In early September of this year, the Washington Post created what was called an alternative storytelling issue in which it solicited news stories through non-traditional media. The issue included poems, a board game, a three-act play and a Trump-themed Mad-Libs story. It also included an astonishing piece of music from singer-songwriter Ben Folds, a song entitled “Mr. Peepers.”

The “Mr. Peepers” title refers to President Trump’s purported nickname for bespectacled Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Rosenstein, of course, is currently supervising the investigation into Russian election interference headed by Robert Mueller. Rosenstein has been under fire by Trump and some of his allies in Congress who seek to short circuit or at least discredit the investigation by demonstrating that it was started by the political left and/or the “deep state.” As of my deadline Mr. Rosenstein still has a job, but word on the street is that he may be out soon.

I’m very, very strange. I think democracy would actually be a good thing, not just grounds for bombing other countries. As long as we’re stuck with electing supposed representatives, I want to make that system approximate as closely as possible actual democracy. This attitude results in some bizarre positions. For example, I want candidates to lay out a detailed policy platform with hard commitments to particular actions. Even weirder, I don’t really care what a candidate looks like or what he or she does consensually in bedrooms or what political party, if any, he or she swears obedience to — er, excuse me, belongs to.

U.S. politics is remarkably devoid of content, in general, and especially at the higher levels, and especially on unpopular positions supported by both big parties. Almost never will a candidate for the U.S. Congress outline a basic desired budget. Virtually none has a position on the level of military spending. Very few Democrats, and not that many Republicans, have any foreign policy platform at all. Campaign websites are dominated by personal stories, vague “principles,” and fluff.

These words did in G. Harrold Carswell nearly five decades ago:

“I am Southern by ancestry, birth, training, inclination, belief and practice. And I believe that segregation of the races is proper and the only practical and correct way of life in our states. I have always so believed and I shall always so act.

“I shall be the last to submit to any attempt on the part of anyone to break down and to weaken this firmly established policy of our people.

Thursday, October 4, 5-7pm, OSU Oval [near the Thompson statue]

The International Socialist Organization [ISO], in collaboration with other activist groups, will be hosting a protest and speakout to oppose sexism and the recent Kavanaugh nomination.

During the past several weeks, Dr. Christine Blase Ford has bravely spoken out against her sexual assault by right-wing nominee for the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh. Disturbingly, the Republicans have vilified Ford and have continued to support Kavanaugh. This represents the intense sexism and rape culture promoted every day by the establishment.

We are in a political moment of intense attacks on reproductive and abortion rights. These are rights that our lives depend on and must be collectively fought for! At the same time, the growing #METOO movement is building solidarity among survivors who are demanding an end to sexual violence and rape culture. With the unfolding #Kavanaugh nomination, we must unite on campus and declare that we #BelieveFORD and all victims!

White Boy Rich

Now it all makes sense. In 1992 I ran against John Kasich in Ohio’s 12th Congressional District. Everyone told me Kasich liked to smoke a little dope, and later Roger Stone would finger him as the man who was kicked out of the 1976 Reagan campaign for selling pot to the field staff.

Also running that year was Richard Cordray. You wouldn’t think about approaching Rich for a blunt, let alone a three-finger lid of primo bud.

But apparently I had it all wrong.

Ohio Attorney General and Republican governor wannabe Mike DeWine set me straight. Heretofore I will only call Richard Cordray by his street name – White Boy Rich.

This is what I learned from a DeWine commercial. Cordray, raised on the mean streets of Grove City, headed a huge cartel beginning at Grove City High School. White Boy Rich was smart enough to throw the DEA off his trail by joining the high school quiz team and working a minimum wage job at Mickey-D’s. All the time, building his southside suburban drug empire.