The headline in the paper reads "Kasich says critics will answer to God."
Jan. 31 Gov. Kasich was caught on video calling ProgressOhio “nihilists” who want nothing more than to “wreck Ohio’s economy and destroy people’s jobs…and shame on them.”

Kasich didn’t stop there. Kasich crossed the line by saying that ProgressOhio is “going to have to answer to a much higher power than me”.

The governor was angry at ProgressOhio for our work to make sure his JobsOhio program follows the Ohio Constitution. He swore to uphold the Ohio Constitution, not just the parts he likes. ProgressOhio is simply participating in the checks and balances system that keeps power-hungry politicians in line.

John Kasich might not like what we do -- but it is essential to protecting your rights as taxpayers.

In the absence of state or federal laws, localities around the United States are proceeding to put unmanned aerial vehicles in our skies as they see fit. The federal government has authorized the flight of 30,000 drones, and the use of drones up to 400 feet by police departments, at least 300 of which already have surveillance drones in operation.

Dear Progressives,

With President Obama’s second term underway and huge decisions looming on Capitol Hill, consider this statement from Howard Zinn: “When a social movement adopts the compromises of legislators, it has forgotten its role, which is to push and challenge the politicians, not to fall in meekly behind them.”

With so much at stake, we can’t afford to forget our role. For starters, it must include public clarity.

Let’s face it: despite often nice-sounding rhetoric from the president, this administration has continued with a wide range of policies antithetical to progressive values.

Corporate power, climate change and perpetual war are running amok while civil liberties and economic fairness take a beating. President Obama has even put Social Security and Medicare on the table for cuts.

Last fall, the vast majority of progressives voted for Obama to prevent the presidency from going to a Republican Party replete with racism, misogyny, anti-gay bigotry and xenophobia. Defeating the right wing was cause for celebration. And now is the time to fight for genuine progressive policies.

Finally, perhaps, this is bigger than personal safety. It’s about rescuing our humanity.

Two images compete for my attention as I write this, a month after Newtown, a week after the shooting at a high school in Taft, Calif., with hundreds of murders in between. One image is of Robbie Parker, father of slain 6-year-old Emilie, offering public condolences to the family of the shooter and pleading, through his tears, “Let it” — the murders of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School — “not turn into something that defines us, but something that inspires us to be more compassionate and humble people.”

The other image is of Americans flooding gun stores from coast to coast, buying semiautomatics and other weapons in the wake of feared new gun laws.

In today’s political arena the National Rifle Association (NRA) is known as an organization holding extreme ultra right wing views and always, under all conditions, standing in strong opposition to any and all proposals for any type of legislation to control access to guns, gun purchases and even background checks for potential buyers of firearms. Few know, however, that this is absolutely at odds with the principles the NRA was founded on and does not represent what this organization has stood for through much of its history. From its founding until 1977, the NRA was a mainstream group known for its programs supporting marksmanship, gun safety and, yes, even legislation to control firearms.