There are good reasons for sports fans to hate certain professional baseball teams, but a new algorithm that analyzes how people feel about things has determined that the Cincinnati Reds are actually the third most hated team in baseball, trailing only the Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox.  

The AP reported today that new evidence suggests that dinosaurs were in fact very colorful creatures, which is another hypothesis shared by researchers and little kids. Scientists expect that after minimal further study they'll be able to officially replace the old dinosaur colors, which were just made up by fifth graders anyway.  

Some local Democrats are upset with Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher over his demands for attending an upcoming political event in Oakley and believe he's disrespected Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. They're squaring off in the May 4 Democratic primary to get the party's U.S. Senate nomination, and the Hamilton County Democratic Women's Caucus invited them to participate in a debate here Jan. 20. Brunner accepted almost immediately, caucus members say, but their experience with Fisher was far different.  

Sen. John McCain must think female voters are stupid or easily distracted. That’s about the only reasonable explanation people can discern from his selection last week of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his vice presidential running mate on the Republican ticket.   

Republicans keep throwing everybody against the wall to see who sticks in terms of a revolutionary leader. Though a hypocritical radio blowhard seems to have emerged the winner, in the recent past the party has slung a plumber and a beauty queen/moose killer at the public to no avail. Our favorite new awkward Republican is Hi-Caliber, a construction-worker-turned-rapper from New Jersey.  

If the way Sen. John McCain is running his presidential campaign in Greater Cincinnati is any indication, maybe it's a good thing that he's trailing Barack Obama in all the polls. McCain's judgment is under scrutiny again after he appointed Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters as his campaign's southwest Ohio regional chairman despite a record of questionable actions.  

Credulity does not suit journalists or our audiences. We’ve moved from believing something because “I read it in the paper” to “I heard it on the radio” to “I saw it on the Internet.” It’s never so dangerous as when a comment or story is credible. It makes sense. It’s the kind of thing that What’s His Name would say. Long before the Internet, people were inventing or repeating quotes and attributing them to famous people to add authority to their arguments.  

By the time this issue of CityBeat is published, the long and hard-fought presidential election will finally be over. Here are a couple of items to ponder as you're either celebrating or crying in your beer.  

By 11 p.m. on Election Day, about 25 people were at Integrity Hall in Bond Hill talking or dancing to the music of a DJ. Just 25 people in a room with that DJ, a TV and a snack table with corn chips and sheet cake with red, white and blue frosting, watching in amazement as the first biracial person was elected president of the United States. "His life is the perfect example of inclusion," said Ken Ghee, a psychology professor at the University of Cincinnati. "His color is a merging of Caucasian, African, Hawaiian."  

Vice presidential nominee/sassy maverick sidekick Sarah Palin last week unveiled numerous metaphorical characters who would benefit from a Republican administration.