the unshockable P.J.

Extensive pornography found on Patrick O'Malley's computer - Cleveland Metro News - The Latest Breaking News, Photos and Stories from The Plain Dealer:

Having been involved in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County politics for most of his adult life, it seems that nothing much fazed P. J. Let's hope this case does not make history with what might be termed the O'Malley Weird Worksite Mitigation Defense: "Please, your honor, my work environment was so weird I thought this other stuff was kinda regular."

"The government found images of bestiality, bondage and other acts of sexual deviance on a computer seized from the home of former Cuyahoga County Recorder Patrick O'Malley in 2004.

A sentencing memorandum filed Monday by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan details the wide assortment of pornographic images and text that led to O'Malley's recent conviction."

today, the river burning, tomorrow, the Indians rampant and the county fair

Hey, writing "county fair" in the title above made me think of the oxymoronic (pertaining to a figure of speech that combines two normally contradictory terms), and the just plain moronic (two commissioners who could have scheduled a vote for November of 2007, and now compel a referendum to PutItOnTheBallot for March of 2008). These guys, Jimmy and Timmy, are spending our weekend time for us, again, and here's a little of how we're allocating that time, circulating petitions. The good news is that everybody wants to sign, all except those who think they benefit from preempting the public's right to choose their taxation, and thank goodness that's a very small group.

One prescient young fellow, Brian Cummins of Ward 15, this morning pointed out that this ballot initiative changes the next 80 years. It will make the difference as to whether we control and guide our community's destiny or become the indentured workers of the government deal-makers.

Today, we're going to be at The Burning River Fest, and we had planned on being there anyway. Our friend Stefanie Spear has offered her Earthwatch Ohio booth as a place for us to cool our heels, and we'll be there from about 1 PM until the end.

Tomorrow, it's off to the Indians/Yankees pre-game from 11 to 1, and then over to our PutItOnTheBallot booth in building 20 at the 111th Cuyahoga County Fair from 2 to 8.

33

Touring Warhol’s Space, and 32 Other Art-History Sites - New York Times -- Of the 33 NYC places where artsy and hip started, bloomed, and flourished, the "33 spots around the city where art history was made", I wonder how many had tax-abatement, got county dollars by harnessing smokers, or were intentionally located in preexisting, institutionally ordained art districts. What do you think? Which is the tail, which is the dog? What's wagging around here? If I recall, back in the day it used to be enough for a place just to be cheap, cool, and relatively hassle-free.

plus-size me, please

Cleveland+ chosen as 'brand' for region -- Well, I guess that says it all. Let's get back to work.

wonder if this has anything to do with the stress caused by the residency laws

PittsburghTrib.com: Firefighter charged with racy park romp. (MASON, Ohio) Click through for the head shot, with wig.

"Steven S. Cole, a 46-year-old volunteer firefighter, told an officer he was on his way to a Dayton bar to perform as a woman in a contest offering a $10,000 prize, the arrest report said.

"He pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of drunken driving, public indecency and disorderly conduct.

"Cole was arrested Tuesday after police received a report that an intoxicated man was walking and driving around Heritage Oak Park in Mason. Police said Cole was wearing a blond wig, pink flip-flops and a red-black-and-white striped bikini with the top filled out by tan water balloons.

"His blood-alcohol test registered 0.174, more than twice Ohio's legal driving limit of 0.08, the arrest report said."

chas wants bob to fight

cleveland.com: Weblogs: Fight Bob, Fight--In case you missed it last week, Chas. Rich has an interesting take on how this BOE situation can play out optimally for the citizenry. I hope he's not counting on the BOE members' being dumber than they actually are.

connecting the dots, doing simple math, just noticing, just wondering

Taxing balance Abatement reviewed: From the SunNEWS on March 15th, with my emphasis added. The SunNEWS quote is italicized:

"Cleveland's existing citywide residential property tax abatement law was renewed in 1999 and is set to expire June 15. A separate abatement law for downtown won't expire until 2010. Cleveland began offering residential tax abatement, at 100 percent for seven years, for new downtown construction in 1987.
In the decade prior, new housing construction in Cleveland was almost non-existent. In some years, fewer than 20 homes were built. After 1987, the pace quickened. It accelerated in 1991 when the use of tax abatement was expanded citywide, offering a 100 percent abatement over 15 years. The abatement applies only to structures, not land.
Since then, 11,259 residential units were built, according to a 2007 study by Cleveland State University's College of Urban Affairs. The study also showed 60 percent of people buying tax-abated housing are coming from outside Cleveland. "

The forecast for 2007 is that Cleveland will have between 10,000 and 12,000 vacant or abandoned properties, which can be accounted for nearly directly by the 11,259 tax-abated new properties. The overall Cleveland population is less now than what it was in 1991. Where is the benefit? Where exactly is the gain? What is the loss?

Nobody's doing the simple math. Nobody's talking straight talk.

if I ran the city, the series, #10: show us your guns

Cleveland files suit to uphold right to pass its own gun laws -- Good grief! I can't even get through a workday without having to stop to write about something inane going on in the city government. Here's Frank Jackson, again, making a big to-do about home rule, and how we in the CleveCentric universe can do just about anything we please, like continue to try to subvert the state and federal constitutions (instead of coming to grips with the real issues, the ones that call for tough solutions). He wants to dog-paddle against the current again and put us at further competitive disadvantage, and I just have one question: If we're such shit-hot home-rulers around here, then why are things so stalled out these past 15 years or so? What other cities have home rule? Do they lean on it so as a solution to a questionable yet authoritarian leadership style of "my way or the highway" or "it's my city, and I'll do with it as I please, because I'm in charge, and I can"?

I find Steve Leavitt's story about the Swiss more to the point in a community discussion (we need to have one here) about who will have guns, and who won't, and what kind of guns they will be, as well. It's stuck in the middle of chapter 4 of Freakonomics ("Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool?"), around page 131. What it relates is that male Swiss of age to serve in the SwissMilitia are issued assault rifles and allowed to keep them at home. Switzerland has more firearms per capita than just about any other country, yet it's one of the safest places in the world--ample argument for the position that guns don't cause crime. Outsiders think Switzerland is safe, too, in a lot of ways, and entrust the Swiss with the custodial duty of safe-keeping lots of money there.

So, as counterpoint to the doofy idea of stripping us of still more of our protections, I want to suggest that we use our home rule to establish a city militia, issue each of our militia an assault rifle, and allow them to keep their rifles at the house. If I ran the city, this would be one of the first things I'd do, right after I scrapped all the traffic-camera equipment and sold it at pennies on the dollar to another, dumber emerging third-world country, if I could find one that retarded.