Free Republic

The volatility surrounding the collective-bargaining debate spilled into the night Wednesday when police were called to a German Village restaurant after a group verbally accosted a gathering of Senate Republicans. After the vote on Senate Bill 5, seven Republican senators, including President Tom Niehaus, R-New Richmond, grabbed dinner at the Easy Street Cafe. As the lawmakers neared the end of their meal, a group of five to 10 union supporters angry about the passage of the bill hours before burst into the restaurant and began shouting. The commotion eventually led to pushing and shoving with the restaurant staff and owner,...

Cincinnati, OH--With less than three weeks remaining until Election Day, Republicans John Kasich and Rob Portman have expanded their leads in the races for Ohio governor and United States Senate. These findings are based on the latest Ohio Poll, conducted by the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Cincinnati between October 8 and 13, 2010. 2010 OHIO GUBERNATORIAL RACE: KASICH 51% - STRICKLAND 43% The latest Ohio Poll finds former U.S. Rep. John Kasich (R) leads Governor Ted Strickland (D) by eight percentage points in the race for Ohio governor. Fifty-one percent of Ohio likely voters say they...

Ohio voters face a daunting choice on Nov. 2: Who should lead this recession-battered state for the next four years? Incumbent Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland is a decent and honorable son of Appalachian Ohio who promises a steady, if unspectacular, course through the rough seas ahead. He is clearly the safe bet, unlikely to either make a big mistake or bring about big change. His Republican challenger, John Kasich, is a former congressman from suburban Columbus given to Reagan-style optimism and bold, sometimes questionable, ideas. He is just as clearly the wild card, eager to shake up the status quo...

September 16, 2010 - Kasich Has Double-Digit Lead In Ohio Gov Race, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Independent Voters Back Republican 2-1 Republican challenger John Kasich has a 54 - 37 percent lead over Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland in the race to be Ohio's next chief state executive, with much of his lead due to overwhelming support among independent voters, according to a Quinnipiac University poll of likely voters released today. Kasich, a former congressman and Fox News host, holds even larger leads over Gov. Strickland when voters are asked which candidate would be better rebuilding the state's ailing economy and...

Republican candidates have grabbed double-digit leads in the races for governor and the U.S. Senate, and the swelling red tide could lead to a GOP sweep of statewide offices, the first Dispatch Poll of the 2010 campaign shows. With voter enthusiasm running nearly three times higher among Republicans than Democrats, GOP gubernatorial candidate John Kasich leads by 12 points over Gov. Ted Strickland while GOP Senate hopeful Rob Portman tops Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher by 13 points. "I am enthusiastic about the upcoming election because it will kick out many of the incumbents," said survey participant Aivars Vimba, 70, a...

Franklin County prosecutors have dropped an aggravated-murder charge against an East Side man because the key witness against him was deported to Mexico. Homeland Security officials deported the witness without notifying the prosecutor's office, Prosecutor Ron O'Brien wrote in asking a Common Pleas Court judge to dismiss the case. Jaime C. Gallegos, 20, of Stelzer Road, was released from the Franklin County jail Monday night after charges of aggravated murder and tampering with evidence were dropped. He was one of two defendants indicted in the Christmas Eve shooting death of Miguel Martinez-Vargas, 22, whose bullet-riddled body was found in a...

For an editorial promoting fiscal responsibility, The Dispatch overlooked one of the best ways to lower health costs: a public option that competes with private insurers to lower costs and keep the industry honest ("Honest accounting," Oct. 19). The newspaper called the public option "the way for a government takeover of health care," but I ask: A takeover from whom? The two insurance companies that control more than 50 percent of Ohio's health-insurance market? The insurance companies across the nation that deny care based on gender or pre-existing conditions? The insurers that place arbitrary limits on how much medical care...

12 minutes ago.

<p>For President Barack Obama, last week was rather like a major exam on his skills as a diplomat and architect of foreign policy. In his debut at the United Nations and as host to the G-20 economic powers in Pittsburgh, Obama was given more scrutiny by foreign leaders and domestic constituencies than at any other time in his first year in office.</p>

It's time we get beyond simplistic assertions such as: Big government is bad; private markets are good. Taxes are bad; individual spending is good. Socialism is bad; individualism is good. We need big government to counterbalance big finance. Without big-government intervention in the form of the Troubled Asset Relief Program funds and the stimulus bill, we would be in a big depression. Even the Republican administration of George W. Bush acknowledged the necessity to intervene to prevent a total banking collapse. That having been accomplished, the cost, along with that of the stimulus bill, comes in the form of big...

"People You Can Trust. Advice You Can Bank On."

A loophole in an Ohio policy allowed thousands of undocumented immigrants to register cars and get license plates even though many did not have valid Social Security numbers or car insurance. The practice was so widespread that law officers in other states asked the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles why they were seeing so many undocumented immigrants driving cars registered in Ohio. State Public Safety Director Henry Guzman delayed a proposed crackdown for more than a year after he met with people who cater to such immigrants, including people who were profiting from obtaining plates. Guzman initially requested tougher regulations,...

Perhaps we need to institute a timeout. Back in elementary school, when things got a little out of hand, the teacher would say we needed to take a timeout. Usually this followed a fight on the playground, an argument in homeroom or an unusually nasty prank. Kids need to learn the boundaries. It feels a lot like elementary school right now in our political arena. The players have expanded the boundaries way past what had been defined as acceptable. In just over a month we have seen the following: • Town-hall meetings being disrupted by yelling and shouting. Story continues...

Just a question about the release of the Lockerbee murderer. Why didn't the U.S. ask for extradition when the Feds found out the murderer was going to be released?I'm not a lawyer, but I would think that would be the first thing I would have considered.

Cheering messages of limited government, lower taxes and states' rights, thousands rallied yesterday at the Statehouse, hoping to continue a movement that began in the spring with nationwide tea parties. The enthusiastic crowd took aim at government bailouts, rising national debt, "socialized" health care and even Columbus' proposed income-tax increase. If approved, the tax would increase from 2 percent to 2.5 percent and generate $90 million to $100 million a year. City voters will decide the issue on Tuesday. "That's $1 billion over the next 10 years taken out of wallets and given to an institution right over there that...

President Barack Obama's address at the University of Notre Dame acknowledged our country's civil-rights struggle some 50 years ago as making possible his own election as the first black president. That struggle was long and difficult, but ultimately our nation realized that segregation was a moral evil and that laws supporting it must be overturned. In the same speech, Obama encouraged pro-choice and pro-life supporters to recognize the legitimacy of each other's views and to seek an attitude of "détente." If Obama had been a leader in the civil-rights movement 50 years ago, would he have recognized the legitimacy of...

The Obama administration's approach to immigration enforcement is still something of a mystery. The Department of Homeland Security is issuing new guidelines for field agents on how to deal with illegal immigrants in the workforce, and so far, those guidelines are being kept secret. But a recent incident in Washington state may provide some clues. On Feb. 24, when armed immigration agents raided Yamato Engine Specialists, a small company that rebuilds car engines in Bellingham, Wash., 28 workers were led away in handcuffs. They were illegal immigrants, most of them from Mexico, and they faced quick deportation. It was the...

I am sick and tired of reading letters from President George W. Bush apologists and revisionists like Claudia Sullivan ("Why doesn't anyone laugh at Obama?" Saturday) and Rebecca Lusignolo-McGlone ("Bush handled office with class, dignity," Friday), as well as some of the conservative Forum columnists. Sullivan claimed that everything that Bush did or said wrong was made up by the media, which in reality gave Bush a pass on almost everything he said and did. No president has gotten more support and coverup from the media than Bush. Lusignolo-McGlone claimed Bush was truthful and honorable, and for that, he has...

This event occurred on the steps of Ohio's Statehouse yesterday.

Ken Williams, left, and partner Allen Carrel helped make a South Side neighborhood a little bit nicer with a park "for all people." I don't have enough room to list everyone who helped transform a vacant lot into the beating heart of a neighborhood. That's good. It's good that the changes in Ganthers Place on Columbus' South Side -- and its new pocket park -- are the products of a multitude. It makes them feel stronger, more permanent and sure. When the city and Keep Columbus Beautiful dedicate the Ganthers Park for All People today, they doubtless will enumerate...