Local grass-roots organization "Peace Now!" held signs and banners outside the LVRJ, the largest newspaper in Nevada, to say they are going to continue to have their voices heard in the streets until U.S. troops return home.

Food Not Bombs, a group of people who provide free food for the hungry, was present at the event with plenty of delicious pastries, breads, and more to feed the activists.

Local journalist and outspoken activist Saab Lofton was given the bullhorn to speak his mind about what he thinks of the Las Vegas Review Journal (LVRJ) and their political takeover of the weekly Las Vegas CityLife.

Lofton has been recently fired from the LV CityLife, immediately after the LVRJ bought the weekly paper. There are plans to merge the Mercury (already owned by the LVRJ), another weekly, with the LV CityLife. While Saab and much of the community believes his recent employment is politically-motivated, LV CityLife employees denied such claims.

And, to add insult to injury, the Managing Editor of the CityLife, Matt O'Brien told LVIMC that he did not show up to report on the Wake Up the Media protest, saying he wasn't going to spend his whole day covering the protests against the invasion of Iraq.

He did however appear at the U.S. Army Anti-Recruiting protest held at noon. When asked if he and his photographer were going to be present at the big action at 5PM on the Las Vegas Strip, he said "No". O'Brien said that although he didn't attend the morning or evening protests, he would report on all three actions.

After Saab expressed his outrage with the media giant LVRJ, other members of "Peace Now!" shared the bullhorn to raise awareness about the continuing illegal, racist, and imperial occupation of Iraq.

Drummers and other musicians made a whole lot of noise to express themselves too. The drum circle kept the energy of the group up and everyone really seemed to enjoy the music.

A handful of LVMPD police on horses, a couple of cruisers, and a few police on foot observed the protest but kept there distance. There were no arrests or incidences at this protest.

The protest ended at about 11:30AM. Some people carpooled to Nellis and Lakemead for the U.S. Army Anti-Recruiting protest.

Looking back at the protests of March 19, 2005, I have realized that I may not have been fair regarding my statements and criticisms of Matt Obrien, current News Editor of the Las Vegas City Life.

I wrote that "Matt O'Brien told LVIMC that he did not show up to report on the Wake Up the Media protest, saying he wasn't going to spend his whole day covering the protests against the invasion of Iraq."

Thinking back to the protest at the recruitment station, I didn't tell Obrien that his comments were going to be quoted for an LVIMC article. Obrien has done quite a bit of work to be fair in covering protest actions, and it may have been somewhat demanding and unfair to expect him to cover all our events, all the time.

The real question is: where was all the other media outlets of Las Vegas? At least CityLife has had the decency to admit we (political and social activists) exist and have a presence in this city. Apparently the other media agencies were in denial of the 2nd Anniversary of the illegal War on Iraq.

At the time of this original LVIMC article, many activists were highly emotional and reactionary- as we witnessed at least 19 individuals arrested unlawfully at the evening protest on the Las Vegas Strip. I personally was disturbed that more media coverage was not given.

Had there been more cameras on the night of March 19, 2005, perhaps the brute force and aggression by the LVMPD could have been prevented.

I hope in the future that more reporters like Matt Obrien will consider covering the under-reported news of Las Vegas.

JOE

"Lofton has been recently fired from the LV CityLife, immediately after the LVRJ bought the weekly paper ... While Saab and much of the community believes his recent unemployment is politically-motivated, LV CityLife employees denied such claims. "

Thanks, Joe. And as I'll demonstrate, the denials continue ...

http://www.liberty-watch.com/volume01/issue01/finalcopy.php

"Schumacher's arrival also led to a few farewells. Among the cuts was Saab Lofton. While Lofton's column was riddled with quantum leaps and statements of lunacy, he did generate more response from readers than any other CL columnist.

"Schumacher's decisions even confused the paper's most established liberals. 'It's unfortunate they released the only black columnist in the state of Nevada,' said former Arts & Entertainment Editor Jarret Keene, who was fired March 24 for workload reduction reasons.

"It could be said the paper is moving in the right direction by discontinuing Lofton. After all, the paper's median reader is 43 years old and 61 percent of all readers annually earn more than $50,000. Plus, more than 50,000 readers, nearly half of the paper's weekly readership, fall within the 35- to 55-year-old age bracket. To me, that indicates a readership with opposite political leanings than the paper's staff."

First, Keene told me over the air on my Internet radio show earlier this year that he was fired specifically for saying "It's unfortunate they released the only black columnist in the state of Nevada."

Second, "riddled with quantum leaps and statements of lunacy" simply means reporting about all the shit that rarely-if-ever gets covered by the corporate mass media: Everything from the CIA's genocidal treatment of the so-called Third World throughout the Cold War to America's still pervasive fear of global, ethnic miscegenation. It also means using commie papers like the Socialist Worker as legitimate news sources.

Third, by saying that the average CityLife reader is too old and makes too much money to listen to my message (which ain't much different than the message of Dickens' Christmas ghosts) is letting them off the hook--and FOX News does that enough as it is. The point of journalism ain't to coddle a spoiled motherfucker to sleep. The point of journalism is to speak for those who can't (afford to) speak for themselves.

Now check this out ...

http://www.liberty-watch.com/volume01/issue02/postoffice.php

Post Office (May 2005)

Zigler and Saab Lofton have something in common
Mr. Zigler:
I enjoyed your column in Liberty Watch magazine ["Gravedigger," April]. It reminded me of a Saab Lofton column: "riddled with quantum leaps and statements of lunacy."
Good luck in your future endeavors.
Geoff Schumacher
Stephens Media Group
Las Vegas

Geoff Schumacher was the one who got me into Vegas journalism in the first place back in 1999. If calling for the rich to be taxed after witnessing homelessness is a quantum leap and if calling for the military to move from Iraq to New Orleans is a statement of lunacy, then there truly is no hope. In the three years I wrote that award-winning column, what I did, more than anything else, was KEEP HOPE FOR THE FUTURE ALIVE. What has Schumacher and his ilk done other than echo the DLC?

This pretty much says it all ...

http://www.lasvegascitylife.com/articles/2005/04/28/letters/letters.txt

"... you're afraid you might upset some rich white assholes ..."

CL sure looks old and white

Is it me or did the average age of the writers at CityLife leap by 10 years? It seems to be more white and gray now. How can you consider yourself a liberal rag when you let a bunch of greedy, corporate pukes fire Saab Lofton and replace him with the aging status quo? You guys suck.

I read CityLife because it's supposed to be an alternative to the conservative sermons that stain the Review-Journal. Now, not only is your writing staff chock full of more honkey, it's apparently on a collision course with Geriatric City. Next time George Knapp submits an article about chickens and Hawaii, sneak in the word "fuck" somewhere for laughs. Otherwise tell him to stick to exposing the bullshit in this town, because that's what I expect from him -- that's how he's earned my trust in the past.

Hiring a bunch of seasoned, well-established writers doesn't give you dick in the field of legitimacy. Established writers usually get there by conforming to a set standard of rules, and as far as I'm concerned the rules can go to hell when it comes to writing. When you start censoring yourself and others, e.g. Saab Lofton, because you're afraid you might upset some rich white assholes then you might as well give up any claim to being liberal and progressive because you're not.

http://www.lasvegascitylife.com/articles/2005/04/28/letters/letters.txt

CL sure looks old and white

Is it me or did the average age of the writers at CityLife leap by 10 years? It seems to be more white and gray now. How can you consider yourself a liberal rag when you let a bunch of greedy, corporate pukes fire Saab Lofton and replace him with the aging status quo? You guys suck.

I read CityLife because it's supposed to be an alternative to the conservative sermons that stain the Review-Journal. Now, not only is your writing staff chock full of more honkey, it's apparently on a collision course with Geriatric City. Next time George Knapp submits an article about chickens and Hawaii, sneak in the word "fuck" somewhere for laughs. Otherwise tell him to stick to exposing the bullshit in this town, because that's what I expect from him -- that's how he's earned my trust in the past.

Hiring a bunch of seasoned, well-established writers doesn't give you dick in the field of legitimacy. Established writers usually get there by conforming to a set standard of rules, and as far as I'm concerned the rules can go to hell when it comes to writing. When you start censoring yourself and others, e.g. Saab Lofton, because you're afraid you might upset some rich white assholes then you might as well give up any claim to being liberal and progressive because you're not.

MICHAEL C.O. WAGNER

Now, was Michael Wagner engaging in quantum leaps of lunacy ..?! I don't think so ...

YES BUT MY BALL SACKS ARE BLUE! AND THAT SUCKS BIG TIME!

I know I'm going to regret this ... I was going to simply let this go, but I'm tired of seeing gratuitously coy, snide, sarcastic ass shit from a bunch of bored, spoiled motherfuckers with your cute li'l pen names and whatnot. What the fuck does ball sacks have to do with corporate censorship? The story of why Saab Lofton was censored from the CityLife is like that magic mirror from Harry Potter: Everyone who looks into it sees something different ...

For all I know, it could've been a conspiracy from the Democratic Party. Rather than simply admit that the DLC had no fucking business picking Kerry over the far more qualified Kucinich*, they'd rather blame their losses on the likes of Nader, Michael Moore and myself. Check this out:

http://www.nvdems.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-47.html

09-05-2005

Prior to his being fired, Saab Lofton christened himself as the spokesperson for everyone of color, and used his column to promote his agenda. This is what voters were reading and seeing all across the Valley as the voice of Black Las Vegas. Thankfully, he's gone and the people who are actually in the trenches may begin to get some attention.

THAT SHIT SOUNDS SUSPICIOUSLY LIKE THIS ...

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1203-15.htm

We've got to repudiate, you know, the most strident and insulting anti-American voices out there sometimes on our party's left... We can't have our party identified by Michael Moore and Hollywood as our cultural values.
� Al From, CEO, Democratic Leadership Council

So basically, those Demos "in the trenches" want niggers to go back to being their loyal automotons--blindly voting Democratic without caring what said Democrat stands for (and it Kerry's case, it meant more drug wars and more of the status quo in general--how masochistic do they expect a nigger to be?!). Why didn't they simply nominate Kucinich so that Nader would've stayed at home last year and everyone would've had a candidate worth going the extra mile for*? Because most Demos are cowards--too afraid of alienating either the "Reagan Democrats"/swing voters on the fence or their GOP friends, relatives and co-workers. Uh, huh ... people are being tortured in Gitmo and Abu Gharib, but all the DLC can worry about is whether some rich motherfucker is offended. THAT'S white supremacy ...

http://www.lasvegascitylife.com/articles/2004/10/15/opinion/fear_no_evil/fearnoevil.txt

"'Conservatism' in America's politics means, 'Let's keep the niggers in their place.' And 'liberalism' means, 'Let's keep the Negroes in their place -- but tell them we'll treat them a little better; let's fool them more, with more promises.' With these choices, I felt that the American black man only needed to choose which one to be eaten by, the 'liberal' fox or the 'conservative' wolf -- because both of them would eat him."
� The Autobiography of Malcolm X

It's been said that Clark County Commis-sioner Lynette Boggs McDonald should apologize for recently calling the Democratic Party a "plantation." I don't think so. She may very well be on to something.

The Democratic Party's fall from grace began in September 1946. Paul Robeson -- actor, singer and all-around Renaissance man -- had tag-teamed with Albert Einstein and other activists to pressure President Harry Truman into pursuing anti-lynching legislation.

Inside the Oval Office, Robeson tried to read a prepared statement when Truman rudely interrupted him. The Democratic president said he was concerned about lynching -- but the time wasn't quite right for the passage of federal legislation because it'd alienate Southern Democrats. Robeson's response to this was best described in Martin Duberman's definitive biography on Robeson:

"Robeson -- who later told reporters he had felt it was important to be polite, but not 'excessively polite' -- said that if the federal government refused to defend its black citizens against murder, blacks would have to defend themselves. Truman declared the interview at an end."

(Keep in mind this was 20 years before the formation of the Black Panther Party in Oakland. Robeson was a prophet.)

Also in 1946, Henry A. Wallace -- FDR's vice president and Truman's secretary of commerce -- became increasingly vocal about the Faustian and Machiavellian way America dealt with Stalinism. Truman then 86ed Wallace from the presidential cabinet, prompting Wallace to run against Truman in 1948 under the banner of the Progressive Party -- a lost cause Robeson nonetheless supported.

Flash forward to the present. Las Vegas has made me feel extremely isolated because of my support of Ralph Nader. However, after I read what author Mike Davis wrote for http://www.commondreams.org, I no longer feel so alone. I even feel reborn.

Davis called John Kerry's campaign "the culmination of the long crusade waged by the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) to exorcise the specter of the 1980s Rainbow Coalition. The DLC, of course, has long yearned to bring white guys and fat cats back to a Nixonized Democratic Party. Arguing that race had fatally divided Democrats, the DLC has tried to bleach the Party by marginalizing civil rights agendas and Black leadership. African-Americans, it is cynically assumed, will remain loyal to the Democrats regardless of the treasons committed against them. They are, in effect, hostages."

Amen, brother! If blacks are "hostages" within the Democratic Party, then that is akin to living on a plantation!

The way my critics tell it, we're currently living in a color-blind utopia -- which leads me to believe black life is still considered as expendable as it was when Truman told Robeson it was more important to stroke the South than to save lives. And speaking of stroking, Davis also wrote about Kerry's "super-ardent efforts to woo Reagan Democrats and white males with war stories from the ancient Mekong Delta."

Well, it's high time to "woo" those who need it the most.

By the way, if racism no longer exists, on which glorious day did this vile abomination finally end? What year? And if there is a holiday commemorating it, why haven't I ever seen it celebrated?

The black community's problems can be boiled down to what I call the Four Ps. In order, they're poverty (which tempts one to deal drugs), prohibition (which busts one for dealing), police brutality (which tortures) and the prison-industrial complex (which profits from the torture). At the core of all this is the Drug War and its racist origins (see Jack Herer's The Emperor Wears No Clothes for more details).

This year, the Socialist Worker reported: "Today, with the prison population swollen to more than two million, African-Americans make up just 12 percent of the U.S. population and only 13 percent of drug users, yet account for 35 percent of drug arrests and 53 percent of drug convictions."

We spend nearly $50 billion annually on the Drug War and it costs approximately $25,000 a year to keep someone in prison. Our taxes should go toward creating jobs that people can be proud of -- not creating scapegoats and boogeymen.

The upcoming antiwar protest in front of the Bellagio at noon on Oct. 17 isn't just against the latest Gulf War, but the Drug War as well. Nader is for ending the Drug War -- and if Kerry doesn't want to follow in Al Gore's footsteps, he better oppose it too.

though i think that you are beating a dead horse there in lv, as you have told me in the past, a preacher must be where the work is. you go 'head on bro'! yes, racism still exists! just look at the truly pitiful us govt. response to hurricane katrina if any of you is in doubt. it's clear to me that your column was dropped because of your political stand, which would necessarily include the fact that you are black. so, keep up the good fight and don't let the neoconz bite!
salaam, peace

ps just watch the response to this new 'cane. if it actually hits texas, watch how the govt. will finally figure out how to respond appropriately! it couldn't possibly have ANYTHING to do with RACISM, could it?