Advertisement

The Free Press uncovers one million voters purged in Ohio

The Free Press obtained public records from all 88 of Ohio’s county Boards of Elections (BOE) documenting that 1,092,392 voters were removed from the voting rolls since the last presidential election.

Cuyahoga County, which includes Democratic-rich Cleveland, led the Buckeye State with 267,071 purges. Franklin County which includes the capital of Columbus, removed 93,578 voters. Franklin County went 58% for Obama in the 2008 election. Hamilton County which includes Cincinnati removed 65,536 voters, for a total of 426,185 from these three Ohio counties. Once again, a few rural Ohio counties reported no purges. These include Hancock, Huron, Sandusky, and Wood counties.

The statues in our public spaces lie

There are lies of omission as well as commission, and the statues in Charlottesville, Va. -- typical of other towns -- do both. We have statues of Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, a generic Confederate soldier, George Rogers Clark, Lewis and Clark (with Sacagawea kneeling like their dog), and on City Hall a triptych with Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe. We have a monument to the War on Vietnam. And that's it.

Chemical warfare

To fight our insane wars, we’re wrecking our soldiers’ ability to live with themselves and function in society, then regulating what’s left of them with chemicals, which often make things immeasurably worse.

In the pursuit of order, could we possibly be creating more chaos, not simply externally — in the shattered countries we’re leaving in our wake — but internally, in the minds of those soldiers?

The Los Angeles Times noted that Air Force pilot Patrick Burke was recently acquitted in a court-marital hearing on charges of auto theft, drunk driving and two counts of assault — due to “polysubstance-induced delirium.” This was, the Times explained, a turning point: the first official acknowledgement, by military psychiatrists and a court-martial judge, that the drugs that have become a routine part of military service — in Burke’s case, the prescribed amphetamine Dexedrine (“go pills”) — can contribute to temporary insanity.

Better living through chemistry!

The rich are different from you and me – they pay less taxes

Benjamin Franklin, who used his many talents to become a wealthy man, famously said that the only things certain in life are death and taxes. But if you’re a corporate CEO in America today, even they can be put on the back burner – death held at bay by the best medical care money can buy and the latest in surgical and life extension techniques, taxes conveniently shunted aside courtesy of loopholes, overseas investment and governments that conveniently look the other way.

In a story headlined, “For Big Companies, Life Is Good,” The Wall Street Journal reports that big American companies have emerged from the deepest recession since World War II more profitable than ever: flush with cash, less burdened by debt, and with a greater share of the country’s income. But, the paper notes, “Many of the 1.1 million jobs the big companies added since 2007 were outside the U.S. So, too, was much of the $1.2 trillion added to corporate treasuries.”

20-year veteran pleads guilty to act of civil disobedience, President of Veterans For Peace disrupted Congressional "Super Committee"

Judge expresses sympathy with criticism of government, imposes minimum sentence.
Retired Naval Commander Leah Bolger pled guilty to the charge of Unlawful Conduct -- Disruption of Congress at a hearing before Judge Stuart Nash in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia Thursday, April 12th 2012. Bolger, who is a peace activist and the President of Veterans For Peace, interrupted a public hearing of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, commonly known as the Super Committee on October 26th, 2011 http://www.c-spanarchives.org/program/JointDef.

In her statement to the Judge, Bolger said, "I have come to understand what millions of Americans already know—that the actual majority will of the people is of little concern to those in power. We can demonstrate and petition and write letters until we are blue in the face, but those actions are virtually worthless, as we can't compete. Our voice is drowned out by the power of the money coming from the lobbyists and corporate interests. Money equals speech."

A dying empire invades Oaksterdam, our privacy & our speech

At freedom's core is protection from arbitrary police power and the right to choose one's own medicine, as well as to express one's opinion, however controversial.

All three of these rights have taken very troubling recent hits.

Mired in imperial war and corporate privilege, the US Supreme Court and Obama Administration have escalated their attacks on our basic rights.  The results are horrifying, and a huge warning to all Americans that the foul debris of a collapsing empire is falling directly on us all.

Since 1791 US citizens have had the right to expect basic legal protection from arbitrary search and seizure by the police.  A key bulwark has been the Fourth Amendment, drafted by James Madison and adopted with the Bill of Rights two years after the ratification of the Constitution.

Sensationalist media miss the mark

March Madness comes once a year. Media Madness is year-round. What the mass media choose to cover and feature try to turn the priorities of any sane society upside down.

People of vice, war, money, spectator sports and business receive media attention – oftentimes ad nausem. People of virtue, peace, civics, health, labor and community engagement have to beg for media attention. Which of these two groups represents the most basic values of a civilized society that would restrain the excesses of the other group? You can guess!

There are many reasons for this chronic bias, beyond the power of commercial advertisers. The media believe that wrongdoing and greed and violence get readers and ratings while their opposites are dull soup.

But aren’t these opposites vital to the survival and well-being of a just society? Aren’t people who wage peace to prevent war, or demand health/safety over sickness/injury, more newsworthy when they expose people or companies that cause danger, damage and deaths?

Will "push and pray" voting prevail in 2012? The private companies behind the curtain: The great and powerful advocates of faith-based electronic voting

In this election year, the most important companies to watch are two you've probably never heard of -- Smartech and Triad.

In the 2004 presidential election, Averbeck worked closely with the late Michael Connell, the CEO of New Media Communications. Connell was Karl Rove's IT guru before his untimely death in a suspicious plane crash. As the FreePress.org has previously reported, then-Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell contracted with Averbeck to provide back-up computer services to report Ohio's official election results.

Ohio Secretary of State's office claimed they were unable to tabulate Ohio's votes within the state in real time because their computers had a supposed "denial of service" attack in the wee hours of the morning after the 2004 Election Day. Vote tabulations were then shifted to the Old Pioneer Bank building in Chattanooga, Tennessee where Averbeck ran his internet service company Smartech. (See New court filing reveals how the 2004 Ohio presidential election was hacked)

Keep ATV trails out of Burr Oak State Park!

Write or Email Parks / Join BFC this Saturday. This will be the first time ATVs are allowed in an Ohio State Park. Please write or email Ohio Division of Parks and let them know that you do not want ATVs disrupting the beauty, tranquility, and hiking opportunities Burr Oak has to offer.

Hike Burr Oak – this Saturday:
Join BFC on a pet-friendly hike of Burr Oak this Saturday, April 14. See the link for details. Buckeye Hike

Write to:
Email

Glen Cobb
Acting Chief of Division of Parks and Recreation,
Ohio Department of Natural Resources
2045 Morse Rd, C-3
Columbus, OH 43229-6693

Talking Points:
The Ohio Division of Parks is planning to break ground on new ATV trail construction in Burr Oak State Park as early as this summer. The planned ATV trail would run adjacent to or over several existing hiking trails. Up to 12 of the best miles of the Buckeye Trail, North Country National Scenic Trail, American Discovery Trail and other non-motorized trails are at stake.

A message of peace and friendship from Iran

One of the speakers at the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) conference in Stamford, Ct., was Leila Zand, Program Director, Middle East & Civilian Diplomacy, Fellowship Of Reconciliation. She said that rather than sharing her own views on the dangers of a war on Iran, she had asked friends in Iran what they would say. She read the following message that they sent her:
To all the wonderful peacemakers in national peace conference

To all of our brothers and sisters in the beautiful world

We are sending you the message of peace and friendship from Iran, the land of love and poetry, friendship and roses. Iran, a country that has not initiated any violence on another nation in the past 200 years, but unfortunately has been the subject of such violations many times in her recent history.

Pages

Subscribe to Freepress.org RSS