Quick Hits - November 8, 2011

It's Election Day.  Locally, we have decisions to make regarding some of the local school boards and a bond measure to permit the Elementary School district to issue bonds to fund the renovation of a number of schools in the district.  Perhaps the most important race that I will be following will be the vote in Ohio to determine if SB5 - the budget saving / public sector union weakening measure approved last year by the Ohio Legislature and signed into law by Governor John Kasich - is repealed.  The left and unions have flooded Ohio with money - just as they did earlier this year in Wisconsin when they unsuccessfully attempted to do the same to that state's law reducing the power of public sector unions.

The most recent poll, from PPP, one of the pollsters of the hard left, show a landslide win coming for the pro-union forces.  This would put Ohio firmly back on the path to be just another Greece.  I hope the people of Ohio are smarter than that - but this could be a bellweather for the 2012 Presidential campaign as massive amounts of money influence more than facts and logic.

Herman Cain is holding a press conference in Phoenix, AZ this afternoon to address / answer the latest accusations towards him made by Sharon Bialek and her attorney Gloria Allred of sexual harassment.   There will be a lot riding on this press conference and how the candidate addresses these latest accusations.  The media blitz continues with Bialek and Allred appearing on the alphabet network morning show to make their accusations and try to convince people that they are credible....although the latter is nigh on impossible for Gloria Allred.

The Chicago Sun Times has an eyewitness account of Bialek meeting with the candidate last month at a Tea Party meeting where Cain was a featured speaker.  From the Sun Times...

“A witness says GOP presidential contender Herman Cain and Chicagoan Sharon Bialek hugged each other backstage in a full embrace like old friends at a Tea Party meeting last month. She grabbed his arm and whispered in his left ear. She kept talking as he bent to listen, and he kept saying “Uh, huh. Uh, huh.””

If accurate, it seems to deflate some of the angst that Ms. Bialek has towards Herman Cain regarding the event of alleged sexual harrassment.  Would someone treated so in 1997 be so friendly in 2011?  There is another report that indicates that people who know Sharon Bialek say that she may not be all that credible. 

Another embarrassing event is making the news from last week's G20 meeting in Cannes, France.  No, it's not related to the efforts to save the EU or Euro, but a private conservation between French President Sarkozy and US President Obama captured by a hot microphone.

The conversation then drifted to Netanyahu, at which time Sarkozy declared: “I cannot stand him. He is a liar.” According to the report, Obama replied: “You’re fed up with him, but I have to deal with him every day!”

The remark was naturally meant to be said in confidence, but the two leaders’ microphones were accidently left on, making the would-be private comment embarrassingly public.

President Obama is taking steps to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic or should I say, reassign responsibilities of key staff in the White House.  William Daley, the President's Chief of Staff is handing over day to day management responsibilities of the WH to longtime Obama aide Pete Rouse.  Rouse was the interim CoS after the original CoS, Rahm Emanuel, left in an earlier staff shakeup.  Daley's not being fired, but is now tasked towards building bridges to / from the WH.

Attorney General Eric Holder will be appearing before a Senate Committee to testify about the debacle that is the Fast and Furious program.  The DoJ released some highlights of his prepared remarks where the AG is going to blame Congress for the ATF's failures around Fast and Furious because Congress hasn't sufficiently supported the ATF and that the program is proof that too many guns are sold in the US which end up in the hands of criminals in the US and Mexico.  It appears that AG has decided that combined with an effective stonewall / cover-up, attacking his accusers is the solution to his troubles.

In local news, unincorporated LA County has been subject to a ban of grocery store plastic bags since July 1 of this year.  If someone doesn't have reusable grocery bags when they shop in stores, they have to pay 10 cents per paper bag in a fee which goes to the county.  Charging that this program is unconstitutional under California's constitution which requires a 2/3rd majority for any tax or fee increase, LA County taxpayers are taking the law to court.

This is just more of the CA nanny state and for us in the 'Ranch' only a minor issue.  Across the Freeway is the City - which is not subject to the LA County law.  When we are in need of plastic bags for picking up after the dogs, all we need to do is drive another 2 miles and do our shopping there.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that LA Unified School District teachers (when they are not supporting Occupy LA or communism) are actively cheating when it comes to their students taking the standardized tests.  According to the teacher's union, the fault doesn't lie with the teachers who are cheating, but with the system that holds the teacher's accountable for the scores of their students - thus forcing the teachers to cheat.  Um, right.  It seems as if the values around personal accountability and responsibility are being completely tossed out.

If there are elections where you are today - please vote!