please somebody,change the face in probate,lake county ohio

From�the Sandusky Register:�

Gov. Ted Strickland campaigned on the idea he was going to remedy the problem identified in the DeRolph vs. Board of Education ruling, that Ohio’s system of funding public schools was inherently inequitable � because school districts with higher property values got more funding than did other districts, thanks to a system of locally-voted property taxes � and therefore unconstitutional.

Last week in the Register offices, Democrat Strickland said his term as governor would be judged by whether funding got fixed.

I'm speechless. He wants to be judged by his performance on an issue�for�which he has no solution and�may not address for three years?

I sure hope that Rob Portman and John Kasich are taking notes.

From The Daily Record:

WOOSTER — Like the fluorescent green faces of Mr. Yuk warns even the youngest children of the potential dangers of ingesting hazardous cleaning materials, so may similarly colored licenses plates alert them to possible harm.

A contingent of Wayne County residents, including friends and family of Kristen Jackson, will travel to Columbus on Wednesday for the introduction of an Ohio Senate Bill, that if passed would require special license plates for registered sex offenders.

Kristen was raped and murdered after being picked up by convicted sex offender Joel Yockey as she walked home from the Wayne County Fair in September 2002.

Yockey, identified as a sexually oriented offender lived within walking distance of the Jackson's North Smyser Road home, but his designation did not require community notification.

"If Yockey would have had a (sex offender) license plate, (Kristen's parents) Mark and Sharon would have seen it," said Sheryl Rusher, who has known the Jacksons for more than 20 years.

Following 14-year-old Kristen's death, Rusher channeled her energy into raising awareness. Among her projects was a letter writing campaign, designed to gain legislator support for the license plate proposal.

"She's quite a workhorse," said Mark Jackson, adding, "What else do we have. There's nothing out there now."

Rusher suggests that many sex offenders use their vehicles to facilitate their crime, luring victims, like Kristen, into waiting vehicles.

Rusher said seeing specialized plates for those convicted of drunken driving inspired her to look at license plates as a tool.

"We can do it for drunk drivers, why can't we do it for sex offenders?" she said.

Senate Bill 56, which contains the provision, is expected to be introduced on Wednesday by Sen. Kevin Coughlin, a Cuyahoga Falls Republican.

The proposal calls for license plates with "a distinctive fluorescent green background color" for registered sex offenders. Those who knowingly allow a registered sex offender to use a vehicle without specialized plates could face criminal charges, according to the bill.

I believe Representative Michael DeBose was on Fox News a year ago about his proposal for PINK license plates (Which coincidentally matches the color of DeBose's flamboyant suit in his official picture.) Why the change to green?

I believe this is a silly proposal. With Bill O'Reilly's help, Ohio passed Jessica's Law which mandates a 25-year minimum sentence for raping young children. If the legislature wants to go further than Jessica's Law, they should lock these perverts up forever… And if it would stand up to court challenges, I would gladly see the offenders chemically castrated or executed… All three options would obviously solve the problem of high recidivism rates among sex offenders.

But the idea that children will be safer now that these sickos have funky colored license plates is silly. It may work to embarass heavy drinkers who are otherwise law-abiding citizens- But sex offenders can't be cured, are a major risk of hurting another child, and should be removed from society forever. (Even if they work for a former Congressman and current Governor.)

I have first hand experience with liberal college professors who openly cheer for the defeat of America, but this guy takes it a step further…

Townhall.com has the story of a crazy jihadist at Kent State:

Yesterday afternoon, I logged on to the "Global War" blog (global-war.bloghi.com) of Associate Professor Julio Pino � a Muslim convert who teaches at Kent State University. The heading for the site used to read "The Worldwide Web of Jihad: Daily News from the Most Dangerous Muslim in America." Now it reads "Are You Prepared for Jihad?" IN THE NAME OF OBL. 2007: THE YEAR OF ISLAMIC VICTORY!"

Hardly able to believe what I was reading, I called Pino at his office in Ohio around 4 p.m. According to his secretary, he had not been at work that day (he only has office hours two days of the week). He was drawing a paycheck from the people of the State of Ohio while trying to launch a Jihad against people like me. In fact, just five minutes before I called he posted an entry under the title "Crusaders Can’t Take Anymore in Afghanistan!"

Pino began his morning of not going into his office at Kent State by penning a post under the title “Frightened British Crusaders Rush More Troops to Occupied Afghanistan.� Using terms like “occupation� and “Crusaders� it isn’t really necessary to read these posts in order to ascertain who this employee of the State of Ohio is rooting for in the War on Terror.

But, just in case you were curious about the purpose of this site, it is provided in the upper right corner: "We are a jihadist news service, and provide battle dispatches, training manuals, and jihad videos to our brothers worldwide. All we want is to get Allah’s pleasure. We will write �Jihad’across our foreheads, and the stars. The angels will carry our message throughout the world."

Read the full column from Mike Adams here.

According to the Ray C. Bliss Institute's spring poll, 73% of all Ohioans, along with 72.5% of Democrats and 71.1% of Republicans, support divided party controls.

And it also looks like Ohioans are setting themselves up for some serious disappointment:

So far, Strickland has faltered on the issues of education and helping Iraqi refugees. Strickland spent almost 2 decades as a unnoticeable congressional bench warmer and he has no intention of turning into a strong leader.

Am I the only one who wouldn't answer the question "Who should lead in solving Ohio's problems" if only those 4 answers were available? The only person who can fix Ohio's problems is you- the businessman, the entrepreneur, the investor, and the loving parent. Government's solutions usually don't fix problems, and they also make new problems that we all have to deal with.

The Club for Growth is known as a tough grader- The give Senator Sam Brownback high marks on issues such as taxes and free trade, but aren't thrilled with his record on spending. Check out the report here.

This column was co-written by Ken Blackwell and Capital University Law Professor Brad Smith and published in today's Cincinnati Enquirer (Smith also blogs at the excellent free-market economics blog, Division of Labour.):

Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman once said, "The most important single central fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place unless both parties benefit."

Government, however, is different. Exchanges often seem to take place in which one private party benefits, and the taxpayers lose. One such deal is an outrageous proposed taxpayer-funded subsidy currently brewing in Washington.

This week, the Federal Railroad Administration declined a $2.3 billion loan application from a small South Dakota railroad with an accident rate eight times the national average.

Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad (DM&E) wanted to build over 250 miles of new track so that it can expand its enterprise and ship Wyoming Powder River Basin coal to the Midwest.

The loan was nearly approved.

Taxpayers were saved from this bad deal because of the collective outrage expressed by taxpayer advocates like the National Taxpayers Union, Citizens Against Government Waste and others. Budget Director Rob Portman also played an important part in halting the loan.

Read the entire column here.

Ken Blackwell Joins Townhall.com

ARLINGTON, Va.-(BUSINESS WIRE)-Townhall.com, the largest conservative online opinion, news and community site, today announced that former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell will join Townhall.com as a contributing editor.

“Ken Blackwell is one of the most talented and passionate conservative leaders in America,� said Hugh Hewitt, Townhall.com executive editor and host of a daily nationally syndicated radio show. “We are honored that he has chosen Townhall.com to be his online intellectual home.�

“As a former Mayor, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission, and State Treasurer, Ken Blackwell brings unique qualifications and unmatched experience to Townhall.com,� said Joe Davis, chief operating officer of Salem Communications, which owns the site.

As contributing editor, Blackwell will write a weekly column for Townhall.com and provide a weekly 60-second radio commentary for the Salem Radio Network.

“Townhall.com is the preeminent umbrella site for conservatives because it combines the time-tested power of talk radio with the cutting-edge power of the blogosphere,� said Blackwell. “It’s a tremendously potent combination, which is why I’m so happy to be a part of this outstanding organization.�

Townhall.com (www.townhall.com), the largest conservative online opinion, news and community site is part of Salem Communications (Nasdaq:SALM), a leading U.S. radio broadcaster, Internet content provider and magazine publisher targeting audiences interested in Christian and family-themed content and conservative values. In addition to its radio properties, Salem owns Salem Radio Network�, which syndicates talk, news and music programming to approximately 2,000 affiliates; Salem Radio Representatives�, a national radio advertising sales force; Salem Web Network�, a leading Internet provider of Christian content and online streaming; and Salem Publishing�, a leading publisher of Christian-themed magazines. Upon the close of all announced transactions, the company will own 98 radio stations, including 61 stations in 23 of the top 25 markets. Additional information about Salem may be accessed at the company's website, www.salem.cc.

Jill at Writes like She Talks is excited about the Buckeye Institute's new project, Eye on the Statehouse, which will keep track of government waste:

I'm sure folks from all points on the political spectrum can make probably daily contributions to the page and the effort of examples. I would urge all of us to post comments there and email the effort each and every time we note something.

Hopefully, more conservatives and liberals can agree that government waste is always bad. I'm glad Jill agrees. They Buckeye Institute, with their yearly pork reports and principled stands on fiscal issues, are certainly not partisan- In fact, exposing government waste will put the microscope on many Republican legislators who like to quietly sneak in pet projects into spending bills.

Visit Eye on the Statehouse for more information.

The Sunlight Foundation has just released a cool tool that keeps track of where government is being spent on a map. Here it is.

Check out all the pork that landed here in the buckeye state!�

From The Cincinnati Enquirer:

More than 11,500 Cincinnati Public School students are eligible to receive state-paid vouchers to attend private schools next year, but state officials say that Cincinnati Public officials are hindering them from getting the word out.

The district is the only one in the state that has refused to provide to the state the addresses of students who are eligible for tuition vouchers.

This Saturday and next, the Ohio Department of Education is conducting free parent information sessions in Cincinnati to describe how students attending 27 Cincinnati schools that are in “academic watch� or “academic emergency� are eligible to receive Ohio EdChoice Scholarships to attend private schools.

State officials say they were prevented from sending out postcards with that information because Cincinnati Public Schools officials refuse to provide addresses of families of students in the eligible schools.

The school district is the only major one in Ohio not providing that information, said J.C. Benton, an Ohio education department spokesman. A couple of smaller districts haven’t provided the lists because of technical problems, he said.

“We’re more concerned about parents not being notified,� said Benton. “We’re trying to implement the (EdChoice) law with the same intent that the legislature had when it put it into place. But we’re disappointed that � we’ve hit this road block.�

Advocates of school choice say Cincinnati’s district is keeping vital information about scholarships from mostly poor families who need the information most.

“This type of activity undermines the very principle of school choice,� said Karen Tabor, spokesman for Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted, R- Kettering.

“The families have a right to know about it,� said Lisa Claytor, director of the Children’s Scholarship Fund of Greater Cincinnati, a nonprofit that gives out scholarships and is supported by pro-voucher organizations.

It is funny that the same public schools which mandate that only the theory of evolution will be taught are so scared about applying the concept of "survival of fittest" to Ohio's education system.

I put together a blog site called "Eye on the Statehouse" for the Buckeye Institute, which they will use as a tool to expose wasteful government spending. The website is http://www.eyeonthestatehouse.org/.

The first two posts are worth checking out: State Controlling Board spends $110,726,361 in six minutes & Pork with a side of corn.

With so many lobbyists representing "special interests", the Buckeye Institute is a rare organization because they represent the general interest, by promoting small government and free market solutions. They are completely unlike Policy Matters, which is a group of liberal smucks and union cronies who receive taxpayer dollars to make the case that government isn't quite as obtrusive as it should be and Ohio taxes (the 3rd highest in the nation) are too low.

If you support freedom and small government, I would highly recommend making a tax-deductible donation to the Buckeye Institute here. Their staff is growing, and with enough resources they can effectively work with the legislature to steer future legislation in a fiscally conservative direction.

(Matt promoted this from the user blogs - On a side note, a number of RAB readers I have spoken to didn't realize that ANYONE who registers at RAB is provided with their own blog on this site. So if you are interested, please register and blog away.)

The Dispatch reports on 2/27/07:

Attorney General Marc Dann’s top legal deputy is being paid nearly $33,000 a year more than his predecessor under former Attorney General Jim Petro, according to figures from Dann’s office.

Dann is paying First Assistant Attorney General Thomas R. Winters $149,011 a year, compared with $116,272 for Petro’s top lawyer, D. Michael Grodhaus.

I wonder who pays better-Dann or Noe???

From Mark Naymik:

Though Barack Obama's Democratic presidential challengers have had a hard time deflating his campaign balloon at the moment, Obama figured out how to do that all by himself: Make your supporters stand in line for hours and then turn them away.

Two hours before Obama was expected to take the stage at Cuyahoga County Community College's Eastern Campus, hundreds of people feared they would be left out of the college's gymnasium, which was already nearly full. The campaign was making arrangements to broadcast the event on campus televisions.

Since Obama truly is a god to the godless, two hours is well worth it to that sea of clueless liberals.

I listened to Obama's speech on the radio- He certainly has the rhetoric down, but does anyone think nationalized public health care will become law? It doesn't sound like very wise public policy to seize the health care industry, nationalize approximately 15 percent of our gross national product, and criminalize pay-for-service medical care. You know, there is a reason why so many Canadians seek treatment at the Cleveland Clinic.

From the AP:

WASHINGTON (AP) — National Democrats on Tuesday urged Republican Party chairman Mel Martinez to stop the independent College Republicans from holding "Catch an Illegal Immigrant" events around the country.

Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean and Ramona Martinez, chair of the Democratic National Committee's Hispanic caucus, sent a letter to the GOP chairman asking him to put a halt to the events.

"These despicable tactics have no place in our public discourse or on our college campuses," the letter said.

The game is a variation of hide and seek, with one player posing as an illegal immigrant and everyone else trying to find the person. The winner usually gets a prize.

Tracy Schmitt, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, said "we find these activities both egregious and offensive and condemn them wholeheartedly." But she noted the College Republicans are independent of the RNC: "We do not control their activities."

The Ohio College Republicans tried to do this last year for conservative week and were going to offer Chipotle gift cards to the winners, but the wusses at the Ohio GOP freaked out and put a stop to it. But in the end, I blame the OSU CRs, because they shouldn't have let the party know it was going on.

Since two highly visible Republicans, the President of the United States and the RNC Chairman, are absolutely wrong on the immigration issue, the least that young conservative activists should be allowed to do is have fun while bringing attention to a serious issue.

The RNC should lighten up…. Afterall, how do they expect College Republican clubs to encourage students to join if, in 2006, the Republican Party didn't just forget their principles, but they also banned the CRs from having a sense of humor? What is truly "egregious" and "offensive" is how many illegals there are in this country, and the Republican leadership wants to give amnesty these criminals.

From Michael Philips in the Opinion Journal email diary:

Ohioans are beginning to suspect that in electing Democratic Governor Ted Strickland last fall, they elected someone better suited to be a critic of leadership than a leader in his own right.

When asked on Valentine’s Day if Ohio would welcome some of the 7,000 Iraqi refugees the U.S. recently agreed to accept, Gov. Strickland’s response was hardly in the spirit of the holiday: “I think Ohio and Ohioans have contributed a lot to Iraq in terms of blood, sweat and too many tears. I am sympathetic to the plight of the innocent Iraqi people who have fled the country. However, I would not want to ask Ohioans to accept a greater burden than they already have borne for the Bush administration’s failed policies.�

USA Today rightly called this response “heartless,� as did many of the local Ohio editorial pages that had endorsed his candidacy in November. Mr. Strickland, who apparently spoke out of reflexive political hostility to the Bush administration and the Iraq war, has subsequently tried to adopt a more nuanced tone. But the episode is already prompting buyer’s remorse among some of his supporters.

Mr. Strickland, a six-term Congressman and former professor of psychology, romped to a 23-point victory over Ken Blackwell and an Ohio GOP that had been severely discredited by numerous scandals. But he was elected to be the chief executive of one of the largest states in the country, not a continuous critic of Washington. He promised reform of the state’s system of education funding, but so far, no plan has been forthcoming � and not even a hint of a plan. Instead, Mr. Strickland has been talking up the idea of a ballot initiative for a tax hike, apparently so he can reverse his “no-new-taxes� pledge and kick off a new spending spree while blaming it on voters.

Unfortunately, Ohioans already carry the third highest local and state tax burden in the country, and Ohio businesses face the nation’s second-most hostile tax climate, according to the Tax Foundation. No wonder jobs and taxpayers are fleeing the state. According to the IRS, 39,000 of Ohio’s affluent households left the Buckeye State between 2003 and 2005 in favor of places like Florida and Texas, which have no income tax, taking with them $2.1 billion in annual income.

Though Ohioans don’t blame Gov. Strickland for the fiscal mess, they can and should expect their governor to look at more obvious solutions, like slashing spending and deflating the state’s bloated public sector, not to mention continuing the trend of using charter schools and vouchers. Indeed, a chastened Republican legislature has made clear its willingness to work with a landslide-winning Democratic governor. But that would mean Mr. Strickland standing up to Ohio’s public sector labor unions. That would mean displaying leadership. So far, Mr. Strickland hasn’t answered the call.

Ted Strickland will not answer the call of Ohioans- He is a tax and spend liberal, and is a continuation of the failed Taft administration.

From Ted, all we have seen arebigoted comments towards Iraqis, along with a serious case of amnesia now that he has completely forgotten his expensive education proposals. He will only continue to embarass himself, and voters are already seeing what a huge mistake they made.

From the Dispatch

The hissing began almost immediately after the state proposed creating a new business tax in 2005, called the Commercial Activity Tax, as part of an overhaul of its tax code.

Retailers and other businesses with high sales but low profit margins hated it, saying it unfairly taxed their receipts even if they made no money.

Many candidates running for governor last year also talked of scrapping the CAT or changing it dramatically.

But Democrat Ted Strickland, who called for giving the tax changes time to unfold, was elected. Although critics remain, the new tax is collecting more money than initially expected and opposition appears to have quieted.

Lora Miller, a lobbyist with the Ohio Council of Retail Merchants whose focus includes taxation, said her members have been surprisingly silent about the tax changes.

Miller said the CAT might not be as bad as some anticipated, or perhaps the phaseout of taxes on business inventory and equipment that the CAT was designed to replace has been more beneficial than first thought.

Some, she said, likely have accepted that this is the new world order and are working with their accountants to make the best of it.

Once fully phased in by fiscal year 2010, the CAT will assess a minimum of $150 on a business’first $1 million in annual receipts, plus 26 cents on every $100 dollars after that. It doesn’t apply to sales made outside the state but is charged on sales made in Ohio by outof-state companies.

The CAT was designed to replace the loophole-ridden corporate-franchise tax and a separate tax on business equipment and property that went to local governments and schools.

The idea behind the CAT was that a low-rate tax paid by most companies was a more-equitable and business-friendly way to raise money. During the first nine months of CAT collections, more than 80 percent of businesses paid the minimum tax � while nearly half the total tax due came from business that had more than $100 million in gross receipts, data show.

The Ohio Department of Taxation used a complex, sixstep process to estimate how much revenue the CAT would generate, but through January, it has raised $116.7 million (26 percent) more than the most-recent estimates.

There is a provision that automatically adjusts the CAT rate if collections miss estimates by 10 percent up or down after two years. Because it was based on early estimates that later were revised when exemptions were added, the trigger isn’t likely to be reached, said Fred Church, the tax department’s deputy director.

This week, I will be attending the 2007 Conservative Political Action Conference, which is the largest annual gathering of grassroots conservatives in America. All of the major presidentidal candidates will be there, except for John McCain, which I believe is an unusual decision by the McCain campaign considering that he needs conservative voters to win. CPAC just released the three-day agenda, and on Thursday, Ken Blackwell will be on a panel with Phyllis Schlafly and John Fund discussing "strategies for a bold conservative future." I'll be sure to report back live from the scene.

Good grief:

SOME faux pas attract more press than others. Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland should have realized that when he made what certainly appeared to be a dismissive remark about Iraqi refugees.

 

In hindsight, the governor protests that his comment about the refugees not being welcomed in Ohio was misinterpreted. But there's no disputing the adverse reaction. Apparently Mr. Strickland let his frustration with the Bush Administration's policy in Iraq get the better of him. He was asked about the administration's plan to significantly increase the number of Iraqi refugees allowed in the United States. Ohio, he said, should not be their destination. He indicated Ohioans had already contributed plenty to Iraq "in terms of blood, sweat, and too many tears" and citizens shouldn't be asked "to accept a greater burden than they already have borne for the Bush Administration's failed policies."[…]

Certainly few would argue with the governor's contention that Ohio's sacrifice in Iraq has been substantial - more than 100 Ohioans have been killed. But Mr. Strickland's comment came too soon after the international community criticized the United States for showing similar reticence about accepting Iraqi refugees.

After all the negative media attention, Mr. Strickland decided he would indeed welcome Iraqi refugees to Ohio and said he had "conveyed something I did not wish to convey." Obviously eager to put the bad publicity behind him, the governor promised henceforth to make his views less prone to damaging misinterpretation.

Sounds like a good idea.

Makig his views less prone to damaging misinterpretation? Strickland said he didn't want Ohio to carry any more responsiblity for the Iraq war- And what that means is Strickland doesn't want Ohio to accept Iraqi refugees. It is only a "misinterpretation" now that Strickland has been hammered on this issue by Ohio Newspapers and the USA Today… But his position in this matter is still crystal clear…. and discriminatory.

And this is the same sort of weasly backtracking that The Blade allowed Strickland to get away with when he said he plans to hire felons for government jobs.

As Bizzyblog explains, The Blade is essentially telling Ted to keep his unpopular opinions to himself so they can get back to talking negatively about Republicans.

We need more of this .