Village Voice: "A near perfect manifestation of radical, DIY media intervention, the video doc Horns and Halos could not be more timely - just as we hunker down for untold years of wartime sacrifice and imperialist self-rationalization, here is a David fable told by the barbarians at the Bush dynasty gate. The film chronicles the life of Fortunate Son, the unauthorized George W. Bush biography by James Hatfield that, once it was recalled and burned by St. Martin's Press in 1999, struggled through a second incarnation as the child of downtown-punky micro-house Soft Skull Press. The book's most notorious assertion - that Dubya did coke, years ago - drew the rubber-neckers as Hatfield surely knew it would... Filmmakers Suki Hawley and Michael Galinsky keep the chronology clear and the exposition brisk, and what emerges is not only an Underdog v. Simon Bar Sinister saga but a fascinating character study." Opening today in NYC - see www.hornsandhalos.com

"Horns and Halos captures the unlikely connection of three men - a U.S. resident [W], a discredited author [J.H. Hatfield] and an underground publisher [Sander Hicks] whose paths to power and popularity become tangled in a book. In October 1999, a short article appeared in the New York Times: St. Martin's Press recalled Fortunate Son, the first published biography of George W. Bush. At the time of its recall, the book was #8 on Amazon.com's best-seller list - no doubt due to the book's widely publicized allegations that Bush had been arrested for cocaine possession in 1972. However, Bush wasn't the only one with a hidden past. Citing distrust of the author, J. H. Hatfield, the publisher pulled the book from stores after learning that he was a convicted felon. Several weeks later, small underground imprint Soft Skull Press, the self-styled 'punk of publishing,' announced that it would re-publish the book." The outcome of the story is tragic, but it's a story that needs to be told.

In January 2000, Toby Rogers and Nick Mamatas wrote in the Monitor, "Public statements of the Bush camp aside, rumors of his past cocaine use are not totally unfounded. [Toby Rogers interviewed former President George Bush's Chief of Staff Michael C. Dannenhauer, who] admitted that G. W. Bush 'was out of control since college. There was cocaine use, lots of women, but the drinking was the worst.' According to Dannenhauer, Bush's use of cocaine started 'sometime before 1977' and that former President Bush told him that George W. even experienced some 'lost weekends in Mexico.' [A journalist interviewed Dannenhauer] as St. Martin's Press released J. H. Hatfield's Fortunate Son. Asked about the interview he gave months before, Dannenhauer claimed that it had never taken place, not knowing that the staffer was holding a photo of Dannenhauer and reporter Toby Rogers in his hands."

Online Journal editor Bev Conover worked with Jim Hatfield during the last turbulent year of his life. Hatfield's detailed biography of Bush, "Fortunate Son," has never been challenged on the facts. Thus, his charge that was arrested for cocaine use in 1973-74 and sentenced to community service at Project P.U.L.L. in Houston remains unrefuted - and also unexamined by the media, which continues to cover up Bush's sordid past. Conover shares her thoughts and feelings, and her concerns for the family he left behind.

James Howard Hatfield, author of Fortunate Son, the book which exposed George W. Bush's cocaine arrest, was found dead in an Arkansas hotel. Hatfield's expose was based on information provided by Karl Rove and Clay Johnson. Police labeled the death a suicide, but we'll be watching this story VERY carefully.

Last week, J.H. Hatfield identified Karl Rove as one of his 3 sources for his charge that Bush was busted for cocaine use and sentenced to community service at Project P.U.L.L. The New York Daily News tried to get a confirmation or denial from Rove. Interestingly, Rove let an underling issue the denial, rather than issue it himself and be exposed as a liar. Stay tuned - maybe Hatfield collected some DNA samples at Lake Eufala...

The Buzzflash interview with J.H. Hatfield, author of "Fortunate Son," is chilling. "Not one single statement in 'Fortunate Son' has been disproved during the past year and a half. What truly worries me and wakes me up in a cold sweat during the middle of the night, is what one of my confidential sources for the cocaine arrest told me when it was announced that Soft Skull Press was going to re-publish the book less than 3 months after St. Martin's Press recalled it: 'Jim, we're not done discrediting you. The wheels are already in motion for more of the same.' Then he went on to say if I 'valued the lives' of my wife and baby daughter (whom he called by their first names), 'then you'll cancel this publishing deal right now, today.' It makes you wonder why the Bushes so desperately want this book suppressed. What's contained in its 400+ pages that scares the hell out of them?" Who issued this death threat? Was it Karl Rove or Clay Johnson? We demand an FBI investigation!

Upstart publisher Sander Hicks had the guts to go where no mainstream publisher dared: he reissued J.H. Hatfield's "Fortunate Son." In an interview with Buzzflash, Hicks explains why he did it - and gives 10 reasons why everyone needs to read this book. See especially #4: "Michael Binder is a Dallas cold war historian, who has undertaken the first full, scholarly study of the history of the Texas Air National Guard. He states clearly that the reason that Bush left the TANG early in 1972 was most likely because Bush 'had something to hide.'"

In the fall of 1999, in order to discredit the breaking Bush cocaine story, Karl Rove leaked the story to J.H. Hatfield - knowing full well that he could discredit Hatfield by exposing his prior conviction for soliciting murder. Rove also altered a few minor facts to further discredit Hatfield. Rove then enlisted the Dallas Morning News and 60 Minutes to pounce on Hatfield. But now Hatfield is firing back - and it's time for Karl Rove to start doing some explaining.

In the fall of 1999 - just when the Republican Presidential campaign was heating up - St. Martin's Press destroyed 70,000 copies of "Fortunate Son" by J.H. Hatfield. The thoroughly-researched book included the explosive charge that Bush was arrested for cocaine possession in 1972, but the arrest record was scrubbed by the judge after Bush performed community service at Project P.U.L.L. The charge was confirmed by two sources close to Bush who insisted on anonymity. Despite intense pressure from St. Martin's, Hatfield refused to name his sources in 1999. But now he has - Karl Rove and Clay Johnson. It's time for the White House press corps to demand the truth from Bush - was he arrested for cocaine use in the early 1970's??? The public has a right to know!!!