Ohio Democratic Candidate for Senate Sherrod Brown will launch his first campaign ad tomorrow across Ohio. The title of the ad is "33 Times," which is in reference to the number of times Brown has voted to cut taxes for the middle class. We thank the Brown Campaign for emailing us an early look.

Brown's tagline is "I'm Sherrod Brown and I approve this message. In the Senate, I'll put the middle class first." I love it.

Source: USA Today/Gallup Polls taken Aug. 23-27 of 584 likely in Ohio. +/- 5 points.

During the latest Israeli war, our friend Israel bombed a Lebanese power station, which spilled 15,000 tons of fuel oil into the Mediterranean Sea. This is the worst ever environmental disaster for the Mediterranean as the Israeli blockade of the ports has restricted people from beginning a cleanup effort. Normally, cleanup begins within 72 hours of a spill, but this time it didn't start for 36 days. DAYS! There is a 4 inch layer of heavy fuel oil on the bottom of the sea, which is spreading up the coast to Syria, and may reach Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus.

There is an endangered green sea turtle that makes it's nesting place on Lebanese beaches. If the young can't reach the ocean because of the oil-slicked sand, they will die, and we will lose yet another species of wildlife. This has also caused an increased risk of cancer to surrounding humans, as they breath toxic chemicals released as the oil breaks down. Lebanon's revenue had previously relied heavily on tourism. Doesn't look like they'll be getting tourists for a while.

Lebanon may be able to start cleanup if they get the necessary manpower, equipment and permission from the Israeli military. Israel is still enforcing their naval blockade, allowing the United Nations Environment Program to do only aerial assessments of the damage.

Why didn't we hear about this oil spill when it happened? Because Israel bombed this power station early in the war, and we sure didn't want the public to see another reason for a ceasefire. (The next time I hear the words "liberal media," I think I might just explode!) I can only hope there would have been outrage by the American public, since most of us remember our own Exxon-Valdez spill in Alaska. This is expected to be worse, because the cleanup effort took so long to get started. The cost to human and animal life will be devastating.

Enjoy. - source

Rental rates have soared 40% - and the average selling price of homes in areas not affected by flooding rose about 25 percent. Someone must be making money off these increases and I am guessing it is not those in need.

Many New Orleanians are suffering from depression - here is a profile on the mounting mental health crisis in New Orleans.

There are 5.4 million more people living in poverty since Bush took office. Katrina highlighted the poverty in the country. But have the tragic images caused Republicans to raise the minimum wage or do anything to lessen poverty? No, and in fact their greedy policies clearly increase poverty. But they don't care, so it doesn't really matter to those scumbags.

Investigation shows, 70% percent of government contracts awarded after Katrina were "no bid" contracts, wasting hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars. I wonder how many of those no-bid contracts went to Bush donors? My non-investigative estimate is somewhere between 94-100%.

I haven't watched Spike Lee's HBO documentary on Katrina yet, but I have heard great things. It's four hours long, so set aside a whole night (then plan on being pissed off for at least 24 hours).

This recent staged Katrina event with Bush makes me so mad.

When your local news, or President Bush, or even Oprah show inspirational stories of Katrina recovery, remember this: just 16% of Katrina victims say life is back to normal.

I have been turned onto a site called Humidcity.com. It is a New Orleans blogger giving the low down on the recovery. He spares no punches for the savage Republicans that caused this - including former Republican Mayor Ray Nagin, who he claims a major failure. The most insane thing I learned from the site is that dead bodies are still being discovered.

1/3 of the trash has still not been picked up. What? Did I just type that correctly? A year later, we haven't even picked up the damn trash. I am going to go cry now.

This week begins the first day of school for many students, and it's already turning out to be an interesting year.

In Indiana, 126 students were sent home and suspended for not wearing the appropriate clothes. Banned clothes include baggy pants, low-cut shirts, t-shirts, and shirts with logos on them. Many schools have resorted to a uniform to cut down on violations. What's your opinion of school uniforms? Do they help classroom management or hurt student's ability to express themselves?

In Colorado, a 7th grade geography teacher was placed on leave for hanging flags in his classroom. Colorado has a law that no flag other than the US or Colorado flag may be displayed. Foreign flags may be shown temporarily if they are for learning purposes. (Like a geography class?) I know we're a proud nation, but this is a little extreme. And what kind of example does this set for kids... that schools don't encourage thinking about other countries.

In Iraq, 11 bodies were found near a school in Baghdad. Oh, and George Bush admitted that Iraq has nothing to do with 9.11. Watch the video.

Leasing the Turnpike is probably one of the more absurd ideas being discussed in the Ohio race for Governor. Unlike the TEL Amendment, it looks like the Blackwell Campaign is actually going to stick with this issue until Election Day. Watch this short video clip (2:31) of Ken Blackwell discussing this issue. I guess you use hay as your backdrop when you campaign doesn't have supporters.

Ken Blackwell's basic argument is that the Ohio Turnpike is becoming too expensive for the State of Ohio to maintain and by leasing the turnpike we can turn an expenditure into a revenue stream. 47th least popular governor in the country and friend of the Blackwell Campaign Mitch Daniels of Indiana leased the Indiana Toll Road for $3.8 Billion until 2081 to the Spanish-Australian consortium Cintra-Macquarie (Blackwell's talking point). It kind of makes you wonder why a company with that much capital would want to lease a road in Ohio? Hmmm...

Now:
1. Drive to the Ohio Turnpike
2. Take turnpike ticket
3. Drive
4. Pay toll

The current rate for a passanger vehicle to drive across the State is $8.95. I wonder how that would change?

Leased Turnpike:
1. Drive to Leased Turnpike
2. Take private ticket
3. Drive
4. Pay (profit) toll

It is pretty obvious to anyone looking at this issue that the rates for driving on the turnpike will go up substantially if a private company takes over the road looking to make a profit. As Blackwell points out in this video clip, maintaining and operating a road is really expensive. So, under Ken Blackwell, rates on the Ohio Turnpike will go up, but instead of the "profits" going to the State Budget, they will go to a Spanish-Australian consortium. Taft exported our jobs. Blackwell is looking to raise tolls and export the profits. I think this Turnpike issue will help ensure that Blackwell's loses by at least 15% in the northern half of the state this November.

If Al Gore was allowed to serve the presidency he won in 2000, it is likely that Gore would have been in charge during Hurricane Katrina. There is no doubt, President Gore (or any Democrat for that matter) would have done a better job. This can be backed up by comparing FEMA under Clinton versus FEMA under Bush.

Clinton appointed James Lee Witt - a FEMA director with actual emergency management experience. Clinton also gave FEMA Cabinet level status - a clear indication that he, as a Democrat, was dedicated to the mission of FEMA. FEMA operated without great failure under Clinton, despite many hurdles.

In 2000, Bush quickly demoted FEMA's agency status - a clear indication that he, as a Republican, did not value the mission of FEMA very much. Then he appointed Joe Allbaugh - a person with absolutely no emergency management experience. Allbaugh was a political hack, working on campaigns for Bush since 1994 - again, an example that Bush did not care about FEMA.

Working for Allbaugh's FEMA must have been very uninspiring. Here is what Allbaugh had to say about the mission of FEMA: "expectations of when the federal government should be involved and the degree of involvement may have ballooned beyond what is an appropriate level." Basically, Allbaugh did not believe in FEMA's mission. What kind of a-hole puts a guy in charge of an organization they did not believe in? I wonder if Bill Gates replacement at IBM is someone that is "not a big fan" of computers?

After Allbaugh left, Bush appointed Michael Brown. We all know about Brown being a horse judge and some other junk, so I will not get too in depth on this unqualified clown. The only reason Brown got the job was that he was Allbaugh's old college roommate. Overall, the appointments Bush made regarding FEMA were absolutely disgraceful, and they are a clear indication that Republicans cannot be trusted to run the essential government functions.

So when a-hole Republicans try to excuse the disgusting conduct of Bush and his fellow Republicans during Katrina, don't let them get away with it. Sure, government has red-tape that can cause problems - that will be true of Democrat and Republican leadership. But only Republicans diminish the roll and importance of FEMA. Only Republicans put people like Joe Allbaugh and "Heckuva Job" Brownie in charge of FEMA. Only Republicans put people that hate the government in charge of the important government functions. Only Republicans do this.

Yes, under President Gore, Katrina would have meant disaster for the city of New Orleans.....but it would not have been the Republican-induced nightmare that it was. And it is safe to say, less people would have died under President Gore. So if you want a better chance of surviving a disaster: VOTE DEMOCRAT.

Just this weekend, I watched Hotel Rwanda. The movie is a great, emotional and upsetting film about how the world, including a Clinton-led US, allowed the genocide of 800,000 Tutsi Rwandans. I remember being infuriated watching the movie, thinking how sick it was that the world allowed that to happen. One clear lesson from the movie: that genocide was ignored because they were Africans.

Well, we have a new form of atrocity right in our own country. There is a modern-day, homeland genocide in New Orleans. And it is times like this where I thoroughly regret my constant use of strong language to such now-trivial issues like Rush Limbaugh or Tom Delay, because now I cannot use strong enough language to explain this utterly repulsive government-sanctioned death of thousands of innocent people. Maybe my words are too strong for some, but to me this is a partial genocide of the poor, and a partial genocide of blacks.

These people, 99% black, are being left to die. After 5 days they are left without food and water. Why are there not massive food and water drops from helicopters, or even just fliers with instructions, like we did at the start of Iraq? Why is there no plan? This is a fucking joke. Instead, these people are stranded in a pool of urine, feces, syringes, blood, and corpses.

And don't even get me going on Bush. I'll have more on him in the days to come, but I will give one comment. Yesterday, that SOB had the nerve to say "we expected a big storm, but nobody thought the levees would break." REALLY! Because I thought they would from watching the news for an hour on Sunday night! Check my audio message from that night, which I clearly feared this type of disaster. And I am just some random person in freaking Phoenix....but THE PRESIDENT COULD NOT IMAGINE IT!

Yet these refugees continue to show strength. Yes, there are problems, but that is clearly the minority. Watch the news, and you will see thousands of people standing, waiting, and begging for any sort of help. And look what those people, the thousands that played by the rules, received in return for their faith in our government: nothing. Instead of a government that is helping, they are being treated like wild animals.

I think Bush is scum, but today that is not my point. Today, I just think this entire country is a joke.

PART 2: THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE

It is with a heavy heart that I report that our dear friend Bob has suffered a relapse. His S.E.F. (semi-employment fatigue) and his S.H.S.B.D.D. (Shouldn't Have Stress, But Does Disorder) have both worsened considerably. As such, I have been asked to write in his stead once more, continuing as it were with the second installment of my 22 part expose.

And not a minute too late...Papá is at it again I'm afraid! In our latest exchange of political mustard he proposed abandoning general elections all together! He, quite seriously proposed establishing a Republic of sorts, in which a handful of Senators would elect a Supreme Ruler.

Our current checks and balances, or as he calls them "red-tape bureaucracy BS" would be put to rest once and for all. He said that direct Democracy was nothing more than organized mob law, and that people, I would come to learn, are just too stupid and fickle to really run things.

To a certain extent I secretly agreed, but if this is the case we need only de-stupify and de-fickilize the people, not scrap the system. Which leads me to the question of this installment, a question that seems so self-evident that it's seldom uttered: Is Democracy really all that?

Democracy is really all that, but IF&ONLYIF the populous:
(1) has access to information about the candidates, in the form of a free press
(2) is sufficiently educated to decipher and weigh that information
(3) has multiple, "reasonable" options on the ballot***

With regards to our current situation we are failing on two fronts. While Papá and I agree on our nation's short-comings in general, we put forth very different plans of action to tweak our system of government into a system that truly acts in the people's best interest.

I propose that we:
(1) fight to keep the Internet a free and open source for news & political dialog.
(2) include poli-sci/constitutional study and citizenship as a pillar in public school curriculum.
(3) push for greater pluralism (third party access to debates and federal funding).
(4) reject broad 'government secrecy in the name of national security.'
...and these two are the more drastic measures...
(5) establish 'popular tribunals' in which the populous can directly/immediately punish the negligence or corruption of politicians.*
(6) minimize election fraud by making the election a completely public affair.**

On the other hand...Papá proposes that we:
smash the two 'superfluous' branches of government, punch meddlesome third party candidates and crush political dissent as unforgivingly as George, Lizzie and Ralph took down 8-bit high-rises.

Sadly, it appears that we shall have to agree to disagree on how to remedy the situation, but, there was one important point on which we found some common ground: Universal suffrage is not a vaccination against oppression.

The ballot alone is not enough. A nation empowered with Democracy is akin to a child gifted with a calendar-cute puppy. If he's not ready to care for it (or loses interest) whimpers of neglect and liquefied defecation will soon cover the surrounding geo-political rug.

So yes, in closing: Democracy is all that, but as always...IF&ONLYIF.

Yours Truly,
Humphrey Summers