Wow.
A big thank you to all of the people who came out to support Meet the Bloggers. I’m not going to say much about it here, but will encourage you to either leave a comment, or blog about it at your blog.
A big shout out to Scott Bakalar. W/O his help, we’d be paying for these transcripts out of our pockets.
When will it be alright to go on the attack Mr. Redfern? After Judge Alito is confirmed to the Supreme Court? After they’ve introduced Constitutional Amendments banning gay marriage and gay adoption? After Roe v. Wade is overturned? After the new Constitutional Amendments banning flag burning, allowing Christian prayers in public schools as well as The Ten Commandments? Where does that line in the sand get drawn Mr. Redfern? When are we allowed to use fighting words?
Now Chris, we know that you’re a nice guy. Maybe too nice. “Nice” is something that we can’t afford right now my good fellow. You have to be a raging S.O.B. and we mean that quite literally…
For JMZ:
I just got my copy of Goal-Free Living in the mail from author Steven Shapiro, an early supporter of InnovationTools…
Take a peek at what went on last night at Pearl of the Orient and experience the fun all over again. It is an exclusive brought to you by American Pink Collar. Enjoy and again thank you who all those great people that braved the weather, the construction sites and came to support us. We apprreciated it.
You’d think that by lowering the cost of a higher education, we’d get a better educated workforce:
U of Toledo’s newspaper reports Ohio tuition still among the highest:
The review ranks Ohio as 15 out of the 50 states for familial financial contributions, placing 40 out of 50 for state government appropriations.
Even with grants and loans, Ohio is behind in assisting students with their financial burdens.
Of Ohio students, 21 percent receive state grants compared to the national average of 37 percent, according to the review.
From Adam:
Tremont West Development Corporation gave me some nice compliments and a plaque for Tremonter…
Matt on BSB:
The goal is not to convince Buckeye Senate that I am right, nor should the goal be for Buckeye Senate to convince me he is right. The goal should be the creation of a dialogue for a mass audience who can then decide who they think is right. I understand using the Foxnews example automatically disqualifies me as a nutjob, but that is the “beauty” in Hannity & Colmes. They aren’t trying to convince each other - Hannity gets a point across and Colmes gets a point across and the viewer gets to decide.
I don’t mean this as ridicule or tainting, but for a group of people supporting a populist candidate for the U.S. Senate, it appears to me that Buckeye Senate’s take is to limit the dialogue and protect whatever perceived turf liberal bloggers feel they have at the expense of a political discussion.
And I guess that is their decision, and I am ok with that as well….
Hmmm. I’m feeling like we may have to have some more discussion about starting up Meet The Bloggers in other areas. I’d prefer to keep MTB non-partisan, and if other bloggers are going to object, I’m not sure they’re keeping the spirit of MTB, captured by Bill Callahan in this post.
Scott Bakalar busts a rhyme and includes pictures.
Lots of activity over @ MeetTheBloggers.net
I’ve posted the audio for our interview with Subodh Chandra. You can see pictures of him and many other MTB events at the Flickr set I’ve created.
Also added to the schedule interviews with Marc Dann and Barbara Ferris. I haven’t done a post for you to submit questions, but look for one soon. Please put them on your calendar if you can make it.
Finally, I’ve got the transcript for our interview with Jennifer Brunner, so you’ll be seeing that soon. Until then, check out this transcript with Republican candidate for governor Pete Draganic. An excerpt:
George Nemeth: Let me personalize this a little bit, too, because you have, is it three children?Pete Draganic: Yes.
George Nemeth: How old are they?
Pete Draganic: Fourteen (14), 12, and 9.
George Nemeth: Are they going to public schools?
Pete Draganic: Yes.
George Nemeth: In Seven Hills?
Pete Draganic: Yes. It??s the Parma school system.
George Nemeth: How long have you lived in Seven Hills?
Pete Draganic: Six years.
George Nemeth: Is that why you??re there?
Pete Draganic: Partly, yes. You want to be in a better area, better environment for your children. That??s one way to get ahead in life. But education, I will talk about education, because I have some very strong beliefs on education, and they are not popular beliefs, by the way.
George Nemeth: Before you go on, let me ask, because I think this is kind of one of the issues that we are grappling with, is what do you do with the disparity? You are economically advantaged. You can move to a suburb, and you can make that decision based on?
Pete Draganic: Why am I economically advantaged?
George Nemeth: Because you worked hard. So let??s follow this. Right? What do you do with economically disadvantaged people, who can??t move out of the suburbs?
Pete Draganic: You have opportunities to become economically advantaged, obviously, you know.
George Nemeth: So how do you do that then?
Pete Draganic: See I don??t see fairness in the system that says everybody should have equal, equal, equal. This is a capitalistic society, and you reap what you sow. If you want to take chances, if you want to go out there and work, if you want to work two jobs like some people do on a regular basis, you are going to reap a greater reward than the person who works part-time, or who doesn??t work at all, or who works when they feel like it. I don??t seen any need for anyone to guarantee a lazy person the same luxuries or advancement opportunities as you would somebody who is a go-getter and a hard worker. It is just not how our society works. There has to be reward for doing well. You have to reward people for hard work, and if you start rewarding people for doing nothing, what you are doing is you are taking away from the people who work hard. Why should you work hard if there is no incentive to do so?
Since I stole the blog to mention some posts on Lincoln Logs, I want to steal it back for a minute to clear up a couple of things.
First, I didn’t get to go to the event last night so I had to occupy myself somehow.
I was scanning my Technorati Watchlist, which includes “Meet the Bloggers” on it and Lincoln Logs popped up.
I went over to LL and found the post that included some comments (all positive by the way) about MTB.
I continued to read and comment at LL last night, brought some news from LL over to BFD and conversation on both and other blogs has continued since then.
But I just read this post and feel the need to make one point clear before it really gets buried:
LL’s posts were ruminating and percolating ideas that sprang from the blogger’s realization that the conservative blogs are getting whooped by the liberal blogs.
From that point, LL moves on toward looking at how LL might combat that, and provides three scenariors for readers to think about.
From THERE, someone commented about a point/counter-point with liberal bloggers.
THEN I commented on that and the conversation took off about bringing liberal and conservative bloggers together.
Folks can attribute whatever motivations they want to LL. I’ve been following it for about a month now and I have to say, while LL clearly espouses conservative beliefs and politics, I absolutely do not see him saying anything more than, how can conservative blogs get near the liberal blogs when it comes to being a voice and two, AFTER SOMEONE ELSE mentioned the point-counterpoint idea of liberal and conservative bloggers interacting, only THEN did he start to pursue that idea.
There was no disparagement of MTB. There was no disparagement of the concept of getting two different-minded, normally partisan minds together. What I read where LL’s ideas as to the possible pitfalls.
Every blogger, liberal or conservative, has the right to his or her opinion - that’s what we all like about blogs. And if you don’t like the ideas being proffered, either ignore them, continue to engage if you desire, but be prepared for how others will react back.
Only interested parties need apply. Not every idea that will be tested in the blogosphere is going to fit every blogger, and who expects that to be the case anyway?
Read the ideas, decide if they’re for you, or not. And then make your choice as to the level of engagement you desire.
What’s the big deal about that? (Ok - I’ve put my shields up. Sling away.)
McKala Everett, Jack Ricchiuto, John Ettorre, and I will have the pleasure to interview Roldo Bartimole at JCU on Sunday January 29th at 4.00 PM .
Although officially retired Roldo is not silent, he is still rocking the boat of the establishment on behalf of the voiceless and sad to say that may now include most of us. His latest essay in the Lakewoodbuzz shows the same characteristic bluntness for the excesses of the haves at the expenses of the haves not.
We would like to extend an invitation to everyone. We are planning to meet at the ground floor lobby of the
O??Malley Center at 4.00 PM. We will then proceed to the conference room. This is produce by MTB who will podcast the 60 minutes session to be posted on their website. I hope that you will be able to join us and bring your questions, you can also send email/post questions on the MTB website.
Special thanks to my dear friend John who made it possible. Will my dear friend Pierre show up, we never know?
Thanks, CStL
It was a very nice night, and very nice to meet the folks behind the blogs. And contrary to the pre-conceived notions of some, this was not a room filled with geeks and nerds like a Star Trek convention. For the most part, bloggers seem to be a group of well-educated, well-dressed types who, by the nature of the endeavor, have a command over the language and can type, spell and read…
Someone remind me to ask Anthony Houston about this PD article. I thought that building was built with money from the Empowerment Zone.
Luddites.
Another post for JMZ as a thank you for her MTB donation:
Because my hordes of fans want to know: “Whence Wack-a-Pedia?”
There are actually several similarities between the community encyclopedia and the beloved Chuck E. Cheese/arcade standby, so let’s start with The Big One: Both of them beguile you into endless procrastination, one step at a time…
Darth Vader meditating on the bridge:
haven’t gone on much about the Ohio Department o Transportations plans for the Innerbelt here. No reason, I just wanted to learn more before I passe judgement. Well now I can give an intelligent opinion on the matter, and honestly, I believe that ODO is way off with what is going on. To catch you up on what their plans are…..there is to be a new bridg coming from I-71/90 coming into downtown. The trenches running through downtown are being redone Dead Man’s Curve fixed. And the Opportunity Corridor running out to University Circle created
Right now there is one main debate with this whole project (which is slated at 900 million and about 14 years) - the bridge spanning the Cuyahoga River into downtown. ODOT’s plan calls for five lanes to be built north of the cu
From Scott Bakalar:
Word of Mouth has it on good authority from a trusted source that The City of Lorain will be sending mail notification to residents in the area to be blighted Portside blight study area within the next several days.
A public hearing/informational meeting is supposedly scheduled for February 15th at City Hall. It’s going to be an “open house” set up - so property owners can discuss issues one on one with all of the involved parties.
What this means in “real life” is that a room will be set up with tables, chairs - maybe a chalkboard or overhead projector and screen, where city officials, who appear to be paying attention somewhat, will feign listening to residents complaints and questions…
Dan Wizmar fawning over Ken Blackwell:
Yes, Ohio has been run miserably by Taft and the Republican leadership, which Malanga documents in depressing detail. But I don’t believe electing a Democrat is the answer to Ohio’s problems. I have supported Blackwell thus far because I like his proposals for limiting spending growth, his school choice advocacy, his technology background, his focus on a good business climate, and his undeniably impressive resume…
I’d like to see the supporting links, besides the “impressive resume”.
Cory Doctorow links to a Worth1000.com contest with an image of the Beatles crossing Abbey Road on Segways.
From Ed Morrison:
Pittsburgh has been moving university research into a mor prominent role in regional economic development. Here’s an update on the progress being made by Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh…
From Matt:
Ohio Republicans have an unenviable position of having Bob Taft ass our Governor. Forget the fact that Taft made some mistakes reporting gifts - campaign finance laws are intricate and it could happen to candidate or incumbent. No, Taft puts forth ridiculous ideas that are absolutely indefensible and asks grassroots Republicans to support them.
I remember during the last budget cycle, Taft was talking about cutting local funding for libraries and such while cutting taxes as well. He kept saying that they are two different sides of the balance sheet so one has nothing to do with the other. Problem, Bob - I am not an accountant and the people I talk to aren’t accountants. The people I talk to DO want library funding. It was an absolutely indefensible position, and luckily the legislature realized this and moved to limit the damage…
[H]ere are just a few questions that Sarah Hollander, the Plain Dealer reporter, might have asked, but (apparently) didn’t:
1) How reliable is the visitors bureau’s tracking of “reasons for rejecting the center…?”
2) What exactly does the loss of $36 million in convention revenues over four years (2005-09) represent to the local economy…?
3) Who commissioned the PriceWaterhouseCoopers report…?
Had the reporter asked these questions (and hopefully she and other reporters will in the future), maybe our decision makers, like Mayor Frank Jackson, who supports a new center, would have the information they need to see that a new convention center will be yet another band-aid applied to the wrong area of our wounded economy…
Only a sample. Please click through and read the whole post.
Hmmmmm.
In both cases, Blackwell picked the choice preferred by Republican boards of elections members.
Blackwell’s letter to Licking County states, “The county is one of the most populous, and its voting population is very diverse. The DRE (direct recording electronic/touch screen) system offers greater flexibility in several ways that allow it to better serve that diverse population.'’
His letter also states that the touch-screen machine can accommodate many ballot styles, and can offer ballots in languages other than English.
The U.S. Census puts Summit County’s population at about 547,000, compared to Licking County’s 153,000. Licking County’s minority population is 4.4 percent, while Summit’s is 16.5 percent.
Links @ DMO.
“[C]affeine is a ‘psychoactive drug,’ affecting mood and behavior…”
Well, duh. Perhaps that’s why we drink it, and don’t want to find a replacement, especially one that “is made from carob, barley, chicory root, figs, dates, orange peel and almonds.”
From Lois:
My friend’s father dropped dead on Tuesday night as he was preparing dinner, a fact that struck a chord with his loved ones as he was a consummate cook and entertainer. Al was a gentle man, in love with the same woman for 60 years, fiercely proud of his children and their children, loyal, and hard-working. He was a man of few words, but his twinkling eyes and shy smile spoke volumes. His family found the following in his well-worn Bible, and one of his grandson’s, a poet, read it at his memorial service today…
It appears that the City of Lorain is having a city park it maintains blighted, according to Scott Bakalar. There’s something not quite right about that.
Currently playing in iTunes: Cowboy Love by Reverend Horton Heat
“There is absolutely no inevitability as long as there is a willingness to contemplate what is happening.” - Marshall McLuhan
As the former Chair of the Greater Cleveland Film Commission (the nonprofit Cleveland Media Development Corporation), there is no doubt that the State of Ohio would be wise in passing Senate Bill 155, support for the film industry…
Here’s what I’m using to send stuff from NNW to my del.icio.us account:
tell application “NetNewsWire”
set u to (URL of selectedHeadline) & ¬
“&title=” & (title of selectedHeadline) & ¬
“&extended=” & (text 1 thru 100 of (get description of selectedHeadline)) & ¬
“?” & “&tags=” & (subject of selectedHeadline)
end telltell application “System Events”
activate
open location “http://del.icio.us/YOUR_USERNAME?v=3&url=” & u
end tell
If you don’t want the URL to open in the browser after you save your del.icio.us bookmark, use open location “http://del.icio.us/YOUR_USERNAME?v=3&jump=close&url=” & u
Remember to change YOUR_USERNAME to your actual del.icio.us username.
Just a reminder that today is our first Salon and that our guest is Roldo Bartimole. You can find out more about it at American Pink Collar
Everyone is welcome.
Jeff posts about kids playing on a field @ CASE:
This is a huge problem that I see at Case, & unless it gets fixed, there will be serious issues. University Circle & Case shut the door to its underpriviledged neighbors instead of fostering a better and open community. They are going about it completely the wrong way.
I started a seperate blog devoted to the Ingenuity Festival, the not-so-ingenuisly-named Ingenuity Festival Blog. My second post, after the obligatory welcome post, is a mention of the Cory Arcangel lecture in Akron. I’ll be there and I’d love to hear your opinions on the viability of this idea. And I promise that the lecture will be interesting and entertaining.
My only qualification is that I had a lot of fun at the last Ingenuity Festival. I figure that a blog will help people dialogue about the festival and that hopefully that might generate some interest. Hopefully a more engaged audience will make for a better time for everyone. Still, I hope this blog won’t depend on me. There’s only so far that I can go plagiarizing Information Aesthetics. I’ve got a few dozen draft posts ready but I haven’t really been able to give the blog a distinct Ingenuity Festival voice yet. So far it’s all links to nifty art+tech stuff from all over the world. The harder part is generating content that’s distinctly regional and related to the Ingenuity Festival and I’m not making much progress in that area.
The success of this venture will hinge on a NEO blogosphere community effort. Did you go to Ingenuity Festival 2005? How about a critique of each of the exhibits that you saw? Do you know about a regional artist you think should be in the festival? Is there something you’d like to ask of a local artist? Something ingenius that you ran across on the web? Foreward anything you think would be appropriate to argeliusii-cif@yahoo.com. If you’re interested in helping out regularly then I’d be happy to give you the necessary priveleges. Just ask.
From Crooked Timber more evidence that bloggers and journalists have very different ?? and clashing ?? notions of where authority and responsibility come from…posted by Henry who recalled his experience attending a lunch where he tried to say something and was shut down by the moderator, who thought that he was going to say something else altogether. What struck him was that the journalists there didn??t seem to understand how the blogosphere worked at all.
Worth reading in my opinion and lots of comments.
“The country needs and, unless I mistake its temper, the country demands bold, persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it; if it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.”
“The only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well enough informed to maintain its sovereign control over the government.”
Both via daily email from QotD.org
[W]e are the first to publish the information on the next Red Room Revolution event. Check out the calendar. It will be Feb 23rd.
I’d encourage you to read Tina’s (a Christian) take on the Blackwell/Parsley faction:
I’ve talked about Rod Parsley before, and I’ve talked about Kenneth Blackwell. These two are scary scary individuals, and it’s even more frightening that the republican Blackwell is running for governo and is a good buddy of Parsley and is very much a favorite of the religious right. He’s one of the bi supporters of Reformation Ohio, a “religious” movement to recruit voters and bring Ohio “back t Jesus”. I’m worried about their perceptions of bringing Ohio “back to Jesus” and I’m concerned about thei collective predisposition toward legislating behavior
Jesus and the Woman Taken in Adultery, Gustave Dore
Blackwell is a contender for the governor’s seat in 2006 and his backers will definitely call in their markers if he wins. These people were behind the defeat of equal rights in 2004’s Issue 1, they claim to be the “moral majority”, and they claim to know God’s plan for this state and this country…
Listening to JJ presentation…
We are putting together an event committee and we want to let other people share into the fun and glory. We need more committee members that are eager to join us and insure that the MTB transcripts project continues to be successful. It is a great way to spread the wings of your entrepreneurial spirit and use your creative juices for a good cause. You can make your own hours and be as independent as you wish.
Please send an email with your name to George and I will contact you or call me on my cell phone at 612 799-9345.
It think Ben Wikler, Brown’s campaign press secretary, needs to qualify this statement:
“Sherrod’s focus has been on talking with Ohioans about the issues that affect their everyday lives, and his plans to bring about change in Ohio,” Wikler said.
Sherrod’s focus hasn’t been talking to Ohioans. Sherrod’s focus is talking to people who will contribute to his campaign (i.e. TPM Cafe’s Table for One and articles @ Huffington). On the night of the MTB fundraiser, Sherrod was in Lorain. That evening, there were 30 bloggers in one place that would have been more then happy to talk to him (just like they did with Kevin Gibson, Barbara Ferris, and Bryan Flannery). Some of them might have even blogged about it. Did he come and talk about “his plans to bring about change in Ohio”?
Nope.
Matt has decided to settle in Cleveland Heights and wonders if he’s making a mistake. Perhaps some BFD readers could visit and give him some feedback?
Scott shares about Cleveland Colectivo and the dogs sculptures that will be appearing in the St. Clair - Superior Neighborhood soon.
Another politician, another blogger confrontation.
From Ali:
Coretta Scott King has passed away.
“…Coretta Scott King has tried to make ours a better world and, in the process, has made history.”
R prayers that her vision continues.
From Holly:
I never seem to have the time to make coffee in the morning. If I do, I either can’t find my travel mug or end up leaving it filled sitting on the kitchen table. I’ve decided to give up brewing at home and stop most every day for coffee even though it makes me late to work at… Civilization in Tremont - Love the ladies (and cute guy) that work there… or Cafe Ah-Roma…
Which begs the question, what’s your coffee routine? Lately, I’ve been adding a bit of cayenne pepper to my vac pot.
Check out the picture accompanying this article . Thanks, Nix.
I’m having lunch with The Director tomorrow (at Gookie’s) and I’ll be sure to ask him about this :
Looks like Ruthie & Moe’s, the nostalgic diner that closed abruptly over the holidays, won’t reopen. Developer Ken Lurie is working to buy the property and put up a new building to house his growing Rysar Properties. He said he would be willing to relocate the old diner portion of Ruthie & Moe’s, but would demolish the structure that was added to it.
Like Ken Lurie needs more property…
I’m not sure what JMZ’s problem is. It all makes perfect sense to me.
Did anyone else notice that Morris’ column bears an uncanny resemblance to Brian Thornton’s post?
