Opinion

When one thinks of communities that are facing the problem of white privilege head on, Bexley Ohio is probably not high on the list. With their racial demographics showing 88% white, compared to the national average of 61%, dialogues about white privilege seem distinctly out of place. Yet that is exactly what happened at the Bexley Public Library on July 11. Underground at the bottom of the library perhaps the most uncomfortable topic was thrust into the bright air by a highly eager crowd of both Bexley residents and members of surrounding communities.

JULY 10, 2018


The eternal question of U.S. politics rears its ugly ass again: “Why in the hell does anyone ever listen to Alan Dershowitz?”

No court can overturn a Congressional impeachment and conviction. Will somebody at Fox and CNN page the nearest genocidal torture-defending lawyer, who is either Alan Dershowitz or someone joining him on a search for the real O.J. Simpson killer at a five-star restaurant for lunch today, and get Dershowitz a copy of the United States Constitution?

The Constitution gives impeachment to the House and the trial to the Senate with the Chief Justice presiding. It gives the House the “sole” power of impeachment, and the Senate the “sole” power to try all impeachments. That means nobody else, least of all a different branch of government, gets to say anything at all.

The Constitution, pace Dershowitz, does not list all specific offenses that qualify for impeachment.

The weekend of July 7th and 8th witnessed the European peace movement come together in Brussels, Belgium to send a clear message to the world community, “No to war – No to NATO!”

The mass demonstration on Saturday and the No-to NATO counter summit on Sundayrejected American calls for all 29 NATO member states to increase military expenditures to 2% of GDP. Currently, the US spends 3.57% for military programs while European nations average 1.46 percent. President Trump is pressuring NATO members to spends hundreds of billions of additional Euros annually on various military programs, many which involve the purchase of American weapons and the expansion of military bases.

NATO members will meet in Brussels on July 11th and 12th. President Trump is expected to come down strongly on the Europeans while most member states are hesitant to increase military spending.

Remarks Delivered by Pat Elder for World BEYOND War at the No to War No to NATO Summit, Brussels, July 8, 2018

Aren’t there any American flags flying here? Are we going to salute the troops? Pledge allegiance to the flag? No? What kind of empire is this?

A largely ignorant American public is the propane that fires the stove of Trump’s brand of fascism.

An overwhelming majority of the American public is convinced that Trump is a liar who does not “share their values” or “care about people like them.” At the same time, many believe that he can “get things done.”

The neo-liberal order we loathe involves dumbing down the American public to accept 18th century notions of unbridled capitalism. The high school textbooks glorify war and empire. God and the flag and the church and the military and Jesus and America and mom and apple pie are mixed in a kind of patriotic pablum that is fed daily to the masses.

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

– William Butler Yeats, The Second Coming, 1919

pocalyptic thinking has been with us for a long time, and it sometimes ushers in actual apocalypses, albeit at human scale, without biblical finality. For a century now, the Yeats poem above has served as an increasingly common reference point for those who fear apocalyptic events approaching. Today such fears are varied, the threats are real, and reactions range from crisis-mongering to self-serving denial, making any rational, coherent societal response almost impossible.

Rob Collier, a composer/performer from Milwaukee, Wisconsin is doing a tour and will be playing at It Looks Like its Open, 13 E. Tulane on Saturday, July 14, 7:30-10:30pm. He is touring with Ben Aguilar (from Louisville, Ky) and performing a new composition called Music in Transparent Layers. They will record every performance on the tour and play the recordings at each subsequent show as we add a new layer live. Thus, each performance is a unique stage in the development of the piece. The music is ambient/minimal/experimental.

MUSIC IN TRANSPARENT LAYERS is a new composition by ROB COLLIER. Multi-timbral motives, pseudo-ambient textures, process-driven harmony. Performed in duet with BEN AGUILAR.

NOISTERIA EMISSION - Experimental electronic from Dayton, OH

HABITEUR - Coaxing beauty from ugliness, Habiteur works with machinery, junk, repurposed electronics, tapes, and various objects.

Let’s be honest.

There are many reasons that people decide to build an organization. Anger is one. A rage at injustice or an action by the government coupled with a recognition that your one voice, even yelling, will neither be heard nor will it create change, is often enough. Sometimes it is a mutual agreement between friends or like-minded individuals to all stand together and dive into the deep end of the pool and see if an issue can be attacked, a campaign created, or maybe an organization formed. Sometimes it is neighbors or fellow workers aggravated about a persistent issue or grievance that forces collective action. Sometimes it starts, as it usually did with ACORN, with someone knocking on your door. There can be all manner of triggers that begin organizations and without care, there can be as many that stunt its development or suffocate its future from birth.

Issues, grievances, inequities, and injustices are all reasons to build campaigns, but for an organization to live and win it has to have structure. It is important to be humble to the task, even while hopeful of the future.

After the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, nobody other than his widow, Jacqueline, suffered worse than his brother, Robert, the attorney general. For Robert, his relationship with his brother was everything; he scarcely existed outside of it Pain was seared into his face and was palpable; within a few weeks after the murder, he seemed to have aged years. The death of President Kennedy and the end of all they hoped to accomplish so unsettled RFK that family and friends feared for his well being. In the end, it was his wife, Ethel, who brought him around. A very devout Catholic, she was certain that the president had gone straight to Heaven and they would be together again for all eternity.

One way to start your vegan journey is to eat like a vegan one day a week. That way you get a chance to taste some delicious meat-free dishes without the stress of going vegan cold turkey, to turn a phrase. As you slowly move away from animal products in your diet, you’ll discover you may find you don’t need meat, dairy, and eggs to satisfy your hunger.
 

Contrary to many people’s belief that eating meat makes you strong and powerful, think about the mammals who are vegan every day of the week. The top ten vegan animals, as listed by “Vegan Souls” are:
 

Elephant

Rhinoceros

Hippopotamus

Bison

Wildebeest

Horse

Manatee

Some whales

Deer

Yak