July 2011

Monday night, House Speaker John Boehner took to the airwaves to taught his deficit reduction plan. Of course the left didn't like this plan, but they aren't alone:

The debt ceiling deal introduced by Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) would save, by one measure, roughly $850 billion over the course of ten years and just $1 billion in 2012 -- two metrics unlikely to satisfy the most conservative members of his conference.

The Congressional Budget Office, which is the official scorekeeper of legislation, released its analysis of the Budget Control Act of 2011 on Tuesday afternoon. The findings were damaging enough that an hour later, Boehner's office told reporters it would rewrite the bill to achieve a more favorable scoring. Hours after that, GOP leadership announced it was delaying a vote on the plan until Thursday.

Measured against March 2011 government expenditure levels, the Boehner proposal, as currently written, would reduce the deficit by $850 billion during the next decade, according to the CBO. Measured against January 2011 government spending levels, the bill would reduce budget deficits by roughly $1.1 trillion during that same time period.

And it isn't just the "most conservative" corners of his party rejecting this plan. We see Americans as a whole wanting something more along the lines of an Obama plan than a Boehner plan:

Most Americans would like to see a mix of spending cuts and tax increases be part of a deal to raise the debt ceiling, a new poll finds, aligning the majority with President Barack Obama's position.

SB5, Ohio's bill stripping public employee union's of collective bargaining rights, will have it's fate decided this November by Ohio voters:

Ohio voters will have the chance this November to decide whether the state's contentious new collective bargaining law should be repealed.

The state's elections chief said Thursday that opponents had gathered enough valid signatures to put the question before voters. The measure is now suspended from taking effect until voters have their say.

The law signed by Ohio Gov. John Kasich in late March bans public employee strikes and restricts collective bargaining rights for more than 350,000 teachers, police officers and other public workers. While unions can continue to negotiate wages, they cannot bargain on health care, sick time or pension benefits.

The group We Are Ohio delivered more than 1.3 million signatures to Secretary of State Jon Husted, though the opponents needed roughly 231,000 valid signatures to get the question on the ballot.

This is excellent news for Ohio workers and the state overall. It's a chance to shove it back in the face of our pompous Governor and restore basic rights to our public employees.

For anyone out there thinking News Corp is innocent, we just need to look back to 2009:

News Corporation admitted at a trial in 2009 that computers at its U.S. marketing division, News America Marketing, hacked into the secure website of a rival U.S.-based company 11 times, according to Bloomberg.

The FBI is currently investigating allegations that News Corp, the parent company of Fox News and The Wall Street Journal, attempted to bribe police and hack into the cell phones of victims of the 9/11 terrorist attack.

Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) wrote Tuesday to Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI Director Robert Mueller to highlight the hacking allegation made by Floorgraphics Inc.

Floorgraphics claimed in a lawsuit that News America Marketing stole business from the company by hacking into Floorgraphics website between October 2003 to January 2004. The company agreed to dismiss the case after receiving a $29.5 million payment from News America Marketing.

So we've got an actual admission by News Corp that they have engaged in this illegal activity before, yet somehow Murdoch thinks he is innocent?

Welcome to ultimate responsibility Rupert! Your company paid out almost $30 million and admitted to hacking just two years ago, yet you claim you have no responsibility? Maybe it's time for you to go back to the land you were born, the land that was once known for being a place that criminals were sent. You should feel right at home there you ass hat!

Rupert Murdoch just told Parliament that he is not ultimately responsible for "this fiasco" and instead projected blame to the people he "trusted and the people they trusted". I'm sorry, but as CEO of the company, you are ultimately responsible for anything that happens within the corporation. I don't think the stockholders will take to kindly to this statement.