Do Ohio Republicans in Columbus have a brain? A pulse?

What are they thinking?

1. Kasich, wants to be Obama's boy in Ohio and expand Medicaid.

2. The Republican General Assembly said NO.  (Many, at the time, were proud of them....standing up to the liberals and the GOP liberal in the Governor's mansion.)

3. The two leaders of the General Assembly from the house and senate, work with Kasich to pass this expansion through some little board.

So, either the two leaders do not care about keeping their jobs (maybe term limited???) by totally disregarding what their caucuses want.....or the GOP reps and senators gave them a wink/nod and told them to do it, since they have their token opposition to this massive government expansion noted during the budget process.  Can tell the conservative voters back home that the were against this expansion, yet letting it happen at the same time.

$2,000,000,000,000 per year of "FREE" money (tax money) from the federal government for 3 years, then 90% after that, then we all know what happens after that, it's up to the state to fund, less roads maintained, less public parks maintained, etc, etc.  They'll never be able or willing to remove this funding once it's in place.

The GOP always does this.  They are in power too long, get arrogant, disregard the will of their voters, make their voters mad, voters stay home, dems win governor race and house.

This has happened before.  How stupid are they?

One link to many stories on this.

Some good news in the internet tax scheme

House Speaker Boehner unlikely to support Internet sales tax bill

 This is good news.

 Too bad Rob Portman voted for this tax raising bill.  Which probably means that Bill Johnson will vote for it.

 How in the world can we say that states "loose 24 billion a year" by not collecting this tax.  They never lost it, they never had it to begin with.  If this isn't government think, I don't know what is.

 The reall story is, if this passes, $24,000,000,000 will move from citizens to the government.  That's really not lost, it's just in our pockets and the states want it, including Ohio.

 Our tax and spend Ohio GOP Governors try to act like democrats when in office.

Voinovich (soda pop isn't food, so we'll tax it) and Taft and Kasich (lets tax our newly found natural gas out of business), all increased taxes.

 Can't blame the democrats on this as they had only a 2 year window with a majority in the house in the past 20 or so years.  Strickland was the only democrat sandwiched between Taft and Kasich and that was only for 4 years.

Is it any wonder why Ohio is rated as the 47th least business friendly state in the Union?        

Another argument I've got with Kasich

I guess this is all one has to say:

"COLUMBUS — Republicans on Thursday ratified Gov. John Kasich’s plan to quadruple Ohio Turnpike debt......."

Read more at http://www.toledoblade.com/State/2013/03/01/House-OKs-1-5B-plan-for-turnpike-borrowing-bill-expected-to-get-to-Kasich-s-desk.html#cYHjZu7Y5V1oOCrT.99

We are going to borrow money now against future tolls on the Ohio Turnpike.

Why?  To get matching money from the funny money feds...........when we already have this money in the "rainy day fund".  Why mortgage the future when you can pay as you go?

The Ohio Republican Party is making the democrats look like fiscal conservatives.  I'm really believing that they have completely lost touch with reality.

It's not just the federal government that is having a mill stone of debt around our kid's necks, it's also the majority Republicans in Ohio.  Yes, the same ORP that decries Obama's federal debt and deficits.  They are not really serious about cutting spending, just gaining points when the democrats are the ones spending.

I'm so sick of every primary/election cycle hearing the GOP/ORP saying  one or all of the following:

• "vote for us, we want to spend slightly less than the democrats"
• "vote for us, we are less liberal than the nasty democats"
• "vote for us, we aren't for gay mariage....yet"
• etc, etc..

Dave Yost doing his job?

I like Dave Yost.  However, I was pretty disappointed in him by bowing to the ORP in not proceeding in running for the Attorney General position.  The ORP was looking for a place for Mike DeWine to land and talked Dave into running for State Auditor instead.  I wonder if they are now rethinking that move.

I have a few thoughts on this matter.

Here's a link to one of many stories on this subject:

1. Why do we have a "jobs Ohio"?  Just because it's Kasich's idea doesn't mean it's a good idea.  The government doesn't belong in the job creation business.  It's an oxymoron.  Government, by nature, kills businesses, either directly (killing coal jobs, for example) or indirectly (taxation).  The government, if they really want to create private sector jobs just needs to cut taxes and regulations and get out of the way, and jobs will happen. 
2. Why is "jobs ohio" giving back public money?  This seems weird.  Why give the money back?
3. Why is "jobs ohio", along with Kasich and Speaker Batchelder fighting this audit?  I can understand fighting an audit that is not authorized.  Give us some details why you don't want this audit?  Might be a very legit reason.  It just seems strange that a GOP Governor and GOP Speaker would fight a GOP Auditor about auditing an organization that receives dollars from taxpayers and just returned some of it once this audit commenced.
4. I wouldn't want audited just to be audited either.  Since the Auditor is adamant about it, why not latch on and want to prove to folks that all is cool?
5. As much as I can't stand the ORP (pretend to be conservatives in primary season, then once elected, govern like Jimmy Carter), Dave Yost might be just saving them from themselves before they have another Coingate/Noe moment.
6. Sounds to me like Yost is doing his job.............like it or not.

And here I thought Ohio was a sovereign state....

Kasich bows to the Governor of New York and his threats. Sad!

Instead of protecting the state of Ohio's economic future, Kasich caves in to the enviro-Nazis. Unbelievable!

Dispatch story here

What is Kasich thinking?

Does he really think that acting like a liberal will make them like him? He should have learned better than that by watching George H.W. Bush.

Dispatch story about him thinking about giving tax monies to minorities because they are minorities, not because their companies can do the best / most cost effective job.

You really wonder why people think that both parties are the same? The difference is when they campaign they say different things. When they get elected, that's when you can't tell them apart.

WHY?

The question that comes to mind when you read the Dispatch story about Kasich appointing Montgomery to a job.

Why?

We are trying to cut spending. Not appoint folks to jobs of dubious value.

demagoguery= strickland+obama

Demagogy

Demagogy ( /ˈdɛməɡɒdʒi/^[1]) or demagoguery ( /ˈdɛməɡɒɡəri/^[2]) (Ancient Greek: δημαγωγία, from δῆμος dēmos "people" and ἄγειν agein "to lead") is a strategy for gaining political power by appealing to the prejudices, emotions, fears and expectations of the public—typically via impassioned rhetoric and propaganda, and often using nationalist, populist or religious themes. What qualifies as demagogy has been the subject of debate and ambiguity since Aristophanes first used the term, in reference to the Athenian statesman, Cleon.[3]

This is obama and strickland to a tee.

Some thoughts about the union protests in Wisconson and Ohio.

1. Strickland is using up what little good will he had with the public when he left office. He was defeated and he is no longer Governor. Yet he insists in getting into bed with the public employee unions and obama's brown shirts.
2. Wisconson's protests prove the conservative's points. They are teachers who have called off sick. Who, in the real world, would call of work sick and then go in front of TV cameras and protest the same people that gave them the very generous sick time to begin with? In the private sector, these folks would be fired. These people have no fear of being fired or even disciplined for lying to their employer, the tax payers. This is exactly the type of entitlement attitude that the public is fed up with.
   
3. Here we have a bunch of tax payer funded "Doctors" handing out fake "sick notes" to tax payer funded employees who are gaming the sick day system.
4. barry is sending his brown shirt thugs to incite violence. Keep it up obama, you are on the wrong side on this one. Your true Bolchevick leanings are finally really showing through. You had a chance to be "moderate" yet all you really are is a national socialist, community organizer, union thug.
   
5. I like what I see from Kasich, so far..... if he can get the unions this mad at him, he must be doing something right. Of course, this is not much of a standard, as the unions get mad when anyone talks about saving taxpayers money.
6. States can't print money like obama and the ferderal reserve. Something has to be done. If Strickland was still in office, he'd have to deal with this issue. The unions would have been strangely silent.
7. Strickland is really being a demagogue on this. He was just Governor. He knows exactly the mess our states budget is in. He helped cause it. Now, he's out calling our new Governor names? Give me a break!
8. barry and ted both helped cause this with barry printing funny money and handing it out to the states (to keep their union buddies employed with taxpayer money) and ted kicking the hard decisions down the road to the next Governor. He has no right to get righteous on this.
   

ORL is AWOL

Here we finally have a proposal with real teeth in it concerning the limiting of killing babies in Ohio.......and the Ohio Right to Life does not support it.

Makes no sense. The ORL would, apparently, rather tap dance around this issue with little tweaks to rules. Then, of course, blow and bleat like they've really accomplished something.

Here we have a real proposal that will save lives, yes, that is what we are talking about, saving lives, and the ORL is AWOL. The reasoning is that a court might overturn the law. (which is the court's job, in case you didn't realize, overturning the will of the people)

John Hancock signed the Declaration of Independence (along with many others) and it was treason. George Washington accepted the generalship of the Continental Army, even though it was against the law to take up arms against the mother land.

Yet the Ohio Right to Life can't even offer a word of support for this bill, just because it MIGHT be over turned in court.

Sad.

Ohio Chamber of Commerce advocates raising taxes

The Ohio Chamber of Commerce has released a report on how Ohio can start digging it's way out of it's budget mess.

One item I disagree with is the suggestion of the elimination of the real estate rollback. This was implemented in the early 70's to help "sell" the income tax. (never trust your government).

(The Chamber is playing a Chameleon again. Depending on the subject............they either say we are massively overtaxed (which I agree with) or now, we are "giving money to taxpayers", propaganda Lenin would be proud of)

Now the Chamber thinks it's a costly entitlement given to tax payers! This sounds just like a press release from the obama administration.

They also float the idea of "means testing" the real estate rollback based on the value of the property. Again, never trust your government. They know that over time inflation will make whatever number they come up with meaningless.

Previous posts on not trusting what the government says when they try to sell a new tax: here and here

The part of the report I do agree with is consolidation of local governments. They talk all around the idea but they get there. I wish they'd be even more bold and suggest the elimination of Townships. It doesn't matter if the cost only equals whatever percentage of the upcoming shortfall. If Townships are wasteful and not needed, they need to go!

Previous posts on eliminating Townships here and here.

Increase instruction days for Ohio's schools without lengthening the school year

Increase instruction days for Ohio's schools without lengthening the school year

Here's how:

1. Cancel spring break.
2. Cancel training time for teachers during the school week which usually reduces instruction time by 2 hours on those days.. They could do their training:

• during the summer.
• before the school day begins.
• after the school day is over.
• on a Saturday.

3. Only take 3 Holidays during the school year. This means days, no 4 day weekends.

• December 25th, IF it is during the week. Don't take Thursday and Friday off if the 25th is on Saturday or Sunday. This also means that you go back to work / school after the 25th. No more week breaks between the 25th and the 1st of January. Yes, go to school on the 1st of January.
  
• Thanksgiving is on a Thursday. Take Thursday off and get back to work on Friday.
• Good Friday, take it off, but as stated above, no "spring break". They'll soon have a summer vacation.

This would add 2.5 - 3 weeks of instruction time without lengthening the school year. One of Strickland's objectives was to go to 200 days of instruction. He could have proposed the above plan, but I suspect that his union thug supporters would not like it.

NRA dumb endorsements

Like I've said in the past, the NRA loses credibility when it does not look at the big picture with it's endorsements.

Just got a post card and my "American Rifleman" magazine from the NRA.

The Rob Portman and Ted Strickland endorsements make sense. However, the Charlie Wilson endorsement does not.

Portman is running against one of the biggest anti-gun democrat ever. Lee Fisher was actually on Handgun Control Inc's board.

Strickland is and has been pro-gun since his first stint in Congress. He has not changed his position. Kasich voted to ban semi-automatic guns. so, this endorsement also makes sense.

The Charlie Wilson endorsement is the one I have an issue with. Yes, Charlie has not voted to restrict our 2nd amendment rights. However, he does vote for and support other democrats that do. For instance, he votes to have Nancy Pelosi as the Speaker of the House. She is an anti-gun freak from San Fransisco. How is that helping the NRA's mission?

Bill Johnson (running against Wilson) is also pro-gun. There should be no endorsement in this race. The policy of supporting and campaigning for pro-gun incumbents, against other pro-gun candidates is a waste of time and is surely a waste of money. Since, in these cases, no matter who wins, the NRA gets a gun friendly congressman.

Hate to say it

But I told you so!!!

Strickland officially completely out of touch with Ohio

I've always thought this guy was a little loony, but this proves it.

Dispatch story here.

He thinks it's wrong for people to keep their own money? He actually wants to make a campaign issue of this? How dumb are his advisors?

Ohio is the 47th highest taxes state in the nation. 1 being good. 50 being bad (unless your a democrat).

Mr. Strickland thinks your only a good Ohioan if you give him your money. So he, in turn, can give your money to more government leeches....

Didn't we fight (and win) a war over high taxes? (lower, BTW, than they are today).

Yet Strickland thinks it makes good political sense to bash those that don't want to pay taxes on death to the state and would rather give it to their children?

He thinks this is a winning issue? This guy is crazy!

Here's the winning quote: "Strickland said he found that comment revealing and disturbing, noting that Ohioans who grow up in the state and start successful businesses here benefit from the state's advantages."

So, because of this we have to pay up, just like the Mafioso? The state has many benefits in spite of the government, not because of it.

We need a governor that understands that people will move to locales that steal less of their money than Ohio does. Ohio has to compete with the Florida's and Texas' of this union or we'll keep losing good people to those states. This is not rocket science.

Mr. Strickland does not get it.

Kasich answers gun ban vote question....sort of.

previous posts on this subject: here / here

Kasich's running mate

Since John Kasich does not have the perfect past when it comes to the 2nd Amendment, one would think that he has to name a strong pro-gun / freedom running mate.

previous post

This is desperately needed due to Strickland's good NRA rating.

Also, it's a mistake to think that ignoring the assault weapons ban vote in Kasich's past and counting on Strickland's current unpopularity to carry the day for the next GOP Governorship.

This one anti-gun vote needs talked about now, not swept under the rug. Because if it's not dealt with now, it'll be dealt with during a general election.

One thing Kasich can do to make gun owners feel reassured is by naming a pro-gun Lieutenant Governor candidate...one with a known and verifiable voting record.

WTAP stretching it a bit

Trying to show that Strickland's approval in Washington County is good, Todd Baucher has to stretch logic....even with the quotes for the interviews he conducted.

WTAP story here

""One of these days, I think they're going to get everything straightened out," said Kenneth Berg."

""Not everybody gets to keep their promises," said Rick Boice. They try, but that's the way things go, sometimes.""

And this one is the most ringing endorsement of all:

""From what I see, he's doing all right," Virgil Berg said."

Yep, that's proof that uncle Ted has the "approval" of Washington County. And they wonder why no one takes the "news" seriously?

What I'd like to hear from John Kasich

"My vote for the 1994 so-called assault weapons bill was a mistake. I will not sign a bill or enforce a law that is against Ohio's Constitution."

I haven't heard that yet, have you?

Even Ted Strickland voted against that freedom killing bill.

If Kasich wins the GOP nomination for Governor, he will be hammered on this.

Who are Ohio's gun owners supposed to vote for?

A former congressman who has voted to take away their Constitutional rights? Or a Governor who as a Congressman, has always voted to uphold the 2nd amendment and as Governor has done nothing to limit gun rights? I'll guess the latter....with all his faults. Unless Kasich starts saying / doing something about this issue. He needs to do it NOW!

I'm betting there are a lot of NRA members that would love to be able to vote for him, they're just waiting to hear this themselves....from John.

Good Candidates

Morgan County Herald story:

"“I have been to regional meetings around the state. We are going to work together to develop a message we can all talk about. The party is going to have to raise money. Some place along the way we have lost the way to get our message out. We have a responsibility to be the loyal minority. We have to be a party that provides opportunities, ideas, and concepts. We are going to spend a lot of time doing this,” she said."

Jo Ann Davidson, former Speaker of the Ohio House.

I agree with this....somewhat. I wish we'd just have a party that wanted to do what government was supposed to do. The bare essentials and nothing more. Lower our taxes and leave us alone.

With so many on the government handout list in one way or the other, I believe normal government is a thing of the past and socialism is our future.

I also agree that a party has to have good candidates. Dave Yost (Attorney General) and John Kasich (Governor) would both be great office holders.

I'm not sure about Portman. A lot of good folks have had a lot of good things to say about Rob Portman. However, the fact that he could raise cash is always one of the reasons given for strong support. It's a shame that we have to factor in fund raising when deciding which candidate to support. This leaves one with the logical conclusion that there are many good (better?) candidates that are not given the light of day as far as consideration, just because they do not have a fund raising organization. So we are not necessarily choosing the best candidates, we are choosing who we think can beat a democrat. This, of course, is not a bad thing in and of itself.

I just wonder if we would have ever heard of Abraham Lincoln if the voters then picked their candidates solely on their ability to raise money.