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4
How to starve an attention seeker like Ann Coulter (Right Wing Nut House’s advice – not mine)
Filed Under Politics | 11 Comments
This post by Rick Moran is exactly the kind of thing anyone can do when they are outraged by someone else’s behavior: state how it does or doesn’t have any connection. So when I write a post like this, I’m desirous of a response like this:
I urge everyone – right and left – to take the following actions:
1. Never write another blog post about Ann Coulter no matter how outrageous, cruel, or bigoted her language.
2. Immediately write the Presidents of Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN demanding that they refuse to schedule Coulter on any show for any reason on their networks.
3. Write the editor of Human Events and demand that they drop her column.
4. If her column appears in your local newspaper, write a letter to the editor demanding that they drop her column.
5. If you see her writings in any on line or print publication, write the editor and demand that they stop carrying her columns.
6. Any upcoming forum in which she is scheduled as a speaker or panel participant, write a letter to the organizers and make it clear that the reason you are not attending is due to Coulter’s presence.
The goal is to starve the witch of the attention she craves. I’ll have more on this later today, including an on-line petition we can sign and send to the cable nets and a report on my progress.
Enough is enough. I am sick to death of this woman leading people to believe that she speaks for conservatives. She doesn’t speak for me. And if you believe that she speaks for you, or if you were one of those mouth breathers who applauded when she used that disgusting epithet deliberately to hurt other people (not just John Edwards), then you are hopelessly beyond the pale yourself and would do well to examine exactly what you believe a conservative is and what is acceptable political discourse.
It can’t be that hard, and it’s not unreasonable.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:18 pm March 4th, 2007 in Politics | 11 Comments
Print This Post
Mar
4
I am pissed. Just like people said before going into Iraq that the military part was easy, it was the peace part that would be hard, likewise, I knew before a single tree was felled in what is now Sterling Lakes, the “traffic problems” that the “new” Brainard was supposed to alleviate were going to migrate to my end of South Woodland, just east of Lander. And it was evident that that had happened immediately after the construction of the new Brainard was completed and Pepper Pike was forced to re-open the south end of Brainard Circle.
Now I read that Pepper wants to put a traffic circle in less than quarter mile from an already existent traffic circle (Lander and Chagrin) and less than half a mile from my house. All this, on top of okaying re-zoning and construction of a 35,000 sq. foot office building on Chagrin across from the Orange library and something, we don’t know what yet, across from Garfield Memorial Church – which is along the one-lane Lander Road.
I want Forest City to pay every last dime of every expenditure related to this study Pepper Pike says needs to be done. It is the fault of Sterling Lakes. It is the fault of approval of Sterling Lakes. And it was all foreseeable that the traffic was going to be pushed east from those million dollar homes and clog up the one-lane roads of Lander and South Woodland.
Here’s the story in the Chagrin Valley Times. Note, Allan Krulak, my city councilman and Democratic Ward Chair, VP and Director of Community Outreach for Forest City, and newly appointed member of the Lottery Commission thinks the circle at South Woodland is a good idea. What a surprise. Mr. Krulak – community outreach – on this issue. I’ll even host it. But we need it. Now.
From the Chagrin Valley Times this week:
Another traffic problem seen in Pepper Pike
By SALI McSHERRY
Pepper Pike City Council decided last week to move forward with a traffic study to determine whether to install a roundabout at the intersection of South Woodland and Lander roads to alleviate traffic backups.
Data collected from the study, which will include traffic counts at certain times of the day at the intersection, could be useful in the traffic study of Lander Circle at Chagrin Boulevard this spring, which was requested by Councilwoman Paulette Morganstern. By linking it to the Lander Circle study, the city can determine the impact of traffic on both circles, she said.
City Engineer Donald Sheehy presented council with options that would improve the capacity at the intersection. There are traffic backups there during the morning and early evening rush hours, as well as after school at about 2:30 p.m., he said. The next step would be to do a detailed analysis, he said.
If a circle were built within the existing pavement, along with islands with right-turn yield signs, there would be better traffic flow, he said.
Summit County has a circle at an intersection similar to South Woodland and Lander roads and has had success with it, Mr. Sheehy said.
The proposed circle would have about a 45-foot diameter and be designed for speeds of 20 mph, he said. About four cars could comfortably move through the circle at a time, he said.
South Woodland Road resident Pitt Curtiss told council that he doesn’t think there are traffic problems at the intersection. While a circle might be useful at rush hour in the early evening, most drivers are well-disciplined and orderly about taking turns, he said.
His wife, Joan, called it “the most civilized corner in the world.” While it can be congested at times, she doesn’t see the need for a traffic count, she said.
Resident Maryanne Lutjen said she is opposed to the roundabout concept and does not see a reason for it.
Over a decade ago, Pepper Pike considered installing a traffic light at the intersection on the advice of the Cuyahoga County Engineer’s Office. The city did a traffic study, which concluded that a light would be warranted. The city bid out the job and purchased some traffic-light equipment. However, some citizens opposed the installation, saying it would change the appearance of the area, and the city dropped the idea.
Mr. Curtiss said he was against the light, because he thought it would encourage accidents.
Mr. Sheehy’s options are an alternative to installing a traffic light. He said that a traffic light isn’t necessary most of the time, because the traffic isn’t heavy, except perhaps for rush hours. But there are some safety concerns associated with it due to the long hill down from the west on South Woodland Road to the intersection, he said.
Police are concerned that there could be accidents due to drivers traveling at higher speeds to get through a traffic light, he said. Also, because Bolingbrook Road is close to the intersection, an additional light might be needed there, if there were a traffic light at Lander and South Woodland roads, Mr. Sheehy said.
Councilman Richard Bain asked if the traffic information presented was anecdotal. He said, if there is an increase in traffic on Lander Road, finding out the cause of it should be a goal. He also suggested reopening Brainard Road.
However, according to Mr. Sheehy and Mayor Bruce H. Akers, the city received money from the state to fix the traffic-safety problem at Brainard Circle. It also was recommended by the police department, and reopening it would require the city to give back the money, they said.
Councilmen Clevis Svetlik and Allan Krulak said installing a roundabout at Lander and South Woodland roads makes sense, and they want to move forward with a traffic study.
Another option is “shrinking the intersection,” so drivers would have a clear view of every other car at the intersection, Mr. Sheehy said. There are about 120 feet between stop signs at opposite sides of the intersections, he said. If the intersection were made smaller, the gap would be about 60 feet, and there would be small islands with yield right-turn signs at each of the corners, he said.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:17 pm March 4th, 2007 in Politics | 10 Comments
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Mar
4
How to starve an attention seeker like Ann Coulter (Right Wing Nut House’s advice – not mine)
Filed Under Politics | 11 Comments
This post by Rick Moran is exactly the kind of thing anyone can do when they are outraged by someone else’s behavior: state how it does or doesn’t have any connection. So when I write a post like this, I’m desirous of a response like this:
I urge everyone – right and left – to take the following actions:
1. Never write another blog post about Ann Coulter no matter how outrageous, cruel, or bigoted her language.
2. Immediately write the Presidents of Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN demanding that they refuse to schedule Coulter on any show for any reason on their networks.
3. Write the editor of Human Events and demand that they drop her column.
4. If her column appears in your local newspaper, write a letter to the editor demanding that they drop her column.
5. If you see her writings in any on line or print publication, write the editor and demand that they stop carrying her columns.
6. Any upcoming forum in which she is scheduled as a speaker or panel participant, write a letter to the organizers and make it clear that the reason you are not attending is due to Coulter’s presence.
The goal is to starve the witch of the attention she craves. I’ll have more on this later today, including an on-line petition we can sign and send to the cable nets and a report on my progress.
Enough is enough. I am sick to death of this woman leading people to believe that she speaks for conservatives. She doesn’t speak for me. And if you believe that she speaks for you, or if you were one of those mouth breathers who applauded when she used that disgusting epithet deliberately to hurt other people (not just John Edwards), then you are hopelessly beyond the pale yourself and would do well to examine exactly what you believe a conservative is and what is acceptable political discourse.
It can’t be that hard, and it’s not unreasonable.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:18 pm March 4th, 2007 in Politics | 11 Comments
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Mar
4
Malkin on Coulter: Agrees with WLST
Filed Under Politics | 3 Comments
Off to yet another Purim carnival – it’s been too festive a weekend for me. I need to CRASH. But I just caught this in my feed tool and am very, very happy to see it. From Michelle Malkin:
“I have to honestly say, I’m glad I didn’t bring my children here because that’s not the kind of language I would use.”
PRECISELY.
Long form in Malkin’s post:
Her “faggot” joke was not just a distraction from all the good that was highlighted and represented at the conference. It was the equivalent of a rhetorical fragging–an intentionally-tossed verbal grenade that exploded in her own fellow ideological soldiers’ tent.
There are countless conservatives who bring their children to CPAC. It’s a family-friendly event. I brought mine last year and the year before. I met several parents with their kids there this year. We expect CPAC to be a place where conservative role models speak with clarity, passion, and integrity. There are enough spewers of mindless filth, vulgarity, and hatred on TV, at the movies, and in the public schools. We don’t expect our children to be exposed to that garbage at the nation’s preeminent conservative gathering.
I was in the back of the ballroom and did not see any children in the audience during Coulter’s speech. But what if there had been?
Would you want your children hearing the word “faggot” spoken in such a casual and senseless manner? Would you like your first-grader or three-year-old running around the halls of CPAC singing “faggot, faggot, faggot?” Not me. Not anymore than I’d like my toddler singing “gook, gook, gook” or “sambo, sambo, sambo”–favored epithets hurled at conservative minorities by leftist haters groping around in their empty intellectual quivers. There were hundreds of young conservative college students in the ballroom. Would you be proud of your college-age daughter spewing such epithets in her campus debates with leftists?
With a single word, Coulter sullied the hard work of hundreds of CPAC participants and exhibitors and tarred the collective reputation of thousands of CPAC attendees. At a reception for college students held by the Young America’s Foundation, I lambasted the substitution of stupid slurs for persuasion– be it “faggot” from a conservative or “gook” from a liberal–and urged the young people there to conduct themselves at all times with dignity in their ideological battles on and off campus.
I made something else explicitly clear: Not all of us treat the communication of conservative ideals and ideas as 24/7 performance art. You can and should use humor to convey your message. You can enlighten and entertain–without becoming a tired old schtick. You can joke without becoming the joke.
Hattip to Bill Sloat at The Daily Bellwether.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 5:28 pm March 4th, 2007 in Politics | 3 Comments
Print This Post
Mar
4
How to starve an attention seeker like Ann Coulter (Right Wing Nut House’s advice – not mine)
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
This post by Rick Moran is exactly the kind of thing anyone can do when they are outraged by someone else’s behavior: state how it does or doesn’t have any connection. So when I write a post like this, I’m desirous of a response like this:
I urge everyone – right and left – to take the following actions:
1. Never write another blog post about Ann Coulter no matter how outrageous, cruel, or bigoted her language.
2. Immediately write the Presidents of Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN demanding that they refuse to schedule Coulter on any show for any reason on their networks.
3. Write the editor of Human Events and demand that they drop her column.
4. If her column appears in your local newspaper, write a letter to the editor demanding that they drop her column.
5. If you see her writings in any on line or print publication, write the editor and demand that they stop carrying her columns.
6. Any upcoming forum in which she is scheduled as a speaker or panel participant, write a letter to the organizers and make it clear that the reason you are not attending is due to Coulter’s presence.
The goal is to starve the witch of the attention she craves. I’ll have more on this later today, including an on-line petition we can sign and send to the cable nets and a report on my progress.
Enough is enough. I am sick to death of this woman leading people to believe that she speaks for conservatives. She doesn’t speak for me. And if you believe that she speaks for you, or if you were one of those mouth breathers who applauded when she used that disgusting epithet deliberately to hurt other people (not just John Edwards), then you are hopelessly beyond the pale yourself and would do well to examine exactly what you believe a conservative is and what is acceptable political discourse.
It can’t be that hard, and it’s not unreasonable.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 4:18 pm March 4th, 2007 in Politics | Comments Off
Print This Post
Mar
4
I am pissed. Just like people said before going into Iraq that the military part was easy, it was the peace part that would be hard, likewise, I knew before a single tree was felled in what is now Sterling Lakes, the “traffic problems” that the “new” Brainard was supposed to alleviate were going to migrate to my end of South Woodland, just east of Lander. And it was evident that that had happened immediately after the construction of the new Brainard was completed and Pepper Pike was forced to re-open the south end of Brainard Circle.
Now I read that Pepper wants to put a traffic circle in less than quarter mile from an already existent traffic circle (Lander and Chagrin) and less than half a mile from my house. All this, on top of okaying re-zoning and construction of a 35,000 sq. foot office building on Chagrin across from the Orange library and something, we don’t know what yet, across from Garfield Memorial Church – which is along the one-lane Lander Road.
I want Forest City to pay every last dime of every expenditure related to this study Pepper Pike says needs to be done. It is the fault of Sterling Lakes. It is the fault of approval of Sterling Lakes. And it was all foreseeable that the traffic was going to be pushed east from those million dollar homes and clog up the one-lane roads of Lander and South Woodland.
Here’s the story in the Chagrin Valley Times. Note, Allan Krulak, my city councilman and Democratic Ward Chair, VP and Director of Community Outreach for Forest City, and newly appointed member of the Lottery Commission thinks the circle at South Woodland is a good idea. What a surprise. Mr. Krulak – community outreach – on this issue. I’ll even host it. But we need it. Now.
From the Chagrin Valley Times this week:
Another traffic problem seen in Pepper Pike
By SALI McSHERRY
Pepper Pike City Council decided last week to move forward with a traffic study to determine whether to install a roundabout at the intersection of South Woodland and Lander roads to alleviate traffic backups.
Data collected from the study, which will include traffic counts at certain times of the day at the intersection, could be useful in the traffic study of Lander Circle at Chagrin Boulevard this spring, which was requested by Councilwoman Paulette Morganstern. By linking it to the Lander Circle study, the city can determine the impact of traffic on both circles, she said.
City Engineer Donald Sheehy presented council with options that would improve the capacity at the intersection. There are traffic backups there during the morning and early evening rush hours, as well as after school at about 2:30 p.m., he said. The next step would be to do a detailed analysis, he said.
If a circle were built within the existing pavement, along with islands with right-turn yield signs, there would be better traffic flow, he said.
Summit County has a circle at an intersection similar to South Woodland and Lander roads and has had success with it, Mr. Sheehy said.
The proposed circle would have about a 45-foot diameter and be designed for speeds of 20 mph, he said. About four cars could comfortably move through the circle at a time, he said.
South Woodland Road resident Pitt Curtiss told council that he doesn’t think there are traffic problems at the intersection. While a circle might be useful at rush hour in the early evening, most drivers are well-disciplined and orderly about taking turns, he said.
His wife, Joan, called it “the most civilized corner in the world.” While it can be congested at times, she doesn’t see the need for a traffic count, she said.
Resident Maryanne Lutjen said she is opposed to the roundabout concept and does not see a reason for it.
Over a decade ago, Pepper Pike considered installing a traffic light at the intersection on the advice of the Cuyahoga County Engineer’s Office. The city did a traffic study, which concluded that a light would be warranted. The city bid out the job and purchased some traffic-light equipment. However, some citizens opposed the installation, saying it would change the appearance of the area, and the city dropped the idea.
Mr. Curtiss said he was against the light, because he thought it would encourage accidents.
Mr. Sheehy’s options are an alternative to installing a traffic light. He said that a traffic light isn’t necessary most of the time, because the traffic isn’t heavy, except perhaps for rush hours. But there are some safety concerns associated with it due to the long hill down from the west on South Woodland Road to the intersection, he said.
Police are concerned that there could be accidents due to drivers traveling at higher speeds to get through a traffic light, he said. Also, because Bolingbrook Road is close to the intersection, an additional light might be needed there, if there were a traffic light at Lander and South Woodland roads, Mr. Sheehy said.
Councilman Richard Bain asked if the traffic information presented was anecdotal. He said, if there is an increase in traffic on Lander Road, finding out the cause of it should be a goal. He also suggested reopening Brainard Road.
However, according to Mr. Sheehy and Mayor Bruce H. Akers, the city received money from the state to fix the traffic-safety problem at Brainard Circle. It also was recommended by the police department, and reopening it would require the city to give back the money, they said.
Councilmen Clevis Svetlik and Allan Krulak said installing a roundabout at Lander and South Woodland roads makes sense, and they want to move forward with a traffic study.
Another option is “shrinking the intersection,” so drivers would have a clear view of every other car at the intersection, Mr. Sheehy said. There are about 120 feet between stop signs at opposite sides of the intersections, he said. If the intersection were made smaller, the gap would be about 60 feet, and there would be small islands with yield right-turn signs at each of the corners, he said.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 4:17 pm March 4th, 2007 in Politics | 8 Comments
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Mar
4
Jim Trakas on WH’08: "…massive confusion and hand-wringing about our prospects and who our candidate should be"
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Today’s Columbus Dispatch has this piece by Joe Hallett which includes the above quote.
Many people have speculated about moving up the Ohio primary. Not me. And these graphs in the article explain why:
With big states such as California, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey preparing to move their primaries to Feb. 5, the vetting should be done by the time Ohio weighs in on March 4.
By then, the parties’ 2008 nominees probably will be running full speed toward November, pausing in midsummer for their official coronations at the Democratic convention in Denver and the Republican convention in Minneapolis.
“It would be hard to see how the nominations won’t be settled well before Ohioans get a chance to offer their opinions,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
Even so, Buckeye State voters aren’t fretting about being cut out of the action. In presidential elections, we are the action. That was proved anew in November 2004 when Ohio determined the winner after Republican George W. Bush, Democrat John Kerry and their running mates visited the state a total of 82 times in less than eight months, including Bush’s Election Day rush to Columbus.
“The real state on the road to the White House is Ohio. It was the last time and will be this time,” said Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman.
Would having Ohio’s primary earlier accomplish anything? It still would be only one primary among others at the same time. Finally, it’s not as if there wouldn’t be and there isn’t gobs of polling going along all the up to and before the primaries – so we often know or can predict the results anyway, and that polling influences the primary itself and those yet to occur.
My only wish for what happens earlier is people becoming interested. That can never happen early enough for me.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:44 pm March 4th, 2007 in Politics | Comments Off
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Mar
4
Malkin on Coulter: Agrees with WLST
Filed Under Politics | 3 Comments
Off to yet another Purim carnival – it’s been too festive a weekend for me. I need to CRASH. But I just caught this in my feed tool and am very, very happy to see it. From Michelle Malkin:
“I have to honestly say, I’m glad I didn’t bring my children here because that’s not the kind of language I would use.”
PRECISELY.
Long form in Malkin’s post:
Her “faggot” joke was not just a distraction from all the good that was highlighted and represented at the conference. It was the equivalent of a rhetorical fragging–an intentionally-tossed verbal grenade that exploded in her own fellow ideological soldiers’ tent.
There are countless conservatives who bring their children to CPAC. It’s a family-friendly event. I brought mine last year and the year before. I met several parents with their kids there this year. We expect CPAC to be a place where conservative role models speak with clarity, passion, and integrity. There are enough spewers of mindless filth, vulgarity, and hatred on TV, at the movies, and in the public schools. We don’t expect our children to be exposed to that garbage at the nation’s preeminent conservative gathering.
I was in the back of the ballroom and did not see any children in the audience during Coulter’s speech. But what if there had been?
Would you want your children hearing the word “faggot” spoken in such a casual and senseless manner? Would you like your first-grader or three-year-old running around the halls of CPAC singing “faggot, faggot, faggot?” Not me. Not anymore than I’d like my toddler singing “gook, gook, gook” or “sambo, sambo, sambo”–favored epithets hurled at conservative minorities by leftist haters groping around in their empty intellectual quivers. There were hundreds of young conservative college students in the ballroom. Would you be proud of your college-age daughter spewing such epithets in her campus debates with leftists?
With a single word, Coulter sullied the hard work of hundreds of CPAC participants and exhibitors and tarred the collective reputation of thousands of CPAC attendees. At a reception for college students held by the Young America’s Foundation, I lambasted the substitution of stupid slurs for persuasion– be it “faggot” from a conservative or “gook” from a liberal–and urged the young people there to conduct themselves at all times with dignity in their ideological battles on and off campus.
I made something else explicitly clear: Not all of us treat the communication of conservative ideals and ideas as 24/7 performance art. You can and should use humor to convey your message. You can enlighten and entertain–without becoming a tired old schtick. You can joke without becoming the joke.
Hattip to Bill Sloat at The Daily Bellwether.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:28 pm March 4th, 2007 in Politics | 3 Comments
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Mar
4
My first thought when I started to read about all this was, “Thank goodness Ann Coulter is childless.”
A member of a political party that touts “traditional family values” talks like this? Like I said, a TRO or at least one of those square symbols on the television everytime she’s on the screen is in order.
Honestly.
As a person raised in Connecticut, I’m embarrassed that I grew up in the same state as she did. As a person with a law degree, I’m embarrassed that she’s allowed to call herself an attorney.
People can say that it was “just a joke no one got” all they want. But the bottom line is that Coulter is a person who holds herself out as emblematic of a particular political party and conservative viewpoint (both of which embrace her) – a political party and viewpoint, btw, that seeks to justify this country’s military presence in a country that is completely torn apart by ethnic, religious and cultural differences – and seems intent on demonstrating that hey, it’s perfectly acceptable to incite and deepen those differences in our own country.
Maybe she just loves the idea of civil war. Too bad there’s not a single civil thing about her.
Anyone ever wonder if she’s this generation’s Roy Cohn?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:20 pm March 4th, 2007 in Politics | 4 Comments
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Mar
4
Open Brainard or make Forest City and/or Sterling Lakes pay
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
I am pissed. Just like people said before going into Iraq that the military part was easy, it was the peace part that would be hard, likewise, I knew before a single tree was felled in what is now Sterling Lakes, the “traffic problems” that the “new” Brainard was supposed to alleviate were going to migrate to my end of South Woodland, just east of Lander. And it was evident that that had happened immediately after the construction of the new Brainard was completed and Pepper Pike was forced to re-open the south end of Brainard Circle.
Now I read that Pepper wants to put a traffic circle in less than quarter mile from an already existent traffic circle (Lander and Chagrin) and less than half a mile from my house. All this, on top of okaying re-zoning and construction of a 35,000 sq. foot office building on Chagrin across from the Orange library and something, we don’t know what yet, across from Garfield Memorial Church – which is along the one-lane Lander Road.
I want Forest City to pay every last dime of every expenditure related to this study Pepper Pike says needs to be done. It is the fault of Sterling Lakes. It is the fault of approval of Sterling Lakes. And it was all foreseeable that the traffic was going to be pushed east from those million dollar homes and clog up the one-lane roads of Lander and South Woodland.
Here’s the story in the Chagrin Valley Times. Note, Allan Krulak, my city councilman and Democratic Ward Chair, VP and Director of Community Outreach for Forest City, and newly appointed member of the Lottery Commission thinks the circle at South Woodland is a good idea. What a surprise. Mr. Krulak – community outreach – on this issue. I’ll even host it. But we need it. Now.
From the Chagrin Valley Times this week:
Another traffic problem seen in Pepper Pike
By SALI McSHERRY
Pepper Pike City Council decided last week to move forward with a traffic study to determine whether to install a roundabout at the intersection of South Woodland and Lander roads to alleviate traffic backups.
Data collected from the study, which will include traffic counts at certain times of the day at the intersection, could be useful in the traffic study of Lander Circle at Chagrin Boulevard this spring, which was requested by Councilwoman Paulette Morganstern. By linking it to the Lander Circle study, the city can determine the impact of traffic on both circles, she said.
City Engineer Donald Sheehy presented council with options that would improve the capacity at the intersection. There are traffic backups there during the morning and early evening rush hours, as well as after school at about 2:30 p.m., he said. The next step would be to do a detailed analysis, he said.
If a circle were built within the existing pavement, along with islands with right-turn yield signs, there would be better traffic flow, he said.
Summit County has a circle at an intersection similar to South Woodland and Lander roads and has had success with it, Mr. Sheehy said.
The proposed circle would have about a 45-foot diameter and be designed for speeds of 20 mph, he said. About four cars could comfortably move through the circle at a time, he said.
South Woodland Road resident Pitt Curtiss told council that he doesn’t think there are traffic problems at the intersection. While a circle might be useful at rush hour in the early evening, most drivers are well-disciplined and orderly about taking turns, he said.
His wife, Joan, called it “the most civilized corner in the world.” While it can be congested at times, she doesn’t see the need for a traffic count, she said.
Resident Maryanne Lutjen said she is opposed to the roundabout concept and does not see a reason for it.
Over a decade ago, Pepper Pike considered installing a traffic light at the intersection on the advice of the Cuyahoga County Engineer’s Office. The city did a traffic study, which concluded that a light would be warranted. The city bid out the job and purchased some traffic-light equipment. However, some citizens opposed the installation, saying it would change the appearance of the area, and the city dropped the idea.
Mr. Curtiss said he was against the light, because he thought it would encourage accidents.
Mr. Sheehy’s options are an alternative to installing a traffic light. He said that a traffic light isn’t necessary most of the time, because the traffic isn’t heavy, except perhaps for rush hours. But there are some safety concerns associated with it due to the long hill down from the west on South Woodland Road to the intersection, he said.
Police are concerned that there could be accidents due to drivers traveling at higher speeds to get through a traffic light, he said. Also, because Bolingbrook Road is close to the intersection, an additional light might be needed there, if there were a traffic light at Lander and South Woodland roads, Mr. Sheehy said.
Councilman Richard Bain asked if the traffic information presented was anecdotal. He said, if there is an increase in traffic on Lander Road, finding out the cause of it should be a goal. He also suggested reopening Brainard Road.
However, according to Mr. Sheehy and Mayor Bruce H. Akers, the city received money from the state to fix the traffic-safety problem at Brainard Circle. It also was recommended by the police department, and reopening it would require the city to give back the money, they said.
Councilmen Clevis Svetlik and Allan Krulak said installing a roundabout at Lander and South Woodland roads makes sense, and they want to move forward with a traffic study.
Another option is “shrinking the intersection,” so drivers would have a clear view of every other car at the intersection, Mr. Sheehy said. There are about 120 feet between stop signs at opposite sides of the intersections, he said. If the intersection were made smaller, the gap would be about 60 feet, and there would be small islands with yield right-turn signs at each of the corners, he said.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:17 pm March 4th, 2007 in Politics | Comments Off
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Mar
4
Malkin on Coulter: Agrees with WLST
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
Off to yet another Purim carnival – it’s been too festive a weekend for me. I need to CRASH. But I just caught this in my feed tool and am very, very happy to see it. From Michelle Malkin:
“I have to honestly say, I’m glad I didn’t bring my children here because that’s not the kind of language I would use.”
PRECISELY.
Long form in Malkin’s post:
Her “faggot” joke was not just a distraction from all the good that was highlighted and represented at the conference. It was the equivalent of a rhetorical fragging–an intentionally-tossed verbal grenade that exploded in her own fellow ideological soldiers’ tent.
There are countless conservatives who bring their children to CPAC. It’s a family-friendly event. I brought mine last year and the year before. I met several parents with their kids there this year. We expect CPAC to be a place where conservative role models speak with clarity, passion, and integrity. There are enough spewers of mindless filth, vulgarity, and hatred on TV, at the movies, and in the public schools. We don’t expect our children to be exposed to that garbage at the nation’s preeminent conservative gathering.
I was in the back of the ballroom and did not see any children in the audience during Coulter’s speech. But what if there had been?
Would you want your children hearing the word “faggot” spoken in such a casual and senseless manner? Would you like your first-grader or three-year-old running around the halls of CPAC singing “faggot, faggot, faggot?” Not me. Not anymore than I’d like my toddler singing “gook, gook, gook” or “sambo, sambo, sambo”–favored epithets hurled at conservative minorities by leftist haters groping around in their empty intellectual quivers. There were hundreds of young conservative college students in the ballroom. Would you be proud of your college-age daughter spewing such epithets in her campus debates with leftists?
With a single word, Coulter sullied the hard work of hundreds of CPAC participants and exhibitors and tarred the collective reputation of thousands of CPAC attendees. At a reception for college students held by the Young America’s Foundation, I lambasted the substitution of stupid slurs for persuasion– be it “faggot” from a conservative or “gook” from a liberal–and urged the young people there to conduct themselves at all times with dignity in their ideological battles on and off campus.
I made something else explicitly clear: Not all of us treat the communication of conservative ideals and ideas as 24/7 performance art. You can and should use humor to convey your message. You can enlighten and entertain–without becoming a tired old schtick. You can joke without becoming the joke.
Hattip to Bill Sloat at The Daily Bellwether.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:28 am March 4th, 2007 in Politics | Comments Off
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4
Jim Trakas on WH’08: "…massive confusion and hand-wringing about our prospects and who our candidate should be"
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Today’s Columbus Dispatch has this piece by Joe Hallett which includes the above quote.
Many people have speculated about moving up the Ohio primary. Not me. And these graphs in the article explain why:
With big states such as California, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey preparing to move their primaries to Feb. 5, the vetting should be done by the time Ohio weighs in on March 4.
By then, the parties’ 2008 nominees probably will be running full speed toward November, pausing in midsummer for their official coronations at the Democratic convention in Denver and the Republican convention in Minneapolis.
“It would be hard to see how the nominations won’t be settled well before Ohioans get a chance to offer their opinions,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
Even so, Buckeye State voters aren’t fretting about being cut out of the action. In presidential elections, we are the action. That was proved anew in November 2004 when Ohio determined the winner after Republican George W. Bush, Democrat John Kerry and their running mates visited the state a total of 82 times in less than eight months, including Bush’s Election Day rush to Columbus.
“The real state on the road to the White House is Ohio. It was the last time and will be this time,” said Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman.
Would having Ohio’s primary earlier accomplish anything? It still would be only one primary among others at the same time. Finally, it’s not as if there wouldn’t be and there isn’t gobs of polling going along all the up to and before the primaries – so we often know or can predict the results anyway, and that polling influences the primary itself and those yet to occur.
My only wish for what happens earlier is people becoming interested. That can never happen early enough for me.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:44 am March 4th, 2007 in Politics | Comments Off
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Mar
4
My first thought when I started to read about all this was, “Thank goodness Ann Coulter is childless.”
A member of a political party that touts “traditional family values” talks like this? Like I said, a TRO or at least one of those square symbols on the television everytime she’s on the screen is in order.
Honestly.
As a person raised in Connecticut, I’m embarrassed that I grew up in the same state as she did. As a person with a law degree, I’m embarrassed that she’s allowed to call herself an attorney.
People can say that it was “just a joke no one got” all they want. But the bottom line is that Coulter is a person who holds herself out as emblematic of a particular political party and conservative viewpoint (both of which embrace her) – a political party and viewpoint, btw, that seeks to justify this country’s military presence in a country that is completely torn apart by ethnic, religious and cultural differences – and seems intent on demonstrating that hey, it’s perfectly acceptable to incite and deepen those differences in our own country.
Maybe she just loves the idea of civil war. Too bad there’s not a single civil thing about her.
Anyone ever wonder if she’s this generation’s Roy Cohn?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:20 am March 4th, 2007 in Politics | 4 Comments
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Mar
4
Jim Trakas on WH’08: "…massive confusion and hand-wringing about our prospects and who our candidate should be"
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
Today’s Columbus Dispatch has this piece by Joe Hallett which includes the above quote.
Many people have speculated about moving up the Ohio primary. Not me. And these graphs in the article explain why:
With big states such as California, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey preparing to move their primaries to Feb. 5, the vetting should be done by the time Ohio weighs in on March 4.
By then, the parties’ 2008 nominees probably will be running full speed toward November, pausing in midsummer for their official coronations at the Democratic convention in Denver and the Republican convention in Minneapolis.
“It would be hard to see how the nominations won’t be settled well before Ohioans get a chance to offer their opinions,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
Even so, Buckeye State voters aren’t fretting about being cut out of the action. In presidential elections, we are the action. That was proved anew in November 2004 when Ohio determined the winner after Republican George W. Bush, Democrat John Kerry and their running mates visited the state a total of 82 times in less than eight months, including Bush’s Election Day rush to Columbus.
“The real state on the road to the White House is Ohio. It was the last time and will be this time,” said Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman.
Would having Ohio’s primary earlier accomplish anything? It still would be only one primary among others at the same time. Finally, it’s not as if there wouldn’t be and there isn’t gobs of polling going along all the up to and before the primaries – so we often know or can predict the results anyway, and that polling influences the primary itself and those yet to occur.
My only wish for what happens earlier is people becoming interested. That can never happen early enough for me.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 6:44 am March 4th, 2007 in Politics | Comments Off
Print This Post
Mar
4
National TRO needed to keep Ann Coulter away from children
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
My first thought when I started to read about all this was, “Thank goodness Ann Coulter is childless.”
A member of a political party that touts “traditional family values” talks like this? Like I said, a TRO or at least one of those square symbols on the television everytime she’s on the screen is in order.
Honestly.
As a person raised in Connecticut, I’m embarrassed that I grew up in the same state as she did. As a person with a law degree, I’m embarrassed that she’s allowed to call herself an attorney.
People can say that it was “just a joke no one got” all they want. But the bottom line is that Coulter is a person who holds herself out as emblematic of a particular political party and conservative viewpoint (both of which embrace her) – a political party and viewpoint, btw, that seeks to justify this country’s military presence in a country that is completely torn apart by ethnic, religious and cultural differences – and seems intent on demonstrating that hey, it’s perfectly acceptable to incite and deepen those differences in our own country.
Maybe she just loves the idea of civil war. Too bad there’s not a single civil thing about her.
Anyone ever wonder if she’s this generation’s Roy Cohn?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 6:20 am March 4th, 2007 in Politics | Comments Off
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