You might have missed this, what with it being Super Tuesday and all, but yesterday, “Ohio Gov. John Kasich said thanks but no thanks to immediate federal disaster relief Saturday, even as governors in Indiana and Kentucky welcomed the help.”
That sound you hear is my mother, a township trustee in a semi-rural exurb in southern Ohio, spitting in disgust. Even at this distance, I can read her mind: Libraries are closing; schools are cutting staff; we worry about paying our firefighters; you’re trying to force state workers’ unions to give up pensions and health care and the other benefits of a decent middle-class job. Sure! The state of Ohio has so much extra money, let’s just turn down getting back some of the money we pay in federal taxes for precisely this purpose!
Meanwhile, in a private email, reproduced here with explicit permission, Katha Pollitt quipped, “If those people want taxpayers to pay for their tornadoes, at least they should put porn videos of themselves online.”
Badabing.
