Pics From Butler County Airport Radio Controlled Air Show

TIB Network's Doug the Producer went to the Butler County Airport Radio Controlled Air Show today and snapped a few photos.

Butler County Mom Charged with Pimping her 11-Year-Old Daughter

The Cincinnati Enquirer has the story which includes this quote from Butler County Prosecuter and a Great American -- Robin Piper:

"What words express a mother taking an 11-year-old girl to someone for the purpose of having sex?" Piper said. "I don't know what word you use - appalling?"

Boehner Column: House Republicans, American People Protest “Drill-Nothing” Congress

The U.S. House of Representatives truly became the People’s House on Friday, August 1 when hundreds of American citizens and families joined Republicans on the House floor to protest Democratic leaders’ decision to send Congress home for a five-week break without voting on energy reform legislation.

This historic event was not just about gas prices; it was about the power of democracy. Throughout the summer, the Democratic leadership in the House had refused to allow a vote on legislation to help lower fuel costs and put us on the road to energy independence, despite widespread public support for such legislation among the American people. When Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) closed down the U.S. House for the five-week break on August 1 without an energy vote, House Republicans took to the Floor in protest. When the lights, microphones and cameras were shut off, we raised our voices to speak for the American people who for too long have been ignored by this "Drill-Nothing Congress.”

Rather than listen to the American people, Speaker Pelosi and other Democratic leaders are listening to radical special-interest groups that believe we’re better off with expensive gas because fewer people will be able to drive. When she was asked why she refuses to allow a vote on the energy reforms Americans want, this was the Speaker’s explanation: “I am saving the planet.”

But the notion that we have to choose between “saving the planet” and making America energy independent is false. I recently visited Northern Alaska, where energy production and wildlife have not only co-existed, but generally thrived together for decades. I saw firsthand that energy production can be done in a manner that protects the environment and the plants and animals that exist in such regions. It’s also notable that the people of northernmost Alaska – those who know the land best and care for it most – favor opening areas such as ANWR to careful, environmentally responsible drilling.

I prefer to help working families by lowering gas prices, creating American jobs and getting us off our addiction to foreign energy. Every year, we send $700 billion a year overseas to pay for our oil addiction. That money would be better spent here at home to create good-paying jobs. Twenty-five years ago, about 60 percent of the oil we used was produced here in America; today, just 25 percent of the oil we use is American. While some Democrats like Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) have called on Saudi Arabia to increase its production, I believe that more people agree with Republicans in calling for the United States to increase production.

House Republicans have introduced a comprehensive energy reform bill we call the American Energy Act. The American Energy Act calls for “all of the above” when it comes to the reforms needed to lower gas prices and liberate America from its dependence on foreign oil: more conservation, more alternative and renewable energy, and more production of American-made energy. It would accelerate the development and implementation of clean, renewable fuels; create new incentives for conservation and development of alternative energy sources; and lift the government ban on drilling in the frozen North Slope of Alaska and deepwater ocean energy zones far off the U.S. coast. We need to make use of these untapped American resources for affordable energy in the short-term as we work to develop and implement new, cleaner energy sources for the 21st Century.

I reject the notion that American families have to suffer with $4 and $5 per gallon gasoline before America can successfully transition to the widespread use of new, cleaner energy. And clearly the American people reject it too. The American people want Congress to take action on an “all of the above” energy reform strategy. It starts with a vote on the American Energy Act, which would pass with bipartisan support today if Speaker Pelosi would simply allow it to come to a vote. Unfortunately, to date, she has refused to allow such a vote to take place. That’s why House Republicans, joined by hundreds of American citizens, rose in protest on the House floor on August 1.

August 1 was a defining day for the U.S. House, and it will be remembered as the day the people took control and demanded action from their democratically elected representatives. While House Republicans stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the people, the Democratic leadership sent their Caucus home.

Judge Niehaus Dies of Heart Attack

The Cincinnati Enquirer reported this morning that Butler County Prosecuter Robin Piper had indicated that Judge David Niehaus of the Juvenile Court had passed away last night. The Journal-News adds that according to court officials, Niehaus died of an apparent heart attack at the age of 64.

This story will be updated over at WMD.

EnterTRAINment Junction

Matt Cunningham of the Journal-News has the story on the opening of EnterTRAINment Junction in West Chester. Be sure to also check out the photo and video galleries as well.

UPDATE: You can check out EnterTRAINment Junction on the web by clicking here. Currently, admission is $9.95 (everybody gets to be a kid again!) during the grand opening.

Boehner Column: "It's Time for the U.S. House to Vote on Meaningful Energy Reform"

The next time you fill up at the gas station consider this: The U.S. House of Representatives has not been allowed to vote on meaningful energy reforms in more than a month. There have been several sham votes – such as one recently to replace 70 million barrels of easily refined oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) with oil that is much more difficult to process – but nothing that would help get out us out of this situation. Seventy million barrels of oil would meet our energy needs for about three days, and then we’re right back to where we are today. That’s not a solution; that’s not even a band-aid.

Our job responsibilities as congressional representatives include voting on legislation. In 2007, there were 1,186 roll call votes in which you can track how individual lawmakers voted; so far in 2008, there have been 533 recorded votes. As of Friday, July 25, the House has held 62 roll-call votes this month. Not a single one of those votes has done a single thing to help bring down gas prices.

And the Democratic leaders who control the House have indicated they will take the traditional August recess without letting the House vote on long-term solutions for what ails you – high gas prices. The Washington Post editorialized, “Instead of dealing with the issue on the merits, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), a staunch opponent of offshore drilling, has simply decreed that she will not allow a drilling vote to take on the House floor.”

I don’t think I’ve ever seen such cynical and petty politics play out in the House. The American people are crying out, demanding their lawmakers take action to help – help lower fuel prices, help get us off our addiction to foreign oil and help create programs and incentives to bring alternative fuels online.

A colleague of mine recently said, “Politicians do not see the light; they feel the heat.” I don’t know how much more clear it could be that the American public is indeed bringing down the heat on their representatives to do something; and that includes letting us vote on meaningful, long-term energy solutions.

House Republicans recently introduced our energy strategy – the American Energy Act – that is a comprehensive measure to help reduce gas prices by harnessing new technologies, encouraging greater conservation and efficiency, and increasing American energy production in an environmentally-safe way. I recently visited Alaska’s remote North Slope where vast American energy resources sit untouched as well as nearby Prudhoe Bay, which uses 1970s technology to pull oil from the ground. I can tell you that I have seen with my own eyes wildlife and oil production coexisting.

But instead of letting us vote on the American Energy Act, Pelosi and her lieutenants are trying to run out the clock. Chairmen of the House and Senate appropriations committees who are charged with moving spending bills to keep the federal government running have stopped their committee work because Republican lawmakers kept offering amendments to help lower fuel costs. We’re looking at situation in which both the House and Senate will leave for August recess without passing a single spending bill. That hasn’t happened since at least 1950.

My Republican colleagues and I continue to look for ways to force the House to vote on meaningful energy reform, not band-aid measures that don’t create new American energy and help wean us off foreign oil. It’s time for Democratic leaders to stop listening to radical special-interest groups that favor high gas prices, and hear the cries of the millions of energy-strapped American families who are crying out for help.

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