Obama Admin Lies...In Other News, the Grass is Green...

Obama gets caught in a pants on fire moment by his buddies at the SF Chronicle:

In a pants-on-fire moment, the White House press office today denied anyone there had issued threats to remove Carla Marinucci and possibly other Hearst reporters from the press pool covering the President in the Bay Area.

Chronicle editor Ward Bushee called the press office on its fib:

Sadly, we expected the White House to respond in this manner based on our experiences yesterday. It is not a truthful response. It follows a day of off-the-record exchanges with key people in the White House communications office who told us they would remove our reporter, then threatened retaliation to Chronicle and Hearst reporters if we reported on the ban, and then recanted to say our reporter might not be removed after all.

The Chronicle's report is accurate.

If the White House has indeed decided not to ban our reporter, we would like an on-the-record notice that she will remain the San Francisco print pool reporter.White House officials have banished one of the best political reporters in the country from the approved pool of journalists covering presidential visits to the Bay Area for using now-standard multimedia tools to gather the news.

The Chronicle's Carla Marinucci - who, like many contemporary reporters, has a phone with video capabilities on her at all times -shot some protesters interrupting an Obama fundraiser at the St. Regis Hotel.

She was part of a "print pool" - a limited number of journalists at an event who represent their bigger hoard colleagues - which White House press officials still refer to quaintly as "pen and pad" reporting.

But that's a pretty Flintstones concept of journalism for an administration that presents itself as the Jetsons. Video is every bit a part of any journalist's tool kit these days as a functioning pen that doesn't leak through your pocket.

In fact, Carla and her reporting colleague, Joe Garofoli, founded something called "Shaky Hand Productions" - the semi-pro, sometimes vertiginous use of a Flip or phone camera by Hearst reporters to catch more impromptu or urgent moments during last year's California gubernatorial race that might otherwise be missed by TV.

The name has become its own brand; often politicians even ask if anyone from Shaky Hand will show at their event. For Carla, Joe and reporters at other Hearst newsrooms where Shaky Hand has taken hold, this was an appropriate dive into use of other media by traditional journalists catering to audiences who expect their news delivered in all modes and manners.

That's the world we live in and the President of the United States claims to be one of its biggest advocates.

Just the day before Carla's Stone Age infraction, Mr. Obama was at Facebook seated next to its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, and may as well have been wearing an "I'm With Mark" t-shirt for all the mutual admiration going back and forth.

"The main reason we wanted to do this is," Obama said of his appearance, "first of all, because more and more people, especially young people, are getting their information through different media. And historically, part of what makes for a healthy democracy, what is good politics, is when you've got citizens who are informed, who are engaged."

Informed, in other words, through social and other digital media where videos of news are posted.

Maybe now you will quit printing his lies and realize he is the most corrupted and emotionally troubled president since Dick Nixon. But, you are from Frisco, so I am not holding my breath. However, cue the Obama graphic:

What Your Kids are Doing and Learning in College

Here is the hope and change Obama was looking for. Irresponsible little college punks who don't have any responsiblity or sense of pride or sense of ownership of society or to their fellow man. Disgusting jerks. Check out this video over at theblaze.com. Here is some commentary from the site:

If college students are opposed to the Republican plan to cut spending to reduce the national debt, might they be willing to reduce the deficit by paying their share of the national debt?

Would those college students sign a pledge vowing to pay their approximate $47,000 share? The answer?

Well, there was this: “I don’t contribute to the national debt.”

This: “I don’t have any debt.”

And this: “It’s not my debt.”

We’ll take that as a “no.” But those curious responses beg the question: Have these college students ever taken an economics class? “It’s not my debt.” Really?

But the real gems come in the second half of the video, when the students offer their suggestions on how to get rid of the national debt. You know, like “abolish the government” and “Fu** the military.”

OK, the geniuses at UC Berkeley who are part of the Democrats of UC Berkeley think we are the least taxed nation in the world????? WTF???? Where are they getting this? Ridiculous. And, these bonus babies, most of whom live off momma and poppa's teat and are either getting loads of student aid or are rich kids, say they don't want to pay the debt but we should tax the rich? Huh?
And this is supposedly a temple of reason and higher education......NOT!

You Stay Classy, Joy Behar...

OK, it is bad enough this wench is on once a day with the Spew, er, The View, but she also has a show on Headline News? Who Knew? Probably not most of America, given the ratings. But, Joy Behar, who seems to have some type of sick insult fetish with Sarah Palin, is at it again, calling her illiterate and comparing her to jock itch....from Newsbusters:

On Thursday’s Joy Behar Show on HLN, host Behar quipped that former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has returned “like jock itch,” after playing a clip of Palin on Fox News Channel making fun of CBS anchor Katie Couric. Behar: “I give Sarah Palin credit. She’s out of favor. She’s out of the limelight. And then, suddenly, she’s back like jock itch, and just as snarky as ever.”

After commentary from her panel members for the segment, the HLN host ended up cracking that Palin is reminding people that she’s “illiterate” because the former Alaska governor also alluded to her own answer to Couric’s question about what she reads. Behar: “I think that she learned from being on Saturday Night Live that the way to reconstruct your image is to take the joke on yourself. But all she‘s doing is reminding us that she’s illiterate.”

OK, a few points:
1. Joy, how do you know what Jock itch feels like? Makes me wonder again about what restroom you use...hmmmm...

2. Joy, you know as much about literacy as you supposedly do about comedy, which explains why no one comes to your shows anymore.

3. You watch Saturday Night Live? No wonder your comedy sucks.

4. The verbiage from your mouth reminds me of the video they used to show us in health class regarding sexually transmitted diseases and the dangers of not keeping yourself clean. I'm just sayin.

5. If you want ratings, try a guest host. I hear your show is deader than Larry King's.

Wow, Tell us How You Really Feel, Mr. Alford

Henry Alford does not mince words. You might remember him as the guy who went toe to toe with Barbara Boxer. if not, check out the videos, etc. at theBlaze.com:

he joined Laura Ingraham on her radio show to talk about Obama’s business policies. He started with this:

“Obama wanted the National Black Chamber to dance to his music and have blind allegiance to his crazy programs and agenda, which are totally anti-business. We are a pro-business organization. So we have to stand on the side of business, and the benefit of our members, which are black entrepreneurs.”

Eventually he got to calling Obama and the administration “Marxist” and “fanatical.”

“They might as well put on the brown shirts and swastikas,” he said.

But that’s not all. Alford also admitted he only voted for Obama “because he’s [Obama] black,” a move he now regrets.

“That is a lesson I will take to my grave,” he said solemnly, later saying Obama is “wrecking” the country and is “dangerous.”

I wonder how many other folks of color secretly or otherwise have "buyers' remorse?"

Like Irresponsible Father, Like Irresponsible Son

We should not be surprised Obama has no clue about finances and is of the shifty and less than truthful personality. His daddy and namesake was the same way:

President Barack Obama’s father was forced to leave Harvard University before completing his Ph.D. in economics because the school was concerned about his personal life and finances, according to newly public immigration records.
Harvard administrators, the memo stated, “were having difficulty with his financial arrangements and couldn’t seem to figure out how many wives he had.”In May 1964, David D. Henry, director of Harvard’s international office, wrote to Obama to say that, while he had completed his formal course work, the economics department and the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences didn’t have the money to support him.

“We have, therefore, come to the conclusion that you should terminate your stay in the United States and return to Kenya to carry on your research and the writing of your thesis,” Henry’s letter stated.

Obama’s request for an extended stay was denied by the INS. He left Harvard and - divorced from president’s mother - returned to his native Kenya in July 1964. He did not complete his Ph.D.Concerns about Obama’s personal life while he had been studying in the U.S. had been raised previously, according to the INS documents.

In 1961, while he was an undergraduate student at the University of Hawaii, the school’s foreign student adviser called an immigration official and said Obama had recently married StanleyAnn Dunham - the president’s mother - despite already having a wife in Kenya.

According to a memo written by an INS official in Honolulu, the adviser said Obama had been “running around with several girls since he first arrived here and last summer she cautioned him about his playboy ways.”

Obama told the adviser that he had divorced his wife in Kenya.

He told the president’s mother the same thing, though she would later learn it was a lie.

Wow. Imagine if we had actually vetted the Moron-in-Chief before electing him. Maybe we would have seen his unstable pedigree in terms of finances and integrity and decided on someone else.

Led by a Behind, er, Leading from Behind

IT'S HAMMERTIME! Krauthammer hits the nail on the head again! Check out his latest from the Washington Post. Here are some nuggets:

To be precise, leading from behind is a style, not a doctrine. Doctrines involve ideas, but since there are no discernible ones that make sense of Obama foreign policy — Lizza’s painstaking two-year chronicle shows it to be as ad hoc, erratic and confused as it appears — this will have to do.

And it surely is an accurate description, from President Obama’s shocking passivity during Iran’s 2009 Green Revolution to his dithering on Libya, acting at the very last moment, then handing off to a bickering coalition, yielding the current bloody stalemate. It’s been a foreign policy of hesitation, delay and indecision, marked by plaintive appeals to the (fictional) “international community” to do what only America can.

But underlying that style, assures this Obama adviser, there really are ideas. Indeed, “two unspoken beliefs,” explains Lizza. “That the relative power of the U.S. is declining, as rivals like China rise, and that the U.S. is reviled in many parts of the world.”

Amazing. This is why Obama is deliberately diminishing American presence, standing and leadership in the world?

Yeah, if he is about leading American to greatness, why all the bowing and bending?

Take proposition one: We must “lead from behind” because U.S. relative power is declining. Even if you accept the premise, it’s a complete non sequitur. What does China’s rising GDP have to do with American buck-passing on Libya, misjudging Iran, appeasing Syria?

True, China is rising. But first, it is the only power of any significance rising militarily relative to us. Russia is recovering from levels of military strength so low that it barely registers globally. And European power is in true decline (see Europe’s performance — excepting the British — in Afghanistan and its current misadventures in Libya).

And second, the challenge of a rising Chinese military is still exclusively regional. It would affect a war over Taiwan. It has zero effect on anything significantly beyond China’s coast. China has no blue-water navy. It has no foreign bases. It cannot project power globally. It might in the future — but by what logic should that paralyze us today?

Proposition two: We must lead from behind because we are reviled. Pray tell, when were we not? During Vietnam? Or earlier, under Eisenhower? When his vice president was sent on a goodwill trip to Latin America, he was spat upon and so threatened by the crowds that he had to cut short his trip. Or maybe later, under the blessed Reagan? The Reagan years were marked by vast demonstrations in the capitals of our closest allies denouncing America as a warmongering menace taking the world into nuclear winter.

People wil always be jealous of what they don't have. People are jealous of America because she offers freedom. Barry, if America is so horrible and losing it, why is everybody still scrambling to get here? Granted, less people are coming because you are destroying opportunity for everybody, but still they are coming.

Here though, is the money shot from the piece:

Who truly reviles America the hegemon? The world that Obama lived in and shaped him intellectually: the elite universities; his Hyde Park milieu (including his not-to-be-mentioned friends, William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn); the church he attended for two decades, ringing with sermons more virulently anti-American than anything heard in today’s full-throated uprising of the Arab Street.

It is the liberal elites who revile the American colossus and devoutly wish to see it cut down to size. Leading from behind — diminishing America’s global standing and assertiveness — is a reaction to their view of America, not the world’s.

Other presidents have taken anti-Americanism as a given, rather than evidence of American malignancy, believing — as do most Americans — in the rightness of our cause and the nobility of our intentions. Obama thinks anti-Americanism is a verdict on America’s fitness for leadership. I would suggest that “leading from behind” is a verdict on Obama’s fitness for leadership.

Leading from behind is not leading. It is abdicating. It is also an oxymoron. Yet a sympathetic journalist, channeling an Obama adviser, elevates it to a doctrine. The president is no doubt flattered. The rest of us are merely stunned.

A Tale of Two Presidents, One Great, the Other Crap

Yes, another Reagan vs. Obama story. Why? Because the truth needs to get out that this recovery is bogus and Obama is the worst president since Jimmy Carter. From Investors Business Daily, which has charts and graphs and thingies:

It's been nearly two full years since the recession officially ended, and the economy is still struggling to get off the ground. It didn't have to be this way.

When the Commerce Department released its estimate for first-quarter growth — a meager 1.8% — President Obama's chief economic adviser, Austan Goolsbee, at least conceded that "faster growth is needed to replace the jobs lost in the downturn."

Wow, Austan, you must have gotten a gold star in Obvious in school! But, back to the article:

Compare the two worst post-World War II recessions. Both the 1981-82 and the 2007-09 downturns were long (16 months and 18 months, respectively) and painful (unemployment peaked at 10.8% in 1981-82 and 10.1% in the last one).

What's dramatically different, however, is how each president responded.

Obama massively increased spending, vastly expanded the regulatory state, and pushed through a government takeover of health care. What's more, he constantly browbeats industry leaders, talks about the failings of the marketplace and endlessly advocates higher taxes on the most productive parts of the economy.

In contrast, Reagan pushed spending restraint, deregulated entire industries, massively cut taxes and waxed poetic about the wonders of a free economy.

The result? While the Reagan recovery saw turbocharged growth and a tumbling unemployment rate, Obama's has produced neither. Consider:

• GDP. In the seven quarters after the 1981-82 recession ended, the economy cranked out quarterly growth rates that averaged 7.1%. Under Obama, GDP growth has averaged a mere 2.8%. (See chart at right.)

• Unemployment. Under Reagan, the unemployment rate had fallen to 7.5% by this point in the recovery. Under Obama, it's still stuck at 8.8%.

• Long-term unemployment. There were far fewer long-term unemployed by this point in the Reagan recovery; just 18% of the unemployed had been without a job 27 weeks or more. Under Obama, that figure is an astonishing 45%.

• Consumer confidence. By this point in the Reagan recovery, the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index had hit 100. Today, the index stands at just 65.4.

• Deficits. Under Reagan, the federal deficit was trimmed to 4.8% of GDP by 1984. Under Obama, the deficit is expected to climb to 10.9% of GDP this year.

Obama and his defenders like to say he inherited the worst downturn since the Great Depression and that things would have been worse still had he not acted. But the recession was almost over by the time he took office — and officially over just six months after that.

So while Obama's policies had little to do with bringing an end to the Great Recession, they've had everything to do with producing what is by far the worst economic recovery in the past 70 years.

Reagan understood Economics 101. But of course, he didn't go to an Ivy League school like Obama did. But remember, so too did GW Bush, HWBush, and Clinton. And remember, Bubba had to have help from an Ohio State graduate balancing the budget to get his recovery going....So maybe the Ivy League doesn't know economics. Just sayin.

Bottom line: Reagan was competent and exceptional. The only thing about obama that could be exceptional is his own ignorance and faith in a failed economic outlook.

Brown County Update: Tina Meranda Gets New Chance

Regulars at WMD know that my county clerk of courts, Tina Meranda, and I have never been the best of friends. However, Mrs. Meranda has been fighting a valiant battle against a very aggressive cancer and our fine friends at the Brown County Press have the story of her miraculous new lease on life and the love of her family:

Tina Meranda has been fighting lung cancer since February of 2008.

Two years later, in February of 2010, it seemed like the cancer was winning.

"I didn't think she would make it to our anniversary on March 11", said her husband Seth.

But help was coming.

Seth had been fighting to get Tina an experimental drug, one that was showing remarkable progress and bringing cancer patients back from the brink.

The only problem...it worked for only about four percent of the people afflicted with the type of lung cancer Tina has.The drug is called Crizotinib, and it attacks lung cancer cells at a genetic level...and patients have to be carriers of the ALK gene for it to work.

Seth found out about it after spending desperate hours searching for alternatives as Tina kept slowly slipping away.

"Our Oncologist told us there was nothing more that could be done", Tina said.

Seth found out about Crizotinib online and grabbed onto the sliver of hope with both hands.

Tina was tested for the ALK gene in November...and the test was positive.

"It was like winning the lottery', said Seth.

Armed with her test results, Seth began to look for a drug trial for Crizotinib. He finally found one in Boston.

Tina got her first treatment in late February...and by late March was back at many of her tasks as Brown County Clerk of Courts.

"It's a miracle", she said.

It sure seems to be. Gone is the tired, frail woman with a raspy voice and no energy. She's been replaced by someone who is thrilled to have a second chance at life.

"I kept on saying (during my treatment) that I had my babies and I wanted to raise them", Tina said.

The "babies" are eleven year old Preston and eight year old Austin.

The boys helped their mom as much as they could while she was very sick.

"Sometimes when she was really feeling bad we'd sit and watch TV with her and every once in a while she'd ask us to get a glass of water for her", said Preston.

When asked how they felt during that time, Austin simply said "We need to find some medicine for her real quick."

Both boys said they prayed for their mother every night.

The boys were not the only ones praying for Tina.

Her friends, family and churches all over Brown County all went to work asking God for help.

"It's impossible to really put into words how much it means to me", said Tina.

The cancer first appeared as pain in Tina's chest in late 2007.

When she went to the doctor, Tina got the news that a stage four cancerous tumor was in one her lungs, and that she had approximately six months to live.

Three years later, she was still fighting.

"You don't have an expiration date stamped on you", said Tina.

"When you get a diagnosis like that, you have to keep fighting. The worst thing you can do is give up."

Tina's type of lung cancer is called Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma (NSCLC).

That type of lung cancer is believed to be triggered in some cases by the ALK gene, which means that the same gene that may have caused Tina's cancer is allowing her to fight it.

According to Crizotinib research, about 220 thousand American's are diagnosed each year with lung cancer.

About ten thousand of them are believed to carry the ALK gene and could possibly benefit from the drug.

Crizotinib was first discovered in 2007, and was wildly successful in earlier trials.

In results from a 2010 trial, ninety percent of lung cancer patients had tumors shrink or stabilize after taking the drug.


Seth said medical knowledge can be a powerful weapon when you are fighting for the life of a loved one.

"There's always something new coming down the pike. From the day Tina was diagnosed I was writing things down and looking them up later. Learn the treatments, learn the jargon and never give up."

When asked how she's feeling these days, Tina simply answered "I'm doing super. I'm getting my strength back and I'm getting better every day."

Watching Seth smile as she said that showed that he was finally getting over the ordeal as well.

As for the boys, eight year old Austin summed up the last few months.

"At first I thought she wasn't going to last the rest of the year, but the Lord helped us."

He did indeed.

God bless Tina Meranda and her family. Truly an amazing story. I am glad to see that the drugs and the prayers are working and that she is doing better.

TIB All Stars -- Show Notes and Live Blog

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BUTLER COUNTY: Event --- Middletown Area Republican Club Spaghetti Dinner

When:              Monday, May 2^nd, 5:00 – 8:00 pm

Where:             Stefano’s Italian Café

2200 Central Avenue, Middletown

Donation:         $15 per person (tax and gratuity included)

R.S.V.P.           E-mail Mary Swain at:  mswaingop@gmail.com or

leave message at 513-425-7207, or

send check, payable to Middletown Area Republican Club, to:

Mary L. Swain, 5324 Mosiman RD, Middletown, OH  45042.

            Hosts:              Mike Scorti, President, Middletown Area Republican Club

                                    Mary L Swain, Trustee, Middletown Area Republican Club

Boehner On Latest GDP Economic Report

Release:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman John Boehner (R-West Chester) today issued the following statement after the Commerce Department reported that the gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an annual rate of 1.8 percent in the first quarter of 2011, less than economists’ expectations:

          “While any positive growth is welcome, we are still not seeing the type of economic growth and private-sector job creation needed to help Americans who are struggling across this country.  Skyrocketing gas prices continue to batter families and small businesses, and the Obama Administration is actively making the problem worse by blocking more American energy production.  Next week, Republicans will continue working to advance our American Energy Initiative by passing legislation to boost American energy production, which will help lower prices and create more American jobs. If the White House and Democrats are serious about lowering gas prices, they will work with us to pass this legislation and respond to the American people, who are demanding action to increase American energy.

 

          “In order to promote robust economic growth and private-sector job creation, we also need to remove regulatory obstacles to job growth, end the threat of tax hikes, approve stalled trade agreements that would open new markets, and stop Washington from spending money it doesn’t have, as called for in our House-passed budget.  These are the pillars of the Republican plan to help get our economy back to creating jobs and this is the focus of our new majority in the House.”

GUEST COLUMN: "It’s Time to Consider a Balanced Budget Amendment"

Rep. Jean Schmidt

By: Rep. Jean Schmidt

We have dug ourselves into quite a deep hole by spending money we don’t have and borrowing it from people who don’t have our best interests in mind. The White House says it has a plan to fix this problem. While I’d like to trust them to do the right thing and get this situation under control, I can’t. And, I’m not alone.

The United States has long been a good credit risk, and it still is. But, that may not last for long. The Standard & Poor’s Ratings Service has decided to downgrade its financial outlook for our country from “stable” to “negative.” It’s quite a kick in the pants.

Standard & Poor’s said the outlook was based on its lack of confidence that the White House and Congress would be able to deal with its deficit problem in the next three years and that there was a one-in-three chance that the U.S. triple-A credit rating could decline in the next couple of years.

It is shameful that we got here on good intentions, poor performance, and promises that nobody could keep.

Maybe it’s time to try something different. A constitutional amendment requiring that the federal government adopt balanced budgets has been talked about for decades, but has never gained enough support in Congress to be sent to the states for ratification.

With our annual deficits now being measured in the trillions of dollars, the sentiment in Congress may be changing. All 47 of the Senate’s Republican senators have signed on as co-sponsors of a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. A majority of the House has expressed support as well.

Although impressive, the support in both houses of Congress is short of the two-thirds majority needed to send the proposed amendment to the state legislatures for ratification. So we still have to come up with the 71 votes in the House and 20 senators needed to clear the first hurdle for the amendment to become part of the Constitution.

Amending the Constitution is not a move to be taken lightly. But, given Washington’s failure to act until now, it may be our only option.

WMDtv: Reagan Tribute Show -- Opening

I'll have the full episode available "soon" but wanted to post this clip from the old cable access show (Dayton, OH market) right away...

Useless Nobodies: Really? Can't Define it After all these years?

Ten years after 9/11, the idiots at the UN still cannot define terrorism! Could it be because the terrorists are overrunning the joint? Eh, could be....

As the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks approaches, the United Nations is no closer to reaching a universal definition of terrorism than it was in 2001 – or indeed than it was five years before then, when negotiations first began on drafting a comprehensive convention on international terrorism.

The main hurdle, then as now, is the insistence by the bloc of Islamic states that any definition of terrorism should leave a loophole for “resistance” against foreign occupation.

The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which was established in 1969 with “liberating” Jerusalem as its primary focus, is unwilling to give ground on the issue as many of its governments believe that doing so would be tantamount to betraying the Palestinian cause.

This body is useless, spineless, meaningless, obsolete, and not to be trusted with anything other than taking up money for hungry children or something, and even then, make sure a cop is around to make sure they don't abuse said children like they have in most of their "missions."

Obama's Political Historical Ignorance...A Sign of the Times

Obama has shown he is not the great fount of intelligence and wisdom when it comes to his own field of study in college: political science. He has shown an amazing lack of grasp of history for one who is supposedly so gifted. However, this is just another sign of the liberalization of our educational system. Truth and facts and logic are discounted and don't matter as long as you say what the current "conventional wisdom" is. Obama has shown a tremendous historical ignorance, but his misstatements of fact and history have been accepted by many as fact because they didn't learn anything different in school when it comes to civics and social studies. We are gradually eroding our collective understanding of our history and our civil and natural rights by the fact that our educational system no longer engages in discussion of fact and logic but rather when it comes to social sciences engages more in collective rage and social justice. Check out Obama's latest here:

Yesterday he was at it again, in his peevish interview with the feisty local broadcast reporter from Texas. Why are you so unpopular in Texas? the reporter asked. Obama being Obama, he was unable to laugh off the question and say he'd do better next time around. Obama responded: "Texas has always been a pretty Republican state, for, you know, historic reasons."

Has the guy ever heard of LBJ? You know, the fellow who first brought us socialized medicine? Has he ever read a single volume of Robert Caro's monumental biography of LBJ? It's hard to miss the extent to which the Democratic Party dominated Texas politics for the duration of LBJ's (long) political career.

Obama majored in political science at Columbia. Did he miss the fact that Texas was part of the solidly Democratic South -- the slaveholding, segregated, Jim Crow South -- more or less from statehood in 1845 until Nixon's 1972 landslide?

Did Obama skip class the day he might have learned that in the the postbellum South, including Texas, the Republican Party was virtually nonexistent? Apparently so. Or maybe he was just deploying his skills as a bs artist to deflect a question that could not be reconciled with his self-worship.

For more Obama misrepresentations of historical truth check out here, here, and here.

Sadly, Obama is just symptomatic of the larger society in that we have learned much that simply is not so.

The Next Great Battle in the Conservative Revolution is...

...textbooks.

Specifically, college textbooks. Note this post from a college textbook author:

At least superficially, the Right’s counterattack on the Left-dominated academy seems a roaring success. We now have dozens of conservative-leaning think tanks whose experts daily churn out policy analyses, together with innumerable Internet sites telling our side of the political story. Add traditional media outlets galore, particularly Fox Cable News, our own conventions — even affinity European and Caribbean cruises where we can eat, drink, and be re-energized.

Unfortunately, this otherwise vigorous counterattack lacks a critical element: the college textbook. Here our ideological enemies totally, absolutely, and positively dominate, and this power undoubtedly trumps our entire arsenal. In the war over culture, the college textbook is the ultimate weapon, but one all too easily ignored.

Thus, every semester, thousands of undergraduate learn American government, sociology, anthropology, or history from these books and the accompanying lectures that often regurgitate textbook material. Exams guarantee attentiveness to these textbooks, no matter how cockeyed.

This influence cannot be exaggerated. The dozens of erudite (conservative) policy analyses that daily enter my e-mail inbox probably have a half-life of one day, and sheer volume suggests that many are only scanned. By contrast, the college textbook’s half life might be measured in decades, and the student hours expended reading them must annually run into the millions. Textbooks often survive for generations thanks to updated editions. Further keep in mind that textbooks target impressionable youngster. For those hoping to win the Culture War, “owning” the textbook market is akin to capturing the enemy’s capital. To illustrate the power of textbooks to influence culture, consider a bit of research conducted by my friend Steve Goldberg, a now retired CCNY sociologist. His concern was how introductory sociology textbooks recount Margaret Mead’s 1935 description of sex roles among the Tchambuli of New Guinea. To condense a long story, Mead’s description somewhat under-played male dominance, e.g., noting effete male headhunters. But she never argued that sex roles were malleable, and in a 1937 letter to the American Anthropologist, Mead strongly reiterated this point (and did so repeatedly over her distinguished career). Nevertheless, Goldberg checked some forty introductory sociology textbooks 40 years after Mead’s writings and found that over 90 percent claimed that Mead’s research “showed” the malleability of sex roles. Goldberg then wrote a letter to Contemporary Sociology, the book-review journal of the sociology profession, pointing out the textbook misinterpretation of Mead’s research. A decade later, Goldberg again checked textbook interpretations — the error had still not been corrected.

In other words, tens of thousands of college-educated youngsters have now “learned” that sex roles are “socially constructed,” and if challenged, they will correctly say, “I read in my college textbook that it was proven by Margaret Mead’s field research, and my professor spent two class periods telling us how the lack of women engineers results only from gender discrimination.”

For four decades, I have assigned textbooks to my students. Let me emphasize the difficulty of avoiding the Left’s ideology mongering. Bias is inescapable, perhaps consciously inserted to boost sales among the faithful, and the best that I can hope for is just bland one-sidedness. At least here my lectures can add omitted material, a far superior strategy than telling students, “don’t believe your textbook,” to which they will rightfully respond, “then why did you a assign it?”

I have had problems with this myself in education. It is something we on the conservative side must fight against and get involved in. We need more texts out there that can be used by professors and others who want something other than the left's self-help as education nonsense to dominate. However, as the author says, there is hope. Check out the full article.

Operation Gunrunner: Why Does Obama Want Druglords to have Guns?

The ATF operation began under George Bush but expanded under President Obama is a complete disaster, and Rep. Issa wants some answers:

House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican, is threatening to begin contempt proceedings if the Justice Department doesn’t start providing documents about the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) Project Gunrunner and Operation Fast and Furious. But what’s the controversy about? And what could the documents show?

In Project Gunrunner, ATF allowed American guns – including AK-47 assault rifles and military-grade, .50 caliber sniper rifles – to be smuggled into Mexico and sold to drug cartels, with the goal of tracking the weapons after they’ve been used.

The project began during the Bush administration in Laredo, Texas, in 2005 as a trial, morphing into a national program in 2006. The guns were sold and tracked electronically, giving law enforcement agents valuable intelligence on where the weapons went and who had them.

During the Bush years, no guns were allowed to cross the border into Mexico. When President Obama took office in 2009, things changed. Obama’s ATF continued Project Gunrunner, but made a crucial decision to allow guns to be “walked” into Mexico, eventually ending up in the hands of Mexican drug cartels.

The results, in at least one instance, were tragic. Two AK-47s ATF officials were tracking were found at the scene of U.S. border agent Brian Terry’s murder.

Suspected firearms trafficker Jaime Avila, who bought the two Project Gunrunner AK-47s found at the scene of the murder, was arrested shortly afterwards on gun crimes. But no one has been charged with Terry’s murder.

Why does Obama want guns to be allowed to kill Americans by Mexican druglords?

Obama "Budget" vs. Ryan Budget--The Choice is Clear

A bipartisan group has examined the supposed Obama budget plan and has found it to be an epic fail:

Using CBO rather than OMB numbers, we estimate that the plan is unlikely to result in a declining debt-to-GDP ratio, and would thus rely on the proposed “Debt Failsafe” to achieve further savings...
...The President’s Framework falls short of both he Fiscal Commission recommendations and those from the House Budget Committee, both of which would reduce the deficit by over $4 trillion and reduce the debt to below 69 percent of GDP by the end of the 10-year period. … Measured against CBO assumptions, it does not appear that the $2.5 trillion of deficit reduction in the President’s Framework would be sufficient to reduce the deficit to 2.5 percent of GDP in 2015 or 2 percent in 2020, as claimed. Using reasonable phase-in assumptions, we estimate that unless the debt failsafe is employed (as it would be in this circumstance), deficits would remain at or above 3 percent of GDP throughout the decade. As a result, debt would continue to slowly increase as a share of the economy, reaching 77 percent of GDP by 2021.

As it is, the Obama "plan" will save 40% less than the Ryan budget, even using OMB's rather rosy numbers.

The bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget found that the Ryan Plan cuts more debt than the Obama Plan. Also note that while the White House said its plan relied just 25 percent on higher taxes (33 percent if you exclude interest), the CFRB found that it actually relies 30 percent on higher tax revenue (40 percent if you exclude interest.) And since the debt trigger would be pulled, even higher taxes would be possible, as well additional spending cuts.

An Underemployed Teacher Responds to Combs and "Teach for America"

I am an underemployed teacher. I have been working as a tutor at a learning center in the tri-state area. For the last few years, I have also substituted in several districts across the greater Cincinnati area. I have tried to get into the field of education to help educate better citizens. However, I have not been successful, despite excellent scores on my teacher exams, as well as recommendations from some of the finest true educators in this state or any other. I know of many other teachers in Ohio and Kentucky who cannot find their ways into the system, who are fine educators. Many of them I work with at the learning center and in other positions I have to make ends meet.

So, when I read of Mr. Combs and his effort to bring "Teach for America" into Ohio, I had to chuckle. It is not the " the extraneous education licensure requirements currently on the books " that is causing the brain drain to grow. Why do we need to hire just 'young recruits fresh from graduating'? It is not the licensing board that is making it tough for the best and brightest to teach. It is the politics of school districts across the state, and each school building.

For example, in my home district, many of the teachers are related to board members, former board members, or administrators or other influential "families" in the community. While some are excellent educators, there are some who are there just because they set a school athletic record 20 years ago or because mommy or daddy was a booster or things like that. In some cases, getting into a school to teach requires more connections than it takes to get into a mafia family. This is what needs to be addressed first, not licensing standards (though those are at times quite confusing, I will admit).

Other places, the boards are only looking for certain types of people. At one interview in an inner city school, I was constantly reminded by the administrator that I would be with "urban" children in an "urban" setting, and could I handle being in an "urban" situation. What the administrator was saying was that she wasn't sure I could handle the job because I was not African-American or Latino. This goes on quite a bit, in those inner city districts that need people, but instead they go for color over qualifications. Kind of a sad twist on the 1950s segregation, don't you think?

So, rather than throw a whole bunch of more people who haven't even been trained in education into the fold, why not go out and recruit those of us who have been in the system, who may not agree with it, who ARE some of the best and brightest out there, to come in and get the jobs done? I have devoted the 15 years of my life to helping kids succeed, and outside of two harassment filled years where I was castigated and shunned for my right to have my own political beliefs, I have been relegated to substituting and tutoring. Many of my former and current students tell me I am a better teacher than the ones they have in the classrooms, unsolicited. So, instead of looking to create a wider pool of those of us who are disappointed by the rather arcane and not so clear hiring methods of administrators and boards, why not look to get rid of the rampant nepotism and reverse discrimination?

Boehner Congratulates 2011 8th District Art Competition Winners

Release:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman John Boehner (R-West Chester) today announced Rachel Leathers, a senior at Miami Valley Career Technology Center, as the grand prize winner of the 2011 8th District art competition.

“Our judges had a very difficult decision to make with the number of gifted high school artists participating in this year’s competition,” said Boehner. “Congratulations to Rachel and all of the contestants for their hard work and amazing talents.”

Rachel’s white color pencil and graphite piece was selected for top honors after judges reviewed 156 entries submitted by 116 students from 22 area high schools. Her piece will hang in the U.S. Capitol for a year along with other winners from around the country.

In addition, Benjamin Armour, a sophomore at Lakota East High School, was selected as the first place winner for his photograph, “Ash Cave.” His piece will hang in the Office of The Speaker.

Second- and third-place and several honorable mention pieces will hang in Boehner’s West Chester and Troy offices where they may be viewed by the public.

Other winners include:

* 2nd Place – Other Media: Jacquelyn Wagner, a junior at Miami Valley Career Technology Center, for her graphite piece, “Harmony.”

* 2nd Place – Photography: Nancy Chen, a senior at Franklin Monroe High School, for her abstract photo, “Iron Stone Whisper.”

* 3rd Place – Other Media: Thu Do, a junior at Lakota West High School, for his self portrait, “Ninja”

* 3rd Place – Photography: Kyla Roberts, a junior at Options Academy of the Arts, for her digital photo, “Me and My Rainbow Socks – Self”

* Honorable Mention: Taylor Bellomy, Miami Valley Career Technology Center; Ryan Birr, Carroll High School; Gayle Cobb, Middletown Christian School; Elizabeth Fair, Troy High School; Aisha Hull, Troy High School; Ema Koch, Lakota West High School; Bridget Mescher, Miami Valley Career Technology Center; Joshua Mossman, Fairfield High School; Madison Perry, Twin Valley South High School; Megan Peters, Franklin Monroe High School; Michelle Spencer, Troy High School; Carissa Wilson, Dayton Christian School.

The Congressional Art Competition, "An Artistic Discovery," aims to showcase the artistic talents of 8th District high school students. The competition was open to students in grades nine through 12, who are residents of the 8th Congressional District.

All artwork will remain on display at the Troy-Hayner Cultural Center in Tory, Ohio, until Tuesday, April 26.

BUTLER COUNTY: Auditor May Reduce Taxable Value of Damaged Property Brought on by Storms

Release:

HAMILTON, OHIO – As a result of the recent series of rain storms that brought strong winds and high water to parts of Butler County, County Auditor Roger Reynolds reminds property owners that they may claim a reduction in the taxable value of their property that has been destroyed or damaged. This reduction does not apply to damage to personal property such as furniture or appliances.

Ohio law enables property owners to claim the reduction at any time, regardless of the cause of the damage. The amount of reduction is prorated based on the calendar quarter in which the damage occurs. Property owners must file an application with the county Auditor’s Office for a reduction no later than Dec. 31 in the year that the damage occurred. Refunds or credits may be available.

Auditor Reynolds noted, “With the heavy rains that caused flood damage and wind damage recently, the residents of Butler County need to be mindful of the relief that this law provides. This law provides tax relief to those homeowners who suffered property damage. The amount of tax relief will depend upon the extent of the damage.”

Property owners should take pictures of the damage and file them with the Application for Valuation Deduction for Destroyed or Damaged Real Property (DTE 26).

Those interested in seeking a reduction may download DTE Form 26 from the bottom of the Auditor’s Internet home page or from the “Forms” section of the Auditor’s Web site: www.butlercountyauditor.org; or by contacting the Auditor’s Real Estate Department at (513) 887-3154.

St. Rep. Wachtmann Calls Allegations by Innovation Ohio a "Baseless Distraction"

Release:

COLUMBUS—In response to a frivolous, baseless press release authored by the newly formed liberal think-tank “Innovation Ohio,” Rep. Lynn Wachtmann (R-Napoleon) issued the following statement:

“Today, Ohioans are seeing that Democrats and their so-called ‘think-tanks’ are not interested in solving the problems facing Ohio, as evidenced by their flawed press release issued today,” Rep. Wachtmann said. “First and foremost, the allegations made by Innovation Ohio are outright lies.”

In an effort to clear up these misconceptions, Rep. Wachtmann clarified that:

1) Virginia McInerney is no longer the director of the Ohio Workers’ Compensation Council (WCC) – currently, there is no director.

2) The WCC has completed four different reports—not one as claimed—analyzing five bills, completed an analysis of an additional five bills under consideration by the General Assembly, and continued compilation of a resource database of over 600 documents related to workers’ compensation.

3) In the original budget that included funding for the council, it set aside $500,000 for an actuarial study. That money has not yet been spent. Costs associated with the WCC are largely startup costs that will not be incurred again. Additionally, in the first 20 months of the WCC, the council only used 66 percent of its total budget approved by the legislature.

Given that workers’ compensation is the state’s largest insurance fund, Rep. Wachtmann said he believes that it was vital from the beginning to have legislative oversight of this important function of the state. “I strongly believe, from past experience, that spending a few thousand dollars a year to protect workers, especially injured workers, should be a high priority for the legislature,” Rep. Wachtmann said. “It is a shame that this liberal group does not want these protections.”

House members on both sides of the aisle praised the work of the council. In 2010, Rep. Lynn Wachtmann himself, as a member of the council, was quoted as saying the panel serves an important oversight role on behalf of the legislature (Columbus Dispatch, 6/5/10). In 2009, WCC Vice-chairman Rep. Tom Letson (D-Warren) defended the council, saying he believed it would provide legislators a valuable service (Gongwer).

“Once again, we have Democrats and their so-called ‘think-tank’ trying to distract the public with lies and misinformation while we are trying to deal with the $8 billion budget deficit that they saddled us with,” Rep. Wachtmann said. “Instead of offering proposals to reform Ohio’s workers’ compensation system or do anything of substance, Democrats and Innovation Ohio are sitting on the sidelines screaming false accusations.”

Rep. Wachtmann went on to say these recent attacks mirror the same political games that were echoed by former State Representative Dan Dodd (D-Hebron), who was a co-sponsor of the bill that funded the council before ultimately opposing it.

“Dan Dodd—who voted for the creation of this council—served as a member, criticized it from his bully pulpit, and now is rumored to serve as a consultant for Innovation Ohio,” Rep. Wachtmann said. “It would not surprise me if this was his way of attempting to become relevant again.”

We the People Convention

I may have some more "news" on this later, but for now, I just want to get the word out about this upcoming event...

EarlyBirdSpecialPressRelease

WMD Ohio Legislature Scorecard Update

I added HB30 (Repeal of Strickland's so-called 'evidence-based" education funding nonsense) and totally up the scores so far...

WMD Ohio Legislature Scorecard

GUEST COLUMN: "Bringing Teach for America to Ohio" by St. Rep. Combs

By State Rep. Courtney Combs

Today in Ohio we are faced with a wide achievement gap in our public school system.  While students from high-income, suburban communities have access to unlimited resources and the best teachers available, students typically attending low-income, urban and rural schools have access to a small fraction of these resources.  This socioeconomic disparity is reflected in underprivileged students’ shockingly low achievement levels in school, leaving those from these districts with limited opportunity for future success.

 

Working in these environments, teachers often become jaded and lose motivation themselves, which furthers the problem.  This lack of motivated teachers causes young students to develop the same attitude toward school, perpetuating the issue and leaving low-income schools without as many dedicated educators. Why? It causes other teachers to flock to wealthier school districts, making matters even worse in  the low-income schools. 

 

Teach For America is a volunteer corps determined to combat underachievement and malaise in these types of school districts.  Recruiting the brightest recent college graduates of various academic majors, the organization sends passionate, talented young adults to teach for two or more years to underprivileged students in low-income school districts.  These young adults are compassionate and driven, dedicated to reducing the nationwide achievement gap in education.  To participate in Teach For America, participants must follow a rigorous and competitive application process that includes attending a five-week intensive training program in the summer, as well as obtaining a resident educator’s license.

 

Even though we have seen Ohio’s achievement gap widen over the years, Teach For America has been prevented from establishing itself in our state.  Clinging to a variety of licensure laws and policies, its opponents will not allow Teach For America’s temporary resident educator licenses to be valid in Ohio, and we are taking steps to correct this at the Ohio House.

 

I have chosen to sponsor House Bill 21, which will finally bring Teach For America to Ohio.  House Bill 21 waives the extraneous education licensure requirements currently on the books and direct the State Board of Education to issue a resident educator license to any Teach For America participant so long as they have met all of the organization’s requirements.  Furthermore, any teacher in the program who has taught in another state would be issued such a license, as well as credit for two years of the four-year Ohio Teacher Residency Program.  This bill aims at attracting young, talented educators to Ohio and help close the academic achievement gap so visible in our state.

 

House Bill 21, having already been passed in the House and Senate, is expected to be signed by the governor in the very near future.  When it is enacted, I am incredibly confident that we will all see much-needed improvement in schools across the state.  On average, nine-year-olds from low-income communities are three grade levels behind their high-income counterparts.  Furthermore, these same schools are the ones that face the most daunting fiscal crises in the near future, limiting their access to resources even more.  As it stands, students and staff alike are continuously looking at a bleak future with less hope for students’ success down the road.

 

I tell you with confidence that Teach For America will give hope to these staff members and students of low-income school districts.  Employed in over 30 states already, Teach For America has proven its effectiveness over and over, bringing hope and motivation to underprivileged students from coast to coast.  With the removal of unnecessary licensure requirements, Ohio will finally embrace this program with open arms and start to combat the “brain drain” that has spread throughout our state.

Senate President Niehaus on Kasich's First 100 Days

Release:

(Columbus) - Ohio Senate President Tom Niehaus (R-New Richmond) issued the following statement today regarding Governor John Kasich's first 100 days in office:

"Ohioans have made it clear that they want us to focus on creating and saving jobs, while getting the cost of government under control.  That has been the driving force of our agenda in these first 100 days, and we continue to work every day with Governor Kasich and his administration to build on those priorities.  I'm proud of the leadership role the Senate played in the successful passage of the Governor’s innovative JobsOhio program.  We were able to deliver the bill with overwhelming bipartisan support from 31 of our 33 members.  We also crossed party lines to win approval for new tax incentives that kept thousands of jobs from leaving Ohio, as well as legislation designed to break through Ohio’s job-killing regulatory barriers.

Ohioans certainly realize by now that nothing we do this year will be easy, and some of it will be unpopular, if not downright painful.  We’ve been presented with some of the biggest challenges in state history.  Fortunately, we've had a strong, collaborative working relationship with Governor Kasich and Speaker Batchelder that's focused on doing what’s right for Ohio.  I look forward to what we can accomplish together in the next 100 days."

12OHSEN: Coughlin Signs Taxpayer Protection Pledge

Release:

Grover Norquist and Kevin Coughlin

Washington, DC - Former Ohio State Senator Kevin Coughlin has signed the Americans for Tax Reform's Taxpayer Protection Pledge.  

Coughlin has formed a campaign committee to raise money and give careful consideration to a run against incumbent Senator Sherrod Brown. 

In making the pledge,  Coughlin promises to:

1)   oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rates for individuals and/or businesses; and

2)  oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates.

"Our government taxes too much, spends too much, and listens too little," Coughlin said.  "As I did for fourteen years in the Statehouse, I will stand by the principles of less government and fiscal responsibility should I be elected to the United States Senate."

Coughlin was a signer of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge during his entire service as a state legislator. Known for standing strong on fiscal conservative issues, Coughlin was once removed from the Ohio Senate Finance & Appropriations Committee for refusing to vote for a tax increase.

"Sherrod Brown and the spenders in Washington are mortgaging our future and saddling our children with debt," Coughlin said. "The culture of unlimited government and unsustainable spending must end if we are to reclaim America and get our country back on the right track."

Photo:  .

Speaker Batchelder on Kasich's First 100 Days

Statement:

COLUMBUS—Today, Ohio House Speaker William G. Batchelder (R-Medina) issued the following statement regarding Governor John Kasich’s first 100 days as Ohio’s 69^th governor:

“John Kasich and I have been friends for many years, and I have always known him to be a man of great vision and character.  This has never been more true than in his first 100 days as the governor of the State of Ohio.  He has assembled a team of extraordinarily capable, intelligent cabinet officials and staff to help our state during this difficult time.  I am confident that Governor Kasich is continuing to put Ohio on the path to prosperity.

“In a very short period of time, the House has been able to work cooperatively and collaboratively with the governor to pass major legislative reforms with one goal in mind – putting Ohioans back to work.  Our caucus, along with the governor, has always had a mutually agreed upon understanding of the urgency of creating jobs and focusing on the issues that matter to all Ohioans.  The first bill passed by the General Assembly and signed into law by the governor was JobsOhio, which will modernize our state’s economic development efforts.  It is exactly these types of bold initiatives that Ohio needs if we want to once again be competitive.

“As a legislator for more than 35 years, I can tell you that no governor has been more willing to work with the Legislature and make the difficult decisions—without regard to the political and personal consequences—so long as the end results are job creation and fixing Ohio’s once-prosperous economy. It has been an honor and privilege for me to work alongside my friend John Kasich, and I look forward to continue working with him and my esteemed colleague, Senate President Tom Niehaus, on the important issues that lie ahead.”

Chairman DeWine on Kasich's First 100 Days

Release:

(Columbus) - In his inaugural address on January 10th, Governor John Kasich vowed to transform Ohio and rebuild its great cities. In today's First 100 Days speech, he highlighted some of his early accomplishments and outlined his continued work for a better Ohio.

"Governor Kasich has worked tirelessly to revive our state's ailing economy," said Ohio Republican Party Chairman Kevin DeWine. "Candidate Kasich said he would focus on jobs, and Governor Kasich has done just that. He has tackled the spending problem of the last administration, proposed a balanced budget and preserved income tax cuts."

In today's speech, Governor Kasich highlighted his work in recent months which includes:

* Working with business leaders to retain Ohio jobs and companies.

* Cutting red tape that inhibits small business growth.

* Bringing Teach for America to Ohio schools.

* Introducing a balanced budget with tax cuts and lower government spending.

* Signing Senate Bill 5 to give public employers the tools to restructure their budgets when revenues get tight.

"By easing regulations on small businesses and protecting the income tax cut, Governor Kasich is removing the financial burdens that have kept Ohio at a competitive disadvantage with other states for years. His reform centers around putting Ohioans back to work, attracting businesses and creating a financially sound environment for growth in years to come."

DeWine also applauded the Governor for his bold stance on Senate Bill 5 to protect public servants while reining in the growing cost of government.

"The Governor has taken critics head on by challenging the status quo. Governor Kasich has exercised leadership in removing policies that hurt Ohio's taxpayers, businesses and bottom line. We are proud of his efforts, and excited to continue to work alongside of him for a healthier, more vibrant Ohio."

WMD Ohio Legislature Scorecard

We are going to start tracking some key votes in the Ohio General Assembly so that when the politicians come asking for our support, we'll know how they governed.

So far, we have JobsOhio and SB5 on this list.  If you have an idea for which bills we should put on the list, sound off in the comments section.


WMD Ohio Legislature Scorecard
And, yes, I am sure that at some point, I'll throw together a Congressional version of this too...

GUEST COLUMN: "Tax Day" by Rep. Pat Tiberi

BY: Congressman Pat Tiberi

By now, you’ve likely spent countless hours with your calculator filling out your tax forms.  While electronic filing, and professional tax preparers tend to make the process easier, gathering the necessary documents, filling out the appropriate forms and calculating the amount of your tax obligation is quite time consuming, complex and costly.

This year, Tax Freedom Day fell within a few days of the deadline for millions of Americans to write a check to the IRS.  Tax Freedom Day marks the day when Americans have worked enough days to pay off their federal, state, and local taxes and begin to earn money to take home.  This year Tax Freedom Day fell three days later, on April 12^th, than the previous year, meaning Americans once again had to work longer that the previous year in order to meet their tax obligation.

This week, in the Ways and Means Committee, I heard testimony from tax preparers that they are being asked how folks can minimize earnings to avoid being bumped into a higher tax bracket.  When workers and entrepreneurs ask how they can work less to avoid penalties from the government, it is a sure sign of a broken system.  As a son of legal immigrants, whose parents came here on a boat from Italy for an opportunity at a better life, not a guarantee, the fact that workers feel like they are no longer rewarded for hard work is truly disheartening.  We must make our tax code simpler and fairer.  I continue to hear from Central Ohioans about their frustration with how hard it is to complete their tax forms.    No wonder, individuals and businesses spend 6.1 billion hours a year complying with tax filing requirements.  Unfortunately, more and more people have to rely on tax preparers to accurately fill out their tax forms.

I believe we must enact comprehensive tax reform.  President Obama called for corporate tax reform in his State of the Union speech, but I believe we need to go farther and enact individual tax reform to ease the burden on families and small businesses.  Families know how to better spend their money than unelected bureaucrats in Washington – bureaucrats who sometimes don’t even know what time zone Ohio is in!  By reforming our tax code, we can not only help families, but we can encourage small businesses to grow and hire.

I’m optimistic that reform can happen; however, we have a window of opportunity.  Republicans and Democrats worked together at the end of 2010 to prevent massive tax increases on all Americans.  Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle have indicated they would like to see comprehensive tax reform move forward.  In 1986, the last time major tax reform was passed, the Chambers of Congress were controlled by different parties and members still managed to enact much-needed reform.  I’m hoping that President Obama will show leadership and welcome members of both parties to the table. Creating a simpler and fairer tax system can help grow the economy, create jobs, and ensure a more prosperous future for us all.

BUTLER COUNTY: Crazy Commissioner Carpenter Caught in Confrontation

I flagged this story in my email because, as I said on Facebook last week, I have been busy but some stories just have to be covered on WMD. 

There is a certain paranoia that surrounds Commissioner Cindy Carpenter like an aura or thick fog.  It does not matter what she does or says, if it backfires, she tries to blame somebody else.  I have no recollection of her taking responsibility for anything she has done or said that didn't come up roses, rainbows, sunshine and unicorns.  Near as I can tell from her public record, she makes absolutely no mistakes and is perfect in every way.  That's because when she does goof up, she blames somebody else for it.

The latest example is Carpenter shooting off her mouth leaving a county administrator having to file a complaint due to the nature of the "poor choice of words" employed.

Mikey Pitman has the story over at the Journal News:

Office of Management and Budget Director Pete Landrum reported on April 5 that county Commissioner Cindy Carpenter said, “Line them up and shoot them” during a conversation in which she was expressing frustration about the public defenders project and how items are placed on the agenda.

Landrum wouldn’t comment Thursday evening on the event other than to say, “Something was said and I reported it as county policy demands. I was following county policy. If I didn’t, I’d be reprimanded.”

Carpenter admitted making the statement as hyperbole to make a point. She said she immediately apologized for the frustration she demonstrated and didn’t think it upset Landrum.

The complaint was taken to Commission President Chuck Furmon and Prosecutor Mike Gmoser who now have to spend time "investigating" this nonsense because Cindy Carpenter can't understand that she isn't supposed to threaten people who work for the county.

Why would Landrum think that Carpenter held animosity towards him?  Back to the Pitman story for that:

Before Carpenter took office, the jobs held by Landrum, Administrator Bruce Jewett and Budget and Financial Planning Manager Tonyia Burnett were part of an alleged plan she and Commissioner Don Dixon developed. As part of such a plan, Landrum and Burnett would have been fired while Jewett would have been demoted and transferred.

She's been gunning for him anyway...

I wish I could say that this was the first time I've heard of an incident where Carpenter made people feel uncomfortable or intimidated but it isn't.  I've said it many times before and I'll say it again here: Carpenter is a Mike Fox protegee and we'll be seeing LOTS more incidents like this one until she is either voted out of office or learns that the days "old style" politics in Butler County are over and will no longer be tolerated by the community she has been elected to serve.

More importantly, note how she tries to deflect the blame and point fingers at Furmon and Dixon near the end of the piece:

But said since she took office, Carpenter said she has had felt resistance with her fellow commissioners, Jewett and Landrum.

“Since I came on board, the commissioners have made it as difficult as possible, Bruce has made it as difficult as possible, Pete has made it as difficult as possible,” she said. “It is resistance, it is incredibly frustrating. It’s a dysfunctional office.”

Cindy, have you considered the possibility that the problem is...YOU?  You weren't even sworn in and you conspired with Don Dixon to fire officials and then are left wondering why people don't trust you or your motivations.  As I recall, you tried to blame that on Dixon so at least you are consistent.

We deserve better from our elected officials.  Fortunately, the bulk of our Republican leadership are grown ups who understand that they can't go around threatening people.  When you wield political power, you have to be more careful with the words you use, who you talk to, and how you are perceived.  Some people call it being tactful.  This is a lesson that Cindy Carpenter desperately needs to learn if she is going to be successful going forward.

Congressman Bob Gibbs: This Spending Deal is Only the Beginning

Release:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Congressman Bob Gibbs today released the following statement following passage of H.R 1473, Making Appropriations for Department of Defense and Other Departments and Agencies for FY2011:

 

“Today, I supported the agreement on the largest non-defense spending cut in history to help begin to create a better environment for private-sector job growth. 

 

“This historic spending agreement cuts $315 billion over the next ten years, eliminates dozens of federal programs, and undermines the job-crushing health care law.  These are the kind of concrete steps we need to take if we are going to end the Washington spending binge that causes uncertainty for American job creators. 

 

“It is important to note is that we are forced to vote on this short-term budget because the last Congress ignored its Constitutional responsibility to pass a budget.  The Administration and Senate leadership ignored the American people’s demands for more spending cuts and defended their reckless spending addiction instead of making the tough decisions necessary to craft a budget.   

 

“I was elected to challenge President Obama and Senator Harry Reid reckless spending addiction, and enacting a responsible budget that ensures our military gets paid signals the official end of a period of unprecedented government spending.

 

“However, the agreement is far from perfect, and we need to do much more if we’re serious about creating new jobs, fixing our spending-driven debt crisis, and ending the uncertainty that continues to plague our economy.   But it is a positive first step and tomorrow, I will support a budget proposal that cuts $6.2 trillion from the President’s budget and offers a long-term blueprint for American job creation.”

Rep. Jean Schmidt on Continuing Resolution; NAY Vote

Statement from Rep. Jean Schmidt:

"I commend Speaker Boehner for his hard work in refocusing the debate.  But, I am dismayed that the White House and Majority Leader Reid continue to pay lip service to the need to cut spending but refuse to actually do anything about it.

 

After careful review, I could not support the Continuing Resolution.  Our national debt exceeds $14 trillion and the deficit for this year alone is estimated to be more than $1.5 trillion.  I will continue my efforts to force serious reductions to federal spending as we proceed to develop and debate the fiscal year 2012 budget."

St. Rep. Combs Proposes Measure to Support the Effort to Control Illegal Immigration

Release:

COLUMBUS—Recently, State Representative Courtney Combs (R-Hamilton) introduced House Concurrent Resolution 11, which articulates Ohio’s support for the State of Arizona in its legal battle regarding the state’s ability to control illegal immigration.

 

Because of the failure of the federal government to secure Arizona’s southern border, the State of Arizona is striving to control through legislation the influx of illegal immigrants crossing its border. The legislation arose after exponential growth of illegal drugs and related crime because the state’s police forces have no course of action or necessary resources to combat the quickly growing number of undocumented individuals. This has caused a strain on service providers to provide housing, food and medical services not only within the state of Arizona, but throughout the nation as well.

 

“Ohioans are fed up with the lack of effort by the federal government in dealing with the growing concerns of illegal immigration,” said Combs. “Illegal immigration is a real problem that deserves immediate attention and steadfast resolve. It is a strain on our health care system, on our education system, and on our public safety system.”

 

HCR 11 asserts that the Ohio General Assembly supports the efforts of the State of Arizona to demand appropriate action from the federal government, and that Arizona’s attempt to control the problem at the state level is a necessary message to the federal government that current immigration policies are simply not effective.

 

The passage of HCR 11 would indicate that Ohio joins the State of Arizona and 15 other states in an effort to gain the support of the federal government in addressing this burgeoning problem.

 

HCR 11 has been assigned to the House State Government and Elections Committee, where it will undergo further debate and deliberation.