With the Iott "Nazi" issue a national media story...

Since the election for the ninth congressional district is one that I've focused quite a bit on my local political blog, for those of you looking for coverage on that story. I recommend some of the blog posts on Glass City Jungle and a piece for the Toledo Free Press that I contributed to.

Iott participated in Nazi re-enactments reports the Atlantic – UPDATED

Iott participation in military re-enactments raising questions

Cantor "would absolutely repudiate" Iott

Military re-enactments focus of Iott & Kaptur releases

And I recommend watching where it all started, on Bill Maher. The below link has video of the clip where Josuha Green, senior editor of the Atlantic shares the photos of Iott dressed in a German SS Wiking uniform.

Link to video.

Some of those on the Maher site slammed P. J. O'Rourke's performance on the show, I have to say the former Toledoan had some moments were he was funny. The Maher crew was also creative with their suggested campaign slogans for Iott. "Today Toledo -- tomorrow the world" was funny.

It's been interesting to watch, I personally don't believe Rich Iott is a Nazi, but I think his campaign could have handled what they knew was coming better and that if he wanted to be involved in re-enactments (which I'm fine with) he might have considered a different unit to pretend about. His comments complimenting the 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking and Hitler's Germany as far as their power, easily became campaign fodder.

:-)

A brief respite now that the primary is over...

Those of you read here, who don't read my local political blog, may enjoy a break from politics like I did recently when I got the chance to interview Raymond Carr, the voodoo puppeteer for "Walking with Dinosaurs" in this past week's Toledo Free Press Star - (link).

This is the first time I've been in print in the Star, normally my responsibilities there are fact checking and helping to get the Star ready for print so it can hit the racks on Wednesdays.

It's a fun paper to work on, since it's not political at all, it focuses more on arts, entertainment and what we would call the "fluffier side of life" -- facts are still important but it's less number/fact oriented. A good example of the difference is taking the interview I did with Raymond Carr compared to my column that will appear in the Sunday edition of the Toledo Free Press, (link).

That written, politics will always be a driving part of my life. One of the things I miss most, with the less time I have now compared to the past, is being able to debate and discuss national politics here. Local politics is so consuming at times and my local blog takes quite a bit more hands on management.

Working on both the Star and the Toledo Free Press has been a learning experience. I've also discovered having a weekly column is more of a challenge than writing a blog; in coming up with ideas and saying it in under 700 words. I'm still far from perfection but thanks to the people I work with, I think I am on the road to being a better writer and learning more about reporting versus opining.

As always, I thank those of you who are still with me here. It wouldn't be as much fun here, without you.

:-)

Part of the video from last nights Mayoral Debate

One of the things that I've been busy with is getting ready for the primary election here in Toledo, it's taken a good deal of my time and is part of the reason I've not had as much time to spend here where I can actually spout off my opinion. Yes, I miss doing that (smile). I know most of you that read here are not following the Toledo Mayoral story, but for those of you interested in seeing the first time I've asked questions while I was live blogging? I'm sharing the video below so you can see me in action.

The Power of the independents...

In Toledo two of the five main mayoral candidates are independents, one is a Republican and two are Democrats. Some have made a big deal out of the rise of the independent candidates for mayor and for City Council yet the reality is Toledo has non-partisan municipal elections so here, the whole party label or no label really is not as critical as on a partisan election basis.

That said, while there is some truth to tomorrow's column by Charlie Cook, Bleeding Independents it's not quite beyond the bandage point. The reality that most like to ignore is that more people who vote are of no party than of D or R. It's something I keep pointing out on my local blog that people love to ignore when they proclaim that "Toledo is a Democrat town" -- No it's not...People in Toledo vote for Democrats but registered Democrats in Toledo do not hold a majority, though there are quite a bit more of them than registered Republicans most voters don't declare a party, which means they don't vote in the partisan primaries. Which realistically leaves them with no voice until the general election where they are forced to decide between the Democrat elected by more voters or the Republican elected by less voters. Simple common sense should dictate how that plays out most times...

Toledo is not some strange microcosm, though some may want to believe that, independents who felt their chances were better with Obama over McCain are not going to abandon ship unless there is a better alternative to what we have now. For Republicans to score big in 2010 they have to do something more than just say "No" -- and political parties know how important 2010 is when it comes to the apportionment boards...Which means both Democrats and Republicans will have their game faces on and be raising money as well as spending money to win and to try to convince a disgusted, at times apathetic public that they are the lesser of two evils...

Kinds of things I do when I'm not here...

This is a local story, but for those of you who read here and don't read my local blog, Fox Toledo has asked me to come on from time to time, probably twice a month, to do a segment that they call "Rant & Rave" - this was my first time. It's clear I have a bit to go to develop good teleprompter reading skills. This story on Connecting Point has been one I've been trying to push as far as getting someone, our local government especially to do an investigation into claims of possible financial mismanagement and try to bring more attention to the plight of the employees who got a pretty raw deal.

Prosecuting kids as adults being re-thought

Here in Toledo this has been a recent topic of discussion with boy who was 15 at the time of the murder of a police officer being charged as an adult and recently sentenced to 18 years to life. There was quite a bit of debate in our community when it came to should be tried as an adult, with the now retired Judge James Ray deciding he should be. Yet in reading this article from USA Today, Prosecuting kids as adults: Some states ponder changes points out some States are rethinking this. While I do not feel that a 14 or a 15 year old who murders someone should be automatically released at age 18 or 21, I don't believe placing children into the adult criminal system is the solution as was done with the Robert Jobe case and many other cases nationwide.

Some interesting parts of the USA article:

Some politicians began using the phrase "adult crime, adult time." There were predictions of even bleaker days ahead.

Some warned that by the end of the century, thousands of remorseless kids — a new generation of "superpredators" — would be committing murder, rape or robbery, joining gangs and dealing drugs.

"There was an organized effort to label kids and make people afraid of juveniles," Snyder says. "People were saying their mothers had smoked crack, their DNA had changed. ... they were no longer the same people. They tried to make it seem these kids are different from your kids and that you need to do something."

But the super-vicious breed of criminal never emerged. (The professor who coined the "superpredator" term later expressed regret.) Drug trafficking declined. An improved economy produced more jobs. And the rate of juvenile violent crime arrests plummeted 46% from 1994 to 2005, according to federal figures.

"When crime goes down, people have an opportunity to be more reflective than crisis-oriented and ask, 'Was this policy a good policy?"' Bilchik says.

The MacArthur Foundation said in a report to be released this month that about half the states are involved in juvenile justice reforms — among them, taking more kids out of the adult system, providing more mental health and community based-services and improving conditions at detention centers.

A national poll, commissioned by MacArthur and the Center for Children's Law and Policy and set for release at the same time, also found widespread public support for rehabilitating teens rather than locking them up. Most favored shifting some money states spend on incarcerating kids and using it for counseling, education and job training.

Toledo takes third place in liveable-city competition

Some interesting news for my little hometown:

The city of Toledo received third place tonight in an international competition that selects the most liveable cities in the world.

The award was announced in London, where a delegation of Toledo officials and community members went to compete for the award. In Toledo’s category, Malmo, Sweden was first, while Lyon, France, came in second.

Toledo faced competition from six cities in the 200,001-to-750,000 population category of the International Awards for Liveable Communities 2007.

Besides Malmo and Lyon, the other finalists were Edogawa City, Japan; Manukau, New Zealand; Niagara, Ont., and Wenjiang, China.

The Noe Ending story...

I was one of the first bloggers to focus on the story of Coingate and Tom Noe all the way back to May of 2005 so to me the "anniversary" of Noe going to jail is sad, not necessary sad in the manner that the Ohio Democratic Party just sent a release out on:

Ohio’s Unhappy Anniversary

Columbus, OH - It was one year ago today that inmate number No. 26157-018 began his prison term in the Federal lock-up in Milan, Michigan. Ohioans may not know the number but they certainly remember the name: Tom Noe. The disgraced former Republican insider and was found guilty last year of money laundering, forgery, and stealing from a $50 million rare-coin investment made by the state’s Bureau of Workers Compensation fund.

“Today is a sad anniversary for Ohioans,” said Chris Redfern, Chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party. “Many in Northwest Ohio hoped Tom Noe’s guilty verdict would have signaled to Republican candidates like Bob Latta that they should clean up their act and bring people together to solve the critical challenges facing middle class families. Yet, the day before the primary, the Ohio Elections Commission unanimously found Latta guilty of recklessly lying about his opponent’s record.”

During the recent Republican primary in Ohio’s 5th Congressional District, Northwest Ohioans were forced to sit through Republican candidates Bob Latta and Steve Buehrer savaging one another in round after round of vicious attacks during the Republican primary. In fact, in one ad, Latta criticized Steve Buehrer for accepting thousands of dollars in donations from Tom Noe. However, the ad neglected to mention that Latta received more than $1,000 from Noe.

It's sad because Democrats promised to not engage in pay to play and it still happens, sad because while Tom Noe broke the law there were others involved in what led up to the corruption and for the most part they all got a way with it. Sad because we have murderers that will spend less time in prison than Tom Noe, which really should create some reflection on our society when we view money to be more important than taking a life...

Toledo Councilwoman Betty Shultz who was one of the Noe conduits, not only never stepped down from office but was voted back into office, so it doesn't surprise me that voters did not think Latta or Buehrer receiving campaign money from Noe was an issue. Noe donated to many campaigns, and many of those who received money from Noe are still in office today so if voters will re-elect someone that was found guilty of wrong doing, taking donations from a person that at the time they did not know was breaking the law doesn't seem to be an issue nor is it going to be one that is going to really help Robin Weirauch win against Bob Latta. It has to be on the present, the future and who can do more for Ohio...

Senior Open headed to Toledo in 2011

A few days ago it was announced that the 2011 US Senior Open was going to come back to Inverness Golf Course here in Toledo. This is considered a big deal for our area given the number of seniors with their Nike golf equipment in tow will show up to play. Then the huge number of spectators these events draw, evidently when the Senior US Open was played in 2003 they enjoyed it enough to come back...

The frustration in trying to do the right thing...

One of the most frustrating things about my other blog, Glass City Jungle is the frustration that at times comes from the way I do things differently than here on LCS and the decision on how to do the right thing. Here on LCS, it is more about me and my opinion, on Glass City Jungle it's designed more as a way to facilitate information sharing and I try my best to keep my personal biases and my personal feelings out of the mix.

Glass City Jungle is one of the top ranked personal political blogs in all of Ohio, it takes quite a bit of work and an personal investment of myself to pull that off. I know I subject those of you here who are my loyal readers to sponsored postings here, I don't do that there, and at times I have to be honest, I miss the ability to just be able to vent which is why Liberal Common Sense will always be my favorite place to blog, even if it's not as popular as Glass City Jungle.

The high level of pettiness within some of the blogs in Ohio amazed me, there are actually people who have purposely voted Glass City Jungle as "terrible" in the ranking system developed by Blognet News Ohio, you might think this comes from the "conservative" side of the Ohio blogosphere, but it doesn't, it comes from those who realistically should be happy that GCJ is out there. This leads to moments like today when I discover that there are those within the Lucas County Democratic Party taking smack about me and that particular blog because I'm trying to do what I think is right. It reminds me of a conversation I had with my almost 13 year old daughter the other day when I stressed to her that for the rest of her life she would be placed in scenarios where she had to decide between what is right and what is popular, that it was something that I still at age 47 had to struggle with at times but that in the end, doing what is right is the preferred choice no matter the frustration or those who diss rather than support transparency....

Cool benefits of being a Toledo blogger...

Yesterday I was asked to be one of the float judges at the 17th annual Point Place Days Parade. I had a great time and Miguel took lots of pictures which I turned into a slide show type movie and I blogged in great detail of my experiences over on Glass City Jungle. It was one of those, things I never thought I would ever be asked to do experiences that I've had thanks to becoming a blogger here in Toledo and another reason I love my city...

My "movie" creation is below, it's a little over 8 minutes of some of the pictures from the parade.