Advertisement

Bill Moss photo

Ten years ago on August 2, 2005, the city lost an extraordinary man, Bill Moss. As an independent politician – with no Party machine to fund him, handle him, or promote him – he built his own movement of people who voted him onto the School Board for five terms.
   He fought relentlessly for equality for all children and a quality public education. He was an uncompromising advocate for the poor and the and repeatedly exposed corruption and sweetheart deals. His actions saved WCBE from being privatized and sold for pennies on the dollar.
   But Bill was more than a political maverick. He was a soulful prophet who warned us of the shape of things to come. He was Columbus' Berry Gordy, his Capsoul record company standing as a monument to his creative genius. He was the Nassau Daddy of barbeque and as “the Boss with the Red Hot Sauce,” one of the best damn disk jockeys in the city. The Reverend Moss also could preach a great sermon a la the Rev. Al Green and provide a rousing gospel music show to heal the afflicted and afflict the well-heeled.

Movie poster from Message from Hiroshima

Aug. 6: Peace Vigil at Goodale Park Gazebo and Pond, Park Street and Buttles Avenue, northeast side of the park. 7:30-8:30pm for a sunset ceremony marking the 70th year of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.

Aug. 7: "Message from Hiroshima" film, Belle's Bread in Kenny Centre, 5pm. Narrated by George Takai, This powerful and intimate documentary provides an inside look at the devastating effects of the first atomic bomb ever used, as depicted in heart wrenching testimonials from survivors, and computer generated recreations of the city and way of life that were lost.

Aug. 8: Peace Conference at First Unitarian Universalist Church, 93 Weisheimer Road, Columbus. 10am-4pm. The History calls US to resist Wars and Oppression. Participants include John Carlarne, Greg Elish, Julie Hart, Ruben Herrera, Kevin Kamps, Janet McLaughlin, Marc Simon, Aramis Sundiata and Harvey Wasserman.

Photo of Rocco diPietro

Rocco Di Pietro is a renowned composer and pianist based in Columbus, Ohio. He is also a writer (among whose many publications is Dialogues with Boulez) and educator (currently teaching at Columbus State Community College). Visit www.dipietroeditions.comfor some of his works available online.

Q. What is the title of your latest work reflecting upon the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

   My latest work is called Taubes VII (Hiroshima Set). It is part of an ongoing series of interactions between photographs and other visual elements with a programmatic, even syncretic, interplay between music and visual art, which I relate to ectoplasms in sound extracted from a visual presence.

Photo showing an atomic blast at the bottom morping into a tree at the top

What conditions bring peace? What conditions bring war? How do people address them?  Many families and communities have split over these topics, as they can bring a great divide of opinion and historical recollection.
   This year, August 6 marks the 70th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bomb “Little Boy” was dropped on the Hiroshima population of 255,000, causing 135,000 casualties: 66,000 dead and 69,000 injured. On August 9, another bomb “Fat Man” was dropped on a population of 195,000 in Nagasaki, causing approximately 64,000 casualties: 39,000 dead and 25,000 injured. These are the Manhattan Engineer District's best available figures.
   Mark Stansbery is president of the Columbus Campaign for Arms Control, a local affiliate of Peace Action. He does not believe that a large military society brings peace.

Comic about Columbus City Council denying people's vote

Under the state constitution and the Columbus City Charter, everyday citizens have the right to propose legislation using the citizen initiatives process. In short, if citizens can collect 10 percent of valid signatures from registered Columbus voters, the Columbus City Council is required to put the question on the ballot for a vote. Two groups have recently sought to use those provisions. In a tough year for citizen initiatives, both have failed for lack of sufficient signatures – but those failures exposed apparent manipulations of city government seemingly designed to make the process even more arduous – if not impossible for citizens to exercise their constitutional rights.
   City Council President and Mayoral Candidate Andrew Ginther is leading the chorus of citizen suppression, with City Attorney Rick Pfeiffer serving as hype man for the new band, launching “yeah boyyyeeee” whenever Ginther clamps down more on local democracy. Pfeiffer has provided legal ammunition to keep citizen initiatives off the ballot and has tried to strengthen Ginther’s claims that he was not bribed as a Redflex executive said in her federal guilty plea.

Bernie Sanders brought  100,000 supporters together on Wed evening via video conference to 3500 events.   Events large and small were held around the country at house parties and larger venues.

 

Locally, the largest event was held at the Ohio Democratic Headquarters on Fulton Street.  The largest room held at least 100 supporters, but more supporters were in adjacent rooms.  There were several house parties in the area as well.  Signs, stickers, t-shirts and other material was available.

 

After brief introductions, Bernie gave a short presentation detailing his policy positions.  Unlike the other major Democratic contender, Mr. Sanders believes strongly that the US must tackle climate change.  He has opposed Kestone XL pipeline consistently for years, and is strongly in favor of supporting renewable energy.  

 

windows 10 logo

If you use a computer with either Windows 7 or Windows 8, you’ve probably seen a notification recently about Windows 10. (What happened to 9? Don’t ask. Just roll with it.) You may have even been prompted to update already, or, if you’re impatient, you may have updated your computer manually using the installation tool released by Microsoft.
   And Windows 10 is surprisingly good, especially if you’ve been using Windows 7 or trying to use Windows 8 without a touchscreen. It takes up less hard drive space, boots faster, and unlike previous Windows updates it doesn’t expect you to upgrade your hardware. It moves the Windows 8 Start screen tiles to the side of the Start menu, opens everything in windowed mode instead of the previous full-screen “Metro” apps, and gives everything a modern graphical overhaul. It generally behaves more like a computer OS and less like a tablet one. Unless you tell it otherwise; there’s an optional Tablet Mode.


The U.S. Army and Air Force public relations offices have responded to a Freedom of Information Act request by releasing huge lists of movies and television shows that they have assessed and, at least in many cases, sought to influence. Here's the Army's PDF. Here's the Air Force's PDF.

The shows and films, foreign and U.S. made, aimed at foreign and U.S. audiences, including documentaries and dramas and talk shows and "reality" TV, cross every genre from those obviously related to war to those with little discernable connection to it.

Pages

Subscribe to Freepress.org RSS