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Ohio on the High Seas: The four USS Cincinnatis
01/18/2012

Filed under: History, Cincinnati

Cincinnati has the distinction of having had four ships of the US Navy named in its honor. That's more than any other Ohio city. But then, Cincinnati got an early start. The story of the four ships to bear the name of Cincinnati starts with the Civil War.

The first Cincinnati, shown in the picture, was an ironclad river gunboat. It was built in 1861 and served on western rivers throughout the course of the Civil War. The vessel was one of the few ships that sank and was raised, not once, but twice. The Cincinnati took part in the Battle of Vicksburg, in 1863. After four years of being under heavy fire in combat, the first USS Cincinnati was sold for scrap in New Orleans.

The second USS Cincinnati didn't come along until 1892. It was much larger, a cruiser, in fact, and was a sea-going vessel. The Cincinnati saw action in the Caribbean during the Spanish-American War, in 1898. After that it was used for goodwill missions around the world. The ship was decommissioned in 1919.

In 1921, the third USS Cincinnati was launched. It was another heavy cruiser. She spent most of her career in the Atlantic and Caribbean, before being decommissioned in 1945.

Finally, there was the fourth USS Cincinnati. This one was a nuclear powered submarine, built in 1974. The fourth Cincinnati once played host to former President Richard Nixon for an overnight cruise. That was in 1980.

I'd have to say that four US Navy ships is a very good record for a city so far inland.

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Where did a name like Cincinnati come from?
01/18/2012

Filed under: History, Cincinnati

Cincinnati is a rather unusual name and a challenge for spelling classes. Just where did it come from? Well, the answer comes in two parts. It goes back to January 4, 1790. That's when Arthur St. Clair, the first Governor of the Northwest Territory, renamed the settlement of Losantiville Cincinnati.

Why? Just what is a cincinnati, anyway? Well, that goes back to the fact that St. Clair had been a general in the Revolutionary War. He was also a distant cousin of mine, but that's neither here nor there. He, along with a lot of officers of the revolution was a member of the Society of the Cincinnati. The Society was open to a select group of veterans and to the French officers who had helped the USA achieve Independence. It had one curious feature that was very controversial. It was set up to be hereditary. The membership was to pass to the eldest son of the original member. You can imagine that didn't go over well in some circles, but the Society was close-knit and, at the time, influential. So the City of Cincinnati was named in honor of the organization and its members.

But that still doesn't explain how they got to be called Cincinnati. Simple. Cincinnati is the Latin plural for Cincinnatus. Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, to be exact. In the early years of US history, there was a lot of interest in and fellow-feeling for the ancient Roman Republic. Cincinnatus was a well-born, but poor Roman. He was respected by the whole city for his wisdom and virtue. One time, Rome was about to be attacked by the Aequi and the Volscians. The Senate decided the city's best hope for victory was under Cincinnatus' leadership. They sent a delegation to offer him the position of dictator with absolute power. Cincinnatus, who was plowing a field at the time, knew he could defeat Rome's enemies, so he accepted. To make a long story short, Rome won. Cincinnatus immediately resigned his power and went back to plowing his fields.

Cincinnatus was regarded by the officers who founded the organization named in his honor as the perfect example of the "citizen soldier". He was a role model for the whole generation that founded the USA. And that's how a city in Ohio came to be named after a Roman farmer.

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HuffPo article by ex-Ohioan spotlights crisis caused by Republican roadblocks
01/17/2012

April Carson, daughter of Janet & Terry Carson of Geauga County (Janet is chair of the Geauga County Democratic Party and both are active in Ohio Democratic politics), has a piece up at Huffington Post called "Who Will the Republicans Choose When It Comes to the Nation's Courts?"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/april-carson/who-will-republicans-choo_b_1...

That probably should have been "what" rather than "who" — a smoothly functioning federal court system or petulant partisan showboating. Carson addresses the tantrums being thrown by the Republicans in Congress about President Obama's recess appointments, like the appointment of former Ohio attorney general Rich Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, because they hate the agency and want to basically make it not exist by making it non-functional. They are saying it's some unprecedented power grab, never mind that all immediate previous Presidents made far more such appointments.

The actual power grab is by the Republicans in the Senate, a handful of whom are blocking an unprecedented number of judicial appointments,causing a huge number of vacancies and a caseload backlog. As Carson points out, many of these have already received bipartisan approval in committee.

The majority of the 21 nominees blocked by Senate Republicans have been approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously with home state senator support. This is not a case of left-wing ideologues being blocked on principal. Rather, it is one of unprecedented obstructionism by a few Senate Republicans based on a fundamental disregard for the business of ordinary Americans.

She points out what this means for our court system:

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Judge O'Neill Files Suit To Be On Ballot
01/17/2012

Judge William Michael O'Neill has filed suit in the Supreme Court of Ohio seeking an Order to the Secretatry of State to place his name on the ballot. The suit also named 10 county Boards of Elections requiring them to correct the tally in the count of signatures on Judge O'Neill's petitions to run for Supreme Court Justice.

The O'Neill campaign filed 1197 signatures on the petitions. The law requires 1,000 valid voters on a statewide petition The signatures came from 15 different counties, and at the end of the count, only 993 had been counted as valid. That is simply wrong. O'Neill has enlisted the services of former Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner as his lawyer.

This is a symptom of the disease known as the Ohio General Assembly. They took so long determining what lines to draw for Congress; whether there would be two or one primaries; May versus March. etc. It was totally unfair to the Boards of Elections. They ended up counting signatures two days after Christmas.

The bottom line is when you don't give people time to do their job properly, mistakes happen. We will prevail It is unfortunate we had to file suit in the Supreme Court to get on the ballot for Supreme Court....but a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.

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Plain Dealer still clinging to fantasy John Kasich
01/17/2012

Some of you may remember the infamous Cleveland Plain Dealer editorial endorsing John Kasich for governor — the one where they promised us how he was going to shake things up, be a breath of fresh air, and make us all hold our heads high again with his vigorous, John Wayne-like "can do" spirit.

http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2010/10/the_plain_dealer_endo...

The paper opined that "he could cross partisan lines and get results" and "he has no time for divisive hot-button tactics," judgments that seem hilariously wrong-headed in the light of the past year.

Well, how ’bout this:

http://www.cleveland.com/naymik/index.ssf/2012/01/ohio_gov_john_kasich_i...

You'd think "once bitten," but I guess not. They seem to be clinging to the desperate hope that John Kasich is turning into what they tentatively projected for him. This article insists that Kasich has blossomed as governor and is showing "political maturity," never mind that virtually every person I've talked to who's had to deal with him has described him as a stubborn, cocky man, completely impervious to the opinions of anyone who doesn't agree with him.

Sez the PD,

But he also showed political maturing, reflecting that he's more comfortable as governor than a candidate for governor.

He effortlessly lobbed criticisms at nearly everyone he hopes will be apart of Ohio's comeback as he envisions it, from big businesses, colleges and universities, and hospitals, to the competing coal and gas companies.

His charges didn't sound strident or arrogant – as some of his criticisms clearly came across during the campaign -- because his complaints were more measured and largely on the mark.

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Not directly about Ohio but too hilarious not to share
01/17/2012

"U.S. Congressman" Diane Black of Tennessee (that's from her own website — apparently these days crazy righties live in such a warped world they don't know their own gender) is seething with indignation about the recent recess appointments that President Obama made, including appointing former Ohio attorney general Rich Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and kick Wall Street's ass.

So she is introducing a resolution, co-sponsored by 71 other massive Republican hypocrites, saying how indignant they are about this thing that was done more often by every other president in recent memory, especially Republican hero Ronnie Reagan who did it over and over.

And here's what she had to say on her website:

It’s astounding to me that the president is claiming these are recess appointments and within his authority, when Congress was not in fact in recess. These appointments are an affront to the Constitution. No matter how you look at this, it doesn’t pass the smell test. I hope the House considers my resolution as soon as we return to Washington so we can send a message to President Obama.

Wait — what? Congress was "not in fact in recess," but she hopes the House considers her resolution "as soon as we return to Washington"? Like return from .... recess?

No, I am not making this up. Check it out:

http://black.house.gov/press-release/black-introduces-resolution-disapproving-obama’s-recent-presidential-appointments

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Yvette McGee Brown kicks off election campaign
01/17/2012

Not that anyone doubted she would be running, but yesterday state supreme court justice Yvette McGee Brown announced the kick off of her campaign to retain her seat on the court. She was appointed by Governor Ted Strickland last January just before he left office, replacing Maureen O"Connor, who was elected chief justice.

If you're lucky enough to have some extra cash, you could think about going to her Cleveland campaign launch today, Wednesday, January 11, at the Union Club (1211 Euclid Ave.) from 5-7 p.m. The suggested contribution is $500, which is way out of my league. But if it's not out of yours, she could use your help.

The Democratic Party has a problem electing African-American candidates statewide, and the GOP is playing a familiar game with this race. They recruited an obscure judge with limited experience with a good ballot name — Sharon Kennedy. And Ohio supreme court races have a history of being flooded with big outside money from groups like the Chamber of Commerce, supporting Republican justices with a documented track record of favoring big corporate interests over regular people and small business.

We need to keep Brown on the supreme court. It would be nice if we could take an additional seat or two, but that doesn't appear likely at this point. A 6-1 Republican supreme court doesn't fairly represent Ohio. Reverting to a 7-0 court would be even worse.

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Marcy Kaptur turns lemons into lemonade
01/17/2012

With the reorganizing of the Pacman-shaped ring around Columbus that was the initial proposed 15th district, the 9th district is unchallenged the most risibly gerrymandered district in Ohio in the second and final congressional map passed by the legislature.

That's the district that meanders from Cleveland to Toledo, connected by islands and beaches. It's a thin little strip of a district that traverses the Lake Erie coast, a two-hour drive that covers some undeniably beautiful territory (there's probably no more gorgeous vista in Ohio than that of the Sandusky Bay seen driving over the Edison Bridge on Rt. 2).

I was over at Marcy Kaptur's campaign website earlier today, and she's milking this coastal beauty for all its worth.The site's homepage features a scenic slide show that's sure to delight water lovers like me, with numerous Lake Erie shore shots as well as photos of the Maumee River (But seriously, Marcy, what's with the one of the traffic jam on that fin-like bridge on I-280?)

There are also pretty shots of a fountain, a garden, a woodland, and oh no! not a second shot of the fin bridge! (Traffic appears to be flowing more smoothly in this one). All seemed to have been taken in summer, so it's some really nice viewing. Go over and check it out for yourself: http://www.marcykaptur.com/

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Personhood petition language approved by state ballot board
01/17/2012

Ugh.

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/01/09/proposed-person...

The Columbus Dispatch reports,

The [Ohio Ballot] board voted 3-2 along party lines, allowing petitioners to begin to gather the 385,245 valid signatures of registered Ohio voters needed to qualify the issue for the November ballot.

Attorney general Mike DeWine had approved the language about a week and a half ago, after rejecting the initial language last fall.

Personhood Ohio (slogan: "Let the Justice for the Preborn Begin Here") leader Dr. Patrick Johnston of Zanesville thinks the group can acquire the signatures by an all-volunteer effort. Considering that their website hasn't been updated since mid-December, I have to wonder how effective their volunteer effort is going to be.

Says the Dispatch,

Asked if he expected to need a large sum of money to gather signatures, Johnston cited a successful all-volunteer effort in Mississippi. He also hinted that money would flow in if needed, given Ohio’s status as a key swing state in the presidential election.

Unfortunately for Johnston, that all-volunteer effort may have gotten the amendment — which declares a fertilized egg to be a "person" with the full rights of an actual born person (unless that born person is female — no justice for the postborn woman!) — on the ballot. But it was decisively defeated at the polls by nearly 20 points in that much more conservative state.

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Know The Enemy!
01/17/2012

Hey Clevelanders! You know the guy who said he wanted to shrink government so small it could be drowned in a bathtub, a line that became famous after Hurricane Katrina? That guy is Grover Norquist, founder of Americans for Tax Reform, perhaps the most powerful voice promoting the deliberate disabling of government so that it is unable to provide services, a safety net, and protection from predatory corporations to the 99 %, while allowing the 1 % to essentially take over the country. Because the simple fact is that when government is powerless and ineffectual, something always sweeps in to replace it: warlords in Afghanistan, murderous rebels in Somalia, ruthless corporations in the U.S.

The guy has an outsized influence on the Republican presidential candidates — not so much on the loopy, regressive social-issue positions that have been getting so much attention lately, but on their equally crazy, cruel, and destructive economic ideas. And he is coming to Cleveland!

If you have an extra $30 floating around and want to get a closeup look at The Enemy, he'll be at the City Club of Cleveland at noon this Friday January 13. (If you're a City Club member, it's $18. Either way, it includes lunch). You need to make a reservation at least 24 hours in advance, either on their website or by calling 216.621.0082.

Go here for more information:
http://www.cityclub.org/Programs/Upcoming/tabid/173/Default.aspx

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Cuyahoga County Prosecutors Race: Forum this Thursday, January 12
01/17/2012

This post is specifically for all of you in the Greater Cleveland area. I'd like to call your attention to an important race that is almost certain to be decided in the March 6 primary. It's for the office of Cuyahoga County prosecutor, one of the only two countywide offices that existed after the new charter was voted into place in November 2009. The candidates will be at the Cleveland Heights Community Center (Mayfield Road at Monticello) from 7-9 p.m. this Thursday in an event sponsored by multiple Democratic clubs & organizations. It's free and all are welcome.

When the new charter was written, it was widely believed that prosecutor Bill Mason, a highly political individual who was part of the small secretive cabal who wrote it behind closed doors without public input, was looking at consolidating his own power. Since the new charter eliminated the other countywide elected offices (creating one new one for county executive), it eliminated his political rival, leaving him in the perfect position to grow his power base.

And then he announced he wasn't going to run for reelection in 2012. That opened the door for multiple candidates to declare their intention to run for this plum job. Currently, there are five Democrats in the race (this morning there were six, but Cleveland city councilman Kevin Kelley — NOT the same Kevin Kelley that is involved in the county corruption scandals — just dropped out). No Republicans have filed to run, and it's unlikely that any independent will appear with the stature and muscle to make a race of it. So basically, the Democratic primary will be the election.

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Great night for Occupy Cleveland
01/17/2012

The winter storm watch was supposed to be lifted at 4 p.m., but that's about when the snow started. That didn't keep a significant number of hardy folks from showing up at the Beachland Ballroom for the Occupy Cleveland benefit concert last night. A batch of singer-songwriters opened the night, followed by bands like Dead Ahead, who had all the hippie girls in long skirts swirlie-dancing by the stage. Katy Whomp Us played a set of bluegrass-y folk rock, and Morticia's Chair closed the night with their goth-flavored rock and diatribes about the stage of the country's political climate from bassist Frank Prpic.

The evening raised almost $1,300 to fuel Occupy Cleveland's activities, which including continuing to staff the tent on Public Square and behind-the-scenes action planning at the group's office in the City Club building.

Here are some photos of the evening:

Someone put a message on the cars parked on Waterloo Road outside the Beachland!

Katy Whomp Us rocks the Ballroom.

Some of the 99%.

Happy dancers occupy the Beachland.

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Sanity departs Republican presidential race
01/17/2012

Jon Huntsman, that is.

To no one's huge surprise, I'm sure, he's dropping out & endorsing (ugh) Mitt Romney.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/15/jon-huntsman-concedes_n_1207994...

One close adviser acknowledged, during the final days of the New Hampshire primary, that he found the transition from the world of international diplomacy to electoral politics "difficult to execute." Complicating matters was fundraising, which failed to pick up after Huntsman's initial entrance into the race.

No. The truth is he was almost totally devoid of that rich lode of Crazy that Republican primary voters are salivating for, and unlike Mitt Romney, he didn't appear to have the stomach to pander and pretend.

So all of you who feared he'd be the next Republican candidate to surge and the most dangerous opponent for President Obama, you can sleep easy tonight. It's still a zoo over there. Newt dynamited Romney today by promising to release his own tax returns this week which probably won't strengthen his own campaign but will make Romney look even worse for not doing so. He's clearly operating on the "If I can't have it none of you can" principle. http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/15/politics/gingrich-tax-return/

Romney can't do so, of course, because his returns will reveal that he's making millions from investments and paying a fraction the percentage of taxes as the rest of us, probably including Gingrich, who at lease "works" (however dubious his lobbying "job") for his money.

And Santorum unloaded more crazy, saying we need to increase the birth rate to fight off a "demographic winter," and that "children are the greatest natural resource we have."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/15/rick-santorum-on-fox-news_n_120...

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What state legislatures did in 2011
01/17/2012

You can probably guess just by looking at what the Ohio legislature has been up to for the past month or so except when, blessedly, it's been in recess:

http://www.womenarewatching.org/article/attacks-on-womens-health-took-th...

As womenarewatching.org, an affiliate of Planned Parenthood, tells us,

Apparently, 2011 was a very busy year for many of our U.S. legislators — oh, not on the economy, or jobs or anything silly like that, but on setting a record for the largest number of restrictions on women's health care. Ever.

They provide this depressing little chart:

Well over 1,000 bills relating to reproductive rights were introduced into legislatures around the country at a time when polls consistently showed most voters — usually over 50 percent — considered jobs & the economy to be the most important issue with social issues like abortion and gay marriage falling at the bottom of the list.

Meanwhile, the site has a pledge you can take to keep holding anti-choice legislators accountable and to push for pro-choice candidates, as well as sign up for updates so hopefully when our crew in Columbus pulls the heartbeat bill off the back burner, you'll hear about it.

http://www.womenarewatching.org/get-involved/take-the-pledge

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You're in good (bad?) company, Angela Zimmann
01/17/2012

Angela Zimmann is running for Congress from Ohio's 5th district in Northwest Ohio, currently represented Bob "Who?" Latta. This morning, she posted on her campaign Facebook page "Did you know that those of us who live in OH-5 have NEVER been represented by a woman in US Congress?"

Actually, as far as I can learn, that applies to almost every district in Ohio, other than 2, 9, 11, 13, and 15. (Anyone who knows of another Ohio district that has sent a woman to Congress let me know). 11 and 15 have been served by two different women, and 11 has been represented by a woman since Stephanie Tubbs Jones was elected in 1998.

The first woman elected to Congress from Ohio was Frances Payne Bolton, who represented a section of Cuyahoga's eastern suburbs. So in a sense much of 11 has been represented by THREE women. Bolton served from 1939 (in the former tradition of Congress, she filled her late husband's seat) until she was defeated in 1968 at age of 83.

By the way, she was a Republican of the sort that would be run out of the party today. Although she was definitely one of her era's 1 % (probably more like .001%), she not only had a long-time interest in public health and nursing and would never have worked against health care reform but she also had an interest in (gasp!) Eastern religions. The Rick Santorums of today's GOP, who think anyone not a Christian evangelical should not be allowed to serve in U.S. government, would disown her for that.

Zimmann also shared this dead-on quote:

When you ask a man to run, he says, ‘Okay, but the party is going to have to do this for me, and the party is going to have to do that for me, and you are going to have to throw a fundraiser for me.’ When you ask a woman to run, she says, ‘Do you think I’m qualified?’ " ~ Representative Loretta Sanchez (D-CA, 2003-present)

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Does Empty Suit = Empty Office?
01/17/2012

I'll be curious to find out!

The Ohio Democratic Party has filed a public-records request with the state treasurer's office for treasurer Josh "The Empty Suit" Mandel's public schedule.

For those who haven't been following along, Mandel got himself elected to this office, for which he has no qualifications, via big corporate money, baseless smear, and shamelessly exploiting his military service. Then within weeks of being sworn in to this office which he promised he would hold for four years, he began racing around the country like a madman, looking for even MORE corporate cash to fund a run for U.S. Senate. There's no way such an underqualified officeholder should have even been thinking about raising money for another run in his first year — let alone his first month.

Meanwhile, as the Empty Suit has been racing from coast to coast in search of the ultra-rich people who will be his true constituents if he gets elected, he's been "too busy" to meet with Ohioans. He hasn't been able to find any time in his schedule for seven months to speak to the Akron Press Club. (Senator Sherrod Brown, whose job Mandel hopes to steal, spoke last week). It's just one more proof that he wants to job to stoke his ambition and serve his contributors, not to serve the people of Ohio.

And no, this isn't nitpicky. We're paying Mandel to do a job he seems to be taking lightly. If the shoe were on the other foot, the Republicans would be howling bloody murder, making this the state's top news story. So good work, ODP. Let's find out what Mandel has been "too busy" doing to speak to Ohio citizens.

Here's the press release the ODP sent out today:

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Montana upholds state ban on corporate political spending
01/17/2012

This week, Montana's Supreme Court upheld a century-old ban on corporate money in political campaign. The decision flies in the face of the U.S. Supreme Court's horrific 2010 decision in the Citizens United case that allowed unlimited amounts of corporate cash to flow into campaigns, usually behind a veil of secrecy, and open the door to the outright purchase of political office. It's what groups fueled by this corporate cash are already attempting in Ohio on behalf of Josh "The Empty Suit" Mandel, who isn't interested in representing the people of Ohio in the U.S. Senate, but rather in representing the people providing the money — some of whom we don't even know.

Montana enacted their law, appropriately dubbed the "Corrupt Practices Act," a century ago because this was exactly what was happening then in the state (nothing new under the sun). Mine owners basically bought all the state's offices, leaving the people out of the equation.

It's the same thing Citizens United threatens to do nationally, and because of that decision, the Montana Supreme Court decision will most likely go to them.

Thanks to Warren County (ugh) Democratic Party chairperson Bethe Goldenfield, my Facebook friend whom I have never met but would like to, for this link to an interview with Montana attorney general Steve Bullock who led the charge in this case:

http://www.salon.com/2012/01/06/the_biggest_threat_to_citizens_united/?s...

Yes, it's by self-important progressive asshole David Sirota, but it's a straight Q&A so it's informative.

It seems a backlash is gathering to Citizens United and the power of corporations over people in general. Recently, both New York City and Los Angeles passed resolutions to abolish corporate personhood and restore the concept of incorporation to its rightful place as a protection for money invested in a business.

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Toledo Blade editorial punctures the Kasich "privatize everything" myth
01/17/2012

Good editorial last weekend in the Toledo Blade about Kasich's rush to give away anything he can that was paid for and is owned by Ohio taxpayers.

http://www.toledoblade.com/Editorials/2011/12/31/Prison-sale-s-fuzzy-mat...

It focuses on what it calls "the fuzzy math" of selling prisons to private companies. Calling on the meticulous research of progressive Cleveland-based think tank Policy Matters Ohio, it points out,

Last April, the think tank found omissions, oversights, and errors in the state's figures on potential savings from privatization. After the state revised the numbers, Policy Matters concluded recently that selling the Conneaut prison would be, at best, an economic wash. At worst, though, privatization could cost taxpayers millions of dollars in future years if a prison's private owner seeks a rate increase. Policy Matters says Corrections Corporation of America has employed that strategy.

The paper asks the question that has long troubled me about all efforts to privatize public functions and assets:

Also unanswered is the question of how private owners will generate savings for the state and profits for themselves. Experience elsewhere suggests that possible answers could include fewer guards and lower pay, less money spent on training, more crowding of prisoners, and fewer inmate services such as psychological counseling, drug and alcohol treatment, education, and rehabilitation.

The math of privatization never made sense to me. Its proponents claim it will cost taxpayers less, yet now a profit margin has to be added to the cost of doing business. So obviously something has to be cut, and I think the Blade's assessment of what that would be is accurate. If in the end it's a "wash" — meaning taxpayers spend the same amount but get less for their money — that sounds like a bad deal to me.

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Just in case you needed more reasons to despite Rick Santorum
01/17/2012

(and you probably don't), Philadelphia journalist Will Bunch has provided a whole heap of background information on Santorum's challenged ethics which sound like he should have gone to prison along with Bob Ney, Tom Noe, Jack Abramoff et al, not be running for President.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/will-bunch/rick-santorum-surge_b_1185833.h...

Santorum has gotten a lot of attention in the last few days for his ultra-radical, ultra-misogynist positions on reproductive issues. But this prissy, sanctimonious, would-be arbiter of the "morals" of all of us is himself a morally bankrupt greedster. This asshole has been talking about the necessity of laws overseeing marriage and sex in a society where people have failed to take what he believes is sufficient responsibility for being "good." Yet he wants to eliminate all regulations on the economy and ethics for officeholders, apparently believing politicians and financial tycoons have sufficient ethics to police themselves — when he is living, breathing proof they don't.

Please read the Will Bunch article for the full story:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/will-bunch/rick-santorum-surge_b_1185833.h...

And when you're done, please click on http://spreadingsantorum.com/. Click on it a bunch of times so it stays at the top of Google search. Not only does it provide the infamous Dan Savage redefinition of "Santorum," but it is being updated regularly with the latest information about Santorum's presidential campaign. So it's definitely worth the daily visits.

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Husted says Bill O'Neill not qualified for ballot; O'Neill fights back
01/17/2012

Now, I really really hate to suggest than any of our elected officials in Columbus would let partisanship ooze into the performance of their duty. But ... this just seems fishy to me.

Geauga County's Bill O'Neill announced his candidacy a few months ago for the seat on the state Supreme Court now held by Republican Robert Cupp. O'Neill's run for the Supreme Court twice before — in 2004 and 2006 — and despite his principled but losing stance of accepting no campaign contributions, he ran decent races against lavishly funded candidates, including one of the most bought-and-paid-for in the country, according to a front-page New York Times story in 2006.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A06E7D81730F932A35753C1A...

O'Neill and Democratic activists circulated petitions to get the necessary 1,000 signatures to be on the ballot, a really simple process. He submitted just under 1,200 to give him a cushion. Since these petitions are mostly signed by hardcore party activists and people they know — unless you're a Libertarian, you don't usually stand on street corners collecting to get your guy on the ballot — the rate of invalid signatures should be lower than on your typical petition, say, for a referendum.

Conveniently, secretary of state Jon Husted disqualified 200 of Bill O'Neill's signatures, making him seven (!) short of what he needs to get on the ballot. That leaves an obscure Hamilton County judge named Fanon Rucker, who has only five years experience on the bench and only 15 years' total legal experience, as Cupp's only opponent. (O'Neill and Rucker would face off in a primary, with O'Neill likely having the advantage of greater name recognition and a stronger record).

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Cordray statement on his new job
01/17/2012

http://www.readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/9271-standing-up-for-...

Ohioans know well what Cordray can do when he goes after financial institutions — such as banks, mortgage brokers, and payday lenders — who have used deceptive practices and language to mislead or confuse consumers.

As he says,

Financial products can help make life better, but they can also make life harder. Most of us know at least someone - a parent or sibling or friend - who has money troubles. Sometimes, those troubles are caused by a tough break or just not having enough money to go around; other times, by a poor decision. But sometimes, those consumer money troubles arise out of problems in the consumer financial markets. I have seen senior citizens lose their life savings to scams and fraud. I have seen young adults start their lives with crushing student loan debt burdens that they cannot afford. I have seen families bankrupted, and thrown out of their homes, by complex mortgages with spiraling interest costs and monthly payments that were never clearly explained.

The bureau has a contact form where you can let him know what you think needs to be addressed and how you think the work is progressing:

http://www.consumerfinance.gov/connect/

If you are a Teabagger who thinks anyone who lost their home to a deceptive, complicated mortgage "deserved it," don't bother. Rich Cordray is smarter than you and more compassionate than you, and hey — if it happens to you, he'll be on your side!

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Ohio presidential primary candidates set; Obama has challenger!
01/17/2012

All seven Republican candidates who were in the field as of yesterday's Iowa caucus qualified to be on the ballot in Ohio's March 6 presidential primary, although it appears that at least one — Michele Bachmann — will get a "candidate withdrawn" slot.

But you progressive Democrats who are walking around in a funk thinking Obama has betrayed you and ANYONE would be better, beware. Obama has a challenger who has qualified for the ballot, and this is one individual who does NOT deserve your protest vote. Bizarrely, anti-choice extremist Randall Terry, founder of the notorious Operation Rescue, is running as a Democrat.

http://www.terryforpresident.com/

Don't even THINK of voting for him. It's not cute. This is a man who has cheered violence against abortion providers, saying that it is justice for "murder of the unborn." Few anti-choice activists have used more incendiary language than he has.

In addition, his platform, with a handful of exceptions, is a litany of far far far right positions, from privatizing Social Security to opposing environmental regulations, to favoring right-to-work-for-less laws, to replacing the progressive income tax with national sales tax, to eliminating public education.

http://www.terryforpresident.com/documents/TFPplatformPlanks.pdf

Yes, he "strongly favors" legalizing marijuana. But you'd have to be really stoned to think that makes him an acceptable candidate in any way.

Taken as a whole, he's entirely too extreme even to be a Republican candidate. On top of that, he's got a whole pile of personal scandal you can Google. Let's just say he makes Newt Gingrich look like a paragon of virtue by comparison.

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Democratic legislators file lawsuit over state legislative map
01/17/2012

We've heard a lot of talk about the bizarrely gerrymandered and partisan congressional map drawn by the Republicans, especially after the early December release of a report from citizen groups like the League of Women Voters and Ohio Citizen Action revealing how corrupt and secretive the map-drawing process was.

http://www.moneyinpoliticsohio.org/2011/transparency.html

We hadn't heard much about the drawing of the state legislative districts, and theoretically we shouldn't have. Although not widely known the Ohio Constitution theoretically protects that map from the same sort of political predations as the congressional map, mandating compact, contiguous districts.

Theoretically.

I'm sure you know where this is going considering the current crop of elected Republicans led by a governor whose ongoing attitude has been, "I"m not going to let any constitution get in the way of what I want to do."

So the Republicans on the apportionment board didn't let any mere constitution stand in the way of their attempts to rig the makeup of the legislature forever. Now the Democrats in the legislature are fighting back; they've filed a lawsuit with the Ohio Supreme Court. With a 6-1 Republican Supreme Court majority (purchased by big corporate money), we'll see if the Supreme Court believes it needs to uphold the Ohio constitution.

Here's the press release put out today by the legislative Democrats.

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Cordray appointment a done deal; ’pubbies howl in outrage
01/17/2012

I mentioned last night that stories were circulating that President Obama would use his speech this afternoon here in Ohio at Shaker Heights High School to announce the recess appointment of former Ohio attorney general Rich Cordray to head the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau — founded to protect the 99 % from the 1%.

He did so.

And oh my, the Republicans are SO not happy:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/04/1051531/-GOP-leadership-outrage...

The historically challenged John Boehner once again embarrassed Ohio as he blubbered,

This is an extraordinary and entirely unprecedented power grab by President Obama that defies centuries of practice and the legal advice of his own Justice Department. The precedent that would be set by this cavalier action would have a devastating effect on the checks and balances that are enshrined in our Constitution.

He was joined in weeping and wailing and phony outrage by fellow Republicans in the Senate who claim Obama has violated some obscure technicality, thereby becoming a powergrabber. Waaaaaaah. Like they weren't violating a technicality by refusing to confirm Cordray so that the CFPB could even exist, even though its creation was passed into law fair and square. And Cordray's confirmation "lost" a Senate vote of 53-45 in Cordray's FAVOR. Who's grabbing power again?

And about that "extraordinary and entirely unprecedented power grab"?

Reagan made 240 recess appointments, GHW Bush made 77, Clinton made 140, and Dubya made 171, according to the Congressional Research Service. This is Obama's 29th.

Weep away, Boehner.

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John Boehner — still the shame of Ohio.
01/17/2012

These college kids have more credibility on the Keystone pipeline project than Speaker of the House, Congressman John Boehner (Oh-08), because they have no financial stake in it.

If you know anything about the Keystone XL project — which would build a giant pipeline down from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico to carry oil extracted from Canadian tar sands — you know it's controversial.

The oil lobby, of course, is madly in favor and spending their record profits like mad to persuade the public that it would be beneficial for something besides increasing those profits to even more dizzying heights. They insist it would create a windfall of jobs. Environmentalists are up in arms about the potentially catastrophic damage it could cause to the environment; they say the damage is not worth it for the small number of mostly temporary jobs it might create.

But there's more in this Washington Post story today about the controversy surrounding the project:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/as-deadline-nears-...

Including this::

House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) launched a “countdown clock” that ticks off the time until the permitting deadline expires and posted a video on YouTube that touts the pipeline as a chance to create jobs with private investment. Playing off Obama’s mantra of “We Can’t Wait,” the video flashes phrases across the screen including, “We Can’t Wait for Leadership. We Can’t Wait for Jobs.”

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