Freep Hero - Cindy Sheehan

Cindy Sheehan reminds us of the power of peaceful dissent. Her stance in Crawford, Texas, at George W. Bush's converted pig farm and faux photo-op ranch, has galvanized America's peace movement. As Rove, Cheney and Bush prepare to vilify Sheehan and the Gold Star Families for Peace with their manufactured "Move America Forward" phony astroturf rent-a-fascist counter group, we in Columbus should be preparing to demonstrate on September 24 either in Washington D.C. or here in the city. Cindy's example underscores the old axiom, that "The rich have always declared war, and poor and working people have always fought and died."

The Free Press Salutes

Paul Hackett

The fourth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11 will soon be upon us. There will be no one whose memory of that terrible blue-sky morning will rest.

Some will grieve for their personal loss, on that day or in the wars that followed. This is their day, these mourners, more so than it is ours. Someone they loved was robbed of life, far sooner than imagined possible.

The rest of us will, in our own way and time, reflect on the events of that day, and on what seems a lifetime of events since. Many will anger at how their grief was misled to war. Many others will swell with pride, for our troops, and for our president.

And in Washington D.C., our Defense Department will hold an "America Supports You Freedom Walk", billed as "a tribute to the victims of September 11 and to the past and present military members who have defended freedom." In "remembrance and support", marchers will walk from the Pentagon to the National Mall, where, immediately following, country singer and songwriter Clint Black will hold a free concert, presumably performing his song "I Raq and Roll".

Dairy industry ads portray milk as the perfect food ? full of calcium and other important nutrients vital to good health. Television airwaves and popular magazines are flooded with ads featuring celebrities happily fashioning the famous milk mustache. Commercials promoting dairy products feature "happy cows" and herds gleefully whistling in open, sunny pastures. However, the industry's distorted propaganda masks the shamefully cruel conditions endured by dairy cows and their unfortunate offspring.

Truth or dairy

Human's bodies have no inherent need for cows' milk. We were not designed to drink the mammary secretions of other animals, yet humans are the only animals who drink another species' mother's milk. Indeed, just as dogs' milk is intended for puppies, rats' milk for baby rats, and humans' milk for human infants, cows' milk is for calves.

With Bush's approval ratings sinking rapidly on all fronts, a dedicated group of activists, Not in Our Name (NION)/Columbus was working hard early this summer. Their aim is to inspire Columbus and other Ohio Cities to send the largest possible contingent of citizens to the planned national protest scheduled September 24 through September 27 in Washington DC. Meeting on the Memorial Day weekend Saturday, May 28, at the Clintonville-Beechwold Community Center, the group of six Not In our Name/Columbus organizers planned a series of motivating activities to amplify public awareness of the unprecedented opportunity presented by the September protest.

The September 24-27 March on Washington D.C. Protest is sponsored by ANSWER (www.answercoalition.org/) and United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ - www.unitedforpeace.org/). Not In Our Name is a member organization of United for Peace and Justice.

There has been a media circus fed by a huge Israeli government PR effort to drum up sympathy for the "painful" relocation of settlers from Gaza (less than 2% of total settler population). But who are these settlers and why were they brought there in the first place? Is Israel really leaving Gaza or merely switching to occupying it from outside rather than from inside? Will Gaza become a large open air prison with its population held hostage as Israel control its airspace, natural resources, and access? Few journalists dare to ask.

Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. founder and president of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, announced today that he plans to hold a rally outside the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington in late September to keep the spotlight on the issue of reauthorizing the Civil Rights Act of 1965. Rev. Jackson also disclosed that he will renew his call for civil rights and labor leaders to meet with U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and he plans to hold hearings throughout the South to secure testimonies on voter restrictions and voter suppression. All of these efforts, he said, are aimed at encouraging the Department of Justice to enforce the Voting Rights Act and the Bush Administration to reauthorize the Act with protections against discrimination when it comes to race and language. The act, signed 40 years ago on August 6, 1965, expires in 2007.

Operation Save America director Flip Benham returned to Central Ohio on August 12 ? without the dog, pony, and ass ? to present what he called a series of "training sessions" during a week-long revival at Minutemen United headquarters church, New Beginnings, in Warsaw. The following day, he joined Minutemen founder Dave Daubenmire, New Beginnings pastor Bill Dunfee, and Ohio Constitution Party Vice Chair Dr. Patrick Johnston, his wife Elizabeth, and all the little Johnstons, along with assorted Minutemen and friends for their weekly fetus-saving crusade at Capital Care Women's Center in Clintonville. CapCare was the scene of several OSA protests a year ago during its "national event" here, which included the 6-day occupation of Columbus City Hall plaza.

Monday, August 22, at noon, protesters stood outside of the Dispatch offices chanting "Dispatch, Disgrace" in anger to what they perceived as a disrespect to the memory of local social crusader Bill Moss. Two days after he unexpectedly passed away, the Dispatch ran a cartoon caricature of him beating a shoe demanding to get into heaven. There has been an uproar in Columbus over what was perceived to be a very disrespectful and unfair portrayal in death of a former school board member and community leader.

Barry Edney of the Ordinary People's Movement, said "This was payback for Bill Moss's telling the truth. The Dispatch spent thousands trying to get him off of the school board and the decision to run the cartoon involved Mike Curtin, an editor and the cartoonist." When Edney was asked what he thought about the comment by Mike Curtin on the radio that Bill Moss would have laughed at the cartoon, he said "Yeah but it would be more of a chuckle at their ignorance."

Every fall, Project Censored presents the 25 most censored stories of the past year. The Columbus Institute for Contemporary Journalism (CICJ) is proud to announce that freepress.org Editor Bob Fitrakis and Senior Editor Harvey Wasserman's article "How a Republican election supervisor manipulated the 2004 Central Ohio vote, in black and white," posted November 23, 2004, was rated number three on the list of the 25 most censored stories of 2004-2005.

The censored story focuses on the role of Franklin County Board of Elections Director Matt Damschroder, the former head of the county's Republican Party, and how he failed to put out 76 voting machines on Election Day, all of them in the Democratic city of Columbus and 42 of them in the heavily pro-Kerry majority African American wards on the city's east side. Dr. Richard Hayes Phillips estimates that this may have cost Kerry up to 17,000 votes. Damschroder was recently suspended for a month without pay for accepting a check in his office from a Diebold lobbyist made out to the Republican Party on the day bidding opened for voting machines in Franklin County.

US Enrichment Corporation (USEC) currently has an application with the NRC to build a new uranium enrichment facility at the Piketon PORTS site. Enriched uranium has a lower content of fissionable U235 than the highly enriched uranium formerly produced. Citizens have been told that this enriched uranium will be used for power plants only. This American Centrifuge Plant (ACP) would rely on a gas centrifuge process, which would not use as much electricity as gaseous diffusion. The old gaseous diffusion plant, currently on cold standby, was reported by citizen research to use as much electricity as the City of Los Angeles when it was in operation.

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