Updating blog roll

February 5, 2014 — buckeyerino

It has been a long time since I last checked the links on my blogroll.  I have made changes.  Deletions from the blogroll were based on links that stopped working, links that redirected to a totally unrelated page, blogs that were blank, blogs that were password protected, or blogs that hadn’t added content in years.

If you own a website that was deleted and you would like it reinstated, you should probably include an explanation of why I found what I found when I clicked on your link.  If for example, your link was dead because you changed your URL, then I’d be happy to revisit my decision to delete.

After those deletions, I am looking to add to the blogroll.  I will be on the lookout for blogs that are Ohio-based and/or politics-based.  North central Ohio, like the counties along the Lake Erie shoreline between Cleveland and Toledo and a little further inland, is what I consider my home territory, for I have resided in Erie, Seneca, and Lorain counties (Franklin County, too, but plenty of blogs cover Columbus).  Huron, Sandusky, and Ottawa counties are of interest, too.  If you would like your blog added to my blogroll, give me a holler (my profile with email appears on the About page). As you know, I identify myself politically as being right-of-center (even though there are those who disbelieve my self-assessment).

On another note, I was stunned to see that WordPress had begun to place ads on my site.  I paid WordPress extra money just to keep my blog advertisement-free.  If you see ads crop up on Buckeye RINO, I’d appreciate it if you would let me know so that I can investigate.

For social networking, I have been using just Twitter, as I find it least annoying among social networking sites.  I once had Facebook and a few others, but I hated them, so I pulled the plug on them.  However, if readers have a social networking site that they want to recommend, let me know, and if you really think I should return to Facebook, I will entertain your arguments (but make them good, since I’ll be difficult to persuade).

Posted in Announcements, Political Blogosphere. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

. . . And the walls come tumbling down!

December 4, 2010 — buckeyerino

Our economy is a house of cards. Our dollar isn’t backed by gold. It’s fiat money. It’s worth is determined by how much confidence the world has in it. If confidence in the dollar is destroyed, so is the dollar. It just becomes worthless paper at that point.

The politicians in DC and the cheaters on Wall Street and the Chicago Democratic Party machine have brought us to the brink of collapse. The bailouts have done nothing to strengthen the house of cards. Keep mounting card on top of card, and, at some point, the house of cards must fall. It must. So long as there are laws of physics it must fall. Our economy will topple. The only question is when. Which card will be the final one that the other cards can support? Which card will be the one that brings the
walls tumbling down?

Is your family prepared to survive through an economic collapse? I saw a big storm coming back in September 2008, and I think it’s here. Maybe it can be staved off until 2012. I definitely think we cannot get past 2014. But maybe it hits us this month.

Sure, we just elected Republicans to take control of the US House of Representatives, and the two major parties now have checks and balances that will prevent extreme partisan agendas from becoming the law of the land . . . in January, that is. The new Congress takes office in January. But maybe the collapse will occur much sooner than 2014. Maybe much sooner than 2012. It might happen this month. Despite the elections, it’s just too late. The wheels are already in motion. All the Democrats, all the Republicans, even all the Libertarians, all the Greens, all of the Constitution Party, all of the Socialist Party, cannot stop what’s already in motion. It’s a bigger mess than we can handle.

If we suffer a total and complete collapse, all your dollars in your bank accounts become worthless, despite any FDIC guarantees.

Therefore, I hope you have supplies already on hand for your family to depend upon if the worst comes to pass. Right now, you may be holiday shopping, and the sales figures seem to be better than expected, as, perhaps, some consumers have so much pent-up desire to shop that they just can’t keep a lid on it anymore. That’s okay. You might as well shop for tangible items right now if the dollar is going to be worthless later. But while you’re doing that shopping (if you’re one of the fortunate ones who still has an income in this economy), make sure you’ve got at least enough necessities on hand to last your household for at least a month. If you can stash away lots more supplies so that you can be self-sustaining for longer than a month, by all means do so. Preparedness can mitigate your feelings of vulnerability when a crisis arises.

I worry about what predicament our deployed troops might find themselves in if our government becomes insolvent, the financial industry is wiped out, and the currency loses all its value.

There are two things in the news that may possibly cause the dam to break this month. The first is the lame-duck Congress, ramming through the rest of the ill-advised uber-liberal agenda in desperation as the clock ticks down and this session ends.

The second is WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks supposedly has 10,000 pages of documents that they are preparing for posting on the web, and the USA’s financial sector will be the object of the expose.

We saw how WikiLeaks caused a scramble at the Pentagon when documents from the war in Iraq were splashed online. After that, the US Department of State was hit by an earthquake that not only may have irreparably harmed our relations with all other nations, but the field of diplomacy, itself, in every country, is now standing outside naked in a cold winter. If WikiLeaks can derail diplomacy worldwide with just a few documents, what could it do to our financial sector?

I think the documents about the financial sector will be so damaging that all confidence in it will be lost. The collapse here will then cascade all over the globe. The worst hit will be Europe. Europe is already teetering. Africa will be in dire straits because so many of those nations only squeak by because of foreign aid. The Far East owns so much of our national debt, they’ll take a big hit. South America might actually weather the storm the best.

Iceland, the first to become insolvent, and Greece the most recent to become insolvent, are relatively small nations in Europe, but when their governments finally scraped the bottom of the barrel and there was no more money there, it had destabilizing effects on the Euro.

Now it’s Ireland’s turn. Ireland denied for weeks and weeks that they were the next to follow in the footsteps of Iceland and Greece, yet it is coming to pass. The politicians in Ireland who are to blame for it all simply wanted to stay in power as long as they possibly could, thus they tried to pull the wool over the eyes of the Irish as long as they could. Sorry, but the crisis is too big to hide. The European Union is coming up with a plan to put Humpty Dumpty together again with the help of the IMF. It still might not be enough, and Europe will teeter on the brink, the Euro imperiled.

Portugal will likely be next. Their politicians are denying that their government will become insolvent, too. If the rescue of Ireland doesn’t crash Europe, maybe Portugal will.

And after Portugal, Spain is suspect. The politicians of Spain are in denial, also. If Europe managed to hold things together during Portugal’s implosion, that’ll be the end of the line. Once Spain implodes, forget it. The Euro is dead, and the European Union is in a shambles. The more solvent nations will retreat back to within their own borders, because they’ll be hard-pressed to meet the demands of their own public, let alone the demands from elsewhere. When America falls, though, not even the most solvent European nations will be spared the bloodletting.

The IMF won’t be of any help, as its chief backing comes from the United States.

If the United Nations weren’t reeling enough from the WikiLeaks targeting the U.S. State Department, it’s biggest donor, the United States, will no longer be able to fulfill its financial commitments to the U.N. The U.N., itself, hasn’t ever had its financial house in order, so they’ll easily buckle under the weight of the wreckage.

Of course the politicians in Washington DC are just as much in denial about the coming collapse as the politicians in Ireland, Portugal, and Spain are. For one thing, they are complicit in our economy’s troubles, so they really don’t want to believe that it will crash, because then everyone will know it was their fault, and from there, power will slip away from them.

The incoming Congressional Republicans are thinking, “OK, now we can get to work and make things better.” They are naive. It’s already out of their hands. They will be so utterly dumbfounded when everything falls apart. “What? How did it happen so quickly? Just when we were about to make a difference for the better with our best-laid plans, it’s a moot point because we’ve already crashed!”

Obama’s Chicago White House may have been planning to bring about this disaster. What? Sabotage? Yes. The liberals he hobnobbed with in Chicago weren’t your run-of-the-mill latte-sippers. Remember Bill Ayers? He’s only one person. There are many others who have programmed this President to sail this course. These are people who have always clamored for a revolution to overthrow the American government and the Constitution that upholds it.

Some of the wonks in Obama’s close circles have clamored for such things as:

  1. using the “green energy” push to accomplish Marxist objectives of redistributing wealth (“economic justice”);
  2. zero population growth, or perhaps even phasing in a depopulation of the planet;
  3. having a domestic military force that could perform security policing of our citizenry not unlike that of the policing our Armed Forces do on foreign soil, such as in Iraq and Afghanistan;
  4. writing a Constitution that would spell out what the government can and will do for you rather than the current Constitution, which states what the government cannot do, thus replacing limitations with bold initiatives;
  5. use the urban public schools to groom the urban youth to become the watchdogs of political correctness and become a massive voting bloc that will support progressive causes (Bill Ayers, himself, advocated for such “education reforms.”);
  6. denuclearize America so it can set the example for other nations to denuclearize, be the vanguard of peace, send no one out to foreign battlefields, and drastically reduce our military;
  7. use the persuasion of power in manipulating the American public if the power of persuasion doesn’t yield the desired effect;
  8. collaborate with the arts community and the media to amplify the desired message, and discredit sources of dissent;
  9. workers of the world unite to usher in a world government guided by the proletariat;
  10. never let a crisis go to waste, as each crisis must serve to consolidate power, and carefully and intentionally orchestrating the emergence of crises may be very desirable if doing so serves to make the public feel more vulnerable and, by extension, dependent on leadership;
  11. shape public opinion with astroturf if grassroots support for the desired agenda is weak, since those who dissent will feel powerless and offer less resistance if they are made to believe they are in the minority;
  12. it is acceptable to overthrow the government if it interferes with the propagation of progressive principles and policies.

There are other radical ideas bandied about within the circles of Chicago political power, but these give you some flavor of the voices that influence the White House.

On that last point, about government overthrow: it can be accomplished through a quisling that is able to consolidate power, through a manipulation of public sentiment, through gaming the system, through martial law, through weakening the power of the people, through violence (Bill Ayers, again), or through scrapping the existing system of governance by causing it to collapse.

I believe the Chicago White House is advancing on all of those fronts.

I’d like to credit the State of Ohio Blogger Alliance (SOB Alliance) for raising the red flags of warning back in 2008 before the presidential election took place. Many of those on the SOB Alliance blogroll posted a 13-part series collectively titled HOPE ON (Help Ohio Prevent Electing Obama Now). There were detractors that insisted that the HOPE ON series was over-the-top propaganda, but re-reading those posts now, especially the ones dealing with economics, the HOPE ON series has hit the nail on the head.

HOPE ON part 1 Obama is part of the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac problem
HOPE ON part 2 Obama’s reluctance to drill
HOPE ON part 3 Above Obama’s pay grade
HOPE ON part 4 Can the other side of the aisle even be reached from where Obama is?
HOPE ON part 5 Obama requested $740 million in earmarks
HOPE ON part 6 Obama’s stances ill-defined when voting “present”
HOPE ON part 7 Obama not inspiring our trust
HOPE ON part 8 What are Obama’s intentions for the middle class
HOPE ON part 9 Measure Obama and McCain by their character
HOPE ON part 10 Obama will tax us
HOPE ON part 11 What would Ronald Reagan do?
HOPE ON part 12 Obama isn’t just liberal–he’s extremely liberal
HOPE ON part 13 McCain the real deal

Some excerpts that stand out in my mind:

Part 8: Obama has attempted to portray himself as the champion of the middle class, but the windfall profits taxes and the high-bracket income tax increases proposed by Obama will backfire in the form of rising unemployment as the government dampens earning power, not just of individuals, but of employers as well.

Part 10: Obama talk of federal initiatives and taxes make it sound as if the government creates wealth, but the government doesn’t. The people create the wealth of the nation, and tax policy must reflect that, but Obama’s principles don’t even acknowledge that.

Part 12: The Citizens Club for Growth rated Obama tied for last place with a zero rating in Obama’s first year in [U.S. Senate] office.

Part 13:  Obama has revealed himself to be a socialist. We now have the smoking gun. Now that he’s been pinned down, his counter-argument is that McCain’s platform is based on “selfishness,” which is hardly the way I’d describe John McCain when the chips are down.

Also Part 13:  It’s now been shown that Obama’s reluctant shift toward an all-of-the-above approach toward energy was just a sham, as it’s now come out that the regulatory burden to be imposed on the coal industry during an Obama presidency will be prohibitive. How many more industries, not just in the energy sector, could be impacted by regulatory burdens imposed by Obama remains to be seen.

More part 13:  Obama’s views on education reform aren’t directed at learning or achieving academic success. As shown by his work with Bill Ayers, “social justice” is to be the ultimate imperative that the schools are charged with achieving.

What strikes me about the excerpt from Part 8 is that, indeed, we have higher unemployment than anyone had projected, and Obama’s highly complicated tax proposal presented to the Congress ensures that the government’s regulatory burden upon businesses will only increase, plus, of course, he still wants the taxes to be raised on the very people who are more likely to be business owners, and, in turn, businesses are the very entity that hires workers and brings our unemployment rates down.

The excerpt from Part 10 shows that Obama’s government is very heavy-handed and intrusive. We know that government does not create wealth, but that’s exactly what Obama’s meddling with. Government does not make people healthy, but the government is meddling there, too. The rhetoric loftily asserts that we now have a government who will work on your behalf, that will no longer allow problems to be swept under the rug. Aren’t we all just happy that our government will no longer turn a blind eye to anything? Ooh! Big Brother sees what you’re going through and is here to help. Big Brother will interfere (no, not intervene, I chose the right word: interfere) on your behalf. The funny thing is, I don’t think the main motive for transforming our government into Big Brother is to spy on us. I suspect that they are trying to grow the government big enough to collapse the system so that is is scrapped and can then be replaced with a system of their own design.

The Part 12 excerpt about Obama’s voting record during his first year in the U.S. Senate speaks volumes about where we find ourselves today. How far have we come since then? Back then, he stood for zero growth. Now it’s less than zero. His radical philosophy prevents him from wanting to sustain our employment base.

To placate the citizens, of course Obama’s going to say, with his mouth, that he wants to put people back to work. He’s putting obstacle after obstacle in the way of putting people back to work, so we need to wake up and realize there is another agenda afoot. Obama’s agenda is not a jobs agenda.

If Obama’s agenda were a jobs agenda, he wouldn’t:

  • be pushing for Cap and Trade
  • on top of Obamacare
  • on top of a more complicated tax code
  • on top of a tax hike
  • on top of extending unemployment benefits
  • on top of confusion at the Federal Reserve
  • on top of bailouts for America’s least successful most unethical companies
  • on top of subsidies for industries that aren’t sustainable
  • on top of a Dream Act that will add incentives for additional foreign nationals to immigrate here illegally
  • on top of a moratorium on tapping additional oil and coal energy resources
  • on top of compensating government employees better than the private sector does
  • on top of letting SEIU union leaders shape economic policy
  • on top of continued dysfunction at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
  • on top of a mind-boggling budget deficit
  • on top of an unfathomable national debt.

That’s not how you create jobs. That’s how you collapse the system!

The first excerpt from Part 13 includes a link to the radio interview in which Obama emphasizes “economic justice,” which is a progressive’s euphemistic jargon for the rise of the proletariat A.K.A communism.

On energy, in the 20d excerpt of Part 13, the timing of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was impeccable. We knew that Obama wasn’t sold on the all-of-the-above approach to energy, and now he can smile like a Cheshire cat that he has the most perfect of excuses for continuing our dependence on foreign oil and subsidizing “green” fuel technologies that are money pits because none of them are on the pathway toward self-sustainability. If you want to help Americans, especially during the expensive winter heating season, stop throwing up obstacles to getting the cheapest most reliable domestic sources of energy. The agenda is collapsing the system. Everything points to it.

And from the final excerpt of Part 13, it appears that the Ayers-propelled education reforms will, once implemented, groom the youth for their role in the new system that replaces the collapsed one.

The WikiLeaks website founder is on the run right now. He’s given the ultimatum that if he is taken into custody, all the documents at WikiLeaks will instantly go public. That could happen any day now, and Mr. Assange of WikiLeaks will be the “fall guy” whose infamy will be forever memorialized in history books as the one who precipitated the crash of the world’s economy.

When we reach the “What do we do next?” phase when we’re all shell-shocked and feeling vulnerable, Obama, as President of the United States of America, will set forth a new blueprint, the likes of which we’ve never seen before, and when he does, we will finally come to understand what his meaning of the word “transformation” is.

Posted in International Politics, National Politics, Political Blogosphere, Politics in the MSM. Tags: , , , . 6 Comments »

ORP has the wrong approach to primaries

February 5, 2010 — buckeyerino

At Kyle Sisk’s blog, Ben Keeler (of Keeler Political Report) has written a very thought-provoking guest post urging Republicans to close ranks behind Mike DeWine’s candidacy for Ohio Attorney General.  It’s so thought provoking that I wanted to share the many thoughts it provoked.  Due to some glitch, or, I don’t know what, I wasn’t able to post my thoughts there, so, for a change of pace, I’ll reproduce my thoughts here.  First, let me point to my prior posts about Mike DeWine and my beef with the ORP here, here, and here.  For good measure let me also reference a prior post wherein I report on a conversation I had with Kevin DeWine at a Lincoln Day Dinner (wanna go to a Lincoln Day Dinner?)  in Erie County back in 2008.

Here’s an excerpt of what Keeler has to say about the Ohio Auditor race, with Yost being handed the ORP’s endorsement for the primary:

” . . . people got mad and felt “betrayed” by Yost for switching races! Let me tell you something, Dave Yost did what any politician would have done.  Why, tell me, would have he stayed in the race for AG given the opportunity that fell in his lap?  “Hey, I can lose my primary race for AG, piss off a lot of important party members in the process, but my few loyal Facebook supporters will still be happy with me!” Hell no.  He did the smart thing for his career – he took the state backing for the Auditor’s race, and he will likely be the nominee this fall.  Not only did he help himself, but he helped the party out of a jam.  He did, however, subject himself to a few blog posts calling him a traitor.  I think he’ll live.”

Here’s an excerpt of how Keeler views the Ohio Attorney General race between Mike DeWine and Richard Cordray:

“DeWine is a better choice than Cordray for AG.  He can self-fund the race and along with his fundraising network, valuable dollars can be allotted to other races that have huge future ramifications for the state. Cordray will be forced to spend money on his own race as opposed to giving it away to other key contests.  Mike DeWine is more conservative than Cordray, even if he is opposed to Joe Blow owning an AK-47 to hunt rabbits.  Do you think Team Cordray would have rather faced DeWine or Yost?  If you answered “Yost” then either you are a) a liar, B) delusional or C) a combination thereof.  Instead of blasting him, we should be happy that a former two term senator wants to run for another statewide office and risk personal prestige and personal money in the process and win the office back for our party.”

Those of you who pay attention to my sidebar wherein I offer some explanation of why I’m referred to as a RINO may be wondering why I won’t back Mike DeWine.  And if you read that Kevin DeWine post, you may be mystified why someone who views the GOP as a big tent party is upset with the ORP for including Mike DeWine on the statewide slate.  Some may think I’m being hypocritical and inconsistent.  Therefore, I hope my following response helps demystify why I am supporting Seth Morgan, not  David Yost, for Ohio Auditor, why I am supporting Richard Cordray, not Mike DeWine, for Attorney General, and why I’m angry at the ORP.

I think of the GOP as a big tent party.  I don’t apply a purity test to candidates.  I voted for Pierce in the Senate primary of 2006, but voted for DeWine in the general election because I knew that he was a better choice than Sherrod Brown.

I voted for Jeannette Bradley in the Treasurer primary in 2006.  I felt she’d always been a good steward of the public’s trust when she’d held executive positions, so I didn’t buy into Sandy O’Brien’s argument that Bradley should have passed some litmus test on issues irrelevant to being a treasurer.  Nevertheless, in the fall, I voted for O’Brien over Cordray. O’Brien’s uncheckered tenure as Ashtabula County Auditor was sufficient to assure me she was up to the treasurer’s job, while Cordray was being the political opportunist that he is, because his career ambition is to be a politician, first and foremost.

I vote for the person, not the party.  I most often vote Republican, but I’ve voted for minor party candidates, I’ve voted for independent candidates, and I’ve even voted for Democrats.  With each matchup of candidates, I weigh the person in the balance. I weigh each alternative choice on the ballot.  I always vote in contested races.  I only leave races blank on my ballot if it’s an uncontested race and I don’t approve of the unopposed candidate.  I don’t give the Republican Party carte blanche to dictate how I’ll vote.

If Mike DeWine were running for Secretary of State against O’Shaughnessy, a person who seems likely to aid and abet the shenanigans of ACORN-type organizations every bit as much as Brunner did, I’d support Mike DeWine.

But that’s not the situation.

If Dave Yost had opposed Richard Cordray for Attorney General, I would have supported Yost because of his experience as a prosecutor that Cordray lacks.

But that’s not the situation.

With Yost in the Auditor race, his qualifications fall short of that of Seth Morgan, CPA.  I support Morgan.  If Yost wins the nomination over Morgan, I’ll support Yost against Pepper, but I don’t want Yost to win the nomination.  I want Morgan to win it.  Yost has prior experience as an auditor at the Delaware County level.  Pepper is not qualified in any way shape or form to be auditor.

Because of Mike DeWine’s wrongheaded views on the 2nd Amendment, he is, in my opinion, unfit for offices within the judicial branch, and he’s also unfit for Ohio Attorney General.  I can’t just sweep this issue under the rug in an Attorney General race.  It’s relevant.  Richard Cordray at least respects our 2nd Amendment rights.  To me, the decision is clearly cut-and-dried.  Cordray is the better AG candidate.

I am, of course, galled that the ORP cleared the primary for DeWine.  I think Yost had even more potential to win the nomination against DeWine than O’Brien did against Bradley back in 2006.  Even if Yost hadn’t won the nomination, he would have increased his name recognition for a future run for AG, because Mike DeWine will lose to Cordray whether or not DeWine has a contested primary.  If DeWine couldn’t prevail against the likes of Sherrod Brown, I see no way for him to pull this one out against Cordray.  Cordray is far more palatable than Sherrod Brown ever was.

I am also galled that the ORP doesn’t sit on the sidelines during contested primaries and trust the decisions about nominees that Republican primary voters will make.  The ORP acts like we don’t know what’s in our best interests, so they will make the decision for us.  That’s wrong! WRONG!!!!!  I think it’s wrong for the ORP to do everything within its power to squelch the campaigns of the likes of Ganley, O’Brien, and Morgan.  If Portman, Husted, and Yost really were the best candidates for those positions, the ORP shouldn’t have to resort to such malicious tactics.  Therefore, either the ORP doesn’t trust its own voters, or, for their own purposes apart from that of the voters, they wish to foist endorsed candidates upon us that aren’t as good as the unendorsed candidates.  Either way, the ORP is fully deserving of the scorn heaped upon it.

Posted in Political Blogosphere, State Politics. Tags: , . 11 Comments »

Democrat corruption: It’s not just a Cuyahoga County thing

February 3, 2010 — buckeyerino

Athens County, Ohio, home of Ohio University, is on a much smaller scale than Cuyahoga County.  Nonetheless, they’ve had to do some corruption-purging among Athens County Democrats.  Don’t make too much noise about it though, because they might charge you with defaming their character in a lawsuit, as former Athens County Democrat Party chair Susan Gwinn has threatened against Nate Nelson, an OU student.

Nate Nelson is blogging about this at From the Rust Belt:

http://fromtherustbelt.wordpress.com/2010/02/03/gwinn-threatens-ou-student-with-libel-suit/

Back in November 2009, he ran a story about  Susan Gwinn at Nate Uncensored that was linked by Michelle Malkin, highly esteemed conservative blogger with a national following.

For more of the back story, Southeastern Ohio Conservative Thoughts has an archive about Gwinn.

There’s even more complete Susan Gwinn coverage at Athens Runaway.

Posted in Local Politics, Political Blogosphere, State Politics. Tags: , , . Leave a Comment »

[UPDATE] How do illegal immigrants register vehicles?

February 3, 2010 — buckeyerino

Well, for awhile, Ohio was facilitating vehicle registration for illegal immigrants to the United States of America.  And it happened on Strickland’s watch.

We’ve known about this for awhile now.  I hadn’t blogged about it before, but it’s been blogged about at:

Collecting My Thoughts: http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2009/09/governor-stricklands-illegal-immigrant.html

Right Ohio: http://www.rightohio.com/2009/11/02/strickland-administration-grants-illegal-immigrants-now-illegals-are-panicked-that-laws-might-be-enforced/

and

Kyle Sisk: http://kylesisk.typepad.com/sisker/2009/09/ted-stricklands-new-program-driving-privileges-for-who-the-hell-knows.html

Well, now actual numbers are rolling in to quantify just how bad the problem is.  Kyle Sisk has added these blog posts that will make your head hurt:

http://kylesisk.typepad.com/sisker/2010/02/hay-caramba-less-than-6-you-have-got-to-be-kidding-me.html

http://kylesisk.typepad.com/sisker/2010/02/the-inspector-generals-report-on-stricklands-handpicked-director-continued.html

http://kylesisk.typepad.com/sisker/2010/02/central-ohio-drivers-here-is-some-info-you-might-want-to-know.html

[UPDATE 2/5/2010] Kyle Sisk wasn’t finished with his coverage of these illegal hijinks.  There’s more:

http://kylesisk.typepad.com/sisker/2010/02/either-ron-obrien-or-the-ohio-senate-must-investigate-stricklands-plategate.html

http://kylesisk.typepad.com/sisker/2010/02/playing-nostradamus-with-the-strickland-administration-investigation.html

http://kylesisk.typepad.com/sisker/2010/02/why-plunderbund-is-wrong-re-their-take-on-the-strickland-administration-investigation.html

Posted in National Politics, Political Blogosphere, State Politics. Tags: , , . 1 Comment »

ORP pushing Yost around to clear AG primary for Mike DeWine

January 23, 2010 — buckeyerino

With a heavy-handed top-down approach, the ORP wants to force-feed former U.S. Senator Mike DeWine to you as the GOP nominee for Ohio Attorney General.

Yes, this is the former U.S. Senator who lost to a liberal Democrat, Sherrod Brown, in 2006.  For the record, neither I nor my family members voted for DeWine in the GOP primary of 2006.  William Pierce and David Smith were both more palatable than DeWine.

In the general election for U.S. Senate in 2006, yes, we voted for DeWine and not Sherrod Brown.

This year, though, if Mike DeWine is the GOP nominee, my family members will be voting for Richard Cordray. Richard Cordray.  Let me say that again, because I know that there are some bloggers with a long memory, especially on the left side of the aisle that know I’ve taken jabs at Richard Cordray in the past.  Richard Cordray.

If David Yost, who has served as Delaware County Prosecutor, is on the GOP primary ballot, my family will be voting for Yost.  If Yost is the GOP nominee for AG in the fall, my family will support Yost.

The Republican Party of a few Ohio counties have made endorsements in the AG race already.  So far, those counties have all weighed in on the side of David Yost, including Huron County’s GOP.  None have endorsed DeWine.  Kevin DeWine, a cousin of Mike DeWine, is the chair of the Ohio Republican Party, and it is readily apparent that he is his cousin’s crony because he is doing everything he can to muscle David Yost out of the GOP primary for AG to clear the way for Mike DeWine to be unopposed in the primary.

But let me say it again, if Mike DeWine is the nominee, my family will be voting for Richard Cordray.  I know this because I’ve already had this discussion with my family numerous times.

Boy, will I be eating a lot of crow if I’m endorsing Richard Cordray for AG this fall, but better to eat crow than to vote for Mike DeWine as AG.

And here’s a simple message to Mike DeWine so that he understands at least one principle:  A candidate’s views on the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution are, indeed, relevant to making a choice about who should be our next Ohio Attorney General.  Sorry, but this is an issue that cannot be swept under the rug or overlooked in an AG race.

Besides the cronyism on full display by ORP chair Kevin DeWine, I suspect that other Washington DC insiders, like Rob Portman and John Kasich, may be complicit in the maneuverings that blocked Mary Taylor from running for U.S. Senate, or even Ohio Auditor, in order to bait a trap for David Yost (who has also served as a Delaware County Auditor) to abandon the Attorney General race and place him in the Ohio Auditor race.

When it comes to the Ohio Auditor race, the ORP dropped the ball.  There was a vacuum for the space of a few days.  The vacuum can’t remain empty.  So Seth Morgan, currently a state rep, declared his candidacy for Ohio Auditor.  The most persuasive argument Mary Taylor made during her campaign for Ohio Auditor in 2006, was that she was eminently qualified for the job, because she was an actual CPA.  Seth Morgan is also a CPA, and, though he got a late start due to Kasich’s meddling, Morgan can tout that credential as the trump card in the race against the Democrat nominee.

So, to the ORP, don’t bother with recruiting an Auditor candidate now.  That problem has already been taken care of.  You had the chance, but you fumbled the ball, and Seth Morgan recovered it.

If Seth Morgan and David Yost face off in a primary for Auditor, I will be endorsing Seth Morgan for Auditor.  The CPA credential is a persuasive one.  But I’d also have to endorse Morgan to punish the ham-handedness of the ORP in trying to pull everyone’s strings.

Am I a lone voice in the wilderness?  A solitary blogger in pajamas?  According to the counties that endorsed so far for AG, no, I’m not alone.  My views on this matter are widely held among the grassroots.  Furthermore, for your reading pleasure, I’d like to plug the following blog articles:

At Weapons of Mass Discussion:  The Fight for the Very Soul of the ORP

At BizzyBlog:  Kevin DeWine, Screwing Up A Perfectly Perfect Storm . . .

At Buckeye Firearms Association: Ohio GOP chair Kevin DeWine attempts to clear path for anti-gun cousin Mike’s return to power

At From the Rust Belt, three posts:  1) Kevin DeWine: Let’s Snatch Defeat From the Jaws of Victory; 2) An Establishment Blog Sides With . . . The Establishment; and 3) Ohio Rages Against the Machine

Some say it would take a bozo of a GOP chair to screw up statewide elections this time around.  We may just have a bozo on our hands.  We shall see.

Posted in Political Blogosphere, State Politics. Tags: , . 14 Comments »

Take back our country in this year’s elections

January 7, 2010 — buckeyerino

Watch.

Posted in National Politics, Political Blogosphere. Tags: , . Leave a Comment »

[UPDATE]Civil trial before federal judge to be “YouTubed”–on trial: California’s Prop 8

January 7, 2010 — buckeyerino

Ah, the wonders of the world wide web . . . in this case, YouTube.

In the November 2008 elections, not only were Presidential candidates on the ballot in California, so was Proposition 8.  Proposition 8 sought to affirm that lawful marriage in California would be reserved for matrimonially joining one woman with one man.  Voters approved the measure.  Those opposed to the measure are apparently still miffed at “democracy” spelled with a little “d,” and have made numerous attempts to do an end run around voters and the fundamentals of American governance.

Among the latest attempts to circumvent democracy, those opposed to California’s Proposition 8 are in the process of litigating the measure as a civil matter in a federal court where one judge (no jury) will decide the case.   In an unprecedented move, U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker has ruled that courtroom proceedings will be recorded on video for display on YouTube.  (All the handier for harvesting sound bites out of context, don’t you think?  After all, who’d stare glassy-eyed at a computer monitor for hours upon hours watching courtroom YouTube clips to wrap their heads around the full scope and context of everything presented at trial?)

Michelle Malkin points out, in her blog post on the upcoming trial, that the move to YouTube the trial may be an attempt to intimidate witnesses that might be called to testify.

My advice to Prop 8 supporters who will be testifying:  Don’t let the opposing side sucker you into their straw man arguments wherein religion is the bogeyman.  Don’t let them turn this trial into a referendum on religion.  The opposing side has attempted to use that trick to sidetrack debating the real issue time after time.  As I’ve argued in a prior blog entry here at Buckeye RINO, one can be an atheist who subscribes to Darwinian evolution and still see the wisdom of withholding state recognition of same-sex “marriages.”

Of course, I’m not surprised that the opposing side is pushing for video coverage.  I’ve noted the opposing side’s double-speak before, when they’ve said that they want the government to stay out of bedrooms yet their actions demonstrate that they really want to parade their bedroom activity in full public view.

I suppose we could be thankful that the liberal left will only be presenting us with a courtroom video and not a bedroom video.

UPDATE 1/11/10: At least for the near future, the Supreme Court has blocked cameras from the courtroom for this trial.

Posted in National Politics, Political Blogosphere. Tags: , . 1 Comment »

Consider running for office in 2010

November 25, 2009 — buckeyerino

Up in arms over the direction your county is headed in?  Up in arms over the direction the state is headed in?  Up in arms over the direction our nation is headed in?  I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if that’s the case.

Wonder what you can do about it besides contacting your elected officials, attending civic meetings, signing petitions, voting, and rallying for causes?

You could run for office in 2010!  Despite all our gripes about elected officials, how many times do we see unopposed candidates on our ballots?  Far too often!  Voters need choices on ballots!

For many races, the eligibility rules for candidates aren’t all that complicated, especially legislative races, where citizenship, residency, and voter registration are often the only criteria for eligibility.  Don’t automatically suppose you wouldn’t be qualified to run.  There’s an excellent chance you’re eligible for a great many positions.  The Ohio Secretary of State webpage can be a starting point for checking on candidacy requirements and deadlines.  Some of the pointers I shared about launching a candidacy for municipal offices apply to running for county, state, and federal offices, too.

Don’t know much about running a campaign?  Phil Van Treuren, who ran a successful campaign this year, has a blog titled “Killer Campaigning,” which is very thought-provoking.  I bet you’ll find highly useful information there.  Start with this important advice about consulting family about a potential candidacy, then feel free to absorb the remainder of the blog’s articles thereafter.  Thanksgiving is a time for families to gather.  That’s a great opportunity to discuss launching a campaign with family members.  December’s holidays are also great opportunities to further communicate with family about launching an election bid.

On the ballot for next year:

  • Judicial branch: county court, state appellate court, and state Supreme Court judge positions
  • Legislative branch: county commissioner, some state school board seats, all state rep seats, odd-numbered state senate district seats, all seats for U.S. House of Representatives, and a U.S. Senate seat
  • Executive branch: county auditor, Ohio governor and lieutenant governor, Ohio Secretary of State, Ohio Treasurer, Ohio Auditor, and Ohio Attorney General

I’m hoping voters are swamped with choices next year.  Please consider putting your name on the ballot.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted in Local Politics, National Politics, Political Blogosphere, State Politics. Tags: , , , . 9 Comments »

As climate change negotiations approach in Copenhagen . . .

November 19, 2009 — buckeyerino

The following gruesome photos (below the fold) have gone viral on the internet, and have even made their way into my email inbox.  I tried to check the website cited on the pics, but I don’t read Arabic, so I reached a dead end. I also googled the photos and found them posted at numerous websites that advocate against eating meat.

Are the photos real?  Are they doctored in any way?  Are they photoshopped?  Is it a complete hoax?

They are purported to be photos of a ritual slaughter of Risso dolphins and pilot whales at a harbor in the sparsely populated archipelago of the Faeroe Islands, ruled by Denmark, the nation that will soon be hosting a global summit on saving the planet through creation of a new climate change regime. Purportedly, these marine mammals are used for food, but, allegedly, much more “food” is harvested than is actually consumed. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in International Politics, Political Blogosphere. Tags: , . 1 Comment »

Criminals sponsor gambling? No way! . . . umm, YES way, hello . . . wake up, people . . .

October 25, 2009 — buckeyerino

Dan Gilbert, the Michigan resident who, if Issue 3 passes, would be allowed to own and operate Ohio casinos while Ohioans would be forbidden from doing the same, is trying to whitewash his past.  Gilbert saw to it that an illegal bookie operation during his college days was expunged from his record.  In a Plain Dealer story, he said what he did back then was “dumb,” but since then, he’s had that criminal record fixed.  No harm done, right?

Jeff Jacobs, a would-be rival who covets an opportunity to own a casino of his own, was quoted by the PD saying:

“It’s one thing if your youthful indiscretion is a barroom brawl.  It is another if you caused a college student to be so fearful that he goes to the police, who end up wearing an undercover wire just to shut your illegal bookmaking down.”

Sobering observation about Dan Gilbert’s past, don’t you think?

Left-of-center blog Plunderbund has heavily discounted the notion that any noticeable increase in crime will materialize if Issue 3 passes.  If you click over to Eric’s blog entry on the matter, be sure to scroll down to the comments section, where I’ve pointed out that it’s a matter of historical record that the gambling industry and crime have a symbiotic relationship with each other.  The opportunity to launder money via casinos greatly facilitates organized crime.  Who first conceived of the notion of operating casinos in Las Vegas?  A criminal.

Quite frankly, Issue 3 backers are already demonstrating that they can run circles around law enforcement efforts.  So far, a solitary individual in Cincinnati, as a former employee of a company formerly contracted by Issue 3 backers, has been charged in an absentee voting fraud scheme.  But while there may be closure on the horizon in that Hamilton County case, Franklin County still has to get a handle on absentee voting irregularities within its jurisdiction.  And let’s not forget the dead voters who signed Issue 3 petitions, because Erie County, among others, has yet to get a handle on that, too.  These are clear demonstrations Ohio’s communities just don’t have the means to police the casinos proposed by Issue 3, I don’t care what Ohio’s FOP says to the contrary.

The leaders of the Republican Caucus in the Ohio House of Representatives, state reps William Batchelder and Louis Blessing, Jr., on Friday, released the following statement to the press:

Background Checks Needed with Advent of Casinos

Issue 3 may open floodgates for criminals without proper regulations

COLUMBUS—House Republican Leader William G. Batchelder of Medina, today announced his commitment to safeguarding casino licenses and preventing individuals who have committed crimes in the past from obtaining a casino license, if Issue 3 is approved by voters this November.

“If Issue 3 passes, the General Assembly has an obligation to ensure that the Casino Control Commission carefully screens applicants who want to own and run the Ohio casinos and makes sure that licenses are not granted to anyone with serious gambling infractions in their past,’’ Batchelder said. “Many other states ask applicants about past gambling charges, even if they have been later expunged or overturned on appeal. This industry is highly regulated for a reason, and Ohio should not bow to pressure and adopt regulations that are lower than industry standards.’’

As per Section 3770.051 of the Ohio Revised Code, the director of the State Lottery Commission must request the criminal records of any vendor with whom the commission is considering entering into a contract, to protect the integrity of the state’s online gaming system or instant ticket system. Batchelder seeks to extend a variation of this law to apply to Ohio casinos, should the issue pass a public vote.

“It is prudent that policymakers work together to ensure there are safeguards in place such as background checks, so that anyone with a criminal record cannot apply for a license to operate casino in Ohio,” Batchelder said. “I can remember the Ohio Lottery suffering from scandal in the early 1970s caused by the lack of safeguards.   Clearly defined rules and regulations on something as vague as gambling are necessary to prevent the dismal mistakes of the past.  I urge my legislative colleagues to come together to proactively work and prevent the potential abuse that could come from Issue 3.”

Assistant Republican Leader Louis Blessing Jr. of Cincinnati, who is an opponent to Issue 3, stated the following: “A review of other state standards suggests that criminals would likely be denied a casino license in other states. The cavalier attitude that individuals with similar pasts, who apply for a license here in Ohio tells me they think previous mistakes are just college pranks. This is another reason why we need to know the identity of all of the investors. If the main financial backer can’t get a license, can their partners? We have no idea because he refuses to list the other investors.’’

Other states have similar laws that serve to uphold the integrity of the state casino system. According to Blessing’s research, Pennsylvania regulators ask casino applicants to list all ‘offenses or charges,’ even if the charges were later dismissed, or downgraded.

In Indiana, applicants are asked whether they have ever been ‘arrested, detained, charged, indicted, convicted, received pro-trial diversion, pleaded guilty or nolo contendere or forfeited bail concerns any criminal offense, either felony or misdemeanor…’ In Colorado, the first question regulators ask is, “Have you ever been convicted of any gambling-related felony at any time?’’

Batchelder and Blessing have seen the polls showing that voters are favoring Issue 3, and they want to be as ready as they can be if the issue passes, but, as they’ve pointed out in an earlier press release, this criminal background screening they propose might be a moot point, as passage of Issue 3 would etch the casino proposals in stone as an amendment to Ohio’s Constitution.

Even if you favor casinos in Ohio, there is another casino proposal on the table that wouldn’t write loopholes for criminals into Ohio’s Constitution the way Issue 3 does, but for that proposal to reach voters, Issue 3 must be defeated.

I of course, remain in opposition to casinos, as they produce no wealth, they only redistribute it by plundering it from gamblers.  The numbers that Issue 3 backers throw at you, as the PD’s Thomas Suddes points out, are to dazzle you, but aren’t based in reality.  Casinos do no good for our economy.  Those that benefit, beyond the casino owners, are the criminals and the politicians.  (Is that redundant to say casino owners, criminals, and politicians in the same sentence?)

Gambling tycoons don’t ever play games that aren’t fixed.  The more closely you examine Issue 3, the more you will see that the fix is in.   Career criminals are drooling in anticipation.  Please frustrate them.  Don’t sit this election out.  Please get out to the polls and vote NO on Issue 3.

Posted in gambling, Political Blogosphere, State Politics. Tags: , , . 4 Comments »

[UPDATE] Coming up this month

October 7, 2009 — buckeyerino

Mark your calendars!  Oct. 12, Candidates Night in Oberlin; Oct. 14, CHIP Candidates Night in Lorain;  Oct. 21, Town Hall with State Rep Terry Boose in Norwalk; Oct. 22, Candidates Night in Huron; Oct 25, Chris Ritchey fundraiser to fight Hodgkins Lymphoma in Lorain; Oct. 29, Town Hall with State Rep Terry Boose in Kipton; Nov. 3, Election Day (early voting has already begun).

First Church in Oberlin, on Monday, October 12th, will host a candidates night for 13 Oberlin City Council candidates, and 4 Oberlin school board candidates on Monday, October 12.  Reception begins at 6:30 pm, and the forum begins at 7 pm.  First Church is located at 106 N. Main St.

Lorain’s Coalition for Hispanic Issues and Progress (CHIP) will host its 7th annual candidates night on October 14th in the Gould Auditorium within the St. Joseph’s Community Center at 20th and Broadway in Lorain.  Doors open at 6 pm, with the forum commencing about a half-hour later.  David Arredondo is the contact person for this event (440) 315-7812.  This event provides an excellent opportunity to see and hear the candidates who will be on the local ballot in Lorain.

[UPDATE:  This represents a change to the town hall schedule for Norwalk]  State Rep Terry Boose (R-58) has made a concerted effort to meet voters of his Ohio House district over the past 3 months.  Two town hall meetings remain on the schedule:  October 21st at 7:30 pm in the Ernsthausen Performing Arts Center within Norwalk High School at 350 Shady Lane Dr. in Norwalk; and October 29th at 7 pm at the Kipton Village Hall, 299 State St. in Kipton.

At McCormick School in Huron, the Huron Public Library and Huron Chamber of Commerce are sponsoring a candidates night that begins at 7 pm on October 22nd.  Eight city council candidates (Sam Artino, Joel Bickley, Russell Critelli, Richard Hardy, Brad Hartung, Marilyn Shearer, Nancy Thornhill, Phyllis Wassner and Richard Wennes) have been invited to participate.

A fundraiser to help Chris Ritchey fight Hodgkin’s Lymphoma is scheduled for October 25th from 1 pm to 5 pm at Rosewood Place, 4493 Oberlin Avenue in Lorain.  A spaghetti dinner will be served.  Admission is $15 per person (children under 5 years old eat free).  If you can’t make it to the event, but would like to donate to help defray Mr. Ritchey’s medical expenses, a fund has been established at First Federal Savings & Loan of Lorain, 3721 Oberlin Avenue, Lorain, Ohio 44053 (make checks payable to: Friends of Chris Ritchey).  Tickets for the event can be obtained in several ways.  In person, tickets can be obtained at Jenkins and Bevans Insurance, 47375 Cooper Foster Park Road, Amherst 44001; or at Marsha Funk State Farm Insurance, 3004 Oberlin Ave., Lorain 44052.  By phone, tickets can be requested by calling Nikki (440) 282-3195 or  Rich (440) 245-8752 or (440) 989-5141.  Chris Ritchey is the son of Loraine Ritchey, blog author of That Woman’s Weblog (listed in my blogroll sidebar), and, besides her numerous blog entries about Lorain history and government, she shares information about the battle Chris has waged against Hodgkins Lymphoma.

Election Day is November 3.  Though it’s not hyped as much as a presidential election, please don’t sit out this election.  I urge votes against Issue 3 that would amend Ohio’s Constitution to allow an out-of-state casino cartel to plunder Ohio’s economy (what there is left of the economy) while throwing free market principles out the window.  Cleveland’s Plain Dealer continues to reveal Republican and Democrat insiders and entrenched politicians, who have WRECKED Ohio’s economy through their corruption and selfish pay-to-play tactics, who support Issue 3.  Gambling support from crooked politicians of both political parties should warn you that Issue 3 doesn’t pass the smell test.

Posted in Announcements, gambling, Local Politics, Political Blogosphere, State Politics. Tags: , , , , . 1 Comment »

Twittering

September 27, 2009 — buckeyerino

To keep up with politics and the blogosphere, I’ve decided to give Twitter a try.  I once (briefly) tried Facebook, but there was too much drama on there for my taste, and it took up too much of my time to maintain my page, so I pulled the plug on it many months ago.  I’m hoping that Twitter will be much easier to manage.  I’ve added my Twitter feed at the bottom of the right-hand sidebar.

Posted in Announcements, Political Blogosphere. Tags: , . 3 Comments »

If you have enough hours in the week, Carnival 168

June 3, 2009 — buckeyerino

This week was my turn in the rotation, so I’ve compiled and posted installment number 168 of the Carnival of Ohio Politics.  Contributing blogs this week were Bizzy Blog, Writes Like She Talks, Roland Hansen Commentary, Just Blowing Smoke, Keeler Political Report, The Ohio Republic, Spinelli on Assignment, The Cincinnati Beacon, and The Boring Made Dull.  You’ve got 168 hours in a week, and at least one of them can be used to search through the great blogging represented at the Carnival.

Posted in Political Blogosphere. Tags: . Leave a Comment »

Ohio Carnival 167 . . . with Washington

May 28, 2009 — buckeyerino

I did a double-take upon seeing installment 167 of the Carnival of Ohio Politics.  Lisa Renee, of Glass City Jungle, used a Washington state route marker as an illustration for the latest Carnival.  I did a double-take because I’ve actually driven on that very road.  Nevertheless, though the road sign is from Washington, the posts are all about Ohio and its politics.  Great reading.  You know the drill.  Get over there and click on those links.

Posted in Political Blogosphere. Tags: . Leave a Comment »
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