ProgressOhio

The recent 5-4 Supreme Court decision lifted campaign spending limits for corporations. Now if the big banks on Wall Street don't like what Congress proposes, they can DIRECTLY try to buy a legislature more to their liking.

Stand with me to demand no corporation may spend from its treasury without the express approval of its owners. If the Supreme Court is going to treat corporations as persons with full First Amendment rights, then you and I need to make sure real people are making those decisions.

Sign the petition!

In an oped in USA Today, John Brennan -- Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism -- responds to critics of the Obama administration's counterterrorism policies by saying "Politically motivated criticism and unfounded fear-mongering only serve the goals of al-Qaeda."

Brennan writes that, "Terrorists are not 100-feet tall. Nor do they deserve the abject fear they seek to instill."

In the oped, titled "'We need no lectures': Administration disrupts terrorists’ plots, takes fight to them abroad," Brennan writes that politics "should never get in the way of national security. But too many in Washington are now misrepresenting the facts to score political points, instead of coming together to keep us safe."

Brennan provides a detailed defense of the administration's handling of failed Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab whom, he says, was "thoroughly interrogated and provided important information."

He suggests that many critics are hypocritical and clueless.

John Brennan is Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism:

Opposing view: 'We need no lectures'

Administration disrupts terrorists’ plots, takes fight to them abroad.

Politics should never get in the way of national security. But too many in Washington are now misrepresenting the facts to score political points, instead of coming together to keep us safe.

Immediately after the failed Christmas Day attack, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was thoroughly interrogated and provided important information. Senior counterterrorism officials from the White House, the intelligence community and the military were all actively discussing this case before he was Mirandized and supported the decision to charge him in criminal court.

The most important breakthrough occurred after Abdulmutallab was read his rights, which the FBI made standard policy under Michael Mukasey, President Bush's attorney general. The critics who want the FBI to ignore this long-established practice also ignore the lessons we have learned in waging this war: Terrorists such as Jose Padilla and Saleh al-Mari did not cooperate when transferred to military custody, which can harden one's determination to resist cooperation.

It's naive to think that transferring Abdulmutallab to military custody would have caused an outpouring of information. There is little difference between military and civilian custody, other than an interrogator with a uniform. The suspect gets access to a lawyer, and interrogation rules are nearly identical.

Would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid was read his Miranda rights five minutes after being taken off a plane he tried to blow up. The same people who criticize the president today were silent back then.

Read Te Full Piece At USAToday

See Also: John Brennan: All Former Detainees Who Returned to Terrorism Were Released By Bush

NO!

Hell NO!

Oliver Willis has more answers

As Republican leaders are urging President Obama to scrap the Democrats’ health care reform legislation and start the process from scratch, they’ve found an unlikely ally in Rep. Dennis Kucinich. The Ohio Democrat — a perennial presidential candidate — wants President Obama to consider government-sponsored, single-payer health coverage in lieu of the insurance industry-based reforms being proposed by Democratic leaders.

Congressman  Kucinich (D-OH) sent a letter to President Obama today commending him for calling for new ideas and a  renewed discussion about health care reform.  Kucinich requested that supporters of Medicare for All be represented at the upcoming February 25 health care summit.

“I hope you will invite a representative of the community that is advocating for the only health care that has consistently proven to address each of the criteria you  have outlined for a satisfactory health care plan: Medicare for All,” wrote Kucinich.

Kucinich, who co-authored HR 676, Medicare for All, with Representative John Conyers (D-MI), further pointed out that many states have embraced a single-payer system of health care. Most recently, the California State Senate passed a single-payer health care bill on January 27, 2010.

Read the full letter here. (pdf)

America spends $1 billion a day on crude oil from other countries.

Depending on foreign oil puts both our national security and our checkbooks at risk.

We’re funding those who want to see our county fail.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

A real clean energy bill will put us back in control by using energy that’s made in America and works for Americans.

A real energy bill will create 1.7 million new jobs and put us back on track.

This isn’t politics, this is common sense. Watch this video to find out why American energy is safe energy.

Poll: Rob Portman ahead in Ohio Senate race, but not by much

Rob Portman, a former GOP congressman who served as budget director under  then-President George W. Bush, holds slight leads over two potential Democratic  opponents in the Ohio Senate race, a new Rasmussen survey shows. But the leads are so slight that they are within the margin of error, so the state remains very much in play for the Democrats.

Ohio is one of four states where the Democrats have a chance to pick up a Republican seat, according to the Cook Political Report. The others are: Kentucky, Missouri and New Hampshire.

In Ohio, Portman outpolled Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, 43%-39%, and Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, 42%-38%. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.5%.

Ohio Treasurer Kevin L. Boyce and Attorney General Richard Cordray encouraged members of the Ohio Congressional Delegation to help spread the word to their constituents about the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

The EITC is a federal, refundable tax credit allowing people earning low to moderate wages to receive a larger share of their income back on their tax refund. However, many Ohioans who qualify for the tax credit are missing out.

“Approximately 800,000 Ohio families qualify for the tax credit, but as many as twenty percent of these families do not take advantage of it because they don’t know about it,” wrote Boyce and Cordray. “As a result, millions of federal dollars that could be injected into Ohio’s economy are going unclaimed.”

As Chair of the Ohio Commission on the EITC, Treasurer Boyce has coordinated with service and community organizations as well as other state agencies to make Ohioans aware of the tax credit. Along with co-chairs Cordray and U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, the Treasurer has been working toward his stated goal of ensuring that every Ohioan eligible for the EITC receives it.

“Reaching out to those community organizations, state agencies, and government officials that have daily interactions with Ohioans is the perfect way to make more people across the state aware that they could be receiving potentially thousands of dollars on their federal tax refund,” said Boyce. “This is how we get the most ‘bang for our buck’ in promoting awareness about the EITC.”

For the current taxes, the earned income credit can add up to $5,657 to a refund with three or more qualifying children. Those married, filing jointly would qualify for the EIC with an adjusted gross income of $48,279 or less.

WASHINGTON – Students from Cleveland, Ohio’s Lakewood High School will be among 120 high school students from across the country to attend and participate in a music workshop at the White House hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama. 

The workshop is entitled “Music that Inspired the Movement,” and it will take place on Wednesday, February 10th from 1:00 p.m. – 2:15 p.m. ET. It will be led by several performers from the 2010 White House Music Series concert “In Performance at the White House: A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement” which will also take place on Wednesday.

As developed by the Grammy Museum, the students participating in the workshop will learn about the continuing relevance of music from the Civil Rights Movement to today’s generation and its original impact in the 1960s. This event will be streamed live on www.whitehouse.gov/live.

COLUMBUS, OH – A tax credit passed through the Recovery Act has already provided $125 million to help Ohio manufacturers produce clean energy technologies, but funding for this program is set to expire.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) joined the top executives of seven Ohio companies that have collectively received $125 million in funds through the Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit to announce an effort to expand the program. Brown’s plan is aimed at creating more clean energy jobs in Ohio and preventing funds from being used to create jobs overseas.

“Manufacturing means jobs and clean energy represents the future of American manufacturing,” Brown said. “Ohio already has a skilled workforce and a rich manufacturing heritage. By expanding the Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit program, we will help create new jobs and make Ohio the Silicon Valley of Clean Energy Manufacturing.”

Brown fought to pass $2.3 billion in the Recovery Act for the Advanced Energy Manufacturing Facility Investment Tax Credit. This program provides investment tax credits – that fund up to 30 percent of a project’s costs – to support the development of facilities that manufacture clean energy technology.

In January, seven Ohio companies received a total of nearly $125 million in funds through this program – which is expected to create thousands of jobs across the state. Brown announced plans to expand the program to $5 billion and prevent any funds from being used to create jobs overseas.

Brown is writing to Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner today urging them to expand the program to $5 billion and to maximize domestic job creation.

Yesterday in an interview with Katie Couric broadcast before the Super Bowl, the president announced a bipartisan, bicameral half-day healthcare summit to be held on television (C-SPAN) during which he'll make a very public attempt to talk things over with Republicans and Democrats alike.

The point of this isn't necessarily to start a new bill from scratch, but to kill some of the GOP's biggest lies while keeping Democrats enthused and on board with passing reform in an election year.

“I want to come back [after the Presidents Day congressional recess] and have a large meeting — Republicans and Democrats — to go through, systematically, all the best ideas that are out there and move it forward,” Obama said in an interview with Katie Couric during CBS’s Super Bowl pre-game show Sunday.

Obama said he wants to “look at the Republican ideas that are out there.”

“If we can go, step by step, through a series of these issues and arrive at some agreements, then, procedurally, there’s no reason why we can’t do it a lot faster the process took last year,” he said.

In a statement, the official said, “What the president will not do is let this moment slip away. He hopes to have Republican support in doing so — but he is going to move forward on health reform.”

The Republicans have demogoged on transparency.  They're about to get what they asked for and in the process have their lies that they have a health care plan that actually accomplishes anything exposed for everyone to see before the House passes the Senate bill with necessary fixes.

Was the Focus on the Family/Tebow ad controversy much ado about nothing? Or did I miss something?

Watch It:

Of Course, those who do go to the website that was advertised get a much longer video that prostylizes about God and Abortion.

Tweet Photo link

Talk about being busted.

Last night while giving her little speech to the tea bagger convention, Sarah Palin is caught reading answers from her palm.

Not only that, but in the same speech she also gets on Obama as a “guy with a teleprompter”. Obama went to the House GOP and answered questions for a over an hour, all without a teleprompter.

Palin walks into her fan club and can’t answer softball questions without writing the answers on her hand?

She needed a cheat sheet to remember "energy", "budget tax cuts"and "lift America"?

Welcome to the world of incompetence.

Huffington Post provides the photo evidence:

Watch The Video:

Sarah Palin Expressing her Inner-8th Grade Cheater in People of Tea Interview?

I hope that this guy from Ohio's Righty Blogosphere isn't planning to apply to appear on "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader.

In reality world, where we don't put our fingers in our ears and scream Wahhhhhhhh!, catastrophic “snowpocalypse” and “snowmageddon” events are exactly what scientists have been warning would occur because of global warming, in part because warmer air can hold more water.

As National Wildlife Federation climate scientist Amanda Staudt notes, winter storms are getting fiercer even as the season gets warmer:

– Wintertime temperatures have been increasing across the northern United States. Since the 1970s, December-February temperature increases have ranged from 1 to 2 degrees in the Pacific Northwest to about 4 degrees in the Northeast to more than 6 degrees in Alaska.

– Winters are getting shorter, too. Spring arrives 10-14 days earlier than it did just 20 years ago.

– Global warming is bringing a clear trend toward heavier precipitation events. Many areas are seeing bigger and more intense snowstorms, especially in the upper Midwest and Northeast.

– Global warming is shifting storm tracks northward. Areas from the Dakotas eastward to northern Michigan have seen a trend toward more heavy snowfall season.

In other news, this past month of January was the warmest on record for the planet.

Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) “has put an extraordinary ‘blanket hold’ on at least 70 nominations President Obama has sent to the Senate", according to Talking Points Memo.

The hold means “no nominations can move forward unless Senate Democrats can secure a 60-member cloture vote to break it, or until Shelby lifts the hold.”

Remember Up or Down Vote?

Senate leaders "should use a parliamentary maneuver to sidestep filibuster rules ‘a lot more," Sen. Sherrod Brown urged Thursday, The Hill reports.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), one of the more liberal members of the upper chamber, said that many Democratic senators are urging leadership to use the budget reconciliation process, which requires only a simple majority to pass legislation, on more initiatives.

"I agree with that," Brown said during an appearance on MSNBC when pressed by host Ed Schultz on whether the 59-vote Democratic majority should use reconciliation more.

"As much as we can pass with a majority vote, we do," he said, later adding: "A lot of us are urging our leadership on that."

The proposed constitutional amendment that would require minimum standards for housing Ohio farm animals has passed a preliminary hurdle.

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray approved a written summary of the amendment Friday in a step needed before petition signatures can be gathered toward getting the measure on the ballot.

Cordray says the summary is a fair and truthful statement about the proposed amendment, which would require a state board to prevent the cruel and inhumane treatment of farm animals.

Cordray's approval means the Humane Society of the United States can submit the petition to the Ohio Ballot Board. If the petition includes at least 1,000 valid signatures of registered voters gathered from 44 of 88 counties, backers will be permitted to circulate a full petition to gather the needed 402,275 valid signatures of registered voters to place the issue on the November ballot.

The potential vote sets up a fight between the agriculture industry and animal rights activists intent on outlawing what they say are cramped cages for chickens and hogs.

Ohioans for Humane Farms is a coalition of animal welfare, family farming, food safety, and environmental advocates.

We’re spearheading a grassroots campaign to place a citizen-sponsored measure on Ohio’s November 2010 ballot that will allow our state’s voters to provide guidance to the newly enacted Livestock Board and set certain minimum humane standards that will prevent cruel factory farming practices in Ohio.

Please sign-up to join the campaign!

Thanks for your help to protect farm animals.

Please visit OhioHumane.com to sign up to help.

Ohioans For Humane Farms on FaceBook.

You can read our full petition here (pdf).

We need your help gathering signatures!

With more than 600,000 signatures needed to get on the November ballot, we need a lot of volunteers. While our opposition will have big agribusiness contributors, we're relying on you—our supporters—to help us get there.