Columbus will be receiving a tax increase

Mayor Coleman during his State of the City Address

Mayor Coleman may not have come out and said it, but it was definately implied in his State of the City address according to the Dispatch.

I wonder what are the costs that make the city budget potentially $50 million over budget?

I cannot, and I am sure that many Columbusites feel the same way, have my taxes increased. Now is not the time. If Mayor Coleman and City Council are the true “fiscal stewards” that they consider themselves, then they must find other ways to get money and trim this budget.

Bobby Jindal in action

Picture from google.com

I’m not going to comment really on the Obama speech, a)because it makes me mad and b) we’ve heard it before. And the constant contradictions that he has made have been covered and blown away by better writers than me.

But I will leave something for many of those that are early supporters of Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (like me) and were disappointed in his speech last night (like me).

Here is his appearance on the Today Show where is articulates clearly where the GOP will stand when it comes to dealing with Obama. One sub-par appearance is not enough for me to lose faith and it should not be for you.

Politics1.com is a website you should visit

is a website made for political junkies and I’ve been following it for the last 10 years. If you need to find the offical office and campaign website for federal and state candidates or parties, this is the site for you.

They will post news updates 4-5 times a week and there were a couple of Tuesday updates that caught my eye.

First:

PALIN. “We are going to seek and … destroy this candidacy of Sarah Palin’s because of what it is that she represents,’ is how the Alaska Governor now described the national media’s reaction to her Vice Presidential candidacy last year. In a new documentary, Palin discusses how she believes a conspiracy took place among members of the media to undermine her candidacy.

Really? I mean, really? Look, as valid and as acknowledged the point that the media was in the bag for Obama and they did not care for her, I would not call it a “conspiracy”. If anyone destroyed her candidacy. it was her. She was out of her league, and this was proven in the VP debates. Hell, she would not have been in the equation if McCain picked who he really wanted and selected Lieberman. This makes her look petty and paranoid. If I had the ear of the governor, I would tell her to go back to Alaska, kick butt for the rest of her term, get re-elected and take on Begich so she can get some experience in dealing with DC.

Also:

P2012. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is strongly leaning towards making a second run for President in 2012. Romney is already lending financial support to several Republican US House members targeted by the DCCC. Romney is already planning to make the rounds in support of these candidates as part of his efforts to lay the groundwork for a 2012 run.

Mitt, I like you now. You have grown on me. But 2012 is for this guy and I, along with many other Republcians fully support him.

Sorry that I had to break it to you.

And this is what’s important to you, Senator Shelby?

Just when I thought that this nonsense of President Obama’s legal residency was done, GOP Senator Dick Shelby of Alabama brings it up again during a meeting with citizens in Cullman, AL.

This is the kind of garbage that we cannot continue to focus on. He’s an American, he was elected. Move on.

She’s right, you know

Meghan McCain, daughter of GOP nominee John, called it out. Part of the reason we lost is that Obama utilized today’s technology and continually beat us over the head with it.

Many in the campaign looked at her when she recommended writing a blog for her dad’s campaign:

McCain, who authored a popular blog on her father’s Web site while he was running for president, also recounts early pushback from Republican strategists when she first sought to establish the Web site.

“Many of the established Republican strategists told me that young people would not visit my web site,” she wrote. “I used to categorize many of the advisors in my father’s campaign into one of two groups: those that ‘respected’ the Internet and those who didn’t. It was a running line between me and my friends who worked on my site.”

I mean, really? It’s 2009 and these people treat the internet like it’s some new fangled gadget that they’ll learn later! Geez.

I think she made a real good point. Obama used technology to his advantage; you could not go on a website without seeing an Obama link. It was almost like he was a brand.

Then again you can do that when you raise money like Obama did.

Sandy O’Brien for Secretary of State? I don’t believe it either.

Giving credit to Anthony at Ohio Daily Blog for this one (I saw it there originally), but I guess Sandy O’Brien will be challenging Jon Husted for the GOP nomination for Secretary of State. If you don’t know who she is, her biggest claim to “fame” was she defeated Jeannette Bradley for the GOP nomination for Treasurer while running as a social conservative. For Treasurer.

Try and watch the clip of her during a candidate’s debate. If you can watch it for more than two minutes I’ll be surprised.

Could this come to Ohio?

According to an article from yesterday’s Dispatch, Massachusetts is looking at a more “efficient” way to tax their citizens by adding GPS trackers on cars in the state and tax by mile. Since greener cars have become more popular, gas tax revenues have gone down. So instead of living within their means (like millions of citizens do everyday), they will find another way to stick it to the taxpayer.

How soon before the states mentioned in the article are found to have over-taxed their citizens?

Brunner vs. Fisher is the best thing ever

It’s official:  Jennifer Brunner is running for the Democratic nomination to be Ohio’s next US Senator.

This is good, for two reasons:

1. Whomever leaves this primary will be bloodied and bruised, making the race a little easier for Rob Portman.

I’m not saying that this will guarantee victory for the GOP, but there is a reason why party leadership hates primaries like this one. Look at 2006. In the race for the US Senate on the Democratic side, Paul Hackett was gearing up for a run,  but Sherrod Brown got enough support from party insiders to keep him at bay. Brown then had the momentum (and more importantly, the money) to beat incumbent Mike DeWine. In the race to succeed Gov. Taft, on the GOP side you had Blackwell, Petro, and Montgomery. Then-Ohio GOP Chair Bob Bennett tried to avoid a primary, but all three were bent on running. The “victor”, Blackwell, was damaged and broke and was routed by Ted Strickland.

There are some, like Jill from Writes Like She Talks, makes some good points for Mary Taylor to enter the race, but for the reasons stated above and next I completely disagree.

2. This improves our shot at getting control of Apportionment Board.

A legitimate argument has been made that the AB does not matter since the Democrats won the Ohio House in spite of the districts being drawn by Republicans. However, the AB not only draws the Ohio General Assembly districts, but also Congress. This could mean a more hospitable district in the 1st  for Steve Chabot, or the 13th for Mary Taylor. If Brunner stays in, there is talk that Cuyahoga Co. Prosector Bill Mason could run for Secretary of State, a thought that amuses me. If ODP Chair Chris Redfern is smart, he will avoid Cuyahoga Democrats like the plague, as that is a race that Jon Husted would be a favorite in. A Husted win would definitely give us the AB back, as I believe that Mary Taylor will win a little easier this time.

Primaries are fun!

Smoke up, idiots!

The Lantern wrote an article on how the Obama increase in the cigarette tax will effect Ohio State students and businesses.  I could not help but chuckle after reading it, especially with quotes like this one:

“It’s most unfortunate because cigarettes cost so much already;  it’s not cool….There’s got to be other ways they can tax, try another way or something.”

It was not hard to figure out that this would be one of the consequences of giving liberal Democrats the White House and Congress, but whiners like this guys and others are probably the ones that voted for him.

Too bad more people don’t “get it” like Premal Chheda gets it:

“Trying to fund any sort of program with tobacco is very dangerous because less and less people are smoking. They are not going to be able to keep up with the funding because of fewer tobacco sales.”

And what will they do when the cigarette tax money decreases? Go look in the mirror.

The hacks at Buckeye State Blog ask a good question….

Yep, I’ll give credit when it is due.