A college scholarship for every graduate of an Ohio high school. One billion dollars a year deposited in to grant and scholarship accounts. More incentives for new and high-paying jobs right here in Ohio. There just has to be a catch. Thankfully for skeptics, there is such a catch to the Ohio Learn and Earn campaign to put college scholarships on the ballot. Turns out those scholarships will be paid for with . . . slot machines!

As we all know, summer time means petitions and signature gatherers pestering you and me to get their initiatives on the ballot. It just turns out some of those canvassers are less honest than others. The Ohio Council of Churches is alleging a “pervasive pattern of deception” among gatherers for Ohio Learn and Earn. Tom Smith, who is the Council’s director of public policy, was approached by a gatherer at a library and told- when asked- that money for the scholarships would not be provided by expanding gambling in Ohio.

Apparently even Ohio Learn and Earn has acknowledged this is a problem. Even though it says (in the last paragraph of its description) on its website that “Learn & Earn will be funded by proceeds on slot machines at 9 venues in Ohio,” its gatherers have been saying something else. Evidently Learn and Earn has received a number of complaints regarding this, but no one has mentioned any names. Misrepresenting the purpose, cause, or effects of a petition, of course, is a crime in the State of Ohio and is punishable by a maximum of six months in jail.

Your outrage in reading this, no doubt, will be proportional to your personal feelings on gambling, which has become quite the controversy here in Ohio. Coming from a state with both a lottery and Indian gaming casinos, I have no real problem with gambling or the fact that they provide much-needed resources to the state (or tribe). Maybe you feel the same way I do about gambling, or maybe you don’t. But you deserve to be told when you’re signing a petition to allow it. Learn and Earn has until August 9 to get more than 300,000 signatures to put their proposal on the ballot. Perhaps their efforts would be that much harder if those 300,000 knew what they were signing.

Just when you thought property rights were dead and buried in America, the good guys scored a big victory yesterday, courtesy of the Ohio Supreme Court. Yesterday, the Court ruled unanimously that the Cincinnati suburb of Norwood could not seize five homes which stood in the way of private developers. With the green light provided by Kelo v. New London, the city of Norwood assumed it could do whatever it wanted with people’s property for the sake of enriching the city’s tax base. Indeed, 66 of 71 property owners voluntarily sold their homes to the developers. When five owners refused, the city used another tool given to them by Kelo, simply condemning the homes and the neighborhood as blighted. The Court correctly ruled that the city abused this right of condemnation and blocked their attempted seizure.

Norwood’s actions represent an alarming trend around the country in the aftermath of the Kelo decision. Given this authorization, city officials in the 42 states that have not yet passed anti-Kelo resolutions have reacted by sending in the bulldozers. Newark, New Jersey wants to raze 14 downtown acres to build upscale condos. Arnold, Missouri wants to destroy 30 homes, 14 small businesses, and the local Veterans of Foreign Wars for a Lowe’s and a strip mall. San Diego wants to demolish the cigar and coffee lounge of an Afghan immigrant first for a Marriot and then for a parking lot. Wherever he is, the late Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu- infamous for bulldozing people’s homes in order to build lavish personal palaces- is looking at post-Kelo America and smiling.

Perhaps the conditions which created Kelo are nothing more than a misunderstanding over a simple constitutional issue. City developers claim their right to condemn houses as blighted and then raze them to build a Wal-Mart is guaranteed by the US Constitution. However, eminent domain was meant to be a restriction of government power, not an expansion. Actually, it is found in the clear-as-crystal Fifth Amendment, the part of the Constitution most often referred to by liberals not appearing in the “Penumbra.” Personally, if liberals are so insistent that the Fifth Amendment apply to criminals and terrorists, they ought to apply it to law-abiding property owners as well. Eminent domain does not state that government can take private property if they provide just compensation; it says private property cannot be taken without just compensation. Note the difference in language.

With any luck, this decision combined with state and local-level action can reverse the most errant Supreme Court decision of the Rehnquist Court. States and even Congress have passed laws restricting eminent domain, and citizen initiatives are doing the same in other states to defend their rights. However, they shouldn’t have to fight these battles. Americans have a right to maintain ownership of the property they legally acquire. I shouldn’t have to say this in 2006, but such rights have been all but eliminated in places like the People’s Republic of Oregon where citizen initiatives attempting to revive property rights have been routinely struck down by the courts. Government’s eroding of property rights continues down the path of socialism and if left unchecked by the citizenry could march America down the road to serfdom.

As I see it...

Ohio gets a mention in National Review, in article concerning John Bolton and his confirmation as ambassador to the United Nations: These “criticisms” [of Bolton] were never much more than baseless personal attacks, but they were enough to win over a few Republicans — most notably George Voinovich of Ohio, who opposed Bolton’s nomination in a weirdly emotional speech on the Senate floor.

Yeah. Weird is a good word. John Bolton deserves the support of conservatives, if and when the Democrats try to filibuster. And that includes Ohio Senators Mike DeWine (up for re-election in 2006), and even Senator Voinovich. For all those who can't stand to see a Senator cry, check out OSU CR Matt Naugle's website.
www.consolegeorge.com

In other news...

I wish: More Nobel Laureates told schoolchildren they'd love to kill a sitting U.S. President.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19902313-29677,00.html

Other Nobel Peace Prize Winners include: Yasser Arafat (a genocidal all-star!), and Jimmy Carter and Kofi Annan (who both specialize in allowing deranged, third world leaders to build nuclear weapons!).

I’ll say this for them, they’re consistent. Whenever war breaks out in the Middle East you can always count on the far left in this country and throughout the world to take the side of terrorists against the region’s oldest and most-established democracy. The soulless minions of academic orthodoxy are no exception, true to their tradition of supporting every enemy of America since 1945. College campuses were bastions of communism 40 years ago and, apparently, sympathetic to terrorism today.

Students (or at least I presume they were students) held a vigil Saturday night on 15^th and High, and guess which side they supported! Signs conveyed sympathy and solidarity with Lebanon. Leaflets condemned “one of the most inhumane and barbaric attacks in recent times” by Israel. No mention, of course, was made as to who started this conflict or how it started. No mention was made of the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah terrorists or the missile attacks against Israeli civilians in Haifa and other Israeli cities. Students lit candles and held Lebanese flags as cars cruised by and honked, presumably expressing their mutual hatred of Jewry.

I wonder how Saturday night’s agitators would respond if it were American cities under missile attacks or if our soldiers were being held by a bloodthirsty and genocidal enemy committed to our annihilation. It’s high time there were gatherings in this country to express the support of the great silent majority for the State of Israel in its war against terrorism. The vast majority of Americans realize that Hezbollah is the most recent of many numerous threats to Israel’s existence. They know that “peace” is not defined by an absence of conflict but an absence of threat, and that Israel has every right to remove that threat. They stand by Israel because of our shared values, our common history, and our firm commitment to democracy.

As concerned human beings, our conscience compels us to voice our deepest grief for the loss of life and to be the voice of the innocent people of Israel who have been exposed to one of the most inhumane and barbaric attacks in recent times. No matter what your political stance, we urge you to express your solidarity with the Israelis in any way that you know how. Your support of this blog is one way to show your solidarity with the people of Israel, and to say to the world in our grief and compassion for Israel,

WE ARE ALL ISRAELI!

What were you thinking? President Bush just vetoed his first bill the other day, which would have authorized federal funds to be used on stem cell research. Who did you think you were kidding? The bill had bipartisan support in both chambers. Fifty House Republicans and nineteen in the Senate voted with a large majority of Democrats to ensure passage. What did you think was going to happen? Now as a result President Bush looks as if he’s acting in favor of religion against science, personal belief against medical potential. So again, Congressional Republicans, what were you thinking?

Maybe you hadn’t considered the consequences of your action. The simple truth is that congressmen, senators, and the president all view vetoes the way liberals view wars: everyone loses. Everyone looks bad, especially when the same party controls the White House, the House, and the Senate. At the very least it makes the party in power (us) look weak, incoherent, and off-message. Who do you look for in leadership when the President says and believes one thing and members of his own party in Congress say and believe and do something else?

Did you forget there was an election coming up in November? The one thing an unpopular party doesn’t need heading in to an election is incoherence and dissent. Notice how the Democrats (at least in terms of their roll call votes) are unified on practically every issue, including this one. Fourteen House Democrats and one Democratic Senator voted no. Did you honestly think this would carry favor with voters back home? If I’m a single-issue voter who only cared about federal funding for stem cell research I’d probably be more likely to vote for a Democrat (who I know supports federal funding) than a Republican (who I’m probably not sure about). After all, my Republican Congressman might have voted for the bill, but President Bush vetoed it. Who really speaks for the Republican Party? Then again, if I’m a member of the evangelical Republican base, I’m livid! People like me and Pat Robertson and James Dobson got them elected to Congress two years ago, and once again, they stab us in the back!

Maybe you’re running for President. I’m talking to you, Bill Frist. Maybe you’re trying to make a name for yourself as a moderate or a maverick willing to take on that big, bad Bush. Maybe you’re so worried about his unpopularity that your only hope for re-election is to distance yourself from him and court votes from people who won’t vote for you anyway. Now keep in mind, I’m all for funding stem cell research, I just don’t see why the federal government needs to pick up the tab or why more private sources of funding haven’t surfaced, especially since stem cell research is supposed to cure every disease known to man. We really shot ourselves in the foot on this one. Of course, it’s hardly our first self-inflicted political gunshot wound this Congress. Just don’t expect Speaker Pelosi’s universal health care plan to fix it.

I HATE: Fox and Friends.

Seriously, the morning show on Fox News is an idiots' convention which takes off before I've had any coffee... read, before I am equipped to deal with such nonsense. Seriously, the other day they had Matt Leinart--to whom, as the new quarterback of the Arizona Cardinals, I extend my deepest sympathies--on the show, and they were talking about fantasy football and having a skills competition. They asked him about whether on he'd played Fantasy Football, and before explaining that NCAA's regulations, admittedly ridiculous, don't allow for college football players to do that, the look on his face was classic: 'Christ, I play football for a living and I'm not nearly as dumb as you.'

They also asked a doctor some health questions from viewers, and one asked if drinking eight cups of decaf green tea was healthy. Fair enough, I drink about eight cups of coffee a day (I was working on my third by then), so this isn't a bad question. When he mentions caffeine build up as a result of all the tea, no joke, all three hosts jump on him, reminding him: Hey pal! She said DECAF!

I know sixth graders who know that decaf coffees and teas still have a little caffeine in them. And this from the network that brings us SPECIAL REPORT WITH BRIT HUME, the finest political news broadcast in the United States. Hume is sharp, concise, wears great suits, and from his demeanor, he might even drink as much coffee as I do. He doesn't mess around, and if you doubt me, just wait for the next time the Fox all-stars step out of line.

ALL HAIL HUME!

As bombs continue to fall in the Middle East, sometimes it's tempting to argue with the "War is bad, man"-crowd, that continue to gather across the country, and the world. Whether in New York or Tel Aviv, Columbus or Cambridge, you're going to find people who oppose everything that you stand for, and everything that you believe in. And the way it comes out, of course, is in the thinly veiled anti-Semitism deriding the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) for "killing kids in Lebanon," or that the Americans and their imperialistic practices are what's wrong with the world.

But the Israelis are fighting the most just war in their history, and Cowboy Diplomacy (so-called, and I kind of like it) has done wonders as the Iraqi and Afghani governments keep chugging along. But ignore these detractors. Really. Like the Democrats who are more interested in slandering President Bush than in devising a real strategy to win in Iraq, these people lack the intellect to form a coherent argument. Most of them, anyway. And don't let yourself get dragged into that- because when you argue with an idiot, it becomes hard for an onlooker to determine who the real idiot is.

These are the same types of minds that brought us appeasement against Hitler, that said we couldn't beat the USSR, and now tell us we should follow the head-in-the-sand model to deal with Islamofascism and terrorism. We need to roll into town like a cowboy, like Victor Davis Hanson just wrote in the NRO, because when the cowboy retires after the confrontation with the bad guys--to everyone's apparent relief--the outlaws usually creep back into town.

But, when they tell you that Israel's bombing has killed fifteen children in Lebanon, or that we are guilty of war crimes in Iraq, or whatever foolishness they have in store for you, just remember what you saw here: http://chromatism.net/bloodyborders/. That's the 'Bloody Borders Project', brought to you by Gates of Vienna- another blogspot address, and one of the most important terrorism watchdogs on the net. I look forward to reading every new column they post. But just scroll down to the map on that site, and click on a grid: on Israel, maybe, or Iraq. The numbers are staggering, and it only catalogs terrorism since September 11, 2001; that means there is a lot of blood they haven't accounted for.

So when we are advised that Club Gitmo members should have more constitutional protections than someone at a party on 15th Ave., or are derided as murderers and thugs--because I have been, and you will be--don't let them make you believe that our enemies should get to plot to kill us, while we have to sit on our hands and talk. Remember that war is the solution our enemy has chosen. And I say let them have all they want.

Until next time, I remain...
--The Chairman of the Underground
P.S. - Thanks to General William Tecumseh Sherman for the closing quotation.

In my years here in Ohio I’ve tried as best I could to ignore what is printed in Portland’s daily dead fish wrapper, The Oregonian. That is until they started commenting on Ohio. In what could best be described as his Fourth of July message, liberal columnist David Sarasohn warned that the country that derives its just powers from the consent of the governed is in danger of losing that consent through the last two presidential elections he and others say were stolen. Like so many other liberals before him, Sarasohn points the finger of blame squarely at you and I in the Buckeye State.

Sarasohn repeats many of the same allegations concocted by left-wing groups two years ago, regurgitated by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (if there’s anyone who knows about stolen elections it’s a Kennedy), ridiculed and ignored by each of Ohio’s eight major newspapers, and laughed out of Ohio and federal courts. The Oregonian even went so far as to print “statistics” gathered from Spencer Overton’s book Stealing Democracy, which was published this summer. Their allegations- which supposedly prove widespread fraud and theft- even if true are trivial (rejection of voter registration forms that were improperly printed off the internet, longer lines in urban precincts than in suburban ones). What they’d have you believe are scenes from forty years ago, complete with ballot stuffing, deceased voters, and fire hoses- all of which were the work of Democrats. What they allege is not based on any kind of substantive fact or empirical evidence but on wild conspiracy theories involving hackers, supercomputers, and Karl Rove.

Most unbelievably, in the midst of all his accusations of systematic electoral theft and fraud, Sarasohn argues against a federal proposal requiring that photo IDs be shown at polling places in order to vote. One would think that if preventing elections from being stolen is in fact a worthwhile cause it would make sense that potential voters are who they say they are (and most importantly, are actually US citizens). The accusations of Sarasohn and so many others on the left are nothing new and nothing more than petty and childish whining about not getting the result they wanted two and six years ago. Indeed, many of the recommendations of Sarasohn, Kennedy, and others were considered by the people of Ohio and each was defeated soundly as an attempt by the far left- angered at the outcome of the last election- to change the rules of the game to benefit them. This just shows that whoever said “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” never met a Democrat who lost an election.

Well, it’s about time! Governor Taft-and-Spend finally decided to cut taxes, which will save Ohioans $390 million. All this while continuing to contribute to the $617 million “rainy-day fund.” The acceleration of a five-year 21% income tax cut means an 8.2% reduction in state income tax withheld from workers’ checks starting in October. This means Ohioans will have more money to spend and save as they see fit. It also means Democrats don’t like the idea at all and are using 19^th century class warfare to discredit it.

With the refrain that hasn’t been changed in at least forty years, Democrats claimed that this new tax cut would only benefit “the wealthiest Ohioans” and urged state leaders to reduce college tuition and raise the minimum wage instead. “If they really cared about middle-class Ohioans,” says House Minority Leader Joyce Beatty, “they would be . . . proposing fair tax policies that put middle class families first.” This from a party that knows as much about the middle class as Brent Musburger knows about soccer. And it’s staggering how little Democrats know about economics. If they had even a basic understanding of the subject they would realize that raising the minimum wage causes unemployment to rise. I learned that in Econ 200.

When this tax cut for working and middle-class families is combined with a cut on investment taxes, Ohio’s economy can begin to grow- and state revenue with it. The sad and simple truth for Democrats is that no society in the history of western civilization has ever taxed itself into prosperity. Take the past 16 years as proof where taxes continually went up and Ohio faced unprecedented economic stagnation. When employers have more money to do with as they please and aren’t burdened by high taxes and unnecessary restrictions they can afford to expand their business and hire more employees. With Ohio’s economy as it is, one would think our state’s leaders should be commended for finding new ways to employ their citizens than finding new ways to make them dependent on the state.