John Jim Crow Kasich

Let's get right to the point, shall we...

A lazy electorate, impatient and tired of what they perceived as Barack Obama's ineffectiveness in solving their pet causes in the first two years of his presidency, lazily stayed home in droves in 2010, refusing to deploy the only real weapon that a citizen has against its government. Many of you who did vote stupidly voted to put the very people who had pushed America to the brink of destruction, back in power, all because he couldn't get it done fast enough.


And you know who you are...

You actually believed that Barack the magic negro bullshit back in 2008. You expected him to blink his eyes, or wave a magic wand and presto, gay people became equal and marriage material, white people would starting actually liking Black people, the wars would automatically stop, the troops would fly home, the deficit would be fixed and Wall Street would pass out money to everyone, making us all millionaires. 
 
We the people, gave Obama a boat without a paddle inches from going over a cliff and told him to “Get us out of here, quick!”  And some of you didn't bother to try and help him paddle. 
 
The result is not just partial, but complete gridlock in Washington. The mini-minds of the Republican Party have convinced themselves that the 18% who did go to the polls, in the midterm election gave them a mandate to rule the rest of us lazy-ass immature 80%, regressing the country back to a mythical and perverted version of itself. 
 
This mythical version had workers who worked like slaves from sun up to sundown for no money. It had slaves, real ones, happy ones, dragged over from Africa who smiled and buck danced at the first sight of Massa.

It had women whose only roll in life was to please her husband, father, brother and bring children into the world sometimes fathered by their husband, father or brother. But the men folks was happy, and so were the rest of us, they assumed. Everybody was Christian, period.

Cut back to present day 21^st Century America, the GOP, with its fake mandate, has declared war on workers with laws such as SB5 in Ohio. They have declared war on women with no less than 44 new laws designed to deny women's rights and keep them under a male thumb.

This GOP has literally redacted the Voting Rights Act for Blacks by changing when, where and how people can vote. They have gerrymandered the voting districts to give Republicans and Teabaggers a better opportunity of winning electoral seats.


HEY JIM CROW, C'MONNNNNNNNNNNN DOWN!

The GOP has declared war on immigrants both legal and illegal. They have decided that the only “child” worth saving is the one still in the womb, with closer resemblence to a frog than a baby. If a woman should happen to get raped by ET, oh well...tough titties..

But it's still okay to execute innocent people...nothing in the constitution prevents it..right Justice Scalia?

The GOP/Teabaggers lied and said they would make jobs, but they've been telling this lie since Nixon was in office. Truth be known these fools have tanked more jobs than they've made these past two years. 
 
It's not just happening in Ohio. The feds have gone to court in Texas to stop Rick Perry's gerrymander of the Lone Star State, whose sole purpose is to deprive minorities of the right to vote. If Perry is doing this in Texas, imagine what he can do if you give him the keys to the White House. 
 
Kasich is attempting the same thing in Ohio, but the Ohio Supreme Court has stepped in and stopped it so far. This is going to force us to have two primaries next year and the GOP is crying foul, because an extra primary will cost $15 mill. 
 
Should'da thought about that before rigging the elections. AND...by the way...the Ohio Supreme Court which called a temporary halt to this nonsense, is all republican with one exception...and if they smell a rat...you know it's got to be a big one...

Texas and Ohio are also joined by the likes of North Carolina, Arizona, and Colorado. In fact every state that had a massive and EARLY voting turnout in 2008 is being gerrymandered by the GOP, as we speak.

Jim Crow is back and dancing a jig on the White House lawn.

So how are they doing it? Provisions that no longer allow early voting on the Sunday before the election. It is estimated that 1/3 of the Black vote came on the Sundays before the election in 2008. Another change...third parties...such as the NAACP and people who help others to the polls...must submit their paperwork allowing them to do this within 48 hours, instead of 10 days or risk having to pay heavy fines. This is another way of killing organizations like ACORN...which was never in the business of rigging elections..proven only after they were forced out of business by the GOP.

This provision is particular has caused the League of Women voters to suspend their voter registration efforts for the first time in 70 years. 
 
It's not just about the Sunday before...it's about early voting in general. Kasich has tried to cut the early voting window in half. He doesn't want blacks to have a chance to exercise their constitutional rights.

Colorado tried to get their counties to declare anyone who did not vote in 2010 as “inactive.” This would mean that an early voting ballot would not be mailed to them, a move that effects the elderly, low income and minority voters.

Let's not forget the new ID laws. It is estimated that the new laws in Alabama, South Carolina and Texas could keep more than 5 million people who voted in 2008, from voting in 2012.

And it's not just minorities....married women who have not changed their surnames on their ID...the elderly who can't get out and may not have updated their ID...people who simply can't afford the cost of a government issued ID are in jeopardy, too.

The fix is in, people. This is election year 2000 on steroids. When the GOP plays to win....they cheat.

But don't take my word for it....look at the justice system...look at what is going on in state governments....look at what is being voted on, on Capital Hill.

Makes ya wanna holla...

The War on Poor People

"Callin' out around the world, are you ready for a brand new beat? Summer's here and the time is right for dancin' in the streets! They're dancin' in Wisconsin, Alabama, too. Can't you hear the music playin' down in Ohio, too?"

There is something seriously wrong with a universe in which poor people and the little money they take home to feed their kids is considered a problem. Think about it, one man on wall street takes home a paycheck in 2010 totaling 5-billion dollars. That is $1159.00 for every second of every day for the 365 days. This 5-billion dollar paycheck follows a 4-billion dollar check from a couple of years ago to the same man.

Yet, there was hardly a peep out of anyone, anywhere. The teabaggers in the House didn't blink, sitting quietly as he testified before a House subcommittee, defiantly justifying his take home pay. No outrage about the lopsidedness of the pay structure. No concern about the people at the other end of the ladder worrying about meeting their mortgages. No wonderment at how one company can pay one man so much, yet not be able to add more hourly workers in order to help the country get its unemployment under control. No talk that congress was kicking the can down the road and foisting the problem off on future generations.

The newly elected members of the House of Representatives, the governors of many states, including Wisconsin, Ohio and Florida have decided that the problem is poor people and the money they make in order to live.  It's their money, in 40 and 50-thousand dollar yearly chunks that will bankrupt their kids down the road. The benefits they won through collective bargaining is bad. Collective bargaining is bad. They don't deserve to be able to talk back to their bosses who still get automatic pay raises and bonuses tallying in the millions and billions of dollars.

All this despite few if any pay raises to equal the cost of the living for the past several years or of having to live with wage freezes because their companies tell them there is no money to pay them, or to fund their pension plans.The workers are told they will have to work more and longer if they want to make enough money on which to live.  John Kasich of Ohio even thinks anyone bold enough to talk back, should be fired for insubordination. 

Kasich bragged about the pay raises he gave his  virtually all white male, minority-free staff before they took office, all the while refusing stimulus funds designed to tie Ohio into the projected high speed rail system and create jobs. He also is refusing education funds designed to improve Ohio schools and elevate the intellect of Ohio kids who rank right up there with a box of rocks.

These same legislators are leading the challenge against health care reform, against women in general,  against reform on wall street, against medicare and medicaid and social security. Pensions need to be cut because investment counselors like the good governor of Ohio used to be, fumbled the pass and dropped the ball, losing billions of dollars for the working class. Too many people are out of work and using the system to survive, so it needs to be brought under control and flushed out a little bit. Raise the age limits on social security so fewer people qualify or die before they qualify.  And don't forget to cut those taxes for rich people because they are so full of the christian spirit and always use the extra cash to create jobs for poor people.

As they take care of the rich, cut taxes and yank the safety net for women and children, these same legislators are rolling back the regulations designed to protect poor people in the future, allowing the pillaging of America to continue unabated. The financial gang rape of America  has never stopped amid this economic crisis and recession. The rich guys can still buy 100,000 dollar toilets to complement their designer desks in their little used offices located in the financial centers of the world. 

Greed is still good in America as we prepare to sell our stock exchanges to Germany and ship jobs over the ocean allowing consumers in the Far East to drive supply and demand, causing prices to sky rocket world wide.  Kasich has Ohio on the block. He's already costed out how much he can make by selling the Ohio turnpike. What's next, I-75 or 71? If he gets his way in Ohio, he will have a whole new pool of indentured servants to work the toll booths at $7.25 an hour, or less, if he thinks that's too much money for a booth clerk to make.

I guess I could stomach tightening my own belt even more if the pain were spread around equally. Equally, meaning Congress foregoes its own pay, automatic pay raises and health care while they wrestle with mine. Or, Congress takes measures to really force the banks and wall street to get off their golden piss pot and start funding the economic recovery of America. I mean these so called financial raiders had all the balls in the world when they were screwing people and laughing all the way to Aruba. Why are they suddenly so shy about making the one investment that would bring this country back. Wouldn't that be a win-win situation?

Don't you have to spend money to make money? Why are the banks being allowed to simply stockpile the money? What are they waiting for....all the poor people to die? It's certainly not for a "complexion change" on Capital Hill. The complexion paled visibly in this past election and the war on poor people got worse...literally broke out into the open.

Why won't Congress tell the boys in the backroom that it is time to give back and do their part? Don't they understand that by turning all of the world  into a  bankrupt ghetto it becomes a very dangerous place for rich guys with bling. People are marching on state capitals, now. Even Stevie Wonder can see the next target....the federal government and after that, the gated complexes of the rich but not necessarily famous. With all the cutbacks going on...there simply aren't enough police, security guards or mercenaries to go around to protect all the exclusive enclaves where rich boys hide.

The war on poor people has hit stride. Globalization of the job market is continuing unchecked...outsourcing of jobs is continuing unabated....wage freezes are spreading....health care costs are continuing to rise because the feds won't penalize the big insurance or pharmaceutical companies....what little regulation Obama tried to put in place is being rolled back...the corporate raiders and investments pirates are once again being unshackled....

Hell....we're going to have to start another war in order to recoup some of our losses. This one will be against Iran while riding shotgun for Israel and come with mandatory conscription otherwise known as the draft. After all, how else do you employe masses of poor people at a job that will routinely cull the herd, quietly, legally and in the name of patriotism.

Kill that deficit in no time at all....

The Kindness of Strangers

originally posted on 8/8/06....during a visit to the mountains of Alabama)

When you're growing up, your mom always tells you to never talk to strangers.It's a survival tactic passed on from parent to child and it is good practice. But I guess I have some of Blanche DuBois in me when it comes to meeting people.

One of my favorite things to do in the whole world is exactly that- talk to strangers when I travel. It is the best way to get to know the places where you are and to remember them when you return. Time passes, but the conversations and memories will always be with you.

Which brings me back to Mentone, Alabama, home to some really nice people and good places to chow down on real home cooking in between shopping for bargains at the world's longest yard sale.

I got lost wandering around the top of the mountain while searching for our cabin and I was alone since the rest of my party was driving in from South Carolina. I'm a buckeye girl, born and raised in Ohio and presently living in the Queen City, Cincinnati. So I had to ask for help and that meant driving onto private property and interrupting people I saw and asking them to guide me to where I needed to be.

I met a short round woman who reflected my similar build and who was famous in the area for making jewelry and a man who had moved to the area less than a year ago. They lived pretty far apart and may not have known each other although they were neighbors, sort of. They lived off the same state route 89.

The tall thin man with no local accent, was grilling steaks on his deck. I interrupted him, but he was very cool, scratched his head after reading the directions I was attempting to decipher, apologized for never having heard of the place I was looking for and sent me back the way I'd come. He didn't offer up any steak. I wasn't hungry and wouldn't have said so anyway. I was hearing my mother in my head with that other parental admonition-"don't take candy/food from anyone who isn't family."

I finally found the cabin with the help of a couple on a harley davidson motorcycle who stopped for the stop sign near where I parked attempting to read the directions again. They would've been my neighbors having rented a nearby cabin, but their vacation was over so they were headed home to Huntsville.

Bikers sometimes look intimidating because of what they wear, but past experience has taught me, they usually give great directions. So I asked her on the back of the bike and he answered from the front. All the time I was trying not to ogle the dragon tattoo that started at his throat and disappeared down the front of his vest. They got me where I needed to be.

Success!

Now to find my sister and some sustenance. Tiring work being lost and temporarily homeless.

Thank You, Clarence Thomas

The United States Supreme Court takes up the issue of President elect, Barack Obama’s citizenship on Friday, thanks to Justice Clarence Thomas. Thomas has submitted a previously dismissed lawsuit filed in New Jersey for a conference of justices.

Back in November, Leo Donofrio filed suit against New Jersey’s Secretary of State, Nina Wells, seeking to stop the presidential election. A lower court threw out the suit. It was re-filed and Supreme Court Justice David Souter dismissed it. Read here.

Well, not to be out done, Mr. Donofrio took his petition to Justice Clarence Thomas, who apparently figures the suit has some merit, so he has taken it to a conference, where all the justices will sit down and decide whether or not to hear the case. That is what is happening tomorrow.

In addition, supporters of the many lawsuits that have been filed seeking to overturn’s Obama’s election will gather on the steps of the Supreme Court to show support and to demand action.

Most of the lawsuits, as I have written before, are challenging Obama’s birth certificate as well as his birth in Hawaii, despite the fact that the state says he is a citizen, legally born in the United States. Click here to read interview with suit filer Alan Keyes. Suits have also been filed in Hawaii, Illinois, California, Kentucky and Ohio, Pennsylvania as well as the aforementioned New Jersey.


Donofrio vs Wells challenges Obama’s apparent dual citizenship as a violation of the United States Constitution. While Obama’s mother is American, his Kenyan father, reportedly had British citizenship.

I asked a legal expert friend of mine who also happens to be a retired Federal Judge, to explain what could happen tomorrow. I was told that an emergency review of Donofrio was already in progress and that the Justices could order an emergency stay of the electoral college vote slated for December 15th. They could call for oral arguments. Or the justices could simply rule in Donofrio’s favor and order penalties levied for the violations. Could the Justices overturn the election? Yes, they could.

My friend also thinks that the Justices hearing Donofrio vs Wells has about a snowball’s chance in hell. But you never know.

Maybe SUPCO likes affecting elections, now that they've done it once..How about another?

Ya think?

Cincinnati Rally Against Prop 8

Today is an absolutely miserable day in the Queen City. It’s an upside down day with the morning being warmer than the evening will be. Temperatures started falling amidst a chill rain almost as soon as daylight broke over the eastern horizon today.

Never the less I went down to City Hall, at the prescribed hour, to see if anyone was going to turn up for the planned prop 8 solidarity rally. I am happy to report that almost 1000 rainbow clad people braved the icey wind driven rain to take part in nationwide protests against the California vote that banned gay marriage in the sunshine state. The temperature at 1:30pm was 39-degrees and dropping.

The demonstration was orderly and pleasant as protests go. Mounted police were on hand to keep the peace, but the trio of 5-0 Mounties hung around for about 10 minutes before resuming their patrols. Nothing for them to police at the rally. There were several speeches and a moment of silence at 2pm in solidarity with protestors across the country. It was a good day. The numbers in attendance would seem to indicate that more people might have shown up if the weather had only cooperated.

I was troubled by the number of blacks who turned out....besides me...I saw just one other person of color. There may have been more, but everyone was covered, protected from the rain, so it was hard to see just who was who.

I also want to know where all these folks were when Ohio passed its ban on gay marriage back in 2004. You can read about it here. Ohio was the 38th state to enact such legislation and it passed here, almost unnoticed. I wrote about it back then because some of Ohio’s courts were interpreting the law to circumvent domestic violence and common law governance to the detriment of women. The Ohio Supreme Court, however, has since answered those questions.

But to date, no one has taken the State of Ohio to task for writing discrimination into the State Constitution. You will recall that Cincinnati tried it several years ago, too. That amendment passed, then was repealed, due in part to the city losing business and money because of its stated discrimination against the LGBT community.

Maybe the group that gathered today can turn its attention to Ohio and the laws making some of us second class citizens, right here in the Buckeye state. Or maybe, even better, we can all turn our attention on the coming administration in Washington....

Nothing like an executive order or congressional law to make all laws uniform on the issue, rather than the current cross pattern of state laws that exist now.

Obama called everyone to action...so be it...let’s get busy!

Voter Suppression Shuffle in Cincinnati

Let’s dance!

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters has jumped into the alleged voter registration fraud campaign being conducted nationwide against newly registered voters. Deters has convened a grand jury and has subpoenaed the records for about 40% of the new voters, in order to check them out. But he says it’s not political. He is just doing his job as the lawyer of record for the Hamilton County Board of Elections.

Deters has long had a habit of using the power of his office to intimidate anyone who disagrees with his version of what should be the status quo. What is his status quo? Republicans in charge, poor people invisible and black people in jail.

Republicans across the nation have been going after ACORN, a grassroots organization that has reportedly registered more than one million new voters, with most of them leaning toward Barack Obama.

Here in Ohio, the GOP first attacked early voting...then the window that allows folks to register and vote all on the same day. The Republicans filed suit in state, and federal courts. The sixth circuit court of appeals tried to force the State of Ohio to make up an entirely new system for checking voter registration. The new system duplicates one already in place and functioning. Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner filed a motion with the United States Supreme Court, the highest court in the land. SUPCO backed Brunner and the State of Ohio.

Yet the GOP and Joe Deters are not content to let the matter rest.

Elections officials have said throughout this farce that many of the questionable registrations were initially flagged by ACORN itself. Officials also say that many of the troubles on the new registrations are the result of erroneous entry by elections officials who key in the info to the computer. In other words, a faulty registration is not a concrete indication of fraud. It’s not even fraud until or unless “Mickey Mouse” shows up to vote. Casting the vote or attempting to cast the vote, is fraud. What we have now, is a scenario that means elections officials simply have to be left alone to do what they are paid to do.

Yet, Deters, and other Sheriffs and County prosecutors around Ohio are wasting taxpayer money chasing ghosts in an attempt to once again steal an election for their chosen candidate. And make no mistake about it, Deters colors are fully visible. He is chairman of the southwest Ohio campaign for McCain/Palin.

If he were really doing his job, he would have stepped aside and allowed the appointment of an independent counsel or prosecutor of some kind to handle the situation, if he deemed it so reprehensible that it needs immediate attention from law enforcement.

One note, national voting statistics do track voter fraud. Records show that from 2000-2005 there was exactly one case of voter fraud, nationally. Just one..Today there is another one, a guy hired by the republican party in California to register voters. He has been arrested for allegedly tricking people into changing their party affiliation by telling them that the papers they were signing was a petition to get tougher on child molesters.

The Hamilton County Board of Elections is holding a special meeting today. I hope common sense rules and someone is able to tell Joe Deters to go back to his office, close the door, sit down and shut up for a change.

Voter Fraud = Another GOP Smoke Screen

Every presidential election comes with charges and counter charges about voter fraud pushing the election one way or the other. This campaign is no exception. The sixth circuit court of appeals, here in Cincinnati has ordered Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to put into place, by this Friday, a program for checking the validity of all newly registered Ohio voters. Newly registered voters total some 666,000 people. The court ruling was in answer to a lawsuit filed against Brunner by the Republican Party, voicing concern about possible voter fraud committed by ACORN registrars. ACORN is a grassroots organization that works to help poor and minorities in dealing with issues from mortgages to registering to vote.

The GOP has been upset for quite a while now at the State because of a law that allows residents to register to vote and then to vote on the same day. The GOP says that’s unconstitutional and opens up the state to all kinds of voter fraud. Well, that window was put into place by Ohio’s GOP governor and GOP controlled government back in 2006. They didn’t seem to have any problem with the window at the time they created it.

Nor did they have a problem with then Secretary of State, Ken Blackwell’s tactics against black and minority voters in 2004 when he played a major part in hijacking the election for Bush. Bush won by 119,000 votes in Ohio. Change just ten votes per precinct and he would’ve lost the presidency.

The Sheriff of Greene County has asked to see all 302 cards of the newly registered in his county, to check for voter fraud. Yet he says he is not trying to intimidate anyone. This is a republican controlled county, as is most of Ohio. Similar harassment techniques are being used in other states that are still up for grabs in this election.

HERE’S A FACT FOR YOU- In the entire United States of America, from 2000 to 2005, there has been exactly one..did ya hear me.....one, proven case of voter fraud....just one.....

All this hyper ventilation by the republican party against ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is a smoke screen. ACORN is a grass roots advocacy group that works on behalf of poor people. Poor people of the minority kind in particular, don't generally vote republican.

The GOP is talking about faulty registrations, not votes. Faulty registrations are caught before the vote is cast. It may stress out elections officials, but fraud? No.

And usually the faulty registrations were flagged by ACORN, in the first place. They are required to do that, but instead of throwing away the shaky forms, they turn them in with the correctly filled out ones, because they are also required to do that.

Blackwell unveiled the GOP plan a couple of weeks ago in an article in the New York Post in which he compared the alleged ongoing voter fraud to the devastation of a hurricane.

Just like all the other smoke screens thrown up this year, by the GOP and the McCain/Palin campaign, this one is an attempt to divert attention away from the real issues and to confuse the population about the election and the state of the country.

The Republican party, has publicly admitted that campaigning on the issues is not the way to win an election. Confusion and diversion are the tactics that have worked in the past. The public campaign against ACORN is no exception.

Voter Intimidation in Ohio

The Sheriff of Greene County, a republican, has asked for the registration cards of all 302 newly registered voters in his area. Greene County is located in southwest Ohio and is home to several colleges, including historically black , Central State College and Wilberforce University. Wright State, Antioch and Cedarville are also located in this area. Most of the students are thought to lean toward the democrats. Antioch in particular is famously noted for its rebellious, left leaning attitudes.

Sheriff Gene Fischer says he is not politically motivated, he’s just reacting to complaints from his constituents who fear there may be some fraud going on. It should be noted that the Greene County prosecutor who is representing Fischer, is a former law partner of former GOP Senator Mike DeWine, who is chairman of John McCain’s Ohio organization.

The Ohio GOP has been upset, issuing legal challenge after legal challenge against the State’s window allowing voter registration and early voting on the same day. The early voting window was put into place during Republican Bob Taft’s regime in 2006. This is the same regime which installed Ken Blackwell a former Cincinnatian, as Secretary of State. Blackwell is believed to have led the charge in tampering with the 2004 presidential election. After being voted out of office, Blackwell went to work for a GOP conservative think tank. Ohio went to Bush by a mere 118,000 or so votes. The GOP had no problem with it until the new law began to benefit Democrats as well as Republicans.

Brunner says her office will turn over the requested records with the names, telephone numbers and social security numbers blacked out.

Fischer acted yesterday, after a federal judge in Columbus issued a ruling ordering Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to verify all new registrations against government data bases, specifically, Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, or Social Security records.

The order was prompted by a lawsuit filed against Brunner by the Ohio Republican Party. Some 666,000 people have registered to vote in this election since the beginning of the year.

The GOP says its just trying to prevent fraud in the upcoming presidential election. The state already makes these checks, but Brunner is appealing the ruling because she says federal law has no recourse if a mismatch is found in the first place.

The GOP claims Brunner is being partisan and doesn’t want to make the checks because to do so would harm Barack Obama’s chances in Ohio.

© 2008 Jo Anne Moore, JAM Publications

Small Town Pep Rally

A touch of autumn was in the air today, as the Straight Talk Express rolled into Lebanon, Ohio. A sizeable and very homogenous crowd had been waiting patiently since early morning on Main Street USA, dodging the left over raindrops from the night before. Sarah Palin, sporting a cross on her breast where her flag pin should have been, emerged looking fresh, but then she’d arrived the previous day by airplane.

Listening to the Sarah Palin/John McCain stump speech, one would think that Democrats were in control of the government, and had been for the past several years. Both candidates addressed the partisan crowd for roughly 15 minutes each.

Governor Palin opened the pep rally with props for papa John, who stood lovingly mute to her right, and her husband, Todd, who was a little back and to the left, but well within reach, and smiling. She stuck to script repeating McCain’s history, repeating her version of her record in Alaska and promising to reform the liberal government in Washington.

There was never any mention of the fact that the government has been Republican, or that the president is a guy named Bush even though Lebanon was overwhelmingly supportive of Bush in the last election. Obama was painted as a Washington insider, despite his short tenure on Capital Hill, slamming him for asking for more than one billion dollars in earmarks for the state of Illinois.

She promised to shake up the old boy network in Washington, just like she did in Alaska, all the while smiling at the old boy who stood beside her glowing at her feistiness.

The crowd broke into chants of John McCain and Sarah and then USA when McCain took the mike to talk about veterans and the wars and his now familiar POW story. Sporting a baseball cap with Navy emblazoned on it and a blue dress shirt with no tie and the sleeves rolled up to make the black bracelet for Mathew visible, McCain looked as if he was even trying to steal Obama’s look on the campaign trail, by imitating his dress, as well as his call for change.

Neither candidate talked about the GOP social agenda or women’s rights, or specifics about the economy, preferring to stick to the applause lines of more oil, more power and tax cuts. The rally was long on talk, but once again, very short on actual facts or figures or plans.

Who’s Being Polled?

Public Policy Polling, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, released a poll today saying that John McCain and Barack Obama are tied in Ohio. PPP says Obama is having trouble with middle aged white women who backed Hillary in the primaries. PPP rightly surmises that the old girls are still sulking.

According to PPP, Obama’s numbers among Democrats stands at 75%-17% backing him for president, while McCain has 89%-7% support of Republicans.

The polling group goes on to state in its release that Obama would be better off campaigning with Hillary when he comes to the Buckeye state. Maybe...maybe not. In my own personal polling, which amounts to me talking to friends and neighbors and acquaintances...Hillary’s name being put into nomination at the upcoming convention is the height stupidity. Folks are really ticked off at the Clintons and the arrogance of their supporters. But back to the poll....

I was willing to let this poll pass unnoticed until I looked at the numbers. One of the hidden figures inside this poll says that Obama is ahead of McCain in women and voters under 45...but is only 80%-18% supported by Blacks in Ohio. McCain leads Obama among whites 49%-38%.

Honestly, that does not look like a tie to me...even if the black vote is correct...which I don’t for a minute believe that it is....

Here in Ohio, which is Disneyland for the GOP, McCain can’t carry 18% of the black vote in a galvanized bucket with a padded handle. Ain’t gonna happen. . Things have changed since the days of Ken Blackwell...he lost the last election, remember? McCain may take Ohio...he has to, to win...but he’s not gonna take the black vote...not in anyone’s universe.

So, who did PPP interview to come up with these numbers.....950 folks who chose to pick up their telephones.....

I’m sorry.....I don’t like polls and don’t trust them because they never represent a true cross section of people. No poll has been right this year because of these small sectors. Yet the MSM continues to quote them...to swear by them....and then try to dissect them when they turn out wrong...

Until pollsters make a real effort to reach out to all people, they’ll just keep getting wronger and wronger ( I know it’s not a word...but it fits.)

Happy Negroes, Unhappy Slaves

I had an interesting conversation with a man, recently. I don’t even know his name, but I talk to him every weekend while we’re both engaging in our favored Saturday pastime. I don’t think he knows my name either. Our names aren’t important. What draws us together and keeps us talking is the current political season and our shared love of history.

Seems his family, way back when, were slave owners. From my picture at the top of this column, you can rightfully discern that my people were slaves. He has papers to prove that his family owned “my” people. The papers list their names, how much they were purchased for, etc, etc. But he said his family never mistreated their coloreds. His family was good to its Negroes because mistreating your slave was like whipping a prized race horse...you simply didn’t do it if you wanted it to win races. In other words, if you wanted your fields plowed and your cotton harvested, you treated your slaves like people.

This was his analogy. For this reason, he told me, the historical image of the unhappy darkie and the murderous slave master during slave times was a myth....never happened. Most blacks, he said didn’t leave their masters when Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Most Negroes, he said were happy in their circumstances. His family and their black chattel was proof of this.

Now, I agree with him to a point. There were blacks who stayed in their homes after emancipation. There were numbers of blacks who didn’t go north at the first opportunity.

My own family which originated in slave owning Kentucky is an example of this. Some of us bear the name of our owner, still live on the property, and today even attend the national reunion for everyone with the surname. Family story says they stayed because grandpa was the son of master. They certainly look alike in the old pictures that we have.

But, by the same token, many of my ancestors left Kentucky. They went north at the first opportunity looking for a better life. They chose freedom. That’s why I was born in free Ohio. Nearly all of my ancestors originated somewhere down south...Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina primarily.

Should we stay on the plantation with the devil we know...or should we leave, move north to make our way into the wilderness, not knowing what awaits except that whatever awaits will be our own choice, not one delineated by master.

This dilemma has always divided us. It played out during our vocal struggle for civil rights. Do we march with Martin or throw bombs with the black panthers. Do we leave with Marcus Garvey or simply separate ourselves with Malcolm.

Safe versus Free. Known versus unknown.

Today, do we back the Clintons because we have always backed the Clintons. Or do we back Barack Obama.

The known has worked to a point. Yes, I’m sure there were happy coloreds on the plantation sometimes. But I know there were many others who took a beating and longed for the day they could call the shots for themselves, if they survived long enough.

There were many of us who marched with Martin. There are many of us who still sing “we shall overcome someday” and still believe that all we have to do is wait for it to happen.

Yet, there were still others of us who believed that the Black Panthers had a point.....that Marcus Garvey’s back to Africa movement was a tantalizing scenario...that Malcolm’s demands for equality by any means necessary is still worth savoring.

The Clintons may feel black, talk black and empathize black...but the fact remains that they are an entrenched part of the establishment. They want us to continue marching and singing old anthems along with the grizzled followers of the dream, asking their permission for our freedom. They want us to be happy with what they give us. They point to their happy house Negroes in an attempt to convince us that they ultimately have our best interests at heart.

But there is another truth operating here....even house Negroes didn’t like master....they just didn’t have a taste for adventure. They would rather stay with what they know rather than try the unknown. They would rather stay in the pseudo comfort of the plantation. It’s easier.

We are at another turning point in our history. Do we stay...or do we go.....Do we follow the north star with Harriet Tubman.....or do we go to bed because early tomorrow morning we have to wash master’s laundry.

Safe versus Free...Known versus Unknown

Happy Negro...Unhappy slave

Marching Backward

The boys of Ohio won a big one this week when state legislators overturned a Bob Taft veto of the current concealed carry gun law. The override abolished more than 80 local gun ordinances, including Cincinnati’s ban on assault weapons. The laws will actually fade away in 90 days.

The governor said he vetoed the state law because it was too broad and overturned the local ordinances. But the cave dwellers of the republican controlled legislature sided with the gun freaks of the NRA and went against the Governor.

So now it’s okay to own military style guns inside city limits again.

An assault weapon, for those of you who don’t know, are semi automatic rifles, pistols or shotguns originally designed for military or police use with larger than normal ammunition capacity. The bullets are typically housed in a removable clip. Semi automatic means you have to keep pulling the trigger.

The veto override now allows citizens to possess a semi automatic that can hold 10 or more bullets in a removable clip.

Fully automatic weapons are banned by federal law for everyone except the military, police and 007 types. It is possible for a private citizen to purchase a fully automatic weapon if they can get ATF, the county sheriff or police chief to sign off on the request and also pass an extensive background check. And after all that, it must be legal in the state of residence, too.

This is wonderful news for a city that is in the midst of a record breaking year for murders. So far there are 79 on the books. The record set back in 1967 at 82.

Heterosexual Privilege

Question: Did you know it’s okay to beat the crap out of your live in girlfriend in Ohio? And go ahead girls, it’s okay to kick the snot of your common law husband, too.

This is equal opportunity insanity, as long as it’s opposite sex. Same sex couples, roommates, etc don’t exist in Ohio under the law.

Ohio wrote discrimination into its constitution when it passed the Defense of Marriage Amendment a few years ago. That’s old news. Ohio was the 38th state to do so. They’re reasoning for doing so was to protect the sanctity of heterosexual marriage.

However, Ohio’s law also makes it illegal to live as a couple with someone who is not your spouse. In other words, if you aren’t married, you aren’t legal and therefore have no recourse under the law. This directly conflicts with Ohio’s domestic violence laws which protect people who “live as a spouse.”

Which brings me to my topic. There is a guy in Dayton, one Michael Carswell, who according to the Dayton Daily News,
is suing to get assault charges thrown out, because under DOMA, slapping your girlfriend around is no longer a crime.

Carswell’s arguments are scheduled to be heard by the Ohio Supreme Court, next month. There are in fact 60 cases pending, where the defendants have argued that beating up your girlfriend, is not a crime under this law.

The 2nd and 3rd District Appeals Courts have issued rulings agreeing with Carswell’s reading of the law.

The 2nd and 3rd Districts cover about 17 counties in northwest Ohio. But a number of other courts have rejected the argument, hence the need for the Ohio Supreme Court to settle the dispute.

In the meantime, Dayton police are using misdemeanor assault laws instead of the felony domestic violence laws when the partners are not legally married.

That means that a woman cannot get an order of protection, while this hassle is working its way through the court system. It means that the assaulter will still be on the streets and could pose a threat to the victim. We’ve seen this craziness in Ohio.

Alleged Christian groups Citizens for Community Values and Focus on the Family have filed briefs supporting Carswell’s argument.

These two groups led the fight to get DOMA passed. Now they are trying to protect abusers, victims be damned.

And they call themselves christian? Hmmmmmmmmm....

The People have Spoken, But.......

He’s still the president. Bush is still in the White House for another two years, armed with the power of the veto. Meaning he can still torpedo any legislation, throwing it back to congress to override him, if they can.

Overall, the election went smashingly well for Democrats. They took back many governorships, and the House of Representatives. The Senate is still up for grabs. Dems must take both of the too close to call elections going on in Montana and Virginia. Lose them and the GOP retains control. Gain a tie and split 50/50 and Dick Cheney becomes the deciding vote, which is a scary thought.

Ohio chose Ted Strickland to lead in the wake of the scandal plagued GOP. Wannabe governor Ken Blackwell conceded before the votes were even counted, based on exit poll results. Talk about cut and run. He should have waited a little bit. Southern Ohio counties including, Hamilton, Butler, Warren, and Clinton all tilted for him. The rest of Ohio, however, went for Strickland.

The other embarrassment seems to have won out. I’m talking about Jean Scmidt. Looks like she managed to squeak by Dr. Victoria Wulsin, who still hasn’t conceded yet, it’s that close in the second district.

So Ohio is now officially a blue state. Let’s see if something can get done for the people, not just for rich people.

It’s Begun

Less than 24 hours away from the election and the s*** has hit the fan in Ohio, Cuyahoga County to be specific.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting trouble with the elections scanning/counting machines.

The Diebold machines can’t seem to scan the ballots correctly. This problem occurred last year in May during the primaries causing elections officials to count by hand, took days to get the official results.

In the run up to this election, officials have been testing the machines with the help of Diebold technicians and while the machines work with blank paper...they can’t accurately scan folded test ballots...

That’s a problem because elections officials all around the state got the go ahead to begin scanning absentee ballots so that they can be counted after the polls close tomorrow.

Since most absentee ballots come into the board of elections via mail...they are all folded...and the machine can’t handle the folds.

Word has it that some 100,000 absentee ballots have been received and must be scanned by tomorrow. The last time this happened only 17,000 absentee ballots were at issue and the resultant hand count took a week.

Secretary of State and wannabe governor Ken Blackwell went to court to keep counties from scanning the ballots before election day stating that would be counting votes. But elections officials successfully argued before a judge that scanning absentee ballots was only adding data to the computers that will do the actual counting on election day. So the scanning of the ballots actually began this past weekend.

The scanning has been proceeding smoothly in Hamilton county which is an overwhelmingly republican area located in southwest Ohio on the Ohio River and has Cincinnati as its major city.

Cuyahoga County is in northwest Ohio on Lake Erie and has Cleveland as its major tenant. It is overwhelmingly democratic.

Usually Hamilton and Cuyahoga cancel each other out. It’s been like that since I’ve been able to vote...that’s going back nearly four decades.

If Diebold can get the scan/vote right in predominantly white and republican counties...why doesn’t it work in less than white and democratic counties?

Same company...same machines...aren’t they?

Other counties are bracing for trouble too such as what happened in a Columbus suburb named Minerva Park in 2004. The once prosperous neighborhood is now very poor, jobless and 80% black.

The lines were long....nobody budged...they held places for those who had to leave and take care of business....they chatted and waited to cast their ballots....The area was heavily anti-Bush and anti-republican and very vocal about it.

But somehow....some way.....despite the people and the way they were talking that day....Minerva Park went heavily for Bush over Kerry in 2004 to the surprise of the everyone in Ohio.

There is a quiet investigation still going on in Ohio....a recount of 2004, ballot by ballot.

Although he was within his legal rights to do so, Ken Blackwell was prevented from destroying the 2004 ballots by the courts. An independent watch group is slowly sifting through those ballots as we speak.

As I’ve been saying...... Democrats and minorities; don’t count your chickens just yet....the fix is in Ohio and has been for a long time.

It’s just waiting to jump up and bite us in the ass again.

Monday Musings.........

Dubya in town today to raise money for two disappearing Republicans. Both Chabot and DeWine say they are “independents” in their campaign ads. They’ve been running away from their records for awhile now. It’s no secret that they’ve both voted with Bush nearly one hundred percent.

But I guess they can’t wean themselves off the Bush tit for money.

McCain will be in town too, in a separate appearance. I don’t trust him either. He is sounding more and more like Bush everyday.

And he led the cave-in to the President on how to treat terror suspects. Can you spell sell out?

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The Prez will undoubtedly be talking about how safe we are since he started the fight in Iraq. Well, there is a highly classified report circulating Washington, telling the White House that Iraq has become an incubator for terrorists.

The report put together by military and defense experts, says Iraq has made us less safe, rather than more safe since 9/11. The report accuses the White House of being too optimistic in its presentations about the war.

How about calling it what it is....... a lie...

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The body count in Iraq....65 women, 2700 men, and 100 Iraqi citizens per day, The White House refuses to lets pics of the caskets coming home be seen in order to deny the truth about what is really happening to our young people there.

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Elections officials are voicing fear that the bush–o-matic electronic voting machines may not perform as billed. I have previously talked about the fact that they have no paper back up and are no where near tamper proof. One Governor said he wanted to use something other than the touch screen machines because he didn’t want his state becoming another Florida or Ohio.

Not a peep out of Sec. of State/wannabe governor Ken Blackwell, the man who bought the bush-o-matic to Ohio....while owning Diebold stock when he signed the contract...shall we add conflict of interests to his many, many negatives?

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Don’t breathe just yet, Congressional Republicans are going after social security once again. They’re still busy thinking up new ways to shaft middle America.

Cincinnati: Home to Many Fruits and a Whole Lot of Nuts

Cincinnati, The Queen City, is aptly named. It is home to many queens most of whom proudly marched in Sunday's Pride Parade through Clifton and Northside much to the delight of a similarly fruity throng of rainbow clad happy people. I was one of them. It was a fun day.

Despite the sometimes oppressive and downright discriminatory nature of the city, fruits have always thrived here. The city is a veritable orchard when it comes to growing fruits. And with the city now making strides to leave the 19th century and enter the 21st by doing away with outdated draconian laws, it can only get more festive in coming years.

But the climate around here is also great for growing nuts and that's not necessarily a good thing. Some of the more harmless but fun nuts have gone national, like Jerry Springer, or Morganna the kissing bandit. . Some are just locally famous like Fife, rest in peace, lady, or the late Charlie Taft or Marge, no last name needed. There was a vibrancy, an aliveness, if you will in their nuttiness. They provided a spark and twinkle that is missing today from this once great city.

Others, however, are more dangerous in their nuttiness, like The Wilkes, husband and wife, Phil Burress, and lately, one Tom Brinkman. The Wilkes founded "Right to Life." Phil Burress is a reformed porn addict who campaigns for "community values." Tom Brinkman sponsors legislation aimed at women. He is the man behind a proposal in the Ohio State House that would ban all abortions, even for rape victims. There is a hearing today on the issue.

Were I living in a more enlightened State than the Great State of Ohio, I would not be too concerned about this piece of legislation making it into law. After all it completely contradicts federal law on the issue. But this is Ohio, home to a convicted Governor who is nephew of the aforementioned Charlie. It is home to wannabe governor Ken Blackwell, who uses his powers as Secretary of State to steal elections for the GOP among other seemingly questionable actions, and he is also from Cincinnati.

Considering Ohio was the swing state for re-electing Dubya to the White House for four more years of "compassionate conservatism," well you can understand my reticence for assuming that common sense and logic will prevail in knocking down this insidious measure.

Women have a right to choose, period. I get angry just having to feel that I have to justify my rights on any level to anyone other than myself. I, and I know there are other women who refuse to be returned to being second class citizens. I grew up back in the day of back alley abortions where women died after being violated by hacks with coat hangers. I remember that. It's not some history lesson for me. We ain't goin' back there.

This whole anti abortion movement is based on two premises that date all the way back to when men figured out how to write. One, that men need to propagate and live on, preferably thru their sons, and two, that women need to be protected and have decisions made for them by right thinking upstanding individuals, namely their husbands, fathers, brothers, uncles, grandfathers. Get the picture ? We haven't been property for a very long time, guys.

I don't know any woman who chooses routinely to have an abortion, or even wants to have one. I certainly don't know any women who enjoy getting raped.

The right to a safe abortion is simply one of many choices available, or would be available if this same movement and the Tom Brinkmans of the world would stop fighting sex education and knowledge about contraception in schools and on the internet.

One of the most horrendous things that this White House has done is to erase sex education information from all government websites. It has also successfully withheld federal funding in the fight to keep women safe.

The Tom Brinkmans of the world are not pro life or they wouldn't be about getting laws passed that kill women.

Blackwell's Rules.....The Attempt to Control the Vote in Ohio

There is something terribly wrong with a system when a candidate for Governor can issue rules governing who can vote in an election. America is not a dictatorship form of government, so how is this happening? Well, it's happening here in Ohio where the Secretary of State is running for governor. And, the Secretary of State is in control of how State elections are conducted. He is the one who makes up the rules of play.

The man in question is Ken Blackwell. He has once again put into place "emergency" regulations that could possibly criminalize the work of voter registration workers. The rules appear to be another blatant attempt to shut down voter registration in Ohio.

Blackwell has a history of these kinds of tawdry tricks on the electorate. In 2004, he instructed county boards of elections to reject any registrations on paper that was the "wrong" paper stock. He backed down under harsh and wide spread criticism. But the order was in place long enough to get some registrations invalidated.

This time around He has come up with a rule that says paid registration workers, and volunteers who collect registrations, must PERSONALLY take the forms they collect to the election office.

Now organizations, like the League of Women Voters, for instance, generally have their volunteers turn in the forms to a supervisor who then takes them to the election office after first reviewing them for errors.

Blackwell's rule would make everyone involved in the exchange a criminal.

Blackwell also says the forms CANNOT be mailed to the election office. That would seem to be a violation of federal elections law.

Blackwell issued these edicts because he feels he has the backing of the Republican Controlled Ohio Legislature.

The moves are a clear grab at power and an attempt to keep the GOP in control of Ohio.

If Blackwell were as honest and as forth right as he wants us to believe then he would have given the election procedures control over to someone who has nothing to gain.

He does not deserve the power with which he has been entrusted.