Tag: Ohio

Yesterday, and Tomorrow


The extraordinary events in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya are the initial high tides of an eventual tsunami that will impact the world that globalists have so fervently promoted for decades, in ways not necessarily to their liking. The first wave has struck and is now retreating from the shore, but will shortly return with redoubled force, and what and who will be swept away and what will be left standing is anyone’s guess.



[snip]

In the United States, 48 years after Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his stirring “I have a dream” speech at the base of the Lincoln Memorial, 45 percent of young African-Americans have no jobs and the top hedge fund managers are paid, on average, $1 billion a year, a thoughtful American can only expect the mass protests against cuts in services and jobs in Wisconsin to spread.

And America’s propensity for eventual chaos is far higher than the Middle East, demonized in the press as a violent region, when one considers that America’s 300 million citizens have between 238 million and 276 million privately owned firearms.

As a prescient 23-year old from Hibbing, Minnesota, Bob Dylan warned an earlier generation 47 years ago about to embark on its misguided mission to safeguard and democratize in Vietnam, “There’s a battle outside and it is raging, It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls, For the times they are a-changin’.”

America has older prophets on the current situation – as Thomas Jefferson observed, “A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned – this is the sum of good government.”

Take heed, Governor Walker of Wisconsin and all the rest of you political leaders in Washington DC – or fuel up your learjets and head for the Cayman Islands.

The Extraordinary Events in the Middle East and the Coming Global Tsunami

By John C.K. Daly for the Global Intelligence Report

Doing the Work of Electing Genuine Progressives

In my previous entry, I posted about Green Party candidates who are running for political office in Ohio.  Before proceeding to the topic of this entry, I want to point out that a non-Democrat left-winger is running for U.S. Senate in Ohio.  His name is Dan La Botz, and he is running as a member of the Socialist Party of Ohio.  His web site is here.

http://danlabotz.com

Committee to Elect Dan La Botz

P.O.B. 19136

Cincinnati, OH 45210-9998

Rossl has, in his turn, posted about three Green Party U.S. Senate candidates who stand a real chance of doing well this year and who can certainly use your help to pull off wins or, failing those, enough of a showing to send a clear message where voters want Democrats to go.  I should also point out that John Gray is running for U.S. Senate in Arkansas, and has a chance of winning as well.

http://www.johngrayforussenate…

John L. Gray

Candidate for U.S. Senate

P. O. Box 434

Greenland, AR  72737

Dennis Spisak for Ohio Governor

In Ohio, Green Party candidates are organizing to hold politicians in the Democrat and Republican Parties accountable for decades of right-wing misrule.  For the office of governor, Dennis Spisak is running on a platform to increase revenue, pushing for single-payer health care, creating jobs through green energy policies, and boosting education.

http://www.votespisak.org/gove…

Spisak for Governor

548 Poland Ave.

Struthers,Ohio 44471

Donate the full amount and receive the full tax credit. Remember to file this donation with your 2010 Ohio Income Tax to receive the 2010 credit. Act now. Don’t let these funds go unused!

Ohio law mandates that your check must have your full name and address on it – PO boxes are not allowed. Contributions over $100 must include your employer’s name.

On a more local level, Green Party candidate David Ellison is running for the county executive position that was ostensibly created in response to the huge corruption scandal now plaguing Democrat Party leaders.

http://www.electdavidellison.com

The above link is to the main campaign web site.  To volunteer or donate, see below.

http://www.electdavidellison.c…

http://www.electdavidellison.c…

Make checks payable to:

The Committee to Elect David Ellison

6403 Detroit Avenue

Cleveland, OH 44102

If you want a look at Ellison’s plans for Cuyahoga, here is the link to read them.

http://www.electdavidellison.c…

Also, Green Party candidate Alan Crossman is running for a seat on the county council in Cuyahogs.

http://alancrossman.us

For statewide office, in addition to the governor’s race, Dennis Lambert is running for the position of State Representative, District 89.

http://www.newmenu.org/dennisl…

Others have dishonestly claimed that the non-Democrat left is not organized.  But the fact of these and other candidacies from left-wing activists shows that, yes, we are indeed organized.  One can make legitimate criticisms as to the level and quality of that organization, but it does exist.  

Original v. Cover — #39 in a Series

KEN STATE SHOOTING Pictures, Images and Photos

Have you ever heard a song that so completely captures an earlier moment in your life that hearing it again immediately transports you back to that time?  Sometimes a powerful catalyzing event seizes the collective attention of a nation, creating a sudden vacuum, waiting only to be filled by a universal means of expression that can clearly and articulately capture those powerful thoughts and emotions, duly recording the essence of a nation’s collective conscience in a manner understandable to the rest of the world, and perhaps more importantly, to posterity.  

Some, perhaps many of us were around in 1970 to witness such an event, one that rocked a nation already reeling from escalating racial tensions and an ever widening divide between those who staunchly supported and those who opposed the United States’ unprovoked aggression and ongoing occupation of Southeast Asia.  

Unemployment Rates for Ohio and Other States, and Tips for How You Can Help

In January, the Associated Press reported that Ohio’s unemployment rate stood at 10.9% as of December 2009.  That rate has fallen slightly in the six months or so since that news article, standing now at 10.7% according to the Dayton Daily News.

The number of unemployed workers in May dropped to 641,000 from 652,000 in April. During the past 12 months, the number of unemployed has gone up by 22,000 from 619,000. The May 2009 unemployment rate was 10.3 percent.

Anyone looking to call this an improvement needs to explain that thinking, because these are more than likely seasonal jobs that either have disappeared or will disappear.

For my home town of Cleveland, the unemployment rate is even worse: 17.1 percent according to Simply Cleveland.  (In the interests of fuller disclosure, I have been unemployed since at least December of 2007, existing on financial aid and what food I can get from food pantries.)

Cleveland has an unemployment rate of 17.1%, compared the national average of 6.9%.

According to our Cleveland Trends data, the number of Cleveland, Ohio jobs has decreased by 28% since November 2008.

Graph Showing Employment Decline

Scandal may sink Strickland’s chances for re-election.

According to a report issued by the office of Ohio’s inspector general Thomas P. Charles, one of governor Ted Strickland’s cabinet members perjured herself to protect his boss from a criminal investigation.

As reported in The Columbus Dispatch and the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Public Safety Director Cathy Collins-Taylor put the kibosh on an investigation into Strickland’s apparent laxness of supervision in an inmate work program at his home.  Prisoners are alleged to have used the opportunity afforded them to smuggle tobacco products and weapons from Strickland’s residence and into prison.

“Lt. Joseph Mannion, Strickland’s top personal security officer,” according to the Plain Dealer article, was accused of lying under oath to investigators during the course of their probe into the matter.  

Politics Daily recently reported that Strickland is so far maintaining only a “shaky lead” over Republican rival John Kasich.  That his top aides lied under oath to state investigators, thereby breaking the law, to protect their boss’s reputation has had the opposite effect – Strickland’s campaign may now have suffered a terminal blow going into the November election.

May ’70: 1. Finally On Our Own

Tin soldiers and Nixon’s coming, We’re finally on our own… Forty years ago today, on Thursday, April 30, 1970, Richard Milhouse Nixon, the president of the United States, appeared on television for a special announcement about the Vietnam War. He told us that US troops, tens of thousands of them, had moved into Cambodia, expanding an already prolonged and costly war into another country. He claimed it was a necessary step toward ending the war, and toward insuring that the US would not be perceived in the world as “a pitiful helpless giant.”

Today that incredible upsurge, which pretty much shut down the 1969-70 school year throughout much of the American higher education system, is remembered mainly through one of its most dramatic events–the killing of four students at Kent State University by a sustained fusillade of gunfire from Ohio National Guard troops occupying their campus.

For forty years, the veterans of those days and younger activists have struggled to keep alive the memories of Kent State and of the subsequent police murders of two more students, this time at a traditionally Black college in Mississippi, Jackson State. We have succeeded in this, helped in part by that amazing mnemonic, Neil Young’s heartbreaking song, “Ohio,” which opens with the couplet at the start of this piece.

Third Party candidates for U.S. Senate in Ohio

You wouldn’t know it to read to blogs and major media sources, but there are non-Democrat and non-Republicans running to replace retiring U.S. senator George Voinovich in Ohio this year.  They are (as listed on www.USelections.com):



Eric Deaton (Independent)
– An apparent teabagger, Deaton’s profile uses populist rhetoric to try to fool voters into thinking he’s not a hardcore Republican-turned-independent.  According to his web site’s positions page, Deaton opposes affirmative action, gun control laws, “government-run healthcare,” and other things supported by progressives and most Ohioans.  This one can be dismissed as being a disaffected GOPer who is a card-carrying member of the teabagger movement.

Eric LaMont Gregory (Independent) – A scientist by trade, Gregory is running on a platform of ending poverty, providing full employment, protecting Social Security, universal health care for people (free if over 62), and fair taxation, though his web site does not appear to have a solid positions page laying out more specific positions.  Chalk this one up for the “maybe” category.

Stephen Lahanas (Independent) – The only link USelections.com had for who it described simply as a businessman is his blog.  (He does offer some insightful political perspectives — among them an analysis of the two major parties, however, it’s obvious that Lahanas doesn’t even have a campaign web site to explain his positions.)  He expresses some food-for-thought opinions, but I’m not sure he’s even really running.

Adam Shaffer (Independent) – Described as an IT consultant, Shaffer appears to be running more to educate and involve people in the political process than for anything else.  He doesn’t seem to state any positions on the issues, and he probably won’t even get enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.



Jeremy Swartz (Independent)
– Described as a ” FEMA Disaster Specialist, Ex-Police Officer & ’06 State Rep. Candidate” on the USelections.com web site, the link to his campaign site appears to be dead.

Information gotten from here for the next round of candidates.)

Dan La Botz (Socialist Party) – Socialist and proud enough to say so, La Botz is running on a democratic socialist platform.

Dave Meyers (Independent) – His “About” page doesn’t state his positions other than telling readers he will represent our wishes.

William G. Pierce (Independent) – Former Republican who unsuccessfully challenged then-incumbent Mike DeWine in 2006 for U.S. Senate — from the right!  Forget him.

Michael Pryce (Independent) – A Ron Paul-esque Libertarian type, if his issues page is any indication of where he stands.  Another one to dismiss.

Those are the independent candidates vying for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Voinovich.  Of them all, Dan La Botz seems best suited to represent Ohioans in the Senate.

Blog Talk Radio – Progressive Independence Radio – 8PM EDT

We’ve got a lot to talk about tonight: Ohio’s Green Party gubernatorial candidate Dennis Spisak, one of incumbent and Democrat Ted Strickland’s creatures stalking Spisak on the ‘net, Don Blankenship and why he should be in prison, more about the Full Court Press (I talked with fellow blogger Jeff Roby last week on the subject), and finally, porn starlet Stormy Daniels’ run for the U.S. Senate in Louisiana to replace GOPer David Vitter.

The call-in number is 1 (347) 884-9121 if you want to call in and talk with us.  The URL is here.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/p…

‘Tea Party’ Now Owns the Hutaree Militia Group, “you betcha’ ” {UpDated}

And apparently claiming rights to any and all militia groups in the U.S., as it hadn’t been reported at first which group the Authorities were searching for the members of.

Yesterday morning, as word started coming out about the FBI and Homeland Security raids in lower Michigan, Indiana and Ohio as to Militia Groups in that area, now understood it’s some end of time christian? militia, this site link was top of the list in a google search for more news on the raids. The ‘Tea Party Patriots’ website on a chat page. They took ownership of the why the FBI raids, the militia groups members being sought!!

Green gubernatorial campaigns to watch in 2010: IL, MA, CA, NV, OH

Originally posted on Green Party Watch

Several Green candidates have launched campaigns in their states’ races for governor in 2010.

The Green Party of California will have a contested primary election for the gubernatorial race, with Laura Wells and Deacon Alexander competing for the nomination, to be decided on June 8.

In recent years, gubernatorial races in some states have given Green Parties high enough percentages to achieve or maintain ballot status and determine the outcome of the election.

In 2006, Rich Whitney and his fellow Greens overcame an attempt by Gov. Rod Blagojevich to keep the Green Party off the Illinois ballot. Gov. Blagojevich spent about $800,000 to block the Green Party. Mr. Whitney drew over 10% of the vote on Election Day 2006 and will be on the ballot in 2010.

Some Green gubernatorial candidates to watch:

RICH WHITNEY, a civil rights attorney based in Carbondale, is running again for Governor of Illinois. At a time when Illinois is experiencing devastating cuts to education and social services, Mr. Whitney is the only candidate in the race who refuses to accept such cuts as inevitable. He has set forth a comprehensive plan for restoring health to the public sector and fighting for “a full employment economy,” at “a living wage, or better.”

“It may surprise some people to hear a candidate talk about expanding public employment at a time when the media keep pounding into people’s minds the notion that government is ‘too big’ and ‘we can’t afford it.’ We have to recognize that the corporate-dominated media have an agenda and that there is a reason why we have been hearing this propaganda steadily for over 30 years. We also have to realize that when the opinion leaders in the corporate media keep telling us that ‘we’ can’t afford it, what they are really trying to tell us is that ‘they’ – the wealthy owners of corporate America – don’t want to afford it,” said Mr. Whitney.

“They don’t want to pay their fair share of taxes needed to maintain the most basic functions of government. And thus the illusion is created that in the richest, most productive nation in the world, we as a society somehow can’t afford quality public education, quality health care for all, quality employment opportunities for all and decent retirement security for all.”

Rich Whitney proposes creative measures for dealing with the state’s fiscal and economic crises, including creation of a state bank, and imposing what he calls the real “sin” taxes — a financial transactions tax on speculative trading and a fee and dividend system to combat global warming and promote sustainable energy, transportation, and energy efficiency.

Web site: http://www.whitneyforgov.org

See also: “Rich Whitney, Green Party Governor Candidate, Releases Budget Proposals” (The Huffington Post, March 11, 2010, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/11/rich-whitney-green-party_n_495664.html)

JILL STEIN has launched an exciting grassroots campaign that is posing an unprecedented challenge to business as usual in Massachusetts. She is building on the 350,000 votes she received statewide in her race for Secretary of the Commonwealth in 2006. Given the emerging lineup that has her facing three CEO-insider politicians with nearly identical positions on the key issues, the race may actually be won with as little as 26% of the vote. With her 18% in her last statewide election, and the anti-insider fever that’s gripped the state, this could put a win in actual striking distance.

As Dr. Stein explained at a recent gathering, “A government run to benefit lobbyists and insiders has given us double digit unemployment, skyrocketing health care costs, predatory home foreclosures, crumbling schools, unaffordable higher education, counterproductive crime and drug laws, regressive taxes, unending and costly wars, and a climate crisis that threatens our economy. We can do better. It’s time to put solutions on the table that give us a secure green future in which there is both prosperity and justice.”

Since her February 8 kick-off, Dr. Stein has given numerous radio and television interviews and put together a strong campaign team. “Doors are opening as never before for a Green candidate,” Dr. Stein says. “This could be our breakthrough year.”

Web site: http://www.jillstein.org

S. DEACON ALEXANDER is one of two candidates competing for the California Green nomination for governor. A sixty-four year old retired union carpenter, many of Deacon’s ideas for a better society are from his father, bricklayer’s assistant and political activist. As a long-time social advocate and former Black Panther, Deacon Alexander worked to acquit all charges against Angela Davis in 1972 and joined Latino immigrants to fight for Los Angeles’ South Central Farm.

“I run for Governor because Californians must do better. We must educate, not incarcerate. Growing affordable housing and local business are in my plan to invest in basic infrastructure. Abolish the death penalty, the prison industrial complex, racism against immigrants and all people of color. I support jobs which empower our youth, rebuild inner cities, and reduce global warning,” said Mr. Alexander.

“My gubernatorial campaign is simple. We will go Poor-to-Poor, up and down the State of California . My first act as candidate was on Skid Row in LA with the homeless, the disenfranchised, the down and out. These people have been excluded, denied and rejected for far too long. I pledge to bring them into my campaign for Governor, register them as Greens, and fight for their rights.”

“Both my gubernatorial primary opponent, Green Party candidate Laura Wells, and I fully support Ten Key Values and platform of California Green Party. Our differences lie not in substance, but in our priorities. A party and candidate which put the rights of the least of us first, is one which can proudly represent all Californians.”

Website: http://www.deaconforgov.com

LAURA WELLS is also running for the Green Party’s nomination for Governor of California. Ms. Wells ran for State Controller in 2002 and 2006. In 2002, she received over 400,000 votes, the highest vote total of any Green Party partisan statewide race in California.

“I ran as a candidate for State Controller with the motto ‘follow the money’ to understand what’s happened in California. Now it’s time to fix the money,” said Ms. Wells. “Prop 13 was passed in 1978 to keep people, especially seniors, in their homes, but like a bad pharmaceutical, the side effects of the tax policies have been disastrous especially to our younger generations. The Titanic Parties will not touch Prop 13 because likely voters love it, but I am touching it. I sent a valentine saying, ‘Prop 13, I love you, but honey, you’ve got to change!’”

“There are solutions: we can institute a State Bank for California and invest in California not Wall Street. We can have great schools, healthcare, a wonderful environment, and golden job opportunities.”

The Laura Wells campaign has printed 10,000 copies of a newsletter leaflet listing the “13 Ways Prop 13 has been Unlucky for California” on one side and “FAQs: State Bank for California” on the other. The campaign is distributing them at rallies and meetings all over the state. Leafletting began with the March 4 Day of Action, when thousands of students from universities, community colleges, and high schools walked out of class to demand a re-ordering of priorities in the state’s finances.

For more about Prop 13, the State Bank, and other information about Laura Wells and her campaign, visit her web site: http://www.LauraWells.org

DAVID CURTIS is running for Governor of Nevada.

“Fellow Greens have been asking me to run for office for more than five years. I do not enter into this lightly,” said Mr. Curtis. “Extreme economic events of the last two years in Nevada convinced me that I needed to take a more direct role in the leadership of my native state. I am running to help rebuild the Nevada economy. I want to make the state a viable place to live for my family and the citizens of Nevada.”

http://curtis4governor.com http://www.apparatusLV.com

DENNIS S. SPISAK is the Green Party of Ohio candidate for governor in 2010. Mr. Spisak is running with the goal of bringing renewable energy jobs, single-payer health care for all, and clean fair elections to Ohio.

“I am running for governor because I believe we must send a representative to Columbus who will address the issues facing regular citizens, not lobbyists or corporate PACs. My campaign will focus on the issues that Ohioans care about: affordable health care, economic fairness, quality public education, and bringing renewable energy manufacturing jobs to the state. I am not afraid to call for health care for all Ohioans, economic justice, and nothing less than a renewal of Ohio’s sense of community and promise of equal opportunity for all Ohioans,” said Mr. Spisak.

“The people of Ohio are tired of politics and government controlled by the Democrats and Republicans. They want straight talk and straight answers to the problems facing them and their children. The Green Party has the answers to their problems.”

Web site: http://www.votespisak.org/governor

Green Party Elections web page: http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml

Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org

Green Party candidate Dennis Spisak is running for Ohio Governor.

Being from Ohio, elections here are especially important to me as they have a more direct impact on the Buckeye State than do federal elections.  So it was heartening to read at USelections.com that there is an independent candidate from the left who is running for governor and who isn’t culled from the pools of Big Business.  His name is Dennis Spisak, and he is running for governor this year.  You can check out his web site by clicking this LINK.

Other candidates for governor are incumbent and Democrat Ted Strickland, Republican and businessboy John Kasich, who ran an unsuccessful campaign for U.S. president in 2000, and building contractor Ken Matesz on the Libertarian Party ticket.

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