"Those who know and know they know are wise, listen to them. Those who do not know and know that they do not know are intelligent, teach them. Those who do not know and do not know that they do not know are dangerous, smite them." -- unknown, paraphrased
Time to blog again. · 13 days ago by John
So, it’s been a long time since I have actively blogged. Think I’m going to take it up again. Presidential election years make me all gooey inside.
My Letter to Jim McGregor, State Representative, 20th Ohio House · 706 days ago by John
Jim McGregor is supposedly my Ohio State Representative. I only ever knew this because I visit the state’s government website ocassionally. But, it seems Rep. McGregor is suddenly interested in sending me “Legislative Reports” all of the sudden. I guess with an election coming up he wants to get his name and picture out there using taxpayer dollars instead of campaign dollars. Rep. McGregor has my thoughts on his little communiques… and now so do you.
Dear Representative McGregor,I have lived in your district for three years. Never once have you bothered to contact me via phone, mail or any other form of communication.
Now, suddenly, as an election looms, you have sent me a letter. Not once, but twice. In fact, it was the same letter both times. Since it was an “informational” letter (about education), or “Legislative Report” as you called it, this means that it was paid for with my tax dollars. Why are you suddenly interested in sending me letters now? Particularly after three years of never hearing from you even once before? My guess is that this is simply a name recognition ploy to use my tax dollars to aid in your re-election. It is sickening that you would do such a thing and I am grossly offended by your actions.
No part of your campaign should not be funded by my tax dollars. Regardless of how “innocent” you may play I can see your game. Stop sending these letters at my expense. You haven’t sent them before and I don’t want you sending them any more. If you want to campaign… use your own campaign dollars.
As for the content of your letter, you and your colleagues have failed miserably in funding Ohio’s public schools in a way consistent with Ohio’s Constitution. It is sickening how your party has sold our children’s education to the highest bidder. Don’t ever again send me a letter telling me about “your” (individually or collectively) strides in education. As you and your party belly up to the trough of campaign donations from for-profit charter schools, the students of this state suffer wildly evidenced by these charter schools’ records of dismal test scores. With a wife, a mother and a father-in-law who are serving Ohio’s public school students as teachers in this state… I know the real score. And it is pathetic how you, your colleagues and your party have treated them and our school systems. The only strides being made in Ohio public schools are the ones being made IN SPITE of your actions… not due to.
Why Does Pat Tiberi Hate Women? · 707 days ago by John
Congressman Pat Tiberi (Republican – Ohio) is a shill for big business, particularly insurance companies. That’s not a surprise to me. But, his complete disregard for the health of women borders on misogyny. Allow me to explain.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), as she has done for the past four sessions of Congress, has proposed the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act (of 2005). You have likely seen the mass email which has been spreading around the internet asking you to sign a petition on Lifetime TV’s website to support this bill. The bill is simple. When a woman has a mastectomy due to breast cancer it would mandate that the woman’s health insurance cover a two-day stay at the hospital to recuperate. Currently, insurance companies more often than not will only cover this major surgery as an outpatient surgery. In other words, a woman goes into the hosptial, they cut off her breasts, wake her up and send her home unless she has the cash to stay. Rep. DeLauro’s bill would mandate that insurance companies cover a short stay at the hospital to recover from this surgery.
Pat Tiberi is opposed to the bill.
A short list of those organizations which are in support of the bill: the American College of Surgeons, the American Medical Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Y-Me National Breast Cancer Organization, the Susan Komen Foundation, the American Cancer Society, the National Women’s Law Center, the National Council of Jewish Women, the National Association of Public Hospitals, the Oncology Nursing Society and the American Hospital Association.
But what do they know? All those silly doctors and nurses and breast cancer survivors aren’t nearly as smart as Representative Tiberi.
When I first got the mass email back in March asking me to sign the petition, I decided to go a bit further and wrote my representative, Pat Tiberi asking what he would do to help get H. R. 1849, the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act of 2005, passed. On April 10th, I received a phone call from one of his assistants, Lindsay, responding to my letter. This bill is currently sitting in one of his committees where he could have an impact; but, according to Lindsay, he isn’t interested in “mandating” that insurance companies cover a minimal stay in the hospital after having a mastectomy. To quote his assistant Lindsay, “the congressman is opposed to all mandates and believes that they hurt businesses.” I guess we know who “my” congressman serves (hint: it ain’t me or the women of our district).
Well Rep. Tiberi, your opposition is wrong. And, since you are a key to the blocking of this bill, you don’t deserve to be my representative anymore. The Republicans have used stall tactics on this bill never allowing it to come to a vote and Pat Tiberi has been their boy when it comes to blocking it. They cry bloody murder about up-or-down votes when it suits them; yet, they’ve allowed this bill to languish for four straight sessions of Congress… eight years total!
It’s time to put Pat Tiberi out of the position to allow his misogyny to affect the women of our country. I’ll be voting for his opponent, Bob Shamansky, a war veteran who cares about the citizens of my district rather than how much power he can gain by goosestepping to Karl Rove as Pat Tiberi does. Help me give Bob a hand and send him some money to combat the Republican Political Machine which is heaping money on Pat Tiberi to continue his blocking of legislation such as this.
What passes for political discourse these days · 708 days ago by John
The most important thing to Rick Santorum, supposedly a senator, from Pennsylvania in this whole world seems to be his opponent’s amount of hair. Rick Santorum is obsessed with his opponent’s unibrow. How worthless of a senator can you be if that even shows up on your radar while serving as a senator? I say that if Rick Santorum has this much energy, and by “this much” I mean ANY, to spend on unibrows in this day and age… then he is obviously incapable of focusing on his duties as a senator. Vote Mark Casey.
See what works the lemming right into a frenzy! Unibrows!
Who Do You Think You Are? · 712 days ago by John
“We do not consecrate the flag by punishing its desecration, for in doing so we dilute the freedom that this cherished emblem represents.” – Justice William J. Brennan, Texas v. Johnson
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Who do these men and woman and these men and women who voted for a Constitutional Amendment to somehow “protect” Old Glory think they are? I know they think very highly of themselves; but, do they really think so highly of themselves that they think they can do anything, anything, that can further protect and uphold the greatest symbol of freedom the world has ever known? It is embarrassing to see my congressional representative Pat Tiberi and senators Mike DeWine and George Voinovich, men who have never even served their country in uniform, think that they can vote away the First Amendment and somehow further consecrate and defend our nation’s symbol of liberty?
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Our flag is protected by something that no law can ever surpass. It is consecrated and venerated by something that no politician, no governmental action, no resolution and, dare I say, no Constitutional Amendment is greater than. Forget the stupid, devisive arguments which the Republicans want to divide us with about how those who would not vote for an Anti-Flag Desecration bill are somehow un-American. Forget about those who even think it is antithetical to the First Amendment (of which I am one). There are greater reasons for us to be opposed to an Anti-Flag Desecration Amendment. Humility. Awe. And Honor.
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No one among us, in any fashion, can protect Old Glory more than she is already protected. There isn’t a law great enough nor a person exhalted enough to enact a law greater than the protection our flag already has. Those who think they can are not only fools, but also braggarts and self-indulgent, pompous elitists who think far too highly of themselves.
Why do I think this? Why would I call those who want to “protect” our flag such virulent names? It is simple. 551254, as of the time of this post, men and women have died in action for the flag of the United States of America. Their blood, their sacrifice, their lives were given to her to protect her for all eternity. And anyone who thinks some words on some paper can provide more protection than that is rightly deserving of scorn and ridicule. I’m starting with Tiberi, DeWine and Voinovich… but you can spread the word.