Congressman Tim "The Good" Ryan has announced that he will not be running for governor in 2014. He has long been rumored to be looking at jumping in this race. He follows former governor Ted Strickland in removing himself from contention, winnowing the field early. That's a good thing. The sooner we have a candidate, the sooner we can start going after Kasich tooth and nail.

Ryan will stay in Congress to be the polar opposite of the other Ryan, Paul "Zombie-Eyed Granny Starver" Ryan.

Here's the statement Ryan released:

Statement from Congressman Tim Ryan Regarding the Race for Governor

This is the most exciting time in the history of Northeast Ohio and it has become increasingly clear to me that I will be able to do more for the region, state, and country by continuing to serve in the House of Representatives rather than running for governor. For decades, our young people have yearned for more opportunities, and now those opportunities are growing everyday. By continuing to lead that effort from my current position in Congress, together we can continue to build upon those accomplishments.

We have already accomplished much in our region, from the Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron, to the Kent Central Gateway project, to the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute and a new billion dollar steel pipe factory in Youngstown. We have made great progress because of regional cooperation including Tech Belt, a vibrant 21st century mega-region that stretches from Cleveland and Akron over to Youngstown and Pittsburgh. Our region's success has been recognized as a model by national and international publications, as well as the President of the United States in his State of the Union.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/news/breaking-news/portman-supports-...

This is a bit of a bombshell. There are probably teabaggers gnashing their teeth right now and muttering threats to primary him under their breath.

But it demonstrates what a different it can make when people come out to their friends, family and neighbors — if they can. Making family aware that someone they love and want to have a good life is gay can open eyes and minds, if that person is willing to be changed. Obviously, Rob Portman was a big enough person to look at his son and think "Why shouldn't he have the same options as anyone else?"

Unfortunately, it isn't always like this. I recall the case of Alan Keyes' daughter, who took a semester off to work for her radical conservative father when he was the GOP candidate for U.S. Senate in Illinois in 2004. When she came out after the election (after her dad had taken a historical shellacking from someone named Barack Obama), he threw her out and refused to continue paying for her college.

Clearly, Portman is a bigger — and saner — person than Keyes.

I guess pretty much all of us.

It's been nothing but a 100-car off-the-rails catastrophe almost from the beginning. The questionable funding, stolen from the Ohio State Liquor Commission. The questions about the eligibility of Governor Kasich's handpicked crony Mark Kvamme to head it up — and questions about his conflicts of interest and his qualifications to do so. The questions about its very constitutionality. Questions questions questions. Not many answers answers answers.

Not just no answers, it appears, but deliberate attempts to keep from the public what is being done with its own tax money.

Now the governor is trying to keep JobsOhio's financial records a secret even from the Republican state auditor Dave Yost, whose job is to make sure tax money is being deployed appropriately. He's had to subpoena the records. Kasich, of course, is acting like subpoenas don't apply to him. Same old story.

Of course, Kasich has already started his bid for reelection by boasting about all the job creation Ohio has seen, thanks to JobsOhio, which is hilarious considering JobsOhio isn't actually functioning yet.

What's kind of pissing me off though is that — Yost aside — Republican elected officials and the state's rightwing media — aren't making a bigger clamor about this. Republicans are always screaming about spending and "waste." And who else thinks that if this were Ted Strickland doing this there would be outraged headlines day after day on the front page of every daily, not just prissy little editorials suggesting politely that the governor ought to let some sunshine in?

And probably no spin like this from Columbus TV station FOX 28:

COLUMBUS — The showdown with JobsOhio is not over as Democratic lawmakers continue to fire shots at Governor John Kasich and what they say is a lack of accountability in the program.

This really doesn't give me much faith than anything good is going to happen for Ohio's schoolchildren:

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/state_edwatch/2013/03/ohios_new_education...

The new Ohio Superintendent of Public Instruction will be Richard Ross, who is currently serving as the education adviser to GOP Gov. John Kasich, the Associated Press reported March 12. Ross was selected to the post by the state board of education by a 10-6 vote over other candidates that reportedly included former West Virginia superintendent Jorea Marple.

Now here's a big surprise(not):

[He] received support for taking over the job permanently from several of the state board members, 11 of whom are elected by the public and eight of whom are appointed by the governor (one at-large seat is vacant). Not surprisingly, Kasich appointees weighed in heavily for Ross.

As Kasich's education advisor, he was instrumental in developing the governor's reviled school funding plan, which doesn't even begin to address the inequities that the Supreme Court identified 15 years ago when it struck down the current system of school funding.

If that's not bad enough,

[he] has also been involved in implementing a new A-F school grading system in the state, as well as a proposed expansion of the state's private-school voucher program.

Many are skeptical about the former, and the latter is simply a flagrantly inefficient and wrong-headed use of scarce education funds that harms public education as something that serves all children.

Kasich has used every trick in the book to control the state school board and bend it to his very misguided will. Until he is voted out of office, Ohio's students remain at great risk of having the rug pulled out from under them.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/03/12/1193570/-Draft-Sherrod-Brown-fo...

DailyKos blogger Stephen Wolf says,

This diary is about a true, bona-fide progressive stalwart with a knack for running tough campaigns and winning a Republican leaning constituency while being a progressive fighter. This diary is about a liberal hero who remains popular in the nation's most essential swing state of Ohio and won by a larger margin than Barack Obama despite facing an onslaught of $40 million dollars from corporate special interests.

As far as I know, our senior U.S. Senator has no plans to chase the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination. But this blogger at DailyKos thinks he would be an ideal candidate. Naturally some of the commenters disagree. Check it out and see what you think.

I'll bet Josh Mandel already has his eye on the 2016 Republican presidential nomination! Sickening thought.

Wolf concludes his diary,

If Sherrod Brown runs for president I will quit my day job and work day and night to send this great man to the White House. So join me and let's support a true liberal hero for president in 2016.

Sherrod, write that down if you are thinking of running!

Today, once again, there were committee hearings in the U.S. Senate over the confirmation of Ohio's supremely qualified former attorney general Richard Cordray to be head of the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. And once again, the committee vote broke down party lines.

No one is disputing that Rich is the perfect person for this job, and that he has been effective and done good work in the time he's unofficially been head of the CFPB. What Republicans are throwing a tantrum about is that the bureau exists at all and that it is empowered to defend regular citizens against the power plays — the scams, deceptions, and predations — of huge financial institutions and corporations that have all the money, power, information and lawyers on THEIR side. It's a teeny tiny little attempt to balance the scales.

But Republicans don't even want that. They're outraged that people have ANY power against the corporations that they want to become the actual government.

And in an effort to block duly enacted legislation that created the bureau, they are essentially demanding that the legislation be informally repealed by stripping the bureau of any ability to be effective. So they're refusing to confirm anyone to head it.

It's natural for Republicans to be scared of Rich Cordray. He's not on the side of the big special interests who fund them. Since he was elected state treasurer here in Ohio, he's been focused on helping ordinary people, small business people, family farmers, and others not on the radar screen of the people trying to block his nomination.

Such moves are a good thing to keep in mind when you hear some pundit or commentator wringing their hands about the lack of cooperation in Congress, and how what's needed for "both sides" is more bipartisanship and compromise.

http://www.salon.com/2013/03/12/nancy_pelosi_we_need_to_make_our_own_env...

But she says things need to change before that'll happen. Yet things aren't changing because the system is set up to favor men — particularly men of a certain type.

In this interview, posted on Salon, Pelosi says,

If you reduce the role of money in politics and increase the level of civility, you’ll have more women elected to public office, and sooner, and that nothing is more wholesome to the governmental and political process than increased participation of women.

Unfortunately this is a problem for more than women. It's a problem in electing decent people of any gender who are truly concerned about the issues facing their constituents and not merely wealthy special interests.

She says,

We want the people who come into politics and government to be people who have plenty of options in life. They’re respected in their fields, in their homes, in their communities. Why would they subject themselves to negative campaigns and endless fundraising? They have other options.

She calls herself "the most reviled woman in America, based on political ads against me,"
adding "I can take it; I know why I’m here and I know my purpose, and we always say that if you aren’t effective, they don’t go after you. They leave the people who aren’t effective alone."

All you have to do is look at the ads and attacks already being launched in Kentucky against Ashley Judd, who is said to be thinking of running for the U.S. Senate from that state. But she hasn't announced yet or given any indication that she's about to launch her campaign. You know they are worried because they think she can be successful.

Today Cuyahoga County Commission Ed FitzGerald announced that he's jumping into the 2014 race for governor. That's no surprise to anyone; he's been saying publicly for months he's interested in the job. But he's made it official by forming a co-called "exploratory committee," one of the official steps involved in setting up a campaign.

http://www.edfitzgeraldforohio.com/

We hope you will put off whining that he's not well-known enough (of course he isn't at this stage) or that he's not the perfect candidate and you'd prefer someone else until you A. check out his record and positions and B. see who else actually decides to get in the race.

Kasich can be beaten with the right message. Can Ed do it? With our help, I think he can.

It's no secret that so-called "Crisis Pregnancy Centers" exist mainly to stave off abortions by attacking confused and distressed women struggling with unwanted pregnancies with guilt trips, emotional appeals and often blatant misinformation. Often they do a hard sell for adoption as a better alternative.

Now Naral Pro-Choice Ohio has released the results of a year-long study into the activities of Crisis Pregnancy Centers, detailing they ways in which they do and (mostly) don't help women trying to make a decision about their pregnancy.

At a time when a woman's right to determine her own childbearing choices is increasingly under assault, it makes for some interesting reading. You can download the entire report here: http://www.ProChoiceOhio.org/what-is-choice/cpc/reporttext.shtml

A year-long investigation into crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) by NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio Foundation revealed widespread use of medically inaccurate information designed to coerce women from making health care decisions they believe are best for them. The investigation included phone calls with more than 100 CPCs and in-person visits to a randomly selected list of 55.

“What we found was a disturbing pattern of crisis pregnancy center’s willing to mislead women,” said Jaime Miracle, policy director of the Ohio-based organization. “When making a decision about their health women deserve comprehensive, non-judgmental and medically accurate information, so that she can make an informed decision. It’s wrong to mislead anyone seeking medical information.”

They found that such centers lied to women about a link between breast cancer and abortions, and between mental health problems and abortion.

But most disturbingly, they found that one of the centers offered information about or referrals to providers of contraception, other than recommending abstinence or in some cases so-called "natural family planning."

http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/disgraced-ex-congressman-attacks...

"Disgraced Ex-Congressman Attacks John Boehner in New Book"

Oh my.

"Bob Ney, who was imprisoned for his role in the Jack Abramoff scandal, has some scores to settle."

Bob Ney! There's an illustrious Ohio political name we haven't heard in a while. And now he's written a book, oh joy. But this article is so packed with stories of outrageous behavior and venom directed at other Republicans that it almost makes you want to buy the book even BEFORE it's marked down to a dollar, like Sarah Palin's.

I mean, how could you resist this:

He describes Boehner as “a bit lazy” and “a man who was all about winning and money. He was a chain-smoking, relentless wine drinker who was more interested in the high life--golf, women, cigarettes, fun, and alcohol.” He said Boehner “spent almost all of his time on fundraising, not policy.” He “golfed, drank constantly, and took the easy way legislatively.” Ney recalled Boehner handing out checks on the House floor and said his ties with a tobacco company were so tight that lawmakers could get free cigarettes from Boehner’s office. His golfing, Ney said, was “nonstop” and “paid for by lobbyists.”

Of course, none of that will come as a surprise to anyone who closely follows Ohio politics. Boehner has long been legendary for spending a lot of time golfing with lobbyists in exotic locales not in his district as well as, well, most of that other stuff.

Ney also claims he was stabbed in the back by Boehner, who promised to take care of him if he stepped aside from his seat in Ohio's old 18th district, which was won by Democrat Zack Space in 2008 and alas, by teabagger Bob Gibbs in 2010.

Cleveland's Catholic Bishop Richard Lennon is not exactly the most popular person among Catholics I know. Many have dubbed him things like "Richard the Closer," a reference to the heavy-handed way he managed the closing of dozens of local parishes, ignoring the recommendations of taskforces he convened and refusing to share his reasoning with people. About a dozen of those parishes appealed to the Vatican and won their cases; they reopened last year.

One of those was St. Peter, a vibrant parish whose church is located at E. 17th and Superior. When the church was closed, hundreds of worshippers and their priest Robert Marrone rented a space and continued to worship together as the Community of St. Peter.

Bishop Lennon wasn't happy. Incredibly, he was quoted in the Plain Dealer as saying that if they worshipped in a place not approved by him, "their salvation is at stake."

Apparently, Bishop Lennon thinks he speaks for God.

Now there's this:

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/03/bishop_richard_lennon_e...

"Bishop Richard Lennon excommunicates the Rev. Robert Marrone"

Lennon said in the statement that Marrone violated terms of a leave of absence he had received from the diocese and that he refused to abandon a worship space he and his followers had set up outside the authority of the diocese.

"Father Marrone's recent actions have been in direct defiance of the church's teachings and authority," Lennon said.

The diocese is saying Marrone "excommunicated himself" by his actions, the convoluted way the church likes to pass the buck in these cases.

It seems like every day we hear a new story about some egregious assault on voters rights by some un-American, democracy-hating Republican. If U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia can arrogantly smirk — flying in the face of widespread evidence in our latest presidential election — that African-Americans currently have some sort of special "racial entitlement" to vote, then why should we expect more respect for democracy from the collection of dimwits and extremists who infest the GOP caucus in our legislature.

One of the only things that has kept workers in evenly divided Ohio from the same wretched fate that befell those in ALEC puppet Scott Walker's Wisconsin is the power of ballot referendum repeal.

When our governor Taxin' John Kasich and the legislature obediently did the bidding of ALEC and the Koch Brothers and slammed SB 5 into law so fast people barely had time to react, citizens mobilized, gathered more than twice the signatures needed to send it to the ballot, and repealed it by a 60% margin. Soon after that, when HB 194, a voter suppression omnibus bill, was headed in the same direction, the legislature quickly repealed it to save the GOP from another humiliating loss.

So naturally now, the Republican-dominated legislature is working to steal the power from the people to respond to its arrogant overreach. It's come up with SB 47, which will severely restrict the right of citizens to go to the ballot. And not just referenda. The bill will also make it much more difficult for citizens to initiate constitutional amendments — just time to block the repeal of the "Defense of Marriage" amendment!

We got the following email from an activist down in southwest Ohio, who writes,

The private sector: it’s so glorious. It’s so efficient. It’s quick and nimble. In the private sector there are no ridiculous policies or “red tape.”

Uhmm… maybe not.

At a senior care facility in California a resident recently collapsed in the dining area. There was facility staff present, but instead of rushing in to try to save the resident, the staff dialed 911 and watched, because that’s what corporate policy dictated. Ironically, the person who called 911 is a nurse. The Huffington Post reports…

”A nurse’s refusal to give CPR to a dying 87-year-old woman at a California independent living home despite desperate pleas from a 911 dispatcher has prompted outrage and spawned a criminal investigation.”

It continues…

”The executive director of Glenwood Gardens, Jeffrey Toomer, defended the nurse in a written statement, saying she followed the facility’s policy.

“”In the event of a health emergency at this independent living community, our practice is to immediately call emergency medical personnel for assistance and to wait with the individual needing attention until such personnel arrives,”” Toomer said. “”That is the protocol we followed.””

And finally there is this…

”I understand if your boss is telling you, you can’t do it,” the dispatcher said. “But … as a human being … you know, is there anybody that’s willing to help this lady and not let her die?”

“Not at this time,” the nurse answered”

Creepy.

The Right will talk endlessly about the glories of the private sector. It’s why we have to sell so many of our public services to them. But in reality, that is such a lie. The private sector is nothing but institutions run by people. They are no more immune from ridiculous policies and “red tape” than any other institutions.

The complete story can be found here:

Ugh. At times, it’s so depressing to put up with the Right’s in-ability to keep a consistent message. A couple of days ago the Romney’s gave their first interview since Mitt lost the presidential election. During the interview Mitt Romney stated…

”It kills me not to be there, not to be in the White House doing what needs to be done,”

If you’ll recall, this is a guy who’s son said just a few weeks ago that Mitt wanted to be president less than anyone he knew.

Really. Which is it? I guess it can be whatever they want it to be, because no one will ever hold them accountable.

The full story about Mitt’s interview can be found here:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2013/03/03/173361614/in-first-po...

Well, well, well. The chickens are coming home to roost.

Last year, the so-called "Cleveland Plan" for the Cleveland Public Schools was unveiled and shoved down peoples' throats as the greatest thing since sliced bread to browbeat them into passing a huge levy (15 mils). Dutifully, they did.

In the course of the campaign, voters were told "It's so bipartisan — we even have the support of Governor Kasich!"

But it was obvious to me, and should have been obvious to everyone, that that so-called support was false. It's easy to support something that requires nothing of you, that is paid for entirely by someone else — Cleveland's poorest homeowners — and that accomplishes by the backdoor something you want to get done — beating up on teachers and proposing "solutions" that have less to do with education than weakening the teachers' union. Yes, of course, the teachers went along with it because they had no choice. Had they failed to do so, they would have been subjected to a campaign of demonization, led by the Plain Dealer.

What wasn't mentioned much was that the new levy, as large as it is, doesn't fund the wonderful new stuff the Cleveland Plan proposes. It fills the hole left by the state funding Kasich stripped from the Cleveland schools in his last budget. Kasich was most likely laughing up his sleeve at how he tricked Cleveland voters into giving themselves a tax increase to pay for his cuts.

The only way Kasich could have genuinely "supported" the plan was by restoring that funding. Cleveland voters did their part, most probably thinking they were providing funding the new initiatives the plan proposed. But Kasich offered nothing — no skin in the game, just words, And Kasich's new budget proposes not a single extra penny for the Cleveland Public Schools, meaning the cuts are permanent.

Ha ha — fooled you, suckers.

I'm sure many of you do. Here's a sample for those that don't:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2013/03/pentagon-cuts-could-hamper-ability-to-invade-countries-for-no-reason.html?mbid=nl_Borowitz%20(87)

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—The spending cuts mandated by the sequester may hamper the United States’s ability to invade countries for absolutely no reason, a Pentagon spokesman warned today.

The Pentagon made this gloomy assessment amid widespread fears that the nation’s ability to wage totally optional wars based on bogus pretexts may be in peril.

There's more. Go check it out. Funnier than The Onion.

Well, while we were all being distracted by the inane antics of Bob Woodward, and the very sad sequester “talks,” there was some very good news to report. Sherrod Brown took to the floor of the Senate to announce that he will bring forth legislation to end “too big to fail.” He was joined by David Vitter, a conservative from Louisiana. RawStory reports Brown as saying…

”Today, our economy is being threatened by multi-trillion dollar financial institutions,”

”Wall Street megabanks that are so large that, should they fail, they would take the rest of the economy with them. Instead of failure, however, taxpayers are likely to be asked to cover their losses, to bail them out as we did five years ago.”

“This is a disastrous outcome because it transfers wealth from the rest of the economy into these megabanks and it suspends the rules of capitalism, perpetuating the moral hazard that comes from saving risk-takers from the consequences of their behavior,”

Vitter added…

”I don’t know if we quite define the political spectrum of the United States Senate, but we come pretty darned close,”

“And yet, we absolutely agree about this threat.”

Awesome.

It’s good to hear there are at least a couple of people in Congress who really understand what’s threatening our country and are trying to do something about it.

The complete article from RawStory can be found here:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/28/progressive-democrat-and-conservat...

HA. Bob Woodward’s situation just gets more ridiculous, and with it, he becomes more of a joke. Last night he went on Sean Hannity’s show to try to plead that he’s really not that crazy. But seriously, when you’ve been someone of Bob Woodward’s stature and you have to go on Sean Hannity to absolve yourself: you’ve failed. I mean, really think about that. What’s his next act? To pull out an empty chair and claim that it’s shouting angry tirades at him. I think we have a future act for the next Republican Convention.

So anyway, Bob Woodward, continued his assertion that the sequester was all Obama’s doing. But such an assertion would seem to absolve the Republicans for their absolutely awful behavior during that time. Even to my non political friends, it was pretty obvious, the Republicans had one goal, and that was to stick it to Obama. The Republicans obviously wanted to find a terrible “solution” to the country’s financial “problems” and find it, they did. Seriously, what was Obama supposed to do when the answer to everything was “no.” In addition, Bob Woodward, continued his assertion that the email he received from Gene Sperling had a “threatening” tone to it. As I listened to him, I kind of wondered if he sees domestic house cats as vicious animals.

The video of Woodward’s interview is posted below. But honestly, it’s not really worth watching. It offers no new or relevant information. It's just a showcase of two pathetic people. One of them trolls for any information they can use to incite their audience and the other is desperately trying to regain their dignity.

I found this article thanks to a link posted by Congressman Tim Ryan of Youngstown on Facebook.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-best-choice-for-pope-a-nun/20...

Washington Post columnist EJ Dionne thinks the Catholic Church could ameliorate many of its problems by electing a woman pope, although he admits this is a pipe dream.

He says,

I hardly expect the cardinals to follow my advice on this. But I hope that they at least consider electing the kind of man who has the characteristics of my ideal female pontiff. The church needs a leader who has worked closely with the poor and the outcast, who understands that battling over doctrine is less important for the church’s future than modeling Christian behavior — and who sees that the proper Christian attitude toward the modern world is not fear but hope.

The needs of the poor and outcast have been concerned of Congressman Ryan, but that apparently doesn't sit well with at least one commenter on this thread, who said,

This is comedy gold. The person who since being elected to office has done everything opposite of his Catholic teachings, is giving advice on who should be pope. You always make me laugh Timmy.

If what Ryan has advocated for is the "opposite of Catholic teachings," it's probably contemporary Catholic teachings that need to be revised.

Dionne writes,

Last summer my 18-year-old daughter, Julia, worked at a Catholic-supported program for the homeless in Silver Spring. Like many women her age, Julia has a long list of problems with the church, but she loved the program and deeply admired everyone who worked there.

She came home one night and said: “Why doesn’t the church talk more about this work and less about the stuff it usually talks about?”

Today the House of Representatives finally passed the inclusive version of the Violence Against Women Act, a formerly noncontroversial measure that had come up for renewal. In their ongoing efforts to make even the most routine matters a source of huge conflict and an opportunity to try to stymie Democrats and paralyze the presidency, Republicans were insisting that they would only renew the measure if certain groups — such as Native-Americans, immigrants, and LGBT people — were excluded. Apparently in their little straight white male world, some people are less worthy of protection than others.

So who in Ohio voted against the measure in the end? The Hall of Shame includes five ghastly misogynists, all Republicans, naturally. (Of course, three of our four Democrats are women anyway).

They are:

Steve Chabot
Bill Johnson
Jim Jordan (of course)
Bob "Who?" Latta
Brad Wenstrop

These people are mean-spirited individuals, who put ideology before the needs of actual people. I hope if you live in their districts you will let them know that you don't approve of that.

After promising that his new school funding plan was going to help raise up poor school districts, our governor, Taxin' John Kasich, revealed an actual plan that did the opposite: it increased funding to many wealthy districts, while leaving most poor districts with nothing additional. That means a cut, since school districts got cut in the last budget. So keeping funding at the same level means locking in the cut.

Many school districts expressed disappointment, understandably. They're tired of being told they should "do more with less." Many are at the point where they can only do LESS with less, while having all kinds of increased demands for accountability and performance heaped on them. They're being told to meet these demands without adequate tools. It's like telling you to build a house with scissors and thumbtacks.

One of the districts expressing disappointment was the Franklin Schools in very Republican Warren County. It's one of the poorer districts in this wealthy county, and it came up empty-handed in the new funding distribution. One really couldn't expect the superintendent to be jumping for joy.

It seemed odd then that the county prosecutor David Fornshell announced he was opening an investigation — since dropped — into a letter the superintendent sent out to the community expressing that disappointment in perhaps too personal terms, urging that Kasich and those who support him in this matter not be reelected.

But was Fornshell acting on orders from above? This Dayton Daily News story suggests he might have been.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/news/local/prosecutor-contacted-by-g...

The Warren County prosecutor received calls and emails from Ohio Republican Party staffers on the day he opened an investigation into the actions of the Franklin Schools superintendent, according to records obtained by the Middletown Journal.

Bob Woodward is a prime example of what a joke “journalism” has become. In case you haven’t been following, Woodward, has been running around declaring that the Obama Administration “moved the goal posts” in asking for revenues to be part of ending sequestration. Officials within the administration have apparently been trying to correct, Woodward, on his false assertion, but it’s been to no avail. Woodward, in showing what a degenerate he’s become refused to accept any additional facts and just continued his lie. To make things worse, he then furthered things by making an ominous claim that the White House “threatened” him. In the following video he does his best to make it sound like he received a vicious email from a top administration official who was trying to silence him. But in actually reading the email he received nothing could be further from the truth. After the video is a copy of the email he received and also his response to this “threatening official.” The communication seems to be pretty cordial. I’ll even save you a little time by giving you the sentence that contains the horrible “threat” that Bob Woodward, received…

” I know you may not believe this, but as a friend, I think you will regret staking out that claim.”

Bob Woodward is trash. In world that increasingly wants people to be measured on merit, he fails miserably. Do yourself a favor, do the world a favor, and call the Washington Post and ask that Bob Woodward be fired. The number is 202-334-6000. Or you can email the executive editor, Martin Baron, at martin.baron@washpost.com. I’ve called them and from what I’ve heard others have too.

From Politico: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/exclusive-the-woodward-sperling-em...

I need to share more of the emails I'm getting from the conservative newsletters I'm on. They're a hoot. And none more so that one I received recently about the special election to fill the seat in Illinois's 2nd district vacated when Jesse Jackson Jr. resigned.

If you've been following the race, you know that in Tuesday's primary, Robin Kelly ran away with the Democratic race due in part to the fact that her "F" rating from the NRA, compared to her two top opponents' "A" ratings, became an asset in the wake of the Newtown shootings and the dramatic increase in shootings in Chicago recently.

As with Joyce Beatty last year in Oh-03, Kelly can start packing now, even with the general election not until April 9. Il-02 takes in a swath of Chicago's south side where I grew up and where my sister still lives. It's about as Democratic as Ohio's 11th district, where I now live, represented by Marcia Fudge. President Obama won Il-02 by 90%. John Kerry got almost 85% of the vote in 2004.

Sixteen Democrats, sniffing opportunity, were on the ballot, splitting just under 60,000 votes in an off-year special election primary with a blizzard going on; Kelly got about half of those.

On the GOP side, only five candidates stepped up, sensing futility. They split about 3,500 votes. Impressive turnout, guys!

That sets the stage for this email, which arrived courtesy of my friends at GOPUSA. It comes from Lenny McAllister, one of the five Republicans in the race.

Dear Conservative Patriot [contraction in terms],

"Chicago-style politics" isn't a myth; it's alive and well in a district that's seen its last 3 members of Congress fall from grace in the most public and humiliating ways.[None of this crap you're about to cite has anything to do with "Chicago-style politics"]

You know the adage about a stopped clock being right twice a day? Well, George Will, the dean of conservative newspaper columnists, recently ran a column that starts like this:

With his chronically gravelly voice and relentlessly liberal agenda, Sherrod Brown seems to have stepped out of “Les Miserables,” hoarse from singing revolutionary anthems at the barricades. Today, Ohio's senior senator has a project worthy of Victor Hugo - and of conservatives' support. He wants to break up the biggest banks.

Despite the hilarious characterization of our senator, this column is well worth a read. Your jaw will drop.

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/279-82/15945-focus-time-to-break...

It's called "Time to Break Up the Big Bands," and no, there isn't some trick or twist at the end.

Will points out,

Today, the 5,500 community banks have 12 percent of the banking industry's assets. The 12 banks with $250 billion to $2.3 trillion in assets total 69 percent. The 20 largest banks' assets total 84.5 percent of the nation's gross domestic product.

Such banks have become bigger, relative to the economy, since the financial crisis began, and they are not the only economic entities to do so. Last year, the Economist reported that in the past 15 years the combined assets of the 50 largest U.S. companies had risen from around 70 percent of GDP to around 130 percent.

He then says,

But this just means that the pernicious practice of socializing losses while keeping profits private is not quarantined in the financial sector.

and

Government nurtured these behemoths by weaving an improvident safety net and by practicing crony capitalism.

Yes, we progressives say that a lot. But this is one of the nation's most prominent CONSERVATIVE commentators.

Will says,

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/25/ron-johnson-john-boehner_n_2762...

"Ron Johnson: John Boehner Would Lose Speakership If He Caves On Taxes To Avert Sequester"

In other words, collapse the economy, destroy the government, paralyze Obama's presidency ... or else. Somebody tell me why these people aren't being charged with treason yet. They love to babble about Obama trying to overthrow democracy with not a shred of evidence and no reason except "OMG HE'S BLACK." But when you see threats like this, you have to wonder who it is that really hates America.

Of course, Ron Johnson is a Senator (from Wisconsin) so he does not speak for the House and has little influence there. He's probably been hanging out in a D.C. bar having drinks with his teabagger buddies from the House, listening to them grouse that even though their policies are supported by only a minute fraction of Americans, they aren't getting their way 100%.

Also, this is the same Ron Johnson who, incredibly, got elected AFTER it was revealed that he defended the interests of pedophile protectors over the welfare of children who had been violated.

Johnson went to the Wisconsin legislature in 2009 to testify against the proposed Child Victims Sexual Abuse Act, saying "“I think it's a valid question to ask if the employer of the perpetrator should also be severely damaged, possibly destroyed, in a legitimate desire for justice."

As one blogger put it, "Well… actually that’s not a valid question! It’s an incredibly stupid question! If the Green Bay Diocese knew that a pedophile priest was in their organization and instead of calling the police, reassigned him to another parish, of course they should be sued!"