Vote FOR Issues 2-5 on November 8th

Us Ohioans will be given a rare opportunity this November 8 to change the rules governing our elections process. Four petition-sponsored amendments, Issues 2, 3, 4, & 5, are up for statewide voter approval. I urge you to vote yes for them. They are common sense issues that only help to benefit the Ohio voter, as I will explain below...

Here is a rundown of each Issue:

Issue 2: Makes it easier to vote by giving all Ohioans the option to vote by mail.
Right now an Ohioan can only request an absentee ballot if they have a qualified reason, such as military service or that they will be out of town on election day. Issue 2 simply allows anyone who wishes to vote via absentee ballot to do so. No big deal really... it was easy enough to say you'd be out of town to vote and get one anyway... this means you don't have to make up an excuse.

Issue 3: Help bring the influence of money back under control in elections thorugh responsible regulation of campaign contributions.
Right now an individual can contribute up to $20,000 a year to a candidate. While some may argue that the flow of money to campaigns is free speech, the influence of big money in Ohio politics means that those who have the money are given preferential treatment over those who do not; an unequal governance that goes against the one-man one-vote ideal of Democracy. Why should the poor not be given equal access to government? This amendment would limit individual campaign contributions to $2,000 for statewide candidates and $1,000 to legislative candidates, ban corporate contributions, and require full disclosure so you'd know who contributes and how much they contributed to each candidate. The idea is to restrict those with big bags of money and an agenda not in the people's best interest from buying our government and our candidates.

Issue 4 - Ends Gerrymandering once and for all by putting an Independent Commission in charge.
Every 10 years, after the Census, the political party in majority gets to draw our congressional district boundaries. No surprise, they draw them in a way to benefit their party the most. Areas of the opposition party, which should guarantee a seat in the house for that party, are split into other districts so that they the party drawing the map can have the majoirty in both districts.

The Gerrymander, for those who never learned about it in US government class, goes was a congressional district drawn in 1812 by Mass. Gov. Elbridge Gerry to favor his party, as seen to the right. Today's gerrymandering is more subtle, but the practice is still alive and well. In 2003, Republicans in Texas redrew their congressional districts in a way that allowed them to pick up 5 seats. Passage of issue 4 would move our congressional districts out of the reach of partisan politics using the following rules:

1 The first member would be appointed by the state appeals court judge with the longest continuous service. The second member would be appointed by the next senior appeals court judge from a different political party.
2 The first two commission members then would appoint the other three, including one member not affiliated with a political party.
3 Any person or group could submit a congressional and legislative redistricting plan, and the commission would choose the plans judged to create the most competitive districts without dividing up counties and cities.
4 The first districts under the plan would be in effect in the 2008 elections. After that, new plans would be chosen in the year after each census, starting in 2011.

Issue 5 - Places a bi-partisan Board of Supervisors in charge of Ohio's elections instead of a partisan politician.
Right now the Ohio Secretary of State oversees Ohio's elections. This position is held by a politician with an affiliation and loyalty to their party. Regardless of the Secretary of State's best intentions, there is always the possibility that they will make decsions that unfairly benefit their own party. To use a football analogy, it is the same as letting the Michigan team have their own referees call the Ohio State - Michigan game. Issue 5 is a good idea because it sets up a system that is fair. Besides, all of Ohio's 88 counties use the bipartisan system. Why should we use a different system for Ohio as a whole?

For more information on Issues 2-5, check out the Reform Ohio Now webiste.

And for those of you who like to see the fine print and legalese of the proposed Amendments, here is a link to the pdf...

Yay... I won some TP

...the theme is crappy disaster movies... so crappy that it's a good thing I won the TP

heheh

Overdue Ditzy Cam

Ditzy and Crazy Cat
Originally uploaded by AultTimIT.

Here's Ditzy watching the rain fall with his new acquisition Crazy Cat, another noise-making toy. Thanks a lot Matt & Jen. It was JUST what he needed...

A story from Katrina's aftermath

On last Friday's podcast from DemocracyNow they aired a story about 2 people, Lorrie Beth Slonsky of San Francisco, a retired paramedic from the San Francisco Fire Department, and Larry Slonsky, also of the SF Fire Department.

So here are 2 individuals, emergency medical workers, attending a conference when Katrina hits. They saw firsthand how the poor and black were treated by the local authorities. Here is an excerpt from the transcript below...

LORRIE BETH SLONSKY: Now it's day four and the hotels had completely run out of fuel for the generator and food and water. And sanitation, even in this very fancy hotel had become dangerously abysmal. And it seemed like our only choice was to go to the Convention Center. As we left the hotel, we came across the National Guard, and this is where they told us that we couldn't go to the Superdome nor the Convention Center, and they didn't have any suggestions where we should go, and they also said we should have gotten out there sooner. And no, they didn't have any food, and no, they didn't have any water to spare. And then the next thing we came across was the Police Command Center and this is at Harrods on Canal Street and we were told the same thing: that we are on our own, and they had no place to suggest where we should go, and they didn't have any food, but they did give us four small bottles of water to share among the probably 200 folks that had left the hotel and the downtown tourist type folks. That's what they had to give us was four small bottles of water to spare.

So, right across the street from this Police Command Center was this amphitheater type place and we thought the best thing to do is to go ahead and camp across the street from the Police Command Center. Because we thought, well, we would be visual to the media and we have some sort of a protection, and before we got too comfy, the Police Commander came up to us and said we needed to go to the bridge because they were going to be buses waiting there to take us out of the city. You know, this crowd of 200 that had left the hotel in the downtown area, we just let out a big old cheer, but Larry called everyone back and said to the police officer and to the folks that, you know, we have been given so much misinformation and was he sure there were buses? And I have to tell you, Amy, that he looked at us directly and he said, I swear to you that the buses are there.

So, we group of about 200 people, set off to the bridge, and I have to say, we must have looked like quite determined tourists with our little roll-top suitcases following behind us, and we passed near the Convention Center, and locals asked us where we were going. And we told them the great news, how the police commander said that there was going to be buses at the bridge, so you know, families grabbed their few belongs and we all started marching up towards the bridge. And our numbers doubled and probably doubled again. We were probably about 600, 700, 800 people. Just it seemed like a lot of people. So, it started to rain, and even though it started to pour down rain, we -- our -- it didn't dampen our spirits at all. We felt like, God, we have a way out of here on day four. And as we approached, there were armed Gretna deputies. And they had formed a line at foot of the bridge. And before we were even close enough to cross, they shot guns, they shot guns over our heads. They fired guns over our heads. And this group of families and, may I say, disabled people, children, tourists, I mean, just everyone, we just all scattered in all sorts of directions. And then everyone was in their own small little groups and milling around and what to do next.

And this is when Larry approached the Gretna deputies, and you know, he had his badge, his San Francisco Fire Department badge and had his hands up and asked if he could approach. And he was able to engage the deputies in some conversation. And Larry told them that we were told by the Police Command Post that we needed to come here to the bridge, because we we’re going to get on buses. And the deputy said that the Police Commander had apparently lied to us, and there were in fact no buses that were going to take us out of New Orleans. So, we asked the deputies, well, why couldn't we just cross the bridge anyway? And this is -- this is what we heard for the first time that the deputies had said to us, they said, this is not New Orleans, and there wasn't -- they were not going to have a Superdome over here, meaning, I guess in Gretna or Algiers or across the bridge. And I -- if you looked at the group that was remaining in our little group, I mean, you could only look at us and see that -- predominantly everyone was African-American or a person of color except for Larry, me, and the other gal we were with that it could only mean that if you are poor, or if you are black, you are not going to get out of New Orleans.

...how's that for 'to protect and serve'? Apparently all those poor folk stuck in New Orleans, trying to flee on foot, were turned away by ARMED police. They were prisoners in their own city, unable to leave or flee the disaster.

I am just outraged by this. I had to share it, because the story of Katrina is not told by talking heads in Atlanta or Washington, but by the individuals who witness it firsthand. May we all listen to them and not forget the lesson of where we are being led as a nation by crony politicians and our own selfishness.

More from Kurt Vonnegut

The more I read from this man, the more I am overwhelmed by his writings.
Enjoy him while he's still here on this earth; he is the Mark Twain of today.

An excerpt from...

Cold Turkey

by Kurt Vonnegut

But back to people, like Confucius and Jesus and my son the doctor, Mark, who’ve said how we could behave more humanely, and maybe make the world a less painful place. One of my favorites is Eugene Debs, from Terre Haute in my native state of Indiana. Get a load of this:

Eugene Debs, who died back in 1926, when I was only 4, ran 5 times as the Socialist Party candidate for president, winning 900,000 votes, 6 percent of the popular vote, in 1912, if you can imagine such a ballot. He had this to say while campaigning:

As long as there is a lower class, I am in it.
As long as there is a criminal element, I’m of it.
As long as there is a soul in prison, I am not free.

Doesn’t anything socialistic make you want to throw up? Like great public schools or health insurance for all?

How about Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes?

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. …

And so on.

Not exactly planks in a Republican platform. Not exactly Donald Rumsfeld or Dick Cheney stuff.

For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the Beatitudes. But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course that’s Moses, not Jesus. I haven’t heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere.

“Blessed are the merciful” in a courtroom? “Blessed are the peacemakers” in the Pentagon? Give me a break!

...I keep imagining a legal fight going to the US Supreme Court over the posting of the Beatitudes... not on the grounds that it's a violation of the separation between Church and State, but because it is 'unAmerican Communist propaganda' undeserving of space on public grounds.

Kinda makes you rethink the whole notion of the US being founded on Christian values.

Vonnegut tells it like it is...

This just seemed woth repeating...

As mentioned during Kurt Vonnegut's appearance on The Daily Show last tuesday...

LIBERAL CRAP I NEVER WANT TO HEAR AGAIN
by Kurt Vonnegut

Give us this day our daily bread. Oh sure.

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those wh trespass against us.
Nobody better trespass against me. I'll tell you that.

Blessed are the meek.

Blessed are the merciful. You mean we can't use torture?

Blessed are the peacemakers. Jane Fonda?

Love your enemies - Arabs?

Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.
The hell I can't! Look at the Reverand Pat Robertson. And He is as happy as a pig in s**t.

Clueless... absolutely clueless...

If there were an award for the man with his head furthest up his ass, then I'd nominate this man:

Brown Doesn't Know Why He Was Removed

"A beleaguered Michael Brown said Friday he doesn't know why he was removed from his onsite command of Hurricane Katrina relief efforts"

Psst... hey Mike... maybe it's because your experience as an Arabian Horse Commissioner made you utterly INCOMPETENT to manage FEMA, and your bumbling response cost precious human lives!

People, you can't just, with good faith, take a job that you HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO FRIGGIN CLUE HOW TO DO... I don't apply for jobs as a dental hygienist. And if my friend was a dentist and offered me the job, I'd turn it down because I'm completely unqualified. Put me to work on someone's teeth and I'll wreck them.

By Michael D. Brown? Oh no.... a friend offers him to run a federal disaster agency, and he jumps on board for the corner office and the cushy government job. Then when there's work to be had, he brings his Arabian Horse-lore skills to task and shows America exactly what kind of an incompetent boob Bush spent taxpayer money to hire.

...and then he wonders why he was removed.

As Napoleon Dynamite would say: Gosh!... Idiots!!!

Jimmy Carter!!...?

A recent Zogby poll shows that, if the American public had to pick between George W. Bush and Jimmy Carter as their president, Jimmy Carter would win, 50% - 42%

Jimmy Carter?!?!


The guy that right-wingers everywhere love to bring up as the epitome of a liberal president.
The guy they all make fun of, callign him "Nutty", making fun of the submarine named after him

Well all you right-wingnuts out there, the verdict is out:
Carter is a better president than Bush. Eat it.


Oh, and has anyone noticed that, just like the tsunami response, where Clinton and Bush Sr. were asked to visit and campaign for relief, once again Carter was not invited.



...maybe Bush is afraid that Carter will run again.

Something shared by my firend Samir...

My friend Samir, an Indian grad student here at UT, sent me the following comparison between New Orleans and Mumbai (which , I should add, is on the west coast of India. You may know the city of Mumbai as Bombay.



inches of rain in New Orleans due to Hurricane Katrina... 18
inches of rain in Mumbai (July 27th).... 37.1

population of new orleans... 484,674
population of mumbai.... 12,622,500

deaths in new orleans within 48 hours of katrina...100
deaths in mumbai within 48hours of rain.. 37.

number of people to be evacuated in new orleans... entire city..wohh
number of people evacuated in mumbai...10,000

Cases of shooting and violence in new orleans...Countless
Cases of shooting and violence in mumbai.. NONE

Time taken for US army to reach new orleans... 48hours
Time taken for Indian army and navy to reach mumbai...12hours

status 48hours later...new orleans is still waiting for relief, army and electricty
status 48hours later..mumbai is back on its feet and is business as usual

USA...world's most developed nation
India...JUST A DEVELOPING NATION..

...this comparison to a 3rd world country really stresses the gross incompetence of the officials entrusted to respond to this emergency.

And before you start with that whole 'the local officials were responsible' talking point, let's reflect upon the newly formed Department of Homeland Security. A department formed in the aftermath of 9/11 to make us safe and handle, well, let's see it in their own words...

"In the event of a terrorist attack, natural disaster or other large-scale emergency, the Department of Homeland Security will assume primary responsibility on March 1st for ensuring that emergency response professionals are prepared for any situation. This will entail providing a coordinated, comprehensive federal response to any large-scale crisis and mounting a swift and effective recovery effort. The new Department will also prioritize the important issue of citizen preparedness. Educating America's families on how best to prepare their homes for a disaster and tips for citizens on how to respond in a crisis will be given special attention at DHS."

Oh, and BTW: FEMA now is under the Department of Homeland Security. (Thanks to John for this excellent point!)

Also, get this... Bush didn't declare a state of emergency in New Orleans until after Katrina had made landfall, but he did declare a Statement of Federal Emergency Assistance for Lousiana in counties nowhere near the water! (Thanks to Indy over at CHT for the heads-up).



So why does Shreveport have a State of Emergency declared on August 26 (Katrina won't make landfall in New Orleans until 7AM on August 29th, BTW) but not New Orleans?

Three words: Incompetence, Incompetence INCOMPETENCE

Rightwingers looooove to say the Democrats will blame Bush for anything he does... but when you are this BAD at doing your job and appointing people to handle these matters.

People like Michael Brown, the blithering idiot in charge of FEMA - a job he trained for by running something called the International Arabian Horse Association - admitted he didn't know until Thursday that there were 15,000 desperate, dehydrated, hungry, angry, dying victims of Katrina in the New Orleans Convention Center. Boy did Ted Koppel let him have it.

Koppel: I've heard you say during the course of a number of interviews that you found out about the convention center today. Don't you guys watch television? Don't you guys listen to the radio? Our reporters have been reporting on it for more than just today.

So what did Bush think of Brownie's bumbling? He said "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

Does anyone else smell the reek of cronyism on 'Brownie'? That he only got the position through loyalty and some political backscratching?

When liberals sy this is the worst Administration EVER, we mean WORST ADMINISTRATION EVER!

And we can always look to George W. Bush to back up our claim in spades.