Why we cannot get answers about the mysterious death of Pfc. LaVena Johnson
Sexual Assault in the Military: A DoD Cover-Up?
Friday 01 August 2008
by Col. Ann Wright, Truthdig
There was quite a struggle in Congress this week. The Department of Defense refused to allow the senior civilian in charge of its Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO) to testify in Thursday's hearing on sexual assault in the military.
Rep. John Tierney, chair of the House Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, angrily dismissed Principal Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Michael Dominguez from the hearing when Dominguez said that he, the DoD chief of legislative affairs and the chief of public affairs, had ordered Dr. Kaye Whitley, chief of SAPRO, to refuse to honor the subpoena issued by the subcommittee for her appearance.
Full committee Chairman Henry Waxman called the DoD's decision to prevent Whitley from testifying "ridiculous and indicating DoD is covering something up." It could also place Whitley in contempt of Congress. Rep. Christopher Shays said the DoD's decision was "foolish."
One of the questions that would have been put to Whitley was why DoD had taken three years to name a 15-person civilian task force to look into allegations of sexual assault of military personnel. The panel was finally named early in 2008 but has yet to meet. She would have also been queried on the SAPRO program's failure to require key information from the military in order to evaluate the effectiveness of sexual assault prevention and response programs.
I spoke with Dr. Whitley in April 2007 and had asked for an appointment to bring to her office four military women who had been sexually assaulted and wanted to tell her in what ways the DoD programs to prevent sexual assault were not working. Whitley declined, saying she worked at the policy level, and steered me to the chief of the Army sexual assault program.
I called the Army program's chief, who initially said she would talk to our group. However, when I mentioned that the mother of Army Spc. Suzanne Swift, who had been raped in Iraq, would be with us, she said she could not meet with anyone involved with an ongoing case. I replied that Swift's case was closed as far as the Army was concerned. Her rapist had not been prosecuted, and Swift ended up with a court-martial and 30 days of jail time because she had gone AWOL for her own protection when the Army would not move her out of the unit to which both she and her rapist were still assigned. In view of the fact that the Army chief of prevention of sexual assault refused to meet with any of the four women who had suggestions on how to improve prevention and reporting of sexual assault and rape, I'm not surprised that the DoD snubbed Congress over the same issue.
Rep. Elijah Cummings joined Rep. Waxman in speaking of cover-ups. Cummings raised the cases of military women who had been sexually assaulted before dying in "non-combat incidents." He spoke specifically about Army Pfc. LaVena Johnson, who was found beaten and dead of a gunshot wound at Balad Air Base, Iraq, in a burning tent owned by the contractor KBR. Her parents suspected that Johnson had been murdered and that the homicide was being covered up by the Army, which deemed the death a suicide. Cummings also spoke of Army Pfc. Tina Priest, who was raped at Taji, Iraq, and found dead 10 days later of a gunshot wound. After her family had measurements taken of her arms and of the angle of the bullet and found that she could not have pulled the trigger of her M-16 with her finger, the Army said she had pulled the trigger by using her toe. Cummings asked Lt. Gen. Michael Rochelle, chief of U.S. Army personnel, for assistance in getting all the documents the Army had on Johnson's death. Additionally, four House members have asked for congressional hearings on the deaths of military personnel who have been classified as suicides, among them LaVena Johnson.
The fireworks with DoD followed the dramatic testimony of Mary Lauterbach, the mother of murdered pregnant Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, who had been raped in May 2007 at Camp Lejeune, N.C. Accused in the case is Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean. After the rape, several protective orders were issued to keep Laurean away from his victim. The burned body of Lauterbach and her unborn baby were found in a shallow grave in the backyard of Laurean's home in January 2008. Laurean fled to Mexico, where he was subsequently apprehended, and he now is awaiting extradition to the United States to stand trial. Lauterbach's mother explained in great detail the warning signs that Laurean was a danger to her daughter and claimed that all these signs were ignored by the Marine Corps.
Two other military women have been murdered near military bases in North Carolina in the past two months.
Red Cross employee Ingrid Torres told the subcommittee of being raped at Kunsan Air Base in South Korea by an Air Force flight doctor. She spoke of the difficulty she had obtaining medical and emotional treatment from the facility where the doctor still worked, and later from military facilities in other parts of the world where she was assigned.
Rep. Jane Harman cited Veterans Administration statistics that one in three women in the military has been sexually assaulted. She said the prosecution rate of those accused of raping fellow military service members is abysmally low. Of the 2,212 reported rapes in the military in 2007, only 8 percent of the cases ended in court-martial of the perpetrator, while the rate of prosecution in civilian courts is 40 percent.
Lt. Gen. Rochelle, the Army chief of personnel, reported the little known statistic that 12 percent of reported rapes in the military are of male military personnel.
Rep. Shays said he had no confidence in DoD or the military services and their policies of prevention of sexual assault, and asked how recruiting will fare when young women learn that one in three women is sexually assaulted and when young men find out that one in 10 men is raped while in the military.
Brenda Farrell, director of the Government Accountability Office, said that getting data on rape from the military services is difficult because there are no common definitions of terms for the services to use in such cases.
Farrell said the GAO believes rates of sexual assault currently used by DoD are low because many military personnel do not want to report what happened and suffer the gossip, harassment and stigma prevalent in units when confidential reporting is compromised. In a survey of 3,757 persons on 14 military installations, 103 said they had been sexually assaulted in the past year and had reported it, while 52 others said they did not report the sexual assault.
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:
Sexual violence against both female and male military personnel must stop. Let Congress know of your concern about sexual assault in our military. Call or e-mail members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees and members of the Oversight and Government Reform committees.
--------
About the Author: Ann Wright is a retired Army Reserve colonel and a 29-year veteran of the Army and Army Reserves. She was also a diplomat in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Micronesia, Afghanistan and Mongolia. She resigned from the Department of State on March 19, 2003, in opposition to the Iraq war. She is the co-author of "Dissent: Voices of Conscience" (www.voicesofconscience.com).
Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, who reported being raped in May 2007, was found dead, along with her unborn child, in January 2008 in the backyard of the suspect in the case, Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean. A Progressive Journal of News and Opinion. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman.
(See also Eddie Griffin (BASG) LaVena Johnson Files)
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
JUST VOTE!
If you are 18 years or older, an American citizen, and registered, you can vote, from anywhere in the world. It's easy. It's fun. Start charting the course of your own future by voting for the candidate who best represents your needs and the needs of the country. Make no mistake about the importance of this 2008 election season.
GOD BLESS AMERICA,
From Eddie Griffin
GOD BLESS AMERICA,
From Eddie Griffin
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Quest into the Death of Pfc. LaVena Johnson
Dear Congress:
Pfc. LaVena Johnson died for her country in Iraq... eight days shy of her twentieth birthday. But she did not die like the faithful soldier she was. Neither does it appear that she died of suicide like the U. S. Army claims.
On Thursday, July 31 at 10:00 am, the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs will conduct an oversight hearing into the current status of sexual response and prevention within the U.S. military. The hearing entitled, “Oversight Hearing on Sexual Assault in the Military”, will feature testimony from two individuals who have experienced difficulties in how the U.S. military responded to incidents of rape they or a family member personally experienced while living on military installations.
We have petitioned Chairman Henry Waxman to reopen the case of Pfc. LaVena Johnson. We ask for your help and assistance.
File Information:
From Shakespear Sister Blog:
Once upon a time lived a young woman from a St. Louis suburb. She was an honor roll student, she played the violin, she donated blood and volunteered for American Heart Association walks. She elected to put off college for a while and joined the Army once out of school. At Fort Campbell, KY, she was assigned as a weapons supply manager to the 129th Corps Support Battalion.
She was LaVena Johnson, private first class, and she died near Balad, Iraq, on July 19, 2005, just eight days shy of her twentieth birthday. She was the first woman soldier from Missouri to die while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.
An Army representative initially told LaVena's father, Dr. John Johnson, that his daughter died of "died of self-inflicted, non-combat injuries," but initially added that it was not a suicide. The subsequent Army investigation reversed this finding and declared LaVena's death a suicide, a finding refuted by the soldier's family. In an article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dr. Johnson pointed to indications that his daughter had endured a physical struggle before she died - two loose front teeth, a "busted lip" that had to be reconstructed by the funeral home - suggesting that "someone might have punched her in the mouth."
KMOV Channel 4 News Report Findings into the Death of Pfc. Johnson
When the Private Johnson’s parents received her body, “they noticed signs that she had been beaten. That was when they started asking questions… After two years of being denied answers and hearing explanations that made no sense, the Johnsons received a CD-ROM from someone on the inside. It contained pictures of the crime scene where LaVena died and an autopsy showing that she had suffered bruises, abrasions, a dislocated shoulder, broken teeth, and some type of sexual assault. Her body was partially burned; she had been doused in a flammable liquid, and someone had set her body on fire. A corrosive chemical had been poured in her genital area, perhaps to cover up evidence of rape.
Still the Army sticks by their story. They refuse to explain the overwhelming physical evidence that LaVena was raped and murdered and continue to claim that she killed herself.
Inquiries into Nowhere
Army officials refuse to reexamine the LaVena Johnson case, declaring the matter closed. But they had also declared the case of Pat Tillman closed. They altered the fact that he had been killed by “friendly fire”, just one instance in a series of military cover-ups, at the time.
Now military officials tell one story and the mortician tells another. Who am I to believe?
From henceforth: I would advise women soldiers to defend themselves against wolves in patriotic sheep clothing. And, to African-Americans, avoid the U.S. Army altogether.
Pfc. LaVena Johnson died for her country in Iraq... eight days shy of her twentieth birthday. But she did not die like the faithful soldier she was. Neither does it appear that she died of suicide like the U. S. Army claims.
On Thursday, July 31 at 10:00 am, the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs will conduct an oversight hearing into the current status of sexual response and prevention within the U.S. military. The hearing entitled, “Oversight Hearing on Sexual Assault in the Military”, will feature testimony from two individuals who have experienced difficulties in how the U.S. military responded to incidents of rape they or a family member personally experienced while living on military installations.
We have petitioned Chairman Henry Waxman to reopen the case of Pfc. LaVena Johnson. We ask for your help and assistance.
File Information:
From Shakespear Sister Blog:
Once upon a time lived a young woman from a St. Louis suburb. She was an honor roll student, she played the violin, she donated blood and volunteered for American Heart Association walks. She elected to put off college for a while and joined the Army once out of school. At Fort Campbell, KY, she was assigned as a weapons supply manager to the 129th Corps Support Battalion.
She was LaVena Johnson, private first class, and she died near Balad, Iraq, on July 19, 2005, just eight days shy of her twentieth birthday. She was the first woman soldier from Missouri to die while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.
An Army representative initially told LaVena's father, Dr. John Johnson, that his daughter died of "died of self-inflicted, non-combat injuries," but initially added that it was not a suicide. The subsequent Army investigation reversed this finding and declared LaVena's death a suicide, a finding refuted by the soldier's family. In an article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dr. Johnson pointed to indications that his daughter had endured a physical struggle before she died - two loose front teeth, a "busted lip" that had to be reconstructed by the funeral home - suggesting that "someone might have punched her in the mouth."
KMOV Channel 4 News Report Findings into the Death of Pfc. Johnson
When the Private Johnson’s parents received her body, “they noticed signs that she had been beaten. That was when they started asking questions… After two years of being denied answers and hearing explanations that made no sense, the Johnsons received a CD-ROM from someone on the inside. It contained pictures of the crime scene where LaVena died and an autopsy showing that she had suffered bruises, abrasions, a dislocated shoulder, broken teeth, and some type of sexual assault. Her body was partially burned; she had been doused in a flammable liquid, and someone had set her body on fire. A corrosive chemical had been poured in her genital area, perhaps to cover up evidence of rape.
Still the Army sticks by their story. They refuse to explain the overwhelming physical evidence that LaVena was raped and murdered and continue to claim that she killed herself.
Inquiries into Nowhere
Army officials refuse to reexamine the LaVena Johnson case, declaring the matter closed. But they had also declared the case of Pat Tillman closed. They altered the fact that he had been killed by “friendly fire”, just one instance in a series of military cover-ups, at the time.
Now military officials tell one story and the mortician tells another. Who am I to believe?
From henceforth: I would advise women soldiers to defend themselves against wolves in patriotic sheep clothing. And, to African-Americans, avoid the U.S. Army altogether.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Officer may be indicted for Tasing Death of Scooter
By Eddie Griffin
On Monday, July 21, I published “The Taser Death of Scooter” based up Chicago Tribune’s article “Taser death ignites racial tensions” by Howard Witt. The unconscionable tasing death of Baron “Scooter” Pikes at the hands of a white police officer in Winnfield, Louisiana in January, only a few miles from Jena, gave me reason to dismay at the state of justice in this back wood area where racism is prevalent.
In my commentary, I called upon the U. S. Department of Justice to investigate the case, because I believed that “the state of Louisiana will do nothing”. The fact that Pikes was first cousin of Jena 6 defendant Mychal Bell made the circumstances of his death all the more suspicious.
In a breaking development in today’s Chicago Tribune, Howard Witt’s update on the case, “Indictment sought for police Taser death in Louisiana”, offers a glimmer of hope for justice in the case of this young African-American, who was electrocuted by repeated tasing, while begging for his life.
According to the previous report, Dr. Randolph Williams, the Winn Parish coroner, determined after investigating the death that officer Scott Nugent administered a total of nine 50,000-volt Taser shocks to Pikes over a 14-minute period-and that the last two jolts were delivered after Pikes had lost consciousness.
After consulting about the case with Dr. Michael Baden, a nationally prominent forensic pathologist, Williams ruled last month that Pikes' death was a homicide. On the death certificate, he listed the cause of death as “cardiac arrest following nine 50,000-volt electroshock applications from a conductive electrical weapon.”
“Seeking to defuse growing racial tensions in the small Louisiana town of Winnfield,” writes Witt, “the local district attorney announced Monday that he will seek an indictment against a white police officer for the death of a black man who was shocked nine times with a Taser device while handcuffed in police custody… Winn Parish District Atty. Chris Nevils said he would convene a grand jury Aug. 12 to consider possible charges against the officer, Scott Nugent, 21, who was fired from the Winnfield Police Department following the death of Baron ‘Scooter’ Pikes.”
Eddie Griffin comment:
Why I wrong about Louisiana authorities, or is the local district attorney under pressure from public outcry? Or, does it really matter, as long as justice prevails?
There is nothing anyone can do to bring Scooter back. But it would be more tragic if the grand jury “No Bills” the officer, as southern grand juries of the past.
I have a depressing memory of how a southern grand jury treated the 1955 lynching case of 14-year old Emmett Till. The grand jury had overwhelming evidence against the assailants, but refused to indict them. Later, in a Look Magazine article, Tills murderers were paid $4,000 to tell their stories. They confused knowing that they could not be tried again. And, at the time, there were no civil rights laws to prosecute hate crimes.
The lynching of this Chicago teenager in the small back wood Delta town of Money, Mississippi spurred an investigation by the NAACP. The investigator, Medgar Evers, was later assassinated on June 12, 1963 by klansman Bryon De La Beckwith, who was tried twice for the murder in the 1960s, but not convicted until 1994.
The summary electrocution death of Baron “Scooter” Pikes may still go unpunished, considering the nature of back woods justice. But it will not go unnoticed.
As for young black men, I would advise that they stay away from police with tasers. And, I would also advise the black community to hold their local police departments accountable for the deployment, use, and abuse of these 50,000-volt devices.
On Monday, July 21, I published “The Taser Death of Scooter” based up Chicago Tribune’s article “Taser death ignites racial tensions” by Howard Witt. The unconscionable tasing death of Baron “Scooter” Pikes at the hands of a white police officer in Winnfield, Louisiana in January, only a few miles from Jena, gave me reason to dismay at the state of justice in this back wood area where racism is prevalent.
In my commentary, I called upon the U. S. Department of Justice to investigate the case, because I believed that “the state of Louisiana will do nothing”. The fact that Pikes was first cousin of Jena 6 defendant Mychal Bell made the circumstances of his death all the more suspicious.
In a breaking development in today’s Chicago Tribune, Howard Witt’s update on the case, “Indictment sought for police Taser death in Louisiana”, offers a glimmer of hope for justice in the case of this young African-American, who was electrocuted by repeated tasing, while begging for his life.
According to the previous report, Dr. Randolph Williams, the Winn Parish coroner, determined after investigating the death that officer Scott Nugent administered a total of nine 50,000-volt Taser shocks to Pikes over a 14-minute period-and that the last two jolts were delivered after Pikes had lost consciousness.
After consulting about the case with Dr. Michael Baden, a nationally prominent forensic pathologist, Williams ruled last month that Pikes' death was a homicide. On the death certificate, he listed the cause of death as “cardiac arrest following nine 50,000-volt electroshock applications from a conductive electrical weapon.”
“Seeking to defuse growing racial tensions in the small Louisiana town of Winnfield,” writes Witt, “the local district attorney announced Monday that he will seek an indictment against a white police officer for the death of a black man who was shocked nine times with a Taser device while handcuffed in police custody… Winn Parish District Atty. Chris Nevils said he would convene a grand jury Aug. 12 to consider possible charges against the officer, Scott Nugent, 21, who was fired from the Winnfield Police Department following the death of Baron ‘Scooter’ Pikes.”
Eddie Griffin comment:
Why I wrong about Louisiana authorities, or is the local district attorney under pressure from public outcry? Or, does it really matter, as long as justice prevails?
There is nothing anyone can do to bring Scooter back. But it would be more tragic if the grand jury “No Bills” the officer, as southern grand juries of the past.
I have a depressing memory of how a southern grand jury treated the 1955 lynching case of 14-year old Emmett Till. The grand jury had overwhelming evidence against the assailants, but refused to indict them. Later, in a Look Magazine article, Tills murderers were paid $4,000 to tell their stories. They confused knowing that they could not be tried again. And, at the time, there were no civil rights laws to prosecute hate crimes.
The lynching of this Chicago teenager in the small back wood Delta town of Money, Mississippi spurred an investigation by the NAACP. The investigator, Medgar Evers, was later assassinated on June 12, 1963 by klansman Bryon De La Beckwith, who was tried twice for the murder in the 1960s, but not convicted until 1994.
The summary electrocution death of Baron “Scooter” Pikes may still go unpunished, considering the nature of back woods justice. But it will not go unnoticed.
As for young black men, I would advise that they stay away from police with tasers. And, I would also advise the black community to hold their local police departments accountable for the deployment, use, and abuse of these 50,000-volt devices.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
FOX News Confronted by Hip-Hop Activists
By Eddie Griffin
Thursday, July 24, 2008
It’s on, baby. It was just a matter of time before FOX News got on our last black nerve. Hip-Hop rap artist Nas took it to FOX on the straight up… 620,000 petitions from ColorOfChange, the powerful online blogger syndicate of activists.
In a June 23, 2008 editorial on my BASG blog, I wrote:
We Do Not Accept FOX Channel’s apology, but rather demand the release of certain news commentators.
PLEASE COMPILE LIST of FOX news personalities that MUST GO.
FOX commentators like Bill O’Reilly of The O'Reilly Factor and Sean Hannity of Hannity & Colmes are parties of the “Axis of Ignorance”, as described by Dr. Boyce Watkins, and have together been instrumental in racist degrading insults against African-Americans. Black bloggers, allied with Color of Change, have published column upon columns of criticism related to these television personalities. The resent insult against the Obama family is the straw that broke the camels back.
A short review of FOX slander, misinformation, insults, and racist comments, visit Eddie Griffin (BASG)
Major Fox Advertisers
Earl J. Hesterberg
Vice President, Marketing
Ford Motor Company
1 American Rd
Dearborn, MI 48126-2701
TEL: (313) 322-3000
FAX: 313-845-6073
Koichi Kondo
President& CEO
American Honda Motor Co.,
Inc.
1919 Torrance Boulevard
Mail Stop: 500 - 2N - 7D
Torrance, CA 90501-2746
TEL: (800) 999-1009
FAX: (310) 783-3023
Rick Kornhauser
Vice President, Marketing
Chattem, Inc.
1715 W 38th St
Chattanooga, TN 37409-1248
TEL: (800) 366-6077
FAX: (423) 821-0395
Patrick M. Byrne
Chairman & President
Overstock.com
6322 S 3000 E Ste 100
Salt Lake City, UT 84121-6931
TEL: (801) 947-3100
FAX: (801) 944-4629
William R. Rhodes
Chairman
Citibank
399 Park Ave
New York, NY 10022
TEL: (800) 285-3000
FAX:
Henry A. McKinnell, Jr.
Chairman & CEO
Pfizer
235 E 42nd St
New York, NY 10017-5755
TEL: (212) 573-2323
(212) 573-7851
Javed Ahmed
Executive Vice President
Reckitt Benckiser Inc.
Morris Corporate Center IV
399 Interpace Parkway
Parsippany, NJ 07054-0225
TEL: (800) 333-3899
FAX: (973) 404-5700
R. Kerry Clark
Vice Chairman
Procter & Gamble
1 Procter & Gamble Plaza
Cincinnati, OH 45202
TEL: 513-983-1100
FAX: 513-983-9369
Charles Fruit
Chief Marketing Officer
The Coca Cola Company
1 Coca Cola Plaza
Atlanta, GA 30313
TEL: 404-676-2121
FAX: 404-676-6792
Paul Carothers
Vice President, Public Affairs
Kraft Foods
3 Lakes Drive
Northfield, IL 60093
TEL: 847-646-2000
FAX: 847-646-6005
Kathleen Flaherty
Chief Marketing Officer
AT&T
1 AT&T Way
Bedminster, NJ 07921
TEL: 908-221-2000
FAX: 908-532-1675
John Middlebrook
Vice President
General Motors
300 Renaissance Center
Detroit, MI 48265-3000
TEL: 313-556-5000
FAX: 248-696-7300
Janine M. Bousquette
Chief Marketing Officer
Sears
3333 Beverly Rd
Hoffman Estates, IL 60179
TEL: 847-286-2500
FAX: 847-286-7829
Kelly Mankin
Vice President, Marketing
DaimlerChrysler
1000 Chrysler Dr
Auburn Hills, MI 48326-2766
TEL: 248-576-5741
FAX: 248-576-4742
Jill Kelly-Paget
Corporate Communications
Director
MediaVest
1675 Broadway
New York, NY 10019
TEL: 212-468-3828
FAX: 212-468-4110
Charlie Rutman
President
Carat USA
3 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10016
TEL: 212-689-6800
FAX: 212-689-6005
Dennis Donlin
President
General Motors Planworks
150 W. Jefferson, Suite 400
Detroit, MI 48226
TEL: 313-237-8111
FAX: 313-237-8490
Cheri Carpenter
Media Contact
Starcom MediaVest
35 W. Wacker Drive
Chicago, IL 60601
TEL: 312.220.6218
FAX: 312.220.6530
Bob Lilley
Vice President, Media Marketing
Optimedia
375 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
TEL: 212-820-3161
FAX: 212-820-3300
Charles Courtier
Worldwide Executive Chairman
MediaEdge
825 Seventh Avenue
New York, NY 10019
TEL: 212-474-0000
FAX: 212-474-0001
Robert Mancini
Executive Director
Ford Motor Media
500 Woodward Ave.
Detroit, MI, 48226-3428
TEL: 313-964-3800
FAX: 313-845-6073
Marc Goldstein
Chief Executive Officer
MindShare
498 7th Ave
New York, NY 10018
TEL: 646-756-4000
FAX: 646-756-4060
Mike Vogel
Chief Executive Officer
PHD Detroit
840 W Long Lake Rd
Troy, MI 48098
TEL: 248-293-3400
FAX: 248-293-3434
Peter M. Butterfield
President and CEO
KIA
PO Box 52410
Irvine, CA 92619-2410
TEL: 949-470-7000
FAX: 949-470-2800
Richard D. Fairbank
Chairman, President and CEO
Capital One
1680 Capital One Dr
McLean, VA 22042-4500
TEL: 703-720-1000
FAX:
Jay Carothers
Chairman and CEO
Levitz
300 Crossways Park Dr
Woodbury, NY 11797
TEL: (516) 496-9560
FAX: (631) 927-1780
John Stratton
VP & Chief Mktg Officer
Verizon
180 Washington Valley Rd
Bedminster, NJ 07921-2120
TEL: (800) 214-3555
FAX: (908) 306-7766
John F. Antioco
Chm & CEO
Blockbuster
1201 Elm St
Dallas, TX 75270-2102
TEL: (214) 854-3000
FAX:
Yukitoshi Funo
Pres
TOYOTA
19001 S Western Ave
Torrance, CA 90501-1106
TEL: (310) 468-4000
FAX: (310) 468-7800
Eric Milledge
Company Group Chairman
LifeScan, Inc.
1000 Gibraltar Drive
Milpitas, CA 95035
TEL: (408) 263-9789
FAX:
Jim Julow
Vice President
Dodge Magnum/Dakota,
DamlierChysler Corp
1000 Chrysler Dr
Auburn Hills, MI 48326-2766
TEL: (248) 576-5741
FAX: (248) 512-2817
Emil J. Brolick
President
Taco Bell
17901 Von Karman Ave
Irvine, CA 92614-6253
TEL: (949) 863-4500
FAX: (949) 863-409
Marc Covent
President
Slim Fast
777 S Flagler Dr Ste 1400
West Palm Beach, FL 33401-
6176
TEL: (561) 833-9920
FAX: (561) 822-2876
William R Rhodes
Chairman
Citigroup
TEL: (212) 793-6872
Fox News Channel
1211 Ave. of the Americas
New York, NY 10036
Phone: (212) 301-3000
Fax: (212) 301-4229
comments@foxnews.com
List of Email addresses for all Fox News Channel programs
Special Report with Brit Hume: Special@foxnews.com
FOX Report with Shepard Smith: Foxreport@foxnews.com
The O'Reilly Factor: Oreilly@foxnews.com
Hannity & Colmes: Hannity@foxnews.com, Colmes@foxnews.com
On the Record with Greta: Ontherecord@foxnews.com
Thursday, July 24, 2008
It’s on, baby. It was just a matter of time before FOX News got on our last black nerve. Hip-Hop rap artist Nas took it to FOX on the straight up… 620,000 petitions from ColorOfChange, the powerful online blogger syndicate of activists.
In a June 23, 2008 editorial on my BASG blog, I wrote:
We Do Not Accept FOX Channel’s apology, but rather demand the release of certain news commentators.
PLEASE COMPILE LIST of FOX news personalities that MUST GO.
FOX commentators like Bill O’Reilly of The O'Reilly Factor and Sean Hannity of Hannity & Colmes are parties of the “Axis of Ignorance”, as described by Dr. Boyce Watkins, and have together been instrumental in racist degrading insults against African-Americans. Black bloggers, allied with Color of Change, have published column upon columns of criticism related to these television personalities. The resent insult against the Obama family is the straw that broke the camels back.
A short review of FOX slander, misinformation, insults, and racist comments, visit Eddie Griffin (BASG)
Major Fox Advertisers
Earl J. Hesterberg
Vice President, Marketing
Ford Motor Company
1 American Rd
Dearborn, MI 48126-2701
TEL: (313) 322-3000
FAX: 313-845-6073
Koichi Kondo
President& CEO
American Honda Motor Co.,
Inc.
1919 Torrance Boulevard
Mail Stop: 500 - 2N - 7D
Torrance, CA 90501-2746
TEL: (800) 999-1009
FAX: (310) 783-3023
Rick Kornhauser
Vice President, Marketing
Chattem, Inc.
1715 W 38th St
Chattanooga, TN 37409-1248
TEL: (800) 366-6077
FAX: (423) 821-0395
Patrick M. Byrne
Chairman & President
Overstock.com
6322 S 3000 E Ste 100
Salt Lake City, UT 84121-6931
TEL: (801) 947-3100
FAX: (801) 944-4629
William R. Rhodes
Chairman
Citibank
399 Park Ave
New York, NY 10022
TEL: (800) 285-3000
FAX:
Henry A. McKinnell, Jr.
Chairman & CEO
Pfizer
235 E 42nd St
New York, NY 10017-5755
TEL: (212) 573-2323
(212) 573-7851
Javed Ahmed
Executive Vice President
Reckitt Benckiser Inc.
Morris Corporate Center IV
399 Interpace Parkway
Parsippany, NJ 07054-0225
TEL: (800) 333-3899
FAX: (973) 404-5700
R. Kerry Clark
Vice Chairman
Procter & Gamble
1 Procter & Gamble Plaza
Cincinnati, OH 45202
TEL: 513-983-1100
FAX: 513-983-9369
Charles Fruit
Chief Marketing Officer
The Coca Cola Company
1 Coca Cola Plaza
Atlanta, GA 30313
TEL: 404-676-2121
FAX: 404-676-6792
Paul Carothers
Vice President, Public Affairs
Kraft Foods
3 Lakes Drive
Northfield, IL 60093
TEL: 847-646-2000
FAX: 847-646-6005
Kathleen Flaherty
Chief Marketing Officer
AT&T
1 AT&T Way
Bedminster, NJ 07921
TEL: 908-221-2000
FAX: 908-532-1675
John Middlebrook
Vice President
General Motors
300 Renaissance Center
Detroit, MI 48265-3000
TEL: 313-556-5000
FAX: 248-696-7300
Janine M. Bousquette
Chief Marketing Officer
Sears
3333 Beverly Rd
Hoffman Estates, IL 60179
TEL: 847-286-2500
FAX: 847-286-7829
Kelly Mankin
Vice President, Marketing
DaimlerChrysler
1000 Chrysler Dr
Auburn Hills, MI 48326-2766
TEL: 248-576-5741
FAX: 248-576-4742
Jill Kelly-Paget
Corporate Communications
Director
MediaVest
1675 Broadway
New York, NY 10019
TEL: 212-468-3828
FAX: 212-468-4110
Charlie Rutman
President
Carat USA
3 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10016
TEL: 212-689-6800
FAX: 212-689-6005
Dennis Donlin
President
General Motors Planworks
150 W. Jefferson, Suite 400
Detroit, MI 48226
TEL: 313-237-8111
FAX: 313-237-8490
Cheri Carpenter
Media Contact
Starcom MediaVest
35 W. Wacker Drive
Chicago, IL 60601
TEL: 312.220.6218
FAX: 312.220.6530
Bob Lilley
Vice President, Media Marketing
Optimedia
375 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
TEL: 212-820-3161
FAX: 212-820-3300
Charles Courtier
Worldwide Executive Chairman
MediaEdge
825 Seventh Avenue
New York, NY 10019
TEL: 212-474-0000
FAX: 212-474-0001
Robert Mancini
Executive Director
Ford Motor Media
500 Woodward Ave.
Detroit, MI, 48226-3428
TEL: 313-964-3800
FAX: 313-845-6073
Marc Goldstein
Chief Executive Officer
MindShare
498 7th Ave
New York, NY 10018
TEL: 646-756-4000
FAX: 646-756-4060
Mike Vogel
Chief Executive Officer
PHD Detroit
840 W Long Lake Rd
Troy, MI 48098
TEL: 248-293-3400
FAX: 248-293-3434
Peter M. Butterfield
President and CEO
KIA
PO Box 52410
Irvine, CA 92619-2410
TEL: 949-470-7000
FAX: 949-470-2800
Richard D. Fairbank
Chairman, President and CEO
Capital One
1680 Capital One Dr
McLean, VA 22042-4500
TEL: 703-720-1000
FAX:
Jay Carothers
Chairman and CEO
Levitz
300 Crossways Park Dr
Woodbury, NY 11797
TEL: (516) 496-9560
FAX: (631) 927-1780
John Stratton
VP & Chief Mktg Officer
Verizon
180 Washington Valley Rd
Bedminster, NJ 07921-2120
TEL: (800) 214-3555
FAX: (908) 306-7766
John F. Antioco
Chm & CEO
Blockbuster
1201 Elm St
Dallas, TX 75270-2102
TEL: (214) 854-3000
FAX:
Yukitoshi Funo
Pres
TOYOTA
19001 S Western Ave
Torrance, CA 90501-1106
TEL: (310) 468-4000
FAX: (310) 468-7800
Eric Milledge
Company Group Chairman
LifeScan, Inc.
1000 Gibraltar Drive
Milpitas, CA 95035
TEL: (408) 263-9789
FAX:
Jim Julow
Vice President
Dodge Magnum/Dakota,
DamlierChysler Corp
1000 Chrysler Dr
Auburn Hills, MI 48326-2766
TEL: (248) 576-5741
FAX: (248) 512-2817
Emil J. Brolick
President
Taco Bell
17901 Von Karman Ave
Irvine, CA 92614-6253
TEL: (949) 863-4500
FAX: (949) 863-409
Marc Covent
President
Slim Fast
777 S Flagler Dr Ste 1400
West Palm Beach, FL 33401-
6176
TEL: (561) 833-9920
FAX: (561) 822-2876
William R Rhodes
Chairman
Citigroup
TEL: (212) 793-6872
Fox News Channel
1211 Ave. of the Americas
New York, NY 10036
Phone: (212) 301-3000
Fax: (212) 301-4229
comments@foxnews.com
List of Email addresses for all Fox News Channel programs
Special Report with Brit Hume: Special@foxnews.com
FOX Report with Shepard Smith: Foxreport@foxnews.com
The O'Reilly Factor: Oreilly@foxnews.com
Hannity & Colmes: Hannity@foxnews.com, Colmes@foxnews.com
On the Record with Greta: Ontherecord@foxnews.com
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
The Surge and the Cost
Senator John McCain likes to boast that the surge in Iraq is working. As the cost of the war continues to pull down our national economy, the surge of troops only proves that the war is not a sink hole yet. But the drain upon national resources and public morale cannot be measured.
How can our leaders lead us down this perilous path and then sit back and watch us sink into recession, if not worse? Let former Texas senator Phil Graham tell it, we are all a nation of whiners and crybabies.
But I remember something Jesus said about a king going to war and sitting down and counting up the cost. When I reread Luke 14:28-31, I find an example of a builder who did not count up the cost And, what he built he left unfinished.
Somebody did not sit down and count up the cost of this war. Wasn’t it former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld who predicted that the cost of the war would run $50 billion?
Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and self-described opponent of the war, puts the final figure at a staggering $1 trillion to $2 trillion, including $500 billion for the war and occupation and up to $300 billion in future health care costs for wounded troops. Additional costs include a negative impact from the rising cost of oil and added interest on the national debt.
We have poured in 130,000 troops, many of whom have repeated rotations since the war started in 2003. Over 4,000 casualties and hundreds of thousand wounded.
The cost of war is the soul of a nation.
We are now guilty ourselves of inhumane acts against our enemies, including murder, arbitrary imprisonment, and torture.
The surge is working, but not in the right direction. We have created more enemies in the world, than we have friends, and our friends have abandoned us slowly. This is a U.S. invasion, not a NATO invasion. So called allies were relegated to a stick figure role in the conflict. We are out here, and at it, all alone, imbued in a stew of self-righteousness.
The outgoing Commander-in-Chief George W. Bush sat down and counted up what cost before he invaded Iraq?
A bird told him in his ear that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction… a wrong calculation. Then the American public was misinformed that Iraq supported al-Qaeda, which would imply that Saddam Hussein was in collusion with Osama bin Laden… wrong again.
This premise of base assumptions for going to war was wrong. Therefore, if the premise is wrong, how can you reach a right conclusion? There it is, simple stupid logic: Premise plus Argument upon Argument upon Argument leads to wrong Conclusion when the Premise is fabricated and faulty.
Some say, however, that the US was after Iraqi oil. The Iraqi pipeline and infrastructure became a high risk investment for somebody, especially considering the internal dispute over who would have power over the oil. Defending this investment has been the total cost of this war so far, a cost not calculated.
After all, the war was supposed to be over quickly, but western machines and vehicles endured constant sand damage, pipelines were blown up by militants, villagers were terrorized, caught betwixt and between insurgent and invaders. Thus began the mass exodus out of the country.
The U. S. attempt to install a new government turned sour. The people did not want a puppet regime like the late Shah of Iran, the last monarch and western puppet, nicknamed “king of kings” because of his vast wealth holding. However, the shah and his western friends were deposed in the Iranian Revolution in 1979.
Eventually, the Shah of Iran wondered from country to country, with a horde of the Iranian treasury in tow. Finally, he wounded up in the U.S. under a medical umbrella provided by President Jimmy Carter. The Iranian people protested and took American hostages. The U.S. has been barred from reentering Iran since.
NOW, President George W. Bush is not the greatest military strategist in the world. In military IQ, he would have been dead last for the SNAFU in Iraq.
One would think George would have learned something from Texas history about General Sam Houston, and how he enticed General Santa Anna and his Mexican army deeper and deeper into the wilderness of Texas, far north of the Rio Grande, far away from its supply lines. Then he doubled back and caught the Mexicans napping.
Why were they napping on the battlefield? The large and highly trained Mexican army was literally invincible. Remember the Alamo massacre.
But Santa Anna was overconfident against a little rag-tag bunch of rebels. They never expected Sam Houston to double back on them.
By the same token, we, the American public, never expected an Iraqi insurgency would arise and sustain itself. In the eyes of our Commander-in-Chief, this must have looked like a little rag-tag army.
What part of the Arab language does King George not understand? Jihad means fight to the death of the last man.
How can our leaders lead us down this perilous path and then sit back and watch us sink into recession, if not worse? Let former Texas senator Phil Graham tell it, we are all a nation of whiners and crybabies.
But I remember something Jesus said about a king going to war and sitting down and counting up the cost. When I reread Luke 14:28-31, I find an example of a builder who did not count up the cost And, what he built he left unfinished.
Somebody did not sit down and count up the cost of this war. Wasn’t it former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld who predicted that the cost of the war would run $50 billion?
Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and self-described opponent of the war, puts the final figure at a staggering $1 trillion to $2 trillion, including $500 billion for the war and occupation and up to $300 billion in future health care costs for wounded troops. Additional costs include a negative impact from the rising cost of oil and added interest on the national debt.
We have poured in 130,000 troops, many of whom have repeated rotations since the war started in 2003. Over 4,000 casualties and hundreds of thousand wounded.
The cost of war is the soul of a nation.
We are now guilty ourselves of inhumane acts against our enemies, including murder, arbitrary imprisonment, and torture.
The surge is working, but not in the right direction. We have created more enemies in the world, than we have friends, and our friends have abandoned us slowly. This is a U.S. invasion, not a NATO invasion. So called allies were relegated to a stick figure role in the conflict. We are out here, and at it, all alone, imbued in a stew of self-righteousness.
The outgoing Commander-in-Chief George W. Bush sat down and counted up what cost before he invaded Iraq?
A bird told him in his ear that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction… a wrong calculation. Then the American public was misinformed that Iraq supported al-Qaeda, which would imply that Saddam Hussein was in collusion with Osama bin Laden… wrong again.
This premise of base assumptions for going to war was wrong. Therefore, if the premise is wrong, how can you reach a right conclusion? There it is, simple stupid logic: Premise plus Argument upon Argument upon Argument leads to wrong Conclusion when the Premise is fabricated and faulty.
Some say, however, that the US was after Iraqi oil. The Iraqi pipeline and infrastructure became a high risk investment for somebody, especially considering the internal dispute over who would have power over the oil. Defending this investment has been the total cost of this war so far, a cost not calculated.
After all, the war was supposed to be over quickly, but western machines and vehicles endured constant sand damage, pipelines were blown up by militants, villagers were terrorized, caught betwixt and between insurgent and invaders. Thus began the mass exodus out of the country.
The U. S. attempt to install a new government turned sour. The people did not want a puppet regime like the late Shah of Iran, the last monarch and western puppet, nicknamed “king of kings” because of his vast wealth holding. However, the shah and his western friends were deposed in the Iranian Revolution in 1979.
Eventually, the Shah of Iran wondered from country to country, with a horde of the Iranian treasury in tow. Finally, he wounded up in the U.S. under a medical umbrella provided by President Jimmy Carter. The Iranian people protested and took American hostages. The U.S. has been barred from reentering Iran since.
NOW, President George W. Bush is not the greatest military strategist in the world. In military IQ, he would have been dead last for the SNAFU in Iraq.
One would think George would have learned something from Texas history about General Sam Houston, and how he enticed General Santa Anna and his Mexican army deeper and deeper into the wilderness of Texas, far north of the Rio Grande, far away from its supply lines. Then he doubled back and caught the Mexicans napping.
Why were they napping on the battlefield? The large and highly trained Mexican army was literally invincible. Remember the Alamo massacre.
But Santa Anna was overconfident against a little rag-tag bunch of rebels. They never expected Sam Houston to double back on them.
By the same token, we, the American public, never expected an Iraqi insurgency would arise and sustain itself. In the eyes of our Commander-in-Chief, this must have looked like a little rag-tag army.
What part of the Arab language does King George not understand? Jihad means fight to the death of the last man.
Monday, July 21, 2008
The Taser Death of Scooter
WINNFIELD, La.-- At 1:28 p.m. last Jan. 17, Baron "Scooter" Pikes was a healthy 21-year-old man. By 2:07 p.m., he was dead… What happened in the 39 minutes in between--during which Pikes was handcuffed by local police and shocked nine times with a Taser device, while reportedly pleading for mercy--is now spawning fears of a political cover-up in this backwoods Louisiana lumber town infamous for backroom dealings, reports Howard Witt of the Chicago Tribune
This backwoods Louisiana lumber town is just 40 miles down the road from Jena, site of the massive September 20 Jena 6 Demonstration.
The coincident is just too plain to ignore. Forty miles from Jena is talking distance, and I can assume the authorities in Winnfield were very much aware of the Jena Six case.
But Howard Witt brings out more of the area’s historical background, a part of the country known for corruption and abuse of power.
Witt writes:
Here in the birthplace of two of Louisiana's most colorful and notorious governors--Huey and Earl Long--the police chief committed suicide three years ago after losing a close election marred by allegations of fraud and vote-buying… Just four months later, the district attorney killed himself after allegedly skimming $200,000 from his office budget and extorting payments from criminal defendants to make their cases go away.
The current police chief is a convicted drug offender who got a pardon from Edwin Edwards, the former Louisiana governor who is serving time in federal prison for corruption convictions… All of that tangled history is now wrapped up in the Pikes case, because Scott Nugent, the officer who Tasered him, is the well-connected son of the former police chief who killed himself--and the protégé of the current chief, who hired him onto the force.
Eddie Griffin response:
All I can think about is them electrocuting this young man while he screamed out for mercy.
How can people of good conscious bear it? Are we not horrified by the background and circumstances of this death?
As much as we know of the racial atmosphere of Jena, Louisiana, we have often suspected that the surrounding backwoods area was equally sordid with the vestiges of oppression from the time of slavery. The people here are as suppressed as blacks caught on the highway in Mississippi after dark in the 1950s. They are abused and tortured by those in state uniform, acting under the colors of law.
The key phrase here is "acting under the color of law". Therefore, the excessive use of force, in this case, is "official oppression" and "summary execution", both of which are unlawful, federal and state.
What will happen depends on the U.S. Department of Justice. The state of Louisiana will do nothing. To do otherwise, it could be held civilly liable for Scooter's death.
This backwoods Louisiana lumber town is just 40 miles down the road from Jena, site of the massive September 20 Jena 6 Demonstration.
The coincident is just too plain to ignore. Forty miles from Jena is talking distance, and I can assume the authorities in Winnfield were very much aware of the Jena Six case.
But Howard Witt brings out more of the area’s historical background, a part of the country known for corruption and abuse of power.
Witt writes:
Here in the birthplace of two of Louisiana's most colorful and notorious governors--Huey and Earl Long--the police chief committed suicide three years ago after losing a close election marred by allegations of fraud and vote-buying… Just four months later, the district attorney killed himself after allegedly skimming $200,000 from his office budget and extorting payments from criminal defendants to make their cases go away.
The current police chief is a convicted drug offender who got a pardon from Edwin Edwards, the former Louisiana governor who is serving time in federal prison for corruption convictions… All of that tangled history is now wrapped up in the Pikes case, because Scott Nugent, the officer who Tasered him, is the well-connected son of the former police chief who killed himself--and the protégé of the current chief, who hired him onto the force.
Eddie Griffin response:
All I can think about is them electrocuting this young man while he screamed out for mercy.
How can people of good conscious bear it? Are we not horrified by the background and circumstances of this death?
As much as we know of the racial atmosphere of Jena, Louisiana, we have often suspected that the surrounding backwoods area was equally sordid with the vestiges of oppression from the time of slavery. The people here are as suppressed as blacks caught on the highway in Mississippi after dark in the 1950s. They are abused and tortured by those in state uniform, acting under the colors of law.
The key phrase here is "acting under the color of law". Therefore, the excessive use of force, in this case, is "official oppression" and "summary execution", both of which are unlawful, federal and state.
What will happen depends on the U.S. Department of Justice. The state of Louisiana will do nothing. To do otherwise, it could be held civilly liable for Scooter's death.
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