Local clergy, civic leaders and residents will participate Tuesday in the National Day of Fasting and Prayer for Immigration Reform.

Cincinnati's prayer vigil will be held at the Su Casa Hispanic Center in Carthage.

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Some local groups will be holding signs outside of Great American Ball Park today and Thursday while the Reds play, protesting Arizona's new immigration law and seeking signatures for a petition that asks Major League Baseball to move the 2011 All-Star Game from the state. The Cincinnati Interfaith Workers Center, the Immigration Advocacy Movement and various religious and civic leaders are organizing the event and will distribute leaflets to passersby.

Also, some participants plan to disrupt today's game by unfurling two large banners stating “Not in Arizona, not in Ohio — Immigrant Rights Now — No S.B. 1070” and “Shame on Arizona, Don’t Spread Hate.” The action was planned after Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig’s announcement that he won't change the venue for next year's All-Star Game.

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This week's issue of CityBeatfeatures an article about the grassroots effort last year to have the city of Cincinnati establish a Domestic Partnership Registry.

Ultimately, Equality Cincinnati (EC) became part of the effort, assumed responsibility for the registry and then delayed trying to have one officially enacted through City Council.

Instead, EC created its own symbolic registry, with no connection to City Hall.

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Several dozen Cincinnati residents will participate in Saturday's “Reclaim the Dream” rally in Washington, D.C.

The rally was organized by the Rev. Al Sharpton and the National Action Network after it was announced that conservative TV talk show host and self-described “rodeo clown” Glenn Beck was holding a demonstration on the mall in Washington, D.C., on the 47th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King's historic “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.”

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Last week's Porkopolis column examined the in-fighting among the various Tea Party factions after the spokesman of the Tea Party Express wrote a satirical blog item about a letter from “Coloreds” to President Abraham Lincoln.

The not very funny but very hateful item was written by conservative radio talk show host Mark Williams, who was angered by the NAACP's resolution asking the political movement to denounce and expel its racist elements.

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Phil Burress' obsession with other people's sex lives is continuing unabated.

Burress, the head of Sharonville-based Citizens for Community Values (CCV), is upset that this year's Cincinnati Equinox Pride Festival is being held downtown on the Fourth of July and could potentially intrude on some Independence Day events. CCV has sent a mass e-mail to its followers, asking them to write letters of protest to companies sponsoring the event.

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It's definitely a sign of the times we live in.

More than 70 unemployed people were joined by labor union leaders, clergy and community activists today to push of the passage of a federal jobs bill. In an event organized by the AMOS Project, the crowd circled Fountain Square chanting, “We need a job” and “I'm ready to work,” while brandishing signs containing similar sentiments.

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An animal rights group had one of its members question executives of the Kroger Co. grocery store chain at its annual shareholders meeting held here Thursday.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) had member Lindsay Rajt, who also is a Kroger shareholder, ask during the meeting whether Kroger has plans to move toward a less cruel method of poultry slaughter, called "controlled-atmosphere killing" (CAK), instead of its current practice.

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Despite numerous examples of intolerance and hatred at its events and multiple polls showing the group represents only a small minority of the populace, the noisy Tea Party movement continues to gain an unwarranted amount of media attention as it strives for respectability.

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CityBeat first wrote about the Springboro Tea Party last month, detailing the agenda for a rally planned Saturday that’s heavy with speakers from the John Birch Society and movies about far-right conspiracy theories. 

Now the Tea Party leader organizing the event, Brian “Sonny” Thomas, is under fire for racist and vulgar comments he posted on Twitter, which has prompted several politicians to cancel their appearances at the rally.

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