The House has easily passed a bill to repeal the policy known as "don't ask, don't tell." The vote was aimed at sending a message to the Senate, where efforts to repeal have been blocked by Republicans.
The final House vote was 250-175, primarily along party lines. There were 15 Republicans who joined 235 Democrats to support the measure....
Which members voted against the repeal? The usual group. See the list of for and against votes at:
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2010/roll638.xml
**** There is a very interesting website (www.measureofamerica.org/maps) that gives you a breakdown about the demographics about the people of each state, congressional district, and zip code. For example, according to measureofamerica.org:
Ohio's 15th congressional district has 12.9% of residents with graduate degrees, 22.9% with bachelors degrees, has a life expectancy of 76 years....
Ohio's 8th congressional district has 7.1% of residents with graduate degrees, 13.6% with bachelors degrees, with a life expectancy of 77 years.....
>>> Ohio's current Attorney General, Richard Cordray, has landed a big job, according to the NYTimes:
Richard Cordray, Ohio’s attorney general, is about to take his battle against foreclosure fraud, abusive payday lenders and misbehaving global financial houses to Washington.
Mr. Cordray, a Democrat, was named today to oversee enforcement at the new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection....
.....Mr. Cordray presented an interesting study in contrasts as attorney general. Soft-spoken, often with eyes downcast, he spoons out quite unsparing assessments of corporate fraud and wrongdoing. And in his two years in office, he has sued often, filing lawsuits and wresting about $2 billion from financial titans such as Merrill Lynch, Marsh & McLennan and American International Group....
With Cordray in town, those evildoers in the financial world better be good!
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* Governor-elect John Kasich is already cutting back on the quality of education in Ohio. Since Kasich seems to be getting advice from children instead of educators. Dispatch:
Ohio school districts could go back to having five calamity days, instead of the three allotted this school year, if Gov.-elect John Kasich has his way.....
....Lawmakers would have to approve the change. Kasich told the Dayton Daily News in a story published earlier this week that he will move to restore the calamity days after he takes office Jan.10, in response to concerns about schools already having to use snow days with a long winter ahead.
He acknowledged that his daughter and the 10-year-old daughter of his chief of staff spoke to him at length about the subject....
Obviously, Kasich has already placed the expertise of school teachers behind the wants of his children and a friend. What other recommendations do the Kasich kids have that will influence Kasich's agenda - - - no homework, shorter school days, longer vacation days, longer recesses, etc., etc., .....?
Kasich has no idea what calamity days do to the continuum of learning. Since Kasich would rather seek the advice of selected school children instead of experts involved in education, we see that Kasich has once again demonstrated his shortsightedness. He was shortsighted on the needs and benefits of the passenger trains. He makes rash judgments instead of studying an issue and seeking the opinions of experts.
Newsnet5 has this development about a meeting Kasich had with officials of Cuyahoga County:
....The governor-elect said he has been actively involved in making sure the city keeps the company.
Kasich reiterated that the state will not keep American Greetings, or any other company, if we don’t create a better business climate.....
(Remember that as a member of the Board of Directors of Invacare, Kasich signed off on letting Invacare move many manufacturing jobs out of Ohio to China.)
....Kasich said education needs to be a priority. He also said that he would explore the opportunity of a state takeover of any school system that he believes isn’t working.
What district do you think Kasich would go after first? Which area of the state has a strong Democratic base with lots of union members? Would Kasich go after Youngstown City Schools?