Sherrod Brown Is a Player!

From the Loraine Chronicle:

AVON — U.S. Senator-elect Sherrod Brown will continue to work on the issues that matter most to him — health care, trade and education.
Brown was recently assigned to four Senate committees: Agriculture, Banking, Veterans and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, better known as HELP.
“I get to work on everything I campaigned on,” he said.

This is great news! Sherrod is given the opportunity to make a real difference in the areas that matter most to Ohioans.

On CBS Face the Nation this morning, Sherrod appeared with two other new senators -- Democrat Claire McCaskill and Republican Bob Corker. First topic of discussion -- Iraq. Too much leaning on the Baker Committee's upcoming report by McCaskill and Corker, instead of saying what needs to be done. Everybody's afraid to stick their necks out -- except for Sherrod who stated what he'd said all campaign long -- make immediate plans for a phased pull out to be completed within one and a half to two years, and at the same time work to negotiate settlements among the warring factions and the surrounding countries.

Corker turned into a most agreeable Republican, going along with the spirit of bipartisanship, by announcing his support of an increase in minimum wages, support for exposing the earmark process for funding, and for changes in the way drug prices are obtained for Medicare recipients.

In Washington, the new power grid would appear to favor those who can work across the aisle. Joining with the executive branch is the sure kiss of death for the next two years.

According to yesterday's Washington Post, Lobbyists in key industries are making plans to prepare for business under the next congress. Barbara Boxer replacing James Inhofe as chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is huge! Inhofe is the senator who thinks global warming is a big hoax.

Looks like the Dems are ready to get down to business and the business leaders are realizing that it is time to to be grateful for all the extra loot they made in the past few years, because it is now time to pay the piper. We must educate the young to prepare them to face severe environmental problems, and somehow provide a decent end of life quality for those who are retired.

The Akron Beacon Journal Ignores Local Theatre

On Day 2 of Buy Nothing Day -- Buy Nothing the Akron Beacon Journal tries to sell you:

In today's ABJ, we have the annual "Black Friday" feel-good-about-shopping story by the retail reporter, Kerry Clawson. Kerry was demoted from the theatre beat to beating the drums for over-consumption in the Akron area. Damn, that has to hurt: removed from writing about one of the most elevating things human beings can do -- creating theatre -- to writing about ant-heap behaviors of the gluttonous. Meanwhile, the theatre beat was compressed into a one-reporter-covers-all-the-arts format.

For a sad visual of what the ABJ's reporting has become, look at this page. Note the empty places in the (Arts &) Entertainment section as opposed to the full box of sports writers. George Thomas is gone and along with him any local perspectives of movies and the film industry. Now we get canned UPI syndicated reviews. "Names in the News" is listed as one of the entertainment columnists! They won't even give us a name for the person assigned to compile snippets of Hollywood gossip from the wire services! (And by the way, Jane Snow's name should no longer be listed under the Living Section columnists. She too has vanished from the ABJ's pages.)

Elaine Guregian was supposed to be elevated to "Culture Beat" reporter, adding theatre to her usual music and dance coverage. Well I defy anyone to find theatre coverage online at the Beacon any more. There is no "theater" added to Guregian's title underneath her phone, and looking at a list of all of her columns, I can see only three related to theatre over the past two months: Spamalot on tour in Cleveland, My Fair Lady at the Cleveland Playhouse and a national tour Man of La Mancha at EJ Thomas of LaMancha. What do all three of these have in common? Yes, they are big splashy musicals, but more importantly -- none of these productions were created in Akron by Akron theatre people. I'm not blaming Guregian -- she has had an enormous amount of work heaped upon her and we will put the blame squarely upon her superiors as to what stories she is allowed to cover. So far, its looking very much like corporate theatre uber alles.

I miss the weekly Theatre Notes column that Kerry Clawson provided for us theatre workers and consumers. The word "theater" or more properly "theatre," is not even granted its own listing on the Entertainment page. And what of the local theatres trying gamely to fill their seats so they can afford to keep producing theatre for our community? How are they managing to succeed with no local coverage? The only way to change things is to keep yammering at them via emails, letters to the editor and so on. Go here to make some noise.

Buy Nothing

Hoping you are enjoying a day full of healthy activities that don't involve driving to a mall or any of those ugly big box stores full of imported Chinese goods.

For a well-written tribute to this day, go here.

I'm spending some time converting from the old Blogger layout template to the new drop and drag. So if you see some changes here, that's why.

Thanksgiving Day

Here's a non-religious message in celebration of the day. Eat vegetarian, live a sustainable lifestyle and try to keep peace with each other.

Giving thanks to Ray Davies and all other muses!

Sing along with this:

Don't forget to Buy Nothing

Buy Nothing Day is Nov 24th and 25th this year. Two great days for not shopping! In honor of that, check out this adbuster promo:



From the Buy Nothing web site:

"Every November, for 24 hours, we remember that no one was born to shop. If you’ve never taken part in Buy Nothing Day, or if you’ve taken part in the past but haven’t really committed to doing it again, consider this: 2006 will go down as the year in which mainstream dialogue about global warming finally reached its critical mass. What better way to bring the Year of Global Warming to a close than to point in the direction of real alternatives to the unbridled consumption that has created this quagmire?"

Acme Responds

I received the following email today:

Good Morning _________:

Thanks for your recent comments
We have passed them on to our buying staff
We appreciate your business
Thanks for shopping at Acme FreshMarket Stores

Rick

I had asked why Acme uses brown plastic bags instead of the blue recycle bags that can be used to collect glass, plastic and aluminum recyclables for disposal in Akron's new blue recycle bins.

I also suggested that Acme make a push for re-usable cloth bags and if they won't change to blue bags, consider putting out collection bins for customers to return the plastic ones for recycling.

Rick's response didn't sound very excited by my ideas. He does appreciate my business, so maybe I have to shop elsewhere until Acme wakes up. However, such a tactic will be useless unless I continue to keep the pressure on. And that means asking readers to email Acme to request blue bags and returnable bag options.

Meanwhile, a reader posted a comment steering me to Bring Your Own Bags, a web site with accompanying blog site that contains a heap of information about how important it is for humans to stop using plastic bags.

Here are some statistics snagged from Bring Your Own Bag:

• 100 million plastic bags a week go to landfill.
• Plastic bags can take between 15 and 1000 years to break down in the environment.
• Each year, an estimated 500 billion - 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. That translates to over one million per minute.
• North America goes through 110 billion plastic shopping bags annually.
• Plastic bags don’t biodegrade, they photodegrade—breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways polluting our soil, rivers, lakes and oceans.
• Production of plastic bags requires vast amounts of oil.
• Hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales and other marine mammals die every year from eating discarded plastic bags mistaken for food.

Pity the poor ocean dwellers, not only are they beset by rising temperatures from global warming and acidification from human production of carbon dioxide, they also choke on tons of plastic infesting every body of water on the planet. You can read about the vortex of plastic choking the oceans here.

So everybody -- please Bring Your Own Bags and limit your use of plastics to those that can be recycled. Individually, it seems like such a small action, but collectively it can have enormous positive effects upon this planet.

The rise of the slime

No not James Carville who tried and didn't succeed in sliming Howard Dean.

I am referencing an article, The Darkening Sea by Elizabeth Kolbert in the 11/20 The New Yorker. It is a report about ocean acidification brought about by the absorption of human created CO2 into the oceans. Scientists have only recently begun to study the effects of carbon dioxide on ocean water and the ecosystems within it. Turns out that the carbon dioxide begins a string of chemical reactions that result in the ocean water becoming more acid which turns out to be a real killer for calcium-producing critters -- those that live in shells or reefs.

The predictions are dire. It just isn't global warming leading to rising waters -- it is also what is happening to the water itself. What seems likely is that the long food chains from planketon on up through the fish, whales and dophins will be severely disrupted.

Says Thomas Lovejoy "It is going to send all kinds of ripples through marine ecosystems, because of the importantce o f calcium carbonate for so many organisms in the oceans, including those at the base of the food chain....It's a systemic change...you will see shifts in favor of invertebrates, or the reign of jellyfish."

Ulf Riebesell, who works at the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences In Kiel had this to say:

"The risk is that at the end we will have the rise of slime."

The Royal Society of London (the Brits are so much more on top of environmental issues than we are) issued a report summed up here:

• carbon dioxide from the atmosphere dissolves in the ocean, and makes it acid.
• This is inevitable with high carbon dioxide, no fancy models are involved.
• The oceans are already 30% more acid that before fossil fuel burning started
• Acidification will kill corals, and probably make many other species (like squid) extinct
• The overall effects are unknown - there has been no period like this in the last 2 Million years

And you can check out some ocean charts with predictions for acidification over the next 100 years here.

In The New Yorker article, one scientist (Ken Caldeira) states that there is no point of stabalization in the process of eliminating carbon dioxide emissions. The target has to be zero emissions. "If you're talking about mugging litle old ladies, you don't say, "what's our target for the rate of mugging little old ladies? You say, 'Mugging little old ladies is bad, and we're going to try to eliminate it. You recognize you might not be a hundred percent successful, but your goal is to eliminate the mugging of little old ladies. And I think we need to eventually come around to looking at carbon dioxide emissions the same way."

Sounds pretty bad and how the heck are we going to stop the human race from firing up the furnace, the auto, the factories producing the latest in fashionable clothing and home furnishings and so on? Ken Caldeira turns out to be some what of an optimist! In this interview he lists some possible alternative energy sources, including harvesting energy from the jet stream (high altitude wind power) as well as putting solar photovoltaics either out in space or on the moon.

But while waiting for science and technology to move forward on those alternative energy sources, the only rational thing to do is to cut down on carbon emissions as much as possible.

So go here and figure out how much carbon YOU are emitting. Then go here to find out how to offset what you emit.

Shopping with bags in Akron

Recycling, in order to be effective, has to become an everyday routine. Take shopping, for example. When I remember to return my shopping bags to my vehicle, they are there to be used whenever I stop for groceries or books or any other items I might buy.

When I forget my cloth bags, I lose a nickel per bag off my groceries at The Mustard Seed. I have to make the choice between paper or plastic. I usually take paper, as I've got a huge stock of the ubiquitous blue plastic shopping bags. I use them to recycle my aluminum and plastics in the city's new blue recycle bins.

But when I shop at Acme, I have to take paper as they do not use blue bags. This bothers me, so I looked up Acme online and found an online complaint form. I encourage all who shop in Akron to use the same form and lodge a similar request. Let's see if we can make a small dent in shopping bag excess.

I read an article a few years back in The New Yorker about a group that has as its hobby the risky business of ridding trees of plastic bags. The darn things blow in the wind and lodge themselves in trees all over NYC. This small group of folks couldn't stand looking at them anymore and began removing them. Direct Action at its finest.

So being mindful of plastic bags is something we all can do to help the environment and make Akron a better place to live. Here's what I emailed Acme. I will let my readers know if I get any response.

Dear Acme Corp,

I generally prefer grocery shopping at your stores over the other chains except for one major problem. Your plastic shopping bags are brown instead of blue. Why do you not promote recycling by using blue plastic shopping bags for your customers' convenience?

My overall favorite grocery store is The Mustard Seed in Montrose. Not only do they provide blue plastic bags, they also give a discount of 5 cents per shopping bag to those customers who bring their own bags rather than use store bags.

I have noticed that Acme stores now have more organic and whole food products available and that makes me happy. I want to support my local stores over the big chains. I burn up less carbon by shopping at my local Acme than by driving out to Montrose.

Please consider changing to blue bags and promoting the use of re-usable shopping bags. You could even sell cloth bags with a beautiful Acme logo design on them. If you won't give up the brown plastic bags, at least provide a recycle box for customers. Those bags are not accepted in the Akron trash recycle program.

Media Watching: Conflict Sells

Although I haven't been able to post much this past week, I did keep up on reading and watching the news. The major political story focused on Nancy Pelosi's choice for majority leader pretty much ignoring the caucuses in the senate and within the Republican party.

The media continues to prove that it has no liberal bias. Its ownership is definitely conservative, but the reporters, editors, news directors and programmers are not really interested in taking a side. What they are interested in is presenting a conflict. There can be no drama without conflict, hence no entertainment value in stories that show cooperation and progress.

What I wanted to read this week instead of the conflict involving Murtha vs Hoyer was something informational about party organization. What does a "whip" actually do? How does the majority leader differ from the minority leader? And what about the dynamics of the newly elected house from both perspectives? I didn't find anything on the roles themselves but I did find this article from the SF Chronicle that tells us more about the makeup of the Democratic side of the House.

According to the article there are three major groups of Democrats:

The fiscally conservative Blue Dogs with a membership of 44

The moderate New Democrats grown to 62 members

The Progressives with the largest bloc of representatives at 71 and who will be heading some very important committees.

The story gives us some context from which to view the ensuing congressional season. Three factions give us opportunity for lots of conflict. How will Nancy Pelosi do in her efforts to bring unity to the party to pass legislation that will be opposed by the hapless idiot now occupying the White House?

It appears that post election there will be plenty of opportunites for thoughtful news reporting. The problem will be sifting through the media bias for sensationalism to find out what is really going on.

Investigate first, impeach later

The Dems are smart to step out of the gate saying impeachment is not on the table. What is unspoken is "not yet." I am hearing other more soothing words like "oversight" and "transparency."

There are hundreds of video clips of various members of the Bush administration lying about Iraq. There are heaps of contracts given out to various "friends" of the Bush regime which need to be looked at along with how the money has been spent and to what purpose in Iraq.

I'm looking forward to seeing the evidence revealed and the rats called up to testify and squeal on each other.

Joe Wilson talked about this and more on today's Ed Schultz show. You can listen to it here.

Time out for real life

Facing some major deadlines at work this week, so the Village Green will be resting for a few days. Look for more by the weekend at which time I promise the yard signs and links to campaigns will be replaced with more up to date matters.

Meanwhile, be sure to check out Lefty Blogs updates and Pho's Akron Pages for all the latest in local and state politics.

Akron Beacon Journal Continues to Bash Brown

Catching up on the local opinions this morning, I found this in Friday's online ABJ, a tribute to their boy Mike DeWine, bemoaning his loss because President Bush has promised to work in a bipartisan manner. They insist that Brown is not the fellow to do that. Mike DeWine, the man who supported Bush's policies 96% of the time, would supposedly have been the best choice to reach across the aisle to the Democrats.

"Practically everyone agrees that the country's most difficult challenges require intelligent compromise. Just the moment for a smart lawmaker like Mike DeWine?"

How smart is Mike DeWine? Not smart enough to understand the needs and frustrations of his own constiuents, apparently. Certainly he did not plan or implement an intelligent campaign.

Trying to salvage their anti-Brown stance, the ABJ editorial makes sure to mention that all the major Ohio papers (excepting The Toledo Blade) endorsed DeWine, and then reveals the major reason they continue to bash Brown. It is Brown's stand against trade agreements:

Put another way, the middle class covers more than those workers hurt by ``job-killing'' trade agreements. The Brown words can be stirring. The reality is, the likes of the North American Free Trade Agreement are not the leading factor in Ohio losing manufacturing jobs. Not by a long shot. Technology is the prime culprit, industries becoming more productive, generating more goods with fewer workers, the country becoming more prosperous overall.

This writer is living in a dream world where capitalism rules over common decency and workers have no hope. Everybody knows that the reason manufacturing jobs have declined is because we encourage our citizens to buy products produced by workers in China, India and other countries. These foreign workers produce goods cheaply and under conditions that no US citizen would suffer. But since we don't see the suffering, it's ok.

Sherrod Brown is opposed to UNFAIR trade agreements. What is fair about competing with countries that don't have health insurance for their workers, who pay them miniscule wages, make them work under unsafe conditions, and who outlaw all union organizing?
%

No Iraq War

On Veteran's Day, I think of the waste of young life that has happened thanks to George W Bush and his handlers. I reflect also on the violence and massive loss of life and home to the people living in Iraq.

The post title today represents the home-made sticker I've had on my truck's rear window since before "Mr I'm the Decider" marched us all off to war. While a majority of Americans went along with that move, some of us protested from the beginning, including US Reps Sherrod Brown and Dennis Kucinich among the few and the brave.

Four years later, having suffered too many losses of young men and women, and many more injured in horrific ways, and with daily news of no progress amid mounting chaos, the majority stood up and said NO to staying the course. Simplistic is all we ever got from this mistake of a president and his manipulators. With Democratic control of house and senate, can we get away from the either/or of Stay the Course
vs. Cut and Run?

How about -- Clean Up the Mess as a new phrase to deal with our simple-minded president? Iraq is in terrible condition. US presence makes it worse. Who among the planet's citizens can make a difference in Iraq? We need negotiators in there with promises of real help to build up the infrastructure -- that must be agreed upon by the Sunnis, the Shiites and the Kurds. This isn't going to be easy and in the end, the three groups might decide to blow each other up until nothing's left -- the old reach-rock-bottom syndrome taken to the extreme.

How will the Dems be able to steer our country in this direction of negotiation rather than that of military occupation? The generals are re-examining their strategies now that Rumsfeld is going out to pasture. In an article in today's Washington Post, Marine Gen. Peter Pace (chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) says

"Winning, to me, is simply having each of the nations that we're trying to help have a secure environment inside of which their government and people can function."

The article point out that this is a departure from the current administration's definition of "winning" which is building a democracy in Iraq. You can bomb a civilization to bits, but you can't make it drink from the democracy well if it doesn't want to.

Now Bush dregs up another of his dad's old cronies with ties to the Iran-Contra scandal, Robert Gates. It is indicative of Bush Jr's inability to look forward to find new people with intelligence and creative minds who might provide a way out of the Bush Mess we are in now.

I've read some comments here and there across the internet implying that one way the Dems can apply brakes to the war machine is to withhold funding for the war effort. I can't remember where I found the remarks, so I did a Google search and found most references were on right wing publications (here) and here leading up to the election.

If that is the tactic conservatives fear the most, then the Dems might well go for it. I've also been reading that congressional approval of warrantless wiretapping is dead in the water -- hooray! The brakes are being applied. Let us hope we are not too late to end the war and focus on solving problems not creating more.

Tilting With Windmills

I received two very nice emails in the past two days. One from the county Sherrod Brown volunteer coordinator, thanking us all for our work over the past few months, a road that lead from parades to events to phoning and canvassing.

My first event was Sherrod and Harry Reid at the Cleveland Science Center in front of a giant windmill. I had just been reading a book about global warming and climate change (The Weathermakers by Tim Flannery) and was interested in finding out if this politician had any good ideas what to about sustainability and renewable sources of clean energy. It was early summer and the gas prices were sky high. At this time, I only knew him as my congress-person and I certainly wasn't thinking about actively campaigning for him when I drove up to Cleveland. On the drive home, I started to think about actively supporting him in his seemingly quixotic effort to unseat Mike DeWine.

I really liked the look of that windmill. NEOhio is pretty darn windy, especially along the coast of Lake Erie and on down over the glacier-formed cliff and highlands of Summit County. Sherrod said at that event that he wanted to become a Senator and work toward Ohio becoming the Silicon valley of alternative energy sources.

Fast forward to his election night speech.

Sherrod Brown renewed that pledge along with several others very worth mentioning here.

Fix The No Child Left Behind Act and make (college) tuition affordable for middle class families

Promote embryonic stem cell research

Raise the minimum wage

Affordable health care for all Americans

Against job-killing trade agreements that betray our values and destroy our communities

End the War in Iraq

He's got an ambitious To Do list. It is a list that I can support and will be watching to see if there are enough politicians who also are starting to get it. We want them to work with us and for us, instead of using us to enhance their own personal wealth.

Check out the entire speech -- it rings true to me.

Testing...

...the new Beta version of Blogger.

Meanwhile congratulations to the Democrats and to everybody I have met while working on the Shrrod Brown campaign. What a fun ride it has been. Imust admit that at first I didn't think it possible for a progressive candidate to win a state race in Ohio. Thank you Sherrod for proving me wrong!

It is incredibly heartening to hear people say they based their vote on ending the war in Iraq. Maybe the lessons of Viet Nam finally woke my generation up once more. There is no good reason to stay the course when the course leads only to more violence and horror. I hope Iraqis get inspired to work things out among themselves and that US forces make way for a more UN sort of approach.

More thoughts on the election results at the end of the day.

Election Night at the Village Green

The turnout at my precinct in Kenmore pleased Steve, the school levy coordinator for this ward. It was approaching 600 by the time I left at 5:20. A big turnout will be good for the Democrats and good for the levy.

Standing outside in the cold rain for 3 two hour shifts was not so bad! I learned a lot about my fellow citizens in this ward. Steve shared some insights and history of Kenmore.

Now that I'm home and looking at what I need to have ready for work tomorrow, I've already decided to pass on all the election parties. I did want to go to Sherrod's in Cleveland, but duty is calling loud and winning over the need to celebrate. There will be more parties in the future. I will continue to blog about Kenmore and investigate how the political process works at the grassroots level.

Happy Election Night to All (Democrats!)

Kenmore, the 2nd tier place to vote

Just finished shift #2 of Poll Greeting. It went by much more quickly than the first shift. I attribute this to wearing more layers of clothing and waterproof boots. At left, you can see the entrance to the Kenmore polling place.

Yes, the rain keeps falling but not in sheets. The voters weren't exactly streaming in, but came steadily like the on-going drizzle. I haven't handed out any literature. People have stopped to chat and said they will be so glad when this particular election is over. Too much negativity by phone, by mail box, by radio and television commercials. The last thing the voters want is another piece of campaign literature. I figure it could only be useful if somebody asked me for information about a judge or an issue. But so far, everybody is looking self-sufficient and knowledgable about the candidates.

My favorite part of this job is the opportunity to people-watch. Most Kenmorites look as sad and gloomy as today's weather, decked out in run-down shoes and working folk clothing. The Democrats wave at me as they drive in to park. The Republicans avoid eye contact. A couple of Independents have stopped to chat.

I cannot bring myself to talk about the school levy. I stuck an Issue 6 sign in the ground near my post, but my sense is that most people do not want to hear about the levy. One woman did say she couldn't understand why people refuse to vote to fund the schools. In Kenmore, it has got to be an economic issue more than anything else. People are poor here -- that is my main observation from poll greeting in Kenmore. Senior citizens leave the Center clutching oranges, part of their senior lunch. Not great big juicy navel oranges either, but rather small, thin-skinned and greenish looking. Nevertheless, the oranges are going home and not being tossed into the trash.

When I started the day at Democrat Headquarters in Akron, I asked for Kenmore. They said it was a second tier assignment. I didn't ask why, but I intend to find out. It is definitely second or maybe even last tier in terms of attention given to it by the city.

One woman had voted earlier in Medina and said that the polls were hopping, long lines and lots of enthusiasm. I didn't ask which part of Medina. My inside sources tell me that voting is going strong in Granger Township and that people in line have very serious looks on their faces. What that means will be made clearer after 7 PM tonight.

Election Day in Kenmore

All poll greeters must stand outside the two flags at the polling place. I'm greeting voters at the Kenmore Community Center. It's a cold dismal not to mention rainy morning. I thought I had dressed with enough layers, but by 9 AM I was feeling the cold bite into my bones.

Greeting is a job I can handle well. I put on my cheery face and reach out with my positive vocal tones and brighten the lives of all the Democrats showing up to vote today. Greeters don't have to say anything other than "Please consider the Democrats when you vote today." Most people told me they were voting straight Democratic. One man responded that he was voting for two Democrats, one of which was Tom Sawyer. I had grabbed a Tom Sawyer for state school board sign at headquarters early this morning. It was laminated and thus would withstand the weather all day long. This turned out to be an excellent tactic. A number of voters either said they were voting for Tom or wanted to know what he was running for as they would like to vote for him.

It really is no surprise that people are voting straight Democratic. Akron is a Democratic stronghold with many union families. At my polling place (at right) this morning, I had to wait for a polling booth, it was that busy. In this county, we are using new optical scan equipment. This involves filling in ovals with black pens, just like the old standardized tests that we all took in college. Unlike the Diebold machines, these do have a paper trail and can be counted by hand should the memory cards in the scanners break down.

By the time I arrived at the community center, the crowds were thinning. For two hours, I paced and greeted in the rain. I'm home to warm up and put on a few extra layers of clothing! More later.

An Ohio Election Eve

At left, a few final flowers from the garden before the killing frost hit. Some cheery color for this election night eve! I'm not down at headquarters making phone calls, but I wore my Sherrod Brown button everywhere I went and talked to voters as I ran a long list of errands. At the pharmacy where I stopped for a flu shot, a senior citizen told me that she is voting for the school levy, but is worried that too many are opposed.

Driving out through enemy territory (Bath) I was pleased to see more Sherrod Brown signs than Mike DeWine signs. The Republicans make up for quantity with maximum square footage, however. Those enormous Blackwell/Raga mini-billboards are scary-looking. Who wants egos the size of those signs running our state government? Hopefully, not the marjority of Ohioans this election cycle.

At the Beacon Online, only one news story was given the comments feature. The story was about an elderly Republican woman from the falls who has worked at the polls for decades. The usual suspects took over the comment section. Since The Centrist departed the boards, the personal vehemence has decreased while the silliness goes on in several forms. Some people need to reinvigorate their material. People grow weary of the fellow who inserts Charlie Fry's name into every current event topic. Then there's the wit who -- no matter the subject -- exhorts us to do it for the children:

"as school levies go, less is apparently more."

And less is THANKFULLY more.

My god the children! Think of the children. Let me tug that one last heart string and remind yuo to think of the children!!!

Puke!!!

This person has used this joke so many times that s/he doesn't even care if the topic matches the joke. In this case -- talking about a school levy -- yes, one should be thinking about the children. If adults don't think about how the current generation of children should be educated then who will?

Time to get some other work done so I will be free to help the Summit Progressive Democrats in Akron tomorrow. I signed up for three shifts as a poll greeter. I'm thinking that means waving signs and having stuff available to hand out. I will be coming home to blog about my experiences between shifts. See you at the polls!

Two Akron Issues

Two Akron Issues

The city council wants voters to approve giving them four year terms of service as opposed to the current two years. The plus would be that council persons would have more time to govern without having to raise money to be elected. The minus would be -- if it turns out voting for such&such was a mistake, we're stuck with him/her for four years.

Until we have real election reform that does away with anybody donating to candidates, we would be best served to keep the terms at two years. The local Dems have a stranglehold on the council. Not a good idea to make these jobs even more cushy for them. I will vote NO to the increase from two to four years.

The other Akron city issue is to change the job classification of the council's clerk from that of Civil Service to that of unclassified employment appointed by the council. There's got to be some kind of political intrigue going on about this issue. On the face of it, I think it is probably better to let it be a civil service job acquired by merit rather than favoritism. I'm voting NO on this issue.

If anyone has information that would make me change my mind on these two issues, I'd be open to hearing it.

US out of Iraq now!

Two stories in the news Saturday morning that caught my attention

From Editor and Publisher:

For two years, American sergeants, captains and majors training the Iraqis have told their bosses that Iraqi troops have no sense of national identity, are only in it for the money, don't show up for duty and cannot sustain themselves.

And from ABC Daily News:

Cheney said that even with pollsters predicting that Democrats would likely make gains in both houses of Congress Tuesday, voter sentiment would not influence Bush's Iraq policy.

"It may not be popular with the public — it doesn't matter in the sense that we have to continue the mission and do what we think is right. And that's exactly what we're doing,"

The brilliant Bush regime strategy for Iraq is to continue doing things wrong. I once had a button that said "US out of___________now!" For the past four years, Iraq filled in that blank. Bush wants to keep it there until after he leaves office.

Cheney says it doesn't matter how the public votes this coming Tuesday. I'm counting on this election to make a difference. Two thirds of the American people are opposed to this madness. Hope to see you all at the polls next Tuesday.

Time out for an evening with Donovan

Obama Barack was in Cleveland last night for a rally with Sherrod Brown, but I already had tickets to see someone very special to me, the one and only Donovan, kicking off a US tour in Ohio. With only three days left until election day, I needed time off for stress-relief. So I put on my best concert attire, topped off by a Sherrod Brown button and was ready for an evening of beautiful music.

My best Dono-pal and I travelled south to Mansfield, home of the beautiful and historic Renaissance Theatre, an intimate jewel box of a performance space. We had second row center orchestra seats. The small pit area in front of us was partitioned off, with special seating for less than two dozen people. Donovan's entrance was so entirely casual, I almost missed it! He was dressed in the similar attire to when we last saw him in Kent at the folk festival -- loose black shirt and pants -- a dramatic background to highlight his magnificent guitar Kelly.

The first few songs were accompanied by a percussionist on conga drums and an acoustic bass fiddle player -- they were both outstanding musicians. They left the stage as Donovan crossed to a small black platform, about a foot and a half high. My friend and I had been speculating as to the purpose of this platform. Was April Vetch going to make a guest appearance on it -- playing her fiddle and clogging at the same time? Well it turned out that Donovan used it to sit in semi-lotus position to sing his most intimate of songs. The Troubadour sang some of his most precious beginning songs: Try for the Sun, Josie, Ballad of Geraldine, The Little Tin Soldier, Sunny Goodge Street, Donna Donna, The Alamo, Sunny Goodge Street, Sand and Foam. Other precious songs were tucked into the set including Isle of Islay, Young Girl Blues, Lalena, and of course Catch the Wind. He sang a song I'd never heard -- in fact, he said it had never been recorded but was one that he wrote with Kelly when he first got the guitar. It was called "Promise."

At the interval, we chatted with a gentleman sitting next to us, who lived in this central Ohio region. He spoke -- with that distinct Ohio twang -- of going to concerts all his life, but never seeing Donovan before. He said that the concert was not at all what he had expected -- that it was like having "Donovan in your living room." That description immediately took hold in my imagination and for the rest of the concert I imagined I was at home with the lava lamp bouncing and glowing, the incense burning, and Donovan there sitting cross-legged on the floor sharing his amazing songs, gently chatting about their origins, and urging me to sing a long!

There were many sing-a-longs last night. It took the crowd awhile to warm up, but eventually they were in fine form. Happiness Runs was quite spectacular, as the gentlemen took their "la la la la" part very seriously, while the ladies happily chirped "happiness runs happiness runs" in counterpoint.

The concert began shortly after 8 PM with no opening act. There was a 20 minute intermission and then another long set with an encore with the show wrapping up at five until 11. What a long evening -- it went by as if we were all in a dream together oblivious of time. The music flowed and the communal warmth drew us all together. The Universal Soldier meant more now than it ever did to all of us in that theatre (which was located directly across from Republican headquarters) -- the song was accompanied by that special silence that comes with utter attentiveness, and ended with great affirmative applause and cheers from the audience.

Donovan heads to Buffalo next, then travels up and down the eastern seaboard throughout the month of November. More concert information here. Enjoy Donovan in your living room soon!

Summit County Issues

My self-assigned homework is taking awhile to finish. Good thing I didn't give myself a deadline other than next Tuesday, November 7th.

Taking a look at the county-wide issues, I see that I'm going to vote to increase my taxes to support Metro Parks, while maintaining the current tax level in support of the Akron Zoo. I'm a sucker for public spaces and taking care of animals.

So that's a Yes on Issue 18
And a Yes on Issue 20

Issue 21 is a proposed charter amendment "to facilitate the fair and effective administration of elections by establishing deadlines for County Council to apportion the County into Council legislative districts." I'm shocked! They don't have deadlines in place already? What can they be thinking?

Issue 22 provides for the election of a nine member non-partisan Charter Review Commission, commending with the November 2007 election." I had some homework help on this one. Vote NO, because it is poorly written and will end up in a law suit if passed. It was also proposed by the county Republicans which makes it a bit suspect in this election. Essentially, it is ammendment to elect nine people who meet to review proposed charter ammendments. It leaves me scratching my head and wondering what is charter government and why do we have it? More homework, sigh. Meanwhile, I'll go with my inside sources and Vote NO on issue 22.

Issue 23 will "prohibit any person who is related to an elected County official, unclassified County employee, Country employee at a level of Director, or Country employee whose County salary exceeds $80,000 per year to be eligible for country employment." This is the "nepotism" issue that is in response to the hiring of Chrissie Congrove as Animal Shelter Director by James McCarthy, County Executive. Chrissie is the daughter of country councilman Dan Congrove.

I find it interesting that there is a monetary limit to this law. If you make less than 80K, then it is ok to hire your relatives. What if the relative is perfectly capable and in fact, is someone who would do a great deal of good? Is it fair to automatically deny employment to someone because they are related to someone? I'm not sure about this law at all and so I make no recommendation.

Tomorrow, I hope to find out who my county council representative is and whether I should vote for them to stay in office. There are also two city of Akron issues that I need to consider, as well as all the local candidates who want to represent me and who want to be judges.

Local issues, local candidates

I know who I'm voting for at the state level and I know how I'm voting on the statewide issues. Seven days til the election and I need to figure out the local issues and candidates.

I do know that I will vote yes for the schools and the zoo.

What else should I be voting for or against?

I'm not sure about the city council or the county council candidates. There are some Summit county issues that I need to look at before I enter the booth. Looks like I've got some homework to do. Odd how the closer it is to home, the farther removed I feel from the process.

I'm looking for local recommendations. Help me do my homework! Who's going to represent my best interest here in Kenmore? And what about the Democratic stranglehold on county and city government?

Are there any local progressive candidates around worth supporting? Who is interested in making Akron a healthier place to live? Judy Hanna is the only one I've heard campaigning on environmental issues. We need people to stand up for a greener way of living here in Akron.

Why can't Kevin Coughlin speak for himself?

After weeks of anti-Judy Hanna ads implying that she is a commie red pro-Green godless liberal activist in league with Satan (I'm exaggerating, but only slightly!) I finally get a piece of mail with the name "Coughlin" attached to it. But it is not from Kevin -- it's from his lovely wife Anne . I know she is lovely because a glossy family photo of Kevin, Anne and their two charmingly blonde daughters is included in the mailing.

The pitch takes the form of a personal letter, hand-written and photocopied onto personal stationery. Anne is writing to ask me to vote for her husband. She gives me a lot of reasons, but somehow they don't seem to be quite valid.

She tells me, for example, that Kevin has "worked hard to make sure every child has a quality education" and that he has "secured billions of dollars to build new schools and put more money into the classroom." She makes it sound like Kevin did this all by himself -- no mention of working together in a bipartisan manner or even working with fellow Republicans. Whoops -- the word "Republican" does not appear anywhere in this mailing.

So every child in Ohio now has a quality education? Or did he just mean every child in Cuyahoga Falls? Every white child in Cuyahoga Falls -- maybe. How about the children in Cuyahoga county? How about the children living in poverty all over the state of Ohio who don't get enough to eat at home where they receive little in the way of mental stiumlation and emotional nurturning to prepare them for the rigors of standardized curriculum and testing.

Anne also claims that Ohio has moved from 48th in the nation in state funding for schools to 14th. She does not list a source for that statistic. I spent a good 15 minutes trying to find that statistic and failed miserably. The major problem being her statistic is not specific enough. Is she talking about state funding for school operations or building new schools or funding for literacy programs. Does she think that I'm going to accept her statistics just on her own say-so?

Evidently so, because after all this is a proud wife endorsing her husband. Since the ABJ wouldn't do it, Anne steps up to the plate!

The Village Green continues to support Judy Hanna for our state senator. We like it that she is concerned about environmental issues. We think Judy will pay attention to all the students living in her district and throughout the state. Vote for Judy Hanna, not Anne Coughlin's husband on November 7th.

Sherrod Brown & Connie Schultz in Wadsworth

Sherrod Brown and Connie Schultz arrived at the Masonic Hall in Wadsworth to a standing ovation and great cheers. I was amazed at how many Democrats showed up to an event in Medina County. Sherrod commented on how many times he'd been to events at this particular hall and had never seen so many people gathered there before.

The feeling in the room was reflected in the expression on Sherrod's face -- positive, happy and yet trying very hard not to act like the race was already won. Sherrod spoke about the time 13 months ago when he and Connie were making the decision for the senate run. He said that he was told the way to win in Ohio was to take a "Republican lite" position to appeal to the Independants and the moderate Republicans (if there are any left!) -- but that was not the plan he chose to follow. He wanted to stay true to his principles and to campaign on a platform that allowed voters to make a choice.

Sherrod then went through quite a list of contrasts between his positions and DeWine's:

Brown wants to fix No Child Left Behind -- DeWine doesn't.
Brown voted against the Iraq war -- DeWine voted for it. (This item got a huge crowd response!)
Brown is for middle class tax relief -- DeWine is for cutting taxes on the top 3%.
Brown is for affordable health care -- DeWine is on the side of the pharmaceutical and insurance industries.
Brown is for creating renewable energy sources -- DeWine is funded by the Oil and Gas industry.
Brown wants to create new jobs in Ohio -- DeWine is backed by companies that outsource jobs.

These positions are no longer the domain of extreme left wing radicalism. They are positions that are on the minds of many citizens after years of Republican corruption and greedy self-interest. People are ready to listen to a progressive candidate and to support his actions on their behalf.

After the speech, Sherrod and Connie were each surrounded by eager well-wishers. I took the opportunity to introduce myself to Connie. I told her that this was the first political campaign I had ever worked on and that I had been a very cynical non-voter since the day George McGovern lost to Richard Nixon. She asked me why I had decided to support her husband. I said that Sherrod doesn't come across as a politician -- but rather a public servant. That seemed to please her very much. She said she agreed and could never have married a politician! She also said that the Republicans are following them around everywhere they go and trying desperately trying to find something to use against them. It must be a very trying time for her. She is going to write a book about her experiences out on the campaign trail to be called "And His Lovely Wife" -- which is how she keeps hearing herself introduced as she goes from one event to the next. I can't wait to buy it and stand in line for an autograph!

Prior to the event, I listened to a short but pungent and highly articulate speech by Tom Shaw (photo at right), currently running for congress in Medina against the old right wing hack Ralph Regula. Ralphie boy is not a public servant, but a politician of the worst kind. Tom spoke about the current "axis of corruption" in Congress and the need to vote for representatives willing to clean up the messes left behind. If you live in his district, please consider sending him some money. I do believe that too many people in Medina go to the polls and cast their votes for Regula as if they were automatons -- since they know no other name than his. But you need to encourage a fellow like Shaw. "For as Ohio goes in 2006, so goes the nation in 2008," said Sherrod Brown, quoting someone he seldom quotes -- George Will!

One other tidbit -- Capri Cafaro was in attendance, representing the Mark Dann for Attorney General campaign. Evidently her defeat in the 13th district primary was not enough to keep her out of politics for good. I think she needs to prove to the voters that she is more than a child of wealth and privilege. Working for another candidate's campaign is a good idea -- maybe she'll learn what it is to be a true progressive candidate.

The Wadsworth Masonic Temple filled with Democrats ready to hit the canvassing trail!

Local charter school support for Owens Fink

In today's ABJ, an article about state school board candidate spending reveals these very intersting facts:

Top contributors for Owens Fink include Gary L. Taylor, chairman of the telemarketing company InfoCision, $5,000, and Ann Brennan, wife of Akron entrepreneur David Brennan, $2,500. David Brennan is one of the largest operators of charter schools in the country and a major supporter of Ohio Republicans. Other notable donors include Richard Lukich of Constellation Community Schools, $250, a company that runs the charter Akron Community School; James Turner, $2,500, of the Southern Ohio energy and real estate company Duke-Cinergy; and Summit County Common Pleas Judge Brenda Burnham Unruh, $500.

Owens Fink is the state school board member who is focused on including so called "Intelligent Design" into Ohio's science curriculum. I find it very interesting that she is getting support from charter school proponents. Also, note that Gary Taylor has an "Institute for Direct Marketing" named after him and his wife at the University of Akron. He is also connected to the current sleazey Republican candidate for state auditor in a tale of Republicans rewarding Republicans.

It's not just the Republicans in office that we have to worry about. It's all their buddies on the boards of corporations, universities and corporate-run newspaper editorial boards.

Brown's poll numbers go up up and away!

In a Survey USA poll released today, Sherrod Brown is polling 20 points ahead of Mike DeWine! Lots of folks chiming in at KOS today on the poll results -- many don't dare believe it. It was good to read some decent supporting posts this time with only one reference to Paul Hackett, beloved of so many over there.

Even so, the over-riding tone is of amazement and do we dare trust this poll response. How could that Lefty manage to pull off the upset? I think he is up by a considerable margin and that it is due to his tireless efforts campaigning all over the state of Ohio. Visit Sherrod's web page and read his itinerary -- he covers a lot of ground every day of the week. Hunt all over Mike DeWine's official campaign site and you won't find a single upcoming engagement listed anywhere. But you will find a page dedicated to his wife's cookbook. Doesn't look like there's anything she can cook up to help her husband win this one.

Meanwhile, Sherrod's been all over the main stream media -- MSNBC and Wolf Blitzer had him on, with Wolfe acting all tough and accusatory. Sherrod responded to the tired old "far left wing" label by laying out a list of contrasts with DeWine positions on the war, the economy and being on the side of the middle class. Check out the Wolf interview and marvel at Sherrod's cool and intelligent responses.

Bluster or Real Threat?

I found this posted on the ABJ comments section in Wednesday's online edition:

Dear Friend,

There are exactly 13 days until Election Day. Ohio is, once again, a critical bellwether state and we need your financial leadership more than ever before.

Ohio Republicans have a secret weapon against the Democrats that will add between 3-5% to every candidate on the ballot. That will give us the "winning edge" in key races for the U.S. Senate, Congress and the State Legislature.

It's an 88-county grassroots machine that's inspired, well-trained, and battle-tested. Perhaps you read all about it in the October 9th issue of Time Magazine. We're ready to unleash it on the Democrats in the final 72-hours before Election Day and there's only one thing stopping us:

Money.

We must raise $20,000 in the next 48 hours and your help is more than vital, it's indispensable. Please go to [Web site deleted so that no one goes there by accident]to make your safe and secure on-line credit card contribution of $100, $250, or $500 and help us shock the Democrats by winning big on Election Day.

Don't ever think your commitment doesn't matter. It does!

Thank you for your continued hard work and generous support.

Robert T. Bennett
Chairman

This looks like desperation tactics to me. Republicans don't normally beg for nickel and dime donations -- do they?

Attack of the Attack Ads

They are everywhere! Glossy fliers tumble out of the mail box. Ugly expressions interrupt my television viewing pleasure on every channel. Even Radio Free Ohio is infested with Republican attack ads.

I keep looking at the calendar, urging the days to come quicker so we can be finished with this election cycle. Can't we do it now? Let's vote today -- Sherrod Brown is up by 12 points. Important voices on the radio tell me there could very well be a Democratic landslide in Ohio! This isn't a dream, is it?

2004 election day started off so good. The buzz on the radio as I drove home for lunch was that exit polls were showing Kerry all the way. But by the time I got home from work, it was gloom descending into doom.

The waiting is killing me -- are there really people left who haven't made up their minds? Will the Republicans GOTV and Stay the Course? Tune in this weekend, as I go canvassing one more time.

Mike DeWine's Halloween Ad

This is the scariest political ad of the season. I wonder where the ad agency dug up this cast of attack grannies? It begins with warm grandmotherly testaments to Mike DeWine -- one has known him for over 30 years and the other says he is a decent man. Those are the only two positives given as to why one should vote for DeWine. That's all the time there is for pleasantries -- the grannies get mean and imply that Sherrod Brown does not support senior citizens. This is such a huge joke, I can't stop from laughing. Anyone who has been paying attention knows that Sherrod Brown works tirelessly on behalf of seniors.

I'm trying to imagine what older Ohio women think when they view this ad. Do they identify with these nasty harpies? The tone of voice, the glint of poison in the eyes are perfect Halloween performances. I especially like the dramatic rendering of the final line:

"Sherrod Brown, I just don't trust you!"

What is scandalous?

I wasn't going to chime in on the Foley sex scandal. What hasn't been written about it -- is there any reason to dedicate more words to this sordid affair?

An article in today's Washington Post reveals Foley's techniques for "mentoring" young pages until they are of legal age. It was very easy for him to cozy up to the male pages, as most of the restrictions were focused on keeping young females away from the adult males hanging around the halls of cogress.

But as sick as all that is, we see symptoms pervasive in our government and greater society. Foley's high status as a male in Congress could be used as bait to lure in young kids. Here a page talks about the importance of maintaining a political contact over reporting Foley's behavior.

"I didn't want to piss off a member of an institution that I really revered," said a former Republican page from 2002, who said that, shortly after he finished the program, he exchanged a handful of messages with Foley over two months and that they gradually became sexual. He played along, then slowed his responses until Foley took the hint and stopped. He never considered reporting Foley to authorities. "I figured maybe someday I will want to be involved in Congress," he said. "I didn't want to make an enemy."

"There's something that really feels good about getting to hang out with people who are powerful and well known," said one young page. While another remembers "...him riding by in his Bimmer and talking about all the cars he got and going down to Florida to take out his yacht." Another reports that Foley offered to write him a letter of recommendation for college. These are the great temptations, offerings from a man of power that grant access to the first rungs on the ladder of success.

The debate is as old as the first acknowledged pile of material wealth -- who can we trust to run the government? The Foley scandal is not just about sex. It is about power and position. Far too many politicians are in it for themselves, not for their constituents. That is the greatest of all scandals.

Fall canvass

The landscape is full of autumn colors. The natural yellows, oranges and reds of changing leaves competing with the bright plastic colors of the political yard signs sprouting everywhere.

I joined my first canvass today. Such a pleasant day for a walk! Most people were not at home or not answering their doors, but I did get to talk to quite a few friendly strangers. Only one man shooed me away without a word. He was mowing his lawn and I probably should not have even attempted to make contact. A man and his lawnmower are seldom willingly separated.

Some people told me they were voting straight Democrats. They looked very determined when they said it too! An old man in his 80s told me "we have to get rid of the cowboy." He said he didn't need a ride to vote. He was going to walk there.

Later I stopped to pick up some things at The Mustard Seed. A young woman behind the bakery counter asked me why she should vote for Sherrod Brown. She noticed my Sherrod buttons (both new -- one has a fine color photo of Sherrod and the other says "Women for Sherrod") and said she didn't know much about him. So I offered a few reasons why I am voting for him and we had quite a good conversation. (Note to self: don't take off buttons now through the election!)

Buckeye State Blog posted my favorite anti-Dewine commercial today, so I followed their lead to YouTube and post it here for everybody's continued viewing pleasure:



And from TomPaine.com, check out this article on the oil industry's ties to the ruling government and republicans in particular:

In the current election cycle, the Center for Responsive Politics reports that donations from the oil industry and its employees are running 83 percent in favor of Republicans, which is the most pronounced slant by the oil industry—and possibly the most pronounced in any industry—ever.

Fringe politics

I'm watching tonight's Ohio Senate debate. In the opening salvo, DeWine accuses Sherrod Brown of operating from the fringe -- he's one of those dangerous left wing radicals. (Judy Hanna's another one of 'em -- read the ongoing debate here.) Those dangerous Lefties, those Commie Reds are lining up and ready to march into power. Fear them, scream the ads.

So what are we to be afraid of? The old definition of what it means to be "leftist" doesn't work any more.

Deficit spending is not a left-wing mode of operation. Oddly enough, deficit spending is chiefly to be found in the years of right-wing presidents Bush and Reagan.

Increased governmental control was also one of the old left-wing attributes. But it takes a right wing government to enact something as invasive of indivdual rights as the Patriot Act.

More power to the states instead of the feds is a right-wing position supposedly. Except for matters concerning medical marijuana, national education acts that mandate "no child left behind" and hosts of terrorist-prevention acts that are designed to keep the populace under constant surveillance.

The century is young enough to permit me to hope for new definitions and understandings of what is left and what is right and whether these terms are useful any more. I'm looking for people who are capable of creativing thinking about the major problems of our times. I'm also looking for action. The old stalemates are going to be the death of us.

Listening to the DeWine/Brown debate tonight, the energy in Sherrod's voice and demeanor is refreshing. Both are claiming that they work in a "bipartisan" way, but I'm only believing one of them. DeWine has had his chance and it is time for a change. DeWine accuses, "he's on the fringe of his party and he's as liberal as you can get." I'm voting for that position because it is as far from DeWine as you can get. Call it left wing, or call it rational progressive action-oriented politics -- whatever! It is what we need.

They are out to get Judy Hanna

Who are "they"? The Ohio Republican party is desperate to hold on to Ohio's state house. As discussed a while back, I've been receiving some nasty campaign literature attacking Judy Hanna. Today I received another full color glossy piece of crapola, desperately trying to prove that Hanna is an evil left wing activist who "Doesn't Share Our Values." That's code for -- she thinks for herself!

An anonymous Coughlin supporter found my site and left more of the same. You can read it here. Mr or Ms Anonymous isn't thinking too clearly. Attempting to smear Judy Hanna's name by attaching it to the Green Party isn't going to go over well here at the Village Green. While I am not a Green Party member, I like to think "green" when making voting decisions.

Calling Judy a radical left winger isn't going to scare me either. In fact, a nice big dose of left wing radicalism might be just the cure for all the ills brought about upon our state and nation by the radical right. It's time for a swing to the left, baby -- after that long lean over a right wing cliff we've been on for 12 years here in Ohio.

So go Judy! Go Brian Williams. Let's turn Ohio around!

By the way, I have noticed a lot of Republican campaign signs posted in yards in front of empty buildings. I wonder if they belong to Slumlords for Continued Republican Rule? I'm thinking about doing a photo essay to prove my point.

Beacon Journal betrays its readers with DeWine endorsement

I could sense it coming. The overwhelming need to commit to corporate interests rather than to the working class citizens of this city and county is what drives the current ABJ ownership and editorial board. I knew it was going to happen, and yet to read it today still sickens me no end.

It does make it clear that I will never subscribe to this paper, much as I want to support my favorite hometown journalists. Maybe it is better that they find work elsewhere and let the Sun papers take over in each neighborhood. (The Sun papers have endorsed Sherrod Brown.)

The Beacon endorsement makes it clear in its closing paragraph that it is pro-globalization. The sad fact of the matter is that "globalization' is really a term for ripping off the rest of the world so Americans can grow even fatter. That's why the Beacon likes Mike. That's why they fear Brown.

Cold Blows the Wind Over Akron

Snow appeared today. It didn't stick around, but the cold temps are here over night and on into the weekend. I picked the last of the green beans yesterday. Plucked the remaining green tomatoes and have wrapped them in newspaper, which is supposed to be a way to ripen them. I will report on the experiment as they either ripen or rot.

The levy campaign kicked off today in downtown Akron. Hizzoner the mayor wasn't in attendance. Important business in Columbus is the word. What that business is is anybody's guess. Our mayor travels a lot. Maybe that's why he forgets to check if the Steam Heat plant has paid its bills.

I have 26 days to make up my mind who to vote for in the local elections. I'm not happy with the local Democratic party machine. The question is, how much more unhappy would I be with a Republican machine? Which is just what the local Dems want me to think. We need fresh blood around here and some sort of vision that is more than a slogan. Akron 2025 doesn't do it for me. Lofty words about a "medical tech corridor" to be built along the route of a torn down innerbelt. Luxury lofts going up at Northside. Too little too late?

Questioning Kenmore

Dear Kenmore, my own village not so green:

What's going on here in the lead up to the election? Who are the best people to represent our interests? I keep hearing about a spruce-up along the boulevard, and a new branch library. But nothing ever happens. Such is Kenmore.

The smattering of Republican campaign signs indicate rampant anemia for the GOP cause this voting season. But where are the Democrats? I have signs up in my yard for Strickland, Espy and the school levy. The Brown and Hanna signs had not arrived at headquarters when I stopped by over a week ago. The signs are in now and I'm going to go get some. But I'm wondering if the ordinary working class Dems are just as disenchanted hearabouts.

Kenmore will vote the school levy down. I don't know why. By all accounts, there is a lot of civic pride in Kenmore HS and its fighting cardinals! The elementary schools are good places for kids to learn. Are we all so impoverished now that we can't afford to pay for quality education for all our kids? Think on the positive -- since our property rates are so low, we won't have to pay nearly as much in levy taxes as the rich folks on the west side.

How come Highland Square succeeds while Kenmore fades away? Why can't we be cool and hip yet still a relatively inexpensive place to live? Highland Square has been that way for decades. South Main had a brief glorious fling with coolness in the late 80s. Has Kenmore ever been cool? A question I should put to the Kenmore Historical Society. I see they meet next on October 30th. I will try to attend.

Kenmore remains less than an afterthought. Hiz honour the mayor comes from Kenmore. You'd think he might show a little bit of favoritism in getting things fixed up around here.

Go into the Acme on East Ave., and you'll see a huge wall mural depicting the life and career of Don Plusquellic. Kenmore hasn't forgotten him. But who is looking out for Kenmore?

We are the Village Green Preservation Society

is the Kinks song that continues to inspire me and it is the song that provides the title for my blog. I just found this clip on YouTube. It is from a 1973 BBC concert. I've heard the audio from this concert before, but didn't know there was video to go with it. Love the brass band and the flowing long locks on the boys in the band.

"God save Donald Duck, Vaudeville and Variety!"

Ladylike

Storm and the Balls new single Ladylike debuted at #5 on Billboard's Hot New Singles chart! Way to go! A new harder rocking version will be out at the end of the month, featuring Dave Navarro on guitar. Meanwhile, here's Storm rocking it on Rockstar:

Judy Hanna for Ohio State Senate

In today's mail, I found a glossy full-color smear ad from the Ohio Republican Party:

"Lawmaker or lawbreaker? Vote No on Judy Hannah, " is written in red on the address side of the fold. The other side of the fold is an imposing photograph of the steps leading into the Ohio Assembly in Columbus with white lettering stating: IN th state Senate, We need a Lawmaker... Open the fold and we see a very ugly photograph of Judy, obviously doctored to look like a criminal ID photo. At the top in huge red letters: ...Not a Lawbreaker. Underneath her face in bright red letters: Guilty.

The rest of the inside states:

The Facts:

On September 7, 2006, the bi-partisan Ohio Elections Commission ruled that OHio Senate candidate Judy Hanna, violated Ohio election laws.

Hanna was found guilty of making false and misleading statements to voters.

Source: Ohio Elections Commission, September 7, 2006, Case #2006E-026.

How can we send Judy Hanna to be a Lawmaker when she's a proven Lawbreaker?

On November 7th, vote NO on Judy Hanna.

So what's the deal here? What heinous crime has Judy committed? I had a chance to talk to Judy over the summer. She volunteered the information that she was going to be brought up before the Ethics commission because some of her campaign literature had left out the "for" in the slogan ``Hanna, state senator, 27th district.'' It was an inadvertant mistake. When she found out that she was in error, she immediately had a new web site created and new campaign materials printed. She certainly wasn't trying to claim that she was already state senator. How absurd would that be! We all know who our current state senator is -- Kenneth Coughlin, and it is definitely time to retire him and a whole bunch of Republicans.

So anyway, Coughlin turned her into the ethics board who found her in violation but refused to fine her or press any charges. In other words, they saw no intent to fool the public. (Akron Beacon Journal report here.)

Polls show newcomer Judy in a dead heat with incumbent Republican Coughlin. Check out the committees he's on and ask yourself, how has Ohio done in these areas during the long years of Republican control:

From his web site: Senator Coughlin is Chairman of the Health, Human Services & Aging Committee. He also serves on the Energy & Public Utilities Committee and the Highways & Transportation Committee. He is also a commissioner representing Ohio on the Midwestern Higher Education Compact.

You can go to Judy's web site and check out her background and her experience. She looks like just the woman we need in politics around here. Donate a few bucks while you are at the site. The only way to take away corporate control of our elected officials is to get a bunch of the little folks to toss in what they can afford to donate. One day, we may have public funded elections, but until then -- give to the little guys so they won't be beholden to the big boys.

Mid week notes from Akron

It's trash night in Kenmore. My lovely new bins are not at the curb tonight. I put out one bag of trash and one bag of recyclables. Not nearly enough trash to make it worthwhile for the truck to stop and go through its robotic moves.

There are no Democratic campaign signs that I have seen in Kenmore other than the Strickland/Fisher and Espy for Justice signs in front of my residence. There's a great big ugly Blackwell/Raga sign on East Ave, and a couple of smaller ones down by Summit Lake (the west side). There is a scattering of Kevin Coughlin signs and some Parker for Judge signs dotted around Thornton and Manchester Rd. I didn't see any Democrat signs in Firestone Park when I drove through there earlier this week, and they are usually thickets of Democratic yard support there.

I've been thinking about getting more involved locally. I'm not sure if I would be at all welcome. I'm not the the blind toadying type. The local Dems have had a stranglehold on power in city and county government for quite some time now. It looks like a good old boys network lead by the Mayor and his all Democratic city council. It's a Democratic mirror of the Republican power glut at state and federal levels and the effects are similar. Some corruption may be coming to light regarding Akron Thermal, a company that according to the ABJ has fallen far into debt and owes the city a heap of money. It gets away with it because it provides heat to the major players left in downtown Akron -- the hospitals and the university.

Meanwhile, we all wait to see if the school levy will pass. The For Sale signs are multiplying like fungus in front yards all over the city. There was a letter of complaint in the latest issue of Akron Life & Leisure from a fellow who felt that Granger township in Medina had been slighted because it was not named one of "Best Burbs" in the greater Akron area. He listed all the reasons many people move from Summit County to Granger and chief among them is because it is where the "renowed Highland High School (school of excellence) is located." Pretty darn ironic -- the magazine about Akron is really for the people who live in the suburbs. They are the ones who can afford to buy the pricey stuff found in the ads in that mag.

In Kenmore the retail trade is very small time. The boulevard could be very attractive but neglect and lack of money wash over the area, like the depressing tones found in an old and faded watercolor painting. The sort of thing you might find in a thrift store, of which there are several on the boulevard. A Dollar Store opened up a couple of years ago. It's a working class kind of place.

Bill O'Neill for Ohio Supreme Court

O'Neill got the Akron Beacon Journal's endorsement today! He also received national attention in the New York Times yesterday, in an article examining Ohio Supreme court justices voting records to see how often they vote in favor of cases involving their major campaign contributers. O'Neill's opponent votes 91% of the time on behalf of his financial backers. Justice for sale is the way it plays in Ohio. From the NYT article:

An examination of the Ohio Supreme Court by The New York Times found that its justices routinely sat on cases after receiving campaign contributions from the parties involved or from groups that filed supporting briefs. On average, they voted in favor of contributors 70 percent of the time. Justice O’Donnell voted for his contributors 91 percent of the time, the highest rate of any justice on the court.

Judge O'Neil is taking no money from anybody for this campaign. He and his children are printing home made fliers -- they hope to distribute a million before election day. O'Neill is funding his own campaign with a budget of 4 thousand dollars! I would like to see that set as the standard for all political and judicial campaigns!

O'Neill is a multi-faceted person and has gone through tough emotional times and come out swinging and holding on to his ideals. Yellow Dog Sammy write about him here. 98% of what O'Neill is about excites me no end. But the remaining 2% is pretty "ugh." He supports teaching of both "Intelligent" Design and Evolution in the public schools. And he is anti-abortion. However, the abortion thing is evidently a personal ideology as he is pretty clear on establishing his willingness to follow the law of the land on women's reproductive choices. In YDS's blog, O'Neill kind of backs off the ID thing by saying he wants both issues to be taught so that students will be "thinkers." Problem is, ID is not about thought -- it's about faith, which has no place in a science class. I would like O'Neill to investigate the topic more thoroughly and get back to me on the ID issue. He can check out this link to Pharyngula and read about "Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal."

In the meantime, I'm encouraging everybody I know and don't know in the state of Ohio to vote for Bill O'Neill for Ohio Supreme court. The vast majority of his views -- I'm with him all the way. He's pro gay marriage and anti death penalty. Most important -- he wants the state of Ohio to follow the court's ruling on the unconstitutionality of the way public schools are funded. So I'm putting a link to his campaign here and on my blog roll. Check him out yourself. I have some of his fliers if anybody wants one. You can print them out for yourself here. Tell everybody you know. Wouldn't it be the most amazingly wonderful thing if a candidate could win a state wide election without taking money from the people he is supposed to serve?

Sherrod Brown vs Mike DeWine on Meet the Press

As readers here know, I endorsed Sherrod Brown for US Senate this past week, only to read the next day that he had voted for the "compromise" detainee act. I then read a bunch of angry blog postings from around the state and wrote my own angry blog entry. The next day, I heard Brown's explanation on the Ed Schultz show, and although not completely happy about it, I have some understanding why Brown voted as he did. Reason started to prevail over emotion and it was time to move on and look forward to the Meet the Press debate between Mike DeWine and Sherrod Brown.

The debate began with Mike DeWine refusing to use "cut and run" because he doesn't know what that means. This was DeWine at his most weasel-like moment. He cleverly inserted Hilary Clinton's name into the debate, implying that even she agreed with him. This was in reference to testimony from ex-military generals who said that leaving Iraq now would be a mistake. DeWine refused to set "an artifical date" for withdrawal. I don't understand why our politicians haven't learned the lessons from Viet Nam.

Brown did not do well at first on the question of what do we do now with troops in Iraq. Has anybody anywhere answered that question and given us a practical solution? Russert showed a poll result indicating that the majority of Iraqis want the US out of their country. I side with the Iraqi people. The question of civil war is one that they must deal with.

Body armor was a bone of contention. The format of the debate did not allow Brown to respond to Mike DeWine's claim that Brown voted against funding for body armor 5 times. Brown did say that he voted against an 87 billion dollar funding bill for the troops because the money was to go to Halliburton, and other big corps who would not have any accountability. So score one for Brown here. I'd like to see some truth in advertising on this issue somewhere. They both make claims against the other and the real facts get buried under all the noise.

Brown needs to work on answering questions directly. People are fed up with politicians side-stepping and ignoring questions in order to go off on their own tracks. I know it is easy to watch and criticize and very difficult to respond the perfect way in the heat of the debate, but I would encourage Brown to practice answering directly and THEN going on to make his own points.

Brown finally did come up with a good statement about the future in Iraq -- that the Iraqi people have no incentive to overcome their differences while the US remains there. Clearly, there needs to be a concerted effort from the rest of the world, not just the US and its raggle taggle consortium of yes-countries that rode into Iraq along with Bush.

Brown made a good point about the US losing its focus because of the Iraq situation. I think that he needs to keep hammering on the fact that DeWine has been in power and has failed to protect us. He also made excellent points on funding sources and who is backing DeWine.

DeWine tried to use Brown's vote against the Patriot Act as a negative, but sorry Mike -- that's one of the biggest reasons I have to vote for Brown.

Tax cuts were brought up but it resulted in a yelling match between the two candidates. I hope the next debate gives both candidates an opportunity to speak uninterrupted about their policies.

What is the election about? Brown tells us he will vote for Ohioans not for the president. The oil companies get everything they want, HMOs get everything they want.

DeWine attempted to blast Brown's voting record -- he's on the fringe. Gasp! He's on the left! Oh no! Then DeWine tried to bring up examples of how he has voted with Democrats on various export bills for the steel industry. Brown immediately pounced on that and told us that both bills were undercut by Bush and are no longer on the books. More responses like that please, Mr Brown!

As we know, in any election appearances have an effect upon the undecided voter, maybe even more so than political positions. As an acting coach, I paid attention to the surface impressions as well as the issues. Brown clearly is more good looking than DeWine and has a big advantage in physical appearance. He speaks well with his hands. I noticed that his hands often do gestures that indicate connection and joining rather than pointing and hammering. DeWine seems stuck on one hand bouncing up and down as he tries to make a point.

Mike DeWine's smile tends to appear at the most inconvenient moments, such as when responding to Russert's questions about Congressman Foley's improprieties with congressional pages. Brown's eyes dart about as he thinks, while DeWine's eyelids flutter absurdly. Brown took notes. DeWine didn't. Brown reached for the handshake first. Brown has a much pleasanter smile. Brown is not the most fluent speaker, but once he gets over a few hics and starts, he does get rolling. Does that come across as canned reponse? For those who are used to it, no. But how does that come across to the average Ohio voter? DeWine's fluttering eyelids and gulps when tring to make his points give him a weak and shifty appearance.

Physically, DeWine is not at all appealing. He looks like a gnome and sounds peevish. Brown has that gruff working class voice, even though he isn't at all working class. Brown came across as more passionate about the issues in terms of his constinuency. He consistantly referenced communities from every corner of Ohio. DeWine never did. DeWine's passion seemed more about staying in office rather than wanting to serve Ohioans. That's how it came across to me and I sure hope that any other undecided Ohio citizens saw that as well.

The Democratic Senate campaign did Brown a great service by airing their "The More We Get Together" commercial at the start of Meet the Press today. I looked for it online but couldn't find it to link to. When I do find it, I'll post it here. It takes a DeWine commercial about "working together" and points in a new direction. DeWine works with Bush 90+% of the time. Playing underneath the factual statements showing who DeWine works with (Big Oil, Bush, etc) we hear children singing "The more we work together, together, together...) It's very catchy and hilariously straight to the point. DeWine is clearly trying to use "bipartisanship" as a major selling point. This commercial undercuts that point in a memorable fashion. Hope it airs a lot!