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Gender: Female
Status: In a Relationship
Age: 32
Sign: Taurus
City: CINCINNATI
State: Ohio
Country: US
Signup Date:
03/16/06
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October 11, 2008 - Saturday
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OH: Court halts voter verification
Category: News and Politics
Court halts voter verification
Hamilton Co. thinks thousands registered illegally
B y Terry Kinney • The Associated Press and Jessica Brown • October 11, 2008
A federal appeals court in Cincinnati sided with Ohio's top elections official Friday in her running battle with Republicans over how to verify the eligibility of newly registered voters.
A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put on hold an order from a federal judge that Democratic Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner institute the means to verify voter registration information and make it available to Ohio's 88 county election boards.
Brunner argued that it would take two to three days to create the necessary computer programs, and that nothing in the federal Help America Vote Act required her to do what the district court ordered. The appeals court agreed in a split decision.
"With less than a month until the election, and less than two weeks until the beginning of counting absentee ballots, the secretary cannot be required to undertake the extensive reprogramming and other changes to the election mechanics without complete disruption of the electoral process in Ohio," the majority said in its opinion.
"The irreparable harm to the voting public caused by the district court's order is equally clear."
U.S. District Judge George C. Smith in Columbus on Thursday had ordered Brunner to verify new registrations by comparing information on them with the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles or the Social Security Administration. He also ordered her to establish a process by which the county boards can access the information generated by the checks.
"The National Voter Registration Act does not permit registered voters to be removed based on computer matching. ... Indeed, the NVRA requires that 'any program the purpose of which is to systematically remove the names of ineligible voters from the official lists of eligible voters' must be completed at least 90 days prior to a federal election," the order read. "Given the fact that hurriedly reprogramming the database could lead to the purging of validly registered voters, we believe that it is in the best interest of the citizens of Ohio that we issue a stay of the district court's order."
Brunner praised the appeals-court decision, saying there are sufficient systems in place to verify new-voter registration.
"The ... Court of Appeals has halted another partisan lawsuit in Ohio," she said. "Under the Help America Vote Act, this verification process is not and has not been permitted to be used to determine a voter's eligibility."
But Republicans blasted Brunner as being partisan, and Ohio GOP Chairman Bob Bennett called her "the most partisan secretary of state in Ohio history."
"It's a shame we don't have transparency in this election. She has done everything she can to help her candidate," Bennett said. "To not even check the registrations is a travesty of the first class."
Bennett said the party's lawyers would determine the GOP's next step, including whether to appeal. A message seeking comment was left late Friday at the office of Bill Todd, a lawyer for the party.
Hamilton County officials believe thousands of new registrations may be fictitious.
The county Board of Elections has received at least 10,000 duplicate voter registrations this year and possibly thousands of fictitious ones, according to Deputy Director John Williams.
The problem appears to be particularly prevalent in registrations collected by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN.
The national group registers low-income, minority and young voters, and its registration campaigns have been marred by allegations of fraud.
It registered 224,000 people in Ohio over a 14-month period, primarily in urban areas, according to ACORN.
In Southwest Ohio, 99 percent of ACORN's work was done in Hamilton County, said Katy Gall of Ohio ACORN.
ACORN registered more than 1.3 million new voters in 21 states this year. Its goal is to "close the historic gap" in the demographics of American voters by registering typically under-represented groups such as low-income people, African-Americans, Latinos and youths.
The massive registration drive has been marred with concerns about registration fraud, though no cases have been confirmed.
ACORN's national spokesman, Brian Kettenring, acknowledged ACORN's work may not have been perfect. But he called the outcry partisan politics.
"The current strategy seems to be from the right to manufacture a crisis of voter fraud. And they're having some success," he said in a Friday conference call with reporters.
"If you can't shoot the message, if you can't stop the 1.3 million people from getting on the rolls, you can shoot the messenger. There's an attempt here to politicize the act of people getting involved in the process."
ACORN has its own safeguards to catch fictitious registrations. If potentially problematic registrations are found, they are flagged before being sent to the county boards of elections.
Workers are paid by the hour, not by the registration, and go through training. ACORN fires and co-operates with the prosecution of anyone found to have falsified registrations.
"The fact that it's happening in multiple locations is due to the fact that it was a huge registration drive," Kettenring said. "ACORN is the victim and they're being victimized twice in all this."
Hamilton County received more than 160,000 documents this year related to voter registration and change of address.
Of the more than 40,000 documents received from ACORN, about 10,000 have been duplicates and many have come back with invalid addresses.
Of the remaining documents, "I do believe fictitious ones are registered," said Williams "We don't cross-check this. That's supposed to be done on a statewide database. So if that isn't done, we don't have the resources to do it."
He said multiple registrations came in with the same name, but slightly different addresses or birth dates. His office has received calls from people saying they never filled out a registration card.
"It's a difficult problem to deal with," said Williams.
3:12 PM
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October 10, 2008 - Friday
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McCain’s Chilling Dance With the Dark Side
Category: News and Politics
One a more serious niote: go HERE to read this rest of this alarming column in the Washington Post.
McCain's Chilling Dance With the Dark Side
So the McCain camp is trying to raise doubts about Barack Obama -- even though the Illinois senator has been on the national stage for four years and has been under the presidential campaign microscope for the last 20 months. They seem to have no qualms appealing to the cultural fears of their agitated, and now energized, base by practically branding Obama as un-American or anti-American. And this is eliciting an ugliness at McCain-Palin events that is justifiably raising alarms that some nut job is going to act on the Republican ticket's cynical campaigning.
6:20 PM
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8 Comments - 10 Kudos
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That ONE in ’08
Category: News and Politics
I just typed in That One to see what would come up in Google. Found this Site. God Bless America.
4:31 AM
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2 Comments - 4 Kudos
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October 9, 2008 - Thursday
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Cincy: Officers sue city over politics ban
Category: News and Politics
October 9, 2008
Officers sue city over politics ban
By Dan Horn
dhorn@enquirer.com
Two Cincinnati police officers sued the city Wednesday over a rule that bars them from participating in political campaigns on their own time.
Keith Fangman and Paul Graves say the city's rule, which has been around since the 1920s, is unconstitutional because it prevents them from exercising their First Amendment right to free speech.
Fangman, who backs John McCain, and Graves, who supports Barack Obama, say they should be allowed to distribute campaign literature, donate money and go door-to-door soliciting votes on their off hours just like anyone else.
City officials say that kind of activity could make employees vulnerable to corruption or political pressure.
"It is just outrageous," said Fangman, former president of the police union. "No one has the right to tell an American citizen they cannot support the candidate of their choice simply by virtue of their employment."
Fangman and Graves filed the suit in U.S. District Court and have asked Judge Michael Barrett to block enforcement of the rule in the weeks remaining before the Nov. 4 election. Barrett will hear arguments today.
The officers' lawyer, Al Gerhardstein, said the city's ban on political activity may be appropriate for races involving City Council or other offices that oversee city employees. But he said the ban on nearly all political activity is too broad and is, therefore, unconstitutional.
Most government employees are subject to at least some limits, and city officials say Cincinnati's rule creates an important barrier between city workers and politicians who could seek to influence the way they do their jobs.
The rule originated in the 1920s when a series of reforms brought down the remnants of the political machine created by George "Boss" Cox. The goal was to strip politics out of city services.
"The city has had a long tradition of limiting the political involvement of its employees," said City Solicitor John Curp. "The purpose of the policy is to prevent the unnecessary entanglement between city employees and politics."
Federal and state employees also face restrictions, but the law that sets those limits, the Hatch Act, was amended 15 years ago to allow most of the activities Fangman and Graves are seeking. Cities are not bound by the Hatch Act and many have rules that are similar to Cincinnati's.
Fangman and Graves say the city's rule is far tougher than it needs to be.
"This is ridiculous," Graves said. "I want to be able to communicate to other people why I think this election is important."
When the officers complained about the policy, city officials agreed to allow employees to donate money to presidential candidates. The city refused, however, to lift the ban on donating to or campaigning for all other federal, state and local candidates.
Fangman and Graves, who have been city employees for 17 and 19 years, said they wanted to get involved in the campaigns this year because they believe the stakes are so high.
"This is an election that could make history," Graves said.
The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order that would allow Fangman and Graves to participate immediately. It also asks the court to throw out the law as unconstitutional.
"This is not communist North Korea. This is not communist China," Fangman said. "This is the United States of America. And the last time I checked, the city of Cincinnati was part of the United States of America."
2:31 PM
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October 8, 2008 - Wednesday
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McConnell’s wife confident
Category: News and Politics
October 8, 2008
McConnell's wife confident
Chao denies polls showing dead heat
By Patrick Crowley
pcrowley@nky.com
FLORENCE - U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao dismissed polling Tuesday that shows her husband, Kentucky Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, in a dead heat with Democrat Bruce Lunsford in Kentucky's U.S. Senate race.
Chao, in Florence as part of an eight-day campaign swing for McConnell's re-election bid, said the campaign's internal polling shows her husband in the lead.
A recent Louisville Courier-Journal poll showed the race in a tie.
"Our polls show, most polls show, that (McConnell) is doing quite well," Chao said in an interview, without discussing any specifics of the campaign's internal polling. "There is a substantial lead between him and his opponent."
Chao, who is taking a break from her official duties, spoke to an overflow crowd of more than 200 Northern Kentucky women Tuesday at the Hilton Cincinnati Airport Hotel. She encouraged them to get voters to the polls by telling them that as Senate GOP leader, McConnell has delivered for Kentucky, including $500 million for the state in the last federal budget.
"It makes no sense to trade Mitch for a rookie," Chao said. "This election is an election of contrasts. Please talk to your family, your friends, your neighbors. Each one of you has a sphere of influence. We need to turn out the vote, especially in Northern Kentucky, which has traditionally been so good to Mitch.
"We need Northern Kentucky to turn out in larger numbers than ever before," she said.
McConnell, who is seeking a fifth term, carried 72 percent of the vote in Kenton, Boone and Campbell counties in his 2002 victory over Democrat Lois Combs Weinberg.
Among the women attending were some of the region's most active and successful Republican officials and activists, including the region's three female state lawmakers - Sen. Katie Stine of Southgate, the Senate president pro tem, and Reps. Addia Wuchner of Burlington and Alecia Webb-Edgington of Fort Wright.
Wuchner and Webb-Edgington are accompanying Chao on portions of her tour.
Wuchner said she is not concerned about the polls because of the enthusiasm she has seen on the campaign trail.
"Just look at this room; it's packed and people are excited," she said. "This is about energizing the base and getting women involved in the campaign."
On the Democratic side, Lunsford's campaign began airing a new television ad statewide Tuesday that criticizes campaign contributions McConnell has taken from financial interests.
McConnell was one of the staunchest supporters of the $700 billion financial bailout/rescue bill that Congress passed last week and President Bush signed into law.
The ad indicates that McConnell has accepted more than $4 million in campaign contributions from financial firms tied to Wall Street.
"A $700 billion bailout for Wall Street. How did we get into this mess?" a female narrator asks in the ad. "Career politicians like Mitch McConnell."
"The financial meltdown is the direct result of eight years of Bush-McConnell economics," Lunsford spokesman Cary Stemle said in a statement. "After 24 years, it's time to elect leaders who won't pander to the Wall Street special interests. Kentucky needs change."
McConnell campaign spokesman Justin Brasell pointed out that Lunsford holds millions of dollars in stocks and other investments.
"It is the height of arrogance for someone who has made a fortune playing the Wall Street game to now say that he does not like the system," Brasell wrote in an e-mail.
"Worse yet is that Bruce can't even offer an opinion about how we should work to help Kentucky's families navigate these difficult times. Bruce is no leader. Rather he is the poster child for the greed and excess that led to the mess we are in."
6:48 PM
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October 7, 2008 - Tuesday
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Rice: Iraq ’harder’ than she ’personally imagined’
Category: News and Politics
Rice: Iraq 'harder' than she 'personally imagined'
From Zain Verjee
CNN State Department Correspondent
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday the road for the U.S. in Iraq has been "harder, longer, and more difficult than I personally imagined" and warned that despite some recent progress, success in Iraq is "not a sure thing."
She made those comments at a packed auditorium at the State Department to salute a top general and a top diplomat. She honored Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker with the highest award the State Department gives: The Distinguished Persons Award.
Rice said there has been progress in Iraq, with the economy "springing back to life" and displaced Iraqis returning home. She added that al Qaeda is weaker and the Iraqi government is playing a more effective role. Rice called it a "hopeful but fragile turn of events" but said success in Iraq is "not a sure thing."
Before presenting the award to Petraeus, Rice praised his work in Iraq, calling him an "intellectual warrior and a warrior intellectual." Petraeus, she said, successfully implemented counter-insurgency ideas and negotiated patiently with Iraqi leaders.
Petraeus was promoted to head the U.S. Central Command in the Middle East. His former deputy, Gen. Ray Odierno, took his place in Iraq.
Rice called Crocker a "lion of America's foreign service." Under his leadership in Iraq, she says, the provincial reconstruction teams expanded and he has been instrumental in pushing Iraqi leaders and neighbors to make choices.
Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte presented Crocker with his award. Both joined the ceremony by video conference from Baghdad.
1:13 PM
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Obama Leading In Ohio, Poll Finds
Category: News and Politics
This is a big deal. Fem
Obama Leading In Ohio, Poll Finds
Edge Is 6 Points In a State Looming Large for McCain
By Jon Cohen and Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, October 7, 2008; A01
Aided by the faltering economy, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has the upper hand in the race for Ohio, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, putting Republican John McCain at a disadvantage in a state considered vital to his chances of winning the White House in November.
The state's voters, long suffering from a poor economy and newly battered by the turmoil in the financial, credit and housing markets, give Obama stronger marks on handling the economy, creating jobs and dealing with tax policy. The senator from Illinois also has a big lead as the candidate more in tune with the economic problems people are confronting, a significant benefit as more than half of all voters consider the economy and jobs the campaign's top issue.
Overall, among likely voters in the new poll, 51 percent said they would support Obama and his running mate, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.), if the election were held today, while 45 percent said they would back McCain and his vice presidential nominee, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
McCain has the edge on handling the U.S. fight against terrorism and, narrowly, the Iraq war, but those issues are far less important this year. Just 9 percent of voters call them their top issues.
Still, about two in 10 voters are "movable," nearly double the proportion who were in that position two weeks before the 2004 election, suggesting the possibility of some significant shifts in the weeks ahead.
Beyond that, Obama holds a 2 to 1 advantage over McCain as the candidate more likely to bring needed change to Washington.
The new survey underscores the degree to which the economic crisis has shaken up the presidential race and the obstacles that now confront McCain in the final month of the campaign.
No Republican has ever been elected president without winning Ohio, and the state's 20 electoral votes are of paramount importance to McCain. If the senator from Arizona were to win every other state that President Bush carried four years ago, but lose Ohio, he would fall four electoral votes short of the 270 needed to win the White House. Only Florida, of other major battlegrounds the Republicans won in the past two elections, looms as large as Ohio in determining the next president.
The support for Obama comes at an opportune time for the Democrat, as Ohioans began early voting a week ago at polling places statewide. The Ohio secretary of state's office estimates that a quarter of all voters will cast their ballots as absentees or at an early voting location before Election Day, more than twice as many as did so four years ago.
There are indications from the survey that Obama also may have an early advantage in mobilizing and turning out Ohio voters over the next month. He has more enthusiastic supporters than McCain does, and has reached more voters in Ohio than his rival.
Nearly four in 10 voters said they have already been contacted by someone from the Obama campaign either by phone or in person. That is significantly higher than the number who said they have heard from the McCain campaign. It also is higher than the number who said they had been called or visited by the campaigns of Bush or Democrat John F. Kerry in mid-October four years ago.
Including e-mail and text messages this year, the Obama campaign has contacted 43 percent of all voters and the McCain campaign has been in touch with 33 percent. Both sides have reached out to the party faithful, but Obama has done somewhat better at targeting independents.
Obama's lead in Ohio stems in large part from broad support among women, young voters and those focused on the country's, and their own, finances.
Women divided 50-50 between Bush and Kerry four years ago. Now they break for Obama by a 14-point margin. Men tilt narrowly to the Republican nominee, just as they did toward Bush, according to network exit polling.
McCain holds a seven-point edge among white voters, narrower than Bush's 12 points in 2004, with the difference primarily among white women. Almost all black voters support Obama. Four years ago, 16 percent of African Americans supported Bush over Kerry.
Obama also is doing better with young and old voters than Kerry did on Election Day four years ago. Among those younger than 30, Obama has a 2 to 1 lead over McCain. Among those 30 and older, the candidates are tied. Dianne Amos, 60, an ardent McCain supporter from Logan, is engaged in some intergenerational politicking. In a follow-up interview, she said she is "e-mailing back and forth" with her grandson, an Obama supporter. "I keep trying to explain things to him," she said.
Obama is beating McCain by nearly 3 to 1 in Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, and also holds a lead in the northeast portion of the state, an area including the hard-hit industrial cities of Akron, Canton and Youngstown.
McCain's edge in the southwestern part of the state, including Cincinnati and Dayton, is as big as Bush's win was there four years ago, but the Republican nominee's numbers in the central part of the state do not measure up to the president's. Four years ago, Bush won central Ohio and the northwest part of the state around Toledo by eight percentage points. In the Post-ABC News poll, those areas split 49 percent for Obama, 45 percent for McCain.
One clear drag on McCain is the unpopularity of the president. In the most recent Post-ABC national poll, Bush's approval rating stood at 26 percent. Four years ago, both nationally and in Ohio, just over half of all voters gave him positive marks. McCain has sought to portray himself as someone who, with Palin, would reform Washington and change the way business is done in the capital. But in the new poll, more than half of all Ohio voters see McCain as someone who would continue Bush's policies, and nearly all of these voters support Obama.
"Basically, I don't like the Reaganomics of the Republican Party," said Tina Nelson, 27, of Powell, in an interview after the survey. Nelson said an Obama speech on the financial situation "really got to me. It made a lot of sense."
It is the slumping economy that has deeply scrambled voting patterns in the state. The economy was the most important issue in Ohio in 2004, but the Iraq war and terrorism together were cited by as many Ohio voters as were economic concerns, according to a pre-election ABC News poll that year.
Obama wins "economy voters" in the new poll by 62 to 34 percent, and, as noted, more voters prefer him on dealing with the economy (by a 13-point margin), jobs (14 points) and taxes (14 points). And he has an even bigger edge on understanding the financial problems people are facing: Fifty-three percent of voters see him as more in touch on this score, compared with 35 percent who side with McCain.
This advantage on empathy is one of the things that helps Obama among white voters. He has an 11-point edge among that group on this question, and more than 80 percent of those who see him as more in tune support him over McCain.
For Russell Baron, 48, from the Cleveland suburb of Brook Park, McCain cannot compete on the economy. "He's admitted that he doesn't really know much about the economy," he said. "Well, gee, that's a bad thing to say right now."
Dessie Knight, 74, of Quaker City, by contrast, questions Obama's experience on the economy, and sides with McCain on the issue. Overall in the poll, just over half of voters said Obama has enough experience to serve effectively as president.
The unemployment rate in Ohio hit 7.4 percent in August, among the highest in the nation and the highest of any battleground state other than Michigan, territory the McCain campaign effectively ceded last week by pulling out its resources.
Obama lost the Ohio Democratic primary to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) by 10 percentage points, prompting widespread concerns among Democrats that he would have a tough time winning the state.
The new data show Obama doing as well as McCain at holding on to partisans, despite any lingering disgruntlement over the Democratic nomination battle: Ninety-one percent of Democrats back Obama, while 90 percent of Republicans support McCain. But support for Obama does lag a bit among white Democratic women relative to Kerry's support in 2004. And among all Democrats who would have preferred Clinton to be atop the party's ticket, 14 percent support McCain.
Clinton holdouts do not tip the balance, however, in part because Democrats outnumber Republicans among Ohio voters, a reversal from 2004.
Many of those who described themselves as Republicans four years ago now appear to identify as independents, boosting McCain to a tie among this key voting bloc. Kerry won independents by nearly 20 points.
Another group of crucial swing voters is political moderates, and they break for Obama by 22 points, similar to Kerry's margin from 2004. McCain's choice of Palin as his No. 2 appears to be a problem for him among these voters.
Nearly four in 10 moderates in the poll said they were less apt to vote for McCain because of the Palin pick, double the proportion drawn to him as a result. By contrast, Biden attracts three times as many moderates to Obama as he pushes away.
Peggy Burkett, 52, an undecided voter from Youngstown, for one, said Biden "may tip the balance" toward Obama. But she added: "I probably won't know who I'll support until I get to the precinct on Election Day."
Another wild card in Ohio is high public doubt about the vote count on Nov. 4. Only about a third of voters are "very confident" that ballots in the state will be counted accurately, with African Americans much less likely than whites to be so confident in the tally. Voters in Cuyahoga express the highest levels of skepticism of the count, much higher than the level of concern elsewhere.
The poll was conducted by telephone Oct. 3 to 5 among a random sample of 1,010 adults in Ohio. The margin of sampling error for the full poll is plus or minus three percentage points; it is 3.5 points for the sample of 772 likely voters.
Polling analyst Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.
1:01 PM
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October 6, 2008 - Monday
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If you live in Cincinnati..
Category: News and Politics
Go read my CincyBurb blog. It's cool. Or join my CincyBurb Group on Facebook.
Fem
3:23 PM
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October 5, 2008 - Sunday
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Northern Kentucky to Participate in Worldwide Breastfeeding Competition
Category: News and Politics
Find more about your state or country HERE.
Northern Kentucky to Participate in Worldwide Breastfeeding Competition
Local mothers will gather to breastfeed together in an effort to gather the most breastfeeding moms in one location
At 11 a.m. on Saturday, October 11, a call will go out to "latch on," and the mothers and babies assembled on the campus of Northern Kentucky University will begin to breastfeed. Runners will circulate around the room to count them as part of a worldwide contest to see which location can gather the most breastfeeding babies at one time. They'll be in good company—with breastfeeding counts occurring at 11 a.m. local time at more than 261 other sites in 13 countries, in 31 states and in four other locations in Kentucky.
The Northern Kentucky Breastfeeding Challenge 2008 will take place from 9:30 a.m. to noon in the Otto Budig Theater in the University Center on the Northern Kentucky University Campus. It is sponsored by the Northern Kentucky Breastfeeding Coalition.
Besides the breastfeeding count at 11 a.m., the event will also feature information on local breastfeeding resources, a raffle and snacks.
Only 48 percent of Kentucky babies born in 2005 were ever breastfed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Only Louisiana had a lower breastfeeding rate.
"One of the reasons for the low breastfeeding rates is a lack of community support," said Steven R. Katkowsky, M.D., District Director of Health for the Northern Kentucky Health Department. "Education and peer support are vital to assist mothers who wish to breastfeed their infants. Besides the fun aspect participating in a worldwide contest, it's hoped that Northern Kentucky's event will also connect local breastfeeding mothers with one another and with community resources that support breastfeeding."
Mothers who plan to participate in the October 11 challenge are asked to register in advance on the Health Department's Web site at http://www.nkyhealth.org or by calling Nancy Merk at 859.363.2113.
9:01 PM
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October 3, 2008 - Friday
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I never want to hear anything about KY being backward again
Category: Life
J and I are looking for another property to buy since he sold the one in Dayton. He wants an investment property that we can fix up and sell for a profit. He also would like it to be located somewhere we would like to live in case we ever need it.
Soooo, early this week we went to these towns near the river but further west. Very rural, which I don't really care for because it reminds me of were I grew up, only far more desolate and farm-y. I like living near the city.
So anywho, on the way there I saw signs in people's yards like "Vote for Jesus and your Lard and Savior" and "Go to Hell ACLU." I was like, um I don't think this place is for me. And I told J.
Now I don't have anything against country folk, because I grew up around country folk. But I also know there are bascially two kinds: the live and let live kind and the angry, maybe racist, kind.
J didn't know why I felt uncomfortable. All he sees is that it is peaceful, quiet, beautiful and on a lake. Well, the first house was on a lake, the second wasn't too far from the river. The first house was uneventful, but I didn't like the area. It was really secluded except for some other houses on the lake.
The second house was another story, i liked it better and it was near the highway and busier. Like many homes we look at, this one was a foreclosure and there were still little hints of the previous owner.
I'm look around the living room and there are little pictures and sayings hanging up. Then I see one that has THE N-word, with a circle and a line through it. Seriously.
I showed J, and was like, the Realator should probably take that down. Then I said SEE, i told you I had a bad feeling about this area. I decided not to say anything to the realtor because I was like I don't care, we won't be living here.
When we got outside, J asked the realtor if there was any "diversity" here. She was like not too much, but we have about 8 black families around here and everyone is nice to them. hmmmm....
So that was it. We got into the car and J said, here you go. He had taken down the N-word paper and crumbled it up into a little ball. I laughed and threw it out the window.
Fem
3:10 PM
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October 2, 2008 - Thursday
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So who’s this black lady on TV, now?
Category: News and Politics
 A lot of you might be PBS-minded and already know who Gwen Ifill is. She is one of the very, very, few, tiny amount of black women who are well-known and out there on the Washington Political scene.
She hosts here own shown on PBS called Washington Week, and will be moderating tonight's Veep debate between Biden and Palin. She was a newspaper woman before getting into the broadcast game and a NYC native. She also moderated the '04 debate between Cheney and Edwards.
You can read some more about here HERE.
7:46 PM
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KY: Poll workers needed
Category: News and Politics
COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE TREY GRAYSON
NEWS RELEASE
(Frankfort, KY) Secretary of State Trey Grayson encouraged citizens to take an active role in the upcoming general election by signing up to become a precinct election officer. Precinct election officers, or poll workers as they are sometimes called, are still needed in many counties across the state, and now is the time to sign up and participate.
"Precinct election officers are the lifeblood of the elections process in America. Without the service of these individuals, our democracy would not be possible," stated Secretary Grayson. "Many counties are in need of more precinct election officers for the November 4th general election, and I want to encourage all voters to consider serving their Commonwealth in this capacity."
To serve as a precinct election officer, you must be a qualified voter, have not changed your party affiliation one year prior to the appointment, and not be a candidate or the spouse, parent, brother, sister, or child of a candidate who is to be voted for in this election. Voters who will be 18 on or before November 4, 2008 are eligible to serve in the upcoming general election.
Each precinct in the state is required to have four precinct officers serving on the day of the election. Each election officer is paid a minimum of sixty dollars per election, as well as additional payment for mileage and mandatory training.
Precinct election officers' duties include attending a mandatory training, arranging the polling location with necessary information and equipment, processing voters, and completing and returning paperwork to the County Clerk's office on election night.
"County Clerks across the Commonwealth are always in need of concerned citizens willing to serve as election officers," commented Caldwell County Clerk Toni Watson, president of the Kentucky County Clerks Association. "This is an excellent opportunity for citizens to further participate in the democratic process, and we hope that many eligible voters will seize on this opportunity to serve their state."
To sign up to become a precinct election officer or to find out more specific information about election officers in your county, please contact your local county clerk. To find specific information on precinct election officers, a list of county clerks, or other pertinent election information, please visit: http://elect.ky.gov/precinct+election+officer.htm
1:14 PM
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October 1, 2008 - Wednesday
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Cincy: Considering ’Life Peace Zones’
Category: News and Politics
Considering 'Life Peace Zones'
Proposal to city council could restrict access to abortions and birth control in certain neighborhoods
By Kevin Osborne
CityBeat.com
Cincinnati might soon be Ground Zero in an unconventional effort to potentially restrict access to abortions on a neighborhood-byneighborhood basis. A member of a Catholic order is lobbying city officials to change Cincinnati's zoning laws and allow the creation of "life peace zones" aimed at prohibiting certain types of activities.
Under the proposal, individual neighborhoods and business districts could ask the city for special overlay zoning designed to "strengthen family values" and offer "greater protection of human life peacefully developing in the mother's womb from conception to natural death," according to a petition that's being circulated by Brother Steven Gerard Sidlovsky of the St. Anthony Secular Franciscan Order.
For the past six weeks, Sidlovsky has made presentations about the proposal to various neighborhood groups hoping to develop grassroots support for the concept. He's also talked to Cincinnati City Council members.
Councilman Chris Monzel has asked the city's Law Department to draft a proposed ordinance for council review. Monzel, a Republican, wants the issue to come before city council for discussion by late fall, with a goal of making a decision by year's end. "Issues involving the sanctity of life cause a lot of consternation in neighborhoods," Sidlovsky says. "Many people are troubled by life-ending medical procedures and believe it can negatively impact the unique character of their neighborhoods. This would create a new local, constitutionally acceptable method that will give a judge a new way to look at this issue (if a lawsuit is filed to challenge the zoning restriction)."
Critics, however, say the wording and intent of the proposal is being kept intentionally vague by advocates so that it could prohibit not only abortion clinics in certain neighborhoods but also any type of facility that offers birth control and family planning services.
"The biggest issue I have with this is nowhere in it does it define abortion," says Becki Brenner, Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio's president and CEO. "Many of these organizations define abortion to include contraceptive devices."
Like many communities across the nation, abortion is a hot button issue in Cincinnati — especially in its predominantly Catholic West Side neighborhoods.
The issue flared again this summer when it was announced that Planned Parenthood would close a clinic on Glenway Avenue in Green Township so it could move into a larger space less than three miles away on Ferguson Road in Price Hill. Some residents complained because the new site was located within a few blocks of three high schools, including Elder and Seton parochial schools. Although the clinic doesn't offer any surgical procedures and is limited to family planning services — including providing contraceptives and diagnosing and treating sexually transmitted diseases — critics said the clinic violated the prevailing values in the neighborhood such as Catholic prohibitions against birth control.
Facing a hotly contested reelection challenge, U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot, a conservative Republican, has aired TV commercials opposing the clinic's move, stating it would harm the "moral fabric of the West Side." Sidlovsky says his effort to create the new zoning restrictions isn't related to the clinic's move. "This was (begun) well before it, but it could influence what happens there," he says. Media publicity about the clinic move began in May, and Sidlovsky didn't begin his petition canvassing until Aug. 12. The general idea, he says, was formed earlier.
Documents show Sidlovsky first wrote a letter to Councilwoman Laketa Cole in February. Sidlovsky has collected about 375 signatures so far. He wants to have 500 by month's end and 700-plus by late October, when the issue could come up for debate before city council.
Brenner believes the controversy over the clinic's move is misguided. More than 90 percent of the roughly 4,200 people served annually by the West Side clinic are over age 18. "This is all a reflection of the clinic opening, and they don't do abortions," Brenner says. "That's where this push comes from. It's not just about a surgical procedure but all family planning services."
In fact, Sidlovsky asked that CityBeat not mention the word "abortion" at all when writing about his proposal. "I would rather you not say the 'A word.' It's polarizing," he says. "This (proposal) could also include euthanasia. Some people don't want any animal research done in their neighborhoods. I have to be honest and say I am mostly concerned with the sanctity of life. Using the 'A word' causes people to be argumentative rather than sharing."
The actual scope of what would be prohibited in the proposed zones could be decided by city council based on resident input, Sidlovsky adds. Brenner counters that Sidlovsky and other advocates want to keep the proposal's purpose vague to win broader support.
"Depending on what all is involved, it changes the discussion and level of support," she says. Monzel believes it's his duty as an elected official to consider Sidlovsky's idea. "He's a constituent and I listened to what he had to say," Monzel says. "I found it intriguing. I'm definitely not in support of opening up abortion clinics in our city. This is a potential for communities, of their own will, to try to prevent them."
A longtime abortion opponent, Monzel successfully pushed a few years ago to remove abortion as a covered procedure under the insurance plan for City Hall workers. He's uncertain if there's enough support on the nine-member city council to pass the ordinance but notes that five members have opposed abortion in the past, giving him hope. Besides Monzel, those members include Republican Leslie Ghiz, Charterite Chris Bortz and Democrats John Cranley and Cecil Thomas.
A legal opinion issued quietly in March by city staffers seems to throw cold water on the concept. "The city of Cleveland has been challenged twice on municipal code regulations that restricted abortion services in zoning districts where other medical services were allowed," City Manager Milton Dohoney Jr. wrote in a memo to council.
In one Cleveland case, "the court held that an ordinance that interferes with a woman's fundamental right to an abortion cannot withstand a constitutional challenge simply because it is geographically limited in scope," Dohoney wrote. In the other case, "the court held that Cleveland had no legitimate interest in shielding members of the community from constitutionally protected activities which they find offensive on personal, moral or even religious grounds."
Even if council passed the law, each neighborhood that wanted to implement a zone would have to make the request and go before council for a decision, Monzel adds. "It's not anything that's hidden," he says. "It's being discussed right out in the open. … There are still many layers of approval and appeal. It would be a very transparent and open process."
Before the U.S. Supreme Court's historic 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade, abortion was a matter decided at the state level, and most states chose to prohibit the medical procedure outright.
But the high court's decision deemed abortion a fundamental right under the Constitution, creating a "right of privacy" based on the 14th Amendment's concept of personal liberty and restrictions upon state action, along with the Ninth Amendment's reservation of rights to the people.
As Justice Harry Blackmun wrote at the time, the intent of either amendment ensures that the rights are "broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy."
Long after other controversial 1970s issues like Watergate and the Vietnam War have faded into history books, the 35-yearold court ruling still reverberates across the nation, serving as the frontline in an often bitter culture war. Many conservatives have argued that the Supreme Court misinterpreted the Constitution and overstepped its role of judicial review, usurping an issue that should be decided by elected legislators rather than appointed judges.
8:32 PM
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September 27, 2008 - Saturday
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If you still haven’t made up your mind.....
Category: News and Politics
In case you still don't know who you're voting for. Go to Glamour Mag, which has an easy-to-read comparison on the candidates, especially on women-centered health and economic issues.
3:21 PM
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Critics: Abortion Rule Would Impede Birth Control
Category: News and Politics
Critics: Abortion Rule Would Impede Birth Control
by Julie Rovner
All Things Considered, September 26, 2008 · The Bush administration this week received tens of thousands of comments on a controversial rule that demonstrates that even it its waning days, the administration continues to have a major impact on policy.
Bush officials say the rule is intended to protect health care providers with moral objections from having to perform abortions. But critics, who include not just women's rights groups but groups representing doctors and 13 state attorneys general, warn it could jeopardize women's access to all types of medical care, including basic birth control.
Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt says he was moved to issue the rule by stories of discrimination against providers who refuse to do abortions. Sandy Christiansen is one such doctor. An obstetrician-gynecologist from Frederick, Md., Christiansen says she was discriminated against during her training in Philadelphia in the late 1990s; for religious reasons, she had declined to perform elective abortions.
"I noticed that one of my fellow interns was frequently getting the privilege of scrubbing in on gynecologic cases, and I asked my chief resident — said I was interested myself," Christiansen said. "And she said, 'Well, your colleague has been working hard doing the abortions, and earned this privilege, whereas you refused to do this, and so you don't get the perk.' "
Christiansen says she didn't seek recourse at the time, but "now I realize I really missed learning opportunities simply because of my values."
Today Christiansen works in a clinic for pregnant women that neither performs nor refers patients for abortions. She says she's glad that the new rule not only ensures that doctors, nurses and even entire hospitals can't be discriminated against for not providing care that violates their religious beliefs but that it also gives them the right not to refer patients to other health care providers who will offer that care.
"Those of us who would not refer for procedures we would not do ourselves would not ask another person to do that, for the exact same reason," Christiansen says.
In fact, laws dating back to the early 1970s already protect doctors and nurses from being required to participate in abortions if it violates their religious beliefs. Leavitt says he felt moved to add to those laws with this new regulation after an "unsatisfactory" exchange with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
The group issued an ethics policy last year that called on its members to either provide the full range of reproductive health care or else refer patients to other providers who would.
But opponents of the rule worry that the new regulation is written so broadly that it covers far more than abortion. Democratic Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York and Patty Murray of Washington expressed their concerns to Leavitt in a meeting in the Capitol this past week.
"He has a clear idea that he wants to provide support to providers who do not wish to participate in or perform abortions, but we pointed out that the regulation can be read as going much further than that; and I'm particularly concerned about contraception," Clinton said after the meeting.
Indeed, many groups, including the 13 state attorneys general, are worried the regulation could override state laws requiring victims of sexual assault be offered emergency contraception — the so-called morning-after pill. It can prevent pregnancy in most cases if taken within 72 hours after unprotected intercourse. Since the pill can work by preventing a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus, some people consider that a type of abortion.
But the same can be true of other forms of birth control pills. And Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, says it's not just birth control and abortion at issue but any potentially controversial medical technique or drug.
"If every pharmacist in this country decided what they were and weren't going to dispense, to anyone who walked in, this kind of goes on forever," says Richards.
Leavitt, however, said after his meeting with Clinton and Murray that he decided to keep the regulation vague on purpose.
"I chose deliberately in the proposed rule not to try and redefine things differently than they are in the statute," said Leavitt.
"I want this to be about protecting the right of a doctor or a nurse who is being asked to perform a procedure that they find morally objectionable."
Leavitt says he plans to make the rule final before he leaves office. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says he'll cancel it if he's elected. Republican candidate John McCain has so far declined to say what he'll do.
3:07 PM
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