ladym55
ladym55's JournalRob Portman thinks all Ohioans are idiots
We all know that our Senator, good ol' Rob Portman, is one of the Republicans refusing to hold hearings on the Supreme Court vacancy. I contacted him and told him fairly bluntly that he needed to do his job. I reminded him that the people decided in 2012 who got to nominate justices and that justices DO get nominated in election years.
So ol' Rob responded--
1--The people needed to decide. (Huh. Seems to me I told him already that I didn't buy that argument.)
2--No one ever, ever in the entire history of the US nominated a justice in the year of a presidential election. (Apparently we Ohio residents have never done a Google search on SCOTUS nominations.)
I guess he could tell me the truth: Rob is a GOP hack through and through, who takes his marching orders from Mitch McConnell and doesn't care one whit about the nation or the state he pretends to represent.
HILLARY CLINTON GROUP: Feelin' the burn
When the primaries started, I thought, "Interesting contest! Debates on issues!"
It is now March 31, and thanks to the amazingly obnoxious (and noxious) posturing of Bernie's supporters, I have gone from "Wow, we have two great candidates! I think Hillary is awesome, but I like Bernie, too" to "When is the old guy going back to Vermont?"
I have yet to hear from a Bernie supporter who can say more than one sentence in favor of his/her chosen candidate before the bashing of Hillary begins. She is a PLUTOCRAT! She is a CORPORATIST! She is mean, unethical, a liar. She is going to be indicted!!!! She hates puppies and kittens. (I made that last one up, but I expect I'll hear that next week.) I feel like I'm listening to right-wing radio hosts, not fellow progressive Democrats.
It is especially upsetting given the absolute loony tunes who are the potential Republican nominees. This country barely survived 8 years of GWB and Cheney, so we want their policies on steroids? Really? Antonin Scalia wasn't a lousy enough Supreme Court justice? You want three more like that so you will have NO rights left at all just so you can be ideologically pure in your support of Bernie? You want the social safety net turned into block grants? The ACA repealed? Just because as a Bernie supporter you think there is NO difference between Hillary and a Republican?
The Bernie campaign has taught me that going nasty and negative and spreading lies about the opponent is SO not the way to go in primary. It is counterproductive. I know it has really turned me off big time.
After a time away ...
Turns out I have been away from DU for more than a month--I just couldn't take all the absolute nonsense going on in all the general discussions. We need to be discussing issues that affect us and will affect the election. But enough on that. I'm back because I wanted to talk about how I am trying to deal with the Bernie Bots in my life.
I heard from someone today I like and respect, and she expressed amazement that my Senator, Sherrod Brown (a progressive!) could "sell out" and endorse Hillary. Say what? Sherrod Brown and his wife, Connie Schultz, supported Hillary both in 2008 and now. He is most definitely a progressive, and guess what, LOTS of progressives support Hillary. Many people I know and respect who are most definitely progressives support Hillary and are already working on her campaign.
What I tell all Bernie Bots is that we have two great candidates to choose from--and my goal is to support and work for the Democratic nominee this fall. And I remind them that the LAST thing we need Donald Trump (a vulgar talking yam--thanks for the description, Charlie Pierce) or flat-tax lovin' and carpet bombin' Ted Cruz.
I am very frustrated with progressives (especially those in media) not being reasonable and rational in their support of Bernie. I know some thoughtful Bernie supporters. They voted for Bernie, but know that we need the White House, the Senate, and the House. They have said publicly that they like Bernie, but they will support Hillary in the general. They know what's at stake. The progressives doing the work of Karl Rove? Well, they need to be ashamed of themselves.
Way to go, Ohio!!!!
Today, the GENIUSES in the Ohio Senate passed HB 294, defunding Planned Parenthood ... vote 22 to 8. See, the great minds in the Ohio Legislature think that "other agencies" (you know, like FOOD BANKS) can provide health care to women.
The Guardian covered this legislation in November:
A state with one of the WORST infant mortality rates in the nation is CUTTING FUNDING to programs designed to reduce infant mortality.
The only hope is that our illustrious governor (who really, really thinks he will make an awesome-sauce president) will veto this moronic piece of legislation.
I just love, love, love it when our state looks like total idiots to the rest of the nation.
You can read the Guardian article here: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/nov/19/ohio-pro-life-senators-planned-parenthood-defund
Thought you would enjoy this
With all the hysteria on DU about Bernie being awesome and Hillary being the equivalent to the anti-Christ (there are days when I despair that this really is a DEMOCRATIC forum), this new post from Charlie Pierce's Esq Politics Blog kind of hit the spot:
My favorite is Unicorn J. Sparklepony.
That is one of my many concerns as I visit DU. The Bernie folks are out of control in their hatred of Hillary. Bottom line: We need to elect DEMOCRATS from president to senator to representative to governor to state reps to mayors and even dog catchers. Charlie Pierce is so right. One major party in the US is suffering from prion disease. It should no longer be in power. And when Progressives create circular firing squads, we don't help matters any.
We all need to repeat over and over: Supreme Court justices ...
Here is the full article: [link:http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a40922/scalia-religious-freedom-speech/|
Get to know John Kasich
Yes, I know he is (fortunately) polling very low in the contest to see who gets to drive the Klown Kar, but after every debate, some semi-reasonable person will refer to John Kasich as the adult in the room or the popular governor (only when Ohio Democrats form a circular firing squad and forget to vet their gubernatorial candidate). My great fear is that after Donald Trump has imploded, Ben Carson has performed brain surgery on himself, and Carly Fiorina is hit by lightning after one too many lies, Kasich will be the Republican nominee, and M$M will spend the rest of the cycle telling the gullible American public what a success he has been in Ohio and what a moderate he is.
So here is some helpful information you can share with family, friends, and coworkers. I'm using Plunderbund (http://www.plunderbund.com/) as my source. It is a blog that does advocacy journalism that actually forces Ohio M$M to do their jobs from time to time.
First, let's look at John Kasich, job creator: August 2015 marks the 34th straight month that job creation in Ohio has lagged behind the U.S. Ohio still has not recovered the jobs lost in the recession of 2008. Gee, and we wonder why people keep moving away from Ohio. (http://www.plunderbund.com/2015/09/19/john-kasichs-ohio-34-straight-months-of-below-average-job-growth/)
And what about the children? Ohio's poverty rate for children continues to rise, especially for children of color. In three of Ohio's major cities, almost half of the children live in poverty. I'll skip our appalling infant mortality rate for now, but that especially galls when we consider how much attention Kasich and Ohio Republicans focus on Right to Life issues (http://www.plunderbund.com/2015/09/19/john-kasichs-ohio-number-of-children-in-poverty-continues-to-rise/).
Then there is the giant disaster and waste of taxpayer money known as Ohio's charter schools. Ohio is known as the "wild west" of charter schools, where big-donor for-profit charter schools gobble down billions of public tax dollars and produce failed schools. Right now we are looking at "Chartergate," where David Hansen (husband of Beth Hansen, head of Johnny's presidential campaign), Ohio's school choice chief, withheld performance data on failed charter schools to make them look better. That is not going well for Hansen or the DOE (http://www.plunderbund.com/2015/09/05/here-are-the-documents-that-prove-kasichs-education-department-needs-to-be-investigated). Then there is the recent Ohio Supreme Court ruling that allows for-profit failed charter management companies to retain all assets once they have been removed from running a failed school. It sure helps that the management company in question, White Hat, is a really big Republican donor in Ohio, with big, fat contributions to the Supreme Court justices (http://www.plunderbund.com/2015/09/16/big-donations-big-win-ohio-supreme-court-gives-white-hat-permission-to-pillage-own-schools/)
This is just a overnight glimpse of John Kasich, man of the people. I am paying close attention to him and to the M$M who is trying to sell us this snake oil salesman.
It's not always cool to be in the Top Ten
The Columbus Dispatch is reporting today that Ohio is number THREE nationally for food insecurity. Makes me proud to be an Ohio resident for sure. According to the article, "Advocates for the poor blame the increase on a state decision to cut off food stamps to tens of thousands of Ohioans."
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/09/09/child_hunger.html
Boy, oh, boy, sure glad that Kasich is working to bring his compassionate conservatism to the rest of the country.
Time to Be the Canaries in the Coal Mine
Remember how Sherrod Brown always wears a lapel pin with a canary in a cage? It represents the canary in the coal mine that warned miners of danger. We can play that role when it comes to John Kasich's run for the White House. He is gaining in popularity and M$M is gushing about what a moderate he is.
We know better. We live here. We know what he did to local government budgets. We know how he has attacked public workers and unions. We know his Medicaid expansion was a cynical ploy to make himself look good outside of Ohio. We know how he has attacked access to women's health care. We know about the disasters of charter schools and the millions in public dollars pulled from public education to underperforming for-profit charters. We know that one child in four in Ohio is living in poverty and that our Infant Mortality Rate is either 47 or 48 (I've heard both numbers). We know that we are lagging behind much of the rest of the country in job growth.
Let's get the word out--especially to friends and relatives who don't live in Ohio. We need people all across the US to know just what John Kasich is all about.
New voter suppression in Ohio
Has anyone else seen this? I just saw this press release from the Ohio Democratic Party. Apparently, the Republicans in the Senate have inserted an amendment into the transportation budget that would require a driver's license to vote. Gee, I wonder what voters this is meant to keep from the polls? Apparently the Kasich administration loves to be sued for violating civil rights.
http://ohiodems.org/ohio-leaders-appalled-by-latest-republican-voter-suppression-effort/
"We cheer for cruelty ..."
I just finished reading this piece by Charlie Pierce from Esquire Politics Blog. It really pulled me up short and got me to thinking, which is why I wanted to share it with you all. First, some excerpts ...
We cheer for cruelty and say that we are asking for personal responsibility among those people who are not us, because the people who are not us do not deserve the same benefits of the political commonwealth that we have. In our politics, we have become masters of camouflage. We practice fiscal cruelty and call it an economy. We practice legal cruelty and call it justice. We practice environmental cruelty and call it opportunity. We practice vicarious cruelty and call it entertainment. We practice rhetorical cruelty and call it debate.
Full essay (well worth reading): http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/24448-the-united-states-of-cruelty
He argues that we need to DO better and BE better.
"Cruelty is cruelty. It should be recognized as a fundamental heresy against the political commonwealth and wrung out of all its institutions." Amen, amen, amen.
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