Global
Image
The Lausche Center was the scene of two hard fought victories for Columbus' own hometown heroines on March 8 against 39th ranked Nashville's Music City Roller Girls. Both Ohio's charter team, the OHRG All Stars, and their B-Team, Gang Green, showed their tenacity and endurance as they fought their way to second half wins in front of a near capacity crowd of more than 750 cheering fans.
The first bout of the night saw the two all-star teams face off in what was slated to be a classic struggle of offense versus defense but turned into something very different. Nashville brought a solid offense built around jammers Chelsea Daggers and Ann T. Histamine as well as a new defensive tactic of stacking up on the inside line and blocking OHRG's jammers in tandem.
The first half began neck and neck through the eighteenth jam with the lead changing hands four times and the score nearly tied at 46 to 47 with Nashville in the lead. Nashville's Phantom Power scored 14 points during a power jam in the nineteenth with Ohio's Outta My Wayman in the penalty box and momentum shifting to Music City.
Image
On March 8th, the Ohio Roller Girls (OHRG) will begin their season with a slam. The season opener will be a home bout against Nashville Roller Girl and may be a classic struggle. OHRG has not played against Nashville since 2010 when they were defeated handily despite predictions of a victory. Nashville started the season ranked 39 in the world but lost their season opener to Evansville Indiana by nearly 50 points in a close contest.
Nashville has made it to the playoffs in the past but does not have the playoff record that OHRG does.
The bout looks to be a classic battle between offensive and defensive minded teams. According to OHRG nine year veteran Amy Spears, who skates under her own name, Nashville can be expected to rotate players through the jammer position. The Nashville team has “Veteran Skaters, this should be a good game.” Spears continued by saying their rotation tactics give their team “a lot of breadth.” Nashville does feature memorable offensive players, including jammer Four Leaf Roller, who was termed “Very Strong.”
22nd Ranked Ohio will focus on their defense according to both Spears and OHRG veteran Bratislava Bruiser, or Bruiser for short.
Image
Abbey Gray had a season she thought she could never top last year. As a sophomore for the Otterbein University women’s track and field team, Gray set school indoor records in the 60 meter dash (8.01 seconds) and 60 meter hurdles (9.14).
However it took Gray all of five meets this winter to reset those records. The graduate of Waynesfield-Goshen High School topped her hurdle record by running a 9.02 in a preliminary heat of the SPIRE Indoor Track and Field Championships Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 in Geneva, Ohio. She then reset the hurdle record (8.97) and the 60 dash record (7.98) at the All-Ohio meet Feb. 15 at Otterbein.
“When I came in as a freshman, I saw all the upper classmen and you think about being that good one day,” says Gray, who is ranked 11th nationally in the 60 hurdles in the Feb. 26 NCAA Division III Event Report. “To (have a school record) feels really incredible.”
This winter Gray has avoided the injuries that slowed her down her previous two seasons with Otterbein.
Image
Here’s something to make you feel old: It’s been 21 years since the movie Jurassic Park was released. It’s been 21 years since we learned that Velociraptors were truly the most terrifying of all dinosaurs, that Jeff Goldblum can only really play Jeff Goldblum, and that child endangerment is the most exciting plot hook of all. The special effects still hold up well today, even though paleontological research now suggests those terrifying raptors should have had some less terrifying feathery plumage.
There were two sequels made, both of which failed to live up to their predecessor in either quality or financial success. It’s been 13 years since the last sequel, Jurassic Park III, was released to lukewarm box office earnings and poor reviews.
Hollywood is all about taking advantage of nostalgia. Now that the nostalgia calendar is moving up into the 90s, home of Power Rangers, Pokémon and assorted oddball Nickelodeon cartoons, Universal has decided it’s time to take another shot at Jurassic Park.
Suddenly the crisis in Ukraine engulfs the US. As Russian troops move into Crimea, the White House goes into crisis management. Secretary of State Kerry takes off tyo the Ukrainian capital. Our media is barraged with 24/7 instant analyses. Republican Senators and retired generals call for moving American troops to the Polish-Russian border, placing missiles into the Czech Republic, dispatching a fleet to the black sea. Threats are issued and rhetoric escalates.
The Russian dispatch of armed forces to occupy Crimea is a direct and clear violation of basic international law. The moral force of America’s objection is weakened since we trampled international law ourselves in our unprovoked invasion of Iraq, but that does not justify the Russian invasion. The international community should speak clearly to condemn the invasion and to demand that the Putin regime remove Russian troops from the Crimea.
At the same time, the administration, increasingly bellicose Republican Senators and the legions of macho strategists should take a good look at reality.
The Russian dispatch of armed forces to occupy Crimea is a direct and clear violation of basic international law. The moral force of America’s objection is weakened since we trampled international law ourselves in our unprovoked invasion of Iraq, but that does not justify the Russian invasion. The international community should speak clearly to condemn the invasion and to demand that the Putin regime remove Russian troops from the Crimea.
At the same time, the administration, increasingly bellicose Republican Senators and the legions of macho strategists should take a good look at reality.
International law is suddenly very popular in Washington. President Obama responded to Russian military intervention in the Crimea by accusing Russia of a “breach of international law.” Secretary of State John Kerry followed up by declaring that Russia is “in direct, overt violation of international law.”
Unfortunately, during the last five years, no world leader has done more to undermine international law than Barack Obama. He treats it with rhetorical adulation and behavioral contempt, helping to further normalize a might-makes-right approach to global affairs that is the antithesis of international law.
Fifty years ago, another former law professor, Senator Wayne Morse, condemned such arrogance of power. “I don’t know why we think, just because we’re mighty, that we have the right to try to substitute might for right,” Morse said on national TV in 1964. “And that’s the American policy in Southeast Asia -- just as unsound when we do it as when Russia does it.”
Today, Uncle Sam continues to preen as the globe’s big sheriff on the side of international law even while functioning as the world’s biggest outlaw.
Unfortunately, during the last five years, no world leader has done more to undermine international law than Barack Obama. He treats it with rhetorical adulation and behavioral contempt, helping to further normalize a might-makes-right approach to global affairs that is the antithesis of international law.
Fifty years ago, another former law professor, Senator Wayne Morse, condemned such arrogance of power. “I don’t know why we think, just because we’re mighty, that we have the right to try to substitute might for right,” Morse said on national TV in 1964. “And that’s the American policy in Southeast Asia -- just as unsound when we do it as when Russia does it.”
Today, Uncle Sam continues to preen as the globe’s big sheriff on the side of international law even while functioning as the world’s biggest outlaw.
Is “regime change” in Ukraine the bridge too far for the neoconservative “regime changers” of Official Washington and their sophomoric “responsibility-to-protect” (R2P) allies in the Obama administration? Have they dangerously over-reached by pushing the putsch that removed duly-elected Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych?
Russian President Vladimir Putin has given an unmistakable “yes” to those questions – in deeds, not words. His message is clear: “Back off our near-frontier!”
Moscow announced on Saturday that Russia’s parliament has approved Putin’s request for permission to use Russia’s armed forces “on the territory of the Ukraine pending the normalization of the socio-political situation in that country.”
Putin described this move as necessary to protect ethnic Russians and military personnel stationed in Crimea in southern Ukraine, where the Russian Black Sea Fleet and other key military installations are located. But there is no indication that the Russian parliament has restricted the use of Russian armed forces to the Crimea.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has given an unmistakable “yes” to those questions – in deeds, not words. His message is clear: “Back off our near-frontier!”
Moscow announced on Saturday that Russia’s parliament has approved Putin’s request for permission to use Russia’s armed forces “on the territory of the Ukraine pending the normalization of the socio-political situation in that country.”
Putin described this move as necessary to protect ethnic Russians and military personnel stationed in Crimea in southern Ukraine, where the Russian Black Sea Fleet and other key military installations are located. But there is no indication that the Russian parliament has restricted the use of Russian armed forces to the Crimea.
Twisted thoughts madden my soul while on my own
Sporadic in its approach spun in my head bursting with
Emotions, raging fire strikes at my heart in wreckage
I cannot escape being felt yet I wish, to which magnitude
Of earthly possessions enough to seek them for I plea
The myopic vanity splits me aside from a heroic being
Ascent to the top I wish to stamp on the weaker ones
Antagonistic as I am as invincibility Marlowe’s Faustus
Relished, abruptly a thought that crossed my cognizance
How come I be probable to oversee the demise of our
Life a pivotal verity? Far along will lay the cupidity low
Neighboring us, and cart off from the materialism
Squeezed Human beings like an Octopus to an infinite
Journey for a finite sanitized time, having the faux wall
Of inequity broken down will scale us as one, for well
Or for shoddier like it’d reach us in point that we should
Conquer self-seeking; succumb to the life across the death
The Fracking world of gas and oil production gets considerable attention on the internet and newspapers. Locally, the Athens News and Athens Messenger also offer regular coverage and the coverage is not always just on local developments and issues. Fracking and related issues are being reported all across the U.S. Some of the news is about the booming output of shale gas and shale (or tight) oil and the economic benefits. But a lot of the reports are about the harmful health and environmental impacts. Among the latter, the well-justified concern about water use in fracking is particularly salient. Why? Just one drilling operation for shale gas may require from 2 million 4 million or more gallons of water, along with an array of chemicals, some known to be toxic, and a large quantity of sand.
Still, to be balanced in its coverage, the Athens Messenger reprinted an upbeat editorial from Bloomberg.org (2-27-14) on how the shale gas industry is on the way to employing recycling methods to reduce the amount of water the industry uses in the fracking process. (Source)
Still, to be balanced in its coverage, the Athens Messenger reprinted an upbeat editorial from Bloomberg.org (2-27-14) on how the shale gas industry is on the way to employing recycling methods to reduce the amount of water the industry uses in the fracking process. (Source)
On Friday, Feb 14, 92 prisoners escaped from their prison in the Libyan town of Zliten. 19 of them were eventually recaptured, two of whom were wounded in clashes with the guards. It was just another daily episode highlighting the utter chaos which has engulfed Libya since the overthrow of Muammar Ghaddafi in 2011.
Much of this is often reported with cliché explanations as in the country’s ‘security vacuum’, or Libya’s lack of a true national identity. Indeed, tribe and region seem to supersede any other affiliation, but it is hardly that simple.
On that same Friday, Feb 14, Maj. Gen. Khalifa Hifter announced a coup in Libya. “The national command of the Libyan Army is declaring a movement for a new road map” (to rescue the country), Hifter declared through a video post. Oddly enough, little followed by way of a major military deployment in any part of the country. The country’s Prime Minister Ali Zeidan described the attempted coup as “ridiculous”.
Much of this is often reported with cliché explanations as in the country’s ‘security vacuum’, or Libya’s lack of a true national identity. Indeed, tribe and region seem to supersede any other affiliation, but it is hardly that simple.
On that same Friday, Feb 14, Maj. Gen. Khalifa Hifter announced a coup in Libya. “The national command of the Libyan Army is declaring a movement for a new road map” (to rescue the country), Hifter declared through a video post. Oddly enough, little followed by way of a major military deployment in any part of the country. The country’s Prime Minister Ali Zeidan described the attempted coup as “ridiculous”.