Paul Hackett Meets the Bloggers

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Wednesday December 14, 2005 · 9:52 AM PST

2005/12/14 · 09:52

Cross posted at Now That's Progress. (Paul Hackett was in Cleveland this morning talking to a handful of Cleveland bloggers. Level of detail here may be more interesting to Ohioans than others, but Paul Hackett always seems to be newsworthy, so read on.)

Paul Hackett met the bloggers this morning, including George, Tim & Gerardo, Bill, Brian, Pho and Jill. My impressions and a run-down of the action, or at least as much as I can remember of it:

There was no missing Hackett's arrival. As we looked out the window of Talkies, the massive bus emblazoned with his name took up the majority of tiny Market Street. Not sure where they parked that thing. Read More

For Ohioans: Blogger interview with Ted Strickland

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Thursday December 01, 2005 · 12:42 PM PST

2005/12/01 · 12:42

Cross-posted at Now That's Progress

I sat in today as Meet the Bloggers (including George, Tim and Gerardo, Bill, and Jack) interviewed Ted Strickland, currently the only official Democratic candidate for Governor of Ohio.

Overall he seemed like a good guy, and he did a good job in his opening remarks of making a case for why he is an electable candidate, talking about his ability to win a district that voted for George W. Bush in 2004. Strickland stressed that he won his district even after it was gerrymandered to try to boot him from office. He also pointed out that he was unopposed in '04, obviously to impress upon us that his district feels he is doing a good job. Quote: "I win in regions that Democrats do not win in Ohio." Read More

Dying to Get Out: 44% of Military Recruits From Rural Areas

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Friday November 04, 2005 · 6:31 AM PST

2005/11/04 · 06:31

This isn't necessarily news, but nearly two-thirds of Army recruits in 2004 came from counties in which median household income is below the U.S. median. Forty-four percent came from rural areas, forty percent from the South, 20 percent from the West. These people are dying to get out, and willing to risk dying if that's their ticket to escape.

Read today's Washington Post article and you don't get the impression these recruits are stupid. They know the score. They're not brimming with patriotism, although they're patriotic enough. Mostly they're just stuck, with no money for college and home towns with nothing to offer beyond climbing the ladder into a fast food managerial position. The military provides money, a way to college if they choose, and/or the chance for a life-long career that people respect. Read More

First Draft of Harriet Miers' Withdrawal Letter Found

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Thursday October 27, 2005 · 6:18 PM PDT

2005/10/27 · 18:18

A first draft of Harriet Miers' withdrawal letter to President Bush has surfaced. It's a little tough to read, but here it is:

Dear ~~God~~ Mr. President:

I write to withdraw as a nominee to serve as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States. I ~~almost crapped by pants when you picked me~~ have been greatly honored and humbled by the confidence that you have shown in me and have appreciated immensely your support and the support of ~~well, no one else, really~~ many others. However, ~~we both know there is no way in hell I'm going to make it through~~ I am concerned that the confirmation process presents a burden for the White House and our staff that is not in the best interest of ~~my mental state~~ the country. Read More

Ohio Conservative Group Endorses Reform Ohio Now Proposals

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Tuesday September 27, 2005 · 8:21 AM PDT

2005/09/27 · 08:21

Even conservatives know that Ohio needs serious reform in its election system.

The conservative Ohio Taxpayers Association has endorsed three of the four proposed Reform Ohio Now amendments, including provisions to make it easier for Ohioans to vote by mail, the creation of an independent commission to draw fair district maps to promote competitive elections, and the creation of a bipartisan panel to oversee elections (instead of Secretaries of State who openly pull for candidates, i.e. Ken Blackwell).

From the Ohio Taxpayers Association Web site: Read More

Oh My Contempt for Colin Powell

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Friday September 09, 2005 · 5:39 AM PDT

2005/09/09 · 05:39

An interview with Colin Powell by Barbara Walters will air tonight on ABC, and the New York Times has some excerpts today.

The former secretary of state, Colin L. Powell, says in a television interview to be broadcast Friday that his 2003 speech to the United Nations, in which he gave a detailed description of Iraqi weapons programs that turned out not to exist, was "painful" for him personally and would be a permanent "blot" on his record.

While Powell laments how painful it is to have been the one who sat in the UN and made statements about Iraq that were false, I'm not buying his act that he was "devastated" about being misled by intelligence agents who didn't inform him that the information was unreliable. Read More

Oh What A Tangled Web We Weave

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Thursday August 25, 2005 · 11:31 AM PDT

2005/08/25 · 11:31

The problem with the mainstream media is that they generally report stories narrowly, often leaving out how the pieces come together to paint a bigger picture. (Yes, I know, that's not the mainstream media's only problem.) While zipping through various stories and blogs today, I formed a big picture of my own, and we'll see if it makes sense.

First, as you probably have heard, Bush is standing firm on Iraq. No one's leaving as long as he's president. (He could have said "over my dead body," but of course that would have been in bad taste, not to mention inaccurate.) Read More

"Died in Operation FUBAR"

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Wednesday August 24, 2005 · 8:48 AM PDT

2005/08/24 · 08:48

It seems even the dead are being used for propaganda:

Unlike earlier wars, nearly all Arlington National Cemetery gravestones for troops killed in Iraq or Afghanistan are inscribed with the slogan-like operation names the Pentagon selected to promote public support for the conflicts.

Nadia and Robert McCaffrey, whose son Patrick was killed in Iraq in June 2004, said "Operation Iraqi Freedom" ended up on his government-supplied headstone in Oceanside, Calif., without family approval. Read More

Teenagers Join Military Do-Not-Call List

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Thursday August 18, 2005 · 10:46 AM PDT

2005/08/18 · 10:46

There's been a lot of debate about the military's ability to get high schoolers' contact information so they can start selling them on the beauty of the Iraqi countryside. But as the Christian Science Monitor points out, parents can opt their kids out if they pay attention.

The article also warns that opting out could be for naught if your kid's a gamer:

Finally, keep in mind that information may also be gathered from young people who participate voluntarily in military-sponsored activities such as videogame contests.

Ohio's Ken Blackwell Speaks Out on Reform

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Wednesday August 17, 2005 · 10:52 AM PDT

2005/08/17 · 10:52

They're battling in Columbus over the exact language that will appear on November's Ohio ballot for the Reform Ohio Now initiatives.

Bush campaign chairman and current Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell obviously supports the initiative to take election oversight out of the hands of the Secretary of State, as he related this opinion to a Plain Dealer reporter:

"It's pure foolishness to think that any secretary of state in this state is not partisan."

Ohio Victory: TABOR Shelved

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Tuesday August 09, 2005 · 9:03 AM PDT

2005/08/09 · 09:03

They're trying to frame this the right way, but the fact that Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell's TABOR baby is being shelved until 2006 is a huge victory for Dems in Ohio.

As noted on Friday, the group Citizens for Destroying Ohio (I think that's their name) had collected enough signatures to put this disastrous state spending amendment on the ballot this coming November. Now, instead of doing that, they are waiting until 2006.

From my view there are the real reasons for this... and then there are the stated reasons. Read More

Al-Qaeda Gets a New Video Camera

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Thursday August 04, 2005 · 8:01 AM PDT

2005/08/04 · 08:01

Al-Qaeda just got a new video camera and deputy dawg Ayman al-Zawihri couldn't wait to make a video to tell us they're going to try to kill more people.

No s***, Sherlock.

In this new age of terrorism, a strange thing is occurring. People realize how powerless they are to stop random terrorist acts, so instead of being afraid, they just grit their teeth and hope they're not in the wrong place in the wrong time. And where these videos with the dreaded terrorist leader vowing death to infidels over some b-roll of said leader wandering in the desert used to strike fear in our hearts, they now just spark resignation. This terrorist stuff sucks, but what are you going to do? Read More

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