Obama the Prankster???

Retrieved on 04 December 2008 from  http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20081203/pl_politico/26780_1

I had to post this - just for the humour factor!  Republican Member of Congress Ileana Ros-Lehtinen hung up on President Elect Obama twice because she thought he was a radio station trying to prank her.  The first time she hung up on Mr. Obama directly and the second time hung up on him via Rahm Emanuel's attempt to connect them.  *sigh* how will our executive and legislators ever talk if they think each is just some joker from a radio station... :-/

Ros-Lehtinen hangs up on Obama. Twice. - Yahoo! News

California Gay Marriage Poll

Retrieved on 04 December 2008 at 0942 from http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081204/ap_on_re_us/gay_marriage_poll

Just because I'm kind of into stats and polling and data that pretty much confirms preconceptions.  The Religion part was not at all surprising but many people fail to consider that the lower educated and lower income groups (for some reason) tend to be more conservative than their better educated and middle income counterparts...  The strong support of the ban from the Latino population shouldn't come as much of a surprise - just considering how many hold strong Christian views.

Yahoo! also posts this link:
The poll: http://www.ppic.org/main/publication.asp?i860

Poll: Calif. gay marriage ban driven by religion - Yahoo! News

ODOT plans for SR315 /SR750 Interchange

Retrieved on 04 December 2008 from http://www.nbc4i.com/midwest/cmh/news.apx.-content-articles-CMH-2008-12-03-0030.html at 0010.

Shoring up an eroding river bank, adding in turn lanes where 2 very busy State Routes (at 1 lane in each direction each) cross... not a bad idea!  Here's hoping ODOT doesn't mess this up and make things worse than they are now.  The jury's still out on how helpful the new light is with the turn arrow on SR750 WestBound at that intersection.  I guess we'll see what we see after they design this thing once the input period is over...

ODOT Plans To Fix SR 315 - News - nbc4i.com -

Ohio nabs attention of the BBC

Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/us_elections_2008/7686438.stm at 1510 on 04 November 2008.

It's nice to see that Ohio managed to get the attention of the BBC and get a nod to the efforts the state has made to try to eliminate the problems of 2000 & 2004 while still recognizing that a projected 80% turnout is huge...

Unfortunately, the article highlights the fact that the Secretary of State is a partisan position and Secretary Brunner is a Democrat. I recall a certain Secretary Blackwell (Brunner's predecessor) as being one of the most hated men in Ohio (at least among Democrats) because of decisions made that ended up benefiting President Bush - I have a sneaking suspicion that Ms. Brunner will be the Democrat equivilant of that scenario with Republicans blaming her for a loss by Senator McCain.

This is evidenced in the BBC article by the statement that Ms. Brunner's office has been deluged with threatening emails and phone calls...

My radical suggestion - the Secretary of State should be non partisan or the role of heading all elections in the state should be spun off from the Secretary and given to a non-partisan administrator.  Ta-daaah!

And that my friends, is my blinding flash of the obvious for today!

BBC NEWS | Americas | US Elections 2008 | Will US voters face poll chaos?

Gov. Palin Takes Out NHL Net Minder Manny Legace

Retrieved at 0053 on 25 October 2008 from http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news?slug=ap-blues-legacehurt&prov=ap&type=lgns

Okay, generally I will try to stay away from sports and comedy, but as a Columbus Blue Jackets fan and someone who appreciates physical humour...

St. Louis Blues net-minder Manny Legace somehow managed to get taken out by a carpet placed on the ice for the Alaskan Governor.  There was a comical video floating around the net a while back where a young lady botched the National Anthem, so she left the ice to get a cue card with the words and as she returned to the carpet (similar to Manny's incident) the thing slid out from under her and *ker-splat* she went....

Hopefully Mr. Legace will recover quickly and be back to playing in no time flat, but in the meantime, what's the harm in blaming Ms. Palin for ruining a hockey match?

Goalie injured after tripping on Palin carpet - NHL - Yahoo! Sports

Corruption in the Cleveland ODOT office....

The Columbus Dispatch : State officials took cash and sex from vendors, report finds

Retrieved 17 October 2008 at 0118 from:
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/10/16/odot.html?sid=101

My favourite line in the article is "The misdeeds took place from 2000-2007"...  MISDEEDS???  Seriously?  Someone at the Dispatch needs a Thesaurus.  This is appalling - my only hope is that when I enter the world of Public Administration is that I do not have to deal with such a corrupt culture and have to be the marked individual who has to clean it up and cut large portions of staff and have to rebuild an entire department.

Best wishes to ODOT in getting this mess straightened out...

Funding for the 3C rail corridor

This Week News : Agency awarded passenger rail grant

Retrieved 01 October 2008 at 1605 from:
http://www.thisweeknews.com/live/content/marysville/stories/2008/09/26/Rail.html?type=rss&cat=&sid=104

This is great news!  The Ohio Rail Development Commission (ORDC - See link under my "links I like") was awarded $62,500 from the Federal Rail Administration to study the feasibility of reviving passenger rail to more portions of Ohio.  According to the article the Cleveland - Columbus - Cincinnati would service nearly 60% of the State's population - many of whom have not had passenger rail service since 1971. 

I for one, applaud the efforts of Gov. Strickland and the ORDC to bring passenger rail back to Ohio.  I have traveled by rail, and depending on the destination, prefer it.  Some locations I went to include Toronto, Ontario, NYC, and Philadelphia, however - to go to NYC & Philly I had to drive to Pittsburg to catch a train and to go to Canada I drove up to Niagara Falls, NY...  Having to drive hours just to get to a train and leaving your vehicle in some scarry looking lot in a city far from home is not the way to attract passengers.  This step to bringing rail closer to more citizens is a much more effective way of increasing ridership!

Hopefully this study will bear out evidence that people will utilize rail options if they are made available to us.

Rail projects see an increase in funding

State rail projects get boost as driving declines - Yahoo! News

Retrieved 01 October 2008 at 0032 from:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080930/ap_on_re_us/rail_and_roads;_ylt=AqVEJupq00aJR2dJxGXmamGs0NUE

I just wanted to post this one real quick - and I will comment later.

Fallout of a failed bailout...

Dow plummets record 777 as financial rescue fails - Yahoo! News

Retrieved 29 September 2008 at 2309 from:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080930/ap_on_bi_st_ma_re/wall_street

I'm going to keep this somewhat short and assume that my readers are capable of reading the article on their own...

Starting with some quotes from Gordon Charlop of Rosenblatt Securities:

"How could this have happened? Is there such a disconnect on Capitol
Hill? This becomes a problem because Wall Street is very uncomfortable
with uncertainty," said Gordon Charlop, managing director with
Rosenblatt Securities.

"The bailout not going through sends a signal that Congress isn't willing to do their part," he added.

Seriously???  Where do I start?  Wall Street is uncomfortable with uncertainty...  If you are afraid of risk or losing your investment - you should NOT be investing in the market.  I know this seems like a blinding flash of the obvious - some businesses FAIL!  When you purchase a stock, you are basically betting that that company will succeed and you will increase your net worth... no uncertainty there.  Second: "Congress isn't willing to do their part" - someone please tell me when it became the responsibility of the government to bailout a business sector in a CAPITALIST FREE MARKET based economy?  I will not even continue without mentioning that this industry (namely investment banking) has lobbied extensively for decreased governmental oversight and regulation.  If the banking industry learned anything from the S&L failures of the 1980s it is that they can make bad choices, teeter on the edge of failure and the Fed will be their knight in shining armor coming to bail them out. 

Another problem involves the ridiculous amount of interconnectedness of all of these institutions combined with the fact that none of them were far-sighted enough to even fathom the possibility of losing money.
Please see the article below regarding AIG's failure:

Retrieved 29 September 2008 at 2320 from:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/business/28melt.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=AIG%20blind%20eye%2028%20september&st=cse&oref=slogin

I would like to point out the opening quotation preceding the article by former AIG executive Joseph J. Cassano:

“It is hard for us, without being flippant, to
even see a scenario within any kind of realm of reason that would see
us losing one dollar in any of those transactions.”

How could you not even plan for the eventuality that insuring unsecured loans could result in the potential for a loss???  This man ran a small office in London, England that is for most intents and purposes the reason AIG is failing, and he lives comfortably with relative impunity for his actions that lead to this collapse...

Before closing - here is a link to the Bill as voted on:
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/business/20080928bailout_text.pdf

In closing: on to the failure of the Bill to pass - I'm still reeling from the finger-pointing and "reasons" given so far today of why this did not pass...  Once more information comes available and I can digest it, I will post again.

US House approves Great Lakes Compact!!!

Retrieved at 2335 on 23 September 2008 from http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/09/23/great.html?adsec=politics&sid=101

The US House voted overwhelmingly in favor (390-25) of approving the Great Lakes Compact.  This Compact is an agreement between eight States and two Canadian Provinces that effectively ends the mass shipping of water from the Great Lakes to other areas of the Nation(s) and World.  Considering that the Great Lakes hold about 20% of the world's fresh water and the maxim that "future wars will be fought over water" this is an important win for each of the Great Lake States and Provinces.  This compact all but eliminates the possibility that insatiable states such as California (and increasingly Tennessee and Georgia) can take water from us in the event of drought, or more commonly, wasteful use, poor water management, and inefficient water storage/transport methods.

This bill passed in the US Senate back in August, and surprisingly, President Bush has agreed to sign it.  The four years of hard work among the legislative and executive branches of Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ontario, and Quebec were well spent, and will, I believe, pay huge dividends in the decades to come!

DispatchPolitics : U.S. House approves Great Lakes compact Columbus Dispatch Politics

Prepare...

In the wake of Ike and the severe damage resulting from yesterday's windstorm (reported winds of up to 75mph) I have decided to do a PSA for a couple of websites and organizations. Time after time, people decide to stay in an area when evacuations are suggested and then get pissed off that their homes are destroyed, they have no supplies and rescuers cannot get to them. In large part, proper planning can avert some of these problems.

Some websites and organizations to check out for help on preparing for disasters:

Ready.gov - prepared and maintained by the Department of Homeland Security, this site walks individuals through the process of preparing disaster kits and emergency plans for individuals, families, and businesses:
Ready.gov - Prepare. Plan. Stay Informed.
Also under the Department of Homeland Security is the Citizen Corps, an organization dedicated that helps citizens prepare for disasters and volunteer in their communities *(in areas other than disaster preparedness and response, as well)*:
http://www.citizencorps.gov/
The national page for CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams):
http://www.citizencorps.gov/cert/index.shtm

Locally:
Franklin County (Ohio) Emergency Management Agency:
http://www.franklincountyohio.gov/emahs/
Delaware County (Ohio) EMA:
http://www.co.delaware.oh.us/dcems/dcema/index.htm
Franklin County CERT:
http://www.fccert.org/Index.Htm

New York Times - Gov. Palin Article

While it is a little long, Becker, Goodman, & Powell write the article to discuss the success of Gov. Palin's reform initiatives through out Alaskan Government - but all while asking the question of "at what cost".

One section of the article highlights Ms. Palin's attempts at censorship in the local public libraries. While censorship of something you read and disagreed with is egregious enough, the following excerpt is even more disturbing (this is regarding a book called "Daddy's Roommate" / Ms. Chase referenced below is Laura Chase - Ms. Palin's campaign manager during her 1996 run for Mayor.):

Ms. Chase read the book, which helps children understand
homosexuality, and said it was inoffensive; she suggested that Ms.
Palin read it.

“Sarah said she didn’t need to read that stuff,”
Ms. Chase said. “It was disturbing that someone would be willing to
remove a book from the library and she didn’t even read it.”

Continuing on the list of disturbing: the article references numerous examples of using political power for punishing personal slights, cronyism on a level of some of the more corrupt administrations from back in the town I was raised in, and secrecy within the administration (while demanding unquestioned loyalty) that rivals the George W. Bush Presidency.

This article was published on the New York Times Website on Sunday 14 September 2008 (and a print version of the article appeared on page A1 of the paper version of The Times). Retrieved at 1302 on 14 September 2008 from: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/us/politics/14palin.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th

Once Elected, Palin Hired Friends and Lashed Foes - NYTimes.com

Edmonton Journal - Cities missing the opportunity to encourage Mass-Transit Usage

While this article comes from our friends up North, I feel that this situation is occurring across the United States as we speak. I live a mere 14 Miles from downtown and my options for mass-transit are appallingly limited - despite articles from the Dispatch (next one I find, I will post) indicating that people want more COTA routes and other Mass-Transit options, especially in the first and second ring suburbs.


The following article was retrieved 03 September 2008 @ 0255 from:
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/story.html?id=0f53a3a5-eaef-4121-a7dd-3d3b8ca5b042


Transit demand soars but cities missing the bus

Transit demand soars but cities missing the bus
More Canadians want to leave cars at home due to high cost of gasoline
Tom Spears, Ottawa Citizen; Canwest News Service
Published: yesterday 7:51 am

OTTAWA - Gasoline prices are driving Canadians to public transit, but the nation's mayors and transit authorities warn that their overloaded buses and trains can't meet this surging demand.

Without busloads of federal cash to expand public transit, Canada will lose this "once-in-a-generation" chance to get its citizens out of inefficient cars and into public transportation, say the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and Canadian Urban Transit Association.

The two groups handed out results on Monday of a survey showing 20 per cent of city-dwelling Canadians who now drive a car claim they want to switch to the bus, subway, trolley or LRT.
Federal NDP Leader Jack Layton pledged $37.1 Million for Regina Transit at a bus stop news conference in Regina. He outlined Regina's share of the NDPs plan to invest in transit through a one cent per litre dedication of the existing federal excise tax.
Federal NDP Leader Jack Layton pledged $37.1 Million for Regina Transit at a bus stop news conference in Regina. He outlined Regina's share of the NDPs plan to invest in transit through a one cent per litre dedication of the existing federal excise tax.
Roy Antal/Regina Leader-Post

Another 23 per cent say they will drive less and 13 per cent claim they're going to start cycling or walking.

"The country has reached a tipping point," said Jean Perrault, president of the FCM. "Either we can take action to protect citizens from high gas prices and move people from cars to transit, or we can do nothing, leaving Canadians at the mercy of the gas pump."

The price of fuel is a "bread-and-butter" issue, yet federal leaders aren't addressing it as we approach the next federal election, he said.

"This is an opportunity to provide Canadian families with relief and to reduce traffic gridlock. It is an opportunity to move Canadians toward a more sustainable mode of transportation," with fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

"Canadians are now more concerned by the rising price of gas than they are by their rent or mortgage payments," or by taxes, he added, citing the survey from polling firm Strategic Counsel.

The telephone survey polled 1,100 urban Canadian adults in mid-August. Results of a poll this size are considered accurate plus or minus 2.95 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Rural residents were not polled.

EXPRESS SERVICE

- There's massive support among urban Canadian adults (81 per cent) for using more of the federal gasoline tax revenue for public transit.

- Four in 10 Canadians believe cars and trucks are the country's main source of greenhouse gases.

- Twenty-one per cent said gasoline prices are their biggest financial worry. That's the top personal finance issue in the country, followed by the cost of housing and food.


© The Edmonton Journal 2008

blog introduction

Hello all. I'm Josh from Columbus, Ohio and plan on blogging about current events (local, Ohio, national, & global - depending on how interesting to me the event is), psychology, public policy, environmental policy, crime & justice, emergency preparedness, transportation, and/or things that strike me as humourous, bizarre, or just plain old random...

I am working on a Master's degree and in my free time, I enjoy: running, cycling (road and mountain), hockey (playing and watching), triathlon, knitting, and a host of other things.