Monday Morning

What does Mike Huckabee have to do with the man who killed the four police officers? The Seattle Times has this:

Maurice Clemmons, the 37-year-old man wanted for questioning in the killing of four Lakewood police officers Sunday morning, has a long criminal record punctuated by violence, erratic behavior and concerns about his mental health.

His criminal history includes at least five felony convictions in Arkansas and at least eight felony charges in Washington. That record also stands out for the number of times Clemmons has been released from custody despite questions about the danger he posed.

Mike Huckabee, while governor of Arkansas, granted clemency to Clemmons nine years ago, commuting his lengthy prison sentence over the protests of prosecutors.....

Most people remember the controversy surrounding another prisoner released by Huckabee--- Wayne Dumond. The Washington Monthly has the horrid details about Wayne Dumond and the clemency that was granted by Huckabee.

>>>> Sarah Palin quit again. Palin, who famously quit her job as governor of Alaska, has been accused of quitting something else. According to Think Progress, Palin quit a 5k race before it ended.
Doesn't Palin know that "...quitters never win..."?

Every Year

Every year I tell my husband that next Thanksgiving I want to go far, far away from a kitchen. Cooking, cleaning up, and putting up with the few Republicans in my extended family has made Thanksgiving unpleasant.

If you were planning on getting a deeply discounted TV at Target this morning, you missed it. If you didn't walk through the store's doors at 5am, they are sold out. I know because I got there at 5:05am and they were gone. I realize that the economy is bad, but the check out line that snaked through the entire Target store in Dublin didn't indicate that.

It is now just after 8am and we're headed to Macy's......

They Said It

* Sarah Palin doesn't seem to know much about Latin America, Hispanics, or issues they care about, according to a story posted at Politico. We'll just add that to her list of things about which she doesn't know.

* Why does Sen. Lieberman refuse to budge on voting for health care reform? He should be a mensch and support the legislation.

* Oh. Keith Olbermann just called former Vice President Cheney, Dick "Five Deferments" Cheney. Sounds appropriate to me. Cheney, who avoided going to Viet Nam 5 times with those deferments, somehow thinks he speaks for our men in women in uniform. What does Cheney know about going into battle?

NY Times (May 1, 2004):

...It was 1959 when Dick Cheney, then a student at Yale University, turned 18 and became eligible for the draft.

Eventually, like 16 million other young men of that era, Mr. Cheney sought deferments. By the time he turned 26 in January 1967 and was no longer eligible for the draft, he had asked for and received five deferments, four because he was a student and one for being a new father...

...Away from the hearing room, he told the Washington Post that he had sought his deferments because "I had other priorities in the 60's than military service."....

There are thousands and thousands of our men and women in uniform who have spouses and children, and yet they serve. Cheney had no interest in serving but he willingly participated in sending our military into a war without proper equipment and even a plan. Yet Cheney thinks he speaks for our service members?

News Notes

* Calling hours for Stefanie Spielman, wife of former OSU and NFL player, Chris Spielman, will be today from 1:00 pm to 8:00 pm at the Longaberger Alumni House. The Longaberger Alumni House is located at 2200 Olentangy River Road, on the Ohio State campus. Our deepest sympathy to the Spielman family.

* Three Mile Island is in the news again.... There was a tiny leak on Saturday. This is not like a leak from from a paper cup. Three Mile Island is a nuclear plant. ABC News has the info.

*** Shaq, the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball player, showed his big heart.
Dispatch:

Cleveland Cavaliers center Shaquille O'Neal has used a day off to help distribute holiday toys and turkeys.

He handed out boxes with Thanksgiving meal fixings on Sunday at the Cleveland Boys & Girls Club headquarters. O'Neal also posed for photos with about 400 families.

Plus, he made a stop at a suburban Toys "R" Us store, where he donated $1,000 to the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation.....

Many people will benefit from his gifts.

The Far Right

* A frightening event is unfolding on Sawmill Road at the Borders Bookstore in Dublin----- people have already formed a line to see Sarah Palin. Palin will sign books tomorrow at 6pm, but campers and others have claimed their place in line as of this afternoon. Even though Palin doesn't seem to be able to tell the difference between Iraq and Iran, she still has her followers (see Huffington Post).


* The Columbus radio scene is just awful. We lost liberal talk radio a year ago. Now all we have left is sports, right wingers, religious programming, and the same music in the same rotation, day after day.
Today, I hit the scan button and I could not believe my ears.

Some right winger named Bryan Fisher, said that the Constitution of the U.S. clearly does not prevent the country from barring Muslims from joining our armed forces. The more Fisher talked, the more I remembered that Rachel Maddow had mentioned an article from Mother Jones Magazine. Fisher was so full of hate and intolerance, and yet he represented a Christian group called American Family Association. He also went after Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham. Fisher then called Graham a "traitor."

Mother Jones:

The American Family Association, a conservative Christian group, has published an article on its website calling for Muslims to be barred from military service. Bryan Fischer, AFA's Director of Issues Analysis, argues that the Fort Hood shootings are a signal that "It it is time to stop the practice of allowing Muslims to serve in the U.S. military":

[T]he more devout a Muslim is, the more of a threat he is to national security. Devout Muslims, who accept the teachings of the Prophet as divinely inspired,
believe it is their duty to kill infidels....

.
..If you're looking for a more reasonable view, here's Gen. George Casey, the Army's chief of staff, who definitely knows more about the Army than this clown:

"Our diversity... is a strength. As great a tragedy as this was, it would be a shame if our diversity became a casualty as well."

Why We Can't and Shouldn't Send More Troops to Afghanistan

There is a very interesting story in the Washington Independent (Rachel Maddow talked about it tonight.):

If President Obama orders an additional 30,000 to 40,000 troops to Afghanistan, he will be deploying practically every available U.S. Army brigade to war, leaving few units in reserve in case of an unforeseen emergency and further stressing a force that has seen repeated combat deployments since 2002.

According to information compiled by the U.S. Army for The Washington Independent about the deployment status of active-duty and National Guard Army brigades, as of December 2009, there will be about 50,600 active-duty soldiers, serving in 14 combat brigades, and as many as 24,000 National Guard soldiers available for deployment. All other soldiers and National Guardsmen will either be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan already or ineligible to deploy while they rest from a previous deployment....

....The shortage of available combat brigades means that an escalation of between 30,000 and 40,000 troops is “not realistic,” said Lawrence Korb, a former senior Pentagon official in the Reagan administration who now studies defense issues for the liberal Center for American Progress. To send practically all available soldiers into one of the two wars would leave the U.S. with “no reserve in case you had a problem in Korea.”....

No matter what President Obama decides about troop deployments to Afghanistan, the Republicans will complain about it. The President needs to bring everyone home.

Changes

* This recent suggestion that women skip mammograms in their 40's has definitely shocked a lot of women. I am concerned that some health insurance companies will start denying claims to women under 50 who want a mammogram. These insurance companies might justify not paying for the test by citing this recent announcement. I find it very troubling, but I suggest that women continue with their exams and mammograms and follow their own doctor's orders.

* Some local stores that are closing have take a different approach to announcing reduced prices and clearance items. Instead of putting ads in the newspaper, managers have resorted to hiring people to stand on corners with large signs to advertise the store's closing. Obviously, if the store is still open and unable to sell off their items, this method of advertising is completely ineffective. Example: IDG has had a "Going Out of Business Sale" for months.

* Have you looked inside the want ads in your local paper? Apparently, employers with job openings are placing their ads on Craigslist. Here in central Ohio, there are more help wanted ads on the Columbus.Craigslist.org site than in the Columbus Dispatch. Perhaps employers feel they have more control over when their ads appear and they have more control over their descriptions of the jobs. They may also be saving money by using Craigslist.

Tuesday...

I confess. I watched part of the Oprah interview with Sarah Palin. I don't think the audience gave her a warm reception.

*** Some Columbus area churches and organization are collecting food for the the needy for Thanksgiving. The need is great. If you can drop off some food, at these locations, I'm sure it would be appreciated:

St. James Episcopal
3400 Calumet Street
Columbus, Ohio 43214

St. Francis of Assisi Church
386 Buttles Avenue
Columbus, Ohio

Mid-Ohio Foodbank
3960 Brookham Drive
Grove City, Ohio 43123

You may also want to check your local church or local foodbank.

Cheney Palin in 2012? Are you kidding?

* Raw Story is reporting that Liz Cheney has suggested her father, Dick, and Sarah Palin as the Republican ticket for 2012. Okay! Calm down. The daughter only suggested it but..... perhaps they are trying to see how this crazy idea is received by their followers. It is rather frightening considering Cheney's beliefs and possible war crimes in the Bush administration.

Palin, on the other hand, is just not qualified to be President. She just doesn't have "it" and she is grossly out of touch with policy matters.

Palin is still going to be in Columbus, Ohio on Friday at the Borders on Sawmill Road. This is all part of her book tour. I think we should fill the parking lot with cars with OBAMA/BIDEN bumper stickers.

* Now that the administration is moving toward having trials for those currently residing at Guantanamo Bay, Republicans are complaining. Of course, Republicans are prepared to complain about anything that the President does. Rudy Giuliani had to put his two cents in about the trials being held in New York City. If you want to read what he said, see the NY Times. Mr. Giuliani has been raising his profile because he seems to have an interest in running for President. Heaven help us.

I believe that the President and the Attorney General are moving in the right direction.

Letter to Palin

As you know Sarah Palin will be visiting central Ohio on November 20th. This should get all the teabaggers excited. The Ohio Democratic Party sent Palin a letter inviting her to campaign for "...former Lehman Brothers Managing Director John Kasich during your upcoming trip to Ohio...." For the full text of the letter, visit Ohiodems.

Ohio's Charter Schools

I think it is important to see how charter schools in Ohio are performing when they are compared to public schools. While the owners of charter schools get state money, the students attending the charter schools seem to be falling behind. Is this the way that taxpayers want their money spent on poor performing schools?

This is public information that can be found at the Ohio Department of Education:
The following is a sample from one charter school.
Proficiency Test Results for Life Skills Center of Columbus Southeast:

10th Grade Math: 60% Proficient *Overall State Results for 10th Grade Math: 81.4%
10th Grade Science: 48% Proficient *Overall State Results for 10th Grade Science: 76%
11th Grade Science: 37.5% Proficient *Overall State Results for 11th Grade Science: 84.2%
12th Grade Math: 71.4% Proficient *Overall State Results for 12th Grade Math: 92.4%

Here is a list of Charter Schools. You can click on them to see what percentage of their students are proficient:


Life Skills Center Canton - Stark County
Life Skills Center Of Akron - Summit County
Life Skills Center Of Hamilton County - Hamilton County
Life Skills Center Of Summit County - Summit County
Life Skills Center Of Toledo - Lucas County
Life Skills Center of Columbus North - Franklin County
Life Skills Center of Columbus Southeast - Franklin County
Life Skills Center of Dayton - Montgomery County
Life Skills Center of Elyria - Lorain County
Life Skills Center of North Akron - Summit County
Life Skills Center-Middletown - Butler County
Life Skills Center-Springfield - Clark County
Life Skills Ctr Of Cincinnati - Hamilton County
Life Skills Ctr Of Cleveland - Cuyahoga County
Life Skills Ctr Of Lake Erie - Cuyahoga County
Life Skills Ctr Of Youngstown - Mahoning County
Life Skills Of Northeast Ohio - Cuyahoga County
Life Skills Of Trumbull County - Trumbull County

Yet the Republican candidate for Ohio Secretary of State, Jon Husted, is a major supporter of charter schools. While money is being taken away from public schools, corporations that own charter schools are getting rich.

This and That

> The Berlin Wall came down 20 years ago this week. I visited Germany a year and a half after the Berlin Wall was dismantled. When I visited Berlin, there were people selling small pieces of what they claimed to be part of the Wall. Of course, I had to buy a chunk of it.

Even then there was a contrast between East and West Berlin. West Berlin had colorful parks and streets, and there were beautiful modern buildings and stores. East Berlin looked gray. It looked like something caught in a time warp or like a movie set from World War II. It was just plain drab. Hopefully, things have brightened up on the former East Berlin side of the Wall.

> A few days ago, CrooksandLiars noted the disastrous health care system in Texas after Newt Gingrich and Gov. Perry suggested that it should be a model for other states.

NPR has a map up that shows the percentage of Americans without health insurance in each state. Here are some statistics to think about from NPR---

"People Without Health Insurance":
TEXAS--- 25.1%
CALIFORNIA---18.4%
FLORIDA---20.1%
OHIO---11.6%
MISSISSIPPI---18.3%

Obviously, the Republicans just don't care if you are living without health insurance.

Now We Know

From the Jacksonville Journal Courier, comes this little gem from their "Open Line" section:

“The Republican leader John Boehner doesn’t know the difference between the constitution and the Declaration of Independence, he recited one and called it the other. He’s not even smarter than a fifth-grader.”


Boehner's performance at Michele Bachmann's sponsored demonstration was indeed insightful. He knows nothing about real work, real people's lives, the heartbreak of not getting health care because you have no insurance, or the difference between the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence!!!!

**** Rep. Pat Tiberi did not vote for the historic health care reform bill last night. Here in central Ohio, Tiberi is running ads about how wonderful he has been to medicine and saving jobs. Huh?????? Don't you love fiction???

Sometimes the Truth is Frightening

>>> According to USAToday, Mike Huckabee is the leading contender as the GOP's presidential candidate. Huckabee, a former governor, often brags about his fried squirrel eating days (YouTube).




Yuck.

----> Republican Rep. Pat Tiberi (OH-12) is running some schmaltzy TV ads about how he is protecting 3 million jobs. What a bunch of baloney! Tiberi voted against the stimulus package and follows John Boehner around like a puppy. Tiberi votes with his GOP obstructionist party 91% of the time (WashingtonPost). We know who Tiberi supports, and it isn't people (YouTube).

GOP Healthcare = Presents for Insurance Companies

The Republican health care plan has been succinctly summed up. Politics Plus has the story:

The Wall Street Journal, of all places, had the most accurate headline on the new Republican health care bill set to be unveiled by John Boehner, after months of waiting. The headline was: "GOP Health Bill Gives Insurers More Leeway."

The Wall Street Journal apparently thought that headline was too honest, and the article has subsequently dissapeared from their website, but the Internet has preserved it for us, .......

Amazing. John Boehner and the Republicans want to give their buddies at the insurance companies a present at the expense of the American people.

Here is more....

...The Republican bill runs the table on provisions that will increase insurance company profits.

• Make more money by denying care? Check.....

Nice job, Boehner!

Limbaugh: Still a Racist

I know some people think that Rush Limbaugh is an all-knowing genius. I am not one of Limbaugh's fans. Limbaugh is a pompous, racist, pig.

Dispatch:

Rush Limbaugh lobbed potshots across the airwaves yesterday at President Barack Obama -- "immature, inexperienced, in over his head," offering the country "radical leadership" and laying siege to the economy....

....Limbaugh said that the U.S. has "never seen this kind of radical leadership at such a high level of power" and that "I have to think" the administration is bent on destroying the private sector on purpose, amounting to "a denial of liberty, an attack on freedom."

He said Obama's swift rise to the White House after "a five-minute career" makes him a "man-child president."

Limbaugh calling President Obama a "man-child president" is similar to calling the President "boy" and I won't stand for it. Limbaugh is a racist, pure and simple. Limbaugh is a college drop out who might be able to make a lot of money but apparently can't have a successful marriage. (See about.com.) Although he considers himself a generous businessman, we all know that he is nothing but a racist who will go to any means to disrespect our President.

I'm just wondering how any companies would want to sponsor this racist with their commercials on his program. If a sponsor has a paid to advertise on Limbaugh's radio program, does that mean that the company supports Limbaugh's racism?