ZOT: Breaking Hard!!! Bush orders settlement to conservative GOP website by City of Fresno

IndyBay via Liberty Post | Troy Montague

[Jim Robinson]

And this just in from our You Gotta Be Kidding Me department:

Bush orders settlement to conservative GOP website by City of Fresno

by Troy Montague

Saturday, Jan. 10, 2004 at 11:03 PM

Settlement funnels money to local conservative website on orders of president George Bush. Rightwing website "FreeRepublic" to recieve large settlement from City of Fresno.

This is urgent-read and call the attorney general's office as soon as you can. We must stop this criminal give-away to GOP activists at taxpayer expense.

The City of Fresno has announced it is paying a large settlement to the "FreeRepublic", a right wing conservative website/forum to settle a lawsuit filed by Freerepublic alledging defamation and damage of reputation. Some background on the case:

The case FreeRepublic vs. City of Fresno stems from a bulletin sent to Fresno Police by Fresno Human Relations Commissioner Debbie Reyes regarding an event planned on sept. 13th by the Fresno chapter of FreeRepublic Network. This event, billed by Freerepublic as a picnic/rally was a subject of concern to Reyes as she had been made aware of possible counter-protests to the picnic/rally by activists critical of FreeRepublic Network's harrassment of anti-war activists and general right-wing extremist nature. Ms. Reyes faxed a notice to police that there might be possible conflicts at the event and notified them that FreeRepublic was well known as an organized hate group disguising themselves as patriotic americans. This notice and resulting publicity resulted in the lawsuit naming City of Fresno, Debbie Reyes, and Mayor Alan Autry as defendants. They alledged Reyes fax resulted in defamation and filed suit seeking $1,000,000 compensation.

The very very strange thing in all this is George Bush met with Fresno Mayor Alan Autry on 10/15/2003 and there is good reason to believe this lawsuit by the FreeRepublic Network was the main topic of conversation between the two. The FreeRepublic online forum is a darling centerpiece of the GOP party, the largest and most highly trafficked GOP oriented website in existence. Progressive activists have long suspected FreeRepublic receives under the table covert funding directly or indirectly from the GOP party. So it is quite likely and plausible that when Autry met with Bush and discussed this with him Bush told him to pay off these good old-boy conservatives and get some funds into their hands so they can continue their fight against the left and all things progressive.

It is clear that before any settlement is paid to FreeRepublic an investigation into ties between Mayor Alan Autry and FreeRepublic should be undertaken. He has been supportive of their activitys to a suspicious degree and it is apparent he was very interested in arranging for the city to settle out of court on the lawsuit and quickly get some money into the hands of his fellow patriots at FreeRepublic.

Did Fresno Mayor Alan Autry work at the suggestion of George Bush to supply a large cash settlement to FreeRepublic at taxpayer's expense? Demand an investigation.

Contact: California State Attoney General (916)322-3360

News Release

Daniel G. Hobbs, City Manager

November 14, 2003 Contact: Matt Otstot, Public Affairs Officer: (559) 621-7777

Mayor Autry Commends President Bush for Homeland Security Funding

FRESNO, CA (November 14, 2003) Mayor Alan Autry applauded President George W. Bush and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for releasing over $7 million in grants to the City of Fresno. This grant will be used to fund and improve overall security and preparedness of the City’s Public Safety Departments.

“I commend President Bush not only for providing these much needed Homeland Security funds, but also understanding that as our first responders, local public safety agencies must receive these resources directly,” Mayor Autry said.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge announced the release of these funds yesterday. A total of $675 million will be funded directly to urban areas across the Country. The areas funded were chosen based on several factors including critical infrastructure, population density, and credible threat information.

Sept 12, 2002 - Letter from President George W. Bush

(September 11, 2002) Mayor Alan Autry today announced the creation of the Fresno Citizen Corps to bring additional volunteer resources to the City's public safety and emergency response agencies, as well as support other civic centered efforts throughout the community.

http://www.fresnocitizencorps.org/president.pdf

But on the way out to the facility, Alan Autry, was traveling with me, the great mayor of Fresno, California, and I appreciate him being here today and I thank him for his friendship. (Applause.) http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/10/20031015-14.html

[Freedom2specul8]

Nothing like getting caught for not noticing certain details... :)

[AnAmericanMother]

My favorite is the three horse slant-load trailer with living accommodations for the humans in the front. See 'em a lot at the horse shows.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Congratulations on the darling centerpiece thing! That's great!!

[Slings and Arrows]

Ye gahds! You zotted your own thread!

Now THAT is STRICT!

[Mat_Helm]

Keep freepin baby.....all my friends agree......everybody needs some freepin sometime!

[WinOne4TheGipper]

Thanks for posting the address. Time to cause some trouble...

[MarkL]

Hey, I wonder if this post is actionable?

Mark

[WinOne4TheGipper]

What is it with leftists and paranoia? Why must they have a paid e-mail address? You let FReepers use Yahoo accounts. Why don't they?

[gracie1]

Actually, I was out shopping for my new mansion in Cayucos. Now that I'm an agent of the VWR conspiracty I need a place to plan and organize all of the various COINTELPRO & CIA activities that can accomodate Bush's secret service detail. I don't know about you, but I can sure get used to this kind of living!

[Naspino]

Does this make us JIMBOTS? LOL!

Can bots drink koolaid?

[Darksheare]

Shorts out the circuits.
But Jimbots backwards is Stobmij!
(Dunno, sound either impressive, or like a terminal sneeze. Probably have to try it on my unsuspecting Lib neighbors..)

[Maria S]

Mr. Robinson - thanks for posting the URL...which I checked out. These folks are a bunch of real live ones. One of the URL's THEY give discusses this whole thing:
http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/01/1667532_comment.php#1667613

That website has a forum going which discusses this same stuff; here are two of the comments. (I WOULD like to know which of my FReeper friends had "plans to go to the Bay area and run people over with trucks or hurt them with ammunition, and even to fly radio controlled planes which would release poisons on protesters". I would have tried to discourage them!)


proof, evidence
by cp Sunday, Jan. 11, 2004 at 2:45 PM

A quick perusal of the Free republic would show a lot of hateful opinions.
During the antiwar period last March, there were dozens or hundreds of comments by people describing their plans to go to the Bay area and run people over with trucks or hurt them with ammunition, and even to fly radio controlled planes which would release poisons on protesters. And then... there were half a dozen real incidents of people with right-wing symbols on their trucks who actually did hit protesters or attempt to.


Sheikh
by Muawiyah Sunday, Jan. 11, 2004 at 2:24 PM
muawiyah@hotmail.com 70302684404 476 L'Enfant Plaza

Regarding the comment above [about hating Jews, Moslems, Hindus, and Buddhists], hundreds of Jews, Moslems, Hindus and Buddhists post regularly at FreeRepublic.

Commies post here [at Indybay].

Case closed.

[BlueNgold]

OK, Ive been on FR for quite a while now and I still have yet to figure out what all this 'ZOT' stuff means. Someone please drop a post or an email to clue me in...

[Poohbah]

OK, Ive been on FR for quite a while now and I still have yet to figure out what all this 'ZOT' stuff means. Someone please drop a post or an email to clue me in...

ZOT! is the sound effect Johnny Hart uses in the "B.C." comic strip to denote a lightning strike. We use the term to denote when we've zapped a troll poster.

[BlueNgold]

Roger
Thanks
Now it all makes sense

[Jim Robinson]

Scroll down a bit on the AdminModerator's profile page:

http://www.freerepublic.com/~adminmoderator/

And you will see the history of ZOT!

Thanks,

Jim

[BlueNgold]

Nice to see you alive and kicking Jim. Thanks.

[Catspaw]

My favorite is the three horse slant-load trailer with living accommodations for the humans in the front. See 'em a lot at the horse shows.

Saw a few of those in Melbourne, Florida. The campground we stayed at had a stable.

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

Hey! Who zotted JR's thread?!!

[Johnny_Cipher]

Saw a few of those in Melbourne, Florida. The campground we stayed at had a stable.

Some of them are nice, and are equipped as well as any small RV. They sure cut down on hotel bills for rodeo cowboys driving around the country, and they're closer to their livestock as well.