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The New York Times is hardly a progressive newspaper -- but when it comes to the surveillance state and ongoing militarism of the Obama White House, the establishment’s “paper of record” puts MoveOn.org to shame.
And so, the same day that the Times editorialized to excoriate President Obama for his latest betrayal of civil liberties, MoveOn sent out a huge email blast sucking up to Obama.
The Times was blunt in its Saturday editorial: “By the time President Obama gave his news conference on Friday, there was really only one course to take on surveillance policy from an ethical, moral, constitutional and even political point of view. And that was to embrace the recommendations of his handpicked panel on government spying -- and bills pending in Congress -- to end the obvious excesses. He could have started by suspending the constitutionally questionable (and evidently pointless) collection of data on every phone call and email that Americans make.”
But, the newspaper added: “He did not do any of that.”
And so, the same day that the Times editorialized to excoriate President Obama for his latest betrayal of civil liberties, MoveOn sent out a huge email blast sucking up to Obama.
The Times was blunt in its Saturday editorial: “By the time President Obama gave his news conference on Friday, there was really only one course to take on surveillance policy from an ethical, moral, constitutional and even political point of view. And that was to embrace the recommendations of his handpicked panel on government spying -- and bills pending in Congress -- to end the obvious excesses. He could have started by suspending the constitutionally questionable (and evidently pointless) collection of data on every phone call and email that Americans make.”
But, the newspaper added: “He did not do any of that.”
Fifty years ago, exactly one month after John Kennedy was killed, the Washington Post published an op-ed titled “Limit CIA Role to Intelligence.” The first sentence of that op-ed on Dec. 22, 1963, read, “I think it has become necessary to take another look at the purpose and operations of our Central Intelligence Agency.”
It sounded like the intro to a bleat from some liberal professor or journalist. Not so. The writer was former President Harry S. Truman, who spearheaded the establishment of the CIA 66 years ago, right after World War II, to better coordinate U.S. intelligence gathering. But the spy agency had lurched off in what Truman thought were troubling directions. President Harry S. Truman.
Sadly, those concerns that Truman expressed in that op-ed — that he had inadvertently helped create a Frankenstein monster — are as valid today as they were 50 years ago, if not more so.
It sounded like the intro to a bleat from some liberal professor or journalist. Not so. The writer was former President Harry S. Truman, who spearheaded the establishment of the CIA 66 years ago, right after World War II, to better coordinate U.S. intelligence gathering. But the spy agency had lurched off in what Truman thought were troubling directions. President Harry S. Truman.
Sadly, those concerns that Truman expressed in that op-ed — that he had inadvertently helped create a Frankenstein monster — are as valid today as they were 50 years ago, if not more so.
During this holiday season nearly 134,000 Ohioans face the prospect of ringing in the new year hungry. Governor John Kasich has decided, despite Ohio’s stagnant job growth and high unemployment, that work requirements will be mandated in 72 counties for childless adults aged 18-50 in order to qualify for food assistance.
Ohio is still down 221,000 jobs from where it was in November 2007. Where these 134,000 people will work is a puzzling proposition. What is known is that they will no longer qualify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) – what used to be called food stamps.
Kasich could have accepted a federal waiver that would have extended the federal food aid for all the counties in Ohio for at least one year without the work requirements. Reverend John Edgar, who works for the United Methodist Community Development for All People project wonders why anyone would want to “punish these folks in this economy.”
“It’s a horrible decision,” Edgar laments.
Ohio is still down 221,000 jobs from where it was in November 2007. Where these 134,000 people will work is a puzzling proposition. What is known is that they will no longer qualify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) – what used to be called food stamps.
Kasich could have accepted a federal waiver that would have extended the federal food aid for all the counties in Ohio for at least one year without the work requirements. Reverend John Edgar, who works for the United Methodist Community Development for All People project wonders why anyone would want to “punish these folks in this economy.”
“It’s a horrible decision,” Edgar laments.
Very rarely does our government ask us what to have a war on. The proposal for missile strikes into Syria was a rare occasion when public pressure and other factors compelled Congress to demand a say. Public pressure then compelled Congress to say No.
But daily drone buzzings over various nations aren't occasions for public debate. We aren't being asked about another decade in Afghanistan or cooking up a future war on Iran. And our current president and his predecessor combined have wiped out eight wedding parties (six in Afghanistan, one in Iraq, and one in Yemen earlier this month) without our having ever been asked about any of them.
What if we were?
But daily drone buzzings over various nations aren't occasions for public debate. We aren't being asked about another decade in Afghanistan or cooking up a future war on Iran. And our current president and his predecessor combined have wiped out eight wedding parties (six in Afghanistan, one in Iraq, and one in Yemen earlier this month) without our having ever been asked about any of them.
What if we were?
With the year winding down, time is running out on the American effort in Afghanistan. Inaugurated over a decade ago, the climate abroad appears dampened with skepticism and the energy for war at home lessens every day. It is worth recalling that President Obama, when faced with Iraq and Afghanistan wars, regarded the latter as a confrontation of necessity. Yet this necessary appointment has come down to a most unfortunate set of circumstances, wherein the Obama administration must rely on a fickle partner to succeed.
The Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA), which stipulates the working relationship between U.S. interests and Afghan security forces after American troops scale back from Afghanistan, awaits the signature of President Hamid Karzai. As far as the U.S. is concerned, the agreement is ready to see implementation in 2014. In fact, last month the Loya Jirga even endorsed the BSA. Considering the Loya Jirga is a national assembly of Afghan elders, it would seem the agreement has nothing but smooth sailing ahead.
The Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA), which stipulates the working relationship between U.S. interests and Afghan security forces after American troops scale back from Afghanistan, awaits the signature of President Hamid Karzai. As far as the U.S. is concerned, the agreement is ready to see implementation in 2014. In fact, last month the Loya Jirga even endorsed the BSA. Considering the Loya Jirga is a national assembly of Afghan elders, it would seem the agreement has nothing but smooth sailing ahead.
Job Title: Field Organizer - SEIU District 1199 WV/KY/OH
Location: Columbus OH and Huntington WV (positions available throughout WV, KY, OH)
Apply for this job here:
https://careers-seiu.icims.com/jobs/1719/field-organizer----seiu-distri…
SUMMARY:
Field Organizers needed for full-time work in WV, Kentucky and Ohio with Head Start, with health care and social service employees. We offer competitive salaries and a full range of benefits.
Organizers empower workers to make gains in areas that matter to them and their families: wages, benefits, respect and a voice on the job. You’ll learn skills from some of the best organizers in the labor movement that can help people overcome difficult odds and win the power to change their lives. If you want to put your mind and heart to work in the cause of a better world, there’s a role for you in SEIU District 1199 WV/KY/OH.
DESCRIPTION:
A Field Organizer is responsible for:
Location: Columbus OH and Huntington WV (positions available throughout WV, KY, OH)
Apply for this job here:
https://careers-seiu.icims.com/jobs/1719/field-organizer----seiu-distri…
SUMMARY:
Field Organizers needed for full-time work in WV, Kentucky and Ohio with Head Start, with health care and social service employees. We offer competitive salaries and a full range of benefits.
Organizers empower workers to make gains in areas that matter to them and their families: wages, benefits, respect and a voice on the job. You’ll learn skills from some of the best organizers in the labor movement that can help people overcome difficult odds and win the power to change their lives. If you want to put your mind and heart to work in the cause of a better world, there’s a role for you in SEIU District 1199 WV/KY/OH.
DESCRIPTION:
A Field Organizer is responsible for:
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I never thought I'd be writing about online gaming, especially first person shooters. Today, I'm compelled to stop chilling with the rest of the grognards and play Paul Revere to the online gaming community's colonial Boston. The manual does not specify how many lanterns this one gets.
According to documents provided by Edward Snowden to the Guardian and other news outlets, the national security state has a long running series of programs designed to spy on gamers. Fearing that terrorists and other bad guys would be secretly communicating through virtual environments such as World of Warcraft and Second Life.
The projects, dating to at least 2007, sought to ferret out terrorists laundering money and planning attacks through virtual meet-ups utilizing online simulation environments, including those provided by X-Box Live.
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On Kevin Smith’s Fatman on Batman podcast last week, longtime Warner Bros./Cartoon Network writer and producer Paul Dini spoke up about studio pressure he’s felt lately to not only make sure cartoons appeal to boys but to actively exclude girls and, for that matter, older audiences of either gender. Why? Because they don’t buy action figures.
The subject came up in relation to Dini’s work on the just-cancelled Beware the Batman show on Cartoon Network. Prior to BtB Dini worked on two other two-season-wonder DC Comics-related superhero shows: Green Lantern: The Animated Series and Young Justice. In fact, Dini’s work on superhero cartoons goes back to the much-loved 90s classic Batman: The Animated Series, which brought a maturity to afternoon cartoons that the 80s had lacked. That series remained a huge influence on DC’s cartoons specifically and action cartoons in general until… Well, until now.
The big case in point is the new Teen Titans Go!, which takes the characters made popular in 2003’s alternately silly and serious Teen Titans cartoon and strips it all down to just the silliness. Why?
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On mornings like Dec. 12, when the temperature dips into the teens and his breath comes out in tiny white puffs, Mike Green often thinks about where he was a year ago. The 6-foot-6 wing for the Capital University men’s basketball team spent last season playing for Chaminade University in sunny Honolulu.
Fortunately for the Crusaders, those feelings come and go very quickly.
“I definitely miss Hawaii every now and then when it gets cold like this but overall I’m enjoying myself so much being back home in Columbus,” the Dublin Coffman High School graduate says with a chuckle. “I don’t miss it too often.”
Green has made his presence felt in his first seven games with the Crusaders. He has averaged 10.9 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.6 assists for Capital, 3- 5 overall and 1-2 in the Ohio Athletic Conference after losing to John Carroll University 81-67 on Dec. 14. Green scored 12 points on 5-for-9 shooting and had four rebounds while coming off the bench in the loss to the Blue Streaks.
Coach Damon Goodwin, the winningest coach in the program’s history, expects the junior to fill the role of being a tall wing for the Crusaders.