Global
As the month of March unfolds we find ourselves looking forward to the many changes of spring. We witness warmer weather and disappearing snow drifts, spring break and the break out of shorts and sandals. Unfortunately for many Ohioans, there is one change that we are not seeing. Dog auctions, a spectacle banned in many states, continue to take place. Dog auctions function to trade breeding stock between puppy millers and act as a means for millers to dump unprofitable pups and females. These auctions take place every month in Farmerstown Ohio, drawing shady breeders from across the nation. The next Ohio dog auction is set for March 27th and expects over 300 dogs to be bartered off.
Susan Harman, who by now deserves some kind of medal and who will be joining in a protest of John Yoo on March 19th, questioned Jay Bybee yesterday about his crimes. Here's her report:
-
"Yesterday Jay Bybee sat with the 9th Circuit as they modeled appellate court for 140 law students at the University of NV's law school in Las Vegas. I sent out a plea to PDA's Vegas list of edresses, and about 10 people responded. Of them, two showed up with signs and we handed out Impeach Bybee postcards and talked with the law students as they waited to get through security to go inside. I was appalled at their ignorance and/or lack of outrage. Two older students said he was a friend (he lives in Henderson, just outside Vegas), and a young one said his parents were friends of Bybee.
"We finally got inside, and listened quietly to the cases, as usual. We were ready to speak out at the end, but instead they announced they would hold a Q&A for the students. We moved down to the second row, and I asked the first question:
The specter of Arthur Shapiro continues to haunt Columbus, Ohio. A partner in the prominent Columbus law firm Schwartz, Shapiro, Kelm, and Warren that represented transnational corporations like The Limited, Shapiro took two bullets in the head 25 years ago in a Mob-style slaying.
Columbus' daily monopoly, owned by the conservative Wolfe family, ran a bizarre front page Metro section article entitled: "25-year-old killing still puzzles." The intent of the Dispatch's article is clear by the second paragraph: "Twenty-five years later, the slaying remains unsolved, but investigators point to the same man they suspected from the beginning."
The paper points its finger at the late Berry L. Kessler who died while incarcerated in 2005. The fact that the late sheriff of Franklin County Earl Smith had other more distinguished suspects, as did the state's former inspector general, a former city of Columbus safety director, as well as sources in the FBI and IRS, eludes the self-proclaimed "Ohio's Greatest Home Newspaper."
Columbus' daily monopoly, owned by the conservative Wolfe family, ran a bizarre front page Metro section article entitled: "25-year-old killing still puzzles." The intent of the Dispatch's article is clear by the second paragraph: "Twenty-five years later, the slaying remains unsolved, but investigators point to the same man they suspected from the beginning."
The paper points its finger at the late Berry L. Kessler who died while incarcerated in 2005. The fact that the late sheriff of Franklin County Earl Smith had other more distinguished suspects, as did the state's former inspector general, a former city of Columbus safety director, as well as sources in the FBI and IRS, eludes the self-proclaimed "Ohio's Greatest Home Newspaper."
We owe the residents of the tiny island paradise called Vieques full compensation for the illnesses they are suffering courtesy of the U.S. Navy — and we owe them so much more than that.
We owe them a full accounting of what was done to their Manhattan-sized island, about 10 miles off the coast of Puerto Rico (the island is part of Puerto Rico and hence part of the United States) between 1941 and 2003, when it served as the Navy’s premiere weapons testing site. Bombs were dropped and guns were tested on the eastern portion of the island at least 200 days out of the year for 62 years; an estimated 80 million tons of ordnance pummeled the island’s fragile, tropical ecosystem over that time, contaminating soil, water and air, and bequeathing an array of serious health problems — cancer, birth defects, cirrhosis of the liver and much more — to the island’s 10,000 residents.
We owe them a full accounting of what was done to their Manhattan-sized island, about 10 miles off the coast of Puerto Rico (the island is part of Puerto Rico and hence part of the United States) between 1941 and 2003, when it served as the Navy’s premiere weapons testing site. Bombs were dropped and guns were tested on the eastern portion of the island at least 200 days out of the year for 62 years; an estimated 80 million tons of ordnance pummeled the island’s fragile, tropical ecosystem over that time, contaminating soil, water and air, and bequeathing an array of serious health problems — cancer, birth defects, cirrhosis of the liver and much more — to the island’s 10,000 residents.
There is a saying that there is nothing wrong with being knocked down, but it is when it becomes more comfortable being down than getting back up it is time to give up. For several decades, the American workers keeps getting knocked down as corporation after corporation move good, middle class jobs to third-world companies claiming poverty, even at a time when companies are reaching record profits. But the Whirlpool workers at the Evansville, Indiana plant, along with over 5,000 other working Americans, stood back up and decided they don't want to be knocked down anymore.
A rally hosted by the IUE-CWA and led by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka took place Friday, Feb. 26 with a simple message: The American Middle Class is being eroded by corporate greed.
"Whirlpool is a bad corporate citizen who is twisting this country's desire to reduce energy usage and using it to export jobs. We are pushing hard to ensure that good intentions on going green don't help fund loss of good manufacturing jobs," said IUE-CWA President Jim Clark.
A rally hosted by the IUE-CWA and led by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka took place Friday, Feb. 26 with a simple message: The American Middle Class is being eroded by corporate greed.
"Whirlpool is a bad corporate citizen who is twisting this country's desire to reduce energy usage and using it to export jobs. We are pushing hard to ensure that good intentions on going green don't help fund loss of good manufacturing jobs," said IUE-CWA President Jim Clark.
Tomorrow, Thursday, March 24th, Congressman Dennis Kucinich plans to introduce a privileged resolution to end the Afghan War. The resolution requires that the House debate, within the next week, the continuing war in Afghanistan, now the second longest war in American history.
While we may not win a majority vote in the House on this first go-round, and would still have to get past the Senate and the President (a good time if ever there was one to throw Scylla and Charybdis into a blog), we will completely change the conversation and put many congress members on record claiming to oppose the war. While the president can send congressional Democrats out to fall on their swords for unpopular wars and healthcare mandates, they may be less willing to do so if the end of their careers is held up to their noses. To keep their careers alive, congress members in progressive districts will have to claim to oppose the war in/on Afghanistan.
While we may not win a majority vote in the House on this first go-round, and would still have to get past the Senate and the President (a good time if ever there was one to throw Scylla and Charybdis into a blog), we will completely change the conversation and put many congress members on record claiming to oppose the war. While the president can send congressional Democrats out to fall on their swords for unpopular wars and healthcare mandates, they may be less willing to do so if the end of their careers is held up to their noses. To keep their careers alive, congress members in progressive districts will have to claim to oppose the war in/on Afghanistan.
There is a saying that there is nothing wrong with being knocked down, but it is when it becomes more comfortable being down than getting back up it is time to give up. For several decades, the American workers keeps getting knocked down as corporation after corporation move good, middle class jobs to third-world companies claiming poverty, even at a time when companies are reaching record profits. But the Whirlpool workers at the Evansville, Indiana plant, along with over 5,000 other working Americans, stood back up and decided they don’t want to be knocked down anymore.
A rally hosted by the IUE-CWA and led by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka took place Friday, Feb. 26 with a simple message: The American Middle Class is being eroded by corporate greed.
“Whirlpool is a bad corporate citizen who is twisting this country’s desire to reduce energy usage and using it to export jobs. We are pushing hard to ensure that good intentions on going green don’t help fund loss of good manufacturing jobs,” said IUE-CWA President Jim Clark.
A rally hosted by the IUE-CWA and led by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka took place Friday, Feb. 26 with a simple message: The American Middle Class is being eroded by corporate greed.
“Whirlpool is a bad corporate citizen who is twisting this country’s desire to reduce energy usage and using it to export jobs. We are pushing hard to ensure that good intentions on going green don’t help fund loss of good manufacturing jobs,” said IUE-CWA President Jim Clark.
Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption
By Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and Ronald Cotton with Erin Toreno
St. Martin’s Press 2009
298 Page
s Prologue, Afterward
Even without its provocative title, Picking Cotton would be a winner. In a way, of course, it is an old, old story. In 1984, then Jennifer Thompson, a white woman and young college student, was raped at knife point by a black man who broke into her apartment while she lay asleep. During the assault she made it a point to look at her assailant and memorize what she could about his appearance. Cunningly, she was able to escape and her assailant fled. At the police department, she gamely assisted in the development of a composite sketch, and Ronald Cotton was arrested shortly thereafter. Ms. Thompson identified Cotton in a police lineup, even though she was unsure he was her rapist. Cotton, who had a shaky alibi and a minor criminal record, was tried and convicted; he was sentenced to life plus fifty years for first-degree rape, first-degree sexual offense, and first-degree breaking and entering.
By Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and Ronald Cotton with Erin Toreno
St. Martin’s Press 2009
298 Page
s Prologue, Afterward
Even without its provocative title, Picking Cotton would be a winner. In a way, of course, it is an old, old story. In 1984, then Jennifer Thompson, a white woman and young college student, was raped at knife point by a black man who broke into her apartment while she lay asleep. During the assault she made it a point to look at her assailant and memorize what she could about his appearance. Cunningly, she was able to escape and her assailant fled. At the police department, she gamely assisted in the development of a composite sketch, and Ronald Cotton was arrested shortly thereafter. Ms. Thompson identified Cotton in a police lineup, even though she was unsure he was her rapist. Cotton, who had a shaky alibi and a minor criminal record, was tried and convicted; he was sentenced to life plus fifty years for first-degree rape, first-degree sexual offense, and first-degree breaking and entering.
In challenging times like ours, it is important to step back and look at
the big picture. In the Senate we wrestle with painful choices to
balance the state budget. Some factors affecting the budget are outside
of our control, some we can control, and others fall somewhere
in-between. While most legislative work addresses things we have direct
control over, we should at least understand other factors influencing
the resources available.
The cost of the Iraq and Afghan wars is the budgetary "elephant in the room." It's enormous and it's right in front of us, yet we don't talk about it as we face our economic woes. We don't need to get into arguments about the wars to consider the burden war places on our economy.
President Dwight Eisenhower, one of our nation's greatest military leaders, late in life, expressed deep concern about what he called "the military industrial complex." Eisenhower stated, "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
The cost of the Iraq and Afghan wars is the budgetary "elephant in the room." It's enormous and it's right in front of us, yet we don't talk about it as we face our economic woes. We don't need to get into arguments about the wars to consider the burden war places on our economy.
President Dwight Eisenhower, one of our nation's greatest military leaders, late in life, expressed deep concern about what he called "the military industrial complex." Eisenhower stated, "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."