Hey! I live in Ohio! I didn't get a free Coke! LOL!

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people can take anything out of context and do with it what they want; it still doesn't make it a McCain/Palin issue.

Gov. Strickland�s Plan for Ohio a Blueprint for America�s Energy Future?

With oil hovering at $40 a barrel, and the price of gasoline nose-diving from all-time highs, do you think the worst-case scenario is behind us?
We are fooling ourselves if we think we can survive under our present system. Those are short-term numbers, and they are not encouraging to any of us. OPEC has already made it clear through production cuts that it is going to do everything in its power to get the price of a barrel of oil back up again.

So you�re saying we can�t afford to sit still?
Ohio can�t. Manufacturing is a vital component of our state�s economy. As a consequence our state uses an enormous amount of energy. Like America and its dependence on foreign oil, we are a net energy importer, which is why we are moving as quickly as possible to develop alternative energies. We have to.

What sort of steps is Ohio taking?
Last year the Ohio Legislature passed an electricity restructuring bill that has some of the strictest requirements in the country for developing electrical power from alternative energy sources. That�s the sort of signal investors want and need so they can commit capital and invest in alternative energies.

What other energy sources are being developed in Ohio?
I am personally a big supporter of nuclear power. Ohio was in the running and a finalist for a new nuclear plant being developed by Areva, the French nuclear power giant. We didn�t get that one, but there will be others to come. We have already taken big steps forward with clean coal technology. That�s a must for us because Ohio generates 95 percent of its electrical power from coal. I�ve also participated in several meetings with MTorres, a Spanish company, in Ohio as well as in Spain, about developing a wind farm on Lake Erie. What a great opportunity for us to make the most of such a significant natural and renewable resource. And our state is a leader in solar energy.

Ohio? Solar energy? That�s produced in the desert, not in the Midwest.
But how is harnessed? Come to Ohio and we�ll show you how. The Toledo area is one of world�s leading centers for solar research and development. To begin with I�ll tell you about First Solar, which is a publicly traded company that is one of the fastest growing manufacturers of solar modules in the world. The company is less than 10 years old and is already a leader in clean affordable energy.

Xunlight is another Toledo-area company that is a major solar panel producer. The company is a spin-off from the University of Toledo and was started by a young doctor, Xunming Deng. Xunlight manufactures microthin, three-foot wide solar panels that can be produced in sheets up to a mile long. They are completely portable and can be rolled up, transported, and easily installed.

And when investors tried to lure Dr. Deng overseas to set up production for Xunlight in a lower cost market, he said, �No. The University of Toledo took a chance on me, and now I�m going to stick by them.

From employment opportunities to increased funding in higher education and a broader tax base, that�s going to pay huge dividends.
I am convinced that renewable energies and developing the technology that powers them have the potential to be a major answer to the current economic challenges our country now faces. Anyone who needs proof can come to Ohio.

Guess we play by different rules down here. Ya'll come down and see us some time.

I don't know where you found your info, but here is info I found at this website under food stamps fact sheet: http://jfs.ohio.gov/families/food/index.stm

Doesn't say anything about being taxable or not and definitely does not specifically forbid soda.

Food stamp benefits can be used to buy most food or food products intended for human consumption. Items which

may not be purchased with food stamps include alcoholic beverages, tobacco, hot food and hot food products

that are prepared to be eaten immediately. Individuals who receive food stamp benefits may not sell or trade food

stamp benefits, buy nonfood items or use food stamp benefits to buy food for someone who is not a member of

Hackett has his work cut out for him, but I hope the vets keep running. It is a good sign of potential changes in the WH soon.

Ohio War Veteran Running for Senate

CINCINNATI -- Paul Hackett, the Democratic veteran of the Iraq war who narrowly lost a special election in a heavily Republican congressional district in August, made his official entry into a U.S. Senate race Monday.

He faces a tough Democratic primary with Rep. Sherrod Brown in the race for the nomination to challenge second-term Republican incumbent Sen. Mike DeWine next year.

Paul Hackett, the Democratic veteran of the Iraq war who narrowly lost in a special election in a heavily Republican congressional district in August, announces his candidacy for the U.S. Senate, Monday, Oct. 24, 2005, at his home in Cincinnati, Ohio. (AP Photo/Al Behrman) (Al Behrman - AP)

Hackett's only political experience is a stint as a small-city councilman.

I'm asking all the people of this great state, regardless of political affiliation, to consider my message and to consider joining me in the fight to take back our government from the career politicians and their special interest support groups who have hijacked our government, he said as he announced his campaign at his home in suburban Indian Hill.

Hackett decided to run for Congress earlier this year after completing a seven-month tour of duty in Iraq as a Marine reservist. That special election in southern Ohio's seven-county 2nd District was to replace Rep. Rob Portman, who left his seat to become the U.S. trade representative.

Hackett won the Democratic nomination, then battled Republican Jean Schmidt, a former state legislator, in a campaign in which he linked her to embattled Republican Gov. Bob Taft while sharply criticizing President Bush's handling of the war.

Schmidt won on Aug. 2 with 52 percent of the vote, though Portman had consistently won re-election in the district with more than 70 percent and Bush had carried it in 2004 with 64 percent.

Hackett's strong showing in a state that was a pivotal presidential battleground solidified the attorney as a likely 2006 candidate for Congress or statewide office.

After Hackett decided to oppose DeWine, Hackett was irked when Brown, with three decades of elective politics behind him, decided he also would run.

Brown, a former state legislator and Ohio secretary of state, is in his seventh congressional term, representing northeastern Ohio's 13th District. He's expected to officially launch his Senate race in early November.

Brown said Monday he initially didn't plan to run because of family reasons, but changed his mind with his family's encouragement. He said he wasn't expecting the race for the May 2 primary to damage his chances of defeating DeWine in the general election.

I've had primaries before, Brown said. It makes me a stronger candidate.

No doubt this is a centrist Democrat. Being Republican, I didn't even know if any centrists were left now that they've been hijacked by moveon, who has openly bragged about owning the Dems.

Incidentally, the Dems had enough votes to pass this thing day one. They know better than to do that and end up being responsible. This is why we're subjected to this dog & pony show by them now.

And to think, they are not only working on a filibuster-proof election and an Obama presidency. Can y'all afford this tax ticket? I know I can't.

* I don't know what *9/11 perps* you are talking about, but I don't think anyone has gone free.*

BAGHDAD, Iraq � About 24 top former officials in Saddam Hussein's regime, including a biological weapons expert known as Dr. Germ, have been released from jail, while a militant group released a video Monday of the purported killing of an American hostage.

The first results of Thursday's parliamentary election were released, with officials saying the Shiite religious bloc, the United Iraqi Alliance, got about 58 percent of the votes from 89 percent of ballot boxes counted in Baghdad province.

Across Iraq, meanwhile, demonstrations broke out to protest a government decision to raise the price of gasoline, heating and cooking fuel, and the oil minister threatened to resign over the development.

An Iraqi lawyer said the 24 or 25 officials from Saddam's government were released from jail without charges, and some have already left the country.

The release was an American-Iraqi decision and in line with an Iraqi government ruling made in December 2004, but hasn't been enforced until after the elections in an attempt to ease the political pressure in Iraq, said the lawyer, Badee Izzat Aref.

Among them were Rihab Taha, a British-educated biological weapons expert, who was known as Dr. Germ for her role in making bio-weapons in the 1980s, and Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, known as Mrs. Anthrax, a former top Baath Party official and biotech researcher, Aref said.

Because of security reasons, some of them want to leave the country, he said. He declined to elaborate, but noted some have already left Iraq today.

Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, would say only that eight individuals formerly designated as high-value detainees were released Saturday after a board process found they were no longer a security threat and no charges would be filed against them.

Neither the U.S. military or Iraqi officials would disclose any of the names, but a legal official in Baghdad said Taha and Ammash were among those released.

The official, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue, said those released also included Hossam Mohammed Amin, head of the weapons inspections directorate, and Aseel Tabra, an Iraqi Olympic Committee official under Odai Saddam Hussein, the former leader's son.

The video from the extremist group The Islamic Army of Iraq was posted on a Web site and showed a man purportedly being shot in the back of the head. Last week, the group had claimed it had killed civilian contractor Ronald Allen Schulz, a native of North Dakota.

The video did not show the victim's face, however, and it was impossible to identify him. The victim was kneeling with his back to the camera, with his hands tied behind his back and blindfolded with an Arab headdress when he was purportedly shot. The video also showed Schulz's identity card.

A separate video, shown on a split screen, showed images of Schulz alive. The group had aired that video when he was first taken hostage earlier this month.

Schulz has been identified by the extremist group as a security consultant for the Iraqi Housing Ministry, although family and neighbors from his current home in Alaska, say he is an industrial electrician who has worked on contracts around the world.

Schulz served in the Marine Corps from 1984 to 1991. He moved to Alaska six years ago, and friends and family say he is divorced.

The German government, meanwhile, said kidnappers had freed a German aid worker and archaeologist taken hostage with her driver in northern Iraq more than three weeks ago. Susanne Osthoff, 43, was reported in good condition at the German Embassy in Baghdad. It was unclear whether Osthoff's Iraqi driver had also been freed.

The military said a U.S. Marine was killed by small arms fire Sunday in the town of Ramadi, in central Iraq. The death brought to 2,156 the number of U.S. service members killed since the start of the war in 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

In other violence Monday, a suicide car bomb exploded outside a children's hospital in western Baghdad, killing at least two people and wounding 11, including seven police, officials said. Police believe the bomb had targeted a convoy carrying a police colonel, who was among the injured.

In western Baghdad, gunmen attacked the convoy of Deputy Baghdad Gov. Ziad Tariq, killing three civilians and wounding three of his bodyguards, police said. Tariq was not injured.

Iraqi soldiers on Monday began Operation Moonlight, which the U.S. military described as the first large-scale operation planned and executed by soldiers of the Iraqi 1st Brigade. The mission's aim is to disrupt insurgent activity along the Euphrates River near the border with Syria.

There are five Iraqi Army companies and one U.S. Marine company taking part in the operation, said Marine Capt. Jeffrey S. Pool.

With 89 percent of the ballot boxes counted in Baghdad province � Iraq's largest district � preliminary results showed the United Iraqi Alliance received 1,403,901 votes, or about 58 percent, while the Sunni Arab Iraqi Accordance party got 451,782 votes, and former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's Iraqi National List with 327,174 votes, the electoral commission said.

The commission did not say how many people voted in Baghdad province or provide further details. Baghdad is Iraq's biggest electoral district with 2,161 candidates running for 59 of the 275 seats in Iraq's parliament.

Results from southern Basra province, also mixed but predominantly Shiite, saw the clergy-backed United Iraqi Alliance significantly ahead, winning 612,206 votes with 98 percent of ballot boxes counted. The list headed by Allawi, a secular Shiite, was in second with 87,134 votes, while the Sunni accordance party trailed with 36,997 votes.

In a speech Sunday, President Bush praised the vote and warned against a pullout of U.S. forces. He said the election would not end violence but means that America has an ally of growing strength in the fight against terror. He also warned that a U.S. troop pullout would signal to the world that America cannot be trusted to keep its word.

The fuel prices were raised Sunday � some as much as nine times � to curb a growing black market, Oil Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said.

A gallon of imported and super gasoline in Iraq was raised to about 68 cents, but Iraqis were upset by the fivefold increase. The price of locally produced gas was raised to about 48 cents per gallon, a sevenfold increase.

In Amarah, 180 miles southeast of Baghdad, police fired into the air to disperse the hundreds of protesters who had gathered in front of the provincial government headquarters. The demonstrators, however, didn't leave, and scuffles broke out with police.

Drivers blocked roads and set tires on fire near fuel stations in the southern city of Basra, and hundreds demonstrated outside the governor's headquarters to protest the increases.

Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum said when the Cabinet raised prices, it also decided that the extra money would be used to support more than 2 million low-income families. Some aid money was supposed to reach the families before the increases, but that didn't happen, he said.

Dr. Ibrahim will submit his resignation to the Iraqi government if the situation continues as is, he said, referring to himself. We should take in consideration the living conditions and the economic situation of the citizens.

Iraq's oil minister has previously said that cheap domestic fuel prices had encouraged smuggling to other countries. Iraq's government has continued Saddam's practice of heavily subsidizing fuel prices.

Hey! I live in Ohio! I didn't get a free Coke! LOL!

Hackett has his work cut out for him, but I hope the vets keep running. It is a good sign of potential changes in the WH soon.

Ohio War Veteran Running for Senate

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