Graduating from The Chadwick School in 1987, Shannon then attended Tulane University in New Orleans, where she studied voice and graduated in 1991. She moved back to Los Angeles in 1993 after her brother’s death to pursue acting. She married lawyer Ian Keasler in 1994, and they have one daughter,Wren, who was born in 2003.

As a young girl Shannon learned basic fighting forms from her father and has since trained under Tae-kwondo Master and Kung Fu Superstar, ‘Flashleg’ Tan Tao Liang AND World Kick-boxing Champion Benny ‘The Jet’ Urquidez!

Shannon has acted in films in the 1990s such as Cage II (1994), High Voltage (1997) and Enter the Eagles (1998). She also had brief appearances in her father’s biopic Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (she was the one singing “California Dreaming” in the dance scene at the Hollywood producer’s house as Bruce and Linda dance), the film Blade and the television series Martial Law which starred Sammo Hung. In 2000 she appeared in the science-fiction television film Epoch which aired on the Sci Fi Channel.

Shannon was also the television host of WMAC Masters for the first season. You may have recently seen her host Enter The Dragon on Spike TV and also briefly interviewed on Spike’s UFC Championship Fight series.

Shannon has also sung on the band Medicine’s album The Mechanical Forces of Love in 2003 and a cover of “I’m in the Mood for Love” for the movie China Strike Force (2000), which starred Lee Hom Wang and Aaron Kwok.

Shannon and her husband Ian currently run The Bruce Lee Foundation, which is dedicated to educating, inspiring and helping others understand the attributes and virtues of courage, tolerance, persistence, creativity, intelligence and creativity that Bruce Lee cherished and exemplified during his life.

Please visit: http://www.BruceLeeFoundation.org

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After ten years of service, Congresswoman McKinney lost her seat (many believe because of her criticism of the Bush Administration’s lack of accountability for what happened on 9-11) in 2002 thanks to a concerted effort by Republicans to organize voters to “cross over” and vote against her in the Democratic Primaries.

Her experience as the target of such an orchestrated campaign has been documented in a film titled “American Blackout,” directed by Ian Inaba. This film, which won an award at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival in Utah, features McKinney’s career as a Congresswoman and deals with the historical suppression of black voters in the United States. McKinney made a stunning comeback in 2004, a year in which Republicans took firm control of both Chambers of Congress and the White House, when she was elected once again to represent Georgia’s Fourth District.

Upon returning to Congress, McKinney brought ten years of experience with her, but was denied her seniority status and her seat on the International Relations Committee. This did not keep her from taking on challenging and controversial issues. On the first anniversary of the release of the 9/11 Commission Report, McKinney presided at a Congressional Briefing where dozens of experts and family members of 9/11 victims gave nine hours of testimony critiquing the Report’s errors, omissions, and recommendations. Further testimony on 9/11 was heard at the Congressional Black Caucus’ annual legislative weekend in September 2005.

When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, McKinney drove all night to be with the people of New Orleans to speak out against the inadequate government response. A long-time environmental advocate, McKinney introduced a bill to be a comprehensive environmental clean-up plan to deal with the toxic aftermath of the hurricane. Another bill introduced by McKinney would deny funding to the Gretna Police for one year for turning away desperate survivors in the aftermath of the hurricane. McKinney has cosponsored numerous bills seeking relief for the hurricane survivors, and has consistently spoken out on behalf of the survivors, demanding that their urgent needs be addressed. She participated in the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina, traveling with the Committee on a delegation to the Gulf Coast in January 2006. McKinney’s 70-page supplemental report was the only report by a Democrat to be included in A Failure of Initiative, the Select Committee’s Final Report.

At the end of the 2006 legislative session, McKinney introduced articles of impeachment against President Bush as (H Res 1106), which makes three charges against Bush: manipulating intelligence and lying to justify the war in Iraq, failing to uphold accountability and violating privacy laws with his domestic spying program. The second article also makes charges against Vice President Cheney for helping to “fix” the intelligence in order to justify the Iraq War, and against Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for making false statements concerning Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction program.

McKinney was mentioned among Green Party circles as a potential candidate in 2008. Green Party members attempted to recruit McKinney both in 2000 and 2004. In 2000, she was widely mentioned as a possible running mate (in the VP slot) for Ralph Nader; in 2004, attempts were made to convince McKinney to run on the Green Party ballot line for president. While there had been a great deal of excitement amongst party members concerning a possible McKinney run in those prior elections, the congresswoman had little to do with the party outside of Green Party loyalists working on her Democratic congressional campaigns. This changed drastically following her defeat in the 2006 election. McKinney attended the California Green Party strategy retreat in Sonoma, California, where she was the keynote speaker. On May 25, 2007, she was asked about a presidential run on WBAI and confirmed that she had thought about a Green run: “2008 has not been ruled out, some kind of effort. Certainly now it is questionable as to whether that effort would come under the banner of the Democratic Party.” Then on June 9, speaking at a Harlem fund raiser to retire her Congressional campaign event, she on three occasions addressed speculation that she might run for president in 2008. At the end of the program, Robert Knight of Pacifica Radio, who MC’d the evening’s events, took the pulpit to ask: “I can’t hardly wait for 2008. Ms. McKinney, in 2008, what color is your parachute?” McKinney responds from the audience, “it’s not red and it’s not blue.”

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Di Stefano said it was “unacceptable” that Aziz had been held since April 2003 without trial. “The only time that Tariq Aziz has been in a courtroom in 44 months was when he testified in the Saddam Hussein trial,” he said. “He was not even told what he was being held for.”

Di Stefano said Aziz, who was implicated in the UN oil-for-food scandal, had been interrogated by the United States, the UK and the Iraqi administration, but that “99 per cent of what they asked him was about oil-for-food and George Galloway”.

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In a press release, Ellen Mariani’s open
letter to President Bush sums up what she
believes and is trying to do:

Mr. Bush,

This ”open letter” is coming from my heart. I want you to know that I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat and that this is not an attempt to ”bash the Government”. You Mr. Bush should be held responsible and liable for any and all acts that were committed to aid in any “cover up” of the tragic events of September 11, 2001. As President you have a duty to protect the American people. On September 11th you did not instruct your staff to issue a nationwide emergency warning/alert to advise us of the attack on America. We had to receive the news of the attacks via the news networks.

In the months leading up to the attacks you were repeatedly advised of a possible attack on American soil. During your daily intelligence briefings you were given information that had been uncovered that the very real possibility existed that certain undesirable elements would use commercial aircraft to destroy certain “target” buildings. You never warned the American people of this possible threat.

Who were you protecting?

When you took no responsibility towards protecting the general public from the possibility of attack, you were certainly not upholding the oath you spoke when you took office. In that oath you pledged to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America.

On the morning of the attack, you and members of your staff were fully aware of the unfolding events yet you chose to continue on to the Emma E. Booker Elementary School to proceed with a scheduled event and “photo op”. While our nation was under attack you did not appear to blink an eye or shed a tear. You continued on as if everything was “business as usual”.

In the days following the attacks all air traffic was grounded and Americans, including myself, were stranded wherever they had been when the flight ban was imposed. I was stranded at Midway Airport in Chicago, unable to continue on to California for my daughter’s wedding.

Imagine my surprise when I later found out that during this “no fly” period a number of people were flown out of the country on a 747 with Arabic lettering on the fuselage. None of these people were interviewed or questioned by any local, State or Federal agencies. Why were they allowed to leave and who exactly was on that flight. We know for a fact that some of the people on the flight were members of (or related to) the royal family of Saudi Arabia and members of the Bin Laden family. Were these people allowed to leave because of the long-standing relationships that your family has with both families?

It is my belief that you intentionally allowed 9/11 to happen to gather public support for a “war on terrorism”. These wars, in Afghanistan and Iraq, have not accomplished what you stated were your goals. Why have you not captured Osama Bin Laden? Where are Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction? All that has happened is a bill that is passed before Congress for 87 billion dollars to rebuild what you ordered blown to bits. As an American who lost a loved one in the “war on terror” I do pray and support our troops who were sent to Afghanistan and Iraq by you. These troops have and will continue to die for your lies. As an American I can make this statement as it appears that associates of your family may stand to prosper from the rebuilding of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Mr. Bush the time has come for you to stop your control over us. Stop blocking the release of certain evidence and documents that were discovered by the 9/11 Investigation Commission if you have nothing to hide proving you did not fail to act and prevent the attacks of 9/11. Your reason for not releasing this material is that it is a matter of “national security”. When in fact I believe that it is your personal credibility/security that you are concerned with. You do not want the public to know the full extent of your responsibility and involvement.

After 9/11 the Patriot Act and Homeland Security Act were passed. Both of these allow the government to tap your telephone, search your home, and seize whatever they feel they need to do on a whim. They can do this without a judge’s review or a warrant. I feel that this is in direct conflict with our rights as stated in the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

We the families of 9/11 victims need to have answers to the following questions:

1. Why were 29 pages of the 9/11committee report personally censored at your request?

2. Where are the “black boxes” from Flight 11 and Flight 175?

3. Where are the “voice recorders” from Flight 11 and Flight 175?

4. Why can’t we gain access to the complete air traffic control records for Flight 11 and Flight 175?

5. Where are the airport surveillance tapes that show the passengers boarding the doomed flights?

6. When will complete passenger lists for all of the flights be released?

7. Why did your brother Jeb (the Governor of Florida) go to the offices of the Hoffman Aviation School and order that flight records and files be removed? These files were then put on a C130 government cargo plane and flown out of the country. Where were they taken and who ordered it done?

It has been over two years since hundreds of our lost loved ones “remains” have still yet to be identified and their remains placed in a landfill at Fresh Kill. We want our heroes brought back and given a public and proud resting place where we all can pay our respects and honor them. These innocent people never had a chance as they were taken from us on that sad September Day.

In the court of public opinion Mr. Bush, your lies are being uncovered each day. My husband, all of the other victims and their families and our nation as a whole, has been victimized by your failed leadership prior to and after 9/11!

I will prove this in a court of law!

Ellen M. Mariani

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In Iraq for eight months between November 2003 and February 2005, Jamail reported “collateral damage” far beyond what the military or embedded journalists acknowledged. He wrote of soldiers shooting people in prayer at a Baghdad mosque. He relayed accounts of civilians in Fallujah with extraordinary burns (later revealed to be caused by white phosphorus) and of men and women who bore white flags being shot in the Euphrates River as they tried to swim to safety. Jamail also watched those profiting from the war, reporting examples of blurred lines between the military and corporations operating in Iraq, as well as Bechtel’s failure to restore potable water after being paid hundreds of millions to do so.

Dahr’s dispatches and hard news stories have been translated into French, Polish, German, Dutch, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, Chinese, Arabic and Turkish. On radio as well as television, Dahr reports for Democracy Now!, the BBC, and numerous other stations around the globe. Dahr is also special correspondent for Flashpoints. In the MidEast, Dahr has also reported from Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. Dahr uses the DahrJamailIraq.com website and his popular mailing list to disseminate his dispatches.

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