Global
When video of the October 14th edition of Thom Hartmann's TV show appears online (here) it will include him asking me to justify not attacking Hitler. Thom has asked me this repeatedly during multiple appearances on his show, each time a little differently, and each time provocatively. He's right to ask it, and he's been right in some of the answers he's helped provide in the asking.
Without Hitler, the U.S. military would collapse.
For 68 years, wars on poor countries have been justified by the pretended discovery of Hitler's reincarnation. Each time it has turned out to be a false alarm. Every post-WWII war looks disastrous or at least dubious in retrospect to most people. And yet, the justification of the next war is always ready to hand, because the real, original Hitler remains alive in our memories, and he just might come back -- who's to say?
Actually, I think anyone vaguely aware of basic facts about the current world ought to be able to say that Hitler is gone for good.
How do I justify not going to war with Hitler, beyond explaining that Assad isn't Hitler, Gadaffi isn't Hitler, Hussein isn't Hitler, and so on?
Without Hitler, the U.S. military would collapse.
For 68 years, wars on poor countries have been justified by the pretended discovery of Hitler's reincarnation. Each time it has turned out to be a false alarm. Every post-WWII war looks disastrous or at least dubious in retrospect to most people. And yet, the justification of the next war is always ready to hand, because the real, original Hitler remains alive in our memories, and he just might come back -- who's to say?
Actually, I think anyone vaguely aware of basic facts about the current world ought to be able to say that Hitler is gone for good.
How do I justify not going to war with Hitler, beyond explaining that Assad isn't Hitler, Gadaffi isn't Hitler, Hussein isn't Hitler, and so on?
Although I am an adoptee rights activist I seldom read adoption books outside of topics I have a specific interest in. I almost always avoid memoirs. To be honest, most are awful. It may be good therapy to write your adoption story, but please leave it in your desk drawer!
Michael Allen Potter's The Last Invisible Continent: Essays on Adoption and Identity is quite a different story. I've been familiar with Mike's work for several years. I knew this book (currently on Kindle) would be important.
Unlike the typical weepy adoption memoir this one is hard and gritty. It's of the street, but also of the heart. Mike doesn't pull any punches about his mother's mental illness, his battle with alcohol, or his rotten adoption, which he discusses almost in passing, though it it obviously the core of his essays. He calls his work "brutal yet equatable.”
Michael Allen Potter's The Last Invisible Continent: Essays on Adoption and Identity is quite a different story. I've been familiar with Mike's work for several years. I knew this book (currently on Kindle) would be important.
Unlike the typical weepy adoption memoir this one is hard and gritty. It's of the street, but also of the heart. Mike doesn't pull any punches about his mother's mental illness, his battle with alcohol, or his rotten adoption, which he discusses almost in passing, though it it obviously the core of his essays. He calls his work "brutal yet equatable.”
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.
By now, most Americans know that fast-food employees like me can’t make ends meet on the low wages we make. What they might not know is that because employers like McDonald's, Wendy's, and Burger King refuse to pay us a living wage, the cost of our basic healthcare and basic needs are transferred to taxpayers in the form of public assistance.
The American people shouldn't be forced to underwrite the profits of fast-food companies that refuse to pay workers a fair, living wage. That's why I started my own campaign on CREDOMobilize.com, which allows activists to start their own petitions. My petition, which is to McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, Domino's, Subway, and Papa John's, says the following:
The American people shouldn't be forced to underwrite the profits of fast-food companies that refuse to pay workers a fair, living wage. That's why I started my own campaign on CREDOMobilize.com, which allows activists to start their own petitions. My petition, which is to McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, Domino's, Subway, and Papa John's, says the following:
On October 15 in partnership with USA Today The Ohio State University (OSU) sponsored the third in a series of panels by the Bipartisan Policy Center's Commission on Political Reform. The Center intends to hold a series of town hall style meetings to build the appearance of national consensus around policy recommendations they intend to offer Congress and the President in 2014. The event took place on the same day that the Center and USA Today released a joint poll claiming that most Americans support the Center's conclusions.
The event featured two panels, each with a moderator who asked questions, and took written and vetted questions from the audience and the internet. Questioners were required to list their affiliation along with their name on the tiny question sheets. Unscripted questions from the press and audience were not permitted during the panels. Broadcast teams from C-SPAN and a Los Angles based media outlet that declined to identify itself covered the event. The Lantern, the OSU student paper with advertising and business departments operated by USA TODAY, also ran a story on the event.
The event featured two panels, each with a moderator who asked questions, and took written and vetted questions from the audience and the internet. Questioners were required to list their affiliation along with their name on the tiny question sheets. Unscripted questions from the press and audience were not permitted during the panels. Broadcast teams from C-SPAN and a Los Angles based media outlet that declined to identify itself covered the event. The Lantern, the OSU student paper with advertising and business departments operated by USA TODAY, also ran a story on the event.
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For a country that prides itself on the transparency with which it governs, the United States has suffered a few too many hiccups of late. Even by the standards of many politically unfastened observers, revelations concerning the data collection behavior of the National Security Agency were enough to raise eyebrows. No matter where one comes down on the timeless debate between civil liberties and national security, transparency was forfeited in the interim. Now, due to the vigilance of UN investigator Ben Emmerson, another spotlight will be directed toward a controversial American operation: drone strikes.
In a freshly released report, Emmerson outlines a demand for the United States to make its drone program more transparent as it relates to civilian casualties. A policy carried out by the CIA, drone strikes are not known for their propensity to operate in a transparent manner. Indeed, many in the international community have called upon the U.S. to make this shift in the direction of clarity before.
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Area dynasties look to keep playoff dominance going
As the shadows grow longer in October, high school teams prepare for their runs in the state tournaments. Certain schools’ names pop up again and again as the teams to beat in their prospective sports: Columbus Academy in field hockey, DeSales in football, Newark Catholic in girls volleyball, Upper Arlington in girls tennis and Worthington Christian in boys soccer to mention a few.
How are these teams able to make their mark in the postseason year after year?
The answer could be as simple as one word: tradition.
DESALES FOOTBALL
Last October seemed a little bit colder for coach Ryan Wiggins and the DeSales football team.
After finishing 5-5 overall, the Stallions were left out of the Division III playoffs, snapping an 18-year string of consecutive playoff berths for DeSales.
“It was very different when the playoffs are going on and your team is not in the discussion,” says Wiggins, whose team suffered two triple overtime losses last year. “We were knocking at the door but we didn’t get in.”
There have been seasons when a .500 finish could get the Stallions into the playoffs.
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Pokemon has been a mainstay for Nintendo's handheld video game systems since its 1996 Japanese debut. It may be single-handedly responsible for the company's domination of the handheld market against challenges from Sony throughout the last decade. For every new iteration of their portable consoles, from the Game Boy series to the newer DS series, they've always brought a Pokemon game (though never at launch). So it was inevitable that Nintendo would release a Pokemon game for their newest handheld system, the 3DS. Pokemon games are always released in pairs, and the latest iterations, X & Y, were notably released on the same day worldwide, a first for the Japanese-created series. Now that it's finally been released, does it live up to the legacy?
The popularity of the turn-based role playing game series owes a lot to its broad appeal. The monsters you collect in-game to do battle for you are mostly colorful and cartoonish, easily translated into anime movies and plush toys.
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It's rare to hear something nerdy and not have it be an insulting joke or at best a great parody. Austin Texas resident Damp Heat shatters the artifacts of old with his 18 track hip-hop album “The Lich.” The concept album recounts a fairly standard tale of a Dungeons and Dragons adventure from first meeting to final confrontation.
Listening to tracks on this album, which came highly recommended by my old Dungeon Master, one of the team at clawclawbite.com, it is clear this artist both loves and plays his D&D. Much D&D related media, even by players, is parody. The parody pandemic is so pervasive I can no longer cast magic missile without using “that” voice. If you play you know which one. Much nerd parody in media is fun, and full of inside jokes, but most of us don't live the life portrayed in Weird Al's “White and Nerdy.”
The Album begins with a joyous party track called Tavern. The track is fun and upbeat. It also has multiple voices raping from a first person perspective and they sound the way a group of adventurers would if adventurers meeting in a Tavern and embarking on a perilous quest actually rapped.
Before Fox News, there was the Daily Mail. If Fox News is a howling Tea Partier, the Daily Mail is his even more insane great uncle, the old master, the one who invented the game. For over a century they have printed stories to support their fantasy dreamland of ordinary white Britain being besieged by homosexuality, immigration, socialism, and, damn and blast, wind farms. Their incendiary covers, each a screaming declaration of impending doom for British society as we know it, are infamous. But for the last fortnight the senile, deluded grandpa of classic British misanthropy has kicked up an almighty fuss, just to remind us that he's still in the game, and that he's still got teeth.
Conference season has just passed, and Ed Miliband, leader of the Labour party, announced that if he was elected Prime Minister in 2015 he would freeze all energy prices for 20 months. This essentially 'won' the conference season for him; it shored up the left of his party after a difficult summer, overshadowed would-be damaging headlines about old party skulduggery in which Miliband was partly involved, and trumped the Conservatives' own offerings, which were either tawdry or bizarre.
Conference season has just passed, and Ed Miliband, leader of the Labour party, announced that if he was elected Prime Minister in 2015 he would freeze all energy prices for 20 months. This essentially 'won' the conference season for him; it shored up the left of his party after a difficult summer, overshadowed would-be damaging headlines about old party skulduggery in which Miliband was partly involved, and trumped the Conservatives' own offerings, which were either tawdry or bizarre.