WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MORE WOMEN PLEDGE…?
0530 by Jeff HessVia Zen Pencils…
3 November 2014
3 November 2014
NOT THE MARIETTA TIMES…
0500 by Jeff HessOhio 339 determines school split
Most are unswayed or annoyed by campaign ads
Pay it forward: Retired teacher keeps active
American Legion toy run raises $6,000 for area children
Remember safety as temps start to dropTop Headlines Poll: Do you think political ads and mailers help or hurt the candidates paying for them?
2 November 2014
2 November 2014
VACLAV HAVEL ON THE POWERLESS: PART VI B…
0600 by Jeff HessIt seems senseless to require the greengrocer to declare his loyalty publicly. But it makes sense nevertheless. People ignore his slogan, but they do so because such slogans are also found in other shop windows, on lampposts, bulletin boards, in apartment windows, and on buildings; they are everywhere, in fact. They form part of the panorama of everyday life. Of course, while they ignore the details, people are very aware of that panorama as a whole. And what else is the greengrocer’s slogan but a small component in that huge backdrop to daily life?
From The Power of the Powerless by Vaclav Havel, 1978
2 November 2014
2 November 2014
NOT THE (SUNDAY) MARIETTA TIMES…
0500 by Jeff Hess
Today’s headlines include:
Local News
Riding The Rails
Area residents worry about deer poaching
CVS recognized for tobacco stance
Dobson plans to update PHS campus
More than 1,000 attend Warren High craft fairTop Headlines Poll: Do you believe there is a political/economic “war on women?”
1 November 2014
ROLDO RIGHTS ON FINANCIAL DATA ON
GATEWAY FACILITIES IMPROVEMENTS…
0700 by Jeff Hess
It may be hard to believe but the Cleveland Indians, not the Gateway Economic Development Corp., will be paying for current improvement at Progressive Field. That’s what Gateway says.
Here’s what Gateway says the major capital improvement at Progressive Field are:
Sound System—$4,760,000. High Structural Steel—from $725,000 to $2,184,230. Concrete resurfacing—$3,000,000. For a total of some $9,944,230, according to an e-mail from Brian Kelly, Gateway’s financial official.
“They are paying for this,” he writes in an e-mail. The Gateway web site is probably the worst you would ever see from any organization. It doesn’t even list its officials or board members.
Quicken Loans Arena will have the following major capital improvements made:
Roofing (flat & curved—$4,174,050. Safety & Security Systems—$3,090,000. Scoreboard & Digital Display—$9,357,611. Video Production—$4,645,828. Bowl and Sound Amplifiers—$1,800,000. A total of $23,067,489, according to Gateway. I was unable to find out as this article was being done whether Gilbert will pay Continue Reading »
1 November 2014
1 November 2014
VACLAV HAVEL ON THE POWERLESS: PART VI A…
0600 by Jeff HessWHY IN FACT did our greengrocer have to put his loyalty on display in the shop window? Had he not already displayed it sufficiently in various internal or semipublic ways? At trade union meetings, after all, he had always voted as he should. He had always taken part in various competitions. He voted in elections like a good citizen. He had even signed the “anti-Charter.” Why, on top of all that, should he have to declare his loyalty publicly? After all, the people who walk past his window will certainly not stop to read that, in the greengrocer’s opinion, the workers of the world ought to unite. The fact of the matter is, they don’t read the slogan at all, and it can be fairly assumed they don’t even see it. If you were to ask a woman who had stopped in front of his shop what she saw in the window, she could certainly tell whether or not they had tomatoes today, but it is highly unlikely that she noticed the slogan at all, let alone what it said.
From The Power of the Powerless by Vaclav Havel, 1978
1 November 2014
1 November 2014
NOT THE MARIETTA TIMES…
0500 by Jeff Hessholiday jobs
Early voters still have time
Grand jury indicts 2 for murder plot
Zonta boutique next week in Reno
Theft from employer results in jail sentenceTop Headlines Poll: How much do you expect to spend on gifts this holiday season?
31 October 2014
31 October 2014
ROLDO RIGHTS ON: TIME TO SAY GOODBYE FRANK…
0700 by Jeff Hess
Now is the time to think about the next mayoral election in Cleveland.
Frank, it’s time to retire. Time to go. Time to say goodbye.
Yet I’m hearing rumors that Mayor Frank Jackson will consider a fourth term. Too much, Frank.
He was originally elected in 2005 and re-elected in 2009 & 2013.
That’s quite enough. Sit out 2017. Time to say goodbye. Adios.
Cleveland City Hall badly needs a shake-up, a house cleaning.
Only problem is who can do it.
The leadership vacuum appears vast. The leadership tank is empty or seems so. City Council is lethargic. Sluggishly go-along.
Jackson doesn’t bring in new blood. His administration is stale. And he doesn’t seem at all concerned. But new blood what is needed desperately.
There’s such a feeling of tiredness—as if nothing new can be tried. Just let’s do it all over again. And the same way. Drift.
The only one thing that seems to proceed is the desire of the Greater Cleveland Partnership and its chief spokesman, the smirking Continue Reading »
31 October 2014
GAVIN AUNG THAN AT WDS 2014…
0630 by Jeff Hess
Gavin Aung Than at WDS 2014 from Chris Guillebeau on Vimeo.
Gavin Aung Than is the creator of Zen Pencils, and told his story about a leap of faith from a day job to pursue creative fulfillment. The World Domination Summit is a worldwide gathering of creative, unconventional people. Every summer, the group descends on Portland, Oregon for several days of speakers, workshops, meetups, and fun. This year, we even set our second Guinness World Record!
31 October 2014
HAVEL ON THE POWERLESS: PART V I…
0600 by Jeff HessIt can be said, therefore, that ideology, as that instrument of internal communication which assures the power structure of inner cohesion is, in the post-totalitarian system, some thing that transcends the physical aspects of power, something that dominates it to a considerable degree and, therefore, tends to assure its continuity as well. It is one of the pillars of the system’s external stability. This pillar, however, is built on a very unstable foundation. It is built on lies. It works only as long as people are willing to live within the lie.
From The Power of the Powerless by Vaclav Havel, 1978
31 October 2014
31 October 2014
NOT THE MARIETTA TIMES…
0500 by Jeff HessOil & gas leases
Nine years in prison for ATM heists
Detroit woman admits to local heroin trafficking
Frontier’s financial future tied to levy
The little house of worshipTop Headlines Poll: Which political party do you think will claim victory after Tuesday’s election
30 October 2014
ROLDO RIGHTS ON: TRAFFIC CAMERAS SHOULD GO…
0700 by Jeff HessCleveland traffic cameras are emblematic of the inequality built into so much of what happens in the city.
First and foremost, I’m told that City Council members have a veto over where (and whether) a stationary camera is placed in their ward. How does that square with the claim it is a safety program?
When I looked at the map of where stationary cameras both for speed and red lights are positioned I found that 23 where on the East Side and only eight on the West Side. I don’t see any downtown. No one speeds or runs red lights downtown? No, says one Council member, Joe Cimperman—the downtown council member—doesn’t want them. I guess it might hurt the restaurant business.
There’s little doubt that these cameras are a money-maker for the city. I’m told the take is going down as people recognize where the set cameras are stationed and act accordingly. (Disclosure: I got a camera ticket years ago in East Cleveland.)
One could say that that proves the safety factor. People paying attention so as not to get fined.
However, it doesn’t account for what happens AFTER drivers realize they’ve passed the danger zone. Do they pick up speed to make up for the slowdown? I know that happens.
The city needs revenue. Figures show in 2010 the cameras gained the city $6.7 million and in 2012 the total was $6 million. I’m told Continue Reading »
30 October 2014
HAVEL ON THE POWERLESS: PART V H…
0600 by Jeff HessWestern Sovietologists often exaggerate the role of individuals in the post-totalitarian system and overlook the fact that the ruling figures, despite the immense power they possess through the centralized structure of power, are often no more than blind executors of the system’s own internal laws-laws they themselves never can, and never do, reflect upon. In any case, experience has taught us again and again that this automatism is far more powerful than the will of any individual; and should someone possess a more independent will, he must conceal it behind a ritually anonymous mask in order to have an opportunity to enter the power hierarchy at all. And when the individual finally gains a place there and tries to make his will felt within it, that automatism, with its enormous inertia, will triumph sooner or later, and either the individual will be ejected by the power structure like a foreign organism, or he will be compelled to resign his individuality gradually, once again blending with the automatism and becoming its servant, almost indistinguishable from those who preceded him and those who will follow. (Let us recall, for instance, the development of Husák or Gomukka.) The necessity of continually hiding behind and relating to ritual means that even the more enlightened members of the power structure are often obsessed with ideology. They are never able to plunge straight to the bottom of naked reality, and they always confuse it, in the final analysis, with ideological pseudo-reality. (In my opinion, one of the reasons the Dub?ek leadership lost control of the situation in 1968 was precisely because, in extreme situations and in final questions, its members were never capable of extricating themselves completely from the world of appearances.)
From The Power of the Powerless by Vaclav Havel, 1978
