Patterns of Behavior

It is hard to believe that it wasn’t front-page news: “U.S. cannot account for spending of nearly $100 million in Iraq.” A hundred million! And that does not count almost $20 million in lost equipment, or anything being investigated as fraud. Add that up, and that’s more than twice of Dayton’s share in paying for Gulf War II. Either the “Coalition Provisional Authority” or the U.S. Embassy handled this money. Both organizations were (and are) filled with “Republican believers” – the same type of Republicans who have been in control of Ohio for the last decade. The Republicans have been giving out no-bid contracts for Iraq to corporate pals who contribute to Republican candidates. As if that’s not bad enough, those contracts are inflated – in some cases as high as 400% markup. That’s like charging $6 for a loaf of bread that cost you a buck and a half, and pocketing the change. Might make you a lot of money, but it’s sure as hell wrong. What does that have to do with you? Aside from that $100 million being your money, there’s a pattern developing. Back home in Ohio the GOP invested $50 million of our money in rare coins. That made me wonder if they were getting investment ideas from late-night infomercials, but it gets worse. Over one hundred of these rare coins are now simply gone. Missing. Who was responsible for buying these rare coins? Why, Mr. Tom Noe, who just happens to be a notable Republican fundraiser. Isn’t that convenient? The pattern is repeated like a fractal design. The Republican actions are the same, from the federal and international level back home to right here in Ohio. Republicans are wasting YOUR tax money – and making sure they take care of their fat cat corporate friends. Our taxes are supposed to be investments in our country, and its well being. They’re for you and me – so that we can have good roads, good schools, and contribute to making our lives better. It’s time for us to get Democrats back to Columbus to stick up for us regular folks.

Of Outrage, Sacrifice, and Shame

Where is the outrage? While the radical right-wing theocrats wring their hands over the removal of a feeding tube from one individual, our young men and women are dying every day in an unnecessary war. While the religious radicals scream about their “culture of life”, our children are killed and maimed everyday in an Iraqi civil war that we started and in which countless Iraqis die. While radical republicans threaten a “nuclear option” over a centuries old filibuster rule in order to appoint 7 incompetent justices to courts, our proud warriors lack the body armor, armored vehicles, adequate manpower, and leadership to survive in combat in an illegal war. Does the “culture of life” of the radicals only extend to the fetus and the brain dead? Don’t our warriors also deserve adequate protection so they may too have an opportunity to live? While radical republicans malign the United Nations, herald a unilateralist foreign policy, and shoot their mouths off about being “strong on national defense”, one third of the U. S. Air Force’s aircraft are flying with restrictions to keep the wings from falling off, a top Army Reserve general has declared the Army Reserves a “broken force”, recruiting quotas are not being met in Army and Marine recruiting efforts, and the Army has resorted to recalling to active duty 50 and 60 year-olds to make up the difference. Where is the sacrifice? While oil companies make record profits, people complain about high gas prices for their gas-guzzling SUV’s, and our government refuses to update fuel-efficiency standards for automakers; our national treasure bleeds into the Iraqi sand in a war that has already been admitted to be about oil. While radical republicans eliminate the “death tax” for the likes of the Paris Hiltons of America, our brave warriors die for want of body armor. While radical republicans institute “tax relief” for the richest 1% of Americans, the poor and middle class send their sons and daughters, inadequately equipped, to die in a foreign land. While Haliburton and KBR make record profits by charging the United Sates Military outrageous prices for fuel and meals not served, while mercenary armies like Blackwater Security pay top dollar for soldiers of fortune, our warriors go to war with understrength companies and cardboard cut-out Marines. While our leaders, chickenhawks all who have never seen combat, rattle sabers and threaten another war, they institute stop-loss programs for the services that violate enlistment contracts and makes indentured servants of brave troops whose tours of duty are expired. Where is the shame? While the First Lady cracks jokes at a correspondence dinner about the President masturbating a horse, not one word, prayer, or blessing is offered for our warriors in the field. While able body Young Republicans AND Young Democrats support the war, recruiters are reduced to signing up mentally handicapped individuals to fill the ranks. While PFC. Lyndie England follows orders and goes to jail for prisoner abuse, the generals who issued those orders get a free pass and the radical republican government official who authored a report condoning this abuse is promoted to be the chief law enforcement official of the United States. While the public is shocked and outraged by an Iraqi mob that burns and mutilates the bodies of mercenaries, there is only a quiet mumble about an OFFICIAL UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PROGRAM that sends ghost prisoners to foreign countries to be tortured and boiled in oil. While a gay faux reporter who impersonates a United States Marine is allowed unlimited access to the highest offices of the land, gays are barred from serving their country. And finally, while the man who was responsible for the deaths of 3000 Americans is allowed to roam the world; while our military destroys itself in a senseless war; while our country slowly slides into a police state, our Presidents most pressing issue is to steal the social security of our citizens.

I want my library back.

We all know the phrase "Put your money where your mouth is." The Republican-controlled Ohio government has put its money, and it sure isn't with Ohio citizens. The Ohio House of Representatives have already passed a version of Governor Taft’s budget where the Dayton Metro Library will lose an additional $950,000 in state support starting next January. Libraries are a public trust. They are a basic investment in the "well-informed citizenry" that this country was founded on. They are not a for-profit business, nor should they be run as one. They are a resource, part of the public good. They are money well-spent on you and I. The Republicans, of course, want to make them into yet another rental outlet, to make them more "commercial". Changing them to be more commercial - charging rental fees for media, for example - simply is a bad idea. Like all investments, the "payoff" may not be in direct income, but in the people who benefit from it. Their reluctance to fully fund public libraries shows how little the GOP thinks of Ohioans. Read more, and let them know how you feel about this here.