommendations, but especially urges cross-reporting all cases of foster-family domestic violence to Children's Services, whether anyone is arrested or not. Her report ought to be circulated to agencies throughout Ohio and Kentucky.

Foster parent David Carroll was charged with domestic violence on his wife in June, a month after Marcus was entrusted to their care. Reden is convinced children are harmed when exposed to violence in the home, and believes had police officers reported David Carroll's domestic violence to Children's Services, Marcus would have been immediately removed from the Carrolls' care. Let's hope she's right about that.

Other recommendations such as making sure the agency ombudsman is truly independent, making random after-hours home visits and videotaping interviews with the families would make for a more transparent, secure system.

One overriding question is whether revised agency policies will be enough to protect abused or neglected children in the county's care. California mandates cross-reporting by law, and sets criminal penalties for failure to report.

Black Friday

Today through Dec. 24 is the period in which retailers make most of their money for the year.

They've created Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving that officially starts the holiday season. They tease us with doorbuster sales. They provide bargains, but only for the first (fill in the blank) hours, but then the prices will soar again.

I don't like it. Never did.

Not when I was a business reporter out their with them, asking questions like:

"Mrs. Smith, what brings you out here at 4 a.m. on this chilly morning? What are you looking for?"

"I don't want to miss out on ..." Then she'd list the latest, hottest, best toy/electronic/clothing item that is destined to sell out.

And not now...

Black Friday is the kind of artificial tension I can use less of.

Even if I have to pay a premium, I like my chances at home in front of a roaring fire, in my pajamas -- online.

Breastaphobic airline

I hope Delta Air Lines has checked out SkyWest's attitude toward public breast-feeding, now that Delta announced it is re-assigning 12 Comair jets to Utah-based SkyWest.

Delta has been the target of "nurse-ins" at airports around the country, including Columbus and Louisville. The protests stem from an Oct. 13 Vermont incident aboard a commuter plane, which Freedom Airlines was operating for Delta. A nursing mother was thrown off the flight for refusing a blanket offered by a breastaphobic flight attendant. To make matters worse, the flight reportedly was three hours late in taking off.

Outraged nursing mothers have been staging protests this week around the country against Delta. As if the bankrupt airline -- with its second largest hub at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International -- needs any more bad publicity. Pediatricians recommend mothers breast feed infants on flight ascents and descents to ease air pressure pain in babies' ears. Both Ohio and Kentucky, by the way, have laws against stopping nursing mothers from public breast feeding.

On Homeland Security's threat levels, where exactly would you rank public breast feeding aboard commercial jets?

A debate over racial disparities

One of my tasks as editor of the editorial page’s Your Voice feature is trying to ensure that the space does not become dominated by back-and-forth salvos on any one particular topic. Our goal is to present as many different “real-life” authors, subjects and points of view as possible. Yet some topics inevitably produce a flurry of responses and counter-responses – intelligent design and the war in Iraq, to name two.

So last week, Elbert Lewis Jr. (at right), a retired civil engineer in Finneytown, took exception to a news story reporting that “racial disparities in income, education and home ownership persist and, by some measurements, are growing.” University of Cincinnati sociology professor Jeffrey M. Timberlake was quoted in the story saying that inequalities “will get reproduced through time, even though some formal barriers have been removed.”

In his Your Voice column, Lewis disagreed with Timberlake’s assessment and asked, “How large a role does personal behavior/failures play in the rate of home ownership?”

In response, Timberlake (at right) wrote a Your Voice column defending his position: “Imagine a 100-yard dash in which one runner forces another to start 25 yards behind the starting line.”

That hasn’t ended the discussion. But instead of continuing it in the Your Voice space, let's move it to this blog, a more natural medium for give-and-take. I’m attaching, as comments to this posting, some excerpts from the responses we’ve received. Feel free to add yours.

'Kramer's' foot in mouth

I thought Seinfeld was one of the funniest shows ever produced, though it did not see New York from the perspective of people of color.

Comedy can be colorblind, but Michael "Kramer" Richards is foolish.

Until this week, I loved his comedic acting. Now, I'm astonished at the words that came from his mouth last week.

His racist tirade against two African-American hecklers Friday night at the Laugh Factory in Los Angeles exposed him as a bigot, even though he said he's not. And his half-hearted apology wasn't enough.

As Seinfeld promotes its seventh season on DVD, Richards may cost folks a lot of money because of the lens viewers will now see him through. Comedy is meant to be edgy and all that, but the vitriol Roberts spewed came from deep within. He needs help.

It was not funny.

Smilin' Bob in Baghdad

The Washington Post reports that a secret Pentagon group reviewing America's options in Iraq has outlined three major strategies:
1. Send in a large number of extra troops -- perhaps several hundred thousand more -- to help break the cycle of sectarian violence.
2. Cut the number of U.S. troops in Iraq but undertake a long-term expansion of training and advisory efforts.
3. Undertake a swift withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
So far, so good. But according to the Post, Pentagon insiders couldn't resist the temptation to attach their own macho shorthand to the three options:
"Go Big," "Go Long" and "Go Home."
There's even a hybrid version called "Go Big but Short While Transitioning to Go Long."
Whew. Makes you long for the innocent days of "Shock and Awe." You think these guys have been watching too many Enzyte commercials?

Entrepreneurial shooters

Club-crowd brawls late Friday on both sides of the Ohio River were capped off with at least one killing and multiple shootings by one or more thugs armed with a high-powered assault rifle. One Oakley resident was shot up as he drove across the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge. The lethal shooting by assault rifle occurred at Hawaiian Terrace in Mount Airy.

What's next? Suicide bombers?

Veteran Covington Police Lt. Teal Nally said, "I don't know if we have seen anything like this in my time."

Fights had multiplied as hundreds of wannabe club crashers were first turned away from Club Dream in Over-the-Rhine and next from Newport's Syndicate, where the Black Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow had gathered for a dance party. Finally the club manager felt obliged to close, swelling the crowd outside and adding to the fights. Police were called in from across Northern Kentucky.

But while the Entrepreneurs were inside dreaming of a future, some angry entrepreneurial assault rifleman outside was determined to put a sudden end to somebody's tomorrows.

The mass shift to Newport began when Cincinnati Police shooed teens and young adults away from Club Dream after receiving "numerous calls" there was going to be a shooting. Do we now need color-coded alerts like Homeland Security's for our bar scene here? How bad does it have to get before "callers" start naming names?

PlayStation/Play the fool

Englewood, Ohio – Two armed men in ski masks and sunglasses rob a video store of five Sony PlayStation 3 consoles before the store begins selling them.

Putnam, Conn. – Two gunman try robbing people standing in line outside a store waiting for the new PlayStation 3 to go on sale. One shopper who resists is shot.

Lexington, Ky. – BB pellets are fired from a passing car at people waiting outside a Best Buy to buy PlayStation 3 sets.

Henrico, Va. – Police fire a paintball onto the ground to quell an unruly mob of shoppers waiting outside a Target for the chance to buy PlayStation 3.

Allentown, Pa. -- A teenager is robbed of his brand new PlayStation 3 by a man who obviously saw him buy it, followed him to his car and tapped on the window with a handgun.

McLean, Va. – Police use pepper pellets to restore order in a rowdy crowd waiting to buy PlayStation 3 sets at a Circuit City.

The above are just some of the Friday news briefs that rang in the first day of sales for the season’s hottest new toy.

Christmas is coming. Are you really ready to risk life and limb to pay $500 to $600 for a piece of electronic planned obsolesence? (There surely will come a PlayStation 4).

This is nuts folks. These things are games. Their scarcity is being artifically induced by Sony, which decided to ship only 400,000 to North America. Prices have been reported as high as $3,000 by those reselling unopened sets they just bought.

Buy your kids a board game instead.
Monopoly is a good choice. That way they can learn the law of supply and demand with play money.

Creating a place for criminals

Few people have captured the essence of Cincinnati's chronic dysfunction better than Independence resident Bob Williams did this week regarding safety at the Cincinnati end of the pedestrian Purple People Bridge, the scene of a violent attack on a couple last week.

"Cincinnati has done a poor job responding to something that could be a good thing for the city," Williams said. "They created a place for criminals. There are bushes and trees but no destination on the other side of the bridge."

They created a place for criminals. Yep, that's about right. The way that area was left after the auto approaches to the bridge were torn down several years ago seemed designed for such an attack to take place. If you've ever walked from downtown to get to the bridge (or vice versa), you know the kind of abandoned setting -- custom-made for lurking -- you have to traverse. It's creepy enough on a sunny Saturday afternoon during the summer. Imagine it after midnight on a chilly November evening.

It's not that the city simply missed an opportunity for development that the refurbished bridge offered, and it's not that it didn't even see the opportunity. Forget the lack of attractions on the Cincinnati side. It almost looks like the city went out of its way to make the area as unattractive and dangerous as possible.

School reform -- more success or stress?

Ohio Gov. Bob Taft's swan song -- or lame-duck dirge -- could have a big impact on your family life. If legislators agree with Taft, your teenager's school schedule will get tougher and, like it or not, he'll be taking far tougher math and science classes than you were ever required to take.

As our Sunday, Nov. 19, editorial says, it's the right thing to do -- too many Ohio kids have been allowed to plan schedules around comfort rather than intellectual challenge -- but it triggers many questions.

Does a tougher schedule require more time to master it? If so, can your family deal with a longer school year, longer school days, after-school tutorial programs?

Must adults recognize that higher standards equal more stress for already over-tested, over-measured, over-remediated kids? If so, do you worry how much more pressure your kids can take?

And does 'tightening the curriculum' -- when it is translated into daily life in the classroom -- really mean enriching it, or simply taking out the spontaneity and creativity that make learning truly meaningful?

Legislators will weigh cost versus benefit to the state. It's up to us parents to think about the effects on real kids.

Who are all those youth downtown?

Downtown Cincinnati felt absolutely electric today.

I decided to take an alternate route into the city. I was pleasantly startled by the Huge McCormick & Smick's Seafood Restaurant sign at the Westin, fronting Fountain Square. Almost felt like Chicago. Shows what the Square can become over time. Can't wait to check it out.

Tried to get coffee at the 4th Street Starbucks. No deal. The line was 30 deep, mostly teenagers.
Lunch at Subway. Same. So I asked Jon with the nametag from Pittsburgh what was going on.

Turns out, Jon was a youth pastor, in town with 3,000 kids, parents and other ministers, for the third of four National Youth Workers Conventions to equip them for ministry. It is organized by National Youth Specialties. They'll be here through Sunday. Anaheim, Calif., and Austin, Texas have hosted events. Charlotte, N.C. will hold an event beginning Nov. 30.

I agree with my colleague, Krista Ramsey, middle school-age Sunday School teacher and mom of a teenager, about the importance of youth ministers: "At an age when many kids don’t relate as well to their parents, they often form incredibly deep (and permanent) relationships with their youth leaders," she told me.

So, welcome to Cincinnati, youth workers. That's OK about the long lines. While we have to wait a little bit longer, retailers love you. You bring positive energy and you do good work.

And during your prayer walk through Cincinnati Sunday, consider sending up prayer or two for local youth, damaged by a rising drop-out rate and criminal activity.

Thanks.

Clean up the language

Bad language isn't permitted on this blog. That includes people who try to be clever with their screen names with the creative use of asterisks. Feel free to clean it up and re-submit.

It's not that we are prudes. We just think discussions of the day's issues are most productive when done with civility.

State of the Community

Soon, the United Way of Greater Cincinnati will release its State of the Community report, addressing several key quality-of-life issues as regards our community.

The first report issued in 2004, incorporated 26 key indicators of the region's overall socio-economic health. The second report is scheduled to be released at a press conference set for Dec. 5. It incorporates 33 key indicators in the areas of population, children and youth, educational attainment, health, the economy and social relations.

This document can help politicians, community leaders and, most importantly, folks at the grassroot level, establish a meaningful community agenda lacking in our current conversation and certainly lacking in the most recent political elections.

Stay tuned, and be prepared to take action.

Grand jury bites governor

Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher's spokeswoman said he hadn't seen the special grand jury's report on his administration's wrongdoing (he's in Japan). But a statement was issued in his name anyway scoffing at the report as a "litany of sound bites rather than a legal document of purported evidence."

That sounds more like lawyer talk than Ernie.

But since he's trying to get re-elected, you think they ought to come up with a snappier response than denial and contempt for the grand jury?

OK, we've all heard the line that a good prosecutor can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich. But this grand jury gave up 17 months of their lives, heard 150 witnesses, indicted 29 of Fletcher's associates. That's a lot of ham sandwiches. And Fletcher not only had to issue a blanket pardon for them, but in the deal to get his own criminal charges dropped, he admitted "evidence strongly indicates wrongdoing by his administration...."

Besides, is it fair to misrepresent the jurors' report as "sound bites" and not legalistic enough, after Fletcher's lawyers did all in their powers to keep it under court seal, and the Kentucky Supreme Court wouldn't let the grand jury name any of the indicted aides whom Fletcher blanket-pardoned?

Drug testing -- for school board members

After a school board member and his wife, a Newport teacher, were accused of allowing juveniles to drink alcohol in their home, Newport Independent Schools reacted quickly by adopting a tougher student code of conduct that would apply to students' off-campus behavior and may include drug testing.

A parent suggested adding employees to the drug testing. But why not add school board members -- in fact, why not start with them?

If the charges prove true, and board member Jim Hesch and middle school teacher Helen Hesch allowed juveniles -- including their son -- to drink in their home, it is among the worst examples of adults contributing to the dangerous behavior of minors. Who knows what lifelong battles with substance abuse may come out of this?

The Newport administration is right to use this painfully embarrassing incident to send a strong message to kids, but the kids weren't the only ones at fault.

Adults who think it's cool to party with adolescents are pathetic. When they behave as adolescents, they should be punished as adolescents.

Email Your Mother

My 84-year-old mom is technology-resistant. Make that technology-phobic. Actually, make that technology-petrified.

Now retired from the position she held in my little office stuffing copies of my cartoons into envelopes for syndication until just a couple of years ago, she is happy and healthy, enjoying her own company in a cozy home on the west side. Mom still drives within her ever-narrowing comfort zone, but like many older folks her world seems to shrink a bit each year.

As my sibs and I exchange emails containing family news and photos, joking and jabbing in a near approximation of our banter around the dinner table forty years ago, I can't help but long for Mom's presence in the jabber. These little conversations would broaden her world again, not to mention allow her to be casually in touch with old friends who remain a daunting long-distance call away. But my brother, sisters and I have talked it over and we're sure the internet would totally flummox Mom, intimidating her from the corner of her spare bedroom with its cryptic commands, destabilizing her sense of peace.

Surely someone else has experienced this issue. Isn't there an email system out there designed for those Greatest Generation late-adopters who can't crawl under desks to reboot their internet connection or fathom the confusing language of computers? I know they aren't leading the way to new revenues for online providers, but they did save the world once for us. Could we design a simple email system that allows them to keep a foot in our world?

Defending Dad

I was raised to show the highest regard and respect for my elders and parents were on top of the list. So when Pat Dewine, out with a date, overheard rude remarks about his dad, Sen. Mike DeWine, he got upset and spoke up. Though no call to police ensued, it did make the papers. Was sticking up for dad such a big deal or do we expect politicians to forget their personal lives and relationships when they step into public office?

It must be said, the younger DeWine called and apologized to the 'insulter' who also in return apologized for his comments not intended to reach Pat's ears. In a rare moment, not necessarily to the likings of reporters, the restaurant owner also declined comments.

After probably one of the most negative campaign seasons this mid-term election, are you refreshed at the end result of civility on the part of the parties involved or are you so immune that you are disappointed that a little more mud wasn't thrown around? Now, let's be honest!

The 'Net no match for a network

It's Cheers in a box, a place where everybody knows your (screen) name and you can stop in after work -- or heck, during work -- and find that safe little spot where you fit.

That's what the Internet has become for some people, according to a report in today's Washington Post. But far from being a place to connect, the 'net has become a place to disconnect from the difficulties of life and the demands of relationships. More users appear to be signing on excessively, compulsively checking emails, pouring hours of spare time and work time into computer gaming, and preferring anonymous online chats to real conversations with their spouses, friends and children.

Six percent of respondents to a Stanford University study said their relationships have suffered because of Internet use; 14 percent said they find it hard to stay away from the Internet for several days at a time. Nearly one in 10 said they try to hide some of their Internet use.

It's yet another sign of humans' odd compulsion to overindulge in anything, to "medicate" ourselves -- by eating, shopping, drinking, "chatting" -- so we avoid the inconvenience or vulnerability that comes with maintaining real relationships with people who use their real names, function in the real world and operate on real time.

Class act

Jim Callahan, who "retired" a couple of years ago from his powerful Democratic caucus leader post in the Kentucky House, ran this time for his hometown city council in Wilder (estimated population: about 3,000).

He won top vote-getter honors, with 719 votes. Callahan had to drop out of the KY House because of his Parkinson disease. A lesser man might have viewed a spot on Wilder's council as a come-down, after such a distinguished 18-year career in the legislature. Not Callahan.

From presidents to local politicians, we often can't take the full measure of a man or woman until after they leave office. Do they just cash in on speakers' fees or hit the golf course? Do they become a famous dancer like Jerry Springer? Do they, like Jimmy Carter, build homes for needy families or oversee foreign elections? Do they end up in prison like upstate Ohio congressmen? Or do they check their egos at the door, like Callahan, and get back into public service?

Bonfire of the Inanities

Bevis resident Tim Nolan’s cheeky Your Voice column in Tuesday’s paper is something most voters can relate to after last week’s election. He takes an irreverent view of this fall’s nasty, nearly-out-of-control campaign, and proposes to “maximize marketing efficiencies for all potential candidates" for 2008 with an organization he has “founded,” the Bevis-based Center for Research and Advanced Political Processes. Figure out the acronym yourself.

Nolan proposes to print 2008 brochures in Shanghai and deliver them direct-to-Rumpke-dumpster, never to land in your mailbox. The methane they produce when they rot – assuming they aren’t already rotten – will help ease the energy crunch. He has other creative ideas involving call centers in India, but his brochure idea sounds most tempting.

I don’t know about you, but I have a stack of about three dozen mailers – from candidates in both parties, by the way – lying around at home. That doesn’t even count the probably couple of dozen I threw out immediately. I don’t know why I’m keeping them. I don’t have a bird cage to line. Then on my desk here at work, there’s the 10-inch stack of press kits from candidates who came in for endorsement interviews.

So what do we do with this stuff? It would be tempting, but probably illegal, to have everybody take their stacks of “candidate communications” to a central location – say, on the riverfront where the Great Sea of Surface Parking we all joked about a decade ago is still there instead of the promised Banks development – and set them on fire. Maybe you could piggyback this event with a pep rally for the Bengals defense.

And call it a Bonfire of the Inanities.

That’s one idea. Do you have any suggestions – publishable, please – on what to do with all this political detritus? Go ahead. Post them. Put forth your most venomous ideas.

After all, the candidates did.

How you can tell it's OSU vs. Michigan Week

1. Jim Tressel's name comes up more often in my house than those of my children, in-laws, our best friends or Blueberry, our beloved and departed 16-year-old cat.

2. Ordinary conversations are constantly interrupted by stream-of-consciousness musings on possible match-ups for the BCS championship, Troy Smith's lock on the Heisman, Tressel's winning record against Michigan and John Cooper's infernal and inexplicable lack of understanding of how to beat the Wolverines.

3. Saturday's schedule is being synchronized with military precision so we get to an out-of-town Bucks party with plenty of time to spare.

4. Brutus's over-sized mahogany face leers at us from sweatshirts, drinking glasses and golf towels.

5. Optimistic as I am about a Buckeye victory, I am rehearsing lines to ease the massive depression that would surround a Buckeye defeat: There could be a rematch. They still could go to another BCS bowl game. It was a great season anyway. It would have been a different game without those questionable calls. Scarlet and gray is so much cooler than maize and blue. (None of which will help in the least, and we'll have to go for a long drive to cool off SOMEBODY'S temper.)

Is my house the only one affected by this obsession? How is the hysteria invading your family life?

A fitting place for MLK

Today in Washington, ground was broken on a $100 million monument for the late Martin Luther King Jr.

That's amazing, considering King was reviled as a communist and agitator during his lifetime. Yet without his ceaseless agitation and compelling moral authority, this country would be worse off and my very place on this editorial board might not have happened. King risked his life so that all of our lives could be better.

Today should be a moment of pride for all Americans.

Gifts between mothers and daughters

I went home to northeastern Ohio this weekend to celebrate my mother's 87th birthday. She is a little more frail each time I see her now, and I linger a little longer at her door, trying to lock in her image before I head back to Cincinnati.

My family and I took her all the pretty things we knew she'd enjoy -- a rosy bouquet, the softest of blankets and pajamas, and chocolate candies that my son parceled out ever so equitably, "one for Grandma, one for me."

But the best gift I gave her was one I thought up as I sat beside her, holding her hand. Thanks started pouring out of my mouth for the gifts she has given me -- not birth or abiding attention to my health or the "big ticket" things mothers give daughters, but the small, unconscious gestures that have shaped my life.

Thanks for wetting her shoes in the morning dew to bring the freshest peony to the breakfast table. Thanks for hanging my clothes on the clothesline so that everything smelled of summer sunshine. Thanks for knowing when, as newlyweds, my husband and I needed a homecooked meal and words of encouragement. Thanks for the trips to Cincinnati on a Greyhound bus -- we called her 'Greyhound Grandma' -- to see a grandchild's play or delight over a trip to the Bonbonerie or just because she knew her all-grown-up daughter was missing her mom so much.

Life is funny. The best gifts we give our children are often the ones we didn't even know we were giving. And the words of gratitude we give our parents -- which cost nothing and seem so wholly inadequate as "gifts" -- are the ones that, as life ebbs away from them, they are able to hold onto.

Here's to you, lunch ladies

I still have special affection for Mrs. Lewis, Mrs. Stumon and Mrs. Boyd, the lunch ladies at my elementary school. Friends of my grandmother, they were surrogate grannies to me, and would often put extra food on my plate.

Lunch ladies (and men), you may not know it, but this may be your time to shine. Daughter #1, who has become a finicky eater, surprised me this morning when she announced she buying her lunch at school Friday, because they are going to serve "real" turkey and dressing.

Her excitement took me back to my own childhood to those special holiday meals at school.

This editorial board has written a lot about the health and nutrition of our kids, particularly what they get to eat at school. A number of schools are making a concerted effort to serve healthier options. That's good.

This time of year, though, what kid wouldn't turn down some TLC from those surrogate grannies?

Veterans Day: The uncles, aunts we never knew

A conversation this week with World War II veteran Jack Eick of Dent, who wrote a moving Your Voice column about his visit to the World War II Memorial hosted by a volunteer organization called Honor Flight, started me thinking about not only how we honor those veterans who served and returned, but how we remember those who died and never got the chance to shape our lives.

Mr. Eick had asked me about my family's experience in that war, and I told him that my father had served and returned, but that his brother had died after being shot down over the English Channel. His brother John. The uncle I never knew.

The result is my column on this topic on the editorial page for Veterans Day. I wrote it knowing full well that there must be many, many people of my generation who have had similar musings about how the losses during that war -- and others -- robbed us of the chance to know and to be shaped by those uncles, aunts, fathers, cousins and others. If that's the case and you have some observations on that topic -- or anything else regarding Veterans Day and how we observe it -- post a response or e-mail us at letters@enquirer.com.

Cutthroat cutbacks

Shrinking enrollment prompted the Cincinnati Board of Education to order cutbacks in the district's $1 billion school rebuilding program. So Supt. Rosa Blackwell submitted a plan that calls for cutting about 7,000 seats from the 51 new and remodeled schools in the plan. The proposed cuts include reducing capacity at Walnut Hills High School by more than 400 students and shrinking several popular Montessori programs in other buildings.

If this is a game of chicken between Blackwell and the board majority it should stop. She reportedly wanted fewer cutbacks, believing the enrollment will go back up as the district's programs, facilities and test scores improve. But she was told to make the cuts deeper because the board doesn't want to over build.

Cutting into the district's most popular features, which is what Walnut Hills and the Montessori programs are, is counter-productive. These programs often have waiting lists and the way to increase enrollment is to offer more of the best programs, not less. Just announcing that such cuts are under consideration probably causes some parents thinking of sending their kids to CPS to look for other options.

The superintendent and board are wrong if they think this is an education issue. It is Marketing 101.

One man's garbage is another man's landfill

Who'd have thought my favorite quote of the week would come from a story that has nothing to do with elections:

"To be dependent on a landfill is the crack cocaine of economics."

That pearl is from Colerain Township Trustee Keith Corman, who along with trustees Bernie Fiedeldey and Jeff Ritter on Thursday denied a zone change that would have allowed the Rumpke Landfill to grow from 509 to 868 acres, even though it meant giving up $29 million in future fees.

Corman's line got cheers from just about everybody in the room except the representatives of Rumpke, which has for years been building a mountain out of all the plastic cups, candy wrappers, cigarette butts and disposable diapers that the rest of us throw away. As the saying goes, it's a dirty job but I'm glad somebody does it.

The Rumpkes say they need the space to accomodate our refuse for the next 30 to 50 years. If not in Colerain Township, then where do we want to put the 8,000 tons of garbage per day that Rumpke takes in from the rest of us?

Unless you live an environmentally pristine lifestyle with a 100 percent rate of recycling, Colerain Township's problem is your problem too. The "crack cocaine" Corman was talking about is really our addiction to disposability.

Non-candidate bags half the vote

Ed Moore, a Republican candidate for Boone County clerk, withdrew from his race two weeks before the election after admitting his claim of military service in Vietnam was a lie, yet voters darn near elected him anyway. He came within 118 votes of winning.

Does this mean that national Republican Party leaders -- after losing both houses of Congress -- ought to beat a path to Moore's Boone County door to learn his secret?

Not.

It turns out Ed's bagging 50 percent of the vote weeks after dropping out is not particularly a tribute to his charm or voters' mass forgiveness or even a news blackout in Boone County. Enquirer reporter Mike Rutledge tells me he's learned that the voting machines are equipped with a feature that lets voters speed-vote for all the partisan candidates in the party of their choice. Straight-ticket voting of whatever sort in heavily Republican Boone County no doubt accounts for much of the extraordinary vote for non-candidate Moore.

Do you think he should "non-run" for Kentucky governor next year?

Why did you vote like that?

The war in Iraq.
Political scandals.
Hypocrisy.
Higher education funding.
A new jail.
Voters in Ohio, Northern Kentucky and the rest of the country spoke on all these issues Tuesday at the polls. What were you saying? Sunday's Forum section hopes to answer some of those questions and look to the future as well. Thursdays editorial, "Voters' messages and challenges," asks you to talk about issues such as what do we do about jail overcrowding, how do we fund higher education and what do Democrats and Republicans need to do to avoid gridlock for the next two years? Go to Cincinnati.com, Keyword: elections 2006, to respond or send a letter to letters@enquirer.com. We look forward to the discussion.

Nullified

My friend marked her ballot at her polling place in Landen and asked the poll worker if she should insert the pages into the scanning machine one at a time or together.

"It doesn't matter," she was told.

It doesn't matter? How can the machine read the back of page one when it is sandwiched against page two? Unless those machines have CAT scan units in them, I have to think some of Pam's votes weren't counted.

Looking at the results of Tuesday's elections, I'm more convinced than ever that voters work hard to appreciate the nuances of the issues and weigh the candidates carefully. Pam is that sort of person. To think that a clueless poll worker's casual advice can nullify a thoughtful voter's choices makes me ill. Who knows how many voters that poll worker cancelled out?

The Geoff Davis exception

Northern Kentucky Republican Geoff Davis bucked the anti-Bush, anti-Iraq protest mood of the country to beat an admired former Congressman, Democrat Ken Lucas, to hold on to Kentucky's 4th District U.S. House seat after only a single-term in office.

Davis did it with a clear-sighted grasp of egregious U.S. mistakes made in Iraq, by an impressive record of legislation and home-district funding for a rookie legislator, and without stooping to rabid partisanship.

He said, before any votes were cast, that no matter which party ended up with the majority in the House, he was confident he could work with both sides of the aisle and get needed legislation passed. He won the Enquirer's endorsement.

The White House needs to learn from this election. But might not both parties learn a lesson worth heeding in Davis' prevailing in a tough race and a tough time for the Republican administration?

Blackwell's best line

At 8:47 p.m. Tuesday Ken Blackwell sent out an e-mail conceding victory to Ted Strickland.

“Ted, you ran a good race and have won a tremendous opportunity to lead the people of this state to better days, a stronger economy and higher quality of life. Congratulations and best wishes for a successful tenure as governor of the greatest state in America.”

Blackwell's concession was dignified and on point. Too bad he didn’t campaign that way.

Power-crazed poll worker

Voting in Louisville can be hazardous to your health.

According to the Courier-Journal, voter William Miller's ballot snagged in going through the voting machine Tuesday morning, and when poll worker Jeffery Steitz examined the rejected ballot, he saw that Miller hadn't voted for judges. Steitz declared that was the reason the ballot was rejected, and insisted Miller had to vote for judges.

When Miller insisted he didn't, Steitz allegedly grabbed Miller by the throat and threw him out of the UAW hall, which was serving as a polling place. According to one report, Miller went back in and Steitz threw him out again. Finally, the cops arrived, arrested Steitz, and Miller got to cast a new ballot. Presumably without voting for judges.

Because no matter what some power-crazed poll worker may say, you can leave blank whatever you want to leave blank. Pundits are talking about angry voters? What about angry poll workers?

Your face is familiar, but . . .

Ohio’s much debated and litigated Voter ID law, enacted to protect the system from widespread voter fraud which simply does not exist, scored an early hit today when Rep. Steve Chabot, was turned away at his polling place because he didn’t have a valid ID. Chabot has been in Congress for 12 years, was a county commissioner and member of Cincinnati City Council before that, and, as his television ads have been telling us incessantly, he has been living in the same house for more than 20 years.

He’s probably the most familiar face in Westwood and the poll workers knew exactly who he was. But the driver’s license he presented listed his law office address, not his home. So on a day with lines of people waiting to vote, a person whose identity absolutely is not in question got sent home to scrounge up an old bank statement with his address on it so he could come back and vote for himself. I’m so glad we didn’t get defrauded.

It turns out Chabot shouldn’t have been turned away. After hearing similar complaints from around the state, the Secretary of State’s office issued a memorandum later in the day that a valid license is a valid ID, even if it doesn’t have a current address on it.

The Ohio law was the subject of a voter suit that was settled with a federal court consent decree last Wednesday that kept the ID requirement intact, but ironed out its uneven application in the state’s 88 counties and on absentee ballots. Critics of the law, myself included, viewed it as an unnecessary set of complicated rules that make it harder for those without permanent addresses – generally the poor and students to present acceptable IDs and vote. Those groups are generally considered to vote more heavily Democratic than Republican and the law was passed by the Republican-controlled legislature over Democratic opposition.

Ohio isn’t the only state with a well-known but poorly ID’d pol turned away at the polls. According to CNN, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford was turned away at the polling place where he tried to vote near his home on Sullivan’s Island because he had left his voter ID card back in the state capitol of Columbia. Like Chabot, he was recognized, but denied because of the rules. Also like Chabot, he later obtained proper ID and voted.

Yogurt and neighbors in the voting line

I am definitely not an early bird but my husband is another story. So, he was out the door at 6AM so he could vote, come back to get ready and then go to his office. He was the fourth in line, beat by a woman who was first and then a couple of guys, at a church around the corner. Though he was unhappy about the rain, he really didn't complain much as he was inside the church this year vs. having to wait outside to vote in a little trailer on the grounds. He was also surprised by the scan-tron ballot that he had to ink out his choices on vs. a touch screen voting machine. The older gentleman volunteer wasn't sure why the machine wasn't reading his ballot until another poll worker came along and asked him to tear off the segments at the bottom. That did the trick but he wondered why he couldn't have a paper trail if this piece was originally part of his ballot.

I, forgoing my tradition of going later for fear of lines, decided to vote in my sweats right after dropping off a child at school. With three precincts in the building, my line was the longest with most people dressed for the office. It took over 30 minutes and the lady in front of me had to call in late as she was not anticipating a line this early. The head poll worker who had worked in this district 12 years indicated it was definitely a high turnout thus far. The gentleman behind me happened to be one of the builders from the area who seemed to know everyone. There was the couple who had recently moved to Indian Hill and not yet re-registered, joking about not really belonging there. And then there was the neighbor who has hosted events for members of both main political parties, moving comfortably between diverse candidates depending on the issues and his best interest.

Oh yes, the yogurt. There was the lady who had her breakfast, a yogurt with some 'smelly' stuff in it, that was in line behind my husband. That seemed to be the thing he remembered the most.

Who or what was in line with you at the polling station that seemed to have stuck with you?

Not so sure about this ID thing

At my Butler County precinct, our year-old electronic, touch-screen voting machines looked like robots on wheels, but they are really high-tech computers. Three raised panels tilt at 75 degrees, hiding the flat screen inside. If the machines could talk, they might say, "Come on in, voter. Push my nice buttons."

Definitely not an executioner's chamber (see below).

Twenty or so of these machines lined the walls in a U-shape. All but two were in use when I voted at 9:30 a.m. Two tables of elections workers in the middle of the "U" seemed happy and helpful.

One troubling thing, though, was that I had to show my ID to vote, even though I was prepared for it. There was no harm, really. It just didn't feel all that great. One prospective voter balked before handing his license over to the smiling elections worker. I felt his pain. Apparently, so did a local congressman.

Unlike Rep. Steve Chabot this morning, I was allowed to vote the first time, though my driver's license still lists my old address. The smiling poll worker just asked to write down the last three numbers on my license and pointed to the e-voting machine, where I pushed lots of nice buttons.

I still don't like this ID thing. Do you?

'To vote the vote, the vote we vote, can vote do vote ...'

Thinking about NOT making that little extra effort to vote today because the weather's a bit crummy? Think again. Let me tell you a true story:

Some years ago while I was living in Southern California, in a city not too much smaller than Cincinnati, Election Day was much like today, but with a steady drizzle all day. By the time I got out of work, I didn't feel like making the soggy slog over to the fire station to cast my ballot, so I skipped it. I later wished I hadn't.

Here's why. One race for a seat on City Council wound up to be so close that a recount was triggered. After all the chads were unhung, the official vote wound up as an absolute tie. The tiebreaker was a coin-flip, which the candidate I intended to vote for lost.

The winner ended up being an obnoxious jerk on council, which actually meant that he fit right in - but that's another story. The point is that particularly in an election such as today's, with a number of hotly contested races, a relative handful of little, individual decisions - cutting short a trip to the grocery to swing by the polling place, for example - not only could make the difference, they WILL make the difference.

Like David Wells (see below), I voted early this time to see how the system works, so I'm not sweating the weather. But if you haven't yet voted, make sure you get there before the polls close (7:30 p.m. in Ohio, 6 p.m. in Kentucky) - unless you're going to vote against the guys I voted for, that is.

About the headline on this entry: It's from Gertrude Stein's lyrics to Virgil Thomson's delightfully quirky opera "The Mother of Us All" about Susan B. Anthony and the fight for women's suffrage. So vote the vote.

Rumble seat vs. four-door sedan

The first voting machine I ever used was in Louisiana more than 20 years ago.

It was a metal monstrosity a big red lever that locked in my votes.

When I pulled it, I felt like I had executed somebody.

There is probably a half-truth in that somewhere.

Compared with my electronic voting experience this morning, I liken that first vote to riding cross country in a rumble seat vs. the ride of the four-door ''preacher's car'' that I drive today -- smooth.

I stood in line for three minutes, voted in two and was back on the road in 10 after visiting with my neighbors.

Yet, it was the most overwhelming ballot I have ever seen, what with issues galore and state and local races that could boggle the mind of the uninformed or uninitiated.

Voters' blank check

At my busy polling place this morning in Clifton, ID challenges, by far, caused the most delays.

One well-dressed middle-aged couple both got shot down for lacking proper ID. The woman huffed, "This is ridiculous," and stormed out, but not before she had the presence of mind to confirm it was indeed the correct precinct, for her return trip.

A "traffic cop" poll worker ordered a construction worker twice her size to turn off his two-way radio blaring away as he was marking up his ballot. "You can't have that thing turned on in here," she warned. Either he's a multi-tasker, or didn't find the ballot issues or the candidates a matter for intense concentration.

While a number of us were waiting in line, I felt sorriest for a relatively new neighbor whose driver's license evidently didn't match her new voting address. After she made several false-starts at providing alternate ID, the poll workers finally said they were satisfied after she produced a checkbook with her new address on it. Saved by a blank check.

Do you get the distinct impression that verifying identities these days is still a work in progress? And after you voted, did you feel, once again, that some of our most high-stakes votes are like signing a blank check?

The early vote gets my vote

I voted down at the Board of Elections on Saturday morning. I wasn’t “absentee,” just early.

Assuming they make sure all the ballots are counted, Ohio’s new no-excuse-necessary system of letting any registered voter vote early seems to make a lot of sense. Thousands of people applied for early ballots, by mail or by requesting one in person at the local board of elections. The ballots are then either mailed to the voter or just handed over the counter. You could take all the time you wanted to study the races, decipher the incredibly dense and sometimes misleading language of issues and then mail or turn the ballot back in by the deadline. It’s a pretty low-pressure operation – no line of people waiting behind you to get a turn in the voting booth. My guess is it led to some more thoughtful voting.

The convenience factor appealed to me. My work schedule on Election Day was going to make voting problematic. I was in downtown Batavia near the Clermont County Board of Elections on Saturday anyway and filling the ballot out right there was a no fuss option. I did wonder briefly if folding the early ballot as directed and sealing it in an envelope violated some “do not fold, spindle or mutilate” law of physical science. I guess we’ll find out tonight if we get reports of optical scanners choking on the creases.

Election Day excitement

My disappointment over the skulduggery of campaign ads and dreariness of some candidates slipped away quickly this morning as I collected my ballot and took pen in hand to vote.

I felt the urgency and purposefulness of this election the minute I got out of my car -- people were moving quickly, asking questions about procedures and voicing opinions to a degree I've never seen before on Election Day.

The opinions weren't on specific candidates or issues, they were on The Issue -- our collective responsibility to vote. As I inked in my choices, a poll worker and voter debated the merits of the Australian requirement to at least show up at the polls, and other workers announced that the voting pace was equivalent to that of a Presidential election.

It felt reassuring, and very American. Average citizens were taking something back -- or maybe giving something back. They weren't giddy, like first-time voters in Iraq, but they were deliberate, and thoughtful and grateful, reawakened to the beauty of a democracy and the simple, almost shocking power we hold in our hands when we vote.

Voting as a family value

Every family has its traditions, and voting was certainly one of my family's.

Elections brought a sense of excitement, along with obligation and empowerment. My mom and dad planned their schedule for Election Day, figuring out if they'd vote first thing in the morning or at the end of the day. My dad would good-naturedly also make his perennial case for consensus -- he always hated the idea that his vote and his wife's vote would "cancel each other out." Sometimes it worked; sometimes it didn't, but it always made for good and civil dinnertime debate for us kids to hear.

Tonight my husband and I will work out logistics for tomorrow morning. This year our son will go to the poll with me -- just as I remember accompanying my dad -- and he and I will hear our friends the poll workers tell us my husband was one of the morning's first voters.

It's a 'campaign message' that I like a lot. Our children know my husband and I will be at the polls on every Election Day. We're passing on the privilege, and the sober civic responsibility, that our parents and grandparents instilled in us.

Do elections bring back family memories for you?

Re-education camps

Are we re-educated yet?
When I voted in Ohio's May 2 primary, the new digital scanning machine at my Clifton polling place ate my ballot, paper-jamming the machine. Several times. Mystified poll workers finally gave up, manually fed my ballot through a mail-like slot in the side of the machine and said they'd have to call the Board of Elections for instructions.

Since then I've been impressed with the Board's Web site that is trying to re-educate Hamilton County voters in advance about the new voting system. You could download sample ballots, even practice in advance on the new machines at the main Post Office. But with new systems and new ID requirements, I've been getting a bad feeling about likely long delays, come Tuesday's election day.

I get similar feelings about airport security checkpoints. The new rules on liquids already have slowed search lines at big airports, and the Transportatation Security Administration is frantically trying to re-educate us on how to pack carry-on bags before the Thanksgiving holiday mobs show up. A few weeks ago on a flight out of CVG to New York, I got called out for putting my 3-ounce shaving stuff in a clear gallon-size zip-top bag instead of the required quart-size bag. Doesn't a larger bag just make it easier to see the items? Screeners also had to huddle with a supervisor because my wife's small cosmetics were stashed in a small clear zippered plastic cosmetic bag -- but it wasn't a food-type zip-top bag. Finally the supervisor graciously waved us through.

Are the new systems just exchanging one set of problems for a different set? Have you noticed wait lines at Kroger's do-it-yourself checkout scanners are starting to get as long as the live-cashier lines? Sunday, I went to a Kroger in a different neighborhood, and after I finished scanning my items, the electronic cashier voice asked me if I overlooked anything still in my shopping cart? I hadn't, but I confess I looked around for Big Brother? Is that recorded question neighborhood-specific?

Who cares about the candidates or smart shopping or wait times? The real question is -- Have we the untidy masses been re-educated?

So who missed the election as 'lesson'?

In one of the chili-pepper hottest elections of our time -- the 2004 race between George Bush and John Kerry -- almost half of all teenagers nationally said they hadn't discussed the issue at school, according to ABC News poll released shortly before that election.

It's enough to make Maria Montessori -- the Italian educator who coined the term, 'the teachable moment' -- turn over in her grave.

Local high school students who took part in our panel discussion on the election, and those who emailed, blogged or posted their thoughts on our message board about it, said teaching about the election was generally spotty at their schools as well. But those students who had teachers who were passionate about discussing the election caught fire about the candidates, issues and process.

So, teachers and students out there, tell us. Are you discussing the elections in class this fall? And if not, why on earth not?

Feeling powerless over outages

"It's been brought to our attention," isn't much of a response from Duke Energy about the frequent power outages plaguing Clermont County's Miami Township.

As the dozens of comments on the message board the Enquirer put up Thursday attest, the power company seems to be giving out almost as many reasons for the outages as there are complaints. Readers report being told the frequent outages are caused by weather, traffic accidents, road construction, aging equipment etc. Most galling of all for people who have reverted to windup alarm clocks, are the responses that things are no worse in Miami Township than anywhere else. Tell that to someone like Cindy Dragoo, whose dialysis machine goes off when the power shuts down.

The area reportedly is scheduled for some equipment upgrades in 2008. That's too long to wait. When customers start saying things like electrical service is more dependable in Baghdad than Miami Township, the public utility company needs to generate a little more concern.

Dreaded activist judges

Just about the nastiest insult some partisans can muster to hurl at the opposition's judge candidates during campaigns or confirmation hearings is "judicial activist." This election has been no different, and even decent judges go to great lengths to reassure the public they aren't wild-eyed activists.

The term is uttered with almost the same contempt as racial or religious slurs. Now along comes University of Kentucky law professor Lori A. Ringhand and she had the nerve to actually examine the voting behavior of justices on the Rehnquist Supreme Court from 1994 to 2005, when there were no changes in the line-up. For her study to be published next spring in Constitutional Commentary, she measured how many times each justice voted to invalidate federal laws, how many times each voted to overturn state laws, and how many times each voted to overturn existing court precedents. She found the "conservatives" were much more likely than their "liberal" counterparts to invalidate federal law and overturn precedent, while the "liberals" were more likely to invalidate state laws. Not surprisingly, they were all "judicial activists," only in different cases, sometimes contrary to their presumed ideologies.

Ringhand concluded that justices of all ideological persuasions and interpretive leanings routinely use their power of judicial review to overturn the actions of other branches of government and of prior courts. Her study goes on to uncover some surprising results.

So does that mean the political parties need to stop using "judicial activist" as a term of derision, and wary voters ought to revise the question for candidates to the next level: "Exactly what kind of judicial activist are you?"

More Bush/Kerry, no thanks

"Knock, knock. "

"Who's there?"

"Senator John Kerry."

"Run!"

OK, bad joke.

But Democrat candidates (including U.S. Rep. candidate Victoria Wulsin, and Harold Ford, who is running for the U.S. Senate) are denouncing Kerry's words and dodging him faster than a country squirrel in city traffic.

Kerry has become to Democrats what an unpopular President Bush has become to many Republican candidates who have distanced themselves from him.

Feeding hungry minds

Remember last week when editorial writer Krista Ramsey offered to buy burritos at Chipotle for adolescents willing to talk politics with her? Well tonight she sits down with a group of these hungry minds in what we hope will become an extended conversation with young people in our community.

She’ll be writing about tonight's roundtable in this Sunday’s Forum, but we don’t think the talking should begin or end there. To bring more people into this conversation – particularly the teens who will be eligible to vote in the next couple of years – we have set up a message board at Cincinnati.com.

Sign on and tell us what you think.

Kerry's foot in mouth

If anything, Sen. John Kerry gave punchdrunk Republicans something to rally around Tuesday.

On a day when aides for Virginia Sen. George Allen went all WWE on a heckler, Kerry put his foot in his mouth.

Unless you’ve been in a cave, you know about Kerry’s comments to a group of California students regarding getting education and ending up in Iraq. He apologized Wednesday, calling the comments a bad joke -- that he was really talking about Bush being a bad student and an inept leader.

But that didn’t stop critics from beating him down first. And they should have. Mothers who lost sons in Iraq don’t want to hear such elitist language, even as a joke. Neither do veterans or other patriots.

Yes, the Iraq war has not gone well, but we always need to remember our volunteer soldiers are over there fighting -- and dying.

Kerry should have learned from past controversy associated with his words about combat.

Here’s a thought for his speech writers: Avoid war references, and make the jokes less complex. Knock-knock jokes are simple and they almost always draw a chuckle.

Meanwhile, for the GOP and its spin machine, which hasn't had a lot to applaud in key races this election season, Tuesday was a good day.