Hey John, you're welcome for the RS article on Schmidt. Yeah, that first paragraph just set the tone. I thought it was hysterical.

I'm sorry Vic didn't win. Out of the 3700 provisional ballots here, I believe it was like over 800 tossed. Wilson (R) Incumbent kept her seat by only 879 votes. I could be wrong on the tossed votes, but it sounds right. On the first round of checking P ballots, they tossed 400. The reports kept giving different numbers.

Well, best to you, too. Happy Thanksgiving.

A great article on Oh 02 District, Schmidt, if anyone wants to read.

http://imgsrv.gainesvillesun.com/apps/pb...


And btw, John, maybe new SOS Brunner can implement SAME DAY Register Voting. So if no one is on the list, people can become a registered voter on the spot if they have all their information with them.

"Back of the bus ballots" is what state Senator Teresa Fedor called provisional ballots last winter, as Ohio HB 3 was about to pass.

A friend in Clermont County Rep. Schmidt's home turf) was forced to vote a provisional ballot, even though she's had the same house, same phone for 17 years. I'm still waiting to hear whether her vote counted.

Ohio law now requires a 60-day notice be sent to registered voters informing them of their precinct location -- on its face a democracy-promoting idea. But, but, BUT . . . the statute requires it be sent DO NOT FORWARD. If your notice is bounced back to the board of electons you are placed on a Must Vote Provisional list.

Good news

Because candidates like Wulsin and Kilroy adopted a count every vote position the issue continues to get media coverage and public interest. Even the Enquirer writes the 2nd District is "A GOP gimme no longer." http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...

--John

FYI, the section of Hamilton County (about one-third) that is within OH-02 contains as many "Bush Pioneers" as some states.

LOL

Oh, good.. I didn't realize my link from the other day was NOT the article it was supposed to be.

Here is the correct link.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/sto...

And some people wonder why American voter turnout is so low???  At this rate, people will only become more cynical about the value of their vote, despite the increasing number of close contests.  I think every Board of Election across the country should have a website where every voter in their precinct can go to verify that their vote was valid and counted.  Kudos to Wulsin and Kilroy for their tenacity in demanding the system be accountable.

BTW, regarding the number of  Bush Pioneers in Cincy:  I read somewhere that the amount of Republican money raised in Hamilton County, OH  is second only to Orange County, CA.  That makes progressive Wulsin's close race against conservative stooge Schmidt all the more remarkable.  Thanks for the post John.

...And in honor of this being front paged ....

The Deans of Democracy for America are first!

Hey BILL!!!

It seems then Indian Hill got bumped up a notch. In 04 the top 3 fundraising for Bush was NY, Cali (I guess your Orange County) and Indian Hill. Doesn't that make ya' feel all warm and fuzzy? :)

It's up.........woot

Rocky Jones
Sat, 11/25/06
10:54 pm

OK Fred I think I get where you rproblem is. LOL

YOu dont understand modern Judism. Not a bit.

The state of Israel is a Product perhaps it is the pivot point of Modern Judism. It was formed not to pivot on a religious but on a cultural level a group of people who were united by that culture.

-------

I think I understand Jews and Judaism better than the average American, both ethnic and religious, and I certainly understand it better than I do Islam.

I understand the need for a homeland, but inclusion does not destroy the Jewish homeland, any more than freed slaves and giving native Americans rights and citizenship destroyed the ideals of the United States and its original founders.

Peace in the middle east will attract Jews from all over the world and the immigration will be hard for the Palestinians to beat, population-wise. Many of them may even convert religiously. Jewish institutions and influence will alway be present.

This has never been tried because the violent, fascist wing of Zionism became the dominant force in the 1930s, and Naziism may have had much to do with that, although not all of it.

That's when the "Iron Wall" proponents came into power. Described by Jabotinski as an [untested] assumption that Arabs will never give up land without a fight, so Zionism must prepare to take the land by force. All efforts in Zionism started to work towards that end, overtly or covertly. Courting the influence of Britain and United States and even USSR as strategic allies was part of that.

It is quite possible Zionism could have acquired Palestine and its inhabitants peacefully and properously had the right wing had not taken over Zionism and the 20th century had not been so violently oriented - but it is never to late to give peace a chance.

Tim Russert did a great in depth interview of former Senator JOhn Edwards on his show.  It is very very interesting and quite revealing.

Robert

Michael Ellis
Sat, 11/25/06
10:21 pm

Well, LZ, as a military guy I respect that view from you................Roberts strengthening up the hand and getting the vaseline out at the very thought of more troops.....................little boys who neevr grew up and left the sandbox...................
++++++++++++

Robert is advancing a political agenda for policy in Iraq that isn't based in realism. He thinks the introduction of 20,000 troops is going to turn the tide and the insurgency will lay down their arms. Really, thats how naieve Rocky is. He's a prisoner to his own ideaology.

First off, no amount of American troops is going to make a difference. There have been too many blunders....too many indiscriminate bombings, prisoner abuses and rampages by American troops. These are the reasons why 70 percent of Iraqis want us the he!! out and 60 percent of Iraqis support insurgent attacks on US troops.

Second, it must escape him that Iraq is a very large piece of geography...a country of 27 million people. How he believes 20,000 poor and middle-class troops will make a difference is mind-boggling.

Third, the sheer size of the nationalist insurgency suggests that 20,000 troops aren't the answer. And you can forget about the ISF participating. You only have to look at the Together Backward operation in Baghdad and the dousing of those Sunnis the other day with kerosene and set on fire to see their effectiveness. Even with 160,000 American troops on the ground, we fall far short of conducting an effective counter-insurgency campaign. Take, for instance, that the insurgency numbers 30,000 guerrillas ( I have heard anywhere from 30,000 on the low side to 200,000 on the high side). To fight a sustained counter-insurgency campaign, most doctrine I've read suggests having 10 troops to every 1 guerrilla....a 10 to 1 ratio. So, doing the math with that conservative estimate of 30,000 guerrillas, at least 300,000 American troops would need to be on the ground to have even the remote chance of achieving anything. Well, a volunteer force isn't conducive to that kind of commitment....its well known by now.....Gen Abizaid made that clear before the SASC.

So, what it really boils down to is that the Neo-cons, like Robert, wish to perpetuate this disaster rather than admitting that they were wrong for plunging this country into the abyss. Its really kinda sad in Robert's case because he claims to be one of the troops.

I think I understand Jews and Judaism better than the average American, both ethnic and religious, and I certainly understand it better than I do Islam....

I have no way to judge your understanding visa vee "Average Americans" but I think your understanding of cultural Judaism and radical Islam is poor.  Poor to very poor.

Robert

I have no way to judge your understanding visa vee "Average Americans"

----------------

LOL! Did you mean vis-a-vis?

Or with the accent... 

vis-à-vis

jc
Sat, 11/25/06
11:24 pm

nope what I typed should have seperate vis a vee ie kept the a away from vis.

thanks for being alert and attentive to my post.   That must be important to you!

Robert

Hi :-) Passing through for a sec...

13.

Rocky Jones
Sat, 11/25/06
11:19 pm

I have no way to judge your understanding visa vee "Average Americans" but I think your understanding of cultural Judaism and radical Islam is poor. Poor to very poor.

---------

And I have no idea where you gather your criteria. At 58 I've had countless conversations with Jewish friends. Most of my life I lived in New Jersey that is full of Jews. For ten years my mother worked for a Jew in a hair salon in a Jewish neighborhood. My best friend for two years in the 1980s was a Jew that converted Christianity. We could talk for hours. He was history teacher and encouraged me to read a book called "History, God, and the Jews."

I could go on and on.

What's your experience? A guided tour of the holy land?

"nope what I typed should have seperate vis a vee ie kept the a away from vis."

------------------------

Did you mean separate? 

jc ... I like the accent :)

Hi, Thankful! :-)

Howdy Thankful and ...the Gang.

Have a great day giving Thanks manana. I hope you all have a great feast while enjoying each others company.

LOL, LInda.

or Linda!  LOL

:-) Jut making apple pie. mmmmm

What's your experience? A guided tour of the holy land?...

I have not had that, unless you consider a one on one tour by a member of the IDF of Israel...on one of my times there.

Fred, I think I will have had shortly about 12 years boots on the ground in the middle east.  That is a zillion times there not all at once, but in a bunch of decades of doing what I do, I've been here a bit.  Those years there I have been able to get around and about almost all the countries...and that includes Syria.  my time in Iran was pretty "setpiece" probably about 2 weeks on and off, but the odd thing was that while we were there the folks had no problem with us renting taxis and traveling. 

Read a lot, studied a lot, wrote a lot of papers that were pretty well recieved including by the guy who heads The Carter Center!

I could go own but it would bore you and the others.  I've got a lot of my professional and personal life in the region.  My curse.  All I wanted to do was sail the Pacific.  As my Dad use to say about his oldest son, "he is kind of Indiana JOnes, been where all the action is".

You sat at home!

Robert

"You sat at home!"

**********

There's a slight difference.  When you sat at home, you were collecting checks for the work you're being asked to do now. 

jc
Sat, 11/25/06
11:50 pm

not really...when I was "at home" I was collecting checks for the work I was doing then.  INcluding wonderful times at places run by former Presidents and all that other stuff you and others paid for.

You got to love it, you are helping paying for the younger generation too...Anna says "you go girl" to you, as does her sister and two cousins!

Robert

LZ XRAY
Sat, 11/25/06
11:18 pm
--------------------------------------------------------------------

A pretty sound and methodical post...........Ive always been curious as to which war was yours, what branch of the service you were in and what rank............

About to go wage peace...but I hve rewatched the last oh 20 minutes of Tim Russert and John Edwards.

Have to think about this some.  Gore is toast in my view.  It was a good interview by Edwards.

Phil...curious is Edwards hiring staff in Iowa?

Robert

28. Why collect the checks at all?  You always brag about your wealth.  If you're so gung ho about serving your country, why do they have to pay you?

Pat-in-Colorado, late to answer your question but I was 15 when RFK was killed.  My folks told us about it in the morning.

"Have to think about this some. "

You've already displayed your limited ability to *big think*.

Suggestion:  go back to basics-focus on basic sentence construction and get a 6th grade spelling book. Practice makes perfect.

27.

jc
Sat, 11/25/06
11:50 pm

"You sat at home!"

**********

There's a slight difference. When you sat at home, you were collecting checks for the work you're being asked to do now.

-------
Thanks, jc. I did not sit either. I was doing things, reading books, newspapers, attending classes, rebuilding my mother's tenement building, getting crushes on Jewish girls, etc.

I imagine viewing things from military duty is definitely biased in some ways.

Someday Robert will realize that his experience is not the only experience, and may well not even be the reality of things.

Michael Ellis Sat, 11/25/06 11:59 pm A pretty sound and methodical post...........

It brought tears to my eyes...I could only get through the first part and then I had to move on.  To much humor is a bad thing right before the grim task of waging peace.

Robert

Someday Robert will realize that his experience is not the only experience, and may well not even be the reality of things.

Fred.

AS I have said previously I realize my own knowledge and experience is not all encompassing, but I have enough of it to realize that your post are based on something other then reality!

I think that you are a good guy, smart and pretty well read.  I think however that you let your biases grab you and determine your course of study.  The tipping point for me was your moment or 20 minutes of going from no knowledge on the LIberty to a frim assumption that the IDF was purposly at fault. 

That was a leap of bias. 

It is that simple.

Robert

Fred,

I've always found humor in Robert's ongoing implication that people who blog can't possibly have meaningful lives.  Meanwhile, he blogs that message to us all day long, while simultaneously trying to impress us with his "life."  LOL 

Great episode of Criminal Minds...one of the best this season (In what I think is a pretty good show...I like the new replacement agent as well).

This one concerns Islamic terrorism in the US and the questioning methods down at Gitmo.  In fact it is primarily centered on that.  It shows just how good I believe (and this is from practical experience) the FBI behavoral unit is and why they should be put in charge at Gitmo. 

I've seen them in action professionally (lets say as a Federal LAw enforcement officer) and they are very very impressive. 

It is very well done (Plus you get to see the Gulfstream that the rendetion people use to be all excited about...has that faded?)

Robert

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=h...://www.k5rmg.org/rmg-prop/WB5MZO.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.k5rmg.org/members.html&h=18&w...:&tbnh=12&tbnw=93&prev=/images%3Fq%3Drobert%2Boler%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official_s%26sa%3DG

I've always found humor in Robert's ongoing implication that people who blog can't possibly have meaningful lives..

That is unfair.  I think Fred has a meaningful life.  I just dont think he knows squat about the Middle East.  You doubltess have a meaningful life.  I dont see all the bumper stickers you do, but people sure talk abou tthem.

We all have our niche!

Robert

didn't work, never mind.

he blogs that message to us all day long, while simultaneously trying to impress us with hislife."  LOL "==

i spent the whole afternoon recording with a friend. we're making a new record. the songs are all about love, between lovers, with lovers, and about being in love. love. GF.

we're also doing songs about reclaiming the positive aspects of human existence/society: i.e., love. we're making a love filled lovefest intended to inspire love. GF. love.

it's what we need. didn't someone already say that? love.

big hearts filled with love.

eyes of love.

songs of love.

rooms filled with love.

reach out...love's waiting for you.

really.

We all have our niche!

Robert

**********

I'm glad yours is "where you are." LOL 

ooooohhhhh. 44.

mprov
Sun, 11/26/06
12:18 am

Oh I would recognize those call signs anywhere.  You have stumbled into the RoadRunners.

among a few other talents I am extroadinarily good at RF power generation at all frequencies but especially in the gigahertz band.  You know that big billboard radar that goes round and around on teh big boat (and other ships)?  My technical masters was in making part of the ANPS48B and on (incluidng the E...especially the E) do what it does.  To paraphrase.  "I wrote the book"...

At home I have one of the premier microwave setups.  Good for high power up to 24GHZ...

it is the joy of being able to multitask. 

Nameste gong

Robert

robert, don't talk to me. you've got nothing i want to hear.

btw, i decided to spare posting your email on this blog. out of a sense of fairness. so, just piss off. go away.

I'm glad yours is "where you are." ...

Oh so am I.  It has been a great ride so far.  Some bumps and bruises along the way, I miss Slugger.  But from heaven she is very  pleased how the "young ones" have turned out.  That alone has been worth the ticket of admission.  And here is the cool thing.  The best is yet to come!

We are going to win doing what we are doing...and that will change history for the good.

Robert

37.

Rocky Jones
Sun, 11/26/06
12:13 am

Reply to this
FRED from OR
Sun, 11/26/06
12:09 am


I think that you are a good guy, smart and pretty well read. I think however that you let your biases grab you and determine your course of study. The tipping point for me was your moment or 20 minutes of going from no knowledge on the LIberty to a frim assumption that the IDF was purposly at fault.

That was a leap of bias.
It is that simple.

Robert

--------

Thanks for the kind words.

Robert, just because my reality is different from your reality doesn't make it wrong.

On the Liberty issue. I think you are a bit obsessed with that. I don't want to go back and analyze it. I could have been overspeculating, or not. But as I remember it, there were unanswered question. I did not make a case for answering them but only speculated.

Whatever you remember about that conversation, I believe ity has become bigger than life in your mind. It could have been a misunderstanding. Or maybe I was more suspicious of the Israelis than the average person. Anyway, I cannot see how you can forge an opinions of someone's entire personality on such a frivolously trivial conversation.

41.

Rocky Jones
Sun, 11/26/06
12:19 am

That is unfair. I think Fred has a meaningful life. I just dont think he knows squat about the Middle East.

--------

It is all relative, Robert. I am intensely interested in the middle east, Jews, Israel, and how we got to where we are (not a good place) I read books, discuss, and listen intensely to news. What do you want a doctoral thesis, or degree?

FRED from OR
Sun, 11/26/06
12:43 am

not really Fred. 

I toss out little "test" to people to see how they react in a non confrontational situation and that allows me to judge how they perform.  I've tried that to a lot of people here. And I did it with you on The Liberty.

I gambled you didnt "know" about the event and was curious to see where you would go with it.  One reason I view your post how I do, is how you responded to that.  It was pretty knee jerk anti Israel.

There are no serious questions about that the IDF attacked the boat.  There are a series of questions as to why.  They range from simple mistake (those happen) to the grand conspiracy about them starting to fight and shutting the LIberty off.  You immediatly swooped down on the latter.

IT COULD BE ACCURATE...but there is as of this date no real evidence to prove it.  All the evidence I have read (and that is most of it) is purely speculative or relies heavily on the notions of the Liberty crew which have some motive (they were suing the government of Israel and the US). 

What I was interested in more then anything else is what your problem solving technique would be.  And in less then 20 minutes you had blown right into anti Israel conspiracy theories. 

The secret of trying to solve difficult issues is to try and keep your personality out of it.  To try and work strictly on what we "know" not what we fear or we hope. 

I think you are a smart guy.  I just htink that you let your emotions rule instead of hard cold facts. 

In my business that gets people killed.

Robert

robert, don't talk to me.

I AM SO SORRY (well not really but anyway)

I have to go wage peace. 

Take care.  Until this afternoon.

Robert

Off to go wage peace.

See the Russert/Edwards interview if you can.

Otherwise...there is a conspiracy everywhere!

Take care

Robert

Good evening all.

Being Thankful helps to inspire others.

Since returning from the hospital on Oct 4 so many amazing things have been happening, and even though I still tire easily my Underground Holiday Extravaganza is being well recieved. There is an unbelievable joy that comes from making children dance during the Holidays.

Plus, on the internets The Gift has has been recieved by over 575 people in twenty countries since the 18th. But for folks to embrace the concept of "paying it forward" might take some getting used to.

No matter. It's been a 12 year labor of Love so far and touching hearts means so much more.

Happiness Rocks. 

Hey mprov - I'd love to buy one of those cd's when it's done.

Subway - 575 in 18! WOW!
~ ~ ~

Eek, my phone just said there's a new message but htere's no reception here - gotta check in...

"The secret of trying to solve difficult issues is to try and keep your personality out of it."

LOL! 

cvn65vf94@msm.com

go for it. i don't care.

 Thankful if that message is for me tell them I'm not here...

Thankful,

I was very pleased to discover that nearly 2/3 of those 575 downloads happened before the end of Thanksgiving. I am soooo thrilled. 

Subway- lol, it *wa* for you! Told them they would have to find you another day :-)

Actually, it was a call from earlier. I can't pick up messages, only get a notice there is one - apparently not in real time. Status quo from this afternoon, not great but not lots worse.

*was*