With the coming vote in Ohio on Issue 2, to repeal the union-busting Senate Bill 5, everyone should take time out to watch one of the more impressive labor films ever made. In these post-modern cynical times, the term “solidarity” seems outdated and quaint. Forget the Prozac or Zoloft – if you want an antidote to working class depression, watch “Locked Out 2010.”

Locked Out documents the Biblical clash, yes I’m talking David versus Goliath, between the soulless Rio Tinto multi-national mining company and the miners they employ in Boron, California. Rio Tinto goes through the standard union-busting handbook: bargaining in bad faith, demanding massive concessions, all designed to teach the workers a lesson and lock them out of the massive borate mine in the Mojave desert.

When workers continued to work without a contract, the company initiated a lock out on January 21, 2010 and brought in scab non-union replacement workers. The best part of the film is the battle in the first hours of the lock out.

In the photo below, Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan speaks with Ashley Allison, a Franklin County organizer for Obama for America (OFA). Tim Ryan was at the Short North Tavern on Sept 15 to help with the fight against Ohio SB 5 and Ohio HB 194. After my own talk with him, I'm inspired, surprised and confused.

I'm inspired because it seems that ordinary people such as myself can engage with politicians. I'm surprised because Ryan said fracking (if done right) is a way to address Global Warming by using clean natural gas. And I'm confused by his support for a flat tax that is somehow progressive. I didn't know the two were compatible.

First, the congressman's remarks about fracking, then on to taxes and rebuilding US manufacturing.

Tom Over: Why do you support fracking ?

The horrible news from Japan continues to be ignored by the western corporate media.

Fukushima's radioactive fallout continues to spread throughout the archipelago, deep into the ocean and around the globe---including the US. It will ultimately impact millions, including many here in North America.

The potentially thankful news is that Fukushima's three melting cores may have not have melted deep into the earth, thus barely avoiding an unimaginably worse apocalyptic reality.

But it's a horror that humankind has yet to fully comprehend.

As Fukushima's owners now claim its three melted reactors approach cold shutdown, think of this:

• At numerous sites worldwide---including several in the US---three or more reactors could simultaneously melt, side-by-side. At two sites in California---Diablo Canyon and San Onofre---two reactors each sit very close to major earthquake faults, in coastal tsunami zones.

Guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. It's the foundation of our justice system, built to serve and protect the wrongly accused. But in the case of Troy Davis, it's a principle that has been defied, ignored and trampled on.

I'm writing to you once more, Suzanne, because Troy's execution is scheduled for next week, and there is simply too much doubt in his case for us to allow this to happen.

A week from today, on Monday, September 19th, Troy has his final hearing in front of the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles. They have the power to halt the scheduled execution and commute Troy's sentence, permanently preventing what could be a wrongful execution.

It is now up to us to make sure the Board hears our voices loud and clear. Send a letter to the Board asking them to grant clemency for Troy Davis, and make sure it's something from the heart:

Take Action Now

Earlier this month I visited the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison, where Troy Davis awaits his fate.

A decade later. The abyss keeps deepening, the wars keep squandering our blood and treasure beyond all logic except the logic of violence.
What ended on Sept. 11, 2001, it sometimes seems, was human evolution.

Suddenly, an irreparable schism opened between those in power and the rest of humankind, and a decision fell into place that war for profit would never end — and there was nothing to be done about it, as the corporate media conveyed to the world with a knowing shrug. What fell into place was armed insanity as perpetual background noise, and any reach toward global community, understanding and forgiveness went on permanent hold.

“Peace, of course, is not just absent from video games. It has faded from any debate in Washington surrounding the wars.”

Thus spake the Washington Post the other day, in a dazzlingly superficial reflection on the tenth anniversary of whatever happened that day, oh yeah, terror, evil, biff, bop, pow: “A Decade After the 9/11 Attacks, Americans Live in an Era of Endless War.” I can’t remember the last time I read something so glaringly lacking in moral intelligence. It must have been intentional.