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Don't tread on the Tea Party

The battle is on in the Buckeye State. The Tea Party is out to banish the statist neo-conservatives that control Ohio's Grand Old Party (GOP). What should political observers make of the fact that there were no statewide Republican candidates on the stage at the massive Tea Party rally at the Ohio Statehouse on Tax Day? One of the reasons why is obvious. The staid statewide GOP candidates are being challenged everywhere by angry Republican insurgents linked to the Tea Party.

In the race for Secretary of State, John Husted, a suburban Dayton Republican state senator, is under fire from Tea Party favorite Sandra O'Brien. Husted is so threatened by O'Brien that he's taken to running faux Tea Party-type ads. The Husted spot begins with the Tea Party's favorite image – the waving of a "Don't Tread On Me" flag. The voiceover claims that: "Defending our liberty begins with leaders who fight for our families."

Will the climate bill nuke Earth Day?

The Climate Bill is due on Earth Day. By all accounts it will be a nuclear bomb.

It will be the ultimate challenge of the global grassroots green movement to transform it into something that can actually save the planet.

For the atomic power industry, the bill will cap a decade-long $640-million-plus virtual cleansing of its radioactive image.

It will have the Obama Administration and Senators John Kerry (D-MA), Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Lindsay Graham (R-SC) embracing very substantial taxpayer subsidies for building new nuclear plants.

Ditto new offshore drilling and "clean coal." The markers have been laid for a greenwashed business-as-usual approach toward pretending to deal with global climate change and the life-threatening pollution in which our corporate power structure is drowning us. All without actually threatening certain corporate profits.

In Memoriam: Jack Herrer

Jack Herrer is dead, God rest his soul, this is a terrible loss to all of us. May he rest in peace, Amen. He died Thursday, at age 70. He had been suffering from complications following a recent stroke, and had collapsed backstage from a heart attack following a speech calling for decriminalization in September.

Jack was the author of "The Emperor Wears No Clothes", a scholarly work that taught many of us about the history of cannabis and the origins of the so-called "War On Drugs", and is widely considered as "MUST" reading for hemp activist's in the English-language speaking world. His spouse, Jeanie has said that funeral arrangements will be announced shortly. I praise this man and will openly mourn his passing. He taught me so very very much, and deserves a hero's burial.

Sincerely Yours In Revolutionary Struggle, (Thank you George Jackson!) and FREE THE WEED!!!
Chris "The Anarchist" Ryan, (Yippie)

Hypocrisy in the Dispatch's criticism of Eric Brown's appointment as Chief Justice

The Editorial Board of the only daily newspaper of a major city plays an important role in addressing the conscience of the community.  Your editorial of April 15 accusing Governor Strickland and Chief Justice Eric Brown of politicizing the court sounds like an appeal to conscience but in its historical context appears more an act of hypocritical political partisanship. The Court was targeted for politicization in 2000 when even though Republicans held a five to two advantage, Democratic Justice Alice Robie Resnick was writing for a bipartisan four judge majority in the most important cases.  The Ohio and U.S. Chambers of Commerce spent $7 million of illegal corporate treasury money to defame Justice Resnick with a view to securing a more "business friendly" court. 

Tea Party and rail discussion

Listen to the latest "Fight Back" radio show by Bob Fitrakis, Harvey Wasserman, and Connie Gadell-Newton on WCRSFM.ORG Produced by Josh Paulson.

Kucinich on assassinations and upcoming war funding vote

Congressman Dennis Kucinich said on Friday that he is working with Congressman Jim McGovern, a member of the Rules Committee, who has drafted a letter asking that the upcoming war supplemental be a clean vote not muddied by the inclusion of unrelated measures, such as aid to Haiti. I asked Kucinich if that request for a clean vote included a commitment by McGovern not to propose his own amendments, and Kucinich clearly did not know or did not want to speak for his colleague, but he expressed his own support for McGovern's exit timetable proposal. Kucinich said he expected the vote on $33 billion to escalate the war in Afghanistan to come up in the next two weeks.

Kucinich is, thus far, the only member of Congress who, to my knowledge, has publicly urged his colleagues to vote No. I asked him if he would urge them to join him in publicly committing to vote No ahead of time and in urging others to do the same. Kucinich said he was writing letters urging them to vote No, but did not reply on the matter of urging them to go public and whip.

Mines have spurned safety for too long

One faction of the Tea Party will gather on the mall in Washington, D.C., this week on Tax Day. They will rail against big government, intrusive regulations, taxes and spending.

On Monday, people across the country observed a moment of silence for the tragic loss of 29 lives at the Upper Big Branch mine in Montcoal, W.Va. The nation's worst mining disaster in over four decades took place at a mine that had been cited for literally hundreds of violations over the last year, including many serious ones.

Will we ever learn? Mining is an inherently dangerous occupation. According to the United Mine Workers of America, in the last century more than 100,000 miners were killed due to mine disasters. More than 100,000 died from black lung disease by breathing coal dust. Even today, a coal miner dies every six hours from black lung disease, and these numbers are rising again.

So don't tread on me

Yeah, well you finally stopped getting mad

Here's a popular "Letter to America" and a new reply from America below.
You didn't get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President.
You didn't get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate energy policy.
You didn't get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed.
You didn't get mad when the Patriot Act got passed.
You didn't get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us.
You didn't get mad when we spent over 600 billion (and counting) on said illegal war.
You didn't get mad when over 10 billion dollars just disappeared in Iraq.

You didn't get mad when you saw the Abu Grahib photos.
You didn't get mad when you found out we were torturing people.
You didn't get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans.
You didn't get mad when we didn't catch Bin Laden.
You didn't get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed.
You didn't get mad when we let a major US city drown.
You didn't get mad when the deficit hit the trillion dollar mark.

Dispatch from China: Number 15 has left the building

Li Changchun is often referred to as one of the most powerful men in China, in Asia and, increasingly, in the world. He is a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China's Central Committee. On April 8, he awaited our arrival at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Between him and I stood a group of newspaper editors from throughout Asia, along with giant pillars, thick walls and a strict protocol that had to be followed to the letter, or to the number.

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