Minding The Issues
by Nickie Antonio
In the past year, politically savvy Ohioans may have noticed an interesting phenomenon at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus. When members of the legislature discussed issues like protecting abortion access or legalizing recreational cannabis, they were shot down, disregarded, or even outright demonized by Republican lawmakers. When put up for consideration as citizen-led ballot issues, they received enthusiastic votes of support from Ohioans and passed with a sound majority, much to the chagrin of Republican politicians.
So, why do we have such a disconnect between a population that generally supports these issues and a legislative supermajority that vehemently opposes them? The answer is likely something that you’ve been hearing a lot about lately: gerrymandering.
Under our current redistricting laws, GOP politicians enjoy an artificial supermajority and have manipulated our state’s legislative maps to rig the system in ways that even our Republican-controlled state Supreme Court deemed unconstitutional seven times.
An investigation by Newsweek published this past June shows that Ohio is one of the country's most gerrymandered states in the nation. This is an accolade Republicans are fighting hard to keep.
This November, the people of Ohio have a chance to take the power of redistricting out of the hands of politicians and put it into the hands of citizens with Issue 1. Issue 1 would create a citizen-led redistricting commission of equal parts Republicans, Independents, and Democrats, freeing the redistricting process from self-serving elected officials who are often more focused on expanding their manufactured supermajority than creating a map that accurately represents the interests of the people of Ohio.
Ohioans have made it clear that they want redistricting reform, but now they are being gaslighted by our very own Secretary of State, Frank LaRose. Gaslighting is defined as a form of psychological abuse or manipulation in which the person of power attempts to sow self-doubt and confusion in the victim’s mind. Typically, gaslighters seek to gain power and control over people by distorting reality and making them question their judgment and intuition. Over 731,000 Ohioans signed a petition to put redistricting reform on the ballot. The language on that ballot measure has now been manipulated and distorted by LaRose and the Republican politicians that control the Ohio Ballot Board, a committee composed of members of the Ohio House and Senate led by the Secretary of State.
Ballot Board Chair LaRose and his republican counterparts acted in a disingenuous manner when they approved language that paints a citizen-led, anti-gerrymandering measure as an attack on the redistricting process and approved language that says the new commission would be, “Required to gerrymander the legislative and congressional district lines.”
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Volume 20, Issue 20, Posted 12:21 PM, 10.15.2024
by William Yeung
As we are in October, coming up to November, and the general election, it is easy to get flooded with all the political advertisements from every candidate running that we miss the important issues that we will also be voting on.
I am here today to address issues with Issue 2, and how it will affect Ohio’s current voting system. Issue 2 is an amendment to Ohio’s state constitution regarding voting requirements, the main part that concerns me, and should also concern you, is the wording, as it would require voters to be 18 years of age at any election. Seems silly, right? seems like it is common sense that you should a full-fledged adult to vote.
Well, yes and no.
Currently, in Ohio, it is possible to be 17 years old and vote in a primary election. This is of course given that you will be turning 18 years of age before the general election. This is an important little loophole, as it serves as a way to introduce high schoolers into the voting process while you can communicate with them en masse at their school. Last year when I was a Senior, the League of Women Voters came to my Highschool and helped make sure everyone had the opportunity and assistance that they needed to register to vote.
By requiring that all voters participating in an election be 18 years of age, we would rob many young adults of their first opportunity to vote in a relatively low-stress environment. This is because while Primary elections are in my opinion one of the most important points of an election cycle, as it is when you vote on who will be representing the party you support, not many older adults participate in this election, preferring to save energy and time for the general election. This means these new voters would have a chance to vote without waiting in the long lines we typically see on election week or feeling pressured by the enormous amount of people voting.
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Volume 18, Issue 21, Posted 1:41 PM, 11.02.2022
by Tim Collingwood
I am glad that after years of being around national, state, and local police violence that posting a story about how it appears in Lakewood has created a discussion in our city. I am glad that Bob Stoltys and John Mazzei have continued the discussion in the past print and online posts. They each mention points that I would like to respond to because if Lakewood wants to strive to be unique among Cleveland's inner ring suburbs and be exceptional to them, then continuing this discussion where white suburbanites in this area dare not touch might add to the city's sense of pride in their city. Now is the time to discuss matters of racism and race in America and that makes Lakewood a part of the discussion.
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Volume 13, Issue 14, Posted 12:35 PM, 07.18.2017
by David Brinovec
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Volume 12, Issue 19, Posted 5:46 PM, 09.13.2016
by Gordon Brumm
As we are all aware, our nation is undergoing an epidemic of slaughter by firearms. In the most general sense, this is not new. For many decades, criminal firearm fatalities have been a fact of American life. But this recent use of guns is different. Previously, the fatal attacks, horrendous as they may have been, were purposeful – they grew out of gang warfare, or drug dealing, or personal revenge, for example. They were directed at specific victims, and in most cases, though not all, they were one-on-one assaults. By contrast, the killings we have become so familiar with have no purpose except killing for the sake of killing, and are aimed not at specific individuals but at as many random individuals as possible.
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Volume 9, Issue 8, Posted 9:37 PM, 04.16.2013
by Gordon Brumm
For those who have not yet voted, here are a couple of considerations:
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Volume 8, Issue 21, Posted 5:44 PM, 10.16.2012
by Gordon Brumm
“Everyone deserves world-class care”
Those who champion our existing health-care system, i.e., those who don’t want to change it, often point out that the Cleveland Clinic, along with other leading health facilities, draws patients from all over the world (Saudi Arabian sheiks, for example) because the Clinic offers them the best care in the world.
Yes, the sheiks look to the Clinic when they need the very best life-saving care. But if that is true of the sheiks, it is true also of the citizens of Peoria and millions of other Americans who would benefit from the Clinic’s world-class care. Obviously they can’t all be treated by the Clinic, even apart from financial considerations, because the Clinic can only accommodate so many. These millions of Americans must turn to whatever care is available to them, which may be far less than the Clinic offers. Why should we extol the care afforded Arabian sheiks, while ignoring the quality of care available to American citizens?
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Volume 8, Issue 7, Posted 10:03 PM, 04.03.2012
by Gordon Brumm
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Volume 7, Issue 25, Posted 11:52 PM, 12.13.2011
by Gordon Brumm
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Volume 7, Issue 24, Posted 12:28 AM, 12.01.2011
by Gordon Brumm
During the height of the Arab Spring some months ago, observers compared the Arab uprisings to the democratic revolutions that swept Europe in 1848. Like their Arab counterparts, the 1848 revoutionaries aimed to wrest control from the rigid, autocratic rulers of the day.
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Volume 7, Issue 18, Posted 10:48 AM, 09.07.2011
by Gordon Brumm
Let’s get clear about the Obama administration’s plan for universal health care, which has caused such an uproar.
To clarify the issues, I offer a modest alternative: The law would require–repeat, require–that anyone who lacks health insurance would NOT be able to appeal to emergency rooms for medical care, nor be allowed to enroll in Medicaid (assuming that he or she did not meet the eligibility requirements before suffering a serious illness or injury), nor receive any other charity care. Whenever they sought medical care, they would have to pay the full price that the doctors and hospitals demand.
What would be the result of this plan? Whenever such a person suffered a life-threatening illness or injury, one of the following would in all probability happen:
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Volume 7, Issue 16, Posted 1:16 PM, 08.09.2011
by Gordon Brumm
Long, long ago but not too far away– if memory serves, it was at Harding Junior High School– I was taking an algebra course with a teacher of stern and rigid principles. I don’t remember her name, and I don’t want to guess, lest I slander the innocent. I will simply call her Miss Straitjacket.
The subject under discussion was negative numbers. Miss Straitjacket said something to the effect that minus 2 is less than plus 2. I raised my hand said, no, minus 2 is the same quantity as plus 2; they only have different signs. I could have mentioned that minus 2 multiplied by minus 2 is plus 4, but I didn’t. I rested content with asserting an obvious truth.
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Volume 7, Issue 14, Posted 8:15 AM, 07.13.2011
by Gordon Brumm
When filling out an application or answering a survey, I have no trouble responding to the “Education” box, checking “beyond college” or “post-graduate”, or however it’s phrased. But I always feel that the answer is incomplete, because the question has ignored the wiser parts of my education.
After college, I served my two years in the Army. By fortunate circumstance, I became a typist at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. My supervisor, Sergeant Harry Edinger, was considerate and easy-going; his favorite expression to his subordinates was, “Take your time.” I learned that Sergeant Edinger had led a hundred men to safety across a frozen lake in North Korea during the great retreat following MacArthur’s Folly. I asked myself, “Could I, waving my Harvard B.A. in my hand, have led a hundred men across a frozen lake under combat conditions in the Korean winter?” Hell no.
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Volume 7, Issue 3, Posted 4:07 PM, 02.08.2011
by Gordon Brumm
The passage of time can add perspective, so let’s take one more turn around l’affaire LeBron.
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Volume 6, Issue 15, Posted 8:42 AM, 07.27.2010
by Gordon Brumm
Our time has come. Tea Parties, state elections, and the rising voice of the people proclaim that the forces of Big Government will soon be defeated and a new era of Freedom is at hand. Now it is for us to throw off the bonds of Socialism and exhibit our God-given Personal Responsibility.
Obama’s Socialist health-care grab will soon go down to defeat, along with his other Socialist measures that make us slaves to government. We will defeat his environmental proposals built on the myth of global warming, and we will drill for whatever natural resources God has given us to enjoy.
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Volume 6, Issue 7, Posted 9:23 PM, 04.06.2010
by Erica Witmer
Is the only way to get rid of racism to, “Stop talking about it?”
Actor Morgan Freeman suggested this in an interview with the Associated Press, saying that the concept of dedicating a month to black history is “ridiculous.” For Freeman, black history is synonymous with American history. Continuing to label people “black” and “white” and setting aside a month to honor African-American history does little to eliminate racism in society.
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Volume 6, Issue 5, Posted 8:25 AM, 03.10.2010
by Gordon Brumm
This article has two themes. One is Obama vs. McCain and in particular one of the many slanderous slurs – namely, infanticide – the McCain camp has directed toward Obama, as well as the rebuttal of that accusation. The second theme is the responsibility of the media when they are asked to convey slanderous (or libelous, to be technical) material.
The first theme takes the form of a story. The story begins with a letter-to-the-editor in the Sun newspapers accusing Barack Obama of supporting infanticide, and it continues with my attempts to rebut the accusation, including a conversation with a Sun newspaper editor and a letter-to-the-editor which was not printed.
The second theme appears in my discussion of the issues raised by this incident...
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Volume 4, Issue 22, Posted 9:29 AM, 10.24.2008
by Gordon Brumm
At its September 4 meeting, the City Council passed a resolution favoring a timetable for comprehensive withdrawal of all troops from Iraq, with all votes affirmative except for Demro’s abstention.
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Volume 3, Issue 19, Posted 4:06 PM, 09.14.2007
by Gordon Brumm
The crimes of Michael Vick haunt me. I look into our beloved dogs’ eyes and I think of the atrocities that Vick and his partners-in-crime committed, and I shudder. “How could they have done such things?”
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Volume 3, Issue 18, Posted 4:54 PM, 08.27.2007
by Gordon Brumm
Lakewood Public Library’s new building looms majestically above the avenue, like a distinguished paterfamilias watching over his protégés. The city’s school buildings have all been rebuilt and spruced up and technologized.
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Volume 3, Issue 16, Posted 2:41 PM, 07.31.2007
by Gordon Brumm
Our national anthem, as we all well know, is serious business. Why else would we play it at every public event? Why else does an individual, especially a male, risk his safety if he fails to stand when it is played?
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Volume 3, Issue 13, Posted 10:49 AM, 06.15.2007
by Gordon Brumm
The atheists are on the attack. The likes of Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins have recently written books aiming to eradicate belief in God and devotion to religion, Christianity in particular. This may be a backlash against the intrusion of certain religionists, especially those called fundamentalists, in our lives. (On this, more later).
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Volume 3, Issue 11, Posted 2:57 PM, 05.24.2007
by Gordon Brumm
America, historians tell us, has been largely shaped by its frontier. Of all the types of frontier life, none has received more popular attention than the Wild West, and perhaps the best-known and most enduring example of Wild West life is the gunman-to-gunman shootout.
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Volume 3, Issue 10, Posted 10:21 AM, 05.09.2007
by Gordon Brumm
By the time this reaches print, the scandals involving the Duke lacrosse team, Don Imus’s racist/sexist remarks, and the firing of U.S. attorneys may be out of mind, overshadowed by the tragic and senseless shootings at Virginia Tech. However, the scandals are worth keeping in mind for the deeper problems they exhibit.
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Volume 3, Issue 9, Posted 10:10 PM, 04.20.07
by Gordon Brumm
Do I need to belabor the obvious? We are now in the middle of the 2008 “money primary,” in which candidates vie not for the favor of voters but for the largesse of contributors, with the clear aim of amassing enough money to make their victory seem inevitable. (So much for “one person one vote.”) One presidential candidate at least has dropped out not because his program was unworthy or even unpopular, but simply because he couldn’t raise large amounts of money.
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Volume 3, Issue 8, Posted 9:09 PM, 04.06.07
by Gordon Brumm
How often have you heard those words, and how often have they been empty window dressing? With your help – both before the election and after – I will make them mean something again.
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Volume 3, Issue 7, Posted 5:42 PM, 03.26.2007
by Gordon Brumm
First there was moral clarity. From moral clarity came self-righteousness and supreme self-confidence. Then came arrogance, and out of arrogance came the waging of aggressive war.
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Volume 3, Issue 6, Posted 3:12 PM, 03.09.2007
by Gordon Brumm
In the previous issue I held that misuse of an expression is not merely a matter of taste but rather demonstrates obtuseness of one kind or another -- about logical consequences, historical context, or distinctions.
Here are a few more examples:
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Volume 3, Issue 5, Posted 4:04 PM, 02.23.07
by Gordon Brumm
It gripes me – and many others, I suppose -- to hear someone misuse a common saying. On the surface, these irritations are only a matter of taste – or pedantic preference -- but on a second look we might find more obtuseness than mere preference. One incident especially summed it up for me . . .
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Volume 3, Issue 4, Posted 5:05 PM, 02.09.07
by Gordon Brumm
In a previous column I admitted to having no solution to the immigration problem. But discussions with the Lakewood Public Library’s “Great Decisions” group changed my perspective. And immigration is worth another round of discussion, for under the new and (hopefully) improved Congress it might again be on the table.
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Volume 3, Issue 2, Posted 9:09 PM, 01.12.07
by Gordon Brumm
As Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday approaches, my thoughts turn not toward him but toward Bob Moses. No, not Robert Moses the highway megalomaniac, but Bob Moses the civil rights leader.
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Volume 3, Issue 1, Posted 4:04 AM, 01.07.07
by Gordon Brumm
Conservatives and liberals: Like cats and dogs? Or like yin and yang? As with so many questions in this world, the answer is “It depends.” It depends on what we mean by conservatism.
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Volume 2, Issue 25, Posted 3:03 PM, 12.04.06
by Gordon Brumm
Judging by the recent election, we may hope that the nation is recovering from its posttraumatic stress disorder. Or to look at it another way, we are awakening from a six-year sleep punctuated by nightmares. More and more of us realize that the Bush administration is merely a deplorable aberration, born of arrogance and nourished by stupidity. From the start it was obviously not liberal, and conservatives are realizing as time goes on that it is not conservative either.
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Volume 2, Issue 24, Posted 2:02 PM, 11.20.06
by Gordon Brumm
Come back in time to World War II, to all wars, to the Trojan War. Our vehicle is a song, "Lili Marlene," which I have cherished for more than three decades.
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Volume 2, Issue 23, Posted 3:03 PM, 10.23.06
by Gordon Brumm
Electoral Systems: Other Ways to Skin the Cat
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Volume 2, Issue 22, Posted 2:02 PM, 10.26.06
by Gordon Brumm
As the time approaches for campaigns and campaign promises, multitudes of politicians are competing to be our representatives. So this might be a good time to consider what they are competing for: What does the job of a representative consist of? (By "representatives" I mean not only legislators but also executives such as presidents and governors.) What are the legitimate grounds for a representative's decision? Conversely, when do a representative's constituents have a right to feel betrayed?
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Volume 2, Issue 17, Posted 2:02 PM, 08.14.06
by Gordon Brumm
The Bush administration is unique within recent history. Its antagonism toward liberalism has been evident almost from the very beginning, and now conservatives have begun to distance themselves from it also, for various reasons such as fi scal irresponsibility.
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Volume 2, Issue 14, Posted 4:04 PM, 07.11.06
by Gordon Brumm
Recently we've seen a controversy about whether the Star-Spangled Banner should be sung in Spanish or only in English. But if it's important to think about the language in which the song is rendered, isn't it even more important to think about the song itself, about what it means?
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Volume 2, Issue 13, Posted 2:02 PM, 06.20.06
by Gordon Brumm
Let's Get Government Out of Religion
When is a tempest-in-a-teapot not a tempest-in-a-teapot? When it reflects deeper issues. That is why I hope you will bear with me as I recount my enforced displacement on Election Day, last May 2nd.
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Volume 2, Issue 12, Posted 4:04 PM, 06.06.06
by Gordon Brumm
"What's the deal here? Why do costs outstrip inflation? A college education is one of the most expensive and important things you'll ever buy, and, yes, it's still a good value, blah, blah, blah, but you can find out more about a lot of other products."
So said Margaret Spellings, Secretary of Education, on a subject of great concern to many Americans -- college tuition.
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Volume 2, Issue 8, Posted 4:04 PM, 04.10.06
by Gordon Brumm
The Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) program, in effect since 2004, provides tax deductions to individuals on condition that they spend the tax-free money on health care needs. The Bush administration's rationale is that "market forces" will drive down health-care costs, just as they drive down the costs of other commodities.
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Volume 2, Issue 5, Posted 12.40 PM / 08th March 2006.
by Gordon Brumm
The Bush program for health care focuses on Health Savings Accounts, a program to give tax deductions to the individual health-care consumer for certain amounts of money, on condition that the individual spend the money on health care needs at his or her own discretion. The program has been in effect since the beginning of 2004, and has just recently been re-emphasized by the Bush administration, including mention in the State of the Union address.
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Volume 2, Issue 4, Posted 01.12 PM / 08th March 2006.
by Gordon Brumm
You don't need to be an inveterate Bush-basher to recognize that the Iraq War is far from a complete success. To be sure, it may yet come to a successful conclusion - successful from the American point of view - some years down the road. But more likely the outcome will be successful instead for some group at odds with our interests, for example Shi'ites and their Iranian allies, or Al Qaida. From its misconceived beginning to the present, the war has been riddled with mistakes and erroneous assumptions.
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Volume 2, Issue 2, Posted 09.16 AM / 24th January 2006.
by Gordon Brumm
In my last column I distinguished between evolution and natural selection, which is the supposed mechanism by which evolution is accomplished. Evolution is established beyond question, in my opinion, but not natural selection. The crucial question is: What is the cause of evolution- natural selection? Intelligent Design? something else?
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Volume 2, Issue 1, Posted 08.29 AM / 11th January 2006.
by Gordon Brumm
Never learned much biology. . . . But as time went on I came to understand that the accepted principles of a field of study contain, along with the true and profound, a certain amount of enshrined obtuseness bordering on stupidity. (The professions of academia and journalism are the chief examples in my catalogue, but there is no reason to believe that the sciences are exempt.) So there may be some advantage in looking at the Intelligent Design controversy from the outside.
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Volume 1, Issue 13, Posted 12.54 PM / 30th December 2005.
by Gordon Brumm
"Patriotism" is such a brass-band word that it's hard to get a handle on. We're all familiar with the martial trappings of patriotism - the thrill of pride at our country's triumphs, the urge to sacrifice, the homage to veterans who have made the sacrifice. But is that all? Where is patriotism when danger disappears? If patriotism is love of country, what kind of love is it? What, at bottom, is patriotism?
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Volume 1, Issue 12, Posted 02.58 PM / 30th November 2005.
by Gordon Brumm
Before turning to the main subject, I would like to praise religious persons of uncommon good will. I am thinking of medical missionaries throughout the world. I am thinking of the missionary priests in Latin America during the 1500s who tried to save natives from the evils of European conquest, and of their latter-day counterparts who composed the Liberation Theology movement until it was squelched by the late pope. I am thinking of the four nuns killed in El Salvador. I am thinking of those religiously-inspired civil rights workers and martyrs, of whom Martin Luther King Jr. was only the most illustrious. And many, many others.
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Volume 1, Issue 9, Posted 03.41 AM / 20th October 2005.
by Gordon Brumm
Like most people, I have a fairly casual attitude toward op-ed columns and letters to the editor in other publications. I read them and pass on. But occasionally a piece will appear that is so noxious it must be challenged and dissected. Kevin O'Brien's column in the August 10 Plain Dealer, on the occasion of the memorial for troops lost in the Iraq War, is such a piece.
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Volume 1, Issue 7, Posted 07.54 PM / 18th September 2005.
by Gordon Brumm
n the last issue I talked about supposedly "activist" judges, defined in three ways: 1) ignoring the original text of the Constitution; 2) overriding the decisions of Congress, the president and the states; 3) disregarding precedents. Activist judges, so-called, are usually thought to be liberal, but there is one group of activist judges, in the third sense listed, that is decidedly conservative. Bush's second appointment to the Supreme Court may come from this group.
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Volume 1, Issue 6, Posted 04.16 AM / 09th September 2005.
by Gordon Brumm
All right, class, here is your citizenship quiz. Who said the following:
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Volume 1, Issue 5, Posted 08.14 AM / 22nd August 2005.
by Gordon Brumm
Symbols are always worth noting, for they help bring into focus some of our half-formed ways of thinking and feeling. They clarify what had been indistinct; they solidify what had been scattered and amorphous.
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Volume 1, Issue 4, Posted 06.13 AM / 09th August 2005.
by Gordon Brumm
In the last column I outlined the way in which Social Security works, including the progression of its benefit schedule, and suggested changes that could be made to remedy the solvency gap with which the system is faced. Let's focus now on Bush's proposal for private Social Security accounts.
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Volume 1, Issue 2, Posted 10.19 PM / 04th August 2005.
by Gordon Brumm
Rarely if ever has a subject of public importance been so obscured by demagoguery, endlessly recycled rhetoric and misplaced emphasis as Social Security and its problems. But after some modest research and a great deal of thought I may have broken through the smoke and mirrors.
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Volume 1, Issue 2, Posted 03.57 PM / 19th July 2005.
by Gordon Brumm
As a college freshman I took a Humanities course that dealt in large part with classical Greek literature. During one lecture, Professor Havelock, mentioned that the ancient Greeks, meaning primarily the Athenians, lived better than we do. There was no chance to discuss this remark in class, so through all these decades I have wondered what he meant. Perhaps Lakewood will show me.
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Volume 1, Issue 1, Posted 04.29 AM / 24th June 2005.