READER COMMENTS ON
"Tribune Syndicate Spikes Robert Koehler's Latest Column!"
(63 Responses so far...)
COMMENT #1 [Permalink]
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Jim Cirile
said on 5/5/2005 @ 1:02 am PT...
How can it be that there isn't a single American paper going to bat for this? If I was a big newspaper editor or broadcast journalist, I'd throw myself on the sword to expose this issue. Sure, my career would be ruined, but I'd SAVE THE DAMN COUNTRY... not to mention become instantly hugely famous and probably land a lucrative book deal. I'd say that's a win/win.
Sigh. Until then, we have Mr. Koehler, and thank heavens for him. Maybe we can get him on The Daily Show... Hmm...
COMMENT #2 [Permalink]
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Bob Bilse
said on 5/5/2005 @ 1:21 am PT...
I've been traveling, and haven't been here much lately. That article by Wycliff got a rise out of me like few things I've read. Like many of you, I fired off an e-mail to this numbskull:
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
"That article you wrote was the least intelligent piece of work I can remember reading. First of all. you're writing a "rebuttal" to an article your paper didn't even have the guts to print. I'd hate to play cards with you dealing! You're simply another shark stacking the deck.
This issue compares poorly, in the entirety of it's scope, to the Kennedy/Nixon election...but...Your reference to Nixon taking the moral high ground???
Nixon did the country a great disservice in allowing Daley's gang to get away with poaching Illinois. It wasn't right then, and it's certainly not right now! (If it were deeply investigated, I wouldn't be surprised to find that he backed off because of the Mafia, not because of any moral high ground. This was not a moral individual).
I travel the world extensively, and everywhere I go, people are appalled by the arrogant overtone of our leadership, and refer to our elections as being crooked. This is how we are perceived, just like The Ukraine. I'm not referring to the media (which is getting more worthless everyday, your article being a glaring example), but to the man/woman on the street. This is a much larger issue than you appear to be willing to face.
You want to believe that it's unimportant that our country's stock with the rest of the planet is at an all-time low (by far!), but that kind of arrogant state of denial will come back to haunt you and our country, eventually, and drag down those of us whose heads ARE NOT buried in the sand, along with you.
This is not going to go away, no matter how many articles you write to diffuse it. I have criminals in high places stealing my rights from ME (and so do YOU)! I take it personally, and I (and those like me) are not going to stop fighting these crimes, simply because of apologists, like you, running around and pretending nothing's wrong.
Your time-worn catch-phrases, such as "Conspiracy Theorists" and "Sore Losers" be damned!
"Watergate" was a conspiracy theory! The Ukraine was a bunch of sore losers taking to the streets!
We're having the integrity of our country tampered with. We're more angry (and determined to do something about it) than you want to believe. We're here to stay, and the numbers are growing. The truth has a way of gathering momentum."
COMMENT #3 [Permalink]
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Kira
said on 5/5/2005 @ 1:39 am PT...
Bob Bilse #4
Man oh man! I absolutely give you a standing ovation! What a wonderfully written letter and you didn't mince any words. Good For YOU!
I'm waiting to hear what kind of response you get back. (Won't hold my breath, though.)
GOOD FOR YOU! Thank you.
COMMENT #4 [Permalink]
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Steve
said on 5/5/2005 @ 1:50 am PT...
Bob- Great e-mail to Wycliff. Really an excellent perspective on the failure of the media and the disrespect for our faltering democracy from those outside this country. Don't know if you read any of the responses from Wycliff that others have posted- really flippant. The guy's a real jerk.
COMMENT #5 [Permalink]
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MMIIXX
said on 5/5/2005 @ 1:53 am PT...
BOB to the point .....ouch! Cool
COMMENT #6 [Permalink]
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thedeanpeople
said on 5/5/2005 @ 2:07 am PT...
I think Bob's is a stellar letter as well, but I'd add one clarfication on Nixon.
------------------------
The fallacy of Nixon's graceful exit
By Gerald Posner
November 10, 2000 One of the most oft-repeated myths....
http://dir.salon.com/pol...on/index.html?sid=995322
------------
He didn't let anybody get away with anything. Like most of what the neofascists think, his "graceful exit" is just another Fractured Fascist Fairy Tale (truth is, those people literally need to believe these things to sleep through the night).
COMMENT #7 [Permalink]
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Bejammin075
said on 5/5/2005 @ 2:48 am PT...
There is a great disturbance in the force... ...
COMMENT #8 [Permalink]
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Torqued
said on 5/5/2005 @ 2:51 am PT...
If Wycliff marries the runaway bride, we'll have front page headlines: Wycliff Woos Wayward Wench, replete 12-page color pull-out photo expose entitled: Fruity Fiance Found - Feminine Fixation Formal - Failed Forerunner Fiddles.
Ahh, that will be news... probably sell a few copies alongside The Enquirer in long grocery lines.
But it isn't funny is it. It's a crime upon all humanity. Lets figure out a way to bring financial failure to these arrogant fools. Today.
COMMENT #9 [Permalink]
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Dredd
said on 5/5/2005 @ 3:02 am PT...
Bob Bilse #4 Well said indeed! I agree with Kira #5 - a standing ovation.
And as Thedeanpeople #8 says, some would loose sleep if they allowed themselves to get it.
A lot of what the MSM we are criticizing is doing is to reinforce a world view that a lot of people are literally addicted to. The behind-the-scenes dynamic is classic chronic denial.
They are literally suffering from a social sickness. We need to take that social sickness into consideration and find a way to appeal to their immunities.
To find a way for them to ease off the addiction because they are too weak to go cold turkey.
They would not be able to sleep nor eat if they knew what we know. I fear for their welfare sometimes.
While it is hard to want to punish a sick person for being sick, it is not so hard to be a bit angry at them for failing to practice the american values of not trusting blindly those who have been exposed to the toxins of power.
Because that denial is dangerous and will eventually remove the comfort zone they think they are perpetuating by ignoring these realities.
COMMENT #10 [Permalink]
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Kira
said on 5/5/2005 @ 3:31 am PT...
Hello Dredd. I haven't been able to sleep because of the article you linked earlier on another thread -
U.S. may allow nuke strikes over WMD
I remember throughout most of my childhood I lived with a fear that there would be an atomic blast that would ruin the world for humans and the world's precious animals and plants. All those fears had diminished during the '80s for me, but since the year 2000 and onward, and now as of yesterday, I feel the panic in my gut again.
Of course, it's just another little jolt added to the severe panic I felt when the media informed us that bu$h won the 2004 election ... because we already understood the essence of his agenda.
The word for today is INTEGRITY. When will our congress people stand up for what is best for our country, its people and for the world?
COMMENT #11 [Permalink]
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Bob Bilse
said on 5/5/2005 @ 3:33 am PT...
Good link, THEDEANPEOPLE. I just forwarded that article to Wycliff, as well, just in case no one else did.
I guarantee, I will have the last word with that pinhead Wycliff, if he responds at all. I HOPE he comes back with one of his smug retorts, because "I'm just gettin' warmed up" (as Al Pacino said in "Scent Of A Woman")!
I won't acknowledge the moronic trolls that pop up here occasionally, but I will continue to take a go at Wycliff. He's writing slanted articles that are being read by the TV-brainwashed masses. He's on the enemies list now.
COMMENT #12 [Permalink]
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Bob Bilse
said on 5/5/2005 @ 3:38 am PT...
hhhmmmm, wonder how that "smiley" got in there. I didn't intentionally put it there...
COMMENT #13 [Permalink]
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Jeff J.
said on 5/5/2005 @ 4:35 am PT...
Thanks again Brad, for keeping us posted on the good work of Bob Koehler. I took your advice and wrote the publishers of the Tribune:
"Dear Ms. Lipinski, Mr. Dold and Mr. O'Shea:
I read with horror online this morning that you chose not to run or distribute Robert Koehler's recent article entitled "Citizens in the Rain". It's bad enough that the Chicago Tribune didn't print Mr. Koehler's last two articles ("The Silent Scream of Numbers" and "The Abu Ghraib of Democracy"), but at least you distributed them to your affiliates and gave them the choice to run them or not. Your decision to not distribute Mr. Koehler's newest article smacks of censorship.
To add insult to injury, the Tribune then printed a poorly written (and barely researched) "rebuttal" written by Don Wycliff. Mr. Wycliff apparently took the time to contact one individual in Ohio (Tim Jones, whoever he is) and expected us all to breathe a sigh of relief when Mr. Jones offered “people in Ohio whose credentials as non-partisan and unbiased are beyond question, and they, he said, found no irregularities."
What has happened to the mainstream media anyway? Why are you so terrified to report about the election fraud that took place in the 2004 Presidential election? The only conclusion I can come to is that the ownership of your organization has been bought and paid for and have been ordered to ignore the most compelling political story of our day.
The silence of the mainstream media on this subject sends a chill through me and leads me to believe that the criminals who have taken over our country have a much longer reach than I would have thought possible in today’s world. It used to be that we could count on the media to be the watchdogs over our government. Now it appears that you have turned your back on the citizens of America and are just another source of government propaganda. It’s shameful really.
After watching the debacle in November of 2004 I kept waiting to read something about the obvious election fraud that took place. It was then that I realized I could no longer trust what I saw on television and read in newspapers and had to look online to find any news about what the citizens of this country were going to do about it. Your dereliction of duty will not prevent us from uncovering the truth and doing all we can to restore democracy to our nation. Perhaps you’re content to accept the corruption, or maybe you’re even a part of it, but don’t expect that we’re all as complacent and naive as these criminals count on American Citizens to be.
We are not going to let this issue die, regardless of how many times you accuse us of being “conspiracy theorists” or “sore losers”. It appalls me that you don’t seem to care that your rights are being taken away from you as well as we watch these criminals roll out their agenda from hell.
I urge you to reconsider your decision to silence Mr. Koehler, and hope that you’ll show a little backbone in the future, but I won’t be holding my breath waiting for that.
Sincerely,
Jeff J."
I don't really expect them to reconsider, but wanted to do my part to protest the ongoing suppression of this information.
Keep on fighting Brad!
COMMENT #14 [Permalink]
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unirealist
said on 5/5/2005 @ 4:59 am PT...
As things worsen in Iraq and the economy, more and more of these unusual columns will appear, until eventually the Bush administration will look like a corpse in Hitchcock's The Birds. But don't think it's going to be pretty. A cornered animal is a dangerous creature.
COMMENT #15 [Permalink]
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Teresa
said on 5/5/2005 @ 5:09 am PT...
I saw The Birds...black and white and desolate. Pretty wild, too.
COMMENT #16 [Permalink]
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Edward
said on 5/5/2005 @ 5:26 am PT...
I find this strange on Don Wycliff's part. When Gary Webb died awhile back, Wycliff wrote a column saying he believed that Webb "mostly had it right" about Contra drug-dealing. Does it seem too big a leap to believe that basically the same gang who would run drugs and weapons globally, subvert and overthrow governments, assassinate oppositional leaders, kill people just working in the fields, launder money, etc., etc. - would NOT interfere with an election?????
COMMENT #17 [Permalink]
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jen
said on 5/5/2005 @ 6:02 am PT...
Great great letters Bob #4 and Jeff #15! - and as usual, great comments by all!
For the 6 or 7 of us who wish to write again, do you guys think at this point we should address Ms. Lipinski and cc: Dold, O'Shea, Wycliff and Koehler?
Also, I think some of these letters with a little editing should go out to other papers as letter to the editor.
COMMENT #18 [Permalink]
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Robert Lockwood Mills
said on 5/5/2005 @ 6:56 am PT...
Let me add my compliments for Bob Bilse's message to Wycliff. Has anyone noticed that Wycliff always responds with one sentence, as if to dismiss several paragraphs of reasoned argument with a throwaway line like (to me), "You mean the Earth isn't flat?"
This man is the PUBLIC EDITOR of the Chicago Tribune, folks. That's scary, but it simply points up the fact that the Chicago Tribune isn't an independent newspaper in any sense of the word, but part of an image-conscious corporate oligarchy that includes other media and even the Chicago Cubs.
Wycliff is a rip-roaring hypocrite. He acknowledges a newspaper's responsibility to dig out unpleasant truths, e.g. election fraud, then invokes Richard Nixon (inaccurately, by the way) in order to justify his paper's refusal to fufill its responsibility in re the 2004 election! Could anything be more ridiculous?
I'm going to try one more letter to his boss. I don't expect a reply this time, either.
COMMENT #19 [Permalink]
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big dan
said on 5/5/2005 @ 7:07 am PT...
I think this proves beyond a doubt that, as Bev Harris from blackboxvoting.org has stated, there is a media lockdown on articles and news stories on voter fraud via computerized voting machines and optical scanners. Bev Harris's media source asked to remain anonymous, but told her they have orders from higher-ups to blackout these stories. When is this going to break??? I keep saying, we need a cable news channel (Al Gore?) that reports uncensored/unfiltered news. People would flock to it and it would attain #1 ratings. Why isn't this happening???
COMMENT #20 [Permalink]
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Bill Hewitt
said on 5/5/2005 @ 7:26 am PT...
On "thedeanpeople" #8, I remember reading that article by Posner in the paper somewhere. Send that along to Wycliff yourself, perhaps, or even better: get Posner to respond to Wycliff.
COMMENT #21 [Permalink]
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Joan
said on 5/5/2005 @ 7:47 am PT...
#3 Jim,
"How can it be that there isn't a single American paper going to bat for this?"
Haha, you're kidding, right? We have no msm anymore, only a very few brave souls like Koehler, Krugman & a few other constantly vilified columnists willing to stick their necks out in service to their country. Thank the gods for THEM.
#s4 & 15 Bob & Jeff,
Thanks for those awesome letters, guys!
I just wrote a belated thankyou to Koehler (and btw, I wrote wycliff lower case& plan to do that from now on with people I don't respect, ala Steve...I like that idea & I'm pinching it, hope you don't mind, Steve!).
I also sent him a copy of my letter to wycliff. Maybe I should've cc'd to the other Tribune editors, huh? Didn't do that.
COMMENT #22 [Permalink]
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czaragorn
said on 5/5/2005 @ 7:59 am PT...
Jeff 15 - WRITE ON!!! Edward 18 - One might deduce that since "awhile back" Mr. Wycliff's been bought/threatened-with-a-triple-headshot-suicide off. I'm gonna forward a link to this entire thread to everyone I have an e-mail address for. I can't wait for the new Pepperland, The United Bradvilles of America!
Love and Peace and Rock and Roll Forever!
COMMENT #23 [Permalink]
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Robert Lockwood Mills
said on 5/5/2005 @ 8:29 am PT...
For Big Dan: I think the reason no cable-TV network has emerged to expose unpleasant truths is the same one that causes the mainstream media to censor itself. ADVERTISERS DEPEND ON PUBLIC ACCEPTANCE OF THEIR PRODUCTS, WHICH BY DEFINITION MEANS THAT THEIR ADVERTISING MESSAGE MUST BE BELIEVED. BUT THE PEOPLE WHO WOULD WATCH A MUCKRAKING TV NETWORK ARE MORE SOPHISTICATED AND SKEPTICAL THAN THE COMMERICAL TV AUDIENCE IS. THUS, SUCH A NETWORK COULDN'T ATTRACT SPONSORS. THEIR ADS WOULD BE LAUGHED AT, AND NOBODY INVESTS IN HIS OWN RIDICULE.
Let's face it, everyone. If a majority of the American people become convinced the 2004 election was stolen, a complete loss of confidence in American institutions would follow...media, advertisers, retailers, and most of all government. We'd have 1974 all over again. I remember it well, having just begun a career with Merrill Lynch...the Dow Jones had peaked above 1000 in Jan. 1973; by late 1974 it had fallen over 40%. In today's numbers, that equates to a drop from 10,200 to 6,000.
The Tribune Co., the New York Times Co., General Electric (NBC), Time-Warner, Disney (ABC), Fox, etc. simply aren't going to let that happen if they can help it. It's up to us, albeit for the sake of our own sanity we should keep writing protest letters.
COMMENT #24 [Permalink]
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Winter Patriot
said on 5/5/2005 @ 9:04 am PT...
re #20. Robert wrote : Has anyone noticed that Wycliff always responds with one sentence, as if to dismiss several paragraphs of reasoned argument with a throwaway line
His response to this letter was a single word: "thanks".
COMMENT #25 [Permalink]
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Mark
said on 5/5/2005 @ 9:29 am PT...
Very good letter Bob! Thank you, it represents us all. I have emailed two myself with no response. Here we are focusing on a stolen election of 04. What kills me is that 2000 an election was stolen in such a blatant way that I am still in awe!
A MUST SEE VIDEO!
http://www.informationcl...use.info/article3187.htm
Many of you most likely have seen the video. For those seeing it for the first time prepare yourself!
This is the video that started it all for me. I used to go about my daily life as many Americans and then I viewed the video. It changed me forever. Every single day since then I have been troubled.
As I did research it led to more cans of worms. Now I feel America is hostage to the criminals leading it. Or killing it.
Bob, I have a friend that recently visited Holland and he told me that people said what you mentioned to him! The world knows we had a stolen election. Most Americans don't! Yeah we can blame the MSM they are a corporate owned evil. We also have to blame people for not caring or taking the time to research.
All media in America is owned by 5 corporations thanks to the FCC. Which went against the people and used the first amendment. The 1rst was NOT meant for corporations!
Watch Orwell Would Roll Over In His Grave and you will get an excellent view of the media. It is a MUST see video.
I have found yet another place that gives me hope and it is The Bradblog and the people who post here. Thank you all for fighting, I am right along side you!
Questions are now being asked as to how they (the Government & Media) will take over the internet.
If you look into it you'll be shaken by the mounting evidence. Time Warner is a major player.
Well you know how conspiracy theories go huh? Wycliff has a good grasp on that.
A little bit about me. I am a singer who has collaborated on songs with many artists. I have recently been signed for a cd where I sing three songs with a band. I have worked with past drummers of David Bowie. I have worked with hundreds of people. Here's the kicker. This past Christmas I collaborated with a man from Holland and I did a Christmas song that slapped Bush in the face and mentioned a "STOLEN ELECTION". The artist DID NOT release it. Our leaders grasp is really that far?
As for the good news, I am working on a new song that will see the light of day called "Bitten" it is about the media and the stolen election as well as the religious right.
I hope more of you post a little about yourself, I find these posts to be intelligent and funny and would like to know more about the posters.
I just had a thought. I was going to suggest you not post too much info. CAN YOU BELIEVE WE HAVE TO THINK LIKE THAT IN AMERICA?
COMMENT #26 [Permalink]
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vdres
said on 5/5/2005 @ 9:49 am PT...
One more, cced to everybody there:
Dear Ms. Lipinski:
I've just come out of an academic job interview for a journalism position at my school. We discussed the sanctity of the first amendment in campus newspapers, and how crucial it is to allow the variety of student, faculty, and community voices to be heard. This was the easy part of the interview, because we all agree about the sanctity of this journalistic ideal.
Then I sit down at my desk only to come across news of the Tribune's continued refusal to cover one of the most compelling, if complicated, stories of the day: possible election malfeasance. First, this isn't a crackpot, sore-loser story as Mr. Wycliff oversimplifies in what must be a most unusual editorial event, publishing a rebuttal to an opinion that your paper declined to publish, in this instance an op-ed piece by Robert Koehler.
This is about legitimate public concern about the verifiability of our election process, our very democracy. This isn't about who, as Wycliff argues; it's about why, what, where, and how. (I know "who" is sexier for TV, but you are a newspaper, after all. We read you because of the other four questions.) Given the published academic statistical analyses, exit poll inconsistencies, and documented anomalies surrounding the 2004 election, particularly in Ohio and Florida, your responsibility as a news organization is to present these questions to the public and facilitate debate, not to tell us to shut up and get over it.
Wycliff, for example, pretends that John Conyers and his 102-page report doesn't exist. He can do that, but your organization as a whole cannot. The role of any responsible newspaper is to be a space where public debate occurs on all sides. By presenting only his point of view, you are effectively silencing debate.
You silence not only Mr. Koehler, but the growing number of American citizens waking up to these crucial questions about election transparency, verifiability, and accountability. You've apparently also silenced many substantive responses critical of Mr. Wycliff's viewpoint.Your paper's stancesuggests that it is wrong for American citizens to want to know that all our votes are counted in a completely non-partisan transparent process. This is not acceptable to me as a citizen. This should not be acceptable for any news organization claiming journalistic integrity.You need to be willing to ask the hard questions, Ms. Lipinski, no matter who owns your newspaper.
COMMENT #27 [Permalink]
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MikeyCan
said on 5/5/2005 @ 10:06 am PT...
Re: #25
"Let's face it, everyone. If a majority of the American people become convinced the 2004 election was stolen"..."The Tribune Co., the New York Times Co., General Electric (NBC), etc. simply aren't going to let that happen if they can help it"
Very insightful thoughts, Robert!
Furthermore, it is not a matter of "if", but WHEN. The American people *WILL* know the truth sooner or later.
The longer it takes to get to that truth, the *harder* America will fall, along with our economy, our reputation, and any attraction American pop-culture, fashion, society, etc still holds in the world.
Once the general American public is wise to what has been going on, it will realize which people and companies have been working hard to hide this whole fiasco. Those people/companies that are working so hard to hide this now, are only digging their own graves even deeper.
Americans will never forget those who stood up for them, and those who worked to deceive.
COMMENT #28 [Permalink]
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jIM cIRILE
said on 5/5/2005 @ 10:14 am PT...
Jeff J., I'm going to "borrow" the bulk of your letter to send another round of letters to Jonathan Alter at Newsweek and a few others.
Folks, I've also modified the flier from 51capitalmarch.com into a general election fraud alert/info sheet which I have been leaving on windshields and pasting up all around Los Angeles. If anyone wants to do the same, e-mail me and I'll forward the doc to you. Just print 'em out and go for it. Tonight I'm doing the CNN parking lot...
jimcirile@aol.com
COMMENT #29 [Permalink]
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Peg C
said on 5/5/2005 @ 10:47 am PT...
Wonderful, wonderful letters, everyone!
Bob Bilse #4 - I'm standing and cheering with very other great soul on this thread!!! You ALL "get it."
COMMENT #30 [Permalink]
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Peggy
said on 5/5/2005 @ 11:16 am PT...
Hi, RLM #25 - the crash is coming anyway. The U.S. deficits, tax cuts for the wealthy, and the warmongering are going to bankrupt America. The world is watching. They know America has been weakened due to the extreme corruption that is being allowed to rule. At the next severe provocation from Bush, they are going to push the button and teach America a lesson it's people should not forget. Hope the American people will recognize who is to blame: Bush and his gang, Republicans and certain Democrats, the MSM, and the psychopathic corporations who are dictating war and death to innocents for profits.
COMMENT #31 [Permalink]
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Leslie
said on 5/5/2005 @ 11:25 am PT...
Thank you for this one Brad! The Chicago Tribune is my home town newspaper; I have a print subscription (at the moment).
This does not surprise me at all that they would downplay and try to bury this story. This is a newspaper that has been censoring the comic pages for the past two years! Yes, comics! Doonesbury, Boondocks and Prickly City have all been "removed" for the day, presumably to shelter the more sensitive readers. And it was Wycliff that explained the silliness in a subsequent editorial. So why not pass on an op-ed that they don't agree with!
And they wonder why circulation numbers are going down. I can get my news and comics uncensored and unfiltered on the internet. I am writing both an email and a snail mail to express my displeasure.
Robert #25 - That is an excellent point! I am old enough to remember 1974, the collapsing economy and the almost non-existent job market that I entered in 1977. It's self-preservation for all these large corporations. But they can only delay the inevitable. At some point the truth will come out. And the longer it takes, the worse it will be.
COMMENT #32 [Permalink]
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Dredd
said on 5/5/2005 @ 11:33 am PT...
Kira #12 There is no way around loosing sleep over some of the events taking place in reality.
Yet at least we are willing to face the realities. We must do this for our socially sick organs of information (MSM), as well as the whole body politic.
It is as if we are the anti-bodies fighting the disease, and at this moment we are having to work more than we should. The organs have broken down and the toxins are flooding everything.
But sometimes catatonic entities recover consciousness and return to health. That is our main hope for the body politic. The current low ratings for bu$hit ideology may be a sign of a healthy trend.
I felt I had to post it (link here) because if we enter end-game mode this body-politic may suffer death. Even if it is a shock at least we can begin to spread the word.
COMMENT #33 [Permalink]
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Joan
said on 5/5/2005 @ 11:44 am PT...
I posted earlier (#23) that I had sent Mr. Koehler a thank you. I just got a very kind response from him.
Somehow I think I shouldn't hold my breath waiting for wycliff's response.
COMMENT #34 [Permalink]
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Peg C
said on 5/5/2005 @ 11:46 am PT...
An OT heads-up:
A shareholder in Allianz, the major WTC insurer, is calling for the company to deny payment for the collapse of WTC #7 on evidence of fraud.
Link here.
COMMENT #35 [Permalink]
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Bob Bilse
said on 5/5/2005 @ 11:53 am PT...
Mark (#27), you're right, a must-see video. There are many, many must-see videos around the 'net now.
It's incredible, and ironic, how many apologists for these criminals continue to preach "prove it", and then avoid all proof like the plague.
The proof is there for them to see. They just refuse to acknowledge it. They're afraid of the truth.
COMMENT #36 [Permalink]
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Peg C
said on 5/5/2005 @ 11:55 am PT...
Another OT:
Chertoff is "floating" the idea of collecting information on U.S. citizens, a thought-police sort of thing.
COMMENT #37 [Permalink]
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Peg C
said on 5/5/2005 @ 12:25 pm PT...
COMMENT #38 [Permalink]
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Winter Patriot
said on 5/5/2005 @ 12:27 pm PT...
COMMENT #39 [Permalink]
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Horkus
said on 5/5/2005 @ 12:45 pm PT...
I'm shocked, SHOCKED! A major newspaper wants to persuade the reader to side on the corporate opinion of the story rather than allow the readers to decide for themselves?
Shocked I tell you. Okay, I'm not. But seriously, newspaper readership is in steady decline, and those guys at the high up wonder why. Where is this liberal media all the right wing nut jobs keep babbling about?
COMMENT #40 [Permalink]
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Joan
said on 5/5/2005 @ 2:05 pm PT...
Peg #36
That is a *VERY INTERESTING* link indeed.
Allianz, a major insurer of the WTC, is obliged to take seriously its obligation to pay out BILLIONS of dollars, and not surprisingly is looking into any possible fraud that would nullify that obligation!
You can be sure that where truckloads of cash are involved, there's going to be some serious scrutiny. Whether we hear about it is another question.....
COMMENT #41 [Permalink]
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Peggy
said on 5/5/2005 @ 2:14 pm PT...
Maybe the plane that went down in Pennsylvania was supposed to hit building 7, which would then come down like the other two, and the airplane strike blamed for the collapse.
Bush sitting there reading "my pet goat" after being told new york was under attack was TOTALLY WEIRD and completely unnatural. His behaviour was more in line with someone who KNEW all about it but was trying to behave as if it had nothing to do with him...no normal, honest person would have continued to sit there under those circumstances. No way at all...
COMMENT #42 [Permalink]
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Tim Goldsmith
said on 5/5/2005 @ 2:22 pm PT...
My letter to the Tribune:
Your refusal to print Koehler's recent series of excellent articles on election irregularities is inexcusable. Your claim that the articles are too "personal" and "not sufficiently national in scope" is ludicrous. What could be more national (and, in fact, worldwide) in scope than a claim that there is credible evidence of a concerted effort to steal the last election? What could be less personal, in that, if true, such an effort has already affected every person on the planet?
Wake up and smell the coffee! Many Americans now believe that we have lost our most cherished right as the Fourth Estate sits idly on its hands (only taking the time to occasionally deride us all as whining conspiracy theorists).
Bush’s recent poll numbers indicate that the American Public is slowly waking up from its long bad dream. When they do, they will sweep aside the so-called “news organizations” that have been used so effectively to disinform them. The Chicago Tribune has too great a history to be among those left beneath that rubble.
The evidence is there. Report it, explain it, debunk it or confirm it. But stop ignoring it.
COMMENT #43 [Permalink]
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Dredd
said on 5/5/2005 @ 2:28 pm PT...
The Suckago Tribune probably does not know that exit poll data is trusted everywhere except Ohio and Florida.
The media quotes the exit poll data early to tell how Blair did in the election (link here) before the official results are in. They even have the number at 66 down from 161.
Wow Suckago Tribune, tell the brits its a freaking conspiracy theory dorks.
COMMENT #44 [Permalink]
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rdw
said on 5/5/2005 @ 3:12 pm PT...
I think many here don't get it or don't express it. The Tribune corp and the other media corps don't care what we think or, in any case, believe it will blow over. They simply support the neocon efforts to control the oil in the middle east, prevent peak oil's effects for this country, at least, and support their plans for global dominion.
All these speeches refering to honesty, integrity or jounalistic ethics are simply irrelvant. They have the power (they think) to control and dictate in the new American Imperium. And the sheep will follow. And die on the battlefields. And the wealthy will be happy, safe, and secure.
rw
COMMENT #45 [Permalink]
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Peggy
said on 5/5/2005 @ 4:06 pm PT...
Yes, RDW - I agree with you. But, there is always the law of physics, whereby when you set abomination into motion, there will be serious repercussions. We must do everything we can to protect ourselves and reduce the damage to others, while fighting this evil regime. America desperately needs and wants regime change!
COMMENT #46 [Permalink]
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Dredd
said on 5/5/2005 @ 5:00 pm PT...
Honk if you love propaganda.
The republicans in congress voted down the democrat's bill to forbid the administration from hiring MSM reporters to report stories the way the admin wanted them reported (link here).
COMMENT #47 [Permalink]
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Leslie
said on 5/5/2005 @ 5:11 pm PT...
The Tribune is a reflexively Republican newspaper. They have never (to my knowledge) endorsed a Democrat for president, and usually endorse Republicans for Senate and Governor.
Joseph Medill, an orginal owner of the Tribune, was one of the founders of the Republican Party. So I expect a lot of Republican bias.
However, the Tribune is also a business and needs to keep their circulation figures up. If enough suscribers are upset, perhaps they will start to listen.
COMMENT #48 [Permalink]
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Peggy
said on 5/5/2005 @ 5:21 pm PT...
Hi, Dredd #46 - reinforces with fact the belief that the MSM has no credibility, and the credibility is now gone forever. Guess this is what it's like in those "other" "undemocratic" countries where only the dictators' propaganda is allowed to be aired. The U.S. is now officially a banana republic.
COMMENT #49 [Permalink]
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MMIIXX
said on 5/5/2005 @ 6:14 pm PT...
Start making a list of who will be "the first against the wall" WHEN the revolution comes .
COMMENT #50 [Permalink]
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Peg C
said on 5/5/2005 @ 7:13 pm PT...
Dredd #46 -
Sweet, isn't it? Our tax dollars (assuming you're paying them, which the IRS says is increasingly not the case) are now "legitimately expended on government propaganda. If the CONS have trouble with a pesky little LAW, they just change it.
This hell-hole used to be my country!
COMMENT #51 [Permalink]
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sojo
said on 5/5/2005 @ 8:45 pm PT...
hey i'll stand in the rain for democracy anytime, anyplace!
I think people underestimate how many ppl would actually hold a (ukaraine style) 24 vigil outside the white house to protest the stolen election.
I bet a few (6 or 7 AT LEAST!) would even be willing to make a citizen's arrest on the capital hill calprits.
COMMENT #52 [Permalink]
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Jim Cirile
said on 5/5/2005 @ 10:37 pm PT...
Here's a letter I am sending to several prominent political journalists tonight. I cribbed this from several sources, so thanks to all of you! Anyone who wants to crib this from me, go ahead!
Dear (MSM editor or columnist)
It is with great concern and urgency that I write to you.
After watching the debacle in November of 2004, I kept waiting to read something about the obvious election fraud that took place. It was then that I realized I could no longer trust what I saw on television and read in newspapers and had to look online to find answers.
The silence of the mainstream media on the 2004 stolen election sends a chill through me and leads me to believe that the criminals who have taken over our country have a much longer reach than I would have thought possible in today’s world. It used to be that we could count on the media to be the watchdogs over our government. Now it appears that they have turned their backs on the citizens of America and are deliberately ignoring the rape and pillage of our democracy.
We all know about the exit polls--that most reliable of metrics--calling the election for Kerry by 3%. Edison-Mitovsky's feeble attempt to explain away how Bush could have actually won makes no sense to me. Pollster John Zogby stands by his figures.
We all know about the long lines, voter disenfranchisement, terror alert lockdown in Ohio and "voting machine problems" in Florida--almost 50,000 incidents reported nationally (verifiedvoting.org.) Yet this enormous amount of evidence (detailed in the 102-page Conyers report, which concludes that fraud was likely) is dismissed by some, because they feel it would have taken a 'massive conspiracy of individuals' to fix the election. This is simply NOT true.
In fact, all it requires is a relatively small number of people to secretly flip the vote only in the states where it was needed, or in only the counties where such manipulation of the vote would be less likely to be noticed (say, in Democratic Counties...where there was indeed much unexplained funny business, to say the least, last November). Experts from blackboxvoting.org demonstrated for Congress how a lone hacker could skew a precinct's results by 100,000 votes without leaving a trace. And a programmer allegedly hired by FL Rep Tom Feeney to write just such a vote-flipping program recently passed a polygraph test. (www.bradblog.com)
Four corporations connected to the Bush administration manufacture all the voting machines, a clear conflict of interest. And the software used to control the counting and reporting of votes is withheld from public scrutiny; for no good reason (except to facilitate fraud,) most of these machines have no paper trail. And let us not forget Wally O'Dell, CEO of Diebold Voting Machines, stated that he was committed to delivering Ohio's electoral votes to the President in a fund-raising letter last year.
Mr. Shapiro, as a respected journalist who values the truth, I implore you to dig further into this. I am not a tinfoil-hat wearer; both my feet are firmly on terra firma. Something stinks about the ’04 elections. The Republicans had means, motive and opportunity. It's time us to stand up and call these thugs out for what they have done--while we still have any America left.
Thank you for all that you do.
Sincerely,
For more information, please visit:
www.bradblog.com
www.uscountvotes.org
www.velvetrevolution.us
www.blackboxvoting.org
Thank you.
COMMENT #53 [Permalink]
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Oppressed Liberal
said on 5/5/2005 @ 11:31 pm PT...
God, the whole things just so horrible and depressing... I actually feel bad for the editors and owners of these papers, to a point. What a horrible position they must now find themselves in. I imagine they kinda always suspected that these crazy play for keeps yuppie scum suckers'd eventually go nuts, but not this nutz. NOw they're sitting there just waiting for this whole thing to blow up, but nobody's willing to be the one guy that puts it on the air, or in print. I think in a way, the journalists and editors that are out there working, and trying to get printed unsuccessfully, are unappreciated. You know the conservative you always see that you like, and likes you, and you just can't see the way to get through the media manufactured ideas that have been placed in his/her head? Those people are the good newspeople's bosses. So its tough. We have to find a way to make these people feel safe, and have a viable forum. They're under pressure from people like John Bolton and worse. I'm not trying to excuse them but it takes HUGE balls to try to call these motherfuckers on they're shit. I mean, they'll cave like the cowards they are when Lady Justice finally calls these crooks out! It's like working at the paper the mob owns and trying to do investigative reporting on the mob! And I don't work for a newspaper, in case any of you power abusing Republican fucks decide somebody should be fired over this. I'm just a citizen exercising my rights of FREE speech! Surely you don't have a problem with that. Or do you? You don't seem to mind that the president gets to use my $ to hawk SS? Would you be angry if Clinton used yours to encourage extra-marital blowjobs? I think you owe it to yourself to challenge your own belief system. End of sermon to the other side.
My fellow Americans: I believe we cannot stand idly by while our most ardent and patriotic citizens in the PRESS, and in our INTELLIGENCE agencies, are forced to restrict they're most sincerely held beliefs regarding our safety, if only to benefit a select group of officials representing and extremely extreme member of one political party, and possessed of the most dubious old world ideals regarding royalty and democracy. Simply stated, in America, we value the most outcast, the most ostracized, and most lowly valued citizen's opinion, as equally valid as that of the judge, or the successful businessman, or the well-gilded professor. We are suspect of our institutions in the America of our Dreams. We believe that that the true value in a democracy lies in the freedom of its lowliest participant to subject their opinion on the gravest and most complex of matters. And that opportunity is not afforded to our poor, regardless of their sincerity. In our great country, there exists, at this time, a conscious erosion of integrity in the news due to the pressure of big business. This is not the kind of garden variety corruption and cordial respect that typically has existed in the United States between the executive branch and the national press. This is different, and unprecedented. This is control. Of speech. OF TELEVISION. Of radio, and soon, PBS. Now, my friends, it is one thing if a group of people, with legitimate ideas, gradually over a period of time PROVES THE VALIDITY of their ideas and compels the people to agree. It is quite another when a single political party is privy to how the national debate will be portrayed, and thus digested by the casual public. We have to ask ourselves a question. Why are high ranking members of the Republican party not subject to the questions demanded of the party in power? Why do we assume that this apparently smaller and smaller group of organized individuals routinely tell the truth? Is it not American to question the validity of a political groups statements? I submit that it is. Apparently we find ourselves in a time when questioniung the federal government., is, in and of itself, apparently a potentiallly treasonous action. Can this be true? Is this, by definition, not Unamerican? Is this not undemocratic. I would hope you would think for a moment, about the groups that are under attack here. The politicos, and the business leaders, the employers... and the history professors, the literary professors, and the artists... Who do you think is more likely to lie to you? Who stands to profit? Anyways, spilled my load... Go0dnight Ladies... I'm going to leave you now
COMMENT #54 [Permalink]
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Kira
said on 5/6/2005 @ 3:23 am PT...
Folks, I read something earlier tonight that has kept me from being able to sleep. So, here I am, weary and very concerned.
I was reading up on the research posted at Steven Freeman's site: Research and Commentary on the 2004 US Presidential Election (Steve Freeman) --- Applied Research and went to the FAQs page where the most disturbing information is posted by Mr. Freeman:
"Have you been threatened? Two different people have threatened to "call me out" (whatever that means --- both used the same terms.)
I don't really know what to make of this, but on March 23, while driving across the Ben Franklin Bridge in my family car with my daughter, the car began to vibrate fiercely. Upon crossing the bridge I got out in a freezing rain to examine the car, and learn that I had only two lug nuts holding the tire in place; the others were broken or missing. My mechanic says, "The lug nuts must have been loosened ... "
Rather than waiting for a normal maintenance check up, we took our car in for an early check-up on April 6th, and found that the breaks were no longer functioning properly.
Note for investigators if I am involved in automobile mishap: Our car is extraordinarily well-maintained, my wife has never been in an accident in her life, nor even received a ticket for a moving violation. I have not had an accident for 23 years; and it's been at least 10 years since I've received a ticket for a moving violation.
Note for investigators if some other tragedy befalls me: I am in perfect health, almost never get sick. I do not smoke, drink, or do drugs. I exercise regularly and eat a very healthy diet. I love life and would never kill myself."
I felt like I had to post this for our community here. Now I'll try to sleep.
Love you all and remember to be alert & careful.
COMMENT #55 [Permalink]
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unirealist
said on 5/6/2005 @ 6:08 am PT...
MMIIXX #49... Not REVOLUTION, but COLLAPSE. I'm pretty certain they'll be standing Greenspan up there for the first fall of the guillotine blade. From that moment on, the blade will be busy for a long, long, time. And yes, I think there are probably some out there already working on lists.
COMMENT #56 [Permalink]
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Jeff J.
said on 5/6/2005 @ 6:27 am PT...
I suggest that 6 or 7 of us send a letter of thanks to Bob Koehler and encourage him to keep writing about the 2004 Presidential "Election". I'm attaching a letter I wrote to him this morning. We need to encourage the people that have the loudest voices to wake this country up from it's sleep, and we'll all owe a debt of gratitude to them for doing so. Have a great day y'all:
Mr. Koehler:
Thank you for being one of the only journalists in this country with the courage to write about the travesty of justice and crime against democracy that was our Presidential "election" in November 2004. Ever since November 4, I've looked everywhere for coverage on what has to be the most compelling political story of our time, and the silence of the media has been deafening. It sends a chill up my spine to realize how far the criminals who now hold this country hostage have gone to shut down the institutions that help to keep America safe: the mainstream media.
I applaud you not only for your courage to report about this issue, but to stand firm in your belief even in the face of your own newspaper sanctioning your well written story. After reading about the fraud on every website I could find, I now realize that the people who make these decisions and are responsible for what gets published or not are concerned that raising this issue could rip apart the very fabric of our system, causing the stock market to crash and other devastation to our economy. It's obvious that they have only their own personal interests in mind and apparently are content to give the most precious of all rights away to these criminals: their own personal freedom.
But Americans are smarter than most people give them credit for and I believe that there are enough of us out here that this story will not remain buried forever. Call me an optimist, but I believe that the truth in this sordid affair will win out in the long run, and though I have my doubts that most of these criminals will ever be punished for their crimes, there will be enough people who will have awakened from their sleep to prevent them from maintaining their illegally gained hold over us. But it is the duty of we who now realize the travesty that's taken place to stand tall and fearless against these monsters and do all we can to take our country back from them.
Some of us have more resources available to us than others, and people like yourself are in position to do more to awaken this country than the ordinary citizen. So I encourage you to stick to your guns and do all you can to shine the light of truth on these criminals and expose them to every American. I assure you that your voice will be heard.
People like yourself and Congressman John Conyers, Brad Friedman, Barbara Boxer, Clint Curtis and a host of others will be remembered as the true American heroes who had the courage to stand up to the beast and call it out for all the citizens of this country to see. Though I love Jonathan Simon’s now famous quote “When the autopsy of our democracy is performed, it is my belief that media silence will be given as the primary cause of death.” I believe that the truth loving citizens of our country will never allow our democracy to die, even though it may seem that way today. But great people rise to the occasion, and I have faith that we will prevail. It will only take a handful of the right people in position to do the most to awaken Americans that will turn the tide on this situation. Be strong and speak your mind, and speak loudly so more people can hear you. We have your back Mr. Koehler and we're behind you all the way. Our ranks will swell until they'll have to face the questions, and we will not stop until we have the answers and rid our government of the pestilence these criminals have wrought upon us.
I commend you for your courage and tenacity Mr. Koehler. Beat the drums of truth, and beat them loudly and unceasingly until all Americans can no longer ignore the sweet sound of freedom again.
Sincerely,
Jeff J."
COMMENT #57 [Permalink]
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Joan
said on 5/6/2005 @ 6:59 am PT...
Kira #54
That is indeed chilling & is, unfortunately, a reflection of the frightening reality in which we live.
I hope the powers-that-be have their legions of angels standing sentry to protect the truth-tellers....
COMMENT #58 [Permalink]
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Peggy
said on 5/6/2005 @ 7:27 am PT...
Wonderful letters, all. Keep the printers rolling!
COMMENT #59 [Permalink]
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mg
said on 5/7/2005 @ 8:38 am PT...
Big Dan:
A few of us here ARE mainstream-media journalists and have told the forum, from the horses' mouths, that there definitely is a media blackout on election fraud. It is clear and specific that the handful of corporations that control virtually all MSM have conspired to support the myth of GWB's "election," again.
We are not only forbidden to write about it, we are forbidden to talk about it in the newsroom. I even fear what might happen if word gets to my bosses that I've stated in public the fact that there is no material proof that Bush won this election, and it was proved that Florida voters chose Gore over Bush in 2000.
Real journalists are purveyors of facts. My suggestion is that when we see real editors, like Koehler and his managing editor, that you send them useful and verifiable facts, w/references, so they might be able to break the beast. I'm not optimistic, but that's the only hope I see to save MSM.
Most of us are watching the blogosphere because it is fast becoming the only place to reliably find the real journalists' work.
COMMENT #60 [Permalink]
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jack medoff
said on 5/8/2005 @ 3:10 pm PT...
White type on a black background is immpossible to read on your site. Make it white on black.
Your blog is unreadable in its current form.
COMMENT #61 [Permalink]
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Anonymous
said on 5/8/2005 @ 4:22 pm PT...
You folks just don't understand. The new rules say the Democrats need 55% of the vote to win - and they fell short! Get with the program.
COMMENT #62 [Permalink]
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Dredd
said on 5/11/2005 @ 10:20 am PT...
MG #60
You said "A few of us here ARE mainstream-media journalists and have told the forum, from the horses' mouths, that there definitely is a media blackout on election fraud."
You realize that our criticism of the MSM is not directed toward the antibodies within it that are working against the infection of the neocon coup.
The true american journalist within the MSM, of which every patriot is proud, is the partner of the true american journalists here in the blogosphere.
COMMENT #63 [Permalink]
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Mark W.
said on 5/16/2005 @ 3:00 am PT...
Wake up Americans. MG and others, you should find a different outlet to get the truth about election fraud out to the people.
This blackout can't be so stiffly controlled by such an unorganized, unfounded crime ring.
They are clumsy, and so the truth will ring out and it must ring out.
Read the faults of Tom DeLay who is admitting to his own misguided, evil actions.
It looks like the truth is finally hitting hard on Tom DeLay, and he has finally woken up to the facts of the evil which has gripped full hold of his life.
"If you stand up today and acknowledge God, they will try to destroy you." His main mission in politics, he said, was "to bring us back to the Constitution and to Absolute Truth that has been manipulated and destroyed by a liberal worldview."
He struck a similarly pious note --- but with a much less combative tone --- last week at a National Day of Prayer gathering on Capitol Hill. "Just think of what we could accomplish if we checked our pride at the door, if collectively we all spent less time taking credit and more time deserving it," DeLay told the group. "If we spent less time on our soapboxes and more time on our knees." He added that God makes all thing possible for "lowly sinners like you and me --- especially me." "
The real question is, who in this group called the "Council for National Policy" really honestly deliberately believed the idea that the Liberals and so called world view was so against god in the first place? That all others who are not conservative are EVIL and persecuting god, and who exactly made this belief so prominent?
Who recited this homonym so many times, that it became synomonous with what all the republicans are embellished in? A false form of GOD and ritual happenstance.
http://www.washingtonpos...8/AR2005050800835_2.html
What kind of disgusting America have we created, when the likes of this man Ralph Reed becomes the voice of Congress?
http://www.ecotalk.org/V...tingMachineCompanies.htm
Or the fact that they own and control the voting? Tom DeLay has spent his last cent, he knows the sins of which he is guilty of. But the rest of them are equally complicit and they need to wake, awake to the nightmare reality which is now taking shape.
George Bush, this man Jack Abramoff and these other religious tyrants have clearly created one of the most distorted and in fact dangerous viewpoints to see the world from.
The view that church and state must be married for things to be harmonious, that god influenced companies must control and pay for our vote, and that evil lies in the black hearted world. The world of the liberals and global "democracies"!
Do you know where else this amazing sentiment became their actual belief? The first Republic in Star Wars, until there was no more seperation. The Republic became the empire.
This needs to end once and for all. And it needs to end right now.
Max W.