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The Free Press told you so. Since 2000, this newspaper alone in Ohio has warned of the dangers of allowing private partisan for-profit companies to secretly count our votes. Former President Jimmy Carter calls our election system dysfunctional and says we have more of an oligarchy than a democracy in this country.
The chief reason why the U.S. election system fails to meet any minimum international standard of democracy is its “faith-based voting,” where people “push and pray” and hope their vote gets counted right. But they are usually voting on machines without paper trails.
Two recent events underscore the factual nature of this massive problem. The Brennan Center for Justice’s 2015 report entitled “America’s Voting Machines At Risk” is one of the best current compilation dissecting the vulnerabilities of our computer voting machines.
The Poindexter Legacy Committee (“PLC”), a project of the Coalition for the Responsible and Sustainable Development of the Near East Side (“CRSDNES,” or “the Coalition”) and the Poindexter Historic Advisory Committee, submitted on September 22nd a proposal for the repurposing and rehabilitation of the last two remaining historic buildings at Poindexter Village, the former public housing community on the Near East Side.
The owner, Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority (“CMHA”) has held off on demolition of the last two buildings after community objection to the mass demolition of the historic complex – the first public housing community in the nation addressing housing needs for black Americans in the segregated 1940s. Its opening was attended by President Roosevelt, as he sought to help Americans recover from the Great Depression, and launched public housing as one means of improving the lives of Americans.
The Ohio State University endowment reached the $3.6 billion mark in 2014 and ranked 22nd out of 800-plus US public and private colleges and universities, this according to the National Association of College and University Business Officers.
The Ohio State endowment, or “Long Term Investment Pool,” is managed by both internal and external fund managers, and like many college endowments, is managed for the long-term with relatively low risk. The endowment’s yields for the most part are earned from global equity, hedge funds and real assets.
The endowment is heavily financed by the university’s current “But for Ohio State” campaign, the largest fund raising endeavor in university history, as over 230,000 donors in fiscal year 2015 contributed $405 million.
Any Buckeye alum will tell you the university has upped its game when it comes to soliciting donations for the endowment, as regular phone calls from Ohio State phone banks continue. And no doubt the endowment has helped the university pay for capital improvements, research and retaining top faculty.
Issue 1: Ohio Bipartisan Redistricting Commission Amendment
What’s the issue?
Issue 1 attempts to end the blatant partisan gerrymandering of Ohio’s state legislative districts.
ger·ry·man·der (ˈjerēˌmandər/), verb. Definition: gerund or present participle:
“gerrymandering” -- to manipulate the boundaries of (an electoral constituency)
so as to favor one party or class.
Issue 1 creates a redistricting commission, including members from the two major parties, that would redraw Ohio’s House and Senate districts. The plan requires that four out of seven members of the commission vote to approve a redistricting plan and one of the votes must come from the major party that is not in the majority on the commission. Essentially, Issue 1 gives Ohio’s major opposition party veto power to prevent unfair district rigging.
Pros and Cons
Columbus citizens need to be heard and represented.
• We need to take money out of politics and create a government that is responsive to its citizens.
• We need a Ward System so that citizens are represented in City Council
• We need a Community Review Board overseeing police activity on the city level.
• We will remain diligent and fearless and continue to make this the crisis that it is, confronting all city elected officials to ensure that this issue is front and center in the public sphere.
MONDAY - SEPTEMBER 28 - 5:00PM
Meet at Columbus CITY HALL (corner of Front and Broad St.)
JOIN US AND SPREAD THE WORD!! - PLEASE FORWARD THIS EMAIL AND INVITE FRIENDS ON THE FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE Facebook Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/824185194346580/
Sun, Sept 27, “High Noon ’til 10pm,” Browning Amphitheater and South Oval at Ohio State University
Purpose: To educate the public on the myriad of potential benefits offered by the Cannabis plant, including the medicinal, industrial, agricultural, economic, environmental, and other benefits and applications. In particular, Ohio Hempfest seeks to advance the cause of Cannabis policy reform through education while advancing the public image of the Cannabis advocate or enthusiast through example.
Sun, Sept 27, “High Noon ’til 10pm,” Browning Amphitheater and South Oval at Ohio State University
Purpose: To educate the public on the myriad of potential benefits offered by the Cannabis plant, including the medicinal, industrial, agricultural, economic, environmental, and other benefits and applications. In particular, Ohio Hempfest seeks to advance the cause of Cannabis policy reform through education while advancing the public image of the Cannabis advocate or enthusiast through example.
Sun, Sept 27, “High Noon ’til 10pm,” Browning Amphitheater and South Oval at Ohio State University
Purpose: To educate the public on the myriad of potential benefits offered by the Cannabis plant, including the medicinal, industrial, agricultural, economic, environmental, and other benefits and applications. In particular, Ohio Hempfest seeks to advance the cause of Cannabis policy reform through education while advancing the public image of the Cannabis advocate or enthusiast through example.
Washington is girding itself for what will be an historic visit by Pope Francis this week. So many are expected to flock into the city that government employees are encouraged to work at home. The pope will address a joint session of Congress, celebrate mass, meet with the president and tend to the impoverished. He may meet with the low-wage workers who serve food to the senators and not just with the senators. He will then go to Philadelphia and New York, give an address on climate change and possibly celebrate mass on Wall Street.
Already the political crossfire has begun, with conservatives assailing the pope for not understanding modern markets. One columnist condemned him as a false prophet, standing against “modernity, rationality, science and … the spontaneous creativity of open societies.”
Get ready: the Republicans may not know it, but they’ve all but certified their ticket for 2016, and they will probably win.
The saturation bloviation that followed this week’s Republican presidential debates missed some monumental moments, including:
(1) There was one (and ONLY one) candidate on the stage that had anything meaningful to say. It was Rand Paul. What he said about war and marijuana was of serious significance.
(2) The GOP hard core on the stage and in the audience certified their obeisance to a free pass for the horrific presidency of George W. Bush, thereby opening the door for his brother, who can almost certainly win if he runs with the guy from Ohio.
Let’s deal first with Rand Paul. Like his father (and unlike virtually anyone else in the GOP) the Senator from Kentucky seems to have some actual principles. Both Pauls have been firmly committed to the legalization of marijuana for many years, and have not wavered.