A United Voice from Central Ohio

“The lumber company downsized. They got rid of the deadwood.” 

Sarah Palin never ceases to amaze.  Within an hour of announces she will not run for Governor again and she will also resign at the end of the month, Mitt Romney went on the attack.  His comment was “how can she consider being President , when she can’t finish her term as Governor?” 

I have never and probably will never again say this, but Romney is right about Palin.  Standby though there is most likely more to come.  I am willing to bet the farm that a scandal is on the horizon. Her meandering speech yesterday was typical Palin.  It made no sense and bolstered the fact that she came from the low end of the gene pool. 

Everyone in Alaska better start checking bank accounts and counting the silverware.  If she thinks this move improves her chance for a Presidential run she is in for a surprise. The hope here is that she falls off the political landscape, but I wouldn’t count on that.  Palin is you’re a-typical “bad penny”, she will turn up again.

Perhaps she’ll harangue on those wonderful family values she has spread around trailer parks all over Alaska.

Occasionally I hear politico’s on TV (most recently Joe Scarborough on MSNBC) applaud Ronald Reagan as a great President.  This is absolutely one of the great American mistruths.  In fact it is an outright lie.  To believe this one has to totally ignore Reagan’s complete disregard for the U.S. Constitution.  In fact the seeds for the Bush debacle were planted by Ronald Reagan.   As far as his bringing down communism that is just about as ridiculous a claim as there is.  The Democrats had as much to do with ending communism as Reagan did. 

Some of the worst economic times this country has seen came during his administration.  Have we forgotten when people were up in arms about the lack of quality jobs with living wages his famous comment “McDonald’s is hiring”?  Need I remind people that he single handily brought down the Air Traffic Controller’s Union.  This was not a President that was in touch with working people in this country. 

Ronald Reagan, taking the torch from Nixon, pioneered the attitude that the President can do whatever he wants and it’s not illegal.  Reagan should have been impeached over the Iran-Contra scandal.  When the conversation is about great U.S. Presidents his name for some unknown reason, keeps popping up.  If you look at his 8 years in office it may have been some of worst times this country has ever seen.  Only George Bush in my mind was more of a disaster then Reagan, followed closely by Nixon and Hoover.  All Republicans ever do is provide lip service, and mindless right wing nuts fall in line.  Their attitude is; toss out a few meaningless moral fringe issues and conservatives will become a bunch of bobble heads.  Even when it becomes obvious that some Republican politicians have the morals of an alley cat, their supporters simply retreat into denial.

 “There are few things more amusing in the world of politics than watching Republicans charging to the right in pursuit of greater glory.” - Mario Cuomo

Recently there has been a great deal written from the right wing-nuts about what is going on in Ohio.  Our current governor Ted Strickland has done an amazing job, given what he was left with from the previous incompetent Governor Bob Taft. 

Like many States, Ohio is struggling with stifling financial problems.  To the Governor’s credit he is willing to sacrifice his own principals to get this thing fixed and I am confident he will do just that.  What I find outrageous is that politicians like Jay Hottinger have the nerve to call this Governor out on what he is doing, when it was people like Jay Hottinger that created this mess.  Jay Hottinger, Tim Schaffer, John Kasich, Pat Tiberi, these guys are dinosaurs with brains the size of peanuts.  They are also con men and frauds.  Not one of these Republicans have ever done a thing for working families.  Not one of these politicians have ever put a dime in anyone’s pockets, but their own. 

When you see Jay, simply ask him why hasn’t he made any attempt to address the school funding issue? 

When you see Tim, ask him where are the jobs that Licking County so desperately needs?

When you see Pat ask his bobble head where has he been on any issue, does he even know what an issue is? 

As for Sideshow John, he is Bob Taft all over again.  Kasich will cut taxes on big business and working families will be burdened with even more taxes.

So as the Governor’s race heats up this coming election cycle, don’t allow yourself to be swept up with false promises by politicians who have been screwing over working families forever.  Hottinger, Kasich, Tiberi and Schaffer are only about lining their own pockets with taxpayer’s money.  None of them will ever provide a viable solution to the problems that are facing Ohio, but I assure you they will make sure they are taken care of, because that is all they are interested in.

“A friend told me he dug a hole in my backyard and filled it with water. I thought he meant well.” 

Have you noticed Congressman John Boehner’s tan?  When does he have time to do anything but hit the tanning salon?  This is why we send people to Washington, so they can get a nice dark tan!  I don’t think so.  All that tanning has clouded Boehner’s ability to come up with anything productive or new.  It hasn’t effected his ability to be a thorn in the side of the President that’s for sure.  John Boehner is what’s wrong with Washington and for the most part Congress.  It’s more about how good the congressman looks on TV then it is about placing the interests of America as the top priority.  Let’s hope beyond all hope that Mr. Boehner is ousted in 2010.

If you don’t live in Licking County, Ohio then you are probably not familiar with the Newark Advocate. It is the local newspaper, and it’s mission is to endorse conservative politics, similar to Fox News, it provides a sharply one sided editorial view of local politics in the Newark-Heath-Granville area in central Ohio. Recently I submitted a letter to the editor (for your reading enjoyment scroll down and you will see exactly what I wrote) that was rejected, because 1) they said it had facts that were difficult to verify and 2) wasn’t in good taste. There wasn’t anything in that article that one couldn’t verify by doing a modest internet search. Apparently the Advocate didn’t care to do that. My feeling is they are protecting Kasich, and since they will in the end be endorsing him for Governor, they’re not going to allow any disparaging remarks to grace their pages. It is conservative censorship at it’s despicable best. I guess allowing the declining readership of their rag of a newspaper to see the true side of John Kasich doesn’t serve their conservative agenda. It is Licking County’s version of Fox News on parade.

To anyone living in Licking County, who believes in Progressive Politics, this journalistic bias comes as no surprise. 

The latest cover of people magazine I found to be incredibly ironic.  It features Bristol Palin making a reference to the consequences of having sex.  It seems that baby Tripp has been reduced to a “consequence”.  This is so typical of the right-to-lifers.  Sarah Palin preached her pro-life rhetoric all throughout the campaign, so much so that her own daughter’s respect for that life is nothing more than babies are a consequence of having sex.  I guess you just can’t preach that kind of family values, now can you.  My family instilled in me that children were a precious gift, not a consequence.  I wonder how Sean Hannity or Ann Coulter or the face of the moral right Rush Limbaugh feels about that? 

Not to mention her statement may be the stupidst thing I ever heard a teen ager say, does she really want us to believe that teens have sex and not know that it could result in a pregnancy.  Maybe that’s the case in Alaska.

Here is a quote from John Kasich talking about Richard Fuld, Chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers at the time of their collapse:

“Fuld is an awesome guy. He is the kind of guy you want to go into battle with. He is a great leader. I like people who are really smart and really great leaders.”

Yesterday the absurd happened.  John Kasich, the man who fled congress for his political life, announced he is running for Governor.  In his speech he talked about making the state government “skinny”.  Doing away with business income tax.  Of course the poor working families still have to pay.  How irresponsible is this guy.  What Kasich is talking about is reducing revenue to the state by 40 per cent.  This mentally challenged ex-congressman seems to think we can correct all of the state’s problems by reducing it’s revenue.  It doesn’t take an economics wizard to figure out that will not work.  Kasich has always talked out of both sides of his mouth.  He is saying that he wants to create jobs, of course cutting the state revenue will cost thousands of jobs all over Ohio.  You can’t have it both ways, John.  Only a fool would buy into this nut job’s economic joke for Ohio.  

Everyone, both Democrats and Republicans need to reject this clown.  That is exactly what Kasich is, a clown. One could almost hear the circus music play in the background as he spoke.  Governor Strickland has worked hard to right this foundering ship called Ohio, and Kasich wants to return to Bob Taft Economics.  Kasich, for some “unknown” reason, walked away from congress, then took  a position with Lehman Brothers on Wall Street, rode that train into bankruptcy, walked away with his pension in tact, not to mention a sweet severance package, and then stood on the sidelines as the American people paid to have a mess he helped create, cleaned up.  Kasich thinks he can walk into the Governors job by telling what he perceives to be what the hard working people of Ohio want to hear.  What Kasich is going to do is make sure the Wexners, and the Longabergers of Ohio pay no more taxes.  But that loss of revenue will have to come from someone else, and that someone else is the working families of Ohio.

Here is a website to check out: 

 http://www.truthaboutkasich.com/

I am a proponent of a flat tax rate.  What that rate would be I have no idea.  Most everyone I talk to tell me that this type of tax system would never work and that middle class families would still be paying the lion’s share of the tax dollars.  This doesn’t make sense at all to me.  Someone who’s income is 35 thousand per year at a 10% flat rate would pay $3500.  At the same time someone making $150,000 per year would have a tax obligation of $15,000.  Whose paying more ? Under my idea there would be no exemptions what so ever.  The deduction would come out of your paycheck and straight to the Federal tax coffers.  From there the money would be distributed to the States and then to Cities/Communities. 

It’s just a thought, we all complain about taxes, I think the trick is to make them fair, so that these big corporations are paying.  Under the current tax code, corporations can dodge taxation all together.  I know two things, if this country is to survive then taxes are inevitable and at present the tax system is not fair.  I welcome comments on this topic, lets have that debate, it would be interesting to see what other people think.