Ohio 2nd Blog

I have always wanted to know, to make sense, to see the logic of the conservative movement (neoconservative, current Republican). What exactly do they believe the role of government is? How is the Bush administration’s foreign policy good for our national interests? How do people who support the neoconservative movement reconcile the lying, the election fraud, the corruption and the illegal activities of the elected officials? If their philosophy and policies are better, why do they have to cheat and lie about it? I am not being snarky but I really want to know how all of this is justified in their minds.

I understand the benefit to the people involved in corruption and kickback schemes. They have power, get paid off and believe they are too clever to be caught (hah!). But it’s the 28% who still support the Bush administration that I don’t understand. What is in it for them? If anything, they have been hurt economically in the last six years. They are less secure and the simplest things like getting through an airport or getting a driver’s license have become such a time consuming hassle. What does the average American who still supports the Republicans get out of all this? How is life better? How is our country better? How are we more safe and secure?

We’ve been following almost all of these since day one. #2 I really don’t see a need for.

UPDATE: Well… today everything resolved itself at the last possible minute. Luckily, the people telling us that it was going to be at least another week were wrong. Of course it all works out as soon as I start blogging about it. Like a reverse jinx.

Good times

Why wife is in a living hell right now. As anyone knows who is married, when your wife is in hell… everyone in the family is in hell. It’s a hell created by the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

It all started when she decided to get a drivers license again and buy a car. I waited for her while she went in to take the test. When she was done she came out with that frustrated look that I’ve learned to dread. “Did you pass the test?”

“Yeah, but I can’t get my license?”

“Why?”

“They asked me if I had any medical conditions and I told them that I was diabetic.”

“OH NO!!!” I knew instantly what a terrible mistake she had made by telling the truth to a bureaucracy.

Still… it was only a simple little letter from a doctor. She gets that and we are in business and her car loan goes through. She had 30 days. Rushing to the doctor right away and then express mailing the letter with tracking took one day. Now the ball was in their court. 25 days laters we’re still waiting.

She has been trapped in a bureaucratic nightmare for almost a month now. Everything takes 10 days. Opening up the mail? 10 days. Reading the mail? 10 days. That is until you’re on day 11. Then it’s call back tomorrow. Call back tomorrow. Call back tomorrow. Every person you talk to says something different. Half the time their system is down. Never can you get a supervisor to try to fix things.

We’ve had two encounters with the Ohio bureaucracy. Once with the Dayton Public Schools and the Ohio Athletics Association. Each time it’s a NIGHTMARE. What are our taxes going towards? Where’s the representation? Does anyone EVER get fired?

So she calls… and I call… over and over and over and over and over again… trying to find resolution. trying to get on with our lives…

Welcome to hell, Ohio style.

Vanishing Honey Bees

I think that Bill Maher is right. Now every day is earth day.

From the Clermont County Democratic Party email list. I was hoping that we could make it to the dinner tonight, but family stuff is clashing.

LOG ON AT 2 PM TODAY

for VIC WULSIN’S on-line interview at firedoglake blog

Text From firedoglake Blog: This Saturday, April 21st at 2:00 pm ET/11:00 am PT, Howie’s guest for Blue America will be the fantastic Victoria Wulsin. You guys will no doubt remember that Vic Wulsin very nearly unseated Mean Jean Schmidt in the last election cycle in a very, very red district — the OH-2. And I hereby pledge to move heaven and earth to make that Mean Jean defeat happen in 2008. Please make some time to stop by and let Vic Wulsin know we’ll all be working with her for victory in the next election. If you missed the Blue America chat that we had with her during the election, please do read it — it isn’t just unseating Mean Jean, because Doc Wulsin is an amazing person who would be a wonderful voice in the House.

LINK TO: http://firedoglake.com/

http://www.firedoglake.com/category/2008-election/

]]] ]]] ]]] ]]] ]]] ]]]

THEN GET READY FOR THE Clermont County Democratic Party Golden Donkey Dinner (Formerly the “Kennedy-Truman” Dinner)

5:00 - 6:00 pm Social Hour 6:00 pm Dinner

LINK FOR DETAILS: http://www.clermontdems.org/ht/display/EventDetails/i/1008933/pid/276805

Where Campbell Country Recreation Center,1836 Ohio Pike, Amelia, Ohio 45102

Map

Paid for by the Clermont County Democratic Party Visit Us: www.clermontdems.org

WCPO > Local Soldiers Must Pay Back Money

Local soldiers from the 216th Engineering Battalion were given notice they were overpaid by the government and must pay the money back.

Congresswoman Schmidt has reportedly launched another one of her infamous “investigations”:

A spokesman for Rep. Jean Schmidt said the Clermont County Republican has launched an investigation. “We called the Department of Defense and asked them to launch an investigation as to if this is a bureaucratic snafu or what is the source of the alleged debts, and they’re doing this as we speak,” said Schmidt spokesman Barry Bennett. Schmidt’s office expects to receive a reply from the Pentagon by the end of this week.

I don’t know… if you ask me calling up another branch of government and asking them to launch an investigation isn’t a very substantive investigation. I guess no one told her that Congress has power to launch their own investigations, and that it’s actually part of the job of being a member of Congress.

What cracks me up in all this is that the Pentagon is the most corrupt bottomless sinkhole of our tax dollars and the people they’re billing for overpayment are soldiers who’ve served in the nightmare that is Iraq instead of the contractors who rake in billions. Support our troops… what a laugh.

Also, the CQPolitics blog has picked up on the potential Schmidt / Wulsin rematch, but does some piss poor analysis of the race:

Wulsin’s campaign is an indication that she is not deterred by the district’s 64 percent vote share for President Bush in 2004 and is determined to give Schmidt yet another tough test. Yet Schmidt’s first campaign finance report for the 2007-08 campaign cycle does not suggest an overwhelming sense of urgency in her camp. She raised a modest $20,065 in this year’s first quarter and had $17,000 cash on hand as April began.

Guys, the reason why Schmidt has raised so little cash is that she is incredibly unpopular with Republican power brokers. The Ohio 2nd has turned from being one of the jewels in the Republican Congressional crown to an embarrassment that brings down the whole caucus.

http://www.buckeyestateblog.com/diabolical_everyman

I’ve been sitting on this essay for a while. Connie Schultz encouraged me to try writing columns so I’ll blame her for this one

One thing I dislike about my blogging style is that in general I’ve intentionally tried to keep my posts ultra short. I just assume that people are like me and get easily distracted. I like trying to slow down the pace and beef up the quality of what I’m trying to write.

The issue of abortion has taken center stage thanks to the Supreme Court. Given Jean Schmidt’s job as president of the Right-to-Life of Greater Cincinnati prior to joining Congress the 2nd will once again be the front lines in one of the most important political issues of the current election cycle.

In the past Schmidt’s gotten into trouble for hedging her extremist “100% pro life” position (That means not even in the case of rape or incest or risk to the mother). Now that the foot is in the door will she take her well earned place as a standard bearer in Congress for eliminating women’s controls over their own bodies, or will she again try to soft sell her position once primary time is over and she has to draw independent voters? Will the Democrat who runs against her call her out on her views or instead try to fudge the issue so as to play to the middle? Paul Hackett did very well with his powerful libertarian stance:

…I don’t need Washington to tell me how to live my personal life, or how to pray to my God. And I don’t need Washington to dictate to my wife the decisions that she makes with her doctor, any more than I need Washington to tell me which guns I can keep in my gun safe.

Will anyone play it Hackett-style? Does the Virginia Tech tragedy reduce the effectiveness of such a statement?

The political sports fan in me thinks that this will be an interesting fight with both sides facing many potential pitfalls. The human being in me wonders when we’ll focus on the reason’s why women feel the need to make these drastic choices (poverty, lack of education, lack of contraception, etc) instead of rewaging battles decided long ago.

UPDATE: Vic is already getting some traction from this.

I watched the classic film, Judgement at Nuremburg, last Saturday (the one with Spencer Tracy, Richard Widmark, Burt Lancaster, Marlene Dietrich, Montgomery Clift and Judy Garland). I hadn’t seen it in a long time and I was so struck by the parallels to the current investigations into the Department of Justice. It’s about a trial of several German judges and a prosecutor post WWII who allowed the Nazis to persecute innocent people. The German characters rationalized their own actions and that of their colleagues and family. They swore they didn’t know about the atrocities. They needed to support their government against their enemies and so had to overlook a few small technicalities and legalities even though it wasn’t really just or right. It was ok to sacrifice an innocent person for a greater cause. It was for the greater good. They didn’t think it would escalate and lead to a disaster. They were honorable people and shouldn’t be held responsible. It was a few others who committed a few atrocities not the German people. They shouldn’t be held accountable even though they enabled overlooked the crimes. They couldn’t or wouldn’t admit to the extent of the atrocities.

(more…)

From the rumor mill…

Word is that Wulsin already has some DCCC muscle working with her: one for message, and one for finance. It seems that she’s already working the phones hard locking up the prized early bird cash.

Also, many are giving Vic props for the early declaration move stifling primary competition. That hasn’t stopped several potential players from considering a stab at it. Personally, your humble editor feels that the state house races offer greater potential gains than a single term Dem in the House and wonders if some of the talent couldn’t be distributed all along the ticket. Ted could definitely use some help out there in Columbus.

The big question has to be about what the landscape will look like in a Presidential year. Turnout is going to be high… that means Republican turnout is going to be very high. Will the person the Dems serve up be able to draw away straight thinking Republicans? Will Republicans be thinking that the Schmidt they know is better than the…?

Finally, on the Schmidt front, word has it that a dark horse local blue blood is considering a run in an attempt to restore dignity to the house that Rob built. With Brinkman chumming up the waters it’s difficult to see how anyone can take the Congresswoman in the primary. Nevertheless, many Dems are concerned that their beloved foe won’t be available to kick around come November. One can only hope.

p.s. it’s good to see that Barry Bennett reads our humble little publication.