Free Republic

First Jeb drops out, then Kit Bond retires, now this. The lifeboats are filling up awfully fast. In other news, I am hearing rumors coming out of Ohio that Senator Voinovich is seriously considering making an announcement next week that he won’t be running for re-election. According to my sources, Rob Portman would likely be the Republican to replace him. This also opens up the GOP gubernatorial nomination for former Republican Congressman John Kasich. It’s just a rumor, but the Quinnipiac poll taken last month wasn’t exactly encouraging.

JACKSON, Ohio (WSAZ) -- Deputies say a bizarre shooting Sunday night involved a 4-year-old wielding a shotgun. The Jackson County, Ohio, Sheriff says some teenagers were babysitting some younger children in a mobile home just outside Jackson. The police report says a 4-year-old got angry after 18-year-old Nathan Beavers stepped on his foot. The reports say the boy then went into a back room, loaded a shell in a 20-gauge shotgun, came out and shot Beavers in the arm. The babysitter was hospitalized, but the injury was not life-threatening. Another teen was also hit with shotgun pellets. The sheriff says...

Governors of five U.S. states urged the federal government to provide $1 trillion in aid to the country's 50 states to help pay for education, welfare and infrastructure as states struggle with steep budget deficits amid a deepening recession. The governors of New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Ohio and Wisconsin -- all Democrats -- said the initiative for the two-year aid package was backed by other governors and follows a meeting in December where governors called on President-elect Barack Obama to help them maintain services in the face of slumping revenues. Gov. David Paterson of New York said 43 states...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wachovia Corp's shareholders approved the bank's takeover by rival Wells Fargo & Co on Tuesday, bringing one of the largest mergers stemming from the financial crisis near to completion. Separately, regional bank PNC Financial Services Group Inc said its planned takeover of National City Corp was approved by shareholders of both banks and is expected to close by December 31.

VIDEO HERE. Barack Obama stated his intention to bankrupt the coal industry in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle. That would throw countless people out of work, devastate the economy of many coal producing states, and send electricity prices skyrocketing for everyone. Sarah Palin opposes Barack's bankrupt plan and pledges to fight with everything she has for working Americans! Please ask everyone you know to vote for her Tuesday November 4th!!!

As John McCain prepared to return today to campaign in Ohio, he denounced what he considers an attack on his favorite everyman: "Joe the Plumber." The Republican presidential candidate reacted yesterday to a story in The Dispatch about the use of state computers to access personal information about "Joe" -- suburban Toledo resident Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher. State and local officials are investigating why his driver's-license and vehicle-registration information was accessed shortly after Wurzelbacher became a household name. Republicans, including McCain, painted the news as a politically motivated invasion of privacy and an attempt to dig up dirt.

From a Columbus Dispatch story on election developments in Ohio: Starting today, county elections boards can begin verifying voter eligibility for absentee ballots cast and discard envelopes to process ballots for scanning. Those envelopes are the only way to link a ballot with a particular voter. With that deadline looming, 13 Obama staff members sent letters yesterday to the Franklin County Board of Elections voluntarily withdrawing their voter registrations and any absentee ballots cast. County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien wrote to the campaigns this week reminding them that state law doesn't allow temporary residents to vote; voters must live at their...

President George W. Bush late Friday asked Attorney General Michael Mukasey to investigate whether hundreds of thousands of newly registered voters in the battleground state of Ohio would have to verify the information on their voter registration forms or be given provisional ballots, an issue the U.S. Supreme Court weighed in on last week.

Could Joe the Plumber become Joe the congressman? Joe Wurzelbacher, the most famous plumber in America thanks to John McCain and Sarah Palin, told conservative talk radio host Laura Ingraham Friday he's considering a run for Congress in 2010. That would pit Wurzelbacher against longtime Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur for Ohio's 9th district on the state's northern border, which includes Toledo and Sandusky. "I'll tell you what, we'd definitely be in one heck of a fight, Marcy Kaptur definitely has a following in this area," he said of the possibility. "But, you know, I'd be up for it." Wurzelbacher's chances...

CINCINNATI, Ohio, OCT. 23, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI appointed Bishop Dennis Schnurr of Duluth, Minnesota, and treasurer of the U.S. episcopal conference, to be coadjutor archbishop of Cincinnati. The Archdiocese of Cincinnati announced last Friday that Archbishop Schnurr will succeed Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk, 74, upon the latter's retirement. "I hope that all the members of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati are as happy as I am about the appointment of Archbishop Dennis Schnurr as coadjutor archbishop of our local church," said Archbishop Pilarczyk. "I wish Archbishop Schnurr many years of fruitful and joyous service in our midst. I know that the...

The beat goes on.

Further reinforcing the Stateside docket's return to life after the Vatican's summer recess, the Pope has named Bishop Dennis Schnurr of Duluth as coadjutor-archbishop of Cincinnati. His move announced this morning in Rome, the 60 year-old prelate (shown above with Benedict XVI last year) will assist -- and, in time, succeed -- the nation's longest-serving metropolitan, Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk, who reaches the retirement age of 75 next August. The likelihood of an advance check-in for the next leader of Ohio's 500,000-member mother-fold had been foreseen from early this year. A product of the NAC and Gregorian named to the...

Ohio State and the Muslim Brotherhood FrontPage magazine.com, CA - Oct. 14, 2008 But as predictably as falling leaves turn the green grass of the Oval brown, Islamofascism flowers into full bloom on the Ohio State campus just in time for the third Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week.

I mentioned the case of Nicholas Cafardi briefly when he published an article in the National Catholic Reporter. Here's what I identified at the time as objectionable in his article: Selective reading of Faithful Citizenship which ignored key passages Despair at ever overturning Roe and exhortation that we should get over it False claim that McCain and Obama are identical on ESCR Gross overstatements about the new DNC platform's language regarding abortion False claim that reducing poverty outweighs the DNC plan to liberalize abortion legally False claim that republicans have more total moral baggage than Democrats 50+ comments later,...

10/09/2008 Straight Talk Town Hall: Thursday October 9, 2008 in Waukesha, WI Please join John McCain & Sarah Palin for a Straight Talk Town Hall on Thursday October 9th in Waukesha, WI. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10/09/2008 Road to Victory Rally with John McCain in Mosinee, WI John McCain will be in Mosinee this Thursday, October 9th. To attend the event, please come in to one of the ticket locations below to get a ticket. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10/09/2008 Road to Victory Rally: Thursday October 9th in Wilmington, OH Please join Governor Sarah Palin for a Road to Victory Rally on Thursday October 9th in...

This afternoon, my niece accompanied her boyfriend to vote and he was not asked for id. I happened to do a quick google search to research how early voting worked and ran across two other incidents of no id being required. Daily Kos members were sharing their early voting experience and were surprised no one asked for id. Here are the excerpts: Then, you have to fill out another, almost identical "Identity Form." Same deal, provide either the last four digits of your SSN or your entire driver's license number. Since I am a square looking, elderly white guy, they...

Things have turned negative in OH-15, the battle of Steve Stivers, an Iraq war veteran, against socialist Mary Jo Kilroy, running as a Democrat. Kilroy attacked Stivers for once working as a lobbyist for Bank One. Stivers responded that Kilroy ran a socialist newspaper. The Kilroy campaign shot back, claiming that Kilroy won an award for "excellent journalism" and that Stivers is lying about Kilroy's time at the Free Press, the socialist newspaper Kilroy worked at. But, ladies and gentlemen, I have found something far more damning about Mary Jo Kilroy. snip...

NOT ONE PENNY FOR ACORNLindsey Graham: "And this deal that’s on the table now is not a very good deal. Twenty percent of the money that should go to retire debt that will be created to solve this problem winds up in a housing organization called ACORN that is an absolute ill-run enterprise, and I can’t believe we would take money away from debt retirement to put it in a housing program that doesn’t work." READ: Inside Obama's ACORN WRITE/PHONE/FAX NOW ACORN VOTE FRAUD MAP: ACORN Suspected of Voter Fraud State Year Details AR 1998 A contractor with ACORN-affiliated...

Barack Obama’s old friends at ACORN have been busy this election cycle. The McCain campaign had a golden opportunity to bring the left-wing, tax-subsidized con artists to light, but McCain’s already blown it with his effusive praise for Obama’s “outstanding” community organizer record last week at Columbia University. Anyway, we forge ahead. Hoping the truth will get out there. Hoping that people will change their minds about Obama and his radical Chicago-based racket of election saboteurs and anti-free market thugs. Hoping that someone else in the MSM will start asking pointed questions about the $800,000 Obama failed to report in...

More than half a million Tri-state homes and businesses are without power after high winds rip through the Tri-State. Trees and power lines are down in many communities, some blocking major roads. Damage in most areas is extensive. Four deaths blamed on storm The storm is also blamed for four deaths in the Tri-State. A woman died in Mount Healthy when a tree fell onto her house. It happened on Martin Street. No word if anyone else was home at the time. Another person was killed when a tree fell on them in Ohio County, Indiana. Our partners at the...

How do things look now? Obama - 273, McCain - 265 So where does the race stand now? We've seen a lot happen in the past 30 days. Obama picked Joe Biden as his VP, we got a pretty successful Democratic convention, McCain picked Sarah Palin as his VP, and we got a pretty successful Republican convention. The end result of everything, at this point, seems to be a slight boost for McCain nationally. However, all polling done in swing states since the end of the conventions indicates that the race remains basically the same. I'm also going to go...

09/08/2008Road to Victory Rally: Lee's Summit, MO on September 8th Join John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin for a Road to Victory Rally in Lee's Summit, MO on Monday, September 8th. Doors open at 8:30am. 09/09/2008 McCain Street USA Rally in Lebanon, OH on September 9th Join John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin at a McCain Street USA Rally on Tuesday, September 9 2008. Doors open at 7am. 09/09/2008 Road to Victory Rally: Lancaster, PA - September 9th Join John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin at a Road to Victory Rally in Lancaster, PA on Tuesday, September 9th. Doors open...

This esisode of WHIO Reports focuses on highway construction around the Dayton area, especially the main projects such as the I-75 project and the I-70/I-75 project. The guests discuss how the construction projects are affecting the local economy now and when the projects will be finished. The guests acknowledge that they understand that drivers are getting frustrated and focus on the end result to make driving so much easier. They discuss when the projects began and when they plan to finish the new roadways, as well as the cost which is around $700 million. The construction is needed because the...

Mansfield police have arrested John Picard, 40, a former youth pastor who had inappropriate sexual relationships with young girls beginning in 1992 while serving at Grace Brethren Church in Mansfield. Detective Jeff Shook says the investigation involving multiple victims has been on-again, off-again. However, recent leads could result in additional charges against Picard, who now lives in Springboro, near Dayton. Mansfield Police Lt. Allen Vandayburg says Picard is being held in the Warren County Jail, pending an extradition hearing this week. Vandayburg is hoping more victims will now feel safe enough to come forward. He says the police will try...

A Riverside church pastor accused of sexual assault made a guilty plea in court Thursday. Dennis Bowling was the head pastor of Kingdom Harvest Church and back in 2006 a church member made a phone call to police and said the pastor was having sex with young female members in the church, police said. Police said originally Bowling faced 11 charges, but more and more victims came forward with testimony of their own assaults. After nearly two years of sitting in jail, awaiting trial, Bowling admitted to his crimes, police said. Prosecutors said Bowling had sexual contact with at least...

I was asked the other day by a reporter if NAFTA had been a good thing or a bad thing for America. I said that both the proponents and opponents of NAFTA had no legitimate, unassailable or even suggestive, statistical evidence on their side. I said it was absurd to think that in a $14 trillion economy, you could tease out the impact of increased trade with Mexico and Canada and disentangle it from the thousands of other changes going on. I suggested that anyone who provided an empirical case for or against the agreement was essentially being dishonest--using statistics...

The total of McCain and Huckleby votes in Ohio yesterday were approximately 955,000. The total of Obama and Clinton votes in Ohio yesterday were approximately 2,150,000. Clinton won by approximately only 227,000 votes. Where were the Republicans? Did at least 227,000 Republicans crossover yesterday and vote for Hillary? In Texas, Clinton won by approximately only 98,000 votes. There in Texas there was also a much smaller number of Republicans voting for McCain and Huckleby. It's sure very reasonable to think that at least 98,000 Republicans crossed over in Texas. Did the Republican voters keep Hillary in the race?

Who would have figured it? All the mud that the Clintons threw at Barack Obama - the Iowa coordinators spreading the rumors that he was a Muslim, Billy Shaheen in New Hampshire intimating that he was a drug dealer, Bob Kerrey endlessly repeating his middle name, “Hussein.” All for naught but, finally, a Hail Mary pass, what amounted to a Republican ad, stressing Barack’s limp-wristed, Code Pink politics. The spot was based on the most unlikely scenario imaginable - that Democratic primary voters actually gave a hoot about national security. But it worked. Or something worked. And suddenly, she’s back...

A deep reservoir of long-hidden natural gas, stretching from New York through Pennsylvania and into West Virginia, could pump more than $400 billion into the Mid- Atlantic economy and push the U.S. toward energy independence, a Penn State researcher has found. Geosciences professor Terry Engelder, collaborating with Gary Lash at the State University of New York, recently completed the analysis after spending 30 years and an estimated $3 million on research. Penn State released overall findings on Thursday. State and industry experts said some companies already have begun to explore the prospects — with some early success within the past...

The Vatican has stripped two former priests in the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland of their clergy status. Brendan J. McNulty and Gary D. Berthiaume, who both served parishes in Cuyahoga County, had requested ''to be removed from the clerical state,'' according to information released Friday by the local diocese. The Holy See granted the requests of both men, who had been removed from active ministry amid allegations of sexual misconduct involving minors. The diocese said that the two men are ''no longer incardinated in the Diocese of Cleveland.'' The canonical term ''incardinated'' can be likened to the secular term defrocked,...

Napoleon resident John F. “Jack” Green is 78 years old and runs about three miles every morning. He also is running for Congress in the 5th District special election as a write-in candidate. “I’m running because I can’t lose. I can only win,” Green said. “How can you lose something you never had?” While Green’s name will not be on the ballot, the names of State Rep. Bob Latta, R-Bowling Green, and Democrat Robin Weirauch of Napoleon will be. Green said he ran for the same congressional seat six or eight years ago, when no Democrat candidate was running. Green,...

46% McCain 46% Clinton 7% Undecided 45% Giuliani (-3) 47% Clinton (0) 9% Undecided 43% Fred Thompson (-4) 49% Clinton (+1) 8% Undecided 41% Romney (-1) 50% Clinton (-2) 10% Undecided 37% Huckabee 53% Clinton 11% Undecided 35% Paul 52% Clinton 12% Undecided 45% Giuliani 49% Gore 7% Undecided Data Collected: 10/12/2007 - 10/14/2007 Release Date: 10/19/2007 9:50 AM ET Sponsors: WCPO-TV Cincinnati, WYTV-TV Youngstown Sample: 502 - 521 RVs MoE: ±4.4% - ±4.5%

Dear PA, OH and WV Eagles,Right now, I have 40 seats on the bus firmly sold. That leaves me with 16 empty seats at this moment. I priced the bus fare of $45.00 to be as inexpensive as possible (breakfast included), so as many people as possible could afford to go.My challenge: With 16 unsold seats, I am going to be $720.00 short to pay Anderson Coach and Travel in full (Total $2404.00 for the 56 passenger bus). My final payment (being made by V V A 862) will be due in a few days.I need help to raise the...

U.S. Rep. Steven Buyer, R-Ind., said he supports the presidential candidacy of former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson, who hasn't formally announced he will seek the office. Thompson served as a senator from Tennessee. He served as minority Republican counsel on the U.S. Senate Watergate Committee in 1973 as a 30-year-old attorney. Thompson also has had an acting career that has included a recurring role as a prosecutor on NBC's "Law and Order" and has appeared in several movies including "The Hunt for Red October." Thompson will be in Indianapolis on Saturday for a fundraiser that will draw supporters from 13...

DANVILLE, Ohio (CNS) – Spend an afternoon with Father F. Richard Snoke and it's obvious he's a priest who knows and loves his people and is loved by them in return.Driving through his sprawling rural parish in the Diocese of Columbus, the 71-year-old pastor of St. Luke Church in Danville seemed to know the story of every house along his route – its current and past owners, their occupations and their family ties. He stopped at about a half-dozen homes, receiving warm greetings from everyone and talking about subjects such as the lack of rain, Danville High School girls basketball,...

CAIR and Al-Qaeda Connected; Does Anyone in Old Media Care? Posted by Tom Blumer on June 24, 2007 - 12:31. Note: Though this post is primarily about Ohio's governor speaking at a Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) banquet in Columbus last Sunday, it contains nationally significant info about connections between CAIR, Al Qaeda, and Hamas, and Old Media's non-coverage of those connections.______________________________On Friday ("Strickland-CAIR Update: Reported Strickland Staffer Response"), I noted how staff member "Charles" in Ohio Governor Ted Strickland's office responded in a conversation with a constituent relayed to me by a trusted source. The constituent objected to the...

CLERMONT COUNTY, Ohio - Target 5 has discovered that an alarming number of U.S. troops are having severe reactions to some of the vaccines they receive in preparation for going overseas. "This is the worst cover-up in the history of the military," said an unidentified military health officer who fears for his job. A shot from a syringe is leaving some U.S. servicemen and women on the brink of death.

FEW issues find common ground among right-wing conservatives and left-of-center liberals. But the so-called "NAFTA Superhighway," potentially stretching from the Mexican border to the Canadian border north of Duluth, Minn., is apparently one of them. Across the political spectrum people have worked themselves into a frenzy over a massive futuristic transportation project that may simply be a figment of their imagination. Talk of a new north-south Texas toll road to accommodate extra truck traffic coming from Mexico has renewed bipartisan passion about the feared superhighway. There is almost a conspiratorial edge to some critics who are convinced that the "Trans-Texas...

WASHINGTON - A new Texas road being planned to accommodate truck traffic between the United States and Mexico has riled Ohio members of Congress who fear it's the first phase of a "NAFTA Superhighway" that would be used to funnel cheap imports to the Midwest as it links Mexico, the United States and Canada. Texas and federal highway officials deny that a proposed North-South toll road running parallel to Inter-state 35 is part of a planned international superhighway, and say there are no plans for a transcontinental road. They insist the new thoroughfare would merely handle some of the extra...

Ending the second-longest vacancy of a US diocese, in one of the more intriguing appointments of the modern era the Pope has named George Murry SJ, currently bishop of St Thomas in the Virgin Islands, as bishop of Youngstown. The Ohio see has been open since the last day of March 2005, when Bishop Thomas Tobin was transferred to Providence in one of Pope John Paul II's deathbed provisions. A Jesuit of the Maryland Province, Murry -- who turned 58 over Christmas -- is a native of the Philadelphia area, born across the river in Camden. Ordained a priest...

To adopt Section 34a of Article II of the Constitution of the State of Ohio. Except as provided in this section, every employer shall pay their employees a wage rate of not less than six dollars and eighty-five cents per hour beginning January 1, 2007. On the thirtieth day of each September, beginning in 2007, this state minimum wage rate shall be increased effective the first day of the following January by the rate of inflation for the twelve month period prior to that September according to the consumer price index or its successor index for all urban wage earners...

WORTHINGTON, Ohio Aug 24, 2006 (AP)— Someone shot at a carload of teenage girls, critically wounding one of them, after some of them had stepped near a house that had been rumored by fellow students to be haunted, police said. A man who lives in the house, Allen S. Davis, was arrested Wednesday in the shooting of 17-year-old Rachel Barezinsky the night before. He told reporters Wednesday from jail that he was trying to drive off trespassers and didn't intend to hurt the girls. Barezinsky remained in critical condition Thursday at Ohio State University Medical Center, a nursing supervisor said....

REGRETTABLY, The Blade today finds itself in a labor dispute with the people who traditionally have mattered most to the company: our employees and their families. We wish it were not so. We wish that it had not become necessary to utilize a management prerogative with an unfortunate sounding name - a lockout. So we believe it is instructive to explain for our readers, and indeed, for our own workers, why we are at this point. The simple truth is that The Blade is bleeding financially and cannot continue to operate indefinitely under such circumstances. The company would not be...

CLEVELAND - The newest update to a Lake Erie management plan predicts global warming will lead to a steep drop in water levels over the next 64 years, a change that could cause the lake's surface area to shrink by up to 15 percent.The drop could undo years of shoreline abuse by allowing water to resume the natural coastal circulation that has become blocked by structures, experts said.Updated annually, the plan is required by the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between the United States and Canada. It is developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Environment Canada and state and...

A former priest for the Diocese of Steubenville is stripped of his duties forever by the pope. Word of the decision came Friday, and follows a jail term already completed by the former priest. Father Anthony Jablonowski worked within the Diocese of Steubenville for about ten years, and as far as anyone knows, committed no crime there. But before he came to Steubenville he served in Wyoming, and committed immoral and indecent acts with a minor. Jablonowski pleaded guilty to this in the spring of 2004. He was given a 15-month to seven year sentence but was granted an early...

Teenaged Burglar Shot By Homeowner GWINNETT COUNTY -- Police say a man shot and wounded a teenager he found in his home – attempting to rob him. Police say 27-year-old Ronald Ramsey arrived at his Lawrenceville home Tuesday afternoon and found 17-year-old Alrazi Basher of Duluth inside, robbing him. Officials say when Basher tried to flee the home, Ramsey shot at Basher and hit him and his vehicle. (More...) Clerk fatally shoots robber at liquor store A liquor store clerk shot and killed one of two armed men who tried to rob the southwest Houston business Wednesday night, police said....

The day after the 2004 election, five people on Daily Kos started talking about how to fight back. We talked about the power of corporations to fund political campaigns, overwhelming the contributions of citizens. We talked about the potential power of the netroots to inform quickly, to make community quickly, to establish working relationships quickly, to raise money quickly, to reach outward virally, to millions of readers – quickly. And we talked about the historically crucial moment in which we are living, the intent of the marketocracy to take over the world and destroy any pretense of democracy in the...

Two Columbus detectives resign, plead guilty to taking courses on city time By Bruce Cadwallader The Columbus Dispatch Monday, May 1, 2006 1:35 PM Two veteran Columbus police detectives resigned from the force today and pleaded guilty to a charge that they lied about college classes they took on city time. As part of a plea bargain, Christopher Rond, 36, and Brian Carney, 43, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of falsification for submitting false statements during the reimbursement process. They must repay the city and pay a $500 fine, Franklin County Municipal Court Judge Ted Barrows ordered... Excerpt from...

CINCINNATI -- The Vatican has removed from the priesthood a man accused of sexually abusing girls at a Catholic high school where he was chaplain.Thomas Brunner, who resigned in 2003 as pastor of St. Patrick Catholic Church in Troy, is permanently stripped of all clerical functions and privileges, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati said Wednesday. Brunner had been on administrative leave, barred from functioning as a priest, because of the abuse accusations stemming from his time at Mount Notre Dame High in the late 1970s and 1980s.Pope Benedict XVI approved Brunner's petition for what the church calls "laicization." Brunner signed documents...

BATAVIA, Ohio -- A man who neighbours say was devoted to his meticulously kept lawn is charged with murder in the shooting of a 15-year-old boy who apparently walked across his yard. Charles Martin, 66, of Union Township, near this city about 30 kilometres east of Cincinnati, shot next-door neighbour Larry Mugrage in the chest with a shotgun about 3:30 p.m. Sunday, police said. The youth was pronounced dead at hospital. Martin was being held without bond yesterday in Clermont County Jail. Police said he told them he had several disputes about neighbours walking on his lawn. But Union Township...