Global
On last Tuesday October 8 at 10:00 a.m. the day that the United States Supreme Court was hearing oral arguments on McCutcheon vs. FEC, Ohio PIRG held a press conference outside the Ohio Supreme Court on Front Street, just south of W. Broad Street in downtown Columbus. Speaking at the press conference were representatives of Ohio PIRG, Common Cause, Move to Amend, Communication Workers of America, and the Sierra Club.
Alabama political donor Shaun McCutcheon has asked the court to strike down the overall limit on what an individual can give to federal candidates, parties, and PACs in a two year election cycle. That limit currently stands at $123,200 – over twice the average household income in the U.S. In 2012, only 1,219 donors came within 10% of hitting the aggregate limit. New research from U.S. PIRG and Demos projects that if the limit is lifted, this small set of donors would raise their giving and inject an additional $1 billion in campaign contributions through the 2020 elections.
Alabama political donor Shaun McCutcheon has asked the court to strike down the overall limit on what an individual can give to federal candidates, parties, and PACs in a two year election cycle. That limit currently stands at $123,200 – over twice the average household income in the U.S. In 2012, only 1,219 donors came within 10% of hitting the aggregate limit. New research from U.S. PIRG and Demos projects that if the limit is lifted, this small set of donors would raise their giving and inject an additional $1 billion in campaign contributions through the 2020 elections.
The shutdown is has ended. But is the corporate takeover of our political system no longer an issue? During the past couple of years, hundreds of schools have been closed around the country and programs such as Food Stamps are under attack as the budgets of cities, states and the federal government are squeezed while as much as hundreds of billions of dollars of revenue, maybe more, are lost to tax havens, high-end tax evasion, and tax cuts for the uber-rich and companies that have replaced American workers with low-wage workers in other countries, some of whom are essentially slaves.
Cleveland fans have lived with the Indians name and logo for decades, but it is time to wake up and confront the fact that "Chief Wahoo" is a racist symbol that does real harm to real people. Why do something about it now? Because the logo should have been eliminated years ago. This isn't about "political correctness," it's about respect for fellow humans.
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Cleveland Baseball has a rich and storied history spanning more than a century: from Bob Feller to Rocky Colavito, from Municipal Stadium to The Jake, from 455 to Tom Hamilton and "the corner of Carnegie and Ontario." We broke the color line in the American League in 1947, the year before we won our second World Series. As we write the next chapter of Cleveland Baseball history, let's not pass on a racist legacy to future generations of fans.
Sign Petition<?a>
Cleveland Baseball has a rich and storied history spanning more than a century: from Bob Feller to Rocky Colavito, from Municipal Stadium to The Jake, from 455 to Tom Hamilton and "the corner of Carnegie and Ontario." We broke the color line in the American League in 1947, the year before we won our second World Series. As we write the next chapter of Cleveland Baseball history, let's not pass on a racist legacy to future generations of fans.
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As a sophomore at Upper Arlington High School, few things held more terror for Maddie Spielman than her public speaking/debate class.
“It was really a burden for me,” Maddie says with a laugh. “I’d get these sweaty palms every time I had to speak in front of my class.”
These days Maddie doesn’t have time for such anxiety attacks. During October, National Breast Cancer Awareness month, Maddie often is in front of groups two to three times a week as she carries on the message of her mother, cancer crusader Stefanie Spielman.
The Ohio State sophomore, who is majoring in communications, says she discovered a new-found courage to become a spokesperson for the Stefanie Spielman Fund for Breast Cancer Research after her mother passed away on Nov. 19, 2009. Maddie is becoming the face of the organization that has raised over $13 million dollars for cancer research, appearing in Kroger ads with her father Chris and Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer and in Donato’s ads with chairman Jane Grote Abell.
“If someone would’ve told me I’d be doing this four years ago, I would’ve laughed but something seemed to click,” Maddie says.
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Women have been a part of geek culture since Marie Curie, Ada Lovelace and the fandom that sprung up around the original Star Trek. Women drive many fan communities, especially in fan fiction and on social sites such asTumblr. But on the internet and at conventions, outside of their own female-run communities, women are subjected to men accusing them of being “fake geek girls” who they imagine are driven to clad themselves in superhero spandex for male attention. The population of women involved in geek culture is only growing, but attending public events opens them up to criticism and ridicule from men who feel the ladies are muscling in on “their” turf. What's a geek girl to do?
In 2011 a group of women determined to give others a safe place to geek out founded GeekGirlCon. Every October in Seattle, WA the convention brings together people from the entire spectrum to celebrate the things we love – be it Star Trek, Doctor Who, superheroes or anything else that inspires what others might see as just a bit too much enthusiasm – in a safe place where all experiences are embraced and celebrated.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- The Dalai Lama said he supports the use of
medical marijuana, but if a person smokes the plant to get "a crazy
mind, that's not good."
Tenzin Gyatso, the self-exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader, made the remarks in Mexico in response to a question during an event hosted by former Mexican president Vicente Fox.
When asked if he favors legalization of marijuana, the Dalai Lama replied that "the exception" would be for medical purposes, according to Agence France-Presse.
"But otherwise, if it's just an issue of somebody [using the drug to have] a crazy mind, that's not good," he said on Tuesday (Oct. 15) at the outdoor event in Guanajuato state.
Fox "laughed when the question was asked to the Dalai Lama," AFP reported.
The former president is a vocal supporter of marijuana's legalization to cut "a major revenue stream for ultra-violent drug cartels," according to AFP.
The Dalai Lama, 78, is not known to use marijuana for any illness.
In 2008, he underwent laparoscopic surgery to have a gallstone removed, his spokesman Chhime R. Chhoekyapa said at the time.
Tenzin Gyatso, the self-exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader, made the remarks in Mexico in response to a question during an event hosted by former Mexican president Vicente Fox.
When asked if he favors legalization of marijuana, the Dalai Lama replied that "the exception" would be for medical purposes, according to Agence France-Presse.
"But otherwise, if it's just an issue of somebody [using the drug to have] a crazy mind, that's not good," he said on Tuesday (Oct. 15) at the outdoor event in Guanajuato state.
Fox "laughed when the question was asked to the Dalai Lama," AFP reported.
The former president is a vocal supporter of marijuana's legalization to cut "a major revenue stream for ultra-violent drug cartels," according to AFP.
The Dalai Lama, 78, is not known to use marijuana for any illness.
In 2008, he underwent laparoscopic surgery to have a gallstone removed, his spokesman Chhime R. Chhoekyapa said at the time.
Remarks at New York University forum with NYACT.net
The primary problem with weaponized drones is that the weapons murder people. And they murder people in a way that looks more like murder to a lot of observers than other forms of military murder do -- such as murder by indiscriminate bombing or artillery or infantry or dropping white phosphorous on people. When President Obama looks through a list of men, women, and children at a Tuesday terror meeting, and picks which ones to murder, and has them murdered, you can call it a war or not call it a war, but it begins to look to a lot of people like murder.
The primary problem with weaponized drones is that the weapons murder people. And they murder people in a way that looks more like murder to a lot of observers than other forms of military murder do -- such as murder by indiscriminate bombing or artillery or infantry or dropping white phosphorous on people. When President Obama looks through a list of men, women, and children at a Tuesday terror meeting, and picks which ones to murder, and has them murdered, you can call it a war or not call it a war, but it begins to look to a lot of people like murder.
After the nebulous, ill-planned government crisis that occupied the airwaves over the past few weeks, business has assumed its normal course inside the beltway. Some legislators are hopeful about the future, others remain skeptical, but one thing is for certain; Democrats on the Hill will continue to miss the ball.
The public was so relieved that Republicans decided to release their hostages after painstaking stubbornness that many failed to realize one question had gone unasked. How much will government be spending when it opens? The answer is as simple as it is startling. Today the government is operating at sequester spending levels, despite a chance to change that lugubrious narrative. Of course, this news won’t cause Republicans to blink. The larger question is why Democrats refused to even raise the issue when it stared at them from across the aisle. To add to an already grim track record, the negotiating position was one demarked by immediate concession.
The public was so relieved that Republicans decided to release their hostages after painstaking stubbornness that many failed to realize one question had gone unasked. How much will government be spending when it opens? The answer is as simple as it is startling. Today the government is operating at sequester spending levels, despite a chance to change that lugubrious narrative. Of course, this news won’t cause Republicans to blink. The larger question is why Democrats refused to even raise the issue when it stared at them from across the aisle. To add to an already grim track record, the negotiating position was one demarked by immediate concession.
When the State Department revoked Edward Snowden’s passport four months ago, the move was a reprisal from a surveillance-and-warfare state that operates largely in the shadows. Top officials in Washington were furious. Snowden had suddenly exposed what couldn’t stand the light of day, blowing the cover of the world’s Biggest Brother.
Cancelation of the passport wasn’t just an effort to prevent the whistleblower from getting to a country that might grant political asylum. It was also a declaration that the U.S. government can nullify the right to travel just as surely as it can nullify the right to privacy.
“Although I am convicted of nothing,” Snowden said in a July 1 statement after a week at a Moscow airport terminal, the U.S. government “has unilaterally revoked my passport, leaving me a stateless person. Without any judicial order, the administration now seeks to stop me exercising a basic right. A right that belongs to everybody. The right to seek asylum.”
Cancelation of the passport wasn’t just an effort to prevent the whistleblower from getting to a country that might grant political asylum. It was also a declaration that the U.S. government can nullify the right to travel just as surely as it can nullify the right to privacy.
“Although I am convicted of nothing,” Snowden said in a July 1 statement after a week at a Moscow airport terminal, the U.S. government “has unilaterally revoked my passport, leaving me a stateless person. Without any judicial order, the administration now seeks to stop me exercising a basic right. A right that belongs to everybody. The right to seek asylum.”