Just What You Need

BradBlog found a very interesting item for sale on ebay-----

 Diebold voting machines originally used in Van Wert County Ohio.  More than 10 are available, according to the ebay page.


>  The Toledo Blade has 2 graphics that show how much money Kasich is taking from public schools to give to those failing charter schools:





  Don't you wonder why some districts have such huge cuts to their funding?

 

We Won't Forget

The infamous SB 5 has passed the Ohio House. This is the bill that Republicans are pushing, with the blessing of Gov. John Kasich, that would end collective bargaining for public employees.  Shame on the Republicans.  We won't forget.  Where can I sign the petition to put this on the ballot?

Why do the Ohio Republicans hate public school teachers?  Why do the Ohio Republicans hate firefighters?  Why do the Ohio Republicans hate police officers?  Why do the Ohio Republicans hate all public employees?  Are the Republicans hoping to lower all of our wages to $2/hr and working at Wal-Mart? 

Ohio Republicans and Kasich continue to belittle and disrespect the work and devotion that public workers in Ohio have shown over the years. During the campaign, Kasich  said that he wanted to "...break the backs of organized labor in the schools...." (source: StarBeacon)

After the election he said, "I am waiting for the teachers union to take out full page ads in all of the newspapers apologizing for what they had to say about me during this campaign," said Kasich.......(source: wdtn.com)  Is he upset that teachers told the truth?

I hope that Mr. Kasich doesn't hold his breath waiting for that apology from teachers and their unions.  Teachers don't forget. Teachers won't forget that Kasich continues to defame the public school teachers in Ohio, underrate their education, accomplishments, and dedication to the public school children of Ohio. 

I'm sure that the firefighters, police officers and all the public workers in Ohio won't forget his lack of respect for their contributions and sacrifice. 

____________________

*  Rumor has it that Andy Teater, who serves as a Member of the School Board for Hilliard City Schools, was forced out of his cushy job with the state.  Hilliard residents want to know why.

* Rumor has it that the Kasich "hatchet men" continue to march into various departments and fire people. 

*  Rumor has it that some divisions of various departments are being sent over to JobsOhio (aka RobsOhio) to manage.  Why?

Don't you wonder why all the GOP governors.......

It seems rather suspicious that all of the Republican governors have the same agenda of attacking
good,God-loving, middle class contributors to society because they belong to unions. Where did they
get their instructions on what to do, what programs to cut, which people to disenfranchise, and which
people/groups/corporations to elevate? Have they all had their instructions from the Koch brothers
and their puppet, right-leaning think tanks?

We finally have someone in Ohio less popular than Lebron---
Gov. John Kasich. If Ohioans had a do-over, Kasich would not be elected. He has shown himself to be
a complete, jerk, hypocrite, and a**h**e.

Where does Kasich get his information?

Governor John Kasich met with people in Marion to discuss his privatization plans.

LancasterEagleGazette:

...The press conference follows the state budget proposal to sell five Ohio prisons to a private operator, balancing the ODRC budget for 2012 and saving a further 5 percent in costs in operations as required by Ohio law....


....The level of violence in the prisons is unacceptable as are recidivism rates, which he hopes to change by reorganizing the system and implementing sentencing reforms making their way through the legislature.

The goals of the reform are to lower violence, lower recidivism and save taxpayers money, he said.....

Kasich thinks that the prisons have been mismanaged and only he is capable of fixing them.  I wonder where Kasich got his facts about recidivism because they don't seem to be accurate.

The Crime Report had published this information on February 25, 2011:


The rate of released offenders returned to Ohio prisons is the lowest it has been in 11 years, reports the Columbus Dispatch. Last year, 34 percent of inmates returned to prison for a parole or probation violation or a new felony conviction, down from 36 percent in 2009, said state corrections director Gary Mohr. Last year's recidivism rate is the lowest since 1997, when it was also 34 percent. The national recidivism rate averages about 50 percent.

Mohr credited several factors for the improvement: better inmate programming, more structured parole supervision, enhanced staff training, and more use of community corrections, such as halfway houses. The department offers "evidence-based" programming that research has shown to be successful in leading to careers after prison, such as its horticultural and auto-mechanic training for inmates, spokesman Carlo LoParo said. The state's use of halfway houses and other community-corrections facilities for low-level, first-time offenders has helped improve the results by keeping such inmates away from career criminals in prisons, LoParo said....

Since Mohr was with Kasich today in Marion, I wonder why he didn't let Kasich in on the real facts.

*  When will All Children Matter, the pro-charter school, group pay their $5.2 million fine?  The Middletown Journal: 

....The Ohio Elections Commission unanimously ruled in 2008 that All Children Matter, headed by former Michigan Republican Chairwoman Betsy DeVos and run out of that state, illegally funneled $870,000 in contributions from its Virginia political action committee to its Ohio affiliate....

...Records show Brennan has begun donating to another school choice organization called the American Federation for Children, where some alums of All Children Matter now work. Brennan donated $11,000 to the federation on Oct. 14, records show....


....Brennan is a generous Republican donor in the state, having contributed to the campaigns of Kasich, DeWine and elections chief Jon Husted, among many others....

When will DeWine collect that money or will he just let it go considering his connections to the charter school supporters?

****  Why haven't the Republicans shared the text of SB 5 with their Democratic counterparts?  What are they hiding?  See the CapitalBlog for details.

Republicans Going After Voters

Today on WOSU radio, fill-in host, Mike Thompson, conducted a call-in show featuring  Republican Ohio House Speaker Pro Tempore Louis Blessing, Jr. and Democrat Ohio House Minority Leader Rep. Armond Budish, as they discussed a Republican bill that would require a photo ID to vote in Ohio.

As I listened in my car, I noticed a few things that made me angry.  Republican Blessing used the words "segregated out" when referring to part of the bill.  He also referred to polls which showed support for this bill. (In my humble opinion, polls with a right-leaning focus are not necessarily guides that I look to for facts.)  Blessing also kept pointing to some anecdotal evidence that Republican Amy Searcy found in talking to random people in Hamilton County about requiring photo ID's for voting.  Anecdotal stories are not proof or evidence.  Right now I could go find ten people on my street that don't support this right wing move to suppress voting rights.

Despite the fact that groups like the AARP, the NAACP, and the League of Women Voters have voiced their opposition to this attack on voting rights, the Republicans are pushing through this ill- advised plan as quickly as possible.  The Republicans are the same people that brought us voting irregularities in previous elections. Now they are trying to cut out voters who might not be able to pay for a state issued vote ID.  Instead of working on bringing jobs to Ohio, Kasich and his Republican sheeple are doing their part to limit which people can vote.

Where are the jobs?

If you'd like to listen to the program, it is available below or at the Ohio Channel.

Do consumers need protection in Ohio?

While Gov. John Kasich, Republican of Ohio, moves through the budget slashing education, programs that help the elderly, disabled, and poor, he turns his attention to a new area----consumer protection.  Keeping with the Republican mantra that business does no wrong, Kasich has new plans.

BusinessFirst:

Facing a 50 percent cut in state funding in Gov. John Kasich's proposed budget, the Office of the Ohio Consumers' Counsel will begin fighting the proposed reduction before lawmakers this week, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.

Kasich outlined the cut in his two-year budget proposal, arguing that many of the functions in the consumer utility watchdog's office are duplicated within the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. A former chairman of the PUCO told the Plain Dealer the cut could be Kasich's attempt to “pay off the utilities for their support of him in the last election.”

How true!!!!

A quick look at InfluenceExplorer.com, shows that Republicans John Kasich and Mary Taylor did receive some big money from those corporations that might face complaints by consumers.  According to InfluenceExplorer  (Includes contributions from an organization’s employees, their family members, and its political action committee), Kasich and Taylor received the following large campaign contributions from people who allegedly might not like consumer protections and regulations  ------>>

First Energy contributed ...$83,150

Plaskolite contributed ...... $156,245

Boich Companies contributed .... $101,161

Ariel Corporation contributed .... $73,791

(Note: This is a partial list of contributors.)

Is Kasich just helping out his contributors by protecting them from consumers, and questions about safety, rising costs, and environmental laws?  Is this how Kasich helps out business at the expense of consumers?  What do you think?

* If you haven't seen it yet, you might want to run to see the movie, Casino Jack, which is currently being shown at the Grandview Theatre, 1247 Grandview Avenue. (It is the only showing in Ohio.)  Casino Jack is the dramatic movie about Jack Abramoff that features actor, Kevin Spacey.  It shows you the backroom deals made by lobbyists with some elected officials.  Former member of Congress, Bob Ney, also is portrayed in the movie.

*****************************************

WARNING!  WARNING!  WARNING!

>DO NOT PLAY THE FOLLOWING YOUTUBE VIDEO WITHOUT EARPHONES.<

From Plunderbund and posted at YouTube, a song by Denis Leary:

Starving the Public Schools?

* In case you missed it----- Gov. John Kasich wants to consolidate school districts and have class ratios of 50-to-1 (50 students to 1 teacher).  Plunderbund has all the details.


** The Huffington Post caught Jon Stewart exposing Kasich and the rest of the Republican governors:
TheDailyShow

(Kasich @ 4:53)

The Daily Show
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Even though Republican Gov. John Kasich said that most schools in Ohio will get more money, people in public education know the truth.  The Kasich budget plan is playing with numbers and it has been noticed.

WHIO Dayton:

....Supt. Dr.David Estrop said the budget proposal as it stands now will cost Springfield City Schools $11 million. The state's numbers indicate Springfield will gain $3 million.

It's that difference that has Estrop calling the state's budget presentation misleading, incomplete and inaccurate.

"The reason, I don't know. The only thing I can speculate is it's all about a short-term political gain," said Dr. Estrop.....


Is this the usual Kasich plan filled with smoke, mirrors, and fuzzy numbers?

The good people at Americans United explain their point that these Republican governors are "starving the schools":

...Ohio: Gov. John Kasich has told public education officials to expect cuts totaling $1.3 billion. Some high school classes might increase to 36 students, and some programs will be cut. Nevertheless, Kasich has called for expanding Ohio’s private school voucher program, which currently has 14,000 students taking part, to 60,000....

...It’s time to speak out. Want some resources? Remember, AU’s website has a special section on vouches and is a great place to start.

P.S. Don’t forget that Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner (R-Ohio) is pushing to revive a voucher “experiment” in Washington, D.C. – even though the “experiment” has already been shown to be a failure. This drive has never been about helping children. It’s about a relentless political ideology that hates public education.


Speak out against these plans that seek to rob the public schools and punish their teachers.


If you need additional evidence about voucher programs, check out the U.S. Department of Education's report on school vouchers: Summary of 2010 Department of Education Study from Americans United.

Selling Ohio Assets to Wall Street?????

MSNBC's Ed Schultz explains Republican Gov. John Kasich's latest privatization plan. Wait until you hear this cockamamie idea:

YouTube

Governor 30%

*  Isn't it just like our totally unpopular governor, John Kasich, to keep pushing for programs that Ohioans do not want?  With an approval rating of 30%, Kasich is acting like a bully by promoting bills/programs like SB 5, Teach for America, tossing grandma out of nursing homes, expanding the school voucher system even though charter schools cost 2.5 times more than public schools (see Plunderbund), selling off the turnpike and five state prisons, drilling in state parks, making disparaging remarks about public school teachers, removing funding for hospitals for children in the state, removing funding for young readers and children at risk, trying to remove protections for police and firefighters, etc., etc. 

* No one wants Teach for America in Ohio because we have plenty of excellent, qualified, available teachers who are ready, willing, and able to teach in the state.
 
* Ohioans are against drilling in our state parks, and selling off state property, like the prisons and the turnpike. 

* Citizens, especially in Lucasville, do not want to remove guards in guard towers simply so Kasich can save a few bucks (so he can give it to those poorly performing charter school owners who supported him). 

* We certainly don't want our teachers, firefighters, police, and state workers to worry about their pensions going bust because Kasich wants to punish state workers even more for not supporting him in his election.

* Those of us who have reached the point in our lives where we can no longer care for loved ones in our homes because of their special medical needs, do not want Kasich to throw them out of nursing homes.

Ohioans must stand up to Kasich and the Republicans in the General Assembly.  They all  seem more interested in hurting people than helping them.

Kasich job approval at 30%, but lower among women...

In a Quinnipiac Poll released this morning, Ohio's Republican Gov. John Kasich, has a job approval rating of 30%.


Here are the numbers from the just released poll from Quinnipiac:

 Ohio voters disapprove 46 - 30 percent of the way Gov. John Kasich is handling his job, with women disapproving 48 - 25 percent and men disapproving 44 - 37 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Voters say 53 - 36 percent that Gov. Kasich's budget is unfair to them.... 

...Voters oppose legislation working its way through the Ohio legislature that would limit the ability of public workers to collectively bargain, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe- ack) University survey finds. But the question wording has some influence on voter response:

• Half of those surveyed were asked about a bill that limited "collective bargaining," and oppose the measure 48 - 41 percent;
• The other half were asked about a bill that limited "collective bargaining rights," and oppose that measure 54 - 35 percent....

According to Quinnipiac, Kasich's approval rating among Independents is at 25% and at 11% among Democrats.  Independents are very important to Kasich and without their support he could not have won, and cannot expect to be re-elected without their support.

Full results and more analysis can be read at Quinnipiac. No matter how you look at it, Ohioans are not happy with Kasich.  Women in Ohio seem downright disgusted, in my humble opinion.

Why would women have such a 25% approval rating of Kasich?  Here is a short list of problems that Kasich created regarding women voters:

---  lack of women in his cabinet and in leadership positions,
---  severe cuts to public education,
---  cuts to hospitals designated for children,
---  cuts to programs that support the working poor,
---  cuts to nursing homes and the elderly,
---  his verbal attacks and proposed legislation that goes after the Middle Class,
---  cuts to programs that help at risk students,
---  saying that his wife and daughters represent the opinions of women in the state,
---  his continuing attacks on teachers, and his efforts to "...break the backs of organized labor in the schools..." (see Dispatch)



It is possible that most Ohio women remember this little snippet from the DaytonDailyNews which included Kasich's response to questions about a lack of diversity in his cabinet:

“My wife makes all the minor decisions about where we live, what we eat, where we go, where we vacation and what we do on a daily basis,” he said shortly after winning election in November. “So, she’s in charge of the family and she’s done a fantastic job.” 

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. 

“That is his mindset. He feels like he wants to leave all the small things to the women. He is Neanderthal in his thinking,” Smith said. “He is stuck in time.” 



I'm surprised that Kasich's approval rating is as high as 25% among Ohio women.  Somehow, I thought it would be lower than this.

Steve Stivers Supports Abortion Audits????

This Republican right wing House of Representatives has done absolutely nothing to create one job.  (See RawStory for the "Top 6 Things Republicans Consider More Important than Job Creation.")Here is an example of the kind of bill they are writing, supporting, and hoping to pass, as explained by BlogforChoice: 

...More media outlets are reporting that H.R.3, the dangerous "Stupak on Steroids" bill, could subject survivors of rape and incest who choose abortion to audits by the Internal Revenue Service...

...These outrageous "abortion audits" would place the burden of proof on the woman:

Under standard audit procedure, a woman would have to provide evidence to corroborate facts about abortions, rapes, and cases of incest, says Marcus Owens, an accountant and former longtime IRS official. If a taxpayer received a deduction or tax credit for abortion costs related to a case of rape or incest, or because her life was endangered, then "on audit [she] would have to demonstrate or prove, ideally by contemporaneous written documentation, that it was incest, or rape, or [her] life was in danger," Owens says. "It would be fairly intrusive for the woman."

 
Can you guess exactly which members have signed on as co-sponsors of this ludicrous bill?

The following Ohio Republicans support H.R. 3:

Steve Austria,  Steve Chabot,  Bob Gibbs,  Bill Johnson,  Jim Jordan,  Steve LaTourette, Bob Latta,  Jean Schmidt,  Steve Stivers,  Pat Tiberi,  Michael Turner

These Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives think that it is not enough that a woman has been raped, and humiliated.  They want her to be audited by the IRS for taking a deduction for a medical procedure. 

The entire list can be seen at the LibraryofCongress H.R.3.

Kasich Now Telling Local Governments What to Do

The article noted below just confirms my belief that Republican Gov. John Kasich is out of touch with the people in Ohio and reality.  Now he is dictating what local governments can do and suggesting that consolidation of local governments would be better.  This is Kasich's way to grab power, and deprive people the right to vote for their own leaders.

Dispatch:

...In perhaps his strongest message yet to mayors, county commissioners and school boards, Kasich challenged local leaders to avoid raising taxes to cope with cuts in state funding....

...Kasich's budget calls for 25percent reductions in local-government funding in both 2012 and 2013, plus deeper reductions in aid replacing tangible personal-property taxes, totaling $638million....


....As the governor did last week while unveiling his $55.5 billion budget proposal, he hinted of support for future local-government consolidations but declined to discuss specifics. He said he will ask a Republican and a Democrat to form a commission studying the possible benefits of government consolidations in Ohio....


This kind of talk should shock every Ohioan.  In consolidating local governments, Kasich is making decisions that will change the future of every person in the state.  So far, Kasich has planted his own people on the state school board, removed the state education superintendent, is attempting to remove collective bargaining for state workers and teachers/firefighters/police/nurses, change the prevailing wage law, wants to sale off state prisons, lease the turnpike, drill in our parks, remove funding for programs that help students at risk, throw grandma out of the nursing home, take money from programs that help the poor, etc., etc., etc.  This agenda is a radical plan to remove power from the people.


I don't know about you, but we like the city and county services that we enjoy.  Here in Worthington, we have excellent schools, great teachers, superior police and firefighters with  immediate response, snow removal, meticulous city gardens, a wonderful first class library, a state of the arts community center, a terrific senior center, excellent street maintenance, etc., etc.  I'm not willing to settle for something less just because Kasich said local governments cannot raise local taxes.  That is not his decision to make.  The people who live in these communities have the right to choose to raise taxes or choose to reduce services.  



*  Today's rally downtown Columbus for the charter schools industry happens every year, but now they have a governor who wants to reward their corporate owners who are regular Republican campaign contributors.  Instead of spending all that money on bringing their students downtown for the rally, perhaps they could have spent the money on safety fixes in their buildings or paying their teachers more than the minimum wage. 


*  One more thing.....

Why is John Kasich trying to make the state retirement funds insolvent?  Does he want to support all of the state workers from his own personal wealth?  Public workers in Ohio do not have Social Security, we only have our retirement funds that we contributed to over the years.  If Kasich risks the future of those funds, tens of thousands of people in Ohio will be homeless.  For an interesting take on this controversy, check out Plunderbund.

Who will get to buy the prisons?

DaytonDailyNews:

The state plans to advertise the sale of five prisons starting April 1 with the hope of entering a contract in July or August and turning over the keys by the end of the year, according to Gary Mohr, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction director.

Marion Juvenile Facility, North Central Correctional Institution in Marion, Grafton Correctional Institution, North Coast Treatment Facility in Grafton, and Lake Erie Correctional Institution in Conneaut will be sold in three deals....

....The sales are expected to net the state $200 million and save annual operating costs of at least 5 percent per year, according to Gov. John Kasich’s administration.....

Although members of the administration are trying to satisfy the many questions the public has about the future of state employees assigned to the Department of Corrections and potential safety problems, it doesn't take much digging to find out that people have serious concerns.  Telling us that everything will be fine is not a guarantee.  You might want to read about the problems that Arizona has had with their private prisons at TucsonCitizen. A story at KPHO shows Arizona's private prisons costs are higher than the state prisons.

There are some questions we should be asking about this potential prison sale:

-  Is the price tag of $200 million a reasonable price for five prisons?  Who affixed that number to the prisons?

-  What responsibilities will the state maintain if the prisons are sold?

-   How much will the state pay the owners of the prisons to house inmates?

-   Will Kasich's friend, Don Thibault, have some influence?

Don Thibault's name might sound familiar.

Ohio15th: (1/31/11)

DaytonDailyNews (August 18, 2010) and Plunderbund confirmed that when Kasich had that cushy job at Ohio State ($50,000/year for a couple of hours of work per month for twelve years), the special assistant to Kasich who received $20,000/yr. from OSU was.....
Don Thibaut!

and....

I wrote the following information on Ohio15thblog 8/19/2010:

According to an article at Tobaccodocuments, (scroll down to the end of the page) Thibaut was part of Kasich's staff in 1995. When Kasich served in Congress, Thibaut was his roommate in DC.  In 2008, Kasich announced the formation of his PAC (see Dispatch) at a party at Thibaut's home.

Thibault, according to WCMH, is a lobbyist for Corrections Corporation of America (CCA).  Gary Mohr is a former consultant for CCA.

Blackwell?

* Now that Mark Kvamme is out as State Development Director because he is not a resident of Ohio, which person has been picked by Kasich to replace him?  Kasich picked James Leftwich, CEO of Dayton Development, who did so much to keep NCR in Dayton.


*  Just when you thought Ohio Republicans couldn't move backward any further, a news article from the Washington Examiner might help change your mind:

Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell has a small lead in a new survey of potential Republican primary candidates seeking the nomination to challenge Democratic incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown....

"Ohio Republicans prefer their former Secretary of State Ken Blackwell to take on Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown for Senate next year," PPP said in a release.

"Blackwell is the favorite of 17% of Ohio’s usual Republican primary voters, ahead of Jon Husted’s 14%, unlikely candidate Drew Carey’s 12%, Mary Taylor’s 9%, Jim Jordan’s and Steve LaTourette’s 8%, Josh Mandel’s 6%, and state senator Shannon Jones’ 1%. A full quarter, far more than support any of the candidates, are undecided or prefer someone unnamed."

Blackwell, who has an agenda to the right of Attila the Hun, did not do very well in his last adventure into Ohio politics when he lost to Gov. Ted Strickland.

* There was a story that Republicans were calling people to testify in committee hearings who were contributors to their campaigns. The Dispatch revealed that witnesses called to a transportation hearing in Columbus had been contributors to the campaign of Republican Rep. Steve Stivers and other Ohio Republicans.

A hearing chaired by Rep. Judy Biggert (R-IL), called a witness named Franklin Nutter, who is the President of the Reinsurance Association of America, a lobbying association.  Reinsurance Association  of America contributed  (in 2008 + 2010) to the Biggert's campaign, according to OpenSecrets.  Americablog revealed that Rep. Issa also had failed to note that his expert witness in his committee, Tom Nassif of Western Growers Assoc., was a big donor.

Are the Republicans determining which people to call for hearings in front of committees by whether or not they contributed to their campaigns?  Are Republicans calling only lobbyists to testify in their hearings?

The Good, The Bad, and The Totally Nauseating

 The Good:  

A young woman turned her GROUPON coupon into bountiful harvest of mattresses and linens for children at the St. Vincent Family Center.

Dispatch:

As 26 new mattresses were carried into St. Vincent Family Center yesterday, Rebecca Howard couldn't help but tear up.....


...This, she knew, was a fitting way to honor Gabriel, the 3-month-old son she lost to SIDS just two months ago.

Like the biblical story of Jesus turning five loaves of bread and two fish into enough to feed a hungry crowd, Howard turned $50 and one coupon into 26 mattress sets, 30 sets of sheets, 30 comforters and 30 fleece blankets....

With the assistance of friends, she was able to make something good happen for some children. The rest of the article can be read at the Dispatch.


The Bad:

A letter to the editor in the Chillicothe Gazette suggests that Gov. Kasich is involved in a power grab with the State Board of Education:

....There currently is a concentrated effort under way to give Gov. John Kasich complete appointing authority for the State Board of Education. The board is now both elected and appointed. The people of Ohio passed a constitutional amendment 60 years ago to make the board independent from the politics of the administration and legislation. You might soon lose your right to vote.

Every Ohio governor in recent history has wanted to control the board. The board decides on school boundary changes, teacher qualifications and recommends funding proposals to the legislature. Sometimes, these are decisions that aren't popular to the politicians, and the wealth educator "want-to-bes" would like to silence this independent voice.

If we don't let our legislators know how we feel, the next phrase that might fade into oblivion might by "local control."....

This is not the first time I've read or heard about theories that Kasich wants to make moves toward a consolidation of power by the super elites (the wealthy, corporate CEO's, etc).  Ohioans have to stand up and let the GOP and Kasich know that we are against their power grab.


The Totally Nauseating:

I realize that it is the weekend, but hopefully you've had your coffee, and you're ready to read this disgusting idea that was floated last fall:

There are some scary ideas from the October 29, 2010 edition of the DaytonDailyNews, which includes some speculation about the political future of Republican Gov. John Kasich.  The article suggests that in October it was "....far too early to tell whether Kasich would be an attractive running mate, or a viable presidential contender...."

Another idea discussed in the DaytonDailyNews article was provided by "....a Republican activist who was at the Lebanon rally, said she likes several potential 2012 candidates and said victory would give Kasich a chance, too — not to mention the Republican nominee for Senate if he wins....."

Can you imagine Kasich as a candidate for President or U.S. Senator?  Excuse my French, but there are too many "pissed off" people in Ohio for either of those things to happen.

Considering that Kasich's approval rating is in the toilet, he'd not even win the votes of a majority of Ohio voters today.  Kasich has done a great job of alienating large groups of people, including teachers, firefighters, police officers, nurses, state employees, prison guards, families of those who reside in nursing homes, parents of public school children, nursing home employees and managers, city and county administrators, union members, those who take care of the poor and homeless, volunteers at soup kitchens, advocates for the disabled, librarians, etc., etc., etc.  I don't need to name every group that has become disgusted with Gov. Kasich's cuts, but you get the idea.


Even the Republicans I know are nauseated by Kasich's actions and attacks on the people of Ohio.   The chances of King John being elected to higher office are low, even though low poll numbers would not necessarily stop him considering his enormous ego.

The Ultimate Payback to Unions: Retirement Funds Go Bust?

*  As Kasich and his buddies consolidate power, various departments in the state government continue to fire and throw out anyone who is not "one of them." 

* Does it bother you that Lehman Brothers, Kasich's former employer, lost over $400 million of the investment from the retirement funds of Ohio's public employees?  Now the Kasich budget plan could threaten the solvency of the remaining retirement funds. 

Dayton Daily News:

A budget proposal by Gov. John Kasich would save governments and school districts money they now spend on employee pensions, but a state pension expert said the change could make it harder for the pension funds to remain solvent for the 30 years required by state law.

The governor’s proposal would reduce the amount of money public employers contribute to employee pensions by 2 percent and increase the employee contribution by the same amount. It would save state and local governments, universities, school districts and libraries an estimated $1.1 billion over the two-year budget, said Rob Nichols, Kasich spokesman.

However, the proposal could create long-term solvency issues, said Aristotle Hutras, director of the Ohio Retirement Study Council, which provides legislative oversight of Ohio’s five public pension funds. Cutting 2 percent from the amount employers contribute to the fund is problematic because employees who withdraw from the system before they are vested are entitled to their share of the contribution, Hutras said. The fund would take a hit because the employers during that time would be contributing a smaller amount under Kasich’s proposal.....

Public employees in Ohio put their money in state retirement funds and have no Social Security.  With Kasich's budget plan, Ohio's public employees could retire with nothing, if the retirement funds go bust with the risky budget plan.  Is this his ultimate payback to union members for not supporting Republicans?

_________________

Have you called the office of Republican Rep. Steve Stivers (OH-15) to ask why he voted to defund NPR?  Stivers, a former bank lobbyist, obviously is more concerned with his right wing political agenda and elevating the hack that edited the NPR "sting" video, than providing jobs for the people in his district.  While Stivers continues to support the righties, and bankers, the people in his district are waiting for him to create jobs.  Where are the jobs, Steve Stivers?????  Call and ask him when we can expect him to deliver jobs:

Columbus: Phone: (614) 299-6415                 Washington,DC:  Phone: (202) 225-2015
Fax: (614) 299-9601                                                Fax: (202) 225-3529

Extremists in the Ohio GOP

Which Ohio Republicans voted to defund National Public Radio?  Here is the list from the Clerk of the House:

Stivers, Schmidt, Gibbs, Latta, Turner, Austria, Chabot, Rinacci, Johnson

What a bunch of complete fools!  I guess they'd prefer that we listen to people like Limbaugh, Hannity, and Beck so that we could be as ignorant as they are.

*** A flash mob showed up at Bob Evans protesting corporate welfare, obviously responding to the millions of dollars of tax money given to Bob Evan headquarters by Kasich to move 20 minutes north.
YouTube:

Kasich Plan Advancing at the Expense of Regular Ohioans

Ohioans are very upset and disgusted with the budget plan pushed by Republican Gov. John Kasich.  In fact, some citizens have participated in protest marches in front of his mansion in Westerville.

SNP:

A crowd of several hundred protesters marched the roughly 1-mile route from Westerville Central High School to the Lanetta Lane residence of Ohio Gov. John Kasich Tuesday evening, March 15, protesting public union collective bargaining law changes in Ohio Senate Bill 5.

Kasich wasn't home, instead hosting a "town hall" meeting on his proposed new two-year state budget at the Riffe Center in downtown Columbus.

The crowd representing seven public employee unions gathered at Westerville Central at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, where organizers delivered speeches and led chants. Firefighters and teachers were prominent in the crowd, and many brought their children.....

As parents see the results of the Kasich cuts in the classroom, the Kasich home will see more people marching against his agenda.  When elementary classrooms start having 35 students/teacher, high school classes are at 40+ students/teacher, students start performing at lower levels with the loss of experienced teachers, those public school teachers who still have jobs will be making many treks to his home to voice their opposition to his job-killing agenda.


Later, when Kasich's cuts start hitting the elderly, sick children, the chronically ill, and disabled, the children and spouses of those in nursing homes will be marching at his Westerville governor's mansion as well.  The governor and his Republican sheeple need to spend a lunch or dinner time in a dementia unit in a nursing home.  It might be nice if they stay there and help feed the residents, change their adult diapers, provide insulin to those who need it, help them get in and out of bed, and bathe them.  Kasich should also explain to the elderly why he is cutting their access to skilled medical care.


The only people who will benefit from the Kasich agenda are the wealthy who will receive tax cuts, and the owners of charter schools who will get more state money to fund their charter schools.


It might be time to find a way to have a recall vote for Kasich.

There is no "reform" in the Kasich budget

John Kasich, Republican Governor of Ohio, keeps talking about "shared sacrifice" and "reform" in fixing Ohio's problems.  Unfortunately, the only people sharing in the sacrifice are the middle class, the elderly, disadvantaged children, college students, the working poor, and public employees.  Those who won't have to sacrifice are the wealthy big shots that contributed to the Kasich campaign and continue to offer him advice. There are no sacrifices for the wealthy in Ohio, and Kasich wants it that way.

Kasich has labeled his budget as major "reform" for Ohio.  It is more like he is paying back his rivals, punishing those that spoke against him, and grabbing more power (ex: the firing of the State School Superintendent, removing state school board members before the end of their term, etc., etc.).



ThinkProgress:

OHIO: Gov. John Kasich (R) has proposed cutting 25 percent of schools’ budgets, $1 million from food banks, $12 million from children’s hospitals, and $15.9 million from an adoption program for children with special needs. A Kasich staffer revealed yesterday that these cuts are more about politics then budget-balancing, telling the Cincinnati Dispatch that “even if there weren’t an $8 billion deficit, we’d probably be proposing many of the same things.” The plan includes tax cuts for oil companies, a repeal of the estate tax and an income tax cut for the rich that former Gov. Ted Strickland (D) halted last year because of the state’s fiscal crisis. 


>  The Ohio Education Association provides a fine explanation of what the Kasich budget does.  Ohea.org:

Today Governor John Kasich delivered his two-year budget plan to the Ohio General Assembly. The plan slashes funding to K-12 public education by 11.5 percent, from $11.5 billion in the current year to $10.2 billion next year, ratcheting down to $9.7 billion in fiscal 2013. 


“Now we see the sleight of hand. The cut in funding for K-12 next year will mean a real 5% decrease in funding for K-12 public schools overall, counting state, local and federal sources,” said Ohio Education Association President Patricia Frost-Brooks. “This plan takes $3.1 billion from local school districts over two years in order to balance the budget while holding charter schools financially harmless.”

.....“Instead, the Governor has chosen to bolster and protect charter and voucher programs that serve only 10% of Ohio students, with ample research showing they do not improve the chances for student success,” Frost-Brooks said. “Punishing the other 90% of students who attend traditional public schools will mean larger class sizes, less individual attention, fewer courses in foreign languages and the arts and less opportunity to participate in advanced placement courses.....

By cutting programs in the public schools, Kasich will reward those charter school owners who provided all that campaign money to the state's Republicans.  Giving all that extra money to charter schools is just like throwing your tax money away since most of them have lower performance levels than their public school counterparts. Now that Kasich has stacked the state school board with pro-charter school, conservative right wingers, we should all fear how else Kasich plans to destroy public education in Ohio.


Did you happen to watch the broadcast of the Kasich town hall meeting the other night?  I watched about two minutes and just got sick of listening to him. His audience was not really open to the public since 99% of the people in the audience were his invited Republican supporters. Kasich spent many years working for Fox News and we know what kind of propaganda information they promote.

Teachers Will Be Sick Over the Cuts in Education

I'm already sick and I've only skimmed through the Kasich budget plan for education.  Plunderbund had posted this information from Scribd:

Page D-190:
..................Program.....................Amount of Funding Lost.............
Violence Prevention and School Safety:   100%
Neglected and Delinquent Education:   100%
Drug Free Schools:   88%


Page D-192:
..................Program..................Amount of Funding Lost.............
Reading First:     100%


Page D-194:
..................Program..................Amount of Funding Lost.............
Migrant Education:  3%
Homeless Children Education:  25.8%
Rural and Low Income Technical Assistance:  25%


This is a very small snapshot of where the cuts are in the education budget.  Do you see a pattern? I know that most public school teachers will notice it immediately.  The few examples that I've provided are programs that help at-risk and disadvantaged students.  Reading First, one of the most incredible reading programs for children in K-3 will be completely unfunded. This is just plain disgusting.

While Kasich and his cronies keep their promises to their wealthy contributors, the children who need the most help will be left without the programs that assist their learning.


Cleveland.com has this about health care in Ohio:

...The elderly could also benefit as Kasich plans to shift money from nursing homes to programs supporting home-based care options....


....Nursing homes are particularly hard hit in this budget and separately, the children’s hospitals across the state, including one in Akron, would lose $33 million supplemental payment earmarked for them in an earlier budget. The cut to nursing homes would be 7 percent over the current budget, according to Moody.....

....Kasich "today released what he calls the 'Jobs Budget.' But for Ohio's elderly and disabled it's the 'Care Cutting Budget,'" said Peter Van Runkle, executive director of the Ohio Health Care Association, the state's largest nursing home lobbying group. "Make no mistake, the governor's budget threatens the quality of care for the most vulnerable among us."....


I don't see Kasich health plan of any benefit.  Those of us who have elderly parents in care facilities because of their problems with dementia, chronic diseases, are being asked to care for our parents at home?  How is that even remotely possible if they require special care and assistance that we cannot provide?  Will the children of elderly parents have to quit their jobs to provide home health care?

More Analysis of Kasich Budget

The good people over at InnovationOhio have done some number crunching on Republican Gov. John Kasich's budget.  

InnovationOhio:

IO Communications Director Dale Butland said:

“At a time of already high unemployment, Gov. Kasich’s budget is certain to throw tens of thousands more Ohioans out of work and could strangle Ohio’s still-fragile economic recovery in its crib. And while he has no trouble asking for huge sacrifice from middle class families and the least advantaged, the Governor refuses to ask wealthy Ohioans to give up anything at all. ‘Shared sacrifice’ does not appear to be in his vocabulary.

“Innovation Ohio has calculated that in K-12 education alone, Kasich’s proposed cuts — 6.1% ($395 million) less in 2012 and 4.7% ($305 million) less in 2013 than school districts received in fiscal year 2011 — could add over 7,000 Ohio teachers to the unemployment lines. That analysis will be posted later today on our website, www.innovationohio.org. The website also will be updated in the days ahead with additional analyses concerning other job-killing provisions of the bill, including what the Kasich budget would mean in lost jobs for police, firefighters and other workers. For now, we will simply point out that Gov. Kasich was elected to create new jobs, not destroy existing ones....

....“Most cynical of all is the shell game Gov. Kasich is playing by proposing huge cuts to local government funds. While vowing in his State of the State speech not to raise taxes, the Governor merely proposes to shift the burden from the state to local communities which, in turn, would be forced to raise taxes simply to maintain the levels of police, fire, and other services they currently have. If Gov. Kasich is allowed to pass the buck, middle class taxpayers will be forced to bite the bullet.”

Kasich will protect the rich, while the Middle Class loses everything. 

The Kasich Budget

Dayton Daily News:  Secretary of State Jon Husted said Monday that while his heart remains in Dayton, his legal residence soon will be in Franklin County, where he lives with his wife and children in a Columbus suburb.....

.....The all-Republican Ohio Supreme Court ruled unanimously in 2009 that Husted was a Montgomery County resident for voting purposes, reversing a decision by then Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.

Before Brunner’s tie-breaking decision, the Montgomery County Board of Elections had deadlocked 2-2 along partisan lines on Husted’s residency....

Husted can't question your residence when there were still doubts about his own residency.

_______

>>>  Gov. Kasich will answer questions via Twitter at the scheduled town meeting tomorrow, according to the Clevelandleader:

...He will be taking questions from the public, from both those in attendance and those questions submitted on Twitter.


The event is sold out, and organizers say that the 820 tickets went fairly quickly. So if you aren't already planning to be there, you can submit your questions through Twitter by using the hashtag #FixOhio....

Do you really think he'll answer your questions?

* * * The Dispatch has an interesting story about how Kasich and his cronies have been planning for three years on this budget plan:

Three years ago, John Kasich and his team of advisers began planning to rid Ohio of its income tax....

.....Kasich, who talked repeatedly on the campaign trail about eventually eliminating the income tax, succeeded at the ballot box and on Tuesday is to unveil his budget: 800 pages of spending cuts and government revamps....

.....Kasich, his budget director, Tim Keen, and other advisers first met with him to discuss gubernatorial budget policies in January 2008, when Strickland had been in office barely a year. In interviews, it's clear that most of what they crafted back then will be a part of the governor's budget today.......

Even though he didn't officially announce his candidacy until June 2009, Kasich and his friends have been planning how to ruin our lives since January 2008.  I guess this is a real example of hubris.

What do you think?

Dispatch:

....Last month, when House GOP freshmen Bob Gibbs of Lakeville and Steve Stivers of Columbus attended a transportation hearing in Columbus, at least one witness had contributed to their congressional campaigns.

Roll Call, the newspaper that circulates on Capitol Hill, said that Brian Burgett, chief executive officer of Kokosing Construction Co., who testified at the hearing, contributed at least $3,000 to Stivers and $2,400 to Gibbs during their 2010 election campaigns....

.....Courtney Whetstone, a Stivers spokeswoman, said that Stivers "is not a member of the transportation committee" and did not "suggest" Burgett as a witness...


 Poligraft, a website sponsored by the Sunlight Foundation has this bit of info:

Aggregated Contributions

Represents total campaign contributions from an organization's employees and/or its PAC.

• Kokosing Construction has aggregated $12,500 to Steve Stivers (R)

Someone had to offer a list of witnesses to the committee.  Didn't Stivers or Gibbs see it before the hearing an raise a red flag?


*****  People are speculating as to what or how the redistricting of Ohio will look.  Here is a view from CrassPolitical on Twitter:

           Tiberi's Franklin County CD(Columbus)must lose 35,000.
          It's competive,as is next door's Steve Stivers(R),so shifting 
           people may hurt Stivers 10:56 AM Mar 10th via web


You learn something new every single day.



* Gov. John Kasich is not very popular in Ohio, which could be a problem for his agenda.  As long as the Ohio Republicans continue to follow his lead, they'll all put Ohio down the toilet.

Cincinnati.com:

A  new Ohio Poll out today finds   Gov. John Kasich’s approval rating at 40 percent – and his disapproval rating at 47 percent.

“Kasich’s approval rating is lower than the initial gubernatorial approval rating recorded by the Ohio Poll for former Governors Strickland (68%), Taft (49%) and Voinovich (61%). Kasich’s rating is higher than the initial approval rating of former Governor Richard Celeste (32%),” the University of Cincinnati’s Ohio Poll noted in the release.....

The best analysis of the poll was done by Plunderbund:

...Kasich’s approval rating takes a jump with registered voters coming in at 42% to 46%.  However, that’s about the best news Kasich gets besides his 65% approval rating among Republicans.  Independents, a large part of Kasich’s reason for winning, have abandoned him, giving him an approval rating of only 30% to 55% disapproving.

Kasich’s handing on the economy also gets low marks similar to his approval rating: 38% approving; 49% disapproving.....


After he releases his budget, announces the sell of the prisons, the lease of the turnpike, and cuts to education, his approval rating will go even lower.

Kasich Will Be Robbing Peter to Pay Paul

A very bizarre plan from the Kasich administration will transfer the state's liquor sales to fund the highly questionable JobsOhio program, currently being managed by Kasich appointee, Mark Kvamme.  (The Kvamme appointment has been called illegal, since he is not  a resident of Ohio, as required by law.)

Dayton Daily News:

The Kasich administration plans to transfer the state’s $740-million liquor sales business to the newly formed, nonprofit JobsOhio program, according to information obtained by the Dayton Daily News....

....Last year, spirituous liquor sales totaled $742.7 million and the state realized a $228.8 million profit. Some profits are used to pay off bond debt while a portion is transferred to the general revenue fund and to other funds that pay for alcohol treatment and public safety programs....

....She (Kim Zurz) said that Kasich’s plan to spin off liquor profits to JobsOhio raises questions about how liquor control, licensing and enforcement would be done by the non-profit organization....

As the article concludes, the state would "....no longer be able to use that revenue stream to back bonds going forward...."

Is this some sort of shell game?  How would bond raters evaluate this move?  Is this even legal?  How can state money be used to fund a private entity?  Will more lawsuits be filed to stop Kasich's reckless agenda?  When will the Republicans in the Ohio House and Senate stand up and say that these proposals are just plain stupid,risky, and illegal?

Stand Up Against the Republican Agenda

Workers in Ohio are speaking up against SB 5, the Republican/Kasich plan to end collective bargaining in the state.


(video from TWU.org and YouTube and ProgressOhio)




Need more information?  Visit Progress Ohio.

Boehner's Elitism

How interesting!

John Boehner has been named "Hypocrite of the Week."

DCCC:

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee named Speaker John Boehner (OH-08) the Hypocrite of the Week for claiming to oppose the ‘Pomp and Circumstance’ of Washington while spending taxpayer money on etiquette class for his staff. Boehner declined President Obama’s invitation to a state dinner with Chinese President Hu Jintao because of the “pomp and circumstance” of the event but it was reported this week that he spent $5,800 to register staff for protocol lessons.

Boehner Signs Up Staffer for Etiquette Class. “So in December, the Ohio Republican’s office spent $5,800 to register a staff member for a protocol class to learn the niceties of exchanging gifts, arranging seating plans and organizing large events with visiting dignitaries.” [Roll Call, 3/9/11]

Doesn’t Believe in Pomp and Circumstance of Washington. “Heye also said Boehner turned down the president’s invitation to this week’s state dinner with Chinese President Hu Jintao because the speaker ‘doesn’t necessarily believe in all the pomp and circumstance of Washington’ that accompanies such an event.” [Politico, 1/17/11]

“Speaker John Boehner passed on the President’s invitation to a state dinner because of ‘pomp and circumstance’ but took taxpayer money to enroll his staff in etiquette class,” said Jesse Ferguson of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.....


Oh, my. There is nothing like a $5,000+ "etiquette class" to reveal the reality of Boehner's elitism.   The sad thing is that all it would have taken would have been a trip to Kinko's and a few bucks to copy notes and rules from one of his staffers who was responsible for the planning previously. 

I don't hang out with country club types like Boehner and neither do most Americans.  When Boehner talks about what the "American people" want, I wonder which Americans he means?

****  I talked to another Ohio Republican who is shocked at how the Republicans and Kasich have gone after union workers.  

Kasich: Wasting Our Tax Dollars on a 20 Minute Drive

Bob Evans Corporation got state money to move its headquarters from the southside of Columbus, Ohio, to New Albany, Ohio. 

10TV:

...Mayor Michael Coleman said the state spent money to save jobs that were never in jeopardy.
Coleman said the city offered Bob Evans incentives to stay in Columbus, and were assured that the company had no plans to leave the state.
"Unfortunately, they convinced the state that they were considering that and got a very generous deal from the state, which probably wasn't appropriate given they had no intention of leaving," said Coleman spokesman Dan Williamson. "Steve Davis, the CEO of Bob Evans, made it very clear to Mayor Coleman that they had no intention of leaving the state."


What happens when a company from out of state wants an incentive to move to Ohio and the development money is gone because the money went to relocate a company from one end of town to the other? 

* Here is some good news:  Dispatch:

Kasich was named in a complaint yesterday in the Franklin County Court of Appeals by ProgressOhio.org, which is arguing that Development Director Mark Kvamme's status as a California resident makes him ineligible to run Kasich's JobsOhio.

The lawsuit contends Ohio law requires appointees to public office to be Ohio residents for at least 30 days to qualify for appointment.

The complaint, which asks the court to order Kasich to "remove Kvamme from the position of director of the Department of Development" and forbid Kvamme "to represent the state of Ohio in any way" was routed to Magistrate Kenneth Macke.....

Have you noticed that Kasich and the Republicans just seem to go around the law?

>>> Josh Mandel is thinking about running for U.S. Senate against Sen. Sherrod Brown?  Mandel, just elected state treasurer, won by smearing his Democratic opponent. 

News Register:

Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel won some support Thursday from state leaders for a U.S. Senate bid, even though the newly elected Republican hasn't said whether he'll run for the office.


Mandel said he's received "a boatload" of calls from people asking him to consider challenging Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown in 2012.


Mandel, 33, declined to say whether he was interested in the post when asked at a legislative preview session for journalists organized by The Associated Press. He said he's focused on "being the best state treasurer I can for the taxpayers," having just won the post in November.....

Where does Josh Mandel stand on collective bargaining?  The people of Ohio want to know.

Shame on Republicans

In what appears to be a slimy, illegal move on the part of Republicans in the Wisconsin State Senate, the controversial bill to end public employee unions, is pushed through committee.  Needless to say, Wisconsin's Governor and Koch Brothers' favorite, Scott Walker, is jubilant. (I see a great number of similarities with the Republican action in Ohio.  Republicans in the Ohio Senate rearranged the membership of the committee to get the bill out to the entire state senate.  Now, Ohio Republicans in the Ohio House have already switched out several committee members to get a more favorable outcome for their anti-union, anti-Middle Class, legislation.)


MSNBC:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

***  Even though a few days ago, Speaker of the Ohio House William Batchelder declared he wanted three weeks of hearing on SB 5, he appears to (a) have flip-flopped on the time line, (b) be responding to pressure by other Republicans (and possibly Kasich?) to have the final vote faster.


WFMJ:

Ohio's House speaker now says he hopes a bill to limit public workers' union rights will be voted on next week, suggesting a faster timetable than he'd indicated previously.


Speaker William Batchelder had said he wanted three weeks of hearings on the bill, which has drawn sometimes noisy protests at the Statehouse. Hearings began Tuesday and were to continue Thursday....

This is all being done to force Democrats to gather signatures faster for a referendum vote and to get the referendum on this year's ballot, which typically has a lower turn out since it is an off year election.

Ohioans are completely disgusted with the backroom deals, shifting of committee members, lack of transparency, and lack of respect that Republicans have displayed toward the working people in Ohio. Leading the list of disrespectful Republicans is Gov. John Kasich:


YouTube

Republicans Losing Pubic Opinion?

There is a new poll that some Republicans might want to see from Bloomberg:

....Sixty-three percent of those surveyed -- including a majority of Democrats and independents -- say corporations wield more political clout than unions. Public employees, meanwhile, are viewed favorably by a large majority: 72 percent, compared with 17 percent who have an unfavorable view....

....Sixty-four percent of respondents, including a plurality of Republicans, say public employees should have the right to bargain collectively for their wages. Sixty-three percent, including 55 percent of Republicans, say states without enough money to pay for all the pension benefits they have promised to current retirees shouldn’t be able to break those obligations.....

....The skirmishes have intensified support for unions among their members and Democrats, a potential challenge to Republicans in the 2012 elections, says Scott Keeter, a pollster with Pew Research Center in Washington.... 

Keeter explains that these issues "....could have implications for voter turnout among these groups next year....”


The voters could hit the polls next year and punish Republicans for their attacks on the working public.  People have to realize that Kasich and his Republican sheeple are not finished yet with the average worker.  They want to go after overtime pay next by giving companies the option of not paying overtime but instead offer time off.  You can imagine what some bosses would do with that idea.


Kasich's speech yesterday was very poor.  I've had seventh grade public school students deliver better organized, more memorable speeches.  My grade for Kasich's speech= D+.

__________________________________

Americans United for Change has a message for Republican Rep. Steve Stivers (OH-15), a former bank lobbyist:

AmericansUnitedforChange:

On the heels of troubling reports that the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives is considering a radical plan to privatize Medicare and slash benefits for Ohio seniors, a newbillboard is up in Columbus with a simple message for Congressman Steve Stivers (R-OH-15): Don’t do it.   Progressive issue-advocacy group Americans United for Change is behind the sign posted at the intersection of Hamilton Road and Groves Road in Columbus which will be up through March 20^th.   

The House Republicans’ fiscal year 2012 federal budget expected to be released in April will reportedly include “an effort to reform entitlement programs including Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.”   GOP leadership is mulling whether to include in the budget a proposal authored by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) that would replace Medicare with a voucher system that would dramatically shortchange seniors on their medical care.

Tom McMahon, executive director, Americans United for Change:“Congressman Stivers owes Ohio’s seniors a straight on where he stands on this misguided privatization scheme for Medicare that will leave them paying more and more out of pocket for their care. If he does support it, he must explain why he is seeking to dismantle Medicare as we know it and slash benefits for seniors at the same time he is protecting billions of dollars in needless subsidies for the oil industry.  If he doesn’t support privatizing Medicare, is he doing everything in his power to discourage his Republican Party bosses from pursuing it – and if not, why not?” 


Contact Stivers and tell him not to privatize Medicare:

Washington, DC
Phone: (202) 225-2015
Fax: (202) 225-3529

Columbus, OH
Phone: (614) 299-6415
Fax: (614) 299-9601


http://stivers.house.gov/Contact/ContactForm.htm

 .....................................................

 
Why would NPR fire someone that spoke the truth?

MSNBC:

NPR's CEO and president, Vivian Schiller, has been forced to resign, the radio broadcaster's media correspondent said Wednesday, following an undercover sting in which a senior executive was videotaped describing Tea Party members as "racist." 


It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Tea Party members are racist.  Open your eyes and examine the crowds of Tea Party activists. How many minorities can you count in the crowd?  How many racist signs have you seen within Tea Party groups?  Case close.

Earthquakes?

Gov. Kasich delivered his state of the state speech today.

Dispatch:
(from a picture caption)  Teresa Fedor, D-Toledo, lower right, walked out of the State of the State address to join Senate Bill 5 protesters in the Statehouse Rotunda. Fedor said she walked out when Gov. Kasich said, "These folks have not sacrificed enough."

...The closest he came to specifics on changes was when he spoke about late-in-life care, when Kasich said he wants to make it easier for the elderly to receive care at home avoid being placed in nursing homes....


How does he think that that family members will be able to physically take care of parents?  Is he going to provide the money and muscle to lift elderly parents to the shower, bathroom, and into the car?  Some people will have to quit their jobs to care for elderly family members.

Does Kasich think that public employees haven't sacrificed enough?  When he had his fancy job at Ohio State where he collected $50,000/year for a one hour lecture/month, he had one of his buddies work as his assistant.  Is he trying to compare his "lecture" to teaching school?  Give me a break.

I'm so freakin' tired of him talking about Naples, Florida.  If he is sooooooooo in love with that part of the country, why didn't he move down there?  Not everyone owns million dollar homes like those in Naples, Florida.  His view of things is definitely distorted.

I'd say he definitely disrespected the families and young people involved in agriculture when he said he would not sleep in a barn at the Ohio State Fair. What would you expect from a former Vice President of Lehman Brothers?

__________

****** Huffington Post is reporting that drilling has stopped in Arkansas because it might be the cause of the earthquakes that are happening there:

Two natural gas companies have agreed to temporarily suspend use of injection wells in central Arkansas where earthquakes keep occurring.


Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy and Clarita Operating of Little Rock told the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission on Friday that they've stopped operation of the wells near Greenbrier and Guy pending the panel's next regular meeting on March 29.....

.......The commission says there is likely a link between the wells and the earthquakes. There have been more than 800 quakes in the area in the past six months and a magnitude 4.7 quake – the strongest in Arkansas in 35 years – hit there Sunday....


Do you know the name of the company drilling in Ohio?

Automatedtradernet:

....Spit from that machine last summer was a mineral rights lease offer -- just like those being hand-delivered to homeowners -- from oil and gas explorer Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK). In the subsequent months Chesapeake's oil-field leasing agents swarmed the region, laying claim to what the company and others say may be one of the last big unconventional oil discoveries in the U.S.....

.....Ohio is bracing for an oil boom as companies, led by Chesapeake, gobble up leases covering millions of acres in the eastern half of the state. While no one's yet proven the commercial potential of the Utica formation, an oil-rich layer of rock that underlies this area, some believe it will yield crude on par with the largest shale reservoirs in the U.S. and spark a Rust Belt resurrection.....

.....Still, there has been skepticism among some residents. Environmentalists contend that a shale drilling process, known as hydraulic fracturing, risks contaminating groundwater. Ohio has seen cases of aquifer methane contamination, though they've not been explicitly linked to hydraulic fracturing.....  

This is just what we need in Ohio----- earthquakes and groundwater contamination.  How will that be received by Ohioans?

--------------

From ProgressOhio: