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Sep
13
Air America to declare bankruptcy, what’s next for progressive radio?
Filed Under Politics | 7 Comments
I reached this story by being bored. Yup, I was so bored that I clicked on my Michelle Malkin link in my history, just to see, you know? And there was a disgusting diatribe about Air America. I just don’t get that. So – Malkin and groupies, they really don’t want to hear or know or learn or talk about anything that deviates the slightest from what they think, do they?
Dumb question, you might be saying. But really, I never give up hope that people recognize the value in divergent dialogues: it’s called creativity, hearing something you never knew, thinking in a way you never thought before, CHANGE. Being dynamic, not static.
Anyway…
So after I saw all the vitriol on her site levied against Air America and anyone who doesn’t believe what she believes, I found my way to the Think Progress entry that announces the expectation.
I just hate gloating.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:54 pm September 13th, 2006 in Politics | 7 Comments
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Sep
13
A Writer Writes with Writely
Filed Under Politics | 5 Comments
Ok – that thing about hating gloating? So over it, so over it because I figured out how to use Writely to revise a 1000 member synagogue’s constitution, via committee, via wiki.
Will everyone else go along with me? I don’t care! Because I figured out how to use the damn thing and, from now on, if anyone wants me to write something with them or for them, watch out.
Thank you again to Amy Gahran who recommended this free online program in this post of hers on PoynterOnline. She is a goddess.
PD folks who read this blog: won’t you please just look at Writely and try it among yourselves if you haven’t already? The suggestion comes from one of your own. Come on. You know you want to.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:30 pm September 13th, 2006 in Politics | 5 Comments
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Sep
13
Air America to declare bankruptcy, what’s next for progressive radio?
Filed Under Politics | 7 Comments
I reached this story by being bored. Yup, I was so bored that I clicked on my Michelle Malkin link in my history, just to see, you know? And there was a disgusting diatribe about Air America. I just don’t get that. So – Malkin and groupies, they really don’t want to hear or know or learn or talk about anything that deviates the slightest from what they think, do they?
Dumb question, you might be saying. But really, I never give up hope that people recognize the value in divergent dialogues: it’s called creativity, hearing something you never knew, thinking in a way you never thought before, CHANGE. Being dynamic, not static.
Anyway…
So after I saw all the vitriol on her site levied against Air America and anyone who doesn’t believe what she believes, I found my way to the Think Progress entry that announces the expectation.
I just hate gloating.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:54 pm September 13th, 2006 in Politics | 7 Comments
Print This Post
Sep
13
A Writer Writes with Writely
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
Ok – that thing about hating gloating? So over it, so over it because I figured out how to use Writely to revise a 1000 member synagogue’s constitution, via committee, via wiki.
Will everyone else go along with me? I don’t care! Because I figured out how to use the damn thing and, from now on, if anyone wants me to write something with them or for them, watch out.
Thank you again to Amy Gahran who recommended this free online program in this post of hers on PoynterOnline. She is a goddess.
PD folks who read this blog: won’t you please just look at Writely and try it among yourselves if you haven’t already? The suggestion comes from one of your own. Come on. You know you want to.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:30 pm September 13th, 2006 in Politics | Comments Off
Print This Post
Sep
13
Air America to declare bankruptcy, what’s next for progressive radio?
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
I reached this story by being bored. Yup, I was so bored that I clicked on my Michelle Malkin link in my history, just to see, you know? And there was a disgusting diatribe about Air America. I just don’t get that. So – Malkin and groupies, they really don’t want to hear or know or learn or talk about anything that deviates the slightest from what they think, do they?
Dumb question, you might be saying. But really, I never give up hope that people recognize the value in divergent dialogues: it’s called creativity, hearing something you never knew, thinking in a way you never thought before, CHANGE. Being dynamic, not static.
Anyway…
So after I saw all the vitriol on her site levied against Air America and anyone who doesn’t believe what she believes, I found my way to the Think Progress entry that announces the expectation.
I just hate gloating.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 4:54 pm September 13th, 2006 in Politics | Comments Off
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Sep
13
The Plain Dealer is perseverating
Filed Under Politics | 12 Comments
Just ask my friends and family. Since I’ve been working hard at getting my act together on a number of fronts, my tolerance for perseveration has declined dramatically.
So, when I saw this editorial today in the Plain Dealer, that repeats the exact same tabloid gossip about Christine Russo – a person the paper wants NEO voters to reject, despite the recognizable name, which, the paper fears, will sweep her into a judgeship – that appeared on the front page of the PD yesterday, this question pops into my head: Do you think the Plain Dealer could spend more ink on someone who isn’t even in an elected position yet just to make sure she never gets into one? They are perseverating all over her!
Luckily, I’m alone in my kitchen during the momentary audible outburst.
Disclaimer: I’ve already written that I don’t find Russo to be a worthy candidate compared to her opponent, Cleveland Muny Court Judge Joan Synenberg, by my own assessment, and expect to vote for Synenberg. So this has nothing to do with the race itself. My observations pertain only to our town’s main paper’s treatment of the candidates, relative to one another and relative to all candidates running in November’s general election.
What can explain the editors behavior? Do they have editorial autism or something? I know – that’s uncharacteristically snarky of me, but I do not get it.
I can only think of two reasons for this relentless publication of the same type of information about Russo:
1. The editors think the paper’s readers are dumb and therefore need to read the same information over and over and over in order to get the point.
OR
2. The editors themselves are dumb and therefore need to write the same information over and over and over until they understand it themselves.
I don’t for a minute believe #2.
Which leaves me with #1 and leads me to then think, they’re protesting way too much. With the exception of Ohio gubernatorial candidates Ken Blackwell and Ted Strickland, I swear it feels like I’ve read more stories about Christine Russo this election season than anyone else running for anything. I know, I know – Montgomery, Sykes, Dann, Taylor bla bla bla. Yeah, they’re in there. But when it comes to the herd of judicial candidates, really – if the PD prints her name one more time, I might just HAVE to vote for her because I’m going to start thinking that they’re trying to use reverse psychology.
Please – isn’t there at least one other judicial candidate more deserving of being dissed that you can write about?
Please?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:29 pm September 13th, 2006 in Politics | 12 Comments
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Sep
13
Reason #56 to VOTE NO on ISSUE 3
Filed Under Politics | 14 Comments
Because it accelerates the elderly’s fall into financial ruin.
An excerpt:
Few doubt that the elderly are gambling in growing numbers. A national survey of senior citizens two years ago found that about half of them had gambled “recently.” That figure, according to the National Gambling Impact Study Commission, is twice as high as it was a generation ago, when hardly any states had any form of legalized gambling. Today, nearly every state does.
Researchers also say the nationwide surge in gambling over the past two decades is more apparent among retirees than any other age group. Most of them do not end up wrecking their lives from the habit.
But in Arizona last year, about 40 percent of the calls to a hot line for problem gamblers came from senior citizens, nearly twice as many as two years earlier. “It gets higher every year,” said Paula Burns, director of the Arizona Council on Compulsive Gambling.
“Most of them are lonesome,” said Barbara, 69, a retiree from San Diego who would not give her last name because she is recovering from a serious gambling problem. “Going to a casino is a way to be around people. It usually just starts off as a social thing, but then they start throwing a few quarters in the slots, and then more, and then some of them really get hooked. . . . It’s easy to get caught up in. And the excuse is that they are not hurting anyone but themselves.”
There’s a reason why people get locked up for hurting themselves. Because we care.
Don’t be an enabler. Vote no on Issue 3.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:01 pm September 13th, 2006 in Politics | 14 Comments
Print This Post
Sep
13
The Plain Dealer is perseverating
Filed Under Politics | 12 Comments
Just ask my friends and family. Since I’ve been working hard at getting my act together on a number of fronts, my tolerance for perseveration has declined dramatically.
So, when I saw this editorial today in the Plain Dealer, that repeats the exact same tabloid gossip about Christine Russo – a person the paper wants NEO voters to reject, despite the recognizable name, which, the paper fears, will sweep her into a judgeship – that appeared on the front page of the PD yesterday, this question pops into my head: Do you think the Plain Dealer could spend more ink on someone who isn’t even in an elected position yet just to make sure she never gets into one? They are perseverating all over her!
Luckily, I’m alone in my kitchen during the momentary audible outburst.
Disclaimer: I’ve already written that I don’t find Russo to be a worthy candidate compared to her opponent, Cleveland Muny Court Judge Joan Synenberg, by my own assessment, and expect to vote for Synenberg. So this has nothing to do with the race itself. My observations pertain only to our town’s main paper’s treatment of the candidates, relative to one another and relative to all candidates running in November’s general election.
What can explain the editors behavior? Do they have editorial autism or something? I know – that’s uncharacteristically snarky of me, but I do not get it.
I can only think of two reasons for this relentless publication of the same type of information about Russo:
1. The editors think the paper’s readers are dumb and therefore need to read the same information over and over and over in order to get the point.
OR
2. The editors themselves are dumb and therefore need to write the same information over and over and over until they understand it themselves.
I don’t for a minute believe #2.
Which leaves me with #1 and leads me to then think, they’re protesting way too much. With the exception of Ohio gubernatorial candidates Ken Blackwell and Ted Strickland, I swear it feels like I’ve read more stories about Christine Russo this election season than anyone else running for anything. I know, I know – Montgomery, Sykes, Dann, Taylor bla bla bla. Yeah, they’re in there. But when it comes to the herd of judicial candidates, really – if the PD prints her name one more time, I might just HAVE to vote for her because I’m going to start thinking that they’re trying to use reverse psychology.
Please – isn’t there at least one other judicial candidate more deserving of being dissed that you can write about?
Please?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:29 am September 13th, 2006 in Politics | 12 Comments
Print This Post
Sep
13
Reason #56 to VOTE NO on ISSUE 3
Filed Under Politics | 14 Comments
Because it accelerates the elderly’s fall into financial ruin.
An excerpt:
Few doubt that the elderly are gambling in growing numbers. A national survey of senior citizens two years ago found that about half of them had gambled “recently.” That figure, according to the National Gambling Impact Study Commission, is twice as high as it was a generation ago, when hardly any states had any form of legalized gambling. Today, nearly every state does.
Researchers also say the nationwide surge in gambling over the past two decades is more apparent among retirees than any other age group. Most of them do not end up wrecking their lives from the habit.
But in Arizona last year, about 40 percent of the calls to a hot line for problem gamblers came from senior citizens, nearly twice as many as two years earlier. “It gets higher every year,” said Paula Burns, director of the Arizona Council on Compulsive Gambling.
“Most of them are lonesome,” said Barbara, 69, a retiree from San Diego who would not give her last name because she is recovering from a serious gambling problem. “Going to a casino is a way to be around people. It usually just starts off as a social thing, but then they start throwing a few quarters in the slots, and then more, and then some of them really get hooked. . . . It’s easy to get caught up in. And the excuse is that they are not hurting anyone but themselves.”
There’s a reason why people get locked up for hurting themselves. Because we care.
Don’t be an enabler. Vote no on Issue 3.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:01 am September 13th, 2006 in Politics | 14 Comments
Print This Post
Sep
13
The Plain Dealer is perseverating
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
Just ask my friends and family. Since I’ve been working hard at getting my act together on a number of fronts, my tolerance for perseveration has declined dramatically.
So, when I saw this editorial today in the Plain Dealer, that repeats the exact same tabloid gossip about Christine Russo – a person the paper wants NEO voters to reject, despite the recognizable name, which, the paper fears, will sweep her into a judgeship – that appeared on the front page of the PD yesterday, this question pops into my head: Do you think the Plain Dealer could spend more ink on someone who isn’t even in an elected position yet just to make sure she never gets into one? They are perseverating all over her!
Luckily, I’m alone in my kitchen during the momentary audible outburst.
Disclaimer: I’ve already written that I don’t find Russo to be a worthy candidate compared to her opponent, Cleveland Muny Court Judge Joan Synenberg, by my own assessment, and expect to vote for Synenberg. So this has nothing to do with the race itself. My observations pertain only to our town’s main paper’s treatment of the candidates, relative to one another and relative to all candidates running in November’s general election.
What can explain the editors behavior? Do they have editorial autism or something? I know – that’s uncharacteristically snarky of me, but I do not get it.
I can only think of two reasons for this relentless publication of the same type of information about Russo:
1. The editors think the paper’s readers are dumb and therefore need to read the same information over and over and over in order to get the point.
OR
2. The editors themselves are dumb and therefore need to write the same information over and over and over until they understand it themselves.
I don’t for a minute believe #2.
Which leaves me with #1 and leads me to then think, they’re protesting way too much. With the exception of Ohio gubernatorial candidates Ken Blackwell and Ted Strickland, I swear it feels like I’ve read more stories about Christine Russo this election season than anyone else running for anything. I know, I know – Montgomery, Sykes, Dann, Taylor bla bla bla. Yeah, they’re in there. But when it comes to the herd of judicial candidates, really – if the PD prints her name one more time, I might just HAVE to vote for her because I’m going to start thinking that they’re trying to use reverse psychology.
Please – isn’t there at least one other judicial candidate more deserving of being dissed that you can write about?
Please?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:29 am September 13th, 2006 in Politics | Comments Off
Print This Post
Sep
13
Reason #56 to VOTE NO on ISSUE 3
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
Because it accelerates the elderly’s fall into financial ruin.
An excerpt:
Few doubt that the elderly are gambling in growing numbers. A national survey of senior citizens two years ago found that about half of them had gambled “recently.” That figure, according to the National Gambling Impact Study Commission, is twice as high as it was a generation ago, when hardly any states had any form of legalized gambling. Today, nearly every state does.
Researchers also say the nationwide surge in gambling over the past two decades is more apparent among retirees than any other age group. Most of them do not end up wrecking their lives from the habit.
But in Arizona last year, about 40 percent of the calls to a hot line for problem gamblers came from senior citizens, nearly twice as many as two years earlier. “It gets higher every year,” said Paula Burns, director of the Arizona Council on Compulsive Gambling.
“Most of them are lonesome,” said Barbara, 69, a retiree from San Diego who would not give her last name because she is recovering from a serious gambling problem. “Going to a casino is a way to be around people. It usually just starts off as a social thing, but then they start throwing a few quarters in the slots, and then more, and then some of them really get hooked. . . . It’s easy to get caught up in. And the excuse is that they are not hurting anyone but themselves.”
There’s a reason why people get locked up for hurting themselves. Because we care.
Don’t be an enabler. Vote no on Issue 3.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:01 am September 13th, 2006 in Politics | Comments Off
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Sep
13
[UPDATED] Is Ohio Board of Education stalling because its desire to inject religion into science will still fail?
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
No news to be found yet on whether the Ohio Board of Education took up what they failed to discuss yesterday – a template for injecting what some board members consider necessary to allowing students the ability to ask questions – particularly about science.
Read here for a review of what happened Monday.
Read here for an analysis of the proposal now at issue.
Read here for more background.
Tom Sawyer seeks to oust Deborah Owens-Fink. Sounds like the best kind of evolution there could be.
UPDATE 9/13/06: The Akron Beacon Journal’s coverage on continued stalling and other non-happenings at yesterday’s Ohio Board of Education meeting.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:57 am September 13th, 2006 in Politics | Comments Off
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Sep
13
Goudy v. Mandel: Does PD editorial board commit age discrimination?
Filed Under Politics | 2 Comments
I confess that I’ve let my attorney’s registration fall into the “inactive” category, and I can’t recall precisely who can and cannot discriminate legally on the basis of age. I suppose voters always can, if they think it makes a difference, even though, technically, we’re an elected official’s employer, right?
Well, I remember being taught, when I was in a position to hire people, that I wasn’t allowed to use wording in a job description that discriminated against people over 40. I can’t say “needs to be youthful” or anything like that. I could describe the job in a way that demonstrated how demanding it was and that stamina and agility were important qualities a candidate needed to possess. But I couldn’t outright say, if you’re over 35, fahgeddaboutit.
I mostly agree with the Plain Dealer’s assessment of the candidates for Ohio House District 17 – Democrat Roger Goudy and Republican Josh Mandel. However, I find their citation to Mandel’s youth as a reason to give him the edge distasteful and gratuitous. Youth also cuts against you – naivete, lack of experience, excessive reliance on others for knowledge and opinions.
Personally, I wouldn’t look at the choice between these two candidates as an issue related to age at all. I’m baffled as to why the PD would use that one factor as the deciding factor. There are plenty of other reasons to tip toward Mandel (ambition, good use of the time he has had on this earth, earnestness, loyalty, hard-working) or toward Goudy (demonstrated ability to pursue his beliefs in ways that make a difference and ready now to apply that to a larger population).
So why the age thing? The PD’s sense that Ohio “desperately lacks” young political leadership is a little, not completely, but a little disingenuous. Why? Because, if we ask the question that’s begging to be asked: why is it that Ohio “desperately lacks” young political leadership, there is only one answer: because a handful of ridiculously inept, incompetent, deceitful and immoral politicians have been playing musical chairs with the top Ohio elected positions for sixteen years – that is, truly, almost an entire generation’s worth.
So think about it – why is Rob Frost appealing? Because he’s young and moderate and has some couth. Why wasn’t his party bringing him up instead of Bob Bennett?
I’m no huge fan of Chris Redfern, but look how far he’s brought this state as he tries to whip up Ohio’s citizens to the point where they will in fact help Turnaround Ohio? He deserves credit for that – and he’s younger than I am (he told me so anyway).
So, let’s be real here: the choice between Mandel and Goudy is not about age or the need for young political leadership. Yes, Ohio needs young political leadership, but in a race between two excellent choices, using the age card just seems thin.
(Oh – okay – and giving it to the Republican doesn’t make me like it either.)
Hattip to one of my blog’s readers, who shall remain nameless unless and until that reader wants to be outed.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:12 am September 13th, 2006 in Politics | 2 Comments
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