Politics

A new fascist resurgence in America

The end of winter has brought an dramatic uptick in far right activity in America. 2014 seemed on course to be no different from 2012 or 2013, which saw very little organizing or activity by Klan and neo-Nazi groups. In the past few weeks there has been an armed standoff in Nevada, a racist murder spree in Kansas, a storming of a union hall by Ukrainian fascists in Chicago and massive KKK flyer drops in Ohio and throughout the Midwest.

In each incident, the response by government agencies has been muted and coddling. Mainstream media sources appear unwilling or not competent to conduct basic background research either the players or the action on the field. Frazier Glenn Miller, a long time white supremacist, decided to start Passover with a murder spree on Sunday, April 13 in Kansas City. Meanwhile in Chicago, activists engaged in a teach-in at a United Electrical Workers Union hall were besieged by a mob of nearly 50 Ukrainian fascists.

One Nation the U.S. Actually Should Liberate

"Secretary Kerry? It's Ukraine on the phone asking about liberation again. Have you been able to get them a reference letter yet from Libya or Iraq or Afghanistan? How about Vietnam? Panama? Grenada? Kosovo maybe? Ukraine says Syria says you have a reference letter in the works from Kosovo. No? Huh. They said they'd accept one from Korea or the Dominican Republic or Iran. No? Guatemala? The Philippines? Cuba? Congo? How about Haiti? They say you promised them a glowing reference from Haiti. Oh. They did? No, I am not laughing, Sir. What about East Timor? Oh? Oh! Sir, you're going to liberate the what out of them? Yes sir, I think you'd better tell them yourself."

Some nations the United States should probably not liberate -- except perhaps the 175 nations which could be liberated from the presence of U.S. soldiers.  But one nation I would make an exception for, and that is the nation of Hawai'i.

Jon Olsen's new book, Liberate Hawai'i: Renouncing and Defying the Continuing Fraudulent U.S. Claim to the sovereignty of Hawai'i, makes a compelling case -- a legal case as well as a moral one. 

The Wedding of Pol Pot's Daughter

Pol Pot's daughter, who at age 10 saw her father's bloated corpse in a Cambodian jungle in 1998, has married her university sweetheart in a ceremony overshadowed by the late Khmer Rouge leader's murderous regime. Sar Patchata, 26, is the only child of Pol Pot, whose real name was Saloth Sar. Pol Pot's fanatic mix of Maoist and Stalinist communism and rush to create a rural-based society with "new people" starting at the "year zero," resulted in nearly two million Cambodian deaths from executions, torture, slavery, starvation, and disease. Ms. Sar earned her master's degree in English literature in Malaysia where, a few years ago, she met Sy Vicheka. The two Cambodians married in Kbal Spean village, a former Khmer Rouge stronghold in northwest Cambodia's Banteay Meanchey province near Thailand's border. About 50 guests attended the two-day ceremony which began on March 15, according to Cambodian media. On March 16, the couple was blessed by four Buddhist monks and reportedly received cash, gold and other gifts worth thousands of dollars.

Thai Army's New Enemy: Controversial Northern "Separatists"

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Thailand's U.S.-trained military has a new enemy and is now hunting northern separatists who want to seize most of this Buddhist-majority country, create a Lanna People's Democratic Republic, and expel Bangkok to a shrunken South Thailand. The military is warning Thais not to demand independence in the north because such "treason" and "sedition" could spark a bloody civil war. "Separatism is a severe offense," said army deputy spokesman Col. Winthai Suwaree. "Expressing differences in opinion is permitted under the constitution, but expressing the need to separate the country is not," Col. Winthai said. "The separation talk is especially shocking because, for the first time, the idea the country can be physically hacked up...along the political fault lines has been openly discussed," said Atiya Achakulwisut, a Bangkok Post editor. Caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, stung by allegations that she sympathized with the separatists, said on March 3, "We want to see Thailand as one and indivisible." Hoping to distance her government from the separatist issue, Ms. Yingluck met leaders of the armed forces on March 4 in her capacity as defense minister.

Columbus Schools Internal Auditor Recognized as a “Taxpayer Hero”

At the March 5, 2014 Local Governmental Officials Conference, Ohio’s State Auditor David Yost recognized Carolyn Smith, the Internal Auditor of the Columbus City Schools, as a “Taxpayer Hero.” Auditor Yost said of Smith and the other awardee (Heather Winchell, formerly of the Fairfield County Clerk of Courts Office) “these two heroes took personal risks for the public good … by sticking their necks out they helped shine the light on two huge fraud cases, and I am proud to present them with Taxpayer Hero Awards.” Carolyn Smith was the key public servant who unveiled the District’s nearly 10 year attendance and data scrubbing scheme, through which the District and its individual schools manipulated data to make them appear as though they were performing better than they were. The issue came to Smith’s attention when a school social worker, informed Smith that record changing was going on that was resulting in delinquency cases being thrown out of court and students from getting their diplomas.

A rural development: Who pays and who profits?

Concerned residents of the Village of Yellow Springs held a community forum to better understand and discuss the merits of a proposed $1 million bond issue to support infrastructure for a business park on the edge of that storied Ohio town. The proposed “Center for Business and Education” has been in the works for more than a decade, and has drawn public funding for private development through a non-official community development corporation with strong ties to the village government and a small group of local business interests. A group of residents have aligned themselves to fight public funding for the project through a ballot referendum should a bond issue be passed. The group is concerned that a small number of well-connected residents stand to profit from the development while the public assumes the up front cost risks as debt. About 50 village residents gathered to hear local commercial real estate professionals give a overall negative forecast for the profitability of the project.

GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS PAST:

Granny gather up your girlfriends, and head to Hollywood. Casino that is. This appears to be the best – and perhaps the only -- way that Columbus and Franklin County residents can avoid an unexpected potential $97 million increase in the cost of the publicly financed Nationwide Arena, according to a Press Release by, and exclusive interviews with key members of, the Columbus Coalition for Responsive Government. In a Press Release provided to The Columbus Free Press by Coalition spokesperson Jonathan Beard (Beard also serves as Chair of the Editorial Board of the Free Press), the Coalition reports that Ohio’s four casinos are not generating enough tax revenue to the state of Ohio to fully cover bond payments due from the Franklin County Facilities Convention Authority for that agency’s purchase of Nationwide Arena. Ohio Department of Taxation reports show that actual statewide casino revenues have landed far from the rosy amounts originally projected. During the 2009 campaign for Ohio casinos, backers projected $1.9 Billion in casino gambling revenue in Ohio. By 2011, the state of Ohio revised its budget forecast for the casinos downward to just $1.1 Billion.

Bob Bites Back: Governor Scrooge asks “Are there no workhouses for Ohio’s poor?”

During this holiday season nearly 134,000 Ohioans face the prospect of ringing in the new year hungry. Governor John Kasich has decided, despite Ohio’s stagnant job growth and high unemployment, that work requirements will be mandated in 72 counties for childless adults aged 18-50 in order to qualify for food assistance. Ohio is still down 221,000 jobs from where it was in November 2007. Where these 134,000 people will work is a puzzling proposition. What is known is that they will no longer qualify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) – what used to be called food stamps. Kasich could have accepted a federal waiver that would have extended the federal food aid for all the counties in Ohio for at least one year without the work requirements.

CCRG submits over 17,000 signatures to City Hall

If you’re a taxpayer and have ever felt guilty about not supporting the local professional hockey franchise Jonathan Beard and the Columbus Coalition for Responsive Government (CCRG) have some good news. Surprise! You’ve been doing it all along. Don’t you feel better? The CCRG is looking to change a 2011 council ordinance it believes has circumvented the will of the voters, leading to them paying for Nationwide Arena despite not having agreed to doing so at the ballot box. “This is about public trust and accountability of public officials,” said Beard, who is president and CEO of Columbus Compact Corporation. “Are they accountable to what we say as voters?” In Oct. of 2011 Columbus City Council approved using casino revenue to purchase Nationwide Arena for $42.5 million and provide millions more to operate the facility through 2039. This despite the voters having said no to public-financed sports stadiums on multiple occasions, most recently in 1997. The CCRG is looking to put an initiative on the ballot in May that would require voter approval to continue the relationship behind 2016.

And so the fracking cover up begins

A headline in the Saturday, November 30 Columbus Dispatch screamed: “Family’s well not tainted by driller.” The lead asserts that, “Natural gas that caught fire after it bubbled from a faucet in a Portage County house did not come from a nearby shale well, state officials have concluded.” The question is, can we trust these state officials? The investigation conducted by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) needs to be closely examined. The ODNR is at best a “captured agency” which has been accused repeatedly of promoting the oil and gas industry and specifically fracking, the practice of horizontal drilling. The freepress.org reported earlier this year that formal complaints were filed against ODNR employees for falsifying “production records on wells.” Reports were also made to the FBI that the ODNR was covering up 1200 gas wells that were on record without tax ID numbers in southern Ohio.
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