U.S. National

A night full of history, knowledge and a whole lot of fun. That is how you can describe the August Second Saturday Salon organized by Free Press Managing Editor Suzanne Patzer and her husband Bob Fitrakis, who is Executive Director. The guests in attendance were from all walks of life leading to many interesting conversations. Stories of exciting and political past, struggles of today’s world, and promises of the future took over the night. One guest I had the pleasure of speaking to is brilliant artist Malcolm J. Mr. J. has a past full of loneliness and depression which he turned into something beautiful. He admitted himself into a treatment to help with his drug and alcohol addictions. Mr. J has been drawing since his younger years, motivated by his 4th grade teacher Mr. Valentino. Since his recovery he has taken it to new levels with help from organizations such as the Fresh Air Gallery, the Cultural Art Center and the VSA arts of Ohio.

The Columbus Free Press sponsored an August 25, screening of the documentary “A Powerful Noise” at the Drexel Theater in Bexley. The movie focused on three women who aided the people of their countries, especially assisting women who are discriminated against after tragic experiences. The three women’s names are Jacqueline (a woman from Bamako, Mali), Hahn (a Vietnamese woman) and Nada (a mother from Bosnia).

Jacqueline (better known as “Madame Urbain” to the people she helps) runs an organization called APAF which helps the women of Bamako get regulated pay and just treatment from their employers, but it does not stop there. Additionally, the organization helps women who were not able to get an education that enables them to sustain a normal life. Madame Urbain also knows that it is important to not only assist the women of Bamako, so she is a motivational speaker who talks to children currently enrolled in school, and villages where she has helped build schools.

The Samaritan’s Dilemma: Should Government Help Your Neighbor?
by Deborah Stone
Nation Books, 2008
292 pages
Notes & Appendix

In her 1993 speech on health care, Hillary Clinton argued that America needed a new a “politics of meaning,” and was roundly criticized as being some kind of left wing, new-age kook. While then First Lady Clinton backed away from the phrase, almost twenty years later Deborah Stone is calling for the same thing.

A perfect storm is gathering to end the prohibition against marijuana in the United States . Economic, generational, and technological forces have combined with new views from the public and powerful opinion makers to create an unprecedented climate for the legalization, regulation and taxation of marijuana.
Storm clouds are brewing from all segments of society to upend the “reefer madness” fear and misconceptions that have dictated U.S. drug policy for decades. The upheaval begins with the economy, but doesn’t end there. As Bob Dylan noted long ago, "You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.” Here’s a review of the pressures bearing down on the prohibitionists.

It’s the economy, stupid

With the country in an economic meltdown similar to the Great Depression, an increasing number of citizens are questioning the cost of the drug war. Billions of dollars have been spent on law enforcement and imprisonment since 1970. (1) More than 20 million citizens have been arrested for cannabis-related charges, including 90 per cent for possession. Marijuana-related arrests continue at the alarming rate of more than 900,000 a year.

Just like a fine and flavorful wine, the Traverse City Film Festival (or the Michael Moore Film Festival experience) continues to ripen and mature with each passing year.

The festival’s fifth year was not only a challenging and thought provoking social/political film experience, the coordinators also added a film school for emerging directors. Raucous parties for the many film goers celebrated the final festival evening.

Fun and funny panels with writers such as Jeff Garlin and Larry Charles (“CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM”) as well as a dialogue with unparalleled American filmmaker Paul Mazursky enthralled the many film goers.

A festival’s most vibrant feature was its generosity of spirit, especially in its highlighting of women voices in films, scripts, philosophy, and activism.

Annemarie Jacir”s “SALT OF THE SEA”, a Palestinian film which boldly shows the frustrations of the abused Palestinian people, is a brilliant, intense, and soul-searching drama which stresses the ongoing peoples’ personal struggle for justice.

Recently, we've been hearing about 'the death of environmentalism' because - allegedly - the world's corporations now understand ecology and will solve our problems with investment, innovation, and gung-ho optimism.

Of course, what the investors want to create with all that optimism and ingenuity are profits, not real sustainability.

Critics regularly accuse environmentalists of being 'doom and gloom' prognosticators who complain of endless problems, but offer 'no solutions'. However, if we check the record, we'll discover that serious ecologists have been offering solutions for centuries.

Real economic solutions

Economist John Stuart Mill realised the limits of nature 160 years ago, as he witnessed British factories multiplying across the landscape, spoiling woodlands, mowing down hedgerows and turning rivers into sewers.

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated, allied, aligned, or connected with the Transformative Studies Institute, the Institute for Critical Animal Studies, Anthony Nocella II, or Richard Kahn. While I am a press officer for the North American Animal Liberation Press Office and am an associate of Jerry Vlasak and Steve Best, I am penning this piece independently of NAALPO and all of my allies. This essay is philosophical in nature and is not intended to incite or encourage illegal or violent acts.

Immersion in an emotionally intense experience impacts the human psyche in a poignant and profound way. Marginalized as we are by the war my fellow activists and I are waging against the dominant culture, it's an elating and uplifting experience to meet and engage those fellow activists, comrades, and allies. My six days of nearly constant interaction with similar-minded individuals and the chanting, shouting, and raging at primate torturers and their enablers at the nexus of the UCLA vivisection wars in a raucous, vociferous, militant demonstration served both as a cathartic outlet and a source of potent spiritual and intellectual inspiration.

If you are a parent or grandparent it's important to be aware of the following facts. I was shocked & disgusted. We've got to use our voices & get them to stop using pesticides. We are killing ourselves!

IMPORTANT FACTS:

* The average child gets 5+ servings of pesticides in his/her food and water every day.

* The pesticide Atrazine is so toxic it is banned in Europe, but it is used so widely in the US that it is found in 71% of the U.S. drinking water.

* Currently, over 400 pesticides can be legally used in the U.S. For example, apples can be sprayed up to 16 times with 36 different pesticides. None of these chemicals are present in organic foods.

* According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, organophosphate pesticides (OP) are now found in the blood of 95% of Americans tested, and the levels are twice as high in blood samples taken from children. Exposure to OPs is linked to hyperactivity, behavior disorders, learning disabilities, developmental delays and motor dysfunction.

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated, allied, aligned, or connected with the Transformative Studies Institute, the Institute for Critical Animal Studies, Anthony Nocella II, or Richard Kahn. While I am a press officer for the North American Animal Liberation Press Office and am an associate of Jerry Vlasak and Steve Best, I am penning this piece independently of NAALPO and all of my allies.

Years of introspection and profound soul searching—intrepidly trekking the seemingly infinite number of unexplored, untamed, thorny and treacherous paths winding circuitously through my psyche—led me to naively conclude that I’d sketched out a nearly complete map of who I am, my worldview, and my purpose.