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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 Freep salutes Hackett for being brave enough to state the obvious, "Unfortunately the war in Iraq is not only a misuse of the military but has damaged our credibility throughout the world and needlessly squandered our political capital." Hackett, a major in the U.S. Marine Corps., returned from Iraq and supported our troops in the most noble way possible, by telling the truth. Hackett called Bush's taunting line, "Bring ?em on!" the "most incredibly stupid comment I've ever heard a President of the United States make." His race for Congress in Ohio's 2nd district forced the Ohio GOP and Bush operatives to steal another election with their standard: "Oh, the central tabulators went down again late in the evening. We'll let you know how much the Republican won by, after we cook the numbers."
NCAA
The NCAA Executive Committee took a small first step to ban Native American mascots at championship events. Eighteen colleges and
universities continue to use racist stereotypical Native American imagery including the Akron State University "Braves" in Ohio. Perhaps the most offensive is the Southeastern Oklahoma State "Savages." We hope these 18 join 14 other schools that have already removed all references to offensive Native American images.
Enemy of the People - Rev. Pat Robertson
CIA asset, African diamond mine owner, and right-wing televangelist huckster Pat Robertson advocated the assassination of Hugo Chavez, the democratically elected leader of Venezuela. Robertson's obvious blasphemy will rightly condemn him to the lowest circles of hell and also win him the award of Enemy of the People. Perhaps more frightening is his suggestion that the U.S. should assassinate Chavez rather than invading Venezuela to swipe their oil.
