Global

Protest signs by Citizens United Against the Death Penalty (CUADP) held by Columbus’ own Abe Bonowitz may be visible on a March episode of “The West Wing” in the 4 or 5 seconds showing the character Josh Lyman pushing his way through a crowd of protesters outside the White House. The episode is about the appointment of a new US Supreme Court Justice after a sitting one drops dead. The West Wing production people had gone ahead and made their own anti-death penalty signs and t-shirts, all based on messages they saw on materials used by CUADP -- pictured at www.CUADP.org.  Even so, they used Abe’s signs as well, complete with phone numbers and web pages.  Abe is the guy in the back of the crowd holding the 4x10 foot banner reading “STOP STATE KILLING!” 

Abe was also treated to a personal tour of the West Wing set, and had his picture taken while sitting at President Jed Bartlet’s desk in the “Oval Office.”  Unfortunately, Martin Sheen, who plays Jed Bartlet, was busy elsewhere on the set so Abe didn’t get to meet him.

On the second anniversary of the execution of John Byrd by the State of Ohio, February 19, the Byrd family’s civil attorney advised the Ohio attorney general’s office that a previously threatened wrongful death suit would not be filed against the state. 

“The family’s interest is in getting the truth out, not in getting monetary compensation for their loss. Investigative journalism and media coverage are better ways for getting at the truth than more litigation would be,” said Columbus attorney Cliff Arnebeck. “Exclusively focusing on getting to the truth will best serve the purposes of both proving John’s innocence and correcting flaws in the criminal justice system. This is far more important to the family and to our society than fault-finding for the purpose of obtaining monetary compensation.”

“Byrd’s mother, Mary Ray, and sister, Kim Hamer, will be working with investigative journalists in this mission,” Arnebeck said.

Last year, President Bush formed a Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, a private group of government officials who have been meeting in secret to take our failed Cuba policy and send it even further in the wrong direction.  With only weeks to go before the Commission files its report with President Bush, it has finally invited public comment. The Commission must hear from concerned and conscientious Americans who are sick and tired of the restrictions US policy places on the freedom of Americans to travel to Cuba.  Secretary of State Colin Powell is now running this Commission, and we believe he needs to hear from us - because we represent a majority of Americans who want this failed policy changed.  Please visit the Cuba Central website www.cubacentral.com and sign a letter to Secretary Powell to voice your opposition to the travel ban.

Asking for an INDEPENDENT Investigation into the Intelligence on Iraq.  Almost a year has passed since the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and we now know that the major justification for war (Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction) no longer has any legs to stand on. Unfortunately, the Bush administration refuses to face the facts. It has switched from talking about Iraq's "possession" of weapons to its "capacity" to produce them as if they were the same thing. And its creation of an "independent" commission to report AFTER the elections is just another PR stunt to distract the American public. Let's create some real accountability. 20/20 Vision has launched an on-line petition calling on Congress to create a truly independent investigation into the White House's role in the intelligence failure that would report BEFORE the elections. Please go to www.2020vision.org/peace/wmdpetition.html to add your name to the growing number of supporters. The American public is on our side.

 Columbus Mennonite Church is planning a second blanket drive to help replace the Mennonite Central Committee blanket stock after 68,000 were sent by MCC in response to the December 26th earthquake in Bam, Iran.  MCC has also suggested a donation of $20 per donor to help with shipping and ongoing relief and rehabilitation efforts. The deadline for this drive is  Sunday, March 28th.  Those wishing to donate should provide new winter-weight, twin blankets (dark colors are preferred). Please make your donation/check out to "MCC" and write "blankets for Iran" in the memo line. For more information, contact Karen Metzler at (740) 774-4622 or kmetzler@mcc.org. or Fred Suter at (614) 895-7345 or fdsuter@aol.com.

Thank you for your work for our campaigns and elections.  Will you please inform your members that our vote was tampered by computers in Florida 2000, Mid-Terms/Senate, Recall/Governors and Primaries 2004 with undetectable chips and unrecountable paperless tallies?  Diebold is being sued for employing known computer felons as programmers. Voting computers without paper trails are unrecountable and not even legal.  Please urge your members to register absentee paper ballot and bring to polls, and also to petition their Secretaries of State to return criminal-controlled computers (Diebold, Sequoia, ES&S) and purchase scanners from reputable vendors instead, as well as support laws for paper trails.

 Thank you, Sincerely,
ValerieSanfilippo,
Save Democracy, San Diego

Gorgeous.  That's all that need be said about Ballet Met's sweet "Beauty and the Beast," which just opened Thursday night at the Ohio Theater, and which will play through Sunday, March 14.  

The music is lovely, the dancing divine, the costumes breathtaking, the sets entrancing. David Nixon's choreography and concept both work admirably well.   The lead performances by Carrie West and Richard Tullius were also fine, as were the efforts of the rest of the cast and the orchestra.  It's a piece that rises or falls on its grace and emotional pull, and in its opening night, the whole thing worked.

"One way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. That is our bottom line." - President Clinton, Feb. 4, 1998

"If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program." - President Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998

"Iraq is a long way from [here], but what happens there matters a great deal here. For the risks that the leaders of a rogue state will use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against us or our allies is the greatest security threat we face." - Madeline Albright, Feb 18, 1998

"He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983" S - Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Adviser, Feb, 18, 1998

To encourage restraint in war coverage, governments don’t need to shoot journalists -- though sometimes that’s helpful.

Thirteen journalists were killed while covering the war and occupation in Iraq last year, says a new report by the Committee to Protect Journalists. The deaths were a subset of 36 on-the-job fatalities related to journalistic work across the globe in 2003.

CPJ’s annual worldwide survey “Attacks on the Press,” released on March 11, indicates that some of those deaths in Iraq were not just random events in a hazardous war zone.

Journalists who were “embedded” with the American military tended to be safer. But as a practical matter, the tradeoffs shortchanged news readers, listeners and viewers. “The close quarters shared by journalists and troops inevitably blunted reporters’ critical edge,” CPJ reports. “There were also limits on what types of stories reporters could cover, since the ground rules barred journalists from leaving their unit.”