Letters to the Editor/<br>  Free Press Forum

I picked up a copy of your magazine in a local coffee shop and found many of the articles to be outstanding. Keep up the good work.

However, I was more than nonplussed to see Irish Northern Aid listed in your "Organize" section, and as a PEACE GROUP nonetheless. Perhaps it is your magazine's policy to accept any listings (though I doubt you would accept a listing from a neo-nazi organization). Perhaps the editors took Irish Northern Aids claims to be a peace group at face value.

You should know that Irish Northern Aid's activities have little to do with promoting peace. The professed objective of their fundraising is to support the families of Irish Republican prisoners. This goal might legitimately be considered a "humanitarian" one, but there is plenty of evidence that over the last quarter century, Irish Northern Aid has used charitable donations to purchase weapons for the IRA. The IRA are also known as the PROVOS, and you might note that the contact email provided for your Irish Northern Aid listing is "provo@columbus.rr.com." There is little attempt to hide this.

Amen! Besides the titles you mention, there are a plethora of journal articles and books published circa 2000 that thoroughly outline the almost 10-15 years' previous failed attempts at getting the pipeline built, UNOCAL vs. The Argentineans-who-also-wanted-rights-to-it, recent Afghan history, etc. ... one such is

Taliban : militant Islam, oil, and fundamentalism in Central Asia / Ahmed Rashid. -- New Haven : Yale University Press, c2000.

It has a nice little map near the front of it of the proposed route of the pipes.

Maxey Lynch
Gainesville, FL

If you really were for a "free press," you would view the idea that someone would attempt to "stop Rush Limbaugh" as near treasonous!

YOU exemplify "newspeak" that George Orwell described in his prophetic novel "1984."

Dear Editor,

I was appalled to learn that President Bush refused to speak at the NAACP Convention this year. As a veteran, I find this sends a very disturbing message to the many minority soldiers in our military. The Pentagon estimates that blacks make up about 20 percent of our forces - many have already died in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting for our country.

How must the families of these soldiers feel when George W. Bush turns his back on one of our nation's leading civil rights organizations. Shame on you Mr. President.

Sincerely,
Major Robert Tormey
U.S. Air Force, Ret.

Dear Freepress,

I want to let Fitrakis and Wasserman know that I applaud their intelligently written article and many useful references.

I have been dismayed by the reception of this film by moderate and even liberal critics.

During these perilous times, I have become something of a news junkie out of self defense. I had the same response when I read their disclaimers; don't these people read?

The body of evidence supporting the oil pipeline "connections" and the Bush/Saudi allegations is substantial as they have written. Where's the outrage? What are these people being threatened with that they aim their guns at their own?

The audience are expressing themselves with their wallets and obviously disagree with the pundits. Hopefully some of them will Google these issues and some will be journalists who will dig even deeper.

I was also struck by journalists who criticized the film for being entertaining and followed with a list of mind numbing statistics and boring information, inadvertently revealing their complete lack of understanding of the film media and perhaps a bit of envy.

Hey, thanks Michael Moore: Not only have you legitimized an industry-- we could sure use the jobs—but, more importantly, you have galvanized a movement. And I love your market niche, Real News, who would have thought. The Saudi angle was good, a nice wedge-in.

Not one senator stepping up, at the invitation of the minority house members on behalf of at least 50% of the voting population of America: In protest to what may have been a hostile takeover of the US Government. This same group of elected officals passed the Patriot Act-- without reading it—a document that is attempting to restructure the economic/political/social landscape of this country: At least, it wasn’t intentional negligence. And then, again [same guys], unconstitutionally abdicating their war power authorities to George W. Bush. What the fuck! Who needs an “Outside Enemy” when you’re got representatives like these?

According to Israeli sources (Arutz news), Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stated that the Israeli court's decision to ask for rerouting segments of the wall near Jerusalem "strengthens Israel's position ahead of the expected verdict by the International Court of Justice in The Hague which will be announcing its verdict regarding Israel's right to construct the fence. " When taken with the attempts at distraction by talk of future withdrawal from Gaza and combined with the court's earlier ruling that Israel has a right to confiscate Palestinian lands and create hardships for them as long as Israeli military commanders indicate it is related to security, this statement from Sharon uggests that Israel will proceed with its apartheid wall since it now has the stamp of approval from both George Bush, John Kerry, and congress. This monstrous project to impoverish and isolate the Palestinians in several Ghettos is a war crime and a crime against humanity. All people of conscience must protest and raise their voice. Pericles (430 B.C.) observed that "Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you.

Dear Harvey and Bob (if I may),

Thank you for the HONEST article on the "alleged" Ohio Mall attack. It's too bad the major corrupt media in this country refuses to tell the whole truth.

Every time there's real news about the Bush Administration's lies and deceit, "Asscroft" or some other crony comes out with a "major" discovery regarding terrorist activity. Man that "Asscroft" is really on top of things.

How dare these bastards call themselves Christians. I can only hope God strikes them down for what they have done to the innocent and this country.

What a bunch of hypocrites!!! Unfortunately, there are many, many more in this country to deal with. The likes of Rush "Limpballs" and Bill "O'Really?" to name a couple.

I hope and pray they are all seated side by side in Hell some day soon.

Thank you both for your honest and forward thinking journalism. Maybe one day you will represent the mainstream media in this country. If not, God help us all.

Perry Stigall
Dallas, TX.

Bob,

thanks for the great column about the Gipper.  For some reason I found myself cracking up when I read your column- great title!   Very refreshing to read something about WR Reagan with a little depth to it.  Way back when in high school I remember being scared to death that this guy might accidentally start a full-scale nuclear war (he was too easily confused by movie imagery).  But the really sad thing is that he was actually a much less threatening and dangerous person than our current president.  Ronald Reagan may have been mean-spirited at times, but he was generally not Machiavellian .  Unfortunately, Bush/Cheney/Rove seem to have memorized "The Prince" as their guide to success in politics.

I appreciated Your series about cannabis / hemp, especially, "Hemp - It's Growing!" (June 1, 2004).  It is one reason I support Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich for the Democratic Presidential nominee.  Kucinich put in writing on His website, if elected President He will decriminalize cannabis and regulate it similar to alcohol.  It stands to reason, if citizens may have and grow cannabis with THC that farmers would be allowed to grow hemp with out THC.

My main concerns on the cannabis / hemp issue are Biblical, where We presently have a powerful nation, caging humans for using what God said was good on literally the very 1st page of the  Bible.  Cannabis / hemp, a plant, known as kaneh bosm, before the King James version, is good and should not be exterminated.