Ohio GOP Throwing Children Under the School Bus?

Last week I posted news about Ohio AG putting the screws on failing charter schools. Apparently this has prompted the Ohio GOP, ever committed to special interests, to play fun and games by filing suit against public schools.

The AP reports that the suit was filed by Republican Bill Todd. He has no standing in the case, unless you count his desire to be mayor of Columbus. Todd is suing the BOE, claiming that the method of funding (by property taxes in each school district) is unfair.

I don't know what planet Bill Todd has been living on, but here on Earth the Ohio Supreme Court has declared the school funding system unconstitutional FOUR times. It's his friends in the state legislature who haven't done anything. But he won't pressure his colleagues in the legislature (which his party still controls); he wants to file a lawsuit instead.

I thought only communist liberals pushed their agendas with lawsuits? I guess it's only communist if you sue a corporation.

The Dispatch's Robert Vitale reports the unsurprising news that Todd has ties to pro-charter groups White Hat and School Choice Ohio. And that explains why Todd would rather push a pro-charter agenda with a lawsuit rather than pressure politicians for productive fixes to the system. It's not about giving children better schools; it's about serving a key GOP special interest.

What was Kevin DeWine saying just the other day...?

Airshow at Blue Ash Airport this Weekend!

I thought about it recently, and I decided that I like planes. Other flying machines, too-- and there are many; one company is even trying to make a commuter blimp.

Hence, I'm thinking about the "Airport Days" airshow at the Blue Ash airport this Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $10 ($8 if ordered online) for those 12 and over. Proceeds benefit Children's Hospital. And if the airplanes don't do it for me, I can always ride the monster truck SUDDEN IMPACT for $5. A gigantic mud pit would make that very hard to resist.

Got Irony?

Two items ironically juxtaposed in the Wilmington News Journal. First is the letter "Another vote of no confidence for Bush". This is followed by the article "DeWine: Republican Party Still Strong".

The irony continues, as one would expect from an article quoting a Republican:

Kevin DeWine said he has learned that people want smaller government, lower taxes, fiscal discipline, moral character and ethical conduct.

In other words, people want the opposite of what Republicans have been doing.

I Swear I am not Making this Up

Another public service announcement from the Clark St. Blog...

GladRags, a leading manufacturer of alternative menstrual products, is pleased to announce the Moon Cup. The Moon Cup is a tampon alternative made from medical-grade silicone that is designed to "catch" the menstrual flow rather than absorbing it... Soft and durable, the product should last for 10 years before needing replacement and can save a woman as much as $800 over the lifetime of the cup. The Moon Cup is made in the U.S.

It is estimated that a woman will use as many as 16,000 tampons over the course of her life. A 1998 study concluded that 6.5 billion tampons and 13.5 billion sanitary pads were disposed of in one year's time. These products, often laden with chemicals such as dioxins, end up in landfills and sewer systems, sometimes even washing up on U.S. coastlines.

Yes, the company is actually called GladRags. Here's the website in case you still think I'm making it up.

Abramoff/Ney Associate Receives Sentence

I know he helped prosecutors, but shouldn't slapping democracy in the face deserve more than a slap on the wrist?

A former chief of staff to ex-Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio was sentenced to probation Wednesday for his role in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, avoiding a stiffer sentence because he has been so helpful in prosecuting others.

Prosecutors asked Huvelle to sentence Volz to home confinement, but she instead gave him two years of probation, 100 hours of community service and a $2,000 fine.

The Justice Department probe of influence peddling by Abramoff and his team of lobbyists has led to convictions of a dozen people, including Ney, former White House official David Safavian and former Deputy Interior Secretary Steven Griles.

Volz, who went to work for Abramoff after leaving Ney’s staff, provided information about trips to Scotland, New Orleans and Lake George that Ney went on, largely paid for by Abramoff.

Volz received abusive phone messages from Ney – which Volz provided to the government — when the congressman suspected Volz of cooperating with prosecutors.

Ohio AG Goes After Charter Schools

First of all, Ohio's Attorney General should be Subodh Chandra, not Marc Dann. As I pointed out in this post and then this post, Chandra was a superior candidate and a rock star on the campaign trail. The only reason ODP endorsed Dann is because it prioritized party loyalty over qualifications, as detailed in this post. And the ODP wonders why it's the object of ridicule and scorn.

But Dann is doing the right thing in going after under-performing charter schools. The Dayton Business Courier and the Daily Briefing report that Dann is filing suit against two Dayton charter schools which have together received $17m in public funding.

One of the Dayton schools, New Choices Community School, has met only 1 of 29 academic performance standards during its six years of operation as a middle school...

The other, the Colin Powell Leadership Academy, has met only 1 of 61 standards in six years of operation.

Both schools also received an 'F' on the state performance index.

And it's not just public money that the schools are wasting. The Thomas B. Fordham foundation has given $75k to the New Choices school and over $275k to the Colin Powell Academy for these underwhelming results.

Children deserve better.

Bengals Forecast

I think the Bengals' success this season will be determined by the running game and the defense. The passing game is always solid; we can always count on that. But it does create a problem: the fast-scoring passing offense means that our defense has to spend more time on the field dealing with the opponent's offense. And that hasn't worked out so well.

Hopefully our new additions to the defense will improve its woefully lackluster performance of last season. There is (or was) some concern that CB Leon Hall might get beaten by some of the better WRs, but is there a better way to prepare for the NFL than practicing on Chad Johnson, Houshmanzadeh, and Chris Henry? I doubt it.

The offense can take the pressure off by increasing time of possession with a good ground game. This is why the loss of Kenny Irons could turn out to be pretty serious. An ACL tear is pretty much the worst thing that can happen to an RB. Let's cross our fingers for a full recovery.

But as far as this season goes, the burden pretty much falls on Rudy Johnson's legs once again. If he stays healthy and the Bengals use him wisely then things might fall into place.

So basically the situation seems to be this: the running game is same as last year and the defense should be better (but to what extent, I'm not sure). I'd guess the odds of making the postseason at 50-50.

Local School Cafeterias Utilize Biometrics

In a previous post I linked to a story about a Dayton grocery store which installed biometric scanners as an alternative to traditional cash or credit payment.

Now comes news of Covington Catholic H.S. using finger scanners to debit student accounts for lunches:

The school was motivated to make the high-tech change by teen absent-mindedness that found some students often forgetting their cash or debit cards and holding up the line while they searched, she said.

The lunch room's three cashiers staff computer terminals that bring up the name and photograph of each student and how much money is left in his account. After a couple of clicks that take a few seconds to complete, the money is deducted and the student is on his way.

Austin Wise, a junior, said the system could move more smoothly.

The problem?

"Guys using cash slow things down."


Get used to it, old timers!

Strickland Outlines Energy Plan for Ohio

From the Post:

...his plan seeks the development of new sources of energy: clean coal, new nuclear power technologies, wind, water and the sun. He wants 25 percent of the power produced in Ohio to come from such sources.

The goal is to bring stability and predictability to Ohio's electric power industry. That in turn will attract new jobs and keep existing ones here, Strickland said. "Other states are, in fact, outperforming us," Strickland said in announcing the plan Wednesday.

Erin Bowser, executive director or Environment Ohio, a nonprofit advocacy group, said her group would have liked to have more of an emphasis on "clean" renewable energy, such as wind and solar power.

"Because we have lumped coal and nuclear power into this plan, we are continuing to not give the lift we need to renewables to develop," she said.

Ms. Bowser may have a fair point, but Strickland is correct that Ohio needs to step up and develop a more progressive and technologically advanced energy policy.

Wind power in particular can make a substantial contribution around Lake Erie, which is pretty much the only part of the state with consistently exploitable wind. But my feeling is that, wherever wind can be exploited, it should be.

Nuclear power is controversial, but my take is that it is "conditionally good," by which I mean that it's a good idea only if there is a high level of oversight, regulation, and transparency. Companies will do what they can get away with to reduce costs and increase profitability. It's human nature. The only way to prevent it is to keep them under constant scrutiny. So I think that's a necessary condition for nuclear power to be a viable option.

Huckabee and Brownback on Cancer

Lance Armstrong's cancer foundation held a Presidential debate on Monday. Of the Democrats, only Clinton, Edwards, Richardson, and Kucinich came. Only Brownback and Huckabee came from the Republican side.

This is the only debate I can recall not put on by the corporate media. It's worth noting for that alone. Since it discussed issues that would never show up in the typical debates, I thought it was worth posting some of what was said. I have to say that as I searched for articles, I discovered two things: First, the event seems not to have been covered very widely. Second, the only two articles I found were at TheHill.com and the Des Moines Register, and both discussed only the Republicans' comments.

Since that's all I found, here's what Brownback and Huckabee said:


Sen. Sam Brownback (Kan.) and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, promised to rejuvenate a “war on cancer” as president, but disagreed over the need for a federal ban on smoking in public places.

Brownback restated his campaign pledge to end cancer deaths within 10 years through a "substantial increase" in federal money for research - as much as triple the current $6 billion - and likened his plan to President Kennedy's promise to reach the moon.

Huckabee committed to signing a nationwide smoking ban in public places, should such a measure win approval in Congress. Brownback said he would let states and local communities continue to control anti-smoking efforts.

[Huckabee] added that he would put more emphasis on preventing chronic illnesses, including cancer. The primary policy goal should be “universal health,” not necessarily universal healthcare coverage, he said.