About John Servais

John started Northwest Citizen in 1995 to inform fellow citizens of serious local political issues that the Bellingham Herald was ignoring. With the help of donors from the beginning, he has improved the site, invited other writers to join him, and enabled commenting with verified real names for informative community dialog. He is proud that NW Citizen is now perhaps the oldest political blog in the world.

By: John Servais (987)

At the Bellis Faire parking lot,

flyers are being put on windshields of cars with Canadian license plates that read: “We in America are disappointed in Canadians and your government. You are not welcome in America. Go back where you

flyers are being put on windshields of cars with Canadian license plates that read: “We in America are disappointed in Canadians and your government. You are not welcome in America. Go back where you

By
flyers are being put on windshields of cars with Canadian license plates that read: "We in America are disappointed in Canadians and your government. You are not welcome in America. Go back where you belong and stay there." Also happening in other parking lots on the north side of Bellingham. Nothing in the Bellingham Herald about this. Oh, it is news in Canada and Seattle. Just not with Herald editors. Now our so-called patriots are doing their best to wreck the local economy.

And then there is that story of the American soldiers killing 7 people in a car that "would not stop when warned". A big distortion by American corporate media. It was 10 people, all women and children, and the "warning shot" was followed immediately by machine gun fire at the passengers, leaving them no time to respond. The British soldiers are amazed how trigger happy we Americans are. Read the original story by the British reporter at the scene who watched the shooting - and compare with the Herald's false headline "Civilians in van ignore warnings; 7 killed". Or read two stories at Truthout, one of the links on the right column of this page that provides you accurate news reports of the war - not the sugared and cleansed patriotic reporting of American media.

Bellingham police conveniently overlooked over 200 violations of Bellingham Code, BMC 10.24.120(1), that reads "The frequent, repetitive or continuous sounding of any horn or siren attached to a motor vehicle, except as a warning of danger or as specifically permitted or required by law." For almost an hour truckers completely blocked all downtown traffic on all streets and blasted away all conversations in stores as they did their macho demonstration last Saturday. Police smiled, waved and stopped all traffic for them. Ahh, but the city quickly prosecuted Ellen Murphy for handing out flyers about toxic depleted uranium at the military recruiting center. Double standard is routine practice in Bellingham.

Finally, much is being made in corporate media about that "terrorist camp" in northern Iraq that was found a couple days ago. What you are not told is the camp was inside the Kurdish-controlled zone that the Iraqi army has not been near for 10 years. Yah, that Biara camp. It was set up and supplied by Iran, which was only a mile or two away. Iraq had nothing to do with it.

American corporate media deceive you and me by leaving out vital facts as well as distorting the stories. Why? All part of the war effort. Normal in all wars. To learn what is really happening you need to read foreign press reports. Check out the links on the right-hand column.

About John Servais

Citizen Journalist and Editor • Fairhaven, Washington USA • Member since Feb 26, 2008

John started Northwest Citizen in 1995 to inform fellow citizens of serious local political issues that the Bellingham Herald was ignoring. With the help of donors from the beginning, he has [...]

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At the Bellis Faire parking lot,

By John ServaisOn Apr 02, 2003

flyers are being put on windshields of cars with Canadian license plates that read: “We in America are disappointed in Canadians and your government. You are not welcome in America. Go back where you

The Bellingham Herald has been sold

By John ServaisOn Apr 01, 2003

to a group of local investors in Bellingham. Gannett Corporation will hold a press conference this afternoon in Alexandria, Virginia - Gannett headquarters - to announce this. The reason is unsure, bu

Freedom of the Press?

By John ServaisOn Mar 31, 2003

Our right to learn from different points of view what is happening? That is typically thrown out the window in war time and Americans are fed the official ‘rah rah we are winning and they are sneaky i

Truthful war coverage by American Corporate media?

By John ServaisOn Mar 28, 2003

Hardly. We went two days without any casualty reports. Even now, they report “killed” American soldiers, but not the total wounded. A person with a life-crippling wound is worthy of all our concern an

Season’s Greetings

By John ServaisOn Dec 24, 2002

Our annual holiday greetings to readers

Herald Distorts Facts In Favor Of Developer

By John ServaisOn Oct 20, 1996

Chuckanut Ridge will not have 14.5 homes per acre, as reported by the Herald today. With Facts Wrong, Discussion Is Skewed.

Election results post - Sep 19, 1995

By John ServaisOn Sep 19, 1995

Northwest Citizen started in 1995. This may be the first post - but obviously it started sooner, per witness the political campaign sites.