Free Press Editor Bob Fitrakis files petitions for Columbus School Board

Bob Fitrakis joined fellow activist, radio talk show host and incumbent Columbus Board of Education member Bill Moss in filing petitions with the Franklin County Board of Elections for the fall School Board race. If accepted, Fitrakis and Moss plan to restore integrity, to ensure accountability and to stand up for the children. Fitrakis is endorsed by the Central Ohio Green Party.

Bike Club

This September, The Third Hand Bike Co-Op is partnering with the Cap City Transit Coalition and the Mason Unit of the Salesian Boys and Girls Club to offer a Bike Club as part of the Mason Unit’s after-school programming. The youth participating in the Earn-a-Bike program will earn a recycled bicycle and a helmet by earning credit through attending workshops on basic bike maintenance, bike repair skills and bike safety. The Bike Club youths will also learn about map reading and bike safety on group outings into the community and on local bike paths. This is the first program to be put on by The Third Hand Bike Co-op. To lend financial or volunteer help, or to donate an “un”used bike to the Co-op, contact Jason at 614-222-8933 or info@thirdhand.org

Abolishing Capital Punishment

Ohioans to Stop Executions along with many other affiliates is sponsoring ”The Journey of Hope…from Violence to Healing,” September 26- October 12, 2003,

Through public presentations, rallies, marches, concerts, tree planting and media interviews, The Journey of Hope will touch the lives of thousands of Ohioans with inspirational messages of compassion and healing. About fifty speakers from around the nations will converge on Ohio. Many of them will represent Murder Victim Families for Reconciliation.  Other participants will be innocent former death row inmates, and family members of death row inmates.

Central Ohio hosts the final leg of the Journey of Hope from Oct 8 through October 12. There is a statewide rally planned at the Ohio Statehouse on Saturday, October 11 beginning at 1pm. For further information call Gary Witte, 443-6044.

Report from Cuba -- Pastors for Peace in Central Ohio

Sunday evening, August 24, 2003, Pastors for Peace in Central Ohio sponsored a meeting about Cuba at the Olentangy Christian Reformed Church. Caleb Steindam, resident of Columbus and participant in the July 2003 Pastors for Peace 14th Friendshipment to Cuba, summarized the impressions he gained of Cuba while on the trip. Also at the meeting, David C. Jehnsen, Chair and Founding Trustee of The Institute for Human Rights and Responsibilities (IHRR) of Galena, Ohio, outlined the exciting initiatives being taken to equip Cuban churches and their leaders to meet challenges of the future. USA-Cuba relations have plummeted to a new low, fueled in part by a series of provocative actions by the USA government and its officials. It was in this context that Pastors for Peace, an action project of IFCO (Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization), arranged for the 14th Friendshipment of aid to Cuba, including medicines, hospital supplies, school supplies, and even school busses and ambulances.

September-October 2003

President Bush and his cronies are destroying the environment, wrecking our economy and trampling justice, but citizens are fighting back.

Selected articles include:

A question almost unthinkable

Just the (unchecked & unsourced) facts, ma’am

The get-rich con: are media values better now?

Presidential candidates have become fond of asking whether Americans are better off now than they were four years ago. Looking back at a sensational Time magazine story that appeared in late September 1999, we might want to ask a similar question: “Are media values better than they were four years ago?”

     The enthralling title of Time’s 20-page cover story -- “GetRich.com” -- heralded scenarios for wondrously swift elevation into the ranks of the wealthy. The spread had its share of wry digs and sardonic asides, but reverence for the magnitude of quick money in dotcomland seemed to dwarf any misgivings.

     Although the magazine explained that “it’s not all about the money,” the punch line arrived a few dozen words later: “But mostly, it’s the money.” And back in 1999, there was plenty of it moving into new digital enterprises. “In the second quarter of this year, venture-capital funding in the U.S. increased 77 percent, to a record $7.6 billion. More than half went to Internet start-ups.”

     At the time, Silicon Valley executives were holding stocks and options valued at $112 billion -- a few billion dollars more than the

The Full Ostrich on Iraq

AUSTIN, Texas -- The administration is now in The Full Ostrich on Iraq: Dick Cheney put on a fabulous performance last Sunday on "Meet the Press," in which he insisted everything in Iraq is trickety-boo, right as rain and cheery bye. I haven't heard anyone lie with such gravitas since Henry Kissinger was in office.

            But for the complete black-is-white, up-is-down, peace-is-war mode, you have to check out this administration on the environment. I am fascinated by its rank chutzpah. The latest brass-balls moxie episode was President Bush's Monday visit to the Detroit Edison power plant in Monroe, Mich., which he actually touted as a "living example" of why his dandy Clear Skies (gag me) initiative is so good for us all. "You're good stewards of the quality of the air," Bush told the plant's pleased workers.

            The Monroe plant is one of the worst polluters in the country: In 2001, it sent 102,700 tons of sulfur dioxide, the leading cause of acid rain, into the atmosphere, along with 45,900 tons of nitrogen oxide, 810 pounds of mercury and 17.6 million tons of carbon dioxide. A study done in

Untitled

my bike is my statement of purpose...
as i slide and i glide
one second from suicide
and the sound of screeching car tires
and busses
and shuttlebusses...

petrolium driven missiles
weapons of mass destruction
distraction
to lives of fast lives and bikinis
and arbitrarily expensive martinis..

i was taught to believe that i NEEDED TO BE TAUGHT.

caught
by 'Copy-Right' and 'Pat-Pending'...
i discovered 'The Power of Lending'
and "Big Mac, Fillet-o-Fish, Quarter-Pounder, French Fries..."
advertise
mesmerize
hypnotize
in movies and publications
full of mental masturbation
25% 'meaning'...
75% ads...

is that the meaning of life?
as in 'i coulda..'
'i shoulda...'
'i woulda...'
done some-thing with my life?..

cause NOW is where i'm living
not 'Making THEIR Living"
selling away opportunities
when right NOW
my bike...
is my statement of purpose.

Lighten up, America!

Watching the high school kids tottering up the hiking trail under ridiculous burdens I was reminded of the studies of GIs who jumped into the surf in the Normandy landings with 80-pound packs on their backs and promptly drowned. These days, the overloaded backpack is coming under scrutiny as kids totter home from school hefting 30-pound loads. I've become a devotee of the famous long-distance hiker Ray Jardine, whose philosophy of life and loads is set forth in his 1992 classic "Beyond Backpacking," which should be nestled next to the works of John Muir on your bookshelf.

            Jardine and his wife Jenny have hiked all the major trails, Pacific Crest, Continental Divide and Appalachian, and watched with horror as overloaded plodders lost any sense of pleasure and often quit the trail altogether. After thousands of miles and much experimentation, the couple ended up with a total packweight each, minus food and water, of around 8 pounds.

            I read the book in the spring and was convinced. Out went the heavy hiker boots, and in came modestly priced sneakers. (Jardine counsels

Save Walhalla!

A beautiful ravine is endangered that is currently protected by zoning laws. A local builder wants to build on the land, but the zoning board has the final say. Let them know what you think and find out more information at: www.savewalhalla.org.

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