The Opposition

Republicans are on thin ice if they block Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. In the last election, Hispanic voters clearly supported Democrats and Barack Obama. Historically, Hispanic voters had gone to Republicans, but 2008 was a game changer. If Republicans do anything to derail the nomination, they'll lose the last remaining Hispanic voters they still claim.

Pew Research had this following the November election:

Hispanics voted for Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden over Republicans John McCain and Sarah Palin by a margin of more than two-to-one in the 2008 presidential election, 67% versus 31%, according to an analysis by the Pew Hispanic Center of exit polls from Edison Media Research as published by CNN.¹ The Center's analysis also finds that 9% of the electorate was Latino, as indicated by the national exit poll. This is higher, by one percentage point, than the share in the 2004 national exit poll.²

Nationally, all Latino demographic sub-groups voted for Obama by heavy margins. According to the national exit poll, 64% of Hispanic males and 68% of Hispanic females supported Obama. Latino youth, just as all youth nationwide, supported Obama over McCain by a lopsided margin -- 76% versus 19%.....

Even though Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, Tom Tancreado, and other extremists in the GOP have voiced opposition to Obama's nomination of Judge Sotomayor, we must consider the source. Limbaugh's past remarks show his racist views. Gingrich's background with his House banking scandal and $300,000 fine make him unreliable. Tancreado? We know he is anti-everyone except WASPs.

Here is the info about Gingrich's $300,000 fine (April 18, 1997: Independent):

The Republican Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich, astonished his supporters and opponents alike yesterday with the announcement that he would pay a controversial $300,000 fine with a loan from the Republicans' failed presidential candidate, Bob Dole.

In an unscheduled address to the House yesterday morning, shortly after the payment arrangements had been made public, Mr Gingrich said he had a "moral obligation" to pay the money from personal - as opposed to campaign or other - funds and had "therefore arranged to borrow the money and pay it back".....

....Under the arrangement made public yesterday, the loan is for eight years and granted directly to Mr Gingrich, who will take personal responsibility for its repayment. Interest will be calculated at 10 per cent, 1.5 per cent above the base rate, but no payments will be required until the year 2002, the year by which Mr Gingrich has pledged to surrender the post of Speaker....

Now you know.

Rove and Limbaugh

Two of the most prominent members of the Republican Party, Karl Rove, and Rush Limbaugh, have already weighed in on President Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor. Both Rove and Limbaugh never graduated from college. However, Rove and Limbaugh have announced that she is not smart enough. Seriously. Rove and Limbaugh could not handle the academic challenges of college but they've deemed themselves intellectuals.

Judge Sotomayor's bio is posted at the White House website:

....She first heard about the Ivy League from her high school debate coach, Ken Moy, who attended Princeton University, and she soon followed in his footsteps after winning a scholarship.

At Princeton, she continued to excel, graduating summa cum laude, and Phi Beta Kappa. She was a co-recipient of the M. Taylor Pyne Prize, the highest honor Princeton awards to an undergraduate. At Yale Law School, Judge Sotomayor served as an editor of the Yale Law Journal and as managing editor of the Yale Studies in World Public Order. One of Sotomayor’s former Yale Law School classmates, Robert Klonoff (now Dean of Lewis & Clark Law School), remembers her intellectual toughness from law school: "She would stand up for herself and not be intimidated by anyone." [Washington Post, 5/7/09].....

I think that the Republicans, along with Rove and Limbaugh, are showing their racist leanings again. If she were a white male, they'd be happy. I believe that Sotomayor will prove to be a great justice.

Sotomayor

Breaking News from The New York Times:

President Obama will nominate Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit as his first appointment to the court, officials said Tuesday, and has scheduled an announcement for 10:15 a.m. at the White House.

If confirmed by the Democratic-controlled Senate, Judge Sotomayor, 54, would replace Justice David H. Souter to become the second woman on the court and only the third female justice in the history of the Supreme Court. She also would be the first Hispanic justice to serve on the Supreme Court....

Sotomayor would be a wonderful addition to the Supreme Court. Will Republicans stand in the way of the first person of Hispanic ancestry to be nominated to the Supreme Court?

Good Evening

> Check out the website in support of Al Franken, Seat Our Senator, which is an online petition to urge Minnesota Gov. Pawlenty to certify the election of Al Franken.

> The unemployment rate has gone up again, according to the Toledo Blade:

Michigan's unemployment rate jumped again last month to 12.9 percent, still leading the nation, the state Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth said. The rate is up from 12.6 percent in March and from 7.9 percent a year earlier, evidence that the Wolverine State continues to suffer from the massive downturn in the auto industry. The national rate in April was 8.9 percent. Ohio's rate for last month will be released tomorrow; it was 9.7 percent in March.....

Hopefully, things will start getting better for all of us.

>>> It looks like Duke Energy Corp. had its day in court and it wasn't good.
Chicago Tribune:
Duke Energy Corp. violated the Clean Air Act by making changes at a southern Indiana power plant that significantly increased the air pollution it released into the Louisville, Ky., area, a federal jury has ruled in a decade-old lawsuit.

The Indianapolis jury found this week that Duke failed to obtain needed permits or install modern pollution-control equipment when it made changes at its coal-fired Gallagher plant near New Albany, Ind., that raised the station's sulfur dioxide emissions.

Environmentalists had joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in suing Cinergy Corp., now owned by Duke, in 1999 over changes to plants in Indiana and Ohio.....

Do you wonder if they thought no one would notice???

>>> Democratic Underground has linked a CBS News story that makes you wonder.....

American Airlines confirms that one of their pilots was arrested after failing a breathalyzer test at Heathrow Wednesday, CBS News has learned. He had been scheduled to fly a flight from Heathrow to Chicago's O'Hare Airport.

The airline issued the following statement:

"An American Airlines pilot was arrested at London Heathrow airport yesterday (Wednesday, 20 May) having failed a breathalyser test. Police had been called by airport staff working at the security control post.....

I'm glad someone suggested the breathalyser test. It probably saved many lives.

This and That

* I know that many politicians like Twitter. However, their view and messages can be used against them. Kevin DeWine, leader of the Ohio GOP, has a Twitter account. Here are some recent excerpts and my comments.

75 fiesty republicans tonite in Ashland Cty. #ohiogop
5:21 PM May 12th from TwitterBerry

...My comment: Why are there only "75 feisty Republicans?"


Two dozen Ohio College Republicans meeting in Columbus today to share ideas with each other and the Party. I'll join them soon. #ohiogop
10:30 AM May 9th from TwitterBerry

...My comment: If there are only 24 Ohio College Republicans at a statewide meeting, their organization in in big, big trouble.

Very interesting.

** Have you noticed we hardly ever hear news about Republican Rep. Jean Schmidt (OH-2)? Ever since her ridiculous moment where she accused Rep. John Murtha, a highly decorated Marine and Democrat from Pennsylvania, of being a coward (see Washington Post), Schmidt has stayed out of the limelight.

Now Schmidt has an opponent in the upcoming election of 2010 --- David Krikorian. There is also some news about this Krikorian-Schmidt battle from several sources.
Observer-Reporter:

We have seen unlikely campaign issues in our time, but an Ohio Congress race from last year tops them all. U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt of Cincinnati is charging her 2008 opponent, David Krikorian, with violating election law by accusing Schmidt of being a puppet of Turkish efforts to deny the mass killings of Armenians during World War I constituted genocide.

A state Elections Commission found probable cause of a violation and ordered a full hearing....

The Armenian Weekly:

David Krikorian, a candidate for Ohio’s second district House seat in 2010, stands by his claim that current Congresswoman Jean Schmidt denies the genocide of 1.5 million Christians in Armenia despite Schmidt’s attempts to intimidate him with an Ohio Elections Commission (OEC) complaint......

....Schmidt filed the complaint regarding a flier Krikorian had circulated during the 2008 campaign, which stated: “Representative Jean Schmidt has taken $30,000 in blood money to deny the genocide of Christian Armenians by Muslim Turks.”

Krikorian’s flier referenced Schmidt’s continued denial of the Armenian Genocide—as she leads the U.S. Congress in donations from Turkish-interest lobbyists, the Turkish American Heritage PAC and the Turkish Coalition USA-PAC....

This Schmidt-Krikorian battle should be one to watch. It is no secret that Schmidt was a big supporter of the Bush administration and a big cheerleader for the Bush Iraq war. With Ohio turning bluer, does Schmidt have a chance of re-election???


**** YAWN moments in today's headlines:

I guess they crowned a winner on American Idol last night. I can proudly announce that I did not watch any part of the program this season.

Mrs. Patti Blagojevich is going to participate in a TV game show, according to an AP/Philly story.

Ohio GOP vs RNC?

It appears that there are some disagreements between the Ohio GOP and the National Republican Party. Dispatch:

Ohio Republican Chairman Kevin DeWine fears that his national party will embarrass itself today by voting to "re-brand" the Democratic Party.

Joining other GOP state chairmen in Washington for a meeting sponsored by the Republican National Committee, DeWine will vote no on a scheduled resolution calling on Democrats to rename their party the "Democrat Socialist Party."

Kevin DeWine must be aware of some of these recent findings that were listed in the same Dispatch article:

....in Ohio, Democrats had a nearly 1 million voter-registration advantage over Republicans going into last November's presidential election. Trends showing growing numbers of young and minority Americans rejecting the GOP are especially ominous....

Ouch! Is the Ohio GOP becoming an endangered species? Without an agenda focused on solving our nation's problems, and a leadership represented by Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh, people are staying away from the Republican Party like it was a toxic waste dump. If the Ohio GOP is unable to come to terms with their national party, will this only add to their problems?

People in glass houses.....

Republican leader, John Boehner, has nothing to offer the American people. He has no ideas on how to get people back to work, fix the financial problems plaguing Americans, or bring peace to the Middle East. Just because Boehner and his Republican pals are completely devoid of ideas, doesn't mean that they have nothing to say. Now Boehner and his GOP have a new target for their talking points--- Nancy Pelosi.

According to this morning's USA Today, ...House Minority Leader John Boehner this morning called on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to either produce evidence that the CIA lied to Congress or apologize for making such an allegation....

Boehner, who had obeyed, followed, and voted for the Bush-Cheney bills that caused the disasters we are now experiencing, was a loyal rubber stamper for the previous administration. Boehner has no room to talk. He and his cohorts would rather talk about Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, than the fact that Boehner and the rest of the Republican leadership let the torture/waterboarding/enhanced interrogation continue, and they did nothing. The Republicans ignored the gathering storm on Wall Street, and they looked the other way when questionable things happened. Here is a little reminder from the past--- Huffington Post: "John "Tobacco Checks" Boehner."

In recent days, Newt "House banking scandal" Gingrich, has even started to attack Pelosi. I believe that the saying is-----"People in glass houses should not throw stones." If you are too young to know what I'm talking about, just Google the phrase 'Gingrich House banking scandal' for full details. For additional info on Gingrich, read the following links: Salon, Time, About, Realchange, etc., etc.

I think that the Republicans need to stop attacking Speaker Pelosi. Their attacks are showing their sexism and their own desperation. We need to get to the heart of the matter--- the Bush-Cheney administration tortured, which is illegal. Waterboarding = Enhanced Interrogation = Torture

Noted

> I watched President Obama's commencement speech at Notre Dame. I thought that the entire speech and reception went very well. There were only very minor interruptions inside the hall, and those were quickly squelched. It appeared that those protesting outside the arena were more interested in their own publicity. President Obama made some important points.

(I was surprised how small the graduating class was. There were only 2,000 graduates? When I graduated from Ohio State in the early 1970's, there were over 6,000 graduates at our spring commencement.)

> Politico has some information on the Al Franken-Norm Coleman race in Minnesota:

Liberal groups have paid for a billboard in St. Paul, Minn., calling on Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty to certify the winner of the Al Franken-Norm Coleman race as soon as the Minnesota Supreme Court rules.

Franken’s legal team has taken the matter one step further, asking the court to tell Pawlenty he’s got to certify a winner once it rules.

The response from Coleman? Silence......

You almost wonder why the people of Minnesota aren't in the streets protesting the stalling tactics of Norm Coleman. Shouldn't Coleman just give it up?

May 15th, 2009

* Has anyone else come up with the idea that the Bush White House may have had separate briefings for Republicans and Democrats? Just asking.


* The Ohio Republicans are all in love with the former Bush administration member, Rob Portman. Portman is a far right candidate and may actually find it difficult to win the hearts and minds of Democrats and Independents. In an article posted at Huffington Post, Rob Portman is referred to as "A Bush Guy" in a column by Chris Cillizza, political writer from the Washington Post. Here is more from that Cillizza article that was quoted at Huffington Post:

A Bush Guy

Portman has spent his entire career in the orbit of the Bush family -- not exactly a sterling credential in this political environment.

Portman's ties to the Bush family go all the way back to then Vice President George H.W. Bush's 1988 campaign on which Portman worked before joining the White House general counsel's staff after Bush's victory.

His connections carried over to George W. Bush as Portman became chief liaison between the Bush campaign -- and eventually the Bush White House -- and Capitol Hill. Of Bush, he told the New York Times in 2003: ''He has a clear sense of what makes this country great. It makes it worthwhile being here to be with someone who has that passion.'

I'll make it clearer:
If you've loved the Bush administration, then you'll love Rob Portman! It is just that simple.


* Right now, Gov. Ted Strickland's approval rating is holding steady at a 57% approval rating in a Quinnipiac poll (Bizjournals.com). Most Ohioans understand that the overall economic mess we are experiencing is a result of the mismanagement by the Bush administration. Under these circumstances, most Ohioans appear to support Strickland's efforts to get Ohio back to work.

Don't you wonder....

> Why hasn't Norm Coleman surrendered yet? The guy lost the election and has denied the people of Minnesota the right to equal representation in the U.S. Senate. Coleman has wasted so much time and now he is experiencing legal problems (see Star Tribune).

> Why would anyone buy a book written by Sarah Palin? Apparently, she got a book deal (see Star Tribune).

> If they're offering free Viagra, will they be offering free birth control pills?
Yahoo News:

Pfizer Inc. is unveiling a new program Thursday that will let people who have lost their jobs and health insurance keep taking some widely prescribed Pfizer medications — including Lipitor and Viagra — for free for up to a year....
....Starting Thursday, patients can call a toll-free number, 866-706-2400, to sign up, and those whose drugs are not included in the program will be referred to other company aid programs....

It might be worth asking.

Just asking...

**** The next legislation that will receive special attention is credit card reform.
NY Times:

...Swamped by consumer complaints about excessive fees, sudden interest rate increases, indecipherable fine print, debt-ridden college students and a deluge of solicitations for even more credit, lawmakers are racing to put new restrictions on card companies, seizing on an issue with overwhelming popular and political appeal....

....Mr. Obama called for a crackdown on credit card companies in his radio address last weekend and is expected to emphasize the need for industry changes on a visit to New Mexico on Thursday. Democrats have gone on the attack against lawmakers who have opposed the changes or even been unwilling to state their position on an issue that cuts across demographic lines....

Will Congress support credit card reform???? I hope that there are some positive results on this credit card legislation because we definitely need it. This might be an especially good time to contact your Representative and Senators and let them know how you want their support on this important reform.

**** Does Republican Rep. John Culberson dislike disabled military vets? I'm just asking because he doesn't seem to vote for programs to help our disabled vets.
Project Vote Smart has the details:

2006 Representative Culberson supported the interests of the Disabled American Veterans 66 percent in 2006....

2006 Representative Culberson sponsored or co-sponsored 7 percent of the legislation favored by the The Retired Enlisted Association in 2006....

2005 Representative Culberson supported the interests of the Disabled American Veterans 0 percent in 2005....

2004 Representative Culberson supported the interests of the Disabled American Veterans 0 percent in 2004....

2004 Representative Culberson supported the interests of the The Retired Enlisted Association 33 percent in 2004....

2003 Representative Culberson supported the interests of the Disabled American Veterans 0 percent in 2003....

Culberson did support disabled vets in 2001, but apparently decided to stop ----

2001 Representative Culberson supported the interests of the Disabled American Veterans 100 percent in 2001...

Someone needs to ask Culberson why he no longer supports Disabled American Veterans? He says he supports our vets, but his actions/votes don't show it. Talk is cheap. Contact Culberson and ask him why he doesn't stand with our disabled vets: http://www.culberson.house.gov/

Can she move fast enough to avoid spit balls?

In my many years in the classroom, I've worked with all kinds of students. I've had students accuse me of having eyes behind my head and being able to read lips. I've seen it all. This latest creation by some Japanese scientists just seems a little ridiculous. According to an article posted in the Telegraph, these scientists think that the robot teacher could teach in areas where there are shortages of human teachers. Here are some excerpts from the Telegraph:

Saya, the female humanoid robot, taught a science and technology lesson to a class of 10-year-old pupils at Kudan Elementary School in Tokyo.

With her neat brown hair, pink lipstick and skirt suit, the robot, created by scientists at Tokyo University of Science, has been designed to resemble as human a form as possible.

Using a range of programmed movements from eyebrow arching to smiling, her face is capable of expressing six basic emotions in the classroom – surprise, fear, disgust, anger, happiness and sadness....

I want to know if the robot teacher can move fast enough to avoid being hit by spit balls. Is it possible that students in Japanese schools don't throw them? Can she grade papers, make phone calls to parents, and help individual students? Can she create lesson plans, administer tests, and grade essays? Obviously, the Japanese scientists that created the robot teacher don't have real classroom experience. In many schools, the robot teacher would not survive an hour.

Tuesday 5/12

* There has still not been a decision on the residency of State Senator Jon Husted. Husted, who uses an empty home in Kettering as his claim to his district, has been the subject of inquiries by the Montgomery County Board of Elections and the Ohio Secretary of State regarding his residency. Husted lives with his family in fancy Upper Arlington, a suburb of Columbus.

* It appears that Republican Mary Taylor, State Auditor, will have a Democratic challenger, according to Cleveland.com:

A Hamilton County commissioner will run for state auditor in 2010 against incumbent Mary Taylor, who is the only Republican to hold a statewide nonjudicial office and has a coveted seat on the board that draws legislative districts.

Democrat David Pepper, who serves as president of the Hamilton County Commission, will run against Taylor, a Democratic source told The Associated Press Monday. The source requested anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak to the media ahead of a formal announcement scheduled for Tuesday morning.....

It should be a very interesting campaign ahead! Ohio has been trending more toward the Democratic Party.

In the GOP, everything is still old....

* I hope you had the chance to watch the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday evening. I positively loved the comedy routine of Wanda Sykes! She was hilarious!!!!

* The new Republican Party is the same as the Old Republican Party complete with the same old faces and same old ideas. Here is the newest ad from the DNC on YouTube:

No Profits, No Listening, No Votes

* Now that we know the result of the bank stress tests, I'd like to know if those CEO's responsible for their mismanagement will lose their jobs. Seriously, if you lost your company billions of dollars, wouldn't you get fired? How do these CEO's and corporate leaders at these banks continue to get bonuses while their profits are in the toilet? The NY Times has a fantastic Interactive Graphic for the Bank Stress Tests.

* Tonight Keith Obermann tagged the GOP as the 'Grand Obsolete Party.' According to the leader of the Republican Party, Rush Limbaugh, there is no room for moderates in the party. Also, Eric Cantor and his parade of loser Republicans are no longer on their "listening tour" because the Limbaugh deemed the listening unnecessary.

* On a roll call vote today on HR 1728 (Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act), the vote on final passage was 300 Yeas (240 Dems) and 114 Nays (111 GOPers). I guess it means that those that voted against the bill are not for mortgage reform and like predatory lending. For more information, see Roll Call Vote 242, HR 1728.

What did Bachmann say this time?

I hope that you've had the chance to catch The Ed Show on MSNBC. Veteran radio talk show host, Ed Schultz, has brought his straight talk from "the heartlands" to TV. Ed has a special segment called "Psycho Talk" in which he brings notice to something that some politician has said. On several occasions, he has had Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann (MN-6th) as his nominee. The following video is from MSNBC:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

MinnPost:
......Via Minnesota Independent's Paul Schmelzer, a second non-metro daily has called Michele Bachmann an embarrassment. "Bachmann has become the poster child for bizarre politicians," writes the West Central Tribune's editorialists. "She also is an embarrassment to both the 6th District and Minnesota." The St. Cloud Times called out the GOP lightning rod last month....

I'm sure every single time Bachmann opens her mouth, the people in Minnesota brace themselves. Note to voters in Minnesota's 6th district: Bachmann is up for re-election in 2010.

Mrs. Obama

Mrs. Obama taped an appearance on Sesame Street, according to SFgate.com:

....Yesterday, Mrs. Obama visited the Sesame Street set to tape a video about health and nutrition with Elmo.

Later Mrs. Obama addressed a crowd at the United Nations in New York and she told them about her prior engagement.

"I'm thrilled to be here but I was just at Sesame Street--I'm sorry," she said. And I never thought I'd be on Sesame Street with Elmo and Big Bird, and I was thrilled. I'm still thrilled. I'm on a high."

Visit the SFgate link for the picture.

Sessions

Here is an interesting article from The New Republic (12/30/02) that will give some insight into the brain of Republican U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions:

....Senate Democrats tracked down a career Justice Department employee named J. Gerald Hebert, who testified, albeit reluctantly, that in a conversation between the two men Sessions had labeled the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) "un-American" and "Communist-inspired." Hebert said Sessions had claimed these groups "forced civil rights down the throats of people." In his confirmation hearings, Sessions sealed his own fate by saying such groups could be construed as "un-American" when "they involve themselves in promoting un-American positions" in foreign policy. Hebert testified that the young lawyer tended to "pop off" on such topics regularly, noting that Sessions had called a white civil rights lawyer a "disgrace to his race" for litigating voting rights cases. Sessions acknowledged making many of the statements attributed to him but claimed that most of the time he had been joking, saying he was sometimes "loose with [his] tongue." He further admitted to calling the Voting Rights Act of 1965 a "piece of intrusive legislation," a phrase he stood behind even in his confirmation hearings....

.....Another damaging witness--a black former assistant U.S. Attorney in Alabama named Thomas Figures--testified that, during a 1981 murder investigation involving the Ku Klux Klan, Sessions was heard by several colleagues commenting that he "used to think they [the Klan] were OK" until he found out some of them were "pot smokers." Sessions claimed the comment was clearly said in jest. Figures didn't see it that way. Sessions, he said, had called him "boy" and, after overhearing him chastise a secretary, warned him to "be careful what you say to white folks." Figures echoed Hebert's claims, saying he too had heard Sessions call various civil rights organizations, including the National Council of Churches and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, "un-American." Sessions denied the accusations but again admitted to frequently joking in an off-color sort of way. In his defense, he said he was not a racist, pointing out that his children went to integrated schools and that he had shared a hotel room with a black attorney several times.....

....Since his election as a senator, Sessions has not done much to make amends for his past racial insensitivity. His voting record in the Senate has earned him consistent "F"s from the NAACP. He supported an ultimately unsuccessful effort to end affirmative action programs in the federal government (a measure so extreme that many conservatives were against it), he opposed hate-crimes laws, and he opposed a motion to investigate the disproportionate number of minorities in juvenile detention centers. Says Hillary Shelton, director of the NAACP's Washington bureau, "[Sessions's] voting record is disturbing. ... He has consistently opposed the bread-and-butter civil rights agenda." But it has been on judicial nominees that Sessions has really made a name for himself. When Sessions grabbed Heflin's Senate seat in 1996, he also nabbed a spot on the Judiciary Committee. Serving on the committee alongside some of the senators who had dismissed him 16 years earlier, Sessions has become a cheerleader for the Bush administration's judicial picks, defending such dubious nominees as Charles Pickering, who in 1959 wrote a paper defending Mississippi's anti-miscegenation law, and Judge Dennis Shedd, who dismissed nearly every fair-employment civil rights case brought before him as a federal district court judge.....

Why am I writing about Sessions? He is on the Judiciary Committee and will participate in the hearings for President Obama's nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court.

No Thinkers Allowed

Michael Steele, Chairman of the Republican Party, wants to expand the Republican Party. However, there are some limits. From the Atlantic Politics Channel and JSOnline:

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele appealed to the political middle Friday to join his party but added that the party itself wouldn't moderate.

"All you moderates out there, y'all come. I mean, that's the message," Steele said at a news conference. "The message of this party is this is a big table for everyone to have a seat. I have a place setting with your name on the front.

"Understand that when you come into someone's house, you're not looking to change it. You come in because that's the place you want to be."

Wow! What an invitation!!!! All people are welcomed to join the Republican Party, but they only want ditto heads, non-thinkers, and those willing to follow the strict party line and mantra. This sounds like an offer that intelligent people will refuse!

Noteworthy

President Obama has a lot on his plate with 2 wars, a housing crisis, bank failures, massive unemployment, problems with domestic automakers, etc., etc., etc. With the H1N1 flu (swine) hitting various states, the federal response has been excellent in keeping Americans informed. However, I personally think that the media went overboard in their reporting of this latest flu. They made people panic unnecessarily. Despite the fact that the President has be inundated with problems left behind by the previous administration, he has done a great job working through it all.

> Today is the 39th anniversary (May 4, 1970) of the Kent State shootings by the Ohio National Guard. I was a freshman at the Ohio State University when the killings happened. It is a day that I will never forget.

> Bloomberg is reporting this morning that the President has some other plans:

President Barack Obama will propose today to outlaw three offshore tax-avoidance techniques U.S. companies such as Caterpillar Inc. and Procter & Gamble Co. want to use to save $190 billion over the next decade and make it riskier for Americans to stash money in tax-haven banks.

Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will target a strategy that allows U.S.-based multinational companies to effectively hide from the Internal Revenue Service the role their foreign subsidiaries play in shifting profits into low-tax jurisdictions such as the Cayman Islands, an administration official said.

The proposal, affecting tax rules known as “check the box,” would net $86.5 billion in revenue between 2011-2019 by overhauling regulations created in Democrat Bill Clinton’s administration and later written into law by a Republican- controlled Congress after Clinton tried to withdraw the rules.....

This would certainly pull in money for the treasury.

What is wrong with these people?

First, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas expressed an interest in having his state secede from the Union. Now, some Republicans in Georgia are supporting secession, according to a poll conducted by Research 2000. Raw Story has the details:

...A majority of Georgia Republicans — 52 percent — sided with the United States in a Research 2000 poll commissioned by DailyKos.

Asked, “Would you approve or disapprove of Georgia leaving the United States?” 32 percent of Georgia Republicans said they would approve.....

.....The General Assembly of Georgia recently passed Senate Resolution 632 in support of the state sovereignty movement, by a vote of 43-1; an act Atlanta writer Jay Bookman characterized as accidentally threatening the state’s ties to the United States....

I have several questions for these Republicans who want to secede. Are you doing this because Republicans lost? Are you unable to handle the fact that we have an African American President? Would you be participating in more of this talk if McCain had won? Do you people only watch Fox News and Hannity?

If Georgia and Texas would secede from the Union, we would never have to play their teams in football? (YIPEEEEE!) Would their college students be able to attend college outside of their state? We'd never have to send FEMA to their country or give them money after a disaster.

Someone needs to talk some sense into these Republicans because they are acting like complete fools and spoiled children. By the way, your prejudice is showing.

Looking Ahead

With the rumored retirement of Supreme Court Justice David Souter, President Barack Obama will be able to nominate someone to fill his place on the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Chicago Tribune:

Justice David Souter, a New Hampshire Republican who became a key liberal vote on the Supreme Court, plans to retire this summer, according to media reports late Thursday. The retirement would clear the way for President Barack Obama to make his first nomination to the high court....
.......Judge Diane Wood of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago is likely to be considered as a possible nominee. She also has taught at the University of Chicago Law School, knows Obama and was appointed to the appeals court by President Bill Clinton.

Two others who have been mentioned as nominees include Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the federal appeals court in New York and Judge Kim Wardlaw of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California.....


This is a prime example of why it was so important to elect a Democrat as President.


***** U.S. Senator George Voinovich (OH-R) has once again voted against the interests of his constituents. The Cleveland Leader has the sad details:

Voinovich Votes With Banks Again, Against Homeowners

Sen. George Voinovich voted with the big banks today to reject President Barack Obama’s attempt to help bailout victims of foreclosure.

The Senate bill could have helped 1.7 million families facing foreclosure by allowing bankruptcy judges to modify their mortgages.....

When Voinovich retires, it is extremely important that Ohio voters elect a new Senator with a clear understanding of the needs of Ohioans, not bankers.