How do we love "Annie"? Let's count some ways:

She tugs our heartstrings with the story of an orphan seeking her parents. She tickles our funny bone with her antics and her spunk. She warms our souls with her endless appeal to our children, who never tire of the show.

And there is so much more. But suffice it to say the rendition being offered at the Ohio Theater (January 16-21) does more than ample justice to this timeless classic.

The staging is lovely. The music is rendered beautifully by a travelling orchestra under the direction of Kelly Ann Lambert.

Marissa O'Donell does a fine, forceful job of bringing us an Annie who is charming, funny and full-voiced.

Her counterpart, Conrad John Schuck, gives us a personable, soulful Daddy Warbucks. With extensive credits from film (McMillan and Wife), Broadway (Annie Get Your Gun) and television (NYPD Blue), Schuck is convincing, engaging and good to hear. He has a powerful stage presence that lends seasoned talent and gravitas to a play that could otherwise float away in sentimentality and froth.

Columbus, Ohio is hosting a unity of hate groups on the 17th and 18th of Feburary 2007 and we intend to shut them down. Central to organizing this national hate conference is the National Socialist Movement, which is the largest neo-nazi group in the United States according to the Anti-Defamation League.

The NSM have invited other white supremacist organizations to attend, including "Klansmen, Skinheads, National Socialists, Aryan Nations and World Creators". Every one of these groups is associated with a history of violence and brutality against people of color and all people opposed to nazi and fascist power. Some of their membership have endorsed the attacking and/or killing of people at random, lynchings and other acts of violence against people with the intention of enforcing a malevolent world order of white supremacy.

Their History of Violence

Aryan Nations was founded as the political wing of Church of Jesus Christ-Christian in 1974. They quickly took advantage of the church and religious status of the parent organization which drove them into the top ranks of white supremacist organizations. They started by spreading

Charles Mercieca, Ph.D.
President, International Association of Educators for World Peace
Dedicated to United Nations Goals of Peace Education,
Environmental Protection, Human Rights & Disarmament
Professor Emeritus, Alabama A&M University

It is obvious that the job of the United Nations Secretary-General has emerged to become the most important job in the world in terms of its tremendous potential to put pressure and to exert influence in bringing needed vital changes into proper perspective.  If we were to analyze the history of the United Nations since it started in 1945, we would discover that the five permanent members of the UN Security Council served more as a detriment than an asset to this world-wide body of nations.

Veto Power Sign of Weakness

Charles Mercieca, Ph.D.
President, International Association of Educators for World Peace
Dedicated to United Nations Goals of Peace Education,
Environmental Protection, Human Rights & Disarmament
Professor Emeritus, Alabama A&M University

For quite a good number of people, the problem of racism deals mostly with the pigmentation of the skin, with the variety of human features, which are visible to the eyes, and with a variety of ancestral characteristics that were passed on from one generation to the other. This problem originates mostly from the fact that we tend to categorize people into various groups based on their external characteristics. As a result, we tend to treat them differently for the better or the worse. Hence, prejudice plays a big role in the problem of racism.

Concept of Superiority and Inferiority