As the Free Press goes to press, the Antioch College Alumni Association has raised $12 million in donations and pledges in an effort to keep the socially-conscious college from closing next year.

Mysteries still surround Antioch's rapid and poorly explained closing. The Board has bizarrely turned to the "marketing, branding and public relations firm" of Simpson Scarborough to peddle the closing decision.

SimpsonScarborough CEO Christopher Simpson previously worked as an editor and writer for the notoriously right-wing Washington Times – a newspaper owned by Rev. Sun Myung Moon. The dark side of Moon, a self-proclaimed Messiah, is well-documented in the public record. A 1977 congressional report placed Moon on the payroll of the Korean CIA. Moon also has financial ties to former CIA Director George H.W. Bush.

Simpson also previously served as press secretary for the infamously racist U.S. senator, Strom Thurmond. How did the planned demise of America's most socially liberal and activist college end up in the hands of a marketer with such strong right-wing credentials? Revolution Online first raised this question in a July 31, 2007 posting.

When the Soviet Union launched the world's first artificial satellite on Oct. 4, 1957, American horizons darkened with self-reproach and fear. Sputnik was a shock to the system. "The fact that we have lost the race to launch the satellite means that we are losing the race to produce ballistic missiles," the influential columnist Walter Lippmann wrote. At a diplomatic party, when an official in the Eisenhower administration commented that Sputnik would be forgotten in six months, Washington's famed hostess-with-the-mostest Perle Mesta shot back: "And in six months, we may all be dead."

Yet we all know the fabled story line: A resilient America rose to the challenge and bested the Soviets in space. A dozen years after its propaganda perigee, the United States landed a man on the moon. And the nation's zeal for cutting-edge technology continues to shape the American experience.

But the triumphant story line bypasses a shadowy continuum of the last five decades.

Remarks on October 6, 2007, at a rally in Richmond, Va., celebrating the U.S. Constitution and flag.

There have always been those in the antiwar movement who believed that if Congress finally found the nerve to stop funding the occupation of Iraq, Bush and Cheney would actually pull out.  Those still clinging to this faith can be found among those who understand that Congress does indeed have the power to simply stop funding the occupation, as well as among those who believe the pervasive lie that you can't end an occupation without passing a bill and overriding a veto.  Let's all get straight really quickly on two things.  First, if Nancy Pelosi and/ or Harry Reid can find the courage and decency to do it they will simply announce an end to the occupation and not bring up any more bills to fund it.  Second, if this happens, the occupation will no longer be legally funded, but Bush and Cheney will take money illegally from elsewhere to keep it going, just as they did to start it in the first place.

While on vacation we made contact with a friend's family on the Rosebud Reservation. Rosebud Reservation is made up of 21 "communities", much like our townships. We visited the Stead family in Mission in Antelope Community. Antelope is the largest of the 21 communities with a population of about 2700 people. Half of those are eighteen years of age or younger! There are very few jobs.

Theresa Whitehorse Stead has birthed and raised 6 children and adopted and raised three more. She has fostered 605 children! There are always children in their home.

Robert and Theresa Stead [both recovering alcoholics] have built a ministry that struggles to solve some of the great problems of the people there. They have built a church and hold worship services, Christian education, and feed and help clothe school children, provide basic needs for those who have no resources of their own. She cares for the youngest school children after school to make sure they have a hot meal.

Who?

JOHN JUDGE: Special Projects Assistant, U.S. House of Representatives, Office of Rep. Cynthia McKinney 9/11 Research Project and 9/11 Citizens Watch, Washington, DC Executive Director, Coalition on Political Assassinations, Washington Anti-War and Anti-Military activist (43 years) with CHOICES. This event is free and open to the public.

What?

John Judge will present his lecture entitled, "Understanding America's Hidden History--World War II to JFK assassination to the War on Terror, and beyond."

John Judge will address:

•  the history that has been stolen since the end of WWII.
•  the covert operations and political assassinations that have been used to kill democracy and hope. •  the questions never answered about 9/11. •  the disaster of an endless War on Terror, the growing grounds for impeachment of the Bush administration, the plans for martial law.

When?

October 14, 2007, 12:45 PM.

Where?

Community Leaders Forum First Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbus 93 West Weisheimer Road

Why?