I’ve gotten involved in a comment string over at Jill’s place about Obama’s Zanesville announcement that he’ll expand on Bush’s “Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives”.  Jill is surprised, alarmed and looking for explanations from less alarmed Obama supporters. Being neither surprised nor all that alarmed, I attempt to explain why… comments 14 and 18.

DSC02948 Originally uploaded by Mommie4a

Noticed that WLST isn't showing up much on Lefty Blogs these days? That's because it's moved but the Lefty Blogs site hasn't implemented the URL change yet. I've got a couple of emails in but...I'll keep checking. In the meantime, here's what you can find over at the new site:AG nominee is Orthodox JewMental health courts reduce recidivsmMichelle Malkin must be exhausted from being a parentAnd thanks for visiting!

PLEASE VISIT THE NEW HOME OF WRITES LIKE SHE TALKS!PLEASE UPDATE YOUR BOOKMARKS FOR WRITES LIKE SHE TALKS!PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD THAT WRITES LIKE SHE TALKS HAS A NEW HOME!

Sorry for the inconvenience but please go to this link at Writes Like She Talks's new home.Thank you!

Okay.It's baked enough - well, actually, I'm the one that's fah-ryed.So, please - spread the word, change your bookmarks, your feeds etc.Here's the new digs:www.writeslikeshetalks.comSome new features include subscriptions galore:-under "Meta," in the righthand sidebar, you can click on text that will help you subscribe to the RSS feed for the blog posts-in the same location, you can click on the text that will help you subscribe to the RSS feed for the blog comments-in addition to the RSS for comments, you can also subscribe to email notification of when there are new comments for a particular post. You can sign up for notification regardless of whether you leave a comment or not.Search, search, search - and hopefully find:-you can search the entire blog or other blogs through Technorati from the top righthand sidebar-you can search only Ohio blogs through the BlogNetNews search box, located down the righthand sidebar-you can search the blog via the simple search function just below the Meta category items in the middle of the righthand sidebar.I'll be completing the About page with contact and other information. I also hope to include a page with information and links related to my writing but that might take a while since I'm pretty drained from the move in general.If you have a suggestion, criticism or kudo, please let me know.Thanks for reading and I hope you like the new place.

Is over here.

What's not love about a blog that focuses on the Wines of Ohio?George mentioned it a couple of days ago but I didn't realize it was being done by Sandy Mitchell. I'm sure it will be worth the space in the feed reader.Sneak peek: if you're wondering what I'm wishing for the Jewish new year, I'll have a post up on About.com, for the second year, early next week.(Yes, that would mean, full disclosure: I have written a few pieces for Sandy but more importantly, she connected me to the Seattle About.com guide when we went out there in June and he was a FANTASTIC resource. Sandy is a good person to know. I also like Sandy as a friend and person, so there.)

The answer is here courtesy of Poynter Online's regular Ask the Recruiter feature.It's a wise answer, but it's also the kind of answer that I often wonder, Why can't people who are in the business answer these questions for themselves?That may sound snarky, but when I was in law school, and a few years older than most of my classmates, and I would hear the ones just out of college talk about how they would be making a million a year by the time they were 25, O.M.G.Hello?And they would hear stories about the alcoholism, the bad relationships, the long hours, the not getting any vacation, the big houses thst sit empty - and they all thought, That won't be me.And then, how many of my classmates could I tell you about, 15 years later (this year) who aren't making a million, don't have healthy marriages, didn't have kids, and are no longer in law?I learned a long time ago that intelligence and ignorance are almost mutually exclusive - that is, they don't intersect to the extent that they can cure one or the other. And this inability to recognize what doesn't lead from point A to point B infuriated me.So, when I read that question to the recruiter today, I thought, That's a great question that someone just starting out would ask.But I still can't understand how such a person wouldn't be able to observe, since he's in the news business already, just how obvious the answer was.

Read today's Chagrin Herald Sun story here.Read about The Impact Group here.The three candidates are Orange Village Mayor Kathy Mulcahy, Moreland Hills mayoral candidate Susan Renda and Twinsburg Mayor Katherine Procop.Here's the website for the three magazines - including Municipal Leader Northeast Ohio - published by The Impact Group's principles, Tom Speaks and Don Polyak, through their venture, Verbatim Publishing Inc. - a website that appears to be dormant or "gone over" to the the three mag's site.Neither individual with The Impact Group gave information to or had information reported about their previous work in the article. However, this Tom Speaks has communications experience in Akron. I haven't found anything much about Polyak yet except that he's been a speaker at the Bliss Institute.According to their most recent NEOhio edition of the magazine, they're big supporters of regionalism.Ryan Fissel and Paul Ackerman - what say you? You're the only other people I know by name who do this stuff.Chicken and egg question? re: which came first, the candidate's desire for the services, or the services desire for the candidate?

Now, several times, Brewed Fresh Daily has covered Youngstown's deservedly heralded efforts at making it in the 21st Century. So how do the folks there - all of them - feel about the new 250 acre spread that will be a harness racing and casino location?Read all about it here.Highlights: Centaur officials immediately announced they would aggressively pursue a license from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board to install up to 5,000 slot machines, hoping the track and casino will be operational in 2009. Bedford president Carmen W. Shick said he intended to build a water park, hotel and other businesses on about 300 acres he and his siblings will retain that surround the Valley View tract. Centaur plans to build its own hotel on the land it is purchasing from Bedford Downs. The two entities will not be partners in the gambling or racing operations. Oh goody - now parents can leave their kids in water parks while gambling, instead of in their cars.Sorry - I couldn't help myself.

The link for today's Plain Dealer story, "Can Store Security Guards Search Your Bags?" is here.Jeff Hess first wrote about it here four days ago, I wrote about it here on the same day. Michael Righi's own words are here.As I just wrote on Jeff's blog, here's how I feel:Of course enforcement is another thing and then there’s always standard usage/practice, and then there’s how they apply what they’re saying they’re going to do. The company’s lawyers tell them what to put up and I would guess it’s usually as Draconian as they think they can get away with. Then, yes, people need to challenge it and we end up learning what the community value actually is, versus what the store wants to get away with in order to meet whatever objective they were trying to meet in the first place. What is disappointing in ALL of this, the whole broad range of such things, is that if people had more common ideas of what was reasonable, we could make agreements - that if you do this, I’ll do that. If you don’t do this, I’m okay with not doing that. Whatever. These waivers and disclaimers and policies reflect distrust. That is the saddest thing of all to me. That behavior gives rise to distrust and then everyone and everything gets swallowed up. How’s that for pre-Rosh Hashana opining?Yeah, that about covers it for me for now. The PD has some input from Case law school professor Lew Katz and the ACLU here.

Does anyone else roll their eyes when they see these headlines about new records being made for the "number of mortgage loans that have entered the foreclosure process"? Why roll eyes? Well, it's true - it hasn't been me per se that's been warning of this. But I've been reading about others, particularly in NEOhio, who've been raising the red flags literally for years. Which all exists as another reason (for another post for another day) for why people should be reading blogs: the people who write blogs address issues that take foerver to get published by the big box news outlets. And if you want a legislative solution to such a problem? Fahgeddabout it. Double, triple or quadruple the length of time the issue will be addressed legislatively.Okay - I'm spiralling down on this one now. Just go read the MarketWatch story that says,According to the group's quarterly delinquency survey, a seasonally adjusted 0.65% of loans on one- to four-unit residential properties entered the foreclosure process during the period, the highest level in the survey's 55-year history. In the first quarter, when the previous record was set, 0.58% of loans entered the process; a year ago, 0.43% entered the process. Driving the numbers were the states of California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona, said Doug Duncan, MBA's chief economist and senior vice president of research and business development, in a news release. "Were it not for the increases in foreclosure starts in those four states, we would have seen a nationwide drop in the rate of foreclosure filings. Thirty-four states had decreases in their rates of new foreclosure and the increases were very modest in the states with increases, other than those four," Duncan said. What's different about California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona? The article doesn't provide any demographic specifics. I look to see what I can find but Bill - what's a good resource for checking on that?

Thank you to Ben Keeler of the Keeler Political Report for doing a great job on the Carnival of Ohio Politics #81.The Carnival's contributor list is up to 41 Ohio blogs. That's fantastic. Among this week's 15 entrants is one newcomer, Inside the Northwest Territory.In regard to the reminder about keeping it Ohio, I actually was one of the offenders! I sent in a link to my Maria Sharapova sexism shriekout. Nothing Ohio about it - except that the shrieker, me, lives here. Otherwise, sorry about that Ben. I was probably still thinking about lice when I sent you the submissions.

Haven't done one of these in a while and I know I'm not going to link to even 50% I bet of what's out there, but here's a cheat sheet for those in the MSM who need the reminder that blogs do plenty of primary source work:Carole's experience as a real estate agent in ClevelandBill Callahan's outstanding look at just how many law enforcement employees would it take to make Cleveland safe.Bonobo takes a stroll and encounters candidates.Ben Keeler goes right to the source, in this case, Kevin Coughlin, to better understand what the H is going on with the battle over control for Summit County's GOP party.Bill Sloat uncovers the original source for U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt's essay on school safety - an essay which appears to be plagiarized big time.That's weird - those are all from people whose names start with a B or a C. Kind of sort of.

Just. so. busy. and. tired. and. visiting. doctor's office. again. with kids. and more. lice treatment. tonight. to be sure. lice. are. DEAD. and. GONE.But when I have a minute, I'm going to print out and take for bedtime reading, the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court's annual report for 2006. I want to see info on bindovers, but from the titles of sections in the table of contents, it's not exactly clear where those will be.

I've yet to read anything that makes me believe market competition, powered 100% by taxpayer money intended to educate public school students, has enhanced the provision of K-12 education.And today, the reports about Charles Cook, founder of the California Charter Academy, confirm my concerns about money being the motive, rather than education in and of itself:A San Bernardino County Grand Jury on Tuesday indicted the founder of a charter school network that once was the largest in California, charging him with grand theft and misappropriation of public school funds. A Hesperia city councilman also was indicted. Charles Steven Cox, 59, who built California Charter Academy into a statewide string of 60 campuses serving more than 10,000 students from Yuba City to Chula Vista, was taken into custody Tuesday and charged with more than 100 counts of misappropriation of charter school funds and theft of nearly $5.5 million.Will Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann ever have evidence supportive of such charges against White Hat Management's David Brennan? I can't tell you, but read on:A 2005 state audit alleged that Cox, as head of the charter academy and also owner of a for-profit company that provided management services to the schools, misused millions of dollars in charter school funds to lavishly pay himself, friends and family and to buy luxuries such as spa services and concert tickets.Dist. Atty. Michael A. Ramos said he launched the investigation after reading the state audit, which he said "turned my stomach a little bit." He said the "true victims" were the 4,500 students who scrambled to find new schools when the charter schools abruptly closed their doors in August 2004.Mary Taylor's been publishing audits that indicate a problems with the charters. But she's also been the benefactor of their profits. How will she interpret what's going in California, for herself and her responsibilities?Let's not forget another readon why I dislike the profit aspect: because so many of the profits go to politicians.Hesperia Councilman Tad Honeycutt, the city's former mayor, was charged with more than 30 counts of misconduct, including grand theft of more than $300,000, stemming from his work at Cox's for-profit management company.A little history about the case:When state officials announced they were investigating the California Charter Academy in 2004, it was the largest charter school operator in California. It was founded by Cox in 1999 and he won charters for four schools -- two in the Snowline Joint Unified School District in San Bernardino County, one in Orange Unified in Orange County and a fourth in the Oro Grande Elementary School District in San Bernardino County. The academy's campuses mushroomed to more than 50 under the auspices of those three districts. Many of the satellite campuses served adult students....State officials began their inquiry into Victorville-based California Charter Academy in 2004 after a state advisory panel expressed concern about the amount the charter school operator was spending on administrative costs, while paying teachers less than the average in California schools.The state audit cited concerns about potential legal and ethical conflicts of interest of a number of public officials who served on oversight boards of the California Charter Academy.One of the officials named in the audit was San Bernardino County Assessor Bill Postmus, a former San Bernardino County supervisor, who accepted $25,450 in contributions for his supervisoral campaign from Cox and his for-profit company while serving on two of the charter academy's boards, the audit said. Postmus was not named in the indictment. After being docked $6 million for violations and struggling to meet new state restrictions, the charter operator closed its campuses just before the start of 2004 school year. The following year, state auditors reported that Cox had opened at least 15 schools outside the boundaries of the districts granting the charters, and converted eight private schools to charter schools after the rule changes that made it illegal.What's the reaction been?State schools chief Jack O'Connell said in a statement that the arrests were "a welcome chapter in a very sad story in California's public education system." He said state officials were still pursuing recovery of $23 million misspent by the California Charter Academy.Even California's charter proponents are pleased with the indictments:Caprice Young, president and CEO of the California Charter Schools Assn., said Cox's organization was "abusing the system" and the families who enrolled students in their schools. She said those arrested "were abusing the right to create charter schools, and the changes in the law were not going to stop this." Since the collapse of the California Charter Academy, state education officials said they have worked on conflict-of-interest rules for charter schools and implemented annual auditing requirements, as well as regulations to make sure students' records are maintained in the event of a school closure.I could go on like this, but I recommend people read the L.A. Times article themselves and comment.Here's how the state must spend its resources now to clean-up Cox's mess.UPDATE:Looks like the Cleveland Scene had the same thought as I did about the implications of the case in California for what Ohio AG Marc Dann might pursue against David Brennan and White Hat.

1. Left of Ohio is right on.2. Psychohorse writes about John Henry and reminds me of how much I like the Denzel Washington version.3. Ah, John Cleese.

Read it here, in the August 29 edition of Cleveland Scene. Not a pretty picture.Doesn't seem to be much out there about the author, Amy Rankin, but she writes a riveting story. About all she reveals regarding herself:Before White Hat took me on board, I was substitute teaching at Kent City Schools, but an impending funding crunch would soon force cutbacks. All full-time temporary teachers were required to have teaching certificates. Since I didn't have one, I applied at a local temp agency. That's how I landed the job at the Ohio Distance & Electronic Learning Academy, Brennan's internet school, where kids are supposed to earn their high-school diplomas online.I'm all for first-person stories of what's going on or has gone on inside a Brennan-run operation. But I wouldn't mind just a little bit more info about Ms. Rankin. The only I could scare up in Google that made any sense was one referred to as an artist and writer who graduated New Mexico State University in 1987. That doesn't sound quite right, looking at the picture, but I have no idea.Amy - what can you tell us?In the meantime, I've emailed her through Scene.

I just pick 'em up from Technorati.I guess I'm two for two in the MSM borrows from the blogs category today.