Feb

27

Coleman Hints at Raising Taxes

Posted on February 27, 2009 at 7:27 pm by Madrigal Maniac Under Local | Print This Post | Email This Post | 3 Comments 


In his state of the city address, Mayor Michael Coleman suggested a tax increase might be needed.

In his 10th State of the City address, delivered from the auditorium of a newly renovated East High School, the mayor inched closer still to endorsing a potential ballot issue to raise Columbus’ 2 percent income tax.

“I know this is a difficult time to say it’s time for new revenue,” Coleman said. “But the consequence of inaction is so enormous. The quality of life as we know it in Columbus is at stake.”

The Columbus Dispatch

I agree.

I grew up in Columbus and the joke was we were a “cow town.” But over the years I have seen the city grow into a vibrant metropolis. We have wonderful neighborhoods and cities close to downtown like German Village, The Short North, Bexley, Grandview, Clintonville, and Victorian Village. Not only do we have the largest university in the nation with Ohio State, we have the best public library system as well. In addition, we have a thriving art community and one of the best art schools in the nation with the Columbus College of Art and Design. We have professional hockey, soccer, and a minor league baseball team that gets a new downtown stadium this year. We have a Metro Parks system next to none. When I was growing up, no one went downtown after the work day was done. Now, it’s the “in” place to go and live. The city is clean and the citizens are friendly.

However, you know what rolls downhill. Thanks to the Bush administration ruining our economy, first the nation, then the states, and now the cities are in dangerous financial situations. Essential services are being cut and the quality of life the citizens of Columbus have enjoyed is in danger. I get irritated when people talk about wasteful spending by the city. I always ask for examples and rarely get them. When I do, they are almost always based on misinformation or ignorance.

We have not had a tax increase since 1982. While some examples of waste may be valid, they are minor. The quality of local government you get is largely based on the character of the people you elect and the amount of money you are willing to give them. We have trusted Coleman over the past 10 years and the city has grown. Why would we not believe him now? The citizens of Columbus need to step up. Your city needs you.

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Feb

25

Domestic Violence Gun Law Upheld

Posted on February 25, 2009 at 10:35 pm by Madrigal Maniac Under National | Print This Post | Email This Post | Leave a Comment 


Since the Heller decision by the U.S. Supreme court in 2008, many gun laws have been in danger of being invalidated. In the Heller decision, the court gave individuals the right to bear arms rather than as a well regulated militia. This put some important and effective gun laws in limbo.

For instance, it is illegal for someone convicted of domestic violence to own a gun. I am a former domestic violence counselor who worked with male batterers. I can tell you that the level of denial over how they treated the women in their lives was unbelievable. Their ideas on what constituted a healthy relationship were scary.

Well today, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the laws allowing states to ban the ownership of guns by those convicted of domestic violence by a vote of 7 to 2. Not surprisingly the dissenters were Justice Roberts and the meanest, cruelest, most clueless justice ever, Antonin Scalia.

Keeping guns away from batterers whether they be male or female helps keep not only the victims safe, but others as well.

Ginsburg said Congress might have been inartful in drafting the 1996 law, but its intentions and underlying concerns were clear: “Firearms and domestic strife are a potentially deadly combination nationwide.”

Ginsburg was citing the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence in that passage, and its president, Paul Helmke, said the ruling is “the right one for victims of domestic abuse and to protect law enforcement officers who are our first responders to domestic violence incidents.”

The Washington Post

Chalk one up for the court and shame on Roberts and Scalia.

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Feb

22

Actor Hooked on Kitty Krack

Posted on February 22, 2009 at 6:35 pm by Madrigal Maniac Under Miscellaneous | Print This Post | Email This Post | Leave a Comment 


I’m a cat lover, but I never gave either one of the cats I have owned catnip. A few years ago I saw a friend give her feline some catnip. His eyes glazed over and he began to hop and roll around the floor in a wild euphoric state. He wouldn’t stop begging her for more. I’m a substance abuse counselor, so immediately knew what this was. I said “he looks like he’s high on crack.” I went further, “catnip is nothing more than kitty krack,” and my friends busted out laughing. Here’s proof that I was right.

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Feb

21

Welfare Rolls are Rising in Ohio

Posted on February 21, 2009 at 9:57 pm by Madrigal Maniac Under State | Print This Post | Email This Post | 3 Comments 


When the 1996 welfare law Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) was passed, many hailed it as a breakthrough in welfare reform. The number of people on welfare began to shrink. The goal of TANF was to make benefits time limited and require recipients to actively look for work. But the poverty rate stayed roughly the same as did the unemployment rate. So, the goals of the program were not met. People were still poor and unemployed, they just were not receiving any assistance.

Many at the time argued that the new law might suffice in the good times … But how would it do in the bad? Well the data is starting to come in.

“This is the first real test of welfare reform. All of these advocates who thumped their chests and said we ended welfare as we knew it, what did we think would happen when our economy tanked?” asked Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks.

“Now, we have people with college degrees who can’t find minimum-wage jobs.”

The Columbus Dispatch

Welfare rolls in Ohio are rising at an alarming rate and it’s just the begining.

… the number of Ohioans receiving a monthly assistance check is up 14percent in the past 1 1/2 years, reversing a decade-long decline.

Today, nearly 1 in 3 Ohioan’s who walks into a county welfare office for cash assistance is new to the system, state officials say.

The Columbus Dispatch

Again, the goal of TANF was to move people from welfare to work. But what if there’s no work? Many experts say the economic downturn will be protracted. However, the benefits are time limited. What is a person who wants to work supposed to do when employment is not available. Starve!

Phil Cole, executive director of the Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies, calls it “situational poverty,” and he’s not sure the welfare system can do much to help people get back on their feet when jobs are scarce.

The Columbus Dispatch

In an article at the Dispatch you can find several real life examples of this “situational poverty.” You can read it here.

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Feb

19

Dispatch Asks If You’ve Been Paid Off the Books

Posted on February 19, 2009 at 8:45 pm by Madrigal Maniac Under Local | Print This Post | Email This Post | Leave a Comment 


The Columbus Dispatch has a poll up where they ask if readers have ever been paid “off the books.” First of all “off the books” sounds like some corporate attorney talking about untaxed corporate revenues. For the poor and the middle class, the proper term is “under the table.” Second, the Dispatch is asking the wrong question. It’s not whether people have been paid “under the table,” it’s whether employers have paid workers “under the table.”

While my experience may certainly be skewed by the folks I work with, many of the benefits of hiring people “under the table” go to the employer. Most people I know who “work under the table” make so little money they wouldn’t end up being taxed at all. But for the employer who hires an “under the table” worker, they are not subject to workers compensation claims, OSHA laws, or the requirement to pay the FICA tax.

Some on the right make it sound like the people who “work under the table” are criminals. That’s not true. In most cases, these are people just looking for a better life. As we have seen in the past few years, the real criminals are those in the corporate and political world who try and take advantage of them … Instead of helping them.

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Feb

13

GOP Won’t Let You Buy a Car Online

Posted on February 13, 2009 at 5:56 pm by Madrigal Maniac Under National | Print This Post | Email This Post | Leave a Comment 


I didn’t know you could not purchase a car online until I read this article at Mother Jones. It seems the GOP has been in the pocket of the car dealer lobby and they have passed laws that forbid a manufacturer like GM to sell their cars online.

Since the late 1990s, car dealers have used their considerable political clout to pass or better enforce state franchise laws that in many cases make it a criminal offense for an auto manufacturer to sell a new car to anyone but a state-licensed car dealer.

This despite the fact that it would lower the price of the car and make dealerships more money.

… in 2001, the Consumer Federation of America estimated that the laws added at least $1,500 to the price of every new

In the article, Jack Fitzgerald, a car dealer from Maryland admits that letting manufacturers offer their cars online might make him more money.

If Ford or GM could sell cars through Amazon or eBay, for instance, the dealerships could still handle the deliveries and warranty work. Indeed, Fitzgerald concedes that under such an arrangement, he might actually make more money than he does now.

Apparently, the cozy relationship between the car dealers and Republicans started during Reagan’s time as governor of California. The restrictions regarding online sales began in Texas and quickly spread to the other state’s during Bush’s tenure as governor.

It’s an interesting article and worth the read.

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Feb

10

What’s Wrong With Strickland’s Budget

Posted on February 10, 2009 at 12:47 am by Madrigal Maniac Under State | Print This Post | Email This Post | Leave a Comment 


I voted for Strickland because I am a liberal and I assumed he was as well. Still, I question some of his decisions. The Republicans have made raising taxes such a horrible idea, that no politician regardless of party will consider it. So Strickland raised fees for governmental services.

In addition, the budget would raise 120 fees charged by various state agencies, including natural resources, environmental protection, agriculture and transportation. That would bring in an estimated $236 million. Among the fee increases are an additional $5.75 for passenger vehicle registrations, $19 more for commercial truck registrations, a $5 increase for temporary tags and a new $10 late fine for registration and driver’s license renewals.

Ceveland.com

That’s code for we are going to raise your taxes, were just not going to call it that. The problem is a fee is a regressive tax. It affects the poor disproportionately. The wealthy could care less if the fee for renewing their drivers license goes up by $5.75. For the working poor who are struggling to buy a loaf of bread that means a large part of their income goes not for food, education, or health. It goes to the government in taxes. I’m sorry … fees.

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Feb

10

Social Workers Losing Jobs, Those Left are Working Harder

Posted on February 10, 2009 at 12:11 am by Madrigal Maniac Under State | Print This Post | Email This Post | Leave a Comment 


In another example of bureaucrats being a penny-wise but pound-foolish. Services for the poor are being cut. Read the full article: Social workers feel pressure.

Workers in county departments of Job and Family Services are losing their positions amid a series of state-funding cuts totaling $44.4 million since July 1.

The Columbus Dispatch

Let me get this straight. In an economy that is creating more people who are in need of services to help them deal with a financial crisis due to unemployment, we are going to get rid of those who are trained to help them return to work? If there are going to be more poor does it make sense to cut services they need?

In addition, those Social Workers who are still employed will be working harder to provide services to a growing population.

Those still on the job are working harder than ever, their bosses say, to keep up with the growing demand for health care, food stamps and cash assistance.

The Columbus Dispatch

So a profession that is underpaid and provides essential services that save taxpayer money in the long run … are being asked to do more. I guess that makes sense.

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Feb

9

Columbus City Council Approves Budget Cuts

Posted on February 9, 2009 at 10:36 pm by Madrigal Maniac Under Local | Print This Post | Email This Post | Leave a Comment 


This budget cycle has been excruciating for city workers and the public they serve. Thankfully, it’s finally over.

Tonight, the Columbus City Council approved a $630.5 million general-fund budget for 2009, the final go-ahead for employee layoffs and cuts in dozens of programs and services.

About 170 workers — including 27 police recruits — will lose their paychecks in the next month. Ten more recreation centers will close after Saturday. Pay will be frozen for about 2,600 city workers.

The Columbus Dispatch

Many of my friends are losing their jobs. While I may disagree with where some of the cuts were made, I do not blame Mayor Coleman or the city council. You know what they say rolls downhill and it has finally reached main street. The Bush administration’s total fiscal irresponsibility created this mess. Spending billions upon billions on a war of choice while enacting tax cuts that benefited mainly the rich was unconscionable. I blame congress as well. The Republicans for agreeing with Bush and the Democrats for letting him get away with it. Now, most of the Republican’s in congress are against Obama’s stimulus package. Why would I take advice from a constituency whose fiscal ideology helped create the greatest financial crisis since the depression?

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Feb

6

Army Suicides in January Top Deaths From Combat

Posted on February 6, 2009 at 9:30 pm by Madrigal Maniac Under National | Print This Post | Email This Post | Leave a Comment 


Just days after reporting a record number of suicides from U.S. servicemen, the Army reported a record number of suicides in the month of January. In fact, there were more soldiers killed by suicide than by combat.

The number of soldiers who committed suicide in January could reach 24, a count that would be the highest monthly total since the Army began tabulating suicides in 1980.

If confirmed, the suicide count for last month would exceed those killed in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan during the same period.

New York Times

I believe the Army recognizes the problem, but does not know what to do about it. Several years ago I received a mailing from the Army asking if I wanted to be an Army Social Worker. I did not. I do not need to be an Army Social Worker to treat soldiers.

Clients need to trust their clinicians. There is a stigma about having a mental illness and I suspect it’s even more pronounced in the military.

Soldiers won’t take advantage of the Army’s programs because they don’t want an official jacket following them,” said Ms. Bean, whose son received a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder…

New York Times

The Army needs to do a better job of teaching those in command the basics of how to detect a possible mental health problem. If a commander suspects a problem, there can be a qualified person on base to perform an assessment. But once a serious mental health issue is identified, they should not be sent to an Army Social Worker on the base, they need to be sent home and given treatment.

Moreover, due to their service to our country, I would argue that they should go to the head of the line to receive services. The likelihood that their problems are severe is great. We should give them the care they need. They deserve it.

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