Global
Editor:
By the time this newpaper is distributed, the state of Ohio will have executed another man, John W. Byrd, Jr. By most accounts Mr. Byrd was not, and is not a saint, and was at least a petty criminal when he was arrested for the murder of a convenience store clerk almost two decades ago. But does having low moral character and/or a criminal record mean that the state has the right to take your life away? Many Christians are now saying no.
The time has come for the state of Ohio to join the rest of the industrialized, civilized world and ban capital punishment. Germany, France, England, Japan, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Canada, Mexico, and even some former Soviet states are just a few of the countries that have made capital punishment illegal; what is so unsettling about following these countries into the 21st century?
By the time this newpaper is distributed, the state of Ohio will have executed another man, John W. Byrd, Jr. By most accounts Mr. Byrd was not, and is not a saint, and was at least a petty criminal when he was arrested for the murder of a convenience store clerk almost two decades ago. But does having low moral character and/or a criminal record mean that the state has the right to take your life away? Many Christians are now saying no.
The time has come for the state of Ohio to join the rest of the industrialized, civilized world and ban capital punishment. Germany, France, England, Japan, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Canada, Mexico, and even some former Soviet states are just a few of the countries that have made capital punishment illegal; what is so unsettling about following these countries into the 21st century?
AUSTIN, Texas -- When in the course of the usual reasoned, civil
debate on public affairs -- conducted always with courtesy and good cheer --
one finds one's self snarling, "Oh, shut up!" one has, I fear, been reading
too much George Will.
Being instructed what to think by the peerlessly pompous Mr. Will, perched upon his superiority and apparently in a permanent state of dudgeon over everybody else's stupidity, is reminiscent of being bullied by a snotty teacher. One is tempted to respond with the classic, frozen-faced Texas inquiry, "No bull?"
Will is often worth reading if only so you can figure out why you disagree with him. Lately, he has been leading an entire phalanx of right-wing commentators in full cry over President Bush's loss of "moral clarity" in the Middle East. The sheer implausibility of finding moral clarity in the Middle East does not deter them. Better minds than Bush's are defeated by that challenge, but the moral-certainty crowd admits no shades of gray.
Being instructed what to think by the peerlessly pompous Mr. Will, perched upon his superiority and apparently in a permanent state of dudgeon over everybody else's stupidity, is reminiscent of being bullied by a snotty teacher. One is tempted to respond with the classic, frozen-faced Texas inquiry, "No bull?"
Will is often worth reading if only so you can figure out why you disagree with him. Lately, he has been leading an entire phalanx of right-wing commentators in full cry over President Bush's loss of "moral clarity" in the Middle East. The sheer implausibility of finding moral clarity in the Middle East does not deter them. Better minds than Bush's are defeated by that challenge, but the moral-certainty crowd admits no shades of gray.
Late in the evening in back-road America, you tend to pick the
motels with a few cars parked in front of the rooms. There's nothing less
appealing than an empty courtyard, with maybe Jeffrey Dahmer or Norman Bates
waiting to greet you in the reception office. The all-night clerk at the
Lincoln motel (three cars out front) in Austin, Nev., who checked me in at
around 11.30 p.m. a few nights ago, told me she was 81 and putting in two
part-time jobs, the other at the library, to help her pay her heating bills,
since she couldn't make it on her Social Security.
She imparted this info without self-pity as she took my $29.50, saying that business in Austin, Nev., last fall had been brisk and the 57 motel beds available in the old mining town had been filled with crews laying fiber-optic cable along the side of the road, which, in the case of Austin, meant putting 20 feet under the graveyard that skirts the road just west of town.
She imparted this info without self-pity as she took my $29.50, saying that business in Austin, Nev., last fall had been brisk and the 57 motel beds available in the old mining town had been filled with crews laying fiber-optic cable along the side of the road, which, in the case of Austin, meant putting 20 feet under the graveyard that skirts the road just west of town.
of all the words i've read about our current military adventure, none
have spoken as strongly as the pictures i have seen.
the pictures that the western media monopolies refuse to even allow out of Iraq.
you find them other places.
like al-jazeera.
oh, no,
am i an enemy sympathizer?
if the children who have been decapitated by u.s. cluster bombs are the enemy,
then yes, the enemy has my sympathy.
because, pathetically, that's the most i can muster.
last night i learned,
through a photograph,
that 3 iraqi children
can fit in one wooden coffin,
especially when one is missing half of her head.
it seems that only those who don't need to hear of this, (my fellow sympathizers),
will.
wouldn't want to darken a birthday party
being held for a lovely american child
attended by her pro-war relatives
and 3 young cousins
whom we wouldn't dream of placing in one coffin.
that would be barbaric.
the pictures that the western media monopolies refuse to even allow out of Iraq.
you find them other places.
like al-jazeera.
oh, no,
am i an enemy sympathizer?
if the children who have been decapitated by u.s. cluster bombs are the enemy,
then yes, the enemy has my sympathy.
because, pathetically, that's the most i can muster.
last night i learned,
through a photograph,
that 3 iraqi children
can fit in one wooden coffin,
especially when one is missing half of her head.
it seems that only those who don't need to hear of this, (my fellow sympathizers),
will.
wouldn't want to darken a birthday party
being held for a lovely american child
attended by her pro-war relatives
and 3 young cousins
whom we wouldn't dream of placing in one coffin.
that would be barbaric.
Alice climbed out of the news hole. She seemed badly shaken. "I
thought Wonderland was curious indeed," she said, "but Medialand is
even more peculiar."
Responding to my quizzical look, she quickly added: "Don't worry, I stayed away from the hookah-smoking caterpillar, the 'Drink Me' bottle and the 'Eat Me' cake. I did not converse with a single playing card, dormouse or mock turtle. I was simply observant."
Alice's sudden appearance in the sunlit meadow gave me an idea. No longer a girl, she was clearly an intelligent woman. "Here," I said, pulling a laptop from my briefcase, "please write about your latest adventures." And before she could decline, I ran off.
Returning hours later, I found these words:
Oh dear, how to begin? The Hatter and the March Hare could never match the lunacy I've just seen in Medialand. I'd heard of people subsisting on treacle, but the current media diet is rather more grim. I've got half a mind to write a poem: "The Walrus and the Journalist wondered where they'd been. / They wept like anything to see such quantities of spin..."
Responding to my quizzical look, she quickly added: "Don't worry, I stayed away from the hookah-smoking caterpillar, the 'Drink Me' bottle and the 'Eat Me' cake. I did not converse with a single playing card, dormouse or mock turtle. I was simply observant."
Alice's sudden appearance in the sunlit meadow gave me an idea. No longer a girl, she was clearly an intelligent woman. "Here," I said, pulling a laptop from my briefcase, "please write about your latest adventures." And before she could decline, I ran off.
Returning hours later, I found these words:
Oh dear, how to begin? The Hatter and the March Hare could never match the lunacy I've just seen in Medialand. I'd heard of people subsisting on treacle, but the current media diet is rather more grim. I've got half a mind to write a poem: "The Walrus and the Journalist wondered where they'd been. / They wept like anything to see such quantities of spin..."
A triumphant story about National Public Radio appeared in late
March on the front page of Current, the main newspaper of the
public-broadcasting industry. "NPR Lands Most Listeners Ever," the
headline announced, over a summary of the latest Arbitron figures: "NPR
programs reached 19.5 million listeners a week last fall, and member
stations drew a record 28.7 million listeners. One in seven Americans
age 25 or older listens to an NPR member station each week."
Network officials are exultant about the impressive numbers. "This demonstrates that NPR is a leading source for news, information and entertainment in America," says Ken Stern, executive vice president. By far, the biggest audiences have been tuning into NPR's two weekday drive-time news programs -- with an average of 1.87 million people listening during any 15-minute period of "Morning Edition" and a 2.22 million average for "All Things Considered."
Network officials are exultant about the impressive numbers. "This demonstrates that NPR is a leading source for news, information and entertainment in America," says Ken Stern, executive vice president. By far, the biggest audiences have been tuning into NPR's two weekday drive-time news programs -- with an average of 1.87 million people listening during any 15-minute period of "Morning Edition" and a 2.22 million average for "All Things Considered."
AUSTIN, Texas -- Across the length and breadth of this great
land of ours, from the mountain to the prairie, from every hill and dale
comes the question, "Where are the Democrats?"
They're among the missing, along with Judge Crater and Osama bin Laden. The venerable political organization, the party of Jackson and Jefferson, is not to be found in action. OTAM -- out to all meals. So this is what it's like to live in a one-party country.
Is it possible, remotely possible, that Democrats are frightened by the John Ashcroft-Trent Lott school of "patriotism," which holds that questioning our elected (or even not-so-elected) leaders is tantamount to disloyalty if not treason? That expressing concern about our fundamental liberties helps terrorists? For that line of attack to be treated with anything but the contempt it deserves is itself un-American, not a word I use lightly.
They're among the missing, along with Judge Crater and Osama bin Laden. The venerable political organization, the party of Jackson and Jefferson, is not to be found in action. OTAM -- out to all meals. So this is what it's like to live in a one-party country.
Is it possible, remotely possible, that Democrats are frightened by the John Ashcroft-Trent Lott school of "patriotism," which holds that questioning our elected (or even not-so-elected) leaders is tantamount to disloyalty if not treason? That expressing concern about our fundamental liberties helps terrorists? For that line of attack to be treated with anything but the contempt it deserves is itself un-American, not a word I use lightly.
AUSTIN, Texas -- Did anybody vote for this stuff? I mean, aside
from Congress.
Just to make Tax Day even more exciting than it usually is, we have been treated to a series of recent reports that the Internal Revenue Service is busy cracking down on poor folks, while letting an estimated 1 million rich folks and corporations move to Bermuda to avoid taxes.
If you are a worker poor enough to apply for the Earned Income Tax Credit, your chance of being audited is one in 47. If you make over $100,000 a year, your chance of being audited are one in 145.
This is not only unfair, but also stupid, on account of rich people who cheat on their taxes tend to owe a lot more money than poor people. Thus, their cheating leaves a larger hole in federal budget, which all the rest of us then have to make up for by paying higher taxes. We also pay through all that bad economic stuff that comes with big deficits about which Alan Greenspan is always worried.
Just to make Tax Day even more exciting than it usually is, we have been treated to a series of recent reports that the Internal Revenue Service is busy cracking down on poor folks, while letting an estimated 1 million rich folks and corporations move to Bermuda to avoid taxes.
If you are a worker poor enough to apply for the Earned Income Tax Credit, your chance of being audited is one in 47. If you make over $100,000 a year, your chance of being audited are one in 145.
This is not only unfair, but also stupid, on account of rich people who cheat on their taxes tend to owe a lot more money than poor people. Thus, their cheating leaves a larger hole in federal budget, which all the rest of us then have to make up for by paying higher taxes. We also pay through all that bad economic stuff that comes with big deficits about which Alan Greenspan is always worried.
Readers "On the Same Page" in Cincinnati are discussing William Gaines A Lesson Before Dying in a community wide effort to improve racial understanding. The author will visit during the week Cincinnati¹s notorious serial killer, Alton Coleman, has an April 26 execution date.
Gaines' novel tells the story of a black southerner sentenced to death by an all white jury for a killing committed by two other men. In closing argument to the jury, defense counsel characterized his client as a "hog." Gaines poignantly describes the death row inmate's struggle to recover his humanity and to face execution with dignity.
As a black defendant, Alton Coleman faced similar racial bias in Hamilton County¹s criminal justice system. The prosecutors used nine of their twelve peremptory challenges to exclude prospective black jurors, and only two African Americans were included on the trial panel.
Gaines' novel tells the story of a black southerner sentenced to death by an all white jury for a killing committed by two other men. In closing argument to the jury, defense counsel characterized his client as a "hog." Gaines poignantly describes the death row inmate's struggle to recover his humanity and to face execution with dignity.
As a black defendant, Alton Coleman faced similar racial bias in Hamilton County¹s criminal justice system. The prosecutors used nine of their twelve peremptory challenges to exclude prospective black jurors, and only two African Americans were included on the trial panel.
1. The US gives notice of withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty.
2. US Boycotts the UN Conference to Advance the Entry Into Force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
3. US President George W. Bush pledges to reduce the US nuclear arsenal to between 1.700 and 2,200 strategic nuclear weapons over a period of ten years. Russian President Vladimir Putin says that he will “respond in kind.”
4. The Ukraine destroys its last nuclear missile silo, fulfilling its pledge to give up the nuclear arsenal it inherited after the dissolution of the USSR.
5. Germany decides to phase out nuclear power by 2025.
www.wagingpeace.org/resources/
2. US Boycotts the UN Conference to Advance the Entry Into Force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
3. US President George W. Bush pledges to reduce the US nuclear arsenal to between 1.700 and 2,200 strategic nuclear weapons over a period of ten years. Russian President Vladimir Putin says that he will “respond in kind.”
4. The Ukraine destroys its last nuclear missile silo, fulfilling its pledge to give up the nuclear arsenal it inherited after the dissolution of the USSR.
5. Germany decides to phase out nuclear power by 2025.
www.wagingpeace.org/resources/