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DaytonOS — February Report

Posted on March 4, 2009 by Mike Bock

Here is my DaytonOS February Report.

We averaged 394 visitors each day and 1130 hits each day on various articles. This is up slightly from what was recorded in my January Report.

Regardless that there was more activity on the site, income from Google ads decreased. In January, we averaged 68 cents of ad revenue each day, but in February we average only 52 cents of ad revenue each day. I would like to understand exactly why on February 7 ad revenue was a whopping $2.14, but on February 14, ad revenue was zero and on February 21 ad revenue was 19 cents. It’s a mystery.

DaytonOS syndicates three web-sites: Esrati, Daytonology , and Kurt’s NIghtmare. I’m wondering if there are other Dayton area web-sites, particularly, similar to these, that would like to be syndicated on DaytonOS? Let me know: mbock@att.net.

It was great that Victor Harris posted his second article this month. It was great that Jeff Putman also posted an article. DaytonOS welcomes individuals to post articles. Just sign up as an author, using your real name.

Sometimes I’m asked what the OS in DaytonOS means. David Esrati named the site and I think he came up with a very provocative name. Every Mac user recognizes the OS as meaning Operating System. On my iMac, I think I am using operating system 10.49. I’ve not purchased the newest system, that, I guess, is 10.5.

What the Operating System for Dayton should be is an educated, informed and engaged public empowered by a vigorous democracy. The mission of DaytonOS is to help bring such an operating system into reality. We state our goals:

to organize, facilitate, encourage, and promote nonpartisan educational efforts with the purpose of educating the public and positively engaging the public in meaningful discussions concerning important issues of our day
to build authentic democracy throughout the Miami Valley

Yes, big goals. Thinking about the implication of these goals, you get the feeling of someone who is looking at Mt Everest and contemplating the effort and teamwork that will be needed to scale such height.

Here are the posts that got the most attention this month:

Dan Lipsky involved in consumer fraud? June 9, 2008; written by Mike Robinette (281 hits)
Ohio’s Overcrowded Prisons Have Record Number Of Inmates, Yet Face Budget Cuts December 29, 2008 (210 hits)
Mike Ervin lets cat out of bag about downtown ice rink plans, February 10, 2009; written by David Esrati, (172 hits)
James K. Galbraith Says Social Security Payments Must Be Increased, Not Decreased, January 22, 2009, (122 hits)
Dayton: America’s Fifth Most Empty City, February 13, 2009, Written by Jeffery of Daytonology, (83 hits)
Governor Strickland Offers Five Point Plan To “Build Ohio’s Education System Anew”, January 28, 2009, (82 hits)
Theologian, Susan Thistlethwaite, Blames Politics Of Dominionism For Increase In Anti-Darwinism,February 12, 2009, (80 hits)
Governor Strickland In “Education Forum” Discusses Six Principles To Guide Ohio’s Education Reform, July 31, 2008, (70 hits)
John Goodlad Says Public Must Agree On “The Democratic Purpose Of Public Schooling”, December 16, 2008, (64 hits)
Gov. Strickland’s Education Plan Disappoints — Fails To Deal With The Central Issue Of System Structure,February 2, 2009, (64 hits)
Paul Krugman Blasts Republicans, Futile To Bargain With, Says He “Hopes Obama Has Learned His Lesson, February 9, 2009, (63 hits)

Posted in Special Reports | 1 Comment

Executive Committee of Montgomery County Democratic Party To Recommend Replacement for Tom Roberts

Posted on March 3, 2009 by Mike Bock

According to Mark Owens, Montgomery County Democratic Party Chairman, the Executive Committee of the Montgomery County Democratic Party will have a special meeting for the purpose of recommending a replacement for the 5th District Senate position vacated by Tom Roberts.

Mark said that the Senate Democratic Caucus has requested that Democratic Party county organizations that contain the 5th District each recommend up to three candidates. The 5th District is in Montgomery, Darke and Warren.

Roberts is resigning from the Ohio Senate in order to accept an appointment from Governor Strickland to the Ohio Civil Rights Commission.

Mark said that in addition to Fred Strahorn, Vic Harris also has expressed interest in the position and that, so far, Vic and Fred are the only 5th District Montgomery County Democrats who have expressed interest. Mark said anyone seeking the endorsement of the Montgomery County Democratic Party needs to contact him by March 6. He said the deadline for the Executive Committee to make its endorsement is March 13.

Last week the DDN printed an editorial, “Ohio Senate rises above democracy,” that tells that it looks like the fix is in for Strahorn to be appointed to the Ohio Senate. Strahorn is the protege of Tom Roberts, and Roberts is pressing for Strahorn to be his replacement.

After Strahorn was term limited as state representative from the 40th District, it was widely assumed in the party that he would next seek election to the Ohio Senate for the 5th District. Roberts’ strong endorsement for Strahorn means, most likely, that Strahorn gets to the Senate early and that by the time of the March 2010 primary, Strahorn will have an incumbent’s advantage.

Says the DDN, about Strahorn, “But, as if winning in that Democratic district in 2010 wouldn’t be easy enough if the seat were open, he (Strahorn) gets a year-and-a-half of incumbency going in — even as his friend and predecessor gets a job out of the deal. Nice work if you can get it.”

The Ohio Senate has 33 members and only 12 are Democrats. The 11 Senate Democrats that remain after Roberts’ resignation will be the group that determines Roberts’ replacement. The DDN’s complaint is that this process — “two handsful of people from nowhere near Dayton picking a legislator for Dayton” — hardly seems democratic. According to Owens, this process for replacement of a State Assembly member, has remained part of the Ohio Constitution every since the beginning of Ohio’s statehood in 1803.

The DDN editorial says, “Even within that not very democratic process there is apparently to be even less democracy than there might be. Sen. Roberts has said he would propose Mr. Strahorn to the Senate, and Montgomery County Democratic Party Chairman Mark Owens said last week that no other Democrat had even expressed interest.”

The replacement will serve until the term expires in January 2011. In March 2010 Democrats in the 5th District will have a chance to vote in the Democratic Primary to choose their next candidate.

Posted in Special Reports | 4 Comments

President Obama Must Make This Wake-Up Call To Action: Our System Of Democracy Has Failed Us

Posted on February 27, 2009 by Mike Bock

In his “President’s Message,” that introduces his just released federal budget, President Barack Obama says that our huge financial crisis “is neither the result of a normal turn of the business cycle nor an accident of history.” He blames the mess we are in on “the profound irresponsibility that engulfed both private and public institutions from some of our largest companies’ executive suites to the seats of power in Washington, D.C.”

Strong words, but, in my judgment, not nearly strong enough. Obama needs to address why this tsunami of “irresponsibility” happened. If it was not normal, not an accident, not an act of God, where did this destructive wave of “irresponsibility” come from?

Obama writes, “Those in authority turned a blind eye to this risk-taking; they forgot that markets work best when there is transparency and accountability and when the rules of the road are both fair and vigorously enforced.”

They forgot? They forgot to do their job? I don’t think so. Obama’s words are too kind, too generous — and simply not accurate. This man-made disaster did not happen because of forgetfulness. During this time of “irresponsibility,” those who cashed in knew full well what they were doing. They were irresponsible to the common good; they were irresponsible to even to their share holders. But they were very responsible to what they saw as their own interests. They became rich as kings. And, those in authority who “turned a blind eye,” were complicit; they were rewarded generously.

Obama needs to deal with the heart of the matter. To focus on self serving greed, “irresponsibility,” misses the bigger point. We are experiencing widespread system failure. And if we don’t get the system right, even worse man-made disasters will surely happen.

This avoidable man-made financial disaster should be our wake-up call: Our system is failing. Our system of democracy is failing. All of this misery could have been avoided if we truly had a government of the people and for the people. But we are far from having such a government. Our system has been taken over by an oligarchy that defines the “common good” as being anything that advances the interests of the oligarchy.

Robert Reich writes that in 1980 the top earning 1% of Americans took home 9% of the nation’s total income — but in 2007, the top 1% took home over 22% of all income. “Even as their incomes dramatically increased,” Reich writes, “the total federal tax rates paid by the top 1 percent dropped.”

Wow. None of the increase of wealth or power of the oligarchy has been accidental. It has happened as the result of very specific governmental actions. And none of it has been democratically determined, but oligarchically determined.

Obama writes, “We must usher in a new era of responsibility in which we empower citizens with the information they need to hold their elected representatives accountable for the decisions they make. We need to put tired ideologies aside, and ask not whether our Government is too big or too small, or whether it is the problem or the solution, but whether it is working for the American people.”

Yes. But citizens should already be empowered by the structure of their democracy itself. Elected representatives, as it is, are not accountable. Giving citizens better information may help, but, by itself, this is not enough. Our wake-up call should be that our system of democracy is failing. We should greet this wake-up news in the same way as Holland might greet the news that their system of dams and levees is failing. This is an emergency that is life threatening. One or two more massive system failures may effectively cause such a deluge that the system itself is destroyed.

Why has our system of democracy failed? What are changes to the structure of the system that will make the system stronger? How do we make a system that is truly of the people, for the people? Obama should tackle these questions head on. He should sound the alarm, and he should make the project of strengthening our democracy a number one priority for his administration.