Letters to the Editor/<br>  Free Press Forum

The coming global economic collapse will turn America into third world "basket-case" economic status as a nation when it arrives. Even now, its economic infrastructure is being largely gutted and outsourced to other nations such as China.

Down will come the US Dollar, up shall come the European Euro, the new international currency. A shift in geo-political power to democratic/socialist Europe will, in turn, follow. Europe will become the new global superpower and eventual center for world government after the fallout of America's Crash into the dust-bin of history.

In 2005, British Prime Minister Tony Blair stated that the euro will become the world's premiere currency by 2012 at the latest. The US dollar has been plunging in value against the euro for years. The globalists now have America right where they want it, and are eagerly moving in for the kill.

I couldn’t help but notice Senators alternating one Republican followed by one Democrat to ask John Bolton scripted questions on the first day of his confirmation hearings on Monday. The hearing seemed like a well orchestrated formality without much fanfare until it was temporarily suspended by a group of pink protestors.

The Republicans praised his multilateral efforts in the past. The Democrats chastised him for admonishing Intelligence Analysts who didn’t return his desired conclusions along with his stated disdain for the United Nations.

This ping-pong drama went on for hours, and in the end most callers into C-SPAN were playing the same game. Public debate thus far has fallen into our usual dual world perspectives. Everything in political America now a day arrives in only two choices. Red or Blue, Republican or Democrat, Conservative or Liberal, and so on and so forth…

Another example of corporate welfare. $55 million dollars of county money to take a baseball stadium away from loyal fans on the West Side and build a new unneeded one where the Dispatch wants it. This is at the same time when the government is cutting all kinds of programs (such as funding for the homeless and the mentally ill). That's $55 million dollars for MINOR LEAGUE baseball. The county commissioners have tried to explain this nonsense by saying that it will be paid off with bonds. Bonds--DEBT--must be paid off. The people of Franklin County will be left footing this bill.

Quite frankly, the Clippers are fine where they are. What this issue truly boils down to is this: 1. Yuppies and soccer moms think they're too good to drive their SUVs from Dublin to the West Side; 2. The Dispatch wants a stadium in the Arena District (which they are part owner of). What the Dispatch wants, the Dispatch gets.

I know that Bob Fitrakis was the man who defeated the 1990's Arena/Soccer stadium corporate welfare give-away. Hopefully he will tackle this issue as well. If this issue ever made it to the ballot, then the people of Franklin County would vote it down.

The State of Israel is the 4th largest military power in the world. The State is believed to possess the largest and most sophisticated nuclear arsenal outside of the 5 declared nuclear powers- the USA, Russia, France, China and the UK. A nuclear reactor and plutonium production facility was built by France back in the late 1950's and early 60's in the southern desert of Israel called the Negev Nuclear Research Centre, or simply "Dimona".

Since that time, the state has subsequently developed an extensive array of tactical nuclear weapons, nuclear artillery shells and nuclear-tipped medium range ballistic missiles (the Jericho 1 and 2). Arsenal estimates range in the order of between 2000-5000 warheads- many of them FIRST STRIKE weapons, most of them nuetron bombs, designed to maximize human kill ratio and minimize physical damage, since Israel is such a small nation.

Debates About Torture 

"In the early...years...the admissibility of torture..was openly debated. Judging by the subsequent course of events, the answer deduced was positive, although not universally so."  

Authorization For Torture vs Discretion  

 "...If..[at first]..some kind of formal documentation was required preliminary to torture, as well as specific permission for each case under investigation, then [later] in view of the extraordinary situation prevailing, interrogators were allowed to use ...torture...at their own discretion, and in accordance with the demands of their work quotas and the amount of time they were given."  

"..[later] such indiscriminate authorization was withdrawn, and once again written permission was required.. "  

Only Certain Prisoners   

Law enforcement officials in Minnesota yesterday said that up to four students may have been involved in planning the Red Lake massacre that left ten dead last week.

It is likely officials will find that specific violent video games, most notably Grand Theft Auto, Manhunt, and Metal Gear Solid 2 were used by the conspirators a) to pump themselves up to commit the crime, and b) to train to carry it out efficiently.

In Oakland, California, homicide detectives found that a gang used Grand Theft Auto 3 to motivate and train themselves to do carjackings, robberies, and murders.  Said one perpetrator:  “We played the game by day and lived the game by night.”

An 11-year-old boy in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, trained on Metal Gear Solid 2 with his classmates to take over his middle school “Columbine-style.”  When his conspirators backed out, as apparently happened in Red Lake last week, the student shot and killed himself in the school bathroom.  A similar incident occurred later in Virginia.

An Open Letter to:
Hon. Walter B. Jones Jr.
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C.

Dear Congressman Jones,

The central lesson in the Terri Schiavo case is not to be found in the broad area of right to life. A freedom to choose a merciful end for a long-suffering and much beloved relative within the bounds of the law is likewise a diversion from the truth. What needs to be understood and remembered by the American people is the unprecedented and obscene level of hypocrisy exhibited by the GOP majority in Congress, and by the Bush White House.

Hypocrisy is said to be the tribute vice makes to virtue. Both executive and legislative branch Republicans are pandering to their fundamentalist Christian base by deceitfully claiming those virtues implied by the phrase, "culture of life." The hypocrisy lies in the fact that any true belief in the sanctity of life would have to include a stand against capital punishment, and a total aversion to pre-emptive wars based on deceit. And the vice which spawns such hypocrisy is a sordid eagerness to turn a political profit from the suffering of innocents like Terri Schiavo who cannot even protest their manipulation.

On Monday, March 21,2005 at the State House, the House Administration Committee, chaired by Republican Representative Bob Ney, held a hearing on what went wrong in the November 2, 2004 election in Ohio. ONN TV aired Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell’s testimony. His performance was hostile and embarrassing as he clashed repeatedly with Democratic Representatives Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio and Rep. Juanita Millender-Donaldson of California. For those of us interested in the truth, Mr. Blackwell’s behavior was outrageous and arrogant. This has been a pattern in the past, for instance, when he appeared on the Lou Dobbs television show, but his latest actions have placed him in the Name That Fool category. Being Black Activists, we are ashamed and disappointed by Blackwell’s conduct. Has Mr. Blackwell forgotten that he is an elected official? It is his duty and responsibility to answer any questions we have regarding the procedure of the election and the outcome of such.

Progressives and Blacks are missing the use of the foundational tool that made the success of the Civil Rights Movement of The late Dr. Martin Luther King!  The Traditional Media made the success of this movement. However, the fact that The Military and The Present Administration have commandeered the media and made it the Propaganda arm for a yet unofficionally declared war Blogs are the information vehicle.

Yes, the www has become just as powerful as the Traditional Media and it is free and available to any citizen possessing a Personal Computer. Yes, instead of having Sit-ins in the present day Civil Rights and Civil Liberties fight Americas have the “Blog-in” as its publicity tool.

For Blacks this places the burden on them for writing, a skill Blacks practice all too seldom. But Blacks must start now to Blog with great frequency. The FAMU School of Journalism should start these “Blog-ins” that can make the Civil Rights and Civil Liberties movement live!!