Bob Herbert had a column in the New York Times September 25 that by all rights deserved strong mainstream media attention based on the importance of its subject matter.

The Don Imus and Bill O'Reilly controversies pale into comparative insignificance next to what Republicans are doing to African Americans seeking the basic right of congressional representation in the seat of the nation's federal government, Washington, D.C.

Despite all the bold talk by leading Republican Party operatives that the party seeks to reach out to everyone including minorities, this claim has once more been reduced to hypocritical posturing due to the point Herbert made that is receiving so little comment within the mainstream media.  

African Americans have been rebuffed by Republicans in an attempt to secure voting rights in Congress through the creation of a congressional seat in Washington, D.C.  The Republican race card is alive and regrettably doing all too well.

Dennis Kucinich took that necessary first step that scores of progressives have been urging for some time in submitting articles of impeachment against Dick Cheney, a necessary first step in ending the Cheney-Bush neocon regime and its steadfast destruction of law and liberty at home and abroad.

Two points have been consistently made in this column concerning impeachment:  1) the act was designed to correct executive tyranny through the commission of "high crimes and misdemeanors" and it is therefore essential for Members of Congress to take such a step in the interest of preserving the Constitution; 2) once that a conscientious investigation has been conducted in this area there will be a strong outpouring of public opinion calling for removal of Cheney and Bush from office.

A sturdy bulwark in the fight for justice at home and abroad has been the Black Caucus.  It will be recalled that Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California rose in opposition to the Patriot Act when fellow members of both parties, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

While others endorsed the Patriot Act without either reading it or taking note of far-reaching provisions that could and eventually would through their application trample basic freedoms and liberties of American citizens, Barbara Lee stood up and announced her opposition due to an unswerving devotion to the U.S. Constitution and its principles.    

During the Cold War and Ronald Reagan's presidency the religious right enthusiastically enlisted in his crusade to derail what he called "The Evil Empire" meaning the Soviet Union and its godless tyranny.

How interesting it is to see that the religious right has enthusiastically practiced one of the basic precepts of Marxism-Leninism.  The religious right has embraced the concept of "the end justifies the means" in its quest to perpetuate George W. Bush's devotion to right wing theocracy through suppressing votes in elections.

It was Vladimir Lenin, the first premier of the Soviet regime, who said that in order to make an omelet it was necessary to break some eggs.  The religious right, proclaiming paradoxically to be following the teachings of Christ, believes it necessary, in order to repel what it conceives to be godless invaders from the left, also known as Democrats, to engage in full scale character assassination, lying, cheating and vote fraud.

Jerry Falwell turned the death of White House aide Vince Foster into a crusade for righteousness, turning out a film proclaiming that Bill and Hillary Clinton were responsible for Foster's untimely death.  When it became obvious that Foster had not been murdered, Falwell then denied having anything to do with the film or the view that the Clintons were linked to murder.

Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman report that the first felony convictions of two Cleveland poll workers stemming from Ohio's stolen 2004 election "confirm that the official recount in that contested vote was, in the words of count prosecutors, `rigged.'  The question now is whether further prosecutions will reach higher up in the ranks of officials who may have been involved in illegalities throughout the rest of the state."

Fitrakis and Wasserman, who reported the following information in The Free Press, have been in the forefront on 2004 Ohio voting fraud from the beginning.  John Kerry shamefully conceded to George W. Bush in the midst of widespread evidence of vote corruption in numerous states, specifically in election-deciding Ohio.

After Kerry's concession it was the Green Party, of which Fitrakis and Wasserman are prominent members, that took a forward step for democracy and financed the recount effort in Ohio.  That state held the balance in the Electoral College.

Fitrakis and Wasserman, along with Steve Rosenfeld, are the authors of "What Happened in Ohio?" that has just been published by the New Press.  Fitzrakis was an independent candidate in the 2006 Ohio's gubernatorial election and was endorsed by the Green Party.

Unmitigated gall is frequently linked to appalling ignorance, the type that feeds colossal delusions of grandeur.  Such is the case with George W. Bush in his recent bold attempt to lecture Russia's President Vladimir Putin on democracy.

According to Bush, Putin has not been opening up the windows sufficiently to allow the fresh sunshine of democracy to radiate Russia.  In one of Mike Wallace's most important interviews toward the close of his long CBS career, the television journalist questioned Putin on the leader's home soil about democracy.

Putin had a quick response.  Knowing that Wallace worked for CBS, he asked bluntly about one of his veteran colleagues.  "What happened to Dan Rather?" the Russian president wanted to know. He was aware of the tragedy that occurred during the 2004 election.  

Fearful of offending the Bush White House and Karl Rove, CBS essentially bounced its veteran evening news anchorman for pursuing a story about Bush's National Guard service.  With the exception of some allegedly false documents represented by examining experts to be authentic, the story contained the solid ring of truth.  

There was evidence that Rove may have been involved in creating and planting the false documents, but that part of the story was never seriously investigated.  

Last February, the Internal Revenue Service finally drew the line in the sand. After years of controversy, as the Christian Right sought to build a church-based electoral movement, bending and breaking the rules governing the activities of 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organzations, the IRS announced a major education and enforcement program in the run up to the 2006 elections.  

The IRS sought to make the matter as plain and simple as possible:  

"...all section 501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office."

The issue of tax abuse by tax exempt organizations, particularly churches promises to be a signficant issue over the next few elections. Ground zero in the battle is Ohio, where the Patriot Pastors project has been overtly backing Ohio Sectretary of State Ken Blackwell for governor in 2006. A group of non-Christian right clergy in Ohio have filed complaints about World Harvest Church and Fairfield Christian Church two churches centrally involved in the Ohio Patriot Pastors project, that they felt had way overstepped.

But that was just the beginning.

Many emitted understandable groans over the prospect of none other than George W. Bush showing up at the funeral of one of America's civil rights legends, Coretta Scott King, and shamelessly attempting to pretend that he shares her vision.

The Bush vision is totally different than that of the departed African American leader.  As Texas governor Bush made a sweetheart deal with corporate polluters, which resulted in the befouling of the air in Houston.  

Those in Houston's poorest neighborhoods, African Americans and Hispanics who had their lungs invaded by the noxious poisons, incurred the major health detriment.  The very young and  elderly were most at risk.