Thus these bits.
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Samuel Joseph "Joe the Plumber" Wurzelbacher said yesterday that he'll be spending ten days in Israel as -- I swear I'm not making this up -- a war correspondent for some fly-by-night Kool-Aid website. Reportedly, he wants to get the perspective of "regular Joe" Israelis on the Gaza conflict.
Heaven help us -- and the still-honorable profession of journalism.
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Sarah Palin, in yet another interview with yet another conservative (read, "safe") media outlet, criticized Tina Fey and Katie Couric. The incurably inarticulate governor of Alaska is slamming the pair for "exploiting" her, contending that "it...says a great deal about our society."
I agree. It says that a public figure who can't find her butt with both hands and yet pretends to be qualified for the nation's highest office will be exposed as a fraud.
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The last several weeks have demonstrated that President-elect Barack Obama is, in my opinion, the right leader for these times.
I adamantly disagree with (and will continue to oppose) Obama, Biden & Co. on specific issues, but I suspect that his presidency will, in many ways, be good for this country -- if, that is, Republicans and self-important Democrats can resist sabotaging our national good for the sake of shriveling ideologies.
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I think it was William Tecumseh Sherman -- a son of nearby Lancaster, Ohio, by the way -- who said,
"War is a cruel business. The crueler it is, the sooner it's over."I have no love for Hamas, nor do I have any particular affinity for the state of Israel or for the Palestinian cause in general. In thinking independently about the current conflict in Gaza, then, all I can do is to consider how I might feel if I lived close to a disputed border.
I feel compassion for innocent Palestinians and Israelis caught in the crossfire, and I have an appreciation of Israel's purposeful aggression in defense of its people. That said, I come down against terrorism and on the side of our only ally in the neighborhood.
The sooner it's over, the better.
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Last month, Ohio's Department of Job and Family Services, which oversees unemployment compensation, was taking about 7,500 calls a day. Since the holidays, daily call volume has risen to 80,000.
Understandably, the agency's staff can't keep up, leaving callers on-hold long enough to drain cell-phone batteries. Adding insult to economic injury, both the department's automated phone system and its website keep crashing, making it impossible for unemployed Ohioans to file their claims for weekly benefits. (New York's and North Carolina's systems have suffered similar failures.)
With 435,000 citizens collecting benefits -- and I'm among the 7.3% of Ohioans who are unemployed -- the state pays out $43 million every week. As of Monday, Ohio had just $16 million left, meaning that the state fund is officially insolvent and will be forced to borrow from the feds.
Strange, strange days.
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For the last few days, I've been paying two bucks for a gallon of regular gas -- a jump of 36% in three weeks, suddenly higher than the national average.
That's just nuts. And I'd be pissed about it, too, except that two bucks is less than half of what I paid just four months ago.
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Oklahoma and Florida will play tonight for the BCS title.
The Gators, coached by Ashtabula native and former Ohio State assistant Urban Meyer, well-and-truly whupped OSU for the championship two years ago, and that still stings. Sooners coach Bob Stoops hails from Youngstown, and I've gotten past any bitterness I felt over Uwe von Schamann's dagger (a.k.a. "The Kick") in 1977.
I don't have a favorite dog in this fight, really, but I'd like to see Oklahoma bust out to a 21-0 halftime lead. Florida wouldn't score a touchdown 'til early in the fourth quarter. Stoops and the Sooners hoist the crystal ball, 35-12.
That's my fantasy, anyway.
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Finally, please join me in a moment of silence: Ohio State running back Chris Wells announced today that he's leaving early for the NFL.(snif)
Thanks for the memories, Beanie -- every smash-mouth run, every hurdle, every stiff-arm, every Wolverine-killing touchdown gallop.
All the best.
