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by Bob Fitrakis
March 4, 2003
Only in Columbus. A thoughtful peace resolution is put forth by Columbus City Councilperson Charleta Tavares -- and if she hadn't withdrawn it for lack of support on Monday, February 24 -- Columbus would have joined 109 other U.S. cities advocating a peaceful diplomatic solution to the Bush administration's planned slaughter of up to 700,000 Iraqis.
Chicago passed the resolution 54-1, Cleveland had no problem, but in Columbus, WTVN radio, offering all-the-Bush-propaganda-all-the-time, instigated a letter writing campaign to City Council against the resolution. Tavares called it the most ìuncivil" letters ever to flood into Council chambers. The opposition took their cue from the so-called ìpreppie rioters" who aided the Bush family in stealing the 2000 presidential election using threats, intimidation and outright violence to halt the vote count in Florida.
None of those advocating massive missile strikes and carpet bombing of Iraq, where 50% of the people are under the age of 15, had the guts to show up in Council chambers. Their's was keyboard courage. Overly enamored with their low-IQ'ed WASP-cover boy President, whose lifelong addictive behaviors have him hooked on killing Saddam instead of guzzling a bottle of long-necked Texas brew like in the old days, the warmongers support their Fuehrer in his Fourth Reich call for preventative war.
Lance Shreffler, a World War II vet, spoke before Council and recalled the words of his Commander-in-Chief President Eisenhower. In 1953, when Ike was presented with a plan to attack the Soviet Union, an actual threat to the U.S., he stated: ìAll of us have heard the term ëpreventative war' since the earliest days of Adolph Hitler. I recall that is about the first time that I heard the expression, ëpreventative war.' In this day and time I don't believe that there is such a thing, and frankly, I wouldn't even listen to anyone seriously who came in and talked about such a thing."
Charleta's co-horts, much more interested in making Columbus safe for developers who fund their campaigns and provide business to well-connected law firms, saw no benefit in taking a stand on a moral issue that didn't line their campaign coffers.
Sadly, Charleta didn't have the votes to make Columbus a "City for Peace." What did the peace resolution call for, that so enraged WTVN aficionados? The first operative paragraph called for "a truly multilateral diplomatic approach" to solve the Iraq situation. That was totally unacceptable to kill-them-all-in-the-name-of-baby-Jesus and let-God-sort-it out crowd.
The second paragraph said "We should declare peace a civil right in a democracy and a human right in the world." This was too much for the "blessed are the warmongers" believe-obey-fight-thousand-year-Reich Bush-ites.
Charleta's resolution went on to point out the cost of the war. At a time of record deficits, Reuters reported that even a short war would cost the world economy a trillion dollars, and a 30-year occupation of Iraq would cost the U.S. alone that much. Hey, what's a trillion dollars to the hate-mongers when you can slaughter defenseless Iraqi children and call it "democracy."
Despite the best efforts of Councilperson Tavares, the Columbus City Council, under the direction of Matt Habash, has proved itself once again to be gutless and soulless and stand for nothing. The real message Habash has sent the people of Columbus is that he's easily intimidated, lacks a moral compass and the best way for a citizen to get their way in this city is to openly threaten him or contribute heavily to his campaign. These are the "New Democrats." Trampled by the New Jack Boots, cowed into silence on the great moral issue of the day.
Chicago passed the resolution 54-1, Cleveland had no problem, but in Columbus, WTVN radio, offering all-the-Bush-propaganda-all-the-time, instigated a letter writing campaign to City Council against the resolution. Tavares called it the most ìuncivil" letters ever to flood into Council chambers. The opposition took their cue from the so-called ìpreppie rioters" who aided the Bush family in stealing the 2000 presidential election using threats, intimidation and outright violence to halt the vote count in Florida.
None of those advocating massive missile strikes and carpet bombing of Iraq, where 50% of the people are under the age of 15, had the guts to show up in Council chambers. Their's was keyboard courage. Overly enamored with their low-IQ'ed WASP-cover boy President, whose lifelong addictive behaviors have him hooked on killing Saddam instead of guzzling a bottle of long-necked Texas brew like in the old days, the warmongers support their Fuehrer in his Fourth Reich call for preventative war.
Lance Shreffler, a World War II vet, spoke before Council and recalled the words of his Commander-in-Chief President Eisenhower. In 1953, when Ike was presented with a plan to attack the Soviet Union, an actual threat to the U.S., he stated: ìAll of us have heard the term ëpreventative war' since the earliest days of Adolph Hitler. I recall that is about the first time that I heard the expression, ëpreventative war.' In this day and time I don't believe that there is such a thing, and frankly, I wouldn't even listen to anyone seriously who came in and talked about such a thing."
Charleta's co-horts, much more interested in making Columbus safe for developers who fund their campaigns and provide business to well-connected law firms, saw no benefit in taking a stand on a moral issue that didn't line their campaign coffers.
Sadly, Charleta didn't have the votes to make Columbus a "City for Peace." What did the peace resolution call for, that so enraged WTVN aficionados? The first operative paragraph called for "a truly multilateral diplomatic approach" to solve the Iraq situation. That was totally unacceptable to kill-them-all-in-the-name-of-baby-Jesus and let-God-sort-it out crowd.
The second paragraph said "We should declare peace a civil right in a democracy and a human right in the world." This was too much for the "blessed are the warmongers" believe-obey-fight-thousand-year-Reich Bush-ites.
Charleta's resolution went on to point out the cost of the war. At a time of record deficits, Reuters reported that even a short war would cost the world economy a trillion dollars, and a 30-year occupation of Iraq would cost the U.S. alone that much. Hey, what's a trillion dollars to the hate-mongers when you can slaughter defenseless Iraqi children and call it "democracy."
Despite the best efforts of Councilperson Tavares, the Columbus City Council, under the direction of Matt Habash, has proved itself once again to be gutless and soulless and stand for nothing. The real message Habash has sent the people of Columbus is that he's easily intimidated, lacks a moral compass and the best way for a citizen to get their way in this city is to openly threaten him or contribute heavily to his campaign. These are the "New Democrats." Trampled by the New Jack Boots, cowed into silence on the great moral issue of the day.