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Sep

30

Investor’s Daily Business: muddles info on Mandel, Ohio and divestment

Filed Under Business, Government, Media, Military, Ohio, Politics | 6 Comments

This time, the perpetuation of wrong intimations are in an op-ed that Investor’s Business Daily published:

Legislation to prevent investment by Ohio’s public pension funds in companies that do business with the terror-sponsoring and nuke-building mullahs in Iran has been introduced by State Reps. Shannon Jones and Joshua Mandel.

Mandel knows something about Iranian involvement in Iraq, particularly with Iran’s supplying jihadists with advanced IEDs to kill Americans. He served a combat tour there as a Marine.

That’s it. Not another word.  And the op-ed is dated September 26, 2007.

I hope no one I know and no one responsible for policy decisions anywhere else relies on op-eds like this one, from a print publication that also publishes online.  Because clearly no one did their research, or else they’d know that Ohio’s legislation was effectively derailed and placed in the roundhouse and that Rep. Mandel may in fact know more than just “something about Iranian involvement in Iraq.”

That’s what I keep saying anyway.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:53 pm September 30th, 2007 in Business, Government, Media, Military, Ohio, Politics | 6 Comments 

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Sep

30

Wide Open posts, 9/27 & 9/28

Filed Under Civil Rights, Congress, Elections, Government, Ohio, Politics, Women | Leave a Comment

Show them the money; Hackett and Palmer together again; Dennis Kucinich and his millions; Paula Tobias; Big Brother in Akron:

How many emails did you get this weekend asking you for political contributions? (9/29/07)

Hackett pressing 10th’s flesh while Kucinich pushes away press (9/28/07)

Kucinich, Boehner spend over $1mil on staffs, via LegiStorm (9/28/07)

Profile: Lorain mayoral candidate, Paula Tobias (9/28/07)

Akron Police Dept. installs security cameras a la London (9/28/07)

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 3:15 pm September 30th, 2007 in Civil Rights, Congress, Elections, Government, Ohio, Politics, Women | Please comment 

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Sep

29

Where we need to be, what we need to know

Filed Under Announcements, Tech, Women | Leave a Comment

Seems to expand exponentially every time I go into my RSS feed reader or my inbox for that matter. Yet, I’m still only 46 chromosomes and 5 feet 1 inches of me. What’s wrong with this picture?

1. She’s Geeky: A Women’s Tech (un)Conference

It is designed to provide women who self-identify as geeky and who are engaged in various technology-focused disciplines with a gathering space in which they can exchange skills and discuss ideas and form community across and within disciplines.

Our goal is to create an open space forum for women in tech to come together to:

  1. Exchange skills and learning from women from diverse fields of technology.
  2. Discuss topics about women and technology.
  3. Connect the diverse range of women in technology, computing, entrepreneurship, funding, hardware, open source, nonprofit and any other technical geeky field.

I don’t have to feel so so badly about not getting to something like this because even though I might be geeky, I don’t think I pass the “engaged in various technology-focused disciplines” bar.

But if you do? Here’s more vitals and for the rest, go to the site.

Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA.

October 22-23

Start Time: Noon on Monday

Ending Time: Close 6pm on Tuesday.

2. The Plain Dealer listed this Breast Cancer Brunch that will occur a week from today, Saturday, October 6 in Beachwood. The blurb says that the deadline to register is tomorrow. Go here for more info. Elizabeth Schulte, executive director of the Northern Ohio Breast Cancer Coalition Fund, is the speaker.

3. The International Women Leaders Global Security Summit

This event, in NYC from November 15-17, is one I hope, sometime in the next ten years, as a North Star kind of goal, along with being on Diane Rehm, making two more b’nai mitzvahs, surviving menopause and my 20th wedding anniversary, that actually comes to fruition. Oh – I forgot, and a Pulitzer. And a genius grant.

The goal of the Summit is to enhance the effectiveness of women’s leadership on global security through three main objectives.

The Summit will:

  • launch a process to amplify the efforts of women leaders and facilitate more collective action on global security
  • generate public awareness and support for women’s leadership on global security
  • generate ideas and increased resources for women’s leadership on global security

Now – will these women be lion mothers or sheep mothers? I don’t know, but Michelle Malkin has not written about the event from what I can tell.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 5:58 pm September 29th, 2007 in Announcements, Tech, Women | Please comment 

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Sep

29

Pepper Pike Democratic Club, Civic League hold candidate forums

Filed Under Announcements, Elections, Government, Politics | Leave a Comment

First up, the Pepper Pike Democratic Club, which meets on the first Wednesday of each month at 7pm at the Orange branch of the Cuyahoga County Library, will host a Candidates’ Night this Weds., October 3, for the Democratic and Independent candidates running for city council or the board of education in the November 6 election.

Then, on Tuesday, October 16, 2007, the Pepper Pike Civic League sponsors its Candidates and Issues Forum from 7:30 to 9:30pm at Brady Middle School.

Candidates:

Mayor: Bruce Akers, incumbent, unopposed

City Council, choose three: Allan Krulak (D), Gail Mayland (D), Cleve Svetlik (R); all are incumbents and, according to this Chagrin Herald Sun news item, Joshua Schaffer (the pictures still freak me out), a twenty-something University of Akron student who had filed to run as an Independent, has withdrawn from the race.

Orange School Board, choose two: Tom Bonda (D), Cindy Eickhoff; both are incumbents and are running unopposed

Issues

Appears to be, per the League’s flyer, only the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority renewal request for an 0.13 Mill levy (13 cents per $1,000 of valuation) “for five years for the purpose of the Authority’s budget.”

I think we’re fairly sure that the repeal the adult entertainment restrictions law effort will not be on the ballot.

As an aside, I live here.  I know it’s not peach keen.  I know many, many active parents and adults.  The only reason I know of as to why no one else runs against anyone for anything is resources – time, money and family support in terms of time and money.  To run for a position requires an immense effort if you aren’t one of the incumbents.  But once you are, look how they sail?

I know every single one of the folks – they’re fine to good to great.  But new blood? Not so much.  I don’t know if that’s good or bad.  But stasis is a problem in general in leadership, when everything around you is dynamic.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 5:24 pm September 29th, 2007 in Announcements, Elections, Government, Politics | Please comment 

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Sep

29

Remains of the Week, 9/24-29/07

Filed Under Blogging, Business, Cleveland+, Education, Marketing, Ohio, Politics, Remains of the Day, Women | 6 Comments

How’s that for a catch-all?

1. Great web-related, entrepreneur-related, youth isn’t wasted-related, girls and tech-related article courtesy of a Positivity post from Tom Blumer at Bizzy Blog.

2. Piss off a censor, read a book, from Bill Sloat.

3. Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson wants to use the Hopkins Cleveland police to re-instate an FT gang unit.

4. Are you one of the disenfranchised absentee ballot Akron voters?

5. MoveOn’s “Petraeus Betray Us” versus Rush Limbaugh’s “phony soldiers” – the slide down the slippery slope accelerates.

6. FIELD TRIP! to the Hanna Tech Hotel. H/t Brewed Fresh Daily, I think, though I can’t find the original post because George doesn’t believe in search tools on his blog!

7. Deer? On our roads? Causing up to 60,000 collisions a year? Nooooooo! You’re kidding! How about, DUH! Because municipalities keep telling their residents that re-zoning for commercial or multi-house residential units is the only viable use and then developers clear-cut forests, not unlike my new neighbors, who’ve increased my wildlife population 10-fold. What I most love about this link? The tips. OH. MY. GAWD. Sooooo not helpful. Ugh.

8. Women dominate college enrollment. Tom, I’m telling you, women don’t care so much about treating like queens as they do getting what they’re worth.

9. I’m really unhappy about Myanmar. Here’s the video being reviewed by Japan re: the Japanese photog that was killed in Rangoon/Yangon. Here’s an excellent Wall Street Journal piece on how citizen journalists are evading the news blackout there. Eric Vessels sent me a link to this statement by the Dalia Lama.

10. The National Networker – anyone familiar with this company? I’m not exactly sure I understand what they do, but there sure are a lot of people working there and they have a blog.

11. Native Clevelander Adam Brandon comments on BFD about an 11/15 Cleveland diaspora event on Capitol Hill where he hopes to remind people of how great Cleveland is. Thank you, Adam. I agree. More on Recruiting to Cleveland here and the IdentiFYI project – another BFD hattip.

12. LeBron James hosts Saturday Night Live tonight, per Crains.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 4:54 pm September 29th, 2007 in Blogging, Business, Cleveland+, Education, Marketing, Ohio, Politics, Remains of the Day, Women | 6 Comments 

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Sep

29

Googling applicants becoming standard, says HR survey

Filed Under Blogging, Business, Marketing | 3 Comments

Once again, I’ve read HR Magazine’s articles in the print edition before its available online. Given that Oct. 1 is Monday, I don’t know – don’t you think it should be available by now, in this day and age? What’s particularly odd about the lag is that the print edition includes, on page 7, an entire page of “SHRM Online highlights” – none of which are available yet, even though I have the print version in hand. For example, an online-only article titled, “Facebook Face-Off: workers surfing the Internet social networking site Facebook during the workday could be costing employers millions of dollars in wasted time” isn’t here at the link listed in the print edition, which I have. Boo.

In any case, I’ll try to come back here and include the links once they’re up – but no guarantees.

The October issue (which I assume will be highlighted on this link in the next couple of days and be archived here) includes three article of distinction for bloggers in its “HR Technology Special Report” section:

1. “Counting on Collaboration” focuses on the variety of tools available for connecting on work projects through computer software. I’m typing now from the hard copy:

Today’s collaborative tools fall into two broad groups: tools created for a web-based function, and collaborative platforms designed for various disciplines from supply chain management to HR processes to general knowledge sharing.

The first category, known as Web 2.0, includes blogs…and wikis.

[snip]

Web 2.0 provides some of the building blocks for the second category-collaborative platforms, which include HR areas such as recruiting and performance manangement. Most of this software is built on Internet open standards, including, in the case of HR-specific products, the tags and schemas developed by the HR-XML Consortium….

Honestly? You’ll have to wait for the link on that one because I don’t have a clue as to what the couple of sentences after that one means, let alone get my fingers to tap it out on the laptop keyboard.

The mag provides a “A Glossary of Collaboration Tools” which, I’m extremely excited to note, I actually knew all of (bad sentence sorry very much writing like I talk, or think): blog, collaboration platform, instant messaging, podcast, RSS, Search engine, video conferencing, web conferencing, whiteboard, wiki.

Other than that platform paragraph, I’m feeling proud of myself for knowing these terms. But now I can’t decide: am I that far ahead, or so many others – who should be up to speed, I would have thought – so far behind?

2. “How Deep Can You Probe?”

An issue that will never die so long as the Internet exists: “Many employers are going online to check out job candidates. But does the practice carry hidden risks?”

Oy.

Okay – well – what new can we add to what’s already been discussed in the Ohio blogosphere on this topic?

According to data quoted in the mag’s article that cites the 2007 Advances in e-Recruiting Leveraging the .jobs domain survey by SHRM (survey available only to members):

…nearly half of the HR professionals who responded run a candidate’s name through a search engine like Google or Yahoo! before making an offer. About one in five of those HR professionals [10% of the total number who responded] who conduct such searches said they have disqualified a candidate because of what they uncovered.

Some 15 percent of the HR professionals who responded to the SHRM survey said they check social networking sites like MySpace and its fast-growing competitor Facebook to see what a job candidate has posted…Some 40 percent of survey respondents who don’t now go to the sites say they are “somewhat likely” or “very likely” to visit them in the next 12 months. In most cases, checking such a site only takes a few moments.

Don’t we know it?

How many responded to the survey?

Surveys were emailed to 3,000 randomly selected SHRM members and yielded 450 responses. In addition, surveys were sent to 1,050 organizations that use a “.jobs” domain and yielded 152 responses. The survey results examine differences among .jobs and non-.jobs organizations by organization staff size and employment sector.

Well, then, in regard to concerns about what is the industry standard? These numbers go to HR professionals. Do HR professionals work in formal political party offices? I don’t know, and I’m not sure that’s even relevant.

What’s relevant is that these kinds of resources exists, the resource is being used by people who hire people and more people who hire people expect to be using these resources in the near future.

So people who want to be hired? For any job? You need to be aware too.

3. “Blogging for Talent”

This article addresses “recruitment blogs” and includes a tips sidebar for corporate recruitment blogs. Examples of such blogs include those done by T-Mobile’s WirelessJobs and Microsoft’s JobsBlogs‘ and Backstage at Accenture (that one is kind of fun).

Final wise idea:

Employers with successful blogs think of them as conversations with those who contact their sites and make sure that corporate language is not used in place of the blogger’s own voice.

In any kind of blogging, is there really anything else?

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:18 pm September 29th, 2007 in Blogging, Business, Marketing | 3 Comments 

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Sep

29

Thousands in blogging scholarship money, deadlines approach

Filed Under Announcements, Blogging, Education, Media, Writing | 9 Comments

Here are two, both offering up to $10,000 in sscholarship money for college students who blog. One is intended for conservative-libertarian bloggers, the other is less specific. Jerid Kurtz won the 2007 Political Blogging Scholarship from College Scholarships for his work on The New Hampshire Project – an outstanding demonstration of primary sourcing by a blogger – but that award wasn’t part of this particular competition.

The college conservative-libertarian competition from America’s Future Foundation, application deadline: December 31, 2007:

America’s Future Foundation is pleased to announce a nationwide contest for the best conservative or libertarian college blogger. The purpose of the contest is to encourage original liberty-minded blogger journalism on college campuses and to identify young conservative and libertarian talent who wish to pursue careers as journalists and writers.

The contest is open to all graduate and undergraduate bloggers age 25 and younger. The winning blog will be awarded a cash prize of $10,000, and be invited to be a panelist at an AFF Roundtable on higher education in Washington, D.C. Awards will be announced on April 7, 2008.

Read more details here.

The College Scholarships’ competition, submission deadline: Midnight PST on Oct. 6th:

Scholarship Requirements:

  • Your blog must contain unique and interesting information about you and/or things you are passionate about. No spam bloggers please!!!
  • U.S. citizen or permanent resident;
  • Currently attending full-time in post-secondary education in the United States; and
  • If you win, you must be willing to allow us to list your name and blog on this page. We want to be able to say we knew you before you became a well educated, rich, and famous blogging legend.

And their philosophy:

At College Scholarships.org we believe that everyone deserves a shot at a decent education. And we love bloggers. Not for the least of reasons, because we blog, and one of the founders of this site makes a living as a blogger. :)

We believe passion is important. As the world gets more competitive, those who are passionate about what they do, and work close to their passions, will be able to become and stay successful even as technology and automation eat away at many business models. Those who are willing to share their experiences with the world help make the world a better place, even if most bloggers only consider blogging a hobby.

We believe those who freely express themselves are far more likely to find their true passions and connect with people to bring on large scale social change.

I’ve actually interviewed Dan Kovach, the person who started Collegescholarships.org and he’s a bit of an enigma, but very charming and knowledgeable and, apparently, successful.  Since I wrote this post about him, he was profiled by CNN Money.

If he’s helping bloggers, and helping college students, it’s hard to diss him.  Yet.  But I’m always wary of those rising stars, you know.

I still have to figure out if I can persuade him to offer a mid-life blogging scholarship, or a women’s blogging scholarship.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:56 am September 29th, 2007 in Announcements, Blogging, Education, Media, Writing | 9 Comments 

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Sep

28

Retirement planning ISO young’uns on YouTube, MySpace

Filed Under Blogging, Business, Marketing, Media | 2 Comments

From BenefitNews.com (behind free registration), more business uses of viral video:

Jack, and his Einstein-inspired guru Doc, are the stars of a series of three videos being broadcast through YouTube and MySpace that track Jack’s journey to financial literacy. The clips were produced by a start-up company called FeelSmartAbout as a way to educate young workers about retirement planning.

“How do we get young individuals in their 20s to really change their behavior and their approach to retirement?” says Christian Echavarria, the founder and president of the upstart, based outside of Pittsburgh. “That is the biggest need in the industry.”

They’re delivered by YouTube email alerts to entice users to learn about 401(K) plans and other products.

Have you received any? Would you watch the videos and act on it?  Some storylines in the videos include:

So far, a spot called “Make A Date” – a spoof of the dating game where a damsel chooses between three eligible bachelors: a conservative-talking bear, a fast-and-loose bull and a human, whose investing philosophy is somewhere in between – has been viewed 18 times. The balanced portfolio gets the girl.

In another spoof, “The Fugitive,” the manhunt focuses on a perp who fails to participate in his 401(k). It has been downloaded 36 times.

Here’s more about the company that’s produced the video, FeelSmartAbout.

You can read the article from the issue’s pdf if you don’t want to register.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:26 am September 28th, 2007 in Blogging, Business, Marketing, Media | 2 Comments 

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Sep

27

Remains of the Day, 9-27-07

Filed Under Remains of the Day | Leave a Comment

1. Top Ten Reasons to Love Cleveland (and the post is a good reason to love Michelle’s blog, thanks for the tip, BFD).

2. In case I need more reasons to leave SPJ, I can start and end with the fact that its President thinks Michael Wolff’s Vanity Fair piece was “wonderful” and his project, Newser.com is “brilliant.” So very, very not.

3. Hate crimes legislation gets out of Senate.

4.  Myanmar, first-person reportage.  A perfect example as to why sanctions etc. are such dubious tools, even for those of us who wish they would work.  Some governments are impervious, period, to any and all tactics.

5. Wide Open posts today:

Shield law lurches forward

Ohio utility complaint line opens

Major college cost assistance arrives

6. Anybody ever been to or plan on going to Wikimania?

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:00 pm September 27th, 2007 in Remains of the Day | Please comment 

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Sep

27

No gains in reading as Bush’s Reading First cronies profit

Filed Under Education, Government | Leave a Comment

The National Assessment of Educational Progress results for the 2007 Nation’s Report Card, while good for Ohio in general (though limited to the extent that they’re meaningful since they’re intended to help us compare the U.S. to other countries, thank you Janet Okoben of the Plain Dealer for explaining that this morning on WCPN – I didn’t really realize that), showed problems with gaining achievement in reading. From the NAEP executive summary for reading:

The average reading score for eighth-graders was up 1 point since 2005 and 3 points since 1992; however, the trend of increasing scores was not consistent over all assessment years. In comparison to both 1992 and 2005, the percentage of students performing at or above the Basic level increased, but there was no significant change in the percentage of students at or above the Proficient level.

Likewise, as Stateline reports, the very important effort to close the so-called achievement gap between white and minority students isn’t getting the gains desired.

One of No Child Left Behind’s main goals is to close the achievement gap between white and minority students. On that, results were mixed. Scores for most ethnics groups have increased since 1992. But since the last NAEP test in 2005, the gap between white and black students narrowed only slightly, while the gap between white and Hispanic students was unchanged. The gaps also remain substantial, about 26 points in reading.

So, as I heard the reviews of the reading stats, all I could think about was this post last February and this post last April about the U.S. Department of Education’s Inspector General saying, in this report, that yes, the DOE had improperly tried to get schools to choose from only certain Reading First curriculums, and those were sold by a company operated by a major Bush donor.

Sigh.

Where’s that investigation these days?

I’m not sure, but I’m looking into it and I’ll let you know what I learn.

An appalling side note, especially given the IG’s report and the not impressive NAEP reading results is that the federal government wants to replicate Reading First for math.

Run away, as fast as you can.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:25 pm September 27th, 2007 in Education, Government | Please comment 

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Sep

27

OH-14 Dem candidate, Bill O’Neill on LaTourette’s “bipartisan” behavior

Filed Under Congress, Military, Ohio | 1 Comment

Two days ago, I wrote this in a Remains of the Day post:

2. I would like to hear Democratic candidate for OH-14, Bill O’Neill’s opinion on Steve LaTourette’s move to join this bipartisan group allegedly saying enough is enough.

The effort is officially known as the Bipartisan Compact on Iraq Debate.  This press release includes the following principles to which the signators say they agree:

We agree that the U.S. Congress must end the political in-fighting over the conflict in Iraq and commit immediately to a truly bipartisan dialogue on the issues we are facing.

 

We agree that efforts to eliminate funding for U.S. forces engaged in combat and in harm’s way in Iraq would put at risk the safety and security of our service members.

 

We agree that there must be a clearly defined and measurable mission for our continued military involvement in Iraq. This mission must be further and continually defined so that the military and the country are aware of the end goal of our mission in Iraq and what progress toward that goal is being achieved.

 

We agree that the Government of Iraq must now be responsible for Iraq’s future course. The Government must continue to make progress on the legislative benchmarks outlined in Section 1314 of the recent Supplemental Appropriations Act (PL110-28).

 

We agree that it is critical for members of the U.S. Armed Forces, including members of the reserve components, to have adequate rest and recuperation periods between deployments.

 

We agree that a safe and responsible redeployment of U.S. Armed Forces from Iraq, based on recommendations from our military and foreign policy leaders, is necessary to transition the combat mission over to the Iraqi forces.

 

We agree that the continued military mission of U.S. combat forces must lead to a timely transition to conducting counterterrorism operations, protecting the U.S. Armed Forces, supporting and equipping Iraqi forces to take full responsibility for their own security, assisting refugees, and preventing genocide.

 

We agree that U.S. diplomatic efforts should continue to be improved and that the U.S. State Department must engage in robust diplomacy with Iraq’s neighbors in the Middle East to address the Iraq conflict.

None of the representatives who signed, out of 14 Democrats and 14 Republicans, with the exception of LaTourette – are from Ohio.  And none of the Dems are from any of the Midwestern states.

So, I asked and, today, received a response from O’Neill, via Toby Fallsgraff:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 27, 2007

CONTACT: Toby Fallsgraff, 440.247.7340, woneill08@gmail.com
HEADLINE: O’Neill Calls LaTourette’s ‘Bipartisan’ Iraq Compact a
‘Political Stunt’

CHAGRIN FALLS, Ohio – Democratic candidate for Congress Bill O’Neill
(OH-14), who earned a Bronze Star for his service in Vietnam and whose
son served in Afghanistan and Iraq, released the following statement
today in reaction to Rep. Steve LaTourette’s signing the “Bipartisan
Compact on the Iraq Debate”:

“I agree that bipartisan efforts are the only way we are going to get
our troops out of harm’s way. But this compact appears to be nothing
more than empty words in lieu of action – an attempt to put a happy
face on what has become a foreign policy disaster.

“It’s hard to take Rep. LaTourette seriously when his record simply
doesn’t match up to his words.

“This compact requires that our troops have adequate recuperation
periods between deployments. But last month Rep. LaTourette voted
against a bipartisan bill that would have done just that (H.R. 3159).
And this compact requires a mission that is ‘clearly defined and
measurable’ – a goal I applaud. But Rep. LaTourette has consistently
voted against such measures.

“It is intellectually dishonest to suggest that defunding this war
places our troops in peril. The truth is that funding without
benchmarks is precisely what has placed our troops in peril over the
past four years.

“This bipartisan compact is nothing more than a political stunt. And
our men and women in Iraq deserve so much better.”

# # #

You can also find it here on his campaign website.

I’d like to thank Toby and whomever else in O’Neill’s campaign who saw my Remains item for reading WLST and then taking the time to convey what they saw and then more time for answering the question.

Political stunt? Probably similar to the wasted time spent on slapping Moveon.org’s wrist over its very poorly chosen New York Times ad about General Petraeus.

Though very much unlike that stunt?  I expect that there will be little to no impact, discussion or other notice of what LaTourette signed.

If I were him, I’d be paying a lot more attention to his upcoming race in the 14th.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 3:53 pm September 27th, 2007 in Congress, Military, Ohio | 1 Comment 

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Sep

27

Bush signs major college cost assistance, loan forgiveness bill

Filed Under Announcements, Education, Government | Leave a Comment

Not to over-pimp the new Wide Open blog, but here’s the entry I wrote over there on this topic.

This bill, now law, has been a long time coming.  As Bush is quoted saying in this CNN story:

U.S. President George W. Bush signed a $20 billion expansion in student aid and deep cuts in federal subsidies to lenders into law Thursday, just as concern over the legislation and weak credit markets threaten the proposed purchase of student lender SLM Corp. (SLM).

At a White House signing ceremony, Bush said the bill will help bring higher education to millions of low-income U.S. citizens through the expansion of federal Pell grants.

“I love the fact that this country is dedicated to helping people who want to realize their dream,” Bush said. “The College Cost Reduction and Access Act expands one of America’s most important and successful education initiatives – the federal Pell grant program.”

I didn’t think it would happen, but I am extremely content that it has. I previously referred to the effort in May in two different posts, here and here.

Noticeably absent from this White House presser?  No mention of the massive loan forgiveness program that’s now law.  Here’s the specs on the bill, and specifically, loan forgiveness, from the National Association of Financial Aid Administrators:

Title IV – LOAN FORGIVENESS

The proposed legislation would allow the Secretary of Education to cancel the balance of any interest and principal due on any Federal Direct Loan – including Direct Stafford, PLUS, or Consolidation Loan – that is not in default for borrowers who:

  • Have made 120 monthly payments on a Direct Loan after October 1, 2007 as part of an income contingent repayment plan or a standard repayment plan based on a 10-year repayment schedule
  • Are employed in a “public service job” and has been employed in a public service job during the 120 payment period.

A public service job is defined as a full-time job in emergency management, government, military service, public safety, law enforcement, public health, public education, social work, public interest law services, child care, public library sciences, or any other job at an organization that is described in section 501(C)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

Here’s the text of Bush’s comments upon signing the bill.  Not one mention of loan forgiveness.

Sourpuss.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:41 pm September 27th, 2007 in Announcements, Education, Government | Please comment 

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Sep

26

WLST on WCPN

Filed Under Announcements, WCPN/SOI | Leave a Comment

And it’s going to be quite the show:

Reporters’ Roundtable: A Merger, a Moratorium, and a Motor Company
Workers at General Motors head back to assembly lines after a two-day strike. The American Bar Association pushes for a moratorium on the death penalty in Ohio. And, how do you like the sound of this? A $174 fine for jaywalking in Cleveland. We’ll talk about those stories, plus a possible state university merger and a few others. Join us Thursday morning at nine.

Guests:
Jill Miller Zimon, blogger, Writes Like She Talks
Janet Okoben, education reporter, The Plain Dealer
Jeff Stacklin, online editor, Crain’s Cleveland Business

You can listen live from here or at your leisure from here, all courtesy of WCPN and its Sound of Ideas show.

I received word late this afternoon of an additional surprise but since it’s not posted on the site yet, I won’t give it away. I will only say that it’s very Cleveland-centric and relevant to much that’s been going on.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:25 pm September 26th, 2007 in Announcements, WCPN/SOI | Please comment 

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Sep

26

Specs, roll call on Lieberman-Kyl non-binding resolution

Filed Under Government, Military | 4 Comments

First of all, another “not voting” for Obama.  I’m sorry, but that is just not okay.  He has got to vote on this stuff or he loses all rights to stick others with their votes.  Bad, bad form.

Second, read the details here at The Carpetbagger Report and see the roll call here. From Carpetbagger:

In the 11th hour, the Lieberman-Kyl measure was pulled, so that proponents could give the language a little touch-up. It came back today, and passed fairly easily.

The Kyl-Lieberman Iran amendment — which ratchets up the confrontation with Iran by calling for the designation of its armed forces a terrorist organization responsible for killing U.S. troops — just passed overwhelmingly, 76-22.

Of the Dem Presidential candidates, Hillary voted for the measure, Joe Biden and Chris Dodd opposed it, and Barack Obama missed the vote. On the GOP side, John McCain missed the vote.

To be sure, the revised version is preferable to the original. Two offending paragraphs, in particular, were omitted entirely, including the notion that “it should be the policy of the United States to combat, contain, and roll back the violent activities and destabilizing influence inside Iraq of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, its foreign facilitators such as Lebanese Hezbollah, and its indigenous Iraqi proxies.”

Indeed, the original resolution also included language that the Senate would “support the prudent and calibrated use of all instruments of United States national power in Iraq, including diplomatic, economic, intelligence, and military instruments,” as part of our drive to “combat” Iran’s “destabilizing influence.”

Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown voted against it and George Voinovich voted for it.

So, anyone think more about this post’s ideas yet?

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 6:03 pm September 26th, 2007 in Government, Military | 4 Comments 

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Sep

26

Pitch the Huffington Post-no money, just eyes

Filed Under Blogging, Politics, Writing | 5 Comments

USA Today carried a superduper secret today, one that all freelance writers ache to find once they’ve identified a market for which they want to write: information on where to send a pitch.

The Huffington Post doesn’t include this email address anywhere on the site, at least not where I could find it.  And, once I found it in the article, I googled it and again, it didn’t turn up anywhere except in the USA Today article.

So – what is it?

Most bloggers (you have to be invited in or ask to be invited via pitch@huffingtonpost.com) get a password that allows them access to the site. Some non-techies use other methods. Actor Alec Baldwin faxes his stuff in. Late historian Arthur Schlesinger used to call Huffington and dictate.

Go forth and multiple those pitches, bloggers.

P.S. – as you might imagine, there’s no money in it.  But the HuffPo is around #5 on most “most read blog” lists.  Lots of eyes glossing over the screen at your words and thoughts.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 3:37 pm September 26th, 2007 in Blogging, Politics, Writing | 5 Comments 

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Sep

26

Carnival of Ohio Politics #84 now posted

Filed Under Announcements, Blogging, Carnivals | Leave a Comment

Scott of Pho’s Akron Pages had the honor of putting together this week’s Carnival of Ohio Politics – #84 – cue Twilight Zone music.

Thanks to Scott who edited it with great aplomb (I just never get to use that word).

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 3:10 pm September 26th, 2007 in Announcements, Blogging, Carnivals | Please comment 

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Sep

26

E-Verify puts duty on businesses to determine immigration status

Filed Under Business, Government, Immigration | Leave a Comment

This article from the Oregon Statesman Journal describes a new tool that American businesses will be expected to use in order to detect a prospective employee’s immigration status.

On Tuesday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services added a new photo-screening tool to its E-Verify program, formerly the Basic Pilot program.

The system uses the Internet to verify a newly hired worker’s employment eligibility.

“The photo tool enhancement will give employers an additional resource to help verify identity and employment authorization status,” said USCIS Director Emilio Gonzalez.

The photo tool allows employers to check the validity of an applicant’s Employment Authorization Document (EAD), a permit to work in the United States, or a Permanent Resident Card, known as a green card, with images stored in the USCIS’ databases.

You can learn more about E-Verify here and Washington Technology’s spread is also helpful.

What I note:

E-Verify, run by the U.S. government – the Deparment of Homeland Security, says that it is free and voluntary.  Yet, it exists.  So, what, if any, business-wide standard will come to exist?

I’m not aware of the extent to which E-Verify currently is used, so I can’t say if use of it is considered an expectation of every company.

But logic would tell me this:

Americans want to reduce illegal immigration.  Business have used illegal immigrants to keep down costs.  Businesses have said that it’s difficult to figure out if someone is illegal or not.  The government has implemented a free and electronic way for businesses to learn about a prospective hire’s immigration status.

How can we not expect that businesses should do this?

That expectation doesn’t mean that no other measures are necessary but only that businesses can no longer get off the hook for lame excuses about not knowing or not being able to verify.

I’ve written about my expectations for businesses in regard to immigration here.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:57 pm September 26th, 2007 in Business, Government, Immigration | Please comment 

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Sep

26

Lawsuits littering AT&T’s path to planting boxes on our yards

Filed Under Business, Government, Utilities | Leave a Comment

Lisa Renee at Glass City Jungle posts the entry we knew we’d see eventually that details the multiplying municipal lawsuits against AT&T as the company tries to implant its metal boxes on people’s lawns.

You can catch up on the history and passage of SB 117, the enabling legislation, here at Bill Callahan’s Cleveland Diary. I wrote about it in these posts.

Are you aware of any similar actions that should be added to the list?

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:37 pm September 26th, 2007 in Business, Government, Utilities | Please comment 

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Sep

26

Borgemenke’s smugness won’t safeguard OH GOP agenda

Filed Under Government, Ohio, Politics, Statehouse | 1 Comment

Yesterday morning, I wrote here about how Scott Borgemenke, chief of staff for Ohio House Speaker, Republican and future candidate for something we don’t know yet, Jon Husted, said that not much would happen in the Ohio legislature this fall that would hinge on the dwindling numbers of Republican house members who actually will be present and working. I suggested that maybe he shouldn’t be so smug and maybe Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, a Democrat, shouldn’t be underestimated about being aware of and taking advantage of the situation.

Well, today, the Columbus Dispatch published this article, “GOP carving out its agenda.”

Let’s take a look at what they’re looking at, according to the article (all bold is mine to indicate the issue involved):

1 & 2. “Gov. Ted Strickland-opposed measures [two exist and Husted has said which he prefers] that would cut the estate tax and create a special-education voucher program.”

The extent of opposition to the estate tax cuts, according to the article:

Strickland opposes any estate-tax cut in light of the tight budget, spokesman Keith Dailey said. House Minority Leader Joyce Beatty, D-Columbus, also opposes a cut.

“From everything I’ve looked at, this is something that only touches 2 percent of the population,” Beatty said. “The argument that people are fleeing Ohio because of this, I find that very hard to believe.”

And for special ed vouchers:

The governor also hasn’t changed his mind since June, when he used his line-item veto to eliminate a special-education voucher proposal from the state budget. Rep. Jon M. Peterson, R-Delaware, is drafting a new version.

3. “Deciding how to re-regulate Ohio’s electricity industry will top the fall agenda.”

Strickland’s plan is SB 221 and there’s to be an announcement about it this afternoon. Here’s more on the support it’s garnered so far and the bill’s introduction.

4. “clarify state gambling law in order to ban the electronic wagering machines that are popping up across the state.”

5. “A proposal from Auditor Mary Taylor that would create an Office of Internal Auditing, where internal agency audits would be reported. Strickland in July issued an executive order creating a similar office.” I believe Strickland’s been a “not interested” on this one.

6. “House Bill 125, a doctor-supported plan that creates standardized contracts between health-care providers and third-party payers.”

7. “House Bill 230, which bans anyone younger than 18 from indoor tanning without a doctor’s prescription.” Read more

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:46 pm September 26th, 2007 in Government, Ohio, Politics, Statehouse | 1 Comment 

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Sep

25

Remains of the Day, 9-25-07

Filed Under Remains of the Day | 3 Comments

1. Deja vu all over again.

2. I would like to hear Democratic candidate for OH-14, Bill O’Neill’s opinion on Steve LaTourette’s move to join this bipartisan group allegedly saying enough is enough.

3.  Speaking of candidate O’Neill, Yellow Dog Sammy provides good info on an upcoming fundraiser (this weekend) for the former judge.

4. The PD wants you to tell their editors that they’re full of…well, something like that for a new blog they have called Post & Riposte. (Gmillner is Gloria Millner, the PD’s op-ed page editor.)

5. Speaking of new PD blogs, here are my posts so far on Wide Open:

Today:

Akron votes are trees no one heard fall

GOP gap in Ohio GA gives Strickland an ad

Yesterday:

Why does Dayton Daily News report political shift in Medina?

New Cleveland private high school: Montessori de-mystified

PD editorial CYA: supporting federal shield law when we’re all supposedly protected by First Amendment

Was anyone happy with AGs Petro and Montgomery?

6.  Poynter on the linguistics of Petraeus and betray us.

Thanks for reading.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:23 pm September 25th, 2007 in Remains of the Day | 3 Comments 

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