Human Rights
Open harassment by Columbus Police, vigilantes and possibly federal agents against the peace movement began Saturday, March 15, 2003. More than 400 peace activists gathered in Blackburn Park at 18th and Main Streets in the heart of the black community. Bill Moss, a prominent African American Columbus School Board member and former “Soldier of the Year” in Ohio spoke out against the illegality of the war with Iraq; Barry Edney, local barber, founder of the Ordinary People’s Movement and a Vietnam-era vet also spoke. Despite the involvement of these well-known black activists within the peace coalition, the Columbus Free Press learned that local precinct officers fanned out through the community, including those assigned to the gang squad, to warn black youth that a large group of white troublemakers was coming into their neighborhood to cause disruption.
It started like any other routine day at the Reflexions on Front hair salon on December 17, 2002. The proprietor, Randy Hubbard, prepped his salon for his early customers. The phone rang -- it was one of his regulars wanting to schedule an appointment. While on the phone, Hubbard heard a loud knock on the door. He wondered why a young man with close-cropped hair, who looked like an FBI agent, was at his door. Hubbard's salon is located on the ground floor of Columbus' FBI office building at 500 S. Front St.
Still on the phone, Hubbard opened the door and was blasted with the following question: "Why is your flag upside down?" Hubbard paused and thought about telling him that he placed it upside down following the November re-election of Governor Bob Taft, whom he opposes, as a sign of the state's distress. Instead, he simply replied, "None of your business." Hubbard says the man, he later learned was a military liaison to the FBI, shouted back, "You're a jackass!"
Hubbard admits he swore back and told the military man, "The day you start paying the rent you can hang the flag any way you want."
Still on the phone, Hubbard opened the door and was blasted with the following question: "Why is your flag upside down?" Hubbard paused and thought about telling him that he placed it upside down following the November re-election of Governor Bob Taft, whom he opposes, as a sign of the state's distress. Instead, he simply replied, "None of your business." Hubbard says the man, he later learned was a military liaison to the FBI, shouted back, "You're a jackass!"
Hubbard admits he swore back and told the military man, "The day you start paying the rent you can hang the flag any way you want."
If he launches an attack on Iraq without the approval of the United Nations Security Council, George W. Bush will be guilty of crimes on par with those committed by the infamous Nazi leaders who were tried at Nuremberg in 1946, after World War II.
The law is clear. At Nuremberg, American, British, French and Soviet jurists used international conventions, legal precedent and a global moral consensus to establish a code of conduct deemed the standard for all nations.
Key was the "crimes against humanity" prohibition stemming from the conscious slaughter of six million Jews, leftists, gypsies and others by the Nazi fanatics.
But also crucial was the ban on unprovoked attack by one nation against another. The explosive fuse that set off World War II was the September 1,1939 Nazi attack on Poland, which was unprovoked by any stretch of the military imagination. By all accounts it was an act of aggression and conquest, which led ultimately to as many as 50 million deaths over the next six years.
The law is clear. At Nuremberg, American, British, French and Soviet jurists used international conventions, legal precedent and a global moral consensus to establish a code of conduct deemed the standard for all nations.
Key was the "crimes against humanity" prohibition stemming from the conscious slaughter of six million Jews, leftists, gypsies and others by the Nazi fanatics.
But also crucial was the ban on unprovoked attack by one nation against another. The explosive fuse that set off World War II was the September 1,1939 Nazi attack on Poland, which was unprovoked by any stretch of the military imagination. By all accounts it was an act of aggression and conquest, which led ultimately to as many as 50 million deaths over the next six years.
Although virtually unnoticed in Columbus, Dr. Jonathan
I. Groner, the Trauma Medical Director at Children’s
Hospital, is spearheading an international debate on the role of U.S. doctors in carrying out prison executions by lethal injection. After being rejected by American medical journals, Groner’s article “Lethal Injection: A stain on the face of medicine” was published in the November 2, 2002 issue of the British Medical Journal. Groner’s article questions the ethics of U.S. doctors who willingly participate in the execution of inmates. The article also points out parallels between the government’s use of doctors to administer lethal injection and a similar procedure that was administered by doctors in a Nazi Germany “euthanasia” program.
Within days of publication, the French newspaper Le Figaro interviewed Groner about the article. “By entering the death chamber, not only do they [U.S. doctors] destroy their relationship with their own patients, but they take the world medical community hostage. Imagine if all the doctors refused, execution would stop in this country, unless a corp of medical executioners was created,” Groner told Le Figaro.
Within days of publication, the French newspaper Le Figaro interviewed Groner about the article. “By entering the death chamber, not only do they [U.S. doctors] destroy their relationship with their own patients, but they take the world medical community hostage. Imagine if all the doctors refused, execution would stop in this country, unless a corp of medical executioners was created,” Groner told Le Figaro.
Ohio recorded 652 murders in 1989, sentenced eight killers to death that
year, and has scheduled a Wednesday February 12 execution for one who
confessed, Richard Fox. State law permits execution for the worst
murderers, where aggravating circumstances outweigh mitigating factors
beyond a reasonable doubt. The Ohio criminal justice system singled out
Richard Fox as its most deserving killer of the year because of geography
and judicial error.
It was a Nuremburg moment. Fueled by
the 911 "terrorist attack," Ohio State
University graduates, their families, and friends were mostly in the same frame of mind as Germans after the burning of the Reichstag: they were all geeked up for simple-minded nationalistic jingoism which Resident George W. Bush supplied. The Selected One dotted the i on a big-ol' script Ohio so big that Osama bin Laden could read it.
I ran into Yoshie Furuhashi at Hempfest on the Saturday before the June 14 graduation/indoctrination to the New World Reich rally. As usual, she was in hyperactivism mode. I did manage to catch the following words: "wouldya like to be a alternativecommencementspeaker at the turnyourbackonbush rally, bring your soundsystem?" I agreed to Yoshie's request as I always do. After all, she's being honored at Community Festival this year for her energetic and consistent activism at OSU this past year.
I ran into Yoshie Furuhashi at Hempfest on the Saturday before the June 14 graduation/indoctrination to the New World Reich rally. As usual, she was in hyperactivism mode. I did manage to catch the following words: "wouldya like to be a alternativecommencementspeaker at the turnyourbackonbush rally, bring your soundsystem?" I agreed to Yoshie's request as I always do. After all, she's being honored at Community Festival this year for her energetic and consistent activism at OSU this past year.
Clean Sweep in Michigan Deals Major Defeat to American Family Association,
Says HRC
Two Major Miami Victories Help Reverse Legacy of Anita Bryant
Houston Voters Barely Reject Health Benefits for Domestic Partners
WASHINGTON - The Human Rights Campaign today applauded state organizations and activists for winning four out of five ballot measures on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. The encouraging results show that voters are increasingly rejecting discrimination and want to see all citizens treated fairly, says HRC.
"The smashing success of these campaigns signals a trend where voters are increasingly supporting equality and resoundingly defeating discrimination," said HRC National Field Director Seth Kilbourn. "Nowhere was this more apparent than in Michigan, where voters overwhelmingly rejected a divisive anti-gay misinformation campaign by the American Family Association and chose fairness."
Two Major Miami Victories Help Reverse Legacy of Anita Bryant
Houston Voters Barely Reject Health Benefits for Domestic Partners
WASHINGTON - The Human Rights Campaign today applauded state organizations and activists for winning four out of five ballot measures on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. The encouraging results show that voters are increasingly rejecting discrimination and want to see all citizens treated fairly, says HRC.
"The smashing success of these campaigns signals a trend where voters are increasingly supporting equality and resoundingly defeating discrimination," said HRC National Field Director Seth Kilbourn. "Nowhere was this more apparent than in Michigan, where voters overwhelmingly rejected a divisive anti-gay misinformation campaign by the American Family Association and chose fairness."
As the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center toppled and with the Pentagon in flames, Attorney General Betty Montgomery battled on almost alone, as the rest of the nation sought to comfort the wounded, tried to rescue survivors and mourned its dead.
Montgomery was not on a mission of mercy, but yearned for more death that day. She wanted Johnny Byrd dead. Reports of Supreme Court justices hidden away in undisclosed bunkers to safeguard them from terrorists attacks, did not deter her from filing a motion to kill Johnny Byrd.
Byrd’s scheduled execution date of Wednesday, September 12 at 10 a.m. was stayed by the Sixth Circuit Court late Monday evening. Numerous questions remained surrounding the killing of suburban Cincinnati convenience store clerk Monte Tewksbury. While Byrd was convicted of actually stabbing Tewksbury during a robbery, his trial was a farce. Byrd’s attorneys failed to investigate his claims of innocence, offer evidence or mount a defense during the trial. The state’s only direct evidence against Byrd was the perjured testimony of a violent and notorious jailhouse snitch, Ronald Armstead.
“From the dawn of man his blood filled cries for revenge have been heard, the lustful poison for vengeance seeping into his heart blackening his soul. The creator heard these cries – thus while giving the law to Moses said, whomever seeks to take a life with this in their heart is themselves guilty of murder.” — Johnny William Byrd, Jr.
Byrd’s words from death row ring true. Consider his warning and imagine his plight. As a nineteen-year-old, he made the mistake of doing downers and drinking alcohol and hanging out with two older guys in a van one fateful night. The next day, he awoke hung over in the Hamilton County jail cell and found himself accused of murder. Despite the fact that there was no physical evidence against him – and one of the other guys in the van’s footprint was on the counter in the convenience store where the clerk, Monte Tewksbury, was fatally stabbed once in the liver – Byrd was the only one found guilty of a capital offense and sentenced to death.
To ring in the new year on Tuesday, January 2, five members of the Columbus School Board passed a New Year’s resolution: to destroy the tradition of free speech at school board meetings. The long-standing practice of open public comments at the board meeting is gone; equally shameful is moving the starting time of the meeting from the traditional 5pm to 3pm to block access by working parents. This same board majority ended the practice of weekly board meetings last year at the insistence of the malevolent and wholly unqualified ex-jock new board member Stephanie Hightower. After $130,000 poured into her school board campaign from Chamber of Commerce types, she’s now assumed the board presidency in her second year.
Bill Moss’ comment that Hightower “doesn’t know goose shit from wild honey” is too generous on her educational insights.