No miracle

According to a post at DailyKos, NBC News has been trying to figure out why no one is watching Meet The Press with David Gregory. I'm not a psychologist or a media specialist but I can explain the demise of Meet the Press with these simple letters:

T M O W R M  =  Too Many Old White Republican Men

Nothing says your program is irrelevant if the same old John McCain, Lindsey Graham, etc. are guests every single Sunday. Watching soft ball questions, and hearing the same old talking points does nothing to increase our knowledge. No one cares what these out of touch, wealthy, aged men think.

It has been several years since I watched Meet the Press. The last time I watched Meet the Press Rachel Maddow was a guest panelist. Needless to say, Maddow did a remarkable job explaining the truth to the conservatives.

** Poverty is growing.  Even though Republican Rep. Paul Ryan still believes that the wealthy need more tax breaks, the information about the country's poor is the reality. Check out the Poverty Map and you can discover the percentage of poor people in each county.  Only 9 of Ohio's 88 counties  have poverty levels below 10% (click on Percentage Below Poverty Line at Poverty Map). The rest of Ohio has poverty levels between 10.2 % to 33.3%

Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, claims that there is an "Ohio miracle" of economic growth and jobs. There is NO "Ohio miracle" with this display of facts provided by the Poverty Map.

Ohio's Latest News

A new poll from PPP shows that the races for Ohio governor and state secretary of state are tightening.  Democrat Ed Fitzgerald is tied with current Gov. Kasich, while Democrat Nina Turner leads Jon Husted by one point in the latest PPP poll.

There could be various reason why so many people are turning against Ohio Republicans. Kasich has signed restrictive laws on women's rights, school funding, access to voting, and stands in opposition to marriage equality.

Republican Jon Husted continues to go out of his way to cut voting days and hours, and make it as inconvenient as possible for people to vote.

Ohio voters are becoming more aware of the results of budget cuts that Kasich has made to counties/cities, and schools districts. Communities have had to lay off firefighters and police officers. Counties have had budget cuts that make it nearly impossible to fund road repairs. School districts have had to make cuts in teacher personnel and school programs. The only entities making out under Kasich are the CEO's that own charter schools.

>>> Plunderbund has a very interesting post on how Kasich could be misleading citizens on donations to his campaign.

For the past few months, John Kasich’s campaign has been running deceitful ads trying to convince his supporters that a donation to John Kasich in 2014 can be used for a tax credit on 2013 tax filings.

This is a lie....

....Ohio law clearly states that only money donated in 2013 can be used for a deduction in 2014.   But that hasn’t stopped Kasich from running the ads suggesting otherwise.....


If you really want to be in the know on Ohio politics, you must read Plunderbund.

Pay Attention!

* The Columbus Dispatch has the news on Gov. John Kasich's view on marriage equality.

ColumbusDispatch:

Gov. John Kasich said he will support Attorney General Mike DeWine's appeal of an upcoming ruling by a federal judge that will require the state of Ohio to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.
“He is gonna appeal it, he should,” Kasich said today in his first comments since U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Black announced his intentions Friday.....

...David Pepper, DeWine’s electoral opponent, said he would not appeal Black’s decision because opposing same-sex marriage is indefensible.....

If you really believe in America, this type of prejudice and bias from Kasich and Mike DeWine is wrong. They continue to push their far right, prehistoric thinking.  Republicans are just unable to understand the equality and justice.

When education funding is cut.....

Pennsylvania Gov. Corbett has slashed funding for education in his state. Here is a sample of how he made those cuts----

Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia:

A new analysis by the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia shows that lower income students and minority races are affected in significantly greater amounts compared to other students by the Corbett Administration cuts.


In 2011 Governor Tom Corbett cut $1 billion in public school funding.  As a result of these cuts 70 percent of school districts have increased class sizes, 44 percent slashed extracurricular activities and 35 percent eliminated tutoring programs. He has maintained this cut for the past two budgets and now proposes to increase public school funding by a mere $90 million. This still leaves a massive funding gap that 75 percent of public schools must account for by continuing to lay off teachers and staff this coming year. Because of this gap, Philadelphia school district is $300 million short of the budget needed to maintain its current minimal programs, forcing it to lay off 3,800 persons and strip its schools of all except mandated teachers and a principal; allowing no counselors, aides, or even a secretary to answer the phone....

Philadelphia's public schools are in terrible shape. With the reduction of teachers and support staff, larger class sizes and safety problems have created chaos.

Here is a recent article about Philadelphia's Bertram High School, as reported by Philly.com:


When Alphonso Stevenson was knocked unconscious by a student at Bartram High recently, staffers were shocked by the assault on the tall, genial man whose job was to keep the school calm. But many were not surprised.

The school, by many accounts, can be a frightening place, where fights and drug use are common and large groups of students often roam the hallways....

....this year, the Philadelphia School District's budget crisis has hit hard - Bartram absorbed 100 students from a school that closed, yet still has fewer staffers. Over the last few years, it has lost assistant principals, a disciplinarian, librarian, counselors, and others....


I suggest that if you care about public education, that you read the entire article at the link.

This is what happens when a governor cuts funding to schools to appease his right wing, pro-charter school contributors. Public schools deserve adequate funding. Students deserve a safe school with proper materials and qualified teachers. Those who refuse to adequate fund public education are not thinking about our children and their futures.

My Advice

A small group of upcoming graduates at the Ohio State University have spoken up in opposition to the pick of Chris Matthews as the spring commencement speaker. According to the Dispatch, some students are upset that no one asked them to pick a speaker.

After four years of college, haven't these students met anyone with opposing views? Do they think that everyone they will meet in life will think that same as they do?

In the past, Ohio State has had a wide variety of speakers from every political persuasion. Graduates should just try to be polite and enjoy the day.  My advice to these whining students is this, "Grow up!"