How does one re-acclimate to America after spending time in a lovely war zone like the Helmand Province in Afghanistan? Exactly what is the first step to fitting back in the American comfort zone we all so secretly love?   
  After spending a few weeks a few years ago embedded with Marines in the Taliban's Heart of Dixie, I came home late one hot muggy August night. It was weird. Columbus was dead quiet. My house was fine and apparently hadn't even noticed I was gone. I dumped my gear in the dining room, walked into the living room and plopped down on the couch, feeling inside like a fat old dazed bullfrog staring at his stagnant algae-covered pond, unable to comprehend emotional reality.
  It was like I had gone back in time to the year 1000 and now I was back in the 21st century. Talk about Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. I'd been a stranger in a strange land and now I felt a stranger in my own country and what's worse, on a couch that didn't seem to have missed me at all.

It has been an interesting month since the last Free Press issue came out.
  Two key Supreme Court decisions have endorsed long-standing Free Press editorial policies. The Free Press proudly was the first newspaper in central Ohio to support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) rights – and the right to marry – as universal human rights. In many ways, the application of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment extending marriage rights to the LGBT community is a monumental and important victory for humankind.
  It is time to celebrate the LGBT community as well as to honor those who fought at Stonewall and resisted police brutality and to mourn the various martyrs, including the 29 who died at the UpStairs Lounge on June 24, 1973 in New Orleans. While homophobia still pervades society, the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision indicates that progressive forces are winning the cultural war.

Cannabis is like our friend the dog. Seriously. It can be bred to produce a variety of species that appear to be quite different from one another. Large Labrador Retrievers may seem to be an entirely different species than tiny Toy Poodles, but they are both canines nonetheless. Such is hemp to its storied cousin, marijuana, better known by its scientific name, Cannabis. It is but one plant with many uses.  
  As a species of the genus Cannabis sativa L, hemp is characterized not only by its tall, strong stalks, but also by its trace amounts of the THC that produces the well-known high. Still, hemp carries much of the same baggage as its well-known cousin, inhibiting development of those many uses. Via the courts, state legislatures and other regulatory bodies, hemp and its constituent products are finally beginning to establish footholds in the global market place.

Columbus City Council President and Mayoral Candidate Andrew Ginther is seeking to explain away yet another public sector scandal – just as the school data scrubbing scandal he was involved in recedes into the background with the plea bargain of Michael Dodds, the last Columbus City Schools administrator to be charged with a crime. In a new scandal, Karen Findley, an executive of Redflex Corp (the Citys’ red light camera provider) pleaded guilty to conspiracy in federal court in mid-June for bribing Columbus elected officials – including Ginther – to secure the contract in violation of 18 USC 370.

Last week Senator Rob Portman voted for Trade Promotion Authority which will make it easier to pass job  killing trade deals like the Trans Pacific Partnership. Join us this Thursday from 12:15 to 1pm at his office in downtown Columbus, 37 West Broad St., to hold him accountable and let him know that the people of Ohio won't stand for any more corporate trade deals that outsource good jobs! Contact Thomas Lee, tlee@cwa-union.org.

TPP would be the largest trade deal in history. Including countries like Vietnam and Brunei, it would cover 792 million people and account for 40 percent of the world economy.

If the TPP goes into effect:
  • More U.S. Jobs will be sent offshore
  • Foreign Corporations get veto power over U.S. laws
  • Buy American laws would be illegal

Learn more at: http://stopthetpp.org/