Touch Positive

As babies, we are held, touched, lovingly by our parents and caregivers. Some parents keep their child in a sling or other attachment to always have their child next to them, touching them. As we grow older, we become more independent and live our lives with less touching. Some people can go for long periods of time without giving or receiving positive touch.

 

The ‘Great War’ of Sinai: How to Lose a ‘War on Terror’

The Sinai Peninsula has moved from the margins of Egyptian body politic to the uncontested center, as Egypt’s strong man - President Abdul Fatah al-Sisi - finds himself greatly undercut by the rise of an insurgency that seems to be growing stronger with time.

Another series of deadly and coordinated attacks, on January 29, shattered the Egyptian army’s confidence, pushing it further into a deadly course of a war that can only be won by political sagacity, not bigger guns.

U.S. & Russian Smallpox Stockpiles Should be "Crimes Against Humanity"

BANGKOK, Thailand -- The U.S. and Russia should destroy their deadly
smallpox stockpiles or be "guilty of crimes against humanity," because
the virus slaughtered hundreds of millions of people before it was
stopped in 1980 and would kill again if it escapes a laboratory, the
American who led the global eradication said.

"There were two laboratories that have smallpox, we know that for
sure, one was the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) in Atlanta, and
the second was the Institute of Virus Preparations in Moscow," Dr.
Donald A. Henderson said in an interview.

"There, the virus is -- we believe -- sequestered.  All [other]
countries have signed off that they don't have any smallpox," said Dr.
Henderson, who led the World Health Organization's (WHO's) Global
Smallpox Eradication Campaign which declared worldwide success 35
years ago.

Dr. Henderson was here in Bangkok, Thailand, to receive the annual
$100,000 Prince Mahidol Award in the Field of Public Health on January
28.

Anti-Fracking and No Nukes Activists Join Forces Demanding Renewable Energy Revolution

long-time anti-fracking activist David Braun

Our Earth is being destroyed by fracking and nukes.

These two vampire technologies suck the energy out of our planet while permanently poisoning our air, water, food and livelihoods.

The human movements fighting them have been largely separate over the years.

No more.

In the wake of Fukushima, the global campaign to bury atomic power has gained enormous strength. All Japan’s 54 reactors remain shut. Germany is amping up its renewable energy generation with a goal of 80 percent or more by 2050. Four U.S. reactors under construction are far over budget and behind schedule. Five old ones have closed in the last two years.

In New England and elsewhere, as the old nukes go down, safe energy activists shift their attention to the deadly realities of fossil fuel extraction.

Mayoral candidates on the hot seat

The anointed one, personally blessed by the presumed Mayor-for-life Michael Coleman, Andy Ginther, found the going tough as he faced his three opponents at an inner city forum on January 29, 2015.
More than one hundred residents, mostly black, gathered at the Corinthian Missionary Baptist Church on Columbus’ east side to hear the four potential mayoral candidates answer questions about the state of the city.
The four men who have announced their bid to replace Michael Coleman this year are:

  • Andrew Ginther, Columbus City Council President (D)

  • Terry Boyd, endorsed Republican candidate, former Columbus School Board president and Franklin University Professor (R)

  • Zach Scott, Franklin County Sheriff (D)

  • James Ragland, former Columbus City Council staffer for Charleta Tavares, now Catholic High School Development Director (D)

Columbus Sprawl Serves Lattes Graveside to Captive Rush Hour Audience

“Eighty percent of everything ever built in America has been built in the last 50 years, and most of it is depressing, brutal, ugly, unhealthy, and spiritually degrading” – James Howard Kunstler, from his book The Geography of Nowhere


 

In the City of Pickerington the final resting place of a veteran who fought to end slavery has become surrounded by overwhelming traffic and besieged by over-priced coffee. A handful of living veterans grumbled, angered to see a Starbucks seemingly built over night was now practically on top of the Civil War veteran’s small cemetery. But once again the concerns of loyal and proud citizens were too late as developers and retailers had struck again.

Will police body cameras usher in a new surveillance regime?

Since the beginning of the recent protest movement around the deaths of multiple unarmed African American men at the hands of police in multiple states there has been a push for police to wear body cameras. In the Tamir Rice and  John Crawford III cases here in Ohio, video exists in the public sphere that clearly shows what happened. Yet in both cases the policeman who pulled the trigger is still free to roam the streets and still feeding at the public trough.

   This push has come from within some sectors of the civil rights movement, from private police groups involved in repressing demonstrations, and from the White House itself. A  closer look at body cameras, their packaging and companion products, and manufacturers yields a vista of constant public surveillance.

Marvel’s Secret Wars Presents a New Crisis

Comics fandom has known since last October’s New York Comic Con that Marvel’s big crossover event for 2015 will be called Secret Wars. Now Marvel has finally revealed what that will entail, and, like any good summer comics event, it’ll have a lasting impact on the Marvel Universe. But this one won’t just shake up who’s on what teams. The upcoming Secret Wars storyline will overhaul the Marvel Universe on a scale reminiscent of DC’s 80s epic Crisis on Infinite Earths.

The name “Secret Wars” is hardly new, and it harkens back to the 80s as well. The original Secret Wars was a 12-issue story that pulled characters together from across the Marvel Universe to, well, primarily sell toys – Mattel wanted a cohesive theme and storyline for their Marvel action figure series. The story introduced a godlike being called the Beyonder who snatched up Earth’s greatest heroes and villains and pitted them against each other. It’s still a fondly-remembered story (less so its sequel, Secret Wars II) and not a bad place to mine for a little nostalgia.

U.S. government tried to give nuclear plans to Iraq and nobody cares

This cable was submitted as evidence by the prosecution in the trial of Jeffrey Sterling, a trial in which Sterling was convicted on entirely circumstantial evidence of leaking to a reporter that the CIA had given nuclear weapons part plans (with flaws added) to Iran. The cable makes crystal clear that the CIA proposed to do the same with Iraq.

 

There are only two nations beginning with a vowel and containing in adjectival form five letters: IRAQI and OMANI. The United States has neither worried about slowing down a nuclear weapons program in Oman nor sought to concoct reasons for a war on Oman. Iraq is of course a different story.

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