Pho on the stalled effort to impeach Marc Dann

Pho offers thoughtful analysis of why Dann hasn’t been impeached yet, even though state Democrat leaders promised to.  I’m not convinced of the need for further evidence against Ohio AG Marc Dann, and I think my prior post and my comments at Pho’s post provide the gist of why I think impeachment out to go forward in an expedited manner.

Should I be worried?

LOL! RINO’s are being hunted! Should I duck for cover?

The Wall Street Journal has an op/ed piece by Pat Toomey of the Club for Growth PAC titled, “In Defense of RINO Hunting.” Michelle Malkin read it, and added her two cents.

And I’m the Buckeye RINO.

If you can’t tell from reading the right-hand sidebar, I don’t think of myself as RINO. I think of myself as Republican.

I think I’m actually more conservative than many pro-business PAC’s. I think some of those pro-business PAC’s are blind to some of their own liberal tendencies.

In Ohio, one of the pro-business PAC’s is the Ohio Chamber of Commerce. They send a questionnaire each even-numbered election year to all the state legislative candidates. I never got their endorsement in my two campaigns for state rep.

Some of the positions they advocated for would have reduced accountability and transparency, and I’m not talking about reduced accountability and transparency in government, I’m talking about reduced accountability and transparency in business. Business has a double standard . . . expecting increased governmental accountability and transparency, but letting themselves off the hook. Being conservative, I want accountability and transparency in government AND business.

Another double standard is that businesses want government to cut its spending, yet they line their own businesses up like swine at the trough eager to land government contracts. They’ll even ask questions to determine whether, as a legislator, you’d support appropriating money for such-and-such. As a conservative, I want to cut government spending, and that includes cutting outsourcing to the private sector.

Yet one more double standard is that businesses plead for deregulation, saying that it’s dragging down their costs. Nevertheless, lobbyists of certain industries push for legislation that directly benefits them, creating a playing field that is not level, thus creating a marketplace that is not truly competitive. As a conservative, I don’t want to place an unnecessarily heavy regulatory burden on business, but I wouldn’t give certain businesses special treatment that favors them over competitors in the marketplace either. I despise pay-to-play legislation, which some PAC’s have resorted to for securing an advantage for themselves, but overall, has ruined the economy of the state.

I’m not suggesting that the Club for Growth PAC is as warped in their rationale as the Ohio Chamber of Commerce PAC. I’m just pointing out that there are wolves in sheep’s clothing, so be vigilant.

The RINO moniker that I have adopted is an attempt at tongue-in-cheek humor, poking fun at the way the term “RINO” is bandied about so freely, often by those who have no business calling someone else a RINO.

So I’m not worried about Pat Toomey or Michelle Malkin. I’m not the real RINO they’re hunting for.

Reminders of our heritage

Loraine Ritchey, one of the first bloggers to join ranks with Scott Bakalar at the Lorain-centric Word of Mouth blog, enjoys digging up bits of history on a blog of her own. She has taken an active interest in the Black River Historical Society for many years now. This article is the first installment of a message Loraine wants to share about what we are losing out on in the port city called Lorain. This article is the second installment.  I’ve been working on an article concept tangential to what Loraine’s working on that I should have ready to post in a few days or so.

Why use Wright to judge Obama?

I have a bone to pick with the mainstream media as well as many voices in the blogosphere.

I think there’s too much noise about Rev. Jeremiah Wright casting a shadow on Barack Obama.

Make no mistake, barring the entry of a compelling minor party candidate, I’ll be voting for John McCain in November, but I still think it’s not right to fault Obama because of Wright.

I certainly think sermons can be newsworthy.  I don’t fault the media for reporting what preachers may say.

But media pundits and bloggers alike are blaming Obama for being preached to by Wright.

Would I have continued to attend a church where Wright was preaching?  That’s for me to decide.

And that’s the whole point.

We have freedom of religion.  No one can tell me where I ought to go to church and where I ought not go.  I don’t have to attend a church that’s politically correct.  Wright does not lead a cult that brainwashes people in order to treat them in an inhumane way for his own benefit, as Warren Jeffs has done with his FLDS cult.  So then, why are we second-guessing Barack Obama?

Even if he sat in those pews every Sunday for the past 20 years, and heard every single word spoken by Wright, it’s not for anyone else to say that Obama’s attendance there shows lack of judgment.  Obama has every right to be there, and shouldn’t have to have his judgment called into question for being there.

I don’t agree with much of Wright’s assessment of America, but so what?  I can think of Old Testament prophets that railed against the Kindom of Judah and the Kingdom of Israel.  It certainly wasn’t politically correct for those prophets to find fault with their own governments, but they felt that they were being true to God’s word.  And who am I to judge whether Wright feels he’s being true to God’s word or not?  Wright has freedom of religion, and when he addresses a congregation that has the freedom to peaceably assemble, Wright has freedom of speech.  Isn’t the Constitution a wonderful thing?

Whatever Wright may have said, Obama chooses his own thoughts, his own words, and his own actions.  In Obama’s own words, he disavowed the utterings of Wright that have been shown on that endless loop.

There’s been a flap over some things Obama said in San Francisco.  I think we can all form our own valid opinions on what those words reveal about Obama’s candidacy.  Wright’s words don’t reveal anything about Obama’s candidacy.  Obama’s words about Wright’s words reveal something.  They reveal that Obama doesn’t agree with Wright, yet many are still making judgments about Obama based on the words of Wright.

I hope this distraction goes away soon, so we can move on from petty disagreements in order to engage in substantive analysis.

Link Love

For all who are reading this, I’d like to recommend that you check out the links to other webpages along the left sidebar. There’s some good stuff at those other pages. I know, because I’ve read the stuff that’s on those pages.

If, by chance, you are also an Ohio political blogger, and you are miffed that your blog isn’t on my sidebar, I’ll make a deal with you. I’ll add a link to you if you add a link to me. Fair enough? OK, just e-mail me at williamsonworks@yahoo.com to let me know that you want to be linked. Cool.

Buckeye RINO launches

Here are the roots of Buckeye RINO.

I started posting online political comments back in 2002 in the Conversation Forums at LorainCounty.com.  Nowadays, I don’t post comments there.  I mostly check the site to look through the community calendar.

In 2006, I began posting comments at Word of Mouth, and then quickly fanned out to the rest of the Ohio political blogosphere, leaving comments when and where I wished.

In 2007, I contributed blog entries to Word of Mouth and Right Angle Blog, which is now Naugblog.  I no longer write for those blogs, but still feel a strong kinship with them.

By the end of 2007, I found a desire to blog about more than just politics, so I launched my own personal blog at DJWPP (Daniel Jack Williamson Personal Page).

The DJWPP has its limitations, since it is part of the Yahoo! community.  Two specific limitations at the DJWPP are that it doesn’t attract a readership of Ohio political junkies, and that, even if it did attract such a readership, readers would only be able to leave comments if they, also, had a Yahoo! 360 page.  With much of the DJWPP readership residing overseas, writing commentary on Ohio politics would require a lot of explanatory notes to fill in the blanks that foreigners would have little knowledge of.  I thought it would be nice to write political commentary without having to explain everything from the beginning, so DJWPP couldn’t be the vehicle for that.

So I decided to use a WordPress platform to launch a blog that will allow me to voice my political perspectives and allow readers to respond more freely.  You have my permission to add “www.buckeyerino.com” to your bookmarks so that you can keep pace with the fascinating commentary of Daniel Jack Williamson.