>>> Gov. John Kasich's approval rating is still in the toilet, and Plunderbund has posted TPM's chart of Kasich's standing in Ohio. It boils down to this, according to TPM:
Kasich's disapproval is 55.6% ...... Kasich approval is 39.4%
Gov. Kasich's cuts to education are starting to show. Many districts have laid off teachers throughout Ohio and the rest of the country.
USA Today:
President Obama urged Congress on Saturday to renew federal money for
local governments so that they can avoid layoffs of teachers.....
"In Pennsylvania alone, there are 9,000 fewer educators in our schools
today than just a year ago," Obama said. "In Ohio, the number is close
to 7,000."
Of course, Mitt Romney doesn't see a problem with large class sizes. Voters can see that President Obama is trying to get teachers back in the classroom, but Boehner, Paul Ryan, and Eric Cantor will work to block any chance of that happening. While the Republicans sabotage the economy, they laugh, and joke, but in the end their disdain for the average American is showing.
••••• Ohio State's Board of Trustees is moving toward privatizing the parking at the university. Despite opposition from faculty, and students, it appears that the decision has been made for a 50 year agreement with an Australian company, QIC. Here is a YOUTUBE video that explains the opposition to President Gee and the Board's plans:
Of course, no one can overlook the huge disaster Chicago has had with their privatization of their parking. Time Magazine (5/11/12):
...So how did Chicago get itself into this situation? In 2008, Chicago’s then-mayor Richard M. Daley pushed through a $1 billion deal to lease Chicago’s parking meters to a private company for 75 years. A group of investors, led by Morgan Stanley, took over Chicago parking, ripping out old meters and replacing them with high-tech pay boxes. As Chicagoans adjusted themselves to the new technology, they also had to adjust themselves to new, much higher parking rates. Street parking in Chicago’s Loop now costs $5.75 an hour. Next year it will be $6.50.
As you might imagine, Daley’s little parting gift to Chicago has not been terribly popular amongst the city’s residents.
The Expired Meter, a blog devoted to chronicling what it sees as the
failings of the parking deal, greeted the news with these three words: “Told ya so.”
It makes you wonder what parking fees and fines will be like in the future at Ohio State, especially since Morgan Stanley is also involved in the the deal here.
For news and views of the Chicago parking problems, visit TheExpiredMeter.
>>>>> It appears that Republican Josh Mandel's Democratic backers are really only
4 Democrats, according to information given by his campaign to the Dispatch:
.....Asked by The Dispatch for evidence of the backing Mandel
says he is receiving from Democratic voters and groups, the Mandel
campaign offered only the names of four registered Democrats willing to
comment. But one of them actually is an independent who says she has
supported candidates from both parties.
The issue of Democratic support has come to the fore because Mandel
unfailingly brags about it in speeches and interviews. A May 10
Quinnipiac University poll showing Brown with a 6-point lead in the race
found that only 5 percent of Democrats surveyed said they plan to vote
for Mandel, compared with 10 percent of Republicans who indicated
support for Brown.....
Why would anyone support a candidate that has lied continually, is against equal pay for women, is against a woman's reproductive freedom, is against public schools, and was against President Obama's auto bailout that saved hundreds of thousands of American jobs?