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Three Cheers!!!

Dear Editor,

Hi, I just want to say THREE CHEERS!!!! We have to believe truth will set us free... and it’s about time someone besides Michael Moore took umbrage with the BS of polls suggesting this imbecile, cold blooded KILLER is a popular leader... like you nailed it, if the press wasn’t so into a sycophant role of laying Hosannas as this antiChrist’s (?) feet, maybe we’d see an uproar... it’s a mixture of “give ‘em cake” mixed with “a sucker is born every minute,” with a final dose of “short attention span theater” thrown in... I hear 60’s songs in my head now, as if resurrecting the all but forgotten dreams, that our generation, like Hamlet, not forget our almost blunted purpose... to maintain LIGHT in the world as these dark lords rise to ascendancy on might alone... knowing JUSTICE slows down the other guy, the ones who “give a damn about their fellow man....” If Gore starts the liberal radio network, 60’s music to re-rouse our ideals would be a good start. After all, seems to me all the hate in rap and all the obscene boom box pounding is either Hiroshima’s revenge or some kind of atavistic drum pounding to signal war a’perpetually coming... thanks again.

Where’s the Safety Now?

Keep in mind that whenever the Columbus Public Schools system determines that it needs our money, a theme central to nearly every campaign for dollars is safety. When the facilities bond issue was to go to ballot, it was safety. When the operating levy was to go to the ballot, it was how certain cuts could affect services and safety. Whenever they need our money, the theme is safety. With the most recent allegations of district employees using our children as their sexual playmates, where’s the issue of safety now?

In every superintendent’s administration comes a test of the character, cadence, register and resolve of its leadership. Columbus Public Schools has had no shortage of memorable opportunities that not only challenged the integrity and grit of the leadership, but defined it for those of us who were paying attention.

Why go vegetarian?

“Animals are God’s creatures, not human property, nor utilities, nor resources, nor commodities, but precious beings in God’s sight.” -- Rev. Andrew Linzey Oxford University, Animal Theology

Believe it or not, animals have feelings too. We feel pain, sadness, happiness, grief, joy and disgust. We can be mischievous and irritable. We experience humiliation, pride and love. Most humans don’t see it, but we are emotionally a lot like you. Would you eat your friends?

“The decision that has led millions of people to stop eating other animals is not rooted in arid adherence to diet or dogma, but in the desire to eliminate the kinds of experiences that using animals for food confers upon beings with feelings,” said a wise human, Karen Davis, PhD, Prisoned Chickens, Poisoned Eggs, 1996.

Sitting Shiva, A Novel by Elliot Feldman

Published by: Foxrock Books (Dec. 2002)
Paperback: 201 pgs., 10 illustrations by author: $12.95

It didn’t take me seven days, the length of mourning for the dead in Judaism, to read Sitting Shiva – more like seven hours straight. But it was time well spent with the first book of Elliot Feldman’s Detroit trilogy. There’s a dash of Elmore Leonard here, mixed with a pinch of Bukowski’s realism, but I like to think of the terse prose as Hemmingway on acid.

Not that Feldman wrote the book on acid, but it reads like a Woodstock generation acid flashback. Feldman’s been a cartoonist since the 60s, appearing in the early underground press including Detroit’s legendary Fifth Estate. His ten illustrations give the book that 70s Hunter S. Thompson/Ralph Steadman feel.

Having worked 20 years in Hollywood crafting one-liners and game shows for TV producers, Feldman doesn’t waste prose. When he’s funny, it’s often poignantly so. The lines are honed into gritty, tragic humor reflective of the fate of my hometown, the Motor City.

Cut funding for new nuclear weapons

The Senate is expected to vote on its version of the energy and water appropriations bill (S.1424) in September, after the August recess. This bill includes funding for the Department of Energy's (DOE) nuclear weapons programs. The Administration is seeking $15 million to fund continued research on the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator, or nuclear "bunker buster," and $6 million for research on other advanced nuclear weapons concepts.

On Friday, July 18, the House passed its version of the energy and water appropriations bill. In a courageous move, the House cut most of the money requested ($10 million of the $15 million request) for a new "bunker buster" nuclear weapon and all of the $6 million allocated for Advanced Concepts for nuclear weapons. This was a great victory for arms control. However, for this victory to be solidified, the Senate must act with the same conscience

ACTION: Please contact your Senators. Urge them to vote for amendments to block funding for new nuclear weapons.

For the rest of the Story:

Workers at Women's Institute organize, seek solidarity

The Instituto de las Mujers, D.F. or Women's Institute was formed in 1998 as a result of pressure by the women's movement and the international commitments of the Mexican government to improve conditions for women, to eradicate violence, and to promote public policies to provide for equal opportunity, the full exercise of rights, conditions which make the absence of discrimination possible, and equitable participation by women in the social, economic, political, cultural and family arenas.  It is the only organization of its type in Latin America, providing direct services to women including legal and psychological assistance in cases of divorce or domestic violence and group services and trainings to assist women in learning about and exercising their rights.

In July, 2002, the 200 predominantly women workers at the Women's Institute initiated an organizing campaign through the services union which is affiliated with the Frente Auténtico del Trabajo (FAT).

They encountered a serious legal barrier when the Mexico City labor board held that it did not have jurisdiction over their case.  However, the union appealed, and in May

July-August 2003

While the war still rages, even though the White House would like us to believe that it's over, the Free Press's new print issue spans articles by Bob Fitrakis, Harvey Wasserman, Norman Solomon and a variety of other local and national authors.

Check out the selected articles below:

YES! YES! YES! THE CIRQUE IS IN TOWN!!!

DRALION: Cirque du Soleil
At the Arena District

Used to be, going to "the circus" meant the smell of sawdust, roasted peanuts and elephant droppings everywhere. There were funky ringmasters, fat ladies, trapeze artists and burbling snotty children running wild.

Such shows do still exist. They may, indeed, be with us forever, their hokey charm and cheap admission price hopefully proving sufficient to sustain them in a jaded, high-tech age.

But as everyone knows, there's a new circus in town---the Cirque du Soleil, a $500 million multinational mega-monster on the brink of establishing its own Las Vegas venue (as opposed to CircusCircus, which is SO 20th Century). Right now the Cirque plays Treasure Island, which also features an hourly pirate show on the strip.

But one of its many travelling affiliates has set up shop in the Arena District, right where the old Ohio Pen used to sit. It's playing to justly packed houses, to the extent that---despite its pricey admission tab--- its stay here is being extended.

A tent it has, one that indeed seats 2500 people. Sawdust? Elephants?

Photos from Hookaville

Marcus Celio provides three images from Hookaville.

The Wexner War

We can only imagine Limited founder and apparel mag- nate Leslie Wexner’s consternation over the leaking of a document entitled, Wexner Analysis: Israeli Communication Priorities 2003. The report was prepared for the Wexner Foundation and provides insight into Wexner’s relationship with the state of Israel. As the Cleveland Plain Dealer noted, Wexner keeps his personal life “under padlock.” But what has surfaced over the years simply adds to his mystery. In the Shapiro murder file, personally ordered destroyed by Columbus Chief of Police James Jackson, Wexner is listed as an alleged organized crime associate. A December 1995 Architectural Digest article and a follow-up 1996 New York Times report detailed the inner sanctum of Wexner’s former Manhattan townhouse, one of the largest in the city.

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