My best laugh on a trip out West for warm air came when I read on line Sam Miller’s tribute to himself as part of Cleveland Magazine’s take on Cleveland’s most powerful people.

Why not get in line? Cities, counties, all levels of government are giving it away. So why shouldn’t American Greetings get in line. Crain’s Cleveland Business is reporting today that the Brooklyn, Ohio Company seeks to relocate because the city raised its city tax a half percent.

Researcher George Zeller still finds “job destruction” – his term – continues in Ohio. However, he gleans some “optimistic findings” in job figures for the first month of this new decade.

Not named nor indicted. Sound familiar? Keeping up with Forest City could be a full-time job. Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards watchdogs are keeping a sharp eye on the Cleveland firm’s cousin in Brooklyn and New York.

Mayor Frank Jackson’s inaugural talk was uninspiring, tedious and lacking the very essence of what it said it was about – the future.

Jackson offered Clevelanders nothing.

After a conversation about Cleveland’s past and present problems a friend asked me the other night – what about solutions. Do you have any solutions? It is a question I’ve been asked before.

E. J. Dionne of the Washington Post has said what needs to be said. It should be said over and over again until people understand it.

It seems to be the time for looking back. Sometimes when you look back you are really looking at the present and future. Here was my “Saying Goodbye” swan song in December 2000. It was the final issue of a newsletter I wrote for more than 32 years.

You may have noticed that the Plain Dealer gave cover to its favorite Senator, George Voinovich, on the health care bill. Of course, Voinovich – who has spent more than 40 years on a government health plan – voted NO on a bill that could help more than 1.3 million Ohioans.

Santa Claus came often and generously to MMPI this year. It’s not a one-night trip in this case. Eight times – from May to December - he (played by Tim Hagan) dropped $333,333.33 checks into the Chicago firm bank account.

Veteran reporter Anastasia Pantsios has written a detailed and convincing piece on Ohio Daily about the Plain Dealer’s campaign to pass Issue 6 and how it failed to give the public a true picture about County reform and hid some of the characters behind the push.

COUNT THEM…KEEP COUNTING THEM… AND KEEP COUNTING THEM - YEAR AFTER YEAR, AFTER YEAR, AFTER YEAR. ONCE YOU GET HEALTH CARE TO THE PEOPLE YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO TAKE IT AWAY. JUST LIKE SOCIAL SECURITY. JUST LIKE MEDICARE.

Medical care for 30 million people who do not have medical care now.

Steve Litt is back on the front page today promoting another supposed uplift for Cleveland’s despondent condition: this time another redo of Public Square.

The discussion on Bill Moyers show last night on PBS between Robert Kuttner of the American Prospect and Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone offers insight into the difference between youthful smarts and elder wisdom.

Did the Plain Dealer kill a story on Prosecutor Bill Mason because of the paper’s so – maybe too - close relationship with the people behind Issue 6 – County Reform?

There are some sane voices around. Better we listen to them or wait another 40 years for some kind of health care reform. Listen to the sane voices for a change.

Nate Silver, the numbers man, tells us why it is so important to pass the health reform bill – even without the more desirable public options. What he sees: poorer people getting subsidized care and the subsidy coming from higher incomes sources.

American Prospect finds a number of factual errors in Matt Taibbi’s critique of President Barack Obama’s economic record. Indeed, it calls his piece in Rolling Stone “a factual mess.”

The flow of federal stimulus money into Cleveland makes me wonder why Mayor Frank Jackson and his merry elves at City Council need to burden residents with a garbage tax.

The highly-subsidized Hyatt Regency Cleveland and the historic 1890 The Arcade “may go up for auction at a Cuyahoga County sheriff sale”, according to an article today in Crain’s Cleveland Business by Stan Bullard. Failure of the Cleveland’s architectural gem points to continued economic problems in downtown Cleveland.

Do you think we have the right to ask Sen. George Voinovich to speak out against the ugliness of the Republican Right? I think we do. Ask him why he’s silent on this issue.

The Call & Post has always been used as a political tool. It has a great history of standing up for blacks, especially when white newspapers didn’t give a shit about blacks.

The Plain Dealer is playing games with us about “Progress.” The paper wants to make us feel good. So Good News makes for good Page One copy. It also makes for misleading information.

Joe Cimperman started his campaign to be the first Cuyahoga County Executive today. If you don’t think so, you don’t know the ambitious Joe Cimperman.