WEDNESDAY OCT. 31: Space jumper Felix Baumgartner discouraged American leaders from funding exploration to Mars during a recent interview. According to Baumgartner, the red planet probably sucks and the money that would be used on such trips in the future would be better invested on the planet we presently live on.  

Despite Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted’s best efforts to deter early voting across the state this election cycle, state election officials estimate that Ohio has seen a record turnout of early voters this year. CINCINNATI +2    

I realize I’m old school, but if I had requested someone to visit me and when that someone arrived, I would have taking that remote and turned off the television.   

This is an all-out race and class war. If you’re voting for the re-election of President Barack Obama then you’re either black; an unthreatened/progressive white; or a minority who’s been offended, discounted or demonized by Gov. Mitt Romney, Republicans and/or the Tea Party.   

The evolution of the word “redneck” seems to be in flux. And until it stretches further into “offensive” territory, there are plenty of people willing to exploit the concept of the word. The barometer of exploitation is nowhere more evident than in the world of reality TV.   

Xavier University has reversed its controversial decision to not pay for employees’ birth control as part of healthcare plans after realizing that since announcing the end of the coverage July 1, the school has actually continued to cover birth control costs. CINCINNATI +2
  

SUNDAY OCT. 28: Many people who read today’s Enquirer endorsement of Mitt Romney for president likely set the paper down, said something like “I need to move out of this [expletive] city” and then googled “Jobs where newspapers don’t endorse Sarah Palin.”   

News of the Oct. 10 death of Skandal (government name: Marcus Mitchell, aka Skan, Skandizzle and Skandal Da Ruckus Man) after a protracted battle with leukemia pinged through the ether like a metal ball in a pinball game.   

Cos was, and still remains, your crazy uncle at the family reunion who seemingly was always around whenever something happened and was able to recall the situation in order to put someone — maybe you — in their place. I’m nearing my mid-forties now, and I’m starting to recognize myself in that role.
  

A woman must be tempting, society tells us, but not too tempting. The balance is a fine one; crossing that “threshold” — whatever it is — has led to slut-shaming and women-bashing rape apologia in a way that renders trying to understand that balance completely futile.    

TUESDAY OCT. 23: Like Galileo, Christina Aguilera’s recent bomb of an album, Bionic, was “ahead of its time” ... at least according Aguilera.   

Ann Coulter says the darndest things. The Republican pundit tweeted this gem to her more than 200,000 Twitter followers, referencing President Obama: “I highly approve of Romney’s decision to be kind and gentle to the retard.” WORLD -2   

 
THURSDAY OCT. 11: The Reds today became the first team in National League history to blow a 2-0 lead in a five-game Division Series. This latest painful postseason exit for a Cincinnati sports team caused more chafing than others because of how well the Reds played during the regular season, and for the first time in like 20 years local sports fans thought their team had a legitimate shot at winning a title.  

President of the Central Mississippi Tea Party Janis Lane told the Jackson Free Press that women are too emotionally unstable and “diabolical” to be able to vote rationally, like men: “Our country might have been better off if it was still just men voting,” she mused. WORLD -2    

Miami University is a sick, sick campus in desperate need of the largest group therapy session ever recorded, top-rung leadership more palpably concerned with student safety and a less corporate approach to media relations.