October 2011

A new Quinnipiac poll out today shows that repeal of the anti-union SB5 in Ohio has very nice support from the voters:

Ohio voters support 57 - 32 percent the repeal of SB 5, the centerpiece of Gov. John Kasich's legislative program, as the margin against the governor's measure has almost doubled in the last month, from 51 - 38 percent for repeal September 27, a 13-point margin, to a 25-point margin in today's Quinnipiac University poll.

If this repeal passes it could be a big boost for labor in this country. Perhaps people are starting to realize that the anti-union fervor the right has been fueling is nothing more than a strawman to distract from real budgetary problems that plague the states. A perfect example of this lies within Ohio. While Kasich is pointing to the unions as being a big source of budget problems, the people are distracted from other wasteful spending. How about Governor Kasich increasing the salary of the governor’s staff by almost double upon entering office? Sure the 1/4 million that costs Ohio taxpayers per year may not seem like much, but this kind of cronyism is exactly what builds up and leads to budget problems.

Ohio is also feeling the very costly affects of broken campaign promises. Governor Kasich and a Republican lead state legislature came into power in January of this year. Since then they have spent on their time working on extreme ideological legislation, and while Ohio continues to hemorrhage jobs, have done nothing to stimulate the state’s economy. SB5 is a perfect example of this. It does nothing to create jobs or stimulate the economy and serves only as red meat to the most extreme parts of their party.

It looks like the people of Ohio are realizing this. Governor Kasich is one of the most disliked governors in the country and his numbers continue to plummet:

The WSJ has launched a pity-party today for the suffering 1% of this country:

Jacqueline Siegel paces the floor of her unfinished 7,200-square-foot ballroom. The former beauty queen, with platinum-blond hair, blue eye shadow and a white minidress, clacks along the plywood construction boards in her high heels trailed by a small entourage of helpers and staff.

"This is the grand hall," she says, opening her arms to a space the size of a concert hall and surrounded by balconies. "It will fit 500 people comfortably, probably more. The problem with our place now is that when we have parties with, like, 400 people, it gets too crowded."

Grab some tissue and read on to hear the horrors as these suffering people can’t complete their 90,000 square foot home. How dare you greedy Occupy Wall Street people not consider the misfortunes of the Siegel’s and the rest of America’s elite!

Sadly this story will pull at the heart strings of many Americans. The problem is that so many in this country can’t accept the reality that they will never come close to living this lifestyle. Instead they dream on everyday that someday they may become the next Siegel’s. The other thing they won’t realize is what the Occupy Wall Street movement is doing is to help bring back the American dream by making it possible for more people to pull themselves up the economic ladder. That’s something becoming harder and harder under the current system and the ‘American dream’ has been called all but extinct now.

But there’s something that really gets me about the Siegel’s. From the article:

That image is the iconic mark of the end of World War 2, when Americans took to the streets to celebrate. Yesterday President Obama announced that the rest of the U.S. troops serving in Iraq will be home by year’s end. He didn’t top gun onto an aircraft carrier and stand in front of a “mission accomplished” banner and make the announcement, but rather just informed the American people from the White House. The country responded pretty much with crickets.

After almost 9 years of the Iraq war, Americans were never once asked to sacrifice. This wasn’t a war waged by a nation, but rather by a President and his authority over the military.

During World War 2 taxes were high to help offset the costs of the war. Every family had risk of a loved one serving in the war when 10 million Americans were drafted into service. Every American had to give in one way or another.

During Iraq we saw taxes go down and our soldiers being forced to fight longer than they agreed to through stop loss. We dare not ask the American people to sacrifice while our soldiers are making the ultimate sacrifice.

Yesterday, before this announcement, I was in a discussion with a Republican friend on Facebook. He gave me one of the typical lines from Republicans that President Obama doesn’t support the troops. When pushed for facts to back up his claim, I never heard one. I would now like to show some ways President Bush didn’t support the troops:

I am stealing this from Bob Cesca because I have never read more truer words. Andrew Sullivan:

To rid the world of Osama bin Laden, Anwar al-Awlaki and Moammar Qaddafi within six months: if Obama were a Republican, he'd be on Mount Rushmore by now.

Instead the Republicans act like the President is some sort of enemy of the state or they just try to strip him of any credit and give it to others. They really are the lowest of lows in the political spectrum.