ProgressOhio

McCain Hit With Another Lobbyist Scandal

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Sun, 11 May 2008 17:36:53 EDT

The McCain-picked leader of the Republican national convention has quickly resigned after a report revealed his lobbying ties with Myanmar.

The man chosen by John McCain's presidential campaign to run this summer's GOP convention--Arizonan Doug Goodyear--has resigned setting a new land speed record for shortest time lapsed between the "story breaks" and "ax falls" phases of a political scandal.

Goodyear is CEO of DCI Group, a consulting firm that earned $3 million last year lobbying for ExxonMobil, General Motors and other clients--not the most convenient association for a candidate who's already struggling to reconcile his reputation as an anti-special interests crusader with the sizable number of lobbyists on his senior staff.

Further complicating matters: the revelation that DCI was paid $348,000 in 2002 to represent Burma's (Myanmar) military junta, leading a PR campaign to burnish the junta's image, drafting releases praising Burma's efforts to curb the drug trade and denouncing 'falsehoods' by the Bush administration that the regime engaged in rape and other abuses."

Ouch.

Update: Second McCain aide quits over DCI ties

Doug Davenport, the McCain Campaign's regional campaign manager for the mid-Atlantic states, founded the DCI Group's lobbying practice and oversaw the contract with Myanmar in 2002. — “Doug has tendered his resignation and we have accepted it,” Jill Hazelbaker, McCain's communications director, wrote in a e-mail.

Will McCain Bow Before the Religious RIght Yet Again?

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Sun, 11 May 2008 10:25:08 EDT

The Republican party platform has a strict anti-abortion policy that has been pushed for years by social conservatives and embraced the Bush Administration.

The "Maverick" John McCain was in favor of exceptions to this policy for rape, incest, and the mother's life.

Far right conservatives (the Religious Right) want to maintain the hardline policy, taking away all authority of a woman over her own body and placing it in the hands of those who are "pro-life" when that life is in the womb, but couldn't care less after it is born.

Assuredly, the new McCain will bow down before his "spiritual masters" once again in an effort to maintain the Republican Party's extremely fragile coalition.

McCain Poised to Flip on GOP Abortion Platform

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., faces enormous pressure from social conservatives to ignore his repeated commitment to change the GOP's platform on abortion.
"If he were to change the party platform," to account for exceptions such as rape, incest or risk to the mother's life, "I think that would be political suicide," said Tony Perkins, the president of the conservative Family Research Council, to ABC News. "I think he would be aborting his own campaign because that is such a critical issue to so many Republican voters and the Republican brand is already in trouble."
A senior Republican close to McCain told ABC News that building a more inclusive GOP is a top priority for the Arizona senator.
But this adviser does not see changing the party platform to include exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother as necessary for achieving that vision.

Watch Bush, McCain, and Keyes in 2000 debating abortion.

DELEGATES: OBAMA GETS OHIO ADD ON

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Sun, 11 May 2008 09:13:00 EDT

Yesterday at the ODP Statewide meeting, Party Chair Chris Redfern named, and the party approved Dave Regan and William Craig Bashein as superdelegates.

Regan, the former President of SEIU 1199 who recently moved up to the international union as an executive vice president, soon after announced his support for Barck Obama.

DELEGATES: OBAMA GETS OHIO ADD ON

Obama picked up an Ohio add on, AP reports: “Ohio labor leader Dave Regan, who was selected as a superdelegate Saturday, told the AP that Obama is ‘the candidate that can unite the country and move beyond the divineness and gridlock that we have today.’ Regan recognized that Clinton won the Ohio primary March 4. ‘But that was two months ago. I think as the campaign has unfolded, Obama is looking like a stronger and stronger candidate,’ Regan said. ‘I think it's very likely he will be the nominee.’”

The campaign confirms Regan as well. Regan is the fourth Obama has picked up today

With Regan's support of Obama, Ohio's super delegates now stand as five for Clinton, five for Obama and nine undecided.

Your Tax Dollars At Work: The New Air Force Propaganda Campaign

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Sun, 11 May 2008 08:10:12 EDT

The Air Force is requesting $59 million of our tax money to spew misleading and false information to the American public.

Air Force's Scare-Mongering Space Ad Shoves Facts Out of the Airlock

No one expects commercials to be word-for-word accurate -- not even ads from the U.S. military. But a new Air Force commercial, about the perils of an attack in space, does more than stretch the truth, a bit. It snaps the truth into tiny little pieces, experts and former officers say -- violating the laws of physics and common sense, while flying in the face everything that's known about the world's constellation of satellites.

"What if your cell phone calls, your television, your GPS system, even your bank transactions, could be taken out with a single missile?" the military ad asks. "They can."

No, they can't. Not unless there's some new missile out there that can strike dozens and dozens of targets, spread out over thousands and thousands of miles. Even a nuke in space wouldn't do the trick.
Full Story From Wired

Watch It:

The McMedia's Silence On Cindy

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Sun, 11 May 2008 07:21:37 EDT

The media made the release of Teresa Heinz Kerry's tax returns a huge deal.

Where's their outrage now that Cindy McCain refuses to release hers?

CBS News:

Kerry's Wife: Above Suspicion?

What would be in her tax returns that's worth keeping secret?

A lot, actually. One Republican lawyer says Heinz's returns would be a "treasure trove of opposition research." One thing the returns would show, this lawyer says, is the extent to which Kerry is a "kept man." According to his tax return, Kerry's income in 2003 was $395,338 -- over half of which came from the sale of his quarter interest in a 17th-century Dutch painting co-owned by Teresa and the art dealer Peter Tillou. (The 4' x 8' painting, incidentally, is "The Arrival of Frederick and Elizabeth, Prince and Princess of the Palatinate, at Flushing, April 29, 1613" by Adam Willaerts.) Sure, it was a high-income year for the senator. But in 2003, Kerry also took out a $6.4 million mortgage on his share of the couple's Beacon Hill townhouse in Boston to fund his strapped presidential campaign.

The Washington Post editorial board:

Teresa Heinz Kerry's Taxes

...with her husband seeking the presidency, her financial dealings, as well as his, ought to be as open as possible. Keeping her returns private would set a bad precedent. Imagine a future presidential candidate whose spouse has complicated business dealings or federal contracts, chooses to file a separate tax return, and refuses to make it public.

Robert Novak:

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/robertnovak/rn200404...

WASHINGTON -- Sen. John Kerry, having escaped intact a one-hour grilling by NBC's Tim Russert on "Meet the Press" Sunday, slipped in the closing minutes. When asked why his multi-millionaire wife was not making public her tax returns, he misinterpreted the law and the facts. He can only hope voters regard this as arcane trivia.

Three days before her husband's first full-length televised interview since he clinched the Democratic presidential nomination, Teresa Heinz Kerry became the first would-be first lady to refuse disclosure since the practice became common. Kerry told Russert the law required him but not his wife to reveal tax returns, when in fact there is no such law. He is voluntarily disclosing the information, and Mrs. Kerry is not.

This becomes politically critical, because no previous presidential candidate relied so much on his spouse's wealth. Without backing from Heinz ketchup money, it is fair to say John Kerry would not be his party's presidential standard-bearer and probably would not even be a U.S. senator today. Thus, refusal to release his wife's tax returns inevitably raises suspicions, however ill-founded, that the Kerrys have something to hide.

National Review's Andrew Stuttaford

The Curious Discretion of Teresa Heinz Kerry

When it comes to talking about her taxes, however, the voluble — and supposedly fearless — Mrs. Heinz Kerry has been uncharacteristically tongue-tied, preferring instead to hide behind her children. Citing their privacy (thanks to the Heinz trusts, her finances are deeply intertwined with those of her sons) she has held out against full disclosure of her 2003 tax records. As she explained back in April, "What I have and what I receive is not just mine, it is also my children's, and I don't know that I have the right to make public what is theirs...If I could separate it, I would have no problem."

On Cindy? The sound of crickets chirping . . .

See Also: Double Standard for Candidate Spouses

Media Matters Calls on Publications to Explain Lack of Consistency

Happy Mother's Day From ProgressOhio, Mom's Rising and The Ohioans For Healthy Families Coalition

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Sun, 11 May 2008 07:06:26 EDT

Did you know--

Of over 170 countries, the U.S. is one of only 4 that doesn't have any form of paid leave for new mothers (We join Papua New Guinea, Swaziland, and Liberia with that dubious distinction).

1 in 8 children do not have access to healthcare

Women without children make 90 cents to a man's dollar, mothers make 73 cents, and single mothers make the least at about 60 cents to a man's dollar.

Click here to take action

Progress Ohio and the Ohio Healthy Families Coalition are teaming up with MomsRising.org to work toward family-friendly policies.

Where do the major presidential candidates stand on issues like maternity and paternity leave, health care, paid sick days, child care, and equal pay?

Click here to send a MomsRising Mothers Day e-card, and to tell presidential candidates that America's moms need their leadership creating a more family-friendly nation.

From the E-card video:

M is for Maternity leave (the U.S. joins Swaziland and Papua New Guinea on the list of nations without paid leave for new mothers)

O is for Open, flexible work (families need flexible options to fully participate in both the workforce and in family life)

T is for TV (did you know 40,000 kindergarteners are home alone after school?)

H is for Health Care (1 in 8 children don't have access to healthcare. Our child mortality rate is 37th worldwide, even though we pay more per person for healthcare than any other country in the world!)

E is for Excellent child care (only 14% of childcare centers in the U.S. are rated as "excellent.")

R is for Realistic wages (Parents who work 40 hours a week should be able to support their families on those wages)

Click here to send a MomsRising Mothers Day e-card, and to tell presidential candidates that America's moms need their leadership creating a more family-friendly nation.

Happy Mother's Day!

Mom's Rising. ProgressOhio and The Ohio Healthy Families Coaltion

Weekend Conspiracy Fodder

Bret Thompson, ProgressOhio — Sat, 10 May 2008 21:46:53 EDT

It's there, just a question of intent.
Subliminal video from a Fox affil:

Pentagon: US War Dead Cremated In Same Facility As Pets

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Sat, 10 May 2008 21:18:45 EDT

"We just believe our heroes deserve to be treated better than that."

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US Defense Secretary Robert Gates ordered a review of the handling of the remains of US war dead and apologized after learning that some were cremated in a commercial facility that also cremates pets, the Pentagon said.

Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said there was no evidence that any US servicemember was cremated in an incinerator used for pets.

But Gates believed that the use of a commercial facility that cremated both humans and pets, albeit in separate incinerators, was "insensitive and entirely inappropriate for the dignified treatment of our fallen," Morrell said.

"The families of the fallen have the secretary's deepest apology," he added.

Watch it:

Did or Didn't John McCain Vote For Bush in 2000?

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Sat, 10 May 2008 20:28:07 EDT

John McCain is in a no win situation in responding to the questions raised about his 2000 vote for President.

We've all seen the pictures of the hugs and kisses between the two since Bush/Rove smeared him in South Carolina right out of the Presidential primary in 2000.

McCain can continue to slobber over Bush, but we all know how Bush feels about McCain . . .

Nine More Obama Superdelegates

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Sat, 10 May 2008 14:02:28 EDT

The trickle starts to look like a flood.

HT: The Daily Dish

John McCain, This Bud's For You

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Sat, 10 May 2008 13:32:40 EDT

Wife's beer fortune gives McCain access to millions

WASHINGTON (AP) -- On a spring day at a speedway in North Carolina, John McCain posed with his wife, Cindy, and racing star Dale Earnhardt Jr., highlighting the couple's political and business interests in a single snapshot.
McCain served as honorary starter of the NASCAR race that weekend in Charlotte, N.C. Earnhardt drove the Budweiser car, painted military camouflage, rather than its trademark red, to honor the troops.
Budweiser, then NASCAR's official beer, is brewed by Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc., whose products have made Cindy McCain and her family a fortune.
The brewer sold toy replicas of its race car to aid the Special Operations Warrior Foundation and publicized its support for the group, on whose board John McCain served and whose chairman later endorsed him. The speedway appearance helped McCain court NASCAR voters, and his campaign circulated video of the event over the Internet.
The McCains' marriage has mixed business and politics from the beginning, according to an expansive review by The Associated Press of thousands of pages of campaign, personal finance, real estate and property records nationwide. The paperwork chronicles the McCains' ascent from Arizona newlyweds to political power couple on the national stage.
As heiress to her father's stake in Hensley & Co. of Phoenix, Cindy McCain is an executive whose worth may exceed $100 million. Her beer earnings have afforded the GOP presidential nominee a wealthy lifestyle with a private jet and vacation homes at his disposal, and her connections helped him launch his political career -- even if the millions remain in her name alone. Yet the arm's-length distance between McCain and his wife's assets also has helped shield him from conflict-of-interest problems.
Read The Full Story on the McCain's Millions

The Fabulous Life Of John McCain

In the US Senate, John McCain is the eigth-richest, worth a minimum of $28 million dollars. He has nine properties from Arizona to Virginia with an estimated worth of over thirteen million dollars, including a 2.7 million dollar condo on gorgeous Coronado Island.

Watch it:

Cindy McCain's Business Relationship With Charles Keating and Why She Must Disclose Her Finances

The Paulites Aren't Done Yet

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Sat, 10 May 2008 10:57:17 EDT

It's not just the Dems who may face conflict at their convention . . .

Mother Jones

Ron Paul deserves representation at the Republican national convention in proportion to the support he received in the primaries. And his supporters are prepared to fight like hell to make sure he gets it.

Across the country, at state and county GOP conventions, diehard supporters of maverick Ron Paul are staging uprisings in an effort to secure a role for Paul at the national convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul....

In Minnesota, Paul loyalists captured seven delegate slots at congressional district meetings, and in Nevada, the convention abruptly recessed on April 26 after balloting showed Paul supporters winning at least half of the initial contests for delegate slots to the national convention....

Full Story

Some "conservative" blogs have banned Ron Paul supporters from commenting. I guess they would prefer not to have to hear "true conservatives" speak.

Presidential Campaigns: "Gaffes" Of The Week

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Sat, 10 May 2008 08:48:35 EDT

McCain holds his mic upside down

Watch it:

Obama gets the number of states wrong

Watch it:

Clinton campaign spins Hillary's rich people "God Bless Us" remark on O'Reilly.

Watch it:

Official Ohio results: 53% Clinton 45% Obama

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Sat, 10 May 2008 08:42:47 EDT

The Jed Report:

Daily Kos diarist svotaw1992 had some time, a spreadsheet, and a little bit of curiosity -- and discovered that Ohio's official results show Clinton winning a narrower victory than originally. Apparently, now that Ohio has finally finished counting all of the roughly one hundred thousand provisional ballots, Clinton's final margin of victory was 8.7%, not the double-digit win reported on election night.
Now at this point, it doesn't make any difference as far as the nomination goes, but for two months we've suffered through discussion after discussion about how Clinton destroyed Obama in Ohio. Now, all that turns out to have been based on numbers that exaggerated the size of her win. Moreover, since exit poll data is based in part on actual vote results, the exit poll data also exaggerated the size of her win.
Here are the final totals (svotaw1992 has the gap at 8.8% which is correct if you exclude the Edwards votes, which I include to get the 8.7% margin).
Clinton: 1,259,620 (53.49%)
Obama: 1,055,769 (44.84%)
Edwards: 39,332 (1.67%)

Hotline/Diageo Poll: McCain's Support Amongst GOP Falls Dramatically

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Sat, 10 May 2008 08:19:21 EDT

Interesting. I was at lunch with a friend who has always voted Republican yesterday. I was stunned when he mentioned that he was voting for Obama this year if he was the nominee. His comments were that "the Republicans have had 8 years and done nothing good" that he could see. "It's time to give someone else a chance".

A Hotline/Diageo survey out today shows John McCain's support among GOP voters has dropped dramatically over the last two months.
The national poll of registered voters, taken April 30-May 3, shows enthusiasm for McCain within the GOP is lagging. Just 34% of GOP primary voters said they would back him enthusiastically, while 42% said their vote for McCain would be, at base, a vote against the eventual Dem nom. In our February survey, 50% of Repubs polled said they'd support McCain enthusiastically, and 30% said their vote for him is a vote against the Dem candidate.

Some still dissing McCain at polls

It's hard not to notice: In each of the past three Republican primaries, roughly a quarter of the vote went to someone other than John McCain.
Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee got a combined 27 percent of the vote in Pennsylvania last month, long after the GOP nomination had been settled in McCain's favor. On Tuesday, Paul, Huckabee and Mitt Romney received a combined 23 percent in Indiana. Alan Keyes, Huckabee, Paul and "no preference" took 26 percent in North Carolina.
On the surface, it would seem that McCain, the party's presumptive nominee, still has some distance to go in winning over his party. But aides to McCain and other observers say the results are less than meets the eye.
They argue that the lingering votes for Paul and Huckabee -- who together won about one-fifth of the vote in Indiana and North Carolina -- represent vestigial passion for two candidates who developed a fervent, if narrow, grass-roots following.
Still, for a candidate viewed with suspicion by some in his party's base, the dissenting votes are a nuisance he could do without.
One McCain strategist suggested it was part of a long-term effort to influence the direction of the party.

Gilligan Institute Hosts Gov. Kathleen Sebelius in Columbus!

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Fri, 09 May 2008 19:44:33 EDT

The Gilligan Institute Presents: What's Ahead - The 2008 Election

Join us May 15th for the kickoff of an exciting new program on Ohio politics and a unique expert look at the 2008 election. Speakers include nationally-syndicated political columnist Mark Shields, pollster Peter D. Hart, and

SPECIAL GUEST: The Honorable Kathleen Sebelius, Governor of the State of Kansas and daughter of former Ohio Governor John J. Gilligan

Click here to find out more, and to reserve tickets

WHEN: Thursday, May 15, 2008, 8:00 AM
WHERE: The Athletic Club, 136 E. Broad St., Columbus, OH 43215
TICKETS: Individual: $100 Table for ten: $1000. Become a sponsor for $2500 and receive a reserved table for ten as well as recognition in the seminar program.

Click here to find out more, and to reserve tickets

HOST COMMITTEE: William Chavanne, Robert Daley, Jim Friedman, John P. Gilligan, Patricia Groseck, Phil Moots, Bob Tenenbaum, Fred Vierow

The Gilligan Institute has applied to be a 501c3 nonprofit corporation established to promote political research and discussion in Ohio. Donations will be tax deductible.
Proceeds from the event will underwrite the cost of a biography of Former Ohio Governor John J. Gilligan.

Schmidt, Chabot Voted Against Help for Ohio Families Facing Home Foreclosure

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:46:33 EDT

Schmidt, Chabot Stood With President Bush Who is All for Huge Federal Bailouts of Bear Sterns and Other Wall Street Financiers but Opposes Assistance to Struggling Families Losing Their Homes

As the economy continues to slip further and further into recession and thousands of Ohio families face the prospect of losing their homes under the subprime mortgage crisis, Americans United for Change blasted Reps. Jean Schmidt and Steve Chabot for voting against the American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act – comprehensive and meaningful legislation to help families facing foreclosure keep their homes, help other families avoid foreclosures in the future, and help the recovery of communities harmed by empty homes caught in the foreclosure process.

The heart of the housing market stabilization legislation passed Thursday with broad bipartisan support in the U.S. House of Representatives, despite a veto threat from President Bush. According to the Pew Center on the States, between 7,000 and 8,000 people a day are filing for foreclosure on their homes. One in 33 homeowners is projected to be in foreclosure over the next two years, as a result of subprime loans made in 2005 and 2006.

“8,000 Americans from all walks of life will lose their homes today under this subprime mortgage crisis. Tomorrow, another 8,000 will plant a foreclosure sign in their yard - and another 8,000 the day after that,” said Jeremy Funk, spokesman for Americans United for Change. “But President Bush and his allies in Congress like Jean Schmidt and Steve Chabot believe the government has no business getting involved. Thankfully the Democratic leadership in Congress sees things differently and passed meaningful legislation that provides a life preserver to struggling families drowning in mortgage debt -- which will in turn help stabilize the ailing economy for everyone.”

“Fresh on the heels of a $30 billion bailout this Administration supported for Bear Stearns and other Wall Street financiers, it takes a lot of nerve for President Bush to now threaten to stand in the way of help for so many American families on the verge of losing their homes under a mortgage crisis that his own Administration’s inaction and incompetence exacerbated. And now struggling Ohio families and communities caught up in this mess know exactly where Reps. Jean Schmidt and Steve Chabot stand.”

Mothers Day: "Arise then... women of this day!"

Lorraine Bieber — Fri, 09 May 2008 12:55:33 EDT

It is indeed puzzling that so many Republican members of Ohio's congressional delegation voted no on H.R. 1113, “Celebrating the role of mothers in the United States and supporting the goals and ideals of Mother's Day” (full warm and fuzzy text here).

...until you consider the origins of Mother's Day.

Julia Ward Howe, who penned The Battle Hymn of the Republic, also authored a mothers' Declaration calling on women to oppose war, and worked to get recognition of a Mother’s Day for Peace. Says Code Pink: "Were she alive today, Julia probably would have told her kids to dispense with the roses and chocolates, and instead join her in an anti-war rally. Yes, Julia Ward Howe was a peacenik."

[Howe] saw some of the worst effects of the [civil] war -- not only the death and disease which killed and maimed the soldiers. She worked with the widows and orphans of soldiers on both sides of the war, and realized that the effects of the war go beyond the killing of soldiers in battle. She also saw the economic devastation of the Civil War, the economic crises that followed the war, the restructuring of the economies of both North and South.
In 1870, Julia Ward Howe took on a new issue and a new cause….She called in 1870 for women to rise up and oppose war in all its forms. She wanted women to come together across national lines, to recognize what we hold in common above what divides us, and commit to finding peaceful resolutions to conflicts. She issued a Declaration, hoping to gather together women in a congress of action.

Howe failed in her attempt to get formal recognition of a Mother's Day for Peace, but her effort was carried on by Anna Jarvis, who had organized women during the Civil War to work for better sanitary conditions for both sides, and then toward reconciliation of Union and Confederate neighbors.

Jarvis’ daughter, of the same name, then took up the campaign for Mother’s Day. After the custom spread to 45 states, President Woodrow Wilson declared the first national Mother’s Day in 1914.

Julia Ward Howe's Mothers' Declaration:

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

Maybe Pryce, Schmidt, Tiberi, Chabot, Boehner, Regula, LaTourette, Hobson, and Turner have a thing against moms. But YOU can make this Mother's Day a Mother's Day For Peace.

Help CodePink help Iraqi refugee moms here.

Send a MomsRising Mother's Day card and tell the presidential candidates to fight for family-friendly policies. here.

Oh and don't forget to call the Congressional Switchboard at 1-800-839-5276 to give the above members of Congress a piece of your mind about H.R. 1113.

Do you have another suggestion for honoring Julia Ward Howe's Mothers' Declaration? Are you a mom working for peace? Leave a comment below.

Q: What's 9 Members Large and Makes Mothers Cry?

Bret Thompson, ProgressOhio — Fri, 09 May 2008 11:51:48 EDT

A: The Republican delegation of Ohio Congressmen, who, in a display of startling idiocy, voted against "the goals and ideals of Mother's Day."

This wasn't a high-minded protest against do-nothing resolutions, no, it was more of the same, grandstanding and tactical procedures to stop votes on measures that don't mean much to the average Americans, like the mortgage relief act and the war funding bill.

So on behalf of America's hundred million mothers, we say thanks to the following:

Nay    OH-1    Chabot, Steven [R]
Nay    OH-2    Schmidt, Jean [R]
Nay    OH-3    Turner, Michael [R]
Nay    OH-7    Hobson, David [R]
Nay    OH-8    Boehner, John [R]
Nay    OH-12    Tiberi, Patrick [R]
Nay    OH-14    LaTourette, Steven [R]
Nay    OH-15    Pryce, Deborah [R]
Nay    OH-16    Regula, Ralph [R]

27 Bottles of Scotch, With a Chaser of Huh?

Bret Thompson, ProgressOhio — Fri, 09 May 2008 10:27:36 EDT

I haven't been this bewildered since the end of Donnie Darko.

Presented for your perusal, here's McCain's newest "ad":