Who are all these people?

Here’s another global problem — this flow of refugees — that national governments are apparently incapable of dealing with in a long-term, cooperative, globally responsible way. As with climate change, as with war and disarmament, they retreat into insularity in the face of such matters and become protective of their short-term, individual “interests,” which mostly concern the bureaucratic sacredness of their borders and an obsessive distinction between us and them.

“The European Union, (French President François Hollande) said, needed to create ‘hot spot’ reception centers at those borders under the greatest onslaught — in Greece, Italy and Hungary — to register new arrivals and turn back those who do not meet the requirements for asylum,” reports the New York Times.

I thought the cause of climate destruction was political corruption, but I thought the cause of so little popular resistance was ignorance and denial. Naomi Klein's new film This Changes Everything seems to assume that everyone is aware of the problem. The enemy that the film takes on is the belief that "human nature" is simply greedy and destructive and destined to behave in the way that Western culture behaves toward the natural world.

I think that is an increasingly common frame of mind among those paying attention. But if it ever becomes truly widespread, I expect it to be followed by epidemics of despair.

What does it mean to be a ‘liberal Arab’? Even in the West, definitions of the ‘liberal’ vary.  

In the American context, the demarcation of the ‘liberal’ overlaps cultural and political lines. Republicans use the term in a derogatory way to describe their opponents. Watch ‘Fox News’ to understand. (On second thought, please do not watch Fox News!). Europeans are hardly keen on the term altogether. Many often use the term ‘progressive’ to liberate the ‘liberal’ from its political baggage and imprecise cultural insinuations.  

So when the newly-launched Huffington Post Arabi – the Arabic edition of the news and entertainment portal Huffington Post – was fiercely attacked for not being ‘liberal’ enough to match the ‘liberal left’ views of the mother portal, it left me puzzled.  

Citizens concerned with corruption and accountability in the City of Columbusheld a non-partisan rally to peacefully protest the corruption at Columbus City Hall on Wednesday, September 9; 5:00pmwhere a fundraiser for Andy Ginther was happening at Strongwater Food & Spirits, 401 W Town St. in Franklinton.

Some of Columbus’s most wealthy elite came face to face with 35-40 concerned citizens outside Mayor Coleman’s Fundraiser for his anointed mayoral Candidate Andrew Ginther.In the wake of the scandal in which former Redflex CEO pleaded guilty to bribing Columbus elected officials to the tune of $20,000 and the recent dropping out of Columbus City Council Pro Tem Michelle Mills, the City of Columbus has become synonymous with the word corruption. 

he Democratic Party is showing some ugly faces these days, as entrenched party leaders find both their president and much of their constituency headed in directions that the “party” disapproves. From Sen. Chuck Schumer choosing to risk war to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz stifling supporters of her party’s president and the peace deal with Iran, to the insurgent candidacies of Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley, party leaders find themselves leading toward goals widely rejected by others.