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A pitched battle is now raging—again—to save Central Ohio’s best-known wildlife refuge. You could help make the difference.

As many of you may recall, a huge victory was won by environmental forces on the west (Columbus) side of Pickerington Ponds late last century. Columbus City Council attempted to pave the way for M/I Homes to slap a thousand or more houses and apartments on a 242-acre parcel northwest of the Ponds. Five Council Democrats (Habash, O’Shaughnessy, Tavares, Sensenbrenner and Mentel) voted unanimously to re-zone the land from agricultural to residential so the developers could walk away with a bundle of cash, leaving behind a parcel of trash.

That’s when the enviros mobilized. About a dozen activists took to the streets and gathered more than 12,000 signatures in less than a month. With tremendous media fanfare, it became clear central Ohio voters would be able to decide whether or not to rescind the rezoning, thus making it impossible to destroy the land. It was also clear that Columbus voters would have done just that by an overwhelming margin.

It’s about the vote, stupid...

There he is: Vice President Al Gore defending democracy. But yes, sisters and brothers, there is a fight underway which is not about the elections. It is about the vote and about the inconsistent nature of democracy in the capitalist USA.

What became very clear immediately after the November Election is that the Republican Party and segments of the Democrats were more concerned about the formality of an election rather than its content. When Democrats, such as New Jersey’s Toricelli, suggested that Gore move toward concession, he was saying, in essence, that having gone through the formality of the election, the content was irrelevant. It did not matter to him and many other politicians that there were all sorts of irregularities, not to mention allegations of fraud. The USA went through an election and that was that as far as they were concerned.

AUSTIN, Texas -- The president is a Texan, the governor is an Aggie, God's in His heaven, all's right with the world. And I want it noted for the record that I am doing my dead-level best to be cheerful about this revolting development.

Several reasons for non-Republicans to perk up:

George W. Bush is not stupid.

George W. Bush is not mean.

Most of us non-Republicans didn't vote for him, so no one can blame us. No matter what happens for the next four years, we can say, "It's not our fault; we didn't elect him." This will be especially useful when dealing with persons of the French persuasions.

High entertainment value: The fact that Bush cannot express himself well in the English language is a constant source of delight to us all. In his defense, no matter how badly he mangles it, you can almost always tell what he was trying to say. The Texanism is, "My tongue got caught in my eyeteeth, so I couldn't see what I saw saying."

Is our children learning?

He wants to be the Education President.

He knows that Canada is one of our most important neighbors to the north.

Sometimes he is able to laugh at himself.

As golden anniversaries go, it's a somber occasion. In a forlorn expanse of desert scarcely an hour's drive northwest of Las Vegas, on Jan. 27, 1951, the Nevada Test Site went into operation by exploding an atomic bomb.

During more than a decade, mushroom clouds often rose toward the sky. Winds routinely carried radioactive fallout to communities in Utah, Nevada and northern Arizona. Meanwhile, news media dutifully conveyed U.S. Atomic Energy Commission announcements to downwind residents: "There is no danger."

In the region, journalists followed the national media spin and threw in some extra bravado. "'Baby' A-Blast May Provide Facts on Defense Against Atomic Attack," said a headline in the Las Vegas Sun on March 13, 1955.

Chavez has been cruelly taken from them, but what an immense favor Bush/Cheney did the Democrats by putting up Ashcroft and Norton! It's hard to stir up liberal passions over Powell at the State Department or Rice as National Security Adviser, or even O'Neill at Treasury. How could you be worse than Madeleine Albright or Samuel Berger? And who cares about O'Neill, when the effective ruler of the economy is over at the Fed?

But with Ashcroft scheduled for the Justice Department, there are rich political and fundraising opportunities for the Democrats, lashing the Naderites with "We told you so," and painting lurid scenarios of the Klan Grand Wizard taking up residence in the Department of Justice. Here comes the Beast: Ashcroft, the foe of choice; Ashcroft, the militia-symp; Ashcroft, the racist hero of the old Confederacy. What can you say for the guy, except that he's probably marginally to the left of Eminem, great white hope of the rap crowd and currently in line for four more Grammies.

AUSTIN, Texas -- Oh, dear. The Borking of Linda Chavez is leading to another round of sulking, hurt feelings and general acrimony, making the upcoming fight over the confirmation of Attorney General-designate John Ashcroft even more festive.

Now everybody's prepared to nurse grudges and hug hurt feelings. The nice thing about dealing with real 5-year-olds is that they're easily distracted and get over their tantrums quickly.

The Chavez situation was simply hopeless, and the first people to realize it were the Bushies, who dropped her like a hot rock. I'm perfectly prepared to believe that Chavez took an illegal immigrant from Guatemala into her home out of the kindness of her heart and paid her a little for housework out of kindness, as well. The trouble is, that's illegal.

Chavez herself is on the record as saying that Zoe Baird was guilty of "harboring an illegal alien" and therefore could not serve in the Cabinet.

There was just no way around it: Chavez's nomination was doomed by what might in fact have been an act of kindness. Makes you think there might be something wrong with that law, doesn't it?

The sky is black with cows coming home to roost. In Germany, it's probably the biggest crisis since 1945. Millions of Germans daren't sausage. In France, ranchers and slaughterhouse workers are blocking all roads to Paris, and traffic is backed up 100 kilometers. The reason is mad cow. Last week, the Health Minister for Germany's largest state, Baerbel Hoehn in North-Rhine-Westphalia, told the Cologne Express: ''Whoever wants to be totally certain shouldn't eat beef at the moment.'' Bavaria, where the second mad cow case was confirmed in mid-December, pledges to spend $9.1 million to research how to combat the disease.

In France, there were 18 cases of mad cow disease in the first three months of last year compared with 30 in all of 1999. Cow intestines, traditionally used to make sausages and other charcuterie, have been banned, owing to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) fears. In October, BSE-infected meat reached three major hypermarket chains, sparking a 40 percent fall in consumption. In November, beef ribs were outlawed, unless cut differently.

A surreal mixup disrupted CNN programming for a few moments on Jan. 17 when the network switched to live coverage of Colin Powell. While the retired general appeared on the screen, the audio was the voice of Sen. Edward Kennedy at another Senate hearing -- as the senior senator from Massachusetts railed against John Ashcroft's record of opposing civil rights.

Suddenly, a rattled CNN anchor was apologizing for the technical difficulty. And viewers were left to ponder the unintended juxtaposition of media images.

We're told that the new administration has embraced the concept of diversity based on merit, with a prime example being the choice of Powell as secretary of state. But the most important domestic policy job is attorney general. And the Ashcroft nomination has sparked a firestorm of resistance for many reasons, including his racial history.

Testifying, Ashcroft did not lack for requisite sound bites: "I believe that racism is wrong... I deplore racism and I always will." His wording was always careful. At one point he said, "I condemn those things that are condemnable."

AUSTIN, Texas -- Worst idea of 2001 so far: naming a newspaper columnist to the U.S. Cabinet. You really don't want columnists running the government. As any newspaper reporter can tell you, all newspaper columnists work maybe two hours a day and spend the rest of their time drinking martinis and misbehaving.

In addition to this deplorable professional life, Linda Chavez brings some truly unwelcome baggage to the position of labor secretary.

What is it about people who are drawn to one political extreme and then flip to the other? Chavez started out as a member of the Young People's Socialist League and now is on the conservative extreme of the Republican Party. You notice that many of the neo-conservatives have similar backgrounds -- there seems to be some personality affinity for true believership.

In the Bible, Job says he wishes that his enemy had written a book. A newspaper column works just as well.

As one of Chavez's admirers put it, "She embodies the term 'movement conservative.'" That's another way of saying "self-righteous zealot."

AUSTIN, Texas -- George W. Bush is threatening to give us an energy policy that marches militantly in exactly the wrong direction.

Bush's views on energy are still those of a West Texas oilman. He once ran for Congress from Midland because he thought Jimmy Carter was leading us toward "European-style socialism.'' What oilmen want for energy policy is Drill More.

At one point during a debate with Al Gore, Bush suggested we encourage drilling in Mexico to lessen our dependence on "foreign'' oil. Startled the Mexicans.

In addition to Bush, who took three oil companies into financial trouble, the new administration boasts Dick Cheney, CEO of Halliburton; Commerce Secretary Don Evans, chairman of Tom Brown oil; and Condoleezza Rice, a director of Chevron. Two of Bush's biggest donors are Ken Lay of Enron and energy player Sam Wyly, who put up the money for the phony ad praising Bush's environmental record.