A troupe of about 15 vegans from the organization Mercy for Animals (MFA) brought their message to downtown Columbus yesterday. The focal point of the event was a television strapped to a group member’s chest that showed footage of some of the animal cruelty that has been occurring in factory farms. They also handed out about 500 leaflets at Broad and High.

Their message is that by becoming vegan, each of us can take action to end the horrors that large-scale agriculture inflicts on animals. Chickens, cows, and pigs are forced to live in frequently painful, unsanitary, and extremely confined conditions, when, as MFA director Nathan Runkle points out, “We do not need to eat any animal products to survive. Almost anything you eat contains protein, especially legumes and soy products.”

At MercyforAnimals.com, you can find diet tips, or you can order a vegan starter kit.

Southeast, Inc. dedicated an outdoor sculpture and art gallery on September 28, 2004 at 131 North High Street. The outdoor sculpture and plaque give testimony and honor to persons recovering from mental illnesses and/or substance abuse.

The sculptor of the outdoor art, Stephen Cannetto, said, “I often use a sphere in my art. It symbolizes wholeness, unity and our connection to each other. Also, the energy of the universe, the sun and the power of our minds.”

“The colored sphere at the top may be the creation of the two persons, or a challenge. The two persons standing on the sphere are in an exciting, challenging and precarious stance, but they are supporting each other and thereby making life’s balancing act easier and more fulfilling,” Cannetto commented.

Cannetto also had strong political words about our current administration, noting that it is “looting the Treasury for war …used as a pretext to deprive our neediest …of life’s basic human services and dignity.”

AUSTIN, Texas -- Goody, goody, gumdrop. We could get Phil Gramm back again, this time as secretary of the treasury. Oh how I've missed that little ray of sunshine, the bleeding heart from Bryan, the man who thinks poor people are all fat. As author Jim Hightower used to say, if you need a heart transplant, try to get Phil Gramm's -- it's never been used.

Just what we need for treasury secretary: the banking industry's errand boy. The man who helped bring us Enron.

According to The Washington Post, President Bush wants a new economic team. Can't imagine why. Oh, here it is. It's "part of Bush's preparation for sending Congress an ambitious second-term domestic agenda." He wants someone "who can better relate to Congress and be more effective in dealing with financial markets and television interviewers."

There you have it -- Phil's perfect for the job. Mr. Charm. And he knows how to talk those seniors into getting rid of Social Security. He's in practice. He's been back here in Texas lobbying to make it legal to sell "dead peasant" life insurance to the Teacher Retirement System.

There have been many letters published in newspapers across America suggesting that those of us who opposed the reelection of George W. Bush should “get over it”. These writers usually go on to complain of liberals with long faces walking the streets, snarling and uttering profane and indefensibly leftist sentiments which cause immeasurable pain and suffering to these angels of conservative goodness. Such stories usually conclude with the suggestion that those who disagree with the latest Republican election fraud should leave the country posthaste.

I confess that I myself was seriously considering relocation to kinder and gentler shores. Then I realized that America has always been a place of struggle between those who believe in freedom, and those who would kidnap and hold it hostage to fear. There is no difference between the Red Scare of fifty years ago and the Orange Alerts of today.

Would it be possible to set up some kind of voluntary internet based check system, where people could show how they had voted and the results could be checked against their precincts?  There would have to be some kind of registration system to make sure people didn't try to tamper with the results by double voting, etc.  Is this doable?  I am wondering if there is some way we could by-pass the slowness of government to address the issues and do something ourselves.

  Phoebe Allison