Ohio Valley Politics

The continuing saga of bloggers vs. The Cleveland Plain Dealer has a new development. Jill Miller Zimon of Writes Like She Talks has also decided to leave the Wide Open blog following Jeff’s firing.

I really don’t see any way that Wide Open can continue on after all that’s happened. That much was set in stone when RAB got on board with all of this. That’s like Ohio State and Michigan meeting at the 50 yard line for tea during halftime.

Now even Republican bloggers are getting in on the anti-Plain Dealer movement sparked by the firing of a liberal blogger.

There are usually more than 1 side to every issue. But if what Jeff reports here is true, and I’m not missing any details, then he shouldn’t have been fired from the Plain Dealer. I rarely agree with Jeff, but he is a polite liberal who would have held the same positions regardless of who he gave $100 to.

I think the PD has really lost a lot of it’s online credibility with this already and apparently they’re still digging. Here’s their statement on the firing:

As most readers are no doubt aware already, Jeff Coryell is no longer blogging on Wide Open. The reason is simple: When we learned that he had contributed to a particular political candidate, we asked that he refrain from writing about that candidate and his opponent on this blog. Our concern was that since Jeff and the other Wide Open bloggers are paid, his views might be taken as those of the paper, which could raise legitimate questions about our fairness. Jeff was uncomfortable with that restriction, so we felt obligated to end our relationship.

It goes without saying that Jeff did nothing wrong. His contributions to Wide Open were first-rate. But clearly I should have anticipated this potential difficulty when we set up the blog, and avoided putting him and us in this position. In that sense, the fault is mine.

Jean Dubail
Assistant Managing Editor/Online

Now just think about it for a second. Donations are made based on your beliefs, not the other way around.

After calling HP support in regards to my hard drive (not quite) crash I was told to expect a new hard drive to arrive this Friday (I opted to handle the install myself and not have to send the computer back). This worked out great for me because I’d be able to get it installed over the weekend and be back to the normal routine by Monday.

Apparently HP didn’t think that was good enough though, they sent it out overnight and it arrived on my doorstep today, less than 24 hours after my call. Now I thought Friday was great, but getting it today was even better. I might even have it up and running by Friday.

Update - 4:39 PM 10/31/2007

I’ve gone ahead and installed the hard drive myself and it went well. Upon starting the computer, however, I got an error message (in DOS ) saying that the network card may be unplugged and goes into a continuous loop between testing it and the error screen. I got the same error message once before I replaced the hard drive.

I’m hoping it was just because I hadn’t installed the drivers (or even the operating system) yet and that the reason I got it before was because the driver was corrupted, but I just can’t help feeling like I’m in denial.

Ohio Daily Blogger Jeff Coryell was let go from the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Wide Open blog today. The Plain Dealer had been seeking to block Coryell from commenting on a congressional race in which he had donated to a candidate.

Today Dubail called me and asked if I would agree to never write about LaTourette on “Wide Open,” as a condition of my continued participation. He said that the arrangement was sought by Susan Goldberg, Editor of the Plain Dealer. When I declined to agree that I would never write about LaTourette on “Wide Open,” I was terminated by DuBail.

As a political blogger, I am a partisan. My political orientation as a progressive Democrat is an integral part of what I do and is completely transparent to my readers. This is a crucial component of being a political blogger/activist, and sets us apart from journalists in the classic sense. It was understood among the four participants in “Wide Open” that we are political partisans and that we would engage in political debate from our respective political points of view.

– Jeff Coryell

That second paragraph of the excerpt pretty much sums it up. Everyone knew all four of the Wide Open bloggers were partisan, that’s what made it unique. If there’s any surprise here, it’s that the PD can’t find political donations from the other three.

Ironically I finally got around to creating a commenting account at Wide Open today. After this, I doubt I’ll have much use for it.

Source: BREAKING: Congressman LaTourette Gets Blogger Fired From “Wide Open” | Ohio Daily Blog - A Community Blog On Ohio Politics And Public Affairs (via Plunderbund)

Update: Plunderbund is tracking the blog reactions. There’s a lot of them.

Apparently the fact that Chabot’s first SCHIP no vote come just hours before the announcement of a Bush fundraising stop for him didn’t strike the DCCC as being a coincidence. They’ve launched a round of advertisements against Chabot’s vote pointing it out.

And before anyone says it, I’d much rather have healthcare for children than a political talking point. But when life give you lemons…

For what it’s worth, I would like to thank the Republicans that have voted to support SCHIP.

DCCC’s Chabot Radio Ad (MP3)

Zack Space is this weeks “Blue Dog of the Week”, an award bestowed by the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition on Representatives they feel are representing the belief of the group.

Statements from Blue Dog Communications Co-Chair Mike Ross and Rep. Space can be found after the jump.

Continue Reading »

It sounds like a stupid question, doesn’t it? Who would be so cocky that they’d quit their job before they were even elected?

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - A politically conservative student armed with a video camera and a Web site is trying to force a Democratic congressional candidate out of his teaching job at Central Michigan University.

Dennis Lennox, a 23-year-old junior, has posted videos on YouTube of himself questioning assistant professor Gary Peters about campaigning for office while holding a prestigious position at the university.

Now if the man was in office or a news reporter it’d be a different story, until then this is just partisan politics.

Source: Student hounds prof running for Congress - Yahoo! News

Rep. Charlie Wilson of the 6th district hopes to be back in Washington next week to take on a light schedule. As you may remember, Wilson has been recovering from an emergency surgery to repair a colonic perforation for the last few weeks.

Wilson’s return comes a week before what his doctor recommended. “I’m determined to come back as soon as I can.” Wilson said. He went on to say that he’s “feeling better everyday”.

Upon his return, Wilson will resume voting in the House but will take on a lighter meeting schedule until he fully recovers. All of Wilson’s offices will be open and constituent service work will continue as normal (as it has throughout this situation).

I’m glad to hear Wilson’s recovery is going well and I continue to wish him the best.

I just wanted to give everyone a heads up that posting will be light for a few days due to a hard drive crash on my laptop. So far none of my tricks have had any real effect and I’m probably going to have to replace it.

This makes 3 computers in a row that have had hard drive crashes about a year after I got them. It’s not all bad news though, the warranty expires a week from today. If it had to happen at least it happened now.

I’ve also managed to come up with a temporary fix that should help me get to my files and back them up.

At a recent campaign event Barack Obama was asked if he’d consider taking on Al Gore as his presidential running mate. Obama laughed off the idea by saying that “having won the Nobel Peace Prize and an Oscar, being vice president again would probably be a step down for him”. But Obama did offer Gore a “very senior capacity” role in his administration if he was interested.

This brings up an interesting question, where does Al Gore fit in if he doesn’t run?  Gore seem’s to have shaken off the problems that

I don’t really see Al Gore running for president at this point and I certainly don’t see him settling for VP, but I’ve constantly wondered what would happen if he was offered a role like Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency or even just as an advisor. If global warming is really his top priority (and I believe it is), I don’t see how he could possibly turn down the opportunity like that.

On the other hand he’d have to be confirmed by the Senate, a process that might not go so smoothly. He’s also got some business interests he’d have to think about. He’s been on Apple’s board of directors since 2003  and is the chairmen of Current TV.

When taking everything into account I’d put my money on a Democrat offering Gore an advisor role, but I think at this point nothing is off limits. Any campaign with Gore onboard will probably gain a lot more support.

Rudy Giuliani is facing criticism from fellow candidate John McCain after refusing to call waterboarding torture.

“All I can say is that it was used in the Spanish Inquisition, it was used in Pol Pot’s genocide in Cambodia, and there are reports that it is being used against Buddhist monks today,” Mr. McCain, who spent more than five years in a North Vietnamese prison camp, said in a telephone interview.

Of presidential candidates like Mr. Giuliani, who say that they are unsure whether waterboarding is torture, Mr. McCain said: “They should know what it is. It is not a complicated procedure. It is torture.”

I’ve been absolutely disgusted over all this debate over whether or not it’s right for the United States to torture people. In my mind the only question is whether those who allow torture to happen should be tried here or just sent straight to The Hague.

I could go on forever listing why torture is wrong but, for me at least, the strongest argument is this: if we’re willing to sacrifice our decency and founding beliefs of our country in an effort to “protect” it than there is nothing left worth protecting. At that point we are no better than those we’re fighting.

But then, why should my opinion matter when people already refuse to listen to someone that’s experienced torture firsthand and says it isn’t worth it?

Source: McCain on Giuliani and waterboarding - The New York Times - MSNBC.com

There’s a big news story circulating around anti-immigration blogs- apparently a leftist Hispanic group has taken credit for setting the fires in California. They even link to a CNN story titled “Separatists claim responsibility for California Wildfires” that starts out:

ORANGE COUNTY, California (CNN) — Radical Hispanic separatist organization MEChA (”Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan”) is taking responsibility for setting the wildfires in California, confimed Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

California officials received a letter earlier today containing photographs of individuals holding Molotov cocktails, then throwing them into dry brush. The faces of the individuals appeared to have been digitally distorted.

Also included was a rambling manifesto, stating that the reason for the act of arson was that “Aztlán belongs to indigenous people, the Chicanas and Chicanos of Aztlán. We are sovereign and not subject to a foreign culture.”

Sharp eyed readers, however, will notice that the domain for the story is http://www.cnnheadlienews.com, a misspelling of CNN Headline News. The domain is actually registered to:

Bleachboy Heavy Manufacturing
701 Arbor Creek Way
Nashville, TN 37217-5053
US
(615) 260-4931
bboy@bboy.net

Now I’m no expert, but that doesn’t strike me as Ted Turner company.

Source: Anti-Immigrant Sites Link To Fake CNN Story Claiming Hispanics Started Wildfires - Politics on The Huffington Post

John Edwards was 45 minutes late for a campaign event today after he witnessed a car accident.

From CNN Political Ticker:

“We had a little mishap on the way down,” Edwards said. “Everybody was fine though. It just slowed us down a little bit.”

The former North Carolina senator’s motorcade was headed south on Interstate 35 on its way to Coulter, Iowa, when Edwards said a tire came from across the median.

“[It] hit a car…very hard. Knocked it off the road, and we stopped and basically just took care of the people until the highway patrol got there.”

Edwards said it was a preacher and his wife in the car knocked off the road. He said he talked to them until Iowa State Patrol arrived.

I’ve almost been hit by a loose tire before while driving on I-70, someone going the opposite direction knocked it airborne and it almost went through my front windshield. Pretty scary stuff. Luckily in my case the tire cleared my roof and (going diagonally) landed in an opening on the other lane before bouncing safely off the road.

So right now OVP is offline. Apparently the server that it was hosted on at DreamHost, Triton, has gone down and people are working to replace it with new hardware.

Again, if your reading  this than the site is obviously back up (I’m writing this in Windows Live Writer to be posted then). I just want you to know what happened if you tried to come here earlier.

Compounding this problem was a separate  issue I created last night while upgrading to WordPress 2.3.1. That’s also been fixed.

“I am truly honored and humbled by this recognition, and to be thought of in this regard - particularly because of what I owe to Cambridge. It is not only my birthplace but also where, a few days after Pearl Harbor, my military career started in the recruiting office in this very same post office building. This brings back a flood of memories.”

– John Glenn

Legislation authored by Zack Space to rename the Cambridge, Ohio post office for former Senator and astronaut John Glenn has been signed by the president. The post office will be renamed the “John Herschel Glenn, Jr. Post Office Building”.

The release mentions that Space and Glenn will hold a renaming ceremony at the post office in the near future.