Return of the Fairness Doctrine?
June 29, 2008
The democratic party, led by its fearless leader Speaker Nancy Pelosi, intends to revive the Fairness Doctrine. Since being abolished in the late 80s, conservatives have dominated the medium of talk radio and liberals have yet to find a viable alternative to shows like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham.
I think it is far better for democrats to focus on finding personalities that can compete rather than trying to legislate their way into this medium. If you’d like to sign a petition against the Fairness Doctrine, click here.
The Latino Vote
June 29, 2008
Both Barack Obama and John McCain spoke to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials conferences attempting to court the all-important Latino vote. According to the Associated Press both candidates were received warmly.
Both McCain and Obama support an eventual path to citizenship for millions of immigrants in the country illegally, and, thus, the issue isn’t expected to be a major point of differentiation in the campaign. Still, Hispanics will be paying careful attention to what is said on the subject.
In my opinion, this group will be an important barometer by which we can measure both candidates this fall. McCain worked very hard to create a pathway to citizenship for immigrants to this country and was widely criticized by conservatives in his own party, especially those in the world of talk radio. Although democrats have traditionally carried this block of voters, it remains to be seen if McCain can court enough of these voters to be competitive with the democrats.
Did the Supreme Court Screw Up Again?
June 26, 2008
I’m sure that many of you read about the supreme court decision to ban the death penalty for those monsters that rape children. The death penalty is one of those issues that causes much debate in the United States. Personally, I’m not sure what I think about sentencing people to death, but I must say that I can’t imagine how raping a child would not qualify for this penalty, if it is a legal option in our country. What do you think?
Child Prostitution Rings
June 26, 2008
If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that I frequently write about issues relating to our youth. I consider myself a child advocate. The decks are stacked against so many of our young people these days. This is another issue that is appalling. According to an AP article, 345 people were arrested for forcing children into child prostitution. What a disturbing story, but thank God someone is looking out for children.
Insurance Scandal In Ohio
June 23, 2008
Many Ohio residents may have received one of the letters from United Health Care during their negotiations with OhioHealth telling them that if a compromise was not reached, that they may have to find a new doctor, or pay out of their own pocket. This obviously enraged many in central Ohio. You can read a letter from United HealthCare to doctors regarding this letter here. Does this make it all better in your mind?
Obama’s Latest “Flip-Flop”
June 19, 2008
Well he has done it yet again ladies and gentlemen. Our democratic nominee for president of the United States has decided to just say no to public campaign financing. According to the Dispatch:
Barack Obama said Thursday he’ll bypass the federal public financing system in the general election, abandoning an earlier commitment to take the money if his Republican rival did as well.
Seems like a dumb move to me.
Do Defense Attorneys Really Do This?
June 19, 2008
This article from the Columbus Dispatch details a motion filed by a Hamilton County prosecutor to bar defense attorneys from performing theatrics during closing arguments.
“Specifically, defense attorneys have strategically been known to cry on cue and beg for their client’s lives,” according to the motions, which notes previous cases where defense attorneys have been admonished for crying in front of a jury during closing arguments.
I’ve never seen this on an episode of Law and Order. Think of ratings week now!
Ohio Science Teacher Teaches More Than Science
June 19, 2008
I remember hearing about the story of the Mount Vernon science teacher that refused to remove a bible from his desk in his classroom. After being told that he must remove the bible, I also remember there was a lot of public support for the teacher and many thought that his rights were being violated. I was in the camp.
As a teacher and a Christian, I understand the feeling that it was his right to keep the sacred book in his classroom and even on his desk. I do not do that, but I would not fault someone that would.
But then I just read this article from the Columbus Dispatch and was shocked. It claims that in a report completed by a consultant hired by the Mount Vernon Board of Education that this teacher burned crosses into the arms of some of his students using an electrostatic device.
Freshwater told investigators the marks were Xs — not crosses. But all of the students interviewed in the investigation reported being branded with crosses. The investigation report includes a photo of one student’s arm with a long vertical line and a short horizontal line running through it.
Again, I am still shocked. If this is true, what would you do as a parent if you were in that situation?
Students, Teachers, and Other Faculty Catch a Fraud
June 16, 2008
This story from the dispatch is unbelievable. It details the story of a local principal that has been recommended for a suspension of her license due to testing “irregularities.”
Six teachers, two secretaries and the custodians invoked the spirit of Sherlock
Holmes to solve the case of the tampered tests.Students’ answers on state exams had changed overnight.
To solve the whodunit, the staff-turned-sleuths collected evidence and conducted an experiment.
It was elementary, they say: The culprit was the principal.Now the Ohio Department of Education has recommended that Stacey Carna’s license be suspended –
that’s all state law allows, despite the high stakes attached to school testing.Carna led Ashville Elementary for less than one school year, 2006-07, but the Teays Valley
district paid her to stay home for the most-recent year. She received her $81,585 salary because
she still had a contract.The facts of the case, according to the sleuthing staff, began with this: Carna didn’t stay
late. Ever.But then Carna stayed quite late one Monday, the first day of the state achievement tests in May
2007, teachers said.The second clue: They knew students had picked wrong test answers that suddenly became correct.
And there were eraser marks. Lots of them.Then Carna spent more late nights in her office, with paper covering the window. Unusual, the
staff thought. The custodian said Carna told him she couldn’t be bothered.Then came the linchpin of the case: After testing was over on the Wednesday of test week, the
amateur detectives placed the box containing the fifth-grade tests exactly 3 inches from the
storage-room filing cabinets. The fourth-grade tests were 4 inches away, and those for
third-graders 2 inches from the cabinets. The secretaries said they locked the door behind
them.The next morning, the crates of tests had been pushed flush with the cabinets. The district
suspended Carna, despite her claims of innocence.“I clearly told (the superintendent) that I did not alter tests in any way, and that I did not
have any firsthand knowledge of any security breech (sic) relating to the altering of student
answers or test access in the storage room,” Carna wrote in a district statement. Further, she had
always had trouble with those secretaries, she wrote.Carna, 38, of Pickerington, couldn’t be reached for comment. Her attorney, Beverly J. Farlow,
said she had no comment, either.The superintendent, Jeff Sheets, sent the Ohio Department of Education a letter the week of the
tests, detailing what his investigators had found. Then he questioned whether Carna’s last school,
in Franklin County’s Hamilton district, had come by its test-score gains honestly.“I questioned whether she had displayed, in our district, characteristics as a leader that would
foster truly raising test scores,” Sheets said.Carna’s contract had been nonrenewed in Hamilton because the district said she wasn’t performing
to its standards, although Teays Valley liked her because of her previous success in raising test
scores. Hamilton officials did not respond to requests to comment on the case.Punishments for test cheating peaked in Ohio around 2005, when the number of tests increased.
Carna’s suggested punishment, it turns out, is a bit stronger than most: The most-common discipline
from the state for cheating on standardized exams is a written reprimand.A
Dispatch analysis found that of the 38 educators disciplined for test cheating
since 1997, eight were from central Ohio. The department says it can’t and won’t go beyond the law,
and wouldn’t say whether it thinks the punishment for cheaters is too weak. After Carna’s case is
presented to a hearing officer next month, the State Board of Education might be asked to vote on
her suspension.After Carna’s actions were questioned, Ashville’s tests were declared no good, and students had
to take a different version of the tests the next week.Sheets hopes the department takes punishing test cheaters seriously; it cost his district a
lot.But the detective work was free.
Obama Camp Again Dissing Ohio
June 16, 2008
This is not the first time that we have heard from a member of the Obama camp about how it can garner 270 electoral votes and not win Ohio. More recently according to the Dispatch, Obama adviser David Plouffe secretly told a crowd how they can win this thing without Ohio’s help.
At a fundraiser held at a Washington brewery Friday, Plouffe told a largely young crowd that the electoral map would be fundamentally different from the one in 2004. Wins in Ohio and Florida would guarantee Obama the presidency if he holds onto the states won by Democrat John Kerry, Plouffe said, but those two battlegrounds aren’t required for victory.
Florida, which has 27 electoral votes this year, gave the presidency to George W. Bush in the disputed election of 2000. Ohio, with its 20 electoral votes, ensured Bush of re-election in 2004 in his race against Kerry. Neither state was hospitable to Obama this year. Clinton handily won in Ohio and she prevailed in Florida although the national party had punished the state and the candidates didn’t campaign there.
The presumed Democratic nominee’s electoral math counts on holding onto the states Kerry won, among them Michigan (17 electoral votes), where Obama campaigns on Monday and Tuesday. Plouffe said most of the Kerry states should be reliable for Obama, but three currently look relatively competitive with Republican rival John McCain — Pennsylvania, Michigan and particularly New Hampshire.
Asked about his remarks, Plouffe said Ohio and Florida start out very competitive — but he stressed that they are not tougher than other swing states and said Obama will play “extremely hard” for both. But he said the strategy is not reliant on one or two states.
“You have a lot of ways to get to 270,” Plouffe said. “Our goal is not to be reliant on one state on November 4th.”
Plouffe has been pitching such a new approach to the electoral map in calls and meetings, according to several people who discussed the conversations on the condition of anonymity because they were meant to be private. Plouffe confirmed the descriptions in the interview.
Now it is no secret that Obama was not my choice for the democratic candidate for president, but he is the nominee and I think he is an intelligent man. I don’t understand why his surrogates keep suggesting that Obama doesn’t need Ohio to win. Many Ohioans want change, even if it isn’t Clinton and will happily vote for him. But they also like to be told how important their vote is to this process and to the eventual ascension of the winning candidate to the office of president. He really needs to get a hold of his advisers and quiet them down.
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