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Dave Yost IS Establishment; Cozies Up to Bob Bennett

From a campaign update email:

Bob Bennett Signs on as Honorary Campaign Chair

As the campaign entered the final 100 days, the Yost for Auditor campaign announced former Ohio Republican Party Chairman Bob Bennett has signed on as honorary campaign chair.

Bennett has a legacy unmatched in Ohio political history - having served as Republican Party Chair during three straight sweeps of constitutional offices in 1994, 1998, and 2002.

"I've watched Dave Yost grow as a candidate over the past year and am committed to seeing him win this race," said Bennett. "After steady stewardship of the Auditor's offices by Republicans Jim Petro, Betty Montgomery, and Mary Taylor, many Ohioans have forgotten what it was like to have an activist using the Auditor's office for political gains. I remember the days of Tom Ferguson all too well - so I know how important it is for us to keep this important seat. I'll do all I can to make sure Dave Yost wins."

"I could not be prouder to have Bob Bennett lend his experience and expertise to our effort," said Yost. "He is a legend when it comes to winning statewide races. We're blessed to have his full support."

Dave Yost couldn't be prouder to be an establishment candidate. It is looking more and more as if the truth is that he was an establishment guy all along... Seriously? Bob Bennett??? What a hack that guy is... Dave, it's like I hardly know you...what happened?

I love it when peeps talk about Bennett like 2006 and 2008 didnt happen...

UPDATE: I just remembered some "stuff" from the primary. Up there in Cuyahoga County, Bennett was the Yost cheerleader, but "his" team wanted very little to do with Dave. When it appeared that Seth was going to take the endorsement, it was Bob Bennett who orchestrated the "let's all just get along because these are two great guys" nonsense. Of course, due entirely to Bob's political genius, Cuyahoga County GOP endorsed...SETH MORGAN.

It took this long for that guy to get on board...and that says something too.

Dems Bequeath Ohio with Duplicative Legislation

Release:

Majority Attempts to Conceal Mistakes

COLUMBUS – The Ohio House of Representatives has received several pieces of legislation from the majority caucus that are strikingly similar to other bills introduced earlier this General Assembly from the other side of the aisle.

Earlier this week, House Bill 562 was introduced that would eliminate the $20 late fee endorsed and signed into law by House Democrats and Governor Strickland with the passage of the biennial budget. State Representative Deborah Newcomb (D-Conneaut) and 15 of her Democratic colleagues cosponsored this measure that reverses a measure they previously endorsed by supporting House Bill 2. However, State Reps. Ron Maag (R-Lebanon) and Terry Boose (R- Norwalk), introduced House Bill 428 in January 2010, nearly seven months earlier and encouraged all members of the Ohio House of Representatives to join them on this necessary repeal.

“Every dime, every dollar counts in today’s economy. I am elated to see that my colleagues have introduced this legislation and look forward to swift action,” said Rep. Terry Boose. “Nonetheless, the majority Democratic Caucus cannot play both sides of the field. While Ohioans are suffering and partisan politics have been placed aside in the struggling business owners’ mind, the majority party does one thing, and then attempts to cover their malicious, expensive intent with political gimmicks.”

The combined list of cosponsors to eliminate the late fee represents more than enough support to repeal it. Earlier this year the Daily Record reported that more than $16 million has been collected from 818,429 individuals. However, the burden of duplicative legislation has been forced on the hard-working families of Ohio more than once.

State Rep. Ron Maag questioned the duration of time that had elapsed, asking, “Why won’t the Speaker call us into session and pass legislation today? Why did the House Democrats wait nearly eight months to do this? I look forward to swift attention being paid to this necessary repeal, just like the swift action with House Bill 473.”

Rep. Maag introduced House Bill 132, legislation to address “sexting,” in April 2009. More than a year later, House Bill 473, a legislative measure to prohibit sexting, was introduced in March 2010 and the House voted on the bill two short months later.

A Good Ad From RGA?

Finally, we get a good ad from the Republican Governors Association...

Ted Strickland's Hypocrisy from Republican Governors Association on Vimeo.

I actually like this one...

Strickland Outsourced Ohio's Stimulus

"Recovery Summer" continues here in the Great State of Beautiful Ohio. The latest piece of bad news to finally break in to a few media outlets deals with Gov. Strickland's total incompetence in managing the Stimulus money. You know, the taxpayer funds that the governor was counting on to Turn Ohio Around...

Oh, don't let our lefty friends lead you astray. Ohio Republicans specifically requested that the governor appoint an independent panel to oversee how this money was being spent, but he decided to play politics with YOUR money.

What are the specifics? The "stimulus" cash for fridges program here in Ohio is being "managed" by a company based in Texas. That company outsourced the work to Central America.

Oops.

So much for stimulus "creating (or saving?) jobs right here" in Ohio...or the United states for that matter.

Once again, Strickland's team is just not up to the task. This administration has been a circus of blunders and unforced errors...from Day One.

Ohio's senior Republican in Congress, Rep. Steven LaTourette said, "It’s no wonder only 6% of Americans believe that the Stimulus Bill created any jobs. To be fair, it does look like Governor Strickland used the funds to create some jobs – in Central America. To suggest an Ohio company couldn’t be trusted to run the appliance rebate program is insulting, and paying a Texas company nearly half a million dollars to use a call center in another country is astounding. This is not Cash for Appliances, it’s Cash for Incompetence."

Rep. Bob Latta (OH-05) piled on:

“As President Obama and Governor Strickland continue to tout the ‘success’ of the ‘stimulus package’ in the face of record high unemployment, this story only confirms the fact that independent oversight is long overdue, which we called for last year,” Congressman Latta said. “It is beyond comprehension that not only was this project outsourced to another state, but that these jobs would eventually end up overseas.”

Republican Leader, my Congressman and a Great American -- John Boehner -- also known as the right Knight of Congress added, "The White House, with the support of Governor Strickland, pledged that the ‘stimulus’ would create jobs immediately in our state, yet more than 100,000 Ohioans have lost their jobs since this trillion-dollar bill was enacted. Gov. Strickland owes Ohio families asking ‘Where are the jobs?’ an explanation as to why ‘stimulus’ funds allocated by his administration were used to create jobs in Central America, and why he has repeatedly refused to establish an independent, bipartisan panel to prevent this misuse of taxpayer dollars."

Democrats can't even give away money right...

UPDATE: 3BP has reaction from Rep. Pat Tiberi here.

Gibbs Calls For Rangel's Resignation

Release:

Lakeville, OH - Bob Gibbs, Republican candidate for Congress in Ohio's 18th district, today called for U.S. Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) to resign his seat in Congress following a lengthy ethics investigation. Congressman Rangel has been under investigation by the House Committee on Standards on Official Conduct which resulted, last week, with several charges of multiple ethics violations.

"Congressman Rangel needs to respect the voters enough to resign his seat in Congress amidst all of his ethics problems," said Gibbs. "The question is, why hasn't Space called for the immediate resignation of Rangel, just as many of his Democrat colleagues have done?"

Previously, Congressman Zack Space showed his loyalty to Rangel, voting to allow the New York congressman to continue to serve as Chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee while under investigation.

In a press release from May of 2006 Zack Space stated:

"There is a saying that 'you can't clean up the water until you get the hogs out of the creek.' To clean up Washington we have to rid the Congress of ethically challenged politicians..."

"Congressman Zack Space campaigned on cleaning up Washington in 2006, but now that it’s 2010, he’s having trouble practicing what he preached," said Gibbs. "Or at least Zack has changed his tone on ethically challenged politicians that have donated thousands to his campaign fund."

Boccieri Caught in Double Talk on Dirty Campaign Dollars

Release:

Canton, OH — In the wake of revelations last week that a House investigatory panel has charged Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y) with ethics violations, many House Democrats continue to distance themselves from the corrupt Congressman and purge their campaign coffers of his tainted donations. The decision by Democrats to dump or donate Rangel’s money began months ago as a string of corruption allegations, ranging from improper use of taxpayer dollars to filing fraudulent financial disclosures, began to surface. While dozens of House Democrats have returned or donated Rangel’s contributions, including Ohio members Zack Space and Mary Jo Kilroy, Rep. John Boccieri has remained defiant, refusing to part with the $53,200 he has taken from Rangel.

Boccieri’s refusal to rid his campaign coffers of Rangel’s contributions directly contradicts the position he took in the state legislature when he verbally chastised Ohio Republicans over campaign contributions they received from political fundraiser Tom Noe, who at the time was facing a federal investigation into violations of FEC law. Despite the fact that Republicans in the Ohio Statehouse had already committed Noe’s tainted donations to charity, Boccieri insisted that ridding their campaign accounts of Noe’s money didn’t go far enough and he demanded that Republicans be stripped of committee chairmanships and recuse themselves from legislative matters for having accepted the contributions in the first place. As the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported on June 2, 2005, “Rep. John Boccieri, a Mahoning County Democrat, asked that Rep. Stephen Buehrer step down as Chairman of the State Government Committee because of $8,000 in contributions (from Noe).”

After accepting tens of thousands of dollars from Rangel in 2007 and 2008, Boccieri neither stepped down from committee assignments nor recused himself from a vote to strip Rangel of his Chairmanship of the Ways & Means committee in 2009 (H.R. 805). In fact, Boccieri not only participated in the vote on H.R. 805, but voted against stripping Rangel of his Chairmanship.

“By desperately clinging to Charlie Rangel’s dirty campaign cash, John Boccieri has already demonstrated a clear lack of ethical integrity—but now it appears he is also guilty of blatant hypocrisy. Although John Boccieri has a long record of breaking his promises to the voters of the 16th district, he may salvage whatever remains of his shattered reputation by sparing his constituents any further embarrassment over their Congressman’s involvement in Charlie Rangel’s corrupt campaign contributions,” Renacci spokesman James Slepian said.

Youngstown Johnny and the Space Man

I was reminded today of something I had wanted to dig up from the archives...



Somebody ought to ask John Boccieri and Zach Space if they intend on keeping the dirty money they got from Charlie Rangel...

Ruffini Wisdom

On Twitter, Patrick Ruffini says this:

Conservatism is more important in governing than in a campaign. Run center. Get elected. Govern right. I will get flayed for this.

Ohio Republicans should take note of the back half of that statement. Ohio Republicans typically have it backward. They run as conservatives and then govern as liberals. Not the way this thing works... Thanks, Patrick, for pointing this out!

St. Rep. McGregor: Cut Wasteful Spending, Keep Ohioans Informed

Release:

Columbus—State Representative Ross McGregor (R-Springfield) [yesterday] introduced House Bill 561, legislation to require the Office of Budget and Management to maintain a database showing capital project appropriations and re-appropriations, to make the database available online and to submit a biennial report to the General Assembly.

“This legislation will reduce unnecessary spending and increase our government’s accountability to the public,” said Rep. McGregor. “Ohio is in the midst of the 15th straight month of double-digit unemployment; we cannot afford to needlessly spend taxpayer dollars.”
Rep. McGregor drafted the legislation after a project budgeted more than five years ago in his district sought re-appropriation. When enacted, the proposed legislation would allow the public and the legislature to better monitor projects that have been appropriated state funds. With a biennial report, legislators will be equipped with information to choose whether or not to continue funding a specific project.

VIDEO: Lee Fisher's Bad Bad Week

UPDATE: Speaking of Lee Fisher, here is Rob Portman's latest TV ad:

Now THAT is a fantastic ad. Team Kasich, please take note of it.

Yost vs. Strickland on Taylor

Email:

Gov. Ted Strickland is "appalled" - his word -- that Mary Taylor told the truth about Ohio's tax climate last week. Mr. Strickland's preference for rhetoric over numbers does not bode well for our state should he be granted a second term as watcher-in-chief.

Auditor Taylor said an unremarkable thing - that when she was a private CPA, she counseled wealthy Ohio clients to consider establishing residency in Florida or other lower-tax jurisdictions. That's common advice, according to Barbara Benton, vice president of governmental affairs for the Ohio Society of CPAs.
Although he probably did not get that advice from Mary Taylor, former parking lot magnate and Ohio Senator Howard Metzenbaum moved to Florida for those reasons prior to this death, according to the Wall Street Journal.
This isn't about class warfare. It's about how money and talent is heading out of our state because it's economically smart to do so. As a friend once told me, "I never got a job from a poor man."
The world is as it is, not as we wish it to be. According to the Columbus Dispatch, Mr. Strickland found it "troubling" that a person seeking to lead Ohio would tell such a truth - as though smart people who have made money will somehow stay here if we all just agree to stop talking about that tax burden thing.
What I find troubling is that the CEO of my state has such an elastic notion of the truth. But I suppose the monsters can't get you as long as you stay under the sheets.
The world is as it is, not as we wish it to be. In order to change what we do not like, we must begin with a clear vision of where we are.
Mr. Strickland has a history of dodging unpleasant truths - when the state was perched at the budgetary abyss in the autumn of 2008, his suggested remedy was to hope for a good Christmas shopping season.
When that failed to materialize, his next fix was to seek huge sums of money from the federal government. The federal government did for him what our Constitution prevents him from doing - it borrowed the money.
Ohio's unemployment compensation fund ran out of money in January 2009. By January 2011, Ohio will owe the federal government $3 billion - and next year, Ohio has to start paying interest on that debt. (Hint: it will probably be more than $100 million a year. Where will Ohio find that kind of money?) Mr. Strickland's plan to deal with this is much like his Christmas Shopping Season plan - wait and see if things get better somehow.
That's not good enough. And we're not going to rebuild a competitive Ohio by pretending that the truth is something other than it is. That way lies deception.

Is Dave Yost runningfor governor?  Or is the governor running for auditor?  I can't tell...  
At any rate, what Dave has to say here is certainly valid...I'd just like to hear it from Team Kasich.

Voinovich on DISCLOSE

Statement:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator George V. Voinovich (R-Ohio) today released the following statement on his vote against the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to S.3628, the DISCLOSE Act:

“The DISCLOSE Act is all about politics. It has nothing to do with campaign finance reform and everything to do with limiting the speech of groups with perspectives different from those of the bill’s authors. This legislation attempts to regulate independent speech that is protected by the First Amendment of our Constitution.
“It is clear this bill is written to benefit special interests because it exempts unions, the National Rifle Association, the Sierra Club and others from its requirements. What is the legitimate reason to exempt some organizations and not others? There is none. Proponents of the bill are attempting to control who can and cannot engage in political discourse.”

I assume this means he's a "NO" but ya just never know...

ORP Calls Out Strickland on Wall Street Hyprocrisy

Chairman DeWine is holding a press conference up in Columbus today in which he calls out Gov. Ted Strickland for taking $1.5 million in Wall Street contributions, $25,000 from Lehman Brothers.

About time...

Strickland's continuous attacks do open him up for an examination of his record and who he "owes" favors.  While a few media outlets will cover the presser, they will most likely not get around to asking Strickland any hard questions about this (or any other subject eihter...).

The really sad thing is that with as bad as we have it in Ohio, why are we talking about this crap at all?  Jobs.  That is all that should matter in this campaign.  And so long as that remains true, Ted Strickland is in deep doodoo.

UPDATE: Senate President Bill Harris: "Strickland should look himself in mirror."

House Minority Leader Bill Batchelder says Strickland has done business with Wall Street companies he condemns.

Unendorsing Pfieffer

Did the Hamilton County Republican Party's Executive Committee UNendorse Justice Paul "the Liberal" Pfieffer at a recent meeting?

Enquiring minds want to know...

UPDATE:  Am told  "nope - 'robust discussion" only'" which is really too bad because tolerating Democrat-Lite Republicans like Pfieffer is part of the problem.

Rep. Jean Schmidt: "Higher Taxes Not the Answer in a Recession"

Despite passing a nearly trillion dollar stimulus bill more than one year ago, unemployment figures continue to be disappointing. Nevertheless, just last month, the President wrote to Congressional leaders urging them to spend even more money in another effort to help grow the economy. While the wisdom of enacting yet another federal stimulus is questionable at best, I think most people agree that now is not the time to increase taxes. But, that’s exactly what could happen if Congress does not act soon.

In 2001 and 2003, Congress enacted broad-based tax reform measures that helped to stimulate the economy. These reforms included marginal tax rate reductions for all income levels, including the creation of a new 10% tax bracket and the lowering of the highest tax rate from 39.6% to 35%. The reforms also included the elimination of the marriage penalty, a doubling of the child tax credit, and a reduction in tax rates on investments that grow the economy and create high paying jobs.

Due to Congressional budget rules, these tax reforms will expire on January 1, 2011. Unless Congress acts soon, Americans will be hit with a $3.8 trillion tax increase. This increase will affect all taxpayers. According to calculations done by the minority staff on the House Ways and Means Committee, a family of four earning $50,000 per year could pay more than $2,100 in higher taxes. And, a single mom with a $36,000 income would see a tax increase of $1,100.

The fact is that tax increases in the midst of a recession are counterproductive. Tax increases mean less money in the wallets of every hard-working American – not just the rich. Tax increases mean you will have less money to buy what you need, increase your savings, and invest in the economy.

Bipartisan support for extending the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts is growing. More and more Members of Congress from the majority party are speaking out about the need to extend these tax cuts. But, time is running out, and what we need is action not just words.

Josh Mandel on Right and Wrong

The following is the text from a campaign email sent out by Josh Mandel:

Matt,

We’ve been working for over a year to create the most tech-savvy and motivated grassroots team in Ohio, communicating our message of integrity and fiscal discipline throughout the state.

In an act of desperation, my opponent has just attacked me on an issue that is about Right vs. Wrong, and demonstrated that he will stop at absolutely nothing to try to slow the growing momentum that we have steaming forward in all 88 counties.

Here’s what’s happening…

A few years ago, I led the charge to stop the Ohio pension funds from investing in terrorist-sponsoring nations such as Iran, a country funding roadside bombs killing American troops overseas. I stood strong against enormous pressure, because as a U.S. Marine and Iraq War veteran, I knew it was the right thing to do.

Now, as the radical Islamic regime in Iran actually digs in deeper and recently called September 11th a “Big Fabrication”, my opponent has attacked me regarding my leadership on the Iran divestment legislation!

Needless to say, his attack is backfiring, and our campaign has been flooded by new volunteers and donors throughout the state – Democrats, Republicans, retirees and tons of veterans – who have now set their targets on removing my opponent from office and helping us win this upcoming election.

Today I am asking for your help to send my opponent a message:

That there’s something very wrong about the retirement dollars of American police officers, fire fighters and teachers being used to kill young Americans serving our country in uniform overseas.

Your contribution of $50, $100, $250, $500 or even more will go a long way towards sending this message and combating my opponent’s desperate attacks.

My opponent has now drawn a line in the sand on this Iran divestment issue, and has given us a great opportunity to communicate to voters our difference of opinion on this important issue. However, I can’t communicate to 11 million people statewide without adequate financial resources to pay for it, and I would greatly appreciate your consideration of a donation today.

And if the story above doesn’t motivate you enough to help, please continue reading to learn who’s actually funding my opponent’s attacks…

The Dayton Daily News has just exposed that one of the largest funders of my opponent’s attack team is a Massachusetts lobbyist who:

- Lobbied to help Swiss banks keep Holocaust survivors from recovering their assets hidden by the Nazis…

- Lobbied for Enron even as the company went bankrupt and cost Ohio retirees $114 million…

- Attempted and was shut down from lobbying for a foreign government classified as a “State Sponsor of Terror” by the U.S. Department of State.

My opponent has collected more than $20,000 from this Massachusetts lobbyist and his associates, and now community leaders throughout Ohio are calling on my opponent to unload this dirty money and give it away to charity. However, in an act of arrogance and complete disregard for the meaning of this filthy cash, my opponent has refused to unload any of it.

So today, we are embarking on a mission to send this Massachusetts lobbyist and my opponent a message:

That their dirty money and attacks will be met with a force of patriotic Americans who know Right from Wrong and are proud to stand on the side of integrity and American values.

In the next 48 hours, we are attempting to raise on the internet, more than the $20,000+ that this Massachusetts lobbyist and his associates have given my opponent.

Please click here to support the cause today! Your contribution of $50, $100, $250, $500 or even more will help me combat my opponent’s dirty money dollar-for-dollar!

I’m not surprised that my opponent is reaching lower and lower, because he knows that the thousands of Republicans, Democrats and Independents we have helping each day are dedicated, motivated and laser-beam focused on putting new leadership in the State Treasurer’s office.

As we defend these desperate attacks and continue charging forward, I greatly appreciate your consideration of support today and look forward to working with you towards victory this fall!

Thanks again,
Josh

Fisher's Air Campaign in Class War?

I had a source email in saying that they saw Lee Fisher taping a commerical late last week. Near as we can tell, Lee thinks he is running in 2008 against George W. Bush because he's laying on the class warfare tactics pretty thick. There will even be a "Golden Lamb" reference...

As usual, Ohio Democrats are still using an old playbook. I guess I can't blame them, it worked for them in '06 and '08. The problem is that it has been 4 long years of Ohio Democrat control of this state and I don't think the voters are going to fall for this again when we've lost 400,000 jobs and we have a huge problem with the budget that Lee and Governor StrickTaft have ignored.

I guess we'll just have to see...

TIB All Stars -- Show Notes and Live Blog

The TIB All-Stars Show is back on the Air at 6PM Eastern...

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Future of Ohio is All About Jobs

Release:

WESTLAKE, OH- A crowded room conversed for more than two hours yesterday on how lawmakers and members of the business community need to proceed, with the “Future of Ohio” jobs package, legislation aimed to get Ohioans back to work.

“The state loses $1,422 for each Ohioan who loses their job, plus the increased cost in social services needed to assist an unemployed Ohioan. It is vital that we focus on job retention and growth while fostering our small business community,” said Rep. Nan Baker (R-Westlake), who championed this legislative effort. “The recession’s toll on Ohio demands a swift answer from policy makers, and I firmly believe that this package is a necessary step to make Ohio a more business-friendly state. As I continue to say, ‘It’s all about jobs!’”
This 10-bill package of legislation consists of a broad span of initiatives that will create jobs, retain college graduates and foster economic growth. The tax reforms contained within the package will make Ohio a more financially attractive place for its workforce and the businesses that employ them. Ohio lost 200,000 jobs in 2009 alone due to the exodus of businesses to other states.

“Ohio’s economic climate is not appealing to businesses across the country looking to expand or relocate to our state,” said House Republican Leader William G. Batchelder (R-Medina). “For more than 18 months, Ohio has reported substantially higher unemployment numbers than the nation as a whole. We cannot hope to remedy this situation without concrete efforts to create a positive business perception.”
Currently, Forbes Magazine ranks Ohio 47th in the nation for prospective job creation, income growth, venture capital investments and business openings.
“A healthy economy means increased job opportunity and business growth,” said Rep. Ron Amstutz (R-Wooster). “By attracting out-of-state companies to move and expand here, we are ensuring a more prosperous Ohio for generations to come.”
The jobs package includes tax incentives, increases in flexibility in business options, and efforts to provide relevant information to companies. With this legislation, House Republicans have made a concerted effort to improve the business climate.
“The goal of this legislation is to formulate both short and long-term solutions to economic problems specific to Ohio,” said Rep. Todd Snitchler (R-Uniontown). “Without a thorough examination of how we (the state of Ohio) do business soon, the Buckeye state will continue to suffer.”
When enacted, these legislative measures will address the departure of businesses, work to retain our college graduates, make the state more conducive to small businesses, and encourage businesses to expand their payroll. As the presentation came to an end, the representatives expressed their continued hope that the “Future of Ohio” jobs package will gain bipartisan support in the immediate future.

Future of Ohio Jobs

RINOvich Update

A little bird told me that our old nemesis, The Crying Man, was off his meds yesterday so I just had to check to see what nonsense Senator George "Grandpa Simpson" Voinovich had gotten himself in to...

Here (Source: Bloomberg) RINOvich says one thing...

Ohio Senator George Voinovich, a Republican, said Bernanke’s comments validate his own views. “Either you pay for it, or you don’t do it,” Voinovich told reporters yesterday. He said he didn’t know whether Bernanke’s comments would help persuade other senators to see it his way.

...and here (Source: Washington Post) he votes another way...

Late Thursday, the Senate approved a provision that lies at the heart of the package -- a $30 billion fund to increase small-business lending. The measure passed 60-39, as Republicans George V. Voinovich (Ohio) and George S. LeMieux (Fla.) voted with the Democratic caucus in favor of the fund.

As usual, I continue to be amazed at the Deficit Hawk as he twists his mighty intellect to do whatever he wants with absolutely no semblence of intellectual honesty.

Thank GOD this guy is retiring...

Energy Update: Ohio Edition

PDC Energy will be looking for natural gas and oil right here in Ohio.  Check out this piece for more information, but the company will be working in Fairfield, Hocking, western Perry, and southern Licking counties.

TIB NETWORK ANNOUNCEMENT: Mike Wilson to Guest on All-Stars

You won't want to miss the TIB All-Stars Show this weekend because our guest will be the Republican nominee for State Representative Mike Wilson.  Mike was the founder of the Cincinnati Tea Party and will join us in the first hour of the broadcast.

ORP on Team Strickland's Latest Lame Attack on Kasich

Statement:

(Columbus) - Ohio Republican Party Chairman Kevin DeWine issued the following statement today regarding Gov. Ted Strickland's latest campaign attack:

"The governor should be careful about throwing stones from glass houses with these attacks. His own record will come back to haunt him.
Ted Strickland has no room to talk about credibility in this race. This is a governor who promised five years ago to turn around Ohio's economy and then lost 400,000 jobs. He promised he wouldn't raise taxes and then raised them by nearly a billion dollars. He said he wouldn't expand gambling and then expanded it. He promised to set a higher standard in state government but did nothing to hold even his own administration accountable for unethical conduct. He said he'd be a failed governor if he didn't fix school funding and then came up with a plan that was fiscally unsustainable. He swore an oath to balance the state budget and then managed to create an $8 billion deficit. The list goes on.
If Ohio's problems weren't so serious, the Strickland campaign's weekly antics would be comical. Every week, they go back to the lab to test out another lame attack on John Kasich, and every week it falls flat. They've spent millions of dollars now on a smear campaign that isn't working, and they apparently have yet to realize that the only credibility Ohioans are doubting in this election is Ted Strickland's."

The only way this statement could have been better is if after all of this, Kevin had something to say about John Kasich's plan for...just about anything really.  I really like the strength on display here; but as strong as it is, I am left wanting just a little something more.  
What I really like about the statment is the laundry list of broken promises from Ted Strickland.  We really need to hammer these things home whenever we get a chance.  When coupled with a statement about what Kasich could do for Ohio, this message only gets better.

GUEST COLUMN: "Reforming Immigration Policy" by Bruce McGary

"Reforming Immigration Policy"

By: Warren County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Bruce McGary

Illegal immigration is a hot topic right now, as a result of Arizona’s recent passage of a law cracking down on illegal immigration there. Because federal immigration policy has failed, more and more states like Arizona are taking steps to protect their borders.


The Center for Immigration Studies estimates that there are 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. and that illegal immigrants continue to outpace the number of legal immigrants. Studies show this is a trend that has held steady since the 1990’s. Most Americans believe the country is not doing enough to keep illegals from entering. Some refer to this as simply “anti-immigration” sentiment. I do not. The problem with illegal immigration is the “illegal” part of it, not the “immigration” part of it. That is, I have no objection to immigration (that’s how our forbearers came here) but I do have a problem with illegality. It’s a County Prosecutor’s job to enforce the law. That is really the crux of the matter for me-failure to enforce the law encourages citizens and non-citizens alike to believe they can ignore our laws with impunity. If the federal authorities are not going to enforce immigration laws, then states need to adopt legislation enabling state and local authorities to do so. Currently, in Warren County law enforcement is doing all we are permitted by law to do and that is to notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement when illegal immigrants are booked into the County jail on other charges. Then it is up to the federal authorities to place on holder on an inmate in our jail and take custody of the inmate once released from jail or prison.

America is a land of freedom, but it can only remain that way if we protect our borders. People from all over the world come to America to seek freedom, but as a nation we must insist that they do so legally. Our nation is dependant on the rule of the law to protect our freedoms. The failure to enforce our immigration and naturalization laws is a direct threat to those freedoms because it undermines the rule of the law.

More Excuses From BFA

My good friend Chad from BFA penned a long piece about the Strickland Endorsement Debacle.  Read the whole thing if you want to listen to the company line, but I just had to pull this bit out for specific scorn and ridicule:

We don't hold people's friends against them
This argument is best summed up by a telephone call we had with a GOP State Central Committee member:
GOP Central Committee member: "How can BFA support Strickland? The guy supports Obama, who wants to ban all guns! You're supporting the enemy of guns!"
BFA: "So we should pull support from an A+ rated candidate because he supports another candidate who is anti-gun? OK, after we do that, should we then move to pull support from all the GOP State Central Committee members who just voted to endorse Mike DeWine and Paul Pfeifer?"
GOP Central Committee member: "[silence]......[chuckling]"
There is no politician, anywhere, who would be immune from the swinging axe if this was a standard, and our volunteer endorsement committee frankly does not have the time or resources to cull over 400 surveys AND then check to see if those same people ever supported or donated to an anti-gun candidate. Besides, it still wouldn't change the steadfast support a candidate has given us over the years - only a vote against us will do that.

Let me field that question Chad...  Yes, you should pull support from SCC members who vote for Mike DeWine and Paul Pfieffer.  It is specifically because of these people that RINOs like DeWine and Pfieffer are allowed to continue having anything resembling a career in Republican politics.  
Thanks for addressing the appointing of judges in your piece, Chad...oh, wait, you failed to address that one altogether...  Appointments of judges are the single most important thing that will effect 2nd Amendment issues in this state and BFA isn't even bothering to take a look at that subject.  Sad.

CARTOON: Dem Hour Energy

Voinovich on Unemployment Benefits Extension

Statement:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator George V. Voinovich (R-Ohio), ranking member of the Senate Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee, today released the following statement on the stand-alone unemployment insurance extension:

“Over the past two years, our nation has borrowed $123 billion to pay for unemployment insurance extensions, our national debt will have increased by almost $4 trillion, and Democrats have passed a $2 trillion health care bill as well as a stimulus bill now estimated to cost more than $860 billion. Too many of my Democratic colleagues have tried to portray Republicans as being opposed to providing assistance to workers suffering during this recession – but they know that accusation is not true.

“We have simply asked that we start to do the same thing families around the nation are doing – make tough choices about our finances. Enough is enough – we must address our out-of-control spending. Unfortunately my Democratic colleagues recently blocked an amendment, offered by Sen. John Thune, which would have paid for the unemployment insurance extension without borrowing money on the credit card of our children and grandchildren.

“Prior to the July 4th recess I approached Majority Leader Harry Reid and said I would vote for extending unemployment insurance if Democrats would be willing to use $15 billion of the estimated $40 billion in unspent stimulus monies to pay for half of the stand-alone unemployment insurance extension. He rejected my offer even though Democratic leadership was going to take $10 billion from the stimulus to help pay for business tax breaks just days earlier. If Leader Reid had accepted my compromise instead of playing political games, this extension would have passed two weeks ago – averting much of the suffering and uncertainty that has plagued those who receive unemployment insurance.

“The fact is most Americans would rather have a job than collect unemployment insurance. In spite of extension after extension, as well as the passage of the stimulus bill in February 2009, people are still asking ‘Where are the jobs?” The answer is right in front of us: pass a robust surface transportation reauthorization bill. The transportation construction industry supports more than 3 million American jobs. Unfortunately, this sector of our economy is in its worst condition since World War II – unemployment is a staggering 20 percent, two times the general U.S. unemployment rate of 9.5 percent.

“President Obama and Leader Reid are on the stump talking about creating jobs and extending unemployment insurance, but they are in the bunker when it comes to the highway bill. I cannot understand how they can continue to ignore this issue at a time when unemployment continues to grow and we have a proven job creator at our fingertips. We must put political gamesmanship aside and put Americans back to work, just like President Reagan had the courage to do in 1982.”

Boehner Blog on Stimulus Road Sign Waste

Republican Leader, my Congressman and a Great American -- John Boehner -- also known as the Right Knight of Congress has a great post up that includes some WHIO video of a report on those butt-ugly road signs that cost a fortune and were paid for by your tax dollars.

Check it out.

TIB All Stars -- Show Notes and Live Blog

The TIB All-Stars Show is back on the Air at 6PM Eastern...

Click the link to listen; participate in the live blog...




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Lisa Gets In To The Act

A friend of the show, Lisa, is a "guest" blogger over at Pitbull Patriots. Check out her first post! It's all about LeQuit, Kasich, Strickland, Ohio Democrats, and the crappy state of our economy.

Obama Plays Victim/Discrimination Card on Israel

ABSURD! PATHETIC! DISGUSTING!

Whiner-in-Chief Barack Obama actually said this:

During the interview Wednesday, when confronted with the anxiety that some Israelis feel toward him, Obama said that "some of it may just be the fact that my middle name is Hussein, and that creates suspicion."

BooHoo, they are picking on me because of my name! Wahhh! Wahhh! Are you going to call them racists next, Barry? Geez!
No, you self-serving, arrogant, grandstanding, naive or stupid, bigoted jerkweed academic! They are suspicious because you have subverted them at every turn. You have palled around with Hamas types. You have bowed before Islamic leaders while giving BB a cold shoulder. One of our posts previously discussed this. It could also be that one of Obama's national security adviser's advocated bombing Israel to protect Iran. It could also be that Obama has basically turned a semi-blind eye to Iran and capitulated and stalled rather than take a strong stand. It could also be that Obama has not come out to condemn anti-Jewish/Israel sentiments by some in the Muslim world. I don't think his damn name has ANYTHING to do with it.

And people thought Bush was a boob? Come on now!

Another Reason to Love Jan Brewer, Governor of Arizona

First, she took the brave step of doing what a clear majority of her citizens wanted in signing immigration enforcement. Now, she is cracking down on welfare fraud! Thatababy! You go, girl! From KVOA:

overnor Jan Brewer and the Arizona Department of Economic Security set in motion a new anti-fraud unit effective July 1. The new DES Trafficking Detection Unit will ensure that people obtaining food stamps are not using these benefits illegally.

"We have an obligation to taxpayers," said Governor Brewer. "These benefits can only be used by people who are eligible and need help. The State of Arizona will not tolerate any abuse of government benefits. The Nutrition Assistance Program is a necessary part of the safety net, particularly in these difficult times, but these benefits must be used to purchase food. Anything else is illegal."

Her and Chris Christie are shining examples of fiscal conservatism in action, folks.

Discrimination in Financial Reform Bill...Where's my PostRacial Government?

I thought it was just supposed to stabilize the markets. Well that's what Chris Dodd (see Countrywide) and Bwarney Fwank (see Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) told us. We can trust them, right? I mean, they are part of the same party that gave us the wonderful Community Reinvestment Act. Well, of course, we can't trust them. Buried deep within the new Financial reform laws is discrimination based on gender and race. Whatever happened to the notion that his Annointed Oneness would bring about a postracial America? Not so much. From RealClearMarkets:

In addition to this bill’s well-publicized plans to establish over a dozen new financial regulatory offices, Section 342 sets up at least 20 Offices of Minority and Women Inclusion. This has had no coverage by the news media and has large implications.

The Treasury, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the 12 Federal Reserve regional banks, the Board of Governors of the Fed, the National Credit Union Administration, the Comptroller of the Currency, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau…all would get their own Office of Minority and Women Inclusion.

Each office would have its own director and staff to develop policies promoting equal employment opportunities and racial, ethnic, and gender diversity of not just the agency’s workforce, but also the workforces of its contractors and sub-contractors.

What would be the mission of this new corps of Federal monitors? The Dodd-Frank bill sets it forth succinctly and simply – all too simply. The mission, it says, is to assure “to the maximum extent possible the fair inclusion” of women and minorities, individually and through businesses they own, in the activities of the agencies, including contracting.
Lest there be any narrow interpretation of Congress’s intent, either by agencies or eventually by the courts, the bill specifies that the “fair” employment test shall apply to “financial institutions, investment banking firms, mortgage banking firms, asset management firms, brokers, dealers, financial services entities, underwriters, accountants, investment consultants and providers of legal services.” That last would appear to rope in law firms working for financial entities.

Contracts are defined expansively as “all contracts for business and activities of an agency, at all levels, including contracts for the issuance or guarantee of any debt, equity, or security, the sale of assets, the management of the assets of the agency, the making of equity investments by the agency, and the implementation by the agency of programs to address economic recovery.”

This latest attempt by Congress to dictate what “fair” employment means is likely to encourage administrators and managers, in government and in the private sector, to hire women and minorities for the sake of appearances, even if some new hires are less qualified than other applicants. The result is likely to be redundant hiring and a wasteful expansion of payroll overhead.

Yay, just what we need, wasteful expansions of payroll and hiring people who are incompetent. Well, we did hire Barack Obama to be our President, and we see how that experiment in incompetency is working out. How is that hopey-changiness doing for ya?

Has Obama Lost Barbra?

Say it ain't so....It seems Obama's popularity is even in the tank with the academics and intelligentsia meeting in Aspen this week. One would think they would love to hear from Obama with his big ideas....not so much:

You’d think the well-heeled and enlightened eggheads at the Aspen Ideas Festival—which is running all week in this fashionable resort town with heady panel discussions and earnest disquisitions involving all manner of deep thinkers and do-gooders—would be receptive to an intellectually ambitious president with big ideas of his own.

In a way, the folks attending this cerebral conclave pairing the Aspen Institute think tank with the Atlantic Monthly magazine might even be seen as President Obama’s natural base.

Apparently not so much.

Is he losing the academics and thinkers? Maybe:

“If you’re asking if the United States is about to become a socialist state, I’d say it’s actually about to become a European state, with the expansiveness of the welfare system and the progressive tax system like what we’ve already experienced in Western Europe,” Harvard business and history professor Niall Ferguson declared during Monday’s kickoff session, offering a withering critique of Obama’s economic policies, which he claimed were encouraging laziness.

“The curse of longterm unemployment is that if you pay people to do nothing, they’ll find themselves doing nothing for very long periods of time,” Ferguson said. “Long-term unemployment is at an all-time high in the United States, and it is a direct consequence of a misconceived public policy.”

Ferguson was joined in his harsh attack by billionaire real estate mogul and New York Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman. Both lambasted Obama’s trillion-dollar deficit spending program—in the name of economic stimulus to cushion the impact of the 2008 financial meltdown—as fiscally ruinous, potentially turning America into a second-rate power.

“We are, without question, in a period of decline, particularly in the business world,” Zuckerman said. “The real problem we have…are some of the worst economic policies in place today that, in my judgment, go directly against the long-term interests of this country.”

Zuckerman added that he detects in the Obama White House “hostility to the very kinds of [business] culture that have made this the great country that it is and was. I think we have to find some way of dealing with that or else we will do great damage to this country with a public policy that could ruin everything.”

Ferguson added: “The critical point is if your policy says you’re going run a trillion-dollar deficit for the rest of time, you’re riding for a fall…Then it really is goodbye.” A dashing Brit, Ferguson added: “Can I say that, having grown up in a declining empire, I do not recommend it. It’s just not a lot of fun actually—decline.”

Ferguson called for what he called “radical” measures. “I can’t emphasize strongly enough the need for radical fiscal reform to restore the incentives for work and remove the incentives for idleness.” He praised “really radical reform of the sort that, for example, Paul Ryan [the ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee] has outlined in his wonderful ‘Roadmap’ for radical, root-and-branch reform not only of the tax system but of the entitlement system” and “unleash entrepreneurial innovation.” Otherwise, Ferguson warned: “Do you want to be a kind of implicit part of the European Union? I’d advise you against it.”

Wow, praise for one of us emptyheaded conservatives? No way! And paying people not to work discourages job seeking and rewards laziness? Shocking!

Here is something interesting. If she has turned, there may be hope for Hollywood types yet:

This was greeted by hearty applause from a crowd that included Barbra Streisand and her husband James Brolin. “Depressing, but fantastic,” Streisand told me afterward, rendering her verdict on the session. “So exciting. Wonderful!”

Brolin’s assessment: “Mind-blowing.”

If Obama has lost Barbra and Mr. Streisand, then hasn't he lost most of America?

Pantergate FallOut: New Charges Come Out

The whistleblower in the Panthergate case, J. Christian Adams, levied some new charges against the JustUs Department in testimony before the US Commission on Civil Rights. From the WSJ:

As expected, he claimed that Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli, an Obama appointee, overruled a unanimous recommendation by six career Justice attorneys for continued prosecution of members of the New Black Panther Party on charges of voter intimidation in an incident I detailed here yesterday. But Mr. Adams leveled an even more explosive charge beyond the Panther case. He testified that last year Deputy Assistant Attorney General Julie Fernandes made a jaw-dropping announcement to attorneys in Justice's Voting Rights section. She said she would not support any enforcement of a key section of the federal "Motor Voter" law -- Section 8, which requires states to periodically purge their voter rolls of dead people, felons, illegal voters and those who have moved out of state.

According to Mr. Adams, Justice lawyers were told by Ms. Fernandes: "We're not interested in those kind of cases. What do they have to do with helping increase minority access and turnout? We want to increase access to the ballot, not limit it."

If true, Ms. Fernandes was endorsing a policy of ignoring federal law and encouraging potential voter fraud. Ms. Fernandes was unavailable for comment yesterday, but the Justice Department has issued a statement accusing Mr. Adams of "distorting facts" in general and having a political agenda.

Hmm, seems like the ones with a blatantly political agenda are those in JustUs. But is there evidence or facts backing up Adams? Yep:

Last year, Justice abandoned a case it had pursued for three years against Missouri for failing to clean up its rolls. When filed in 2005, one-third of Missouri counties had more registered voters than voting-age residents. What's more, Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, a Democrat who this year is her party's candidate for a vacant U.S. Senate seat, contended that her office had no obligation to ensure individual counties were complying with the federal law mandating a cleanup of their voter rolls.

The case made slow but steady progress through the courts for more than three years, amid little or no evidence of progress in cleaning up Missouri's voter rolls. Despite this, Obama Justice saw fit to dismiss the case in March 2009. Curiously, only a month earlier, Ms. Carnahan had announced her Senate candidacy. Missouri has a long and documented history of voter fraud in Democratic-leaning cities such as St. Louis and Kansas City. Ms. Carnahan may now stand to benefit from voter fraud facilitated by the improperly kept voter rolls that she herself allowed to continue.

One would think that the most transparent, most open administration like ever would want to clear things up and send folks to testify. Not so much:

Mr. Adams' allegations would seem to call for the senior management of Justice to be compelled to testify under oath to U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. But Justice is making none of its officials available and is refusing to enforce subpoenas issued by the commission

Hmmm..looking more and more like JustUs and not Justice....

Check out the full transcript of Adams's testimony.

Feds Take Control of BP Leak Website

Whenever you hear someone from the government say a takeover is to produce more "transparency," don't expect it. The Department of Homeland Security has decided it wants to shutter info coming from the dot com website that covers the BP oil leak. From the Washington Examiner:

The Department of Homeland Security has announced the government will assume control of the joint website between BP and various organizations in charge of providing information about the BP oil spill and recovery.

The website has been jointly owned and updated since the spill occurred in March. Once it switches to dot-gov, instead of dot-com, the government will be able to police the content posted. BP is also funding the website and may be required to continue doing so after the site is moved.

DHS, which has no current connection to the site, said it wanted to create more transparency, according to AP reporter Harry R. Weber:

The Department of Homeland Security wants a one-stop shop for information that is completely overseen by the government as it settles into the long-haul of dealing with the response to the disaster. The U.S. Coast Guard falls under Homeland Security's authority.

BP and the federal government are part of a unified command that is working together to try to contain the oil gusher, but the government has been directing BP at every turn.

A DHS spokesman told The Associated Press on Sunday that the joint relationship won't change when the website is given a dot-gov address instead of a dot-com address.

But who can post information to the site would change.

And I bet the content will change as well. More destruction of your rights and liberties and more covering up by the Obama regime.

Even the UAE Realizes Iran is a Threat!

Gosh, the UAE is more realistic and sensible when it comes to Iran than President Obama and his idiotarian state department and advisers are. From Fox News:

ASPEN, Colorado — The United Arab Emirates ambassador to the United States said Tuesday that the benefits of bombing Iran’s nuclear program outweigh the short-term costs such an attack would impose. In unusually blunt remarks, Ambassador Yousef al-Otaiba publicly endorsed the use of the military option for countering Iran’s nuclear program, if sanctions fail to stop the country’s quest for nuclear weapons.”
Ambassador Yousef al-Otaiba: “I think it’s a cost-benefit analysis. I think despite the large amount of trade we do with Iran, which is close to $12 billion… there will be consequences, there will be a backlash and there will be problems with people protesting and rioting and very unhappy that there is an outside force attacking a Muslim country; that is going to happen no matter what. If you are asking me, ‘Am I willing to live with that versus living with a nuclear Iran?’ my answer is still the same: ‘We cannot live with a nuclear Iran.’ I am willing to absorb what takes place at the expense of the security of the U.A.E.”

C'mon, everybody, sing along with Johnny:

Racism Alive and Well in Our Schools

No, I am not talking about the students. I am talking about the administrators. From the Detroit News:

..A recent directive in the Plymouth-Canton Community Schools urges administrators to scan resumes for "cues" that applicants are from a minority racial group. Tip-offs can include job-seekers' residence, college attendance, fraternity or church membership and employment history.

Nearly a quarter of Plymouth-Canton's nearly 19,000 students are minorities, compared with less than 3 percent of its educational staff. District officials say they want to close that gap while hiring the most-qualified candidates.

OK, well, then....Since the population of the United States is 12%African American, fromt his day forward there can only be one black guy on each team in the NBA. Also, there will only be one black scholarship per basketball team, and we can apply this to football as well. What would the reaction to that be?

The answer to educating our children is not getting them a teacher who looks like them. The answer is in getting our children teachers who care about them and are willing to teach them the truth and solid principles, backed up by teacher organizations and administrators who care about the quality and content of the education, not who is giving it or how many of this color there are.

I mean, let's not just stop at skin color or ethnicity. Let's go on eye color. Or ideology. Or favorite sports teams. I don't want a fan of those damned steelers teaching my kids! Your teacher likes CSI: Miami over CSI: New York! Fire them! Give me a break. There was this crazy paperhanger who liked to go this deep into division, and bad things happened when people believed his shtick.

Everyone's Taxes Will Go Up Thanks to Obama

Remember when Candidate Obama said this:


Then he said this:


So, who will get nailed when the Bush Tax Cuts (during whose time the economy grew and we had 4 to 5% unemployment, by the way) sunset?

EVERYBODY! From Yahoo!Finance:

You may have been led to believe that only individuals in the top two brackets will face higher federal income taxes when the Bush cuts go bye-bye. Not true! Unless Congress takes action and President Obama goes along, rates will go up for everyone -- not just a sliver of the wealthiest Americans. The current six rate brackets of 10%, 15%, 25%, 28%, 33% and 35% will be replaced by five new brackets with the higher rates of 15%, 28%, 31%, 36% and 39.6%. Just a few months ago, it seemed like a safe bet that Congress would make a fix to keep the existing 10%, 15%, 25% and 28% rate brackets to help out lower and middle-income folks. That bet is now looking iffy.

As one congressman said to Obama: "You lie, Mr. President!"
Obama lies, and the economy dies. But wait, here is some more to digest:

Right now, the maximum federal rate on long-term capital gains and dividends is only 15%. Starting next year, the maximum rate on long-term gains will increase to 20%. The maximum rate on dividends will skyrocket to 39.6% unless action is taken to limit the rate to 20%, as the president has repeatedly promised. Plan on 39.6%, and hope I'm wrong.

Right now, an unbeatable 0% rate applies to long-term gains and dividends collected by folks in lowest two rate brackets of 10% and 15%. Starting next year, those folks will pay 10% on long-term gains and 15% and 28% on dividends (compared with 0% now) unless a change is made. Otherwise, taxes on long-term gains and dividends will go up for everyone.

Return of the Marriage Penalty

Right now, the standard deduction for married joint-filing couples is double the amount for singles. For this, we can thank the Bush tax cuts, which included several provisions to ease the so-called marriage penalty. The penalty can force a married couple to pay more in taxes than when they were single. Starting next year, the joint-filer standard deduction will fall back to about 167% of the amount for singles unless Congress takes action and the president approves. We don't know if that will happen. If not, lots of lower and middle-income couples will face higher tax bills.

Now, the bottom two tax brackets for married joint-filing couples are exactly twice as wide as those for singles. That ratio helps keep the marriage penalty from biting lower- and middle-income couples. Starting next year, the joint-filer tax brackets will contract, causing higher tax bills, unless a change is made.

Read the whole depressing thing.

Another Cheating Ohio Dem: Marcy Kaptur

Gee, I thought this was going to be the most ethical, open, transparent Congress, like ever. Transparently greedy, arrogant, and self serving, maybe. From the New York Times:

TOLEDO, Ohio — Just one day after leaders of the House of Representatives announced a ban on earmarks to profit-making companies, Victoria Kurtz, the vice president for marketing of a small Ohio defense contracting firm, hit on a creative way around it.

To keep the taxpayer money flowing, Ms. Kurtz incorporated what she called the Great Lakes Research Center, a nonprofit organization that just happened to specialize in the same kind of work performed by her own company — and at the same address.

Now, the center — which intends to sell the Pentagon small hollow metal spheres for body armor that the Defense Department has so far declined to buy in large quantities and may never use — has $10.4 million in new earmark requests from Representative Marcy Kaptur, Democrat of Ohio.

The congresswoman, who has received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Ms. Kurtz’s family and her business’s lobbyists, thought the quickly hatched nonprofit organization was a convenient solution.[...]

The proposed earmarks are among dozens — totaling more than $150 million — from around the country that would indirectly benefit profit-making companies, according to an examination by The New York Times of House appropriation requests submitted after the new rule was imposed in March.

Adopted because of repeated scandals over wasteful spending — the bridges to nowhere and expensive pet projects like a water-taxi service — the ban was intended to help eliminate earmark abuses. Critics say spending on earmarks, which added $16 billion to the federal budget last year, diverts money from higher priorities, typically does not require competitive bids and is often directed to experimental research that will never be used.

But given the appeal of free government money, the fees that lobbyists can earn by helping businesses grab a handful of it and the persistence of lawmakers in trying to satisfy constituents or donors, the pay-to-play culture in Washington has once again proved hard to suppress.

OK, so will she use the Lohan Defense-it wasn't explained to me properly; the "I didn't read the bill" defense, or plead insanity?

Fire this woman who is ripping off the American people, the military, and the citizens of Ohio.

Not So Fast, Mr. Portman: Energy Issues

Yesterday, I posted Rob Portman's commercial attacking Cap and Tax. However, looking around the web, one wonders if Rob's plan is really any better or if it, too, is more wishful thinking that will bear disastrous results. To wit:

t the end of the ad, Portman claims that he has a better way to protect the environment, and he asks the viewer to check it out on his Web site. I obliged. His plan relies on “support” — read: subsidies and other government interventions — for things that he likes — corn ethanol, nuclear power, natural gas, coal.

Some of these things might become an essential part of weaning the country off fossil fuels. Or not.[...]

On his Web site, Portman criticizes “command-and-control” regulation from Washington. He mentions refraining from choosing winners and losers in the energy debate. He says he doesn’t want Washington “to stifle the ingenuity of American enterprise and our market system through government interference.” But inefficient government interference is his plan.

What could he be talking about? Rob is a "rock solid" conservative, right? Uh...well...decide for yourself. From Rob's website:

5. Promote Ohio Bio-Fuels. Ohio is also a leading producer of bio-fuels, particularly corn-based ethanol, which is blended with regular gasoline to reduce vehicle emissions. Research and new technologies are making home-grown bio-fuels more cost effective and should be encouraged. The federal EPA should increase the ethanol content in the standard blend from 10 percent to 15 percent for newer vehicles whose engines are equipped to handle higher ethanol concentrations. This small change would substantially raise the demand for this renewable fuel, which means more production, more jobs for ethanol producing states like Ohio, and make us less dependent on foreign oil. Ohio farmers and bio-fuel plants like the Poet Bio-refining plant Rob visited in Marion will benefit from a renewed commitment to Ohio bio-fuels.

6. Bring Alternative-Fueled Vehicles into the Mainstream. Rob is the owner of a hybrid vehicle – a Ford Escape he purchased in 2006 – and has a strong interest in the technology. Driven by increased consumer demand, manufacturers are now designing “plug-in” hybrid vehicles that supplement gasoline power with electric power from the grid. Availability of these vehicles will be increasingly important as our cleaner energy production markets (solar, wind, hydroelectric, nuclear and clean coal) mature. If we can generate electricity more cleanly, manage it efficiently through the use of smart grids, and use it to power our cars and trucks, then we will have created a sustainable, clean-energy lifecycle. As fuel cell research in Ohio and elsewhere matures, this is another exciting, potential fuel source. The federal government should continue to partner with the private sector to develop the battery and other technologies that make these vehicles possible, ensure manufacturers have access to capital to bring these vehicles to market, and help encourage plug-in hybrids. Along with natural gas vehicles, bio-fuels, and an increased supply of domestically-produced oil, these hybrid and electric vehicles will help lead us to energy independence.

7. Use Ohio’s Manufacturing and Technology Advantage. Ohio’s skilled workforce is a national asset that will help move our economy closer to energy diversity and independence. Unfortunately, Cap and Trade punishes Ohio’s manufacturers when, in fact, they are part of the answer to developing cleaner energy solutions. Ohio’s manufacturing and technological expertise is at the forefront in energy development, research, and production in traditional energy areas and in promoting advanced alternative energy technologies. Ohio is also home to a robust energy manufacturing sector that is at the forefront in solar cell and wind turbine production and has the capacity to be a leader in the manufacture of hybrid and electric vehicles. Government policies that incentivize innovation and entrepreneurship in the energy sector will benefit states like Ohio that have made strategic investments in human capital and advanced-manufacturing infrastructure.

8. Promote Conservation and Efficiency. The cleanest energy of all is the energy we don’t use. Reducing our energy consumption leads to a cleaner environment, and gives rise to entire new industries, technologies, and jobs in energy auditing, insulation, lighting, HVAC, and appliance refits. Improving energy efficiency in buildings and homes could stimulate job growth, eliminate approximately 30% of U.S. crude oil imports, and may be the best short-term opportunity to reduce energy consumption. Conservation should also be encouraged, including supporting ongoing efforts to restore and protect natural habitats across the globe. Deforestation is considered the second-largest source of CO2 emissions behind coal-fired electric plants. Legislation Rob authored, the Tropical Forest Conservation Act, has resulted in the protection of over 60 millions acres of forests worldwide.

OK, so what are my problems with this stuff? First, why do we need incentives for development of alternative energy? Isn't that government command and control? Not to mention that his incentives idea for alternative energy is supporting horribly inefficient forms of energy that just make us more beholden to foreign oil. No, what we need to do is get cheap energy through more exploration, and also invest in nuclear. Some might say it is too expensive or risky, but I think we can go with it because the long term efficiency and benefits are there. However, Rob also goes off the reservation quite a ways with this notion of twisting people's arms to buy cars that they don't want. Of course, this isn't surprising when you remember he supported cash for clunkers.

Then, of course, there are the subsidies to farmers for ethanol. Look, I know lots of people who grow corn. Fine. However, realize that we are not increasing efficiency. It takes more energy to make/process ethanol than it uses.

I like Rob. I think he is better than Lee Fisher. However, his whole DC insider pride and these ideas about energy should give one pause before blindly buying his shtick.

Butler County Update: Auditor Delivers $4.7 Million Check to Lakota School District

Release:

HAMILTON, Ohio – There’s little to cheer about these days in most school finance departments, but Lakota Schools’ assistant treasurer John Wilkinson had plenty to smile about recently when Butler County Auditor Roger Reynolds presented Lakota with a check for $4.7 million.

The check was for property tax revenue collected from new businesses located in special tax increment financing districts, also known as TIFs. The TIF districts were created to self-fund the cost of capital infrastructure to attract new business development. The schools benefit by receiving a negotiated portion of tax revenue from the TIF districts.
The four TIFs in the Lakota Local School District were created in the late 1990’s to mid 2000’s by Tim Williams, former Butler County finance director, and Alan Hutchinson, former Lakota treasurer. With the departure of the two men who were responsible for performing the complicated TIF calculations, the tax revenue sat undistributed with the County Commissioners.
Late last year, the Auditor’s Office Finance Department determined that undistributed money was available to the Lakota Local School District. After making inquiries, Auditor Reynolds’ staff convened a meeting with several parties in March, including the County Treasurer, the Bond Council, and the Commissioners Office finance staff.
From there, the Auditor’s Office agreed to take the lead in researching the terms and conditions of each TIF district and calculate the actual amount that Lakota was owed in TIF payments.
“Even though this goes beyond the usual role of our office, I am glad that our staff was able to provide their expertise to resolve the payment delays, and very happy that Lakota is now able to apply $4.7 million to their budget shortfall,” Reynolds said.

UPDATE: What the %$&& was Kay rogers doing all those years she was in office???

Presbyterians Violate Bible, Are United Methodists Next?

The Presbyterian Church of the USA, a denomination branch so against the tenets of Scripture that many of the Presbyterian churches in the US actually conference with the Presbyterian Church of Africa, will most likely affirm same sex marriages, essentially spitting on the pages of the Bible and the faith which supposedly they believe in. From the Louisville Courier Journal:

he Louisville-based Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) would become the largest denomination in the nation to allow same-sex marriage if it follows a recommendation made Tuesday by a church legislative committee. And another church committee, gathering for the church's weeklong legislative General Assembly in Minneapolis, recommended the church begin ordaining non-celibate gays and lesbians.

The assembly's committee on Civil Union and Marriage Issues voted 34-18 to change the definition of marriage in the church constitution to describe marriage as a covenant between "two people" rather than between "a man and a woman."

This "would recognize committed, lifelong relationships that are already being lived out by our members," said a committee statement.

Also, check out this UPI story as well.

But it doesn't recognize the Bible, which supposedly this so-called church believes in.

Will Bishop Bruce Ough of the West Ohio Conference of the UM Church recommend the same for United Methodism? The conference did decide to violate its own Discipline as well as the Bible and encourage homosexuality by hiring a practicing homosexual to be its new CFO.

Whatever happened to defining principles? Whatever happened to following the Founding documents, in this case, the Bible? Well, we have a government that doesn't follow the Constitution, so I guess these heretics and blasphemers feel empowered to do the same. However, I think the Almighty might be a little more vigilant and likely to hold them to account than the American people.

Again, faith and spirituality is supposed to change people, not the reverse.

Why Do Pelosi/Reid/Obama Hate the Poor Kids In DC?

After all, with this action, they are dooming them to a subpar education and perhaps creating a permanent uneducated and dependent underclass in our nation's capital. One would almost think they want to make people stupid, because, like, facts don't lie:

The Department of Education commissioned Wolf to conduct a series of detailed studies on the results of the Washington DC Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP). Established in 2004 as a five-year pilot program, OSP is among the most heavily researched federal education programs in history.

OSP targeted about 2,000 of the poorest kids in DC who were stuck in some of the worst schools in the country. It gave their parents a $7,500 scholarship to attend a private school of their choice.

The response was immediate. Four applications were filled out for every slot available. Parents loved the program, considering it a lifeline for their children, a way to escape failing schools and enter safe, functional schools.

Everyone knew OSP would be a bargain. DC has among the highest spending per pupil in the nation. At a conservative estimate of $17,542, the public schools spend over $10,000 more per child than the $7,500 spent through the scholarship program.

But would OSP achieve measureable results?

The answer is a resounding yes. Previous studies by Wolf showed an improvement in academic performance, to the point that a student participating in OSP from kindergarten through high school would likely be 2 ½ years ahead in reading. The key finding in this final round of research, Wolf told us, was the graduation rates. OSP dramatically increases prospects of high-school graduation.

Wolf pointed to research showing that high-school diplomas significantly improve the chance of getting a job. And dropouts that do find employment earn about $8,500 less per year than their counterpoints with diplomas. Further, each graduate reduces the cost of crime by a stunning $112,000. Cecelia Rouse, an economic advisor to President Obama, found that each additional high school graduate saves the country $260,000.

Simply put, OSP has a profoundly positive effect not just on students, but on the city and the country as a whole.

So when it came time for Congress to reauthorize OSP, it would seem to be a no-brainer: Expand the program.

Instead, they killed it.

Buried deep inside a 1000+ page, half-trillion-dollar spending bill was a provision that prohibited any new students from entering the program. To top it off, the 216 new students added to OSP for the new academic year were pulled out by Education Secretary Arne Duncan just before the school year started.

Yep, let's send them to the more expensive but poorer performing schools, because like, the teachers' unions need some love, yo. Even the mayor of DC is not down wit' Nancy and Harry and Barry:

According to former DC Mayor Anthony Williams and former DC Councilman Kevin Chavous (both Democrats), the answer is politics at its worst.

Williams and Chavous co-authored an op-ed arguing that politicians opposing OSP “are largely fueled by special-interest groups that are more dedicated to the adults working in the education system than to making certain every child is properly educated.”

The editorial board of the Washington Post put it a little more bluntly:

It’s clear, though, from how the destruction of the [OSP] program is being orchestrated, that issues such as parents’ needs, student performance and program effectiveness don’t matter next to the political demands of teachers’ unions.

The Post board also wrote that “the debate unfolding on Capitol Hill isn’t about facts. It’s about politics and the stranglehold the teachers unions have on the Democratic Party.”

As it turns out, the teachers unions are the single largest contributor to federally elected politicians, with the vast majority of their funds going to Democrats. The teachers unions don’t like programs like OSP because when parents have the freedom to choose, they may choose schools that don’t have unionized teachers.

Look, my background is in teaching. I still tutor and would love to teach in either a public or private school. I didn't and don't care if my kids go to public or private schools as long as they learn. I even suggested to parents at times to look into private schools to help their kids. I guess maybe that is why I can't find a job in the public schools. They hear that I was one of those radicals who cared more for the education and well being of my students than a paycheck. Funny, I thought it was about the children (tm). I guess I am wrong. Oh, and check this out:

DC Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton was one of the principal opponents of OSP and was instrumental in ending the program. Guess who her largest donor is? Answer here.

Part of where I work now tutoring offers schools struggling reading and math after school and summer programs. Despite the fact that we have proven results working with the kids in this manner, many times we have to fight the teachers unions, and, if we do super well, we often lose contracts after one year because the teachers' union doesn't want it to get out that we came in and improved kids' learning by a grade level in 10 weeks when they couldn't do it in a school year. But, hey, the unions just want to help the kiddos, right? WRONG!

7/8/2010 UPDATE:

Anonymous #1 in the comments felt I was slamming all teachers. I was not. Here in the body of the post I am retyping what I said in the comments to clarify. I know there are a lot of us teachers out there who care about the kiddos. However, our teachers unions are not acting in the best interest of the children at times, especially when they lobby to get things like OSP shelved.
Forgive me if it seemed I was slamming all teachers. I was not. I am a teacher myself, if you go back and read what I wrote, I talk about teaching and how I would love to get back into it. I was slamming the hypocrisy of the teachers unions who claim on one hand to be "for the children" and then lobby to get things like OSP shelved. So, I hope that eased your hurt feelings and I provided enough clarification!

Panthergate Update--More Racism at DoJ

Why does Barack Obama allow racist policies and people to be at the Department of Justice, or should we call it the Department of Just Us now? First, from Fox News:

In emotional and personal testimony, an ex-Justice official who quit over the handling of a voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party accused his former employer of instructing attorneys in the civil rights division to ignore cases that involve black defendants and white victims.

J. Christian Adams, testifying Tuesday before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, said that "over and over and over again," the department showed "hostility" toward those cases. He described the Black Panther case as one example of that -- he defended the legitimacy of the suit and said his "blood boiled" when he heard a Justice official claim the case wasn't solid.

"It is false," Adams said of the claim.

"We abetted wrongdoing and abandoned law-abiding citizens," he later testified.

The department abandoned the New Black Panther case last year. It stemmed from an incident on Election Day in 2008 in Philadelphia, where members of the party were videotaped in front of a polling place, dressed in military-style uniforms and allegedly hurling racial slurs while one brandished a night stick.

And now, 3 people who used to work at JustUs have come forward backing up Adams:

First, here is Asheesh Agarwal. From 2006-2008, Asheesh Agarwal served as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division. In that position, Agarwal supervised the Division’s Voting Section, which included Adams, and worked directly with Adams on several matters. Agarwal is currently an attorney in private practice.

During his tenure with the Department of Justice’s Voting Section, J. Christian Adams was a model attorney who vigorously enforced federal voting rights laws on behalf of all voters, without respect to race or ideology. Mr. Adams was also one of the most productive and successful voting attorneys in recent memory.

His victories include two cases on behalf of African-American voters under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, two cases on behalf of white voters under Section 2, and six cases on behalf of Hispanic voters under Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act. He also brought and won three cases on behalf of military voters. Having worked closely with Mr. Adams for several years, I can attest to the unsurpassed quality of his character, judgment, and commitment to the cause of civil rights on behalf of all Americans.

– Asheesh Agarwal

UPDATE: Mark Corallo, former Department of Justice director of public affairs, submits a statement to Pajamas Media:

As the Department of Justice director of public affairs under Attorney General John Ashcroft, I witnessed the hostility of the “career” Civil Rights Division attorneys firsthand.

Internal disagreements over policy routinely became matters for the press, via leaks to reporters or leaks to Democrat members of Congress. They had no compunction about breaking the ethical requirement of attorneys to keep those internal deliberations confidential.

I am not surprised that the Department is attacking J. Christian Adams. The Civil Rights Division attorneys have no interest in the rule of law as written and passed by Congress — the New Black Panther case is glaring proof that the Division has an agenda. If Congress was truly interested in oversight, there would be hearings on this case and others.

J. Christian Adams did the honorable thing in resigning and speaking out.

Democrats constantly complained about the lack of oversight when Republicans were the majority party in Congress. Can any reasonable person imagine the Democrats ignoring a case of blatant violations of the Voting Rights Act (captured on video) brought by career Civil Rights Division attorneys being dismissed by a Republican attorney general?

Any veteran of the Justice Department should be outraged.


UPDATE: Robert Driscoll was a Deputy Assistant Attorney General from 2001-03. He is now an attorney in private practice:

When I served as chief of staff and deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division under John Ashcroft, I became familiar with the internal politics of the Division, and am therefore not surprised by the accounts of J. Christian Adams describing the New Black Panther voting case.

While I met many excellent lawyers in the Division dedicated to the rule of law, too many of the the career staff (a term never to be confused with “apolitical”) viewed the role of the Civil Rights Division as simply that of a government-funded advocacy group whose responsibility was to work on behalf of favored political and agenda-driven constituencies — and not to neutrally apply the law (as written by Congress, and interpreted by the courts) to the facts.

In contrast, as a private attorney I encountered J. Christian Adams (and other voting section members, including then Chief Christopher Coates and Deputy Chief Tim Mellett) while handling a voting rights matter against the DOJ. Adams and the rest of the team acted professionally and consistent with their understanding of the law and facts. While I disagreed with Mr. Adams and the DOJ team on some matters of interpretation, I could not have told you the political views of Mr. Adams or any of the attorneys I encountered based on my interaction with them.

Moreover, the position taken by Mr. Adams in that case was certainly not pushing any conservative agenda, as the suit sought to increase African-American representation on an elected body (based on ambiguous evidence of vote dilution) and resulted in the adoption of a voting plan designed to enhance the ability of minority voters to influence the outcome of elections.

While it is certainly within the authority of the senior levels of the DOJ Civil Rights Division to make the final litigation decision on any case, including the New Black Panther matter, it would seem to me that dismissal of that case — after default has been entered and where video evidence exists — is a highly unusual decision that is worthy of congressional oversight. While some may cast such oversight in partisan terms, it need not be.

The video of the defendants in the Black Panther matter was seen by millions. While most have not studied civil rights law or the Voting Rights Act in detail, viewers of the video assume that the kind of conduct shown in the video is inappropriate at a polling place. A lawsuit was filed by experienced voting rights lawyers at DOJ to remedy the situation and prevent such future conduct. And yet the case was dismissed voluntarily by the DOJ (after a shift in administration), a result that seems — at a visceral level — strange to anyone who has seen the video.

The detailed testimony of the decision-makers (not the subsequent appointee who was not around at the time of the decision) would be enlightening and educational. If the dismissal of the case against the Black Panthers was a result of political influence (as Mr. Adams alleges — an allegation that does not seem far-fetched, based on my experience), that is important to know. Political decisions can have political consequences and one can imagine there would be consequences if a political appointee “weighed in” on behalf of a fringe group like the New Black Panthers. But even if the DOJ is correct that no political influence played a role, oversight is perhaps even more important.

If this is indeed the view of senior career DOJ staff — that after reviewing the facts of the New Black Panther case and the video, current laws against voter intimidation provide no ability for the DOJ to properly bring an action against the New Black Panther members shown on video and mentioned in the lawsuit — then Congress needs to have a conversation with Attorney General Holder about whether the problem lies with the Voting Rights Act itself, or with those whose job it is to enforce it.

Sounds to me like the senior career staff in the Civil Rights division don't believe in equal justice under law. Some folks got some 'splainin' to do.