Ohio jumps in state improvement standings but governor gets no credit

According to CNBC, in just a year, Ohio has jumped from 29th place to 5th in their “most improved” state category:

Ohio is this year’s most improved state, jumping 11 places to 23rd overall, thanks to a huge improvement in cost of doing business. Ohio improved to fifth place in our most important category, from 29th place last year. A multiyear effort to reform the tax code in the Buckeye State is paying off with a tax structure that welcomes new investment. At the same time, wages have fallen in Ohio relative to other states. That helps businesses on the cost side, but workers suffer.

Ohio has a governor who is opening the state up to business opportunities and new investments and yet, worker’s wages have fallen? That makes no sense to me and I’d like to know where those stats come from. Business investment goes hand in hand with increased job opportunity and increased wages.

But Lord knows that a left wing organization like CNBC will never give credit to Governor Kasich for doing the hard and often unpopular things in Ohio.

I plan to Opt-Out for life

Like the days of drive-in movies, there’s something romantic and comforting about the days of passenger trains.

Remember the dining car scene in North by Northwest where Cary Grant meets Eva Marie Saint for the first time? Linen table cloths and a flower vase on the table. . .

But there’s no money to be made in passenger trains anymore or Burlington Northern would be running them right now. That’s the reason Governor-elect John Kasich is right to refuse the building of a commuter rail in Ohio. If the private sector sees no profit in running passenger trains again, why does the government think it’s a good idea? Just look at what AmTrack costs us every day for proof that this is a losing proposition.

On the other hand, if passenger trains were available to me, and I don’t mean AmTrack, I’d never fly again. I’d take a train, run by the private sector, almost anywhere rather than fly. I wonder how many people feel the same way I do. Flying has become such a major hassle, that I don’t plan to ever fly again unless in the event of a family emergency. I can get back to Wyoming in less than 24 hours, by car, with a lot less government intrusion.

I’m in favor of the opt-on day that is being promoted online. Opt-out of naked body scans and cause a slow down in the procedures.   Go for it! Our security is reactive not proactive. We create another layer of security after another threat is thwarted. We have to take off our shoes because some IslamoFacist boarded a plane with explosives in his shoes. Body scans now because another tried to blow up a plane with explosives in his shorts.  And in that case, it was an alert passenger who risked his life to thwart that attack – not an air marshal.

The headline at Drudge today is “The Terrorists Have Won.” That is absolutely correct. The airlines are nickle and dime-ing us for an extra suitcase, a blanket or a glass of Coke. We’ve given up the right to a comfortable and quick way to travel and our privacy to fear.

I am quite frankly tired of it all and I’m just not going to fly anymore.

The Constant Campaigner

The Obamas campaigning in Ohio during the midterms.

This picture was taken at Ohio State University on the eve of the midterm elections. But you’d never know who they are stumping for by the photo, unless you guess right and they are stumping for themselves.  The 2008  “Change We Can Believe In” signs have been replaced with the new slogan “Moving America Forward,” as opposed to “Put the car in ‘D’ for drive [forward] ; not ‘R’ for reverse.”  Note the Obama brand in the “Vote 2010” posters. Nowhere do you see the new and dynamically challenged democrat logo:

the new Democrat logo

If you were in that OSU arena, you’d have no idea that Ted Strickland was running for governor on the Democrat ticket.  In fact, you’d have no idea (if you were from Mars) that this was even a Democrat rally. Everywhere Obama went during these midterms, the rooms were full of team Obama, brand Obama, party Obama signs.  And I mean everywhere. This crowd phenom struck me early on, during the seemingly endless clips of TheOne stumping between Ohio and other vulnerable states. The entire rooms were full of Obama signs.

This election was about rousing his grassroots for the big one – 2012.

“The groups Obama is targeting mirror those that helped him win the White House: young people, African-Americans and women. A crucial element of the president’s strategy in the two weeks before the Nov. 2 election is finding a way to get first-time voters from 2008 to head back to the polls even though Obama’s name isn’t on the ballot.”

His name may not be on any ballot but he’s not about to let anyone forget that it’s all about HIM, all the time. He’s doing what he does best: campaign. He never really stopped after the ’08 election and he’s going to be kicking it up into high gear after the holidays.  You will see so nothing but those “Moving America Forward” and “Vote – Obama logo – 2012” signs for the next 2 years.

2010 was just his warm-up act.

Well. . . I have no headline for this kinda crap. And it’s just gonna get uglier.

From the caption at YouTube:

A Republican staffer (and Iraq War vet) has hot coffee poured down his back by a Strickland supporter while trying to videotape Gov. Strickland’s remarks at a campaign event. The assailant later returns to make an obscene gesture. Authorities are trying to identify the man in this video. If you can assist, contact the Scioto County Sheriff’s Office at (740) 355-8245.

Campaigning this week with Obama

Ben Feller/AP

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is out to make sure his presence pays for Democrats, launching a three-day fundraising trip on Monday in which he will touch nearly every region of the nation and play up his economic agenda.

His stops include a glitzy Hollywood fundraiser. Oh to be a fly on the wall there: being among the elite who think that Americans are redneck morons who don’t know what’s good for them.

The most important sentence is this one:

By pairing official events with political ones, the White House can bill taxpayers for most of the cost of the trip.

Once again, we will be paying for the Democrat’s campaigns. I don’t know about anyone else but, I don’t want MY tax dollars being used for this. It’s a given that we have to pay for his security, no matter where he goes or what he does, but to pay for him to campaign for his party, really makes me see red – and you, too if you’re reading this.

All together, Obama will visit Wisconsin, California, Washington, Ohio and Florida before returning to the nation’s capital Wednesday night. Each stop involves tight races in states that could be vital to Obama himself in 2012.

The second most important paragraph is that this is about getting him re-elected. But really, those states aside from maybe Florida, are going to go for him again, no matter what. California, Washington and Wisconsin are a lock for him. Ohio and Florida might be iffy. It will be interesting to see how his campaigning will help those candidates.

Red State & Erick Erickson: Insightful stuff

From Red State’s Erick Erickson:

Poor Ben Nelson. He went on John King’s show today and told King, “[I]f you think it’s fun having both sides on an issue mad at you when you’re trying to do something in good faith, just think, it’s like going home and getting bit by the family dog. So how — who enjoys that?”

We all know the truth, however. The proof is in the pudding of Ben Nelson’s arrangements with Harry Reid.

Nelson said he was standing firm on pro-life issues, but in fact his compromise will not help him. His compromise authorizes federal funding of abortions on Indian Reservations, but will make it difficult for white Americans to have access to abortions during Republican administrations.

That is the key. Under Nelson’s compromise, abortion access will fluctuate based on who the President is. A pro-life President will have the power to make it more difficult. A pro-death President like Barack Obama will make it exceedingly easy. The only constant will be federal abortion funding for Indians.

I guess Ben Nelson has no problem with the multi-century history of the feds trying to exterminate Indian populations. Surely Ben Nelson knew what he was agreeing to. The issue with abortions on Indian reservations is related to the reauthorization of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which is tied to the health care legislation and about which Nelson was fully aware of its implications.

What’s more, we should consider the rest of what Nelson got. Under Ben Nelson’s compromise, the citizens of the several states will now pay for medicaid cost overruns in Nebraska forever. That’s right. No other state gets the commitment Nebraska gets. From now on, your state taxes are going to be raised when medicaid costs go up in your state and your federal taxes are going to go up when medicaid costs go up in Nebraska.

The rest of the Democratic Senators have been taken for a ride by Ben Nelson, who has managed to put his state in a better financial position at the expense of every other state’s residents, all while ensuring the feds get to keep subsidizing the costs of exterminating Indian kids on Reservations. Poor Mary Landrieu really did turn out to be a cheap date.

Ben Nelson did not act in good faith. And the only thing biting him has got to be his conscience.

And this, also from Erick:

If you oppose health care deform, you are racist, hate-spouting, Aryan who roots for the assassination of Barack Obama

From the floor of the United States Senate, today Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse proclaimed as much about opponents of health care, including his Republican colleagues inside the United States Senate.

The President of the Senate let him get away with it.

Senator Whitehouse specifically said, “They are desperate to break this president. They have ardent supporters who are nearly hysterical at the very election of President Barack Obama. The birthers, the fanatics, the people running around in right-wing militia and Aryan support groups, it is unbearable to them that President Barack Obama should exist. That is one powerful reason. It is not the only one.”

There you have it — gone are the days when Democrats compared American soldiers to Nazis on the floor of the Senate. Today, Democrats condone one of their own calling, from the floor of the Senate, the majority of American citizens Aryan hate mongers rooting for the assassination of the President of the United States.

And yes, Whitehouse was referring to the majority of American citizens. How do I know? Because every single poll is showing the majority of Americans opposed to this health care deform legislation. Whitehouse labeled everyone opposed to the legislation as racist hatemongers rooting for bullets against the President.

That is sad, sick, pathetic, and should be condemned by every other Senator.

In fact, you should call your Senator at 202-224-3121 and ask if he condemns Senator Whitehouse for saying, from the floor of the Senate, that opponents of the Democrats health care legislation want Barack Obama to be assassinated — the only clear interpretation of his remarks.