Let's encourage the Chicago Tribune to run Bob Koehler's columns

I just sent an email to four of the high muckedy-mucks at the Chicago Tribune, encouraging them to run Bob Koehler's two excellent pieces based on the "Nash-ional" election reform conference. I'd like to encourage other DUers to do likewise. The four people I wrote were:

Ann Marie Lipinski, Editor ctc-editor@tribune.com
R. Bruce Dold, Editorial Page Editor bdold@tribune.com
N. Don Wycliff, Public Editor DWycliff@tribune.com
James O'Shea, Managing Editor jo'shea@tribune.com

I would encourage you folks to send them similar letters, as well as communicating with other Tribune Company newspapers. These papers include the Los Angeles Times, New York Newsday, Stamford, CT Advocate, Baltimore Sun, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Orlando Sentinel, Hartford, CT Courant, Allentown, PA Morning Call, Hampton Roads, VA Daily Press, and the Hoy and El Sentinel Spanish language newspapers.

Let's ask all these Tribune Company outlets to run Bob's columns. Jeez, just imagine how many more people would be talking election theft if we could get his columns in these papers. Now here's my letter to the Chicago Tribune:

-------- Original Message --------

Subject: Please publish the two recent columns of Robert Koehler regarding the National Election Reform Conference in Nashville, TN
Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2005 14:36:10 -0500


To the four of you, as the keepers of the Chicago Tribune's editorial page flame:

I remain very surprised and a bit chagrined that the flagship of the Tribune Media Services syndicate -- the Chicago Tribune -- has not chosen to run either one of Robert Koehler's two recent columns based on his experiences at the National Election Reform Conference in Nashville, TN (April 8-10, 2005), and the evidence for election fraud/theft that was presented there. Here are my links to Mr. Koehler's columns for your quick reference.

http://www.commonwonders.com/archives/col290.htm
http://www.commonwonders.com/archives/col291.htm

Mr. Koehler's two recent columns are among the most critically important commentary that any American newspaper could choose to make available to the American people at this time. The evidence for a 2004 election that was massively tampered-with continues to accumulate and the rising sense of unease and mistrust that our citizens (including former Democratic Presidents like Jimmy Carter and former Republican leaders like James Baker) feel regarding the voting process is palpable and is being widely discussed. Why not publish the truly informed and reality-based commentary of Bob Koehler, who listened for three days to experts from across the country who have documented this theft and who then wrote two clarion calls for the American people to sit up, stand up and speak out in defense of this democracy. No small story, this one. And no better commentary on where we are now with regard to saving the franchise than the two columns Bob Koehler produced with your assistance.

Here in Nashville, we are proud that Bob's first column has run and we remain hopeful that the Nashville Tennessean will choose to run the second column. We are also pleased to hear that Bob's first column has run in New York, Idaho and Louisiana, among other places (as well as getting tens of thousands of on-line web-hits). We are also thankful that the Philadelphia Inquirer chose to run a similar long op-ed piece today by Dr. Josh Mitteldorf on his experiences and what he learned at the same Nashville conference. It very much confirms what Bob has written. I am enclosing the Josh Mitteldorf link so that you can read an independent observer's view of the same conference, and his equally
persuasive sense of urgency with which the evidence must now be enjoined.

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/opinion/11489971.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

What we tried to accomplish in Nashville, and what Bob Koehler is accomplishing with his columns, is to call attention to the serious evidence for a failed and flawed election process. If -- in our country -- we cannot be led through the consent of the governed, then why are we presuming to lead the world? If we cannot be assured that our own leaders govern with the true assent of the governed and the accompanying power that this assent imparts, then what might we have already become?

Can you find a story line -- a thimbleful of doubt, a thread of relevance -- in anything that I have said or in the plethora of election fraud stories that continue to peculate within our media, even now, even eight months since (what)? If so, then it is your solemn duty to encourage greater public awareness, and facilitate immediate remedial dialogue and action, to help right the American ship of state. Publishing Bob Koehler's columns would be an excellent place to start supporting a return to a government of the people, by the people, for the people and at the behest of the people in this birthplace of democracy.

As for me, Bob Koehler's columns are among the most important pieces of American commentary widely circling the globe through the internet at this moment. It might be nice for the Chicago Tribune to give Bob "a room at the (hometown) inn" by publishing his columns soon. As an organization, you are already receiving credit for being Bob's employer. You should take full credit for his recent work and showcase it, as the quality and clarity of Bob's work and the position of the Chicago Tribune within the Fourth Estate commands. I would also hope that all other Tribune Company newspapers follow your lead in publishing Bob's work soon. Thank you for your consideration.

---------

OK folks, drop the Chicago Tribune and affiliated papers a line, encourage them to run Bob's columns and keep this kicked a while. I will post the relevant email addresses for all the Tribune Company papers when I get them. We need every American to read these columns -- they don't mince words.

here is my exchange w/ wycliff.

dear mr wycliff,
an op-ed column by robert c koehler, entitled "the silent scream of
numbers", has come to my attention. i had hoped to see it in my paper
today, although i was not surprised that it was not there. i hope that
that is simply a function of logistics, and it will appear in the next
day or two.
this is the central issue of our democracy. if the transparency of our
elections is so poor that they do not stand up to scrutiny, are we still
a democracy? i found it ironic that your column today dealt, in part,
with people's dissatisfaction with the MSM. we are dissatisfied, sir,
because the truth and the whole truth is no where in evidence today.
fortunately, the internet exists, and the truth is in evidence there. i
read news from place like the UK, where journalism remains alive and
well. i keep my subscription to the trib mostly to see what isn't in
it. but it gets harder every day to accept this sorry excuse for the
fourth estate.
please run this column. our democracy depends on it.
yours,
xxxxxxx


Dear mo cahill:

That Op-Ed by Mr. Koehler makes for wonderful reading by conspiracy theorists, but not by people who want a journalism that attempts to verify and report facts. Our first obligation is to the truth, and Mr. Koehler's article falls short of that.

Don Wycliff
Public Editor
#####

the chicago trib has a lot of blood on it's hands in this. not that that is anything new.

The well documented facts certainly don't seem to lie, and they come from http://www.votersunite.org

If this is "conspiracy theory", I must be living in Bizarro world. Whoever these reporters are that refuse to cover it must be in the pocket of somebody to ignore the undeniable tragedy.

it an OP-ED!!! they have a whole stable of liars on their op-ed page.

carry the sting I am sure they wish it did. Must be from constant over-use since the SNL Scandal and Iran/Contra. Wonder why that is?

All the term does now is make it's users look glib, and yes, shallow.

as though conspiracies, and stolen elections, do not exist.

Since he presumes that Mr. Koehler, and we, have no right to question the integrity of our elections.

something to the effect- i'm sure you doesn't need me to explain you job to you, but it is an op-ed piece. read the conyers report, sir.

no answer to that, tho.

----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
<jo\'shea@tribune.com>
(reason: 553 Invalid recipient address)

Great letter and excellent idea! I'm more than happy to join you on this and hope tons more will as well. It's definitely up to us to keep this moving! Thank you!

I also thought maybe we should drop a line to Arianna Huffington about election fraud. After reading about her upcoming blog venture it would extremely helpful if she'd get informed! This is a snip from the article on the front page here today:

Regrettably, many prominent progressives are not convinced that the past election was fixed - among them, Paul Begala, Al Franken, Arianna Huffington, and Bernie Sanders. To this day, the Democratic Party is mute on the issue, as is the progressive think-tank, The Center for American Progress. Demand that they examine the evidence and challenge them to refute it. And if they can't, tell them to join the fight.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/crisis/05/008_ep.html

Arianna Huffington's addy: arianna@ariannaonline.com

And wrote Arianna as well. Please everyone, write!

I pin ten copies a week on the cub foods bill board.And they are always gone. Hope it isn't management taking them.