Issue Endorsements for the Cincinnati 2011 Elections

2011 is an off year election but it is very important. City Council is up for re election and there as many important issues you can have a voice on by voting. Exercise that right on Tuesday November 8th. These are my Issue endorsements:

Issue 2 - No because 2 keeps Ohio's anti-labor Senate bill 5 in place. SB 5 restricts public workers rights to collective bargaining. This limits the rights of our Teachers, Nurses, Police Officers and Firefighters.

Issue 3 - No because this under minds the core of the Healthcare proposals savings in federal deficit reduction as well as minimizing consumer savings. This law is largely not in place and will not be until 2014. We currently pay for hospital visits for the uninsured as taxpayers already. This could jeopardize our States access to federal Medicaid funds causing more citizens to lose their insurance coverage.This means that we would have to continue the practice of locally subsidizing indigent care through tax levies on a local level. No matter how much the Tea Party drapes this issue in the flag of personal freedom what they don't tell you is undermining the mandate will lead to less people insured, less deficit reduction, higher property tax levies and higher health premiums. That is fiscally irresponsible.

Issue 32 - Yes supports general improvements for the Cincinnati School district.

Issue 37 - Yes supports Health and Hospital Services.

Issue 38 - Yes supports Child Services.

Issue 44 and 45 - Yes on Electric and Gas Aggregation because these are green proposals that  can save you money on your monthly bill.

Issue 46 - No because 46 will loosen local campaign finance laws in a time when we need more transparency and accountability.

Issue 47 - No because 47 is another charter amendment referendum to kill a tax proposal when the city has a $33 Million shortfall.

Issue 48 - No because 48 will amend the city charter to limit public and private rail investment for the next 10 years. We need jobs and investments in public transportation. Rail investments spur population and economic growth in cities across this country. Mark Twain said he wants to be in Cincinnati when the world ends because we are 10 years behind the rest of the world. Lets not leave ourselves 20 years behind.

X-Men vs. Reality Part 2: The Civil Rights Movement

Professor X has come to be compared to civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. and Magneto to Malcolm X. Professor Xavier's dream of a world where humans and mutants peacefully coexist is similar to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream. King dreams of a nation that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

Malcolm was raised by a Pan-African black preacher. Three of his father Earl Little's brothers, one of whom was lynched, died violently at the hands of white men. His family had to relocate after threats from the Ku Klux Klan. All of this affected his outlook.

Magneto sees mutants not as a dangerous minority to be subjugated but as Homo-Superior, the next stage of evolution, who should rule over the humans that have subjugated mutants. He created a separatist group called the Brotherhood. Magneto's outlook was developed through Anti-Semitic subjugation at the hands of the Nazi's during WWII. Magnus is Jewish and was a prisoner in Auschwitz. His tattoo number is 214782

When the X-Men first started out the characters were rather black and white. There was definitely a good vs. evil theme similar to most superhero stories. As the comic progressed the characters became more gray. Some X-Men stories have Magneto working with the X-Men on common goals.

I believe that Malcolm was a product of his environment that was evolving. He went from a hustler that drank, ate pork and slept with white women to a NOI leader renouncing his previous behaviors. He came to see the NOI as corrupted by Elijah Mohammed as time went by and came to worship with Muslims of all races at the end of his life. Some have postulated that his vision had he lived may have come more inline with that of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

That is possible had they both lived longer. They were both black civil rights leaders that came from black Baptist backgrounds. They both opposed the war in Vietnam and civil rights abuses. I can picture them as leaders in the Occupy Wall Street movement today. Though much like the movement I believe they would still have some differing goals.

X-Men vs. Reality

In the 50s Junior Senator Joseph McCarthy taught Americans to fear the Communists. In the 21st Century Rep. Peter King taught us to fear Muslims.

In the world of the X-Men Senator Robert Kelly taught us to fear the Mutants.

In the 50s the U.S. blacklisted actors as subversives. In the 21st Century the U.S. locked up suspected Muslim terrorists without a trial.

In the world of the X-Men Senator Robert Kelly convinced Americans that they needed to register mutants to protect humans.

In the 20th Century the U.S. collected information on subversives with COINTELPRO. In the 21th Century the U.S. used the Department of Homeland Security.

In X-Men the mutants are rounded up by Sentinels created by Dr. Trask, Liaison Henry Peter Gyrich and authorized by Senator Robert Kelly. The were created by Shaw Industries as part of Government Project Wideawake.

Anti-Muslim Hysteria leads to attacks on Muslims at home. Anti-Mutant Hysteria leads to attacks on Mutants at home.

Those that are kidnapped are monitored in both worlds.

In the 20th Century the U.S. engaged in wars with Communists in Korea and Vietnam.

In the 21th Century the U.S. is engaging in wars with Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan.



In the X-Men world the humans declare war on the mutants.



Is the real world mimicking the world of the X-Men or are the creators of the X-Men mimicking the real world?

Note: While I realize that there are real threats to the U.S. my point is not to equate all of these actions as unprovoked antagonism by the government against Muslims. We were attacked on 9/11. My issue with the war on Terror is that it is too unfocused and open ended. Obviously all Muslims are not terrorists. 19 Hijackers attacked us. 14 were from Saudi Arabia and the rest were from Yemen and UAE. My issue is that we used that as a pretext for war with Afghanistan and Iraq. We used it as a pretext to detain people without trial. We used this a pretext to wiretap citizens and take away our Constitutional rights regardless of warrant or suspicion. The solution to 9/11 should not be endless war. The solution should not be a police state.