Tough nerds and tyrants

Reporters have been told they will not be allowed to broadcast sound and images from the Tuesday release of Ohio Gov. John Kasich's budget plan.

Spokeswoman Connie Wehrkamp says journalists can bring only pens, notepads and tape recorders to the afternoon briefing, where Kasich is to announce the first details of his state spending blueprint for the next two years. She says videos and photos will be prohibited and the audio may not be used for anything but checking accuracy.

Members of the Statehouse press corps registered complaints with the governor's office on the matter. They noted a lack of precedent for such limits on their ability to cover a governor's budget release. An invitation-only town hall meeting later Tuesday will be broadcast on government television.

Both chambers of the Michigan legislature have passed this bill. Under the governor's authority, local officials can be fired, city and locality contracts broken, city assets seized and sold, services eliminated, school districts—entire city governments—eliminated. All under the authority of a governor with no public participation or oversight.

“It takes every decision in a city or school district and puts it in the hands of the manager, from when the streets get plowed to who plows them and how much they are paid,” said Michigan State AFL-CIO president Mark Gaffney. “In schools, the manager would decide academics or if you have athletics.”

“This is a takeover by the right wing and it’s an assault on democracy like I’ve never seen,“ Gaffney said.

Welcome to the new American dictatorship. Of course, Snyder's own budget will so starve cities that he can create the fiscal emergency in them that will allow him to declare the emergency and seize control. But that's just the beginning. His budget's tax plan slashes corporate taxes by 81 percent, and hikes taxes on the working poor.