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Great Financial Crisis

On September 15, 2008, Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. It was the largest bankruptcy in the history of the United States, a key moment of mounting panic during what came to be known as the Great Financial Crisis. In London this year, some of the alumni of the bankrupt bank are reportedly planning to hold a party to "celebrate" the anniversary of the bankruptcy. That pretty much sums up the attitude of the rich.

The rich have certainly much to celebrate. Just about all assets they own -- from stocks to real estate -- in many countries command higher prices than ever. For the rest of us, however, the crisis has never ended. Our real wages, in fact, are declining, lagging behind inflation. Our pensions and health care benefits are being cut. Our housing costs are soaring.

Housing Crisis Today

I've been thinking about a couple of decades-old movies lately, Stanley Kubrick's 1987 Full Metal Jacket and Martin Scorsese's 1976 Taxi Driver.

Don't know why for sure.

It just might be a sign of the times.

Both tell stories of male characters descending into the inhumanity of violent madness – one an individual's, the other an organized societal group. Both involve alienation. Both are disturbing. Neither makes sense we want to be familiar or comfortable with. But I don't see how we have a choice anymore.

Full Metal goes full-bore into the deterioration and death of a mentally and physically unfit recruit in Marine Corps basic training while his cohorts successfully adapt to the dehumanizing process of being turned into our nation's first line of defense – killers, in other words.

That's Jacket's first part. The second is a tale of our now-blooded Marines getting the hell shot out of them by a very young NVA or Viet Cong sniper girl. Kubrick getting in his humiliating anti-American licks.

Some 100 or so protesters marched in the steady rain in Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday September 8, 2018, as part of over 900 events in 95 countries and on all seven continents, for the "Rise Up For Climate, Jobs, and Justice" day of environmental action. Stops and speakers at the Statehouse, Senator Portman's office, and City Hall, promoted a 100% renewable energy goal for the City of Columbus; the Columbus Community Bill of Rights for clean water, air, and soil voter initiative; and a reinstatement of clean energy standards for development projects in Ohio. Winie Wirth and Nathalia Rhodes as "Mother Nature" and "Sister Water" reminded us that "Water Is Life-Don't Frack it Up"!

Saturday, September 8, 6:30-11pm
1021 E Broad St.
Refreshments, music, art and socializing with progressive friends.
Free, no RSVP required.

As September begins, Ohio’s newly formed medical marijuana program continues to be plagued by various delays and failures. As a direct result, our state’s patients, who are in dire need of the treatment cannabis provides, will have to wait even longer for the legal relief they require.

The program was supposed to be up and running by September 8, but has seemingly hit every speed bump along the way. On July 31, Buckeye Relief in Eastlake planted the first legal seeds, a momentous day only made possible because the cultivating facility finally received its certificate of operation from the state four days before. The state’s department of commerce can only give up to 12 of these certifications before the September 8 deadline, with potentially more on the way. However, the late start with cultivation means the crops won’t be ready until November, and then they must be sent to a processor to be transformed into approved consumable products for patients. As of now, these approved products only include edibles, oils, patches and other non-smokable methods.

The Free Press Salutes Jeffrey Wadsworth

The Free Press salutes former Ohio State University trustee Jeffrey Wadsworth who resigned from the University’s board after disagreeing with Urban Meyer’s three-game suspension. The New York Times reported that Wadsworth felt the punishment should be stronger. He appears to be the one lone trustee on the OSU board voicing concern about the message the University was sending to the community regarding domestic violence, dishonesty and the destruction of public records.

Enemies of the People – Attorney Don McTigue and the Franklin County Board of Elections

The members of the Franklin County Board of Elections (BOE) are the Free Press enemies of the people, after effectively stripping 560,000 Columbus citizens of their right to vote on a ballot measure entitled Community Bill of Rights for Water, Soil, and Air Protection and to Prohibit Gas and Oil Extraction and Related Activities and Projects Ordinance.

An amazing thing happened in Washington DC. No, it didn’t involve the President, or at least not yet. But it did come from the Republican camp. Congress’ most powerful politician – Washington’s red light,  green light – is championing the “Hemp Farming Act of 2018.”

This groundbreaking legislation would redefine hemp as an agricultural commodity, regulate it under the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and drop it from the list of tightly Controlled Schedule I Substances. Water rights, federal grants and banking accompany this bill. Yes, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is leading the pack, and because of him, the Act has a good chance of passing. Once signed by the President, hemp will emerge from 80 years of prohibition darkness and move into the light as a recognized crop like soybeans or corn.

With the passage of Labor Day comes fall, football, pumpkin patches and Hot Times. The 42nd Annual Community Festival on the Near East Side returns to the Columbus Health Department Grounds from September 7 through 9.

The annual community festival will feature food vendors, a flea market and entertainment on two stages, the Parsons Stage and the Main Stage. On Saturday and Sunday, afternoon there will be performers on the Swing Patio, on the front patio of the Health Department.

The Hot Times Community Festival started as a Flea Market by the Olde Towne East Neighborhood Association (OTENA) in the late 1970s. The festival is now, according to the Arts Foundation of Olde Towne (AFOOT) Website, an “all-volunteer driven community and arts festival.”

Cop’s hand injured – civilian executed with eight shots in return: Once again a Columbus Police Department (CPD) officer dubiously reveals what a pathetic abject coward he really is (though the Free Press is cautiously suspicious of every version of an officer-involved killing that involves the phrase “I feared for my life.”)

In Franklinton on August 23, Officer Andrew Mitchell shot 23-year-old Donna Dalton (Castleberry) eight times in his cruiser after she allegedly stabbed his hand with a knife.

Think about it. You are a 30-year grizzled veteran on the CPD vice squad. You’ve got 80 prostitution arrests under your belt just this calendar year, because your beat is the west side of the city where young women gather.

You are undercover. You are in an unmarked car. The rest of the story is unclear.

Of course, we don’t have a “he said, she said” situation since “she” is dead. And there are no witnesses.