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Jun
30
Remains of the Day, 6-30-07
Filed Under Politics | 4 Comments
O.M.G. In just 17 minutes? It will be July.
1. Plain Dealer gives Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann kudos for addressing use of and expenditures for outside legal counsel.
2. Broadview Hts. officials speak with State Rep. Josh Mandel about need for local municipalities to have control over gas well drilling (good luck with that - so far, Mandel has voted in favor of the stripper law, giving the state control over regulating adult entertainment, and voted for SB117 which stripped local government from ruling over cable franchises; not sure where he is on the eminent domain issue).
3. Re-think Immigration. A blog that might help us all learn a few things.
4. Podcorps - is that like Meet the Bloggers only without George?
5. Fact Check on the third Democratic Debate and its fallacies.
6. Maggie Thurber wrote earlier this week about Readthebill.org which encourages having the public see the draft of bills before they’re introduced. But The Thicket at State Legislatures reports on how one Wisconsin court has found that such publication to the public of pre-introduction bill drafts isn’t mandated by law.
7. More (also from The Thicket) about the movie, State Legislature. Did anyone watch it on June 13 on PBS? Or tape it? Or know how else it can be viewed? I haven’t found much helpful info on PBS or by googling.
Ugh, I’ll say it already: Happy July. There.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:32 pm June 30th, 2007 in Politics | 4 Comments
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Jun
30
As foreshadowed, Governor Ted Strickland scripted ink through 38 items in the biennial budget bill before signing it. Here’s his announcement which includes details of the vetoes.
This article from the Akron Beacon Journal offers some details on those 38 now-vetoed items.
This article from the Cincinnati Enquirer includes the histrionic quote from Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted regarding Strickland’s veto of special education vouchers:
“The governor’s veto has made this a sad day for special needs children in Ohio. It strips hope away from parents seeking a better education for their children,” House Speaker Jon Husted, a suburban Dayton Republican, said. “I want these families to know that this is not the end of the road and that I will continue to fight to change the Governor’s mind and the law.”
Sounds as though the Speaker’s forgotten something: There’s a federal law that Ohio can make sure gets enforced in each and every one of its public school districts. I don’t even have such a law to look to for the education of my kids who are also in the exceptional education range, just not in special ed.
Speaker Husted, why not
1) promise the parents you’re saying have been stripped of hope that you will see that the Ohio Department of Education’s Office for Exceptional Children asserts what’s legally required to happen in every school district, re: enforcement of the IDEA?
2) make sure that the state uses the funds that are already available for special ed to, you know - educate the kids its intended to benefit?
3) say that you’ll work harder to make that money work better where it is now?
Are those awful things to tell you to get the state to do? Are these things that can’t be done?
No and no.
They’re just not what you want to use the special education population for. You want to use them as a sympathetic, already identifiably labeled group that you believe can help you expand the use of vouchers and school choice.
Some former president used to say, Wouldn’t be prudent. Not gonna do it.
Sounds about right to me.
Now how about making some promises about getting the current federally and state enforceable system for special education…enforced?
[And P.S. - the federal government’s matching money for abstinence-only sex education probably won’t be in its budget so not having it in Ohio’s makes sense.]
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:54 pm June 30th, 2007 in Politics | 1 Comment
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Jun
30
Update on Sheffield woman facing third DUI
Filed Under Politics | 5 Comments
I wrote about Kristina Fretter here.
The Chronicle-Telegram has this update:
Brendon Naylon, 38, of Sheffield Lake [identified as her boyfriend] received a citation for wrongful entrustment after Fretter told police that he knew her license had been suspended when he let her borrow his 1994 Ford Ranger on June 24.
…
Fretter [who was taken in on June 24] was released on $2,500 bond from Avon Lake Municipal Court on the condition that she does not drive a vehicle at least until her pretrial, which is scheduled for July 26.
Released on the condition that she does not drive a vehicle at least until her pretrial, scheduled 25 days from now? You are kidding, right? A person who’s already driven with a suspended license twice in the last 30 days?
Someone out there - tell me what more could be done until her pretrial, like moving it up, requiring some checking in or other monitoring. Something.
Anyone want to make a guess as to whether she’ll have another incident between now and July 26?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:35 pm June 30th, 2007 in Politics | 5 Comments
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Jun
30
Remains of the Day, 6-30-07
Filed Under Politics | 4 Comments
O.M.G. In just 17 minutes? It will be July.
1. Plain Dealer gives Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann kudos for addressing use of and expenditures for outside legal counsel.
2. Broadview Hts. officials speak with State Rep. Josh Mandel about need for local municipalities to have control over gas well drilling (good luck with that - so far, Mandel has voted in favor of the stripper law, giving the state control over regulating adult entertainment, and voted for SB117 which stripped local government from ruling over cable franchises; not sure where he is on the eminent domain issue).
3. Re-think Immigration. A blog that might help us all learn a few things.
4. Podcorps - is that like Meet the Bloggers only without George?
5. Fact Check on the third Democratic Debate and its fallacies.
6. Maggie Thurber wrote earlier this week about Readthebill.org which encourages having the public see the draft of bills before they’re introduced. But The Thicket at State Legislatures reports on how one Wisconsin court has found that such publication to the public of pre-introduction bill drafts isn’t mandated by law.
7. More (also from The Thicket) about the movie, State Legislature. Did anyone watch it on June 13 on PBS? Or tape it? Or know how else it can be viewed? I haven’t found much helpful info on PBS or by googling.
Ugh, I’ll say it already: Happy July. There.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:32 pm June 30th, 2007 in Politics | 4 Comments
Print This Post
Jun
30
As foreshadowed, Governor Ted Strickland scripted ink through 38 items in the biennial budget bill before signing it. Here’s his announcement which includes details of the vetoes.
This article from the Akron Beacon Journal offers some details on those 38 now-vetoed items.
This article from the Cincinnati Enquirer includes the histrionic quote from Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted regarding Strickland’s veto of special education vouchers:
“The governor’s veto has made this a sad day for special needs children in Ohio. It strips hope away from parents seeking a better education for their children,” House Speaker Jon Husted, a suburban Dayton Republican, said. “I want these families to know that this is not the end of the road and that I will continue to fight to change the Governor’s mind and the law.”
Sounds as though the Speaker’s forgotten something: There’s a federal law that Ohio can make sure gets enforced in each and every one of its public school districts. I don’t even have such a law to look to for the education of my kids who are also in the exceptional education range, just not in special ed.
Speaker Husted, why not
1) promise the parents you’re saying have been stripped of hope that you will see that the Ohio Department of Education’s Office for Exceptional Children asserts what’s legally required to happen in every school district, re: enforcement of the IDEA?
2) make sure that the state uses the funds that are already available for special ed to, you know - educate the kids its intended to benefit?
3) say that you’ll work harder to make that money work better where it is now?
Are those awful things to tell you to get the state to do? Are these things that can’t be done?
No and no.
They’re just not what you want to use the special education population for. You want to use them as a sympathetic, already identifiably labeled group that you believe can help you expand the use of vouchers and school choice.
Some former president used to say, Wouldn’t be prudent. Not gonna do it.
Sounds about right to me.
Now how about making some promises about getting the current federally and state enforceable system for special education…enforced?
[And P.S. - the federal government’s matching money for abstinence-only sex education probably won’t be in its budget so not having it in Ohio’s makes sense.]
By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:54 pm June 30th, 2007 in Politics | 1 Comment
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Jun
30
CLE+ European-style car sticker sighting, or I’m so geeky I can’t stand myself
Filed Under Politics | 4 Comments
That’s the phrase that came to mind when I thought about what I’m about to describe:
So - I wake up earlier than I like but I go out in my pjs to get the NYT in the driveway, feel the cool summer air that reminds me of Maine mornings, return inside, make french toast, feed kids, turn on the computer, write, order kids to dress, shower & dress myself, take one child to a math tutor, take the other to a playground, watch him literally knock himself out as he tries to best his time on a self-made obstacle course (he’s fine), go to the nearest library because he needs to go potty, pick up tutored child, do a fast food lunch (for them, I get the yogurt and granola), pick up a prescription (for which they tell me I owe nothing and I say, but it should be 30 dollars (a dollar a pill) and they say, oh, wait - there’s only five pills in there, come back Monday for the rest), pick up one child’s new glasses and then, on my way to meeting my kids in a toy store where we were going to a present for a child’s bday party, it happened:
A big, black SUV - Yukon or Suburban or something, I forget - driven by someone with whom I’m acquainted but haven’t seen in a long time, and someone who I’m pretty sure is an old time Clevelander with a good amount of $ who is very active in our school district - pulls into a parking space adjacent to me as I’m walking to the toy store.
She starts to get out of her car and I’m staring at her car’s back window and thinking, should I ask? should I ask??
So I ask: That CLE+ sticker - where did you get that?
She said, oh - we just put that on. I think someone brought it home from the game the other night.
Hmmm. Wow.
And I mention how I’d been following this conversation about signage and so on, online, and that this was the first sticker I’d seen. How nice.
Now - if I was a real citizen journalist, or a backpack journalist (which, I think, is a traditional journalist who is more like a citizen, as opposed to a citizen who is more like a journalist), I would have snapped a picture of that sticker on the car and maybe even the woman as well. I’m bummed now that I didn’t think to do that.
But the sticker had CLE+ in all caps in black on a white background in an oval sticker, with Youngstown, Akron, Canton and…hmm - would it be Toledo? underneath.
And you know what? Seriously?
(this is where the gleeful geek in me emerges)
I thought it looked really cool! I did! I do. Really. It looked good. And you know what? I’d much prefer to have a pseudo-European car sticker on my car that signifies Cleveland than a shee-shee poo-poo sticker from Europe that’s supposed to make me look like I’ve either been to or am from Europe.
Anyway - I don’t usually put stickers on my cars. But if I see one of these for picking up, I just might.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 6:28 pm June 30th, 2007 in Politics | 4 Comments
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Jun
30
CLE+ European-style car sticker sighting, or I’m so geeky I can’t stand myself
Filed Under Politics | 4 Comments
That’s the phrase that came to mind when I thought about what I’m about to describe:
So - I wake up earlier than I like but I go out in my pjs to get the NYT in the driveway, feel the cool summer air that reminds me of Maine mornings, return inside, make french toast, feed kids, turn on the computer, write, order kids to dress, shower & dress myself, take one child to a math tutor, take the other to a playground, watch him literally knock himself out as he tries to best his time on a self-made obstacle course (he’s fine), go to the nearest library because he needs to go potty, pick up tutored child, do a fast food lunch (for them, I get the yogurt and granola), pick up a prescription (for which they tell me I owe nothing and I say, but it should be 30 dollars (a dollar a pill) and they say, oh, wait - there’s only five pills in there, come back Monday for the rest), pick up one child’s new glasses and then, on my way to meeting my kids in a toy store where we were going to a present for a child’s bday party, it happened:
A big, black SUV - Yukon or Suburban or something, I forget - driven by someone with whom I’m acquainted but haven’t seen in a long time, and someone who I’m pretty sure is an old time Clevelander with a good amount of $ who is very active in our school district - pulls into a parking space adjacent to me as I’m walking to the toy store.
She starts to get out of her car and I’m staring at her car’s back window and thinking, should I ask? should I ask??
So I ask: That CLE+ sticker - where did you get that?
She said, oh - we just put that on. I think someone brought it home from the game the other night.
Hmmm. Wow.
And I mention how I’d been following this conversation about signage and so on, online, and that this was the first sticker I’d seen. How nice.
Now - if I was a real citizen journalist, or a backpack journalist (which, I think, is a traditional journalist who is more like a citizen, as opposed to a citizen who is more like a journalist), I would have snapped a picture of that sticker on the car and maybe even the woman as well. I’m bummed now that I didn’t think to do that.
But the sticker had CLE+ in all caps in black on a white background in an oval sticker, with Youngstown, Akron, Canton and…hmm - would it be Toledo? underneath.
And you know what? Seriously?
(this is where the gleeful geek in me emerges)
I thought it looked really cool! I did! I do. Really. It looked good. And you know what? I’d much prefer to have a pseudo-European car sticker on my car that signifies Cleveland than a shee-shee poo-poo sticker from Europe that’s supposed to make me look like I’ve either been to or am from Europe.
Anyway - I don’t usually put stickers on my cars. But if I see one of these for picking up, I just might.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:28 pm June 30th, 2007 in Politics | 4 Comments
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Jun
30
Broadband access bandwagon [updated]
Filed Under Politics | 2 Comments
The Plain Dealer’s editorial from today.
Left of Ohio flagging this MSM report.
Update: Bill Callahan on the PD’s editorial, plus other insight.
What, if any, impact does the passage of SB117 have on this need? (yes, Bill, I mean you)
By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:22 pm June 30th, 2007 in Politics | 2 Comments
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Jun
30
MSM blog payola coverage exposes Federated Media, Microsoft, Boing Boing & others
Filed Under Politics | 2 Comments
This time reported in the New York Times’ What’s Online section. Under the subheading, “Some Bloggers Blur Lines,” (how ho-hum is that to most of us?), the details unfold (I’ve provided hyperlinks except for the one with People Ready):
Federated Media handles ads for several of the most popular blogs that cover technology and business: TechCrunch, GigaOM, Boing Boing, VentureBeat and several others. Late last week, Nick Denton of the Silicon Valley gossip site Valleywag noticed that several of Federated’s bloggers had contributed to a marketing site created for Microsoft.
The site, People Ready (peoplereadybusiness.federatedmedia.net), had eight Federated writers answer the question, “When did you know your business was people ready?”
“People Ready” is a slogan of Microsoft, which advertises on Federated’s sites. The bloggers were not directly paid for taking part, but in return, Microsoft bought ads on their blogs.
Honestly, the only thing that surprised me was that I hadn’t seen anything about this incident before this morning. Otherwise, it’s the same old same old: independence and transparency. Then, let the readers decide.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:04 pm June 30th, 2007 in Politics | 2 Comments
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Jun
30
WHAT WOMEN WANT: a movie? an anthem? No! A new political party
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You go, girls.
Here’s the party’s website. Here’s their What’s It All About page.
From Womens eNews here:
The party has 700 members–including 38 men–and will fund candidates through membership fees, [one of the founders and candidates, Justine] Caines told the Adelaide Advertiser. The party platform will emphasize issues such as paid maternity leave, child care and career support. Caines said it is not likely the party can make significant inroads into Australia’s two-party system but can help put women’s issues on the public agenda.
Would it work in the United States? Who knows. Who’s asking.
But bless these voters and concerned residents of Australia for trying to make an impact.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:28 pm June 30th, 2007 in Politics | Please comment
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Jun
30
Ohio victim of crime asks in eloquent oped: Shouldn’t life mean life?
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It’s very hard to not be affected by Janna Manes‘ oped, published today in the Columbus Dispatch.
I’d like to know what the Ohio Parole Board heard that made them think that the man convicted of Manes’ mother’s death - her husband, William Clumm - deserves to go free, even though he was sentenced to life in prison (there was no death penalty in Ohio when he was sentenced).
Here’s an Akron Beacon Journal article from earlier this month about the case.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:18 pm June 30th, 2007 in Politics | Please comment
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Jun
30
An AP story all to themselves.
And here’s how far that virus has spread.
If you were a crisis communications advisor, what would your assessment of this media barrage be? Did the governor’s office do decent control of the message?
Or not so much?