We're moving: See you at our new blog

After 20 months and 845 posts (including this one), we're winding down Today at the Forum and moving to a new, retooled Editorial Board blog called Thinking Out Loud on the Enquirer's updated Web site. You can get to the new blog here. Please update any bookmarks, favorites, etc. you may have to this address: http://news.cincinnati.com/tolblog. If you subscribe via RSS, the new RSS feed can be found here. If you have any questions or comments on the process, feel free to e-mail me here.

We hope you'll join us on Thinking Out Loud, where we'll not only present each Editorial Board member's personal viewpoints, but will include some new features and occasional surprises as well.

Dann's free lunches

A story in Thursday’s Dayton Daily News said former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann let his campaign donors pay for 300 of his meals in the barely 16 months he stayed in office.

Dann resigned in disgrace last week after an internal investigation accused his top aides of sex harassment and obstruction of an official investigation, which was quickly followed by articles of impeachment being introduced against him. Along the way he admitted having an affair with a young female subordinate and being “unprepared” for the job when he took office.

All told, Dann charged $18,500 in such expenses to his campaign while in office – everything from a late night bar tab to 35-cents at a McDonalds, according to receipts filed with the Secretary of State’s office. What can you buy at McDonalds for 35-cents?

Gov. Ted Strickland is said to be mulling over at least 40 possibilities for appointment as interim AG, until a special election this fall. He said he wants someone with “maturity,” which would set them apart from Dann. Don’t take too long governor. While you’re at it, find someone willing to pay for his own lunch.

Definitely not just horsing around

Kentucky’s greatest natural resource may be one that relies largely on image, perception and emotion – the horse. “Our label of ‘Horse Capital of the World’ is real,” John Nicholson, board president of the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, told the Enquirer editorial board Thursday. “White fences and green grass, horses are happier here – everybody knows that.”
Nicholson and other officials with the 2010 World Equestrian Games – set for Sept. 25-Oct. 10, 2010 at the park – met with us to outline their preparations for the event, which could be the biggest economic and image boost for the Commonwealth in decades.
Organizers are expecting an attendance of about 800,000 for the 16-day event, which will be televised in 150 countries with a global viewership of 500 million households. It’s the first time the quadrennial games have been held outside of Europe.
They also estimate it will have an economic impact of at least $150 million in Kentucky.
Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky will feel some of the benefit – notably from hotel reservations, tourism and entertainment. The competing horses from other nations will fly into Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, and will be kept in the area for mandatory quarantines, which can last anywhere from 48 hours to two weeks.
The Games are nearly 2½ years away, but the Lexington facility is being modernized, expanded and reshaped. The state is pitching in with $40 million for an indoor arena, $24 million for an outdoor stadium and $13 million for road upgrades – but park officials say those improvements were part of its master plan anyway. They will enable the park to bring in additional events year-round long after the Games are over.
Kentucky also hopes to leverage the games to tap into America’s growing attraction to the horse-owning lifestyle There are about 9.5 million horses in the United States, up from 6.5 million a decade ago.
Landing the World Equestrian Games is an impressive coup for the state and, as Nicholson put it, “a wonderful way for Kentucky to reintroduce itself to the world.”
After all, horses are happier here – everybody knows that.

The race card still plays in KY

Northern Kentuckians can take some faint pride in apparently not having as many racist tendencies as some of their brethren elsewhere in Kentucky.

That's something I took away from a Courier-Journal story today on how racial prejudice appears to have played a part in voter preference for Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama in the Kentucky Democratic primary Tuesday.

Many voters deserve credit, in a weird way, for at least being honest enough to tell pollsters that Obama's race was a factor in their vote for Clinton. About one in five white voters told pollsters that, so you can be sure the real number is even higher. (Here's a link to an interesting Newsweek column on how our emotions & biases influence our voting.)

The C-J included a county-by-county chart that showed percentage of minority population in each Kentucky county and percentage of vote Obama received. Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties appeared to give Obama his greatest support (more than 30 percent of the Democratic primary vote) among counties with 6 percent or less minority population. You could theorize that more voters here seemed to look beyond skin color in making their choice.

A boisterous debate on the KY primary results also has broken out on our CincyMoms.com Web site. Click here to check it out.

Apathy reigns at North Pointe

"How's the turnout?" I asked at North Pointe Elementary School near Hebron when I voted just before 5 p.m. today.

"Very light," was the reply from the poll worker, which was somewhat obvious since I was the only voter present at that moment.

I thought to myself that part of it was that Democrats tend to be lonely people in Boone County, and the Clinton-Obama race was getting all the attention. That wasn't very relevant in a Republican primary.

Still, the Republicans who didn't vote were missing an interesting, close race for the State Senate between Charlie Walton and John Schickel. There is no Democrat running. This is game, set, match. And I guarantee you that Charlie Walton or John Schickel will affect lives in Boone County more on a daily basis than the next president. Or maybe the eligible voters don't care about schools, roads, economic development, casino gambling, toll bridges or taxes.

If you were a registered Republican, you had to be aggressively apathetic to ignore the race -- unless you depend on broadcast television for all your information. The Enquirer and Community Recorder both covered it. Candidate forums were throughout the district and aired on cable channels. Signs were up all over. Automated phone calls were ringing throughout the district. Mailboxes were flooded with direct mail, particularly from Charlie Walton, a school principal who had a lot of overt support from fellow education professionals.

So ends my annual "we take voting so much for granted/we deserve what we get" rant.

Changes are coming

Changes coming to this blog: Starting later this week, it will be published in a new blog tool on a brand-new Cincinnati.Com website.

It still will include the thoughts and opinions of individual members of the Editorial Board rather than the institutional position of the Enquirer. But we also will have some new features. We want to share a lot more of the reasoning (and arguing) that goes into formulation of the editorials. We will link you up to other interesting opinions and we will offer Q&A sessions with people in the news. You also will get an insider’s view of our editorial board interviews and a chance to talk to us about who and what we should be talking about.

We will still link back to discussions we’ve had on this forum and links to this blog will take you to the new one. Once we start posting to the new blog, you’ll be able to get in and get a sneak peek at the new website before anyone else.

There will be some administrative changes: You will have to register (it’s free.) You will have a unique registration name under which you can post comments and become regular contributors to our discussions.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Say it here or email me directly at dwells@enquirer.com.

Why I'm still taking the bus

A couple of weeks ago, I pledged to ride Metro to work for a week to goad high school students to park their cars and take the school bus.

I'm still shuttling along a month later, about three days a week.

A friend tells me that fuel-consumption guilt isn't enough to make most people try the bus, that there has to be a personal payoff. I'm easily guilted so I don't know, but maybe he's right.

I do know that three factors make me willing to put up with some inconvenience (frizzy hair, longer days, a constant search for $1 bills) to keep boarding that bus.

First, I realize that when I drive myself downtown, I scurry right into the parking garage as if I had blinders on. What I never knew I was missing is a city waking up. I like the three-block walk to my office and seeing people duck into Starbucks for a latte or greeting a friend on the way to the office. There is something downright charming about watching Jeffrey McClorey, owner of Bromwell's, calmly sweeping the sidewalk in front of his store while the shop cat, Cinders, stretches and shakes herself awake in the front window.

Second and related, taking the bus has made me feel I've made my peace with working in the city. I've embraced it. Until now, I saw my life as a dichotomy: I live my "real life" in the suburbs, but spend my days in the city -- without ever totally engaging with it. Now I see my life much more holistically, recognizing how much I enjoy the urban experience and not feeling that I cross into a parallel universe when I hit my downtown exit.

Third, as I watch all the cars carrying a single person make their way downtown, I am struck by the inefficiency of it and by the enormous waste of natural resources. It just looks odd, like putting one egg in a carton. I don't judge those drivers -- I've been one of them for more than 20 years -- but I do see the collective impact of my preference for convenience and autonomy when collaboration and mutual dependence would be better for the planet and even for my own state of mind.

When family needs clash with workplace needs

Judging from a lively discussion on CincyMoms (http://cincymoms.cincinnati.com/f/ShowThread.aspx?tid=49780&cid=15&fid=94&pid=1), the issue of how family commitments are treated in the workplace is a very hot topic indeed.

Last week I wrote about what's known as 'maternal profiling,' discrimination based on presumptions that mothers won't be as committed or as conscientious as other workers.

CincyMoms bloggers shared experiences of being told by employers that mothers shouldn't be in the workplace, being warned by law professors not to wear their wedding ring to an interview, and of working through lunch hours and taking work home so nobody would think they were slackers.

Just as painful to read are instances of childless workers who felt they were exploited because they were expected to work late when colleagues left to pick up their kids or who were invariably asked to work holidays or otherwise pick up the slack.

These are issues that pit people against each other and leave festering bitterness and resentment. They lead good employees to leave jobs they need, and force employers to play air-traffic controller in juggling schedules and needs of employees with competing interests.

Difficult, but worth the trouble of establishing fair policies and practices -- bloggers who felt their employers cared about their personal situations and tried to be fair to everyone were grateful and loyal.

A man worth remembering

This story brought a tear to my eye. I bet it will for many of you, too.

Our Kentucky-based reporters take turns doing features called "Lives Remembered" based on obituaries we receive. Bill Croyle was struck by one that seemed to suggest the deceased led a very uneventful, obscure life. No family around. No visitation scheduled.

Everyone has a story to tell. And so it was for Charles Cooke, 85, of Erlanger.

Bill's story made me think about my dad. By the time Paul Hetzel died at 89 in 1998, there weren't many of his family and friends around to come to the small funeral. But the local paper took note and wrote a nice story about how he was a founding member of the Hoffman Estates, Ill., Volunteer Fire Department and how he won a Bronze Star during World War II.

Charles Cooke served, too. Like my dad, he was in the Army during WWII. He loved to garden and stayed outside from dawn to dusk. That described my dad, too. Rest in peace guys.

Harvesting votes on the taxpayers' backs

There's nothing like an election year. President Bush has discovered fiscal responsibility during his lame-duck tour since he no longer has to run for anything. But politicians running for re-election think the gravy train is still running.

A news release landed in my inbox from Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the most powerful Republican in the United States Senate. He is running for re-election. Among other things, we learn that Mitch is in favor of school kids eating healthy food. He apparently is less concerned about how farm subsidies hurt taxpayers -- not to mention how farm policy helps drive up the cost of food. This puts him in the same camp with Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the house and big advocate of the bill. Maybe fewer people would need food stamps, which is most of the cost of this legislation, if food prices weren't shooting up.

Here's Mitch's press release:

Senate Passes Farm Bill; Helps Kentucky Farmers
“Kentucky farmers will benefit greatly from the many important programs that are promoted and preserved in this bill”

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell announced Thursday the Senate passed the Farm Bill conference report, which contains several important provisions to benefit the hard-working farm families of Kentucky.

“Kentucky farmers will benefit greatly from the many important programs that are promoted and preserved in this bill,” McConnell said. “I was pleased to support it on behalf of Kentucky’s farmers and their families who do so much for our commonwealth and the nation.”

Agriculture generates $4 billion for Kentucky’s economy every year. The commonwealth is the largest beef-cattle producing state east of the Mississippi, produces a diverse array of crops, and ranks fourth in the nation in the number of farms per state. In fact, 54 percent of Kentucky’s acreage is farmland.

The conference report contains a wide array of conservation efforts which will lead to improved air quality, cleaner drinking water, and less soil erosion, among other environmental benefits to our commonwealth.

It also includes a provision authored by Senator McConnell calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to survey what schools are serving to our children. This information will help USDA provide guidance to schools to serve healthier meals. This provision is sorely needed because USDA’s most recent data on this question is over a decade old.

“Educating our kids about the food they eat has been a top priority for me,” McConnell said. “In the last 30 years, the childhood obesity rate has more than tripled. Today over 4.5 million American children are facing a lifetime of all the increased health risks that obesity causes. This nutrition provision can be the first step towards reversing that unfortunate trend.”

The conference report also contains a provision authored by Senator McConnell to support Kentucky’s largest agricultural product, the horse industry. It would ensure that all race horses are depreciated over 3 years for tax purposes - regardless of when the horses start training. The current tax code does not accurately reflect the length of a horse's racing life.

“The horse industry employs 50,000 Kentuckians and contributes $3.5 billion to our economy year-round,” McConnell said. “By adding this provision to the bill, we have ensured that this important part of our farm economy is treated fairly.”

The Farm Bill conference report is supported by the Kentucky Farm Bureau.

==================

I'm no expert on the tax advantages of depreciating race horses, so maybe that's a fine idea. But here's a dose of reality on the farm bill from USA Today, the New York Times and other sources:

-- It is expected to cost $289 billion over five years.
-- It is larded with earmarks added by lawmakers in election fights.
-- It maintains subsidies for corn and other crops despite the fact that prices are at record levels and many farmers are doing quite well these days.

Even the president can't stomach the bill for the way it rewards big-time farming. He noted that couples making as much as $2.5 million a year could qualify for payments.

This is classic Congressional behavior: Take something that needs to be done and make it cost far more than it should. President Bush has threatened to veto the bill. Members of Congress are confident they can override. And, by the way, according to the Times, neither Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama nor John McCain bothered to show up and vote.

Contraception bill in state House

Ohio state Rep. Dan Stewart, D-Columbus, has re-introduced a bill to guarantee that sexual assault survivors are offered emergency contraception in hospital emergency rooms. The abortion rights group NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio praised the bill Thursday. Here's what NARAL said about the Compassionate Assistance for Rape Emergencies (CARE) Act in a press release:

• “This commonsense legislation affirms that members of the Ohio House hear voters’ call for policies that empower women and protect their privacy, instead of the divisive attacks that defined previous Congresses,” (NARAL Executive Director Kellie) Copeland said. “State Representative Dan Stewart and his colleagues who have co-sponsored this legislation have once again demonstrated their steadfast leadership by authoring this thoughtful legislation.”
  
  The CARE Act would ensure that survivors of sexual assault are offered emergency contraception (EC) in the emergency room. Each year, approximately 25,000 women in the United States become pregnant as a result of rape. Many of these pregnancies could be prevented if sexual assault victims had timely access to EC. Polls show that nearly 80 percent of American women want hospitals – religious-affiliated or not – to offer EC to rape survivors.
  
  Emergency contraception is a concentrated dose of ordinary birth-control pills that can dramatically reduce a woman’s chance of becoming pregnant if taken soon after sex. EC does not cause abortion; rather it is a safe and effective way to prevent pregnancy and was recently approved for over-the-counter sales for adults.
  
  NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio Foundation conducted two surveys to examine the availability of EC in hospital emergency rooms across the state. The first survey in 2004 showed that nearly 60% of all Ohio hospitals did not guarantee access to EC for sexual assault survivors, almost 25% said they never give it out. In 2007 the picture had improved slightly with nearly 20% of hospitals who responded to the survey not guaranteeing access for sexual assault survivors (only half of Ohio hospitals participated in the second survey). Unfortunately these studies also showed that there is a lack of knowledge about this medication among emergency room staff, with both reports finding instances of ER staff confusing EC with the abortion inducing medication Mifepristone (or RU-486). Our research confirms that legislation is necessary to protect access to critical reproductive health care for sexual assault survivors in our state. You can view these studies at http://www.prochoiceohio.org/.

So what do you think about Rep. Stewart's bill? Do you think it will get anywhere in the current General Assembly? Do you think it should?

A replacement for Dann II: Widen the field

With Wednesday’s resignation of Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann, pundits statewide are busy speculating on which Democrat is most likely to be chosen by Gov. Ted Strickland to replace Dann. As David Wells says below, Subodh Chandra would be an excellent choice. He was an impressive candidate when he ran against Dann in the 2006 primary. But the party backed Dann -- an awful lapse in judgment, obvious even at the time -- and Chandra didn't have a prayer.

But I’d like to look at the underlying assumption here: Why does it necessarily have to be a Democrat? Strickland should at least look at all the most qualified possibilities, regardless of party, to make sure Ohioans get the best possible person in that office. And if that happens to be a Republican, the governor’s bold, unconventional gesture could even help Democrats this fall by burnishing their clean-government, fair-play image. I know that’s impossibly naïve – that no party in its right mind would give up control of such a powerful office. But it can’t hurt to at least ask the question.

As for the issue of violating the voters’ mandate: If Ohioans had had even a sliver of an inkling about Dann in 2006, it’s a safe bet that Republican Betty Montgomery would have won, despite the Democratic landslide. In fact, maybe Strickland should consider Montgomery, the state's first and only female AG, if she’s willing to give the office another go. Montgomery won more votes than any statewide candidate every time she ran except in 2006, when she lost to Dann – and even then, she was the top GOP statewide vote-getter. She says she wouldn't run for AG this fall, but if Strickland were to appoint her now, who knows?

And if folks like Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune are being mentioned, why not, say, state Sen. Bill Seitz? If you’re talking party strategy, Strickland could do worse than to remove a GOP incumbent from the legislature during an election year in which control of both houses may be up for grabs. Or why not U.S. Rep. Deborah Pryce, R-Columbus, who may run for the post this fall anyway?

The one thing Strickland should not do is, as is widely rumored, move Treasurer Richard Cordray over to AG. The people elected Cordray to be treasurer. We didn’t like it when Republicans played musical chairs with the statewide offices. Why should it be more acceptable when Democrats do it?

A replacement for Dann

Bill Sloat, former Plain Dealer reporter in Cincinnati who now authors the independent Daily Bellwether blog, makes a good point about who Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland should be considering as a replacement to disgraced Attorney General Marc Dann – Subodh Chandra, the very capable former Cleveland law director who Dann beat in the 2006 primary.

Dann resigned Wednesday, one day after fellow Democrats introduced articles of impeachment against him for his gross mishandling of the office, including turning a blind eye to sexual harassment and misconduct by top aides while he conducted his own extra-marital affair with a subordinate. The Ohio Inspector General is now investigating Dann, and Strickland must select an interim replacement who will have to stand for election in November.

Chandra ought to be at the top of Strickland’s list. He’s smart, experienced in managing a large legal operation, a former assistant federal prosecutor and possessed of a reputation as a highly ethical lawyer. In short, he’s pretty much everything Dann was not. That had a lot to do with why the Enquirer endorsed him for the nomination two years ago.

Don't worry your pretty little head about it ...

So Sen. Barack Obama has a thing for calling women "sweetie." Maybe Sen. Hillary Clinton is on to something. All she has to do is wait for Obama to call her "babe" or say she "did good for a girl," and it's a whole new ballgame. Of course, this item is from the Clinton News Network ...

That's the ticket ... maybe

Note to print shops that specialize in posters and bumper stickers: Is it time to start gearing up for a run of Obama-Edwards items?

‘The defining issue of our time’

“Plastics.”

Remember that classic one-word piece of career advice from the 1967 film “The Graduate”? Well, the likely hot tip for 21st century Ohio does it one word better: “Fuel cells.” To a large extent, the state’s leaders are pinning their hopes for an economic boom on this technology – a notion that House Speaker Jon Husted confirmed in a speech Wednesday at the University of Akron.

“Fuel cells are an important part of a new energy strategy. They are an important part of an economic development startegy for Ohio,” the Kettering Republican told the Ohio Fuel Cell Coalition symposium. “Energy will be the defining issue of our time.” One of the most promising new energy technologies is the fuel cell, which produces electricity by combining hydrogen and oxygen, leaving as its clean byproduct – you guessed it – water. The Edison Materials Technology Center lists 79 Ohio companies and institutions involved in fuel-cell component research and development. The state is poised to become a big player in this field.

And for once, it appears that state government has actually helped instead of getting in the way. As Husted pointed out, recent steps include former Gov. Bob Taft’s Third Frontier high-tech initiative, business tax-code reform, funding for math and science education, Gov. Ted Strickland’s new jobs initiative and his recently passed energy/utility bill. Husted deserves credit for improving that last item, particularly on alternative energy requirements.

Dann must go -- day 12

The Marc Dann watch drags on.

On Wednesday, 12 days after he released an internal report outlining gross mismagement and admitted he wasn't up to the job, Ohio's embarrassing Attorney General was out to lunch, according to an aide, when agents from the Ohio Inspector General showed up and began going through his files and hard drives. Security guards reportedly were doing bag checks on anyone leaving Dann's office to make sure nobody made off with potential evidence of mismanagement, sexual harassment, doing private work on state time or any other malfeasance outlined in the articles of impeachment introduced against Dann in the Ohio House on Tuesday.

As I have said before, Dann should resign and end the spectacle. Of course with this much blood in the water, the spectacle probably will continue. But he should resign anyway.

A helpful guide for voters

UPDATE BELOW

Ending months of frenzied speculation and nearly unbearable suspense, the Cincinnati AFL-CIO Labor Council on Monday announced its slate of endorsed candidates for the 2008 fall election. Hold onto your hats. You may be shocked. The council (drumroll, please) endorsed:

A Democrat. A Democrat. A Democrat. A Democrat. A Democrat. A Democrat. A Democrat. A Democrat. A Democrat. A Democrat. A Democrat. A Democrat. A Democrat. A Democrat. A Democrat. A Democrat. A Democrat. A Democrat. A Democrat. A Democrat. AND …

... A Democrat!

Nice of the council to keep it simple.

UPDATE 5/14:

OK, since the topic of the Enquirer's endorsements has come up, let's finally set the record straight. Despite the conventional wisdom that we "always endorse Republicans," here are the facts on how we stand in contested races:

g In the 2007 Cincinnati City Council election, we endorsed five Democrats, three Republicans and one Charterite.
g In 2006, we endorsed 17 Republicans and seven Democrats, including two of the five statewide Ohio races.
g In the 2005 City Council race, we endorsed four Democrats, three Republicans and two Charterites, plus a Democrat for mayor.
g In 2004, we endorsed 17 Republicans and 11 Democrats, including seven Democrats out of 10 Ohio legislative races.

Let's go back even further into the Enquirer's supposed unyieldingly partisan past:
g In the 2000 election, we endorsed 27 Republicans and 10 Democrats.
g In the 1998 election, we endorsed 17 Republicans and 12 Democrats.

The point is this: Unlike some groups, we don't just "vote" a straight party ticket. In each race, we honestly try to support the person we think is the better candidate, consistent with the Editorial Board's overall philosophy. About 35 percent of the time -- 40 percent during the past four years -- that's a Democrat.

Keep 'agents' out of high school

To me the most distressing issue surrounding whether O.J. Mayo violated his amateur status while at North College Hill High School in 2005 and 2006 is that we need to have such a conversation at all.

We are talking about a Division III high school program. Granted, Mayo and his buddy Bill Walker weren’t what we normally see in Division III. They were out-sized talents who migrated to little North College Hill to find willing showcases for their talents – talents that powered the school to Division III state championships in 2005 and 2006.

Mayo showed off elsewhere for his senior year before moving on to the University of Southern California where he got in a season of college ball before declaring for the 2008 NBA daft. It was a career path he staked out early and good for him if he makes it. But now come allegations from a dissatisfied former “associate” who told ESPN that Mayo accepted thousands of dollars in cash and gifts from a “street agent.” The Ohio High School Athletic Association is now trying to decide if A) Mayo did anything wrong, or B) if he did do something that it occurred so long ago as to be moot.

Agents and expensive gifts have always been the plague of top college players considering their pro options. To see it ooze down to the high school level is sickening. Kids who are 16 and 17 don’t need “street agents” or “associates” any more than they need gold cards or their own apartments. The adults in their lives should make sure they don’t get such things until they’re old enough to bear the consequences.

'Nation of hall monitors': Nothing to crow about?

I don’t often see eye-to-eye with syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts Jr., but his column in Monday’s Enquirer (here’s the link to it in his home paper, the Miami Herald) shows him taking almost a (gasp!) libertarian point of view, bashing “political correctness that straitjackets communication” and decrying “the campaign to regulate language, law, culture and every other aspect of human intercourse …” You get the idea.

Well, a couple of new developments in Los Angeles, pointed out courtesy of Reason magazine’s "Hit & Run” blog, help make Pitts’ point that we’re “hell-bent on becoming a nation of hall monitors."

Last week, the L.A. City Council voted unanimously to adopt rules that would limit the size of remodeled homes to about 3,000 to 4,000 square feet in the city’s single-family “flatlands,” and would forbid the conversion of downtown residential hotels into condos. But wait! There’s more! Responding to noise and gambling complaints, council member Janice Hahn has propsoed limiting the number of roosters a household can own to one. Residents already are restricted to no more than three dogs or three cats.

Private property rights? Not in L.A. Bet you have to check with the Arts Commission before you paint your bathroom purple.

More gas: Are oil companies shooting straight?

This commentary is pretty dense, but you'll find a strong argument that Big Oil is playing fast-and-loose with the public when it claims its profits aren't out of line. The author, lawyer Henry Banta, also blames the media for failing to dig deep enough.

One paragraph that got my attention:

There are other issues raised by the industry’s propaganda offensive, like the amounts being reinvested. While these numbers in absolute terms seem large, over the last several years the actual rate of reinvestment has not been particularly high. In fact, the major companies have spent considerable sums buying back their own stock. For example, ExxonMobil’s capital and exploration expenditures in 2007 were $20.9 billion. But it spent $31.8 billion buying back its own stock, which certainly did nothing for meeting anyone’s energy needs.

It's worth a read. And, while we're on the subject of the media and oil, here's a piece from the same Web site, niemanwatchdog.org, with 10 questions to ask about oil and gas prices. For example: Why aren't any new refineries being built in the U.S.?

Is it time to drive 55?

I like to drive fast, and I'm human, so I don't like to sacrifice. Who does? But isn't it time for politicians to stop pandering with ridiculous ideas like a federal gas-tax holiday and talk about measures that would lead to real fuel conservation instead of increased consumption?

Well, I guess not, because it isn't happening. Instead, we're being exhorted to take our rebate checks and start consuming again. No sacrifice required.

Not much would save more gas faster -- and perhaps put some downward price pressure on the oil companies and suppliers -- than all of us cutting our average driving speed.

Check out this San Francisco Chronicle story from 2005 -- when gas was "only" about $3 a gallon in Frisco. By driving 55 mph instead of 70 mph in a Chevy Malibu on an interstate trip, gas mileage improved by 10 mpg. That was about a $5 savings in gas just for that trip and two gallons less of gas. Imagine the impact of millions of motorists behaving that way.

Meanwhile, I'm trying (honest) to adjust my driving habits to go a bit slower and make fewer fast stops and starts. But I'm not going to dramatically reduce my speed if everyone else is whizzing past me, probably tailgating or flipping a finger in many cases as they do so. If 55 is too slow, how about 60? (That means most of us will be driving 65 anyway.)

Shouldn't we at least be talking about this stuff? There is no pain-free way out of this mess.

Dann Death Watch

OK, we are in day seven of the Marc Dann Death Watch!

How much longer before the disgraced and unfit Ohio Attorney General succumbs to political and public pressure and resigns his office?

It will be a week ago Friday that Dann was blasted in an internal report of his office about sexual harassment, cronyism and general managerial ineptness. He followed that with admissions of an affair with a subordinate and acknowledgement that he never expected to get the job and felt unprepared for it when elected.

His own party has disowned him, with pretty much every Democrat in the state from the governor on down has calling for him to quit or be impeached. They hate the taint of being associated with him.

The Republicans are yukking it up behind their own hypocritical “tsk, tsks.” Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted went so far as to say the legislature needs to seek advice on how to proceed on an impeachment – from the attorney general. Very funny.

Please Mr. Dann, just go.

Whose responsibility is it?

Should the National Football League be able to fine or otherwise punish teams for the off-field behavior of misbehaving players?

Enquirer Bengals writer Mark Curnutte posed the question on his Bengals blog, noting that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has told teams he plans to do just that. The issue was explained in an April 28 story by NFL writer Rick Gosselin on the Dallas Morning News Web site. The nut of the idea is that if the league suspends a player for misconduct, it may assess a portion of the player’s salary from the team as a fine. The goal of the policy is to get teams to be more careful about drafting problem players in the first place.

The Bengals, of course, have lots of experience with drafting problem players, but when guys such as Chris Henry and Odell Thurman have been suspended without pay, the team, not the league, gets to pocket their salaries.

I appreciate Goodell’s PR dilemma. How can he make the teams care about the character of the players they hire if he doesn’t make them feel a little pain when those players screw up? On the other hand, as a number of readers commented on Curnutte’s blog, why should any employer, including an NFL franchise, be responsible for the actions of an employee that occur off the job? Most employers reserve the right to fire or otherwise discipline somebody for off-the-job behavior on the grounds that such behavior could reflect poorly on the company or, in the case of an arrest, make the employee unavailable to come to work. Once again Chris Henry comes to mind.

The difference between NFL teams and most other employers is that a history of publicized anti-social or even criminal behavior will kill your chances of getting a job with most companies. In the NFL, as long as you still have the physical goods of size and speed, such behavior might just drop you into the lower rounds on draft day, making you an employment bargain, not a liability in a team’s eyes.

Like I said, I appreciate Goodell’s predicament, but I think he’s on the losing side of the argument. The teams only employ the miscreants; they don’t own them and therefore can’t be accountable for the employees’ behavior outside the workplace. The only way the teams can be “punished” for their roles in hiring somebody who inflicts havoc on a community is for the community – the fans – to do it by withholding their support. So far that hasn’t happened.

A great quote and a fine sendoff

This line came from Jon Draud, former KY state representative from Kenton County and now the state's education commissioner. He was describing a sign he once saw on a trip into rural Kentucky:

"When all is said and done, more is said than done," Draud recounted, then added: "That's Frankfort."

Draud made his comments during the Covington Education Foundation's annual luncheon at Drees Pavilion in Devou Park. The honoree as person of the year was an obvious and deserving choice: retiring school superintendent Jack Moreland.

Moreland leaves a void that must be filled by a strong leader. That was Draud's main message. Whenever I'm around Covington people, I'm reminded of what a deep reservoir of support the district has, particularly Holmes High School. It would be a stirring goal for Holmes to become the top-achieving urban high school in the state, the region and even the country, wouldn't it?

The foundation is starting a scholarship fund in Moreland's name for Covington students interested in careers in public education. To learn more, contact Bill Weathers at william.weathers@covington.kyschools.us.

Homers? What about Junior?

The headline said the Reds got “homer happy” Wednesday, hitting seven long balls to beat the Cubs 9-0, while setting the team’s single-game home run record in Great American Ball Park.

Joey Votto hit three; Adam Dunn, Brandon Phillips, Paul Bako and Jerry Hairston each got one.
Not hitting a homer was Ken Griffey Jr., who remains a tantalizing three short of 600 for his career.

Griffey remains the source of much trade discussion, fueled by his waning stats and recent comment that he wouldn’t mind finishing out his career in Seattle, where he started. Hundreds of readers have commented on our online discussion board about whether he should stay or go. What do you say?

Does being a mom or dad lead to discrimination at work?

Ever been in a job interview where you were asked questions designed to figure out if you were a parent or planned to be one?

Ever felt you were bypassed for a job or promotion because you were a parent? Ever felt your boss or co-workers assume you'll miss work or ask special accommodations because you're a parent?

Or, conversely, are you an employee without young children who feels you're regularly asked to pick up the slack for co-workers with kids -- or an employer who has to deal with juggling employees' family concerns with just getting the job done each day?

We'd love to include your thoughts and experiences with a Forum Mother's Day story on workplace issues related to family status. Email me at kramsey@enquirer.com or call me at 768-8527. Feel free to also join the conversation right here. . . .

Lessons ring out from Eight Belles' death

You don't have to live in Kentucky to appreciate the power, beauty and challenge of horse racing, but maybe it helps. The state's racing tradition is worth preserving. And it's worth improving. The death of Eight Belles at the end of Saturday's Kentucky Derby exposes the question of whether we have yet another professional sport in denial of things that need to be done.

In some ways, horse racing carries an additional burden, because the animals don't have a choice. For example, if a baseball player, bicycle racer, football player or whomever wants to pump himself full of drugs to gain some sort of short-term advantage, that's a choice.

Our story today about the synthetic track (Turfway) vs. dirt track (Churchill Downs) debate makes a strong case for synthetic turf as being better. But still, the synthetic fatality rate is 1.47 per 1,000 starts. I'm no purist on the subject of animal rights, but it seems evident still more can and should be done.

There is a lot of interesting commentary on the Web today about a number of issues the American racing industry should face, including the slow pace of reform, the use of medications that everyone else but Canada bans, the young age of many racing horses and the practice of breeding for speed over shorter distances instead of durability over longer races.

This article from the Wall Street Journal, and this one from ESPN.com are interesting places to start if you'd like to drill deeper.

Who's your favorite?

The Indianapolis Star, our Gannett sister paper in Indiana, has come out in favor of Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination in Tuesday’s primary. The Louisville Courier Journal, a Gannett paper in Kentucky, has endorsed Barack Obama for the May 20 Kentucky Primary. Who’s making the better argument?

Just as a reminder, the Enquirer endorsed Obama in the Ohio Primary.

The 30 years AFTER retirement. . .

Reporter Tony Lang's Sunday stories on people who live to be 100 or older were fascinating reads. I was most struck by 101 Marion Brant, who has been retired from Procter & Gamble for 38 years -- longer than he worked there.

Many of us look at retirement as a wind-down to life. What if we started to view it as a full third of our lives, a period when we can be especially productive, creative and daring? It's exhilarating to think of being able to pursue a second career or give full attention to a hobby without having to juggle those activities with family responsibilities.

There have been a lot of hand-wringing stories about the burden retiring baby boomers will soon place on society. How foolish and short-sighted of us not to see the potential of a newly freed contingent of workers who can apply their hard-earned skills and experiences to volunteer efforts, start-up companies or simply the support and enjoyment of their family and friends.

Cincinnati neurosurgeon John Pew had the best advice: Live your life as if you will live to be 100. Who would want to celebrate retirement -- then waste the next 38 years?

Time for school bus seat belts?

A seat belt might not have made any difference yesterday for Daniel Wood. According to our story, the 16-year-old was sitting near a window in the left corner of a Pendleton County bus that was hit by a dump truck. Officials said he likely was killed instantly, and the impact tossed him onto another nearby student.

But tragedies such as this can't help but renew the debate on whether seat belts should be required on school buses. The statistical evidence in favor of seat belts is overwhelming. The idea seems to make intuitive sense, but I haven't been a fan of the idea.

One reason is Dean Wise. Dean was a reporter who covered the courts for us at the York, Pa., Daily Record, where I used to work. He also was a part-time school bus driver. I asked him about seat belts once. He laughed and then got serious. Dean's points: A bus driver has enough to do without worrying about being the "belt cop." What about the liability a district could face if the driver fails to enforce the requirement that every kid buckle up? How could the driver always know? And imagine, he added, a bunch of middle-school students whacking each other on the head with the belts.

There will have to be good answers to those questions, as well as the funding for cash-strapped districts, before any politicians rush to make it a requirement.

Meanwhile, every parental heart breaks a bit for the family and friends of Daniel Wood and wants something positive to emerge.

If nothing else, even a casual reading of the coverage suggests that enforcement needs to step up on this narrow, curvy road. The picture of the overturned dump truck speaks volumes.

Sucker's bet

MyOhioNow.com is the latest gambling concern not to take “no” for an answer from Ohio.

The casino concern announced plans Thursday to seek 402,225 signatures to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot this fall that would allow a super-size casino hotel complex to be built in quiet little Wilmington, about 50 miles north of Cincinnati. The signatures presumably would be from people who didn’t vote down the last two Ohio gambling referendums.

Lyle Berman, casino operator and co-founder of the World Poker Tour and member of the MyOhioNow coalition, told reporter Alexander Coolidge that the 200,000 square feet of gambling space he wants to lay out would be bigger than the three Southeast Indiana casino boats combined.

Wilmington, now known for a small Quaker college, would become a “destination,” according to the news account. Eventually the promoters want to add an auto super-speedway, a second hotel and more gambling tables. Of course there will also be a 12,000 square-foot day-care center. Berman called it a “spark plug” of economic development for the state with 5,000 jobs, a 1,500-room hotel, 4,000 slots and almost unlimited suckers.

Actually, I added that last part. But Berman estimated the place would pull in $500 million to $800 million in gambling revenue per year and he promises to cut all 88 Ohio counties in for 30 percent in equal per-capita shares. Just to be clear, that $500 million to $800 million would be generated by people making losing bets. And Berman estimated 70 percent to 90 percent of the joint’s customers would come from within 65 miles, which includes Cincinnati, Dayton and Columbus.

Maybe those Ohio voters who said “no” the last two times were onto something.

NCAA misses an easy layup

The NCAA seems to have a conveniently flexible way of strictly interpreting its rules. This week, the collegiate athletic authority rejected University of Cincinnati quarterback Ben Mauk's request for an extra year of eligibility to play via medical hardship waiver, even though there's no real dispute that he was injured and unable play during his freshman year of 2003 at Wake Forest. No, the problem is that Wake Forest failed to produce sufficient documentation that Mauk was redshirted that year because of injury.

He also sat out the 2006 season because of a first-game injury, so you'd think an extra season for Mauk would be an easy call. But noooooooooo, said the NCAA -- no note from the Wake Forest doctor, no eligibility, although Mauk gets another appeal. Gotta follow the letter of the law, right?

Well, not always. On Tuesday, presidential contender Barack Obama played a pickup game with the University of North Carolina men's basketball team, with coach Roy Williams watching -- a clear NCAA violation. Coaches are not allowed to be at off-season pickup games.

Still, the NCAA gave Williams and UNC its blessing, according to the Raleigh News & Observer. NCAA media relations director Erik Christianson called it a "unique situation." No doubt it was. But Ben Mauk -- and UC football fans -- might rightly think his situation's unique, too. Maybe he doesn't have enough superdelegates to sway the NCAA.