It's about time that someone of note said it publicly. During a June 9 conference of progressive activists, ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero declared, "I'm disgusted with this president." No, Romero wasn't repeating any of the outlandish attacks that Tea Partiers and far right kooks have made about President Obama personally. Rather, he was referring to Obama's policies on civil liberties and national security issues, which have contradicted his campaign promises from 2008.  

At age 35, Justin Coussoule is the Democratic Party's latest shot at capturing the 8th Congressional District seat. An attorney and former Army captain from Liberty Township who works at Procter & Gamble, Coussoule says he entered the race because the economic policies pushed for by U.S. Rep. John Boehner during the past 18 years have caused job losses, declining property values and rising poverty rates in the district.  

SHERIFF RICHARD JONES: It plays well on Fox News and serves as a convenient outlet for some people's misplaced anger, but the Butler County sheriff's rigid, anti-immigrant attitude has just cost county taxpayers $100,000.   

U.S. House Minority Leader John Boehner performed the equivalent of complaining to the night manager at McDonald's when he formally urged the state of Ohio to join a lawsuit against the new federal health care law. Boehner said in a statement that the law will mean higher costs, lost jobs, fewer freedoms and blah blah blah.  

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.  

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.  

Last week a Vanity Fair writer named A.A. Gill riled up the pro-Cincy blogosphere by writing the following line in an introduction to a fairly obvious story about how dumb the Creation Museum is: "It's not in the nature of stoic Cincinnatians to boast, which is fortunate, really, for they have meager pickings to boast about." The statement was poorly received by Cincinnatians, though it was seen as hilarious by some for how big of a dickbag it made the writer sound.  

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.  

In the national news' "You bet your ass I will" department, local intellectual and House Minority Leader John Boehner joined what a silver-tongued reporter referred to as a "legal crusade" to keep the phrase "In God We Trust" inscribed above the visitors' entrance to the U.S. Capitol.