Welcome to Obamaville

Yesterday, I went to a pizza shop to get my monthly pizza cheat on and I ran across this sign at the fish market next to the pizza joint.




Seriously, the local fish market accepts EBT cards. I guess if you are a liberal, you probably think I'm a cold harded SOB trying to deny poor people their daily salmon. But I don't shop at this place because it's way over priced and their selection isn't much better than your local Kroger's store.

Besides, if you have the capability to head out to your local fish market (by the way, the local butcher is right next door and they accept the EBT as well) for over priced tuna or crab, you're not f$%king poor enough to need an EBT card.

Happy New Year.

No fraud here

So Eric Holder wants to gut voter ID laws because they are discriminatory. Nevermind that it's seems racist to me to assume that African Americans can't perform the most perfunctory of citizen activities. But the claim that these laws are not needed because there's no evidence of wide spread fraud are hilarious.

This week we have New York............

A total of four Democratic officials and political operatives have now pleaded guilty to voter fraud-related felony charges in an alleged scheme to steal a New York election.

The latest guilty pleas expose the ease with which political insiders can apparently manipulate the electoral system and throw an election their way, by the forging of signatures of unsuspecting voters that are then cast as real votes.

"The phrase they use is: 'making sure they vote the right way,'" said a source close to the case, which is unfolding in Troy, N.Y. "It is not a Democratic or Republican thing. ... It is criminal."

Former Troy Democratic City Clerk William McInerney, Democratic Councilman John Brown, and Democratic political operatives Anthony Renna and Anthony DeFiglio have entered guilty pleas in the case, in which numerous signatures were allegedly forged on absentee ballots in the 2009 Working Families Party primary, the political party that was associated with the now-defunct community group, ACORN.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/12/21/officials-plead-guilty-in-new-york-voter-fraud-case/#ixzz1hqWhkSjn

Tea Party Takeover

If you want to know what a Tea Party America might look like, there is no place like Kansas.

In the past year, three state agencies have been abolished and 2,050 jobs have been cut. Funding for schools, social services and the arts have been slashed. The new Republican governor rejected a $31.5 million federal grant for a new health-insurance exchange because he opposes President Obama’s health-care law. And that’s just the small stuff.

A new “Office of the Repealer” has been created to reduce the number of laws and regulations, and the Repealer is canvassing the state for more cut suggestions.

In the upcoming legislative session, Gov. Sam Brownback (R) plans to roll out proposals to change the way schools are funded, taxes are levied and state pensions are administered.

A year after voters vaulted hundreds of tea party candidates to power in Washington and in state capitals, the movement’s goals are being pursued aggressively in states such as Wisconsin, Ohio and Texas.

But in Kansas, as nowhere else in the country, tea party fervor is reshaping government. The same political forces of the Republican Party driving the confrontation over taxes and spending in Washington are now completely in charge in Kansas.

Here's a question for those who are skeptical of tea party influence. Let's say that Kansas stays on this track, will the average standard of living improve or decline in the next 5-10-15 years?

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why you should vote yes on Issue 2

Serious crime in Cincinnati continues to decline, and the number of police officers is dropping - yet taxpayers still pay more for police service.

The city now has 1,032 officers, the lowest number since 2003, according to an Enquirer comparison of staffing, crime and budget data. But the department's budget jumped in the eight years since to $104.4 million this year - a 22 percent increase.

Police officials have reduced civilian ranks and held the top ranks essentially steady, according to data obtained through a public records request. They haven't hired any new officers since 2008.

But costs continue to grow, specifically because of benefits and health care.

Payments to the police pension fund have jumped an average of almost 4 percent every year since 2000, according to the city budget office, and health care costs for all city employees averaged 18.5 percent increases annually in that same time period. Police agreed last year to a wage freeze, but it didn't take effect until this year.

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Why you should vote yes on Ohio Issue 2

It use to be that public employees sacrificed pay and benefits for job security. Now they get it all.........

Since January 1985, the Batavia school board has paid 100 percent of its teachers’ contributions to their retirement.

Contracts approved by Cincinnati City Council include benefits that, among other things, permit many workers to draw 13 sick days a year, grant three weeks’ worth of compensatory time to public safety employees for holidays whether they work them or not, and entitle veteran police officers to nearly 10 weeks of various leaves annually.

In Butler County, sheriff’s deputies can earn a $200 per year physical fitness incentive based on how fast they can run a mile and how many pushups and sit ups they can do. There are different standards based on age and gender.

The public employee contracts in Cincinnati and the counties of Hamilton, Butler, Clermont and Warren, their municipalities and the state are laced with lucrative provisions, all approved by our elected representatives – township trustees, county commissioners, city councils – but seldom found in the private sector.



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Only in government.......

is failure rewarded with more money.........

In the wake of Enquirer reports that Hamilton County's Job and Family Services agency is at the breaking point - with too many cases per worker and woefully out-of-date technology - two commissioners said Monday they want to help the agency.

Commission President Greg Hartmann, a Republican, and Todd Portune, a Democrat, both suggested allowing the agency to dip in a $28 million reserve in the children's services levy. That money has been set aside for an expected penalty for bad bookkeeping decisions a decade ago.

The idea to give JFS a cash infusion comes up 48 hours before Hamilton County commissioners are set to vote on the county's 2012 budget. It's expected to come in at $208.8 million, about the same as this year.

A technology upgrade could cost as much as $750,000 - but it all depends on what equipment is purchased and for how many social workers. Details are still being worked out, Hartmann said.

It will take two votes of the three-man board of commissioners to make the purchase.

Commissioners Chris Monzel was not at Monday's regular staff meeting due to a family medical emergency.

JFS Director Moira Weir, who oversees the children's services division, could not be reached for comment.

The Enquirer revealed the children's service's surplus last week. The agency is asking voters Nov. 8 to renew the levy that pays for the care of abused and neglected children in the county.

All eyes are on the agency right now after the Oct. 21 death of Damarcus Jackson, a 2-year-old who spent nearly his whole life in Hamilton County foster care. A Hamilton County Juvenile Court magistrate in August sent Damarcus to live with his biological parents.

So someone please explain to me how it is that better technology will help people make a decision to move a kid back into an abusive household?

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Why I'm a conservative #99

Because this is just the by product of government handouts...........

Three former Hamilton County workers and 12 of their families and friends have been indicted, accused of participating in a scheme that stole more than $135,000 in public benefits from taxpayers.

“They were using it like a community candy jar and they were all feeding out of it,” Prosecutor Joe Deters said today of the indictments.

It's bad enough that these people were ripping off the government (or we the taxpayers). But this is what I found to be the money quote of this article........

The workers, who were operating their schemes independent of each other without the knowledge of what the others were doing, all resigned in the summer of 2010 after a JFS investigation was launched.

We're not talking about a sophisticated criminal enterprise here. These are three employees (probably illiterates) who were able to pull off these stunts.

It just makes you wonder how much more of this graft is occurring throughout the government.

......like Solyndra.

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Why I'm a conservative

One of he big reasons that I am a conservative/libertarian is that politicians & government cannot prioritize it's basic functions.

This is why I cannot support any tax increase proposed by The One. To him, everything is of equal priority. See for the feds, the FBI is of equal importance as sugar and mohair subsidies. The Department of Education is equally as important as the Defense Department.

And that these stupid ass sound walls the governments have spend gabillions on over the years are just as important as modernizing our bridges..........

But it would be one thing if these graffiti magnets were a one and done project for the Feds. But now we find out that these things are no more than crumbling eyesores...........

Noise walls along area highways are crumbling faster than expected -- and proving costly to replace.

Ohio Department of Transportation officials acknowledge that stretches of the sound barriers have become pitted eyesores, years before reaching a 20-year life expectancy.

A big reason is widespread use of a concrete product approved by ODOT headquarters in Columbus, ODOT officials in this region say. The material has not held up well to Cleveland-area winters, especially where walls rise closest to icy, salted interstates.

ODOT is now spending $5 million a year to repair and replace walls statewide, a spokeswoman said. Cuyahoga County communities have claimed the lion's share of money so far.

"I'm not happy with the original material that we had available and how long it has lasted," said Dale Schiavoni, planning and engineering administrator for ODOT District 12, which includes Cuyahoga County. "We're disappointed we didn't get a longer life out of the concrete walls, especially."

So now we have to spend money to fix the crap we didn't need and didn't work in the first place.

As I told one of my assistants today. I'm not opposed to a tax increase in general but how else, as a public, do we keep the government from blowing more money on meaningless, ineffectual eyesores?

By the way. Ask anyone near these things and they will tell you that more trees would have been a better, more green and more aesthetic alternative.

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Why we need SB 5

Why do we need a better way of controlling the costs of public sector workers?

A new report out yesterday found that Ohio public sector workers are paid 43.4 percent more than those in the private sector, when you thrown in wages, benefits (including retirement), and the value of job security.

The report was conducted by two experts from the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute for the Ohio Business Roundtable. Ohio voters this fall will decide whether to keep or repeal Senate Bill 5, which limits the collective bargaining rights of government workers.

Report highlights:

• Ohio public employees receive nearly the same wages as comparable private workers (2.5 percent less)

• Fringe benefits for Ohio public workers are more than twice as generous as those paid in the private‐sector, meaning that when pay and benefits are taken into consideration public workers receive 31.2 percent more in total compensation than private‐sector counterparts.

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Life in Red State

Despite the fact that tax revenues have dropped for nearly every state in the union, eleven states have been able to produce budget surpluses.

As Washington stares at rising national debt and projected deficits for years to come, many states are faced with the opposite problem: whether to spend their budget surpluses and, if so, on what.

At least a dozen states ended fiscal 2011 with surpluses. Indiana reported one of the largest, with an extra $1.2 billion in its accounts. Gov. Mitch Daniels, a Republican, on Friday authorized bonus payments of up to $1,000 for state employees. An employee who “meets expectations” will get $500, those who “exceed expectations” will receive $750 and “outstanding workers” will see an extra $1,000 in their August paychecks.

“No state anywhere comes close to Indiana’s record of spending tax dollars carefully, with total savings over the last six years in the billions. Your spending efficiency has enabled us to stay in the black even as revenues plummeted,” said Mr. Daniels, who recently flirted with a run for the White House but ultimately stayed out of the race.

While Indiana decided to reward its employees, other states are redirecting surplus funds into cash-strapped areas such as education. Idaho ended the year with an $85 million surplus, the majority of which will be funneled to public schools and colleges, Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter, a Republican, said in a statement last week.

If you had a gun to your head and the wrong answer meant pulling the trigger would you bet that the states with the surpluses were prominently red or blue?

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How to lose your federal job

Quite simply.............. die .............

A new analysis of federal workforce data shows that even in this time of retrenchment and downsizing, the federal government almost never fires or lays off workers. In fact, in many corners of the federal government, it is virtually impossible for an employee to be fired. "Federal employees' job security is so great that workers in many agencies are more likely to die of natural causes than get laid off or fired," writes USA Today, which conducted the survey.

The paper reports the federal government "fired 0.55% of its workers in the budget year that ended September 30." For the private sector, the figure is about 3%. And for some parts of the federal workforce, the firing rate was even lower. For example, USA Today found that federal workers in the Washington, DC area have 99.74% job security. Some agencies, like the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission, did not fire or lay off anyone in the last year.

And the federal government is not only not firing anyone; it's doing plenty of hiring. A look at federal job listings shows that the Internal Revenue Service is looking for a deputy executive director of the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, at a salary of up to $155,500 per year. The Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs is looking for a Gender Issues Advisor, based in Iraq, at up to $155,500 per year. The Agency for International Development is looking for three Democracy Specialists, at up to $136,771 per year. And the Department of Housing and Urban Development is on a hiring spree for Equal Opportunity Specialists, at up to $65,371 per year, with openings in Hartford, Boston, Buffalo, New York City, Newark, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Richmond, Baltimore, Miami, Jacksonville, Atlanta, Louisville, Birmingham, Jackson, Greensboro, Knoxville, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Columbus, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Little Rock, Oklahoma City, Dallas, San Antonio, Albuquerque, Omaha, St. Louis -- the list goes on and on.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/07/debt-talks-continue-feds-are-hiring-and-never-firing#ixzz1SkE5WfAb

Are the working conditions that horrible?

Allegedly, a local union head is accused of stealing money from her members.................

For the past 6½ years, the $9 in union dues withheld from the biweekly paychecks of the roughly 800 members of Cincinnati Organized and Dedicated Employees sent more than $7,000 flowing every other week into the city employees’ union bank account.

At least, that’s what was supposed to happen.

What actually occurred, federal prosecutors alleged Wednesday, is that roughly one of every two dollars that City Hall deposited in CODE’s account eventually ended up in the pocket of its president, Diana Frey.

While I'm never surprised that union heads steal from their members (it's been a Teamster trademark for years), what caught my attention was this............

The sparse financial details listed in the indictment indicate that Frey allegedly took more than half of the biweekly dues paid since 2005 by CODE members, who include middle managers, professionals, technical employees and nurses.

Seriously? These people need union representation? So does the union negotiate how many coffee pots per employee are permitted? The inside office temperature can only reside between 68-72 degrees? Cube walls must be in excess of four feet?

It seems to me that unions should exist to represent those who cannot negotiate for themselves. But apparently, middle managers for the city need Cesar Chavez to represent them.

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How to create a food desert

Apparently, Michelle Obama is concerned about "food deserts" in our cities........

"We can give people all the information and advice in the world about healthy eating and exercise, but if parents can't buy the food they need to prepare those meals because their only options for groceries are the gas station or the local minimart, then all that is just talk," Mrs Obama said today.

Many US inner cities are "food deserts", or areas where shops selling healthful foods are rare or expensive, and residents, many of them poor, live on cheap processed meals and sugary drinks, which pile on the pounds while providing scant nutritional benefits.

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Now Michelle let me ask you a question.

Let's say I'm looking to start a brand new supermarket inside these "food deserts" because I know that there is a tremendous opportunity there to make some money.

Does a law like this make it more or less likely for me to do that...............

The California Supreme Court revived a Los Angeles ordinance that protects grocery workers, ruling it didn't take over state or federal laws.

The ordinance, passed in 2005, required new owners to hire grocery stores' existing workforces, except managers, for at least 90 days after the ownership transfer before it was rejected by a lower court. It affected stores of at least 15,000 square feet.

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Refuting the refuters

Reader Tim tipped me off to an article refuting the WSJ article on the minimum wage and teen unemployment.

Money Quote

The plunge — which began on Bush’s watch and continued through his “boom” — took place during a period when the minimum wage was $5.15/hour and was not raised until 2007. No explanation for that inconvenient fact. Or the inconvenient fact that the teen employment/population ratio rose after the Sept. 1997 increase in the minimum wage to$5.15 (where it stayed until a decade later, when it went to $5.85).

Let me offer this information.

While the federal minimum wage did not increase until 2007 many states hiked minimum wages in years prior to that. In fact, Ohio's was increased via referendum November, 2006. I'm guessing that well over a third of the states increased the wage prior to Ohio, which might explain the drop prior to the

But just look at the map at the top.

The Blue states are states who follow the national minimum wage law. Green States are states who are higher. Notice how the green states tend to be the more "progressive" of these states.

Does anyone want to bet a lot of money on how the teen unemployment ranks between these states? Buehler? Buehler? Anyone?

Let me know and I'll take your money.

How about funding this "shovel ready" disaster

While the feds have been doling out dollars like free dinner mints for lots of "shovel ready" transportation projects such as 45 mph "high speed" rail and trolley cars, no one can seem to find the money for a 10 billion dollar bridge that runs 160,000 vehicles a day.

As a result, another person lost their life as a result of government non response...........

The body of a man knocked off the Brent Spence Bridge in an early-morning car crash Friday has been recovered.

River crews pulled the body out of the Ohio River just after 4 a.m. Saturday. He was identified as Abdoulaye Yattara, 42. He is originally from Africa, said Covington police Capt. Teal Nally. A records search revealed that Yattara, who police said was married, most recently lived in Westwood

Yattara’s car – a silver Chevrolet Camaro – ran out of gas in the southbound lanes of the Brent Spence Bridge around 6:50 a.m. Friday. He got out of his car to talk to another motorist, Jerry Hargett, a 49-year-old father of five from Delhi Township.

“He tried pushing it for about five feet,” Hargett said. “His flashers weren’t on. I figured I would stop to see if I could help.”

Hargett, a facilities director for the Sisters of Notre Dame in Covington, was on his way to work. He has been labeled the “Good Samaritan Driver.”

Hargett shuns that label.

“I did not do anything special,” he said. “I did what anyone else should do in that situation. I’ve stopped to help people many times. I’ve driven on, too. Don’t know what made me stop this time.”

When Hargett pulled over to help Yattara, he immediately put on his emergency flashing lights. As he spoke with Yattara, a Toyota Sienna crashed into the good Samaritan’s vehicle, a Chevrolet Tahoe. The impact knocked Yattara off the bridge and into the Ohio River.

Of course, on a fully functional bridge this tragedy could have been averted because there would be a place to pull your automobile over.

Unfortunately, those lanes were converted to regular traffic years ago to support the increased traffic load.

So while Mayor Mark Mallory has been spending all his political capital getting funding for a trolley system that won't have 160,000 passengers in its lifetime he could have been lobbying for a replacement to this nightmare across the Ohio.

The Enquirer actually has a nice chronology of the deaths related to the functional obsolescence of this bridge. While not as dramatic as the Minnesota collapse, trust me when I say there will be more than 13 deaths on this bridge before a bunch of bureaucrats decide to actually do something about a "shovel ready " problem.

Unfortunately for Mr Yattara his death will probably be in vain.

Does prison time reduce crime rates?

Thanks reader Tim for the link....

“Crime Keeps on Falling, But Prisons Keep on Filling.” Conservative pundits have been poking fun at that headline ever since it appeared in The New York Times in 1997. For the law-and-order right, it typifies the clueless mind-set of elite liberals. Can they not comprehend that America’s soaring incarceration rate and the historic two-decade drop in crime that began in the mid-1990s might be connected?

The idea sounds straightforward enough: As we have put more people in jail, the violent crime rate has indeed dropped, from 758 victims per 100,000 people in 1991 to 429 in 2009. It’s intuitive to say that putting more murderers and rapists behind bars is the reason why. But on closer inspection, the causal link is far from clear.

In a series of studies published in 2009, the University of Missouri-St. Louis criminol-ogist Richard Rosenfeld and the SUNY-Albany sociologist Steven Messner found that during the last 15 years, states with lower incarceration rates saw bigger drops in crime, on average, than those with lock-’em-up policies. Moreover, the historic increase in the prison population began in the early 1980s, a decade after the crime rate began to rise and a decade before it started to fall. The incarceration rate increased by more than 100 percent in the 1980s, but violent crime still increased that decade, by 22 percent.

If it wasn’t incarceration, what caused the drop? There is no shortage of theories: Scholars have pointed to everything from the legalization of abortion to the prohibition of lead-based paints. Other theories credit America’s aging population (the vast majority of criminals are under 30), President Bill Clinton’s program to put more cops on the street, and either stronger gun control laws or an increase in gun carrying by law-abiding Americans.

The studies behind all these theories claim to produce statistically significant results. Could they all be right?

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It's a better use of federal funs to me.

I woke up this morning and it was raining at my palatial doublewide. Raining again. I belive we've had rain at least 40 days since April 1, so this seems appropriate and frankly a lesser waste of money than reality.......

As record rainfall continues in Cincinnati, city officials are scrambling to reallocate federal funds that were to be used for construction of a streetcar. The funds will be used to build an ark.

The plan to use federal money for a streetcar had come under fire by conservative anti-tax groups. These same groups are generally supportive of the ark building plan. “As long as there is no future burden on the taxpayers,” said anti-public transportation lobbyist Chris Flannery. “Saving our civilization from the destruction of an angry God via an ark may be a good use of this federal transportation money. Of course, we’re also going to have to insist that no union labor be used to build it. Other than that, let’s start lining up two by two.”

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What your tax dollars fund

Oh, you don't pay them directly, but your tax dollars fund teacher's salaries who in turn, fund the OEA who publish this kind of nonsense.........

Of particular interest is the section titled

How to Integrate Social Justice into Math Class

Seriously, are we teaching or indoctrinating kids?

Tis the season

Today is Ohio School District levy day where Ohioans across the state will go to the polls and vote on school levies.

Here are my predictions for today's holiday...........

1) probably 90% of the levies will go down in flames.

2) Despite the fact that Ohio's school funding formula has been ruled unconstitutional three times, liberals across the state will condemn people who vote against the levies.

3) Not one of those liberals who voted for a failed levy will donate a dime of their money to the cause they allegedly believe in.

While I'd like to think of myself as a prophet, it's a tried and true formula.

Why I hate the Ohio Department of Taxation

My interactions with the IRS have always been positive given the issues I've had to address with them. The employees are usually cordial, they'll usually supply you with information when needed and their notices are always detailed which makes solving problems much easier.

That would not be true of any of my interactions with the Ohio Department of Taxation.

Yesterday, one of my clients received a notice that part of her tax refund would be offset from a tax assessment from 1988!

Nevermind, that my client has had refunds prior to this date that the state did not offset. But how is it that it's taken 23 years to notify my client of this issue?

Of course they note the assessment number on the notice so you can call and find out what it's actually for. But how do you dispute something from 23 freakin' years ago?

The amount is relatively small ($193.77 which is probably a $50 tax plus penalty and interest for the past 23 years ).

But this is not an exception but the rule for ODOT. The state makes assessments all the time without notice. If they do send you a notice, it often lacks any detail for what it's about. Would you pay a $50.00 bill site unseen for something you believe you've paid.

In addition, when I've responded to the state on behalf of my clients, they never respond back; even when requested. As a result, you have no idea whether they've accepted your challenge or not to just have a refund snatched up 23 years after the fact.

I personally ran into this same issue. ODJFS filed a lien on my property in 2002 for taxes not paid in 2003. I never knew about it until I needed to refinance my property when the title company picked it up. I called a guy I knew at ODJFS and he told me that he didn't see anything due to ODJFS. My quote was "well there must be something due, ODJFS filed a lien on taxes that weren't even due when they filed the lien. Clearly some clairvoyant must have seen something coming."

So when voters get to vote on supporting public unions this is the kind of bullshit that sits in their crawl. Consider it 23 years of hostility that residents of this state will be able to unleash on the public unions this November.

I'm convinced that ODOT is run by unemployed mobsters and Teamsters from the Youngstown area.

My property is probably in jeopardy now.