Heavyset children? Blame Your Tube

McLuhan theorized that content of media does not necessarily influence the way we think, feel and behave. But advertising industry seems to have never bought in. The medium of TV has given it the power of influence over millions, and its content apparently has influenced behavior as well.

Here I'm trying to keep my young ones from catching trailers of CSI:(name your city) or Desperate Housewives or other images of sex or violence, when the real culprit is fatty and sugary food advertising.

A 2005 Kaiser Family Foundation report out this week says that about one-third of commercials that target children feature candy and snacks. And we wonder why a high percentage of America's children suffer from obesity.

In my daughter's age group, 8-12, the images are relentless, and they are the ones most affected by food marketing: 21 commercials a day about food (sweet cereals, sundaes, fish sandwiches, burgers). Even the infant sees the Golden Arches and begins to loudly chant: "Bies! Bies! Bies!" (Translation: "Fries! Fries! Fries!)

Makes me wonder if conscientious parents who struggle with trying to get their kids to eat healthy foods really stand a chance. (This is where you tell me to just turn off the TV!)

To food marketers: How about putting your best artist the job of prettying up some asparagus, tomatoes and carrots the way you do those buttery waffles? Create a nice jingle for them, then advertise them during high-viewership times.

For those of us who have let the TV Jeannie out of the bottle, it's a tough course to reverse.

A deserving reward

University of Cincinnati President Nancy Zimpher is still enduring criticism over the Bob Huggins ouster, but school officials were wise to extend her contract this week.

Zimpher's UC/21 plan is now part of the fabric of the university -- from its academics to its marketing. And, over time, you'll see its athletic programs return to national prominence.

Good move.

A core class: Mental Health 101

More American college students are using campus mental health services than ever before, according to a study out this week. Liberal arts colleges reported nearly a fourth of their students sought some mental health service while 13 percent of students at larger universities did, according to a survey of college counseling centers by the Anxiety Disorders Association of America.

In a recent Pennsylvania State University study, 60 percent of college health center directors reported record numbers of students accessing mental health care and for longer periods of time.

While other factors play into those numbers -- a bumper crop of college freshmen, for example, and more students entering college on psychiatric medication -- the bottom line is that young people are voluntarily seeking treatment in record numbers. How terrific if young Americans break through the stigma that has long and foolishly surrounded mental health care.

College may be portrayed as a heady blend of freedom, intellect and partying, but it can also be a lonely and overwhelming time. Anxiety and depression can appear or resurface.

Both colleges and parents can make sure young people know what mental health services are available to them and feel comfortable accessing them.

Leaving college willing, able and ready to take care of their own emotional health would be one of the best lessons students learned on campus.

The Zimpher package

UC President Nancy Zimpher got a well-deserved contract extension into 2012. See the story and link to the detailed contract here.

Most interesting note in the story: Zimpher turned down a $37,000 raise to the first year's base pay, which would have gone from $343,350 a year to $380,164. She noted the university had to trim $27 million from the budget this year and was setting a good example. I know lots of people will snort at that, noting that $343,350 isn't chump change and the deal comes with a nice place to live, investment counseling, deferred income, car allowance and a job for her husband. But how many of those scoffers would willingly pass up $37 grand?

Besides, all the goodies in the package pretty much represent the going rate for big school university presidents these days and there are plenty who get more. She is insisting UC raise its sights beyond the athletic department, and for that she deserves credit.

Contract clause I found most interesting involves the car allowance (Section 5, paragraph d): "As a condition of her employment as President, the University requires the President to drive, in the performance of her duties, an automobile that appropriately reflects her position." Just what does that mean exactly?

UC is a major public research institution in a state whose governor just announced he wants Ohio to be a leader in energy research. So would it be reflective of her position for Zimpher to tool about in an electric car? How about one fueled by Ohio corn? Maybe something solar? Or she could take a lead in the fuel conservation efforts and opt for a Moped.

Ohio voters to government: Hands off our property

It’s no surprise that a new poll has found two-thirds of Ohio voters don’t even want government to be able to take property for clearly public projects such as roads and bridges, let alone private ones. They’ve seen, with Norwood and other cases the Enquirer has written about, how the traditional concept of eminent domain has been abused. Governments have turned it into a tool to take any property that isn’t generating “enough” tax revenue – then argue it’s promoting economic development for the “public good.”

As the Enquirer reported Sunday, a Quinnipiac University poll found strong sentiment for curbing this abuse, with 78 percent saying it should be more difficult for the state to use eminent domain. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled unanimously last July that economic benefit to the community alone isn't enough to satisfy the “public use” requirement. And a staggering 82 percent of Ohioans think that using it for the kind of private development that Norwood’s Rookwood Exchange shopping/office/ condo project was about shouldn’t be allowed, period. “Rarely do we see numbers this lopsided,” said the polling group’s assistant director. "Voters just do not like eminent domain.”

Ohio lawmakers had better keep the court’s clear direction in mind while crafting an eminent domain reform bill this session. State Sen. Tim Grendell, R-Chesterland, says his bill will curtail abuses while reserving the right to take property for public use “as a tool of last resort.” Let’s hope so. As Grendell said, if lawmakers don’t pass a reform with real teeth, angry voters may approve something even more restrictive with a ballot initiative.

Voters sense what the court noted last July – that something deeper than economic benefit or public advantage is at stake here. It is the bedrock principle of private property. The right to own is integral to liberty; many would say it defines liberty. Government cannot trifle with that fundamental individual right.

Stupid gun tricks: Chapter II

Once again we come to you of a story about somebody doing something stupid with a gun.

Not, mind you, that there is anything wrong with owning a gun. It’s just that there seems to be an abundance of people who do, but who couldn’t blow their noses if brains were gunpowder.

For example: Phillip Thompson, aide to Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va. The Washington Post reported that Thompson was arrested Monday when he tried to walk into the Russell Senate Office Building carrying a loaded handgun and a couple of spare magazines.

Capitol Police charged him with carrying a handgun without a license, possessing an unregistered firearm and unregistered ammunition.
Thompson, “a former marine, long-term friend and trusted employee of the senator,” committed an “oversight,” according to a statement issued by Jessica Smith, spokeswoman for the senator.

What was the oversight? Carrying an unregistered gun in the nation’s capitol? Carrying a gun into the Senate office building? Or packing a gun and enough ammo to make a lot of people nervous and then forgetting you had it on you as you walked through the X-ray machine at the entrance of a well-guarded government building in the nation’s capitol?

No word yet on whether this guy still works for the senator, and if so, why.

Is this any way to build a jail?

If sniping press releases were bricks, Hamilton County could have a new jail in no time.

2:42 p.m. Monday – Press release received from Democrats Todd Portune and David Pepper. Headline reads:
“DeWine Jail Plan Crumbles
Only One Week after Proposing It”

4:46 p.m. Monday – Press release received from Republican Pat DeWine. Headline reads:

“Is There Anything Pepper and Portune Won’t do to Salvage Their Sneaky August Election Tax Plan?”

If only the county didn’t have so many inmates the Sheriff has to routinely grant many of them early release, we could enjoy this partisan banter for the humor it provides in the dull course of the day’s news.

Portune and Pepper propose putting a sales tax increase on the ballot of a special election in August to build an 1,800 bed jail. DeWine's plan calls for a smaller new jail, no tax increase and rehabbing the crumbling Queensgate facility which the county now leases.

Both plans are still in the formative stages with details promised soon by their advocating commissioners.

Here’s an idea. Let’s shelve the press releases, get your detailed plans together and then debate their merits instead of tossing insults back and forth.

Let's hear it for singletasking

Maybe it's sweet justice for all those times we're pulled from our reading or naps by insistent calls of "Hey, Mom!" or "Watch this, Dad!"

Our middle-aged brains may actually be better at staying focused or blocking out interruptions than the brains of our quick-witted offspring. Studies at the Institute for the Future of the Mind at Oxford University show that younger people have better mental dexterity than older people -- unless they're interrupted. Then the more mature groups are better able to shut out ringing telephones and pesky instant messsaging and stick with the task at hand.

Feel free to brag about it to your teenager -- the researchers call it "faster fluid intelligence."

But that feat of cognitive gymnastics aside, no human brain is really very good at multitasking, researchers at the University of Michigan brain lab say. We just don't have the power to concentrate on two tasks at one time.

So talk on the cell or drive the car -- technology advances, but our own hard wiring stays the same.

Councilman law&order

Like most politicians, Cincinnati Councilman Jim Tarbell promises to fight for the betterment of the people. Unlike most, however, he means it literally.

Friday night he took on a loud and hostile panhandler outside Kaldi’s Coffee House on Main Street in Over-the-Rhine. First he told the guy to stop bothering people, then he got in his car, pulled out his cell phone and called the police. According to Tarbell, the man reached into the car, grabbed the phone and whacked the vice-mayor upside the head with it. They tussled, Tarbell got decked and the robber took off – with the phone.

Not to be a victim, Tarbell accompanied the police on a cruise around the neighborhood, spotted the suspect and watched the arrest of Larry Smith.

According to news accounts, this is at least the third time since 2001 that Tarbell has personally stood up to criminals. In 2004 he faced down three teens with a knife in an alley near City Hall. A year earlier broke up a fight and helped police chase down a fleeing suspect. And once he chased a prowler away from his house with a broom.

Now people shouldn’t take from all this derring-do that Tarbell is a violent man. Far from it. What he is, is a proud citizen who won’t be intimidated by people intent on interfering with the peace and good order of the community. He believes in standing up to the crooks and giving the police every bit of help he can. We could use more like him.

The day-care debate continues

Parents may forget about their child's day-care experiences as soon their son or daughter moves onto kindergarten and they no longer have to pay the preschool bill. But results of a long-term study released Monday suggest that kids who spend lots of time in day care may show the behavioral effects almost until adolescence.

Children who were reported by teachers to be somewhat aggressive, disobedient or argumentative were more likely to have spent more of their early years in child-care centers. Those behaviors were less likely to show up in children who had spent more of their time with sitters or nannies or in child-care in homes.

For working parents, this could be yet another opportunity for self-flagellation. And it could be a free kick from those sideline critics who preach parents staying home with their kids, period -- blissfully ignoring the fact that many desperately long to do so but can't afford to.

The point of this research by the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development isn't finger-pointing, but acknowledgement that 4 million children under five are now in care centers or preschools -- almost as many as being cared for by a relative -- and the economic demands of modern life mean that number won't be shrinking any time soon.

Like it or not, that's reality.Dealing with that reality means figuring out how much care is too much care, what kind of care is most beneficial -- and then helping parents keep their children's best interests at the center while they juggle home, family and work.

The right to shoot to kill

I've been struck over the past few days by several shootings committed by people who believed their homes were being invaded.

Intruders were shot and killed. The visceral response is that that's what criminals get for home invasions. Perhaps it'll deter others, knowing more folks are armed locked and loaded. Another response is shun gun violence in all its forms. But what if the shooters in either case had not been armed. Would we have read their obituaries?

Curiously, something similar has been happening in post-Katrina New Orleans, where the murder rate is tops in the United States.

What do you think?

Taste takes the Fifth -- finally

And now, for something a little more cheerful: The unofficial start of Cincinnati’s summer season is more than two months away, but there’s something to celebrate already. The Taste of Cincinnati will be back in the heart of downtown where it belongs.

Officials of the annual Memorial Day weekend foodfest announced this week that the Taste will move from Central Parkway, where it’s been held since 1988, to Fifth Street, where it will occupy the Race-to-Broadway footprint familiar to Oktoberfest fans. That’s always seemed a friendlier venue than the more spacious but barren Parkway, which gets really hot on a sunny day, even in late May. I know the festival had to move there when it outgrew its original location, downtown's Piatt Park, but it just never seemed right.

This year, moving back downtown is an especially smart move that will show off the newly rehabbed Fountain Square – assuming that project is finally wrapped up by Memorial Day – along with the redone Government Square and a handful of new restaurants that may surprise people who haven’t been to the city's business core in a while. Downtown could use the kind of good vibe you get from a half-million visitors enjoying Cincinnati-style food, drink and music on a holiday weekend.

If there’s one thing Cincinnati knows how to do well, it’s put on a festival. This kicks Taste up a notch or two.

The abstinence outrage

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland said he won't re-apply for federal funds to keep an abstinence-only sex education program, and fireworks began as predictably as if it were the Fourth of July.

Abstinence advocates point to dropping teenage birth rates -- which, objectively, are influenced by a number of factors -- while opponents say the program has not been tracked as meticulously as it should. Meanwhile, state Rep. Bill Seitz throws in a disparaging quote about "free-condoms-for-everybody" programs that only serves to be incendiary.

The unmentioned outrage, for some of us, is that no one seems upset that Ohio schoolchildren continue to be cheated of comprehensive health education because no one wants to wrestle with the volatile issue of teaching about human sexuality. That's cowardly. It's downright neglectful.

Understanding how to manage one's own health is essential information, one sign of being a well-educated individual. Health habits -- good or bad -- start early and, by adulthood, are incredibly difficult to change.

Before people get up in arms about how abstinence fits into the public school curriculum, they should understand how precious little "curriculum" is actually there for it to fit in.

Seeking "compromise" on the truth

So what exactly are we supposed to think when the President says that members of his staff will talk about the firings of federal prosecutors as long as they don’t have to swear to tell the truth and nobody makes a record of what they say?

Gee, that will sure put all doubts to rest.

For those not completely fluent in Washingtonspeak, people involved in hot controversies always want to avoid testifying under oath. They regard swearing to tell the truth as a perjury trap, where a little shading here, a little memory lapse there can come back to bite you with a criminal charge. Just ask Scooter Libby.

This reluctance to swear to tell the truth only sounds strange to the innocent ears of every day citizens. You have to realize that for many of the habitués of the halls of power, obfuscation is the non-partisan standard of communication. That’s why people like Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa.., can keep a straight face while floating a “compromise” proposal in which White House aides would be questioned publicly by select lawmakers, but wouldn’t be put under oath. And Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Judiciary Committee, who makes a big deal about wanting to ask the questions, can seem willing to go along with such a proposal.

Explain to us simple folk out here in the boonies senators; how do you strike a “compromise” on telling the truth?

And our latest good parenting award goes to...

Quentin E. Wallace Jr., the second local dad in a week to be accused by police of drinking, driving and baby-sitting all at the same time.

Wallace was pulled over just before midnight Tuesday for doing 75 in a 55 mph zone on northbound Interstate 75.

His unrestrained 2-year-old son was in the car with him, police said. He was charged with speeding, driving while intoxicated, driving with a suspended license, not having the child in a safety seat and child endangering.

The case sounds a lot like the one we noted last week (see March 16 post below), involving Scott Frickman of Mount Washington and his 2-year-old.

Smarten up dads. Let’s not make this a trend crime.

You can't get there from here -- yet: UPDATED

People who have lived in or visited metropolitan areas similar to ours – or simply residents frustrated from trying to get from Point A to Point B without a car – will tell you that our region is way behind the curve when it comes to public transportation. So Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune’s proposal this week to create a regional transit board, while short on details, is certainly worth noting.
Portune says he’d like to see the new board, which would embrace but go beyond the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA, the Metro bus folks), off and running by this summer. He’d have it gradually incorporate Butler, Warren and Clermont counties, then Northern Kentucky and southeastern Indiana to develop a more comprehensive bus system with cross-county and inter-county connections.
This is going to have to happen sooner or later, and it may as well happen now. Our area’s changing demographics and population patterns are making the current SORTA system’s scope, and its downtown-centric routing paradigm, seriously outmoded. And it simply doesn’t have the resources to become a truly comprehensive system.
A lot of tricky and nasty politics will be involved, of course, with the chronic city vs. suburbs tension in play. It will require buy-in – literally – from communities outside Cincinnati and Hamilton County.
Portune also mentions adding light rail to the mix – still a sore subject since Hamilton County voters turned down a proposed $2.6 billion system in 2002. The Enquirer editorial board opposed that plan as having too many question marks. But we took great pains to praise its “MetroMoves” component, an expanded and reconfigured bus system. We said SORTA should implement it first, then build support for a refined, perhaps more limited light-rail vision.
That’s not unlike what Portune is proposing now. It’s about time.

UPDATE, March 23:

Commissioner Todd Portune sent me an e-mail today with specifics that address some of the points raised by this post and by readers' comments on it. Here's what Portune had to say:

"We expect that this discussion will lead to the formation of a new entity that encompasses our four-county metro area in SW Ohio at a minimum. There is some talk of perhaps expanding to include Clinton and Montgomery counties -- especially given the high volume of traffic in the Cin-Day corridor.

"As for light rail, the start will be out the Eastern Corridor using existing rail and DMUs [Diesel Movable Units], which are passenger trains that look futuristic but run on diesel and use existing track. The county Transportation Improvement District this year will act at my direction to choose a preferred alternative on connecting the track from the Montgomery Ribs Boathouse to the downtown transit center. The TID will also begin action toward presenting a demonstration project on the route.

"It is possible that as early as 2010 passenger service from Milford to downtown with a side line from Red Bank to Xavier University will be in service under our lead and all without the necessity of a tax increase.

"As for bus service, we are taking the Metro Moves bus proposals of 2002 as the Gold Standard and working to implement that plus integrate service to Butler Warren and Clermont and their system improvements. Service to the disabled will be improved and expanded beyond the I-275 outer belt.

"I also expect that we will introduce Trolley shuttle service circulating downtown along as many as four different routes that would likely run continuously between: a) our three river cities; b) our places of culture and entertainment; c) our places of government and business; and d) between downtown and uptown, the University and medical complex including, perhaps, the zoo."

Put up your Dukes

The Dukes of Hazard/Cincinnati Pops non-story pulled in more than 200 online reader comments by 5 p.m. Tuesday. What's the matter with you people?

Key point #1: The John Schneider/Tom Wopat Dukes revival never was actually scheduled by the Pops, so therefore it was not actually cancelled. According to the Pops, it was under consideration for the schedule in July, but then discarded because of concerns that the production might offend people because it features the Confederate flag.

Key point #2: This 1979-1985 TV comedy was to artistic social commentary what Gomer Pyle was to the United States Marine Corps.

It was about a bunch of good ol' boys runnin moonshine in a holler where the girls wore skimpy shorts, the cops were stupid, the politicians were corrupt and the bad guys chased the good guys around dirt roads in fast cars to the sound of Waylon Jennings. Yee Hah!

Were the folks at the Pops a little too PC in checking with the NAACP before deciding to book the show? Maybe, but in this day and age better to be cautious than picketed for insensitivity.

Were the Duke boys, Cooter and their fans over the top for creating a storm of protest over the Pops deciding not to book the show? You betcha.

I’d like to use a lifeline, please

If you’re looking for yet another sign of where we’re going as a culture, a recent Washington Post article offers a sobering view from an unexpected venue: the TV quiz show.

Spurred by the inexplicable popularity of the new “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?,” Post writer Paul Farhi compares the modern, dumbed-down genre spawned by “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” with the classic quiz shows of the 1950s, which set a rather high standard for their contestants’ knowledge of the arts, history, literature, government and science, as well as popular culture. Even though many of them were proven to be rigged, the old shows were based on the principle of rewarding people for being extraordinarily smart and knowledgeable. The new ones celebrate mediocrity. Here’s a question worth $100,000 on “5th Grader”: “A decagon has how many sides?”

By modern standards, “the intellectual content of the 1950s quiz shows was downright erudite,” writes Thomas Doherty of the Museum of Broadcast Communications. Intellectual content? You don’t even have to be able to recall any specific information these days. The new “Millionaire”-style quiz shows are multiple-choice affairs where many of the possible choices are clearly absurd. And if that’s not enough of a hint, there are “lifelines” or other gimmicks to drag you to the right answer. Sure, the questions get progressively tougher, but games are set up so a contestant can walk away with a tidy nest egg without having to face anything more challenging than, say, a 5th grader could answer.

“We have less of an expectation of ourselves that we’ll learn rigorous material today,” said Steve Beverly, a broadcasting professor and expert on TV game shows. “We have accepted a degree of mediocrity in education. We don’t really want to work too hard to achieve success.” It’s not just schools that deserve blame. The media and entertainment industries celebrate and institutionalize a culture of lowered expectations, and government advances social policies that encourage people not to think for themselves. I’d like to believe we’re better than that, but I’m starting to doubt it.

The tragic food connection

Many pet lovers are playing a tense game of wait-and-see. They are wondering if this will be the day their pet will become ill or die from eating tainted pet food.

More than 60 million cans and pouches of food have been recalled by the FDA, which warns more pets will likely die before an investigation is completed.

A plethora of brands are affected, which reveals how small the degrees of separation among brands can be. The same could be said for the peanut butter scare of a few weeks back, in which peanut butter with Wal-Mart's in-house brand were recalled along with Peter Pan.

Makes me wonder -- to paraphrase George Wallace's thoughts on the similarities of political parties -- whether there's a "dime's worth of difference" between the glossy brands and less well known ones. Is there anyone out there who can shed more light?

Wall-to-wall Wal-Mart

Indygrad, a frequent commenter on this blog, suggests in one of the posts below that I should be blogging on Wal-Mart's plan to take over the world of banking and finance.

Not content with sucking in every retail dollar in sight, the giant discount chain now wants to hold on to our checking and savings accounts as well, he said.

Last week stories hit the news about a Wal-Mart employee's e-mail that talked about the possibility of the company starting its own bank heated up this idea, which has been talked about for several years. It would be a big deal. We aren't talking about just having some established bank's branches in Wal-Marts, the way lots supermarkets and other big retailers, including some Wal-Marts, do now. We are talking about Wal-Mart actually being the bank.

Existing banks, noting what has happened to lots of other smaller retailers when a Wal-Mart opens nearby, didn't like the idea much and some members of Congress started talking about legislation to block such a move.

On Friday, however, Wal-Mart decided to skip the controversy and announced it was withdrawing its application for a federal bank charter.

Members of Congress, including Paul Gillmor, R-Ohio, are still talking over legislation that would limit nonfinancial entities from becoming banks. Some companies already have such approval, including Target and General Motors. Others, including Home Depot, have expressed the same interest that Wal-Mart was showing. And not everybody is convinced Wal-Mart won't try this again.

It'll be an interesting debate. Just how big a piece of our economic life does one company need to have?

Bump and bang

Maybe we should start a new feature called “Stupid Gun Tricks.”

This story about a guy police say apparently was shot by his own gun when he hit a speed bump would be on my list. The bump slowed him down, but not in the way the traffic engineers intended. David Larkin told police the gun just went off as he pulled into traffic. He's expected to recover.

Let’s see, first you keep a loaded gun in the front seat, pointed at yourself – then go over a big bump and see what happens.

I’ll probably hear from a bunch of enthusiastic, Second Amendment protectionists who will question my patriotism (among other things) for writing this. But they’ll be wrong. I’m all for keeping the second amendment – and all the others – intact. I just don’t like all the gratuitous gun violence we see around us.

As the saying goes, Guns don’t kill people; mean or stupid people with guns kill people. Or if they are lucky they just shoot themselves when they hit a bump in the road.

McConnell right on 'Free Choice'

President Bush should keep his promise to veto the HR 800, curiously named the “Employee Free Choice Act.”
Sponsored by Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., it passed two weeks ago in the House and now goes to the Senate. The legislation is wrongheaded, and is potentially unfair to workers.
Workers now can vote for or against a union can via a secret ballot under the oversight of the National Labor Relations Board. HR 800 takes away the secret ballot. Instead, it lets workers simply sign union authorization cards, or “card check.”
The American worker ought to maintain the right to have labor representation, but there is a right way and a wrong way to do it.
Card check is not the way. It opens up a host of issues, but most prominently it could lead to coercion or intimidation of workers, who may feel pressured into decisions. That's not the atmosphere you want on the job.
When the bill passed, Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell wisely noted, “We will not allow the progress already made on behalf of U.S. workers to be undone, nor will we allow coercion by employers or unions. … “Let’s continue our efforts to safeguard the rights of America’s workforce and stop this attempt to strip away workers’ rights.”
If the bill makes it to Bush’s desk, a veto is in order.
For the record: Ohio lawmakers Steve Chabot, Jean Schmidt, Mike Turner and John Boehner voted against the legislation. In Kentucky Geoff Davis, also voted against the legislation. Of the 24 Kentucky and Ohio representatives who voted, 14 rejected the measure.

Bong hits 4 students' free-speech rights

A federal case involving an Alaska student’s free-speech rights touches on issues that hit close to home here. As the New York Times reported this weekend, high school student Joseph Frederick unfurled a banner reading "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" during an Olympic torch procession through Juneau in 2002. It was off school property, though during school time, and principal Deborah Morse ordered him to take it down. He refused, she tore it down and gave him a 10-day suspension, so he sued. Morse objected to the sign’s apparent advocacy for marijuana. Frederick said it was simply taken from a snowboard slogan to be "meaningless and funny" for the TV cameras – in other words, a typical teen prank.

This seems to be much ado about very little, but the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments today on Morse v. Frederick as a test of previous court rulings over the rights of school administrators to limit student speech when it conflicts with the school’s "educational mission." Those principles were in play in our area with a recent flap over an article in a student publication at Princeton High School critical of the school’s football program.

Whether you think a student ought to or should be allowed to advocate drugs, even in apparent jest and even away from school, is one thing. But the government here is arguing something far more sweeping – that administrators have the right to ban virtually any speech that conflicts with the "educational mission," and that they have the right to define that mission as they wish.

Unfortunately, as with too many First Amendment issues, the Bush administration is arguing the case for restricting rights. As the Times notes, the so-called "religious right" supports Frederick, despite his sign’s irreverent "Jesus" reference, because they are concerned, as counsel Jay Alan Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice writes, that public schools "face a constant temptation to impose a suffocating blanket of political correctness upon the educational atmosphere." That’s a valid concern. Schools pay lip service to diversity, but that doesn’t always extend to diversity of opinion or ideology. Education is not homogenization.

And speaking of parent of the year...

Scott Frickman ranks right up there with the library mom for a good parenting award (see Krista Ramsey’s post below).

At 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Cincinnati Police found him sitting in his Chevy pickup in Mount Washington. They said he had no license, no seatbelt, an outstanding warrant from Clermont County and blew a .21 on the breath test, indicating a blood/alcohol level well over twice the legal limit of 0.08.

Oh yes, he also had his 2-year-old son sitting next to him on the passenger seat, according to police.

He was locked up in lieu of a $4,000 bond on charges of driving under the influence, driving without a license, not wearing his seatbelt and child endangering.

He was arrested on Corbly Street, not far from his house, police said. There was no indication whether he was coming or going.

With .21 blood alcohol he probably couldn't say.

Corrupting kids with a library card

The day they sign up for their first library card is a pretty cool occasion for most kids. But for Maria Daniels' four children it must have felt pretty crummy.

Daniels told police she used her kids to help her check out hundreds of DVDs from Greater Cincinnati libraries, then sold them to video game stores. The family racked up more than 70 aliases in the process, a perfect role for the kids since they don't have to show identification to get a card.

Rotten as it is to think about people ripping off public libraries -- which, heavens knows, have financial struggles of their own -- it's worse to think about parents who train their children to lie, cheat and steal.

Whether her motive was financial need or greed, Maria Daniels used her children in an inexcusable way. Kids can survive hard times and little money; they have a harder time rising above their parents' legacy of deceit.

Strickland to Ohio: Securitize this

The list of new spending initiatives in Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland’s State of the State speech Wednesday, proposed even in what he called a time of “shrinking resources,” led some observers to ask the obvious question: How’s he going to pay for all that?
Certainly the new Democratic governor’s proposal to dump school vouchers won’t do it, despite his disingenuous characterization of them as No. 1 on his list of “wastefulness and giveaways (that) can no longer be tolerated.” His bid to eliminate various commercial and sales tax “loopholes” would help somewhat.

But a big part of Strickland’s solution to the cash crunch is a move that’s mostly been overlooked so far: “Securitizing” Ohio’s tobacco settlement funds – in essence, “selling” the state’s future payments from Big Tobacco to private investors, who would assume the risk and reward in those payments. Strickland says that would net Ohio $5 billion cash. That’s billion with a “b.”

Where would the money go? Strickland would put $2.2 billion into the current school construction program. That’s $2.2 billion that wouldn’t have to come from other state revenue and could go toward Strickland’s wish list. The other $2.8 billion would allow the state to forgo bonds it is scheduled to issue in the future, saving what Strickland says would be $250 million a year for 20 years. That money would fund his proposed property tax cut for seniors and the disabled.
The downside is that it’s a one-time deal: Once Ohio sells its rights to the tobacco money, it’s gone for good. Of course, given the tobacco companies’ long-term financial viability in this country, that could be a good gamble for the state to make.

Securitizing tobacco funds isn’t really Strickland’s idea. It’s not even the brainchild of former “Jeopardy!” champ State Treasurer Richard Cordray, who floated the idea last month.
As I noted in a previous post on this blog, several years ago then-Treasurer Joe Deters – yes, Republican Joe Deters – proposed that Ohio follow the lead of several states that had securitized their funds, but his fellow GOP officeholders foolishly squashed the notion.

It is one of several ideas – along with a judicial selection commission, expansion of the Passport home-care program, reform of business regulations and more – that many Republicans have advocated in the past but couldn’t get their leaders to accomplish. Now, ironically, Strickland is moving to get them done. In this case, if they had taken Deters’ cue on the tobacco funds, they could have earmarked that money for their preferred initiatives. But as with so many other policy issues, they have only themselves to blame here.

From welfare to self-sufficiency

A decade after the U.S. enacted major welfare reforms, nearly a sixth of all Americans are still relying on government services for the poor.

Direct cash payments have dropped sharply, but public assistance in the form of food stamps, Medicaid and disability payments have climbed.

Setting limits on cash payments was the right thing to do. The old system fostered dependence. But helping people reach real economic independence -- being able to fully support themselves and their families, have reliable health care, enjoy long-term economic stability -- takes a much wider and longer view.

To aspire to more than entry-level jobs, which often come without benefits, the working poor need educational opportunities and common-sense support. They need places to work on both the skills they'll need on the job, and the skills they'll need to get the job, such as resume-writing and interviewing.

They also need the basic financial skills any family needs to create a stable family life, such as budgeting, long-term planning and running an efficient household.

Hamilton County is very fortunate to have ACT -- Accountability and Credibility Together -- a program that helps families get off welfare and then helps keep them off welfare by offering them support, counseling, educational opportunities and long-term partnership.

In the long run, it's programs like these that move us from wishing people off welfare to helping them work their way to self-sufficiency.

5 secrets local governments want to keep from you

Here's a posting from Enquirer First Amendment reporter Gregory Korte:

Sunshine Week begins March 11, and the Enquirer is compiling a list of government records that ought to be public -- but aren't. We started the list with input from reporters and editors. Now, we'd like to fill out the list with suggestions from readers.

1. Ohio foster parent records. After the death of 3-year-old Marcus Fiesel in foster care last year, the Enquirer asked the Ohio Department of Job & Family Services for a list of all licensed foster homes in the state. The agency refused, saying the list of foster care providers could, indirectly, violate the privacy of the children living in those homes. The Enquirer is now suing in the Ohio Supreme Court to get the records.

2. Rosters of Local School Decision Making Committee members. These committees help decide school budgets and policies, major personnel decisions and even where to locate a new school. But the Cincinnati Public Schools have denied repeated requests -- from the Community Press newspapers and the Enquirer -- for rosters of who's on these boards, providing only a list of the chairmen's names.

3. High school coaching recruits. Applications for public school jobs -- from superintendent to high school football coach -- are not public record in Kentucky, although their counterparts in Ohio are. Schools say that releasing applications for high-profile jobs "would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."

4. Search warrants. When judges at the Hamilton County Courthouse had a practice of putting a blanket seal on all search warrants in Hamilton County, the Enquirer protested, arguing that the decision to seal a court record could only be made on a case-by-case basis. But search warrants remain shrouded in secrecy. Of 482 search warrants, affidavits and inventories filed so far in 2007, 87 percent are sealed. Even once the need for secrecy is over -- because police have the evidence and have pressed charges -- judges rarely allow the public to see who police are searching and why.

5. Gun permits. When the Ohio General Assembly allowed residents to get a permit to carry a concealed weapon, Gov. Bob Taft threatened to veto a provision that would make those permits secret. He later struck a compromise with gun proponents: the permits would be available to journalists for legitimate newsgathering, but not to the public. Effective March 13, the state will close even that small opening. Without those records, the public wouldn't know, for example, that former congressional candidate Paul Hackett was licensed to carry a concealed weapon when he chased down vandals in Indian Hill. Or that Bennie Hall Jr. -- who shot a 14-year-old who was stealing his car in Kennedy Heights -- also had a license.

Do you agree that these records ought to be public? What records ought to be on this list? What is your government not telling you? Let us know. E-mail the Enquirer's First Amendment Desk, leave a comment below, or join the discussion in our message board on this topic.

What's a lieutenant governor to do?

The irony is as delicious as a mint julep on a hot day.

Ky. State Sen. Julian Carroll, ardent Democrat and former governor, stood in the Statehouse Thursday and denounced Republican Lt. Gov. Steve Pence as disloyal to his party.

Carroll’s umbrage was raised by Pence saying a few days earlier that he (Pence) would not support Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher, his running mate four years ago, for re-election.
Pence’s denunciation of the scandal-plagued Fletcher is hardly unique; plenty of other big-name Republicans are ready to dump Fletcher over the investigation into the administration’s hiring practices.

Carroll’s outrage is prompted by his belief that if a lieutenant governor is anything less than a yes-man to the chief executive, he isn’t worth his salary.

Since breaking with Fletcher, Pence “has nothing to do,” Carroll cried. “It is past time that he show at least some humility, that he show at least some character, and offer his resignation to the governor of Kentucky as lieutenant governor,” Carroll shouted. “He has nothing to do.”

Pence and Fletcher were elected in 2004 as the first Republican administration in Kentucky in 30 years. Pence said he has no intention of stepping down before the end of his term in December. Earlier this week he endorsed U.S. Rep. Ann Northup of Louisville for the Republican nomination.

Carroll can rant all he wants. But Pence is right to say he was elected in his own right, not just as an appendage to Fletcher.

Carroll might better serve the voters by seeking to pass a law that gives the lieutenant governor something more meaningful to do than sit around being the governor’s loyal (or disloyal) toady.

Terry McAuliffe in Cincinnati

The profile was vaguely familiar, but I was distracted by the great tie, which was so orange Stevie Wonder could see it. Then the barista told "Terry" his coffee was ready.

"Terry" was Democratic Party strategist Terry McAuliffe, whom I just ran into at the corner Starbucks on W. 4th Street.

McAuliffe, the superstar political fundraiser, fresh off a stint as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, is now running Sen. Hillary Clinton's 2008 run for the presidency.

Clinton is leading all Democrats in the polls today, but there's a long campaign season ahead.

He had noon appointment at Joseph-Beth Books promoting his best-selling book, "What a Party! My Life Among Democrats: Presidents, Candidates, Donors, Activists, Alligators, and Other Wild Animals." It was his 26th tour stop. Last night he was in Lexington; he's on his way to Dayton today.

"We've just got to run our campaign," McAuliffe told me when I asked how Clinton can keep distance between her and fellow Democrat candidate Barack Obama, who came to Cincinnati this week for a fundraiser.

At Starbucks, McAuliffe sipped coffee, checked his PDA, tried to eat a sandwich and be cordial to a nosey editor at the same time. He managed well.

In addition to selling books, he also apparently found time to do what he does best: make contact with the well-heeled and well-connected.

Before heading to Dayton, McAuliffe was between meetings with Cincinnati attorney Stan Chesley, who has raised money for Republicans and Democrats alike, and Carl Lindner, chairman of Great American Insurance Group, a leading supporter of the GOP.