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Occupy Columbus unanimous in support of union fight to repeal SB5
The Occupy Columbus General Assembly has voted unanimous support to the union fight to repeal SB5. This is the first specific issue the local group has formally endorsed. Occupy Columbus met for its weekly General Assembly at Bicentennial Park Amphitheater last night (October 18).
Other issues of concern but not yet formally adopted by the group include publicly funded elections, over-reaching corporate influence in politics, home foreclosures, extraordinary debt incurred by college students, and protecting social safety programs like Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, and programs for women, children, the elderly and the poor.
The group also authorized their legal team to continue talks with City officials to obtain a site for their occupation camp. So far the City has stonewalled requests. A request to City Council to intervene on the group’s behalf was denied on Monday night.
The Occupy Columbus General Assembly has voted unanimous support to the union fight to repeal SB5. This is the first specific issue the local group has formally endorsed. Occupy Columbus met for its weekly General Assembly at Bicentennial Park Amphitheater last night (October 18).
Other issues of concern but not yet formally adopted by the group include publicly funded elections, over-reaching corporate influence in politics, home foreclosures, extraordinary debt incurred by college students, and protecting social safety programs like Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, and programs for women, children, the elderly and the poor.
The group also authorized their legal team to continue talks with City officials to obtain a site for their occupation camp. So far the City has stonewalled requests. A request to City Council to intervene on the group’s behalf was denied on Monday night.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Floods have smothered much of Thailand, killing at least 317 people and prompting Bangkok to surround itself with makeshift walls, leaving those outside the perimeter to suffer from diverted water, reminiscent of medieval times when people dug moats and sealed off their fortress cities against plague, war and other calamities.
"We have been doing everything we can, but this is a big national crisis," Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra told reporters on Wednesday (Oct. 19).
"I'm begging for mercy from the media here," she said, after heavy criticism for her poorly coordinated response to the floods.
Bangkok is now a virtual island under siege from a relentless flow of brown water, strewn with garbage and chemicals, after three months of widespread monsoon rains and increasingly swollen rivers, all flushing alongside the capital and draining into the nearby Gulf of Thailand.
"We have been doing everything we can, but this is a big national crisis," Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra told reporters on Wednesday (Oct. 19).
"I'm begging for mercy from the media here," she said, after heavy criticism for her poorly coordinated response to the floods.
Bangkok is now a virtual island under siege from a relentless flow of brown water, strewn with garbage and chemicals, after three months of widespread monsoon rains and increasingly swollen rivers, all flushing alongside the capital and draining into the nearby Gulf of Thailand.
Nuclear Critics Say Containment Cracking May Be Cause for Public Concern - Press Conference Held in Toledo, OH
A growing Coalition of groups that opposes a 20-year operating license extension for the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant near Port Clinton says it is closely watching developments since the discovery last week of a 30-foot-long crack in the plant's reactor containment building. The cracking, which is being investigated by the utility and U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, has prompted critics to widen their opposition to the continued operation of Davis-Besse for the generation of electricity.
A growing Coalition of groups that opposes a 20-year operating license extension for the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant near Port Clinton says it is closely watching developments since the discovery last week of a 30-foot-long crack in the plant's reactor containment building. The cracking, which is being investigated by the utility and U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, has prompted critics to widen their opposition to the continued operation of Davis-Besse for the generation of electricity.
Mayor Michael Coleman is not allowing Occupy Columbus to convene for more than a day. As mayor, he should recognize the people's constitutional right to assemble. That's why I created a petition to Mayor Coleman on SignOn.org, which says: Let Mayor Coleman know we want our constitutional right to assemble to be recognized. Occupy Columbus is here to stay. Will you sign the petition? Click here to add your name, and then pass it along to your friends:
Mayor Coleman petition
Mayor Coleman petition
Show your support this afternoon around 5 by coming to Broad and High or city hall as we present a petition to Columbus City council for a long-term site for what would be essentially a tent city for Occupy Columbus.
If you can't make it to that, help out in any other way you can in the fight to defeat corporate rule, making our government more accountable to We the People. A better world is possible. We will graciously accept however much money or time you can spare, whatever talents you may have to share, and whatever else you can donate such as food, water---you name it. Showing up in-person is best, but you can visit our site at occupycolumbus.org or find us on Facebook.
Despite voting NO in May 1997 – you as a citizen of Columbus, Ohio, just helped purchase and now subsidize the Nationwide Arena! The Columbus City Council decided to defer to Mayor Michael Coleman and purchase Nationwide Arena pledging future casino tax revenue funds – already promised to the taxpayers of Columbus as the way to make our city, and particularly the west side, a better place to live. The Council bought the arena from the Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company on October 3, 2011.
Oddly, the Columbus Dispatch reported that “the vote authorized the administration of Mayor Michael B. Coleman to pledge a growing share of the city’s casino tax revenue to help the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority purchase [of] Nationwide Arena for $42.5 million, and to pay millions more to operate the arena through 2039.”
Oddly, the Columbus Dispatch reported that “the vote authorized the administration of Mayor Michael B. Coleman to pledge a growing share of the city’s casino tax revenue to help the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority purchase [of] Nationwide Arena for $42.5 million, and to pay millions more to operate the arena through 2039.”
October2011.org movement denounces the pollution of money from concentrated wealth.
Washington, DC: The October2011.org Movement that is occupying Freedom Plaza, led an impromptu march of 250 people up Pennsylvania Avenue to the U.S.Supreme Court where Dr. Cornel West climbed on the steps of the Supreme Court and denounced court decisions that have produced money-based elections that empower corporations. Dr. West was holding a sign that said "Poverty is the Greatest Violence of All." He was arrested because holding political signs on the Supreme Court steps is illegal.
Dr. West spoke to more than 500 people on Freedom Plaza where he said that "if Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were alive today, he would be on Freedom Plaza." West described how the struggle against, poverty, war and injustice continues and confidence that the people will succeed. He applauded the occupation as "an inclusive social revolution for all of us" and a "leaderless-leader-filled movement" where people are "finding their own political voices rather than echoing others."
Washington, DC: The October2011.org Movement that is occupying Freedom Plaza, led an impromptu march of 250 people up Pennsylvania Avenue to the U.S.Supreme Court where Dr. Cornel West climbed on the steps of the Supreme Court and denounced court decisions that have produced money-based elections that empower corporations. Dr. West was holding a sign that said "Poverty is the Greatest Violence of All." He was arrested because holding political signs on the Supreme Court steps is illegal.
Dr. West spoke to more than 500 people on Freedom Plaza where he said that "if Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were alive today, he would be on Freedom Plaza." West described how the struggle against, poverty, war and injustice continues and confidence that the people will succeed. He applauded the occupation as "an inclusive social revolution for all of us" and a "leaderless-leader-filled movement" where people are "finding their own political voices rather than echoing others."
On September 27, the Ohio Senate passed HB 63, an Ohio Right Right to Life (ORTL) bill to "tighten" up the procedures by which unmarried women in Ohio under the age of 18 can get an abortion without parental notification and consent. The passage of HB 63 is another tool to hack away at abortion access in the state. The bill, however, gives us the opportunity to expose the duplicitous nature of ORTL's fraudulent concerns about "informed consent" "parental involvement" and "best interests" of teen women.. Dubious at best, these bytes spewed out to the public are nullified by ORTL's sponsorship, support, and promotion of Ohio's "safe haven law," which encourages women-- and targets teens especially-- to hide pregnancies, give birth unattended, and to turn over their newborns anonymously to the state with no counseling, no parental involvement, and no health care, all under their "pro-life" banner.
JUDICIAL BYPASS
JUDICIAL BYPASS
In a historical upset, Toledo Green Party City Council candidate Anita Rios bested her Republican-endorsed challenger to advance from the primary to the general election in November. Rios came in second in District 4 with 15.49% of the votes and will go on to the general election in November against Democrat Paula Hicks-Hudson.
Of the 1,065 cast in District 4, Green Party candidate Anita Rios, finished second in the council primary with 165 votes. Sean Nestor, also a Green Party candidate for Toledo City Council, finished with 147 votes, bumping him out of the race with 8.48% of the District 6 votes.
Rios serves as Co-Chair of the Ohio Green Party and was the Ohio Lieutenant Governor candidate in 2006 and 2010. Anita was active in the Ohio recount after the November 2004 election, and served as the lead plaintiff in the Rios versus Blackwell lawsuit. Rios serves on the Green Party Central Committee for the Lucas County, is president of the Toledo chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW), and president of the Agnes Reynolds Jackson Fund. She is currently employed at the Center for Choice.
Of the 1,065 cast in District 4, Green Party candidate Anita Rios, finished second in the council primary with 165 votes. Sean Nestor, also a Green Party candidate for Toledo City Council, finished with 147 votes, bumping him out of the race with 8.48% of the District 6 votes.
Rios serves as Co-Chair of the Ohio Green Party and was the Ohio Lieutenant Governor candidate in 2006 and 2010. Anita was active in the Ohio recount after the November 2004 election, and served as the lead plaintiff in the Rios versus Blackwell lawsuit. Rios serves on the Green Party Central Committee for the Lucas County, is president of the Toledo chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW), and president of the Agnes Reynolds Jackson Fund. She is currently employed at the Center for Choice.
More music at our gatherings would help move the movement, as would bigger signs enable more people in passing autos to be able to read what we have to say. But on this blustery vivid fall afternoon, we at least had Steve Schoonover come down here from Michigan and sing something by Coner Oberst of Bright Eyes.
Schoonover said people are waking up, realizing the power of moral ideas.
“We need to have some moral respect for people in a way we haven’t in a long time.”
Schoonover said building a movement requires clarity about tactics, strategy, and specific goals, as well as set of values and attitudes on which to base that sort of planning.