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In 2008 I visited the lovely, dangerous Helmand Province in our 51st state, Afghanistan, as a guest of the 23rd Marine Expeditionary Unit and my hero, Dick Cheney, during which I was wounded by a Taliban tape worm and had dysentery for more than a month. For which I earned the marines' coveted Gomer Pyle Media Dumb-Ass Award.

Ain't been the same since, literally. But the V.A. wouldn't help me and nobody bid when I put the medal on Ebay. Probably because it doesn't exit. And if you don't know that by now then let's get together so I can sell you one slightly used record store on High Street.
 

But I did get to briefly meet Fox News commentator, Oliver North of Iran-Contra infamy, in a tiny grimy little marine combat outpost 50 miles from the Paki border. We exchanged Geraldo Rivera jokes. We didn't share MRE's. He had his own Humvee.

Thanks to U.S. District Court of Southern Ohio Judge Michael Watson, the voting public should have more days to cast their ballots. On Tuesday, May 24, Judge Watson ruled that Ohio violated voters’ rights by reducing the number of days included in “early voting.” In 2014, Ohio cut early voting from 35 to 28 days and eliminated the “Golden Week” when citizens can both register to vote and cast a ballot. Judge Watson deemed this “unconstitutional” and decided it violated the Voting Rights Act.

Judge Watson’s opinion rejected Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine’s contentions that cutting early voting was necessary to prevent fraud and voter confusion. The Judge stated that the shorter early voting period would instead cause longer lines at the polls and potentially deter would-be voters.

In 2013, a group of Columbus citizens became RadioactiveWasteAlert.org when we learned that the Ohio EPA had permitted a local business to “recycle” frack drill cuttings (the dirt, rocks, sludge from a frack bore hole) along the Alum Creek, next to our homes.

We got busy, got the word out, sold t-shirts, put up billboards, and brought in good science professionals: Soil and Watershed consultant -Julie Weatherington-Rice; Microbiologist -Yuri Gorby; Pediatrician -Larysa Dyrszka; and Radiochemist -Michael Schultz, to help us understand the threat. Turns out the Marcellus and Utica shale is naturally radioactive.

Ohio Governor John Kasich picked “poodles” – softball interviewers – for his return to public view after dropping out of the Republican presidential primary race in early May, following another shellacking at the polls in Indiana.

Ohio's lame duck governor invited CNN celebrity Anderson Cooper to come to the largely unoccupied Ohio governor's mansion (because Kasich chooses to continue to live in his rural Westerville palatial estate at additional cost to the taxpayer).

Cooper took time off from promoting his latest money-making project -- a book about him and his celebrity mom -- sandwiched in between his stand-up appearance in Columbus with a friend -- to welcome Kasich back to the public spotlight by letting Ohio's blabbermouth Gov say whatever, largely unfiltered and completely unobstructed by follow-up questions.

Copious Restaurant just delivered – for those seeking amazing vegan (and even gluten-free) options – a new and exciting, fine dining experience. WOW! The only thing currently missing is a decadent dessert (rest assured, they are working on it). Everything is top notch – from the grains, greens and beans to the avocado gazpacho (hits the spot on a hot summer night). I was quite likely drooling whilst dreaming about the steak and potatoes for days after my first experience. The only thing good about losing my camera recently, was returning there to replace my lost food photos and assuage my woes with another meal.

In other Socially Just Dining news, according to The Telegraph (UK) the vegan population in Britain has boomed by 360 percent over the last ten years. Mintel reports vegan options have increased in Germany 633 percent from 2011 to 2015. Al Jazeera reports The Not Company (Chilean), has a computer program, Giuseppe, which has algorithms to replicate the molecular components for the taste, texture and nutrition of animal-based foods with enhanced plant-based substitutes.

The medical marijuana bill passed May 25 by the Ohio Senate with a vote of 18-15 did not inspire ground swelling support from the cannabis activist community.

Over 50 years ago, the TV documentary Harvest of Shame brought a national spotlight on the town of Immokalee, Florida and the exploitation of migrant farm laborers across the U.S. In the years that followed, the work of Cesar Chávez and the United Farm Workers brought some incremental improvements, but agricultural laborers have still been “exempted” from most of the protections in the Fair Labor Standards Act.

In the past five years, the lives of Florida farmworkers and their families have taken a dramatic turn for the better, thanks to the Fair Food Program, an organizing strategy developed by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a group of Florida farmworkers who have been fighting for human rights in the tomato industry since 1993.

From its opening words of dedication, Janet Phelan’s EXILE hooks the reader with her intuitive grasp of the work’s place in history as she warns those of us awake enough to question the American Dream:

“To the ones who came before, in gratitude And to the ones who will come after, so that you may know the magnitude.”

From this point on Phelan takes the reader on a terrifying early millennium roller-coaster ride through a series of bizarre, seemingly coordinated attacks in some five countries - a ride she barely manages to survive.

I have been hoisted on my own petard. For decades now, I have assiduously ignored ninety-nine percent of all the rap music–an oxymoron if ever there was one–out there. And then came the publication of Notorious RBG. I immediately knew it was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the late rapper, Notorious B.I.G., but what I didn’t know was if he and Biggie Smalls were the same person. For those readers uninitiated in rap music, they were.

Went to our gloriously funky Columbus Symphony's Latin Fiesta (Homage To Tango) at the Southern Theatre, Saturday May 21, and man, was it muy tremendeso (please forgive my pidgen Argentinian language problems, I mean, they do speak Espanol down there, don't they or is it Portuguese; Doris, hon', google dat for me, wouldja, babe? Thanks so much!).

Back in my record store days, I never listened to tango all that much and when I did, I didn't listen to a lot of it. It was--if you can believe this--actually too moody for a guy like me. Which is nuts. Because even I know I'm musically at least one of the moodiest sonsabitches on the planet. Chuck Berry's got nothin' on me.