State lawmakers are slowing down on the puppy-mill bill. They apparently need more time to find common ground between those who wish to protect dogs from abuse and those who think new regulations on cage sizes are just too [expletive] limiting. From The Columbus Dispatch:
"Supporters want to protect dogs from abuse and extinguish Ohio’s reputation as having some of the most-lax puppy-mill laws in the nation, while opponents want to stop what they see as overreaching regulations.
'I’m not fed up, but I’m close,' Hite, a Findlay Republican and chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, told the panel before the discussion. 'I believe we need to do something. But I want to warn everyone here ... if we can’t come to some common ground to a degree, I’m not willing to advance this bill anymore in hearings.'
More than an hour later, the panel discussion ended with a passionate plea from Kellie DeFrischia, president of the Columbus Dog Connection.
'For goodness’ sake, we license dump-truck drivers in this state. Shouldn’t we be protecting our dogs?' she told the committee."—-
A northern Ohio Republican has introduced legislation that would ban double dipping by public employees. House Bill 288 would suspend retirement benefits for anyone who returns to public employment even though he or she is allowed to move down to Florida and chill for the rest of life.
Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati has broken from Ohio Right to Life over the controversial “heartbeat bill.” The state's largest chapter joins the Warren County chapter in secession, choosing to support the bill even though it likely faces Supreme Court challenges and (probably) being overturned. According to Marshal Pitchford, chairman of the board of the Ohio Right to Life Society, “Legal scholars from around the country, and even the professor who helped author the bill in its current form, agree that HB 125 is unconstitutional as written.” Either way, the newly formed ProLife Action, which jammed HB 125 through the state legislature, could attempt to take an expanded leadership role in the state.
ALERT! WATCH OUT FOR FREEZE FOG!
Herman Cain says his wife, who previously described Cain as a great husband who would never do anything in appropriate to women as he had been accused several times, knew nothing about his “friendship” with Ginger White, who alleges to have had an affair with him for more than a decade. Cain says he will meet with his wife to reassess the campaign and, presumably, how much more it will embarrass her should it continue.
Meanwhile, in news involving people actually staying in the race, New Gingrich whooped Mitt Romney in a Florida poll.
Payroll tax cut updates:
Payroll tax cut: What's at stake
Senate rejects, for now, payroll tax cut
Payroll tax cut defeated in Senate, now what?
Can Republicans steal Obama's thunder on payroll tax cut?
Scientists have proposed names for some new elements. The newest addition to the Periodic Table could be element 114, Flerovium (Fl) in honour of the physicist Georgiy Flerov. Big ups, Flerov!
Happy 30th Birthday Britney Spears! We won't hold it against you or anything. Or whatever.
