Ohio UPDATED

For a fly-over state, Ohio generates a lot of attention in the areas of politics, taxes, and innovative policies. We've lived in the state for the past three years and find this a state that has turned the corner. Assuming the 'change' continues here, Ohio will be the model that many other depressed states will follow.

John Kasich is our governor. He earned a write-up in the WSJ Opinion page two weeks ago - The Buckeye Budget Lesson:

Mr. Kasich took office this year facing the largest deficit in Ohio history, close to $7.7 billion. His predecessor, Democrat Ted Strickland, had avoided any serious reform in advance of the 2010 election, despite a shrinking economy and tax base, and had concealed fiscal holes with federal stimulus dollars that have now run out. To close the gap with revenue alone, the Ohio tax department estimated that income rates for the average family would need to rise 56%.

Mr. Kasich's budget is bringing Ohio's finances into balance by cutting spending while also cutting taxes, which ought to be a lesson for Washington.

The opinion piece had a paragraph on Medicaid:

A particular achievement is reforming Medicaid, which covers one of seven Ohioans and makes up nearly a third of state spending. The stimulus and ObamaCare imposed severe "maintenance of effort" mandates on states that make the program far less flexible, but Mr. Kasich's plan will slow the program's projected 8% spending growth to 4%, well below the national average. Major savings come from redirecting subsidies to community-based care from the nursing home industry, which is politically powerful in Columbus.

We wonder if Gov. Kasich has seen today's release of James O'Keefe's latest undercover video of Ohio's Medicaid offices. If so, we think he may find some more areas to cut and maybe reduce the state's medicaid funding. From Daily Caller:



Gov. Kasich has done an excellent job in very little time. He has set a precedent in responsible leadership and we therefore expect him to respond immediately and forcefully to today's scandal. Support for drug dealing, illegal immigration, prostitution, and tax-payer theft in Ohio Medicaid offices is wrong. The Governor not only has a duty to respond, he has an opportunity to reverse this cultural rot and set a standard in a very public way.

We'll update this post with developments.

Another hearty U/T to O'Keefe and crew.

UPDATE 7.19

OMG! Thankfully not Ohio. Wounded Irish Republican Army soldiers need medical care in South and North Carolina.

There's a form for that!



O'Keefe's ability to improve on each hit piece is standard-setting.

We have an idea, although it may come across as harsh.

How about every state and local government, and the federal government too, FIRE every employee who sympathize with:

Terrorism,
Prostitution, including child prostitution,
Illegal Immigration,
Drug Smuggling and Dealing.

Answer: "If Only Stalin Knew"

Question: What were the most common four words uttered by political prisoners in the Soviet gulag?

The millions of prisoners in the Gulag firmly believed that Stalin had no idea they had been imprisoned, and had no idea that they were dying by the hundreds in the labor camps. Read any of the books on the subject and one hope is consistent among these prisoners: a mass amnesty of all prisoners was just days away. Just as soon as someone told Stalin.

Well, it took a little longer. Remember, communists lie, cheat, steal, agitate, and tolerate embrace others who do as well. Not too much different from America's liberals/progressives, as we've shown in our nearly 5 years here.

So we flip this concept when analyzing the ATF Gunrunner/Gunwalker/Gungiveaway operation: "Obama knew".

We can't prove this, but there are others working hard to bring the truth to light. In other words, it may be proven soon.

Two weeks ago we were convinced it was ATF Director Melman. Until he showed up with his private attorney over the 4th of July weekend.

So then a week ago all evidence pointed to Eric Holder, with the FBI director's and the DEA's involvement.

Today, Big Government claims they have the proof that this fiasco goes straight to Obama. Bob McCarty: Project Gunrunner Tied Directly to Obama:

After watching this video [below], the reasons behind Ogden’s resignation [Dec 3, 2009] after working for Attorney General Eric Holder for less than a year, appear seem clear: He wanted to reduce his chances of becoming the “fall guy” for the Obama Administration after news of this doomed-from-the-start gun-running operation became public. Nineteen months later, the “cat” that is Project Gunrunner is out of the proverbial bag.

This theory is the smoke, and we hope Issa continues to push forward to find the fire.

Bob's post links to a WSJ article about Ogden's resignation. Here is the link, however it did not work for us. Nor were we able to find it in a WSJ search. Bob makes the point that Ogden did not have any projects to his name at the time of his resignation, which is odd. But we see in the video that Gunrunner was one of 3 initiatives he mentions in his speech.

Some deep thinkers who have less partisan impulses than us have started suggesting that logic points to only one reason for this operation: to support future gun-control initiatives due to the 'unexpected' increase in violence. In other words, there are respected intellectuals who have considered all possible motivations for Operation Gungiveaway, and have concluded the sole objective was to increase the Mexican Drug War wounded and killed. We point to John Lott as one example.

Does this scandal have legs?

UPDATE 7.13

Found at Townhall:

The Spend & Tax Plan

The WSJ nails it in today's Opinion page - Taxes Upon Taxes Upon...:

...by 2019 the annual revenue increase is nearly $90 billion, or $900 billion in the 10 years after that. Yet Mr. Obama wants to add another $1 trillion in new taxes on top of this.
---
We think this was the President's spend-and-tax plan from the very first. Run up spending and debt in the name of stimulus and health-care reform, then count on Wall Street bond holders and the political establishment to browbeat Republicans into paying for it all. He apparently didn't figure on the rise of the tea party, or 1.9% GDP growth and 9.2% unemployment two years after the recession ended.

The editorial lists 7 of Obama's tax increases that have already passed through Congress (yes, Pelosi's Congress). They include:

1) 0.9% -a nearly triple increase on medicare for singles to 2.9%,
2) Then applies that medicare 2.9% to investment income,
3) 2.3% import tax on medical devices starting in 2013,
4) An annual fee on drug makers and importers,
5) Allowing medical deductions from 7.5% to 10%,
6) a 40% tax on private insurance policies starting in 2018,
7) an annual fee on healthcare insurance companies in 2014.

So which of these new taxes will be passed onto citizens? 3, 4, 6 and 7.

1, 2 and 5 are not "passed on" because they go directly to the citizens.

Kudos to Rep. Boehner and GOP'ers. Everytime they say "no", they represent me and my fellow tea-partying patriots.

Socialism Explained

in 4 minutes and 24 seconds.



Still too confusing for liberals.

U/T: BFH at IOTW

Updated Graph

The most powerful graph of the Obama Administration has been updated with 2011 projections. Is there any surprise?

Are there any liberals who bleated about Bush's deficits willing to admit their ideology, their party, and their 2008 nominee are all total failures and are destructive to this nation?

Nah, didn't thinks so. I suppose they'd say we wouldn't have these red lines if the Republicans didn't play games with the debt limit....

U/T: Doug Ross

You Betcha! UPDATED & BUMPED

[original post 3.5.11]

Is it too early to vote in the next election?

From The Blaze (incl. video), Sarah Palin had this to say about Chris Christie in New Jersey:

With all due respect to Governor Christie, you know he has no choice but to cut budgets because he’s broke, his state is broke. What courage really is, is in the face of having a surplus when you have opportunity to spend spend spend the people’s money, you still choose to reign in government to let the private sector soar. That’s real courage, and by the way that’s what I did as Governor here when I engaged in hiring freezes and reduced earmarks by 86% and vetoed the largest amounts in our state’s history. Despite having a surplus that’s real leadership and that’s courage.

Today, all cell phones resemble the iPhone, but the iPhone is hands-down the standard.

Likewise, we'll be presented with a bunch of Republicans in 2012 that sound just like Palin. Many will be fooled by the marketing, as many today buy non-Apple cell phones.

Not this Comrade.

We have taken note that Sarah Palin has not only been out front on every important issue, but has taken the absolute best position of every issue too. She is defining the debate for 2012. She is focus-testing this message for the other Republicans, and taking all the risk in doing so. That is leadership.

Will we find issues where we prefer Bolton, or Bachman, or West more appealing? Probably. Will Sarah Palin disappoint us on some future issue? No doubt.

But we will remember that she led. Will you?

And we will set the bar higher for those who follow. Will you join us?

UPDATED 4.17 Dan Riehl agrees.

UPDATED 5.22 Lloyd Marcus agrees.

UPDATED 6.13 Former lefty David Mamet agrees.

UPDATED 6.17 Wild Bill agrees.

UPDATED & BUMPED7.8 Undefeated Trailer. Opens July 15. U/T: IOTW.

We don't need to see this. But we're going anyway.

The Undefeated Teaser Trailer from Dain Valverde on Vimeo.

On Obama's Watch

Not completely fair to blame Obama for the moth-balling of our manned space program. The end was forecasted in the Clinton years, and Clinton nor Bush made any effort to invest past the aging shuttle.

But it is a fact that this ended on Obama's watch, much like a robust private sector or parent confidence that their children will have more opportunities for success than they did.

The man, and his DNC party and MSM mouthpieces, must be remembered for what they did to the US. We'll continue to do our part to record today for tomorrow's reference.

Cartoons found at Townhall.

UPDATE 7.13

Found at Townhall:

Rapp'in in the USA

Found at Trevor's site:

I'll be fighting Marxists until the day I die.
Waving my Don't Tread on Me Flag high in the sky.

Our Dear Leader will be targeting the youth to get him over the edge in 2012. Good luck with that.

U/T & Tribute post to Justen

Breakfast

No Arugula in the fridge this morning, so we had to make do with what we had.

That is 3 eggs, some hot sausage, and a whole lot of sizzle.

Don't tell the First Lady - we don't want a scolding. Nor do we want to share.

UPDATE 1pm

Comrade Conservative Cowgirl sent us a photo of her hat. She's out of Arugula too, but has a close substitute!

How appropriate for "Obama's America":

Happy Belated 4th

Rush visited Joplin MO for yesterday's celebration of "the most unique revolution in the history of humanity."