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Now the concept of the major label event has been going on for decades at this point, and the ploy is always pretty simple — rope readers in for a core six or seven issue main series, force them to buy a slew of off-shoot issues to keep up with the story, eventually kill a major character (who will be brought back to life soon enough) and then lead that major event into the next major event.
It's a cheap tactic that comic book publishers have been at for years, but these are almost always the biggest and best stories with the most character impact so we are forced to pay attention and more often than not we get some amazing writing and spectacular art to help along with the ride.
Let's break down the three major events going on at DC and Marvel, with a little back story on each and then hopefully send you to your local comic book store excited to check out at least one, if not all, of these event titles.
Beyond his extensive body of work, Saul will be remembered for his steely nerve and caustic wit. “He stood up to dictators, right-wing Cuban assassins, pompous politicians, and critics from both the left and the right,” said IPS Director John Cavanagh. “When he believed in something, nobody could make him back down. Those who tried would typically find themselves on the receiving end of a withering but humorous insult.”
The president’s proposed military strike targets a government that has neither attacked nor threatened to attack us or our allies. Obama did so without any intent to get congressional approval and before any evidence was made public. He and the Secretary of State announced the attack without regard to clear international law which bars the unprovoked attacks on sovereign nations.
We are told, Trust me. I’ve made the decision.
Does this remind you of anyone? The president is Barack Obama but the words sound just like those of former President George W. Bush before the 2003 Iraq invasion.
But new variables have opened up possibilities for disrupting the repetitive plunge to war. Syria is in the crosshairs of U.S. firepower, but cracks in the political machinery of the warfare state are widening here at home. For advocates of militarism and empire by any other name, the specter of democratic constraint looms as an ominous threat.
Into the Capitol Hill arena, the Obama White House sent Secretary of State John Kerry to speak in a best-and-brightest dialect of neocon tongues. The congressional hierarchies of both parties -- Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, John Boehner, Eric Cantor -- are on the same page for an attack on Syria. And meanwhile, the U.S. mass media have been cranking up the usual adrenalin-pumped hype for war.
For more than two years President Assad of Syria has led the slaughter of his own population without remorse. Approximately 100,000 people have been killed by the regime and over one million children alone have been forced to flee the state. These numbers by themselves are staggering and deserve due attention. When a leader of any state commits these kinds of atrocities against his own people it becomes a moral imperative to intervene. Further, this imperative should strike us at our core not as merely citizens of America, but as members of the human race.
That book has sold more than any of my others, and I like to think it's contributed some teeny bit to the remarkable and very welcome skepticism that is greeting the U.S. government's current claims about Syria. The fact is that, were the White House telling the truth about the need for an attack on Syria, it would be a first in history. Every other case for war has always been dishonest.
Obama appears to be sinking deeper into his war- making plan on Syria. He has probably gone too far to reverse the momentum toward a military strike for which he and his administration are most responsible. But many in Congress seem eager to jump on the bandwagon. Obama worries about his credibility and the credibility of the nation's military might and power to intimidate.
But a diplomatic option is right there, right now, within talking distance, at the G-20 meeting taking place in St. Petersburg, Russia. The US and Russia are the key actors in the terrible Syrian "civil war." They each have important allies - proxies - in the Middle East Region. What could they do? They could influence their respective allies to stop the flow of weapons into Syria. For example, Russia could stops arming Assad. The US could use its considerable influence to stop Saudi Arabia and Qatar from sending arms to its favored "rebel" groups.
This is the time, as the next war strains to be born, amid the same old lies as last time, amid the same urgency and pseudo-debate and pretensions of seriousness:
The government of Syria has crossed a “red line.” It has used poison gas, killing hundreds of innocent people and committing a heinous war crime. And suddenly, clear as a bell, we have good vs. evil. Our only course of action, President Obama and his spokespersons tell us, is to “carry out a punitive strike against the Syrian government.”
Columbus will once again be the center of soccer in America in a few short weeks. For the fourth time at Crew Stadium, the United States men's soccer team will face off against bitter rival Mexico with a place in the World Cup on the line. The best soccer players from both countries will face off in the most hotly contested game in the region.
The Americans track record against Mexico in Columbus is sterling. Three games played, three 2-0 wins. The U.S. defeated “El Triâ” in the bitter cold of an Ohio winter in 2001, a game that was dubbed “La Guerra Friaâ.” The Mexicans, unused to temperatures in the 20s and surrounded by a rowdy pro U.S. crowd, lost to the U.S. in a World Cup Qualifier for the first time since 1980. The Americans duplicated the feat in 2005 and 2009. The scoreline has even created a phrase. "Dos-a-Cero" has spurred supporters' chants and t-shirts to celebrate the U.S. success in Columbus.