The overcrowded, dilapidated bridge on Interstate 75 that connects Cincinnati to Northern Kentucky got a shout-out last week from the main man. President Obama mentioned the rusty steel structure in his Aug. 8 speech to Congress as an example of projects that could be expedited if his jobs plan is approved.  

Barack Obama and John Boehner walk into a bar. The bartender says, “We don’t serve your kind in here … just kidding — what do you assholes want?” This stupid joke is a lot funnier than what actually happened when Obama and Boehner walked into a meeting room in an attempt to avoid a government default, only to walk back out and blame each other for walking away.  

John Boehner today said the government needs to consider trillions of dollars worth of cuts before he will agree to raise the debt limit but no one could tell if he was serious because he was crying and smiling at the same time.  

For those not familiar with the concept, codependency is a psychological term that refers to the tendency in a person to become fixated on another person for approval or sustenance. In the instance of the two demagogues named Chris, Messrs. Finney and Smitherman, the underlying reasons are all about relevance, credibility and (mostly) free legal services.  

Nearly 1,000 Hamilton County residents have stepped up to tell officials what they think about hot-button topics facing the county. They participated in the county’s citizen survey that examines attitudes on various issues including the stadium fund deficit, the criminal justice system, mass transit and streamlining county government.  

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled June 9 that Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters was within his legal authority last October when he convinced 12 Common Pleas judges to sign an order firing a private law firm used for years by Hamilton County commissioners. The action was taken without prior notification to the commissioners and occurred only after they had cut $15 million from the Prosecutor's Office budget. Just a week before the high court's decision, another judge in a lawsuit related to Deters' action had sided with commissioners.   

It might take a lesson in understanding games of logic to understand all the various aspects surrounding Issue 9. Here's how it begins: There is an issue on the ballot this November called Issue 9. One side that's interested in the topic says it's about stopping wasteful spending; the other side insists it's about saving Cincinnati jobs.  

With four countywide tax levies on the November ballot, the most since 1994, you would expect the public to balk. But with two in particular — levies in support of the Cincinnati Museum Center and the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County — that doesn't seem to be the case, with widespread support for both.