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The Wedding of Pol Pot's Daughter

Pol Pot's daughter, who at age 10 saw her father's bloated corpse in a Cambodian jungle in 1998, has married her university sweetheart in a ceremony overshadowed by the late Khmer Rouge leader's murderous regime. Sar Patchata, 26, is the only child of Pol Pot, whose real name was Saloth Sar. Pol Pot's fanatic mix of Maoist and Stalinist communism and rush to create a rural-based society with "new people" starting at the "year zero," resulted in nearly two million Cambodian deaths from executions, torture, slavery, starvation, and disease. Ms. Sar earned her master's degree in English literature in Malaysia where, a few years ago, she met Sy Vicheka. The two Cambodians married in Kbal Spean village, a former Khmer Rouge stronghold in northwest Cambodia's Banteay Meanchey province near Thailand's border. About 50 guests attended the two-day ceremony which began on March 15, according to Cambodian media. On March 16, the couple was blessed by four Buddhist monks and reportedly received cash, gold and other gifts worth thousands of dollars.

Thai Army's New Enemy: Controversial Northern "Separatists"

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Thailand's U.S.-trained military has a new enemy and is now hunting northern separatists who want to seize most of this Buddhist-majority country, create a Lanna People's Democratic Republic, and expel Bangkok to a shrunken South Thailand. The military is warning Thais not to demand independence in the north because such "treason" and "sedition" could spark a bloody civil war. "Separatism is a severe offense," said army deputy spokesman Col. Winthai Suwaree. "Expressing differences in opinion is permitted under the constitution, but expressing the need to separate the country is not," Col. Winthai said. "The separation talk is especially shocking because, for the first time, the idea the country can be physically hacked up...along the political fault lines has been openly discussed," said Atiya Achakulwisut, a Bangkok Post editor. Caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, stung by allegations that she sympathized with the separatists, said on March 3, "We want to see Thailand as one and indivisible." Hoping to distance her government from the separatist issue, Ms. Yingluck met leaders of the armed forces on March 4 in her capacity as defense minister.

There Is A Deeper Wave Than This

A wave of action is coming on April 4th, the date they killed MLK, the date Cindy Sheehan lost her son, the date cherry blossoms and resisters to fascism begin to show after an endless winter of many, many years. Take a look at https://waveofaction.org Electing a different president six years ago was not a partial step, a failed attempt, a warm-up round. It was a halftime show of circus clowns and cheerleaders. The partial step, the failed attempt, the warm up, the ground work, the base of experience and training and testing was Occupy.

The IMPACT Community Action Poverty Summit

On Thursday, April 3rd, 2014, IMPACT Community Action is holding a Poverty Summit, as part of its recognition of the 50th anniversary of the War on Poverty. IMPACT is in a unique position to hold this Poverty Summit, since the organization’s roots date to the early days of the War on Poverty. The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 – the cornerstone of Lyndon Baines Johnson’s vision for ending poverty in the U.S. – established community action agencies as a core element. Community action agencies are alive and well after half a century in the state of Ohio, with 50 different organizations – including IMPACT – members of the Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies.

MONSTERS IN OUR MIDST

Oh lethal, ticklish topic. So many people love guns and swear by them — many of them people with whom I am otherwise in essential political agreement. And it’s not like I relish a debate about “gun control,” a tug-of-war about limits that offends most gun lovers and causes weapon-buying sprees after every mass murder. But the topic is unavoidable. The gun industry is part of the military-industrial complex and its advertising war aimed at the American reptile brain is centered around a permanent state of fear and, even more significantly, helplessness. Most people, or at least most gun owners, think “disarmed” means “disempowered” and the debate, such as it is, ends there. The quote above is from an extraordinary essay by poet Judy Juanita, which gets at the spiritual dimension of the matter: “The Gun as steel metaphor carrying the human urge to dominate and lay waste to an enemy or perceived threat. Guns as import and export. Hollywood’s Gun, its cinematic ordnance, is the United States’ international calling card. “The Gun is oh-so-social as it erases human inequality. Anyone can obtain one and point . . . shoot . . . kill.”

What Do World's Two Biggest Dangers Have in Common?

Anyone who cares about our natural environment should be marking with great sadness the centenary of World War I. Beyond the incredible destruction in European battlefields, the intense harvesting of forests, and the new focus on the fossil fuels of the Middle East, the Great War was the Chemists' War. Poison gas became a weapon -- one that would be used against many forms of life. Insecticides were developed alongside nerve gases and from byproducts of explosives. World War II -- the sequel made almost inevitable by the manner of ending the first one -- produced, among other things, nuclear bombs, DDT, and a common language for discussing both -- not to mention airplanes for delivering both. War propagandists made killing easier by depicting foreign people as bugs. Insecticide marketers made buying their poisons patriotic by using war language to describe the "annihilation" of "invading" insects (never mind who was actually here first). DDT was made available for public purchase five days before the U.S. dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. On the first anniversary of the bomb, a full-page photograph of a mushroom cloud appeared in an advertisement for DDT.

Here Comes Ukrainian Hemp

So the United States wants to buy hemp from the Ukraine. I suppose we should be happy. Anytime the U.S. government gives a country money that is not earmarked for weapons, we probably shouldn't too closely examine the unelected neo-liberals and neo-Nazis handling the cash. Nobody pays attention to the Saudi government or the oil, wars, and terrorism it provides in exchange for U.S. largesse. Of course if the hemp buy is part of a larger package deal that impoverishes the Ukraine for the benefit of Western plutocrats, gets NATO's nose under the door, threatens Russia, and encourages the NED to hire the companies that name paint colors in hopes of finding unique names for all the revolutions it's going to plan next, we may want to oppose the whole package.

Take Five with Victoria Parks

Victoria has been singing with a guitar from the age of fifteen. Her original songs range in genres. Victoria hit the Cleveland folk scene in 1974. Bob Gibson said of her, “she sounds like herself and writes great songs, don’t compare her to Joni Mitchell or Joan Baez. Don’t change anything.” Victoria has had more than forty years since writing her own brand of song.

It must take missing limbs to get these Ohio Roller Girls off the track

On March 22 and 23, the Ohio Roller Girls (OHRG) “All Stars” and “Gang Green” traveled to Toronto Ontario for the 5th Annual Quad Cities Chaos Roller Derby Tournament. This was our hometown heroines’ third appearance there, where they have a solid record against two of the toughest teams in Canada: Toronto's “CN Power” and Montreal's “New Skids on the Block.” Ohio's B-team, “Gang Green,” also had a bout against Montreal's “Bay Street Bruisers.” The tournament also featured an appearance by Bloomington Indiana's “Bleeding Heartland.” All four charter teams played each other once. This left Ohio's two teams, the “All-Stars” and Gang Green, skating three bouts in a single day on the March 22. Ohio has several players skating for both Gang Green and the All-Stars teams, making it three bouts in a single day for some skaters and a total of four bouts in two days. Canadian announcers at the event noted Ohio skaters delivering on their reputation for endurance and their willingness to shrug of injuries and continue play. Both traits were in evidence throughout the weekend. Ohio Roller Girls All Stars vs Montreal New Skids

Olde Towne East residents hold rally against Parsons Avenue development project

Olde Town East residents rally against a proposed luxury apartment complex at 122 South Parsons Avenue.

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