On-line ads are not required reading

Web designers have developed their ability to annoy readers to the point where I now weigh the value of getting free information against having to suffer as the price.

There is a defense for the type of on-line advertising that shoves messages in your face: leave. That’s what I did when the Advocate’s blog page was overwhelmed by one of its pop-up ads. I voted against it in the only way I could: I checked out.

Most, if not all, of the Advocate’s on-line pages have become excruciatingly tedious by the insertion of over-sized, flashing, garish “ads” begging by their cheeky and cheesy appearance to force feed unwilling readers.

Only this morning I removed the Columbus Dispatch from the news sites I visit daily. I did it for the same reason. Just one too many of their over-zealous and unwanted intrusions into my life.

Neither the Dispatch nor Advocate sites work well with my Mac and its Safari browser anyway. Their on-line pages, unlike other web sites I visit regularly, require special effort to make them fit my screen, and of the two the Dispatch is by far the worst.

There comes a point when the effort required for reading overwhelms the need for information. The Dispatch has reached it and the Advocate is drifting closer.

Advocate rubs our noses in homosex

In commemoration of the Advocate’s recent 28 column inches about a former Newark City Schools board president finding new freedom by announcing to the community that yes, indeedy, he really is a homosexual; in commemoration of the Advocate’s 20 column-inch very-biased report about homosexuals getting too few tax-supported benefits from President Obama; in commemoration of the Advocate’s 56 column inches of poorly written garbage promoting a homosexual parade in Columbus - and in honor of this once-long-ago family newspaper that has gone belly-up homo-wise, I give you a view from the other side, reprinted from Observations 7/8/08:

Pride Parade: Flaunting raunchy junk
The Columbus, Ohio "gay pride" parade has been accurately defined as a "burlesque show" which lacks "consideration of the general public" and "emulate(s) mostly false values about the gay community."

That was written by a homosexual as a letter to the editor of the Columbus Dispatch, published 7/5/08.

The letter of John A. Rovenolt demonstrates that not all homosexuals believe it necessary to shove into society's collective face the implications of what homosexuals do with their sexual organs. Folks like me who are puke sick of reading about people flaunting their sexual preferences and who object to having this raunchy junk showcased where children can see it, will find a lot to agree with in what Rovenolt says.


Consenting adults can do as they will in private, and I certainly don't care what it is, but homosexuality as such is neither news nor is it important nor is it to be celebrated in public, and it's past time when the Dispatch and other mass media understand that.

Columbus Dispatch, your self-righteousness stinks

The Columbus Dispatch today (3/14/09) in an editorial at this link pontificated mightily about Congressional earmarks. “Despite brave words about reform, unexamined earmark spending continues unabated,” it said.

Then quickly (third paragraph) implied one of the bad guys responsible for this “omnibus spending measure” with “more than 8,500 earmarks” was President Obama, a Democrat.

Then the Dispatch burned up several paragraphs about the injustices to be found in this particular pork patch, mentioning the follies of a California representative, a Democrat, and an Iowa Senator, a Democrat. Then, in a flourish of self-righteous anger, says: “The public back home should be telling their Congress members: Enough already. This pork process stinks -- and we already know why.”

What the Dispatch failed to mention was that its favorite son, Ohio Senator Georgie Voinovich, a Republican - who loudly and self-righteously opposed the omnibus spending bill - was among leaders of the congressional porker pack with $13.5 million in earmarks attached to this bill.

This is a textbook example of how media, big and small, fail readers, fail taxpayers, and fail America: they do not, they will not, expose their golden-haired friends to voters, not so long as they belong to the right political party.

The public back home should be telling their newspaper editors - and the Dispatch editor in particular - enough, already. Your newspaper and your lousy self-righteousness and your putrid, slanted reportage stinks - and we have known why for a long time.

Sports writers live in the Land of Oz

Loosey-goosey thinking was never more loose than in the recent work of Heisman-maker sports writers in Central Ohio. Consider:

Beanie Wells was a Heisman contender before he stepped on the field this year, at least in the commentary of the regional Heisman-maker press corps.

First game, Beanie gets bumped, fumbles, carted off the field, and media drama knows no bounds. Incredible. Their descriptions - perhaps inspired by the truly boring nature of the game - were heart-rending and hinted of the last apocalypse. Never mind that Wells WALKS back to the field from the doctor's exam.

If I remember correctly, this is the guy who got "injured" time after time last season, yet has lived in the mind of Jon Spencer and Dispatch and Advocate cheerleaders as the one individual the Buckeyes must have to succeed.

Even with such a boring start to OSU football, Beanie is just one player on a truly outstanding team. He did what he could to jack up the drama, but hey, I doubted the gravity of it from the beginning, remembering his history of "injuries."

I hope he does well and I hope he wins the Heisman. But if he never gains another yard for OSU, I predict others will step up and gain those yards anyway. Proving again my theory that sports writers live in journalism's special Land of Oz, and they - even more than Beanie - need help.

Pride Parade: Flaunting raunchy junk

The Columbus, Ohio "gay pride" parade has been accurately defined as a "burlesque show" which lacks "consideration of the general public" and "emulate(s) mostly false values about the gay community."

That was written by a homosexual as a letter to the editor of the Columbus Dispatch, published 7/5/08.

The letter of John A. Rovenolt demonstrates that not all homosexuals believe it necessary to shove into society's collective face the implications of what homosexuals do with their sexual organs. Folks like me who are puke sick of reading about people flaunting their sexual preferences and who object to having this raunchy junk showcased where children can see it, will find a lot to agree with in what Rovenolt says.

Consenting adults can do as they will in private, and I certainly don't care what it is, but homosexuality as such is neither news nor is it important nor is it to be celebrated in public, and it's past time when the Dispatch and other mass media understand that.

Guess who's not running for vice president today?

No matter how hard we coax him, Governor Strickland is not going to run for vice president.

He denied in a September USA Today story that he would run for vice president; in May, the Columbus Dispatch "reported" (how about parroted?) that he would reject any request by Clinton to be her running mate; and guess what happened yesterday? Strickland "unequivocally ruled out being Barack Obama's running mate," said the Washington Post.

I think it's time for somebody to tell Governor Stickland that nobody is asking him to run for vice president. Nobody.

NO. BODY.

If "reporters" are making a list of who's not going to run for vice president, they can add my name. Quit pestering me. No.

If I have to read one more time that Governor Stickland says he will not run for vice president, even if someone should be stupid enough to ask him to run for vice president, I am going to puke.

Stealing for the sake of bigger government

State-level Republicans and governor and Dispatch are trying to abscond with $230 million in stop-smoking funds.

Protagonists in this latest scam claim they'll "create jobs" (hooray for more jobs, as usual!) if they can only get their paws on the pot full of money paid by the tobacco industry as punishment for - what? - selling tobacco products? (As for "more jobs" please read Magic Nanny Strickland should cut government slop, not sell bonds.)

The money was ear-marked for the people trying to influence other people to quit smoking. Like they've been doing any good anyway. What do these people do with all that money?

Still, the purpose of the financial punishment of tobacco companies was to do battle with smokers.

But big state government can't stand to see any stash of change not being spent on the creation of bigger government, which is exactly their plan - a plan sketched in today's Dispatch editorial entitled "The greatest good."

And, by the way, this plan for "stimulating the economy" entails not just scarfing money that doesn't belong to "stimulating the economy," but also a vast new debt of $970 million in bonds which every Ohio taxpayer will also provide to this "stimulation."

True to form in this matter, the state legislators, governor and Dispatch never saw a government spending plan they didn't like.

Alarm system cover-up revealed by Dispatch

The great City Hall cover-up came uncovered when the Columbus Dispatch broke the locally hushed fact that the alarm system in City Hall is not working, and hasn't worked for some time.

This is worthy of note for two reasons. One is that the City Hall computer guru, Jim Kolb, had sent a memo 2/21/08 which advised several administrators of the problem and said the matter should not be publicly discussed.

Duh. I knew about his memo that day or the next.

Which means so did the Advocate, in all probability, and though it isn't much of a story, it is a bit of the public's business and the Advocate got caught with its pants down - again. That's one aspect.

Another, and what makes it important, is the lack of security expertise that allowed this to happen and appears to be the real reason for the "cover-up" - that nobody wants to step forward and shoulder the blame.

So now that everyone knows there are no panic buttons that work, let's find out why they don't and what's it going to take to fix them. And in the meantime, until things are put in order, how about some assurances that Newark is at least trying to protect its employees?

Merry Christmas, and good news!

I have an amicable Christmas Day media report to make: Both the Advocate and the Dispatch projected their Christmas editorials as truly Christian, especially the Advocate because it seemed to be more to the real point of Christmas than did the Columbus competition.

But by far the most praise-worthy media events of the Christmas editions were the ads in both papers by Hobby Lobby, whose reputation for classy ways to communicate the meaning of Christian holidays reigns supreme, in my view. Though today's ad isn't included there yet, you can go to Hobby Lobby's library of these ads, which date back to 1997 by clicking on this link.

So yes, Virginia, Christ's birthday is still a matter for celebration by some of the mass media gatekeepers. For folks like me who often complain about their performance, it's a pleasure to bend the other way this Christmas day.

Blame your lazy, incompetent media for impudent government

I have been inadvertently made aware at least two dozen times in the past several hours that Brittany's sister is pregnant. I don't give a damn about her or Brittany, but that news is inescapable.

Meanwhile, the impudence of government employees rages unchecked. Why? Because media are yammering incessantly about media-created "events" like Britney-slut and her sister's vagina. Media rarely talk about what's important and when they do, their lack of depth is prodigious.

Example: The U.S.-Mexico fence project has been stopped in its tracks. Did you know that? I heard about it only because I was walking by the TV last night when Glenn Beck was popping blood from his eyes over this travesty.

This morning I spent more than an hour running down a media report about the fence on the Internet because the fact that our nation is over-run by illegal Mexicans and God knows who else is just not in the same level of importance as what Britney-slut's sister's vagina has been over-run with.

I would really like to know if my congressmen voted for or against castrating the border fence. I cannot find out. No place in the articles I saw was the bill mentioned by number. Even if there were a number, good luck sorting through the way such votes are reported on the Internet, especially voting on amendments.

What we get from media is what the so-called "Washington Press Corps" decides to send to media. Never do we hear how our congressmen voted, not unless it's a real big deal to one of the media gatekeepers. That would be the folks enthralled by celebrity vaginas.

Example: Please tell me how Jay Hottinger, your representative to the statehouse, and Tim Schaffer, your state senator, vote on anything. In fact, just tell me what there has been for them to vote on.

Example: Please tell me anything of importance reported about the Licking County Commissioners in the past several weeks, except for a small blurb about a new tax proposal. Just tell me if they're still meeting at all.

Example: Please tell me what happened at the last Newark City Council meeting if you didn't watch it yourself. You may have read the Advocate's 22-paragraph fluff lionizing Mayor Bain for his exemplary service before he was voted out of office, or you may have read the five-paragraph "report" about the city employee union addressing council. But do you know what happened at the last council meeting that affected lives and property and tax money and who voted for it and why?

No, you don't. But you probably do know the latest buzz on Buckeye football or the minutia of the police blotter - because that's a cheap and easy journalistic gimme which any clerk can be taught to handle.

It is precisely for these reasons that you're getting government employees who thumb their noses at you. You don't know who's voting on what, and the people who are paid to tell you - the Gannetts and the WCLTs and the Dispatches don't know either, don't think it's important, and would have to spend some money on reporting and editing talent to get it done.

Meanwhile they're looking for the latest celebrity vagina news and whining about readers/listeners/viewers jumping ship.

Ohio Porkers, you're in the spotlight

Whoa, Ohio porkers! The Dispatch - for the first time I know about - has named names. Including Porker Space and Porker Tiberi, who were voted to office in part by people of Newark, and other Ohio Porkers Wilson and Pryce.

They were named for their part in the scattering of billions of our tax dollars in porkified projects. Go read it here.

There is but a single way to stop Pork Barreling: That is to tell voters back home about it. That is to remind voters next election day that they sent a Porker to Washington.

Traditionally, the media tell about this awful Pork Problem, how many billions were wasted by it, go "tsk tsk" and that's it. They generally don't mention the local porkers nor benefactors by name.

That the Dispatch has done it is the foremost step toward getting it stopped.

If every newspaper would do likewise, the federal Pork Barrel would vanish; it cannot exist in the spotlight.

Why not background checks for legislators, indeed?

"Why not?" is the question asked in a Dispatch editorial that followed its publication of a news report about the Ohio Senate slamming the lid on an amendment that would require state legislature candidates to endure background checks.

The amendment was proposed for a bill requiring such checks for folks who apply for many types of professional licenses issued by the state. Those who rule the licensing procedure are apparently above such scrutiny themselves.

Background checks, with publication on the Internet of the findings, should be required from all Ohio candidates, not just legislators.

Republicans were guilty of rejecting the amendment, with only two of them voting for it. I'm told by Ann Fisher, Dispatch columnist, that Newark's state senator, Tim Schaffer, was among those who voted against it. Ann wrote "Legislators flee the scrutiny they decree" published 12/14/07.

The vote to kill this proposal was shameful. But it may not matter, in view of the Dispatch editorial, the Dispatch news report, the Dispatch commentary, and the Dispatch reader poll showing 81 percent of its readers are in favor of it.

The time for such a procedure has arrived. Let's put every candidate's history in the open, not just the little guys who need licenses for a livelihood.

New lobby law, Hillary lies, more government intrusion, how did our mystery senator vote on screwing consumers?

New lobby law
Here's the link to a web site on which you will find a copy of the "Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007" and also wealth of information that relates to this subject.

Hillary can't quit lying because her last name is Clinton
No matter what kind of weaseling Hill attempts, she just can't hide the fact that she's a Clintonian liar. In the Des Moines forum where a question for her was planted she denied knowledge of it.

Sure.

Next spectacular lie is the waitress tip bugger-up. Someone forgot to tip a waitress during a "Middle-Class Express" pit stop in Iowa. Think about it. That's no big deal. It surely was a mistake and all they had to do was admit it. Not the Clinton way. Next day's report by AP declared that Hill's people did leave a tip with the manager who took the fall for the Senator, saying it was his fault the waitress didn't get the tip. The controversy and the weaseling continued in an NPR report, the most significant statement of which came from the waitress who said, "Why would I lie about not getting a tip?" And why would Hillary lie? Because that's the Clinton way to do things.

So, when Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland endorsed her and put out a feeler for becoming her VP, he didn't exactly collect voters' points. But the veracity of the both of them came through quite well in this USA Today report:

Asked if she would consider Strickland as a running mate, Clinton said such talk was "premature." For his part, Strickland made a strong and Sherman-esque statement – he is not interested in being the running mate to Clinton or anyone else.

Pffft

Vaccination or jail

Go read this report if you want to get pissed off about government intrusion into lives of citizens. Bureaucrats in Prince George's County VA, (bordering Washington DC) are threatening to jail parents of school children who have not gotten vaccinations as required by the state.

Electric customers shafted by Ohio Senate

An AP report in the Advocate a few days ago begins:

"COLUMBUS (AP) — Subtle changes buried in an energy bill plotting the future of Ohioans’ electricity rates guarantee that today’s prices will never fall and make it nearly impossible for producers of green power to gain a foothold in the state, [the Plain Dealer] reported Monday.

"The amendments were added by the Ohio Senate to Gov. Ted Strickland’s proposed energy bill, which the Ohio House has scheduled to debate at the leisurely pace of one hearing per week into the new year."

The bill also continued deep discounts for big industrial users, weakened the muscle originally given to PUCO, and other stuff.

I attempted to learn on-line if our state senator (can you name him?) (whose name is Tim Schaffer and who lives in Lancaster and who replaced Jay Hottinger last election and whose e-mail address is SD31@mailr.sen.state.oh.us) had voted for this senate Bill.

Getting this info on-line seems impossible. I can't find the source if there is one. Of course neither the Dispatch nor the Advocate think it important enough to report. Which is exactly why Tim and Jay do whatever they damned well want. Nobody knows.

So I wrote an e-mail to Tim three days ago and I politely asked if he voted for this bill and he didn't answer. Which means, I'm pretty sure, that he's not proud of his vote.

We really should know more about this man. In fact, it would be nice to know anything at all about our mystery senator of whom we've heard nothing since his election.

Strickland's school-funding box

Among the things that appealed to voters about Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland were his promises to fix school funding. But, as the Columbus Dispatch made clear in a page-one article Sunday, he has not done squat, nor does he intend to.

"I'm not going to sit down and write out a plan," he said. "This is something that has to be developed, and it has to evolve and it has to be a result of consensus and building support for it."

The article makes mention of a "box" in which the Governor finds himself, but strangely never mentions what box or what the hang-up is.

Let me guess. The box is the certain knowledge that Ohioans are not going to approve yet another tax for government to spend on schools. This means that if there's a fix for school funding the state is going to have to make cuts in its bureaucracy and other non-essentials. That's the box, and so distasteful is it that Strickland can't even approach it.

But that's exactly what plagues school funding. It just isn't important enough, when measured beside the needs of bureaucracy.

Writing a whiney editorial doesn't help

Advocate editorialists wondered in yesterday's edition "if Ohio lawmakers have a vendetta against the public's right to records and openness in government."

The preface to this is a mention of an Ohio bill that would further limit access to public records regarding public employees and also a mention of the legal closure of "many foster parent records" with the help of our own Jay Hottinger, who voted in favor of it.

At least they called out a name, finally.

Protection of the public's right to know has to be diligently and constantly defended. And that means, Advocate, that your right to public records requires you to fight for it, not just whine when another set of records gets sealed by government.

You expect your readers to come to your aid in keeping government open when 1) you charge us for the right to search your data base of news articles? and 2) you won't even raise the issue of members of Newark's Economic Development Committee holding a meeting in New Albany in apparent violation of the state's open meetings act?

Newspapers no longer defend against unfair and illegal government practices. Not just the Advocate, but very few of them, including - perhaps especially - the Columbus Dispatch.

So why don't you pull Jay Hottinger out front and ask him some serious questions about his vote? And why don't you put on record those councilmen and others who met in New Albany?

It takes will power, dedication, money, and time. The fight for freedom is a war and it never goes away. Read this.

Writing a whiney editorial doesn't get it. Get off your butt, Advocate.

Dispensing medication freestyle

With the Sunday's Dispatch's plastic-bag wrapper was a card to which was glued a packet of AdvilPM tablets.

The packet was about 2 1/2" by 2" and contained warnings that covered both sides in minute type - far too small for me to read without a magnifier. I doubt if many folks could or would read all that.

Among the warnings were that the pills shouldn't be taken if you're over age sixty, if you're on certain other types of medication or if you have certain medical problems.

Oh, and these things should be kept out of reach of children.

Way to go, Dispatch.

OSU - It's all about greed

An article in yesterday's Dispatch hinted at the greed which has become all-pervasive in higher education, and particularly at Ohio State University. It described a $2-million make-over to OSU President Gordon Gee's Bexley home, courtesty of the university foundation.

One of the readers of that article said it best: "Higher education is a greedy, taxpayer subsidized business. It stopped being about education about 30 years ago when those who run the system realized they could make themselves filthy rich while maintaining a image of being "about education."

The reader might have added that this greed is exactly the reason Ohio State football fans are being short-changed on television coverage by Time Warner and the Big 10 poobahs.

Parents apparently at fault in tragic shooting incident

The Columbus Dispatch told in detail on 7/15/07 what happened when a few Worthington high schoolers when out to harass Allen S. Davis, a recluse, and his mother, and about events leading up to one of the youngsters getting shot in the head.

Davis was sentenced to 19 years and the youngster was sentenced to lots of medical procedures and will maybe never fully recover. It's a tragedy resulting from foolish behavior on both sides.

I am pleasantly surprised that many who commented on it in the letters column were sympathetic with Davis, this nobody who, however wrongfully, tried to end the years of bedevilment he'd received from kids trespassing on his property. Most of the time, or so it seems to me, a guy like him is just a schmuck who is used as a whipping boy by grieving family members with help from over-zealous and too-accommodating courts, as may be the case here.

According to the Dispatch report, the parents knew what their kids were going to do, and - by the way the article was written - it seemed that they were okay with this "sport." After all, they had done similar things when they were young.

Now these parents and the child-victim remain unforgiving of Davis, though he did say he was sorry. But no place in this extensive report did I read that these parents regretted their foolishness for letting their child participate in this activity, nor were they the least apologetic to the recluse, the other victim.

Were they honorable enough to shoulder some the blame, perhaps other parents might prevent their kids from harassing people who've done them no harm.

Soccer is no spectator sport

Sports columnist Bob Hunter wrote in the 7/8/07 Dispatch that the Columbus Ohio pro soccer team had been averaging 12,412 fans at home games. This compares to the 100,000-plus fans per game attracted to a college football team just across town.

Normally, nobody except those lined up to make money from sports (including sports writers) would care how many attend, since games are supposed to be for fun.

But this particular sports team - the Columbus Crew - should be of interest to Newark taxpayers because it's floating a balloon over town with a proposal to locate its practice field here which, promoters said, could bring $52 million in sales, more than $18 million in wages, and more than 1,100 jobs to the region if Newark is selected.

"Conservative predictions indicate the facility would bring in at least 500,000 visitors per year, with many staying overnight" (city development director Stephen)" Fowler said.

This from a team that draws 12,000-some fans to its games?

I didn't think so when I wrote a journal entry here on 6/8/07 entitled "The world's dullest sport making big promises." If you're a taxpayer, you should read it, because I don't think any investors will bankroll such a project unless tax money is used to ensure success.

Soccer promoters and sports writers are straining their guts trying to make this sport seem like something to care about. When the Crew won a game recently (and it must have been a very dull day in sports) the Dispatch gave it about 3/4 of its main sports page. They won the game 2-0.

2-0. Imagine.

Imagine sitting through an hour-and-a-half-long game and seeing two scores. If you, like me, are reasonably ignorant about soccer (and all other sports) you might think this is weird. But I just learned that even the professional soccer players in England averaged only 2.48 points during a recent season.

They can do what they want to make this thing seem like a real spectator sport, but nothing is going to fix the kind of boredom that goes with 2 1/2 points a game.

Government grants: They are not free money

Tuesday, June 26, 2007, I wrote here about local recipients of crop and conservation subsidies. It occurs to me now that I stopped writing too soon.

I may have unintentionally made it seem that these folks were doing something wrong in their role as beneficiaries of government giveaways. They were not.

I need to mention that I have received a grant from the Newark Department of Community Development for lead abatement purposes a few years ago. And if I get a chance at another government grant, likely I'll take it. Because of that grant, a home in Newark has become safer, more comfortable and more attractive.

But I am against government grants as a matter of principle. Government should not take citizens' tax money and then "give" it to individuals or businesses.

Government makes its grants appear to be "free," but they are another tax-and-spend system, generally without the oversight or knowledge of the public.