Dear We The People:

Source: http://www.givemeliberty.org/features/taxes/usatoday.htm

• MOST CITIZENS ARE NOT REQUIRED TO FILE AN INCOME TAX RETURN
  
  


• THE 16TH ("INCOME TAX") AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION IS A FRAUD
  
  


• IF YOU FILE, YOU WAIVE YOUR 5th AMENDMENT RIGHTS

These are the major points expressed in a Remonstrance, that was hand delivered to leaders of the three branches of the federal government on April 13, 2000, by a group of citizen-delegates representing all 50 states. These grievances concern alleged illegal operations of the federal income tax system and the IRS.

The Remonstrance was signed by thousands of citizens, and was delivered as part of an event sponsored by We The People Foundation for Constitutional Education, a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to research and education in matters of taxation & governance.

THE MAIN PROPOSITIONS OF THE REMONSTRANCE
ARE:

1) The 16th amendment to the U.S. Constitution (the "income tax amendment") was fraudulently and illegally proclaimed to be ratified in 1913. Exhaustive legal research from both state and national archives documented conclusively that the amendment did not even come close to being legally approved by the required number of states.

The Courts have refused to hear this issue.

"[Defendant] Stahl's claim that ratification of the 16th Amendment was fraudulently certified constitutes a political question because we could not undertake independent resolution of this issue without expressing lack of respect due coordinate branches of government...."

U.S. v Stahl (1986), 792 F2d 1438

2) Filing a federal income tax return is, in fact, voluntary, because there is no statute or regulation that requires the vast majority of U.S. citizens to file and pay income taxes -- or to have taxes withheld from the money they earn.

Neither the IRS nor the Congress can cite an authorizing law or regulation.

3) Citizens cannot "voluntarily" file a federal income tax return without surrendering their 5th amendment right not to bear witness against themselves.

You can be criminally prosecuted for your "voluntary" return.

Robert Schulz, chairman of the Foundation, and Joseph Banister, a former special agent of the Criminal Investigation Division of the IRS (accompanied by a videographer) delivered copies of the Remonstrance to designated officials of the three branches.

At the White House and the Capitol, the delegates had the opportunity to explain and discuss the contents of the Remonstrance, and to ask that the government send experts representing the three branches to a conference to be held in June, where those experts could debate the tax issues with a group of researchers invited by the Foundation.

The officials agreed to the idea of having such a conference, and the Foundation scheduled the meeting for June 29th.

The officials the delegates delivered the Remonstrance
to were: At the White House-Jason Furman, Senior Director and Senior Economic Advisor of the National Economic Council; at the Capitol-Dr. William Koetzle, Legislative Director for Speaker Hastert, and Keith Hennessey, Policy Director for Senate Majority Leader Lotte.

However, on June 2nd the White House reneged on the promises it made during the April 13th meeting. As with three previous conferences, the government has again refused to debate the grievances. Jason Furman told Robert Schulz, "The legality of the income tax is not a high priority item at the White House, and we will not participate in any conference on the subject."

WE HAVE NOW REACHED THE POINT WHERE THE GOVERNMENT'S EVASION MUST BE REGARDED AS AN ADMISSION.

If the government had valid counter-arguments to the Remonstrance, it should be a simple matter to clarify the law, provide the appropriate regulatory references and promptly settle the matter.Our government's repeated avoidance of these debates should speak volumes.

On this, the 224th birth celebration of our one Nation under God, the We The People Foundation offers the following facts, internet links and a challenge for each American:

• Read the facts for yourself.


• Judge what is truth.


• Pass it on.

We hope you will join many who now believe that the time has come for our government and our nation to begin a long-overdue process of public debates concerning the economic, political and constitutional problems posed by the true legal restrictions upon our current system of taxation.

As a nation of justice and due process, we cannot tolerate a tax system, or a government, that seizes our property, sends us to prison and induces fear in our hearts -- while refusing to provide us basic proof of their legal authority, clearly written tax codes and unambiguous legal ruling on Constitutional and legal issues concerning the income tax.

We pray that you be convinced that nothing less than our freedoms, our property and our Republic are at stake. The Soul of America needs illumination. Please join us.

Legal Facts & Did You Know

Re: Proposition #1

• The issue of the fraudulent ratification of the 16th amendment has never been decided by a court of law. The courts have instead tossed the issue into the lap of Congress as a "political question," even though fraud is a clear issue for judicial review, not a political question.

• A brief report printed by the Congressional Research Service in 1985 states up front that, "The report does not attempt to rebut specific factual allegations?." It then goes on to make the astonishing assertion that the actions of a government official must be presumed to be correct and cannot be judged or overturned by the courts! (John Ripy, "Ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment." CRS, 1985.)

• An attorney speaking for Senator Orin Hatch in 1984 offered to pay former tax investigator William Benson a fortune not to publish his research proving that the 16th amendment did not even come close to being legally ratified by the required number of states in 1913.
  
  


• Philander Knox, Secretary of State from 1909 to 1913 during the Taft administration, proclaimed the 16th amendment to be ratified just a few days before he left office in 1913, to make way for the Wilson administration, even though he knew it had not been legally ratified.
  
  


• Philander Knox had for many years been the primary attorney for the richest men in America, including Carnegie, Rockefeller, Morgan and the Vanderbilts. He had created for them the largest cartel in the world, then was appointed, at their request, as Attorney General in the McKinley/Roosevelt administrations, where he refused to enforce the Sherman anti-trust laws against the cartel he had just created.
  
  


• The income tax amendment was pushed through Congress in 1909 by Sen. Nelson Aldrich, father-in-law of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and grandfather and namesake of Nelson A. Rockefeller, and would not have been ratified if Knox had not fraudulently proclaimed it so.
  
  


• Example: Kentucky's legislature rejected the amendment, but Knox counted Kentucky as having approved it.
  
  


• Example: Oklahoma's legislature changed the amendment's wording so that it meant just the opposite of what was submitted to the states by Congress, but Knox counted Oklahoma as approving the amendment.
  
  


• Example: Minnesota did not submit any results or copy of their vote to Knox, yet he counted Minnesota as approving the amendment.
  
  


• Legal scholars have agreed that if any state violated provisions of its own state constitution in the ratification process, its approval would be null and void. At least 20 states were guilty of serious violations of their constitutions. For example, Tennessee's constitution provided that the state legislature could not act upon any proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution submitted by Congress until after the next state legislative elections. Yet the Tennessee legislature acted on the proposed 16th amendment the same month it was received and before any elections.
  
  


• Judges have been extraordinarily unwilling to allow defendants in "failure to file" cases to present evidence or testimony of expert researchers regarding the constitutionality of the 16th amendment.
  
  

Re: Proposition #2

• Juries have been acquitting defendants in failure-to-file income tax return cases due to lack of demonstrable evidence that there is any law or regulation that requires it.
  
  


• An increasing number of employers have stopped withholding taxes from their workers, and stopped filing W-2s and 1099s for the same reason.
  
  


• Unless one is a foreigner working in the U.S., or a U.S. citizen earning money abroad, one is not liable for the federal income tax.
  
  


• The OMB Number on Form 1040 is cross-referenced in the Code of Federal Regulations to the section covering taxes by resident aliens, which, therefore, doesn't apply to most Americans.
  
  


• Responding to an inquiry by a constituent who was a tax consultant, Sen. Daniel Inouye told him that based on research performed by the Congressional Research Service, no provision of the Internal Revenue Code requires an individual to pay income taxes. He then went on to warn that Section 7201 sets forth numerous penalties for not paying income taxes owed. However -
  
  


• The failure-to-file law applies to alcohol-tobacco-firearms taxes, (Section 7201), not to income taxes, and convictions are based on the mis-application of the alcohol-tobacco- firearm regulations.
  
  


• No law requires employees to provide a Social Security Number to an employer, nor for an employer to demand one from an employee.

Re: Proposition #3

• The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the filing of an income tax return (Form 1040) and the information on the 1040 is not compelled, and, therefore, the principle that no one may be forced to waive their 5th amendment rights in order to comply with a law is not applicable to federal income tax returns.
  
  

"The [5th Amendment] privilege protects against compelled
testimonial communications?."

U.S. v Conklin (1994), WL 504211 (10th Cir. Colo.)

• No one has been able to collect the $50,000 reward offered by William Conklin (www.anti-irs.com) to anyone who can

1) show how to file a federal income tax return without waiving one's 5th amendment rights, and

2) identify what statute in the Internal Revenue Code makes a typical worker liable to pay an income tax.

Christmas Embargo: A Mom Bans China by Michael Schroeder

Source: http://johnflynchandassociates.com/christmasembargo.php

The Wall Street Journal
December 24, 2004

Ms. Smedley Finds Buying American a Tough Task

Foiled by Monopoly Dice


Carol Stream, Ill. ~ The house at the end of Park View Circle looks much the same as the others on the block: Wreath on the door. Lights on the trees. A reindeer on the lawn. Inside, though, a Christmas revolution is under way.

Peggy and Dave Smedley are attempting to celebrate the holiday in a manner almost unimaginable to most Americans - without gifts made in China.

Their three children, fearing that they will be left with nothing but Pennsylvania coal in their stockings, await Christmas morning with more than the usual nervous energy. David Smedley, 13 years old, says he doesn’t know what to expect "because I’ve never bought American before."

What David knows so far is that there will be no iPod, no digital camera and no tabletop football game under the family tree this year. Still, the Smedley children have cautiously embraced their parents’ campaign, which began when Ms. Smedley decided to strike a small blow in defense of American workers.

"China is really draining American manufacturing," says Ms. Smedley, 43, editorial director of Start, a magazine she and her husband publish with a circulation of about 85,000 manufacturing executives.

But until she hit the stores and started shopping, she says she had no idea how difficult it would be to steer clear of Chinese goods.

The Smedley home is decorated with two trees and a mantle full of Christmas figurines. The lights, ornaments and figurines - mostly from China - were purchased before her personal trade embargo began.

Ms. Smedley got the idea for a China-free Christmas while interviewing manufacturing executives for a book she wrote called "Mending Manufacturing," which her company published this year. She came to believe that China was destroying American jobs by suppressing the value of its currency. But that might change, she became convinced, if American consumers made it a point to buy American-made goods.

"I know that when you get on a soapbox people think your losing it," she says.
"But you really have to start somewhere."

Ms. Smedley began at the mall, where her shopping list, compiled from her family’s holiday wishes, included a handheld video-poker game, a baseball, boots, a coffee maker, a pair of Danskin leotards and martini glasses. She set out not only to avoid China but to buy American-made products whenever possible, no matter how much extra time, money and gasoline the effort required.

She didn’t spend much time looking for the poker game because she guessed, correctly, that it would be made in China. She was surprised to strike out on the baseball. Rawlings makes its balls in Costa Rica, but most other brands come from China. So she scratched the baseball off her list.

"It would be very expensive to play little league if the balls were made here," says Jim Hackett, the director of baseball and softball for Wilson Sporting Goods Co., which hasn’t made a baseball in the U.S. for more than a quarter of a century. "It is very, very labor intensive. It takes an experienced worker 10 or 15 minutes just to sew the two pieces of the cover together."

Ms. Smedley went to five stores in search of American-made boots for her son Aaron before she found a pair made by Sorel of Portland, Ore. For David, who wanted brown Timberland boots, she went to thirty stores before giving up. A spokesman for Timberland Co., based in Stratham, N.H., says the company makes its boots in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, China, Thailand and Vietnam.

An American-made coffee maker also proved elusive, so Ms. Smedley settled for a Bunn brand machine from Canada. A week later, she found an American-made Bunn, at a slightly higher price, and returned the Canadian one.
Wal-Mart had only Chinese Danskin leotards, but Target had both Chinese- and American-made leotards for $14.99.

That turned out to be a stroke of luck. Carol Hochman, president and chief executive of New York-based Danskin Inc., says about 35% of Danskin-brand products are made in the U.S. But neither Wal-Mart nor Target sells the Danskin brand. Wal-Mart sells a brand called Danskin Now, which is made for a licensee mostly in China. Target sells a brand called Freestyle by Danskin, which is also made in China for a licensee.

A handful of American-made leotards might slip into those stores when a rush order is needed or when quotas from China have been met. But for the most part, Ms. Hochman says, American plants can’t make leotards at prices low enough to satisfy most Wal-Mart and Target shoppers.

"People say they want to buy products made in America," says Ms. Hochman, "but most people aren’t willing to pay for it."

With the martini glasses, Ms. Smedley was pleasantly surprised to find an inexpensive American-made set at her local Linens-n-Things household-goods store.

She found a Monopoly game that was made in the U.S., but the fine print on the box said that the dice were manufactured in China. She almost bought a stuffed dog from Eddie Bauer because the price tag said "Made in USA," but a closer look at the label attached to the animal told another story: "Made in China." A spokesman for Eddie Bauer says the tags were printed erroneously - in China - and will be removed.

Ms. Smedley said that online shopping was impossible because she couldn’t make careful inspections of boxes and tags. An Italian-style imported leather coat might come from China rather than Italy. Most Web sites don’t say.

"I would say that 80% of everything we looked at was Chinese," says Ms. Smedley.

It’s been tough, I tell you," says her husband, Dave, who works as chief financial officer of the couple’s publishing company.

"Everything is made in China," adds her 9-year-old, Aaron.

The U.S. is expected to import about $190 billion of Chinese goods this year, up from $152 billion last year. Meanwhile, the U.S. trade gap with China is expected to top $160 billion this year, nearly double what it was in 2001.

A former trade official for China says the boycotting of China-made goods over-simplifies the complexities of global trade. The trade between the U.S. and China "brings mutual benefit, and America is the biggest beneficiary," says Zhou Shijan, who now coordinates research on the U.S. among state-backed academic institutions.

Not everyone in the family is supporting the Smedleys’ quest. "I don’t like the whole China thing," says the Smedleys’ 15-year-old daughter, Christina. "I don’t care." Christina will be getting gift cards, so she can decide for herself whether to buy American.

Meanwhile, Ms. Smedley has settled on something less romantic for her husband: a prepaid pass to pay his highway tolls.

"You just have to be creative." She says. ~

U.S. self-government is in peril By Phyllis Schlafly

Source: http://www.townhall.com/columnists/PhyllisSchlafly/2007/09/10/us_self-government_is_in_peril?page=full&comments=true

Monday, September 10, 2007

It's now leaking out that there was more going on than met the eye at the Security and Prosperity Partnership Summit in Montebello, Canada, in August. The three amigos - President George W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon - finalized and released the "North American Plan for Avian & Pandemic Influenza."

The "Plan" - that's what they call it, with a capital P - is to use the excuse of a major flu epidemic to shift powers from U.S. legislatures to unelected, unaccountable "North American" bureaucrats.

This idea was launched on Sept. 14, 2005, when Bush announced the "International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza." He was then speaking to the United Nations General Assembly.

We might have thought that idea had some merit because the influenza partnership called for "transparency in reporting of influenza cases in humans and in animals" and the "sharing of epidemiological data and samples." That's very different from the Security and Prosperity Summit, where transparency has always been conspicuously avoided like the plague.

This year's Security and Prosperity Summit in Canada morphed the Influenza Partnership into the North American Plan. Now we discover that the Plan is not only about combating a flu epidemic but is far-reaching in seeking control over U.S. citizens and public policy during an epidemic.

The Plan repeatedly features the favorite Bush word "comprehensive" - it calls for a "comprehensive, coordinated North American approach." The Plan would give authority to international bureaucrats "beyond the health sector to include a coordinated approach to critical infrastructure protection," including "border and transportation issues."

The Plan is a wordy 44-page document, much of which sounds innocuous. It is helpful to exchange information about disease and take precautions against letting foreign diseases enter the United States.

However, self-government and sovereignty are at risk when control over these matters is turned over to a newly created North American body headed by the representative of another country. It's an additional problem when the entire Plan is a spin-off of the Security and Prosperity Partnership, an arrangement created in secret solely by White House press releases, without Congressional approval or even oversight.

The 2007 Plan acknowledges that it is based not only on the Influenza Partnership, but also on the guidelines, standards and rules of the World Health Organization, the World Organization for Animal Health, the World Trade Organization, and the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The Plan sets up a "senior level coordinating body to facilitate the effective planning and preparedness within North America for a possible outbreak of avian and/or human pandemic influenza under the Security and Prosperity Partnership." The Plan identifies this Security and Prosperity Partnership coordinating body as "decision-makers."

The Plan then (ungrammatically) states: "The chair of the Security and Prosperity Partnership coordinating body will rotate between each national authority on a yearly basis." Thus, a foreigner will be the "decision maker" for Americans in two out of every three years.

What powers will this foreign-headed coordinating body exercise? The Plan suggests that these include "the use of antivirals and vaccines; ... social distancing measures, including school closures and the prohibition of community gatherings; ... isolation and quarantine."

Will this foreign-headed coordinating body respect the First Amendment "right of the people peaceably to assemble"? Or will the rules of the Plan, Security and Prosperity Partnership, World Health Organization, World Organization for Animal Health, World Trade Organization and NAFTA take precedence?

In evaluating the Plan, it is instructive to recall the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act, an anti-epidemic plan launched by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Oct. 23, 2001. Designed to be passed by all state legislatures, the model bill was primarily written by Lawrence O. Gostin, a former member of U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's discredited Task Force on Health Care Reform, and was promoted by the Bush administration during its first year.

The proposed Emergency Health Powers Act would have given each governor sole discretion to declare a public health emergency and grant himself extraordinary powers. He would have been able to restrict or prohibit firearms, seize private property and destroy it in many circumstances, and impose price controls and rationing.

Governors would have been given the power to order people out of their homes and into dangerous quarantines. Children could have been taken from their parents and put into public quarantines.

Governors could even have demanded that physicians administer certain drugs despite individuals' religious or other objections. The Emergency Health Powers Act was based on the concept that decision-making by authoritarian bosses and unelected bureaucrats is the way to go in a time of crisis.

The proposed Emergency Health Powers Act roused a nationwide storm of protest because it was an unprecedented assault on the constitutional rights of U.S. citizens, as well as on the principle of limited government, and so it never passed anywhere in its original text. Will similar totalitarian notions now bypass legislatures and be forced upon us by Security and Prosperity Partnership press releases?

Phyllis Schlafly is a national leader of the pro-family movement, a nationally syndicated columnist and author of Feminist Fantasies.

Film legend Charlton Heston dead at 84

Film legend Charlton Heston dead at 84

By BOB THOMAS, Associated Press Writer
36 minutes ago



Charlton Heston, who won the 1959 best actor Oscar as the chariot-racing "Ben-Hur" and portrayed Moses, Michelangelo, El Cid and other heroic figures in movie epics of the '50s and '60s, has died. He was 84.

The actor died Saturday night at his home in Beverly Hills with his wife Lydia at his side, family spokesman Bill Powers said.

Powers declined to comment on the cause of death or provide further details.

"Charlton Heston was seen by the world as larger than life. He was known for his chiseled jaw, broad shoulders and resonating voice, and, of course, for the roles he played," Heston's family said in a statement. "No one could ask for a fuller life than his. No man could have given more to his family, to his profession, and to his country."

Heston revealed in 2002 that he had symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's disease, saying, "I must reconcile courage and surrender in equal measure."

With his large, muscular build, well-boned face and sonorous voice, Heston proved the ideal star during the period when Hollywood was filling movie screens with panoramas depicting the religious and historical past. "I have a face that belongs in another century," he often remarked.

Publicist Michael Levine, who represented Heston for about 20 years, said the actor's passing represented the end of an iconic era for cinema.

"If Hollywood had a Mt. Rushmore, Heston's face would be on it," Levine said. "He was a heroic figure that I don't think exists to the same degree in Hollywood today."

The actor assumed the role of leader offscreen as well. He served as president of the Screen Actors Guild and chairman of the American Film Institute and marched in the civil rights movement of the 1950s. With age, he grew more conservative and campaigned for conservative candidates.

In June 1998, Heston was elected president of the National Rifle Association, for which he had posed for ads holding a rifle. He delivered a jab at then-President Clinton, saying, "America doesn't trust you with our 21-year-old daughters, and we sure, Lord, don't trust you with our guns."

Heston stepped down as NRA president in April 2003, telling members his five years in office were "quite a ride. ... I loved every minute of it."

Later that year, Heston was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. "The largeness of character that comes across the screen has also been seen throughout his life," President Bush said at the time.

He engaged in a lengthy feud with liberal Ed Asner during the latter's tenure as president of the Screen Actors Guild. His latter-day activism almost overshadowed his achievements as an actor, which were considerable.

Heston lent his strong presence to some of the most acclaimed and successful films of the midcentury. "Ben-Hur" won 11 Academy Awards, tying it for the record with the more recent "Titanic" (1997) and "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (2003). Heston's other hits include: "The Ten Commandments," "El Cid," "55 Days at Peking," "Planet of the Apes" and "Earthquake."

He liked to the cite the number of historical figures he had portrayed:

Andrew Jackson ("The President's Lady," "The Buccaneer"), Moses ("The Ten Commandments"), title role of "El Cid," John the Baptist ("The Greatest Story Ever Told"), Michelangelo ("The Agony and the Ecstasy"), General Gordon ("Khartoum"), Marc Antony ("Julius Caesar," "Antony and Cleopatra"), Cardinal Richelieu ("The Three Musketeers"), Henry VIII ("The Prince and the Pauper").

Heston made his movie debut in the 1940s in two independent films by a college classmate, David Bradley, who later became a noted film archivist. He had the title role in "Peer Gynt" in 1942 and was Marc Antony in Bradley's 1949 version of "Julius Caesar," for which Heston was paid $50 a week.

Film producer Hal B. Wallis ("Casablanca") spotted Heston in a 1950 television production of "Wuthering Heights" and offered him a contract. When his wife reminded him that they had decided to pursue theater and television, he replied, "Well, maybe just for one film to see what it's like."

Heston earned star billing from his first Hollywood movie, "Dark City," a 1950 film noir. Cecil B. DeMille next cast him as the circus manager in the all-star "The Greatest Show On Earth," named by the Motion Picture Academy as the best picture of 1952. More movies followed:

"The Savage," "Ruby Gentry," "The President's Lady," "Pony Express" (as Buffalo Bill Cody), "Arrowhead," "Bad for Each Other," "The Naked Jungle," "Secret of the Incas," "The Far Horizons" (as Clark of the Lewis and Clark trek), "The Private War of Major Benson," "Lucy Gallant."

Most were forgettable low-budget films, and Heston seemed destined to remain an undistinguished action star. His old boss DeMille rescued him.

The director had long planned a new version of "The Ten Commandments," which he had made as a silent in 1923 with a radically different approach that combined biblical and modern stories. He was struck by Heston's facial resemblance to Michelangelo's sculpture of Moses, especially the similar broken nose, and put the actor through a long series of tests before giving him the role.

The Hestons' newborn, Fraser Clarke Heston, played the role of the infant Moses in the film.

More films followed: the eccentric thriller "Touch of Evil," directed by Orson Welles; William Wyler's "The Big Country," costarring with Gregory Peck; a sea saga, "The Wreck of the Mary Deare" with Gary Cooper.

Then his greatest role: "Ben-Hur."

Heston wasn't the first to be considered for the remake of 1925 biblical epic. Marlon Brando, Burt Lancaster and Rock Hudson had declined the film. Heston plunged into the role, rehearsing two months for the furious chariot race.

He railed at suggestions the race had been shot with a double: "I couldn't drive it well, but that wasn't necessary. All I had to do was stay on board so they could shoot me there. I didn't have to worry; MGM guaranteed I would win the race."

The huge success of "Ben-Hur" and Heston's Oscar made him one of the highest-paid stars in Hollywood. He combined big-screen epics like "El Cid" and "55 Days at Peking" with lesser ones such as "Diamond Head," "Will Penny" and "Airport 1975." In his later years he played cameos in such films as "Wayne's World 2" and "Tombstone."

He often returned to the theater, appearing in such plays as "A Long Day's Journey into Night" and "A Man for All Seasons." He starred as a tycoon in the prime-time soap opera, "The Colbys," a two-season spinoff of "Dynasty."

At his birth in a Chicago suburb on Oct. 4, 1923, his name was Charles Carter. His parents moved to St. Helen, Mich., where his father, Russell Carter, operated a lumber mill. Growing up in the Michigan woods with almost no playmates, young Charles read books of adventure and devised his own games while wandering the countryside with his rifle.

Charles's parents divorced, and she married Chester Heston, a factory plant superintendent in Wilmette, Ill., an upscale north Chicago suburb. Shy and feeling displaced in the big city, the boy had trouble adjusting to the new high school. He took refuge in the drama department.

"What acting offered me was the chance to be many other people," he said in a 1986 interview. "In those days I wasn't satisfied with being me."

Calling himself Charlton Heston from his mother's maiden name and his stepfather's last name, he won an acting scholarship to Northwestern University in 1941. He excelled in campus plays and appeared on Chicago radio. In 1943, he enlisted in the Army Air Force and served as a radio-gunner in the Aleutians.

In 1944 he married another Northwestern drama student, Lydia Clarke, and after his army discharge in 1947, they moved to New York to seek acting jobs. Finding none, they hired on as codirectors and principal actors at a summer theater in Asheville, N.C.

Back in New York, both Hestons began finding work. With his strong 6-feet-2 build and craggily handsome face, Heston won roles in TV soap operas, plays ("Antony and Cleopatra" with Katherine Cornell) and live TV dramas such as "Julius Caesar," "Macbeth," "The Taming of the Shrew" and "Of Human Bondage."

Heston wrote several books: "The Actor's Life: Journals 1956-1976," published in 1978; "Beijing Diary: 1990," concerning his direction of the play "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial" in Chinese; "In the Arena: An Autobiography," 1995; and "Charlton Heston's Hollywood: 50 Years of American Filmmaking," 1998.

Besides Fraser, who directed his father in an adventure film, "Mother Lode," the Hestons had a daughter, Holly Ann, born Aug. 2, 1961. The couple celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in 1994 at a party with Hollywood and political friends. They had been married 64 years when he died.

In late years, Heston drew as much publicity for his crusades as for his performances. In addition to his NRA work, he campaigned for Republican presidential and congressional candidates and against affirmative action.

He resigned from Actors Equity, claiming the union's refusal to allow a white actor to play a Eurasian role in "Miss Saigon" was "obscenely racist." He attacked CNN's telecasts from Baghdad as "sowing doubts" about the allied effort in the 1990-91 Gulf War.

At a Time Warner stockholders meeting, he castigated the company for releasing an Ice-T album that purportedly encouraged cop killing.

Heston wrote in "In the Arena" that he was proud of what he did "though now I'll surely never be offered another film by Warners, nor get a good review in Time. On the other hand, I doubt I'll get a traffic ticket very soon."

__

Associated Press writer Thomas Watkins contributed to this report.



Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Jonathan Storm: The week in cable babble

Joyce Comments: This article is an example of pure liberal bias. It is so thick you can almost cut it with a knife. Mr. Storm seems to be sucking up to CNN and MSNBC, to maybe work there?? Some of Storm's bias in the article "Screeching Sean Hannity demonstrated just how tough the business is." and "Where Olbermann needs attacks on his archrival O'Reilly to get a few laughs, O'Reilly, the master at Fox News, is a goofy act unto himself, unfettered by facts or opinions more informed than his.
He trashed the "leftist media," which is everything but Fox in his lexicon, for seeking to kill the Obama-Wright story. He evidently forgot that it was ABC News that broke it in the first place." Bill O'Reilly if you happen to stumble onto Storm's, don't bother publicizing it. To quote Geraldo of all people, "grow a thicker skin" and don't give writers like these the time of day who get their 15 minutes of fame by mentioning you in their articles. Unless you are libeled, don't give them free publicity.

Source: http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/17008601.html

Political coverage on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News, currently starring Pennsylvania, is speculative, partisan, often uninformed and uninformative.


Posted on Wed, Mar. 26, 2008

By Jonathan Storm
Inquirer Television Critic

The Pennsylvania of political pundits on TV seems to exist almost entirely of 55-year-old white male steelworkers who live in Scranton - and a few pretty scenes of Philadelphia.
And while locals are reveling in the unusual significance of a crucial late-season Democratic presidential primary a month away, many TV talking heads have already tallied the results and moved on to North Carolina and Indiana.

A survey of coverage by everyone from Tim Russert to Sean Hannity last week, the kickoff of campaigning in Pennsylvania, turned up mind-numbingly predictable opinions, incessant redundancy, and an astonishingly narrow perspective. A diligent viewer could gain small understandings, but the results did not justify the intense effort.

Bill O'Reilly thinks progressive Democrats are "loons." Keith Olbermann thinks Bill O'Reilly is a loon. Larry King lobs softballs that at least give his interviewees a chance to talk, and a-rambling off they go. Do people really watch this stuff regularly?

Yes, but not very many. The total audience of all the cable news blabbers is less than that for any one of the three big-network evening news programs, which all posted reporters in Philadelphia, standing outside picturesque Independence Hall or on the Art Museum steps, to preview or assess the big political news last week: Barack Obama's Tuesday speech about race in America and his relationship with controversial Chicago pastor Jeremiah Wright.

Two TV journalists stood apart from the pack. Fox News' Major Garrett, covering Obama's campaign, provided key insights, while refusing to be drawn into the speculation game that makes up what seems like 85 percent of cable news political coverage. NBC's boyish political director Chuck Todd appeared all over his brand's outlets, offering perceptions that, unlike those of so many of his counterparts, illuminated the situation rather than the pundit.

When anchor Martha MacCallum asked Garrett if Obama had succeeded in defusing a difficult campaign situation in his battle with Hillary Rodham Clinton, he responded, "That's a question I can't answer."

Other newsmen, from Fox's Brit Hume to CNN's Wolf Blitzer, had no such compunction about offering opinionated speculation. It undermines their reporting credibility and underlines two of the major deficiencies of cable news: the 24-hour demand for something, anything, to fill the airwaves, and the relatively small budgets these organizations provide for such an impossible undertaking.

You don't see Katie Couric, Charles Gibson or Brian Williams pontificating. Instead, the broadcast networks use people like Todd. He discussed Obama's political savvy on MSNBC's Countdown, John McCain's foreign policy on Hardball With Chris Matthews, also on MSNBC, and on Meet the Press Sunday, Todd declared that nomination D-Day is May 6, when North Carolina and Indiana hold their primaries. The reason: He and many observers already see the vote on April 22, election day in Pennsylvania, as a fait accompli.

"Hillary by double digits," declared Fox news analyst Rick Santorum on The O'Reilly Factor.

"Pennsylvania's a walk," responded the host.

It's weird that TV news shows, not just cable, get such obvious partisans as former Sen. Santorum or Princeton associate professor Melissa Harris-Lacewell, an unabashed Obama backer who appeared on CNN, to tell us what's going on. Do their skewed viewpoints actually add any information to the proceedings?

News coverage, such as it is, gives way, in many cases, in the evening to flat-out partisan hectoring, an entertainment form that Obama criticized in his speech:

"Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism."

Joined by liberals, they weren't about to give up their paychecks because of some speech.

Screeching Sean Hannity demonstrated just how tough the business is. There was no fun at all in his show featuring African American ministers. "If the church would have gave an award to Louis Farrakhan," he sputtered ungrammatically in an interview with the Rev. William Lawson, the 79-year-old pastor emeritus of Houston's Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, who looked into the camera with a peaceful incredulity.

Fox News nemesis Olbermann, of MSNBC, almost foamed at the mouth with the news that contract workers in the State Department had looked at Obama's passport records. He called it "breathtaking" and "a huge story," an apparent dirty election trick by the Bush administration. Another cable news drawback: Its instant reports are frequently wrong or incomplete. It turned out the workers also pulled Clinton's and McCain's records, and the story fizzled.

Where Olbermann needs attacks on his archrival O'Reilly to get a few laughs, O'Reilly, the master at Fox News, is a goofy act unto himself, unfettered by facts or opinions more informed than his.

He trashed the "leftist media," which is everything but Fox in his lexicon, for seeking to kill the Obama-Wright story. He evidently forgot that it was ABC News that broke it in the first place.

When his "body-language specialist," Tonya Reiman, gave a relatively benign assessment of Wright's gestures, O'Reilly responded, "I'm not an expert," and then gave his own critical take.

"So far, Jesse Jackson has been silent" on Obama's speech, O'Reilly said, before cutting to one of his producers shoving a mike in an understandably recalcitrant Jackson's face. Actually, Jackson had spoken at length, on Fox News, a day earlier, calling the speech "bone chilling . . . for America, the great learning moment."

Mika Brzezinski, Joe Scarborough's sidekick on Morning Joe, an MSNBC Regis and Kelly for news fans, is a woman who proved her journalistic mettle last year by shredding a Paris Hilton story rather than reading it.

Her take on Obama's speech: He's putting "more faith in the American people than they might be willing to cough up at this point."

But do the people ever even get to hear what's going on? Obama did speak at length on Nightline, which garnered some sweet ratings. (Is anybody paying attention?) Gwen Ifill did a lengthy interview on PBS's NewsHour With Jim Lehrer. And CNN's King gave him an hour, too.

But immediately after the speech, most TV news outlets turned away from the difficult issues it raised - black and white resentments, expectations, communication roadblocks - to more simplistic speculation about its campaign impact.

Scarborough and others obsessed on the reaction of the old-time bloc of white male Reagan Democrats, as the nighttime talk shows showered us with their usual shrill sound bites and shouting.

It might be fine to put faith in the American people. It's American TV that might not be able to cough up the goods.



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To comment on this article, go to: http://go.philly.com/askstorm. Contact television critic Jonathan Storm at 215-854-5618 or jstorm@phillynews.com. Read his recent work at http:// go.philly.com/jonathanstorm.

Group states unprecedented bid to recall Corzine

Source: http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/112-03262008-1509249.html

Associated Press

TRENTON --- Three Glen Ridge residents are the first in New Jersey history to try to recall a governor.

The state Attorney General's Office says the three filed a notice of intent to recall Gov. Jon S. Corzine.

The recall law took effect in 1995.

The petition was filed by Carl Bergmanson, Andrew Bergmanson and Caroline Martin.

State law requires the three to gather 1.2 million signatures within 320 days to get a recall question placed onto a ballot.

They've started a Web site at http://www.recallcorzinenow.com/.

Legendary manager Gary Hart passes away

Legendary manager Gary Hart passes away

Written: March 17, 2008

WWE is mourning the death of legendary wrestling manager Gary Hart, who guided the careers of several icons and was one of the creative forces behind World Class Championship Wrestling. Hart passed away over the weekend.

Hart's career, which spanned four decades, began in 1963, when he made his debut as an in-ring competitor in wrestling territories in Illinois and Wisconsin. However, “Playboy” made his greatest impact as a manager and creative mind in WCCW, guiding the careers of legends such as The Great Kabuki, The Great Muta, Bruiser Brody, Terry Funk, One Man Gang, “Gentleman” Chris Adams, Abdullah the Butcher, WWE Hall of Famers “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, Big John Studd and the “American Dream” Dusty Rhodes and countless others.

Hart played a pivotal role in the iconic rivalry between the Von Erichs and The Freebirds, which helped propel WCCW to national and worldwide prominence in the 1980s. He also managed Adams during his wars with Kevin and Kerry Von Erich, and spearheaded the J-Tex Corporation (which included Funk, Muta, Dick Slater, Buzz Sawyer and Dragonmaster) in their memorable rivalry with Flair and Sting in 1989.

Hart spent much of the last decade involved in many Texas-based promotions and was a much sought-after historian in wrestling autograph sessions and memorabilia shows. His son, Chad, carried on his legacy when he made his in-ring debut on independent wresting scene in 2004.

Funeral plans have yet to be announced. WWE sends its condolences to Hart’s family and friends. Whether as a hated manager or as a creative genius, Gary Hart will live on in the hearts and minds of his friends, family and fans and colleagues.

Beatles' friend Neil Aspinall dies at 66

Beatles' friend Neil Aspinall dies at 66

By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY, AP Music Writer
Mon Mar 24, 1:18 PM ET



Neil Aspinall, a longtime friend of the Beatles who managed their business enterprises and helped make the group a moneymaking phenomenon decades after they split up, has died. He was 66.

Aspinall's death was announced Monday in a statement from surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, the widows of John Lennon and George Harrison, and the band's Apple Corps Ltd. company.

Aspinall died at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, where he had been receiving treatment for lung cancer, Sunday night, according to Geoff Baker, who formerly represented both Aspinall and Apple Corps.

Aspinall's wife and five children were by his side; McCartney visited him before his death.

He was a childhood friend of McCartney and Harrison in Liverpool, England. While he didn't contribute musically, he played several key roles in support of the Beatles, most notably as the head of their Apple Corps business, which oversaw the commercial concerns of the group, including licensing.

"I've known Neil many years and he was a good friend. We were blessed to have him in our lives and he will be missed," Starr said in a statement Monday.

Aspinall was the Beatles' first road manager and would drive them to gigs in his van. He later became their personal assistant, and in 1968, he took over the management of Apple Corps and continued to oversee the growth of the Beatles, even after they broke up in 1970.

As head of Apple Corps, Aspinall was executive producer of the hugely successful "Beatles Anthology" album and was behind other successes, including the "Beatles One" album and the recent Cirque du Soleil production "Love," which has been a hit in Las Vegas.

"As a loyal friend, confidant and chief executive, Neil's trusting stewardship and guidance has left a far-reaching legacy for generations to come," the band's statement said.

Aspinall stepped down from Apple Corps last year.




Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Detroit Mayor charged with perjury

Detroit Mayor charged with perjury

By COREY WILLIAMS, Associated Press Writer
24 minutes ago



DETROIT - Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, a one-time rising star and Detroit's youngest elected leader, was charged Monday with perjury and other counts after sexually explicit text messages contradicted his sworn denials of an affair with a top aide.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy also charged the popular yet polarizing 37-year-old mayor with obstruction of justice and misconduct in office.

Former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty, 37, who also denied under oath that she and Kilpatrick had a romantic relationship in 2002 and 2003, was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice.

"Some have suggested that the issues in this case are personal or private," Worthy said. "Our investigation has clearly shown that public dollars were used, people's lives were ruined, the justice system severely mocked and the public trust trampled on. ... This case is about as far from being a private matter as one can get."

The charges could signal the end of Kilpatrick's six-year career as mayor of one of America's largest cities.

Perjury is a felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison. A felony conviction would mean Kilpatrick's immediate expulsion from office under the Detroit City Charter. Calls for his resignation have surfaced since late January and the Detroit City Council asked him to step down last week.

Kilpatrick was to hold a noon news conference but had not yet appeared and his office and lawyers were not commenting. A message seeking comment from Beatty's attorney, Jeffrey Morganroth, was not returned.

Kilpatrick has said he would not resign and last week said he expects to be vindicated when all aspects of the scandal are made public.

Worthy said she expected the mayor and Beatty to turn themselves in by 7 a.m. Tuesday.

Worthy began her investigation the day after the Free Press published excerpts of the embarrassing text messages in late January. The messages called into question testimony Kilpatrick and Beatty gave in a lawsuit filed by two police officers who alleged they were fired for investigating claims that the mayor used his security unit to cover up extramarital affairs.

In court, Kilpatrick and Beatty denied having an intimate relationship, but the text messages reveal that they carried on a flirty, sometimes sexually explicit dialogue about where to meet and how to conceal their trysts.

Kilpatrick is married with three children. Beatty was married at the time and has two children.

The city agreed to pay $8.4 million to the two officers and a third former officer who filed a separate lawsuit. Documents released last month showed Kilpatrick agreed to the settlement in an effort to keep the text messages from becoming public.

The text messages published by the Free Press revealed a romantic discourse.

"I'm madly in love with you," Kilpatrick wrote on Oct. 3, 2002.

"I hope you feel that way for a long time," Beatty replied. "In case you haven't noticed, I am madly in love with you, too!"

Worthy filed eight counts against Kilpatrick and seven against Beatty.

Kilpatrick faces charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice, misconduct in office, perjury in a court proceeding and two counts of perjury other than in a court proceeding.

Beatty is charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice, two counts of perjury in a court proceeding and two counts of perjury other than in a court proceeding.

For Beatty, who attended high school with Kilpatrick and managed his campaigns for Michigan's state House and the mayor's office, the scandal forced her to resign.

City lawyers and Kilpatrick's attorneys waged a futile legal battle to keep documents related to the lawsuit settlement and text messages from public eyes.

Calls for his resignation surfaced in late January from some city union leaders and Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox repeated that call.