More taser abuse.
I'm sure there will be those saying the guys should have just obeyed and so on. True enough. You should obey the police when being questioned. But does disobeying deserve a death sentence?
When will the question be asked, does a suspect's behavior warrant deadly force? Using the taser needs to be seen in that context, as this latest event shows. The following occurred in Oxford, here in the Dayton/Cincinnati area:
A man died Thursday, five days after police subdued him with stunning device outside a bar near Miami University, a hospital spokesman said.
Kevin Piskura, 24, of Chicago, died shortly after 5 p.m. at University Hospital in Cincinnati hospital, said spokesman Don Crouse.
Police said Oxford officer Geoff Robinson used the device early Saturday morning as he tried to break up a fight.
The Butler County offices of the sheriff and prosecutor are investigating the officer's actions.
"We still request that people refrain from rash judgment and wait until the independent investigation of this event is complete, lest tragedy lead to more tragedy," the Piskura family said in a statement released by the hospital.
Piskura, a 2006 Miami graduate, argued with police after a friend was escorted from a bar, police said. The officer drew his Taser stun gun and told Piskura to stop, and when he did not, police said, the officer used the device and hit Piskura in the chest.
Video from a camera attached to the stunning device shows Piskura getting shocked for about 10 seconds as he rolls around on a sidewalk.
Robinson, 27, has been placed on paid leave pending the outcome of the investigation, Oxford police spokesman Jim Squance said.
Robinson is a Miami University graduate and has been an Oxford police officer for two years. He had taken a refresher course on using a stun gun a week before the incident, police said.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Your Daily Taser
Monday, March 17, 2008
The War's Toll On Cleveland
h/t Good Girl Roxie:
A graphic from The Nation shows the the war in Iraq has cost the city of Cleveland nearly $500 million, and shows what else the city could have done with that amount of money. Click through the link above.
Pretty startling.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Poll: Ohioans Want a Democrat for President
From the Dayton Daily's Ohio Politics Blog:
Nearly two-thirds of Ohio adults want to see a Democrat take control of the White House in the November election, according to a new poll released Wednesday, March 12...
A key finding: 59.5 percent of the political independents wanted a Democrat to take over.
Overall, 64.1 percent favored a Democrat, while 95.9 percent of the Democrats and 14.2 percent of the Republicans wanted to see a Democrat take over.
On a related question, 69.1 percent said that regardless of how they planned to vote they thought a Democrat would carry Ohio in November. More than half of the Republicans - 55.8 percent - thought a Democrat would win, while 61.9 percent of the independents and 83.3 percent of the Democrats thought there would be a Democratic victory.
Nearly half of those surveyed - 47.5 percent - said economic issues would be most important in determining their vote for president, nearly double the 24.8 percent who said foreign policy issues such as the war in Iraq would be most important, the poll found.
Of course, whether there's a Democrat left standing by then is another question...
The poll here. One number really stands out: Respondents trusted the Democrats on the economy by a huge margin. Sixty-five percent favored the Democrats on economic issues, versus 31% for Republicans.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Tuesday's Biggest News: Democratic Identification in SW Ohio
It's worth remembering that the wide margin for George Bush in red southwestern Ohio is what allowed him to carry Ohio, and ultimately the nation. With that in mind, the biggest news from Ohio's primary may be the astonishing turnout and the fact that in traditional Republican strongholds, registered Democrats now outnumber Republicans.
That's significant, because we aren't simply talking about crossover voting. In Ohio, you have to be somewhat serious about crossover voting. If it's proven that voters aren't doing it legitimately, they could be subject to prosecution.
Barack Obama's attempts to upset Hillary Clinton in the presidential primary on Tuesday rely - at least partly - on an Ohio law that allows independents and Republicans to vote a Democratic ballot.
But voters beware: Ohio's system is not a true "open" primary. And the law discourages voters from whimsically switching parties each election to vote in a more exciting race - or to create mischief.
Ohio law allows independents - or those who haven't voted in a partisan primary since 2005 - to cast a ballot in either party's primary. Any voter also can cast an issues-only ballot.
But a registered Republican who wants to vote a Democratic ballot must swear - under threat of criminal prosecution - that he "desires to be affiliated with" and "supports the principles" of the Democratic party. The same goes for registered Democrats who want to vote Republican ballots.
Prosecutors and election lawyers say indictments of fraudulent crossover voters are extremely unlikely, and perhaps unfathomable - absent some organized effort by one party to tamper with the other party's result.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that the crossover isn't an attempt to game the system, but a disgust with GOP politics that the party ignores at its peril.
Take Lincoln Ware, a talk show host on the African-American-oriented radio station WDBZ. He cast an early vote with great fanfare on his radio show Tuesday.
Though a longtime registered Republican, he crossed over to vote for Obama in the Democratic primary. As a matter of law, Ware is now a Democrat.
"I'm not declaring that I am a Democrat," he said later. "I consider myself a Republican locally. The only reason I switched over is I wanted to vote for a national Democrat. I'm disgusted with the national Republican party."
That was enough to satisfy Hamilton County Elections Director John M. Williams, a guest on the show (and a registered Republican). He accepted the ballot.
Hamilton County Democratic Chairman Timothy M. Burke, who also chairs the Board of Elections, said he would happily welcome independents - and even Republicans like Ware - into the fold.
"If they believe that - in this year's election - the Democratic candidates offer the best choices, the law permits them to (cross over)," he said.
It's not just Hamilton County, either. Across Ohio, Democratic voter turnout was almost twice that of Republicans, a fact that should give the eventual nominee a leg up in November.
Results showed that the Democratic contest dominated the night in Ohio, with many unaffiliated and Republican voters choosing to vote on the Democratic side in this perennial swing state that has made a habit of picking presidents. With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Democratic candidates received more than twice the number of votes than Republicans, 2.23 million votes for Democrats to 1.02 million for Republicans.
There's even bad news for John Boehner. In solidly red Butler County, which went for Bush by a 66-34 margin in 2004, Democratic ballots outnumbered Republicans by 48,991 to 39,747. Previously, there were 45,711 Republicans compared to 21,640 Democrats. No one should be naive enough to think that the Democrats will carry Butler County--but they can easily cut into the margin there and in the rest of Ohio that helped George Bush carry Ohio in 2004. That news alone shows what an uphill battle McCain has in Ohio, and exactly how hard he will have to campaign. With his recent dust up with Cinninnatian Bill Cunningham, he's not off to a good start in winning the conservative base here.
In Hamilton County, Democratic registrations now outnumber Republicans for the first time ever, according to the Enquirer.
For the first time ever, registered Democrats will outnumber registered Republicans in Hamilton County, as a surge in turnout for Tuesday’s presidential primary brought at least 84,000 new voters under the Democratic banner.
“What yesterday speaks to is some incredible excitement in the Democratic primary -- whether you were supporting Clinton or Obama,” said Hamilton County Democratic Chairman Timothy M. Burke. “And you just didn’t have that kind of excitement on the other side.”
Though New York Sen. Hillary Clinton won the majority of Ohio’s delegates – and the coveted momentum that comes with winning a critical bellwether state – it was Sen. Barack Obama who carried Hamilton County.
Countywide, Obama won 62 percent of the vote, according to final, unofficial returns from the Hamilton County Board of Elections. In the city of Cincinnati, it was 72 percent. He took 25 of Cincinnati’s 26 wards.
All this means that come November, it's the Democrats' game to lose.
And as they say, as Ohio goes...
(PS: If you're an election supergeek, the Hamilton County precinct breakdown is an interesting read.)
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Ohio PSAT Data Shows Girls Still Behind in Math
The College Board recently released state reports on PSAT data, with Ohio's report showing that college-bound juniors still show a gender gap in math.
The PSAT is a test that most college bound students take in the fall of their junior years, both to prepare for college boards and to compete for National Merit status. Some students take the PSAT at earlier grades as well, but it is standard for students to take it during the fall of their junior year.
I have to confess, I was looking at the report primarily to support my hypothesis that girls' reading skills tend to be better than boys', which contributes to the higher college graduation rates from women that we are seeing in Ohio and across the country. I've looked at enough district report cards and data reports over the years to know that girls consistently score higher, sometimes much higher, in reading and writing, while scores in other areas are more mixed. Since the PSAT is given relatively soon after the Ohio Graduation Test in the 10th grade, the scores might be meaningful.
I also found that engineer is still a heavily male-dominated college major.
Findings below.
What I found wasn't earth shattering, but among college bound juniors taking the PSAT, there doesn't seem to be an achievement gap between boys and girls (in fact, boys are slightly ahead). BUT, there is one in math. While the scores are fairly close in reading, with girls slightly ahead in writing, boys outperform girls in math on the PSAT by a relatively wide margin. Here are the mean scores for 2007:
Reading: Girls, 48.0; Boys 48.3 Boys win by .3!!!
Writing: Girls, 47.6; Boys 46.6 Girls win by 1.0!!
Math: Girls 48.0; Boys 51.3 Boys win by a whopping 3.3!
Just to get a sense of trend lines, the 2006 results are fairly similar:
Reading: Girls, 49.0; Boys 49.5 (slightly wider gap than 07)
Writing: Girls 46.6; Boys 46.2 (smaller gap than 07)
Math: Girls 48.1; Boys 51.2 (smaller gap than 07)
So the gap between boys and girls in math got even wider in 07 than in 06.
Recent reports suggest that girls are closing the gap in math and science, and I don't doubt that's true. But obviously the gap is still real, and measurable, in spite of the concious efforts of many.
Another data piece from the PSAT state report was disturbing. While 15% of college bound junior boys considered engineering as a probable major, only about 2% of girls did. Meanwhile much higher percentages of girls than boys considered education and health care as potential majors. It's almost as though the persistent gender stereotypes that educators have been fighting for the last 20 years or so haven't really changed at all.
I'm hoping this data is telling me that even though the gender gap is still real, it's getting smaller--but I feel like inroads just are not being made fast enough.
I also remain concerned that not enough attention is focused on the real gender gap (even though it doesn't show up in PSAT data) in reading. But initiatives like Guys Read from our new literacy ambassador give me hope.
By the way, if you are interested in looking at your own district's report card go here and select your own district or school. Test scores should be broken down by gender as well as other ethnic/minority groups.
Monday, December 24, 2007
Ohio Reindeer Pressed into Service
I just found out that my uncle's reindeer, kept on his Darke County farm as part of the top-secret North Pole Reindeer Training Program, may have to be pressed into service tonight. I'll keep you posted.
Meanwhile, here are some secret photos of real reindeer living in Ohio. (Seriously. They are as cute as they look in the photos. Gentle, sweet, timid, and adorable.)
Monday, December 03, 2007
Ohio Deserves Better
Great video from the DCCC.
I take back what I said before about the DCCC. I am hearing that they are involved in Ohio's 5th in a big way. This video is proof.
US News: HS Rankings
Yet another ranking of American high schools. Sigh. Now we have US News awarding "gold medals" to certain schools.
If the Dayton area, where I live, is any indication, the schools are mostly the wealthy white high schools that made the list. Big suprise.
But not exactly. This ranking includes some suprises...like, in the Miami Valley, the working class and rural Versailles (for you non-Ohioans the l's are pronounced in that name, not ver-sigh but ver-sales).
While the Newsweek rankings were based strictly on AP ratios, the US rankings seem to be based on a combination of state test scores and AP rankings. Furthermore, the rankings seem to be based on minority and low-income students who outperformed expectations, although what's confusing about that is that Oakwood and Versailles, local districts who made the cut, would seem to have such low samples of low income and minority students as to be statistically irrelevant. Indian Hill also made the top 100, at 48. Indian Hill? Clearly there didn't have to be low income or minority in any great numbers to be included.
The authors acknowledge the fact that most schools on the list are upper class schools:
These criteria mean a lot of schools don't measure up—only 505 schools nationwide earned a silver or gold medal this year. The list illustrates at once the promise and the challenge for high schools today. Only about 1 in 8 of the schools on this list serves a student population that is more than 50 percent low income, and only about 1 in 5 has a majority of nonwhite students. Meanwhile, about 1 in 5 selects students based on academic merit, something that obviously boosts the chances of meeting the criteria.
Ohio schools in the top 100: 48. Indian Hill, 81. Wyoming, 83. Walnut Hills (Cincinnati Public), 92. Chagrin Falls.
The rest of Ohio's schools in the complete list here.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Best places to raise kids: Groesbeck is No. 1
Business Week is publishing a story about the best places to raise kids, based on a combination of safety, community, schools, and value for the money. I haven't looked carefully at their rating system, although it seems fair enough. But I don't think Groesbeck, although Colerain has a good reputation, would be considered the best place in the Cincinnati area by many people. So it's a little surprising. Interesting read. Unfortunately to acutally see the list you have to click through an annoying slide show. To save you a little time, here's the top ten, including two Ohio towns, and three Chicagoland suburbs:
10. Hopewell Tennessee
9. Waterville, Oh
8. Lackland, Texas
7. Wilmette, Illinois
6. Waverly, Nebraska
5. Arapahoe, Nebraska
4. Echelon, New Jersey
3. Deerfield, Illinois
2. Western Springs, Illinois
1. Groesbeck
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Early thoughts on today's Cleveland school shooting
Leave it to Nancy Grace. Her panel of geniuses was just weighing in on whether the school system is liable for the shooting that took place in Cleveland earlier today. The consensus? Of course the school is responsible! They did nothing!
That's always the mantra when a school shooting occurs. The school "did nothing" to prevent it. Except the assembled experts on Nancy Grace didn't mention that the boy was under suspension for fighting. There isn't much more they can do, from a disciplinary standpoint, than suspend a student--except expel him.
But, Nancy and her guests seem to think that since the boy talked crazy earlier, the school authorities should have known this was coming. And barricaded the school, I guess, or shot the kid on sight. Or, as some right winger is bound to suggest, maybe the principal should have been packing.
Let's see what the warning signs were:
A fellow student at SuccessTech Academy alternative school said Asa H. Coon, who was suspended for fighting two days earlier, had made threats in front of students and teachers last week.
"He's crazy. He threatened to blow up our school. He threatened to stab everybody," Doneisha LeVert said. "We didn't think nothing of it." (my emphasis)
Pretty rough talk. But look at the classmate's reaction! This is an alternative school. A school for discipline problems and troubled kids. In Cleveland. How many kids in a school like that--or in any school for that matter--do you think make threatening comments to their classmates? I'm gonna torch this place, I'm gonna get you, I'm gonna kill you, I'm gonna kick your ass. Teachers and administrators hear this every day, and it doesn't mean the kid is going to march in with weapons in his or her bookbag. Should we expel everyone who says such things or bring them to school in a straightjacket?
Look, I'm not reflexively defending the schools. When tragedies like this occur there are hard questions that need to be asked (see my post after Va Tech, for example), questions that often make school officials uncomfortable, questions about the personalization of education, the lack of counseling services, about the isolation and resentment many kids feel. But the reflexive instinct to start pointing fingers at school personnel and screaming about liability isn't helpful either. It leads to the mentality that overreacts to any mention of violence from kids or an armed fortress approach to school security. School personnel aren't security experts, and schools by their nature need to be open and accessible. They need to be places kids want to come to. That also makes schools vulnerable.
So maybe, this one time, we can lay off the finger pointing, and start talking about ways to counsel troubled kids, where to put them in order to best educate them, about alternative schools and whether they are a good idea, about the root causes of students' anti-social behavior. And maybe about the availability of guns in our society--would Nancy like to talk about the liability of gun makers? Funny, that topic didn't come up.
CORRECTION: "Alternative school" can mean a school for discipline problems, or it can mean a school with a non-traditional academic program. This school appears to be the latter.
Monday, October 01, 2007
AP publishes name of 10 year old arson suspect against judge's orders
UPDATE: Since this was posted I've learned that the judge has lifted the gag order on reporting the juvenile's name.
A judge in Darke County today ordered media organizations not to release the name of a ten year old accused of starting a fire in Greenville that killed five, including the boy's mother. The boy has admitted to starting the fire, but with no intention of harming anyone. The case has dominated the Dayton media in recent days and has as I wrote yesterday shed some light on the state of poverty that exists in many small towns like Greenville.
The AP ignored the judge's order, and reported the boys' name anyway. And they've challenged the judge's ruling. The DDN reports:
In a separate motion, the Associated Press on Monday challenged McClurg's ruling last week that prohibited news organizations from using the boy's name or image in their news accounts. The AP motion claims that the prohibition represents prior restraint of the press.
Why file a motion when you plan to just ignore the judge's ruling anyway?
(Meanwhile the AP seems to be following the rest of the media in not publishing the names of Blackwater employees accused of murder in Baghdad. Here's another report that fails to report any names. Ten year old suspects: fair game. Blackwater employees: off limits.)
The case of the fire in Greenville gets worse and worse. The DDN's reporting indicates that the judge released the boy to the custody of his grandmother, an act of humane common sense in the midst of this tragedy. The DDN also indicates that the boy may have had his constitutional rights violated. He appears to have been questioned at length without the advice of a lawyer, or even a judge.
The boy's life is tragic enough at this point. Maybe AP could respect the boys' future and protect what's left to salvage of his childhood by not reporting his name. At the very least they could show him the same respect they've shown the average Blackwater mercenary.
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Ohio State and Low Income Students: Ed Trust Report
The Dayton Daily has a pair of articles reporting on the findings of the Education Trust's rankings of "flagship" colleges.
The Education Trust is a good organization and they work on college affordability issues, so I think this study is meaningful. The study looks at one university in each state, it's "flagship" university.
The Dayton Daily articles show that OSU has done a good job of keeping minority students in school, but that in general OSU is becoming "richer and whiter."
There are two issue here that I think are worth noticing.
The first issue is this:Between 1995 and 2003, flagship schools increased their aid to families with incomes of $100,000 or more by 406 percent, the trust found. During that same time, aid for families earning $20,000 to $39,000 grew rose 54 percent.
"More colleges are using their financial aid to buy students who will help them climb the college rankings ladder ... instead of cushioning low-income families against spiraling costs," Haycock said.
This is one problem. Colleges like Ohio State have made greater efforts in recent years to improve access for middle- and upper middle-class students as federal aid diminishes and state funding is slashed. As tuition has been forced upwards, the universities have made efforts to attract top students. Meanwhile, lower income students without strong academic credentials have had to pursue other options, such as community colleges. In general, the doors to higher education are closing for a large number of low income students.
The second issue, then, is college affordability in general. This is a public policy issue at the state and federal level. Washington and state capitals have to get serious about funding students through grants and interest free loans AND about funding universities to keep costs down while maintaining the research programs that keep the economy moving. The universities in the Ed Trust report are generally large, important universities like Ohio State that have a mission to educate the citizens of the state but also to engage in high level and meaningful research in all academic fields. That is an expensive job, and when states and the federal government cut funding, or fail to maintain increases that are needed to improve facilities and programs, universities have to pass the costs on to students in the form of tuition increases. To keep tuition down, the state has to come through. Hopefully in Ohio, with a Democratic governor, that will happen.
But these articles make it clear that the universities also have to make some tough choices in order to continue to keep minority and low income students on campus.
I have one quibble with the Ed Trust study: by focusing on one unversity from each state, they are really insulting some universities, such as my other alma mater, Michigan State. The University of Michigan is the flagship university of Michigan? Sez who? Look, in Ohio, while there are several very large and important universities here, it's no contest to say that OSU is the flagship school. But in state's like Michigan, you can't pick just one. MSU has much more of a claim to being the state's major public university than Michigan, which although it receives state funding, is very much like a private university. Both are research giants, both have terrific programs, both are large and educate a large number of students. Trying to pick one is, well, not fair, and while it might not seem like a big deal to outsiders, I promise you that calling UM the "flagship" is bound to pick a fight. I'm just sayin'.
Friday, November 24, 2006
Minority PhD's: Graduation rates declining
My college daily, The Lantern, has an excellent website that allows geeks like me to keep up with what's going on at good ole OSU.
They had a pretty important story up recently about minority graduation rates in the graduate program, and how the graduation rates are falling sharply.
I think this story is indicative of how the GOP has neglected higher education in Ohio. College affordability in Ohio has taken a huge hit in the last 10 years and it will manifest itself in all kinds of ways, including graduation rates. People can't come do degree programs here if they can't afford it, and if the state isn't helping to pick up the cost.
Obviously there are lots of questions about these kinds of statistics, like how do foreign students get counted, are their graduation rates increasing or decreasing, and so on. But on the surface these numbers don't look good.
An excerpt after the jump.
UPDATE: see this post at Nookular Option about college affordability as well.This issue was brought to the attention of OSU President Karen A. Holbrook by Frank W. Hale Jr., vice provost and professor emeritus, in a July 31 letter indicating concern that OSU, "once the number one producer of black Ph.D.s in America, is now ranked number 31."
"I was frustrated beyond measure to see how minority students' presence has plummeted at The Ohio State University in recent years," Hale said.
Hale said he came to OSU in 1971 and designed the Graduate and Professional Schools Visitation Days Program, which invited top minority students to visit OSU. Because of his initiative, nearly $15 million in graduate fellowship awards were awarded to minority students.
"During the '70s and '80s, we became the number one producer of Ph.D.s (because of the recruitment program)," Hale said. "Even though the program continues, I was concerned we are not ranked as high."
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
My Liberal State
It's still early, and the results are coming in. But I am beginning to wonder if I live in California. Or Madison. Or Austin.
The early returns indicate that the Democrats have an opportunity to take a number of statewide races, including, significantly, Secretary of State. The Attorney General, Betty Montgomery, appears ready to lose to Marc Dann after failing to act decisively against rampant corruption by her party. The state is going to raise the minimum wage tonight, and deny a cynical attempt to legalize slot machines at racetracks. And voters are going to shoot down a well financed constitutional amendment that would limit smoking, but only a little. The ballot initiative, financed by Phillip Morris, would have allowed smoking in bars, outmaneuvering many local ordinances against smoking with a seeming statewide limit. But voters instead backed another statewide issue, Issue 5, that banned smoking outright throughout the state. Since Issue 5 was not a constitutional amendment, passage of both would have meant 5 was a no-go. Voters had to know to vote no on 4, and yes on 5.
And they did. Overwhelmingly.
Our new governor is a gun-toting moderate who campaigned on schools and economic development. But voters rejected Blackwell's dirty tricks that would have painted him as a gay sympathizer. In the senate race, my fellow Ohioans knocked down a moderate Republican in favor of a true blue progressive who, once he was done introducing his family, issued the phrase "social and economic justice" as the first phrase out of his mouth as senator-elect. When was the last time you heard a Democratic Senator railing about economic justice? Certainly not one from Ohio.
In Bob Ney's old district, voters picked Zach Space. They may as well have elected Markos Moulitsas.
Are we the next Seattle? You would think the Democratic Party loaded up busses full of Greenwich Villagers and imported them for the special election. Maybe there were lots of French exchange students this year... nah, they smoke.
What the hell is going on?
When I was growing up our senators were Howard Metzenbaum and John Glenn. Don't let anyone fool you, Metzenbaum was a sixties radical. Glenn for all his military background was Harry Truman all the way. Dick Celeste was governor when I was in high school, and I got to meet him at Ohio State. He was Bill Clinton with a snarl. I remember hearing him speak at the student union when a couple of Reagan loving hecklers tried to shout him down. He made them look foolish and sent them packing with their tail between their legs.
But the man who really ran Ohio politics for years and years was Vern Riffe. Speaker of the Ohio House. Long before the Noe scandal, Riffe had a veritable political machine in Ohio. Every year the guy had a birthday party for himself. Cost a couple grand to attend. If you wanted anything done in Ohio, I heard, you paid up and you showed up. Eventually, the Riffe show began to play to not so rave reviews, and when Voinovich, former mayor of Cleveland, was elected governor, the house leadership started to change also.
So the Republicans rode into Ohio with a pledge to drive out corruption and graft. And for a while it worked. But the Republicans had absolute power, and we all know what that brings. Meanwhile the Democratic Party in Ohio simply fell asleep. It seemed that they went begging for candidates for key offices. At one time I was excited at the prospect of Jerry Springer running for governor, simply because he had some name recognition. But the Democrats have been able to run this year by focusing on economic issues that matter to Ohioans.
Ohioans have a strong sense of fairness and doing right. I think in general this is a much more solidly Democratic state than 2000 and 2004 led many to believe. Ohio showed it's true colors tonight. We are the state of Metzenbaum and Glenn. We are the state that produced Dennis Kucinich for crying out loud.
And now we are the state that has banned smoking in public, resisted the exploitation of gambling, threw out a Secretary of State who botched an election and embarrassed our state, elected a dyed in the wool liberal to the Senate, and ensured a decent wage for everyone, while out in Cali they've elected a union busting, gas guzzling, violenct movie making moron as their governor. What's next for us, electric cars and cooperative farms? Legalized pot? Gay marriage? (Wait, we banned that in 04.) Organic tomatoes as the state fruit? Or is it a vegetable? I've never been prouder of my state.
In the immortal words of the Pretenders, Way to go, Ohio!
