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Initiative Petition Drive to Restructure Columbus City Council

Progress with Economic and Environmental Responsibility, Inc. (PEER) announced that it will lead an Initiative Petition Drive to amend the Columbus City Charter. The Initiative will allow voters to elect an as yet undetermined number of district or ward representatives in addition to the current seven at-large council members. The goal of the Initiative Petition Drive is to ensure comprehensive representation for all of the neighborhoods within the City.

PEER supports a public policy agenda featuring truly representative government and efficient planning for Columbus and Central Ohio. PEER thus supports growth policies which allow for commercial and residential development but which also promote the reuse and redevelopment of the central city while preserving key environmental assets in the area.

Third Hand Bike Co-op

The now-forming Third Hand Bike Cooperative has received enthusiastic support at its one fundraiser and six meetings. The Co-op has adopted the Third Hand name and the mission to advocate socially and environmentally responsible transportation and recreation through the promotion of bike use, bike culture, and community education in the Columbus metropolitan area. This project is just getting rolling, and anyone who has interest is more than welcome to help. Contact info@thirdhand.org or Jason at 614-222-8933. Weekly meetings are currently at 7 PM, Thursday at 205 East Crestview Rd.

Q & A with ‘The Ganja Guru’ Ed Rosenthal

The legalization of medical marijuana is an issue that is gaining momentum on a grass roots and national level. I turned into a supporter after watching what the radiation and other drugs did to my grandfather Fred Luffman as he battled both cancer and the ‘medication’ he was given. The ‘medication’ along with the cancer robbed him of his ability to sleep and of his appetite. If you take sleep and food away from the human body it really cannot even fight more mundane illnesses such as the flu with much vigor, not to mention a disease as powerful and ravaging as cancer. Fred, in an effort to gain some appetite, sleep, and ward off the pain of his disease turned to medical marijuana. If John Ashcroft and President Bush had their way my grandfather would have spent his dying months in a penitentiary instead of with his family. While real life stories like these are compelling, every movement needs someone to stick their neck out. They need a person who is willing to call upon the powers that be and tell them to look at the issue from another perspective. That person, in the case of medical marijuana, is Ed Rosenthal.

The gang that couldn't talk straight

     We’re living in an era when news coverage often involves plenty of absurdity.

     That’s the case with routine U.S. media spin about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. So, on the July 29 edition of NPR’s “All Things Considered” program, host Robert Siegel and correspondent Vicky O’Hara each recited scripts referring to a “security barrier” that Israel’s government is building in the West Bank. The next day, many news outlets -- including the Los Angeles Times, Baltimore Sun, New York Times, Chicago Tribune and The Associated Press -- also used the “security barrier” phrase without quotation marks, treating it as an objective description rather than the Israeli government’s preferred characterization.

     Meanwhile, in contrast, a Washington Post article managed to be more evenhanded. When the phrase “security fence” appeared, it was inside a quotation from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. And the Post story explained that part of the barrier “divides farmers from their fields, or other Palestinians from their neighbors.” It takes varied form as a 20-foot-tall concrete wall and fortified stretches of razor wire, trenches and electronic fencing.

It's not fair

            AUSTIN, Texas -- Oh great, now we have a bunch of Texas Democrats hiding out in Albuquerque (which is very difficult to spell), and I'm here holding the bag, trying to explain what this particular spate of lunacy in our state is all about. Spare me, Lord.

            OK, if I really have to do this deal ... see if you can think back to when you were a kid -- 5, 6, 7 -- and you were always getting blamed for something one of your siblings had done, or you didn't mean to knock over something but your old man whopped you for it anyway.

            The classic cry from the heart is, "BUT IT'S NOT FAIR!" Naturally, further on down the line, all of us experience some variant of John F. Kennedy's observation that "life is not fair." Exactly when, where and under what circumstances we give up on expecting life to be fair obviously varies from cancer to KIA to divorce to other of life's more malicious surprises.

            Basically, the reason 12 Democratic senators from Texas are on the lam in New Mexico is BECAUSE IT'S NOT FAIR. You may think that's childish, but there are some important principles at stake here. Like,

Hope out of Quagmire: New peace movement opportunities

In the glow of the Iraq war's initial military success, most American peace activists felt profoundly demoralized. Between the war's portrayal as a glamorous spectacle and Bush's seemingly overwhelming support, many who'd recently marched by the millions felt isolated, defensive, and powerless, fearing their voices no longer mattered.

Now, as Bush's occupation faces a deepening quagmire, shifting public sentiment opens up major new opportunities for activism. Just two months ago, the national mood felt so resistant that it was hard to raise the most cautious dissenting questions. But polls now suggest the beginning of a very different national mood, where large numbers of Americans are having significant doubts. This gives us a chance to challenge the core fallacies of Bush's foreign policy, revitalize peace movement activism, and perhaps change our national direction. We can do this by launching a grassroots campaign to replace the US control over Iraq with an international transitional authority under United Nations command--an authority that would control not only military operations, but also Iraq's political and economic

Want to meet the real WMD fabricator? Yup, a mild-mannered Swede

            Week after week, Bush and his people have been getting pounded by newly emboldened Democrats and liberal pundits for having exaggerated the threat posed by Saddam Hussein and his still-elusive weapons of mass destruction. One day, CIA Director George Tenet is hung out to dry; the next, it's the turn of Paul Wolfowitz's team of mad Straussians. On the other side of the Atlantic, the same sort of thing has been happening to Tony Blair.

            They deserve the pounding, but if we're to be fair, there's an even more deserving target, a man of impeccable liberal credentials, well-respected in the sort of confabs attended by New Labor and espousers of the Third Way. I give you Rolf Ekeus, former Swedish ambassador to the United States and, before that, the executive chairman of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) on Iraq from 1991 to 1997. These days, he's chairman of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a noted dovecote of the olive branch set.

            In the wake of the first Iraq war, it was UNSCOM Chief Ekeus, exuding disinterested integrity as only a Swede can, who insisted that

CorpOrNation:  The Story of Citizens and Corporations in Ohio

The Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee [AFSC] announces the documentary release of...

CorpOrNation:  The Story of Citizens and Corporations in Ohio

Do we live in a true democracy?

CorpOrNation exposes the historic corporate rise to power in Ohio, the barriers citizens have fought to create a true democracy for themselves, and detailed assessments of  government influence by corporations  through "corporate globalization."  Spanning Ohio’s history from 1803 through present-day struggles between citizens and corporations, CorpOrNation suggests strategies for citizens to overcome current threats to citizen-led democracy and the corporate takeover of society.

Rich with analysis and history, CorpOrNation, produced by the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee, features interviews with people from the Ohio AFL-CIO, Ohio Public Interest Research Group, United Steelworkers, Ohio Family Farm Coalition, Farm Labor Organizing Committee, Program on Corporations Law and Democracy, and student activists discussing corporate farms, factory lockouts, “veggie libel” laws, and regional “free trade” agreements.

Still Crazy

After all these years, it still amazes how Americans can remain so disconnected from the world events in which we play so central a role. I use the term "world events" loosely, since the US today seems to have lost even its historically tenuous connections with the reality of the rest of the world. We continue to call our baseball championships the World Series, oblivious to how quaint and naive, at best--or arrogant and self-absorbed, at worst--it has always seemed to the rest of the world. This has been the hallmark of Americans' role in the world--a curious blend of ubiquitous involvement paired with near-total ignorance.

A letter to the Democrat candidates

My dear Democratic  candidates for the Presidency in 2004!

  Recently I watched some of your debates, saw you all and  listened to your speeches. It was a pleasure to  watch you. Mr. Graham was solid, Mr. Lieberman was experienced, Mr. Kerry was handsome, Mr. Kucinich was persistent, Mr. Gephardt was stately, Mr. Edwards was southern, Mrs. Moseley- Braun was articulate, Mr. Sharpton was dedicated, Mr. Dean was  as cool as a cucumber.  All of you, folks said  proper words, made proper statements, agreed to disagree and promised what  you usually  promise. Oh yes, it was a pleasure. Also it was a total disaster. You can't win, you, a bunch of sissies. And the reason is simple: you don't want to win.  Either you have no guts or you are very foolish.  You think it is the politics as usual? You think you make your day, look cool and  maybe have a chance to win. But if you don't win, why worry? Nothing will change, right? You still will retain your  positions, perks, salaries and constituents,  right?

WRONG!

Politics as usual is dead.  It was stomped to death by the  crypto- cowboys

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