Opinion
There is a reason why Israel is insistent on linking the series of attacks carried out by Palestinians recently to a specific location, namely the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank. By doing so, the embattled Naftali Bennett’s government can simply order another deadly military operation in Jenin to reassure its citizens that the situation is under control.
Indeed, on April 9, the Israeli army has stormed the Jenin refugee camp, killing a Palestinian and wounding ten others. However, Israel’s problem is much bigger than Jenin.
Nuclear sanity: ultimate (or, God help us, immediate) disarmament.
Nuclear insanity: ongoing development and deployment, endless investment, eventual (either accidental or intentional) use.
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., addressing Congress several weeks ago, made a heartfelt and powerful case for nuclear sanity, for a revamping of the system of mutually assured destruction, which gives certain national leaders “Godlike powers known as sole authority to end life on the planet as we know it . . .”
The inspiration for the April 2022 salon was Earth Month and WGRN 94.1 community radio’s Earth Day birthday celebration. Mark Stansbery facilitated the salon, first pointing out how back in 1970, Free Press folks helped start the first Earth Day in Columbus and have continually been at the forefront advocating for environmental issues.
Suzanne Patzer briefly reiterated the history of WGRN, which began in 2016 around Earth Day as an environmentally-focused, women-oriented, all-volunteer community radio station. Most of WGRN’s programming was put together by former Program Director Victoria Parks. Tim Chavez, WGRN programmer and scheduler, spoke about the diversity of WGRN’s current programming as a Pacifica affiliate with Democracy Now, the Thom Hartmann Show; the many national programs, and local producers.
To your surprise, perhaps, my answer is an emphatic, unqualified NO. In this Busting Myths column, I will be schematic, but I am prepared to expand my understanding of both city and state in response to readers’ questions. For background, I refer you to my essays on the city and state published in Columbus Free Press since September 2021, available on the website.
Is Columbus really a City: That’s capital “C” City as in legally established, organized, managed?
Despite ranking 14th in the United States and growing, Columbus has no identity or sense of itself as an urban place. It has no agreed-upon landmark(s). Consider the Columbus Dispatch’s amateur “historians’” flailing efforts. Being one of innumerable Columbuses or Columbias across the nation is only one indicator. Its media are well below average. And, it has no signature professional sports team or mascot. Brutus Buckeye and “Carmen, Ohio” don’t cut it.
For our meeting #89 we announce the GREEN-GREEP (Gree-Gree)…the Greening of the Grassroots Emergency Election Protection Coalition to conjoin the battle for grassroots democracy with renewables and saving our planet from King CONG (Coal, Oil, Nukes & Gas).
We’re first joined by BISI WILLIAMS, BRUCE MAU & AMARIS GALEA-ORBE, who introduce us to the Massive Change Network.
We then enter the deep mists of the nationwide Gerrymandering fiasco, starting with Ohio’s Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor. A veritable Profile in Courage, O’Connor has single-handed blocked four versions of an outrageous attempt by Buckeye Republicans to yet again hijack the state’s Congressional and State House districts. Now (of course) her fellow Republicans want to impeach her.
The Ohio war is being duplicated in New York, North Carolina, Alabama, Texas, Nevada and everywhere else one of the major parties thinks it can steal a few Congressional/Legislative seats.
To the lawmakers who would ban discussion of “controversial topics” in Ohio classrooms,
Ohioans see you. We see the unconstitutionality of HB327 and HB616 and how you are perfectly fine wasting money passing and later defending these restrictions on the freedom of speech. We see that you claim the banner of “pro-life” while you limit our children’s education, and you do this after loosening restrictions around guns, which are most definitely implements that often harm or take children’s lives.
The soul of humanity cries out from the crowded streets of Moscow, from steps near the Kremlin, as a man — an artist in the deepest sense — brings the slaughter of civilians in Bucha back to the home country . . . not by killing a bunch of Russians, but by posing, publicly, as dead himself, with his hands tied behind his back.
Let this man’s spirit flow across the whole planet.
War is hell, and when we wage it — when we dehumanize an enemy, thus allowing ourselves to commit mass murder — we dehumanize ourselves. This unknown Russian man, in posing as someone killed in Ukraine, is bringing awareness home: Look what we’re doing! Let us reclaim our humanity.
When a gruesome six-minute video of Ukrainian soldiers shooting and torturing handcuffed and tied up Russian soldiers circulated online, outraged people on social media and elsewhere compared this barbaric behavior to that of Daesh.
In a rare admission of moral responsibility, Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to the Ukrainian President, quickly reminded Ukrainian fighters of their responsibility under international law. “I would like to remind all our military, civilian and defense forces, once again, that the abuse of prisoners is a war crime that has no amnesty under military law and has no statute of limitations,” he said, asserting that “We are a European army”, as if the latter is synonymous with civilized behavior.
Joe Motil, former Columbus City Council candidate and longtime community advocate who is strongly considering running for Mayor in 2023, states that, “It is long overdue that Mayor Ginther, Columbus City Council and our Franklin County Board of Commissioners join together and invest $120 million of city and county allocated federal American Rescue Plan funds towards affordable housing. Along with a matching $60 million investment by The Columbus Partnership and its 84 members, a desperately needed immediate infusion of a $180 million-dollar affordable housing investment can be realized. These funds could provide up to 5,000 affordable housing units for those wage earners at 60 percent AMI ($35,200) and less.”
At tonight’s Columbus City Council meeting, a total of $5.5 million in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds were voted on and approved for the YWCA, YMCA, Faith Mission, Maryhaven and Southeast Inc. This would leave a balance of about $44.7 million of the city’s current ARP funds along with another $93 million that is to arrive next month totaling $137 million in available funds.
