Facts

Isn't just like members of the Ohio GOP to make up their own statistics?  Ohio House Speaker William Batchelder, has been creating some tall tales of his own.

Politifact rates Batchelder's latest quote as "PANTS ON FIRE" on the Truth-o-Meter:

...He made the statement during a Jan. 4 interview on WCPN 90.3 FM’s "Sound of Ideas" radio program. He also said reducing the number of ex-cons who return to prison is critical to any reform effort.

"I think it’s important also from the stand point of getting (prisoners) back into society, so we are not always faced constantly with recidivism, which is a big problem in the penitentiary today – in the 70 to 80 percent range."
 

....But his claim that recidivism "is a big problem in the penitentiary today – in the 70 to 80 percent range" isn’t even close. And to cite as support a misapplied figure from a report that didn’t exist when he made the statement is ridiculous....

Batchelder needs to follow the axiom, "When in doubt, check it out."  You cannot make up your own facts to suit your agenda.  As Politifact states, Batchelder's statistics get the "Pants On Fire" rating.

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***  Gov. John Kasich's lack of diversity is not only evident in his nearly all white cabinet appointees, but also as it relates to women and others with diverse opinions.

Dispatch:

....State Sen. Shirley Smith, D-Cleveland, said it appears Kasich is taking the same approach when it comes to assignments in his administration. His four female department heads lead staffs that average 760 workers and have budgets that average $441 million. His 17 male department heads’ budgets average $1.9 billion and their staffs average 2,500.....

Barbara Riley, who headed one of the state’s largest departments under Gov. Bob Taft and one of the smaller departments under Gov. Ted Strickland, cautioned that diversity of thought and philosophy is important too. 

 

“Surrounding yourself with people who think as you do and perhaps parrot what you say isn’t conducive to good government. I don’t care if you’re meeting any kind of metric at all, the point is to have people at the table who will be willing to contradict and lay out perhaps more challenging ideas,” Riley said. “I think you need to be challenged.” 

Kasich's list of similar-thinking people (aka as sheeple), clearly does not provide him with anyone who will question him.  Does he see himself as an "all knowing" leader who is afraid to hear opposing views? 

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>>>>>  Women in Ohio should note that the Republican controlled General Assembly is not working to get people back to work.  Their concerns have turned to women and their uteruses.  

Toledo Blade:

....The furor over late-term abortions is largely manufactured. In Ohio, fewer than 28,000 pregnancies were terminated in 2009, according to the state Health Department. That's a decrease of about 40 percent since 2000.

Only about 600 abortions in Ohio in 2009 - about 2 percent - were late-term. Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, says nearly every late-term abortion was medically necessary.....

Don't you wish that the mostly white male Ohio Republican party would be less concerned with the biology of women and more concerned with job creation?  Unfortunately, other Republicans want to change other things as well.

Americablog:

U.S. House Republicans have received a great deal of attention over the past week since seeking to qualify the crime of rape with the term “forcible” in a high-profile piece of legislation. Such a distinction could create classes of rape victims, with “forcible rape” victims somehow being ordained as worse off than victims of statutory rape, date rape, rape by coercion or deception, rape of the disabled or mentally impaired… You get the picture.....

.....Georgia Republican state Rep. Bobby Franklin (of gold-standard-wannabe fame) has introduced a bill to change the state’s criminal codes so that in “criminal law and criminal procedure” (read: in court), victims of rape, stalking, and family violence could only be referred to as “accusers” until the defendant has been convicted.....

 .....To diminish a victim’s ordeal by branding him/her an accuser essentially questions whether the crime committed against the victim is a crime at all. Robbery, assault, and fraud are all real crimes with real victims, the Republican asserts with this bill.....

Why would anyone question a rape victim in this manner?  What are Republicans trying to do to women?