Shame On DeMint!

Right wing nutcase, Sen. DeMint, has been holding up the confirmation of the director of the TSA (Transportation Safety Administration). If something, God forbid, would have happened to that Christmas Day flight, would DeMint be responsible?

CSMonitor.com:

...After President Obama named Erroll Southers, an ex-FBI agent and top law enforcement officer at the Los Angeles World Airports, in September as his pick to lead the TSA, Sen. Jim DeMint (R) of South Carolina moved to block his appointment over concerns that Mr. Southers would allow airport screeners to unionize.

"The attempted terror attack in Detroit is a perfect example of why the Obama administration should not unionize the TSA and allow our airline security decisions to be dictated by union bosses," Senator DeMint said in a statement Monday...

DeMint's concerns sound absolutely crazy. His hold on this nomination is endangering the flying public. If you'd like to contact DeMint and tell him to withdraw his hold on the TSA nomination, check here for his contact link. DeMint and the Republicans like to play games with our health and safety.

Take Away Health Care? The GOP Wants It

* Looks like Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell and the Republicans would work to repeal health care reform if they take back the Senate and the White House. (ABC News) This seems like a good reason not to vote for the Republicans. If people actually learn to enjoy health care, why would anyone vote for the Republicans who plan to take it away?

* Raw Story is reporting that Sen. Joe Lieberman believes that the U.S. should act "preemptively" and attack Yemen. If Lieberman thinks we should engage in another war, I think we should let members of his family participate in the attack. Too many of other people's kids in our military have died in wars promoted by war hawks like Lieberman.

After Christmas...

Thank goodness we got through and survived the holiday. Now I will be happy to rest, stop eating junk food, and turn my attention to what really matters.

We got our grandson one of those little coupes (red and yellow plastic cars). He had a great time riding in it and I even enjoyed pushing him in it.

Thank God David Goldman got his son back.


We may not have gotten all that we wanted in a health care bill--- but at least it is a start.

Always Something....

*** MSNBC is reporting on the TV right now that the U.S. Senate has cleared the last procedural vote on health care reform.

* When negative things are said or written about the Obama administration or Democrats, why does it seem that these horribe things come from Fox News and the Wall Street Journal? Could it be that their published materials are just from their planned right wing propaganda?

* Pleeeeeeeease! Let David Goldman take his son Sean out of Brazil and back to the USA. This custody disaster has gone on too, too long. Sean belongs with his father, David Goldman.

* U.S.News.com is suggesting that Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin's might each be preparing for a run for the Presidency. So what? They are both idiots.

* Sen. Lindsey Graham (SC-R) is a putz. I'm sure most of you already knew that. Here is what Sen. Lindsey said why he opposed the health care reform bill---
RawStory:

"We've got it tough," he adds. "We're on our knees. 12 percent of our people are unemployed and 31 percent of our people are black."

Graham later says: "My state, with 30 percent African-American citizens, a lot of low income people in South Carolina is going to cost my state a billion dollars, that's the same old stuff that I object to. That's not change we can believe in. That's sleazy."

Shame on Lindsey Graham for his statement. He is the sleaze.

**** According to the Dispatch, Republican State Sen. Jon Husted of Upper Arlington (and Kettering for voting purposes) has a proposal to show the source of campaign money. Fabulous. Does that mean that he'll reveal the huge amount of money he gets from the charter school owners? Is he willing to discuss why he thinks that campaign money has convinced him to sell out the entire public school system to those same charter school owners? Just asking.

Another Honor?

PolitiFact has announced the "Lie of the Year."

PolitiFact.com:

Of all the falsehoods and distortions in the political discourse this year, one stood out from the rest.

"Death panels."

The claim set political debate afire when it was made in August, raising issues from the role of government in health care to the bounds of acceptable political discussion. In a nod to the way technology has transformed politics, the statement wasn't made in an interview or a television ad. Sarah Palin posted it on her Facebook page....

Wow! What an honor for Palin! I still cannot understand how anyone can look at her and think she is qualified to be President. Heaven forbid!

Thank you, Sen. Al Franken!

I love Sen. Al Franken. I live in Ohio and he represents Minnesota, but I've followed Franken's TV, writing, and radio careers. Franken has aptly expressed how many of us feel about some of the tactics used by the Republicans.

YouTube:



I'd love to see Sen. Franken as the Senate Majority Leader.

New Game?

According to the BBC, a game at an arcade in England, called "Whack-a-banker," has become so popular that the inventor has had to replace the mallets:

Inventor Tim Hunkin introduced "Whack a Banker", which is based on the older "Whack a Mole" game, at his arcade on Southwold pier in Suffolk.

Instead of players hitting pop-up moles with a mallet, within a set time, the target is pop-up bald figures....

I'm sure that many Americans would love to play this game considering how bankers created the financial mess we are experiencing. I wonder how people in Ohio's 15th district will feel about a Republican candidate for Congress who worked for years as a bank lobbyist. The Republican candidate, Steve Stivers, is a former bank lobbyist and former state senator. As a state senator, Stivers voted against a bill to crack down on predatory lenders. Who has Stivers represented? Banks? Predatory lenders?

Watch this video on VideoSurf or see more Steve Stivers Videos or Mary Jo Kilroy Videos

What?

I saw this story over at the Democratic Underground and I just had to comment on it. As a former teacher, I know what those teachers are experiencing in those schools in Detroit. Here is the original story from mlive.com:


After it was revealed that students in Detroit Public Schools placed abysmal scores on national math and reading exams -- with math being at an all-time low -- administrators and parents are looking for answers as to why this happened, and solutions as to how it won't happen again....

...Some parents think that teachers should be held accountable for failing Detroit's students, even suggesting jail time for school employees who don't meet their expectations. During a Saturday forum hosted by the Detroit Parent Network just after the test results were released, upset parents expressed such concerns to Bobb:

The Detroit News, Dec. 12: Sharlonda Buckman, CEO of the Detroit Parent Network, called for jailing and civil lawsuits against anyone in the city's educational system that is not doing his or her share to help properly educate children. "Somebody needs to go to jail," she said in a tearful address to 500 parents gathered Saturday for the organization's annual breakfast forum. "Somebody needs to pay for this. Somebody needs to go to jail, and it shouldn't be the kids."

I guess this woman is suggesting that teachers go to jail if her son or daughter doesn't pass exams. I wonder how often this mother sits down with her child and reads to them, helps them with homework, or shuts off the TV so that the child can have some quiet time to read. Many parents could not last a day trying to teach a classroom full of 30 thirteen year olds or even first graders. These parents don't have the guts to be a teacher.

It might be time for parents and teachers to work together on solving problems in the schools. If the current administrators are unable to help, perhaps they need to go. It might be time for their governor to step in and fix this situation.

What else is new?

* I refuse to buy the Wall Street Journal. I did read the Journal many years ago, but the new owners have added some politics to the financial news. The Journal has always been a little to the right, but now it is to the extreeeeeeeeeeeeme right. The story by The Guardian just confirms it.

* Guess what has been found? The 22 million e-mails from the George W. Bush administration have been found!!!! I'm glad I don't have to go through those e-mails! These e-mails went missing because of some glitch, but luckily someone will have access to them. CBS News:

Computer technicians have found 22 million missing White House e-mails from the administration of President George W. Bush, according to two groups that are settling lawsuits they filed over the failure by the Bush White House to install an electronic record keeping system.

The two groups made the announcement as they settled lawsuits that they filed against the Executive Office of the President in 2007....

...The two private organizations — Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and the National Security Archive — say there is not yet a final count on the extent of missing White House e-mail and there may never be a complete tally....

In a related story that I heard on NPR Radio, the specific information investigators are looking for involve the Valerie Plame case and the controversy surrounding the firing of the U.S. Attorneys during the Bush administration.

Lazy Republicans

Oh. Some Ohio legislators have found a loophole to get bigger deductions. Ohio.com has the ugly story:

Last week, this column mentioned that state lawmakers, who are paid a little more than $60,000 a year plus up to $5,000 to 7,000 for committee assignments, are afforded a lucrative federal income tax write-off.

This tax break is made even more attractive due to the way lawmakers manipulate their legislative session schedules....

....the legislative perks debate was intensified this week when state Rep. Jennifer Garrison, D-Marietta, introduced a bill that would change the calculations to reimburse lawmakers for their mileage to and from Columbus....

I'm sure she was met with resistance. According to the article, some state senators and members of the Ohio House, have taken tens of thousands of dollars in tax deductions. I think that the IRS needs to look at some of these outrageous deductions. Some of theses elected officials are clearly milking the system.

*** Thomas Suddes has an opinion piece in the Dispatch where he compares the Republican-controlled Ohio Senate to a bunch of "clowns."

The only differences between the Republican-run Ohio Senate and the Ringling Bros. circus is that the Senate doesn't charge admission (unless you lobby), and Ringling clowns are professionals...

...Unemployment is worse in Ohio than nationally, and -- remarkably -- is even worse in some bedrock Republican counties (such as Huron, Crawford, Van Wert and Williams) than it is in some once-industrial counties in northeastern Ohio or the Miami Valley. No surprise, poverty and hunger are rising everywhere. Meanwhile, an $851 million hole yawns in Ohio's budget, though the state constitution requires a balanced budget.

The response of most of the 21 Republicans in the state Senate: Hm. We'll think about it (and, meanwhile, we hope Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland, up for re-election, gets blamed for the fallout our senatorial slacking guarantees).....

Suddes has it right. The Republicans in the Ohio Senate don't give a damn about anyone but themselves. They'd rather let the whole state go down the toilet than lift one finger to help get it back on track.

This and That...

*On my honor, I will only buy Mac computers forever. End of story.

*I've been following the Heisman hype on http://www.stiffarmtrophy.com with their own projections of the winner. It is very interesting. I really don't care who wins as long as it is not Tebow.

*According to the Dispatch, Gov. Strickland has asked state legislators to fix the budget or schools will suffer:

...A fiscal doomsday analysis released yesterday projected that a failure by lawmakers to close an $851 million budget hole by year's end could trigger the loss of more than $5 billion to education coffers during the next 18 months....

....The Democratic-controlled House approved Strickland's plan to delay this year's 4.2 percent rollback of the state income tax to shore up the budget.

The Republican-controlled Senate, however, has refused to vote on the Democrats' plan or any alternative....

If schools have to close in the state, we can point to Republicans for causing problems. It might be a good idea for Republicans to stop trying to raise their campaign funds and start working on solutions to fix the budget. Once again we see that the Ohio Republicans only care about themselves and their rich contributors.

I'm tired of .......

.....Republicans putting down the President. The GOP hasn't had a new idea in decades.

......getting e-mails for male enhancement products. Who sends this stupid spam?

.....the Tiger Woods story. Let Tiger and his wife work it out on their own. If the entertainment and gossip media want to trail someone they should start looking at some of the "holier than thou" Republicans.

.....Democrats trying to be bipartisan. Get the work done. If Republicans don't want to vote for it, forget about them.

Facts

* I found this speaker's bureau website that touts John Kasich's background----
DynamicSpeakers.com

....Popular speaker to national organizations and corporations throughout the country
Currently an Investment Banker on Wall Street. He maintains responsibilities across a range of industry groups including retail, power and utilities, technology, media and communications, industrial, and financial institutions

Serves on the corporate boards of companies in the manufacturing, and health care sectors....

Is he still an investment banker? How much is Kasich pulling in while he serves on those boards? In his run for Governor of Ohio, Kasich has aligned himself with far right teabaggers, while he paints himself as a regular guy. Puh-lease!!!!

Just a word or two....

* Note to Tim Tebow: There is no crying in football.

* The Columbus Dispatch seems to have a clear agenda to defeat Gov. Ted Strickland in the upcoming election. In the past, the Dispatch has supported Republicans, but this time the paper seems as though it has a definite plan to smear the Governor. Stories appearing on the front page about the Governor seem to blame him for the state's economic woes. The banking crisis caused by the hear no evil, see no evil Bush administration, is hardly talked about by the owners of the paper.

* According to Cincinnati.com, Republican leader, John Boehner's campaign's financial reports are "....plagued with errors...":

....Since 1996, Boehner's congressional campaign committee has received 63 letters from the Federal Election Commission requesting "additional information" to correct seeming errors in reports the committee submitted.

That total surpasses similar FEC requests to Ohio's 17 other representatives. Rep. Steven LaTourette, R-Bainbridge Township, is second with 40.....

Hmmmm. What do you think?

What?

In my humble opinion, Sarah Palin is an idiot. Here is more evidence to add to my case----

Huffington Post:

Sarah Palin declared on Thursday that the legitimacy of President Obama's birth certificate is "rightfully" an issue with the American public, and that it is "fair game" for politicians to question Obama's citizenship.

The comments came during an interview with conservative radio host Rusty Humphries, who asked Palin whether she planned to "make the birth certificate an issue" if she runs for president in 2012.....

Add these comments from Palin to the fact that English only reporters were let in at her recent appearance at the Mall of America (TPMLiveWire). Sarah Palin's intelligence should be questioned. She did not know that Africa was a continent and she seemed to be uninterested and ignorant about Latin American issues during last year's campaign. The only reason that her book has sold so many copies is that right wing websites and organizations are giving away her books.

Help the Marines of Lima Company

Rich the Lube Guy is looking for your help. On Wednesday, December 2nd, and December 9th, the Marines of Lima Company will be at the Quaker Steak and Lube (8500 Lyra Drive in Columbus) to collect toys for TOYS 4 TOTS. Can you help them?