Carnival of Politics #80 UPDATED

It’s a great day here at the Carnival. Morning in the Carnival, you might say. I’ve just finished off a Steak-Umm sandwich and a Cup o’ Noodles washed down with New Coke. But I have a four-pack of Bartles and James on ice for later. Cheers just ended and a John Hughes film festival is cued up on the Betamax. My Addias are unlaced and my fly is buttoned.

Why so excited? Because today the Carnival enters the Eighties. I hope your Commodore 64 can hang, because this week’s Carnival is totally tubular.

So invite over your East End boys and West End girls. Get into the groove. Spin right ‘round (like a record). Do the Wang Chung tonight. Or just Relax. We’re gonna party like it’s 1989.

LisaRenee Glass City Jungle starts off investigating the Toledo police chief's claim that his is the safest Ohio city. The numbers say not quite.

Hey, what's more Eighties than irony? ProgressOhio serves up a double dose. First they offer the tongue-in-cheek announcement that Tom Noe will take on Deborah Pryce in Ohio-15 -- from his jail cell. Then they offer (cue airquotes) "thanks" to Ann Coulter for helping raise $18k for progressive groups on Xavier U's campus.

It's not all fun and games at PO. Brian Rothenberg's Shadows on High is a useful short course in making efficient use of web resources.

Hey, wasn't it the eighties when we had that immigration reform that was supposed to solve the illegal alien problem forever? How is that working out? Well, The Virtuous Republic notes that a raid in Cincinnati caught over 200 undocumented immigrants. Conservative Culture argues that illegal aliens are, by definition, never law abiding and is resolutely unoffended by a prank on a Clear Channel station aimed at illegals.

CC also takes issue with DailyKos spin on Republican candidates, abortion and contraception.

Maggie Thurber writes up the "Fiscal Wake-up tour by the nonpartisan Concord Coalition (fiscal discipline -- how Eighties) and gives one example of why people leave Toledo


In the eighties we had A Nation at Risk and a spate of conferences and commissions to improve education. Today, the No Child Left Behind Act dominates the discussion and inspires three bloggers this week. Retired teacher Cee Jay gives a detailed critique of the testing regime No Child Left Behind has wrought. Current educator/administrator OhioDave notes that NCLB is the latest example of the long-term tendency to blame schools for our stupidity.

And while it isn't mentioned at Thespis Journal, NCLB is certainly part of the lack of time devoted to arts education.

Oh, and Dave also writes up a debut by an Ohio novelist.

Word of Mouth takes issue with a local reasoning in acquitting a man for beating his son with a belt. The Worders offer a grand tour of the local Black River Bicentenniel. And getting back to things political, they ask, "How low can Lorain go?

At Ohio Daily Jeff Coryell argues that Bush invoking Vietnam to advocate for remaining in Iraq was a shark-jumping moment. He notes that Elliot Spitzer is suing the Federal Government over the new SCHIP rules and wonders if Marc Dann will join in. And he ponders the possibility of Governor Ted Strickland appearing on a presidential ticket.

At The Chief Source, they also contemplate Strickland as a Vice-Presidential candidate. And Kyle sends his latest video dispatch about Akron's gambling, er, skill parlors.

BizzyBlog writes of what may be the fall of the House of Amway. the company is having a number of difficulties, not least of which is a group of disgruntled distributors suing them.

United We Stand recounts a surge of videos from Chris "Dude with White Hair" Dodd.

Cincinnati Beacon hosts a guest editorial urging mercy for a woman locally charged with animal cruelty

At As Ohio Goes Cindy Zawadzki accuses Ohio Reps Zach Space and Charlie Wilson of wiffling
That is, they voted for the new wiretap law and promised "We'll fix it later." Jolly Roger totals up how much the war in Iraq has costs his district

Speaking of Rep. Space, or as WMD calls him, the Accidental Congressman,
Matt Hurley wonders why he's campaigning already. Matt is OK with bloggers going "mainstream." and amused by left-leaning bloggers aiming at "Bush dogs."

Speaking of Bush dogs (and of bloggers who may go mainstream, for that matter,) Jill Zimon takes issue with Open Left's noise about unseating Space. She notes that her State Rep. Josh Mandel may be signing up for another tour in Iraq. And ponders if or when online sites should Alter or delete past content.

As it happens, the Eighties were the last time Akron had a Mayor not named "Plusquellic." Redhorse attended and wrote up the Mayoral primary debate here, as did I.

In addition, I have some questions about the local University's purchase of Quaker Square and updates about the intra-party squabble to be alpha elephant.

UPDATE/ERRATA Roland Hansen has a message for people complaining about taxes: Enough already.

Ben at the Keeler Political Report has questions about a new law saying candidates for Mayor of Streetsboro must be at least 23. He has more questions about a proposed commuter train for the western suburbs of Cleveland. And he also contributed to -- and posts about -- the video report about skill gaming in Akron.

[Somehow I missed Ben and Roland's posts as I was compiling. Apologies to both.]

This was, like, majorly awesome. Thanks everyone for what seems like a decade's worth of quality posts.

Image: WTMX.com