"Shenanigans on the Glendale Village Square"
On April 15, talk of guns and dirt bags raged in the center of Glendale. The Village Square was used as a venue to promote the Tea Party and a former and most likely future political candidate, Mike Wilson. How inappropriate.
The March 17 minutes of The Glendale Village Council's Finance Committee reported, " The Glendale Tea Party requested permission to hold a rally in the village square and was turned down by the Mayor with a suggestion they consider a park instead; the Tea Party wants to serve liquor and would require a license and security."
At the April 4 Council meeting, no Finance Committee report was given and not a word was said about the April 15 rally.
The Cincinnati Tea Party website was avidly promoting the Glendale Square rally . The Village was mum.
On April 11, a postcard from the Tea Party was mailed to all the residents of Glendale announcing the April 15 rally and promoting "Glendale Merchant Tax Free Day."
Hamilton County Commissioner, Todd Portune was asked, "The April 15 event seems to imply Glendale businesses aren't paying their County sales tax on April 15... Most likely they are paying, just discounting their own price. Sort of a sham. Any problem with this?"
Todd Portune replied,
"I think your assumption is correct. So long as they actually do pay, it's ok. Besides they would love nothing better than for us to do something about it. Better left alone I think."
At the event, two members of the Glendale Village Council served as "celebrity wine and beer pourers." There was a couple carrying a sign saying "Obama is a SOCIALIST and TRAITOR." Radio shock host Doc Thompson called U.S. Representative Steny Hoyer a "dirt bag." Mike Wilson followed labeling Democrats as "dirt bags." Glendale resident, Paul Breidenbach responded, " I don't want to over dramatize, but that kind of language over a microphone reminds me of radio campaigns of de-humanization that got the Rwandan Hutu population ready to kill their neighbors. And that speech came twenty minutes after the guitarist, who opened the entertainment, crooned a song telling the crowd it was time to get a gun."
A Village official, when asked about the rally, stated, "The Village is not a sponsor and did not agree to shut down the Square."
True, the Village did not promote the event and the Square remained open, but the Village has obviously been a facilitator in support of this political rally. To me, the terms complicity and collusion aptly describe the Village role in the April 15 event.
There is so much wrong with all of this.
We have a right to imagine a Glendale much finer.
Richard O. Schwab was formerly associate head of school and middle school head, Cincinnati Country Day School. He is also neighborhood team leader, Glendale Organizing For America Community Team (www.gofact.blogspot.com) He lives in Glendale.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
From Richard O. Schwab
"Crude Facts -Demand grows,
production slows"
Crude oil is traded on a world market. The U.S. leads the world's global oil demand followed by China, Japan, and India. (The average American consumes about ten times as much oil as the average Chinese.) The cost of oil will rise as global demand increases. Higher prices will benefit the "petro-states" whether the U.S. is buying from them or not. The U.S. doesn't buy Iranian oil but a $1 increase in oil prices provides the Iranian government an additional $1.5 billion annually.
The International Energy Agency notes the, "U.S. remains vulnerable to Middle East oil disruptions though U.S. dependence on Middle East oil has fallen sharply...but since oil is a global market, the relevant measure for that vulnerability is not the U.S. dependence but world dependence on Middle East oil - and that has not shrunk."
The U.S. produces approximately 8 million barrels of oil per day (10% of the world's daily crude oil production.) The U.S. consumes approximately 20 million barrels of oil daily. The U.S. represents 4.5 % of the world's population yet consumes 25% of the world's oil per day.
Most are surprised to learn that the country from which the U.S. imports the greatest amount of oil is Canada followed by Mexico and Saudi Arabia. (It has been estimated Mexico's primary oil reserves will be depleted by 2019.) Other countries from which the U.S. imports oil (in descending order of amount) include: Nigeria, Venezuela, Iraq, Angola, Brazil, Algeria, Columbia, Ecuador, Russia, Virgin Islands, Kuwait, United Kingdom, and Argentina.
The bulk of proven remaining oil reserves are located in the Middle East. The amount of oil in the Middle East far outstrips what is available anywhere else on earth. The U.S. has only 2% of the world's oil reserves.
Oil is a limited resource. The U.S needs to prepare for a coming oil price crunch caused by increasing global demand and decreasing global production. The U.S. cannot produce its way out of the supply-demand gap. "Drill, baby, drill" is misguided and futile. And, our allies cannot fill this supply gap.
The safest, least expensive, and fastest path to energy security is to implement oil saving measures.
To reduce our oil dependence we should focus on transportation since 70% of our oil use is for transportation.
We should:
• Continue to make vehicles significantly more fuel efficient. (China's fuel economy standards are more efficient than those in the U.S.)
• Aggressively develop electric and plug in hybrid vehicles.
• Develop cleaner, alternative non-oil based fuels.
• Invest in public transportation to provide practical, accessible, economical alternatives to driving.
Richard O. Schwab
was formerly associate head of school and middle school head, Cincinnati Country Day School. He is also neighborhood team leader, Glendale Organizing For America Community Team (www.gofact.blogspot.com) He lives in Glendale.
production slows"
Crude oil is traded on a world market. The U.S. leads the world's global oil demand followed by China, Japan, and India. (The average American consumes about ten times as much oil as the average Chinese.) The cost of oil will rise as global demand increases. Higher prices will benefit the "petro-states" whether the U.S. is buying from them or not. The U.S. doesn't buy Iranian oil but a $1 increase in oil prices provides the Iranian government an additional $1.5 billion annually.
The International Energy Agency notes the, "U.S. remains vulnerable to Middle East oil disruptions though U.S. dependence on Middle East oil has fallen sharply...but since oil is a global market, the relevant measure for that vulnerability is not the U.S. dependence but world dependence on Middle East oil - and that has not shrunk."
The U.S. produces approximately 8 million barrels of oil per day (10% of the world's daily crude oil production.) The U.S. consumes approximately 20 million barrels of oil daily. The U.S. represents 4.5 % of the world's population yet consumes 25% of the world's oil per day.
Most are surprised to learn that the country from which the U.S. imports the greatest amount of oil is Canada followed by Mexico and Saudi Arabia. (It has been estimated Mexico's primary oil reserves will be depleted by 2019.) Other countries from which the U.S. imports oil (in descending order of amount) include: Nigeria, Venezuela, Iraq, Angola, Brazil, Algeria, Columbia, Ecuador, Russia, Virgin Islands, Kuwait, United Kingdom, and Argentina.
The bulk of proven remaining oil reserves are located in the Middle East. The amount of oil in the Middle East far outstrips what is available anywhere else on earth. The U.S. has only 2% of the world's oil reserves.
Oil is a limited resource. The U.S needs to prepare for a coming oil price crunch caused by increasing global demand and decreasing global production. The U.S. cannot produce its way out of the supply-demand gap. "Drill, baby, drill" is misguided and futile. And, our allies cannot fill this supply gap.
The safest, least expensive, and fastest path to energy security is to implement oil saving measures.
To reduce our oil dependence we should focus on transportation since 70% of our oil use is for transportation.
We should:
• Continue to make vehicles significantly more fuel efficient. (China's fuel economy standards are more efficient than those in the U.S.)
• Aggressively develop electric and plug in hybrid vehicles.
• Develop cleaner, alternative non-oil based fuels.
• Invest in public transportation to provide practical, accessible, economical alternatives to driving.
Richard O. Schwab
was formerly associate head of school and middle school head, Cincinnati Country Day School. He is also neighborhood team leader, Glendale Organizing For America Community Team (www.gofact.blogspot.com) He lives in Glendale.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Not the Beginning of the End. This is the End.
This is not the beginning of the end for the international community in Afghanistan. This is the end.
Freedom to Inflame
By PETER CATAPANO
The Thread is an in-depth look at how major news and controversies are being debated across the online spectrum.
Tags:
freedom of speech, Islam, Koran, religion
Don’t encourage him by paying attention. Just ignore him.
It’s what your elders told you about the class clown, or the needy, attention-seeking neighborhood kid fond of pranks, or maybe worse, and it’s what might have wisely been said about the theatrics of the pastor Terry Jones, who on March 20 made good on his plans to stage a public burning of a copy of the Koran. Jones, who is head of the World Dove Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla., had originally intended to conduct this ritual on Sept. 11, 2010, but was talked down at the time by important people like President Obama, Gen. David E. Petraeus and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
Despite some initial media reports about the burning, most seemed to follow that advice: just ignore him. But that strategy soon failed: news of the event soon spread and within a few days trouble began in Afghanistan and Pakistan (detailed by Robert Mackey at The Lede). Notably, President Hamid Karzai, to the dismay of many, added fuel to the fire by publicly denouncing Jones, as did several mullahs during last Friday’s prayers, sparking a series of violent and deadly protests against the pastor and his actions. The initial outburst and the murders of United Nations staff in Mazar-i-Sharif were reported in The Times on April 1:
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan — Stirred up by three angry mullahs who urged them to avenge the burning of a Koran at a Florida church, thousands of protesters on Friday overran the compound of the United Nations in this northern Afghan city, killing at least 12 people, Afghan and United Nations officials said.
The dead included at least seven United Nations workers — four Nepalese guards and three Europeans from Romania, Sweden and Norway — according to United Nations officials in New York. One was a woman. Early reports, later denied by Afghan officials, said that at least two of the dead had been beheaded. Five Afghans were also killed.
More violence erupted in Kandahar and elsewhere in the following days, and protests continued through today.
This video posted online by Tolo TV, an Afghan television station, reportedly shows the scene on April 1 after Friday prayers in Mazar-i-Sharif, and protesters storming the U.N. compound:
Almost immediately, Una Moore, an aid worker writing from Kabul at U.N. Dispatch, sounded the alarm about the meaning of such an attack for the broader mission in Afghanistan.
Kabul, Afghanistan — Foreigners have been killed in Afghanistan before, and today’s attack was not the first fatal attack on UN staff. But it was different than previous fatal attacks. Very different. The killers were ordinary residents of a city deemed peaceful enough to be one of the first places transferred to the control of Afghan security forces. The men who broke into the UN compound, set fires and killed eight people weren’t Taliban, or henchmen of a brutal warlord, or members of a criminal gang. They weren’t even armed when the protests began — they took weapons from the UN guards who were their first victims.
Foreigners committed to assisting in the rebuilding of Afghanistan have long accepted the possibility that they might die at the hands of warring parties, but this degree of violence from ordinary citizens is not something most of us factored into our decision to work here. …
This is not the beginning of the end for the international community in Afghanistan. This is the end. Terry Jones and others will continue to pull anti-Islam stunts and opportunistic extremists here will use those actions to incite attacks against foreigners. Unless we, the internationals, want our guards to fire on unarmed protesters from now on, the day has come for us to leave Afghanistan.
Joel Hafvenstein at Registan, though, did not see the attacks as heralding the end of aid groups in the region:
I don’t think they fit a pattern of growing violent rejection of all aid work in Afghanistan, let alone a shift toward insurgent targeting of aid agencies. Yes, foreigners in Afghanistan will always be vulnerable to violence incited by extremists both Afghan and Western; foreigners working for agencies with a political mandate will be even more vulnerable. And yes, Afghan disillusionment with aid work is widespread. It’s not seen as “the solution,” because there’s now an ingrained expectation that most of it will be lost to corruption and expensive foreigners. At the same time, humanitarian aid workers and organisations who focus on delivering assistance at community level — rather than trying to contribute to a politically charged campaign of national stabilization — are still able to operate in most areas of Afghanistan at acceptable levels of risk, even without armed protection. They’re still saving lives, and I definitely don’t think the day has come for them to leave.
Back at home, of course, blame for the events — aimed at Jones, Karzai and of course the mobs themselves — came from every direction. But even more hackles were raised after Gen. David Petraeus condemned the Koran burning and members of Congress started discussing the matter — in particular, on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” where Sen. Harry Reid admitted the possibility of a congressional investigation into Jones’s actions and Sen. Lindsey Graham alluded to the First Amendment. Graham said: “I wish we could find some way to hold people accountable. During WWII, you had limits on what you could say if it would inspire the enemy. Free speech is a great idea, but we are in a war. Any time in America we can push back against actions like this that put our troops at risk, we ought to do that.”
Freedom to Inflame
By PETER CATAPANO
The Thread is an in-depth look at how major news and controversies are being debated across the online spectrum.
Tags:
freedom of speech, Islam, Koran, religion
Don’t encourage him by paying attention. Just ignore him.
It’s what your elders told you about the class clown, or the needy, attention-seeking neighborhood kid fond of pranks, or maybe worse, and it’s what might have wisely been said about the theatrics of the pastor Terry Jones, who on March 20 made good on his plans to stage a public burning of a copy of the Koran. Jones, who is head of the World Dove Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla., had originally intended to conduct this ritual on Sept. 11, 2010, but was talked down at the time by important people like President Obama, Gen. David E. Petraeus and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
Despite some initial media reports about the burning, most seemed to follow that advice: just ignore him. But that strategy soon failed: news of the event soon spread and within a few days trouble began in Afghanistan and Pakistan (detailed by Robert Mackey at The Lede). Notably, President Hamid Karzai, to the dismay of many, added fuel to the fire by publicly denouncing Jones, as did several mullahs during last Friday’s prayers, sparking a series of violent and deadly protests against the pastor and his actions. The initial outburst and the murders of United Nations staff in Mazar-i-Sharif were reported in The Times on April 1:
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan — Stirred up by three angry mullahs who urged them to avenge the burning of a Koran at a Florida church, thousands of protesters on Friday overran the compound of the United Nations in this northern Afghan city, killing at least 12 people, Afghan and United Nations officials said.
The dead included at least seven United Nations workers — four Nepalese guards and three Europeans from Romania, Sweden and Norway — according to United Nations officials in New York. One was a woman. Early reports, later denied by Afghan officials, said that at least two of the dead had been beheaded. Five Afghans were also killed.
More violence erupted in Kandahar and elsewhere in the following days, and protests continued through today.
This video posted online by Tolo TV, an Afghan television station, reportedly shows the scene on April 1 after Friday prayers in Mazar-i-Sharif, and protesters storming the U.N. compound:
Almost immediately, Una Moore, an aid worker writing from Kabul at U.N. Dispatch, sounded the alarm about the meaning of such an attack for the broader mission in Afghanistan.
Kabul, Afghanistan — Foreigners have been killed in Afghanistan before, and today’s attack was not the first fatal attack on UN staff. But it was different than previous fatal attacks. Very different. The killers were ordinary residents of a city deemed peaceful enough to be one of the first places transferred to the control of Afghan security forces. The men who broke into the UN compound, set fires and killed eight people weren’t Taliban, or henchmen of a brutal warlord, or members of a criminal gang. They weren’t even armed when the protests began — they took weapons from the UN guards who were their first victims.
Foreigners committed to assisting in the rebuilding of Afghanistan have long accepted the possibility that they might die at the hands of warring parties, but this degree of violence from ordinary citizens is not something most of us factored into our decision to work here. …
This is not the beginning of the end for the international community in Afghanistan. This is the end. Terry Jones and others will continue to pull anti-Islam stunts and opportunistic extremists here will use those actions to incite attacks against foreigners. Unless we, the internationals, want our guards to fire on unarmed protesters from now on, the day has come for us to leave Afghanistan.
Joel Hafvenstein at Registan, though, did not see the attacks as heralding the end of aid groups in the region:
I don’t think they fit a pattern of growing violent rejection of all aid work in Afghanistan, let alone a shift toward insurgent targeting of aid agencies. Yes, foreigners in Afghanistan will always be vulnerable to violence incited by extremists both Afghan and Western; foreigners working for agencies with a political mandate will be even more vulnerable. And yes, Afghan disillusionment with aid work is widespread. It’s not seen as “the solution,” because there’s now an ingrained expectation that most of it will be lost to corruption and expensive foreigners. At the same time, humanitarian aid workers and organisations who focus on delivering assistance at community level — rather than trying to contribute to a politically charged campaign of national stabilization — are still able to operate in most areas of Afghanistan at acceptable levels of risk, even without armed protection. They’re still saving lives, and I definitely don’t think the day has come for them to leave.
Back at home, of course, blame for the events — aimed at Jones, Karzai and of course the mobs themselves — came from every direction. But even more hackles were raised after Gen. David Petraeus condemned the Koran burning and members of Congress started discussing the matter — in particular, on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” where Sen. Harry Reid admitted the possibility of a congressional investigation into Jones’s actions and Sen. Lindsey Graham alluded to the First Amendment. Graham said: “I wish we could find some way to hold people accountable. During WWII, you had limits on what you could say if it would inspire the enemy. Free speech is a great idea, but we are in a war. Any time in America we can push back against actions like this that put our troops at risk, we ought to do that.”
Friday, April 1, 2011
Richard Schwab Writes
The following is my Letter To The Editor, "Happy birthday health care reform law" which appeared in yesterday's 3/30/11 Tri-County Press.
------Original Message------
From: Richard Schwab
To: tricountypress@communitypress.com
ReplyTo: Richard Schwab
Subject: Letter To The Editor
Sent: Mar 24, 2011 12:06 PM
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act just celebrated its first birthday. There is still much to learn and understand about the benefits of the health care law (particularly since there has been so much misinformation launched against this significant health insurance reform legislation.)
The website http://www.healthcare.gov/ is an extraordinary resource for understanding and accessing the facts about the health care law.
The law demands transparency and accountability from the health insurance industry. For instance, new rules require insurers to pay out 80% - 85% of premium dollars on actual health care.
Young adults can now stay on their parents' plans until age 26.
The law provides a Patient's Bill of Rights for all Americans. Among other provisions, the Bill of Rights prevents some of the worst abuses of health insurance companies including cancelling coverage because you have a serious illness.
Children are now protected from being turned away by insurers because of a pre existing condition.
Seniors enrolled in Medicare receive prescription drug discounts and now can receive preventive care (i.e. mammograms, colonoscopies) for free.
Due to tax credits, the number of small businesses offering health insurance coverage is on the increase.
Individuals and small businesses historically have had to pay significantly more for health insurance than big businesses (which use their size to negotiate lower premiums.) In 2014, individuals and small businesses will be able to obtain lower rates by pooling their purchasing power through new state-based health insurance exchanges.
For more information about current and future benefits visit http://www.healthcare.gov/
Richard O. Schwab
Glendale
------Original Message------
From: Richard Schwab
To: tricountypress@communitypress.com
ReplyTo: Richard Schwab
Subject: Letter To The Editor
Sent: Mar 24, 2011 12:06 PM
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act just celebrated its first birthday. There is still much to learn and understand about the benefits of the health care law (particularly since there has been so much misinformation launched against this significant health insurance reform legislation.)
The website http://www.healthcare.gov/ is an extraordinary resource for understanding and accessing the facts about the health care law.
The law demands transparency and accountability from the health insurance industry. For instance, new rules require insurers to pay out 80% - 85% of premium dollars on actual health care.
Young adults can now stay on their parents' plans until age 26.
The law provides a Patient's Bill of Rights for all Americans. Among other provisions, the Bill of Rights prevents some of the worst abuses of health insurance companies including cancelling coverage because you have a serious illness.
Children are now protected from being turned away by insurers because of a pre existing condition.
Seniors enrolled in Medicare receive prescription drug discounts and now can receive preventive care (i.e. mammograms, colonoscopies) for free.
Due to tax credits, the number of small businesses offering health insurance coverage is on the increase.
Individuals and small businesses historically have had to pay significantly more for health insurance than big businesses (which use their size to negotiate lower premiums.) In 2014, individuals and small businesses will be able to obtain lower rates by pooling their purchasing power through new state-based health insurance exchanges.
For more information about current and future benefits visit http://www.healthcare.gov/
Richard O. Schwab
Glendale
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