Almost as soon as the health care reform bill finally was passed in March, the Ohio Liberty Council — an organization comprised of various Tea Party-related groups — promised it would exploit the public outrage and mount a petition effort to have the federal law barred from taking effect in Ohio. Just days before the June 30 deadline to turn in their petition signatures, the group called off its effort with less than half the signatures required.  

There are few words that can elicit as visceral a reaction as "taxes." Nobody likes to pay unnecessary taxes but, thanks to a generation of proselytizing by the Republican Party, many people don't understand the concept of the common good and view all taxes as bad. And yet corporations bend and twist the tax system to their advantage, leaving some U.S. citizens to pay a higher tax rate than many multinational, billion-dollar corporations. That's maddening.  

We at WWE! don't like some things because they make us mad: traffic, static cling, cats with pink noses, male politicians, really tall people, music, Ford Mustangs and getting hit on the elbow. But even worse than all these things combined? Movies. The manager of a new theater in Kenwood wants to help make the moviegoing experience more enjoyable by serving alcohol. The Sycamore Township Board of Trustees is expected to approve the liquor license.  

Credit must be given to the Cincinnati Tea Party for stepping up to the plate and condemning a suggestion by The Whistleblower online newsletter to stage a protest at U.S. Rep. Steve Driehaus' home in West Price Hill. But a recent poll doesn't cast the teabaggers in a good light.  

We're watching the meltdown of another story that was too good to be true, too vivid and contemporary to challenge: the runaway California Prius. It didn't take long before the California driver's claims were restated as facts: uncontrolled speed, inability to slow or stop and heroic cop who played a role in averting disaster. It made sense if you believed the hype about Toyota problems. It was too good a story.   

Don't listen to what the squeaky wheels on the far right are yelling this week: Most Americans will support the health care reform bill passed by the House once they see what's included in it. In fact, the first major poll taken after the March 21 vote suggests a much different picture than what's being touted by the Tea Party and GOP "leaders."  

Molly Ivins, the late syndicated columnist from Texas, got it right when she wrote, “Being slightly paranoid is like being slightly pregnant — it tends to get worse.” For the truth of that statement, look no further than the agenda for an April 17 "Bringin' Back Conservatism: Doin' It Again in 2010" event planned by the Springboro Tea Party just north of Cincinnati.  

In an event designed to highlight the scope of its influence, the Cincinnati Tea Party hosted a press conference Feb. 24 featuring 101 candidates from precinct captain to Congressional hopefuls lining the stage of the Lakota Freshmen Campus Auditorium in West Chester. "We were very happy with the turnout," says Mike Wilson, Cincinnati Tea Party founder and a candidate for the 28th District Ohio House race, who organized the event. "We're very excited about what the party has been able to do in just a year. We've got a strong voting block."  

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.