AUSTIN, Texas  -- I like Bill Clinton's book. I feel as though I should immediately apologize for saying that. I mean, it's gotten a bunch of bad reviews -- all sorts of superior people have peed all over it and pointed out he shouldn't have said this, or he should have said that.

        Let me get my claim to intellectual superiority in here right away: I was prepared to dislike the book. I was prepared to find it self-serving, inadequate, insufficiently groveling and all that other good doo. Actually, I think it's well written, interesting and informative. I'd recommend it to almost anyone who's interested in politics, including young people with any inclination toward public service.

        I started reading it just to make sure Bill Clinton is who I always thought he was. Yep, same guy. Superb politician with a zipper problem. Interesting case. But even I learned quite a bit along the way.

On April 16 and 17, concerned citizens gathered in Columbus to assess the state of media and learn skills for media activism and the creation of community media.

Columbus hosted “The Medium and the Message: A Community Hearing on Local Broadcasting and the Public Interest” on April 16. The panel discussion featured Johanna Shelton, Media Advisor to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein. Adelstein cast a dissenting vote in recent FCC rulemaking that permits greater concentration of media ownership and has been outspoken on the need to establish substantive localism requirement for broadcasters.

In response to terror warnings in 2003, many Americans wrapped their homes with
plastic and duct tape, some so completely that their families died of asphyxiation.

First the windows. If you see light, air can get in. Ah, the duct
tape rip, the stick that fixes
anything. Burn a match by any
cracks and watch for smoke to blow.

Tape shut our mouths, x-out
the children’s eyes. Refugees on TV
run from shells—one carries
a dead child. Another covers
the lens with his hand. Turn it off. Did you

sleep well, dream blithely through
or choke one another for the final breath?

At this Tuesday morning rally, several people gathered together to “Stand Up for Clean Air.” The rally also focused on the effects that the Bush administration’s irresponsible environmental campaign is having on Ohio communities.

The evidence of Ohio’s degenerating environmental progress is concurrent with Bush’s lapse in ensuring environmental protection and enforcement of environmental laws.

“Bush has the worst environmental record in presidential history” said Trish Lanahan, an activist with the Sierra Club who is working to, “protect the Columbus environment from Bush.”

The “Ohio Communities at Risk” report addresses; increased mercury pollution in water, air pollution’s connection to increased asthma cases, sprawl and the increase of sewage in our rivers.

Speakers featured in the report came to the rally to share their personal experiences connected with these four issues that are affecting the livability of our communities. These true and sometimes heart-breaking testaments pegged the Bush Administration’s for putting “Ohio Communities at Risk.”

Communications Workers of America took a stand against SBC Communications, Friday, April 30.

The gathering began outside the SBC shareholders meeting that was being held at the Hyatt on Capital. The CWA was protesting SBC because they were going to charge retirees with health premiums.

In exchange for the CWA rally not protesting the shareholders meeting, retirees will not have to pay premiums for the duration of the contract.

The boisterous crowd, some five hundred strong, moved from the Hyatt to another hotel ballroom to celebrate its triumph over SBC. However, this was only one victory in a marred and difficult bargaining war that waged following the expiration of the old contract until recently, when tentative agreements were made. Layoffs, employment in growing sections of SBC for union workers, raises, health care, moving overseas factions of SBC back to the U.S., and other CWA concerns were brought to the bargaining table. Jerry Springer, the final speaker at the CWA protest said it best, “Unions are the ones who fought to make jobs what they are today in America.”