The Nation magazine presentS The Progressive Honor Roll of 2011:
...MOST VALUABLE SENATOR: Sherrod Brown
Faced with what was supposed to be a tough re-election race in 2012, Brown could have taken the easy way out when Ohio Governor John Kasich signed legislation attacking the collective-bargaining rights of public employees. Instead, Brown leapt into the fight, speaking and rallying with the workers of Ohio and even turning what had been his campaign website into a vehicle for the movement to overturn the antilabor law. It was a gutsy move, but it paid off. Brown’s poll numbers soared as Kasich’s plummeted. Brown threw himself into the successful campaign to overturn Ohio’s law in a November referendum. At the same time, he was fighting in Washington against flawed free-trade deals that shutter US factories while failing to bring prosperity to foreign lands. Brown, a leader in the push to address poverty and disease in developing countries, is anything but an isolationist. He’s an internationalist who understands the need for global resistance to policies that privilege corporations over workers from Cleveland to Chongqing. In 2011 he linked those struggles more effectively than any other senator....
Ohio's middle class must remember that Sen. Sherrod Brown stood with them. When the Ohio GOP and Kasich targeted them, Sen. Sherrod Brown worked with and supported We Are Ohio and the middle class. Stand with Sen. Sherrod Brown now and in 2012. He has your back.
There is one more person from Ohio that The Nation recognizes in their 2011 list:
MOST VALUABLE STATE SENATOR: Nina Turner
“An apology! An apology! I want an apology!” announced Turner, a Cleveland Democrat, as thousands cheered the defeat of Governor Kasich’s antilabor legislation. Appearing on Ed Schultz’s MSNBC broadcast from Columbus on the night of Ohio’s historic November 8 vote, Turner was every bit as energetic and every bit as unyielding as she had been throughout the long campaign to defend the rights of public sector workers. Kasich “owes Ohioans an apology for not working on the No. 1 issue, which is jobs!” said Turner. While many Washington representatives disappointed in 2011, state legislators stepped up as champions for labor rights, the public sector and economic justice. Turner wasn’t the only smart, passionate legislator to take the national stage, but the breadth of her agenda stood out. As she was standing up for workers’ rights, Turner was also taking the lead on an array of economic development, voting rights and social justice issues....
Nina Turner is an incredible fighter for all Ohioans. She has demonstrated her strength and courage in facing Kasich and his policies. Nina Turner made us proud.
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*THE BAD:
The House Republicans have demonstrated that they will do anything to thwart the recovery of our country. With John Boehner and the House Republicans refusing to even vote on the compromise bill on a two month extension of the pay roll tax cut that was passed in the Senate, Americans are horrified. What will people do if they lose, at minimum, an additional $1,0000 per year?
The House Republicans wanted a one year extension of the pay roll tax cut this August, but they were against it because........ President Obama was for it. Now, the House Republicans have decided not to vote for the two month extension of the tax cut because
(1) it was pushed by more moderate Republicans in the Senate,
(2) they'd rather create financial disarray than help people,
(3) they now want the one year pay roll tax cut they were against (see NYTimes and JoplinGlobe), and most importantly,
(4) they are against anything that President Obama wants and Americans want.
John Boehner and his House Republicans want your taxes to go up because they have more important things to do than cut middle class pay roll taxes.
**********
****The Really Shameful:
Republican Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner is the #1 putz on his remarks made about the First Lady Michelle Obama.
MediaBistro:
...In his story that published early this morning, Bice reports on the pub’s No Quarter Blog that Sensenbrenner “took several swipes” at the first lady. He sources Ann Marsh-Meigs, a 72-year-old retiree, who was on hand and offended by the congressman’s remarks.
An excerpt: “He then talked about how different first ladies have had different projects – Laura Bush and literacy – and he named two or three others,” Marsh-Meigs said in an interview last week. “And then he said, ‘And Michelle Obama, her project is obesity. And look at her big butt.’
Sensenbrenner spokeswoman Amanda Infield reiterated to Bice that her boss plans to phone the first lady’s office to apologize.
Shame on Sensenbrenner. Who voted for this bozo????