by Jac Kern
04.23.2013
30 days ago
Jac's roundup of pop culture news and Internet findings
On April 29, 1972,
Kings Island opened its gates for the first time, welcoming guest from
Cincinnati and across the country to its world of rides, games and overpriced
snacks. The next year, America watched the country’s first family visit that
very park — no, not the Nixons, the Bradys! In an episode filmed Aug. 20-24 1974
that first aired on Nov. 23, The Brady
Bunch’s architect dad Mike pitched some expansion plans for the park and
brought the whole gang along to enjoy attractions like Hanna-Barbera Land and
The Racer.
Forty years later,
the Bradys are at it again. Barry
Williams (Greg Brady), Christopher Knight (Peter Brady) and Susan Olsen (Cindy
Brady) will return to Kings Island May 19 for four live shows, autographs and photo ops.
Am I the only one
who had no idea Cincinnati’s Golden Child, Nick Lachey, has ties to the
Kardashian Klan?!
Nick and Kim dated briefly in 2006 after he and Jessica Simpson split, and in a
recent interview with Details, Nick reveals
the shocking claim that Kim LIVES for the papz, who somehow showed up during a private date. Thank God he ended
up with former MTV VJ, Vanessa Minnillo. They seem to have a relatively normal,
happy relationship and I can say this with confidence because I regularly read her mommy/lifestyle blog even though I
don’t have a baby or a life. :-/
Hey, check out
this sloth and cat hanging out:
Now, I know I’m
about to get tarred and feathered for dissing sloths, but watching this, I kept
thinking sloth was about to hand-deliver cat to death’s door. Kristen Bell,
please don’t hate me.
NBC will debut a new comedy May 23 that takes place (but is not actually filmed) in suburban Cincinnati. Save Me stars Anne Heche as a housewife who develops the ability to communicate with God after a near-death experience, and she lives in none other than "Indian Hills." As a lifelong Cincinnati resident, I find it impossible to say “Indian
Hills” without an unsophisticated twang. It sounds like how us simple peasant folk
would mistakenly identify the most affluent neighborhood in Cincinnati. Indian Heels. In fact, I could swear
that when I got accepted into a certain all-girls private institution for high
school and my parents tried to politely warn me that all my friends would be richer than me,
they said, “You’ll probably meet a lot of girls who live in Indian Hills!”
A scathing email that the president
of Delta Gamma at the University of Maryland sent to her sorority sisters has been
making its rounds this week and, in
case you missed it, here’s Michael Shannon’s dramatic reading of the text.
Because if anyone can make this insane, delusional letter seem any crazier, it’s
Nelson Van Alden. The video is NSFW, unless you happen to work as a Delta Gamma house mother.
People like to personify “Amurca” as a blue-collar, Budweiser-drinking, NRA card holder. Nevermore, says former CEO of Anheuser-Busch and heir to the beer fortune, Adolphus A. Busch IV. Busch publicly announced the resignation of his lifetime membership to the National Rifle Association amidst recent gun control controversy, surrounding the organization. Check out Busch’s letter here and crack open a cold one for standing up for what’s right!
0 Comments · Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Westwood's 170-year-old Gamble House, the pink
Victorian mansion once inhabited by the inventor of Ivory soap, was
demolished after years of efforts by neighbors and preservationists to
keep the property alive. CINCINNATI -2
by Bill Sloat
01.04.2013
139 days ago
Massie's first bill would repeal federal safety buffer enacted in 1990
U.S. Rep. Tom Massie, the congressman who represents the Kentucky side of the Cincinnati metropolitan area, used his first day in Congress to file a bill that would erase a 23-year-old federal ban that makes it a crime to carry guns near schools.At the moment, Massie does not have any co-sponsors signed up. Details are sparse because the government printing office says it does not yet have the full text of the measure to put online. The existing Gun-Free School Act of 1990, which was adopted when former president George H.W. Bush, a Republican, was in the White House is viewable here. The bill was amended in 1995. As late as 1999, the National Rifle Association (NRA) was testifying in support of the measure, a position it seems to have dropped after the Sandy Hook massacre.Under the existing law, so-called “school zones” include but are not
limited to parks, sidewalks, roads and highways within 1,000 feet of the
property line of a public or private elementary, middle or high school.
The law makes it practically impossible to travel in populated areas
without entering a "gun-free school zone." People with state-issued
licenses or permits to carry guns are exempted by the federal law, but
the exemption is only good in the state that issued the permit.The law doesn’t exempt out-of-state travelers who have permits, nor does
it allow off-duty police officers to pack a weapon in a school. And it
is a violation for anyone other than an on-duty police officer or a
school security guard to discharge a firearm in a school zone for any
reason. A state permit does not exempt a person from the discharge
prohibition. Here
is a copy of the bill that retired U.S. Rep. Ron Paul introduced while
the Texan was campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination. He called
his repeal measure the Citizen Protection Act, and he got no support from
co-sponsors. Paul’s bill died when the new Congress was sworn in
yesterday, but Massie is now resurrecting it.Massie is a tea party adherent — elected last fall to
replace Geoff Davis — who largely shares the political philosophies of Paul and his son, Sen. Rand Paul, who is also from Kentucky. Massie voted
against John Boehner for speaker on the opening day of the 113th
Congress, an act of open defiance against the Republican House leadership.
by Bill Sloat
12.31.2012
Private, 186-acre Adams County range picked for firearms and physical self-defense classes
A
pro-gun group called the Buckeye Firearms Foundation says it plans to
send 24 school teachers through a training program to avoid mass
murders in Ohio schools, which it called “victim zones.” The
organization, which has been holding classes for cops and civilians
in rural Adams County near Cincinnati for about 15 years, calls the
program the Armed Teacher Training Program. So far, there is no word
about how many teachers have applied, but the firearms group says it
has been flooded with applications.
This
move by the in-state gun lobby — which appears to be trying to
capitalize off a tragedy linked to another slaughter — echoes the
National Rifle Association's call for arming teachers after the
tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School. It seems designed to push
back against efforts to control access to assault rifles and plays
off fears that teachers can save students by shooting it out with bad
guys. In online photos at the Adams County site, there are
people with military style guns, all apparently engaged in legal
activities on private property.
The
three-day shooting course for teachers in Ohio is supposed to cost
$1,000, and the firearms association says it will pick up the tab for
the educators it accepts into the class. That means it's putting its
money where its munitions are — it is serious about training but
does not offer to arm the teachers or buy them guns and bullets. It
says it will keep the names of the teachers secret if they ask for
confidentiality. The instructors are supposed to include
“professional law enforcement personnel” who have faced active
shooter situations:
“We
believe that while there are many things we can do to help avoid mass
murders at schools, it is imperative we allow teachers and
administrators to respond quickly and effectively. That means having
at least a few armed personnel on the scene so schools are no longer
‘victim zones.' We have resolved to create a curriculum for a
standardized Armed Teach Training Program which can be adopted around
the county.”
More information about the Tactical Defense Institute can be found here. The questionnaire to apply for the Armed Teacher
Training Program can be found here.
0 Comments · Wednesday, June 16, 2010
God today offered humanity another image to think about when he smote the 62-foot-tall statue of Jesus outside Solid Rock Church in Monroe, setting ablaze a monument that has become known to locals as "Touchdown Jesus" for its resemblance to a football referee signaling a touchdown. The statue is expected to be resurrected in the shape of Jesus dunking a basketball so the hoop can extend high into the sky and also function as a lightning rod.