Monday, November 21, 2005

The State of the Nation and Ohio

U.S. automaker, General Motors, plans to cut 30,000 jobs. This is very sad because these layoffs will deliver a severe blow to the American worker. I blame General Motors for not being able to respond to the changing needs of the American driver. Instead of making larger SUV's, GM should have looked at how to manufacture cars that have higher mpg's.

Many Ohioans are looking to Paul Hackett for the next U.S. Senator from Ohio. With Republican Jean Schmidt's meltdown on the House floor, the people of OH-2 woke up to the mistake they made in last summer's special election. Who would have brought more honor to the House---Hackett or Schmidt? The better choice would have been Hackett.

Unemployment remained at 5.9% in Ohio. The economic recovery has skipped Ohio. Many people will need to make a decision about whether to heat their homes or buy holiday gifts. Heating bills are expected to be very high this winter.

Howard Fineman has an excellent article in Newsweek about the war and Rep. John Murtha. I respect Rep. Murtha for his military service and I thank him for his courage to say what so many of us are thinking: It is time to develop an exit plan to get our service members home and out of Iraq. Will the President do something to save our young men and women? I'm not sure. However, I'd bet thay with the 2006 elections looming, the President will start some sort of partial withdrawal in the early autumn of 2006. Otherwise the Republicans will be booted out of control of the legislative branch.

There is more on the pre-war intelligence: The administration believed "Curveball" even though our allies warned us.

As of this date, 2095 of our young men and women have been killed in Iraq. Over 15,000 of our service members have been wounded.