Indefinite Detention
On June 12, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy concluded that Ohio¡¯s supermax prison in Youngstown imposes an ¡°atypical and significant hardship¡± on inmates. Even so, the state plans to relocate 200 death row inmates from Mansfield to Youngstown. Prisoner rights activists are fighting the move.
Before becoming an Ohio State Penitentiary physician, Dr. Ayham Haddad experienced a different side of incarceration, as a political prisoner in Syria. He was arrested and tortured. Upon his release in 1991, Haddad immigrated to the United States to begin a new life.
Now a general practitioner at Ohio¡¯s only supermax, he has a comparative perspective few could imagine, and is amazed to find that the supermax prison where he works also fails to address important human rights issues. ¡°In Syria, I was in solitary confinement for four months,¡± Haddad reflected. ¡°But here, prisoners are kept in solitary confinement for years!¡±
Before becoming an Ohio State Penitentiary physician, Dr. Ayham Haddad experienced a different side of incarceration, as a political prisoner in Syria. He was arrested and tortured. Upon his release in 1991, Haddad immigrated to the United States to begin a new life.
Now a general practitioner at Ohio¡¯s only supermax, he has a comparative perspective few could imagine, and is amazed to find that the supermax prison where he works also fails to address important human rights issues. ¡°In Syria, I was in solitary confinement for four months,¡± Haddad reflected. ¡°But here, prisoners are kept in solitary confinement for years!¡±
Seems like more people died than prospered under Pres Bush’s leadership
Another few thousand bit the dust.
Chalk another one up for the Bush administration. That’ll be President Bush’s long lasting legacy when we look back on the first few years of the 21st Century. Thousands of people killed on U.S. soil because the president failed to protect them.
There won’t be any admission of guilt, no one to take responsibility, no one fired for screwing up, just lies and spin, and mudslinging.
You may be familiar with some of that already.
“I don’t think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees,” President Bush told Diane Sawyer in an interview last week.
That’s a page right out of Condoleeza Rice’s playbook.
No one "could have predicted that they [al-Qaeda] would try to use a … hijacked airplane as a missile," Rice told the commission investigating the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2003.
Wrong and wrong. Or rather, liar, liar.
There were warnings, memos, emails, phone calls, newspaper reports, meetings, threats, and cries for help. They were just ignored by the presidet and his administration.
Chalk another one up for the Bush administration. That’ll be President Bush’s long lasting legacy when we look back on the first few years of the 21st Century. Thousands of people killed on U.S. soil because the president failed to protect them.
There won’t be any admission of guilt, no one to take responsibility, no one fired for screwing up, just lies and spin, and mudslinging.
You may be familiar with some of that already.
“I don’t think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees,” President Bush told Diane Sawyer in an interview last week.
That’s a page right out of Condoleeza Rice’s playbook.
No one "could have predicted that they [al-Qaeda] would try to use a … hijacked airplane as a missile," Rice told the commission investigating the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2003.
Wrong and wrong. Or rather, liar, liar.
There were warnings, memos, emails, phone calls, newspaper reports, meetings, threats, and cries for help. They were just ignored by the presidet and his administration.
Where to look first
AUSTIN, Texas -- George W. Bush has come up with his worst idea
since he decided to have the military investigate torture by the military
at Abu Ghraib prison. He, George W. personally, plans to investigate to
"find out what went right and what went wrong" in the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina.
It's hard to guess where Bush will look first, but maybe he should start with the appointment of "Brownie" to head FEMA, the federal disaster relief agency. "Brownie" is Michael Brown, who was appointed by some president.
At the time, Brownie was deputy director of the agency under Joe Allbaugh -- because he was Joe Allbaugh's college roommate, you see, and Allbaugh was Bush's campaign manager in 2000, you see, which made both of them qualified to manage disasters.
The FEMA press release announcing Brownie's appointment started with his other obvious qualification, "From 1991 to 2001, Brown was the commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association." It's unclear whether "Brownie" was fired or resigned from the organization in the wake of financial mismanagement and lawsuits.
It's hard to guess where Bush will look first, but maybe he should start with the appointment of "Brownie" to head FEMA, the federal disaster relief agency. "Brownie" is Michael Brown, who was appointed by some president.
At the time, Brownie was deputy director of the agency under Joe Allbaugh -- because he was Joe Allbaugh's college roommate, you see, and Allbaugh was Bush's campaign manager in 2000, you see, which made both of them qualified to manage disasters.
The FEMA press release announcing Brownie's appointment started with his other obvious qualification, "From 1991 to 2001, Brown was the commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association." It's unclear whether "Brownie" was fired or resigned from the organization in the wake of financial mismanagement and lawsuits.
Sheehan uses the "f" word as Bush flips us off
On the 20th day, when the Rovian hordes of paid-for
astroturf political operatives and uncritical Fourth
Reich fanatics descended on Crawford, Texas, Cindy Sheehan used the "f" word.
I finally figured out George Bush's New reason for staying in Iraq. This reason has also been co-opted by the Move America Forward (forward to what: Fascism?) and the poor mothers who would be honored if their sons were killed in George Bush's war for greed and power," Sheehan wrote.
Sheehan's correct in recognizing that hardcore Bush supporters would gladly sacrifice their children to curry favor with the chickenhawk fuehrer, and they'd probably be willing to accept Hitler-style "Bunny Medals" to produce new warriors for the New World Order.
If fascism prospers, none dare call it fascism. Bush's response to the genuine grassroots criticism of the war is to also use the "f" word in the form of his upright middle finger.
I finally figured out George Bush's New reason for staying in Iraq. This reason has also been co-opted by the Move America Forward (forward to what: Fascism?) and the poor mothers who would be honored if their sons were killed in George Bush's war for greed and power," Sheehan wrote.
Sheehan's correct in recognizing that hardcore Bush supporters would gladly sacrifice their children to curry favor with the chickenhawk fuehrer, and they'd probably be willing to accept Hitler-style "Bunny Medals" to produce new warriors for the New World Order.
If fascism prospers, none dare call it fascism. Bush's response to the genuine grassroots criticism of the war is to also use the "f" word in the form of his upright middle finger.
Four Years On
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".
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".
What's wrong with dairy?
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.
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.
Keeping his eyes on the prize
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.
Free Press story lands number 3 spot on Project Censored's list
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.
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.
Freep 35th anniversary book
In an era when journalistic integrity has all but given way to the corporate bottom line and the regurgitation of government spin, a new book is being published. Goats in Prison: From Hippies to Headlines will offer an exciting look at the early years of one of the few surviving examples of America's "underground press." Smartly edited, this book will document the anti-war movement beginning in 1970 with actual articles, photographs, cartoons and even advertisements, chronicling events and the struggle to report them up to the present day. "Make no mistake about it" (as Richard Nixon would say), this book is no acid trip down foggy-memory lane. The Columbus Free Press is still publishing. This fact alone is what separates this book from those in the Woodstock-flashback publishing genre. It is an insiders' look at what really happened, and still is happening. Perhaps only in the conservative heartland could left-wing journalism find the motivation to survive for 35 years...and there is much to learn from its history. Steve Conliff, former Freeper from the 70s is editing the book.