CedarCreek Church will hold a live streaming of the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit Aug. 11–12 as one of the events’ satellite locations.

The conference’s speakers will include Starbucks’ CEO Howard Schultz, Squidoo founder Seth Godin, Newark, N.J. mayor Cory Booker, former D.C. public schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Mama Maggie Gobran and Willow Creek pastor Bill Hybels.

“Every year they try to train and equip Christian church leaders,” said Ben Snyder, a pastor at CedarCreek, in an email. “So whether you’re in the business sector, social sector, whether they work for churches, work for their own business, work in school, you will learn great leadership principles with a Christian focus.”

But the speakers are not all themselves Christians.

“The Summit team really believes that Christians can’t just bury their heads in the sand,” Snyder said. “Sometimes you need to reach out to some of the best and brightest minds in leadership and leadership development and learn from them.”

Willow Creek Church will host the conference in South Barrington, Ill., with an expected total audience — including satellite locations — of 165,000 globally, Snyder said. CedarCreek Church will stream at both campuses — 29129 Lime City Rd., in Perrysburg and 2600 W. Sylvania Ave. in Toledo.

CedarCreek’s price of admission is $169 for a Willow Creek Association member group of 10 or more, $209 for WCA members, $269 for individuals, $99 for active military members and $79 for students and faculty. Visit www.cedarcreek.tv/summit to register.

What’s your expectation for privacy online? Many people expect to be able to adjust settings and filters, while many ignore privacy settings. Most people younger than 30 are amused at the notion of online privacy. They completely understand that the expectation is ridiculous. But how many of us expect the cloak of online anonymity for our speech and actions?
Recent revolutionary movements have used anonymous online speech and social media to challenge Iran, Syria, and other Middle Eastern countries with opinions unpopular to those governments. New technologies and especially cell phone texting and email technology, have fueled the successful Jasmine Revolution, though Internet service providers have been pressured by governments to unmask addresses and identities of some users. The free flow of information and opinion — warts and all — is a healthy thing.
But what about anonymous actions that include criminal activity when it is captured and shared online?
Shaming websites
Following the recent Vancouver riots, several websites including www.canucksriot2011.com sprung up to identify and punish people who sullied the image of the Canadian city after out-of-control Stanley Cup festivities.
These websites have supported identifying people involved in burning vehicles and breaking windows through a combination of crowd sourced identification and Facebook’s facial recognition software.
Facebook’s software memorizes the biometric data of all the faces in its database and tags the names of all the people in the photos downloaded to its database.
Woe to Nathan Kotylak, a 17-year-old water polo player, who clearly appeared in multiple Facebook photos to be lighting a Vancouver police car on fire.
There is even one YouTube video titled “Name That Moron — 2011 Stanley Cup Rioters Exposed” that asks viewers to identify rioters and share information with the police
Is public shaming — the new courthouse stocks — an efficient, honorable and legal way to expose criminal activity? Facebook states that its biometric data technology will “increase human bonds, networks and connections in a whole new way.” But there are chances to be tagged in inappropriate photos and labeled and associated with events out of context.
The Internet creates models that users adapt in unexpected ways. Social media is about shedding anonymity and creating transparency online. Good if you’re checking out a company and its employees, products and services; bad if you’re lighting a police car on fire.

Kevin Cesarz is director of social media and Web project manager at Thread Marketing Group in Maumee. He also helps create storytelling content for MrElshMedia (mrelshmedia.com). Find more ideas about social media at klcesarz.wordpress.com.

Gay service members from Army soldiers to Air Force officers are planning to celebrate the official end of the military’s 17-year-old policy that forced them to hide their sexual orientation with another official act — marriage.

A 27-year-old Air Force officer from Ohio said he can’t wait to wed his partner of two years and slip on a ring that he won’t have to take off or lie about when he goes to work each day once the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy banning gays from serving openly is repealed. He plans to wed his boyfriend, a federal employee, in Washington, D.C., where same-sex marriages are legal.

He asked not to be identified, following the advice of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a national organization representing gay troops, including the Air Force officer, that has cautioned those on active duty from coming out until the ban is off the books.

“I owe it to him and myself,” the officer said of getting married. “I don’t want to do it in the dark. I think that taints what it’s supposed to be about — which is us, our families, and our government.”

But in the eyes of the military the marriage will not be recognized and the couple will still be denied most of the benefits the Defense Department gives to heterosexual couples to ease the costs of medical care, travel, housing and other living expenses.

The Pentagon says the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act — which defines marriage for federal program purposes as a legal union between a man and woman — prohibits the Defense Department from extending those benefits to gay couples, even if they are married legally in certain states.

That means housing allowances and off-base living space for gay service members with partners could be decided as if they were living alone. Base transfers would not take into account their spouses. If two gay service members are married to each other they may be transferred to two different states or regions of the world. For heterosexual couples, the military tries to avoid that from happening.

Gay activists and even some commanders say the discrepancy will create a two-tier system in an institution built on uniformity.

“It’s not going to work,” said Army Reserve Capt. R. Clarke Cooper, who heads up the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay rights group that sued the Justice Department to stop the enforcement of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. “Taking care of our soldiers is necessary to ensure morale and unit cohesion. This creates a glaring stratification in the disbursement of support services and benefits.”

Cooper said he also plans to marry his boyfriend, a former Navy officer, in a post-repeal era.

The Obama administration has said it believes the ban on gays serving openly could be fully lifted within weeks. A federal appeals court ruling July 6 ordered the government to immediately cease its enforcement. After the Department of Justice filed an emergency motion asking the court to reconsider its order, the court on Friday reinstated the law but with a caveat that prevents the government from investigating or penalizing anyone who is openly gay.

The Justice Department in its motion argued that ending the ban abruptly now would pre-empt the “orderly process” for rolling back the policy as outlined in the law passed and signed by the president in December.

The military’s staunchly traditional, tight-knit society, meanwhile, has been quickly adapting to the social revolution: Many gay officers say they have already come out to their commanders and fellow troops, and now discuss their weekend plans without a worry.

The Air Force officer says he has dropped the code words “Red Solo Cups” — the red plastic cups used at parties — that he slipped into conversations for years to tell his partner he loved him when troops were within earshot. He now feels comfortable saying “I love you” on the phone, no longer fearful he will be interrogated by peers.

One male soldier, who also asked not to be identified, said after Congress approved repealing the law, he listed his boyfriend on his Army forms as his emergency contact and primary beneficiary of his military life insurance in case he dies in Afghanistan.

He said when he was transferred to South Korea, he and his partner had to pay for his partner’s move.

“But we were able to stay together,” the soldier wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press from Afghanistan. “During the move, I realized I needed to make sure my partner in life was taken care of if something, the worst, ever happened to me, especially knowing I was about to deploy.”

The soldier said when he added his boyfriend’s name to the paperwork as a primary beneficiary and identified him as a friend, the non-commissioned officer in charge shut his office door and told him: “Unlike the inherent benefits to being married in the Army, such as housing and sustenance allowances, our life insurance and will don’t discriminate.”

Same-sex partners can be listed as the person to be notified in case a service member is killed, injured, or missing, but current regulations prevent anyone other than immediate family — not same-sex spouses — from learning the details of the death. Same-sex spouses also will not be eligible for travel allowances to attend repatriation ceremonies if their military spouses are killed in action.

Gay spouses also will be denied military ID cards. That means they will not be allowed on bases unless they are accompanied by a service member and they cannot shop at commissaries or post exchanges that have reduced prices for groceries and clothing, nor can they be treated at military medical facilities. They also will be excluded from base programs providing recreation and other such kinds of support.

Military officials say some hardship cases may be handled on an individual basis. Activists warn such an approach will create an administrative nightmare and leave the military vulnerable to accusations of making inconsistent decisions that favor some and not others.

Military families enjoy assistance from the Defense Department to compensate for the hardship of having a mother or father or both deployed to war zones and moved frequently.

“It strains a relationship when you’re gone for over a year,” said Navy medical corpsman Andrew James, 27, who lived two years apart from his same-sex partner, who could not afford to move with him when he was transferred from San Diego to Washington. “But straight couples have support so their spouses are able to be taken care of, with financial issues, and also they are able to talk to the chain of command, whereas gays can’t. They don’t have any support at all financially or emotionally, and that is really devastating.”

He said he was lucky that his relationship survived and now that he is in the Reserves, they are together again in San Diego.

The benefits issue came up repeatedly during training sessions to prepare troops for the policy change.

“There are inconsistencies,” Maj. Daryl Desimone told a class of Marines at Camp Pendleton, north of San Diego, after being asked about benefits for gay military personnel. “Anyone who looks at it logically will see there are some things that need to be worked out in the future.”

During his April 13 speech on the federal deficit, the President tried to prove the fallacy that tax cuts are an expense that must be paid for. To do this, he introduced a new unit of economic measure when he said, “They want to give people like me a $200,000 tax cut that’s paid for by asking 33 seniors each to pay $6,000 more in health costs.” Let’s call that $6,000 figure the ISHPI – Individual Senior Health (Care) Payment Increase. He wants to limit the ISHPI’s use to quantifying what he opposes; but let’s apply it to some of what he favors.

A week after this speech, the President had a campaign fundraiser in San Francisco. Price of a dinner was $35,800, or 5.967 ISHPIs. 85 people attended, for a total of $3,043,000, or 507.167 ISHPIs, raised. This means, by his own reasoning, that 507 senior citizens have to pay $6,000 more apiece in health care costs because this money went into the President’s campaign fund rather than to their assistance.

President Obama has taken more foreign trips than any of his predecessors in this time in office. Last fall, the National Taxpayers Union reported that it costs $181,757, or 30.293 ISHPIs, per hour to operate Air Force One. His 26-hour round trip between Washington and Bagram Air Force Base last December cost roughly $4,700,000, or 783.33 ISHPIs, just for the plane; and its costs are only a small part of the overall price tag of his jaunts. (In fairness, the claim that last fall’s trip to India cost $200,000,000, or 33,333.33 ISHPIs, per day was unverifiable and highly exaggerated; but then, Obama stated in 2008 that a hedge fund manager earns $580,000,000, or 9,666.67 ISHPIs, a year.)

The Porkulus bill of 2009 generated a fresh round of outrage this May when handouts of $24,000,000,000, or 4,000,000 ISHPIs, to 4,000 recipients owing $757,000,000 in unpaid payroll, corporate and other taxes were discovered. (Don’t pay taxes, and Obama gives you money at the expense of sick seniors.) When the Porkulus was passed, the Office of Management and Budget and the General Accountability Office identified $54,000,000,000, or 9,000,000 ISHPIs, in it that were allocated to programs these offices identified as ineffective or unable to pass muster in a financial audit.

So, between the cost of Air Force One for just one of many Presidential trips, Porkulus handouts to tax cheats, and the waste and redundancy that was initially – and only initially, letting alone what’s been discovered since – identified in the Porkuklus, President Obama has said to 13,033,033.33 senior citizens, “Well, tough luck – you’re on your own.” That quote is from his blatant misrepresentation four paragraphs prior in the speech of how the Ryan budget proposal would affect people in need of health insurance.

The Ryan proposal never cites dollar amounts for tax cuts; it only proposes a reduction of the marginal rate and broadening of the tax base. When applied to his own spending, the President’s idea of measuring the alleged “cost” of these lower marginal tax rates in terms of health care costs for senior citizens exposes the dishonesty and fraudulence of the comparison.

The President is far out on a very tenuous limb. To this day, he still argues from false comparisons and phony data. His claim this week that Social Security checks will be delayed unless the government is allowed to go even further into debt, after his spending more than doubled the deficit and pushed the government to the brink of default, cements his reputation as a liar and a demagogue.

Thomas Berry, for the Children of Liberty,www.meetup.com/The-children-of-liberty

Toledo wide receiver Eric Page and running back Adonis Thomas have both been named to preseason award watch lists.

Page, a junior out of Springfield High School in Toledo, is one of 40 players in the nation to be named to the watch list for the Walter Camp Award, given to the nation’s top player of the year. Page and Northern Illinois’ Chandler Harnish are the only two Mid-American Conference players listed.

Page received First-Team All-American honors as a kick returner last year. He ranked fourth in the nation in return average (31.8 ypr) and led the nation with three return touchdowns.

He also tied for fifth in the nation with 94 catches at receiver for 1,081 yards. He was selected as First-Team All-MAC at wide receiver and kick returner.

Thomas, a senior from Newark, N.J., is one of 51 rushers from across the country selected to the watch list for the Doak Walker Award, which is given to the top running back in the nation. Thomas was the lone MAC member among the 51 named.

Thomas earned Second-Team All-MAC honors last season leading all rushers with 1,273 all-purpose yards and eight touchdowns. Temple’s Bernard Pierce received First-Team honors last year for the second-consecutive season despite finishing with 458 less yards than Thomas.

The lists will be narrowed down to 10 semifinalists on Nov. 11 and the winner will be named live on ESPN on Dec. 8.

As the debate over raising the debt ceiling drags on longer than the line at the DMV to renew your driver’s license; politicians and pundits want to tell us what this debate is really all about. Of course, mostly what they try to tell us is who’s at fault and why not solving it will cause the sky to fall, dogs and cats to live together, and a financial meltdown that will make Chernobyl look like a camp fire.

I’d like to say that their statements are not driven by political agendas, entrenched ideology, and the desire to tell us in a way that won’t offend us that we are too stupid to understand what’s going on and what’s at stake here. If I did however, I’d be as guilty of misleading you as they are. For strangely enough, the problem is a pretty simple one: More or Less?

This issue has finally drawn the battle lines (though most seem unable to realize it), not only for debt ceiling debate and the coming election of 2012; but perhaps for many days to come. Do we want more or less government? Should we expect more or less from government? Should the US be doing more or less to ‘police’ countries unable to do so for themselves? Should we be doing more or less in the way of nation-building around the world? Perhaps most importantly to this discussion, should government spend more or less than it takes in?

We all know some of the arguments calling for more. In times of war and natural disaster, the government may find itself in a position where it simply must spend what’s required to fulfill its obligations to citizens. The world needs the US, as the beacon of freedom in the world, to come to the aid of those seeking it. We cannot stand idly by while those facing oppression or devastation are in need. The arguments for less can be just as compelling in the discussion however.

Setting aside that we don’t appear to fight ‘wars’ anymore, or at least ones where a formal ‘Declaration of War’ is voted on by Congress, we must face the fact that we have been engaged in military action continuously (actively or passively) since the beginning of WWII. Even if we concede that the President has the right to send troops into situations to protect US citizens or ‘vital interests’; this hardly makes the argument for basing troops around the world ‘just in case’, sending troops to fight at the request of the UN, or putting troops in harm’s way in the efforts of NATO not directly tied to the treaty obligations of this organization.
Coming to the aid of areas hit by earthquake, wind, fire, or flood in this country (and others) might reasonably be said to take precedence over military problems around the world. This nation has always been among the first to do so. Must we always accept the greatest responsibility in these efforts however?

Besides, there’s also no reason why doing any of these things might not also demand commensurate spending cuts in other places. When expending funds in military and humanitarian efforts, are we not also obligated to reduce spending (or at least the growth of spending) in other programs, in the name of fiscal responsibility? Should not such necessary aid bring an equal reduction in non-essential programs, ear-marked projects, and other discretionary spending as an offset?

And oh by the way, when did we redefine something as a ‘spending cut’ when all we are doing is reducing the rate of its growth? When did government programs take on a life of their own, granting them automatic increases in their budgets regardless of the rate of inflation or the fiscal state of the union? When did any attempt at such negligible growth reductions become ‘draconian’ in nature, a term ostensibly reserved for subtraction of a cruel or unusually severe nature.

But don’t look for the answers to any of these questions to come from the discussion going on in Washington, nor from the mainstream media punditry over the fiscal debate going on across the country. Look instead for some super-glue to hold duct tape onto the Band-Aid that covers the seeping wound of the national debt. Look as well, for the congratulatory back-patting, handshakes, and ‘job well done’ acknowledgment of legislators for whatever they do come up with; along with the mandatory “we wish we could have done more, if only the other side were willing to compromise” invective.

You should expect little more than this from those who can’t come up with up with the answer because they can’t or won’t understand the question: More or Less?

The Rossford Community Recreation Center recently added a fitness studio and unveiled new equipment in its weight and cardio rooms to rave reviews from members.
“It’s really nice,” said Chen Srnka of Rossford, who has been a member for three years and uses the facility five days a week. “I use everything. It’s an awesome place and people don’t know about it. I lived here 14 years and I finally found out.”
George Hughes of Rossford has been a member for eight years. He uses the weight room the most.
“It’s very convenient for me because I only live a couple blocks from here and I’m retired so I can come in anytime,” Hughes said. “I think most members love it.”

The facility also features a two-court gymnasium with a 1/16-mile elevated track, spin and Zumba classes as well as youth and adult sports leagues with personal training to be added in the near future, said Ivan Kovacevic, parks and recreation director for the City of Rossford.
A series of open houses are planned for the week of Sept. 6-10.
“Rossford is our primary market, but I’m really trying to take a regional approach,” Kovacevic said. “We have good close proximity to Downtown Toledo, so we have that potential market as well as some of the surrounding communities. From what we offer to our membership, we’re really a great deal.”
Youth, adult, family, senior and senior couple memberships are available for Rossford residents, nonresidents and those employed in Rossford. Monthly, quarterly and annual memberships are available.
Annual resident rates are $40 for youth and seniors, $60 for senior couples, $90 for adults and $135 for families. Annual nonresident rates are $80 for youth and seniors, $120 for senior couples, $180 for adults and $270 for family.
The cardio room debuted in fall 2008 and membership nearly doubled, Kovacevic said.
“It totally gave us a new life,”
he said.
Additional revenue from the new members is what has recently allowed the center to update equipment and add the fitness studio.
New equipment in the cardio room includes a Freedom Climber, a Jacob’s Ladder and a SkiErg.
“Our room has got the newest cardio equipment that exists in the market today,” Kovacevic said. “That’s a little niche we carved out for ourselves.”
The Freedom Climber is a rock climbing wall that rotates as the user climbs, providing a full body workout as well as a cardio workout, Kovacevic said.
“Pretty much what a treadmill is to running this is to rock climbing,” Kovacevic said.
Jacob’s Ladder is a machine often featured on television’s “The Biggest Loser,” Kovacevic said.
“I teach spin and 10 minutes on this kicks my butt more than an hour of spinning,” Kovacevic said. “There’s a lady that does 45 minutes on it in the mornings and she’s like an urban legend here.”
An Expresso fitness bike allows users to customize distance and scenery, Kovacevic said.
“You can ride through Aztec ruins or through snowy hills and it’s set up so as you go up a hill, tension automatically gets harder so it simulates the real experience,” Kovacevic said.
The newly renovated weight room features wall-to-wall rubberized flooring and new Life Fitness Optima Series strength circuit equipment, Kovacevic said.
“We took out 12 pieces of equipment that were about 20 years old and replaced them with nine pieces, several of which are duel and triple stations,” Kovacevic said. “So we didn’t lose any workouts, but gained space since they’re like three machines in one.”
A meeting room was recently converted to a fitness studio and stocked with bodyweight and resistance training equipment, including kettle bells, plyometric platforms, BOSU balance trainers, resistance balls and spin bikes to help increase speed, explosion and balance, Kovacevic said.
Rossford Community Recreation Center is located at 400 Dixie Highway. Hours through Labor Day are 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.
After Labor Day, babysitting will be available for a small fee at The Jungle, an on-site supervised area where kids can play Nintendo Wii or do arts and crafts.
The center will host an inaugural Nursery School Olympics, featuring events like Big Wheel Grand Prix and Noodle javelin throw, on Aug. 20 for children 5 and younger.
For more information, including a full list of rates, events and equipment, call (419) 666-2905 or visit  www.rossfordrecreation.com.

The cover for this edition features Andrew Z as he rebuilds with a new radio show; Keybank is hosting a free program at Owens Community College to help keep teen drivers safe; David Dock Treece asks “Were did all the inflation go?”; UT Rocket Football’s coach Tim Beckman keeps Rockets grounded; MIS is chosen for federal testing of safety technology and a film review of the last Harry Potter film.

President Barack Obama intends to nominate former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to a new consumer financial protection bureau that was a central feature of the Dodd-Frank Financial Regulatory Reform bill that overhauled banking regulations.

White House and administration sources say Obama plans to announce the nomination Monday at the White House.

President Obama originally slated Elizabeth Warren, who has been assembling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) as a special adviser to the White House and to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, to lead the new agency.

Cordray would have to be confirmed by the Senate. Warren faced opposition in the Senate and would have had a difficult time wining confirmation.

Cordray now serves as director of enforcement for the agency.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee collected more 350,000 petition signatures supporting Warren’s nomination.

“With her track record of standing up to Wall Street and fighting for consumers, Elizabeth Warren was the best qualified to lead this bureau that she conceived — and we imagine Richard Cordray would agree. That said, Rich Cordray has been a strong ally of Elizabeth Warren’s and we hope he will continue her legacy of holding Wall Street accountable,” said Stephanie Taylor, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee in a July 17 email.

Cordray was unsuccessful in his November 2010 re-election bid as Ohio’s attorney general. He was elected in 2006 as Ohio’s treasurer, then was elected in 2008 to finish the term of attorney general. Before that, the 51-year-old Democrat was treasurer of Franklin County, first solicitor general in the Ohio attorney general’s office, a state representative and an undefeated five-time champion on the “Jeopardy!” television program.

On Dec. 15, it was reported that Cordray would be head of the enforcement division for the CFPB implementation team. Cordray spoke with Toledo Free Press from Columbus on Dec. 17.

The new CFPB will address all of the household financial products that matter in people’s lives, Cordray said.

“Mortgages, credit cards, debit cards, student loans, payday loans, debt collection, credit reports, you name it. And our goal is to achieve greater transparency, comparability, fair treatment of consumers, and a system of household financial products that works for Americans and the economy and for the banks as well,” he said.

The CFPB is expected to officially begin its work as an independent agency July 21. Its website, www.consumerfinance.gov was launched in February.

KeyBank is hosting a free program at Owens Community College to help keep teen drivers safe. The Safe Teen Driving program will return to Toledo for the second consecutive year to teach teenagers advanced defensive driving skills.
“Key likes to invest in programs that help communities and help people thrive and we feel this program can help teens thrive by teaching them some driving skills that normal drivers’ education doesn’t address,” KeyBank Public Relations Manager of Great Lakes Region Dan Davis said. “A lot of experts believe that better training is one of the solutions to get a better chance at surviving out on the roads. That’s what this program is all about.”
Davis said that according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, car accidents are the leading cause of death for kids between the ages of 15 and 20 years old. That is precisely the reason the company began the program two years ago with a one-day affair in Columbus. Since then, it has grown to a 14-day event taking place in cities throughout Ohio and Indiana.
Partnering with KeyBank is the Mid-Ohio School, to help teach teenagers learn different advanced techniques to help them on the road. Mid-Ohio School is based in Lexington, Ohio and has graduated more than 13,000 teenagers from the Safe Teen Driving program in the past two years.
The first lesson is an emergency lane change maneuver, which simulates a situation similar to if a person were to quickly enter the road in front of a moving car. It teaches the students not just to brake but how to best take evasive maneuvers.
The second situation is a wet-braking exercise. That simulation often introduces teenagers to their first experience feeling a vehicle’s anti-lock brakes.
The final exercise calls for each student to enter the Mid-Ohio skid car to safely practice situations in which a car spins out and how to handle that circumstance.
The program will take place July 20-21 at 8 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 12:15 p.m. and 2 p.m.
For more information on the program, visit www.KeyToSafeTeenDriving.com.