The 2011 Public Employee Protest Awards

The Egyptians marching in the streets of Cairo have nothing on our own public employees marching into the state capitol buildings along with doctors to write them excuses for days off. Union thuggery is not how to win friends and influence people, but it sure makes for great television. There has been plenty on display. In the battle over government retaking control of the services it provides, the posturing on both sides has been unseemly to say the least. Here are some of the highlights.

The Worst Offender Award goes to the Democratic legislators in Wisconsin who left the state in an effort to filibuster by thwarting a quorum. Looks real good guys! I am sure all of the independents will vote for you next time around.

Biggest Jack Ass Award goes to the guy in the goofy hat chanting “Fox News Lies” over and over again attempting to disrupt the Fox News on the scene reporter. That was fun. It’s scary to think that idiot might be a teacher teaching your children civics. It’s even scarier to think he might be a fireman or EMT who is responsible for saving your life. And scarier still, he might be a cop with a gun!!! Give him whatever he wants!!

The Employee Who Should Be Fired Award goes to the caller to a local talk radio show stating he was a policeman in a certain urban area in the Mahoning Valley, and that prior to the election he drove around and took down the addresses of any folks who had Republican yard signs in their yard so he knows who is enemies are when the time comes. Oh my!!!

The Social Faux Pas and Bad Taste of the Year Award goes to John Kasich, Governor of Ohio, who moved his address to the Mahoning Valley Chamber of Commerce from Leo’s Restaurant to the Youngstown Airport. The airport? Really? He said that security is an issue because of the large amount of public employee protestors expected. I suspect he just didn't want another harrowing ride down Belmont Avenue viewing beautiful Liberty Township.

Best Performance by a Local Politician goes to State Senator Bob Hagan who shouted at a local rally that the Governor could kiss his union ass. He also gets Best Supporting Role by a Local Politician for the statehouse showdown in Columbus in front of the locked down state capitol building, screaming that this was the people’s house. The supporting role contest was tight, with Dave Betras, the local county chairman, leading the protestor march up the airport access road.

Best Teachable Moment goes to the Mark Knows It All blog. I had to learn the difference between capital and capitol. For reasons known only to Webster and God, the city for the seat of government is the Capital. The building in which government activity takes place is the Capitol. So…Washington DC is the capital of the United States. Congress meets in the Capitol Building. Not to be confused with financial resources…such as I don’t have the capital (money) to proceed with the project. And, of course, you start a sentence with a Capital letter. You also are either for or against Capital punishment.

How many people banging on the statehouse door know that? Power to the People!!!!!

One Party Rule - Ohio Style

I think Wall Street got it right. The best of times is when there is divided government and government does nothing. And that holds at any level of government. In Ohio, Republicans control the entire state, from the Ohio Supreme Court all the way down to most county governments. Ohio is about as red as a red state can be.

But some of the stuff going on in Columbus is even raising my Republican eyebrow. The change that Governor Kasich is attempting to implement in Ohio with his Republican House and Senate is every bit as profound as what Obama tried to do during the first two years of his term with his one party rule of extreme leftists on Capitol Hill.

The Columbus Dispatch gave a summary of some of the things currently being processed out of Senate committees onto the floor for a vote.

1) A bill to eliminate the Ohio estate tax. Pro: There are only a few states left in the Union that have a state estate tax. Most Ohioans with money retire to Florida renouncing their Ohio citizenship often taking their businesses with them. It may actually cost the state money with the flight of the wealthy. Con: The Ohio estate tax is a primary source of income to local government, but especially to townships which have limited ability to raise money by some other means. In Ohio, if your estate is over $332,000.00, you are assets are taxed at a rate of 7%.

2) A bill to privatize the Ohio’s Economic Development Program by creating a non-profit corporation to take the helm. Pro: What we had wasn’t working. Con: Freddie and Fannie…Amtrak…and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

3) A bill to give back to the schools the two calamity days eliminated by the Strickland administration. Pro: We live in Ohio. Talk to folks in Geauga and Ashtabula Counties. Con: There is none. The elimination of the two days was the Strickland plan to improve Ohio education. Most stupid thing I have ever seen.

4) A bill to allow those with concealed weapon licenses to bring guns into bars. Pro: Huh? Con: Are they nuts?

5) A bill to alter the collective bargaining rights of public employees in Ohio. Pro: Those bad public employees are screwing the tax payer. Con: It isn’t the law, but the elected officials who caved to every demand made by public employees. Collective bargaining means that both sides have to bargain!!!!! See Opinion.

This is just the beginning. We have all heard Obama say he wants to fundamentally change America. Well, we know how that worked out. Kasich has said the same thing about Ohio state government. Let’s all hold our collective breath.

SafeAuto's Ball Commercial

Violence in the media has always been with us. I remember when I was small my parents forbade me from watching the Three Stooges, whose physical antics bordered on abusive. That being said, when violence is on the uptick in our society, enough is enough.

Case in point was the Super Bowl commercials last week. There was not a standout commercial in the bunch; and a few were just plain offensive. Pepsi is the grand prize winner for hitting people with cans. In both of the 1st quarter Pepsi commercials, people were physically hit with a can of Pepsi. The can to the groin in the Pepsi light commercial was not funny. The Pepsi can hurled by an African American woman at her husband but hitting a white woman by mistake almost started a racial crisis in Congress this past week.

But the super grand prize winner for being offensive at every level was the SafeAuto commercial which featured a series of men being physically kicked in the groin, over and over again, ending with another poor fellow getting kicked in the ass. Do they really think that is funny? Do they really not think that some kids would find this commericial worth imitating?

This is about as an offensive commercial as I have seen. Can you imagine a commercial where a woman is being continually hit or abused let alone kicked in the crotch? In addition, it is just plain dangerous. Men can be seriously injured by this type of behavior resulting in impotence or worse. This is not behavior to be taken lightly on television shows, movies, and especially commercials which are repeated on a regular basis. I have seen this offensive commercial several times since the Super Bowl, last night during dinner.

One of my pet peeves is the treatment of men in the media generally. In movies and television we are portrayed as Neanderthals, brutish, stupid, sex craved, inept and inadequate. I have written about this before several times, and once again I am compelled to write about it. No other group in our society, except for maybe those who are overweight, is singled out for such stereotypical and offensive portrayals.

I don’t have a man cave. I try to treat my wife with respect. I help out around the house. I work hard. I try to be thoughtful and considerate to those around me. I hope I have been a good father. I don’t belch beer. I may not be the smartest person on earth, but I am not stupid just because I am a guy.

Stereotypes are bad for everybody. Add violence to the mix, don’t be surprised when you see kids kicking the hell out another kid on the evening news after posting it on You Tube. Just remember that SafeAuto commercial. You saw it there first. Shame on them.

When the Bomb Falls on Tel Aviv...

When the bomb falls on Tel Aviv….what are we going to do? The Egyptian revolution is scary. Nobody seems to know who the players are. I keep thinking of the commentator who said today that there are 1 million Egyptians in the streets, but 86 million staying at home. Who represents whom? And the recent assassination attempt on the life of the newly appointed vice-president certainly gives one pause. This kind of tactic is the mark of the Islamists. I have read story after story that they are streaming via tunnels under the border from Gaza into Egypt.

It’s clear that the most organized group in the Egyptian revolution is the Muslim Brotherhood. This is not a benign organization. It is the parent of Al Qaeda. These are bad dudes. No matter what the intentions of the Egyptians marching in the streets, the chaos breeds radicalism. Do I think that Egypt will become an Islmaic state? Probably not. The United States gives $1.5 billion to the Egyptian army each and every year. The generals will do what the United States tells them to do unless they can find another sugar daddy.

On the other hand, the Islamists can destabilize Egypt turning Cairo into another Baghdad with suicide bombings, roadside bombs, thuggery and assassinations. Nothing good can come from what is going on Egypt. A destabilized Egypt is not much better than one controlled by the extremists.

More importantly, the United States continues to look weak. From Obama bowing to these folks when he took office, to the betrayal of the Iranian dissidents during the attempted Iranian revolution last year, and now to the collapse of Mubarak…we look like fools. We look indecisive and weak. That is a dangerous combination as Islamic extremism continues to spread throughout the middle east. What they understand is strength and resolve.

Wikileaks has leaked information relating to stolen yellow cake and other missing nuclear materials. Al Qaeda is developing minimally a dirty bomb…and worst case scenario a full blown nuclear device. They intend to use it.

The same can be said about Iran. Do you think they are building nuclear weapons for the beauty of the day? Of course not! These are folks who are willing to die for their God, and are willing to bet that if they use a nuclear bomb, the United States would not react in kind.

I agree. If a bomb were to drop on Tel Aviv, the United States would kick and scream and condemn and hold hearings…but ultimately there would be a tepid response because we rely on these idiots for our oil. Israel would fire back, but not us.

We are on a dangerous path. The warning signs are there. We need to learn from history. If we don’t stop these guys now…it will take millions of dead people later. There is no good choice; but the worse choice is to continue to do what we are doing, nothing.

Will Egypt Become Obama's Iran?

I know a lot of things about a lot of topics. Egypt isn’t one of them. It is considered to be one of the oldest nations on earth, with recognizable borders dating back to 5000 years BC. Wow!! It is a relatively poor nation, with little oil exporting capacity. There is a small, but growing middle class. 70% of the population is under the age of 35. It has a reported unemployment rate of 33%, although it is probably higher. 40% of the population makes less than $4.00/day.

Hosni Mubarak has been a friend to the United States in his handling of Egyptian relations with Israel, the Gaza Strip, and Islamists, which was bought for a price of tens of billions dollars in American aid over the years. As of late, Egypt has taken an extremely tough stance against Islamic terrorists, banning the Muslim Brotherhood, which is figuring prominently in the chaos festering in Cairo today.

A wave of discontent is spreading across the Mideast tonight; from Tunisia to Egypt to Yemen and Jordan, one of America’s staunchest allies in the region. It is clear that nobody, including the United States government, has a handle on what exactly is happening there, and who are the players. This is a dangerous situation with ramifications that can reach the United States to our core. President Obama cannot repeat the same mistakes of Jimmy Carter in Iran, and Dwight Eisenhower in Cuba.

There are three stages to any revolution. The first is the popular uprising demanding the voices of the people be heard. The second is the establishment of a democratic government of sorts. Unfortunately, stage two is usually the bugaboo because typically this is when these types of movements are the weakest. Stage three is the attack of the extremists, who are usually better organized than the good hearted but inept democrats trying to establish a democratic country.

The clearest example of this is the Russian Revolution, where there were 2 revolutions. The first was the overthrow of the Czar and the establishment of the Kerensky government in St. Petersburg. The Communists, in turn, overthrew the Kenensky democrats, establishing Communism in Russia. What followed was a bloody civil war…and the rest is history.

Add to that the American penchant for siding with stable dictators instead of messy democracies. Eisenhower refused to come to terms with Castro after the overthrow of Batista, forcing Castro to turn to Russia for aid and support. Carter slept through the Iranian Revolution. He allowed the Shah to fall, then sat on his hands. Things spun out of control as he let the Shah into the United States for medical treatment. The Shah, although installed under American auspices in the early 1950’s, was a bad dude. What was Carter thinking?

So now we have one of the most inexperienced Presidents ever elected to the office dealing with a rolling Mideast revolution rivaling the fall of communism in Eastern Europe. Which way will the dominos fall? Will they fall towards democracy and at least neutrality in the war against Islamic fundamentalism? Or will they fall the other way, into the hands of the extremists thus setting the stage for a World War?

Hyperbole? No. This is dangerous stuff. We should all be concerned that Egypt doesn’t become Obama’s Iran. Yes, President Obama, there really is a war on terrorism.

Who Pays? Pantalone!!!

They saying goes fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Let me see, after two nightmare years of unchecked liberal claptrap, spending more money than in the entire history of the United States combined, Congressional closed door meetings expelling and excluding all Congressional Republicans from deliberations on the most significant piece of legislation in a hundred years; after dissing the Chamber of Commerce; vilifying insurance companies, steel companies, oil companies; after telling those who opposed his policies to go to the back of the bus…we are now supposed to believe that this jack ass is “Reaganesque” and “Clintonesque”?

Mr. President, you ran for office saying exactly the same things you said in the State of the Union address, then you literally shoved it up our proverbial you know what. We are supposed to believe you NOW?? No way Jose!!! Take that and you shove it up your Arizona lawsuit. We don’t believe you anymore.

Do I sound angry? I am. I watched all of the major networks say how Obama is moving to the center. He is following the path of Bill Clinton. He is like Ronald Reagan. Really? If I remember correctly, when Reagan was President, the press did everything but crucify him, making continual references to his wife being “imperial” and he being “dumb”…took lots of naps…Bedtime for Bonzo. Now Obama is “Reagan-esque”? Puhleeez.

This guy is the most liberal President this country has ever seen. In real life, he had six months business experience then quit because he couldn’t take it. Notwithstanding his law degree, his working experience as a “community organizer” makes him a social worker. There is nothing wrong with that…just not in the White House during the worst economic catastrophe since the Great Depression. When elected, he was no more qualified to be President than me.

This guy will not change his spots. No matter how they dress him up or how they try to sell this so called move to the middle, at the end of the day, he is a guy with a stolen credit unable to contain his compulsion to spend. That translates over to his personal life. He is addicted to an imperial lifestyle like none this nation has ever witnessed before.

He has yet to answer the question, who is going to pay for all of his largesse? The amount of money he has borrowed is beyond human comprehension. Who pays? As my Italian grandmother used say…Pantalone pays. When asked who was Pantalone…she shrugged her shoulders. In a word, he doesn’t give a damn. You, my fellow Americans, are Pandelone.

He is not Ronald Reagan who made this county stand tall not bowing to the leaders of other nations; standing up to the communists. America first. America last. America always.

You want to help create jobs and innovation, Mr. President? Get the hell out of the way. Stand tough with the Chinese. You can do your environmental thing…but drill for oil in the meantime. And put reasonable restrictions on the EPA. Simplify the tax code. Reduce taxes on corporate profits. Hang tough with the public employee unions.

No, I don’t buy this move to the center one bit. As with all things Barack Obama, always look at what he does. Not what he says. And you won’t like what you will see.

I Almost Wet My Pants - The Mahoning Valley Resort and Casino

Here we go again. Shades of the blimp factory, brewery, and Avanti, the Mahoning Valley has always had a penchant for pie in the sky projects. Never mind that the area is actually one of the economic bright spots in Ohio right now as a result of thirty years of local hard work nurturing small business and General Motors…we be gettin’ a $400 hundred million resort casino and race track. And we are off!!

Apparently all the local politicos were caught with their pants down last week when the Mahoning Valley Development Group out of Cleveland announced out of nowhere that it is planning to build the multi million facility somewhere in the Mahoning Valley on 700 acres of land, including a 400 room five star resort hotel, a racetrack, a casino, a shopping mall, a teen entertainment complex, and a partridge in a pear tree; AND, they were going to do it all with private money...no government assistance or tax abatements are needed, thank you very much. WOW!!!! One small problem…they don't have a racing license, or any other license for that matter. And it was reported that Ohio hasn’t issued a racing license in over fifty years, and doesn’t even have a procedure to do it.

I wonder if they are going to build it next to the Indian Casino announced by Jim Traficant after a meeting with several Indian chiefs at the Yankee Kitchen in Boardman last year, complete with head gear. I almost wet my pants. Only trouble is they have to be declared a tribe first, then show the land in North Jackson was their land. Of course, while the Mahoning Valley was a meeting spot for numerous Native American tribes, it really never had any local resident tribes. But don’t confuse me with the facts. We're talking black jack, baby.

Meanwhile, the Youngstown Business Journal, searching for the why’s and wherefores of the new development, reported that the Mahoning Valley Development Group was forced to go public with their plans prematurely because Penn National, a gaming outfit that owns a racetrack in Toledo and Columbus, was planning on closing the Toledo operation and moving it to the Mahoning Valley. Only problem is someone forgot to tell Penn National.

Here’s the deal. If you remember, the State of Ohio had an election a year or so ago whereby four casinos were approved by the electorate to be located in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo. The Youngstown area was not included much to our chagrin, in the mix. But the owners of racetracks were still demanding video slot machines at racetracks, and Governor Strickland decided he could allow them by fiat under through the Ohio Lottery Commission. That was booted out by the courts, and further legal action is still pending. No one knows where Governor Kasich stands on the issue…nobody can find him.

The Penn National group is planning on partnering in casino developments in Toledo and Columbus. If video slot machines are ultimately allowed in racetracks, it may have to move one or more of the existing racetracks to an area of a state where there isn’t a full blown casino to keep from cannibalizing itself, and maybe the Mahoning Valley may be considered. Studies are being done, but that is a whole lot of “ifs”.

Nowhere have I seen in the discussion that Mountaineer is just forty minutes away from here, and the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh is just about an hour away. And I have to tell you, watching the local politicians scramble to figure out what was going on with this one was a real day brightner. Talk about getting caught with your pants down...it was hysterical!!!! Where are they going to put the casino? Bend over and I'll show ya.

Seriously, I wish both of these organizations well. Any development for this area is a plus, and quite frankly, I think this a great location for such a venture. There may be something to all of this as there has been an exceptional amount of option activity in North Jackson and around the Youngstown Airport. Something may be afoot!!!

But while we are waiting for hell to freeze over, there is always Connie’s White Owl!!!!! Which way to the blimp factory?