Free Press History
Sinclair Broadcast Group, which plans to air a CIA-agit-prop-style documentary called “Stolen Honor: Wounds that never heal” which is highly critical of John Kerry’s anti-war activities, should be regarded as part of a shadow government operation running a psychological covert action against the American people.
Sinclair plans to air the program October 22 at 8pm, a week and a half before the November 2 election. Sixty-two Sinclair affiliates including a dozen in the battleground states of Ohio, Florida, Iowa and Wisconsin, plan to air the 42-minute long negative campaign ad for George W. Bush in the form of a documentary.
The airing of the documentary to nearly a quarter of all TV markets in the U.S. represents tens of millions of dollars in in-kind campaign donations to the Bush coffers. It is one of the most blatant and illegal uses of the people’s airwaves in U.S. history and another signal that the return of Cold War-era-style covert operations are being unleashed on the American people.
Sinclair plans to air the program October 22 at 8pm, a week and a half before the November 2 election. Sixty-two Sinclair affiliates including a dozen in the battleground states of Ohio, Florida, Iowa and Wisconsin, plan to air the 42-minute long negative campaign ad for George W. Bush in the form of a documentary.
The airing of the documentary to nearly a quarter of all TV markets in the U.S. represents tens of millions of dollars in in-kind campaign donations to the Bush coffers. It is one of the most blatant and illegal uses of the people’s airwaves in U.S. history and another signal that the return of Cold War-era-style covert operations are being unleashed on the American people.
Did you ever wonder what happened to Ohio Supreme Court Justice Andy Douglas, the pro-labor Republican, after he retired from the Court in 2002?
Sans his robe, he’s been wearing many new hats, so to speak. The website of the politically well-connected law firm Crabbe, Brown and James lists him as a partner as of 2003. A June 24 article in the Toledo Blade lists him as “former Ohio Supreme Court Justice . . ., executive director of the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association and a close political advisor of Joe Deters,” the Republican State Treasurer in the middle of a criminal investigation.
The Plain Dealer reported, “Former Ohio Supreme Court Justice, Andy Douglas, one of Deters’ closest political advisors, is one of Pavlish’s attorneys.” A private investigator, Thomas Pavlish, was ordered to answer questions about a records request concerning the foreman of a secret grand jury who was investigating allegations involving contract-steering and bribery at Deters’ office.
Sans his robe, he’s been wearing many new hats, so to speak. The website of the politically well-connected law firm Crabbe, Brown and James lists him as a partner as of 2003. A June 24 article in the Toledo Blade lists him as “former Ohio Supreme Court Justice . . ., executive director of the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association and a close political advisor of Joe Deters,” the Republican State Treasurer in the middle of a criminal investigation.
The Plain Dealer reported, “Former Ohio Supreme Court Justice, Andy Douglas, one of Deters’ closest political advisors, is one of Pavlish’s attorneys.” A private investigator, Thomas Pavlish, was ordered to answer questions about a records request concerning the foreman of a secret grand jury who was investigating allegations involving contract-steering and bribery at Deters’ office.
Ashraf Al-Jailani, a 39-year-old
Yemen-born geochemist from Ohio, has been jailed for more than 23 months without charges. His wife, Michele Swenson, spoke at the federal building on July 7 in Columbus, Ohio to expose another victim of the Bush administration’s great terror scare. As Michele tells it, her marriage to Ashraf was dramatically altered on October 23, 2002 when two immigration officers arrested her husband at his job at GoJo Industries in Akron. Simultaneously, six FBI agents raided the couple’s Kent apartment.
The FBI claimed the reason for the raid was that they found Al-Jailani’s business card in the wallet of a suspected Al Qaeda money-launderer. Michele explained that her husband was in the middle of a job search and had given away and mailed out hundreds of business cards. The FBI agent spent six hours confiscating papers, address books and copying computer files. The Cleveland FBI Bureau demanded that the Immigration Service neither deport nor allow bond for Al-Jailani on November 14, 2002.
The FBI claimed the reason for the raid was that they found Al-Jailani’s business card in the wallet of a suspected Al Qaeda money-launderer. Michele explained that her husband was in the middle of a job search and had given away and mailed out hundreds of business cards. The FBI agent spent six hours confiscating papers, address books and copying computer files. The Cleveland FBI Bureau demanded that the Immigration Service neither deport nor allow bond for Al-Jailani on November 14, 2002.
Whether Kerry or Bush wins in Ohio may well depend on how many voters are disenfranchised in the state’s three largest counties: Cuyahoga, Franklin and Hamilton. Respectively these three counties contain the Democratically rich big three-C cities Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati. The voter rolls are under unprecedented scrutiny and irregularities abound.
In Hamilton County, home of the Republican Taft family dynasty, the Board of Elections moved some 105,000 voters from active to inactive status within the last four years. By contrast, Franklin County has not moved any voters to inactive status, and doesn’t intend to until 2006 because a computer transfer glitch wiped out federal election voting histories. Matthew Damschroder, Director of the Franklin County Board of Elections, told the Free Press that under law a county “may” cancel a person’s voter registration if that person hasn’t voted in the last two federal elections. But, the counties are not required to do so.
In Hamilton County, home of the Republican Taft family dynasty, the Board of Elections moved some 105,000 voters from active to inactive status within the last four years. By contrast, Franklin County has not moved any voters to inactive status, and doesn’t intend to until 2006 because a computer transfer glitch wiped out federal election voting histories. Matthew Damschroder, Director of the Franklin County Board of Elections, told the Free Press that under law a county “may” cancel a person’s voter registration if that person hasn’t voted in the last two federal elections. But, the counties are not required to do so.
The fight for Ohio’s 20 electoral votes this November is being waged in the courts, the election boards, the polling places and the streets.
When Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell halted the purchase of new electronic voting machines on July 16 after two investigations identified 57 potential software and hardware security threats, North Canton, Ohio’s Diebold Electronic Systems’ dream of a $100 million contract with the state disappeared.
And so may have Diebold CEO “Wally” O’Dell’s promise to “deliver” the Buckeye State’s electoral votes, and the presidency, to George W. Bush in Ohio. As we keep hearing in the press, no Republican candidate has ever won the presidency without Ohio’s electoral votes.
Still, the fear of the dreaded DREs (Direct Record Electronic) machines has produced political and legal skirmishes throughout this key battleground state. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Verified Voting Foundation, VotersUnite! and Citizens Alliance for Secure Elections (CASE) filed an Amicus Curiae brief in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in late July.
When Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell halted the purchase of new electronic voting machines on July 16 after two investigations identified 57 potential software and hardware security threats, North Canton, Ohio’s Diebold Electronic Systems’ dream of a $100 million contract with the state disappeared.
And so may have Diebold CEO “Wally” O’Dell’s promise to “deliver” the Buckeye State’s electoral votes, and the presidency, to George W. Bush in Ohio. As we keep hearing in the press, no Republican candidate has ever won the presidency without Ohio’s electoral votes.
Still, the fear of the dreaded DREs (Direct Record Electronic) machines has produced political and legal skirmishes throughout this key battleground state. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Verified Voting Foundation, VotersUnite! and Citizens Alliance for Secure Elections (CASE) filed an Amicus Curiae brief in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in late July.
The Nationwide Arena doors opened at 1:00. There would be a four-hour wait before the prodigal son returned to his ancestral home, Columbus, Ohio.
Forget about Kennebunkport, Maine. That’s where George Herbert Walker of the St. Louis Walkers purchased a faux ancestral home. Ignore Connecticut. That’s simply where Prescott Bush went, after his prank letter on being a war hero was published in a hometown newspaper embarrassing the family out of the heartland. Here in Columbus is where it all started. Where the great-grandfather of our current President began the family’s well-documented tradition of war profiteering.
Samuel Bush, friend of the Rockefellers and owner of Buckeye Steel Castings, pulled his own “Halliburton” in World War I simultaneously serving on the Armaments Board and granting contracts to his family business. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church still stands on Broad Street near downtown as a monument to the good old days. The Bush family worshipped there before its new generations embraced evangelical right-wing Christianity.
Forget about Kennebunkport, Maine. That’s where George Herbert Walker of the St. Louis Walkers purchased a faux ancestral home. Ignore Connecticut. That’s simply where Prescott Bush went, after his prank letter on being a war hero was published in a hometown newspaper embarrassing the family out of the heartland. Here in Columbus is where it all started. Where the great-grandfather of our current President began the family’s well-documented tradition of war profiteering.
Samuel Bush, friend of the Rockefellers and owner of Buckeye Steel Castings, pulled his own “Halliburton” in World War I simultaneously serving on the Armaments Board and granting contracts to his family business. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church still stands on Broad Street near downtown as a monument to the good old days. The Bush family worshipped there before its new generations embraced evangelical right-wing Christianity.
President Bush told Texas evangelist James Robinson that “I feel like God wants me to run for President. I can’t explain it, but I sense my country is going to need me. Something is going to happen . . . I know it won’t be easy on me or my family, but God wants me to do it.”
With 49.3% of New York City residents in a recent Zogby poll believing that some people in our government knew of the 911 attack in advance and allowed it to happen, the President as right-wing evangelical prophet is under siege in his Madison Square Garden bunker. Convention watchers should take careful note of the theocratic nationalist rhetoric at the Republican convention this week.
When was the last time a Western nation had a leader so obsessed with God and claiming God was on our side?
If you answered Adolph Hitler and Nazi Germany, you’re correct. Nothing can be more misleading than to categorize Hitler as a barbaric pagan or Godless totalitarian, like Stalin.
With 49.3% of New York City residents in a recent Zogby poll believing that some people in our government knew of the 911 attack in advance and allowed it to happen, the President as right-wing evangelical prophet is under siege in his Madison Square Garden bunker. Convention watchers should take careful note of the theocratic nationalist rhetoric at the Republican convention this week.
When was the last time a Western nation had a leader so obsessed with God and claiming God was on our side?
If you answered Adolph Hitler and Nazi Germany, you’re correct. Nothing can be more misleading than to categorize Hitler as a barbaric pagan or Godless totalitarian, like Stalin.
Alleged Columbus serial sniper Charles McCoy, Jr. was a fugitive from justice, but when he was captured in Las Vegas, he had his trusty PlayStation2 with him and the videogame Getaway to advise him on how to shoot people while on the run. Just as predicted by Miami attorney and sniper profiler Jack Thompson, McCoy was heavily immersed in violent video game culture. Franklin County Judge Charles Schneider unsealed evidence seized by law enforcement officials from McCoy’s home on August 16, showing that the alleged sniper had at least three video games in his possession involving a lone gunman shooting scores of people: State of Emergency, Max Payne - Lone Gunman and Dead to Rights.
Thompson told the Free Press that the Columbus mainstream media was “the most censorial media” he had ever encountered and provided the Free Press with an extensive paper trail documenting his claim.
Thompson told the Free Press that the Columbus mainstream media was “the most censorial media” he had ever encountered and provided the Free Press with an extensive paper trail documenting his claim.
It's time for the Kerry, Nader and Green campaigns to get locked in a room until they disarm the circular firing squad and focus on the real enemy, George W. Bush.
Especially in swing states like ours, the endless wrangling and rancor must stop. Every boring, suicidal attack harms our ability to beat Bush.
In light of his votes for war in Iraq, the Patriot Act and way too much else, it’s obvious President Kerry will be no messiah. But we doubt our democracy or our planet would survive four more years of Cheney-Rove-Bush.
So we may ask friends in safe states like Massachusetts and Hawaii to balance our Kerry votes here in Ohio with votes there for Ralph or for the Green Party candidate, David Cobb.
If Al Gore had met and worked with Nader in 2000 instead of attacking him, we might have been spared the horrors of these past four years. It’s inaccurate, unwise and self-destructive to continually blame Ralph for the Democrats’ “loss” when in fact Gore won the election. We are glad Kerry has had the good sense to meet with Ralph, and to refrain from attacking the Greens.
Especially in swing states like ours, the endless wrangling and rancor must stop. Every boring, suicidal attack harms our ability to beat Bush.
In light of his votes for war in Iraq, the Patriot Act and way too much else, it’s obvious President Kerry will be no messiah. But we doubt our democracy or our planet would survive four more years of Cheney-Rove-Bush.
So we may ask friends in safe states like Massachusetts and Hawaii to balance our Kerry votes here in Ohio with votes there for Ralph or for the Green Party candidate, David Cobb.
If Al Gore had met and worked with Nader in 2000 instead of attacking him, we might have been spared the horrors of these past four years. It’s inaccurate, unwise and self-destructive to continually blame Ralph for the Democrats’ “loss” when in fact Gore won the election. We are glad Kerry has had the good sense to meet with Ralph, and to refrain from attacking the Greens.
We've come to expect poisonous and unbalanced attacks from the paid far right
propagandists denouncing Michael Moore's documentary "Fahrenheit 911." But
more disturbing are the scolds from tepid moderate mainstream journalists who
often fail to read their own newspapers.
New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof attacks the film because "Moore hints that the real reason Bush invaded Afghanistan was to give his cronies a chance to profit by building an oil pipeline there." Kristof attacks Moore for even raising this issue,. But he conveniently ignores volumes of information readily available to back up Moore's claim.
Perhaps Kristof, like President Bush, refuses to read. At least that would explain why he missed the raging international debate surrounding the Bush administration's well-documented, then-secret oil negotiations with the Taliban in the summer of 2001.
New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof attacks the film because "Moore hints that the real reason Bush invaded Afghanistan was to give his cronies a chance to profit by building an oil pipeline there." Kristof attacks Moore for even raising this issue,. But he conveniently ignores volumes of information readily available to back up Moore's claim.
Perhaps Kristof, like President Bush, refuses to read. At least that would explain why he missed the raging international debate surrounding the Bush administration's well-documented, then-secret oil negotiations with the Taliban in the summer of 2001.