When did the Fringe become mainstream?

      For starters, to move forward in any meaningful constructive way we will need to divest ourselves of the bias that any region is inherently more backward and insane that any other region. Yes, I'm talking about the Northern notion that "The Dukes OF Hazzard","Hee Haw" and "The Beverly Hillbillies" were documentaries. "Li,l Abner" was not a diary. "Petticoat Junction" was not a travelogue.The North has ceded any perceived moral superiority they may have ever had. They did so a long time ago.
Today America stands united in what at one time would have been seen as unthinkable insanity. What the hell happened?
American History has never had a shortage of  ill conceived  poorly reasoned political thought and agendas The Whiskey Rebellion should have throttled States Rights and Libertarianism as a viable political ideology in it's cradle. Aaron Burr planned an insurrection. The know Nothing Party. The Grange Movement. Communism. Fascism. The Black Panther Party. The White Panther Party. The historical American Political landscape is littered with the remains of radical, reactionary or single issue political movements
Yet American politics is still a two Party system, very minor aberrations not withstanding. The major political parties here are exquisite examples of Darwinism. They adapt and survive. The parties crush the upstarts by co opting any viable issue or idea they have. The carcase is then picked clean of any original thought or approach. American political thought evolves. A lot of what was once considered politically impossible is now commonly accepted social norms. Slavery is gone. Voting rights have expanded beyond White Male Landowners. Women are supposed to be full citizens, as are African Americans and Native Americans. Homosexuals are being acknowledged as being actual citizens with the same rights as the rest of the Country.
Our problem occurs when the absorbed ideas are antithetical to our history. The trends over more than two centuries is an expansion of the concept of liberty and equality.
Once it was common practice to discriminate not only by race but by religion, national origin , sex and any factor unpopular with the majority. Hence, Irish need not apply signs. The idea John Kennedy could not be elected President because he was Catholic. There are only a few jobs suitable for women. Single women at that. Everyone knew once a woman was married her job was to manage the home, bear and raise children and stop any thought independant of her husband's. Blacks were less intelligent and inherently inferior. Caring for them was the White Man's Burden. The common wisdom is that we have evolved and moved past such primitive notions. It now seems the common wisdom is treated as the ramblings of a fool. The performance of a court jester meant for only ridicule. disdain.and outright loathing.
Regression instead of progression. Today battles are being fought again when we thought the war was won.
The concept of self defense is rooted in English Common Law. A person has the moral right to protect their life, their family and others from mortal threats. Also you can defend your home. The Castle concept. In a confrontation the idea has always been disengagement when possible. If it can be done one should move away from the threat. Deadly force was only acceptable in very limited circumstances. To protect your life and the life of others from an obvious threat. Then came stand your ground.
Somehow the idea of confronting a perceived threat became a perceived right. The notion everyone is John Wayne or Dirty Harry. Disengaging from a threat became cowardice and somehow Un American. This concept seemed to grow hand in hand with the view that gun ownership was the only sacrosanct Constitutional right.
As more and more States liberalized concealed weapons laws (usually over objections of law enforcement) there became a feeling of entitlement. If you had a firearm you should not be told where and when you could carry it. After all that is tyranny. There also came the belief that deadly force was not only a viable option but should be a primary option. A confrontation that once would have resulted in a fist fight now has the ability to escalate into a frontier justice moment. Judge. Jury. Executioner.
The feeling has grown there should be no consequences when lethal force is used. Even if the the person was mistaken about the threat level. There should be no charges. In fact one should be lionized for standing against crime.They dealt decisively with what they thought was a threat.The obvious problem with these concepts is assuming everyone who carries a firearm is a reasonable human being with good judgement and respect for life. At best that is a flawed premise. At worst? Open season for overt racism and violence.
One question. had an adult African American man followed an unarmed white teenager and shot him during a confrontation would the result be the same?  I think he would have been convicted long ago and in Raiford on death row now.
At the beginning of the American experiment in a new form of government the only ones with the right to vote were free white male landowners.By modern standards this is awful. By 18th century standards it was unprecedented. A system of government with a set Constitution and representation to enact laws that could not be changed on a whim by a divine right ruler.
As America grew the right to vote was expanded also. All free white males could vote. Again revolutionary. A system not class based by law and tradition.
 Following a brutal bloody Civil War African Americans became citizens and able to vote. Unfortunately it took a century to end Jim Crow. It took the power of the Federal Government to push the Old Confederacy into the 20th century against their will. It has taken fifty years but the South has changed. Blatant racism is no longer the dominant way of life. If anything they are now more like the North with the racism being covert and insidious.
In the Voting Rights Act the States of the Old Confederacy were forced to have any changes in voting laws reviewed and approved by the Department of Justice. After all there was ample evidence of concerted suppression of the black vote.
Following the election of Barack Obama President, with overwhelming support from minority voters, there was a new push by conservative Republican Legislatures to enact voting laws and regulations to suppress the votes of groups they felt were the Democratic base. Minorities. The young. Newly naturalized citizens. The attempts in the South were beat back by DOJ. The attempts in the North had to be stopped in court. The Northern States trying to pull this off outnumbered the Southern States. Yet it is still decried as a regional problem. It's not. It's an ideological problem. Some have decided America's tradition of expanding liberty is wrong and destructive. An unprecedented, in modern American History, drive is on to strip segments of the population of rights.
This effort is using Evangelical religious belief, flawed Constitutional and discredited States Rights arguments.
They have found and promote so-called historians to validate their fictional version of America. There are those on the reactionary right who feel extremist dogma should be codified as the basis of American law. They are convincedl they have been called by God to establish a Christian theocracy. An extremist Christian theocracy. Their most visible target? Women.
Across the country in conservative Legislatures there has been a rejection of the 21st century. Women are blamed for the collapse of the family, the destruction of morality by wanton behavior. They defy God by not relegating themselves to serving their husbands, being pregnant for most of their reproductive years and daring to be independent and educated. It is their fault rape is an epidemic.
The only recourse is to make life altering decisions concerning their health and future. Everyone knows they are unable to be rational. They are unable to behave in a responsible manner. They refuse to accept the consequences of having sex for non procreational purposes. Thus they can't be treated as fully equal citizens. They are after all walking incubators.
America has always been at the forefront of scientific discovery, innovation and technological advancement As territories were settled land was set aside for schools. Publicly supported schools. Education was recognized as needed for the future of a great nation. American thought, education and sense of unfettered exploration drove scientific and technological advancement in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Now, scientific literacy and ignorance has become something to aspire to. A badge of honor. Mainstream political leaders deny evolution. They deny evidence climate change is a real and present danger. A member of the House Science and Technology Committee decries science as lies of Satan spawned in the pits of Hell. There was a time such an individual would have been laughed out of office. Now he'll be reelected.
School boards are being pressured to teach evolution as simply another theory and present creationism as a scientifically valid alternative. They are pressured to rewrite American History as a Christian triumph  The teaching of critical thinking is vilified as undermining the beliefs of the parents.
America can not survive and prosper if education is a knowledge a la carte. Facts are facts. Scientific and cultural progress is built on empirical knowledge. Not myth. Not suppersition. Not willful ignorance. Not that long ago education was a noble calling. We entrusted educators with our childrens futures. Now they are union thugs indoctrinating students in godless secularism. These ideas I've touched on were once considered so fringe they couldn't be taken seriously. Now they are considered legitimate political thought. A coherent ideology. These ideas haven't changed. They are still crazy. The only difference is crazy is now respectable.
Our choice of action is limited. We beat back the coming Dark Ages, the sequel. We say no to the budding inquisition. We say no to codifying religious dogma. We stand for the thoughts and ideals that made America great. The alternative is to watch it devolve into a repressive intolerant dogmatic theocracy.  We stand with our ideas. Or fall under the flaming sword of reactionary Christianity and the bootheel of regression to the past of camps and witch hunts to preserve ideological purity.  The only real question is who is drug off in the dead of night first.

Domestic Surveillance. New? Not so much. A look back at COINTELPRO.

     My Liberal friends have their panties in a twist. The Right Wing is salivating over another supposed Obama scandal. Shhh. The NSA is listening. This is a surprise, why? The United States has a long storied tradition of keeping an eye on it's citizenry that stretches back over a century.
 The Patriot Act was passed and renewed. Why is anyone shocked it's being used??
Since I am simply a history major with out a degree(Though that gives me a leg up on David Barton) I still recognize that context and historical perspective shapes, even colors current perceptions.
Since I'm not a history Professor (Just a wannabe) and I'm not teaching a survey course on Government Misbehavior, this will be simply a look back at COINTELPRO. Also maybe a peek at the other agencies tagging along.
COINTELPRO (COunter INTELligence PROgram) was started in 1956 by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover to counter what he saw as a Cold War threat. Communists, socialists, civil rights and any other dissent that offended him. With Hoover that was basically dissent, period.
During the Thirties and Forties the Bureau perfected the skills needed to operate outside the legal framework. Illegal wiretaps, open surveillance to intimidate and harass,smear tactics and disinformation. This was primarily directed at Gangsters, the American Communist Party, other left leaning organizations and Nazi sympathizers. Using these tactics Hoover also collected his famous files on Hollywood, Washington and Industrialists, The FBI developed and nurtured a network of informants across American Society. Friends spying on friends. Having grown up during the Cold War I remember this was constantly cited as an evil Soviet practice.
In the Fifties we saw a resurgence of political dissent in response to and fueled by the political climate that produced Joe McCarthy and Richard Nixon. Civil Rights , anti-nuke, and a revived American Left were more vocal and visible. Hoover decided to act by creating COINTELPRO.
Though technology has changed the basic tenants of domestic spying remain essentially the same.
1)  Infiltration. this was a favorite in the Fifties and Sixties that is still chugging along. Then the FBi joined The Communist Party, Socialist Party, NAACP, CORE, Ban the Bomb groups, the KKK, The American Nazi Party and John Birch Society. However the bulk of resources were devoted to the Left, a trend that would continue into the Sixties and beyond
The targets then were still the Civil Rights groups, The Woman's Movement, the anti-war movement and the New Left. That was the SDS and Weathermen. Basically it was any individual or group that vocally opposed then current American Foreign and Domestic policy that Hoover perceived as a threat.
Agents and informants infiltrated these groups often developing the plans that were used as probable cause for arrest. Still popular today. Think all these "Sting" operations used to corral suspected terrorists.
2)  PsyOps. The FBI and local police would use friendly newspapers and reporters to plant false damaging news stories about the targeted group or individual. They would print and distribute phony leaflets using the group's Masthead. Misinformation about meetings and events was spread. Supporters, donors, families, schools and others were strong armed to bring pressure on dissidents.Anonymous call and letters were very popular. If you nose around around the internet today you still see misinformation campaigns being waged. Same on social media. I do like to believe the blatant lies and misrepresentations are politically motivated rather than covert government activity. I'm a hopeful guy.
3)  Legal harassment This was simple. Targeted selective enforcement of laws. Planting of manufactured evidence and perjury. Frivolous lawsuits designed to discourage donors and intimidate supporters. Any law or regulation to make life difficult could and would be used.
4)  Extralegal means. Ok. Black bag jobs. (The most famous were Nixon's Plumbers Watergate and Ellsberg's Psychiatrist's office break-ins)  Illegal wiretaps which has grown beyond the hardlines of yesterday. planting evidence, false arrest and wrongful conviction. You can read deaths in unintended explosions or killed while resisting as you wish.
During this time nearly every agency and large police force joined in not wanting to be left in the dark by the FBI. Army intelligence. the CIA( in violation of their charter forbidding them to operate within the US) and massive spying and entrapment programs by NYPD and  LAPD.
Hoover used his unbridled power to create a win by any means culture. Intelligence was shaped to fit the need. Manufactured and disseminated to disrupt the exercise of Constitutionally guaranteed liberties. This was done to protect the status quo and dominant political agendas.
A lot of this should sound familiar. The FBI was founded to round up anarchists for deportation. They were used as a tool of political control until the early Seventies.
The Church Committee in the Senate catalogued the offenses and abuses of the American Intelligence community dating back to the 19th Century. Since then the resultant laws and regulations have been watered down and undermined by legislation and executive order. This is a grand American tradition. One that as long as intel is needed there will be tension between our liberty and the Nation's security. We haven't got it right yet. Why would we start now?

NASA is working on a Warp Drive. Let's build The Enterprise. Make it so.

     The portion of Sci Fi that always annoyed scientists was superluminal travel. They recognized it as a necessary plot device to set fiction somewhere other than our local piece of celestial real estate. An impossible plot device since matter can not exceed the speed of light according to the General Theory of Relativity. FTL, Warp Drive, and other iconic modes of transportation were seen as charming, entertaining flights of fantasy.
Star Trek however has made a habit of prescience. Computer technology such as memory size, speed, a voice or touch interface and high powered portable hand held devices. Communications technology like cell phones. Automation. An ion drive(Impulse)engine for solar exploration.
The reason behind this is Trek inspiring some of it's smart fanbase to go into science.These fans are doing R & D or cutting edge theoretical work. They look at Kirk's Communicator and think how can we do that? Computers, the same. Hand held devices for remote access to a data base. Yeah, we can figure that out also. Even non fans are pushing the envelope due to the environment of creative thought they find themselves in.
Seemingly The Theory of Relativity has loopholes like any law
Matter can not exceed the speed of light. This is at times referred to as a cosmic speed limit when explaining it to us laymen. The loophole? Spacetime has no speed limit. It can expand and contract at any speed.
After the Big Bang the minimum speed of spacetime expansion has been postulated at 30 million, billion times the speed of light. Makes The Enterprise-E look like an ox cart.
The idea is that if you cause spacetime behind a ship to contract and spacetime in front of the ship to expand the ship, on flat spacetime, inside a warp bubble(How Star Trek)will ride along at faster than light. SInce this isn't true propulsion there is 0 g's. Humans would see the result as motion. Projected speeds put a ship in the Alpha Centauri star system in two weeks. That system is a little over four light years away. Ahead warp factor 7 Mr. Sulu.
So, how does this work. magic. OK, not really. Let's take a peek at tomorrow.
So lets start with spacetime.
All right. The best example to show what spacetime is and how it works i've seen is to imagine a flat sheet of rubber suspended at it's corners so the sheet is in the air, not resting on anything. This is spacetime with no external forces applied to it. Flat.  Put a soccer ball in the center of the sheet. It will deform into a depression holding the ball. This is a decent example of madd and gravity warping spacetime. Anything with mass or gravity creates dimples. These need to be taken into account when plotting a course to any local celestial body.
So, if a ship were placed on the sheet and spacetime were expanded behind and contracted ahead spacetime would move around the ship. This enables the ship to surf spacetime from point A  to point B without it actually moving by being in a warp bubble of local spacetime.So the ship doesn't actually move, the space around it does. Weird stuff happens in physics.
The trick is it takes a lot of mass/energy to warp spacetime enough to do anything with it.
Miguel Alcubierre designed a warp engine. It was a flat circle which would enable the warping of spacetime. Unfortunately, it requires power equal to the mass of Jupiter. Thus it was filed away as  a cool but never able to be used idea.
Harold White took another look at the equations. He saw that if the sphere were made thicker and curvier, (think doughnut compared to hula hoop) and the bubble was oscillated the energy requirements plummeted to 1600 lbs. This warranted another look.
Now it's in the lab. Attempts are being made to cause little dimples in spacetime that can be measu red using lasers. The search for the exotic forms of matter proceeds.
It wasn't that FTL was fantasy. Now actual, serious research is being done. I truly feel my Daughter may vacation under an alien sun. Seeing new worlds could force us to put our stupid differences behind and explore this galaxy. Standing in awe before it's size and majesty. To actually boldly go where no one has before.

Ohio, Indiana, Iowa. And Texas. But it's always"And Texas".

      After the last few weeks, just as you thought Republican Legislatures and right wing syncophants could not get more egregious, they don;t disappoint.
In Iowa a State Supreme Court decision was handed down upholding the firing of a 33 year old woman who had worked for a Fort Dodge Dentist for a decade. Her terminating offense? Being too hot. Even though she was an excellent employee that was enough to cost her job. This woman's workplace behavior was never considered improper. Her attire was business appropriate. However the Dentist and his wife thought she was a threat to their marriage because the Dentist wanted to nail her. So it's her fault, for being only an attractive woman. Because you know, that;s all she is. She couldn't possibly be seen as a productive human being.
It's her fault not the Boss who was so sure of his prowess that he'd charm her into an affair. Shr is a potential homebreaker so the threat must be removed. Everyone knows every man is too stupid and primitive to control his Libido. As Jimmy Buffett said, "There's always a woman to blame. " Bravo Iowa for setting the image of men back a century or so. Should the livestock also be wary?
Iowa's High Court(with this ruling I think they may be) found this was not discrimination because it was based on feelings, not gender. As the attorney for the Plaintiff said, dark skinned African Americans could be fired to be replaced by lighter skinned ones. Because, feelings. Small breasted women could be fired and replaced with big breasted women. Because, feelings. So could Catholics be fired to be replaced with Protestants because a feeling the Pope is the Anti-Christ? Can one fire liberals because you feel they're evil and un American. What if you feel someone is a witch? Can you burn them at the stake? Iowa, welcome to the 17th Century.
Ah, Indiana. Even though same sex marriage is illegal there they felt the need to criminalize it, by making it a felony. As of 7/1/2014 it will be a felony punishable by eighteen months in prison and a ten thousand dollar fine.for same sex couples to apply for a marriage license. There is no option on a license in Indiana for applicants of the same sex. Thus it is falsification and fraud. Lovely. Just to make it more interesting anyone who performs a same sex marriage is guilty of a misdemeanor with a six month jail sentence and fine. I hope Ohio doesn't notice.
Ohio. Again. Still.
In Ohio following his signing a State Budget into law which contains some of the most repressive and restrictive abortion regulations in the Nation Governor John Kasich was lauded by the so called right to life groups foe saving women from themselves. In fact the Governor received his first endorsement for President. This should remove some doubts Kasich's move was other than blatant pandering to the national base. the conservative mob is poised to fight against a proposed ballot initiative to equalize marriage in Ohio.  They are breaking out all the reactionary views usually deployed to fight for an idea whose time is passed. As Ohio moves left the Government stumbles farther right. I expect a concerted effort by Legislators to thwart this issue. And Ohio Government used to be moderate and reasonable.
And Texas. Isn't it always "And Texas"?
Following the failure of abortion legislation  in the last Special Session due to horrendous time management and the inspiring filibuster by State Senator Wendy Davis(D-Ft Worth) Texas faced a decision. Which was promptly made by Gov. Rick Perry. Let;s have another Special Session to deal with the most pressing issue faced by Texas. Women were actually being treated as citizens instead of ambulatory incubators. That must be rectified.
The Democratic Minority in the Legislature and actual thinking, sane Texans came into this fight energized. National media attention was focused on this fight. Like the Alamo there was hope this losing battle could enable sanity to prevail down the road. The Republicans also seemed to get crazier. I know, how?
As seems to be the norm in Republican controlled State Legislative bodies there appears to be the belief pregnancy from rape and incest is a gift to be treasured.Very young girls who are victims are forbidden to have an abortion because it is dangerous. This ignores that a full term pregnancy at a young age is high risk in and of itself.
As the GOP steamrollered Dems the thousands of sane Texas women and men protested. So, naturally they are an unruly mob not citizens. Texas DPS vowed to clear the chamber if decorum was not maintained. So ever a stylish example of the ideals of Southern Womanhood the outraged women of the Lone Star State pelted the Senators with tampons and pads. At least they weren't used.
In response, women were required to have handbags searched. Tampons and pads were confiscated.By the way, anyone holding a valid concealed carry permit was able to use a special entrance and enter the Senate armed. Because..freedom. Any fool knows tampons are weapons of mass absorption.
Thank you Texas, you never disappo the comedy writers of America.
Hey, GOP. I need a break. Can you shut up and go home for awhile. Please? It's summer. I want to relax. You'll have plenty of time to be stupid in the fall.

Send in the Clowns. Don't bother, they're here. Ohio. Again.

     In 2004 one of the things Karl Rove and company, in an effort to rally and get out the far right vote, supported so called Defense of Marriage ballot measures which sprang up across the United States. Not unlike foul, poisonous hallucinogenic toadstools.
Here in Ohio the ballot measure for an Amendment to the State Constitution banning Same Sex Marriage and recognition of such unions from other States may have been the driving force in the loss of this battleground by John Kerry.The issue passed. For the first time Ohio's Constitution bans equality of a certain portion of the population. That was then.
This is now.
Currently there is a petition drive to place a Marriage Equality Amendment on the ballot in 2014. As the GOP extremists are fond of saying, "Repeal and replace". This should galvanize the progressive vote in Ohio. It will likely help the Democrats in The Buckeye State. It is actually garnering support from former Republican officeholders. Why this sudden show of sanity here after our inmates running the asylum politics of the last few years? In my opinion I'd say demographics, image,jobs and the economy.
Younger people in American society simply are not fixated on sexual orientation. They know and are friends with out homosexuals. They have other worries than what someone is doing in their bedrooms.
When it comes to jobs and the economy Ohio is at a disadvantage. Highly educated members of the LBGT community leave to live where they are not objects of legally mandated discrimination. High Tech and other cutting edge firms are less likely to relocate for the same reason. In the 21st Century institutionalized discrimination is bad for business and image. Those jobs and companies go elsewhere.
This Amendment makes Ohio look intolerant, backwards ignorant. Oh believe me it can be all of those things when poked in the right place.
So how do the people who pushed this anti gay law to begin with feel about this?
Governor John Kasich does not support gay marriage. You will likely see him come out in opposition to a ballot issue.
Your national organizations are again wringing their hands over the destruction of the religious foundations of America and the coming outlawing of religion.The arguments are stale and repeated ad nauseum.
What they miss in the cacophony of the noise machine is that this has nothing to do with religion. Period.  Religious ceremonies are not mandated. It does not effect a single religion. Not one. This legalizes CIVIL marriages.
Civil marriages are performed all the time. Inter faith marriages are not a threat to "traditional" marriage. They aren't illegal or condemned.
The big stick that's always used is traditional christian values. This was the argument used to justify and support slavery. It was used to prevent inter racial marriages. Religion is always used to support the status quo and oppose progress.
The other specious argument is the will of the people. It was voted on. Historical perspective says that voting on what rights a minority should have is always a good idea.
An election in Ohio always attracts media attention and tons of outside money. Civil discourse on the issue is already a casualty
Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) now supports gay marriage. Unfortunately, like too many conservatives. it took his son coming out. He was immediately attacked by the right wing blogosphere and groups. It was suggested gay reversion therapy was an option. As was denouncing and turning his back on his boy. Always classy.
With midterms,elections for Governor and the other Statewide offices happening this won;t be pretty. There is a visceral anger in the electorate following the GOP attacks on women. Those members of the Legislature are all up for reelection also.
So 2014 will here in Ohio be caustic, vicious, filled with personal attacks and lie filled ads. In other words, business as usual..

.

Let's talk about John Kasich.

     It appears inevitable that in spite of the impassioned, angry response of the women in the State, Texas will pass their repressive Reproductive Health law. Governor Rick Perry's lasting legacy of shame and humiliation for the women of the Great State of Texas. Compared to Ohio Texas, The Old Confederacy and all the extreme Right Wing dominated Legislatures here in the North are rank amateurs.
Not one, as Ohio has done, has seen fit to redefine pregnancy. I really can not rehash these regressive laws stripping women of their rights as citizens again. It gets a bit messy as my head explodes. Google. OK? 
I want to, wait. Let me rephrase. I need to talk about Ohio Governor John Kasich.
Once again the wannabe historian lurking inside takes the reigns, shoving me aside.
John Kasich. Where to start? Sheesh.
John grew up in Pennsylvania the son of a Letter Carrier. Yep, he grew up with a Union Thug. Kasich attended and got his degree from The Ohio State University. I wish he had gone to Michigan then he'd be their problem, not Ohio's.
Kasich stayed and was at twenty-six elected to the Ohio Senate. Even then he had a likeable public persona. John drew on his blue collar background, pointing out his father worked for the Postal Service, projecting an everyman image. He moved on wresting the 12th Congressional District back from a one term Democrat in 1982. He would hold that seat until 2001.
During this time he would convert from Catholicism to Evangelical Christianity, divorce his first wife. He then married his second and current wife. They have twin daughters.
Kasich came to Congress as a member of the minority GOP.He voted for the Clinton Impeachment. John also voted for NAFTA and helped get passage of the Assault Rifle Ban in the now Republican House. I am surprised that vote did not haunt him during his Gubernatorial bid.
With the GOP in control of The House, Kasich became head of the House budget Committee. He helped   pass the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. That is something he still claims full credit for, as if no one else was involved.
As Kasich declined to stand for relection again in 2000 he opened an exploratory committee for a Presidential run. That bid collapsed under massive indifference. He withdrew prior to the Iowa straw poll and endorsed George W. Bush.
Following his Congressional career Kasich received a show on Fox News. "Heartland With John Kasich".Here he pushed himself as a reasonable voice from the heart of America. He polished that performance. Fox also used him as a commentator and guest host for O'Reilly. John also subbed for Hannity. Sean, as a fair and balanced journalist, heartily endorsed Kasich's run for Governor.
While at Fox John also went to work for Lehman Brothers as a Managing Director based in Columbus Ohio. As they collapsed, nearly taking the economy with them, John received nearly a half million dollars in bonuses.
The collapse of the economy in 2008, the rise of the Tea Party, and falling poll numbers for Ohio Democratic Governor Ted Strickland convinced Kasich to run in 2010..
The near implosion of the American economy caused Ohio/s to tank. As a good Republican Kasich blamed the Democrats and the evil, greedy Unions. He rode the Tea Party and Democrats Unicorn Wing sitting out due to annoyance with President Obama. Thus the Democrats lost every Statewide elected office. This spelled disaster as redistricting loomed. Kasich won a brutal election by less than two percentage points. Like Bush in 2004, Kasich felt this was a sweeping mandate.So he took on the Public Sector Unions.
In a speech in Ashtabula County in March of 2009, Kasich spoke of a "Need to break the back of school unions." Thus when a bill eviscerating public sector union rights in Ohio passed the legislature. no one was surprised.
It took old school political shenanigans for this bill to pass. An Ohio Republican State Senator on committee was replaced to ensure the bill would make it to the floor. The Democrats were steamrollered. Opposition witnesses were denied a chance to speak.As the Statehouse was packed with and surrounded by angry Ohioans the bill passed. It was promptly signed by Kasich.
The opposition coalesced and gathered millions of signatures for a ballot repeal initiative.It required a truck to deliver the petitions to the Secretary of State. SecState Husted, staking out his independence from Kasich rejected Republican attempts to split the initiative into multiple ballot issues. The GOP also lost court battles over ballot language.
The fight was on. A former Republican lobbyist I know smugly predicted a crushing defeat for Issue 2. It was simply a matter of education, he said. We(GOP) just have to show the electorate the right way to vote. Massive amounts of out of state money poured in on both sides.The GOP attempted to split the Union vote by offering to remove Police Unions from the law. The FOP rejected it for solidarity.The poll numbers were dismal showing a defeat coming. So at the last minute the GOP offered to negotiate a new bill with Dems if the ballot measure was removed. That was met with a resounding NO. Issue 2, the Union Busting Bill was repealed 69%-31%.
With majorities in the State House and Senate the GOP turned their eye to women.
A Heartbeat Bill was introduced in the House. This legislation would have prevented abortion once a fetal heartbeat was detected. The result would be effectively banning abortion as a heartbeat occurs before most women realize they are pregnant. A fetus testified to the House via sonogram. Ohio was a laughingstock, again.
This bill was so misguided that so called Right To Life Organizations opposed it. They knew full well it would never survive a court test. Thankfully it died in the Senate. However there was no veto threat from Kasich.
Throughout his political career John has at every opportunity bleated his Pro Life credentials.
The Ohio Republican reactionary social agenda was rejected in 2012 by electing President Obama and Senator Sherrod Brown with a comfortable margin, Actually Senator Brown crushed his conservative opponent.
So, with the message given by voters the Ohio Legislature, with opposition proof majorities, did the only rational thing they could. They went after women.
These guys seem to feel they have a God given divine right to impose their narrow, theocratic moral views on the population of Ohio. The best way to do this they felt was in a budget bill effectively preventing open debate. Because, freedom.
As I said earlier, I am not going to revisit those provisions today because I can't type as I weep for Ohio.
Now tucked away in the budget passed by a conservative Republican majority was a provision forbidding an expansion of Medicaid in response to the ACA. Let's look at what happened after the budget was passed.
Prior to passage there were large protests outside the Statehouse. This should have been seen as proof the issue isn't the winner they think it is. In their bubble they must think,"Women, cute how they think they're  important."
This reprehensible budget passed on a Friday less than forty-eight hours ahead of a legal deadline.
The calls for the Governor to use his line item veto to strike down these provisions was loud and immediate. The response was to stop answering their phones and emails.
In answering questions for the Media over that weekend Kasich extolled the virtues of the new budget. He would work with the Legislature to get Medicaid expansion even though they'd just bitch slapped him over it. As to the abortion provisions he needed to look oat them. He also made it a point to often cite his pro life credentials.
Democrats and progressives I know thought that Kasich is at times a pragmatist. To avoid court fights he would veto the abortion regs. I disagreed because I saw this as a play to the base with his constant waving of the pro life ensign. I truly wish I had been wrong.
Kasich vetoed the prohibition on Medicaid expansion and did not veto ANY of the abortion provisions in the budget. This way he avoids a bloody GOP mutiny as he eyes reelection in '14 and a possible Presidential run as a champion of the pro life movement. So for naked political ambition John Kasich is willing to boost his ambition on the backs of women. He sees no downside to stripping women of their rights. Kasich must feel women are too complacent to cause any meaningful political damage to his election plans. Perhaps he should have a chat with Mitt Romney.
Ohio, it is tme to show these officeholders the political price of hubris and arrogance.
They need to be reminded who they serve. The people of Ohio. All the people of Ohio not just the most vocal, connected and generous with campaign contributions.
It is time to retake the asylum from the patients.Sanity, compassion and equality must return to the political discourse in Ohio. The only way to cause that is to show extremism has a high political cost.
The time to stand united with women is now.
The time to restore sanity is now.
The time to shout no further is now.
Stand for our daughters, sisters and a womans right to control her life and future.
NOW!
 

Shiny Key Syndrome

     All regulations and laws to stop abortion are introduced and passed only for a few reasons. Forcing women to carry pregnancies to term. Slut shaming and humiliating a woman for daring to have an abortion. Codifying the result of women not living up to the vision God had for their place in family and society. So why are they always dressed up as being for the health, safety and education of women? Is it because the actual intent being stated would doom these predominantly male politicians to the dustbin of history?
The repressive reasoning used to demonize abortion is rife with misstatements,shoddy science and outright lies legitimized as law.
And it's every sane citizen's fault we are where we are.
When the Berger Court handed down Roe v. Wade it barely registered as a blip in the National Media. It coincided with a truce in Vietnam. It may have been the subject was still something not to be discussed in polite society. It may have been most of America just didn't care. That's how I recall it. But it has been forty years. There were small protests and rallies spread across the country, pro and con .It wasn't the polarizing issue it would later become.
This also coincided with the rise of the televangelist as a nascent political force. Billy Graham was a fixture at the White House. Oral Roberts,Pat Robertson, and Jerry Falwell were decrying the fall of God Fearing America and the rise of evil secularism. They had TV, radio and had started their own Colleges. They also had a group of devoted followers and tons of CASH.
The addition of cash. ideology and a determined squad of true believers never bodes well for American Politics. There is always a political party ready to exploit those acolytes for shaping public opinion and swaying elections. Volunteers, logistics and money are the lifeblood of elections.
These so called Christian Leaders organized and delivered pulse pounding fire and brimstone sermons. They took the the issue, twisted it into a good verses evil narrative and ran with it.
We stood by and allowed it.
Their numbers were small.The rhetoric was outside the mainstream. Religion in The United States was still dominated by the large traditional Denominations. The very conservative sects were small but vocal. These were derided as "Holy Rollers"and pretty much ignored. Until the Republican Party realized what they could be used for.
This all converged as Lee Atwater was redefining Liberal as a dirty word. Making politics here as the Republicans saving America from Liberals. Libs were the ones who had destroyed American values. Paving the way for Reagan's "Shining City On The Hill". A perfect storm. Liberal became a label Democrats have been running from for a generation.
All the while these ideas were written off as rantings of religious nut jobs and extreme out of touch  politicians.
We saw the rise of groups that had started picketing clinics. Pro Life was presented as right and moral. Pro Choice was demonised as baby killers.
Through the eighties the anti abortion movement grew becoming louder and more radical. More Americans than ever identified themselves as "Born Again" than ever. Republican politics and religion were merging.
The picketing evolved into trying to prevent access by blocking entrances. Women, preparing for a never easy, life altering, action were vilified. Patient names were spread. The Doctors were condemned as murderers. The leaders of these organizations were more strident. They pushed any action against these baby killers was just and sanctioned by God. The groups pushed back in court challenging laws keeping them from interfering with access to the clinics. Civil disobedience resulting in martyrdom via righteous arrest. When you fell God approves things get ugly, very fast.
We started seeing Doctors stalked and murdered without any outrage expressed by the allied politicians.
All the while the Republicans were reaping the benefit of support from the zealots, they ran on pro life platforms then compromised with the spawn of Satan, the Democrats. There came anger as they felt The GOP was using them. Since they were committed they tended to be staunch primary voters.
Having learned how the process worked the Religious Right started putting up challengers to those they felt betrayed them by not being conservative enough. This started a panic driven lurch to the right. Some incumbents were defeated and replaced by neophyte office holders obsessed with a few poorly thought out and naive stances. We started seeing extreme comments fueled by a theocratic view of how they thought American Government worked.
This spread through out the States as people felt sanity would prevail. Dems were out worked , out organized, out spent and out voted.
Once in power an agenda emerged. Front and center the abolition of abortion. They decided to put into practice what they had been advocating for four decades.  These laws are designed to strip women of full citizenship and roll back the gains made since the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment.These people aren't stupid. They hope the coming court challenges will result in the current Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.
In the meantime they get to shame and humiliate women. Treating them as if they are too stupid to make life altering decisions regarding their future. This is a chance to relegate them to ambulatory incubators. They see an opportunity to push their repressive "Christian" values on everyone to save America from those they feel hate God.
And we stood by and let them do it.
We stayed home during elections handing them the keys. We didn't challenge as we let them set the message. We didn't stand up push back and say no.
Those days are over.
I have seen women of every political stripe angered and appalled at the current situation. Thousands are telling the Texas Legislature NO!
John Kasich and Scott Walker have due to their raw political ambition have decided to sign extremist laws as a blatant play to the base. Both harbor Presidential ambitions and feel what they have done will propel them to the White House on the backs of women. The disdain is evident in that they feel women are not a threat They shrug off the fact they are the top targets. They have not learned a simple fact. Women are a force of nature. When they are motivated by righteous anger they are fierce and unyielding in their fight for justice.
We men can stand with women in this battle or be wrong again. The time to push back is now. The time to stand is now. Together. United in saying No! This will not stand!
Now.
No.