GOP GOT US INTO THE MESS WE'RE IN

****From a letter to the editor of The Toledo Blade----- GOP Got Us Into the Mess We're In
Here are some excerpts:

Interesting how our "compassionate conservative" lawmakers couldn't muster enough compassion to grant a raise to minimum-wage workers while they contend the economy is "robust" and have voted themselves past raises.

How can Republicans claim dibs on the answers to the problems facing the U.S. and claim that the Democrats are disorganized and out of touch, when it's the Republicans who are the very reason we are in the mess we're in?

Consider energy. Since the President deregulated the industry, government oversight is gone, oil companies' profits are ridiculously high, and prices at the pump keep escalating, along with everything else we buy. Every "commoner" is dreading this winter's heating bills. Our current energy policy is "drill in ANWR." Our economy has shifted from one that used to charge what's fair to one that charges what the market will bear.

Regarding foreign policy, if you haven't noticed, the Middle East is on fire! Iraq is in civil war, North Korea test-fired rockets on the Fourth of July, and while we're playing world chess with Iran using Israel and Lebanon as pawns at war, the President went on vacation. The Republicans championed fiscal responsibility and demonized Democrats as liberal elitists, yet our President and his party have "porked" the national debt to historic highs. The only veto from the oval office: stem cell research. Didn't Bill Clinton hand over a surplus? This doesn't even mention warrantless wiretapping, tax cuts for the wealthy, domestic programs slashed, Jack Abramoff scandal, illegal immigration, etc....

That is a great letter! I wish I had written it!

*****Is there another Ohio scandal ahead? Here are some excerpts from a story in the Morning Journal:

The Lorain County Community Action Agency's board of trustees decided last night to ask the Lorain County sheriff and prosecutor to help it investigate allegations of wrongdoing made in an anonymous letter purportedly from LCCAA employees.

LCCAA officials, as well as the Ohio Department of Development, which oversees much of the agency's funding, deny any wrongdoing has taken place.

The letter was dated Aug. 9 and faxed from a Staples store. Signed only ''LCCAA Employees,'' the letter calls on Gov. Bob Taft to investigate what it calls ''misuse and mismanagement of taxpayer's money.'' It calls for the resignations of Executive Director Nelson Ramirez and five other agency employees.

Among the letter's allegations is a claim that an employee fraudulently applied for heating bill assistance through the Home Energy Assistance Program.

Another allegation is that phony tallies of children are provided to collect federal money for more children than are actually in the Head Start program operated by the LCCAA.....


*****The man that the Republicans kept off the ballot as an Independent in Ohio's 15th congressional district, Charles Morrison, ...has asked a federal court to let him run as an independent, challenging an Ohio law he says is too vague about how to leave a political party to run unaffiliated....(First Amendment Center).

No one knows what could happen with a court case. However, if Morrison is allowed on the ballot as an Independent, it could take votes away from Republican Deborah Pryce.