State

ACTION ALERT:   
OCTOBER 15—CRITICAL “WASTE CONFIDENCE” MEETING IN TOLEDO AREA
 
 
If you want to do one thing to oppose nuclear power this year, this is it. In June of 2012, a critical win in a lawsuit brought by a coalition of groups including the Sierra Club and the DC Court of Appeals, overruled the “Waste Confidence” decision of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
Since 1984, the NRC has maintained that it has “confidence” that a solution will be found for disposing of high-level radioactive waste -- defined as the used, irradiated fuel rods from nuclear power reactors. The NRC maintained that waste is a “generic” issue, so no entity could legally oppose a license or license extension based on the fact that waste could be a problem. Issues such as large amounts of waste accumulating on sites, or in overcrowded fuel pools, or in aged, deteriorated casks, or in areas prone to flood or earthquake -- could not be brought up.    
With the court ruling, the NRC has halted all license proceedings that rely on Waste Confidence.  This includes FirstEnergy’s application for a license extension at Davis-Besse.

Are they or aren’t they investigating Governor Voinovich’s administration?
It’s become a semantics debate. Voinovich campaign contributions, yes; administration, no.

The July issue of the Ohio Observer originally reported that the FBI was investigating charges of contract steering in the Voinovich administration. Then a week ago Sunday, the Cincinnati Enquirer confirmed this and filled in many details surrounding the preliminary investigation. Then the Cleveland Plain Dealer had the feds denying it. But the Enquirer stood by its story. And well they should, since they had, in newspaper biz parlance, “back-up”-usually meaning “we taped it, you idiots.” Plus, the Enquirer had confirmation from multiple sources: two in the FBI and one in the Justice Department.

I visited my mother today. Entering the long term care unit in which she spends her final days, I hear the blare of her television. As I sit down next to her hospital bed, I realize that we’re viewing live coverage of the 50th anniversary of the famed 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. In an instant, I flash back to myself as a 10 year old girl watching the black and white evening news with her parents, transfixed by this seminal event. It's only in the present that I realize its impact.
This past January, I helped form the Ohio Rights Group to advocate for the medical, therapeutic and industrial uses of cannabis. I then co-authored the Ohio Cannabis Rights Amendment based on the inalienable rights named in the Ohio Constitution’s Bill of Rights: life, liberty, property, happiness and safety.
As echoed from the Lincoln Memorial 50 years ago, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream, "deeply rooted in the American dream – one day this nation will rise up and live up to its creed."
Some might ask how cannabis, a scorned drug, fits into Dr. King's dream.

My, my. The coverup starts in the Columbus Dispatch Metro section lead which begins, “[Franklin] County election officials say they think a clerical error is to blame for 19 Columbus police officers having their voting addresses listed as the Downtown police headquarters.”

Now, if a lower-class black male had used his work address as a voting address, and tried to vote in the inner-city Driving Park area, the headline would have read: “Massive voter fraud uncovered in urban inner-city precinct: ACORN is suspected.”

It is a fifth-degree felony to intentionally register to vote at your work address instead of your residence. The police might enforce the laws, but it doesn’t mean they obey them.

As the Dispatch pointed out, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, who supervises the vote in Ohio, “…isn’t particularly concerned about police officers registering their work address.”