Richard Schwab Writes

Subject: Guest Column




Extending benefits helps economy and reduces unemployment

This is no time to end unemployment benefits. There is no economic evidence to support not continuing helping millions of Americans during the worst economic downturn since the great depression. The evidence confirms unemployment benefits fuel jobs and the economy.

And, more importantly, what about our commitment to one another as human beings?

Most economists indicate extending unemployment benefits create $1.63 in demand for every dollar spent. Unemployment benefits are spent quickly and locally.

Individuals seeking jobs no longer get a pay check, but their bills don't stop.

Congress needs to extend unemployment benefits so that struggling Americans can worry about finding a job instead of worrying about feeding their families and keeping a roof over their heads.

U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) has recently introduced a bill to preserve benefits through next year. U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-R.I.) is sponsor of the Senate's companion measure. The Congressional Budget Office scores the bill as having an "out sized effect" on the economy - pumping in double the money. (In addition, individuals pay taxes on unemployment benefits. And, economists have warned that failure to pass an extension would have a negative impact on a struggling economy.)

U.S. Rep. Doggett claimed, " With almost five unemployed Americans for every job opening, too many people remain jobless because of a lack of work, not a lack of wanting to work."

Based on research by The John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University, some myths about unemployment benefits are debunked.

•Overwhelming evidence indicates the jobless who receive benefits more actively seek work than those who don't.

•Two thirds of America's 14 million unemployed are not receiving benefits. (Those who did not work long enough or earn enough are ineligible.)

•Unemployment benefits amount to only a fraction of a worker's previous income. ($296. is the average weekly benefit.)

•80% of those who receive benefits are willing to take a pay cut to get a new job. (It is wrong to suggest Americans want unemployment checks. Americans want work.)

•Benefits raise the re-employment rate of long-term unemployed workers. (700,000 new jobs have been created thanks to emergency and extended unemployment benefits in recent years. And, 3.2 million were pulled out of poverty in 2010 thanks to unemployment benefits.)

Unemployment insurance benefits pump demand into the economy and help the unemployed workers and their families. Extending these benefits is a far better way to help our economy and our workers recover than to ask the American people to borrow $830 billion to give tax breaks to the richest 2% of Americans.

Richard O. Schwab was formerly associate head of school, and middle school head, Cincinnati Country Day School. He is currently neighborhood team leader, Glendale Organizing For America Community Team (www.gofact.blogspot.com)



Richard O. Schwab

Richard Schwab Writes

Republicans obstruct improvements to Americans' financial security


Senate Republicans have blocked President Barack Obama's nomination of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB.) The vote was 53-45 - with one senator voting "present" - falling short of the 60 votes needed to break a Republican filibuster.

Richard Cordray was Attorney General of Ohio, Treasurer of Ohio, and Solicitor General of Ohio. From all accounts, he is an outstandingly competent candidate to head the CFPB. And, talk about bright, he was a five-time "Jeopardy!" champion.

Ayear ago, the President fought fierce lobbying from the financial industry and signed into law the Dodd-FrankWall Street Reformand Consumer Protection Act.

The new law put in place reforms that reduce excessive risk taking onWallStreet.

The law establishes the strongest consumer protections in our history, and creates the Consumer FinancialProtection Bureau. TheCFPBis charged withensuringthat financialservice providerscompeteon thebasisofthe services theyprovideandnoton unfair, deceptive, andhidden fees and harmful practices.

The CFPB cannot exercise its full authorities or make good on the consumer protection goals in the law unless a director is in place.

Brian Deese, Deputy Director of the National Economic Council, indicated, "Non-bank financial companies like payday lenders, mortgage lenders, mortgage servicers, debt collectors, and credit reporting agencies play an incredibly important part in the lives of American families...The non-bank sector is one where we have seen, in the past, some of the most...predatory lending practices in our financial system."

These destructive and non-transparent practices led to the financial melt-down of 2008.

Withouta CFPBDirector,

Americanswillnotbe protectedfromfalling preytomanyofthe damaging practicesthat contributedtothe worstfinancialcrisissincetheGreat Depression.

The CFPBsinabilityto exerciseitsfull

authoritywhileit awaitsaDirector negatively affectsour economy and the security of our financialsystem.

Without a director, the agency designed to shield consumers from the excesses behind the 2008 financial crisis cannot operate at full throttle.

President Obama has responded, "We are not giving up on this...We are not going to allow politics as usual on Capital Hill to stand in the way of American consumers being protected from unscrupulous financial operators."

A question to the Republicans who are blocking Richard Cordray and consumer protections - Whom are you protecting?

Looks to me as if you are in the wrong place and on the wrong side.

Richard O. Schwab was formerly associate head of school, and middle school head, Cincinnati Country Day School. He is currently neighborhood team leader, Glendale Organizing For America Community Team (www.gofact.blogspot.com)

Richard O. Schwab

Richard Schwab Writes

Sandusky scandal should shake up football's domination of higher education






Former Penn State assistant football coach (defensive coordinator) Jerry Sandusky has been charged with sexually abusing eight young boys, sometimes in the campus athletic facilities, over a fifteen year period. He faces a forty count indictment.

The allegations against Sandusky have toppled long-time head football coach, Joe Paterno and University President, Graham Spanier.

Penn State Athletic Director, Tim Curly and Vice President for Finance and Business, Gary Schultz face charges of perjury and failure to report under Pennsylvania child protective services law.

The Pennsylvania Attorney General has blasted Penn State for failure to report suspected sexual abuse of young boys. University individuals warned university administrators about suspected abuse more than a decade ago.

How can this be? What's wrong with this picture?

At Penn State, the head football coach had more power than the university's President. College head football coaches bring in the cash and are extremely well compensated.

USA Today's 2010 analysis of college football salaries revealed sixty football coaches who make more than $1 million a year. Alabama pays $5.1 million, Iowa pays $3.8 million; the average pay for a major college football coach is $1.36 million. Some football coaches earn 5 to 10 times what is paid to their school's President.

At Penn State, Paterno's football program generated $50 million in one season according to the U.S. Department of Education. Last year, the football teams in the six major conferences made a combined profit of $1.1 billion.

Penn State's failure to report the child abuse allegations resulted from an imbalance of power.

An inner circle of power that was all about protecting the university's image and its cash-cow football program. As a result, nobody stopped things when they should have. As a result, nobody was looking after the best interests of children.

College Presidents should use the Penn State tragedy to re establish their schools' educational missions and deal directly with the commercialization and excess of college football which make the football coach the most powerful person on campus.

University Presidents and the NCAA should unite and consider establishing a salary cap for their head football coaches. How about $400,000.? A salary in line with the average pay of college Presidents.

Richard O. Schwab was formerly associate head of school, and middle school head, Cincinnati Country Day School. He is currently neighborhood team leader, Glendale Organizing For America Community Team (www.gofact.blogspot.com)

A One-Two Punch

A one two punch! My Column, "Occupy Wall Street far more popular than Tea Party" and GOFACT Volunteer Recruitment Coordinator Paul Breidenbach's brilliantly sarcastic Letter To The Editor, "Forum's objectivity questioned" are published in today's Tri-County Press. I have copied both below.


"Occupy wall street far more popular than tea party"

A new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll shows that Americans support the Occupy Wall Street protesters by a two-to-one margin (37% in favor, 18% opposed.) While more Americans view the Tea Party negatively (28% in favor, 41% opposed.)
And, a recent Time Magazine poll found even more positive results for Occupy Wall Street, showing 54% held a favorable view of the movement, compared to just 27% with a favorable view of the Tea Party.

Why is this? Because there is a deep strain of anti-establishment feeling in America which started at the end of the Bush Administration. It is the reason Barack Obama was elected.

Both the Tea Party and the Occupy movement share a frustration. Though they are very different in the objects of their frustration. Occupy is frustrated with the financial system. The Tea Party is frustrated with government.

Occupy is concerned with social and economic inequality, corporate greed and influence over government. Occupy's slogan, "we are the 99%" refers to income inequality in the U.S. between the top 1%, who control 40% of the wealth, and the rest of the population. The Tea party looks at politicians and government as the problem and has the backing of billionaires like the Koch brothers.

Occupy looks at the influence of money, Wall Street, and big banks on government and elected officials as the problem. The movement is in 70 cities and 600 communities throughout the country.

A Washington Post- Pew Research Center poll shows the majority of Tea Party support comes from Republicans, while backing for Occupy protests arises from Democrats. Occupy has met with near universal derision from Republicans. Mitt Romney called them "dangerous." House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) claimed they were a "mob." Herman Cain denounced them as "un-American." Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) said the protests were an "attack upon freedom."

Is it any surprise the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (signed into law 7/21/10) passed the House along party lines (223 -202) and the Senate (59 - 39) once again along party lines? The GOP continues to paint the law as big- government over regulation.

A volunteer with Occupy Wall Street stated, "business folks should be able to make money... but we have to have a culture to come together, take care of each other, and make sure that the consolidation of wealth and power doesn't mean that folks who have the most are also rigging the game for the future. And that's what's happening."

This is a social justice message that is consistent with the traditional Democratic message. That's why if there was a logical political alignment for the Occupy movement, it would be with the Democratic party.

For sure, neither Occupy protesters or Democrats want to promote the Bush legacy of unregulated speculation which does harm to our economy and communities.

Richard O. Schwab was formerly associate head of school, and middle school head,

Cincinnati Country Day School. He is currently neighborhood team leader, Glendale Organizing For America Community Team (www.gofact.blogspot.com)

Paul Breidenbach Speaks (Be Prepared for Great Irony)

This appeared in this week's Community Press along with another sensational article by Richard Schwab, which we shall post next:

Forum's Objectivity Questioned

I was happy to attend a candidates' forum last week at Glendale's Town Hall, which gave me confidence that Glendale and the Princeton City Schools will be in reasonably good hands no matter what the outcome of the local races that will be decided early November.

The event did make me wonder about the sponsorship, though. It was put on in this case by a coalition between MoveOn.org, Occupy Wall Street, and GOFACT, which claim to be non-partisan voter-education organizations, but are actually closely aligned with a particular party and a narrow set of policy options. Since these organizations chose the questions the candidates answered, we were treated to the usual boilerplate:

-- how to opt out of the ridiculous testing spiral that's ruining the public schools that work and doing nothing to improve the ones that don't;

--whether we can pool Glendale citizens to purchase health insurance;

--how to induce hugely profitable corporations like GE to support the local schools;

--how to take advantage of the linguistic gifts of immigrant children in our schools to teach foreign languages in the primary grades;

--how much of the greenbelt we should plant with cannabis for the dispensaries and the Amsterdam Cafe on the square;

--whether Glendale should impose a tax on calls that go through the architectural gem that Cincinnati Bell built on Sharon Road.

The event made me wonder if the electorate might be better served if forums like this one were sponsored by truly neutral organizations, for instance the Glendale Tea Party. The result might be a outside-the-box discussion of innovative ideas for dealing with the challenges that face us, ideas that people might not have had much chance to hear, such as tightening our belts and keeping taxes low. Just a thought.

Connie and Daughter

Our next congresswoman, and her daughter.  GOFACT got her over the top in Glendale, along with Connie's tireless efforts!

Richard Schwab Writes

Occupy wall street far more popular than tea party




A new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll shows that Americans support the Occupy Wall Street protesters by a two-to-one margin (37% in favor, 18% opposed.) While more Americans view the Tea Party negatively (28% in favor, 41% opposed.)



And, a recent Time Magazine poll found even more positive results for Occupy Wall Street, showing 54% held a favorable view of the movement, compared to just 27% with a favorable view of the Tea Party.



Why is this?

Because there is a deep strain of anti-establishment feeling in America which started at the end of the Bush Administration. It is the reason Barack Obama was elected.



Both the Tea Party and the Occupy movement share a frustration. Though they are very different in the objects of their frustration. Occupy is frustrated with the financial system. The Tea Party is frustrated with government.



Occupy is concerned with social and economic inequality, corporate greed and influence over government. Occupy's slogan, "we are the 99%" refers to income inequality in the U.S. between the top 1%, who control 40% of the wealth, and the rest of the population.



The Tea party looks at politicians and government as the problem and has the backing of billionaires like the Koch brothers.



Occupy looks at the influence of money, Wall Street, and big banks on government and elected officials as the problem. The movement is in 70 cities and 600 communities throughout the country.



A Washington Post- Pew Research Center poll shows the majority of Tea Party support comes from Republicans, while backing for Occupy protests arises from Democrats. Occupy has met with near universal derision from Republicans. Mitt Romney called them "dangerous." House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) claimed they were a "mob." Herman Cain denounced them as "un-American." Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) said the protests were an "attack upon freedom."



Is it any surprise the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (signed into law 7/21/10) passed the House along party lines (223 -202) and the Senate (59 - 39) once again along party lines? The GOP continues to paint the law as big- government over regulation.



A volunteer with Occupy Wall Street stated, "business folks should be able to make money... but we have to have a culture to come together, take care of each other, and make sure that the consolidation of wealth and power doesn't mean that folks who have the most are also rigging the game for the future. And that's what's happening."

This is a social justice message that is consistent with the traditional Democratic message. That's why if there was a logical political alignment for the Occupy movement, it would be with the Democratic party.



And for sure, neither Occupy protesters or Democrats want to promote the Bush legacy of unregulated speculation which does harm to our economy and communities.



Richard O. Schwab was formerly associate head of school, and middle school head, Cincinnati Country Day School. He is currently neighborhood team leader, Glendale Organizing For America Community Team (www.gofact.blogspot.com)

Richard O. Schwab

830 Congress Ave.

Glendale, Ohio 45246

H.513-771-4397

Richard Schwab Writes

Investing in our economy, our workers, and our future

I think President Obama's $450 billion "American Jobs Act" is right on.

It proposes:

•Cutting the payroll tax in half for 98 % of businesses.

•A complete payroll tax holiday for added workers or increased wages.

•A "Returning Heroes" hiring tax credit for veterans.

•Preventing up to 280,000 teacher layoffs, while keeping police and firefighters on the job.

•Modernizing at least 35,000 public schools across the country - creating jobs and improving classrooms to meet twenty-first century needs.

•Immediate investments in infrastructure and a bipartisan National Infrastructure Bank.

•A New "Project Rebuild," which will put people to work rehabilitating homes, businesses, and communities.

•Expanding access to high-speed wireless.

•Extending unemployment insurance to prevent 5 million Americans looking for work from losing their benefits, and innovative work-based reforms to prevent layoffs and to give states greater flexibility to use UI funds.

•A $4,000 tax credit to employers for hiring long-term unemployed workers.

•Expanding the payroll tax cut passed last year to cut workers payroll taxes in half in 2012.

•Providing a $1,500 tax cut to the typical American family.

•Allowing more Americans to refinance their mortgages at today's near 4 percent interest rates.

We need smart government for a strong economy. We need smart government to get America back into the future.

Our ability to compete in the twenty-first century is dependent on our willingness to invest in our infrastructure.

We need faster broad band, a state-of-the art national electrical grid, modernized water and sewage systems, the best airports, trains, roads, and bridges.

There is no evidence we can succeed in the twenty-first century with an anti-government strategy. Austerity is the wrong course right now. Cutting government programs and public employee jobs just adds to our economic problems.

The American Jobs Act does not add a dime to our deficit.

The President pays for The Act in large part by requiring the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share. The President has proposed that those who earn more than $1 million a year pay the same share of their income in taxes as middle-class families do. Everyone paying a fair share to get a fair shake is the practical and balanced way forward. The alternative is to diminish education, decimate medicare, let roads and bridges further decay, and whittle-down social security.

Results of a September 14 CNN/ORC national survey revealed, " Who do you trust more to handle the economy? Obama: 46% ... Republicans: 37% -- Obama and Congress should pay more attention to Jobs: 65% ... Deficit: 29% -- Obama jobs plan: Favor: 43% ... Oppose: 35%."

Austerity doesn't produce jobs or growth. It is not how we cut; it is how we can grow.

Let's prove the cynics and naysayers wrong and support President Obama's effort to create jobs in America.

Richard O. Schwab was formerly associate head of school, and middle school head, Cincinnati Country Day School. He is currently neighborhood team leader, Glendale Organizing For America Community Team (www.gofact.blogspot.com)

Clarence Thomas -- Jeffrey Toobin's Shocking and Surprising Article in the New Yorker

Chabot to Allow Cameras

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/62278.html#continue 

Pepper on Agenda at October 4th Senate Bill 5 Issue Forum

From: Blatz, Jennifer [mailto:BlatzJ@strivenetwork.org]

Sent: Monday, August 29, 2011 11:29 AM

To: garygreenberg@drgfirm.com ; Pepper, David A.

Subject: Update on October 4th Senate Bill 5 Issue Forum



Dear Mr. Greenberg and Mr. Pepper:

I hope this email finds you both well. I wanted to take a moment to provide an update on the planning for the October 4th Issue Forum on Senate Bill 5 that is being organized by the Junior League of Cincinnati, League of Women Voters and Cincinnati Museum Center. We are very excited about this event and we thank you both for your willingness to participate.



We are still in the planning stages, but I can update you on some of the logistics we have been able to nail down thus far:



Location: Cincinnati Museum Center Auditorium (capacity 285)

Timing: 7:15-8:30 p.m.

Moderator: Maryanne Zeleznik (WVXU)

Speakers: Support of Senate Bill 5 – Gary Greenberg, partner with Denlinger, Rosenthal & Greenberg, LPA, which focuses on labor and employment law

Repeal of Senate Bill 5 – David Pepper, former Cincinnati City Council member and Chair, Protect Ohio’s Future PAC



We are planning a meeting with Maryanne Zeleznik in the next week to finalize the format for the discussion. What I am sharing below is a tentative format, subject to change after conversations with our moderator:



Tentative Format (as of 8/29):

i. 7:20-7:23 – Welcome by Melanie Chavez, President, JLC (set the framework for the event and partnership with CMC and LWV; Melanie to introduce Doug McDonald, President, CMC

ii. 7:23-7:26 – Welcome by Doug McDonald, including introduction of Moderator

iii. 7:26-7:32 – Chronology of SB5 and Introduction of speakers (Zeleznik)

iv. 7:32-8:28 – Issue Forum, Moderated by Maryanne Zeleznik (WVXU)

• 10 questions, 2 minutes each (40 minutes)

• Moderator to ask follow-up questions and give rebuttal if necessary as she deems appropriate (10 minutes)

• 3 minutes for each speaker to close (6 minutes)

v. 8:28-8:30 – Closing by Sarah Moore, JLC Public Affairs Chair and Vicki Calonge, JLC Projects Council VP



I’ll be back in touch following our meeting with Maryanne with more details related to format, but if you have any questions in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact me. Also, if you could forward me your bios or how you’d like to be introduced as part of this Forum I would greatly appreciate it.



Finally, we are working on several media partners and since we expect to have a capacity crowd for this event, given the partners involved, we hope to be able to televise or broadcast the forum to the general public via television or radio or both. If you have any concerns about that, please let me know.



Thank you again for your participation in this event. I look forward to meeting you both.



Jennifer





Jennifer C. Blatz

Director of Partner Engagement and Advocacy

Strive

A Subsidiary of KnowledgeWorks

One West Fourth Street, Suite 200

Cincinnati, OH 45202

513-929-1146 (o)

513-659-0230 (m)

513-929-1122 (f)

blatzj@strivenetwork.org

www.strivenetwork.org





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Our Richard Cordray to Head Up Consumer Financial Protection Board!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/18/business/former-ohio-attorney-general-picked-to-lead-consumer-agency.html?_r=1&hp

Elizabeth Warren is out, sadly.  But Richard is awesome, tough and smart.

From the Toledo Blade

Home » Writers» David Kushma


Published: 7/10/2011 - Updated: 12 hours ago

Kasich fights a revolution — for the favored

BY DAVID KUSHMA

BLADE EDITOR


You say you want a revolution? Even if you don’t, Gov. John Kasich and his Republican cohorts in the General Assembly are giving Ohioans one. It isn’t pretty.

During their first six months in office, the new governor and GOP-controlled legislature have launched a radical — and, I’d argue, damaging — transformation of state government. The Kasich Revolution also is imposing itself on local governments and schools, as well as a broad range of social, economic, and political issues that touch all our lives.

The bus Mr. Kasich uses as a metaphor for his aggressive administration — “either get on it or we’ll run you over” — hasn’t idled since his inauguration in January. If anything, it’s picking up speed.

That’s evident in the two major Republican initiatives of the first six months: the new two-year state budget and the law that would gut public employees’ collective-bargaining rights.

The budget slashes state aid to essential public services on which Ohioans depend — education, public safety, social programs — in order further to enrich millionaires, large businesses, privately operated schools, and other Republican-favored special interests. It privatizes valuable and sensitive state assets for scant returns.

By largely shifting the state’s fiscal problems to local communities, counties, and school districts, it greatly increases the prospect of local tax increases — which the governor and lawmakers will be sure to criticize.

Mr. Kasich insists that his strong medicine will force local governments to become more efficient, share services, and merge. Toledo Mayor Mike Bell, who calls himself an independent, observes that he embarked on that course well before the governor took office.

“We can take care of our own house,” the mayor told me. “We need to take the politics out of what people want.”

Lucas County Board of Commissioners President Pete Gerken, a Democrat with a union background, isn’t so circumspect.

“There are a lot of things I don’t need this governor to do,” he says. “They’re transferring the debt from Columbus back to Toledo.” He laughs and quickly adds, in old-time pol argot: “I ain’t raisin’ no taxes.”

It appears that voters will get the chance in November to pass judgment on Senate Bill 5, which goes far beyond updating the state law that governs public-sector collective bargaining — something Ohio needs to do. Instead, the governor and lawmakers would effectively strip 350,000 public employees of many of their rights to bargain at all.

The liberal advocacy group Innovation Ohio notes that Governor Kasich won election last year by barely 77,000 votes, while 16 times that number of Ohioans signed petitions to force a popular vote on Senate Bill 5. So whose mandate is it anyway?

No matter. The Kasich Revolution is being waged on a wide front that extends well beyond budget and labor disputes. Much of the revolution is conducted clandestinely, without adequate public information or debate.

The governor and lawmakers justify virtually everything they do by asserting it will create jobs. That’s why, they tell us, we must allow private drilling for oil and natural gas in state parks and on other public lands, whatever the environmental implications.

It’s why we evidently have to allow larger unregulated water withdrawals by businesses from Lake Erie and other sensitive Ohio waterways than any other Great Lakes state tolerates — even if such venerable Ohio Republicans as George Voinovich and Bob Taft say it’s a bad idea.

You can argue, however wrongheadedly, that environmental protection simply can’t be allowed to obstruct needed economic growth and job creation. But what about the rest of the GOP agenda?

How many jobs will the governor and lawmakers create by authorizing concealed-carry permit holders to bring their guns into bars? Is it really that important to genuflect before the National Rifle Association, at a time when Toledo must deal with increasing gun violence?

How many jobs will Republicans create with legislation that would require Ohioans to display photo identification before they can exercise their right to vote — an expensive House-passed mandate that the Senate could vote on this week? Ostensibly to fight vote fraud that Republicans haven’t shown, because it doesn’t exist, the bill potentially could disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters, many of them poor and old.

How many jobs will the GOP create by imposing Draconian — and arguably unconstitutional — restrictions on Ohio women’s abortion rights, as several bills galloping through the legislature, soon to compete for the governor’s signature, would do? Is it so important to feed red meat to the party’s base that such extremist measures get waved through?

There are some things to like about the Kasich Revolution. The governor seeks to control costs in the state’s sprawling Medicaid program by eliminating wasteful duplication of services and encouraging patients to get long-term care at home whenever reasonable.

The effort to develop a merit-pay program for teachers also has promise, even though there’s a long, hard way to go before the state develops a usable system. Initiatives that aim to find options to costly imprisonment of low-level and nonviolent criminals are valuable.

But such positive matters don’t begin to balance the scales with the bad stuff. And it’s not over.

We can expect Mr. Kasich, Republican lawmakers, and other elected GOP officials to work to gerrymander legislative and congressional district boundaries this fall in a way that will seal their party’s dominance for the next decade.

After that, who knows what’s next? An easing of regulations designed to prevent environmental damage from gas drilling? An assault on injured private-sector workers covered by the state’s workers’ compensation program?

I can’t believe that the Ohio the governor and Republican lawmakers envision is a state where most of us want to live. But I could be wrong.

So I’d like to hear from you. Do you like what you’ve seen of the Kasich Revolution? Are the governor and lawmakers truly doing what we elected them to do? Or is it time to yell at the bus to stop — or at least to slow down?

Please tell me — and The Blade’s readers — what you think.

David Kushma is editor of The Blade.

Contact him at: dkushma@theblade.com

Bruce Abel Writes

Date: Wednesday, July 6, 2011 5:00 PM

From: Ohio Employment Lawyers Association

To: babel2@fuse.net

Subject: Article on Ohio's new public records law was answered by Christy B. Bishop

It's a travesty. It was reported in the Akron Beacon Journal (finally) today. A bit late. WE sent out the troops and had a lot of clients and others riled up with e-mails and calls.

Sad to say, not enough (and the comment in the Beacon about the bill sponsor particularly noted "greedy lawyers" allegedly trying to take advantage).

We must get a referendum on this sucker. Fred was right; we need to buckle up and fight for our clients and our own livelihoods in Ohio. ("Oh, Toto, I think we ARE back in Kansas again.") I would think even Republicans would have had hesitations about this, if Democrats ever get into power again We3 should all resent the ultra conservatives' professed hatred of government -- and their hypocracy. We should utilize the power to stop it.

We certainly need to come together for the coming fight on Chapter 4112.

posted by Christy B. Bishop
Jul 6, 2011 4:56 PM

Article on Ohio's new public records law

Thought everyone would like to read about our new lack of public records law. I happened upon the article during some internet research. Below is the link:

http://openchannel.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/07/05/7019775-is-ohio-closing-the-door-on-the-public?fb_ref=.ThOGeIDr9LQ.like&fb_source=home_oneline/from/toolbar

Ohio Employment Lawyers Association

http://www.oelasmart.net

support@oelasmart.net

Richard Schwab Writes

"Jobs waiting for the taking"


In today's economic climate, job seekers face challenges. Employers have challenges too. There is a growing gap between job skills held and job skills required.

The global consulting firm, McKinsey & Company estimates 800,000 jobs (mostly in health care tech and engineering) are going unfilled because there are not sufficient numbers of people with the skills to fill them. The Department of Labor reported in March 228,000 manufacturing jobs unfilled.

In this difficult recession and recovery, with a lot more people looking for work or under employed, this mismatch in education and skills with the high tech skills required in today's advanced manufacturing, engineering, and health care sectors needs to be addressed.

Community Colleges are providing solutions to filling this skills gap.

Community Colleges are engaged in innovative partnerships with corporations and manufacturing groups.

Forsyth Tech in Winston-Salem, N.C. is the first and one of four Community Colleges deploying The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM)-endorsed skills certification system. NAM is the oldest and largest broad-based industrial and trade association in the country. Those enrolled in Forsyth's NAM skills certification program quickly (in a project-based environment) receive a college certificate that is directly aligned to the specific skills manufacturers need.

With 800 participating employers, Cincinnati State Technical and Community College's Cooperative Education Program is the largest in the U.S. Every Cincinnati State CO-OP student is placed in his/her chosen field with employers who agree to become academic and career partners and mentors.

Cincinnati State's Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) certificate is designed for those currently employed who desire additional training in the specialized field of CNC programming and computer-aided manufacturing.

Along with 16 other midwest (70 across the nation) Community Colleges, Cincinnati State has launched a series of targeted, skills focused, job-specific training courses in health information technology.

Rockwell Automation's partnership with Cincinnati State's Workforce Development Center (WDC) provides training and retraining in the latest, leading-edge technologies, industrial products and continuous improvement strategies.

High School students are benefiting from Community Colleges.

In San Antonio, Texas NAM skills certification is being offered in two high school academies, one on advanced manufacturing, and one in aerospace. In partnership with Alamo Community Colleges, 11th and 12th graders receive training which leads to their high school diploma, their national career readiness certificate, a direct tie to an employer and up to 30 credits toward their associate degree.

The STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) Summer Academy offered at Cincinnati State gives rising high school seniors dual credit for both high school and college. Classroom experiences run the gamut from solving equations for electrical resistance in engineering technologies to cultivating DNA samples in bioscience.

On June 8, 2011 at Northern Virginia Community College, President Obama announced a major expansion of Skills for America's Future, an industry led initiative to dramatically improve industry partnerships with Community Colleges and build a nation-wide network to maximize workforce development strategies, job training programs and job placement.

The new jobs in this economy are not always at the baccalaureate level; they are at the technical level.

Our educational system, our society and our culture have undervalued vocational training and work.

It is absolutely important for this nation to re-establish educational pathways that recognize competency-based, proficiency of skills training.

Our Community Colleges are the heroes leading the way.

Richard O. Schwab was formerly associate head of school and middle school head, Cincinnati Country Day School. He is also neighborhood team leader, Glendale Organizing for America Community Team (www.gofact.blogspot.com).

David Brooks Yesterday!

A normal Republican Party would seize the opportunity to put a long-term limit on the growth of government. It would seize the opportunity to put the country on a sound fiscal footing. It would seize the opportunity to do these things without putting any real crimp in economic growth.




The party is not being asked to raise marginal tax rates in a way that might pervert incentives. On the contrary, Republicans are merely being asked to close loopholes and eliminate tax expenditures that are themselves distortionary.



This, as I say, is the mother of all no-brainers.



But we can have no confidence that the Republicans will seize this opportunity. That’s because the Republican Party may no longer be a normal party. Over the past few years, it has been infected by a faction that is more of a psychological protest than a practical, governing alternative.



The members of this movement do not accept the logic of compromise, no matter how sweet the terms. If you ask them to raise taxes by an inch in order to cut government by a foot, they will say no. If you ask them to raise taxes by an inch to cut government by a yard, they will still say no.



The members of this movement do not accept the legitimacy of scholars and intellectual authorities. A thousand impartial experts may tell them that a default on the debt would have calamitous effects, far worse than raising tax revenues a bit. But the members of this movement refuse to believe it.



The members of this movement have no sense of moral decency. A nation makes a sacred pledge to pay the money back when it borrows money. But the members of this movement talk blandly of default and are willing to stain their nation’s honor.



The members of this movement have no economic theory worthy of the name. Economists have identified many factors that contribute to economic growth, ranging from the productivity of the work force to the share of private savings that is available for private investment. Tax levels matter, but they are far from the only or even the most important factor.



But to members of this movement, tax levels are everything. Members of this tendency have taken a small piece of economic policy and turned it into a sacred fixation. They are willing to cut education and research to preserve tax expenditures. Manufacturing employment is cratering even as output rises, but members of this movement somehow believe such problems can be addressed so long as they continue to worship their idol.



Over the past week, Democrats have stopped making concessions. They are coming to the conclusion that if the Republicans are fanatics then they better be fanatics, too.



The struggles of the next few weeks are about what sort of party the G.O.P. is — a normal conservative party or an odd protest movement that has separated itself from normal governance, the normal rules of evidence and the ancient habits of our nation.



If the debt ceiling talks fail, independents voters will see that Democrats were willing to compromise but Republicans were not. If responsible Republicans don’t take control, independents will conclude that Republican fanaticism caused this default. They will conclude that Republicans are not fit to govern.



And they will be right.

Richard Schwab Writes

[This article appears in this week's Tri-County Press]

President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner hit the links last weekend for a round of golf. Former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs suggested the two could work out their differences on the course.


Could a game of golf lead to progress on reducing the deficit and long-term debt?

If I had been given the opportunity, I would have suggested creating a foursome by including Senators Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) Warner and Chambliss are co-chairs of “the gang of six” – the group of Senators attempting to craft legislation based on the recommendations of The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. The “gang of six” is being encouraged by policy makers in both parties – recognized as the last, best hope for a comprehensive, bipartisan deficit reduction agreement in the current Congress.

Under the leadership of Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, the President’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform has shown a way forward – based on broad bipartisan support and the principle of shared sacrifice.

The population is aging – which means Social Security and Medicare costs will rise. And, health care costs continue to grow faster than the economy.

We can address these challenges – our obstacles are not economic; they are political.

The Commission’s plan would cut $1.7 trillion in discretionary spending (both defense and non defense) – while investing in education, infrastructure and research and development.

It would cut $600 billion in mandatory spending by reducing health care costs and reforming federal pensions – while protecting programs for the less fortunate.

It would reform the tax code by eliminating tax breaks in order to reduce tax rates – while generating $1 trillion in new revenue.

It would make Social Security solvent for the next 75 years through a combination of progressive changes to the benefit formula, a gradual increase in the retirement age and an increase in the amount of income subject to the payroll tax.

In total, the Fiscal Commission’s recommendations bring annual deficits to manageable levels of 1 percent – 2 percent of GDP and put the debt on a downward path after 2013.

The recommendations prove we can bring the debt under control without hurting the disadvantaged or stifling investment and growth.

So, President Obama, Rep. Boehner, I hope you had a great round of golf!

Your conversation was more important than your scores.

Richard O. Schwab was formerly associate head of school and middle school head, Cincinnati Country Day School. He is also neighborhood team leader, Glendale Organizing for America Community Team (www.gofact.blogspot.com).

Richard Schwab Writes

"Obama's got the wind at his back"


Ever since President Obama announced to the nation that U.S. forces found and
killed Osama bin Laden, the President has been pitch perfect. At ground zero,
the President did not milk the moment of his triumph. He paid silent tribute to
the victims of 9/11 and to the "courage and capability" of the brave Navy SEALs
who carried out the nation's will.

The conflicting stories about the mission resulted from National Security
Advisor Thomas E. Donilon being corrected by CIA Director Leon Panetta. In
addition, it appears that the mission all along, despite assertions to the
contrary, was to kill bin Laden, not capture him. Who cares? This is a side
show, ultimately inconsequential and irrelevant. Bin Laden was a mass killer.
As President Obama said, "The death of bin Laden marks the most significant
achievement to date in our nation's effort to defeat Al Qaeda."

The decision not to release photos was the correct one. We don't parade around
with heads on sticks.

President Obama and his team have led with wisdom and courage.
After months of detailed planning, the decision - "It's a go" was fraught with
peril. Not an easy decision for our Commander in Chief. How fortunate we are to
have such a thoughtful, measured, decisive, and cool center of command. John
Brennan, U.S. Counter-Terrorisom Chief, characterized the mission as, "one of
the...gutsiest calls of any president in recent memory."
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who has served eight Commanders in Chief,
stated, "This was the perfect fusion of intelligence analysis and military
operation... the most courageous call I have ever seen a President make."

From most all accounts, President Obama has
the respect and support of the entire nation for his bold, and triumphant
action.

Historian Douglas Brinkley states, "throughout history there have been pivot
points for presidents, from Truman's Berlin Airlift in 1948 to Bush after
9/11...Americans have always liked Obama, but they never knew whether he was a
real commander in chief. Now they do."

President Obama should leverage the ovation to regain control of the national
conversation and achieve two major goals.

[1] End the Afghan war. Bin Laden was in a suburban mansion in the military
town, Abbottabad, Pakistan not in a cave in Afghanistan.

[2] Bring the Federal budget deficits and overall debt under control by cutting
spending (including the Pentagon,) reforming the tax code, and restructuring
social benefits. On this front, he has reason and mathematics on his side. The
job doesn't get done by cutting spending alone. Add to this the necessity to
invest in education, infrastructure, and energy to insure tomorrow's jobs and a
winning future for America.

President Obama has the platform and a citizenry who are now listening to him.
Can he harness the unity and pride to confront the many challenges we face? His
intellectual rigor is an enormous asset. He has proved he is both tough and
smart. Common sense is on his side too.

Richard O. Schwab was formerly associate head of school and middle school head,
Cincinnati Country Day School. He is also neighborhood team leader, Glendale
Organizing For America Community Team (www.gofact.blogspot.com).
Richard O. Schwab

Richard Schwab's Article Gets Prominent Placement This Week

Check out the Tri-County Press back page of section one, in your driveway today (if you live in the Glendale area).  Or search this GOFACT site for the word "Tea Party" or other likely words, for the entire article.

The article's impact is more factual than opinion, and leads to the conclusion that Mayor Hubbard believes the Tea Party violated the terms of Glendale's permission as to where to hold their April 15th gathering, whereby they invited the entire county and afterwards claimed that 300-plus attended.

Richard Schwab Writes -- Soverign Citizens and the Tea Party

"Sovereign Citizens' threat to cops and country"


A shocking show. Sovereign Citizens, an increasingly concerning segment of the population for law enforcement, were the subject of a segment on CBS' May 15 "60 Minutes."

The segment featured an interview with West Memphis Chief of Police Bob Paudert, whose son, Brandon was killed, with fellow Officer Bill Evans during a traffic stop, by Sovereign Citizen Jerry Kane and his son, Joe.

Sovereign Citizens are anti-government extremists who don't pay taxes, ignore requirements like Social Security cards and driver licenses, and have no regard for the police or courts.

The FBI lists them as a top domestic terror threat. With a sluggish economy and the mortgage crisis, their ranks are growing. An estimated 300,000 consider themselves Sovereign.

In the simplest form, Sovereign Citizens believe they are above the law.

They are angry with authority and want to be free of legal restraints.

Sovereign Citizens believe the government has moved away from the fundamental principles on which this nation was built. They are motivated to re establish the limits of limited government. To re establish these limits, they have resorted to extreme violence targeted at police and judges.

Alfred Adask, Sovereign Citizen "guru" states, "We have a right to keep and bear arms to shoot our own politicians...to shoot police, Members of Congress, Senators... the President."

Sovereign Citizens believe in the illegitimacy of the Constitution's 14th Amendment - where the government justifies restrictions on individual liberty in the name of national security. There has been serious talk lately in some states , most notably Arizona, that suggests a desire to repeal the 14th Amendment. On this issue, it appears the Sovereign Citizens and members of the right-wing share common ground.

According to those who pay attention to writings on social networks where the Tea Party hangs out, you will see quite a few so called TP activists talking about the government being unconstitutional, taxes are evil, laws don't apply to them, people are sovereign, etc. And, this is coming from people identified as Sovereign Citizens who have infiltrated the Tea Party to push their agenda and recruit. To see the Tea Party and Sovereign Citizens blur together check out http://donmashakshennepincountymnfreepress.blogspot.com/2009/06/sovereign-citizens-as-our-founding.html

According to a Center internationally known for fighting hate, teaching tolerance, seeking justice, and monitoring the activities of extremist hate groups, the Tea Party is actually helping to strengthen the white supremacist movement in America, and has helped to re energized some specific hate groups that were on the verge of extinction.

What do you get when you mix libertarianism with right-wing extremism, all juiced up with the populism of the Tea Party movement? Well, one of the outcomes is the rise of the Sovereign Citizens.

As things stand in the country today, on a political spectrum, Sovereign Citizen adherents are only a few steps farther to the right than the Tea Party movement itself.

Richard O. Schwab was formerly associate head of school and middle school head, Cincinnati Country Day School. He is also neighborhood team leader, Glendale Organizing For America Community Team (www.gofact.blogspot.com)

Democrat Captures House Seat in Special Election in Upstate NY!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/25/nyregion/democrat-capture-house-seat-in-special-election.html?hp


Democrats scored an upset in one of New York’s most conservative Congressional districts on Tuesday, dealing a blow to the national Republican Party in a race that largely turned on the party’s plan to overhaul Medicare.


Brendan Bannon for The New York Times

Jane Corwin, the Republican candidate, delivered her concession speech at her campaign headquarters after losing Tuesday's special election.

The results set off elation among Democrats and soul-searching among Republicans, who questioned whether they should rethink their party’s commitment to the Medicare plan, which appears to have become a liability heading into the 2012 elections.

Two months ago, the Democrat, Kathy Hochul, was considered an all-but-certain loser in the race against the Republican, Jane Corwin. But Ms. Hochul seized on the Republican’s embrace of the proposal from Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, to overhaul Medicare, and she never let up.

On Tuesday, she captured 47 percent of the vote to Ms. Corwin’s 43 percent, according to unofficial results. A Tea Party candidate, Jack Davis, had 9 percent.

Voters, who turned out in strikingly large numbers for a special election, said they trusted Ms. Hochul, the county clerk of Erie County, to protect Medicare.

“I have almost always voted the party line,” said Gloria Bolender, a Republican from Clarence who is caring for her 80-year-old mother. “This is the second time in my life I’ve voted against my party.”

Pat Gillick, a Republican from East Amherst, who also cast a ballot for Ms. Hochul, said, “The privatization of Medicare scares me.”

The district, which stretches from Buffalo to Rochester, has been in Republican hands for four decades, producing influential figures like Representative Jack Kemp and siding with Carl P. Paladino, a Republican, over Andrew M. Cuomo in the governor’s race last year.

The campaign drew intense interest, with both major parties in Washington and their allies flooding the district with radio and television advertising. Total spending exceeded $6 million.

Of course, there are limits to how much broader meaning can be extrapolated from a special election, which can be shaped by local dynamics and personalities.

Still, on Tuesday, Republicans were examining the results and debating how the party lost the seat, despite outspending the Democrats.

Some Republicans suggested that it would be oversimplifying to attribute the results to a single issue, saying that Ms. Corwin proved a less nimble and ultimately less appealing candidate than Ms. Hochul, who campaigned energetically and with great focus. When Medicare erupted in the race, Ms. Corwin, a wealthy former Wall Street analyst, was knocked off balance and struggled to respond.

In the closing hours of the race, Ms. Corwin admitted as much, saying about her rival’s attacks: “When she started making these comments, I thought, ‘This is so outrageous no one would ever believe it.’ Apparently some people did.”

Others cited the presence of the third candidate, Mr. Davis, who ran on the Tea Party line after failing to win the Republican nomination. He not only drew conservative support away from Ms. Corwin, but also turned his aggressive attacks on her in the end, contributing to her high negative numbers.

On the other hand, Ms. Hochul maintained a positive image conveying a homespun quality, speaking with a Buffalo accent, connecting naturally with voters.

In her victory speech Tuesday night, she noted that her mother and father, who have retired to Florida, were making phone calls to voters on her behalf for months.

“I was talking to voters as far away as Dansville, and they said, ‘You know, I was talking to your mother,’ ” she said. “And I know that you don’t say no to my mother.”

Party luminaries like former President Bill Clinton recorded phone calls for Ms. Hochul’s campaign, and on Tuesday evening Ms. Hochul was fielding congratulatory messages from Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and others.

As the clerk of Erie County, she oversees the automobile bureau, which issue driver’s licenses; Ms. Hochul gained prominence in 2008 when she challenged former Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s plan to issue licenses to illegal immigrants.

“I remember when she was in the auto bureau in Buffalo, she did a lot with the license plates,” said Jim Van Wagner, a Republican and former auto worker from Albion, adding, “She’s a good one.”

Still, given the makeup of the district, one of four in the state that John McCain carried in 2008, Republicans said they needed to understand if they had misread the public.

(more on NYT page)

Paul Breidenbach Writes

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/letters/2011/05/14/tea-party-should-focus-on-finding-solutions/#comments

Richard Schwab Writes

This in the Community Press:

"The 'gang of six' is dedicated to progress over partisanship"


The big lie: too much government spending caused the great recession and cutting spending alone will get us out of our fiscal mess.

As a nation we need to be firmly committed to long-term debt reduction, but we need to rein it in responsibly.

The good news is the "gang of six" in the U.S. Senate say they are nearing consensus on a big debt-reduction package. The heroes are Democrat Mark Warner (Virginia) and Republican Saxby Chambliss (Georgia.) They are joined by four Senate veterans of the President's bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. Democrats Dick Durbin (Illinois,) Kent Conrad (North Dakota) and Republicans Mike Crapo (Idaho,) Tom Coburn (Oklahoma) have the courage to exhibit bipartisanship.

This is a sign of the strength of the center at a time when we are so distracted by the angry rants and political car crashes of extremists. The "gang of six" is helping us focus on constructive conversation and solutions.

In recent weeks, we've seen heated debates in Congress over cuts to domestic discretionary spending (12% of the total budget) with government shut downs looming. This is a most difficult and counter productive approach since it doesn't get the job done, is harmful to the truly disadvantaged, and risks disrupting the fragile economic recovery. Bending the long-term cost curve with entitlement and tax reform would do far more to reduce the deficit and debt.

Martin Feldstein, Ronald Reagan's former Chief Economic Advisor, stated, "If you want to cut wasteful spending in the federal budget, the first place to go is to cut all the subsidies that are delivered through the tax code." There are 1 trillion a year of tax breaks in the code - that's more than Medicare and Medicaid cost combined.

Most politicians act like they would rather fear-monger and point fingers. That's why it is a very good sign six Senators are acting like adults and are preparing to put the principles of the President's bipartisan Deficit Commission into legislative language.

The Preamble of the final report of the Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform states, "Throughout our nation’s history, Americans have found the courage to do right by our children’s future. Deep down, every American knows we face a moment of truth once again. We cannot play games or put off hard choices any longer. Without regard to party, we have a patriotic duty to keep the promise of America to give our children and grandchildren a better life.

Our challenge is clear and inescapable: America cannot be great if we go broke...The American people are counting on us to put politics aside, pull together not pull apart, and agree on a plan to live within our means and make America strong for the long haul...

The problem is real. The solution will be painful. There is no easy way out. Everything must be on the table...

Over the course of our deliberations, the urgency of our mission has become all the more."

Richard O. Schwab was formerly associate head and middle school head, Cincinnati Country Day School. He is also neighborhood team leader, Glendale Organizing For America Community Team (www.gofact.blogspot .com) Richard O. Schwab

"The King's Speech" Reveals Tea Party Violated Agreement

Glendale resident Marilyn Wall addressed the Glendale Village Council at its May 2 meeting. She said, “The Glendale Tea Party’s request for permission to hold an April 15 rally in the Village Square was initially turned down by the mayor (reported in the March 17 minutes of the Glendale Village Council’s Finance Committee.)


Richard Schwab • Community Press guest columnist

Marilyn asked, “Why was this decision reversed?”

The following is a transcription of the cable broadcast of the mayor’s response. Glendale resident Kristina Strom produced the transcript. She indicated, “I made no changes in terms of syntax; just eliminated ‘ums’ and ‘ahs’ and that sort of thing.”

Mayor Joe Hubbard: “I will make a very quick response to that. We do not deny the village facilities to residents of the village. They requested that the square be closed. I refused to allow the square to be closed because of the businesses. It’s a busy night for the businesses in Glendale at that time and their request was denied. We came to a compromise where the residents, or the participants, were to be in front of the bank (ed note: bank is off the square toward Sharon) – they talked to the bank and got approved – and in the parking lot next to the running shop. (ed note: running shop faces Sharon and is also not on the square).

“When they set the stage up, they set it up facing a different direction (ed note: they set it up in front of the administration building on the square and facing out on the square) than what was anticipated, but it was up and they couldn’t have, they couldn’t change it fast enough to have it that night. They were allowed to have some people on the square and we kept police there to keep the traffic open. And that’s … I don’t have anything more to add than that. There were no meetings, and no votes. It was my decision, my decision alone. I worked with the police chief to keep the square open. If other, if other, if the Democratic Party wanted to have something in the square we would do it the same way we did on this one.

“We don’t, we will not shut down the square for traffic during those times, but we’re not gonna deny the facilities of the village to the residents. Now we would have much preferred it be in a park because that’s less obtrusive to the village, but that wasn’t to be the particular case. That’s all I have to offer, and that’s it.”

Marilyn indicated that she had provided an information request in her packet. Mayor Hubbard replied, “There isn’t much. We have, we have a few emails, and that’s about it.” Papers were shuffled about and conversation ensued until the information request was identified. One council member injected, “Maybe this is something the solicitor should look at first?” Mayor Hubbard disagreed, “She has a right to ask for public records, and that’s OK. We’ll do that.”

The mayor of Glendale has stated that the Tea Party violated the terms of its agreement and possibly the law.

This is a very special legal area dealing with free speech and assembly.

The mayor’s so-called ground rules – implicitly shoe-horning 300 to 500 individuals into the parking lot by the shoe store – are preposterous, calling for a Friday night spilling out into the state road of Sharon Road!

What if Glendale had a theater that seated 100 and the Tea Party wanted to pack it with 10,000 people? That would be criminal.

This all comes about (in part) because Glendale has become a destination Square.

In a strong-mayor system we can so easily be “had” by unwritten weasel-wording.

Richard O. Schwab was formerly associate head of school and middle school head, Cincinnati Country Day School. He is also team leader, Glendale Organizing For America Community Team (www.gofact.blogspot.com).

Paul Breidenbach Comments on Richard Schwab's Editorial

Tea party should focus on finding solutions

8:56 am, May 14, 2011
Written by Letters Editor
91Comments

In response to my friends and neighbors Dan Regenold, Mike Burnham and Bob Galbraith, who organized the Tea Party Meeting on the Glendale Square on April 15: Freedom of speech is one of the things that makes America great, but do we really want the square turned into a staging ground for political campaigns and demonstrations? The Tea Party’s folksy simplistic economic views have already taken over the Republican Party and Fox News, so expressing them on the square doesn’t add much to the public discourse. And the basic idea that citizens are self-sufficient individuals with no mutual obligations and no need for a federal government is bizarrely out of place in a small village, on a square recently renovated with federal stimulus dollars, in front of a building with a plaque proclaiming that it was built with estate tax money. It would not be difficult to fill the square with teachers and other public employees who could point out the incongruity of GE paying no income tax while the local school district lays off teachers, or of a governor imposing austerity after leaving his job with Lehman Bros., a firm that helped wreck the economy. We have the freedom to do that, but our energies might be better spent finding solutions that benefit us all, not just the “successful” among us.



Paul Breidenbach

Glendale

Richard Schwab Writes to Community Press About Shenanigans on Glendale Village Square

"Shenanigans on the Glendale Village Square"



On April 15, talk of guns and dirt bags raged in the center of Glendale. The Village Square was used as a venue to promote the Tea Party and a former and most likely future political candidate, Mike Wilson. How inappropriate.

The March 17 minutes of The Glendale Village Council's Finance Committee reported, " The Glendale Tea Party requested permission to hold a rally in the village square and was turned down by the Mayor with a suggestion they consider a park instead; the Tea Party wants to serve liquor and would require a license and security."

At the April 4 Council meeting, no Finance Committee report was given and not a word was said about the April 15 rally.

The Cincinnati Tea Party website was avidly promoting the Glendale Square rally . The Village was mum.

On April 11, a postcard from the Tea Party was mailed to all the residents of Glendale announcing the April 15 rally and promoting "Glendale Merchant Tax Free Day."

Hamilton County Commissioner, Todd Portune was asked, "The April 15 event seems to imply Glendale businesses aren't paying their County sales tax on April 15... Most likely they are paying, just discounting their own price. Sort of a sham. Any problem with this?"

Todd Portune replied,

"I think your assumption is correct. So long as they actually do pay, it's ok. Besides they would love nothing better than for us to do something about it. Better left alone I think."

At the event, two members of the Glendale Village Council served as "celebrity wine and beer pourers." There was a couple carrying a sign saying "Obama is a SOCIALIST and TRAITOR." Radio shock host Doc Thompson called U.S. Representative Steny Hoyer a "dirt bag." Mike Wilson followed labeling Democrats as "dirt bags." Glendale resident, Paul Breidenbach responded, " I don't want to over dramatize, but that kind of language over a microphone reminds me of radio campaigns of de-humanization that got the Rwandan Hutu population ready to kill their neighbors. And that speech came twenty minutes after the guitarist, who opened the entertainment, crooned a song telling the crowd it was time to get a gun."

A Village official, when asked about the rally, stated, "The Village is not a sponsor and did not agree to shut down the Square."

True, the Village did not promote the event and the Square remained open, but the Village has obviously been a facilitator in support of this political rally. To me, the terms complicity and collusion aptly describe the Village role in the April 15 event.

There is so much wrong with all of this.

We have a right to imagine a Glendale much finer.



Richard O. Schwab was formerly associate head of school and middle school head, Cincinnati Country Day School. He is also neighborhood team leader, Glendale Organizing For America Community Team (www.gofact.blogspot.com) He lives in Glendale.

From Richard O. Schwab

"Crude Facts -Demand grows,

production slows"

Crude oil is traded on a world market. The U.S. leads the world's global oil demand followed by China, Japan, and India. (The average American consumes about ten times as much oil as the average Chinese.) The cost of oil will rise as global demand increases. Higher prices will benefit the "petro-states" whether the U.S. is buying from them or not. The U.S. doesn't buy Iranian oil but a $1 increase in oil prices provides the Iranian government an additional $1.5 billion annually.

The International Energy Agency notes the, "U.S. remains vulnerable to Middle East oil disruptions though U.S. dependence on Middle East oil has fallen sharply...but since oil is a global market, the relevant measure for that vulnerability is not the U.S. dependence but world dependence on Middle East oil - and that has not shrunk."

The U.S. produces approximately 8 million barrels of oil per day (10% of the world's daily crude oil production.) The U.S. consumes approximately 20 million barrels of oil daily. The U.S. represents 4.5 % of the world's population yet consumes 25% of the world's oil per day.

Most are surprised to learn that the country from which the U.S. imports the greatest amount of oil is Canada followed by Mexico and Saudi Arabia. (It has been estimated Mexico's primary oil reserves will be depleted by 2019.) Other countries from which the U.S. imports oil (in descending order of amount) include: Nigeria, Venezuela, Iraq, Angola, Brazil, Algeria, Columbia, Ecuador, Russia, Virgin Islands, Kuwait, United Kingdom, and Argentina.

The bulk of proven remaining oil reserves are located in the Middle East. The amount of oil in the Middle East far outstrips what is available anywhere else on earth. The U.S. has only 2% of the world's oil reserves.

Oil is a limited resource. The U.S needs to prepare for a coming oil price crunch caused by increasing global demand and decreasing global production. The U.S. cannot produce its way out of the supply-demand gap. "Drill, baby, drill" is misguided and futile. And, our allies cannot fill this supply gap.

The safest, least expensive, and fastest path to energy security is to implement oil saving measures.

To reduce our oil dependence we should focus on transportation since 70% of our oil use is for transportation.

We should:

• Continue to make vehicles significantly more fuel efficient. (China's fuel economy standards are more efficient than those in the U.S.)

• Aggressively develop electric and plug in hybrid vehicles.

• Develop cleaner, alternative non-oil based fuels.

• Invest in public transportation to provide practical, accessible, economical alternatives to driving.

Richard O. Schwab

was formerly associate head of school and middle school head, Cincinnati Country Day School. He is also neighborhood team leader, Glendale Organizing For America Community Team (www.gofact.blogspot.com) He lives in Glendale.

Krugman Today

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/11/opinion/11krugman.html?_r=1&hp

Dowd -- Also Important

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/10/opinion/10dowd.html?hp

Kristoff -- Must Read

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/10/opinion/10kristof.html?_r=1&src=ISMR_HP_LO_MST_FB

Not the Beginning of the End. This is the End.

This is not the beginning of the end for the international community in Afghanistan. This is the end.

Freedom to Inflame


By PETER CATAPANO



The Thread is an in-depth look at how major news and controversies are being debated across the online spectrum.

Tags:

freedom of speech, Islam, Koran, religion


Don’t encourage him by paying attention. Just ignore him.

It’s what your elders told you about the class clown, or the needy, attention-seeking neighborhood kid fond of pranks, or maybe worse, and it’s what might have wisely been said about the theatrics of the pastor Terry Jones, who on March 20 made good on his plans to stage a public burning of a copy of the Koran. Jones, who is head of the World Dove Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla., had originally intended to conduct this ritual on Sept. 11, 2010, but was talked down at the time by important people like President Obama, Gen. David E. Petraeus and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Despite some initial media reports about the burning, most seemed to follow that advice: just ignore him. But that strategy soon failed: news of the event soon spread and within a few days trouble began in Afghanistan and Pakistan (detailed by Robert Mackey at The Lede). Notably, President Hamid Karzai, to the dismay of many, added fuel to the fire by publicly denouncing Jones, as did several mullahs during last Friday’s prayers, sparking a series of violent and deadly protests against the pastor and his actions. The initial outburst and the murders of United Nations staff in Mazar-i-Sharif were reported in The Times on April 1:


MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan — Stirred up by three angry mullahs who urged them to avenge the burning of a Koran at a Florida church, thousands of protesters on Friday overran the compound of the United Nations in this northern Afghan city, killing at least 12 people, Afghan and United Nations officials said.

The dead included at least seven United Nations workers — four Nepalese guards and three Europeans from Romania, Sweden and Norway — according to United Nations officials in New York. One was a woman. Early reports, later denied by Afghan officials, said that at least two of the dead had been beheaded. Five Afghans were also killed.

More violence erupted in Kandahar and elsewhere in the following days, and protests continued through today.

This video posted online by Tolo TV, an Afghan television station, reportedly shows the scene on April 1 after Friday prayers in Mazar-i-Sharif, and protesters storming the U.N. compound:

Almost immediately, Una Moore, an aid worker writing from Kabul at U.N. Dispatch, sounded the alarm about the meaning of such an attack for the broader mission in Afghanistan.

Kabul, Afghanistan — Foreigners have been killed in Afghanistan before, and today’s attack was not the first fatal attack on UN staff. But it was different than previous fatal attacks. Very different. The killers were ordinary residents of a city deemed peaceful enough to be one of the first places transferred to the control of Afghan security forces. The men who broke into the UN compound, set fires and killed eight people weren’t Taliban, or henchmen of a brutal warlord, or members of a criminal gang. They weren’t even armed when the protests began — they took weapons from the UN guards who were their first victims.

Foreigners committed to assisting in the rebuilding of Afghanistan have long accepted the possibility that they might die at the hands of warring parties, but this degree of violence from ordinary citizens is not something most of us factored into our decision to work here. …

This is not the beginning of the end for the international community in Afghanistan. This is the end. Terry Jones and others will continue to pull anti-Islam stunts and opportunistic extremists here will use those actions to incite attacks against foreigners. Unless we, the internationals, want our guards to fire on unarmed protesters from now on, the day has come for us to leave Afghanistan.


Joel Hafvenstein at Registan, though, did not see the attacks as heralding the end of aid groups in the region:

I don’t think they fit a pattern of growing violent rejection of all aid work in Afghanistan, let alone a shift toward insurgent targeting of aid agencies. Yes, foreigners in Afghanistan will always be vulnerable to violence incited by extremists both Afghan and Western; foreigners working for agencies with a political mandate will be even more vulnerable. And yes, Afghan disillusionment with aid work is widespread. It’s not seen as “the solution,” because there’s now an ingrained expectation that most of it will be lost to corruption and expensive foreigners. At the same time, humanitarian aid workers and organisations who focus on delivering assistance at community level — rather than trying to contribute to a politically charged campaign of national stabilization — are still able to operate in most areas of Afghanistan at acceptable levels of risk, even without armed protection. They’re still saving lives, and I definitely don’t think the day has come for them to leave.

Back at home, of course, blame for the events — aimed at Jones, Karzai and of course the mobs themselves — came from every direction. But even more hackles were raised after Gen. David Petraeus condemned the Koran burning and members of Congress started discussing the matter — in particular, on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” where Sen. Harry Reid admitted the possibility of a congressional investigation into Jones’s actions and Sen. Lindsey Graham alluded to the First Amendment. Graham said: “I wish we could find some way to hold people accountable. During WWII, you had limits on what you could say if it would inspire the enemy. Free speech is a great idea, but we are in a war. Any time in America we can push back against actions like this that put our troops at risk, we ought to do that.”

Richard Schwab Writes

The following is my Letter To The Editor, "Happy birthday health care reform law" which appeared in yesterday's 3/30/11 Tri-County Press.


------Original Message------

From: Richard Schwab

To: tricountypress@communitypress.com

ReplyTo: Richard Schwab

Subject: Letter To The Editor

Sent: Mar 24, 2011 12:06 PM



The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act just celebrated its first birthday. There is still much to learn and understand about the benefits of the health care law (particularly since there has been so much misinformation launched against this significant health insurance reform legislation.)



The website http://www.healthcare.gov/  is an extraordinary resource for understanding and accessing the facts about the health care law.



The law demands transparency and accountability from the health insurance industry. For instance, new rules require insurers to pay out 80% - 85% of premium dollars on actual health care.



Young adults can now stay on their parents' plans until age 26.



The law provides a Patient's Bill of Rights for all Americans. Among other provisions, the Bill of Rights prevents some of the worst abuses of health insurance companies including cancelling coverage because you have a serious illness.



Children are now protected from being turned away by insurers because of a pre existing condition.



Seniors enrolled in Medicare receive prescription drug discounts and now can receive preventive care (i.e. mammograms, colonoscopies) for free.



Due to tax credits, the number of small businesses offering health insurance coverage is on the increase.



Individuals and small businesses historically have had to pay significantly more for health insurance than big businesses (which use their size to negotiate lower premiums.) In 2014, individuals and small businesses will be able to obtain lower rates by pooling their purchasing power through new state-based health insurance exchanges.



For more information about current and future benefits visit http://www.healthcare.gov/



Richard O. Schwab

Glendale

Tracie!

TRACIE HUNTER!!!!!




Article Title: GOP loses bid to block Juvenile Court vote counting



To view the contents on www.cincinnati.com, go to:

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201103291840/NEWS01/10

3300330

Richard Schwab Writes

"Let's Not Blur Deficit Reduction Into Social Warfare"


U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (whom I greatly respect and admire) has "got it right." He wants to include tax reform in the federal budget deficit debate. He points to the lessons learned from the 1990s when President Clinton balanced the budget with a plan that didn't just cut domestic discretionary spending (currently only 12% of the total budget,) but also tackled mandatory spending and reform to the tax code. Senator Schumer is promoting a similar strategy for any deal struck on a continuing resolution for the rest of this fiscal year.

Schumer is critical of the House Republicans' current approach for focusing so narrowly on domestic discretionary spending. He argues this approach is harmful to economic growth and does not meaningfully reduce the deficit and much less the debt. I would add that this narrow focus on domestic discretionary spending unnecessarily puts at risk education, health, and critical social safety net programs.

It appears conservative lawmakers and activists want to use the budget process to force action on their politically volatile social issue policy goals. Choking off funding for Planned Parent Hood, defunding the new health care/insurance reform law, overturning environmental, financial, consumer protection regulations, and defunding Public Broadcasting and National Public Radio are just a few of the targets.

A side bar: The scale of the cost of Public Broadcasting is minuscule in the context of the deficit as a whole. Yet the value of Public Broadcasting to our nation is monumental. Public Broadcasting received $430 million in federal funding for 2011 and $445 million for 2012, and the most recent Obama budget bumps funding slightly to $451 million. These funds represent an unrecognizable, tiny drop in the nation's deficit bucket. The effort to eliminate funding for Public Broadcasting has more to do with a Culture War than debt reduction.

I stand with Senator Charles Shumer and the White House in a call to "broaden the playing field" when it comes to deficit and debt reduction.

Richard O. Schwab was formerly associate head of school and middle school head, Cincinnati Country Day School. He is also neighborhood team leader, Glendale Organizing For America Community Team (www.gofact.blogspot.com) He lives in Glendale.

Richard O. Schwab
830 Congress Ave.
Glendale, Ohio 45246
H.513-771-4397
M.513-470-4599

From Richard O. Schwab -- Worth Reading

Put Entitlements, Defense, And Taxes On The Table


In President Obama's recent State Of The Union Address, he talked about winning the future by out-educating, out-innovating, and out-building the rest of the world. He also talked about taking responsibility for the nation's deficit and long-term debt because we can't win the future if we pass on a mountain of debt to tomorrow's American generations.

The President's proposed budget for 2012 follows up on The State Of The Union Address by eliminating wasteful spending, cutting programs that aren't working, making tough choices, and targeting necessary and responsible investments in our future. The budget invests in innovation for jobs and industries of the future. It invests in roads, bridges, rail, and high-speed internet to help American business ship and connect to the world. And, the budget invests in education so America's students are prepared for the 21st Century. (See http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget.)

Erskine Bowles (D) and Alan Simpson (R) co-chairs of The National (bipartisan) Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform write in "The Hill" that President Obama's budget "takes some important steps toward putting this country on a more sustainable path."

President Obama's proposed 2012 budget tightens the belt on discretionary spending which represents a mere 12% of the overall budget. In reality, cuts to discretionary spending are irrelevant to truly solving the nation's structural long-term debt.

Erskine Bowles, Alan Simpson, and President Obama are in accord. They understand that making cuts to the discretionary portion of the budget, though important and stabilizing, alone will not eliminate the long-term debt. There is only one way to get that job done. Put on the table medicare, medicade, social security, defense spending, and tax reform. The Bowles-Simpson Commission Report addresses these 5 big debt drivers and most importantly recommends ways to stabilize and safeguard medicare, medicade, and social security for the future.

(See http://www.fiscalcommission.gov/.)

To eliminate the long-term debt will require our nation's legislators to be courageous, do what's right, cease the campaigning, make some tough political choices, and share in the sacrifice. Hopefully President Obama will find enough adults in the room to help him get the job done.

Richard O. Schwab was formerly associate head of school and middle school head, Cincinnati Country Day School. He is also neighborhood team leader, Glendale Organizing For America Community Team (GOFACT.) He lives in Glendale.

Richard O. Schwab

830 Congress Ave.

Glendale, Ohio 45246

H.513-771-4397

Oh Oh -- Read This Important Piece

It's Baghdad, not Madison, Paul Krugman says:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/25/opinion/25krugman.html?src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB

Stan Chesley

(c) 2011 F. Bruce Abel

There are two huge stories in my lifetime eminating from Cincinnati impacting my interests and crossing my practice: the law and business. One of them is Stan Chesley and what he accomplished/accomplishes. Being a trial lawyer I am jealous. For large cases there just wasn't anybody else on the plaintiff's side and the world knew it.


But give the man his due! I was discussing the case yesterday with a co-counsel and he said: "I saw him argue in federal court in favor of class action status and without any written legal authority all he did was say, 'Well in Utah I caused the court to do this and in New Jersey [I caused the court] did that.'"

And I said, "Yeah that's the point. When he spoke the judge knew that he was the master of this field and that he could rely on what Stan said."

The man just took the air out of the room for the rest of the plaintiffs' trial bar. So be it. I wish I were he.

And his wife is the best federal judge around.

The other story: Carl Lindner.

Very Important

The Baseline Scenario

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

$1.30 > $1.00

Posted: 11 Feb 2011 11:41 AM PST

By James Kwak

Bruce Bartlett (hat tip Catherine Rampell) reproduces a table from a paper by Suzanne Mettler showing that most people don’t realize that they are beneficiaries of government social programs. For example, 60 percent of people who take the mortgage interest deduction say they “have not used a government social program.” Now, while the mortgage interest deduction is a subsidy designed to enable people buy houses, you could get into an argument about whether it’s really a “social program.” But these are the analogous figures for some more classic welfare programs:



Social Security retirement and survivors’ benefits: 44%

Unemployment insurance: 43%

Medicare: 40%

Social Security Disability Insurance: 29%

Medicaid: 28%

Food stamps: 25%

Obvious it’s easy for people to support lower taxes and lower government spending when they don’t realize they are beneficiaries of that spending. (And the numbers on a per-program basis would certainly be higher. For example, it’s likely that of people who take the mortgage interest deduction, many more than 60 percent don’t think that it’s a government social program; the number is only 60 percent because some of those people realize that other things they receive, like Medicare, are government social programs.)



But there’s another number in Bartlett’s post that I think is more interesting. That’s an estimate by the Tax Foundation that, in 2004, the average middle-quintile household received $16,781 in benefits from the federal government. That same study says that, on average, middle-quintile households get back $1.30 in transfer payments and other government spending for every $1 that they pay in taxes. I didn’t review the study in detail, but this is just common sense, anyway. When you have a progressive tax system and an income distribution with a much longer tail at the high end, you would expect people in the middle to be net beneficiaries of government.



I don’t really think that the point of democracy is for people to simply vote their self-interest. That could lead to all sorts of things, like the tyranny of the majority that Tocqueville warned about. But right now, it would be a distinct improvement if people would vote their self-interest.

Duke Energy Bills

Today my Duke Energy Bill came.  I am conducting a study of the various bills that people receive, in light of deregulation and aggregation.  I would like as many readers as possible to send me a copy of your Duke Energy bill arriving in the month of February.  You can redact name and account number if you want.  Also, tell me weather your municipality is under an aggregation plan or not.

Today's bill for me is very important because it is the first full month under Glendale's aggregation plan for natural gas (I chose to opt out).

You can email your bill to me at babel2@fuse.net, or fax it at 513-772-7991, or mail it to
F. Bruce Abel, 970 Laurel Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45246.

On the right margin you can click on my current Duke Energy bill, page one.  To see the whole three-page bill, go to http://www.natgagu.blogspot.com/.