From Eric Dondero:

Elections matter. The Ohio State Senate shifted Republican in 2010. And now, SB5, the bill to restrict collective bargaining by taxpayer-subsidized public employee unions - has passed by a slim 1 vote margin.

Bill sponsor Republican Senator Shannon Jones was quoted by WLWT Radio News:

"Our cities are not making their pension payments, they are not making their workers comp payments, they are not doing infrastructure projects, they are gutting basic services. Why? Because their hands are tied by collective bargaining agreements."

The GOP has a much more comfortable 59 to 40 margin in the House, so the Bill is expected to pass that chamber easily. And then it's off to Republican Governor John Kasich for his signature.

Note - this website was an early an enthusiastic supporter of Kasich for Governor in 2010.

Your tax dollars at work

From Cliff Thies:

281. That's the number of Chevy Volts sold during the month of February, bringing the grand total of Volts sold to date to 928. That number includes the one bought by Consumer Union which shelled out $48,000 to drive the POS off the lot. They note that, in addition to its ginormous price, the car takes five hours of electricity it takes to juice up its battery, and features poor performance and pathetic range. Still, the thing actually works, if you care how much it costs, and that your ride takes twice the energy, in the form of coal, and has four times the carbon footprint than a conventional automobile. That it actually works is more than you can say about most of the windmills that have been "installed" in this country.

Now, I ask you, was anybody really afraid that socialism might work in this country?

Photo h/t Joshua Blog

MS Gov. uses libertarian argument for Medicaid abolishment

From Eric Dondero:

The National Governors Association conference was held in D.C. last weekend. One of the main topics of discussions was Medicaid; Democrats wanting to preserve every aspect of the 1960s program, Republicans seeking alternatives such as block grants to the states.

Mississippi Governor in particular, was highly critical of hand-outs to recipients.

From the Washington Post "Governors differ on extent of flexibility for Medicaid":

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) said states should also be free, for instance, to compel Medicaid patients to pay for part of their medicine, saying, "We have people pull up at the pharmacy window in a BMW and say they can't afford their co-payment."

Note - Barbour has opened up an exploratory committee for President.

From Eric Dondero:

Former Iowa Republican Congressman, and TV sitcom star Fred Grandy has been fired (or by some accounts asked to resign), as the morning show co-host on AM radio station WMAL. The station is one of the top news radio outlets in the Washington/Baltimore market.

The radio station is not giving specifics, but Grandy pulled no punches. He asserts that he and his wife were asked to leave because of their strident views against radical Islam.

From Grandy via Rightsidenews.com:

“My wife and I have used our program over the last several months to warn about the spread of radical Islam at home and abroad. Last week, Catherine (known on the show as Mrs. Fred) delivered a very tough indictment against stealth jihad, and for her efforts she was told she was off the show. I then told management without Mrs. Fred at the microphone, I could not remain either and have resigned effective this morning.”

Grandy pointed the finger at the Council for American Islamic Relations. Continuing:

“We cannot affirmatively conclude CAIR or any of the prominent Islamic organizations had anything to do with this. We do know, however, in 2005 representatives of CAIR in DC were successful in getting midmorning host Michael Graham fired for anti-Islamic statements he had made on the radio and TV.”

Further reports suggest Sean Hannity is CAIR's next target.

A number of people, through choice or misunderstanding, fail to draw a distinction between what are called large “L” Libertarians, small “L” libertarians, and anarchists. While there are similarities, there are also some differences. Anarchists are probably best described as being in opposition of all government.  Small “L” libertarians are a little more accepting of [...]

“Are libertarians just librarians that take liberties? Why is a Libertarian Party even necessary? Aren’t you guys just Republicans?” We’re launching a new program to help teach the LP’s beliefs and how we’re different from other parties. This site – http://www.lp101.org is a portal to information on our principles, stances on issues, links to sites, [...]