Carnival of Ohio Politics #128: Anyone for Atari?

Ah yes, the Commodore 128. First, check out this history of Commodore Computer and then of Jack Tramiel:

Tramiel was born as Idek Trzmiel in Łódź, Poland, Europe.

After the Nazi invasion in 1939 his family was transported to the Jewish ghetto in Łódź, where he worked in a garment factory. When the ghettos were liquidated his family was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. He was examined by Dr. Mengele and selected for a work party, after which he and his father were sent to the labor camp Ahlem near Hanover, while his mother remained at Auschwitz. While in the labor camp his father died from typhus, although Tramiel claims that he was killed by a Nazi injection of gasoline. Tramiel was rescued from the labor camp in April 1945 by the 84th Infantry Division.

In November 1947, Tramiel emigrated to the United States. He soon joined the army, where he learned how to repair office equipment, including typewriters.

Okay, so our contributions this week to the Carnival might not be able to compete quite with Tramiel's story, but still, we have plenty of drama and lots of good writing - although not on typewriters.

"Is This a Way to Elect a President?" asks Roland Hansen Commentary. He wants to know, "Ohio has long had a pivotal role in Presidential elections under the Electoral College process. Would that still be the case if we were to go to a nationwide direct election of President of the United States of America?"

Although a Michigan organization is involved in Law of Reason's post this week, the ad will be played in Ohio and Publius suggests that it is misleading.

Given the proximity of the November 2008 elections, the Ohio Election Justice Campaign's post in which it explains its federal court action to have criminal contempt proceedings for the destruction of ballots from the November '04 elections seems very timely.

Dispassionate Liberal (is that an oxymon asks the very passionate more or less liberal editor) sounds pretty passionate about the impact of the state-wide smoking ban in Ohio.

What else do Ohio's "blue" cities and those with some of the state's highest employment rates have in common? teases The Taxman Blog. Gordon next turns to prognostication and then provides a glimpse at how he did with his prediction.

Conservative Culture offers one take on how to eliminate church shootings, a type of violence which raise questions about Ohio's conceal carry laws. Then he ponders the use and impact of a local paper's headline, "All White Jury Seated in Cop's Trial." And, although I suspect many of us, for a variety of reasons, wish that this wasn't so true, as CC says, former Ohio SOS Blackwell and the 2004 election is still in the news.

The Point continues to thrive: Kyle writes about a backyard event with John Boccieri in Stark County that took place over the weekend, Carnival co-editor Ben chimes in about the Ohio AG race and the supposed scandal, and finally, another story from the Summit County Republican Party.

Must secession be violent? asked one of Ohio Republic's readers, and he responds. With Ohio 6th in US in home foreclosures, it's kind of surprising we don't have even more submissions on that topic. And, on the subject of Ohio Republic's pet topic, the Middlebury Institute/Zogby Poll find that Middle America is most resistant to the idea of secession.

Silly you if you thought that the OSU ticket issue - it's not, reports the blog called whalertly (whose subtitle is "What Really Grinds My Gigantic Notched Wheels"). Admittedly, this rant about words isn't exactly about Ohio, but well, blogs are in the business of words so, this one time. How many times have you wondered why people only complain when decisions go against what they want?

Co-editrix Lisa Renee of Glass City Jungle participated in and reviews for us a conference call that took place yesterday (Tuesday) with Senator Sherrod Brown about President Bush’s visit to Ohio. She also addresses the all-white jury aspect of the same case that that Conservative Culture referenced. Having just spoken on a panel about race and gender at a conference with 900 women, it's a situation that does indeed fit the definition of "a hotly debated issue."

OhioNewsBureau blogger John Michael Spinelli reports at NowPublic about how job cuts at GM add to what he calls a record-breaking streak of sub-par job growth. I don't know about you, but I'm very appreciative of this explanatory post about Karl Rove, blackmail threats, the Ohio AG's office and election lawyers. Spinelli then tackles both the federal government and its concerns with the Ohio Development Awards and efforts to improve electric rate rules.

Progress Ohio's three chosen of its many weekly posts include Fighting the Smears: ORP's Dewine Uses Obama Smears To Fundraise, Ohio GOP'er: Global Warming is "Another Y2K" and Stealing Obama Signs In Upper Arlington, Ohio: "Same As It Ever Was". David Byrne, a Columbus suburb and Barack Obama? Who knew.

One of my personal favorite's in blog titles, The Boring Made Dull keeps the focus very local, and that's great for blogs, I think, in this post about his mayor and sewers - what an unlikely combo. Not?

In Franklin County to the Rescue, Rowsey Blog contemplates the help being offered by that count to assist individuals facing foreclosure.

As for me, I have just one post which asks: how would your respond if anyone, but in particular a blogger and in more specificity, an Ohio blogger from the opposite side of the aisle, tried to intimidate you into not writing about an elected official by suggesting that they'd make personal attacks on you?

Have a great AUGUST! OMG. It's here.