audendi

Bob Taft, former governor of Ohio and a miserable failure, basically guaranteed a Democratic landslide for the governor’s race in Ohio in 2006. He had at one point a 17 percent approval rating.  His successor, Ted Strickland, beat the Republican Ken Blackwell by a solid 20 points or more if I recall correctly.  Besides, Ohio barely went for Bush in 2004. You do the math. Ohio slips into a budget deficit and recession under Taft’s stewardship (haha) of the state, and the Republicans get swatted in 2006 with the set up for a Democrat victory in 2008.  To make matters worse for Republicans, not one of them who has run for president has ever won a presidential election without winning Ohio.  QED, Bob Taft helped Barack Obama become president.

My congressional district, the Ohio 3rd district, is currently occupied by Republican Mike Turner. Mr. Turner is a bandwagon politician. He does nothing notable but bring pork to Dayton. That’s not useful. He supported the war on Iraq, he has supported every Bush policy that I can think of, and it is time for him to retire and move back to Dayton where he has to live like the rest of us. That said, I am endorsing David Esrati for Congress in the Ohio 3rd District. Now, you might be asking yourself why would a Ron Paul supporter and a former Republican ever endorse a Democrat of all things? Well it’s simple. Mr. Esrati is local, he’s real, and he’s honest. He cares about this community in Dayton and isn’t in it just to make money or get famous, he wants to make Dayton a better place to live and work. Let’s face it, Dayton is in trouble, and we need help. If the City of Dayton, and the Dayton Daily News, and the University of Dayton and the State of Ohio will sit idly by as this city crumbles (while lining their own pockets), then change must come from the Federal level somehow. All politics is local, but sometimes it requires a national solution and Mr. Esrati is offering that. I do not agree with him on all of his positions, but then I don’t agree with anyone on much when it comes to politics! What is important to remember is that when you vote, you are voting for a person, someone who is going to Washington, D.C. to represent your interests. Mr. Esrati served his country honorably as a veteran and owns and operates a small business in Dayton, Ohio. His credentials speak for themselves, and I like his blog based campaign style. It is the future of politics in this country, and it’s about time. My generation (18-30 yr olds) needs a voice in this country and David Esrati is the most likely candidate of all available at the moment to actually sit down and listen. Remember to vote for him in the primary March 4th, he needs your help. You can learn more about him and his positions, or donate, at his website, esrati.com. David Esrati represents change, and if anything, Dayton could use some.

Blessings,

Daniel J. Greene

From Daytonology:

Since military aerospace R&D is the bright spot in the regional economy perhaps it would be interesting to see how that came about.

Aviation in Dayton starts, of course, with the Wright Brothers. After Kittyhawk the Wrights returned to Dayton and perfected basic flying control at Huffman Prairie, which was later the site of their flying school. The Wrights also made improvements to their flyer, and in 1910 started to build planes.

read more…

Don’t ever forget that Dayton, Ohio is the birthplace of aviation, or flight as you laypeople probably refer to it. Those of us from Dayton understand what it’s about: discovery, invention, entrepreneurship, and most important of all, dreams.

Tell me who would win in a battle of wits, my friends (and my enemies, numerous as they may be on these internets). Leo Strauss or Ron Paul?

I’m not so concerned with the Straussians or Leo himself, but the totally crazed disciples of his that made one man’s philosophy a religion of death and destruction.

Essentially, I dare you to comment coherently in this blog. I’m sure you know I’m biased one way, and you know whom I would pick in this grudge match. Win, lose or draw, say your piece.

Your Internet Pal,

Daniel Greene

They deftly maneuver, and muscle for rank
fuel burning fast on an empty tank

Ron Paul ‘Boston’ Tea Party in Columbus, Ohio on December 16, 2007

We raised over 4 million dollars for Ron Paul’s campaign in one record-breaking day. Truly incredible. I was privileged enough to be there today Sunday to see a group of 60 plus patriots brave the weather to throw our own tea party. The boxes of ‘tea’ were thrown into the river, representing all the things Ron Paul would help us get rid of were he President. We did not litter, however, the boxes were firmly connected to strings, so don’t worry. We had a great time supporting the revolution! Here’s a write-up about this event and the relevance of Ohio, from lewrockwell.com. Viva la revolucion!

Have you ever heard of the phrase “Ballots not Bullets” - a phrase used in the 19th century? If not, it was the idea that paper ballots, not use of violent arms, was the appropriate way to settle political disputes large and small. If you look at the evolution of the political process in America, you see the overriding importance of the use of the ballot box. Concomitant with this is the importance of free access to the ballot box, the right to free association, the right to a free news media, the right to life, and so on. It seems that anymore these days, our public officials abuse their positions of power without but a peep from the people. It seems that things are falling apart and that the operators of our public institutions are asleep at the switch. Some people feel that this process is inevitable, the sign of some sort of end times, some apocalypse that will, nay must, befall our dear republic. Well, to hell with that notion. There is hope. There is a way out. But the answer must come from within ourselves. We have to lay aside our apathy, our avarice, our sheer laziness and greed. We must come together and defend this country not with violent revolution but with loving, peaceful persuasion, hard work, and consistent voting. But what does this have to do with Dr. Ron Paul, Texas Congressman running for the Republican nomination, and for President of These United States?

Well, I’m just some guy you probably have never met from Dayton, Ohio. I wasn’t born here, but I was raised here, and I love where I’m from - ok, technically I live in Beavercreek but I went to school in Downtown Dayton, so there. I don’t have a college degree, yet, but I know enough to tell you that the vast majority of the people running for president in both parties have a lot of trouble saying what they mean, and even worse, meaning what they say. You know this to be true, just watch the television for five minutes, look at their faces, watch their expressions. Most of them don’t mean a word of it, and you know it.

Ron Paul is different. Now, I don’t agree with him on everything, but he is clearly a hardworking, honest man. He has put his time in serving this country, and now that he feels the time is right, he has decided to run for President. Almost eleven months ago he announced, and people everywhere didn’t even hear about him, because he was not taken seriously by the ‘mainstream’ media. Well, that doesn’t matter as much anymore, because the media is being democratized before our very eyes, the power of information is being handed down to the regular people. People like you and me.

I am a registered independent and I really want someone that I can support in the March 4 primaries here in Ohio. Ron Paul doesn’t just stand for a lot of the things I stand for, he stands for them with great courage and conviction. He is the only candidate this election cycle that should, no, that deserves, to be Chief Executive of the United States of America.

- D. Greene
Friday, December 14, 2007

The sun will come out soon, the Dayton Gloom is only temporary, after all. Chin up folks!

Beyond my problems with their content and editorial practices, my problem with the Dayton Daily News and Dayton City Paper is that their websites are difficult to use and in general, not very good at all. For a paper with a huge budget, DDN’s website is a disgrace. For DCP, their website is understandably bad as they have a comparatively meager budget. But still, it could be a whole lot better without increasing their costs too much.

To sum up, they don’t care enough about their work to present it well on the web.

Which says a lot about how they report the news. I get the impression that the Dayton Daily News’ ownership does not give a rip about our community. Which is really too bad, because their print edition is very nice. The web edition just needs a lot of help.

The weather is dreary, pensive, almost waiting. Doing nothing, except blotting out the sun and making the climate boring as hell, save for the occasional gust. It has been colloquially referred to as the ‘Dayton Gloom‘, although that is just a taste - most of the descriptions contain some hilarious use of profanity. It is the worst weather of the year in one way, save for a few runs in late January, all of February (honestly, fuck February, no wonder they put Valentine’s day in the middle of the worst month of the Western Calendar.

On the other hand, with weather like this, you know that things can only get better.

Without a doubt, the best Dayton blog is run by Jeffrey over at Daytonology (http://daytonology.blogspot.com/).

His blog is accessible, stylish and cogent - along with coverage of the local cultural scene, he provides easy to understand analysis of political, economic, and social issues that affect Dayton, using statistical trends and data relevant to Dayton’s various contemporary issues. He manages to do it in a visually appealing and readable way - you can scan an article in 30 seconds and get a good impression of what he is getting at, or you can spend 10 minutes reading a single entry if you want to get that deep. Plus, his politics aren’t bad either.

His article, Considering the Core Creative Class in Dayton, best sums up what I’m talking about.

In my opinion, in almost eight years of blogging, Jeffrey’s Daytonology is the best overall blog in Dayton today, without question. Most importantly, I have fun reading it.

What do you think is the best overall blog in Dayton? How about the best Dayton music blog? (I pick Buddha Den!)

Captain of Industry at The Canal Street Tavern

Captain of Industry opened in support of Southeast Engine’s first tour now that they are signed on a national label. Some photos of a few of Dayton’s finest rockers. Photos taken Friday, November 2, 2007. View the entire photo set on my Flickr account. I shot a bit of video on my camera, and if it looks good I’ll put it on YouTube.

As I traveled home early this morning on I-70 westbound, a low three quarter moon seemed to hang just above the road. I crested the last hill before I-675 comes into view and saw a wall of emergency lights flashing in the distance. I assumed it was some standard car wreck but I was concerned by the quantity of lights, and was of course selfishly worried that I would be unable to get onto 675. To compound things, I was passing a semi who had blown a tire and was driving on, sparks flying from an exposed rim. I no longer wonder why such frequent road maintenance is required.

What came next shocked me.

As we approached the lights, I counted two firetrucks, a large ambulance and several cruisers. Then I saw the bus. The bus was on I-70 eastbound, just after the I-675 overpass (as it terminates into Medway, Ohio). Sitting there, the side of the bus we saw was totally black and charred, windows utterly gone, the thing reduced to its metal frame. It looked like a bomb had gone off. Please understand that after 7.5 hours on the road, it all had a sort of sense of unreality. Still trying to gather myself, I merged onto I-675, pulled off, flipped my hazard lights and ended up with this low quality photo:

(click here for a bigger version)

I could only imagine that such a savage fire could have seriously hurt or possibly killed someone, so I was relieved when I came home and found out that everyone made it out ok. Dayton Daily News obtained video of the scene and already have it online. I imagine they obtained it from one of the stunned passengers. Their copy so far reads:

A bus carrying 55 people caught fire on Interstate 70 near I-675. All the passengers got off the bus safely but the bus was totally destroyed. Three area fire departments responded to the blaze.

Update: DDN has the full story online now:

Continued »

I shot this September 7, 2007 at the Night Owl on a Canon GL-1. This one is raw and unedited, but the sound was better, so here you go. From the same show the Grizzzzy Bear video came from:

Want to see some local talent play this weekend? The Dayton Music Fest kicks off tonight at 9 pm in the Oregon District. 28 bands, 6 venues, 10 bucks. I’m going to be in Cincinnati to see Ron Paul speak at the Gun Rights Policy Conference on Saturday, but hopefully I’ll make it back in time to see The Sailing play at the Trolley Stop.

Inside is the full schedule for the 2007 fest, sorted by venue: Continued »

For your viewing pleasure, Grizzzzy Bear playing September 7, 2007 at the Nite Owl! I shot this on an old Canon GL-1 with the built in mic, hence the relatively poor sound quality. Next time I’ll try to just jack right into the sound board with an XLR cable. This video was edited by my good friend and filmmaker Chris Brown. I’ll be posting more Squids Eye Records goodness as it gets edited. For now, let me know what you think of this: