From his letter to President Bush:

“As you know, I have been concerned about the situation in Iraq for some time. Nonetheless, I was steadfast in voting against any legislation that would limit or cut off spending for the war,” Voinovich said in the letter, released this afternoon by his office. “I have consistently opposed attempts to limit your powers as our commander-in-chief, and I have openly opposed any form of precipitous withdrawal that would threaten our men and women in uniform, endanger American interests, or abandon the commitment we have made to the people of Iraq who do want our help.”

But now, “It’s in their (the Iraqis’) best interest to become part of the solution instead of sitting on the sidelines,” Voinovich told the Associated Press. “I don’t think they’ll get it until they know we’re leaving. It can’t be something that is precipitous, but I do believe that it should be enough so that people know we are indeed disengaging.”

He was one of 24 Republican senators to vote for cloture on the immigration bill too.

Here’s Left of Ohio, who’s got a good bead on this:

For being 70 years old (71 next month) George Voinovich I find it amazing that he is still able to pull off more flips than the U.S. gymnastics team.

Here’s Ohio 15th:

It looks like the Republicans are running scared and they are running away from President Bush’s Iraq policy as fast as they can.

Now Senator Voinovich is one of the ones you’d expect to bail early, but this is still not good for the Bush administration. But Bush was busy at a Saudi-funded mosque earlier today, so maybe he doesn’t have time to worry about domestic politics. Michelle Malkin:

According to USA Today, President Bush is scheduled to pay a visit tomorrow to the Islamic Center in Washington, D.C. for its re-dedication. Re-dedication to what and from what, I have no idea.

Seems like everyone’s got Ann Coulter on the brain today: Plunderbund, Writes Like She Talks, Buckeye State Blog, Progress Ohio. (If I was a Democratic blogger, I’d suspect a coordinated campaign!) It’s all about her row with John and Elizabeth Edwards- oh and look, Edwards has a page at his campaign website devoted to Coulter, and they’re using Coulter to solicit donations. Each of these two is using the other for their own benefit of course. And they deserve each other. But this is nothing new in politics.

The funniest part of this is from Edwards’s site: “This Monday, Ann Coulter took her pattern of personal attacks to a new level. On national television she said that rather than hurling more homophobic slurs….” The Edwards campaign is talking about homophobic slurs!? That’s rich. What happened to “I’m not comfortable around those people“?

I’ve said it before- out of all the Democratic candidates, Edwards is the only one who I’m beginning to actively despise. Phony with a capital F.

UPDATE: This is good.

I found this via Pittsblog, who seems a bit dubious. From a BusinessWeek graphic:

The Blog Belt
As Net connections spread, Web 2.0 services are expanding, too. On a recent day, these were the top 30 cities for blog postings and comments, divided into three tiers be levels of activity:

At the top is New York, then Los Angeles and London. And Columbus comes in at number 30, right behind Mumbai. Interesting.

Here’s the main BusinessWeek story, “Children Of The Web“.

According to NBC4i, “German Village has a cat problem“:

According to residents, the area is overrun with stray felines, NBC 4’s Marshall McPeek reported.

The cats hide under cars, in garages, in boarded up buildings or anywhere with a little shelter. And they’re multiplying fast.

A group called Save the Wild Side estimates that there are 500 stray cats in German Village, and they have a plan to deal with it.

They call the program T.N.R. which stands for trap, neuter and release.

According to the group, volunteers trap the cats, fix them and then place them back on the streets.

The group claims to have already treated more than 60 cats at their monthly clinics.

More at ThisWeek.

(Photo: remixed Cat Portrait by fensterbme @ Flickr.)

The Akron-Beacon Journal has an article on Skybus’s possible effect on Columbus tourism.

The day after Skybus started service in May, reporters from two destination cities landed in Columbus. Others have followed, writing largely positive reviews of a city they probably never would have visited otherwise.

“The mere fact that Columbus is being mentioned is a big deal,” said Paul Astleford, chief executive of Experience Columbus, who is keenly aware of the greater name recognition of Cleveland and Cincinnati. “It really opens up a broader national market for us….”

“It’s still really early,” Astleford said. “You don’t create destination demand within a week, a month, two months. It’ll take a year or so of really getting in there and marketing.

The article also mentions that brouhaha about the San Diego slur:

Although most publications were kind to Columbus, the city has been dismissed as a destination by a couple of bloggers.

Said a writer on the San Diego CityBeat Web site: “You can get to Columbus, Ohio, for $50 one way, which would be great if I wanted to go to Columbus. Unfortunately, I never want to go to Columbus. Ever.”

Via Columbus Underground. Columbuser.com covered outsider reporter reviews on Columbus here and here, and had the San Diego thing here.

The immigration bill has achieved cloture in the US Senate, which means that debate has ended and the bill will be scheduled for a floor vote. First though, the Senate will vote on 24 proposed amendments to the bill.

Both Ohio senators, Republican George Voinovich and Democrat Sherrod Brown, voted for cloture.

From the AP:

The Senate voted Tuesday to jump-start a stalled immigration measure to legalize millions of unlawful immigrants.

President Bush said the bill offered a “historic opportunity for Congress to act,” and appeared optimistic about its passage by week’s end.

The pivotal test-vote was 64-35 to revive the divisive legislation. It still faces formidable obstacles in the Senate, including bitter opposition by GOP conservatives and attempts by some waverers in both parties to revise its key elements.

Supporters needed 60 votes to scale procedural hurdles and return to the bill. A similar test-vote earlier this month found just 45 supporters, only seven of them Republicans. This time, 24 Republicans joined 39 Democrats and independent Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, to back moving ahead with the bill. Opposing the move were 25 Republicans, nine Democrats and independent Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont.

A senator who votes for cloture however may or may not end up eventually voting in favor of the final bill. And even if the Senate passes the bill, it looks really tough in the House.

More in the New York Times. See also Michelle Malkin.

From Urban In-Fill:

After a two-season closure, the Lower Scioto Park (and boat launch) has reopened. Formerly not much more than a run down parking lot, the renovated park has more green space, bike racks, an elevated pathway for pedestrians and a waters-edge platform for those wishing to do some fishing. The final grading has been completed, as well as the planting.

The park is on the very southern end of the soon-to-be-developed Whittier Peninsula. I posted about the clearing of a homeless camp in the area yesterday.

Here’s a satellite map of Lower Scioto Park.

Details from the Eastside Messenger:

Now that Bexley City Council has settled on a location for a new police station, their next decision will be how to pay for it and whether to seek voter approval or act on their own initiative.

“Where does the money keep coming from?” for this and other pressing needs, Council President Mark Masser questioned July 20 as the safety committee looked at plans for constructing the station at the north end of the city lot.

Replacing the 55-year-old station with a modern facility would cost around $4.4 million, estimated architects from Horne and King, who are completing construction drawings.

The new station would be built next to the current station, which would then be used for “council chambers, public meetings and other city uses.”

There’s a lot plan graphic at the link, but no artist’s rendering. I think they should make the station all cool and futuristic like on CSI: Miami, but that’s probably not Bexleyish enough.

Blue Bexley blogger Bonobo reveals his secret identity. See item 5. Accusations are made; reputations are ruined.

If you leave the AC on all the time under the theory that it uses less energy than re-cooling the whole house, you’re wrong, apparently:

Some say keeping the air conditioner running on cooler days saves energy because it doesn’t need to run as long to cool a house when hot days return.

Not true, said James Dulley, who writes The Sensible Home column for newspapers nationwide (including The Dispatch).

“Whenever you can turn off the AC and open the windows, do it,” said Dulley, of Cincinnati.

I open the windows first chance I get, but that’s because I prefer fresh air to the AC, even it’s a bit warmer.

More like that at the Dispatch.

See, alcohol is a gateway drug:

Columbus police recovering a stolen beer truck overnight discovered a large cache of marijuana hidden inside another truck.

Sorry.

The Dispatch has an article on the ComFest incident, which occurred Saturday night:

According to an incident report by Sgt. Steve Livingston, a large group of people protesting the war in Iraq formed just after 11 p.m. at Comfest and was moving toward N. High Street from Goodale Park.

Special-duty officers were unable to stop the crowd as it moved south on High Street, blocking traffic.

Backup officers were called to Park and Vine streets, where the crowd repeatedly refused to leave, despite more than 10 warnings from police via a loudspeaker, Livingston’s report states.

At one point several masked protesters assaulted an officer. Officers used canister chemical spray to finally disperse the crowd.

I went to ComFest on Saturday, but didn’t stay that late, so I didn’t see what happened. Progress Ohio is soliciting info from witnesses.

UPDATE: Here’s video, taken by Peace General Bruce, who tells us several times that 9/11 was an inside job. It’s just shy of 25 minutes.

UPDATE: I watched the whole video. The warning from the police comes at 17:27. The protesters don’t react and continue marching. A single short burst of tear gas is released within 30 seconds- or at least, a single short burst is all that the video captured.

Here’s an account from the Columbus Independent Media Center (thanks to Walker in the comments):

The march continued up and down the Short North area of High St for about forty-five minutes without police interference. When the crowd marched down Nationwide Blvd towards Nationwide Arena three police cars were waiting at the intersection of Nationwide Blvd and Front St. Police announced that demonstrators were committing disorderly conduct and without giving anyone anytime to vacate the street, police produced fire extinguisher-sized bottles of tear gas and proceeded to gas the entire city block….

A diverse crowd took High Street on Saturday night. People from Columbus Studens for a Democratic Society, Arawak City, Central Ohioans for Peace and Not in Our Name were in attendance, as well as many people attending Comfest, who had never been involed in a political action. The tactic of taking over busy intersections is effective because it brings the anti-war message to an audience that cannot help but listen. Slowing down traffic reminds people that there are connections between oil consumption and all wars in the Middle East. Breaking the law expands the realm of political expression beyond its established limits. Participation and action are more inspiring and more educational and more intelligent than boredom and passivity.

Gov. Strickland signed SB 117, the so-called video choice bill, into law yesterday. It will take effect September 23.

Previous post here.

The left is continuing its campaign to muzzle right-wing talk radio. Progress Ohio has a post on a study:

Among radio formats, the combined news/talk format (which includes news/talk/information and talk/personality) leads all others in terms of the total number of stations per format and trails only country music in terms of national audience share. Through more than 1,700 stations across the nation, the combined news/talk format is estimated to reach more than 50 million listeners each week.

No word on what they plan to do regarding the imbalance of country music on the airwaves.

Conservative talk radio undeniably dominates the format…

There are many potential explanations for why this gap exists. The two most frequently cited reasons are the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987 and simple consumer demand. As this report will detail, neither of these reasons adequately explains why conservative talk radio dominates the airwaves.

They then cite a number of correlations that don’t really explain anything.

As we saw with Air America, there really isn’t a big demand for left-wing radio that mirrors right-wing radio. One of the main reasons for this is the virtual state monopoly on liberal radio that is NPR. That aside, it’s a really bad idea for the government to return to the business of regulating politics on the airwaves. Here’s Lincoln Logs:

So, Diane Feinstein wants to revive the fairness doctrine. I love this response to the marketplace argument: “well apparently there are problems, it is growing.” What does that even mean? Senator Feinstein wasn’t going to let a certainly good argument get in the way of her point.

The Progressives are rallying for the cause. ProgressOhio points to a study that suggests that [lack of] government regulation and lack of ownership diversity is the reason for conservative radio success. So what do they suggest? Why, of course, more government regulation and mandated ownership diversity! Oh yeah, and mandate radio license holders pay fees to support Public Radio. I love that one.

When the fairness doctrine was in force, we didn’t have a balance of political views on the air- we had a lack of them, because stations would rather air uncontroversial content than possibly get caught up in the bureaucracy of the government speech regulators. There’s no compelling reason to return to that.

From the Dispatch blog:

Another state data theft, this time from the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, has exposed the personal information of 439 injured Ohioans.

The bureau said this morning that a laptop computer stolen from the garage of one of its auditors in late May contained information of 439 injured workers, including their names, claim numbers, Social Security numbers, amount of workers’ compensation received, and possibly the medical diagnosis associated with the workplace injury.

The bureau is in the process of notifying affected workers, and free identity protection service will be offered to each.

No kudos for early and forthright coming clean with the facts this time. And could the BWC’s reputation get any worse? -Yes.