I spent the labor day weekend in Cleveland and again attended the Hungarian Scout Festival. I was mistaken for no less than three people. Apparently I resemble a person named George, one named Maury and Yvette's husband. I spoke two Hungarian phrases and was understood and told my accent was good. In speaking Hungarian, accent is very important since Hungarians are not used to non-Hungarians speaking the language. Every time I go the scout festival, I feel a little more at home. All in all it was a lovely weekend. Birthday dinner at Mortons, the Cleveland Air Show and of course Grandpa's cheese barn. I look forward to Labor Day weekend every year with my wife, mother and this year my sister and niece. If you've never been to the Hungarian Scout Festival, and you likely haven't, give it a try, it is a unique experience. It's at German Central Park in Parma Ohio on the Sunday before Labor Day.

The Hungarian Scout Festival, Cserkesznap, pronounced Chair-kayz-nop, which means scout day, is yet another reason I love Cleveland. The first thing that strikes you about the festival is that people will speak to you in Hungarian. They try Hungarian first and if you look baffled they switch to English. But no matter what language you speak the people are friendly and inviting. The next time you go to your local ethnic festival see how much of the language is spoken. That's all fine and good, you may be saying to yourself, but what about the food? I'm glad you asked because I discovered something interesting the last time I went. I knew that the paprikas, the gulyas, the stuffed cabbage, the Hungarian pastries and crepes were all made by the people that ran the festival. In other words Hungarians. What I didn't know was that they made the sausage as well. When I asked one of the guys doing the cooking where the sausage came from, he informed me it came from a pig. He wasn't just grilling the sausage, he was one of the guys that made the sausage for the festival. I got the recipe from him, it's all by taste not measurement, and I will try my hand at making some this fall. Do I have a point doing all this bragging about the Hungarian Scout Festival? Yes. There is a different level of ethnic intensity in Cleveland than in most of the cities in which I've lived and it's evident in it's festivals, neighborhoods and markets. It's just one more reason why I love Cleveland.

Why I love Cleveland

Now that I've told you that it was a mistake for LeBron James to leave Cleveland in the previous post, I will now tell you why I love Cleveland which I will do in individual posts. My lovely wife and I make a trip up to Cleveland once or twice a year for various events and attractions. Let's start with the West Side Market. The West Side Market started as an open air market in the mid 1800's and the large structure you see to your left was completed in 1912. It's row after row of bakeries, butcher shops, seafood, spice stores and other goodies. My favorite being Dohar's meats, a Hungarian butcher shop that operates only out of the West side market. They have several varieties of fresh and smoked sausages and also carry Hungarian style bacon and salami and other things to fortify us paprika based life forms. And, they speak Hungarian.

You need some veggies? The vegetable stands run the length on the building on the north side of the market. The vendors are of any ethnic flavor you can think of. These folks are selling stuff. They do not wait quietly for you to pick up a pepper or an apple, they're yelling out prices, reaching over the fruit and vegetables to hand you samples. They compliment ...."these strawberries are as beautiful as you are" They admonish ..."I can't believe you are not going to buy this corn" a man said to us after we walked away from what was in his mind the best deal on corn in the history of the world. Towards the end of the day the prices start to come down as they would in any proper market. 2 for 5 becomes 2 for 4. That's not good enough? They make special price just for you! All these things make the West Side Market a very interesting place to say the least. But there is another thing which completes the experience, authenticity. You get the feeling not much has changed over the nearly 100 years of operation. It's being used much the same way in 2010 and it was in 1912. You walk around and see folks from all over the economic scale speaking a variety of languages. The only comparable market in my area is Findlay Market in Cincinnati. It was recently renovated and all they did was pretty the thing up. Adding seating areas and doo-dads to fancy up the place. Now it's just a tarted up market in a bad neighborhood. Having said that there are still gems in Findlay Market. Silverglades and Lukens Seafood and Poultry, Castellini's produce, the Arabic store and an asian store are all still there. No such thing has happened to the West Side Market and you can not only see the difference, you can feel it. So, take a trip to the West Side Market in Cleveland and experience it for yourself.

You made a huge mistake Lebron

You'll excuse me for being extremely late to the party on this one. Lebron James, in my humble opinion, has made a terrible mistake. I'm motivated to comment on this now because I've just returned from a trip to Cleveland. LeBron, as you know, has decided to play basketball in Miami rather than Cleveland. If you are not familiar with the city of Cleveland it may seem like a good decision. Phooey. Cleveland sports fans are loyal like no other sports fans in the world and LeBron was one of their heroes. The man would have been treated as a god and all he would have needed to do is play good basketball, keep his nose clean and get involved in the community. They would have erected statues to the man. In fact, when he was still there, on one entire side of the arena where the Cavaliers play was a huge picture of LeBron. Needless to say it's gone now. I understand that Miami is the sexier selection and Cleveland winters are harsh, I get that, but some things are more important than flash and glitter. Cleveland is the city that LeBron grew up in. A son of Cleveland if you will. I'm not saying he owes it all to the city, but a little loyalty would be nice. To add insult to injury, he booked a slap Cleveland in the face hour long special on ESPN called The Decision. In the end, LeBron chose more money over his hometown and it's my opinion that it's one "decision" he will not be proud of at the end of his career.

They will lie about us.

Tomorrow, April 15th there will be a Tea Party protest held in Cincinnati, Ohio. The protesters will assemble at Fountain Square and march, peacefully to City Hall. The picture to your left is of the Tea Party we held at fountain square on March 15th. There were over 5,000 people crowding the square peaceably protesting the insane spending of the Obama administration and one Obama supporter. So who did the first media on the scene latch on to? Yup, the lone Obama supporter. You can read more about that here. The rumor is that there will be counter protesters at the Tea Party, some of them pretending to be Tea Party protesters and will be misbehaving and displaying signs with ridiculous messages in an attempt to discredit the Tea Party movement. This a typical tactic of the left and I hope that all those in attendance have heeded the warning not to react to these folks except to point them out as frauds. They will not be subtle, their goal will be to get media coverage and to try and portray the actual protesters as racists, as violent or in favor of censorship or any other nasty thing they can think of. The media will of course fall for it hook line and sinker, because most of them are unaware that they are being played like a cheap fiddle. As far as the media is concerned, mainly television media, the truth is secondary to a good story. I will be working tomorrow, but I hope to catch the end of the protest as it wraps up at City Hall. But do not despair, your buddy Scootertrash will have boots on the ground and I will have a full report!

Who's in charge of this stuff?

An Ipod, they gave the Queen of England an Ipod! Barack Obama and Michell Obama visited Queen Elizabeth and gave her an Ipod, and she already has one! You don't give someone of that stature an electronic toy, you give them something meaningful. But apparently whoever is in charge of these gift exchanges has again dropped the ball. What an embarrassment. You may recall President Obama's previous visit to London to meet with Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The gift exchange was equally disastrous in it's thoughtlessness. President Obama gave Gordon Brown a box set of classic American movies on DVD in a format that is not compatible with the DVD player Prime Minister Brown most likely has. What did Prime Minister Brown give President Obama. Ohhhh, nothing special really, just an ornamental pen holder carved out of the timbers of the Victorian anti-slave ship the HMS Gannet. And that of course goes with a desk made of oak from her sister ship the HMS Resolute that has sat in the Oval Office in the White House since 1880. But wait, there's more, also a framed commission of the HMS Resolute and a first edition of the seven-volume biography of Churchill by Sir Martin Gilbert. Just some things he threw together at the last minute. I ignored this story when it first came to light. I chalked it up to him being new on the job, still learning the international ropes so to speak. It can no longer be ignored, we can now see they learned nothing, and embarrassed us yet again. My advice to President and Mrs. Obama, find somebody to help you with the gift thing before this becomes insulting.

ACORN and the Connecticut Working Families Party

I learned an interesting fact earlier this week regarding the protest by the Connecticut Working Families Party in front of AIG headquarters and at private residences. The useful idiots pictured to above were recruited by ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. ACORN also paid for the bus and apparently co-founded the Connecticut Working Families party. Where does one have to learn this? Everywhere but the mainstream media. Let us not forget that ACORN was organized and it's leader trained by none other than President Obama. These thuggish tactics are not only ACORN's, they are also his. And speaking of President Obama, did you know he fired the CEO of General Motors Rick Wagoner? You can read about it in detail here. Of course President Obama said he doesn't want to run the auto companies, but yet he fired GM's CEO. This is an unprecedented abuse of power but typical of the heavy handed tactics of the Obama administration. So, the next time you hear of poor or unethical behavior by ACORN, remember where it comes from.

Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely

"They should voluntarily return them (the bonuses). If they don't we plan to tax virtually all of it." These are the words of the man to your left, Representative Charles Schumer referring to the bonuses paid to American International Group employees. When I heard him say that, a chill ran down my spine. Keep in mind, that when the bailout money was given to AIG, they knew of these contractually obligated bonuses, agreed upon before any taxpayer money went to the ailing firm, and it was included in the agreement. Then in an abrupt about face, they pass a bill specifically targeting these bonuses taxing them at a rate of 90%. This is such a grotesque abuse of power, it defies description. This is not the kind of behavior we should expect from our elected officials.

In related news. A busload of protesters took a little tour of Connecticut and staged a protest, organized by the Connecticut Working Families Party, in front of AIG headquarters to show their displeasure at the employees taking the bonuses that they earned. Certainly their right as citizens of these United States. But what they did next was, in my opinion, over the line. They protested in front of private homes of AIG employees. This plucky band of Obamatons held up signs and read letters in front of these homes with a barrier of private security between them and the private property. The below You Tube video give us a glimpse of the type of person who would attend such a protest.

What I find interesting about this video is how the subject of mortgages shows up immediately in the coverage by CNN. What does the earned bonuses of AIG employees have to do with people failing to pay their mortgages? The last woman interviewed tells us, she would like to use the bonus money to " help the foreclosed people who don't have food in they home" That's the exact quote by the way, I'm not making fun of the woman. One activist, who is said to be an unemployed steel worker, was according to the CNN announcer is "putting his faith in President Obama". When he should be relying on himself. In a campaign speech in Colorado President Obama made the following pronouncement: "We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded." Are we seeing the beginnings of that movement? Will there be more protests in front of private residences? We know that this was a favorite tactic of the group ACORN. A group at one point who was organized and trained by President Obama. All of this together is too much to be considered a coincidence. So I guess we have to ask ourselves, what is the next move? Who will be the next group to be vilified? I have been avoiding a certain word that I thought too strong to describe what is going on here. But now I have to say it, these are the tactics of fascists, which have no place in our Republic.

I spent my Sunday afternoon attending the Cincinnati Tea Party with my lovely wife, her mother our friends Rob and Jo and their daughter River and 5,000 of my closest friends. It was a beautiful day, sunny and mild with a light breeze and a comfortable temperature of 65 degrees. We listened to several passionate speakers and enjoyed the company of like minded patriots. So you can imagine my surprise when I came home, turned on the local news and found out the event I just attended was "violent". Channel 9 news (WCPO) reported that they had to leave the event due to fear for their safety and having been spit on by people involved in our protest. Never mind that they showed no footage of such activities even though they had a cameraman with them. As it turns out, Channel 9 may have had decided how they were going to report the story before they left the studio. This information was in an email was sent out by the Cincinnati Tea Party Organization which is revealing to say the least. When you read this, steam will come out of your ears.

"The true story is that they found the lone Obama supporter amidst a sea of 5,000 and went to interview her. The crowd that was nearby noticed and was upset and let their displeasure be voiced, but were clearly peaceful.

I (Mike Wilson, founder of Cincinnati Tea Party) just watched the 11p.m. version of their (Channel 9) newscast and it was much less slanted, but retained the accusation of threats, but without providing proof.

Now the truly interesting thing is that WCPO interviewed me on Friday March 12th. The interview went well but I was cornered by the assistant news director, Jeff Brogan. He was upset that emails flooded the station about the tea party and asked that we do what we can to stop them. I pointed out that I don't control anyone and that I had sent an email to our entire mailing list that I would be on WCPO He pointed out too much email contact was a good way to get on their bad side and we should stop if we wanted to get good coverage. I guess he and WCPO lived up to those words."

Now you know why I've never relied on my local TV stations, any of them, for my news. This is something I have first hand experience with. These people are not journalists, they are driven by ratings and are slaves to their consultants. It's a sad state of affairs that the recommendations for improvement of a news program mainly include using younger talking heads and redecorating the set. I watched an entire morning show revamped in this manner. The naked truth is that sensationalism rules the local news room. The truth be damned, we want a story! But despite the lies and distortions, they cannot dampen our spirits because we know the truth of our intentions and now we know the truth of theirs.

Tim Geithner should be charged with tax evasion

Tim Geithner should either be charged with tax evasion or he should resign his post as Secretary of the Treasury. In his position as director of the Policy Development and Review Department of the International Monetary Fund no payroll tax was withheld from his pay. Which of course means that you need to pay your own taxes. Well, it didn't mean that to our new Treasury Secretary! He failed to pay 34,000 dollars in income tax over the 4 years he was with the IMF, blaming it on "Turbo Tax", the software that assists you in filing your income tax. This brings me to two possible conclusions: 1: He deliberately did not pay his taxes. 2: He was unaware that as an independent contractor with the IMF that he had to pay his own taxes (he signed a document every quarter that said he was supposed to be paying his own taxes). The first conclusion makes him a criminal, the second, renders him unfit to be with the Treasury department which oversees the IRS. But yet, there he is, in the administration of President Obama. In addition to the tax cheats, we have the lobbyists. There is nothing wrong with lobbyists, but President Obama sure thought they were a problem back when he was campaigning saying: "I don't take a dime of their money, and when I am president, they won't find a job in my White House." Except for..... William J. Lynn III, his choice to become the number 2 official at the Defense Department, who lobbied for military contractor Raytheon. And William Corr, selected to be deputy secretary at Health and Human services who lobbied through most of 2008 as an anti-tobacco advocate. So we see example after example of the continuation of lies from his campaign right into the White House. And his first 100 days aren't even up. I need a drink.