Global
Very rarely does our government ask us what to have a war on. The proposal for missile strikes into Syria was a rare occasion when public pressure and other factors compelled Congress to demand a say. Public pressure then compelled Congress to say No.
But daily drone buzzings over various nations aren't occasions for public debate. We aren't being asked about another decade in Afghanistan or cooking up a future war on Iran. And our current president and his predecessor combined have wiped out eight wedding parties (six in Afghanistan, one in Iraq, and one in Yemen earlier this month) without our having ever been asked about any of them.
What if we were?
But daily drone buzzings over various nations aren't occasions for public debate. We aren't being asked about another decade in Afghanistan or cooking up a future war on Iran. And our current president and his predecessor combined have wiped out eight wedding parties (six in Afghanistan, one in Iraq, and one in Yemen earlier this month) without our having ever been asked about any of them.
What if we were?
With the year winding down, time is running out on the American effort in Afghanistan. Inaugurated over a decade ago, the climate abroad appears dampened with skepticism and the energy for war at home lessens every day. It is worth recalling that President Obama, when faced with Iraq and Afghanistan wars, regarded the latter as a confrontation of necessity. Yet this necessary appointment has come down to a most unfortunate set of circumstances, wherein the Obama administration must rely on a fickle partner to succeed.
The Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA), which stipulates the working relationship between U.S. interests and Afghan security forces after American troops scale back from Afghanistan, awaits the signature of President Hamid Karzai. As far as the U.S. is concerned, the agreement is ready to see implementation in 2014. In fact, last month the Loya Jirga even endorsed the BSA. Considering the Loya Jirga is a national assembly of Afghan elders, it would seem the agreement has nothing but smooth sailing ahead.
The Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA), which stipulates the working relationship between U.S. interests and Afghan security forces after American troops scale back from Afghanistan, awaits the signature of President Hamid Karzai. As far as the U.S. is concerned, the agreement is ready to see implementation in 2014. In fact, last month the Loya Jirga even endorsed the BSA. Considering the Loya Jirga is a national assembly of Afghan elders, it would seem the agreement has nothing but smooth sailing ahead.
Job Title: Field Organizer - SEIU District 1199 WV/KY/OH
Location: Columbus OH and Huntington WV (positions available throughout WV, KY, OH)
Apply for this job here:
https://careers-seiu.icims.com/jobs/1719/field-organizer----seiu-distri…
SUMMARY:
Field Organizers needed for full-time work in WV, Kentucky and Ohio with Head Start, with health care and social service employees. We offer competitive salaries and a full range of benefits.
Organizers empower workers to make gains in areas that matter to them and their families: wages, benefits, respect and a voice on the job. You’ll learn skills from some of the best organizers in the labor movement that can help people overcome difficult odds and win the power to change their lives. If you want to put your mind and heart to work in the cause of a better world, there’s a role for you in SEIU District 1199 WV/KY/OH.
DESCRIPTION:
A Field Organizer is responsible for:
Location: Columbus OH and Huntington WV (positions available throughout WV, KY, OH)
Apply for this job here:
https://careers-seiu.icims.com/jobs/1719/field-organizer----seiu-distri…
SUMMARY:
Field Organizers needed for full-time work in WV, Kentucky and Ohio with Head Start, with health care and social service employees. We offer competitive salaries and a full range of benefits.
Organizers empower workers to make gains in areas that matter to them and their families: wages, benefits, respect and a voice on the job. You’ll learn skills from some of the best organizers in the labor movement that can help people overcome difficult odds and win the power to change their lives. If you want to put your mind and heart to work in the cause of a better world, there’s a role for you in SEIU District 1199 WV/KY/OH.
DESCRIPTION:
A Field Organizer is responsible for:
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I never thought I'd be writing about online gaming, especially first person shooters. Today, I'm compelled to stop chilling with the rest of the grognards and play Paul Revere to the online gaming community's colonial Boston. The manual does not specify how many lanterns this one gets.
According to documents provided by Edward Snowden to the Guardian and other news outlets, the national security state has a long running series of programs designed to spy on gamers. Fearing that terrorists and other bad guys would be secretly communicating through virtual environments such as World of Warcraft and Second Life.
The projects, dating to at least 2007, sought to ferret out terrorists laundering money and planning attacks through virtual meet-ups utilizing online simulation environments, including those provided by X-Box Live.
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On Kevin Smith’s Fatman on Batman podcast last week, longtime Warner Bros./Cartoon Network writer and producer Paul Dini spoke up about studio pressure he’s felt lately to not only make sure cartoons appeal to boys but to actively exclude girls and, for that matter, older audiences of either gender. Why? Because they don’t buy action figures.
The subject came up in relation to Dini’s work on the just-cancelled Beware the Batman show on Cartoon Network. Prior to BtB Dini worked on two other two-season-wonder DC Comics-related superhero shows: Green Lantern: The Animated Series and Young Justice. In fact, Dini’s work on superhero cartoons goes back to the much-loved 90s classic Batman: The Animated Series, which brought a maturity to afternoon cartoons that the 80s had lacked. That series remained a huge influence on DC’s cartoons specifically and action cartoons in general until… Well, until now.
The big case in point is the new Teen Titans Go!, which takes the characters made popular in 2003’s alternately silly and serious Teen Titans cartoon and strips it all down to just the silliness. Why?
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On mornings like Dec. 12, when the temperature dips into the teens and his breath comes out in tiny white puffs, Mike Green often thinks about where he was a year ago. The 6-foot-6 wing for the Capital University men’s basketball team spent last season playing for Chaminade University in sunny Honolulu.
Fortunately for the Crusaders, those feelings come and go very quickly.
“I definitely miss Hawaii every now and then when it gets cold like this but overall I’m enjoying myself so much being back home in Columbus,” the Dublin Coffman High School graduate says with a chuckle. “I don’t miss it too often.”
Green has made his presence felt in his first seven games with the Crusaders. He has averaged 10.9 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.6 assists for Capital, 3- 5 overall and 1-2 in the Ohio Athletic Conference after losing to John Carroll University 81-67 on Dec. 14. Green scored 12 points on 5-for-9 shooting and had four rebounds while coming off the bench in the loss to the Blue Streaks.
Coach Damon Goodwin, the winningest coach in the program’s history, expects the junior to fill the role of being a tall wing for the Crusaders.
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People have a hard time believing Christian Holstein has a mild case of a fear of heights. After all, the Ohio State senior spends part of the day jumping off a platform that is three stories above a swimming pool.
“I’m scared of heights but the exhilaration of platform diving is amazing,” Holstein says. “I’ve done a lot of things in my life but you can never match that feeling. Once you do it, you’ll want to do it again. It’s a rush.”
The Upper Arlington High School graduate is returning to platform diving after spending most of his career with the Buckeyes focusing on 1-meter and 3-meter dives. In his first collegiate-level platform diving competition, Holstein placed eighth with 285.15 points at the five-team Ohio State Invitational on Nov. 22-24.
Holstein has continued to earn high marks on the 1-meter and 3-meter boards, earning Big Ten Diver of the Week honors on Nov. 5 and Nov. 26.
Holstein was first in the 3-meter (403.6) and second in the 1-meter (371.15) as the 10th ranked Buckeyes won the Ohio State Invitational. He placed first in a 3-meter (382.20) in a Nov.
“I’m dying to know what it’s like to love somebody — to know what it feels like to be wanted.” — Art Corneau
So we need a documentary to break the Code of Shame. It’s called A Hard Name and came out in 2009; it ran on Canadian public television. (The film is online but, unfortunately, can’t be viewed in the U.S. “due to rights restrictions.”) Director Alan Zweig found seven ex-prisoners — five men, two women — and just let them speak. The result was the opening of a raw wound: the public exposure of something so deeply hidden, so wrapped in cynical taboo, I could barely listen without screaming: Why?
I hadn’t been aware of the film until Dave Atkins of Prison Alpha Ministry in Ottawa wrote to me about it, in response to my recent column about the Hollow Water First Nation Reserve, in Manitoba, where in the 1980s residents began addressing the hidden matter of childhood sexual abuse that was shattering their tiny community. They began talking about it publicly — they had no choice. The secret stain of it was claiming the lives of their children, who were disappearing into the void of alcoholism and drug abuse.
So we need a documentary to break the Code of Shame. It’s called A Hard Name and came out in 2009; it ran on Canadian public television. (The film is online but, unfortunately, can’t be viewed in the U.S. “due to rights restrictions.”) Director Alan Zweig found seven ex-prisoners — five men, two women — and just let them speak. The result was the opening of a raw wound: the public exposure of something so deeply hidden, so wrapped in cynical taboo, I could barely listen without screaming: Why?
I hadn’t been aware of the film until Dave Atkins of Prison Alpha Ministry in Ottawa wrote to me about it, in response to my recent column about the Hollow Water First Nation Reserve, in Manitoba, where in the 1980s residents began addressing the hidden matter of childhood sexual abuse that was shattering their tiny community. They began talking about it publicly — they had no choice. The secret stain of it was claiming the lives of their children, who were disappearing into the void of alcoholism and drug abuse.
News media should illuminate conflicts of interest, not embody them. But the owner of the Washington Post is now doing big business with the Central Intelligence Agency, while readers of the newspaper’s CIA coverage are left in the dark.
The Post’s new owner, Jeff Bezos, is the founder and CEO of Amazon -- which recently landed a $600 million contract with the CIA. But the Post’s articles about the CIA are not disclosing that the newspaper’s sole owner is the main owner of CIA business partner Amazon.
Even for a multi-billionaire like Bezos, a $600 million contract is a big deal. That’s more than twice as much as Bezos paid to buy the Post four months ago.
And there’s likely to be plenty more where that CIA largesse came from. Amazon’s offer wasn’t the low bid, but it won the CIA contract anyway by offering advanced high-tech “cloud” infrastructure.
Bezos personally and publicly touts Amazon Web Services, and it’s evident that Amazon will be seeking more CIA contracts. Last month, Amazon issued a statement saying, “We look forward to a successful relationship with the CIA.”
The Post’s new owner, Jeff Bezos, is the founder and CEO of Amazon -- which recently landed a $600 million contract with the CIA. But the Post’s articles about the CIA are not disclosing that the newspaper’s sole owner is the main owner of CIA business partner Amazon.
Even for a multi-billionaire like Bezos, a $600 million contract is a big deal. That’s more than twice as much as Bezos paid to buy the Post four months ago.
And there’s likely to be plenty more where that CIA largesse came from. Amazon’s offer wasn’t the low bid, but it won the CIA contract anyway by offering advanced high-tech “cloud” infrastructure.
Bezos personally and publicly touts Amazon Web Services, and it’s evident that Amazon will be seeking more CIA contracts. Last month, Amazon issued a statement saying, “We look forward to a successful relationship with the CIA.”
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Thailand's U.S.-trained military appears to
support next February's endangered election, and oppose a right-wing
insurrection bent on destroying the government, seizing power,
blacklisting politicians, and cancelling the polls.
The blockades and sit-ins, mostly by Bangkok's wealthy and middle class, are also trying to prevent poorer urban and rural voters repeatedly electing politicians who the comparatively well-off protesters despise.
In some ways, the protesters can be perceived as Thailand's "opulent minority" against the working class, wrote analyst Apivat Hanvongse.
Another commentator said the goal of the insurrection is to clamp this poorly educated Southeast Asian country under a closed system of "elites electing elites to rule the majority."
Wedging itself into this split is the military.
Army generals, including some who participated in a bloodless 2006 coup, are mediating between the protesters' rich and loudly threatening leader, Suthep Thaugsuban, and the damaged government of Caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
The blockades and sit-ins, mostly by Bangkok's wealthy and middle class, are also trying to prevent poorer urban and rural voters repeatedly electing politicians who the comparatively well-off protesters despise.
In some ways, the protesters can be perceived as Thailand's "opulent minority" against the working class, wrote analyst Apivat Hanvongse.
Another commentator said the goal of the insurrection is to clamp this poorly educated Southeast Asian country under a closed system of "elites electing elites to rule the majority."
Wedging itself into this split is the military.
Army generals, including some who participated in a bloodless 2006 coup, are mediating between the protesters' rich and loudly threatening leader, Suthep Thaugsuban, and the damaged government of Caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.