Make a Difference -- Vote 2008 -- Ohio Issues 5 and 6

Here is an embedded video from my business partner and I. We are working on a new show called "Capitol Beat" or something to that effect. Jeremy is a West Wing fan. Anywho, check out the video and send feedback to our listed e-mail. Jeremy finished the video on his own so don't worry, we are not yelling at anyone, just the wrong font size for some of the lettering. If interested in being a rant contributor or political opinion giver we also ask that you consider joining The G1NBC Connection or visiting our newest afiliate page for G1NBC Toledo.

The video talks a little about the upcoming Presidential Election and some rant/opinion from Jeremy about Issues 5&6 on the Ohio Ballot. We have video and pictures from early voting in Columbus this past weekend.



Jeremy and I are novice media elites soon to be kicked out of a lot more places. We hope that you will join us on our ride.

Remember to Vote Today

Make a Difference -- Make your voice heard -- Global Poverty

I did not get the e-mail util this morning, but I have been thinking about what to post for Blog Action Day. I mean we have had the ONE.Org campaign banner on Make a Difference since like 2006 or something. Why isn't that poverty thing done yet?

The campaign is based on achievement of the Millenium Development Goals [United Nations] of cutting cases of extreme poverty and global disease in half by 2015.

You can take action now to help reach the goal. Here are a few ways presented by Stand Up Take Action:

Organise a free lunch/food distribution
Donate used-books / stationeries
Mosquito nets distribution
Public speech
Letters of opposition or support
Group lobbying
Overloading of facilities by emails / faxes / letters
Pray-in
Web online / SMS actions

We have had several posts about AIDS here on our site and also want to believe that the goal is achievable. So we are posting this in recognition of Blog Action Day. However,



This could be the beginning of a long journey, if today helps shape discussion on these important issues. What should America's role be?

Make a Difference -- Remember -- [No Farms, No Food tm]

At the Perrysburg Farmers Market there was a frenzy of people clouding the white tent with the "No Farms No Food" bags hanging from each end. There were pencils, brochures, postcards, and a free bag for everyone who signed up. At the local level, I did not catch the name of the donor of the bags, but the American Farmland Trust is the title link for this post.

Here is a brief snip from their overview page:

American Farmland Trust is committed to protecting the nation's best farm and ranch land and improving the economic viability of agriculture.

The AFT seeks to shape a new debate about the future of American Agriculture by outlining the debate for the Farm Bill.

Here are some links for Ohio agriculture:
For Kids-colorful and cheery
State of Ohio--statistics, up to date?
Historical Ohio--historical perspective

Nuisance complaints for farms. A complaint that can change city ordinances to keep out agriculture. A very interesting phenomenon. I love the huge cornfield next to McDonalds on Reynolds, an interesting combination for Toledo.

Bye Bye Budweiser!! Anheuser-Busch gets 70$ a share from InBev!!

The title link has the bloomberg.com article. Wow an American giant, sold. No FDIC bailout in this case, like Fannie or Freddy.. The makers of Stella Artois now have this brand:



pic link

A Debate Between Ben Konop and Maggie Thurber?

Roland Hansen of "Roland Hansen Commentary" has initiated a call for a possible debate on the economy from former Lucas County Commissioner Maggie Thurber had this to say about a potential meeting:

I think it would be a good idea and would do my best to arrange my schedule in order to participate.

The discussion launched when Roland made the post on his blog. The Toledo Free Press titled the Article written by Thurber as "Konopnomics" and Konop's article was appropriately named "Thurbernomics".

Nothing so far on Ben Konop's Elected Official's Blog about their potential participation.

Capitol Hill Buzzing -- A perfect imphment storm.

This just in from Robert Wexler D-Fla. It seems that several items are creating a reason to hear Articles drafted by Dennis Kucinich from Cleveland. They are as follows:

• Karl Rove once again thumbed his nose at Congress and the American people by brazenly ignoring a lawful congressional subpoena to testify before the House of Representatives;

• Judiciary Chairman John Conyers indicated his willingness to use the power of inherent contempt against Rove if necessary;

• Rep. Dennis Kucinich introduced another article of impeachment on Bush's lies regarding the Iraq war; and

• Speaker Nancy Pelosi was quoted today saying that the House Judiciary Committee should address the issues that Kucinich raises in the House Judiciary Committee.


Here is an interview with Mr. Kucinich by E.D. Hill on "America's Election HQ," July 10, 2008. Thanks to Fox News for the link.

The title link will expmore about the article from Op-Ed News.

Here is a link to an article describing John Conyers possible attempt to prosecute Rove for contempt.

Big Developments, let's see where it goes from here.

Why Does John McCain hate bloggers?

The title link goes to Toledo Talk, which shows a video clip of McCain making a little joke about bloggers.

Does he really hate all of us?

Obama

Ohio Superdelegates Divided--What a shocker--Could we take some action please?

With all of Ohio's Democratic "superdelegates" named, the Dayton Daily News reports that more remain uncommitted than those pledged to presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. This is getting rediculous. Could you people commit and drive her out of office.
Click the link above to read more...

Report: FBI Asked to Investigate Dann

The Columbus Dispatch reports that the FBI has been asked to investigate Attorney General Marc Dann's dealings with gambling interests, reportedly by a task force that is part of his office. I'm so glad that we will get a fair investigation. Read more in the Columbus Dispatch by clicking the link above

House Dems File Articles of Impeachment Against Dann

For those who have interest: The House Democratic Caucus Tuesday filed nine Articles of Impeachment against Attorney General Marc Dann, accusing Dann of misconduct and malfeasance in office.

Promoting Obama: The time for change is now

Wanted to highlight a couple YouTube videos I found on Obama. Hats off to his campaign and supporters. The time for change is now.

An Ad on climate change

An ad that is a music video of sorts

AIDS Housing Goes Blobal: Satellite conference at IAC to address housing, poverty

I like seeing groups working to bring themselves together for change

If you plan on attending the International AIDS Conference (IAC) in Mexico City in August, don't miss the "International Summit on Poverty, Homelessness and HIV/AIDS" satellite session: This first-of-its-kind meeting will create a strategy for addressing homelessness and poverty as significant barriers to fighting the AIDS epidemic.


The two-hour summit is organized by the National AIDS Housing Coalition, Housing Works and the Ontario HIV Treatment Network, with committee members from Thailand, China, Kenya, South Africa, the U.S. and Canada. Participants will work together to develop and present to the IAC a declaration demanding adequate housing as a fundamental human right and an essential element of effective HIV prevention and health care.

View AIDS 2008 fact sheet here.

Click to learn about a proposed National AIDS Strategy

Hotel Hell: AIDS and housing advocates renew the fight against greedy SRO landlords

***Received this via email from Housing Works and thought I would share***

A spirited rally last Saturday targeted landlord Hank Freid for illegally converting commercial single room occupancies (SROs) meant for low-income people, many with HIV, into hotels for tourists.
"It's a crime and a shame," said Eric Abrams, a HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HASA) client who is suing Freid to stay in his room at Freid's Broadway Hotel on Broadway & 101st Street. More than 50 people attended the rally, organized by the Goddard Riverside West Side SRO Law Project, New York City AIDS Housing Network (NYCAHN), City Councilmembers Melissa Mark Viverito and Gail Brewer, the Housing Conservation Coordinators and the West Side Neighborhood Alliance, and included a skit (see below) featuring a HASA representative throwing money at a scary, giant Freid.".

No Names Released for Barrett Replacement

The Lorain Morning Journal reports although the deadline to apply for the vacant Ohio 58th District seat was yesterday, the Ohio House Democratic Caucus has not yet released the names of the at least seven applicants.

Click on title to view the complete article.

Paid Sick Leave Coalition Looks to November Ballot

Business First reports that proponents of a paid-sick-leave mandate are racing to secure a spot on the November ballot.

Ohioans for Healthy Families is the Coalition Organization. Sick Days Ohio is the name of the campaign.

Here is a list of Interested Citizens and Organizations.

***Posting from a friend of mine who used to run the Daily Speech Blog.***

OUR party has had an extraordinary battle for the presidential nomination. Two amazing historical candidates.
OUR great country (yes it is great, indeed) has seen a woman and an African American stand as serious viable candidates for the most powerful office on the planet – President of the United States.
Think that through folks, how amazing that is. You are living through history your great grandchildren will study in school.
Because of the strength and greatness of these two amazing people, passions are great on both sides, the passions of their respective supporters.
Many older women who fought the hard battle for gender equality in the 60s and 70s and even into today were busting at the seams with pride in Hillary Clinton and understandably so. She is a very talented intelligent gutsy woman and she would make a fine President. As a male feminist, I too look forward to seeing that highest glass ceiling broken.
The Democratic race for the nomination is not over yet, but what is so clear is we need to begin the process of healing our party and preparing for the fall battle against John McCain.
We need to be united to strengthen our majorities in the House and Senate and elect such fine Democrats as Mary Jo Kilroy.
Even as I praise what Hillary Clinton represents, the dreams she inspired and helped people to believe in, we also have an amazing candidate in Barack Hussein Obama. That’s right folks, use his middle name with pride!
When I saw this dynamic young state senator from Illinois give his rousing speech less than 4 years ago at the Democratic National Convention, his enthusiasm and his emphasis of national unity, I felt chills up my spine and I said at that moment, “We are watching the first black President of the United States speak”.
I am confident many Hillary Clinton supporters felt the same way hearing Obama speak then. Yet they as well as I never dreamed we were talking 2009.
To be sure, many Hillary Clinton supporters are angry that Barack Obama did not “wait his turn”. After all he is only 46 – 8 years from now he would still be quite young. Why could he not let Hillary Clinton serve her 8 years and then he could follow her?
Such anger is understandable. But often times history does not play as we wish it would.
September 11, 2001 saw a seismic shift in this country. Initially the whole country and even the world were united and George W. Bush squandered a historic opportunity by embroiling us in an unnecessary oil driven war in Iraq. While wasting precious lives and incredible money on that misadventure, he also paid his corporate buddies with continued tax breaks and no-bid contracts at the expense of the middle class and poor. He cravenly used the fear of 9/11 to win a squeaker “re-“election in 2004. Now Gallup says he is the most unpopular president since they started polling 70 years ago.
John McCain IS a Vietnam War hero and we need to honor his great service to this country. He ran a truly maverick campaign against George W. Bush in 2000 and opposed Bush many times in the last 8 years. But as he approached 70 years of age he realized his final opportunity to be president had arrived and he caved on virtually every principle he had. He was against Bush’s wasteful tax cuts for the rich. He is now for them. He championed campaign finance reform, and yet “used” the system last December to finance his cash starved campaign and turned around and broke FEC rules, he was a passionate opponent of Bush’s war crimes torture policies and now is muted on that (and as a former POW for God’s sake!), he criticized the likes of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell as “agents of intolerance” and then kissed Falwall’s ring at an appearance at Liberty University last year. He turned from a man of honor to an old man desperate to be president at any cost, willing to pander in anyway necessary – the hell with his principles.
John McCain has morphed into George W. Bush and we cannot allow him to be President.
So let’s finish this Democratic nomination race for President on a high note. Let’s let the remaining states and territories vote. Let’s find a fair way to seat Michigan and Florida and let’s unite behind the nominee of our party when that is made official. For the supporters of whoever loses the nomination, we will not forget we are fighting for the same things and that we will stand behind you and WITH you as we fight to bring to Washington a new voice for the people, a person who will bring true hope and respect back for our country, here and abroad.
For the candidate I support since day one, I leave you with this:

DOE Plan for Nuke Waste is Reshelved

The Department of Energy plans will not happen anytime soon on the grounds of the former uranium-enrichment plant in Piketon according to a report in the Columbus Dispatch. Click on the above link to read more.

Governor Signs Bill Eliminating Tobacco Group

Gov. Ted Strickland signed legislation, effective immediately, abolishing the Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation and authorizing state Treasurer Richard Cordray to liquidate its $270 million in remaining funds - with $230 million going to a new state jobs fund. Read more in the Dayton Daily News by following the link above.

McSame Video -- John McCain Hugging G.W. Bush

This article from NPR provides some good information about the private group. Let the mudslinging begin. Here is a CMD Log about the group Campaign to Defend America

Do commercials work?
Is this a convincing argument?

George Bush {Will Farrell} tells Jon Stewart What's Up

Title link is to funnyordie.com . A great video of Will Farrell as GW. He crushes Jon Sterwart in this interview.

Buy a T-Shirt for the Worst President Ever

So I came across this article in the Huffington Post today and I said to myself "Worst President Ever" in a similar fashion that the comic book guy from The Simpsons.

Then I said to myself, that would be a great T-Shirt, Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons saying "Worst President Ever". I thought, no way, someone already has this T-Shirt idea out there. And, voila:

Oh Man, that just worked out too well. Then I got a little sketchy about whether or not the article was correct. Well if you click on the title link you will be taken to pollingreport.com where you can look at Bush's statistics from all of the major News Networks polls, including {ahem, cough--cough} Fox. He is deinitely on a downward trend from 2005 to his lowst rating to date. Oh Comic Book Guy.

What will Patraeus say about Iraq?

General Patraeus testifies to Congress tomorrow, giving an update on Iraq, the "Surge" and the latest string of violence. The yahoo article from Nancy Youssef (McClatchy's chief Pentagon correspondent)here outlines these pitfalls, just in the past few weeks:

Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki launched in the southern port city of Basra and in Baghdad two weeks ago. Instead of ridding the city of rogue Shiite Muslim militias, the operation exposed the frailty of the U.S.-trained Iraqi military, emboldened rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr and his fighters and showcased Iran's powerful influence on Iraq's security and politics.

Click on the title link to order a transcript .pdf from NHPR tomorrow.

Make a Difference -- Talk to People about the War on Drugs

In 2002, the rate was 1 in 142, now it is 1 out of 99. Our incarceration rate has skyrocketed in the past few years and is now the highest in the world. See more from this article written by CBS and AP.

Below is an embedded video from the IDPI - Interfaith Drug Policy Initiative and Common Sense Drug Policy, two groups that are working together to make a difference in the wasteful complex and ineffective "War on Drugs". The other video can be seen at this link or you can e-mail info@cdsp.org for more information.



They want to get the word out about this initiative and ask community organizers to take these steps:

1) Get free copies of Clergy Speak Out Against The War On Drugs and the ACLU’s new Marijuana, It’s Time for a Conversation, featuring Rick Steves
-Copies of Clergy Speak Out Against The War On Drugs are available by contacting info@csdp.org

2) Organize a local meeting, watch the DVDs, and then…

3) Have a one-hour discussion, and invite local policy makers and media to a follow-up meeting to address your concerns.

Is Ron Paul Still Running for President

I have not heard anything from our media about Ron Paul, since McCain was dubbed as the nominee, so I search the internet tubes to find that he is still going stong with his campaign. The title link goeas directly to his campaign updates. The video below is an interview he did with Glenn Beck where he talks about our economy, the housing crisis, Wall Street and the Federal Reserve. His message should be brought mainstream, but when will people listen? Of couse it ran on April 1st, so most people might just think he is kiddding, but he makes compelling arguments.

Democrats in Primaries, Vote for Obama not Hillary Clinton