The Omnivore's Dilemma, Part 2

Continuing on with Michael Pollan's provocative book about the food chains available to the human species, let's look at what he calls "Big Organic." This food chain markets the word "organic" to consumers with a conscience -- but it is still Agri-biz and monoculture-focused.

An example would be Rose the organic chicken, advertised as free of antibiotics and artificial hormones who are raised with "access to the outdoors," one of federal organic rules. The chickens are raised in long low sheds that have open doors that lead to a grassy yard. The only thing is, the chickens never venture outside even though the doors are open. For their first five weeks, they are kept inside, so they only know being fed and watered indoors. By the time they are five weeks old, their habits are formed and they would be terrified to go out into some strange outdoor environment. And by the way, after 7 weeks -- the chickens are slaughtered. So much for the happy free-range lifestyle for chickens.

Pollan gives us the scoop on the giant organic farm businesses in California, including Earthbound, a brand I used to purchase at the Mustard Seed. I've been very leary though, since the E.coli contaminated spinach was identified as coming from Earthbound. Wild pigs were reported as the E.coli carriers along with

"Samples taken from a wild pig, as well as from stream water and cattle on the ranch, have tested positive for the same strain of E. coli implicated in the outbreak, said Dr. Kevin Reilly of the California Department of Health Services."

It doesn't matter how organic and holistic one's farming practices are -- if the neighboring acreage is supporting unsanitary practices with its animals, the ground water is easily contaminated and wild animals help spread disease as well.

So now I am leary of vegetables grown on monoculture fields whether organic or not! I found an indoor lettuce grower online, but wow -- it is pricey. I'd like to figure out a way to make something out of recycled materials. Anybody have any ideas?

At least I have the egg problem solved. My mom sends along a picture of an actual free roaming and apparently happy chicken from someone who is raising chickens to sell their eggs. I won't be fooled by the organic advertising any more!

The Omnivore's Dilemma, A Natural History of Four Meals

If we are what we eat, most of us would be comprised of corn with a large side of petroleum. Michael Pollan's book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, follows the human food chains back to their origins by tracing the paths of all the items in four meals: a fast food meal from McDonald's representing processed food; an Agribiz produced "organic" food meal; a pastoral meal produced on an amazing farm in Virginia where nothing goes to waste and animals lead happy lives and are slaughtered as humanely as possible; and finally, a meal totally gathered and hunted in the woods and wilds of northern California.

Pollan wants us to become mindful of what we are eating and consider the effects of how it is produced upon the planet and upon our own bodies. It puts the human animal in a place she'd rather not be -- face to face with the reality of what it means to live on this planet and recognize that after all, we are but another thing that dies to feed other things.

Those who eat animals and/or their products, would really rather not know about the conditions those animals live in, but Pollan buys a steer calf and follows it through its short miserable life. He goes into great detail explaining how the stomach's of cows are evolved to digest grasses. That is what cows should eat, but now they are penned in CAFOs (Contained Animal Feeding Operations), and fed a corn-based mash. Cows do not digest corn naturally. So that upsets the balance:

"Most of the microbes that reside in the gut of a cow and find their way into our food get killed off by the strong acids in our stomachs, since they evolved to live in the neutral pH environment of the rumen. But the rumen of a corn-fed feedlot steer is nearly as acidic as our own, and in this new, man made environment new acid resistant strains of E.coli, of which 0157:H7, is one, have evolved--yet another creature recruited by nature to absorb the excess biomass coming off the Farm Belt. The problem with these bugs is that they can shake off the acid bath in our stomachs--and then go on to kill us. By acidifying the rumen with corn we've broken down one of our food chain's most important barriers to infection. Yet another solution turned into a problem.." (Omnivore p 82).

Big Agribiz with its monoculture of corn fields and silos that produce and store the kernals that feed the cows on CAFOs burns up enormous amounts of petroleum products to produce its crop of field corn #2, including petroleum-based fertilizers and pesticides, as well as the fuel used to run the massive machines that work over the massive amounts of acres which are "farmed" these days. According to Pollan, one fifth of petroleum consumed in America goes to the production and transportation of food.

Those corn kernals go into just about every processed food humans consume, in the form of HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup) and other fattening engineered food products. We fatten the cows on corn, then proceed to fatten ourselves on HFCS and other corn derivatives.

One of the most fascinating aspects of Pollan's book are the chapters describing the meal at the end of each food chain. In the case of the processed corn chain, it is a chicken McNugget, made from 38 ingredients including TBHQ, or tertiary butylhydroquinone, sprayed on to help preserve the freshness. It is actually a form of butane and extremely toxic if you swallow a gram of it. McDonalds isn't going to put a gram of it on your nuggets, but someone who eats those things a lot might be accumulating that stuff somewhere in their bodies, don't you think?

Yes, this book provokes an awful amount of thinking and I wish everybody I knew would read it ASAP. I will be writing about it all week as there is much to ponder and reflect upon -- especially concerning what I learned about my vegetarian life-style (30+ years now!) and whether after reading the Omniovore's Dilemma I could ever bring myself to eat flesh.

To be continued.....

Bits of green along with the brown

With spring-like temperatures today, I was drawn out to the garden. The sky was overcast and dreary, but plant life showed itself here and there along my journey of inspection.










Strawberry plants are staking out their territory in the garden bed. I found a last bit of broccoli that tasted delicious after a nice rinse in cold water.



The chives were down, but not yet dead and some sturdy sprigs of pineapple mint nested in a bed of leaves. The roses are not in winter shock mode yet, and have green growing tips. Spring bulbs were trying to make a stand, but I dumped a thick layer of rotting straw on top of them.

Last of the Steam-Powered Trains

I found this on YouTube just now, a juxtaposition of two favorite forms of entertainment -- the Kinks and silent film comedy. Enjoy!

New Develpment in Downtown Akron

Buildings to the north and south of the Akron Civic Theatre will be renovated and dedicated to mix-use retail/entertainment/business and market-rate apartments according to a report in the Akron Beacon Journal. The old Whitelaw building will be saved and not torn down, which had been in the works if a more grandeous scheme had found the financing it needed. I really like the sound of this:

"The demolition will expose a section of the Ohio & Erie Canal for the first time in more than a century; it will be incorporated into the development.

Main Street Partners proposes using the lower levels of the rehabilitated buildings as walk-out areas at the canal level to serve customers at restaurants and clubs, according to the city. The upper levels will have a mix of uses, including office, retail and 33 market-rate apartments."

How cool to see something that had been hidden for 100 years! I remember as a child going in search of the old canal locks with my family. In those days (the 50s and 60s), the locks were hidden in vast overgrowths of weeds and they cotained the most toxic looking brews of green slime and foaming chemicals.

I wonder sometimes if all the canal restoration that has been going on the past couple of decades might well be prescient thinking. In the post-petroleum era, the canal boats might well be running up and down the state once more.

As I posted in the Comments section of the ABJ article, I'd love to live in one of those apartments overlooking the canal. I can picture taking a morning walk down the towpath with an apartment-sized dog, then stopping for coffee and chat with the local downtown workers. The performance art spaces all in walking distance, and the main library's riches right down the street. The only thing missing would be a year-round farmer's market.

The People Have Spoken But The Decider Won't Listen

The Bible-thumpers want to slap you with it but never apply it to their own backsides. A case in point:

Iraq. As in thou shalt not kill. Instead, send over 25,000 more troops to ...? What will they do over there -- lead us to victory or more flag-draped coffins? The Decider has put off his decision until after the holiday glow has receded into 2007. It will be interesting to see this drama play itself out. Some 70% don't want to play Follow the Leader any more. Will the Decider grow unhinged to the point of total scariness? Will his minders step in and prevent him from creating even more harm?

Meanwhile, have you taken a good look at the number of huge military bases the US has built in Iraq? Who will slip into those armed castles once the US finally redeploys? Or is the Bush regime stalling so they can disassemble those camps and send what's inside to another country looking for "democracy" Neo-con style. That could take a long time.

If you feel your anti-war resolve fading away as you face all the hoopla of the holidaze ahead, visit Matt Carter's web site and check out the front line videos. Then think once more on the Great Decider who has decided to postpone his decision on Iraq until the new year, even though he has already made his decision.

Summit Country Trash

Some interesting facts gleaned from an article in Wednesday's Akron Beacon Journal:

Summit county trash is about 453,000 tons per year.

Summit County recently has recycled about 17 percent of residential-commercial garbage and 83 percent of industrial waste.The state requirement is that 25 percent of residential-commercial trash and 50 percent of industrial waste be recycled.

The EPA goal is to make recycling available to 90 percent of residents.

I suppose I shouldn't be shocked at the low figure for residential recycling. When I was growing up, people dumped trash mindlessly without a thought to its eventual effect upon the planet. There are many still with that mindset who simply don't give a damn about trash.

It is disheartening to sort through one's trash and find so many types of plastic that are not recycled in Akron. Pictured above is a pile of plastic ready to be recycled in Austin, TX. You can read about their solid waste program here.

Don't forget to take your cloth bags whenever you go shopping. I have been doing very well with my bags lately. I had been forgetting to take the bags out to my vehicle after emptying them. I'd stop at the store and remember -- oops -- I left my bags at home and now I have to pick paper or plastic. Drat!

So now I always hang my cloth bags on the doorknob after I'm finished unloading. The next time I go out the door, the bags go with me and into my vehicle ready for whatever shopping lies ahead. My personal goal is to cut down on shopping as much as possible and to try to buy items in packaging that can be recycled.

Kucinich for President

Throughout the primary in 2004, I had a Dennis Kucinich bumper sticker on my vehicle. Dennis was the only candidate who was unequivocally opposed to the war in Iraq. Dennis was one of the few who voted against it in the first place. Dennis was right and everybody else was wrong. Therefore the Village Green is once again backing him in his quest for president.

I like the idea of a Clinton/Obama ticket just to see anybody other than two white men running for the highest offices in the land. Even though he is white and had once chance already, I'd welcome Gore running with anybody else. So in fact, I've got lots to choose from this early in the running up to 2008. But I'm going to stick with the guy who runs on principle, even thought most people don't give him a snowball's chance in hell. You never know -- I just tried to access his web site and couldn't get on it. Maybe the rest of the world is remembering now that Dennis was indeed the anti-Bush!

Go Dennis! I'm going to get another bumpersticker and put it right next to my Obama/Clinton in 2008 sticker.

Gangs for God Pray All Over Akron

I didn't know this was going on, because Sunday mornings are not the time of day you'll see me out and about. But according to an article in the Akron Beacon Journal, "countless" Akron church members formed themselves into "gangs for God" in order to pray away crime and drug use. This is all part of a grand scheme as related by reporter Jewell Cardwell:

"The day of prayer is part of 40 days and 40 nights of prayer against violence, drugs and gangs, called ``Love Akron on the Streets.'' The effort is in response to a call from Akron City Council leaders who asked that civic and religious communities become Davids in this battle against Goliath. "

Scores of church people assembled on Kenmore Blvd to pray against crime, according to the article. How effective was this demonstration? The answer can also be found in today's ABJ here and here.

One of my biggest problems with religion aside from the fact that it is bogus, is the overwhelming tendency toward "holier-than-thou" antics such as this. Yeah, sure -- show us how holy and concerned you are by bowing your head in public and muttering to your made up big daddy in the sky -- that's a great way to avoid making any headway against the forces that propel human beings toward lives of addiction and crime.

Looking on the bright side of things -- at least they weren't lining up all over the city in protest of a woman's right to do what she wishes with her own uterus.

Prince Charles the Green

He's going greener. No more flights on royal airplanes. Charles is gong commercial flights to reduce his own personal carbon footprint. And he's taking other steps to become more environmentally correct on his various properties and in his several industries. Read about it here.

If he really wants to be effective in greenifying his country, he should dismantle the monarchy, turn over the crown assets to the people of Great Britain, and find something useful to do with his life.

Above is a picture of the "Prince Charles" clematis. Wouldn't you rather look at that than the actual prince?

Kinks on VH1 Classic

This sounds so good, I have to share it with you:

A classic holiday concert by the Kinks:
Coming up on VH1 Classic:

About: BBC Crown Jewels: The Old Grey Whistle Test: The Kinks Christmas Concert
The Kinks captured live at the Rainbow Theater in London on Christmas Eve 1977. The Kinks tear through many of their classic songs including "Lola," "Sleepwalker," "Life On The Road," "Well Respected Man," "Death Of A Clown," "Sunny Afternoon," "Waterloo Sunset," "All Day And All Of The Night," "Slum Kids," "Celluloid Heroes" and "Get Back In The Line." The group also gives a rousing rendition on their holiday classic "Father Christmas" with Ray Davies' donned as Santa Claus.



Show times:

Thurs. 12/7 - 9 a.m. and 10 p.m.
Fri. 12/8 - 1 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Sat. 12/9 - 7 p.m.
Sun. 12/10 - 4:30 p.m.
Mon. 12/11 - 2 p.m.

So set your dials and your DVRs. I'm out of here for a weekend of thespian matters. Back bloggin' Sunday.

Where did the day go?

It is now Wednesday and so I've missed a posting day somewhere in the past 24 hours.

We woke up to a thin coating of snow in Akron, and not a salt truck to be seen anywhere. Between my house and work (less than a mile), I saw three crashed cars. It was a grand day for body shop business in our town.

I live in a very hilly district -- kind of like San Francisco, but not nearly as nice! Since none of the streets had been salted by 8 AM, there were cars spun out up and down the hilly streets of Kenmore. One intrepid driver was determined to get down to the bottom of a particularly steep hill, so he had the nose of his car stuck up against the curb and rode it down until arriving at the traffic light.

So why did the salt truck workers sleep in today? Maybe my local paper will inform me today. Fortunately, the weekend ahead looks clear. I will be out of town Friday and Saturday and hoping for good driving weather.

An Invitation from Sherrod Brown

At left, a photo of Sherrod Brown and Harry Reid taken in front of the Science Center last summer. They were promoting the idea of developing new businesses in Ohio focused on renewable energy processes and sources. This was my first Sherrod Brown event! I've been going through Sherrod Brown event withdrawal since the election!

Fortunately, I received this via email today:

Dear Friends,

Please plan to join Connie, our family and me in Washington, D.C. as I am sworn in as Ohio’s junior senator on Thursday, January 4th. As has been my tradition for many years, I invite my friends and supporters to join me in our nation’s capitol for a pre-swearing in dinner on January 3rd.

For those interested, buses will depart from several locations across Ohio. Group accommodations have been reserved at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Washington, D.C. Following dinner, tours of Washington’s monuments will be offered. The next morning, buses will be available to take you and your family to visit sites around the city, returning by noon to view the swearing in by television. After a lunch, the buses will return to Ohio.

We hope you will plan to join us for this celebratory event. Thank you for your support throughout the campaign and I look forward to seeing you in Washington!

Sincerely,

Sherrod Brown
Senator-Elect

Since I have absolutley nothing on my calendar for January 3 & 4, and since I've never experienced access to the halls of power before, I've decided to attend this event. I'm thinking that I should advocate for More Drama in the Classroom. It's the road to creative thinking and positive collaboration! And boy will our leaders of the future need lots of both skills.

Go here to read a very nice letter from Sherrod to his congressional constituents.

Akron Beacon Theatre Coverage update

It turns out that reading the ABJ online has some disadvantages -- the online editors have not been including links to Elaine Guregian's theatre reviews. They have not updated her official title either, as related here.

In an email to me today, Ms Guregian gives a list of recent feature stories she's written about local theatre lately -- none of which were given a link at ohio.com, the online home of the Akron Beacon Journal. She also tells me that she will advise the person in charge of the online version of the ABJ about these problems.

So now let's see how responsive that person is to the problem. Clicking my stopwatch: tick tick tick....

Remembering Margo

The loss of Margo Prade stunned Akron citizens. This young, beautiful and talented physician was murdered by her police captain husband , Douglas Prade, on Nov. 26, 1997. It left two young girls without parents, as their father was sentened to a life in state prison.

As fate would have it, I had some dealings with both Margo and Douglas through one of their daughters. I had always thought of Margo as a strong woman in control of her life and at the top of her game. As is so often the case, I had no idea there was ongoing marital trouble. Both parents seemed dedicated to their children.

As the investigation disclosed the controlling and abusive relationship that Douglas Prade brought upon his marriage, I felt an even greater connection. I had been in similar circumstances and in fact, fled the west coast to get away from a potentially violent situation.

Now one of Margo's best friends has written a book about the short and inspiring life of Margo Prade. In Remembering Margo, Donzella Malone gives us an intimate portrait of a young African-American determined to make something of herself and in doing so give back to her community.

Donzella first met Margo many years ago when they were on a soft ball team competing for the same left field position. Margo was working her way through school and dating a police officer who was ten years older than she was. In one of life's weird coincidences, Donzella had had an encounter with Douglas Prade when she was still a youngster. Finding herself in a speeding car driven by some wild youths, she was relieved when the car was stopped by a police officer. Leaping out and grateful for rescue, she was stunned by the officer's screaming attack directed toward her. He used vile language, berating this twelve year old girl for something she had not initiated. It was an incident she never forgot, that was instantly recalled the first time she met Douglas as an adult.

Donzella's first hand account takes us through Margo's life, detailing her incredible fortitude in finishing her medical degree and residency, while marrying and giving birth to two girls. She eventually opened her own medical building on Romig Road, which was to become the site of her murder. We are given warm accounts of Margo's positive effects upon those who knew her. Donzella fleshes out and makes human the tragic figure that was soon put on tabloid television display via Hard Copy and other shows of that ilk.

Remembering Margo is published by Vantage Press and is the author's first book. Anyone who remembers the case ought to read it. In one way, it is very inspiring, as we follow along Margo's path to self-determination and career successes. On the other hand, it provides yet another horrifying account of male on female abuse. Douglas Prade was a user and a controller who had to have everything go his way.

I remember after the murder thinking so many if-onlys -- if only Margo had left earlier for her Thanksgiving vacation. If only Margo had moved far from Akron upon divorcing Douglas. If only she had resisted marrying him in the first place.

I found my copy at Barnes and Noble. You can order it online.

Paper or plastic?

Shopping today at a Tops Store, now holding going out of business sales at various locations, I had with me my cloth shopping bags. So when the clerk began to bag up my groceries without asking, "paper or plastic?" -- I stopped her by saying -- "I brought my own bags, I'm trying to save the planet."

She gave me a disgusted look and said, "Lots of luck," then turned her back on me and swaggered away like I was some kind of nut.

Fact is, I have heaps of blue plastic bags at home, waiting to do duty as can/glss/plastics recycling containers. I have another huge sack full of non-blue bags that I resist throwing into the regular trash. Then I have a small stack of paper bags I use for paper recycling.

Which really is better, plastic or paper? Depends upon whether the study is done by proponents of plastic or paper industries. Recycling web sites give you the statistics and facts. Turns out it is a toss up. The best bags remain reusable string or cloth bags, like the one pictured above. (It's available here.)

Here are some interesting facts from the New England EPA:

* Plastic bags were first introduced in 1977 and now account for four out of every five bags handed out at grocery stores.

* Paper sacks generate 70 percent more air and 50 times more water pollutants than plastic bags.

* Paper bags are made from trees, which are a renewable resource. Most plastic bags are made from polyethylene, which is made from crude oil and natural gas, nonrenewable resources.

* 2000 plastic bags weigh 30 pounds, 2000 paper bags weigh 280 pounds. The latter takes up a lot more landfill space.

* It takes 91 percent less energy to recycle a pound of plastic than it takes to recycle a pound of paper. It takes more than four times as much energy to manufacture a paper bag as it does to manufacture a plastic bag. Energy to produce the bags (in British thermal units): Safeway plastic bags: 594 BTU; Safeway paper bags: 2511 BTU.

* Paper is accepted in most recycling programs while the recycling rate for plastic bags is very low. Research from 2000 shows 20 percent of paper bags were recycled, while one percent of plastic bags were recycled.

* Current research demonstrates that paper in today's landfills does not degrade or break down at a substantially faster rate than plastic does. In fact, nothing completely degrades in modern landfills due to the lack of water, light, oxygen, and other important elements that are necessary for the degradation process to be completed.

* Incineration can decrease the quantity of plastic and paper bags. However, incineration causes air pollution and creates ash which has to be landfilled.

Skirting the Storm

Some interesting winds today, along with very dramatic dark clouds racing on and off the horizon. The big storm from the west scooted north right after leaving Chicago so we avoided snow after going through a huge downpour overnight in tepid temps. Since we didn't get that kind of storm, I'm summoning up another one. Enjoy your Friday night, friends!

Dennis speaks a few uncomfortable truths

Here's a great interview with Dennis Kucinich about health care for US citizens -- courtesy of Truth Dig and Joshua Scheer. The following really struck me as something all of us have to keep focused on. We can't let the elected officials get away with cheating us of universal health care. I agree with Dennis -- it is simply not humane to continue to make health care a capitalistic commodity, with exclusive clinic's for the wealthy and bankruptcy for the middle class working citizen who doesn't have access to affordable health care.

"I’ve got one more thing to say about it, if I may, and that is—I went to the Democratic platform committee in 2000 with Lila Garrett, Tom Hayden [and Gloria Allred] where I offered a presentation that the Democratic Party take a strong stand on universal healthcare. My proposal, unfortunately, was rejected. I brought the same proposal embodied in the Conyers/Kucinich bill to the Democratic platform committee in 2004. Once again, the plan was rejected. Both times the plan was rejected because of the unfortunate influence of corporate interests upon the Democratic Party hierarchy. And so it is urgent that the American people are aware that our political system has frustrated the emergence of healthcare for all because of the tremendous influence which the insurance companies and the drug companies have on our political process. It doesn’t mean that this influence is fatal, but people need to know that it exists. "

We've got to be ready to bombard that platform committee with outraged pressure to take a stand on health care. It is outrageous that the Democrats have been caving to the pharmaceutical and insurance industries.

Cartoon via the Grey Panthers. I'm sure I'll be signing up for that organization before I shuffle off this mortal coil.

Yes, we have no religion

Sam Harris has a new post up on his Huffington Post blog. It is actually an excerpt from an email debate that you can read here. The leading question in the debate is "why are atheists angry?" I posted a comment there:

Why are atheists angry? Maybe because so many religionists really believe we are the spawn of satan and are doomed to burn in hell. I was lucky enough to be born into a godless family, but growing up I had to contend with kids who picked on me because I had no religion and with neighbors who shunned me and wouldn't let me play with their kids because I didn't go to church. The worst ones were those who would invite me over for an over-nighter on Saturday night so that they could hustle me off to their church before taking me home. (I soon learned to avoid Saturday night stay-overs!) I'm 55 years old and I still remember and resent all the prejudicial behavior from my early years.

That's just one very personal reason to be angry. There are plenty more. I really prefer people who keep their religious beliefs to themselves. Frankly, I don't want to know the particulars about anybody's faith-based delusions. I like to think the people I deal with every day are rational beings. When religion pops up, rationality goes out the window.

I am planning to review Sam Harris' new book, Letter to a Christian Nation, but haven't had the time. I expect to get to it over winter break -- just in time for the holiday season!


But in the meantime if you need a good dose of skepticism, I do recommend God Is For Suckers -- they keep tabs on all the religious threats and absurdities.

Out of Iraq

Somebody, please -- get the US forces out of Iraq. The major media have decided to call it a civil war today. Civil war is never civil. It's a bloody disaster whatever you call it.

Bush apears to be delusional with his insistance the violence in Iraq is spurred by Al Qaeda . He's starting to feel the pressure. A federal judge says he does not have the right to designate who is a terrorist because his executive order is too vague. We need a whole lot of people stepping up all at once, surrounding the mad emperor and telling him NO. You can't torture, you can't spy, you can't wage war whenever you choose.

My Autum Almanac

Here's a sing a long to go with some images of autumn from Kenmore:



Lovely weather here in Akron over the four days off from work and stress. I did some clean up in my yard. Here's my compost box, all loaded up for the winter, yet room for the weekly coffee grounds and vegetable matter. I set up a plastic bucket off my kitchen where I can toss the compostable items, then carry it out to the compost box a couple of times per week. This box is at least ten years old and was made by Rubbermaid. Very sturdy. I doubt stir it or do anything other than toss stuff in it. Every spring I get a wheelbarrow full of good stuff to mix in with my plantings.


The garden goddess here is not for worship, but to add a little interest to the wooden fence. I like the contrast of weathering clay against the wood, with the feathery annual forming living tresses. This plant has made it through a number of frosty nights already.



I found a hyacinth bulb in a pot from last spring. I'd never stuck it in the ground. It was left loose in its plastic pot and now it is pushing up and forming leaves. So I brought it inside and put it in a nice clay pot to bloom before January, I'm betting.







Here's a glimpse of the blimp seemingly tangled in the maple tree's bare branches.













While I spent the day in the yard, the geese gathered on Summit Lake. They haven't left for the winter in several years. A sign of global warming?

Sherrod Brown Is a Player!

From the Loraine Chronicle:

AVON — U.S. Senator-elect Sherrod Brown will continue to work on the issues that matter most to him — health care, trade and education.
Brown was recently assigned to four Senate committees: Agriculture, Banking, Veterans and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, better known as HELP.
“I get to work on everything I campaigned on,” he said.

This is great news! Sherrod is given the opportunity to make a real difference in the areas that matter most to Ohioans.

On CBS Face the Nation this morning, Sherrod appeared with two other new senators -- Democrat Claire McCaskill and Republican Bob Corker. First topic of discussion -- Iraq. Too much leaning on the Baker Committee's upcoming report by McCaskill and Corker, instead of saying what needs to be done. Everybody's afraid to stick their necks out -- except for Sherrod who stated what he'd said all campaign long -- make immediate plans for a phased pull out to be completed within one and a half to two years, and at the same time work to negotiate settlements among the warring factions and the surrounding countries.

Corker turned into a most agreeable Republican, going along with the spirit of bipartisanship, by announcing his support of an increase in minimum wages, support for exposing the earmark process for funding, and for changes in the way drug prices are obtained for Medicare recipients.

In Washington, the new power grid would appear to favor those who can work across the aisle. Joining with the executive branch is the sure kiss of death for the next two years.

According to yesterday's Washington Post, Lobbyists in key industries are making plans to prepare for business under the next congress. Barbara Boxer replacing James Inhofe as chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is huge! Inhofe is the senator who thinks global warming is a big hoax.

Looks like the Dems are ready to get down to business and the business leaders are realizing that it is time to to be grateful for all the extra loot they made in the past few years, because it is now time to pay the piper. We must educate the young to prepare them to face severe environmental problems, and somehow provide a decent end of life quality for those who are retired.

The Akron Beacon Journal Ignores Local Theatre

On Day 2 of Buy Nothing Day -- Buy Nothing the Akron Beacon Journal tries to sell you:

In today's ABJ, we have the annual "Black Friday" feel-good-about-shopping story by the retail reporter, Kerry Clawson. Kerry was demoted from the theatre beat to beating the drums for over-consumption in the Akron area. Damn, that has to hurt: removed from writing about one of the most elevating things human beings can do -- creating theatre -- to writing about ant-heap behaviors of the gluttonous. Meanwhile, the theatre beat was compressed into a one-reporter-covers-all-the-arts format.

For a sad visual of what the ABJ's reporting has become, look at this page. Note the empty places in the (Arts &) Entertainment section as opposed to the full box of sports writers. George Thomas is gone and along with him any local perspectives of movies and the film industry. Now we get canned UPI syndicated reviews. "Names in the News" is listed as one of the entertainment columnists! They won't even give us a name for the person assigned to compile snippets of Hollywood gossip from the wire services! (And by the way, Jane Snow's name should no longer be listed under the Living Section columnists. She too has vanished from the ABJ's pages.)

Elaine Guregian was supposed to be elevated to "Culture Beat" reporter, adding theatre to her usual music and dance coverage. Well I defy anyone to find theatre coverage online at the Beacon any more. There is no "theater" added to Guregian's title underneath her phone, and looking at a list of all of her columns, I can see only three related to theatre over the past two months: Spamalot on tour in Cleveland, My Fair Lady at the Cleveland Playhouse and a national tour Man of La Mancha at EJ Thomas of LaMancha. What do all three of these have in common? Yes, they are big splashy musicals, but more importantly -- none of these productions were created in Akron by Akron theatre people. I'm not blaming Guregian -- she has had an enormous amount of work heaped upon her and we will put the blame squarely upon her superiors as to what stories she is allowed to cover. So far, its looking very much like corporate theatre uber alles.

I miss the weekly Theatre Notes column that Kerry Clawson provided for us theatre workers and consumers. The word "theater" or more properly "theatre," is not even granted its own listing on the Entertainment page. And what of the local theatres trying gamely to fill their seats so they can afford to keep producing theatre for our community? How are they managing to succeed with no local coverage? The only way to change things is to keep yammering at them via emails, letters to the editor and so on. Go here to make some noise.

Buy Nothing

Hoping you are enjoying a day full of healthy activities that don't involve driving to a mall or any of those ugly big box stores full of imported Chinese goods.

For a well-written tribute to this day, go here.

I'm spending some time converting from the old Blogger layout template to the new drop and drag. So if you see some changes here, that's why.

Thanksgiving Day

Here's a non-religious message in celebration of the day. Eat vegetarian, live a sustainable lifestyle and try to keep peace with each other.

Giving thanks to Ray Davies and all other muses!

Sing along with this:

Don't forget to Buy Nothing

Buy Nothing Day is Nov 24th and 25th this year. Two great days for not shopping! In honor of that, check out this adbuster promo:



From the Buy Nothing web site:

"Every November, for 24 hours, we remember that no one was born to shop. If you’ve never taken part in Buy Nothing Day, or if you’ve taken part in the past but haven’t really committed to doing it again, consider this: 2006 will go down as the year in which mainstream dialogue about global warming finally reached its critical mass. What better way to bring the Year of Global Warming to a close than to point in the direction of real alternatives to the unbridled consumption that has created this quagmire?"

Acme Responds

I received the following email today:

Good Morning _________:

Thanks for your recent comments
We have passed them on to our buying staff
We appreciate your business
Thanks for shopping at Acme FreshMarket Stores

Rick

I had asked why Acme uses brown plastic bags instead of the blue recycle bags that can be used to collect glass, plastic and aluminum recyclables for disposal in Akron's new blue recycle bins.

I also suggested that Acme make a push for re-usable cloth bags and if they won't change to blue bags, consider putting out collection bins for customers to return the plastic ones for recycling.

Rick's response didn't sound very excited by my ideas. He does appreciate my business, so maybe I have to shop elsewhere until Acme wakes up. However, such a tactic will be useless unless I continue to keep the pressure on. And that means asking readers to email Acme to request blue bags and returnable bag options.

Meanwhile, a reader posted a comment steering me to Bring Your Own Bags, a web site with accompanying blog site that contains a heap of information about how important it is for humans to stop using plastic bags.

Here are some statistics snagged from Bring Your Own Bag:

• 100 million plastic bags a week go to landfill.
• Plastic bags can take between 15 and 1000 years to break down in the environment.
• Each year, an estimated 500 billion - 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. That translates to over one million per minute.
• North America goes through 110 billion plastic shopping bags annually.
• Plastic bags don’t biodegrade, they photodegrade—breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways polluting our soil, rivers, lakes and oceans.
• Production of plastic bags requires vast amounts of oil.
• Hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales and other marine mammals die every year from eating discarded plastic bags mistaken for food.

Pity the poor ocean dwellers, not only are they beset by rising temperatures from global warming and acidification from human production of carbon dioxide, they also choke on tons of plastic infesting every body of water on the planet. You can read about the vortex of plastic choking the oceans here.

So everybody -- please Bring Your Own Bags and limit your use of plastics to those that can be recycled. Individually, it seems like such a small action, but collectively it can have enormous positive effects upon this planet.

The rise of the slime

No not James Carville who tried and didn't succeed in sliming Howard Dean.

I am referencing an article, The Darkening Sea by Elizabeth Kolbert in the 11/20 The New Yorker. It is a report about ocean acidification brought about by the absorption of human created CO2 into the oceans. Scientists have only recently begun to study the effects of carbon dioxide on ocean water and the ecosystems within it. Turns out that the carbon dioxide begins a string of chemical reactions that result in the ocean water becoming more acid which turns out to be a real killer for calcium-producing critters -- those that live in shells or reefs.

The predictions are dire. It just isn't global warming leading to rising waters -- it is also what is happening to the water itself. What seems likely is that the long food chains from planketon on up through the fish, whales and dophins will be severely disrupted.

Says Thomas Lovejoy "It is going to send all kinds of ripples through marine ecosystems, because of the importantce o f calcium carbonate for so many organisms in the oceans, including those at the base of the food chain....It's a systemic change...you will see shifts in favor of invertebrates, or the reign of jellyfish."

Ulf Riebesell, who works at the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences In Kiel had this to say:

"The risk is that at the end we will have the rise of slime."

The Royal Society of London (the Brits are so much more on top of environmental issues than we are) issued a report summed up here:

• carbon dioxide from the atmosphere dissolves in the ocean, and makes it acid.
• This is inevitable with high carbon dioxide, no fancy models are involved.
• The oceans are already 30% more acid that before fossil fuel burning started
• Acidification will kill corals, and probably make many other species (like squid) extinct
• The overall effects are unknown - there has been no period like this in the last 2 Million years

And you can check out some ocean charts with predictions for acidification over the next 100 years here.

In The New Yorker article, one scientist (Ken Caldeira) states that there is no point of stabalization in the process of eliminating carbon dioxide emissions. The target has to be zero emissions. "If you're talking about mugging litle old ladies, you don't say, "what's our target for the rate of mugging little old ladies? You say, 'Mugging little old ladies is bad, and we're going to try to eliminate it. You recognize you might not be a hundred percent successful, but your goal is to eliminate the mugging of little old ladies. And I think we need to eventually come around to looking at carbon dioxide emissions the same way."

Sounds pretty bad and how the heck are we going to stop the human race from firing up the furnace, the auto, the factories producing the latest in fashionable clothing and home furnishings and so on? Ken Caldeira turns out to be some what of an optimist! In this interview he lists some possible alternative energy sources, including harvesting energy from the jet stream (high altitude wind power) as well as putting solar photovoltaics either out in space or on the moon.

But while waiting for science and technology to move forward on those alternative energy sources, the only rational thing to do is to cut down on carbon emissions as much as possible.

So go here and figure out how much carbon YOU are emitting. Then go here to find out how to offset what you emit.

Shopping with bags in Akron

Recycling, in order to be effective, has to become an everyday routine. Take shopping, for example. When I remember to return my shopping bags to my vehicle, they are there to be used whenever I stop for groceries or books or any other items I might buy.

When I forget my cloth bags, I lose a nickel per bag off my groceries at The Mustard Seed. I have to make the choice between paper or plastic. I usually take paper, as I've got a huge stock of the ubiquitous blue plastic shopping bags. I use them to recycle my aluminum and plastics in the city's new blue recycle bins.

But when I shop at Acme, I have to take paper as they do not use blue bags. This bothers me, so I looked up Acme online and found an online complaint form. I encourage all who shop in Akron to use the same form and lodge a similar request. Let's see if we can make a small dent in shopping bag excess.

I read an article a few years back in The New Yorker about a group that has as its hobby the risky business of ridding trees of plastic bags. The darn things blow in the wind and lodge themselves in trees all over NYC. This small group of folks couldn't stand looking at them anymore and began removing them. Direct Action at its finest.

So being mindful of plastic bags is something we all can do to help the environment and make Akron a better place to live. Here's what I emailed Acme. I will let my readers know if I get any response.

Dear Acme Corp,

I generally prefer grocery shopping at your stores over the other chains except for one major problem. Your plastic shopping bags are brown instead of blue. Why do you not promote recycling by using blue plastic shopping bags for your customers' convenience?

My overall favorite grocery store is The Mustard Seed in Montrose. Not only do they provide blue plastic bags, they also give a discount of 5 cents per shopping bag to those customers who bring their own bags rather than use store bags.

I have noticed that Acme stores now have more organic and whole food products available and that makes me happy. I want to support my local stores over the big chains. I burn up less carbon by shopping at my local Acme than by driving out to Montrose.

Please consider changing to blue bags and promoting the use of re-usable shopping bags. You could even sell cloth bags with a beautiful Acme logo design on them. If you won't give up the brown plastic bags, at least provide a recycle box for customers. Those bags are not accepted in the Akron trash recycle program.

Media Watching: Conflict Sells

Although I haven't been able to post much this past week, I did keep up on reading and watching the news. The major political story focused on Nancy Pelosi's choice for majority leader pretty much ignoring the caucuses in the senate and within the Republican party.

The media continues to prove that it has no liberal bias. Its ownership is definitely conservative, but the reporters, editors, news directors and programmers are not really interested in taking a side. What they are interested in is presenting a conflict. There can be no drama without conflict, hence no entertainment value in stories that show cooperation and progress.

What I wanted to read this week instead of the conflict involving Murtha vs Hoyer was something informational about party organization. What does a "whip" actually do? How does the majority leader differ from the minority leader? And what about the dynamics of the newly elected house from both perspectives? I didn't find anything on the roles themselves but I did find this article from the SF Chronicle that tells us more about the makeup of the Democratic side of the House.

According to the article there are three major groups of Democrats:

The fiscally conservative Blue Dogs with a membership of 44

The moderate New Democrats grown to 62 members

The Progressives with the largest bloc of representatives at 71 and who will be heading some very important committees.

The story gives us some context from which to view the ensuing congressional season. Three factions give us opportunity for lots of conflict. How will Nancy Pelosi do in her efforts to bring unity to the party to pass legislation that will be opposed by the hapless idiot now occupying the White House?

It appears that post election there will be plenty of opportunites for thoughtful news reporting. The problem will be sifting through the media bias for sensationalism to find out what is really going on.

Investigate first, impeach later

The Dems are smart to step out of the gate saying impeachment is not on the table. What is unspoken is "not yet." I am hearing other more soothing words like "oversight" and "transparency."

There are hundreds of video clips of various members of the Bush administration lying about Iraq. There are heaps of contracts given out to various "friends" of the Bush regime which need to be looked at along with how the money has been spent and to what purpose in Iraq.

I'm looking forward to seeing the evidence revealed and the rats called up to testify and squeal on each other.

Joe Wilson talked about this and more on today's Ed Schultz show. You can listen to it here.

Time out for real life

Facing some major deadlines at work this week, so the Village Green will be resting for a few days. Look for more by the weekend at which time I promise the yard signs and links to campaigns will be replaced with more up to date matters.

Meanwhile, be sure to check out Lefty Blogs updates and Pho's Akron Pages for all the latest in local and state politics.

Akron Beacon Journal Continues to Bash Brown

Catching up on the local opinions this morning, I found this in Friday's online ABJ, a tribute to their boy Mike DeWine, bemoaning his loss because President Bush has promised to work in a bipartisan manner. They insist that Brown is not the fellow to do that. Mike DeWine, the man who supported Bush's policies 96% of the time, would supposedly have been the best choice to reach across the aisle to the Democrats.

"Practically everyone agrees that the country's most difficult challenges require intelligent compromise. Just the moment for a smart lawmaker like Mike DeWine?"

How smart is Mike DeWine? Not smart enough to understand the needs and frustrations of his own constiuents, apparently. Certainly he did not plan or implement an intelligent campaign.

Trying to salvage their anti-Brown stance, the ABJ editorial makes sure to mention that all the major Ohio papers (excepting The Toledo Blade) endorsed DeWine, and then reveals the major reason they continue to bash Brown. It is Brown's stand against trade agreements:

Put another way, the middle class covers more than those workers hurt by ``job-killing'' trade agreements. The Brown words can be stirring. The reality is, the likes of the North American Free Trade Agreement are not the leading factor in Ohio losing manufacturing jobs. Not by a long shot. Technology is the prime culprit, industries becoming more productive, generating more goods with fewer workers, the country becoming more prosperous overall.

This writer is living in a dream world where capitalism rules over common decency and workers have no hope. Everybody knows that the reason manufacturing jobs have declined is because we encourage our citizens to buy products produced by workers in China, India and other countries. These foreign workers produce goods cheaply and under conditions that no US citizen would suffer. But since we don't see the suffering, it's ok.

Sherrod Brown is opposed to UNFAIR trade agreements. What is fair about competing with countries that don't have health insurance for their workers, who pay them miniscule wages, make them work under unsafe conditions, and who outlaw all union organizing?
%

No Iraq War

On Veteran's Day, I think of the waste of young life that has happened thanks to George W Bush and his handlers. I reflect also on the violence and massive loss of life and home to the people living in Iraq.

The post title today represents the home-made sticker I've had on my truck's rear window since before "Mr I'm the Decider" marched us all off to war. While a majority of Americans went along with that move, some of us protested from the beginning, including US Reps Sherrod Brown and Dennis Kucinich among the few and the brave.

Four years later, having suffered too many losses of young men and women, and many more injured in horrific ways, and with daily news of no progress amid mounting chaos, the majority stood up and said NO to staying the course. Simplistic is all we ever got from this mistake of a president and his manipulators. With Democratic control of house and senate, can we get away from the either/or of Stay the Course
vs. Cut and Run?

How about -- Clean Up the Mess as a new phrase to deal with our simple-minded president? Iraq is in terrible condition. US presence makes it worse. Who among the planet's citizens can make a difference in Iraq? We need negotiators in there with promises of real help to build up the infrastructure -- that must be agreed upon by the Sunnis, the Shiites and the Kurds. This isn't going to be easy and in the end, the three groups might decide to blow each other up until nothing's left -- the old reach-rock-bottom syndrome taken to the extreme.

How will the Dems be able to steer our country in this direction of negotiation rather than that of military occupation? The generals are re-examining their strategies now that Rumsfeld is going out to pasture. In an article in today's Washington Post, Marine Gen. Peter Pace (chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) says

"Winning, to me, is simply having each of the nations that we're trying to help have a secure environment inside of which their government and people can function."

The article point out that this is a departure from the current administration's definition of "winning" which is building a democracy in Iraq. You can bomb a civilization to bits, but you can't make it drink from the democracy well if it doesn't want to.

Now Bush dregs up another of his dad's old cronies with ties to the Iran-Contra scandal, Robert Gates. It is indicative of Bush Jr's inability to look forward to find new people with intelligence and creative minds who might provide a way out of the Bush Mess we are in now.

I've read some comments here and there across the internet implying that one way the Dems can apply brakes to the war machine is to withhold funding for the war effort. I can't remember where I found the remarks, so I did a Google search and found most references were on right wing publications (here) and here leading up to the election.

If that is the tactic conservatives fear the most, then the Dems might well go for it. I've also been reading that congressional approval of warrantless wiretapping is dead in the water -- hooray! The brakes are being applied. Let us hope we are not too late to end the war and focus on solving problems not creating more.

Tilting With Windmills

I received two very nice emails in the past two days. One from the county Sherrod Brown volunteer coordinator, thanking us all for our work over the past few months, a road that lead from parades to events to phoning and canvassing.

My first event was Sherrod and Harry Reid at the Cleveland Science Center in front of a giant windmill. I had just been reading a book about global warming and climate change (The Weathermakers by Tim Flannery) and was interested in finding out if this politician had any good ideas what to about sustainability and renewable sources of clean energy. It was early summer and the gas prices were sky high. At this time, I only knew him as my congress-person and I certainly wasn't thinking about actively campaigning for him when I drove up to Cleveland. On the drive home, I started to think about actively supporting him in his seemingly quixotic effort to unseat Mike DeWine.

I really liked the look of that windmill. NEOhio is pretty darn windy, especially along the coast of Lake Erie and on down over the glacier-formed cliff and highlands of Summit County. Sherrod said at that event that he wanted to become a Senator and work toward Ohio becoming the Silicon valley of alternative energy sources.

Fast forward to his election night speech.

Sherrod Brown renewed that pledge along with several others very worth mentioning here.

Fix The No Child Left Behind Act and make (college) tuition affordable for middle class families

Promote embryonic stem cell research

Raise the minimum wage

Affordable health care for all Americans

Against job-killing trade agreements that betray our values and destroy our communities

End the War in Iraq

He's got an ambitious To Do list. It is a list that I can support and will be watching to see if there are enough politicians who also are starting to get it. We want them to work with us and for us, instead of using us to enhance their own personal wealth.

Check out the entire speech -- it rings true to me.

Testing...

...the new Beta version of Blogger.

Meanwhile congratulations to the Democrats and to everybody I have met while working on the Shrrod Brown campaign. What a fun ride it has been. Imust admit that at first I didn't think it possible for a progressive candidate to win a state race in Ohio. Thank you Sherrod for proving me wrong!

It is incredibly heartening to hear people say they based their vote on ending the war in Iraq. Maybe the lessons of Viet Nam finally woke my generation up once more. There is no good reason to stay the course when the course leads only to more violence and horror. I hope Iraqis get inspired to work things out among themselves and that US forces make way for a more UN sort of approach.

More thoughts on the election results at the end of the day.

Election Night at the Village Green

The turnout at my precinct in Kenmore pleased Steve, the school levy coordinator for this ward. It was approaching 600 by the time I left at 5:20. A big turnout will be good for the Democrats and good for the levy.

Standing outside in the cold rain for 3 two hour shifts was not so bad! I learned a lot about my fellow citizens in this ward. Steve shared some insights and history of Kenmore.

Now that I'm home and looking at what I need to have ready for work tomorrow, I've already decided to pass on all the election parties. I did want to go to Sherrod's in Cleveland, but duty is calling loud and winning over the need to celebrate. There will be more parties in the future. I will continue to blog about Kenmore and investigate how the political process works at the grassroots level.

Happy Election Night to All (Democrats!)

Kenmore, the 2nd tier place to vote

Just finished shift #2 of Poll Greeting. It went by much more quickly than the first shift. I attribute this to wearing more layers of clothing and waterproof boots. At left, you can see the entrance to the Kenmore polling place.

Yes, the rain keeps falling but not in sheets. The voters weren't exactly streaming in, but came steadily like the on-going drizzle. I haven't handed out any literature. People have stopped to chat and said they will be so glad when this particular election is over. Too much negativity by phone, by mail box, by radio and television commercials. The last thing the voters want is another piece of campaign literature. I figure it could only be useful if somebody asked me for information about a judge or an issue. But so far, everybody is looking self-sufficient and knowledgable about the candidates.

My favorite part of this job is the opportunity to people-watch. Most Kenmorites look as sad and gloomy as today's weather, decked out in run-down shoes and working folk clothing. The Democrats wave at me as they drive in to park. The Republicans avoid eye contact. A couple of Independents have stopped to chat.

I cannot bring myself to talk about the school levy. I stuck an Issue 6 sign in the ground near my post, but my sense is that most people do not want to hear about the levy. One woman did say she couldn't understand why people refuse to vote to fund the schools. In Kenmore, it has got to be an economic issue more than anything else. People are poor here -- that is my main observation from poll greeting in Kenmore. Senior citizens leave the Center clutching oranges, part of their senior lunch. Not great big juicy navel oranges either, but rather small, thin-skinned and greenish looking. Nevertheless, the oranges are going home and not being tossed into the trash.

When I started the day at Democrat Headquarters in Akron, I asked for Kenmore. They said it was a second tier assignment. I didn't ask why, but I intend to find out. It is definitely second or maybe even last tier in terms of attention given to it by the city.

One woman had voted earlier in Medina and said that the polls were hopping, long lines and lots of enthusiasm. I didn't ask which part of Medina. My inside sources tell me that voting is going strong in Granger Township and that people in line have very serious looks on their faces. What that means will be made clearer after 7 PM tonight.

Election Day in Kenmore

All poll greeters must stand outside the two flags at the polling place. I'm greeting voters at the Kenmore Community Center. It's a cold dismal not to mention rainy morning. I thought I had dressed with enough layers, but by 9 AM I was feeling the cold bite into my bones.

Greeting is a job I can handle well. I put on my cheery face and reach out with my positive vocal tones and brighten the lives of all the Democrats showing up to vote today. Greeters don't have to say anything other than "Please consider the Democrats when you vote today." Most people told me they were voting straight Democratic. One man responded that he was voting for two Democrats, one of which was Tom Sawyer. I had grabbed a Tom Sawyer for state school board sign at headquarters early this morning. It was laminated and thus would withstand the weather all day long. This turned out to be an excellent tactic. A number of voters either said they were voting for Tom or wanted to know what he was running for as they would like to vote for him.

It really is no surprise that people are voting straight Democratic. Akron is a Democratic stronghold with many union families. At my polling place (at right) this morning, I had to wait for a polling booth, it was that busy. In this county, we are using new optical scan equipment. This involves filling in ovals with black pens, just like the old standardized tests that we all took in college. Unlike the Diebold machines, these do have a paper trail and can be counted by hand should the memory cards in the scanners break down.

By the time I arrived at the community center, the crowds were thinning. For two hours, I paced and greeted in the rain. I'm home to warm up and put on a few extra layers of clothing! More later.

An Ohio Election Eve

At left, a few final flowers from the garden before the killing frost hit. Some cheery color for this election night eve! I'm not down at headquarters making phone calls, but I wore my Sherrod Brown button everywhere I went and talked to voters as I ran a long list of errands. At the pharmacy where I stopped for a flu shot, a senior citizen told me that she is voting for the school levy, but is worried that too many are opposed.

Driving out through enemy territory (Bath) I was pleased to see more Sherrod Brown signs than Mike DeWine signs. The Republicans make up for quantity with maximum square footage, however. Those enormous Blackwell/Raga mini-billboards are scary-looking. Who wants egos the size of those signs running our state government? Hopefully, not the marjority of Ohioans this election cycle.

At the Beacon Online, only one news story was given the comments feature. The story was about an elderly Republican woman from the falls who has worked at the polls for decades. The usual suspects took over the comment section. Since The Centrist departed the boards, the personal vehemence has decreased while the silliness goes on in several forms. Some people need to reinvigorate their material. People grow weary of the fellow who inserts Charlie Fry's name into every current event topic. Then there's the wit who -- no matter the subject -- exhorts us to do it for the children:

"as school levies go, less is apparently more."

And less is THANKFULLY more.

My god the children! Think of the children. Let me tug that one last heart string and remind yuo to think of the children!!!

Puke!!!

This person has used this joke so many times that s/he doesn't even care if the topic matches the joke. In this case -- talking about a school levy -- yes, one should be thinking about the children. If adults don't think about how the current generation of children should be educated then who will?

Time to get some other work done so I will be free to help the Summit Progressive Democrats in Akron tomorrow. I signed up for three shifts as a poll greeter. I'm thinking that means waving signs and having stuff available to hand out. I will be coming home to blog about my experiences between shifts. See you at the polls!

Two Akron Issues

Two Akron Issues

The city council wants voters to approve giving them four year terms of service as opposed to the current two years. The plus would be that council persons would have more time to govern without having to raise money to be elected. The minus would be -- if it turns out voting for such&such was a mistake, we're stuck with him/her for four years.

Until we have real election reform that does away with anybody donating to candidates, we would be best served to keep the terms at two years. The local Dems have a stranglehold on the council. Not a good idea to make these jobs even more cushy for them. I will vote NO to the increase from two to four years.

The other Akron city issue is to change the job classification of the council's clerk from that of Civil Service to that of unclassified employment appointed by the council. There's got to be some kind of political intrigue going on about this issue. On the face of it, I think it is probably better to let it be a civil service job acquired by merit rather than favoritism. I'm voting NO on this issue.

If anyone has information that would make me change my mind on these two issues, I'd be open to hearing it.

US out of Iraq now!

Two stories in the news Saturday morning that caught my attention

From Editor and Publisher:

For two years, American sergeants, captains and majors training the Iraqis have told their bosses that Iraqi troops have no sense of national identity, are only in it for the money, don't show up for duty and cannot sustain themselves.

And from ABC Daily News:

Cheney said that even with pollsters predicting that Democrats would likely make gains in both houses of Congress Tuesday, voter sentiment would not influence Bush's Iraq policy.

"It may not be popular with the public — it doesn't matter in the sense that we have to continue the mission and do what we think is right. And that's exactly what we're doing,"

The brilliant Bush regime strategy for Iraq is to continue doing things wrong. I once had a button that said "US out of___________now!" For the past four years, Iraq filled in that blank. Bush wants to keep it there until after he leaves office.

Cheney says it doesn't matter how the public votes this coming Tuesday. I'm counting on this election to make a difference. Two thirds of the American people are opposed to this madness. Hope to see you all at the polls next Tuesday.

Time out for an evening with Donovan

Obama Barack was in Cleveland last night for a rally with Sherrod Brown, but I already had tickets to see someone very special to me, the one and only Donovan, kicking off a US tour in Ohio. With only three days left until election day, I needed time off for stress-relief. So I put on my best concert attire, topped off by a Sherrod Brown button and was ready for an evening of beautiful music.

My best Dono-pal and I travelled south to Mansfield, home of the beautiful and historic Renaissance Theatre, an intimate jewel box of a performance space. We had second row center orchestra seats. The small pit area in front of us was partitioned off, with special seating for less than two dozen people. Donovan's entrance was so entirely casual, I almost missed it! He was dressed in the similar attire to when we last saw him in Kent at the folk festival -- loose black shirt and pants -- a dramatic background to highlight his magnificent guitar Kelly.

The first few songs were accompanied by a percussionist on conga drums and an acoustic bass fiddle player -- they were both outstanding musicians. They left the stage as Donovan crossed to a small black platform, about a foot and a half high. My friend and I had been speculating as to the purpose of this platform. Was April Vetch going to make a guest appearance on it -- playing her fiddle and clogging at the same time? Well it turned out that Donovan used it to sit in semi-lotus position to sing his most intimate of songs. The Troubadour sang some of his most precious beginning songs: Try for the Sun, Josie, Ballad of Geraldine, The Little Tin Soldier, Sunny Goodge Street, Donna Donna, The Alamo, Sunny Goodge Street, Sand and Foam. Other precious songs were tucked into the set including Isle of Islay, Young Girl Blues, Lalena, and of course Catch the Wind. He sang a song I'd never heard -- in fact, he said it had never been recorded but was one that he wrote with Kelly when he first got the guitar. It was called "Promise."

At the interval, we chatted with a gentleman sitting next to us, who lived in this central Ohio region. He spoke -- with that distinct Ohio twang -- of going to concerts all his life, but never seeing Donovan before. He said that the concert was not at all what he had expected -- that it was like having "Donovan in your living room." That description immediately took hold in my imagination and for the rest of the concert I imagined I was at home with the lava lamp bouncing and glowing, the incense burning, and Donovan there sitting cross-legged on the floor sharing his amazing songs, gently chatting about their origins, and urging me to sing a long!

There were many sing-a-longs last night. It took the crowd awhile to warm up, but eventually they were in fine form. Happiness Runs was quite spectacular, as the gentlemen took their "la la la la" part very seriously, while the ladies happily chirped "happiness runs happiness runs" in counterpoint.

The concert began shortly after 8 PM with no opening act. There was a 20 minute intermission and then another long set with an encore with the show wrapping up at five until 11. What a long evening -- it went by as if we were all in a dream together oblivious of time. The music flowed and the communal warmth drew us all together. The Universal Soldier meant more now than it ever did to all of us in that theatre (which was located directly across from Republican headquarters) -- the song was accompanied by that special silence that comes with utter attentiveness, and ended with great affirmative applause and cheers from the audience.

Donovan heads to Buffalo next, then travels up and down the eastern seaboard throughout the month of November. More concert information here. Enjoy Donovan in your living room soon!

Summit County Issues

My self-assigned homework is taking awhile to finish. Good thing I didn't give myself a deadline other than next Tuesday, November 7th.

Taking a look at the county-wide issues, I see that I'm going to vote to increase my taxes to support Metro Parks, while maintaining the current tax level in support of the Akron Zoo. I'm a sucker for public spaces and taking care of animals.

So that's a Yes on Issue 18
And a Yes on Issue 20

Issue 21 is a proposed charter amendment "to facilitate the fair and effective administration of elections by establishing deadlines for County Council to apportion the County into Council legislative districts." I'm shocked! They don't have deadlines in place already? What can they be thinking?

Issue 22 provides for the election of a nine member non-partisan Charter Review Commission, commending with the November 2007 election." I had some homework help on this one. Vote NO, because it is poorly written and will end up in a law suit if passed. It was also proposed by the county Republicans which makes it a bit suspect in this election. Essentially, it is ammendment to elect nine people who meet to review proposed charter ammendments. It leaves me scratching my head and wondering what is charter government and why do we have it? More homework, sigh. Meanwhile, I'll go with my inside sources and Vote NO on issue 22.

Issue 23 will "prohibit any person who is related to an elected County official, unclassified County employee, Country employee at a level of Director, or Country employee whose County salary exceeds $80,000 per year to be eligible for country employment." This is the "nepotism" issue that is in response to the hiring of Chrissie Congrove as Animal Shelter Director by James McCarthy, County Executive. Chrissie is the daughter of country councilman Dan Congrove.

I find it interesting that there is a monetary limit to this law. If you make less than 80K, then it is ok to hire your relatives. What if the relative is perfectly capable and in fact, is someone who would do a great deal of good? Is it fair to automatically deny employment to someone because they are related to someone? I'm not sure about this law at all and so I make no recommendation.

Tomorrow, I hope to find out who my county council representative is and whether I should vote for them to stay in office. There are also two city of Akron issues that I need to consider, as well as all the local candidates who want to represent me and who want to be judges.