Fresh from their work on the electoral justice hearings and investigation, the Columbus League of Pissed Off Voters took a step back to evaluate their recent work, set new goals, self-educate, and move forward with strategic intention.

Some members met in March with community mentors and advisors to do a Power Analysis exercise; they mapped out local decision-makers, key policy issues, organized and unorganized constituencies. A representative of the group said they were proud and honored to have worked recently with local mentors like Bob Fitrakis, Charles Traylor, US Congressional candidate Mark Brown, and Chip Livisay.

The group also started a local book circle discussion group, whose first selections were No More Prisons; Getting Around Brown: Desegregation, Development, and Columbus Public Schools; and What’s the Matter with Kansas. The local focus of Getting Around Brown primed the group for their current project: Columbus School Board and City Council May 3 primary election endorsements.

The National Day of Prayer is set for May 5, 2005. This particular event is controlled by right-wing extremist James Dobson and his wife Shirley. Mr. Dobson is the leader of Focus on the Family, a right-wing organization that among other things, is calling for Supreme Cout Justices to be impeached, is anti-homosexual and anti-choice, and so on. Despite their claims regarding the Bible anf God, neither James or Shirley are ordained ministers, nor do they have any theological education or training.

Here in our state, the "Ohio Restoration Project" is gearing up to begin their assault on our freedom and diversity. We need you to respond and what better way to do that than on the National Day of Prayer!  We need you to do the following:

1. Contact your local, state, and federal elected officials and tell them that you support freedom, diversity, and equality for ALL people and you expect them to do the same.

AUSTIN, Texas -- Good news! If there is a distinct possibility a Bush nominee is a vile-tempered, lying, ineffective bully, the U.S. Senate is willing to hold off on the vote for two weeks.

John Bolton was an amazingly bad choice for ambassador to the United Nations from the beginning. He has a long record of expressing contempt for and distrust of the United Nations. You may or may not consider that a reasonable position, but it is highly inadvisable in a diplomat. In addition, he was a notable failure as under secretary of state for arms control and international security.

Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH 11) will be fighting for democracy again on May 7th when she opens the CASE (Citizens' Alliance for Secure Elections) teach-in in Columbus, Ohio. CASE, along with many watchful Americans, is convinced the full story has not been told about the elections in Ohio in November of 2004.  So they are working with other local groups (including Americans for Democracy) to bring concerned people together for this teach-in about Fighting for Election Justice and Integrity. The people who have led the battle for discovery and reform will work closely with concerned individuals to tell their stories. They will explain why they are concerned, what they have done, and how they have done it. They will ask that people in the workshop groups stay networked, keep informed, and continue to work with the workshop leader to broaden the work already begun. The plan is to build a more informed public core and enlarge the group of activists working on election issues.

Every day presents infinite reasons to believe that change can't happen, infinite reasons to give up. But I always tell myself, "Sonya, you have to pick your team." It seems to me that there are two teams in this world. And you can find evidence to support the arguments of both. The trademark of one team is cynicism. They'll tell you why what you're doing doesn't matter, why nothing is going to change, why no matter how hard you work, you're going to fail. They seem to get satisfaction out of explaining how we'll always have injustice. You can't change human nature, they say. It's foolish to try. From their experience, they might be right.

Then there's another group of people who admit that they don't know how things will turn out, but have decided to work for change. I see Martin Luther King on that team, Alice Walker, Howard Zinn. I see my chaplain from college and my activist friends. They're always telling stories of faith being rewarded, of ways things could be different, of how their own lives have changed. They'll give you reasons why you shouldn't give up, testimonials why we've yet to see our full potential as a species. They