Letter to the Dispatch

This letter is in reference to your Editorial dated March 10, 2006, entitled Bogus Complaint. The article was written by either John F. Wolfe, Chairman, Publisher, and CEO, Michael F. Curtin, Vice Chairman, Michael Febrile, President, Benjamin Marrison, Editor, or Glenn Sheller, Editorial Page Editor, all of which were absent from the Columbus School Board meeting, which was held Tuesday, March 7, 2006. Since your Editorial was primary written about myself, I thought it befitting that I correct your many errors. The article was not signed, which leads me to my first question, Who wrote the article, Terry Boyd, perhaps?

I understand the difference between an accurate journalistic article and an Editorial. Let’s focus on the latter; an Editorial. This denotes your opinion and or feelings. Being the Editor of a newspaper, facts, creditability, and accuracy in reporting is paramount. This clearly was not the case in this article.

El Salvador elections 2004

INTRODUCTION

Denny White was part of the problem

I just finished reading Did 308,000 cancelled Ohio voter registrations put Bush back in the White House? 

I recently learned that Denny White was only interested in obtaining the position on the Election Board so he could increase his retirement money.  That explains why he kept looking the other way and allowed the Republicans to run and rule without question.  I think the Democrats should be aware that there was no leadership from White and it appears to be intentional. 

I believe the Democrats have to accept blame when they allow a man like White to be in a position to do nothing while the Republicans were stealing us blind.  I find it hard to believe that White did not know what was going on.

Ruth Costakos
Columbus, Ohio

Domestic lying: The question that journalists don’t ask Bush

With great fanfare the other day, Oprah Winfrey asked James Frey a question that mainstream journalists refuse to ask George W. Bush: “Why would you lie?”

Many pundits and news outlets have chortled at the televised unmasking of Frey as a liar. The reverberations have spanned from schlock media to highbrow outlets. On Friday, the PBS “NewsHour With Jim Lehrer” devoted an entire segment to what happened. The New York Times supplemented its page-one coverage with an editorial that concluded “Ms. Winfrey gave the audience, including us, what it was hoping for: a demand to hear the truth.”

A key reality of the National Security Agency spying story is: President Bush lied. But routinely missing from media coverage is a demand to hear the truth.

More than two years after he started the NSA’s domestic spying without warrants, Bush was unequivocal. During a speech in Buffalo on April 20, 2004, he said: “Any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we’re talking

Erasing Dr. King's real legacy

The recent death of Coretta Scott King, and the massive public memorial held in her honor, which President George W. Bush attended, marked an end in a phase of Civil Rights History. Coretta Scott King had been the principal force behind the establishment of the federal holiday honoring the life and legacy of her husband, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1986. Yet Coretta King’s death forces today’s proponents of racial justice to ponder serious questions about how Dr. King’s holiday has been subverted from its real political meaning.

Only days before Coretta King’s death, newspapers and the electronic media had widely documented the deep disarray within both the King family and Atlanta’s King Center. In December, 2005, the King Center board, controlled by younger son Dexter King, announced it was considering selling the center for $11 million to the National Park Service. Dexter’s decision immediately provoked public protests from the elder son, Martin Luther King, III, and Bernice King.

A powerful new voting block emerges: The anti-war movement becoming a political force that cannot be ignored

A new national poll shows that a near majority of voters either strongly or somewhat agree with a pledge not to vote for pro-war candidates. This makes the anti-war movement's potential impact on elections larger than pro-gun, anti-abortion, or anti-gay marriage voters. Politicians will have to pay heed to this new political force.

The pledge states:

“I will not vote for or support any candidate for Congress or President who does not make a speedy end to the war in Iraq, and preventing any future war of aggression a public position in his or her campaign.”

The national poll found that 55.9% of US voters agree – 20.1% strongly agree and 25.8% somewhat agree. Among Democrats 67.1% agreed – 33.3% strongly, 59.2% of Independents – 25.3% strongly and even 25.7% of Republicans agreed – 5.5% strongly. The poll was conducted by ICR Survey Research of Media, Pa., which also polls for ABC News, The Washington Post and many corporations and research organizations.

Obstruction trial may jog Libby's memory

Attorneys representing Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff in the CIA leak case believe they have a rock solid defense to present in their client's perjury and obstruction of justice trial expected to begin next year.

In numerous court filings over the past few months, lawyers for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby have maintained that their client did not intentionally lie to federal investigators and a grand jury regarding the role he played in the leak of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson during the summer of 2003.

Instead, Libby's attorneys have said that their client was dealing with other, more crucial matters, such as the Iraq war, terrorism, and national security and simply forgot about how he first learned that Plame was employed by the CIA when he told the grand jury - untruthfully - that a reporter told him that she worked for the spy agency.

GOP bids to take ANWR while region was ravaged by major oil spill

The Senate passed approved a measure in a budget bill Thursday that included a provision to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling - just as the region suffers through one of the worst oil spills in history.

The provision to permit drilling in ANWR was included in a resolution passed last week by the Senate Budget Committee. The full Senate is expected to vote on the issue as early as Thursday.

The measure was prepared by the Republican-controlled Senate in such a way that it would be protected from a filibuster by Senate Democrats opposed to the issue. Drilling in ANWR has been debated at least half a dozen times over the past five years.

The issue is one of the cornerstones of President Bush's National Energy Policy. Bush has said that drilling in ANWR is crucial in order for the United States to cut its dependence on foreign oil.

Most American favor censure!!! First poll is out!

Do you favor or oppose the United States Senate passing a resolution censuring President George W. Bush for authorizing wiretaps of Americans within the United States without obtaining court orders?

3/15/06 Favor Oppose Undecided

All Adults 46% 44% 10%
Voters 48% 43% 9%

Republicans (33%) 29% 57% 14%
Democrats (37%) 70% 26% 4%
Independents (30%) 42% 47% 11%

Based on 1,100 completed telephone interviews among a random sample of adults nationwide March 13-15, 2006. The theoretical margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points, 95% of the time.

http://americanresearchgroup.com/

The consequences of irresponsible media: Americans have lost the right to vote

If we had a responsible media it would be reminding us daily that a republic can only survive as long as the open market place of ideas is protected. People must be well-informed in order to make decisions about those they're entrusting to represent their interests. Our ability to exercise control over our government is dependent upon our ability to consent, or to withhold consent, through our vote. Once we lose control of our vote, the very essence of our republic is undermined:

"Unless the mass retains sufficient control over those entrusted with the powers of their government, these will be perverted to their own oppression, and to the perpetuation of wealth and power in the individuals and their families selected for the trust." -Thomas Jefferson

"Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." - The Declaration of Independence

Millions of Americans have already lost control of their ability to cast a vote for the candidates of their choice, and we no longer have a government elected by the majority of the people. No one voting on an electronic voting

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